#its not perfect since i was thinking about all the school time i was wasting working on this

[wraithinkorporated]

Needed a new discord icon

[covenofagatha]

Practice makes perfect

Agatha makes you build up your stamina until she actually lets you fuck her

Word count: 4.3k

Warnings: g!p reader, virgin!reader, sex, age gap, fleshlight, degradation, humiliation kink, Agatha is MEAN and reader very much gets off on it, premature ejaculation, masturbation, reader is a walking HR violation, cumming in pants

When Agatha Harkness finds out you’re a virgin, she actually laughs. 

You’re a junior in college interning at your dad’s multi-billion dollar company over the summer, a nepo-baby at its finest, and so what if you have the hots for the general counsel? So what if you get hard every single time she even looks in your direction? 

You try to flirt with her, you’re as bold as you can be without her going straight to HR, and yet she barely even gives you the time of day. Deep down, you can tell she likes you though. She humors you and doesn’t tell you to shut up whenever you start to talk, so that must mean something. The two of you have formed quite the relationship since the summer started, with you saying the filthiest things to her and her brushing them off as if they were casual anecdotes. 

“I’d make you feel so good, Agatha,” you tell her one day. “I’ll fill you up so nicely.”

It might be pushing the limits — it’s your third pathetic attempt this day at getting her to reciprocate, but she’s used to it by now; it hardly even fazes her. Everyone in the office knows that their boss’s daughter has a cock, and they also know that their boss’s daughter has a filthy mouth, always saying something vulgar and sarcastic. No one takes anything that comes from your lips as serious. You’ve been called a spoiled, entitled, rich bitch, told that you’re heartless for not giving a damn about anything, expelled from three high schools for the explicit jokes that you make.

But your “jokes” to Agatha are the only thing you’re serious about. 

She scoffs and rolls her eyes; at twenty-five years your senior, she has had plenty of experience with girls that promise her the world and barely deliver on any said promises made. “I’m not some quick college lay that lets you rub my upper thigh and pretends that you’ve found my clit, you know.” 

It’s your turn to scowl. “Who do you think I am?” you ask and she fixes you with a pointed glare from behind her desk. “I know where the clit is.” 

“How many women have you actually satisfied?” she asks and your cheeks heat up. You figured it would come up eventually, but now you don’t actually want to answer. You duck your head and Agatha makes a noise, not exactly surprised, but almost disappointed. “You think I’m going to let a virgin fuck me? You probably wouldn’t even last two seconds inside me.”

“Hey, I’d last longer than that,” you snap, your head shooting back up to look at her incredulously. You can feel a slight stirring in your lower stomach at the thought of blowing your load the instant she gets inside you and how she would most definitely mock you for it. 

Agatha raises an eyebrow and chuckles cruelly. “Honey, please. Go back to your desk and get your work done. I’m definitely not having sex with someone who can’t finish reading over a simple contract.” 

“Ha ha,” you deadpan, and she makes a face at you before you get up out of the chair in front of her desk you were lounging in. “Might have to go to the bathroom real quick and jerk one off though.” 

She crinkles her nose and waves her hand at you dismissively and you think that you’ve just blown all your chances with her. She’s definitely not going to want to fuck you now. There is some speculation floating around about your lack of experience and that’s why you overcompensate with the explicit things you say — libel you tell them, but deep down it’s accurate — and if Agatha, who has certainly had her fair share of partners, knows it’s real, then she for sure won’t waste her time with you. 

So you go back to your desk and begrudgingly get all your work done, emailing Agatha your thoughts about the contracts when you’re all done. She sends back a Very good job, y/n and you hate to admit that it gets you hard. You’d like nothing more than to go fuck yourself in the restroom but you stay at your cubicle until Agatha walks by so you can see her before she leaves for the day. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” you call after her as she breezes by your desk without saying a word. It’s the last day of the third fiscal quarter today, and as a reward, tomorrow your dad is bringing his executive staff to your beach house in The Hamptons for a week. Because you’re part of the family, you get to attend, but none of the other interns do. 

It’s been this way since you were little, but only recently did you start to notice how attractive Agatha was. The way she takes absolutely no shit from anyone, even from your dad. The way she coolly holds her ground in the face of IRS audits, FBI raids, and anything else that got thrown at her. The way she raises an eyebrow at you when you say something stupid and it makes your cock hard in seconds. Everything about her drives you fucking wild. 

Agatha lifts a hand up in response, not even bothering to look over her shoulder at you, and your pants tighten almost uncomfortably. 

The second you get back to your apartment, you undo your belt and unzip your pants, reaching inside to take out your hard and leaking cock. Your hips thrust forward at the warmth from your hand and you gasp, the pleasure already dizzying. You think about Agatha on her knees in front of you, looking up at you through her glasses, telling you that you’re just a pathetic slut who will never be able to make her feel good. 

It takes three strokes of your hand before you grunt and your cock pumps out three long spurts of cum all over the kitchen counter. You grab a paper towel, dampen it, and then wipe up your mess before going to take a shower. 

You might have a serious problem. 

And it’s only going to get worse this week. An entire seven days where you’re going to be around her. There isn’t a doubt in your mind that you’re going to be hard for most of it. Is there a record for the most times a person has cum in a day? Because you think you might break it. 

That night, you have a dream about Agatha, as many of your dreams are. She’s sitting in a chair right by the bed, legs outstretched and open and her feet are resting on the duvet. You’re laying stomach-down, cock hard between your body and the covers, mouth watering. Agatha is completely naked, her cunt glistening, and the dream is so realistic that you can smell her. She laughs when you groan pitifully. 

Then she buries two fingers inside her and your hips lurch against the bed, gasping at the stimulation on your cock. 

“Look at you, humping the bed like a bitch in heat,” she snarls and your rhythm stutters. You garble out something incoherently and she laughs before rubbing her clit with her other hand. “Can’t even fuck me right, so I have to do it myself.” 

You moan loudly, grinding against the bed furiously, and she picks up her thrusts to match your face. “I can, please, I want to,” you beg before she cums all over her fingers. She pulls them out of her and then slides them into your mouth and you cum all over the bed and your stomach. 

When you jerk awake right after that, the first thing you notice is how sticky you are. You must have cum in your underwear from just your dream and it’s just further evidence of how completely fucked you are for the next week. 

There will certainly be no swimming for you because you don’t need the entire executive board and your father knowing that you’re getting hard for the forty-six year old general counsel. 

But fuck, Agatha in a swim suit — 

You cut yourself off from the thought because you don’t have enough time to get worked up again. 

Good thing too, because by the time you do get yourself all cleaned up from your little nighttime accident, you have to leave to get to the helicopters. 

There’s no sign of Agatha yet so you make awkward small talk with Rio Vidal, the head of Human Resources, because you have nothing better to do. She’s new and attractive, but no one gets your cock stirring like Agatha. You wonder if it’s the fact that she’s older and it taps into your mommy issues, or the fact that she can cut you down with a simple sentence and you’ve found that you have a huge thing for degradation, or the fact that she’s never going to let you touch her no matter how hard you beg. 

She drives you crazy and you fucking need her. 

Finally, Agatha pulls up in a company car and gets out, wearing a gray pantsuit, and you already feel your face heating up. She gets into one of the two helicopters without even looking at you and you make a beeline for it before your dad stops you and pulls you into the other one. You can’t exactly tell him that you want to be next to his general counsel, so you grumble to yourself before agreeing. 

It takes only about forty-five minutes to get to the house and the next hour is full of unpacking and the wait staff running around, trying to get everyone everything they need. 

Lunch is served and everyone gathers in the dining room except for Agatha, so you excuse yourself and try to go find her. 

You’re just “happening” to be walking by her room when she opens the door to step out, almost bumping into you. 

“Your quick solo session take a bit too long?” you ask crassly, delighting in the way her eyes roll exasperatedly. “Next time, give me a call and I’ll get you there quickly.”

She starts walking to the dining room, leaving you behind so you have to speed to catch up. “If I ever want someone to cum after three pumps inside me and leave me even more unsatisfied than I was before, I’ll make sure to let you know.”

“Hey, I’d lay you badly, but I’d lay you gladly,” you say as seductively as possible and she snorts. “Come on, you gotta admit you’ve at least thought about it.” 

Agatha spares you a glance. “When I’m trying not to cum. It’s a real turn-off for me personally.”

You also love how she gives as good as she gets. “Please?” you ask, whine, beg. “I’ll be so good for you — I’ll make you feel so good.”

She sniffs and rakes her eyes over your body, pausing at the outline of your cock through your pants. Before you even realize what’s happening, she’s pushed you against the wall and her hand cups your cock and you gasp while bucking into her touch. 

“Really?” Agatha chuckles. You make a muffled sound and try to grind up and she rubs her palm against you, making you throb. “You think you could make me feel good with your cock that’s already about to cum for me?” 

“Yes,” you choke out and she squeezes harder. You’re panting open-mouthed now, trying so hard to hold back from your release. 

She is completely unaffected as she leans in to whisper, “You’re so fucking pathetic,” into your ear and you whimper, your stomach twists, and your cock pulses before pumping loads of cum into your pants. You chant swears under your breath while you cling to her arms for dear life and she watches amusedly as a stain spreads on your pants. 

You’ve never been more of a mess in your life and she just smirks smugly before giving your cock a patronizing pat. 

“I’ll tell your dad you’ll be a little late to lunch.” And then she walks away, leaving you completely agape against the wall, cock still twitching in your pants. 

It’s hard to make eye contact with her the rest of the day without heat flushing through your cheeks and the memory of what she did to you making your cock stir. 

The second you can escape after dinner, you do. You fully intend on spending the rest of the night fucking yourself silly and trying to rid your brain of Agatha.

But around ten, there’s a knock on your door and you swing it open to find Agatha standing there in silk, navy pajamas and black glasses. Your jaw drops open and she brushes right past you to walk into your room and tosses something on the bed. 

A fleshlight. 

“What—” you start to say, but you can’t even finish your question because all the blood in your brain has rushed down to your cock in record time. 

Agatha turns to face you, hands on her hips, lips pursed. “Show me that you can last five minutes with it—” nods at the toy, “—and we’ll see about me letting your cock anywhere close to me.” 

Your breaths come out staggered and you stumble over to the bed, head spinning. There’s no way this is actually happening. You shove down your sweatpants and boxers and your cock bobs up, rigid and hard and leaking copious amounts of precum. 

“God, already?” she snorts and your cock twitches. “You’re so fucking desperate, aren’t you?” 

A muffled whimper escapes your lips and you give yourself a quick stroke. “Fuck.” You reach for the fleshlight, heat completely overwhelming your body, but she stops you first. 

“Spit on yourself,” she orders and you watch her with wide and pleading eyes as a strand of saliva drops from your mouth onto your cock. You feel like you’re in a trance as you spread it out along your length, the wetness of your spit and precum coating your cock and making it glisten in no time. “Fucking pathetic.” 

Her jeers only make you harder and this time, she doesn’t object when you grab the toy. You think you can hear her sharply inhale when you drag your cock against the fake pussy lips and you already know there’s no fucking way you’re going to last one minute, let alone five. 

“Wanna fuck you like this,” you babble before pushing your tip in and instantly freezing at the silicone ridges squeezing around you. You sigh heavily before your breathing quickens and you’re practically panting by the time you get your entire cock inside the fleshlight. 

Agatha’s face is unreadable. “I’m impressed you made it in,” she says, coldly and completely dry, and it makes you thrust into it. It feels so good, even though it’s just a cold, plastic toy and you can only imagine how the real thing would feel. “Well, get on with it. Chop chop, honey. I haven’t got all night to watch your sorry attempt at proving you can fuck me.” 

You grunt and start moving your cock in and out of the toy, whines falling out of you, and you have to squeeze your eyes shut to focus on not cumming too soon. You want to last — you need to last for her, because she might actually let you touch her if you. 

“Ah ah,” she tuts and your cock throbs. “Open your eyes.” 

You obey, and the moment you see her, see the slight redness of her cheeks, you know you fucked up. 

With a loud grunt, you cum in the toy, filling it with so much of your seed that it spills out of the fake cunt and drips onto the floor as you continue snapping your hips up. 

Agatha laughs and walks straight to the door. “Not even thirty seconds. Maybe next time.” 

You are absolutely fucked. 

The next night, you’re almost to two minutes while desperately trying to think of anything else other than Agatha standing right there. She’s watching intently, like she’s studying your technique and critiquing it in her head, and you’re doing really well — you think you might actually have a chance to get to five. The secret is thinking about all the boring contracts you had to read this summer to keep your mind off the overwhelming pleasure you’re getting from the toy.

But then Agatha steps closer to you, runs a finger over your lips and down to cup your breast, and says, “God, you really are just a baby, aren’t you?” so sickly sweet. 

It makes you curse before filling the toy up again, your body completely betraying you. 

“That wasn’t fucking fair,” you try to argue. 

She sticks out her bottom lip in an exaggerated pout. “Oh, honey,” she coos and it’s so fucking condescending. Your cock twitches inside the toy. “It’s not my fault you’re so pathetic you can’t control yourself.”

“Yes, it is,” you whine and she rolls her eyes. 

“We’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe you should cum before I get here so you might have a chance at lasting for five minutes,” she taunts and you’re too embarrassed to tell her that you already got off before she came tonight. Clearly it did not work. 

You figure that maybe you just need to cum more throughout the day to build up some stamina. You fuck yourself with the fleshlight in the morning after you wake up with morning wood because surprise, surprise: you had another dream about Agatha. When she takes a sip of her orange juice at breakfast, eyes flicking up to meet yours as she sucks on the straw, you have to excuse yourself to go to the bathroom and it only takes you about six strokes before you’re cumming all over your hand. It’s a long day of lounging around the pool and hushed conversations, and the moment Agatha steps out onto the desk in a sensible one-piece, you have to wrap a towel around your waist so no one sees your erection through your swim trunks to run back to your room, hastily saying that you forgot sunscreen. You cum into the fleshlight in about three minutes. 

And about thirty minutes before she shows up to your room at 10 pm on the dot, you have another quick session with your hand. 

You are absolutely determined tonight. 

When she strolls in through the door, the air is different. She’s carrying a glass of Scotch and you snatch it as she walks past you, downing the rest in one sip. 

“Are you even old enough to drink?” she asks, eyebrow raised and giving you a once over. 

You laugh sarcastically before setting the cup down on the nightstand and tearing your shirt off over your head, not missing the way her gaze flicks down to your nipples. Usually, you just take your boxers off, but tonight, you want her to see all of you. 

“A little arrogant, hm?” 

Nodding your head, you spit onto your cock and stroke it to full hardness. This is also the first time you haven’t had a raging erection the second she arrived. Before she can say anything, you’ve grabbed the fleshlight and started thrusting your cock into it. It feels good, but you’ve become so desensitized to it, just from today, that you’re feeling more confident than ever. 

Agatha realizes this, sees it on your face. “Wow, look at my slut,” she croones. “She finally learned how to fuck herself. Doesn’t mean you can fuck someone else though. I bet the moment you get inside me, you’ll cum because you’re too fucking pathetic to actually make me feel good.” 

The degradation goes straight to your cock and you grunt, pausing for a second before resuming. The smirk on her face is as frustrating as it is hot and only makes it harder to think clearly. 

“You’re just a worthless little whore, aren’t you?” she snarls and your breaths become shallow and your thrusts become more like quick ruts into the toy. 

“Yes, fuck,” you moan quietly, tightly, and god she’s not playing fair at all. The toy is squeezing you so hard and it’s becoming tougher to keep fucking it, but the prize of getting to be inside Agatha is so close if you can just hang on. 

She scoffs sharply but you can see the heat on her face. Fuck. She likes this. “How are you not absolutely humiliated by yourself and how desperate you are?” she says, getting meaner, and precum is leaking out of the toy each time you drive your cock back into the toy. If you weren’t actively using all of your effort to keep from cumming, you think you would’ve filled up the fleshlight at least three times by now. Agatha is trying so hard to break you, but you refuse. 

The most excruciating five minutes of your life finally end, and you are so fucking triumphant. “We had a deal,” you remind her hoarsely. 

“Stop acting like lasting five minutes is an accomplishment,” she scorns and you have to pull the toy off your aching erection or you actually might cum. Your cock bobs up and down, trails of precum dripping onto the floor and down your length. You’ve made such a mess. “Get on the bed,” she orders, and your heart stops. 

You lay on the duvet, resting your back against the pillows, and watch with bated breath as Agatha slowly unbuttons her pajama shirt. You whine when you can see her tits, round and perky, and you need to get her rosy nipples in your mouth immediately. She takes off her shorts and you can’t help but hump the air, your cock engorged and neglected. 

“Please,” you sob. “It hurts so fucking bad.”

She mockingly coos and then climbs onto the bed with her underwear still on, straddles your hips, and she slowly grinds against your cock. A loud, high-pitched keen tears itself out of your mouth and you buck up into her, but she tsks and hovers above you. “Patience, pet,” she says and there are literal tears in your eyes from how hard you are. 

Agatha reaches down and pulls her panties to the side and rubs her clit for a moment. 

“Can I—”

“—touch me? No. There’s no way you’d make it inside me then,” she sneers and you hate to admit that she’s right. 

“I’m sorry,” you mumble, your cock jumping when she slides two fingers in herself. Your head is spinning, completely drunk with need for her. 

She takes pity on you and grabs your cock, angling it at her entrance. “It’s okay, honey. You’re just a little baby. My little, pathetic, desperate baby.” 

And then she slides down on your cock in one slick motion and your hands scramble to dig into the bedsheets and a loud, strangled moan comes out of your mouth, and you cum instantly, the feeling of her warm, wet walls around you too much to bear. 

To her credit, she doesn’t laugh as you rut into her frantically. She just waits for you to finally calm down before squeezing her cunt around you. It makes you gasp. “I knew you couldn’t last,” she says, slowly starting to bounce up and down your cock. 

“Too sensitive,” you whine and she clucks her tongue. 

“Well, you promised that you were going to fuck me, didn’t you?” 

Your cock has softened inside her, your cum starting to leak out of her pussy, and she collects it with her fingers and starts to rub her clit. Her walls spasm around you and you twitch. You nod your head and bite your lip — she is everything you’ve ever wanted. 

It takes a few minutes of Agatha clenching around you to bring you back to full hardness, a speedy recovery even by your standards, and she starts to ride you for real. 

“Good thing you’re the poster child for instant gratification,” she grunts, lifting herself up and then back down. There’s such a mess between the two of you that there’s squelching sounds each time she moves on you. You’re practically frozen beneath her and all you can do is watch as she fucks herself on you. “Just need to make you cum before actually being able to use you. I’ll train you so well, make you nothing into more than a cock for me to fuck.” 

You finally regain the ability to think and start desperately thrusting up into her, needing more than anything to make her moan, to make her cum. She’s riding you faster and harder and her chest is becoming flushed and you think she might actually be getting somewhere. 

But she squeezes around you again and fucking groans and you never stood a chance. “Fuck, fuck, fuck — Agatha, I’m gonna — fuck!” you cry and erupt inside her again, painting her walls white once again. You’re not even sure if you made it five minutes inside her. 

Agatha slows down on top of you and you wince at the overstimulation of her still wrapped around you. 

“Did you?” It’s a stupid question, one you already know the answer to, but you’re hoping that maybe you got it wrong. 

Her laugh tells you that you did not and she slides off you, your cock flopping against your stomach in a sticky puddle, and she grabs the edge of the blanket on your bed to wipe the globs of cum oozing out of her. Fuck. You’ll never be able to use that blanket without getting hard again and you know that you’ll be fucking the fabric every single day for the rest of your life. 

She flops down next to you and you wonder if it would be foolish to ask her to stay. “It’s not that easy to make me cum, pet. But don’t worry. I’ll get you there.”

