#is it just me or do those two emojis look increasingly cute together?!

[singsweetmelodies]

(strawberry pasta anon here)

i can promise you that it isn't a bad concept especially when pasta isn't exactly savoury,,, it's more uh plain? or just don't salt the water to cook pasta too much, so it is quite good

and love you too hah it's really nice to discuss cultural differences and experience an utter shock from it

HI AGAIN!! 😍💕 awww, you just make me smile so much, dear anon 🤗 and you're so right! i love hearing about different cultures and seeing people's reactions, hehe 🤭🥰 and about that pasta! so... 🙈 i always cook my pasta quite salty and very al dente, so i can't quite imagine NOT having it like that, to be honest with you. but there's a first time for everything, no? unless my girlfriend kills me for cooking crimes ofc 😆 then it's the first and last time, hehe xD

[noona-clock]

Now or Never - Part 2

Genre: College!AU

Pairing: Jae x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: Some mature language

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | Words: 2,210

You had somehow gone a full week without telling Jae that you were texting Kevin... but when Kevin finally asked you out on a date, you couldn’t hold back your secret any longer. You felt dishonest, first of all, but you were also way too excited to keep it in.

“JAE!” you cried when you saw him waiting for you outside of your apartment complex.

Jae jumped a little, turning to furrow his brow at you.

“Guess what I’m doing on Saturday night!” you continued, your lips stretched into a sparkling smile.

“Playing video games with me,” he replied without hesitation.

“No.”

“Eating dinner with me.”

“No.”

“Going to Taco Bell at one AM with me.”

“No.”

“Rom-com movie marathon with me.”

“Big hint,” you said. “It has nothing to do with you.”

Jae’s brow furrowed even deeper, and he narrowed his eyes at you. “Then... what’s the point?” he asked.

“The point is I’m going on a date!” you squealed, grabbing his arm and jumping up and down a little bit.

“A date?” he repeated, sounding incredibly confused. “What? Who are -- Wait. Please tell me it’s not Coffee Guy.”

You simply beamed at him.

“You texted him back?! Y/N!”

“It’s just one date, what’s the big deal?” you chuckled as you slipped your arm through his and began walking toward the nearest dining hall.

“He waited a month to contact you after getting your number. No decent guy does that!” he cried. “If a guy is into you, he’ll text or call you that same day. Guaranteed.”

You knew you should trust Jae because, after all, he was a guy. He knew what he was talking about. But... you were going on your very first actual date, and you didn’t want to ruin it!

“Maybe he was really busy!”

“There’s no excuse,” Jae retorted, shaking his head.

“What if he left the piece of paper in his pocket and then he forgot it was in there and didn’t do laundry for a month?” you pointed out with raised eyebrows.

Jae opened his mouth to reply... but then he let out a soft sigh. “I mean -- that’s plausible, but --”

“It’s just one date,” you repeated, tugging on his arm. “Let me go on one date with him, and if he seems like a dick, I won’t see him again.”

“Yeah, but he’s probably one of those guys who doesn’t seem like a dick but actually is,” Jae argued.

You nudged him gently, holding yourself back from rolling your eyes. “I think I have better judgment than that.”

“I mean, true,” Jae agreed. “You’re friends with me, so you’re definitely smart.”

A smile tugged at your lips at his words, and you briefly rested your chin on his shoulder. “See? I know what I’m doing! One date. If I don’t like him, that’s it. No more dates. Simple as that!”

...It wasn’t that simple.

Your first date with Kevin had gone extremely well -- better than you’d ever imagined a first date could go. You’d gushed about it to Jae afterward, and he’d reluctantly agreed that maybe he wasn’t a dick and maybe -- highly unlikely but maybe -- there was a good reason why he had waited a month to text you.

So, you had gone on another date with him. And another and another and another, but it wasn’t until you’d been dating for almost six months that you realized... Kevin kind of was a dick. He had a way of blaming you for a lot of things and made himself the Good Guy by forgiving you. You, obviously, didn’t stand for that, so half the time the two of you were together, you were arguing.

But the other half? Kevin was kind of the perfect boyfriend. He brought you flowers and made you dinner and called you beautiful.

So... you stayed. Jae told you many, many, many, many times not to. But you ignored him. You assured him everything was fine. Kevin made you angry sometimes, but he didn’t make you unhappy.

And now it was your Senior year. Your final year at university -- you were almost halfway through at this point. You had Kevin, the boyfriend you’d always wanted, and you had Jae, the best friend you needed. Could things be any better?

...Well. Yeah, probably. Kevin and Jae didn’t necessarily... get along. Jae tried, he really did. And Kevin... kind of tried. But they didn’t particularly like each other, and things would be a lot better if your boyfriend and your best friend liked each other.

Just as Jae had tried to convince you many times to break up with Kevin, Kevin had tried to convince you many times to break up with Jae -- break up your friendship, of course. But you were even more adamant about keeping Jae in your life because, truly, what would you do without him? I mean, you especially needed him around because who else would you vent to about your boyfriend if you didn’t have Jae?! He was always there to listen, and he had finally learned to just listen instead of trying to give advice (advice to dump his ass).

No, you would never not be best friends with Jae, and that was that. Kevin would have to learn how to deal with it -- if he hadn’t already.

And something else Jae was always good for?

It was currently past midnight, and you’d spent the past several hours studying for your final exams for the Fall semester. Dinner had been over five hours ago so your stomach was starting to alert you that the time for food was nigh.

And where else are you going to go this late at night? Who else are you going to text a taco emoji and bell emoji and a question mark emoji to?

Thankfully, Jae read your message immediately, and within twenty minutes, the two of you were sitting in your regular booth at the Taco Bell just outside of campus.

“You’re so wrong,” Jae mumbled, his mouth full of a Dorito taco. “Why does everyone say the Brontosaurus is the best dinosaur when clearly it is the T-Rex?”

“Because T-Rexes are scary!” you cried. “Brontosauruses are so cute and they won’t eat you! You’ve seen Jurassic Park, right?”

Instead of replying verbally, Jae simply shoved the rest of his taco into his mouth. So, you shoved your crunch wrap into your mouth.

As you were chewing, your phone vibrated on the table. Jae watched as you glanced at the screen, picked it up, and began typing with one hand (your other hand holding your crunch wrap, of course).

He unwrapped his second Dorito taco and ate silently as you set your phone down... but then you picked it right back up and typed something else. And, half a minute later, you typed again.

As the seconds ticked by, Jae watched as your facial expression became increasingly annoyed.

Obviously, Kevin was texting you.

“What’s up?” he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

He really didn’t want to start another venting session about Kevin -- he’d had quite enough of those over the past year, and quite frankly, he was long past over it.

But... you were still his best friend. And... he was still kind of in love with you. He wanted to be there for you, especially when Kevin wasn’t.

“He’s just being weird,” you murmured with a roll of your eyes. “He doesn’t want me out this late at night.”

“You’re an adult, you can make your own decisions,” Jae replied. “Besides. It’s not like you’re out this late at night alone.”

The look on your face immediately gave away that you not being alone was actually part of the problem.

“Yeah, he’s not happy about that either,” you sighed with more than slight irritation.

“...What do you mean?”

I mean, Jae knew the guy didn’t exactly like him (for some odd reason), but geez.

“He just... would rather me be alone than be with...” You glanced over at him with the most guilty look in your eyes, and it clenched at Jae’s heart.

“Than be with me?” he asked, his brow furrowing deeply. “Is he nuts? He’d rather you be out alone after midnight than be with me?”

“I know, right?!” you cried. You turned your phone over on the table before taking hold of your crunch wrap and biting into it. “He knows that we’re just friends.”

Unfortunately, thought Jae.

“I don’t know,” you continued. “He’s just weird.”

Jae took a casual bite of his taco before asking, “So... are we...?”

“No,” you replied without hesitation. “We’re not doing anything we haven’t done for years. He just needs to get over it.”

“Why is he just bringing it up now?” Jae asked. “You guys have been together for, like, a year.”

You grinned over at Jae, but it wasn’t a happy grin by any means. It was more of a ‘I’ve been hiding something and now you’ve figured it out’ kind of grin.

Jae’s eyebrows shot up his forehead, underneath his shaggy blonde locks. “Oh. So... he’s not just bringing it up now.”

You shook your head in the tiniest possible way.

“How long?”

You sighed.

“Since the beginning?”

You nodded.

“Y/N --”

“He just has to deal!” you repeated. “You’re my best friend, you’re not going anywhere.”

Even though Jae would have preferred to be more than just your best friend, your words still made his heart feel all warm and fuzzy. You weren’t going to let anyone come between you -- not even dickbag Kevin.

“I mean, I was here first,” he pointed out with a slight smirk.

“Exactly! You were here first, and there’s nothing weird going on.”

Jae decided not to ask you what you meant by that.

���Besides,” you continued. “Who would I vent to about him if I didn’t have you?!”

Internally, Jae let out the deepest, longest, heaviest sigh. He absolutely hated that that’s what you brought up -- that that’s why you needed him around. So you could vent to him about your boyfriend.

Externally, he simply avoided your gaze and said, “Yeah. Exactly.”

“So,” you said, obviously wanting to change the subject. “What are you doing for Christmas this year?”

Oh, yeah. Winter Break was right around the corner, wasn’t it? Is that why you were up so late? You were studying for finals?

...Jae should probably get on that.

Anyway.

“Just going home,” he shrugged. “I think my grandparents are staying with us again.”

“Oh my god, I love your grandparents so much,” you gushed, pouting slightly and tilting your head toward your shoulder. “They’re so sweet! I wish I could come and see them.”

“You can,” Jae chuckled. You had visited his family over Winter Break the past two years, and unsurprisingly, both his parents and grandparents absolutely adored you.

You let out a long sigh -- almost like the one Jae had let out in his head when you’d said you needed him for your boyfriend venting sessions.

“I can’t this year. Kevin invited me home with him.”

Oh, shit.

“Damn, that’s serious,” Jae murmured, trying to sound impressed rather than depressed.

You lifted one shoulder into a shrug before taking another bite of your crunch wrap. “I mean, it’s been a year.”

“But, still... Meeting the family. Has he met Hannah and Eugene yet?” he asked, referring to your own parents. Jae, obviously, had met them several times before. Enough times to be on a first-name basis with them -- though, he was pretty sure your parents didn’t know he called them by their first names, but... oh well.

“No,” you replied with a soft chuckle. “Not yet. And they’re pretty pissed that I’m not coming home.”

“Wait, what? You’re spending the whole break with Kevin’s family?” Jae spat out.

“Well, yeah!”

“You’re not doing, like, a half-and-half situation?”

“...No.”

“Bro, that’s not right! You need to see Hannah and Eugene for Christmas!”

You need to see me for Christmas!

“Well! I’m sorry! He wanted me to stay the whole time!” you explained, though Jae could have sworn he heard a twinge of guilt in your voice. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Say ‘no,’“ Jae replied immediately.

“All right, well, I’m full,” you said with a little sigh as you began to gather up your trash.

Nice change of subject. 🙄

And Jae wasn’t quite dumb enough to ignore it and insist that you get Kevin to change his plans.

“Yeah, me too,” he mumbled, throwing his wrappers onto your tray. “You got more studying to do?”

“Probably,” you laughed. “But I’m gonna call it a night.”

“Going to sleep on a Taco Bell stomach? Good luck,” Jae teased. And he was teasing, but he also said that because he was hoping...

You raised your eyebrows and shot Jae a curious look. “You wanna game?”

Bingo.

“Hell yeah, man,” he replied with a grin. “We still need that MarioKart rematch.”

“Why even bother? You know I’m going to beat you,” you scoffed. “I always --”

“You do not! You’re such a liar, bro!”

And, just like that, it was back to normal. It was as if Kevin didn’t even exist.

Ha! If only!

Part 3

[marueonmain]

WINDFLOWER

part three ~ without the dolphin ~

(part one) (part two) (part three)

A/N: Thank you all so so much for reading! I never thought people would care about my writing and I am so appreciative. I’ve got messages/asks open for comments or questions.

Summary: Y/N warms up to Alex. George advises him to not be an idiot. 

Pairing: imallexx x reader

Warning: Secondhand Embarrassment. Mild Language.

Word Count: 2.3k

There was no music in the lift. There was no music to interrupt Alex's music blaring into his ears. If there were someone around, they would have heard his questionable song choice for the four-minute trip from his apartment to meet the deliveryman and back again. Not that that trip required music.

However, consider that the brain could think thousands of thoughts in four minutes, and the chances of those all being pleasant thoughts are minuscule. Why take that chance? Why not drown them all out?

DING the sliding doors opened. Alex stepped out with a bounce in his step set in-time with the backbeat of the chorus playing in his ears.

Coming from around the corner where the mailroom was, Y/N brushed past him in a flash of blue clothing. She did not seem to see him.

But he saw her, like a Where's Wally game he was not aware he was playing. He took out one of his earbuds, slipping it in his pocket. Alex was determined to be normal: to make up for the initial awkwardness of their first meeting.

Y/N walked past the lift and started for the stairs. She was on the fifth or sixth step.

"Red!" called Alex.

"Hmm? Oh, hello," she said, smiling.

"How are you doing?" It was uncomfortable for him to be on a lower plane than to whom he was speaking, but Y/N was not moving, so neither was he.

"Tired."

"For tired, you don't look too bad. No I didn’t—you don't look bad. You look good!" Amidst recovering from his slip, Alex noticed how different Y/N was then last time. Different in appearance, with her softer expression and relaxed shoulders, and in her aurora. It was calmer, more open.

"You look good too. That shade of yellow—" she pointed to his sweatshirt, "—compliments your hair."

"Really? You think?" He thought he might just melt or spill open in front of her.

"I'm not a liar. What are you up to?" Y/N looked around, keeping her head on a slight swivel. She returned to meet Alex's gaze with something like concern shining, hiding behind her animated expression.

"I'm meeting a deliveryman. If you want, you could come and eat pizza with George and me." After a short beat, he added, "Invite Sammy too."

"Is George your flatmate or..." Y/N intentionally trailed off.

"Flatmate." Alex thought he might have seen Y/N's smile widen more so for a second at his answer. But he could not be sure what he saw was real or just a manifestation of what he wished to see.

"He sounds nice."

"George? Yeah, he's lovely. Not as lovely as me, of course."

Nodding in mock seriousness, Y/N confirmed, "Of course."

It was a simple conversation, but it felt so alive: so real: so this is happening right now and Alex felt so present. Like looking at himself in the mirror late at night and being hit with the conscious recognition of I am a person. Here I am this corporeal being. Not made of words or thoughts, what I find funny or opinions I like, my mental state or view count.

Alex was real talking to Y/N. Words were free-flowing out of him as he processed and reacted simultaneously. Such an understanding – if harnessable – could lead to solutions for world hunger or maybe even get him to three million subscribers within the year.

"So, you'll come along?"

"I can't." Y/N frowned a slight frown. Her nervous nature returned as she cleared her throat and began to fiddle with her fingers.

"Come on, Red," his voice whined with the plea before stabilizing, "It'll be fun. It's not just pizza. I was planning on throwing together a salad as well to go with it."

"How healthy."

"Oh? Do you not know?" Alex paused so Y/N could shake her head. "I'm only buying a pizza to support local businesses; I'm really an expert in the kitchen."

"Is that right?" She raised an eyebrow.

"World-renowned."

"You know what? I see it now. Better than Ramsey, aren't you?"

"Leagues better. I'd challenge any chef to rival my bagged salad mix. It's spectacular – delicious."

Y/N giggled, and Alex joined.

Music had continued to blare from the earbud he left in, but he had been able to ignore it during the conversation. Until a particular song came on – one he downloaded as a joke – and he heard the line: got our song...up and ready

Did Alex wish Y/N and he had a song? No, that was dumb. An unrealistic expectation the romance genre shoved upon its (generally) female audience. But did he? Kind of. It would be cute. Men can want to be cute, too, right?

"So, you'll come?" he asked...again.

Y/N fiddled with the collar of her chin-hugging top. "I would, but I can't. Sam would—don't you think you've made your deliveryman wait long enough?"

"Probably. You have some time to change your mind; just ring me if you do."

"I don't have your number."

"Alright," he made a give it here gesture, "I'll plug it in."

Y/N's bright expression faltered a smidge as she relinquished her phone to him. It was an older model but still a smartphone: no passcode: no apps other than those built-in. Her wallpaper was a picture of Sammy and her on a nature walk. 

Alex’s prominent adam's apple jumped. A pain like indigestion or like guilt stabbed him in the stomach. After plugging in his number, he took an extra second to double-check it and add some personal flair.

Y/N took her phone back. "Why the emoji? I think I'll know who you are without the..." Y/N squinted at the screen. "...without the dolphin."

"Never know. It could be a good reminder."

"I suppose, it does match your eyes," she muttered, still focused on the phone. Y/N froze for a second, clearly not having meant to say that out loud.

"There you go, it's perfect. Don't be afraid to call or text me; I'm on that thing 24/7, and I promise to reply in at least one-to-two business days. Guaranteed."

She scoffed, "You should go get your pizza."

It would not be the first or fifth time Alex had forgotten about a deliveryman, and – while he would let his extra-large go stone-cold before willingly break off a conversation with her – it was apparent Y/N was itching to get somewhere.

"True." Alex gave a short wave, maintaining his distance. "I'll see you later."

"Bye.” Y/N disappeared up the stairs.

~LATER~

Alex balanced the extra-large pizza box in one hand. Never having worked in food service, his confidence in doing so was even lower than his regular self-confidence. With his other hand, he patted himself down, looking for the key to his apartment. He cursed at himself for having locked it out of habit when he left.

There was muffled shouting coming from inside – sounding both playful and angry. It took a single step through the door for Alex to recognize the source of the shouting.

George was in his bedroom watching a video back without his headphones on. 

A great grief. A true unseen struggle for all youtubers – headphones were uncomfortable. Constant low-pressure squeezing developed into the biggest hazard of the job: chronic headaches. Both flatmates had expressed how they sometimes woke up to the feeling like they needed to relieve a phantom pressure and take off their headphones despite not wearing them to bed.

"Take high ground," a familiar voice commanded. "You have to down this guy."

Pre-recorded George asked, "Where is he?"

"Left. LEFT! Your left! Goddammit George, you dyslexic bitch."

It was with bitch that Alex recognized the other voice in the recording– it was Joshy, and it was a fortnite video from the sound of it.

"This gun is so weak it's hitting nine damage," pre-recorded George complained.

Joshy screamed, "Let's go; we got to go!"

"You do your thing. I'll be over there in a bit."

Their bickering continued sounding identical in tone to that of a couple outside divorce court. Viewers loved how shit George was at fortnite and how increasingly frustrated that made Joshy: the shouting, the swearing, the idle threats and name-calling. Pairing up together for these types of gameplay videos would often have them banging out a quarter to half a million views per video.

