#damn I put a lot more effort into that than I thought I was gonna

[yume-no-miya]

look i love making sae be the one who's so in love and showering hajun with so much love and affection but it's much more fun to think that HE fell harder than her

[sunsetmade]

Can you do a rafe x gf!reader where he's just been really distant and she tries to make him happy then he lashes out and calls her clingy and it makes her soooo sad and insecure and he feels so bad and makes it up to her the next day

Slipping Through

Rafe Cameron x Reader

Rafe had been distant lately.

And not in the casual, “just busy” kind of way. Not the kind of distant that came with late nights or long days. This was different. This was bone-deep, soul-quiet kind of distant. Cold in a way that made her shiver even when he was sitting right next to her. The air around him had shifted—grown heavier, sharper—until it filled every room they shared with something unspoken and stifling.

He’d been quieter. Shorter. His texts less frequent, his touches more fleeting. He stared at his phone like it held more answers than she ever could, disappearing without warning and returning without explanation. And when he was around, he wasn’t really there. His body was in the room, sure—but his mind? His eyes? They were somewhere far away, and she didn’t know how to follow.

At first, she tried not to overthink it. Rafe carried a lot—expectations from Ward, the weight of the Cameron name, and whatever war raged inside his own head. He wasn’t the best at handling it, never had been. She told herself it would pass, that he just needed space. Time. Quiet. But the more days slipped by like this, the more she felt herself shrinking, folding in on herself, reaching for pieces of him that kept slipping through her fingers.

She missed him.

Missed the curve of his mouth when he smirked at her like she was the only one who mattered. Missed the way he’d hook his pinky around hers when they walked through a crowd. Missed his hand on her knee when they watched movies—warm, possessive, grounding.

Missed being his peace.

So she tried to bring him back. Little by little.

She cleaned his apartment—wiped down every surface, folded his laundry, even scrubbed the stovetop he always forgot about. She picked up his favorite snacks without asking, tucked his favorite gum into the console of his truck so he’d find it the next time he got in. She wore the hoodie he loved—soft and slouchy and sliding off one shoulder—and showed up with a coffee in hand, made just how he liked it. She didn’t push. She didn’t beg. She just… tried.

And tonight, she cooked.

Steak and mashed potatoes, buttery and rich and made with the kind of care you could taste. She lit candles even though she felt a little silly doing it. Put on music—nothing too much, just soft background hums to fill the silence she hated so much. She didn’t let herself hope too hard, but her heart still fluttered in her chest like it hadn’t gotten the memo to be cautious.

He was late.

Thirty minutes, then forty.

She kept the food warm and tried to keep her hands from wringing. By the time the door opened, the candles had burned low and the music was looping for the second time.

Rafe stepped inside, rubbing a hand over his face like he was already exhausted. His eyes flicked toward the table, but he didn’t react. No smile. No acknowledgment of the effort. Just a tired, annoyed breath.

“Didn’t know we were doing some big thing tonight.���

She blinked, caught off guard. “It’s not a big thing. I just… I thought you had a rough week, and I wanted to do something nice. That’s all.”

He didn’t sit. Didn’t take off his jacket. Just stood near the island, shoulders tense, eyes darting toward the floor.

“I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, okay?” His tone was clipped, edged with something sharp.

“I know. That’s why I—”

“Yeah, I got it,” he snapped, cutting her off. “You’re always trying to do something. Always right there, up under me, hovering like I’m gonna fall apart if you’re not holding my damn hand.”

Her breath caught.

He wasn’t yelling, but the words hit like a shout. Her stomach turned.

“It’s just too much,” he muttered, not even looking at her.

Too much.

The words echoed in her head like a bell, loud and hollow and final. Her lips parted, but nothing came out. She stood frozen in the soft glow of the candles, surrounded by a meal gone cold and silence gone sharp.

“I was just trying to help,” she said, barely above a whisper.

Rafe let out a bitter sigh, like she was the burden. “Sometimes it feels like you’re just… clingy, you know? Like I can’t even think with you always needing something from me.”

Clingy.

It landed in her chest like a stone.

She didn’t cry. Not yet. But something inside her pulled taut, like a thread stretched too far. She felt it—that aching shift from warmth to shame. Her heart had been so full of hope, and now it just hurt.

She nodded.

Once.

Then again, slower.

Again, like it was the only thing she knew how to do.

He watched her, some of the tension starting to drain from his posture, but it was too late. The words were already out. The damage already done.

Her voice, when it came again, was flat. Hollow. “I should go.”

She didn’t meet his eyes. Didn’t ask if he wanted her to stay. She just turned away, hands moving on their own as she gathered her things. The hoodie he loved. Her keys. Her purse. The quiet clink of silverware as she brushed past the table was the only sound in the room.

“I didn’t mean to overwhelm you,” she added, softer now. Like maybe she could still take up less space.

She didn’t wait for him to answer.

The front door clicked shut behind her.

⸻

The next day, the silence was deafening.

No “good morning” text waiting on his phone.

No heart emojis.

No blurry snapshots of her coffee mug sitting beside one of his hoodies.

Nothing.

Rafe unlocked his phone before he even sat up in bed, thumb hovering over her name in his messages. The thread was right where he left it—her last message a heart-eyed emoji she’d sent the day before, after she told him she was making his favorite for dinner.

He hadn’t responded.

He stared at it for a beat too long before switching apps. Instagram. No story updates. No little circle around her profile picture. He refreshed once, then again, as if that would magically change something.

It didn’t.

And maybe—maybe—he should’ve felt relieved. After all, wasn’t this what he said he wanted? Space? Quiet? No constant check-ins. No sticky notes on his dashboard reminding him to eat lunch. No texts at 2 a.m. asking if he made it home okay. No sweet little nudges that said I’m thinking about you, even when he didn’t deserve them.

But he didn’t feel relieved.

He felt empty.

Worse—he felt wrong. Like something inside him had been ripped loose, and now the space it left behind was echoing.

His stomach twisted as her face came back to him in sharp, unwanted clarity—eyes wide with hurt, mouth parted in shock, that slow, stunned nod that said okay even though her heart was breaking. She hadn’t fought back. Hadn’t yelled. She just… shrunk, like he’d drained the light out of her.

And he had.

Rafe raked a hand through his hair, jaw clenching hard. He hadn’t meant it like that. God, he hadn’t meant it at all. He was just overwhelmed—Ward had been on his back about everything lately, snapping at every little thing. The pressure in his chest hadn’t let up for weeks. He felt like he was one wrong move away from collapsing.

But she hadn’t been part of the pressure. She was supposed to be the opposite. She had always been the calm after the storm, not the storm itself. Her love came soft and steady, with warm hands and sweet gestures and the kind of quiet devotion he didn’t know what to do with—but damn it, he needed it. Even if he pretended he didn’t.

And what did he do with that softness?

He crushed it.

He snapped at her. Brushed off her care like it was a burden. Called her clingy—clingy, like she hadn’t been the only thing keeping him from drowning most days.

And now she was silent.

Rafe couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t think straight. The walls of his room felt like they were closing in on him, so he grabbed his keys and left without a plan. His truck roared to life, and before he knew it, he was halfway across town, hands tight on the wheel, knuckles white.

He didn’t even think about where he was going—his instincts were stronger than his guilt.

And then he was there.

Her place.

The street was quiet, sunlight filtering through the trees in soft golden patches, as if the world didn’t know he was on the verge of unraveling. He parked across the street, heart beating like a war drum. He didn’t know if she’d be home. Didn’t know if she’d want to see him if she was.

But then he saw her.

Through the window.

Curled up on the couch, knees drawn up beneath her, arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to hold in all the pieces. She was wearing a hoodie—not his—and staring off into space like whatever show was playing barely registered. Her face looked… blank. Not angry. Not crying anymore. Just tired in a way that scared him.

Because he did that.

He made her retreat into herself. Pulled the light right out of her.

He sat there for a second longer, hands gripping the steering wheel. Then he got out of the truck.

Walked up the steps.

And knocked.

The door opened after a long pause.

She stood there, backlit by the soft glow of a nearby lamp, dressed in sleep shorts and socks. Her arms were crossed protectively over her stomach like she was holding herself together from the inside out. And she looked… smaller. Not physically—but emotionally.

Her cheeks were flushed, not from warmth, but from crying. Her eyes were glossy, tired, rimmed with the kind of red that came from quiet sobs and too much thinking. But even so, they were blank. Not angry. Not resentful. Just… tired.

Rafe’s breath caught.

“Hey,” he said softly, voice unusually tentative, like he wasn’t sure he deserved to be speaking to her at all.

She didn’t respond.

No smile. No questions. Just a step back, wordless, allowing him in with the smallest motion of her head.

He hesitated in the doorway, guilt sitting heavy in his chest like lead. The silence between them wasn’t sharp—it was hollow. Like everything warm had been scooped out and replaced with nothing at all. He watched her retreat back to the couch, small and quiet as she tucked her legs up beneath her and wrapped her arms around her knees.

She didn’t look at him.

Didn’t ask why he came.

Didn’t try to fill the silence.

And somehow, that silence hurt more than if she’d screamed.

Rafe shut the door gently behind him. The soft click echoed through the room.

“I messed up,” he said, his voice rougher this time.

She nodded once, but it was slow. Empty. Like her body was on autopilot, giving him the bare minimum.

“Like—really messed up,” he added quickly, desperate for her to hear the weight behind it.

Another nod.

Still no words.

His stomach twisted.

She wasn’t shutting him out—she wasn’t even guarded. She was just… absent. Disconnected in a way that made his skin crawl. Like she’d already started building a wall to protect herself from him, brick by painful brick.

“Baby,” he said, voice cracking as he crossed the room. He knelt in front of her, his hands bracing the edge of the couch cushion like he needed the anchor. “I didn’t mean that shit. I swear, I didn’t. I was stressed and pissed off and I took it out on you, and that’s—God, that’s on me. That’s all on me.”

She didn’t pull away.

But she didn’t lean in either.

When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. Small. Like she was trying not to cry again. “You called me clingy.”

Rafe flinched like she’d struck him. His jaw tightened. “I know. I shouldn’t have. That was—fuck—it was cruel. And wrong. You’re not clingy. You’re good—too good to me. You care. You love me in a way I don’t even know how to deserve yet, and I threw it in your face.”

Her eyes finally lifted to meet his.

They were wet, but not spilling over. Rimmed in hurt. Dim in a way he had never seen on her before.

“I didn’t know I was too much for you,” she whispered. “I just wanted to make you happy.”

“You do,” he said instantly, leaning closer. “You make me so fucking happy. You’re the only thing that feels good when everything else is chaos. I’ve just… I’ve been stuck in my own head. And instead of leaning on you like I should’ve, I pushed you away.”

She looked down at her lap, fingers fidgeting with the sleeves of her hoodie—twisting the fabric like she needed something to hold onto.

“I kept trying to be enough for you,” she said, barely audible. “Trying to make everything perfect. I thought if I just did more… if I loved you harder… you’d come back. You wouldn’t feel so far away.”

Rafe’s heart cracked wide open. His throat tightened, the air catching somewhere between apology and regret. He reached for her hand slowly—gently—and when she didn’t pull away, he wrapped his fingers around hers, thumb brushing across the back of her hand.

“I’m already yours,” she said after a moment, voice so quiet it barely reached him. “You didn’t have to shove me away to get space. You could’ve just told me.”

He swallowed hard, staring at her hand in his, overwhelmed by how fragile it felt—like she might let go at any second.

“I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to fight for a place in my life,” he murmured. “You already have one. You always have. I just… I get in my own way. I let everything pile up and instead of talking to you, I shut down. And you paid for it.”

She finally looked at him—really looked. And it wrecked him.

Her eyes were glassy, rimmed with unshed tears, but they didn’t fall. There was no dramatic outburst. No trembling lower lip. Just that quiet kind of heartbreak that lives in the silence between people who love each other deeply but are still learning how to handle it.

“Why did you say it?” she asked softly, her voice a careful whisper, like she was afraid the answer might hurt more than the question.

Rafe let out a slow, unsteady breath. It was the kind of question that cracked something open in him.

“Because I was scared,” he admitted, voice rough with guilt. “Everything’s been piling up—my dad, expectations, all of it—and I’ve been drowning. And instead of reaching for you—the one person who actually makes me feel like I can breathe—I pushed you away.”

He swallowed hard. His voice lowered. “I guess… I thought if I let you get too close, if you saw all the cracks, all the mess, I’d fall apart in front of you. And I didn’t want you to see me like that.”

