#i don't know why it's started hitting me this year | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cryinginmyroomsposts · 3 days ago

Text

So High School | Dino one-shot

Pairing: Lee Chan x fem. Reader

tags: angst, fluff, fake relattionship, jenny han romcom coded, wooyoung in slightly negative shade (atinys don't come for me, it was just needed for the plot), bestie yeonjun, changbin special appearance, sports reference (not a lot but i tried)

a/n: It took me a whole semester to write this... (thank you adulting☹️) but this is basically a slightly changed, self-indulgent retelling of To All the Boys I Loved with dino being Peter Kavinsky...

masterlist

"You know, if you wanted to kiss me so badly, you could've just asked, right?" God! He was so insufferable and annoying. And mainly, he was completely irresistible.

Lee Chan, the school charmer. The boy who had every girl in high school wrapped around his finger. The gorgeous, talented football captain with the smile of a prince and lips that were meant to be kissed.

But right now, he was the bane of your existence, and he was getting on your last nerve.

“Just. Shut. Up. Chan.” You manage to whisper between catching your breath.

Chan’s smirk stays intact on his face, which is a mere two inches away from yours. The sun is blazing on the football field, making his fluffy brown hair glisten. His left hand is wrapped around your waist, sending cold shivers down your spine despite the heat. His other hand, the one that had scored a touchdown, is pushing stray hair from your face. His hand stays on your chin, tracing patterns. You’re a mess.

Your hands are clutching tightly around his neck, which is why his face is inches away from yours. The adrenaline of Chan scoring the winning point has brought you running down the stands and into this position. But now that he is here, your legs are giving out.

The initial gasps are turning into whispers and giggles.

“Princess, you can’t keep the audience waiting.” Chan’s voice flows like honey. His eyes are gleaming with surprise and mischief. His smile is bright and wide. He traces another pattern on your cheek, and you flinch involuntarily.

“Y/n, people are getting suspicious…” he sounds more serious as he looks around.

“Wooyoung is watching. You’re close to your goal.” The mischief in Chan’s face has been replaced with bitterness.

Oh, right! Wooyoung, the reason all of this began. The boy you’ve been in love with for the last two years. The boy you wanted to charm and make fall in love with you. The reason you’re currently in Chan’s arms.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea…

“Y/n… come on. It’s not like this is our first kiss.” You look at Chan with daggers in your eyes.

He wasn’t supposed to bring that up. But he has a point…

“Chan, I’m nervous. Can you kiss me…” you manage to say. Chan gulps but leans down.

Three. The smell of Chan’s cologne hits your nose.

Two. Chan leans in, blocking the light from your face completely.

One. His glistening eyes are all you see before his lips crash into yours.

Heaven…

Probably your biggest mistake, and your biggest blessing.

But if you could go back three weeks and redo all of this… you’d still choose this. This moment, this boy, his lips, his warmth.

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

Three weeks ago

It was a regular day, with spring around the corner and the sun starting to shine brighter. Longer days and the lack of needing jackets always put you in a good mood.

A good day overall. Until that afternoon in the changing room. You overheard three freshman girls gossiping, and that was the beginning of your misery. "Did you guys hear that Wooyoung is looking for a female lead for his directorial drama..." One of the girls' excited voices traveled through the lockers.

"Oh my! Wait, isn’t his drama a romantic thriller? And he's the male lead!" This statement was immediately followed by a pair of squeals that made you roll your eyes.

"Do you think he’ll conduct auditions?" "Oh, I heard he was going to choose Mina." "Why them when Y/N is there? She’s a senior and she’s acted with Woo before..." "Maybe he’s into Mina? Or doesn’t like Y/N?" "Anyways, let’s see what happens… I hope he opens the audition for all of us. Imagine kissing Wooyoung!!"

And with another set of squeals, the girls exited the locker room, and you came out of the locker you had hidden in. Their conversation left you confused and heartbroken.

You had met Wooyoung during your freshman year theatre club auditions and immediately fell head over heels for the charming and handsome guy. It was no surprise that over half the school was in love with him. He was a sight for sore eyes, and his acting held everyone captive.

Your crush on Wooyoung only worsened over the years. You had tried dating a couple of other guys to forget Wooyoung, but every time the rehearsal for the annual school play began, you would realize that no one else could ever make you feel the way Wooyoung did.

Now you feel stupid about your crush. You kept pining for a guy who didn’t even consider you for his drama. A part of you is hurt; it is like all the hope you had built up in your heart came crashing down. But you still wanted to prove to him that you were worthy of his romance. If not in real life, at least on stage.

Did it sound like an extremely stupid idea? Yes. 100 percent stupid, but you were running on emotions.

Unrequited crushes never made anyone more intelligent, anyway!

The run-through that evening had been suboptimal at best; you were not in your head, and it annoyed everyone else. But you couldn’t care less, as neither Wooyoung nor the drama teacher, Ms. Kim, was there. As soon as the session ended, you ran to your car and went straight to the one person you knew could help you—Yeonjun.

Yeonjun was one of the most popular people in your high school—specifically among the ladies. If not for the fact that you grew up as neighbors since the two of you were three years old and had seen each other go through puberty, you'd also be head over heels in love with Yeonjun.

"What do you want now?" were the first words to leave Yeonjun’s mouth when you showed up at his room door. He’s sprawled out on his bed, watching something on his laptop and munching on chips. He’s not in the least surprised to see you there at 9 p.m. on a school night; he’s made peace with your presence. His parents were so used to you being there and treating you like their own child. This annoyed Yeonjun to no bounds, as he usually lost all single-child privileges around you.

"What's got your panties in a knot, Jjunie?" you inquire as you plop yourself on his bed and munch on the snacks he has. This causes him to groan in protest, but he doesn't take the snacks away from you.

"My date this weekend canceled on me," he says with a pout that makes him look like a baby. You can’t help but reach out and ruffle his hair and smile.

"Why are you smiling at my misery, you psycho?" he complains, further deepening his pout. "Aw, sorry Jjunie, you still look like that little kid I met on the front porch when we were 3." The memory of your friendship immediately makes him smile.

"Okay, enough niceties. Now tell me what you want." His demand makes you roll your eyes, but you do realize you’re here on a mission and need his help, so you refrain from retorting back.

"I need your help," you begin. "With what?"

A few seconds of silence, of you biting your inner cheeks and him glaring at you with his most judgmental expression.

"Spit it out, Y/n."

Sigh. "I need your help getting Wooyoung's attention." Your words lead to Yeonjun choking on the last chip he is eating.

"Wooyoung? Jung Wooyoung? My friend Wooyoung? Your drama club partner Wooyoung?" His eyes are bulging like they’re going to drop out of their sockets, and you roll your eyes at his surprise.

"Since when do you like him?"

Ugh, this is feeling like a bad idea. "Since—since freshman year..."

"Holy shit! Y/N!" His mouth is agape right about now. The snacks and laptop are long forgotten.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Because I know you for so long and had no clue. God!" He runs a hand over his hair in surprise, and you just lower your head in shame. It does feel shameful that after all that bold personality you put up, you are ashamed to be yearning for someone for so long. It feels contradictory to the strong, independent woman persona you want to project.

"Okay, I've had my reaction... now let's get to work." Yeonjun sits up straight on the bed, the laptop long forgotten. You are glad he doesn’t make this feel weirder.

Here comes the harder part—the plan.

"I thought we could get his attention by pretending to be a..." you cannot muster the courage to finish the sentence without wanting to jump off a tall building.

"Be a what?" He is eyeing you suspiciously again.

You shrink into yourself more as the word leaves your mouth, "a couple."

The silence after you utter the words is heavy. At least he doesn’t laugh out loud at the idea—that should count as a win, but it doesn’t feel quite victorious as you had expected.

"Y/N... Is that really the only plan you have? Can't you just ask him out like a regular person... he already knows you..." He speaks softly, his words making sense to the logical side of your brain, yet it feels like a punch to the gut. It might’ve been an impulsive idea, but that is all you have for now.

So you gather yourself and heave a deep sigh as Yeonjun looks at you anxiously. "Jjunie... I know it's weird, but I wouldn't have suggested it if I knew a better idea. And it's not about Wooyoung knowing me, it's about him seeing me... you don't need to immediately decide, but please think it over."

Before Yeonjun can say a definite no, you leave his house in a hurry. Poor boy looks so confused as you watch him pout and stare at the wall at what just happened. He is too nice to say no but also a very good friend who would not want to do anything weird, neither do you want to, but something about wanting Wooyoung makes you act all pathetic.

The night is the most restless in a long time. After six hours of tossing and turning, you decide to go to school earlier and work on the new play. After a strenuous day, where you'd almost forgotten about Wooyoung, Yeonjun, and the plan, you run into Wooyoung on the way to your last class. He throws you his classic polite smile and runs down the hall, and it makes your heart drop. He doesn’t even stop to say hi; to him, you'd just be Yeonjun’s neighbor and best friend. The thought makes your stomach churn more, and you decide to catch Yeonjun after his football practice and make him agree to your plan.

And that's how you find yourself power-walking toward the bleachers at 5 p.m. past the hunky, sweaty boys sitting after a tiring practice session. Usually, you'd stay and chat with some of the boys on the team—especially Beomgyu, Heesung, and your favorite Changbin. But today you walk right up to Yeonjun, who looks at you with the utmost surprise.

"Need to talk to you. Now." You sound curt, and he just nods before getting up and leading you to the locker room. It isn’t your first time there, but the place always disgustes you. It smells of sweat, testosterone, and teenage boys. But the conversation is important, so you adjust.

"What's it, Y/n?" He says, stopping in front of his locker and starting to dry his hair with a towel. He looks exhausted, and a part of you feels bad, but you still carry on.

"Did you think about it?"

"About what?" He looks so nonchalant while answering you that for a second, you think you've dreamed your conversation from the previous night.

"Jjunie..." He sighs and faces you fully.

"Y/n, I thought you were joking. Please come up with another idea, please..."

"Yeonjun, it is not a joke. He thinks of me as your friend, and I need him to see me as someone he can date. For that, I need your help. If we pretend-date, he might notice that side of me." Your words leave a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.

"Y/n, did you maybe consider that you don’t need to do all that for a boy? If someone likes you, they’d see you no matter what..." You sigh.

"Yeonjun, I didn’t come here for your self-love propaganda. I came to hear your answer. If you don’t want to fake date me and help me get Wooyoung’s attention, I’ll find someone else who's willing to do it." He looks defeated. You already know his answer and the explanation, but you want to hear it anyway.

"I won’t do it, Y/n. And I really hope you don’t find someone else for the plan either."

There it is. The blow to your chest. You are disappointed, but do your best to put on a brave face and nod. But before you can say anything, someone calls for him, and you just force a thin smile on your face as he leaves.

When Yeonjun is out of sight, you cover your face with your hands and sigh heavily. Now what...

"I can do it."

The voice comes out of nowhere and startles you so much that you jump out of your skin.

When you look up, there he is at the far right end of the locker room.

Lee Chan.

You know him, but you aren't exactly friends. His reputation of being the school playboy makes you keep your distance from him.

There he is, leaning against the locker with only a towel tied around his waist—abs in full display—as he lazily wipes his dripping wet hair. When you look at him, it makes sense. But you are still unsure of what he said.

"Sorry, what?" You croak out at him.

He straightens up, a smirk plastered on his gorgeous face, and walks toward you. When he is a mere five inches away from you, he stops. You can see his clear-cut abs, water droplets making them glisten. After a good minute, you realize you should probably stop checking him out and force yourself to look at his face (another mistake, because man, is he gorgeous!).

"I said I’ll do it." His face, voice, and words all drip honey.

"Do what?"

"Date you." You are sure your eyes fall out of their sockets at his words. He still smirks, and his eyes gleam playfully.

"What… what do you mean?"

His smile widens as he speaks. "The proposition you offered to Yeonjun now... I can do it. If you're okay with it, that is."

"Oh."

Oh? That’s all you can say!

After making sure you aren't dreaming, you think for a second, and before you can change your mind or regret it, the words spill from your mouth.

"Okay!" His eyes grow big in surprise. He looks devastatingly good when he smiles fully.

"Cool."

The two of you stand there smiling at each other for a while before he clears his throat and breaks the silence. You straighten up and fix your hair in embarrassment.

"Yeah, okay. So I guess we should come up with some kind of agreement... rules, maybe?" Years of watching romcoms gave you the idea, and while you know it is counterproductive, you still want to do it. To have a sense of security.

He raises one of his eyebrows, "Yeah, I guess... whatever you say."

"Okay!"

Why is he agreeing to all of it? What does he get out of it? There are so many questions unanswered, but before you can do anything about it, his phone rings. He answers it with just hums and then turns to leave. You watch him walk toward his locker room and turn around to face you.

"Hey, gotta bounce now, but I’ll shoot you a text and we can discuss the rest of it." You just nod at his words, feet frozen in place. He stares at you for a second before breaking out into a small laugh.

"What?"

"Are you going to stand there and watch me change?" He looks amused. Your face heats up at the implication, and you walk out of there without another look at him.

Only after you go all the way out of the school campus do you question how he will text you and what rules you will lay down.

But there are bigger problems, like studying for the upcoming quiz and memorizing your lines for the play, so you let it slip out of your mind.

Until five hours later when your phone blinks with a text notification.

Unknown Number: Hey Y/n, Chan here!

Your heart leaps to your throat as you drop the play script and pick up your phone to save his number and reply. Just as you hit send, your phone pings with another text.

Yeonjun: Hey, sorry about today... but I hope you understand.

You sigh. In all these years of friendship, you've had several petty fights, but this one feels heavy. You do not like fighting with Yeonjun and hope it will all work out in the end.

Y/n: Hi Jjunie, I am sorry too.

He begins typing immediately.

Yeonjun: We’re okay?

Y/n: Yes!

Before you can switch off your phone for the day, Chan texts back.

Chan: Sooo... came up with the rules yet?

Oh God. Why did you have to commit to that?

Y/n: Not yet.

Chan: Alright. If you're free, we can meet tomorrow and discuss.

Oh! Why is he so interested in this? That’s the question you cannot figure out. But you do not want to throw away the opportunity either.

Y/n: Yeah, I’ll be out of rehearsals at 5.

Chan: Cool. We can meet near the bleachers after 5.

Oh, that was easy!

You know it feels weird to think this would be so easy. The minute you walk toward the bleachers, you can see all the cheerleaders and other girls ogling all the boys playing in the field. And in your years of cheering on Yeonjun, you know that most of the crowd is here for their star player—Chan. Getting to discuss this private matter with him while his fangirls are squealing around him is going to be no easy feat. Not to mention that you have completely forgotten about Yeonjun and the whole team being present. You don’t want him to know that you are going behind his back, especially with his teammate and close friend. He will get to know once the charade is up, but there is no need to rub it in his face this soon. Every minute waiting on the bleachers feels like a lifetime in hell. Your palms get sweaty as more girls gather after classes and their own extracurriculars. You hope Yeonjun hasn’t spotted you yet. Every time it feels like he turns toward the far left corner of the bleachers, you feel your palms getting sweatier.

After what seems like ages, the practice is finally over, and hordes of fangirls slowly trickle out of the bleachers. Now it is time to wait for the man of the hour to show up.

Lee Chan walks toward your seat a good half an hour later with such ease and charisma that it is hard to believe he has just gotten out of hours of rigorous practice.

"Wanted to see your future boyfriend play on the field that badly, huh?" he says with honey dripping from his words and the smug smirk on his face. For lack of a better response, you just roll your eyes.

"Chan, can we just get on with the rules now?"

"I'm pretty sure you already have a curated list you want me to follow, so go ahead, sweetheart." You try your best not to gape at him at the accuracy of his words. You have been so anxious about the rules the whole night that you have prepared a comprehensive list of five points. Without fighting him, you reluctantly give him the piece of paper you have scribbled the rules on.

Y/N + Chan Dating Rules

Do not tell anyone about this arrangement.

PDA: only when Wooyoung or the team are present. (2.a. No kissing. Just holding hands!)

Post each other on social media (posts that can be deleted when the time comes).

Attend each other’s games/shows.

No flirting with other girls (this is exclusively for Chan).

You watch with sweaty palms as Chan reads the five points. His eyebrows raise as if he is questioning them. Truth be told, you are questioning the points yourself.

“Really? You had to write the fifth point?”

He looks up, waving the paper accusingly, and his expression is somewhere between anger and amusement. You were hoping it would lean more toward the latter.

You try to smile and shrug it off, but he just stares at you in disbelief.

