#idk it wasn't easy to get out for some reason but it's done now and we agreed on how to go about it so. yippee

[gender-euphowrya]

they should invent a me who isn't terrified of communicating with other human beings

[ame-to-ame]

Rereading ayaka is in love with Hiroko senpai!!! Last time I read it I don't think it was finished/I didn't finish it but ack. Now I also want to be in love 😭😭😭

[ztarvokwrites]

How the Cross Guild propose to you (+ Galdino)

a/n: i'm in a sappy mood today and altho i did have oc x canon headcanons lined up, i went overboard and now i cba to finish it lmao. instead, here is some cross guild loveliness to make up for it💜

not nsfw! just a lot of fluff and chaos in buggy's part ☺️

enjoy and don't forget to reblog if you like it!

Buggy

Man does not know how to pick out clothes for himself, let alone a ring-

So he drags Alvida along with him because God knows how badly he'll be mocked by Crocodile and Mihawk if he asked them for help lmao.

"I want something flashy for them! Something that truly makes them mine for good!"

"Do you even know their ring size?"

Silence.

When Alvida finds out your ring size, she ends up dragging him along to pick out a ring, despite his loud protest.

In the end, they end up picking out this ring, much to Alvida's dismay.

The proposal itself was unplanned and, as usual, chaotic.

Despite Buggy desperately trying to keep it to himself until he got you alone, one of his lackeys discovered the ring and loudly yelped about it, much to Buggy's annoyance.

"CAPTAIN BUGGY, YOU'RE GOING TO PROPO—"

"SHUTTHEFUCKUP!"

That lackey was not seen for a while afterwards.

You knew. Of course you knew. He wasn't being subtle about it, the way he was trying to get you alone but sweating his makeup off and trying oh so desperately to hide the small box in his large red pillow-y suit was a big giveaway.

So when the box dropped and you picked it up, you opened it and smiled, ignoring Buggy's pleas to try again.

He only froze when you said yes to his fumbled proposal and slipped the ring on your finger yourself with a grin on your face.

The loud cheer from everyone snapped Buggy out of it and he yanked you into his arms and sped away with you, desperate to make it up to you for his failed proposal with promises and kisses littered all over your face.

Sir Crocodile

He's done it once before, he can do it again, right?

Don't ask me what that means, idk his past, but for some reason it makes sense that he's proposed to someone before.

Any-who, this man knows what he's doing.

He doesn't need to ask for your ring size, he already bought you a few promise rings before, so it just makes it easier for him to pick out the perfect ring.

Except it doesn't.

There are so many rings that seem the perfect fit for you, yet he can't decide on which one to surprise you with.

He tries to find one that matches your eyes, or your smile, or your physique, yet nothing pops out to him.

Until he finds this ring.

It's beautiful, priceless — it's you.

Sir Crocodile doesn't care about how expensive it is, as long as it's you.

Now the only problem was getting you alone.

As much as he wants to whisk you away, he can't, not when he's busy fending off Marines or trying to deal with Buggy's antics.

The way he ends up proposing to you is subtle, displayed and masked as a simple gift for your upcoming anniversary, despite it being a week away.

He adored the way your eyes lit up when you received the gift bag he got you, promising him that you'll open it that evening when you were both in the comfort of your own bed.

And so you kept your promise, your eyes filling with tears once you opened the small box to discover the ring and the words "Will you marry me?" engraved into the lid.

Needless to say, you couldn't let go of him for the rest of the night, cuddling into him so tight that he held you against his chest even tighter — but not tight enough to hurt you, he'd never do that.

After all, you're his fiancé now :)

Dracule Mihawk

This man is absolutely thorough when planning anything, so a proposal is no sweat.

He already had his hawk-eyes set on the perfect ring for you, so now all he had to do is whisk you away from the party that Buggy has stupidly hosted, despite the protests of those who are serious about the purpose of the Cross Guild.

Mihawk isn't a man who gets nervous, nor is he easy to read, which is why you're confused as to why he's brought you so far away from the rest of the crew.

He's quite romantic with how he proposes; encouraging you to gaze up at the sky with him as you two sit on the grass and wait for the sunset.

When the time comes for the sun to disappear, the soft blue of the sky turning into a darkened orange, he pulled you up to stand.

That's where he got down on one knee and proposed.

"I know our situation is less than ideal, my Dear, but I promise you this place is only our temporary solitude. I want you to live peacefully with me, until our dying breaths. Will you do me the honour of becoming my spouse?"

Oh, you absolutely said yes and peppered his face with kisses once he slipped the ring on your finger.

And yes he held you in his arms as he carried you back to the party, upon your request to celebrate with him, much to his dismay.

BONUS! Galdino/Mr 3

I feel like people forget he can just... Make stuff out of wax.

So of course he makes a ring out of wax, accompanied by a nice shiny diamond he 'discovered' in Buggy's office.

The only thing now was to propose to you, yet that was certainly a challenge.

Buggy kept hogging his attention from you, making him ignore you completely for days until he finally realised that he hadn't been giving you the attention you deserved.

Cue him dragging you away from the weaponry tent and into the woods with a basket of food in hand, making a wax canopy for you both to enjoy a candle-lit dinner in.

He kept feeding you compliments and flirting with you to the point where you got suspicious.

"...You're awfully flirty this evening, Galdi. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing can go wrong when I'm with you, my Darling~."

He begins to melt and you get even more suspicious.

Eventually he gets too melty and gives up on the lying and just gets down on one knee in front of you and creates the ring, putting the diamond on it and presenting it to you with a nervous smile.

The sweet gesture of the dinner and the making of the engagement ring before your very eyes was enough for you to kiss him as you took the ring and slid it onto your finger.

You two finished your dinner, but didn't return after a little while as you two were too busy being sappy with each other.

starnote: guys how tf do you get rid of a cough that gets worse when you're trying to go to sleep-

creds to @/saradika for the star divider!

[purpdrawsthings]

HIS REFERENCE SHEET IS REAL CHAT ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️🔥🔥🔥🔥

Yippee less goooooo, you can now know how the hell this man's outfit finally works now.

You guys can actually make him, with ✨COLORS✨

Honestly, making colors that would match him was really hard. It took me about a week to actually figure it all out just because of how hard it is and how I wanted it to be close to a star aesthetic.

Buttttt I got it all sorted out and to be honest, the result isn't too bad if I do say so myself.

After finishing the colors, it went all easy thankfully, I didn't really have to think that much about his Mario recolor form.

FUN FACT : He came right after the Revelations arc ended =3333333

Relationship chart because yes

Some of the characters uhhh text things are kinda meh cuz my brain ain't braining rn.

Sadge =[

But heyyyyy, at least y'all can now know his relationships yippee =DDDDDDDD

ALSO DO NOT MISTAKE HIS PINK ARROWS AS AFFECTION HE JUST ADMIRES THEM

But I don't really mind if you actually-

Uhhhhhhh deez nutz he can be shipped with anyone, as long as it's not someone he hates, like a certain tv someone =3

So now that that's done.... LET'S HAVE AT IT SOME FUN FACTS!!!!!

He was actually meant to be a silly villain, something like Storms oc, SMG8 =3 buttttt I saved that for later and changed him into a different character.

That human form you're looking at right now ain't even his true form, his true form is that weird star thing!!! Crazyyyy

Speaking about his star form, while in that form, he only speaks in speech bubbles, and is inaudible.

He was meant to be a ✨blondie✨ but after a test I found out it wasn't really the best color so why not use that uh.... Random ass hair color =D

He's got powers to fend off viruses ofc, but I'll do that for a later post, maybe I'll link it from here if I post it =]

Anddddd that's about all =DDDD

I'll probably think of more and probably update this post behind yalls backs lmao

But it'll probably not happen soon.

Anyways, you can now draw him, AND ask question for this man through my ask box, yippeeeeeee =DDDDDDDD

And uhh.... Yeah. Yeetus!!! =3

HAH! YOU REALLY THOUGHT THAT WAS THE END?

Naive people /silly

I actually just wanted to add some special thanks for some people that deserve to be here for a sec =3

@strange0-0storm

The first insp for this man!!! He helped me form GSP the most. I remember that one post he made and I think it was a question thing. I think the question was how did he make 8 or something. Idk I don't remember it much.

But in that post, he stated that he made 8 by making an opposite or something, and that sparked an idea for some reason lmao.

You can see some opposite accessories from him that are opposites of both 4 n' 3. Like the weird ahhhh shaped hat, him having glasses, him actually wearing a suit or something, and him having long, beautiful hair ✨

I uh.... Explained that terribly did I? AHSOSHSOSHISHEISHS THIS IS WHY I DON'T EXPLAIN STUFF RAHHHHHHH

Oopsies I'll get back to the thing =3

Anyways, yeah, as you can see, 8 was a big inspiration for this man, even sparking the idea of making him the same silly lil villain like 8 =3

I thank Storm so much for the huge insp, really helped make him!!!!!

@tiredsmashbros

This man was literally inspired by TSB... GUHH... This man is everywhere I swear....

BUT SERIOUSLY THO TSB WAS ANOTHER HUGE INSPIRATION BESIDES 8!!!!

TSB helped me arrange some of the colors, especially taking some inspiration from the orange and yellow =3

Funny thing but I sometimes accidentally draw GSP with a propeller like TSB on his head because I sometimes mistake him with TSB kshsisuwosossh

The name 'GSP' was also inspired by TSB! Seeing as the name meant TiredSmashBros, I thought if using PurpDrawsThings but when I realized that didn't fit, I just made up random shit lmaooooo

Sooooo yeah! Thank you Tomm for TSB helping me on how to arrange colors and also making his name =3

@its-a-me-mango

Not really seen here but when I said he was supposed to be a blondie and it didn't fit, I suddenly thought of Mango's hair 😭

I was like "Am I really sure I wanna use that"

Then I tested out different hues... Saturations... Andddddd nothing worked 💀 so I was like- "y'know what? Fuck it. I'mma just do it."

Sooooo uh... Yeah! Thank you Mango for helping me make his hair and relationship chart idea lmao 😭😭

Anddddd that's how his hair was born ❤

Also another huge thanks for Mango is insp for the relationship chart! I remember Mango's relationship chart having some text so I decided to do that =]

And that's about all!!!

Like actually fr this time.

These three were just huge inspirations on making him, and I can't thank them enough 😭

THANK YOU 3!!!! LOVE Y'ALL!!!!!

anyways, I'mma go and rest my fingers because I feel like they're actually breaking /silly

YEETUS MY BEANS!!!

[sungbeam]

nonidol!eric sohn x f!reader

you won't think golf is a boring sport after he's done with you! (but it's not about golf, and it's not about swings. just a young heir with money, love, and a thing for you.)

▷ genre, warnings. technically s2l, country club au, summer break au, starts with him already into you, slight pining? idk, fluff, humor, rich people™, golf lol, swearing, drinking, kissing, it gets like actually romantic, Eric Sohn bc he's so attractive someone help me.

▷ word count. 11.4k

▷ inspired by swing my way (cha cha malone & phe r.e.d.s)

a/n: my submission for the deoboyznet summer on you event! and @mosviqu who implanted the idea of country club rich boy eric into my brain @@

It wasn't like Eric Sohn, heir to his parents' multi-million dollar investment firm, prized shortstop of the UCLA baseball team, planned to spend his entire summer charming his parents' clients and partners. A summer spent at the Beverly Hills Country Club wasn't something new for the young heir either. The rolling, emerald green hills for golf; the clean cement tennis courts; the dim and classy bars were all ingrained in him since childhood. They were environments Eric had learned to thrive in, and when one had the advantage, one was always taught to wield it like a blade.

At least, that was what he was taught. Over the years, he'd also learned that his extroverted personality and charming smile were disarming—and his pretty boy appearance often resulted in others underestimating him. That was their mistake.

"...that trip to Taiwan will be such a great opportunity to explore the relationship between our companies."

Eric clasped Mr. Thomas Tsaur's hand in a firm shake as the two men stood at the final hole of the golf course. Eric beamed. "Yes, of course! I know my mom would love to see the night markets around Taipei; my parents have been looking forward to the trip all year," he said, as easy as breathing air. Of course, he didn't really know if his parents were looking forward to it. If he was the one on his way to Taiwan instead, he knew that he himself would be ecstatic.

During business meetings—and meetings that weren't officially classified as business, but were definitely about business—Eric tried to stay as true to himself as possible. Once in a while, some of the persona he'd built up slipped through the cracks, but there was a reason he liked baseball more than business.

Mr. Tsaur made a pleasant reply back about promising a fun-filled tour of the city with his wife, and the two of them were splitting up. There were offhanded comments about seeing each other for dinner when Eric's parents finally arrived, but that was all that was left of the interaction.

Eric jogged down the hill toward the conventional path where a white-topped golf cart sat waiting for him. His driver and caddy companion for the day was Jacob Bae, a regular worker here at the country club whom Eric had known for at least a couple years now.

But instead of just Jacob and the cart, Eric found that someone else had joined the group.

You sat in the second row of the golf cart with a circular serving tray pressed over your lap. Like some of the other staff members at the club, you wore the standard black, collared shirt and black skort. He'd seen you around this place plenty of times this summer and even greeted you once or twice, but he knew you were new.

Oh, trust that he knew a new face when he saw one, especially when said face was as pretty as yours. The only shame was that you were often assigned to areas where Eric didn't exactly frequent, but he never took himself as the type to give up easily.

You and Jacob were sharing a laugh as Eric approached the golf cart with his golf putter in hand. "Hey guys," Eric chirped.

All the attention flickered over to Eric, but he couldn't stop staring at the way the slight breeze this afternoon was making your hair fall in your face all pretty. Even in a braid, the little strands fell out to frame your face.

"Oh, hi Eric! How was the last round?" Jacob asked as he twisted around in his driver's seat to watch Eric round the back to put his putter away. You had shifted in your seat slightly to follow him with your eyes, as well.

Eric slid the stick into his bag and caught your eyes. His smile widened. "It went well. Same old, same old," he chuckled, bracing a gloves hand on the roof of the cart. "When'd you get here, Yn?" He asked you with a nod of his chin.