Meanwhile. Alex placed the pizza box on the coffee table and fell onto the sofa with an exhausted sigh. Sitting up, he grabbed at the box lid and started claiming the best-looking slices in his head.

Eyes flickered to the closed-door: George had not heard him come in – surely not. And he would not be mad if Alex started in on devouring the pizza without him – surely not. Right?

Stacking two slices on top of one another, Alex crammed them into his mouth quick, as if scared they would be taken away from him, and burned his tongue.

"Help me," pleaded the pre-recorded George, "Help me. Help me."

"Nah. Don't think I will."

"Josh, if you don't revive me right now. I swear to god, I will piss in your mouth while you sleep."

Alex snorted, choking on the third slice of pizza he had fit in his big mouth; he had been on the receiving end of that piss threat before, several times. Most recently because he left a plate in the sink and George swore if Alex did not clean it that second, he would...well...piss in his mouth.

"That's not very nice." Joshy mimicked genuine sadness. "I got you."

1/3 of the pizza was gone, and Alex decided it fair to call George in before he scranned it all himself. "George! Pizza's here!"

"Alright!" George (the real not the pre-recorded) shouted back. There was the sound of his door closing and the padding of his socked feet down the short hall before he appeared around the corner. Met with Alex and the 2/3 of a room temperature pizza, he asked the appropriate, "What the fuck?"

"I was starved."

"And here I was thinking the one excuse I would accept for taking twenty years to get the pizza was that you'd run into the street and got hit.”

Alex spoke around his mouth being full, "Sorry."

"Whatever." He snuck in a quick smack against the side of Alex's head as he joined him on the sofa.

Both men sat in silence, shoving slices of pizza into their mouth like it was a competition. Like there was no other food in their apartment. Like they could not order another pizza. Like it proved something.

Breaking the silence, Alex swiped the sleeve of his sweatshirt across his mouth and asked, "Are we still filming that opening pokemon cards video tomorrow?"

"Yes. Just need someone to film the over-the-shoulder angle. Lewis is sick."

"Sick with what?"

"Not the bug." George rolled his eyes mockingly. His eating had slowed down after hitting the wall, half-way through his fifth slice. "It's like a cold or something. Could you ask your new mate Sammy to do it?"

"Why not ask Will to come down?"

"Don't trust him," he said, shrugging.

"Fair enough. I'll ask him when we hit the pub later." Alex stood and walked to the kitchen. At the sink, he washed his hands with dish detergent and, cupping his hands into a bowl, washed around his mouth with the soapy water. Satisfied, he took a towel to his hands and face before returning to see George shutting the lid on the pizza box. "What do you think of Sammy?"

"How do you mean?"

"Just in general."

George shrugged. "He's cool."

"Yeah," Alex agreed – because he did agree with the statement; he liked Sammy.

There was a pause, and, in the interlude, George stood and grabbed the pizza box. He brought it to the kitchen bin; balancing it on top the overflowing rubbish. Curious and perhaps thinking he heard a tonal shift in their dialogue, George settled himself to be pressing his shoulder against the wall nearest where Alex stood. Leaning like he was in a how do you do fellow kids meme.

Alex felt very much 'squared up' to. He turned to be met with a quick tilt of the head and a scrutinizing near-glare from his flatmate. It was not unlike George to stick his nose in where it does not belong; could this be considered that type of situation? Alex did ask for his opinion.

Clearing his throat, George asked, "Is this about Y/N?"

"I was talking to her earlier and—"

"Why were you talking to her?"

"—and I got the sense that Sammy might be like a tad controlling. I don't know."

"Are you serious?" George asked harshly before continuing in a softer voice – with a hint of hesitation, of caution, "You know what happens when you jump to conclusions like that. You shouldn't be chatting up Y/N behind Sammy's back."

"It wasn't like I cornered her. We ran into each other." Alex tugged on his sleeves, pulling them past his shaking fingers – seconds away from crawling into himself.

It was not playful bullying between friends anymore; it was a telling off. And neither was comfortable. George's eyes pleaded for Alex to look up and meet them, and for Alex to understand. Alex held no negative feelings toward George. But Alex hated himself for reacting as he was; he hated being human and having sensitive moments. Though he could not stop it.

"You have got to back off. Ok?" George confirmed, "If it means we can't have Sammy in the friend group, then that's what it means. We'll find someone else to film for us tomorrow."

"No, it's fine. I'll ask him," Alex said as he pulled up and straightened his posture. He smiled at George's concerned expression and added, "I'm not interested in Y/N."

[thedreadvampy]

So Love, Death and Robots...

Ok, like the first 4 were all, in different ways, really pretty good, and there are a couple of other good offerings in the mix, although a lot of the otherwise good ones fumbled the landing a little and left me feeling slightly unsatisfied.

Sonnie’s Edge was a solid opener, not my favourite in the world (and the accents felt really fake if I’m honest - if you say they’re from Newcastle give your characters Geordie accents, you cowards, none of this ‘generic working class Brit’ bollocks), but the twists were good, the characters had some life to them, and while I am a biiit eeehhhhhh about the Rape As Backstory element, it wasn’t egregious and the story was well put together and rattled along at a fair pace. I would have liked a bit more information about where her anger came from, since she shrugs off the idea that it’s from her Traumatic Backstory, but that’s really my only criticism. Animation-wise I’m not the biggest fan of photorealistic scifi animation, and the monster designs are fine but not mindblowing, but it’s doing what it does solidly (although I don’t know why that one character has her tits all the way out in her regular costume, it’s a bit Teenage Boy Scifi but it’s still a cool costume and I like the blacklight effects). The theme for me here is competent - nothing in the story or the animation was stand-out exciting for me but it was all done well, paced well, animated and designed very well, but it all sort of hit a “good but not great” note for me if I’m honest.  4/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖💀

Three Robots was fun and engaging, if a bit superficial - it’s more of a series of stitched-together vignettes than a story, and other than the central characters, the world, and the cat very little connects the scenes, but that’s fine, it’s a worldbuilding exercise and it does what it’s doing pretty well. I really dig the character designs, especially the big blocky triangle robot - I’m a sucker for highly variable robots existing in the same world and I always appreciate effective non-humanoid character design. Also I did really enjoy the closing twist, that gave me a giggle. 4/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖💀 

The Witness was also really good but missing something. I loved the animation and character design, the comic book sound effects were occasionally a little clunky and distracting but the Comicsness of it was really working for me. I liked the story - it telegraphed part of the ending very deliberately but kept you guessing about the details and then pulled a pretty effective twist at the end anyway - and the characters managed to convey a lot of personality without a lot of explanation. There was a pleasing sense of inevitability to it, and while I kind of wanted a bit of explanation I think it was probably the right decision to leave it ambiguous. I did leave it feeling a little unsatisfied in an indefinable way, but looking back I think it would not have been made better by being any more explicit about what it was trying to convey.  4/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖💀 Suits, the one with the redneck mecha pilots, was far and away the tightest and most satisfyingly put together in the whole show for me - I liked the animation style a lot for it, it was funny and emotionally engaging, and while it wasn’t breaking much new ground it was beautifully paced, kept you invested and made you care about the characters, and was probably the only one which I had absolutely no complaints or lingering disappointments at all with. 5/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖 .........aaaaaand then it all went wrong a bit for me because the episodes I genuinely solidly enjoyed got much fewer and further between as the bulk of stories got increasingly adolescent and superficial (I know, I know, it’s called Love, Death and Robots, it was always going to be a bit Teenage Boy, but the first 4 were all solid enough that I was feeling positive about it) Sucker of Souls was...fine. Characterful animation, uptempo pace, good character design (although GOD those ACCENTS, please stop and hire Actually British and Actually Irish voice actors if you’re planning on having British and Irish characters). It just felt completely hollow, though. Like, why do I care about this happening? Most of the characters are reasonably likeable if pretty stock, but the actual protagonist has nothing to him except Gruffly Macho Mercenary #4518B, and the plot is paper-thin and utterly unsatisfying. Monster exists, hubris of man raises monster, monster does something gratuitiously gory (if well-animated), people run away from monster, kill monster with guns and explosions, oh no what a twist we’re still in trouble, cut to black. And there was just nothing added to that, nothing clever or imaginative or unexpected, and the only twist they managed was that their Big Triumphal Moment was totally pointless. I thought they were going somewhere interesting with the cats thing and then it just got dropped and we went back to guns and explosions. I get doing something like this as a character piece but a) the characters just aren’t interesting enough to prop it up and b) the stakes aren’t balanced right for it to work (heh, stakes). It feels like this was just ‘I have a cool character design for Dracula and a couple of setpiece ideas’ and the whole short was just a vehicle for that, but while those things were cool they weren’t cool enough to make half an hour of TV feel worth it. It’s nice to see 2d animation but the animation style is only really ‘fine’ to me. This episode feels like someone really liked Hellboy but is not nearly as good a writer as Mike Mignola. 2/5 robots 🤖🤖💀💀💀 When The Yoghurt Took Over was fun enough. It didn’t have much more to it than ‘it would be funny if yoghurt took over the world’ but sometimes that’s enough. The animation’s cute and the idea is original enough to be funny and indepth enough to keep you engaged - I like a lot of the visual gags, even if they were a bit on the nose, and I enjoyed the vibe of it. It felt like a really odd fit with the rest of the show, though, and I’m not sure what tone the ending was trying to strike. Overall, 3.5/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖💀💀  (imagine I can emoji half a robot) Beyond the Aquila Rift, like Sonnie, is wholly competent and also pretty rote. The twist was telegraphed from a mile off, and imo the episode only manages to fill a full 15 minutes because like 3 of those minutes are just sex scenes without much substance. Again, photorealistic animation isn’t my bag, but even that considered the faces were carefully-textured enough that mid-tier animation made it all feel a bit Bioware and got in the way of me empathising with the characters. The story is an absolute off-the-rack sci-fi classic, and there’s no real twist on it - if I’d never seen this story played out before it might have worked, but I have seen approximately 20000000 versions of it and this just wasn’t bringing anything new. I liked the navigator character, when she was in it, and the design was competent, but it just did nothing for me because it all felt deeply generic and so the episode just dragged on with nothing new or exciting. 2.5/5 robots  🤖🤖💀💀💀 Good Hunting is another one where I liked bits of it but felt like it didn’t really go anywhere with its premise. I like the idea of contrasting traditional fantasy tropes with scifi, and I do like to see steampunk that legitimately grapples with the colonial baggage, but it just felt like it didn’t have much room to grow. The mechanical animation was really pretty - I especially liked the scene with the automatic hare - and the story was solidly paced, plus I do like when stories have a go at recontextualising traditional Seductress Monsters, buuuut to be honest it felt like a bit of a letdown. Where it hit, it hit solidly - I liked the throughline about how she felt like she’d become what he had thought her mother was, and the parallels between his experience of working for the British and her experience of sex work for them - but I think the issue for me is that, while I liked Liang and felt like he was well fleshed out, this felt like it should have been Yan’s story and it just wasn’t, really. Also I’m not very clear on what the point of the robotics work was - symbolically it works on some levels but I don’t know if it actually helps along the core theme, although the more time I spend with the idea the more it’s working for me. Still, I think we could have done with cutting the wuxia-ey scene at the beginning in half to make room for a little more meat at the end. 4/5 robots  🤖🤖🤖🤖💀 Ugly Dave. It’s fine. Nothing to write home about. The gag is pretty clear from the off, and doesn’t really build up into anything other than the obvious, but the animation is nice, the character design is strong and the jokes are adolescent but well-delivered. 3/5 robots  🤖🤖🤖💀💀 Shape-Shifters. I don’t know how this one was because it bored and annoyed me so much that I skipped to the next episode after 5 minutes. Ugh. Yeah. They’re werewolves and their squad is mean to them even though they’re real good at war. I assume that the only reason this isn’t called Dog Soldiers is because there’s already a film called Dog Soldiers about werewolf squaddies which the target audience of this short film, edgy teenage boys with a hardon for modern military propaganda, already like (side note: I didn’t get to the bit where presumably they eventually transform. but I flicked through a few frames on the tracker bar and they looked like incredibly generic wolves). My guess is that probably at the end they a) save their squad despite being discriminated against or b) the more annoying one gets killed by his own side. probably both. idk, I noped out because it was just wanking off the concept of the modern military and our two protagonists were two obnoxiously macho army men talking about how unfair it was that nobody appreciated how GOOD THEY WERE AT KILLING FOR ‘MURICA mission accomplished etc. Oh, and the animation style was another incredibly uninteresting photo-realistic but video-game animated pile of boring. 0/5 robots, too bored to actually watch it  💀💀💀💀💀

However, luckily just as I was getting Very Bored of Shooty Shooty Bang Bang adolescence, there were a succession of really nice character pieces

Helping Hand was a great small-scope short story. A lot of the episodes are really bombastic but Helping Hand is small and contained and character-driven and I liked it quite a bit. The animation is once again photorealistic, but to be honest that works well for me here because the movements are really believable, there’s a good reason to use animation instead of live actors (because it’s a situation where you’d either need a really expensive shooting setup or to mostly animate it anyway), and I think that the personal struggle would have had a lot less impact if the animation was more stylised. It’s a bit gross but beautfiully paced and tense (and the character’s Irish accent isn’t ear-burningly awful this time!) I will also say that of all of them, this character design feels the least male-gazy and the most like an actual person.  4/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖💀 Fish Night was unexpectedly gorgeous! I really don’t rate the animation style of pseudo-cel 3d with heavy lineart, and I was all set to find this episode ugly, but it’s honestly stunning. It feels like some of the best Nobrow comics, I can almost smell litho ink and feel heavy paper. It’s just got such a beautiful artistic sensibility. Storywise it’s a little weak - the characters are solid and the wonder is real but it just doesn’t really go anywhere, and it just sort of ends, it could really have done with a few seconds of closing scene because it felt like it just cut itself off  - and I’m not sure it’s anything meatier than a beautiful piece of visual work, but it’s allowed to be that and it does it stunningly!  4/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖💀 Lucky 13 isn’t really up my alley (although Samira Wiley puts in a great performance and I love her) and it’s another one where I sort of think, you know, why is this an animated piece if you’re just going to mocap everyone and set most of the action in cockpits and in a hangar, but it rattles along well and does what it wants to do, which is to be a solid Hero Pilot And Ship story. I just don’t actually want to be watching military dramas, but at least it’s much, MUCH better executed than Shape-Shifters both in terms of animation and storytelling, the characters are likeable, and the pacing is good.  3/5 robots  🤖🤖🤖💀💀 Zima Blue. LOVE LOVE LOVE this story, brought down only by the fact that I, uh, kind of hate the art style? A lot? It’s a matter of personal taste but that angular, geometric, leggy thing does nothing for me, although the environments are really nice. But the actual story is clever, original and a little bit silly in all the ways I like my scifi to be, plus it explores some interesting themes of consciousness and happiness. And the twist in the tail is really nice and fairly unexpected.  4/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖💀 Blindspot is dull, dull, dull, desperately dull and generic. We’re back on the adolescent Shooty Boom Boom bullshit, with poorly established stakes that never really get resolved, uninteresting and unpleasant characters, and a completely textbook story. The female character is apparently only there to make brain-itchingly bad Sassy Oneliners and have one scene where she shoots some guys, all of the characters have taken their personalities from the 15 Year Old Boy’s Guide To Being A Cool Rude Badass, the character designs are cluttered and not amazing, and there’s nothing original or exciting happening, it’s just a series of different shaped guns. The ending at least has a strong idea of what it’s doing, and almost works, but it’s dragged down by the fact that it relies on me being sad that these characters have got stomped, and I’m afraid that’s a lot to ask with characters as annoying and unpleasant as these. 1/5 robots  🤖💀💀💀💀 Ice Age. It’s a fun little concept. I’m not sure it really goes anywhere much but it’s quirky and very nicely put together, and it gave me a chuckle.  3/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖💀💀 Alternate Histories feels like something I’d see on Newgrounds in 2004, but slightly polished up and expanded on. Ha ha ha Hitler gets killed in various ways, which was definitely hilarious when I was 12. It’s much more interested in coming up with funny ways Hitler might die than it is in exploring any alternate histories that might result, despite the framing device (and also weirdly seems to imply that Nazi victory would be a good thing in one scenario?). I’ve used the word adolescent a lot here but this one isn’t even really adolescent in its sensibilities, it feels aimed at 10-13 year olds. 2/5 robots  🤖 🤖💀💀💀 The Secret War closes out the series in a way that feels consistent with the overall sense I got from Love, Death and Robots, in that it’s solidly made and not particularly original. But I did like it - the animation is stunning (although I stand by imitation not being the point of animation, it is aiming for realism and it does that almost flawlessly) and it’s surprisingly emotionally engaging. It keeps its focus on the experiences of the soldiers as people rather than on the concept, which is for the best as the concept is pretty generic, and it produces something with a bit of genuine emotional weight and stakes. It’s basically the exact same base story as Suits, even down to a lot of elements of the monster design, but set in a very different place with very different core characters, and as both Suits and Secret War are really character pieces, they make two very different but very strong stories out of it. This one is really hammering the GRITTY button as hard as it can, but it pulls it off, and while it still felt very pointed at teenage boy sensibilities it was a genuinely engaging and immersive story. If Soul Sucker desperately wanted to be the Hellboy comics, Secret War solidly evokes the Hellboy films but certainly isn’t just trying to be something other than what it is.  4/5 robots 🤖🤖🤖🤖💀 Overall thoughts - like all anthology shows tend to be, Love, Death and Robots is very hit and miss. A lot of episodes are really, REALLY rooted in a teenage nerd boy idea of coolness, and it doesn’t have much interest in criticising or examining what that means, but when it manages to get away from that a lot of these short films are fantastic. I will say that like a lot else, it’s dominated by both white male writers and white male protagonists and/or Strong Female Characters, and again, the best episodes tended to be ones that broke that pattern. From the title and trailer, I was worried about it being a lot more sexualised and gratuitous than it ended up being (although it definitely had its ehhhhhh moments), and I was honestly pleasantly surprised that of 18 episodes, only 2 featured rape-revenge plotlines, and none (maybe one?) were about Evil Seductresses, because given the title I had Concerns. However, it is still overwhelmingly white character-wise, which is a shame - I counted 2 episodes with Asian protagonists and 2 more with Black protagonists, which is relatively good, but there were probably only about 10 named/centred characters of colour all told. I dunno. I’d recommend taking a punt on it but I have Criticisms of the show overall. The good episodes are REALLY good though and I will definitely be rewatching 2 or 3 of them.

[icequeenjules26]

All I Want (For Christmas) Is You

Summary:  Dan Howell's life as a student of modern piano music is completely turned upside down when he is grouped in an assignment with Phil Lester...

