#he's so angry about the snub but he's trying not to show it

[three-headed-monster]

brandt clarke on last year's wjc snub | dec 9th, 2022

[manicpixiedreamedwins]

I know we all joke about Charles Rowland having these over-exaggerated people pleasing tendencies, but I just want to say they make a lot of sense for someone who grew up in the hell hole of a home that he did.

(Now's the time to dip if you don't want to read something kind of heavy and also really messy, sorry. CW for mentions of Charles' home life)

The night nurse gave us some insight into what Charles' home life looked like (that, and we can piece together how he must have been feeling from his reactions to the Devlin house). We know he had a volatile, objectively abusive parent. We know he and his mother were terrified of this man, enough that he keeps checking in to try and make sure that his mom is still okay all these years later.

Alright. Still with me?

There's this thing that happens to kids who grow up in households like this (trust me).

Because one parent is so volatile, they learn to model after the other parent who is constantly keeping the peace. They're constantly walking on eggshells, they have to be hyper-vigilant of even slight differences in the atmosphere to prevent a catastrophe. If they have needs or wants, then those needs and wants are not being met. If there are problems (there are) then they are not being talked about (ever, and if they try then all hell breaks loose and there are consequences).

These kids form a facade of "everything is fine, there are no problems and we are happy here". You know, what we would call a people pleaser.

This is Charles. This is very much a survival instinct, it kept him reasonably safe in life (truly, he only died once he deviated from it and "rocked the boat" so to speak).

In all fairness, it has worked out fine for him in death too- Edwin responds well to it. Edwin actually does react very well to Charles' attempts at merry making, deep breathing, even his playful ideas like boardgames and boxing. What he knows works, actually. It works so well he's stuck around for thirty years, so in his mind he probably doesn’t think he should change anything.

The second time he deviated from people pleasing, in all fairness, even when he had to or else he would get separated from Edwin, also didn't work out well. He reacted on genuine, earnest feelings. He was fucking angry when the night nurse showed him his trauma. He was pretty raw when he pushed her over the bridge and into the fish. That was all earnest, uncensored emotion, not a measured act.

Edwin reacted poorly. Everyone reacted poorly. Back to people pleasing.

Charles is really only confused when people pleasing doesn't work. When he reaches out to try and befriend Monty and gets snubbed, I think he's genuinely confused. He can't figure what's wrong. This always works. It always works with Edwin at least. So what's wrong?

That continues on when he's doing everything he'd typically do to engage Edwin while he's reading and it's just... not working (because remember the hyper-vigilance- he knows something is different and so he's unsettled).

This continues onto the roof scene. He knows something is completely and utterly fucked (he just doesn't know it is between Monty and Edwin, or that Crystal’s powers are gone) and he's uncomfortable. In a previous life, he'd be waiting for the other shoe to drop and something to hurt.

He's relieved when Edwin finally starts opening back up a little and trying to talk to him. Yes, he misinterprets what's happening at first (he assumes Edwin is coming out in general, as opposed to trying to tell him he likes him), but things are going back to normal in his mind.

They're reconnecting. He does get a little uneasy because there's still one wall between them (the cat king) that he can't manage, joke, or talk his way out of yet because Edwin hasn't explained yet.

This gets interrupted anyway. (At least there's no more cat bracelet, lol. A win for Charles).

There's more pressing issues, though- he needs to rescue Edwin from hell. He literally cannot be separated from him. Their whole thing has been not being separated from each other since... well since the start. So he keeps his promise, sloughs through the depths of hell, and goes to get him. Easy enough! He disarms the babydoll spider with a bomb, a moltov cocktail, and Edwin's journal. This was probably the least of his problems.

Success. He's got Edwin back. His afterlife is good again. Now things can go on as normal.

Only FUCK! Now Edwin is asking him to express... his... feelings...

-Well. Look how well it went the last time Charles did anything on his own volition. First he died, then he pushed Edwin away. This seems kind of important. He can't fuck this up, but they are literally running out of hell, but he can't fuck this up because that would mean he pushes Edwin away-

He comes up with something that feels close to right, measured, things that Edwin has responded well to before (and under all of that he asks him to stay, please stay, be patient, but it comes out as a declaration because that seems more certain). He cannot lose Edwin here.

They run back up the stairwell together. Charles hopes maybe Edwin understood.

Charles wishes he had better words on the roof. He doesn't, other than to reassure Edwin they're okay-- he would have wanted that. The last time he said anything, it was too extreme. He says nothing and hopes maybe Edwin will give him some sort of clue on what to do again, eventually.

Idk, maybe I'll write more later but... this is so fascinating to me because it's like so obvious as someone who grew up in the absolute tar pit that Charles did. He's not dumb, or making arbitrary choices with what he's doing here. He is doing what he knows works to keep what's important to him close to him. He's just wildly out of his depth when that doesn't work.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Topsy Turvy Days in Pomefiore

A Pomefiore full of characters I enjoy… 🤡 Can you tell this was the one I was most excited to write for–

Pspspspspps 👀 If you like the idea of Pomefiore!Leona (or at least Leona in the Pomefiore dorm uniform), read this one-shot!!

The Beautiful Queen, and her Spirit of Tenacity.

Leona Kingscholar…

… has an ear tugged by Vil and receives a stern lecture. “You won’t sully the good name of Pomefiore, Leona,” Vil nags, “you’ll tuck your shirt in and say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Act like the prince that you are, for heaven’s sake!” (Leona responds with an eye roll and a voice drenched with sarcasm. “Excuse me for my poor manners. I didn’t realize who’d died and made you Queen. Last I checked, you’re still playing pretend in your fancy get-ups. I don’t think you’re in any position to order me around.”)

He has no intention of upholding traditions or living up to any of Pomefiore’s rigorous standards for appearance (both in looks and in etiquette). Leona just pulls up and starts bossing others around like he owns the place. Of course, the Pomfiore students take offense to this sort of unrefined behavior—but their power and status dwarfs Leona’s, so, like well-drained show dogs, they begrudgingly follow his orders. (They grumble under their breaths about of “Vil-sama would never stoop so low!” and complain and gossip behind Leona’s back; he can hear them, but he doesn’t care enough to intervene. Let them talk. Let word reach Vil, Leona smirks, whatever will piss him off more.)

The Pomefiore students do make efforts to teach Leona their ways, but even the boldest of the bunch come off as demure or unassertive compared to Leona, who boasts both confidence and charisma. The most they can muster as a group is holding Leona down while they fit him into his Pomefiore uniform (which is ruined the very next day with a various creases, the sash coming undone and the robes slipping down his torso—Leona had gone to sleep in it after taking mandatory pictures to satisfy his annoying family). Upon seeing him in such a state of disarray, one student fainted and another mob had to catch them. (“G-Get a hold of yourself. B-kun!!”)

Jade is a pain in his backside. To Leona, he’s no better than Rook–a slimy bastard slinking around in the shadows, keeping a trained eye on others and waiting for them to divulge their secrets, their weaknesses. Every time their paths cross in the corridors of Pomefiore, Jade smiles and greets him, offering up his services to the young prince… only to be completely snubbed. “My, such unbecoming behavior…” the eel tuts, his beady eyes glinting with amusement. “Like I give a damn what you think,” Leona retorts. “Don’t get in my way, and we won’t have any problems.” “Fufufu, understood. I’m pleased that we were able to come to a mutual agreement.”

Ortho reminds Leona a little too much of Cheka with his energy, enthusiasm, and general bubbliness. At any given time, Leona could be snoozing or lazing about in a public area, only for Ortho to pop up and ask if he wants to build a snowman or something. Leona has to throw a bone to him (aka send Ortho off to research something) just to get the kid to leave him alone… but Ortho shortly returns with glittering eyes and a detailed report to present! There’s no shaking him off, so Leona has to put up with Ortho trailing after him, asking questions, and providing pointless invitations. Still, Ortho’s earned a bit of Leona’s respect! “You’ve got real guts rolling into a lion’s den without a care in the world.” The kid’s got a backbone, unlike his daikon radish sprout of a brother.

He runs late for almost every function (on purpose). Mobs try to wake up Leona to no avail—he either chases them off with an angry glare and a roar, or he’ll dismiss them with the oh-so-clever excuse of, “I thought Pomefiore was all about living up to the Beautiful Queen’s legacy. I’m only respecting that by getting all the beauty sleep I need. We’re not the same.” Leona then pulls the covers back over his head, effectively shutting down the conversation. (The mob students proceed to seethe about his lack of manners and lament that a “slob” like Leona “sleeps prettier” than any of them do.)

What started as clear animosity later grows into an odd sense of respect for Leona’s style. In fact, he ends up setting new trends in Pomefiore (which Vil may not be so happy about when he returns). Windswept (aka Leona’s bedhead) hair is in style! Loose, messy clothing and natural, wild makeup looks are what’s in vogue! An effortless kind of beauty, the “I just woke up like this!” look, is what’s desirable now! Like a flock of subservient sheep, they shape themselves in Leona’s image. “Hahaha! Oh, this is rich,” he drawls. Wait ‘til Vil gets a load of this.

Thank the Seven a certain huntsman isn’t around to stalk him—but unfortunately, there’s one arch nemesis Leona can’t completely run from… vegetables!! At Pomefiore group meals, his plate is piled high with them before he’s served. He’ll tend to eat around them (only consuming the meat, sometimes grains), but here’s Jade, suddenly magically at his side with a smile, tutting and insisting that he clean his plate! “Go on, have a bite.” It seems that Jade’s the only one around here strong-willed enough to butt heads with Leona, but he only ever uses that power for petty things that will annoy the beastman!

“Tch. This place reminds me of the palace back home. Fools putting on airs thinking it’ll impress people, gilded halls and decorations, empty and shallow words. ‘S not worth it to change who you are to please others, cuz sooner or later you’ll learn that those efforts are futile. Instead of conforming to Pomefiore, I’ve made it conform to me. No stuffy rules or tradition will keep me down.”

Jade Leech…

… is able to chameleon his way into any group as he sees fit, and Pomefiore is no different. With his prim and proper looks and persona, he’s readily accepted into the fold despite initial apprehension. Ah, the irony is sweet—when Jade was last here, he was acting under a ruse to gain free promotion for the Mostro Lounge from Vil. Now that Jade is at Pomefiore a second time, he has a genuine interest in picking up its secrets for himself…

Humility is the name of the game. Jade keeps a low profile to maintain his image for the new cliques that he hangs with. Polite, modest, reserved, and willing to lend a hand when needed: that is the niche that he fulfills. It gives him an easy “in” to any conversations and gossip circulating among the social circles in the dorm, with the Pomefiore students none the wiser that Jade’s listening in and tucking away the information for the future.

The uniform suits him well; there’s a natural grace and finesse to Jade that translates well into elegant strides. One may just mistake him for a swan gliding across a glittering lake–before realizing, far too late, that he’s actually a sharp-toothed predator going in for a kill. The very embodiment of “looks can be deceiving” is Jade dressed up in fancy robes and a smile.

He tries to reach out to Leona too, but the beastman quickly rejects his advances. “Save it for someone who’s naive enough for fall for your silver tongue,” Leona snarls, slamming the door in Jade’s face. (… And so, Jade turns to Ortho, which makes Leona snort. “Are you seriously going after a kid now? Even for you slimy seafood like you, that’s low.” (It’s not like he intervened because he was concerned about Ortho, he just wanted to get in a blow on Jade’s pride.) The tension between them has been high since then, like that of two predators fighting over the same scraps of food.

