#i was gonna quit anyway but my boss was faster

[pardonmydelays]

i think the funniest thing that happened to me this week is that i lost my job and yet i've never been happier lmao

[amphibiahawks321]

[Lucifer leans her arm against the wall, smirking as she's trying to woo Y/N over]

Fem!Lucifer : Well, well.... It's not often that I find someone worthy of my attention, you've caught my eye, dear~

[Lucifer tilts her head, giving you an appraising look, as she's trying to figure out how to proceed]

[Y/N's eyes widen and extremely shocked]

M!Reader : i–i Uhh... You're THE lucifer? THE queen of hell?

[A nervous feeling immediately went over his body, unsure how to handle the sudden attention from someone with such power]

[Lucifer pauses and glances down, her confident demeanor faltering for a brief second before she clears her throat and continues]

Fem!Lucifer : Ahem.. Why yes, that's me... But I... Uh, don't let that intimidate you though gorgeous~

[She gives a small awkward smile, trying to recover from her slip]

Fem!Lucifer : I'm–Uhh just... Charmed by your... Presence, how long have you been working at this fine hotel duckling?~

M!Reader : F–For a couple of months now ma'am.... Sorry–i just can't believe I'm getting the attention from the lucifer...

Fem!Lucifer : Consider yourself lucky, I only let gentlemen of distinguished allure to get my attention~

[Y/N trying to hide his confusion, still trying to process what is happening]

M!Reader : I... I don't know how to react to this... You seemed... Never flirted with anyone before?

[Lucifer blinks, her cheeks slightly glowing yellow in embarrassment]

Fem!Lucifer : Pfftt! Whaaaat? Of course I have! It's just that maybe or possibly or perhaps it's been quite some time since I've done this–But of course I've done this, Duh!

[Lucifer let out a nervous chuckle as her cheeks start blushing brighter]

Fem!Lucifer blushing : ANYWAY! I was y'know hoping you maybe if you want and or if you have the time to spare an alluring gentleman such as yourself would love to endure some activities together!

M!Reader : ........

M!Reader : U-Uhh... S-Sure! It would be quite R-Rude if I declined such an offer from someone like you...

[Lucifer somehow proceeds to trip on her words but also starts speaking faster]

Fem!Lucifer blushing : Great! see you later–or maybe, I mean you must definitely fan change your mind if you want to of course it's not like you SHOULD but we'll see the results later!

.......

Fem!Lucifer : See Charlie, Told you Mama still has the game!

[Charlie's Mouth agape, she blinks a few times, trying to process what just happened]

.......

M!Reader blushing : Did I... Did I just–.... I... Did–Did the queen of hell just ask me out....

Angel : WOAH! What was THAT! You just got asked out by the queen of hell AKA our boss's mom, props to you! I mean, outta all the schmucks down here, you caught her eye? Either you’re super lucky or insanely cursed, Maybe both!

Husk : Well, I'll be damned... I don’t know whether to congratulate you or start planning your funeral...

.......

Few hours Later

[In lucifer's room]

Fem!Lucifer : Chuckles... Do not worry... My hands will do all the work, just try not to squirm too much~

M!Reader : W-Wait... C-Calm down your majesty...

Fem!Lucifer : Pant... I'm Close...—Aaand DONE!'

[Lucifer showing off a rubber duck wearing a monocle and a flat cap]

Fem!Lucifer : Presenting! The almighty Sir quacksworth!

M!Reader : Pant... Chuckles... Gonna be honest I was really nervous when you were using the hammer

Fem!Lucifer : Oh trust me dear, I have done this NUMEROUS times!

[saphronethaleph]

Protean-aruto

“Heheh,” Orochimaru chuckled, pleased with himself.

With the Uzumaki brat out of the way, now he could properly focus on Sasuke… the one he was here for in the first place.

There were many routes to power, and many routes to immortality. But there were few who could so effectively fulfil both of Orochimaru’s needs at the same time. Sasuke’s bloodline would allow him to gain power faster, and as a properly prepared substitute body would allow Orochimaru to last for a long time.

Potentially forever.

The only problem was that… the Uchiha just didn’t seem to have the fortitude to resist. It was helpful, even gratifying, for his short term goals, but – Orochimaru did not content himself with what would be beneficial in the short term.

He wanted long term strength. Long term outcomes. A strong host.

Then Sasuke twitched – and moved, getting out of the way, and getting his teammate clear as well.

Orochimaru moved to follow, then there was a sudden splintering kraaash and one of the giant trees of the forest nearly fell on him.

Dodging back, Orochimaru looked – and blinked.

Then stared.

There was a huge thing skidding to a halt, a kind of monster with wolf’s paws and bird’s wings and the mouth of a lion on a low-slung, vaguely canine body, along with a single long tail that ended in a wicked spike.

It was also about fifty feet long and thirty tall.

“I don’t know the password, okay?” the monster said, sounding cross. “You shouldn’t have picked such a long one, you know?”

“The fuck.”

Orochimaru took a moment to realize that he’d been the one to say that.

“...what,” he added. “You’re the Uzumaki boy? Didn’t I launch you off to get eaten by a snake?”

“You mean the snake was your fault too?” the monster asked – the Uzumaki boy, somehow? “Okay, that’s just rude, you know? Who are you, anyway?”

“He’s not a genin, Naruto!” Sasuke said – right, Naruto, that was the Uzumaki boy’s name. “He’s too strong! And what the hell are you doing, anyway?”

“I panicked!” Naruto replied, sitting on his… haunches?… with a huff. “I’d like to see you not panic when you’re being eaten by a snake, you know? And it tasted awful, too.”

“You ate one of my snakes?” Orochimaru asked, still having trouble processing this.

He was fairly sure that Naruto was a jinchuuriki, sure, but that would mean being the host to the nine-tailed demon fox.

And that was… not a fox, though it was a lot of other things all mashed up together into some kind of awful chimera.

“Well, yeah, but it tried to eat me first, you know?” Naruto rumbled. “So it seemed fair to try especially when I didn’t know if it was gonna get back up again if I didn’t kill it, you know.”

“Stop saying that!” Orochimaru snapped.

“Stop saying what?” Naruto asked. “Guys? Was I saying anything wrong, you know?”

“He means your tic,” the Haruno girl informed him.

“What?” Naruto said, sounding more confused, then clearly realized something. “Oh, that! You know, it’s not polite to ask someone to not be a medical condition that they’ve got! I’ve got a medical note, you know, you know?”

Orochimaru’s eye twitched slightly.

“Enough with that!” he said, pointing at Naruto. “Why is he a giant monster? Why do none of you seem to find that unusual?”

“...what?” Naruto asked, sounding genuinely confused. “It’s just a henge, you know?”

A henge.

A henge.

That was… Orochimaru would have said it was flat impossible, but he was a scientist and he was quite willing to amend his views based on new information.

And… strictly speaking, the henge was not technically limited to only doing humans, or solid illusions. Sarutobi’s partner Enma could turn himself into a wooden staff, for example. But Enma was a boss summon, the head of a summon clan and an especially powerful one at that, and monkeys were like toads – they were associated with change and so it was merely very difficult and very intensive for them to do such a transformation.

But humans were limited to fragile, solid-illusions at most, something that would break fairly quickly if pressured and which required constant concentration. The amount of effort that was involved simply was not worth it for any serious use cases.

There was a reason Orochimaru himself had murdered three people to steal someone’s skin, instead of merely… using a henge.

But to transform into a giant monster and fight with it, without any sign of strain? That was…

...actually quite intimidating, now that Orochimaru was thinking about it. The sheer scale of skill and effort involved was something that he could parse quite well, thank you very much, and so was the scale of versatility.

“It’s not like it’s the first time,” Sasuke said, drawing Orochimaru’s attention. “He once turned into a shuriken so I could throw him.”

“Yeah, and that’s when Kakashi sensei realized that I had a cool talent, you know?” Naruto asked. “We were working on all kinds of stuff like a hawk to fly around with, and a wolf, and a lion and stuff, only, I kinda panicked and got them mixed up. You know?”

The kyuubi no kitsune.

That was what it had to be, Orochimaru decided. Not that this boy was the kyuubi, but that – it was like the way that other jinchuuriki had some talents that came from their tailed beasts. From the sand defence of the Gaara boy from Suna, to the elemental releases, to… all kinds of things.

In hindsight, this information actually explained why the kyuubi had otherwise seemed not to give its hosts any of that sort of power… neither of the previous hosts had noticed.

“So what was going on, anyway?” Naruto asked. “Obviously this guy attacked us, you know, but should we stop him or what?”

“He’s really strong,” Sasuke warned. “But… we have to fight, I think.”

“Got it!” Naruto said, and his tail flicked around and nearly took Orochimaru’s head off.

Then he started breathing fire.

Orochimaru decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and since he had no interest in valour he’d just take the discretion.

[not-magdi]

Media Intern Pt.2

Summary: Having your first day at your dream club

Warnings: None

Words: 1.7k

A/N: I have no idea what should happen in the next part so any ideas would be very much appreciated 😂 (Please help me)

Part 1

Today was Y/N's first day at FC Barcelona, after jumping around in her apartment for half an hour with Carmen and getting a noise complaint from a few neighbors afterward. She read the email completely, which told her she had her first day next Monday at 3:00 p.m. having to be at the front desk of the media building which is next to Camp Nou. 

Monday came faster than she thought, believing she had enough time to get herself ready Y/N put it off until the last minute, her personal favorite way of dealing with things. 

Now standing before her wardrobe with a stressed-out look on her face she has no clue what she should wear for tomorrow overthinking everything relentlessly. Hearing a soft knock on her door and Carmen ask.

"Ey ... you decent?" 

"Come on ... that was one time, come in!", Y/N answers through the door continuing to look through her closet. 

Laughing Carmen comes in carrying two mugs of coffee for the two of them. " Just making sure, the one time was traumatizing enough" laughing Y/N throughs a pillow at her flipping her off. 

Grabbing her coffee she turns her gaze to her closet again, "Do you have any idea what I could wear tomorrow ... my mind's completely blank." Standing up Carmen walks up behind her laying her head on Y/N's shoulder. 

"Well it should be a little bit sporty, I would suggest skinny jeans but you swore off to those so how about black sports pants with something a little more classy?", Carmen suggests grabbing a black pair for her, thinking what she could wear to them. 

"Yeah ... how about that baby blue tee and a white oversized blouse as a jacket to make it a little bit more classy?" looking up at Carmen for approval she nods before realizing something. 

"Wait, do you mean MY white oversized blouse?" She asks Y/N, raising an eyebrow, "Maybe ...?" looking up at her with innocent eyes Y/N answers. 

"You already have it in your closet, don't you? 

"Nooo ... maybe ... ok yes, but you don't need it anyway you have like five of them." Y/N tries to defend herself but fails as she can't stop laughing at Carmen's face. 

"Ok ok enough you clothes stealing little dwarf, you need to go to sleep now ... big day tomorrow." Hugging her Carmen leaves Y/N's room taking the two empty mugs with her. Y/N sighs cleaning everything up a little bit before cuddling herself into her bed, trying to get some sleep.

"I think I'm going to throw up", pacing around before the media building Y/N looks up at Carmen with a stressed look on her face, "I'm going to make a fool of my self, no no let's go home " Rubbing her temples she turns towards the car again only to be caught by Carmen. 

"Nope ... you're not gonna quit, you're going to go in there and you're gonna rock it." dragging her back Carmen comes to a halt before the entrance. 

"14:50, perfect timing ... come on go in now you deserve to be here. Use that little brain of yours and fascinate them like you did with me." hugging her a last time she shoos her into the building. 

"Ok Y/N you're gonna smash that, deep breaths" Hyping herself up she goes in, walking up to the front desk she asks the receptionist. "Hola ... I'm here for the new job, my name is Y/N. I'm the new media Intern." 

The receptionist smiled at her friendly tipping something into her computer before speaking, "Hola Y/N, I just called your new boss downstairs he should be here any minute. I'm Camila, welcome at the FC Barcelona." she outstretches her hand shaking it with Y/N's. 

"Thank you very much" Y/N exclaims, feeling slightly more at ease already. Hearing steps behind her she turns around seeing a man in his mid-twenties coming up to them dressed in head to toe barça merch. 

"Hola Camila, hola Y/N ... I'm Léon, your new boss" Shaking her hand he hands her a pass. "That's your new work ID this allows you access to any place you currently need." 

Hanging it around her neck she follows Léon to one of the elevators, while he explains what they're going to do today. 

"So first we're going to our office, I'm gonna show you your desk and log you into our office network, then one of your new colleagues is going to give you a tour and at the end of the day you can get a few barça merch pieces, everybody gets a few. You don't have to wear them here but when we are filming away from here please do" Nodding along Y/N follows him to her new office. 

"So this is your office, there should be anything you need. For the first few weeks, you will follow Alena Martín, she is one of our head content creators, she does the filming, editing, and posting herself so with her you are getting the most experience you can get, she is in the office next to yours, you can go in there later then." pointing down the corridor to her office. 

"Do you have any questions, if not then I'll go to my office now" 

Being still slightly overwhelmed Y/N shakes her head admiring her new office, "N-no um everything is fine" 

Waving goodbye Léon leaves her office, leaving Y/N alone. She opens the windows to get a bit of fresh air in, realizing that she has a perfect view of the main training field where the boys were currently training.

Leaning on the windowsill Y/N continued to watch them for a little while, whispering to herself, " I could get used to that" 

A knock behind her startles Y/N, turning around she sees a young woman standing in the doorway with a smirk on her face. Tattoos are decorating her left arm, she looks like she could be starring in Fast and Furious, one of Y/N's favorite movies. 

"Nice view, no ?" 

"Uh, y-yes ... yeah very nice" Blushing she looks down at her feet. 

"I'm Alena, I'm going to give you a tour of our sweet old barça home today" she introduces herself shaking Y/N's hand. 

They walk through the whole building, Alena explaining everything about everyone making Y/N laugh constantly. 

"So here's the dining hall, everybody eats here even our 'unbelievably important' football stars eat with us normal people." 

"Oh, really that's cool ... um do we interact with the players often, like for challenges and stuff?" Y/N asks with a slightly nervous undertone. 

"Well, not everyone ... but yes we do. Everybody has different compartments so it doesn't get too much, we are responsible for the players so yeah we do." after a short pause she continues, "That isn't a problem for ... is it?" 

"N-no it isn't it's just ... I'm not that good with ... famous people" Cringing she thinks back to that one time she met Selena Gomez and couldn't get a word out and blushed like crazy. 

Laughing Alena assures her "Don't worry you're gonna get the hang of it, you won't believe it but they're normal people too" She strokes Y/N's back a little to calm her down. 

Coming to a halt Alena turns towards a closed door, "So we're now finished with our tour, that's our supply room for merch things. Let's get you sorted out." 

Currently, Y/N's hands are full of hoodies, pants, and t-Shirts, Alena is throwing everything she can find into her hands. 

A loud knock startles both of them, resulting in Y/N throwing everything on the floor. The door opens revealing Pablo Gavi standing in the doorway laughing.

"Sorry ... did I scare you?" he asked smirking. 

"Yeah, you idiot ... did you want to break the door down?!" Alena asked with an irritated voice. 

"No, just wanted to scare you ... mission successful" he answered, starting to search through the boxes. 

Y/N just stood there frozen, completely bewildered by their bickering, looking between them with a shocked expression. 

"Ok you scared us ... but why are you here?" Alena asked Pablo with a fake annoyance in tone. 

"I lost my team jacket again and I need it tomorrow, do you know where they are? " he asked starting to search around again. 

"Yes I know where they are ... I'll grab it for you, you only cause chaos. You help Y/N pick her things up again and I get you jacket" Turning around Alena walks off.

"Who's Y/N?" 

"I'm Y/N ... h-hi" Waving she starts to blush under his gaze. 

"You're new here aren't you ... I haven't seen you around," he says, still looking slightly skeptical. 

"Um ... y-yeah it's my first day, I'm the new media intern", Y/N answers trying to sound unbothered by his presence. 

"They sent her as a support for me, you guys are unbearable alone" Alena exclaims, coming back with the said jacket in her hand, smirking at his hurt expression. 

"What are you talking about ... we are a delight" he dramatically exclaims putting a hand on his heart. 

"Pablo Gavira what are you dreaming about at night," she asks earning herself an offended huff from Pablo. 

Leaning down he picks Y/N's clothes up handing them to her with a smirk, "Well then, new media intern Y/N, it's lovely to meet you" Extending his hand for her to shake she takes it greeting him with a shy smile. 

"Nice to meet you too," she says shaking his hand, happy her voice sounds steady again. 

They hold eye contact longer than they needed too, until Alena broke them out of their trance. 

"Okok enough with the flirting now ... we have to get going "Throwing his jacket at him she shoos him out of the room locking the door behind them. 

"Well bye then ladies ... see you on Friday" Turning around he leaves them alone again.

"I ... w-we weren't ... flirting" Y/N tries to defend herself but fails as Alena just kept smirking. 

"You weren't, you looked like a deer in headlights but he definitely did, did you see they way he was smirking the whole time" she tells Y/N laughing, wrapping an arm around her walking her back to the front hall. 

"Just be careful, he's ... well he's a little bit of a player when it comes to girls. You know a typical young football player ego"

"Yeah ... you get that vibe from him that he knows he's hot"

"Oh ... so you think he's hot?" Alena teases her with a smirk.

"You know what ... yes and I stand by that" Y/n answers laughing

The two of them arrive at the front desk again and Alena says goodbye to Y/N promising to mail her, her new workplan today evening.

Thanking her, Y/N makes her way outside texting Carmen to pick her up, but the only thing on her mind was this. 

Pablo Gavi just flirted with me, and I looked stupid while he did it …

[ask-jamtheimp]

Day 5 of Regressuary:

Theme: Playmates

Characters: Jam and @theogclownboy Zeek, Ellie, and Toby

Fandom: Helluva Boss

Summary: Based on a rp I did with Bonez before with a few changes to flow better with the fic! Toby notices how lonely Jam has been during regression and decides to introduce him to a new playmate Zeek! Jam is nervous and less than thrilled to meet his future best friend and sibling figure

Authors Note: This takes place before Jam ever met Zeek and is their first meeting. I'm thinking of making this a 3 part thing since theres a lot to try to fit in from the rp and it just makes more sense like that. I also changed my formatting a bit, I'm just going to color code character dialogue and I wont put the narration in italics to make it faster and easier on myself. As per usual my writing is a bit rusty and bad since I haven't written like this since 2020. I also don't proofread so sorry for any writing mistakes made. It just helps me save time.

