#don't even get me started on all those playground games all the other kids just knew

[cobaltperun]

Tara Carpenter x Female Reader

R and Tara play together as children. R expresses her love for Tara, and her desire to marry her in the future!

Make us something special, like you always do!💙

Marry Me?

Tara Carpenter x Female Reader (Request)

Masterlist

Word count: 1.3k

The first time you were worried about Tara was when you were really young, when she tried to fit in and run with other kids despite her asthma. She ran out of breath quickly enough, but still pushed on, needing to feel accepted and in the end the teacher needed to help her through an asthma attack. You watched her, petite, smaller than the rest of the kids, coughing, struggling to breathe and that image just stuck with you. That was when you were seven, and ever since then you refused to play games that required Tara to run or where she could get exhausted. If she was being left out, you wouldn’t play. Not that other kids cared much about that, they just kept playing on their own, not caring if one or two of their classmates were being left out.

And Tara always tried to talk you into playing with other kids and leaving her behind. But you could see she was thankful, that it meant a lot to her that she wasn’t singled out by everyone.

Playing games that didn’t require much physical effort was the reason why you were looking for her all over the playground. She hid well, she always did, and being tiny only helped her, but you loved the challenge. You went to look beneath the slide, because that was the last place you didn't look at.

And then, just as you crouched down to check, Tara jumped out, startling you and making you fall back onto your butt.

Her laughter filled the empty playground, and as infectious as it was you couldn't help but laugh with her.

"Found you, I guess," you laughed as she dropped down to the grass next to you.

"You didn't, I scared you," she denied your victory like she so often did.

"Wha- Tara those aren't the rules!" you exclaimed, unknowingly taking her bait.

"Sore loser!" she stuck her tongue out at you.

"Cheater," you grumbled with a pout and looked away.

You heard Tara lying down, but still maintained your "angry pout" you didn't like it when someone scared you, Tara included. You weren’t sure how long you spent like that, pouting while Tara watched you, amused. Eventually she sat up.

"Let's go to the swing?" Tara suggested and you felt her leaning on your back and hanging her arms around you. "Hmm? Grumpy?"

As if you could ever say no to her. "Say 'please'," you still had to get at least that out of her.

"Please," she said it so easily, but you knew she meant it, she absolutely meant it, so you got up and the two of you ran over to the swings.

"What do you wanna do when you grow up?" Tara suddenly asked you as you started swinging. The Sun would set soon, so you didn't have much time together left today, but the sky was so beautiful right now, and the last bits of sunlight shining over the trees in the park made the moment feel almost magical.

"I wanna be a doctor!" you said immediately with the certainty only someone of your age could have. At nine years old you definitely didn't know anything about what it would take to do that, you just knew you liked the idea. "You?"

Tara thought it over. "I dunno, I'll think of something later," she shrugged. "Why a doctor?"

You felt the heat rising to your cheeks. "None of your business," you refused to tell her. After all, you had a rather specific reason why you liked the idea of being a doctor.

Tara whipped her head toward you abruptly. "Y/N!" she pouted, and you had to look away from her, because she was using her big puppy eyes on you. "Come on, please tell me?"

"No," you felt your resolve breaking, even as you refused to tell her.

But Tara was nothing, if not stubborn. "You're mean if you don't tell me," she said.

"I am mean then," you still tried to outdo her in stubbornness.

"I won't hang out with you for a week," she threatened, all serious and you sighed, giving in to her. Because there was almost no way you could keep saying ‘no’ to Tara.

"I wanna cure your asthma," you whispered, too embarrassed to look at her as she got off the swing and stopped your own.

"For me?" she asked as you jumped off as well and you could only nod. She reached up, ruffling the hair at the top of your head. "Thanks, Y/N," she didn't tell you you had to be a doctor, she didn't tell you you had to cure her, she just thanked her. "You sure we'll still be friends when we grow up?" there was something in her eyes, a sadness you saw only every now and then. Her dad left recently so you understood it had something to do with him.

"Yeah, I... I kinda wanna marry you, Tara, I really like you," you had no idea why you blurted it out all of a sudden, if it was to make her understand just how much you liked her, or if there was another reason, but you said it, and you meant it wholeheartedly.

Tara laughed at that and took your hand, it was time to leave the playground and go home.

~X~

Fifteen years and a lot of things happening later, a lot of the good, the bad, and very ugly and traumatic things later, Tara sat by your side in the bedroom the two of you shared. There were tons of your books and her movies on the shelves, and she loved how personal the two of you made the room look. Chemistry, medicine and horror, an amazing combination if anyone asked her. She leaned against your shoulder as the two of you watched a movie. In the end, you didn't turn out to be a doctor, it just wasn't for you, but you did get into medical chemistry, so, as far as Tara was concerned it was close enough given it was a decision you made while you were still naïve kids.

She watched you from the side, much like she did while you were children, and though both of you grew up she could still remember all the times you played without anyone else around.

"Say, Y/N," she began, happy that she could spend the night with you, her girlfriend of almost five years.

"Yeah?" you asked, looking away from the movie to look at her, your eyes filled with love and adoration and she could only hope her eyes told you just how much she loved you.

"I've been thinking of that time we were kids, on the playground," she began, smiling teasingly at you.

"Real specific T," you chuckled.

"You know, when you told me you wanted to be a doctor," she said to freshen up your memory.

You choked on your breath. "Ah, that time," you chuckled, clearly embarrassed as you rubbed the back of your head and looked away from her.

Tara's smile widened and she reached up to ruffle your hair. "It's okay, it's just me," she assured you and leaned in to softly kiss your lips.

"I know," you muttered against her lips, your hand moving to cup her cheek.

"Marry me?" she asked and you didn't choke this time.

"Of course," you just told her, and she couldn't be any happier. You kept your word to her, you stayed by her side, no matter how crazy her life got, she could count on you. And no matter how crazy things got in the future, she knew she'd still be able to count on you to have her back.

A/N: Special enough? 🤣🤣

[scrompsautobotsrchives]

The grand race

Alright, first Mirage fic !! *Cracks knuckles* Lets do this. Word count:1K

Mirage lived for adventure even back on cybertron. He would always get up to antics which would have pissed off the prime leader back then. Now on earth, it was his personal playground, He would always toy around with the police in chases, Doing the best stunts he could do. But he always wanted to do more.

One day as he was cruising around the city, He parked nearby just to watch the city go by. He then saw two friends walk up to each other and have a quick chat before one said. "You still down for the race tonight ??"

"Yep, I also heard that they jackpoted the prize to a $1000" The other said enthusiastically.

"Woah..." That was all he needed when he started to zoom back to the makeshift HQ, You were busy helping Optimus and Bumblebee setting everything up when you heard the familiar revving.

"Hey y/n !!" He transformed and kneeled to your height, eager to tell you the news. "Guess what I heard today ?? Your gonna love it"

'What's up ??' You stopped what you were doing and gave him your full attention.

"I heard these guys in the city talking about a race that's happening tonight"

"Oh yeah, They do those almost every year now"

"Really ?? We should go !!"

But before you could give your answer, a familiar prime's voice boomed. "Absolutely not Mirage, We need to remain undercover and away from prying eyes, Drawing attention to yourself will only cause more damage then good" He said, bee whirred in laughter and soon the radio flicked to an audio of the Nelson Muntz... "HA HA !!"

"You must promise me to stay away from that race" Optimus said firmly.

"Yeah yeah sure, I'll stay very well away so far away... Dude don't leave me with these tightasses bro, We'd make a great team" Mirage whispered to you pleadingly.

"Mirage you heard what Optimus said, I'm not doing a race just so you can get kick out of it" You frowned to him.

"But what about for friendship ??" He said, making you raise an eyebrow in dissapointment.

"Ah or or or what about for cash ??"

You looked up at him. "How much are we talking ??"

"$1000, I can get that to you easy"

Now what you could do with $1000, ooooooh you could buy that new games console that just went on a market. You looked at Optimus who was helping Bee before back at Mirage.

"Ok, I'm in" You nodded.

So later in the night, the two of you went out. Heading to the start of the course where all the racer's would line up. You got out as you heard rap music playing on full blast, People catching up and taking selfies. You saw a dude with a clipboard standing nearby, Taking down the names of another person who arrived before you.

"Guess that's our ticket in" You closed the door and went up to him. "Hey, I wanna enter the race"

"Awesome, What car are we racing with ??"

"The Porsche behind me" You nodded to Mirage.

He nodded and took down your name as well. "Alright, your in kid"

"Thanks" You headed back to Mirage and got inside. "Ok remember, we need to make this look natural so nobody notices something's off ok ??" You reminded him of the rules.

"Don't worry, your boy's got this" Even in car form, you could tell Mirage had a huge smirk on his face.

You lined up, Eyeing the competition. some had modified cars ranging from old to new. They took this seriously.

"This'll be easy" Mirage chimed in, revving his engine as he got into place. "Relax"

You nodded as you gripped the steering wheel, Watching someone walk to the middle with the chequered flag, signalling the race was about to start. The contestants around you started to rev up their cars as the flag was raised, and then with the swish downwards, Tires skidded on the road and soon everyone was off.

"Come on Mirage !!" You cheered as you made pretend movements on the drivers seat.

"'scuse me 'scuse me'" He chuckled softly as he passed some contestants with breeze.

But some were proving to be a little bit of a challenge, like we said, some were modified specifically for this race. Mirage grumbled as he attempted to pass some of them. "Move over !!"

The driver in one car could only chuckle and pressed the nitro, picking up speed.

"Damn it !!" You pushed the pedal to the medal, and Mirage began to speed up, pushing a little more and sped past the guy, blowing dust in his face.

"WOOHOO !!!"

The first lap was done, Just gotta keep up the momentum. "Let's kick some aft !!" Mirage cheered.

You cleaned up the second lap, But on the third, one of the contestants began to kick it up a notch. Mirage was cruising along when he felt that he wasn't ahead anymore. "Huh ??"

You watched as one of the contestants sped past you, This car looked like it went through hell and back on the performance.

"Shit !! Come on we got this !!" You reminded.

Mirage was determined, as determined as ever to win this. He tried to speed up as best as he could, Tires burning every drift. The other driver wasn't giving up as well, Both of you pushing the pedal to the medal as the finish line was nearing. The crowd cheered as the two of you crossed, Mirage made a total stop. "Did we win ??"

"I'm not sure ??" You got out of the car, asking the racer. "Yo what's going on ??"

"Beats me" He shrugged.

Because it was such a close call, Some people had to review the footage on their phones just to see who touched the finish line first, You waited for almost 5 minutes before one nodded and shouted. "It was the Porsche !!" Making everyone cheer.

"YEAH !!" You were so goddamn happy, Mirage was so goddamn happy, Oh screw it you were both so goddamn happy.

Others watched as you showed off from mirage and as promised, you were awarded the $1000. You drove off soon after.

"Holy shit that was incredible !! Did you see the guys face !!??"

"Oh, he was so mad !!" Mirage was so happy. "We gotta do that again sometime.

"Maybe... Just maybe" You smirked. You made your debut, a race or two never hurt anyone.

Taglist: @callofdudes

[darkphoenix5037]

Home

Hey guys, I am a bit new to the fandom and this is my first fanfiction about any BTS members. Please be kind.

I hope you all like it.

TW-Mafia, Yandere, Non-consensual touching, breaking in, Kidnapping, stalking, threats.

..........................................................................................................................

The weather was exceptionally warm as the sun slowly went down. It was sunny, and you had to squint your eyes as you watched the children at the swings in the playground. It was already 4:30 and most parents were late.

This was not a perk at the rich day care/school you worked at. Even though most parents had hours for personal grooming, poker at the country clubs or golf games, they were late to pick up their kids.

Always late with the same lines.

“It was a rather interesting game at the club!”

“The traffic was atrocious!” (Lies, It was far from rush hour)

Blah, Blah, Blah.

It was the same, every day.

As you was lost in your thoughts, you felt a hand on her shoulder. you looked up to her fellow teacher, Nicole.

“Have you seen that gentleman here before?” She asked pointing to a man on the other side of the playground’s fence. The man stood a few meters away, dressed in all black with a blond mullet. His long black coat accentuated his height making him seem like giant, you could tell he was well-built even at a distance.

“No. Should I ask?”

“Yeah”

You walked up to the man slowly, who looked at you as you neared, he took off his sunglasses as you neared. He was attractive, very attractive, dragon eyes, plump lips, smooth skin and jaw that could cut diamonds. He definitely won the genetic lottery, you thought.

“Hi, I am a teacher here. I was wondering if you were looking for someone, I haven’t seen you here before?”

The man smiled at her genially and said,” No, no I was just waiting for a colleague, his son studies here. I think his name was Mingyu? He was supposed to pick him up and drop him at home before we headed for a drink. It seems he is late.”

Gods, his voice could make men and woman weak in the knees.

“Oh, yeah Mr. Lee comes a bit late, I think he is stuck at work or that’s what he says. Anyways, I must get back to the kids. Sorry for bothering you.”

“No problem” His eyes had a strange glint in them.

You turned and headed toward Nicole quickly.

“He is waiting for Mr. Lee, Mingyu’s father, they were supposed to meet here.” you reassured Nicole.

“He is quite handsome, isn’t he? He was staring at you the whole time you were walking towards me.” She mused.

“I suppose he is.”

Nicole was about say something when Mr. Lee hurriedly neared the fence to pick up Mingyu. He didn’t notice the man as he picked his son up.