@lostbutlovely33 @diorrxckstar @whoreforolderfictionalwomen  @katekathry @onemansdreamisanothermansdeath @tayasmellsapples @natashashill @mybraininblood @mysticalmoonlight7  @cactuslover2600 @loveem0mo @readysteddiero-nance @lonelyhalfwitch @lesbiantortilla @crescendoofstars @sol-in-wonderland @ahsfan05 @gbab09 @sasheemo @agathaharness @live-laugh-love-lupone @chiar4anna @fuckedupforkhahn @lowlyjelly @sweetmidnights

[ryebread0605]

please please I beg you Jamil with a fetish for corruption please

Damn yall really got me exposing my kinks publicly lmao

I will warn, this could be read as dubcon so be aware! Continuing to read means you acknowledge this (as, in this, the reader is innocent towards sexual matters)

with that out of the way, enjoy!

You were a breath of fresh air in Night Raven College. Soft spoken, kind to everyone, and as sweet as honey. Your smile could make even Sebek smile back, even with his hatred of humans. But the one person who had his eyes on you the most was Jamil Viper.

To him, you were everything he wished he could have. Someone who had spent countless nights fixing up dishes for Kalim, someone who came to every one of his games and cheered him on (sure, you were cheering on the whole team, but you cheered for him the loudest in his mind). You represented a light in his life that he wanted. 

So why then did he sit here thinking of you in such crude ways? Why did he think of the sight of you beneath him, eyes blurred with tears of pleasure causing makeup to run down your perfect skin? Thoughts of you shaking and begging for more, not understanding fully what he’s doing but knowing you want more of it. He had to have you. He had to be the one to teach you. 

When an opportunity presented itself one night as the two of you were cooking for tomorrow’s party, he couldn’t let the chance go to waste. He started small, his hand lingering a bit too long over yours, soft brushes against your backside, pressing himself a bit closer than normal to you. You noticed but thought nothing of it as his movements had changed drastically since the day you met him.

But he couldn’t let you think it was a simple coincidence. He needed to let you know it was all intentional. He needed to give you a chance to reject him. To think long and hard about what you wanted to do about this. So he moved his hand to your knee, his fingertips sliding over your stockings, the lightest caresses. Your skin was soft and warm, and he just wanted to touch more of you. He needed to touch more of you.

“(Name),” he began softly, whispering into your ear, “aren’t you warm with all those layers on?” 

The question barely seemed out of place to you, it was quite warm in the kitchen afterall. So, with a bit of a nod, you slipped the cardigan you had on off of your arms and placed it neatly over the chair nearby. Jamil smirked at this, the look of pure innocence in your eyes only made the fire in his stomach grow more. 

He had to see more.

And so, a few minutes later as you turned towards him with the spatula he asked for, he ‘accidentally tripped’ and spilt vanilla extract down the front of your white button up school uniform top.

“Oh Sevens (name), I’m so sorry I’ll try to get it out” he knew full well what he was doing as he rubbed the stain further into the shirt, using the opportunity as a chance to feel your chest a bit. As the stain spread, he continued to fake being apologetic of the ‘accident’. 

“I’m so sorry (name), I’ll grab you one of my shirts and clean that one right away” he hated having to pretend and lie to you in the same way he had to lie and pretend to Kalim but in this case, he was actually gaining something from it. 

A soft laugh came from you as you simply smiled and unbuttoned your shirt, “it’s alright Jamil! Accidents happen, I’ll just be more careful next time!” He couldn’t believe his eyes as you innocently lay the shirt on top of your cardigan, now left in just a bra. He thought the most he would see was you in one of his shirts, and now he couldn’t ignore the tight feeling of his pants.

Sensing his discomfort, you turned to him and tilted your head, “is everything alright Jamil?” A thought, one so perverted and wrong, formed in his mind as a smile made its way to his lips, “actually my dear, I have a bit of a problem. And since you caused it, would you be the one to help me solve it?”

And that’s how you found yourself here, kneeling in front of him as he guided your head gently to take his cock in your mouth. It was a foreign feeling to you, but the praises he gave you made something inside you want more. And the way you looked up at him with those big, adorable eyes made him struggle to hold back. He knew he had to take it slow, and right now this was more than enough. 

He talked you through how to suck him off right, telling you which parts made him feel best and where to put your hands. The feeling of your warm mouth around his cock was heavenly, his head thrown back in pleasure and low groans of pleasure coming from his lips. 

“Just like that, you’re so good for me (name), just a little more~” he ran his fingers through your hair gently before suddenly pushing your head all the way down, a muffled gasp coming from your lips as hot ropes of cum poured down your throat before he pulled your head off his now not as hard cock. The way your tongue lolled out of your mouth when you softly panted, his cum dribbling down your chin, your eyes staring right at him, Sevens it was addicting to see. 

“Now my dear, it’s my turn to show you how good things can feel~”

[rhaeheartzsquirrelz]

Hiii,

By any chance can you write academic rivals for either Ellie or Abby?? It doesn’t have to have smut but I just need some angst and tension >:)

YES OFC I CAN?! chat idk how to write Abby to the point where it’s accurate so I’ll stick to Ellie (for now). And uhh this is my first time writing this trope cus ive lowkey never really liked it 😕 BUT I HOPE YOU DO!! Also, I hope its not too long 4 u 😇

Paper Thin Hatred

Ellie Williams x FEMALE Reader || Academic Rivals (fluff)

You’re going in blind, no summary needed.

Warning(s): Sexual tension; making out, mentions of drugs and violence (though it’s not described). Use of y/n like once. (blehh).

A/N: I tried my best gn. If you see any mistakes, no you didnt. I’m not the best at writing angst, i hate sad stuff, so Idk if I did a good job lol.

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

You hated her.

Hated how effortlessly smart she was, able to ace every test without the need to lay even a finger on her notes. How she could easily attract everyone and anyone with a single look. How every teacher in your school had this.. bias on her. She was the exception, the favourite. It was unfair and stupid.

No matter how hard you tried, how hard you worked, it was never enough to pass her. There was nothing you could do. Study? Already tried it, ended up two points off from her perfect hundred percentage. Tutoring? Done, but it was never efficient and only wasted the little time you had after school. You had tried everything. But you still came no where near where she was.

Ever since the first grade, you’d been competing with her, butting heads on every test, every assignment, and even every small quizz. From announcing your test scores to the class after realizing you’d topped her to keeping them a secret after finding out you scored lower than her, you’d grown to despise her.

This girl, who you despised, was Ellie Williams, the top student at your school. She was, also, a dickhead to everyone else but her teachers and, surprisingly, you. She’d never think to uttered an insult in your direction, let alone bring your name up in her shit talking sessions. Even so, she was still a stuck-up brat. Thinking she was better than everyone else, demanding respect and attention.

But, even with all these reasons you hate her for, you couldn’t help but admire her carefree spirit. Holding a blunt in the bathroom and smoking it through with her group of friends. Who all, by the way, were assholes. Bullies, to be frank. You didn’t understand why Ellie hung out with a bunch of losers when she could easily make friends with someone like her, someone as smart and collected. She didn’t care. And, sometimes, you wished you didn’t either. The two of you were opposites. You wanted to forget about the grudge you’d been holding against her but you just.. couldn’t. Not when you your competitive nature shook it’s ugly head everytime you were near the auburn girl.

You cared too much, you couldn’t just flip a switch and change that?

It was none of your business, is what you’d tell yourself everytime you found your thoughts wandering off to her. And, either way, having her hang out with those kinds of people meant she would be sure to slack off. Peer pressure was a real deal, and you silently wished it’d throw Ellie down from the title of being the school’s number one student.

You were practically praying for it.

⊹₊⟡⋆

With a push on the doors, you enter the library. Backpack over your shoulders, hands stuffed in the pockets of your jacket, you look for a good place to sit. Choosing an empty corner, you got to work; Pages flipping, pen writing, and keys typing, you were almost finished with an essay of yours.

That was, until Williams showed up. A strong push on the doors you’d just came from, she confidently walked in with her hands in her pockets. She looked around to find herself, and the crowd of fans behind her, a seat. Fans, as in her loser friends. They only hung out with her because she was relevant. And she only hung out with them for free cigarettes, weed, and whatever the hell she had going on. She wore a dark blue hoodie with her usual grey sweatpants. As confident as she was, she looked fucking homeless; even though you found yourself raked over her figure.

She was lean, well built, and, clearly, visited the gym frequently. You’d never seen her flex though, only on her social media did she show off those biceps of her. Not that you cared.

When Ellie’s green eyes spotted you, she let out a devilish grin before walking over to you. Her friend group followed behind like a bunch of dogs.

“Hey, sweet thing.” Leaning a hand on your table she played with one of your pens. Without hesitation, you snatched it from her hand and gave her the dirtiest look on the face of earth. “What do you want? You know the library isn’t for fucking around, right?” With your voice as hostile as ever, all you wanted was for Ellie to fuck off. More so her friends. “I’m whispering.” She was, matter of fact she was being pretty respectful. Quiet and polite, yet so bold and confident. It pissed you off. Everything the bitch did had your blood boiling. “Anyways, what are you up to? Saw you all by yourself, need some company?” She was mocking you, evident in the way she looked down at you. As if to keep you in your place. You wanted to shove a fist in her smug little face. “I’m good.”

No way Ellie would listen to you. So, with a motion to her friends she pulled a chair beside you and sat down. Her sorry-ass friend-group walked away with a bitter chuckle. How unlucky could you get? Legs spread with her arms inbetween them she gave you a smile. Her eyes roamed over your form and then the table infront of you. Everything was neatly organized, perfectly arranged. “Need help with that essay? Or ya’ just gonna be stubborn?” You chose being stubborn. “I don’t need your help, nor do I need you to be near me.” Turning your attention back to the computer, you hoped she’d just get bored and leave. But it seemed like your annoyance only fueled her amusement, because she couldn’t keep herself from leaning closer and resting her chin on your shoulder. “Stay still.”

Like hell you would. Recoiling, you sigh in frustration. “Why the—“ An arm interrupted and pulled you back into position and she, again, rested her chin on your shoulder. Ellie was fucking strong. And, you’d only just now realized the physical power she had over you. She not only had the smarts, but she had the body. God damn it, she was better than you at everything. “Let me help.” Who the hell did she think she was? Helping you? Just because she aced every test? That didn’t mean shit. She had no right to tell you what to do, make you do what she wanted you to. Clenching your jaw, you faught the urge to push her off you and instead opted for a less obnoxious way to escape; to leave.

“I don’t need your help, like I said before I’m good.” Shrugging her off of you, you stuff everything back into your backpack with organization being the last thing on your mind. “I was trying to be nice, why the hell are you so damn stuck-up?” Scoffing and leaning back against her chair, the auburn haired girl crossed her arms and looked you up and down. The quiet action had your nerves on edge, causing a fire of insecurity to spread through your body.

She’s judging you, probably thinks you’re stupid. Maybe even thinks you’re overreacting. Is it your body she’s quietly examining or your mind? Is she noticing the curves or the faults of your figure? Either way, you needed to get the fuck out of there.

Without a word, you pull your backpack over a shoulder and bolt towards the door. The door that looked heavenly as you pushed it open. The outside air felt so much better, so much more comfortable. Your body wasn’t tense anymore, nor was your breathing shaky and stiff. The cool breeze entered your nose and you took your time to relax. Just when you were beginning to cool down, you hear this agitating voice from behind.

“Will you listen?!” You felt a tug at your wrist in which you were turned you around to face Ellie. Who was now infront of you with furrowed brows, a narrowing gaze, and that.. look on her face. The subtle expression she had was too difficult to decipher, so you gave up on even bothering to put energy into her. Especially right now. She was staring down at you, probably trying to coax out a response. “I wasn’t trying to piss you off, alright? I just..” Your heart felt like it could practically jump out your chest the more she stood there. So close yet so far. “I didn’t think you’d get mad. I.. I’m sorry for being all up in your space.” Maybe her apology was your last straw because the next thing that came out your mouth left her feeling rejected— as you’d describe it.

“You think walking around with straight A’s makes you all that?” Your furrowed brows meet her, now, raised ones, she looks confused. “I don’t give a damn about how you feel, never have never will. You’re some stuck-up wannabe and I’d rather stay the hell away from you. Got that, Williams?” You were speaking your truth, telling her what you’d been wanting to since the day you first met her. “I don’t need anything from you. I’m fine by myself.” The hostility in your words made Ellie take a step back, her expression showing just how surprised she was. The tension was thick in the cool autumn air. The breeze blew past you and you had to force yourself to meet her eyes— Her eyes that has this look of disappointment within them. Why? You wanted to ask. But, then again, you didn’t really care.

“Yeah. Alright.” Was her response, her voice quiet and low as she looked down and fidgeted with her two hands. Intertwining her fingers, picking on her nails, and even squeezing her thumb. Her jaw clenched and she averted you completely. “I’m sorry..”

You’d just bruised her ego.

⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

The week before spring break, you were in class worrying your pretty ass off about all the busy work your teachers had given you. You’re talkin’ stacks of assignments and essays. Videos to watch, quizzes to answer, and books to read. With a sigh of exhaustion, you wait impatiently for class to begin. It was a typical monday, everyone was sleep deprived and already knocked out with their heads on their desks. It was a depressing sight.

But, one thing that was nagging at you all weekend was Ellie. Ironic or not, you had a heavy heart ever since you walked away from her that friday afternoon. The way she looked down, her brows furrowed with embarrassment, and her hands fidgeting with one another. The moment replayed in your head every night, causing you to loose focus on sleep and studying. Since when had you been so soft?

You hated her. So why would you feel bad? Especially after she practically mocked you because, apparently, she knows it all.

You shake the freckled girl out of your mind and focus on the lecture as class began. Weirdly enough, Ellie wasn’t present. She never missed a day of school. Was she skipping? Probably out smoking with her friends, or even snorting god knows what up her nose. You couldn’t care less, especially when you now had the advantage of attending the lecture. You were learning a new unit and were now ahead of Ellie. It was perfect. Too perfect. —

Class had ended and you were packing yourself up before your professor approached your desk. Papers in his hand, she placed them down infront of you. You looked down to find the notes from today printed onto them, they were neatly organized and well prepared. Your professor had reallyyy had made sure to make it look good.

This was an example of how being favoured benefited the stuck-up, freckled girl you called Ellie.

“Hey, y/n, would you mind handing today’s notes to Ellie?” The tall, blond, middle aged man gave you a smile. “I know you two share dorms in the same building.”

Why was that your problem? It was her job to make sure she attended class, why the hell were you chosen to do such a task? But, you couldn’t say no to your professor, not when he clearly favorited Ellie.

“No, I don’t mind. But, uhm.. what room is she in?” Your luck was so sore that you wished you’d skipped class yourself.

“Dorm four-o-eight.” He patted the papers before stuffing his hands in the pocket of her pants and walking back to the front of class.

Sometimes, you swore the universe was working overtime to make you suffer. Punish you for whatever you’d done in your past life. You never understood why you and Ellie always, somehow, ended up in the same classes, same hallways— Hell, the two you saw each other everywhere. Malls? Restaurants? It was like you were being followed.

୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ

With a loud knock, you awkwardly wait infront of Ellie’s dorm room. It felt weird standing there, mostly because of the argument you had with her a few days back. What would you even say to her? Would she even open the door? Maybe she’d shut it in your face to get back at you. All you knew was that you a task; give her the notes from class and leave. It’s not anything would go wrong, right?

The door clicked unlocked and Ellie swung it open. You were greeted with her tired expression. She stood tall, a hand on the door knob with the other scratching the back of her head. She wore a tanktop and this was the first time you’d seen her muscles. Of course, without realizing it, your eyes were practically glued to them. They were toned and stood out like a sore thumb. For a second, you wondered what else she was hiding under that tank of hers. She looked.. pretty attractive and you’d be lying if you said she didn’t. No wonder almost every girl was fanning over the 5’6 nerdy auburn.

Snapping out of your trance you meet her gaze and notice the bruise on her left eye. It was purple with a hint red. And, it definitely looked like it hurt. Did she really get into a fight? You called it. Maybe with one of her friends. Or because of her friends. That’s probably why she wasn’t in class— Either way, all you needed to do was hand her the notes and leave.

Holding out the stack of papers, you met her green eyes before she grabbed it from your hands. Her fingers, seemingly intentionally, brushed against yours for a brief moment. She flashed a smug grin as she read over it and shook her head with amusement. “Notes, huh? You makin’ sure I’m caught up, princess?” How the hell was she so.. playful after that argument, especially after that fat black eye. Did she even care? My god, was she even bothered as much as you were?

“Mr. Nunez told me to give them to you. It was against my will.” You corrected, hands dropping to your side, you turn your head to find an appropriate way to leave. Ellie, somehow, caught onto that, “Hey, you wanna come inside? I uh.. I wanted to.. talk to you. I guess?” The freckled girl, shrugging with a sheepish expression, stepped asife and motioned for you come in. The invitation was friendly, but the sight of her fucked up room made you rethink your decision. Clothes everywhere, clouded air, probably from smoking, and.. were those her fucking boxers hanging from her bed frame?!

“Ignore the mess, I’ve been.. a bit busy.” Yeah, she looked busy with that fucked up eye of hers. You took a second to think. It wouldn’t hurt, right? Plus, you’d get to see her “secret” to being the top student. Was it the way she studied? Did she cheat?

“Fine. But I’m not staying for long.” Oh, you’d be leaving the second Ellie let slip something even close to condescending. You weren’t having it with her anymore, not when she acted like royalty.

Entering her dorm, you plop yourself down onto her bed. Staying away from her clothes, which you were sure smelled, your hands stayed in your lap. You looked around, as Ellie placed the notes down onto a nearby surface, raking over the candid photos on her wall, the trinkets on her desk, and the collection of gum wrappers stamped on her dresser. She had a life, a fun one at that. But, you spotted no sign of school work.

You hadn’t realized she was sat beside you, her hands fidgeting with the strings of her pajamas shorts as she looked down. “On.. friday.” Ellie began, clearing her throat before taking a second to collect her breath; which was shaky. “I genuinely wasn’t trying to make you mad. I’m not as.. stuck-up as you think I am, I really wanted to help. Considering I’ve never even.. uhm had a proper conversation with you? I thought I’d be nice and do something good.” She shrugged out her explanation, and it make sense. You were even considering it. She looked genuine enough, maybe she was telling the truth. But the hate in you only made you see the bad.

What was the “bad” in the current situation? You didn’t really know.

“I know you.. have this grudge against me. You hate me. And, I don’t really know why.” The hint of vulnerability in her tone had your walls came crumbling down. Maybe you were naive for it but you shake your head and furrow your brows. “Hate is a strong word..” And its exactly how you had described your feelings towards Ellie since the day you two had met. “Maybe I’m just.. jealous.” Why were you being honest? You didn’t really know. You seemed to know absolutely nothing when it came to the auburn haired girl. Everytime you opened your mouth your thoughts immediately began slipping from your mouth. “You get good grades without even trying. I mean, all you do is smoke and.. fuck around.”

All you got in response with a scoff and a soft, “is that what you think?” What else were you supposed to think? “Well, I guess I do smoke. But I study. Not as hard as you, of course, but I do my best and.. well, I guess it pays off.” Leaning back on her arms, she gave you a smile. “Your anger’s justified, I don’t blame you, Princess.” And right when you were about to give her a smile back, though it’d be an awkward one, you watch as her hand shifted to resting ontop of yours.

She was making a move on you.

Flinching at the touch, you pull your hand away with an averting gaze. Was this what she wanted this whole time?

“Sorry.” Ellie shifted to pull away from you, giving you space on the bed. Your heart was racing at the small touch, not to mention you were so damn close to her. Your thighs were a shift away from touching and you suddenly felt hot. The room held a loud silence, a piercing one at that. It was awkward, uncomfortable. Both of you waited for eachother to say something, to utter a word and lighten the mood.