"Kiddo please. I just need you to put your shoes on so we can go. He's a very nice kid I promise!" Toby said. He was knelt down in front of a very pouty Jam who currently refused to put his shoes on to go meet his new playmate. "I don't wanna go! I wanna stay hewe! Don't wanna mee him..." He said while pouting and jingling his tail angrily at his caregiver. Toby sighed, he had been trying to convince Jam to go for about 15 minutes now....Although he had a simple idea, one he knew Jam couldn't refuse. "Hey buddy, how about the whole time there I hold you okay? And if your good we can get a sweet treat after hmm? What do you say?" Jam stopped whining for a bit now thinking on the matter before nodding. He did want a little snack. And he did like being held by Toby, he was very fluffy after all! "M'okay..." He mumbled as he sat down long enough for Toby to help him tie his shoes. Afterwards he lifted Jam up, double checked his agere and diaper bag to make sure he had everything and headed over to Ellie's house.

To the polar opposite of Jam, Zeek was actually quite excited to meet his new playmate! Right now though he was currently sitting in his playpen he had all of his toys set up for his new friend! When the doorbell ringed Ellie walked over opening it, Toby had put Jam on the ground to stand on his own but just held onto his hand for reassurance. "Oh hello Toby! And I assume this is your little one yes?" Ellie said as she looked at Jam. Jam didn't regress in front of people too much and was very used to hiding it so he simply took his face out from Toby's fluff and mumbled: "N-nice t' meetcha ma'am..". He held out his hand to shake hers in order to cover up the fact he was regressed. He did have his tells though, especially his slurred and clumsy speech. Ellie was surprised to say the least and smiled gently as she bent down slightly to be eye to eye with him. She gently shook his hand and cooed anyways. "Aw such a polite boy! Im Ms. Ellie little one!" Jams cheeks flushed as she called him little one. He was very much not used to even other people calling him little names besides Toby. He was very embarrassed. "M-ma'am m' not lil..." He mumbled even quieter now avoiding eye contact as well. Ellie very much wasn't buying that and she patted the top of his head. "Oh my mistake! You are a very big boy!" Jam now fumbling at any attempt to make any cohesive words just buried his face into Toby's fluff. The wolf patted Jam's head and led the two inside to sit down.

The whole time Jam hadn't moved an inch off of Toby lap, he was so bored listening to the adults talk and he had exhausted everything in Toby's caregiver bag. All he had was his plushie Nini, to keep him busy now. Unless...? Jam crawled off of Toby's lap who didn't seem to notice much and walked over to the playpen, Zeek was in it playing with some blocks inside, the minute he saw Jam he smiled and waved. Jam was...apprehensive. He seemed nice enough but what if he was gonna be mean like other kids were? Maybe he was just being nice now just to get bullied later? Jam's spiral was interrupted when Zeek stood up and handed him a block over the playpen fence. "Pway!' He said excitedly. Jam looked a bit confused and hesitant before taking the block from him and sitting outside the playpen gate. He still wasn't too sure about actually going inside with Zeek. After a very boring 5 minutes of play with just one block Jam finally gained the courage to actually sit inside the playpen with Zeek. It took him a lot of fiddling around with the lock but he finally found his way in. If there was one thing, Jam was a smart baby. A little too smart if you ask Toby, he had even figured out how to climb out of his crib. so no baby lock stood in his way. Jam sat near the blocks but kept his distance from Zeek, although when Zeek started crawling closer Jam's tail instantly jingled defensively like a rattlesnakes, Zeek didn't get the hint though, he just thought it was fun his new friend was covered in bells! Zeek grabbed onto Jam's tail and shook it around to hear more of the jingling sound it made. Unfourtunatley this was enough to totally set Jam off as he screamed "NO!" at the top of his lungs and snatched his tail away from Zeek who was just as surprised as he was at the sudden switch before crying. Jam felt his face heat up. both caregivers rushed over to check on all the commotion once they heard Jam scream. "Jam what happened? Whats going on? My are you two boys alright?" Ellie asked as she quickly picked up Zeek and tried to soothe him.

Jam felt like he ruined everything. He barley understood why he did that he was just scared. His own tears started rolling down his face as Toby picked him up, he gave a nod to Ellie and took him to the kitchen to talk to him one on one. Would this playmate thing really work out?

TO BE CONTINUED ON DAY 6....

Hope you enjoyed!

[justajsworkshop]

i’ve had this realization for awhile, but everything in my life, everything i’ve experienced was my doing. everything i’ve wanted— committed or just unserious, silly desires, i’ve gotten. the good and the bad. and yet i doubt myself now??! every kind of person i longed to be ive blossomed into. every experience, friend, terror, i’ve received wholly. wtffrf😭 how do i deal with this crippling fact that i’ve gotten everything i’ve desired?! honestly i’d wish to divulge but i’m shy, and i would just be listing off my entire life anywayy. have you also gotten everything you’ve (once) desired? kinda spooky!! happy november <3

you know, now that you phrase it this way, yes. I’ve gotten everything i’ve chosen for myself; i’ll put it that way—for better or for worse.

i was thinking about how i used to be so healthy, and that took a nose dive in the past couple of years, and it’s only because i started perceiving myself in ill health. i’ve made massive improvements since discovering the law though.

one interesting manifestation i’ve noticed recently is that my teeth are fully aligned again. i had heinous tmj, and went to a specialist (before i discovered the law), and they got me almost aligned, but it was gonna cost me so much more to get my teeth fully straightened out, and i just went with good enough is good enough. but i just noticed last night how much better my teeth are?? and i affirm whenever i remember that they’re perfect and great and so is my jaw. it feels like it kinda came out of no where though. 😂 the less i try, the easier and faster i manifest. that’s the truth i’m working on fully accepting and living by rn.

another one in the less than favorable direction is when i heard someone talking about quitting their job on the spot, i said to myself internally “god i wish i could do that.” and this was me KNOWING about the law. well, lo and behold, days later, an innocuous call on my calendar with my “boss” (client, i was a contractor) turned into 2 hours of him berating me and basically telling me im worthless lmao. and i knew instantly i manifested it because id been dying to get out of there anyway. yikes, was not how i wanted to go about it though. i aaalmost quit on the spot, but ended up leaving a week later.

it was literally one thought lmao. but that’s when “forgive them, father. they do not know what they do” made sense because i couldn’t even be mad at the guy for being such an asshole since i decided thats who he would become, the type of person who would make me want to quit on the spot.

but yes, i def get what you’re saying. it can feel like a lot at times, but it’s also really freeing to see how much control you have. so it’s not like you have fight for it. you just have to increase your awareness of that which is already yours, total autonomy over the reality you create and experience.

[jaywaslost]

Did it matter?

------

This is a birthday gift for a dear friend of mine, the one and only @asukamood

I didn't expect to be posting it anywhere but after some convincing, here we are! While I do doubt this is gonna show up on anybody's feed or be read by many, I hope it's worth the time of whoever does. If there are any errors do forgive me please I haven't read this twice as I can't stand to view my own writing—

I've stalled long enough, enjoy!~

----

Sypnosis:

It was over now, he didn't need to think of anything that happened in the past. Things have always been this way, Hacker would even say he hated and still hates the man with his entire soul!

The images infront of him only fueled that, but why did it hurt so badly?

Why did he still care?

----

Hacker was losing his patience.

He’d been flipping through the channels on T.V for the last 2 hours, unable to find something interesting enough to settle on. His phone was dead and the charger nowhere to be found, but his laptop wasn’t much of an option either considering the fact Randy decided to “revoke his computer privileges” because his sleeping hours became even more oddly timed than before.

Why does it matter, anyway? He still got the recommended 8 hours, sometimes even more!

He scoffed remembering that conversation, but it was too late to really change anything. Could he steal it back? Probably, Randy never quite bothered to hide things from him or Bobby unless they could actually hurt them.

He kept losing his cigarette packs recently, which was quite odd considering he shouldn’t even know about them..

It’s fine, he was probably thinking too deeply into it.

The laptop was most likely just..out there in the open.

It would be so easy to grab.

..then again, h̶i̶s̶ d̶a̶d̶ Randy placed enough trust in him to leave it that way while he was out of the house. Hacker didn't want to lose that trust or even worse, disappoint the man.

He could make-do with the TV for now, that is if it stopped showing the most boring content ever.

Really, what was so interesting about a recent robbery and why was everyone talking about it?!

A robbery isn’t something new or even rare, quite the opposite. It didn’t make sense, if it was Nightmare’s doing the news would’ve already spread even faster than this so that idea was scrapped quickly.

Couldn’t be either of his “emotional support idiots” as he called them either, the outcome would’ve been similar if so.

Hacker buried his face in the cushions, considering going back to sleep at this point.

Bobby woke him up a few hours prior (he should’ve already been awake by then, as it was 3 in the afternoon but really, who would pass up a chance to sleep in? His boss did say he had the day off due to complications anyway so who cared, really.) telling him he and Randy were leaving, saying the older one asked if he wanted to come along or stay. He opted for the latter, too out of it to guarantee not embarrassing himself in front of h̶i̶s̶ b̶r̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Bobby and giving him valid blackmail. The little gremlin would absolutely love that and he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of it, really.

They planned to get groceries and maybe pass by a few other places, he made sure to remind them to buy him a charger replacement. It was stupid, neither of them had an iphone so he was left with no choice but to let it be which was irritating. How was he supposed to entertain himself properly? It was so boring alone, he couldn’t even talk to Blue to pass the time. Hacker was sure he figured it out by now but didn’t drop by as to not give away their location.

Time was passing by so slowly, Hacker felt like he spent days on the couch waiting. He almost regretted not going along with the other two, maybe he would’ve gotten a kick out of that and not gotten so bored. Knowing them, Bobby was probably rambling on and on about a new piece of minecraft merch he wanted and Randy, being himself, was unable to say no when he asked to buy it.

Seriously, did that kid not know how to calm down? He was gonna be the reason they ended up broke soon if it went on that way.

I̶t̶ w̶a̶s̶..n̶i̶c̶e̶. T̶h̶e̶y̶ w̶e̶r̶e̶ h̶a̶p̶p̶y̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ w̶a̶y̶. I̶t̶ w̶a̶s̶ c̶o̶m̶f̶o̶r̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶, t̶h̶e̶ m̶o̶s̶t̶ w̶e̶l̶c̶o̶m̶e̶ h̶e̶ h̶a̶d̶ e̶v̶e̶r̶ f̶e̶l̶t̶.

After nearly falling back asleep, Hacker finally mustered up the energy to stand up and move a little. Maybe that would make it a little less boring than just sitting there.

He didn’t have breakfast yet, so he headed to the kitchen. It was emptier by this time of the week after they got through everything, but at least there was still the ends of a bread loaf and some waffles in the freezer.

It took some time to decide but Hacker ended up just making a regular sandwich. Best not to end up throwing the bread out, not after their hard earned money was spent on it and it was perfectly fine anyway.

His focus was no longer on what was going on on the television, instead busy deciding if he wanted to go back to sleep after this until the other two returned or not.

Too busy thinking about what he was going to distract himself with, Hacker didn’t realize the knife in his hands ended up cutting his finger a little bit.

“Not again, I don’t even know if we have band aids this time..” he muttered, seeming more annoyed than anything. The cutting board had some of the blood on it now, he’s definitely getting questioned about that later on.

How much more entertaining could this day get?

Leaving his now abandoned breakfast on the counter he left to search for the box that should just about contain all of those.

They weren’t in the cabinets, nor were they in the bathroom or closet next to it.

There was a box in Bobby’s room but that was a last resort, he’ll get the silent treatment for a few days for using those over a small cut like this one but letting it be like this wasn’t much better.

It didn’t take much longer for Hacker to remember Randy kept some in a box under the TV.

All the way back in the living room.

And he went around the entire house for absolutely no reason.

None at all.

For a man who wanted to live so desperately he was starting to think death didn’t really sound all that bad.

With a sigh, he made his way back to check if there were any.

Sure enough, they were there.

A full box.

‘At least that wasn’t for nothing?’ he thought while opening it, finally covering the cut. Hacker knew he should’ve been more careful ,but the reminder was annoying regardless.

Whatever channel was on was still talking about the same topic, the words blurred together as he didn't care enough to focus on them.

That was until a certain name came up.

Hacker’s eyes snapped up to look at the screen as a cold sense of dread crept upon him.

There he was.

The same man he referred to as his ex constantly.

There was never an issue speaking about him vaguely, but for some reason seeing him after so long didn’t have the same effect.

A long time passed since they parted ways, Hacker would’ve forgotten the details if not for how they met in the first place.

It wasn’t…normal in any way but it could’ve been worse, a lot worse really.

He remembers looking around the room he woke up in, trying to figure out where he could be or see if there was anyone he knew.

Anyone who could help him figure out what happened, really. All he knew was that it was not where he remembered being a few moments prior.

After a comically long explanation, his eyes finally landed on someone who looked around the same age.

The man standing over him called the other, through the whispers of other people in that same room Hacker was able to figure out he was his son and that this man was the boss.

Apparently, his name was Colton.

Eyes still glued to what he was watching, Hacker listened attentively this time to what was being said.

Colton was handcuffed, saying some things he couldn’t decipher over the sound of the justice reigns employee speaking about the entire situation.

His eyes kept darting back to the blond instead of focusing on the words like he wanted to, but he caught enough to understand the gist of the situation.

After he returned back to his normal life, many questions about what happened came up. He was declared dead after a nasty crash, so how was he here and if it was faked then who would do that and why?

Hacker didn’t have the guts to answer at the time, he wasn’t sure he’d go into detail if asked now, either.

Apparently, one of Colton’s ‘minions’ was meant to go into a store and get something from the cashier, but they were seen and authorities were called after the citizen noticed how much more afraid she got as the conversation between them went on longer.

After the arrest, they couldn’t stay silent for long.

Everything about the gang finally came out, which led to the current situation at hand.

Hacker wasn’t sure how he felt about it. It was good, finally there was no need to think about the possibility of whatever website he was looking at being related to them, or being targeted as a possible threat and potentially even killed.

Part of him wasn’t so sure about that feeling, though. There was a slight panic at the back of his head, that same part of him didn’t want to see it happen.

He knew it would come so why did it feel strange?

Why did he feel like he..regret something?

There was nothing to regret in the first place.

W̶h̶y̶ w̶a̶s̶ h̶e̶ s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ a̶t̶t̶a̶c̶h̶e̶d̶.

Feeling around for the remote to turn it off, he still couldn’t pull his eyes away from the screen.

From his face.

Hacker never saw him looking like this. Helpless, in a way.

Why did that make his heart hurt? There’s no reason for it.

It wasn’t like their time together was that good anyway, he knows it. Both of them knew it wasn’t healthy, but it was addicting. The thrill of something new and unexpected, the possibilities that came along with it and little feeling of control it gave.

T̶h̶e̶ a̶t̶t̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ h̶e̶ n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ g̶o̶t̶ b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶.

I̶t̶ w̶a̶s̶ a̶d̶d̶i̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶.

Whatever, what they could have been is in the past by now. He moved on and improved himself and his relationships.

..right?

He’d like to think so at least.

Whoever was speaking seemed to finish, as the camera focused on the cuffed man held in place by none other than Finch.

Hacker didn’t have any difficulty recognizing him really- Serious as ever, doing his job as usual without any unnecessary speech or pointless banter as he ordered around some others.

The man’s demeanor caught his attention very quickly but that was besides the current point.

Colton seemed to be thinking of something, and if Hacker knew anything about him is that whatever came out of his mouth next would either cause someone a crisis or get him into more trouble with the law.

He wasn’t stupid enough to go with the second guess, he knew better than that.

Somehow it was a mix of both, surprising and not at the same time.

Suddenly, he could no longer breathe.

Not a single sound came from him, he didn’t move a single inch.

Not even when the report ended, he and every other gang member was officially in custody of the police.

Why does he care?

..well, ‘care’ is a little much.

Hacker didn't know how he felt, if he had to be completely honest.

Despite being mostly happy about it at first he couldn’t help but consider how things would’ve been if that went differently.

If the past itself went differently.

From the moment he heard the name get mentioned, Hacker knew his fate was sealed.

Colton was to be executed for all the crimes he committed, nothing could get him out of the grave he dug for himself.

Not now.

It didn’t matter, that was fine.

Hacker wouldn’t be affected by it, if anything that’ll only further prove the fact he never actually killed anybody (what was the need to frame him, seriously wasn’t being ‘dead’ enough??).

He felt weird.

Whatever, it won’t last.

He’ll forget soon, he always does.

..The silence was getting irritating, but he didn’t really have any desire to move and put something else on, it would probably be something else that’s boring just like before either way so there wouldn’t be a point.

The food left on the counter now long forgotten, Hacker found himself thinking about some things. Past events that could have gone differently, how things would have gone.

What if he never got through the database that one day? What if he listened to the warnings and didn’t stick his nose where it didn’t belong?

He probably wouldn’t be in this situation now or before, they’d have had no interest in him.

Why was it so conflicting? It didn’t make sense anymore.

Not like it ever did, but this was new.

It didn’t take long for him to lose track of time, too engaged with considering the possibilities and chances that were missed.

Could there have been a time they were truly happy?

Why did Colton take interest in him? It’s not like he was boring or unattractive, quite the opposite really. But, with the way that man saw people it probably wasn’t very relevant compared to something else he saw. The question still remained as to what it was.

It wasn’t like he could get answers for that question, not now.

No use dwelling on it.

It had been a long time since that anyway.

Since the day they met, the fire had died by now.

He had no reason to crave it. The silence was messing with his head.

..He missed the late night conversations, the absurd topics that sometimes came up out of the blue. They were rarely ever peaceful or calm, but they were entertaining. A nice change. Colton was always the type not to waste time, discarding whatever seemed useless or bothered him even slightly the moment it did so, yet he kept Hacker around instead of ignoring him.

He didn’t need to, but he did.

T̶h̶e̶ t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ o̶f̶ h̶a̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ b̶a̶c̶k̶ w̶a̶s̶..p̶l̶e̶a̶s̶a̶n̶t̶ i̶n̶ a̶ w̶a̶y̶.

S̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ k̶e̶p̶t̶ h̶i̶m̶ a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶. S̶u̶r̶e̶, i̶n̶s̶u̶l̶t̶s̶ a̶n̶d̶ a̶r̶g̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ w̶e̶r̶e̶ t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶n̶ a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶-̶ q̶u̶i̶t̶e̶ f̶r̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ a̶t̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶, b̶u̶t̶ h̶e̶ w̶a̶s̶ n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ i̶g̶n̶o̶r̶e̶d̶. A̶t̶ l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ n̶o̶t̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶o̶o̶ l̶o̶n̶g̶.I̶t̶ w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ b̶e̶ a̶ h̶u̶g̶e̶ l̶i̶e̶ t̶o̶ s̶a̶y̶ h̶e̶ d̶i̶d̶n̶'t̶ e̶n̶j̶o̶y̶ g̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ "s̶p̶e̶c̶i̶a̶l̶ t̶r̶e̶a̶t̶m̶e̶n̶t̶" a̶t̶ t̶h̶e̶ t̶i̶m̶e̶, n̶o̶t̶ g̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶h̶e̶ s̶a̶m̶e̶ a̶s̶ a̶n̶y̶ o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ m̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ i̶n̶ t̶h̶e̶ g̶a̶n̶g̶. S̶o̶m̶e̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ h̶e̶ c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'t̶ t̶e̶l̶l̶ i̶f̶ t̶h̶e̶ l̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ h̶e̶ w̶a̶s̶ g̶i̶v̶e̶n̶ w̶e̶r̶e̶ t̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ o̶f̶ e̶n̶v̶y̶ f̶o̶r̶ h̶i̶s̶ p̶o̶s̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ , b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ t̶h̶e̶ l̶e̶a̶d̶e̶r̶'s̶ s̶o̶n̶ s̶o̶ i̶n̶t̶i̶m̶a̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ c̶a̶m̶e̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ i̶t̶s̶ b̶e̶n̶e̶f̶i̶t̶s̶ o̶f̶ c̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶, o̶r̶ j̶u̶s̶t̶ p̶i̶t̶y̶....

While they were never official per say, they acted the part frequently enough for Hacker to consider it that way. He found it funny how at the time it seemed to be the other’s first go at something like that, it was no wonder he couldn’t know how to act properly to make Hacker know his place and yet keep whatever they had going on alive.

He thought it would be safe to assume most of his..negative? Traits were due to the influence of his father. The man was truly one of the worst he ever had the misfortune of coming across.

The idea of being stared down at by that man, tied down in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere made his skin crawl.

..Did he ever know about them?

He knows he never said anything, it was unlikely Colton did either but he couldn’t help wondering if that was possible.

He was just a mere tool anyway, all of them knew that.

The reason he was kept living was the fact he was useful at the time, that was it.

It was good enough for him.

The realization of that stung at first but he came to terms with it eventually.

At the time it wasn’t expected to come up in conversation, but it did regardless and undeniably made him question some things.

It was during the end of his first month there. Hacker was still getting used to the new routine, which was quite boring but he couldn’t do anything about it even if he tried to (it wasn’t like he wanted to piss someone off, he was even more of a twig back then than he is now so there was no chance it would’ve ended well, thinking about it.). Wake up, take a shower and get your breakfast avoiding as many people as you could to not aggravate anybody then go see what Colton was up to and potentially even get a task assigned to him. Those “tasks” weren’t any easy feat by any means, although it was all digital Hacker wouldn’t be allowed to get up and do anything unless absolutely necessary before he was done. He was always watched to make sure nothing was leaked either, it was quite uncomfortable for a while. Energy draining, to say the least. (He wasn’t even allowed to sleep in after as compensation. Just how unfair was that?!)

That day though, instead of being busy with something as he usually would be whether it was ordering (or moreso berating) someone around or actually doing some things himself, Colton was just..spinning around on a chair seemingly bored with not much to do. When the door creaked open his gaze immediately landed on Hacker’s curious face.

“Your hair looks absolutely terrible, did you even look at a mirror before coming here?” he scoffed, sitting up properly instead of whatever deranged position he was in just moments prior. (How did his back not snap actually he never thought about that..)

“You flatter me so early in the morning” Hacker rolled his eyes, a normal greeting in their words consisted of that and occasionally some other pointless remarks so it was a good sign.

“Why did you come here to bother me already”

“Can’t I just see my favourite person in this entire place?”

“Cut the bull, what do you want”

“You <3”

“Maybe I should get rid of you by now-”

“No-”

“-it’s not really like anyone would care, no one is looking for you or into your supposed death anyway”

Hacker wanted to respond, but he couldn’t.

A good sign, he said. Clearly.

“Oh?” The previously bored man now seemed interested, his expression perked up when he realized the other didn’t respond but actually only looked towards the ground instead.

“Did I hit a nerve there?” Despite the question usually being used in a joking matter when mentioned in a conversation with any normal people or friends, Hacker could clearly tell he was being mocked.

It wasn’t the first time someone said he wasn’t cared for.

Why does it matter now.

Why did he freeze.

Colton got up and walked towards him before grabbing his hand and stroking it gently. He never did that without reason.

“Poor little Theodore, I heard there wasn’t even a proper funeral held for you”

“..”

“I doubt many, if anyone, would have attended though so it doesn’t matter that much, don’t you agree?”

Nothing.

“To most you were probably just that annoying person they wanted to get off their backs huh? I bet some were even happy with the news.”

How long did he plan to continue?.

“Annoying, in their way. Did you ever have many friends, actually? I don’t see a reason for that to be the case but I can’t help the curiosity”

“Stop it.”

“When were you the one in the position to demand things of me?”

Right. He wasn’t.

“I understand them, really. The reason I’ve kept you around is because you’ve been useful, I have no reason to hide that. I'm sure you already knew, though?”

He hoped it was just some sort of insecurity acting up.

Apparently it wasn’t.

He leaned closer, now speaking right into his ear.

Hacker would have usually liked the sensation, he wasn’t one to complain about a man he found so pretty willingly being so close to him (quite the opposite unsurprisingly) but this time it was chilling.

“If only you kept yourself in your own business, then this wouldn’t even have come up at all. I’d not need to put up with you still, you wouldn’t need to be told all of this. Maybe you’d have come to the realization yourself after some time hm? The reason few were there before you were “dead”, how no one is looking for you right now despite some details about the death not adding up. Honestly I’m not sure how they even made the mistakes that they did but it doesn’t matter, I digress. Won’t you humor me with a response?” He continued, Hacker could practically feel his smile growing wider.

Of course he’d want to hear that.

“..I think I’ll be leaving”

“What a shame, so fast today”

Colton moved away slightly, but grabbed the other’s chin to bring him closer for a few moments before letting him go.

While Hacker would usually find that nice, he didn’t feel the same about it this time. He wanted to just go.

“You can leave, but don’t forget to come back in a few hours. You’d get lonely so I doubt it’ll happen, but a reminder doesn’t hurt”

“Right..”

It didn’t need to be said, Hacker’s mood was ruined after that. He left quieter than usual after that, clearly not happy about what just happened. N̶o̶t̶ l̶i̶k̶e̶ h̶e̶ h̶a̶d̶ t̶h̶e̶ g̶u̶t̶s̶ t̶o̶ s̶a̶y̶ a̶n̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ i̶t̶.

It wasn’t like he didn’t already know but that didn’t make it better, the others in highschool made sure to remind him plenty. He heard it so much before and never cared, what was different this time?

He ended up back in his own room if it can really be called that considering how it felt more like a cell of sorts than anything (did these people not know what paint was?? Grey isn't the only colour for walls, seriously it was BEYOND boring! It was even chipped, come on!), still without an answer.

Why was Colton so amused seeing him react that way? It couldn’t be that entertaining, it sucked to be told that kind of thing.

Saying anything back may have ended with him dead, so he just..didn’t respond at all. It fueled the other even more to continue which was the opposite of what he was hoping for. Though again, it wasn’t all that surprising seeing what he is, why did he expect anything else? That was stupid.

Though, people are different anyway. Maybe he was having a bad day, so he couldn’t help but take it out on somebody right? It made sense, Colton was never the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. He trusted Hacker enough to show him that, if anything, the man should be proud, really. S̶t̶o̶p̶ m̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ u̶p̶ e̶x̶c̶u̶s̶e̶s̶ f̶o̶r̶ h̶i̶m̶.

He was unharmed anyway, it was fine. Knowing the other, Hacker doubted anybody else would have managed to end the conversation there. But, he did. He was allowed to leave without too much trouble. He wasn’t hurt, Colton didn’t lay a harmful hand on him at any point despite some occasional threats of it. His….humor? was unique to say the least, finding what would usually be disturbing to be amusing instead. Though, it wasn’t his place to comment too much about that.

Some insults here and there are normal especially for a gang setting so he didn’t pay much mind to those, if anything a lack would be strange.

Nothing was wrong, but he couldn’t help feeling hurt.

It was so annoying.

It was all fine.

..How quickly was his supposed death handled?

Did his parents even know? Did they ask? Miss him? Search for him in hopes it was all fake?

If they did, would they have known?

Was there a possibility they cared enough to try s̶a̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ looking for him in this situation he found himself in?

He wanted to humor that thought for a little longer, the thought he mattered to them enough for that.

I̶t̶ h̶u̶r̶t̶ t̶o̶ k̶n̶o̶w̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶, b̶u̶t̶ i̶t̶ h̶u̶r̶t̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ w̶o̶r̶s̶e̶ t̶o̶ t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ w̶a̶s̶ i̶t̶ f̶o̶r̶ h̶i̶m̶. K̶n̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶h̶e̶y̶ d̶i̶d̶n̶'t̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ b̶a̶t̶ a̶n̶ e̶y̶e̶. I̶t̶ h̶a̶s̶ a̶l̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ b̶e̶e̶n̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ w̶a̶y̶. A̶s̶ c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶r̶e̶n̶ o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ g̶o̶t̶ i̶n̶t̶o̶ t̶r̶o̶u̶b̶l̶e̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ p̶a̶r̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ i̶f̶ t̶h̶e̶y̶ a̶c̶t̶e̶d̶ o̶u̶t̶ a̶t̶ h̶o̶m̶e̶ o̶r̶ s̶c̶h̶o̶o̶l̶, H̶a̶c̶k̶e̶r̶ W̶I̶S̶H̶E̶D̶ t̶h̶e̶y̶ c̶a̶r̶e̶d̶ e̶n̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ t̶o̶ s̶c̶o̶l̶d̶ h̶i̶m̶ a̶t̶ a̶l̶l̶. M̶a̶y̶b̶e̶ h̶e̶ w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'t̶ b̶e̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ d̶a̶m̶a̶g̶e̶d̶.

"F̶r̶e̶e̶d̶o̶m̶" w̶a̶s̶n̶'t̶ a̶s̶ n̶i̶c̶e̶ a̶s̶ p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ i̶t̶ w̶a̶s̶, h̶e̶ w̶a̶s̶n̶'t̶ "l̶u̶c̶k̶y̶" t̶o̶ b̶e̶ a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶e̶d̶ t̶o̶ l̶e̶a̶v̶e̶ a̶t̶ a̶n̶y̶ t̶i̶m̶e̶, h̶e̶ w̶a̶s̶n̶'t̶ a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶e̶d̶ t̶o̶, i̶t̶ w̶a̶s̶ j̶u̶s̶t̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ n̶o̶b̶o̶d̶y̶ n̶o̶t̶i̶c̶e̶d̶.

S̶o̶m̶e̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶, i̶t̶ l̶o̶o̶k̶e̶d̶ l̶i̶k̶e̶ t̶h̶e̶y̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ p̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶r̶e̶d̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶.

H̶i̶m̶ d̶i̶s̶a̶p̶p̶e̶a̶r̶i̶n̶g̶.

He left years ago, why is he thinking about this at all?

He didn’t like it.

W̶h̶a̶t̶ d̶i̶d̶ h̶e̶ e̶v̶e̶r̶ d̶o̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶h̶e̶m̶ t̶o̶ n̶o̶t̶ s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶ h̶i̶m̶ a̶t̶ a̶l̶l̶ w̶h̶a̶t̶ d̶i̶d̶ h̶e̶ d̶o̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶h̶e̶m̶ t̶o̶ n̶o̶t̶ c̶a̶r̶e̶ n̶o̶t̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ o̶n̶e̶ b̶i̶t̶ w̶h̶y̶ d̶i̶d̶ e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ e̶l̶s̶e̶ g̶e̶t̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ d̶i̶d̶ h̶e̶ g̶o̶ w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ w̶h̶y̶w̶a̶s̶i̶t̶h̶i̶m̶w̶h̶y̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'t̶t̶h̶e̶y̶c̶A̶R̶E̶-̶

His head hurt.

A nap wouldn’t hurt would it?

If he was needed, he’d be woken up.

A few words wouldn’t hurt after, he probably didn’t rest well enough that night.

Yea, that's why he was unsettled.

T̶h̶e̶ r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶ h̶e̶ t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ C̶o̶l̶t̶o̶n̶ w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ h̶a̶v̶e̶ a̶ s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ w̶h̶e̶n̶ i̶t̶ c̶a̶m̶e̶ t̶o̶ h̶i̶s̶ f̶e̶e̶l̶i̶n̶g̶s̶.

It wasn’t like he’d be hurt over it anyway, T̶h̶e̶y̶ c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'t̶ b̶e̶ b̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶d̶, h̶e̶ w̶a̶s̶ e̶a̶s̶y̶ e̶n̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ t̶o̶ s̶c̶a̶r̶e̶. Colton wouldn’t let it happen. ...h̶e̶ w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'t̶. R̶i̶g̶h̶t̶?̶.

Definitely, he had no doubt.

It’ll be okay once he wakes up, forgetting this even happened.

Who knows, maybe he could even get an apology!~

Or that was just wishful thinking, either way it was fine. I̶t̶ w̶a̶s̶ t̶h̶e̶ o̶n̶l̶y̶ t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ d̶i̶s̶t̶r̶a̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ h̶i̶m̶ f̶r̶o̶m̶ a̶l̶l̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶, h̶e̶ c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'t̶ g̶u̶a̶r̶a̶n̶t̶e̶e̶ s̶t̶a̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ s̶a̶n̶e̶ i̶f̶ h̶e̶ s̶a̶t̶ d̶o̶w̶n̶ a̶n̶d̶ t̶r̶u̶l̶y̶ a̶c̶k̶n̶o̶w̶l̶e̶d̶g̶e̶d̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ s̶i̶t̶u̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶. D̶i̶s̶a̶s̶s̶o̶c̶i̶a̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ i̶t̶ e̶n̶t̶i̶r̶e̶l̶y̶ w̶a̶s̶ b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶h̶e̶m̶ a̶l̶l̶.

I̶f̶ h̶e̶ d̶i̶e̶d̶ h̶e̶r̶e̶, t̶h̶e̶n̶ s̶o̶ b̶e̶ i̶t̶. A̶t̶ l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ h̶e̶ d̶i̶d̶n̶'t̶ d̶o̶ s̶o̶ a̶l̶o̶n̶e̶, s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ w̶a̶s̶ b̶y̶ h̶i̶s̶ s̶i̶d̶e̶.

..D̶o̶e̶s̶ i̶t̶ t̶r̶u̶l̶y̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶?̶

..Hacker was starting to consider requesting some sleeping pills, his mind was running wild again.

It was annoying and pointless.

It’ll be fine when he’s awake, everything will be normal again.

This won’t matter, it’ll never come up again.

---

Word count: 4.4k

[foxgirltail]

I like shitting on tears of the kingdom. I'm gonna do that some more. I'm not gonna touch the garbage fire of a story because that's a whole other essay, this is just from a gameplay perspective.

This is also based off of patch 1.1.0, because I haven't touched any of the later ones

Reader bereader you're in for a sceader I guess:

Starting off kinda funny we have: I have seen a YouTuber who largely did botw based videos (challenge runs and documenting glitches) dip their toe into totk, doing a playthrough and a couple videos in that. And then going back to making botw videos. Incredibly funny

Next off we have: changes I think Nintendo made specifically to spite returning players, speed runners, and glitch hunters (most of the glitches "patched out" were not things people were going to encounter in regular playthrough anyway. I say "patched out" because seemingly rather than tweaking the physics engine to prevent them, they removed the mechanic enabling them)

Armor upgrade costs: the amount of materials and cost of upgrading them is significantly higher in totk, while the amount of rupees and materials gained has not increased. This feels like a buffer to keep people playing longer to 100% the game, rather than anything purposeful

Whistle sprinting (and, I believe, other stamina regen techniques like spamming B while climbing) removal: while technically a glitch that could be patched out, it really only made traversal a little faster, so it seemed unnecessary. Also the game punishes you for trying it by having a steeper stamina cost AND slower run speed at the start of the animation, so attempting to whistle sprint will make you slower and use stamina faster than just regular sprinting

Removing cryonis: people used cryonis and bullet time to get places they couldn't, so they removed it. Water traversal is slightly easier in totk anyway, with the ability to make a boat wherever you want, but more than once during my playthrough I found myself wishing for it

Changing magnesis to ultrahand: while technically a direct upgrade, the animation and appearance have changed in such a way to prevent a handful of glitches from occurring

Removing remote bombs: ok this one feels the most egregious of the runes to me. While it's true you can pick up bombs just on the ground now it's not the same. For nonglitch reasons I found myself wanting remote bombs quite regularly. The only reason I think this was removed was because of wind bombing, which is silly

All in all, I found the changes in powers somewhat lacking. Fuse can't be done in the inventory, ascend is kinda finicky, and ultra hand has a new currency system

mini game changes: I think the overall number of minigames was reduced, the value of their rewards were reduced, and the notable ones that I know were removed were attached to baseline glitches (aka glitches that make other glitches possible)

I also think the changes to sage/champion powers are bad from a gameplay perspective:

Surrounding yourself with water and splashing water for a single water attack was hardly useful. There's a single boss fight where it's necessary and I guess you can do elden easier with it, but there's already fire suppressants in game. I'd rather have a free heal periodically

The fire charge is. Eh? It's nice for clearing rocks (since you don't have unlimited bombs anymore), but otherwise not super helpful outside of the requisite bossfights

The lightning blast is. Well it's a direct downgrade from botw's. The area of damage is smaller, you have to wait for Riju to charge it up right, and you have to shoot an arrow near or at the target for it to hit (costing an arrow and a bow durability point). Vs just charging up a normal attack and having it hit in an area around you

Tulin's wind blast is good. I'd prefer if on ground you could have it go vertical as well though (but vertical wind can be used in certain glitches, so that had to go)

Mineru's robot form is kinda cool from a mechanical standpoint, but not very fun to control or do combat in

Also utilizing the sages abilities is. Bad. Because you have to be standing next to them to activate it and they're always running around in combat, making it hard to intentionally activate it. and activating an ability supercedes stuff like picking up items and other interactions, making it easy to unintentionally activate it. 2/10 make it a whistle menu or something instead

Damage numbers being hidden or outright lying:

The master sword does not list its damage (base or fused, though it does show the +fused damage). This is the only weapon in the game to not show the base damage value [it follows the same rules as botw by the way, 30 by default, 60 under certain conditions]

The damage number of spears and two handed weapons do not match their actual damage output. The (unaltered) display value of spears is 33% more than the actual (unaltered) damage (rounded up to seem higher). The (unaltered) display value of two handed weapons is 5% less than the actual (unaltered) damage (rounded down to seem lower). The way this affects modifiers and fuse damage is even more complicated. This change appears to be to incentivize spear usage and disincentivize two handed weapons (in botw two handed weapons were greatly favored over one handed weapons and spears, in that order), but I think it's a bad decision to try and appear transparent about the damage you're dealing, while also lying about it

The champions tunic ability to see health bars was removed, further obfuscating how much damage is being dealt. I assume this was done so that it takes longer for people to notice (and then complain) about the lying numbers and the master sword numbers

Also the elemental damage outfit abilities are kinda silly. Doing ice damage only when it's snowy out seems rather pointless when you're most often fighting ice-based enemies in those conditions. Fire is similar. Lightning gets a pass because it can thunderstorm most other places, and those enemies aren't always going to be lightning based

I think totk did a lot of things well, and I enjoyed my playthrough of it. There were also a lot of things that frustrated me! But it feels like some things were changed specifically to spite a certain category of player, while making the experience worse for everyone else

I'll probably add more to this when I remember other stuff lol

[pixies-and-poets]

Donkey kong tropical freeze is such a bad game, it's not even really about playing or having fun, it's just strictly super technical and all about inhumanly perfect timing. It seems like a game designed for a cpu that has all the perfect inputs already programmed into it. Playing it as a human player is like... oh, sorry, but you didn't wait until literally the very last frame to jump off the last platform, so now your jump won't be able to cover the distance to the next platform. Sorry, try the last 2 minutes of gameplay you just did all over again! Like what kind of weird ass game devs think that's what makes a game good? Instead of filling a game with nothing but ridiculously challenging platforming that demands inhuman precision, just find ways to make it creative and interesting. I swear so many professional game devs come off like those stupid kids in mario maker who just make stupidly impossible levels where theres some secret shortcut only they know about like "hehe nobody will beat MY level" and its embarrassing. Whatever happened to the old donkey kong style of game where I remember swimming around as a cool swordfish and not worrying about my every input at rapid speed like I'm playing dance dance revolution on expert, but just exploring and enjoying the music and collecting bananas and having fun? The elitist direction of this series is so depressing.