You perked up at the sound of your name. Cute. "Ah, just a few minutes ago," you said. You sheepishly gestured to your empty tray. "Haknyeon dropped me off a few holes over to deliver drinks, and then I saw Jacob over here and walked over to catch a ride back to the clubhouse."

"I can't believe he just ditched you," Jacob chortled.

Eric circled around the cart to take the seat in the front beside Jacob. "He ditched you?" He frowned, leaning his arm over the back of the seat to look at you.

As the cart began making its smooth return down the path and over a small bridge, you smoothed your braid over your shoulder. "No, no! He didn't ditch me; we were just headed in the same direction until we… weren't," you mused. "I mean, if Cobie wasn't here, a walk back wouldn't have been the worst thing anyways."

"I guess," Eric agreed, biting his lip. "So, uh… ever played golf before?"

"Golf? It's been a while, but yeah, I've driven the occasional golf ball across a green."

From the driver's seat, Jacob slapped his right hand down on Eric's shoulder. "Yn-ie! This guy's one of the best casual golf players you'll probably ever meet. His swing? So clean."

Eric chuckled, clasping a hand on the back of his neck, when he felt your attention flicker back to him again. "I'm no pro…"

"I'll have to see that for myself then," you said with a smile.

The golf cart slowed to a stop in front of the doors into the main kitchens of the clubhouse proper. Because this main kitchen was so large, they were given their own set of doors directly to the outdoor courts and beyond for easy access. While Jacob would drop you off here, he would have to continue onward for Eric's proper spot.

You clambered out of the golf cart, poking Jacob in the shoulder as you went. "Bye, guys! Thanks for the ride, Cobie."

"Bye, Yn!" Both boys chimed together. When you disappeared behind the swinging kitchen doors, Jacob pulled the cart back onto the main road to carry onward.

Eric settled into his seat to face forward once again. He lifted the cap off his head and carded a hand through his hair to let the strands, dampened with sweat, dry a bit. "I didn't know Yn was allowed to work the golf range," he commented as innocently as possible.

Jacob made a small humming noise. "Yeah, we're short a couple people out here because of the Ferndale event going on down by the gazebo."

"She wasn't sent there?"

"Did you want her to be sent there?" Jacob grinned slyly at the young heir, who turned his gaze elsewhere.

Eric coughed. "I didn't say that."

His companion still would not wipe that knowing smile off his face, even as he slowed the golf cart to a stop and Eric hopped out to collect his equipment from the back. "I didn't say you did," he snickered as Eric walked away.

He didn't give Jacob the satisfaction of an answer, instead, saying a "thank you" for driving him over his shoulder, before ducking inside the clubhouse locker room.

Jacob shook his head in amusement and began making his way further down the path to return the cart. Silly, silly kids.

You didn't realize country clubs were real until you were sitting in the office of the Beverly Hills Country Club's hiring manager and being hired. That was about a month ago, and no, you still didn't believe it was real. The entire training experience, in fact, had swept through like a fever dream.

The summer season had just begun, though, and they had taken you on in a rush of desperation. You hadn't failed to notice how relieved the hiring manager looked when you told him you'd worked as a waitress at an upscale wedding venue before you moved cross-country, and knew how to carry a drink platter and dirty dishes. That was part of the reason you'd been hired on the spot. You'd also mentioned your extensive knowledge of how to fold cloth napkins into swans, and you liked to think that was your true selling point. (Don't ask, the last part was because you had been very bored while waiting in the backroom during a wedding.)

And while you cared little about cleaning pools or catering to rich prick egos, you did care about the crisp green bills that graced your eyes with more frequency than a Superman actor on Hollywood Boulevard. There was also the possibility to gain some more experience in the dining and catering world; if you were lucky, you could butter up your manager to let you help out in the kitchen some.

After all, that was why you were here so far from home.

"Yn, you've got company at table five," Haknyeon said as he passed by you on his way into the kitchen.

You gave a nod out of instinct. You brushed your hands against your black waist apron, absentmindedly reaching up to also smooth out the black vest on your upper half. Usually when you worked at the club's restaurants and bars as wait staff, your uniform consisted of a white button down under a black vest, followed by a black skirt and apron. It was classy and chic, and definitely added to the expensive atmosphere.

You could see table five in your section up ahead. It was a little early into dinner service, but there were still people who came in. To your surprise, the company at table five was none other than Eric Sohn himself, along with two others you recognized as his parents. They were dressed casually—meaning semiformal. It was something out of a dinner cruise, with Eric's dark brunette waves styled effortlessly messy and the top three buttons of his dress shirt undone to reveal the slightly bronzed, toned skin beneath—

You cleared your throat, plastering a smile on your face as you approached the table. "Evening, everyone. Mr. and Mrs. Sohn," you gave a small greeting bow to his parents, then swiftly doled out little napkins for their drinks. "It's nice to see you on the grounds again today."

"Oh, Yn! It's very nice to see you this evening," said Mrs. Sohn with a delicate flourish of her wrist.

"Yes!" Mr. Sohn chimed in, "What have you been up to? Eric says he saw you on the golf range today."

Your eyes darted to Eric's, then went back to his parents when you realized his eyes were on you. You laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear and bracing the end of your serving tray against your waist. "Oh, uhm, yeah! I was just summoned down there to get some drinks to the Santos family—you know them, right?"

Recognition lit up in Eric's mother's eyes. "Yes, yes! Marina and her kids! Ah, well that sounds nice; I'll have to see if I can bump into her at the spa or something. Eric gave you a ride back in his cart, didn't he? The walk back is awfully far."

You nodded. "Yeah, of course. He was with Jacob, so I just hopped in the back and rode back with them here."

"I still owe you that golf date," Eric cut in smoothly, the hand with his Rolex draped over the back of his chair. His smile was casual, innocent, the kind that so easily could make anyone do his bidding.

"Golf date?" His parents glanced curiously between the two of you, and you felt heat rush up to your cheeks.

"It was just an offhand comment," you said sheepishly. "Jacob was telling me about how great of a golfer Eric is and I said I wanted to see his swing some time." Before anything else could be said on the matter, you tucked your tray under your arm and replaced it with your notepad and pen. "Can I get you anything to drink? An appetizer to start?"

That drew away the conversation promptly. It wasn't like you were uncomfortable with the idea of going on a date with Eric Sohn, it just wasn't that simple. Though the club officially encouraged good relationships between staff and club members, they didn't exactly encourage the romantic kind of relationship. Obviously, it would be impossible to enforce a no-entanglement policy completely, but you wanted to stay on your manager's good side.

You nearly folded in half over the counter of the tiki bar at the pool. Sweat streamed down the side of your face, and you were pretty sure your baby hairs looked akin to a lion's mane under your white baseball cap. Thank god the club didn't force you to wear a black colored hat instead; the black polo and skort were death enough.

Jacob chuckled as he passed you a clean, damp towel that had been soaking in ice water. "Before you get heat stroke," he said, then returned to preparing a tray of drinks someone had ordered at the hot tub.

You thanked him profusely, dabbing your face and neck with the cool blessing. "Sheesh," you groaned. "I think I need to reapply my sunscreen soon. How are you out here all the time, Cobie?"

He grinned with a half-hearted shrug. "Well, I work with cold drinks and I'm under the shade. And—" he tapped the handy little fan clipped to one of the structure poles of the tiki bar, "—this beautiful work of engineering."

"I need one of those umbrella hats and squirt bottles kids bring to Disneyland," you grumbled and plucked yourself up from the bar. You returned the towel to Jacob so he could toss it into the soiled towel bin on the other side of him. You watched as he finished up filling the tray and whistled at the pool waiter who had ordered it for the group at the hot tub.

As the waiter walked away with the drinks, you thought aloud, "How could they stand to be in the hot tub in this heat?" From here, you could see the group of girls gathered in the bubbling jets of the hot tub at the far end of the pool in their bikini tops and Gucci shades.

"They're not standing—they're sitting."

You sent Jacob an unimpressed look, to which he simply smiled wider.

"Hey guys!" Ji Changmin huffed and puffed as he collapsed onto the barstool next to you. He had a towel hanging around his shoulders and a white sweatband holding up his dark bangs dripping with sweat. "Can I get an ice water, hyung?"

"Yeah, man," Jacob said, already dumping a scoop of ice in a cup.

"You alright there, Changmin?" You glanced over at the club's dance instructor with barely concealed amusement.

Changmin took the corner of his towel to dry the dribble of sweat making its way down his forehead. "Whoever thought it was a good idea to do hot Zumba in the height of summer needs a reality check. I think I'm dying."

As one of the country club's primary dance instructors, not only did Changmin lead all of the dance activities on the grounds, he was also supposed to take over any dance aerobics classes like said hot Zumba. You knew it wasn't his favorite, but it was still funny to make faces at him through the window as he did can-can kicks in leg warmers with all of the rich moms.

You leaned down to check if he had the leg warmers on. He did not. At least he finally had the good sense to break uniform.

Jacob slid over an ice-cold glass of water, and Changmin drained it like a man who trekked through the desert for seven days. You glanced at Jacob's digital clock on the counter behind him—he kept it so he could be on time for all of his breaks.

"Oh shit," you said, quickly fixing your cap and adjusting your hair, "time for me to get back to work."

Changmin straightened. "Where are you stationed today, Yn-ie? Chanhee and I wanted to come pick you up later for dinner before we have to come back."

"That's right!" Jacob slapped his palm to his forehead. "We have to all be back here for the banquet. I almost forgot, damn it."

You cocked a brow at him. "Wow, you, Jacob Bae, almost forgot about the major event all of our jobs are riding on that's taking place tonight?"

A smile curled onto your face when Jacob narrowed his eyes at you. "Don't you have work to do?"

You let out a laugh and began backing away from the tiki bar and your friends. "Kim has me at the ice cream bar until the end of my shift, Changmin. I'll catch you boys later!"

Jacob and Changmin raised their hands in twin waves to you as you walked away. If you remembered the time on Jacob's clock correctly, you had about fifteen minutes to get up to the indoor ice cream bar for your shift.

Tonight, the country club was hosting a banquet for one of the business men here. It was supposedly one of the most important events for the club's reputation, so it was all hands on deck. Everyone from Chanhee at the spa to Haknyeon in the kitchen were called upon to clock into work once again tonight to help out. You were glad you weren't a part of the set-up and takedown committees, but you were expected to wait on the banquet. Jacob was supposed to be bartending tonight, as usual, and your other friends and coworkers would be waiting alongside you.

You glanced up on your walk out of the pool area and nearly tripped over the soles of your sneakers.

Coming in hot (literally) were none other than Eric Sohn, Lee Hyunjae, and Lee Juyeon—all of whom were very much shirtless. Swim trunks hung low on their waists, their stomachs carved like triplet Michaelangelos. Seeing shirtless guys at the pool wasn't new for you, but these guys were actually around your age.

Eric saw you first and waved. "Yn, hey!"

"Hi guys," you greeted back with a shallow nod of your head. "Nice day out for a swim."

"I know, right?" Hyunjae raised a hand to shield his eyes from the unforgiving summer sun. "You must be baking in that uniform, Yn." He raised his chin to gesture at the all black attire.

"I don't suppose you'd be able to join us?" Juyeon smiled. He knew you probably couldn't join them because you were clocked in, but he had always been pretty nice nonetheless. He and Hyunjae were cousins, and the Lee family was well-known around here for being big names in the legal sphere, as well as being one of the larger families. There was another cousin of theirs around their age running around here somewhere, too.

You gave a helpless shrug. "Duty calls, unfortunately."

"Yn, hey wait—" Eric caught your attention as you were about to continue walking up toward the main clubhouse. He flashed you that smile again, the one that made your stomach do flips and would convince you to do flips for him if only he asked. "You won't happen to be working at the banquet tonight, are you?"

"How'd you guess?" You replied good-naturedly. "Why do you ask?"

He began walking backwards toward the direction his friends had drifted off to, his smile tilting up slightly. "So I know which cologne I should wear."

And it definitely wasn't a trick of the summer sun that made you see him wink at you.

"He's into you."

"He is not—" you wrestled your sleeve up your forearm and made a frustrated noise when the button would not go through, "—into me."

Chanhee gave you a nice, slow eye roll just so you would see it, and he yanked the sleeve away from you so he could roll it up himself. "A lot of men around here like smelling nice, but no one pulls out the Acqua Di Gio just for the service girl or a business banquet," he hissed as a fellow waiter rushed past you two in the narrow corridor. "Jesus, why is this button such a bitch?"

"That's what I'm saying," you hissed back at him as the two of you both struggled to fix your sleeve. "Not the cologne thingy—I hate how you're able to just take a whiff and name the cologne. What kind of demon nose do you have?"

Chanhee sighed and collapsed against the wall opposite to you when he finally managed to get the sleeve right. The two of you were currently on break, not hiding, in this corridor. In T-minus two minutes, you would both have to be back out in the hustle and bustle of cleanup or after-party drinks in the lounge. Because the main course had finally been served, a lot of the waiters were allowed to go on break. The banquet thus far had gone relatively smoothly, other than the fact that when you had served Eric all of his courses, he'd made sure you practically melted on the smell of his cologne.

It wasn't your fault you had to bend down close to him to not spill the hot food. And it wasn't your fault that he chose to put his mouth right to your ear when he told you a joke, masking it as asking for more water.

You couldn't decide if you were going to giggle or let your knees buckle at that moment. Thank god you managed to laugh behind your hand and hustle away before anyone noticed.

But that was besides the point. The point was that Chanhee had also passed by Eric, caught the faint trail of Aqua De Whatever, and connected some dots.

"If you want a demon, you talk to Changmin," he said. "I just know my shit. And I also know that you only break out the Acqua Di Gio when you want to attract someone, and based on the fact he's currently seated around about fifty other businesspeople…" Chanhee made a wild, desperate gesture with his hands, eyes widened. Are you getting this? He seemed to ask. Because I will smack you if you aren't.

You fanned yourself, justifying it by thinking about how hot the back hallway was and this outfit was, rather than admitting that it was because Eric was hot. "Okay, okay. Come on, we have to get back out there," you said, already turning your heel toward the door.

"I'm just saying that clearly he's been trying to tell you something," Chanhee added as you both broke out of the hallway and into the kitchen. He grabbed a circular serving tray from a stack on the counter next to him to hand over to you.

