#i believe silver’s the type to not let anyone know he’s trying to do something until he’s good at it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

yuri-is-online · 7 months ago

Note

The TWST cast from the original Fyuuture Kid timeline is so Cleopatra by Lumineers coded. They just get their (pregnant) joyfriend ripped away from them, cursed, and then sent back to earth, where they can't follow all in one day. That's gotta be a fucking nightmare. They just lose everything at the same time. Bro. Imagine Jamil or Azul, they had to fight for everything and just when they finally, FINALLY, think they have something that will never leave, it's taken away. Imagine malleus or cater or silver; they've already lost so much, silver just lost his dad and now, when he's going to make his own family, they're taken from him too.

TW FOR SUICIDE.

You wrote one time that of Yuu ever died, Floyd would be quick to follow, so. Did Jade and Azul have to put him on suicide watch? My mind is reeling there were NO WINNERS in this timeline Goddamn.

Sorry for the angst dude I just think about this AU a lot

i am so sorry for making you all live with this many thoughts and just waltzing on off to do fuck all

So there weren't any winners in the original timeline no, but the way things went down sort of prevented the type of outcome you are describing with Floyd due to the potential for hope, that most dangerous of falsehoods. In a way that sort of makes it worse though... so lets talk about what went down shall we?

(I'm going to keep this post to more general information, but I did write some specific ship thoughts I'll probably use for another post later on, I just need to think on some of them more...)

notes: they/them used for Yuu, this is part of my fyuuture kid au which can be found under the series section of my masterlist. This post will not contain discussions of suicidal ideation, but will contain major character death and descriptions of violence. If you are curious about what happened to Yuu and Fyuuture kid, look at this post here.

General Original Timeline Facts

To give a brief re-cap of what happens to Yuu, they were arrested by the Magical Marshall's office and sent back to their world, while pregnant, and cursed to forget everything that had happened to them in Twisted Wonderland. Something I didn't mention in that first post, mostly because I intended to imply it in the answer about Riddle's relationship with Yutu but ended up cutting, is that none of the characters actually know that this is what happened at first. They know that Yuu disappeared, but they don't know that the Marshalls were involved or that Yuu went back to their world, which causes a real sense of panic in all of them because holy shit their spouse and unborn child just went missing and they can't seem to get anyone to take this seriously. How the Marshalls went about hiding this information, and what the general public believed happened to Yuu depends on who their husband was, as did the fallout of their disappearance.

For anyone who might be a bit confused, the Magical Marshall's Office is an elite squad of police officers who investigate magical crime, and occasionally deal with overblots. They are the organization that Deuce wants to join one day, which does mean that the people who made the decision to see Yuu as a threat to public safety and send Yuu home were Deuce's own co-workers and friends.

Deuce is the first to suspect that the Marshall's might have had something to do with Yuu's disappearance, but he isn't able to really do much with that. He tries, but he is stonewalled and eventually fired- though by the time that happened monster attacks started getting really bad in the Queendom and Deuce had a whole other set of questions.

Speaking of those monster attacks, the instant Yuu is removed from Twisted Wonderland Grim overblots I have an idea as to why, but it isn't super set in stone. This "Chimera" begins hunting and stirring up monsters, inciting them to attack civilization while it focuses on trying to "wake up" the Phantoms of the Great 7. These phantoms want to re-join with their respective overblot boy, which is an easier task for some of them than others.

The first phantom to re-appear was the Thorn Fairy's. Malleus chose to seal himself and his phantom in an eternal sleep inside the Briar Valley capital after ordering Sebek and Silver to evacuate everyone who lived there, leaving his people truly leaderless and in shambles. He technically also ordered Lilia to go with them, but he refused. He wasn't able to abandon another Draconia to die alone. A lot of nocturnal fae died to the Phantom before Malleus's sacrifice, but because the problem was more or less contained to Briar Valley not all of the other nations saw the monster problem as a threat. They should have.

The second phantom to re-appear was The Queen of Hearts'. Riddle, having been approached by Deuce with his suspicions regarding Yuu's disappearance and outraged by what he saw as a clear violation of the law (if nothing else) was easy prey and re-assimilated into the monster. The phantom then began hunting down each of Riddle's previous dorm mates to corrupt them into card soldiers for its army, eventually fashioning four lieutenants that were a touch more sentient that the others out of Trey, Cater, Deuce, and Ace.

Certain members of the Al-Asim family saw that happen and quietly, without Kalim's knowledge, arrange to have Jamil killed. This doesn't prevent the Sorcerer of the Sands' phantom from reuniting with him, it just means the monster is puppeteering a corpse. And dragging around a second once it gets its hands on Kalim...

Obviously at this point something of a pattern has been established, meaning S.T.Y.X. is expected to do something. Idia does not actually overblot for a second time thank you very much, Phantom Ortho has a mind of his own and he promised to stay in the Underworld until it was Idy's time. His first order of business is to check in on Vil, Azul, and Leona to make sure they're ok. He manages to make contact with Vil, but the Coral Sea proves impossible to get a message through to and Leona is M.I.A. Literally, he and Ruggie have both disappeared while investigating monster attacks around the slums. Idia has a decision to make, and it's not one he really likes, but S.T.Y.X. has a better relationship with the Sunset Savannah than it does the Coral Sea, so it's off to the Elephant Graveyard while Vil agrees to stay behind on the Isle of Woe under observation for his own safety.

It's a decision Idia regrets later. He gets to Leona in time to help him fight and kill the King of Beasts's phantom, but it costs Leona and Ruggie their lives, and while he's there, the Sea Witch's phantom finds Azul and begins using his magic to drain the merfolk dry. Floyd manages to use his unique magic to distract Azul long enough to allow Jade to escape, who only flees because he thought his brother was behind him the whole time. The oceans become polluted with blot, forcing the surviving merfolk to the surface. Many go to NRC and take refuge in the Octavinelle dorm pocket dimension, resulting in the Mostro Lounge being closed to make more room. Somehow that feels more like a killing blow to Azul for Jade than what the phantom did.

Schools like NRC, RSA, and Nobel Bell become sort of centers for survivors due to the large amounts of mages, magical wards, and artifacts that such schools typically have made them safer than most towns. NRC specifically has seen a large influx of magicless people who run a lot of the things the ghosts used to and runs a lot of normal school classes in additional to the magic program, which shifts over time to be more focused on fighting due to the increased monster attacks.

Also Crewel is now Headmage. It would have been Trein but I don't think he needs the stress. I haven't decided if he is still alive or not, but Vargas and Sam are still kicking.

So to give a run down of where everyone stands in the original timeline in order: Malleus and his phantom are trapped in an eternal sleep, Lilia is dead, Silver and Sebek are alive (at least at first) and trying to help the fae refuges displaced by the Thorn Fairy's Phantom. All of Heartslabyul are overblot phantoms, and actively making the Queendom of Roses unlivable. Jamil was assassinated and the Sorcerer of the Sands's phantom went on to kill Kalim and most of his family. To be clear that wasn't because of Jamil's lingering emotions, but good luck explaining that to most people. Vil and Idia are overblot free, Vil because he is being detained on the Isle of Woe and Idia because of his promise with Phantom Ortho. Leona and Ruggie died fighting the King of Beast's phantom. Azul and Floyd are blot phantoms, while Jade is alive and tending bar at what remains of the lounge at NRC.

Now Epel, Rook, and Jack aren't named in that list. No one really knows what happened to them, but they are assumed dead (or at least Jack and Epel are.) Since this is my AU and I get to give out the information, I'll let you know that Rook is a phantom under control of the Fairest Queen's phantom, Jack is dead, and Epel is alive, but cut off from the rest of Twisted Wonderland by the monsters under the Fairest Queen's control. He's right teed off about that, hey Yutu go get him that ladder he's gonna give Rook a piece of his mind-

I do have some ship specific thoughts but I want to cook with them a bit more... but to maaaybe tease some of them?

Yutu and his friends had to fight the Heartslabyul boys multiple times. Yes this hurt their Yutus a lot, and is one of the main reasons Riddle! Yutu hates his dad so much.

Vil can hear the Fairest Queen talking to him and it's not great for his mental stability. Neither is being cooped up in the Isle of Woe, his Yutu did meet him and remembers it being a terrifying experience.

Jade has a good relationship with Floyd! Yutu, Jade and Floyd are their own people but losing Floyd killed a part of him that was slightly healed by getting his nephew back. He likes to tease Azul! Yutu and told him a great deal about his dad. As for his own Yutu... their relationship is a tad strained by how protective Jade is over his son. He is terrified of losing him and what is left of his pearl...

Not all Yutus are in the same dorm as their father. I haven't decided on where all of them are yet, but I did mention once in my replies that Azul! Yutu is in Savanaclaw. I did not mention that he did intend to transfer but couldn't when he accidentally became the Dorm Leader because he got tired of being mouthed off to and knocked someone out. I have an ask about Cater! Yutu I'm working on but I'll add him here as having been put into Octavinelle, and I think I want to put Kalim! Yutu into Pomefiore but I need to cook more...

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #future kid au #tw character death #ngl i cried when i was writing about jade #so no one yell at me i am already yelling at myself ok

184 notes · View notes

annwrites · 5 months ago

Text

⸻ happy birthday, billy

· pairing: billy hargrove x fem!reader · type: outtake from this series · summary: you give billy a b-day gift. · tw: mentions of domestic violence · word count: 685

When you enter class, you’re filled with nerves. This is a stupid idea. But Billy has given you a handful of moments of kindness—something he doesn’t seem to tend to show toward many others—and they mean something to you. A great deal. A greater deal than you want to admit.��

Some nights, you lie awake with your door locked as you listen to your father yelling and breaking things in the other room while tears stream down your face and your body shakes in fear that he’ll finally turn toward your room, break down the door, and make you his next target.

And during those nights, your thoughts often drift to those memories of him. Billy. His moments of honest vulnerability toward you. Somehow, going away into your mind and reliving such events comforts you.

You want to repay the favor. Today is his birthday. Eighteen, you believe, he’s turning.

Maybe he’ll make fun of you for it. Maybe he’ll throw the gift back in your face and tell you how much he hates it; that it’s ugly. To take it back.

Maybe he’ll tell you that you’re stupid to think those moments of kindness ever meant anything, when, in reality, they’re his way of trying to get in close to you to finally get between your legs. That’s what it seems he desires from most girls at school. And he always seems to get it, too.

What if he thinks it’s you finally showing…that kind of interest in him? Or he perceives it as you trying to lead him on? What if he makes some smart-mouth comment about it and causes a scene, thus giving your classmates the wrong impression?

You sigh. He can think what he wants. What’s important is that you know why you’d gotten it: to say ‘thank you’.

Billy smirks as you come closer to your desk, then glances to the small black box, complete with a blue ribbon wrapped around it, in your hand. He nearly frowns then.

Did someone—some douchebag here at school, perhaps—give you a gift today? It’s not like it’s your birthday. He’d checked the calendar at the front of the classroom for it a week after coming to Hawkins, and it had turned out that it had passed a month before he ever even joined the class.

It’s his, however, but it’s not like anyone pays enough attention to care. Not even his dad. Or his ignorant step-mom, or pain-in-the-ass step-sister. He tells himself it’s just another day, anyway. Doesn’t fucking matter.

After setting your things down on your desk, you set the box atop his with a warm, gentle smile.

“Happy birthday, Billy,” you say quietly.

He stares at you, speechless, his mind now blank from just those three words alone. And then he looks at the box.

Finally, he sits up, plants his feet on the floor and he picks it up.

He wants to make a smart-ass comment—needs to—because the way he really feels right now…he can’t let you see that. That this means…so fucking much to him.

You’d…you’d remembered. Had gotten him something, packaged it, even. This had been planned.

He keeps his mouth shut as he pulls at the blue ribbon before letting it fall to his desk, and when he opens the lid, he finds a plain silver chain-necklace inside.