Word Count: 7,2k

Tags: University AU, Fluff, Pianist!Dan, Guitarist!Phil, 

A/n: This is written for @babethepig for the Phandom fic Fests Holiday Exchange. As always the biggest ever thank you goes out to my love @succubusphan, who spent a lot of time beta’ing this. You’re the best. <3 

Read on A03

Dans schedule was a proper mess this semester. His decision to specialize in modern piano music got frowned upon not only by his parents but also by his Uni, so his curses were not nicely fit together anymore. He had a lot of free time in between, but his time gaps were too short to get back to his dorm, so he mostly stayed on campus, spending his free time in one of the multiple coffee shops around or with his friend Louise, who was assigned a dorm room much closer to campus than he was.

 That’s how he caught wind of it first.

 He had always been good at playing the piano, the time at uni had only helped with that, obviously; but that he was supposedly the best in his studies had always sounded like an exaggeration. There were a lot of piano students, so he had tried toning down the people talking about him, directing them to someone else. Aside from his musical ability there wasn’t much interesting about him, though, so he had drifted out of the other students’ eyes - at least aside from the talk about whoever was supposed to be dating this week. His open bisexuality made for a large pool of possible suitors, but there were students much more interesting to talk about.

 Now, though, he was back inside of the rumor mill, and right in the center.

 It started off innocently enough.

 “The instruments students are doing trios this year, did you hear?” The two girls in the booth right next to his were chatting animatedly with each other, obviously unaware of him just sitting half a meter away. “Yeah, I’m so excited! We haven’t seen Dan Howell performing for a while, which is a shame. Him at a Piano is enough to get me going to be honest.”

 Dan was already puffing out his chest like a peacock, debating on whether to go over there or at least make his presence known otherwise, when the other girl’s reply made him halt in his tracks. “I mean same , but have you seen Phil Lester lately? He got rid of his emo fringe and stuff. He’s scolding hot .” She layed extra emphasis on the word hot and in Dan’s head, two mindsets started battling over what to do. The first one expressed some kind of jealousy in a “I wanted to tap that girl”-kind of way, the other one wanted to spring onto facebook to check out the guy they were talking about, whose name sounded kind of familiar.

 Former emo fringe musician that got hot? Sign him the fuck up.

 Chuckling lowly about his screaming bisexuality he continued listening, his interest now peaked.

 “Well, they’re doing trios right? Just imagine both of them on stage together…”

 The other girl actually moaned at the thought and Dan couldn’t contain the smirk creeping on his face. He took a sip from his coffee, his still open laptop on the table in front of him long forgotten. He probably should be working on one of his assignments due this week, but the girls’ conversation was too interesting to ignore.

 Dan had to suppress some swearing when his laptop dinged with an incoming email. He could hear the girls whispering behind him when they looked over because of the sound, realizing who he was - “Oh my god is that Dan Howell?” and “Oh my god, do you think he heard us?” -  and he quickly leaned forward to appear busy.

 The email causing the ‘ding’ was actually about the assignment the girls had just been talking about. He packed up his stuff immediately when he had read through it. The list of assigned groups had just been hung out in front of his professor’s office and she invited all participants to a meeting in about half an hour on the other side of the campus, so he had to rush.

 ~~~

 Even the rushing didn’t help in the end, the unfortunate incident of a broken down bus costed him the time to check the list before the meeting started. When he got there he still had no idea who his partners were, so he didn’t understand the reason behind the quiet whispers that started when he set foot into the lecture hall. He managed to find his friend Louise quite fast and slid into the free spot next to her. “What’s the fuss about?” he asked her quietly but before she could answer, the door opened again and a group of professors walked in.

 Their looks varied about as much as those of the students sitting in the audience, making for a quite colourful group. For this assignment, nearly all rock-centered curses were thrown together, not only piano but also guitar, drums, bass, violin and multiple other instruments. The hall was packed full, but the arrival of the professors assured silence among the students.

 “Good morning everyone! Hopefully you all checked the list and are in the process of contacting your partners. Teamwork is the key for this assignment! Because of the number of students most groups consist of one piano student, one guitar student and one of another instrument, specifically arranged to play into your strengths and make you work on your weaknesses.” The young male professor’s voice rung soundly through the hall and Dan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Prof. Smith, responsible for the guitar department and  specialized on rock music, was so completely different from his own professor and so cliché rock musician that it offended Dan’s believes; he fit the stereotype perfectly, including tattoo covered arms, piercings and wild, green hair, often sporting band shirts.

 Prof. Johnson, on the other hand, was nothing like her profession. She was a middle-aged woman with slim, neon green glasses and grey eyes that always seemed to shine with mischief. Her jet black hair fell in untamable curls onto her shoulders and she seemed to never leave the house without a nerdy T-Shirt, merch for some comic, TV-Show or movie. When she stepped forward, the whispers around the hall got louder and the grin on her face was so wide Dan couldn’t help but grin back. He liked his Professor, even if she tended to overstep her boundaries and was eager to make friends among the students.

 “If you have questions you can always turn to me or Mr. Smith, Mr. Miller or Mrs. Adams, or any of the other Professors involved,” she said, then paused for a second to let the murmures and voices ring out.

 “Now, we know this is a big thing among the student body, but we hope you can keep it as low as possible. Drama and relations, as fun as they are to watch for us, will only make your work harder. If you want to outplay this though, be assured I will be watching with a glass of wine and popcorn.” There were chuckles among the group and Louise next to him went red trying to keep in her laughter. Dan grinned at her and made a mental note to tell her about the girls he had encountered before coming here.

It took some time for the students to calm down, but when she continued speaking, Dan was shocked into silence. “That also goes for other students aside from yourself. The list is out for half an hour and the only duo involving Mr. Howell and Mr. Lester has already caused an uproar throughout the whole university, so please think about what you are causing when you speak about information like this next time.”

 The rest of the meeting went by in a blur. The professors informed them of the nature of the assignment - the whole thing had pretty much the built-up of a generic talent show. They had to cover one song each week in an open, on-campus concert starting in two weeks. Each week two groups would be voted out by the professors until three groups remained for the finale.

 At the end Dan didn’t remember anything the professors had explained to them. He would beg Louise for her notes tomorrow, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

 The important thing was that he was supposed to perform with the one and only Phil Lester - and after a quick facebook check he realized why the name had sounded so familiar. Dan had had a crush on the cute and amazingly talented guitar player performing every saturday in a close-by coffee shop for weeks until he had disappeared. What made it even harder for Dan was the fact that the girls had been right.

 The guy had gotten hot as fuck.

 Louise’ mumbled keep it in your pants seemed almost impossible to stick to.

 ~~~~

 It took Dan around half a week to stop running from Phil. He kept himself busy with papers not due for at least a few more weeks and working harder for other assignments than he ever had before - he did anything that would make him forget about the short message from Phil awaiting him on whatsapp, where he introduced himself and informed him they were partners. The little dog emoji at the end of the message made him squeal like a schoolgirl, but that was exactly the problem. He had to keep it professional. Which would be difficult considering the increasingly hot pictures Phil posted on his facebook and instagram…

 On thursday Dan finally realized he wouldn’t be able to hide from this forever, as he couldn’t afford to fail this class. So he decided to suck it up and went with a generic confirmation and the question to set a time for their first rehearsal as a reply.

 On friday Dan was about as nervous as he could be. Fidgeting the entire morning, he changed his outfit for at least five times until Louise threatened to rip his whole wardrobe to shreds if he didn't decide soon. Her teasing didn’t make his job any easier though. He was supposed to meet Phil in less than half an hour in one of the practice rooms in the music building half a campus away and he was dying a little.

 “Do you really think I look okay?” he asked Louise, who was seated directly next to him on the bus, anxiously running his fingers through his brown locks. Louise caught his wrist mid-movement and forced his hand back into his lap before she patted it sympathetically. “You look great, Dan. Just don’t behave like the little schoolgirl you’re portraying right now, okay?”

 Dan couldn’t get rid of the blush creeping onto his cheeks for the rest of the bus ride.

 When he arrived at their booked practice room, Phil wasn’t there yet. Sighing in relief, he let his backpack sink to the floor before moving over to the piano, situated on a little pedestal in front of the window. He took a seat on the stool right in front of it and let his fingers run over the keys testingly. A series of notes rang through the air and he realized delightedly that the piano was pitched precisely.

 He let his fingers push the keys purposefully and before he knew it they strung together to one of his favorite songs. He started singing along, just for the fun of it; but he got completely lost in the music. At one point a second voice joined in, harmonizing with him to an unbelievable extend, but he didn’t even realize; it just sounded like it had been there from the start.

 Like it belonged there, ringing alongside his own.

 Only at the end of the song he realized what had happened. When the last note rang loud through the now deafening silence he whipped around, eyes wide - and met the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

 He wanted to avert his eyes, wanted to check who it was, but he couldn’t; for a few moments, he was frozen, lost in time, no connection to reality except for the blue he was drowning in.

 The moment shattered like glass around him when some kind of crashing noise pierced in from outside of the room and Dan was finally able to move his eyes.

 “That was beautiful,” a deep, melodic voice said and he couldn’t help but stare at the black haired figure standing proudly and tall at the other end of the piano, smiling at him reassuringly.

 Dan had to blink a few times and pinch himself covertly, but the picture in front of him stayed the same: Phil Lester, in all his delicious glory, eyes shining so bright Dan was sure he’d need sunglasses.

 “It was,” he agreed with a raspy voice, watching wordlessly as Phil made his way over to him. “I’m Phil,” he said, sticking out his hand in front of him and Dan had to gulp down his fast rising excitement. I’ll get to touch Phil Lester!!

 When it happened, when their hands touched, he almost flinched back. A warm feeling shot up his arm at top speed and for a second, he forgot how to breathe. Holy shit.

 “Dan,” he rasped back, staring up at Phil with wide eyes, not really sure what to do with himself, only one thought ringing through his mind - if touching Phil felt like that , how amazing would kissing him be?

 Obviously, the black haired guitar player was not as shocked as Dan. “So, do you think we found our song for the first show?”

 Just like that they slipped over into work - and working with Phil, Dan learned, was just as easy as breathing.

 ~~~

 The first week with Phil was like walking on clouds. The numerous holes in Dan’s schedule made for good practice times, and the fact that Phil didn’t have many classes this semester meant that he was there for almost every one of them. Work flowed easily and smoothly and on monday they were already done segmenting the song and deciding who would get to sing which parts.

 But not only the work went great, even their voices harmonized like they were meant to be heard together. They didn’t even need transitions between Dan’s singing parts to Phil’s, the changes from line to line went just as smoothly as the ones with longer instrumental intervals between.

 Tuesday evening they were basically ready to perform. Dan had his piano playing recorded as a playback to make him more flexible on stage instead of immobile behind a giant instrument. Phil’s guitar skills maybe didn’t quite match Jimmy Hendrik’s yet, but they were definitely up there, and he had the song down to a T. Neither of them had classes the next morning, so as they were leaving the practice room, Dan felt quite courageous from all the adrenaline still rushing through him after a perfect run - and he boldly asked Phil if he wanted to get a coffee somewhere before retiring to their respective dorms.

 Ten minutes later they were sat in a coffee shop right off campus. Dan chose a cozy little booth in the corner directly next to the window front while Phil went to get their coffees. When Dan took the first sip of his drink he almost spat it right back out, but instead moved to first eye the drink and then Phil suspiciously.

 “How do you know?” he asked, his voice almost high pitched as he narrowed his eyes.

Phil just raised an eyebrow into an almost perfectly shaped curve, looking at Dan questionably as he calmly took a sip of his coffee, not saying a word.

 “How do you know my order?” Dan specified and watched incredulously as Phil’s full, kissable lips spread into a wide grin. He could almost picture it, attaching his own lips onto his as they spread into the exact grin before the kisses started to get more serious, more heated, Phil’s fringe messed up, his cheeks red as clothes were coming off…

 Oh my god, stop betraying me, goddamn heart.

 “I didn’t. I just ordered two of my usual order.”

 Phil’s voice ripped him out of his daydream and for a second he couldn’t do much else than stare in stunned silence. “You drink caramel Macchiato, too?” he asked, blinking. Huh. He really hadn’t expected that from a guy as hot as him…

 Jesus fucking christ, actually shut the fuck up!

 Dan’s attraction to Phil had risen to an unhealthy level by now. Not only was he hot as fuck, no; during their practice time Dan also had had to learn that the guy was smart, funny, lively, and talented as fuck , even more than Dan remembered him to be. Dan was lucky the assignment, and working on the music kept him busy and focused, or else he would have probably jumped the guy by now.

 “It’s my all time favorite,” Phil confirmed, his grin transforming into a cheeky smile, and Dan couldn’t keep a blush from dusting his cheeks pink.

 “Mine too,” he admitted and took another tentative sip from his drink, purposefully avoiding Phil’s eyes. He knew that if he looked into them now, he would drown in them.

 For a few moments it was silent between them, both nursing their coffee, Dan deeply lost in thought about the blueness of Phil’s eyes.

 “So, Muse, huh?”

 It was Phil breaking the silence and Dan looked up, surprised. It took him a second to realize how Phil had even known he liked Muse , until he realized they had met while singing their song Thought Contagion before choosing it for their first performance. This time he was pretty sure he kept the blush at bay.

 “Yeah. I love them.”

 Phil’s mouth stretched into a happy smile, his eyes shining brightly, full of honest excitement as he started chattering about them. Dan had to gulp and pinch his hand unsuspiciously to keep himself from losing his mind .

 They moved from Muse to Panic! to Fallout Boy to Paramore and even further. Albums became scores, which lead the way to games, movies and TV shows. It was almost scary how much they had in common, how much their interests overlapped, and it actually took Dan a while to remember a question he’d had since he’d heard of the assigned groups.

 He used a temporary lull in conversation - one that he could have easily filled with something relatable to the topic they were on, mind you - to finally ask.

 “By the way, do you know why we are the only duo?”

 Phil raised his eyebrow, a cheeky smile back on his face and Dan knew there was a blush creeping up his cheeks yet again. He couldn’t help but feel like he missed something vital here, but he had no idea what exactly.

 “Did you not pay attention at the meeting?”

 Dan felt his eyes widen in surprise and blinked, cheeks even hotter than before. “I might have been… preoccupied ,” he admitted and Phil’s smile grew into a full-blown grin.

 “Prof. Johnson and Prof. Smith spent like ten minutes explaining,” he informed Dan, “Apparently the numbers didn’t match up and they had to have one duo, so they both chose their best student and realized we would be a good match.” He put special emphasis on the word match and for a second, Dan wasn’t sure if he would be able to stay conscious. Was he just making a joke… Or was Phil Lester really flirting with him?

 “We - we are,” he stammered in response and Phil’s chuckling send his heart into overdrive. Oh god. How was he supposed to survive at least 2 more months working with the guy?

 “I think so too,” Phil whispered back with a husky voice, making Dan choke on his long cold coffee.

 Fuck, these next weeks are going to be torture.

 ~~~

 The next monday morning Dan found himself in yet another on-campus coffee shop, putting the finishing touches on an assignment that was due today. Normally it was a break he would spend with Phil, but he had stuff to arrange with one of his professors, so they decided he would join up with Dan as soon as he was able to. They had managed to get a headstart on this week’s performance by starting working on it on saturday, so they weren’t in much of a rush. They had decided on a song and discussed divisioning on sunday already; it was only practicing left.

 Of course the performance on Friday had gone great. They had gotten a lot of applause by the watching students, the little hall on campus used for performances had been packed to the rim, so there had been at least a few hundred watchers. The professors had obviously also been satisfied with their presentation, considering they had informed them they would progress into the next round even before the whole show had been over.

 So Dan and Phil had spent their Friday night celebrating. Even though neither of them were really the party going type, they had agreed to go out for a few drinks with their best friends Louise and PJ - who, coincidentally, were in the same group - and Tyler, a music production student Dan had been friends with for years. He had flirted with Phil quite obviously and had teased Dan for his sour mood afterwards, but had assured him that Phil only has eyes for you, you dumbass, pay attention!, coupled with a playful whack on his head.

 The memory let Dan grumble absently, but the arriving of a group of students in the booth right behind him ripped him away from his trip down memory lane. “I mean, they’re both bisexual, right?” one of the girls stated while taking a seat, making him peek up immediately. He liked to hear stories about his fellow unicorns and regretted only becoming aware of this conversation after it had already started.

 “They are,” a guy’s voice confirmed. Dan was pretty sure he had heard the voice before, but he didn’t have the courage to turn around and check. He was lucky enough to not have been spotted by the group, he really didn’t have to push his luck.

 “Have you seen their sexual tension? I know you want to fuck them both, Caleb, but come on.” The female voice was followed by a male groan and the sound of a head meeting the tabletop. “I knowww,” was the answer, “I’m sexually deprived, not blind .”

 Dan raked his brain, trying to figure out who they were talking about. Being friends with Louise and Tyler meant that he was mostly up to date with recent campus gossip, and he really wanted to tell them about this later.

 “Did you know there’s already a bet going on? About if they’ll be dating by the end of this semester.”

 “Which idiot would even bet against that?”

 The booth erupted into laughter and Dan furrowed his eyebrows, thinking. He leaned forward, trying to appear busy, but in reality the assignment currently open on his laptop was the furthest thing from his mind.

 “Okay, but aside from all that they were the best group, even if it was just the two of them. They’re gonna win this thing, hands down.” 

Dan’s eyes went as wide as saucers as realization seeped into him. They weren’t really talking about -

 “Absolutely. Thought Contagion was brilliant, I’m so excited to see what they’ll come up with for the next round.”

 That was the moment Phil decided to make his appearance, ripping him out of his thoughts almost violently. “Morning!” he said, cheerfully, two cups of steaming coffee in his hands. He pushed one of them over to Dan after he had taken a seat.

 A look of confusion, even concern appeared on his face when Dan didn’t react, just continued staring at his laptop screen with his eyes wide open. “Dan? Are you okay? Have you seen a ghost?”

 The chatter behind him ended immediately. When he slowly turned around a group of seven people was staring at him, wide eyed. All of them scrambled to their feets as fast as they could. “You’re a cute couple!” one of the girls squeaked out, then they were gone, leaving Dan to explain the situation to Phil.

 Needless to say Phil wasn’t fazed at all, instead he used the story to make more flirty remarks, making Dan blush yet again.