"Well, what do you suppose I should do with that?"

He pressed his lips into a thin smile, taking hold of a small, empty cart and pushing it ahead of him. "Just keep an open mind, darling."

You and Chanhee separated at the kitchen doors out into the banquet hall. While he would be a part of cleaning up, you needed to head over to the next-door parlor where the party had moved post-dinner. Business would continue as usual, just with a few more drinks and pool involved.

The parlor room was arguably one of your favorite rooms in the club with its cozier atmosphere created by the evergreen walls, tiffany-shaded lamps, and dark oak furnishings. It was also outfitted with a hearth (unused during the summer and spring) and a billiards table. Most of those who had chosen to stay had migrated with a certain crowd of people they planned to continue chatting with. Your job, as well as the few others recruited to the parlor, was to be a fly on the wall until somebody needed something. If tips were passed around, you were free to pocket them.

You were probably standing and waiting for only five minutes before you saw Eric stand up from where he was on the far side of the room. He shouldered his suit jacket off and draped it over the back of his armchair, exposing the white dress shirt and black vest beneath. Whew, he was wearing a full suit to this event? You wondered how he even survived, but all conscious thought flew out the window when he caught you staring and started smirking to himself. The smug, little expression stayed etched into the sharp planes of his face even as he strolled over to the pool table and lined up his shot.

You wondered—and it was just a thought—what it'd be like (possibly) for him to lean over you—

"Excuse me, miss?" You shook out of your daze and remembered why you were here. Unfortunately, it was not to admire the young heir watching you from the other side of the room, but to serve guests.

For the next couple of hours, your job was exactly what you did. You had been so focused on running back and forth from the bar in the other room and back that you always seemed to have missed Eric trying to catch your eye again. If he wanted drinks, he had to suck it up and ask someone else who just happened to be near him instead.

As the evening dwindled into a sweet, humid night, the amount of guests also began to trickle down. You had grabbed a rag on your way back to the parlor room and said goodbye to your coworkers on their way out. Some still lingered for last minute clean up, and though you were technically done for the night, you wanted to wipe down anything you had missed. It was something simple that you could do to help out a colleague, and it wasn't like you were in a rush to go home.

When you walked back into the parlor room, however, you blinked—surprised—at the sight of an individual left. He leaned against the billiards table, one hand holding the edge of the suit jacket draped over his shoulder and the other scrolling through his phone.

Eric glanced up from his device and pocketed it at the sight of you. "Hey."

"Hi," you said back. "Uhm, can I get you anything—"

"Oh, no no. I'm good." He shook his head, pushing off from the table. He shot you that signature boyish smile of his and your heart began doing cartwheels. "I just wanted to ask if I could give you a lift home."

You opened your mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Truthfully, you were caught off guard, stunned. This wasn't what you were expecting from him.

He saw your hesitation and let out a sheepish laugh, cupping the back of his head. "Sorry, this is so out of the blue. I… it's a little late out right now, and I didn't know if you had a ride or not. I know you're not usually scheduled to work so late."

"You know my schedule?" You blurted. Though, the thought did warm you and amuse you.

His eyes widened. "I mean, uhm, definitely not in the creepy, stalkerish sort of way! I uh, I like to think I pay a lot more attention when it comes to you." His admission didn't do much to slow the racing organ in your chest cavity. You always saw Eric Sohn as one of those smooth and collected young men who were born to charm. But seeing him flustered and tripping over his words because of you?

You ducked your head slightly, flattered and most definitely charmed still. "I'd really appreciate a lift home, Eric."

You both shared a smile in the slightly dimmed, slightly warmed lights of the parlor room.

Once you had finished glossing over the surfaces of the parlor room with your rag to catch any rings made by perspiring liquids, your manager dismissed you for the night. Eric told you he would meet you out front where he would bring his car around for you. You found yourself standing at the edge of the curb with a gentle, yet rare summer breeze wafting through your hair. You had your bag slung over your shoulder, and you grasped the strap and fidgeted with the material.

A car pulled up to the circular driveway—it was a sports car. The Corvette, sleek and aerodynamic, was doused in a shiny orange coat of paint that glimmered even in the night. The passenger side window rolled down so you could see Eric leaning over the center console and waving to you.

"Hey, hop in!" He said to you with a grin, lowering the music he was playing.

Gingerly, you walked up to the car and managed to maneuver yourself inside. The passenger seat was lined in soft black leather, and the inside of the car made it all the more easy to suffocate on that delicious cologne of his.

Eric had ditched his suit jacket and vest in the backseat of the car, leaving him in just his white dress shirt and slacks.

"Nice car," you whistled lowly as you buckled yourself in.

His mouth tilted upward. "Thanks," he said. He fussed around with his phone for a second before passing the device to you. "If you wouldn't mind putting your number and address in."

"Oh." It was a brand new contact page. You didn't question it, swiftly inputting all of the necessary information before returning his phone to him.

Eric took a peek at the address, then pulled out of the country club's driveway. You didn't live too far away from the club, luckily. It was only a few minute's drive, but the walk sometimes felt a bit longer. California didn't exactly have the most convenient public transportation system, and in an area like Beverly Hills, it was near impossible to find a reliable bus or train service.

"Any music preferences?" He asked you quietly.

You shook your head. "I'm not super picky. What you have on is all good with me."

"I have to confess, Yn," he said with a half smile, eyes darting toward you, "that I was trying to steal your attention all night."

Your stomach flipped and you suppressed the smile that threatened to crawl onto your mouth. "Really?"

He laughed. "Yeah, but obviously, your work ethic beat me out, as well as my own luck."

"Any reason for seeking me out?" He'd technically had your attention all throughout the banquet, but he had also needed to entertain and chat with the other people around him. While the after party was sometimes used for business discussion, too, the banquet dinner itself was the main event.

"I mean, besides wanting to talk to the cute girl eating up all my thoughts?"

He was turning onto your apartment complex's street all too soon. The car slid into a parking spot along the curb, and he twisted in his seat to face you. "I really want to take you out, show you a good time. It doesn't have to be something fancy if that's not your vibe; we can always start with golf."

You let the smile bloom on your face at the reference to the "golf date" you both had yet to schedule. You still wanted to see his swing, after all. "Then it's a date," you said, "I should have a free day two days from now, if that works for you."

Eric bit his lip. "I'm all yours, hon."

Before you could start doing somersaults from excitement, you resolved yourself to getting into your apartment first. "Well, thank you again for the lift, Eric. You have my number?"

He nodded. "Never losing it."

You grinned something fond. He grinned right back at you. "Get home safe."

"I will. Good night, cutie."

You slammed the car door shut and left Eric to his lonesome. Through the passenger side window, Eric watched as you disappeared into your apartment complex, safe and sound. He had almost given into the urge to ask if he could walk you up, but it was a miracle you had even taken him up on his offer to drive you home.

He pulled up your contact and sent you a text so you could have his number, too, as soon as possible. He deposited his phone into the cup holder, then punched the roof of his car with a shit-eating grin on his face. He'd scored your number and a date in one night—damn right, he did.

You had reasoned with yourself that this was okay based on the fact that you weren't on company time.

"Shoooooot," you whistled with a slight arch in your brows and applause. You tracked the distance Eric's driving shot sent the golf ball flying, and in the early morning sunlight, the white sphere disappeared over the crest of green hill.

You figured being courted by a club member during your own free time was a loophole you could live with. Especially when such a loophole looked so good swinging a golf club.

His follow through was just as beautiful as he was, his arms lifting the golf club over behind him from the arc. When he lowered the club to turn back to you, he was beaming. "What's the verdict?"

Your golf club was currently acting as your arm rest as you staked the head against the grass. "I don't know, Eric," you sucked in a breath, teasingly. "I think you could've gone pro."

He laughed then, eyes narrowed into glorious upturned crescent moons. "Thanks, cutie." He made a gesture to the tee. "All yours."

"Let me preface this by saying that it's been awhile," you were quick to say as the nerves suddenly bubbled up into your chest and made you wanna do a jittery shuffle. You should not have let Eric go first.

"No worries," he chirped. "Why don't we practice first?"

Yes, practice. Thank god he knew where your head was at.

You eagerly agreed, and set your golf ball up on the tee. Nervously, you smoothed your gloves down the front of your pleated golf skirt. You lined up the face of the golf club with the ball and pulled it back a millimeter—

Then chickened out.

"Performance anxiety," you grimaced to your date.

"Oh, well, that's okay!" Eric set his golf club down on the field and made his way over to you. "Can I help?"

Yes. "Please do," you chuckled, leaving room for him to take your club.

But instead, he shook his head. "No, no. You won't learn anything from just watching, silly goose."

He grabbed the golf club over your hands and lined both of your bodies up correctly. Your breath hitched at the feeling of his front pressed against your back. His mouth was so close to your ear again, and there was that damned cologne making you see hearts.

"Sorry, is this okay?" He asked softly.

You gulped, nodding. "Yeah. Perfectly okay." You wondered if he could feel your heartbeat quicken like a drum crescendoing. If he wasn't careful, your heart might just fall out and run to his arms.

From this position, Eric smoothly guided you through the steps of a perfect swing. The pullback was cranked over your shoulder, then the club would swing straight through, followed by the arc back over your other shoulder and the appropriate turn of your body. As he had explained to you, getting the perfect swing or shot in sports mostly came down to the follow through. If one could not back up their initial movement, then why make the shot?

"—and you turn your body—yeah, just like that," he praised as you automatically rotated yourself from the side to the front, the toe of your foot digging into the ground and turning with you. "That's beautiful."

He backed up from you then, giving you some space. It suddenly felt like you were missing something with him gone. "You should try it now!"

You took a deep breath in as you lined your golf club up with the ball again. Cranking the club back over your shoulder, you swung it down and back up again. When the face of the club met the ball, it did so with a resounding PING!, and the ball went sailing.

(That sound… mwah. The sweet, sweet sound of triumph.)

"You did it!"

"I did it!"

It hadn't gone as far as Eric's had, but it had definitely traveled farther than it would have without his help. You whirled to him, clasping his hand with yours as you both shared equally radiant smiles. A giddiness flooded into you, and no doubt into the glow of your face.

"See? Not too bad," he said, squeezing your hand.

"All thanks to you," you pointed out.

He shook his head, using your linked hands to lead you back to where your golf bags were waiting a little ways back by the cart. "Nah, you had it in you, Yn. It was just performance anxiety, as you said."

The two of you each grabbed your own bags and hiked them over your shoulder to head down the hill and find your respective golf balls. From this view, you could see that the other patrons of the club were slowly trickling out onto the acres surrounding. It felt strange to be here as not a staff member, but as a guest instead.

Eric piped up, "Is it weird that I was hoping you would ask for my help?"

"Not really," you mused, then meekly added, "'cause I was kind of hoping you would offer your help."

He looked about as happy as you felt, and he swung your hands together between you.

It hit you, then, that you were still holding hands. But you didn't let go, and Eric didn't say anything. He just helped you find your golf ball, line up another shot, and hugged you from behind like it was nothing.

From across the pond, Jacob, Changmin, Chanhee, and Haknyeon pulled up over the bridge. The four of them were all piled into a golf cart, and Jacob stopped it just over the crest. They all knew about where you were today and why you were dressed in proper golf attire rather than the country club uniform. They watched with wide eyes (and maybe a camera or two) as you and Eric had a good time.

"Young love," Jacob sighed fondly from his spot in the driver's seat.

"I think it's gross," Changmin giggled. He yelped, furiously rubbing the place on his shoulder that Chanhee had whacked. "Hey! I was kidding!"

Chanhee rolled his eyes. "Let them have their moment. I'm glad Yn-ie let herself have fun with him."

"They look like they're having quite the time," Haknyeon said. "They're cute."

Changmin poked his head in between Jacob and Haknyeon from the backseat. "Just a thought, but what if we turned on the sprinklers like in High School Musical 2?"

An exchange of looks, a deep consideration… "No," they all chorused. They would get their asses kicked for that.

You were on lunch break when Changmin practically crashed onto the bench next to you with a crazed look in his eyes. "You. Me. Spa. Now."

You couldn't even say goodbye to the sandwich you were eating before Changmin grabbed your arm and dragged you across the club.

"Changmin! What the hell—"

"I'll explain in a second!" He hissed back at you while ducking into the service entrance of the spa.

The backdoor led to a staff break room, where Chanhee was currently (coincidentally) seated on a stool eating a box of Pepero while watching a cartoon on his phone. The man glanced up from his phone at the loud commotion, one cheek full of his snack, and he blinked. "You're lucky I'm not with a client right now."

"Yeah, yeah," Changmin said, dragging you and a stool over to Chanhee at the same time. He pushed your shoulders so you would take a seat. Changmin placed his hands on his hips as he stood before the two of you. "You're never gonna guess what I just overheard."

"What?" You and Chanhee asked at the same time.

"Well, you know Clara?"

Chanhee jumped right in. "The one fooling around with that Brian Yang guy. He's the heir to that one corporation monopolizing SIM cards or some shit."

How the hell…?

Changmin's head bobbed vigorously. "Yes, yes! That's the one. Anyways—I was walking past the manager's office and they were talking loud enough to hear with headphones on. Apparently, Clara and Brian had a nasty, nasty split, and Brian got her fired."

Silence.

Chanhee's eyebrows flew up. "Like… fired-fired?"

A grave nod. "Fired-fired."

You held your head in your hands. "Just because of a break up?" You asked. "Clara is such a nice girl."

Your friend's lips were pressed into a line. "Doesn't mean he's a nice guy. I dunno—" he threw his hands in the air and let them flop back against his legs, "—it's fucked, man. He said it was, like, too awkward to be around her all the time since he was here all the time. And because his father is one of the stockholders of the country club, Manager Kim could do little but do his bidding."

Your heart had fallen into the pit of your stomach. Drama like this didn't really happen often here, but there was always something going on.

You always thought there were assholes here, but sometimes they just kept on reminding you of it.

"And now I'm fooling around with one of the club members," you thought aloud. The realization hit you, a golf ball to the face. "Oh my god."

Chanhee's hand came up to your shoulder and gave you a soothing, warm squeeze. "Eric seems like a good guy, Yn-ie. You never know."

