#i've not done a poll in forever - and i wanted to do a silly one so :]

[twisting-in-wonderland]

imagine they're forced to attend classes, clubs, staying at the dormitory, etc, all at RSA - no NRC at all lol

(none of them are lasting more than two months btw)

[flymetothexmoon]

Ties + Hidden Gazes

Part Two

Warnings: Shockingly, none really. Angst turned to minor feelings of extreme emotions. Happy ?? Good ?? Bad ?? Read and find out~

Pairing: Seunghyun xF!Reader

Authors Note: I was most def not prepared to write three Seunghyun xF!Reader fics back to back but thank you to everyone who voted in my poll and asked for part two 🤍 enjoy !

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

"I've always loved you."

The last four words that Seunghyun ever said to you before he took off. He did not know where his feet were taking him, but he ran off– he left the party you two were attending without saying goodbye to a soul, including you, the woman he'd loved for the last twelve years of his life.

It happened so quickly that he knew by the time you'd open your eyes, he would not be there, and for the first time in over a decade, you would not have to worry about him being the greatest burden love of your life.

Seunghyun knew it was not going to be easy. For better or for worse, you two had been the most consistent people in each other's lives. It was definitely going to be a change the both of you would have to get use to he thought. He'd ran away from people before, he'd even ran away from the brothers he'd known for more than half of his life, all he'd ever done in the amount of time he has known you was bring you down.

Wrong.

•┈┈┈••✦ ♡ ✦••┈┈┈•

Four months had passed.

Four months had passed since Seunghyun last saw you and the two of you were having a silly disagreement about what constellation was visible in the night sky. The more Seunghyun thought about that night, his chest would tighten and his lips would push together, thinking hard about some of the things he'd said to you and some of the things you'd said to him. To say a lot happened that night was an understatement.

During those four months, Seunghyun had bleached his hair again. It was not the man's first time sporting lighter colored locks, but it been a few years, and honestly he was embracing the change and feeling more confident; his drinking had slowed down and the amount of cigarettes he'd smoke in a day was cut in half. He had even done the one thing that he swore no matter how bad it got he would never do, and started to attend therapy.

It was a random Tuesday afternoon when the two of you would bump into each other again. For a city so big it seemed to swallow you both whole, and despite having a similar friend group, you went a pretty good bit without having any awkward run in's until today. Seunghyun would be coming back from therapy and you would be coming back back from a dreadful first date.

Seunghyun would not be able to get the idea of you out of his head as the outfit you where wearing painted images in his head better than any artwork he'd seen recently; maybe it was the way your dark jeans had holes exposing your knees, a body part he'd never explored before, or maybe it was the way your oversized denim top came down to your hips, Seunghyun's favorite part of you.

Here you were and there he was, both of you silently waiting on the other to break the silence, something the two of you never really had a problem with before.

You two were not even scorned lovers, it should not feel this way, or feel this awful.

But it did.

"Hello Seunghyun," your voice was quiet– like you were unsure if making the first move was what the taller man wanted.

He had reached behind his neck, tousling his hair a little as the two of you made eye contact rather than exchanging hidden gazes with each other. Seunghyun's heart hurt a lot more than he expected it to whenever he accepted the cruel fate that you two would eventually see each other again, as much as he would have like to run forever, he knew he would eventually need new running shoes and there you would be.

The two of you would agree that something felt different about this meeting, almost like it was a new meeting for the first time and you two did not have over ten years of memories together. It was not always bad between the two of you, neither of you could pinpoint what caused the constant nagging, but when it happened, that became both of your personalities and the two of you forgot what it was like to be human with each other.

Seunghyun stepped forward, closer to you.

"Hello. You look happier."

To anyone else, if someone had told them they looked happier, it would be an easy confidence boost, but when the now lighter haired man in front of you said those words to you, you knew Seunghyun well enough that it was his own demons speaking for him into believing people are better without him and justifying his actions of running away whenever things get serious or do not go his way.

Wrong.

Seunghyun meant it. You did look happier, and he could definitely feel that about you, and he secretly hoped you would be able to feel that about him too.

Your eyes narrowed as you really looked at him, trying to study what he had just said to you. All you could notice was that he was smiling when he said it, not a huge toothy grin that you would do as a child when getting candy as a reward, but a smile that would show off his bottom tooth he was self conscious about. You could not remember the last time Seunghyun smiled like that, let alone smiled like that with you.

Eventually you would smile back, nodding your head as your hands frilled out the bottom of the oversized denim top you were wearing, tilting your neck to the side as you did, the leather of the small choker you chose to wear that morning catching the sunlight; catching the eyes of the man in front of you.

Soft murmurs began to escape both of your lips as you shared what had happened in the four months you two had not seen each other. There was no venom laced with the words you two spoke against one another, and it felt real again, like you were two quote on quote normal people.

Seunghyun was engaging, and you were happy to really listen to what he was saying instead of trying to prove him wrong, and Seunghyun was happy to provide you information out of excitement instead of out trying to prove how smart he was.