 Damn, I’m fucked.

 ~~~~

Almost three months passed by in a rush and by december Dan couldn’t even recognize his life anymore. All the time he had previously spent alone in front of his laptop, browsing tumblr or watching Netflix, converted into Phil-time, slowly but surely. They played games or watched TV-Shows nearly every day after practice. Dan’s roommate had even asked him if he was moving out with all the time he spent away, but Dan couldn’t help himself. Phil lived in a flat near campus all alone. A tiny flat, sure, but it made for the best meetup place, especially for gaming or movie nights or for research about their next song - and it gave them some privacy. Not that much had happened yet aside from the increasingly flirty comments and occasional cuddle sessions, but it still made their friendship easier.

 Especially because they were now something like campus-famous and got recognized wherever they went.

 So far, they had aced most performances and were through to the last show before christmas break. After New Year’s there was only one show left before the big finale. They were pretty sure they had a good grade secured, but they still gave it their all - they had come so far, there was no way they were giving up now.

 In the upcoming show only seven groups were left and it was the first one with two mandatory songs, one optional and one christmas themed, dropping the rock theme just for this once. Since the last week was cut short - Christmas break started on thursday - they had an additional half week to prepare. Dan and Phil had decided on Panic! ’s High Hopes for the first song and Last Christmas for the second and as always, they had been quite fast with their work. They were practiced and basically done on Monday, so they allowed themselves the night off. Phil’s brother was in town and Dan had heartlessly neglected Tyler since the assignment started (his words), basically forcing Dan to spent the night with him.

 Fortunately Tyler had a lecture early the next morning, so he wasn’t trying to get himself or Dan trashed. He did, however, made use of the time by grilling Dan about his relationship to Phil.

 Dan was a bit annoyed, but at the end of the day he was glad to be able to talk about it, even if he would never admit to that. Louise and her group were still in the run for the finals too, which made her so busy they barely were able to talk for longer than a few minutes at a time - and he desperately needed an outsider’s opinion.

 It took him almost an hour to get Tyler up to date on what had happened, all the while getting interrupted by texts from Phil. Right when he was done explaining his phone dinged again, indicating another text.

 ‘the girl two tables over has a cute lil pup on her lap i keep staring she probs thinks i'm a perv help’ it read and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Tyler inspected him warily from across the table, absently playing with the straw in his half-empty cocktail. “Okay, who are you texting?” he asked then, fixing Dan with a steely gaze.

 “Oh, it’s just Phil,” he answered distractedly, typing a quick response before turning his attention back to Tyler. “Why?”

 “Are you shitting me?” he asked back, a fitting expression on his face like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Dan just answered with a surprised “huh?”, shooting him a confused look.

 “Mate, how dense can you be? You are basically dating the guy, only without the good parts!”

 Dan blinked, completely lost now, unable to follow Tyler’s train of thought. “What?”

 “You and Phil are dating, Dan, wake up! The only thing missing is the sex!”  Dan was stunned into silence, staring at Tyler like he had grown a second head. It took the thought a while to register in his brain, but then he blushed, taking a huge gulp of his drink before calling the waiter over to order another one.

 He needed more alcohol for this.

 ~~~~

 The show on wednesday evening went exceptionally well. They had the most fun rocking to High Hopes and got really festive during Last Christmas , with Dan at the Piano and Phil sat on top of it. Their professors called them over and into the next show immediately, making them giddy and high on adrenaline in the process.

 The christmas party thrown by the rock music department started directly afterwards and PJ and Louise, immensely proud of their best friends even though their own group had been voted out, insisted on going. Still in an after show rush they agreed, but soon realized why they normally didn’t like parties. It was loud, the room stuffed with people and the food was average at best, and it took them around twenty minutes to revert back to the snacks table, where they hid from the actual party.

 When Louise, PJ and Tyler of all people found them, sporting a cheeky expression, Dan knew they were fucked. They were leaning against a wall, talking and laughing with each other as much as the music allowed them to, and only a few people were inspecting them from afar.

 “Do you know where you’re standing?” PJ asked when the group was within earshot and Dan raised an eyebrow. “Next to the snacks table where we always are?” he remarked drily, making Phil chuckle next to him.

 “Look up!” Tyler singsonged with a high pitched voice and flattered his eyelashes with faked innocence.

 Dan perked up immediately. He knew that voice.

 He didn’t even need to look up to know what was fixated on the wall over their heads.

 “A Mistletoe!” Louise grinned so widely Dan was sure it had to hurt. He turned his attention to Phil, his heart throbbing in his chest on full speed.

 There was a cheeky smile on the guitarist’s face as he took a step closer, taking a hold of Dan’s head with both hands. “They want a kiss,” he murmured, lowly, “let’s give them a kiss.”

 The second his lips met Phil’s was like a firework going off everywhere inside of his body. For a moment he forgot where he was, hell, even who he was, just continued kissing Phil with passion and lust and love. He didn’t even hesitate opening up his mouth at Phil’s silent request to let him in, too far gone to care - hell, to even realize they had an audience.

 The kiss lasted for minutes and it probably could have gone on much longer if there wouldn’t have been a sudden outburst of applause. The blood took a second to reach Dan’s brain after having rushed somewhere south only seconds ago, but when it did, it immediately spread into his cheeks. They broke apart, Dan’s face still in Phil’s hands, silently contemplating the recent event.

 He had just kissed Phil Lester. In front of basically the whole rock music department.

 Great. Just great.

 The applause and whooping didn’t stop soon and he couldn’t do much more then to exchange a long look with Phil. They had a silent discussion Dan himself didn’t know the content of, until suddenly and with no indication there was panic on Phil’s face as he hastily let go of Dan and scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket. It was vibrating violently in his hands and Dan couldn’t even blink by the time Phil rasped out a “Shit! My brother is waiting for me!” and left in a rush.

 Dan stood there, staring after Phil until most of the students had averted their gazes from him and went back to whatever they had been doing before. When the ice in his veins freezing him into place finally dissipated, he groaned. He knew Phil’s brother Martyn was picking him up for Christmas with their family, and he wouldn’t be back until january.

 Of course. That’s just my fucking luck.

 ~~~

 He spent christmas break in some sort of limbo, like his relationship to Phil was Schrödinger’s cat, platonic and romantic at the same time. He knew the kiss had meant something not only to him but also to Phil, that much had been obvious with the way he had taken the offensive in deepening the kiss and how he had held him afterwards. But that was about the amount of information Dan had, and neither of them mentioned the kiss on any level, so he decided to just ignore the issue for now.

 It did made him jumpy and fidgety and mostly unable to focus, though, and only his frequent skype calls with Phil got him focused and concentrated enough to get some much needed work done.

 There were only two shows left, but they were only one week apart and both required three songs, so they decided to learn all songs over the break. They spent hours on skype, deciding on the songs and how to play and sing them, so they would be done learning their personal parts until they could meet back up in person.

 For a short moment, their reunion was like the sun had risen again. They hugged, soft words of attachment and longing on their lips, but then it was like someone had flipped a switch and they were back in working mode. Phil didn’t mention the kiss and Dan didn’t dare to, so they went back to Status Quo, just like that.

 The first show in the new year went okay-ish. Neither of them poured everything into it, already looking forward to the songs they had chosen for the finale, but they still managed to pull through. Their only truly memorable performance was The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance , which they definitely aced, but the other ones admittedly fell a bit flat. Both their professors urged them to not take it too lightly just because they had done so amazingly until now, so they swore to give everything they had in their last performances together.

 They were the first group performing in the finale. It wasn’t hard for Dan to get in the mood of their songs, considering they were all pining lovesongs and he would have the one he was pining after up on stage with him, so he was glad they got to go first. It made the waiting and anticipation in between easier, and waiting for the results when they were done didn’t mean much to him anyway - he didn’t care too much about winning.

 He just wanted to give his best, pour all his feelings into the songs when he was up there with Phil. He wanted to make it obvious that he meant every word he was singing.

 He wanted to get Phil to understand…

 In short, he just wanted Phil.

 Their first song was a soft piano interpretation of It’s not living (If it’s not with you) by The 1975 , and Dan was so entranced by Phil he forgot to look at his hands while playing. He didn’t make a single mistake, thankfully,  but if he would have made one he probably wouldn’t even have noticed. He benefited from the fact that he had practiced the piano part so often on the tiny piano in his childhood bedroom that his parents had asked him to please, please stop.

 They spent their break with a bottle of coke huddled together on a tiny sofa backstage, making loose conversation and trying to get their mind off of things. Dan basked in the close physical proximity and simply smiled when Phil just casually took his hand while he talked, playing with his fingers. He had a feeling that things would be going well.

 Dan had particularly fun during their next song. The Last Of The Real Ones by Fallout Boy was one of his favorite songs and he connected a lot of the lyrics to Phil. The piano playing was not an issue this time since they had both laid down their playing previously and conjoined it in a track, so he had all the time in the world to focus on Phil, which he took full advantage of. They riled up the crowd so much that Tyler, who had agreed to be the presenter of the night, had trouble getting them back in check for the next group.

 During christmas break, far away from Phil and his feelings, their next song had seemed like a good idea. It was romantic, emotional and full of love and Dan couldn’t think of any other song that would make his feelings for Phil more clear than this.

 Now, though, it seemed entirely too personal to perform in front of what felt like the whole Uni. During practice he had refrained from building too much of a connection, afraid of taking it too far, but now he didn’t have much of a choice and it made him more nervous than any other performance before. His hands were sweaty, his stomach was rumbling and he was ready to cancel the whole thing when Phil noticed the state he was in.

 “Dan,” he whispered, pointedly ignoring the other people lounging around backstage, completely focusing on Dan, “It’ll be okay. You will be okay. And I will be with you, right there by your side the whole time, okay?”

 It was in this moment that something settled in Dan’s chest. He returned Phil’s fond look with courage and determination, grasping his hand in his and squeezing it tightly. “Me too. We’re on the same page.”

 He was sure Phil caught the double meaning when his look got soft. “I think I always knew,” he answered quietly, almost inaudible. “Let’s do this.”

 ~~~

 Their last performance of this assignment was a complete success. They performed The Only Exception by Paramore sitting huddled together on the little Piano stool in front of the huge piano and didn’t take their eyes off of each other the entire time. It was so emotional Tyler had tears in his eyes when he came on stage, hugging first Phil, then Dan tightly, muttering a soft “go get ‘em, tiger” into Dan’s ear and Dan could feel his heart swelling.

 This was it.

 Backstage, thankfully, they were alone. Both of the other groups were nowhere to be seen, and Phil obviously noticed faster than him.

 Before he even had the chance to turn around from closing the door he was already spun around and pressed against the next hard surface, Phil’s lips attacking his own.

 For what felt like ages they were kissing furiously, like they had deprived themselves of this for far too long and now a dam had been broken down, nothing holding them back anymore.

 Once they were out of breath Phil separated their lips, lovingly gazing into his eyes instead. “I have waited for this for far too long,” he whispered quietly, softly, his hands on the sides of Dan’s head, his thumbs gently caressing his cheeks.

 “Me too,” he mumbled back, drowning in Phil’s eyes and feeling himself falling, falling; falling even deeper in love with him. “I meant every word I sang.”

 There was a beat of quiet, then:

 “I love you.”

 The words were muttered completely simultaneously, and for the single bat of an eye both stared at the other, stunned into silence.

 Then they were both dissolving into giggles, holding onto the other to keep from toppling over.

 “That,” Phil gasped out, “was so us.”