He looks up to you.

You shift on your feet, your right hand coming to grab your left forearm. “I…I wasn’t sure what to get. I saw your ring and just thought… If you don’t like it, the receipt is in the box. You can always return it, or—”

You watch as he gingerly picks it up, unclasps it, and then fastens it around his neck.

You grow quiet then.

“Thank you,” he says, glancing up to you, then back down to the box as he places the ribbon inside before closing it and shoving it into his jacket pocket.

You smile again. “You’re welcome. Are…are you eighteen, then?”

He nods.

You do as well, just once, then sit before class starts.

He doesn’t pull your hair that day.

#fic: stranger things (billy hargrove x reader)#billy hargrove x female reader #billy hargrove x y/n #billy hargrove x you #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove x reader #stranger things x y/n #stranger things x you #stranger things x reader

133 notes · View notes

sephifrog · 5 months ago

Text

Genesis Rhapsodos alphabet headcanons

A -Affirmations (what he calls you)

My Goddess, love

B -Blush (does he blush when you're close by?/How do you make him blush)

Feel Gen only gets flustered when he’s drunk because if you try to make him blush he just turns it right back around on you-it’s worse if you were trying to embarrass him and he just chuckles deeply and sends you a smirk before turning the tables, your usually the one that's blushing and pouting

C -Comfort (how does he comfort you or what do you do that comforts him)

Playing with his hair or singing to him even if you’re bad at it he likes hearing your voice it grounds him, and if you play with his hair he’s putty in your hands

When he comforts you he gets you to cuddle up to him and reads you a book (more than likely loveless), hearing his heart as well as having his arms around you makes you feel safe and calm

D -Dates ( what do you do on your dates)

Wine and diner-he would parade you around - he also has moments when he wants you all to himself however so you’ll have the occasional at-home date and eat his cooking

On your first date, he took you to an expensive restaurant and ordered the most expensive wine he could get, he wanted to impress you (and he was nervous below his cocky attitude and needed some liquid courage) E -End (what would end your relationship?)

Being in Silver Elite -not believing in him, I feel he’s very touched and love-starved and if you start to doubt him it will hurt and he will lash out with his words

F -Fear (what he’s afraid of)

He fears you choosing someone else over him and leaving him - if it's during crisis core he’s afraid you’ll hate him or someone will hurt you

G -Genesis Rhapsodos

An arrogant, prideful man but if he loves you , you get to see a softer side, one that loves Dumbapple pie and reading poems at all hours of the day, he’s petty though so be careful if you upset him he’ll never let it go until he messes up (but he would argue he never messes up)

H -Hold (how he holds you)

Genesis would always hold you from behind loving the feel of your hips in his hands, even if your taller he would just rest his head on your shoulder -he also loves it when you hold him

I -Injured (what would he do if you were hurt?)

He’s a hot head if he saw it happen whatever hurt you is on fire withering on the floor while he checks on you, he would be the type to lash out at anyone except Angeal if they tried to take you from him

J -Jealous (is he Jealous?)

Not really, he knows he's hot shit and that you love him, however, if you show Sephiroth even a pinch of affection he's a sulky mess or about to challenge him to a sparing match he doesn’t play when it comes to Seph

K -Kiss (favourite place to kiss)

He loves kissing your neck and lips

He loves it when you kiss his chest or honestly anywhere

L -Laugh (something that makes him laugh)

The way you try to read loveless and your brow furrows in annoyance when you don’t understand and have to trot over to him and ask

M -Memory (his favourite memory with you)

When you wore his uniform and pretended to be him

N -Needy

Not as needy as Zack but still quite Neddy especially behind closed doors

O -Over (what is something you had to get over as partners)

His fans, their very upset he’s off the market

P -PDA

He is very open, not caring who is there to see he knows he can protect you from his fan club and honestly wants people to know you tied to him

Q -Quip (can he joke around with you? Do you have inside jokes)You have a few but most of the time his jokes fall flat and he doesn’t get some of your humor

R -Romantic (is he romantic?)

Overly so, it can get too much sometimes so he’s learned when to tune it down

S -Sleep (how do you sleep next to one another)

He holds you to his chest most of the time he sleeps on his back with his arm around you

T -Treasure (what is something he had that reminds him of you and what did he give you to remind you of him?)

a painting of you both one he had done on your first date without you knowing

You gave him a limited edition Loveless copy maybe someone in your family had it and only a few were made

U -Unlikely (what is something that he would probably never do)

To change himself for you he likes who he is

V -vulnerable

Only behind closed doors he has an image after all

W -Wedding (would he want to get married?)

Man would want the flashiest wedding

X -(e)X (would he be friends with an ex)

No, man is petty, and after he splits with someone he’s done with them

Y -Year (how would he act on New Year's?)

Would take you out to a flashy New years party and kiss you passionately when it strikes midnight

Z -Zoo (would you get any pets?)

Feel a cat just as temperamental as him-

#final fantasy 7 #final fantasy fanfiction #finalfantasy x reader #genesis rhapsodos #final fantasy crisis core #genesis x reader

38 notes · View notes

daechwitatamic · 2 years ago

Text

X. So I Follow || KNJ

(banner by @itaeewon)

Title: My Feet to Follow, and My Heart to Hold (Masterpost)

Rating: NSFW - minors dni

Genre: college!au, roomie!au, angst, s2l, the absolute slowest of burns

Pairing: Namjoon x female reader, unrequited Taehyung x reader

Beta'd by @/kookstempo, @/casuallyimagining, and @/toikiii - thank you endlessly!

Summary: You know a lot about the many types of love thanks to Kim Taehyung. You love him as the only person you see as “family”, you love him as your very best friend, and you love him as the beautiful, funny man he’s become. But when a twist of fate during your senior year has you rooming with his good friend Kim Namjoon, you just might find that you have plenty left to learn about love.

Lesson One: there are such things as a right way and a wrong way to love and to be loved.

In light of the incident with Taehyung, you prepare to spend Christmas alone.

Section Warnings: language, arguing/fighting (just some shoving), angst!, but also fluff in this one wow, bar scenes and recreational drinking

WC: 7.8k

The world is mine: blue hill, still silver lake, Broad field, bright flower, and the long white road A gateless garden, and an open path: My feet to follow, and my heart to hold. - Journey | Edna St. Vincent Millay

You watch it cross his face as Taehyung decides to make you prove it, but you don’t have enough time to react before he’s doing the thing you’d day-dreamed of time after time after time - before you knew Namjoon. He’s closing the gap between you, his hand curling in the fabric of your jacket, his lips finding yours, searching for something that three months ago he probably would have found.

You shove Taehyung in the chest with both hands, and he stumbles away from you.

“You fucking asshole,” you growl. “What the fuck is the matter with you?”

“You said we’re the same as we’ve always been?” he spits back. “You’re a fucking liar.”

You’re so blindingly angry, suddenly, that you can barely think, can barely match up words to make a sentence. “Fuck you,” you manage, the words feeling like they’re torn from your chest, leaving a bloody, gaping wound in their place. “I can’t fucking believe you.”

His brows furrow; for a minute, he looks genuinely lost. Then, something hard replaces the look. “You’re that serious about him? Already?”

You’re ready to answer this affirmatively, but he presses on. “You’ve never dated anyone, never even got to a second date. Now you’re seeing this guy for, what, a few weeks, and I’m nothing to you? Just like that?”

Something changes inside of you; you go from boiling angry to pure ice in only seconds. The silence pulses and then flatlines between you, as dead as your friendship. All you can do is stare at him, the seething rage knitting itself into something metallic instead.

“I waited for you,” you tell him, deathly calm, like you’re explaining a math problem. At your sides, your hands are shaking. “I waited for you for years. I cannot - I do not have words for how deeply unfair it is for you to show up now and try to ruin this for me.” You spit the words, clipping your consonants hard.

Neither of you has ever said it out loud. But it’s out now. No take-backs.

He stares at you, chest heaving, eyes wide. There’s no going back to how things were, now. That option is well and truly buried, nails in the coffin.

“Goodbye, Taehyung,” you force yourself to say, and you turn and take the steps at a clip, letting the door shut behind you, leaving him out in the cold for good.

You stop on the staircase, nearly at your floor, and slump against the bannister. What are you going to say to Namjoon? Hey, by the way, the guy you knew I had feelings for just kissed me. Maybe not quite like that. But you definitely have to tell him.

Honestly though, you don’t feel like you have the bandwidth for that conversation right now. You feel like… you feel like you’re grieving.

You need the space and time to mourn, to accept that you’ve walked away from something that you’ve lived in comfortably for years. To accept that you’ll never have back the friendship you once had - even if you and Taehyung manage to land somewhere okay when this is all over, the truth is things will never again be how they were between you. It just isn’t possible.

You don’t want to cry over Taehyung in front of Namjoon. He’s already given you so much grace, so much understanding and patience. This… this would be too much. At least until you can calm down, get your head right, talk about it rationally. So, when you enter the apartment and find his door closed, you leave him be. You head for your own bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind you.

–

Namjoon feels tortured and trapped in his room; he paces, he tries doing sit-ups, he takes a shower just to hold his breath under the spray of hot water.

None of it helps.

Finally, like a dog with its tail between its legs, he flops on his bed in defeat and picks up his phone.

[11:24 PM] Namjoon: you guys wanna say i told you so now, or later

[11:24 PM] Hobi: uh oh

[11:25 PM] Yoongi: what happened

Namjoon sighs, rubs a hand over his face. He doesn’t want to tell them. But he can’t shoulder this alone, he knows himself well enough to know it.

[11:27 PM] Namjoon: just caught her kissing him

[11:28 PM] Namjoon: literally right in front of the apartment

He closes his eyes, resting his phone on his chest. He can feel it buzz with the reactions rolling in, but he feels like he can’t make himself look at them.

Something niggles in the back of his mind, stirs in the pit of his stomach.

Something about how your hands had been balled into fists at your sides.

[11:29 PM] Hobi: what the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

[11:30 PM] Yoongi: dude i’m sorry

[11:31 PM] Hobi: bro that’s a dick move by taehyung

[11:31 PM] Hobi: like thats legitimately not okay he owes you a huge apology

[11:32 PM] Hobi: if i were you i’d go to his place and talk to him. like right now.

[11:34 PM] Yoongi: forget talking to taehyung, that can wait

[11:35 PM] Yoongi: have you talked to HER yet??

[11:37 PM] Hobi: wow double question mark. Mr Min is serious

[11:37 PM] Yoongi: shut up hoseok

[11:39 PM] Namjoon: i dont think i can even look at her right now tbh

[11:39 PM] Namjoon: let alone talk…

[11:42 PM] Namjoon: wtf would i even say to her?

[11:45 PM] Namjoon: ‘was it everything you ever hoped for?’

[11:45 PM] Namjoon: fuck

He sets his phone on the mattress beside him and closes his eyes. Stupid… stupid… stupid… It echoes through his head, harmonizing nicely with Hobi and Yoongi’s voices telling him he gives people - women - too much faith, lets them take advantage of him.

But you’d told him you were in this.

You’d told him you wanted to be with him, not Taehyung.

You’d told him this thing between you was real, and that it deserves to be.

He’s told you he trusts you. Did that change? Was he wrong to?

Or are things not adding up?

He picks up his phone again.

[11:52 PM] Hobi: might be nice to have some answers

[11:53 PM] Yoongi: that’s true… we all know this wouldn’t be the first time taehyung has shown his ass…

Namjoon considers this silently. He starts to get up, then stills. This repeats twice more, before he finally throws himself out of bed and leaves his room before his nerves can fail. He crosses the living room to find your bedroom door shut – rare, these days. He knocks, calls your name quietly. When you don’t answer, he tries the doorknob.

It’s locked.

“Hey,” he calls. “Let me in.”