As soon as he did notice him, he went a bit pale. As if he had seen a ghost, he spoke something to the man. you couldn’t make out what he spoke. But the other man responded cheerfully and took Mr. Lee by the shoulders and walked him towards the direction of his home.

“Well that a bit strange.” Nicole murmured.

“Maybe he was a bit embarrassed to be late? Who cares?” you said.

“Yeah”

Nothing was said after that.

………………………………

“Don't turn around,” you whispered to Nicole and Hari, eyes firmly set on the tall frame of a familiar man that walked into the small coffee shop you and your friends had met up at. When they moved to turn, you hissed at them and they stopped mid-movement. Hari raised a brow at you in question.

“You remember the guy from last Wednesday? He's here, standing in the line. Second to last, tall, wearing a leather jacket and black boots. Don't make it obvious,” you said in a hushed tone.

You and Nicole had told Hari everything about the handsome mystery man and had listened to her moaning about how she would've loved to see him too because he sounded like a real snack from the way you were describing him. Well, now he was here and you weren't about to deprive her of the sight that he was.

“Damn, those shoulders are looking really-” Hari started as she swivelled in her chair to sit sideways on it and glance at the man. But she trailed off when she saw his face as he turned it in their general direction. She visibly blanched, immediately turning on the chair and facing you again.

“Do you know who that is?” she asked, her tone lowered as she leaned forward. You frowned, briefly glancing at the handsome specimen before shrugging and turning your gaze back to her.

“That is Kim Namjoon. I heard some nasty things about him from a friend. Haechan, you know him. He got involved with the wrong people and ended up being in Kim's debt. Let me tell you, that man is not someone you want to be indebted to,” she whispered frantically.

You would've shrugged this off as rumours, exaggerations or simply misconceptions and lies, but the scared look on your usually so collected friend's face made you stop. And the memory of this man, Namjoon, talking to the father outside the kindergarten. You knew something had been off. The way the man shifted slightly to stand in front of his child, his and the little one's discomfort. And Namjoon's imposing stance.

“I... are you sure? It does sound a little farfetched,” you tried weakly, but the look your friend gave you silenced any doubtful voices piping up in the back of your head.

“I'm serious. I don't know how Haechan got out of this unharmed, but he was really messed up afterwards. These gang people or whatever they are, mobsters, bikers, all the same, don't play games. You would do good to stay away from him if you ever come across him again.”

You nodded mutely, still watching Namjoon over Hari's shoulder. You froze when his gaze suddenly found yours.

“He's watching,” you bit out, trying not to move your lips and give yourself away, “What am I supposed to do?”

“Smile briefly and then look back at me, acting like we're deep in conversation,” she said quickly and then started to babble on about her week at work and the little fight she and her girlfriend had gotten into on Tuesday.

Meanwhile you sent a small smile Namjoon's way, acknowledging your recognition, and then turned your attention back to your still talking friend. You focused solely on her, nodding and laughing along as she told you about meaningless things.

You could still feel his eyes on you as you watched her talk.

………………………………

The following week was... anxiety inducing. You didn't know why, but Namjoon seemed to be following you around.

At first you tried to tell yourself you were simply paranoid and his appearances were mere coincidences. It wasn't uncommon to meet the same people at a supermarket or a coffee shop.

But the little book shop you'd discovered a few years ago, the one that was a hole on the wall, the one where you had never seen him ever, raised some concerns.

Then the tall menace started turning up along your way to work and back home, or lingered around the kindergarten, you were starting to grow restless and afraid. You had told Hari and Nicole about your observations and fears. After a talk with them, you had picked up the daily routine of texting one of them whenever you arrived at work and then got back home after.

Your suggestion to go to the police had been vehemently refused. It wouldn't be any good, Hari had told you. All it would do was get you more of his unwanted attention. So, you lived with your growing paranoia.

The aforementioned paranoia and anxiety skyrocketed at the end of the Monday after the first week of his eerie following you around.

You had just slung your backpack over your shoulder and were stepping out of the kindergarten building, your face turned up to the sky to soak up the afternoon sun, when a low hum from your right made you jump. Your eyes snapped open and your head whipped around. Your heart stuttered in your chest when you saw who had made the sound.

It was him. Namjoon stood casually leaned against the brick wall of the building you had just exited, his arms crossed over his broad chest. He smirked at your startled reaction.

“Hey there, princess. Didn't mean to startle you,” he said, not looking one bit sorry. You laughed nervously.

“Uh, it's alright. I wasn't paying attention,” you said quietly and glanced away from him. His staring was making you uncomfortable, the way he dragged his gaze over your body, taking in every inch before returning to your face. Nervousness made your heart beat a little faster.

“You're off to home then?” Namjoon asked, still watching you intently. You fidgeted on the spot, feet shifting and fingers digging into the straps of your backpack.

“uh-huh, just locked up,” you said and then cleared your throat nervously, “Well, I better get going.”

But when you started walking, Namjoon pushed away from the wall, matching your steps as you hastily scurried down the sidewalk.

“So eager to leave, sweetheart?” Namjoon joked, then added, “Oh, the name's Namjoon by the way. But I suppose you know that already judging by your behaviour. That's fine. I know yours, too.”

He proved that immediately by calling out your name again. Your heart stuttered.

You gulped, heart fluttering anxiously as you tried to come up with a response.

“Uhm, yeah. I've... heard of you,” you eventually got out, nervously glancing his way. He was still watching you with those dragon like eyes of his, a smirk curling the side of his mouth when he caught you peeking.

“No need to look so scared, sweetheart. I'm not going about hurting pretty things like you. Not really my style. You're perfectly safe with me.”

So, he knew that you had heard of his business. Or he at least suspected that you had. The lack of expression and your silence spoke volumes.

When you didn't reply to his utterance, he let out a low chuckle. It was a rich sound, full of amusement and something you would've enjoyed if it wasn't for the man making the sound.

“How about this, I take you out to dinner tomorrow and we can get to know each other better. You'll see that there's nothing to be afraid of. I can pick you up after work,” he suggested.

Your breath seized in your chest and your step faltered, almost making you stumble. Namjoon's hands shot out, grabbing onto your waist to steady you. His touch lingered as he told you to be more careful, palms sliding along your side and briefly settling on your hips and giving them a squeeze before he let the wandering appendages fall away.

“I- uh, I can't. Sorry,” you rushed out, your skin crawling from his touch. Then, without further ado, you rushed away, almost running as you rounded the next corner. You threw a look over your shoulder as you scurried over the sidewalk, but Namjoon was nowhere to be seen.

………………………………

To your misery and anger, your rejection didn't seem to deter Namjoon. He kept showing up at your work, joining you on your way to or from work. You were certain he knew by now where you lived. He would talk when he walked beside you, his long steps always catching up with yours no matter how fast you were walking, trying to escape him.

Namjoon didn't seem to mind that you didn't answer except to decline another offer at dinner or a drink. Every time you told him no, he merely chuckled in that amused way, as if you were just being silly, as if you were playing had to get  and would eventually come around.

Well, you weren't.

Not if you could help it.

As if his oppressing presence wasn't enough Namjoon started to get handsy. Nothing serious, but the lingering touches on your waist or the way his hand would brush against yours when he was once more harassing you on your way to work were making you uncomfortable.

It was like a promise.

A promise of more than just slight touches and caresses. The thought made your skin crawl.

It made you nauseous with fear and anxiety.

It got worse when he started waiting outside your apartment building when you left for work in the morning. He even stood right in front of the door to your apartment, scaring the shit out of you when you swung it opened and stepped outside, only to leap back inside and slam the wooden barrier in his face. You'd waited for several minutes, but he wasn't leaving and you had to get to work.

“Come on out, princess. You'll be late to work,” he had taunted through the door, mocking you until you opened it again and stormed past him without sparing him a glance.

He upped his game by sending you flowers and other presents, jewellery, gift cards. A set of lacy underwear and bra was by far the most unpleasant one.

All of it was eating away at you, especially because you had no one to talk to about this madness. You had stopped telling your friend, assuring her you were fine and Namjoon had moved on because you didn't want her to worry about you constantly. You regretted your decision more and more with every day that passed, each one taking a bit of your sanity with it.

You were slowly going mad, paranoia a constant companion and your anxiety too happy to remind you of the looming presence of the dubious man every time you managed to push the thought of him out of your mind for more than a couple of minutes.

The fourth week into the madness you had started sleeping with knife by your bed side.

You slept with one arm dangling over the side of the bed so you'd be able to quickly grasp the knife should it be necessary. You practiced it for hours.

Your sleep was light since this whole thing had started, disturbances not uncommon.

That led to you being sleep deprived, agitated and short-tempered most of the time. But you had to reign it in at work. The children weren't at fault and they didn't deserve any harshness from you. So, you kept it bottled up, the toxic mix of frustration, anger, fear and lack of sleep festering away inside your chest.

………………………………

The deadly cocktail boiled over after a long and particularly trying day at work. The children had been disobedient and out for trouble, stirring up fights and causing all kinds of mischief. The only reprieve you got, was when you stepped outside after work was over and there was no sight of Namjoon. He didn't appear on your way home either.

But even that tiny bit of peace was destroyed when you unlocked the door to your apartment and stepped inside to find a bouquet of flowers sitting in one of your vases on the counter of your open-plan living room.

                                                           

You certainly hadn't put them there.

He had been in your home. He had gone through your stuff to find the vase and then placed the flowers in it, putting them right there in your kitchen. He had been in your home.

The one place you thought could be safe.

The terror inside you spiked and you sprinted into the bedroom, grabbing the knife from your bedside table and then searching your apartment inch by inch to make sure the horrible man wasn't anywhere in your not-so-safe-anymore place.

When you returned to the kitchen, you slumped into a chair that stood by the counter with the flowers on it. You put the knife down beside you and glowered at the pretty bundle of colourful flowers. You chewed on the inside of your cheek, angrily staring at the bouquet. The longer you looked at it, the angrier you became.

How dare he to come into your life and turn it upside down?

How dare he harass and follow you, touch you without your permission?

And most of all, how dare he break into your place?

You were mad. The lack of sleep, anger, frustration and fear of the last weeks finally becoming too much as you sat there and stewed in your own dark thoughts.

A loud knock startled you out of your vengeful thoughts, your gaze snapping up and zeroing in on the front door. Another knock came and you growled.

“I swear to god, if that is his bitch ass on the other side of that door...” you cursed under your breath, grabbing the knife and tucking into  the waistband on your jeans at your back. You felt like a criminal yourself as you stomped over to the door, ready to do whatever was necessary to finally get the obsessive man to lay off you.

You ripped the door open and your nostrils flared at the sight of Namjoon. It was indeed him, his usual smirk peeking out and taunting you as you stood in the door frame, shaking with rage. But before you could utter a single word, the man stepped forward, shouldering his way past you and into your flat. He pushed you out of the way and closed the door behind himself.

“How do you like the little surprise I left you?” he asked as he casually strolled through the room as if he owned the place. It made you snap out of your stupor.

“I don't give a shit about you or your presents. Leave my fucking home,” you growled and pointed at the door, your hand trembling.

Namjoon just laughed, tilting his head as he eyed you with slightly raised eyebrows.

“My kitten has claws after all. Where does that courage come from all of a sudden?” he taunted. “Not that I don't appreciate it. I enjoy a little fire in my woman. What I don't appreciate however, is that attitude you have going on, baby girl.”

“Don't call me that, asshole. I'm not your woman. I'm not your sweetheart or baby girl. I'm not your anything. All you are to me is a nuisance and I would appreciate it if you got the fuck out of my home and my life,” you hissed, voice wavering with rage.

“Careful, doll. Don't test my patience,” Namjoon said, the smirk gone and a steely expression in its place. You gulped and took a step back. But you didn't give up. You wouldn't, not so easily.

“I know you're probably not often told no, but I will do so, have done so. I am doing it right now. No, I don't want to go out with you, I don't want anything to do with you. Now please leave my home,” you pressed out between gritted teeth, forcing yourself to be firm but as calm as possible.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Namjoon started, slowly walking closer with his hands in his pockets, “You sound like you believe you have any say in this. One thing you are right about though. I'm not told no. I haven’t been told no since I took these streets, this city, this country. No one tells me no. You certainly don't tell me no.”

He came even closer, closing the distance between the two of you.

“And I will have you one way or another. You're mine and I decided as such, whether you like it or not. Accepting it makes it easier for both of us. Be good for me and I'll be good to you.”

He was closer now, almost at an arm's length. He pulled his hands from his pockets.

That was the last push you needed. That man wasn't going to give up, he had told you as much. You reached behind your back and pulled the knife out of your jeans. You brought it up in front of you, and brandished it threateningly at the blonde .

Namjoon's eyebrows rose up so high it looked like they were trying to escape into his hairline. It seemed you had managed to take him by surprise. After overcoming his initial surprise, Namjoon chuckled. This time it sounded almost impressed.

“When I woke up this morning, I certainly didn't expect my day would end like this,” he admitted, staring down the knife at your angry, but afraid face.

“You certainly have more guts than I gave you credit for. But who can blame me, really. You always seemed like such a timid thing. So sweet and friendly.”

You huffed. As if he knew anything about you. He only knew what he could gather from his obsessive stalking. He didn't know the first thing about the real you, the you, you were when you were alone or with your friends.

Namjoon's next condescending words pulled you from your upset musings.

“Do you even know how to use that, princess?” he asked, his tone obviously implying he didn't believe you did.

“My mother taught me,” you answered curtly.

“Did she now?” Namjoon said in a low voice, a threatening edge lacing his words. You didn't miss the dangerous glint in his eyes. You tried not to be intimidated by it.