This ask made my eyes bulge when I first saw the preview, but... while I don't necessarily agree with you, I'm gonna meet you where you are.

Tropical Freeze is a game that I think I respect more than I actually enjoy. Its music is incredible, its enemy team is about as fun as can be without actually being Kremlings, its levels are beautiful and you can play as Dixie again, AND Cranky (and now Funky). I don't know if you thought I'd find this ask insulting but I've only ever played the game twice to my memory, and I don't have a huge amount of personal attachment to it. Once, as co-op when the game was brand new, and again when it came out on Switch I did Funky Mode. Whereas I play the original SNES trilogy at least once a year. (edit: actually I'm pretty sure I've done Funky Mode twice)

Because it's been so long since I did the "normal" game, and because I played co-op, I don't have a strong remembrance of how difficult it actually is. But I do remember it being quite hard for us both. If I'm good at any games in the world, I'm fucking good at the old DKCs. I used to speedrun them, I grew up with and was molded by them. And while Retro Studio's work is built off of them, there's a slightly different feel and weight to its demands that are just different enough that I can no longer innately be an expert. (Side note, if you want a game that actually feels more similar to the old games, check out Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair!! It's great!)

So I get where you're coming from, I really do. I think TF is a masterpiece. I say that, anyway, so... Why do I never feel the urge to replay it? But honestly I think that's down to how the game feels overall, its length and level design, its overlong bosses, and not due to its difficulty, which is neither here nor there for me. ...and the fucking rocket barrel levels, I kind of hate them.

See, I do appreciate a good challenge and have played games since that I would consider far more demanding than TF. Of course many of them are indie games, or classic games. Tropical Freeze is pretty hard for a mainstream Nintendo game of the modern era, but lots of people out there love a good challenge and I think it's a good thing that Nintendo/Retro respect their players enough to issue one. Unfortunately, people who want to chill with the silly cartoon animals might end up being frustrated, BUT! That's what Funky Mode is for. It really was a genius idea. Funky Mode is like, so much more fun IMO, it really does replicate the feel I get with the original DKCs, allowing you to go faster and be more confident even if you're not that familiar with TF's level layouts. Even then, it's not totally easy- you still have to be somewhat careful and pay attention, but you can get through the game a lot faster.

And I do want to say, while TF may be the most difficult DKC game, the originals were no walk in the park either. I don't know your experience with how much you've played them, but like I said, for ME they seem easy- after all these years- but I've been around streaming communities, and communities that specifically like to do challenges and casual races, for a long time now. I've seen so many people struggle getting through DKC, DKC2 or DKC3 for the first time. I've seen people give up on doing it without save states. I've seen extremely skilled gamers get frustrated when attempting speed or challenge runs, which granted is a special case, but they have hours and hours of practice and the game meets them there and still kicks them. The DKC series has always been on the harder side, compared to something like Mario which would be the average. I know someone who, like me, has DKC2 as his favorite game ever... but still struggles while playing it. So your description of the older games seems a little rose-tinted. Maybe the early levels were all fun times collecting bananas, but tell me how much peace and vibes you really had in Snow Barrel Blast or Poison Pond or Lightning Lookout or Koindozer Klamber or Parrot Chute Panic or Toxic Tower or- (and that's not even to mention lost world levels)

TF has become a fan darling, but it's ok to not like it. That said, I think its Switch release crafted it into an ideal: a legit challenge for those who want one, and a different mode for those who just want to storm through and yet without it being a totally babymode no-brainer experience. I would like to see any future games offer a balance similar to this, if we ever get them.

....they really do gotta bring Enguarde back though, that's the important thing. I'm not kidding.

[peemanne]

pee-man yakuza ost review: Kiwami 1 (IT MEANS EXTREME!!)

So since I did a little write-up on the original game's OST and I thought it'd be fun to do it with Kiwami's soundtrack, since I got the original's soundtrack fresh in my mind, and because I haven't actually played the Kiwamis yet. (i've been playing these games in the world's jankiest order don't question it).

So here we are! Since it's my first time fully listening to this, I decided to make this write up a little more complete. And by little more, I mean I wrote about just about every track available to me. Whoops.

I wrote and listened to this over the course of 3 nights, so I'll mark the "sessions" as such if you're curious. I'll also have hyperlinks to all the tracks in their titles for convenience.

This is gonna be a very subjective thing, and I'm gonna make a LOT of comparisons to the original work. I'm sure at least some of my opinions would change if I actually played them in their original, specifically Kiwami context, but for now, here are my thoughts on Yakuza Kiwami's soundtrack. (i don't think there are any major spoilers for most of this post!! though i'll be using a pastebin to talk about the final boss theme so keep that in mind)

it means extreme by the way

Session 1 Receive You Reborn

DUDE. 

I love this rendition so much. The revamped, heavy drums. The heavy guitar. THE VOCALIST. I can’t even understand Japanese but they add so so much to the track. I still haven’t played Kiwami myself but I know for a fact this ended up getting cut from the english release because of licensing funnies, and that just sucks, because this song ROCKS. A more than worthy rendition of the original, iconic theme. The lyrics actually make the song reflect into Nishiki instead of the original reflecting to Kiryu, which is just amazing. The lack of the “ROLLING EYES FALL” choir stings a little, sure, but it’s gonna take a lot more than that to take this track down. It’s so good. 

極龍の嘶き+ 極龍の胎動 (Roar of the Dragon Redux):

I’m assuming this is the main menu theme, and it’s pretty good at conveying the mood and atmosphere for the story, I feel. It’s quite the haunting melody, and I love those sirens at the very start, referencing the opening scene with Kiryu getting arrested. Pretty cooooooooool. 

Renewed Unrest:  (Remake of Unrest)

ok but listen to that bassline though. mmmmmmmm. 

The original Unrest track is one I’ll definitely remember: Yakuza 1’s atmosphere was one of its greatest strengths in my eyes, and that panic track solidified that a lot during those tense moments in the story. This remake is really good! It still has the strong atmospheric sound of the original, while giving it more instruments to work with. It tells you there’s danger right around the corner, but you don’t know when it’s gonna jump. 

迫 (Urgency): I think this is a blow to the city remake? I’m not confident in saying that. But hey, it’s another good, more tense panic theme. Not much to really say here, but I still like it. They use some unique instruments here (my dumbass only really noticed towards the end) and I think they’re awesome and add a lot to the (obvious) urgency of the track. 

Funk Goes On 極:

Kiwami!! It means extreme!! This is probably one of the more famous tracks in like… the whole series. I’m pretty sure most of its success is because of Majima Everywhere funnies. Anyways, I think the original wins out here, but Kiwami isn't bad at all. It’s definitely faster paced: whether or not you think that’s a good thing is up to preference, but it does make a distinction between the two. I’m much more preferable to the original’s rocky jazz. It feels more effortlessly badass, y’know? The techno in Kiwami isn’t bad, sure, but I feel it just lacks some of the punch the original had. 

Flirt With Bomb: (Remake of son of a gun)

Look how they massacred my boy… My son of a gun (2006)...

Alright, I’m not really being fair with this one, but I just vastly prefer the original. Still though, this is a solid track in its own right. It still gets the hype going, and I just love the buildup at the start. I like how they handled the techno here more than they did Funk Goes On Kiwami, honestly. But again, I just like son of a gun more. Like, way more. I’m getting sad just thinking about it. 

Scarlet Scar by Fierce Tiger: (Remake of Scarlet Scar)

Pretty sick, actually! I feel like this matches the original’s energy much more than the last two battle themes did. They even kept the original samples with unintelligible mouth noises and stuff!! And you gotta love those Y1 sirens, I love it when the tracks add that in. The original still feels like the heavier of the two, but this one still stands as an aggressive, raw track to match the Shimano Family’s brutishness. It's a bop either way, that's for sure.

Ideal For Violence: (Remake of Intelligence For Violence)

HELL YEAH DUDE!! 

I ADORE this track. I love the guitars. I love the little “YEAH YO!” at the start. I love those crass, vaguely drug-related (probably) unintelligible English vocals, and those guys yelling “YO! YO! YO!” with him. AND THAT SAX. That sax has been stuck in my mind for so long. I like the original Intelligence For Violence, sure, but Ideal is just amazing to me. Why does RGG keep giving Shindo the coolest tracks ever? Hell if I know, but I’m so glad this exists because of it.

Session 2

Get Over It

First completely original song I’m pretty sure, and comments are saying it’s the generic long battle theme. And I think it’s a pretty solid track! It does a good job at setting up the stakes and some of the tragedy of Y1’s fights, and again, I like some of those unique instruments they use. It’s almost trance-like in some sections. And that guitar section in the middle: that’s what really makes the track. It reminds me a lot of Solitude and that atmosphere of that track, and considering that’s one of my absolute favorite tracks in the series, that’s pretty high praise. It sounds dream-like, but still tense as hell and it really gets the blood pumping that way.

キワメシトキ (no translation sorry :C)

Apparently this is the theme for some prototype Extreme Heat/EX Boost/Install Super/Devil Trigger thing in Kiwami? Anyways, not really much to say here. The drums feel heavy I guess, but there’s just not much to this. Can’t imagine hearing it repeatedly either without getting at least somewhat annoyed at it. Meh. 

The End of the Dogma: (Remake of End of the Drama)

Alright, I’m feeling this one! I really like how they handled the techno here: the original feel can still definitely be felt strong, while still allowing it to crank it up a notch and be its own thing. The original still feels more raw, which honestly applies to almost all of the remakes, but this one hits hard in its own right. It’s those triple echoes, man. The WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH. I dig this one quite a bit! I’d personally put it on-par with the original. 

Pray Me ~Revive~:

they removed most of the unintelligible rap parts 0/10 remake

Look, I can excuse some songs just now quite matching the energy of the original, but I’m just not really on board with Revive. Of all the tracks in the original, Pray Me was probably the rawest sounding, angry track, and Revive tries to match it, but it just… doesn’t do it for me. There are some parts to like, of course: the more orchestral sounding sections near the end are pretty cool. But like…man. I just can’t help but feel a little let down by this one. It should feel like it’s more energetic, but it really doesn’t. It’s honestly not that bad, but compared to the original, it just can’t stand on its own. 

Receive You the madtype: (Remake of Receive You the Prototype)

CONFESSION: This is my least favorite of the Majima themes. There’s just something about it to me that I can’t really put my finger on. It just feels like it’s lacking something. Maybe Hyperactive and Subtype just spoiled me in regards to the more techno themes, I don’t know. It’s still good, don’t get me wrong, it’s probably one of the better tracks out of the OST so far, but man. I’m sorry I can’t explain it, I really am, but it just feels off to me. Cannot emphasize this enough, it’s still an actually pretty damn good song, but it’s just not for me personally with the competition it has to stand up to. Maybe I’ll warm up to it the more I listen to it like I did with Subtype, but for now, I think it’s the weakest Majima theme.

Virtical Point: (Remake of Turning Point)

I don’t know why they named it like that with the typo. Anyways, Turning Point is probably my favorite track in the original game, so I also walked into this one with pretty high expectations. And after listening to it, I honestly can’t really compare the two. But I can say I did quite like the track. I can feel the sorrow and the overall mood of the original more, but this one is literally just rave music. And I like Yakuza’s literally just rave music tracks, so… 

I can’t really say how much this would fit the big fight it plays in, because again, I haven't actually played the Kiwamis. But as a track, Virtical Point’s a hell of a vibe. I’m not saying it's completely devoid of that feeling the original had, the build-up sections are amazing, but I feel like they trade some of that for just pure techno blast. And I love those drops with the “FEEL THE FORCE” and “FEEL THE POWER''s. I’m glad this is probably what led them to create Rake Your Inside, which is very awesome and cool and swag.

End Point still better though don’t @ me 

Ogre Has Reborn: (Remake of Ogre Has Returned)

Don’t really know if this is gonna surprise anyone, but this is actually a remake of a Yakuza 3 track! Lau just used the generic boss theme in the original game. 

Anyways, this track’s interesting, because it sounds more… triumphant, more than anything? It’s really badass in a pretty unique way in that aspect. The first half conveys the intimidation part well, but the second half just sounds amazing. The original track does that too, and honestly I think it sounds better there, but here it feels more refined and even graceful. I dig the little Chinese motifs too, of course. Pretty dope track overall. It’s all ogre now.

The Wicked:

Another original track, and I can probably appreciate this one more than usual because I don’t have the nightmares it seems to be associated with. 

I quite like this one! Like the last track, it feels triumphant: it’s one last, herculean push to the finish line. The piano and string sections convey that really well, but it still exposes the wickedness of the other side. It still feels menacing, like evil itself. The choir actually fulfills both roles perfectly, too. The techno doesn’t feel too overbearing either, which can be a bit of a problem with the OST at times. 

Cool song that I’ll be glad to remember just as a cool song and not whatever nightmare boss fight Kiwami players had to sit through. 

Final Boss Theme pastebin: (spoilers, obviously)

Lunatic Warrior (Remake of Fiercest Warrior from Ishin!)WHERE’S THE “afloi” AT THE START????

Anyways, pretty cool track. It’s against some VERY stiff competition to me (I adore the Amon themes), and while I don’t think it’s quite as good as they are, this one still slaps. This is Kiryu and Amon’s (technically) first meeting, and it makes sense that it wouldn’t really be as menacing as stuff like K2’s Fiercest Warrior, for example. The main melody’s catchy and the choir remains amazing. And while it’s not AS menacing as some other Fiercest Warriors, it still fits that quota pretty well. This track has a lot of energy to it, which I appreciate. Plus they got the sirens back. I love the sirens. 

TAKUMI 2016 (Remake of TAKUMI 2009 from Yakuza 3)

I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t really a fan of the TAKUMI themes for a while, then I listened to 0’s again, and suddenly I think they’re awesome now. Anyways, this one’s definitely up there with 1988. This goes prettttyyyyyyyyy hard. I love the graceful mix of the traditional bits with the intense techno breaks: it makes for a pretty one-of-a-kind track while still being sick and feeling heavy. Pretty neat! 

Also it sounds like a song from one of the rhythm games I play (Rhythm Doctor) so it gets bonus points for reminding me of another game I really like. 

Amusing Octagon:

I knew this track from before this session because of a meme with Walter White complaining about not being able to play Yakuza Kiwami OST - 20 Amusing Octagon or something

It sounds like a Tekken track. Like, you could slap this onto some random character select screen and it’d probably fit perfectly. This hits pretty hard! It fits the colosseum vibe really well and just sounds great on top of that. It’s a fun track. Amusing, even. Maybe even Yakuza Kiwami OST - 20 Amusing Octagon or something

Session 3

Ruthless Octagon:

It’s a mean track. Ruthless, even. Maybe even uhhhhhh

I think Amusing’s the better Octagon here but this one’s decent too. I’m gonna assume this is what plays for final rounds, and it does a good job at conveying that last push feeling. It’s heavy, it gets the blood pumping, and again, fits the colosseum vibe like a glove. I've been told they used this for K2's colosseum too, and overall they made a pretty good choice for a track to bring back for it!

Set My Heart:

I have literally no idea what this plays for. It sounds like another character select screen to me. Anyways, really fun track! It’s short, sure, but it’s a funky little beat the whole time and doesn’t overstay its welcome. And I love those brass sections, making it even better. It’s just a short little vibe, and it doesn’t really need to be anything more than that. 

Everlasting Spirit:

This is randomly super catchy. Again, absolutely no idea what it plays for, but it’s a real earworm…

This sounds like something that would play while Kiryu busts a move with a completely straight face the whole time. I’d probably be dancing with him, too. Cool song! Gotta love that percussion. 

In a Dead Heat:

Now this one sounds like a customization menu theme for a racing game. Probably pocket circuit, if I’d have to guess. I really dig the guitar riffs they use here. It’s just a cool, short upbeat track to get you ready to very excitedly scream at toy cars. 

Beastie Beat:

so true beastie 

This one sounds really arcade-y, in a good way! It’s really fun and even feels a little nostalgic. Again, I dig the guitar riffs they use in this one. This definitely makes me want to very excitedly scream at toy cars. 

Smack In The Forest:

Sounds like a more intense version of the last track, like a final-lap scenario. It’s definitely more energetic and the guitar feels heavier. Something something scream at toy cars. Good track. I want to make out with pocket circuit fi

As a Memory:

I know for a FACT this plays in Yakuza 5. I can’t remember exactly when, but I’ve definitely heard it in there. Probably with Haruka. 

That aside, the track’s a little repetitive, but still pretty fun. It’s just a little something to maybe bop your head to for a few. I like the strong bassline throughout, it really adds a lot to the vibe. 