You don’t answer.

He knows it’s not the same, not what’s happening now, but he’s picturing you on the day you’d gone silent, laying in bed, facing the wall, unmoving, unblinking. His chest clenches with the need to make sure you’re okay, despite what he’d seen, despite the conclusions he’d drawn.

He leans his forehead against the cool wood of the door. “Baby,” he says, voice so hushed it’s practically a whisper. “Please, open the door and talk to me.”

He waits a long moment, one hand against the door, and then the doorknob clicks. As soon as he can see your face through the crack, it’s clear you’ve been crying.

His brain starts running possibilities as fast as a bullet-train. You’re crying because you know you did something wrong, and you feel guilty. You’re crying because you’re conflicted about who you want, and it’s hurting. You’re crying because you’ve decided to be with Taehyung after all, and you know you have to let Namjoon down. You’re crying because…

“What happened?” he manages to ask, feeling like there’s glass in his throat as he tugs the words out of his stomach.

He resists the urge to reach out and touch your face, wipe a stray tear away.

You take a deep breath, avert your eyes. Then you seem to steel yourself and say very clearly, “Taehyung just kissed me.”

Then, you rush ahead, the rest of the words tumbling out of you so fast that Namjoon almost misses some of it. “But I pushed him away – I called him an asshole, I told him he missed his chance.”

You take another breath, eyes filling with fresh tears. You still haven’t looked up at Namjoon. “I’m sorry,” you finish in a whisper.

Namjoon doesn’t remember moving, doesn’t decide to move, but his arms are suddenly around you as you bury your face in his shirt, shoulders still trembling a little under his hands.

He’s so overcome with relief that it almost makes him go boneless – relief that he hadn’t been wrong to trust you, relief that you’d chosen him after all.

But as he holds you, as he feels your shaking slowly ebb away, he remembers the times you’d called Taehyung family, the stories you’d told of having no one else. In that moment, he truly feels your sorrow down into his own bones.

“You have me,” he thinks, then realizes he’s said it out loud. You shift in his arms to look up at him, eyes big and red-rimmed. He gives you a little squeeze, struggles to wade through how protective he feels with you. “I know that maybe it’s not the same… but for as long as you want me there,” he promises, “you have me.”

Tuesday December 11th

You lay in Namjoon’s embrace, chest to chest, his strong arms locked behind your back. You’re not sure how long you’ve been encased like this, one leg tucked between his, listening to his heart beating next to your ear. Long enough for the sweat to cool.

You shiver a little, and Namjoon runs a hand reverently down your arm, chasing away goosebumps with the warmth of his palm. Behind him, you can hear your phone vibrate on your nightstand.

Again.

You try to pretend you don’t hear it. You try to distract Namjoon by reaching up to kiss his jaw sweetly. He looks down at you, eyes narrowed, seeing right through your bullshit.

“Is that him again?”

“I don’t know,” you say innocently. “I haven’t looked at it.”

But you both know it is.

He’s been calling - and texting - since you left him on the sidewalk two nights ago. You’d turned your phone off on Sunday night, as soon as you’d cottoned on that he wasn’t going to give up. When you’d gotten brave enough to turn it on Monday morning, it was to three voicemails, unending missed calls, and a series of texts that blurred before you as you teared up over their desperation.

[12:18 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: please pick up

[12:31 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: pick up the phone [12:32 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: talk to me

[2:52 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: i’m so sorry [2:52 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: i’m such an asshole [2:52 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: fuck i’m so so sorry

[3:22 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: please talk to me [3:23 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: you’re probably sleeping so i’m gonna stop [3:24 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: but if you decide you want to talk please call me

[9:04 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: good morning [9:05 AM] Tae Bear 🧸: can we talk today?

You hadn’t answered any of it, and he’d continued Monday afternoon.

[4:46 PM] Tae Bear 🧸: please, talk to me so i can apologize for real [4:52 PM] Tae Bear 🧸: you’ve never not talked to me for this long before [4:54 PM] Tae Bear 🧸: even that time i backed into Lin’s car and let her blame you… [4:54 PM] Tae Bear 🧸: did i fuck everything up that badly?

Yes, you want to tell him. But you don’t have the heart. It’s hard enough, takes enough of your self-control, to resist answering. To resist telling him it’s okay.

It isn’t. You know it isn’t.

As the texts roll in through Monday night and Tuesday morning, you feel like Namjoon’s steadying gaze on you, or his hand solid in yours, is the only thing that keeps you from skittering back into safe, familiar old habits. And to his credit, he barely leaves you alone while you’re both home. He stays in your space, quiet and calm, watching you carefully, searching for signs that you might need more from him.

The phone buzzes again, insistent - a phone call.

You sigh in Namjoon’s arms. “Maybe I should answer him,” you muse. “If for nothing else, then to tell him to knock it off.”

Namjoon rolls to pick up your phone and places it, still buzzing, in your hands. “It’s your decision,” he says carefully.

You watch Taehyung’s name, with the stupid emoji after it, scroll across the top of your screen. You don’t pick up.

“I don’t think I’m ready,” you admit. “I don’t even know what I’d tell him. I have nothing to say.”

“Then don’t,” Namjoon advises gently. “Turn it off for a while. Let’s get something to eat.”

“Yeah,” you say absently, pressing your finger to the power button. “You’re right.” You watch, feeling utterly hollow, as your screen goes black.

Thursday December 13th

It’s hard for Namjoon to watch, honestly, though he does his best to bite his tongue and just support you. But you float through the apartment like a ghost, and he can’t help but feel guilt over the fact that you chose to be haunted for his sake.

You’re staring at your phone, which - despite being powered off - is sitting by your elbow. Like, even though you pressed the power button yourself, you're waiting for the next call.

“You should do something for yourself tonight,” he hears himself suggest. Problem-solving mode again, like he just can’t help himself. But maybe it’ll be for the better. “Like a bubble bath or something. Why don’t you go run one? I’ll pour you some wine.”

The look you give him nearly knocks his knees out - you turn to him with a look of pure adoration, disbelieving wonder. You look at him like he’s too good to be true.

It breaks his heart. It breaks his heart that a simple act of kindness feels so large to you - because no one, not your family, or fucking Kim Taehyung, or any of your other friends, had ever done it for you.

“You should leave your phone out here,” he suggests. “Bring a book.”

You give him a different sort of look, then, one that says don’t tell me what to do.

“I’m just saying!” He smiles innocently. “It’ll ruin your inner peace if you turn it on.”

“Inner peace,” you grumble at him, but you head into your bathroom, your phone face down on the breakfast bar. A minute later, Namjoon hears the bathtub water running.

He brings you in a glass of wine as promised, also carrying in the poetry book you’d bought him at the antique shop a few days ago.

“Don’t get this wet,” he warns jokingly. You smile up at him, most of you hidden beneath an aggressive amount of bubbles.

“I won’t,” you promise. “I have a tray.”

Namjoon backtracks to the kitchen, recorking the wine and wiping down the counter. He’s humming absently, lost in thought about what he’d been writing, when he hears footsteps stop outside the front door.

His intuition kicks in with a quick slap of adrenaline. He opens the front door roughly and immediately shoulders Taehyung backwards into the hallway, closing the door behind him and crossing his arms, physically putting himself between Taehyung and you.

Taehyung gapes at him, eyes wide, mouth dropped in indignation. Then, his pride catches up, and his eyes narrow. “What are you, her bodyguard?” he asks sourly. “Did she tell you not to let me in?”

“No,” Namjoon admits, willing himself to stay logical, not to let his temper take over. “But I want to talk to you.”

“I just bet you do,” Taehyung mutters.

Namjoon breathes in for four, holds it for four, lets it out for six. He’s known Taehyung for years, sees him as a nuisance of a little brother in a lot of ways, has a lot of affection for him. But watching you hurt, and hurt, and hurt - it isn’t going to continue.

“I’m sorry you found out about us the way you did,” Namjoon says, hoping that beginning with his own apology will help soften the rest of the conversation. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I wasn’t trying to be… it would have been better for her to talk to you about it on her own terms. I didn’t mean to take that away from her. Or you.”

“I really don’t want to talk about this with you,” Taehyung says, voice low and dangerous. “I want to talk to her. Move.”

“You need to back off,” Namjoon says carefully. “You’re breaking her fucking heart, bro. Give her some time.”

Taehyung laughs in his face, the sound ugly and echoing in the empty hallway. “Fuck you,” he says. “If it’s breaking her heart to stay away from me, doesn’t that tell you something? She wants to talk to me, she misses me. Move.”

Namjoon shakes his head, clings to reason, tries desperately to make Taehyung see reason, too. “Try to understand,” he begs. “You’re messing with her head. Do you even want her? If she came out here now and said she wanted to be with you, would you even know what to do with that?”

Taehyung’s eyes narrow even further, if possible. “What are you talking about?” he asks, the question like a hiss between his teeth. “You’re pissing me off, Namjoon. She and I need to talk - get out of the way.”

Namjoon’s temper flares. “Taehyung,” he says, just one of many times in their friendship he’s felt like he had to talk sense into the younger man. “You don’t love her, so let her go.”

Taehyung freezes, then raises his chin, face flat and impassive. “Who says I don’t love her?” he asks, bone-chillingly cold.

Namjoon breaks eye contact, takes another steadying breath. “Feeling like she’s yours,” he says quietly, like he’s trying to explain, “doesn’t make it love.”

Taehyung makes a disbelieving tch noise, but Namjoon pushes on.

“Feeling like you have a claim on her doesn’t mean you love her. And you know what? Even if it did, even if we agreed that you love her… this is not the right way. She deserves to be loved the right way, and this isn’t it. And if you don’t want to lose her completely, then you need to wrap your head around that.”

Taehyung is spared having to respond to this. Behind Namjoon, you’ve been listening from the doorway. You step into view, your face flushed from the warm bath and the glass of wine, flushed from what you’ve overheard.

Immediately, Taehyung moves closer, trying to dart past Namjoon to reach you, saying your name like a prayer.

“Please, let’s talk,” he begs, the words all a rush.

Namjoon keeps his body between you, but glances over his shoulder at you. Taehyung’s intended dig about being your bodyguard doesn’t feel too off, right now. “Do you want me to make him leave?” he asks, feeling so worked up he thinks he could probably carry Taehyung out of here by the back of his neck if given the okay.

“No,” you say, your voice tiny. Namjoon tongues his cheek, but steps aside. Taehyung shoots him a cutting, victorious look, but then you speak again, your voice still so little. “But… will you stay?” You creep into the hallway, looking entirely unsure, and Namjoon welcomes it happily when you press against his side, one of your hands resting over his diaphragm, the other curling into the material of his shirt over his back.

“Taehyung,” you whisper, and Namjoon’s heart breaks again at the look of betrayal and hurt that you level at your best friend. “What are you doing?”

“I –”

“Taehyung,” you say again, so broken, and it stops him in his tracks. “You don’t love me. You never did. So what the hell is happening here?”

He looks back at you, a look of absolute devastation crossing his face. For a second, Namjoon feels bad for him - just for a second. “Please, let’s talk by ourselves,” Taehyung begs.

You shake your head. “After the shit you pulled last time? Absolutely not.”

“I’m sorry,” he blurts. “I shouldn’t have - I know I shouldn’t have - it’s just -

“What?” you snap, suddenly pissed all over again.

“I can’t lose you,” he says plainly.

You look at the ground, then - inexplicably - up at Namjoon. Like you’re deciding something. Like you’re calculating. Then, you look back at Taehyung, your body language changing as you stand up straight again. When you speak, your voice is firm and even.

You grounded me.

“I don’t want that either,” you say, finally. “But I’m not going to be with you - not like that. And let’s both be honest - you don’t actually want that, either. You only went there because you thought someone else was winning. And frankly? I refuse to play. So you know what, Taehyung? When you can grow up and figure out what you actually want, you can call me to talk about it - not until then.”