Before you can cave in and apologize, he angles himself in his seat facing you. Suddenly, your face is in his palm—a bruised and calloused palm—and his face is alarmingly close to yours. You can see every freckle on his face, the twinkle in his eyes, and the water droplets on his hair from the post-practice shower. Your heartbeat is pounding in your ears.

God, this is a gorgeous man.

“Sweetheart, do you really think I’d look at another girl, much less flirt with her, when you are sitting here looking so pretty…”

WHAT?!

Did he say… that! Why?! Am I having a stroke?!

It would’ve been easier to think you were having a stroke, but instead, the tickle on your skin where his palm met your face is telling you that this is real. Lee Chan is sitting here and telling you that you’re pretty. Lee Chan is flirting with you.

And you need to stop it. For your own sake.

And Wooyoung, of course.

So you straighten yourself up and, with every ounce of energy in your body, remove his hand from your face.

“Hey! Rule 1. No flirting unless Woo or anyone he knows is around! How are you already breaking the rules…”

What began as an amused expression on Chan’s face changes to outright laughter.

Chan is laughing at you. And all you can do is recognize how young and charming he looks while laughing.

“Oh—okay, wow. You were serious,” he says in between breaths, stopping his laughter.

“Yeah, I was, idiot!”

He raises his hands in surrender with a big smile plastered on his face. “Alright, ma’am. I’ll follow all the rules from now on.” He ends his sentence with a mock salute.

Eye roll.

“Sooo, you don’t have any suggestions or changes?”

“Nope.” He says as he reads through the rules once more.

Well, that was easier than I thought!

From then on, Chan just agrees to everything you say, and you go through the rest of the rules within the next thirty minutes.

By the time you are done with the list, you are exhausted from sitting and talking under the hot sun in the bleachers. You can’t wait to go home, make some nice lunch, and take a nap. So, you begin to pack your bags and leave when Chan stops you.

"What now?" you scowl, hoping he won't waste further time on your one free day of the week.

"Wow, so grumpy..." he snickers as he picks up your bag despite your very little protest.

"Let me buy you lunch, Grumpy." He says with an easygoing smile, and even though you want to fight back, you don't.

Lunch with Chan turns out to be a pleasant ordeal. He takes you to a small bistro near school, and the two of you chat about anything and everything in the world. You would’ve never guessed that a conversation with a professional pretty-boy jock like Chan would be so rich and funny, but he has a breezy manner of carrying the conversation and making you laugh often.

He drives you back home, and you realize this is the best meal you’ve had with another person, and it has nothing to do with the food.

Chan also officially takes your plan into action by posting a misleadingly cute photo of your lunch on his Instagram. You have no idea when he took the photo, but you look at yourself in the picture, smiling widely at something he had said minutes prior. For the first time, you might actually like a candid smiling picture of yourself. And for the first time since your dad, someone has paused to take a picture of you that you didn’t ask for.

You chuckle as you see his post again, and just as a text pops up on your phone.

Chan: Now that I’ve kept up my side of the deal, it’s your turn to post something.

Oh shit.

You curse yourself for forgetting one of the rules and not taking a picture of him.

Chan: Unless you didn’t think of taking a picture of me…

You facepalm at Chan’s cheeky message and start to whine loudly in your room at your stupidity as Chan blows up your phone with sad face emojis.

Uff... Such a drama queen!

You let your head fall back on your bed, cursing yourself until it hits you... you did in fact take a picture of him that day when he was playing.

Excited at this realization, you immediately begin posting the photo. You can’t help but admire yourself for capturing his sincerity and athleticism so perfectly in your shot.

As you post, you realize how hot Chan is.

Wait, what...

Your phone keeps buzzing with likes, replies from friends, and two texts that have all your attention.

Chan: Mhmmm, good to know my fake girlfriend likes to watch me play… 😉 Yeonjun: Y/n, you're being stupid.

The first text makes you light up, and the immediate next one makes you scowl. You decide to ignore Yeonjun for now and reply to Chan.

Y/n: Oh please, don’t flatter yourself too much. I did it for the plan, just like you.

Chan: Oh.

You see the typing bubble come on and off for a minute until the reply comes from Chan.

Chan: Mine wasn’t for the plan, you just look beautiful smiling.

It is now your turn to go speechless (or rather, textless), until Chan himself ends the conversation.

Chan: Goodnight, princess ❤

Sleep never finds its way back home to you that night, and the thought of Chan’s smile, Chan’s body, Chan’s texts, and Chan himself fills you up until the sun rises.

Two days later, Chan shows up to your drama rehearsal. The previous day, when you saw Wooyoung in your rehearsal, he was polite as always. There is no hint of him even acknowledging the post made by you or his friend. Meanwhile, some of the other girls and guys in the team start subtly teasing. You are crestfallen at Wooyoung's obliviousness and text Chan that you need to do something more to catch Wooyoung's attention.

Chan takes it upon himself to reply with nothing but a thumbs-up emoji to the dozen messages you have texted him, which has you worried that he forgot about the plan. But when you find him sitting in the second row of the auditorium as you get on the stage, an involuntary smile breaks out on your face.

This earns you a prompt scolding from your teacher, causing you to fix your emotions to reflect your character's despair. With only five days before the big show, you don’t want to mess up, so you reprimand yourself for trying to glance at Chan.

The next time your eyes meet him is when the cast is practicing the final bow. You glimpse at him from your position at the center with Wooyoung and Mina. Chan is smiling wide—nothing out of the ordinary for the cheerful and charming jock. Your smile grows as you watch him clap until he has the loudest clap of all.

"Omg, Lee Chan, what a sudden surprise to see you indoors!" Wooyoung’s voice booms across the auditorium, and the claps die down. This finally snaps you out of the trance you had supposedly been in.

Chan seems to cause that every time he is in the vicinity…

You watch as Chan walks toward the stage where Wooyoung, Mina, and you are standing. He is laughing at Wooyoung’s comment—his usual sparkle spilling pure laughter.

"Haha, when did you become funny, Woo? Can’t a friend come to see his friend rehearse his performance?" Chan quips as they shake hands.

"Friends do, yes, but not Lee Chan, the star football player, who practices seven days a week without fail. In fact, didn’t you miss the last Fall show because you had a match in two weeks that you couldn’t skip training for?" Both the boys laugh as Wooyoung finishes, but you are silent in shock. You don’t know Chan is that disciplined and dedicated.

Chan brushes off Wooyoung’s comment, and the guys laugh it out as you stand there smiling.

"Jokes apart, what brings you here, Chan?" Chan looks right at you as Wooyoung asks this question and holds your hand. Before you can process what is going on, he pulls you toward him. You are standing hand in hand with Chan, facing a very confused-looking Wooyoung. Chan looks at you with a beaming smile before he turns to the other boy and says, "I actually came for her."

Wow… he's good!

You gulp as Wooyoung just stares between the two of you, nodding slowly as he tries to make sense of this. You are glad the rest of the cast has almost entirely dispersed from the auditorium by now, as you can feel yourself heat up under Chan’s stronghold and Wooyoung’s sharp gaze.

Eventually, the latter boy starts smiling—slyly. He mimics a salute to Chan.

"Well done, Chan! Can’t believe you landed the hottest girl in our drama group." As soon as Wooyoung says this, you feel your jaw drop open. Did Wooyoung just call me the hottest girl here…? Did that mean he doesn’t like Mina? Did he already like you? Was this whole plan useless…? Maybe I should just tell Wooyoung the truth now...

Just then, as if on cue, Chan’s grip around your fingers tightens, and you turn to look at him smirking at Wooyoung.

"I can’t believe I landed the smartest and prettiest girl in the school either… I knew she was incredibly talented, but seeing her shine the brightest on stage today was amazing! You’re lucky to see it every day..." Chan says each word with deliberate elaboration, all while holding your hand a little too firmly.

The tension that was supposed to come from Wooyoung seems to be emanating from Chan instead... But Wooyoung seems slightly put off by Chan's reply as his smile turns into a grimace. He looks between the two of you and nods.

"Yeah, she’s amazing... Anyway, I need to go. See you guys..." Wooyoung leaves hastily as he is talking, leaving you to glare at Chan. When Chan finally turns to look at you, he is smiling.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Was that comment necessary, Chan?"

"Yeah, it is the truth."

Dammit, he's good... Chan starts leading you out of the auditorium, your hand still in his. "But there was no need to be rude to Wooyoung. He’s definitely the best here..."

Chan stops in his tracks, hearing you. He drops your hand and turns around to face you.

You’ve never seen Chan lose his temper—he is known to be one of the calmest during games, too—but he looks very close to shouting at you. He opens his mouth as if to say something but grunts instead.

After a long sigh, he says, "Alright, it was rude, but he got jealous, didn’t he? Wasn’t that what you wanted?"

You are lost in the words Chan has said that you forget to note Wooyoung’s complete reaction. He does get jealous, hopefully of the right things...

Not wanting to piss off Chan anymore, you nod.

Both of you stay silent the rest of the night as he drives you home from the rehearsal after learning that the bus that should’ve taken you home left while you were picking up your things.

Right as you get down and head toward your house, you hear Chan call your name out and turn to look at him.

"I meant it, you know..." You scrunch your eyebrows, not sure what he is talking about, and he sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I really meant that you were shining the brightest on that stage. I couldn’t take my eyes off you..."

What the...

You gulp and look at him. His eyes are wide, lips pursed together, and tousled hair. He looks sincere and very hot.

You smile. "Thank you, Chan. Good night."

You thought you had experienced all sorts of butterflies there are to be known while acting with Wooyoung in the Fall play, but the tumbling and soaring your heart does at that moment don’t even come close. Maybe this is a bad idea after all...

The following week goes by much smoother than the start. Chan shows up everywhere at school—before classes, during breaks, after school, after rehearsal, and lunch. He chooses to eat with you instead of at the table with his guys. He drives you home the whole week as a show of romance and even brings you homemade meals and flowers. All of which he makes sure to show off in front of the cafeteria or the drama club members.

Honestly, you are loving all the attention. Chan makes your life easier by taking care of your lunches and driving you home, which makes you less anxious about prepping more for the show.

You do your best to watch Chan play and even manage to cheer for him from the bleachers during touchdowns. He is so focused and precise while playing that it gives you chills each time. But the minute the game is over, he comes over to you with a big smile and eyes shining like diamonds. And that is incentive enough to go sit through another game of football for him. Luckily, his big match is a week after your show, and you’d be able to go support him without the tension of the show.

Through all these antics, the two of you are the talk of the school. Most people are very happy for the two of you—except Chan’s fangirls, Yeonjun, and Wooyoung.

Yeonjun keeps throwing glares your way whenever you show up to a game and waits outside your house to talk to you, but you keep giving excuses.

Wooyoung, on the other hand, has taken a passive-aggressive approach by constantly commenting on how theatre kids are better than jocks. He keeps showing off and asking if the football players can sing and dance at the same time like him.

Usually, receiving specific shows of Wooyoung’s talents and him making so many continuous unprovoked conversations would’ve sent you flying to the next galaxy in joy. But now, everything Wooyoung does makes you think that Chan could definitely do it better. And if you are not aware of Chan’s ability at something Wooyoung is demonstrating, you immediately text Chan about it.

Texting—that’s another place where the romance meter has unintentionally gone way up. Chan is always flirtatious with you, calling you "princess" and saying things that he knows will fluster you. But you’ve turned it into a game of who can fluster the other more.

Essentially, the two of you are now competitive flirting, and it is going way better than you could’ve ever fathomed.

As the days to the show get closer, you see Chan less and less.

The text flirtation is going strong, and you often find yourself smiling widely at your phone until someone from the team asks you to join them for rehearsal. Every time you look up from the phone, smiling, Wooyoung turns away sharply—giving away that he was staring at you. The pressure of the show has gotten to him, and he stopped showing off; now he just looks pissed off and exhausted.

You feel bad for Wooyoung and try talking to him. Instead of you cheering him up, he ends up making snide remarks about Chan, and you give up thereon.

Things were going pretty smoothly in your life until the dress rehearsal for the show—one day before the big show.

There is half an hour before curtains up, and you are pacing back and forth in the far end of the green room assigned to you and a few others. Everyone else has gone to grab food or meet someone or the other, while some are rehearsing. You are holed up in the green room trying your best to calm your nerves.

This is not your first show, and definitely not your first as part of the main cast, but no amount of experience seems to reduce the pre-show jitters. The memory of you puking five minutes before going on stage last fall comes back to you, and you can almost feel the bitter taste of anxiety forming at the back of your throat.

But before you could let the anxiety win, you hear someone clearing their throat and turn around to see none other than Lee Chan standing, leaning against a wall, hands in his jean pockets, smiling with his beautiful, kind eyes at you.

The relief that floods through your mind and body at seeing him there is beyond logic, and you do the only thing your entire existence wants to do—run up to him and hug him.

Till that moment, the maximum you both have done is hold hands in public, and you can feel Chan freeze under your embrace for a second before his warm, strong hands wrap around you.

It feels nice... the thoughts, fears, and the anxiety melt away in a second.

You rest your head on Chan’s shoulder, and he rests his head on top of yours.

“You’re going to rock the stage, princess.” He says softly, near your ear, and you instinctively move your head back to look at his face. His eyes are shining, and a soft smile is playing on his face.

“Thanks, Chan.” Your words make him tighten his hug around you, and you just stay there, looking into his beautiful, kind face.

Someone shouts from outside, "Ten minutes, guys!" You gulp and try to look away from Chan, but he lifts your face back to his eye level with his index finger and smiles.

“Y/n, I know you’re nervous, but you’re going to rock it. And I’ll be there for you…” he says. And that’s all it takes for you to lean toward his face.

Three. The smell of Chan’s cologne hits your nose.

Two. Chan also leans in.

One. His eyes are all you see before his lips crash into yours.

Heaven…

His lips feel like the ascension to heaven. Chan is kissing you with such delicate tenderness that it makes you melt further.

The kiss might’ve factually lasted less than a minute, but you felt the pull of his lips, and body into yours for what felt like a millennium.

When you finally pull apart due to breathlessness, both of you are smiling wildly. You notice some of your lipstick is smeared on Chan’s face, and he reaches to fix your face and hair.

"Go kill it out there, princess," Chan says and leads you out of the green room with one little peck to the lips.

All the nerves and anxiety seem to have transformed into butterflies and giddiness as you take your position on the sidelines of the stage.

You are lost in the memory of the kiss when you do not notice Wooyoung come up next to you.

"You know, you should make out before getting your makeup done. It’s disrespectful to the makeup artists and your co-stars."

"Excuse me?" What’s wrong with him? You notice he looks red with... anger. You’ve never seen Wooyoung like this before—at least offstage.

"Are you alright, Wooyoung?" You try to touch his shoulder to calm him down, and he jerks you away.

"One minute to go..." Wooyoung turns to you, face looking bitter. "You know, Y/n, I always thought you liked me. Never thought you’d go for someone like him." His words catch you off guard, but the curtains are going up, and you force yourself to get into character.

The next two hours are a blur—of running around backstage, helping everyone get to their scenes, performing your scenes, costume changes, and all the drama of it!

You always lose yourself on stage, and the sound of the thunderous clapping from the audience is the only thing that wakes you up from that trance.

And this time, you wake up from the trance to see Lee Chan’s beaming, proud face. He’s clapping so hard you’re worried for his palms. It makes you even happier to see the entire team there with him—including Yeonjun, who looks significantly happier than your previous encounters.

After spending the next hour thanking people and changing out of your costume, you finally reach the common halls of the school.

You find Chan, leaning against a wall and waiting for you. He is smiling at something on his phone, and it instantly makes you smile. You walk slowly toward him, careful not to startle him, and try to grab his phone from him. But being the incredible athlete that he is, he manages to turn you around and cage you in his embrace. But before he can snatch his phone from you, you catch a glimpse of what he is smiling at—pictures of you from the stage.

You whip your head to look at him, still snug in his embrace, and find Lee Chan blushing.

“Awwwww, you’re blushing... so cute,” you coo at him. He softens his hold on you as he fights a grin, and you turn in his embrace to pinch his cheeks.

“Chan, thank you…” His eyebrow goes up, as if to say why.

"Thank you... for going out of your way to be... you." He smiles so brightly, and his eyes become shiny. He hugs you tight.

There is a lot to be said between the two of you, but it seems like neither of you want to say anything and just be in the little bubble you’re in.

There is a slight disturbance to this as the sound of boys talking causes both of you to remove yourselves from the embrace and look as Wooyoung and his two friends—Yeonjun and Changbin—walk across the hallway to the parking lot.