TONIGHT-restart from this night-【Full Spec Edition】:

I’m playing through 6 right now and I recently got to experience playing this song for the first time. You can’t do this to me RGG

It’s no secret Takaya Kuroda’s a great singer, but man… He really poured his soul out for this track. You can really just feel all the sorrow Kiryu’s had to bottle up. That chorus just hits so hard. 

those Y0 screenshots were a CHEAP SHOT AND YOU KNOW IT RGG. IT’S NOT FAIR DAMMIT 

意地桜 (Iji Sakura) 2000 [Full Spec Edition]:

I’ve listened to the Ishin version and I just like the more traditional, heartfelt ballad that one was, but this one just steers into a completely different direction and I just can’t dislike it for that. The instrumental is way more badass than it really has any right to be, lmao. This track makes me want to go outside and very angrily pluck out turnips from the ground. That chorus is just unbeatable in either version, and is very easily my favorite part of the song. Not really a karaoke song that I’ll be blasting on repeat, but it’s a pretty cool track nonetheless.

ばかみたい 哀愁 Baka Mitai ~Sorrow~ [Full Spec Edition]:

I had no idea Kiwami had a Baka Mitai remix! I was completely expecting to just skip this one because it’s… well, it’s Baka Mitai. Who in this community hasn’t heard it a million times? 

So it’s an acoustic cover with some strings slapped on there for good measure. I think the original still stands superior, but it’s still really neat that this gets to exist alongside it. It amplifies the sorrow a bit more (I mean I'd hope so from “Baka Mitai ~Sorrow~), and obviously Kuroda’s cover of Baka Mitai is legendary at this point. This was more or less destined to sound good no matter what, and again, it’s just really cool that this exists. 

Ishin spec still better though don’t @ me 

Moment de la Petite Sirene 刹那の人魚姫 (Heartbreak Mermaid) [Full Spec Edition]:

JAN! JAN! JAN! JAN!

This song caught me off-guard: it’s pretty damn good! I’m admittedly a sucker for this kind of music, and I honestly prefer this version to the original’s. It’s catchy, sounds a little nostalgic, and also has Spanish guitar. And Spanish guitar is always a win. The singer’s also pretty good, she really adds to the more laid back feeling this track has. It sounds like something I’d have blasting in my headphones while doing grocery shopping at 9AM. It just has that kind of vibe, I can’t really describe it in another way. 

ユーロde×3シャイン (x3 SHINE) [Full Spec Edition]:

Maybe a little too energetic for my tastes, I think the original does better here, but this isn’t a bad rendition. It’s just the chorus which is my problem, though. The original has such a memorable, fun chorus, but here it’s just not as strong. It might just be I find Yuki to be a way better vocalist, but eh. It feels like it loses itself a little with going all in with the energy. 

オトメタルmy life (Otometal my life) [Full Spec Edition]:

I love how split this track is. You got a guitar just FIGHTING FOR ITS LIFE in there, and Haruka just singing sweetly. No seriously, the instrumental’s so sick in this one. Haruka’s honestly a really good vocalist, and Kiryu just hyping his daughter up by putting his ALL into screaming for her is amazing as well. It’s so stupid, and it dedicates 100% effort to it anyways, and that results in this insane, fun karaoke song. Also completionists apparently hate this song for some reason, which I find very comedic. 

10/10. I thought it was “oatmeal” at first. Also made me forget this actually showed up in Yakuza 4 first. This one's cooler though

in conclusion and stuff

Overall, I'm pretty mixed on Kiwami's soundtrack. There are a couple of songs, while not bad, just don't really compare to the original. The techno direction isn't inherently bad (look at LJ, 0, LAD, those all have amazing music), but Kiwami can definitely go a little overboard with it, souring some songs.

That being said, Kiwami still has no shortage of just fantastic tracks. Ideal For Violence is literally the best thing ever, for example. The original tracks are pretty strong too, with Get Over It and The Wicked being tracks that really caught my attention. The karaoke selection's a nice little bonus too, basically being a remix selection, which is just fun.

Maybe I'd like Kiwami's soundtrack more if it didn't have to directly compare the whole thing to the original, but for what it's worth, I still think it has a very solid OST overall. RGG's composers are just on another level honestly

Since I had a lot of fun making this, I'll probably end up going wildly off-course for my original plan for these and just start doing full soundtrack write-ups. Oh well. I'll probably take a look at Kenzan's next, if that's the case. Until then, thanks for reading me ramble about video game osts for awhile :)

also i still promise i have swag please its not the only thing i listen to you have to believe me please don't leave pl

[progamersoleil]

Kingdom Death: Year 3 [Settlement]

As the group returns to the settlement, dragging bag its copious supply of resources that they (Miasma) harvested from the Smog Singers, they encounter someone strange living in the settlement.

"Hey guys, it's me! Hikariko! The most memorable Touhou mid-boss! Eh? What do you mean you don't remember me!? I-I've been here the whole time, I swear...! Wait where are you going!? Are you even listening to me!?"

They were not.

... More concerning though, was the suspicious lack of several of the ice statues that ordinarily adorned Scorpina's castle.

"Ah, yes. That. I forgot to mention, I few of my statues may have... thawed. I'm just gonna blame Brigit for this one."

"Who's Brigit?"

"Don't worry about it, you'll meet her later. For now, maybe just go send someone to take care of those missing statues for me."

Orin and Okuu decide to go together to investigate the missing statues, and to their horror, find that they have in fact thawed and are out and about in the darkness.

... and they are big, and they look hungry.

Also I burned a couple of those lifetime rerolls from Survival of the Fittest to guarantee getting Partnership for free because free innovations is always good.

I also archived one of those fluted bones from the smog singers to get a free music innovation from the deck, and grabbed Song of the Brave. An excellent innovation, which also adds Saga to the deck.

... which I proceed to draw and take during my actual innovation of the year.

Three innovations in one year is insane, and Saga on Year 3 is kinda busted.

"Oh, and now the eugenics program is almost online. Perfect! You lot are advancing a lot faster than I anticipated."

But anyway, it's philosophy time! Nearly everyone who went on the most recent hunt got to either adopt a new philosophy or advance their current one.

Oh, Loki. Poor, poor Loki. You have such an unfortunate combination of knowledges at your disposal.

Just suffer a bunch of severe injuries and brain traumas to advance and get stronger, it's fine. You definitely won't die.

Sakuya decides to adopt the same self-centered survivalism philosophy as Miasma.

Just with, uh. You know, less murder and bone hunger.

Miasma advances her own survivalist philosophy. She can now sense death.

She's honestly been quite good at it so far, so that's probably not a surprise.

And Lydia, uh...

"I'm already like 3/4 dead, nothing about this is surprising to me."

[rygoespop]

Thomas and Friends: Tales from Sodor (Story 38): Mine Avalanche

Narrator: Mine Avalanche

Scene opens with all the Narrow Gauge Engines being busy at the Blue Mountain Quarry

Narrator: It was a busy day at the Blue Mountain Quarry, all the Narrow Gauge Engines including Millie are working hard

Freddie: *shunts a Slate Car on Owen's Platform* Alright Owen, bring it down!

Owen: Next stop, the bottom of the hill! *he brings the Slate Car down*

Millie: *puffing with 5 Slate Cars* Oh, Luke!

Luke: Oh, thank you Millie!

Just then, a whistle was heard

Luke: That sounds like...

Stephen: Hello everyone!

Glynn: We are back!

Sir Robert Norramby: Hello Luke, I see Millie is enjoying her time with you and the others

Millie: Sir Robert, your back from your trip to the Mainland! How's the Antique Museum?

Sir Robert: It was splendid!

Luke: Well, that's a surprise!

Sir Robert: Sure it was! Anyways, come on Millie, time to head home to Ulfstead Castle!

Millie: Already? Aw, but I want to-

Foreman: All operation halt! The mine is crumbling!

Paxton: *screeched to a halt* What?!

Merrick: My goodness!

Sir Robert: A mine?

Luke: Yes sir! When Millie and I went inside, we got a surprise

Both Millie and Luke puff back, to reveal Smudger to Sir Robert

Sir Robert: Oh, hello there! Who are you?

Smudger: I'm Smudger, one of the old engines who use to work on the Mid Sodor Railway

Glynn: Oh my, I never thought I see another Mid Sodor Engine

Smudger: Indeed

Skarloey: Since Millie and Luke got Smudger out, we had to reboard the Mine, unknowingly that the support beam is old and rotten!

Foreman: As a matter of fact, we are scheduled to tear the old mine down, for good! Thumper, your on Mine Demolition duty!

Thumper: You can count on me, Foreman Boss! *he rolls to the Blue Mountain Mine*

Madge: Do be careful Thumper, that mine is unstable!

Thumper: I will!

Scene transitions to Thumper, now drilling into the mine

Narrator: Later, Thumper got to work, he drilled into the old Blue Mountain Mine, as the Foreman watches as the Demolition is underway

Thumper: Gotta bring this mine down! *he drills more*

Paxton: So, while we wait for the Mine to be collapsed, what do you want to do?

Glynn: Oh, how about a game of I Spy?

Stephen: Or we can look at the clouds?

Sir Robert: Don't be silly! We got an old mine that needs to be torn down!

Millie: Quite right sir!

Thumper nearly drills into the mine, until his arm damaged the old support beam

Thumper: What was that?!

Suddenly, a rock fell

Narrator: Suddenly, one rock fell

Another one fell

Narrator: Then another

Thumper: Avalanche! Help!!!

Madge: Hang on! *she races off to Thumper*

Skarloey: No Madge, wait!

Thumper backs up, but his Treads weren't fast enough, as he was going slow

Madge: Thumper hold on!

Madge turns around to have her wench attached to Thumper

Madge: Hold tight!

Madge's Wench tugs Thumper onto her trailer

Thumper: Hurry!

At last, Thumper was on Madge's trailer

Madge: Let's get out of here! *she rolled out with Thumper*

The Mine began to collapse with an avalanche

Narrator: Suddenly, the mine collapsed and Madge drove off to safety with Thumper

Madge: *speeding* We're gonna make it Thumper!

Thumper: I hope so! *he shut his eyes*

Madge drove faster as the rocks toppled and fall

Paxton: *seeing the dust* Oh my!

The avalanche flooded the mine section of the Quarry as the dust cleared, but Madge was no where to be seen

Duncan: Where's Madge and Thumper?

Skarloey: No! It can't be

Peter Sam: Gone

The Narrow Gauge Engines, Paxton, Stephen, Glynn, Owen, and Merrick look down in sadness until

Madge: Have no fear, the Snub Nose Lorry and her friend are here!

Skarloey: Madge! Thumper!

Luke: They made it!

All the Narrow Gauge Engines blew their whistles, Stephen and Glynn blew their whistles, evenly Rusty and Paxton honked their horns

Rusty: I knew they make it!

Thumper: Thank you Madge

Scene transitions to Sir Topham Hatt and Mr. Percival, both arrived at the Blue Mountain Quarry and saw the results from the destruction

Narrator: Later, when Sir Topham Hatt and Mr. Percival arrive, they inspect the site of the destruction

Sir Topham Hatt: We should've left this part of the Quarry, alone

Mr. Percival: I agree Topham

Scene transitions to all the Narrow Gauge Engines resuming their job, as Millie went back to Ulfstead Castle, Bertram observed the remains of the mine

Narrator: so after the mine was demolished, everything resumed as normal, but Bertram observed what's left of the mine, I wonder if there are Ghosts of the Blue Mountain Quarry, don't you?

Steam Clouds rolled in

Story End

[ladyirisreviews]

Breath of Fire - Review

I had this game on my backlog for ages, and I finally played it, though after playing so many modern RPGs I felt let down by it.

This doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to be talked about however, as this is still a very interesting game and a classic indeed, even if that means it's archaic in some ways.

let's start by explaining a bit about the game.

Released by Capcom in 1992, Breath of Fire was the first RPG made by the company.

Set in a world with different tribes of beast-men, some even able to transform into big creatures, a clan known as the dark dragons plans on taking over the world.

And after getting attacked by them and barely surviving, everything falls into the shoulders of a young man of the light dragon clan, the main character.

As you advance through the story you'll meet various characters that will join you in your quest to free the lands they inhabit.

As far as storytelling goes, the intro has the most immersive narration in all of the game, and it's easy to miss, you have to wait for quite some time on the title screen.

Outside of it, most of the dialogue of the game is very direct, characters telling you where to go, what to do, and the usual NPCs that give some clues on things you might need to do.

Scenes, where the main characters interact with each other, are few and far between, making them dry despite having interesting designs.

The antagonists also fail at being interesting, it's just the usual unidimensional team of evil dudes who want to control the world, not that it's a bad thing but like I said, after playing so many modern RPGs this feels substantially less special.

Now let's talk about the battle system, your options are:

Fight, Auto Battle, Run, Status, Change row (Front row or back row), and Change character for a reserve character.

In the fight option there's a normal attack, block, magic or item, auto-battle will make all the party members attack with their normal attack until the battle ends or until you press B, which is quite faster than with normal commands.

Despite having 2 functions that are uncommon for RPGs at this time, the auto-battle and changing party members in the middle of a fight, the way battles go is extremely straightforward.

You attack until you need to heal, and that's it.

Because of this healing items are very important early on, before you get any healing spells.

Also, spells are not very valuable for most of the game, you'll mostly be using the healing spells, because the damage spells do a set damage, and it never increases no matter how much your character levels up, and buffing spells don't do that much of a difference either.

It's until the end of the game that you get spells that can do some decent damage, but they get overshadowed by other much stronger options you'll have available by then.

I also felt elemental weaknesses weren't a thing, or that the reward for them wasn't substantial, so normal attacks were the main way to deal damage, at least the auto-battle helps you to not mash the A button over and over.

I found out later that elemental weaknesses are a thing but because they only do double damage, and spells do very little damage, is hardly worth it anyway.

The most strategic thing you can do in this game is to move a character from the front to the back, which only changes the damage it receives and takes.

Random battles go by quick because of the auto-battle, but bosses can take a while, you might expect that you need some planning on the bosses, so the auto-battle function shouldn't be used, but the vast majority of them play out the same as a random battle, except the hp pool is much larger.

Most of them have this mechanic that is called a second wind, where you deplete the boss hp bar but it stays alive, I am not gonna lie, it surprised me at first and I thought that when they were in this state you had to do specific actions to win the fight, but it's just like an invisible second bar of hp, and the surprise effect wears off very fast when you realize this.

I can only think of 1 boss battle that was good because it had a gimmick that required you to examine what was happening and change your attacks accordingly, but it is a letdown that most bosses are the same thing over and over again.

But what about the dungeons?

Well, the dungeon design on this game is also very simplistic, all the fork roads or mechanics they might have are only to get chests, which in the vast majority of cases will be equipment that isn't that far, or even lower than the one you could buy at the last town, or common use items, making most of the extra exploration in dungeons feel a bit pointless, there are a few actually good rewards but, as you can guess, they are pretty rare.

The dungeons are also very short, and none have actual puzzles, the closest thing to a puzzle is picking the correct path on multiple fork roads.

The overworld is also pretty small all things considered, but both the world and dungeons feel bigger than they are because of the very high encounter rate that permeates most of the game, it helps that they are fast and that the auto-battle function is there I guess, but it only makes the battles a little distraction rather than the core gameplay of your RPG.

The nice graphics and the battle music changing a few times through the game helps a little bit in making the game less monotonous, but still, they keep feeling like interruptions to the exploration rather than actual gameplay, and I think the exploration part of this game is pretty good.

Through the game you will encounter some obstacles you can't get over because they require specific party members to be in the leading position, and by pressing A they can do a special action exclusive to them, or by their presence alone they can achieve something, however, the game is not specific on what your characters can do, and this can lead you into situations where you can't progress because you don't know character have an overworld ability, but when you do know it is satisfying to travel back to places where you couldn't get something and get rewarded for remembering, and these rewards can be actually worth the hassle.

Next, I want to talk a bit about towns, I wouldn't normally make a point out of them but bear with me for a moment.

Towns are where you will get your next objectives, upgrade your equipment, rest, and stock on items, you know, the standard, the game also has a day and night cycle, on the day most of the NPCs will be outside of their houses but at night they will be found inside, which is a nice detail.

The towns don't have anything wrong with them technically, but I find it frustrating to explore them, and all for a simple reason.

You see, when you enter a house, almost always the music of the town will be replaced for this theme, and this happens throughout all of the game, it ends up being very annoying, the actual town themes are nice, but listening to the start over and over again starts to get frustrating.

Again, it's not a big thing but it's something that personally bothered me, outside of that theme, I found the music to be generally nice all around.

All this complaining must make you think I really don't like this game, but the truth is that I don't mind it, for its time, even if there were way better RPGs out there, it's a pretty ok game.

It's like if the team in charge of this tried to make a very basic RPG, but have it be very polished, sure it isn't perfect but it has accessibility stuff that some games that came after it didn't, an auto-battle for random encounters, a very handy warp spell, loses that only take money out of you instead of being an instant game over, and an item to make random encounters disappear for a while.

It's certainly not a game I would recommend if you want a full and rich RPG experience, considering how much better games there are out there now.

But if you are specifically into old RPGs, I think it's a game I could recommend, or you know, if you always play a series from the beginning, like me.

Not everyone wants to play an RPG with an extensive story, some people just like the satisfaction of going through an RPG and finishing it, and I get that, so if you want to give this game a go, there are some tips I can give you to make the experience as smooth as possible.

Item names can be funky sometimes, so always check in the item menu what an item does, this is another cool feature not any RPG had back then.

Since the inventory is old school, meaning everything is on the same menu and there's no sorting, do try to keep a certain order so it's not hell when you are searching for a specific item.

You might notice you can't compare the stats of a piece of equipment to what you are wearing, but in the stores, there is an option that lets you trade what you are wearing for the piece of equipment you want to check, and in here it does tell you how much your stats would increase or decrease.

The item mrble3, this is your best buddy for when you don't want to go through 20 minutes of random encounters just to get a chest you forgot or couldn't get before, they are very cheap so grab a handful whenever you are low on it.

And finally, the character abilities, there's a little hint that they exist near the beginning of the game but you are never told exactly what each character can do, so I'm gonna list all of them, because I lost a lot of time trying to figure some solutions out, and I couldn't because I didn't know a character had that ability, so spoiler warning I guess.

The main character can fish on wells in the overworld or on certain bridges, there are also some specific places where he can fish inside a town.

Near the end of the game, Nina can transform into a big bird, making her your airship basically.

Bo can walk through trees in the overworld, and also hunt the random animals that appear sometimes after an encounter with his bow.

Karn can open locked doors and disable any traps a chest might have.

Gobi can transform into a big fish after you get a certain item, making him your submarine.

Ox can destroy breakable walls, but he can also punch specific trees in the overworld, and there are 2 instances where that's needed to progress in the game, just as a heads up.

Mogu can dig on specific spots in the overworld and some dungeons.

And finally, Karn can transform, but only if you find hidden wise men and talk to them with Karn, that will teach him these transformation spells, and the last one you learn has the ability to scream, this scream can open specific doors in the overworld.

