#i just mean that we never really saw them interact that much? and sort of knew that they’d known each other back in terris but there were no

[titsthedamnseason]

.

[sweetkpopmusings]

stray kids soulmate aus | h. jisung <3

a/n: oh boy do my jisung feels have me dizzy ! i love him so deeply and eternally it's ridiculous :,,,-) pics not mine <3

content: fluff, soulmate au | wc: 1.7k | warnings: none really! | pairing: soulmate!jisung x gn!reader | requests: open

♡ chan | minho | changbin | hyunjin | jisung | felix | seungmin | jeongin ♡

the year you’ll meet your soulmate, you receive a one-sentence description of how you’ll meet.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

“jisung!” chan called from the entrance to the apartment, “you’ve got mail!”

jisung appeared with a confused expression, not able to recall any recent purchases that would result in a delivery. his confusion grew when he saw how bright and wide chan’s smile was. if he weren’t so sleepy from the nap, jisung probably would’ve put the pieces together as soon as he held the lavender envelope in his hand.

inside, there was a small piece of paper, with one sentence typed perfectly in the center: after a near-miss, they’ll recognize you by the sound of your voice.

chan shimmied his shoulders, “what does it say?”

jisung’s brain buffered, still not quite understanding what this was about. it clicked after the fifth or sixth time he read the sentence.

“how does this help me?” he groaned.

chan gently picked the fateful piece of paper from jisung’s hands and read it himself, “huh.”

jisung scoffed, “yeah.”

“at least it’s…..romantic?”

jisung’s unamused look was enough to make chan giggle, which allowed a smile to peek through jisung’s annoyance, “romantic, but an entirely unhelpful clue as to how i’m going to meet my soulmate.”

“ah come on jisung,” chan patted jisung's shoulder, “you’ve got the whole year to sort out what it means. let’s at least celebrate the fact that you’re meeting them within the next 12 months!”

though frustrated by the ambiguity of the letter, jisung could not deny the way he got an adrenaline rush at the thought of his soulmate becoming a part of his life soon. even if he couldn’t anticipate the circumstances of it happening, the inevitability of it changed his perspective on just about everything. the months passed, and the meaning behind the sentence never became clearer. but, by the time he could count the weeks until the year’s end on one hand, jisung couldn’t get the idea of love out of his head.

“jisung!” hyunjin laughed, “you’re making no sense right now!”

“what do you mean?!” jisung retorted, “is it really that crazy of a thing to say?”

seungmin joined hyunjin’s laughter, “yes, it really is that crazy. thinking of love so much while writing these songs must have melted your brain.”

jisung groaned, following behind his friends as they exited the clothing store, “i don’t even know why i’m arguing with you. neither of you have met your soulmates, so clearly you wouldn’t get it.”

“hey! you haven’t met yours either!” hyunjin frowned.

“even if we had, i doubt we’d agree with…whatever it is that you’re claiming,” seungmin made a face of disgust.

jisung’s eyes grew comically wide, “i’m not saying love is related to someone’s feet! i’m just saying, theoretically,” he used his hands to emphasize the fact it was hypothetical, “shouldn’t you know how to describe someone’s toes if you really, truly, deeply love them?” 

hyunjin grimaced. jisung gaped at his friends with desperation. a laugh burst into the air beside them and then wafted away, prompting seungmin to laugh.

“someone, a stranger, just laughed at your theory,” seungmin smirked, “now you’ll never convince me that it’s logical.”

jisung frowned. when he opened his mouth to make another argument, hyunjin shook his head and started walking to their building. this probably saved jisung from digging his grave even further, but it didn’t save him from overthinking the interaction. with each step, he felt a pang in his chest. it seemed unlikely, but what if that moment was the near-miss he’d waited for? he had been talking about love when they laughed at his statement. that had to be some kind of sign, right? 

jisung considered all the possibilities. by the time they made it back into the practice room, he convinced himself he was just desperate, grasping at straws for a sign. he never even saw who laughed, so he couldn’t be sure that they were laughing at what he said. in the end, jisung felt next to no hope and tons of embarrassment. maybe one day he could joke about this story with his soulmate. today, unfortunately, was not that day.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

you set your bag down, sighing in relief at the fact the day was over. 

you went about your evening routine, decompressing from work and listening to your favorite music. your workload was a bit stressful, so you were thankful that the day wasn’t particularly notable. if asked, you probably couldn’t describe anything about your day that stood out. seeing as your brain felt fried, you weren't going to complain about an uneventful day.

as you were getting ready for bed, you glanced at the lavender envelope on your nightstand. it sat there, carefully placed, for almost an entire year. every night you looked at it, trying to figure out any possible scenario that would match its narrative. nothing seemed to fit, not even your most imaginative scenarios. still, like clockwork, you picked up the envelope and traced your finger over the words inside: one day, they’ll make you laugh from a distance, and the next day they’ll confess their love.

you scoffed. sure, sometimes the fact that soulmates existed seemed too good to be true. but this? it felt like it was something that could only make sense in a romance movie, and a farfetched one at that. as you settled into bed, however, you remembered the only interesting thing that happened to you today. it was a fleeting moment, probably nothing special. yet you could hear the person’s voice so vividly, as though they were in the room with you. 

shouldn’t you know how to describe someone’s toes if you really, truly, deeply love them?

you laughed. whoever said that certainly had a mind of their own, which impressed you. still, you had a hard time imagining what would prompt that sentence. perhaps because of its ridiculousness, you wondered if that could be a sign. on the street, you had laughed–too loudly, you feared–when you heard them say it. you felt your heart rate rise, hopeful and excited.

you didn’t want to risk getting your heart broken like so many other times this year, though, so you ran over the situation again and again and again. you hadn’t even seen who posed that strange question. how could you know whether they were your soulmate? it wasn’t the first time a stranger made you laugh, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

you tried to convince yourself that you couldn’t trust the encounter to mean anything, despite how that person’s voice filled your mind as you drifted off to sleep. a part of you felt that you would hear that voice for the rest of your life, even if only in your memory. 

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

the next day was not as lackluster, but not in a good way. at work, nothing seemed to go right: plans went awry, mistakes were abundant, and every meeting went over time. you sighed deeply when you stepped out of the office, and you sighed again when you checked the time. the only thing you’d been looking forward to was the walk home because there was the potential that you could run into the person behind the voice again. given how the day had gone and how late it was, deflation replaced the small hope that you had clung to all day.

still, you felt your body relaxing as your workplace grew farther and farther away in the distance behind you. there were fewer people around as the evening commute rush had come and gone. you appreciate that, if nothing else, this walk home had offered you peace and quiet.

at least, there had been peace and quiet until someone bumped into you.

“ah! oh my god! i’m so sorry!” 

the person stared at you with wide, flustered brown eyes. you held your hand up to signal that you were okay–and that they could take a breath–but something kept you from speaking. brow furrowed, you tried to figure out what seemed so familiar about this person in front of you.

“wait! you’re the love and toes person from yesterday, right?”

you looked at the stranger with amusement, and jisung’s jaw dropped. he grew more flustered and his ears turned bright red. the embarrassment was quickly balanced out by elation. jisung’s mind recited that frustrating, fateful sentence over and over, until he knew it had to be true.

“i’m in love with you.”

jisung internally kicked himself for that reply. thankfully, you spoke before he had to stumble through another apology.

realizing that this was the laughter to confession of love plotline you’d been waiting for all year, your face lit up, “so it is you. i was hoping there was a reason that i couldn’t get your voice out of my head last night.”

jisung blushed even harder, grinning all the same, “yeah! it’s me! and it’s you! wow!”

“i’m y/n,” you chuckled, charmed by jisung, “what’s your name?”

“jisung!” he answered quickly, “y/n…y/n…” he paused to appreciate how it felt to say your name, “i love your name!”

“well, jisung, i would hope so, given that you are apparently in love with me.”

jisung laughed, hiding his face in embarrassment. at least his soulmate had a sense of humor. he bit his tongue, both to prevent himself from saying something ridiculous again and to cherish the feeling of you being right in front of him after an eternity of waiting.

“sorry again for bumping into you,” jisung rubbed the back of his neck, smiling apologetically, “where are you headed?”

“it’s really okay. it kind of worked out in our favor,” you smiled, which made jisung's knees feel weak, “i’m on my way home from work now.”

“oh! nice! would you…uh…do you think…could i maybe walk you home?”

you felt your cheeks hurting from grinning so much at how endearing jisung was, “you want to walk me home?”

he nodded enthusiastically, “yes, please! i’d love to have a chance to memorize your voice the way you memorized mine.” 

your heart skipped a beat. maybe you were already in love with jisung too. 

unable to think of a reply that could match the sweetness of his answer, you turned your head in the direction of your home, “i live down this way. while we walk, would you mind explaining to me your toe-related claim about love?”

he groaned, “if i do, do you promise not to bring it up again?”

you giggled, stomach doing flips at the way his pace matched yours right away, “that depends on how good of an explanation it is.”

“i’ll take it!” 

jisung’s eyes sparkled as he spoke to you, and you knew that, regardless of the subject, you genuinely could listen to his voice for the rest of your life.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

[cityofmeliora]

notes / thoughts on Terzo's characterization (Terzo is so disappointed and depressed and i love him)

a few weeks ago i saw this post from slavghoul which has snippets of TF describing the Papas. it includes this quote:

“He represents this frustrated old guy who hates everyone, especially himself. But despite his wounds and his darkness, he has a sense of humour and is endearing, like most of my heroes. The late actor Christopher Lee was an inspiration to me. In many ways, he is Papa.” (Metallian 7/2015)

i thought this quote was really interesting because i'd never seen anyone talking about that side of Terzo before. Terzo hating "everyone, especially himself" felt at odds with the charming personality he typically displayed. i wanted to know how that developed and where his "wounds and darkness" came from. so i did some digging for quotes on Terzo's history and characterization. here are my notes + thoughts:

something that came up again and again in my research is that he is actually quite antisocial when he's not performing. it seems like he didn't want people to know anything about him past his stage persona.

TOUR MANAGER: No one in the crew really gets to see or speak to Papa, ever. Only Anna and myself have access. He is not in the building and then he'll just be there, just for show time. The only thing you really need to know about Papa is what you see of him on stage. Ghost - The Devil's Hands (Documentary) (2017)

he almost never interacted with any of the nameless ghouls or the tour crew. in fact, he really went out of his way to avoid them. he traveled separately, would appear right before the start of a show, and then he would disappear as soon as it ended. in "The Devil's Hands", it showed they sometimes had trouble locating him when he was needed.

With this new era, can you introduce Papa Emeritus III? NAMELESS GHOUL: I don't know him very well yet. We haven't really done our mileage with him, so I am sure that we will find out. But he seems nice. He seems okay. Obviously, he's very close relatives with Papa number two, who was a little bit of a hmm. I'm sure that he isn't like, completely different, but we'll find out. He's a bit of a recluse, and he sort of travels on his own. And he sort of appears when we're due onstage and then he disappears when we're offstage. So yeah, I guess we have a little bit of a social disconnect there, but I don't see a big problem with that. I mean he seems to be doing well on his own, and I don't know if he has a little harem somewhere that occupies his time offstage, I guess. I'm assuming that. Loud TV (July 2015)

INTERVIEWER: How has it been working with the third Papa? How is he fitting into the group? NAMELESS GHOUL: We like him, actually. He seems to be quite nice. Obviously, we haven't really done our "miles" with him yet, so we don't know him that well. And he doesn't travel with us- he sort of goes separately everywhere, and he appears just before the show and then he just disappears. So we haven't really had the time to sort of fully get to know him. But overall, he seems quite a joyful chap. Metal Injection (September 2015)

predictably, his bandmates did not know him very well. but they always remarked that they liked him and that he seemed like a nice, chill guy. (they also assumed he had a harem that he spent time with when he wasn't performing, which is probably not true, considering how much effort he put into avoiding people whenever possible.)

NAMELESS GHOUL: We don't really socialize with Papa, so… But he seems nice! But he's very occupied in his harem. [...] He's a little bit cooler. He seems to be the nicer of the two brothers --I don't know if there are two-- but he seems to have, I don't know, a kinder mother, probably, or something that makes him slightly.. INTERVIEWER: A little different. NAMELESS GHOUL: Yeah, he's a little bit different. AMBY (October 2015)

i don't think his charming, pleasant demeanor was just an act, though. i think it did come from a genuine part of himself... he wasn't always an antisocial recluse.

before he became Papa, he was a cardinal in Krakow, Poland. Bishop Necropolitus Cracoviensis (the character representing Zbigniew Bielak, the artist who does the album art for Ghost) characterized younger Terzo as having enthusiasm in all his endeavors. he was always a very devoted member of the clergy who had big dreams of progress and modernization for the Ministry and the world. he had a strong interest in Futurist art and philosophy.

Bp. Necropolitus Cracoviensis remembers: "...our relationship goes a long way back to the times before his papacy, that is when he was still a cardinal in my hometown, in Cracovia...(...) Although we had our share of juvenile recklessness - be it indulging his beloved cream pies - allegedly verging on six hundred sixty six portions a year but that must be a rumor I believe, or wild parties at the attic of seminary school (laughs) - even in his formative years, he remained a focused man of vision, looking far into the future, always addressing his people's needs and longings to keep our church together in those turbulent, rapidly changing times (...) there were so many temptations to syndicate among our good people (...) (...) We would sit down to studying exciting Futurist manifestos, sketched the blueprints of utopian metropoles, spiked with shiny skyscrapers stabbing at the heavens belly... Wantonly swollen zeppelins would to carry our gospel of indulgence to the farthest corners of the globe to summon and enslave. (...) Forged in nostalgia of steam and fire, this brave new world of ambition, vice, lust and greed - all so inherent to the enlightened modernity, was always with him through all these years. And it is now - when our church continues to grow stronger and wealthier under wise reign of Papa Emeritus III - that these visions may finally be witnessed and embraced in the preachings of 'Meliora' - his most contemporary and humane Encyclical." (https://www.facebook.com/thebandghost/posts/994031900615606)

those core values of ambition, vice, lust, and greed stayed with him when he became Papa. though he had a revolutionary spirit, he's actually described as "less rebellious" in Metal Myths. Terzo took his job as Papa very seriously, and he cared about being successful and achieving his goals. while he and Secondo certainly had vice, lust, and greed in common, it was Terzo's ambition that truly set him apart.

"It felt like the goal was to take Papa II's sense of modernity and remove the recklessness." Metal Myths: Ghost Pt. 2 (April 2022)

How would you describe the personality of Papa Emeritus III compared to his predecessors? NAMELESS GHOUL: "First of all, Papa Emeritus III is an entertainer! He loves projectors, he loves the public, and he loves success. The first Papa Emeritus was someone very rigid, very strict, and very solemn. A real son of a bitch! (laughs) To be honest, we don’t miss him at all! Papa Emeritus II was a pervert a little bit sadistic, and, in hindsight, I think he wasn’t very at ease on stage. He wasn’t a showman, unlike Papa Emeritus III! Him, he’s the guide we missed to rise up the quality of our shows, to reach the step above and communicate with our fans." (MyRock #44 (2017) translated from French by @ a-wandering-ghoulette)

unfortunately, his ambition eventually led him to become disillusioned and depressed.