You disentangle yourself from Namjoon and stalk back inside. Namjoon pauses. Taehyung is staring at the ground, unblinking.

“You’re my friend, too,” Namjoon says quietly, feeling like he can’t even look Taehyung in the face right now. “I hope we can figure that out, too, when you’re ready.”

Taehyung’s response is his middle finger over his shoulder as he stalks down the hallway towards the stairs.

Friday December 22nd

Through cobbled streets in tiny towns Through suffocating crowds on city sidewalks Down dirt lanes and past silent, towering silos

I follow you

Through pathless forests, over tripping roots Beneath canopies of black and green Over fallen trees whose rings tell of being felled

I follow you

To mountains bathed in sunlight’s glory Up slopes that want to pull me down To views of winding rivers - strips of ribbon below

I follow you

To ocean waves that crash and scream Tantruming relentlessly against packed sand shores The line of the horizon ebbing with the moonrise

I follow you

My feet are meant to follow yours My heart is meant to follow yours The world is mine, but I want only yours

So I follow

I follow you

–

You close the notebook before you can scratch anything out. That one needs to marinate a little. It’s not like you to forgo a rhyme scheme, and you’re not sure how you feel about the flow.

You haven’t heard from Taehyung in almost two weeks. But you haven’t reached out, either.

When you hear Namjoon come through the front door, you slide your notebook back into your backpack, leaving no incriminating evidence.

“Hey,” he says, stopping by your side and giving your shoulders some affectionate squeezes. “What are you up to?”

“Was writing,” you tell him. “Sort of.”

He laughs at sort of. “What a mood,” he says with a smile. Then, he drops himself in the stool next to yours at the breakfast bar, drumming his knuckles where your notebook had been just moments before.

You know that tic - he’s anxious.

“What is it?” you ask, instantly worried. “Did something happen?”

You’re imagining all sorts of scenarios - Taehyung confronted him, Elyse texted again, he failed an assignment, he’s breaking up with you -

“Nothing bad,” he assures you, stopping the spiral in its place. “I just had something to ask you. I guess I’m nervous. I know I shouldn’t be.”

“Oh,” you say. “Okay. Well - what is it?”

He glances at you shyly, and you feel your heart swell with affection.

“What are your Christmas plans?” he asks.

Whatever you were expecting, it wasn’t this.

“Oh,” you say again, deflating. “I was… just staying here, I think.”

The I think is a lie. Your plan was absolutely to stay, alone, in the apartment. You had no intention of going home for the holidays. It would mean over an hour in the car each way with Taehyung, whom you haven’t spoken to in ten whole days. Plus, Lin is working. Normally you’d go to Taehyung’s house and let his parents try to pretend you weren’t imposing, but that’s not an option this year either.

Honestly, the idea of your first Christmas without them - Taehyung’s mom and dad - is kind of depressing. You’d sent a gift in the mail, but it won’t be the same.

Namjoon raps his knuckles again. “Um,” he says, so uncertainly that it makes you smile a little bit, “how would you feel about coming home with me? To my parents’?”

You’re stunned into silence. “I - Do - Would your parents be okay with that? It’s not too last minute?”

“They’d be thrilled,” Namjoon tells you seriously. “They thought I’d never get ov- I mean, they’d be happy to meet you.”

You smile to yourself at his slip. “When were you going to leave?”

“I’m taking the train in the morning. Plenty of time to pack.”

“I need to do laundry,” you muse out loud, already in planning mode.

“So, you’ll come with me?” he clarifies.

“Yeah,” you say slowly, still mentally writing a to-do list. “If you’re sure I’m not imposing… they have to feed me and everything. You’re sure it’s okay?”

He laughs, kisses the top of your head. “I promise,” he says.

Later, as you and Namjoon sit side by side on the couch, folding laundry together, your phone buzzes on the coffee table.

Your heart leaps, hoping it will be Taehyung, caving just in time for the holidays, wanting to talk it out before Christmas Day.

It’s Lin.

Your heart sinks, your throat gets tight. You push the hurt and disappointment aside and avoid Namjoon’s knowing gaze as you open the text.

[6:22 PM] Lin: i just ran into taes family

[6:22 PM] Lin: they said hes coming home tonight

[6:23 PM] Lin: will you be here tonight? We didn’t talk about it

You purse your lips.

[6:25 PM] You: sorry, i should have called you. I know you’re working so i wasn’t planning on coming home

[6:26 PM] Lin: oh. Are you going to be alone?

You type the start of an answer - “no, staying with my -” and pause, looking over at Namjoon.

“Joon?” you ask, and he looks at you, surprised. “I don’t know - I mean - Should I say we’re -?”

He leans to read over your shoulder, smiling when he sees “with my -” and your cursor waiting patiently for you to finish the thought. Your what? Friend? Roommate?

You glance up at him, feeling your face flush. “Do I say boyfriend?” you finally ask in a whisper.

His smile almost splits his face. “Is that what I should tell my mom?” he counters, his own phone in his hand.

You grin at him. “I will if you will,” you tease.

His smile turns cocky. “At the same time, then?”

[6:31 PM] You: no, staying with my boyfriend’s family

[6:34 PM] Lin: your WHAT?????????

Namjoon brings his phone to his ear, still smiling at you. When someone picks up, he says, “Eomma? Listen, I know it’s last minute - my girlfriend will be alone for the holidays, would it be okay if she came home with me instead?”

On the other end of the line there’s a series of unintelligible shrieks, and Namjoon’s playful smile only grows. “Yah, I know, I know, I’m sorry!” he laughs. “You’ll meet her! I know! I’m sorry!”

You giggle quietly.

“No, no, Eomma, you don’t need a gift for her, just send us home with leftovers, that’s more than enough,” he says, eyes widening. “It’s last-minute for her, too, no one knew about this ahead of time. It’s okay. No, the guest room is perfect. Eomma, the guest room is fine. Let me talk to - Dad, hi.”

Giving him a reassuring pat on the knee, you stand, taking the folded laundry with you.

–

You’re essentially packed, your suitcase closed but still unzipped on top of your bed when Namjoon sticks his head in the door, that playful, up-to-no-good smirk on his face.

“What?” you ask him, smiling. It’s contagious, you can’t help it.

“Yoongi and Hoseok want to know if my girlfriend will come get a beer with us tonight,” he says, his smile growing sideways.

You laugh. “News travels fast.”

He gives a sheepish chuckle. “I tell those two everything. I can’t function without them.”

You eye him suspiciously. “Is this going to be an interrogation?”

He considers this. “Probably,” he admits. “But I’ll keep them in check. They’re just… protective. Especially after the Elyse debacle.”

You sigh. “You’re asking me to handle the best friend interrogation and meeting your parents all in the span of twelve hours, you realize that, right?”

Namjoon’s face falls a little. “You’re right,” he says. “Sorry. It’s okay - I’ll go by myself tonight -.”

“No, I want to go,” you say quickly, holding up a hand to stop his backpedaling. “I’m just saying. I think you owe me some cookies or something.”

His smile returns, tentative. “Let’s start with I’ll buy your beer tonight,” he jokes.

“Deal,” you tell him, but when you find yourself on a sticky barstool in a mostly dark hole-in-the-wall, a pitcher deep with the three guys, you’re wishing you’d demanded cookies after all.

Hoseok gets up to get a second pitcher, and Yoongi leans forward on his elbows, eyeing you carefully.

Here we go, you think. Namjoon shoots you an apologetic look and you shrug him off.

“So, it’s official now, huh?” Yoongi asks, voice a touch too casual.

“Apparently,” you say dryly, eyes on Namjoon. He’s kicking at Yoongi under the table, as subtle as an elephant.

Hoseok returns, carefully placing the new pitcher of beer on the center of the table. Namjoon reaches desperately for a refill.

Yoongi tilts his head to the side, eyes still on you, calculating. “You don’t want to be with Taehyung?”

“Hyung!” Namjoon protests, spluttering over his beer. Beside him, Hoseok frowns and murmurs Yoongi’s name reprimandingly.

You will yourself to stay calm, not to get defensive. “I don’t,” you say evenly. You hope the truth of it will be enough.

“You did though,” Yoongi points out.

“Hyung!” Namjoon barks a second time, starting to actually look pissed now.

But it’s a fair point. And Namjoon has never once through this whole thing asked you to explain yourself, has never asked you to defend or examine the way your feelings have changed since he met you in August.

So maybe he deserves to hear this answer, you think.

“Yeah,” you say, because it’s true. Yoongi’s entire demeanor changes with this admission - like he’d expected you to lie, or deflect. Like he’s ready to take you way more seriously now that he knows you’re willing to be honest.

You rub your hands down the tops of your thighs, trying to dispel the sweat collecting on your palms. “I guess I learned…” you say, thinking as you speak slowly, “I know that Taehyung loves me, but… I didn’t have anything to compare it to, before. I had never felt anything for or… received love from anyone else. I had nothing to put his… fragmented version of loving me into perspective.”

“Yah, you writing people are so well-spoken,” Hoseok sighs over his beer. Namjoon glares daggers at him.

Yoongi presses forward. “But now?”

You give Namjoon a tiny smile across the table. “Honestly… now I’m not sure how I could have ever been so wrong,” you say to him, not to Yoongi. You know he needs to know.

Saturday December 23rd

“Explain to me why I’m nervous,” you complain, your foot bouncing as the countryside rolls past the train’s window outside.

Namjoon smiles at you indulgently, and then places a large hand over your knee to quell the bouncing. “You’ll be fine.”

“I’m scared out of my mind.”

“So what you’re saying is, this is a bad time to tell you that my parents hated Elyse?”

Your blood runs cold. “They what? You’re fucking with me, right?”

He grimaces. “Unfortunately, no. I mean, they were never rude to her. They just… never warmed up. Each time we’d fight and get back together, my mom… well, she made sure I knew how she felt about it.”

“Great,” you say dourly, eyeing the window.

He gives your knee a squeeze. “You’ll be fine. Just be yourself.”

You’re a jumble of nerves for the rest of the ride.

When the train slows to a stop in Namjoon’s hometown, he leads you by the hand down the steps and out into the cold.

“That’s my dad’s car,” he says, pointing to a dark green sedan. “You ready?”

“No,” you joke, but you follow him towards the car, hoisting your duffle bag higher on your shoulder as you go.

Namjoon’s father exits the vehicle and comes around to hug his son; it hurts to watch, for some reason. Something inside you aches at it.

When he turns his attention to you, you greet him respectfully, and then Namjoon helps move your duffle bag into the car.

The drive to the house from the train station is quick - if it weren’t December and carrying luggage it would be walkable. Inside, Namjoon hugs his mother as well, towering over her. You greet her formally, and she gives you a tight-lipped smile, welcoming you to their home.

“Thank you for letting me join Namjoon here for Christmas,” you say, glancing sideways at him for reassurance. “I know it was last-minute.”

“No one should be alone for Christmas,” she tells you, her voice soft and even, and Namjoon squeezes your arm affectionately. “May I show you the guest room?”

You follow them both through the house and to a small room with a narrow single bed, a nightstand, and a small chest of drawers. In the corner, in a beam of morning sunlight, is a tall, leafy plant. This makes you smile; it feels like Namjoon’s touch.

“How long are you staying?” Mrs. Kim directs this question at her son, and you turn to look at him as you place your duffle bag on the end of the bed.

Namjoon hums, considering. “I’m not sure yet,” he tells her, leaning comfortably against the doorframe. “We’d planned for the 27th, but I was looking at the weather forecast while we were on the train and there’s a storm coming through. We might have to try and get back before that, so maybe the 26th. We can play it by ear.”

She shakes her head, swats playfully at his elbow. “You know I’m no good at spontaneous decisions,” she chides.