And that's pretty much it, I can't give more tips without linking a guide.

You know, I wish this game was more than it was, the world is pretty interesting, so an actual story with actual characters in that world could have a lot of potential, but maybe I'll get that wish with the sequels, I can't say I am not excited to play them.

I really like when a flawed game gets a sequel, because there's a high chance some of it flaws will get removed and it could be what it was always meant to be, or you know, at least a bit better.

If I had the chance to play this game again... I would definitely pass on it, there's just so many games I like way more, and many others I have still yet to play, but I can't say it was a waste of time either.

I have the firm belief that if a game was underwhelming to me, there's at least something to be learned from the experience, and as someone who wants to make videogames someday, specifically RPGs, this knowledge is very valuable to me.

Also, as a first attempt, it isn't as bad as it could have been, still, unless you either crave for that kind of experience, want to play the whole series, or also appreciate what you can learn from it, I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for a really good game.

[yourstruly-caycay]

Dancing Without Music

Poseidon x fem! reader x Sasaki Kojiro

Summary: Empty, one word to describe your relationship with Poseidon, beside what do you even expect this business marriage to be anyway?

Warning: mention of cheating

Part 1

“Loving you is like dancing without music” - BRDGS

~~~~~

Poseidon doesn’t care.

No, he shouldn’t care about you in the first place.

This is all nothing but a business marriage, something that every royalty must do, and there’s no such thing as love in here. Why should he care for his spouse when each other’s feeling is empty? It’s even a pointless affection you give to him to show your love in front of the deities

However, in people’s view, the two of you are like an actual couple; Poseidon have his usual stoic face while holding hand with you, meanwhile you casually giving your usual smile to them. Oh what lovely couple this is... on the outside.

Zeus, Hermes, Aphrodite, Hades, and pretty much some Greece Deities know the actual relationship between you and Poseidon, Those empty affection you give to him, not even batting an eye toward each other, let alone the way you kiss him is just feel fake. You and him doesn’t have a hate or love relationship, as long none of them bother each other, well until...

~~~~~~

“You don’t mind me having a relationship with another man, right?”

Poseidon stop in his track to write down the paperwork, not that he care, but he didn’t expect that question coming out from you. “Like I care what you’re doing, do what you want, woman.”

You chuckle at his statement, rude as always, not even a surprise at all. “However,” he continue, “Don’t let anyone find out about this if you want the business to stay intact.”

“You got that, boss.” He scoff in annoyance at your playful smile, and once you left from his office you go off somewhere... somewhere he didn’t expect you to go.

...

After all the work, he finally can go to the so-called “shared bed” you have with him, laying on the side of the bed as if you're gonna sleep beside him. Even until now, you still hasn't come back to the palace, where is this goddess has been doing? Oh you better not slacking off if you don't want him to get annoyed-

The clicking sound from the door alarmed Poseidon that you've arrive, changing your clothes and sleep beside him, before you sleep, you glance at his sleeping form then give him a kiss on the cheek, which caught him off guard since this is the first time you give him affection without anyone looking. Fortunately, you has immediately off to sleep, because Poseidon also glance at your sleeping form for the first time, questioning your action on why the hell are you doing such this romantic things?

Not knowing that you cause his heart beat faster and surprisingly glance at you for quite long enough until he realize on what he’s doing and immediately go to sleep too.

Both of your love are suppose to be like an empty shell, but not for long.

...

Another ballroom host by Zeus as the two of you come, looking elegant as always in the eyes of the deities. Poseidon and you stand in the corner of the ballroom, while he’s disinterest with the party, you’re amaze with the dance and want to try one too, so you ask him.

“Hey Poseidon, wanna dance?”

“No.”

“Please?”

His eyes glares at your more smiling face, looking more annoyed than ever. How do you even keep that smile? Although, you’re also annoyed at his stare, but still try to keep convince him.

“I wanna dance with you, Poseidon, even if it’s only this once because of my desire.”

“It’s a waste of times dancing around them.”

“Hmph, if you don’t want to, then I’ll just ask the other to dance with me.” With what you just said, it’s oddly sting him, but still keeping his pride. He let you off to talk with some other deities, and for the very first time, he see you give them a genuine friendly smile not the fake smile you give him or show to everyone when you’re beside him. It frown him more when seeing you being playful and joking with Buddha — Poseidon not even realizing that he hold his trident tightly when Buddha even share his candy with you.

“Oh my, thanks for the compliment, I”m flatter with it haha.”

“Heh, you sound like as if you never got a compliment from your husband.” Said Buddha with his mouth filled with candy.

“Hoho, you know that he’s a very quiet person, it’s very difficult to see his love to me.” You sigh and shake your head in disappointment, Buddha also know about your marriage and just hummed in agreement.

“That’s understandable, unlike him, right?” You almost cough at what his said — with a blush on your cheek, thankfully covered by your make up as you whispered to him.

“Don’t say such a thing, someone can hear it.” Although unfortunate for you, Poseidon can hear on what Buddha just said, which is very uncharacteristic of him to eavesdrop your conversation, even questioning himself on why he’s doing this.

“Him? Who is him?” He thought, lucky for him to be able to control his anger, yet there’s some sort of guilt he felt as he remember what he said.

“Like I care what you’re doing, do what you want, woman.”

Yeah, the day where you ask him if it’s ok for you to have another relationship with another man, what a fool of him to just agree. However, he rethink:

Why should he care about this? You and him are nothing more but a partner who married because of politic issue, the two of you didn’t love each other, you don’t love him at all, so why?

The more he think about it, he’s getting angry at himself, finally solved the problem that he regret solving it in the first place...

He love you.

....

janalwf I’m so sorry for being hiatus for quite a long time, now I’m back and getting ready to write more, I promise!

[choking-on-tae]

Mafia ATEEZ Reaction to: You hitting on someone else

Anon asked: Could you maybe do a mafia reaction to y/n (female) hitting on (flirting, not actually hitting) someone else?

And if possible could it be mature? (Aka smutty)

A/N: This is gonna be spicy. Mafia ATEEZ will be so fucking jealous and possessive. This is already quite long for a reaction so if you want me to go more in debt I should probably turn this into a full AU. Anyways I hope you like it and as usual gifs aren't mine and credits to the rightful owners! x

Seonghwa

Seonghwa gave you clear instructions when he left; Don't go anywhere and stay out of trouble. So when he comes back and sees you sitting at the bar with a stranger he feels angry. Especially when he notices the stranger's hand on your thigh.

Seonghwa makes his way over to you and rips the man's hand off your body, pulling you up and pressing you against him. "Hey man what are you doing? We were jus-" "-Stay away from my girlfriend." Seonghwa glares at the man, who in return raises up his hands in defeat and walks off.

When he turns to look at you it's your turn to be scared. If looks could kill you'd be long gone. "I asked you one thing, and you can't even do that."

You wrap your arms around his neck as you smile at him with a innocent expression on your face, but Seonghwa knows better.

"I got bored, and I missed you.."

"You missed me, huh? Can't even stay away from me for 5 minutes. Maybe I should remind you who you belong to."

"Please daddy."

Seonghwa's eyes widen at your words as he grabs your wrist, dragging you with him to the back where one of his private rooms is.

Hongjoong

Hongjoong rolls his eyes as he watches one of his new men flirting with you. Clearly he hasn't told the man yet that you're already taken. It's when you laugh at a joke the man says that Hongjoong feels his blood boiling. Hongjoong glares at the man as he makes his way towards you both, grabbing your wrist and pulling you up from the stool you were sitting on.

"Enjoying the company baby?"

Your breath hitches in your throat upon hearing his voice, instantly knowing you're in for a long night. Hongjoong can be quite jealous and you're very away of the fact that you were laughing with the man.

"Hello boss, I was just talking to this lovely lady-" "-That lovely lady is my girlfriend."

The man's eyes widen upon hearing Hongjoong's words as he breaks out in a sweat. "I.. I'm so sorry sir I didn't kno-"

Hongjoong grabs the man's collar and pulls him up, glaring at him as he growls, "Let this be the last time I catch you talking to my woman. Get out."

As soon as Hongjoong lets go of the man he runs off, making him chuckle softly before turning to you.

"Now, what shall I do with you, hm? I believe you deserve to be punished princess. Don't you think so?"

Yunho

When Yunho is angry he's a pretty intimidating man, his height only adding to that. If looks could kill the man that's softly touching your arm would be dead right now. He left you alone for 5 minutes and comes back to find you talking to a definitely drunk young man. From where he's standing he can hear the slur in his words as he flirts with you. Yes he's definitely drunk. Not that that makes Yunho feel any better he's still very much annoyed by the situation.

It get's even worse when he sees you helping the man when he almost falls over. That's the final drop for him. Yunho storms towards you and grabs your arm, dragging you away from the drunk man and pulling you into the nearest room, which happened to be the closet room.

"What the hell are you doing? I was ju-"

Your words die in your throat when Yunho's face stops about an inch away from yours, his hot breath fanning across your face as he stares into your eyes.

"I didn't like the way he was talking to you, or the way you helped him." "What was I supposed to do then? Let him fall over?"

"Yes!"

You roll your eyes at his words, which doesn't please Yunho. He backs you up against the wall of the small room as he closes the gap between you, crashing his lips against yours as he traps you between his own body and the wall behind you.

You tangle your fingers in his hair when you feel Yunho pulling away, grabbing both your wrists and pinning them above your head. A sinister smirk spreading across his face.

"No touching baby. I think I need to remind you who you belong to."

Yeosang

Yeosang didn't like the new addition to the team. His eyes lingered on your figure too long for his liking, but the worst part was that you didn't even notice. In fact you seemed to have taken a liking to the new member and talked to him whenever you could. He was always the one to come to you but you never pushed him away, and it's exactly that that was bothering Yeosang.

He wasn't afraid to lose you to the other man. He knows that you love him more than anything and that you won't leave him, but he just didn't like the way the man looked at you. Only he's allowed to look at you like that.

It's a usual Friday night with all the members in the club when he notices the man wrapping his arm around your lower back. Yeosang's blood boiling as he doesn't hesitate to make his way over to you, especially when you don't push the man away.

Yeosang stops in front of you and clears his throat, making you both look at him. "Ah Yeosang, how can I help you?" The man asks. Clearly oblivious about everything that's happening.

"I need you to stay away from my girlfriend." He growls, glaring at you as you feel your heart starting to beat faster. Knowing you're in for it when you get back home.

The man looks at you before looking back at Yeosang. "I.. I'll just go." He says, his voice so soft you barely hear him as he sprints out of the club.

Yeosang sits down on the stool the man was previously sitting on and lifts your chin up so you're looking directly at him.

"I'll let you finish your drink princess. But be warned. Once we get back home I'll help you remember who you belong to."

San

San was enjoying the situation a lot more than he probably should. Sure he felt jealous that the man was touching your arm, but now he had a good excuse to punish you for your actions. Since you weren't trying to get away from him at all. San smirks to himself as he takes a sip of his drink, thinking of all the things he's going to do to you once you get back home.

When your eyes scan around the room you find San sitting not too far away from you, a sinister smirk spread across his face. You swallow the lump in your throat as you excuse yourself and make your way towards your boyfriend. San smirks when he sees you coming his way and places his drink down on the table. His hands finding your hips once you're close enough as he pulls you towards him until you're standing in between his legs.

"Had your fun, baby?"

You nervously bite down on your bottom lip as you nod your head softly. Your plan had worked but now you were nervous about the outcome. San notices your nerves and smiles softly at you, tugging a strand of hear behind your ear.

"Don't worry baby. I won't be too harsh on you. After tonight you won't forget you're mine."

Mingi

Mingi was pretty annoyed when he saw you talking to the bartender. Especially when he saw the way you were smiling at each other. He knew that you were just doing it to rile him up, and he hated that it was working. Mingi lets out a soft groan as he gets up from his chair and makes his way over to where you're sitting. The bartender notices him instantly and gulps softly. He knows Mingi is your boyfriend and that he's probably in some deep shit right now.

"Can I get you anything to drink, sir?" He asks nervously, trying to maintain eye contact with him but it doesn't last long before he turns to look somewhere eyes. Mingi's glare makes him nervous and rightfully so.

"No thanks. I think it's about time we head home baby, don't you think so?" Mingi turns to look at you, his smile a little too sweet for your liking.

You softly nod your head as you get up with your boyfriend. Once you're in the car Mingi pushes you down on the backseat, his body on top of yours as his hands rest on either side of your head. Thankfully the partition is up so the driver doesn't see what's happening in the back.

Mingi's eyes bore into yours as you feel so small under his gaze. "It didn't mean anything." You whisper, your voice so soft he almost doesn't hear you.

Mingi lets out a soft chuckle as he clicks his tongue. "I know that baby girl. Still you're mine and I think I should help you remind you that you belong to me."

Mingi's lips crash against yours as his hands find their way under your shirt, caressing your chest as you hold on to his shoulders when you feel him grinding his hips against yours.

Wooyoung

Wooyoung knew exactly what you were doing. He had done the same about two weeks ago, but that was for a reason. He needed to get some information out of someone and best way to do that was by flirting with them. It worked. Wooyoung got the information he needed and never paid any attention to them ever again. It did make you upset but he tried telling you it didn't mean anything, still you wanted payback. So when you two went out for the first time in a while and a attractive young man sat down next to you, you didn't move away.

Even when he used one of his horrible pickup lines you till remained seated. Wooyoung chuckles softly when he sees you laughing with the man, or at him, he can't be sure since his pickup lines are so horrible they're pretty funny. He himself can't help but laugh at one as he makes his way towards you, wrapping his arm around your shoulder as he pulls you against him, staring at the man with a smile on his face.

"You're pickup jokes are so bad that they're hilarious. See, my girlfriend likes them too apparently."

The man turns to look at you before looking back at Wooyoung. Jung Wooyoung is very familiar in town so everyone knows who he is. The man gets the hint and gets up. Apologizing before disappearing in the crowd.

Wooyoung turns to look back at you and sees you smiling innocently at him. "Oh baby you can't fool me. Maybe I should remind you why you're with me and not with him, hm?"

Jongho

Jongho would undoubtedly be the most reasonable one in this scenario. Just like Yeosang he knows that you love him and that you'd never leave him, and he also knows why you're flirting with the bartender. He's had a couple of missions in a row and wasn't home a lot, which made you pretty upset but you know your boyfriend's job is important. When he was finally home he decided to go out drinking with his friends, instead of spending time with you. The same friends that were in his team and he had seen every day of the week.

So you wanted to get back at him, by making him jealous. It didn't take long before Jongho realized what you were doing, and he decided to play along. When he saw you and the man getting up, ready to make your way to the dancefloor he felt like it was time to intervene. Jongho grabbed your arm and dragged you with him to a more secluded area of the club.

"What are you doing? I was just about to da-" Jongho interrupts you by slamming you against the wall, grabbing your wrists and pinning them above your head as he looks deep into your eyes. Your heart flutters at his actions as you can't help but feel aroused. It always turns you on when your boyfriend uses his strength against you.

Jongho smirks when he sees you squeezing your thighs together and moves to use one hand to pin your wrist together, while the other travels down your body, till he stops between your legs.

"What's it baby? Getting turned on from just this?"

When he doesn't get a reply he stops, his fingers dangerously close to where you need him desperately. He crooks his eyebrow as he stares at you, waiting for an answer.

"Tell me baby."

"Please.. Please Jongho I need you."

Jongho smirks as he pushes your panties to the side, his fingers spreading your wetness as he crashes his lips against yours. You moan against his lips as you feel one of his fingers slide into you, throwing your head back against the wall as he slides in a second finger. Jongho smirks as he moves his head to trail kisses down your neck, leaving marks that will probably stay there for a while.

"Remember baby. I'm the only one who can make you feel like this."

[yuzukult]

acquitted love || sjn & reader

title: acquitted love pairing: johnny suh x reader genre: fluff, angst, co-workers!au, lawyer!au, one-sided enemies to lovers word count: 8.7k warnings: some language/cursing, brief mentions of sex but there's no actual discussions or explicit conversations of the topic, but generally pg-13 prompt: you absolutely hate johnny suh. but when your boss pairs you two up together for one of the highest profile cases, you’re left working close with your enemy but he doesn’t seem to think that way of you. a/n: tada!! i wrote this for the @/ficscafe fic exchange event!! so @urlocalnctstan​ , hope you enjoy this !! i tried to write it according to what you put as your preferences, but honestly T_T it was so hard bc i was just not getting any ideas!! hopefully this is something you’d like :D enjoy !!

“God, isn’t he just… so attractive?”

Along with a click on your tongue, you feign a hit in Hyeri’s direction, whose reflexes have gotten so much faster in the past couple years of knowing you and it shows when she cowers underneath your arm. She gifts you that not-so-apologetic smile, full of mischievousness because she knows no matter how annoying she can be, you’ll still love her nonetheless.

“Why do you keep talking about Johnny? You know he’s banned as a topic of our conversations.”

Hyeri rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her white frilled blouse. You know that she doesn’t actually inhabit any romantic feelings for Johnny, but she has a problem of thinking without the usage of her brain when she sees a hot guy.

Not that you think Johnny is hot.

No.

“Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t think he’s at least an ounce of smokin’ hot.” She’s unraveled her arms by now, poking your shoulder incessantly to grasp onto your attention as you're tapping on the buttons of the copier machine. “I bet if you asked him out, he’d say yes.”

You briefly glare at Hyeri. “You realize that he and I don’t get along, right? He keeps finding stupid loopholes in the system to win his cases. He thinks with his heart, not his head, and sometimes, with whatever that thing was in his pants.” And, not to mention that he walks out the court with that big grin stretched from cheek to cheek, giving the ‘good news’ to your well-respected boss (who you desperately seek the approval of but that’s a different story for another time). And every single time, she gives him that nod of appreciation, that ‘nod of approval’ if you will, when it should be given to you and not to some asshole who fucks his way to victory.

“But he’s so hot—”

You narrow your eyes at your friend, and with a stern voice, you call out, “Hyeri.”

She shrugs. “Honestly, though, he’s hella smart. He’s got a job here, and works under your boss. It’s Park, Kim & Associates—notice how Park is first, because she’s a fucking genius. She only picks the intelligent ones to work under her. Why do you think I’m still working for Mr. Kim?”

Park Seohyun and Kim Gonghyun—one of the biggest lawyers in the region, decided to join together to build their own law firm from the ground up. They were both highly respected in their field; Kim Gonghyun spent years of his life being mentored by one of the most famous judges, and as for Park Seohyun, she was, simply put, admirable because of the obstacles she has overcome to make her dreams of working in law to be real. Being a woman, young, and beautiful, she’s had her fair share of encounters with people who disregard her potential, that is until she met Gonghyun—who, admittingly is an old man who seems like he’d be traditional, sexist, even, but he proves to also make people realize how wrong they are with their impression of him.