“Find something fleshy and push.”

Your mother hadn't taught you how to stab. You didn't know the first thing about it. Your knowledge extended exactly to what you had just said. 'find something fleshy and push'.

“Is that so...” he said, his voice still threateningly low as he stepped closer, startling you when he approached until the knife was pressed right up against his throat.

Your hands trembled, fingers sweaty on the handle as you stared up at Namjoon, trying hard to hide your terror. It became stronger with the second, replacing the mindless rage that had guided your actions when you pulled the knife in your grasp.

Now you weren't sure about this anymore at all. And Namjoon knew it. You could tell by the victorious look in his eyes, the way the corner of his lips tilted up ever so slightly. Before you could further ponder and weigh your options, several things happened at the same time.

Namjoon moved, grabbing your wrist and twisting it until you let out a cry of pain and let go of the weapon. It was ripped from your grasp, the safety put on and then tossed to the other end of the room where it clattered noisily to the ground. Your legs were kicked out from under you and you fell to your knees. Namjoon's weight came crushing down on you, both your wrists gathered in one of his big hands and held above your head as he took you off your knees and pressed you flat to the ground, facing him.

Your lower half was restrained by his heavy body, legs tangled in his and unmovable. Your breath was coming in harsh pants as you tried to come to grips with what had just occurred in the span of the last five seconds. When you did, you began to struggle, shaken out of your shocked stupor.

“Let go,” you wheezed, his weight pressing down on you not only immobilising you, but also making it hard to breathe properly.

“No can do, baby,” Namjoon said, his breath puffing over your face as he held himself above you. He shifted, keeping your legs immobilised as he sat up, taking your upper body with his and pulling you up by your wrist as he got up fully. You stumbled to your feet, losing your balance from the sudden change in position and his impatient jerking.

Unable to catch yourself with your hands, you face-planted into his firm chest with a little 'oof', making him chuckle as he pulled you back and shifted your wrists from one hand into the other. His free hand reached up and brushed your dishevelled hair away from your flushed face.

You cringed away from his touch, shrinking in on yourself and pulling your shoulders up. He ignored your obvious distaste, grasping your chin between his long fingers and keeping your nervous gaze directed at his.

“I would really hate to punish you, princess. Behave,” he said coolly as he eyed you intently, taking in your dilated pupils and the fluttering of your pulse beneath the thin skin on your throat. His eyes followed the bob of your throat when you gulped.

All your earlier bravado was gone, the rage fuelled resistance and bravery all but obliterated by the man standing in front of you.

“I couldn't stop thinking about you after you approached me that day at the fence,” he said, still staring down at you. His touch on your face wandered, fingers drawing along your jawline and then tracing the shape of your cheekbones. You didn't dare move, your breath shallow as he kept touching you.

“Your pretty smile and beautiful eyes... I knew I had to have you,” he continued, his thumb tracing your bottom lip. “So, I watched, I waited. I had to learn more about you before I could take you. Gotta make sure I know all I can so I can take care of my woman properly.”

A shiver wrecked your frame at his sick and twisted words.

“As for the things I couldn't find out...” his touch wandered lower, caressing your throat and then moving even further to drag his fingertips across the tops of your breasts, “Well, I'll just have to see for myself. I'm a fast learner. Adept. I'm sure you'll come to appreciate it very soon, princess. I may not be a good man princess but I will be good to you. In all ways possible.”

You shook your head weakly, a whimpered, “No, please” leaving your lips. Namjoon shushed you, hand coming to rest on your throat. He didn't squeeze, but you knew he would if you made a wrong move.

“Now, don't act up baby. I know you're a good girl, so I will forgive your earlier outbreak. Continue being bad and you'll come to regret it very soon,” he said, slightly tightening his grip on both your wrists and throat.

Tears rose in your eyes. They were tears of despair as the reality of the situation finally sunk in. You weren't going to get away from him. He wasn't going to stop even if you did manage to escape his clutches in some miraculous way. He had claimed you as his, chosen you and decided to take you without asking your opinion or stopping to take your feelings into consideration.

Kim Namjoon took what he wanted and he wasn't told no. He was never told no.

You didn't struggle when Namjoon dragged you over to your front door, pulling you out of your apartment and guiding you down the stairs, catching you several times when you missed a step or two in your haze.

He was muttering quiet reassurances the whole way, brushing his hands across your body, squeezing and grabbing without your consent. When you stepped out onto the sidewalk, your gaze rose from the ground and landed on a black car standing on the side of the street a couple of feet away.

Namjoon followed your line of sight, reading the silent question on your features.

“I'm going to take you home, princess. Our home.”

[asmallcommitteeoffrogs]

The way I see it, each life series is related to a season.

Third Life- Fall

Last Life- Winter

Double Life- Spring

Limited Life- Summer

Secret Life- Fall

Real Life- Winter?

Third Life is fall. Now, you might say, "but, Frog, what about Red Winter?" to which I point out that Red Winter was coming, but it never fully came. The Red King and Dogwarts fell before it could ever officially be winter. Third Life is also fall because of the slow decent into death of everything as well as scarcity of resources as winter approaches. It's not winter yet, but it lurks on the horizon and as things get colder, so do the players and their relationships with each other.

Last Life is winter. I haven't actually seen Last Life in a while so this might not be a great analysis but bear with me. Everyone sort of went into this season with an almost sense of scramble and knowing what was to come. The winter set in quick and they all made their groups hastily in an attempt for shelter (which ended up causing unstable alliances). The boogyman caused distrust as players just tried to survive and keep themselves safe. Everything feels inevitable and every player is aware of what's at the end. I have strong feelings about this one, but if anyone else who is more familiar with Last Life wants to add on, please please do.

Double Life is spring. Third time around, everybody is sort of starting to get used to the game and how it goes. They know what'll happen, but their attitudes are lighter. The ranchers ranch, new fresh partnerships are made, and everyone is sort of out and about. New elements are introduced such as, goat horns, allays, frogs, powdered snow, and the warden (rip Rancher's Revenge). The whole energy feels kind of excited and fresh in a way. Like just coming out of hibernation.

Limited Life is summer. I feel like I don't need to explain this one too much. The amount of water and ocean themes we get tie into the warm weather aspect. Everyone is social with each other (even if that's because of murder). I've seen this season compared to little kids playing pretend on the playground which sort of ties in with the fun and lighthearted energy. And yet the ticking timer reminds them that nothing, not even summer, can last forever (play 2000's teen summer movie trailer music here)

Secret Life is fall and it's the start of the season cycle again. Lizzie's pumpkin vibes help this theory. This season also had a sense of division to it with the secret tasks forcing people to go off on their own most of the time. In sort of a call back to Third Life, this season could be seen as a omen of what's to come in the winter, and I think that with, as the biggest thing, the Canary Curse getting broken can show that these people have changed and that they are prepared for the winter ahead and that things are going to be different.

And then I guess Real Life would be winter. I haven't quite figured out where this fits into my season theory, but I feel like it could show how this winter is different than the ones that came before. I admit, this season was too short to get a great vibe, so depending on the next season it might get cut to Fall 2.0 (cause I definitely think it's been accepted as canon and I don't want to just remove it)

Anyways those are my thoughts. I'd love to hear what anybody else thinks. I definitely could have said more about some of these but I don't want to ramble too much. I also feel like this could kind of tie into some funky things with the winners too, but I'll save that for another time.

[retrobr]

Lazytown Shenanigans Pt. 8

Wow I'm finally back with my ramblings (nobody waited and nobody asked for this :,DD)!! I was kinda busy getting acquainted with some fandom stuff — reading some fics, to be precise — and was getting some rest from the show to be more excited to continue watching it! 

I think that this kind of posts will be posted much less often than before because I will take a break from watching more often, at least I think so

But anyway, this time I've watched "The Baby Troll" and. Uhh. Let's just get right into it 😭

"The Baby Troll."

I'm not even going to lie; this is probably one of my least favorite episodes so far. I honestly can't even say that I liked it even a little bit, this episode is just not it. But of course there were some nice moments, so I'd better start discussing it

I cannot keep silent about the fact that the town looks quite beautiful at night. I'm attaching a wonderful frame to convince you of this, my dear people:

Well. Not that it's breathtakingly wonderful — there were much more beautiful frames, but I'm a stupid person and forgot to take some screenshots — but I think it looks nice at least??

Before I get too bored writing this post, I want to touch on the topic of my favorite sillies. One thing made me giggle a little: the city is sinking into the night, it's time for everyone to go to bed soon; Robbie walks around the park and wonders why "those brats" are not playing. Buddy... it's like... a nighttime?... 

And, well, why does he even bother about kids not playing on the playground huh? I mean, their excited shouts and bustling annoy him all day long, so he should be happy that they're finally not playing. BRO YOU GOT SOME REST, AS YOU WANTED!! USE IT FOR YOUR OWN ENJOYMENT OF PEACE AND QUIET!!

This scene is not that long, I would even say insignificant, but I pay a lot of attention to it because in my opinion it gives a subtle hint that he is actually used to their hustle and games and quite likely finds the park empty without their fun. Yes I will make one small scene make sense; I'm a big softie for Robbie's and kids' interactions, nice to meet you 🤵

Also sometimes I wonder how Robbie manages to get into trouble so stupidly and spectacularly; bro kicked the ball, got hit by the said ball in the ass, and fell in the chest, which locked up in the result. Bravo, bravo 😭😭 At least he wasn't complaining when Sportacus saved him (and the kids as well, but we're not talking about them yet) and even asked for it, because, from my observations, he usually gets annoyed when someone helps him

And his disguise in this episode was kinda silly. I don't have much to say about it tbh, it just looked funny 🤷

But let's talk about some other characters now; from this episode I learned that Meanswell can knit. Attaching evidence to the above fact (this frame looks so cozy I want to get in there):

And since we're talking about the abilities of some of the characters, I was pleased to learn that Trixie can play the guitar. In my vision she's a great music lover and you can't convince me otherwise

One more thing about the Mayor and then I'll touch on the topic of the thing that genuinely scared me. Meanswell is kind of dumb — like, not even dumb, but just inattentive. Right in front of his eyes the kids ran away from home to the mountains at night, and he didn't even notice it. LIFT YOUR GODDAMN EYES AND SEE WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR HOUSE. MORE PRECISELY OUTSIDE THE HOUSE. You know what I mean 😭

Oh and well. About the scary part of the episode. What the actual fuck was that troll? Why does it look so freaking scary?.. I watched this episode before going to bed, that is, at night, and how can I sleep peacefully now when the appearance of this creature stands right on the surface of my thoughts? And it was so annoying in addition to it's creepy appearance, and it seems to me that for the most part I didn't like this episode just because of this creature. I don't even want to think about it tbh 💀

In general, as it's already clear, this episode didn't seem to me the best, at least for the entire fourth season. But at least I've learned a lesson from this episode: if you want to eat like a bitch, gobble up an apple. It solves all the problems.

That's pretty much it. Thank you for your guys attention and have a good day :]

[eldest-of-katts]

I stopped bdubs' episode partway through, so spoilers for the first part of his episode.

I didn't like this task very much, first they didn't know what it was due to regional differences, which was a little cringe on behalf of whoever was assigning the tasks but it was probably a commenter and the review board probably all knew what it was so I get it.

But the nature of the task? You *have* to lose hearts? Or at least try to? It's basically just a task that very transparently tries to speed up the game. It's for drama, not to have fun!

The second bit, with all the cheating? Impulse, that's fine he didn't cheat all that much beside Skizz being biased, but Scar? Why did you do that Scar?

I get that he's a little impulsive, (no pun intended) but there's a difference between thinking something is going to take a while and punching your friend into a tunnel full of mobs and not helping him escape while the entity cramming keeps him from mining his way out.

He kept saying he thought he could mine out, but he's played Minecraft for years now, he knows you can't mine with something else in your space, let alone ninety mobs dealing damage to you while you get pushed by a water stream.

I get that Scar didn't intend for this, and I don't hold a grudge against him at all, I'm just sort of flabbergasted that he decided to do that at all.

Beyond just scar, some of the tasks this time feel mean. Just flat-out mean spirited more than fun.

I liked the rest of the game so far because it was a good balance between risk and reward and fun and danger. The tasks could be funny (the slang words one) or super risky (kill the dragon!) And each player was getting a good balance of each.

But now it feels less fun. I can see what's happening behind the curtain with the tasks, people are getting antsy that this series is going to last too long, and the tasks are changing to reflect that anxiety.

It makes it less fun.

This series was refreshing because, unlike the other death games, people were playing it more like Minigames than a UHC, and they got to chat and play!

Now the tasks look like they're trying to course-correct into being worse again. Kill your friends. Betray them. Cheat. Lie. Steal. Take damage. Lose hearts. Be meaner. Be nastier. Prepare for the worst. Hope for the worst. Be violent. Be cruel. You're not here to have fun, you're here to win! Play like it!

It just- it made me nauseous a little bit. The way we snapped from being chill to being suspicious of everyone.

Reds existing and yellows existing was fine before, the last few episodes the yellow names were cool, kind of funny, a little danger, but still friends!

But as the series goes on, people are being more and more cagey. I don't like it.

I get that this is how the series usually goes, but it doesn't feel like fun drama this time.

It feels like the kid at the playground that changes the rules while you play to make sure they win. Like we thought we were having fun, but because someone else wanted the game to be more dangerous, now it's not as fun.

The other series had cool groups, cool bonds of trust, epic storylines and mild rp to rely on when it started getting darker.

This series, it feels like the switch was too quick. They didn't have time to ease into those alliances and deeper characters (even if it's not 100% roleplay you do need to adopt a separate persona to kill your friends like that).

