#looked over at my sister and she’s watching squid game

[the-hot-zone]

thanos 💀??

[producedbysohyun]

Shark Week

Squid game x reader hcs

Summary: How the people in squid game would react to you being on your period (all separate)

Includes: Thanos, Se-mi, Dae-ho, Myung-gi, Jun-ho, Hyun-ju (non!squid game au)

Warnings: We are pretending for this one they aren’t all in major debt 🤗, a little suggestive on thanos’s part, If you’re scared of periods don’t read I guess?? 😭

masterlist

a/n: this goes out to all my people who have to deal with periods! We are in this together 😔✊

Thanos

Ya you’re out of luck with this one 😔

Probably the worst person to have with you during your period

Definitely trys to rap his way into making you feel better but just fails miserably

“I know another way to make you feel better 😏”

“No”

“Ok 😞” *walks off with yet again another failed attempt*

If you asked him to go out and by you pads he would probably come back with those small cotton pads for your face

I mean he’s trying 😭

The type to ask “are you on your period” whenever you’re in a bad mood and is met with a slap every time

Doesn’t know what else to do so he probably just goes even more broke buying a bunch of food for you

(“With what money” we all yell in unison 🗣️)

Tolerates watching your “stupid” shows that you like just to make you happy but ends up being really interested

Se-mi

One of the best people to have with you

Deals with her period really well so she doesn’t really understand your pain but she gets the other things

Cuddles you all day!!

Literally turns into your slave

I feel like she would tease you about something and then accidentally make you cry because you’re overly sensitive

She feels so bad and you better believe she’s gonna watch what she says for the remainder of your period

You guys watch shows all day and just eat junk food

*stares at you dying in pain* “is it that bad?”

*starts crying*

“What- nooo baby I’m sorry” *queue her kissing all over your face*

I’m in love with her

Dae-ho

*sigh* I love him

Dude has four sisters so you are in luck

He definitely knows what to do

Gives you so much cuddles

He’s probably extra clingy to you during this time but if you tell him you want space he definitely respects it

If you’re having cramps he’ll give you tummy rubs 😔

I need him so bad wjdvjwwjwdjwkwj

Lowkey gets a bit freaked out when you start having mood swings

So he’s definitely careful with what he says not that he could ever hurt your feelings anyways

Is there to comfort you when you start crying over dumb stuff and NEVER makes fun of you for it

Gets you all your favorite snacks!!!

Ugh I need him

Myung-gi

Lowkey avoids you at first

Confused pt.2

He gets the hang of it pretty quickly tho

“Are you on your period” pt.2

Slapped pt.2

Poor boy didn’t even mean it in a bad way he was just genuinely curious 😞

Secretly looks up what to do

You guys binge watch shows together the whole day while cuddling

Try’s not giggle if you start crying over the show

And if you see him laughing it only makes you cry more

“No no Jagiya I’m sorrrryyy”

*Kisses your face till you stop crying*

Besides the laughing part he’s not a terrible person to have 👍

Jun-ho

Gives you your space

Kinda just lets you do your own thing but if you specifically need something he’ll do it for you

He’s up for giving you cuddles but you gotta ask him cause he doesn’t wanna do anything to upset you :(

Weirdly calm about the whole thing

Sends you texts asking how you’re feeling throughout the day as he can’t be there with you the whole time due to his job

Very very patient when you have mood swings

Buys you food pt.3

Overall not too bad

Hyun-ju

She definitely knows what to do

Very educated

Cuddles pt.4!!!!!!

Does everything she possible can to make you feel better cause she hates seeing you in pain

If somebody upsets you she will personally go and deal with them herself girl doesn’t play around

Constantly checks up on you asking if there’s anything she can do

Literally never makes you cry

She’s so gentle with you 🙁

10/10 person to have when your on your period

a/n: I hope you guys enjoyed! This was a lot of fun to make!!