She was quiet for a moment. Then her gaze softened, something raw and honest settling into her expression. “You already have fallen apart in front of me,” she whispered. “And I stayed.”

The words hit him square in the chest, almost knocking the breath out of him.

Rafe’s throat tightened, eyes burning. “And I’ll never forget that. I swear to God, I’ll never take that for granted again.”

He shifted closer until he was kneeling at the edge of the couch again, then leaned forward, resting his head gently against her knee like he was surrendering—like he was placing his heart there and asking her to take him back.

“I miss you,” he murmured. “I missed you even when you were standing right in front of me last night. You were trying so hard to love me, and I was too far in my own shit to appreciate it. To appreciate you.”

Her fingers twitched in her lap, like she was debating whether or not to reach for him. Slowly—hesitantly—she brought her hand to his hair, fingertips brushing through it. Testing the waters.

When he leaned into her touch, eyes fluttering shut, something in her chest loosened.

“You make me feel safe, Rafe,” she said quietly. “Even when you don’t know what you’re doing. Even when you’re a mess. But last night…” She trailed off, breath hitching faintly. “Last night, I didn’t feel safe. I felt like I was annoying you just by existing. Like being near you was the last thing you wanted.”

Rafe flinched like her words physically hurt. He lifted his head, eyes red and glassy now too, and looked up at her like she was the only thing anchoring him to this earth.

“Fuck,” he whispered. “I hate that I made you feel that way. I hate myself for it.”

Her brows pulled together, the tiniest crease forming. “Don’t say that.”

“I mean it,” he said, his voice raw. “But if you don’t want me to, then… let me show you. Let me show you how much I regret it. How much I love you.”

There was a long pause. Not because she was unsure—but because she needed a second. A moment to let his words settle, to let her heart steady itself.

Then, finally, she nodded.

Not dramatic. Not rushed.

Just a soft, slow movement that felt like hope.

“You’re already trying,” she said quietly.

Rafe rose to his feet, hands reaching for her with reverence. He pulled her up into his arms and held her like something precious. Like something fragile that he’d nearly shattered.

Her cheek pressed to his chest, and she let herself melt into him with a shaky breath, clinging just a little tighter than usual.

And this time—he didn’t pull away.

He cradled her like she was home.

“I love you,” he murmured into her hair, voice thick with emotion. “I didn’t say it last night. I should have. I love you so much it scares me.”

She tilted her face up to look at him, her lips trembling with the ghost of a smile. “Even if I’m clingy?”

He gave a soft, breathy laugh, pressing a kiss to her forehead. His arms tightened around her like he’d never let go again.

“You’re not clingy,” he whispered. “You’re mine.”

⸻

The next day, he showed up at her door just after noon—nervous, fidgety, and holding far more than just an apology.

In one arm, he cradled a bouquet of her favorite flowers—sun-warmed peonies and blush-pink ranunculus, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a navy ribbon. In the other, a canvas tote bag stuffed full with comfort: her favorite snacks (the obscure chocolate bars she loved, the salty chips he used to tease her for), a mason jar of homemade sweet tea, and a hoodie—soft, oversized, the color of a summer sky, with his name stitched in white thread along the sleeve like a promise.

She opened the door slowly, brows lifting in surprise.

“I know flowers won’t fix it,” he said, offering a tentative smile. “But I wanted to start somewhere.”

He handed over the tote bag, brushing her fingers with his own. “There’s something inside,” he added, voice lower now. “Something… I needed you to read.”

Tucked between the folded hoodie and a sleeve of cookies was a note. Not typed. Not copied and pasted from something impersonal. This was handwritten—slightly messy, the ink smudged in the corner like maybe he’d hesitated halfway through.

It read:

You’re not too much. You’ve always been exactly what I needed—even when I didn’t deserve you. Thank you for loving me anyway. I promise I’ll love you better now.

- R. C

Her fingers trembled slightly as she folded the note back up, eyes wet but clear. She didn’t say much—just reached out and hugged him. No words. Just arms around his waist, cheek pressed to his chest, and a soft, shaky breath that told him she believed him.

And after that, he made good on every word.

He showed up—not just once, but every day after. Not with grand gestures, but with quiet consistency.

He took up space on her couch, close enough to touch. Sat beside her while she worked, brushing his knee against hers every now and then just to feel her there. He rubbed gentle circles into her back when she couldn’t sleep and rested his hand on her thigh like it was instinct, like she was home.

He kissed her forehead when she was stressed. Her knuckles when she doubted herself. Her shoulders when she curled in on herself, too unsure to speak.

He took pictures of her when she wasn’t looking—curled up with a book, dancing barefoot in the kitchen, laughing at something dumb he said—and made them his lock screen, his wallpaper, his everything.

And when she got quiet—too quiet—he didn’t pull away anymore. He held her tighter. Kissed her temple. Told her she didn’t have to say anything for him to understand her.

Because he did.

She wasn’t too much. She never was.

She was soft. And steady. And his.

And he would never let his own chaos drown her again.

Not when she had saved him from it more times than he could count.

[alchemistc]

He's been good. He's been - pretending to be good well enough that no one has been suspicious.

It's just -

That was it. That was The One.

And sure. He can get back out into the world. He can fall in love again. There is a beautiful man somewhere out in the world who will make him laugh, make him cry.

He's just not sure he wants to put the effort in anymore.

For a hot second he'd really thought -

Not that it matters, anymore.

He's pretty sure his leg is pinned. The cockpit is more smoke than air, at this point. He can feel his toes, but honestly that might be more a curse than a blessing.

He's been staring at the phone in his hand for the last five minutes. Ever since he realized he didn't have the leverage to try to move the bracket keeping him from slipping free of the broken, crunched in door frame.

It's selfish. It's the most selfish fucking thing he's considered since he decided to break his own heart instead of letting someone else.

But logistically he's got about seven minutes until there's too much smoke and not enough air in here, and that's only IF the fire doesn't catch somewhere else.

He's got enough bars. And there are two numbers he could call. Two ways this could go.

The phone rings through four times, and on the fifth, someone answers.

"This is a bad time, Tommy," Eddie says, and Tommy feels a little hysterical. The laughter comes in fits, only slows when he gets a nice good whiff of smoke straight up his nose.

"Sure is."

The tone shifts. "Are you okay?"

"It was a bad idea anyway."

He feels woozy. Glances down at his leg and realizes that stain he'd thought was shadow is... definitely blood.

"Listen. I'm - when Evan gets the call, don't let him go alone. It's my fault for not updating my ICE."

The silence on the other line is deafening. "Tommy, where are you? Don't - don't make any decisions you can't come back from." It's a panned line he'd heard at the VA the half dozen times he'd gone.

"Yeah I didn't really make this decision myself. I'm just - I'm losing a lot of blood, here, and there's not a lot of ways for the smoke to get out of this cabin, and -."

High alert has a very specific sound and feel to it.

Eddie's cursing, something is shuffling, he's snapping his fingers in the distance. God, they're probably at work. "Where are you?"

Tommy rattles off his last known coordinates. "I already told dispatch, Eddie. I'm just. They're not gonna make it in time, and I need you to promise me you won't let him be alone when -."

It'd been a trip he would have been riding shotgun for, if Tommy hadn't made sure he wasn't. He's grateful for that, at least.

He's really not expecting much, he thinks. Eddie doesn't have to go far out of his way to support Buck. It'll hurt him, true. But Tommy's gotten pretty used to being the cause of that. And. He'll be dead, anyway, so he won't have to carry that guilt for long.

And then Eddie betrays whatever vestige of friendship they had left, because it's not Eddie's voice that responds.

"Hey asshole. Do you have enough leverage to break the window?"

He's got a good voice. A little gruff, a little heavy.

Tommy doesn't want this.

"No."

"Actually no, or are you just accepting your fate again without even talking about alternatives."

It's not how he thought he'd go. Dramatic final hour phone call, the end of their relationship as a metaphor for the bleakness of his situation. "I'm sorry, Buck."

He's having trouble focusing his eyes. There's a beat behind his ears that keeps slowing down. He thinks he might be hearing sirens but -

"Evan," Tommy says for the first time in six months. "I'm so sorry, Evan."

He says - something. The tone of it is there, even if he can't quite make out the words.

Tommy blinks. Coughs.

There's a phone in his hands.

Why is there a phone in his hands, he's supposed to be flying a -

He'd crashed it, actually.

Well shit.

Damn.

Eddie's gonna be so pissed if he has to find out second hand that Buck's going to get a really fucking shitty call in a few hours.

He should call.

---

When he blinks open his eyes, he finds his fingers first, nearly has a panic attack when they don't move they way he wants them to, except - oh.

There are fingers interlocked with his.

Tommy follows the line of the arm, even though he knows.

"Sorry," Evan says, and there are tears unshed at the corners of his eyes but he looks mad as hell. "You only get one dramatic exit out of my life in a calendar year."

[imheretoreadafic]

Headcannon that Bruce keeps a mental record of everyone, he loves' favorite color and takes it very seriously.

Tim? Red. That one is pretty obvious. He also takes favorite colors fairly seriously and will stab someone over getting the red color in Connect Four. Bruce makes sure he gets as many red pens and markers as he craves and always grabs a red option if there is one. He also makes sure to stay within the red range he likes because he doesn't like firetruck red but more of a crimson or cherry red.

Dick? Blue - again, pretty obvious with his suit. But because he's the oldest sibling, he's pretty used to letting the others take the blue things. Bruce tries to make sure he can have blue, too, whenever he can.

Duke? One would assume yellow, but he's actually more of a yellow-orange guy (Yes, there's a different fight me). Bruce makes sure to grab things in that color if it's an option - expect for furniture. Duke thinks that a yellow-orange desk chair/shelf/door/wall, etc, is tacky. He DOES love yellow-orange stickers, though.

Jason likes black... and baby blue. Bruce is one of the only ones who knows about him liking baby blue, and he only knows because he noticed Jason gravitating towards it when he was in a space where he wouldn't be teased for not being super edgy all the time. Bruce thinks it's silly he's embarrassed about liking baby blue - especially because he's just fine dressing in bright pink but he thinks it might have to do with the gentle and childlike association with the color rather than masculinity. Bruce buys him a big, fluffy, and very well-made baby blue blanket for his first Christmas back at the manor and Jason damn near cries.

Damian? Damian was tough to figure out because he thought the idea of favorite colors was silly and childish. So, Bruce originally went with green because of his preference for it in decor and fashion. However, he slowly realized it was indigo. So he bought him brushes with indigo handles and a dog bed for Titus that was indigo and generally just a bunch of small items in indigo over time to not make him seem suspicious. (Damian realized what he was doing despite his best efforts and painted Bruce with his indigo brushes, indigo paint pallet, sitting on an indigo stool because Bruce is shit at being subtle).

Steph? Another fairly obvious one - purple. She loves EVERYTHING in purple, and while Bruce internally gags, he tries to match her energy. Every single gift he gives her is purple if he can help it and is in purple wrapping paper.

Babs likes a golden orange (different from yellow-orange, and once again, I will throw hands over this). He buys (and helps her put them on because its a lot harder than it looks) wheelchair spooks covers in that color for her.

Cass doesn't really have a favorite color per se, but she definitely liked cool tones, pastels and iridescents. She finds bright and neon colors to be a bit overwhelming, but she also doesn't like constant gray scale. For a while, her life felt like a gray scale, and it still does sometimes, but that just isn't who she is. She is thousands of colors, pooling and swirling and constantly changing. And if she wants to repaint something for the seventh time? Goddammit, Bruce is going to help her.

(Do they have Canon fave colors? Idk and idc. Assigning them colors is fun for me and im gonna keep it up)

[obzessed]

HP characters : powerpoint presentation headcanon

This is so random but here is how I imagine marauders' era characters doing a powerpoint presentation

The Marauders

Do over the top presentations, (down to using costumes, yes) would make the wildest powerpoint (too many colors because they can’t agree on anything)

They make it really fun and entertaining tho

use the airplane (flying broom ??) transition, except the airplane is on fire for some reason

indian drama level of presentation

Will Not stop giggling and interrupting each other

Jocks in middle school vibe, but they’re actually really smart

here to clown and have a laugh

generally get a high grade but get points deducted for clarity and taking too damn long

Severus Snape (+bonus Lily Evans)

In a solo presentation, Severus would make perfect, pristine presentation

King of bullet points

University standards powerpoints

only uses peer reviewed articles

always criticizes said peer reviewed articles

Never uses notes, but doesn't look the audience in the eyes ever

Doesn't look at the audience period

He's not shy, he doesn't even do it consciously

Extremely complicated subjects, Will Not Dumb It Down For You

If anyone has a question, will look at them as if they’re the biggest idiot in the room

The type to explain by simply reformulating what he just said

If they still don’t understand either sighs dramatically and moves on, or sighs dramatically and start drawing on the board, speaking veeeryyyyy slowly, you let me know where I lost you idiot fellow classmate

Actually explains really well when he puts in some effort, has this clean cut way of decomposing each problem and detailing each point, then tying it all back together that makes it really easy to follow

writing on the board and drawing legitimately helps him lay out his thought process

the condescension is just a plus

Type of presentation that is objectively very good and interesting and well thought out but like. no one cares. bring back the airplane transitions.

