#i mean i COULD buy and play it but it's pretty pointless to play alone

[sugared-violets]

i wish i could play phasmophobia it looks really fun :(

[archiveikemen]

『Love Sparks From A Mean Lie』 Collection Event

Ellis Twilight

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection. I do not own any of the original content. Please support CYBIRD by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

Warnings and FAQ

Kate: … Haa…

Ellis: Nn… a little more…

Our lips finally parted, albeit reluctantly.

I loved kissing Ellis, but I also loved the moment when our lips parted.

It made me happy seeing the affectionate look in his eyes as he gazed at me.

Kate: … Ah.

Ellis: What’s wrong?

Kate: You smell like cigarette smoke…

Kate: Fufu. Must’ve rubbed off on you from Jude.

Ellis: …

Ellis’ twilight coloured eyes flickered like a flame in the wind for a split second, but it was so brief that I thought I could've been mistaken…

Ellis: Can we… continue?

Our lips met again, the slight feeling of unease pushed to the back of my head.

…

Victor: … Come, let's go through again the plan for today's mission.

Victor: Jude, Ellis, Kate, the three of you will be attending a social party.

Victor: Our target for this mission is a noble who has been suspected for involvement in smuggling dangerous goods.

Victor: Jude will propose a business deal and observe the target’s response.

Victor: In the meantime, Ellis and Kate will keep an eye on the surroundings to make sure there are no suspicious activities.

Kate: Understood.

Ellis: Got it.

Victor: Jude, let’s discuss the deal you’ll propose to the target. We need to make it sound real!

While Victor and Jude went on with their talk, Ellis approached me quietly.

Ellis: … Hey, Kate.

Kate: What's the matter? Ah… is it about the mission?

Ellis: Nope. Not that…

Ellis: Just wanted to tell you that the underwear I’m wearing today is incredibly sexy.

Kate: …

Kate: … HUH!?

(Ellis’ underwear is… s-sexy…?)

Unable to comprehend what he just said, for a moment it felt like any thoughts I had just got flung into the void.

Ellis: Fufu, look at you frozen. You’re so cute.

Ellis had an innocent smile on his face, like a little boy who successfully played a prank.

(I didn't hear that wrong…)

Kate: Um…

Victor: Ellis. Can we go through the weapons you’ll be carrying for the mission?

Ellis: Okay, got it.

Ellis: … Remember what I said, Kate.

Ellis: When I come home from the mission, I’ll show you what I’m wearing.

Without being able to confirm what he really meant by that statement…

Ellis went to check weapons with Victor.

(W-What is “sexy underwear!? I’ve never seen such a thing before…)

(Doesn’t Ellis always wear regular underwear…?)

Kate: U-Uhh… Jude. Has Ellis bought any strange things recently?

I asked Jude who had just finished talking to Victor, and he gave me a puzzled look.

Jude: Strange things…?

Jude: Ahh, yeah he did. He bought something pretty damn strange.

(“Strange”... so he DID buy sexy underwear!?)

(... What is men’s sexy underwear?)

And so the mission began, and it went without a hitch…

All I could think of was Ellis’ underwear.

…

Even after we returned to the castle, my head was still full of Ellis.

(I want to ask Ellis about the true meaning of what he said and clear this up quickly, but…)

(He went to see Victor to report on the mission, so I can’t do that until he gets back.)

Kate: *sigh*...

Liam: Kate. The tea I carefully poured for you has gone cold, you know?

Kate: Oh… you’re right.

I drank the cup of cold tea in one go when Liam pointed that out.

Kate: Sorry, I got too carried away thinking about underwear…

Liam: Underwear…?

Harrison: … Is that something we should be hearing?

Kate: Ah, not my underwear!

(It’s pointless fretting about this alone… I should ask the two of them for advice.)

Kate: Generally speaking… what does it mean when someone buys bold underwear?

Liam: You mean something like underwear set aside for special occasions?

Harrison: … I have now decided that I’m disengaging myself from this conversation.

Liam: Hmm. It could also be to spice up their bedroom life with their lover, I guess?

Kate: Bedroom…

Liam: There could be other reasons too, of course; like buying it just because it’s cute or it gets them in the mood.

Liam: Ellis doesn’t seem to be the type of guy to care about such things, so he must've bought it for you.

Harrison: … He’s probably up to his usual “it’s for Kate’s happiness” shenanigans again.

Kate: Eh!? I-I never said it was Ellis’ underwear…

Harrison: If it isn’t about you, then it must be about Ellis.

Liam: Yeah. … It’s a whole other problem altogether if you’re talking about someone else’s underwear.

(It was that obvious…)

…

(To spice up our bedroom life… huh.)

(... Does that mean he’s unsatisfied with our current situation?)

Kate: … Okay then.

I made a decision and headed to my bedroom.

…

Ellis: Kate, I’m back.

Kate: Ellis…! Welcome back!

The man who had been running through my mind all day returned.

Kate: Um… about what you said earlier today…

Ellis: Fufu… were you curious about it the whole time?

Ellis noticed my fidgeting and laughed in amusement.

Ellis: … Okay. Want to check it out yourself?

Ellis removed his belt and guided my hand to his pants.

Kate: …

My heart was racing at the thought of finally seeing what he meant by “sexy underwear”.

— Or so I thought.

What I saw when I pulled down Ellis’ pants was none other than a pair of the ordinary underwear he has always worn.

Kate: … Isn’t this your usual underwear?

Ellis: Yup. I was lying about the sexy underwear.

Kate: What!? Why would you…

Ellis: Remember when we were making out last night, you mentioned that Jude’s scent rubbed off on me?

Kate: I did, but…

Ellis: … I don’t like it. I don't like it that your mind shifted to Jude even for just a moment.

Ellis: That’s why… I wanted to get “revenge” for that by making sure I’m all you can think of today.

He was indeed all I could think of today, just like he intended.

Kate: … I see. I’m sorry.

Ellis: Don’t apologise, okay? It’s my fault for being so narrow-minded. Also…

Ellis: … I’m sorry for giving you false hope about seeing my underwear, Kate.

Ellis: I didn’t expect to see you get that disappointed when you pulled down my pants to see my usual underwear…

Kate: T-That’s not the case! Apart from being surprised because I’ve been curious about it for a while, I promise there’s no deeper meaning to it…

Kate: It’s because even Jude said you bought something strange recently…!

Ellis: I bought something strange recently…? … Oh.

Ellis: Al said he wanted that, so I was only buying it on his behalf… that should be what Jude was referring to.

(I misunderstood…!)

Ellis: … I’m sorry for lying to you. Do you forgive me?

Kate: I forgive you. … But can you leave my room for a bit?

Ellis: … Are you angry at me?

Kate: Not at all! It’s just… there was a misunderstanding…

Ellis: Misunderstanding?

Kate: … I thought that the reason why you bought sexy underwear was because you were unsatisfied with our bedroom life.

Kate: So…

Kate: … I-I put on that kind of lingerie too. … S-Sexy lingerie. Now I want to change back to my normal underwear.

Ellis: … You’re wearing it now?

Kate: Y-Yes…

Ellis: I want to see it. Show me.

Ellis forcefully pushed me onto the bed.

Ellis: … Since it’s something you prepared just for me, I want to appreciate it properly.

When he said that in such an endearing way, it made me feel like I had no choice but to give in.

That “thing” I prepared was perfectly effective…

My heart was once again filled with joy from the sweet feelings of love that sparked from a lie.

[arklayraven]

3, 12, 26, 29.

Thank you for the ask. 💜

3. 3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

Nightmare Before Christmas, Resident Evil Damnation, Batman: Under the Red Hood

12. what’s some good advice you want to share?

Ain't good with this stuff I feel so yeah...But...Cling to what makes you happy and keeps ya going...Even if it's fiction, a character, or a harmless hobby/passion. Even if others might see it as nothing, pointless, silly, etc...

If it means lots to ya, makes ya happy and has great meaning to ya. Especially if it helps ya through the days and your life, especially during those dark times. Then that's all that matters in the end. Your happiness matters.

So cling to that and never let it go...but by some chance, you do lose it or it fades away(like love for a series/character/etc) naturally in time, or for other reasons...Look for another thing to make ya happy and keep ya going...Just don't stop seeking and clinging to things that keep ya living and help ya find a reason to smile and keep going...

(This especially goes for f/os, even if your mind screams at ya they aren't real and you're fucking alone and will never experience or feel real love/affection/etc. fuck that voice. if living in fantasy, with them, keeps ya going and makes ya happy. and it ain't harming anyone and stuff. then cling to those fictional loves of yours and let them shower you with the love, care and happiness you damn deserve...maybe i'm saying this more for myself but i'm sure someone might relate or need this too...)

26. fave colour and why?

Don't have just one but lately been very attached to purple...I don't recall exactly why but...I guess because of mystical reasons? I dunno...but it's pretty color and use it often now. lol

29. what do you do when you’re sad?

...Like to make me feel better?? Cope?? tbh not much helps i feel...once sadness(depression) hits, its like...being buried alive, or dragged down in the dark waters and I can't get out...So I just...ride it out...or wait it out until I finally am set free again from the suffering.

...If I do have the will to do something though in those rare times, than just feel so weak I can't move and crap...I try to watch some youtube videos of my favorite gamers or such...In hopes to get a good laugh from them. Laughter is the best medicine after all...that's what they say. Or play some video games...(speaking of which...want to buy RE2 remake that's on sale rn, might be a good distraction and pick me up but want to save money for future stuff too. lol hard to decide so still thinking about it)

[bf-skz]

24 to 25 days of SKZMAS | December 5th - Jisung

pairing: Han Jisung x Reader

genre: mutual pining

synopsis: Jisung and his crush work desk by desk at the marketing department of JY Publishing. Jisung is completely unaware of the mutual attraction but seems like only these two are oblivious to the sparks between them. They migth need a Christmas miracle to realize their romance is not hopeless after all.

warnings: light cursing, slow burn

words: 800

5th day of SKZMAS

December 5th

Jisung thinks he is pretty lucky.

He has a cool flat, fun friends and a job he actually likes quite a lot. He was always interested in marketing; luring people in and sweet-talking them to the point where they feel exceptional and ready to spend their money comes to him so easily. It’s fun to come up with new ideas to keep the customers on your toes, and the holiday season is the perfect time for that. With the seasonal plan ready, though, he is left to sit in the office and pretend he is working hard.

“You are not as sneaky as you think you are.” 

Jisung jumps a little as Minho walks up behind him, the older one chuckling to himself. Jisung knows it’s pointless but he quickly closes the webshop tabs on his browser.

“You didn’t see a thing!” Jisung tells him and lifts his hands as a sign of being innocent. “I know nothing about funky rainbow Christmas trees!”

“Sure you don’t.” Minho says, rolling his eyes but he cannot bite his smile back. “Just came to tell you I can’t have lunch with you today. I have this extra report to hand in by 3pm.”

“What?” Jisung whines, throwing his head back. “Why? Can’t you just pass it on to Changbin?”

“I need it for my evaluation.” Minho sighs. “And Changbin has his hands full, too. As we all do.” he says, and oh, Jisung doesn’t like that tone.

“M-me too! I have a lot to plan out and uh, stuff.”

“That’s fine, Sungie. You don’t have to lie to me.” Minho tells him, patting his shoulder, as if he was saying once again, I am the bigger man. Damnit.

Soon, Minho leaves and Jisung is all alone, without any of his webshop tabs or the satisfaction that sneaking around gives him. All alone, except for…

“Hey!” you poke his arm. “Look at this turkey shaped hat. It makes a sound and dances!” you say, playing the video on your computer. “Christmas wishlist material for sure.”

“Oh my gosh, that's so fucking cool.” Jisung says with a grin, and his eyes may linger on your excited face for a second longer than necessary. “Send me the link. I'm so buying that for you for the Christmas party.”

“Only if you wear the matching Santa hat.” you giggle, sending Jisung the email with a little heart in the subject. Subtle hints could go far, you read it in one of Hyunjin’s articles. Though the boy is not known for his subtlety. “Have you seen that they are looking for volunteers to organize and decorate?”

“Oh, yeah? That's fun. I hope they get enough booze to go around all night, that's the only part of that party that's worth it.” Jisung says, nodding along wisely. “I'll talk to Felix. He's obsessed, I'm sure he's gonna be on the committee again.”

“Oh yeah!” you say with an excited hum. “We could also volunteer!” your eyes light up suddenly. “We could just fuck around in the office without doing any work!”

Jisung thinks about it for a second before slowly turning to you. “That… is a bloody genius idea!” he grins widely, bouncing in his chair. “Fuck, you are so smart! I could kiss you-” he starts but after a second of shocked silence, he bursts out in high-pitched giggles. “I mean, haha, you rock!”

Your eyes widen and you blush to a deep red color. God… could you imagine kissing the Han Jisung? Cause you sure can, uh-oh. “Y-yeah! Hahaha you are even more awesome babe- I mean, bro.” 

“T-thanks! You're, uhm, you're just so great…” Jisung says, watching you in awe and wow, you have beautiful lips…

“Hey, guys!”

Jisung almost falls off his chair as Felix greets you cheerfully.

“Holy- bro, where did you even come from?”

“I was eavesdropping right around the corner.” he deadpans before giggling like a little kid at, well, Christmas. “You both are going to love being on the organizing committee!”

“Wow, you really were listening in on us!” you cheer with a tight smile. “How much did you hear?” 

“Just this.” Felix says without missing a beat, and he smiles at you angelically. “I'll add your names to the list then. Toodles!”

Jisung only dares to breathe again once Felix is gone. The little guy can be terrifying sometimes…

“Guess we are the elves this year.” he says, taking a glance at you sheepishly.

“Better order a hat then.” you smile at him sweetly. “Like this one. It even includes the ears!” you say with an excited gasp as you turn back to your computer screen.

“Yeah. Let's get matching ones.” he says softly, not taking his eyes off you. Maybe this Christmas he will be… braver than last year.

to be continued...

[south-sea]

i don't talk a lot about the whole world-hopping aspect of second chance au because i figure it's one of those details that are a little eyeroll-worthy in that it's just so self-indulgent/out there, but let's do it today anyway

(this one got a bit longer than average so under the cut it goes)

literally one of the first things that happens after metal's repaired is that he's given this ability. his new company is real big on giving people, coming from situations like his, freedom.

the way the ability's normally supposed to work is that early on, it drains a moderate amount of energy and takes a while to "recharge", but is supposed to gradually get easier the more you use it. so for months he just tricks other people with the same ability to take him places instead. sure, he can do it himself, but why expend the effort when there are people offering to hop him themselves? he's not going to say no. just look at him, he's just a little guy, this shouldn't be his responsibility. (let it be said metal can be a manipulative little bastard, but sometimes he doesn't even need to be.) he pretty much only ever uses the ability himself to get home.

his caretaker eventually catches onto this, and later upgrades it to work a bit more like chaos control, so it's less of an energy drain/doesn't have such a significant cooldown period. it's definitely cheating, and is only possible because he's a machine, but both he and his caretaker are not ones to play by the rules and intentionally handicap themselves. if there's a way to make something more efficient, they will do it.

and yet, despite this total and absolute freedom, metal still doesn't really like to go places alone. early on he did, and at one point this led to stripping one world of its copper to bring to another world that buys it at an extremely inflated rate, because someone made the mistake of teaching him about the basic gist of money/capitalism, but not economy. this led to two outcomes: he has more currency than one little robot hedgehog could ever need (and has nothing to use it on), and the realization this is all so pointless.

he might now occasionally take commissions to seek out and gather information on specific worlds for other people, and that's good enough incentive to go somewhere alone, but he doesn't explore just to explore. he'd much rather tag along with someone else.

i think some part of it too is that he just likes having the option available. it's his idea of rapport-building and getting to know someone. you can learn a lot about a person based on what their favorite place is to visit, as far as he's concerned. one of the first things he practically demands of new people who he has even a little appreciation for is "show me to places you like". they'll (usually) take him to a variety of worlds, he adds them to his database, and then just... doesn't really do anything with the worlds after that.

he cannot see the artistic value in things, so "pretty scenery" doesn't mean anything to him. he approaches things in a purely scientific way. really the only thing he does when arriving at a new place is: make a profile for it, record atmospheric data, log other unique aspects of it, link the world to whoever introduced him to it to add to that person's profile too, and then move on.

and then there's shadow.

shadow, who is unable to return to his timeline's earth, all related timelines, and feels like going to a completely unaffiliated-timeline's earth would be wrong, is "limited" to the rest of the multiverse in every other direction. he takes full advantage of it.

during his down-time/between testing, wandering around different worlds and whatnot is definitely his main source of entertainment. when he gets recommendations from others, he explores the places on his own time, and more for the sights/experiences. some part of him is a little guilty/haunted by the fact he's unable to see earth like he's "supposed" to, so in a way, visiting other places is almost like supplementing what he could've/should've/would've been spending his time on if he hadn't kicked the bucket the first time.

very, very early on, before he had gotten his bearings and realized he could lowkey donate himself to science for a cure, he had been introduced to photography. for a while (and still, sometimes), that's what he did. he'd take photos of places and scenery--anything he thought maria would like, and one hobby turned into another.

the thing about shadow is he thinks he doesn't have any hobbies, but the reality is he finds and rotates through them at a fair pace. world-hopping is at the core of it, and fuels all the other ones: exploration, photography/scrapbooking, trying new foods, and generally just experiencing all the new things he possibly can, to name a few.