Speaking of Ortho, he’s an obedient little helper and another source of information to Jade! (After all, there are some things that only a child gets to hear.) They trade gossip all the time, with Jade often rewarding him with small treats (Idia recently invented an oral intake attachment for Ortho to use). It’s also just fun for Jade to have casual conversations with Ortho in general. Even though Ortho looks young and acts so innocent, he knows a lot since he’s always plugged into the internet, which results in very fascinating tangents between him and Jade. (Now the question is, how much of a bad influence does Jade want to be on this poor child before he’s sent back to Idia?)

As a student of Pomefiore, Jade has newfound access to their tomes and other potionology resources. There’s some interesting herbs, plants, fungi, and flowers that can only be found on this dorm’s land, which Jade makes good use of in his personal concoctions. He’s so kind as to share these brews with (unknowing) Pomefiore students! If they experience any adverse effects, he quietly makes a note of them for himself, but feigns ignorance when his subjects wail after once sip of his “tea”–before breaking out in bright blue spots all over their faces. “Oh dear… Now how did that happen? I haven’t the faintest idea, I was certain the blend was purely dried black tea leaves and apples.”

Jade gains a stronger appreciation for the arts. He has always wished to improve his drawing skills so that he can sketch the various mushroom specimens he discovers during his mountain hikes, and Pomefiore is the perfect place to gain new aesthetic perspective. Jade sees the world anew, all the little details he never really noticed before: the sunlight and how it refracts across different surfaces, the lithe form of water, the different shapes and textures of various caps, stalks, and petals… His sketches become all livelier as a result.

He gains a new hobby in the form of preserving/pressing plants and flowers. The process is simple, something he picked up from his Pomefiore peers–and the results can be repurposed for prettying up his beloved terrariums, as well as adding color to the journals in which he documents his nature excursions and experiments in.

“Oya, oya... I was not disappointed with my second stay at Pomefiore. I was able to glean much information. What information and for what purpose, you may ask? You need not concern yourself with the particulars. As I was saying, the world above certainly has many marvels unique to it. It is thanks to that that I do not find myself bored. Fufufu, Pomefiore has my sincerest gratitude for that.”

Ortho Shroud…

… had to reassure his big brother that they’d be fine going their separate ways (”Geez, Nii-san! It’ll be fine! I can always hack into NRC’s security ecamera feeds to check up on you.”)! He also had to promise Idia that he wouldn’t do anything dangerous while in Pomefiore (imagine how aggro the headmaster would get if Ortho unleashed a laser beam in their oldest dormitory and destroyed it!). Idia double and triple checks that Ortho’s on “child/safe mode” before sending him away.

Ortho designed a Pomefiore Gear just for this occasion (with some help from his Nii-san to assemble it)! The gear looks very similar to the Pomefiore dorm uniform, but constructed from metal plating and loose wires to emulate dangling threads. Look–when Ortho twirls midair, the aerodynamic metal plates even flare out like it would if it was real fabric! He loves the idea of making his own outfits so much that he scoured the internet and crunched data in preparation for Pomefiore, so on his first day he enters as a fashionista with a brand new program that allows him to alter his Pomefiore Gear into other outfit variations!

Ortho almost instantly becomes a hit in Pomefiore. There’s no shortage of students gushing over how adorable he is, or how unique his Gears (outfits) are. Some Pomefiore students even take to adopting Ortho as their “son” or the “baby” of their friend groups, doting on the little android every time he greets them. (It kills Idia when he learns that his baby brother has become “one of the popular kids”.)

He’s a little disappointed that Rook isn’t around. Ortho had intended to dedicate some time studying him–this abnormal human whose vitals didn’t change, even for a supposedly surprised reaction. However, Ortho will happily settle for observing Jade Leech (who’s just as mysterious) instead! Ortho’s easily spotted by Jade, who invites him over for a chat. He’s bit a child—it wouldn’t do for Jade to mercilessly hunt him and shake him down to demand what the intent was in spying.

Ortho convinces Leona to game with him by threatening to blast loud music to disturb his naps if he doesn’t! What game? Chess!! Pomefiore just so happens to keep an intricate glass set for their lounge. It’s an intense battle between a cunning cat and a supercomputer, concluding in a spectacular tie. “Heh. You’re not half bad, kid,” Leona smirks. He doesn’t offer his hand to shake, so Ortho seizes it, grinning from ear to ear. “It was fun, Leona Kingscholar-san!! We should have a rematch sometime soon!”

… Remember how Idia put Ortho in a “safe” mode? Well, all that really does is amp down his settings so that the lasers he does fire aren’t technically lethal or able to deal any significant damage. Ortho repurposes his lasers for quick and easy on-the-go- tailoring! He can scan someone and instantly know what fit is most appropriate for them, then warms up his lasers to alter their clothing according.

Ortho has a lot of fun just exploring Pomefiore and its rich history (”Look at this stuff! Isn’t it neat?)! He’d usually just search this stuff up online, but there are some things that only firsthand experience and field work can teach him. (For example, he didn’t realize that all the Pomefiore students were able to naturally sparkle as though they had glitter oozing out of their pores. “Teach me how to sparkle too, Pomefiore Mob Student-san!”)

He wants to be able to observe different social dynamics between living creatures, so Ortho takes it upon himself to start up some events to bring people together! There’s a book club on Mondays (Ortho can pirate some literature for ya) and movie nights (Ortho is the projector) on Fridays. The students all gather to appreciate the classics and other forms of media and art! Sometimes Ortho even invites friends over to host in the Pomefiore lounge. Most recently, he prepared tea for Trein-sensei and Lucius! (It wasn’t very good, but it’s the thought that counts!) All of these instances have provided Ortho with a bounty of data to analyze, and with each passing day, he comes closer and closer to understanding the human spirit.

“History is analogous to data. We refer to data—and history—to predict and to guide our decisions in the future. That’s why it’s important to learn about the past. I have the entire world wide web at my fingertips, but… I don’t think any of that could replace my experienced here in Pomefiore. The laughs we’ve had, the creativity we’ve shared… Those cannot be replicated or replaced, because they’re ingrained in humanity. It’s what separates a real boy from a puppet.”

[picturejasper20]

A few days ago i rewatched some Star vs The Force of Evil episodes and i forgot how much i enjoyed Tom Lucitor as character.

The thing with Tom is that he starts as a huge jerk, still trying to be controlling and manipulative towards Star after months they broke up. He doesn't care much about he makes her feel and he is very antagonistic towards Marco for being best friends with Star.

But, unlike other characters from his type, he knows that he has issues and he is trying to work through them from what it is shown in his introduction episode. He has been trying to go many days with exploding in anger, a huge problem of his.

He, of course, messes up terribly and it is later revealed he didn't have good intentions since the Blood Moon has enchanted powers that makes those who dance under its light to fall in love with each other.

For a while he doesn't show up until Season 2 episode ¨Mr. Candle Cares¨. In this occasion he kidnaps Marco and wants to get rid of him, seeing him as an obstacle between him and Star after Marco lies to Mr.Candle that he has kissed Star.

In Tom's place, Marco clarifies to Tom that he was trying to provoke him and he is only friends with Star. He calls out Tom for lying to Star to trick her, making Tom feel bad for doing that. While the two are playing a ping-pong ¨death match¨ (that Marco keeps losing) the two talk about their relationship with Star and how she usually does what she wants. Tom points out that he likes that from Star and Marco tells him that it doesn't matter what does- Star won't be his girlfriend unless she wants to, leading to Tom to reconsider things. Tom takes Marco back to his home on Earth and he apologizes to Star for tricking her. He admits to her that he was wrong about how he saw things and tells Star that he is sorry for not considering what she wanted. Star accepts his apology and he leaves some minutes after.

From there and on, Tom stops chasing after Star and changes his main goal to work on himself. In ¨Friendenemies¨ he tries to spend some hours with Marco to see how much he can deal with his anger issues.

During the episode it is shown that he can be nice and chill when he isn't constanly getting angry. He gets along with Marco and the two have fun together. Near the end of the episode, he realizes that he had fun with Marco and apologizes for lying to him about his plan, making Marco's movie star come back to life. After that episode the two start to hang out, becoming friends, based their dialogue in the episode ¨Naysaya¨.

In general, Tom is potrayed as someone who wants to nice but struggles a lot in doing so. He talks in multiple issues about how he tons of personal issues that are part of who he is, his own peronality. He is aware of these problems he has and wants to be better, not always understanding how. In one episode he explains that these anger issues seem to come from something he got from his own father.

Tom's family environment is worth of analysing as well. While his parents are shown to be caring and he has a healthy relationship with them, they indirectly may teach bad habits to their son. In ¨Club Snubbed¨ Tom's father gets into a fight with River, Star's father. In "Lake House Fever" the family has an unseen ugly argument while playing a simple game, the table getting broken and on fire when Star comes back to check on them. His mother is capable of changing the weather when her own temper gets really bad too.

Based on these things, it can be said that Tom's issues are something that is both a product of his own personality and his family environment unintentionally encouraging his bad behaviour. At some point he realized that these things were a problem that were pushing other people away from him and he had to work on them to be better.

In the episode "Demoncism" he tries getting of his ¨personal demons¨, thinking this would ¨fix¨ the issues he has even it could change his whole personality. Near the end he chooses to do this his own way, seeing the process is too painful and could take him too many years to finish it.

As the series progresses, Tom changes in quite a lot of ways. He grows to be nicer and more understanding, letting his friendler side show a lot more often. He even gets back with Star around Season 3 and befriends Marco, someone who he saw as his enemy.

The problem is, as other recurrent characters of this show, he was reduced to be part of the romance drama that Star and Marco had. His main role in later seasons turning into ¨Star's boyfriend¨ instead of the development he was showing in Season 2 and the start of Season 3.

We don't get to see him being a prince of the Underworld and the duties that comes with the role aside from ¨Club Snubbed¨. The fact that his family runs the underworld is a very interesting concept to explore, yet the series never bothers with doing much with it.

His relationships with his parents doesn't get exploration neither, and when it does, it has to be related to the romance drama and not how Tom feels about them or how they act as parents towards him. Tom himself is half human-half demon/monster, yet this doesn't seem to have an impact on the way he interacts with different sides of his family nor how he views himself. In "Is Another Mystery" Tom has an scene about him being half-demon but the series didn't do proper follow up to that part of him after that.

In spite of this, his character development stayed with him. He was surprisingly very forgiving and understanding with Marco for kissing Star in ¨Booth Buddies¨ and he remained as Star's boyfriend for while before breaking up near the end of the series. When breaking up with Star, at first he say that he feel like they couldn't stay as friends but after talking things out, he decides that isn't necessary and he can still be friends with Star.

In all he has a good character growth, specially in the first 2-3 seasons. And even after he becomes less important , he still has great moments that show that he is still trying to be better. He is one of those characters that doesn't get worse and grows to be better over the course of the seasons. A pity that he was reduced to be part of the shipping drama instead of being able to develop better as his own character outside of it and the series didn't explore sides of him that were interesting.