 Dan couldn’t help but agree.

 ~~~

 “Do you really think so, Badiha?”

 “I don’t know, Henry, but they did seem smitten during that song, don’t you think?”

 “True!”

 There was a group of at least five people seated in the booth directly behind Dan’s and even though he wasn’t that much of a gossip he couldn’t help but eavesdrop. He was busily procrastinating the work he needed to do until the next day, refreshing tumblr around ten times a minute, so it wasn’t too surprising the conversation distracted him as soon as it got loud enough for him to hear.

 “But they haven’t been seen in public with each other in ages aside from their performances. I just really want them to be happy with each other, is that too much to ask?”

 That was the first voice again. Dan allowed himself a short look at the group out of the corner of his eyes and recognized all faces he was able to pick up on. They had all been to the performance Phil and him did twice a week in a near bar ever since their joint assignment last year, he was sure of it. He mostly recognized them because of the person that had spoken first, a girl with the pride flag drawn on her eyelids. He remembered how she had attracted his attention during their first show because of her truly iconic makeup.

 “I know, right?!” a male voice joined in and this time Dan didn’t need the information practically jumping into his face to realize they were talking about him and Phil.

 After their win in the finale they had decided to keep their relationship at a down low, trying to make themselves comfortable with being boyfriends before they truly made it public. They were still pretty famous throughout the students and the center of the rumor mill, but they had been in a relationship for almost a year now and had only recently realized there was nothing to be afraid of if everybody knew. Most of them would be happy for them, and the rest of them, well -

 They’d just have to suck it up.

 That was the moment his boyfriend decided to show up. He slid into the booth, taking a seat directly next to Dan, pressing their thighs together. “Morning, love,” he greeted Dan gently, planting a kiss on his cheek before grinning happily. “Busy procrastinating?”

 “Yeah,” Dan replied extra loud, grinning right back, “but I’d rather kiss my boyfriend.”

 So they shared a short, cute kiss, making the group behind them gasp loudly. “It’s them,” the girl with the pride flag on her eyelids whispered into the silence stretching between them. Dan grinned.

 “It is,” he confirmed cheekily, turning around to look at her. “Very iconic Make-up by the way, I like it.”

 “Oh my god, thank you,” she answered, a blush becoming apparent on her cheeks and Dan’s grin only got wider before he turned his attention back around to Phil.

 “What was that about?” he asked with a raised eyebrow and his head cutely tilted to the side.

 Dan pecked him on the lips. “Had to make a point.”

 Phil looked back cheekily, a grin on his face so wide Dan was able to see his tongue poking out between his teeth. “A point about what?”

 Dan puffed out his cheeks, feigning huffiness. Phil knew exactly what this was about, and they were both aware of that. “You’re an idiot,” he said, pouting.

 “Yeah, but I’m your idiot.”

 Dan looked at him, eyes full of fondness and adoration and love. “Exactly.”

[milominderbindered]

thirty days of skam fic: day nineteen aka, the sequel to the neighbours fic

beginning. accusation. restless. leaves. rainbow. flame. formal. under. move. silver. prepared. knowledge. denial. cans. order. thanks. look. summer. transformation. tremble. tent. mad. thousand. paper. winter. luxury. letters. promise. simple. future.

[ PART ONE ] [ READ ON AO3 ]

As soon as Even finds out he’s been keeping Isak awake every night for weeks, several things happen.  First, the late night noises stop almost immediately and completely, which must mean Even has either put carpet back down like he said he was going to, or just completely changed all his habits for Isak.  Second, this lets Isak actually get some sleep again, which his professors seem to appreciate since he stops falling asleep in lectures, and his friends seem to appreciate because they inform him that he’s at least forty percent less grumpy.

Third, Isak starts running into Even everywhere.

They bump into each other at the cafe Isak didn’t know Even worked at, the laundry room he’s never seen Even in before, the bench just down the street from their building, the tram back from University.  Eskild keeps inviting Even to movie nights at the kollektiv, and then in return Even keeps cooking them all dinner, and he also starts texting Isak about random little things during the day, which never fail to make Isak laugh and secretly blush to himself and then get teased by all his friends for the besotted way he’s looking down at his phone.

By the time a few more weeks have passed, Isak has to upgrade his feelings for Even from crush to full-on infatuation.

But between Eskild’s never-ending meddling and Linn’s eternal presence at the kollektiv and Even’s roommates, Mikael and Yousef and Elias, being around a lot too, it takes a while before Isak and Even get any more time alone.  It’s not like Isak’s angling for anything, but still, if the universe wanted to throw him some kind of situation where he could stare at Even all he wanted and not get caught in the act by his roommates, he wouldn’t complain.

And then, one day, Isak manages to lock himself out.

He doesn’t know how he’s done it -- he always remembers his keys, but his keyring broke in his bag at some point during his day at uni, and Isak’s ended up with the key to the outside of the building, but not the one which actually opens the kollektiv’s front door.  And Eskild’s at work and it’s the one day that Linn happens to be visiting her family, so he’s just stood there, feeling like an idiot with an armful of organic chemistry books, no coat, and a phone on 2% battery.  It’s drizzling outside so he doesn’t even want to go and walk somewhere else, but he supposes he’ll have to, and just take shelter at the nearest coffee shop or force Jonas to take pity on him.

Except, before he can actually turn around and leave, Isak suddenly spots Even coming up the stairs, and doesn’t even waste a second before calling out to him.

“Isak, hey!” Even responds immediately.  He looks happy to see Isak -- at least, Isak thinks so, although Even’s always pretty cheerful so he could be imagining it.  He bounds up the rest of the stairs and then stands a little bit closer than he has to, a little bit closer than you’d probably lean to a casual friend -- but then, Isak could be imagining that too.  “Shit, locked out?  Don’t worry, I do that like, at least once a week.  Wanna come and chill at mine until Eskild can rescue you?”

And that’s how Isak ends up in Even’s flat for the very first time.

It really is laid out the same as the kollektiv, but decorated so differently that it’s almost hard to tell.  It’s weird, like seeing Isak’s own flat in an alternate universe; he’d be quite happy to just wander around and inspect the way they’ve nudged an armchair into an alcove that Eskild has a bookcase in, or the way their kitchen is flipped so the fridge is by the window, but as soon as they’ve toed their shoes off at the door, Even is leading the way towards his bedroom.

Okay, Isak thinks.  He can work with that.

As he takes his first steps into Even’s bedroom, Isak feels a bit like he’s walking into some kind of sacred site.  He’d spent most of the last month imagining endless scenarios for what was in the room above his that caused so much noise -- but when it comes down to it, Even’s room is pretty normal.  He has a big bed that’s unmade and messy and pushed against the wall.  A couple of guitars, which Isak is sure he must have heard being played at 3am a few times.  There isn’t a trampoline, or any evidence of drilling equipment, so he’s still not quite sure what Even could have been doing all those nights to cause so much noise.

The next thing he spots is the wall, which is papered in drawings and doodles and interesting little cut-outs.  Even had said he was an artist, but Isak hadn’t really considered what kind of art he did; he wanders closer, reading a few of the hand drawn little comics, and finds they’re quirky and surprisingly funny.

“These are really good,” he observes, glancing over his shoulder at Even and smiling a bit.  Even is watching Isak, like he’s observing the response to the room, and he smiles a little lopsidedly.

“Really?  Ah, thanks.  They’re not my main thing, I actually make movies too, and paint, but -- yeah, sometimes nothing will shut my brain up except doodling.”

Isak understands that.  He’s no sort of artist, but he definitely has a bit of a messy brain that he can’t always find the volume switch in.

“Well, I like them.”  He smiles a bit too softly at Even, and Even smiles back, a wide grin that makes his eyes crinkle up and his whole face turn adorable.

Isak’s heart thuds in his chest.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Even asks.

-----

They’ve sat side-by-side through plenty of movies at the kollektiv by now, but being alone together, sat on Even’s bed and so close their shoulders are touching, is something else entirely.  

Isak barely takes in two seconds of the movie; the whole of his brain is consumed by how good Even smells, and how warm he is where they’re pressed together, and how his deep laugh rumbles through his chest every time Isak misses a joke on screen.  

When the movie ends, Even looks over at Isak, and asks, “Did you like it?”

Turned like this, their faces are so, so close.

“Yeah,” Isak says.  It’s barely a lie; he loved the entire experience of watching this movie, despite the fact that he doesn’t even remembered what it’s called.  “It was great.  Thanks.”

-----

After that, Even starts texting him more, and it seems like they’re bumping into each other ever more often, and Isak can barely handle it.  Every time they’re all in the same room, Eskild has started giving Isak meaningful looks, and Isak just glares back at him.  The thing is, it sometimes seems like maybe, just maybe, Isak’s crush isn’t totally unreciprocated -- but Isak has a bad track record with mistaking friendly straight guys as interested in him, and he’s never heard Even talk about sexuality, ever, except the once he’d mentioned having an ex-girlfriend.

One day, when Isak is doing dishes in the kitchen and Eskild is sewing up a hole in a pair of leggings at the table behind him, Isak decides he’s going to just casually ask, and clears his throat.

“Uh, Eskild?” he says, not looking up from the mouldy pan of pasta he’s scrubbing out.  “Has -- um.  Has Even ever, I dunno, mentioned to you about -- talked to you about his sexuality?”

There’s a moment of absolutely blank silence, and then all of a sudden a squeal and a pair of arms throwing themselves around Isak’s shoulders from behind.  He immediately tenses up, washing up water sloshing everywhere as Eskild jostles him, but it’s too late to take it back now.

“Aww, baby!  I knew you were crushing, I just knew it!  I have such a good guru sixth sense about these things, don’t I?”  Not really -- Isak’s probably just extremely obvious.  He knows that.  “And he hasn’t talked to me about it, but I’ve noticed the little pansexual flag badge on that sexy denim jacket he always wears, haven’t you?”

Clearly Isak hadn’t, but that information is interesting at the very least.  He shrugs Eskild off, trying to seem annoyed, and grumbles something about just being curious before dropping the subject entirely.

But next time they see each other on the stairs, and Even stands just a little closer than most people would and brushes his fingers over Isak’s arm, Isak does take note of the badge on Even’s jacket.  

-----

One day, when Isak has a pretty big exam coming up, he puts his phone on do not disturb mode while he studies.  When he takes a break after an hour, for a bag of Doritos and a quick check of his notifications, there is a solid wall of texts on his phone, all from the same number.  His face twitches into a hopeless little smile as he clicks on them, seeing the dumb meme Even had sent him to begin with, and then a series of increasingly pointless but cute messages about what he’s having for dinner and the fact that Isak is taking too long to text back.

[ 19:02 -- From: Even 4B ]

should i start blasting music through the floorboards when you ignore me? haha

Isak figures studying can wait a little bit longer.

[ 19:13 -- To: Even 4B ]

didn’t realise you were that desperate for my attention, sorry ;P

He has started being just a little, tiny bit flirtier in texts lately.  So far, Even hasn’t said anything about it, so Isak’s gonna just keep sending those winky emojis and hoping he’s being obvious enough.

[ 19:13 -- From: Even 4B ]

Isak, you’ve known me for several months now, surely you should realise i am ALWAYS desperate for your attention!

Even’s reply is almost immediate; he really must have been waiting for Isak to text back.  Isak bites his lip as he reads the message, and then reads it again for good measure, feeling his heart beating a little too quick.  His fingers hover over his phone, starting to type out a response but then deciding it sounds lame and backspacing, beginning again -- but after a minute, he must have been taking too long to reply, because all of a sudden an obnoxious pop song starts blasting from the room above his.

Isak actually laughs, flopping back onto his bed and looking up at the ceiling, as if the blank white plaster represents Even himself.

[ 19: 15 -- To: Even 4B ]

omg, GEEZ, okay you have my attention, just stop the gabrielle! wanna hang out?

Studying can wait.  You only live once, Isak decides, and it’s not every day that a cute boy is trying so hard to get you to give him the time of day.

-----

The music turns off, and Even appears at the door three minutes later, beaming rather triumphantly.  Isak rolls his eyes, but leads the way to his room anyway -- he wants Even all to himself, so speed is of the essence, before Eskild realises they have a visitor and hijacks Even for the rest of the night.

Even has been in Isak’s room a couple of times, but never really hung out in there before.  Isak suddenly feels a bit regretful of how messy it is, and does a quick sweep with his eyes to check he hasn’t left any mouldy plates or dirty underwear out in the open -- luckily not, it’s just crumpled clothes and a whole lot of uni notes strewn all over the floor.

“Uh, so,” he says, suddenly feeling awkward.  They’re just stood there, and Even is standing close, like he always does, and it’s making it way too hard for Isak to think.  “What do you wanna do?  We could play FIFA, or watch a movie or something, or, uh, I guess we could order food, but we’ll have to sneak it past Eskild.” Even looks amused, a little pressed-lips smile on his face as he stares down at Isak.

“That all sounds chill,” he says, shrugging.  Why is he so much smoother than Isak?  How is that fair?  “But why don’t we just sit and talk for a bit?”

Isak’s heart thunders in his chest, but he nods, and a few minutes later they’re sat on his bed together, Even’s long legs crossed over the crumpled edge of Isak’s duvet, close enough that their knees touch.  Even’s telling a long story about one of his film classes, and Isak is half listening, half watching and thinking how much he likes the way Even talks with his hands, all big gestures like he’s trying to draw the words into life.  

And then the story ends, and the room is just quiet.  Even looks at him, almost evaluating, his eyes all soft.  One of his expressive hands drifts between them, and his fingertips rest oh-so lightly on Isak’s knee.

“You look nice today, by the way,” Even says, smiling so softly that his nose scrunches up.  

Isak thinks fuck it, leans into the tiny space between their bodies, catches Even’s face between his hands, and kisses him.

Even’s lips are like nothing else he’s ever felt, and Isak can’t help but gasp against him when Even immediately starts kissing him back.  The hand on Isak’s knee slides all the way up his leg and holds onto his hip instead, and Isak leans in closer, and then closer still, until his arms are wound all the way around Even’s neck and their mouths are moving frantically against each other and he can pull until they both go tumbling back onto the mattress, legs uncrossing and winding together, their whole bodies intertwining.

It could be seconds or hours later, but Isak’s whole body is overwhelmed with heat and he eventually eventually gets dizzy enough to pull away for a brief moment, needing to catch his breath.  As soon as he does, Even nuzzles into his cheek, a deep little hum escaping him.

“So I guess I really did get your attention,” he says, his voice sounding all soft and pleased, and Isak can’t help but burst out laughing.

They stay in Isak’s bed for the whole rest of the night.  At some point, in-between orgasms and jokes and deep conversations, Isak is forced to recategorise Even once again.  This time, he goes straight from infatuation to boyfriend.

Isak thinks he might keep that one for a while.

[p101recaps]

Broduce 101: Episode 9 (Quick Livestream Recap)

Firstly, I want to apologise for the lateness of this recap. I’ll try to be more timely for the remaining two episodes, I’m sorry.

This episode is all about the concept evaluations and the live performances for the next eliminations.

We start off in the Produce prison mansion, where BoA visits the waiting trainees. They’re always a bit starstruck with her lol

She reminds them this is the last elims before final 11, casts a degree of doubt about whether the cut off will be the top 22 ranks, then explains the voting system and benefits.

Although at this stage, these godawful live voting stages are increasingly important for the rankings, they continue to be stupid and easily manipulated in favour of the popular trainees regardless of their performances. I know this is supposed to be a true reality show or whatever, but the idea of giving a young audience more organised than Mnet so much power gives me a stress headache.

Anyway. The team that gets the most votes for their performance gets a 20,000 vote benefit and the trainee with the most votes gets a 100,000 vote benefit. The team with the most votes gets to perform at M!Countdown.

Each song has to have 7 members, and since Mnet’s crappy planning meant the trainees got split into teams before elims, they have to be reshuffled so every song has the same number of performers. 

In true Lord of the Flies fashion, the boys have the privilege of kicking out their own teammate by ranking their group from first to last. This means a chunk of them have spent a week rehearsing for a song they won’t perform 

The teams short of members pick from those trainees in order of highest ranking. Open, which has the most missing members has Kang Daniel pick first, followed by Showtime’s Yoon Jisung and finally I Know You Know Kim Taedong.

The kids from Oh Little Girl and Never get together to beg appeal to not be kicked out from their song

Never has Haknyeon saying he’ll work hard to keep his spot and not hold back the team

Minhyun says, flatly, ‘Yes. Hwaiting.’ 

Dead.

Most of them want to vote themselves as best to help their odds lol

Yoo Seonho, who is self aware: I don’t want to be first, I just want to be 7th. No wait. 6th? I should be confident.

Open has lost most of their team. They went from having Kim Seonglee to not having any main vocals to carry the song. They retained Baekho and Yongguk, so still not too shabby. 

Sidenote: Little Lee Woojin is so smol amongst his hyungs with that little yellow beanie. 

Oh Little Girl keeps their visuals and token singers Sewoon and Gunhee, which is smart considering how average the song is. They’ll need their fanvotes to win the Mnet performance so they kick out Moonbok. 

Sacrilege but c’est la vie.

Never retains their strengths with a good mix of popular and talented boys. This group had way too many competent trainees so it was a closer battle, I reckon. Emperor Hwang Minhyun’s picks in almost the exact order stay. 

Sungwoon and Lai Guanlin tie for 7th, and the top 6 vote between the two.

It ends with Sungwoon joining Seonho, Haknyeon, Youngmin for the cast out kids.

He’s embarrassed because he’s efficient and skilled but I’m significantly more bitter. As much as I like Guanlin, this is a bit disrespectful for someone like Sungwoon, who’s literally known for having everything but height. Even though Never doesn’t need too many vocally adept trainees, it’s the bandwagon song and therefore likely to have public appeal.

He’s cute though, straight up pandering to the Open team when they have to pick their new members by singing the song.

Open picks up Im Youngmin, Seonho and Hakneyon leaving Moonbok and Sungwoon for the next team.

Disrespectful, straight up.

Showtime has Yoon Jisung doing a startlingly accurate impression of Daniel before they chose Sungwoon for the high pitched vocals. 

Moonbok makes his way to IKYK’s practice room to join the underdogs, who’re excited to see Pocahontas hyung.

Oh Little Girl has a mournful bgm at rehearsals as they have to decide on final positions after eliminations. 

Minki has to work to secure broadcast minutes that Mnet has carefully avoided giving him by trying out for centre, and his teammates vote him in place, unseating Jihoon. 

Main vocal has Gunhee and Sewoon battling it out for the position. They’re both good choices - the demo singer even sounded like Sewoon, who hasn’t been main vocal even once despite strengthening the background vocals every mission. The team does pick Sewoon this time, fortunately.

Bae Jinyoung wants to be sub-vocal, and is worried about his falling rank. He’s not ambitious enough to try to be main vocal at least, but those vocal techniques confuse me with that inherent smooth tone. The kid is young, and can be easily improved though, maybe a few months of SM styled vocal boot camp?

Showtime has a still (rightly) pouty Sungwoon want to be centre in his new team. His whole team laughs, with co-HOTSHOT member Noh Taehyun cackling particularly loudly at his sheepish announcement. 

Auntie Jisung references Jessi from Unpretty Rapstar, yelling, ‘THIS IS COMPETITION,’ and pinches his nose bridge like the drama queen he is.

Centre nominees try the guitar stringing ‘killing part’ to appeal for the spot and Brave’s Samuel wins the spot. 

Sungwoon tries stealing the sticker out of sheer desperation OTL

Ah, I don’t like the song so much but this group has so many of my faves.

They actually start rehearsing and come to a realisation.

Noh Taehyun: The centre needs to be able to sing well too.

Kim Samuel, who is an extremely competent dancer by anyone’s standards, can’t sing above his speaking range. Again, easily fixed by a year or two of concentrated training. He’s only sixteen and his voice must have dropped like a summer ago

IKYK’s Kwon Hyunbin wants to be leader. The team votes him in over BNM Donhyun and he does Auntie Jisung’s clapping in celebration

Mnet, how many kids are you going to give the Sohye edit, this is getting out of fucking control.

Picking centre is particularly sad with most of the contenders well aware they’re going to be eliminated. They vote Taedong in, displacing poor Donghan.

Open team has Kenta, Seonho and Haknyeon do expression acting to appeal for centre. Kenta pulls a face to loosen his facial muscles before trying, and is embarrassed although he’s not bad. Haknyeon is good too.

Seonho can’t hit the notes and tries a vocal trick Shin Yumi taught the kids. This sort of stuff about the Cube chicks impresses me because they’ve really absorbed every learning opportunity on this show like sponges. They’re still far from debut ready and I wouldn’t want them to debut in BOI over the older trainees but it appeals to my Asian sensibilities to see them working hard if nothing else.

Baekho: You can’t ask someone to press down on your forehead on stage.

So it comes down to Jeju pig boy and Japanese puppy. 

Joo Haknyeon gets voted as centre and then struggles with everything. 

Pledis Dongho gets GodJonghyun edit, practicing with the kid to help him improve. He points out that Haknyeon’s confidence is far from being at par with his skill level.