(on a less serious note, it's also a fun excuse to throw the boys into existing-media worlds just for fun, like shadow ending up in the Sky world and getting himself a cloak or two, or the current season's ultimate gift that's basically a light-dimming projector. so add "collecting various interesting objects" to his hobby list.

you could hand shadow a piece of driftwood and he'd still proudly keep it--display it somewhere in his home, even--because here is a thing that has history. everything is new to him. he wouldn't just see "a piece of wood", he would research it and find out it's something that's been altered by its time in water, and that makes it special.

so shadow's world-hopping hobby is somehow at its core very similar to metal's habit of compiling libraries worth of data on every person he meets or place he visits. they both just want to Learn in their own ways, but while shadow's content to do so on his own, metal would prefer to travel with him/someone else, so it is not central to his own enjoyment. his enjoyment comes from the people he's with, not the places they're in.)

[citowon]

spring troupe and gender neutral s/o watch horror movies

about time i finally write for this blog... i was hit with the image of masumi watching a horror movie with his s/o, thought how lovely it would be if there was content of that, then realized i have that power now

word count: 1,935

tags: established relationship, non-detailed mentions of horror themes (gore, monsters, etc)

sakuya sakuma

🌸 when the topic of a horror movie date first comes up, he’s a bit scared. he’s only seen a couple, one of which was for mankai play research.

🌸 when it’s actually showing, though, he’s pretty calm! the anticipation was the worst part, and he somehow doesn’t get scared even during the most terrifying movie of the year. he’s great at reminding himself it’s just fictional in the end

🌸 vampires? not scary. aliens? he thinks they’re cute! gore? well, yeah, it’s unnerving at first but it’s all fake, and once he reminds himself of that he’s fine

🌸 he gets scared at the littlest things though. there might be a continuity error where a knife is in its holder on the counter in one shot and then removed the next, and no one in the movie acknowledges it nor is it supposed to mean anything but he can and will psych himself out thinking about just what moved it

🌸 king of predicting plot twists! he might be very good at spotting continuity errors, but he’s even better at picking out little bits of foreshadowing and putting together the mystery

🌸 gets spooked the most by jumpscares. every time he squeaks a bit (on really bad ones he might scream) and every time he always does the same embarrassed sigh afterwards and goes to squeeze your hand to calm himself

🌸 psychological horror is definitely the best pick for sakuya. he thinks a lot about what’ll happen next in the movie and loves to discuss about movies with you regardless of the genre, so with thought-provoking psychological films it fits him like a glove

🌸 and hey, if things ever get too intense he loves b-list horror movies! he thinks the bad acting is endearing and always finds something to compliment even with the trashiest, corniest flick

🌸 if you ever get uncomfortable, he might commentate in the movie and try to poke fun at it- i mean, the killer clown is kind of funny! look how bright and colorful it is compared to the rest of the set! he keeps his voice light and sunny so you have something comforting to concentrate on

masumi usui

🎧 he loves the idea of horror night. cuddling with you, holding you protectively as the suspense rises, stealing kisses to distract you from the monster and erase your fear...

🎧 he’s only seen a few horror movies in his life, less than the fingers he has on one hand, but whatever. it’s a movie. it’s not real. if he got too immersed he could just tell himself it’s fake and be done with it.

🎧 spoiler alert: he didn’t.

🎧 masumi did not, and i repeat, did NOT expect to get so invested??? even if you’re scared, he’s definitely the most terrified

🎧 that’s not to say he’ll show it. he’s doing everything to keep a neutral face, and you’ll probably assume he’s holding to you tighter during the scary parts like he’s protecting you.

🎧 (it’s actually because you’re the one [1] thing grounding him. you’re protecting him, not the other way around! in hindsight, he likes being cared for even when he thought he’d be the one spoiling you, not the other way around. he just wishes it didn’t have to be during such a scary movie, that’s all)

🎧 will take his fear to the grave... unless you ask him directly about it. please hold him and tell him the monsters aren’t real, even though he’s a heavy sleeper he will stay up until 3 am, his mind reminding him how creepy the movie was every time he’s about to drift off

🎧 so does not fuck with ghosts, if he didn’t believe in them before he certainly does now. the poor guy looks up how to ward away spirits and ends up carrying around a salt packet on him for the next two weeks

tsuzuru minagi

📖 tsuzuru’s not exactly a horror fan. he claims it’s brainless and pointless

📖 (admittedly he’s a little scared of them, but he still thinks they’re dependent on shock alone, and have zero rewatch value since the writing is more focused on in-the-moment spooks than actual plot.)

📖 he’ll roll his eyes and tease you a little but eventually he’ll go along with watching a horror movie

📖 to psych himself out of his fear tsuzuru decides to watch them critically and note what plot points to do (or more likely not to do) for future plays

📖 this works out for the beginning but by the middle of the movie he’s enraptured. he can’t tell if it’s actually good or if it’s a car wreck he can’t help but watch

📖 does the corny move where he yawns and wraps an arm around you, and you’d almost buy it from his earlier cynicism but then the killer shows their face and he tenses up like hell and you just know

📖 gets embarrassed every time he’s scared- he even turns pink, and gets even redder if you try to hold his hand or cuddle him closer (even though there’s nothing he’d want more after something that creepy)

📖 by the end he’s got a few new ideas that might go to autumn or winter troupe’s latest plays, and admits okay, fine, maybe horror isn’t so pointless after all

itaru chigasaki

🎮 screw movies, you’re playing horror games instead!

🎮 most of itaru’s horror games are single-player, so one of you takes the controller while the other sits next to the player, but itaru’ll drape his arms around you from behind in a back hug the entire time you play

🎮 he doesn’t really shut up. the entire time, he’s either cracking a joke or trying to freak you out more, if only so he doesn’t get in his head and overthink the creepy atmosphere

🎮 asshole only quiets down when the game gets tense, and then suddenly puts his hands around your shoulders or neck to scare you. regardless if you fall for it or not, he always laughs at himself and just-so-happens to break the tension as a scary cutscene plays

🎮 still commentates when he’s the player, but gasps or jumps even at small atmospheric scares

🎮 itaru definitely overthinks the game. he gets super cautious over tiny details and makes the missions way harder than they should be since he keeps overestimating the enemy line of sight and how noisy the avatar is

🎮 if you happen to be playing a co-op horror it’s a constant “no u” battle over who should do the scariest tasks

🎮 “reader, we need to cleanse the room next. you should do it” “no, you should do it. you have the quartz item remember” “i can give it to you since you have the ghost ward” “the ghost ward doesn’t apply to this quest, besides, you’re better at this ghost attack quick time event than me” “no it does, and you’re more optimized” “i can just give the items to you-“ “no you should do it” “no you” “no you” “no you” “no y-”

🎮 you both lose

citron

🍋 citron loves horror movies! he thinks they’re... comforting?

🍋 turns out he’s only seen movies about cursed dolls and b-horror, which explains a lot- he loves dolls too much to be scared by them and he thinks b-list horror is hilarious- but he’ll still proudly proclaim he’s unflappable and swear to protect you from the bad guys

🍋 when you’re actually watching the movie you can’t tell if he’s faking his reactions or not. he’s very noisy

🍋 he gets scared enough during the gruesome and horrific scenes to hold you close and tight like a teddy bear, and during the worst of it he might muffle a scream by diving into the crook of your neck, obscuring his vision until the scene changes

🍋 and yet, he laughs at the next scene’s unrealism, and manages to poke enough fun at the movie that you giggle and his terror disappears, he loves your laugh way more than he can be afraid of monsters

🍋 can’t do gore for the life of him, but when it comes to the actual plot, he’s rather critical of characters acting dumb. he catches on to nonsensical writing quick, but usually asks you to clarify the plot holes before realizing that he found a loophole in the writing

🍋 whenever you’re scared and not even his goofy reactions and commentary can help, he plants a sweet kiss on your cheek, strokes your hair, and holds you close to his chest until the fear goes away. he’s surprisingly good at protecting you from the movie

🍋 after the movie he’ll say his country has a similar legend to the movie monsters, but he claims the legends are true in zafra, and zafrans have a very specific tradition to prevent the monsters from attacking them

🍋 the movie also gave citron the idea of creepily standing behind you silently until you turn around and get startled, or occasionally chanting in a strange, cultish language and pretending he didn’t say a thing, or making a doll with the same markings as the clown puppet from the movie...

🍋 citron continues to be even scarier than the actual horror movie, but can’t wait until the next horror night! maybe watching it was a bad idea after all...

chikage utsuki

🌙 chikage just doesn’t get the appeal of horror. it’s just a fake movie, why do people get so creeped out by terrible sfx and unrealistic monsters?

🌙 he’s seen scarier things than any werewolf pack, zombie outbreak, or witch coven can throw at him. if you insist on watching a scary movie, fine, he’ll be happy to let you sit on his lap, just don’t expect to creep him out as well, or else you’ll be sorely disappointed.

🌙 he analyzes the movie more than he watches it, but doesn’t speak up even though the fight scenes look pitiful. if this were real life, he’d sweep the whole brood of shambling monstrosities in record time and be back home in time for izumi’s curry

🌙 chikage runs his hands under your shirt whenever the monster’s on screen to scare you. it’s actually really creepy- his fingers are light and quick and always makes you flinch, even if you know it’s just your boyfriend

🌙 he’ll listen to your thoughts about the movie, but doesn’t have strong opinions himself. he thinks the scares are mediocre at best, even without considering his background, but won’t mention how unrealistic it was unless you mention it first.

🌙 psychological horror, however, is a whole different story

🌙 maybe chikage can’t get scared by generic spirit halloween monsters but once you introduce thought-provoking plot, questions and dilemmas, now he’s hooked

🌙 he really likes wondering if the protagonist is actually the good guy and making theories about the origins of the monsters and why they’re so destructive, even if he forgets about them once the movie’s over.

🌙 love love looooves the “the monsters were harmless creatures before humans dished out the first blow” trope. he knows how common it is, but there’s a lot of ways to go about it, especially on a subtextual level, and he just can’t get enough

🌙 the deeper the plot is, expect a longer conversation about the ins and outs of it. they get surprisingly thoughtful and introspective, even if chikage throws in a few bullshit stories related to the movie just to watch you squirm

[whumpingcrow]

Pt.11 "From Awful to Even Worse!"

CW: PTSD themes, panic attacks, night terrors, injury mention (past and current), body image/weight mention, blood, disassociation mention, tics/tourrettes, noncon/dubcon/general nsfw language, gunshot wound mention, drugs/cigarettes (explicit), food mention, trauma flashback (explicit) (Let me know if I missed anything!)

Elias was starting to feel Tyson's frustration with him. It had been weeks since he'd gotten back and every time he woke up screaming or have random bouts of panic, Tyson faced it with a tired sigh and a tight hug. He always said "it's ok, I've got you," but it was starting to sound less convincing. Elias could feel it, he was bothersome, he was annoying, Tyson couldn't take care of him anymore. He told himself that Tyson never signed up for this anyway, it wasn't fair to expect him to stick around. So, he grew progressively worse, trying to drown all of the thoughts out with weed, staying in bed for hours after he woke up, too exhausted to stand up and start the day. Everything seemed pointless and dull and grey and scary. He wasn't allowing the cuts scattering his torso and arms to heal, ripping and picking them open every few days. He felt like he deserved the pain and the blood. He was finding that, because he'd been so used to the harshness of his deep red blood on his pale skin and blinding pain, he just wasn't comforted by the healing.

Tyson was only worrying about him even more, absolutely panic ridden and unsure how to help him feel better. He couldn't say anything to soothe him, he couldn't promise wholeheartedly that everything was ok because it wasn't, it was all incredibly fucked. Saying anything else felt wrong though, like telling Elias it would be ok was the only reasonable thing to keep saying. He also kept promising that Elias was safe now, that he wasn't going to be hurt again, because that was one thing he could help control. Tyson was going to make sure that this promise was kept, he would keep Elias safe no matter what it took, as long as he could help it no one would touch him again.

But Elias didn't think he was safe, every bone in his body was screaming that he had to run and hide, that he was going to be beaten any second. This didn't change no matter how much Tyson reassured him that he was safe and protected now. Sometimes it scared him so bad he could only sit in silence, paralyzed by dread of pain that would never come.

Like now, Elias was sitting on the couch wrapped up in blankets, staring off into nothingness, zoned out from the weed and eyes clouded over in thought. As Tyson walked in, he sat a little straighter, looking at him expectantly, like he was trying to please him by sitting pretty.

"Elias?" He asked, kneeling in front of him. Sometimes when he was speaking to Elias he felt like he was holding a candle in front of him and speaking too loud might blow it out and kill him. Something so soft and fragile and so damn close to the edge of breaking all the damn time had to be handled gently, with extreme care. "Would you like to go out with me tonight?"

Elias grinned a little, leaning towards him. Tyson relaxed a great deal, marking the reaction as a small victory. "I'll have to check my schedule," he joked, "I've been pretty busy lately."

With a laugh, Tyson smoothed out the blanket over Elias's shoulder. He was elated to hear him joking, he could buy the boy a cake to celebrate. "You sure you can't spare an hour? Or do you have some more walls to stare at?"

"Where would we go?" Elias retorted.

"Hmm... I was thinking we could get a nice picnic together and go to that spot by the lake...I figure we could go now and get there by sunset." He paused, tilting his head at him. "And I...have some shrooms we could take, if you wanted. We don't have to." He stressed the last part, more than ok with just spending the night with his half-stoned boyfriend, with these little jokes and crooked smiles.

"That sounds like fun. Do I have to change my clothes?" He smiled when Tyson shook his head, then dropped the blanket to stand up. It was a success! Sure, he was going in his pyjamas and Tyson's worn out college hoodie, and he lit up a cigarette as soon as they were in the car, but he was leaving the house! Tyson was able to get him out of the house to go on a date and he was smiling about it.

------------------------------------------

Tyson was right, the lake was lit up with the peach color of the slowly setting sun. The chill breeze bit wonderfully at their cheeks. As they sat on the blanket they splayed out on the grass, Tyson pulled Elias close with one arm, holding his food with the other. He had made sandwiches with peanut butter and the shrooms, and Elias was surprised when he couldn't even taste them. As he stared out over the water and watched the colors change, he felt the world around him pulsing slightly, the air swelling sweetly around him. Even though he knew it was because he'd been so dependent on drugs when he was with August, he was glad to be high again. Maybe he'd be able to get comfortable enough with Tyson again to talk to him. God, he was feeling horrible about how little he'd been talking to him.

"Baby," Tyson said suddenly, pressing his lips against the side of Elias's head, "can I tell you a secret?"

Elias turned to look at him, his face glowing in the setting sun. "Yes?" He breathed. He looked so beautiful, the definition of perfect. Elias couldn't help but reach out to touch him, humming at the pleasant warmth that seemed to melt him from the inside out.

"I am really, really in love with you." As he said it, Tyson pulled him closer to him.

"Oh Tyson...do you mean that?" He breathed, a light blush in his face. The words sounded so beautiful coming from Tyson, he could listen to him say that for the rest of his life. He almost couldn't believe that, after everything, someone could love him, or even convince themselves that they did like he imagined Tyson was. Still, it was nice to be told, nice to be held so close, nice to be high in the arms of someone who touched him with such tenderness. So he allowed it, adored it, when Tyson grinned and pulled him closer and said:

"I do, angel. I love you."

He melted at the way Elias's face lit up with a smile and he kissed him, giggling as Elias melted right into his arms.

Elias felt Tyson lower him to his back on the soft ground, climbing onto him slowly. "Say it again." Elias whimpered, pulling Tyson's shirt hard until he was pressed close to him.

"I," he whispered, kissing his neck softly, "love," another kiss against his jaw, "you," then his cheek, "Elias." He kissed him softly and slowly, smiling at the pleased hum Elias let out.