“We’ll keep an eye on the weather and figure out the plan,” he soothes.

She turns back to you, casting a playfully sour look at Namjoon over her shoulder as she does. “If you want to use the drawers for your clothes, you can,” she tells you. “The bathroom is straight across.”

“Got it,” you say, trying to sound breezy and cheerful. “Thank you again for taking me in. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

She nods at you, smiling. “I’ll let you get settled in,” she says, and brushes past Namjoon on her way back down the narrow hallway.

His gaze on you is suddenly heavy.

“What?” you ask.

He opens his mouth to speak, then looks over his shoulder, seems to think better of it. “Want to go for a walk?” he asks instead. “I have a place I’d kind of like to show you.”

Everything inside you that’s been held tight like a breath melts into something soft. “Okay,” you tell him, reaching for your coat, which is shoved under your duffle bag on the bed. “Let’s go.”

As you pass back through the kitchen, Mr. Kim is seated at the table, buried in an open newspaper. A cup of coffee sits, untouched, near his elbow. Mrs. Kim stands on a step-stool, searching a high cabinet for something, muttering under her breath.

“We’re going to walk down to the pond,” Namjoon says. His father lowers the newspaper and smiles at him a little absently. “Gotta show off the geese.”

He steps out the kitchen door that leads to a sloping backyard and you follow. Once you’re halfway across the yard he reaches back for your hand, not turning to watch you take it.

“Geese, huh?” you ask.

He turns to grin at you. “It’s my favorite place. Come on, keep up.”

“We don’t all have long legs like yours!” you protest. At the end of the property, there’s a small space between two hedges, the grass in the gap long worn away by frequent foot-traffic, only dirt remaining. He leads you through the gap and down the rest of the hill, where you can see the ink-dark water of a still pond waiting below.

When you arrive at the water’s edge, you notice that there is - as promised - an entire flock of geese, as well as a large swan.

“I heard swans can be nasty,” you say, a little apprehensive.

Namjoon puts his arm around you, looking out over the water. “Ah, that’s Clarence. He won’t mess with you. The geese might, though, especially when their babies are around.”

You raise your eyebrows. “Clarence? You named the swan?”

He laughs, the sound low and melodic, warm and welcoming. “He’s been around for a few years. We have an understanding.”

This startles a giggle out of you, and Namjoon looks down at you, smiling.

“I love having you here,” he admits fondly. “This is my favorite place - I’d come here to think, to read, to write. Sometimes, to clear my head.”

“You like to go outside when you’ve got shit going on,” you agree.

“There’s a Welsh saying,” he says seriously, “that means to kind of get your head on straight, to sort your thoughts out. But when you translate the words literally, they say to return to my trees. That always spoke to me.”

“Wow,” you say lightly, running the words through your mind again. “To return to my trees. I like that.”

He stands quietly next to you for a minute, both of you watching Clarence and his geese friends cross the pond at a snail’s pace.

“You know what I like about you?” he finally says, as a small breeze picks up enough to rustle his hair, to blow yours around your face. “I can say shit like that to you and you take me seriously. I’ve never had anybody like that in my life before - not even with my friends.”

You get it - you never really had that, either. You smile up at him. “I like pretty words.”

His smile goes crooked for a second. “I like pretty words and pretty girls.” He gives you a squeeze.

“What a line!” you laugh, but you can feel your face flushing. “Did you look that one up on the internet?”

He laughs too. “I was inspired, what can I say?”

You lapse into comfortable silence again, watching the edge of the dark water lap at the muddy shore. “Can I say something?” you ask after a minute, and Namjoon looks down at you, surprised.

“Yeah,” he says. “Of course.”

You think for a second about what you want to say - the points you want to hit, how you want to word it.

“I just wanted to make sure you knew,” you start slowly, “that I see and appreciate how patient you’ve been. How understanding.”

Namjoon’s eyes go wide and he actually leans away from you a little, like he wants to look at you better. “What?” he asks hollowly.

“Seriously,” you insist. “When it comes to everything between us, you’ve been in a shitty position from day one. You never held it against me, never got mad, never made me feel like I wasn’t… worth wanting. You never demanded anything of me - not an explanation, not an answer. You just… stayed by my side and let me figure it out. And I… it’s not lost on me that that’s extremely fucking rare. That’s all.”

Namjoon’s chin is jutting a little, his jaw clenched. He keeps his eyes on the pond and clears his throat. When he speaks, his voice is a little rough.

“Well, uh,” he says, then coughs to clear his throat. “Thanks for saying that. It’s all really… not that big of a deal.”

You lean against him, and he squeezes your shoulder.

“It is,” you whisper. “I know you don’t recognize it… but, it really is.”

–

Back inside, you somehow find yourself in a situation where you are way out of your depth: alone in the kitchen with Mrs. Kim.

Namjoon told you he’d be right back and went to - you assume - talk to his dad in the other room, and here you are.

You don’t know what to say. You don’t know how to talk to mothers. You don’t know how kitchens work.

Mrs. Kim saves you from yourself by placing a large, yellow onion in your hand. “Will you chop this while I start the –”

You don’t even hear the end of the question over the panicked rush of white noise in your ears. You hold the onion like it might explode in your hand.

Her back is to you as she pulls out a cutting board from a lower cabinet. When she turns and sees you standing there like you’re holding a grenade, she freezes.

“You certainly don’t have to if you don’t want to –” she backtracks quickly.

“The thing is,” you say, face flushing, “I don’t… exactly… know how.”

The sigh of disappointment she lets out is almost comical. You cringe, feeling terrible, when she says, “Aish, no wonder my son likes you - you two are just the same.”

This makes you laugh out loud, and the tension breaks just like that. With a playfully chastising look, she takes the onion back from you, placing it on the cutting board. Then she cuts it in half and shows you how you’re meant to slice it before passing you the knife.

She watches carefully as you slowly and clumsily try to mirror her movements with the blade. And even though you’re slow and clumsy, she still smiles at you and says, “Very good.”

“I never really had the chance to learn,” you try to explain, your eyes on what you’re doing. “My, um, my parents passed away when I was really young. And my grandmother… she didn’t ask me to help, she didn’t try to teach me. I think because… she wanted to let me be just a kid in as many ways as I still could. But, yknow. Now I’m an adult who can’t cook.”

You’re not sure what reaction you expect from her, but all she does is hum quietly, an affirming, understanding listening noise, and lean just a little closer over your shoulder to watch the knife.

You’re about to say something else - anything, just to move on from the moment - when she speaks.

“His last girlfriend was a genius in the kitchen.” She cocks her head to the side sharply, almost as if flicking away an annoying bug. “But she certainly had her failings outside of it.”

Elyse. You’re suddenly picturing her here, at this counter, making her way effortlessly around the kitchen.

Mrs. Kim moves beside you, turning the sink on and grabbing a colander to wash some more vegetables. You keep working slowly on the onion, keeping your eyes on your fingers.

She looks sideways at you as she rinses whatever she’s holding. “All I’m saying is, sometimes change is good. And it’s never too late to learn,” she tells you.

Change. Like Namjoon letting go of his past. Like you letting go of yours.

“He told me you and Mr. Kim didn’t like her,” you admit, pushing the onion to the side and setting down the knife, ready for new instructions.

Mrs. Kim shakes her head, exasperated. “What did he say that to you for? No wonder you’re nervous. For such a smart boy, he just has no sense.”

You smile and hurry to defend him. “I think he just wanted me to be prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” she grouses. “We liked her fine until she broke his heart. We’ll like you that long, too.”

“I don’t think I ever could,” you say quietly.

Next to you, she softens. She touches your hand for just a second in a gesture that feels somehow like gratitude, and then removes it to plop whatever she just washed onto your cutting board.

“Chop,” she instructs. She watches, reaching over once to adjust your hold on the knife, then nodding in satisfaction when you carry on correctly. Her eyes on your hands, she asks, “So your grandmother raised you? Where did you grow up?”

You tell her - about your hometown, about your Grandmother’s strict upbringing and how it led into Lin’s barely-there parenting. She listens as she works, eventually moving over to the stove and starting the base of the sauce while you finish peeling and chopping the pile she’s left for you to handle.

“So, your aunt is working for Christmas?” she asks, stirring as you gently add the onion to the sauce when prompted.

“Yes, and she works nights and sleeps days,” you explain. “So I decided to just stay home.”

“You wouldn’t have seen her at all?” she asks, no bite or judgment to the question. Just asking. “Even Christmas Eve, or the day after?”

You think about this. In all honesty, you would have been home and awake with Lin for at least some of break. But you two didn’t really spend time together, never had. Plus it would have meant asking Taehyung for a ride, since he brought you to campus back in late August, and he isn’t currently speaking to you.

“Maybe in passing,” you say, which isn’t entirely true. But suddenly, you feel weirdly guilty - like you’ve done something wrong to Lin by leaving her alone for the holiday.

“That’s a shame,” she says. “Here, come stir this.”

As you finish the meal together, she asks you more questions - mostly about school and your major. It’s nice - calming. You feel like this is a place you could get used to.

“I think it’s good for him to have found another writer,” she muses. “Sometimes our Namjoon just has his head in the clouds. It’ll be nice for him to have someone who… understands.”

“Yeah,” you say, continuing to stir, as directed. “That’s nice for me, too.”

<- Prev || Next ->

what are we thinking?! am i in less trouble or more compared to last chapter? lol

253 notes · View notes

shivology · 2 years ago

Text

ok so re: logan and racism (and marcia) because i’ve been having Thoughts TM rotating in my mind for a day or two but like. logan, obviously, is a very racist individual, but i think mostly in the sense that he perpetuates and weaponizes racism rather than actively, like, unironically having said bigoted beliefs (for the most part of course lmao)

in the sense that, like, he does not believe that, say, white people are inherently superior, and he knows and acknowledges that they have a leg up in the world because he’s many things but he’s not stupid. but to him, that’s not a bad thing. it’s not a good thing either. it’s just .. a Thing. it’s the way the world works. (same with misogyny and other forms of oppression. “i didn’t make the world,” he says to shiv after saying her being a woman was a minus.)

he’s got a, like, might makes right natural selection type proto-fascistic sense of morality that prioritizes power and strength above all else. rather than condemning systemic bigotry that he is very very very aware is real and exists, it’s like -- it is what it is. the world isn’t fair, tough luck. he’s aware that spreading racism, islamophobia, antisemitism, etc is profitable for him and therefore he will do it and he won’t feel bad because he didn’t create the world and it’s not his fault that that’s the way things are. racism and bigotry are tools and he won’t hesitate to use them if it’ll serve his interests. it’s all part of the game.

like he’s one of those people who would look at african and asian countries who have had their resources fucked to hell by colonialism and capitalism and imperialism and white supremacy, like iraq, egypt, iran, ethiopia, etc, and he wouldn’t try to downplay how much they contributed to humanity or whitewash them the way your run-of-the-mill old racist man would, but he’d also have no sympathy for their current suffering. he’d think well it’s their fault they let themselves get lazy and soft. that’s what you get. he wouldn’t downplay the crimes europeans have committed against native americans but he’d say that “they were conquered” and that’s the way the world works. oops sorry tough luck you lost.

which brings me to: he respects people of color who, to him, “rise above” racism -- like marcia. because to him, human rights aren’t inalienable. you have to claw your way through the world to be respected and perceived as a human being but if you DO manage to do that -- then you’re one of the good ones. you deserve respect. (romanticizing suffering like a good old catholic lol) i think he feels like him and marcia are similar in the sense that they both rose above hardship -- in the sense that they’re both immigrants (obviously with VERY different experiences) who made something of themselves.

so he respects marcia in a way he doesn’t respect anyone else in the show, in a way. he doesn’t respect his kids or the pierces because they were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and he doesn’t respect poor people either because he grew up poor too and he still made something of himself so fuck that everything’s an excuse. he’s like the poster-child of someone who has personally experienced injustice (being abused as a child, living in poverty, etc) and rather than not wanting anyone else to experience these things, you’d rather everyone else did because that’s only fair. like why do YOU get to have a safe space when I didn’t? no fuck that

so like i think if one of the kids were to say something bigoted or micro-aggressive to marcia in his presence he’d be quick to be like, okay, well what do YOU do successfully. quickly. however. he wouldn’t of course actively make the environment they live in safe for her, and he WILL actively promote racism against her people because that’s what works for him, just like he didn’t take measures to keep his kids safe from the people he associates himself with.