For a few people sufficiently advanced and interested and who actually understand what he’s talking about, (and who are not rebuked by his style and general attitude), it’s a v good presentation

Positive : Always adds something new and generally brings really pertinent arguments, genuinely passionate about what he’s talking about

Teachers pick up on his fast out of the box thinking and surprising creativity

his powerpoint design is a little depresso, no colors except to highlight important words

very minimalist and to the point

Regulus argues every point of his presentation

Academic rivals to lovers frfr

Gets point deducted for his attitude and his “lack of enthusiasm”

NOW Severus + Lily = best of both worlds, get an O everytime

Lily always insists on using canva (their pwp designs are so cute)

overall they balance each other really well

I feel like Lily would get a little giggly if she fumbles

The marauders would def shout “boring” and giggle like middleschoolers at the back of the class during Snape's presentation

Snape's ability to remain unfazed in the face of bs stems from there

God help them all if they get paired up for a presentation

Marauders + Severus

Snape would have to settle for at least one airplane transition

It would become a war of adding and deleting each other's progress on the pwp design

they split it in two but they try to gain terrain on the other's part like in Clash of Clan

They are at WAR

“I am a commander in battle and your slides are but a village on a map” James Potter

“Fuck you” Severus Snape

“Go jump off an airplane if you like them so much”

Somehow the presentation is even more chaotic than the previous one

passive aggressively asks the other to click on the next slide

always takes the other's question just as they're about to speak

If Snape sees a single one of them look at their notes for too long it's on sight (RIP Pettigrew)

Bc Fuck if he's gonna lose points over this

best or worst grade

lots of brain cells

Teacher tried to make the braincells hold hands but the brain cells are Enemies

[linkons-most-wanted]

Love your high school AU! How would you rank the LIs with respect to their overall academic performance and considering how much they actually care about it? (I feel like Zayne would be first place but Sylus is kinda competitive so...)

Oooh I love this question!

Smarts-wise, Sylus and Zayne are neck-and-neck. They have different kinds of genius. Sylus is intuitive and Zayne is methodical.

I think Sylus is simply too ADHD to care enough about grades to have his GPA reflect his intelligence, though. 😂 Teachers that vibe with him (by having reasonable and non-shitty policies) would be giving him A+ across the board, whereas in other classes if he thinks the homework is stupid he's just not going to do it. So he'd be the classic student where the teachers bemoan that he's "not living up to his potential". But he writes some damn good poetry.

Now Zayne, on the other hand--give him a rule and he's going to follow it. The man simply cannot do anything half way, and he's masochistic enough to do what needs to be done to get the grades (lookin' at you, med school). As a quintessential type five, he simply will not rest until he knows All The Things. The grade is secondary--if he can't ace the test, then he doesn't know All The Things and so he must study more.

Caleb's the one that's going to get really competitive. He's as ADHD as Sylus, but you think he's gonna let pipsqueak see Zayne be better at something than him without a fight? Hell no! Caleb will be casual about it at all times, of course, but as we know from Pathless Realms he was a top student at the Aerospace Academy. He's also going to subtly avoid topics he might not be as good at, packing his schedule with things that come easily to him. (Very type seven of him.)

I'm totally blanking on who made it, but I saw a lil comic about Zayne and Caleb where Zayne had no idea he was top of the class and Caleb was checking the rankings daily and trying to give Zayne a hard time, but Zayne was totally oblivious, and I just thought that was spot on. 😂

Xavier is definitely next up--he's mentioned that he got good grades in subjects he cared about, but not the others. So, he's up there, but def has a B- or a C+ floating around in there 😂 He's also maybe fallen asleep during a midterm or two...

Then we hav our dear fishie. Rafayel is as averse to being told what to do as Sylus, but completely unmotivated by status or money. Any time spent in class is time not spent on art. Any time studying is time not spent on art. Why exactly do I have to do anything that's not art? seems dumb. I'm sure he's got his teachers begging him to turn in the extra credit assignments so they don't have to fail him for the year because wow yeah his art is incredible.

It's not that Rafayel isn't smart. He picks up on more than people realize--as his teachers find when they try to call him out for doodling in the back of class and he immediately gives a complete and correct answer. But if he got really into a painting this week, yeah he's gonna skip the homework. And maybe he'll put in an effort for 70% of the test, but that's probably good enough, and he's gonna circle C for the rest of the questions and go back to doodling (probably MC) in the margins of his notebook.

Art history though? He can teach that class--and he does. Substitute teacher who? Just say something vaguely controversial and you can't stop Rafayel from talking about it. All that math stuff is for someone else to figure out. (Poor Thomas 😂)

Rafayel is also 100% going to pretend to be confused to get MC to tutor him. "I don't get it, can you explain it again?" (He already aced the homework last week.) Being doted on by her sweet, earnest, diligent efforts to explain? A million times better than getting A's.

So it's definitely Zayne > Caleb > Xavier right at the top of the class rankings.

Then, whether Sylus or Rafayel have worse grades depends a lot on whether Sylus sees an opportunity to drop out and start his own business. Why compete with other high school students for a piece of paper when you can be out there making real money, y'know?

If they both manage to graduate, they're pretty even in terms of DGAF energy 😂 But they'd also both be way higher in the class rankings than other people expect. The delinquent and the artist who never does his homework in the top 25%? What? How!

[lilacgyuvin]

out of my league — k. gyuvin

pairing: nerd!gyuvin x popular!gn!reader

synopsis: it’s valentine’s day! what better way to confess to your longtime crush (and the highschool’s most popular student) than with a letter shoved through their locker. just don’t let jiwoong find out.

wrd count: 6.3k (DAMN OKAY BITCH!!!)

warnings: highschool!au, slight hurt/lots of comfort, bully!jiwoong (srry someone had to do it), bullying, one km s joke, reader isn’t a bully, eunseok of riize sneak, jiwoong is really mean 😭 a little crack, funeral talk, not to be taken seriously this is fiction!!

a/n: yk i had to write smth with valentine’s day coming up!! i lobe gyuvin gyuvin pls be my valentine pls plsplspls

“I put a note in their locker.”

It probably wasn’t the best sentence starter, which Gyuvin realizes only after Taerae starts to choke on his strawberry soda mid-chug. Despite his eyes practically bulging out of his head paired with a boisterous gasp amidst hearing Gyuvin’s doings, Eunseok reaches a lending hand out to his suffocating friend’s back.

“You what?!” Eunseok screams in a hushed tone, despite being the only three occupants of the classroom. If Gyuvin didn’t think it was a stupid idea then, well, he certainly does now. He honestly wasn’t going to tell anyone at first; the embarrassment mixed with the fear of rejection almost made him drop the whole plan as a whole. However, binging 3 romance dramas back to back gave him the confidence he’d never thought he’d have otherwise if it weren’t for the male leads and their suave ways, which is what leads him to where he stands today: sending a confession letter to his longtime crush which also ended up being the cause of his friend’s premature death. Thanks, Choi Woong!

Taerae unfortunately survives his cough attack and uses his regained ability to breath properly to discourage Gyuvin’s efforts even more. “Jiwoong’s gonna kill you man.”

Yes, that’s exactly what he wanted to hear right now. He decides against answering with sarcasm and opts out to rolling his eyes as hard as he can at the mention of he-who-shall-not-be-named.

“He didn’t see me put it in,” He certainly didn’t, and Gyuvin knows this because he showed up an hour earlier than normal to slip the note in, partly to avoid Jiwoong and to also beat his inevitable numerous contenders. “Plus, they’re not even dating. They don’t like him.”

Eunseok and Taerae share a glance. They look back at Gyuvin. “Did they tell you that.”

Gyuvin’s starting to get tired of rolling his eyes. Of course they didn’t tell him that, they’re nowhere near close. While they’ve coexisted in the same space for the past four years, their friend groups are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum. They’re admired by everyone, in numerous clubs, and is practically known by the whole school. The only club Gyuvin’s a part of is the Epic Gamers Club™ held at Eunseok’s house every other day. And as far as being admired goes…

“Yo. Gyuvin.”

Oh fuck, it’s so over. Gyuvin is going to die. What’s-his-face is here and Gyuvin is going to die, all because he couldn’t confess to his crush like a normal person. How did Jiwoong even see him? It’s not like he handed the letter to them in plain sight, and there’s no way in hell Jiwoong showed up to school an hour early.

Well, none of that matters anymore. Jiwoong is now walking into the once peaceful confines of the classroom, his goons right behind him, and Gyuvin’s about to meet his end.

All he asks is that Y/n is at his funeral.

Despite coming into the classroom for Gyuvin, Jiwoong is kind enough to make time to mess around with his friends first. Wedging himself in between the three desks facing each other, Jiwoong snatches Taerae’s glasses off his face and tosses them to the floor, and at the same time shoves Eunseok’s tuna mayo kimbap out of his hands. So much for escaping the lunch room.

After watching his friends scramble for their discarded items, Jiwoong turns his back to them in favor of facing Gyuvin, his signature smirk plastered on his face.

Kim Jiwoong: The entire school’s boy crush and simultaneously Gyuvin’s worst nightmare. Going into high school, Gyuvin didn’t think he’d have problems with anyone, his plan was simple: make a decent amount of friends, stay in the honors program so he can get into his dream university, and best his all-time score in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Oh, and get into his first relationship (since the girl he ‘dated’ in the second grade didn’t count, according to Taerae).

He guesses he strived too hard at the second thing though, as in their freshman year Jiwoong was left at second place in their classes overall academic ranking, and Jiwoong was never second.

Ever since then, Jiwoong has tried everything to sabotage Gyuvin’s grades, which ended in failure each time. So, he just stuck to messing with him. Now Gyuvin wouldn’t really mind if he had got reprimanded for his actions, but he gets away with it— every time. Sneaking slaps upside his head when passing him through the halls, pushing and tripping him during gym, and ‘accidentally’ spilling his drink onto his uniform (which is what initiated classroom lunches amongst him and his friends in the first place): he got away with it all, for four damn years. All because of that facade he puts up in front of everyone. With his perfect grades combined with his charm, he’s adored by students and faculty alike— all but the few who were unfortunate enough to be victims of his ridiculing, Gyuvin included.

The devil himself opens his mouth once again. “I haven’t seen you in a while, you hiding from me?” His smirk forms into a smile, yet it doesn’t reach his eyes, and it holds the same sinister tone as his previous expression did.

Gyuvin looks up at him, disdain hidden behind the neutral shield he’s learned to master in favor of avoiding a swift blow to the face (not that it ever stopped Jiwoong from landing one, anyway). “No.”

At that, Jiwoong’s smile drops, his eyebrows furrow in fake confusion and he starts to look around the empty room. “But… you’re having lunch. In an empty classroom. When there’s a perfectly good cafeteria waiting for you downstairs.” Jiwoong’s friends snicker by the door as he leans down to be eye level with Gyuvin. “Don’t you find that rude, Gyuvin? The staff make sure the cafe is cleaned spotless for scum like you to eat, and you’re eating in the classroom?”

Literally what the fuck is he even talking about. It isn’t uncommon for students to eat in the classrooms, and he knows this because Jiwoong’s literally done it before. It’s in that moment that he realizes Jiwoong just came in here to mess with him, which means he doesn’t know about the letter which means that he won’t die today. Looks like he’ll live to see another day after all!

His newfound happiness isn’t long lived, as in the span of one second, Gyuvin blinks and his food is nothing but a pile of solids and liquids on the classroom’s floor.

Jiwoong gives him a mean snare, despite the fact that all of Gyuvin’s attention is to his now germ-infested food. “And now look, you made a mess.”

Gyuvin can barely hear him and his friends laughing with the way his ears are ringing— no, practically blaring throughout his head. His bulgogi over rice is on the floor. His fucking bulgogi over rice, the last of its kind (as his mom let him have the last of the leftovers), is now nothing but a concoction of soggy meat and rice sautaed with his strawberry milk.