Terzo looked forward to becoming Papa. he worked so hard for it his whole life, only to be confronted with the realization that his time as Papa --and therefore his achievements-- would be limited.

he was a nice guy, but he was also was egotistical. he was a showman and an intellectual, and he thought very highly of himself.

NAMELESS GHOUL: He's a little bit more chill. But obviously, all the Papas are definitely pompous assholes. INTERVIEWER: That's part of the job. SPECIAL GHOUL: That's one of the criterias, the prerequisites, that you have to be this sort of flamboyant diva, know-all, show-off. Metal Injection (September 2015)

his self-hatred came from his inability to be the person he wanted to be. it's not that he felt like he couldn't measure up, it's that he felt like he wasn't allowed to express his full potential. Terzo's mindset was "i know i'm good enough. and i could prove it if they would just let me." but he wasn't really in charge, and his vision was at odds with the goals of Sister Imperator.

Terzo felt so stifled, it makes sense that he became a "frustrated old guy who hates everyone, especially himself."

and i think this is the reason for the paradox of him having a kind, charming personality onstage and being unsociable offstage. he still gave it his all. he did the best he could with the time and resources he was allowed. that zealous man of the people was still in there somewhere. but he felt betrayed by the clergy, the organization he dedicated his life to. his career ended up being unfulfilling and he was ultimately really bitter about the way things turned out.

he was good. he never got to be great.

[arc-misadventures]

So, for your consideration for the VTuber line. VTubers tend to have their specific circles, their regular collab groups. In every group, there is always one in particular who just can't help but suffer from scuff almost every stream, and there is always the one who fills the role of group tech support. I feel like Jaune would absolutely be the tech support for his circle. If that's the case, then who'd be your scuff queen/king. Someone we've already met? Or somebody who has yet to be introduced? Maybe I'm wrong, and Jaune is the scuff king. I'm curious to see what you'd do with this thought.

The VTuber: Circles Within Circles

Among the vast, VTubing community there tending to be many circles of, VTubers that tended to exclusively interact with one another, be this because of similar interests, or from hailing from the same academy, or in some occasions being a part of the same family. There was always a circles one could find someone being apart of.

Such as the quartet that was, CookieMonster, SushiandShibari, DraGunShow, and IHateMyDad2.0. While Cookie, and DraGun were half-sisters, the four of them all hailed from, Beacon Academy, both the agency, and fictional academy, and were once part of the same Huntress team back in the day.

This was just one of many examples of circles being formed, and made by the various, VTubers. However, there was always the outliers of this trend. Then again, he was always the outliner of any particular group.

But, what would one expect from the lone wolf of the VTubing community: ErrantyPaladain.

If the circles among the VTuber community were to be made into a Venn diagram, Errant would be smack dab right in the middle of all of them. Just like when he played, 'The World of Remnant: Hunter's, and Monsters.' A Huntsmen of no, Academy nor a single nation. The vagabond of Hunters' as he was sometimes referred to as.

ErrantPaladin would, as he often still does, would join any VTuber for the occasional collab if asked to, regardless of which VTuber, or agency asked him to. But, in the end just as always, he stood alone.

Some may see this as a weakness that. ErrantryPaladin possessed. But, many would see this as a benifit for one to gain his unique perspective that others often overlooked, or never saw.

The Genshin Impact update was one such example:

~~~

SushiandShibari: I don't understand why they couldn't just add more diverse characters to this latest update!

DraGunShow: What are you talking about; The latest update added some pretty interesting roaster of characters, what's wrong with the new characters they added?

SushiandShibari: They didn't add any diverse characters! Look at them, that's basically a tan! Why not add some black characters to the game? It should have more diversity in it!

DraGunShow: I wouldn't mind seeing some more diverse characters to the game. I mean, they all look pretty similar to one another.

SushiandShibari: Exactly! This is what many of the, English voice actors have been saying! There should be more diverse characters, then it just being a bunch of white people!

DraGunShow: Okay...? Look, Sushi, I'm not really sure about what should be done about this, and I don't really think I'm an expert on... any of this. Why don't we ask someone else, and get their opinion on this?

SushiandShibari: Fine. But, who are you going to ask?

DraGunShow: Let's see who's on...

DraGunShow: Hmmm...

DraGunShow: Ahh! Errant's online! Let's ask him!

SushiandShibari: Do you seriously want his opinion, or do you just want to talk to him?

DraGunShow: Don't you?

SushiandShibari: ...

SushiandShibari: Call him.

DraGunShow: I've already done it~!

...

...

...

ErrantryPaladin: Hello, DraGun. May I be of some sort of service?

DraGunShow: Hi, Errant! Is this a bad time?

ErrantryPaladin: No, I was just playing a few rounds of, Sins of a Solar Empire 2. But, I can pause it.

DraGunShow: Oh good! Sushi, and I have been having this debate, and well... I don't know much about it. So we were wondering if you could add your two cents to it.

ErrantyPaladin: Possibly. What is this debate about?

SushiandShibari: We're debating about how the latest update to. Genshin Impact isn't diverse enough, and that they should be more inclusive, and add more characters of more diverse back grounds. A lot of the, English voice actors are in agreement that, Genshin should add more diverse characters, and how the game should be more inclusive!

ErrantryPaladin: Ahh, that pointless argument.

SushiandShibari: P-Pointless?

DraGunShow: What do you mean by that?

ErrantryPaladin: What I mean is the, Genshin Impact is a, Chinese game made by a, Chinese company. They do not give a damn about inclusivity. And, the complaints people are making about that will only fall upon deaf, and uncaring ears.

SushiandShibari: What? What do you mean, surly they care what their player base thinks?

ErrantyPaladin: Not really, no. Listen, this isn't a western game company where a dozen people on, X can complain about something, and cause the game studio to change everything about it just because their encouraged to do to some higher ups being detached from reality, and being swayed by cheap coin.

ErrantryPaladin: This is a Chinese company, they are going to do things their way, and their way only.

SushiandShibari: But, they already have so many white characters, why can't...?!

ErrantryPaladin: Whoa whoa whoa! Did you say, 'white?' Sushi. they're, Chinese. Everyone in the game is based off of, Chinese characteristics. There is nothing 'white' about any of them.

DraGunShow: What are you talking about, a lot of their character designs look... white?

ErrantryPaladin: Pale would be the correct term you're looking for. Okay... Look, look up, 'Chinese movie stars,' and you'll get a wide array of skin tones, and facial features. Of which you will find that many of the, Genshin characters, both male, and female adopt. And, for the record, slim, pale skinned with angular jaws seem to be their standard of beauty. At least I believe that to be... seems evident.

DraGunShow: Whoa... there is a lot of skin tones here, Sushi.

SushiandShibari: Okay... I conceive the point to you... But, couldn't they still add more diverse characters to the game?

ErrantryPaladin: By 'diverse' you no doubt mean that white savior complex argument of adding black people to every, and any game. Of which they won't do, regardless of how much people whine at them to.

SushiandShibari: Why not?

ErrantryPaladin: Nor denying that one, eh? Okay, the reason why they will never add any 'diverse' characters is for one simple reason: The, Chinese are really, really, racist.

SushiandShibari: Eh?

DraGunShow: What?

SushiandShibari: They're racist, what do you mean by that?

ErrantryPaladin: I mean exactly what I said; The Chinese are really racist. Well, most people in, Asia are really racist actually. But, the, Chinese are no exception to this rule. They are racist towards, Americans, towards the, Europeans, towards the, Africans. They are particularly racist towards the, Japanese, that's a whole can of worms right there as to why. But, they are even racist to themselves!

ErrantryPaladin: So that's why I consider it a pointless argument. You're trying to force, Western ideals on a nation, that is actively fighting against them on a global scale. It doesn't matter what you do, nor say, they will not give a damn about any of it.

SushiandShibari: Oh... I see...

ErrantryPaladin: Now, I'm not saying for certain that I'm a hundred percent accurate. There are no doubt gapes in my memory, or I misinterpreted things. But, I am sure, that no matter how much anyone complains about inclusivity to the creators of, Genshin Impact, they will not give a damn. Honestly, I would advise the voice actors who are making these complaints to shut up; They are after all... replaceable.

ErrantryPaladin: Now, does that answer your question, or is there something else you'd like to ask?

DraGunShow: No.. I think that answer it... Sushi?

SushiandShibari: I... I need to do some research... Thanks Errant.

ErrantryPaladin: My pleasure! Now excuse me, I have some heathens to cleanse.

DraGunShow: ...

SushiandShibari: ...

DraGunShow: So...?

SushiandShibari: Shut up.

DraGunShow: Okay.

~~~

Sometimes people found his opinion, and thoughts to be rather controversial, and counter to most peoples beliefs, and often caused a mild controversy. But, ErrantryPaladin, stuck to his convictions, and paid them no mind.

He was asked to express his opinions and he did just so. If people got upset by them, then so be it.

Other times, people went to, ErrantryPaladin for simpler things. His opinions on games, sports and the likes. He was often asked by a fellow, Vtuber who hailed from the, Beacon VTuber Agency name, MochaFashionista for his advice on woman's fashion. Something many found to be quite odd that Vtubings fashionista would ask someone else, much less a guy for his opinions on woman's fashion.

That was until he gave his reviews, and opinions on woman's fashion with her, and everyone came to the same conclusion: 'This guy knows what he's talking about.'

When asked why, and how he knew so much about woman's fashion he simply replied: 'I have a lot of sisters.' And innocent, and simple answers that once again lead to speculation among his fans as to how many sisters did he really have, and if that was the sole reason he knew so much about woman's fashion.

But, being a fashion commentator was an occasional activity he almost exclusively did with, MochaFashionista. What he often did with other VTuber's was something he began to regret having to do. Less so with him being the only one capable of helping with other, and no one else was seemingly capable of fixing their problems themselves. And, more so how they managed to develop such problems.

What were those problems, ErrantryPaladin was so capable of helping others fix you ask? Simple really:

Tech support.

~~~

Fall4Me: Shitshithsitshitshit!

Panic coursed through, Fall4Me's voice as she looked at the bugged out screen before her. She was about to do a co-op game with several of her fellow streamers. But, her screen had begun to glitch out before she even started. She had to fix this before...

ErrantryPaladin: Hey, Ember, ready to play?

Fall4Me: Hey, Errant~! Yeah, I'm totally ready to play, just give me a moment!

ErrantryPaladin: ...

ErrantryPaladin: Haaa...

ErrantryPaladin: What is it this time?

Fall4Me: ...

Fall4Me: My screen is bugged out...

ErrantryPaladin: God dammit...

~~~

DraGunShow: Okay, I'm ready to play!

ErrantryPaladin: Are you sure, because it says you're not live?

DraGunShow: What? I'm totally online! It says so right here.

ErrantryPaladin: On which account does it say that?

DraGunShow: On my other account...

ErrantryPaladin: Other account? Wait, does that mean you bought two copies of the same game?

DraGunShow: Yes...?

ErrantryPaladin: Why are you saying that like it's a question?!

DraGunShow: I don't know?!

~~~

Another usual stream from, Fall$Me, one where she'd be joined by her precious, Wolf as they played another game together.

That's if her mic was on.

Fall4Me: ...

ErrantryPaladin: Ember?

Fall4Me: ...

ErrantryPaladin: Ember you're muted.

Errant had decided to change his stream to her to see what was up, and based upon how her model was moving, he could tell she was live, however.

He saw the panic look that filled, Fall4me's face as she struggled to turn her mic on, but based on how she seemingly developed this panic complexion.

ErrantryPaladin: Is your mike on?

She shook her head as she look at him in confusion.

ErrantryPaladin: Then turn it own.

She proceeded to do so, or at least, Errant assumed she was based upon her body movements. But, since nothing was heard from her end, and how she started to panic again, Errant could only shake his head in disappointment at her.

ErrantryPaladin: Did you at least plug your mic in?

He saw her model move to the side, and then appear stiff, no doubt a sign that she was going to check her mic. She soon came back, and and her model moved in front of the camera, her body adopting a bashful, and embarrassed posture.

ErrantryPaladin: It wasn't plugged in, was it?

Fall4Me: No...

ErrantryPaladin: How the hell did that happen?!

Fall4Me: I don't know!

~~~

The amount of times, Errant had to provide tech support to his fellow, VTubers had forced him to adopt a tech support persona, that eventually lead him to getting a new, VTuber model for people to understand what he was doing, and more importantly:

To shame those that needed his help.

~~~

Fall4Me: Errant?

ErrantryPaladin: Yes?

Fall4Me: Can help me?

ErrantryPaladin: Haaa... one moment.

ErrantryPaladin: What do you require of me, a humble servant of the, Machine-Spirit this time?

ErrantryPaladin's model became that of a, Warhammer 40000, Tech-Priest. He liked using this model because it helped him better understand, and focus on helping other, VTubers with their technical problems. And, generally make fun of those that needed his assistance. Again.

Fall4Me: Nooooo! Not, the Tech-Priest! I'm not having any problems with my computer! You don't need to put that mask on!

ErrantryPaladin: Your record prompts that this form should be the natural form taken upon this devotee of the Machine God when one addresses the, Scuff Queen.

Fall4Me: I'm not a scuff queen! This has nothing to deal with my computer!

ErrantryPaladin: Records prove otherwise. Now, what seems to be the problem; Did you forget to light the sacred incense?

Fall4Me: No! And, I'm not falling for that again!

ErrantryPaladin: Have you beseeched the, Machine-Spirit?

Fall4Me: Does calling it a hunk of junk count?

ErrantryPaladin: What! You dare insult the, Machine-Spirit in such a crewel manner! You have offended the, Machine-Spirit! Light the sacred incense at once to appease it!

Fall4Me: I'm not doing that again! It didn't work that time anyway! It has nothing to do with my computer!

ErrantryPaladin: Then what seems to be the problem that requires me?

Fall4Me: Is 0/bs a bad thing, or...?

ErrantryPaladin: ...

ErrantryPaladin: Omnissiah preserve me...

~~~

ErrantyPaladin's, VTuber career has been marked with a cloister of things. His interactions with his fellow, VTubers; The good, the bad, the weird, and the confusing. The mild controversies he had seen, and been a part of. The fights that broke out between, and withing the various agencies.

Errant had seen it all with in his own little eye of the storm upon a Venn diagram that was the, VTuber community. He occasionally ventured out to experience the thrills, and parrels of the storm, but at the end of the day, he would return to the center where he chose to stay. Called out only to join his fellow streamers for some fun.

And, copious amounts of tech support.