The two of you started to feel comfortable with each other again, a feeling that you had not felt around one another in quite some time. The taller man even told you about how he was doing, how he was going to therapy.

Instinctively, you grabbed his hand, your thumb gently gracing against knuckle like a lost lover would.

"That's great, Seunghyun. I am really glad to hear you are getting help."

Getting help.

Seunghyun could feel his insides burn at the sound of your remark and it pierced his heart so strong he felt like his chest pull forward, the sensation causing him to move his neck from side to side a few times, earning a hushed popping noise to come from his body.

You had not even realized that your hand was still holding his as you quickly let go, stepping back from him the tiniest bit. Your mind raced back to when Seunghyun told he always listening, and that he always listened to you and the people you were with while knowing each other. You did not quite understand at the time what he meant, but it had registered now, now that your hand had held his even for a moment.

His eyes met yours again as he watched you step away from him, a small frown pushing his lips together in a way that made you almost want to reach for him again and apologize. You two had never crossed the line between friendship and whatever the hell it was whenever you two bickered. Your side of the friend group would say it was his way of flirting with you and Seunghyun's side of the friend group said it was your way of flirting with him.

The two of you fell silent as the world began to swallow you both again, the people around you still walking and living their own lives, the cherry blossoms on the trees were still blooming, and the scents of the food vendors were still floating in the air.

Seunghyun's heart did the little twitch thing again as he watched you mess with the bottom of your denim top again, trying to straighten something that could not be straightened anymore than it already was, your hands trembling to make it seem like you were struggling for something other than him to say something.

"I should not have ran away that night..."

Your world stopped. People had stopped walking, the cherry blossoms had stopped growing, and the smell of food had drifted toward the river in the opposite direction. You wanted to agree with him, you wanted him to know what it did to you, how you spent the last four months wondering how long the line was that you crossed, and how broken it made you feel when you saw him go.

But you couldn't.

Because that was not how you and Seunghyun were. Even though he'd been going to therapy, and you had time to think about how completely in love with him you were, it was not enough– it probably never would be and you had to accept that.

You would never be enough.

Little did you know, Seunghyun also thought he would be enough. His therapist had even tried exercises to potentially help strengthen the way his brain worked, and he would lie and say they were working, but they never would. His mind began to race about when you told him he was not destined to be sad all the time and that everyone was always sad.

The silence loomed over you two like a storm cloud that was waiting for just the right amount of wind before it would begin to fall.

You felt it, and before you had an opportunity to talk your brain out of it, the words fell from your effortlessly and somehow with all the effort in the world.

"So why did you?"

Seunghyun's breath hitched so hard you could feel how your words affected him.

"I—"

He had tried to speak, but could only get out one syllable before looking down, his mind starting to spiral, his own hands starting to tremble as he dug deep into his pants pocket, looking deep for a cigarette as his hand came back up empty.

A murmured curse word left his lips you watched Seunghyun have a quiet anxiety fit in real time. His former band mates had warned you how he gets when he's anxious, but in all the times you two had ever spit fire with each other he was always the overly confident one.

It was your turn to feel your heart do the little twitch thing as you did not know what to do. You could barely bring yourself back up when you were feeling like this, so how were you suppose to help Seunghyun?

You stepped forward again, a small frown tugging at your lips as you reached for him, grabbing the same hand you grabbed earlier.

"You do not have to tell me,"

As much as you wanted him to, you wanted him to make it right, but that was selfish, and deep down you both knew it.

Finally, the lighter haired man looked up; his eyes locking onto yours like he had the dart in hand and your eyes were the bullseye.

You waited in silence to see what he would do, what he would say.

Just as quick as he had looked at you, his hands cupped your face, causing you to stumble at the contact.

Your lips opened to say something, say anything, but before you could...

Smack.

Seunghyun's lips were on yours.

An inner instinct, an inner feeling kicked in that you had never felt before when you were around him– desire.

His lips tasted like chapstick, and not the cheap kind you'd pick up at the gas station during a road trip, but the expensive kind you'd get tiny samples of from the makeup store as a free sample. His tongue did not hesitate at finding its way deeper in your mouth as it played with yours, your body just barely reacting, but a twitch in your bones still make you realize what was happened.

Seunghyun felt your bones rattle as he pulled away from you, nesting his forehead against yours as he still cupped your cheek, his thumb gently rubbing against your facial structure, almost like he was trying to remember what it felt like so he could think about it later, the faintest of smiles spreading across his lips as he spoke, unsure of really how to comprehend what just happened.

"Hidden gazes are only ever fun when they are hidden."

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

[underratedmhapoll]

So About the Brackets... (Important Update)

I've been thinking about where the logical end point of this blog should be recently. I have a lot of other projects and personal things in my life I want to have more time to get back to. Because that free time was spent monitoring poll posts and photoshopping screenshots together for the last few months.

It's been fun, it really has, but I can't be committed to this sort of thing forever. At that realization, I've decided to do three things.