[mono-dot-jpeg]

big sister - hyun ju

summary; a big sister will always protect, but when will she be able to relax?

genre/extra tags; one shot, found family, fluff, hurt/comfort?, canon typical violence, i dont like the second season writing, but i can not deny myself this diva, that's mother !!, teen! reader, hyun ju is the only reason i decided to watch this season, slight canon divergence bc i have the mind of a goldfish, canon typical sad heavy conversations, big sister is written to be seen as the korean honorific "unnie", older sister moments written in the point of view of a younger sibling, unintentional love letter for my appreciation to my sister, reader is implied to be some form of lgbt but not out (im projecting)

[platonic] [gender-neutral reader]

[warning; mentions of transphobic ideas]

a/n; before people ask, no, im not doing requests for this show. i just don't feel fully comfortable writing for squid game. i just really wanted to write this because, believe it or not, i write for my enjoyment. even i do switch off here every few months or every other month.

dinner had rolled around after an intense "game" of life or death. how you managed to survive this long is beyond you. but you might have a strong idea of why you're living so long, and it was the strong woman who was sitting beside you with some of the other women who were surviving so far.

the old lady had pointed out that hyun ju was not like other people. and it really was odd to her. but hyun ju was used to that. more than used to it. she lived through it since she decided to come out.

you listen to the conversation, not really putting your two cents in as it seemed like there was no right time to butt in. but as the conversation continued, the mood was just a little lighter. and that was more than enough morale. the old lady seemed to slowly understand hyun ju and her struggle.

you've zoned out so much, you almost fail to notice hyun ju sneaking an egg onto your shabby given lunch box meal. you look up at her as she gives you a warm look before pretending that she didn't just do that.

you mix the rice with not much thought, spilling some bits of rice and egg over its metal container before you slowly eat. unbeknownst to you, hyun ju glances back at you as if to make sure you're actually eating and not staring off with a tired look that no teen or child should have. you've seen everything, you're part of this sick game, she may not know your story, but she knows you don't deserve any of the bad you've been through.

you're the youngest in the entire room, a room filled with people with insurmountable debt and issues. hyun ju can only imagine your worry, your anxiety, the burden.

when the first game got serious, you were trying your damned hardest to keep your fear contained under the watchful eye of that robot scanning every movement. she was right in front of you, keeping you safe along with the rest of the people who lined up with her. you look like you wanted to cry the moment you got to the finish line. if she wasn't full of adrenaline at the time, she probably would've heard how hard your heart was beating.

somehow, she had taken two people under her care. you and young-mi. how could she not care about a young woman like young-mi and a teen like yourself? two anxious people forced to live a life full of debt and pain when you both deserved nothing but comfort and love.

people start lining up in their beds for nighttime. gi-hun was very insistent on being careful at night. it was dangerous. some people were not behind just killing others at night to sweeten the pot of money that loomed over everyone's head like a golden sun.

as most of the adults started to climb in their beds, you stand awkwardly. you weren't a stranger to sleeping a room full of people, but you were definitely a little paranoid after what gi-hun was talking about.

you find yourself naturally gravitating to hyun ju. her presence was just so calming, and she was so caring for others. it was hard not to get attached. young-mi had taken to calling her big sister. and you found yourself doing the same when you call out to her softly.

"big sister?" you gently tap at her arm as she turns to look at you. she silently urges you to continue speaking with a gentle look. you can see the tired in her eyes, but she looks at you, unwilling to say no. "this is embarrassing..." you mutter.

"it's okay. i'm here." she reassures you.

"can i stay with you tonight? i'm-" you choke a little bit on your words, not only out of embarrassment but fear. "i'm really scared. i don't wanna be alone." you confess.

she softens, "i would love to let you, but it's too risky. if people come for us, it would be very hard to fight back. i'm so sorry, kid." she opens her arm out for a hug, and you take the comfort you can get in this shitty place. "i will do my best to keep you safe, alright? when we get out of here, i'm going to find you again, and we can help each other, yeah? i'll protect you."

you nodded with her words, not finding the heart to say anything. she takes this as a sign to start guiding you into your bunk bed on top. at least the top bunks would be somewhat safer for you. you hesitantly climb into bed. "if a fight breaks out, hide. run. just be safe. i will find you, and you'll be safe." she continues to reassure you the best she can.