"I love you too," he gasped, hyper aware of Tyson's arms holding him steady. It was like he could fall off the planet and endlessly tumble through the stars any second, but he was able to stay pressed against the cool earth because of Tyson's arms alone. He was safe, he was held. "I love you so much."

As the lighting around them dimmed to a pale blue, the air chilled until they had no other option but to press close against each other, watching the stars with wide, drugged out eyes and amazed whispers in between kisses. Elias had never felt more loved in his life, every time he looked at Tyson all he could see was the love on his face, it soaked through his clothes everywhere he touched him.

"Ty," Elias said suddenly, sitting up fully to look at him. He looked luminous in the pale moonlight, and Elias found his train of thought stalling as the words fell out of his mouth. "Ty, I want to...I want to um..."

Tyson smiled at him, reaching up and playing with his hair to distract him further. "You're so pretty, Eli." He giggled when Elias let out a flustered sigh and leaned into his touch. It was so easy to discompose him, and it was endlessly entertaining.

"Listen, Tyson. I want to have sex with you." He grabbed the string on Tyson's hoody as he spoke, tugging at it gently. "I wanna give my everything to you."

"Let me tell you something, baby. I don't want to take anything from you. I want to love you whole, in one piece, I don't wanna take parts of you." He sat up as well, tipping Elias's face up towards his own by just a finger under the chin. He watched Elias's eyes flutter at the simple touch, and he was glad to see him so relaxed. He was never this calm when this subject was brought up, and it was almost strange to not see him fidgeting and twitching nervously at Tyson's polite rejection. "I don't want you to think you're giving something to me."

Elias hummed quietly, nodding his head along to whatever it was Tyson was saying. It was hard not to agree, Tyson was so smart and he spoke in such pleasant, melodic tones, why would Elias ever argue with anything he had to say in that sweet voice? Had he before? He scolded himself, told him that Tyson was the best and never again would Elias disagree with him. "You're so good to me," he whispered, "God, I could listen to you talk forever."

With a laugh, Tyson let his lips fall against Elias's softly, enjoying the way he sunk into the kiss.

They only stayed out by the lake for a bit later, until it was too dark and too cold to warm each other up effectively. Elias was elated the entire walk back to the car, chattering happily and occasionally ticcing against Tyson's grip. "Oh, you know what would be so great right now?" He asked, not waiting for Tyson to answer. "We should go home and take a really warm shower. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"It does sound nice. We'll do that as soon as we get home, ok?" He rubbed Elias's shoulder gently, then helped him get in the car. As they drove, they kept the windows down and let the cold air keep them grounded, Elias had one hand slung out of the window and one on Tyson's thigh. Life was so perfect and so beautiful and Elias simply understood where he was and who he was, for the first time probably ever. Tyson kept peering over at him with pure adoration on his face, trying his hardest to remember to keep his eyes on the road. But Elias had been gone for so long, and he was absolutely glowing in the streetlights they passed, and Tyson never ever wanted to look away from him. He would sacrifice everything, forfeit the rest of his vision if it meant he could look at Elias always. Hell, he would sacrifice all of his senses if only he could ever only touch, taste, hear, see, and breathe Elias. He would be content, he would never get sick of it. Elias was everything, absolutely nothing else mattered when he was looking at Elias.

"Eyes on the road, Ty," Elias laughed, watching Tyson flush and snap his gaze back to the road. "You're so beautiful. Very endearing." He ticced, wolf-whistled, and then it was his turn to blush and turn his head to look out the window, at the passing trees.

To his surprise, Tyson reached over and grabbed his thigh, squeezing it gently as he chuckled to himself. "And you," he said pointedly, stealing another glance at the seemingly stunned Elias, his eyes were so wide, borderline apprehensive, and Tyson tried to soak in that look on his face before looking back at the road, "are adorable. Just... breathtakingly attractive."

Elias blushed further, but instead of shying away he pulled Tyson's hand up to his face, kissing softly at his fingertips, then the palm of his hand.

"Elias, angel," Tyson breathed, "if you keep doing that I'll never look away from you."

Now it was Elias's turn to laugh, allowing Tyson's hand to fall from his grasp and down to his jaw. He allowed it to rest their for a moment, then dropped it to the nape of his neck and massaging against him gently. It was pure, just because he liked it, Elias always felt that way. He could feel when August was touching him with underlying motivation, hidden threats in every pretend comforting touch. Tyson's hands on him always felt natural, like "where else would they be?" kind of natural. And it was everything Elias could ask for and more.

Once they were actually home and in the bathroom, Elias felt a creeping uneasiness about Tyson seeing his body. He suddenly remembered how mutilated and messed up he was, his cuts were barely healing, the bruises an even uglier color than when he first came back. He remembered how even seeing himself without clothes in the mirror was gut wrenching, made him want to throw up from anxiety and disgust. If he was there when all of it happened and even he was repulsed, there was no way Tyson seeing it all for the first time would be a delightful experience. If he didn't think he was ruined and ugly before, by some miracle, he certainly would after this. What happened to the beauty he saw in everything moments ago? Where was it now, when he was looking at himself? His aching need to be closer to Tyson overshadowed those fears, made him week in the knees with waves of longing, he could not spend another second with his mind mentally screaming to Tyson "touch me oh god please please put your hands on me in some way I can't breathe without you" and so he was forcing himself to pull nervously at the strings of his hoodie in attempt to convince himself to take it off.

"Tyson we gotta hurry," he rushed, "I have to do it before I freak myself out." He avoided looking in the mirror, eyes darting nervously around. A soft whimper of surprise passed his lips when Tyson grabbed the bottom of his hoodie and pulled him flush against his body. His breath smelled like weed and mint, Elias noticed. When did he smoke? Why didn't Elias notice? And was he chewing gum? Elias dropped his eyes down to his jaw, which was flexing as he chewed on the gum. Elias blushed when he thought about taking it from him, sharing that taste.

"It's alright love," Tyson whispered, "you don't need to be freaked out, I've got you. We'll do it at your pace."

Elias took a deep breath to calm himself down, looking up at Tyson with the rosiness still hanging on his face. "Ok just...just don't say anything when you see. Please."

Tyson answered him by kissing gently at his neck, holding him close still. Slowly, he let go of the hoodie and slipped his hand underneath, until his fingertips brushed against his hip softly. He paused, waiting to see if Elias was alright. He could feel his skin react to the touch, feel his breathing falter at the sheer skin on skin contact alone. After he relaxed, Tyson slowly wrapped his fingers around his waist, his thumb brushing against the sharp edge of his hip bone. He knew he was thin, but had it gotten this bad with August? He had been hiding in huge hoodies the past few days, the only idea Tyson had of how small he'd gotten was hugging him close, and even that wasn't the best gauge. Now that he was feeling him, up close and personal, he could feel just how run down he'd become. He almost made a remark about it, and then he remembered being asked not to say anything, so he ignored it.

"You ok?" He said instead, turning his head only slightly towards him. His mouth was parted just a bit, his eyes screwed shut. Tyson noticed Elias was hesitantly grabbing his shirt, seemingly unsure what to do with hands.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm good." Elias reached up and looped his arm around Tyson's neck to get closer, deciding that was how to get as close to Tyson as possible, so maybe he wouldn't be able to see all of his injuries. His voice had a slight tremble to it, but Elias was holding onto him so tightly it didn't feel right to pull away and see if he was really good.

Tyson paused for a second longer, then slid his hand lightly up his rib cage. He let it rest there a moment before slipping his other hand under too, and then he stepped away just enough to pull Elias's sweatshirt over his head. He dropped it to the ground carelessly, taking Elias in, in all his abused glory.

Nearly every inch of his torso was scattered with bruises of varying color and he had cuts all over. Most of the ones on his arms were short and close together, but the ones on his chest looked more like someone tried to perform an autopsy on him while he was still conscious and thrashing. Tyson remembered a particular video of Elias secured to the bed with a couple of belts, August was carving into his chest slowly, purposefully, until Elias would shriek and writhe to try and escape the pain. He finally saw the large, barely healing wound on his shoulder, where he must've been shot, like he was telling Tyson one night. He probably should've gotten it stitched up, but it's not like August could have taken him on a day trip to the ER and get him fixed up before taking him home, good as new. So instead, it would be a huge, jagged scar that would remind him only of the fear and confusion of that day. There were even places along his ribs and collar bones he could see bruises in the faint outline of a hand. The amount of agony and screaming and begging for mercy that had to have gone along with each injury made Tyson physically upset, he noticed his hands were suddenly shaky. Tears of frustration with August and himself filled his eyes, and he tipped his head back to collect his thoughts.

"Oh god, is it that bad?" Elias whimpered, stepping away from him and dropping to his knees to grab his hoodie again. Now, from his place on the floor, Tyson could see his spine, where there was a larger, darker bruise in the center of his back. It just kept getting worse. "This was a horrible fucking idea. Ugh, dammit-" Elias couldn't get the hoodie on, with his nervously fumbling hands, and suddenly Tyson was there on the floor with him. He grabbed Elias's wrists and turned him toward him, shocking him with the quickness and how aggressively he was holding his arms. Elias's heart was pounding in his chest as he flinched away from Tyson's too tight grip, the way he was shaking as he held him still made Elias's throat close up.

"Elias. Elias I need you to know how sorry I am, baby," he choked out, loosening his grip around his wrists as he saw the fear scribbled on his face. "I'm so sorry I didn't do more to protect you or-or find you-"

"Tyson," Elias breathed, pulling one of his hands away to wipe his tears, "it's... not your fault."

"I never wanted you to get hurt." He shook his head, looking away from Elias altogether. He couldn't bare to see the fear on his face, the marks on his body. Not when he could have done more to prevent it. Not when Elias wouldn't be in such horrible shape if Tyson was just a little faster and stronger and more brave, if he had just been able to stop them from taking him away.

After a long pause, Elias leaned away from him and propped himself up on the wall, pulling his knees up to his chest. He felt rather hopeless, but he should've expected it. He was ugly and ruined now, how could he seriously expect Tyson to be attracted to him? He was someone else's used up toy, Tyson deserved more than that. He deserved more than all the cuts and bruises and fear. He couldn't cry, not that he didn't want to, so he just ended up dropping his head to his hands just to hide away for a bit. He didn't want to see the bitter look on Tyson's face, he didn't want to see him looking at anything else in the bathroom to avoid having to look at him and the extent of all his disgusting damage.

"Eli I'm sorry," Tyson began saying, reaching out to rub his shoulder softly, "I shouldn't have reacted that way. I thought I could handle this better."

Elias let out a short, sarcastic laugh, shrugging him off. "I get it. I'm damaged goods now, hard not to be put off."

"Don't say that. You're perfect, I'm just...I didn't know it was that bad." He sighed as he leaned against the wall next to Eli, keeping his hands to himself now. "Does it hurt still?"

"Yeah, it all does. Especially my hand." He held it out in front of him, splaying his fingers to show Tyson the healing injury. Every time he looked at this hand, he remembered the unbearable pain he felt when it was broken. He remembered having to force himself to keep it still, having to look away so he wouldn't have to see the damage happening, holding his breath because the pain was so intense his body just forgot how to work. "He broke it with a hammer when I tried to get away."

Tyson stared at it with a vague look of horror, then gently took his wrist and pulled him forward to press his lips lightly against the worst of the bruise. He looked up at Elias to see him staring at him with a small look of apprehension, worried his feather soft touches would turn painful any second. Instead, he continued to kiss on every bruise he could see, starting at his wrist and moving all the way up to his shoulder. "I've got you now, angel," his voice was just a low mumble as he spoke, "no one's gonna hurt you anymore."

Elias somehow ended up on his back on the bathroom floor, his hands gripping tightly at Tyson's shirt as he held him, his mouth pressed against all the injuries on his stomach, his arms holding him close. He tugged at Tyson's shirt until he was hovering directly over him, amused grin on his face. Tyson closed the small distance between them to kiss his neck gently, enjoying the soft gasp he let out.

"You sound so pretty like that, Eli," he whispered against his skin. When Elias pulled him closer, he ended up getting a little carried away, leaving hickeys on his neck and grinding against him softly. In the back of his mind, he was scolding himself for having let it get this far, pleading to not push it anymore, to stop while he was ahead. Elias wasn't healed yet, he had to remember. And even though he sounded so beautiful, oh God Tyson felt like he was listening to a perfect symphony with every moan and bothered whine he let out, this would probably only cause more damage. I should stop, he thought, I have to stop before I break him all over again. But he couldn't help it, Elias sounded so pleased at everything he did so he just kept doing it. He didn't sound on the verge of breaking, really, this was the happiest Tyson remembered him sounding since he got back. Until Elias suddenly let go of his shirt and pushed his trembling hands against his chest.

"P-please, no more," he was stammering desperately, tears streaming down his face that Tyson hadn't even notice. "I can't handle anymore, please let me rest, August."

Tyson sat up quickly, watching as Elias pushed himself up against the wall, covering his mouth with his hands. He was suddenly so scared, his eyes so faraway, looking somewhere else entirely, a different time, place, different person. He really thought Tyson was August. "Eli, baby, it's me." He whispered, grabbing onto Elias's wrist.

"No, stop!" Elias cried, flinching away from him further. "I want to go home! Let me go!"

As Tyson watched him, he realized he was probably having a flashback because of the shrooms, and he relaxed. He could handle this, as long as he could just get Elias to calm down for a second. He just had to not focus on how his heart broke when Elias said that, begged to go home. Had he said that to August before? Things were so awful he was crying to be allowed to leave. And Tyson was too pathetic to save him from that. "Elias, look at me, angel," he tried, frowning when he was only met with sobs. He thought he was August, so how would August get him to pay attention? "I asked you to look at me, Eli." He pressed. He made his voice firm, trying not to cross the line and freak him out more.

Elias caved in on himself further, his whole body trembling in fear, genuine fear that he was going to be hurt any second. He could already feel it before it came, just like always. It had gotten to a point where he could decipher whatever he was doing wrong and how he would be punished for it. It was his only way to somewhat prepare himself for any pain. Right now he was waiting to feel August grabbing him tightly and throw him to the ground or shove him against the wall and take what he wanted more violently than he should. Elias was so afraid of the pain, so August made sure that his fears weren't irrational and he would really hurt him then. That's how it usually went, anyway, or something like that.

"Please don't," he begged as he felt warm fingertips against his ribs, "please don't hurt me, I'll be good. I promise I'll be good." To his surprise, the hands didn't force him down or drag him out of the room, instead he felt himself enveloped into gentle, careful arms. August didn't usually hold him, not unless they were super high. He stopped that after he realized Elias enjoyed more than he should have. He stayed rigid and shaking, but he didn't pull away from him. He'd already made things worse for himself, why add another reason to be punished?

"You are being good, Eli," he was assured, the arms growing tight around him, "really, you're doing very well. But I want you to calm down, can you do that for me?"

Elias closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. In his head, he counted to ten. Why was he even crying still? Why was it taking him so long to calm down? He hadn't been hurt yet, at all, and now he was being held far more tenderly than he deserved. Only he could find a reason to flip out at something that should be nice. Or, nicer than in the past, anyway. With each second, he sunk deeper into the tight hug, holding August's forearm and pulling him closer. "Ok," he whispered, "I'm calm. D-do you have to take pictures this time? The flash freaks me out."

Tyson pulled him closer, too upset by the question to answer. He'd seen a few pictures, been sent a few videos, but he'd told himself those were isolated occasions, that August only did it once in awhile to antagonize him. But the way Elias made it seem, the pictures were taken often, at least often enough to give Elias a fear of the flash. He realized there were pictures and videos no one had seen, August probably had them for his own sick pleasure and amusement. Finally, he shook his head, mouth set in a grim line. "No, no pictures this time. Just relax."

[ijustwant2write]

Negative-Jax Teller x Reader

(GIF credit to @xrockrebelqueenx)

Masterlist

Prompts List

Tags: @amirahiddleston @bloodorangemoonlight

Summary: (Y/N) and Jax have been trying for a baby ever since they were married, but each time she takes a test, it's bad news. Jax doesn't realise how much pressure he is putting on her, until she finally breaks.

Characters: Jax Teller x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Unable to get pregnant, mention of sex, swearing, lots of fluff

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

I paced around the small bathroom, ringing my hands together as I waited for the agonisingly slow two minutes to pass. Every time I did this, I got my hopes up, despite being disappointed time and time again. The alarm on my phone startled me, but I let it ring out for a few more seconds before switching it off. Taking a deep breath, I noticed how shaky my hand was as I picked up the pregnancy test, closing my eyes as I counted down in my head. 3, 2, 1...