“I’ve always found you.. interesting.” Ellie chose to step up, placing her hand on your thigh and swallowing her nervousness down. “You’re smart, y’know? Even though you’re extra sometimes, I’ve always.. wanted your attention on me.”

For a second, you took a second to process her words, process the hand on your thigh. Her? Ellie Williams? Interested in you?

“If I’m being honest, I don’t even care about school, nor do I give a damn about my grades. I just.. ever since I realized you noticed me whenever I get a better grade than you.. I guess that’s been my goal. I don’t care about the stupid assignments, the fuckass tests, all I seem to want is for you to just.. look at me.”

What. The. Actual. Fuck. What was the hell is going on? Is she confessing some sort of.. love for you? Did she like you? Why the hell would she like you?

You couldn’t keep your reaction in check. You held your breath in shock, unable to really.. think of something to say. You felt stuck, unable to move and unable to say anything that would make the situation better. It’s like everything you thought of only seemed to make the situation.. more awkward and complicated.

After a good second of just staring at her, you clear the lump from your dry throat and try not to focus on the hand resting on your thigh. She was getting real bold, and it made you nervous. “I uhm.. that’s.. Ellie, that’s a lot to.. process..”— “So don’t.” So don’t? What in the world was this bitch on? Molly? “I’m being completely honest. Kiss me. If you like it then.. then things won’t be as complicated anymore. You’ll know—“ “Kiss you? Are you.. high or something?” Green eyes widening, you assumed her confidence was bruised by the way she slumped down and flickered her eyes away. You didn’t need her being all upset, she had no reason to be. “I’m not high.. I’m being honest. Can you really not tell?”

No, you couldn’t!

“Ellie.. that’s an insane thing to.”— “Just once won’t kill you. It’s a kiss. One simpe press on the lips.” First of all, where did this even come from? The whole kissing thing? And.. why did she have that fat bruise on her eye? Sighing, you pinch the bridge of your nose. The hell were you supposed to do? Negotiation always worked? There was no way you could kiss her, you hated her. All your life you’ve only wanted one thing; to was crush her. But, knowing all she’d ever wanted was.. well, your attention.. it had you sort of baffled. How could that be possible, seriously?

“What happened to your eye?” You avoided the subject of kissing, knowing you’d probably give up and let her do whatever she wanted to. Now, you were expecting a simple answer. Straightforward and easy to understand. You were tired of thinking.

“I beat up a kid for.. uhm, well.. talking about you?” She shrugged out, averting your gaze with a sheepish smile playing on her lips. “It’s stupid, I know. But, it didn’t happen in school so I’m not like.. suspended or.. something.” She took a second to clear her throat, “and, I didn’t wanna come to class with this fat thing around my eye.”

It was beyond stupid. Completely insane! Maybe all that smoking really had fucked up that brain of hers. It was the fact that she’d done it for you that had you taken aback. She had no reason to defend you after you’d practically told her to fuck off. Not to mention the fact that she knew you hated her. It didn’t make sense. But, maybe that black eye was enough proof that she actually might care. Actually might like you. But, could you really be sure? What if she was lying and all of this was just some sick prank?

You tilt your head to get a better look at her eye as it seemed like it was beginning to swell. “Right.. and uh, what was that kid saying?” Your question wasn’t a hard one, not for anyone but Ellie. Ellie who seemed to be struggling to find her words. Her fidgeting fingers gave it all away, not to mention her averting gaze.

It was.. sort of cute.

“Just how you were—.. I don’t wanna think about it.” She was, clearly, still bothered by the incident. She cared more about what some kid said about you than what you’d said about her. But, why? You seriously couldn’t wrap your head around it.

“Are you mad?” The green eyed girl gave you a glance before going back to fiddling with her fingers. Her hair covering most of her face as she had it down. “No, I don’t think so?” As truthful as your words were, they had you, yourself, confused. Why weren’t you mad? Usually, you’d blow up on her if she even tried talking to you. Maybe her confession had made you all mushy.

“I don’t get it, Ellie. You beat up a kid for me?” She raised her head and turned to yoy, her expression was clear then. Slightly furrowed brows with parted lips, she was still upset over the whole situation. She really must be with that bruised eye. You decided to drop the questions for now and shifted on her bed. “Can I get my kiss now?” By the time you’d leaned back against your two arms, Ellie had turned to face you. She had this look of determination and it, honest to god, had you considered her question.

“You’re not getting a kiss..”— “Alright, give me a good reason why.” Stubborn as hell. She’d never quit, you knew that. If she’d gone years just getting your attention what else could she have up her sleeve. It was just a kiss.. right? “For one, I’ve known you since the first grade. It’d be weird. Second of all, you’re Ellie. It just doesn’t make sense.” Kissing her would only cause complications, you didn’t need that. And, it’s not like you wanted a girlfriend, you had studying to do. “Those are all the reasons why you should kiss me. I don’t want some.. french kiss, just give me a press on the lips.” A small press on the lips was too much to ask for.

“What do I get in return?” Was your final question, knowing the right answer would probably lead to you making an irrational decision and kissing the girl you hated most. “Your feelings figured out. You want that, right? I’ll show you how you feel about me, please.” This bitch really was crazy. Pleading for a small kiss? She could have anyone else on the campas kiss her at an instant, so why was she asking you?

But, then again, you didn’t want to feel confused anymore. One small press on her lips as you could finally tell her you didn’t feel anything for her, then she could leave you alone. Without the need for your attention, Ellie would be sure to slack off and let her grades drop.

With a deep inhale, you lean closer. Your heart, somehow, was racing in your chest, almost going to jump out. You didn’t understand why but, your palms were suddenly sweaty and it was growing hotter in the room. The sight of Ellie staring at your lips had your mind going fuzzy, your throat goong dry. Her warm, calloused hand came to rest on your cheek as she finally pressed her lips against yours. Your mind probably went numb for a second because it took you a good while to process it all. She didn’t pull away after a peck on the lips and continued tapping kisses on your lips. It had your hands shaking, face warm, and eyes fluttering shut. She was a good kisser, the way her lips tasted, the way her thumb ran over your cheek, even the way her breath tickled your heated skin. She was damn charming and you couldn’t help but kiss back.

Before you knew it, the auburn haired girl’s hand had came to rest under your shirt and on your waist. She felt around your skin as her tongue entered your mouth and began exploring. Your stomach was fluttering like crazy, you could feel it flip everytime Ellie let slip a noise you’d never even thought you’d be able to hear. Not to mention the sound of the kiss, it was embarrassingly clumsy. Maybe because both of you were a nervous wreck. All you could think about was being in the moment, not what would happen after the kiss, not what you could do to get score higher than Ellie. Everything else seemed to disappear around you, leaving only you and the girl you were kissing relevant.

With a slight smile, she pulled away and made her way to your jaw. Placing open mouthed kisses there and, occasionally, sucking on your sensitive skin. You bit back a moan but it only backfired when she fully wrapped her arms around your waist and pulled you against her chest. “I wanna hear it, Princess..” Oh, hear she did. Your lips couldn’t contain the lewd moans and whines that dared, and succeeded, to escape. They were, undoubtedly, music to Ellie’s ears. She was enjoying all of it. “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do this..” She whispered inbetween marking you up, her hands roaming over the bare skin of your back with a hint of desperation. As if she wanted to feel all of you, have you skin-to-skin with her. “Ellie..” Was all you could really moan out, which had her flecked cheeks red. Completely and utterly red.

And, in that moment, you’d realized just how wrong you’d gotten Ellie. She was never competing against you, all she wanted was you. Sure, you still hated how effortlessly smart she was, but, to be frank, you were willing to let your walls crumble down. Her silent confidence made you completely and utterly weak, your hate was as paper thin when it came to her. She was able to crumple it up before easily tearing it down. With a few words Ellie was able to get you to melt into her. Into the kiss.

Maybe, just maybe, you didn’t hate her as much anymore.

[youreyeson1y]

01. and every time you breathe his air, just know i was already there

ⓘ now playing: track 01. taste ▷▷ 0:24 ─●──────── 2:37

pairing: student council president!yang jungwon x reader(f) cw: controlling relationship (context, (mostly) in the background), lots of swearing (y/n's love language is cursing basically lol), lmk if i missed anything !

synopsis: it has been months since you and jungwon broke up, so it shouldn't bother you if he's dating your bitchy nemesis, but you still can't help but get into catfights with her because you love to get a reaction out of little miss perfect. definitely not because you still have feelings for jungwon, right?

tags: high school au, exes to lovers(?), lowercase intended

author's note: not my best fic as a writer (since i literally wrote most of this in language class) but its become one of my favourites as i've come to love this fic so much because of all the feels and the character personalities, so i hope someway you'll find yourself here <3 ngl won's character is heavily inspired by en-drama because i'm obsessed. my first try at writing for my fav enha boy so i hope i did well !

word count: 2.8k

“bitch, are you actually crazy,’ with bright orange soda dripping down your shirt, you let out a slow chuckle, “or are you just mad that you taste me when he’s kissing you?” 

“fucking whor—,”

“that’s enough for today, girls, leave some energy for the rest of the day,” mrs. kang, the only teacher in the cafeteria, finally stood up from her seat and walked towards the commotion. 

“you just earned an hour in detention, you lady.” you couldn’t help but smirk when the teacher shot miss. ‘perfect’ a disapproving glare. “stay back tomorrow and maybe help out the volunteers, make yourself useful for once.” 

“but, uh, mrs. kang, she provoked me! she should be the one getting detention!” it was funny how she thought crushing the soda-can in her hands would deem her as innocent. 

“ma’am,” you knew you were a trouble-maker, but the only reason teachers trusted you was because you were sincere— or at least good at pretending you were. “i was only here to have a conversation, but she was the one who assaulted me out of nowhere,” 

one of the reasons you maintained a friendly relationship with the teachers was for situations like this. 

“and you know what ma’am, i’m not even mad that she attacked me, but wastage of food? oh, to think a thirsty kid could’ve been drinking that soda, but for it to get wasted on me like that?”

“that’s enough, y/n; don’t think i don't know your antics.” mrs. kang looked at you through her glasses. “another sentence and you’ll be enjoying detention with your best friend here.”

you flashed her a guilty but thankful smile. "of course ma’am, i understand.”

“and what are you all looking at? the bell’s about to ring, get back to your classes!” the teacher cursed under her breath, the crowd around you disappearing in an instant. 

mrs. kang looked around the cafeteria, and her face instantly lit up when she saw bitch #2. “ah, yang jungwon! thank god at least someone responsible is here.” 

you didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking at him, but you sensed him stand taller and simultaneously become smaller at the acknowledgement. 

“son, please take this menace to the nurse’s room, i don’t trust her enough to send her alone— god knows what more she’ll end up causing.” you flash mrs. kang a guilty smile. “meanwhile, you, young lady, come with me to the staff room.”

as you saw miss perfect follow mrs. kang with her tail between her legs, you couldn’t help but crack a triumphant smile. 

“thank you, ma’am, i’ll remember your kindness for the rest of my life!” you leave the cafeteria, seeing mrs. kang roll her eyes and say something along the lines of ‘i don’t get paid enough for this.’ 

not waiting for what's-his-face, you make your way towards the nurse’s room to find a spare shirt. 

“y/n! wait up,” your pace quickens as naturally as possible when you hear his voice, but jungwon easily catches up to you. “are you okay?”

“what do you want, yang jungwon?” it takes all effort in you to not look at him.

“here, take this,” you turned towards him when he offered his coat to you, his fingers slightly gripping your pocket, keeping you in place. with a glare, you take a step back.  “you're drenched, y/n. you’ll catch a cold like this.” 

“i don't need your charity,” maybe you did feel a chill go through your body, but you'd rather be dead than take help from jungwon. “you don’t have to help me just because a teacher asked you to, mr. president, i’m fine.” 

“y/n,” his tone was pleading but assertive. “don’t be like this,, i’m here as your friend—” 

“don’t even,” you scoffed, an annoyed expression adorning your face. 

“i thought you were my friend, but the way you have been acting lately tells me anything but. i know things are awkward because we broke up, but is human decency too much to ask for? 

"i’m not asking you to take sides, but you could've— nevermind now. i guess years of friendship goes down the drain just because your pretty little girlfriend can’t stand me.”

there goes your shot at being cool and nonchalant.

you didn’t mean to say that all, but words came spilling out of your mouth once you made eye-contact with him. 

jungwon looked shocked, speechless at your unexpected outburst. he took a step back. “i… i’m sorry, y/n.” 

you felt betrayed at yourself when you felt a pang of disappointment when he walked away. 

maybe you had expected him to say something? finally clear out all the misunderstandings and go back to how things were before? 

nonetheless, you also knew you could never go back to being just friends with him, yet you were starting to miss his company, and your aching heart was making it clear that you weren’t even a step closer to getting over him. 

but it didn't even matter now.

you sighed, resuming your journey towards the nurse’s room, your heart growing heavier when you find a bunch of napkins in your pocket where jungwon had touched you.  

“i mean it was kind of stupid to think mrs. kang would let you off the hook for causing a scene like that,” your best friend smirked, clearly enjoying this. 

“hey, whose side are you on?” you half-heartedly throw your eraser at her, slumping into your seat. “oh man, i was so excited to go back home and watch the new episode of the drama with you. guess that'll have to wait because apparently dusting books that people will never even read is way more important, i guess." 

"calm your dramatic ass down," your best friend chuckled, patting your head as you groaned and playfully banged your head on the table. "at least there will be no record of detention on your report." 

"i guess you're right... but i'll miss you," you blow kisses at her, making her laugh. 

"whatever weirdo, love you too," she stood up, giving you a smile. "i'll get going then. you better start your work soon if you don't wanna stay back for another hour." 

"see you soon!" after you wave at her, you stretch out in your chair, giving yourself a pep talk to survive the extra hour of work that was given to you by mrs. kang as "not a punishment, but something that will make you think twice before causing trouble again." 

although you weren't happy about this, you couldn't help but feel a sense of calm as you entered the library and walked through the many bookshelves, finally situating yourself amidst the very last shelves. 

life had gotten pretty hectic lately, so having some time in the library, when not a single soul was there, felt like pressing pause and breathing for a moment. you put on your mask, and some music as you half-heartedly start dusting the old books on the shelves. 

the quiet and solitude was something you longed for, but with nothing better to do, your mind couldn't help but go back to thinking about yang jungwon. 

maybe you were being irrational with him today, because of course, which guy would choose a friend over his girlfriend? you felt guilty, because you realised it was your selfish feelings that made you act that way. 

while you were accusing jungwon of not giving efforts to sustain your friendship, what had you been doing? 

weren't you the one picking the longer route to avoid running into him, or helping random people with their errands whenever he came into the room just to avoid a conversation? 

but you couldn’t bring yourself to face him; not because of the awkwardness, but because you couldn’t see him being with his girlfriend.

jealousy was another thing, but you couldn’t tolerate the way miss perfect treated him— it shouldn’t matter to you that she didn’t understand his niche habits, or that she didn’t let him finish his sentences, so you chose to stay quiet instead of making a scene, because you knew it was of no use anyway. 

“well, so much for not making a scene,” you groaned, glancing at the too-tight shirt you’d borrowed from the nurse’s office. 

finally pulled out of your thoughts by the alarm you’d set on your phone, you looked up at the giant clock at the library, and let out a quiet squeal when you noticed an hour was up. 

as you packed up your phone and belongings and walked towards the front of the library, you were stopped in your tracks as you heard a familiar voice in the otherwise silent room. as you slowly crept towards the front desk, the voice became clearer.

“yes sir, of course. no, i understand. i’ll make sure there’s no— yes sir, sure. right. thank you, sir, thank— oof.” yang jungwon slumped into the chair, his voice immediately losing its energy and him looking more tired than ever as he gently placed his phone on a cluttered table. 

as he closed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair and rubbed his face, it gave you the perfect opportunity to walk by, unnoticed, and— 

“won— hey, jungwon,” a small, comforting smile crept up on your face, as you slowly made your way towards him. “what are you doing here so late.” 

your heart fluttered in an act of betrayal when you saw his face instantly light up when he noticed you. 

“y/n! hey, hi. have a seat,” jungwon smiled, quickly trying to push the various open notebooks and leaflets towards himself to make space for you. “i uh, i just had to stay back for some work for next week’s event. what about you, why’re you here so late? everything okay?”

“haha, yes, mrs. kang just made me do some extra work to make up for today,” you took a seat beside him, both of you facing each other. “but wait, don’t tell me you’re doing work here so late? can’t you do it at home?”

“well, yes and no? the teachers are counting on me to look after everything because, you know…” he looked sheepish as he scratched the back of his neck, forever uncomfortable about his position as the president of the student council.

“and since most of the things require me to double check with the faculty and the campus, it’s easier to do these things at school. plus, i’ll have to take the measurements for the posters and all too, so i was planning to get it over by today itself instead of weighing down someone else with the work,” 

“goddamn, i didn’t know you had so much work to do. I could never handle such responsibility,” you let out a slow whistle, but then turned to him with concerned eyes. “it must be hard managing everything. are you okay, though? you can distribute the work between the members, you know? you don’t have to shoulder everything.” you gently put your hand on him, making sure he listens. 

jungwon was the type of person who always took on more work than it was healthy for them to carry out, but he always made sure he completed each and every task with perfection. 

you knew the boy struggled with being a people pleaser and a perfectionist, so you made sure to remind him to relax and take a breath every once in a while whenever you got the chance. 

“giving the work to other people doesn’t make you a bad leader, won, it is literally their job to help you. so, chill out a bit okay? and make sure you take breaks in between and not—”

you were interrupted by the soft hum of jungwon’s ringtone, and as you looked down on it, it was almost as if a bucket of cold water was splashed on you as you saw his girlfriend’s name flash on the screen. 

in an instant, you let go of his hand, your hands reaching up  to play with your hair and hopefully hide the red creeping up on your face. “you… you should probably pick that up.” you hoped your smile did not look lopsided. 

to your surprise, you saw jungwon silence his phone, and place it inside his pocket. “you were saying?” he gave you a small smile, acting as if nothing had happened. 

“um, dude, wasn’t that your girlfriend?” you sounded confused. “you should’ve picked up, i’m okay with it.”

“uh, ex… girlfriend.” 

“what the fuck?” you shrieked in surprise, your face red, both of you looking around to see if anybody heard you. you lowered your voice once again. “bitch what? didn’t we just argue like hours ago? because of you? wait, oh my god, don’t tell me she broke up with you because of me? oh god, i’m so sorry jungwon, i swear, i never meant to—”

your ramble was cut short when jungwon gently placed his hand over your mouth, chuckling at your wide eyes and flushed cheeks. 

“y/n, calm down, i’d broken up with her weeks ago,” this dude literally had the audacity to smile after giving you a mini heart attack. “actually… it's a pretty long story.” he cringed. 

“well i would very much like to know why the fuck i’m wearing some random girl’s shirt if you guys broke up weeks ago?” you huffed; but when you saw his quiet expression, you blushed. “wait, i mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. it’s okay, i was just kidding.” 

“No, y/n, its okay.” jungwon had a weird expression on his face. “it’s just that… do you have any idea how much i’ve wanted to talk about this, or just talk like this, with you? i missed us.” 

“won,” you were sure your face was permanently red now. “i’m always here, you know that.” 

“thanks,” he said. “the truth is, i wasn’t really in a happy relationship with her. i don’t know, maybe i didn’t want to admit it to myself too, but at some point it just got too suffocating; it was like being with a tyrant.” 

though jungwon was trying to play it off with a casual demeanour, you could hear the pain still eminent in his voice. the reason he was so closed off, always so busied by his books or duties, it all made sense now. 