"okay. goodnight big sister." you whispered. "please be safe."

"i will." she said with a calm confidence that only she could pull off that didn't make you feel worried for her.

you hope that you get out of here, so you don't have to see the worried exhaustion in her eyes anymore.

she was a big sister by heart and soul. you just hoped her big heart wouldn't lead her to her doom. she protects and gives, but when will she relax?

[celestiamour]

pls pls plsss write smth where fem reader and se-mi meet at the games and fall for one another? w the reader having a sort of bubbly and cute personality! tysm 🫶🫶

ft. se-mi x f! reader — squid game

╰₊✧ falling for your cute and bubbly personality┊0.7k words

contains: fluff! reader is a sweetheart, asking you out

➤ author's note: i was so in love with her this entire season like i couldn’t stop giggling every time she showed up on screen

you seem to be able to create friends even in this impossible situation, she notes as she watches you with amused eyes while you flutter around the room from group to group like a pretty butterfly flying from flower to flower. there’s at least one person in the dozens of teams who you know by name and not number, and even if you didn’t, you thought all of them were deserving of a drop of sunshine that was your personality. you made even the most difficult people crack a smile with how infectious your energy was and how sweet you were even in these murder games, and it made her indifferent heartbeat a little faster whenever it was her turn to have your attention. who wouldn’t feel that way when there was such a cute girl who reminded her of the princesses from those cartoons she watched when she was little?

“se-mi unnie!! how are you holding up?”

she hadn’t seen the real light of the sun in days, yet your smile shone even brighter than the morning star and she briefly wondered if she would be blinded if she looked directly at it. you were like a doll in the sense that it seemed to be permanent, but after seeing the look on your face after the first game where dozens died like they meant nothing, she now knows you were simply spreading some much-needed love to others as a way to cope with the traumatic experience like the sweetheart you were.

“i’m doing okay, i just wish the food tasted better— come sit next to me,” she commanded, patting her free hand against the open spot on the mattress because she wanted as much of your time as possible. 

“well, it’s kimbap, so you can’t really go wrong with it!” you obediently climbed onto the bed with her, sitting so close that she could smell the artificial flower-scented soap of the shower you took a couple of hours ago. “when we get out of here, you should come over to my place and i’ll cook you some food! i’m not as good as my grandma, but it’s a lot better than the cold stale stuff they serve here.”

“that would be great.” she liked the idea of coming over to your place, already able to imagine your room full of stuffed animal collections and lace curtains, although she would much prefer it if she came as something more than a friend— but now that she thinks about it, did you even like girls in that way like she does? you didn’t really express romantic interest in girls, but you exactly didn’t show any for guys either, being more of a little sister figure for them all rather than a potential love interest like she saw you as. 

there was only one way to tell, so se-mi did what she did best, and that was flirting with girls. 

“god, i wish this could be over already,” she sighed as she leaned over to your side to rest her head on your shoulder. “i would love to come over to your place, we could have a spa night and watch romance movies until morning.”

as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt heat start to radiate off your face. “l-like a date?”

“well, only if you want it to be a date…” 

“w-well… um… i would… really, really like that… um, mrs kang is calling for me! i’ll talk to you later!” you stuttered as you rushed off in the direction of the old lady and her son, covering your face with your hands and running away like an embarrassed anime girl. she watched carefully as you told them something in a clearly excited tone before smacking the man with the glasses when his head snapped in se-mi’s direction, but they both seemed very happy for you which made her smile knowing you were on board

“goddamn it, why is everyone pulling cute girls except for me?!” an annoyingly familiar voice from a certain purple-haired rapper started. “what am i doing wrong? i’m thanos for crying out loud, i should be getting swarmed!”

“you might want to work on your technique.”

[simplydannie]

@jules0511 ❤️ My partner in crime! Enjoy!