[thesummerstorms]

Okay, because I just commented this somewhere else but now I need it here:

“Who else could it be? Ain’t it his shidi, the little sect leader Jiang Cheng?"- official 7S English translation

“Who other than his shidi, Jiang Cheng, putting an end to his own relative for the greater good." - Exiled Rebels', the original/first English fan translation

“Who else could it be? His disciple-brother, Chief Jiang Cheng of the Yunmeng Jiang Clan!"- Fanyiyi's partial English fan translation, and my personal favorite

“Who else could it be but his junior, the Young Clan Leader of the Jiang Clan, Jiang Cheng”- The Taming Wangxian partial fan translation

Even though they all technically express the same thing, the way they choose to word things sound so radically different. 

“The little sect leader” vs “the Young Clan Leader” in S7 vs TW.

“Ain’t” which sounds highly informal/kind of low-brow to the English ear versus... literally every other translation.

“Lan Zhan, can’t you tell what I meant by all that chatter?” “No,” Lan Wangji replied. “You can’t?” Wei Wuxian said. “I was complimenting you, tryin’ to get chummy!”-  official 7S English translation

Wei WuXian, “You don’t even know about this? I was complimenting you, trying to become more casual with you.” - Exiled Rebels', the original/first English fan translation

“Really, you didn’t know? I was kissing up to you so you’d be my friend.”-  Fanyiyi's partial English fan translation, and my personal favorite

(I unfortunately only have the first 26 pages of Taming Wangian’s version, so I don’t have this bit. If someone wants to link me to a doc... that would be great. I bought all the currently available legal versions because I believe in paying MXTX for her work; I just have translation preferences.)

But again, it’s a matter of small bits of word choice making a big difference, at least for me personally. 

First off, why is Wei Wuxian dropping his ending “g”s? Like, I know that’s a real life thing; I’m Texan and talk that way IRL. But they do this here (and with the “ain’t” above and the repeated use of “li’l”) and it just comes out sounding jarring to me? It isn’t as if WWX has a specific English-speaking accent to transcribe. 

Is this a tone/dialect thing in Mandarin that the 7S team is trying to localize? I wouldn’t know, but if so, why doesn’t it show up in any of the other translations? And if it isn’t are they trying to make the speech sound more “colorful”? Because for me, it’s just distracting.

Also, the word chummy. Again, there’s a difference in formality levels, but I also just kind of hate this word (which is used four times in 7S’s edition). It might be because in my daily life, I’ve only ever heard this word being used sarcastically- “I saw them getting really chummy with X” is always used with a negative connotation. And I just think there were smoother ways to render this?

Wei Wuxian had wanted to shuffle closer and get chummy to loosen him up, but when he couldn’t and was snubbed, he still wasn’t upset.- 7S

Wei WuXian wanted to get closer to Lan WangJi so that it was more convenient for him to flatter the other. Even though he couldn’t go over and was given the cold shoulder, he wasn’t angered at all.- Exiled Rebels

Initially, Wei Wuxian had wanted to move closer to Lan Wangji so that it would be easier to talk to him and worm his way into a friendship. But not only was he prevented from approaching the boy, Lan Wangji’s responses also offered no amusement. However, Wei Wuxian wasn’t angry. - Fanyiyi

Again, I can’t read any Mandarin whatsoever, so I can’t make meaningful comments about how the different translations relate back to the original text. I will say that as an English speaker, I just flat out don’t enjoy a lot of 7S’s translation choices when seen in the frame of comparable fan translations. Their diction is distracting and odd in too many places.

(And of course, this is not to say you can’t like or prefer or support the 7S version if you so choose. This is my personal opinion.)

[thebardisabird]

Hey Barb, How about some Chibita and Tougou interactions. I always wanted to see what kind of dynamic they would have

Hmmmm. So my take on Chibita and Tougou ever interacting in the -san universe is probably hell in a handbasket. For all the shit Chibita gives the sextuplets, at the end of the day he considers them friends (really more like frenemies but whatever) so I imagine if Tougou came back around it would not bode well for him lol. Their dynamic is probably like "It's on sight when I fucking see you because of what you did to me." I can definitely see something like he shows up at Chibita's oden cart and it's like that cartoon-y lightning strike of realization between the two of them. Tougou recognizes him as the snotty kid who fucked up his plans to kidnap Osomatsu and Chibita, being an adult now, recognizes him as the guy who terrorized the Matsuno family, but specifically Osomatsu. Now normally, Chibita would probably not give a shit, act like he doesn't remember anything and let Tougou go about his business due to them not paying the tab or pissing him off recently - but there's memories lingering in the back of his head about how Osomatsu cried everyday and was terrified to leave the house for a long, long time after Tougou so he can't in good faith do that. Plus knowing how much stress that would put on Matsuyo and Matsuzo as well as his feelings of being snubbed as a kid being dredged up are now actually starting to make him angry.

He probably shouts something like "Was I not good enough for ya, ya damn idjit?!" and dumps scalding hot broth on Tougou's head. Which in retrospect doesn't make much sense because why would he have wanted to be kidnapped? But it's the principle of the matter to Chibita and he is irrationally pissed that he got shafted all those years ago. Now if Tougou happens to get a knife out to try and attack him, that only makes Chibita angrier, who will then proceed to swing his ladle around in hopes to land a hit. It's a literal brawl at Akatsuka Park if these two cross paths. Should Tougou happen to get away, Chibita beelines it to the Matsuno family house (his good deed for the year, he tells himself), immediately letting them know that he's back and is probably going to come for them again. Now how that goes down...is another story entirely.

[cambion-companion]

When will these people realize we are simping for show Aemond and not book Aemond??

Here’s a great example of how they’re different and why it matters.

In the book, when Viserys dies…Aemond just shows up to his mom and asks, “So is Aegon king or do we have to kiss the old whore’s c*nny?” That’s it. Okay, edgelord.

Meanwhile in the show, he quietly reassures his mother that he can help find Aegon before trying to look in ONE brothel that Aegon traumatized him at years ago, then he gets really uncomfortable because he had a bad experience at 13, then he rants to Cole about why he feels snubbed in place of Aegon, and that he can’t find Aegon because he’s a good kid that doesn’t like depravity but studies the blade and reads a lot instead.

Hence why he should rule instead of Aegon. But then he helps bring Aegon to his mom anyway and kinda just pouts about it.

Show Aemond is a kitten compared to his book counterpart. He’s also not cartoonish and one-dimensional. They have already cut so many of his stupid villain-ish book lines and acts.

He didn’t slap a three year old Joffrey in the show, he didn’t savagely beat Jace before getting his eye cut by Luke in self-defense, he didn’t insult Rhaenyra, he didn’t mock the Strong boys at the dinner without provocation, he didn’t tell Luke to give him his eye or else he’d literally kill him.

He kills Luke in the book because Maris mocks him and questions his masculinity too. He had threatened to do it too. There was little doubt he actually just straight up murdered the kid.

Meanwhile, he accidentally causes Luke’s death in the show because he wanted to scare him with a big dragon because he was really angry about the lack of justice for his eye. The writers literally told us he didn’t set out to kill Luke and rather just wanted to scare him.

Book Aemond could never!

This ties in with the Alys thing as well. Yes, she’s apparently his war prize in the book. No surprise there. In the show, that momma’s boy that’s scared of brothels probably won’t even be able to go near Alys with confidence if he feels attraction to her. Watch her be the one to initiate the relationship.

They are too different for you guys to keep questioning why we like show Aemond and sympathize. Just get over it already. They are hardly the same and likely never will be.

SO different!

I don't like book Aemond...so imagine my relief when the show makes him our soft momma's boy babygirl.

Another brilliant Anon, I'm so lucky to have yall.

[glapplebloom]

I hope you can tell which one is which.

G5 released an episode called the Blockywockys: an episode length special for Tell Your Tale. I enjoyed it so I’ll save it for when I get to review it. But for now, I want to talk about one scene. When Twitch, her Rabbit Minion, tried to get the Nova Charm from Izzy, it was about to unleash a big blast of magic. Without hesitation, Allura leaped in to save Twitch from being hit with said blast, which was strong enough to blow them away from the distance they were.

This scene alone makes me believe Allura will be redeemed. So why is it that Allura has this possibility of being redeemed and not Opaline, who we last saw was basically trapped in a giant tree forever where we’ll NEVER see her again. Let’s take a look at some things...

How they treat their minions...

You can see just how different things are with how Twitch and Misty are to their respected bosses. Opaline basically gaslit Misty her entire life. She rarely compliments Misty and mostly yells at her. Quite frankly, this is Gothel levels of abuse. You know Misty was going to turn face the moment you saw her interact with the other main characters.

Meanwhile Twitch was treated quite well by Allura. She always listens to what he has to say, compliments him, and while she does get angry at him from time to time, Allura was never as abusive to him as Opaline was to Misty. Also there’s the whole “saved him from being hit with a big blast of magic” from before.

Their Origins...

Opaline’s Origin was that she was jealous of what Celestia and Luna got, which was attention. They were the popular ones, so she wanted to prove herself as their equal or superior, while she showed them snubbing her, keep in mind this is her version of the tale. We’ve seen how Celestia and Luna (at least in G4) act towards other ponies. It's not hard to think they would have been the same in G5’s canon.

Allura’s Origin has yet to be revealed. But between her desire to find the Nova Charm and her desire to listen to her brother, it is safe to say she’s trying to find the Nova Charm to free her brother from wherever he is. So in reality, she is doing this out of an act of love to free her imprisoned brother. So when it is revealed he is the real big bad, she’ll most likely re-imprison him and be redeemed. Speaking of which...

How would they be redeemed?

As mentioned above, Allura sees her brother really being bad, the ponies not being bad, and then working with the Poneis to stop her worst brother. So predictable just like Misty’s turn, but being predictable doesn’t mean it's a bad outcome. It's just something to look forward to. But what about Opaline? How could she have been redeemed?

Well, her grudge started when she was a kid, which in her words were when Celestia and Luna were kids as well. So it's been MANY moons since her jealousy happened. She did the Big Bad Three’s plan on spreading disharmony by rumors and prejudice, but Twilight stopped that by making the Unity Crystals and creating some barrier Opaline can’t get through.

Somehow she kidnapped Misty as a foal and raised her to be a servant. She wanted to drain a Baby Dragon of all its magic and nearly did it, to restore her own power. Sunny tried reasoning with her numerous times but she refused constantly. Yeah, she’s about as evil as Chrysalis. There is no way you can redeem her unless the tree messes with her head.

Meanwhile, Allura saved Twitch. They are likely friends since they stick together and work with each other well. That definitely shows Allura is going to be redeemed by her story’s end. You can’t say that for Opaline, who was basically evil to the core.

As I have said with other MLP Redemption Stories, her redemption comes when she chooses to stop the mess she causes. I can definitely see Allura do that when her brother comes into the picture. I never saw that as a possibility with Opaline. So keep this date in mind when the Special that ends Allura’s tale as a villain happens. If you didn’t see it coming, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

[the-firebird69]

Would you WALK here? BEVERLY HILLS 🌴 California 🇺🇸

I've been up there and I was being snubbed and then jackass shows up and he's 10 times as bad as Tommy f and it's just d****** around is a space cadet and I know what happens to space cadets we have killer voices and he gets dropped and we saw him get in trouble me and Hera we saw him getting dropped in front of us up there a few times he died in front of us and rolled right onto the ground and it's because he's being an a******.