The tasks got darker too quickly, and now instead of being a complex web of alliances or a fight for survival, it just feels like people are kind of being dicks for no reason.

I don't know if this is going to continue, but if it does I'm going to quit watching I think, I just don't like to see people being mean when there doesn't seem like there's a reason.

[im-tops-bottom]

D-Day of 21'

"Hyung why can't we talk about D-day of 21?" I just wanna know what it is.

"Yeah how come we're the only ones who doesn't know?"

"I would rather be in your place right now"

"I'm jealous of you"

"okay kids gather around, it's story time"

"ugh does the old man really have to do this?"

"yes otherwise those two will be on our cases til they wear us down"

"airfryer 180° for 20 minutes each"

"we are not going to cook them and please don't bring your Hyunjin sized air fryer into the dorms"

"boooo boring"

"Hyung do we really have to sit through this"

"if we just relive it one more time then we can put it behind us"

"or you can just tell Hyunjin and Changbin the story without us"

"yeah but where would the fun in that be?"

"you're a cruel leader. We need to expose you. This goes against the Geneva convention"

"sit down before I make"

"ugh fine"

"Good now let me tell you the story of how a Quokka and Chick came out of the forest completely naked after being saved by their nice lovely leader"

Everyone but Chan, Hyunjin and Changbin groan loudly. Hyunjin and Changbin are excited to hear the story. Chan is just excited to share it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chan groans as he's been woken up by a body jumping on him.

"HYUNG HYUNG WAKE UP! IT'S MY BIRTHDAY"

Chan rolls on to his back noting in his head to ask Felix to give it a massage later.

"Happy birthday Quokka. Where's your birthday twin? He's usually here helping you wake me up"

"first of all it's not helping if I have to wake him up to help me only for him to come crawling into your bed and cuddling you back to sleep. Then when you finally do wake up, he's gotta be rewoken up"

"okay that is true. But where is he?"

"I told everyone I wanted to start my day with a game of hide n seek so he said he needed to prepare by doing yoga for his back"

"fair enough. Give me a moment to wake up properly and shower. Then I'll get ready"

"Thanks Channie. Oh and by the way breakfast is gonna be ready soon"

"Thank you baby"

...

After getting ready and eating breakfast, Chan washes the dishes, puts his shoes on, gathers everyone around, counting them to make sure they are all there and then laying down some rules. Some much needed rules after the whole Street Fair debacle.

"Okay everyone, grab your partner, stick with them at all times and keep your phones on"

"Hyung why are we pairing Hannie and Lixie hyungs up? They're just as terrible as each other"

Before Chan can say anything Minho steps in.

"Chan if you wanna keep an eye on those then I'll go with Jinnie and Binnie, someone's gotta keep Binnies lips warm"

"YAH! You're a menace to society and you should go with the maknaes because maknaes"

"no thank you. We actually keep an eye on our surroundings and know all the best hiding spots. We don't want anyone ruining them."

"Hey you found most of them because of me"

"Yes yes yes all hail the great Bbokari, Felix"

"thank you"

"great. Glad we got that settled. Now let's head down to the park by the forest."

Everyone cheered as they walked outside and made their way down to the park. They were contemplating on asking their manager to drive them but since they had a week off, they decided he needed a week off too.

As they got to the park they got into their buddy system and started the first round of hide n seek with HyungBin counting first. Vocalracha had reluctantly accepted Minho as Changbin begged them to take the hyung. In exchange for saving his lips and butt, he has to buy them food for the rest of the month. Thank god it's only the 14th.

Chan was dragged by Han and Felix into the forest since it'll be easier to hide there and the other 3 had gone to hide on the playground in their animal forms.

"hey I see a hole up in that tree. Maybe we can hide up there in it"

"That sounds like a great idea Hannie"

"that's good and all but I'm a wolf. A big wolf might I add. I'm definitely not gonna make it up there"

"oh hmmm we can hide some where else"

Not one to make the sad quokka even sadder Chan hatched up a plan.

"okay how about this, you two hide in tha thole up there and I'll climb that big tree over there. It's got plenty of branches and leaves so I can even hide up there in human form"

Chan smiles as he sees the excited smiles on their faces at the thought of what they're about to do.

"okay let's do this"

Han quickly changes into Quokka and climbs the tree immediately waiting by the hole in the tree trunk

Felix changes into his baby chick form and waddles to the tree. He tries to climb it but realizes several things. He has wings and a break. He can't fly. And he most certain cannot climb the tree in this form.

Chan swoons at his cuteness and puts his hand on the ground.

"Hey Lixie here, hope on my hand. I'll give you a boost up there"

Felix chirps as he does exactly that. He gets a ride on to Chans shoulder as Chan walks up to the tree.

"Hold on tight baby"

Felix is confused at first but yelps and scrambles to claw and bite into Chan's shirt as Chan climbs the tree.

'Sorry Hyung. That startled me'

"it's okay baby. I should have prepared you for it at first"

Chan climbs the few branches til he reaches the one that Han is waiting on. He helps Felix get on to the branch.

"okay you, remember ... I am 3 trees down. If anything happens you two either call out for me or run to me, got it?"

Han and Felix immediately nod. Chan quickly helps Felix who almost dropped off the branch because he nodded to fast.

"Lord help me. Love you two"

'Love you too' can be heard from the two small critters on the branch.

Chan drops down, grabs Han and Felix's clothes that drop when they changed forms and heads over to the big tree. Making sure to look back until he sees Han and Felix enter the hole.

He gets to the big tree and climbs til he's at the biggest brach and decides to transform into his wolf form and lay on it like a cat. It's covered in alot of leaves so he prays it'll help hide him.

After a quick snooze he hears sounds and whines. He looks around and can't see anything. Thinking that it's coming from his tree neighbors, he hops down from the branch, makes sure all their clothes are where he left them and makes his way towards the tree buddies.

He would transform back into a human but he wanted to be ready for any kind of threat.

He was prepared for just about anything. Anything that wasn't what he was witnessing right now.

In front of him a chick plops out of a hole at the bottom of the tree, covered in dirt and all sorts of stuff. After him a quokka plops out of the tree looking the same.

'Are you two alright'

The two jolt and quickly look up. They see their Hyung and immediately run.

Chan looks at them in confusion as they transform into their human forms and run buck naked screaming for their lives.

It's not until he hears sounds coming from the tree again that he turns his head back and sees a bunch of very angry squirrels who start throwing acorns and nuts at him.

'what the F-ouch!'

He gets pelted by them and runs after the other two screaming. Forgetting the clothes.

As he makes his way through the clearing and to the park, he sees a scared Han and Felix explaining to a shocked Minho, Seungming and Jeongin about what happened.

He sees them all turn their heads and he comes racing out of the forest.

"RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIVES. THERES ANGRY SQUIRRELS!"

All the group sees is an army of squirrels throwing nuts and acorns. They all start running and screaming in terror.

Everyone forgetting their clothes and something else they just couldn't put their minds to because they were beyong terrified at what's happening.

They managed to make their way towards their dorm and hide out.

After checking and rechecking the perimeters, they finally manage to calm down. Not a single squirrel in sight.

They sit in the living room asking Han and Felix what had happened.

"Well after we went into the hole, we realized it was a home and that there were nuts stored there. I got a bit hungry and ate it all."

"When he had finished eating, we were joking about how we can move into the tree outside the dorms and start our own little family"

"but it caused us to think how would a quokka and chicken make a baby so we scrapped the idea."

"we got bored of waiting and was about to head out to look for Channie hyung til we heard sounds"

"we looked up to the entry of the hole and saw a bunch of squirrels so I decided to talk to them"

"turns out we slept in their home and ate the food they stored"

"they got angry at that and chased us out. They started throwing nuts at us and Felix tried to fight them"

"They didn't teach us how to fight in a chick form against squirrels in black belt training"

"I had to grab him and push him down towards the hole we found when we got in there."

"and that's when we saw Chan and fled the crime scene"

"Oh shit"

"Guy's I just realized we're all naked"

Everyone turns to each other and looks at each other shocked.

Chan's phone starts ringing and he gulps as he sees JYP's name pop up on his screen.

"Guys we forgot our clothes"

Chan answers the phone and winces as he hears JYP yelling.

"WHY AM I GETTING CALLS FROM NEWS COMPANIES AND YOUR MANAGER TALKING ABOUT 6 NAKED MEMBERS OF STRAY KIDS RUNNING THROUGH A PARK AND DOWN THE STREETS TOWARDS THEIR HOME? YOU GUYS ARE LUCKY NO KIDS OR TEENS WERE OUT AT THE TIME. JUST ADULTS. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS"

"I-.."

"NO DON'T 'I' ME BAHNG CHRISTOPHER CHAHN. I WANT YOU 6 HERE RIGHT NOW. I'M GLAD IT WASN'T ALL 8 OF YOU"

Chan gasps and looks horrified

"Guys we forgot about Hyunjin and Changbin"

"I'M SORRY YOU DID WHAT!?!"

Chan winces once again.

"Sorry sir. We'll grab Hyunjin and Changbin, tell them we have a meeting and they can go do whatever they want."

"See you boys soon"

The call ends and a flustered Chan stares at a wall to mentally prepare himself for the rest of the day.

"What did he say Hyung?"

"All 6 of us have a meeting with him. I'll text our manager to come pick us up. Then I'll text Hyunjin and Changbin they can do whatever they want and I'll shout them and us lunch later on.

After messaging everyone, and making their way to the JYPe building, they spend the next hour getting scolded by everyone there and apologizing profusely about it. They ended up signing some papers, had SKZ's holiday extended until everything dies down and are banned from the building until their holiday is up. Thankfully it was only extended for an 2 weeks and then they'll have another meeting for updates on everything.

After apologizing a few more times and thanking the higher ups , they make their way towards the van to be driven home where they plan to meet up with Changbin and Hyunjin who went out to a museum.

"Hyung should we tell Jinnie and Binnie hyungs?"

"Hell no. They'll take the piss out of all of us for that."

"if they haven't heard the rumours now before the company makes sure no news outlets turned this into the next big thing then they can keep it that way"

"I wanna forget everything that happened"

"This is so embarrassing"

Felix who had been in tears since the incident occured and hadn't stopped crying til they got to the car, looks around at everyone.

"let's make a pact to never mention this ever again. We'll go home, try and see if Changbin and Hyunjin had heard anything, go about our day, have a nice lunch, and celebrate the rest of Hannies birthday. By tomorrow we forget everything that happened."

Everyone nods and brings their hands into the middle shaking on it.

"Good. Now let's go have some fun and take our minds of things"

"maybe we can go pick up our clothes from the park and forest as well"

After grabbing their clothes from the park and forest they make their way home.

Changbin and Hyunjin were there waiting for them to arrive.

"Hey how did the meeting go"

"why weren't we needed for the meeting?"

"oh there was something that required uhm"

Chan was having a hard time coming up with an explanation so Felix quickly shouted

"I'M MAKING SOME BROWNIES AND COOKIES WHO WANTS SOME?"

Everyone cheered and Changbin along with Hyunjin forgot all about their curiosities. None the wiser.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A flushed Chan finishes recounting what he remembered from that day and sits back on the chair.

"I'm gonna need about 12 bottles of soju to drink away the memories"

"you ain't the only one Hyung"

There's a moment of silence before the room is filled with giggles and laughter. All of it coming from Changbin and Hyunjin. One is laughing as he wiggles on the couch, while the other laughed so hard he fell off the couch and is now on the floor laughing away with tears in his eyes.

After an hour of tears and calming down they start breathing normally again. They wipe their tears away with the tissues an annoyed Minho gives them. Neither of the two payed attention to his threatening glances as if he is willing to shove the tissues down their throats if they didn't stop.

"are you two done now?"

They both nod with a bit of a giggle but not enough to send them into another laughing fit.

"I can't believe you two discussed if a Quokka and a Chicken could have sex. Chickens lay eggs. And you guys call me the leader of paboracha"

"really. Of everything I said, THAT is the takeaway from all of this"

"oh I have blackmail now. I can use it to finally get my Innie and Bokkie kisses"

"That is just wrong. Morally wrong"

"I'm am but a mere dwaekki without morals. I know it seems unethical but really.... I can finally get what I want"

"speaking of you two...where the fuck were you guys?"

"oh we forgot all about the game because it was hard to find anyone in their skzoo forms. So we went out for ice cream"

Chan becomes so done with them.

"and we told you guys what happened"

"the lion"

"the witch"

"and the audacity of this bi- OW!"

"Felix no swearing. Do you want to put another 10000 won into the swear jar?"

"I mean you did mark it for your funeral old man, so let the baby swear"

"I don't get paid enough for this"

"Guys I just had a thought"

Everyone turns to stare at Hyunjin.

"Can any one of us get each other pregnant? Cuz I'd like to see a ferret chicken combo. Just one long yellow cheese stick really"

Everyone groans as they all get up and walk away to do their own thing.

"yup their goes our leader of paboracha"

"your thinking skills astounds me"

"he needs a brain in order to think in the first place. He's surviving off one braincell that paboracha shares and today isn't his day to use it"

"hey!"

"we're not that stupid"

"If anyone here is stupid then I think it would be Felix for thinking he could tae Kwon do an army of squirrels by himself in his chick form"

"I reckon I could take them on"

"sure sure Felix. Whatever you say"

"but I totally could"

Felix starts whining before an idea pops into his head.

"hey wait I have an idea"

"what's your idea Bok-ah?"