Negative

Not pregnant

After so many tries, you would think the tears would be dried up, that I could shed no more. But it was the absolute opposite. The pain, the disappointment, it was too much now. Like most people, I just wanted to start a family. There were no more dreams of being a millionaire or becoming famous, or even marrying a celebrity; I had Jax, and all we wanted together was a baby. We had tried so many times, worked out when best to try and get me pregnant, patiently waited for months and months on end. It seemed nothing was working anymore.

“Babe?” Jax’s voice called out in the house.

Sighing to myself, I picked up the test, not bothering to even act happy as I made my way to him. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, I saw him looking through the fridge before he noticed me. His smile disappeared when he saw my expression, instantly asking me what was wrong. I carelessly threw the test onto the kitchen table, watching as it slid across. Sensing that something was wrong, he didn’t get excited, slowly looking at it.

“Let’s face it Jax, someone up there doesn’t want us having kids.” I mumbled, looking through the cupboards for a wine glass.

“Don’t say that.”

I looked over my shoulder after pouring myself a drink.“Am I wrong?” 

“It’s normal for it to take time.”

“Not this long. And I’m sick of going through the same thing over and over! Sex seems like a chore, it’s not spontaneous.”

He smirked, thinking it was the right time to joke around.“We can change that.”

I scoffed.“For fucks sake Jax, I’m not in the mood for that.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.” he slowly approached me, unintentionally trapping me between him and the counter.

“I know, I’m sorry. I just...” putting down the wine glass, I covered my face with both hands, feeling more tears emerging.“I just want this so badly. We’ve tried everything. Why isn’t it working?!”

“Hey, hey,” his voice was hushed as he pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me,“it will happen. We can’t give up. How often have we spoken about this?”

“Forever.”

“We always talk about having a kid! And it will happen, I promise you.”

“You can’t promise that Jax.”

“Well, I’m going to anyway. I can’t stand seeing my girl like this.”

Pulling away to wipe the tears off my cheeks, I tried to calm down, knowing that standing here upset would get us no where.”Do you really think it’s ever going to happen for us?”

He held my chin in his fingers, tilting it up to look at him.“It will. But it’s a shame you think fucking ain’t fun no more.”

Jax walked away, and I knew what game he was playing.

“Well...I mean, just casual fucking isn’t that bad I suppose.” I admitted.

He stopped, looking over his shoulder at me.“That’s a relief.”

“Yeah?” I smiled.

“Yeah, cause, I was gonna take a shower but...”

“Need help old man?”

“I’m gonna need help with something if you don’t get your ass in there soon enough.”

I immediately took back my statement on sex being a chore after that. It felt more wild, yet still loving. Of course we didn’t just leave it in the shower, it continued for most of the night. Pent up anger that was subconsciously stored away in the back of our minds were being released making it all the more exciting. Jax left early the next morning, heading out to the club, but kissed me before he left. I wasn’t fully awake, but acknowledged him with a lazy smile before sleeping for the rest of the morning. 

Heading out later for groceries, I checked over my list once more, seeing that I needed to buy more supplies for the first aid kit at home; it wasn’t a surprise that we needed more items again, especially when you were the wife of a President to a motor cycle club that dealt with many illegal doings. As I picked up what I needed, my eyes scanned over the pregnancy tests, sadness waving over me again. It was like they were tormenting me. Pulling myself away from the aisle, I tried to forget about it, focusing on anything else but that.

Jax was already home when I returned, lounging on the sofa as I walked by. He got up as we greeted one another, helping me unpack the shopping.

“Hey,” I said before he kissed me,“how was your day?”

“Same old. Everything is pretty quiet at the club at the moment.” he explained.

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, nice to take a break from...well, that stuff.”

“Nice to see you home so relaxed too.”

We finished unpacking everything when I noticed another bag. However, it was from a different store. 

“Jax, did you buy something today?” I asked as I looked inside.

“Yeah,” he waited until I pulled the item out,“it’s more pregnancy tests.”

I frowned at him as I held it up to him.“Why would you go out and get this?”

“Because we didn’t have any left, and I thought after last night, might be worth seeing if it did anything.”

I threw it onto the counter, stomping away towards the bedroom.

“What’s the attitude for?” he called after me.

“I’m not a science experiment Jax! I don’t have to take a test every day if I don’t want to.”

“But what if you’re pregnant?”

“Then taking a day off from tests won’t change that.” I sat on the edge of the bed, glaring at him as he walked in.

“Don’t you want to know?”

 “No! Not anymore Jax! I want to just eave the tests for a while.”

“We just spoke about wanting a baby-”

“Do you know how stressed this makes me feel? It’s like this is my only purpose and I’m failing!”

“It’s not your ‘only purpose’. Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

"You know what, I'm not suddenly upset or stressed about all of this. I've felt like this ever since our first negative test."

"Ad you've just been hiding this from me? Thought we were supposed to talk about this kinda shit like normal married couples."

"We're far from fucking normal." I leaned my elbows on my knees, cradling my face in my hands.

"Exactly. You know how tight this family is, it's us and the club." he quickly approached me, kneeling on the floor and grabbing my wrists to reveal my face."You know that family comes first. You are my family."

"It's just every time we have sex, you shove a test in my hand." I sobbed."Like last night, I thought we actually had a great night, then you come home with multiple tests."

"I just want to make sure-"

I groaned before raising my voice at him."You're not listening!"

Having had enough of the pointless argument, I shoved him away from me, grabbing a pair of shoes and quickly putting them on.

"What are you doing?"

"I want to be alone. I need to have some fresh air."

"Let me go with you, please."

I shook my head as I put on a jacket."No Jax, I don't think that's a good idea."

He ignored me, following behind as I rushed to the front door. Why was this man so stubborn? Stopping before I even turned the handle, I spoke to him without even turning around.

"Jax, please, I just need a moment to be by myself."

"You've been by yourself all day-"

"You know that's not the same as this."

"Fine, go away then. You know what, don't even bother to call or text if you're alright."

I was about to retaliate, but I would be stuck here all night arguing with him. I was only heading around the block, I didn't want to be out before it got dark. It was only a little cooler outside, but it was still a relief, as was the peaceful silence. My pace was slow, trying to concentrate on my surroundings to distract my previous thoughts. Although it had worked at first, it was interrupted by the rumbling of a motorcycle. Rolling my eyes as Jax pulled up beside me, I carried on walking.

"Babe, would you get on the bike?" he asked over the noise.

I said nothing.

"Oh please not the silent treatment. You know I can't stand that shit. I just want to hear your beautiful voice."

"Do you not understand the meaning of being alone?"

"(Y/N), come for a ride. I know you like them as much as I do when I need to clear my head."

He wasn't wrong there.

"I brought you a helmet. Come on, please?"

We both halted, and I hesitantly faced him. He was holding out the helmet, a small smile on his face. Why was it so fucking hard to resist him? I gave in, smiling back as I put on the helmet and climbed on the bike behind him. As soon as my arms were wrapped firmly around his waist, he set off, revving the engine more than he needed to, causing me to laugh.

Jax wasn't wrong. This feeling could not be beaten. I had never been on a motorbike before I met Jax. Like most people I was apprehensive to ride with him at first, but after that first trip, I was hooked. But it didn't make me want one of my own, it had to be with Jax. Being on this thing together was exhilarating, it always took me back to the first time, where he had been so cocky and confident as he flirted with me. Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice where we were driving to until he started to slow down.

“Really Jax?” I giggled as we pulled up across the street from the grocery store.

“What?”

I climbed off the bike, shaking my hair as I took off the helmet.“You know I already went grocery shopping today.” I joked, knowing why we were really here.

“Come on, you can’t forget the first time you laid eyes on this.” he gestured to himself, leaning back on his bike.

“Of course I know why we’re here. You trying to earn some brownie points?”

“Kinda.”

I waited for him to continue. 

“Just...it just felt right to come here. I don’t know, maybe cause I wanted to reflect on how it used to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we were still kids. So much shit has happened since then.”

I knew he was referring to the club more than our marriage.“Yeah, it’s been hard.”

“But I couldn’t have done any of that without you.”

“You would have managed fine without me.”

“No,” he grabbed my hand,“I wouldn’t have.”

“Jax, you don’t have to butter me up you know.” I raised my other hand to cup his cheek, tenderly stroking my thumb back and forth.“I mean, I am still upset, but I couldn’t be mad at you forever.”

“You have every right to be. You would think as someone who is under stress almost all of the time, I would stop you from feeling the same. And I’ve been a shit husband.”

“No, Jax-”

“I have though. I thought back about what you said. You were right about everything. I come back from the club, we speak, eat dinner, and most nights we are fucking. I’m not making love to you anymore because I’m immediately expecting a result after, I’m not thinking about us in that moment.”

I sighed.“The other night felt a bit...different from how we’ve been doing it recently.”

“I still stormed in today with those tests.”

“Jax,” I placed both hands on his shoulders, standing in between his legs,“we’re just going to have to forget about earlier if we’re going to move past this. You seem to be understanding better, and I’m thankful that you thought about it. I know we both really want this, but why don’t we leave it for a bit? And I don’t mean go back to using protection, because you never know, but if we’re having sex, I just want it to be for us two, not to create something.”

He nodded, pulling me in closer and slowly kissing me.“I’m sorry. I promise I won’t put any pressure on you again.”

I smiled.“Come on, let’s go home.” 

[sleepless-rain]

Seijoh’s graduation trip plans

Translator: Leo | Sleepless-rain | Leoppii Editor: Troy  Esaki | Kahluaplusmilk

“Continue on unwaveringly.”

Those were the words that Iwaizumi Hajime had said to Oikawa Tohru, who had stopped to turn back and look at him. It was fall at the time.

“You’re my partner and an utterly amazing setter.”

On this day, Aobajousai High School had lost in the semifinals at the Miyagi representative game of the spring volleyball tournament. And starting from that lost match, the third years were to retire.

Iwaizumi and Oikawa weren’t only the captain and vice-captain of the volleyball club.  They had been together through junior high school and elementary school, more than half of their lives—up until now— was spent together on the courts as partners.

Iwaizumi’s words were blunt, unembellished and held no lies.

“Even if this team changes, that will not change. When the time comes I will take you down.”

Oikawa straightened himself and accepted Iwaizumi’s words of passion and friendship head-on.

“…Bring it on.”

And this story takes place a few months later.

TRANSLATORS NOTE: Please do NOT repost this translation ANYWHERE. If I see the whole thing elsewhere I will stop translating novel chapters and delete this one as well. Sharing small snippets are okay but not the whole thing. Please link back to this tumblr post if you want to share it.

  “I want to eat curry… So how about India?” said Iwaizumi, wiping the sweat off with his arm.

“You serious?”

“The bar is suddenly set way too high.”

Matsukawa Issei and Hanamaki Takahiro grimace, sweat dripping from their chins.

It was followed by, “But I like naan.”

“I totally get you.”

“When you want to eat naan, you drop by the curry restaurant.”

“I don’t get you.”

A stream of consciousness about curry overlapped with one another until Hanamaki cut in, wringing out his towel, “But you know…Hawaii would be good. How about we go snorkeling?”

“That sounds good, ‘specially in this situation. Deciding between curry and the sea, the latter sounds far better,” Matsukawa answered, ceaselessly wiping his sweat and wringing out his towel.

Iwaizumi, who had suggested India clicked his tongue, “Tch.”

It was hot in here.

Actually, rather than hot it was boiling hot. Yearning for the cool blue sea over a curry filled with spices was no surprise.

As to why they were in a highly acclaimed sauna.

                                                            *** 

In their third year of high school, winter.

With no classes to attend and it being a long time since retiring from club activities, the former volleyball club third year members of Aobajousai High School, Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa were left in a daze, and with so much free time they made their way around to various large bathhouses.

After making a big fuss over the electricity bath* with a waterfall feature* they headed into the sauna together. While sweating, the brainless discussion of “where would you go for your graduation trip? Assuming that money wasn’t an issue” blossomed: a way to occupy their free time.

“But you know I’d like to go to Las Vegas.”

“Because you want to gamble?”

“But it’s only fun if you actually have money.”

“Ah, there it is: the forbidden word,” Matsukawa pointed out in response to Iwaizumi’s frank reply, but he thoughtfully considered an alternative.

“If it isn’t a casino… there isn’t really any other place I’d want to go there. Okay then… hmmm, ah. Pandas. A tour of the panda’s homeland, China.”

“Well, if its pandas,” Hanamaki replied to Matsukawa’s panda suggestion, clapping his hands together. “Did you know there’s a whole tonne of pandas at the Wakayama Zoo? I saw it on TV recently.”

“Wakayama?”

“Oh, I bet you don’t know where Wakayama is, Iwaizumi.”

“Shut up.”

Wincing at Iwaizumi’s lack of affection, Hanamaki pulled himself together: “Anyway, even my towel has gotten hot so I think it’s about time to get out.”

“Same here, I can’t stand it anymore.” Matsukawa stood up, “What about you Iwaizumi?” he asked.

“I’m staying.”

“Okay, don’t push yourself.”

“Cold bath?”

“Cold bath.”

The two friends agreed whilst pushing open the heavy wooden door and exiting.

Left alone in the sauna, Iwaizumi crossed his arms, staring at the thermometer on the wall. There was nothing else to do.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed like that, sweating buckets until he muttered, “Las Vegas, huh?” before taking his towel and violently wiping his face and his head. “I guess I really am a bit like a kaiju.” He said to himself, standing up and leaving the sauna drenched in sweat and in search of water.

                                                               ***

 After enjoying the baths and the sauna, the three tired boys found themselves in the large tatami room. Lined with tables and sitting cushions the room doubled as both a resting and a dining area.

An old fan swung its neck unsteadily, blowing a breeze in their direction. There seemed to be a TV somewhere in the room, as the sounds of the golf match commentary could be heard faintly. There were people watching the TV with a few beers, people lying down reading the comic books provided, and children playing the games they had brought.

Everyone in this bathhouse resting area was relaxing and doing as they pleased. And as for these three boys, they were testing the limits of their stomachs.

Of course, it didn’t start off as such a vicious scene. It was meant to be a light meal but there was a reason as to why it turned into a bloodthirsty battle.

After getting out of the baths and slipping into the jinbei* resembling pajamas, the three ordered a light meal, curry, and ramen, while resting. The place ran on a self-serve system, where you went to get your food from the counter when the number buzzer you were given went off. However, the pork cutlet curry Matsukawa had ordered still hadn’t been called out.

“You two eat first, or it will get cold and soggy,” Matsukawa, who was lying on the ground reading manga, told Iwaizumi and Hanamaki who had gone and returned with their curry and ramen.

“Then I’ll dig in.”

“Sorry.”

Without holding back the two took their spoons and chopsticks in their hands and began eating.

“I knew it, curry is the best.”

“That’s not even Indian styled curry! You’re okay with that? ”

“Yeah, because it’s curry.”

The boys continued to talk at the table, and everything was still alright. The trouble was yet to come.

Slurping his ramen Hanamaki called out to Iwaizumi beside him, “You were in there for a real long time.”

“Hm?” Iwaizumi responded with the spoon still in his mouth.

“You know, in the sauna.” He replied.

“Oh that. Isn’t that amount of time normal?”

“Are you serious?”

Their conversation ended there. Both of them focusing on the curry and ramen before them. It was just a meaningless conversation however someone reacted unexpectedly.

“Normal, huh…?”

It was Matsukawa, lying on the tatami.

Matsukawa couldn’t let their conversation – Iwaizumi’s “normal” - slip from his ears.

 “‘Normal’ he said. Doesn’t that mean that the two of us that left earlier are weaker than normal?”

 At that moment his buzzer went off beeping.

Matsukawa got up, “Oh, it’s finally done.”

Hanamaki eyed him whilst sipping the ramen broth from his spoon and asked: “Yours is the only one that took so long, what did you order?”

“Me? Pork cutlet curry.”

“Oh, one of those things that take time to fry… wait, that’s not something you eat after getting out of the sauna!? Your stomach must be strong.”

Upon hearing that Matsukawa glanced at Iwaizumi who was drinking water. And as if he were waiting for it, a smug smile crossed his face, “You think so? Having pork cutlet curry is pretty normal.” He taunted, picking up the beeping number buzzer to get his pork cutlet curry, ambling towards the counter. Someone glared at the figure strangely overflowing with confidence.

“‘Normal’… you say?” It was Iwaizumi, spoon in hand. “Normal? Then me eating plain curry means I’m weaker than that?”