[highlandwhackamole]

A Grand(ish) Theory of What the Heck

I love the utterly unhinged, super detailed theories about what's going on in Good Omens, especially in season 2. I hope one or more of them turn out to be true, as some kind of glorious puzzle-box-hidden-code monstrosity. And also I think that there has to be a simpler explanation for things, for the people who are at least Somewhat Normal (tm) about this show. (... I assume such people do exist somewhere...) This is what I have been pondering recently.

The thing that started me thinking about this was this post, containing some promotional materials for season 2 that feature main characters with scenes in their heads. Like this:

Seeing this created a very similar situation in my own head, but with a nice shiny lightbulb.

All the weirdness: the car, the sideburns, the clock, the behavior of the folks of Soho, the vanishing storefront signs. The absence of God. I think this is all because everything we see is in their heads.

I don't mean it's made up. At least not entirely. Memory is already a plot point. Why not explore it on a deeper level? I've read theories emphasizing the minisodes' stories being retold by Aziraphale and Crowley. I think the whole season is like that.

You know that sort of conventional-wisdom-fact-concept that you can only dream faces of people you've seen before (or variations therein), because your brain can't make new faces up? So it just fills in what it thinks is close enough? I think that idea, applied to remembering or recollecting things, could explain so many things that are wonky in this show.

Wonky Things

Crowley parking in an impossible London location? He definitely remembers it was in London, so his brain just stuck some obvious London landmarks in there.

Awkward clattering happening when Crowley throws the stacks of books he's inexplicably carrying around the bookshop? He wouldn't actually throw Aziraphale's books! But he'd like to think he's cool and nonchalant enough to do that, and if he did it would definitely make Some Kind of Noise.

Jim walking toward the bookshop from somewhere mysterious? Maggie and Nina saw him first, and he came from that direction, so he must've walked all that way. They don't know about the elevator in the Donkey.

Aziraphale remembers tartan hills and the Loch Ness monster because he was having a jolly time driving through Scotland, so obviously the scenery must've been whimsical Scottish things.

Nina put the Honolulu roast sign up, so she remembers its presence, but perhaps the occult/ethereal visitors to her shop do not.

Maggie really did text Aziraphale about the rent, but a note through the mail slot is a much more dignified way for a scholarly angel to imagine he received a message.

On the Fallibility of Recall

This season is loaded with unrealistic inclusions. The colors are turned up to 11. Some of the scenes are more caricature than believable interaction. Remembering things never copies or reproduces them with what one might call high fidelity.

Scenes recalled by separate memories will inherently vary. One person's hefty jigger might be another person's dash. Who knows for sure where the sun was that day? You and I might recall an event having different lighting or a different color palette, sort of like viewing something with different lens filters.

According to Neil, Crowley is an unreliable narrator of the story of his Fall. He labels the variations in clock times as a continuity error in a show where Everything Is Meant, but he doesn't say whose continuity error it is. He insists that the Bentley is the same through the whole season; maybe it was the same, but remembered differently. Maybe this is part of why there's more CGI but it's harder to spot.

So What?

Is this all there is to it? I sure hope not. I like my Good Omens with enough layers to put to shame an onion wrapped in a cake and covered in a parfait.

Is this possibly the fancy footwork that's distracting from the real magic trick? I wouldn't put it past Our Gaiman. There are a lot of things one could hide in the narrative of unreliable memory.

Is this going to stop me from rewatching and repondering and remaking theories for the next couple years? Not even at gunpoint.

[rey-jake-therapist]

I really am amazed by the number of people, on Reddit but even on Tumblr too, who genuinely seem to believe that Galadriel being wounded by Morgoth's crown will be inconsequential regarding her character development. They heard her say "the door is shut" to Sauron, saw her jump off a cliff hence resist him, so they believe, "that's it !" Galadriel's temptation for darkness is over for good, and she will probably not have much to do in the following 3 seasons except giving a heir to the returning Celeborn (whose arc she's bound to serve and not the other way round, apparently), build Lothlorien, protect it with Nenya and make an appearance once in a while so we can see her become the Lady of Light, the ethereal Galadriel Frodo met in Fellowship of the Ring, while the men do all the hard job of defeating Sauron.

I'm genuinely confused by these takes. Do these people hate the idea of Saurondriel so much that they want to see it die even at the detriment of Galadriel's character development and story? Or didn't they just even watch LOTR, saw Frodo get stabbed by a Nazgul and carry this wound all his life, to the point he was never able to lead a normal life again because of it ? Didn't they see Frodo physically react to the presence of the Nazgul who had wounded him, because the creature created a sort of bond between them? Didn't they see the scene where Frodo almost puts on the One Ring because the Nazgul uses the connection they have to push him into giving him the Ring?

Because if they saw all these scenes, and yet believe that for Galadriel, her wound will just heal with the help of Nenya and Elvish medicine and will have no consequences whatsoever on her future interactions with Sauron, I must say I don't get it. Sauron didn't use a random dark weapon to wound her, he used an object who belonged to Morgoth, the symbol of his power, no less. Sauron himself was stabbed to "death" with this crown, meaning there was still his blood on this very powerful artifact when he used it against Galadriel.

Why do they think that they introduced the second season with Adar's betray and "murder" of Sauron with Morgoth's Crown? Do they think it's only a coincidence that they started the season with this flashback, and finished it with Sauron using the same Crown to wound Galadriel ? Do they remember we saw him replace Mithril with his blood for the forging of the Nine ? He did that to have a total control over the men who would wear these rings. When he stabbed Galadriel, he pretty much expected to obtain the same result. It didn't happen thanks to Nenya and Galadriel's willpower, essentially.

Yes, Galadriel will partly heal thanks to Nenya, but the wound will always be there nevertheless. She was wearing Nenya when Sauron stabbed her and yet, Sauron managed to wound her badly and to create a bond with her, getting the ability to mentally speak to her. We never saw him do that with anyone, before. There's no way that in next season, Galadriel "just heals thanks to Nenya and move on with her life", never being prone to temptation ever again.

There's also no way that our Dork Lord just lets her go, now that he created this bond with her. If anything, it should make his obsession for her stronger than ever ! And I find a bit naive to think that Galadriel will immediately find the way to block him, "thanks to Nenya". There would be no point at all to this entire situation if it was only to give Galadriel a nasty wound, that sometimes hurts when Sauron gets closer 🤷🏼‍♀️

[ganondoodle]

saw a few posts talking about ganondorf and while i dont want to uh .. risk having to argue with strangers ... i cant shut up entirely (you know me)

(in my opinion that is probably missing alot or just not as well read as a lot of others since i really just say what i feel instead of knowing what im talking about-)

its kinda hard to really talk about him bc hes so .... steeped into tired old stereotypes and harmful tropes with intentionally so little else, if anything, that you almost always end up playing into them if you just take what canon tells you (and alot of people love defending it too :/ )

to what degree is it really his character and what is literally just some things that were decided he does to make it clear hes the one note evil guy, to justify whatever horror is done to him and overshadow/bury what anyone else has done, to not think about maybe he had a point bc look how much bad stuff he does! if you made him fight for the freedom/sovereignity of his own people against an oppressive hyrule he would be in the right- so ACTUALLY he opresses them violently and selfishly even WORSE and then wants to murder everyone tm that dont bow to him bc thats what evil people do! and hyrule is justified in taking them over in turn bc their rule wont opress them :)

its like a game of trying to one up whatever hyrule did with something more bad tm bc otherwise it gets hard to justify killing him over and over

im not saying hes not allowed to be prideful, selfish or violent of whatever, but you gotta know that all of that IS one of those ways that is supposed to make it clear how evil tm the desert guy is; it doesnt matter what hyrule has done bc look! ganondorf is so much worse! and im sure hyrule had their reasons :)

hes never actually allowed to interact with his own people, hes isolated/alienated from them and their culture constantly, hes their king yet he .... violently takes over "free" gerudo villages (what? what for?? what does "free" even mean? they werent following him? their king?? were they .. allied with hyrule, who are good tm, which means they were living in paradise aka "free"? (bc they are good ones tm bc they rejected their evil one in a hundred year man king ruling violently over only women .. *cough*)), yet hes never seen fighting alongside his own people (the most is them .. silently serving him in what, one scene??) and then he drops them the second he has evil MONSTERS to fight for him instead and orders them to kill every living thing or something bc thats obviously evil, he doesnt even care about his own people! how evil! why would he do that? idk, hes the sole, selfish violent evil man opressing his own people, who are all women! that what they do! and WE need to free them from HIM (and they should be thankful to us for it and try to attone for ever having birthed him in the first place) (or he is the reason tm why they suffered/were wiped out and he is literally the sole survivor of his people, bc he doesnt care about ANYONE but himself)

i dont mean he has to be a goody two shoes character (you can be an ass and still do good/be in the right btw) bc more often than not what that actually means is being allied with hyrule bc those are the designated good guys and being on their side makes you automatically good (eugh) but do you rly want to just ... play along with all the propaganda?

imo, aside from being obviously racist, thats also so boring? does selfish, violent evil man king with no people (bc hes not part of them or fighting for them, hes always presented as the worse oppressor) and nothing else to him that only wants to murder bc ... idk evil? sound interesting to you? (to the point that the ONLY time we were shown literally any sort of vunerabillity, end of ww, that theres people trying to argue he was trying to to manipulate you even there?? what for? why? are you trying to reject literally the one glimpse we are allowed into his perspective qoq)

why do alot of people reject the idea so much to consider he actually cared about them, how maybe that prideful and selfish look is just a facade, or even a fabrication? violence that had to be met with violence, not for any sort of selfish reasons, but for his people and was met with a fight he could not win yet kept fighting on, perhaps losing himself more and more in the process, or a lie told so often that it became reality, if someone has nothign left to lose, if all was taken from them, maybe even blamed on them, why not play into what you where made out to be, you cant convince them otherwise anyway its the reason hes never shown to have done a single nice thing, never seen non angry/smug smiling, how he has no one at his side unless he forced them, how he is not allowed to be human even a little bit, never shown being anything but a boring ass trope personified, hes less a character and more a big bundle of racist tropes that fights you at the end (sorry) while looking epic so trying to meaningfully analyze him just by what we are told and shown in canon will always fall kinda flat or end up playing righ into every shitty trope

that is my opinion :I

[neyafromfrance95]

i loved galadriel's arc in s2, but not as much as in s1 and there are many different ways in which it could have been better.

i loved that she was shown to struggle with the denial of her taboo feelings for halbrand and with reconciling them with her hatred of sauron, now motivated even more to personally slay him. i loved how she was annoyed for not being in the leadership position instead of elrond, showcasing her ambition for power, leadership and personal persecution of sauron. i loved the battle, how she was the one to start fighting and did not stop fighting even tho sauron almost begged her to.

i agree with everyone that the dialogue was weak. however, i don't think it's really about the dialogue. i never believed galadriel would give in to evil!sauron (her willpower, pride and fear wouldn't allow it), but the temptation for power and the recognition of connection are there, so i wanted to see this crisis and angst displayed more intensely. i can forgive it, as it can be explained by galadriel setting her mind and spirit on blocking her personal emotions off and switching to the kill mode. but only if we see that personal, intimate struggle moving forward.

if she really overcame her interpersonal conflict with sauron and the darkness... it would simply be so out of character and inconsistent, that the only explanation would be that sauron really stole her soul and replaced her with a watered down galadriel who would give a lesser headache to elrond and gil-galad, lol.

first of all, there was no temptation in that battle, really. sauron didn't propose to her for the second time, he was set on breaking her down till she gave in to him (again, nenya=galadriel). yeah, he told her that the door was still open but he sought submission from her this time around (s1 finale was darkly romantic, s2 finale was darkly romantic too but even more so darkly erotic, if u know what i mean).

it doesn't make sense for galadriel to be devoted to and obsessed with slaying sauron for centuries only to get over it after battling him only once. it doesn't make sense for her interpersonal conflict to be resolved after the interaction where she emotionally closed herself off after the whole season of displaying the scandalous levels of mental illness and loser behavior over that man, lol.

i think what the majority of haladriels are discontent with, is this impersonal attitude galadriel had throughout the battle (save for a very impactful and significant reaction she had to halbrand, and other microexpressions). and i agree, i want her to scream at sauron for killing her brother, for betraying her, for deceiving her ("it was just an illusion" counts tho), not about the free peoples of the middle-earth.

but here is the thing. the reason why i feel uneasy about galadriel's attitude here, it that i'm anxious about the possibility that they won't get to come face to face in the future to have this sort personal of clash (fingers crossed 🤞 that the mind-palace is re-introduced in s3). but i do believe that it makes sense for galadriel to be closed off as a defense mechanism when she first saw sauron. he was changed, so she felt detached from this new form she wasn't adjusted to. it would make sense for her to "explode" emotionally only as the culmination of a slow realization that halbrand *is* sauron.

and as for the darkness, it would feel weird for her to be "healed" from her own darkness by the two men who kept lowkey "slutshaming" her.

now, there is a hope that they are going to *subvert* the viewer expectations and she is going to experience the effects of finally having touched the darkness, learning how to find the light even though there is the darkness in her. that would make for a far more interesting character journey than her not having to make decisions and mistakes bc she is an one-dimensional good girl.

as for the things i would have loved to have seen in s2:

galadriel being alienated and bullied as a child and only having finrod who understood her was hinted at in the beginning, but it would have been great if we had some more flashbacks expanding on this in s2. it would help the audiences to really sympathize with galadriel's obsession with revenge more.

and it would have been so cool to see the flashbacks into her quests and crusades, her knight adventures, how she actually started to *enjoy* fighting and power while the darkness crept into her heart, to the point it became part of her, to the point sauron became an intrinsic part of her identity. after all, she was so obsessed with the idea of slaying him that she turned her back on heaven, her home and risked literally everything for him.

and i mostly talk about galadriel/haladriel in this blog, but i have to say, im disappointed with the overall treatment of the female characters in this season. my third favorite character after gal/sau is miriel and i feel like she was sidelined in numenor plotline too. going into the sea was epic and showcased how worthy and dignified she is, and i absolutely adore her chivalric romance with elendil, but it still felt like they could have done much more with her, or at least given her a pov.

idk, i hope s3 improves these flaws of s2 and doesn't cater to the incels, but their loudness is worrisome.

[nerdyfan1]

I know I like never talked about this franchise let alone this show on this account before but, I’ve been watching A New Wish recently. Enjoying myself a lot btw it’s different from the original but, still fun.

Tho I wanted to point out something cus as you guys know I do love overthinking my goofy comedic cartoons hehe.

New Wish Spoilers under the cut

Ok so for anyone who has been watching through this show like I have you probably already have caught on to Dev and his daddy issues. It was very clear as soon as we got introduced (or I guess reintroduction cus Dale was in the og show technically? whatever it’s not that important) to his dad as the very first scene we get with the man is him dragging his 10 y/o son on business stuff. On a Saturday. Then low key shaming him for understandably wanting to not be there. After that he then proceeds to be a lying scum bag to get money from people who mean well.

This entire episode just Dale Dimmadome showing how money grubbing he is. Hence really painting a good picture of the person he is and kind of showing the type of guy Dev is being raised by.