"Well since it's my birthday today why don't we all go to the park and finish off that hide n seek match we never really got to finish"

Everyone agrees, gets ready and sets off to the same big park with the big forest.

"I guess since we are here to finish it off, Binnie and I can recount"

Everyone agrees to this and go hide as HyunBin begin to count.

Everyone has changed into their animal forms and makes a dash towards different areas.

It's peaceful as Chan lays down in the ground behind a tree that feels awfully familiar. Before he can wonder why he hears screams.

He makes his way down towards another familiar tree and sees a naked Han and an equally naked Felix run from out behind the tree making their way towards the opening.

Chan hears some rustling and looks down to see some angry squirrels and it hits him why the area seemed familiar to him.

"oh for fu-"

A squirrel throws a nut at him stopping him from finishing his sentence.

He sets off screaming about killer squirrels out to get him as he makes his way towards the clearing.

This time he makes his way towards the park and Changbin and Hyunjin are there to witness it all.

They're all attacked by flying nuts and acorns as they all race out of the park and back towards their dorm.

Chan looks behind him and sees that the squirrels stopped at the edge of the park before it starts heading towards the side walk. They turn around and go back towards the forest. Chan sighs in relief and continues running alongside his members.

By the time they make their way back to the dorms, they're all panting and calming down from the run.

"it's safe. They didn't follow us back"

"oh thank god"

"who knew squirrels had great memories"

"they recognized us immediately"

Before anyone else could say something, Chan's phone rings. He feels a sense of de ja Vu as he answers the call.

"hey s-"

"DO NOT HEY SIR ME! I JUST GOT A CALL FROM A CERTAIN GROUPS MANAGER WHO TOLD ME THAT HE SAW 8 IDIOTS RUNNING DOWN THE STREET. ITS A FUCKING UPGRADE FROM LAST TIME. IN MY OFFICE. ALL 8 OF YOU! MANAGER IS ON HIS WAY"

The call ends and Chan's wincing since he answered dies out. He groans as he looks around at everyone.

"oh god we did it again"

Everyone immediately clicks on as the sense of de ja vu all of them but HyunBin felt hits them like a freight train.

"oh god we're all naked again"

"is this how the first time felt?"

"welcome to the "your dead" gang. Can't believe that happened again"

"Hannie, Lixie, What the hell?"

"we found a tree that looked awfully familiar. We saw this hole close to the ground and went inside. Who knew it was the same tree as last time. The squirrels started yelling at us throwing a nut at Lixies head. I couldn't let that stand so I fought them."

"I had to stop the fight and got them to be civil with each other."

"they told us they remembered us from back then and they got angry. It probably didn't help that I ate their nut supply"

"again*

"well we just booked ourselves a free ticket to a meeting at JYPe building"

Everyone groans

"our manager is on his way so let's clean ourselves up, get ready and mentally prepare ourselves. At least Felix isn't crying"

"I'm doing well"

"great. Hold that in til we get to the meeting "

"We can pick up our clothes from the park on our way there"

"yeah I'll let the manager know when we comes by"

"wait... I just realized....what has this got to do with Han, rooming with Felix and kisses?"

"Ever since that day, Han had spent the whole 4 week holiday in quokka form trying to put a baby into poor baby Lix."

"thank god I was there to intercept every time."

"hey! At the time I thought it could be possible"

"first off lixie was a baby chick you idiot"

"second of all and let's let these two in on it....we took Han to a very special vet friend who gave him the whole sex talk and anatomy talk of a quokka and a chicken"

"hey I learned my lesson okay. I am a changed person"

"haven't changed enough since we got into this mess once again because of you"

"and by tomorrow I'll be a changed man again"

"at least this time he ain't trying a weird form of species intermixing"

Everyone goes about doing their thing to get ready for a long day ahead.

What a wonderful way to spend the 15th of September

[gay-salt-amber]

I'm getting obsessed with mizu shingen mochi so can I ask for a fic of Chongyun and Xinqui through the years? Like how their relationship shaped like rain since they first met, first fell for each other, first confess/kiss, first time (;3), marriage, and now dads?

hehe they're gonna be cat dads

---

“Alright children! Run around and play, the weather is very nice after all!” The kindergarten teacher said, all the Liyue children ran around the playground with joy, all except for one. The teachers failed to think of the young exorcist, it was way too hot outside for Chongyun so he was trying his best to stay curled up under a tree. The other children thought he was strange for not wanting to play tag, hide and seek, or whatever other game they were playing. Xingqiu on the other hand was popular and very well liked. He's talkative and playful and very easy to get along with. Somehow, he managed to get away from all the other kids asking him to play with them and when Chongyun looked up, Xingqiu was in front of him,

“You’re name is…Chongyun, right?”

Chongyun nodded, “Mhm…”

Xingqiu tilted his head, “Why aren’t you playing hide and seek Yun-Yun?”

“It's too hot…” He mumbled

The young, blue-haired boy looked around, “Hm…I have an idea!”

“What is it?”

Xingqiu stood up and held his hand out for Chongyuns, “C'mon! I’ll show you!”

Chongyun hesitantly took Chongyuns hand and they sped walked to an entrance to the playground that was currently not being watched by any of the playground attendees since they were all busy with other children and watching other things, Xingqiu and Chongyun snuck out successfully, Xingqiu wasn't phased since he had done this since the first day of school, Chongyun, on the other hand, was very nervous about leaving school without a parent or a teachers permission,

“Xingqiu? I don't think this is a good idea, we could get in trouble…”

Xingqiu smiled, “But you’re too hot! C'mon, we’re gonna go get some ice cream!”

The exorcist was confused, “How are we going to pay for it?”

“My dad owns part of the store, he opened it with his best friend and he said I’d always get free ice cream from there!”

Chongyun didn't ask anything else, he simply believed everything Xingqiu said, after all, he was a nice kid who, while being mischievous, wouldn't lie about something like that. 

The two entered the ice cream store and Xingqiu asked, “What's your favorite type of ice cream?”

“Uhm…I like vanilla and blueberry…”

Xingqiu nodded and ordered their ice cream, even though he had a bit of a struggle trying to hand the money to the clerk because of how small he is

Chongyun was cooled off and happy, the two ate their ice cream and chatted as any average kindergartener would do, Xingqiu talked about his favorite books and fantasy worlds and Chongyun listened, Xingqiu never seemed to mind how quiet Chongyun could be, rather, he seemed to like having someone to listen to him since most of the time, his parents never had the time of day to listen because of how busy they were.

Xingqiu smiled, hugging Chongyun, “You’re my best friend now!”

Chongyun looked really embarrassed, blush covered his cheeks, “O-ok…”

—

Love works in mysterious ways, the two of them started dating…well if someone were to ask them, the two would just look at each other, confused. 

“When did we start dating?” Xingqiu asked

“Uhm…I didn't even know we were dating.”

Xingqius's eyes widened, “But you’ve agreed to go on dates with me!”

Chongyun rubbed the back of his neck, “I thought those were just us hanging out.”

“I’ve kissed you before! Multiple times!”

“I thought you were using me as practice.”

Xingqiu held his face in his hands, “Who would I be practicing for?”

Chongyun was silent, “...Oh my archons I am dense, aren’t I?”

Xingqiu smiled softly, kissing Chongyuns cheek, “You are, and I still love you.”

Chongyun lit up like a strawberry, “I-uh-I love you too.” Xingqiu held Chongyuns hand as they walked along Liyues streets, Xingqiu swung their hands back and forth like a child would, he was smiling brighter than the sun, meanwhile Chongyun was so embarrassed, trying to look anywhere but at the people they were passing that were giving them looks

They eventually made it to the library Xingqiu wanted to visit, it was empty, and the only other person there was an old lady who owned the store. Every other week the two would go into the library because they’d get new releases that Xingqiu wanted to read.

The two went to the back of the library where the new books were, Xingqiu happily browsed the selection while Chongyun stood there, letting Xingqiu look. Xingqius's eyes wandered to a romance book with the title, “The Touch of a Lover's Kiss”

Xingqiu looked at Chongyun with a grin, “Can I have a lovers kiss?” Chongyun looked confused, “I mean if you wanna check out that book, go ahead…”

Xingqiu laughed, “No! I mean from you!”

“You can check out your own books though…”

Xingqiu sighed, wrapping his arms around Chongyun, “I want a kiss from you.”

Chongyun finally understood, “O-oh! Sure!”

Xingqiu kissed Chongyun softly, confident lips met embarrassed ones. Chongyun was hesitant but kissed back.

“You’re my boyfriend now.” Xingqiu proclaimed

Blush covered Chongyuns cheeks, “O-ok…”

—

The moon hung bright along with the stars in the night sky, tonight was the lantern right festival and people were running around Liyue, romance galore. 

Xingqiu was currently cooped up in his room, unfortunately, he had some papers to fill out that would most likely take most, if not all night to complete. Xingqiu wrote away, silently pissed about having to do such work on a night that is meant to be fun and have nobody really working. He should be out spending time with Xingqiu, the love of his life, not cooped up inside like this. That is what Xingqiu was thinking when he got this paperwork and he wanted to shout that at his father the loudest he could but that would make him seem very childish and bratty.

He hummed, listening to the sounds of people below his window, running about and enjoying their night. All of a sudden, a knock came from his window, when he opened it, there Chongyun was. 

“Chongyun? What are you doing here?” Xingqiu shouted quietly, trying not to alert any of his family

“Why are you cooped up inside like this? C'mon, you wanted to enjoy the lantern rite together, didn't you?” Chongyun held out his hand for Xingqiu to take

Xingqiu gave a mischievous grin, “Are you wanting me to sneak out with you? How scandalous~”

Chongyun nodded, “Indeed unless you'd want to stay inside all night long.”

Xingqiu smiled, “Of course not!” He got up to grab his bag, a small, brown crossbody bag that he had gotten as a gift, he took Chongyuns hand and they quietly climbed down.

Chongyun held Xingqius's hand, “So, what do you want to do first? We can go get food if you want.” “Yeah, let's do that. After we get our food, can we go to that mountain we usually go to? I want to watch the lanterns alone with you this year.”

“Hm? Really? I thought you’d want to watch them with Xiangling too.”

Xingqiu shook his head, “No, I want to spend this year with my handsome boyfriend.”

Chongyun blushed, “O-ok, we can do that.”

Xingqiu and Chongyun got their food and happily headed up to the mountaintop and sat down, Xingqiu rested his head on Chongyuns shoulder,

“I love you, Yun-Yun.”

Chongyun smiled and hesitantly kissed Xingqiu on the head, “I love you too Xingqiu.”

The two lovers chatted, their hands intertwined. All their responsibilities could wait one night, tonight, it was all about fun and having a good night between lovers.

“I think the lanterns are going up soon, I can hear Xingyans music from here.”

Xingqiu nodded, still resting his head on Chongyuns shoulder, the lanterns went up, one lantern, two lanterns. Three lanterns…then the Mingxiao lantern rose into the air, the deer-like lantern flew through the sky and Chongyun watched in awe as it flew. However, Chongyun couldn't feel Xingqius's head on his shoulder, he assumed Xingqiu moved his head to get a better look at the lanterns, but when Chongyun turned to say something, Xingqiu was on one knee with a gorgeous ring box in his hand,

“My best friend, my lover, my dear, my sunlight…my dear exorcist, on this beautiful lantern rite, will you marry me?”

Chongyuns eyes widened and a few tears of happiness slipped from his eyes, “Yes…yes, I will marry you.”

Xingqiu slipped the ring on Chongyuns finger and  hugged him, “You’re my fiance now.”

“I know, Xingqiu, and I love you.”

They shared a nice passionate kiss

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

—

Chongyun had just gotten back from work and looked at Xingqiu who was currently sitting on the couch and saw three small kittens on his lap, Xingqiu held a photo album in his arms and the kittens listened with their heads looking at Xingqiu in interest

“And this is a photo of my best friend,”

Xingqiu pointed to another photo

“And this is a photo of my lover,”

He pointed to a larger photo that was next to a dried lily, “And this is a photo of my husband.”

Chongyun was standing behind Xingqiu watching him point to all these photos of the two together,

��Yes I am.”