“i know it sounds weird, but being in a relationship with her felt like i was constantly being criticised and forced to be someone i’m not. i can’t always be this perfect, responsible, ideal boy friend, and i felt guilty for trying to put on this fake act of being perfect and i…” 

you genuinely ached for him, your heart reaching out to the boy who was finally opening his jar of bottled emotions. 

you wrapped jungwon in a gentle but warm hug, hoping it helps ease him, who was on the verge of breaking down.”

“shh, its okay, won. you’re out of that relationship now, and it takes alot of courage to do that; i’m proud of you, yang jungwon.”

“you know what the funniest part is, she wasn’t willing to break up with me so she acted as if we were still together and telling me that she’ll stop and change and what not, and me being dumb enough, probably did believe her. but it was this morning, when she threw the soda at you, it was almost as if she’d done it to me. 

“it was different when it was just me, but when she’s hurting people i care about?  i know where to draw the line then.” jungwon finally cracked a small smile. “and you know what? i finally understood that i made the right decision when you came here and told me that i don’t have to take on everything on my own. it made me realise that there are people who look out for me, so i’m not worried anymore.”

“of course, you dumb fuck,” you flicked his forehead, laughing to stop yourself from actually tearing up. you felt guilty knowing that he was going through so much on his own, but you also felt beyond ecstatic that he trusted you enough to share all that with you. “too bad you have such a stick up your ass that you didn’t realise that sooner. and its not just me, but all our friends are here for you too. So don’t you ever dare feel alone or suffer through all that by yourself.” 

“I know that now…” jungwon chuckled, his flushed face mirroring yours as he rested his head on the table, looking at you with the softest eyes. “thank you, y/n. You have no idea how grateful i am to you.” 

“shut up up with your cheesy lines, jungwon you slut, or i might just fall in love with you.” you rolled your eyes, playfully covering his face to hide your blush, because you both knew the truth anyway. 

‘i already have,” he smiled. 

author's note: if you see my personal feelings etched into this fic, no you don't :D also did y'all notice the way i didn't even name the ex because like i was so afraid of it breaking the fourth wall like, what if its the name of your best friend or cousin or literally just your name 😭

please leave comments and reblogs because i could really use some motivation, thank you ! 🤍

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[youalreadyhavefullresults]

the mindset journey

So hi.

My mindset has been evolving a lot ever since I started this journey, and I thought I'd lay it all out in one post. Subliminals, mindless affirming, scripting, visualization, states. I've tried so many things out, and I think I've finally figured out what works for me.

TLDR:

Stop “trying” to manifest or checking the 3d, you already have full results, creation was over like since forever.

Sure you know that you’re God, as the posts and everything you’ve seen tells you, but have you really embraced that internally?

It doesn’t matter how many posts you read, it’s up to you to actually change your mindset.

Logic is literally useless, be delusional (don’t you just wanna go ape-shit :), go get your fucking desires)

Time is not linear, and means nothing when manifesting.

Revision is so powerful, use it.

It’s just so easy guys, please just make sure you’re actually applying the information you see instead of just passively scrolling through.

And the rest is under the cut, happy reading <33

I started off in the subliminal community in Oct 2020 and just had so many limiting beliefs, it was sad. Not to shit on the community or anything, some of them are wonderful people and most of them have changed their mindset as well, but my initial knowledge prevented me from getting to this point until now. But, now I’m here, and a day after I wrote this in my drafts, I literally manifested my ideal life. I originally started this blog to collect advice from loa blogs, but honestly, I don’t need any of it anymore. Though I do like helping people, so if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an ask.

The Initial Mindset:

I always read through countless posts that say “You’re God” and “You literally can get what you want without even trying.” While I understood the text and adopted the mindset, I still did little subconscious things that contradicted it. While I affirmed my self-concept was perfect, I would also cram-study for exams and worry I would fail. I would say I look perfect, but then also worry about the way my body looked. Also, the way that I literally became obsessed with loa media? I spent hours watching Sammy Ingram videos, looping subliminals, and reading tumblr posts on “how to manifest faster and better”. During this phase of my life, my mind was plagued with intrusive thoughts and my self-concept was slowly getting better, but still absolute shit. I would manifest things here and there, but nothing life-changing.

The main problem however, was the fact that I would treat manifesting like a task I HAD to do. Now that school was back in session, I literally would zone out during specific classes on purpose and just affirm to myself. I would feel bad if I hadn’t listened to my subliminal playlist for the day because I “wasted time in getting my desires”. There’s nothing wrong with vainly affirming or listening to subs if you believe it works, but for me, treating manifesting like a task meant that I was looking for an outcome. Clearly, now I know better, that everything is always done and that there’s nothing to complete, but back then, this was probably the main reason why I struggled to see full results easily. I was acting out of desperation and didn't believe manifestation already was done.

When Everything Changed:

I know that it’s different for everyone, but my “aha!” moment was probably when I read this post. Seriously, go read it, it made me realize that I was going about it all wrong. Now, it wasn’t learning how to perfect my manifesting, it was learning to pull out the tiny limiting beliefs that had burrowed its way into my subconscious.

For example,

“I need to do xyz so that I can get my manifestations.”

Why would I would need to do anything if I already have all of my manifestations hmm? It’s literally already done. Like there’s no need to put in that effort into something that’s already perfect right? So why do I need to even need to try? I literally get whatever tf I want without even trying. This doesn’t mean that every method out there is useless, but in the end, you are the one doing the manifesting, not the method.

“But... this makes absolutely no logical sense! How would this even work?”

I know that STEM me loves finding the logic behind everything, so that’s why I struggled a lot with the logic and time aspect. But darling, it doesn’t need to make sense. There are literally so many things in the world that scientists to this day can’t explain, including just how powerful and complex your brain is. Not to mention the fact that concepts such as logic and science are literally man-made too? What’s the point in trying to deal with logic? Just let go and have fun.

“I affirmed so hard, and I believed it. But then it never showed up when the time came.”

First off, your time spent affirming means nothing, sorry to break it to you. It’s about the mindset(your state if you will) you currently exist in that truly makes a difference. And just because it didn’t show up today doesn’t mean that you missed your window of opportunity. Revision is still manifesting, because time is not a linear concept. Anything at any time can just change with a snap of your fingers. You want to change all of your test scores? Bam, it’s done. you wish WW2 never happened? Bam, it’s done. You want to relive the past 5 years of your life? Bam, it’s done. It doesn’t matter what the event is, what time it is, or that you “didn’t do it before the deadline”. Whenever you do get it(which is instant/soon if you're persisting properly), it will be there, seamlessly blended in with your 3d. You don’t need to worry about a damn thing, your subconscious will take care of everything for you.

“Oh no! I just had intrusive thoughts, did I just mess up my manifestations?”

Why are you giving intrusive thoughts the power to do anything? Sure, you may get them, but that doesn’t mean that they have any effect on you. It’s the doubt they make you feel in your mindset that truly messes it up. Don’t give in. Acknowledge the thought, accept that it literally means nothing, and continue to persist. Your thoughts only have the power you give them.

“Nah, everyone has to be lying, this doesn’t seem real.” / ”Manifesting must just be a coincidence, there’s no way this is real.”

Oh? So you’re saying, the amount of posts you’ve seen, all of the success stories, all of the followers and comments, are you saying every single one of them is lying? No. I’m not saying that every single one of them is truthful, but there’s no way that every single one of them would lie and put this much work into something that’s not real. If you find yourself struggling to believe in the law, I’d suggest you try to manifest something small, and then build up your belief from there. I sure as hell didn’t believe in any of this from the beginning, but then, I manifested consciously for the first time. Again, and again. It became easier, and my life got better. It soon becomes apparent that literally everything you think happens. I always used to wonder how things I randomly thought in the back of my head always happened even though I literally didn’t do anything about it in the 3d. This proved to me that your mental state is more powerful than it seems.

“Can I manifest-”

Yes. Just yes. You’re GOD. GOD. Why tf is God asking some random loa account if they can manifest something or not? Ofc God would know that they can manifest whatever the fuck they want instantly. Do you think when God said “Let there be light”, he first asked people around him if he could? No. He took that shit and just fucking ran with it.

“But-but, what if-”

Uh-uh. I don’t want to fucking hear it. Like I said in the previous section, stop overthinking everything you do. Just go. Run with what you already know and manifest the life of your dreams. You don’t need to keep looking for new information, some specific post that changes everything for you. All they can do for you is steer you in the right direction. You’re the one who’s going to have to figure out our mindset and pull yourself together, no one else can do it. Take back your power, embrace it. I don’t care if you unfollow every single loa account or delete tumblr, just stop looking for the next post. Why would you need more information when you already have everything you need?

I wrote down everything I struggled with, forgot about it, and continued to persist in my new mindset. I ignored any negative 3d circumstances, and just vibed in the feeling that my desires were already here, that feeling of contentment someone has when everything in their life is just amazing. The main question I asked myself was, what would a person who had ____ think, and I went from there. Soon the things I wanted just started popping up in my life, just as I knew it would. I feel like the things I’ve said in this post are pretty much the same concepts you see all over loa tumblr, which is why it’s so important that you actively take in the information that’s being given to you and actually apply it. I was obsessed with tumblr and kept on scrolling through countless blogs and posts, and I was only able to fully manifest after I stepped away from all of that. There is no big secret. There’s no miraculous method that will fix everything for you. There’s just... you. And your subconscious. Whatever you tell your subconscious, goes. As simple as that.

How about, instead of scrolling to whatever next loa post you were about to see on this app, you close tumblr and just go live your best life? Don’t overcomplicate it and just do whatever feels natural to you. I hope this post helped, happy manifesting!

-cinna

[fauxnotice]

ALIEN SKINCARE. v! blue lock/male! reader. originally posted on quotev. masterlist.

CHAPTER I. YOU JUST LOVE BEING NOTHING, RIGHT?

Your daily routine is a terribly ordinary, if not a rather dull one. 

That’s fine, however. Its normalcy comes from predictability, and with predictability comes a sense of control. Every and each new possible variant is easily molded to fit into what is already established. 

Days come and go, much like clouds in the sky, and you’re content. You love your painfully droll, boring routine.

Which would be a lie by definition, so to deny your restlessness would be the same as trying to deny that humans need air to survive. Or to deny that the Japanese football team will never win the World Cup. 

But alas, you live. 

One of your classmates, Hamada, you think pensively, since you make a passable effort at remembering names of the people you have to spend considerable hours of the day with, is acting rather friendly today.

You think he wants something from you. That’s probably why he’s asking you to go somewhere with him after school. Sadly, it seems he’s unaware of the few universal truths of life.

That is that you’re never free after classes. 

Everyone in your immediate vicinity is aware of this, so you’re led to believe that Hamada is extraordinarily out of the loop. Or maybe he’s being a contrarian just to appear unique in your eyes. 

Which is not working, by the way.

“Sorry, but I’m busy today.” You say, an apologetical smile creasing your face in a familiar way. 

“Oh.” He recoils, losing confidence at your rejection. “Maybe some other day, then?”

Whatever. He should just steal all of your money and fill your shoes with nails at this point. He should spit at you and kick you until you’re a stain on the floor. Unfortunately, you’re [L/n] [Y/n], so you nod. Kindly. With all the positive hidden implications in the world.

Hamada regains some of his previous enthusiasm. Thankfully, the teacher enters the room before he could take your politeness as an invitation to further communication.

Like a good student, you listen and take notes carefully. This teacher in particular talks very slowly and often loses track of his thoughts, which greatly gets on your nerves. 

That’s okay. You’ll live.

School time passes by comfortably. You demonstrate your gracefulness and virtue at every chance. Some students swoon. Plenty of girls, and curiously, a good chunk of boys as well. Some scoff at your supposed imitation of perfection. Talk about how you’re probably a faker, eager for attention and praise and whatnot. Not that you mind. They must think about you a lot, enough to start making theories on the topic of you and the nuances of your character. 

Not that they'll ever get any confirmation. You let the invested have fun. Do the divine throw bricks at the religious? No. 

Your school’s football team is having a game tomorrow. Obviously, you make your way to practice. Though, ultimately, you believe you’d be making a better use of your time by trying to fold a thousand origami cranes with just your feet and then wishing for a better team. Yet, here you are.

You move across the field like a corpse. Metaphorically, of course. To the other’s untrained eye, it looks like you’re giving it your all. However, in your head, you’re trying to to remember at least the first ten digits of pi (you’re failing), so you switch to creating a satirical retelling of some subpar movie you and Bachira watched at the premiere some time ago (you got reasonably angry at the mediocrity of the so-called social commentary that was flaunted around as “never seen before” and “a heart clenching story that dives into the complexities of our society”, and Bachira got bored, so you both ditched it, wasted money be damned). 

All that, and yet nothing of worth is happening before you. For shame, since you do think your teammates are decent people, in the same way drivers who stop their cars before they hit you are decent people. Except the probably forty something father of two who let you safely cross the street this morning probably had more ball expertise than these frankly appalling clowns throwing themselves around do. 

Of course, you pride yourself on your ever persisting decorum, so you keep your mouth shut as you pass the ball to the guy a bit to your left, since you’re a good teammate and teamwork makes the dreamwork and yadda yadda. Even with your absent minded play, he just needs to push the ball with some semblance of force and boom, it’s a simple and clean goal. 

But as if by some otherworldly intervention, the boy trips. Genuinely gets sent sprawling over the central object of the game. 

It takes you every drop of self control to not lunge at him with the intent of questioning just how does this happen a day! A day! Before the match. Now, keep in mind, this strange specimen is known for his blunders. At least to you, but the rest of the team and the coach seem to hold this guy in some type of high regard. Which is crazy, since you don’t think he’d be able to score a goal without you specifically holding his hand, making the whole predicament even more baffling since you’re the actual ace of the team. 

Now, you think this team could go places, if you had the time to score more, but you have to spend it making sure your companions don’t sabotage the game by playing like it’s their first time seeing a football. You surely have grinded quite a bit of your teeth mass down by pretending to be content with this charade, just so the court jester of a coach wouldn’t call you uncooperative or something similarly humiliating again. God forbid he sends you to meet the bench. 

The comically incapable guy turns to you, after all the shock and laughter has faded from the group. “Ah, I’m sorry for ruining your pass, [L/n]-kun. I guess my nerves have been getting to me, haha.” 

You wish it was “the nerves”. 

“Don’t worry about it.” You respond, channeling every bit of kindness you could find remaining within yourself. “I’m sure you’ll do fine tomorrow.”

Well, he doesn’t do fine, that’s for sure.

The morning of the next day came quickly. As usual, you woke up early, got out of bed, and went through your usual routine with the goal of looking the best you possibly could, which did turn out to be a rather lengthy process, although that was nothing new. You still thought it was an insanely long and dumb.

What meets you next is the sight of your legal guardian, sprawled across the couch, still clad in her work clothes. You conclude that last night was a busy one, so you sneak past her quietly. Making things worse for her is the last thing you want, after all. 

Next is making a nutritious breakfast. As a product of meticulous repetition, you’re quickly done with it, making sure to leave a portion for Sayaka as well, along with a note about your plans for today.

It’s a nice, sunny Saturday. So, like you always do, you set out on a morning jog. Chiba has quite a few pleasing sights, especially when there are no hideous eyesores scrambling around in the form of people. You specifically pick a time when the crowd’s minimal, right after the early workers leave for their job. Beautiful. The fresh air stirs up every fiber of your lungs. 

All this joy and wonder, you almost forgot about the match that’s supposed to be held in the afternoon. In fact, the memory of that shitshow of a football practice from yesterday almost entirely left your mind. From your increasing frustration, you don’t notice how your pleasant jog turned into a full blown sprint. After a good hour or so of this, you notice just how sweaty you were. 

Gross. You’d have to shower again.

Right as you’re about to open the gate of your residence, a weight slams against your back at full force. You remain entirely unbothered, however, as you’re already very well versed in such occurrences. 

Bachira Meguru has his arms wrapped around your back, clinging onto you much like an eccentrically colored koala. It seems like the fabric soggy with your sweat doesn’t bother him at all. He’s always been a bit strange like that. 

“Bachira-kun.” You smile. It comes easier to you. “Good morning.”

“Good morning!” He grins, lips pulling back to reveal the full expanse of teeth. “You didn’t invite me to go jogging! Again!”

Having a conversation in this position, with your posture being as straight as a tree and Bachira acting as some type of a humanoid backpack or a large parasite, would be inconvenient to most, but the two of you have long made this a part of your “normalcy”. 

“That’s because you’re never awake that early.” You retort easily, with a light teasing tone. “I’m surprised you’re even up right now.” 

“My monster got restless, so I wanted to play football.” He says, like that’s a totally normal thing to say. Like pointing out how the weather is nice or such. 

Listen, you genuinely do like Bachira (as far as someone like you is capable of liking), and you suppose he shares the same sentiment to some degree, because his whole “Monster” thing isn’t something that you talk about with just anyone, unless you want to be wheeled off to the nearest institution and shunned forever. You pride yourself on your patience and understanding, so you tend to brush this topic off whenever it comes up in a conversation. Mostly because you have no idea what to say that wouldn’t be extremely harsh. You want to honor Bachira’s companionship and trust in you, which means that him getting upset over something you stupidly spat out without thinking is not on your to-do list.

You do think that seeing a professional sometime in the future would do him some good, though.

Putting that aside, you nod in understanding. “I see. But-” You poke at his leg. “-Can you get off, please? I want to take a shower.”

Bachira hums a long tune, but he makes no move to do what you’ve requested of him. After a passage of silence, he asks a question, even if he knows the answer already. 

“Hey, can we play together? Just for a bit?” 

He can’t see your face, but he can clearly visualize the apologetic expression that graces it. It looks the same, every time he asks. “Sorry, but I need to save energy for later. Maybe next time?” 

There it is again. Despite it being a few years since you two met, both lovers of football and everything football related, you’ve rejected his proposal again and again. You always have an excuse, something about being busy, or not feeling well, or this and that. 

Bachira has been resigned to it. Yet, he still repeats the inquiry, like you’ll change your mind someday. Maybe next time? As if that will ever come.

He lets it go, as he always does.

Finally stepping down, he leans onto your side. He’s rather sweaty too, you notice. “Right! You have a match today! Make sure to score lots of goals, ‘kay? I’ll be there to cheer for you!” 

Bachira thinks you’re not aware of the fondness you let slip into your gaze. It’s for the best, though, since if you knew you’d probably try to mask it with some form of artificial politeness. He likes you the most when you’re honest, in these small tidbits of time, after all.

“Sure.” You say, simply, as some things are.

The tensions are high before the match. For what reason, you don’t know. The match is purely for practice, although you’re curious on how a low tier school such as Kagayaku High managed to schedule a match against some bigshot from Kanagawa. You’d think they’d consider it a waste of time, but you guess not. 

A notification lights up the screen of your phone just as you’re finishing putting your jersey on. 

Sayaka

I’m so sorry that I won’t be able to make it to your game!!!! Work is hell today 𖦹 ´ ᯅ ` 𖦹

But I hope your team does well! Do your best ৻(  •̀ ᗜ •́  ৻)

You snort at the woman’s usage of kaomojis. It was hard to imagine that she was nearly forty years old. Keeping your eye on the clock, you quickly type a response.

You

Please don’t worry about it! 

Take care of yourself!

Sayaka

You’re too nice to me, haha

The breakfast was delicious, by the way! It really made my day Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

I’m gonna make us something to eat later, as a celebration and payback! ᕙ(  •̀ ᗜ •́  )ᕗ

You gnawed at your lip worrieldy. While you truly did appreciate the sentiment, Sayaka’s cooking skills … weren’t something you’d write home about. Her message truly left you worried for the safety of the stove. Before you could try to change her mind (and save the neighborhood from a possible fire), one of your teammates gestures for you to move.

Ah. It’s time.

You

The game is starting, ttyl

The match goes just as well as you thought it would. 

The opponent’s defense tears through the clumsy guy like a knife through butter within the first few minutes of the game. They’re not too shabby, you have to admit. But the more you watch them, the more holes ripe for exploatation you notice.