Fame. Money. Adoration? It sounds to good to be true to a young teen surviving in the under city of Mount Rageous. But Velvet took the gig anyway.

Suddenly, chaos sparks around her…. What has she gotten her and her brother into?

Inspired by the Squid Games.

“Fame. Money. Loved and Adored By Many.” Those words eoched through Velvets mind….

BANG! BANG!

Velvet entered the white tiled room. Stacks and stacks of bunk beds were set up all along the side of the white tiled walls. Glancing around, she saw hundreds upon hundreds of Under Rageouns file into the room. How many constants were there? She looked down at her new attire: a dark green track suit sporting the number 235 on the back.

“Veneer.” It dawned to her that she had not seen her brother since being split apart when they entered. She twisted and turned her head looking desperately for him. “Veneer!” She called out.

“Vels!” She heard his voice. She saw his green swoop of hair make its way toward her, under his stupid little purple beanie. Veneer headed to her a little too happily. “Oh you’re number 235! Im 234! Look!” He spun around to show her the number engraved on his back.

“Really? They let you keep that stupid beanie? Of all things?”

“As long as I didn’t have anything hidden I’m good.” He smiled. Veneer was shoved to ground by a taller Under Rageoun. He snickered as Veneer plummeted to the floor. The Rageoun made a gun signal, pointing it at Veneer, and shot…He was his target. Velvet tore away the beanie from his head.

“Hey!”

“You’re an easy target Veneer! Start acting tough for crying out loud! This is a competition!”

Veneer tore his beanie out from her grasp to put it back on again. “I ain’t change for nothing Vels.” He said sternly.

More and more people continue to poor in. Velvet scoped out the competition, making a mental list of who to watch out for, who looked strong willed, strong physically, and a few whom they should avoid. A screen turned on above what they assumed were entry doors. The screen displayed the names of all the contestants… 456 “players”.

“Were supposed to go against 456 people…and win?” She declared. Next to their names were numbers, slowly those numbers went up on some: Velvet had 35 next her name, while her brother remained at 0.

“Hey! Why am i at zero? Vels, what kind of game is this?” He asked her crossing his arms.

“Fame. Money. Adoration. That’s what they said. So were going to suck this up and come out at the top.” She grasped her brother by the shoulders. “Do you understand? You do everything I say, exactly how I say it.” She stated firmly, eyes filled with determination.

“O-okay.” Veneer stuttered.

“Players, please make your ways to the doors in an orderly fasion. Again, please make your way to the doors in an orderly fasion.” A female voice boomed over the sound system above them. Excitement brewed all around…For Veneer, it was just nerves and anxiety, hoping that what they got themselves into would be okay. Veneer took his place behind his sister, following her through the doors.

In a single file, everyone one was lead through a maze of staircases. Veneer couldn’t help but reach for his sisters hand as the nerves continue to settle in. Velvet retreated her hand.

“No.” She whispered harshly, “No weakness.” Veneer nodded. The staircases were endless, twists and turns at every corner. Eventually everyone came to a stop in front of giant doors, all 456 players lined across. Velvet could hear Veneer’s shaky breath. She elbowed him, causing him to tense and straighten up. No weakness, he reassured himself.

Within moments the doors swung open…odd. The players walked into what was a field, something you would see at school, at the playground, a dirt lot. Straight across the dirt was something pecurliar..

“What in the world…” Velvet murmured.

A giant porcelain doll stood facing them. All the Rageouns took a stance behind the white line looking curiously at the doll. Veneer shook in his shoes, his eyes darting around taking in his surroundings. It looked like they were outside, but the whole enterior of the building was made just to look like it. Veneer know it wasn’t real, becuase he didn’t know what the sun was like, what it felt like. Whatever it was, they mimiced it well, even mimicing what a cool breeze would be like.

“Players please take your mark behind the white line.” The voice boomed again over the speakers. Veneer placed himself right next to Velvet.

“No. Stand more that way. If we’re going to win this, we need to make it seem like were not a team. Make it seem like were not in it together.” She whispered. To make it seem like an act, she shoved Veneer away harshly. There was a hurt look in his eyes, this was not the time her wanted to be away from his sister, but she knew best, he had to believe her.