Usually, Gyuvin would be the bigger person and walk away; he’d shut his mouth, clean up the mess, and go about his day. But for some reason, he doesn’t feel like being the mature one today. Maybe it’s the never ending grating laughter coming from his friends, maybe it’s because he’s tired of Jiwoong pushing him around, or maybe it’s just because his mom’s bulgogi is the best bulgogi, and now he can’t have any, all because Kim Jiwoong was bored.

Without a second thought, Gyuvin rises from his chair, lifting his arms to push at the chest of an unexpecting Jiwoong, who stumbles onto the desks of Gyuvin’s friends behind him (he’ll apologize to them for that later). Jiwoong unfortunately finds his footing rather quickly, and doesn’t waste a second as he roughly grabs Gyuvin by the collar, dragging him to the nearest wall and slams him against it. “You fucking crazy? Huh?!”

Those dramas must be really getting to me, Gyuvin thinks. It becomes obvious when he doesn’t shut his mouth after Jiwoong’s question. “Fuck you, Jiwoong.”

He doesn’t even mean to spit in his face, but it happens when he speaks, and he can feel his past self crying tears of joy. He’s been wanting to do this for four years. Maybe the bulgogi sacrificed itself for this very moment. Thanks, Bulgogi. I’ll never forget you.

Jiwoong dryly laughs, lolling his head to the side like the psycho he is. “Yeah, you’ve clearly lost your mind. I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

Okay, remember when Gyuvin thought he was free from begging murdered and would live to see another day? He’s starting to think he spoke too soon.

It’s like things are moving in slow motion; Jiwoong releasing a hand on his collar in favor of making a fist angled straight at Gyuvin’s nose, his friends standing from their seats in dreadful anticipation, and the swift breeze that comes from the door being swung open.

“Leave him alone, Jiwoong.”

Ah, his guardian angel.

In less than a millisecond, Jiwoong’s vice grip on Gyuvin’s collar is released, and the fist ready to knock him out is lowered to his side. A deep sigh escapes his throat before he turns to the agitated student. “Go back downstairs, Y/n. This is nothing.”

Gyuvin almost laughs wholeheartedly at Jiwoong’s weak attempt to redirect them. As if he could get them to do anything he said.

Y/n cooks their head to the side, which in Gyuvin’s book is a telltale sign that they’re about to read the fuck out of Jiwoong. “Yeah, it was nothing, until you decided to come in here and bother them for literally no reason. Do you seriously have nothing else better to do?”

Gyuvin can feel an amused smile crawling onto his face as he watches Jiwoong scramble to find an excuse. Seeing Jiwoong try his hardest not to physically deflate in front of his friends would never get old.

And neither would his good-boy facade, apparently! Despite being caught in the act by Y/n for the millionth time, Jiwoong still attempts to save face by pulling out the puppy eyes plucked from the deepest pits of Hell, paired with the fakest apologetic look Gyuvin’s ever witnessed, and turns to be face to face with Y/n, caressing their arm in what he thinks is a comforting gesture. “Come on, don’t be like that. What, you want me to apologize?”

“Yes.”

Like he’s just heard he’s due to get castrated tomorrow morning, his hand’s cease the petting motion and Jiwoong does a double take. “You serious?” He looks into their eyes for any signs of humor behind them (which is stupid for issuing an apology, Gyuvin thinks), and when he doesn’t find any, he drops the act faster than Gyuvin can say ‘COD sucks’ and pinches the bridge of his nose, letting out the loudest groan known to man. “Oh my- fine.” Jiwoong looks to his right, locking eyes with him, “Sorry for knocking over your piece of shit lunch, Gyuvin.”

Piece of— his mom’s bulgogi?! Of course Jiwoong wouldn’t know the significance the lunch held for Gyuvin, but he wouldn’t care anyway, so Gyuvin breaks eye contact and rolls his eyes as far into his head as humanly possible.

Gyuvin, now making his way to his book bag to retrieve napkins for his late lunch on the floor, can’t see the look of disbelief on Jiwoong’s face, but he sure can hear it. “What, you’re not gonna accept my apology?”

Gyuvin doesn’t stop fetching for the tissues even when he hears Jiwoong’s footsteps approaching him, and neither does he stop when they come to a halt. “He doesn’t have to do anything,” When he finally retrieves the napkins, Y/n is at his side on the floor, grabbing the empty plastic bag on his desk. “Now if you aren’t going to help clean up, then leave.”

Jiwoong furrows his eyebrows. “You don’t need to help them, Y/n.”

“I also don’t have to meet with you at the cafe after school.”

Oh, Gyuvin knows that one hurt. Everyone knows Jiwoong’s been dying to ask Y/n out for a while now (mostly because he’d never shut up about it), and boy was Gyuvin right. He stumbles over his words as he raises his arms before dropping them. “Come on, Y/n. It’s Valentine’s Day.”

Despite the obvious hurt in his voice, they don’t even spare him a glance, focusing on the mess in front of them. “..So? We’re not dating, take Minjeong or something.”

A beat of silence passes, and he thinks Jiwoong died of embarrassment until a scoff erupts from his throat. Okay, there was no way Gyuvin would miss out on seeing Jiwoong’s face after getting rejected before he could even confess, so he raises his head and fully suspects Jiwoong to be sulking or something. He was so wrong. When Gyuvin looks up, Jiwoong is staring right at him, his eyes holding nothing but disdain and revulsion. Wow, Gyuvin thinks, if this is how he reacts to them just simply helping me, what’s he gonna do when they accept (which they hopefully will) my confession? He’d rather not think about that right now actually, and he doesn’t have to any longer, as Jiwoong turns on his heels and makes his way out of the classroom, his goons behind him, but not before mumbling a parting gift for Gyuvin. “Fuckin’ freak.”

So original. Anyway, Gyuvin’s just glad he doesn’t have to deal with him for the rest of the lunch period. His friend’s are quick to his side, and he reassures them that he’s fine. “I’ll go get more napkins.” Eunseok nods and rises from the floor, and is halfway through the door before he stops when he realizes Taerae isn’t behind him.

He cranes his head to the side, and from the corner of his eye he can see Taerae still at Gyuvin’s side. Unbelievable. “Um, Taerae.” He raises his head to his friend standing, and doesn’t get the hint until Eunseok is nudging his head towards the hallway in a ‘get-the-fuck-out’ sorta way.

He looks between Gyuvin and Y/n before his whole body straightens, finally getting up from his crouching position. “Oh! Um, yeah. I’m going to get napkins too.” While Taerae walks towards his other friend, Gyuvin raises his head, and Eunseok gives him a thumbs up in support. It’s in that moment that Gyuvin decides pizza’s gonna be on him at tonight’s Epic Gamers Club™ meeting.

A beat of silence passes, only the sounds of his poor lunch being scooped up into the bag are heard, until Gyuvin musters the courage to start the conversation.

“Thanks for helping me.” He doesn’t have to stop his task to know that they’re smiling. “Of course, I’m sorry about him.” They say in a remorseful tone.

Gyuvin hates the way they apologize on Jiwoong’s behalf, but at the same time he can’t help the way their kindness makes him feel all warm and gooey inside— They're just too good for this world. “You don’t have to apologize for him. You’re not his babysitter.”

His last comment seems to make Y/n laugh. ‘Huh, I’m just funny like that, I guess’ (It’s what he’s thinking, but his friends would agree to disagree.) “It sometimes feels that way.”

Gyuvin hesitates to ask his next question; they’re not exactly close, but he’s been feeling all sorts of confident recently, so he does anyway. “Why do you hang out with him? With them?” ‘Them’ being the rest of Jiwoong’s posee who think they’re hot shit; being all types of mean to other students just because of their looks or their parents’ social statuses. Gyuvin doesn’t think he hates anything more than a snobby rich asshole, which is what induced Gyuvin’s question in the first place, because Y/n isn’t a snobby rich asshole, yet they hang out with a group of them. It’s a question he’s been dying to ask for years now, and all it took was for Jiwoong to fuck up his lunch. Gyuvin almost mentally thanks him, but he barfs in his mouth a bit just thinking about it.

A few seconds pass, and it seems like they’re trying to find an answer to the question themselves. A nervous sigh passes through their lips as they wipe at the strawberry milk staining the floor. “Well, I guess I just fell into it? The friend group, I mean. When I first transferred, I thought they were really nice. At least they treated me that way. I don’t know why.”

‘Because you’re smart and all types of talented and you’re fucking gorgeous’ and a thousand other things is what Gyuvin wants to say, but he keeps his thoughts to himself and lets them continue. “But yeah, they’d always push me to hang out with them, and I guess by the time I realized who they truly were, everyone had already established their friends groups.” At this point is where they ran out of napkins and there was still a bit of the mess left over, so the two sit across from each other, leaning on the legs of the desks behind them. Despite loving the alone time they’re getting, Gyuvin hopes Eunseok and Taerae come back with more tissue soon, or else he’d have to explain the mess to his teacher, thus taking the fall for Jiwoong once again. His sulking that came from just thinking about the possibility is interrupted when Y/n speaks again, in a more hushed tone this time. “I guess I’m just scared of being alone.”

Woah, Gyuvin’s never thought of it that way. Having no friends was a valid fear, hell, Gyuvin felt that way before he met his. He can’t imagine how it would affect Y/n. The school’s most popular student: a loner— they’d never hear the end of it.

He hates that they feel like they need to hang out with pieces of shit to avoid being lonely, when that isn’t the truth at all. As delusional as it may sound, Gyuvin is right here. Who cares if they don’t have similar interests? They can introduce each other to all their different hyper fixations and special interests. And so what if they’re from seemingly different worlds? Gyuvin would swim across all the oceans and walk over thousands of miles if it meant getting to be with Y/n. Every time they’re paired to work on an assignment together, whenever they congratulate him on yet another academic achievement, when Y/n spots him in the hallway and stops to talk to Gyuvin and only Gyuvin. It never gets old, his heart beating a million times over with how kind and effortlessly funny and drop dead gorgeous they are. Fuck, he thinks, I don’t know if I’ll be able to go on if they reject me.

Gyuvin never wants them to feel alone, he needs to let them know that such a thing can never happen. He can tell his silence goes on longer than expected with the way they start to nervously fiddle with the edges of their uniform sleeves. He says it before he can think about it for another second. “You don’t have to be alone. I-I know we’re not close, but you can talk to me.”

With the speed in which their head lifts from their fixed view on the ground, Gyuvin doesn’t know if he’s successfully swooned them or if he effectively fucked up his chances at being anything to them. He needs to save face, so he raises his hands in defense, his eyes widening in pure fear. “O-only if you want to! Like. Just in case you felt like it or whatever.” Yeah, it totally wouldn’t put me into anaphylactic shock if you were to seek me out in any way shape or form!

Gyuvin lowers his hands, leans back on the legs of the desk, and watches as Y/n’s expression transforms from one of shock, to pure adoration. Their eyes soften in a way Gyuvin’s never seen before, and if he were to look a little closer, he swears there are tears swimming at the brim of them, threatening to fall.

‘FuckifImadeY/ncryI’mgonnaenditall’ is the one thought running through Gyuvin’s head as he waits for a response. He isn’t joking either— he’s sorry to his loved ones and all that, and he supposes the Epic Gamer Club™ would have to go on an indefinite hiatus with the emotional trauma it’d leave on his friends. He wonders if his dog would be brought to his funeral?

Turns out he won’t have to plan out his funeral arrangements after all, that becomes clear when a warm smile meets their eyes, and the tears dwindle to a glassy thin layer over their eyes. “I’d love to. Thank you, Gyuvin.”

Oh Gyuvin thinks his heart just exploded, but like, in a good way. A love explosion, if you will. He doesn’t waste a beat before he’s sporting a smile of his own, sitting straighter than before. “Anytime.”

His friends aren’t back, the period isn’t over yet, and he doesn’t want to stop the conversation there. So, he talks about the thing that’s been plaguing his mind for the past week. “I saw your locker. You got a lot of letters.”

Y/n laughs bashfully at the mention of the hundreds- no, thousands of letters they received today. When they arrived at school, they opened their locker and was bombarded with a sea of pink and red cards that practically drowned them, and by the time second period rolled around, their desk was stuffed to the brim with even more advances in the form of candies and cute plushies. “Yeah, I haven’t even gotten to a single one yet! I’ll do it before school ends, though. I’m glad people like me enough to get me things.”