I'm going to take a break. I'm going to finish the crafts that have been lingering half finished on my desk. I'm going to redouble my efforts into the AUs I have. I'm going to finally try and finish the writing challenge I took on last year. Point being, making content for this blog isn't going to be a priority for me anymore. We had our fun but it needs to end at some point, right?

However! We're going out with a bang with a 64 character bracket (and possibly another secret special bracket). Suggestions will be held as normal for the next two weeks. These will be the final brackets this blog takes part in hosting.

I still want to drop content on this blog on occasion but it won't be planned out projects like the brackets anymore. Maintaining the brackets, updating them daily, making sure I use different images for every individual poll, making extra visuals like the blog headers and final results page; it was a lot of work that required constant monitoring and maintenance. To put it simply, any polls I do post from this point forward will be much less work, and I won't be keeping track of results. Most likely, I'll just drop random MHA related polls whenever my brain comes up with one. I still have some bonus poll ideas that never got posted so I'll throw those out first and foremost but I'll also take suggestions for polls as well. Little one offs basically. They'll be sparse and silly but it's something to justify keeping this blog around. More details for those will come at a later date.

If someone else wants to run a similarly themed bracket you are more than welcome to! I may even post my assets if people are interested. I am honored you'd want to keep the idea alive but it's about time I put down the tournament template and call it a night. If you do make one, or any kind of MHA bracket, feel free to tag me and I'll happily reblog and boost as I've done before.

See you in the mega bracket.

Plus Ultra!

[fractualized]

what's your favorite form of batman? meaning, do you prefer the comics, the movies, etc? i'm really curious to know if you like any of the cheesy stuff, like batman and robin... famous nipple costumes... or if you like more of the serious stuff, like the original source material... i know you really like comics but when it comes to the ideal flavor of batman, what kind of story do you most enjoy?

For my favorite, I always go with Batman: the Animated Series, which feels inevitable for anyone who grew up watching it as appointment TV with obligatory commercials, but I've never done a poll. lol Even watching it now and noting its imperfections, it's the gold standard for me. The art deco aesthetic, the storytelling, the characterizations, you can really see how much care went into it and the respect for the lore. Not that I knew much more than the lore basics at that age— but I didn't need to, because it was a well-done show that drew me in on its own. And in terms of serious vs cheesy, it had a good balance.

And really that's my preference! I don't need Batman to be dark and dour all the time, but I also don't want it to be nothing but goofs. I like a story that has stakes and knows when to be serious and also knows when to lighten up. Bruce's costume shouldn't be the only signal of how he was affected by his trauma, but when his behavior turns shitty, it shouldn't amount to him just being a rageaholic. Joker should be a dangerous villain but he should perform and make jokes because he's a friggin' clown, like come on.

Not that I'm against takes that lean harder on comedy. Er, nowadays. Back in the day, I thought going too funny with Batman just didn't fit, and it should be avoided unless it was parody or fanfic. So I enjoyed Batman Forever, but Batman & Robin veered too campy for me, and I wasn't interested in the '66 series. I guess eventually I got a better sense of humor, or maybe it was batmedia as a whole seeming to get too gritty after the Nolan movies, but now I'm all for being silly with it. You can't ignore that you're watching a bat fight a clown forever.

Though I still want a comedic version to be, like, good. I've seen many episodes of Batman '66 now and I think they're great. Hopefully one day I can get around to watching the whole thing. I saw Lego Batman in the theater and was thrilled.

Batman & Robin… I still think is bad. Less because of the camp and more because of the plot and the takes on the characters. Another example is the Harley Quinn animated series. I enjoyed much of it for the first three seasons, but ultimately I had to stop watching because the serious/comedy balance was off for me. Too often it had these serious moments that would affect character growth, and then it would throw them away for a sake of a joke later on rather than… just making a different joke that fits with your plot, I dunno.

It feels hard to say that I "like comics" since they're such a mixed bag by the nature of an 80-year-old franchise. I am certainly not having much of a good time right now. 😂 And as a consequence of Batman being represented so many ways over the decades, if I said I prefer the comics over other iterations, would that really mean anything? … Well, I guess by saying that, it could mean appreciating the fact that there's been so many takes over the years and that the medium allows that flexibility, that it is like fanfic (or exactly fanfic) and lets someone new come in and say, "But what if it happened like this?" That is a conflict I've felt when enjoying and not enjoying comics. It allows for change… but that can lead to a frustrating lack of continuity, change that comes not from where you understood the character to be from previous runs but almost from wholecloth. Which is all to say, my appreciation for comic Batman is in constant flux.

I can't close out without mentioning Telltale Batman, of course. Enemy Within is the game that brought me back into fandom and writing. A fresh new universe with a lot of room for reinterpretation, not as weighed down by the source material as the comics. (And a heartbreaking batjokes relationship that I still haven't gotten over.) Obviously with the choice system, the tenor depends on how you play, but once again it's a story with stakes that takes the time to add some silliness, so it works for me! (And I let BTAS Bruce guide my primary playthroughs. Except for my first go at the end of Enemy Within. I know Bruce would let Alfred leave but I couldn't do it gaaaahhhhhhh)