Yeonjun makes fleeting eye contact—he doesn’t look pleased to see you standing so closely with Chan, and a lump forms in your throat. Following his line of sight, Wooyoung turns to look at you. He stops whatever he is saying, and his smiling face turns sour. You feel a bit of the bitterness come to your throat, remembering his words before the performance.

“You know, Y/n, I always thought you liked me. Never thought you’d go for someone like him.”

Just when you were hoping the moment would pass and they would walk away, you see Wooyoung whisper something to a very concerned-looking Yeonjun and Changbin, and walk toward Chan and you. Your heart is now pounding against the walls of your throat, and you want to hold Chan's hands, but it feels like an absolutely wrong move.

You don’t need to see Chan’s face to know that he is stiff with tension as Wooyoung glares right at him.

He stops in front of the two of you, crosses his arms across his chest, and says, in the snarkiest tone possible: "Well well well, if it’s not the two dirty little lovebirds."

Wooyoung stares competitively at the two of you, hoping for a reply, but both of you choose to be silent. This encourages him to continue—this time only facing you.

“You know, Y/n, I thought you were serious about theatre. I thought you understood how scared backstage and in the green room it is for a theatre artist. I thought you would know better than to go around kissing playboys in a sacred space like that... I thought you were smart..."

You’ve never seen or heard Wooyoung be so bitter and rude to anyone, and this breaks the expectation and pedestal you had for him over the years to come crashing down on you all at once. From the corner of your eyes, you can see Chan clench his jaws, and on the far end of the hallway, both Changbin and Yeonjun look very tense.

This is all your doing, that’s what your mind is screaming at you. This is not what you intended to do. All you wanted was to grab the attention of the guy you have an impossibly huge crush on. You never thought that your one idiotic move would break up a group of very good friends.

Most of all, you never thought you’d be standing there worried about your “fake” boyfriend’s feelings getting hurt over that of your actual crush, because of whom you’re all in this conundrum.

“Wooyoung, you're not in your right mind now... let’s talk about this later.” Chan’s voice comes out slow, low, and deliberate. You can tell he is speaking through gritted teeth, but his face is the picture of calmness.

Wooyoung scoffs, "Ohh, I am in the perfect state of mind for this, Chan." He smiles mockingly.

"I just couldn’t understand how someone so smart and pretty like Y/n ended up with... you. Or maybe she isn’t as smart as I thought and is just as easy as every other girl you’ve dated." His words are getting sharper and he oozes poison. The arrows from his mouth pierce straight through your heart.

It takes all your energy to not burst into tears, and Chan seems to sense it as he closes the gap between the two of you before replying to Wooyoung.

Chan takes a deep breath as his palms subtly run circles on the back of your arms. You can feel the heat emanating from him.

“Wooyoung, don’t let your bitterness get the best of you. Look, I don’t know why you are acting like this... if you’re jealous, you should’ve expressed your emotions to her sooner. I know you’re saying things in anger, but please stop because neither of us want to pick a fight. We can talk about this when you’re not in a mood.”

Chan is choosing to be reasonable, and you’re praying Wooyoung will too. You wait a beat and another to see Wooyoung scoff. Before he can say another word, Chan grabs your wrist firmly and walks you away from that hallway.

As you walk under the firm guidance of Chan's grip, you heave a big sigh of relief.

There is pin-drop silence as the two of you get into his car and he drives toward your home. You look over at his face, and his usually smiling and bright face is sullen, with his lips pursed tightly. You don't like seeing Chan angry and sullen one bit.

"Hey, Chan..." your voice comes out slowly as he parks near your front door and turns to face you.

You shift in your seat to face him more and reach out to touch his forearm resting on the steering wheel.

"I'm sorry, Chan." He raises his eyebrows in confusion, and you proceed to explain. "I'm sorry that I ruined your friend group... you wouldn't have fought if not for me..."

"Y/n..." he sighs and locks his fingers with the hand you extend to him. "You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. We’ve been through a lot worse. In fact, it’s only considered a fight if at least one of us ends up bruised."

He says that so nonchalantly that it makes both of you chuckle.

"Are you sure, though?" Your worry brings a soft smile to his face as he caresses your face. You lean into his palm and smile.

"Yes, I’m sure. So don’t overload that pretty head of yours with unnecessary worries, princess. You rocked the stage tonight and deserve some good rest."

His words bring a big, unwarranted smile to your face. He always knew how to put your nervous heart to rest.

And in that moment, every single thought of logic goes out the window, and you act on pure instinct. You grab Chan’s face and kiss him. The moment your lips touch his, he takes over. He leads you both toward the romantic swan dance that is your kiss. Chan and you are intertwined at that moment of pure bliss, wanting nothing but to stay this way for eternity, but alas, humans breathe a little too much for your liking then.

So both of you move apart to catch up on your breaths, smiling ear to ear while doing so. Seeing Chan’s smile light up his whole face makes you want to pull him into a kiss again, but your phone begins ringing right then, and you groan as you pick up your phone.

“Oh shit, it’s Mom... she’s probably waiting for me. Shoot!”

You start panic-adjusting yourself when Chan places his hand on your wrist gently. “Hey, breathe. You’re right outside your house... it will take two seconds to go in. Okay?”

You smile and let out a big breath at his calming words. Once you pack your bags and reach to open the door of the car, you feel his hold on your wrist again. You turn around to see his face awfully close to you, his eyes big and glistening.

You raise your eyebrows at him in question, and he says, "Thank you for accepting me to be your boyfriend..." His voice is sincere, deep, and scared. Your own heart is beating at a thousand miles per minute. Before you could begin to think of anything to say, he interrupts. "You don’t have to say anything, princess... If you ever end up feeling the way I’ve felt for years, you know where to find me."

And with that, he himself reaches across you to open the door and gives you a soft smile. You’re too stunned by his confession to form words, so you just pick up your stuff and head home. You might have acted on stage, but having to pretend everything is dandy and normal to your parents is more artistically challenging.

The rest of the night is spent tossing and turning in your bed and replaying Chan’s words. Especially the part where he implied that he's liked you for years. You have already been a wreck with all the negativity with Wooyoung and your hopes getting shattered, but also the happiness with Chan and the multiple impeccable kisses. There are too many emotions swirling in your head, and Chan’s confession only makes the insanity meter go up.

The confusion in your brain is palpable. You type out multiple message drafts to send to Chan and give up eventually, thanking whoever invented the backspace feature.

At the odd hour of 2:45 a.m., you finally give up on sleep and switch on your room lights to try to get schoolwork done. In pure coward fashion, you spent the following two days bedrotting and avvoiding any and every message and call from Chan. Thankfully your excuse of "recovering from the show" seemed to work fine for your parents but Chan kept texting.

Chan: Hey princess, good morning. Hope you're feeling better ❤️ Chan: I want you to take proper rest, but I also want you to talk to me! Chan: Okay, I need to go practice for the big match... talk to you soon The same went on for every session of the day. You could clearly notice he kept texting you whenever he got a break from practice. You felt bad for ignoring him. In fact, you did not understand why you were ignoring. It was clear you liked him too, then what was stopping you from into his arms.

On the other hand, there was the whole mess with Wooyoung. You still had to go back and meet him, after all this. If your plan had gone the way you wanted it too, instead of kissing Chan twice on the day of the show you would've ended the night in Wooyoung's arms and the rest of the year would be paradise in practice.

Instead you're here, pacing in the middle of the ngiht, thinking of quitting your passion just to avoid the tension.

And right as you're about to draft an email to your professoe, a ping from your phone startles you—it's Yeonjun.

Jjunnie: "Why are you awake?"

You look out at his window, confused, only to find the lights in his room also switched on and Yeonjun staring at you. You give him a weak smile, which he returns and gestures for you to open your window. Your smile grows bigger as you pop open the window door, adjust the ladder the two of you had set up between your windows as kids, and watch Yeonjun crawl into your room.

"What brings you here?" you ask as he’s dusting himself off.

He stares at you for a long second and pulls you into his signature bear hug. You let go of all your worries and hug your best friend back—he’s the only one who can see that you need comforting.

After a couple of minutes, both of you settle down on the bed with some chips. He still hasn’t said anything, and you figure you owe him an apology anyway.

"I’m sorry, Jjunie... for everything." He smiles and apologizes back.

After a second, you realize something and whip your head to face your best friend, who had warned you against all this mess.

"You knew, didn’t you?" You couldn’t believe that your speculation could be right, but you had to know for yourself.

He looks confused for a second before he lets out a deep breath and nods. You can feel a big lump forming around your throat and you want Yeonjun to spell it out before your mind jumps into big conclusions, and as your longest and closest friend, he knows this too well.

"Y/n, I told you not to mess with Wooyoung because I knew he’d never treat you the way you thought he would. He is my best friend, but you’re family... I didn’t want you to get hurt. That’s why I told you to stay away."

The hot tears forming behind your eyes are threatening to spill, but you bite your lips and nod at Yeonjun’s words. You couldn’t believe that you lived with an illusion of the person you thought you knew for years. It feels like someone had taken away your pretty-pastel dream box and shattered it into pieces and said that you would never find it again. The lump in your throat is almost suffocating, yet you want to know more.

"And Chan..."

Yeonjun looks at you with a slight smirk, and it irks you.

"Chan was... a curveball I didn’t see coming. Of all the people you could’ve chosen to help you in this charade, I never thought you would choose Chan..."

A smile comes up on your face at the memory of what happened.

"Wait, what..." Yeonjun looks confused at your smile.

"So actually I didn’t ask Chan... after you said no in the locker room... he volunteered. He apparently overheard our conversation and offered to... well... you know..."

Yeonjun starts laughing at the revelation, and it leaves you more confused than you began with, so you start whining for Yeonjun to spill.

"Oh my God! Of course Chan was the one who volunteered! I should've known!"

When he finally calms down, he turns you to face him all serious.

"Y/n, I wish I could tell you everything, but you need to talk to Chan. The only thing I can tell you, though, is..." he boops your nose saying so, "he’s a good guy. Just be patient and talk to him. He should be the one to explain it to youo."

"Oh wow, Jjunie... that was so melodramatic. Just tell me what’s going on, please..." you whine.

"Nah nah nah... I wish... but it’s not my place to. Plus, Chan would kill me." He dramatically enacts being scared, and you playfully hit him in the arm and pout.

"But... I don't know if I want to talk to him. This all happened very bizzarely, one moment I liked Wooyoung and that turned out... not great... What if Chan turns out to be an illusion too?" You can feel your heartrate increase as the words leave your mouth. Yeonjun places his hands on your shoulder to ground you to reality.

"Hey, Y/n, don't be an idiot. Wooyoung was an illusion becuase you were in love with the idea of him. Chan is real! He knows you, and you know him. Just trust me, this is a good thing... I want you to be happy. Just please talk to him. Don't take any stupid decisions on your own"

You sigh. "Alright, I'll talk to him after the big game tomorrow!" "Now that's my girl!" Yeonjun beams at you as you grin brightly.

"Okay okay, you go sleep now. You've got a big game tomorrow Jjunie. And you need to bring your best!" "Aw, thank you!"

And with that, he bids you adieu. Although you are happy to finally make up with your best friend and have fun with him, his words leave boost your confidence.

You decide to finally text back Chan, now that you know what you want.

Y/N: Hey Channie, sorry I couldn't text... was caught up, thinking...

And before you could send all your texts he replies back.

Chan: Oh hi princess ❤️, good to hear from you!

Y/N: Why are you awake? You have a big game tomorrow!!

Chan: Couldn't sleep... a certain someone's silencce was keeping me awake

This drama queen!

Y/N: That's no excuse for an athlete! Y/N: Also I'm really sorry about that... we should talk, but now you need to sleep.

Chan: No sleep is for the weak. All I wanna do is talk! Chan: To you that is

Y/N: We will... after I watch you win the game tomorrow and treat you to victory lunch🥰

Chan: Oohh is that a heart and a smile I see! 🤯 I can't wait to see you tomorrow ♥ Chan: We really do need to talk. Chan: I've been going crazy since that night...

Aw poor Chan...

Y/N: We'll talk... but just know there's nothing to worry about 🥰

The next fifteen minutes is just Chan and you flirting on text until nyou both will yourself to fall asleep. And for the first time in three days, you sleep with a big smile on your face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today Chan's kiss was life-changing.

You did not remember how long it had been since you ran across the field to kiss him, but when you broke apart from the kiss- breathless, you felt like a different person.

Chan's full happy laugh fills you up as he holds your face in palms. He feels like a dream.

"Just so you know... I did not kiss you becuae people were watching... or because Wooyoung was watching..."

He raises his eyebrows at your words, a smirk dancing on his face. "Oh?" You can feel a blush creep up on your cheeks, spreading all over you.

"I kissed you because... I 'm just a stupid girl who thought fake relationships is the way to get someone's attention without realizing that there's already someone who gives me eveyrthing I could ask for and more. I am sorry to myself that I didn't understand that before, but I am happy I have you now... because I love you and I want you to be my boyfriend... for real, no rules or contracts." You manage to finally say, you're heart feeling 10x lighter.

Chan's smile feels like it could light up the whole world.

"I've always been ready to be your boyfriend, princess. I am glad you realized it now... I've been a big simp for too long now. " He jokes as your jaw drops to the floor at his revalation.

"Well, you don't have to stop simping now..." you say cheekily, and he laughs- the sound fillling every part of you.

"I don't plan to princess..." And before you could say anything he pulls you in for another soul-altering kiss.

This time you are force to stop due to someone coughing precociously and both of you turn to face Yeonjun. He's standing there with the rest of the team, all of them smiling at you. You feel so shy you shove your face in your hands and they all start laughing.

"Hey lovebirds, I am happy for you both but Chan needs to egt his ass in the locker room to talk with coach!" Yeonjun shouts as he walks away from the field.

"Yeah Yeah I'll be there!" Chan shouts back mid-giggles.

Hearing him you finally let go of Chan and push him towards the locker. He runs forward two steps then turns back, his big smile lighting up his eyes, walks toward you and gives one more tight kiss before running toward the locker rooms.

This man is straiight out of a romcom I swear!

Things weren't perfect now, you still had to figure out how to face Wooyoung in drama practice. But seeing Chan passionately play today, and realizing how much he risked to be with you even when he knew you liked his close friend, you decided to stick it out and try to fix things with Wooyoung.

There's always time to fix things later, for now you want to stay in the lavender haze you're in and enjoy the upcoming summer break with the most romcom-coded, kind-hearted, and hot boyfriend.

Everything else can come after, but now you're feeling high school at it's best and you're going to live it💖.

80 notes · View notes

canadaxed · 6 hours ago

Text

Lucy is an Ancient!.... theory.

you might like this if you: really like the idea of eldritch beings falling in love with some normal ass dude who is totally unaware.

I also posted this all on the Klei forums, which might be easier to read for some people. Click here for that version.

A while ago I posted: "someone remind me to make a post on my theory about Lucy being an Ancient" and I finally got around to it! Feel free to read. It's a long one, but the main timeline for the idea is in the last paragraphs if you want to skip ahead.

Here's the theory now:

Hey gang, I figured I'd post this theory I have. I dunno if anyone else has picked up on it, I didn't find anything myself. I'm gonna try my best to explain why I believe Lucy the Axe could be..... an Ancient!! Like the spirit of the Shadow Maul or Reaper.

First things first, lets start with Woodie, the scraps of lore we have for him, and what Lucy means to him.

We know that the survivors entering the Constant (at least in the DS era) have a pattern of wanting something, or being emotionally vulnerable- and this is typically what Maxwell preyed on to get them into the Constant.

In Walter's short, we get a glimpse of Woodie's cabin. He has references to his family being from Scotland in it, various stereotypical Canadian British Columbian Guy decor, two very conspicuous chairs in the main room.... and "Lucy's" outside.

That's right... Woodie never took the physical "Lucy" with him. I put Lucy in quotation marks because we don't know if Lucy was always his axe... or if she was the person that second chair in his home belonged to.

The guy went deep into an uninhabited forest to get away from people, why would he have two chairs in his home right next to each other? Pair this with with how he leaves his red "Lucy" axe outside, rather than having left her on the chair or something like one might if they were romantically invested in something.

Keep this in mind too when considering whether Lucy could’ve been a real person or was always an axe.

Now, putting the pieces we have so far together, one could follow this story pretty easily: Woodie lost his wife and was reminiscing on memories of her while listening to the radio, which was the prime moment for Maxwell to swoop in with the promise of reuniting them.

Don't Starve fans might be skeptical for a few reasons: DS fans are split pretty evenly between wanting Woodie to be "just some funny guy" and also desperately wanting more information on this mysterious Lumberjack. When you put this theory into perspective, it all feels too easy; or it just feels wrong to completely blow open a huge point in Woodie's lore that is otherwise kept close to Klei's chest.