They’ve got to be kidding. The spring semester of freshman year was absolutely rocked by the wave that was Y/n’s arrival. Despite coming from a normal, middle class family, they were quick to rise in popularity. At first, it had just been their beauty that seemed to draw everyone in, but as soon as they were able to showcase their physical and academic skill, along with their endless heaps of kindness, they became more than just a pretty face, and the whole student body can testify to that. Unfortunately, by the 4th day into the new semester Jiwoong and his loser-ass friends had already sunk their claws into Y/n and scooped them up before any other group could. But yeah, anyone who doesn’t love Y/n is crazy and is probably most definitely going to hell.

‘I hope you read mine.’ It’s at the tip of his tongue, he’s straightening his posture to sit taller and ask them with his whole chest, and—

“More napkins!” is the opener Taerae decides to go with as he and Eunseok barge into the confines of the classroom. “Uhh sorry we took so long, we were arguing about…” he turns to Eunseok who just shrugs his shoulders before turning back to the two. “.. who the strongest avenger is.”

Gyuvin wants to roll his eyes, partly because they couldn’t have come up with a lamer excuse even if they tried, they unknowingly sabotaged his unplanned confession, and cause the strongest avenger is obviously Scarlet Witch.

He decides against it, rather locking eyes with Y/n who he finds is already staring at him, and they exchange equally bashful smiles. Gyuvin isn’t mad at his friends, not when they invade his and Y/n’s space to help clean the last of the mess, and not when they use the rest of the lunch period to bombard them with questions like, ‘have you read kimetsu no yaiba?’ and ‘where would you go if a zombie apocalypse broke out?’ (they answered with staying in Seoul, which prompted Taerae to blatantly tell them they’re going to die, which in turn earned himself a slap from Gyuvin).

He isn’t mad because he still has a chance: today, at 3:00 in room 124 after school like his letter specified. He hopes, some way, that through the piles of letters and candies and plushies and whatever the hell else, they somehow recognize Gyuvin’s from the crowd, and pick him.

It’s time.

It’s time, and Gyuvin’s got it all figured out: Although school’s ended 45 minutes ago, he knows Y/n is part of the cooking club, so he isn’t keeping them behind or anything. He used that time to run to the flower shop a few minutes away and get them their favorites along with a stuffed animal. The classroom he initiated the meeting place in was one that was barely used by students, let alone teachers, so they wouldn’t be disturbed. Oh! And it’s on the first floor, so if Jiwoong happened to find out about his advances and decided to sabotage him with his friends, then he could jump out the window without sustaining any injuries.

Gyuvin’s got it all figured out, so why’s he practically shitting bricks right now?

There are a lot of reasons really— the main one being the fear of rejection which he’s afraid he’ll never be able to live down which will lead to him maybe most certainly doing something drastic.

But it’s 2:58, two minutes before Gyuvin’s letter says for them to meet, and he has to pull himself together. He decides pacing around the room a billion times isn’t gonna do the trick, so he opts out to sitting on the teacher’s desk instead, setting the flowers and plushie behind him. He pulls out his phone and at the same time receives a text from Eunseok.

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)>: let us know how it goes 🫡 also please don’t die today

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)>: taerae brought danganronpa and you know how he likes to voice the lines aloud. you’re nagito we need you

Along with Taerae’s ridiculous gaming antics, Gyuvin finds it amusing how Eunseok also thought about the possibility of Jiwoong finding him out, and it makes him laugh, somewhat calming his nerves down. It’s comforting to know that if this confession doesn’t end up going well, he’ll at least have his friends to fall back on.

“What’s so funny?”

The sudden voice echoes through the empty classroom and Gyuvin almost lauches his phone through the ceiling with the way he jumps.

His heart drops a million times over and he nearly passes out, but he doesn’t, as an angel was sent before him. The angel, if you will.

Standing by the now closed door was Y/n, the sun cascading over their skin to only amplify the seemingly everlasting glow on their face. The same tender smile that they gave Gyuvin a few hours earlier was back, and he looks down and—

They’re holding his letter.

Out of the swarm of all the pinks and reds, through the heart-shaped candies and the softest plushies, none of them are in sight but Gyuvin’s. Gyuvin’s, with the stupid Evangelion washi tape on the side preventing the envelope from falling open after he accidentally ripped it, the one with animal crossing stickers plastered every which way because Y/n mentioned the game once, the one with emoticons drawn on by Gyuvin himself in hopes of standing out in the sea of letters: it was in the grasp of Y/n’s hands, fiddling with the edges as they approach Gyuvin in what to him feels like slow motion.

He honestly feels like he could cry. Oh shit, is he crying? Gyuvin sets his phone down to raise a hand to his cheek, which is thankfully dry, but the action brings him back to reality and he realizes that he’s been staring for longer than normal, so he manages to use the little breath he has left to muster what he can.

“You came.” It’s not much, but it’s the best he can do, and way better than just staring at them in pure silence.

“Of course I did.” They say it like it’s the most obvious thing ever, which only serves to throw Gyuvin off even more.

“But- what about everyone else?” What he really wants to say is ‘why me?’ Throughout the day he’d pass by their locker, their desks, even Y/n themselves; everyone seeking them out were more than worthy candidates. Whether it were their looks, their popularity, or the fact that they were confident enough to confess straight to their face— all of them were more worthy than Gyuvin could ever be. So why were they here, at 3:00 pm in room 124 like the letter read?

They shrug, a knowing smile plastered on their face. “You said you wanted to talk?”

“Oh! Right. Yeah.” He opens his mouth, breathing in a handful of air before speaking again, “...I forgot what I was gonna say.”

It wasn’t a total lie! He was caught completely off guard, it was kinda expected to forget the speech he’s been practicing for weeks now. It doesn’t seem to phase Y/n though, for they simply shrug again, and begin to remove the letter from the envelope in their hand. “That’s okay. Maybe if we read your letter it’ll jog your memory.”

‘Dear Y/n,

I know we aren’t close, but you’re not like anyone I’ve ever met before. Please meet me in room 124 @ 3:00pm today, so that I can express my feelings in full.

— Kim Gyuvin’

It sounded like poetry when Gyuvin read it in his head, aloud in his room, and then to his mom for a second voice of opinion (she said he was better than Shakespeare, which went straight to his head). But now Gyuvin isn’t too sure how that made the final cut, he cringes a million times over when they read it out loud.

He scratches the back of his head and tries to hide his mortification as much as possible. “Sorry, I know that’s pretty vague..”

“It’s okay! You can say whatever’s on your mind, I’m all ears.”

Holy shit, this was really happening. He doesn’t know why, but he wasn’t expecting to get this far. Maybe he thought Y/n was too good for him, and he really did think about the possibility of Jiwoong finding him out, but none of that matters anymore— not when his dream come true is standing right in front of him, when they could be doing anything else right now and they decided to be with him. The fact that they’re even giving him the time of day is enough to fuel him with more confidence than those romance dramas ever could.

He stands up from the desk, and takes a deep breath. “I really like you Y/n, I have for a while now. You’re smart and funny and really pretty, and you’re always nice to me. I know we don’t like all of the same things, but that doesn’t bother me. I want to learn more about you, I want to learn everything about you. I hope you feel the same way, and if not, I understand. I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if we graduated without letting you know how I feel.” Without turning around, he reaches for the flowers and stuffed animal, trying his best to steady the nervous look creeping onto his face as he holds the items out between the two of them. “Please be my valentine! And then something more. If you wanted to.”

Gyuvin’s rant has finally come to an end, and he doesn’t realize they’re tearing up until he’s holding the items up for them to take.

Oh my God he’s seriously made Y/n cry, he’s got to end it now. It’s what he’s thinking until his personal space is being invaded by the warmth of the bone crushing hug Y/n has them in before Gyuvin can even apologize.

Despite their face being shoved into his chest, tears wetting his uniform vest, they still manage to muster a coherent response. “I’m glad you told me before graduation. Of course I’ll be your valentine.”

Wait, what? Gyuvin stiffens in their hold when he both realizes that he hadn’t returned their hug and that they said yes?! “Oh my God really? Wait. I’m sorry, I know this is what I like, wanted, but can I ask why?” their hold on Gyuvin releases a bit as he continues, “Is this just you being nice? Cause if so—”

In the span of two seconds, their warmth is gone, and Gyuvin can’t even sulk the lost feeling before he’s being punched in the arm. “Ow!”

Their tear stained face holds a look of offense, like Gyuvin just wronged their entire lineage. “You think I’m crying just to be nice?” Oh, he thinks, thats a good point. “I like you too, dummy. You’re really smart, and you never stoop to people like Jiwoong’s level whenever they bother you. Also, you get really cute when talking about your dog or those games you like.”

They actually listened to his stupid rants? How could he not blush at that? It spreads from his cheeks, all the way to the tips of his ears, and fails to go unnoticed by Y/n. “And when you blush. You’re just a big cutie.”

Oh Gyuvin’s having one of those love explosions again, but like, a million times worse. This can’t possibly be good for his health. In a poor attempt to hide his bashfulness, Gyuvin brings his hands up to cover his face, his words muffled by the makeshift shield. “Oh my God. I can’t believe this is happening.”

And apparently Gyuvin’s suffering is funny? Because now they’re laughing, coming closer and raising their own hands to grab at Gyuvin’s wrists, successfully pulling them away from his face. “Don’t be shy now! You’ve come so far.”

They’re right, he has come so far. So why cower away now? He’s quite literally got them in the palm of his hands (or vise versa, he should say), and he’ll be damned if he lets them slip away now. With their hands now holding his wrists at their sides, Gyuvin doesn’t have half the mind to think before he’s leaning in, landing a feather-light peck to their lips. ‘Oh fuck, am I doing this right?’ It isn’t until now that Gyuvin remembers he’s never actually kissed anyone before, and panic follows quickly as he pulls away, their faces still mere inches away. “I-I’m sorry. I don’t really know what I’m—”

Their lips are suddenly on each other again, but it’s Y/n who initiates the kiss, and it's beyond better than Gyuvin’s. It’s light and refreshing, like how Gyuvin feels whenever they’re around. Their lips are as soft as their hands in his grip, and he can feel them smiling against his as they continue. He never wants to let go of this moment.

He ends up not minding when it does end though, for when they both pull away, Y/n finally lets his wrists go in favor of holding his face in their hands, which has Gyuvin practically melting into their touch. “If you apologize one more time, I’m going to punch you again.” They smile, despite having just threatened him.

Gyuvin doesn’t mind, though. They could hit him with the force of a hundred meteors, and he’d still forgive them. So he just smiles, basking in the warmth of their hands. “So, what’d you wanna do now?”

Y/n ponders for a moment, and perks up not long after. “Wanna go grab food?”

Oh, Gyuvin could cry. Y/n came straight from the cooking club, where they make full course meals that they get to eat at the end, so there was no reason for Y/n to be hungry. Yet Gyuvin’s lunch was ruined by what’s-his-face, and there was no way he wasn’t starving by now, and they remembered that.

He doesn’t wanna ruin the mood with his crocodile tears, so he sucks up his tears as much as he can, and smiles fondly instead. “Sounds perfect.”

Gyuvin’s still in a minor state of shock when they walk out of the school's doors. The person who he’s been pining over for the past four years likes him back, and they’re going on a date. Is this a date? He doesn’t want to ask, rather basking in the sun from both the sky and the one right next to him. He’s kind of worried that Jiwoong is gonna find out, but he can’t find it in himself to care all that much when his valentine is holding his hand as they make their way to the train station.

He takes note of their warning from earlier, but he has to ask. “Are you okay? Sorry for making you cry.”

Gyuvin’s ready to take a punch, but he’s lightly shoved instead, making the both of them lose their footing a bit before walking in tandem again. “It’s okay. And yeah, you’re just really sweet.” They turn to him and smile, squeezing his hand lightly. “Okay, let’s learn more about each other starting now. What kind of ramen do you like?”

“Wanna check out the new spot downtown and find out?”

Gojo’s boy toys (◕ε◕*)

3:40 pm

You: bros.

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : bro??

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : was that a good bros or a bad bros

You: we kissed

You: we’re going out for ramen now

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : ?$/;&/??@

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : BROOOOOO

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : omg i’m crying

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : gyuvin im crying

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : he is crying gyuvin

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : we’re so happy for you bro.