Never team votes Emperor Hwang as centre over Guanlin. Not shocking, considering the difference in ability. 

Ong-ssi hits the nail on the head as always as they practice, pointing out that they don’t really have to deal with shuffling and learning of the song so rehearsals are smooth and quick. It also helps that most of them are highly competent.

There’s a bit about Ong Sungwoo being Mnet’s human slate. Cute. 

Also cute is Brand New Music’s Park Woojin finally being comfortable enough to be the kid he is, surrounded by hyungs. I found a subbed cut, which you can see here because I can’t do justice to this positive filler bit that I would be happy to see more of @mnet. 

Important takeaway - Sweet puppy Park Woojin and gang are being taught variety by Ong-ssi

Final concept performance day!

Far out, look at the bank the show is making with those crowds. Girls are easily the backbone of capitalism. It’s amazing considering how much effort the industry puts into putting women down.

Anyway, kpop legend tiny Queen BoA looks fire emoji in her red pantsuit.

Aw seeing the eliminated trainees always makes my soul ache. 

The composers are attending too. You gotta have all those unnecessary reaction shots am I right ha ha HA

The composers visit during rehearsals for a check in. Not many women there either lol Hashtag bitter female tears

Showtime gets primarily positive reactions at the check in. They have high energy while performing which suits the song’s up tempo disco vibe. Samuel’s vocal get a boost because his voice doesn’t waver.

The team’s live performance is enjoyable. The average skill ability in this group of trainees is also rather high. It looks very polished, and they all look like they’re enjoying the stage, which always makes me happy to see. 

Sanggyun, who receives his usual amount of absolutely no screentime, is memorable in my opinion. So handsome.

The choreo is fun more than complicated. Easy standouts are Auntie Jisung dancing Pick Me and the inclusion of RBW puppy Dongmyung’s warming up limb flapping dance. Samuel does well with the dance break, the Ardor and Able trainees remain excellent performers as always.

They all keep calling it their possible last stage and Auntie Jisung looks like he’s going to cry again. It hurts because it could be true. 

Probably the shortest screentime for the group with my personal faves. Deeply grateful as always, Mnet.

Next up is my top song pick for Concept evals, I Know You Know.

Their wardrobes are particularly pretty. Thank you stylists for Moonbok’s look.

At check in with the composers, they get a bit of shake down because of their lack lustre initial performance. I’m not surprised because Joombas is really high profile, someone who works with famous singers. The team has competent but not excellent trainees. 

Hyunbin’s been getting a good edit as he makes up for the effort for the first evals where Mnet basically shoved him off a cliff, with a GodJonghyun inspired leader attitude. 

It’s a bit annoying because good god don’t we have enough Brohyes. 

Still, I’d rather this than kids being thrown sacrificed to the netizen flames.

Product placement.

The final performance is good. Kim Yehyun’s voice wavers out of place at parts but sweet boy Seo Sunghyuk is unexpectedly very stable considering the very energetic choreo. Donghyun, Donghan and Taedong remain reassuringly good and completely ignored. Hyunbin’s voice doesn’t sound as out of place as it did last mission while Moonbok proves he’s capable of idol rap with his smooth delivery. The choreo is exhausting but none of their voices are strained (they also probably have their studio recorded tracks playing so this may not be a matter of skill)

Open is next up, with the boys looking unreasonably good in their black suits. 

Well, Daniel, Dongho and Kenta anyway. I take a minute to pray to the wardrobe team again. I’m not a Daniel fan in particular but my word, the boy looks fine. 

Haknyeon messes up with typical Mnet camera focus at pre-performance check in. The composers can’t even pick one standout trainee.

The team convene to re-discuss centre with Haknyeon not being about to live up to his desire and confidence. Again, lack of training and age comes into play here, but wanting to take on things he can’t handle yet is not helping him.

Center swaps to Kim Yongguk, who doesn’t even get a clear shot of his face for the occasion.

Haknyeon gets Sexy Bandit’s thumbs up of approval at recording, after working hard for his second consecutive redemption arc. 

It could be the editing, but Daniel hasn’t been a very effective leader this mission either.

Product placement.

They come to check out the stage during dress rehearsal with the bed and slick set.

Kenta: It’s rather adult (as far as I know, the word can mean dirty or sexy depending on context but I think adult sounds appropriate here).

I agree. Seonho’s too young for this one. 

With the song and choreo being handed to them being what it is, this performance was looking to be one of my more anticipated ones, but the boys do a great job too. Daniel comes off more as centre than Yongguk but I can’t fault him because he does a really good job. Kenta is a visual standout too

It could be the editing, but Yongguk fades among the others although he keeps up well enough. Seonho’s vocals are satisfactory considering where he started out, there are bits where his dancing is still slightly awkward though. Same with Haknyeon, which is strange because I thought that was his strongest field. He’s visibly out of sync at times, even to my tired eyes. Maybe he doesn’t practice to beats, because he had the same issue in Right Round

This may be Sexy Bandit Pledis Baekho’s stage though. He’s beyond reproach. I’d call him oppa if he wanted me to.

They get an encore chant!

Fully deserved, because both the song and their performance of it was debut group level.

Oh Little Girl next

A lot of visual hype kids here. Costumes are terrible though, bits and pieces from earlier performances and maybe Park Jihoon’s personal closet?

That song name though....

Jihoon does the aegyo I’ve seen from the cute Monsta X rapper. It’s cringey on him too.

At performance check in, the producers acknowledge that the song may well have been tailored to Sewoon. Bae Jinyoung makes a few mistakes though.

Cue mournful music and cuts of his confidence issues.

Sewoon helps him practice and he’s better at recording. Kids like this usually are. He definitely could be a competent idol singer if someone gives him focused help. 

In the practice rooms, Minki has some issues while rehearsing, and there’s friction between him and the younger kids. Jihoon leaves the room with a door slam that freezes the others, and they have to gather to talk because Jihoon feels like Minki is upset with him. 

This time Minki slams the door behind him as he exits.

Sewoon is getting visibly worked up at this conflict.

Is Mnet finally getting genuine drama footage without manipulative editing? 

No. It’s another one of those birthday camera pranks that Korean variety producers still think are entertaining. 

Gunhee comes in with a cake and you can see the tension melt out of Jihoon’s face and he smiles the most genuine smile I’ve seen since his first time ranking first. 

Lol Sewoon thinks the cake’s just for Jihoon and starts clapping until the trainees sing his name too. Cute.

Minki does his shoulder expanding thing for dress rehearsals at coach Shin Yumi’s request. Sewoon gets well deserved praise for his vocals and Bae Jinyoung gets his confidence boost since this is probably his team mission individual edit for the season.

The final performance is cute, easily carried vocally by Sewoon and Gunhee. The others are also good, no visible mistakes. The song is still rather average, the choreo elevated by the boys performing it. They’re all adorable, their good looks helping save the tragic outfits. Minki was an appropriate centre. Hyungseob pulled out a rose out of nowhere mid performance, which seems perfectly in character for the kid.

I wouldn’t seek the song out to listen to, it’s one of those throwaway b-sides on mini albums, but watching it this one time was really fun. This truly was Sewoon’s performance, it fit him well.

Kahi: Ai, cute~

Pretty much.

We get to the final performance, Never.

Hyuna visits the team to cheer them up at rehearsals and the boys are instantly distracted at the sight of her. Minhyun keeps practising while the boys start to greet, but later reassures the camera that he was excited too. 

He’s probably seen all of SNSD and other prolific girl groups while promoting the last few years, it makes sense for him to be less fazed. He’s also from the company that (miraculously still) houses Nana.

But its Hyuna. 

Meanwhile, the trainees outside gather outside, pressing their faces to the glass door to stare at Hyuna. 

Baby chick Seonho: Oh, they’re from our company! :D

She turns to look at them and they almost faint in excitement. She cutely greets them as she exits, leaving behind an echo of longing sighs as she tends to do

At check in with all the composers, they do well enough. Kenta in particular is appreciative. A lot of trainees proceed to hype them up.

There’s something awkward about the blond Pentagon kid talking like an authority in front of the Nu’est members. I’m not the kind to go in for hierarchy over achievement but I’d be annoyed, like who are you brat lol

They go to visit Cube, and see Guanlin’s untidy locker with his Korean books 

AND THE EPISODE HIGHLIGHT

THE CUBE CHICKS WERE ORIGINALLY GOING TO AUDITION FOR P101 WITH TROUBLEMAKER

Why didn’t they? I loved it! I’d have rooted for them earlier on!

Guanlin’s excited to practice a routine that requires skills he didn’t have earlier, at his company with his hyungs, who coo at him. 

Every time Hyuna says something nice at studio recording, the boys flush with happiness. 

Daehwi’s smile spilts his face when she praises his tone

The words “Guanlin sounds like a native Korean” are said, which make my eyes roll out of my head. I’ve said multiple times I love how much the chicks improved and it’s clear that Guanlin is finding his groove as a trainee, but let’s not exaggerate because he’s handsome. It is, however, true that his words are getting clearer and less obviously accented.

Jaehwanie can rap too! I look forward to seeing him get signed to a good company after this (@Starship, you don’t have any worthy female groups anymore so you might as well add to your male talents)

Park Woojin’s rapping is really good but he can’t sigh?? It’s endearing too. He re-tries at his interview. A true cutie. I hope he recovers quickly and gets to debut. This episode has made me triply fond of him.

The final performance begins after this extreme hyping and screentime allocation.

Three seconds in, Sunghyuk, calmly: It’s over (for us).

I’ve said multiple times I don’t like the song (I still can’t remember it as being anything special and the fuss around it makes me resent EDM even more), but I can admit that the performance was great. The collection of talent and visuals make the choreo work smoothly, a stage that could easily be an M!Countdown performance. Jaehwan and Woojin were particularly spectacular, specially considering that Woojin was ill. Daehwi and Minhyun deliver, as always. 

The only negatives I have are that the while the costumes looked nice, they seemed ill suited to the concept and not the colours you usually see on broadcast performances. Beige? Come on. How do you work lighting for something like that? Green or a dark red would have been so nice.

We see a shot of Mnet staff counting the votes. Don’t worry, we don’t suspect you of anything here, Mnet. I’m blaming the live audience. 

The results bring over the sheer shameless fuckery of the last mission. 

5. I Know You Know 83 (Did I not call this?)

4. Showtime 135

3. Oh Little Girl 398

Totally warranted considering the number of popular trainees in each team.

BoA references Ong-ssi’s hyperbole speech when asking about his chances about winning, and he uses every single adjective again to express his confidence about his team placing first.

She then asks Baekho, and he one ups Ong-ssi by adding the Japanese adjective for ‘very’ (cut to Kenta laughing) as well as the Mandarin.

2. Never 443 1. Open 552 

So there is some sort of fairness in the world! Thank you, good lord in heaven!

....female fans really like sexy concepts. 

Kenta and Seonho’s handsome faces reach new levels of meme

Daniel is stunned. Getting banned from Never was an act of god for him and his fans.

Nation’s Leader Angel GodJonghyun makes an appropriately congratulatory comment.

Live vote rankings without benefits for individual trainee rankings are below:

Unrevealed

Maroo Park Jihoon

Brand New Music Park Woojin

Pledis Hwang Minhyun

C9 Bae Jinyoung

Unrevealed

Cre.Ker Joo Haknyeon

Brand New Music Lee Daehwi

CUBE Yoo Seonho

Chun Kim Yongguk

Brand New Music Im Youngmin

Next week, feel good fillers and third eliminations before heading into finale for top 11! Man, is this nonsense getting increasingly, unpredictably intense. 

[jenncognito]

The Nine Spell Sisters You’ll Meet in the Cactus Garden of Insta

If you've found this blog lovely, deep down you already know you have a serious problem. It’s cool. As useless as reading this will be to save your wallet, you’ll find some peace in knowing we’re in this together. So let’s get on with the first step in solving acknowledging our shared problem by admitting that some or all of the following shit has been going on lately:

“We”* have been frantically Googling Spell and the Gypsy Collective, Joplin Jacket or worse Spell Xanadu eBay... or even more hopelessly tragic Spell Folktown. We've been waking from dreams of blue skies and going to bed fantasizing about Lotu...actually we don't go to bed - at least not lately. We’re not sleeping much are we? No. We’re up sweating; obsessing over the one that got away... or in all probability will, at the next drop - because our internet isn't fast enough; because 7 seconds is suddenly an eternity during check out; because XS sells out first. Every. Fucking. Time. What we have is full blown PTSD - Post Traumatic Spell Disorder, with more than a healthy side case of drop anxiety.

* Please note the use of the ‘Spell sister we’ here.  Much like a ‘spousal we’ this in fact means you.

Sound about right?

Welcome friend. It's nice to have you. You’re safe here. At least until the end of May, when Lotus drops.

Ever wonder how this started? I do (and so does my husband, my wallet and all my abandoned hobbies.)

Since science is ignoring me won’t explain the root cause of my condition, I've been working on a few conspiracy theories to help explain how one innocent retail therapy sesh, consisting of a Route 66 dress, turned into a full blown brand dependency that has me mapping out intricate buying strategies a full 48 - 72 hours before every drop:

Conspiracy Theory 1: Spell infuses their hand drawn fabrics with Stevie Nick's breath which they have bottled into microscopic nanotubes that fit into the heads of sewing needles. After the Australian TGA denied approval on a Stevie Nicks Vape pen, wherein the user would actually inhale the muse’s vocal chord filtered CO2, Spell had a shitload of unregulated gypsy breath on their turquoise encrusted hands. As Spelly and Lizzy are committed to sustainability, they quickly found a way to repurpose this rare and precious resource. The result? Once you start wearing a Spell piece, Stevie’s magical gypsy breath whispers into your pores, delivering you an effortless high that obviously demands you chase it again and again... on the wings of an enormous owl, obviously. Why this is probably true: Look no further than yourself - yes or no, you increasingly find yourself totally down with multiple layers of lace you would have never considered wearing at this age (or since that rad 1990 Jr. Prom dress)? Yes or no, you have found yourself with both a Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac Spotify Channel on endless rotation? Yes or no, when someone mentions the word leather, you blurt the lyrics “take from me my laaaace?” (note: There is actually a Spell Sisters 70’s Festival Jamboree playlist on Spotify. You’re welcome from Lulu Mey, the goddess who created it.)

Conspiracy Theory 2: Spell runs a genius instagram account 782k followers strong and just when you think you can ‘totally survive without another piece from Festival ‘17 BAM - you see it styled on a muse that could easily be you. You could be in Thailand, in that backless Lolita, in front of that waterfall, with those lovely beachy waves in your hair and no shoes because you floated there (on the owl - duh.) In fact it probably IS you… because they plucked that image straight out of your unicorn mind, put a 72% Lark filter on it and fed the ‘travelling you’ right into that instagram channel. They did this as a courtesy ICYMI; you know, all the retargeting ads the other gentle signs reminding you that you actually do NEED this piece in your life and it’s no longer optional. Why this is probably true: because it is true. See: @spell_byronbay.

Pick your theory but the FOMO (Folktown Obsessed Must Own) is real. Obviously, they have put a serious Spell on us - sorry not sorry, pun was too obvious. Show me another brand tribe that feels compelled to share their instant bond on insta when they show up full twinsies at a party (Who wore it best? Both of us! Yay! Love you! Love you more! #twinsemoji) Show me another brand tribe that has women from ages 18 - 81 searching for a magical unicorn in the shape of a mumu. Show me another brand who has more authentically gorgeous UGC. See: #myspellcollection #spelldesigns #spellskirtswish #vintagespell #spellluxelace #spellfestivalstyle

While we share a familiar ache in our wallets and art museums for closets, we’re a globally diverse tribe to be sure. Still yet, with every Spell Sister you meet, you connect with a little piece of yourself, right? Just in case your affliction is fresh and you’re still trying to find your cactus rose footings... Here’s the short list of the nine Spell Sister’s you’ll meet fall in love with in the cactus garden we call Insta (ps, I’m @jennvonhagen )

1) The Unconditional Lover: She buys something from every drop, and even if she's secretly not 100% sure it works on her, she's committed to making it work and her tribe is there to help her rock it hard. Queue the extra large knotted hemline and for God’s sake woman - just belt it. Spell can do no wrong - not even a dress recall phases her - she kept that Blue Skies Maxi Wrap dress, and she wears a kimono made of bubble wrap over it - and somehow it actually works for her - because she belts it.

2) The Fresh Collector: She "just found this new brand OMG" Bae got woke somewhere right after Hotel Paradiso and she can't shut the fuck up about her OZ obsession - because she DISCOVERED it you guys. We don’t blame her for the misconception, we felt EXACTLY the same way. Her insta is full of ‘lowered gaze’ shots that have you wondering WTF she’s staring at. Educated guess - it’s 16 trash bags full of labels she’ll never wear again. Regardless, she looks amazing in that dress, so we don’t give a shit - we welcome her with open kimonos.  Babushka was her first ‘fully aware drop’; her collection has a shit ton of it. We’re simultaneously proud and worried, because she has no idea what she’s gotten into.

3) The Hider: Everything is NWT. She hasn’t even worn what she's got, and the challenge of justifying the spend is getting exponential. With her towers of white boxes getting harder and harder to conceal, the Husband is now on to her. Busted a few times during a delivery, she now sends the white boxes to the neighbors house and swears:

“It’s from Target/ I’ve had this forever/I’m borrowing it/Yay Swapped!”

(Rejoice hiders: the boxes are being transitioned out. You’ll no longer have to hide them - now you can simply obsess over collecting the cute new calico bags.)

4) The Girl Next Door: Nobody knows what she does for a living, but apparently she lives at Spell. I mean right inside the fucking Byron store... 12 minutes after a drop goes live, she's #spellswishing in the latest sold-out-soon-to-be-Unicorn. We hate her. Just kidding we love her. Just kidding we want to be her. Just kidding, we’ll settle for a sleepover - in her bohemian yurt, which is probably located right outside Spell’s cactus garden. 

5) The Historian: Her collection dates back farther than Gypsy Queen and she probably has that first Sugarhigh+Lovestoned tee they styled the early jewels with in a safety deposit box. She can recite the name of every collection and every piece in it. She can spot fakes too, because she knows exactly when the logo lock up changed thanks to Rachel Pony Gold (circa April/May 2012). She indulges in the bootstrapped sisterly romance of it all. Damn right she owns the book; it’s signed - obviously.

6) The Cheerleader: She likes EVERY photo with Spell in it, and she will tell you you look GORGEOUS every single time she sees you on Insta because she believes that you have a beautiful unicorn soul. “You in that Sunset Road + Festival ‘16 mashup = AMAZING!”

She imagines you in your private cactus garden teaching your children how to hand letter affirmation mantras and macrame their own diapers as you sip organic kombucha and braid your bestie’s hair. She loves you. So. Fucking. Much. Her pronouns are heart eye emoji and kiss emoji.

7) The Impulse Buyer: constantly swears to God and all that is will-powerful that she WILL. NOT. CAVE to the next drop. She is going to be practical for fuck’s sake. (Yah, Lotus has alot of yellows and olives.. I’m more of a “summer”) But then she buys the Joplin Jacket because Florida winters are “brutal”. She has a large return shipping bill, admits that this is merely an endless paypal exchange and knows the Customer Service Angels by name (Oh, hey Angela). She uses the RA form and chat feature to send them love notes and see how they’re holding up after each drop.

8) The Wing-Woman: you either are one, have one - or both. She’s as hardcore as you are and she doesn’t judge your illness. You both have issues. This is the person you spend hours strategizing with before every drop. You two have your own kind of math and it’s harder to follow than ‘conceptual math. But this secret Spell math is a thing of fucking beauty: no matter what the equation, you always get the answer you want: 

”Ok, I returned my Blue Skies Wrap, so I have a credit, plus what I saved on the Babushka Midi equals the price of the Joplin …. I’m net zero!” 

You size up the line, screen shotting Snapchat and teasing each other via text. You pro/con every piece based on some fictional, rational version of you that “doesn’t need another gown, but needs to go with 2 piece sets you know, for more daily use.” (Um, sure - whatever you need to tell yourself hun.)  If you’re on vacay during the drop, she’s got your back - as in your paypal payback - unconditional support is just a click away. She’s also hunting unicorns for you on the side and blowing you up on text in the middle of the night with buyer’s guilt (note the lack of remorse. There is never remorse, just fleeting guilt and temporary indulgence shaming for going overboard with both the Stardust Cami AND the Jacket “I’m a living Goddamned disco ball, WTF have I done? But I lurrve them.Yay me!)

9) The Unicorn Hunter: She’s next level obsessed, willing to throw cash and half her current Spell stash at the "last ever of it's kind, ever." ‘Evil-bay’ is alternately her nemesis, and her reluctant savior. After multiple talks off the Buy It Now button and pleas to her practical side, she eventually caves for her Unicorn, pays an obscene price and then never takes it off. See: Anything Folktown or a Xanadu Maxi Dress on eBay/Poshmark/Depop/Facebook Swap & Sell insert streaming tears emoji + unicorn emoji

As different as we may be - there’s something beyond swirling around in art that pulls us together. Perhaps it’s the addictive cocktail of anticipation + adrenaline + winning. Even as we’re confident that Spelly, Lizzy and all the Angels are sorting through the surprise growing pains, deep down we know there’s a small part of us that will miss bonding/sweating/crying over the chaos. More likely though, it’s the authentic friendships formed while supporting each other. ( I just heard a story from two best friends who met via a hashtag. They live a world apart, but talk every day.)