Zues Hera

I remember that this is freaking idiot following him around bothering us and bothering him and he's dying of something we don't even think people were attacking him it's like a heart attack he didn't know how to eat and stuff and he's kind of fall onto the ground slowly and he'd be dead and the ambulance would come and he wants me to work up something maybe talk to Garth because it's code and maybe get the schmuck the answer. It is Hollywood and Hollywood boulevard and it was happening there and it's very curious it's outside it seems like a famous building it wasn't the way it's a mall but it was really famous before he thinks and he can't remember what it is but it used to be a musical and it says it on a plaque cuz he read it and it is significant so I'm going to check it out and I'm going to do that code want people to know because he incites people so much so I'm going to check it out

Dorinda Sharma

And it does mean certain things and it does have significant meaning what it means is because of the music Hall and what he used to do there so type of singing to tie people up that they're going to wrap them up into a little ball with it and it actually did work and since you said it since the max are saying it and you're going to go to the hospital and talk about me cuz you're an a****** he says I'll try not to it's going to be a good idea because you don't want you to know the code. So the guy goes in there I didn't say anything goes home and weeps alone this is the music hall and I used to sing this and they know about it I didn't say it really it is bad at our son but what the f***.

So it went on for a little bit that they kept doing it to this guy he's dying like five times a day following her son around need to say what gives her I can't go up there without dying and Hollywood had some Max not too many but we didn't want him doing it he's bothering the s*** out of him a lot of Hollywood actors didn't want him doing it but he's getting hit by somebody and somebody was serious about it actually and yeah it's the max but they're doing it somehow so he's looking around he can't figure out how and we know it's not a ship so our son says wouldn't it be nice if she's wealthy people and see all this Elmo and he's going around saying it and they're saying oh s*** so I can feel it a little it is what happens when I get to walk all day. And tons of people are calling him an idiot for what he's saying now and he wants to take his body over and her son says or it will eat your brain up nothing would happen and it won't happen but yeah that would happen they're human you see and tons of people say it okay I'm trying to go in this demons and get killed it says yeah but that has preservatives and he is they're saying wow that's bad and it's true too I'll see you xenomorph you would be dead and Cloverfield too you can't last in there no way. So he's dying several times in Hollywood and sun was angry since you don't know who I am so f*** you invent your own s*** and they haven't had inventions for some time now just things are trying anyways and then trying to pull some crap so did Sarah get real about it and it started to get onto their plan and they see that this assholes in the way it was supposed to buy it and all of it's caused by this weekly and his weak people and their weak s*** that we got away with stuff using them or causing us a problem so we went ahead and started it's an issue APB on this guy for crimes they're committing here and they started to get upset and we don't know why they're overtly doing these things and they should know they'll be arrested and they don't get it so I said you're kind of having a war you're arresting each other that's what you have to get so now they understand nope it's a he's here and supposed to keep the peace and it's ridiculous and not deserve it of an answer so we are going to town on them here as well and we will use it and take as much as we can during their period of idiocy. And they are issuing code yeah in Hollywood a lot of code about this idiot just saying look how many times we hit him when he comes right back he's addicted to something and our son's act is hard to follow and it's not very nice and people like him don't like it they don't want to be isolated and treated like nobody for real and assaulted almost by everyone so he said I wonder why he's doing it and they have a way and they have rules you have to obey them so he tries to do it and he can't and he says I'll have to fake it and we said you're not going to go near him and he started to fight it and we started to hit him now it's a war and we're going after him and others like it and the max are trying to kidnap them using the s*** his body as a threat during kidnapping and they're morons and the stuff is not going to work for them but it's absolutely true our Giants he's trying to capture a Giants using it as a threat

Thor Freya

Olympus

[shammah8]

"Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them."

Esther 3:8

THE SOURCE OF PERSECUTION

Today we feature the first in a series from a house church pastor’s sermon in China:

 

The Bible is written to persecuted communities, and we must learn from each community the peculiar blessings and dangers of persecution. I would like to draw your attention to some lessons from the persecuted community in the time of Esther.

 

Esther was Queen of Persia sometime after 483 BC. She was a beautiful woman with a secret—no one except her adopted father knew it. It was her racial origin. She was a Jew.

 

There came a great persecution. In Esther 3:8, we read that the king of Persia’s advisor says he should not tolerate a certain group of people. The king agrees, and issues a decree calling for the extermination of all Jews.

 

The Jews are devastated, including Esther. How they got into this situation, how they get out of it, and what happened afterwards all reveal great truths about suffering churches — of which we are one.

 

Where does persecution come from? What is its source? The text shows us clearly. Persecution is the result of pride. Pride on the part of the persecutor.

 

Haman is the culprit. He is humiliated because a Jew called Mordecai refuses to bow low enough to him. We are not given the reason why Mordecai would deliver such a calculated snub, but it makes Haman see red. Instead of just trying to get rid of Mordecai, though, he has to project his personal humiliation into something grand. He won’t admit it’s all just a personal grudge, but concocts an elaborate plan to get rid of all Jews because they are in breach of the king’s laws.

 

His plan is a good one. The Jews are different, he says. True. They are so different, they are not good citizens, he adds. False, but the king is right to be suspicious of any group that seems to have other loyalties than just to him. It’s the same in China. Our government persecutes us because we are different. We are honest, separate, and we have greater loyalties than just to the state. That makes us an object of suspicion.

 

But the root of it all is pride. The cause of the persecution was simply that Haman was angry. I have read that in Russia, the terrible persecutions that were visited upon the churches there came from the fact that Lenin’s brother was shot by the Tsar’s forces, and what galled him in particular was that a Russian Orthodox priest blessed the proceedings. He carried his personal hatred with him…It’s a pride matter. It always is. The source of suffering is always found in human pride.

Response

Today I will check my pride at the door and realize that God is still in control!

Prayer

Pray that prideful leaders will humble themselves to acknowledge the God of the universe.

© 2013 Open Doors International. Used by permission.

[alienorstyx]

A Night in Paris

Precedent chapters: 5, 6

Chapter 7 : Fury

Canada was watching America walking in circle in his room, his brother woke him up in the middle of the night to come and talk about something important, it could be anything and everything with America. « I am sure she had slept with him. » Cried America , shaking in all directions before adding; « It's been several days since I've wondered who might want to sleep with her, I've even , blah, blah, blah ... »

And there he goes again in his usual paranoia, spying on everyone, trying to master other countries by his ideology. And saying that he criticizes dad on it, they are really similar on this method, thought Canada, but he knew what would cost him to say his thoughts aloud, his brother would find a way to avenge or humiliate him in the months to come. For these reasons, Canada preferred to remain silent, and to play the game of America as long as possible until the latter was satisfied.- Who are you talking about? Asked while baying Canada, who had not understood at all, what his brother had been mumbling for twenty minutes.

" But France and this bastard of communist!" America replied angrily, who couldn't stand for someone not to pay attention to what he was saying.

" USSR?"

"Yes, him, who I don't know why dad is trying to deny that's it him."

" Maybe it's not him then?"

" No! I am sure that France sleep with him, after all she has always been in good term with these reds , and then in her population this party is still popular . It disgusts me that she did not clean up or that she simply banned it ,instead, she lets them express themselves,and be in her government ."

"You still resent the fact that she kicked you out of her country or that she managed to get up to the table of the winners or else it is ..."

"Shut the fuck up! Of course, I didn't like it when once I came to rescue her from the third Reich, saving Europe for the second time, and there she ...immediately after she became hostile to my installation, by demanding and imposing the withdrawal of my troops." America cried out while making big movement with these arms, before Canada, which was visibly tired of all this nonsense.

"She immediately noticed that you tried to destroy her."Tried to justify Canada , he did not like when his brother criticized his mother , she was certainly for America more like his mother-in-law but it was still her and Spain who helped him during his war of independence. "Stupid , I never wanted to destroy her." Bitching America , who couldn't stand his younger brother's accusations, about his actions or attempt. "Yet it was indeed the project of your President Roosevelt and his plan for Europe, wasn't he?" Canada risked.

"Yes, there was that. However, that was not my goal."

"America", said Canada in a weary tone while watched him sweat nervously, he knew that his brother had discussed it with Roosevelt on the question of Europe, that he was happy to be able to show his power over the European countries, some of which had snubbed him and criticized him .

" Admit America, you are trying to weaken the old colonial empires to increase your own power."Murmured timidly Canada, who immediately regretted making this comment, seeing his big brother take off his iconic sunglasses and his dark blue eyes then flashed lightning.

"And so what!" The latter replied, visibly angry.

" You cannot criticize Mom's actions." Dared shyly Canada by hardly supporting America's insistent gaze.

"And if she chose the camp of this communist. You would follow her like a good big boy to his mommy, eh."

" And so you try to intimidate me, for what? And then mom is still a powerful country whether you like it or not!" He bits his tongue, insulting himself internally for saying that.

"No, I ... , she ...she is no longer a great power, period. And then she has already started to make treaties with this coco."

"What are you talking about, Mom wouldn't do something like that."Canada really didn't like how things were going, he was hopeless that everything would stop, and that this nightmare would end so that he could finally rest. "Oh yes, well look,and open big your eyes, my dear brother. She did not wait until the end of the war to form an alliance with the USSR, they signed on December 10, 1944 in Moscow."

Canada remained speechless due to this revelation, how he could not have been made aware of it, it is perhaps a small treatise of nothing at all that will probably have no impact in the future, finally he hoped . However , what irritated him the most was not this treaty, but the air of complete satisfaction that America displayed. It was with an inordinate calm and in a frigid tone that Canada uttered his words that hurt America:

"You have changed far too much. You are no longer the brother I knew."

[campbluelake]

And the world is spinning, and she keeps on winning | ████ 3.6 | Re: Yall

She isn’t sure how to feel about this. So much is happening in her head. Hibiki’s words are ignored because she knows she’d try to attack the man for talking shit about her dads right now. Of course there is relief with Saya no longer threatening to end their friendship. Jacky-Bobby gives her pause. Was that the problem all this time? She didn’t like herself? Abbie tact on that maybe if she can’t like herself then she should have confidence in her friends. As it looks despite everything she still has some people on her side, as long as she accepts responsibility with a little more grace from here on out at least. 

Then Yua. He wants an explanation.

“You… You want to know about them…?”

With her free hand she nervously strokes one off her pigtails. 

“… I guess it doesn’t matter if you all know, huh? I can’t imagine what I can say now can make you all hate me any more than you already." 

Plus if she’s dying it’s not like they can take her in, right? Haha. 

"Um. Okay." 

Mason’s arm gets squeezed for a moment, for support. She still doesn’t let him go. He’s very needed right now. 

"My first kill was in my freshman year of high school. A girl named Ryan Bishops. I, uh, I was her ‘friend.’ I was a weirdo, her weirdo as she liked to call me. We called each other friends but really she was my bully who just let me sit with her and her friends at lunch. No one was allowed to push me around because only Ryan had the benefit to… I hated her. I hated her so much but I was so desperate I didn’t do anything about it. It was Halloween and she called me to meet her at this shut down theme park near town. When I got there this… This masked clown person showed up with a bat and started chasing me around the place, swinging their bat, trying to hit me. I fought back in the funhouse… Of course it was Ryan pulling a prank. While she was on the floor laughing at me I… I just…” For a moment her eyes look far away, staring at the fire. “I just didn’t think. I think I snapped. I remember grabbing the bat and just… I kept hitting her until she stopped screaming… I walked to a payphone and called my dads. They took care of it." 

