#i cant be the only one noticing that right

[voxslays]

CLOSE TO YOU — THE SALESMAN

PART ELEVEN — RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT PAIRINGS: The Salesman (Gong Yoo) x Reader. WARNINGS: Mentions of kidnapping, Reader is mentioned to be a foreigner (not stated from where), killing, blood, not proofread.

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Your first week went off without a hitch. You were assigned as a triangle—a soldier, and today was the first game. Red Light, Green Light. To say you were nervous was an understatement. Who knows what would happen to you if you were to mess this up?

And then there was Gong Yoo. Despite not being needed at the island, he was welcomed with open arms by the frontman. And for some reason, he had decided to check up on you so frequently you barely got a break from his gorgeous hideous face. You were still angry with him. Not only had he kidnapped you—but he had made your life significantly worse.

On the island, he was a nuisance. Before that, he was a problem. He had played mind games with you, and they unfortunately worked. You still remember the sight of him chained to the bathtub faucet the night Gi-hun had called you to the hotel. You missed him. Gi-hun was like a father figure to you. He would be so disappointed if he knew you were working with the same men he was trying to bring down.

Yet, you carried on anyways—desperate to prove your worth to the frontman and officers, despite not really having a reason to. If you weren’t such a coward, this would’ve ended days ago, you tell yourself as you step into the sniper room. Inside, a sniper rifle and a viewing box into the field below. On the far side, an unsettling doll dressed in shades of orange and yellow.

As the players in their signature green tracksuits filed into the arena, you couldn’t help but pity them. They had no idea what was coming. No idea that some of them only had a few minutes left to live.

————

An older gentleman runs infront of the large crowd of players after the doll calls out the first “Green Light.” His voice is muffled from afar, but you can faintly hear him screaming about freezing. His voice sounds familiar. It’s warm and paternal, like a man you once knew—although you can’t remember his name. As you aim your gun at the crowd, scanning for movement, it hits you.

Gi-hun.

No, no, no! What was he doing here? Why would he come back to a place like this? And what about his daughter?! Had he already forgotten about the thirteen year old? Your breath hitches as you step away from your gun. “05, do you copy?” Signals the radio in your pocket. You don’t answer. You cant answer.

Your back hits the wall as you slowly slide to the floor. The bright orange walls that surround you feel like they’re caving in. Your breathing starts to quicken as you feel beads of sweat slipping down your forehead. As tempting as it is, you can’t take your mask off. You’ll die if you do. But it’s hot and sweaty, and will anyone really notice if you’re in here?

As you begin to pull your hood down, the door to the right of you clicks open, revealing Gong Yoo. He was wearing a dark gray suit instead of his usual navy blue one. “05, are you taking a break?” He chuckles darkly, his voice laced with irritation. He opens his mouth to say something else, but you interrupt, pulling your hood over your head once again. “I cant do it!” You weep from under the mask, bringing your knees to your chest.

Gong Yoo steps closer kneeling beside you. He skillfully pulls down your pink hood and mask, revealing your balaclava, which he yanks off your head. All that’s left is your sweaty face and silky hair. The salesman’s thumb rubs away the tears streaming down your face, without saying a word. Instead, he sits down beside you and pulls you into his thick, chiseled chest.

His skin is warm, but his hands cold as they rub against your clothed back. You wrap your arms around his neck, burying your face in his collarbone as the gunshots and loudspeakers ring out, signaling players deaths. Yet, all of it fades out as you’re in his warm embrace. It feels strange, but good. Maybe you like it.

And maybe, you’ll do it again.

TAGLIST: @scuzmunkie @iloveinhodaeho @devilishdelirium @muchwita @ang3lgvts @beebeechaos @yru3xme @princeofkhaenri

[emmitaaa4]

People will really look at a character who was raised to be a doll—a pretty face to dress up, her dreams dismissed to gardens and pretty clothes, and an asset on the marriage market only if her beauty held—who was groomed to accept that her future would be determined by others’ maneuverings rather than her own, and still say:

“Ahh yes, it must be that the future of this character will indeed be defined by her looks in a black dress and by the unbreakable™ bond that was imposed upon her. 😍."

“… Matter of fact, the author was soo clever in making it so that others' superficial assessments of her character hold more weight in the narrative than her own declaration of belonging… its obviously meant to show us that everyone (but her) knows what's best for her; she does belong elsewhere. (Guys… what about someplace subtle, like Spring because flowers? Or Day because flowers need the sun?!)”

“The poor girl just doesn’t know any better: she’s exactly like her far-more-independent-and-headstrong sister who was wasting away in a Court where she was deprived of social interactio—wait, wdym she has a job, friends, is hinted at scheming behind the scenes, and calls the place a home... ? Sure, whatever, it’s clear that it's not significant, she's in denial; plus she can’t have a unique arc full of exploration & adventure unless she skedaddles away from the obstacles I dislike and never returns! Skedaddle to where, you ask? Easy: her mate’s court with her mate’s friends & her mate’s family, where she'll become her mate's High Lady... just like *drum roll* her sister! Notice how we don't question whether her mate's relationships are genuine and whether the life he's built (also ‘off-page’) matters?”