While I can't offer a cure (because Lotus/May/God help us), we can still justify our spending take comfort in knowing we’re not alone. (Or maybe that just adds to our stress because at least 20K+ of us have the notifications turned on for an intense Facebook page where we channel our obsession into smarter ways to buy/sell or swap more pieces.) Either way - rejoice in the Spell Sisterhood - our love runs deep, our tribe is epic and your OOTD is eternally on point.

PS - does anyone have a Turquoise Folktown Skirt and Top set in XS? Seriously, I die.

Note: You can follow more of the saga on Insta @jennvonhagen After I wrote this blog, I stumbled upon a hilarious thread on the Facebook Spell Designs Buys Swap and Sell page where fellow sisters are sharing their legit addiction and proven survival techniques. I’m currently interviewing for a follow up to this post, where I’ll share stories from all nine types of sisters. If you identify with one or more of the above, comment with your number(s) and if you’d like to be a part of the next post, message me here, on Insta or email me at jenn@ambidustrious.com

[zephfair]

Day 16 ficlet

Day 16: College Art Students AU only not exactly

Grimmjow/Ichigo pre-relationship fluff

Rated G except for language

WARNING: This contains university student/TA relationship. Be warned for slight age difference which is never mentioned, and if that whole student/TA thing bothers you, please don’t read this.

Grimmjow pulled his phone toward him when the text notification went off three times in a row. Grading freshman essays was his least favorite part of the job so he didn’t mind putting it off for another couple minutes. The paper he was trying to read was so bad it made him want to shred it.

The phone chimed a fourth time. Then a fifth.

They were all from a number he didn’t recognize. The first read Hey don’t think i can come tonight

the second: imma bout to fail this project for mon

the third: shorty Jagermeister and this shorty project

*shorty

*SHITTY

Grimmjow was staring at the phone in bemused silence when it jingled again.

i hate him and his stupid pretty face with a line of red angry emojis

He realized that it was obviously a wrong number. That could happen to anyone. The disturbing thing was that it appeared to actually be about him, if that nickname was a joke about his surname. He was a teaching assistant for Professor Aizen in the art department, and his senior class in sculpture did have an important project due Monday.

He just wondered which one of the little bastards it was. He really wanted to find out.

He started typing then erased it and finally settled on Where r u now

The writer hadn’t caught on yet apparently because they answered right away. art bldg ofc where else would I be? The ducking kiln is killing me.

Then *Ducking

F UCKING

FUCK NEW PHONE LEARN MY CURSES

Grimmjow smiled a slow and evil smile. He was still in his office, just two floors above the studio where the student must be trying to cram a semester’s worth of sculpture into one weekend.

There were so many little irresponsible douchebags in that class. How many times he’d wanted to tell them off or push them off their high horses. But Aizen had warned him to be professional to the little asswipes and so he’d tried.

Well, there was a first time for everything.

And if he just decided to stroll into the studio on a Friday night and bust a student for being a dick, well, he had to take pleasure in the small things.

Meet you there he texted as he strode toward the stairway.

The building was usually dark and quiet on weekend nights, and this was no exception. He was able to creep down the hall toward the only studio with a light on and know he’d found his texter.

He peered in and luckily the bright orange head was turned the other way. He should have fucking known it. He’d known that kid was trouble from the moment he walked into class.

Ichigo Kurosaki was a graphic design major so he and Grimmjow hadn’t had any classes together. And he’d saved the mandatory sculpting class until his last semester which Grimmjow could have warned him was a big mistake.

He’d been quiet in class and conscientious enough, turning in projects on time along with other mandatory assignments. His work wasn’t even totally horrible which was more than Grimmjow could say about the rest of the class.

It was the fact that during the second class of the semester, Aizen had asked Grimmjow to talk for part of the session on his interest and specialization in Renaissance work, but that kid Kurosaki had the audacity to be the only student who even bothered to ask a question and then had the balls to challenge him.

They’d spent the next five minutes in spirited and increasingly angry vulgar debate, only to have Professor Aizen step between them with a cutting joke and placate them by making fun of them both. The resulting laugh from the rest of the class still rankled Grimmjow. He’d studiously ignored the kid ever since and rigorously held up his work to exacting standards, although Aizen always had the final word on grades so the kid was doing fine.

To have that dumbass be the one who sent those texts… wait. Grimmjow stared at the messages again. He actually thought Grimmjow had a pretty face?

Grimmjow felt the smirk begin in his very soul. He could work with this.

He carefully ruffled his hair so it looked casually worn. He finished untucking his shirt then unbuttoned the top three buttons. He debated taking off the glasses but thought they only enhanced the vibe.

Then he walked into the studio as confident as a cat stalking a helpless baby bird.

Kurosaki was still facing away, scowling at whatever monstrosity he was attempting to create. The scowl was even bigger than his usual expression.

Grimmjow crept up behind him without even trying hard. He leaned down almost even with his ear and said, “What the hell is that supposed to be?”

He whipped his head back just in time to avoid Kurosaki’s startled jump and shrieked “SHIT!” He would have cackled madly but fought to keep his neutral, unimpressed, disinterested look as Kurosaki whirled around.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Why’d you sneak up on me?”

Grimmjow shrugged. “I’m the one asking you what you’re doing here. On a Friday night. Two days before your big project is due. Surely you’re not trying to just get started now? I’m sure Professor Aizen would love to know that you’ve put off his assignment until the very last minute.”

Kurosaki’s jaw worked like he was physically holding back what he wanted to really say. Grimmjow folded his arms over his chest and allowed himself a little smirk.

“The assignment isn’t due until Monday. My work’ll be done then.”

“Not if that,” Grimmjow gestured toward the mess on the table, “is your project.”

“I’m working on it,” Kurosaki said tightly and sat back down.

Grimmjow leaned down and put his arms around Kurosaki to get his hands into the clay. Kurosaki jumped but then froze.

“Are you sure you don’t need a hand with that,” Grimmjow purred into his ear.

“N-n-no,” Ichigo finally go out. Then he got angry. “Stop it, what are you even doing?”

“I thought I could help. Certainly wouldn’t want you to fail and then not graduate. Then you’d have to take our class all over again.”

“Not going to happen. As long as I pass this project, I’ll pass the class.”

“Ah, but not if you don’t manage to turn in something presentable.”

Ichigo turned a little and Grimmjow’s nose was in his hair. He took a deep breath and Ichigo froze. Gotcha, he thought.

“Maybe you just need a better design for your piece? Maybe I could model for you and you could capture my pretty face.”

Ichigo was so still Grimmjow almost checked him for a pulse. It seemed like he was even holding his breath.

“How did you… why would you say that?”

Grimmjow slapped his phone down. “You really should know your friends’ numbers by now, Kurosaki.”

Ichigo stared at the messages. “I had to get a new phone and my contacts are all messed up. I was trying to get Ishida.”

“Well, you got me,” Grimmjow straightened up then spun Ichigo’s chair so it faced him. “Whether you wanted me or not.”

“Shit,” Ichigo said, with feeling. “Wait a minute, you knew I was bitching about you. And you still came here?”

“I wanted to see which of you asshats from class was talking about me.”

Ichigo’s expression changed a little. “Or maybe you hoped one of us actually thought you were hot.”

Grimmjow leaned down right into his face. “You never said I was hot,” he purred. “Is this your true feelings coming out now, Kurosaki?”

Ichigo’s face started to pink and then darken to red across the cheeks. Grimmjow watched in glee. “No! Shut up!”

Ichigo tried to turn his chair back around, but Grimmjow held the arms firmly.

“Maybe I thought I’d come down here, see who it is, maybe sneak up behind them, get a little close and intimidate them, make them sorry they put off their project to the last minute. But instead, maybe I learned something even more interesting.”

“Like what?” Ichigo blustered.

“You may know shit about Renaissance sculpture but you’ve got great taste in men.” Grimmjow leaned the extra couple inches slowly, giving Ichigo the chance to move away, but his eyes darted to Grimmjow’s mouth and he licked his own bottom lip quickly.

Grimmjow kissed him slowly, tasting his firm lips, feeling his mouth open and, unable to resist the invitation, licked his way inside his mouth, just for a tease. When he pulled back, Ichigo’s eyes were closed and he swayed forward to follow Grimmjow’s mouth.

“Hmm, too bad your sculpting isn’t as good as your kissing,” he said.

Ichigo’s eyes popped open and he said, “Too bad you’re a dick every time you open your mouth. If you’d just stay still and look pretty, you wouldn’t be half as bad.”

“You’re cute,” Grimmjow flicked his forehead. “Now get back to work. I don’t know what the hell that’s supposed to be, but it’s hideous.”

Ichigo’s scowl encompassed the clay as well. “It’s my backup. My first piece is in the kiln but something’s all messed up. If it doesn’t fire right, I figured I was fucked so I’d better try something else.”

Grimmjow shook his head. “You’re a mess.” Ichigo opened his mouth to argue but Grimmjow shushed him. “Let me take care of the kiln because I actually know what I’m doing. Let’s hope your first try is better than this. And then,” he leered broadly as Ichigo’s scowl didn’t lessen, “maybe if you need more inspiration I can model for you and see how well you do with male nudes.”

He ignored Ichigo’s mumble of what he’d like to do to Grimmjow that included much violence but he leaned down again and gave him a quick kiss. “And later, you can see what I can do with a nude male.”

Ichigo’s blush was going to be addictive, but it shut him up to get back to his work while Grimmjow went to work his own magic on the recalcitrant equipment. His night wasn’t going anything like he’d planned, but it might be that he’d found something a lot better.

From Ichigo’s muttered curses and the loud splat of clay behind him, it just might take a little longer.

*Ichigo managed to scrape together a project that Aizen passed and so he still graduated with honors. Grimmjow taught him a few other techniques that were more personal. And they never did agree on the importance of Renaissance sculpture.

[noona-clock]

Why Do You Like Him?

Helloo~ Can I have something super fluffy with Nam Joo Hyuk? Admin B, you gave me too many feels for him in the last one w/ him and I can't stop :( Thank you so so so much!!! 💗

YAY @wonholdmyheart !!!! Thank you for requesting my boyfriend! I will GLADLY do something super fluffy with him! (Although I’m not going to lie, this didn’t turn out as fluffy as I thought? Let me know if you want another scenario that’s ACTUALLY super fluffy!!!)

Genre: High School!AU/Fluff

Pairing: Nam Joo Hyuk x You

By Admin B

"Hey, you’re best friends with Jisoo, right?” 

You clutched the straps of your backpack as you stood next to Joo Hyuk’s locker, biting your lip and awaiting his answer. 

You and Joo Hyuk were certainly acquaintances (you had a few classes together), but you wouldn’t necessarily say you were friends. 

...Yet.

“Yeah,” he replied, taking his physics textbook out of his locker and sliding it into his backpack. “Why?”

“Well... I was just wondering... He’s not dating anyone, is he?”

You’d had a crush on Jisoo for months now, and you decided today was the day you were finally going to kind of do something about it.

Joo Hyuk froze for just a second, but then he reached up to close his locker door, avoiding your gaze somewhat.

“No, he’s not,” he told you as he slung one strap of his backpack over his shoulder.

You rocked back and forth on your toes, barely able to hold back your excitement at his answer. “Do you think he’d be interested in me?”

Joo Hyuk quirked an eyebrow at you before starting to head to his next class, one he shared with you. So you simply followed him.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Because you’re his best friend! You know him well enough,” you explained. “I thought maybe... you could give me some inside information or something?”

Joo Hyuk stopped walking, abruptly enough so you almost ran into him.

You watched as he very obviously thought about your idea, but you couldn’t gauge his reaction. His expression didn’t seem to give anything away, so you just... waited. Anxiously.

He finally turned toward you and nodded. “Sure.”

A smile immediately came to your lips, and you had to physically stop yourself from squealing with excitement.

It took everything in your power to stop yourself from talking to him or writing him a note during class, but you were able to manage to wait until the end of the school day to start bugging him.

“I have basketball practice with him in half an hour,” he told you as you stood at his locker. “I’ll talk to him and see what he says.”

“You won’t bring up my name, will you?” you asked nervously, brow furrowed.

“Not if you don’t want me to,” Joo Hyuk shrugged.

You nodded and let out a little sigh of relief. But then you realized you didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to hear what Jisoo had said, so you got out your phone. “Here, give me your number so I can text you later.”

Joo Hyuk quietly told you the ten digits, leaning in just a bit so anyone passing by wouldn’t hear. “Send me a message so I have yours, too,” he murmured once you’d made his contact.

You hummed in response before typing out a ‘hey it’s me’ with a smiley face emoji and sending it to him.

“All right, I’ll let you know how it goes,” he assured you with a little smile as he closed his locker.

“Thank you,” you replied, unable to keep yourself from clapping your hands softly with excitement. “Have fun at practice.”

“Thanks,” he chuckled. “See you tomorrow.”

You started on your homework almost immediately after arriving home, wanting to get as much done as possible before Joo Hyuk messaged you about his mission. 

Your heart was racing the whole time you were reading Beowulf, but not because the book was exciting. (It sucked, actually.) You kept glancing at your phone as you completed your physics review for your test on Friday. And then finally, just as you were about to finish your last statistics problem, your phone lit up with a notification.

You grabbed it in a flash, opening the message from Joo Hyuk and reading it. Apparently, Jisoo was most attracted to athletes. But he also knew who you were.

...Well, great. You were far from an athlete.

Wait, hold on.

You pressed the ‘call’ button next to Joo Hyuk’s name, bringing your phone up to your ear.

“Did you say he knows who I am?” you asked, confused.

“Yes.”

“I thought you weren’t going to bring up my name!”

“I didn’t! He saw us talking and just asked about it.”

“Wait, he asked about me? For real?”

“I mean, kind of...”

Your heart started hammering inside your chest, and you couldn’t for the life of you stop a smile from springing to your lips. Okay, this was good. Even though you weren’t an athlete, he still knew who you were. And he asked about you.

You were still too shy and nervous to talk to him, though, so you begged Joo Hyuk to keep giving you information and dropping hints to Jisoo.

The next three weeks were like a fun, but very nerve-wracking game of chess. For you, at least. You strategized your moves - Joo Hyuk’s moves, actually - and you waited with bated breath for what Jisoo would say or do.

You were gradually gathering up the nerve to talk to him, and one Friday, you decided you would do it. There was a basketball game that evening, and you planned to go. You wanted to support your new good friend, Joo Hyuk, of course, but you also were going to find Jisoo after the game and talk to him.

As you took your spot in the bleachers just after the game had started, your eyes scanned the court for Jisoo. You happened to find Joo Hyuk first, though, and he was already looking at you. He smiled and waved, and you wiggled your fingers excitedly back at him. You really did owe him so much; he’d helped you learn more about Jisoo the past few weeks, but he’d also become a really good friend. He made you laugh, and he was probably one of the sweetest guys you’d ever met.

But then you spotted Jisoo, and your heartbeat sped up.

You completely missed the look of disappointment on Joo Hyuk’s face when he noticed.

Even though you had no knowledge of basketball whatsoever, you still found the game exciting, and you had a little too much fun cheering on your friend and your crush. (Plus, Jisoo looked so good in those shorts, oh my god.)

As the timer counted down the minutes, you got more and more anxious. Your heartbeat got quicker by the second, and the butterflies in your stomach grew increasingly larger.

Then when the buzzer sounded, you let out a deep breath.

This was it.

You watched as the team celebrated their win, and you began to slowly make your way toward the parking lot. Joo Hyuk had told you earlier he would make sure Jisoo came out that way, so that’s where you planned to “run into him” and introduce yourself.

You paced back and forth once you got outside, taking deep breaths to calm your nerves. But when the doors opened and some of the players started filing out, you honestly felt like you might throw up. Why was talking to a guy so nerve-wracking?!

You bit your lip when you saw Jisoo exit through the door, and you took a deep breath as you began to step toward him.

But then a hand came to rest on your elbow, stopping you from going any farther.

You jumped a little, startled by the sudden touch, and you turned to see Joo Hyuk.

“Hey,” you said a bit hurriedly. “I was just about to --”

“Why do you like him?” he blurted out.

“...What?”

“I mean, I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, obviously. He’s my best friend. But... Why do you like him?”

You stared at him, extremely befuddled. “Uh... He’s really cute? And funny?”

“...Am I not cute and funny?”

You jerked your head back in surprise, now even more confused. “Well, yeah, but --”

“Then why don’t you like me?”

You just stared at him as he gazed at you, his eyes wide and his eyebrows raised expectantly.

“Like... you? I do like you, you’re my friend --”

“Not like that,” he shook his head. “I like you, okay? I’ve liked you since before you asked me about Jisoo. And I know I should’ve told you earlier. Or maybe I shouldn’t even be telling you at all, but I just...”

He shrugged, finally letting go of your elbow.

“Are you serious?” you asked, now a bit breathless.

He only nodded.

Your gaze flitted over to Jisoo’s retreating form then back to Joo Hyuk. Wait, why was your heart fluttering? Was it because you’d just looked at Jisoo... or because you were now looking at Joo Hyuk?

And suddenly you felt like a horrible person for making Joo Hyuk be your middle man. All this time, he’d been talking to Jisoo for you when he himself had a crush on you.

Your brow furrowed and you pressed your lips together to hide your frown. “I’m so sorry,” you murmured.

Joo Hyuk’s expression immediately fell. “It’s okay -- I didn’t expect you to --”

“No, not that,” you interrupted, taking a step closer to him. “I’m sorry I made you talk to him for me. That... must have sucked.”

“I mean... yeah.”

You weren’t sure why but you had the strongest urge to hug him right now. So you did. You took the few steps toward him to close the gap between you two, sliding your arms around his middle and hugging him tightly.

You felt Joo Hyuk’s hesitation, but he eventually hugged you back.

You smiled to yourself, your heart fluttering and racing like crazy. And those butterflies you’d had earlier? You realized they’d never left. Maybe... it hadn’t been Jisoo who gave you butterflies all this time?

You weren’t sure, but what you were sure about was Joo Hyuk was a beautiful person inside and out. And hugging him right now made you feel happier and lovelier and safer than anything else in the world.

Your mom had always told you the best relationships grew from friendships, and now... you were starting to think maybe she was right.

Master list // RULES // Submit a Request! // Read About the Admins

[toonstarterz]

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #122

I’m gonna keep this introduction short since there’s so much to unpack and I’m dying to get to the good stuff. 

It’s Tomoko’s third year, and any worries you might have had about Tomoko’s new life being too “normal” and “boring” were thankfully all for naught. This chapter reminds us that while circumstances may change, Tomoko is still an awkward little weirdo, and if her new classmates are any indication, her third year is going to be one wild ride.

Chapter 122: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Become a Third Year

The wording here is suspect as the narrator is definitely referring to Tomoko’s social circle than just Tomoko exclusively. It’s one of those changes that seems minor at first glance, but means more for long-time readers of the series. It’s sort of an “official’’ statement on how the series as evolved from being single-protagonist oriented to becoming an ensemble cast. And frankly, our side characters have earned it.

Damn, Tomoko can actually pass for being almost, kinda attractive here. 

One thing that I’ve always liked about Yuri (in addition to everything else about her character) is that she’s very emotional underneath her comparatively stoic demeanor. We’ve seen before that Yuri cares very deeply about the things that are important to her, but struggles to openly express it. The fact that she has to physically calm her nerves is a testament to how much she values her new set of loner friends.

About time we got their full names, and fitting ones if I’m not mistaken (feel free to correct me if I am). From my understanding, “Tanaka” is a surname with very plain connotations, which matches quite well with the average-like Mako.

Then there’s “Masaki”, which is supposedly a very boyish name for a girl, but it’s written very femininely. It’s so perfect for Yoshida, that I can’t help but wonder if her parents predicted the future or something.

They say this smile sustained the lives of impoverished children for generations.

As I said previously, Yuri is strongly emotional even if it doesn’t show on her face. When her expression is physically visible, it’s a good indicator that she must be bursting with emotion. In other words, that tiny smile equates to jubilant fireworks. 

Hey, Komiyama. It’s been a while. I’m glad Nico Tanigawa made the decision to put her in Tomoko’s class, as I imagine that the reason we don’t see much of Komiyama lately is because it’s difficult to include her in Tomoko’s social circle without someone like Yuu or Akari to bridge the gap between them. Maybe now they’ll be able to clear up any lingering bad blood between them. 

I am somewhat surprised by how 'meh’ Komiyama’s reaction is. If this were one of the early chapters, I’d imagine she’d react more negatively to being in Tomoko’s class. What does this say about their current relationship? Probably that they’re still frenemies, but have actively stopped trying to antagonize each other. Looking back, it was usually Tomoko would cast the first stone, leading Komiyama to retaliate. But now that Tomoko has stopped this, Komiyama sees no interest in interacting with her more than needed. Let’s see if they can keep this up...