Hell we even get this specific line towards the end of this same episode. For context this episode about a living trash bin Hazel accidentally wished up being used by Dale for a pro over consuming message. Now after Stanky the Trash Bin is convinced by Hazel to get rid of trash they run off. With Dale running out from his front door, with Dev right next to him btw, then I quote saying:

“Stanky don’t leave! Oh you’re like a son to me.” With Dev sighing loudly.

Like wow man he’s right there.

Not to mention this part in “Peace of Pizza”. Where Hazel tries to convince Dev with a fake version of Dale. It’s just Cosmo but, it’s so obvious from this dialogue and even the background music that he thought that was his dad and that Dale seemingly doesn’t spend much time with this kid.

These are like two examples that were highlighting this. Dale Dimmadome is kind of a fuck ass dad from what is shown. So I do wonder when watching through “A New DEVelopment” and getting to this point then noticing how quiet he is as soon as the principal comes in to scold them.

Now like I said earlier I’m probably just overthinking this or something but, noticed before she came into the scene Dev was talking with the teacher perfectly fine. Then she starts yelling at them and it’s Hazel that takes lead to explain what they were doing. Which was weird to me cus Dev up until this point came off as I guess a principle’s pet of sorts. We saw it in “28 Puddings Later” and kind of “Prime Meridian Love”. While every interaction she’s had with Hazel however it is the same with any other kid.

Idk so um random thought does like Dev get really quiet when he’s shouted at or something cus his fuck ass dad has a habit of yelling at him when he messes up? Idk just what I was thinking ever since I saw this specific episode.

[stellayuta]

Love on The Grid - Formula 1 AU! Yuta Okkotsu - Pt 3.

Your likes, comments and reblogs really encourage me to write more! So do interact with this post and let me know your thoughts 🧡

PART 1 ||| PART 2

synopsis: One-night stands were nothing but a necessary painkiller for your inability to cross paths with true love. Your most recent find at a Vegas Club was no different. He was boring, obedient, SLOW! You leave him high and hanging hoping you'd never see him again until you find yourself gawking at a supersized billboard of him on a Vegas highway with the title 'LEGEND RETURNS TO VEGAS'.

genre: some smut and lots of angst

content: 18+ only. Formula one driver! Yuta x f! reader, all sorts of sexy stuff (fingering, oral, orgasm denial), swearing, angsty elements, cheating and discussion of mental health <3

word count: 5.2k

a/n: can't stop writing this lmao. here's part 3. Also, I noticed I have some trouble writing second person pov and keep switching to first so pls excuse any grammatic discrepancies.

WARNING: always use protection!

The chilly November air is ruthless as it bites your exposed skin. You had an ambitious plan for the night with your flashy dress, but all of it fell apart, leaving you alone and miserable for the second time in your life. Maybe it's the cold, but you feel your nose leaking - or maybe it's your uncontrollable crying that's causing that.

"Oh my god, stop crying!" you snap at yourself. This is pathetic. Your friends will not be happy with this advancement. You couldn't even get Noritoshi his darned autograph.

You seemed to have picked the back exit of the casino fortunately because you can still hear camera shutters going off in a distance. There is nothing in the back except a small, marble fountain with a weak stream of water. You do notice a very flashy, bright red car parked near it though, very far from the parking lot which is more towards the front of the casino. You look at in awe, how it casts a pinkish-red glow on the white marble around it - almost looks like it's made of rubies.

"Like my ride?" a haughty voice grabs your attention, and you haphazardly rub at your eyes before looking up. It's a tall, slender man in a fiery red suit and black accents walking towards you. You take note of his snowy white tresses and crystaline blue eyes. You feel like you've seen him somewhere before? Is he perhaps an actor or a supermodel?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare at your car." You apologize to the man in case he had plans of accusing you of an attempted grand theft auto.

"Ah, don't worry about it." He says, waving his hand dismissively, "These cars are meant to be stared at, otherwise what's this point."

The comment makes you smile at bit as you hug yourself a little to get some relief from the cold.

"So?" He begins, twirling his keys on his long index finger. "What are you doing out here? Saw you last with Okkotsu? You his chick?" He interrogates you.

"I just came out for some fresh air, I don't quite like crowded spaces." You tell him, evading his question.

"No one hates glamor." The man says, fashioning a pair of circular sunglasses from his jacket pocket and putting them on. "Especially not formula one glamor. The richest of the riches. The most esteemed parties, crowd. What is it that really irked you?"

You frown at him. "Why do you believe everyone is interested in that kind of life? Do you think one kind find genuineness in life when your environment is constantly this superficial?" Maybe you spoke too much but the man seems intrigued.

"So Okkotsu bagged a smart chick. Good for him." He teases but you are not in the mood for any of it. "I am not his chick. We are friends. Not anymore probably. But don't make assumptions." you snap at the guy.

"Ah, calm down, tiger..." He says, putting his hands up and sitting up on the hood of his car. "Yuta doesn't just bring any chick along with him to places. I thought the two of you looked nice together!"

"He doesn't?" you ask. You feel a terrible ember of hope inside of you but want to immediately douse it. The strange man lets out a manic laugh.

"What? Did you think he was some Casanova, getting into everyone's pants. Do you even know anything about him?" he asks you mockingly and you feel a blush of embarrassment creep onto your cheeks. "He's not like the rest of us - forever on the search for love, and getting played by women who want us for the fame." He says, gazing at the sky. It is quite pretty out here today, a starry night.

You don't know for sure if this guy would know anything, but it seems like he would so, you can't help but ask him.

"What's going on between Yuta and that woman with the mole?" you ask, not making eye contact with the man. He looks at you with narrowed eyes.

"Who? Rika?"

"Yes, her."

"Oh yeah, they dated. For a year maybe? Yuta thinks they were in love, but I disagree. Yuta would think he's in love with anyone as long as they love him. He's pretty stupid I must say." The last part brings a smile to your face. "What happened between them?" you prod.

"Hmm, aren't you curious, as a friend?" He sticks his tongue out at you but continues on before you can protest.

"Well turns out, Rika loved how popular he was. Ad campaigns, parties, press tours, social media. Rika loves to be talked about. And with Yuta, she'd be as notorious as him. That was when Yuta was at the peak of his career. He hasn't been so well this year and Rika, finding that she had no screen-time anymore, decided it wasn't worth being linked to Yuta anymore." He says, sighing. You furrow your brows at this reveal.

"And so, as all fake things must come to an end, she asked for the breakup and Yuta had to comply. Do you know why he let her go?" Gojo asks you and you shrug your shoulders.

"Because he felt he wasn't deserving of being her boyfriend if he can't even be famous and publicly liked enough to be known as her boyfriend. He thought she deserves better."

You and the man exchange a glance, knowingly fully well that no man would think this way. Yuta was truly, genuinely too stupidly kind for his own good.

"W-why is he still in contact with her then?" you ask. Now this came from a place of selfishness. You didn't mind that Yuta had a past, but you didn't want her around him anymore. Regardless of whether you and Yuta had anything going or not.

"Well, they got to know each other because she is his personal manager. He didn't want to risk her livelihood by firing her." Gojo says.

"Well not anymore." a third voice joins the two of you as you turn around to see a livid Yuta close the door behind him and walk towards you. His hair is now falling onto his head, lock by lock, ruining his neat hairdo but very much reminding you of his fucked-out look from the other night. He has discarded his grey tuxedo jacket for good. He stands in between you and the white-haired man, seemingly trying to shield you from him. "I got rid of her for good. Now, what are you doing here, Gojo?"

Gojo. Now you get it. The first Ferrari driver who crashed out today. The question makes Gojo give Yuta a half smirk.

"Bad timing, Okkotsu. I was just about to ask this pretty lady here for a ride in my Ferrari. Third-wheel much?"

"Well, that won't be necessary." Yuta declares, pulling you in by the waist. "My Lambo's faster and Y/N prefers the better driver."

Yuta's blatant show of talent supremacy makes your mouth pop open in sheer admiration for a full two seconds.

"See you around..." Yuta says, pulling you along and not waiting for Gojo's reply.

Before the two of you can get to the car though, he finds a crevice between two pillars to push you into.

"I am apologizing again. One last time. You won't see the likes of her again." He says, very seriously, his spiky dark hair brushing the top of your forehead due to his proximity to you. You stare at his lips mindlessly, not knowing what to say. Why would he go this far for you?

"I don't think anybody in your world wants to see you with me and, she seems like she is still in love with you, Yuta..." You admit more to yourself than to him, cupping his face in your quivering hands. His expression is very honest as if he wants to shout it out to you with every cell of his body.

"She can go to hell. So can all of them." It is but a gentle whisper and he waits merely a second for your nodded consent before he presses his lips onto yours and your legs turn to jelly. You take fistfuls of his black shirt into your hands for support as you wrap your arms around him, melting, drowning into the kiss without any hope of surfacing. His hands run up and down your torso, trying to touch as much as body as possible before deciding to settle one hand on your ass and the other holding your chin to face you as he breaks the kiss to take a breath.

The two of you huff, separating yet still connected by a slimy string of your salivas. The weather doesn't seem chilly anymore as you feel his marble-like, wet back from under his soaked shirt. You also find your nipples poking out of your dress painfully, your collar bones shining with sweat as Yuta notices them and swoops right in to start kissing them.

"We'll be papped in this position, dummy." You slap Yuta's back, looking around with haste to see if you had peeping company.

"Don't care," he mumbles, groaning while he peppers the top half of your chest and your cleavage with kisses.

"I care!" You tell him, trying to yank him off of you. "I don't want to be on the gossip pages of a tabloid, making out with you."

He looks up, his dark blue eyes feral. "My car has tinted windows. No flash would penetrate."

You follow his stream of thought to realize what he's saying and bite your lip. You nod at him to give him the green signal to take you back to his car, parked out at the front where the paparazzi is parked too.

But it is not near enough.

You are clinging on to his muscular arm as you walk and feeling the weight of his arm right between your breasts is driving you insane.

Thunder makes a surprise appearance as a previously clear sky starts collecting an army of angry, dark clouds, illuminated by a shameless full moon. It's about to rain down on you two people, whose passion knows no bounds.

"Wait, Yuta-" you make him stop halfway and bring down his face to kiss him yet again. You run your finger along his jawline, admiring how perfect its edges are and occupy your hand with grabbing his hair. You take a small break to mumble truthfully against his puffed-up lips- "I couldn't wait till the car..."

That is enough motivation for Yuta to pick you up in his arms like a doll and carry you the rest of the way to the car, with your legs wrapped around his waist and your tongue fighting his for dominance. Fortunately, it seems the paparazzi had deserted the front area of the casino and you hear them in a distance yelling out "gojo" and "ferrari". So it was him. Now you owe him one. Thanks to that, you're able to manage getting into Yuta's sexy black lambo pretty discreetly.

This is the first time you get to properly see the car and with its teal interior and white lightwork, it truly looks like an engineering masterclass. Somehow your brain wires back to Toji driving this car around smoothly through the streets of Vegas and you turn to Yuta who's already made himself comfortable in the driver's seat.

He looks at you with yearning but it's unsafe to drive under the influence of lust.

You stare at him though till he raises his brow.

"Are you sure you can drive the car, I mean, it's an expensive car." you say before you realize what's coming out your mouth.

Yuta makes the most interesting expression possible.

"Remind me whose car this is?"

"Yours?"

"Remind me what I do for a living...?"

".... drive cars really fast...?"

Okay that was stupid on your part. It's just out of Toji's smooth, more practiced hands and into Yuta's younger, more energetic hands - you didn't know what to think. You were now going to witness Yuta Okkotsu in his true element - doing the thing he was born to pioneer.

Yuta revs the engine and pulls the car out of its spot and out of the premises smoother than buttery silk. He gets on to the road and soon enough we accelerate to a comfortable pace.

You admire how perfectly this car moves, like a black cat prowling through the roads.

Once Yuta hits the highways though, he assaults the gas pedal.

"Ahhhh!!!" you yelp, feeling the air hit your face with the windows down. It feels like literally being slapped by the wind. This earns a hearty laugh from Yuta.

"You should sit in one of our race cars, this is nothing!" he yells, rolling down his window too.

Since it is the wee hours of the night, the highway is practically empty, and you watch Yuta own the road like he was meant to rule it.

"Woo-hoo-hooooo!!!!" You scream out again, this time, cautiously putting your head out the window. You watch the buildings and the shimmering rows of cars running on the local streets pass by at a distance. Your hair finds its own rhythm, flying with the wind.

When you finally get off the highway, the both of you roll up the windows and relax into your seats. You feel wide awake now, more than you've ever been before.

"That was the best!" you tell Yuta, still high on adrenaline.

"You're welcome..." he says coolly.

"Where are we going?"

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like stars?" Yuta turns to you, smiling, probably already knowing your answer by how your eyes begin to twinkle just like those stars he mentioned.

****

The car finds itself right at home by the edge of a cliff as Yuta helps you out of the car and locks hands with you. It is quite windy up here too and the cliff overlooks the Vegas City, the view is mind-blowing.

But nothing can beat the expanse of the universe that is showing you a glimpse of itself in the night sky. You stand there looking up at the myriads of colors and glitter decorating the inky black canvas of the night. You spot at least 5 shooting stars in 30 seconds.

"Come here." Yuta calls out to you, and you turn around to see that he has laid out a fluffy blanket on the hood of his car and has another one in his hand for you two to use, perhaps.

You approach the car skeptically and ask Yuta if it can handle the weight.

"It can handle much more." He comments, urging you to join him on the hood of the car. The two of you maintain a good distance between you on the hood, but you so want to touch him right now. The sparkling sky finds its home in Yuta's dark, spectating eyes too and you can't help but look at him with... l-love?

For a while the two of you just sit there, enjoying the view and saying nothing. The silence isn't awkward this time but calming, very warm. You bring your knees closer to your chest. Without club alcohol, you feel shy now, of all times to be shy.

The last strand of your patience snaps though when you put your hand down on the hand and accidentally brush fingers with him.

The two of you exchange a look and you are not sure what's stopping you two? Dignity? Qualms? To hell with all of that.

"Stop looking at me..." you whisper at him, slowly sliding towards him, across the hood and climbing on top of him, right on his crotch, making him lay back down on the hood. He, however, does not want to stop looking at you like he wants to drink you up,

"Look anywhere else!" you gasp, placing your palms face down on his chest and yet, he won't break eye contact at all. He is studying you now, up and down, eyes stopping a second too long on the cleavage out for display, your lush thighs around his hips.

"Why, is it bothering you? I'm not going to look away." He declares, propping himself up on the hood and running his hands up and down your sides. The roughness of his hands that is evident even through the dress makes you bite you lip and breath out harshly. You are now practically sitting in his lap.

"Usually..." He continues, bringing his lips dangerously close to yours, brushing them against yours as you breathe in his heady scent.

"People have a thing for doing this stuff inside the car." His tongue slides across your bottom lip and he moves to bite your earlobe.