Secondly, somewhat related to the first point: Klei's got plans in motion for their lore. The idea of even the gameplay of the world is that you start out knowing nothing, and slowly, SLOWLY, you gain more information. Even then, though, the game becomes more complex and deep. Essentially the team's been doing the same thing with their lore. Whether they only had a loose idea at the beginning and are now really hitting the road running with the direction they want to go in terms of lore, or if they always had an idea for it: they've been giving us glimpses of it over the past... 12 years? We've never gotten the full picture even after all this time, all these shorts and expansions. And each new bit of lore that gets revealed, there's another complexity added to it. Again, people might be thinking "this is just too easy a conclusion to come to, I could've thought of that."

They might just really be banking on Woodie's general obscurity in relation to the main story as a way to give him a lot of interesting tidbits that people won't immediately dissect.

Thirdly: I'm just one person posting something on the internet. I could just be way too much of a fan of Woodie and reading too much into all this. And I could totally be wrong or be wrong about some things and right about others. Either way, I don't anticipate getting any answers from Klei for a long time if at all, which only adds to skepticism.

(If you ask me, Don't Starve and its short animations/puzzles/lore drops are begging to be nitpicked.)

So lets back-track a little and talk about why Klei might've decided to drop so much potential, very vital Woodie lore in this one short. (AKA: the Woodie Tangent part of this theory thread, cus I love him)

If you've seen the short animations on Youtube, you might go to the comment sections here and there to get a general community consensus on them or the character. The comments are overwhelmingly positive and a lot praise how the lore is being handled.

Then you get to Woodie's very own animated short....

If you've seen it, you know it's a silly animation where Woodie , in the Constant (unlike other shorts til then), is chopping trees and gets attacked by a tree guard. He uses his three wereforms to fight it, and overall its a pretty fun time. The comments are mostly positive, but a lot expressed disappointment in not getting any more lore about Woodie. He's a very mysterious character, even despite having one of the longer character bios in the game.

So, eventually Walter comes along. A young boy from Canada, part of a boy scouts troop, really into monsters. If the developers didn't have Woodie in mind when making Walter, they ended up becoming very intertwined character and story-wise anyway. Klei being the cheeky devils they are, decided that if people wanted Woodie lore so bad, they'd get it.... via Walter's short. We only get a few glimpses at background things (we might've even got a hint that Woodie lives on vancouver island) but to Klei, that's enough. Clearly we've gotta do something with what we got.

But even Walter's short didn't give us enough for full answers to anything.

Let's move on and get to the real stuff: Lucy, Maxwell, and the Ancients.

The Ancients in Don't Starve lore refers to a powerful society of bug people that existed in the Constant long, long ago. They went extinct because of their over-reliance on nightmare fuel, which brought them from famine and gave them great magic and technology that allowed them to live in a bustling utopia, for a while.

We see an ancient in the metaphysical "flesh" in Hamlet as the Ancient Herald. We also know that the spirits that embody such weapons as the Shadow Maul or Shadow Reaper were once ancients, and their souls were probably in the pure horror/dark tatters used to create those items.

Anyway, the reason why they matter in this instance is because the only other living, talking tools we know about in the game are the Shadow Maul and Shadow Reaper, who both happen to have special dialogue for Woodie. They’re possessive over him, and jealous of and particularly spiteful towards Lucy. They’re also made with dark magic, unsurprisingly, and that’ll come into play later in terms of my theory for Lucy’s existence. I’m noting now that the Shadow Reaper/Maul and Lucy all have a nonchalance about them and are eager to be used. Also, that they all feature red prominently in their designs.

As fun as I find all these personality similarities though, we won’t talk about them much. Here are these comparisons for the hell of it:

Shadow Reaper quote: "We make a good team, no matter how you ssssslice it." Lucy quote: “We make a good team!"

Shadow Maul quote: "Ch- cho- chop. CHOP!" "Ch- chop tree... CHOP TREE!" "CHOP! CHOP! CHOP!" Lucy quote: "Chop chop chop. Heh." "Chop, c-c-chop!"

Also on this point of Lucy being a magical item, remember how she will always disappear in the world if Woodie’s gone too long and be replaced by a normal axe. If Woodie tries to use any normal axe that isn’t her, she immediately disappears from where she was last dropped and poofs right into Woodie’s hands in place of that axe.

Alongside this, typically you can only carry/have one Lucy at a time, and she does have special dialogue if you can somehow hold another one.

So, we’ve established the similarity between the talking items. Keep in mind that its established now that inhabitants of the Constant can summon the souls of the Ancients to be used as objects with dark magic.

Moving on…

Its safe to say Maxwell couldn’t manipulate too much beyond the confines of the Constant and his portals and the radios, like we see with him needing Willow and Wilson’s help.

He also can’t seem to drag anyone into the Constant whose name doesnt start with W. Also, whenever Maxwell “fulfills a wish” in order to get a survivor into the Constant, it always comes with a twist. (If Woodie didnt want anything new or different from his current life, he wouldn’t have been lured in. If Woodie just wanted his axe to actually talk to him, he wouldn’t just be given that no strings attached. If Woodie wanted someone back and was promised they’d be in the Constant, why not turn them into his axe, which as a lumberjack he’s metaphorically married to?)

The possibility of Maxwell dragging Lucy’s spirit into the world alongside Woodie is feasible, considering Wendy and Abigail’s situation. But if that were the case, then why not let her stay as a spirit attached to Woodie, rather than having to construct an entirely new form of axe? Because remember, Woodie didn’t bring his real axe into the Constant with him.

You could argue: “because he’s bored. Lol.” and to that i say….. Yeah true lol. Work with me here!

Here’s another potential point towards Lucy’s spirit being brought in with Woodie: Wendy’s quotes for Woodie often refer to Lucy, and how Abigail favours her.

But keep in mind that this (Wendy/Abigail recognising a spirit in Lucy) only tells us that there IS a presence in Lucy. Also, considering Winona’s short, I think it’s safe to assume that Abigail might only be able to exist in the Constant because of her flower somehow being tethered to its magic. Lucy wouldn’t have had that.

Alongside that, Maxwell’s quote for examining Lucy: "Ah. How have you been, Lucy?"

He knows there IS something in the axe and appears familiar with her

So…

Let’s rule out a few other ideas for Lucy’s existence real quick (just in terms of this theory… because i still love these interpretations):

Lucy being purely in woodie’s mind: then other characters wouldn’t think much about her, Maxwell wouldn’t speak to her so familiarly or as a real person. Even if the magic going into the DST world made her able to speak, Maxwell would be more likely to show surprise at her sentience (its something new that happened after his reign)

Lucy only existing because Woodie willed her into existence on arrival into the Constant: See above, Maxwell wouldn’t be so familiar with her. Plus, putting together the pieces of woodie having left his real-world fire axe outside his house while he was spending his down time inside, we can assume that woodie in the real world didnt have the same deep connection to his axe. If he could will something into existence, why not have it be the real person he was missing that he wouldve shared that chair with?

Lets start wrapping this up.. Cus I’m no good at writing coherently in long-form.

Here’s what I think could be the potential timeline of events for this theory, putting all the pieces together:

Maxwell needs to lure a depressed, possibly mourning Woodie into the Constant and promises him he’ll reunite him with his partner, Lucy. Her spirit’s not tethered to the real world anymore (because unlike Abigail, she didn’t have that odd flower) and Maxwell can’t manipulate the world outside of the Constant to that degree- but he has a lot of power inside of the Constant. He calls upon the spirit of an Ancient, seemingly the only spirits that can be returned to a level of sapience, with dark magic of which he’s especially adept, and forges its spirit into that of a special axe.

Then, either he imbues the axe with Woodie’s memories or the axe/eldritch powers-that-be gain them in their own way (think Maria from Silent Hill,) and upon Woodie’s passage to The Constant, he receives her.

As far as Woodie’s concerned, he’s gotten everything he needs, and takes his existence in The Constant without much disdain. As for Lucy, her old Ancient spirit is happy to be alive again and feeding off living beings (trees). It takes getting used-to to be an entirely new “person”, but she gets the hang of it. She’s clingy and codependent because he’s her source of fuel, but quickly forms a bond with him and ends up caring about his wellbeing, to the point of helping his survival in the DST era. Woodie is blissfully unaware and thriving.

....

Alright, thanks for reading! I know it was a lot. Feel free to discuss. I love Woodie and Lucy. I'm sure I missed a few things, like maybe how Lucy knows about Woodie's wereform cycle with the moons and when his beaverness gets low (the moon thing could be a reference to how the Ancients worshipped "Alter"/Them, and the beaverness thing could just be her dark magic picking up on his curse) ... or how Lucy is very picky with other survivors and very sure of herself/forward/brash like the other sentient items, but those are more of a stretch.

#dont starve #dst #dont starve together #lucy the axe #woodie dont starve #dont starve lore #lucy dont starve #woodie dst #woodie #lucy #theory #writing #maxwell dst #maxwell dont starve

35 notes · View notes

ierr · 21 hours ago

Text

I like you, but how do I tell you? // katsuki bakugo

a.n ; guys I suck at summaries (which is why I don’t write most of em) 🙁 but trust I will get better!! this took a little long, but I still hope you guys enjoy!! would ya’ll like a pt 2? 👀👀 ALSO SERVER IS NOW UP, PLEASE JOIN🙏🏼🙏🏼

discord server!! - JOIN NOW

this was just great. what a wonderful week you had right? wrong. tonight just took the whole fucking cake of the week. here you are walking through the streets with a tank top, a black skirt and heels. you were supposed to be attending a party with your "boyfriend" but instead got hit in the fucking face with a welcoming surprise. when you walked into the house, the first thing you did was try to find him. looked in the kitchen, the living room, and finally upstairs. pushing past some people to get upstairs, you were gonna check the rooms but instead got hit with a welcoming surprise.

there he was with a semi tall blonde chick, deep kissing her, gripping onto her ass as her hands were in his hair. your heart had dropped, but you didn't feel sad no. you felt angry and…stupid. angry that after two years of dating, wasting your time. and stupid because the moment your best friend told you what he saw you didn’t believe him. alone in the dark as you walked, you pulled out your phone going straight to his contact, biting your lip you stopped walking for a second to stare at it.

'kat 🧡

you stood there just..looking at his contact name. you bit your bottom lip, clicking on the messages to see the last thing that was sent. "don't come running to me when you find out the type of guy he is." you clicked your tongue. whole time he was right, and you didn't listen giving him the benefit of a doubt. right now. he was your only option of getting a ride. you hovered over the call button, hesitant to press it, but looking around it was dark and cold. huffing in frustration you pressed on it putting it up to your ear starting to walk again, it was ringing which was good. only a few seconds went by before it went to voicemail, knew it.

"hey..kat. I know we haven't talked in over..two weeks, but uh..I kinda need you right now?. I'm stranded in a neighborhood, and I don't have money on me just..if you get this please call me back?." you sighed, hanging up the phone continuing to walk through the street. now you have no one, and have a 23 mile hike to walk back to your apartment. you huffed crossing your arms together deep in thought. you could imagine it already..the "I told you so" scoffing, hearing his voice in your head. a few minutes had passed by, still walking through the night grunting by the pain in your feet as you walked. when you made up the hill a bright light had came to your attention, and a loud engine revving making your ears perk up. you used your hand to cover the lights that were practically blinding you, but when they shut off a figure stepped out the car. you furrowed your eyebrows, reaching for the knife that was hidden in your sock before the figure came to the light.

your heart dropped. It was him. you wanted to run towards him and just..be in his arms, but you stood up straight, crossing your arms walking towards him who leaned against the hood of the car palms sitting behind him holding him up. the sound of your heels clicking against the ground made you even more embarrassed, as you walked up to him. he didn't say anything, but stare at you with a tilted head. katsuki raised a brow, you were in a black skirt, a white tank top, and black heels. "tank top and a skirt huh?." was the first thing he said scoffing, looking you up and down. you rolled your eyes looking away from him, "attending a party." he scoffed again nodding his head, "attending" right? then what's this?." he said obviously pointing out the obvious. you were standing in the cold with barely anything on. "was attending.." you looked away. katsuki grunted leaning up from the car to take off his jacket, when he didn't say anything you turned back to him only to see a jacket flying towards your face. "hurry up, and put it on before you catch a cold." you pulled the jacket off your face glaring at him, who looked back at you with a smirk getting into the black car.

you scoffed pulling the jacket onto your body going to the passenger side. It was nice and warm..you breathed in relief feeling the warmth engulf the coldness that once covered you. the car ride was very..awkward and silent, neither one of you said a word to each other. you're looking outside the car window seeing lights, and buildings go by as katsuki kept his eyes straight ahead, one hand on the steering wheel as the other on the center. the sound of his fingers tapping against the leather box gained your attention, looking from the window down at his hand then at him. your eyebrows scrunched up, you wanted to say something to him, but you couldn't find the right words.

he felt your eyes on him, he knew exactly what you were thinking. your face gave it away. katsuki grunted, stopping at a red light finally facing your way which caught you off guard. he just stared at you, like he was waiting for you to say something, but it was crickets. damn y/n!. get a grip. you cleared your throat looking back down, "thank you..for getting me." was all you said, but he raised a brow. that wasn't all you wanted to say. you wanted to apologize for getting mad at him..but you couldn't find the right words. you were such an idiot for not believing him from the beginning, "that all?." his voice spook, your eyes averting to his who stared back, your eyebrows furrowed.

It wasn't. you shook your head no, sighing. "I'm also..sorry for getting into that big argument..I should've believed you from the beginning, and i'm an idiot for not..i'm just really sorry kat.” it was silent. you stared at him waiting for an answer, but you didn’t get one. just a simple nod looking back ahead. though, you would be lying if you didn’t say that didn’t hurt feelings when it did, but you deserved it. you were an asshole towards him when he tried to tell you..looking down you fought the urge to cry. tonight was just so shitty. through the car ride it was silent again, as you looked out the window you recognized you were in your neighborhood, thinking he was taking you home getting ready to unbuckle, he drove right past your apartment.

your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. turning your head towards him, he stayed quiet, only keeping his eyes in front of him as he drove. if this was anyone else, you would’ve freaked out..but since he is your best friend, you trust him. as you guys drove through the city, you were starting to recognize this road..after a few more minutes, katsuki stopped the car. after the dull minutes of silence he spoke, “you’ve always said this view made you feel better, so.” your heart fluttered. “kat..you didn’t have to, you know?” you said with a light chuckle, hearing him snicker. “shut up idiot, I wanted to..” from hearing your voicemail, and picking you up he knew you finally saw what he saw that day. even though he’s still upset with you he wanted to make you feel better. he cared about you..a lot more than you think. you turned back to look at the view of the city, the lights, the water..it made you feel at ease.

now sitting on his hood, as you both were admiring the city he could tell you were feeling more better. your head laid on his shoulder, as you continued to look at city. you missed this. from the days you two had stopped talking, you thought he was just jealous of your relationship with e/n, and wanted to break up your guy’s relationship, but you were wrong. when bakugo told you he saw him with another girl, kissing, holding hands, you didn’t wanna believe him. now you feel stupid for not. katsuki cares about you, weather he has a hard time showing it, you mean everything to him. growing up, and graduating u.a together you guys are inseparable. though he is very good at hiding emotion, that day when you told him to fuck off, to leave you alone..he couldn’t lie, and say it didn’t hurt his feelings when it did.

hurts more when you have feelings for a girl who was already taken.

as the wind blew, taking him out of his thoughts he felt you shiver against him. though the jacket was keeping your top half warm, your bottom half is what bothered you, shivering again feeling cold air hit your legs. he looked down with a raised brow, grunting, bringing your legs to lay ontop of his, placing his hands on top of them. it took you by surprise looking up at him. usually he would always get annoyed or curse you out for putting your legs on him, but this time it was different. feeling his hands on your thighs, his palms started to heat up, “feel better?” he questioned, you hummed..slowly nodding your head. “much better..” he only hummed in response, continuing to look in the distance. this moment together felt right? every feeling you felt after you left that house disappeared like ocean waves..you felt safe with him. he felt safe with you.

feeling katsuk’s hand on your leg softly, caressing his thumb over your skin, you couldn’t help but smile a little, moving your hand to be placed on top of his. they were rough like always, but warm with a tent of softness to them. “It’s been awhile since we been up here.” you mentioned with a small smile, looking back at him, who grinned looking at you. you looked so..beautiful, “yeah?” you rolled your eyes, squeezing his hand. “you know it has…you didn’t have to do this for me.” again with that. katsuki scoffed, pinching your leg, “would you shut up? I said I wanted to dummy.” — “I’m just saying!” rolling your eyes, “this was really sweet of you though..even after what I’ve said to you.” katsuki felt a weird ping in his heart, but brushed it off shrugging. “It’s fine.” he felt more at ease knowing you’re finally done with that asshole..but his feelings for you only kept bothering and poking at him.

you guys spent a good hour viewing the city before he decided to drive you home, this time no awkward silence or tension. it was back to normal, which you were happy about. as katsuki pulled up in front of your apartment building, he parked the car. “thank you again kat, it means a lot to me.” you smiled, hearing a small hum. “don’t do no dumb shit again, ya hear?” you giggled rolling your eyes, “just get home safe, k?” as soon as you were about to leave the car, katsuki thought to himself..should he confess? should he not? unconsciously his hand shot towards your wrist, you paused feeling his hand turning back around to look at him with confusion. “what’s wrong?” fuck. why was this so hard? was this even a good moment to tell you? “I..uh.” I like you. say it, three simple words right? “something wrong kat?” his feelings. his eye brows furrowed… say it bakugo! “I’ll text you when i’m home.” fuck! you relaxed a little, nodding with a small smile, “you better!!” his heart pounded against his chest, watching as you closed the door walking into the apartment building. “fuck.” he growled, leaning back into his seat rubbing a hand across his face.

why was this so hard?

join the discord server!!