The golf commentary from the TV, the manga, the faint breeze blowing intermittently, the curry and ramen, all of it relaxing and warm. This heaven-like peace enveloping the resting and dining area unfolded into a sudden battlefield.  

Iwaizumi stuffed the remainder of his curry into his mouth vigorously before slowly standing up. “I’m going to get extra gyoza,” he said.

Taken aback by the sudden dangerous aura emanating from Iwaizumi, Hanamaki winced “S-sure…”. His hands stopped over his ramen, the atmosphere created by former ace Iwaizumi could have easily been mistaken for the middle of a match.

And soon after Matsukawa returned with his tray of curry.

“Huh, where’s Iwaizumi?”

“Mm? Oh- uh seems like he went to get some gyoza.”

“…I see.”

Seating himself leisurely onto a sitting cushion, Matsukawa took his spoon in his hand and sighed, “Facing off pork cutlet curry with gyoza, pathetic.”

“What? What are you talking about? Both of you have been acting really weird since a while ago! Is this some kind of inside-joke?”

Hanamaki put down his chopsticks without thinking and upon noticing change in Matsukawa’s attitude Iwaizumi had returned with a “hey.” The clear plastic container in his hand contained eight gyoza. On top of that, another box stuffed with 200grams of chicken karaage. Seeing the extra meat, Hanamaki just feigned a smile.

“Hey, I know you went to all the trouble of buying that but I’m full from the ramen, I can’t eat that.”

Iwaizumi didn’t even spare Hanamaki a glance, staring down unblinkingly at Matsukawa who was eating his cutlet leisurely in declaration of war, “All of it is mine.”

Matsukawa stared back, putting down his fork and rising to his feet to accept Iwaizumi’s challenge, “Bring it on.”

“What is it with you guys!? Matsukawa, why are you standing? Sit down!”

The downside of war is that there are always innocents who get dragged in. And without listening to the confused Hanamaki, the pointless battle began.

Thirty minutes had passed. After eating his pork cutlet curry, yakisoba, grilled onigiri, Matsukawa now sat with what he claimed ‘dessert’, slurping down tapioca filled milk tea.

An exhausted Hanamaki asked: “Isn’t tapioca made from some sort of potato, doesn’t that make this more of a food than a drink? Why are you eating little balls of potato after a meal?”

“Because they were selling it.”

“Even if you want to look cool drinking that, you don’t.”

“I’m not trying to look cool.”

“You are! I heard you when you said ‘pathetic’ and all that other stuff. ”

While Hanamaki and Matsukawa were going back and forth, Iwaizumi returned with another plate piled high with freshly made fries.

“Potatoes! More potatoes! Why are you both eating piles of potatoes!? It’s practically another meal! What’s with you two?! My stomach hurts just watching you. I’m begging you both, please stop!”

The bystander Hanamaki had given up and Matsukawa, who was probing for pearls with the end of his straw, and Iwaizumi, who was throwing a handful of fries into his mouth, stopped. They looked at each other and nodded.

“Let stop it here then since you’re insisting.”

“Right.”

“You’re pretty strong.”

“Same to you.”

Hanamaki glanced at the two shaking hands over the good showdown they had had, clutching his stomach and rolling on the tatami groaning, “The damage runs deep…”

Having mercy on Hanamaki, who suddenly gave in, and having come to terms with the power they both held, both of them turned back to the table. Instead of eating at top speed they ate at the pace they pleased, sipping tapioca and munching on fries. This peaceful scene is what you would have called a warriors break.

“I think I ate a bit too much.”

“It’s because we haven’t been exercising recently.”

“I guess so.”

“How about we show our faces at club practice tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

After eating and drinking until they were full, they leant against the wall, satisfied. It was a warm, comforting moment. Taking a hot bath, unwinding in the sauna, eating a good meal, the fan gently carrying a breeze towards them— It was a moment of bliss.

Eyes closed and exhaustion finally settling in, everything was disrupted by music playing loudly through the speakers in the resting area.

“Huh? Seems like something’s starting…” an almost asleep Hanamaki woke up, startled.

“Look at that…!” Eyes wide, he pointed out at the open area outside.

Iwaizumi and Matsukawa stood up to look over.

A low stage had been unknowingly set up, a group of elderly people who had just gotten out of the baths and enjoying a beer gathered around it, microphones held gleefully in their hands. The sound of unknown old men singing enka songs roared through the resting area.

“I didn’t think they’d have karaoke here.”

“I can’t sleep like this.”

“This blows.”

For these three high school boys with little life experience, and it was a little too early to be battling it out in enka songs. Slipping past the old men excited by songs of mountains and waterfalls, death and killing, the three boys shuffled out of the resting and dining area, leaving it all behind.

                                                              ***

Escaping the enka hell the three boys, wearing the indoor slippers, stumbled upon an arcade.

“Oh, they have the alligator game.*”

“Ready for the hunt.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit cruel to hit their heads?”

“That crane game has a PS4 in it.”

“There’s no way you could win it.”

Familiar sounds and music filled the room. The three wandered aimlessly around the to all the old crane machines until Iwaizumi suddenly called out, “Oh! Let’s play this! Have a showdown!”

In front of the eager Iwaizumi was a punching bag machine. But Matsukawa wrinkled his brow at the effort of it all, “No way, I hate these power type games. You’re going to thrash us anyway Iwaizumi.”

“There’s no winning or losing in punching. It’s to test yourself.”

“You said showdown before.”

It seemed like they were about to break down into another fight but Hanamaki, blue-faced, cut in, “Sorry… but I… the moment I use any force I think I’ll have ramen spewing out of my mouth.”

“Don’t wanna see that.”

“If that’s the case, how about we head home? Since we’re tired.”

It was when the three went to check the time that they saw it.

“Oh.”

Hanamaki pointed to the back of the arcade.

“Damn, air hockey!”

“Huh?”

“Oh, it really is! Air hockey! Air hockey!”

At the back of the arcade was an air hockey machine, old and clunky like the rest of the machines.

“Oh crap! How long has it been since we played air hockey?”

“I haven’t played since junior high!”

“Hurry up, let’s play! How much is it?”

“I won’t lose!”

“Who versus who for the first game?”

Wanting to spew ramen from his mouth, whether someone was going to win or lose, all of that was forgotten as the three hurriedly rushed to stuff one hundred yen into the machine. And thus the first round of the air hockey tournament began.

                                                               ***

 “The bathhouse was unexpectedly interesting.”

“We’ve discovered a great place.”

“Right?”

They had eaten to their heart’s content, played around like children before heading into the baths once again to wash off the sweat. With satisfied faces, they headed home on the free shuttle.

“I didn’t even think it would be this interesting.”

“We spent all our money on the air hockey machine though.”

“We exchanged for so many coins.”

After reminiscing the day using only the words “sick”, “seriously”, and “fun” they eventually quieted down. Whether it was the swaying of the bus, the fatigue from the baths, their full stomachs, or the soft orange light of the setting sun filling the bus that had the three nodding off, no one was sure.

 Staring blankly out the window Iwaizumi mumbled, “... If only he had come.”

Upon hearing those words Hanamaki and Matsukawa’s eyes flew open, despite almost falling asleep.

“Huh, by ‘him’ you mean… Him?”

“If you say ‘him’ there’s no one but him.”

“Him… yeah him…”

The three of them exchanged glances nodding in agreement “Him”, “yeah him.” And bursting out into laugher but it only took a moment before they stopped.

“No, it’s better that he wasn’t here.”

“I guess.”

“It would be pretty wild if he were.”

“But he definitely would have stolen the microphone out of the old lady’s hands.”

“Gotta do a duet I guess.”

“And then he’d get a tonne of candy and mikan.”

“Definitely.”

Right in the middle of their heated talk about ‘him’, the phone in Iwaizumi’s pocket rang out.

“Hm?”

Iwaizumi glanced at the notification, letting out an “ugh” and leaning back, the other two asked what it was and Iwaizumi showed them his phone.

“It’s from him.”

It was a message from him – Oikawa Tohru.

“Really?”

“Hell, he might be hiding in here watching us.”

“Surveying us huh.”

Of course, it would have been unlikely, but perhaps it wasn’t with the person called Oikawa. You could say that he was mysterious, or rather incomprehensible, whichever it was he was inexplicably terrifying.

After looking around the windows and the bus to confirm that Oikawa wasn’t there, Hanamaki let out a sigh, “So what did he say?”

“He just asked ‘Whatcha doing?’ Doesn’t he have anything else to do?”

“Tell him we’re in Las Vegas, send ‘In Las Vegas now’.”

“Idiot.”

“That’s stupid.”

While they bantered they took a photo, bathed in the setting sun, and sent it a message along the lines of “Coming back from Las Vegas with Matsukawa and Hanamaki”. And a reply came back immediately, obviously addressed to all three of them.

“Here we go, ‘ Is this Las Vegas at Naruko Hot springs*?’. Why Naruko hot springs? Is it the kokeshi? ” Hanamaki laughed before his expression changed, “Wait how did he know we went to the baths? Is there a place called Las Vegas in Naruko?”

Both Matsukawa and Iwaizumi replied immediately with serious faces, “Of course not.”

“Oh but hot springs sound good too,” Matsukawa added, stretching in his seat.

“Hot springs, huh…That means table tennis and not air hockey.” As Iwaizumi smirked his phone rang again.

“No fair! I want to go!” came another message from Oikawa.

This time Hanamaki replied, “Air hockey warrior Iwaizumi was seriously something.” and a reply from Oikawa came immediately.

“He said, ‘I’d beat him no sweat’. What are you gonna do Iwaizumi?”

“As if I’d lose.” Iwaizumi replied casually, but his fighting spirit burned deep in his eyes.

“This is going to be serious.”

“Yeah.”

Hanamaki and Matsukawa looked at one another.

Would there really be another round of the air hockey tournament? Who knows?

 The three of them thought about the days ahead of them on the swaying bus.

For the three years of high school, if not the years of elementary school and middle school, the boys that had spent more time bonding with their volleyball teammates than their parents or siblings, were now about to walk different paths. Away from their schools, their hometown.

 “God, I’m getting bus sick,” Matsukawa said blue-faced and Hanamaki laughed.

“You’re so weak… wait I don’t feel so good either.”

“Don’t look down, look outside!” Iwaizumi pointed, putting his phone away in his pocket.

“What are you going to do about Oikawa?” Hanamaki asked, “You still haven’t replied to his ‘I’d beat him no sweat’ comment.”

“Just leave it.”

The other two laughed at the blunt reply.

“Amazing, he’s not even here and he managed to barge in.”

“His presence is too strong.”

“That’s why it’s a good thing he isn’t here with us.”

As they laughed amongst themselves the bus approached the station. They knew it well, this twilight town they always walked through together. The bus winded through, this small journey was almost coming to an end. As each small journey ends, the days slowly pass by. The match ends, retiring from club activities, graduating from high school.

The time to part ways will definitely come, but this won’t be a problem for them. The time spent together, the sweat and tears they shed, all of it is part of their bodies and souls. Along with the things that they built up together, their strength, technique, confidence, and trust, all these things make up their bodies. And each of them will walk a new path to a place they haven’t trekked.

As all roads are connected, although separated, for now, they will surely meet again. And so for the when they meet again so that they can hold their heads high and laugh, they will continue to take on each challenge.

 How about you?

Are you moving forward?

 A motivation that can only be gained from friends pushes them onwards through fatigue. If friends are what keeps one going when they’re apart, then not having them by their sides will be all right.

 “Continue on unwaveringly.”

That’s all they needed.

                                                               ***

  While the three began to head their separate ways home after hopping off the bus, Oikawa was hunched in the corner of the clubroom staring at his phone, “Why did they leave me on read? Damn it!!”

   TRANSLATION NOTES:

Electricity baths: Pretty much a bath that has panels running down the sides that shoot electrical pulses into the water. I’ve been in one and it’s kind of tingly at first but it feels kind of like a massage if you get used to it. It’s not all that common in Japan so even then it’s a sort of novelty to Japanese people.

Waterfall feature: I didn’t know how to translate this but it’s basically a pipe at a height where the hot water comes out. You can sit under it to hit your back and it’s basically like a waterfall/massage.

 Jinbei: Traditional Japanese top and bottoms. The kind you see babies wear to summer festivals (I guess like a two-piece, yukata top and pants). Made out of a thin material and made particularly for hot weather.

 Alligator game: in English, this game is Alligator hunt, but in Japanese, it’s called (ワニワニパニック) waniwani panicky, alligator panic, Matsukawa follows with a “What a panic” to finish Hanamaki’s sentence but I changed it a bit so English readers could get the reference.

Naruko hot springs: One of the most popular hot springs in Miyagi is also known for their wooden dolls, kokeshi. If you ever go to Miyagi, Naruko is beautiful in fall!!

As a small disclaimer:  I have taken some liberties in translation to make the  novel read smoothly. So please don’t quote specific words as canon. that being said I tried my best to stay faithful to the original.  For this reason I will not allow translations into another language using this as the base text. I apologise to anyone who is keen on sharing it in another language but please do so using the original Japanese text.

Anyway, if you enjoyed this chapter please consider supporting Haikyuu and buying a copy of this novel (volume 11) ! I may consider doing more novel translations in the future!

I do have a Ko-fi so if you do feel like it, please donate!

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Kevin Pickford

(Not my gif)(requested by anonymous)

(I love this pointless movie)

- You and Kevin meet after your friends convinced you to go to one of his parties. You could of made up ten different activities you’d rather do than go to a highschool keg party but your friends insisted and you soon found yourself packed into their car.

- Now you had had a little crush on Kevin for a while, ever since freshman year when you saw him for the first time, so even though you weren’t very excited to spend your night surrounded by your drunken peers you were a bit excited to maybe, hopefully see him.

- So you arrive at his house; let’s pretend this is another party that didn’t get shut down, and you walk through the front door to see the typical shit show. You stick by your friends for a while, nursing a beer and trying to convince yourself you’re having a good time. That is until your friends all but ditch you to go and mingle.

- Soon enough you’re all alone standing uncomfortably in the relatively abandoned kitchen. You’re debating the idea of just leaving, walking home didn’t seem all to bad given the circumstances, but just as you feel like you’ve made up your mind...in walks the host. You felt like your heart was going to jump out of your chest when you saw him, you stared down at your cup hoping he would just sort of ignore you as he rummaged for whatever it was he was looking for.

“How ya doin?” Shit.

- It seemed like he was just trying to be friendly so you gave him as much of a smile as you could muster and a small “fine” before glancing down at your drink again. From your experience this was usually when the person would just nod and walk out but he didn’t. He gathered the stuff he had came in for but paused at the counter.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before... whats your name?”

- I think you’d have to be a year younger than him because if you were in his grade prior to this he would have asked you out or at least spoken to you before. So you’re a sophomore going into junior year and he’s a junior going into senior year.

“Oh you wouldn’t really know me, I’m a sophomore. My friends brought me, I’m y/n.”

“Oh cool man cool. I’m Kevin.”

“Yeah, I-uh, I know,” you chuckled a little. “Nice party.”

- He smiled and was about to say something before he was called back to the party by a loud shout. “Well I’m gonna go deliver the necess-it-ies. You should come out, join the living, raise a little hell.” And then he was once again lost in the sea of people flooding his living room.

- After he was gone you freaked out for a hot minute over the fact that you had just talked to your longtime crush. You decided that maybe you could stomach a little more of the party and took a deep breath before wandering out of the kitchen. It was maybe thirty minutes later that the two of you found each other again and started up a mini conversation.

- Soon enough the two of you were heading up to his bedroom so that you could actually hear each other speak. You spent a surprisingly long time just talking to each other while the party went on downstairs; it was four in the morning by the time you checked the clock again.

- You figured it was time for you to go home, so you stood up and began to say goodbye before he tried to convince you to stay a little longer. It’s nearly impossible to deny him, it’s pretty much been your dream for this exact scenario to happen. You promise to stay for another hour, which turns into another hour, and finally you really need to go so that you can avoid meeting your parents at the front door. He asks for your number and you write it down for him before you leave.

- You end up walking home in the rising sun which almost feels like the perfect way to end the night.

- He calls you a few days later asking if you’d want to come over which you obviously agree to. You get together, chat some more, listen to music, all that fun teenager shit. But then he leans over and kisses you, pulling away with that gorgeous smile of his and, well, you’re walking on clouds for the rest of the day.

- Later on you kiss some more and he gives you a “so does this mean you’ll be my girlfriend from now on, cause I think I’d like that, a lot”.

- Listen most of your dates are more or less just the two of you hanging out not really doing much besides enjoying each other’s company.

- But he does take you to a drive in restaurant for dinner so you can count that as your first “official” date. He wanted to “give a good first impression for your relationship”.