The rush of excitement still evades you, as you circle an opposing player who is attempting to take the ball from you. Your mind is still in its autopilot mode, where you make boring, yet entirely rational plays that have carried your team to where it is now. Move your leg and lean to the right, and when the guy is still thinking of his next move, kick the ball between his legs. A safe and classic nutmeg. After that-

A movement leaves you startled; someone dashes past you with unforseen speed and snatches the football right from your possession. You’re forced to be wide awake, left feeling like a bucket of icy water was thrown over your head.

Huh?

For what seems to be the first time in years, your heartbeat echoes loudly in your ears and shakes your very core.

You gape at the distancing back of the player who had just turned your world around. In bold letters, the name Itoshi acts as a mockery of you. Helpless in your shock, you can do nothing but watch as your newest adversary scores a clean goal into the net, while Kagayaku High’s goalkeeper does nothing.

For once, you don’t blame him.

The clowns of your circus are talking amongst themselves. You think they’re trying to include you as well, but you’re too busy rebooting your brain to care.

You wanted Itoshi gone. An irritation so strong its frightening festers under your skin as you stare, long and hard, at the intruder who had come to ruin everything for you.

But was he truly ruining anything? 

When a teammate of yours moves with the ball, you abandon all uniform strategy. This stupid team could go to hell. Both yours and the enemy’s. This game should be just between you and him. 

Much to the shock of your team, who had probably gotten too comfortable with your usually passive way of playing, you pick up the pace, with the speed and technique built up through many regular torturous sessions of trying to polish yourself to your extremes.

It’s something you had to do, lest you want to be left in the dust when the real threat appears.

Is Itoshi a real threat?

A wispy smile still hangs from your lips. It looks … out of place, possibly, as it’s no longer a carefully planned tool of deceit.

Astonished shouts of your team as you steal the ball from your own comrade is nothing but background noise.

There he comes. His gaze is glacier cold as he weaves between the humanoid obstacles in his path. Surely, he’s wholy confident in his domination of this match. You wait.

Itoshi moves with clear intent of making you crumble under his might. That won’t do. Who does he think he is? Who does he think you are? Does he think you’re a mere bug, a speck of dust on his road to victory? That doesn’t make sense at all.

“Pass to me!” Someone yells at you, as if you weren’t the damned ace, as if you weren’t the one who gave this shitty team the ability to get off the ground in the first place. 

You’re nowhere near the penalty area. The other team’s defense is scattered around, trying to cut off all your routes. Now aware of the possible danger you represent, Itoshi is right by your side, with his eyelash rimmed eyes watching you like he might tear you apart. At least he’s fast on the uptake, you muse, as you almost carelessly roll the ball across the grass.

The angle is terribly narrow, but it’ll do. 

Avoiding Itoshi’s attempt at ridding you of the ball, you raise your leg and deliver a swift kick to it, sending it flying in a rather flimsy arc (your brows furrow slightly at that), which manages to slam into the net at a spot left open.

1-1.

You stop and take a long look at the goal. That was a five out of ten. Hell, maybe even four. But it seemed like it was enough to make your current “rival” appear like he wants to explode you with his mind.

That makes you … giddy? Edges of your lips wobble as you attempt to keep your expression under control. Even if you just single handedly destroyed the foundation of your team as well as the way its members saw you, you still had appearances to keep. From the corner of your eye, you spot Bachira watching, with a grin so manic it bordered on deranged.

In the end, you lose the game. And yet, to you, it feels like a victory, sweeter than any other. You managed to keep Itoshi from scoring another goal (well, you didn’t score another one either, but that was fine), and you got the front seat to the slow unraveling of his stoic disposition.

His team manages to secure a victory with their goal. But their ace, visibly pissed, makes his way to you. His tone is biting, befitting of an untouchable beauty such as himself.

“Next time, I’ll crush you.”

And then he leaves. One for dramatics, that’s for sure. Mommy’s little edgelord. Deciding to play along, you wave at his retreating back, signature smile set in place. “If you say so, Itoshi.”

Pointedly ignoring the troupe of mongrels, you collect your belongings and make a swift departure. Of course, nothing is that simple for you, because Bachira is waiting for you outside. Predictably, he lunges at you, but is considerate enough to take note of your possible exhaustion and not jump on your back like he usually does, instead opting to sling an arm around your shoulders. 

“That was pretty insane, you know.” He begins, although you note the sharpness of his grin that was unknown to you, up until now. “I never knew you could play like that.”

Then, he goes on to speak more, but you’re already ensnared within your own mind. A familiar thing; anger, ire, all-consuming, starts to ignite your entire being. A combination of many factors give way to its rise, both from Bachira’s subtle and probably unintentional downplaying of your perceived capability, and from … well, everything about the game. Especially Itoshi. What, did they all think you were some insignificant ant? A poser, perhaps? Maybe a-

You pause all thought. Suddenly, your legs feel weak. Not from tiredness, of course not. Embarrassingly, the weight of emotions was always a bigger burden than anything of physical kind. 

That was your weakness. A flaw that you needed to demolish. 

“Bachira,” you gasp out, voice small and uneven. “Bachira-”

The boy in question tilts his head. “Huh? What is it?” 

“Hold me.” You say, just before you collapse.

[mayzi33]

*clears throat.*

(apologize in advance for any mistakes english isn't my first language)

Alright. Here we go.

Look, I haven't watched MLP in a LONGGGG time. But recently with all the stuff I missed our and since the fandom is still pretty much alive and well I decided to take peek by peek in the seasons I haven't watched.

Until I came across, these guys

And I have so much to say.

I didn't write a script for this or anything so I don't know where this rambling is going so I just ask you to bear with me for as much as you can, okay?

Look, watching the Young Six episodes I've experienced one of the things that angers me the most. SUCH. WASTED. POTENTIAL.

You're telling me we got whatever the hell is G5 when instead we could have gotten THESE GUYS???? THESE COOL, UNIQUE CHARACTERS THAT ACTUALLY HAVE AN INTERESTING STORY THAT MAKES SENSE AND HAVE SI MUCH POTENTIAL TO BE ONE OF THE SICKEST LORE ARCS IN MLP???

I homestly don't know what Hasbro WAS THINKING in giving them so little screentime. There's so much I have to say but I'll try my best to keep my thoughts organized.

First things first, we'll need to talk a little about G5 or "Make Your Mark" series or whatever. I personally enjoyed the movie, though the story didn't make much sense (we'll get to that later) the characters were pretty nice, the songs were catchy and the animation was mwah. I didn't bother to watch all of the G5 series, because- (pardon to all who enjoy it) it's so. Freaking. Boring. Like I know there's a pony girl that's supposed to be a traitor among them but then grows onto being their actual friend and there's a villainess and that whole conflict and yada yada yada. But honestly there just isn't anything I found enganging in the entire thing. I can't explain it, it just feels- off. I know I probably don't have much right to talk, cause again, only now I'm diving into the mlp again after missing out A LOT, but I just can't bring myself to like that series.

Now, the whole School Of Friendship saga in the G4 series with our beloved Young Six, I know some people had some issues with it and it didn't please everyone, and while it does have some flaws and is certainly not perfect, you can't deny there was lots of potential. (I'll try to not overuse that word I'm sorry)

I personally, really liked the concept of different creatures from different cultures coming together and forming the perfectly diverse friend group. Episodes like The Hearth's Warming Club and What Lies Beneath were particuarly really fun, it was nice to dive into their cultures and backstories while also watching the six of them be vulnerable in front of one another and grow closer. If only they had more screentime and more deep episodes like that, they could have been in the top 10 found families in cartoons.

Now, just some other reasons as to why I think they're interesting characters and should've gotten more than what was given to them.

Because

1- Their whole deal is that they're not all ponies, that they're all different species. We get to learn lots about their different cultures and customs. It would've been such a good way to teach children about acceptance and respecting differences while also being entertaining. Especially in a school enviroment.

2- We got not one, but TWO male characters in the group. It would make little boys that are interested in mlp feel more comfortable and valid for it. AND those two males also have distinct personalities and their own active roles. Gallus being sort of the leader of the group, and Sandbar being the only pony therefore the one to stand up for his friends.

3- While they're supposed to be the new represantives of the elements of harmonies, their personalities are still interesting and different from the Mane 6.

Onto that, I really like how it's implied they could be the next helders (or whatever its called) of the elements of harmony. Given their special connection to the tree, how similiar they are to the previous groups (Mane 6 and The Pillars) and how Twilight LITERALLY LIFTED THEM UP AS WELL WHILE SHE SPOKE ABOUT HOW THE ELEMENTS WILL LIVE ON, it would've been such a cool concept.

Onto that, I wanna talk a bit about each of their characters too and how I think they could've been dealt with.

Gallus is the element of magic, but unlike Twilight who's all open and confident-spoken about friendship and all, Gallus is probably the one in the group that's the most closed-off and dislikes getting all cheesy. It would've been interesting seeing his development as the helder ot the element of magic. AND ESPECIALLY since he doesn't have magic in the first place, since Twilight and Starwirl were unicorns. So maybe he could make posions? Get powers someway else? Many posibilities

Sandbar is the element of kindness, but unlike Fluttershy he's extrovert and down to making friends. His overrall personality is that he's constantly very chill-going and nothing seems to ever upset or annoy him. So it also would've been interesting to see how that pattern would break, especially because of his element.

Yona is the element of honesty. She's probably the one that has the hardest time adapting to the Equestrians among the group, and even tried to act like a pony instead of herself one episode. It would've been interesting to see how her element of honesty reflects on how she should be true to herself, especially since her Yak culture comes a lot with honor.

Ocellus is the element of genority, yet, unlike Rarity, she's a lot more like Fluttershy, being timid and insecure, while also being smart and well-read like Twilight. It would've been nice if her development with her element would be gaining confidence in herself and being generous to others that way. Especially since she has a fear of being like the old changling queen (forgot her name) so imagine if she just turned out to be the opposite of her. Instead of selfish and cruel, being generous and kind.

Smolder is the element of loyality, but also like Gallus, she's also not into getting cheesy. But what I find imteresting about her is how she tries to keep her tough, agressive persona (since thats how dragons are) yet it is revealed she's actually interested in cute, fluffy stuff like tea parties and dresses. So it would've been cool to see her growing confident in admiting her interests, therefore being more like Rainbow Dash, who's always confident on herself

And last but not least, Silverstream is the element of laughter. But what's hooking about it is the fact that Silverstream herself probably hasn't KNOWN what laughter is for a long time, having to hide under The Storm King's rule. She's very talkctive, creative and extrovert, like Pinkie Pie, but she also has her trauma that haunts and intimidates her, unlike Pinkie who usually faces her fears headfront. Another great development story.

So just hear me out, okay. I don't care if MLP is over. I don't care if there's G5.

We. Need. A. Young. Six. Spin-off. Series.

I know it sounds crazy, but I genuely think this idea could work out if it was handled well enough, and Hasbro could make some good money out of this.

Just bear with me. A spin-off series set on the timeline between season 8-9 aka, still on the School Of Friendship, focused entirely on the Young Six. We could still get the Mane 6, of course, but mostly as support characters. It doesn't have to be a particularly long series, (though maybe that could work as well IF handled with enough care) maybe just 2 seasons or so. And I'm not thinking like a slice-of-life or fun little extra kind of thing, I'm thinking of ACTUAL lore. Just more about how the tree and the elements work, and how these six students could grow into being their new helders. In each episode it becomes more and more evident to them and the Mane 6 themselves that they're going to be the next generation of the elements. So imagine once they all fully it figure out and talk about it, the Y6 suddenly feel this pressure about how they're supposed to live up to their teachers and fear that they have to be EXACTLY like them. So we see Sandbar taking extra kindness classes with Fluttershy, Yona taking extra honesty classes with Applejack and heck even Gallus is taking studies more seriously (especially since he's supposed to be the element of magic which again I find imteresting since he doesn't really have magic at least not the way Twilight and Starwirl do. ) So we could have an entire episode about the M6 getting through to them and showing they don't have to be JUST LIKE THEM nor The Pillars. They can be their own people.

Another main-plot idea would be having more villains, probably trying to test them or tear them apart (cough cough like Swift Foot from the idw comics cough cough) or maybe you could even fit someone as intense as King Sombra, or maybe even even the return of Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis in there. (I remembered her name yay)

And, of course, more onto their characters, flaws, backstories and cultures! I would love to see more about their people and customs, just as much as I would love to explore their traumas, fears, ugly sides and how they overcome it together (cough cough found family COUGH COUGH GAGS)

And another thing, I especially would've liked to explore Yona's and Sandbar's relantioship.

I MEAN LOOK AT THEM-

Don't they give massive beauty-and-the-beast vibes? I love how their colors and body types contrast with one and another, and their personalities aswell. Yona being loud, cheerful and clumsy while Sandbar is calm, thoughtful and carefree. I just love the big girl x soooorta small guy vibes and I especially loved how gentle and reassuring Sandbar was towards her in that episode. I mean, "I don't care if you're not a pony, you're the best Yona I know." SERIOUSLY? WHO WROTE THAT LINE? I'D LIKE TO GIVE THEM A HUG. And also, onto the spin-off series matter, it would also be a cool topic to explore. Imagine if some ponies/yaks are judging them for having a relantioship while being different species and they learn to ignore them and live past that??? I usually don't care much for romance, (always prefered friendship and found families) but this would've been a nice little arc and episode theme to see.

Lastly, (I'm almost done I promise) to the more technical/economical part.

Like I said in the beggining, I genuely think Hasbro could make some good money out of this. Firstly because it will be using the G4 characters and lore and not...whatever mess of a plot G5 is.

And secondly because, if they took the time to give them some cool power-up designs like they did with the Mane 6, I'M SURE the toys would sell.

I mean- JUST LOOK AT THESE COOL DESIGNS I FOUND ON THE INTERNET?? (not mine, credits to whoever made it, you ate that)

DON'T THEY LOOK LIKE A TOY SET THAT WOULD CATCH THE CHILDREN'S EYES ON THE TOY AISLE? OH YES I THINK THEY WOULD.

And if anything, they could be as bold as to make an extra Equestria Girls (well, girls and boys) series with them. I know it sounds kinda dumb, especially given the fact that I'm not sure about how that would work given that when Spike went to the "human dimension" or whatever he turned to a dog... So Smolder would also be a dog? Sandbar would be the only actual human in the group?... BUT I'm sure they could come up with some excuse to make it work. Give them some cool, colorful outfits for different events and I'm sure it would sell. And ESPECIALLY since with Gallus and Sandbar in the group, it could get the attetion of young boys aswell.

Anyways. That was it.

Uhm. Conclusion: Hasbro should hire me. I know what I'm talking about. I think. At least a bit.

And I genuely think this could work if only SOMEONE gave it the time and care.

I don't know how to end ramblings so uhmmmm thank you all for coming to my pep talk.

They deserved better.

[fernsnailz]

January 2024 Review Roundup

hello everypony‼️ something i want to do through 2024 is a mini review series where i recap some of the media i watched/played/read at the end of every month. this was inspired by tumblr user ponett’s 2023 media wrap-up, it's a great collection of quick reviews so go check it out!

i’m doing this partially as writing/analysis practice, but mostly because my memory is really bad and i want to keep track of what i've seen this year. with that said, my thoughts on everything i finished in january 2024 is under the cut :]

Portal 1 + 2

yyyup i beat Portal and it only took me (checks watch) 13 years

the first time i played Portal 2 was at a friend’s house when i was in middle school, and i had a fuckin blast. but after all that time... it still holds up! i don’t think anything i have to say about Portal will be particularly new since people have been praising this series since it came out. the writing, the level design, even the controls feel tight and engaging the whole way through. i played on switch and expected a bit of jank, but i was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it felt to play. the only part that dragged for me were the levels through the old aperture labs, but i think i would like them a lot more on a second replay. Portal 2 is fantastic and one of my new favorite games, the artistry behind it is truly incredible and i’m really glad i finally finished it. while i was playing Portal 2, i described Glados and Wheatly to a friend and said “they’re like if a ceiling fan could be passive aggressive and if Fozzie Bear was an evil golf ball”

I Think You Should Leave

finally. i can truly understand and appreciate Subspace Dubbed Over

i think one of my favorite things about I Think You Should Leave is how it utilizes horror. beyond sitting slack-jawed in disbelief at the crazy events unfolding before my eyes, a number of the sketches dipped into bits that genuinely kinda scared me. like the one sketch that circulates on here where the guy (pig?) in a mask crawls through a dog door, which is. genuinely terrifying. but so many of the other sketches have slow, nerve-racking pacing leading to crazy shit that would be perfect in a horror film were the context different. idk i like dissecting how horror and comedy are essentially the same thing and I Think You Should Leave was very good at enabling that <3 favorite sketches are probably “then let my wife eat the damn receipt” and “55 BURGERS 55 HOTDOGS 100 FRIES 100 TATER TOTS”

Sonic Prime Season 3

man. ohhhh man. i didn’t go into this with high expectations and i still feel let down. Sonic Prime Season 3 was definitely my least favorite “season” of the batch - abysmal pacing, very few character moments i actually enjoyed, and the things i praised about the show felt very underutilized through these episodes. Nine is the shining star of Sonic Prime and i was looking forward to seeing his more villainous side, but his character took such a sharp turn into pure evil and it felt like he spent the entire season repeating the same three lines. and as much as i praise Shadow’s writing in Prime, it doesn’t really matter when he spends half of the season trapped in a hole that he just… runs out of later.

lastly, i cannot stop thinking about how bad the pacing of this season is. three episodes for a repetitive final battle feels like such a waste of time when you see just how much they rush the emotional resolutions in the last episode. however, there is one thing i truly love about Sonic Prime Season 3 - i love the Sails and Mangey fakeout death. it's so fucking funny. like you really expect me to believe that two cartoon animals in this Y-7 rated show EXPLODED?????? absolute comedy gold.

overall, i just… don’t really know what to think of Sonic Prime. anything i enjoyed in the show was often fleeting, and much of it felt like its only purpose was to waste my time. also Rouge i can’t believe they did you so dirty oh my god

Ghost Trick

i was so proud that i figured out the secret behind Sissel’s memory loss like halfway through the game. however i also kept getting caught during the prison escape sequence like an idiot

Ghost Trick is in a similar situation as Portal where 1. it’s incredible and one of my new favorite games, and 2. there’s nothing i can really say about it that hasn’t already been said or just. shouldn’t be said. Ghost Trick is a fantastic mystery game, and because of that i think it’s best to go into its story as blind as possible. the narrative unfolds in such fascinating ways - even though the actual object manipulation gameplay isn’t directly about solving the mystery (like in Ace Attorney or other mystery games), it still ties wonderfully into the story in some incredibly unique ways.

i also really love the artstyle of Ghost Trick - i love 2D character artwork with that sharp lineweight, it reminded me a lot of Sonic Battle (another game with an artstyle i love). i was also really impressed by the 3D character models and animation - despite the limitations of the camera, you get a wonderful sense of everyone’s personality from the limited body language expressed in the overworld (even though the models lack much facial expression which. i guess they don’t really need? idk that was the only thing that threw me off). anyways yeah everyone should play Ghost Trick so Ghost Trick fans can be freed from their curse and talk about it without having to tag like 10 different spoiler tags. and for Missile