"In my sophomore year, a different school, I did make a nicer friend. Dani Alamilla. She was real sweet and soft and I thought we were really good friends because it seemed like maybe we were outcasts together, y'know? Well… There was this big house party and I wasn’t invited. She wasn’t either, so she said. The night of the party I was really bored so I snuck out and decided to check it out anyways. I peek through the window and I see… Dani. Hanging out with people. Having fun. Smiling. I was furious. I called her the next day and demanded answers. We met up at the local park at night and she just confessed that she was lying. She had this whole social life she was keeping away from me because… I don’t know. Something about not wanting to hurt my feelings. I was so angry and I pushed her. Well… The park had these concrete stairs. When I pushed her she… She didn’t survive the fall. I think that’s when I started to notice that there was something really wrong with me because… I didn’t feel bad? I didn’t. Ran home and dads took care of it again." 

She finally seems to snap back, her face grimaces a little. The next one makes her feel a little sick. 

"New school. Junior year. I met this girl… Io Hunt. We met and we clicked instantly. We started dating and it was 24/7 honeymoon feelings. Months and months, nonstop. I loved her as much as a dumb 17 year old could. I thought we were soulmates. We told each other everything. I thought we were going to be together forever. So naturally I didn’t want secrets. I told her about my dads, about Ryan and Dani… She seemed fine at first but… She snubbed me for like two weeks until she invited me over finally. I was so worried because I thought she was going to break up with me. When I got there… Well. She stabbed me." 

Her hand subconsciously rubs a spot besides her lower stomach, feeling a fleshy line. 

"She tried to kill me. I think I told someone here that you should never bring a weapon to a fight unless you really know how to use it. Io was many things but a proficient knife fighter was not one of them. We fought and I was able to finish what she started. Somehow I was able to sneak back, bleeding like a pig… Dad went to clean up while papa stayed home to tend to me. He was *sooo* scared. So scared I was going to die." 

And now look at her. Half way in the grave. 

"After Io went missing her dad came by and accused me of having something to do with it. He never liked me. I think he knew something was wrong with me. Dad wanted to get rid of him but Papa just packed our stuff and we left again.

And the last one. Um. I will admit this one wasn’t really my proudest moment. Shiloh was pure revenge and nothing else. Petty. In my senior year I was able to perfect being a pretty girl next door. It was me but just more, y'know? I got into the popular group, joined the cheer squad, and met Shiloh Tinamou. Head bitch. We hated each other the moment we locked eyes. It was just one of those things where you knew you wouldn’t get along. It was social war between us. Half way through the school year Shiloh was basically destroying my good name. Talking behind my back, rumors, turning my friends against me. One day I had everything I wanted and next I was basically a social outcast. He had fully destroyed my reputation. He made my life a living hell… School ended and everyone went off to college or whatever. I didn’t. I became obsessed thinking about how much I hated that guy. I wanted to kill him so bad but he left for school. It was only pure luck that we didn’t move yet and I got a job at a clothing store. I was 20 years old when Shiloh walked through the door. He was back from school on break and he remembered me. Of course he was still a huge bitch. I clocked off and tailed him around the mall. I learned he was having a party… That’s when I decided to kill him." 

Again, Mason’s arm is squeezed. 

"I grabbed a change of clothes, an axe from the garage, and drove to Shiloh’s house. I stayed there all night. I counted every person who came in and every person who came out. It was morning when Shiloh was alone… I went inside. I chased him around his house. I killed him. When I called my dads for help they were sooooo mad. I had never seen them so angry before. This was petty, this was needless. It didn’t have to happen… They were even more mad because they couldn’t clean up everything up in time. It was huge news. A house full of holes and blood and no body… We moved to Florida after that and I started going to fashion school." 

And as she said before. She was doing so good. She hadn’t killed anyone since. Now Warrick.

”… I guess now you can all judge me fully. I have no more skeletons.“ 

[calllamander]

Haikyuu boys and how to love them

OIKAWA TOORU: be his brightest supporter. Show him you’re proud of all of him, not just the parts he shows you to make you like him more. Love the easy parts of this. Go to every game and sit front row, wearing his jersey if you want to see him horrifically embarrassed and far too cocky. He’ll smile extra wide, and make sure that everyone knows that it’s his s/o sitting front row. Let him pretend he’s not as surprised as he is, let him act like he really thinks all those things you shout about himself, and then watch him blush and smile sillily at nothing, shaking himself when he realises what he’s doing. See how he looks at you for every play, usually with the signature goofy smile, but sometimes deeper. When he’s about to serve and it seems like he’s trying to stare through your soul. Nod firmly. No room for doubt. I believe in you. But also know the hard parts. Be his biggest supporter on the court, but know that it won’t be the most important thing you do. Love the parts he doesn’t think are as interesting. The ugly alien shirts or the way he looks in the mornings, dishevelled and half asleep. Know he will say things he doesn’t mean, know that you will both get angry because people cross lines when they care. But also know that he will love you like sunlight, and he got damn good at seeing when he’s wrong. Support him at his highest, and when he’s sobbing on the couch holding an ice pack to a knee that won’t even let him walk up the stairs, let alone win a game. Tell him he can do it.

SAKUSA KIYOOMI: treat him softly, but don’t pity him. Learn how to have grace in your comfort, learn how to be kind and strong. Love his wit, his quiet thoughtfulness, and share yourself with him as fully as he will in time with you. Laugh hysterically at night as you stagger home, and smile at the pink on his cheeks, the way he slurs his words and sounds almost offended when you ask him if he really thinks you’re beautiful. Go to games and find him after, hold his hand in yours and let him give you his scarf as you walk to the bar and atsumu asks you a thousand questions about your enigma of a partner. Realise there’s depth in your quiet, gentle force of a lover, and enjoy the laughing and the filthy jokes over red wine and face masks and bad tv. Know he’s bad at asking for help when he wants it, and that pain is not all there is to a person, even when he’s calling at one am and his hips slipped out again and no one likes to feel useless when someone they love is hurting. It’s a hard thing to navigate, and sometimes two strong souls clash and you can’t fathom why he has to be so stubborn about his health, but try and remember that he will never shout at you, that he will always be in your corner, even if you’re wrong, that the man who bitches about celebrity gossip in a way that has you screaming is also the one holding heat packs to his wrists with his face in your neck. There is beauty and love in both those moments. But know which one is more important.

ATSUMU MIYA: let him teach you that there is profound joy in not taking things too seriously. In choosing to be kind. Let him make you laugh, and make him laugh with your own dry humour and witty one liners. Be dramatic with him and complain at length about other people and gossip like nobody’s business just for the fun of it. Let him buy you things you don’t need but want and see him be the one boyfriend who comes into the changing rooms with you and sits on the couch practically beaming and ways everything looks so sexy he’s gonna pass out. Be bold and loud and reassure each other that you’re never ever too much when someone loves you. But also be smart enough to realise that happy people have things that make them sad, and there is more to the person you love than just jokes and over enthusiasm. And love those parts of him too, look after him when he’s sad, when people snub his attempts at friendship, when his coach berates him on his reports bad writing and he has to get you to do it for him, mortified, the paper clutched in your hand. Tell him it doesn’t matter, running your hand through dyed hair, tell him to be honest. And all this will come together into something that really will feel like home, his sunflowers on the ledge of your window, his presence a bright constant, and you will never run out of things to laugh about.

SUNA RINTAROU: create something that feels like home. Know there’ve not been many spaces where he’s felt safe enough to be himself so take pride in being one of them. Make a big deal out of things: over the top birthdays, too large Christmas trees, and let him laugh and get excited in the way no one’s ever really seen before. He will love you profoundly gently and there is a whole word of delicate sketches and favourite books and mugs of tea waiting if you will only show him that you are something real and safe. Enjoy how protective he is, and how touchy at home and in public, hands in the crook of your arm or round your shoulders. Enjoy tracing the lines of his tatoos and the easy teasing to stay still as you dye his ends different colours. And yes know that in the beginning it might be hard to see all this, that he will be unwilling to share the reason he’s always found in sweatshirts that seem to swallow him whole. But just know that it is an incredibly sweet and rare thing, the way his nails dig into his palm as he mumbles how he thinks you’re amazing, and the first dates full of gentle silence and, slowly, shameless jokes, especially about people you know and hate. Know that home can be all the things you’ve always wanted.

[littlemisslipbalm]

“Similar Tastes”

An enemies to lovers classic. You and Harry are too similar for you to ever get along...maybe

Hi hi! This is for @majorharry’s 20k celebration writing !!! Hope you all enjoy, I always love to hear from you :)))

The prompts I used: “How about you get off my dick” and “Sorry, I didn’t know”

This gif bc Harry “oh god that’s TEQUILA” Styles is king

Fluff? Smut? But definitely angst? Idk how to describe it bahaha a little bit of everything

Word Count: 4.0k | Warnings: language (there are actually two slurs in this - they’re bisexual slurs and they’re said by the bad guy so just take that into consideration), mature content (not quite smut but y’know), alcohol consumption, girl kissing girl at one point

Pt. 2 is up!

-

Saturday night. It was finally time to go out with your group of friends and you couldn’t be happier. Well, you could, but what would make you that happy wasn’t possible. If one of the people in your friend group wasn’t there. That would make you the happiest.

Almost everyone has that one person in your friend group who you can’t stand. Like, at first you don’t really know them and then as you get to know them more you just can’t stand them.

For you that was Harry.

While neither of you would admit why you hated each other, it was obviously about how everyone would always compare the two of you. You had practically identical personalities, and had similar fashion taste. At first, everyone else thought you would end up together because it seemed like you were perfectly matched. But the first time someone said, “Oh, Harry, your jacket looks just like the one Y/N wore last week.” Both of you had seethed in complete dissatisfaction. 

Naturally, Harry took his jacket off early in that evening and you never wore yours again. You hated being compared to Harry, being told he had made a similar joke or said the same thing about something made you want to reevaluate your entire value system. Maybe it was because you both had such an individualistic mindset, but neither of you enjoyed being compared to anyone and that’s what made it all the worse when people chose to compare you to each other. It boiled down to both of you wanting to be the best at everything - the most unique, rather - that made you dislike the other so much.

So, tonight at the bar, as your group rattled in from the street, you stuck close to your pals at the front while Harry was chatting with someone near the back of the pack. Your eyes had met briefly when you’d seen each other’s outfits. Harry’s a half unbuttoned Gucci cream dress shirt, that was rolled to his elbows, tucked into high waisted navy trousers finished with cream boots and yours a navy bra top with a faux collar and a deep cut to show your cleavage paired with cream high waisted pleated pants and navy loafers. Not exactly the same, but if you had stood next to one another it would have looked planned. You rolled your eyes at him as he narrowed his towards you. You couldn’t wait to order a few drinks and let loose after a hard week at work.

As you all approached a booth, somehow the group shifted and Harry and you were suddenly side by side as everyone was getting in the booth. Then, you were sitting and Harry was right beside you. He tried to cover his groan of annoyance when he realized he’d have to be sitting next to you, once again regarding your outfit with disdain. Your only response was glaring at him. The friend who you had been talking to, Marie, placed her hand over your ring-clad one, that was now gripping the side of the table out of annoyance. “Play nice,” she said. You relaxed at her touch trying to refocus on the purpose of the night, fun.