“Players. Today’s game will be the simple game of red light-green light. When the doll says green-light, you are too proceed. When she says red-light, you are to stop. Players who do not stop will instantly be illimanted. You goal is to cross the other side of the marked field before time is up.” The voice said. As if on cue, the doll turned away, facing her back towards the players.

Everyone took their position behind the white line. Veneer stayed near enought to Velvet, keeping a close watch on her. Velvet’s focus was the finish line…she had to cross it…either her or Veneer…they needed to win this..they needed the money. She noticed cameras all around them. Was this being televised? Or were those cameras there to make sure everyone played by the rules? Silence fell upon the players as the timer appeared on the screen up ahead….a pin needle could be echoed through the quietness of the arena……

………..”Green-light.” The voice of the doll echoed. 456 Rageouns took off running, hoping to cover as much ground as they could before….

“Red-light!” Everyone froze. The dool whipped her head around…They were unsure if she could detect movement or not. Then, one Rageoun losted his balance, wiggling a little to catch it…..

BANG!

The Rageoun fell limp on the ground. Velvet’s eyes widened in horror. Was he? No he couldn’t be….That’s when she saw the pool of blood forming around his body.

“Oh…my…..”

A horrific scream echoed in the areana…

BANG!

Then another..

BANG! BANG!

The players soon began connecting what was going on. Most began to run…they ran towards the doors which they entered upon. Banging on the doors, screaming and pleading.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

One Rageoun ran into Velvet knocking her to the ground. Quickly she moved her hands to cover her ears. She waited for a bullet to strike her chest…but it never did.

BANG! BANG!

She could here the bodies fall to the ground one by one. Velvet’s body shook as the terror and realization of what was happening began to come to her. How? How did she get into this?…Her mind went black for a moment…

She was headed to The Pit to look for any jobs she could pick up, anything to bring food to the table for her and her brother. This particular night, a stranger came and approached Velvet as she was glancing at the bounties listed.

“I believe I’ve seen you around places.” The stranger asked her. Velvet turned towards the voice whom spoke to her: It was a tall male adult Rageoun. Pale skin just like all the Rageouns in the under city, stringy dark gray hair strung into dreadlocks that hung to his waist. He wore a red-mucle shirt with dark brown cargo pants. He gave her a sharped, tooth smile.

“Who hasnt? I’m down here practically all the time. Now excuse me.” She turned to continue to read the list of jobs.

“Not just here sweetheart…everywhere in Under Rageous. You’re a twin arent you?” He asked. She froze. How did he know? True, her and Veneer were the only twins she has ever seen in Under Rageous, kind of hard to miss…But this stranger had a particular interest in them. “Twins are rare here in Rageous. You’d attract the eyes whereever you go I’m sure.” He handed her a card.

“There’s a new competition that Mount Rageous is holding.”

Velvet was stunned in silence. Mount Rageous….only the wealthy, the somebodies dwelled in Mount Rageous. Why was this word getting to her? Why her and her brother?

“I am scout. Scouting talent and those who seem interesting enough to partake in this competition. Twins would definetly catch the eye…Winner of this competition will recieve a high comensation, fame, adoration. Think about it. Call this number.”

Velvet looked down at the card. It was a simply cardboad cut with a square, a triangle, and a cirlce printed in the front. Behind, the card was the number.

“Why? Why me and….” When Velvet looked up, the guy was gone. She was left alone at the center of the bustling pit. Velvet enveloped the card within her hand to hide it from anyone. He didn’t explain what kind of competition it was, only that it was to be held by those up in Mount Rageous. Velvet glanced up, up past the cloud line. She could see the lights of what was the upper atmosphere. This could be the chance her and her brother had been hoping for.