"Yet, here we are..." he comes back to your lips, nose brushing against yours as his hand snakes up your side to hold your neck gently. "Right out in the open... inviting anyone to see, am I right, Y/N?"

You look at him with pleading eyes and move in to kiss him but he uses his other hand to hold you by your hair. He doesn't hurt you but pulls with enough pressure to keep the two of you apart.

"I want to touch you..." you confess. What is his problem, this jerk? The only thing he is accomplishing by delaying this is making your heart race and making your bottom wet.

"Would you have gone with Gojo if he really invited you out for a ride?" He asks, his eyes darkening further while his fingers stay intertwined in your hair. Oh, now you see. He is the territorial type. Well, you can't judge him, so are you. But two can play at this game.

"Well, he was quite hot." you lie with a convincing smile, pretending to dream of some attractive version of Gojo that does not exist in your brain. Sure, he is handsome - but, Yuta made you suck him off in record time, that's something. Even Megumi took a month.

Yuta must believe what you say because his grip in your hair tightens ever so slightly.

"What did you talk about?" He asks, cocking his head to the side as he uses his free hand to slide it down your back and raise your skirt up. He must be pleased to find his target already soaking wet and you barely control a squeal when he plunges two fingers in at torturously slow pace. You have wanted him for so long though, that you begin to lose focus and he lightly tugs at your hair.

"Go on, what did you talk about?" he demands in a lower voice.

"Huh, oh yes." you try to continue your farce. "H-he was telling me how good I look. He told me he's a good ride." you grin at Yuta and he curves his fingers upward into your womanhood to finally earn a disgruntled moan from you.

"You riding him? Don't make me laugh." He says, a twisted smile forming on his face that only makes you want to prod him more.

"Why not?" you push. "He's tall, has a majestic body. He looks like he's got a lot of endurance. He looks like h-he'd b-be." With every compliment you direct towards Gojo, Yuta's pace increases as he assaults your sensitive spot.

"He what?"

"H-h-he... it would be fun to r-ride-" before you can finish your sentence though you can already feel a balloon of pleasure inflating rapidly inside your nether regions. You were about to cum any second now.

But just as you are about to go over the peak, Yuta pulls out his fingers without warning. Your brows furrow together, and you look at Yuta with a face so shocked, he almost wants to laugh.

"What happened, baby?" He asks, pushing his face into your cleavage. "Go on... tell me." he says, the vibration of his voice making your nipples erect.

"Why'd you stop?" you ask him, still unable to fully recover from the loss of your orgasm.

"That's your punishment for lying about Gojo."

"Yuta that's unfair!" you grab a bunch of his hair and hug him tight, making his nose press between the valley of your breasts.

"Mhmm..." he replies lazily. "I can give you a chance to make it up to me though." He kisses your nipple through the fabric of your dress and looks up at you. He doesn't need a nod to know that you are up for his challenge. He helps you shimmy yourself out of that flimsy dress and it lays discarded on the top of the car. Now you are butt naked in the middle of nowhere, atop Yuta's car. The thrill of it sends a shiver down your spine and certainly a shiver up your puss.

Yuta makes you get on your knees on top of the hood, facing the windshield. The cold touch of the glass on your squished breasts makes you sensitive and ticklish. He pokes your ass. "Up!"

At once, you raise your bottom for him to feast his eyes on. A leaky mess you are, glossy liquid covering your inner thigh and the opening to your womanhood. Yuta doesn't waste too much time gawking at it though and gets straight to business.

He licks one strip up your slit to get you started as you moan out. "Yes, that's your task. You only get to come today, if you are loud enough."

"What if someone comes running to find us?" you ask, turning around only to see Yuta raise a brow. "Isn't that what you want?"

You hate that he is right. This is exactly what you want. It's a massive, massive turn on for you, the risk of being seen. How does he know though?

You merely nod at him and lay your face back down on the glass as he continues to alternate between licking your nether lips and inserting his tongue into your hole. With each move, you are unable to hold you moans and whimpers that echo away in the night.

Soon, you feel another tingle of a bubbling orgasm and your moans turn to lower groans which makes Yuta stop again.

"Yuta, I swear to fucking god!" you scream out.

"Yes, keep that volume up!" Yuta grabs a hold of your ass and takes a deep dive into your crevice, picking up a lot of speed as he goes in and out with tongue and using two of his fingers to prod at your clit.

"Ah! Oh my goodness!" you shriek, moaning louder than ever, your breasts hitting the windshield with every time he thrusts his face into your heat.

"I-I'm cum-" this time, you are able to go over, losing your mind in the process, going cross eyed as Yuta doesn't slow down at all.

He doesn't stop until minutes later when your orgasm has subsided, and you are speechless from overstimulation. When he retracts you simply slump down the windshield and lay flat back on the hood, facing the sky - your face red and in a daze.

"How does it feel?" Yuta asks, placing a warm hand on your abdomen. He is completely soaked - in sweat and in your fluids. So is the blanket he laid out on the hood.

"Please Yuta..." you beg him, raising your hands up at him. "I can't, I need to kiss you, please..."

"God, baby..." Yuta pouts at you and leans over, connecting your lips together as your grab hold of his hair and deepen the kiss. This is all you wanted at the end of the day. To feel his lips and their warmth, to breathe in his odor. When you finally separate, you keep your heads connected and smile like a crazed teenager.

"Wait, it's your turn..." you remind him.

"It's fine. We can do that later." Yuta says, grabbing a hold of the second blanket to wrap around you while using the first one to clean you up down under. "You'll catch a cold out of here. Sorry, if I went too far."

You don't want to buy that though.

"You're going too far if you don't let me see mini Yuta again."

"Don't call it that oh my god." Yuta fake-heaves.

"But that's my favorite part about you!"

"What happened to liking someone for their character, Y/N?"

"Ughh... shush.. you!" you snap, getting off the car and reaching for your dress. It's a chore to put it on but you have to.

"I'm not letting you go without pleasuring you." you declare but Yuta merely guides you by the back and makes you sit inside the car.

"Soon, soon." he says. "We're going back to my hotel anyway. We need a change of clothes and a proper bed."

"So it's part two of last night?" you ask him teasingly. It was impressive that it had not even been a whole 24 hours yet it seemed like forever between last time and now. It also seemed like you got to know so much more of this man who was a complete stranger as of last night.

This made you smile but it immediately made you anxious as well.

When this night is over, where will the two of you be?

You were partially afraid to say anything and break your trance. what if this is all a dream?

"What are you thinking?" He suddenly asks, caressing your hair. This is the first time he touches you in a while. Well probably, it's only been a few minutes but it felt like a while.

"I-" you begin but are unable to find words.

"Do you think this is just an infatuation and will dwindle down to nothing in the next few days?" you finally say. It's better to face the truth now than to delay it. Yuta has to take a chance to ponder over it for a while which only proceeds to create a knot in your stomach.

"That depends on whether you believe in love at first sight?" he replies unexpectedly.

A woman of no nonsense, you can't help but reply "I don't."

"I don't either." he reciprocates. "But I do believe in potential at first sight."

He separates himself from you only for a moment to hold you and look into your eyes as he speaks, pouring out his feelings.

"After the first time we locked eyes, after our first conversation and after the first night we spent together - albeit it was rushed and impulsive and although I won't say I was in love back then, I can't stop thinking about you either." He tells you, transparently.

"This pull between us, it doesn't exist without reason. So I'm asking you..." He says, taking a deep breath.

"Are you willing to give this a chance?"

----

Megumi and you met at a mutual friend's house-warming party. Both of you were newcomers in a small town who migrated for work. There was that in common other than the fact that both of you were slightly awkward, not great talkers and certainly liked the indoors better than adventure. You were just happy that you could find a similar soul in a town full of older people or already married people with families. It was almost not surprising when the two of you started dating. It was a choice of convenience. There was love, without doubt. At least from your side. How could you hate a man, who made you coffee first thing in the morning after a long, tiring day at work. How could you not love a man who played with stray puppies he found on the side of the road. How could you not love a man who knew how to have intelligent conversations and also appreciate your intelligence at the same time.

For you, love was a no-brainer. If this wasn't your perfect match, who would be?

Although Megumi had never explicitly given you any 'I Love You's ,Who could Megumi possibly find in this small town that was more compatible with him than you?

So, when another new hire at the company, Nobara, first reached out to you to set her up with some social circles, you started out by inviting her home for dinner. The three of you had a pleasant evening and you thought nothing of it. Megumi and you had been together for three years at this point. You were even planning to adopt a dog together. You thought of yourself as a married couple, almost.

Then why?

Why, after a horribly taxing day at work, with chinese takeout in your hand and barely enough energy to make it your room, do you find yourself listening to noises of a creaking bed. Why do you find yourself looking at your boyfriend biting Nobara's lips as he tells her the filthiest, yet most romantic phrases. Why is pressing her forehead on to her as he cums. It doesn't make sense. Intercourse with Megumi was quiet, quick affair. That's why it was 'intercourse'. It was something the two of you did to quickly satisfy each other, mostly him.

When you dropped the take-out bag, curry streamed out onto the wooden floor and carpet, and you could only do so much to keep yourself upright and not fall into the small puddle of curry. The noise made the duo turn to look at you and your brain was completely tuning out what Nobara had to say. She seemed to be apologetic, pleading almost but your eyes only followed Megumi as his bare self got out of bed, put his pants on and walked right past you - like you were air. Like you were invisible to him. He went to the restroom and closed the door, with Nobara scurrying out of the house, half clothed.

That night, a part of you was lost forever. The other part of you that refused to give up your survival instincts pushed you - it pushed you until you found yourself at Momo and Noritoshi's doorstep - the Kamo household.

You remember telling them the whole thing as it killed you again, word by word. You find yourself sobbing till you got a panic attack - and then one more. Momo had to call over Miwa and her boyfriend, Kokichi too.

They were the ones who decided that to pull you out of this, you'd need to be pulled out of that town.

The Vegas trip happened only after you promised yourself in the mirror, with a lot of conviction that you would never, ever fall in love with a man again.

----

It's like his confession sobers you out completely. You fall back into the chasm of reality.

Yuta's dark blue eyes wait earnestly for an answer. And maybe you know what you're going to tell him. You'll have to tell him it's not going to work. You'll have to tell him you can't place your heart in jeopardy again.

You will have to stab yourself in your heart because you can't afford to hurt yourself, but you absolutely can't lie to this man and hurt him too.

After tonight, you will let him go..

"Let's get going, Yuta." You laugh nervously. "I'm too tired, don't mind if I sleep."

to be continued.... PART 4 HERE

a/n: phew, this part took some time to figure out what direction I wanted this to go and what elements I wanted to include in this part. Expect a LOT of angst in the next one. I believe Part 4 may be the penultimate chapter. Till then, stay tuned and stay healthy!

[jenosbliss]

hii there!! can i req different tropes with the dreamies please?

🩶⌇ nct dream ! as different love tropes

pairing. gn!reader x nctdream | genre. fluff | wc. 1.5k | warnings. none

a/n. happy new year guys!! went a little personal on Jaemin's one, also if you want a bigger fic for any of the members with these tropes pls let me know 💖

MARK. childhood friends to lovers

Mark was the constant in your life just as you were in his. He was the one to pull you in when you experienced your first heartbreak or needed a shoulder to weep on, to rely on, to seek warmth and comfort in. He was the one to cheer you on for exams, to celebrate your achievements and your first relationship. He had been there all along. Hence, when he unexpectedly blurted out, "Do you think we would make a good couple?" while snuggling inside the cover with you one quiet night. You weren't too shocked by it because, in all honesty, you both knew—hell, everyone knew—that you loved one another more than simply as friends. In fact, your friends called you both ‘goners.’ “Is this your subtle way of asking me out?” he giggled trying to hide his oh not so obvious blush. “I mean like you know what I mean c’mon dude… will you be my girlfriend?” "Have I ever said no to you?" you drew nearer to him beneath the cover. “Sure.”

RENJUN. secret admirer

It started recently when small notes began to appear inside your locker and on your desk. At first you ignored them thinking it was some sort of a sick prank because who in their right mind will secretly admire you? Well, Renjun does, and ever since the day he saw you having your own little concert in the classroom after everyone had left, he has never been as certain about someone as he was about you. At first he left notes on a weekly basis afraid you might not like them but when he saw you smiling and saving all his notes he started leaving a dozen of them on a daily basis. He was going crazy because he had so much he wanted to tell you, but there was not enough room on a piece of paper. However, you were driving yourself crazy trying to identify this admirer of yours. This madness continued for a month until one day Renjun himself stood in front of your locker holding a piece of paper, "Here's your note, love.”

JENO. fake dating

You didn’t consider Jeno a total stranger, you have run into him quite a handful of times in the campus cafe and have your fair share of shy glances, very small talks and fleeting smiles. One day your ex followed you to the cafe, at first, he was begging for forgiveness but soon turned hostile, demanding a reason why you don’t want to be with him. Fearing he might do something bad; your eyes fell upon Jeno who just entered the cafe, a sweet smile playing on his lips when he noticed you. Could you have come up with a better response? Maybe but at that moment you couldn’t think of anything else. You approached him begging “Hi, I’m really sorry to put you in this mess but can you please, please pretend to be my boyfriend? My ex there-” at an instant Jeno stood up, grabbing your hand softly in his “Where is that jerk? Did he hurt you?” And with this incident you both started fake dating which soon turned real without either of you realizing.

HAECHAN. sunshine x grumpy

Everyone around you referred to you and Haechan as the opposite attracts couple, well to be very honest you didn’t consider yourself grumpy or mean, you just didn’t prefer the human race and any interaction with them of course except him. He was the literal definition of sunshine for you, the one who lightened you up, the one with whom you can leave your so-called grumpy side aside and be a little ray of his sunshine. Haechan found you in the darkest phase of your life when everyone you knew or had trusted turned their back on you, leaving you to cry alone in a dark corner. It was then when he pulled you into his embrace, radiating a warmth that felt safe and something like home, he became that last ray of hope and light that brightened you up once again. “How can you be this happy this early in the morning?” you grumbled seeing him dance while cooking in the kitchen. Ignoring your comment, he walked around the counter and extended his hand “Will you dance with me? Please, sunshine please!” rolling your eyes at his silly actions you still took his hand as he pulled you in for a little silly dance.

JAEMIN. first love

Love was a scary word for you, the reason you never experienced it before was because you wanted it to be perfect. You wanted to remember your first love with a smile on your face and not an experience which you would want to forget. You have had crushes and a few situationships and an experience of a boy you thought was definitely the one to not reciprocate your feelings when you confessed to him before. But that was it, after the last incident years ago you gave up on the idea of love, thinking it was for the pinterest girlies, those perfect ones who deserved a perfect love. But the day Jaemin came to you on that bus ride asking if can take the empty seat next to yours, the perception of love you had changed. He became your first and perfect love, he showed you everyone is worthy of love, he accepted all your flaws, he cared for you like no one has ever done –babying you included– he never shied away from confessing his love and gratitude for you, he cherished you with every breath he took. You could cry to him, with him, you could laugh with him until your stomach hurts, you could gossip with him, and you could cherish the quietness with him. He was perfect and he was yours, your first love. “OMG y/n I saw this flower growing out of the sidewalk, it reminded me of you princess.”