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

ok bear with me. i went into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off without reading the comics first. and i fuckin loved it

my understanding of Scott Pilgrim before SPTO was mostly from the movie (I KNOW I’M SORRY), but even with my base understanding of the series i really enjoyed this show for what it was. i found myself appreciating the time they dedicated to further develop every single character in the show - especially Ramona. she’s fantastic as the lead, i really loved watching her reconcile with her exes and seeing all of them grow instead of exploding into coins. my favorite episode was probably the one with her and Roxie - not only did i adore the movie-jumping set pieces, but you really understand the weight of Ramona’s mistakes in their past relationship and how much it hurt Roxie. despite the big climactic fight, the flashbacks are quiet, subtle, heartbreaking. Ramona’s apology is genuine, and it feels so wonderful to watch her confront her past throughout the show. also i think it’s really funny that for all these characters to become the best versions of themselves, they had to kill off Scott for most of the story

and holy shit the artstyle and animation. oh my god. i love watching something that makes me immediately go “i need to see the storyboards for this RIGHT NOW.” SPTO is such a visual delight to watch, it elevates the artstyle of the comics while also keeping what makes that style so appealing - i love the line weight on the characters, i love how much forward energy the animation has, i love the fucking. virtual boy section. as soon as i found out Science Saru was also behind Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, everything made immediate sense. i was destined to love this show.

another worry i had going into SPTO (besides the fact that i hadn’t read the comics lol) is that the original cast from the movie was returning. i think the movie cast is fine, but i wasn’t sure how some of them would fare with voice acting for animation. however, i thought they all did a good job - i think the whole cast loves these characters and would be able to fit into them fairly easily no matter what form their performance takes, and they definitely had a good voice director in the studio with them. the only thing that felt off about the voice performances to me was that sometimes it sounded like some of their mics kept peaking?? idk some of these episodes i watched high as balls and i felt like i could hear and see every single sound and frame of the show. so that might have just been me.

god i did not. expect to have this much to say about Scott Pilgrim. i really loved this show and i’m currently reading the comics to fully catch up on the general Scott Pilgrim experience - i think reading the comics AFTER Takes Off is making me appreciate even more of the character work that went into the show. like they do so much with Mathew Patel in SPTO, a character that was. not originally around for a long time from what i’ve gathered? also i like the funny little robot. oh my GOD i cannot talk about this show anymore whatever it’s good get me out of here

Sword AF Season 1

i put on the Smosh cast’s D&D series to play in the background while i was drawing. i did not expect to think much of it. instead, i had one of the most enjoyable D&D podcast experiences since i listened to The Adventure Zone Balance???

i haven’t really enjoyed other D&D podcasts since i dropped off of The Adventure Zone, and i wasn’t expecting much from Sword AF of all things. then i saw that Shayne was playing as a druid warforged made of plants and his name was fucking Fernie and i sat my ass down and LISTENED. while i think Sword AF is currently lacking in its world and larger story, those things just. aren’t really what Sword AF is really trying to provide at the moment. it’s main focus is comedy, and the players are genuinely such a delight to watch play together and build off of each other. they mostly focus on bits and goofs for the sake of she show's comedic tone, but i still found it thoroughly enjoyable because every player embodies and performs their characters really well. idk Sword AF was an unexpected hit for me this month, i thought it was fun. and i love Fernie so much

Plastic Death - Glass Beach

so originally i wasn’t going to include music reviews in these roundups at all, but then i was entirely surprised by a new Glass Beach album and oh my god. holy shit. oh my fucking god jesus christ. holy shit. its preddy good

Plastic Death gets the low point of the album out of the way immediately. it starts with the “phone call/conversation audio” trope that i don’t particularly enjoy - HOWEVER despite me disliking this opening, 1. it sets up the overall themes of Plastic Death very quickly, and 2. the rest of the album blows this 40 second opening completely out of the water. from there, the album grows into something beautiful and uncontained, and i just. i really like it

Plastic Death captures the beauty of the temporary, asks what it means to be created for a cause you can’t fulfill, questions if you can reclaim yourself from cycles and constraints designed to destroy you. and is also about being transgender. the lyrics are abstract in a way that requires a conversation with the listener, many of the vocals obscured and smooth like waves - this album is definitely one that needs to be listened to a few times. i wasn’t sure how i felt about the vocal style at first before realizing the vocals were the main reason i was relistening to this album, allowing myself to find even more that i loved about it. the instrumentation is also incredible, i love the use of marimba in a number of songs - distant, eerie, almost skeletal. and the fucking. 8-bit section?? which kinda rules???? and that’s the only point in the album it ever shows up??????? incredible. a fleeting, somewhat silly moment that i love every time.

this album left my heart aching, in part from my connection to it and in part from the pure love and joy emanating from this music. i can feel just how much fun this music was to perform and create, a cohesion of time and sound that just clicked for me. Plastic Death made me miss playing music, which is something i haven’t felt in years. all from an album that starts with a conversation about CrankGameplay’s dead youtube channel. good lord

i like this album a normal amount. go listen to it a few times. my favorite tracks are cul-de-sac and commatose

Wish

i watched Wish with a couple of friends and knew i probably wasn't going to like it. with that in mind, i gave myself a challenge: i wanted to find one thing about this movie that i genuinely really loved. it could be anything, and loving it for ironic reasons was allowed.

here's the complete list of things i loved about Disney's Wish (2023):

i love the one shot where King Magnifico stirs an evil caldron evily. i thought it was hilarious. what was he cooking

i loved that the end credits included a reference to Dinosaur 2001 at all, and i loved that they paid homage to Big Hero 6 by showing the forgettable villain of that movie instead of their Baymax cashcow for some reason. my friends and i saw him show up in the credits and were like "who's the trenchcoat guy??"

you may notice that this list is very short and 50% of it is about the movie's credits. so yeah this movie is not very good

Wish is an empty husk of a movie. everything about it feels so, so hollow - lifeless town squares, uninspired character designs (to quote a friend: "i have all of these characters' hairstyles in The Sims"), characters whose existence is only justified to fill empty space or an overused archetype, and an "evil" villain who lacks charisma and spine in a futile effort to remind the audience of previous disney villains with actual character. even the artstyle lacks any sort of sauce, the watercolor effect they were trying to go for only makes the backgrounds and character textures run together, and the dull lighting makes things look even more faded. it's like disney was scared of making a movie that made its audience feel... anything. all to celebrate 100 years of Disney slop, baby!!!

Some YouTube videos I liked in January: 💥 An Exhaustive Look at Pokemon Brilliant Diamond 💥 TomSka's Guide to Plagiarism 💥 Paradise Bombed (this video is a great piece of journalism and i’m definitely not doing it justice by throwing it into the youtube vid list) 💥 Surprising Our Friends with Zoo Animals 💥 Did FNAF Ever Have a Good Story?

thanks for reading! next month’s roundup will be wild because i’ll likely be reviewing House of Leaves and Hazbin Hotel. can you guess which cursed house gives me a worse headache? WHO KNOWS! (hint: it's Hazbin Hotel)

[quickdeaths]

@more-than-a-princess

In Anzu's opinion, Alumni Day was a big waste of time at the start of the school year, and even someone with such a lax school work ethic as her could see that the energy would be better spent on giving orientation to the first-years, or something like that. HPA already made a ton of money from government grants and Reserve Course Tuition Fees, didn't it? So what reason was there to roll out the red carpet for a bunch of has-beens who had moved on to mostly-normal lives, in hopes of getting them to cough up some money?

Now, where there was a red carpet of any kind, one could often find Anzu Tachibana there to walk it, whether or not it was intended for her in the first place, but unfortunately, Alumni Day came with its own unique challenges given specially to her - namely, keeping her stupid sister busy. "You know," Haruna muttered as she looked around at the various displays set up to welcome the alumni, "they give a lot of attention to the people who show up only once a year - if that - but as someone who actually works here, I can't say I ever feel so appreciated."

"Well," Anzu said, reaching out to straighten a pinned picture of the new first year class, "they know what your salary is, so maybe they already know your broke ass isn't donating." To that, Haruna rolled her eyes, accompanied by a buzzing of her cell phone from inside her bag - one that she clearly wasn't in any rush to check. "I should flick your forehead for that." "If you could even reach it from down there."

In between bickering and barbs, Anzu noticed one of her friends standing out in the courtyard, and took the first available opportunity to run off from her sister's side. "Sonia-san!" With significantly less force behind it than her usual rushing hugs - Sonia wasn't Shinobu, after all - she wrapped her arms around the other girl with a tight, warm embrace. "Hi! It's so good to see you! Did you have a good spring vacation?"

In Anzu's case, the few weeks between the end of one school year and the start of another should have been prime time for some R&R. Instead, she'd spent the bulk of the time back in Kyoto, checking in on her dad, guesting in a few performances, and taking lots of cherry blossom photos. Well, it wasn't like that was the worst way to spend some time, even if she desperately could use a host rubbing her shoulders and praising her. She had to assume Sonia was similarly busy, especially since Shinobu hadn't mentioned anything about them spending any time together without her, much to her frustration.

By the time she'd let go of Sonia, Haruna had caught up to her. She was probably fifteen centimeters shorter than Anzu, her bleach-blonde hair framing either side of her face, and then gathered in the back into a loose ponytail, and her face done up with carefully-applied, professional makeup. In Anzu's opinion, they didn't look much alike, or have much in common. Even her fashionable outfit - the black blouse with a lilac ribbon over white pants, golden hoop earrings, and sensible flats - was fashionable in a way that Anzu would never find very interesting.

"Oh, this is my older sister," Anzu said, as though it were an afterthought. "She's here too." Really, the only thing similar about them, she thought, was their eyes. "Hello, Nevermind-san," Haruna said with a small wave and a perfect smile. Even if she was annoying, even if she wasn't pretty or interesting or anything like that, Anzu had to admit that her sister had at least some aura. "Haruna Tachibana, 72nd class. I work as a counselor here, but I only think we've passed by each other in the halls a few times, not ever been formally introduced."

The way she said it made Anzu figure that Haruna understood the reason why. Any personal problems she had probably were only to be shared with someone on her family's payroll, or under their influence. "So, how are you planning on appropriately honoring the alumni that came before you today, Nevermind-san," Haruna teased with a demure smile. It was Anzu's turn to roll her eyes, followed by a shake of her head. "You don't have to listen to her, Sonia-san," she cautioned. "My sister is obnoxious."

[ultrone]

Can I request a baby blurb about Spider!Lottie x Black Cat!Nat x reader who’s ordinary? I saw a LottieNat spider-woman au on TikTok and started thinking a lil bit about it. Reader has no clue her gfs are heroes works for the school newspaper and finds out somehow.

★🕸️🐈‍⬛ — 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗲 𝘅 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰�� 𝗰𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝘁 𝘅 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

n/a. i know u asked for a baby blurb but by the time i finished writting this i realized that it was too long, i hope u don’t mind 😭 also ty for requesting this, i love marvel and dc but i currently only write for yjs so it felt like two birds one stone 😼🫶🏼

cw. 1.9k

after receiving a low grade on your most recent english literature essay, you faced the risk of failing the class if your grades didn't improve significantly. fortunately, your english professor, who also supervised the university’s newspaper, was in need of additional contributors and offered extra points if you joined. without hesitation, you agreed. although you weren't particularly passionate about journalism, you found it intriguing enough.

however, a few weeks ago, everything changed. an announcement was made regarding a contest, exclusively open to the twenty students involved with the newspaper. only one student would emerge as the winner, with their story featured on the front page—a prestigious honour typically reserved for seniors or professors. additionally, the winning story would be published in the state newspaper, which would undoubtedly enhance your linkedin profile, or so you thought. but what truly excited you was the ultimate reward: exemption from all remaining english literature exams for the semester, ensuring a perfect a+ as the final grade. this meant you could forego the rest of the english lit classes, and it became your primary goal—to craft the best story and secure victory in the contest.

recently, it was discovered that the two superheroes of the moment were, in fact, students at wiskayok university. how the media obtained this information remained a mystery, but its authenticity had been confirmed. you knew that if you were able to expose the identities of these heroes, it would cause a frenzy and undoubtedly lead to your victory. was it ethical to reveal their identities? maybe not. did you want to spend your summer retaking english class? absolutely not. with that in mind, you channelled all your determination and energy into this story.

as the days passed, your obsession with this personal project grew stronger. you had to admit that ever since you were little, you secretly loved superheroes. so, even though your main goal was to win the contest, you also found genuine interest in it. staying late at school, hiding between the bleachers or on the rooftops, became a routine as you searched for any peculiar signs. you even managed to swipe the absences list from the principal's office and kept track of the students with the highest number of absences, considering them as your prime suspects.

your girlfriends, nat and lottie, tried to convince you to stop this endeavour multiple times, insisting it was dumb and a waste of time—especially since it left you with little free time for them. nonetheless, you remained stubborn as ever, even when lottie offered to get you a tutor who could help you over the summer.

it was a tuesday afternoon after class. you dropped off your girlfriends at the field for their soccer practice, promising them that you would go straight home and wait for movie night, something you hadn't done in a while. little did they know, instead of keeping that promise, you had arranged to meet up with two friends. you had paid them beforehand to stage a scene on the street: one pretending to be a burglar, and the other acting as the victim. the plan worked, and now you found yourself hiding inside an empty trash container, straining your ears to catch snippets of distant voices. carefully, you lifted the lid a few centimetres, giving yourself a limited view of spider-woman and black cat as they removed their suits and changed into their regular clothes, which they had stashed in a backpack. unfortunately, your line of sight only reached up to their hips, as lifting the lid any further would risk exposing yourself to their gaze.

that was until a putrid smell reached your nostrils, prompting you to discreetly turn on your phone's flashlight. as the light revealed a dead rat in the corner, you couldn't help but gag, dropping the lid with a loud thud.

"fuck," you muttered, covering your mouth and nose, attempting to stay quiet, praying they hadn't heard you. but it was too late; barely a second later, the lid was forcefully lifted, and the intense daylight flooded your vision, momentarily blinding you.

you were scared shitless, fully prepared to face none other than spider-woman and black cat, and boy, were you fucked. you didn't even bother thinking about making a run for it, already envisioning the worst possible outcomes.

"babe?" you heard, the surprise evident in the familiar voice, pulling you back to reality. in an instant, you opened your eyes and found lottie standing right in front of you. perplexed, you glanced beside her, catching sight of nat, whose arm was lifting the lid.

you rose to your feet, surveying the area, only to discover that the superheroes had vanished. "what are you doing here? you said you were heading straight home," nat questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

you were about to reply, stumbling over your words as you tried to come up with an excuse when something caught your eye. it was the backpack lottie was carrying—the same one spider-woman and black cat had used to retrieve their clothes just moments ago. shock washed over you, and the realization hit you like a bucket of cold water.

you stared at the backpack in disbelief, still trying to wrap your head around the entire situation. it all made sense now. their sudden disappearances, getting late to almost every single date, the frequent class absences, the mysterious phone calls. you knew they were up to something, but sure as hell you never thought it would be this. they weren’t even on your suspect list.

lottie and nat slowly shifted their gaze toward each other, guilt and embarrassment written all over their faces. it was clear that neither of them had expected you to stumble upon them like this. "we can explain," lottie finally spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper.

"why didn't you tell me?" you inquired, furrowing your brows as you patiently waited for an explanation.

nat shifted nervously from one foot to the other before finally taking a deep breath and replying, "we wanted to, but… we didn’t know how."

lottie nodded in agreement. "we didn't want to put you in danger, y/n, and we also didn't want you to worry," she added.

she began to explain further about her and nat's secret side gig. "we started doing this not long after meeting each other," she said, her voice laced with guilt.

nat stepped closer to you, her gaze apologetic yet determined at the same time. "and we know that keeping this from you wasn’t fair, but we thought it was the best thing for our relationship."

you felt a wave of emotions surge through your body: anger, confusion, worry. part of you wanted to yell at them for lying and keeping secrets from you, while another part reminded yourself that they were only trying to protect you. but if something bad happened to them or even worse—if they died while doing this—you didn't know how you would cope with the guilt.

lottie seemed to sense your distress and quickly stepped forward, her face full of determination. “hey, everything’s gonna be alright,” she said with a gentle smile, taking your hand in hers and soothingly stroking it with her thumb. “i promise.”

you sighed, tears welling up in your eyes. "i just want you both to be safe. i don't wanna lose you," you said, looking at them.

"but you won't," lottie reassured you. "we know how to take care of ourselves," she said.

"yeah, don't worry about us, babe," nat chimed in. "lotts' spidey senses are top-notch, and i have killer claws. see?" she showed her claws off with a mischievous grin, snarling playfully as she tried to make you laugh.

“dumbass," you said with a smile, nudging her shoulder. nat retracted her claws and used her thumb to wipe away your tears. "seriously though, don't worry. we'll be fine. and our top priority will always be to protect you and make sure you’re okay. we love you, y/n, a lot." she moved her hand to your cheek, softly stroking it.

"i love you too," you replied sincerely, hugging both of them tightly. they kissed your head simultaneously as lottie rubbed your back and nat stroked your hair. "but if you ever hide something like this from me again, i swear i'll kill you," you warned them as you playfully tugged their ears simultaneously, making them complain.

"okay, okay, we get it!" nat cried out as you finally let them go.

“owie," lottie said, rubbing her ear with a pained expression.

"you two act all tough in those suits but can't handle a little ear tug," you teased them.

before you could even laugh, one of them lifted you up and carried you away in her arms.

"holy fuck!" you yelled out in fear. "get me the fuck down!"

you tightly held onto lottie's body, closing your eyes shut as she held you securely in her arms. she had put her mask back on and was swinging between buildings with her spider webs. nat was right behind, using her claws and speed to leap from building to building, quickly catching up.

you could feel the wind rushing by your face as you sped through the afternoon sky, the scenery below becoming a blur. just as you were starting to get used to the exhilarating feeling, lottie gently landed on the ground, bringing you to your destination. opening your eyes, you realized you were on your room's balcony.

"what are we doing here? aren't you two going back to practice?" you asked.

"the last thing i wanna do after dealing with some burglar jerk is going back to school and putting up with taissa's annoying-ass team captain attitude," nat replied wearily, entering your room and tossing her backpack on the floor before flopping face-down onto your bed.

"yeah," lottie agreed. "and we thought this would be a perfect time to start movie night," she said as she hopped onto the bed beside nat and patted the spot in the middle, looking at you.

"fine… but we're gonna have a serious conversation about this later," you warned them. nat just hummed dismissively in response. "and you better start installing life360 on your phones," you commanded.

nat and lottie exchanged glances and made complaining faces at each other. "see? this is why i didn't want to tell her," nat muttered, her voice muffled by the pillows as she plopped her face back down.

“if you don’t do it i swear to god i’ll—” you started to say, but your words were cut off as lottie shot a spiderweb toward your mouth, silencing you. you began to mumble angrily, trying to remove it, which caught nat's curious gaze. she burst into laughter at the sight, and lottie couldn't help but join in. just as you managed to take off the spiderweb and were about to scold them, lottie shot another one, this time towards your body, pulling it swiftly and causing you to fly towards the bed, landing right between them.

as soon as you landed, they snuggled up to you and showered you with kisses all over your face, making you giggle and try to stop them with your hands.

"still mad at us?" lottie asked once they stopped.

“mmm, not if you let me pick today’s movie,” you negotiated.

"fair," nat said, grabbing the remote as the three of you snuggled together under the covers.

[miltonbarbie]

"Oh god, have you seen the new girl ?" South park headcanons with a really pretty+feminine Y/n <//3 (Requested)

(All characters are in highschool +aged up, about 14-15)

!! GIRLBOSS Y/N AU 😍🔊🔊

You always knew you were pretty, if beauty was a weapon, you would be locked and loaded. (Ginny and Georgia reference LMAO)

Your parents weren't the best, but they were filthy rich. So you had all the freedom you got, especially since being the only child can have its MANY perks. You would always go out with your friends to shopping malls, thrifts stores, salons, and allll thatt gooddd stufff

When you moved, you and your parents moved into this really big house. It costed an ass load of money but you could afford it, y'know, cause your rich n' shii.

When you knew it would be your first day at south park high, you got up at 5AM, curled your hair, did your makeup and put on your cutest outfit. Your pretty smile was the cherry on top. Of course, you missed your friends. But you were still excited to be going to a new school. Maybe your life could be better here. Without all the drama, and rumors spreading about you.