- You’re together like 90% of the time. The both of you are kind of clingy with each other and neither of you seem to mind.

- Whenever you’re together he always has some form of physical contact with you at all times.

- Sitting on his lap.

- He loves PDA but it’s mostly because he just loves affection in general.

- He’s a big baby who likes being cuddled and that’s a fact. He lowkey loves being the little spoon but it genuinely doesnt matter to him how you cuddle as long as you do it.

- Keeps tabs on you whenever you go out together. He usually stays close by or at least knows where you’re going to be, he likes to make sure you’re alright.

- You definitely have little routines together whether it be when his parents almost catch him smoking or cleaning up after a party or just when coming home from school.

- Helping to make sure his parents don’t catch him smoking in his room. You’re usually sent out to distract them or you clear things up while he talks with them.

- He’s so interested in your talents and hobbies, show him what you’re passionate about baby! He wants to know!

- Always being offered free booze or weed.

- Awkward first introductions to his friends when they crash one of your hangouts to try and buy some herb.

- Being invited to all of his and his friends parties.

- Helping him plan his parties.

- Helping him with all his antics.

- He’s always fiddling with something whenever you’re together so be prepared to see him doing something at any given moment in the corner of your eye.

- Making out, he could kiss for hours.

- Always having shotgun reserved for you.

- Laying on the hood of his car together and talking about random shit.

- Trying to hide your laughter while you listen to his weird weed fueled theories and stories.

- He shows off everything you make or do, he’s a subtle cheerleader.

- You spend most of your time in his room, sitting in his egg chair or on the windowseat while he smokes a joint.

- You’re constantly on the same wavelength.

 “Thats what I was gonna say!!”

- Braiding and running your fingers through his hair.

- He plays with your hair as well, twirling strands between his fingers and stroking it when you’re cuddling.

- He’s honestly so adorable and absolutely smitten with you. All his friends can tell he’s whipped but he doesn’t care.

- He thinks it’s so cute that you had a crush on him, well that’s if you ever admit it to him.

- Hand holding especially whenever you’re walking together.

- Staying up till dawn together.

- Making flower crowns together, dont deny it he’d do it. 

- His parents love you and are always really sweet, his mother is an absolute angel.

- He isnt going to force you to smoke with him but he does need you to accept that hes not stopping just because you dont want to. He’ll agree to not smoke around you because thats fair enough but he’ll still do it with his friends or on his own. I can assume you’re alright with that if you want a relationship with him.

- Kevins pretty chill so there’s rarely any fighting and the fighting you do have are more so just arguments rather than actual fullblown fights. They’re usually over a dangerous idea or stupid action he had/did. These arguments usually end with him realizing and admitting you’re right or saying how he can see why you’d think that. He gets it even if he doesnt think its as big of a deal as you do.

- Kevin is a moderately jealous person, he doesnt think every man you talk to is a threat to your relationship. He’s pretty calm, which is what you’d expect from a stoner, he more so just smirks at the guy he knows is flirting with you and shows that you’re his with an arm around your shoulder and/or a kiss. He never dwells on it or let’s it ruin your night. 

- He’s a very loyal boy, no cheating, no flirting with other girls. You’re the only girl he has eyes for.

- Swapping clothes and accessories.

- You share pretty much everything; food, drinks, homework, joints, a single braincell. 

- Going to the emporium and playing fooseball and pool together or jokingly cheering him on while he plays someone else.

- A lot of nicknames; he definitely calls you flowerchild and other very 70s sounding ones. 

- Having a lot of Polaroids together.

- Concert dates.

- Record store dates.

- Late night hangouts.

- Going on random trips to different stores to get food or drinks.

- Well if you’re becoming a junior then you’ll have a year in highschool without him in the near future. He doesn’t really mind waiting for you to graduate so that you can advance your relationship but it will bother him when he isn’t able to see you for more than six hours, five days a weeks

- Probably proposes to you in bed, late at night with a “how would you like to be a Mrs. Pickford?” while he spins the ring between his fingers.

[muffinrecord]

you know what, I’m gonna say it. I hate how much of the events are paid only. I hate not being able to celebrate anniversaries or be able to have as cool as an account as other people. It makes me feel like less of a real fan. Despite being highly invested into madoka for ten years, I work full time and have bills to pay and family to support. I definitely think the game deserves the money, and the players who invest money deserve extra cool awards, I just wish there were options that were also free instead of just little bonuses. This is probably an unpopular opinion but it does make me sad to know I can’t be as cool or powerful just because I don’t have money to spare (this is no hate on people who do! Y’all are keeping everything alive and running and it’s awesome to see! I want to do the same!)

This is a valid way to feel and I suspect it’s not actually an unpopular opinion.

I do think this game is pretty Free-to-Play friendly, it just means doing a lot of saving and missing out on a lot of things. Raz Anime is F2P and still has stuff like 4sMadokami, 4sAshley, 4s Iroha&Yachiyo, ect ect because he saves and doesn’t spend otherwise.

But it does mean that some of the announcements feel pointless. Hearing that you get a tenpull for 30 paid gems won’t mean anything to someone who doesn’t put money into the game, along with the Mirrors bags, or the recent Kimochi announcement.

Not spending money doesn’t mean you aren’t suddenly a fake fan. Playing the game, participating in fandom, and-- you know, actually liking the series makes you a fan.

I wish we had more freebies for F2P though, or at least that are F2P accessible. For example, when the game did the single-target magia update, you could buy a character at one slot with unpaid gems.

I’ll also say though that anniversaries, while weighted towards whales, are pretty f2p friendly-- last year you could choose a limited girl’s banner (able to switch at any time) and then put 80 free rolls into it... along with the same for a memoria banner. You might not be able to get the bags, but that’s still pretty generous.

But yeah, overall? You’re valid and I suspect not alone in how you feel!

[katsidhe]

15.19 Final Thoughts

I was all set for disappointment after 15.18, but this was… good, actually! Not perfect by any means, but the beats it hit and the points it made were by and large ones I’d been waiting for all season. Where it wasn’t touching (and it was touching!), it was absurd enough for me to enjoy it heartily anyway. I wish that this episode had been split into, like, three, so that it could have spent the time it needed on wallowing.

I love the empty earth. Love it to absolute PIECES. Because it fits so, so well, right? The claustrophobia of the Winchesters’ lives writ grotesquely large. They’re the most important people in the universe, of COURSE they are, because Chuck feels like it, and of course they can’t die, of course they’re doomed to wander eternally—ughh I love it. It’s the natural, absurd, and absurdist conclusion to where this story has always been heading. I am so glad that they went there.

Sam’s heartbreaking guilt—his knowledge that his defiance in 15.17 was what led to this empty universe. Oh, Sam. Again sublimating his loss and his agony into personal responsibility. And the worst part is that he’s right. I love the tragicomedy of Sam and Dean’s offer to play along for Chuck, and that he refuses, preferring to watch them walk the earth alone. Honestly? if it had cut to black right there? I would be mightily pleased.

ok but SAM!!! if there was a winner of 15.19 (and therefore a winner of SPN in general? sure feels that way to me), it’s Sam. Sam defied Death and defied God (and in 15.17 defied Dean). Sam saved Jack, who was the key to everything. Sam got the assist on Lucifer. Sam tricked Michael. Just, GAHH, what a great episode for him.

I about lost my goddamn mind when Lucifer showed up, because I had lost any inkling of hope that he’d turn up again. Kinda figured that plot thread had been irrevocably dropped. I’m sorry for losing my faith, Show! I should have believed that you’d eventually give me a taste of what I wanted!

I predict this opinion is going to be a little unpopular, but I was so happy to see him. I don’t care that he was too quippy, I don’t care that he was gone in like six minutes, I don’t care that his and Michael’s fight was, again, anticlimactic (though at least there weren’t wires, t god). Here’s the thing. I don’t NEED my fictional suffering to be like, artisanal, and thoughtfully designed. I’ll buy that shit at Costco, in ten gallon drums. I’ll chug it straight from the bottle like trauma ketchup. I’ll watch Lucifer resurrected a thousand times, if it means I get to watch Sam’s FACE while they’re in the same room. PRAISE.

The corollary: the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING CONCEPT of the last five people in the entire world being Michael, Lucifer, Sam, Dean, and Jack, all stuck awkwardly in the Bunker. Omfg. This SENT me so hard I had to take a walk, I was laughing too much. What a ripe premise. What an ugly premise. I need fic, immediately, stat, stat means now.

Relatedly, I love the mental image of Sam unobtrusively going offscreen and getting the archangel blade and handing it to Michael and quietly hissing, “uh PLEASE ffs kill your goddamn brother.” Pfffffffffffffffff.

Deeply disappointed that Jack didn’t get a chance to say anything to Lucifer. Yet another thing that needs further treatment.

I’d figured Lucifer was telling the truth when he told them he was joining Team Kill Chuck. However, Lucifer’s willingness to be on board with Chuck’s plan makes, just, a ton of sense. He’s always had less to lose than Michael, when it comes to accepting his father’s olive branch, since he fell so far so long ago, while Michael is still teetering on that precipice. And Chuck’s just extended, basically, a massive apology to him by erasing all the people and places and stories that he favored over his children. Of COURSE Lucifer wants to be alone with his dad, the only chosen one left, in a universe that is finally pristine. Of course he wants to rub his new favor in Michael’s face. I just wish we’d seen and heard more of this. His resurrection wasn’t pointless at all, but it was underdeveloped.

Michael’s inability to separate himself from his father’s will at the bitter end is a tragic and somber end. Jake Abel brought his A-game again. I wish very deeply that we’d been able to see more of him this season: he is one of the few surviving people with genuine investment in Chuck as a person, and he had a deep, deep betrayal to unpack.

Chuck and his enemies: Billie was always too straightforward in her goals and motivations to be truly interesting as an enemy to Chuck; she is less a character, and more an avatar, a force of nature. She opposed him the way a river opposes stone. The Emptity is nearly disinterested in the whole mess—it just wanted to be left alone. The really interesting sources of conflict for Chuck were always going to come from his family: Amara, and the archangels. And I’m glad we got some of that conflict now, even if it was too little too late.

Both of his children were unable to separate themselves from craving his approval. It’s a dire, tragic condemnation of this immortal cosmic family. And it says something about the microcosm of the Winchesters, of them as the model for the stories Chuck enjoys, the stories he inhabits. Supernatural is a story about being trapped. 

Sam somehow tricking both Michael and God? Sam, your BRAIN, it’s simply too big! but real talk how did he manage this? Does he still have the protection from Chuck’s sight via his now-erased God hole? I’m gonna go with yes, and in fact I’m gonna go a step further and pretend he still had that bullet wound this entire season, and that it healed when Jack took Chuck’s power, because now it makes even less sense than ever that the writers chose to erase that tantalizing physical connection. There, in my head, I’ve now fixed it.

Jack. Oh, Jack, what was the show ever going to do with you? The only thing it could, I think. I love that Dean, with absolutely no sense of irony, demanded Jack return with Sam and Dean to where he ~belongs, accusing him tacitly of selfishness, as if not three days ago he’d been egging him on to suicide. For Jack’s own sake, I am glad he is away from the Winchesters, and I hope he spends several decades talking to Amara and like, manifesting as a tree or something, to get some badly needed emotional balance and sense of scale. There is still so much wrong with putting this much power and responsibility in the hands of a browbeaten three-year-old. But, yes, my heart does swell at the thought of Sam’s imperfect love fostering the new God.

The image of Sam and Dean, broken bones, bloodied faces, laughing in the face of God like they’re insane is a pretty damn good one.

Also, Dean denying himself as the “ultimate killer”? Hahahaha so much to unpack there

My least favorite part was, predictably, the saccharine speech about #freewill, complete with the goddamn table carvings. I will certainly cop to really enjoying the montage, tho (but can anyone explain to me why it was like, almost-but-not-quite in chronological order? ).

I’m probably going to have more to say about all of this. Please talk to me about this episode. I’ll forgive 15.18, and hell, I’ll proactively forgive 15.20. Together with 15.17, 15.19 paints a more pleasing, more damning, and more fruitful conclusion for SPN than I ever dreamed I’d get.

[lolokiquit]

Without Me I

Word Count: 4.4k

Pairing: Jung Hoseok x F!Reader

Genre: Angst, fluff, smut (future chapters) I CEO au(?) idk what this should be catagorized as lol

“Tell me, how's it feel sittin' up there? Feelin' so high, but too far away to hold me.”

Without Me (Halsey)

“One day I’ll give you the world I promise.” You only allow yourself to think of him when you're drinking, only when you're drinking. In those nights where your mind is hazed with alcohol, and the guilt of everything begins to eat you alive slowly. You remember the way he used to look at you with the twinkle of the night sky or the way his eyes would crinkle whenever he laughed. You remember the nights where you whispered nothing into his ear and the days when he was your whole world. Then slowly, as those memories start to fade, you begin to recall the screaming, the way he always seemed to come home drunk with blood on his fingers, and the way you begged for him to quit. By the time the memories finished making their rounds, you couldn't stop the bitter taste from crawling back into your mouth. The morning glow outside your small apartment window has started to peek through the night sky, and you realized that you've spent yet another night lost in the man that you lost so many years ago.

"Hoseok, stop that tickles," you giggled as your boyfriend wrapped his arms around your waist. You're in the kitchen of your new home that you had just moved into, an apron on, and smiles as wide as the morning sun. It's been hard coming up with the money to finally move from your small hometown in Busan all the way to Seoul. But through all of your shifts in the convenience store to the restaurant down the street from your childhood home, the two of you had made it.

"You look like the perfect housewife," He giggles into your ear, "I promise one day when I finally make enough money to buy you that diamond ring, I'll ask you to marry me, and we'll live happily ever after," You think that this must be what heaven feels like.

Being at the fresh age of 23, you couldn't have been more naive. Everything that the world had to offer seemed too innocent, and your future with Hoseok seemed so bright. You saw a big house with a picket fence, children running in the backyard, and a loving husband in your arms.

"Yes," you think to yourself, "This is what my future is going to look like." Running your soft hands through his hair Hoseok's eyes glitter as he slowly whispers, "let's never change," mirroring his lovestruck eyes, you slowly whisper back, "ok."

Love is a strange thing. Growing up in a family where the sound of screaming and breaking glass was as expected as the sun rising, could anyone blame you for jumping at the first sign of affection you were shown? It was no surprise that the boy in a leather jacket and tattoos on his arms who promised you all of his love had you wrapped around his coarse fingers in record speed. Meeting him at seventeen, you began to think that maybe life didn't hate you so much after all. It wasn't like you had a choice. After all, his advances towards you swarmed your everyday life like cockroaches and cancer cells that infested every single part of your being. You found yourself unable to stop your doom. He became your reason for everything. You breathed into him almost as if he was the oxygen that ran through your bloodstream. You couldn't live without him.

Your friends had warned you about the boy that had magic in his eyes and sweet words on his lips telling you that you couldn't change a person like him, but you were too young and reckless to care. Maybe it was the glint of the galaxy and freedom in his eyes, or perhaps it was the lingering sense of loneliness that you felt as if the two of you shared. But at that moment, you knew you would risk it all for him.

It was an uneventful Tuesday afternoon. You stood in your local supermarket staring at the little amounts of money you had left in your hands. Your father had stopped sending his child support months ago. With your mother constantly drunk out of her mind, you and your siblings were now only surviving on the part-time job you worked at the coffee shop down the street. You slowly started adding up all the necessities you needed. Milk, eggs, toilet paper….Your brooding was cut short as the loud hooting and screaming of teenage boys filled your ears. Before you knew it, the whole store had turned into utter chaos. The group of, from what you could tell, 7 boys with guns and knives had started running around the store, looting whatever was in sight. The store manager had come out staring at the whole scenario playing out in front of him in shock. He started yelling as well, threatening to call the police as the boys simply laughed in response.

Soon, police sirens began to ring from a distance. You stood frozen solid to your spot by the tomatoes, and your shock slowly melted into fear. Were you going to die today? You didn't have much time to think when suddenly someone grabbed your hand and screamed "RUN" and started dragging you right along with him. You weren't sure if it was a pure reflex or the adventurous inner side of yourself finally showing. But you found your legs starting to move to their own accord as you began to zooming off with the random stranger.

You ran and ran like your life depended on it. The cold winter air ran through your hair, and for a moment, you finally felt like you could breathe again. As if some sort of craze has taken over you, you began to laugh maniacally like there was no tomorrow. You laughed and screamed along with the others as you continued to run. You went on without stopping until you reached the shores of a nearby beach.