You: thanks guys 😄

i’ll still be home in time to play so

just sit tight

taetae ˶^•ﻌ•^˵ : tell y/n i say sorry for saying they have zero survival instinct!!!

eunseokie <(˶ᵔᵕᵔ˶)> : AND FUCK YOU JIWOONG

a/n: in no way am i implying that doing things like reading manga or playing smash bros is weird, i just took things that’ve gotten me called a nerd 😭😭 also being a nerd isn’t bad i love my nerds 🫡 stream beautiful monster stan p1h get get get get a guitar bai

[spoonsock]

Score

Gwen Stacy x reader

Synopsis: You are a little shit head and Gwen doesn’t know how to play block blast lol

Does anyone want a part two bc I am tempted to write it

Today’s challenge for you is trying not to fall asleep in class. It’s really hard since the light is dimmed for the slideshow on the board to be visible and the teacher is droning on and on about something in a monotone voice AND you’re also really really tired. Playing sims 4 at 3 am is not doing you any good, especially not during exam season and you might as well get a degree in procrastinating.

You blink slowly and think about how you can’t wait to get back home and go to sleep.

Looking around the classroom, you try to find something to entertain yourself with. Majority of your classmates is also on the verge of falling asleep. You turn to your right and see a girl with choppy blonde hair seated next to you. She’s on her phone playing block blast and you kinda watch as she loses at 2397 score. And her highest score is literally 3814 so you don’t think before you lean a bit closer to her and open your stupid ass mouth.

“Bro you suck at block blast.”

You whisper and see her twitch because you probably scared her. She gives you a side eye just to check whether or not you’re talking to her, and seeing as you are like 4 inches away from her shoulder, she turns to you.

“I’m not playing to win, I’m playing cause I’m bored.”

She seems kinda annoyed and honestly you don’t blame her. But you don’t know what to say to that either so you give her a shrug and lean back in your seat.

You don’t speak to her again, but you do see her eyeing you a couple of times til the end of the class.

The day after, you see her again in PE. Actually, you realize, you two have a lot of classes together it’s just that she kinda keeps to herself so that’s why you’ve never noticed her, you guess. When teacher calls out for Gwen Stacy during attendance, that is the first time you hear her name and you do take effort to remember it.

The teacher yells at everyone to run faster and you think you are gonna pass out, when she passes you, running like her seventh lap which you think is insane and she must be some sort of lab freaking experiment because who in the everliving flip runs so much so easily.

The class is put in two teams for basketball and thankfully some of your friends are with you and you ask them to cover for you because you are super bad at basketball (you’re also like genuinely so inactive and take every chance to skip PE you lazy mf). So everyone is running around trying to get the ball and you are stalling behind them while hiding so the teacher can’t see that you’re not participating when someone actually passes you the ball and you fight the urge to just sit down and give up.

Anyway you are frozen and kinda panicking and everyone is looking at you when someone else kicks you with their elbow lightly and takes the ball right out of your hands. That specific someone is Gwen Stacy and she dribbles the ball like a damn pro and jumps like a million feet in the air to get the stupid ball in the hoop or whatever. Everyone goes back to running around and you just kinda stand there looking like you pooped your pants.

Gwen passes you again.

“You suck at basketball,, bro.”

You smile at her and pull out your middle finger and the teacher of course sees you and now you’ve got detention.

You come to a realization that you don’t exactly like Gwen Stacy.

You rant about your two previous interactions to one of your friends who says that they always thought Gwen was kinda weird.

From then on, you do pay attention to Gwen in all the classes you guys have together. She usually pays attention and sometimes she has something really obnoxious to ask the teacher in the middle of class just to show off that she knows more than the rest and that irritates you so bad, especially because her intention probably isn’t to be obnoxious and she’s actually interested in whatever subject she’s talking about.

You find out that she’s also in the school band and that makes sense because she does give off drummer vibes. A video of one of their shows is posted on the school page and it has like 2 views and you watch it so now there’s 3 views but then you watch it like a couple of more times so now there’s 6 views and each time you find yourself focusing on Gwen.

A few weeks later your friends invite you over to make a hear me out cake and you guys are all filming it on tiktok and you pull out a cutout of Spider-Woman and stick it into the front of the cake. The video goes viral on tiktok.

A few days later you get a follow request on instagram from @ gw3n.st4cyy and you’re kind of surprised since you thought she didn’t really like you either, but you accept it anyway.

[defnotv11]

JD fic where you work with Korn (sorta like a manager I guess) and he starts crushing on you ;)

| 𐙚 Jonathan Davis x Reader

authors note-FINALLY. deeply wanna apologize for taking so damn long, tysm for waiting and be patient! I had a shit tone of things to do but finally here it is🙏🙏💯

Warnings: none!

Being the manager for Korn wasn’t as easy. The stress and tour planning felt overwhelming, but over time, you learned to handle the demands of the job. Just like right now, you were currently trying to find a suitable venue for their upcoming show.

The chair creaked as I slumped back, the movement sending it wobbling unsteadily. My hands dropped to the arms, A frustrated sigh escaped my lips, the sound loud in the otherwise silent room. I hung there for a moment, suspended between the chair and the floor but the sound of someone’s voice made me snap out of my thoughts.

"Hey," the speaker said and from the sound of his raspy voice, I could tell it was Jonathan. He appeared to be in a much happier mood than he had been this morning. I sat up again and we made eye contact. “Oh hello,“ I said, cracking a little smile at him. “You look stressed.” He said. “Is it that obvious?” I joked. He chuckled and sat down on the stool beside me with a beer in his hand, playing with his dreads like he always does. There’s not one interview I’ve seen where he’s not playing with them. “Mind if I hang here?” He said as he took a sip from his beer. I smiled and leaned back against the chair, the fabric brushing against my neck. “yeah, kinda needed some company anyways…” I say my eyes looking down at the floor.

I always liked having Jon around. I love how he just goes on and on talking about all the things that he does and stuff that happens in his life here and there. It was kinda cute to be honest. I also noticed how he’s more open to me then others, he even tells me about his issues and personal things. At the corner of my eye, I could see him just staring at me. Almost out of admiration and watching every tiny movement I made. The room was silent as I continued to be lost in my own thoughts and being somewhat completely relaxed.

“um…I was wondering if you would like to come outside with me?” —— I snapped out of my thoughts at the sudden sound of his voice. His tone was sweet and had a hint of hope. I looked back at him and smiled. He was always so shy and awkward. Despite how rough and aggressive he is on stage, he is actually a just a shy guy. Honestly I did need to go out. I’ve been rotting inside since morning and it wasn’t gonna get any better if I stayed inside working. “Sure, why not” I say as I got up from my seat and fixed my shirt a little. Jon’s eyes darted up to my upper body and his eyes lingered a little on my chest and I could tell he was slightly blushing but he immediately brushed it off by getting up as well, now holding his empty beer.

The weather was warm and felt nice to be out in this nice weather. I listened to the trees rustle together and continued to walk with Jonathan as we stood in silence taking in the peacefulness. I always notice how he always wants to be near me and oftentimes gets a little jealous when I’m with someone else. The thought of that made me think of more things. Like when I’m on the phone or discussing things with others. He always seemed to be worried and jealous. I didn’t wanna think too much about it because I could be getting the wrong idea or assuming things. “uh….I made this for you..” He suddenly stopped walking and hands out a rock that had some sort of design. I could tell he put a lot of effort into it because of how he tried to make it perfect. I felt my heart flutter and I was slightly surprised. “For me?” I mumbled gently taking it from his hand and running my thumb over the design. “mhm….It’s nice right?” He said chuckling slightly and smiling at me with at goofy smile of his.

I felt a wave of affection and I found it so heartwarming. “Beautiful..” I said looking up at him. “Your really sweet, you know that?” I spoke softly and genuinely, I noticed he got a little flustered and red when I said “sweet”. He was though, very. “haha…I’m glad you like it…” he mumbled happily and I knew he was absolutely going insane inside.

[l0vem00nlight]

CHRISTMAS SCENARIOS: DAY 2 ~ MILES FAIRCHILD

♥︎ Miles Fairchild With an S/O Who Loves Christmas Music ♥︎

Oh lord…when I say you OWN his radio and his guitar you OWN it.

He loves you to death but man it gets him annoyed when you constantly ask him to play a christmas song instrumental or switch the music into some Christmas jam.

It’s a bonus for when you start singing along with the jolly music, whether his playing the instrumental or not he best believed that your gonna sing your heart out. It doesn’t matter if you can or cant sing he’s gonna hear those vocals.

Kate is so done with this. But do you care? No not really.

Miles just sits on his bed and watches you do whatever as the awfully loud christmas music plays in the background of your singing. He tries to hide that smile of his but he just can’t.

Sometimes you would start dancing and you would pull him to come join you on your excitement. He doesn’t really dance but he just kinda lets you take some control even though all he’s really doing is just swaying around and not putting effort into his moves.

He finds it a tad bit annoying when you tower control over his personal music items but yet you don’t care. You will do a jolly breakdance in his face whether he likes it or not.

Flora joins in on the fun and starts to dance with you IN HIS ROOM. He couldn’t even take yall anymore nor did he even bother to stop you two for the sake of his little sister’s happiness and your joy.

Miles now understands how Kate feels when he has his damn music up way too loud for her liking. He can’t blame her—it’s so annoying having that christmas music blazing in his eardrums.

Even after you are done with your christmas spirit unraveling he can still hear Mariah Carey echoing in his eardrums.

Once you even compared his and yours relationship to the song named Sleigh Ride in the few parts of the song much to his dismay.

Miles loves you, okay? But when you’re just spamming those songs every single day it just cuts it for him. The thought and the memory of having to hear so many christmas songs in one setting is ridiculous to him and also having to watch you breakdance to the songs is already too much. When you finally settle down he is glad. He is glad that you finally calmed yourself and now he gets to listen to whatever he wants to listen to. He loves you a lot to the moon and back but maybe calm down on the songs and not spam them over and over and over again and start hitting the whip and nae nae in his room…? But haters gonna hate anyway and he’s sadly one of them.

Again, he loves you so much but…come on. Just please lower it to a minimum.

I’m gonna add more than just some music because this is way too short-

During when you weren’t spamming christmas music you two are out building a snowman. It is really funny due to the fact that Miles was struggling to make the balls for the snowman. You did two and he did the smallest one which was the head because it wasn’t going too well for him and it was too cold for all that.

You two made Kate drive into town to get a carrot.

Snowball fights are like war. But Miles could’ve sworn that you at least put some rocks in your snowballs cause those should not hurt like that-

Miles could tell that you are competitive over snowball. Absolutely no reason as to why you ripped the snowman’s head off and threw it at him, carrot nose and pebbles and even the hat all came his direction. It was so foul…cause like damn..

You two have hot chocolate together and relax. This is probably his favorite time. Despite the christmas music playing quietly in the background it’s fine.

Other than that, he enjoys the holidays with you. As much as he dislikes the fact that you spam christmas music he enjoys seeing you all happy and dancing and it brings a smile to his face. When he sees you smiling all big like that he just can’t seem to stop the smile forming on his face as much as he tries to show his displeasure. To spend the Holidays with someone as happy and jolly as you can be tiring but also very nice as well and he hopes to encounter this every year during christmas…not the music though.

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

RWS Send-Offs

I actually started a list long ago ranking how well done each character's final "send-off" was, in ascending order. Rock bottom looked like this:

Oliver (Christopher damn near forgot that boy existed, the whole way through 😶 I think his name is mentioned twice. Maybe.)

Ivo Hugh (gets no lines)

Rheneas (Christopher has never once let him do or say anything interesting, though in his defense his old man never let Rheneas do that either 💀)

Duck (Christopher has never once let him do or say anything interesting, even though he historically HAS)

Douglas (Why? Just why???? 😭)

Apart from these examples, both Awdrys put some real thought into "send-offs" for their beloved characters — let's just establish that out the gate. Awdry pere loved a good callback, and he made sure to lay down plenty of them along the way, once he started getting into his "am I finally going to retire these stupid books?" phase (which began alarmingly early in the series...)

Christopher Awdry put in even more effort — indeed, sometimes he "did too much." Now, I think his efforts get obscured because he had simply run out of gas by the final book in the series (Thomas and His Friends), a lot of which is simply... ass. Still, even there, we can clearly see that he tried to do this as well as he could with Gordon. He tried hard, and the main reason that (for me) it doesn't work is an old, old, never-addressed Awdryesque sin re: Gordon.