“Speaking of that MATE of hers, she is bound to come around eventually and realize that she was placed where she should be. I mean, he’s so hot, so she’s def super attracted to him and trying not to jump hi—what? You’re saying her body language shows otherwise? I mean how can you know, maybe she’s just hidin—oh... she' shown visible signs of attraction to another male? Enough signs that literally all characters, bar the oblivious one, noticed? Well then, it’s clearly because she’s projecting her longings for her mate onto the bloke; the bond means more than her pesky little rebellious feelings (Elain, we see you girl, no need to be stubborn!)."

“Btw, I cant believe you guys missed the memo, but the thing she had with that other dude? You know, the one the author gave her significant moments with and who did casual things like lending her his most prized possession & following the sound of her laugh & making his nightstand an altar in her effigy? Yea, it’s all a red herring. Turns out the author couldn't decide whether Mr. Distraction would be an incel or a fickle fuckboy, so she just went with both. Entitled, lustful prick—love him though! But SJM really fooled yall, it was all made so that readers (somehow) forget that she has a MATE who she is MATED to because there's this real MATING bond that she 100% cant break and that tells us that her MATE is the endgam—"

"...What are you saying? Are you really suggesting that the label of mates being all it took for many readers to overlook the on-page development of a romantic relationship between her & Mr. not-her-mate, in favour of said label, makes the bond more likely to be the red herring? Well, you're delusional... plus I thought that these two characters shared a brother/sister relationship up until it abruptly turned into "just lust" out of nowhere... right? Right. You probably just think it's a red herring cause her mate is red-haired. Ha!

You people need to understand that MATES are always the answer, period. They mean everything—why would you want a lesser love for your fav? It’s not like the author has put into question the nature of the mating bond & whether it indicates true paired souls, or like she spoke about how interesting she found the idea of bond rejections in her most recent interview—oh... damn. She did? But what about mates and the allegedly un-rejectable bond that could induce insanity by alleged cosmic blue balls?? Surely SJM wouldn't make a blanket statement reinforcing the status-quo of Prythian's patriarchal society just to have one of her heroines redefine it! I mean, let's be real, is Feyre becoming a High Lady despite there having been "no such thing" for millennia, or Nesta reinstating a female warrior force and winning the Illyrian-male-exclusive Blood Rite alongside an Illyrian woman and a ¼-nymph priestess, really THAT important? Why would the 3rd sister follow the pattern and subvert the status quo, when she could just make it easier for everyone & reinforce it by fulfilling the destiny she was groomed into?"

-----⊱ end scene ⊰-----

“Elain is pleasant to look at,’ her mother once said, ‘but she has no ambition. She will be an asset on the marriage market for us one day, if that beauty holds, but it will be our own maneuverings, Nesta, not hers, that win us an advantageous match."

Yet, here we are, expecting her story to be about fulfilling that prophecy rather than shattering it.

Elain’s story isn’t about conforming to the expectations placed on her—it’s about breaking free from them. And if you think a mating bond and a pretty dress are enough to define her or her arc, you’ve missed the point entirely.

[oacest]

Hi! I'm a big fan of your blog! I just this past week got into the gallaghers after stumbling across them on ao3. Every time I think i've found everything, a new surprising factoid comes out of the woodwork. They are so in love its inane and frankly quite worrying. I cannot believe more people dont see it with how obvious they're being.

That being said, I've noticed a thing about one of Liam's tweets and a song lyric he wrote. I cant find the tweet at the moment, but it's the one where someone asks if he loves Noel and Liam responds "yes I love him is that such a crime". I was listening to GGTIA and realized the lyrics "I'd get round to loving you, is that such a crime?" sounded awful familiar...He must have taken that response right from the song lol. Which makes me feel some sort of way. Especially with how awful (glorious) GGTIA is. The whole song is clearly a love song and yet Liam wrote it for Noel. And now Liam references his own song to say yes, he does love Noel.

God, I love them.

omg ahhhh congrats, welcome!! the first "wait.. hold on. wait wtf?? this can't be true.. oh jesus it's getting worse🤯" stage of getting into Them is a powerful powerful drug and tbh it never loses strength. we've been on this grind full-time for a year now (really no time at all in the grand scheme) and every day we're still going "holy shit WAIT WHAT??" about some new insane thing. (also how did you inadvertently stumble upon them on ao3?? what a trip.)