Soon, a waitress made it to your table and smiled sweetly at all your bright faces. Harry and you were located to her left, and her eyes reached you last.

“Oh! You two are too cute! I love when couples coordinate their outfits!”

Harry’s eyes bulged out of his head and you gave a tight-lipped smile as you tried to keep yourself from having a blood vessel pop in your eye right then.

“We’re not” you began, Harry cut you off, “together, love.”

His expression changed as he smirked up at the waitress, trying to make it clear that he was very much single.

“Oh! My apologies...So what can I get everyone?”

As she began to take the orders, you shoved your elbow into Harry’s rib. You did it for two reasons, for him cutting you off when you were talking and for being so on top of you in the booth.

He turned to you, “The fuck was that for?”

“For being an asshole.”

“Excuse me?”

As you’re about to go off on him about being rude, Marie taps your hand and you realize it's your turn to order.

You clear your throat, trying to shake off your angry tone, “Tequila on the rocks, please.”

The waitress nods and then turns to smile at Harry, he gives you side eyes of disdain, “What’s your most expensive tequila?”

Her smile grew, “We’ve got Don Julio Real and Gran Patron for top shelf.”

“Don Julio on the rocks, please.” He winked.

She nods, scribbling something on her notepad, “Oh! Would you like Don Julio as well?” she returns to you.

You shook your head, “No. Jose Cuervo works just fine,” and glared at Harry once more.

Of course he would ask for top shelf, you thought. Harry couldn't have gotten through saying the exact same order as you, especially after the waitress had already pointed out the similarity in your clothes.

“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

Being in such close proximity to Harry made you incapable of leaving the bickering alone. Everyone else always ignored when the two of you really got into it, because it honestly wasn’t that interesting. Like an old married couple, though none of them would ever dare say it.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Y/N?”

You scoffed as he turned in his seat to look at you. “Oh, please, you just couldn’t handle ordering the same thing as me. You had to flex that you could order Don Julio!”

“You’re just upset because you can’t.”

“Come off it! I could, but I don’t feel the need to boost my ego by showing off to the waitress that I can afford the expensive stuff.” You laughed at his attempt at snubbing you about what you can and can’t afford.

His eyes darkened and flashed at you and you could see it even in the dim lighting off the bar. “I wasn’t trying to show off, it’s not my fault you don’t care to drink the good stuff.”

“Okay, Harry,” you say sarcastically, waving him off.

He huffed, annoyed that you were the only person he was sitting next to. He had to call across the table if he wanted to speak to anyone that wouldn’t involve you being completely in the way. As he was about to call out to Mitch who was directly across from him, the waitress returned with everyone’s drinks.

“Jose Cuervo on the rocks! And Don Julio on the rocks!” She beamed at the group after finishing handing them out.

Everyone thanked her and she disappeared. You and Harry simultaneously took sips of your drinks.

You wrinkled your nose, “This isn’t Jose Cuervo…”

Harry placed his drink on his coaster and swallowed, licking his lips he said, “I think mine is, tastes cheap.”

“You’re really an ass,” you say as you shove your misgiven drink to him and snatch his from the table instead.

Harry growing tired of your arguing already, “Whatever you say, sweetheart,” he rolled his eyes and took a larger sip of the correct drink.

You take a sip of your own drink and sigh again, “This isn’t even tequila, what the fuck?”

“Ah, no wonder it tasted like shit. What do you think it is?”

“Well, considering there’s only, like, a handful of clear hard liquors besides silver tequila, probably vodka, idiot,” you breathed the last word under your breath, still Harry stared at you with daggers in his eyes. You weren’t actually sure how many other liquors it could be, but you were so pissed off by the whole situation you just wanted to make him shut up.

“Well that’s a bummer, kid. Maybe next time, order a better tequila and she’ll get it right.”

You shoved him, not wanting to wait for the waitress to come back to fix her mistake, “How about you get off my dick and then I can go get something worth drinking?”

Harry huffed as he slowly moved his body up from his seat, yet he stayed so close to the opening of the booth you were practically chest to chest when you slipped out. Due to that, and maybe a little bit on purpose, you knocked your drink forward to get a small amount on him. Not enough for him to be drenched, but enough to bug him for the rest of the night.

“Oops?” you tilted your head and held a sickeningly sweet smile on your face as you looked at his taken aback look. His prominent jaw had dropped as the cold liquid had pooled over his left breast pocket, some of his tattoos now much more visible. You quickly turned on your heel and bounced off to the bar. Harry grumbled and sat back down, Marie leaned over with a napkin, trying to dry him off a bit.

With a fresh drink in hand you weaved back to the table, all your friends were laughing together at something Harry had seemingly said. When you arrived everyone beamed up at you, far more jovial after a few sips of their drinks. Only Harry’s face was sour, but you chose to ignore it and smile at your friends, waiting for Harry to get up to let you into your seat that he had occupied in your absence. When he didn’t, your face began to fall from its smile.

“Are you going to get up?”

“No, just take that seat,” he waves his hand beside him, trying to go back to the conversation he was engaging in before you had arrived.

“But, you’re in my seat,” you pushed.

“You’re the one who decided to get up and leave it.”

“You cannot be serious, Harry.”

“As a heart attack,” he said flatly, and then turned his head to Sarah who was next to Marie.

You looked around the table for help, Mitch gave a slight sad smile like he felt bad, but everyone knew there was no changing Harry’s mind. You knew you didn’t have the strength to yank his large, muscled body out of the booth, so you resigned and took his old seat. There, you kicked Harry’s leg harshly and took a long sip of your alcohol, just wanting to get drunk enough to want to dance and then not be near Harry.

After a second round of drinks, this time the waitress getting your order right, you were feeling better. Harry and you were largely ignoring each other and laughing along with the rest of your friends to some story. Every so often his leg would open up and bump into yours and you’d hit back at it harder, his eyes sliding to your face for a moment and then looking away. He made you so hot with anger and the closeness of bodies in that bar already had the temperature way too high. You gulped at your drink, trying to cool down, but it only had the opposite effect, the alcohol mixing with your blood, heating up your insides, as well.

Then, once the third round of drinks were served, Marie suggested it was time to dance, commenting that some random song that was currently playing was ‘her favorite’. It wasn’t, but whenever she got drunk, every song was ‘her favorite’. However, you were all happy to oblige, feeling restless as the alcohol was buzzing in your systems.

Out on the dance floor, some of the couples in your friend group paired off to dance on each other while the rest of you spread out. You spotted a woman in the crowd wearing a sequin dress that looked absolutely gorgeous on her, her blonde hair reminding you of some rocker chick in the 70’s. While making your way towards her, Harry tried to get in front of you, obviously making his way to her as well.

Another thing Harry and you had in common, the people you typically went for - men and women. Shaking him off with a hand on his chest and a glare, you reached her first and she smiled at you as you complimented her outfit and began to dance with her. Harry resigned to staying with some of your other friend’s when he saw how the woman threw her head back at something you said to her. Soon, she was grinding herself against your front, your lips attached to her neck, hands on her hips.

Feeling particularly happy with yourself, your gaze flitted around the crowded dance floor. Eyes scanning those around you, you soon made eye contact with Harry, who actually wasn’t that far off. His eyes looked a more dull green in the light and he rolled them when he saw you looking up from your place against the beautiful woman. While he still looked on at your languid figures pressed together, you teased your tongue up her neck a bit, causing the woman to keen into your touch. As Harry was about to look away, shaking his head at your antics, he caught sight of a guy approaching you and the other woman.

He said something to the pair of you, but you couldn’t hear him. The woman had opened her eyes to look at the guy and you had removed your lips from her, shaking your head that you didn’t catch what he said.

He repeated himself, yelling this time, “Fauxbians out here trying to catch a real man! How ‘bout we make you total lugs!”

He was loud enough for your friends to hear, including Harry who had been watching the whole scene play out. He pushed through the crowd to get to your side, he might not like you, but he couldn’t stand someone who was homophobic, or biphobic, in this case. You pushed the woman off of you and to the side, she was clearly upset and you weren’t going to let what the guy said slide.

“What the fuck, man? You think it’s okay to say shit like that to people? What year are you living in, like for real?”

As you were about to start really ripping into him, you felt Harry’s presence beside you. You looked over and he looked angry, like really angry, not annoyed or exasperated as he usually did with you. Angry like he was about to grab this guy by the shirt and start pummeling him. Even with all the alcohol in your system, you knew that wouldn’t actually help the situation, even if you did want someone to wipe the smug look off this guy’s face, which had only grown worse since you’d started yelling at him. It was like this stranger was getting off on making these two women in front of him uncomfortable and upset.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Harry spat at the guy.

“Harry,” you turned your body towards him and put your hand on his chest, placing yourself between him and the rude guy, “I’m not letting you get into a fight over what he said. It’s not worth it.”

He had pushed himself almost against this guy, Harry easily hovering over him. Harry looked down at you and then back to the guy, who was chuckling to himself, stepping back from the scene.

He seethed, “You disgust me,” he looked at the man. “Just crawl back into whatever hole your sorry ass came out of.”

The guy just laughed and walked off. Harry looked down at you, his eyes softening instantly. You couldn’t exactly distinguish the look he gave you, you just knew it was something you’d never seen directed at you.

Your brow remained furrowed as you looked at him, then he said, “Let’s get some air.”

You looked around the room for your sequined dress woman, but she was nowhere to be found. So you let Harry take you by the hand out the side exit, to the bar’s alleyway.  

Outside, you immediately brought your hands to rub over your exposed arms, the tiny sleeves of your shirt not being enough to brave the brisk night air. The altercation had shaken you up quite a bit and immediately sobered you. Harry stepped closer to you out of instinct, seeing you were shivering, but having nothing to offer warmth except himself. The two of you leaned against the bar’s outer wall and took a few deep breaths.

“Are you alright?” Harry asked, voice slightly hoarse from yelling in the loud bar.

“Fine. You?”

Why was he being so nice, you were surprised he had stepped in at all, but now he was checking in on you past that, it was confusing.

“Of course. You didn’t even let me get a single swing in.”

You scrunched your face at his comment regarding violence. “Why did you even come over? I can handle myself,” you asked, suddenly feeling the normalcy of bickering settle between the two of you.

Harry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. His pectoral muscles slightly shifted and pushed around his cross pendant in the center of his chest.

“Because he was a dick,” he started, then sighed, “And because I can’t just let some homophobe say a bunch of slurs to my friend.”

Your eyes grew wide and shown in the street lamp, as they looked up into Harry’s green ones. He was slightly sweaty from the bar, but it was quickly drying and leaving a slight sparkle on his skin. His jaw was tensed, as he tried to maintain eye contact with you. You remained silent, unaware how to respond to his statement that he did, despite much evidence saying otherwise, care about you.

Harry decided to continue, “You might piss me off, like all the time, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay for a random asshole to say that kind of shit to you.”

“I’m your friend?” you circled back to what he had said earlier. Your voice was small and also hoarse from yelling in the bar.

“Of course, Y/N, what the fuck?”

“I thought...I guess I never saw it that way.”