[revvnant]

misconception: that michael acted out because he hated his dad !

send me a misconception you think people have about my character and I’ll explain if it’s true or not.

no that one's true, at least to me. i don't see this take often? or maybe it just doesn't register to me when it crops up because i'm like. yeah checks out and i'd be curious to know what the other motivation would be? other than just being a teenager, and those two things layer on top of each other. like... i think maybe you could say that it's a misconception that michael only feels hatred for his dad? i think his feelings on william are complex and that love and hate here aren't mutually exclusive.

he loves his father very much and is desperate for his father to love him back, but william cannot and does not express that love for a whole host of reasons -- Being A Man, being an asshole by nature, blaming michael for evan ( either out of genuine feeling or because it's convenient, i lean towards the latter ) -- and that inspires both profound sorrow and, yes, frustration and hatred in michael. when you are denied love by a parent, even if you think you 'deserve' it, it rots you inside. you get mad. the more it happens, the longer you are left on your own to wonder what you did to constitute the one person who was supposed to love you unconditionally turning their back on you, the more it rankles. you do get sad, of course you get hurt. and then you get angry. and michael is fucking furious.

it's complicated because of evan. but even before then, william was not acting like a loving father. we see how he stays out late drinking and storms around the house in midnight motorist. we see that he neglects his kids in the fourth game ( and elizabeth's death, real leopards eating your face party moment that one ). at best he's absent and leaving them to fend for themselves, and responsibility for evan and elizabeth is going to fall to michael because he's the oldest. that would baseline inspire some negativity. and he is a teenager. most teenagers act out period. they have big feelings they can't process, they're confused by what's going on in and around them, and then there's social pressure, including pressure from inside the house. michael is tired and he's stressed and he's figuring out who he is, and he has a father who at best is more interested in his restaurant than him, and at worst ( my take ) is out-and-out abusive.

maybe like... saying hating william was the only reason mike acted out is also false? but if i were mike that would be reason enough go apeshit! i'd go crazyyy. parental neglect and abuse just does shit to your brain it makes you worse! and if william can presumably react to his son dying by killing minimum five maximum ??? children all while blaming michael ( not how i read the mci but i know that's popular fanon ), i think michael is allowed to act out over his father treating him like shit and then like a pariah. yes there's a human element to this with williiam having to be okay with a killer in the house but after a certain point it's like. you don't have a leg to stand on. idk i'd be insane i'd be breaking shit i'd be screaming into my pillow. if william gets roadie the road beer and a line of animatronics engineered to juice children, michael gets becoming a school bully, doing drugs, having unsafe sex, etc. i'd start beating up kids on the playground if my dad beat me up at home. i'd start doing drugs if my only parent was an alcoholic.

so full endorsement to mike being like i hope he falls down the stairs drunk! i hope he gets locked in his office and has to sleep on his desk! i hope his precious car pops all four tires! he wants william to love him and being denied that he's foaming at the mouth. he's a kid. he has a kid's processing power. so if william isn't going to love him then he's going to give william a damn good reason to hate him.

[tinygamertris]

So let me tell you a little story about one of my primary school teachers and how he almost got me fucking murdered when I was a child.

Little me didn't know they were aro-ace or transmasc, little me thought they were a girl because the option to be anything else wasn't even mentioned in public back then, let alone in front of kids. So it's Grade 4, I think I'm a girl, and I find out that year that girls are allowed to play football in winter sport season. I'm not talking American football or soccer here either, I'm talking full on Aussie Rules but the players are children and therefore even more feral and terrifying than the professionals.

The teacher in charge of the football team, we will call him Fever because it's close enough to his name and if anyone recognises him, tough shit, he was an absolute see you next tuesday and I'd love to talk to you if you remember him and compare complaints and remember when the playground had actual grass. Fever hated girls. He was notorious for it. Parents were constantly complaining but the board and the principal were all men and didn't see a problem, because old white cishet men in the 90s were just the worst.

Fever drove off the other girls before the first match of the season through a combination of bullying and 'encouragement' to join a more 'appropriate' sport, but couldn't get rid of me. I fucking loved football and I went in like the little feral goblin child I was. So he decided to get evil.

He held all the team meetings, debriefings, whatever, in the boy's changeroom. He told everyone that since I was so desperate to play a boy's sport, I must think I was a boy, so it didn't matter if I went in there. After all, if I thought I was a boy, then there shouldn't be a problem, should there?

The first day we met in there it was fine, the boys thought he was being a weirdo, and some of them had tangled with me in the past and figured it was better to have me on their side pointed at the opposition. But obviously some of them talked to their parents about it, because pretty soon I was being called 'tranny' and 'freak' all over the place. Still okay, fucking annoying but I was undiagnosed autistic in the 1990s with a Doctor Who obsession, a talent for the written word, and zero filters. I'd had worse.

No, where it went bad was a few weeks into the season when games were actually being played and parents were coming to matches. Because some fucking ape of a man - he probably was perfectly normal looking but I was a child and he was bellowing like you see apes do on David Attenborough - cornered me on my way to the changeroom for halftime and started swinging.

I don't have much memory of what happened during the actual attack, only the aftermath when I had a black eye, a sprained wrist, and the taste of blood in my mouth and had to go to hospital to make sure I didn't have a concussion. One of the few kids at that school who I actually got on with told me the next day that I'd gone absolutely fucking insane when he punched me and they'd had to get two other men to haul me off because I chomped on and refused to let go somewhere in the middle of it.

If I wasn't a feral bastard of a kid, that man probably would've killed me. Just because a teacher said something shitty (if admittedly true thirty-odd years down the line) about me to kids and those kids talked to their parents.

Don't you ever fucking tell me that 'trans men have it easy' because part of me is still a feral little goblin child but now has access to adult language.

“trans men don’t have any real safety concerns to worry about” i can’t wear a mask when i go into public bathrooms even though i’m higher risk and bathrooms are some of the easiest places to get sick because i don’t reliably pass when my facial hair is covered and i can’t risk not passing when i use the men’s room, but i also can’t just use the women’s room for safety anymore because i don’t reliably pass as either binary gender anymore. so my only options are to risk getting sick, take my chances with the consequences of not passing, or just never use the bathroom in public (which has its own health risks).

and today, it almost didn’t even matter that i was putting myself in danger to ensure that i passed because, thanks to a faulty lock and a man who didn’t think to knock, i came very close to having my half-naked body exposed to a bathroom full of cis men. if i hadn’t been holding my coat on my lap because there was nowhere in the stall to put it, every single guy waiting in the (very crowded) bathroom would’ve seen that i didn’t have a dick. how well do you think that would’ve gone for me? my money’s on Not Well At All.

[princessdreamie]

DBH part 82

As expected, those activities were more to her liking. Mega monkey bars? High (but also kid friendly) climbing walls? As far as she has bern Concerned, Na always keep her distance from them. Not to mention, the place was crowded & loud. 2 things her bff hated. It didn't make things better after some adults noticed them walking around without a parental figure.

Mo lied that their parebts are getting some coffee or any other reason why they arent with them.

It isnt like that she didnt enjoy the games but it was clear as day that her friend was having a hard time having fun herself. After 2 hours Mo had enough and demanded answers.

Na started to stutter, trying to avoid her questions. To her unfortunate lack of luck Mo can be pretty scary if she isgetting fed up. That's why most kids don't mess with her, Bu was one of them to realize that first hand.

The intercom from the building announced that they were closing soon asking them to leave the playground and other facilities to go home.

Na was releaved to ve saved by the bell,as she pushed her friend out of her grounds. No just went along with it for now but no until she created a group chat with her other friends (and Lo).

Back at Mo's place

Na excitedly remarked how fun today was, even tho her eyes said otherwise. Even her cheerful voice sounds forced. The kids said their goodbyes as Na stepped inside her car.

Mo was peeking out her window as she saw her friend driving diwn the street. Now was the perfect time to get to see if her theory was correct.

*group chat time*

Mo: wss everyone else having a hard time with Na lately

Le: You could say that

Xa: phew i thought i was the only one

T: everyine calm down. Mo, what did you 2 do?

Mo*telling them their day on the inside kids playground*

Le: you too, huh? She asked me to do some 'spy activities' in a group activity that was hosted by a police facility not far from my Home. I didn't even know that was a thing.

T: yeah, the same goes for me. she asked me about some random stuff of things i like. You think we should talk to her?

Lo: lets not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe she is trying out some new hobbies. Who knows, maybe she actually likes some of the stuff we did with her.

*everyone chewed out Lo how little he knows about her, even after being friends with her for so long*

Mo: i am guessing the things we said to her a while ago are still weigh on her.

Xa: idk. you think? She didn't say anything about it tho.

le: thats the problem. She usually is pretty upfront on what is bothering her. I think Mo is right, we should talk to her.

*the kids make up a strategy plan on how and when to talk to her. Bc that is what friends are for after all*

[wsancho]

This post got me excited. After all these years I still enjoy the Figaro obsession 😚

I mostly agree with those headcanons, and I think a lot of them are very effectively implied in the game because they're also common themes in fanfictions. (In that regard, I must bring up and highly recommend this beautifully written fic. It's the best I've seen portraying how PTSD could manifest on someone as resilient as mah boi Ed 😉). I do think he's good with kids in a similar way as Sabin: they tease and banter and treat them as equals (which might not always work very well), all because they don't look down on the young 😌

And of course most of Edgar's social interactions are just a facade. In my head he's freakishly charming, smart, gracious and cunning; kinda like Hans Landa, but without the evil 😇

…One assumption that I keep seeing EVERYWHERE, and I humbly disagree with, is that either by choice or circumstance; he would go back to his golden cage after the game events. But consider:

Figaro is the one monarchy left standing and no other nation has the power to go against them at this point (or to even survive without their support).

Figaro is so self-sufficient that it can function and thrive in the absence of its king. Edgar can now come and go as he pleases (which he couldn't do before with the Empire breathing down his neck and always trying to find the opportunity to assassinate him and bring down the kingdom).

Edgar is now the most powerful man in the world (highest rank and authority, one of the greatest minds left, hangs out with the most powerful warriors in the world, and his self-appointed personal bodyguard happens to be his twin who is a fucking menace and will fuck you up if you dare touch one of Edgar's hairs). The other governments will certainly want to get the favor of this one monarch.

Maps need to be redrawn, towns and entire nations have to be rebuilt, and trade is yet to flourish again. Mah boi will have to travel the whole world to fulfill his duties as diplomat and to provide his insights and expertise as engineer (maybe even to teach).

So this character in particular is so mature at the time of the game events, that he doesn't have a character arc. He doesn't need one. His hero journey was complete before the game even started. He's not challenged by his own shortcomings, but by the absence of the resources needed to secure his nation. But for all the personal sacrifices he's made and for standing strong and becoming a leading force for his fellow warriors, he gets handsomely rewarded: The whole world is now his playground and workshop, he can now be honest and transparent like he's never been before, and by just allowing himself to get carried away by his genius and natural curiosity he contributes in making the World Of Ruin a better place. He now gets to live ❤️

I just don't see that golden cage being a thing anymore. If I were to theorize a tragic post-game scenario for him, I think it would be a Game Of Thrones type of situation, where everyone wants to take down the one king and sit on the one throne, with a bunch of kids in the middle claiming to be Edgar's bastards 🤷🏻‍♀️

[catistransfaq]

When I was a kid, I thought gender was a silly little game we were all playing. I was given a pink jersey. I teased those in blue jerseys just as they did to those of us wearing pink. But then recess was over and we took the jerseys off to go back to our lessons. As I grew older, I started to realize other people loved their jerseys. They were a part of them. They didn't come off. And everyone insisted I kept mine on too. But I didn't want to wear mine. It was uncomfortably tight and constricting. It was itchy. Why couldn't we all just take off the jerseys and leave them on the playground where they belonged? I was clearly alone in this, so I kept my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself.

Then my body started to change.

I didn't want it to. I liked my body exactly the way it was. Everyone told me it was fine. It was natural. I'd be happy with it one day. Ask my mom some time about how awful it was for me and how scary it was for her. She had no idea why I wasn't handling new hair growth, periods, or my incoming breasts. I remember distinctly begging her, tears in my eyes, to get my uterus removed. Not because periods hurt or made me tired, but because it was wrong. My body should not be doing that! She just held me, crying and confused herself, as she told me we couldn't do that. They would never allow it.

Well I couldn't stop my period, but I could do something about all this hair! Removing hair was even encouraged! I would pick and pick and pick and pick at my legs until I got every last hair out of them. It did not matter that I was now covered in tiny, bleeding wounds that would scar. At least I got that hair that was not supposed to be there! I spent hours, literal hours, inspecting every last inch of my legs making sure there wasn't a single hair left. There always would be. Do you have any idea how many hairs grow on your body??

So.

Many.

And then there was dreading the day my chest would start growing. I remember realizing there would always be something between me and my bed for the rest of my life. I cried into my pillow that night. And when my breasts finally did start growing, it was even worse than I'd imagined! They looked so wrong on me that at first I thought they were growing in the wrong spot. 😅 I covertly stared at a few adults until I could confirm mine were growing correctly. But I hated them. I wished we were like other mammals that only grew breasts when pregnant. I scoured the internet for ways to stop them from growing (spoiler alert, you can't really). Binding seemed like a good solution for about two seconds (there weren't many binders back then and home binding can be very dangerous). In my darker moments I even hoped for breast cancer just to be allowed to have them removed. I thought I hid this a lot better from my mom but apparently she was terrified she'd come home to find I'd mutilated myself one day. I just had to deal with it and try not to think about them every second of every day. I stopped moving around much. Running, jumping, dancing, raising my arms, anything that made them jiggle and reminded me of their existence was off the table. Occasionally I'd forget why I didn't ever do those things. I'd give them a try only to be cruelly reminded and spiral into a dark depression I didn't fully understand.

I now know those were all just symptoms of gender dysphoria. I don't identify as a girl. I'm not a girl. My brain is wired differently. The best way to treat gender dysphoria is to let people transition to the gender that matches with what their brain thinks they are. For me that meant a name change, laser hair removal, an IUD, and top surgery. When you vote, please remember me and think of others like me. Taking away gender affirming care would literally kill us. Please, don't do it.

If you have some questions, I have created an FAQ that will hopefully have some answers for you 🙂

[slashingdisneypasta]

Sylvester the Cat x Toon!Reader || Drabble

Plot: I'm just experimenting with the Looney Tune idea so possibly enjoy some cute Sylvester Jr wanting you to be his new other parent.

Warnings: Toon violence?

You're just tying up the ends of Wile E's bandages into a tight little knot, prompting a wince from the coyote and a little board sign saying 'Ouch!'. Immediately you wince, stepping back. "Ohh... sorry, Wile E... I'm not exactly certified... " Daffy made you do this job, seeing as you're worse at sports then any of them- and that's saying something.

His head falls forward slightly and his ears wilt as you step back.