Once those doors opened, all eyes were on you. People were whispering and a few people even FAINTED. F A I N T E D. But you just laughed and brushed it off, you would always get these reactions from everyone. For you, this was normal. You already had all your classes set, and your locker was decorated to your liking. You owned the school now, and even the teachers accepted their fate.

Entering your classroom, you were most intrigued by four boys. A boy with black hair, a boy in an orange hoodie with blonde hair, a red head, and a very degrading boy with brown hair who seemed to really get on everyone's nerves.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, and for the first time in years, the classroom went silent. The same classroom those annoying boys (from what you heard) were in. You walked up to the front, and with a sickingly sweet smile and a pretty voice, you introduced yourself.

You twirled your hair, made eye contact, and spoke with perfect confidence. And the whole class, was instantly flustered by your beauty. Cartman decided what would happen if he tried messing with you. He pulled your chair, which Kyle pushed back before you could sit down. And he even tried spitting gum in your hair, but missed when you bent down to grab your pencil. He was getting pretty annoyed since he couldn't do anything, but he wanted to try one last thing.

Insulting you infront of the whole school.

You were sitting in the cafeteria. With Wendy, Bebe, Clyde, Tweek and Craig. You all were giggling and having fun until Cartman screamed your name across the room, making everyone turn heads.

"Hey Wh0re! What's it like being the center of attention?" | "Excuse me? Would you care to say that again?" | "You heard me, bitch." | "Sorry, Eric. But I dont really think I wanna be wasting my time listening to bullshit from a cocky fatass."

The room started laughing so hard, Cartman's face was turning red. He got played by his own game. Gave him a slap in the face with that one. Kyle's drink was literally about to explode out his nose and you just sat there, face to face, smiling at Cartman.

God you were such a Girlboss, and a total hottie.

The girls (Wendy's girlgroup) Invited you for a sleepover at Bebe's house, and you accepted right away! You had made friends with the entire school in just one day, I think it's pretty obvious that your the most popular girl in school now.

♡

At the sleepover, you and the girls shared your music tastes. After you shared your playlist with everyone, they blasted your music on Wendy's radio. <//3 Melanie martinez -> Taylor swift -> Lana del rey -> MARINA -> Nessa Barret, and all the latest pop songs!

(Until the guys decided to break into the sleepover, and they had to stay over as well.)

[cherrys-writings]

The Perfect Moment

Hey! I know it's been forever and a day since I've updated this series. Thanks to all of you patient people who love Grayson and Flower

Grayson’s talk of inheritance has me thinking about the mysterious box that’s been living on my kitchen table. I rip the tape off. Inside, I find an envelope sitting on top of another box; this one wooden.

How original. 

A flashdrive clatters onto the table when I pull out the letter.

Take care of them.

T. Hawthorne

The last thing I need is to be pulled into one of this man’s puzzles. Then again, I may have pulled Grayson to the forefront of the rumor mill. I take the box and flashdrive upstairs. As soon as I plug it into my laptop a passphrase prompt appears.

Wilde

I type in my immediate thought, a line from the book that allegedly had several pages removed by the editor without the author’s knowledge. A line that remains an unexplainable favorite.

“I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit”

The text box shakes on the screen and the line disappears. The passphrase likely relates to the four words of his letter, but it can’t be so obscure that I wouldn’t know it. I picked up the wooden box, not much bigger than a tea tin, and gave it a shake. There’s a light rattling, probably whatever’s inside. The lid has eight diamonds embedded in its surface. Seven of them form a vague outline of a house. If the house had no floor and one side was longer than the other. The eighth diamond sits alone at one corner. I try to take the top off, but it doesn’t move, sliding it doesn’t work.

I stare at the box. One problem at a time. I know I have to tell Grayson about the incident, but he’s already dealing with a lot. He’ll be upset, though probably not enough to argue about it. Even if he does, there’s no way it could be as bad as our last argument. I doubt anything could compare to those weeks more than a year ago; the pained, rage-filled glances. Constantly running into each other at school, around town, and drawing breath to speak before thinking better of it. The agonizing distance that grew each day, but nothing hurt quite as much as the victorious grin on the face of that strawberry-blonde sociopath. 

“She just made a joke,” Grayson’s defensive words echoed through my mind as the fight played out again. 

“She humiliated him and you know it was deliberate.” I had to force myself to speak normally. No matter how much I wanted to yell, I knew who I was arguing and there was no way in hell that I’d raise my voice first.

“So what if she was testing him?” 

“Oh? That’s how you’re spinning this?”

Grayson took a step closer, “The only one here that’s spinning is you. I get in a relationship and suddenly you’re having this identity crisis; hanging around this guy with questionable work ethic and unrealistic aspirations for his future.”

I rake my hands through my hair, “You don't like Cade because he’s on scholarship AND lets himself have fun and relax. We have opportunities people would die for. Cade worked hard to get where he is and knows it doesn’t stop here.”

“Show me these opportunities, Flower,” Grayson scoffs, “After that gap year, my life is over.”

“Then why are you wasting your time letting yourself get manipulated by some greedy girl?” My raging words echoed through the great room.

“There it is,” he shook his head, “you’re jealous because of how much time I spend with her.”

The next several seconds are painfully clear in my mind and probably one of Hawthorne House’s many security cameras. Both of us acting on instinct, Grayson grabbing my wrist as I walked away, me breaking the grip and shoving his arm back hard. Grayson tried to blink away the tears welling in his eyes. I had walked out before he could draw breath to apologise.

I shuddered at the memory. Grayson had apologised weeks later for everything. Sometime between me ending things with Cade and Emily….

Willa rubbed her face against my arm, clearly tired of waiting for my attention. She starts purring when I scratch her head. “I don’t think Gray will be too upset about the incident, do you?”

She just lays across the keyboard, deciding which problem I’ll deal with first. 

*******************************

I played with the little box while waiting for Grayson to show up. He finally walks in when I’m tracing the design for what feels like the millionth time. 

“You said you needed to tell me something.” Grayson sat beside me, momentarily distracted by the wooden box.

“It’s about this morning.”

“Specifically?” “When I got home and Olive was here.” My heart pounds as I prepare for what comes next. I keep my eyes on the box, sliding my finger from diamond to diamond. “My class heard everything about last night.”

Grayson chokes, “By everything you mean?”

I nod, “Every detail I told Olive.”

He takes a deep breath, “Okay.”

Grayson rises to stand by the window, watching the late afternoon sun sink lower. “Well, there’s been nothing on gossip sites today.” He massages his forehead, “You have that interview tomorrow about that slasher book you wrote senior year, right.”

“Yeah.”

Grayson lets out a long breath, “Maybe there’s nothing to worry about. If someone asks you about it or anything remotely close to the topic, let me know. We’ll deal with it together.”

[themousefromfantasyland]

Yolktown 

By Alex Mouse

I dedicate this story to my friend @thealmightyemprex . Happy birthday pal 🎆🎇🎈🎉

@ariel-seagull-wings @the-blue-fairie @princesssarisa @tamisdava2 @mask131 @theancientvaleofsoulmaking

Once upon a time in a far off kingdom there was a small town that was completely and absolutely eggscellent. At least that was what its citizens liked to believe. 

It was Yolktown, home of the Eggheads. 

What's an Egghead, you may ask?

Well, they are very square people, which it's funny since they are more in an oval shape. 

They loved everything in an oval shape. If you ask them they would say that it’s the shape of perfection. Everything is an egg, they often said. The moon is egg-shaped, as it’s the sun and even the world itself. Well, at least that’s what they taught their children at public schools, and it would be discriminatory of me to go against their deep philosophical beliefs. 

Their houses were egg-shaped and covered with the whitest coat of paint, even the fancier ones with multiple floors. Some had been painted beige, reserved for the “artsy” types. 

They drove egg-shaped cars, and rode egg-shaped trains to work in egg-shaped skyscrapers in the egg-shaped downtown area. 

The Eggheads themselves were a very funny race. They had giant eggs as bodies, with two scrawny arms and two scrawny legs coming out of it. The men always wore pinstripe suits and top hats. The women always wore polka dot dresses with floral bonnets. They always listened to the same songs and read the same books. The last original thought came when the septuagenarians still haven't come out of the public incubator. There weren't any love songs, hugs, or kisses, which may explain their necessity of an incubator.

The Eggheads were a very boring and dull people and the kingdom ignored Yolktown most of the time. The Eggheads themselves kept most to themselves and didn't cause any troubles. 

Yolktown had a mayor, Mr. Humpty Dumpty, a very solitary individual. He alone chose a child from the newborns of the incubator to be his son and his heir. That child was Humpty Dumpty Jr. 

Poor Humpty Dumpty Jr.

What can I say about him?

Some children are born under the insurmountable pressure to exceed their parents and their peers. Little Humpty had the insurmountable pressure to exceed his father in talking, acting, and thinking like everyone else.

“Our family ruled this town for generations,” his father said, “and you, my son, will continue the ancient legacy of this family and protect our way of life.”

As the son of the mayor, Humpty had big shoes to fill. He had to be the most simple, uncomplicated, unthreatening, unchallenging Egghead possible. He had to keep the traditions and beliefs of his ancestors, to keep the legacy of the Dumpty Family.

But Humpty had a secret.

He wasn’t fully the perfect golden egg everyone expected him to be. He had his brief moments of rebellion. His boyfriend from beyond the town’s walls was one of them. 

Every weekend, right after his father went to bed, Humpty would sneak out through his bedroom window to meet his boyfriend on the outskirts of the town, right outside the big wall. 

Can you guess the shape of the wall? 

The wall had been a leftover from Grandpa Dumpty’s days, inspired by the teachings of Great Grandpa Dumpty, who was taught by Great, Great Grandpa Dumpty, and I think you got the picture. For as long as the Dumpties were in power they tried to protect Yolktown from the “corrupting influence of the outside world”. The wall in particular had been a waste of resources since nobody was that interested in Yolktown to begin with, but it gave a fun physical obstacle that Humpty liked to overcome.

Eggheads because of their thin eggshells were not very athletic and looked down and avoided all forms of athleticism. Eggheads’ high schools lacked physical education as a discipline and I bet, it’s probably the only upside of being a teen in Yolktown . 

With the moon high in the sky Humpty pulled his trusty rope and climbed the wall.

On the outside he found his boyfriend in the usual spot, right by the eggfruit tree, with his red whiskers and tail. His boyfriend was a fox, Reynard Fox, the trickster. 

“Why did you take so long?” Reynard smiled.

Why a fox, you may ask? Humpty had a thing for gingers. 

Humpty met Reynard during one of his nightly escapades and both boys quickly got along. Humpty wanted to escape from his father, Reynard wanted to escape from his mother. Both wanted to escape, and I think this made the unlikely pair a little more likely.

The egg and the fox dashed away from everything egg-shaped in the silent and forgotten land of the Eggheads. The more cars crossed the lonely road the more they knew they were getting deeper into human territory. 

In the middle of nowhere they found an open convenience store near the highway that connected nowhere to any place at all. 

Humpty bought a bag of cheap snacks and Reynard a pack of soda. The clerk didn’t pay any attention at all to the queer clients. She had seen stranger ones and they didn’t pay her enough to care. 

With only the stars to make them company the boys started chatting in the deserted parking lot.

“I finally have my own place.” Reynard said, while slurping from the can. “I bought a nice cave way down from here. It’s simple but at least I won’t have to listen to my mom shouting at me anymore.”

Humpty stayed quiet. He looked at the asphalt, avoiding his boyfriend’s eyes. Reynard noticed it.

“What’s the matter, Hum?” He said.

Humpty turned to him and said:

“My father is making me crazy. He wants me to be exactly like him. He wants me to be a replica of him. I don’t know how much I will be able to handle it.” Humpty said. 

The fox raised his eyebrows.

“If you don’t want to be like him, don’t be like him. You wouldn’t be the first teenager to have a rebellious phase.” The fox said.

Humpty’s eyes widened.

“If I do that, my father will kick me out of the house, and by the way people are around there, I will starve.” Humpty said. “Everyone is perfectly happy with their roles, I’m the only weirdo left out.”

Reynard laughed.

“Believe me, you aren’t alone at all.”

“What do you know about the Eggheads?”

“Believe me, you weren't the first one to feel left out and you won’t be the last. And if Yolktown rejects you, maybe you can try finding a new home somewhere else.”

Humpty grimaced. Humpty thought, and thought a little more, but he couldn’t make an answer that was satisfying to Reynard.

“My father raised me to be like everyone else and to make them proud. I don’t know who I am outside of that.”

Reynard turned to him.

“All I know is that you can’t live your life by others. Don’t put yourself in danger, but don’t be so afraid that you stop living.”

Humpty stayed silent looking upwards, staring at the quiet stars.

Reynard shook his head. He extended his paws around Humpty’s shell and pulled him closer. 

“Maybe you can live with me. My cave is really big.” He smiled.

Humpty laughed.

“You just want to eat me up.”

Reynard laughed and gazed at him.

“Of course I want to eat you. It’s the first thing on my mind since I met you. You know how foxes are with eggs.”

Humpty laughed.

“I’m surprised you never tried to eat me.”

Reynard smiled.

“Consider that my rebellious phase.”

They both laughed together.

“You’re an egg. What would you prefer? To be an omelet or scrambled eggs?” Reynard rested his head above Humpty’s. His whiskers tickled the egg boy.

Humpty shoved Reynard away and gave a sly wink:

“You’re impossible…And the right answer is Eggs Benedict.”

Reynard licked his lips and laughed.

“The closeted kid has a racy imagination.”

They spent the whole night talking with each other, and when the first daylight came from over the hills, Reynard kissed Humpty goodbye and raced for home.

Humpty left the human world behind, with all the small shacks, cabins and stores fading in the horizon, being replaced by plaques of Yolktown. He quickly climbed back to the wall, but this time he stopped and sat quietly over it. Reynard’s words still ringed in his head.

The whole town extended itself before him. A white city where beige was the only color that popped out. A city of expectations and rules. He felt like the only Egghead who didn’t want to play the role given to him. The only one who didn’t want to stay the same. He wished for a change, but he was too afraid to give the first step. What would his father think of him? What would the town think of him?

If Humpty couldn’t give the first step, then fate would do it for him.

I don’t know what caused this. Humpty had climbed up and down that wall so many times. Maybe the wind blew too hard that morning. Maybe the frustration distracted Humpty from where he was stepping. The fact is that on that morning Humpty misstepped while climbing down the wall. 

He only had the time to see the ground coming near and then emptiness. He had lost consciousness. 

When the Eggheads stepped out to go to work by the morning they found Humpty scrambled there near the wall.

“Oh my good fairy! It’s the mayor’s son.” They whispered to each other.

They called an ambulance that came as quickly as possible. The son of the Dumpty Family had special privileges and everyone knew that. 

The hospital staff covered him with layers upon layers of bandages and waited until the Mayor arrived. They didn’t know how to act. His shell had been broken into pieces.

When Mayor Dumpty arrived at the hospital and saw his son he was horrified. He hissed and uttered his fair share of curses. 

With much disgust Mayor Dumpty left his beloved Yolktown and came to seek treatment among humans in the King’s hospital, even though it was futile. 

“Father, it’s dark.” Said Dumpty after recovering consciousness. 

He was still covered with several layers of bandages when he arrived at the King’s hospital. Mayor Dumpty wouldn’t allow the human doctors to see his son without them.

“Sir, how can we operate if we can’t see him?” The chief surgeon said.

“I don’t care. No human can see my son while he’s in this hideous form.” Mayor Dumpty shouted.

Helplessly, Humpty could only mumble these words:

“Father, I can’t see.”

Mayor Dumpty then said this:

“It’s better this way.”

Humpty Dumpty Jr. sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty Jr. had a big fall. And all the king's doctors and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty Jr. together again.

Humpty couldn’t see but he felt when his father and his men moved him again. 

“Why did you have to be on that wall? From now on you will never leave my sight. Do you understand?” Mayor Dumpty said. “These gentlemen will take care of you. You will be well fed and they will help to change your bandages.”

Humpty tried to protest.

“I can’t see a thing.”

Mayor Dumpty simply said.

“It’s best this way, so you can’ see what you have become.”

“I don’t understand.”

Mayor Dumpty said with a teary voice:

“Your shell broke. It’s useless now. But I will take care of you. You will stay here, where you can be safe.”

And that was how things went.

Humpty always lived inside a gilded cage, and now the cage grew even tighter. He couldn’t go outside, he couldn’t shower on his own, he couldn’t eat on his own, or even go to the bathroom on his own. He couldn’t even see anything. Most of his days were into complete darkness, with the only moments of light being when the nurses replaced his bandages. 

“By the Fairy King! He’s hideous.” He heard from one of the old nurses.

“These things make me want to barf.” Another nurse said.

And Humpty stayed in the dark, unaware of how he looked. 

This all changed when one day he heard this being whispered to him.

“I’ll take you from here.”

“Reynard.” Humpty shouted in a state of pure glee. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m just a fox stealing an egg.” 

“Hey, you can’t be here.” Someone on the opposite side of the room shouted.

Humpty only heard the confusion, the sound of stuff being broken, and of Eggheads too afraid of being broken along with them. 

Reynard pulled Humpty and carried him in his furry arms. Humpty heard the sound of the nurses and security shouting to him and Reynard replying with nothing more than a growl. They stepped out through the front door while Mayor Dumpty shouted curse words from upstairs.

“Where are you taking me?” Humpty asked, but Reynard didn’t reply.

After so long in the darkness and mystery, light finally returned to his eyes. The first thing Dumpty saw after having his bandages removed was Reynard. He stared at him with a puzzled, but still relaxed and amused expression. They were in a dark alleyway. Egg-shaped trash-cans and egg-shaped trash were spread everywhere. The street was deserted, and only the sound of the night breeze could be heard. 

“Am I too ugly now?” Humpty said with a teary voice.

Reynard laughed. The laughter started small, but it grew with a crescendo until the fox boy was barely breathing.

“Why are you laughing? This is serious, Rey.” Humpty replied.

Reynard grinned and showed him a mirror.

“I never thought I would see a living Dodo in my lifetime.” Reynard said.

Humpty stared fixedly at the image in the mirror. The image was of a short, pudgy, and almost hunched bird. The wings were short and Humpty knew for sure he would never fly. His beak was long and it curved downwards. His feet were like a pigeon or a chicken, with four toes. 

But wait, my dear reader. This dodo wasn’t like your ordinary dodo. For one their feathers were polished and glittering, as if they were made of shiny metal. It also possessed a strange color, that freely transited in between green, purple, and blue. 

“Is this me?” Humpty said, doubting his eyes. 

“Yes, of course.” Reynard said. “I wanted an omelet, but I think I’ll have to satisfy myself with roasted chicken.” 

Humpty spent what felt like eons looking at his short wings. The sight of his body enticed him. He scavenged every inch of his new body. It was so alien, but it felt so right. For the first he could remember he felt right. 

Humpty turned back to Reynard.

“Finally.” Reynard said. “I was thinking you were cheating on me with yourself.”

“You told me I was a Dodo.” Humpty said. “What’s a Dodo?”

Reynard scratched his head.

“Well, you are one. Long ago there lived the Dodos. They were short, chubby, and funny looking, but they had pretty wings. But then suddenly, they all start disappearing after the big earthquake.” 

Humpty widened his eyes.

“How long was the last time someone saw a Dodo?”

“A couple of centuries.” Reynard answered. 

Humpty looked at himself for a little longer, and he started crying. It was involuntary. The tears simply started flowing. His beak produced a soft and small noise. There was a little laughter, and a little smile.

“I had no idea.” Humpty said, this time erupting into a teary smile. 

“We have to go now.” Reynard said.

“I have to do something first.” 