But, as Mr. Kim is getting older, he’s gotten a bit… lazy.

In fact, he’s been slacking so much that he’s gotten a new rep in the office—if he was your direct supervisor, or your supervisor was under him, you were on the side of the office where all the easier, uncomplicated cases were assigned. Which meant that there was a slight possibility that your talents and skills weren’t as sharp and exceptional as you thought they were.

And well, Hyeri works directly underneath Mr. Kim.

Hyeri doesn’t want a heavy workload, despite the fact that there’s a plethora of files on her desk, stacked up one onto another as tall as her PC tower, and they were all open and closed cases—needless to say that she didn’t mind it.

“Okay, but you got offered a position under Seohyun. Do you really think you’re not wasting your potential?”

Hyeri scoffs. “Never. At least, not now. I’m still in my twenties, I’d like to enjoy my youth while I can, for your information.”

You quirk a brow. “And does any of that pertain fucking Johnny? The hot guy, so you claim?”

She immediately has her hand covering your mouth and you scowl. “Shhhhh, he works here!”

You bite the flesh of her hand and Hyeri instantly retracts. “You think I don’t know my archenemy works here? He sits directly across from my office—I get the best view of the guy and I’m not even one of his fangirls.”

“You’re not gonna be one of those girls who claim they’re different because they don’t like him but then end up falling for him anyway… are you?”

Your hand goes up and Hyeri crouches down.

“Stop it.”

“Seriously though! It’s the classic e2l love story,” she has her hands gesturing in front of her like she’s making an imaginary rainbow, “Two lawyers, constantly butting heads, accept each other’s differences and learn to love—“

“The fuck is an ‘e2l’?”

“Enemies to lovers.”

“Are you high? Stop spitting nonsense.” This time, you’re waving the stack of papers that finish printing in front of her face. “Meet me for lunch later. But if you keep talking about my archenemy and I falling in love, you can kiss a free meal goodbye.”

Hyeri gasps.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Maybe. Just maybe, Hyeri might be a tiny smidge right when she says Johnny is handsome. Just a bit though, because she can’t get credit for something like that.

He’s dyed his hair this shade of brunette that sort of reminds you of roasted chestnuts on a cold, winter day, sitting inside of a cooker outside of your childhood home, baking along with some sweet potatoes your mom had gotten from a farmer’s market nearby. Johnny has this focused gaze attached to the screen of his monitor; there’s a dip in the fronts of his brows, lips tightened into a straight line, and constant switching back and forth from the computer while taking notes down in a book that’s laid open in front of him.

You wonder what’s running through his mind, or well, you’re more interested in what files he has sprawled out on top of his desk.

Truthfully, if it hadn’t been obvious enough, you weren’t quite a fan of Johnny Suh and it’s mostly due to his work ethic. He’d been notorious for his reputation of sleeping around—especially with the opposing side—so it’s hard to convince yourself that he didn’t win the case because of his actual capabilities, but it’s because he pulled some strings.

And Johnny doesn’t put much effort into denying it either.

Albeit deep down, you were a teeny bit envious of his confidence. He struts around the courtroom with ease, and when he presents his position, there’s no staggering in his voice—it’s always crisp and clean, weighted with nothing but credence, and never straying from his initial perspective. It’s never a lack of poise, it’s consistently the look he goes for; from the hand gestures and the furrowed brows, to the rhetorical questions in the end of certain statements that has the speculators and jury sitting at the edge of their seat, Johnny had a talent for performing in the courtroom, but that doesn’t mean anything when the way he gets to the success isn’t ethical.

Just at that moment, his eyes lift from the screen and meet yours.

There isn’t any hesitation when you scramble to grab the remote controller, and the shades drop over the windows instantaneously.

“Fuck,” you mutter underneath your breath, tossing the remote onto your desk and shaking your hands after. What if he thought you were admiring him? Maybe he didn’t see. Yeah. It was for a brief second, and with how close your offices were to each other, it would be common to accidentally lock eyes… right?

Interrupting your thoughts, the office phone rings and it nearly startles the living soul out of you. But before you reach for it, your head tilts to the side curiously because the extension number is familiar—it’s Park Seohyun’s, your boss.

What could she be calling for?

You don’t remember fucking something up—but to be fair, half the times, you never really know if you’ve actually fucked up until someone with steaming ears and a crimson face comes storming in. So… did you do something good? Again, you don’t think that’s right either, because other people would’ve made comments about it.

Deciding to swallow your nerves, you pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey!” Seohyun never fails to be bubbly, and you could never mimic her energy. You definitely had to be born with that kind of enthusiasm. “I have a favor. Hop into my office.”

Leaned back in her leather swivel chair, she had her fingers laced with each other while resting over her stomach. Johnny stands beside you (and you do your best to not look directly at him, especially after that weird staring thing), and you both feel like kids being lectured by parents from how still you are. Her office is huge, probably the size of both yours and Johnny’s combined; with ceiling to floor windows, cases of books that line the perimeter, not to mention the humongous ass couch that practically covers the other half of the room, and her desk was so wide, you estimate about four monitors would fit on there with still additional space for work. That wasn’t even the best part—the view of the city looks almost like a generic lockscreen of a Windows computer, and you’re not even sure why she goes home at night when she basically has a penthouse here.

“As you know, I have a favor.”

“Right,” Johnny retorts, mostly as a filler in the awkward silence. “So… what’s the favor?”

She pulls a box from her purse; square, black and made from a leather material with a lock pad stitched into it, something you’ve never seen before, and she slides the passcode in, then it pops the lid open. A key (a… very small one) sits in the velvety cushion, with nothing else occupying the space with it, and it looks comical. She uses this to open the very top drawer of her desk, and as she pulls using the handle, there’s another box inside, but this time, metal instead of leather, but still black.

What the fuck?

It seems Johnny shares the same thoughts, because he sneaks a glance over at you.

“You see,” Seohyun begins, pressing on the digital keys of the box until there’s a beep at the end and the case hisses open. “There’s a lot of security for this. Which means you understand the importance of it.”

Then, she picks up four manila envelopes and lies on the surface of her wooden top desk. “I have a family emergency to attend to this upcoming week. I’m boarding a flight tonight. So I’m leaving the Hwang v. Yoon case to the two of you.”

“Fuck—”

“The what?”

You and Johnny are sputtering out of shock. The Hwang v. Yoon case is the biggest case that the firm is involved in currently, and the only people involved in it have been Seohyun and Gonghyun. It’s been on every social media platform you could think of; from Facebook to Twitter, TikTok to Instagram—there’s even this weird website for emo/grunge teens or strange kids that like writing fanfic called Tumblr, and whatever that is, it’s discussed on there too.

“What about Gonghyun?”

Seohyun scoffs, closing the drawer and dropping the key back into her special box. Where do you even get a box like that? “He can’t handle this alone. So I’m kicking him off until I come back. I thought about letting the two of you work with him, but his ego is so inflated, it’ll get in the way of our chances of winning. It’s easier if it was just me and him, but seeing that things at home aren’t well, I’m going to need you two to step up to the plate.”

The room goes quiet. The only sounds you hear are the muffled noises of a typical bustling office outside the thick walls of Seohyun’s office, and at first, excitement rushes through your blood because Seohyun thought of you taking over a special, high profile case.

Albeit, another realization gets soaked up, and it’s that Johnny also came to mind, and that because it’s such an important case, the two of you would be… working… many… hours… together.

Maybe you should back out of it—but then again, this is such a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Imagine winning this— it wouldn’t be good for just the law firm, it’d be good for you too. Your name, in articles on these big fancy news websites, perhaps even on new channels, talking about how you, this amazing lawyer, won the Hwang v. Yoon case.

But then you’re snapped back into reality when Johnny leans over to take the envelopes from Seohyun.

If your name is on those platforms, so is Johnny’s.

God, this guy just ruins everything, doesn’t he?

“We’ll take care of it, Seohyun. You can trust us,” he says assuringly, a smile tugging on each corner of his lips with that dazzling gaze. “We’ll be at our best.”

Kiss ass.

If you had the option, you wouldn’t be spending your Saturday night here at work, in one of those conference rooms with a long table in the middle, a big projector that displays on the wall, and a random black leather loveseat couch that lines the one corner in case there’s too many occupants.

Especially since the person who’s accompanying you is Johnny Suh.

There’s probably a lot of people who would kill to be in your position (Hyeri being one of them), but you dread it. Not to be that person, but what’s so special about him anyway? What? He’s tall, has some muscles, long luscious hair that he can slick back with that sultry stare—wait, what?

“Alright, moving on…” From what? You guys just started? It’d been clear with Seohyun that the mornings would be dedicated to other cases, but nights would be considered overtime and where you’d zoom in your focus on Ms. Hwang’s justice. “Let’s take a look at the facts here.”

Johnny slips off his blazer, hanging it on the back of one of the chairs as you’re seated in another, leaning back comfortably with an arm resting on the table. He loosens the first few buttons of his dress shirt before folding up the sleeves, and that’s when you notice a little thing in the inner crook of his elbow—is that a fucking sunflower? Is that what he uses to reel girls in? That he’s soft enough to have a pretty little flower etched onto his gentle, silky and supple—

“Okay,” he says, interjecting into your thoughts with a laser pointer in his hand. He taps on the space bar of his laptop that mirrors what’s on his screen, but then, that’s when you realize what’s on the slides.

There’s a collage of pictures, mostly street, casually walking themed ones, but the common factor was that they were of Yoon Changmin, the man you guys were up against. They were all paparazzi-like photos, which begs the question, how did he get pics like this, and why did he get them?

“What’s the point of this?” you ask, voice laced with nothing but suspicion.

“We gotta get into the mind of the enemy.” You wanna get into the mind of your enemy, too.

You gesture to the one image of Changmin with an arm around his girlfriend and a finger up his nose. “Seems like he’s trying to reach inside of his head instead of us. These are just everyday pictures, Johnny. What’s that going to do for us?”

“Well,” he begins, turning to look at the wall of ‘evidence’. “You see—wait, holy shit.”

Freezing in the midst of reaching for your coffee, your head jolts in the direction of your partner. “What? What is it?”

“Holy shit,” he exclaims, “Hoooooooooly shit. Why didn’t I see this before? This changes everything.”

Furrowing your brows, you’ve given up getting your drink and dropped your hands onto the table. “Tell me, what is it?”

“This is a game changer.”

“Johnny,” you call out sternly, and his eyes link with yours before he instantly points to a particular picture with his red laser pointer.

“Look at that.” There’s pride saturated in his words, but when you look at what he’s indicating, your body slouches in disappointment.

Why the hell was he directing your attention onto Changmin’s thighs? Surely, there’s no denying that they were attractive—you recall that his alibi was at the gym that very night of the crime.

“What? He’s guilty for showing off his toothpick legs?” They were lean, you never said they were muscular.

“No,” he retorts, slightly irritated by your response as he rolls his eyes. “Look at his pants.”

“Okay…”

“They’re jean shorts.”

There’s a pregnant pause, but the expression on your face is so loud it can’t be hidden.

Johnny continues, “That’s a fashion crime.” He says it as if it’s an obvious fact known by many. “Not to mention that it’s fucking raw hem. He should be arrested.”

Suddenly, your opinion of him thinking too much with his heart dissipates because it seems like he’s thinking out of his ass instead. Did he win those cases out of pity? How did this guy even pass the bar? How about law school? How the hell did he even get into law school?

“I don’t think—”

“Listen, alright, just hear me out,” he’s got the palms of his hands resting flat on the surface of the table, doing his best to gain your full undivided attention. “Only assholes wear jean shorts. They flaunt that shit around like they own the place, but they’re horrendous pieces of clothing that should not be on a male’s body. I don’t care what you say, what your opinion is, because that is a fact.”

Puffing your cheeks, you feel at a loss. If Johnny is who you had to get this done, it feels like you’re not going to be finding much evidence any time soon.

“Okay, if… if that’s how you want to play it, then show me the evidence—other than those 2012 cut off denim shorts.”

He reaches over to hit his space bar again, then with a wink and a slide change, he leans closer to you and says with that deep, honeyed voice, “Gladly.”

You hate admitting when you’re wrong.

Ironically, you concede and will confess when you actually are, but it doesn’t mean that you enjoy it. For example, when Hyeri claims that the intern Mark had a crush on you, you quickly waved her off, stating something along the lines of, “I’m too intimidating; there’s better chances of him being scared of me than ever finding me attractive.” And then a week later, you owed Hyeri free lunch at that hip ramen place downtown because Mark had approached your desk that very morning with a bouquet of red roses flowers for you, a cheeky grin glued to his face with pools of hearts in his eyes, and ready to ask you on a date because it was the day after his internship had ended. Naturally, it wasn’t fun rejecting that poor college boy.

But, you won’t say you find Johnny interesting or handsome. Or that there’s potential when it came to possibly (just barely the slightest smidge) that you’d ever consider asking Johnny out. He’s your enemy here, you’ve mentioned that a multitude of times, and you stand firm on that very declaration, despite the fact that sometimes when he gets too close, your breath gets caught in your throat and you feel like you can’t get whatever’s lodged in out.

Albeit it’s not the whole “you guys are gonna end up together” comment that Hyeri makes and resulting in you denying it afterwards, it’s that Johnny might… be a decent lawyer.

He’s not the best one you’ve seen; the stupid revelation he had on the first day working on the case about the jean shorts is evidence for it, but it’s the days following that were slowly changing your perspective on him.

When you said, “He thinks too much with his heart more than with his head,” it was 100% correct.

When meeting with potential witnesses, you recognized that Johnny empathizes with people often; when they cry and start panicking from being overwhelmed, he's quick on his feet to put an arm around them, share reassuring words, and have them back to normal in record’s time.

And, well… you? You’re the one making them cry in the first place.

You don’t want to fully take the blame for being the cause of their tears, but people need to hear what’s happening, and the very detail that they can’t even handle this information probably means they’re not worthwhile as a key witness.

Johnny, of course, thinks otherwise.

He believes that these people should have a voice (although you’ve alluded that they might be more useless than helpful), and putting them on the stand with Yoon Changmin there would change the view of the jury to supporting Hwang Naeri.

“Listen, if we get these people to sign the form, we’d get witnesses and it’ll help Naeri,” Johnny claims, frantically moving his arms annoyingly as he talks, trying his best to express the gravity of the situation, “and maybe, maybe, money wouldn’t be how Changmin wins, but how he loses. We can’t have another person with jean shorts walking on the streets of our city like this—they deserve to go to prison.”

You scrunch up your nose. “Why does this always revert back to the jean shorts?”

“It always has to do with jean shorts,” he snaps back matter-of-factly. “Any straight guy wearing jean shorts with that much goddamn confidence has done some wrong in their lives.”

“Right, but I’m pretty sure that the crimes he did are mainly the reason why he’s being prosecuted against.”

“Jean shorts are the windows to the soul.”

“I’m almost 100% sure that eyes are the windows to the soul, but whatever. If you genuinely believe that the women we met today would benefit our case, then… okay. Let’s bring them to the stand.”

On the contrary to you, Johnny doesn’t have a hard time convincing witnesses to testify. You see the way that he works; those kind eyes directed at the participants, the pools of chocolate were sweet, saturated in nothing but tenderness and warmth, then he does that weird thing where he reaches for their hands and cups them before the words that escapes from his lips are enough to swoon them to stand in front of a courtroom.

Maybe, just maybe, there’s a method to his so-called madness.

Aggression and bluntness don’t work, it seems, because when you’re the one attempting to convince these people to go against the man that had done them wrong, they’re less willing to do it. Something about ‘moving on,’ and ‘not wanting to relive those memories again,’ but if it was you, you’d want justice. Then again, not everyone is like you, and not everyone thinks like you, and spending this abundance of time with Johnny is slowly getting you to ease into that perspective.

So… the initial impression you had of him may have been wrong.

And maybe, just maybe, you’re developing some feelings for him, just as Hyeri predicted.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

His abrupt personal question is enough to have the coffee spill into your mouth to slide down the ‘wrong throat’ because you’re choking, hand on your chest as you’re tackling to regain your breath again and Johnny only stares in disbelief, blinking blankly. “Are… are you okay?”

You glare at him through a hooded gaze. “Well,” you clear your throat once more. “Now, I am.”

“Cool.” He nods, retracting his hand so he could rub your back soothingly, deciding it’s best to stay away. “Are you going to answer my question?”

Quirking a brow, your head tilts slightly in puzzlement. “Why are you asking this?”

Johnny shrugs. “Isn’t it weird that we’ve hung out with each other for a whole week—stayed here for nights and we both don’t know anything about each other?”

Tapping your fingers against the wooden top table, you sigh. Maybe he’s got a point; after all, “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer,” right?

“No, I’m single.”

Johnny’s face suddenly brightens, ears perked, and his body straightens its posture in his seat at this revelation. “Oh, uh, I didn’t know that. You seemed busy in your personal life, so I, uh… was just wondering.” He looked anxious, but you couldn’t pinpoint why. “I, um, I’m single too, by the way, in case you’re wondering.” You weren’t.

The plethora of cardboard and plastic boxes scattered across the table was a representation of the night. It’s been long, exhausting, and messy, mostly because it’s a Friday night, the hearing was on Monday, and the two of you were nowhere near close to having enough to present to the court. In fear of disappointing Seohyun, the two of you agreed to stay over the office for the weekend to cram work for the case. There’s no denying that the atmosphere is weirder on the weekends, especially since, well, no one really comes here on the weekends. Johnny had to use the bathroom earlier and ran into the cleaning lady and she nearly shit her pants because she didn’t think anyone was here, so she had music blasting in her headphones.

Johnny is… interesting. He makes you laugh—or well, want to laugh, but you don’t give him that sense of satisfaction—and he’s smart but in his own weird way. He’s not like the other lawyers you’ve met, or any of the law students you attended University with because he’s more lighthearted and free-spirited than the rest, taking life in strides instead of just overwhelming himself in the abundance of stress that work brings.

He’s entirely the opposite of you.

And maybe you could learn something from the guy, but there’s something in you that brews hatred toward him. Possibility that you resent how easy he makes being a lawyer seem when you’re struggling in your day-to-day life to make things work.

But it’s way too fucking hard when he’s just… like that.

Despite all of that, he’s very generous and kind toward you. On rough days, he delivers your coffee order, the one you always get because he remembers what you asked the intern to get for you the last time, and he’s good at identifying when you’re just having that kind of day. You eventually learn he has a photographic memory (fucking show off), so when he saw that crumpled napkin with scribbles of what you want in that dumb intern’s hand, it wasn’t hard to remember. Which, by the way, is how he’s able to get into the most prestigious school for undergrad, manage to pass the bar so easily, and get into law school effortlessly.