"Okay! Who's nex- " Turning around - picking up some more bandages and band aids in one fist, and an industrial sized tube of Acme branded antiseptic cream tucked under your other arm, - you look about for your next patient.

- And droop as soon as you see what kind if work load is waiting for you. It looks like every toon you know is lined up for medical attention!

The bandages and band aids slip out of your hands and scatter across the floor. "Oh boy." Quickly taking a deep breath to refresh yourself, you perk right up in order to get to it. Okay! "Sly! You're first, what's wro- Uh, hah. Nevermind."

Looking at him... maybe you don't have to ask...

Tweety flies through the giant gaping hole in Sylvester's tummy and the cat gives great sigh, slumping forward. "Why are the only times he's in there are when he can get out!!"

"I know, I know, woe is you. Sit down." You have no time for sympathies right now, you can allocate Sly only 2 minutes- and that's because you like him. The other patients coming get only one. "Okay, Sly!... um... " Oh brother you're stuck. Why do you do with an ailment like this?? Sylvester patiently sits, waiting for you to finish as you set your paws on your hips with a huff... wondering where exactly to go from here. Hm. "Do you maybe... know where your insides... are? Like, presently?"

"Uhh, they were... disintegrated... "

You two share a concerned look. "Maybe... spackle?- "

Just as Sylvester is gulping down his fear at your crazy suggestion, a certain black and white kitten comes speeding out of the crowd at the two of you. "FATHER!" Sylvester Junior stops at his fathers side, eyes wide with worry. "Father! Is he okay, Y/N??"

As you start rifling through your medical kit for something actually useful, you waive a dismissive paw at the kitten. "Oh, don't worry SJ. Your dad has recovered from worse- you know that."

Oh- that gives you an idea! It may not be strictly medical... or orthodox in the least, but its worth a try! Come on- you guys are toons. Straightening up, you look to the court; Searching for the little yellow speck you know is flying around somewhere.

Sylvester Jr nods slowly, pouting. His eyes are big, and round, and adorably full of worry. "Do you think I can sit on his lap safely, Y/N?"

Oh he's just the cutest. You turn back to your patient and raise your brows at him. "Can he?"

Sly perks up at the chance to get some much needed affection - rather then shameful berating, - from his rugrat. "Of course he can- come on, son- oww... " Unfortunately Sylvester Junior throws caution to the wind, and launches his little body at his father- almost going all the way through and causing you to seriously wince, but luckily Sylvester has a good grip on him and sets him in his lap rather then inside the cavern that was his belly. "Aghhh... thanks, son... I feel a lot better now... oof!- "

Sylvester Junior has thrown his arms around his father, and your heart leaps at the adorable scene...

Except- you wouldn't have, if you had heard what was really going on in that hug.

Sylvester's eyes widen and he deadpans at his son, hearing the words that come out in a rushed, hoarse whisper as soon as the hug he thought was genuine closes around his neck. Of course... this is his son, after all...

"How am I doing, Father?? Is Y/N looking?? I've been told that other cats become more inclined to date a cat who's good with children!, and since you're hopeless at that, I've elected myself, your darling baby son, to help you! So, are they looking father??"

"Junior!"

"Yes father???"

"I do not need your help to woo anyone, and I'm working on Y/N... " Sly tries to assure Jr, not sounding totally sure as his eyes fall downcast. "Its, uh, just a slow process, is all... " After a moment, he proudly lifts his chin, and he would puff out his chest, if... you know.. it was there... "I got your mother on my own, didn't I??"

Sylvester's proud moment is cut off quickly as his son pulls away from him to give a very deadpanned, sassy expression at the mention of his absentee mother cat. "And where is she, may I ask, father??"

A loud 'Aha!' comes from you a few feet away as you jump up, and grab something right out of the air.

Deeply rolling his eyes, irritation flickering inside him at the antics of his son, Sylvester Sr plonks him down on the bench beside him, angrily crossing his arms. Jr follows suit, looking like an exact replica of his father... except, smaller.

Blinking blankly around to see the two, with Tweety now wriggling around in your paws, you giggle at the sight. "What happened to you two? You were having such a heart warming father-son moment a second ago!"

"I'm full of shame, Y/N. Oh woe... "Sylvester Jr sighs, shaking his head as Sr turns his head slowly to look at him. "How am I to face my friends at the playground... My father- a loser!"

Sylvester pointedly looks away, angry eyes pointing towards the court. "My son... a spoiled brat. How am I ever to show my face in society, again?" An even heavier sigh comes out of Sylvester Jr at that remark, and Sylvester Sr immediately jumps up from the bench, pointing a stern finger at his son. "Oh no ya don't- Don't you dare get out that bag!!"

"But Father! I'm full of shame!" Sylvester Jr whines, holding the paper bag in his lap as you watch the two in wonderment. How they can bicker like this, and still have such an adorable, open relationship you have no clue - some kids are too scared to talk back to their fathers, - but the state of these two's relationship is truly, really endearing to you.

Oh how you love Sly... You catch yourself swooning at the thought of him, and immediately stop yourself. Stop it, Y/N! This is not the time for that. Taking a deep breath, you shake yourself. Okay, back to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Sylvester snatches the paper bag away from Jr. "Oh, cut that out, wouldja?!"

While there's a pause in the argument, you jump and take your chance to hold up Tweety in front of Sylvester's face- his pupils shrinking at the sight and his teeth growing sharper, somehow.

"Oh no oh no- You mean old puddy tads- using me like this!" Tweety exclaims, wings pressed firmly to your paws and pushing, struggling to wiggle up and out of your tight grip. Yeah yeah, you think. Tell it to the choir.

Hopefully when I let Tweety go, Sly will give chase... and be all better!

Heh... isn't that how it works? It is, right? He'll 'perk right up'! you could say.

"Alright... here goes nothing!" You squeak, closing your eyes and letting Tweety go, hoping to god that Sylvester doesn't trample you in his endeavour to snatch his favourite little yellow bird.

Feeling a wind blow against you side and ruffling your fur as Sylvester springs to action, you slowly crack your eyes open again- first seeing Sylvester Jr as he still sits on the bench in front of you swinging his legs over the side of the bench, before peaking over your shoulder, and... "Yes!" You cry out as soon as your keen feline eyes catch sight of Sylvester looking good as new again on the court, chasing Tweety through the still-roaring basketball game. Clasping your hands together, your tail wiggles excitedly behind your back. "It worked!"

"What?" Sylvester hears your cheering and immediately halts in his tracks, looking at you then down at himself- a big, toothy smile spreading across his face when he see's he's all better. "Y/N! You did it! Thanks!"

"Of course!" You call back, then point at the scoreboard and wink. "Now kick those Monstar's butts for me!"

The green Monstar turns a squinty looking evil eye on you at hearing your words but you don't care- you're far too busy burning the image of Sly giving you a thumbs up into your mind.

"Heheh, no problem... " That trademark evil grin slips across Sly's face again as he rubs his paws together, turning his attention back to the game as you sigh, paws on your hips; Happy with your job well done.

"Uh, hello??" Someone speaks up from behind you, and you jump, suddenly remembering the mile long line of toons that still need medical attention.

Ohhh... great. You slowly turn around, seeing Elmer giving you angry eyes and quickly look extremely apologetic, paws awkwardly behind your back and spine as straight as a plank. Oops!

You might seem help... you think you tilting your head to see the rest of the long... long, l o n g line. "Uhh... SJ? You wanna help me play nurse, maybe?"

"Oh, yes Y/N!" He exclaims enthusiastically, hopping off the bench and taking up your medical kit in his short little arms- which is way too big for him. You giggle and take it from the kitten, patting his head. "I'll be happy to be your assistant!"

Fist bumping each other, you wink. "That's the kinda attitude I like to see! Lets go."

~

A couple hours and countless injuries later and the game is coming to a nail chewing close. Truly, this is a new level of anxiety you're feeling as you leave Sylvester Junior, now exhausted and up past his bedtime, curled in Granny's lap with a blanket strewn over him. Then you sit back down to watch the game beside a very injured Sly, as Witch Hazel defibrillates Taz.

If Michael doesn't make this shot - with but seven seconds to go, - he has to move to Moron Mountain in your place. You all dragged him here for help and now h's the one with everything on the line.

You cant help but feel a massive load of guilt.

"Oh I cant watch!" You squeak suddenly amongst the thunderous sounds of the audience at 4 seconds, and cover your eyes. "Tell me when its over!"

.

.

.

3 seconds later, the buzzer screeches and you hear the toons around you cheering, and peak out nervously from beyond your paws. ... What happened?

Your gaze flickers to the score board.

Oh my god. A deep, relieved breath comes out of you. "We won!?"

"We won!" Sylvester concurs, jumping up from the bench and throwing a fist into the air. Then he puts his paws on your arms and beams down at you. "We're not gonna be slaves!!"

You wonder what you could say in response, but the one thing your body is telling to you to do is throw your arms around him- so you do. And he doesn't think twice before squeezing you back, picking you up and swinging you around.

Then the world comes crashing down around Sly, as his son opens his eyes to see the scene- and gasps. The kitten sits up quickly in Granny's lap and points. "Oh, father! You did it! I knew you could do it!"

Immediately Sylvester puts you down, his paws retreating from you and a definite sense of nervousness - and maybe embarrassment? - settles over him. You raise your brows, confused, but still swimming in the joy of the game being won and just tilt your head as you confusedly smile. "What did he do??"

Sly Jr doesn't even think a second before gleefully elaborating- despite his father very nearly shaking his soul free waving his hands at him in a doomed endeavour to shut his son up. "No- stop, Junior!- "

"Asked you out! Didn't he?" As the wide eyed bewilderment on your face and the utter horror on Sylvester's dawns on Jr, his shoulders drop and he turns disappointedly at his dad. "Didn't you?"

"No!"

"Oh, father!- "

Sylvester Sr's tail, shoulders, and head slump forward as he turns his kitten around so he faces away from the two of you, embarrassment replaced by exasperation. "You're tired, son. Go to sleep. Night night, sleep tight, sweet dreams, don't let the bed bugs bite and we'll talk in the morning." Then he slowly, meekly turns back to you.

And you're practically glowing. "Sly... what's he talking about?"

"Father likes you!- " Sylvester Jr tries to speak up again, turning his head but Sr twists his head carefully back, a reprimanding tone in his voice.

"Sleep! Hah hah... " Sylvester (Sr) turns back to you, arms held carefully behind his back as he chuckles nervously. "My son is... troubled... a little- "He point at his head and swirls his finger; A gesture reading 'Loopy'. As soon as the meaning behind that word and his gesture occurs to you, you visibly droop. Oh. Okay... I guess SJ was just messing with us... Sly watches this reaction, and his ears perk up quickly; Sensing some dissappintment. "I mean, uh... unless you liked the i-idea?"

You peak up at him again from the floor, seeing his face slowly going red. "... D-do you?"

"Wha- I asked first! You answer the question."

"Hey." Setting your fists to your hips, you look stubbornly at him. "You were just taking it all back! So you tell the truth. Which is it??"

"Yeah- but I asked the question first!"

"Sylvester James Pussycat Senior!"

"Pfft... if you think pulling full name on me is going to change anything... " He rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. "You've got another thing comin'!"

Your eyes narrow, and so do his, before suddenly Taz jumps up from the bench he was resting on and ZOOMS past Sly so fast and so hazardously, that he's caught off guard and jumps forward with a yelp- accidentally knocking you.

"Oh!-"

"H-hold on, I got ya!!" Sylvester's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and he grabs you just before gravity manages to drag you down to the ground; Pulling you back up to your feet- which just so happens to bring you two extremely close together.

Two sets of eyes widen and faces go red.

Everything seems to go a little quieter around you, the deafening sounds of the auditorium seeming to get plunged under water as the crazy all just slows down for just a moment. Enough for you to enjoy the few seconds you foreseeably get before he jumps back like someone sprayed him.

But to your surprise, he doesn't move. Just stands there and looks shocked... but does not move even an inch away from you. Doesn't even let go of you.

Finally, after a few good moments, you sigh and give in. "... Sly, would you like to go out sometime with me?"

"Ah... " His ears flatten against his head as he looks bashful, with a cute little smile that makes your stomach do backflips as he curls his tail around yours. "Yes, I'd like that very much."

You lean up and give him a feather light kiss on the cheeks- and he goes even redder.

[letitrainathousandflames]

Wait. How many levels of friendship do you have? And how does one become friends?

Aight sit down bc I have hyperfocus mode on and my leg is bouncing quicker than the speed of light. I have 5 levels of friendship:

1 ) awkward i-don't-know-how-comfortable i can be w/ you yet and i'm also adhd so i will forget to reply your messages sometimes and worry abt you thinking i hate you

2) i know a bit abt you and you know a bit about me. We exchange memes and wait to get a keysmash laugh reply. After a while, we get either one of us reblogging the meme the other sent, or we simply Know they were seen and are thus no longer plagued by the worries of level 1

3) We start having recurring themes/jokes in our convos. This is the best part bc I then know what to talk or ask about to get u going "oh! topic i enjoy!"; also, i know now your interests/hyperfixations/area of expertise and therefore you become my source of knowledge in this particular area so that a) I can learn from a friend and b) you get to infodump all that fun stuff no one ever asks you about.

(shoutout to my marine biologist buddy who knows everything about those underwater critters, the friend w/ animals who explains animal husbandry and the dnd pal who knows what all these dice do, love y'all <3)

4) We don't talk often, but we know timezones/work/studying is a bitch so we Get It. Starting convos is easy bc we know enough abt each other and are protected from most of the mortifying ordeal of being known by the computer screen and physical distance, which is also a curse bc goddamn, you must be fun to hang out with but there u are, in a whole other continent.