42 notes · View notes

minhosglasses · 2 days ago

Text

I've got you - B.C

plot: after an argument with your mother ends in the worst situation for you, you now need to recover in rehabilitation. your new personal trainer chan doesn't only become your motivation to be able to walk again, but also a friend or maybe even lover for life.

pairing: bangchan x gn reader

genre: personal trainer x client, angst, fluff, comfort

warnings: car crash, injury scars, psychological abusive parents

word count: 4.9k

a/n: i got inspired by an old lee know imagine I read years ago on wattpad, if you're that person then let me know bc the inspo is obv to you♡

“Yeah mom I'm in my car right now” the car door flies open as you try to keep everything in your hands without dropping any of it.

When finally seated in the car you throw your bag in the passenger seat and start driving before buckling up, there was no time for that. You were already late and your mother's faint but also loud voice on the other side of the phone was not helping this stress. Every time you hear your mother on the other line repeating that you should've left earlier and respect your family more, you could only feel the wish of not reaching the destination grow more and more.

“Mom, I understand I will be there soon. I'm leaving my parking lot as we speak” you could barely hear what her answer was before you hear more chatter in the background get louder and louder. You knew you'd be the talk of it all once you got there. They'd keep on asking questions about how you don't have a better job yet, no partner that could help you, no partner that YOU can benefit from. For them it's just a good job to get money or a good partner that brings in even more money.

At this point you weren't even listening to your mother anymore. The closer you get to the gathering the more the anxiety grows inside of you. Why today of all days? They could've picked any other day but right now you're in the middle of finding a new job. If that information somehow comes out you'd never see the light of day.

You keep on driving and at this point your mother is so lost in her own rumbling that she doesn’t realise you stopped listening way past 10 minutes ago. You wanted to hit that mute button so badly or just end the call but when the phone is laying on the passenger seat and you’re on the highway it was impossible to take your eyes off the road.

“Are you even hearing me right now?!” you hear coming from your phone.

“Yes mom I’m hearing you perfectly” you finally pull up by a red light and take this chance to take your phone and end the call. You look around and your surroundings seems to be fine and you reach over for the phone. Your mother is still screaming and you suddenly force yourself to interrupt her. “Well mom I’m gonna go now, you know I’m arriving in an hour”

You see the light go green and you panic since you still have your phone in your hand right now. You say goodbye loudly over the phone as your mother still has stuff to say, you just wish she could keep it until you get there or she hopefully forgets until then. “Mom I have to dri-”

CRASH

You don’t even get to finish your sentence before you feel a force from behind of your car push you forward. Your phone is quickly nowhere out of sight and everything happens in a millisecond. That seatbelt that you so in panic did not put on suddenly felt like it was needed as the force sent you out of the window. Your ears are ringing and your vision blurry as you can’t quite understand what happened. All that you can feel is your adrenaline rushing through you, but it was also the only thing you could feel at all.

A week later

Your dry eyes open and a white light hits you in the face immediately making you sigh in frustration. The same white light that has been torturing your eyes for the past week. Your mind still can’t comprehend what has happened and neither can your body. Your right leg is covered in a cast and multiple bruises and so far you can not feel yourself being able to move it. You felt like you knew your fate from here. You were praying to yourself or whoever you felt might hear it that this was not the way it was supposed to go for you. That you’d walk again and that something out there would save you from this grave you felt like you were digging.

Your phone was laying quiet on the bedside table. The screen was cracked but at least it was still working. But seeing the screen was even worse. Because you could see that your family had not sent a single message about it. The only messages were from that day and how they couldn’t believe you stood them up, how you’re so ungrateful and how you should be ashamed that you didn’t show up. It didn’t matter how may tries it took to tell her that your leg was beat up to the point where you’d probably have to be in crutches forever, she probably felt even more ashamed to have a child who couldn’t even walk properly anymore. Your shaky fingers reached for the camera icon, but you kept stopping in your tracks. Did you really wanna see it? You weren’t feeling anything but something might be there.

You let your thumb press the icon and the view made you gasp. Across your cheek there was a huge white bandage with small bits of blood in it, possibly from the scar it was hiding underneath. The heaviness in your chest grew even more and the tears in your eyes were burning. You couldn’t cry, not here. Because the tears were not for you, they were for them, because of them. The way you knew they’d see you even worse now, and how they would rather yell at you and call you ungrateful than pay you one visit at the hospital where you’ve been for a week.

“Excuse me Y/N?” your tears were interrupted by a sudden voice, the voice belonging to your nurse. You quickly dried your tears with the back of your hand to meet her gaze, making her give you a reassuring smile. “I know this is difficult for you… Do you need me to leave?” you quickly shook her head, she probably had a reason for entering and you didn’t wanna stop her from doing her job. You feel yourself zone out, you could barely feel anything right now. You just wanted to go back to bed and never wake up again. “I also came to tell you that your doctor has seen some improvement. I understand that it’s difficult for you right now, but with the right training and rehab it’s looking good for you to be able to stand on your own again” it didn’t even make you smile. It was only possible if you pushed through, and right now you didn’t even wanna push yourself to let your feet hit the cold floor.

There was a sudden knock on the door, making you quickly lay your eyes on a younger man. He was in a grey hoodie and his hair was being covered by a black cap that also covered half of his face. You looked at him worryingly, was this someone you knew? Someone who came to visit you that wasn’t your family?

“Oh Chan! Come in” the nurse said by your side, making you even more confused. You met her eyes with a gaze that said “help”. “Oh Y/N! This is Chan, he works in the rehabilitation center in the other building across the street. He’s the best of the best and we thought you could need motivation by maybe seeing him for a while. We really believe that you can be on your feet again soon” your mind was having a million questions at the same time. You realised he was still standing in front of your bed and all you could do was give him a wave.

“I’m sorry to just burst in, I understand you must have a lot to process right now. I just wanted to come and say hi and possibly talk with you about your pain to see what we could work with” his voice was calm but the undertone also had the sadness, like he was sad that you were in this situation to begin with.

The room went cold as the nurse left you and Chan to talk. You didn’t know where to start. You were barely talking to the nurses at this point. You could see that he had dealt with this before. He did not seem stressed, nervous or awkward. He just sat there until you showed any sign that you were ready. Like he could sit there for days.

“Uhm…” you slowly started just to get a word out. Your voice felt weird and your throat was dry. “Where do we begin?” your voice got shakier as you spoke, it was difficult to even accept that a personal trainer was sitting in your room. It would have been nicer to see one in a situation that wasn’t in the hospital because of an injury.

“Why don’t you just start by telling me where it hurts, and how would you rate that one to ten? Your nurses have already gone through some with me, but I wanna hear it from you”

You nodded, suddenly you went back to quiet again. It has all gone too fast, why were you here? Was it because you wished that you wouldn’t make it there? Was this your own fault? You let out a shaky breath as you realised you had to move on, and started pointing to where it hurt. Every time you point to somewhere you see him taking notes in his book.

“It’s numb” you say with tears in your eyes. He stops writing immediately and closes his book to look at you. “I can’t barely feel it” you let the tears roll down your cheeks, feeling the scary situation take over you and swallow you whole.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s going to be scary I know” Chan started as he laid a hand on your trembling hand. It was like he could feel your fear through it. It was cold and shaking, he had seen many clients be worried for themselves but this really made his heart ache. You both seem to be close in age, he couldn’t imagine what he himself would feel like if he was in your position. “You got this, you’re so strong” his words were calming you down as you could finally breathe normally and see clearly again.

Your cries went quiet as Chan’s questions went on. It was difficult to describe as you never felt like you could grasp the situation itself. Every time you thought back on the situation you felt that adrenaline rush again. How you just fell out of the car and how you could’ve saved yourself if you just had focused. But nothing could take you back now, it was only a matter of time before you had to look forward and make yourself you again.

______________

Today was your first meeting with Chan. You had finally left the hospital bed and was currently using crutches or a wheelchair as support. Waiting outside of the rehabilitation gym you looked at yourself in the mirror outside. The scar had healed a bit more with small parts of scab left, but you could see on the more healed parts that this would never go unnoticable. There would be scars from your stitches across your cheek and you knew that no one would be able to see the rest of your face first. You sighed at the sight of yourself, your family would never wanna look at you now, barely you wanted to either. Who cares if the leg healed or not, it’s not the first thing they see.

“Y/N?” you turned your head to your right, seeing Chan right there. You quickly studied him up and down, realising he was different from when you first saw him. He was now wearing a black oversized t-shirt and no cap, making him show his pretty brown hair which was laid on the side.

He was very good looking there was no denying that. Which made you lay your hand on your own cheek. You knew it wasn’t weird to him, he often helped people that come out of situations like yours. But the self cautious feelings took over you in the moment, and while leaning on your crutch you tried to make the hood of your sweater cover your cheek.

You couldn’t tell if he saw it or not, but that couldn’t matter for long enough either because the important part was to make yourself walk again. There weren’t many people in the gym, just a few people older than you with their own trainors.

Chan walked you over to a more quiet area where it was mostly a floor covered in black foam carpet.

“Let’s just start easy and foam roll the muscle, then we’ll try to keep your core strength since you can lose it if you have to walk less right now. Does that sound okay?” you could only nod. This whole situation made you nervous, you knew that the slightest fail could push your motivation even further back than it already is.

Chan takes your hand carefully as he helps you sit down on the floor. He gently places the foam roller under your leg making you wince at the small pain the lift gave you. You start pushing your leg back and forth on the foam roller feeling fine the first few minutes. You felt some weight lift from your shoulders as you did a few more minutes. Maybe you were worried for nothing?

The time goes by pretty slowly but you feel better than you thought you would. Maybe this could actually be something. Or that was until the dreaded question left Chan’s lips,

“Do you wanna try walking with support from these bars?”

He was standing by two pairs of metal bars, and just seeing them made you feel uneasy. But was it worth giving up now? It wouldn’t hurt to try right? In return you nodded at him, making him run back to you to help you up. You had an arm over his shoulder and he tried lifting you from the floor a bit so that you wouldn’t have to limp over there.

Chan carefully sets you down between the bars, letting you get a good grip on them before he finally lets go of your body. You feel your whole weight land evenly on both of your legs but as soon as it starts feeling great you feel your body fall to the side.

Your leg can’t support it enough.

Before your body can hit the floor you feel a pair of arms back around you. Chan was quick to catch you and through his embrace of you he could feel your panicked breath.

“Hey… hey it’s okay just breathe. I’ve got you. I’m not letting you fall I promise” he said, patting your head as well. “I know that was scary, I should’ve held onto you a bit more over the floor. I didn’t mean to just let go I’m sorry”

Tears pricked in your eyes once again. This felt hopeless once again. How was this ever going to be fixed? How can someone fix a broken part like this? Babies could walk better than you.

“This is so useless…” you muttered. It hurt Chan’s heart that the first time since the hospital where you speak to him is you talking down on yourself. He kept patting your head and tried to not make himself lose his cool as he heard your small sobs in his arms.

“Don’t say that we have many sessions ahead of us to improve. This is only the first time” he carried you down onto the carpet again, making sure your leg wasn’t touching the floor at all. Your cries had gone quiet but your face was really red.

As Chan set you down he kept seeing you pull that hood in front of your face. He sat down in front of you trying to make you meet his eyes, but once you did you faced the other way. He knew exactly why, but it was not something he was going to pressure you about. He knew injuries in parts such as the face took a toll on people, and it seemed even tougher on you.

“Please don’t look at me…” you put your head in your hands. “This scar is huge, it’s disgusting. It makes me look so…”

“Sad?” Chan finished your sentence with. You tried looking back up without showing most of your face, and of course your eyes met his. They never left you. “You know what I think?” he started, making you shake your head. “I think it makes you look strong. It tells people that something happened to you, yet you’re still here standing. And to me that is an extremely admiring person to me” he continued with a small smile, only making you smile bigger in return. His heart fluttered at that smile, he knew he wanted to make this wonderful perso achieve their goals even more now. They were gonna reach the top and he would be by their side.

_____________

Some weeks turned into a month of seeing Chan. You couldn’t help but feel safe around him as he tried to motivate you to do even better every day. You knew it was his job, but something about just letting you lead it as well made you trust him even more. There was no family that was expecting you to do things their way, or your mother telling you to just get yourself together. He was there, but you were taking your time. And for the first time that was okay.

“Okay so now you walk over to me” he said gesturing with his hands to slowly start walking. This was always the part of the session that you dreaded. Many falls had happened but no bruises added as Chan always caught you in time.

You keep your arms steady on the bars and try to lightly let go with each step. You felt the knee pushing against your will, but the muscles had to be trained again. The closer you got to Chan the more your smile started growing. With every session you felt like you were getting somewhere and this was the closest you’d ever gotten to walk without bars. With just a few meters left until you could take Chan’s hands for support you feel the strength in your leg giving out, making you fall forward this time. Your heart starts pounding faster the moment you feel your leg give out but you never meet the floor.

Chan was almost laying underneath you as he had leaned down to prevent you from falling. He could see that the position got awkward for you so he slowly starts sitting down while helping you down onto the floor. But on the way down your leg still hasn’t gotten its full strength back and you end up falling forward onto Chan. Now having him lay under you.

At first your face becomes red, this was not supposed to happen. But as your eyes meet his deep brown ones, something tells both of you that this okay. Making you both start laughing together.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay? My leg totally gave out” you were still laughing with a slight hint of worry in your voice as you literally had just dropped your full weight onto him.

“Nono I’m totally fine, I’m happy I caught you in time-”

“What exactly is going on?” your laughs were interrupted by a very familiar voice belonging to a woman. A special woman being your mother herself. Looking her into the eyes you quickly scooch yourself off of Chan and he keeps his hands close to you incase something starts hurting. He’s just about to support your leg until your mother yells, “Do not touch my child!” Chan doesn’t seem to listen, since he in a way is doing his job during your session.

“Mom? Why are you here?” you ask her, slightly embarrassed that she is scolding Chan right now for doing his job. “I thought you didn’t care about my rehabilitation” you didn’t see it as Chan stood behind you by now but his face fell and he realised he had never seen you with family or even heard you talk about them.

“Why wouldn’t I care? I'm your mother!” she says harshly, studying you up and down. You were only in a pair of sweats and a hoodie since baggy clothes made it easier for you to move your leg, especially with a cast on. “But I see you’re doing other things than working on your walking or how to cover up that ugly scar” the scar was healed by now, but the stitches had now left the big scar more visible. Which with Chan you hadn’t really thought about anymore, you no longer felt the need to cover your face around him.

Chan didn’t know what to say. He was watching you taking harsh comments from your own mother and he didn’t know when it was time for him to say something. Technically the situation you were in could be seen as wrong as you are his client. But at the same time he promised he’d never let you fall and he was holding onto that promise.

He could see how your hands were shaking against the sides of your body. He slowly walked up behind you while your mother was talking to hold your hand. Your hand was shaking in his, but that didn’t matter. The comfort was exactly what you needed since your mother could not hold back to scold you even in your rehab hours.

“Have you tried makeup? How is that scar gonna be covered and gone when I bring you home again? They will wonder how you can’t take care of yourself and I will be blamed for that” your mother went on, you really wondered how she had the energy to do this.