And knowing this information sort of angers you more.

You know this isn’t his fault—he’s been blessed with a trait that people desire, one that you also yearn for, but the lucky ones get handed a lot of things in life. You wonder if he’s the type of guy who wins girls easily after matching with them on dating sites because of this stupid ass ‘photographic memory.’ Does he sleep with them right after? Does it ever get serious?

You shrug your shoulders and shake your head. You shouldn’t even let these strange thoughts haunt you, especially when you don’t even like him.

He’s a spoiled brat who gets everything handed to him on a silver platter.

So you’re left counting the remaining days until the trial so you don’t ever have to work with Johnny Suh this closely again.

Okay, well, it’s evident that bad luck is glued to your side because after you win the Hwang v. Yoon case for your law firm with that asshole, Seohyun is so impressed. So goddamn impressed that she insists that all the high profile cases are to be given to both you and Johnny.

To work as a team.

Together.

Jesus, this is Hell for you.

Surely, the promotion and raise that came along with it was definitely a plus, but it has you wondering if it’s even worth it. He’s been your unspoken enemy since the first day, and although you think you’re pretty forthright about your hatred for this guy, he can’t seem to read social cues.

When you’re pushing the double doors into the conference room the two of you often spend working on cases in, you expect Johnny to be ready for another day. But strangely enough, Johnny doesn’t have his laptop out or any of the notebooks sprawled across the table.

“Um,” you slide the strap of your bag off your shoulder and onto the spare chair. “Did you come late or something?”

He takes in a deep breath like he’s been holding back something. “We need to talk.”

There’s worry inscribed into his features; from the crease in between his brows, to his pursed lips, and eyes soaked in concern, almost like he’s got bad news to share and it has your stomach in knots. Was it that the case was thrown out? It couldn’t be, right? You both worked hard, presented your stance to the point that the jury and the judge were in awe with your findings. Sure, you had to cover Johnny’s mouth right before he was about to go off in a tangent about jean shorts, but overall, it was a good win, a hard one to go back on and pull out the wrongs of it. So what was it?

“I’m quitting our partnership.”

You blink. “What?”

He gestures to the room with his hands as if there’s anything out to reference. “This thing. Our work. The big profile cases. The famous stuff. I told Seohyun that I won’t be doing it anymore and she can revoke the promotion and the raise.”

You’re still not catching on. “… Why?” Was it something you did? Yeah, you weren’t a big fan of Johnny either, but were you so bad that he decided to not go through with the raise because of you?

“Because,” he pushes his blazer back, hands sliding into the front pockets of his navy blue trousers. “There’s a policy put into place. Those who are on the same cases cannot have any personal relations with each other that extend past friendships.”

“We’re not even friends?” With confusion written across your face, your head tilts to the side. “I’m not… I’m not catching on here.”

“I like you.”

Startled, the words you want to say are stolen out of your mouth. You’re left with a mixture of perturbation and bewilderment, uncertain where to go from there because Johnny asked for the removal of both a promotion and additional money that could be so good for his career… and it’s all because he has a crush on you?

“You quit the best thing that could’ve happened to you because you like me?”

“Yeah,” Johnny states calmly, sucking in his cheeks for a brief moment. “Ain’t that romantic?”

You scoff. “No. Absolutely not. You’re insane! Why would you do yourself dirty like that? Use your head, Johnny, you’re constantly thinking with that stupid heart of yours, and hate to break it to you, but it won’t get you anywhere.” Combing your hair with your fingers, you let out a sigh. “Go ask Seohyun for the position back. Say you made a mistake and—”

“I’m not asking her for the position back.”

Johnny doesn’t make any sense to you. “What? Why wouldn’t you do that?

“Because,” he laughs in disbelief, not because he thinks you’re funny. “I’m not going to force myself to work with a girl that I keep falling for. That’s self-inflicting, you realize that, right? You’re amazing, but you can seriously be so dense sometimes.”

“I’m dense? You just told one of the best law firms in the city that you don’t want to work on the important cases anymore because you have a stupid crush on your partner!”

“If we were on a team with more people, maybe it’d be different. But it’s just us two. You think I won’t fall any harder? That’s not easy. Every time I see you working, I swear I could be hopelessly in love with you one day.”

Your heart stops for a second.

This is Johnny Suh you were talking about here. One of the claimed best lawyers in your office, one of the most intelligent people that Hyeri has ever met, and Seohyun evidently backs this up because she’s given him so much recognition for his work. He’s the guy who worked with you to win the Hwang v. Yoon case, he’s the one who brought up the stupid jean shorts that seemed so far-fetched at the time, but they were a crucial detail everyone missed—it so happened that when Changmin bought those dumb shorts, there was evidence of at least one of his crimes in that store from the security cameras.

Any cis-gendered male who wears jean shorts can’t be trusted, according to Johnny.

And candidly speaking? You couldn’t even deny that. Your past two ex-boyfriends both wore jean shorts and the one cheated on you and the other one was caught money laundering.

“Listen,” he begins, interrupting your foggy thoughts. “I’m not asking you to tell me you like me back. I’m telling you because you should know, and that I can’t go on any further without letting you know. I’ll, uh, be in my office. Seohyun said she’d find a replacement for me.”

Hyeri is his replacement.

She’s great company and does a good job of helping you with whatever you need, but that was just it. Hyeri followed you, she never led with you, just as Johnny does. Agreeing with everything you say, mindlessly trailing behind everything you do—Hyeri was smart, but she couldn’t figure out how to think for herself when it came to these bigger cases because she’s never been given such a responsibility. But you couldn’t even blame her because it’s what she was told to do under Gonghyun.

“You said that you think Maeri snatched the bracelet?”

“No, I said if you watched the security video that the jewelry store submitted, it clearly shows that Maeri snatched the bracelet. Not that I ‘think.’ The proof is right there, Hyeri.”

She nods, resuming back to her work on the computer. Truthfully, Hyeri felt more like an assistant than a co-worker, someone to bounce ideas off of and to see from a different perspective. And as much as you hated Johnny, he had decent points. He had ways of making you put yourself into the shoes of people you never thought you were; although the guy was obnoxious, at least he actually was… good at his job.

Deciding you can’t take it anymore when Hyeri asks for the tenth time that hour about your beliefs rather than her own, you abruptly stand from your seat.

“Where are you going?”

“Out,” you reply shortly. “I’ll be back.”

It was just a spontaneous thought. It’s after hours, and although there are some people who stay behind to get some work done, you had your doubts that Johnny would still be here. He seems to have a better grip on that work/life balance thing people talked about (unlike yourself), but it didn’t hurt to check his office, right?

It’s a good thing you went with it. Because right across from yours, there’s Johnny.

There’s one single lamp that shines over the tabletop of his desk, and the other sources of light in his office are from his computer screen and the ones from the city skyline from behind him. It has him seemingly angelic like this, so serene, calm, and collected, only focused on what’s laid out in front of him. The sun has gone down, people have gone home, but Johnny remains, hardworking as always, despite your previous observations that he’s a lazy, unprofessional guy who gets everything handed down to him.

With a knock on his glass door, he flinches, head raising up and eyes meeting yours.

Were his eyes always this sparkly?

Opening the door, Johnny drops the pen in his hand and crosses his arms before leaning back in his seat. “What’s up?”

“You’re here late,” you state the obvious, and Johnny only nods in return, without a rebuttal in sight. “You aren’t normally here late. At least, before the Hwang v. Yoon case.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But Seohyun dropped something on my desk this morning. Wanted to work on it. What brings you here?”

Inhaling in a deep breath of courage, your hands bundle up into a fist by your side. “Please come back.”

Johnny raises a brow. “What?”

“Come back,” you reiterate, this time, it’s less tense and releases with ease. Caving in isn’t usually this effortless to you, but something about Johnny makes you feel… comfortable enough.“Come back and work with me again. Yes, I’m not supportive of how you do things—”

“Then let’s go out on a date.”

You freeze. Legs rooted into the floors of Johnny’s office, you’re left immobile and diffident on how to react next. It wasn’t what you were expecting, although you weren’t quite sure what you were hoping to anticipate, but it most definitely was not this.

“I—”

“I said my terms,” he retorts, shutting the book in front of him before shuffling up from his seat. He’s leaving, you realize, and Johnny’s ready to head home for the night and you’re not sure if you could handle an entire weekend with Hyeri here. “And, I meant what I said. One date, and if it really doesn’t work out, I’ll stay on the case.”

Chewing on your bottom lip anxiously, the next words that come out are out of character for you. “And… what if it does?”

A soft smile tugs from each corner of his mouth. “Then we’ll figure it out from there. Promise.”

This is… awkward. It shouldn’t be, but yet somehow, it remains awkward.

You’ve spent weeks with Johnny before, and those moments were in a room, in the middle of the night, and alone. Hours and hours were dedicated to work, yes, but it was just the two of you and nobody else.

So why is it so weird being in a five Michelin star restaurant with him?

Maybe it’s the atmosphere. The dim lights, the white clothed tables in lieu of the scratched up wooden one back at the law firm, and instead of leather seats, there’s a neutral beige chaise cushion for the dining chair, slightly less comfortable because it doesn’t recline like the one in your office. Instead of an array of photos and evidence disseminated in front of you, there’s a laminated menu with a multitude of options of what to have for dinner.

Johnny gets the steak with mashed potatoes and string beans, and you order something similar but seared salmon for the main protein. The waitress offers wine, babbling on about the age of the red, where the vineyard is located, and the dryness to sweetness—to be honest, you could care less; you’d rather have gin and sprite with a squirt of lime. A couple glasses of that and you can almost guarantee that the night would end with a deep slumber.

Oddly enough, Johnny seems nervous. Ever since he pulled up in his midnight black Audi in front of your apartment complex, he’s been acting strange. He keeps wiping his sweaty palms off the material of his trousers, occasionally swiping off the droplets that fall on the side of his face.

“Are you… okay?” you suddenly ask, adjusting your dress in your seat. Deciding to go with a black silk dress with a slit up the leg and your hair let down, it’s not a look you often sport but since you’re going on a date (one you haven’t been on in quite some time), you figured it would be nice to at least play the part.

“I’m, uh, honestly, I’ve never really asked a girl out before.”

You quirk a brow curiously. “What? You’re telling me you never asked a girl out before?”

He lets out a bashful laugh with a faint nod, making an attempt to swallow his nerves after. “Honestly, I’ve always been asked out and not the other way around. Not to sound like that guy, but I never really had to put effort into trying for girls. They kind of just…”

“—Throw themselves at you?”

He beams. “Yeah! Like that. I don’t really know how to react half the time, but it makes the whole dating scene a little bit easier.” Geez, he called you dense, but he’s over here acting clueless.

Either way, it feels like whatever opinion you had about Johnny remained true. He never had to try when it came to the dating scene, and you could only imagine what that means for work and the relationships he has with the women in your career field.

“Mm, does that usually happen with work too?”

Befuddled, Johnny leans back in his chair. “What do you mean by that?”

With a shrug of your shoulders, you’re poking the meat of your salmon that falls off easily. After the first initial bite, the fish practically melts on impact when it touches the tip of your tongue, smooth like butter and bursting with flavor that couldn’t be described by any common person because it wouldn’t do the salmon justice. Johnny seemed to put a lot into this date, and you’re left pondering what the point of this was. Did he actually like you, or was he trying to get into your head? “Just seems like you get a lot of special treatment.”

“Are you jealous?”

“In what way?” you snap back.

“Are you jealous of me because I’m getting this so-called special treatment that you think I’ve always had, or were you jealous of the girls that seemingly got my attention?”

You’re left without anything to say.

It was a good observation he made because truthfully, you never saw it like that.

In actuality, you often saw Johnny as your rival. He climbed the ladder in the field with ease, and it wasn’t hard to quickly blame his success on the fact that he was a guy in a male dominated industry, but the fact that there’s a possible interpretation for your hatred may be from these feelings you might’ve been harboring for him this entire time… that can’t be it… right?

“I mean, look at where you are now,” you begin, trying to defend yourself. It can’t be true that the reason you’ve been bitter about Johnny was because of the girls that got his attention, and one of them not being you. “You got a high position from—”

“—From hard work,” Johnny interjects with his brows furrowed. “I didn’t get to where I was because I slept around, if that’s what you’re insinuating. I knew you sort of always hated me, but I’ve always admired you. I like your work ethic, I like your style, even though we’re both on opposite spectrums, I like the way you think and I wanted to know what it was like being partners with you. Getting to be on that case with you showed me more than just who you were as a lawyer, but who you were as a person. I like you, but I’m trying to put my finger on why you hate me so much.”

“So you noticed.” Sucking in your cheeks, your eyes trail elsewhere—from the fork that lays beside your plate, to the glass filled halfway with wine, to the little candle that sits in between the two of you that flickers the way he has your heart when he expresses once more how he feels about you.

“Yeah, of course I noticed. If you like someone, it’s kind to miss details like that about them. So… you really hated me because you thought I slept my way to the top, huh?”

“I mean…” shoulders dropping in exasperation, you run your fingers through your disheveled hair. “All those rumors—”

“Again, they’re just rumors. I worked hard to get here, you know. And I’m kind of offended that you thought of me that way.”

You scoff. “They’re rumors, Johnny, it’s kind of hard to ignore all the office gossip when that’s all you hear. Plus, it wasn’t hard to believe either, with the whole flirtatious act whenever you encounter anyone who’s breathing and has a vagina.”

“I wasn’t flirting.”

“You need a book for dummies that elaborates on what’s flirting or not, because Johnny Suh, whatever it is you do with your body language in front of that chick who sits by the front door.”

“You mean Siwoo? The pregnant one who’s married to her highschool sweetheart? Also, how do you not know our receptionist’s name?”

You throw your arms into the air. “How am I supposed to know her name?”

He tilts his head to the side, genuinely baffled. “Do you… not talk to anyone outside of Hyeri?”

Your silence answers his question.

“I… honestly, I don’t know if I should be offended or if I should be honored. You think I didn’t earn anything that I have now, you think that everything I have was handed to me. On one hand, it’s flattering that you think my looks and my bedroom skills could do that but at the same time… I’m offended because you think I’m incapable.”

“I never said you were incapable—”

“But you implied it.”

Hands falling onto your lap, it’s your turn to gulp. His words come shooting at you, but you’re without a shield to protect yourself, and with the new experience of working with Johnny, there comes the realization at times that Johnny is a hard worker. There are some things that he says and does that aren’t like the people you’ve encountered, and being put on new cases with Hyeri only proved it. He’s thoughtful in the sense that whenever you’d bring up your stance on something, he challenges you with what the defense might counter.

Johnny makes you want to be better. Not just against him, but to brush off the dust on your skills and enter into the battlefield of a courtroom to showcase them.

“Well, if you’re staying silent, I just want to say that I tried,” the crinkle in between your brows makes another appearance because Johnny is great at leaving you stunned and confused. “I really like you. I love how your head works, and I wanna be with someone like that but I also can’t be with someone who doesn’t respect me.”

Why is it that when you’re in that conference room with him, you’re not afraid and never running out of things to say, but now you’re empty handed?

“I’ll pay for dinner. Grab you an Uber. I honestly thought I could overlook those things, and maybe your perspective for me has changed, but I could see it on your face. It’s the same.”

After that date with Johnny, his life turns back to normal.

Yours? Not so much.

Candidly speaking, part of you missed working with Johnny. You were wrong about him, so wrong, and even when you wanted to apologize at the dinner for what you thought of him, the pride in you was like a vicious plague that blackened your insides, preventing you from ever saying those words.

Oftentimes, you’d still be able to sneak a glimpse of him in his office with that same look on his face—full of concentration and nothing else in his mind other than the task at hand.

The cases you have with Hyeri entail a head like Johnny’s. Someone who could question you, to protest against your stance when there could be flaws in it. It feels like deja vu each time you think about it, each time you open a new case file and Hyeri sits there, perched in that seat beside yours, eyes sparkling with what you have in mind next, instead of what she has going on in hers.

Although you’ve tried convincing yourself that maybe, just maybe, what you feel for Johnny is purely professional but when you see him standing by the water cooler with a couple of your coworkers, eyes mimicking the moon crescents in the skies, replicating the ways his lips curl in elation—it was beginning hard to believe that it was all platonic feelings.

So maybe you should be bold for once. Pull off that exterior that displays you as someone who isn’t just independent and assiduous, but someone who’s stubborn and aggressive in getting what they want—and not in a good way.

This time, you’ll show it in a good way.

Or at least, you’ll try.

Johnny is a routine kind-of-guy—he grabs an iced americano every morning at the coffee shop downstairs at the edge of the street, he does his daily 11:00AM drop-by at the water cooler to refill his Hydroflask (which was his prized possession, by the way), and parked in the same exact spot in the parking garage of your building, despite there being an abundance of places he could choose.

That’s why you decide to stand by his car after work that day. Bouncing on the balls of your feet, hands shaking because it’s your turn to feel anxious. That blazer that once fit so comfortably in the morning suddenly feels tight and hot in the afternoon, and the weather hasn’t even changed. Your bag slung over your shoulder weighs ten times heavier than an hour ago, and you can’t stop your jaw from tightening.

Before your thoughts could spiral off all the possibilities of what the outcome may be when you tell Johnny how you feel, he’s already standing there, feet away from you with that dip in the fronts of his brows that you want to smoothen out the crinkles of with the pad of your thumb.

“Hi,” you greet, faint and peculiarly different from your other approaches. “Um, I just… was waiting for you.”

“Hey,” Johnny says back, the first few buttons of his shirt already unraveled, his blazer hung over his forearm and the sleeves are rolled up. “I see that. What’s up with you?”

“Um,” your leg was jittery, hard to control so you spat everything you had to say out as fast as you could before he could see right through you. “I just wanted to apologize. For everything. You’re admirable, kind, and I wish I inhabited those same characteristics you have. I think professionally, you’ve got great ideas, one that could be implemented into mine and what we did together for that case was just… yeah. We could do something big if we put our heads together.”

Johnny nods in agreement. The relationship between you two work-wise was obvious, he knew that much. “And what about… outside of that?”

“I like you,” you choked, barely getting the words out. “More than just coworkers, um, I guess, more than friends but I’m not really sure since you walked out on our first date,” inhaling in a deep breath of courage, you continue on, “and I don’t know how you feel now after I’m standing before you like this, asking for another chance and that I’m sorry.”

He stares at you blankly, and it leaves you unsure whether or not he accepts your apology. “You know why we ended that date early.”

“Well,” you start again, “can we… start over and try again? I promise I won’t tempt you to end the date early this time.”

And with that, there’s the signature smile that Johnny sports that swoons girls, makes their knees weak, and heart clench but this time… it’s just for you.

“I’d really like that.”