“Harsh.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know competing all the time and being annoyed with each other was friendship.” You shifted closer to Harry, your words dripping in sarcasm. Even now, as the two of you checked in on each other and talked about your friendship, you managed to fight.

“That’s just because you’re constantly infuriating me and getting us into fights,” Harry smirked, tapping a finger on your cold nose.

“I think you’ve got it backwards, there, Har,” you winked.

“No, I don’t think so,” he shrugged and pressed closer to you.

Neither of you were very clear on what your bodies were doing, slowly moving so that you had your back against the wall and Harry’s hips were pressed up against yours.

“It’s not my fault you’re always jealous of me,” you breathe, his face inches from yours.

Harry snorted a laugh out of his nose, his eyes slowly blinking and looking away from you, before staring directly at you. “Oh, please, now who has it backwards?” His right arm went up beside your head and his hand rested on the cold stone next to you. His breath, from his laughter and words, fanning over your face, made you close your eyes at the warmth.

You moved both of your hands up to his chest, and he looked down at the movement. One moved up to grip his shoulder and the other fiddled with the cross that had caught your attention when he had folded his arms.

After a beat, Harry said your name, barely above a whisper. Your head tilted up, looking up at him questioningly. You didn’t really understand the position the two of you had shifted yourselves into. “Can I kiss you?” Harry asked.

“Do you want to?”

“Kind of…” He ran a finger over your cheekbone.

Your eyes danced with mischief “Why?”

“Are you serious?” Harry asked in slight disbelief.

“As a heart attack,” you said gravely, throwing the words he had used earlier back at him. He sighed a slight laugh.

“Like I said, infuriating…”

Just as he was about to pull away, you reached up and connected your lips with his. Your hand cupped his strong jaw and brought him closer to you. His warm, wet lips pushed against yours with vigor. There was passion in the kiss. A constant push and pull for who got to be in control. You sucked on his lower lip, trying to get him to open up his mouth, but he declined.

He pressed you further onto the wall, while cradling your head to keep it from knocking against the concrete. His teeth nipped at your lip after a few more moments of fervent open mouth kisses without tongue. You resigned to not getting your way and let his tongue lick into you. Your tongue pressed against his as the two of you continued kissing. While his mouth was harsh, the rest of his touch was mostly soft. The hand that didn’t cradle your head was rubbing up and down your side, only venturing down to your bottom occasionally and squeezing quickly.

Finally, he pulled back, gasping slightly for air. He then rested his forehead against yours and you looked at him from beneath your lashes. One of your hands was now twisted in his curls, while the other was gripping his shirt, over the dried vodka spill from earlier. You smiled as you exhaled a big breath. Harry chuckled giddily.

“That was hot,” you said.

“Y’know, having similar tastes...might not be such a bad thing after all.”

“Knowing us we probably like all the same things…” you trailed off, blushing at the suggestion.

“Why don’t we find out sometime,” Harry winked before brushing his lips against yours once more.

Pecks weren’t possible for either of you though, both of you furiously pressing back together, hungry for more of the heat that came from you kissing.

“That’d be nice,” you whimpered against his lips.

“I think it’d be more than nice…” Harry brought his head down to suck on a part of your exposed cleavage, one of his legs pressed between yours, pushing slightly up into your heat. A strangled moan left your lips as you tried to stifle it. Harry chuckled, his face moved up to right beside your ear, “You’d probably love to have me take you right here, huh?”

His leg pressed up into you and your body automatically grinded down on the pressure. The alcohol and sexual grinding from earlier had gotten you horny and the making out with Harry had definitely heightened your desire.

“But we both know you can’t,” you gained your strength and pressed a little on his shoulders.

As much as you desired Harry right now and he seemed to desire you, as well, he was right. You two were extremely similar and would never actually have sex in a bar alleyway, as much as you might want to in the moment. You both laughed, releasing the sexual tension that was surrounding you.

“I know, but it’s fun to pretend we could...How about we go to my place and see what other fantasies we share?” Harry twisted a strand of your hair in his large hand.

“For once, I’m happy to be on the same page as you, Harry,” you grinned. He picked you up and spun you around, making you shriek in laughter, before heading back into the bar to gather your stuff.

You were quick to scurry out of the bar after telling your friends you were both leaving, tired from everything that had happened. Everyone simply nodded, but the minute you were far enough away they all snickered about the lipstick smeared on the corners of Harry’s lips and your terribly mused hair. Mitch even placed a twenty in the palm of Sarah’s open hand, shaking his head in defeat.

-

Tag list: @cronias13 @theresthingsthatwellneverknow @harrxier @harrys-cherrry @sltwins @awesomebooklover17 @harrys-stan

[drabbles-mc]

Whoever Broke Your Heart

Angel Reyes x Reader

Song request from @bishopslosawife: the song is Whoever Broke Your Heart by Murphy Elmore. When I do song fics I tend to just write a story based around the song, I don’t usually include lyrics or anything. Hope that’s okay!

Warnings: language, mentions of past toxic relationships, a good old bar fight, protective Angel comin’ in hot

Word Count: 2.2k

A/N: When I listened to the song and the prompt, I definitely pictured Angel a little more than any of the other guys. Love seeing him get a little hot-headed and protective. Hope y’all enjoy!

Angel Taglist: @mayans-sauce​ @helli4nthus​ @angelreyesgirl​ @starrynite7114​ @queenbeered​ @sincerelyasomebody​ @sadeyesgf​ @thesandbeneathmytoes​ @appropriate-writers-name​ @tomhardydallasstarsgirl​ @multiyfandomgirl40​ @sillygoose6969​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​ @louisianalady​ @gemini0410​ @paintballkid711​ @chibsytelford​ @yourwonkywriter​

You laughed as Angel wrapped his arms around your waist. He was standing behind your bar stool, pressing playful kisses against your neck and cheek. You reached behind you and gently rested your hand on the side of his face, reveling in the feeling of his hands on your hips.

It was one of the rare nights when the two of you went out with your friends. Normally you hung out with him and the guys at the clubhouse, and that was fine, but if you really wanted to go out and dance, you could usually convince Angel to come with you and your little crew. He’d never been good at saying no to you. Plus, you could tell that he liked being around when all of you went out because he kept his eye out for any creeps trying to make moves on any of you. Angel might’ve been your boyfriend, but he’d gone to bat for nearly every one of your friends at one point or another, defending them from belligerent drunks and shitty exes. Sometimes you worried that he’d get tired of it, but he always told you it was nice to feel purposeful, especially when he was one of the only guys in the group.

“I’m gonna step out for a smoke, querida,” he kissed your cheek, “Come with me?”

You nodded, hopping down off the barstool, “Of course.”

You were walking in front of him, giggling to yourself as you felt his hands reach out and slap your ass lightly. You turned around to him quickly, flashing him a smile before slipping out the door of the club. The air felt cold and fresh, and you took a deep breath before leaning back against the side of the building the two of you had just come out of. Angel pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his kutte. You shook your head no when he offered you one, content to just be with him away from the noise for a few minutes before you dove back into it.

Angel was looking at you, a smile plastered on his face as he let out a puff of smoke. You felt your face get hot for a moment, “What?”

“Nothin’. You’re beautiful.”

You smiled, shaking your head with a laugh, “You’re beautiful.”

He rested one hand onto your hip, “Nah, I mean it. I could look at you all day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.”

You felt your heart swell inside your chest as you looked at him. Angel had never hesitated on telling you everything that came to his mind, and it was one of the things that you loved the most about him. He wasn’t afraid to be a little sappy with you and it went a long way after what your past relationships had put your through.

He saw the wheels turning in your mind and smiled, “Wanna bail and go home?”

You laughed, shaking your head, “No, no. I’m good, I promise. I just…it’s nice to hear that stuff sometimes.”

He snubbed his cigarette out on the ground before stepping in closer to you, cupping your face in his hands, “I’ll make sure you hear it every day.”

There was a brief moment when you wanted to tell him that you changed your mind and were totally okay with bailing and going home, but you stopped yourself. You hadn’t gone out with your friends in a while and you didn’t want to bail on them just because you were feeling extra lovey over your boyfriend. The two of you took a couple more minutes to stay outside of the chaos, and finally Angel tugged you along back inside to rejoin everyone.

He didn’t particularly like dancing—he’d told you that on more than one occasion. But he’d let you drag him out onto the dancefloor when you went to the club because he knew how much you enjoyed it. He also knew that whoever you had been with before kept you on an impossibly tight leash and you hadn’t been allowed to do much without your ex looking over your shoulder waiting for you to slip up. You hadn’t mentioned it to him at first, so when you would get upset and defensive over things, he didn’t quite understand it. But one day you broke down, not able to try and push it down anymore. From that point on Angel started going a little extra out of his way to be reassuring, and to let you know that you never had to defend yourself to him. He never wanted you to be nervous to talk to him about anything, but especially not things as simple as wanting to go out with your girlfriends for the night.

He was pressed right up against you, hands on your hips as the two of you danced to the music. Despite the music and the noise, you could still hear him clear as day when he leaned down next to your ear, “I love you.”

You smiled up at him, “I love you too.”

“Would a beautiful woman like you let me buy her a drink?”

You laughed, nodding, “I suppose, since you seem like such a gentleman.”

The two of you made your way back to the bar. You kept your fingers lightly entwined with Angel’s so that you wouldn’t lose him in the busyness of the club.  He managed to find you a free barstool to sit on and you gladly took it, happy to be off your feet for a few minutes.

Angel stepped away to flag down the bartender. You watched him, a smile spreading across your face. You were too busy gazing at him to notice who else had shown up and was now standing in front of you, waiting to gain your attention.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” he finally said. Chills shot down your spine and you turned your head. He smiled at you and it almost seemed genuine, “Long time since I’ve seen you. How’ve you been?”

Every fiber of your being was telling you to get the hell out of the club. No good would come of talking to him. Your answer was short, your tone cold, “Fine.”

“Let me buy you a drink.”

“Someone already is,” you were angry but you still felt a lump forming in the back of your throat. You thought you had outrun these demons.

He cocked one eyebrow, “Really? I doubt that.”

Your heart dropped into your stomach. You had no idea what exactly it was about him that made him able to make you question everything about yourself, and your life, but you hated it. You hated him. Your mind raced to try and find the right words to say to get yourself out of the situation, to make him go away, but you couldn’t.

Angel reappeared, a beer bottle in one hand and a drink for you in the other. He saw the look on your face and his smile instantly dropped. He looked at the man standing in front of you, knowing that he was the reason for your expression but not quite knowing why.

He set your drink down on the surface of the bar and stood next to you, facing your ex, “Who the fuck are you?”

The man stepped back slightly, taking in the intimidating image that Angel easily put off, “I should be asking you that question.”

Angel scoffed, stepped completely in front of you and blocked you from the sightline of your ex, “I’m her fucking boyfriend.”

He laughed, shaking his head, “Figures,” he peered around Angel to look at you, “let go of me and your standards, huh?”

The realization of who he was hit Angel like a freight train. He shoved the man backwards, “Get the fuck away from her.”

He laughed, “What are you gonna do about it?”

Before Angel could do anything too stupid you reached forward and grabbed the beer bottle out of his hands. Starting a brawl was bad enough but the last thing you needed was him cracking someone’s skull with a glass bottle.