re liam's uhhh Everything. i regret(?) to inform you that ggtia is barely scratching the surface lol. the "crime" stuff in particular goes way deeper than that, ggtia is just one of many references back to a central core of sus shit. noel is a much worse offender in this arena actually. beyond his multiple ""jokes"" in the press about being attracted to/having sex with liam and the legality thereof, his most egregious act was writing this song, a demo nominally called "it's a crime" by fans bc he never actually released or named it, someone just leaked it in 2000. he later rewrote it and it became "let there be love," a trajectory we can all speculate on till the cows come home. he has since denied remembering this song even exists. (if you haven't clocked this yet, he's a pathological recreational liar and also has crazy bad memory issues, so even odds on whether this is true or not.)

also idk if you've dipped into any of liam's solo music or not, but ggtia was Baby's First Steps in terms of writing lovesick songs about one's brother. i can't necessarily recommend liam's music on any basis other than it being kinda catchy and p much all of it being incest anthems, so ymmv on enjoyment factor, but here's a brief playlist of SOME OF his more astonishing entries in the "im madly in love with my brother who hates me" oeuvre. (and then go watch the music video for "one of us," which might be the most excruciatingly raw thing anyone's ever done for an audience of millions, and is crammed beyond capacity with References.) there are a few of noel's songs on this playlist too, the ones i personally think are about liam, but diagnosing noel's music is a completely different exercise than diagnosing liam's. noel's very circumspect and art-first about his music, whereas it's pretty safe to assume most of liam's songs are explicitly about noel. the only one on this playlist with some potential wiggle room is "for what it's worth," which liam once claimed wasn't about noel, however his alternative very vague explanation was that it was possibly about his ex wife. which under the circumstances didn't really make sense. imo he just got a little embarrassed and backpedalled under scrutiny. here is noel acknowledging his awareness that all liam's songs are about him lol.

anyway! liam's a magical boy who believed in himself and never gave up and relentlessly wooed his big brother with mid music for years until that shit finally worked, so let this be a lesson to us all. NEVER have dignity, NEVER say die, ALWAYS kiss your brother on the mouth in public. the universe loves you 💖💖💖

[alexrod-dbd]

Having dbd streaming in the background rn and it’s episode 8 which reminded of a headcanon I have:

When Crystal says she remembers her entire name and gives it to the boys, Edwin goes "Sorry. Your surname is… Von… Hovercraft?" and the way he says it makes me believe that somehow when he was alive, he knew someone with the same surname or, more likely, someone with that surname meant they were very high in the society, very untouchable. So when Crystal says that name, for a second he might be thinking that she’s coming from a very specific family or something.

I haven’t seen anyone talking about this scene so thought I’d give my take on it, what do you guys think about it ??

[baked0bread]

Once is a mistake,

Twice it a coincidence,

Thrice it's a pattern.

[gabrielsantar]

it’s truly what warhammer is missing the most re: primarchs. it’s boring if they all like each other, and it’s boring if they all hate each other; there should be an extremely complicated system of primarch relationships in which at least two of them fucking hate each other but sometimes have to tolerate each other because they all have a bestie in common

[lbhslefttiddie]

i have a burning question and no one is allowed to laugh at me

where

where do japanese fanfictions live

[phantomlemon348]

Is it only me who finds it irritating, that in the German Vienna Blood Max and Oskar are on first name terms but still say 'Sie' to each other?

[bmpmp3]

post ankle-twisting clarity

[thee-radio-host-is-a-kookaburra]

why do all mspec mono exclusionists type like they're trying not to cry

[musubiki]

recently thinking about the tcwg episode where mochis mob spell finally starts running out. apparently its maximum possible usage is 10 years (which they find out from pom) and appearently tiramisu put it on her too soon,,... when they ask her she says "Oh...you were such a cute kid I didn't want to wait too long!!" while pinching her cheeks, and suddenly theres a few more people at school who are like "Hey...I never really noticed but...Mochi is kinda pretty, huh?"

for the people who start to notice, they chalk it up to "Maybe she hit puberty late...?" or something, but regardless she has 1 or 2 more people actually ask her out, and lime starts to realize how much it bothers him

[kieshartzishere]

"Average person has glass embedded in their body 2 times in their lifetime" factoid is actually just a statistical error, averag person has glass embedded in their body 0 times in their lifetime. OP, who finds randomly gets glass (or someyimes ceramic) in their skin 4 times a year and has successfully pulled them all out of their body no matter the number or size by themselves, is an outlier and should not have been counted.

Can I NOT be Glass Georg world.

[sonknuxadow]

ive joked about it before but man i really am the only person on earth who remembers the gun commander is a character that exists arent i . because the other day when the shadow panel was happening and the voice actors were talking about their characters and how they were eachothers only friend and maria was completely isolated from other people i was like What about the gun commander . and i havent seen anyone else point the contradiction out . lmao

[slurmpinheimer]

I’ve gotta let the gang know I fuck with small, light-haired, autism-coded, green-eyed elf mages

[todayisafridaynight]

yk in retrospect it really is no surprise that rgg has a lot of queer fans. outside of the games being utterly homosexual of course

[solongandgoodnightxoxo]

What was he thinking.