"But you really never know," you murmured. There was a reason why the club discouraged romantic relations between club members and staff. Perhaps this time, it wasn't about work productivity, but about keeping your damn jobs. You needed this job. You needed it so desperately because of the money, the opportunities, the connections. Not to mention all of the people you'd befriended here… it didn't seem right that you were scared of what Eric could do to you, but reality was settling in fast.

The Sohns were a major shareholder in the club, which meant they could pull strings like tying a shoelace.

But Eric is good. He's been good, you reasoned.

Changmin crossed his arms as he leaned back against the wall behind him. "You should talk to him. At the very least, you only went on one date, so it's not like you're completely involved yet."

That was a good point. You were going to run with it.

When Eric invited you over to his house, you should have known you were about to drive your beat up sedan into the driveway of a palace, not a house. A house was for normal people, not whoever the Sohns were, you knew that much. To say you were intimidated by the massive front lawn, iron gates, and limestone arches and columns would be an understatement. Maybe you should have worn something nicer.

You pulled up to the curb of the roundabout—he'd mentioned to you that you could just park there. Apparently the garage was a little inconvenient for guests, but you weren't complaining. The front of the house was a marvel to look at, and wherever that garage was would have left you unable to fully soak in this modern wonder. Plus, you had some time to pull yourself together before seeing Eric.

The plan was… no plan, really. He wanted to hang out with you, and you'd mentioned your love for cooking. Thus, he proposed a miniature cooking class in his kitchen, along with dinner on the patio. It sounded nice. It also sounded great when you remembered what you needed to talk to him about. (Yay.)

It's not a big deal. Eric's cool.

You finally managed to trek your way up to the front door and you booped the doorbell. It was one of those loud bells that must have echoed throughout the house, because you could clearly hear it from the outside.

A couple minutes later, you heard the locking mechanism come undone. The door opened after; you swore that every time you saw this guy, you became speechless.

You had seen him in a dress shirt before, but this tank top and over-shirt thing was new. It was casual and comfortable, yet chic. His hair was styled in the same manner his clothing was—simple and so attractive. A silver chain and matching silver rings added the subtle touch of elegance to pull everything together.

"Hi," he grinned—he was always smiling, you realized. It was such a pretty smile. He stepped aside and gave you room in the doorway. "Come on in, cutie."

"Thanks for having me over," you said pleasantly, trying not to openly gawk at the front foyer with the sky-high ceiling, chandelier dripping with crystals, and grand staircase wrapping around the walls up to the indoor balcony.

He closed the door behind you as you deposited your shoes by the small rack. Eric wrapped a loose arm around your shoulder to guide you through the foyer. "Of course! I'm so excited you're here; I went out—actually no, I…" he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "ordered it off that grocery app. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for."

"Grocery app?" You laughed. "Are you talking about the stuff for dinner?"

"Yeah!"

The two of you entered the kitchen. It was a wide, open space that flowed straight into the living room. The cabinets were smooth and snow white, accented with countertops marbled with black and hints of gold. Though clean, it was a space well-loved with a recipe book left open to a lobster risotto; little candies left in a jar on the island labeled with chalk; barstools that weren't quite aligned, like they'd actually been sat on. The living room, too, was beautiful. Massive, but beautiful, with a wraparound couch sectional and a flat screen with family photos hung above it. It was framed by shelves filled to the brim with CD and DVD cases, more family photos, books, and little baubles.

And the lighting. Oh man, the natural lighting from the windows making up the entire back wall… it led out onto the acres of land his family owned, as well as a patio that overlooked the valley.

Eric had mentioned dinner on the patio. If your math was right, that meant you would probably be dining at sunset, all while overlooking a splendid view—how romantic. God, you hated how giddy you were starting to get. Those butterflies in your stomach would not cease.

"You have a really, really beautiful home," you murmured, letting him take your bag from you to place on one of the barstools.

You had always thought that big houses like this would be so difficult to fill. What was one supposed to do with so much space anyway? From the pictures on the wall, you could see Eric's parents, himself, as well as a sister who must have been out making her own mark on the world in that special Sohn kind of way. Even with just four people in this place… they still managed to make it feel like a home and not a house. It was like your own house back in your hometown, across the country. It was lived-in and warm and yours, and that was the beauty of it. And you were certain by just looking at this place that the Sohns were a family who loved each other.

How could you not believe in Eric? Not with all of this to vouch for him? He had grown up loved.

"Thank you," he said. "It's one of my favorite places to be. That's why I still haunt it like a ghost," he joked. He placed a warm hand on the small of your back and led you over to the fridge where he had put all of the grocery delivery bags in. Even the fridge was relatively stocked. "Not sure if everything I got was right, but hopefully it'll all turn out delicious anyway."

You helped him unload the bags onto the kitchen island, raising a brow at the labels on the groceries. They were on the higher end of price and quality, which definitely wasn't a problem, but holding a hundred dollar bottle of red wine just for sauce was making your anxiety levels spike. "Oh, no. It all looks great, Eric. Thanks for getting these, by the way. I would have gone out and brought them here, but—"

He waved away your worries. "You're busy and you're working. Plus, it lets me technically pay for dinner," he said with a cheeky look on his face and gesturing with a finger gun. It was cute. He was cute.

"Smooth, Sohn. I see you."

"That's what they called me in high school," he played along, dancing on his toes behind you to fiddle with his phone and turn on a speaker somewhere (you didn't know where). "Smooth Sohn."

You snorted, slapping a hand over your mouth. Eric's eyes glittered with a mutual mirth. "Whatever you say, honey."

He waltzed back over to you, tongue in cheek. "I like that better though—honey." He leaned back against the counter next to you and watched as you sorted out the ingredients in different piles depending on how they should be prepped. "So what's the plan, chef? You're the boss."

"I'd love to know where your knives and cutting boards are," you said.

He leapt into action. "Say no more!"

In reality, you did have to say more. It wasn't that Eric didn't know where everything was in the kitchen, he just wasn't as well versed in using the kitchen. He'd told you while teaching him how to hold a knife properly that he really only came in here for ramen. Good news was he could crack an egg with one hand; bad news was that was about all he could do. It was still charming, nonetheless. And the cute cooking lesson gave him plenty of opportunity to get close to you.

He had even insisted on you teaching him how to chop carrots like how he had taught you how to swing a golf club—over and around him—with your hands over his and your body wrapped around his, your chin on his shoulder.

But with dinner well past done, the two of you made your way out onto the patio just as the sun was sinking into the embrace of the valley below. It melted into the sky like a broken yolk, saturated and golden. He let you have the seat staring out into the valley. The way he looked at you though, made you feel like you were his million dollar valley view.

The table was set with twin glasses of red wine (amazing what a good wine paired with beef stew could do for the soul), plates separated by a hot stew pot, and a couple of candles for ambiance.

"Wow," he moaned as the beef melted on his tongue. "This is so good. And you're telling me you're pretty, smart, and can cook?"

You held back a giggle so you could swallow your bite. "And I'm single," you jested.

"And you're single!" He leaned his head back, eyes closed. "Thank god for that."

Eric leaned his cheek on his fist, his head cocked slightly and his eyes on you with a swoon-worthy admiration. "Thanks for coming out tonight and hanging out with me."

You could kiss him. "Please, I should be the one thanking you. It's been really fun hanging out with you." It was surreal, actually. The fact that this young heir had deemed you "worthy" or whatever to court and entertain—it wasn't like you defined your self worth by his attention and affection, but this felt nice. Your conversation with Changmin and Chanhee the other day came to the forefront of your mind.

"I, uhm, think this is a good time to ask if you wanted to do this more often? Hanging out with me, I mean."

You weren't sure if this was what you thought he was asking you. He reached for his wine glass, and in the fading sunlight and the candlelight illuminating the bashful expression on his face, your heart pounded.

"What I mean to say," he tried again after a small sip of wine, "is would you be my—"

"I think we should talk!" You cut in before you heard anymore. You were getting jittery, unable to figure out when was the right time to bring up the thing, but also, you wanted him to say his thing, and it was just a mess. But when you saw Eric's wide eyes, mouth zipped up, you repeated in a much calmer tone, "I think we should talk about something. It's not… it's not super serious or anything. I could just be overthinking."

Oh, you felt bad. He looked like a kicked puppy, but you saw him pull himself together for you. "It's—you're probably not overthinking, Yn. What's on your mind?"

The wine glass was put down. He even put his fork down.

Were you making a big deal out of this? Probably not, right? This was important, you reminded yourself. You pursed your lips. "So one of my coworkers—former coworkers," you amended, "Clara. Her name's Clara. She and this guy you might know, Brian Yang…"

He nodded. "Yeah, I know of him."

"Well, they kind of had this thing going on between them. And the other day, she was fired because they broke up and he thought it was too weird that she was working where he was hanging out all the time," you rambled on. "And I uhm, I just wanted to make sure from the get-go that… you know… it's stupid, I don't know. But it's my job, y'know? And—and I need this job, but I like you a lot, Eric. Am I making any sense?"

Neither of you were eating anymore.

You looked at him, hopelessly, searching for signs of understanding.

He leaned in slightly and reached for your hands over the table. "Yn, sweetheart," he said, lacing his fingers with yours over the pot of beef stew, "that is a valid point to bring up, and I can understand what you're probably thinking. That—that news must have been scary, or at least nerve-racking, and Brian's a dick for that—"

You nodded, swallowing.

"—and I don't want you to risk your job because of me," he said earnestly. "But I really want to see where this goes, you know? If anything happens and you don't feel the same way, then no harm, no foul. I'm not gonna take my emotions out on you like that asshole; that's not right."

The breath you had been holding in fell from your mouth, a wave of relief. A sappy, grateful sort of smile worked its way onto your mouth and you met Eric's own kind expression. "You are actually perfect," you let out a breathy laugh. "Where have you been all my life?"

He grinned. "Funny, that's what I've been thinking about you." Eric set your laced hands on the side of the table as he raised his glass to you. "So what do you say? Can we try this?"

You lifted your glass to gently clink it with his. "Let's do it."

"So he's perfect, but he hasn't kissed you yet?" Chanhee's gasp of incredulity hit you in a gust of air. His lips pursed like a penguin's beak. "Figures."

You sent him a look. "Oh, please. Figures what? He's just being… I dunno, chivalrous!"

"Chivalry is dead," Haknyeon snickered as he waltzed by you with fresh towels to lay out by the pool. "You should make the move, Yn."

"So you two are, like, dating now?" Asked Changmin as he hopped onto the tiki bar stool next to you and Chanhee. He kept on glancing down at his watch; he must have only a small break in between his dance classes today.

"They're 'seeing where things go,'" mocked Jacob with a shake of his head. He swirled a rag around the innards of a glass to dry it.

You sent them all dirty looks now. "Cobie, out of all the times you choose to be an imp—"

"An imp," Chanhee muttered, glancing away as he took a sip of his piña colada, "I'm dead."

"If it makes you feel better, Yn, I'm supervising a tennis match with him and the Lee cousins later today. I can get a feel of where his mind's at," Jacob offered.

You drummed your fingers against the bar. The offer was tempting… "It's fine," you insisted. "We don't have to rush things. We go to the same university and we live in the same city now. It's not like we don't have time… right?"

"Riiiight," Changmin drawled with an over exaggerated wink. He frowned at his watch, hopping off his stool. "Damn it, salsa class time. Catch you losers later!"

As he darted off into the distance, Chanhee sniffed. "Says the loser." He plucked the pink umbrella out of his drink and set the decoration down on his napkin. "You're not wrong, Yn-ie. Taking it slow isn't a bad thing. From what you told us, it seems like you're both on the same page now anyway."

"Thank you," you said.

"Maybe he's trying to plan a romantic moment." Haknyeon rejoined the conversation now that he had done his towel delivery.

Jacob nodded with an approving turn of his lips. "You might be onto something. He seems the type."

Your heart was fluttering as if it sprouted butterfly wings. Oh, the thought of kissing Eric Sohn in romantic lighting…

"I think you should take her back to her job before she drifts fully into La La Land." When you snapped back to reality, Jacob's eyes were twinkling, eyebrows wagging.

Haknyeon nudged you with the back of his hand and nodded up to the clubhouse. "C'mon, Yn-ie. I think Manager Kim wants to brief us on dinner service anyway."

Hours later, Jacob found himself on the tennis courts, overseeing a match between the three Lee cousins—Sangyeon, Hyunjae, and Juyeon—and Eric. He often thought it was luck that got him to land this job where all he did to pass the day was make drinks, drive golf carts, and occasionally play doubles with club members. For all that it was, he considered himself very content.

"—that was a foul," Jacob declared, jogging to go catch the tennis ball before it bounded into the bushes.

Hyunjae let out a groan. "Nooo! It hit the line. Jacob, please, I thought we were cool!"

Sangyeon shook his head, smiling as he caught the tennis ball from Jacob with his free hand. "Hyunjae, we all know your eyesight is shit."

Hyunjae wrinkled his nose. "Hey! No one asked."

"Can we take a break?" Juyeon asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "I think I need some water."

The boys all murmured their agreement, and Jacob reached down into the mini cooler he'd lugged out to toss them ice cold bottles of water. It was just one of the few perks that came with the club membership.

While Sangyeon and Hyunjae were bickering about eyesight and foul lines, Juyeon settled into a seat by them to referee. Eric sidled up next to Jacob as they both absentmindedly watched the chaos unfold from afar.

Jacob whistled. "So… Yn said she had a really good time with you the other night."

Eric perked up at the sound of your name. "She did? Well that's a relief to hear."

"It wasn't clear?" Jacob asked, face tilted in question. "I mean, not to completely expose her or anything, but she's been gushing about you all day, man."

A giddy smile took over the youngest Sohn's face. "She was?" He licked his lips, drawing the pad of his thumb over the corner of his mouth to catch the water that had dribbled from the bottle. "She's—she's so cute, hyung. Like, I don't know if this is weird for you because you're friends—"

Jacob coughed in amusement. "It's fine. Think of me as your guardian angel."