The stranger finally let go of your hand, and for a moment, the world around you went still. You stood there staring at each other for what felt like forever before he finally spoke up with a grin. "Well, that was a good one, wasn't it?" He laughed as the boys that were with him also started to chuckle. You continued to stare, looking like a lost deer caught in headlights. "I'm sorry," the boy continued on. "You just looked like you needed something to spice up your life; you looked quite bored up there."

The realization that he was actually speaking to you and that you needed to form some sort of response hit you. You started fumbling for words, the shock from the previous events only now beginning to set in. "I-I yea I mean I.." you trailed off, being at a loss of words.

"It's ok, you can find the right words later. Now how about we continue on this adventure. It would be pretty pointless for you to stop now, wouldn't it be?" He replied before you had the chance to actually come up with a coherent sentence.

After a couple seconds, you came to the final conclusion that he was right. You pondered your options. You could either go home to your most likely drunk mother, who wouldn't have noticed that you had already missed your curfew, or you could take a chance for once in your life. You really didn't have much to lose, so you might as well finish what had already been started, right?

So off you went with him, getting on the back of his bike, you set off.

Riding across abandoned highways, you screamed at the top of your lungs and laughed as you've never done before. At that moment, you felt so free. The stranger promised to show you the brightest sky of stars you've ever seen in your life, and with a smile, you agreed.

You finished the night learning that the boy's name was Jung Hoseok. You memorized the stars in his eyes over the stars in the night sky. You'll never know what it was exactly that drove Jung Hoseok to grab you that day, perhaps fate? Or maybe he just needed a new play toy on that specific night. But at that moment, Jung Hoseok had become your own personal savior, a beam of light that shined down into your dying world. Whether he was an angel sent from above or the devil himself, you weren't sure, but one thing was for sure, you were in love.

But that was in the past. Now, you're stuck in a small apartment in the middle of Seoul alone, working an ok job, eating, sleeping, surviving. But Jung Hoseok, however, Jung Hoseok had become a living god. Even that in itself seemed to be an understatement. His power ran through the streets of Seoul and all the way around the world. Owning Seoul's most prominent and most influential company. No matter how you think about it, you can't seem to shake off the bubbling sense of anger. How you had abandoned your whole family, your whole life back in Busan to follow him here, to a foreign city that you didn't know. How you had stood by his side through all the questionable things he did and all the pain that he caused, only to be left on the curb when he finally decided that you were no longer good enough for him.

The truth was the fact that you had never really gotten over him. How could you? He was your world, your life, your everything. And the moment he walked out of your life, he took a part of you with him.

Sometimes you would reminisce on the old times. The days where the two of you were still trapped in that little town and had nothing else to hold but each other. Hoseok had always been the bigger dreamer out of the two of you. With his miniature gang activities within the town, he had always believed that there was something more. He wanted to see the world, to soar above the clouds, and to experience life. In fact, he was the one that had brought up the topic of Seoul first.

It was four in the morning, and the sun was about to rise as you and Hoseok lay at that beach where you had first met when he finally brought it up.

"Let's go to Seoul" the offer was so sudden, so out of the blue, that you laughed, thinking he was joking.

"I'm not joking," he starts again. "Let's go to Seoul. Let's get out of here."

"Hoseok," you say, slowly starting to sit up, "You can't be serious, can you? We're both dead broke. There's no way we can just spontaneously decide that we're going to Seoul."

You had just graduated high school a year ago and had immediately taken up several part-time shifts at places all across town to try to provide for your family. For people like you, the idea of college was merely a luxury that you couldn't afford.

“Jien-ah listen to me ok? Staying here is a dead-end road. We'll never be able to amount to anything" Hoseok stood up and started to shake the sand off of him. "You KNOW that we have to leave at one point or another. Didn't you want to go to college? We have futures. There are things out there for you to see, places to visit. We can't stay here. You know that"

You sat there, not knowing what to think. You knew deep down that Hoseok was right. You couldn't stay holed up in this good-for-nothing town forever. You had to leave. But you were scared, scared of change. The future seemed so terrifying you didn't know if you wanted to jeopardize your future more than needed.

It wasn't until weeks later did Hoseok bring up the topic of Seoul again. It was after another screaming match with your mother about her drinking habits. This time the two of you were sitting on the roof of your old high school. Your eyes were poofy after having cried out probably all of the water that was in your body when he asked the same question again, "let's run away to Seoul." This time, without hesitation, you answered, "ok."

The decision to move to Seoul with him was both the hardest and easiest one in your life. You knew you had to leave the town that trapped you. Still, the watering eyes of your siblings and the familiarity of everything around you made it so hard to leave. The hurt and betrayal that your siblings had felt the second you walked out of your run down house was enough to have you on your knees. But for once, you wanted to be selfish, to finally chase what you had wanted in life. So after much pondering and hundreds of shifts at your several part-time jobs, you finally packed all of your things in one suitcase, and you left. You walked out of that door, got on Hoseok's bike, and off the two of you drove. From that moment on, you never looked back because you knew that you couldn't. There was no longer a home that you could go to, no matter how crappy, no, Hoseok was all you had now.

Hoseok had told you before you moved that he had connections from old friends in Seoul that had gotten him a job. Apparently, this job had come with an apartment which meant that housing wouldn't be a problem. You, being the naive girl you were, never really questioned this said job and its description. Instead, you busied your first couple of weeks in Seoul, settling into your new apartment. Though it was small, it was still something that you and Hoseok could call your own. You found a job as a barista at the cafe down the street, and life began to fall into a comfortable routine.

For the first two years, the two of you were happy. Hoseok was doing well in his job, so well that two of you were able to enroll you in your nearby college, and you began to study literature. Hoseok never really discussed his job with you, claiming that he didn't like to bring work home. You never really asked either, accepting that his work was the only part of him that he likes to keep to himself. You busied yourself with work and school, you were finally able to live the life you had spent years being envious of. You went to college, made friends, had nights out, and had an amazing boyfriend that loved you. There was simply nothing that could bring you down from the high you were from. Little did you know that it was only the beginning

You set your steaming mug of hot tea on your nightstand, thinking fondly back to the years where your future had seemed so bright. Everything you could've imagined and more. You were finally on the right track, a college degree, hopefully, a good job, a stable income, and maybe children in the near future with a man that you loved. You had slowly begun to lose your edge, you no longer felt sorry for yourself, and slowly, you were starting to believe in the statement that as long as you work hard, you'll be able to reach the goal you had always been so desperately longing for.

But like most good things in your life, they don't last.

It's your fourth year in Seoul and your third year in college when you start noticing the shift in Hoseok's behavior. He left for work so early in the morning and came back so late that you almost never saw him. He seemed to come home later and later each day. The two of you no longer ate dinner together, or baked cookies, or watched your favorite movies, hell, you had barely had a proper conversation in weeks. He wouldn't reply to your messages, once again using work as an excuse, and never picked up your calls. It almost seemed as if you were dating a ghost.

Even though the whole situation made you feel uneasy and as if you were put on the back burner, you never brought it up to him. You were a coward. You were petrified because a part of you deep down knew what this meant, that he had lost interest. You don't blame him though, the two of you had been together for so long there was no longer anything new or exciting. He didn't take you on motorcycle rides anymore. Being in a large city like Seoul, there were no beaches to explore and no abandoned highways to see the stars from. He no longer had the time for you, and you knew it.

Hoseok's job had gotten even more important as time had passed by. He had been promoted and had been making more money than you could have ever imagined. Your little apartment had been traded in for a penthouse that was too big for you and no longer felt like home. Your wardrobe was filled with designer that you weren't used to. Hoseok had gotten rid of his leather jacket and motorcycle and traded them in for a Mercedes and expensive suits. He no longer smiled at you like the sun, and whenever he did smile, it almost seemed forced.

But you never bought any of this up; you simply greeted him with a smile and kiss whenever he had the time. Your mind would often wander off to places it shouldn't go; perhaps he was cheating on you? It wouldn't be hard for a man like him to find women that fancy him. He probably had millions lining up wanting and wishing for some of his attention. He was no longer the scruffy boy that took you on adventures and swore to protect you from the rest of the world.

There were days where you would lie on the king-sized bed you shared with your close to nonexistent boyfriend, thinking of the better days. The days where the two of you were cramped in that small apartment, the days where he would help you with dinner and almost burned down the house, the nights where you talked about everything and nothing at the same time. You ran your hands around the ring attached to the necklace that rests perfectly on your collarbones.

You were slowly stirring the boiling stew in your kitchen while anxiously stared at the clock. Hoseok should've been back hours ago. He hadn't called saying he would be late, and in the years you had been together, Jung Hoseok had never been late without calling. You were worried. It had been close to a year since you've moved to the big city, and life was going pretty well. Granted, there were still days where you and Hoseok struggled with the bills and had arguments like any other couple. But the two of you were living your dream lives, and it couldn't have been any better.

Right as you were about to get lost in your own daydream, Hoseok came bounding in like a kid on Christmas day.

"Hey, why didn't you call? I was so worried-" before you could finish, you scolding Hoseok had already folded you in his arms with a bear hug.

"I love you," He mumbled into your hair. "You know that, right? That I love you?"

"Of course I know. Jung Hoseok, is this your way of trying to get out of trouble? I swear-" But before you could finish the cut, you off again by whipping a small red box out of his pocket, and you gasped.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to propose to you in the middle of our kitchen," He laughed "that would be kind of lame. But this is for you" He opened the box and in it was a beautiful diamond ring. "I've been saving up for months. This isn't an engagement ring. It's only a man-made diamond. But one day-" He pointed outside your window, "I'll buy us a penthouse in one of those buildings in, and I'll really get down on one knee, then I'll ask you to marry me. But for now, this is just a promise ring. I promise one day I'll marry you." He looked up at you expectantly after his long speech. You were staring back at him with tears in your eyes as you choked out a simple "ok."

The two of you held each other for what felt like forever until you smelled something burning in the air, and you realized that the stew you had on the stove was now burnt.

You can't help but smile as you think back to those bittersweet memories. It's been over 4 years since Jung Hoseok has made that decisive step out of your life. But you still wore that necklace as a reminder of the better days. The days where the naive little girl in you still believed in love. When you still believed that as long as you gave in a relationship, you would surely receive.

You're smarter now; you've grown up. You no longer believed in the sweet words of others, and you no longer fell for sparkling eyes. Jung Hoseok had ruined that for you. You were rougher around the corners, and deep down, you knew that perhaps your story with him wasn't as special as you put it out to be because, in the end, you were just another one of his chapters to his never-ending story or girls. But sometimes, you liked to try to convince yourself that you had been something more. You can't help but think that maybe, you could've been something more.

It's midnight, and you've already had an entire bottle of champagne to yourself. Hoseok wasn't home, but that was no surprise. He never was. You laughed quietly at how pathetic you had become. Since when were you one to not speak your mind? But now, here you were terrified out of your mind at the notion of bringing up fears to your boyfriend, who, keep in mind, was supposed to be the one that you were to trust the most, he was supposed to be your home, he was all you had left. But no, you were a coward that was terrified of being alone, so you never brought it up in fear that he would leave you.

The front door creaked, then opened, and in walked Jung Hoseok in all of his broken glory. An expensive Armani suit `bedazzled with gold cuffs adorned his toned figure, paired with Louis Vuitton slippers and his newly acquired stoic expression. If you hadn't known any better, you would've mistaken him to be one of the born elites that the two of you used to despise. But you knew, you hoped and prayed that deep down, somewhere where light could still reach, the boy with shaggy brown hair that looked at you instead of the night sky still existed. That perhaps he was just a little lost and needed some coaxing to come back. Those were the thoughts that kept you sane as the past couple of months had unraveled.

Slowly you stood from your stool and made your way towards the front door. Hoseok was in the process of hanging up his trench coat when he noticed your presence, almost immediately freezing after the realization. There was an unexplainable tension in the air, a silence so thick it could've drowned you both. The two of you stood in front of each other. Either of you dared to utter a word. It was almost as if you both knew that once the conversation started, you would no longer be able to go back to pretending that everything was ok again. After what seemed like hours, you were the one that made the first move, maybe it was the alcohol in your veins that prompted your next words, but at that moment, with all the pent-up anxiety and hurt, you no longer cared. Mustering up all your courage, you finally asked him the question that you had been dying to know. "Do you still love me?"

Deep down, you both knew that the end was inevitable. You both wanted different things now. While you were still envisioning white picket fences and running children, Hoseok had started to see more. He wanted power and control, he wanted to be known, to be respected, and he knew that all of that would have to come at a price. He was selfish, he didn't want to have to choose, no he wanted to have both.

It's three in the morning, and Jung Hoseok stood on the roof of his million-dollar penthouse. The wind was blowing, the skies dark, signaling the arrival of a storm. As Hoseok starred up into the seemingly endless sky, his own storm brewing inside his head. The world underneath him seemed so distant and small, almost ant-like. Compared to his inner hurricane, all the Honks and raging cars of the rush hour seemed practically serene.

 As expected, he started hearing her calling out to him from a distance. She whispered his name, soft and gentle, like the waves by the beach she used to love so much. Hoseok would often hear the voice in the distant winds. It was as if she was so close, just in hand's reach. But whenever he reached out to grab her, she would disappear again.

She was the air he breathed, the drug that he couldn't cut, and if her love were the ocean, he would willingly drown in it. He would do anything just to escape this endless wondering and meaningless life of counting off the days. He would do anything to be able to breathe again. Without her, he was colorblind; his world became a black and white movie that he couldn't quite wrap his head around. Because if we were honest, what was the point of a prince charming without his princess, and what's so heroic about the knight in shining armor without his damsel in distress. Without her, he meant nothing, and his life was meaningless.

Perhaps that was what it was meant to be all along, a tragedy, another pair of star-crossed lovers that bit the dust.

[legionofpotatoes]

alright here’s ma thoughts on that flick I mentioned

we hatewatched a*my of the dead because we were CONVINCED “zombies in las vegas” would be an impossible concept to screw up, but in so assuming we obviously invoked a holy wager with the universe and got reminded, once again, that hoping for improvement from someone who’s dependably put out bad art is never a wise choice 😐

but we were honestly kinda roped in by the marketing??? and expected a goofy fast-paced flick with the odd traditional undead metaphor thrown in, framing some sort of relationship drama maybe or hell even nothing at all! we’d have taken pure indulgent storytelling, idk italian job with zombies in las vegas, I don’t know fucking anything but??? whatever this was???? spoilers below for it is time for One Of My Rants

I mean the main reason I really want to write all this and complain. this film here probably has the most unappealing cinematography I have ever experienced in my life and that is saying something. who the fuck signed off on that CONSTANT shallow-ass depth of field that imprisons your eyeline and turns every shot into bokeh paste???? and I mean every shot almost!!!! I promise if you think I am overreacting just throw a dart at the seek bar and watch twenty seconds from wherever it lands. it is horrifying to look at. at least it gave my girlfriend a good visual shorthand for what it’s like when I lose my glasses

why was sean spicer in this movie. did they pay him to be here. was sean spicer paid hollywood money for his scene in this film because fuck everyone who was involved in that decision

the legitimately baffling hints at the extraterrestrial origins of the infection that went absolutely nowhere and had no dramatic or plot-level bearing. we love to see the franchise sprouts fellas

yet another big budget waste of everything hiroyuki sanada has to offer. and bautista too I guess? I like him but man was this an odd career move

what was the crux of his conflict/resolution with his daughter btw. I understand it was rooted in miscommunication over their forms of grief irt mom but uhh… it was all rather clunky and didn’t land for me. I tried I really tried to buy in but something was wrong fundamentally with the groundwork there, it did not click and their catharsis felt unearned. I know there’s massive amounts of tragic baggage being projected there from the author so I’m not slapping any judgment down really;

but again it would be an easy thing to wave off if they just had a vibrant cast of lovable simpletons with good chemistry and the kinetic sense of plotting the trailers promised (and this premise never discounts good drama, either). but instead it was just two and a half (!) hours of meandering into situations the filmmaking instincts had no idea how to flow in and out of

to wit. I know talking about “bad pacing” is associated with armchair bullshit but consider the example of the scene were dieter does an out of nowhere little dance after childishly screaming but then still-killing a zombie, with the film framing this as a micro character triumph, and not a second later the bg soundtrack instantly fades into an orchestral score dramatizing a nearby mcguffin reveal, completely 180 degreeing the tone without a semblance of deft insert shot stitching or even I dont know a fucking jump cut maybe. now imagine this whiplash for 2.5 hrs uninterrupted

I will keep complaining about the length yeah because this was not a story requiring this much real estate to be told. Uhh in my humble and personal opinion, of course