“I’m sorry Ms L/N but I think it’s time you stop” you hear Chan say behind you making your breath hitch.

“Excuse me how dare-”

“You’re in my gym during my work hours when I’m here trying to help your child how to walk normally again. And if you had been here or checked their medical records that I fill in after every session you’d see that they are doing much better than when they were admitted to me.” you squeezed his hand tightly, not being able to speak up in front of your mother right now you felt your heart beating faster. And you knew it wasn’t because of the stress of your mother right now. “So either you leave right now, or I’m gonna have to call security because I have to keep helping them now”

“And the scar?” she asks.

“Ms L/N I’m not a doctor, I’m just a personal trainer. And even if I were, I probably wouldn’t be able to do more than they already have. You should be happy your oen kid is still standing here, that scar is showing how she fought for her life. They are the strongest person I’ve ever met as a trainer here and you should be proud of them because I sure am” he said confidently. “Now please leave” and as you watch your mother turn her back towards the both of you you feel Chan’s thumb caress the upper part of your hand.

You didn’t know what to do at that moment. For the first time in forever someone had been on your side. Chan was just about to open his mouth to speak but before he could you turned around and hugged him. He was caught off guard by the action but as soon as he registered what’s happening his hands found their way to your hips.

You stood there together for what felt like a solid minute. It felt special to finally have someone see you. And you didn’t care if that person wasn’t in your family, he was your motivation and you never wanted to let go of him. When you decide to let go all you can do is smile at him, which he happily returns to you. Your smile was his happiness, because it meant that even in your darkest days right now there was a smile underneath it somewhere.

A few minutes later you’re sitting on the floor together, your session ended about 15 minutes ago. You were telling him about your injury that day, how no one came to the hospital and how he is the only one who you’ve been with since then. He sat there with your hands in his lap and every time you shed a tear he made sure to catch them for you. Sometimes thinking back on it you start panic crying and having hiccups, and every time you have them Chan makes sure to see you even more. Telling you it’s okay, to start again whenever you want, and if you want to stop talking then he doesn’t need to know more of it.

“Hey look at me” Chan’s hand lay carefully on your cheek drying away your tears. “You’re amazing, you know that right?” you start laughing at his comment which only makes him giggle as well. “I’m serious! I’ve seen you go through it this whole month and you’re so strong for even doing this in the first place. Back at the hospital I saw how scared you were, and now I know you were lonely as well. But I am here. I’m sitting here with you now and you’ve grown into a much stronger version of yourself. And even if you fall, then I’ve got you. I’m there to catch you every time”

_______________________

You open the doors from the rehabilitation building and step outside, taking in the good sunny weather together with the warm sunny breeze. The weather was good but today had also been your last session together with Chan. You couldn’t help but feel sad about it. There were days that discouraged you, yes, but he was always there to pick you up. And now you could walk again, which you back then never thought would be possible.

“So, you’re leaving already?” you heard Chan ask behind you.

Turning around you see him in that same grey hoodie he had during your first meeting at the hospital. Something about you two together felt so special to you, and you for sure wouldn’t forget it. You were already sad to part ways with him so being remembered about your days together made you a bit sentimental.

“I guess, we’re not working together anymore. Who are you supposed to have fun with now?” you said, making him smile brightly.

“No one of course” he was laughing a lot with his big smile which just made your heart flutter even more. He really was the best at making you feel like a better version of yourself. “Hey, by the way” he started nervously fiddling with the hem of his hoodie. You gave him a small nod to show that you’re listening and after a quiet minute he went on. “Now that we’re not working together, do you think I could take you out?”

You couldn’t believe your ears. Take you out? You looked at him in shock not realising he just asked what he asked.

“Me…? Yeah absolutely” the relief you felt in your body hit you, you actually get to see him a bit more.

“Maybe we could start now? There’s a beach down the road here. Just to hang out?” you eagerly nodded and without a thought you were both heading for the beach.

The seagulls were making loud noises and the sun was high in the sky. It was a bit windy which caused the salty water to sometimes hit your face. But this feeling was incredible. After months of rehab you had never felt so free and alive in yourself again. And with Chan by your side you felt like you were in paradise.

With your shoes in one hand and Chan’s hand in the other you both walked along the shore with your feet half deep in the water. Feeling the sun hit your face felt refreshing. You never thought you’d end up walking along the shore with Chan, or walking here at all. But you pushed through and for once you felt proud of yourself for pushing through.

Suddenly Chan stopped in his tracks and looked out towards the ocean. He starts walking deeper into the water, gesturing with his hands that you should follow him. With both of you in the water you both start realising it wasn’t the best choice since the winds are getting stronger, and before you both knew it you both fall backwards into the water. But of course someone caught you in time. Looking over at Chan he made sure to have you fall onto him first. In that moment it felt like all of these months leading up to this was made for the both you, and before you know it Chan closed the distance between the both of you.

You felt fireworks going off inside of your stomach and trying to stay calm to not ruin it. Putting your body weight onto him he ends up with his whole back in the water and wet sand. But to him nothing mattered at all in this moment but you and him together. After pulling away he made sure to still hold you close, one hand on your cheek and the other keeping you with him.

“I told you I’ve got you, I’ll catch you everytime”

#stray kids #stray kids fanfic #stray kids drabbles #skz fanfic #skz imagines #skz scenarios #bang chan #bang chan fanfic #bang chan x reader #bang chan x you #bang chan x y/n #bang chan angst #christopher bang #skz angst

50 notes · View notes

dawnbreaker-mylove · 3 days ago

Text

Astra's Tool

Warnings: Implication of rape, child abuse, domestic violence, stalking (implied), power imbalance.

A/N: So... I wrote this... Before we start, I want to emphasize that this is fanfiction. I know this isn't canon, I'm not telling you to recognize it as canon. I wanted to write down my headcanon on Astra and Zayne and whatever relations they have. Don't ask me where I thought Zayne had a step-dad because I forgor. It was probably some Mandela effect or I read a headcanon on Dawnbreaker killing him somewhere back when I started playing the game. Reader's discretion is advised.

You asked Zayne where those marks on his arms came from. He would dodge the question every time with a joke or he'd change the subject. You decided not to pry too much, but your curiosity was never one to fade with time.

Today, you asked again.

“I've been meaning to ask. What happened to your arms? Were you just clumsy when we were kids or something?”

Zayne chuckled as his fingers trailed along the stacks or chocolate bars as you walked through the aisles of the grocery. “It could be that,” he picks up a bar of chocolate with raisins and nuts before placing it back, “but let's not think of things from the past. Instead, why don't you help me pick between almond or hazelnut chocolate for tonight, hm?”

He smiled, lighthearted and sweet like he always does. However, there's a glint of something in his eyes, just for a split second, before it disappears.

You were never one to pry. You both were dating for a while now but you both have your secrets. You respected that, of course. But this particular secret of his felt too important to simply forget. Like it was something you had to know.

Your gaze flickers towards the fridge. The metal doors were covered in colorful magnets from around the world, gifts from Zayne's parents. Then it hit you. If Zayne won't tell you, someone who knows him for years would answer your question.

His mother.

That evening, you called her. Once she picked up, her voice was as bubbly and warm as ever. “Hello, sweetheart,” she greets over some sitcom playing in the background. “What made you call? Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine, Auntie,” you replied. “I just wanted to ask something.” The woman in the other line was encouraging, eager to sate your curiosity. The moment you mentioned Zayne's scars on his arms, the laughter faded. Followed by a sound you least expected. A muffled sob.

“I should've taken him away,” her voice trembled. “He… it was my fault.”

Through her sobs, the past unraveled before you.

Years ago…

We all know one thing for certain: gods have a way of taking what they want. Mortals were no exception. To deities, mortals were nothing more than a piece of a chessboard, their purpose moved by the divine. Astra was no different.

Like a flower blooming in the snow, Astra sees her. The doctor, a woman of beauty and grace, eyes dark and intelligent. He intended to make her his.

For a year, the god watched from the heavens, studying the doctor. He learns she was soft-hearted, the type to reach out to the lonely or to engage with helpless strangers. It was easy to take on a mortal guise, to be the kind of man she could fall for. And she did.

The doctor thought she had met the love of her life. The god thought he had won.

Another year passed, and she was happy. Until one December night, when the snow fell heavily on the city, Astra revealed what he truly wanted.

She tried fighting, but a mortal can never stand a chance against a god. He pinned her down, a cruel smile played on his lips as he whispered to her that the child she would bear would be the greatest gift of all.

She could never forget the look in his eyes that night. It glimmered but not with love or devotion, but with possession.

On the fifth of September, the doctor gave birth to a boy. His father held him in his divine hands, looking down at the baby with his cold gaze. The god named him Zayne.

The doctor wanted to believe, even just a little, that Astra might love the boy. That Zayne could be raised in warmth, not under the god’s watchful eye. But it was when he turned three, the ice came.

The child’s Evol manifested early, and Astra had waited for so long for that day to come. Training had to begin immediately. Every failure was met with punishment. Anytime Zayne's control faltered, Astra would take his wrists and let the ice spread over his arms and let it pierce through his skin like glass.

The doctor would hear Zayne’s cries echo through their home, but there was nothing she could do. Astra's word was law. A mortal could never go against a god.

Until the night she ran.

Zayne was four when his mother carried him in her arms and fled from the clutches of their abuser. But she was unsure if Astra would come for them. She didn't know if he could be outrun.

But she ran anyway. As far as they possibly could.

They built a new life in another city. An apartment for two, a quiet existence. But Astra never truly left.

Nightmares would haunt the young boy. Visions of a faceless man watching from the darkness. He would whisper to Zayne in his sleep. Followed by the ice. He would wake up, screaming in pain as the ice, sharp and jagged, pierce through his skin as they emerged again and again. His mother would hold him as the night filled with his screams of anguish, whispering soothing words and assurance she only half-believed.

The doctor thought she could never give Zayne a normal life. That was before she met the surgeon.

A cardiac surgeon visiting her hospital, tall and lean. She told herself she would never let anyone in again, she would never risk her life and Zayne's again, but then the boy met him.

Zayne, who rarely smiled or laughed, beamed when the surgeon scooped him up into his arms. The two would play and eat mints on a bench in the park. Watching all this, the doctor cried. But they were not sad tears. Tears of relief, of joy, streamed down her cheeks.

It wasn't long before they married. The surgeon gave Zayne his last name: Li. He did it without a second thought, without asking anything in return. Zayne finally has someone he can truly call his father.

Present day…

The call ended and you were left stunned. Your hands trembled as you curled into a ball on the couch. Zayne found you like that.

Without a word, he sat beside you and rested his hand on your back. His warmth was comforting but your chest still felt tight. Your eyes, swollen, flickered to his arms

“I'm sorry,” you whispered. Zayne frowns, lifting your chin up between his thumb and index finger. “For what?”

“For snooping around. For everything.”

You explained in between sobs. The things his mother told you. The things he never found the courage to tell you. Zayne's jaw slightly clenched, his fingers tensed, but his smile didn't waver.

“Enough with the tears,” he whispers as he strokes your hair. “That's all in the past.”

You look up at him, baffled. “You can't just forget something like that.”

His smile faltered slightly. Zayne shook his head and cupped your cheeks gently, wiping the tears from your cheeks before kissing your eyelids.

“What's in the past should stay in the past. I'm fine now, aren't I?”

You sniffled, wiping your nose with the back of your hand. “Why are you comforting me?” You grumbled. “I should be the one comforting you.”

A soft laugh escapes from Zayne's lips, brushing a stray lock from your face before lightly tapping your nose. “For starters, it's because I never heard of someone crying while trying to comfort the person who isn't.”

His voice was too light. Like if he acknowledged it—truly acknowledged it—he might break.

Now you were unsure of who he was comforting, you or himself.

You wrapped your arms around him, holding Zayne closed as humanly possible. You were scared to let go or loosen your grip, as if he would disappear if you did. Zayne only hugs back just as tight, kissing your hair then burying his face in the crook of your neck.

Above the clouds, beyond the falling snow, He watched.

Astra sat on his mighty throne, his gaze locked on the boy. His face that was often twisted in anger, was unreadable.

He had seen this play out before. His Foreseer, falling in love once again with the same mortal that proved to be his downfall in the past. He will not let it happen again.

He would wait. Time was irrelevant to a god.

In the end, what's his will always return to him.

#lnds #l&ds #lads #zayne love and deepspace #lnd zayne #zayne l&ds #dr zayne #love and deepspace #foreseer zayne #maybe write a dawnbreaker version?#first time in a while writing something like this #zayne x reader #zayne x you #tw: abuse

23 notes · View notes

heart-of-ep · 2 days ago

Text

Elvis: Through Her Lens (Chapter One)

(Elvis Presley × OC Reader)

Character/Fandom: Elvis Presley

Read More Here: Elvis: Through Her Lens (coming soon)

Prompt: You are Minnie Jones, an aspiring photographer working for the LA Sentinel. Your chief editor is looking for a story that will help boost the popularity of the paper, so an opportunity comes knocking when Colonel Tom Parker approaches him with a new 'snowjob.' After a tentative first meeting with the Colonel, and his star Elvis Presley, you are hired on to follow Elvis around as his personal photographer in an attempt to catch lightening in a bottle twice with the earlier success of the Alfred Wertheimer photos. Along the way, you develop a close bond with Elvis, leading to complications in your relationship when the issues of his marriage and eventual drug usage start to put a strain on your relationship. Constantly fighting your ever-growing feelings for him, you are swept up into the whirlwind of Elvis' world, which forces you to see the King of Rock 'n' Roll through a new lens.

Tags: Slow burn. Angst. Drama. Friends to lovers (sort of).

Rating: PG-13 (ish) (may get spicy but won't be explicit as I don't enjoy writing smut lol but cursing, possible violence, prescription drug use, and infidelity will appear throughout the story.)

Word Count: 3.6k

Author's Note: Hey everyone! My name is Mari (aka heart.of.ep on here and Instagram!) and I'm so excited to finally be diving into the world of Elvis fanfiction after being a hard-core fan for almost three years now. This is my first time writing in a long while, and it's only my second time writing a fanfiction, so I hope I'm able to entertain you with this story and I hope everyone has a fun time reading it!

I did create an OC for this story as I have an easier time writing with a specific character in mind, but I kept it in second person as to give readers the opportunity to self insert in a way. Wasn't a fan of this POV at first but its really grown on me so hopefully I've done it well haha.

This story will begin by following Elvis in 1970 (my favorite year 🤭) but will continue on throughout the early 1970s! There may be some historical inaccuracies along the way to accommodate the presence of Minnie Jones, but of course I'm always striving to keep things as accurate as I possibly can.

I don't think I will have a specific upload schedule or regular time for posting, but I'll try my best to be as frequent as I can with uploading chapters. Any comments, thoughts, reblogs, etc are very much appreciated and I genuinely hope everyone loves this story as much as I do. 🙏

If you'd like to be tagged in any chapters going forward, just comment and let me know!

Thank you once again and I hope everyone enjoys!

February, 1970

Los Angeles, CA

~*~*~*~*~*~

Elvis Presley.

The most photographed man in the world, and for good reason it seemed. Impossibly blue eyes that swirled like the depth of an ocean, statuesque like features that even a Greek god would most likely be jealous of, and a brilliant smile that sent millions of girls and women all around the world into a complete frenzy whenever he flashed it their way.

It made perfect sense then why his face was pretty much plastered on every magazine you ever came in contact with. Not to mention the various movie posters you would often see at the theater throughout the years. You could even recall being just about twelve years old when Love Me Tender first hit theaters. Even at such a young age, you could see why everyone sitting around you in that dark theater were either crying or screaming. His beauty seemed to transcend the realm of normal.

As hyperbolic as it may seem, no one in the world looked like Elvis Presley, that much was certain.

Unfortunately, while many photos exist, most are heavily curated, either on a movie set or in a studio with lighting and makeup. It didn't make him any less beautiful, but it did give the fans and the public a very specific view of the King, one controlled by Hollywood and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

In the early days, there were hundreds of photos of Elvis that appeared in newspapers from fans and those photographers who were lucky enough to capture a picture of lightning in a bottle. But those days were far gone, and nothing like it has surfaced since.

And that's exactly why you had been brought to your editor's office early one morning in February of 1970. You had been busy working on gathering photos for a local political campaign, which was a real bore, but someone had to do it and you didn't exactly have the seniority to say no. But when your manager called you about a new project, you were practically chomping at the bit to accept. Of course, you wanted to hear him out first.