CHENLE. academic rivals

Chenle didn’t give a shit about studies or grades, if you ask his parents or friends, they haven’t seen so many ‘A+’ on his tests till now. It’s not like he was poor in his studies, it's just that he didn't have a reason to study. Why study if he could just get a scholarship through basketball? It was useless according to him until he met you in high school, the top student in the class if not the school. Was it love at first sight? Nah it was love at first fight for him when he accidentally hit you with the basketball during gym class and you poured a bottle of water on him as revenge (it was freezing cold that day). After that, the more he tried to approach you the more you avoided him. It was the first time when he wanted something, but he couldn't have it right away, and this ignited a fire in him. So, the only way to reach you now was through academics, and boy, he loved pushing your buttons, so he decided to compete with you… fiercely and that’s how after a few months of this rivalry you found yourself pinned against the bookshelf by him in a corner of the library. “Everything is just a competition for you… isn’t it?” you felt his breath on your face “Isn’t it for you, too?” you spat back, not breaking eye contact. “No, I did this because I am in fucking love with you.”

JISUNG. brother's best friend

You met Jisung when you were five and he was seven, he brought Sungchan back home after he sprained his ankle during the game of soccer. You remember watching him from afar, while he was talking to your mother about Sungchan’s injury when he looked at you and passed a smile. Since then, not a day passes by when you don’t think of him. At seven you had childishly asked him to marry you which he laughed at first but agreed later, promising to do so when you grow older. At fifteen he scared off a boy who kissed you on the cheek in school, saying things like you are too young for dating and you can’t date just any boy. That day, instead of crying that your first relationship ended before it could even start, you were happy, it was the day you started liking Jisung. At seventeen you confessed your feelings to him when he said the words that broke your small, fragile heart in pieces, he said you were like a little sister to him. At twenty-two he saw you going out with a man when he arrived at your apartment to celebrate your birthday. He felt something he shouldn’t have, he felt jealous, a burning rage and it was that moment that he knew he had fallen head over heels for you. “Don’t date him.” you scoffed hearing his authoritative tone. “And who are you to say that? I’m not fifteen anymore. It’s my life I can date whoever I want… you’re not my real brother.” he grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards him “Yes I’m not your brother… so date me instead.”

navigation.

masterlist. nct dream | nct 127 | wayv

[hailucy]

hi! saw that youre taking requests! could i have a theo x slytherin reader, where they both dislike eachother but are part of the same friend group, so pansy locks them up somewhere?

Not Him | t.n

pairing: theodore nott x reader

summary: Theo and you have a strong dislike towards each other which results in you guys arguing about everything. Your friends get tired of your constant arguing and decide to do something about it.

warning: Its not really slytherin reader but they are friends with the slytherin group,bickering and years of unresolved tension(but not for long;), mentions of firewhiskey

words: 1.3k

taglist: @dvarlinggg @bellysbeach @clioscauseforconcernbylovejoy

a/n: here you go!!! it's my first one shot so I hope you like it. I hope I did the request justice! criticism is very much welcome and my requests are open!!

"No, that's wrong! Obviously, Slytherin is gonna win against Gryffindor!"

"Nott, you and I both know that Gryffindor beat the Ravenclaws, all i'm saying is that they're good"

"Not better than us."

"Well... you nearly lost against Hufflepuff"

"Yeah, nearly-"

"OKAY, I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWO," Pansy exclaims while stomping towards you and Theodore. Her face twists in anger and annoyance as she starts waving her hands around, "Do you two not know how to have a single conversation without arguing?!"

"Yes actually I do, however, I'm not so sure about l/n," Theodore smirks and looks at you in a cocky manner.

"Watch it, Nott, I'm sure you've never been taught manners," you say as you flick your hair back and lean back with a glare.

Pansy watches the whole interaction and realises that something must be done. Then she gets it. One brilliant idea.

She turns towards the rest of the group and loudly announces, "My dorm, 10 o'clock, bring drinks and snacks." She then walks off with a smirk on her face.

"What is she planning?" Mattheo groans.

☆☆☆

You're in your dorm thinking about what to wear to Pansy's little get-together. Theodore's going to be there... oh how you hate him, with a raging passion. His cocky attitude and dumb opinions. You hated how he had to argue with every statement you made and how he would tease your every action. You hated his perfect hair and his heavenly eyes. You hated how he made you feel, the butterflies you felt in your stomach whenever you argued and the hotness your face felt when he leaned in to state his point.

Were you ever going to tell anyone how you felt? No. Were you ever going to admit your feelings to him? Hell no. He definitely didn't feel anything towards you and you weren't going to embarrass yourself, especially not in front of him.

Just then Pansy bursts into your room without a care in the world. "Sure Pansy you can come in, thanks for asking" you say sarcastically.

"Boooo whatever. There's a more important discussion that we need to have."

"And what is that?"

"That thing you and Theo have going on."

You face scrunches in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"You sooooo have something for him and he has something for you and you guys need to sort it out because the rest of us are getting tired of it," she states as she goes to your wardrobe and picks some stuff out for you to wear.

"Wait- what- no- what? I don't have a thing for Theo, I mean he's attractive but his personality ruins that. He gets on my nerves" you stutter as you walk towards your bed and grab the clothes Pansy threw on it.

Pansy stares at you dumbfounded, "Whenever you argue and he turns around you get a dumb lovesick smile on your face. Also, his personality isn't bad, he's the one who gave you that book you were so excited about receiving on your birthday."

You stop in your tracks and turn around. "THAT WAS HIM?" You remember receiving that gift, it just appeared on your bed with no note from the giver. It was a book that you picked up on a trip to the bookshop at Hogsmeade however you didn't end up getting it. Theodore was there but he was busy picking up his own books and arguing about some book that you both had read. You didn't realise that he noticed you put it down after realising that you forgot your money in your dorm.

"Yes that was him, and he's done so many other things that you've failed to notice but I digress. Put on your outfit and hurry up, it's nearly 10." She gives you a kiss on the cheek and, after dropping all that information, leaves the room.

☆☆☆

You enter Pansy's dorm and are immediately greeted with the smell of firewhiskey and the sound of music. Lorenzo appears next to you and throws his arm over your shoulder, "Hey! Come on everyone is waiting for you!" He leads you to everyone sitting on the floor and everyone greets you except Theodore who looks at you up and down his eyes clouded with a feeling you have no time to decipher as Pansy pulls you to floor and stands up to announce something.

"Let's play a game" groans are heard from some of the boys " I suggest seven minutes in heaven!"

"Well since your hosting Pans then i guess we've got to," Blaise sighs

"Absolutely right, Blaise," she says as she grabs an empty firewhiskey bottle and puts it in the middle of the circle. She sits beside Draco and flicks her wand to spin the bottle. The only sound in the room was the bottle against the ground, everyone was holding their breath in anticipation.

The bottle slows down and points at... you and Theodore. All the other boys start howling and you look up and see Theodore already looking at you. Your breath catches and your stomach turns as he looks at you with mixed feelings. One specific feeling being longing.

"Fuck," you mutter, trying to find a way out of this situation.

"Something wrong, princess" he smirks while standing up and heading to Pansy's closet. You sigh dreading what was to come but knowing there was no way out. Getting up, you walk past Pansy and send her a glare while she just laughs at you.

You walk into the cramped closet and see Theo looking a little nervous while squashed, which makes you giggle a little. He notices you and immediately removes any emotion on his face and puts on a smug look. You hesitantly sit opposite Theo, knees touching due to the lack of space in the closet.

"I don't even know what they expect us to do," you say.

"Kiss maybe," he says lowly yet holds eye contact with you.

"In their dreams maybe," you scoff yet your heart beats faster and you look away from his searing eye contact. You start picking at your nails but suddenly a hand covers yours, making you look up at Theo's hypnotising eyes.

"Maybe not," he looks down from your eyes and glances at your lips.

"Theo..."

"Don't tell me that you don't want this to," he whispers your name.

"I... I do" you look at his soft, pink lips and move slightly closer and he does the same thing.

"Good," and then his lips crashes into yours as he pulls you into his lap. Your fingers run through his hair as quiet moans and whimpers are released by the both of you.

He releases your lips from his captivating touch and pants out, "God, do you know how long I've wanted to do that."

"Oh shut up," you blush as you pull him back into the kiss. His hands move all over and come to a rest on your hips to pull you closer. You bite on his bottom lip which he lets out a groan to.

Unaware of the time that has passed a loud banging on the door pulled you two apart quickly. The door then opened showing the grinning group.

"What happened here?" Pansy said knowingly, elbowing the unfortunate person next to her which happened to be Enzo.

"Piss off, Pansy," Theo said sticking his hand out to help you up which you gratefully accepted after he had stood up and dusted his trousers off.

"Now Theo personally I think you should thank me," Pansy laughs.

Theodore walks by her with a blushing face and you in hand who is equally as flustered. "We're leaving."

[eddiestightywhities]

if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? | T | 2,860

[check the link above for tags]

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SUMMARY:

“So, you two were…”

“We were on a date. Yes.” Buck is smiling, and Eddie wants to hug him for how damn happy he looks about the whole thing, just as much as he wants to grab his friend's face in both hands and irrationally scream what is happening to us? until his voice is hoarse.

Whatever an out of body experience feels like, Eddie reckons it might be something akin to this. And he knows how dramatic he's being, he does, but he can't seem to stop—even if he is at a complete loss as to why.

OR

Buck's coming out scene from Eddie's POV, where Eddie realises it's not his girlfriend that he's in love with.

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read below the cut or on ao3 HERE

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Eddie can't tell himself he's never thought about it. He has, it's just he's never—weighed any of it up, exactly. Hasn't openly considered it, or let himself examine the idea there could've been anything else. That there could still be something else. There's only how things were, the way it'd gone a certain way for him when it came to romantic relationships.

Him and a girl. Him and a wife. Him and women. That's just the way it's always been. The way things are for Eddie.

Until Buck is metaphorically punching him in the face with so many huge revelations in the space of a few stark truths that Eddie apparently couldn't, or wouldn't allow himself to look at.

He thinks of that saying; something about not being able to see the wood for all the trees. The forest surrounding Eddie's life has always been frighteningly dense, with no room at all for his branches to grow any taller or wider than his allotted space. Now Eddie is being forced to think about that fully, for the first time in sort of ever, but doesn't have time to process what the hell any of it might mean. A little ruefully, he thinks he'd prefer a literal punch to the face than having to deal with his own neurosis. At once, he's remembering Buck barrelling into him on the basketball court, which—dios, kind of makes sense to him now.

Buck and Tommy went on a date, that's what Buck just told him. When he and Marisol saw them together at the restaurant the other day, they were on a date. With each other.

His brain goes into overdrive.

“Wait, Tommy's gay?”

All of his and Tommy's previous interactions are now running through his head as a flickering montage; some janky film reel spliced together in non-linear fashion. It makes him feel really shitty, re-assessing Tommy's behaviour just because of the guy's sexuality, but it's just—again, certain things are making sense now Eddie's brain has been supplied with this new information. Those bits and pieces of broken thoughts and half-notions he hadn't been able to make fit anywhere in his mind's eye, they're fusing together. Becoming viable. Stuff he'd willed himself not to ponder over now slotting into place.

“Uh, that never came up while you guys were hanging out?” Buck asks.

He tells Buck no, because it very much hadn't, and that it wouldn't have mattered to him anyway. Which of course it wouldn't, obviously, he just feels like his brain—or no, his body, maybe, had been trying to tell him something, tell him this, only Eddie hadn't listened.

Why hadn't he listened?

Then it hits him—kind of like a large shot of tequila hitting your stomach when you haven't put any food inside it for a while—that he is not at all surprised by the fact Buck went on a date with a man. Secondary is the thought that he doesn't know why he isn't taken aback by this lack of surprise.

“Sure. I—I don't think he volunteers it, but, uh, he doesn't hide it.”

He doesn't hide it.

Why does Eddie's chest feel tight?

Like an idiot, he attempts to confirm what Buck has already told him.

“So, you two were…”

“We were on a date. Yes.” Buck is smiling, and Eddie wants to hug him for how damn happy he looks about the whole thing, just as much as he wants to grab his friend's face in both hands and irrationally scream what is happening to us? until his voice is hoarse.

Whatever an out of body experience feels like, Eddie reckons it might be something akin to this. And he knows how dramatic he's being, he does, but he can't seem to stop—even if he is at a complete loss as to why.

“Okay.”

Eddie's nodding, only he doesn't really know what he's nodding at.

Buck asks, “Is that weird?”

At once, he insists, “No. Absolutely not,” even though he feels it is, for some reason, weird. Not because being queer is weird, because no, fuck no, of fucking course it isn't. Maybe it's just because of…

Because?

Why, exactly, Eddie has no clue.

He feels so, so lost.

The forest is a deep dark place, something hiding behind his ribcage mumbles before scuttling off to bury itself some place even further inside of his chest.

Is it Tommy specifically, he wonders, because he's Eddie's new sparring pal, and maybe now he won't be? He digs for a reason as to why that would bother him, but comes up empty handed.

And Tommy, he seems like a good guy.

Which is why Eddie is fairly perturbed when he pictures Tommy's face and it makes him wish he had the power of materialisation, to get the LAFD air support pilot to appear, here and now in Buck's kitchen, so he can sock the fucker in his stupid chiseled jaw with his best right hook, right in front of Buck.

Jesus, what the hell is wrong with him?

“I mean, I like him too.” He says, because he does. At least he did up until a minute ago. He weighs up his words as he's about to speak them, deciding to change his tone a little and aim for a more banter-ish vibe. “I mean, just not the same way you do, evidently.”

Buck wants to kiss Tommy. Maybe wants to fuck Tommy.

Eddie's mouth goes dry.

He simultaneously searches his mind and Buck's face, promising, “This doesn't change a thing between us. Okay?” And Eddie Diaz is a lying liar who lies, because for some reason he can't yet fathom, this changes everything.

Buck has this look, then. Almost something like—disappointment? 

Eddie doesn't know what that could mean. 

“Good. That's, uh, a relief,” Buck says, and he's nodding, just like Eddie was a moment ago. Eddie can't figure out the reason for that, either, nor why Buck doesn't seem to actually look relieved. 

Then he's going on to tell Eddie about how Tommy dumped him.

“Wow,” Eddie says, because what the fuck? Why would anybody let Evan Buckley slip though their fingers? It's honestly always been a mystery to him, how the women Buck has dated in the past have all dropped him at the first hurdle. Buck is kind of the perfect catch. Realising he doesn't quite know how to explain that to Buck, or himself, and knowing he has to come up with something, he finds himself making a joke of it with, “That's fast, even for you.”