"Right," Eric piped up. "I think… I think we really hit it off, y'know? And I mean, she probably told you we just kind of had dinner and she had to leave, but she'd come after work, so she was probably tired and—"

Ohhh. Jacob understood exactly what was going on now. His heart warmed at the thought that Eric was being so considerate and not forcing you to stay. He was thinking about your long day, and didn't wish to prolong it anymore. Little did he know, you probably wouldn't have minded hanging around a tad longer.

"—I wanted to kiss her—"

Wait huh. Jacob tuned back in. "When?"

Eric blinked. "Uhm, at dinner. Or at least, when I was walking her out to her car." He glanced away and his smile softened at the thought. "I wish I had, actually. The moment was right there, and the lighting was perfect, and her smile—oh my god, her smile."

Jacob's eyebrows flew up to his hairline. So this was where Eric's mind was at; good to know. "Then do it—kiss her."

"Right now?"

"No! Not right now—"

"Hey, you guys ready to play again?" Juyeon called. The three Lees had already maneuvered themselves back to court.

Eric and Jacob exchanged glances. This conversation wasn't over, Jacob's look seemed to say.

They nodded to their companions, though. "Yeah, we're ready."

It did not come as a surprise to you when you found out Eric had a home theater in his basement. It was something like you'd pictured from the movies, the ones with the rows of dark leather armchairs, deep cup holders, and a giant screen and surround sound system. The foot of the theater room even had a little snack station to make popcorn, and a mini fridge stocked with drinks.

You and Eric shared the couch on the bottom floor that was big enough for the two of you. It was a random Tuesday, and you didn't have work today, so he'd suggested swinging by and hanging out with him for the day. You couldn't possibly refuse.

Eric scrolled through the movie options on the screen with the remote. "Are you sure you don't want any popcorn?" He asked you.

You shook your head. "I'm good, really. But it sounds like you want popcorn, Eric."

He caught his tongue in his smile. "Maybe."

If you weren't supposed to be watching a movie, you would have gladly curled up on that couch and stared at him for the rest of time. His jawline was enough to make a girl go mad, and the fact that he was just so sweet, too—

"How about this one?"

You snapped out of it, barely flicking your gaze back over to the screen in time to avoid him finding out that you were just blatantly staring. "Uhh, sure. I haven't seen this one, actually."

"Really? Oh my god, we have to watch it then." And so you did.

It was about halfway into the movie that you realized there was a draft coming down on you—the air conditioning in this room was awfully high, but you didn't want to say anything. You hiked your legs up onto the couch and hugged your arms, leaning back slightly against the quilt draped over the back of the couch. (How conveniently placed…)

Eric saw your movement from the corner of his eye. "You cold? We can share the blanket."

"My hero," you joked as he removed the quilt from behind your heads and draped it over your laps.

Because the article wasn't exactly miles long, you and Eric had to shift over closer to each other. Not that you were complaining. The arm and leg pressed against yours were warm, and it gave him the perfect opportunity to raise his arm and place it over the back of the couch behind you.

As you both watched the rest of the movie, you gradually let yourself lean into him, and his arm eventually fell to rest directly around your shoulders, pulling you into his side.

"I always liked the ending of this movie," Eric murmured softly to you as the credits rolled. He brushed his fingers along your arm in a warm, soothing manner. "What'd you think?"

You stayed with your head tucked onto his shoulder. "Hmm, not bad. I think they could have cut the romance though."

"Ah, I see your point," he said. "Sometimes directors just like to force it for the sake of a subplot."

"Wholeheartedly agree."

His fingers danced up to your shoulder and began playing with your hair. He pursed his lips. "Are you a fan of romance movies? That's kind of a random question, I guess."

"Not really—a random question, I mean," you said, and pulled your head off of his shoulder to face him. The thought occurred to you of how close your bodies and your faces were, sharing warmth and skin. You saw his eyes dart down away from yours for a split second. "I like romance movies. I think they restore my faith in humanity," you mused. "You?"

"I like 'em, too." He released a small exhale, an almost-shy smile etching itself onto his face. "Most of them are just… feel-good movies. They're really sweet, and I've always kind of wanted something like that."

"High standards," you whispered, though playfully. "Wouldn't we all like something from the movies?" To you, this was what the movies were like—"handsome guy sweeps girl off her feet, and he's perfect and she's happy." You were already living out your too-good-to-be-true dreams.

He laughed. "True. I think it's just a matter of waiting for the right person to come along, maybe. And following through."

You bit the bait. "Following through?"

"Backing up your initial swing," he clarified. "Something to drive the ball home and make sure you mean it. I feel like maybe that's what people forget about romance—that there's still an after, beyond happily ever after."

Wow. "Your brain," you praised. "That was actual poetry, I think. Is this how you get girls?"

He bit his lip through a smile, leaning closer. "Only one girl. I hope it's working."

"I think it's working a little too well," you admitted, voice barely audible now.

You could feel the warmth of his breath fan over your lips as he came closer, about ninety-percent of the way; the other ten percent was left for you to either push forward or pull back. He was giving you the decision on a gold platter.

And who could deny something served so beautifully?

You closed the gap between you and pressed your lips against his. It was soft, at first, as the nerves in your brain and your vital organs threatened to go haywire. You breathed him in, your noses slotting against each other. He cupped the back of your head with his free hand, the other curling around your waist.

When you broke apart, it was for a split second, until he was kissing you again. You were half in his lap at this point, your legs draped over his, your side pressed to his chest.

Foreheads pressed together, you shared a breath of air with him. He nuzzled his nose against you as if unable to be so far from you. "Be mine," he said, simple at first. Then, "Please."

You smiled against him and felt his mouth do the same. "Only if you'll be mine, too."

"As if I would say no," he laughed, leaning in again, and crushing his mouth to yours. The theater room filled with both of your giggles as you fell backward.

If this was the happily ever after, then you would gladly follow through.

a/n: to anyone who read flight risk, i just redeemed myself from valentine's day

tbz m.list

permanent taglist: @flwoie @vatterie @seomisaho @hqrana @ja4hyvn @tinkerbell460 @kaaimins @hyunjaespresent-deobi @otterly-fey @zzoguri @floatingpluto @winterchimez @ethereal-engene @gyulfriend @polarisjisung @jaehunnyy @shakalakaboomboo @loveliestfelix @bless-311 @zhaixiaowen @leaz-kpop-life @amourdsr @pxppxrminty @kqyutie @sseastar-main @kxthleen14 @fluorescentloves @mosviqu @justalildumpling @jaerisdiction @super-btstrash-posts @jundundun @http-gyu @mvvnsseul @outrologist @vernonburger @maessseongs @kflixnet

[quixotical-lymbo]

You saw my post, you saw how I’m obsessed with Bee there’s literally no way of hiding it

Headcanons with bee with a gn or fem reader (whichever you want) who’s sick? Idk if transformers can get sick or not but uuuuuhhh let’s just pretend!

If this isn’t getting your creative juices flowing up there then no worries! Don’t feel pressured to write it!

Pairing: B-127/Bee x gn!sick!Reader Rating: SFW Summary: Getting sick isn't a breeze, but with your honeybee beside you it's easy.  A/N: More Bee content because a certain someone is a simp/j Warnings/Tags: Cybertronian reader, sick!reader, brief mentions of vomiting and general stuff involving sickness, happens after the movie, fluff.  Word Count: 850+ words

Feeling iffy 

🐝 For some reason, you've been feeling off ever since you got a cog

🐝 You worked in lower levels with your conjunx and eating enough energon to be half full was a rarity.  

🐝 Now with Iacon entering a new era, having a cog and having a conjunx 'working for the government' as he put it, you had all the energon you could ever want.

🐝 Of course, you weren't scarfing down on it, but it was definitely an improvement than before you left the mines.

🐝 Your symptoms ranged from overheating, sneezing, to even feeling nauseous to the point you couldn't walk straight. You couldn't even keep down the energon you'd consume in normal amounts. 

🐝 One thing was for sure, something was wrong.

Finding out 

🐝 You figured trying to deal with the issue by yourself before Bee found out would work.

🐝It didn't. 

🐝 Bee could tell something was wrong with you after a few cycles of your symptoms persisting. 

🐝 He cornered you in your shared home and that's when he found out you were sick.

🐝 Of course he was upset that you didn't tell him, but more so upset at the fact you were still trying to do daily tasks (whether that was doing your job or helping Elita-1 and Optimus along with him) despite being sick. 

Taking care of you 

🐝 He had to physically drag you to a med-bay to get checked out

🐝 Turns out your condition wasn't too serious, but you needed to get some rest so your body could get used to the fast transitions of having a cog + surplus of energon. 

🐝 Bee heard 'rest' and ran with it.

🐝 He plucked you up from where you sat and carried you out in his arms while yelling about getting you to bed quick. To say you were as blue as, well, energon was an understatement. 

🐝 Now in your shared berth, Bee has taken over the role of being your nurse. 

🐝 He servo feeds you, refuses to let you lift a single digit, and even began reading berthtime stories or what he and Optimus done for the day to get you to fall asleep faster (we all know how much he loves to talk). 

🐝 He could drone on for a longggg time and when you'd eventually drift off into recharge, he'll kiss your helm before he'd leave to give you the time to rest. Sometimes you held on too tight to his servo and he couldn't leave, comm'ing Optimus that his conjunx refused to let him go was a...interesting conversation.

🐝 As much as you appreciated his efforts, you had to remind him you could still function by yourself. 

🐝 He looked confused.

🐝 You offered to get out of the berth and moved to get up, but Bee coaxed you to lay back. 

🐝 You gave him a look. 

🐝 He returned it with his own smirk and a "...don't you dare." 

🐝 You jumped off of the berth and ran off laughing with Bee yelling behind you who gave chase. 

What he does to comfort you

🐝 When Bee is away and not there to 'tend' to you, it gives you a breather to do what you want, but still the symptoms make it harder to find enjoyment in anything

🐝 You could be enjoying a nice energon cube, hurling it back up again until you're pissed and exhausted. 

🐝 When Bee comes back to seeing you in this state, he'll help you back to the berth and cuddle you for the rest of the time he's free.

🐝 Expect to be sung to and him using cheesy nicknames (my sweetest of sparks, energon of my optic, the light of my spark, andddd you get the picture). 

 

🐝🐝🐝Drabble🐝🐝🐝

Your optics fluttered open and the first thing you noticed was a pede in your face. You blinked back the drowsiness and reeled your helm back. Lifting your gaze you noticed the haphazard position your conjunx was in, sleeping next to  you while the upper half of his frame hung off of the edge of the berth. 

You held back a giggle and used one digit to push the bottom of his pede away. Bee's snoring paused as he abruptly woke up and screamed as he fell off of the berth. 

"Huh?! Wha-?" Bee looked up to see your laughing face peeking from the berth. "Ha ha, you think you're very funny, huh?" 

"Oh, I know I am," You coyly retorted as you watched him rise to stand on his knees. He leaned close and stared into your optics, you raised an optic ridge wondering what he was going to do until he lowered his gaze to your dermas. 

"Ah, ah," You moved your helm to the side as he attempted to swoop in. "Not until I'm better." 

 "I know," Bee pouted as he reached over to cup the side of your face. "Can't blame a mech for trying." 

 

"You're adorable and stupid at the same time." 

"Hey!" 

"You're my adorable and stupid mech." 

"Now that's more like it….wait." 

😼 - I do not give permission for anyone to translate, copy, republish, or plagiarize any of my written works. I provide no permission for any of my literary works to be used in artificial intelligence. like my writing? consider buying me a kofi :)

honeycomb banner(s) by @thecutestgrotto!!

[theerurishipper]

This is in response to some arguments in defense of the finale I've seen recently, and if you do believe these, then more power to you! But I disagree, and I'm gonna talk about why.

Rant under the cut. Fair warning, this gets pretty salty.

So I've seen a lot of arguments about how it just wouldn't be possible to have Adrien in the final battle, whether it be because it would be too traumatic for him and we can't explore that in the middle of a fight, or because it would take away focus from Marinette and she would be irrelevant ultimately. And I actually agree!

But what could possibly be done to resolve this? Oh, I know! Fucking write better.

If you were going to put Adrien in the position of being central to the story and write him out with the excuse that he can't live up to that role for various reasons, then why did you write him in that role? It's obvious to anyone that if Gabriel is Adrien's father, then the emotional weight of the conflict would be centered on him and not Marinette. Then why did you still write that into the show? If you wanted to focus on Marinette over Adrien anyway, then why did you make Gabriel be Hawkmoth? Let some other rando be Hawkmoth! And now there's no value to Gabriel being the villain beyond giving Marinette some material for her grand speech (which didn't do shit cause she still lost).

And if you were going to say that Adrien was too traumatized to be in the battle or that he wouldn't be able to deal with it well or that we couldn't see that... write around it? Have him deal with it before, or something, I don't know! Maybe give him that sweet sweet character development? Maybe let the friends who are supposed to support him actually do that? Idk man, this is all coming across as a bunch of excuses to me.

The thing is, this is a kids show. It's not real. The writers control everything that happens. It's not about "realism," it's about narrative payoff. It's about the most satisfying outcome. It's about character arcs. If Adrien was never supposed to face his father in a fight, then why make him a superhero? Could have just let him be Adrien the teen model love interest while Marinette is the superhero. Why give him powers which thematically represent him breaking free from his oppressive life and an enmity with his own father if it never mattered? If "it's us against the world, my lady," and "we'll get all the Miraculous back together," never mattered, then why include it? If two partners chosen to fight evil together and the yin-yang symbolism never mattered, why set it up?

If you set something up, you have a responsibility to deliver on it, and Miraculous failed. And yeah. I get that it's hard. I'm not saying writing is easy. But anything is better than this! Writing is your job, and I don't expect literal perfection, but I expect it to fulfill the basic expectations of writing. I expect it to at least be good. This is not good. They literally ignored their own story and themes and character arcs and narrative payoff because they wanted Marinette to get a swanky new outfit and a cool fight scene. It wasn't even for her character. It's just so that they can put give her a cool power-up and sell Bug Noire dolls. It's disrespectful to Adrien's character, and it's disrespectful to Marinette's character too.