#this turned out longer than i thought it would be lmao #does this make sense...#anyway #logan roy #marcia roy #many loganmarcia thoughts their dynamic is insane to me #also i do love marcia howeverrrr. she is very much a race traitor #obviously that doesn't mean she deserves to be subjected to bigotry #but she's a brown woman who actively chose to marry a man who literally owns fox news to serve her own personal interests #to ignore that would be reductive imo

244 notes · View notes

sleepymarimo · 7 months ago

Note

I saw someone say Toji would never get over his wife dead and would never fall in love again, what do you think about that?

anon!! thank you so much for the message and i'm sorry for the delay, it took me forever to get my thoughts into words. it's a bit of a jumbled mess. i might even go back and add something i forgot lol.

so, i'll break down what i think about this question…

also like mild disclaimer but this is just how i see toji's character! he can be whoever you want 🫡

tldr: i don't think it's impossible, but he's not gonna make it easy for you!

wc: a little over 1k-ish?

so, according to mr. gege, toji gave himself to megumi-mama wholly. he was undoubtedly in love with her and i believe that he fell for her first. given his history with the zen'in clan, one can maybe assume that megumi-mama was just unlike anyone else he'd ever met. to me, it makes sense that toji would fall for her first, whether it was her kindness or other aspect of her character.

minor side note here, but i feel like we don't truly know much about megumi-mama's character. all we know is that she significantly impacted toji's life and honestly, i love her character. if she has no fans, i am dead </3 it's a classic case of real recognizing real, and toji would not be the man he is without her. i

anyway…

following the death of his late wife, plus the time toji momentarily spent as a somewhat proper husband and father, i'd say he's self-aware to the point that he won't allow himself the chance to fall in love again.

that said, impossible is a strong word. i think, given the right person and conditions, he can get himself to fall in love again.

the 'who falls in love first' question is hard to answer. he falls first, he might protect himself and dip before things get too deep. you fall first, start to ask him for commitments, he'll feel like he's suffocating.

if you fall first:

due to his freeloading tendencies and overall lifestyle at this point in the story, he's not above taking what you willingly give him. truly, to me, there's a very sensitive balance that must be maintained when it comes to handling the sorcerer killer.

to hand everything to him on a silver platter would be his dream. he'll stick around, he might even pretend to care. he's not above taking the easy street while keeping his options open. you're good and great, but if someone is offering more, he's off.

while toji has no respect for himself or others, i believe he has a thing for people who can hold their own ground and respect themselves.

remember when todo asks megumi what his type is and megumi's answer was a person with an unshakable character? a person with a moral compass that isn't easily swayed? yeah, i believe he gets that from his dad.

sticking to your guns, not being a complete pushover, catches toji's attention.

if you were to fall in love first, but keep some solid boundaries and don't let him walk all over you, that's a plus. he might try to push a little (since he'd catch on pretty quick if you were crushing on him), but if you hold your ground and don't let him take, take, take… that earns you points.

i like to think of keeping a loose leash, keeping him in your orbit and allowing him to do his thing. he might not even realize that he comes to your place first, that he stops entertaining others. yet, the second you start tugging, shortening that leash, he'll flail and bail.

if he falls first:

if toji gets the feeling that he's, well, feeling things for you, nothing is stopping him from severing the connection right then and there. he can find other beds to crash, other scraps to eat. whether he acknowledges it or not, he's a runner. there's no need to make things complicated when he can simply leave it all behind.

it's an interesting thing because yes, he can be selfish and indulgent, but ultimately he's protecting himself. in my opinion, one of the reasons he's wary about falling in love again is because it requires him to make himself vulnerable. and by being vulnerable, he has to give up control.

he's been vulnerable all his life, whether it was being the zen'in's punching bag or falling in love only to have megumi-mama die, and has been hurt physically, emotionally, mentally, etc.

to fall in love again and have that kind of connection is... a lot. it's easier to brush attachments off, to stay in control and enjoy the fleeting pleasures of life.

but, like i said, nothing is impossible.

under the right conditions, i think toji can be tempted to stick around. not that he has to be forced to see you, but having a link to you makes it a little more difficult for him to leave. some fun scenarios to think about would be:

a reader who works at his favorite food joint. why would he give up the best offal in town?

a reader who is a secretary for one of his clients, maybe a client themselves, someone he frequently does business with

a reader who also dapples in underground work, maybe an informant, etc.

a reader who works at a race track, or somewhere he usually goes to place bets

get the gist? if he just knows you as an acquaintance with no other link, it's easier for him to leave. associate yourself with a place or person that he can't quite walk away from, and it's just a bit harder to walk away.

should this be the case, then i think it would be more likely for him to fall first, depending on your interactions of course.

unlike with megumi-mama, who he gave himself to wholly, he'll give you bit and pieces of him, like a puzzle. even if he starts to get attached, he's hesitant to put all of his eggs in one basket. so over the period of time that he knows you, he'll start revealing more or doing more, and he watches your reactions.

it's not the most healthy, mature thing in the world, but i feel that he'd totally 'test' you.

it's like he's waiting for you to walk away, to confirm the bias he already has that he can't do love again. you'll either pass his tests or confront him about his behavior, both which i think can potentially work in your favor.

eventually, as i mentioned before, he'll start to come around more and see less women until you're the only person he's with.

once he's in, he's in.

i'm just gonna go off topic a bit here but..

will it be different? yes. will he compare to megumi-mama? probably. she will cross his mind, maybe things he used to do with her, he'll do with you and he has to learn how to separate those things. will he feel guilty? there's a good chance. like i said, it's something he has to learn to accept.

like i said, off topic, but imo this man really needs a partner who is emotionally mature. hell, if you're able to talk to him about his late wife, maybe even convince him to go to visit her grave, it would heal him in ways that he didn't even know he needed.

well… i hope that answered your question anon! if you have any more, pls let me know! it means a lot that you asked me and trust my opinion 😭

like i said before, this is just my opinion on toji and how i view his character while writing :P

#ಇ. babbles #i took this too seriously chat im sorry #he is on my mind a lot #i should use this energy to write my irl thesis that i need to have done in two months #but ty for letting me get out my delusions </3 #🖤#prattles ━ ☁️

12 notes · View notes

twistedroseytoesy · 2 years ago

Note

Could I request Vil and Scarabia with a necromancer reader?

Of course! This is a fun idea! Love me a good dnd necromancer! Going to have them be a normal human with some cool powers.

Description

an unfortunate accident happened when you had been casting an ancient spell that you had found in a lich's tome. A mispronounced word or a missing ingredient maybe, but now you found yourself being pulled out of a floating coffin by a strange cat monster. You easily used held person on the creature and learned where you were transported to. uou enjoy the different magic system in this world and how they too have limits. This blot is a fascinating topic for you. You learn of idias connection to it and are fascinated by the non human/cursed folks of the school. Your magic is very different but luckily you still had your spell book so you could participate in just about everything anyone else could. Despite your magic the mirror could not place you saying your magic was similar to a void a deep darkness that requires its own house. Many are wary of you and your dark aura and the rumors of you raising the dead to do your errands.

scarabia

Kalim: this ray of sunshine balances out your dark aura. You two are opposites get work together surprisingly well. He teaches you lighter forms of magic and tries to help you stay away from darker more deadly magics if he can. His whole mentality is that you’re really cool and that “I can fix them” meme. He truely believes your cool zombie powers could be used for good if people whose bodies you are using said it was fine. Poor sweet soul just doesn’t understand. If you ever introduce him to any zombies/skeletons of yours he will be a bit scared but try to find a silver lining. During the whole scarabia book you could tell something wasn’t right with him and when you were locked away you summoned a zombie to your aid. When Jamil overblot end you were able to add to your little army with some extra skeletons you found under the sand.

Jamil: please stay away. As interesting as your magic is to him he does not trust you in the slightest. Does wish to know how to summon his own minions at some point but rather not using those who have already passed. That’s a bit too gruesome for his liking. Tries to keep kalim away from you. Also keeps you at least 6 ft away from himself when possible. During the whole scarabia incident he tried to mind control you and your minions. It only worked for a few seconds. Found that really annoying. When you created your own little army of skeletons to fight him he laughed at it. But the skeletons were able to hold him back quite a bit for the others to hit him enough. Was a bit awkward afterward. But eventually during the SDC you two connect over more scary or feared types of magic usage. He tries to share some of his hypnosis abilities with you and you share some spells from your book with him. Now closeish friends and the banter between you two is crazy. If anyone dares to mess with kalim, let just say that mc is found with a relatively new zombie minion.

with special guest

vil: as a master of poisons he understands how some magics are frowned upon due to their power being too much and far to scary for the public. He doesn’t like how ugly your minions are and gives some tips here and there. If your minions are skeletons he would recommend you paint them to make them work somewhat with your aesthetic. Gets you lots of dark clothing and such. Also bossed around your minions when in your house for the SDC. Rather impressed that once you found out about his poisoning ability you always had your minions try your food to ensure nothing bad happened to you. During Vil’s overblot he melted your minions and saw you truly pissed for the first time. Saw that you weren’t powerless without your minions. Once he’s been defeated he and you connected over some darker magical subjects and you both are incredibly strong despite how weak you are compared to your magic abilities he hopes give you some tips. He also demands you always clean yourself after you make new minions. Also clean them and he provides some clothes for the more zombie like ones. he is fairly proud of what you can do.

106 notes · View notes

wwouldvecouldveshouldve · 7 months ago

Note

KEYSSS my dear mutual congratulations on 1K likes aaaah you deserve all of them! May I henceforth ask for a platonic BSD matchup? I go by she/her and I don't have a preference for which gender I want to be matched up with :3

Personality: I personally don't know what my mbti is, so I'll just give a short description of my personality. I find myself to be more of a listener, but with the right type of person (really quiet or someone chaotic) I can talk for hours. People say that I'm nice and smart, but I doubt myself sometimes. I am physically affectionate with my friends, and often flirt with them only if they're not in a relationship. My friends like to banter with me and I like to tease them/make them laugh, but if they like to sit in silence then I'm perfectly fine with that as well. Sometimes I am too sacrificial and am bit too much of a people pleaser, but I am working on setting down boundaries and saying 'no'

Hobbies: I like to read books more than I like gaming and watching videos. I also like to learn new things, no matter how hard they are, because I am quite curious about a lot of matters. I can speak English and Mandarin, and I am partially fluent in French. I also love to play the piano because I find it calming <3

Topics I like to discuss: Honestly I can talk about anything as long as it's not something that I'm uncomfortable with (which I only have a few). I normally like to discuss history, books, travelling, and any funny things that happened recently in life

Things I hate: I don't hate a lot of things because I am a firm believer of the quote that love transcends all animosity, but what I really do hate are people who willingly do bad things and do not feel sorry for it. I normally am quite forgiving, but once somebody crosses that line too many times without genuinely trying to improve, then they've lost their chance

Something that makes me unique: I'm actually more of a classics person than a contemporary person. What that means is that I prefer classic books, classical music, classic movies, and old history etc. I do like watching a modern film every now and then, but I find that nothing captivates me more than the antique things. I'm probably one of the few girls my age who is more caught up with the 1700-1900s than the 2000s ahaha. I also am more of a jewellery girl than a clothing girl, and my favourite jewellery is silver jewellery :)

Preference: I'm okay with being matched by a character that commits crime, but as long as they aren't too crazy about it

What I value in others: I value loyalty, respect, and communication in others, as I believe that those are the three key points of any relationship. Bonus points if I find them fun to hang around with, and that they won't twist my morals and lead me down a darker path

Something I can't stand in others: Honestly anything that makes a toxic relationship; dishonesty, disrespect, and not listening to what I have to say

Remember to take your time my dear, and once again congratulations on 1K likes! Let's get that to 1K followers >:D

SILVER I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG!! I was almost done with it and then it was literally all lost, but I still got it done. thank you so much, darling, and I hope you don't mind the wait.