We frequently plague each other with cursed content. I might have 28% of a crush on you bc you know me better than most people IRL do. If we have mutual blorbos, we spend hours coming up w/ fic/scenarios for them, which feels as whimsical and lighthearted as playing dolls in a playground with a friend you just met but also feels like has been your soul companion since your previous lifetime. it's day for me when its night for you so the only thing we're granted is a sliver of time in which we squeeze the most meaningful glance via a discord stream of me playing some shooter game.

One day you might leave Tumblr or just shift into a different friend group or discord server, and I'll have a chunk of knowledge about you and nothing to do with it, and so will you. It was real. I hope we meet again. If we don't, I hope you find your happiness somewhere.

5) All that but you actually survived the test of time and the shift of interests and we remain friends bc we are actually connected to each other's personalities and tastes and we make the effort to keep the friendship going, even if I now talk of a fandom you're not a part of, and you got married and had a kid and now doesn't have as much time but you still find a way to send the occasional message or drop in for a chat. We've seen each other's actual faces on video. I tell you my top-secret stories and you tell me yours. I constantly refer to you in convos w/ ppl IRL like "oh, my friend from [country]" said- to the point where they already have their own idea of you too. I love u and you know it.

[catzula]

Kiss me so you won’t forget

》 35 An awkward kiss given after a first date. / Kuroo Tetsurou

Synopsis: 6 year old you sealed your promise with Kuroo with a kiss (on the cheek, but its still a kiss... right?) A promise that you would remember and wait each other until Kuroo could buy you a ring. You still remember, but does he?

Even though you weren't exactly best friends, you knew who Kuroo Tetsurou was, and really, who didn't? He was the captain of the volleyball team, one of the most handsome guy around, so smart and so cool, and also your first kiss.

Okay, okay, maybe not your first kiss- it was a small peck on the cheek, but you still counted it. You remembered the day it happened, you and he were playing in the playground, and even though you had just met that day, you felt like you knew each other forever.

He had told you he was going to marry you at the end of the day, and you still remembered the proud smirk on his lips as he promised you, his warm -and dirty- hand holding yours, those odd, golden eyes sparkling. "Just wait," he had told you, "wait till I can buy a ring." You nodded, trying to hide your joy from him.

"Promise me you won't forget me, 'kay?" He told you with a serious face.

"Okay." You had muttered, fidgeting your hands.

"And if I see any other boy here playing with you, I- I-" when he couldn't think of any threats, he held your other hand too, now holding both your hands, looking deep into your eyes. "I'll be really sad."

At that, you had smiled sweetly, without thinking much about it, you leaned in, and your lips touched his chubby cheeks. "I won't forget," you giggled, a kiss worth a promise. "But you have to promise you won't forget either."

And here you were, still remembering the day as clear as day, knowing it was a childish game, but still waiting. You had never forgotten about him, even though you hadn't seen him ever again, not until the first day of college, anyway.

A freshman, standing in the middle of the almost empty room, looking around like a fish out of water. You had no idea where your class was, and it didn't help to know your first ever lesson was Chemistry, your arch-nemesis. You thought of asking help from the people around you, but they all looked too mean for you, like they all were watching and snickering at you. Well, it was an exaggeration, they didn't really care about your presence there, and although some were laughing at the fish-out-of-water expression you had on your face, it was because you reminded them of their first day. 

Still, even though the paranoia you felt wasn't rational, it was there. So asking just anyone was out of the question. Chewing on your inner lip, you walked out to the hallway, hoping you could at least find a teacher so you could ask where the fuck the chemistry lab was. But instead of going to the d-block as you should've, you found yourself out in the garden. 

"Oh my god," you muttered to yourself, rubbing your temples as you looked around, this time even gathering to courage to go and as someone. That was when you saw a head of dyed blond hair bending over the game console in his hands, looking very uncomfortable as he sat on the very edge of the bench.

You didn't want to, but you found yourself walking towards the blond, his eyes never once leaving the screen, his fingers moving smoothly over the buttons.

"E- excuse me?" You muttered when you stood there a few seconds, and he didn't notice you. He visibly flinched at your voice, averting his eyes to you. "I'm, uh, I'm a freshman." You told him as if that explained everything. When he didn't answer, you cleared your throat. "I'm looking for the chemistry lab? I'm very late, and-"

"Kenma." You heard someone call from right behind you, the voice sending chills down your arms for an unexplainable reason. You turned around on your heels to see just who it was. He stood a few steps away from you, brows slightly furrowed as his golden eyes studied your face. Golden eyes that were too familiar. It didn't take you long to recognize who it was, the unruly, raven hair of his being the biggest hint. 

(You were a bit surprised he kept the hair though, because really, what even is that?)

Your lips parted, letting out a small gasp as you recognized, connecting the memory from so long ago with the tall boy that stood before you. The way his eyes examined your face, he probably thought he had seen you before, and you waited for him to remember, heart pounding in your chest because finally-

"I've been looking for you all around." He spoke softly, voice laced with concern, and your eyes widened, gaping at him because his words could only mean that he remembered, he really remembered. 

It took you a few seconds to realize he hadn't. His eyes weren't on you anymore, but on the small boy that slouched over his game. Kenma, ever the perceptive boy, noticed the slight slump of your shoulders, the disappointment that flashed in your eyes.

"I was here." Kenma shrugged, his eyes once again finding his game console. "Could you help her, though? She's lost, apparently, and I'm about to face the boss." 

"Oh, sure." He shrugged, a grin suddenly appearing on his lips, eyes slightly narrowing in a flirtatious manner. "Freshman, huh?" 

"That obvious?" You muttered, forcing a nervous laugh, and he chuckled. "Yeah." 

~~~

The walk felt like an hour. You quickly noticed Kuroo was pretty popular by the looks and whispers that followed you both, and frankly, this was not the first impression you wished to give. 

You anxiously fidgeted your hands, your gaze on your steps as he talked about... something.(what was he talking about again? You had forgotten to listen.)

"And, this is the chemistry lab." He told you, stopping suddenly and causing you to fall off balance. "Woah, careful." He grinned, holding you by the wrist before you fell flat on your face.

"Thanks." You told him with a giggle, biting your lip when you looked at the time. "The class is literally over in 10 minutes." You sighed. "I'll just skip it."

"Wow, rebellious, are we? And skipping chemistry? You must be out of your mind." He teased, chuckling. You shrugged, smiling back. "I don't really like chemistry anyway."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." He frowned, "come on, there are benches right around the corner so we can sit."

"Oh, it's okay, and you probably have classes anyway. Thank you so much for helping me, though." You told him with a smile, feeling bad for parting since he was fun to be around, but you didn't want him to feel like a babysitter. 

"My next class is also in this block, don't worry about it. What's your next class? We don't want you to get lost again, you know?" He grinned, making heat rush to your face. "It's math... I think." You answered as you followed him to the bench. 

"Here you go." He told you when he came back from the automat, a can of coffee in his hand. "The coffee tastes like shit, but it still does the job." He kept talking as he opened the can, making a face as he downed the coffee. 

"Oh, shit." You coughed after you took a sip, making him laugh, the rich voice making you shiver. "I told you." 

You sat there until the next lesson, the conversation never-ending, full of laughs, and it felt like that first day you had met. It felt like you knew each other all your lives, like you hadn't only met that day. Still, you neatly avoided ever talking about how you had met before -or that he had proposed to you-. It did kind of sting that he didn't remember when you hadn't forgotten all these years, but it was okay. You were kids, after all.

"You know, this was nice." He told you when you stood up to go back to your class, running one hand through his hair, he looked... nervous?

"It was, thank you for your help." You told him. "And the very bad coffee, too." You added, once again making him laugh. "It's a pleasure." 

He bit on his lip, his eyes locked to yours as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. Or maybe it was... Did he finally remember?

"Would you like me to walk you to the class? Do you remember the directions?" 

"It's okay, I remember." You chuckled, missing the letdown look in his eyes. "Oh, okay." He muttered. 

Oh. 

You turned around to walk to class, stopping mid-track when you heard him call your name. "Yes, Kuroo-kun?" You asked sweetly when he didn't say anything for a few seconds. 

"I was thinking..." He muttered. "I can... you know, give you my number." He scratched the back of his neck anxiously. "So I can help if you ever get lost." He added when you didn't answer (you were still trying to process that he offered you his number?!)

"Oh, that would be amazing!" You told him a bit too excitedly. "Th- that's really sweet, thank you." You tried to suppress your grin as he entered his number into your phone. 

"You can always text me." He told you with a fake chough that was meant to hide his embarrassment. "Not only when- I mean if you get lost, but also if you ever need any help. Or just anything, really." He chuckled when he noticed your flushed stare. 

"You should probably go now," he told you. "You class is about to start." 

"Oh, shit!" You muttered, starting to run as you realized he was right. 

~~~

"Oh, hey Kenma!" You greeted your friend when he walked towards you. You were glad he had relaxed around you, feeling safe when it was just you two. 

"Hey, Y/N." He greeted back quietly. "Waiting for Kuroo?"

You nodded with a shy smile, averting your eyes from his golden ones to your hands. "He should be here any minute now."

"I doubt it." Kenma shrugged. "He was trying to shape his hair last time I saw him. He has been working on it ever since." He snickered villainously. "And that was 3 hours ago." 

You couldn't help but laugh at that, the image of Kuroo's frustrated face as he tried to rule his hair somewhat, making your shoulders shake with laughter. 

"What are you laughing at?" You heard someone talk from right behind you and making you jump in your place. "N-nothing!" You answered instantly when you recognized him. 

"I thought you were going to fix your hair." Kenma muttered, his words causing Kuroo's face to twist with shock, anger, and disappointment. 

"I did fix my hair!"

~~~

A date with Kuroo Tetsurou. 

You always imagined it would be amazing, but not this good. It was unfair how funny he was, how smart and good-looking. It was always enjoyable to be around him, but having his full attention on you, like this, romantically, was something else. 

It hadn't taken long after that second first time you had met for him to ask you out. You were hanging out almost every day anyway, he usually accompanied you to your classes, sometimes even waiting for you. 

So here you were. Kuroo had decided to go on a picnic for your first date, brought cookies and sandwiches and this time decent coffee, even fruits, and at least 20 bananas? You didn't ask him about the bananas, though.

You had been sitting there, on the top of the hill, for hours now. The sun had already set, stars showing up in the sky, but neither of you wanted to part. 

Kuroo was leaning on a tree, his arm slumped on your shoulder, pulling you towards his chest. It didn't feel awkward or odd to be in this position with him, but you weren't sure why (or how). You skid closer to him, dropping your head on his shoulder, aware of the grin on his lips when you didn't push him back. 

You sat like that for god knows how long, only deciding to go back when he noticed you were about to fall asleep between his arms. The ride back to your house was silent, the comforting kind that made you both smile. It was dark, the lights coming from the traffic every once in a while illuminating your pretty face, causing him to think this was yet another dream. He had no idea how he managed to make you fall for him, too, but Kuroo was grateful he did.

He tapped your shoulder slightly when you arrived, waking you up from your daze. "Y/N." He muttered, smiling. "We're here."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I think I fell asleep." You answered with a cheeky smile. "So I thought." He chuckled. "So, uh, thank you for today." He told you, rubbing the back of his neck and causing you to scream internally at how adorable he was. 

"It was really nice." He kept on awkwardly when you stood silent and fiddled your fingers with your now unfastened seatbelt.

"I had so much fun, too." You answered, biting your lips as you thought of what to say next, but he acted before you.

"By the way, Y/N, you know this was a date, right?" He suddenly asked, the question leaving you dumbfounded. When you didn't answer him for a few seconds, he felt his eyes widening. "Y/N- are you seriosuly-"

"Kuroo, what the hell?" You asked, unable to control your laughter anymore. "Of course I knew this was a date!"

"Ah, damn, my heart almost stopped." He clutched his chest, only making your laughter louder. "Why would you even ask that?"

"Oh, I just... wanted to confirm it so I could tell you something." He muttered, not proceeding whatsoever. "And that is?.." You persuaded him, making him chuckle and lean forward to bring his face closer to yours. "I wanted to tell you that- that I like you. A lot." He finally admitted.

"I like you, too." You whispered, suddenly aware of how close his lips were.

"And I really, really want to kiss you." 

"I'm not- I'm not stopping you." You confessed, making him chuckle just before his lips touched your lips. It was a small peck, his soft lips pressing yours slightly, his touch on your lips lingering a few seconds before he pulled back. 

"I think-" He whispered, slightly breathless because of the excitement and the way his heart pounded in his heart. "I've fallen for you hard." He chuckled. "I'm not- Umm, I'm sorry our first kiss wasn't in somewhere more romantic, though." Kuroo told you, and you could see the slight disappointment in his eyes. 

You bit your lip (the feeling of his lips still lingered on yours), chuckling anxiously. "You know, this wasn't exactly our first kiss." You shrugged.

"What?"

"I, umm, I did kiss you on the cheek before. To seal... a promise."

His brows furrowed, trying to understand what you were talking about, confusion evident in his eyes. "No, you didn't." 

"Kuroo," you told him with a mysterious smile. "I did." 

You opened the car door, knowing by the slight widening of his eyes, he was an eyelash away from remembering. "Well, good night." You smiled, enjoying the look of shock in his eyes. 

You shut the door just as he shouted your name, "Y/N, wait, I remember!"

~~~

Even though you weren't mad at him for forgetting, Kuroo still made up for it with thousands and thousands of more kisses.