The writers failed to make Marinette interesting in terms of the conflict with Gabriel. They gave all the set-up to Adrien and didn't want to write the payoff. There are no emotional stakes in the final battle. They literally only talk about Adrien, and he's not there for that. It's bad writing. And if they didn't let Adrien be a part of the arc with his father as the villain, what hope does he have in the arcs with Lila as the antagonist, since she is a Marinette-centric villain? TA has already said that Marinette is Barbie and Adrien is just Ken. The writers have said that Gabriel is considered a hero by the end of Season 5. The show bible says that Adrien will never find out that his father is Hawkmoth.

Let's face it, they aren't coming back to this. Gabriel's era is over. Miraculous is well known for setting up conflicts and dropping them like a hot potato. If we ever deal with this, it's gonna be half an episode of Adrien forgiving Marinette because "she did it out of love." None of this will matter come Season 6. The supposed conflict being set up now will matter to Season 6 as much as the Ladynoir set up in Strikeback with the "we'll take back all the Miraculous together, you and me," mattered to Season 5, which is to say not at all.

[professorhayforbreath]

so episode 5. all my thoughts

we picked up where the last one left off, good start

annabeth saying she knows percy isn't dead... how. to annabeth and grover there should have been no way percy was alive and finding out he was should've been so emotional but instead she was like dw i know he's not dead lol. it's kind of... lazy writing? like how are you gonna write a scene as gut wrenching as percy trapping himself with a monster and telling his friends to complete the quest without him because he's actively dying and has no reason to believe he'll survive, and then make the fallout of that so... nonchalant? idk if it's a time limit thing but that was so underwhelming to me

annabeth being the one to see the fates... no

fugitive percy enjoyers at least we won!!!!

the trio peeking over the road barrier at ares was cute goofy silly i liked that :)

gabe on the news shit talking percy i'm hooting and hollering!! "i really-- WE really loved that car" and "i'm gonna kill him". excellent. now put percy on the news fake crying about his "loving" stepfather i believe in you

i did want them to acknowledge annabeth's lack of experience with the world outside camp but having her say "i've never seen any kind of movie" has gotta be one of the weirdest ways they could've done that

the turnstile scene was cool i guess but as we go on i'm more and more conscious of how many episodes are left and how much plot there is to get through and idk i feel like this scene could've hit the cutting room floor and we wouldn't have lost anything

i do love the ambience of the park though. maybe i'm easy to impress because the aesthetic of an abandoned amusement park is just fantastic on its own but the set was very cool. wish it wasn't so dark so i could've actually seen it ❤️

percy and annabeth having a serious conversation with 'what is love' blaring in the background is sending me

first ever seaweed brain dropped! i liked the way they did it, it felt natural

actually back to the "i've never seen a movie" thing. you're telling me that in this version of the story, in which frederick chase was apparently a great dad who treated annabeth like a gift, he never took her to the movies? or she never watched one on tv? she had a whole seven years of life in the real world before going to camp and she's never seen a movie

annabeth isn't allowed to have fears she's too smart for that apparently

i think the scene with the chair was overall well executed with some great lines and fantastic acting but... idk. they really scrapped the original scene just to do what they already did last episode. i miss the spiders i miss hephaestus tv. it felt redundant to have percy sacrifice himself again. percy this is the second time today you've been like "no dw i'll just die" do you need to talk to someone

annabeth disillusionment arc complete already? calm down guys this is season one

ZOO TRUCK ZOO TRUCK ZOO TR

so it's confirmed the reason they go into the lotus casino is BECAUSE hermes is there :/ they said these literal children cannot fall for tricks and traps it's too unrealistic

not much to say about the grover and ares scenes bc i don't know what to make of them. i didn't mind them. ares had some funny lines. i guess my only complaint is that the grover i know would not have been so calm talking to the god of war. i'm curious to see where that cliffhanger leads

is it just me or did the pacing improve a little bit this episode?

despite how negative i sound i enjoyed episode 5 a lot more than episode 4. there are still so many weird changes, additions, and omissions though. honestly i think a big part of the reason i enjoyed this one is because i'm not expecting anything anymore. i'm not getting my hopes up about them adapting the book normally i'm just intrigued by this thing like a scientist observing an experiment. like hmm what are they doing now? fascinating *takes notes*

[bpdkaiba]

Love, Sex and Foolish Desires

I meant to post this during Pride month but haha things go brrrrrrrr. This is my first hsr proper fic? drabble? Idk.

Tldr; the villain is the Amatonormativity society we live in and how Sampo and Jing Yuan (besties in me and @chaosmax 's opinion) navigate and survive through it.

Sampo slept with many men and women in his life. Whether it was for profit, the pure joy of it or a secret third thing, it ultimately didn't matter. It was expected of him. This persona of a man who could bed anything that walked or talked near him. With a sultry smile, a wink thrown in, he could get anyone he desired.

But… that's not really what he wanted.

The comfort of another body with him, a childish desire to sleep next to someone. That's what he sought after. The comforting warmth of knowing someone would be there should anything happen. A deep trust between two individuals that didn't extend to physical desire (or went beyond that). It wasn't easy to get that in this day and age. 

No matter how much progress the universe went through, some ideas remained instilled in humans. Sleeping with others as a child is seen as cute and innocent. But as an adult…

Are you leading him on?

Either you're fuck buddies or you're not. There's no way two hot guys are just friends.

So when are you putting the moves on him, Koski?

You should've told me you had someone else.

“Sampo, Sampo!”

The thief opened his eyes. He's laying on top of Jing Yuan. A strong arm was holding him close while another was carefully holding his face. “Are you alright?” Concern was written all over his face. Golden hues stared hard. Watching each movement the Fool made.

“I'm… fine.” Sampo finally said, after regaining himself. He removes his body off of the other man. This reveals that the General was partly naked. His chest was exposed with no shirt on. Years of battle detailed on his skin with lacerations and scars. He did wear some loose sweatpants so he wasn't entirely naked.

Unlike Koski. He never liked to sleep with clothes on due to his unusually warm body. He wasn't a nudist however. He did have enough decency to wear underwear while he slept. The Fool makes himself sit at the edge of the bed. Fingers run through his hair. When did he start to sweat?

“You're not.” The bed shifted, and now Jing Yuan was sitting up as well. Worry was dripping from every word he spoke. “What's wrong? You know I can't help you if I don't know anything.”

From the corner of his eye he could see him looking right at him. Still looking worried for the old Fool. “I know you too well to know when something is up. Please, tell me what's wrong.” Then his eyes widened when he felt the General's hand on his bare shoulder.

Touch was something he craved for. That's why he was such a touchy feely person. Within reason of course. When others touch him, the Fool knows it's to get something out of him. Whether it's to slap him to put him in his place or sexual gratification, it was all take, take, take.

Those touches never gave him the comfort he wanted. Yet when Jing Yuan did it… It didn't feel that way. It felt honest like his feelings. The grip on his shoulder was meant to comfort the thief. Bracing him as he had done for his soldiers when they were too scared to go into battle. Or when Yanqing was too nervous for his exams. 

“We should stop this.” 

“Stop what?”

“This.” Sampo gestured at both of them. “It's not… normal.”

“I don't understand. What are we doing that isn't normal?”

Sleeping together Sampo wants to say. Yet he can't find the will to say it. “You're seeing someone, aren't you? I doubt they'd like it if they found out their partner is sleeping around.” 

Jing Yuan blinked. A partner? When did he… “Are you talking about the visit with the other Xianzhou Generals?”

He wasn't but Sampo will roll with it. “I heard one of them was interested in something a bit more than that. If they found out you were with someone, especially someone like me…” his reputation would go down the drain. As well as any romantic prospect. 

“Sampo, you know I'm not interested in such things.” Jing Yuan retorts.

“Well, some people are. And you should be more careful with who you go to bed with.” The Fool begins to rise from the bed only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. It's holding him back, preventing the man from leaving the bed.

“Sampo, what I do in the bedroom is my business.”

“And mine if I'm here in it.”

To this the General concedes. But not before bringing one simple question. “Is being in bed with me a problem, Sampo?”

After a few moments of silence does the thief answer. With a tired and exhausted “Yes.” The hold on his shoulder is released. With the warmth gone, it left him empty. “People are saying we are sleeping together. That I'm doing this to get some sort of favor out of you. The General's concubine, they call me.”

“I see…”

“Real friendships are hard to find in my line of work, Jing Yuan. That's why I treasure this friendship dearly. While you are an attractive man that anyone would be honored to sleep with, I only love you as a good friend or brother would love.”

The feeling was mutual on the General's side. But he could see why the anxiety was building on the thief. “I never assumed you would have slept with me for any reason other than genuine sleep.”

“I didn't either.” Sampo ran his fingers across his hair and laughed. A dry empty laugh.  “When you ignored my advances, I felt relief every time. It meant I didn't have to act more than I had to. But I kept doing it since I was expected to be a flirty man. A degenerate, a con man, a Fool, a—”

“A friend.” Once again a hand goes to his shoulder and gives a comforting grip. “I don't feel uncomfortable with this, nor do I care for baseless rumors. Back when the Quintet was still around, people assumed the same.”

Jing Yuan laughs. “The tales people spun revolving around us was quite fantastical. I should show you some books to show what I mean. However…” The comforting hand leaves him alone. A chill runs down the thief's spine. 

“I won't force you either. If it helps calms your worries, you know where the guest bedroom is.”

Sampo looks over at the General. Tears are forming and he's not sure why. “I— Did I say something wrong?”

“This isn't what I want either!” The Fool shouts.

“Then what do you want?”

“I…” The Fool shifts back over in bed. Before plunging head first into the General's chest. Desperate fingers grip onto the man's back. Clinging as if he'd disappear. “I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to be alone. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.”

What had Sampo endured to be like this? The man kept wavering between wanting to be a free bird yet tethered to someone. With a sigh, Jing Yuan stroked his back. In soft, soothing circles. Just as he had done for Yanqing when he got scared. “You don't have to decide right now. We can stay like this until you feel ready.”

The Fool wishes he could say he was sorry for being a selfish man. The only sound that comes out of him was a choked gasp.

It still pains the General that for someone like Koski, things like this don't roll off his back. Behind every smile, every laugh, there was that anxiety he failed to see in his dear friend. His hand comes up to stroke the Fool’s hair. Combing through the strands as he let out his cries. Maybe it was age or his own disposition to not caring about such things. But for Jing Yuan, sleeping in bed with someone meant nothing.

Well not nothing. Sleep meant trust in one another. And the act of sex, while highly desirable for most people, wasn't for the General. It seemed like for Sampo, this was the same thing. Though unlike Sampo, Jing Yuan made peace with it. He learned to understand this bit about himself. But for the Fool? Only Sampo had the answer to that.

For now, the only thing Jing Yuan could do is offer comfort and support for his Blue Bird. Until the day Sampo realized his answer.

[scyphosunny]

finally ( and not in time ) , vargastober day 2 !! let's talk about it !!!!!

holy shit . where do i even start

okay . sso . my sister does this thing where she books rooms in random pretty hotels just for me and my family to spend time there ? idk not like we travel a lot . so yknow just to enjoy the hotel experience for once . she's done this three times now , and i realized that i don't like it because they get me all stressed and because i don't like being in the same room with the rest of my family for more than four hours lolz

what about this . she booked the room on tuesday , of course . october first . so i had to make the first piece on monday instead ! that's why i did post that one on time XP

we had to go back on wednesday , and doing so always gets me all grumpy and depressed for some reason . I DON'T WANT TO GO TO ANY MORE HOTELS PLEASE I HAVE EVERYTHING I WANT AND NEED AT HOME . so i get home from the hotel , carrying a million things because my mom asked me to and well . god . i'm just stressed , lonely , depressed and overall unmotivated for a reason . HAPPENS EVERY . TIME . I SWEAR . CAN I GET A MOMENT OF PEACE

then my aunt comes by to leave some stuff for my mom . i look like a mess i was literally asleep five seconds ago . she gives me the talk again ( the talk is " oohhh you can't just not do anything you need to do something with your life i'm currently taking a break from school cause of my mental health so yeah the same thing , over and over again . I KNOW I'M USELESS AND WORTHLESS AND WILL DIE BUT CAN YOU LET ME ENJOY THIS PLEASE I REALLY DON'T WANT TO KILL MYSELF ) CAN I JUST DRAW MY MENTALLY ILL MEN PLEASE I HAVE A VARGASTOBER PIECE I NEED TO TAKE CARE OF

she leaves . still not feeling any motivation at all time to watch code lyoko with my sister ! we finished the series a week ago , so now we're watching code lyoko evolution . like many fans , i have opinions . about evo . but i'm also content starved ( and william starved ) so i decided to watch a part of it anyway . so now i'm also watching it with my sister ! if i don't finish it on my own , we'll probably finish it together . . .

then , hanging out with friends ! we're watching dungeon meshi together . i really enjoy the anime , to be honest ! lol every time we finished watching it i would just forget about it for a whole week or until we watched it again . but . . . .. this time . . . ... . i need MORE

into the actual drawing . . . okay this one was hard , which is funny since it's a relatively easy prompt . what about just some fluff . everyone loves fluff . but i was also thinking . . . i wasn't sure if i wanted to make real comfort or FAKE COMFORT !!!!!! i like thinking about these escenarios . edgar being tired sad and vulnerable , he needs someone SO BAD and scri gives him that fake comfort to take advantage of him in some way . something like chapter 18 . i still think about that one so much .

a year ago i made this piece for a video and YES THIS IS WHAT I MEAN , THAT LIFELESS LOOK ON EDGAR AND SCRI JUST GOING TO TRY AND FIX EDGAR IN HIS OWN TWISTED WAY . they're so deliciously painful .

at the end , you don't really need to take the prompts literally ! but still . i decided to go with real comfort this time . or . well . with a little plot twist .

have you read " and you , you can't live like this " ? i also think about this one so much . that last part , where the two of them are just . so absolutely in love with each other . edgar can't understand the warmth he feels when he sees scriabin and decides not to think about it . i mean , i know they're in love with each other already , but GOD this . this is DIFFERENT for SOME REASON .