That night she went home, she hadn’t discussed what had happened to her brother. He lay asleep while she turned the card over and over again in her hand. Should she wake up? Should she tell him? Velvet picked out the window of the small apartment, looking up towards the lights of Mount Rageous. They been working so hard, tyring to save up so much to make it to the top…this could finally be their chance. Velvet swung the sheets off of her, tiptoeing to the phone so to not wake her brother…

….She hesitated at first….She dialed the number.

….. Velvets mind came back as she crouched in the arena, clutching her ears, eyes shut tight. Her mind was still ringing as the gunshots continued.

BANG. BANG.

“Fame. Money. Loved and adored by many.” The words echoed through Velvet’s mind…

BANG! BANG!

A few more sounded before they stopped….she heard groans, moans… cries of pain and agony.

“Please do not move when the doll says red-light or else you will be eliminated.”

Killed….. when they meant eliminated, they actually meant killed…. Crouching their in silence, her heart suddenly dropped at the realization….Her brother.

“Veneer….Veneer….” Velvet kept repeating his name to herself. She couldn’t look up. She couldn’t move. They were still on red light….. that’s when she saw a pool of blood getting near her feet…. She knew it wasn’t hers….. the blood began engulfing her shoes….She heard a small cry of pain…..

Oh please no….. please not her brother…. Not Veneer…..What had she gotten him into….

To be continued (?)….

[jessicas-pi]

(looks at ask game) (grabs dice bag and pulls out 2d10)

24, 34, & 18?

Excellent choices!!

24. the modern AU where Jyn and Cassian work at a motel!

Jyn leaned back in her chair. “Your turn to deal with them,” she whispered to her coworker. “It’s always my turn,” he complained, but sat up straight and smiled at the guests. “How can I help you?” She zoned out while he checked the guests in, counting the dirty ceiling tiles for the hundredth time, and in a minute or two, the guests were gone, leaving them alone again. Cass hummed to himself, spinning back and forth in his chair. “Did you forget your book?” Jyn asked, surprising them both. He looked over at her, brow furrowing. “Huh?” “You usually read, but today, you don’t have your book. Did you forget it?” “No. I finished it.”

34. Lost In (Wild) Space (Lost in Space/Rebels crossover!)

(This AU was started ages before the Ahsoka show was a thing, and we thought Ezra was in Wild Space/the Unknown Reigions. Just for context.)

“Wait. Wait.” Penny held her hands up. “What did you say your name was?!” The man looked at her, seeming confused. “Ezra Bridger?” “Mmm. Mmhm. Yeah.” Penny cleared her throat, then crossed her arms. “You, um. Does the phrase Spectre 6 mean anything to you?” Clearly, it did, because he stared at her in shock and suspicion. “So what, if it does?” “Penny?” Mom asked, frowning. “Do you know this man?” “Yes. No. Sort of.” Penny clapped her hands together, and took a deep breath. “Guys… we are in a galaxy far, far away.” “Yeah, we know,” Will replied, rolling his eyes. “No, I mean—” Penny huffed. “A Galaxy Far, Far Away! Do you seriously not remember? Star Wars? Star Wars: Rebels? That show I watched nonstop when I was a kid?” She waved her hand at their new guest. “Ezra Bridger! The Jedi! Guy who only wore orange all the time! Space Aladdin! Got kidnapped by the purple squid-whales! Come on, doesn’t this ring a bell?” “Wait, is he the one you had the really big crush on?” Judy giggled, raising her eyebrows. “Wuh! Bup! Bap-bah!” Penny objected quickly, pinching her hands in shut your mouth motions. “That is not the bell we’re ringing right now. Ring a different bell.”

18. All I've Learned Has Overturned

“Third Sister. Didn’t think you were still around.” “That was kind of the point, Seventh Brother.” Reva treaded softly across the sandy ground, unlit blade in her hand, circling the Inquisitor as he circled her. “Or should I call you Cal Kestis?”

[silveraurea]

The lion cub

cr: Game of Thrones (HBO)

Pairings: OFC x Ned Stark

Summary: Myrren Lannister uncovers the truth on Lady Catelyn’s muderer and plots with Tyrion to avenge her death. Meanwhile, Tyrion confronts Ned on his neglect as a husband, and reveals more about Lady Lannister’s past.