However, one book earlier, while he was focusing on the branch lines, Awdry fils pretty much nailed it. God I wish he'd put this energy into more characters, but you know what. Rather than moan, I'm gonna appreciate what we've got. The two best send-offs in the series:

Edward

All right, none of these character send-offs are perfect … but Edward fuckin’ ate. First — he gets a lore drop?? Hot damn. I know all the characters got official backstory in The Island of Sodor but out here, in the real world, that one with books that normal people (cough — kids) read, Edward gets promoted to the rather exclusive club of characters whose pre-Sodor origins are actually acknowledged in-series. (For the hardcore fans, his Furness origins also got upgraded from “maybe?? 🤷” in IoS to a “wait, no, definitely yeah” here.) 

In “Avalanche” he gets to co-star and the story deliberately echoes a lot of his classic canon moments, in fact that could be a whole separate essay. The two big ones are that the story opens with a callback to “Edward’s Day Out.” Of course, in proper “series finale” fashion (albeit this isn’t the series finale, but shut up, it’s Edward’s finale anyway), instead of sitting idle in the shed and sad with the increasing anxiety that he’ll never be “chosen” to work again, here he’s sitting idle at the Works and there’s no uncertainty about his future, he’s being readied for the summer tourist traffic, it’s just that it’s been a week and he’s sooooo bored. Which? subtextually? such a nice problem to have compared to where we found him when he made his series debut; ya love to see it. 

The second major callback is to, like, every time in this series where Edward encourages and listens attentively to some poor sod who has/will barely escaped a fate of obsolescence and abandonment. Before we echoed how Edward’s life has changed over the course of the series; now we’re nodding to how Edward hasn’t changed. We’re gonna play this old tune, one more time. 

And? btw? It’s so well-done? Like normally when Christopher Awdry is obviously retreading something his father did he does not benefit by the comparison. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think we finally found something where Christopher can outwrite the old man. As sweet as those Wilbert scenes are (Edward listening to Thomas, to Trevor, to Skarloey, to Stepney, I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten one or two), Edward becomes more of a device in those than a living, breathing character; in the Wilbert versions of this scene Edward can generally be replaced by an AI-dialogue generator and a large cardboard cutout (if the cutoff shows him smiling in a vaguely ‘encouraging’ way, of course). He’s performing the same function here with Victoria, but the dialogue is… good? It feels like a genuine, two-way, gently humorous interaction, even though Victoria is doing the bulk of the talking? Edward is a living, breathing, 3-D character here? I’m not sure his personality has ever been drawn more clearly than in these small details? He’s youthful, he’s earnest, he’s curious, and goddamn if this boy doesn’t love working on the Fat Controller’s railway. It’s all here, perhaps in the clearest colours it’s ever been. 

And so, yeah, what more can you ask in a character send-off? The only weakness here (compared to a couple of the others) is that there’s nothing grand (ultimately, this is a boring book) and nothing’s new in Edward-land… but, well, that feels all right for this character, in a way that wouldn’t be acceptable with a lot of others (notably Gordon 💀). Besides, he did get to make a new friend and reconnect with his roots, so that’s a small change of a sort. 

Ultimately, though, Edward’s thriving, and he’s still eager to help see to it that others are thriving too. Oh, you wish in his final appearance we coulda seen that he’s still happily married? Christopher’s got ya fam, in the last story Edward takes Victoria to Knapford… but makes a little stop along the way to introduce her to BoCo ;) 

Toby — and Henrietta

Now, you may think Toby got kinda robbed. In his final appearance, it appears, for like 2 pages, that he’s gonna get the spotlight. The entire book’s premise is that he needs a coach, yeah? And titularly, Thomas has gotta be there, we get it, but this’ll be a Toby book, right? 

And then it’s sooooo not (‘and then it’s Edward with the steel chair!!!1’), and yeah, that kinda sucks. But you know what? Lack of screentime aside, Toby and Henrietta also get a very thoughtful send-off — starting with the fact that it’s very much Toby and Henrietta (and Elsie!), buffer to buffer. Now, Toby has actually done pretty well in the Christopher portion — way more lore drop than Edward ever gets, in fact, plus one of the few Heroic Determination stories that Christopher is ever gonna give us. But Henrietta hasn’t been nearly as centered — and how could Toby’s final appearance ever be satisfying unless it’s side by side with her? It couldn’t. And so, it isn’t. 

And the book’s set-up is the most heartwarming callback in this entire list: In their debut, we saw Toby and Henrietta, faithfully trundling along every day with Toby’s trucks, bereft of passengers — they’ve lost them all to the busses — when they get one family on their platform, it’s a gold-star day on their dying line and they rejoice when the family returns every day for the week of their holiday. Then they leave, and the line is deader than ever… and then the line closes down… :(((… and they’re left alone to face the Horrors… :((((((((

And now! Here we go! As the curtain rises on their final RWS storyline… Henrietta is soooo packed. Oh nnoooo, you guys! She’s overloaded! They’re suffering from a surplus of passengers! It’s at the point where they need to expand the family train.

I don’t know about you, but I’m fuckin’ cheering! Perfect bookend!

WE 👏 LOVE 👏 TO 👏 SEE 👏 IT 👏

This loses some points on the finale mainly because it’s hard to feel perfectly satisfied with the solution — it could be acceptable that Thomas “solves” the problem (is in the right place at the right time) rather than Toby — but the structure of the book, where we get to see Thomas and Edward bond with Victoria but not Toby, does tend to strike readers as a bit of a headscratcher. We’re told at the end that she’s a great addition to the train, and frankly I believe it (Toby has managed to befriend, and in Henrietta’s case at least live in peace with, Mavis and Daisy… in comparison, they’ll have no problem with one sweet, shyly-eager old coach whose long experience with their worst nightmare is something that they can both sympathize with and, to a small but definite extent, relate to is gonna be such an easy sell by comparison)... but it would be nice to have it shown. 

Also some people are just really unhappy with the new addition to Toby’s train, largely for aesthetic reasons. Personally I don’t object — I like mismatched consists — but I will note for the record that this is a loud and sizable portion of public opinion. 

I will co-sign the objection that the very end of this book, the Fat Controller’s speech and specifically the “Toby’s Vintage Train” thing, does feel both… patronising and pat? Maybe? Probably. Dunno. The vibes are kinda off. 

But it earns back a lot of those lost points for ensuring that we have a grown-up Stephen Hatt “in frame,” as it were, for Toby and Henrietta’s final appearance. Little Stevie. All grown up. The current Fat Controller. HELL YES. Yes, the ending feels like it misses just. a. bit. — but purely in execution. It does at least have all the elements it needs (an old friend! a new friend! job security and a loving community!) for me to say farewell to Toby and Henrietta (and Elsie, too) with a full but content heart.

--

It's kind of like @traintrainingmontage was saying earlier today, Christopher is really aware of the weight of time on these characters. He doesn't just make sure to show them happy in a pat way, he really grasps all the history behind each of their appearances and he's invested in showing that everyone is truly secure and loved.

[ch3rryb0mb3rr]

Tldr; please put warnings on smut and have it below the cut and stop sexualizing minors in media. Especially if they just came out of middle school thats weird. Write what you want but tag and put warnings when needed.

--

I get so pissed when im going to read something about my favorite character, and it's smut WITH ZERO WARNING.

No 18+, no NSFW, no MDNI and it isnt even in the fucking tags. I dont wanna read that shit. Put the damned warnings there for the love of all that is green on this earth it takes two seconds. maybe a bit more, but if you could pump out 3.4k words of pure porn, I think you can handle a couple of tags and warnings

I am a minor, and i use those warnings, so I dont read straight-up porn!! I also dont need to read about incest accidentally because there was NO warning, and it was NOT in the tags!!

(And for those of you who do put warnings, i thank you and wish the best in life!)

(I am also well aware that a lot of people dont listen to dnis like that, but it's helpful for the people trying to avoid reading stuff like that)

Also, while im on the subject, let's not sexualize minors in media. Yeah their hot, i can see that. But i dont want to see the start of an NSFW alphabet for a 15/16 year old. Aged up my ass. Just put the beginning below the cut?? And not after the first four letters??

I do NOT need to know a fav characters preferred body part is the tits thank you very much. I definitely do not need to accidentally read that they wanna suck on it like a damned bottle.

--

'This character as your friend is soo perverted he wants to steal ur panties hehehe' NO HE DOESNT. HE'S A TEENAGER AND LIKES CATS. TF?? theres adults in the majority of the show that are reasonably attractive. Write that shit about them.

'Oh, they have this list of kinks,' and its shit only someone who has read hardcore smut would have. They are 16 and most probably haven't had sex because the creator cant give them a fucking break from trauma.

'He would be soooo toxic and blahblahblah [insert romanticised assault and abuse and trauma]' NO. that boy is my age and is a nerd. Motherfucker wants to study at princeton and has absolutely no flirting ability. You're only saying that because he's black, most of that shit reeks of racism.

--

These characters are kids, CHILDREN, and you as an adult (if you are one) should not be writing smut about them, aged up or not. You should not be thirsting over a sophmore when theres PLENTY of good looking adults that you can be.

Theres a difference in growing up liking a character and having a crush on them and growing out of it when you're an adult. And being an adult thirsting over a teenage boy. It's not cute. it's not 'oh, it's fine because he/she's not real'.

Its really fucking gross actually.

--

At the end of the day just tag your stuff correctly. That way its easier for everyone else to find EXACTLY what they wanna read. Because at this point im just gonna start reporting fics with no warnings at the beginning.

Someome younger than me with no parents looking through their devices could stumble on that, and not know what it means, read it, and be scarred for life.

I was reading that stuff way way way too earlier and its fucked up my mental state a bit so if we collectively start putting in the effort to help prevent this from happening to another 11 year old or younger than we should do so.

--

Start gatekeeping fandoms like creepypasta from young kids, start tagging shit correctly

Another child does not need to end up somewhat hypersexul with very violent intrusive thoughts by the time they hit high school because their parents wouldn't look out for them, and the fandom did NOTHING to try to prevent it.

Its not your job to parent the kid, and to look over their should. Thats not what im saying.

It IS your job to, again, tag shit correctly, put warnings for gore, bluring violent images, saying outright that a certain game/book/story/etc your recommending is NOT for kids due to its violent nature/sexual content/etc. Reporting accounts of children under the age limit for social media (i.e., a 10 year old with discord or instagram) (it is breaking the T.O.S)

Act like that one lgbtq+ chat room website I was on for a couple weeks where all the adults kinda looked out for me a bit. And supported me figuring out who I was and collectively riped a guy to shreds after I blasted him at a failed attempt to groom me. (And told me I had done exactly the right thing in this situation. Also, hi, if you know who I am from there!!!) (Story time if ya'll want I look back and think its the funniest thing ever how I dealt with him 💀)

[crossdressingdeath]

I think that part of the reason you've had more fun with Veilguard that a lot of other people is Percy. I know you've put a lot of character building effort into him but that started before the game released. Other players don't have the advantage of that connection with Rook. If you weren't playing with Percy, do you think you'd have as much fun?

Yes. You know how I know that? I've played characters other than Percy. I talk most about him and play him most because he has the most internal worldbuilding and he is my precious darling blorbo from my head (and also I am a mage girlie at heart and that orb/dagger combat is so good), but I've also played both Mercar and Ingellvar and I've had just as much of a ball with them (aside from not liking warrior combat all that much, but that is very much personal preference and nothing to do with the objective quality of it).

I've talked about this on discord before, but there are absolutely games that I play repeatedly because I like My Little Guy rather than because the game itself is really worth the time commitment to me. DAI and BG3 come to mind; I have never played anyone but Alaris and Kyvir in those and I likely never will. I've vaguely thought about playing other characters or romancing someone else, but then I've remembered how long that will take and put it off for later, or more likely never, because my desire to see that additional content doesn't outweigh the sheer amount of time I'd have to put into it. DAV is not one of those games. I keep coming back to Percy because I love him best, yes! But I also loved playing Mercar and getting the Shadow Dragon stuff and rogue content. The Ingellvar content is incredible. I'm taking a break from DAV at the moment (both to play other games and because I don't want to do what I've done with too many games and play myself into boredom with something I love), but I'm really looking forward to when I pick it up again and run through the other Rooks and romances and the companion paths I haven't done yet. I genuinely love the plot, the combat is actually fun, the characters delight me (there isn't a single companion I want to strangle to death which is. a first in this series). Percy adds to my enjoyment, but he's not the reason I enjoy it.