( nodding silently

okay , what about this . . . i wanted to draw a little scene , maybe just edgar waking up , the realizing scri is like CLINGING ONTO HIM STILL ASLEEP and he just gets these jolts of warmth he described already . IT IS COMFORTING . HE JUST ISN'T AWARE OF IT . i had this incredibly specific reference i wanted to work with . . . i was just a bit worried because i never drew anything in that angle before . and man , as much as i draw there's still LOTS of things i'm still not able to draw ! like certain face angles , poses without a reference . . . i'm getting at least a bit better at the poses maybe but IT'S MOSTLY FACES . i just can't get certain angles to look right ugh

this is the reference i wanted to use ! i found it on pinterest , and the author wasn't credited . . . searched a bit more and someone said it was this person called " black1cherry1 " on twitter . i don't even know if that's the actual artist , but if it is , credits to them . . ?

okay well . i tried ! and failed . i couldn't get the angle to look right . FRUSTRATING

so i changed ideas ! found another reference

( made by the same artist , i think !

a little bit less meaning to it . . . maybe scriabin doing that thing he did on chapter 29 i think ? of feeling edgar's heartbeat while sleeping . uh-huh . great excuse to cuddle , scri .

tried again ! AND FAILED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tried harder EVEN . last reference i used i literally just put it on the canvas , scribbled on it a little , got a small sketch and then ditched it . way to go sunny .

so at this point i was like . well . random fluff , then

russlan made a chapter 20/21 piece ! and you know wwhat i think about chapters 20/21 . ( looking at you

got a random reference . . . funny how the drawing just started losing more and more meaning to it as i got new references . I'M SO LAME AND I'M SORRY I'LL TRY TO BE BETTER

didn't even try to work with this one ! wasn't feeling like it . . . so just to make myself feel more productive , i opened a blank canvas and started putting a bunch of ideas together for the rest of the prompts . while doing so , i found a drawing that just went SO INCREDIBLY HARD and i was thinking . should i . should i . should i . sssshhhould i

the piece was a drawing of someone hugging like . a robot . with a bunch of wires connected to it . AND HERE'S WWHERE I GET THE FEEL OF MAKING SOMETHING MORE OBSCURE

imagine , like . . edgar hugging that weird skeleton he found at the start of chapter 28 ( that scene still haunts me at night ) . hugging him because that thing IS scriabin , he needs scriabin and would and DID EVERYTHING HE COULD TO STAY WITH HIM EVEN AFTER KNOWING THE TRUTH AND AFTER ALL THEY WENT THROUGH doesn't it sound yummy and tragic

but then i just had to draw the skeleton and figure out what the fuck he looked like ( i re-read that one part and got chills just thinking about it ) . i'm sure someone already make a drawing of it before but i couldn't find it . so nnope i gave up right after starting . POINTLESS FLUFF IT'LL BE .

so yeah , i still kept on getting ideas together and stuff . I WAS GENUINELY SO EXCITED BY IT , GOT SOME GREAT REFERENCES AND I CAN'T WAIT TO USE THEM ( half of them are horror themed . people on twt are like " oh i love your art , it's so soothing " and i'm like . . . . .. rn ( annd once it was past three am i was like okay whatever i should go to sleep early so i can wake up before fucking 1PM and work on both pieces today ( yes , 3AM wwould be early for me ) so i close csp , get that random window of like , " there's some unsaved canvases do you want to save them " and i was like nuh-uh not like i drew anything , really aside from the fucking list of ideas

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ( i lost everything

what makes me a bit less worried is that i saved the references on pinterest to credit the original artists if i did use them ! so maybe i can just go ahead and do the whole thing again but god . i wasted SO MUCH TIME FOR NOTHING . i was frustrated so i just went to sleep .

( quick thing , i always like to send a good night tweet so hawker sees it and says good night to me . i wwas way too sleepy to write one yesterday .

THURSDAY . woke up at ten , got breakfast , played a bit of geometry dash , TIME TO WORK

just did some research . . . found the pic i used as a reference and it's apparently made by mamefuk on twt ! i searched on their profile and i found the post .

i was just having fun and taking my time with scri's face . sometimes the things i draw look bad because i rush them too much . NEVER A GOOD THING

pretty clothes once again . . . i wanted to put a pretty overall on him but i just couldn't get it to look right :/// which is a shame because it'd look super cute on him .

i used the brush i worked with on the last piece i made , and i kinda regret it because my art is already hard to see ? and once it's colored it kinda just made it worse . . .

TOOK ONE OF YAELOKRE'S DRAWING AS A REFERENCE , the patches on the pants just looked way too cute . ( i wish i could wear clothes like that irl . . . which is kinda funny because my style rn is actually pretty dark

( lolol kinda looks like scri is patting keath's head

guys , i won't lie to yyou . just drawing the line took so incredibly long . i'm really the world's slowest artist .

i got them all nice and pretty by 5:30 . i always struggle choosing clothes for them i want to make them look pretty .

I DID ADD THE YARN ON HIS HAIR THIS TIME

made my colors even MORE saturated because i wanted to give that vibe , sort of . i did have to make them a little less saturated because it looked kinda odd . . . there's something so funny about me STILL listening to the subdigitals three hours later . THEIR SONGS ARE JUST SO GOOD , I SWEAR . I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO THEM MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY .

i swear to god i'd do a whole section here talking about every song they have but it would be like an ad lol

also drew them with socks because i RRRREFUSE to draw feet . no thank you

well , 7PM . you know what that means ? CODE LYOKO TIME

today they aired sabotage , and i'm honestly kind of surprised they aired that one in the first place ? i mean , this scene where yumi gets trapped by vines and . well the scene is kinda weird . but well the only chapter they've skipped so far is cold war . then , we just watched two more episodes of evo . we made jokes and it was fun ! sister finally got to know laura . that fucker .

well , then just GOT BACK TO THE THING rendering rendering rendering

scriabin's shirt was a different color ! idk it just didn't look right . well it kinda does nnnow but

10PM . . . unreal to know that i started working on this at 1 . HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO SPEND 10 HOURS ( with small breaks ) ON SOMETHING

i was getting super distracted too , out of nowhere i just started doing a bunch of these stupid videos

( don't even ask the context of that drawing please

11 , ALMOST 12AM . FINISHED IT . JUST WANTED TO CHANGE THE BG'S COLOR because i didn't want them to be in my usual purple void . maybe a brown void would suit him better .

oh , i was watching an undertale theory video !! something about the true lab and who really wrote the entries we read . it was SUPER INTERESTING and like two hours long . before that , i was watching youtuber drama videos and listening to the subdigitals lol

did the scribbly thing on edgar's pants and well it's fine i think

i want these to look more polished so i'm not rendering hair the way i used to . . . maybe i should go back to the old way

and we have our finished piece ! late , but it's there and finished !

with and without the filter i added . nothing too noticeable . . . just a small amount of blur and something to make the colors a tiny bit more saturated .

look ! a comparison of every pretty drawing i've made of them .

i feel like the only things that changed is the colors and the fact that now i do draw their noses properly

overall . this one was impossible to work with . i still need to make the piece for void but instead i spent an hour and a half rambling

i am also kinda sleepy . . . ugh . it might go away if i draw something i like .

ALSO someone pqrted my post 12 times interesting

this entry wasn't really interesting . . . i'm sleepy . bye

edit : i fell asleep on my desk for a second . yeah i'll try to get yesterday's piece when I wake up

[stardewvalleybut-i-draw]

Qna Answers!

Ever since you mentioned that you do darker art besides stardew I've been super curious! Is there anywhere we can follow your work?

NOPE! this is more or less the first time I had much of a social media presence, I did make an Instagram when I was around 12 but I lost the password to it, and honestly... It's best I never find it...BUT I would like to post my other art somewhere! Let me know what social media I should use If you have ideas and I'll go make one! :D

I could use Instagram again but I haven't heard too many great things since I left.

What’s your favorite thing about Stardew? Do you have any other games you’d like to make comics about?

I love the fishing and mining aspect of the game! that and the mini-games. You'd think it be the socializing aspect with what I make but there's just something satisfying about making progress in the mines or getting that impossible to catch fish.

I don't usually have a lot of money to spend on games so I tend to go indie but I also never expected to be making art about Stardew so not really. If I like the characters, I might make comics about them but this is the first time I've done comics about games ever so maybe in the future.

Who is your least favorite bachelor and bachelorette

This was a really hard question to answer, I don't have a least favorite bachelor or bachelorette, I just have favorites. The main reason why is because I've either met people who are like the bachelor's or I can relate to them on a personal level so it's hard for me to dislike anyone BUT THATS A COP OUT ANSWER so I really pushed myself to find something to not like.

I'm gonna get torched but Elliot- gifts are super expensive to get, I know I can just give neural gifts but it's a bad habit of mine of going for the loved gifts and my guys got EXPENSIVE tastes or gifts that aren't easy to get BUT It fits his character as it implies he came from a more luxurious lifestyle. (if the Victorian clothing wasn't a big enough hint) but again, I don't dislike him, he has a lot of comedic potential!

I'm gonna get MURDERD for this one, Leah- I CAN NEVER FIND HER. Her pathing and my pathing NEVER collide and I keep forgetting she goes to the beach to draw sometimes so I never go there and I go to the wiki to find where in the WORLD she is at and 99% of the time is in the cortege but I can't get to her because I don't have 2 hearts yet because I don't run into her unless I remember to look in the saloon IF shes there BUT again, I do not dislike her...I dislike her pathing and that's on me for not thinking ahead. Plus this problem goes away once I DO have 2 hearts.

Whats your favorite crop and who’s your favorite bachelorette?

Coffee! (gee what a surprise 😅) I just love it when I can get one seed, grow it, and then harvest it and multiply my coffee crops by a huge amount! It's not worth much but it's just a satisfying crop to have.

Maru- not exactly a popular pic but I had a lot of friends who were 10X smarter than me growing up so Maru just naturally reminds me a lot of my closest friends, THAT and she's easy for me to bump into in the clinic.

(I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED IT 💀 but I think it said-) What software do you youse and what do you recommend?

I use Krita, and couldn't recommend it more! (scroll down more to the archive and there are more details about it)

and a UGEE tablet BUT I got it as a free gift. So far I haven't had to replace it yet and has lasted a good amount of time (my old ones lasted a year until I had to replace it) so Idk if I can recommend it and it's kinda expensive. (for me anyway) I'm honestly dreading the day something happens to it and I have to get it replaced :(

It costs about $60usd right now

Question Archive! - stuff I was asked before here for you to find :D

(some of it, the rest is tagged with #ask)

Whats your chickens name (the chicken in your pfp)?

Tudee-chi or Tudee for short!

Got any advice for perfection?

This website apparently! That and the Stardew Wiki

Okay I have to ask: favorite Bachelors and Bachelorettes?

Alright! Here's a tier list from Favorate to I'm chill with them!

Do you think that the male and female farmer can co-exist as a pair of chaotic twin siblings with joint ownership of the farm?

And I don't see why not! It's more fun that way

Sorry to bother, but can i ask what you use to draw?

Not a bother at all! I love answering questions!!! I use Krita

Who is your favorite stardew Bachelor?

Harvey! and for the dumbest reasons...Harvey ended up being my favorite bachelor for 2 main reasons

Sorry to bother but do you happen to have any tips/advice on drawing bodies and heads??

I ABSOLUTELY DO!!! it's no bother at all

What you need to keep in mind is that a lot of my advice is a suggestion and what I'm comfortable with-

For the future, this will be a question archive of things I'm asked to keep it easy to find once the Mega pin post is ready!

[moongothic]

Re reading the manga I have noticed that when the news of the 5th emperor happened Crocodile was drawn in a fancy castle with some guys that are armed (like his own guards?). I wonder where was him and what happened to those dudes? Clearly only Daz followed him to Cross Guild. Did Oda had an idea for Crocodile and then changed it and thought that making Cross Guild would been better?

Which i have another thought like Oda told us about the underworld and show us some characters from there in WCI, i wonder if he is gonna show us more about that place and is that where Crocodile was and how he gained his money, beacuse after going to prison he lost all his money so there must be a way where he got it on the first place to give it to Buggy and also explain what he was doing all these 2 years before wanting to form Cross Guild.

I hope we get some more information about this, Cross Guild going to the underworld would be cool, i personally wanna see what is in there and would give us some funny Buggy interactions there shsh he will probably recruit more ppl with his charm but idk if Oda has that planned.

I have discussed some of this in the past so I wasn't going to reply to this, but after like a month of sitting in my inbox... oh to hell with it, I repeat myself on this blog all the time anyways

One thing we do have to considder is that we don't know what Crocodile was doing during the timeskip. The two times we've seen him before the Final Saga were during Dressrosa (where we saw him at some docks reading the news about Doflamingo) and right after Whole Cake Island (the fancy building with goons), so we can tell has been in like, populated places in the New World post-timeskip, but during? We have no idea

To me, thinking about it, it is more than likely that after Summit War Crocodile and Daz have been on the run from the Marines. Like the WG went immidiately after Mihawk and co after they all lost their Shichibukai rights, so knowing what a threat Crocodile could be, surely he'd become a target for the WG to hunt. And as we've seen with Mihawk losing his Shichibukai status and joining Cross Guild (+the Marines being like "Crocodile's been spotted at Emptee Bluffs!" when he arrived on the island), famous criminals with high bounties don't want to stay stationary by themselves, it makes you an easy target for the Marines. Having equally powerful (if not more powerful) allies will bring safety in numbers (making you a less favorable target for the Marines to deal with, which is why the Yonkou were kind of allowed to do as they pleased (as long as they stayed on their own territories at least)).

All of which to say, to me it'd make sense if Crocodile kept a low profile during the timeskip, just to avoid the Marines coming after him. Now that could mean a number of things; he could've sought shelter from people he MAY have had dealings with in the past when running Baroque Works. He could've been travelling by himself and Daz from island to island, always on the move to avoid detection. He could've done what Luffy did and found some uninhabited island to hide in and have a little training arc with Daz until the time was right to leave for good (only occassionally going out to like get new clothes or whatever). Like we can kind of assume that the reason Crocodile chose to make his move now in the story was because all the pieces for his grand plan had finally lined up and/or it was his last chance to do so (collect the debt from Buggy before he vanished off the face of the earth + recruit Mihawk for safety reasons since he's on the run now too). But what he had been doing until now is unclear, as is when he might've started preparing for making his move. Like had he been hiding on Fuck Off Island for 2 years, went to get some groceries, heard the news from the Reverie and was like "whoops time to go, hurry up Daz"? Or had he been on Fuck Off Island for the past two years and decided to start making his move after the Strawhats' return made the news (for that Crocodad Propaganda)? This is all extremely unclear

Like personally, I would like to believe he and Daz had been hiding on some remote island, going through a training arc and only started hanging out in public again etc after Luffy returned to the spotlight. We know Croc has trust issues so personally I do find it unlikely he would've been hiding out with people from the underworld even if he had any past connections+fame to keep people from trying to mess with him, meaning the two times we've seen him post-timeskip are like outlier moments. But I could be absolutely wrong and maybe it was the opposite, that he had been hanging out with the mafia in some nice manors and just chilling. Who the fuck knows.