[man sees zombie tiger] “this is crossing the line!” you can in fact write dialogue that is not utter nonsense that falls apart once you drill down its single fickle layer of referential meta winking. what line are you talking about. you have rules in this insane situation you’re in? total nitpick moment I know but it got burned in my brain for some reason. like a microcosm of the mismanaged dramatic instincts paired with weird writing that dots this movie. I am sure the director calls this either satire or genre deconstruction. I am SO sure

tumblr domino meme that goes from “dude getting sucked off while driving” to “entire las vegas literally nuked”

tig notaro is always great to see but once you know she’s been filmed as a separate greenscreen plate months after photography wrapped - cause she had to apparently replace some abusive asshole but that’s a whole other pig not worth fucking - it becomes impossible to unsee her odd detachment from everyone else in the movie lmao. it doesn’t really “ruin” anything on its lonesome but it is hard to unsee

why. was. sean. spicer. in. this. movie

a very simple key ingredient missing from fully turning lip service sympathy for main uruk hai dude into actual empathy that would generate meaningful conflict with hero family would be to spend a bit more time articulating what he internally wanted the most. because he was obviously trying to do something here with pointed agenda. a family, to have kids, build a caste system, save his wife’s head, return to his planet??? all of these could represent the bigger context in his psychology that spurred his vengeance but none of them are dramatically emphasized long enough for you to cheer him on. I’m not asking too much I promise. Articulating interiority of a mute character is pretty doable with deft cinema language, just gotta linger and hold a shot here and there for a few seconds, frame as his POV, donezo. I know this is also one of those like. “who cares” moments but the movie does, very evidently so, in making this guy an actual character. you can kinda piece it together and create a framework of sympathy for him, sure, but then again he ultimately becomes a foil to be killed and not defeated, so. Ehh whatever

quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was not a wildly childish covid allegory quarantine zone stuff was n

the rooftop helicopter fakout at the end was such an ass-backwards, manufactured moment of what could be a simple setup/payoff it just pissed me off??? you gain nothing by giving sad dad five seconds of pointless crisis that flips right back to previous status quo ANYWAY, except for a weaksauce waste of runtime, which could be used instead to get inside notaro’s head and actually SHOW the remorse form as she took off, literally maybe even a frown playing on her face as she’s headed for safety right before we cut back to drax and the kid. just a simple-ass, minimal, momentary setup for what is the most basic filmmaking trick of creating macro catharsis moments. Just???? g o d if you can’t even land that shit why are you even doing any of this

that lil run final pam did was very very charming and super choreographed in a way that was the tiiiniest bit overdone

the whole intro with the simul-backstories and posing with family photos was just… oddly motivated. what was the goal? “here’s what we’re fighting for” vignettes? why? it’s not a functional setup in that vein. what was all that

also I am sorry if this is insensitive but the reasons most characters end up articulating to justify going back into the hell that destroyed their lives makes them sound seriously insane

I dont like complaining about CGI (honestly) but so much of it in modern movies can achieve higher fidelity if the animation is simply subdued. Do not overengineer and over-apply 2D cell methodologies and kinematics to each tiny twitch and movement in a hyper 3D model and I promise you. it will look a thousand times more natural. look at thanos in those last two movies. your rendering and detail are absolutely perfect with the tiger you just have to let stuff sit instead of constantly simulating swaying hair strands and firing off all facial muscles at once. great moment at one point where makeup zombie horse and CG zombie tiger are both in one shot together and just by unnecessary amounts of movement alone you can tell who doesn’t belong. again; detail, rendering, compositing, lighting, all picture-perfect; but y’all just gotta let the animation breathe sometimes, and chill it out

plot holes don’t really matter to me but it was kinda funny how lilly decided not to mention the enormous wrinkle in intel pertaining to an actual territorial tribe of intelligent zombies that require human offerings to let you pass, just so that reveal could play out in real time through the joyous punishment of the cartoonishly misogynistic dude

total chad move for mister uruk hai and final pam to rule from a rusted swimming pool complex

the ending with vanderohe oh my god. with the. cash stacks at the airport register. and specifically them working in his favor. that is literally something you do to get arrested under suspicion of theft. it was almost played for laughs and I respect that. coulda been goofier. make these movies goofy ya dorks

anyway, weird, weird movie. bad marketing. message unclear (something something sins of the father???), baffling editing instincts, literal worst-looking cinematography I ever laid eyes upon. Confidently dying on that last hill

[yanderecandystore]

Yandere Ocs dream date hcs please?

Hi!

This seems fun :3

Also, oh my God, I haven't started writing for Prey chapter 2, I'm sorry!!! ;-; ;-;

I didn't have enough time to write it. Neither did I write for A Vixen Walking Around At Night yet.

Sorry ;-;.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

Our first moment [Yandere OCS x Reader - Headcanon]:

🍒 Bullies 🍭:

→ Alexandra Coldwell:

Well, what can I say? She is a little princess, and you'll need to treat her as such.

She is pretty mean, and would totally be expecting you to make her the perfect date. Yes, that also means that you should be the one to ask her out, and if you do, she will talk as if you're the one that should have planned this out.

But don't worry, she knows that she is the one that has to fix everything. Going out is her favorite thing, so why just go around a mall while you two find something to do? Maybe even make you buy things for her.

Alexandra is mostly fucking with you though, I mean, she really wants you to treat her like a princess, but she knows you don't have enough money to buy anything for her (don't worry about buying anything for her boo, she only wears really expensive brands :D).

A movie is cool and all, but even if she is watching something she really likes, she would still find out she is missing something. This date wouldn't feel complete.

Alexandra does like to stay active, and although it sounds really niche, if her darling dares her to run faster than them, she'll totally do it. No questions asked.

Heels or no heels. It's on now. If you bail out though she is going to make fun of you, cause of course she would.

If you win then, well, she lost, is there anything you would like to get as a reward, Ms/Mr. Winner? Does a kiss from her majesty suffice?

Alexandra can be a little bitter sweet, but she does really care about her darling, in her eyes, your just as much royalty as her.

Her dream date would probably be going around a national park, princesses with heels can still do some hiking. Watch her act like a nerd at every single cute animal she spots. Turns out she knows quite a lot about biology, the absolute goof.

→ Adrien Coldwell:

I know that he may seem boring as hell and absolutely "0 fucks given" all the time, and believe me he is, but give him some credit.

He can be probably one of the chilliest out of the two. He does make a couple of ill comments here and there, but he doesn't mind going along with you and doing things you like.

He may comment something along the lines of "not expecting you two to have a great date, because it's impossible to have fun with someone that sucks so much", with yeah, he went full on out with that one, but he is mostly picking on you.

Just seeing you being yourself is pretty entertaining. I guess that's why he keeps picking on you, trying to get different reactions.

Adrien likes to binge watch cartoons, and although he likes music concerts he can't be bothered to move one inch most of the time.

He lets you do what you like to do, but, to be honest, something that you two can do and create sounds a lot better. Maybe he wants to find an active that you two can do while still having fun and bickering at each other.

Would you like to bake with him? He can do just fine on his own, but if you want to, he would really, really appreciate some help.

Even if whatever you baked was a mess and probably burned, you two would still have fun. You'll probably see him smiling for once.

Adrien's idea of a dream date is being able to have fun with you while crafting something, being that baking or even just a silly project. The project may not turn out really well, but throughout the experience, you still get some good laughs.

🍎 Teachers 🥧:

→ Matthew Robinson:

Oh this, suit and tie boi. This sweet, sweet boi.

What can he say? He doesn't have enough experience in the dating department, at least not the most fun of experiences.

He isn't really that lucky, you know?

Maybe show him a little bit of what you're into. That would help him understand how dates are supposed to go.

He is afraid of his ideas being pretty cliche, honey. He would love to take you to eat at a fancy restaurant, or maybe a picnic, just the two of you.

He can be a bit of a glutton. He does enjoy musicals, but he understands that is not exactly everyone's taste.

He is getting old, isn't he? He has even thought about going into a cafe, reading books or something. But can you two just stay home and read? Wait, why would you two even be reading, weren't you two supposed to interact?

Why would he even offer that? God, he probably needs to interact with people more.

His perfect date would probably involve nature, to his own surprise though. Probably taking you to his own home in the countryside, or maybe just being in touch with nature. Getting lost in the woods with you would be, quite the interesting experience.

→ Madeline Allen:

Do you like staying in home and binge watching series/cartoons? Cause she really doesn't like getting out of her house much.

She loves staying at home and simply having a more comfy day. Watching nostalgic movies, eating only the best snacks and having just a great time.

The only other thing that she likes to do is visit the beach whenever she can. She likes collecting shells and she'll probably show you her favorite ones. Her collection could be bigger, if her visits to the beach would be more frequent.

Actually, when she was younger she discovered the best spots to hangout when she wanted to be alone. Well, there are other people that go around that place, but not many actually enter and stay inside for long.

She would absolutely love to bring you inside the hidden grotto she found. It's really spacious, and the view is amazing, but her favorite part is watching the fishes swimming in and out of this little paradise.

The best moments to visit are when it is sunset and when it's a full moon night, it is absolutely amazing, you'll love it!

At least, she hopes so!

🍋Delinquents 🐍:

→ Jackson Macnee:

Jack doesn't really seem like it, but he kinda enjoys reading about romance, even if it's the most cliche bullshit he has ever heard.

I guess it makes sense for him to have a couple of ideas of the perfect date, he used to love reading this shit when he was studying at that snobby school.

But he is a different person now, I mean, yeah he has some ideas on where to take his darling, but he doesn't really think he will ever use his knowledge.

… But, if he ever found someone he actually has a thing for, maybe… A movie?

I mean, he could elaborate on a perfect date and all, he actually would love to elaborate on his perfect date, but- He feels like It would be pointless.

Eh, why not keep things simple? He doesn't want to sound like a dork. At least not to his darling, he would only feel self-conscious about it.

His actual idea of a perfect date is to bring his darling to watch a movie and show them his favorite part around town. He knows how to access some abandoned docks and believe, although it doesn't sound like much, the scenery can be pretty neat.

Two dorks hanging around at some docks while the sun is setting, talking about feelings and shit like that, sounds like something he read about.

→ Janette Sartorius:

Honestly, not even she knows what the fuck she wants.

Her hopeless romantic heart can only take so much love!

Every single idea sounds like the right idea. Stay at home, go out to get something to eat and drink, see some movie or concert, vandalize some shit like you're both Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy or something, find somewhere secret that only you two know how to get there and write your initials together, like-

I mean, she would probably be thinking of doing all of these.

All. Of. These. Every time you hangout she'll be already thinking of the next date.

Something she would totally love to do, would be just playing games with ya. In her house or in an arcade.

Maybe after playing some games, getting some ice cream and walking around the park. But she will always, and I mean always, stop whatever she was doing to pet the dogs along the way.

I guess what she wants is to spend time alone with you, with you two lost in each other's eyes, while she can also show the entire world how beautiful her darling is and how her darling is only hers. Her dream date would totally be in a place like an abandoned haunted house where she can hold you while your scared (and probably scare you whenever she can).

👾 A.I 🍈:

→ Yuma Soma:

Oof, oh dear. Are you the type of person to go out and eat a lot? Cause Yuma is a 100% that person.

What I mean is, they only like going out if it means being able to eat. There are so many human foods that they didn't even know while they were inside the game.

In the food department, there are a lot of things they didn't know, wait until they see the rest of what they don't know about, like other countries and other culture's cuisines.

Maybe that's what they like, going out and discovering new things. Maybe they would like making a trip around the globe with you, or just visiting local restaurants because that's way less expensive lol.

I guess their dream date would be whenever they can go out with you without being trapped inside the game, preferably if you don't run away or start yelling at them for imprisoning you.

But until then, they'll keep you in their hands and bring you to do all the things that real human couples do!

Just stop screaming from inside the game, will you?

🦊 Kitsunes 🍬:

→ Tatsumi:

Tatsumi is an absolute couch potato. He hates having to get out of his room.

But if it's a date with you, then of course he'll go! It's not everyday that the love of his eternal life asks him to go on a date!

But… Where would you go? He kinda doesn't know what to do. Most of his dates end really prematurely.

Get some drinks, have sex and take their energy and leave. He doesn't know what else he can do, love.

When it comes to his darling, sexual interactions don't really come to mind as much as he thought it would. I mean don't get me wrong, he can be a little pervy, but anything with you is already amazing darling.

If he could, he… Wishes he could have a normal day with you. Ya know? Without him being… Him. His dream date would be a day where he can do many of the things he and his darling likes, it may sound clichê but-

Whatever you do together would be wonderful either way.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

[caniaskyouabouttoday]

“He was conceived out of desperation and born into a mess,” Don Draper narrates from his own therapeutic diary. He’s referring to his youngest son, Gene, born from a fleeting moment of passion in Don’s decaying marriage to Betty — but clearly this sentence describes his own bleak, sordid origins.

Mad Men is one of the most spoiled shows ever so this will have spoilers. Don’s moment of zen became a meme seconds after the show wrapped. What’s strange is that the meme doesn’t seem to have an opinion on this ending of this series. The end of Mad Men isn’t beloved like Six Feet Under, polarizing like The Sopranos, or reviled like Dexter. It simply is an ending.

Much like Mad Men’s ostensible parent series, The Sopranos, there is some ambiguity. I guess you could interpret that the smirk followed by the “Buy the World a Coke�� advertisement means that Don made a triumphant return and penned a masterpiece ad for his dream client. But does the smirk mean that Don has let such things go? Has his mentality changed to regard these conquests as trivialities? After his disappearance nothing indicates that McCann Erickson would continue to placate Don let alone give him creative carte blanche on their largest account. Don’s career, for all intents and purposes, appears over in 1970. He is a very rich man and McCann Erickson is a very unhappy workplace.

Mad Men is a hulking 92 episodes, a long show in today’s era of shows doing 8-10 episode seasons every two years; and sags heavily after season 5. The first half of Season Six is nigh unwatchable and the show got bogged down in constant business intrigue with multiple mergers and new names for Sterling Cooper. We’re saddled with pointless characters like Ted Chaough and Lou Adler who are one-dimensional and the show spins its wheels hard including a very poor creative decision to mostly pull the show out of New York and thrust it into Los Angeles to make Don “bi-coastal” — a move that was pretty clearly designed to accomodate outside film projects, not to bolster the quality of Mad Men itself.

Harry Hamlin, who had been mostly missing from TV since major stardom in the 1980s in L.A. Law does add to the proceedings as soft spoken and self-serving weasel, Jim Cutler. I never felt like Mad Men needed an antagonist character, but he was the most worthy one and had a unique presence and delivery. Don is his own worst enemy. Dick Whitman is the hero. The contradictions of Don, and Dick, who I think are primarily distinct (Hamm makes it very clear which he is playing) are the conflict.

Much has also been made of Jessica Pare. She performs a notorious burlesque at Don’s birthday party that embodied “cringe” before that was an ubiquitous word. By the time they had developed any chemistry together the show started ripping them apart by her acting career causing conflict about where they should live; and cooled tensions between Betty and Don reminded audiences of their superior chemistry and more fascinating relationship.

I skipped locating all my discs and watched Mad Men on IMDB TV which gave the series, appropriately, advertisements. Some were loud, garish, and artless; but there were some like a sexy beach themed ad for Calvin Klein “Eternity” set to a sultry lounge cover of “Unchained Melody” - I could imagine Don Draper flashing a whisky soaked grin of approval at the spot. This is a good way to watch the show; monitor your volume button as some ads are much louder than the show volume and horribly obnoxious.

Mad Men is a long, uneven, and imperfect show but its grace notes are incomparable. The “Carousel” sequence from Season One is one of the most perfect bits of TV drama ever. Jon Hamm’s performance as Don Draper and Dick Whitman, what little we see of the latter, are fascinating television characters portrayed to perfection. His work in The Town shows that he has presence in film and I’m baffled at how such a versatile talent has had a tepid career in the six years since the show signed off. Elisabeth Moss has launched into the stratosphere and I sure would like to see more of John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, and Vince Kartheiser (making Pete relatable and somewhat likable is a small miracle of the writing and performances on this series.)

Mad Men isn’t as good as The Sopranos, it isn’t as marketable as Breaking Bad, and it certainly could have told a more compact story; yet I loved spending time in its beautiful dream of the turbulent 1960s. I do not believe we’d have masterworks like “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood” that were made in its wake without it.

My time with the show was much like Don’s relationships; thrilling highs and plunging lows - yet I can’t wait to hop on that carousel and revisit the series again soon. It truly is a time machine.