And I'm gonna be honest here. If people can't connect to Rook... that's a skill issue. Rook is a gem. Best protagonist in the series (you could also argue Hawke but I like Rook better and this is my post so it's Rook). And they're the best protagonist specifically because they're not a blank slate to project your character onto! They have an actual personality! They have character! There's plot hooks for them beyond "uh well you gotta do the thing because it's a video game and you're the player character and if you don't the world ends" or vague chosen one bullshit! They're not some piece of wood with a face drawn on it like Quiz was, they're charming and funny and awkward and they have insecurities and regrets and history and preexisting relationships that actually come up in-game and they are so damn good. I actually had to rework Percy a fair bit both pre- and post-release to fit him onto the character and canon backstory of Rook de Riva as I learned more about them, and it was worth it because the character Bioware came up with for this role is a delight. They stand on their own without having to headcanon a whole backstory for them while still leaving plenty of room for player freedom and headcanon, and that's something that I really think Bioware is not being given enough credit for.

[herrscherofmagic]

so. as mentioned recently, i finally started wuwa.

and i have many a pleasant thought to share.

just now, a few minutes ago, i finished Chapter 1 Act VI. okay great right? and during this story near the end i realized there were some characters i hadnt yet met but who fought alongside us, so i think to myself “hmmm i may want to do some of the side missions now so i can learn more about this region and cast, because clearly some extra time has passed in the story but i mustve rushed past it when i beelined the main story…”

so i do what any sane person does and go straight to the WuWa wiki to check the version history to see what i missed. Because im thinking to myself “with that many characters and that much open world to explore, Chapter 1 Act VI probably released a few versions after release, like 1.3 or 1.4 or something. so sure theres a few versions’ worth of stories i ought to catch up with right???”

and then i see it.

v1.0.

That ENTIRE STORY, all of the Prologue and Chapter 1, through Chapter 1 Act VI… was all there at release.

holy fuck.

You’re telling me all this was there from day 1?!?!?

I was already really impressed with how well Chapter 1 went, and thought surely there mustve been a big delay, but no it was all there at the start. of course there was a UL requirement and i saw on the wiki that was later removed, but still, jeez.

Honestly im blown away by how much im liking this cast and this setting. The story pacing feels quite good, and i love how the characters interact with each other. Its been literally just two days since i started this game but i already love so many of these characters and am getting really invested into this story… and this was all just day 1 content. the current version is 2.3, soon 2.4!!!!! damn!!!!!

Its gonna be a lot to get through, so i think ill set a goal of catching up to the main story before 2.4 ends, while also trying to do as much of the character stories as I can. Ill probably put world exploration quests as a middle priority and most side stories as a lower priority, but honestly with how much im loving this story im tempted to just plow through every little irrelevant side quest just to get the “full experience” before moving on to the next story arc…

anyways im glad i finally started wuwa. Kinda wish i joined day 1, since i was already following the game news before it released, but better late than never ^.^

…

okay one more thing: despite this being a fairly new game it already feels REALLY nostalgic for me, and i think theres two reasons.

One is that the post-apocalyptic setting with a mix of fantasy and tech, paired with the visual aesthetics, actually reminds me a LOT of Destiny, somehow. Like it almost feels like an anime version of Destiny, with the same theme of an Earth in a distant future facing otherworldly horrors, but persisting thanks to the efforts of a powerful group of warriors who act as guardians of society. theres even a sentinel thingy in both games! okay that last part is a joke but still! It gives me mild flashbacks to a nostalgic part of my childhood, and theres some element of wonder and amazement that WuWa captures with the scale of its environments.

anyways its also kinda funny because ZZZ just released an area called “Aerospace City” which has the same visual vibe as both parts of WuWa and also the Cosmodrome from the start of Destiny 1… it was so nostalgic that i could almost hear “The Last Array” playing in the back of my head as i fought off ethereals, as if i were a Guardian and not a Proxy. So getting that same vibe from WuWa was a pleasant surprise lol

Two, which is much weirder, is that the main theme of WuWa (the music that plays in the main screen that is) somehow reminds me of the most random fucking thing: the Wizard101 soundtrack.

yeah.

it sounds insane, and truth be told the WuWa ost doesnt sound like the Wizard101 ost at all.

But it FEELS like it.

I think its this sense of magic and wonder conveyed in that melody, paired with a similar choice of instruments, a particular style of orchestral arrangement that i cant quite describe succinctly. Despite WuWa having a lot of techy elements, it feels so deeply magical at its core, in a way that feels almost like a mature version of the same magical wonder i felt with Wizard101 when i was a young kid.

That is to say, if the music of Wizard101 conveys the sense of a young child exploring a magical world as a novice wizard, then the WuWa main theme feels like that same child has grown up and is facing a darker world, but with a deeper understanding of their self and a newfound resolve.

It pulls me in, in such a gravitating way, and feels like its filling a thematic niche in my life that i didnt even know was lacking. And to be honest, given how bad my depression has been lately… its a really comforting and welcome feeling right now.

[oulkheir]

kaji akihiko's early behaviour

this analysis won't go very far nor in the real depths of the character, but i just wanted to talk about something i realised way too late about akihiko's behaviour.

actually, it never occurred to me that he was a jerk (talking about his old him) before he assaulted haruki. akihiko has always been flirty with haruki and it never seemed to be a problem to me. he was kind of having fun but he looks to be the flirty type with anyone in general and it didn't cause any harm to haruki. i was completely fine with it - also because he looked hot, to be honest. in fact, i was thinking all that when i was sure akihiko had no clue of haruki's feelings.

now, i rewind the assault scene (terrible) and realise that he knew all along... whenever akihiko used his charms with haruki, like giving him nicknames or touching his hair out of the blue, even pushing him to gamble on the boys with him, he knew it would always work because he was aware of haruki's feelings.

what does it change, you're gonna ask me?

well, 2 major things :

- the moment he tells haruki he knows about his feelings is an even bigger plot twist for us than it looks like. haruki let akihiko sleep at his place several times, he let him touch his hair and flirt with him because he thought he was acting like this innocently. though akihiko was already taking advantage of him because he had no intention of giving anything in return.

- it's more or less relevant, but akihiko's assault on haruki was not a sudden turning point (on a second thought), but rather the icing on the cake of all his previous behaviours. as i just said, he was drinking at night knowing he could sleep at haruki's in any case, he was messing with him knowing that he wouldn't hate him anyway. he was mad when he assaulted him, but he was still being himself : just a little more pushy than usual. that means that him being pushy doesn't come out of nowhere, he's always been the "bad guy" type at the beginning (and actually, even haruki was aware of that, this is why he's not really surprised by him having this type of behaviour afterwards, he didn't have high expectations of him).

all this may have looked obvious to many people but damn i'm so slow in the process sometimes so i wanted to share my revelation haha. and more importantly when i started watching given i was a huge fan of akihiko so it just disappointed me so much when i read the assault scene, yet now i realised there was unfortunately nothing to expect from him, and all what he did finally makes sense.

of course, it's still the key scene of their story because it's the moment akihiko realises how much of a jerk he's been with haruki all this time. and it's by this time that haruki loses hope in him because until then, he still thought that being nice to akihiko would influence his feelings.

no need to say that akihiko's redemption arc was beautifully written and that it felt as natural as refreshing. he put a lot of effort into changing for haruki, but also to become the better version of himself.

i also love the fact that they both fall in love with each other a second time, in better conditions. haruki first fell for a bad boy he thought he never had a chance with, then he fell again for a man doing his best to become someone respectable. on the other hand, akihiko first fell for a cute and funny man without looking further into him, then he fell again for the one who could always reach out to him and help him staying on the right path.

p.s. : i did not mention ugetsu here, because he's not the point of my analysis, but there's no need to precise that he played a crucial role in akihiko's damage and cold reactions towards anything involving love. maybe we'll talk about him another time cos he's my baby🎀

[ihateapbiology]

jealousy

WARNING- contains smut minors dni

“Who fucking flirts with a random girl at a museum seriously” Julien says enraged- not at you but at the girl who had been all over you two minutes prior.

“I know it’s super weird” you say trying your best to validate your girlfriend but also incredibly turned on but her jealousy.

“I was right there nonetheless my hand was around you literal waist” she rants to no one in particular.

“I’m sorry.” You say

“Oh hon no no I’m not mad at you at all” your comment briefly makes her pause her tangent. “You’re just to perfect for your own good and everyone sees it.”

She gently drags you to the car and as you’re loading something in the trunk and Juliens in the front seat someone taps your shoulder. It’s the girl- she says “hey just a last ditch effort if I could get your number.” Before you even have a chance to open your mouth the drivers side door slams. “Get the fuck away.” Julien growls “So damn desperate my god.”

You sit in the passengers seat and eventually she gets behind the wheel- a possessive hand sneaks under your shorts and squeezes your thigh.

At every light on the way home she intensifies her touch. A gentle snap of your bra strap here, sucking a quick hickey on your neck there. Eventually you get home. She smiles to you sweetly “on the bed in two minutes completely naked if ya know what’s good for you” she winks. You spring up, darting up to your bedroom and immediately stripping. You throw your casual outfit of a tee shirt and jeans off to the side and sit in the bed in your bra and underwear.

After two minutes she comes up. “Awh baby I told you naked didn’t I I thought you were gonna be good for me?” she teases.

You stutter more focused on her exposed frame than her words, until you see what’s in her hand. The new rainbow strapon she had bought abt a month ago.

“Tsk tsk tsk not yet baby.” She smirks dangling the toy.

She straddles you on the bed and starts an intense make out session. Shes always been the perfect kisser, just the right amount of tongue and touches. A hand snakes down below your panties. “So wet for me already baby?” She teases.

“Mhm only for you.” You whine

“Yeah what was that girls name at the museum again?” she asks.

You’re confused about why she was asking that but respond the best you can “I think like Maria or Marie why.”

She growls at the name “yeah I’m gonna make you forget every single persons name but mine.” With that she gives your panties a final push and rip and discards them off to the side. She quickly checks in with you “you doing good this still ok?” She smiles.

“Yes I’m all good baby.”

With that you feel one of her fingers rubbing just around your core. She gathers some of the slick and trails her fingers around through your folds. Finally you feel a tap at your entrance and you nod giving her consent to continue. “God” you moan as you feel her finger enter you and start to move.

Your mind clouds in the usual way it does when being intimate with her- your thoughts focused solely on the beautiful woman in front of you.

She adds a second finger and you feel yourself stretch. “Oh fuck baby.” As she continues to work with her fingers you get closer and closer to the edge. “Say my name” she smirks.

“Julien Julien Julien” you repeat.

“Ok baby you can finish for me.”

With that you let go feeling like you’re floating in pleasure. She works you through the orgasm and then gently pulls her fingers out. She taps them at your mouth- “taste yourself on me baby” she smirks.

You couldn’t even think about not obliging and open your mouth. Your cheeks hollow around her fingers. While you focus on this she goes to put the strapon on herself. She grabs a lot of lube from your nightstand not wanting you to feel any discomfort.

“You still ok baby?” She asks.

“Yes please fuck me” you whimper.

She gently pushes you back down on your back and gives you a gentle kiss on the forehead and lips. “You ready princess?”

“Yes J.”

She places the tip of the toy against you, positioning it as she looks down at you. “So beautiful like this. Mine.” She gently pushes the toy in about an inch. She pauses for a moment, giving you time to adjust to the feeling. Her hand gently runs up and down your side, her touch comforting as she look down at you “You’re doing so well for me, princess..”

All you can respond is with a whimper.

She pushes the toy further in, and starts to thrust slightly. “Such a good girl for me taking me so well baby.”

Her thrusts pick up speed the sound of skin on skin filling the room. “Feels so good Jules t-thank you.” You gasp

“I love you” she gasps the toy hitting her at the right angle to give tons of pleasure to her as well. Slowly you get closer and closer to the edge and you see her thrusts getting sloppier signaling she’s close to. “Please can I finish” you gasp.

“Wait but first baby what was that girls name.” She smirks.

“Babe are you serious I- it was like Natasha or smthg I I don’t know.” You whimper.

“Good girl- you can finish.” She smirks.

You two fall apart in each others arms both whimpering, sweaty messes.

She’s the first to come to “are you ok baby what do you need?” she says softly. She gently picks you up and the toy and sits you on the bathroom counter. She takes a cool rag and gently cleans up your thighs.

“Thank you honey.” You smile as she also cleans the toy.

“Of course now here” she’s holding an Advil and a cup of water.

You take the pill and rehydrate nuzzling into her. You hold out the water so she can also recuperate.

“I love you Julien. I hope you know I’ve only had eyes for you for years.”

She smirks “I know lovey I just don’t even like the thought of someone else with you. Besides I love a good excuse to make my girl feel good.”