As for Crocodile's money... Yes, the underworld is again An Option, but also we just don't know how much dealings he might've had with the underworld beyond from the bounty collecting (which would've been with the Marines really) and obtaining Dance Powder. Like, it's possible he might not have had any dealings with the underworld at all beyond those things. So how else would he then have obtained money to lend to Buggy? I mean there's a few things.

Crocodile could've had like A Secret Stash hidden somewhere in case of emergencies (in Paradise or the New World, Paradise seems more likely to me, he just would've had to have gone and picked it up immidiately after Summit War, before heading to the New World. But hey that's plausible, he would've needed money to get a ship etc anyways if he didn't just steal one). Or, since Crocodile does seem to like gambling, who knows, maybe he hit some casinos in the New World and hit some jackpots. Or maybe he just robbed people. We know Crocodile made a lot of money as a Warlord not just from cashing in bounties but also from stealing the shit pirates had on them; looting other people's loot. Crocodile totally could've been just spawn camping at the entrance of the New World for a little while for newbie pirates, just to beat their asses and rob them blind. (Something he couldn't have continued doing for too long though due to G5 + shit happening on Fishman Island making it nearly impossible for pirates to pass through anyways, but hey all we need to do is assume Croc did the spawn camping for just long enough to have money to lend to Buggy before pissing off to hide somewhere, and yeah that could work)

Personally, I don't think the underworld is going to be a plot relevant thing in the story, not at this stage. Like to me it felt more like a side thing to add to OP's worldbuilding, but I don't really see what it could really contribute to the plot at this point. But I could be wrong, who knows, time will tell

[lizziethat]

I think the reason people are getting worried if Jiara is still together is they had all the other couples hold hands or wrap their arms with each other yes Jiara did give heart eyes to each other but it's easy to miss it's like a what is going on? maybe it was to tease us idk I also had a worry because some shows have done the offscreen break up and I don't want Jiara to ever break up. Now I want to talk about her Parents I hate them so much and I hated them all happy and clapping.

Knowing TV the way I do, I'm pretty sure what happened was: the final cut for the finale was too long. They packed a lot into the episode. So they cut everything they didn't think we needed -- and after a season of Jiara, they didn't think we needed any obvious confirmation about them being together, because of course they're together. They figured Kie's smile was enough. That's a fond "looking at MY dumbass" kinda smile, after all.

Her parents? Now, that's unbelievable. I'll take Topper being there over them. I don't even know how Kiara goes back to having a relationship with them. And if they suddenly changed their tune after finding out Kiara wasn't lying and JJ now has money, well, that doesn't really say good things about them. In fact, they're probably the worst thing about the time jump for me and if S4 just expects me to forgive and forget, they got another thing coming.

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Volume 4

The beginning of this volume flat out spoils things by putting characters that haven't been introduced yet on the character page. (MarineAngemon, the Juri clone, the D-Reaper queen...) Maybe that's a common practice with shounen manga...but it shouldn't be. Like, what's the point?

Ch. 22

Lopmon and Terriermon interacting will never get old. Love how they lift their ears with curiosity when they first see each other.

I think I prefer experiencing the ~sad~ part of Tamers better in manga form. I remember it being quite drawn out in the anime and I rather just blitz through it at this point. I think the whole Leomon death storyline just annoys me because they barely developed his character and then the writing expects me to be devastated. Juri was more developed, sure, but we barely got any insight into her relationship with Leomon so her deep, dark depression doesn't feel super warranted either.

Ch. 23

I think this chapter was pretty well done. They're giving an epic battle it's time instead of zooming past it.

It bugs me that there isn't a specific name for digimon/human digivolutions. In this translation they called it a "true mega form." On the wiki it's called both an ultimate and a matrix digivolution. IDK why it doesn't count as a jogress. I guess there's like...two different things: the way you digivolve (matrix) and the digivolution level (ultimate)? If it's confusing for me, I can only imagine it'd be confusing for a kid.

It's a bit weird for an English translation, but I like that Guilmon says "MMA!" a lot. I can totally hear him making that noise with his OG voice. Creative onomatopoeia.

Ch. 24

Grrr Jian said "crumbcakes," so done with this stupid translation

This chapter was hella short, not much to say about it.

Ch. 25

Okay, now they're calling it a "biomerge digivolution." I guess the localizers also thought "this needs a cool name!"

Casual 90s/early 2000s sexism sprinkled throughout this translation. Takato says he "screams like a little girl" in a previous chapter and in this one he says "easy to forget Renamon and Rika are girls when they're always kicking butt!" Eye roll...

SaintGalgomon looked super badass but for some reason when Sakuyamon appeared they chose to dedicate two closeup panels to her chest and high heels? Sus...

Ch. 26

Juri's face didn't look as sinister here as it did in the anime (when it's revealed she's possessed). I guess that's probably a good thing. More subtle.

I don't remember the sovereign digimon giving Culumon a "you're a real boy now" speech in the anime. That was sweet.

They cut the part where Beelzebumon gets zapped by a bunch a digimon. In this he just collapses after the battle with Dukemon, which I think I prefer. (But why'd he say he'd be "bunny chow?" He wasn't even fighting Terriermon...)

Ch. 27

The grotesque, over-the-top facial expressions the artist keeps drawing for Hirokazu piss me off. They're just so ugly.

Ugh...they really had to ruin a serious moment (Guilmon getting the ark to stop) with a poop joke. This manhua does NOT treat its audience with respect.

Hmm they completely cut out Juri's family. So much for developing her character I guess.

They kind of forgot to imply that the ark is sentient. I mean they showed it stopping on its own, but in the anime they really hammered it home by having Guilmon have a conversation with it and showing it's HAL-like eye. That was one of my fave parts so I'm sad lol

Ch. 28

Okay, this is starting to feel totally different from the anime, they skipped like 5 episodes worth of content. Also, IDK if the scanlation I'm reading is missing some pages because the ending with Dukemon being beat up was completely nonsensical (it cut from Beelzebumon being hit to a panel with Dukemon outta nowhere?) I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that there are missing pages...

The scene where Beelzebumon uses Leomon's attack to save Juri played out differently here. She doesn't seem particularly perturbed by it and Beelzebumon can't save her because he gets attacked, not because Juri recoils for too long.

Ch. 29/30

Lol they completely cut out Justimon. Makes Ryo's role even more pointless! Ryo doesn't even reappear at all...

This manhua series was crap to begin with but they really screwed the pooch with this ending. SOOO rushed. Grani appeared outta nowhere with zero introduction. Like they just went immediately to Grani's sacrifice. I still don't know if I'm missing pages or if the writing is just that garbage. Oh well! I tried.

[moefling]

So I had this thought months ago that I wanted a fan shirt (I can't remember at the time if this was 1 Fandom in particular or if it started as multiple)

So with the audacity I got from my dad that I can try any craft/ diy and the millennial knowledge that I can just youtube it I decided to embroider a shirt

So I bought a shirt on Amazon (I was looking for a "football shirt" is what at the time I called it but idk if that is right so...) and I picked up some embroidery floss (big question why I bought a pack of mostly green when I got a black shirt and was going to use white floss.... 🤷‍♀️)

So that done comes the real conflict.... what am I embroidering?.....

So I think originally I was going to just make it a Fandom shirt so like any Fandom I was part of or liked... (now it is just a book/ webcomic shirt) but how am I listing them?

Once I started thinking out it I switched to couples and then it changed to include books but that brought even more questions...

So if it's couples do I go by ship name? But some of the books I wanted to use aren't big enough to have a ship name...

So like the couple ao3 tag? But I really don't want to embroider Alex and Henry’s full names....

Just first names? For some reason there is a lot of Alex's (tho now that im thinking about i think the only name that repeated was Charlie) and also what about legal name vs. nickname?

I'd just go with nicknames but what if the couples call each other but their legal name (malec) or they use a different name (zimbits)?

(At some point I switched this to just being books - originally the only webcomics I was including were also published but I added Castle Swimmer at the last moment without thinking so....)

What if I just went with book titles? But what about series? (And some book titles are long...)

Just use the series name! ... but most of the series names are just the MCs first name... and I'm not reping the entire Like Us series just Marrow...

And this logic keeps circling back around...

I tested out doing a little bit of each but I got a little mad at the uneven distribution and I had strong opinions on what I wanted some of them to be ( I love the firstprince ship name but for this project I really wanted to use the title)

I starred doing more planning related to placement and decided to just go with book titles and for series just the first book in the series. (Tho I did use just Tortall and I was a little mad about losing London Calling to Boyfriend Material and I really thought about leaving Captive Prince as Capri)

Once all the planning was done I... actually had to do the thing...

I'm glad I got stabilizer that was washable and worked in my printed so it just took a few tries to get the size correct and I could start

(And then restart after doing a quick Google search on the best way to embroider letters)

It was pretty easy, tho it did take awhile and would have taken longer if I was being really careful about following exact letter shape and stitch length. ....it also didn't help that Poppy realized embroidery floss was an OK sub for yarn to play with...

I did *cough* wait to wash any of the stabilizer off until the very end.... There was a cat in the sink when I finished the first one! It wasn't a problem tho because it washed out super easy and looks great!

... as I was taking the pics I realized i spelled Castle Swimmer wrong 😅 so maybe I'll just cut that one out later...

But overall I'm really happy with it and there is definitely room to add more when I want :) (tho I will have to remember what font and size I used because I was dumb and didn't save that...)

[kraeki]

do you think szobo and curtis are good players? we love them as people and all but they get the most criticism online and i always see especially with curtis that he’s overrated. do you think it’s true, honestly?

Hi, sorry for the late answer, you sent this before the Bologna game before the Twitter hive collectively changed its mind about Dom, until the next game at least. But I'm glad I waited because what I was seeing on Twitter after that match helps me make my point in answering you. I ended up accidentally word vomiting though, so my answer is below the cut.

The short answer is that yes I think they are good players. Obviously I am not objective, especially not with Dom, but I would argue that their critics are not objective either.

The Twitter section of the LFC fandom has this weird thing where they can never be happy, they love moaning, sometimes I feel like certain people are almost gleeful after a loss because it gives them a chance to peddle their miserable agendas. But even in good spells they must always have a scapegoat to moan about. Before the season even started I felt like Andy had been picked as the chosen scapegoat by Twitter. Then he has been too good for them to be able to say anything (this will change the moment he has one bad game) so they had to find another scapegoat. Which was Dom until the Bologna game.

Why Dom? Because he was playing badly? No, I actually don't think he was playing badly. He had bad periods in games but others did as well. He just didn't have many wow moments and because he's Dominik Szoboszlai that wasn't good enough. He's putting in good shifts and an essential engine in the team machine but I think Dom is one of our more overly scrutinized and criticized players and I think the reasons for that are threefold: 1) For Hungary he's the star of the show, I don't usually watch their games but from what I've read he almost single handedly wins them some games. Liverpool fans can then be confused and bitter why he isn't doing the same for us, but he's playing a wildly different role in Liverpool, for both teams he's doing what's needed and it's not fair to compare it. 2) He had a crazy good start to his Liverpool career and is a victim of his own success because he set the bar so high that anything that came after that is a disappointment. 3) He's insanely good looking and people don't know how to handle it. It means he's overly talked about and an easy target for jokes and memes. idk if some of these dudes are just attracted to him and their panic about it manifests in hating on him or if they're just resentful of how perfect he is and have to find faults??

Whatever the reason is, it seems like there always has to be discourse about him. He's either the best midfielder in the world and Stevie G reborn or a terrible signing. He's never allowed to just exist and play football at a consistently high level. And it's such a bandwagon effect as well. After the Bologna game a few people started saying that it was unfair how much the fanbase criticized Dom because he hadn't actually done anything to deserve it, and within one hour it seemed like every other account on there was scrambling to put out their own tweet about how underrated his performances have been. The same accounts that were probably calling for him to be benched last week. It just shows how insufferably reactionary the online fanbase is and I'm sick of it. I try not to pay too much attention to player discourse these days because it lacks all nuance and critical thinking.

Now for Curtis, the same reactionary scapegoat principle applies. But I haven't actually seen much criticism about him lately so it's interesting that you have. I think he has a bit the same problem as Dom, that his role in the team is not flashy. He's also a Scouser and while that endears him to the local fans, people have been saying for a long time that the only reason he gets to be in the team is because he's a Scouser and not because of his talent. I feel like this has died a bit down as he's gotten older but maybe the underlying sentiment lingers.

I don't think he's one of our best players, but we have a team of world class players and to answer your question, yes I do think he is a good player and probably underrated. I remember during his best spell last season that you could actually see Liverpool's overall performance statistically increase when he was on the pitch. His big problem is injuries though. Because it seems like he's been in great form multiple times after he manages find his rhythm and consistently starts games and then he always gets injured at the height of hype around him. Like when he was supposed to be called up to the senior England squad last March after he'd been so good for us and then he got injured and lost his chance. Heartbreaking.

I really didn't mean to write so much but here we are. Once upon a time you had plenty of bad players in Liverpool but we are very privileged now because you don't get to become a Liverpool player now if you aren't actually at a top club level.

The bottom line is that online football discourse is toxic and idiotic as hell. I wish more people just supported our players. You can point out their mistakes and criticize them without going all out with "get out of my clerb" stuff. And actually I also think Liverpool fans don't need to point out every single mistake or bad game our players have. We have opp fans to do that. We don't hype up our players enough and that's why our world class players are consistently so disrespected in the media and in awards.

You're a hero if you read this far, but yeah I think they're good players and not overrated!