Even Humpty himself was surprised by his response. He continued:

“They have no idea of what they are missing.” Humpty looked at Reynard. “I can’t allow them to live their whole lives in the dark.”

Reynard laughed.

“What happened to: Everyone is perfectly happy with their roles, I’m the only weirdo left out?”

Humpty walked in circles and then shook his wings. He felt something deep inside that he never felt before. A type of bravery that he had to play out otherwise it would fizzle and die. A feeling that made him happy and joyful for once. 

“I have to tell everybody about this.”

Reynard smiled.

“Your father won’t like it.”

“I don’t care.” Humpty laughed. The sound of those words made him chuckle. “I don’t care anymore. I don’t care.”

“So, will you go out of your comfort zone?” Reynard said.

Humpty chuckled.

“I guess I have no choice now.” Humpty said. “Will you help me?”

Reynard laughed. He pulled Humpty and raised him into the air while shaking his feathers. 

“Let’s go!”

The next day all Eggheads were reunited in the town hall. Mayor Dumpty gathered a crowd of hundreds to start a search for his son. The reporters already started recording the event in their egg-shaped cameras. Mayor Dumpty rose to the podium, with the floor-length flags of Yolktown  in the background. 

Mayor Dumpty gave a long and morose speech about the dangers of outsiders and how a fox of the outside world had stolen his son. The crowd clapped enthusiastically until one voice emerged among them. 

“He's lying.”

“Who said that?” Mayor Dumpty cried on the microphone. 

A Dodo stepped out among the Eggheads.

The many voices of the crowd went mute as soon as they saw Humpty. They stared at him in wonder and horror. 

“He's hideous.” Some whispered. 

Humpty turned his head in their direction and saw that it came from the oldest and the most devout ones. Only them called him hideous. Most of the youngest were completely unaware of what a Dodo even was.  He understood what had happened. He was going back to these thoughts again and again since he first saw his colorful feathers. He now had a good guess of what had happened. But his father insisted on having the first word. 

When Reynard came close to him, Mayor Dumpty started shouting:

“This is the disgusting outsider who perverted my dear son and disfigured him. A fox!”

“I’m still the same old Humpty Dumpty Jr. This is who I am inside. This is who I truly am. And Reynard is my boyfriend.” Humpty said, making all the Eggheads gasp. “He didn't do anything wrong, he just helped me find the truth. I’m a Dodo.”

“You're ugly. You're deformed.” Mayor Dumpty shouted back. 

“You all have feathers. Just like mine. They are just underneath your shells” Humpty said, and then turned to his father. “And you knew it, right?”

Mayor Dumpty closed his eyes and sighed. 

“Everyone knows it. This knowledge is public. It's not our fault that the youth is lazy and ignorant.”

Humpty turned around to see all the younger Eggheads who watched him and his father attently. They didn't know it. The crowd erupted in noise, with whispers and blabbers floating and mixing in a wild cacophony. 

“Silence!” Mayor Dumpty said. 

The voices stopped. 

“Once upon a time…” Mayor Dumpty started. “The good people in this town trusted the Dumpty Family to keep them safe. We all swore away our vices and imperfections and decided to stay like the most perfect of us, like chicks in the egg. The egg is the shape of perfection. We built our incubator to generate more of us, free from any corruption that could break our shells. We swore to keep ourselves simple, innocent, and pure. But you and your outsider partner are about to do what outsiders always do: to destroy our innocence and our way of life.”

Humpty shouted:

“This is stupid. You don't need to stay like this forever if you don’t want to. We don't need to hide ourselves behind these shells. We can be who we were meant to be.”

The Eggheads silently watched them with wide eyes. 

“If any of you follow this Dodo insanity you will all be banished from Yolktown. Yolktown belongs to the Eggheads.”

Humpty closed his eyes and smiled.

“Okay, if that’s the way, then goodbye, father.”

Mayor Dumpty jumped. He couldn’t conceit his anger.

“You are rejecting centuries of Dumpty tradition, just for a fox. 

“I have a name, okay.” Reynard interrupted.

“Your nonsense won’t last a week.” The Mayor continued.

Humpty simply smiled.

“And yours is on its last days.”

Humpty couldn’t understand why he felt so peaceful now. Mayor Dumpty’s words didn't hold any power over him anymore. He once was so scared that this day would come, but now he wanted it more than anything. He was free now. Free and true to himself. He had tried to give the same power to others, but if they flatly rejected or fully hearted accept it would only depend on them. 

Reynard hugged Dumpty as strongly as he could, and they both shared warmth and comprehension. The Eggheads didn't know what to think. 

Hours later they both were on their way to the gates of Yolktown.

“You tried your best.” Reynard said.

“I can’t believe what I did. I can’t believe what I just did.” Humpty smiled and jumped in excitement. 

“I’m really proud of you.”

They kissed and prepared themselves to leave Yolktown, when she appeared. 

An Egghead teenage girl. She had an uneasy expression on her, in between anxiety and joy. 

“I want to be like you.” She started saying, then the words started coming from her mouth with the same speed as waters coming from a hole in a dam. “All my life I knew there was something wrong with me. I thought I was going insane. My classmates mocked me. Not even my mother wanted to talk about it. But then you appeared.”

The Eggheads surrounded them. They had judgmental looks on their faces, but no one tried to stop them. 

“You will be an outcast. Mayor Dumpty will banish you as well.” Humpty said.

“Will it hurt?” She asked. 

Reynard stared at Humpty. 

Humpty closed his eyes and gave a smile.

“It will get better with time. I promise you.” Humpty said. 

Peck. Peck. Peck. Piece by piece. With his beak Dumpty broke her shell and pulled one tiny piece at a time. The Eggheads looked in awe and horror but still didn't dare to interrupt. 

When Humpty finished, a lovely female dodo stared back at him. She cried, and cried, and laughed as loud as she could. She immediately hugged Humpty, while the other Eggheads only could stare. Humpty knew that the judgment had been replaced by a new feeling that was alien to them: Longing. Longing to do the same. 

“You were never alone.” Reynard said to Humpty.

It started slow as all things do. It started with a single dodo, then there were two. By the end of the week, there were five. The Eggheads only talked about that. The press couldn’t focus on anything else. But Mayor Dumpty couldn’t show weakness. He promised banishment to anyone that went against his way and he was an egg of his word. He banished the five immediately.

“They are mad.” Mayor Dumpty told the reporters. “How can someone be proud of being ugly and deformed?”

But this didn’t stop then.

Mr. Dumpty wrote the Dodo Policy Act with his own hand.

The government told the teachers that there would be harsh penalties for anyone spreading Dodo propaganda. The teachers gained a new job function, one that wouldn’t earn any extra money: To protect the young from the Dodos. Any Dodo would be expelled and banished from Yolktown, regardless of age or legal status.

At the parent-teacher meeting, each one of the parents told how the Dodos were a danger to the wellbeing of their children. The teachers told them what the government had mandated: “It’s a phase. It will soon pass”.

Imagine their shock when one of the students became a dodo, young Frankly Frank. 

Mayor Dumpty banished young Frankly Frank from Yolktown, with as much fanfare as possible. Mayor Dumpty made sure the reporters photographed the accused. Yolktown would not tolerate Dodos of any age. What Mayor Dumpty didn’t predict was the show that Frankly Frank’s father was ready to deliver to the cameras.

“I won’t let him go alone.”

Mayor Dumpy watched when the Egghead father broke his shell piece by piece, forcing all the other Eggheads to watch it. Many Eggheads squirmed and turned away, but some couldn’t stop watching. When he was done, the father pulled his son by the wing and both Dodo father and Dodo son stepped out of the gates of Yolktown towards the unknown. 

“It’s spreading like a disease.” Mayor Dumpty said.

In another school district Mayor Dumpty fired a teacher that had become a Dodo. Next week all the teachers and staff of the school became Dodos as well. He banished them all, losing the entire school staff. 

More Dodos kept appearing. In business, in fashion, and in music. They were all promptly fired and segregated from the rest of the Eggheads. Mayor Dumpty banished them all, without mercy or pity, but he couldn’t help but notice a happy expression on their beaks when they left Yolktown. 

It took a few years for Mayor Dumpty to realize a settlement was growing a couple of miles from Yolktown, and it took even a couple more years for Mayor Dumpty to realize he was responsible for filling it with people. It was a Dodo settlement, built by Dodos for Dodos, all the ones he rejected from Yolktown. It was Dodoland, and soon the whole kingdom started paying attention to the Dodos.

People from all over the kingdom started visiting Dodoland. For the first time the tourism industry of that region thrived. It seems that the people enjoyed the company of the Dodos much more than they ever enjoyed the Eggheads. 

They had better music. More wild, more unpredictable, more unstable. People hated it at first, or at least they pretended they did. But the audience grew more and more, until these new songs and bands moved from obscurity into mainstream fame.

They had better fashion. People started dressing differently. Less orderly and more chaotic, with more color and glitter. Those who believed beige was an artsy color were caught with their pants down when more and more colors started appearing in the houses and fashion of the people of Dodoland, with architecture styles and colors until then unknown by the Eggheads.

Free from their delicate and fragile shells, the Dodos finally started being more active. They finally could be violent, playful, and mischievous. They could play sports like football, rugby, or simply beat each other for fun. 

Year by year, the Eggheads realized that no one, no even themselves, liked the rules by which they were living. The whole town was populated by outcasts all this time, outcasts that convinced themselves that if they followed the rules they would be happy. They started leaving Yolktown and their shells behind en masse. The town grew emptier and emptier, as new  Dodos appeared, taking new names, new identities, new colors and new feathers. 

Yolktown was left with no music, fashion, or business, since all their greatest minds had already been banished. Mayor Dumpty was left with only the true devouts and the oldest, the ones that turned away all their family and friends and kept to the old ways. However the problem of having your town being populated only by the oldest, the really oldest, is that they don’t stick for long. Eventually, Mayor Dumpty was the only one left. The last Egghead. Everyone else had become an omelet. 

Meanwhile, Humpty Dumpty Jr. lived his best way. Decades had passed. The Dodos trusted him enough to be the Mayor of Dodoland, and he respected them enough to do a great service. He had Reynard as his husband and trusted advisor and they were now known through the kingdom. They were as happy as they could be. Their town was thriving, but Humpty knew someone had stayed behind.

The Dodos didn’t need artificial incubators anymore. Humpty watched as the first baby Dodos visited the town hall with their parents. 

“Is that what you wanted?” Reynard hugged Humpty from behind.

Humpty, with tears in his eyes said:

“It’s better than that.” He said. “I have to find him.” 

“He disowned you.” Reynard said.

“He only have a ghost town now. I have to help him.” Humpty said. “If we changed the entire way Eggheads live their lives, we need to try changing my dad.”

Reynard didn’t say anything. He simply nodded. 

They travelled to old Yolktown, knowing exactly where Mayor Dumpty had hidden himself. 

Yolktown felt different now. Grayer than usual. Stained and dirty walls everywhere. There was nobody to care to make the town look pristine. 

The imposing Dumpty Manor, symbol of the pride of the Dumpty family and of Yolktown, now laid in complete darkness, with only a still and faint light coming from one of the many oval windows. 

Mayor Dumpty sat on his large wooden chair, with only the lamplight on the table to make him company. When Humpty and Reynard entered the room, he didn’t even turn to look at them.

“What do you want?” Mayor Dumpty said, “You already won.”

Humpty looked at him and said:

“Why did you do all these things? With me and with the whole town.”

Mayor Dumpty closed his eyes:

“It was just what my father taught me, who was taught by his father, who was taught by his father, and so on. The Dumpties build this city. We created and protected this way of life. And now it’s all destroyed.”

Humpty stepped closer.

“We don’t need to stay the same. We can be whatever we want.”

“What if something happens? A calamity or tragedy? What if then?” The mayor asked.

“Then we learn from our mistakes and find a better way. But we can’t live this repressed until the end. We have a life to live, and we need to make it worth it.” Humpty said.

Mayor Dumpty stared at him:

“Without the traditions, I don’t know who I am.”

Humpty smiled:

“Maybe it's time to find out.”

Mayor Dumpty closed his eyes.

“Out!” He shouted.

“Is that what you wish, sir?” Reynard asked.

“I wish you to leave me alone.” Mayor Dumpty said.

Humpty and Reynard looked at each other and then Humpty said:

“If you ever change your mind Dodoland will be happy to accept you. Life it’s too short to stay locked in your shell.”

And they left the old Egghead to stay in the darkness, with his thoughts and his grief.

“Thank you for everything.” Humpty said to Reynard, who promptly hugged him and kissed him. 

They were the only bit of happiness left in Yolktown.

Over the years Dodoland became a fever dream of color and glitter, the most colorful and zainy city in the world, attracting tourists from everywhere. Mayor Humpty stayed happily married with Reynard and they even adopted some baby Dodos of their own. And while the last Egghead remained sad and alone in his personal ghost town, all Dodos lived happily ever after knowing full well how truly liberating it’s to come out of their shells.

What do you guys think?

[anavilante]

December Drabble Marathon 9/31: Holding Hands

AU: Modern High School

Word Count: 0.8К

Summary: On a winter fair outing, John struggles with the courage to reach for Gale’s hand, only to discover that some things don’t need grand gestures—just warmth, understanding, and the quiet magic of fingers intertwined for the first time.

John and Gale strolled through the fair, to anyone else appearing as just two ordinary friends: trading jokes, exchanging glances, debating which booth to visit next. But for John, this was no ordinary outing. His heart pounded so loudly that the bustling sounds of the crowd faded into background noise.

That single moment had changed everything, casting a new kind of tension over their every interaction—a quiet intensity that neither of them seemed ready to put into words.

This wasn’t just two friends hanging out.

They had kissed. Once.

John wanted, no, needed to take Gale’s hand. To feel its warmth, the unspoken connection of that first tender closeness. But fear gnawed at him. What if Gale pulled away? What if he thought it was too much—especially here, surrounded by so many watchful eyes? The thought weighed on John like an anchor, his hand heavy with indecision, hanging at his side as if filled with lead.

It wasn’t just a touch he craved. It was a gesture, a wordless confession that couldn’t be hidden. But what if Gale wasn’t ready for… whatever this was between them… to become something so visible?

The first opportunity came at the carousel. Gale leaned casually over the ticket counter, his face lit up with a rare, boyish smile. The moment felt too perfect to miss—Gale was so close, John’s hand instinctively twitched toward him. But just as his fingers nearly brushed Gale’s, he turned abruptly to grab his change, and John jerked his hand back into his pocket.

“Sure you want to do this one?” Gale asked, glancing over his shoulder with a raised brow.

“Yeah… of course,” John replied, trying to keep his voice steady while his nerves tied themselves into knots.

The second chance came in line for hot chocolate. The crowd pressed them together in the tight queue, Gale’s fingers fidgeting against the edge of his coat sleeve. John stood behind him, every fiber of his being focused on the simple act of reaching out. But again, hesitation won. Instead, he stared at the overhead menu as though it held the answers to life’s mysteries, silently cursing himself.

“Why are you so quiet today?” Gale asked suddenly, holding out two steaming cups of cocoa. “You never shut up, but now it’s like you’ve gone mute.”

“Just… thinking,” John mumbled, fumbling for an excuse. “About how much money people waste on stuff like this.”

Gale smirked, taking a sip. “Wow. Since when did you become so pragmatic?”

He chuckled, oblivious to the way John’s eyes traced the curve of his lips against the cup, his every movement mesmerizing.

The third attempt came as they navigated through the throng toward a toy stall. John thought he had it figured out this time—he’d offer his hand to help Gale through the crowd. But just as he moved to act, someone bumped into Gale, causing him to shift aside and, yet again, breaking the moment.

“Man, it’s like a zoo in here,” Gale remarked, not noticing the frustrated sigh John let out.

John shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, battling a wave of quiet despair.

It wasn’t until the end of the night, as they walked toward the exit, tired but content, that Gale acted. Without hesitation, without fanfare, he reached out and took John’s hand.

John froze for half a heartbeat, the warmth of Gale’s palm sinking into his own, anchoring him to this moment.

“You really thought I didn’t notice you trying all night?” Gale said, his tone casual, though his voice carried a weight of amusement and something softer. “You’d probably keep this up until we’re seventy.”

John blinked, his heart soaring and stumbling all at once. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I thought maybe… maybe you weren’t ready for people to see us like that.”

“Oh, really?” Gale raised an eyebrow, finally glancing at him. “You’re bold enough to tease me at school where everyone can see, but here you suddenly turn shy?”

“School’s different,” John muttered. “It’s like a jungle—everyone’s a predator or prey.”

Gale snorted, hiding a grin as he tugged his scarf higher around his face, as though it could conceal the flush creeping up his cheeks.

John couldn’t stop himself from smiling—a wide, toothy grin that ached in the best way. Slowly, he laced his fingers with Gale’s, as if afraid the moment might disappear, but Gale didn’t pull away. Instead, his grip tightened, steady and reassuring.

Gale huffed a soft laugh, pulling the scarf tighter as though trying to hide. But John saw the way his ears reddened, the way his posture softened.

John’s chest swelled with an overwhelming warmth. This—this small, perfect moment of closeness—meant more than anything else in the world. He would remember it forever.

[mikuyuuss]

Waaaah~! Thank you for reblogging my ask game, Unni!

Since you're open to answering questions, can I ask 4, 18, and 20 for Akari?

AHHH thanks for the ask as always Erika!!

4. Why did you give them the name they have? Whats the in universe reason for their name?

Im gonna be honest IM BAD AT NAMING THINGS 😭😭 So I happen to choose Akari because it's a common girl's name and it sounds pretty (surely if it's a common name it won't have a weird meaning RIGHT???!!!) At first I was scared bc apparently the "aka" in akari can also mean red which like, Akari's obviously not a red girly 😂

But her name actually ended up having a beautiful meaning to it (Thank God) The "明" in her name stands for "light" or "brilliance" I believe. Coincidentally, I also have "明" in my name too. I believe it's associated with smartness (at least in chinese culture) So I believe Akari was given that name by her parents because she is the light in their life, and they want her to grow up as a brilliant person.

18. Imagine meeting your oc what would you imagine you'd say to them or do with them

It's gonna be SO messy and complicated if she knew that I created her. In all seriousness I don't think Akari would like me at all. Anyways that aside.. If things were a little simpler, I'd love to just hang out with her, play dress up and do cosplays and other fun stuffs. I could give her words of encouragement about the things that I wish I could tell myself too, but in reality I think I will just go :

She can do it because she's fast and I'm as slow as a turtle.

20. Share a random piece of trivia about the creation of your oc (scrapped idea or changes you didnt expect to make)

This is her old design:

Initially, her vibes was a lot darker and edgier, but somehow she got softer and pinker the more I drew her.

Tbh Akari looks way cooler here, but her design feels a little messy. There were many cool ideas but nothing came out of it. In the end she's just kinda there. I originally wasn't gonna ship her with Giyuu bc I was a giyuu x shinobu shipper back then and thought they would be canon XD (I just prefer them as bros now) It doesnt help that I was so busy with school and its the pandemic, so my creative juices were little to none. But one idea that has always stayed is Akari having a good relationship with the girls, especially Mitsuri. After that I forgot about her...

Then I took a year off university, so more time to draw. I was on my way to moving on from kny, until I saw the swordsmith teaser and was like "Okay this show helped me get through pandemic, why not post some art to pay tribute at least." one art became more and suddenly I realized I wanna revisited Akari again bc omg this oc has so much wasted potential I need to fix this 😱 Guess I wont be moving on from kny soon 🤡

I thought about different breathing styles, illusion, star breathing etc. I decided that Akari is a battle seamstress character so I thought of silk breathing bc you know silk but I was like: "ok shes a seamstress who does seamstress powers?? thats it?? she needs something more specific" Eventually I settled for Camellia flowers bc I think its perfect for her in every way.