Buck doesn't react to that at all, just says it doesn't matter anyway, seeing as he and Tommy weren't actually together, telling Eddie Tommy doesn't think Buck is ready.

Momentarily, Buck looks sort of broken. Shattered into a million pieces that Eddie wants to painstakingly pick up, one by one, so he can lovingly glue his friend back together and make him whole again. Maybe with gold paint, just like kintsugi. They'd seen and learned all about that at a Japanese exhibition over at the LACMA museum with Christopher a couple of years back, and Buck's wondrous awe at the practice—the way the blue of his eyes had reflected the jagged gold lines in the pottery, making them look like tiny planets in his head—had kind of really stuck with Eddie.

He has another fiercely protective desire to kick Kinard's perfectly muscled ass. The guy doesn't even know Buck. Not like Eddie does.

Another millisecond passes, and Eddie clocks that he's actually the asshole here, for making this all about him, even if he's not voicing any of his self-centred bullshit.

All at once, he desperately needs to know what Buck thinks about Tommy's assessment.

““Hmm,” he hedges. “What do you think?”

Buck is smiling again. Nothing like the sun, though, like the beaming smile Eddie knows he can pull from Buck's chest, the one that always makes Eddie think of that time he saw dawn breaking over Abalone Cove, just after he'd moved to L.A.

He shifts his weight a little on his stool.

Is that a weird thing to think?

Eddie's really fucking glad he has a beer in his hand, although he doesn't take a sip. He just grips the bottle a little tighter.

He's not ready to hear it when Buck answers, “I kinda can't stop thinking about him.”

He can't work out why his friend saying those words crushes him the way it does. Why he suddenly feels like punching more than just Kinard. Why he wants to burn the fucking world.

Is it maybe a similar thing to whatever Buck was feeling, after Eddie first started hanging out with Tommy?

Jealousy.

Eddie's a shitty friend sometimes, and has to constantly remind himself to do better. He sucks a breath in through his teeth, trying his damndest not to make it the huge gulp of air his lungs are, for some reason, craving.

“Well, you know what I think?” Eddie forces himself to look up at Buck to say something he really doesn't want to, because he knows it's the right thing to do. “You should call him.”

“Really?” Buck's still smiling, but his eyes are somehow telling Eddie he doesn't believe a single word Eddie is saying.

“Heck yeah. He doesn't know you're an idiot.” You're my idiot. “Once he gets to know you,”—I don't fucking want him to get to know you—“and know that you're an idiot, he'll love you, like we all do.” Like I do.

Santa mierda.

Buck smiles again and asks, a little sheepishly, “What if he says no?”

“Then he's an idiot,” Eddie answers with complete conviction, fiercely, meaning every word of it as much as he meant it when he told Buck you act like you are expendable, but you’re wrong; when he told Buck I forgive you; when he told Buck there's nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you. Eddie fixes him with a look he hopes conveys all of this, even though he knows it probably falls short. Then he adds—again, because he knows he should—“But don't walk away from something before you even know what it is,” and feels sick to his stomach as soon as the words have left his mouth.

Buck gives him a wry, knowing sort of smirk, points at Eddie and says, “That sounds like some good advice.”

It takes absolutely everything Eddie has to turn his train of thought around and force himself back into performance mode, feeling the phantom press of the towering trees that surround him and gasping with a suffocation that comes from being completely trapped in the thick of the forest he doesn't think he'll ever make his way out of.

He rolls his eyes, fake-sighs, and says, “Yeah,” adding a scoff for good measure. He tries hating on the smile Buck gifts him, the one which, honestly, looks a little forced, as Eddie lies some more and says, “I gotta talk to Marisol,” because he knows he doesn't have to; he's choosing to. He then pushes himself up and off Buck's kitchen stool even though it's the very last thing he wants to do.

Walking over to Buck's door with his heart inexplicably breaking, he hears Buck do this sort of laugh-sigh combination that Eddie's heard before. It's something Eddie does himself, a strange mix of self-consolation and for show, all rolled up into nervous release.

Eddie stops himself in his tracks, looks down at his phone, at Marisol's dozen-ish texts from the last twelve-or-so hours, and admonishes himself yet again for turning this huge moment of Buck's into something about himself. Only he can't seem to help but perpetuate the issue, because this somehow also feels very much about them; him and Buck.

Eddie is a selfish man, something his mother is still on a mission to make him acutely aware of, and he can't bear to leave without taking the thing he's wanted, he now recognises, since he walked into Buck's apartment around a half-hour back. After he'd gotten into his truck to escape the girlfriend he doesn't really want to be with and drove directly to the safest place he knows of on earth.

He feels only marginally better at being sure the closeness he craves is something Buck also wants.

As Eddie turns around, Buck's eyes shoot up at him with something threaded through his irises that looks a little like hope. Then it blooms over every brilliant feature of his face, and Eddie is overcome by two thoughts: The Abalone Cove-like knowledge that he thinks Buck is sort of beautiful, and a pressing desire to elicit this same look on Buck's face every single day for the rest of however many Eddie has left on this planet.

Fuck, he thinks retrospectively, walking towards the thing he now realises he wants more than anything he's ever wanted.

Buck.

Sliding his phone inside the back pocket of his jeans because he wants both hands for this, Eddie says, “C’mere,” beckoning his best friend over to him while thinking of Neodymium magnets Buck told him and Chris about a while back when Chris was working on that science project about gravity and other natural forces.

Buck is laughing as Eddie reiterates, saying, “Come here,” and Eddie takes and takes and takes, claiming another gift from Buck, one of much needed joviality, as he wills himself to double-down on the best buddy of it all because, yet again, he knows it's the right thing to do.

He reaches for Buck like a dying plant strains its leaves towards the sun, pulling Buck into him just as Buck reaches right back.

Eddie doesn't want to hug Buck. He wants to hold him. He knows he can't do that though, so reluctantly gives Buck's back a manly pat instead as he angles his head away from his friend in a move that feels entirely fucking wrong in each and every fibre of his being.

Cristo, Eddie is fucked.

What has happened here tonight?

Despite feeling like he's losing his mind, Eddie can't let go of Buck just yet. Forcing his body back, his hand moves of its own volition and finds its way home to the curve of Buck's shoulder, thumb being sucked into the dip beneath Buck's collar bone, and Eddie thinks of Neodymium magnets again.

He grins at Buck, and Buck smiles back with that same look of hope in his blue, blue eyes again, albeit a bit more distant now. And Eddie aches to give that hope to him, and more, because it somehow feels like it'd be the most natural thing in the world to do. Except he can't give Buck anything more than this. Not when Tommy presumably kissed Buck and Buck must've kissed Tommy back. Not when Eddie doesn't know what the fuck he's doing.

Despite what his mother tells him, some of which he knows to be true, Eddie isn't that selfish.

He pulls back to a safer distance, regardless of how it feels like the exact opposite, the reason he can't drag his hand away from Buck's person entirely, and swallows everything back down.

He points at Buck and says, “Call Tommy,” in a voice that sounds worryingly insincere to his ears.

After that, there is no way on earth, nor in heaven or hell, that he can look at Buck for longer than the single second he dares to allow himself, so he hightails it out of there before anything else can transpire in his chest, like the coward that he is.

He wonders for the entirety of the drive home about the sigh he heard leave Buck's lips as Eddie opened the loft door and left with the wish of a kiss on his own.

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Later on, with Marisol, after mutually agreeing to dial their relationship back to the start, he fucks her in his bed.

Eddie has another one of those imaginary out of body experiences as her thin, cold fingers roam his body and he tries not to think about circuit boards from high school science classes.

Set to zero. Forced-response.

Far from enjoyable, it doesn't feel a bit like the first couple of times they had sex, and he has to envisage boxes as he breathes his way through every excruciating part of it, his face a plastic mask of a smile wherever appropriate, making all the right sounds and all the right moves at what are hopefully all the right times and places.

Afterwards, with Marisol delicately snoring away and Eddie using the sound to keep time for his wrestled-down heartbeat, he looks away from the mass of dark hair piled on his chest to watch hers rise and fall; slowly, easily; the epitome of calm in her dreams.

He hopes, then, to fall asleep and dream of buying an axe so he can start chopping down trees and get himself the fuck out of the deep, dark forest he's only just noticed he's been living in his entire fucking life.

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on ao3 HERE if you'd like to come leave me some kudos and maybe even a comment ❤️

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[idyllicwillowtree]

Vickie's Friend

Genre: Steve Harrington x fem!reader

Summary: Robin isn’t the only one chatting up a lady while volunteering at Hawkins High. 

Word count: 1.5K

Warnings: swearing, use of y/n, gay stereotypes?, earthquake mention, fluff

Author’s note: I like the idea of Vickie having a friend they could go on double dates with lol let me know if you want another part!

Main Masterlist

Saturday, March 29, 1986

“Okay, then we sort by age,” you hear Marge say. Looking up from the baby clothes you were folding, you see she’s talking to none other than Steve Harrington. He quickly bends down to rescue some fallen clothes, as he follows Marge, “We’ve got infants, girls, boys, men, women…”

You scan the gym with new found excitement. Wherever Steve was, you knew Robin would be close by. They always seemed to be together whenever you saw Robin outside of school. When you spot her, you couldn’t help but let a smile slither onto your face. She was assigned to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, alongside your best friend. You watched as Vickie came out of the kitchen, freezing the moment she saw Robin.

Unfortunately, you were interrupted from watching the rest of their interaction when Marge brought Steve over, “and Steve, this is Y/N. You guys can work together on this new pile,” she said, motioning to the clothes you just started organizing.

You never really cared for Steve. He seemed a bit egotistical for your liking but if Robin allows his company then he couldn’t be that bad. Truth be told, you wanted a chance to talk to him one-on-one to see if he and Robin were dating. Vickie was convinced they must be together since they’re basically joined at the hip, but you weren’t so sure. You’ve seen Steve back when he was in High School all over whatever girl he was dating at the time, always one to show off public displays of affection. But you’ve never seen him do that with Robin so now was your chance to do some investigating.

“Hey Y/N, good to see you,” he said with a sad smile.

“Hi Steve, you too,” you said softly.

You and Steve had a couple of classes together back in the day so you knew of each other but never really had a conversation outside of school before. On any other day if you saw Steve at a grocery store or something you’d probably pretend not to recognize him and turn the other direction. But there’s something about a giant traumatic earthquake that made you happy to see that he was okay. 

As you both work, you notice him glancing over at Robin every once in a while and smiling to himself. 

“Oh wow,” he said suddenly.

Looking over at him, you see he’s holding a piece of clothing with the most atrocious pattern you have ever seen. Patterns were all the rage right now, but this was just too much. Steve unfurrowed it to fully reveal a giant pair of hammer pants with stirrups. Half of it was neon yellow and the other half was black and white checkers. Fortunately, it was missing a huge chunk of fabric in the crotch area so you wouldn’t have to subject it to some poor person who recently lost their house.

“Now why would anyone want to donate this? It had to have been an accident,” you say sarcastically.

“Maybe I’ll take them home. I’ve been meaning to get a pair of parachute pants that’ll actually accentuate my junk,” Steve laughed.

“It’ll make life easier in the restroom, that’s for sure.”

Steve barked out a laugh, his hair moving out of place as he shook his head. Your heart swelled and your palms began to sweat as you chuckled alongside him. Succeeding in getting Steve to laugh left your cheeks feeling warm.

“So you and Robin work at the video store, right? Family Video?” you pry, trying your best to sound casual.

“Yep. You and Vickie rented Fast Times recently, didn’t you?”

You stiffened, “y-yeah, how’d you remember?”

Steve’s movements stuttered, he tried disguising it by scratching the back of his neck. “Oh, uh, just cause Robin and I liked it,” he cleared his throat, “how’d you guys like it?”

“Well, Vickie and I loved it. We happen to be normal,” you say with a laugh, “Dan, on the other hand, did not.”

“Dan?”

“Vickie’s boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend.” Steve stood up a little straighter and turned to look at Robin, watching as Vickie said something that made her laugh. “They got into this weird passive aggressive argument about it and I was there to witness it all,” you shuttered dramatically.

“They broke up over Fast Times?” Steve chuckled.

“No, but I’m sure it didn’t help,” you giggled with him. “I say good riddance though, I don’t know what she saw in him. Thank god she’s single now.” Now her and Robin have a better chance, you thought. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be talking shit about Vickie’s ex-boyfriend to you.”

Steve flung a kids t-shirt over his shoulder, “no please continue. I love the drama,” he said, sending you a smile that awoke the butterflies in your stomach.

“What about you and Robin? How’s that going?” 

“Me and Robin? Oh, we're not dating. We’re both very single,” he said.

A victory smile made its way onto your face and you pushed down the instinct to pump  your fist in excitement. You were right, Steve and Robin were just friends. Maybe part of you was happy that Steve was single too.

“What?” Steve said, looking at you head on now.

“W-what?”

Steve’s eyes had a sparkle to them as his face broke out into a smug grin, “you smiled. After I told you I was single.”

“Did I?” you turn away from his gaze to continue folding, doing your best to push down the blush that was creeping up your neck. “You also told me Robin was single. Who’s to say I’m not smiling about that?”

Technically, that was true. You were excited that Robin was single, just not for your own sake. You couldn’t help but tease him back a little.

“Hey, there’s no reason to get defensive,” he held his hands up in surrender. “For the record, if you told me you were single I’d probably smile too.”

Your head whipped over to him in surprise. Was Steve Harrington flirting with you? Were you flirting back? 

You smiled shyly, looking back down at the blouses you were folding, “well it’s a good thing I’m single then, isn’t it?”

It was Steve’s turn to look at you in shock before he quickly recovered, looking like the cat that caught the canary. Your eyes connected and it was like all the pieces started coming together. He looked at you like you were the most precious thing on earth. Despite the hardships your town is going through right now, you couldn’t help but feel hopeful for the first time in forever. 

-

“Our best friends are gonna start dating now, aren’t they?” Vickie laughed.

Robin giggled at the dopey look on Steve’s face, “oh, most definitely.”

-

A few days earlier…

Friday, March 21, 1986 

“I just feel like if I start trying to date now and I fall in love, or whatever, I’m just setting myself up for disappointment because what if we move away from each other after graduation or something? I don’t know, does that make sense?...Vickie? Vickie, are you listening to me?” you said, turning away from the road to look at your friend in the passenger seat.

Vickie’s mouth was agape as she continued painting her lashes with mascara, “yes, yes, I’m listening.”

“What did I say?” you challenged.

“Something about…I don’t know, wanting a boyfriend?”

You slapped your hand against the steering wheel in frustration, “No! That’s not, ugh, nevermind.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It’s seven in the morning and I’m just not built to handle these deep conversations when it’s this early! And now we have to go to this stupid pep-rally and I woke up looking like an actual dead person!”

Glancing over at her you noticed how fidgety she was being. She kept going back to retouch her lip gloss and was tugging at her red bangs, trying to get them to cooperate.