Quickly fanbase, time to connect names to faces!

Minami, your cuteness rating just dropped a peg. 

The relationship, whatever it may be, between Minami and Yuri has always seemed uncertain, if not somewhat rocky for obvious reasons. But I think that with this moment, it’s safe to assume that Yuri and Minami honestly don’t like each other. I wouldn’t call it a personal vendetta, but by calling Yuri “that girl’, Minami makes it clear that she doesn’t view Yuri highly if she only calls Yuri by her name when Mako’s around.

Of course, Yuri and Minami aren’t about to get into a brawl like Tomoko and Komiyama might. They’re too respectable for something like that. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some passive aggressive jabs between them now that they’ll be “fighting” for Mako’s attention. 

This is a quality of Minami that makes me dislike and begrudgingly admire her. 

It’s been established that Minami has quite a lot of friends. Not surprising as a hardcore extrovert like her likely finds it easy making connections. We can see this in action, where when faced with the dilemma of having no one to talk to, Minami easily walks up to a classmate and invites herself into their group, with no hesitation whatsoever. She must be a blast at parties.

But at the same time, she quickly dismissed the fact that Mako is in her class, meaning that she requires more than one person to satisfy her social comfort zone. I’m not saying she doesn’t care about her friends–her insensitivity seems inconsequential to her high extrovertism. It’s more that she requires a high degree of social interaction whereas Yuri doesn’t need nearly as much to feel that same degree of satisfaction.  

Don’t worry, I know this is a mistranslation. 

I do like this little exchange between Heroin-chan and Yoshida, because it gives a bit of insight into their friendship. Heroin-chan actually has to tell Yoshida to come hang out with her, as if expecting that the latter wouldn’t bother unless prompted. But she says it not out of annoyance, but in an endearing way. It’s pretty cool to see that Yoshida has friends whom she’ll actually tolerant teasing from. It’ll probably take all year before Tomoko can do that.

Apparently Eyeless-chan is a slacker, huh?. 

Side note: these panels are really busy. Must be the cherry blossom petals.

I do wonder just what Tomoko was hoping for regarding whom of her friends/acquaintances would be in her new class. You’d think that after making her new friends, she’d be glad to be with them for their third year. But judging on her reaction, having so many people she already knows was not her desire. As for why, I think it may have to do with balance. A loner-type like Tomoko would probably prefer to have one or two people see can connect with in her class. But having so many people is probably overloading her capacity for social interaction.

Having Komi-something there likely doesn’t help either.

It’s going to be interesting to see just how Itou will fit into this story. She does seem very bland and boring at first glance, but then again, so did Yuri. You could even say that Itou is to Komiyama what Yuri is to Tomoko. Maybe she’ll surprise us.

Nemoto’s dark side truly is the scariest thing about this series.

I’ll be frank, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in Nemoto’s head when she said this line. It could be a variety of things, but at the very least, she already knows that Tomoko did the same thing to her, so playing the innocent card seems to suggest some distaste for Tomoko. If I had to guess, Nemoto looks as if she’s bothered by Tomoko trying to pass off as “normal”, so she called her out in order to reveal her weird side. I don’t believe she’s doing this out of malice, though, but more on that later.

I saw the punchline for this coming an ocean away…

...Doesn’t make it any less spectacular.

Yeah, it’s no secret by now that Ucchi’s desperate for some Tomoko stalkin' lovin’. The only question was when Ucchi would finally accept the truth.

That moment when Ucchi gave her meat was the realization, but this breakdown is the acceptance. All those other times, Ucchi could easily talk her way out of any accusation about her attraction to Tomoko. But as of late, Ucchi has been increasingly public about her growing affection. Sure, Ucchi could’ve stayed silent if her friends egged her on about it. But I’d be hardpressed to see how Ucchi could possibly deny her friend-crush on Tomoko when throwing a tantrum for everybody to see. 

Looks like Emoji 2.0 is going to be an official side character. Heh.

At first, I was pretty bummed that Ucchi wasn’t going to be in Tomoko’s class anymore. But in trying to look at the bright side, I think this situation has a lot of potential(-san). By keeping Ucchi away, all of her stalking–yes, it will continue–is going to look even more ridiculous since she’ll actually have to put some real effort into it. This subplot would likely just go through the motions if they were in the same class, but a decision like this could finally lead to the climax of Ucchi’s crush. 

I can see it now: Tomoko starts acting all friendly with Emoji 2.0, Ucchi spots them together, Ucchi loses her goddamn mind.   

Long time, no see, Hatsushiba. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see him again, but I can dig it. If you recall, Komiyama kind of thinks that Tomoko has a crush on this guy. If the mangaka decides to reopen that can of worms, it’s sure to be a riot. 

I guess we needed a quick reminder that Tomoko doesn’t go to an all-girls school.

C’mon, Yuri. Don’t be so kuudere. 

Yeah, Mako’s probably exaggerating when she said it was Yuri’s dream. Although, from Yuri’s smile earlier, I wouldn’t put it pass Mako to interpret her friend’s simple yet meaningful desire into something much more grandiose. Perhaps for Mako, a dream is a dream, no matter how small.

Battle of the ellipses. 

Did Tomoko seriously not know Ogino was going to be her homeroom teacher until this very second? Guess for all of her development, her obliviousness is something she still has to work on. (If this is actually plausible in a Japanese high school, please correct me, so that I don’t make an ignorant ass of myself). 

I’m curious as to how Tomoko thinks that having her “friends” around will protect her from Ogino’s meddling. Maybe it’s because if she gets embarrassed, the fallout won’t be so bad if everyone already knows what to expect from her? Is it because her friends will back her up when Ogino throws her for a loop. Maybe the class has some kind of camaraderie because they know what a pain Ogino can be? Could be a bit of all of that, but after reading the rest of this chapter, Ogino will likely be the least of her worries.

Well damn. Nemoto ain’t pulling back this year.

My first instinct was to take this as a provocation. But looking over it again, I realized she’s kind of taking a jab at herself for also being a normal girl. Nemoto has always been a bit of an enigma. Her perspective on Tomoko has been fuzzy ever since Tomoko found out her secret. I originally thought Nemoto’s occasional rudeness was from a minor superiority complex. But now I think that Nemoto is kind of projecting herself onto Tomoko. As if Tomoko’s decision to be “normal” reflects the soreness Nemoto feels about her own self-imposed normalcy. 

First things first, Nice to officially meet you Katou. Your role as Class Mom will be severely tested. 

I actually don’t think Nemoto’s gotten more snappish necessarily. It’s very possible she’s always had a ruder personality and she’s just really good at hiding it. But because Tomoko knows a side of her that nobody else does, Nemoto might be more comfortable letting her edginess show in front of her.

Having her real interests in parentheses has always been a favorite visual gag of mine. 

It’s funny how Nemoto’s impression of Tomoko, and how Tomoko perceives that impression aren’t really the same. As I stated before, Nemoto doesn’t hold any real animosity towards Tomoko. Rather, she’s kind of envious of Tomoko. She sort of respects Tomoko for being true to herself, even if that “self” isn’t all that admirable. So when Tomoko pulls the normie act on her, it’s natural that Nemoto would be disappointed.

Of course, in Tomoko’s eyes, Nemoto’s just being a bitch. 

I’ve always appreciated that no matter how screwed up Tomoko’s logic could be, she was never wholly off the mark about her proclamations. There’s always a kernel of truth in Tomoko’s words, whether it’s about the anime industry or being a loner in a world of non-loners. Even the absurd things like how popular kids have orgies at karaoke bars were likely based on some media she’d consumed.

Her little rant about how normies have to try so hard to be bland is actually something that can be kind of supported. Sure, it’s still generalizing and spiteful, but it’s also real–one of those implicit things that nobody says but everyone knows is true. I guess it goes to show that Tomoko, for all her inner ranting, isn’t totally ignorant to how the world works. 

Slow clap. Slow clap. Slow clap.

There’s that old-school cringe humor. But of course, it can never be that simple. As others have pointed out, this isn’t just your typical Watamote awkwardness. The cringiest moments in the manga were always about Tomoko saying/doing something painful due to twisted logic. In this case, sure it’s painful, but there isn’t anything especially weird about wanting a boyfriend, even if it is worded in way that is so humorously casual.

In fact, you could even say that Tomoko is expressing a confidence here that she never would’ve had in her previous introductions. Perhap this is a kind of development for Tomoko in that her brashness, which was once her weakness, can now be her strength. It’d be nice if this starts to become a trend for the series.

I wonder if this is going to be a regular thing now where Tomoko has a “routine” to conduct whenever she gets overwhelmed with anxiety. At least she’s no longer wallowing in self-defeat. 

Funny, remembering all these cringe-inducing moments would just stress me out even more.

Confirmed: Ogino is responsible for 50% of Tomoko’s worst moments.  

If this were any other time Tomoko, I’d agree with you. Unfortunately, you just opened up an unspoken rivalry with someone who’s basically a much, much better-adjusted version of yourself. Good luck.

Oh, Komi-something. You’re baseball fangirlism never ceases to amuse me. I do find it interesting that Komiyama is a lot more upfront about her passions than Tomoko is. Granted, I know things like anime and manga are much less socially acceptable than being a fan of the Lotte Marines, but her obsession does seem to be on a higher level than Tomoko has for her own interests. But if she can be passionate without hesitation, I do find myself admiring Komiyama for it.

Meme-worthy quote right here.

The framing is phenomenal in this panel. Tomoko is partly cut off, but her expression mirrors Nemoto’s. This presents the thoughts here, which are coming from Nemoto, to apply to the both of them. Can’t wait to see even more parallels this year.

This is one of those awesome developments that’s been happening in the periphery, but didn’t become apparent until a moment like this. That being, Tomoko is not only being acknowledged by her peers, but is actually influencing them in a relatively positive way. It started with Yuri, with Tomoko unknowingly encouraging her to be more expressive, and now it’s happening with Nemoto and her decision to be more honest with herself. It seems to me that the more people learn about Tomoko, the more that they start seeing some of the negative aspects of her character as potential positives. More and more, Tomoko seems to be functioning on an even playing field with the normies in her class.

Nice to see that Nemoto’s friends don’t seem to hold her dream against her. See, Nemoto? That wasn’t so bad.

Wow, I wasn’t expecting Nemoto to take such a jab at Tomoko. I know that it’s likely meant to be endearing, but unless you already have an understanding with your classmate, I can’t see how you can call them a loner without it being just a liiiiiitle bit insulting. Will this eventually lead to some sort of fallout between them? We’ll just have to see.

Hooo boy, what a chapter. I made my predictions in the last review on who I thought would be in Tomoko’s third year class, and I made my choices based on what I thought would be realistic for the series. That being, a class with some fan favorites, and a couple of underdeveloped extras. But in true Watamote fashion, we get something expected, but not unsatisfying. It may have felt a little too convenient to have nearly all of Tomoko’s acquaintances in her class, but in way, it poses another challenge for Tomoko. As her personality becomes more and more transparent, I think it’ll be interesting to see which of her relationships will improve, which will stagnate, and which will decline. The cast may have quadrupled in size, but Tomoko Kuroki will always be the center of it.

[toonstarterz]

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #117

It’s these sort of vignette-filled chapters that are starting to become my favorite lately. I think that’s because it’s not just a bunch of gags and jokes one after another like you’d find in a 4-koma manga. There’s a definite flow of time and continuity when Nico Tanigawa does these chapters. Not to mention that they still take the time to introduce character dynamics that can be built upon for later chapters/arcs. 

In essence, I tend to think of these as “transition” chapters because they provide content that can be used for more self-contained stories, but can still function very well as its own chapter. 

Chapter 117: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Greet the End of My Second Year

Have we given her a fanon name yet? Her panel is big enough to warrant one.

I get the feeling that if it had been some random girl pressing against her, this girl wouldn’t have thought much of it, attributing it to just a case of the train being overpacked. But because it’s Tomoko, and Ucchi mostly likely gossiped about how she’s such a creep, that it probably skewed this girl’s perception of what had happened. She was led to believe that Tomoko is some kind of touchy-feely lesbian, so that’s what she’s gonna see. 

I’ll admit, I’m not familiar with how the trains work in Japan, so this confused me enough that I didn’t actually get the joke the first time. Perhaps someone can clear it up for me?

But check out Ucchi’s posture here. Sitting upright, knees together, arms out. She clearly readying herself up, and we all know why,

Yuri Tamura shows up = instantly good chapter. 

It was around here that everything started to click in my head. Ucchi, in her increasingly stalker ways, was planning to get off on Inage, where she would board the opposite running train and hopefully run into Tomoko. So of course, when Yuri asks her why she’s not getting off, the prideful Ucchi isn’t about to admit that she wants to see Tomoko, so she first gives the excuse that she was sleeping. And when that doesn’t work, Ucchi lies that her legs went numb, but Yuri being the good person she is, helps her off the train. 

Better luck next time Emoji Girl.

Gotta say, Yuri’s annoyance here is perfectly justified when you look at it from her perspective. She made sure Ucchi didn’t miss their stop, and even offered to carry her out of the train when Ucchi claimed her legs were numb. I’m sure at some point Yuri realized that it was all BS, and given that Ucchi appeared ungrateful for help she didn’t even need, it must have struck a nerve with her.

I’d really like to see more of these two play off against each other. It’s amusing.

One thing I really like is that Nico Tanigawa doesn’t oversell when they’re introducing new or underused characters. Lots of manga do this by introducing them in a large panel with a text box that tells their name, age, class number, etc. But here, the mangaka is showing us who Itou is in a manner that is very natural. Here, we have a great case of show-not-tell as we learn more about Itou. She plays the trumpet, is part of the band, is a bit of a loner, and is otherwise pretty normal. I’m already awaiting for her focus chapter. 

Imagines Komiyama in a cheerleading outfit.

Thankfully, my out-of-character image of Komiyama was proven wrong after a quick Google search, and I realized that they’re talking about an ōendan, which is much more in-character. 

So here’s a question: why do you suppose Komiyama quit? It’s probably nothing tragic; perhaps it was just too high-energy for her. But it’s still fun to think about. 

But if Tomoki ever joined the baseball team, you know she’d rejoin in a heartbeat.

It’s always nice when Komiyama’s weirdly cute side comes out like this. Even if her impression of Itou changed from something as simple as being able to play some baseball cheer songs, I don’t think it’s a shallow relationship or anything like that. They do seem like genuinely good friends, and I do wonder a bit how they met since they’ve only known each other since high school started. In a way, It kind of parallels the whole Tomoko-Yuri friendship, with the whole creep-and-normie dynamic. I wouldn’t be pretty surprised if they became friends out of “fated” circumstances as well.

Speaking of Tomoko...

She ain’t beauty, she ain’t grace, and she falls on her fuckin’ face.

If she were a typical shoujo manga heroine, her fall would’ve been ladylike, cutesy, and with an adorable squeal to emphasize her cute clumsiness.

Cute shoujo manga heroine Tomoko is not.

Now this is one of those moments in Watamote where I was genuinely surprised. For what little we know about Minami, she seems like a cheerful, genki type who can be just a little insensitive. Too be honest, my first thought when I saw this was that Minami was laughing about something else with the no-eyes girl, and wasn’t actually laughing at Tomoko. But at the same time, I also think that her actually laughing at Tomoko is entirely plausible. It’s hard to tell, but perhaps that ambiguity is what Nico Tanigawa was going for 

Damn, kitty-cat Tomoko grew some claws. I love how more open she’s been about expressing her ruder and cruder side. 

C’mon, how could I not include this shot?

So it looks like we finally got a taste of Yuri’s sense of humor. And it’s the type of humor, that I, and I’m sure a lot of other people enjoy. The “addressing-the-elephant-in-the-room” kind of humor. The snaggletooth quality we see with Minami is usually something in manga that is only a character aesthetic. Something the readers can see, but is virtually invisible to the other characters. The fact that Tomoko so openly mocks her for something no else seems to have said is probably why Yuri finds it so funny. 

It also probably helps that Yuri is not on the best of terms with Minami, so she can probably get on board with teasing her that much easier. 

Now this is something I find really interesting. To think that Mako, who’s been Yuri’s friend for years, has never made her laugh out loud, yet Tomoko hasn’t even known her for a year, and she still got her to laugh. What does this say about Yuri’s friendship with Mako and Tomoko? For me, I think Yuri’s friendship with Mako is based on stability. They like each other enough and it’s easy to commit to without much conflict (sans Minami). With Tomoko, while they don’t fully understand each other, they seem to be helping each other break out of their shells, with Tomoko gaining confidence and Yuri being more expressive.

You know how some people were joking on how Tomoko is like a virus bringing down all the other girls to her level? I think with Yuri, Tomoko is actually bringing her up. I honestly predict that Tomoko and Yuri’s relationship will be the strongest by the end of the series.

I know I just poked fun at when manga introduce characters by giving them a panel with text over them, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. In some instances, it can be used as a bit of comedy. For Kiyota, who is so inconsequential, having his name there to remind the audience who he is is a nice touch. 

It’s times like this when I realize just how truly passive aggressive Nemoto is towards Tomoko. I can see her thought process here: if she asked about Tomoko, that would imply that she cares about her and that they’re friends, which is something Nemoto doesn’t want her real friends to consider. Nemoto doesn’t mind Tomoko, but she doesn’t want to associate with her any more than she has too. Take of that what you will.

You can literally see her expression fall ten stories to the ground. 

Now an impression of Ogino is something I would like to see. I don’t recall Ogino having any sort of obvious mannerism, though. Maybe it’s smiling ignorantly in a way that automatically pisses people off. 

Not gonna lie, this right here hit me HARD. You see that crosshatching in the background? Nico Tanigawa usually does that for scenes that are high in tension, and this is no exception. This is the first time we’ve seen the side characters opening mock Tomoko on some level. Sure, it’s not really malicious or hurtful, but it’s still teasing Tomoko for being who she is. The scariest part is, this type of teasing falls into the uncanny valley where it isn’t outright bullying, but very close to it. I’m so glad severe bullying isn’t a part of this manga, or I might not be able to handle it. 

One thing I’m sure others have noticed is that Nemoto’s impression isn’t actually Tomoko, but the side of Tomoko they’re used to seeing: the shy, nervous girl who has trouble communicating. It’s the Tomoko from first year, not the new Tomoko who is much more emotionally confident than before. 

If I had been drinking something when I first read this, I would’ve most definitely done a spit-take.

With the way Ucchi is describing Tomoko, I realize this is exactly the performance that Izumi Kitta gave Tomoko in the anime (her real voice, not the voice in her head). But the level of detail is so good, that it’s actually kind of scary just how obsessed Ucchi has been. Relatively speaking, Ucchi actually hasn’t had many run-ins with Tomoko, and yet she is able to describe her so correctly and confidently. 

And she actually called Tomoko charming.

It’s this line that got to me, because it’s the very first time Ucchi has admitted to liking Tomoko to any sort of degree. There’s no embarrassment, no denial, no hesitation.

If Nico Tanigawa don’t want us to ship them, then they’re sure making it hard not to.

I want to point out the way that Nemoto brought up her impression of Tomoko. She does it in a way that tries to minimize any meanness to it. By saying that her friends were laughing at it, she prevents any accusation of bullying, since it was “all in good fun”. By slouching over her desk like that, Nemoto makes the conversational atmosphere all casual, and by having Makeup-chan hear it, she has someone to potentially back her up should things turn sour. 

Damn, she even did the eye thing. Nemo is merciless. 

Tomoko.exe stopped working.

I’m sure a thousand thoughts are flooding Tomoko’s mind right now. And from the looks of things, I’m sure Tomoko came to the conclusion that yes, that was Nemoto who she fist-bumped that day. I’m glad that Makeup-chan managed to ease the tension before things got too ugly. And of course Nemoto would laugh it off, like it’s no big deal.

People like to say that Nemoto is shaping up to be the villain in this manga. While I wouldn’t go that far, I do think she has the potential to go there should the manga ever decide to go that route. 

Whew! This was a long one! There was so much to unpack this time as opposed to the four pages from the last chapter. That’s no criticism, however, as I would gladly review fifty pages a chapter if they’re all as good as this one. The character dynamics, both new and old, were spot-on and offers many layers to dissect. At this point, there is no character who I don’t like, and that’s the highest compliment I can give. Because even the most disliked characters are as such because you like them that way. The manga has perfected naturalistic awkwardness to a T. I feel like every chapter, Nico Tanigawa sets itself up to a higher standard, that I wonder just how they’ll top the previous chapter.

So, next time Yoshida?