It didn’t do enough to defuse the situation. Angel got up in his face, towering over him, “I don’t give a fuck who you think you are. Get out of here now before you regret it.”

“You’re gonna make me regret it, biker boy?” he eyed Angel’s kutte.

Angel was too protective and hot-headed to back down. He shoved the man again, and when he tried to step back to him, Angel caught him on the jaw with a clean right hook. You gasped, although you couldn’t say that the reaction surprised you all the much. Your ex stumbled backwards, hand coming up to nurse his jaw.

Angel was ready to swing again when the bouncer showed up and got in between them. He leaned in close to Angel, “You can’t do this in here. Take this shit outside, Angel. I don’t want to have to kick you out of here.”

Angel nodded, still not taking his eyes off of your ex, “Yea, got it,” he stepped around the bouncer and pushed your ex towards the door, “Let’s fucking go,” he looked back at you, “Stay here, Y/N.”

“Angel, don’t—”

He cut you off, “Stay here.”

You were gnawing at the inside of your lip as you watched the two of them head towards the door of the club. Your ex might’ve been able to intimidate you, but Angel was an entirely different story. You’ve never seen him back down from anything and you had a feeling that he wasn’t going to start tonight.

Angel pushed him out the door of the club onto the sidewalk, “Stay the fuck away from her.”

He chuckled, “What’re you gonna do about it? Send your gang to come and get me?”

“I don’t need anyone else to handle this, believe me,” he grabbed the collar of the man’s shirt, “Don’t even think about looking at her or talking to her ever again.”

“You can’t tell me what to fucking do.”

Angel shook his head slowly. He released the grip on the man’s shirt, and as soon as his hands were free he cocked his arm back and punched him again, slicing the man’s lip open. He dropped to the ground and within seconds Angel was on top of him. Your ex tried to shell up and protect his face, but it didn’t do him much good.

You stepped out onto the sidewalk, instantly running over when you saw what was going on. You grabbed Angel’s shoulders and tried to pull him back, “Angel! Angel, stop!” you pulled back as hard as you could, “He’s not worth it!”

He allowed you to pull him back, leaving your ex in a heap on the sidewalk. You pulled his face so that he was looking at you, “What the fuck are you thinking?”

“I’m thinkin’ that that fuckin—” he couldn’t finish his sentence as he shook his head and glared at the man who was slowly rising from the pile Angel had left him in, “He broke your heart, Y/N. He hurt you. He doesn’t get to get away with that.”

You cupped one side of his face in your hand, knowing that all he could think about was all the lasting damage that that man had caused you, all the pain you had to work through to be able to trust someone again. You sighed as you traced your fingers down through his beard, “He’s a piece of shit, for sure, but he’s not worth getting arrested over. Let him go.”

Angel turned back to your ex, who was trying to wipe away the blood trickling out of the cuts on his face, “I don’t ever wanna fuckin’ see you again,” he gave him one last shove, “Get outta my sight.”

You chuckled to yourself, shaking your head as your ex stumbled away and Angel walked back over to you. You looked over his face, smiling at the fact that he got out of all of that unscathed.

You sighed, “Feel better?”

“He’s a fuckin’ idiot, Y/N.”

You laughed, “Yea, that’s why I don’t want you going to jail over him. You’re on thin ice as it is, Reyes,” you smiled as you shook your head.

“No, I mean, he’s an idiot for doing what he did to you,” he pulled you closer by the beltloops of your shorts, “I’ll never understand how he didn’t see the amazing woman that’s standing in front of me right now,” he cupped your face in his hands, “I love you.”

You placed your hands on his, feeling that his knuckles were still damp with blood, “I love you too.”

“It’s never gonna be like that again, you know that, right?” he waited for you to meet his eyes, “I’m never gonna be like that.”

You nodded, “I know.”

He leaned down, kissing you softly on the lips, “Good,” he paused, a smile passing over his lips, “Now do you wanna bail and go home?”

You laughed, “Yea, let’s go. Before you bust up someone else’s face.”

He chuckled as he pulled you against his side, “Yea, yea,” he kissed the top of your head, “I’d do it again, you know.”

You smiled, leaning into him, “Yea, I know.”

[eternally-writing]

grammys grief | knj

genre: fluff and angst

rating: G (no swearing or sexual content)

pairing: Namjoon x reader

theme: idol!au, boyfriend!au, one-shot

word count: 1.5k

warnings: none (Namjoon is pretty sad though)

synopsis: After a devastating Grammys loss, Namjoon comes to you for some comfort.

(A/N: Recording Academy if you’re reading this, I don’t like you.)

banner by me!

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“I’m sorry” were the first words you said as you opened your apartment door to see a sulky Namjoon.

“I just didn’t want to be alone right now,” mumbled Namjoon as he tossed off his shoes in your entryway.

You get it, or at least if you don’t get it you try your best to. You don’t know what it’s like to be a part of a chart-topping, record-breaking group that just got snubbed by the Recording Academy. You don’t know what it’s like to have the pressure of carrying the image of South Korea on your shoulders, but for Namjoon you’ll try, and you’ll do anything to take his pain away. 

There was a reason Namjoon always came to your apartment when he was sad. He usually tried to pass it off as him wanting to come over because you had a French press and could make his favourite coffee, but the truth was that being at your place felt like home. The caramel-colored walls and small knick-knacks lining your shelves enveloped Namjoon with a strong sense of familiarity. No matter what judgment seemed to face him in the real world, the four walls of your apartment harbored all his secrets and never told a soul, and you did the same. 

Looking over from your kitchen to Namjoon on the couch and seeing him bundled up into a tiny ball made your heart yearn in pain for him. Namjoon always seemed like a big, powerful leader, and you had never seen him look more small than he did at this moment. You wished you could take a photo of him and send it to the Recording Academy to show them how their terrible treatment of BTS affected them. The Grammys milked BTS for every bit of clout that they could with no remorse, and you hated them deeply for it. Of course the biased judgement of the Grammys was no secret, and honestly if the Grammys didn’t mean so much to Joon and the rest of the boys you definitely would just shun the Grammys all together, but this was Joon’s dream and you wanted to support him in any way you could.

Hearing the noises of your French press machine whirring to life in the kitchen, Namjoon glanced at your frame bustling around the kitchen. By the time you are finished and are carrying a mug of coffee over to your living room, Namjoon has already tucked himself into your blankets and curled himself into the corner of your couch. Looking over at you, Namjoon could see the look on your face that was silently asking “are you okay?”. Before the words could leave your mouth, Namjoon already beat you to sharing his answer. 

“It’s all good,” he mumbled as he shrugged his shoulders.

You sighed as you walked towards him. You had dealt with loud angry Namjoon, quiet angry Namjoon, crying Namjoon, happy Namjoon,  and even more. But you’ve never been around this Namjoon: quiet, frustrated, disappointed Namjoon. 

Taking a seat beside Joon on the couch, you laid a hand on his thigh and looked him in the eye. 

“I have watched you say “it’s all good” for the past 6 hours. Every interview, the vlive, and with the boys too. This doesn’t have to be “all good” Joon. You worked incredibly hard, you were successful, and you were robbed of an award that should have been yours. It’s sad, it really is, and I’m sorry this happened to you.”

You cuddled yourself closer into Namjoon’s side, wrapping your arms around him in an effort to help shield him from the negativity which he was facing. Nestling your head into his chest, you continued on. 

“I’m sorry they used you like that. It’s not fair and it shouldn’t be happening. I’m proud of you yknow? You were right about how amazing it is that you’ve come this far. The first Korean act to ever give a solo performance at the Grammys? That will go down in history.”

You heard Namjoon sigh and place a chaste kiss on your forehead. 

“I don’t know it’s just - to come this far and not win? It hurts. I don’t know, maybe I’ve been awake for too many hours and am just upset that I got fully dressed for absolutely nothing. But seeing Jimin so upset that he’s barely said a word all day? Hearing Yoongi crying in the bathroom because he wanted the award so badly? I know I wanted this award so badly, but I know the boys really wanted it too. I just feel like I’ve left them down as their leader.”

You could feel the pain in his voice. The rawness. The emotion. 

Kim Namjoon, the love of your life, was in pain and you felt like there was nothing you could do about it. If you could you would craft a Grammy yourself out of your own bare hands, but unfortunately you didn’t have any magical powers or welding skills that would let you do so. The best you could do is be a comforting voice and lend an ear to listen to his troubles.

As much as you wished you could handle this all by yourself, you definitely needed to call in some reinforcements. 

As you pulled your phone out and Namjoon could see you go to open twitter, he groaned. 

“Please no, Y/N. That dispatch article saying we failed was enough media coverage for me today,” he said as he turned his head away from the screen. 

“No I promise this is gonna be good, babe. Trust me on this ok? Give me 5 minutes and then we can stop if you want.” 

Relinquishing his time to you, Namjoon pulled you closer to him and leaned his head on your shoulder to get a good look at your phone. 

Namtiddie_appreciation: To Namjoon, the most fearless leader:  We are so proud of you. You have and will continue to lead BTS to keep breaking down barriers in the music industry, and it’s the Grammys loss if they can’t see your talent. 

shooky_cooky: I hope BTS knows how proud ARMY are of them tonight. They handled everything today with such grace and respect, and I have never been more proud to look up to them. The world needs more BTS!

Army_for_life613: I know BTS may not have one a Grammy tonight, but they are the reason I am alive today. I don’t think that I will ever be able to repay for the love that they have given me but I will keep supporting them forever! <3 

You looked up at Joon’s face to see the most genuine smile on Namjoon’s face that you had seen all day. 

Taking one hand to wipe the tears away from his face, you smiled at him. 

“There’s more you know,” you said, “I could read these to you all day. Probably for a couple days before I even start running out of tweets. But then we could move to Weverse to read the millions of comments over there too”

The sound of Namjoon’s laughter reaching your ears was the best sound you had ever heard. He stared down at you with a look of awe.

“I don’t know how you do it,” he said. 

“Do what?”

“Make everything ok no matter what. I barely knew how to comfort the boys, let alone myself. But somehow you always say the right things, so thank you.”

“You’re making me sound like a superhero, Joon. And as much as I would love to take credit for this, all I’m doing is reading out tweets. You could probably replace me with a robot if you wanted.”

Namjoon pulled you onto his lap and pulled you into the tightest hug. 

“Sure I could get a robot, but where could I find a robot that’s this cute?” he said as he pinched your cheeks. 

Giggling in Namjoon’s embrace, you continued to scroll on your phone, eventually showing Namjoon another set of tweets. 

“Speaking of ARMY though, they lowkey seem like they’re going to start a riot, not gonna lie. You should put out something to distract them or something,” you said with a chuckle.

With a quick nod, Namjoon pulled out his phone to show you the photo in question, ready to go in his Weverse drafts. 

You chuckled at the photo. That definitely is your sexy boyfriend. 

“That’s perfect babe, let them have at it.”

Soon enough, after posting the gym selfie, Namjoon’s photo had caused Weverse to break yet again (you’re never gonna stop making the joke about him breaking the internet). #BigHitclosethegyms was trending yet again, and you both had the time of your lives reading the funniest comments of the bunch. 

Tomorrow would be the start of BTS’s new journey to win a Grammy, but at least for today it was just about you and Joon reading funny comments and drinking French press coffee. And next year, you were sure that they were gonna win.

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- Emily