“You've been doing great work, Minnie. These shots are truly some of the best this paper has seen in a while.” Your editor, Mr Pierce, said as he looked over the pictures you had submitted this morning.

“Thank you, sir. Though, I think there's only so much I can do to make a rally look interesting.” You said jokingly.

Your boss snorted. “You're right about that.” He sighed before sitting the folder down on his desk. “Which is exactly why I called you here. I think your talents are being wasted on shit like this.” He said bluntly. Your boss never did sugarcoat. “I was recently brought an opportunity from a rather…private sort of individual, and I think you would be the perfect fit.”

You raised an eyebrow, now rather curious. Usually your paper only covered public events or individuals. “Who exactly is it?”

Pierce seemed hesitant at first to tell you, but eventually he decided to just come right out and say it. “Elvis Presley.”

Your eyes widened in disbelief. "Elvis Presley?” You weren’t sure if you had cotton in your ears or if maybe you were imagining it, but Pierce noticed your surprise and quickly added some context to explain.

“Yes, Elvis Presley. I can’t say I had a very different reaction when his manager called me a couple days ago.” He said as he sat down in the chair behind his desk. “I’m sure you know that Mr Presley has been taking a step back into live performances this past year, which means every photographer worth a damn is chomping at the bit to capture the ‘best’ photo of him possible for their respective news outlet. So far they’ve been doing a damn good job. Meanwhile, we’ve got nothing.” He grumbled in frustration. “Needless to say, Presley is the hottest talk in town, and we’re failing to keep up.”

You furrowed your brow a bit. “I don’t understand…why did his manager contact us?” If there were already dozens of papers covering Elvis’s shows from all across the world, then why contact a somewhat small paper in Los Angeles?

Pierce seemed to light up at your question. “I had the same question, my dear.” He stood up again, unable to sit still. “Are you familiar with Alfred Wertheimer?”

The name was instantly recognizable. Any real photographer knew of Wertheimer’s work, especially if you knew anything about Elvis Presley. “Of course I know about him. His work with Presley is still amazing even now.” You said, trying your best to keep your adulation in check.

“Well, no photo of Elvis Presley has been taken like that since Wertheimer almost fifteen years ago.” He frowned a bit. “Seems as though his manager,” and apparent publicist, “wants to change that. With all this new buzz surrounding Presley, he wants to see if he can capture lightning in a bottle twice.”

It quickly began to dawn on you what this all meant exactly. “Shit.” You muttered under your breath.

Perhaps Alfred Wertheimer didn’t mean much to the uninitiated, but the photographs of Elvis were completely unprecedented. Just at the cusp of fame and without the glitz and glamor that would soon overtake him in Hollywood, Wertheimer was able to capture a view of Elvis that was both intimate, but also honest and revealing in a way that didn’t feel voyeuristic in the slightest. It was the picture and story of an Elvis Presley that still felt entirely obtainable and human. It was truly a special form of artistic expression that only a photographer with a great deal of talent could accomplish.

Which is precisely why you were sitting there staring at your boss like he had completely lost his mind. “S-sir...you’re not suggesting that I…?”

Pierce smiled at you and nodded. “I knew immediately that you’d be the perfect candidate, my dear. After all, it was your photos covering the Nixon inauguration that sparked Mr Parker’s curiosity to begin with.”

You practically felt your heart leap in your chest, leaving you utterly speechless for a long moment. This was definitely a step up from a local mayoral campaign.

The prospect of photographing someone as famous as Elvis Presley was exciting on its own, but from how your boss explained it, this wouldn’t be a simple snap and go for a quick column on page four of the paper. To compare it to Wertheimer’s work made you realize just how important this opportunity was. This side of Elvis hadn’t been captured in over a decade, and no doubt it would catapult your career towards opportunities you’ve only ever dreamed of covering.

“Well?” Pierce’s voice snaps you from your thoughts. “Of course, we would still have to meet with Mr Parker and Mr Presley.” He said as he sat back down in his chair.

You parted your lips, not sure what to say at first before you finally pushed your excitement down and immediately stood up. “Well? Of course I want to!” You said, practically grinning from ear to ear. “Jesus, Pierce, this is amazing!”

He smirked a bit. “I take it you’re an Elvis fan?”

You rolled your eyes. “Everyone likes Elvis, but that’s not what matters. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.” You had to stop yourself from jumping with joy.

He laughed a little before standing up again as he dialed a number on his phone. “Presley just finished up his current residency in Las Vegas. According to Parker he’ll be back here in Los Angeles before leaving for a string of concerts in Houston.” He held the phone up to his ear. “We can plan a meeting between you two beforehand. After all, this whole thing is dependent on Elvis Presley liking you enough to let you follow him around.”

You felt your smile dissipate a little at that realization. You hadn’t exactly considered that part in the few minutes you had to think about everything. You were charming enough, but this was Elvis Presley. Enough wouldn’t cut it. You swallowed a bit, but nodded, ignoring the sudden flurry of nerves that swarmed in your stomach.

This is your one shot, Minn. Don’t screw this up.

The next few hours felt like a whirlwind. You spent the majority of that time researching anything and everything about Elvis Presley. As it turns out, a lot had happened since his pictorial debut in Love Me Tender. You hadn’t exactly been keeping up with his career, and now all of it seemed a bit overwhelming. You weren’t sure what to expect from a man like him, especially since any other celebrity you had the opportunity to meet usually turned out to be a total asshole. You didn’t think he would be any different. After all, the humble southerner with perfect manners and an award winning smile just felt too good to be true.

You flipped through a magazine from the stack on your desk, biting your lip in concentration as you read over the raving reviews from Elvis’ previous engagement at the International Hotel in Vegas last summer. You vaguely remember one of your girlfriends at the time mentioning it in passing, but you hadn’t thought much of it. Now you wondered if you were completely insane for having overlooked the entire thing.

The photos of him were truly magnificent, picturing him in a slim fitting two piece jumpsuit that seemed inspired by the style of a karate gi. It alternated between black and white depending on the night of the show, and you couldn’t help but think about how well the black complemented his dark chiseled features. It was a much different look than his earlier appearances throughout the sixties. The greased back hair was now loose and untamed, a reflection of the evolving style in the entertainment world, and the button ups and blazers now seemed to be replaced by a bare chested look accompanied by a stylish scarf around the neck.

Quite frankly, it was hard not to get caught up in the image of him, but you quickly reminded yourself that even though he was Elvis Presley, world famous superstar, he was also just a subject for you to photograph at the end of the day.

A very beautiful subject, indeed.

You practically chewed off all of your fingernails by the time Pierce came out of his office in the early afternoon, approaching your desk with an optimistic look in his eyes. “Good news, Minn, it looks like you’ll be meeting Elvis Presley tonight.”

Your heart leaped in your chest as you stood up from your desk, prying your eyes away from the papers on your desk. “Really? He agreed to the meeting?”

“He sure did, though I doubt that manager gave him much of a choice.” He snorted. “A real carny, that one, but it’ll all be worth it if we can secure this job. Our paper will practically fly off the stands if you can snap those photos.” He grinned.

“Right, no pressure.” You mumbled, trying to ease your growing anxiety as you imagined all the ways this could possibly go wrong.

“Don’t worry, Minn. You’re charming and pretty. Knowing Presley’s reputation, that’ll surely be enough.” He smirked, nudging you a bit before turning on his heel toward his office.

You shot him a glare before letting out a deep breath as you quickly gathered up your portfolio, shoving the photographs inside the binder before standing up and pulling your coat on. You refused to let your nerves get the best of you, after all, this is your job. And as such, you weren’t going to let this opportunity slip through your fingers.

The ride over to Beverly Hills felt long and seemingly endless. You kept staring out the window, focusing your gaze on the large mansions that you drove past, frowning as you realized just how out of your league you really felt. After all, you hadn’t exactly been to this side of LA. The few times you had gotten the chance to photograph a celebrity, it had always been at some sort of public event like an awards show or some kind of charity fundraiser. This, however, felt like a strange new world that you were entering.

You briefly wondered why Elvis and his manager didn’t just come down to the office to conduct this whole ‘interview’ or set up a meeting somewhere on Sunset Blvd, but when you asked Pierce about it, he simply explained the logistics of having Elvis Presley go somewhere so public. You didn’t think much of it, assuming that since it’s Los Angeles nobody would care very much about a celebrity walking around, but then you recalled the different articles you had read and figured maybe Elvis didn’t quite fit into that category.

You chewed on your fingernails, watching as the mansions grew larger before you finally descended upon a set of cast iron gates blocking a long driveway that kept a house just out of view. Much to your surprise, there was a fairly large group of fans already stationed outside, giggling amongst themselves as they took photos with their polaroid cameras. You glanced at Pierce, giving him a skeptical look to which he simply shrugged. He pulled up to the gates, and without having to push a doorbell of any kind, the gates buzzed and suddenly opened up, the crowd of fans quickly dispersing out of the way.

It surprised you to see that they didn’t try following the car inside, but they stayed respectful and stuck to the exterior as the gates closed shut behind you and Pierce pulled forward, parking his car next to a small, but impressive, collection of Cadillacs. You figured if everything fell through with Elvis, maybe he’d be okay with you snapping a few photos of his cars as a consolation gift.

Once again, you pushed down the flurry of nerves that settled in your stomach, realizing it was stupid to feel so nervous over a simple meeting. After all, it’s not like you were the one who set the whole thing up, if they weren’t really interested, they wouldn’t have gone through all of this trouble. That thought helped qualm the uneasiness you felt as you stepped out of the car, looking up at the gorgeous home that overlooked the rolling hills below.

It really did feel like the perfect place for a superstar like Elvis to live.

“Come on, Miss Jones, we’re about to make history.” Pierce grinned as he took the lead, following the brick pathway up to the front door of the mansion.

You self consciously kept messing with your hair, tucking the loose strands behind your ear and pushing your glasses up the bridge of your nose as you anxiously awaited for the door to open. When the door opened, you and Pierce were met by a rather short fellow with a goofy smile.

“Mr Pierce?” The man in front of you inquired.

Your boss nodded and smiled. “Yes, and this is my associate Miss Jones.” He said as he gestured toward you. “I believe Mr Parker is expecting us?”

The fellow nodded and smiled again as he quickly stepped aside to let the two of you in. “Right this way.” He closed the door behind him and then led you down the long hallway that acted as the entranceway before spilling out into a rather lavishly decorated and open floor plan. You briefly considered how many rooms the house had before realizing it was probably too many to count from this juncture.

“The Colonel is waiting in the office.” The man said, interrupting your thoughts as he led you and Pierce down another hall towards a beautiful sculpted oak door.

“What about Mr Presley?” You asked without thinking.

“Elvis will be down shortly.” He replied, once again with a lopsided grin before he knocked on the door to the office and pushed it open. “Colonel? Those two journalists from the Los Angeles Sentinel are here.”

“Send them in.” You heard a strange sounding voice say from inside the office.

The man stepped aside, letting Pierce and you step into the room. Your gaze immediately fell upon the robust man sitting at the desk, a large almost comical sized cigar sticking out of his mouth, and a stylish looking barét that clashed with the rest of his ensemble. His steely gaze landed on both you and Pierce the moment you stepped into the room, regarding the two of you with a frown before he removed his cigar and put it out in the ash tray.

Pierce glanced at you, giving a look that said more than enough, before looking at the somewhat unsettling man. “Uh, you must be Mr Parker–”

“Colonel.” The man huffed, his accent a strange mix of southern and something else you couldn't quite identify.

“Excuse me?” Pierce asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Colonel Tom Parker.” The man repeated himself before smiling, though it seemed off and not at all genuine.

Pierce cleared his throat. “Right. Colonel Parker. My name is Steven Pierce, I'm the editor of the LA Sentinel. We spoke over the phone a few times.” He said before gesturing to you. “This is my associate, Minnie Jones. She's one of my best photographers and the one responsible for the portfolio I sent you.” He explained.

The Colonel glanced your way, regarding you for a long moment. If you weren't self conscious already, you certainly were now, but you refused to let yourself show how nervous you were.

“Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you.” You said, stepping forward and extending your hand for him to shake.

The Colonel snorted, which struck you immediately as rude, but he shook your hand regardless. You did your best to hide your frown, making sure this man didn't pick up on your displeasure at his general demeanor. “I have to say, Miss Jones, I'm quite impressed with your photos here.” He said as he sat back in his seat, opening up a binder in front of him. “I can't say I was super eager at the idea of someone following my boy around, least of all someone working for a lousy tabloid. But it seems like any publicity is good publicity, my dear.”

You glanced at Pierce for a moment, quickly registering the anger that flashed across his face, before cutting in. “Yes, well…I think this could be very beneficial for Mr Presley. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. And with all due respect, the LA Sentinel is a newspaper, not a tabloid. We just want to publish the truth, not lies.” You said calmly.

"Truth is subjective.” The Colonel shot back. “But it's true that my boy needs some good publicity. After all, a good thing can't last forever.” He said before standing up. “I'll make it simple for you, Miss Jones. All photos taken must be submitted and approved by me before printing. If I find out they're not, you won't have a story to tell anymore.” He said bluntly.

You swallowed a bit before nodding.

“Secondly, Elvis appreciates his privacy as you might imagine, so you will be working according to his schedule and his requests. Simply put, if he doesn't want you there, you won't be there.” He said as he picked up his cigar and stuck it back between his lips.

That's when Pierce cut in. “With all due respect, Colonel, my employee isn’t going to work at the whim of your client. This is still a job at the end of the day.” You shoot him a glare, not wanting him to ruin the opportunity for you, even if you knew he was right.

“Don't worry, Mr Peers,” The Colonel said, purposely mispronouncing his name, “Miss Jones will be accommodated, but if you two want the story you're looking for, you'll have to work with my boy’s fluctuating schedule.” He explained. “That won't be a problem, will it?”

Before Pierce could say anything, you stepped forward. “Of course not. I'm sure we can work with whatever his schedule may be.” You said firmly.

“Good.” The Colonel smiled, much to Pierce's chagrin. “We’ll write up a proper contract with all the logistics before you leave, but I think now is a great time for you to meet Elvis.”

Suddenly all your nerves instantly returned, but before you had much time to even think about what was happening, the Colonel was walking out the door and down the hall. Both you and Pierce quickly followed, keeping with his surprisngly fast pace as he limped with his cane towards the living room area you had passed by earlier.

“Minn, are you sure about this?” Pierce hissed by your ear as he leaned over to you. “This isn't exactly what I thought you were signing up for.”

You looked up at him, biting your lip for a second before nodding, standing firm with your decision. “C’mon, Pierce. We both know this is too good to pass up.” You whispered before the three of you entered the room.

The man who had let you into the house earlier was there with a couple of other guys you hadn't seen. You saw that Elvis wasn't there, frowning a bit as you folded your arms and looked at the Colonel. “Where's Mr Presley?” You asked, feeling a little impatient and maybe a little excited.

“Right here, honey.”

You froze, goosebumps rolling over your skin for some inexplicable reason, as if some kind of force you didn't recognize had suddenly entered the room. You slowly turned around, coming face to face with the most famous man in the world.

Shit.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Likes, comments, and reblogs are much appreciated! Let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list ~

Taglist: @60svintage @moonchild-daniella @ken-kenzie-zie

#elvis presley #elvis #elvis aaron presley #ep #tcb #graceland #elvis fanfiction #elvis fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #elvis × reader #elvis × oc #elvis in vegas #elvis fan #elvis through her lens

26 notes · View notes

ratbastarddotfuck · 2 years ago

Text

Hahaha ohhhhhh i really am going to have to talk to my doctor about ocd now, all this shit can't just be written off as Big Depression anymore

#fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck #like ive KNOWN but. you know.#it's starting to impact different areas of my life #ive always had the SH/violent/sexual intrusive thoughts #but contamination?#ive never had an issue with this #i don't know why it's started hitting me this year #i do not like it!!#it scares me a bit more than the rest #mostly bc it's new but also a bit because i know how debilitating that in particular could become #i also became a bit agoraphobic in 2021 idk if that's related but i dug myself out of it #idk i dont mind touching dirt and shit i grew up farming and i love getting my hands dirty #WHEN I AM IN CONTROL OF THE DIRT/MYSELF #this is different #this is Inside The House issues #i dont wanna get specific bc i dont wanna trigger anyone else's shit (bc i know some of y'all reading this got the same shit going on)#but fuck #im just.#fuck #the system speaks

5 notes · View notes

theevilcactus · 4 months ago

Text

i miss poptropica so much

#i know that the website is still technically up #but there's like 10 islands and most of them are bad ones #and even the ones that are good (cough *mythology* cough cough) have been tanked to make them easier for kids #there's only so many times you can play mythology-for-babies or 24 carrot before it gets old #and unfortunately i hit that limit like 3 years ago #i just wanna play the other good islands god dammit. where's my super power island? my spy? my skullduggery? my twisted thicket?#why can't i compete against robots on jeopardy anymore #why can't i beat dr hare at survivor #i know there's theoretically a way to access the old version via flashpoint but i never did get that to work for me #i've played pelican rock like 10 times and as much as i love it i think i'd cry if i tried to play it again #i want the variety!!! i want the other islands!!!#and don't get me started on how goddamn stupid reality tv wild safari is. or half the other islands that are still available #you can only play episodes 1 and 2 of survival!!! you can't even get to the actual human hunting bit!!! and that's the best part!!!