I match you up with Tetcho! he's a silly little man, please take care of him.

He loves listening to you. There is nothing he would rather do than listen to you talk about the things that you are interested in, and he is not affected by what other people have to say about your interests. He would be ticked off at anyone that judged someone for their preferences in media and entertainment. He would not force you to try his food, but if you do like any of the combinations he would be glowing with happiness for the rest of the week. He is always a little sunshine, though, and is nothing but supportive. He loves what makes you strange, and he loves that you love what makes him unique, too. He would not let harm befall you. He would rather be stabbed a thousand times than for you to get a paper cut, and would be even more devoted to justice after meeting you because he would want to make sure that no filthy criminals can hurt you. He would not let Jouno make fun of you or your friendship. He would probably stab his ass again, and would start doing it more if you found it funny. Either way, Jouno will eventually make peace with you. He would love to listen to you play the piano, and might even pick it up himself if he has the time. He could also learn another instrument solely so he could teach it to you. He would be a non-judgemental teacher but he would definitely be a little strict. Secretly, he is a little scared that he is too overbearing when teaching you things. Overall, he would value similar things to you in a relationship. He is an honest man who communicates well, if not sometimes too bluntly, but he would do his best to always respect you. If someone else is to disrespect you, however, all hell breaks loose. Jouno and the Huntings Dogs will obviously get lighter punishments, though, and I don't expect them to cross any lines. He would, without a doubt, try to keep you as far away from his occupation as possible. Your safety is his priority, and he could not live with himself knowing that he was the reason why you were targeted by a criminal group. He gets anxious about how you are doing, so he will send a variety of texts about how you are doing throughout the day. It's a little heartwarming knowing that you're always on his mind. Because of his constant worrying about your safety, he absolutely loves to hold you in his arms so he knows that nobody can hurt you. Sometimes, though, he just wants you to hold him instead because he is always dealing with things for other people and he just wants someone to do the same for him.

that's all for today, I hoped you liked it darling! <33 have a wonderful day or night :)

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #keysasks

8 notes · View notes

silvermoonshipping-is-love · 1 year ago

Note

So what’s gaming pastas favorite food, aesthetic fashion style be like?

Now before I answer I wanna get a few things clear:

I don't know much about fashion or aesthetics, I will use what I know to explain as well as what I believe fits the most-

I will not do every Gamingpasta, because otherwise I may lose my mind, I'll just use the “Big 8” for now.

I don't want these to overshadow what this blog is for, aka my self-indulgent need to show my creations due to my ships and AUs. But obviously this doesn't mean I dislike answering Gamingpastas related questions or ramble about my made up “lore” or headcanons. Just be aware that this blog is for many things, mainly self-indulgence. It's more I don't want you to get disappointed due to believing this blog is promising smth different.

Okay, enough of that, let's go ahead.

Ben: Honestly, given his years long imprisonment and abuse, the act of someone making food for him, especially sweets or something warm mean more to him than a favorite food in general. Tho if he had to pinpoint, prolly like doughnuts, pudding and chocolate. He also used to be weary of meat dishes when he still lived in the mansion due to EJ and Liu mainly looking after him, even though EJ of course never fed them human meat. His fashion style is honestly whatever he wants to wear, casual, emo, crazy 90s, even crossdressing. In fact he has a whole closet with clothes he wanted to get cause he simply liked them but never wears, he prefers stealing from Silver or alike lol. But if he had a specific style I guess Scene fits him quite well. The mix of punk or emo with many colours like the 90s, just noice.

Silver: I headcanon him to be a pescatarian , aka he doesn't eat meat, but still eats fish. He likes nearly everything that warms one up or is well cooked, as he enjoys cooking himself (Don't ask why I have that hc I just do). A food coming to his mind quickly is muffins or ramen. He also loves hot drinks, like coco, tea or coffee. He prolly prefers baggy, comfortable casual clothing, not really a whole aesthetic, tho I can see him pull of most alternative styles.

Steven: He likes to share, as he's what most would call a bro or buddy type. Some also like calling him the mom friend despite not seeming like it at first. So he is basic and likes pizza, nearly all variants. I guess his style is similar to Silver, though he doesn't mind if the casual clothes aren't as baggy, big, comfortable. He also likes them being a tad more sporty, in order to walk and move around better.

Glitchy: Glitchy is full vegetarian. There isn't really much to add here, he does like curry. Especially those formed to look like Pikachu. His style is pretty similar to Steven, tho he can prolly pull of like academia vibe if he were to feel like it, but prefers more casual or sporty clothing, once again to move around better.

Sonic.Exe: I'll be easy and basic. He likes hot dogs, especially chili dogs and very sporty clothing.

Tails Doll: Doll never bothered much with interests, due to insecurities as he is a doll and was abandoned. But he is often seen drinking like tea and coffee. Perhaps someday he'll allow himself to fully try out life and try things to find a favourite food. As for clothing, I think whatever fits best at the moment, tho he is very interested in steampunk. Lots of gears, perfect for mechanics, suits and like to still look fancy, nice fall colours, it seems made for him.

Dark: Don't tell anyone, but Dark secretly really likes candy, especially the Japanese star candy. He used to often bring it to Ben and would eat some by pretending to only do it, so Ben won't eat all as that's unhealthy for a growing boy. He also likes most meat dishes. Fashion style is definitely goth. Black always, lol. Except for the rainbow friendship bracelets Ben gave him.

Brine: Also pretty basic, he likes meat dishes, mainly steak and very casual clothing. Never really cared to find out his style of choice.

Oof, I hope you're satisfied, anon. Plz let me know via some love ^^

#ask #creepypasta #ben drowned #lost silver #gamepasta #pokepasta #gaming creepypasta #gamingpasta #pokemon creepypasta #creepypasta headcanon #glitchy red #strangled red #tails doll #sonic.exe #herobrine #dark link

15 notes · View notes

miss-boss-bitch · 2 years ago

Text

Prologue

Kyubi Kitsune smiled as she raced her Lamborghini down open roads, with no destination particularly in mind. Everything about her said she was all business, from her tight, crisp white blouse, down to her smart black skinny slacks with a matching black belt and its silver LoveMoschino buckle and her sky high Louboutins, one pressed firmly on the accelerator. Her pink hair was practically glowing in the early evening sunset, like it was made of cotton candy and looked extremely exotic against her Asian features and petite frame. And although she was smiling, it was not full of warmth, but rather it was the smile of a predator.

Her designer clothes and luxuary car would make anyone meeting her believe she was a high level executive, or a socialite born into a wealthy family. But Kyubi was neither of these. She didn’t need a job that she had to get to, or people she had to associate with. The only people she interacted with were those who could entertain her particular style of amusement. Instead, her affluent lifestyle was funded through…other means. Her life required her to do nothing that she didn’t want to do, and right now all she wanted to do was explore and see what new ‘adventures’ she could encounter. As she reached a junction she decided to take a left on nothing but her gut impulse that something fun was down that way. Soon wide open roads surrounded by vegetation started turning into clean streets, surrounded by buildings. After a few minutes of speeding along, she heard a loud siren and looked in her mirror. She cursed to herself as she saw a police car right behind her. Kyubi pulled over the side of the road and rolled her window down as the officer came up to his car.

He was stocky, even for a tall black man and he sounded pissed off as he berated Kyubi. “Do you even know how fast your were going?! We have you on radar going over twice the speed limit here. Do you have any idea how badly you could of hurt yourself or someone!? You keep this up and you’re gonna end up destroying lives one day! License and registration. Now.”

Kyubi knew she could get out this – easily. But she was bored and wanted to play. As she handed her license over to the officer she smiled at the officer without bothering to look for the registration.

She batted her lashes at him and leaned out of her window towards him. “Are you sure you want to write me up a ticket?" she asked, her voice almost oozing sickly sweetness. “What did you say Miss? Are you trying to tell me my job? ” he barked back to her through the window. “Just get me that registration while I write you up.” The cop growled as he walked off and Kyubi rested herself into her car seat, her small frame sinking into the thickness off the material. She began to smirk to herself as she decided how to play this out. As ideas formed in her head, she left her car and strutted over to the patrol car behind him. “You know what officer? I think that actually you’d rather just tear up that ticket and forget about this whole thing.” Kyubi said, standing almost as tall as the officer in her skyscraper heels. She smiled at the patrolman as he spun around, and placed her soft hand on his check, almost stroking his face with her perfectly manicured nails. “Officer, deep down you really don’t want to give me a ticket. In fact, you’d rather clear off any logs you made of stopping me. So, go ahead and tell me when that’s all done OK?” Kyubi said as the cop’s eyes focused on her. He typed a few keys on the computer in the car and cleared the readings off the radar system. “All done, Ma'am.” The policeman said to Kyubi.

“Very good sweetie. It makes you so happy to be understanding and let people off for all sorts of things like this. You don’t want to write anymore tickets – ever. Actually, you honestly don’t even want to be a cop anymore. You are so depressed in your job that you have started to drink while working. A lot. So much so that after we are done, you’re gonna go and immediately drive to the nearest liquor store and buy a six pack of beer. Then you will get back in your car and drink it all down very fast, while you’re still parked in the lot. And after you’ve done all that, you will take your police car and crash it into a car in the parking area there. I don’t care if there’s anyone in there in not, but do your best to fuck up your car as badly as you can. And when the police come for you, you’ll let them find those empty beer bottles in your car and you will admit to them there and then that you are an alcoholic. You will go ahead and resign from the force and take up a minimum wage job somewhere. You will work there for the rest of your days. Do you understand all of that, officer?” Kyubi said as she giggled to herself. “Yes, I understand ma'am. I am an alcoholic and will drink beer, crash my car, and do as you said.” The man droned back to Kyubi. “Very good officer. Oh, is that a picture of your wife up there on the dash? You want to tell me about her and your family.” Kyubi asked. “That is Candice, my second wife. We have been married for 10 years, and four kids from my first wife who I divorced. She’s a waitress at a nice restaurant downtown.” The cop said to Kyubi. “Hmm, she sure is cute. Too cute for a pig in blue like you. So I think you should go ahead and call her up and tell her you have a friend—me—you want her to say hello to. You want to do that right now, officer. Then just give me the phone and ignore anything I say to her.” Kyubi said as her mind was flooded with ideas. She was annoyed at getting pulled over, even though she had gotten out of the ticket, she was still going to get some more payback. After all, there was nothing more fun than destroying lives, even of those not directly involved with whatever had pissed her off that day. She watched as the officer called his wife on the phone and took it as he handed her his phone.