“Ohhhh, I see what’s happening,” a shit-eating grin spread along your face. “You’re nervous about seeing Robin,” you sang, teasingly.

“What? I am not!” Vickie’s fair skin immediately turned a violent shade of red.

“Yes you are! You really expect me to believe you’re freaked out over a stupid basketball game? And you know what else I think?”

“Uh, I really don't care what-”

“You’ve gotta ditch the stick and go after Robin!”

The corners of Vickie’s mouth turned down, “the stick?”

“Yeah, I’m talking about Dan. The stick being his penis,” you said plainly.

“Ew, gross, don’t say penis!”

“The fact that the word itself grosses you out, tells me you’d be a lot happier with someone who doesn’t have one. Someone like Robin!”

“We don’t even know if she likes girls, Y/N.”

“Her favorite movie is Children of Paradise, Vick. I don’t know of any straight girls who can sit through a foreign film, let alone call it their favorite.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Vickie said in defiance.

“Okay fine. But we both saw the way she was staring at that Phoebe Cates standee in Family Video. You can’t forget about my ‘Operation Fast Times’ plan.”

Vickie rolled her eyes and scoffed in frustration, “I still can’t believe we did that.”

“It’s the perfect plan! She’ll see you paused at 53 minutes 5 seconds and boom, you’re in!”

_______________________________________________

Part 2

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hi, am binge reading your ideas and theories and… honestly lowkey kinda feel like ya might be JK but ik ur not a trans hating bigot like her.

Anyways, just wondering your thoughts on this: Do you think Albus Dumbledore actually love Harry, or at least cared about him?

Hi, and lol, I am definitely not JKR, pretty sure she'd tell me I'm wrong on quite a few of my interpretations of her canon, but thank you nontheless!

Now, I think Dumbledore's feelings toward Harry are kinda wierd. Like, he convinced himself he does a lot (like keeping Harry in the dark about everything) out of love and care for Harry, and I think he really believes that. The thing is, I don't think he loves Harry or cares for him as much as he tries to convince himself and Harry, or in the way he says he does.

Like, Dumbledore talks a lot about love, compassion, and the power of friendship but when we actually look at his life, he doesn't really have many friends, nor did he ever have many friends.

We see Elphias Doge who calls himself a close friend of Dumbledore, but he doesn't really know him. Doge idolizes Dumbledore the great wizard but he doesn't really know Dumbledore the man. They planned to travel the world together, but they weren't as close as either of them believed, not really.

Alastor Moody is similar, we're told he is an old friend of Dumbledore, and yet Dumbledore doesn't recognize Moody is acting completely different for an entire year, something I noticed without knowing the real Moody all that well.

Aberforth actually knows Dumbledore and the brothers, while they generally care about each other, they aren't really close. Albus looks down on Aberforth and Aberforth is incredibly bitter towards Albus.

Then we have Grindlewald, who I'd argue was the closest a person ever got to Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore actually saw Grindelwald as his equal and legitimately cared about him. So Albus got burned quite badly from the deepest relationship he ever had.

Since then, we see Dumbledore caring in a more abstract, general way. He doesn't see most people as equals to himself, and he is a cold man leading a war, most of the people he interacts with need to respect him as a leader, not as a peer. All of this creates a lot of emotional distance that results in Dumbledore not really having close friends nor does he pursue deep connections. He has allies, and people he is friendly with, but he doesn't have anyone he can confide in.

Snape is the person Dumbledore tells the most too, but Dumbledore is manipulating Snape for his plans most of the time, and is again, Snape's superior. So even Snape, who knows more about Dumbledore and his plans than most, isn't really privy to Dumbledore as himself without his image and responsibilities.

Basically Dumbledore is an incredibly lonely character who preaches love and friendship while not really having any connections like that himself.

Then when it comes to Harry, Dumbledore thinks he knows who Harry is (he doesn't) and Harry has many doubts about Dumbledore. Dumbledore really is trying to care for Harry, he truly believes keeping him in the dark is good for him, so he can have a childhood. But Dumbledore is projecting his own beliefs on Harry, not actually acting out of love for Harry as a person, who he doesn't really seem to know. If he did, he'd know the last thing Harry wants is to be kept in the dark since he never really got to have a childhood anyway.

I think Dumbledore is truly saddened he has to sacrifice Harry to kill Voldemort, and was trying to find a way Harry might survive, it doesn't mean he won't do it though. Harry as the BoyWho-Lived and his purpose as a a martyr in Dumbledore's plans is more important to Dumbledore than Harry the boy.

While Dumbledore does care about Harry in a general sort of way, he cares about who he believes Harry is more than who Harry actually is. When he talks to Harry, it seems he isn't aware of some of Harry's traits (or ignores the evidence of their existence as he has a tendency to project. Albus projects his own view of the world on his mental image of Harry and Voldemort quite heavily), so we again see this wall Dumbledore has between himself and everyone else. A wall Harry realizes was there during book 7 and is constantly thinking about how he never really knew Dumbledore and how much he didn't get the chance to ask him about. The wall is one Dumbledore doesn't climb either which results in him not fully knowing the people around.

So, like, I think he did care for Harry Potter the idea of the boy he had in his head, but the mission and goals he set for himself were more important than that. That, and Dumbledore doesn't seem to actually know Harry.

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR rambles ANOTHER ONE (It's the 22nd one)

Dark's mind reading is just, so damn fun.

Like Green is gambling SO MUCH putting his trust into Dark but it pays off because Dark can TELL Green is truly putting faith in him to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And that means A LOT to him.

The fact Green doesn't want to hurt him MEANS A LOT TO HIM.

Dark knows this man ain't stupid.

I like him giving Green a goodbye hug and a kiss on the cheek hah.

It's so sweet in a way.

And his parting words being words of affirmation for Green.

He can be a very sweet person when given kindness.

I just like them a lot.

Green was a pretty good influence on Dark. XDD

Dark Link's dramatic ass flying away is so funny to me and probably just me.

Like Dark doesn't typically fly or flex his wings much but they DO exist. XDDD

He can kinda just hover like Shadow but I don't think that's been shown even ONCE XDDDD

Dark isn't really the type to flex his magic in general though.

The Headspace IS HIS BODY which uhhh is a horror.

Time to mention: It changing from a desolate blue to that bright pink woodsy area afterward is kinda a reflection of Dark and the person he's talking to's mental space.

It'll change again later when he talks to Blue too.

Now that Dark Ran off we get an insight back into Green. Even though he technically WON this interaction? If you could word it that way, he got kinda what he wanted...He's still kinda overloaded with bullshit, poor guy.

Whatcha looking at Green-

...UH HI LINK????

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE???

And in Dark's outfit did ya swap? 👀

Link's just mumbling to himself about wtf just happened...which uhhh, Link. You just take the hobby of stalking yourself???

he doesn't seem to be aware of Green at all until Green makes himself known.

Not before his face bugs out. XD

Ngl. this is one of my favorite interactions its SO stupid.

The dialogue is up there in scenes that make me laugh just to read.

Like, Link my guy, did you ACTUALLY think for a SECOND that shit would work???

Link's eyes bugging out completely as he runs in terror from Green has to be up there in stupid shit. It's so ridiculous and amazing just tickles my brain lmfao. It's so dumb. XDDD

Link cycles through all 4's personalities for a second X'DD

1st panel: Vio

2nd Panel: Green

4th and 5th: Blue

6th being Red obviously

Green is so fed up with him after being kicked in the damn stomach. XDDD

Sooooo, we didn't learn a LOT from Link's appearance outside of the fact he's still lingering around within the headspace. Which is ODD because Dark hasn't brought him up or seemingly hasn't run into him...Despite Link STALKING him it seems.

Weeiiiird.

Link's adoption of the black tunic is odd to say the least. His mental state is still fractured and torn considering it's appearance.

And it dawns on me I don't think Green goes on to NEVER disclosed to anyone Link's still running around. X'DDDD (Re-reading FSR together like this is fun isn't it?)

A LOT of shit happens to where he didn't really have time to squeeze it in but it is funny this scene is still pretty up in the air on it's importance for now.

Also since this is rambles I don't have to keep secrets on who the weirdo next to Link is in the last panel.

That's FSRA Link. Which just leaves all sorts of weird implications I'll let you sit with, considering that man is from 100+ years in the future...

;)

True to his word, Shadow is able to tell Dark was active. Oh no.

LOL also not Zelda calling Green by the wrong name. X'D Poor girl isn't used to being around the four dudes her bestie splits into. (She literally had NO idea they were split until AFTER the final battle lmfao and then they walked back to the sanctuary and boom.)

So yeah Shadow tries to wrestle Dark back because dude's a dangerous little ball of evil. XD

He SAW what he did to Vio first hand and didn't wanna have that happen to Green.

I'll never not find it funny Dark can summon his sword in that form, but literally can't even use it. X'DDDD

He also yanked Green's arm away from the sword so he didn't get hit because Dark's very attached to Green at this point.

Shadow's got beef with the little guy and Zelda making a force field, and Shadow proceeding to SMACK into it always gets a laugh it's so dumb.

Art wise it's kinda funny just how LONG Dark's tentacles are in this scene considering I shortened them later. XD

Also...Considering recent updates Dark responding violently when in danger is...Well something. XDDD

Poor Green and his savior complex-

"I can help him-" - Green about the horrific monster that tormented everyone.

Shadow even points this out but Shadow's also projecting HARD onto Dark X'DDD

"I'm an evil horrible liar so this bitch must be too" - Shadow.

Shadow personally just wants everything to be perfect and peachy and that can't happen with Dark so he wants the easy way out so to speak.

Shadow sweetie, it's not your curse. XD

(Funny we're bringing that up...Shadow Link hasn't been in the headspace at ALL...Interesting huh?)

OOOMF.

That shit must have HURT to hear out of Green considering him and Shadow were doing MOSTLY well before that.

Green's been bottling his negative feelings towards Shadow for a LONG time now and JUST seeing what Shadow did while with Vio it was inevitable dude would snap.

Green immediately regrets what he said though.

Dark cuddling Green is always cute.

Shadow got called out and now feels like shit.

Not Zelda sitting here like "Genuinely wtf are yall talking about rn???"

He can't even argue with Green considering it was pretty true. X"D Even if it was a low blow.

Zelda blowing a hole through the castle has lead to...ISSUES.

Shadow's acting a bit ominously.

Mmm fast travel.

And bitter unresolved feelings. Our favorite.

Hiiiii it's been months since I touched this lmao.

Back into the game:

Green has a lot of hesitance too, he just chooses to stuff that down in turn for a more peaceful option.

he's aware dark has caused hurt and is INSANE but wants to give him a chance.

I think in a lot of ways he regrets that Shadow never had help because they just met "Too late" in a lot of ways.

Shadow had already committed many horrible deeds before anyone had a glimpse of being able to help him.

While Dark is still very new and able to be saved from a life of regret or villainy, cause Green recognized that spark of good in him that could blossom into a good person if they give it a try.

meanwhile, Shadow's being self loathing.

...To be fair a lot of what Dark Link says DOESN'T make sense due to it being...from an outsider's perspective utter nonsense (He knows Zelda lore lmfao.) but his claims Shadow just IS ganon are clearly getting to shadow cause he's got self doubt.

Meanwhile Green tries to remind him of his progress, and thinks Shadow and Dark could have something to bond over.

Aaaand there is it boy doesn't wanna be reminded of how much he's fucked up. It's hard when there's a mirror pointed at you.

Green's still feeling bad about what he said.

And since people missed it, and I was being cheeky:

Green and Shadow did share a lil smooch.

Dark isn't happy about it. XD

To be fair, I'd be pretty pissed off if my only goal was to get a lil smooch smooch and people were handing em to lord ganon evil lord of the buttholes too.

Bask in his beauty Shadow, he sure is pretty. UwU

Shadow letting Green down not so gently that he's an idiot will always be funny.

he was backed into a corner guys, be nice to him.

Shadow's of course more concerned about Vio rn.

I'd be worried about his reaction too...As we see later it's not a happy welcome to Dark Link XDDD

Dark Link isn't having being shoved back into Shadow's hat.

Shadow in a moment of...idk what you'd call it, clarity I suppose decides to let him stay with Green.

it's up to the reader to assume WHY he did that.

Realizing he makes Dark Link feel unsafe, just not wanting to argue. Overall there's hesitation on his end.

So he ends up in Green's hat. XD

Green asking a reasonable question about how he's gonna go get Blue...considering his physical form is WITH Green and Shadow.

And Dark responds verbally. So far I think he's only growled in that form. XD

So uhhh, Shadow's pissed off Dark refused to speak last night. XDDD

So if you're curious: My vision for Dark in this form is that speaking is VERY difficult for him to do so he just...doesn't.

This is his dormant form, so his "Functionality" is mostly...nonexistant.

This is a form that doesn't take a lot of effort to maintain or upkeep so his actual abilities aren't very wide.

Like he CAN talk. But simple phrases and words are easiest for him to do. Which is why he repeats "Yeah yeah" twice.

Shadow also fails to realize even THIS form was a step up from the fact Dark was a simple sphere with an eye before. XD

He grew a mouth to chew on Green...So he might have had the intention to speak last night and just...didn't.

But if he wanted to speak, he could just form back to his "Link" form or drag someone to the headspace.

Overall: Shadow ya dummy he probably just didn't have anything to say XD

Green coming to Dark's defense screaming "STOP IT SHADOW YOU'RE SCARING HIM!" is so funny because I without fail imagine the "HE'S AFRAID OF SANTA CLAUS!!!" "STOP IT PATRICK YOU'RE SCARING HIM!!!" spongebob bit.

Shadow letting the whole "Dad" debacle slip and Green's fucking face to that just sends me.

He looks so...judgmental. X'D

"This is how you'd treat your son?"

Dark Link giving Green the title of his "Dad" Whatever he thinks that means...because Shadow is a bad one is just, funny as hell to me.

Dark so obviously doesn't understand blood family ties (...His entire life revolves around 4 dudes who are one guy, and that guy's shadow all being in a weird as fuck relationship so uh...who blames him for not understanding family)

Affectively, Green is just someone Dark considers his family so...he's his "dad". XD

The title switch from Shadow TO Green is due to the fact he just feels more comfortable and safe WITH Green.

...Shadow uses THIS as an example of Dark being "Unreasonable" which is something else alright. XDDD

Green taking the piss out of the whole "dad" thing is pretty damn silly...Green you ARE the daddy now. X'D

I don't think Green would have tried this shit if Dark was in his Link form. XDDD

I know in the draft comic folders I got a comic where Green treats Dark differently based on his form and how Dark doesn't understand that. (him being uncomfortable with the finger chewing in his Link disguise vs his dormant form for example) and how he thinks Green's a hypocrite.

Last panel: Shadow DEFINENTLY not trying to keep everyone thinking Dark's just insane and not saying anything important.

I'll cut it off here since getting into the Darkblue segment (As I like to call it) is gonna be interesting I think XDD