11 notes · View notes

valeffelees · 1 year ago

Text

only bad thing about being in a fandom where one of the characters canonically has wings is the painful lack of classic wingfic. where is my everything's the same but people have bird wings watford au where one day baz notices simon hasn't been grooming his wings bc of an injury to his ribs so he sits on his bed and makes a whole fuss about how "i'm not doing this to be nice, snow, your wings are just a travesty to look at" and then proceeds to carefully and lovingly tidy his feathers in drawn out silence while they both pretend grooming someone else's wings isn't one of the most intimate things you can do for another person. will this heartbreak never end

#i have an old wingfic that never left the zero draft stage and it was suuuper fucking plotty #simon was still the chosen one in it but not in a weird sex magic kinda way like he was just home grown like that so no humdrum #so lucy is alive and he grew up with her and the mage (and they have a dog!) (simon named her ''little simon'' lmfao)#meanwhile baz isn't a vampire but natasha still died when he was five bc ok i don't know how to explain the lore behind this #bc it has to do with a skeevy blackmarket trade involving human wings like it was kinda dark ngl #but the long and short of it is that baz and tasha are kidnapped and tasha is killed keeping baz safe but baz's wings are damaged #pretty severely and so one of them never grows to full size and it leaves him flightless #n e way simon and baz don't get on bc the mage is still the mage and the old families are still the old families #but they are roommates as usual #and half-term their eighth year pitch manor is raided by blackmarket poachers and mordelia is kidnapped and the whole grimm family is #in shambles so baz goes right to simon about it and there's this reverse of the simon-showing-up-at-baz's-door scene #where baz shows up at simon's door a complete WRECK to ask for help getting his sister back #and simon is like. why are you asking ME for help?#and baz is like. bc you're the only one i know who can #and then they fucking steal one of the mage's cars and hit the road [so good right now by fall out boy starts playing]#and then it's just kind of a normal mission fic about them finding mordelia and saving her life and baz falls out a very high window #and simon catches him etc.#i love wingfics so much #sighs wistfully #i think i need to be alone w my gdocu for while #valen and the void

20 notes · View notes

tanicus-caesareth · 9 months ago

Text

guarana drama, damage control

16 notes · View notes

tackrusso · 7 months ago

Text

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw

#please ignore the rest of the tags i will just be making things up #okay they start out in carolina but at least half the episode takes place in dc. do not ask me how travel logistics would work #tory spends the entire episode off with tempe doing bone stuff. booth feels upstaged by a 16-year-old girl #so he goes and hangs out with ben who does NOT trust him right off the bat #ben ends up having to run him over to liri at some point because there's crime afoot and tom is busy. they spend most of the ride in silenc #ofc they end up bonding Eventually because they are both obsessed with crazy emotionally stunted redheads named t brennan #tory is more effective than any of the squinterns and manages to piss hodgins off so bad just by existing #coop hangs out in the lab as saroyan tries to kick him out thirty times. he just keeps showing up and she can't prove who's letting him in #(it's tempe.) angela loves tory but tory does not love angela back. saroyan tolerates her. sweets likes her but knows she's hiding somethin #comes to the conclusion that she can read her friends minds and slowly drives himself crazy because obviously that can't be true #tory brings hi along whenever she needs someone with people skills and he is MORE than happy to participate in a hodgins experiment #hi gets to be king of the lab for about ten minutes. shelton hits it off with angela immediately and they solve half the case together #booth fucking HATES hi because he's evasive and really good at the manipulation thing. booth can't win verbal sparring and he gets Big Mad #at one point the four of them are in an interrogation room together (MISTAKE) because tory had them meddling a little too close to the sun #and booth is trying so hard to question them which didn't work even when they COULDN'T read each other's minds #tory figures out who did it and hi steals her thunder a la shrek wasnt vandalized he gave birth #temperance tells tory 'i know you've got a secret sweets told me and even though i don't trust psychology i find he's insightful' etc etc #tory's like well i might be but i can't tell you it's not just my secret and you wouldn't believe me anyway #because let's be real tempe WOULDNT believe her #meanwhile saroyan convinced by sweets paranoia managed to get a sample of tory's blood and test it and is like HEY WHAT THE FUCK #gets hodgins and they just stare at the results together and delve into conspiracy theories. he's like i KNEW there were werewolves #they debate telling tempe but know it wouldnt end well for the kids and decide to get rid of the evidence. but hodgins is SO smug #also angela spends the whole episode trying to convince everyone hi and shelton are dating and no one believes her #they finally see them kiss or something and they're all somehow floored and angela's just like yeah? duh?#if anyone read this i'm sorry and why

8 notes · View notes

tbh-entp · 8 months ago

Text

It's moments like me saying something hilariously false to a guy who I'm dating in an effort to get him to argue with me that I realize.. this wild Ne is chaos at night

10 notes · View notes

mushroomteddy · 16 days ago

Text

nothing to this day bothers me more than telling someone you don't use a certain social media platform even tho I may have an account on there, and then they STILL get surprised and UPSET when I tell them no, I didn't see the instagram story that was up for only 24 hours

Also if it was that important that I saw, just fucking SEND IT TO ME IN A PRIVATE CHAT DHEHEGEVVDGEGE

#i say i dont use ig much #and they immediately get defensive and say oh me neither as if I'm accusing them of something???#like dude if you post on the daily you DO use it and it's okay!!#but also if it's important for you that i know you went somewhere or did something just hit me up???#tell me???#why do i gotta wait to see it on Ig???#don't even get me started on facebook #i tell people i don't have the password and havent been able to access in 8 years #I've had people ask my PARENTS why im not answering to their birthday wishes on there #YOU HAVE MY PHONE NUMBER YOU DIPSHIT???

3 notes · View notes

secondpersonpoetry · 1 month ago

Note

hi! oh my goodness. i am SO sorry i didn’t say anything earlier. i did read everything a couple days ago, and i Have been chewing on it, rotating it in my mind, etc etc…..and the graphic has been my phone lockscreen since i first read it!!!!!

frankly i am obsessed and have also been a little frazzled this month lol. saw your post late because of the general whirlwind that is december and then couldn’t quite get my thoughts into sufficient words n got worried “oh no would it be weird to say something now…..” which is incredibly silly in retrospect, so sorry for that.

i’m relatively new to hockey fandom and the Narratives don’t always quite click for me (yet, at least :)) because i don’t know all of the lore for a lot of the popular pairings haha, so it means a lot that you’ve taken time out of your day to break things down for me and share your own thoughts <3 tysm. again, super sorry for the delayed response. i’m very sorry if you felt as though you’d wasted your time or something along those lines :’) just wanted to let you know that i really appreciate you and the time it took you to get everything down and make the graphic!!!! and like i can’t overstate how much your tags both over here and on your other blog have helped me to Get It since the start of this season, so thank you.

but now the house is quiet, the in-laws are gone, and no new work stuff until january :) so i can finally get some stuff down. every point you brought up hits in it own way but gosh you are very incredibly right the mcstrome of it all…..that’s sort of the lens i’ve been listening to the song through since you mentioned it.

the golden boy and the “draft bust” and the ever present notion of “isn’t it all about old friends? like everything? all of it?”. like idk looking back on a bestfriendship from when you were a teenager that was Super intense and the lines were blurred and maybe realizing (if you hadn’t had the words or the “guts” or awareness or wtv to put a name to it at that point in your life) that y’all were a smidge more than just friends.

best friends forever until you just aren’t! growing up and growing apart. it’s just the way things go but it can and will ache for a damn long time! you think you’re over it until their birthday or the holidays roll around and you wonder in a distant sort of way who they’re spending it with. what you would’ve hypothetically gotten them as a present if you still spoke. what do they even like nowadays, anyway?

maybe having the friendship end subtly. going from playing and traveling together and living in one another’s pockets to 2,080 miles of distance? (i may have my timeline/details confused here so sorry in advance) texting as much as you can at first but he’s a phenom he’s mcjesus he’s the next in line he’s expected to win the cup with his new team and end the drought for Canada. and they have him now but he was yours first, wasn’t he? but it’s fine. because you’re busy too. you’re captaining the team now. you’re gonna get the memorial cup that he couldn’t. it’s fine. you’re fine. you don’t even have time to worry about it anyway.

one conversation a week turns to one a month turns to once in a blue moon turns to stale words until it goes cold. these days you can’t quite seem to remember who ended things, but does it really matter all that much now?

or maybe it doesn’t end like that at all. maybe it ends in a flurry of angry words and digs in some or other of the endless hotel rooms you’ve shared together over the years. who knows!

and that’s not even getting into the rest of the 2015 draft class. or the ld19 of it all! ooh hoo hoo. you grew up with him but he’s not your waiting room. he grew up with you but he’ll grow “old” (end his career) with someone else. and isn’t that just something!

i don’t think it’s totally them, but sort of the sentiment of “I hope you get everything you ever wanted and I hope I never hear a word about it.” I want one ticket off of your carousel!!!! merry christmas, please don’t call!!!!!!!

dylan being sent up and down and traded around until finally landing in washington, a place where he is clearly at home and LOVED for the guy and player he is!!!!!!!! watching a game and seeing all the strome jerseys in the crowd……..wagh.

all that said. some other songs that are mcstrome to me in various ways: hot & heavy by lucy dacus (lol kinda the whole song). before the world was big by girlpool (“i just miss how it felt standing next to you wearing matching [jerseys? sweaters?] before the world was big”). happiness by Taylor swift (“i guess it’s the price i pay for seven years in heaven”), cut your bangs by radiator hospital (maybe? possibly? unsure. i like the whole dog thing there). i’m so glad i feel this way about you by insignificant other (!!!!!). there are so many THEM lyrics in there……..waough.

anyway. other things off the top of my head: 2015 connor specifically saying something like “hey let’s wait a minute so we can see this” to stand by the stage when dylan was getting drafted after him. MAN. you reminded me of the fact that they couldn’t even make eye contact at the handshake line!!!!!!!!! they didn’t go to each other’s weddings!!!!!!!!!! (do you think once upon a time they ever thought they’d being each other’s best man?). just a couple months ago dylan liking the tweet of connor getting that goal during the playoffs!!!!!!!! makes you wonder if he texted him………..

lol this was all over the place and i was probably wrong on some things and there’s SO much more that someone else could say way more eloquently, but i digress. i dunno everything about them is so nuts to me!!!!! needless to say i will be incredibly sat for the game january 21 🙂‍↕️

thank you again for your time :) hope you have a good one and a happy rest of the holiday season! <3333333

what a lovely message to receive 🥰😭🥹 i had to break it up into chunks because i couldn't sit down to read all of it at once without just. bouncing right back up and shrieking. i am also at heart terribly shy so i understand the struggle but it is never too late to say something <3 you are always welcome here

first!!! i love sharing!! i think most of hockey tumblr loves to see people finding out the Lore for the first time and the wonderful thing about hockey is that. it keeps going on. so there's years and years and generations and generations and always something new to learn about. i've learned to just not be afraid to ask!!! between different teams and players i'm always discovering new narratives (learning about the sharks old man yaoi rn... cbj rarepairs...)

no... to my heart's despair... you have the timeline right. i think in the best most tragic sense there's a mcstrome narrative where it is truly that nothing went wrong. the love was there. we couldn't do enough to save it because we didn't see it slipping away. i didn't notice when you didn't call until you never did. i don't know you now but i still remember when i did, do you?

HE'S NOT YOUR WAITING ROOM?? passing out. i do see "i hope you get everything you ever wanted and i hope i never hear a word about it" as them because!! they didn't go to each other's weddings!!! i don't wish you harm but i'm not going to put myself through that!! i hope you're happy and i'm never going to look on purpose.

i love dylan strome so much and the best part is that they all love him so much too. he wore a cool vintage ovechkin jacket!! and got slapped in the face with a tortilla!! he loves to gently rag on the rookies!! it just takes some time, everything'll be just fine. you're only on the middle of the ride.

OKAY WHEN I READ THIS PART I SCREAMED BECAUSE I DO HAVE A MCSTROME PLAYLIST AND!!!! HOT & HEAVY BY LUCY DACUS IS IN FACT ON IT!!! SO IS CUT YOUR BANGS (BUT BY GIRLPOOL SO DOUBLE JINX)!!!! i have dorothea by taylor swift on there but i don't know happiness so i'll have to give all the other songs a listen. mostly i just shrieked because i was like NO YOU GOT THE VIBES EXACTLY

🧠〰️🧠 truly the mind meld happening here. the handshake line. the mutual wedding non-invitations. i won't block your number or your name on twitter i just hope i don't see it come up on screen!! i do think that we got confirmation the last time they played each other that dylan did text him to say congrats on a milestone but i would have to check the archives

p.s. i think you said it perfectly eloquently :) what matters is that you said it at all and i was delighted to read it 💕

#liv in the replies #HI HI HI HELLO!!! IT'S SO NICE TO HEAR FROM U i hope u have a lovely quiet end of the year <3 with lots of time to rest & find ur own joy #& YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SORRY!!!! <33333 ANY MESSAGE IS A GOOD ONE!!! WHEN I TELL YOU I 🥹💕😭☺️🥰🦋💕💗‼️‼️❣️❣️ UPON RECEIVING THIS HEARTS FOR THU #ALSO IMPORTANT😭😭 I DIDN'T MEAN TO GUILT TRIP U I HOPE U DIDN'T TAKE IT THAT WAY i personally just. need to work on reblogging my own stuff #i hate reblogging my own fic announcements even so i was like listen this is for ME because EYE want it here and that's FINE. ok brain???#and also i think i have just accepted the slide that there WILL be hrpf here mostly because i keep tagging it but i always don't want to #plug this blog over on cbpc-hrpf or anything bc do you really need to follow me in multiple places or is that just being greedy you know.#obviously i don't because why else would i be dithering in the tags. anyway tl;dr i consider u beloved & also my friend welcome in the dms #at any time always. i hope everybody knows just yeet yourselves in there i am a Yapper and i love discussing. getting asks is one of my #favorite things :))) & getting messages from people is how u make friends!!! sometimes u tell people u love their work & now u are bffl <3 #we all have like. Quintessential Moments that are secretly niche & the joy of going U DON'T KNOW ABOUT IGUANA WRESTLING??? is unmatched #also do you want to publish that poetry like?? hit after hit after hit. three paragraph six feet under. put it on the ao3 second person pov #dylan strome sitting at his fogged up kitchen window looking at the snow outside in washington the same as it was in erie the way it never #was in arizona and thinking about you know. maybe you know now what it was then. and does it matter? and in the end #he sees his girls run through the yard snowballs in their hands when he's done thinking everything through and he puts on his mittens and #walks out the door to his life. into the cold unknown you know. honorary fuckin' mention to what has secretly been percolating in my head #ever since i said the fogged glass window which is the one that knocks ME the fuck out every time but is so strongly a dylan/zach song to m #dream song by shallow alcove. just wanna press my nose up to the glass of your life. EYE cannot mcstrome w/that but it is incredibly vibes #also just. the queer experience of that Intense Friendship that you’re like WOW uh. maybe i need to think some things now. assigned to Them #HELP SOS what is ld19??? you will have to come explain this to me i fear. oh no you have to send me another message 😈 my brain said leon #but also london knights because mitch marner and the draft class of 2015. also had to laugh like i started singing phoebe bridgers waiting #room then immediately went into the argument of defying gravity 'i hope you're happy' (OBCR) because. i think they wish they could be spite #maybe. but maybe they know they only want them to be happy. also with the handshake... me when i. think about updating the goodnight chicag #cam now that stromer's in washington goodnight chicago goodnight indeed. DO WE EVEN WANT TO TALK ABOUT KITTY?? DEBRINCAT???? ALSO IN ERIE #also me🤝you🤝 caps/oilers game. they're like oh are u sick of the mcstrome teammates broadcast and i say no never thank u with my popcorn.#mcstrome

3 notes · View notes