“Hi there Candice, this is Kyubi, a good friend of your husband.” Kyubi said as she tried not to laugh. “Well, ahh, hello. How do you know my husband?” Candice asked. “Oh, we are drinking buddies. Now Candice, you want to listen closely to everything I have to say. And you really want to do everything I tell you to do.” Kyubi said. “Of course. I will listen to you and do anything you tell me to do.” Candice replied. “Very good, Candice. Now, remember how much your husband drinks. You hate him for it. Over the years in your horrible and abusive marriage, you have come to realize he is an alcoholic. You have told him that you will leave him if his alcoholism causes any more trouble. And later on tonight you will hear about more issues because of his drinking problems. So after you hear that you are going to leave him. You will pack up your stuff and move away. You will quit your job at the nice restaurant as what you really want is to start working at some of the strip clubs in the city. The really dirty and sleazy ones. Go in tomorrow and audition at a few. After the incident with your husband later, you will think of yourself as nothing but a hot, sexy stripper from now on. And you will dance like the best one they have. You have a very dirty mouth and mind, you love talking dirty to horny men and if the pay is right, which it always will be, you’ll even sell your body for extra cash too. You have always been this way, a cheap and dirty slut, and you just want to have guys slide money in your thongs you’re gonna start to wear and take you in back and fuck you. So tell me what you really are, Candice.” Kyubi asked over the phone. “I’m a fucking stripper and part time slutty whore. I love dancing real good and teasing guys for any money. I’m going to get a new job stripping in the shitty clubs downtown.” She said, sounding very dirty to Kyubi. “That’s perfect Candice. Feel free to come up with a new, sexy stripper name when you get your first club job. Something like Kandii. Candice is way too posh for some gutter trash like you. And spell it with two i’s so everyone can judge what an easy basic skank you are. You love being nothing but a stripper and a whore, you will remember it’s what you always wanted to be. You love wearing lots of makeup just like all those dirty street whores you picture in your head right now, it’s what you want to look like so bad. A slut. So don’t worry about applying it perfectly, you’re just a dumb old fuck that is too stupid to think, so make sure to plaster it all over your face from now on and start looking like the slut you are…and love it…the sluttier you look the more you love it. Oh, if you don’t smoke, make sure to pick up a pack of cigarettes. You’re gonna start smoking a pack a day, ‘kay?.” Candice nodded in agreement while listening to the details of her new life over the phone. “And remember Kandii, all of this is who you really are. So have fun, fucking and stripping you little bitch.” Kyubi said as she hung up the phone and threw it at the back of the officer’s head who had ignored the whole call as Kyubi had told him to do.

“Ok, Mr. Policeman. Remember what you are supposed to do now. I’m going to go back to my car and drive away first. A minute after that you will head to that liquor store and do what we talked about. Do you remember and understand still?” Kyubi asked him. “I remember and understand.” He droned back as Kyubi removed his wallet from his pocket. She took a look at his ID. Officer Denzel Remington huh? She gazed down at his address, going there to see "Kandii" could be fun, but also this guy had four kids that she could systematically destroy. “That cop wanted to warn me about destroying lives?! Destroying lives is what I do best” she murmured to herself, as she strode back towards her car. “So, let’s go ‘home’ and see what other trouble I can cause to teach that arrogant officer a lesson.” As she started up her car, she heard the officer’s car start to go in the opposite direction. Kyubi speeded towards her new destination with a big smile on her face. It didn’t matter that the officer would never see the full consequences of pulling her over, as the lives of everyone who knew him would be twisted into new versions, all that mattered was she was about to have some fun doing what she does best. As she got back up to speed she burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Today was turning out to be a good day.

———

Based on: Crystal Power Corrupts by Dr Fakes at Mcstories.com

#Story

13 notes · View notes

xaracosmia · 1 month ago

Text

ꕥ — WELCOME TO NEFE COSMIA, GIOVANNI SAKAKI. 🌓

ꕥ — OOC INFORMATION;

name / alias: Twin Age: 21+ Pronouns: she/they ooc contact: Twin_Destinies on Twitter other characters in xc: Nicholas Rush, Hermes, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera

ꕥ — IC INFORMATION;

Name: Giovanni Sakaki Age: 35 Pronouns: He/Him Series: Pokemon canon point: Between red/blue/yellow/firered/leafgreen and Gold/silver/heartgold/soulsilver

app triggers: Child neglect/abuse/abandonment, kidnapping, animal (pokemon) abuse, animal (pokemon) death, implications of gore, gangs, exploitation, world domination, death, murder, general dark themes.

personality: Giovanni is, of course, the kind of man people want to follow. He’s charismatic and easy to look to as someone who knows what he’s doing. Whose ideals should be followed. He’s confident and ready to show the world what he and Team Rocket mean to do at any given moment, no matter how many times he fails. If he has one thing going for him, it’s an unprecedented level of determination and self-confidence that’s difficult to come by.

But with that confidence comes arrogance, and he is not someone who plays well with others. He wants to be top growlithe, and he won’t let anyone stand in his way. He believes in his plans and ONLY his plans and it’s difficult for him to see reason, or to ever admit that he might be wrong about something. His cocky, smug attitude is not just a front- he really is an asshole most of the time. That’s what gets him the respect he craves.

He is a very selfish man who wants what he wants and doesn’t care who gets hurt in the pursuit of it. He has a hard time understanding compassion and tends to blame everyone but himself when things go wrong.

Is there anything redeeming about him? Giovanni is actually a bit more complex than just a villain for the sake of being a villain. Yes, power and using pokemon to take over the world are super important to him, but he values personal growth and can see the strength in others. He enjoys a challenge and more than once getting knocked down a peg has caused him to reevaluate himself and his goals. There’s a certain noble quality to him and even he is willing to aside his goals for the sake of something bigger. He is extremely loyal to his team and seeks ways to ensure they grow collectively.

There’s something inside him, clawing to get to the surface, but so far he has managed to keep it contained. He may not seem to care about much, but there’s a reason he became known as Giovanni of the land. If nothing else, his fascination with ground-type pokemon has made him a formidable trainer who knows the value of hard work. Does he care about his pokemon?

Hm hm. Who knows.

something your muse struggles with: Doing what he truly thinks is right, Facing his issues, Changing his ways.

your muse’s greatest strength: Leadership qualities, Coming through in times of need, not giving up no matter how many ten year olds beat him.

history / background:

Over the years, Team Rocket became known as the largest threat within the Kanto region. There wasn’t a city, port or town that didn’t know about the criminal group or its intentions to use pokemon to take over the world. Team Rocket spread fear throughout the region, and even into other regions as its activities continued largely without conflict. No one seemed willing to try and take Team Rocket down, and even those who did usually met with failure. As the team continued to flourish, Giovanni found himself feeling dissatisfied with his life. Perhaps he had started to realize he had ended up falling for his mother’s wishes, or maybe he was just the type to always crave more. Either way, he started to look for other means of entertainment.

While the Team Rocket Boss was feared by many, no one knew who that man actually was. Giovanni had done well to keep himself directly out of the limelight and anyone who suspected him really had no proof to back it up. Whispers on the wind. It was a golden opportunity, he realized. Why not use his anonymity to further his ambitions? He decided once again to focus on his training, though gone were the days where he thought he might become a normal trainer and have a happy life. Now all he could see were ways of using his skills as a trainer to get whatever power he wanted.

He decided to set his headquarters in the city that started it all- Viridian. There he became the city’s ground-type gym leader, the last stop before proving your worth in the pokemon league. An incredibly difficult gym to battle, and the perfect cover to hide all his criminal acts behind. It seemed to ease the restlessness of his spirit, perhaps because it granted him a portion of the life he had always wanted but had never managed to get hold of. He was a gym leader. A real trainer. He fought trainers and saw their potential as the final challenge before the hardest stretch of their pokemon journey. In the years that followed, his gym leader life felt more like a separate persona rather than a means to hide his underworld dealings. He engaged in it whole-heartedly, even creating the Earthquake TM to give to trainers who managed to defeat him. His training with ground-types continued and he expanded the knowledge of ground types in general, going as far as writing a book for the younger generations to use as a means to strengthen their own ground-type pokemon. Hell, he was the first person to discover that Rhydon could evolve into Rhyperior. Part of his cover? Or a man getting lost in the fantasy of a normal life?

But of course his criminal activities never stopped during that time. Even as he situated in his role as gym leader and progressed the standards of ground-type training, he continued to run Team Rocket, and their reputation continued to spread. It was on a heist in Johto that he encountered something that didn’t fit either of his current personas- love. He met a woman, a trainer, who ended up captivating him like no other. The two fell quickly in love and Giovanni found himself once more facing a complication in running the largest criminal organization in the world. How could he risk loving someone when so many people wanted his head on a platter? But he was still young and foolish, deciding that he could face anyone who tried to mess with his personal life. A decision that was, ultimately, the wrong one to make. After he and his wife had their first son, a red-headed boy he had named Silver, his wife was murdered in a raid. A painful reminder that the criminal world was no place for real happiness. After her passing, Giovanni fell further into the darkness he had created for himself, devoting more of his time to his criminal ways and less towards the things that now seemed like nothing but risks. Giovanni felt he had no choice but to continue leaving his mark on the world. There was nothing left for him but his legacy certainly would be made to linger. He focused his money and resources on a new project:

Creating a pokemon so powerful no one would ever be able to stop him from whatever it was he wanted to do with the time he had left. He funded experiments led by a scientist named Fuji into the development of an all-powerful legendary pokemon recreated and enhanced from the DNA of the mythical pokemon known as Mew.

Eventually, a young trainer popped up and seemed the only one willing to try and stop Giovanni’s schemes, even managing to thwart a couple of his plans. While it really shouldn’t have bothered him, as a couple of foiled plans really weren’t enough to impact a large organization like Team Rocket, he found himself wondering if maybe he was losing his edge. Or was it his interest? He had been the leader of Team Rocket for so long and what had it gotten him? Death, loss… maybe even the illness that plagued him. He was disenchanted. Jaded. Tired. And the trainer… there was something special about them. The trainer had a spirit that reminded him of his own youth. Of his short-lived attempts to escape his criminal destiny. If he had succeeded, would he have turned out the same? A strong-willed trainer with a deep love of pokemon that was clear to anyone? He returned to Viridian after his failure to take over Silph Co, and he found himself seeing the gym as if for the first time all over again. How long had it been since it had last been open? Since he had last dawned the persona of Gym Leader? After running around away from the gym for so long, he returned to be challenged by the same trainer who had stopped him a couple of times before. The gym, for him, had turned into nothing more than a front for him to use to keep Team Rocket’s operations going, but somehow he was eager to fight the child who was responsible for ruining his little plot for Silph. He exposed himself as the leader of Team Rocket, no longer hiding the fact and giving up his gym’s cover in the process. Everyone would know that he was not just Giovanni of the Land, but also Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket and one of the most feared men in Kanto. Of course, he ultimately lost against the trainer after an intense and prolonged battle that brought back all the memories of his past that he had allowed to be buried for so long, and as a result vowed to disband Team Rocket and rethink his position. He pondered whether or not he wanted to keep the team going, or if, just maybe, he had been wrong to use pokemon only for profit. His entire world was now in an upheaval.

He vanished from the world’s view for a long time. Giovanni went on a search to rediscover himself.

For three years, no one heard anything from Team Rocket. But suddenly, they were back, and desperately trying to reclaim their name and call their leader to their side once more. They appeared in Johto, taking over the radio tower there to try and call him out of hiding. Their efforts, however, were useless. Though Giovanni was there, he didn’t appear, and they were stopped without him ever acknowledging them.

powers / abilities: None!

inherent abilities: Nothing remarkable, he is a smart guy but not genius-level. Good marksmanship.

items / weapons:

Key stone (A stone that allows a pokemon to mega evolve if they also have a mega stone matching their species)

Sync stone (A special stone that allows him to sync with a pokemon he has a deep bond with)

Z-ring (A device that allows a pokemon to use a powerful move known as a Z-move if they are holding a Z-crystal),

Dynamax Band (A device that allows pokemon to Dynamax and Gigantamax when exposed to compatible power sources)

Portable PC (Allows him to swap pokeballs when needed.)

Rotom Phone (A phone powered by a Rotom that has a multitude of functions including acting as a pokedex.)

And uh. The pokemon.

starting ability: None

starting item: Mewtwo

extra: None

discord id: PokemonThief#9271

#xc application #mun: twin #nefe cosmia

0 notes