TW: +18, age gap; angst; enemies to lovers; death; sex.

════════ ≪ •❁• ≫ ═══════

Chapter 08

Hot water flowed into the bath. Myrren closed her eyes as she entered on the tub. Her feet stepped in rocks, and suddenly the water grew cold. The amber eyes opened, trees covered the pale sky and a cold barren water ran past her, on a river. Walked through it, the water turned red, and fish were thrown against the naked body, refusing to swim, each pouring their blood into the river. Tentacles wrapped her arms and legs, pulled her deep as she held her breath and watched the fish float above her.

The claws grasped the tub’s border, and the lady rose from the water, desperate for air. “My lady!”, Dina rushed behind her, “Was it one of your dreams again?”.

Myrren breathed deeply, trying to turn the gods’ message into reason. “There were dead fish running towards me, and a giant squid pulled me to the depths”, she told. “It can only mean one thing”.

Dina followed her thought. “My lady, do you believe it? Lady Catelyn is pointing to her murderer?”.

“Who else, Dina?”, asked Myrren, “Who?”.

The amber wandered through the velvet curtains, searching through the numerous house sigils in her mind. Her eyes widened at the answer, as Dina put the veil over her pale curls. Hurriedly, she descended the stairs to Eddard’s office. Opened the door, Lord Stark stood behind his desk, reviewing petitions, distant as usual.

“My Lord”, she bowed. “I need a hundred men”.

The grey eyes laid upon her. Eddard could not believe his ears once Jory narrated the Lannister tour and the rumors of his marital failure on the tongues of the seven kingdoms. Took a breath, he would try to understand her, or make her see her request was unfunded. “Whatever for?”.

“I can’t reveal until it’s done”. It was all she said, facing the floor.

Eddard ringed his teeth. She still couldn’t trust him, his name, his honor. “Well, aren’t you Lady Lannister?”, he bitterly shouted, “Get your own men!”.

Myrren stormed out in rage. She was given the title of Lady of Winterfell upon marriage, but it has proven useless, from attending non-existing meetings to having a simple request denied. “Fetch me pen and paper”, she asked Dina, “there is only one person I can trust”.

A moon later, the lion’s sigil returned to Winterfell. A tiny man got down from the carriage, wiped out dust from the velvet attire, and walked forward to the castle. Lord Tyrion entered the castle, followed by a guard, and found his youngest sister in her chambers, throwing a ball made of gold to the lioness beside her. Noticed the pale curls, and pierced his eyes at the secret his father failed to hide.

“Lady Lannister”, he greeted her, aware of the rumors that bestowed her marriage.

“Little brother, you came!”, she hugged him. “Come, we must talk”.

Sat the imp under the tent by the fire, poured him wine. “At this hour? Has the little cub finally found a common interest with myself and the king?”. Myrren laughed, poured some for herself, and waited until he had the first sip. “Brother. I must find Theon Greyjoy”.

Tyrion itched the back of his head, wondering how Myrren had found out about Tywin’s little plan. It would be best for her, for the North, if she would let the past behind. “The man served his purpose. Let him live”.

“He betrayed the North! His doings are the very reason I was wronged!”.

The imp closed his eyes, placed a hand on each temple, one for each stupidity. “The very reason we were able to bribe Theon Greyjoy was his lack of purpose in the North. He never hesitated; we paid our debt, he enjoys the deserved life of a lord”.

Myrren looked down. “Still, it’s unfair. Lady Catelyn did nothing to us. You heard her when she took me as a daughter! How will the North ever respect me if I do not avenge her?”.

The imp raised his brows. “Indeed. But, as father would say, you are a Lannister. If anyone should avenge her, would be the Riverlands, and their price was very expensive. Why do you think Ned Stark never investigated thoroughly?”.

Tyrion sighed at her silence, realizing she was as stubborn as the dragons. “Why don’t you ask your husband? Of all people, he would understand”.

“I have tried!”, she slammed the chalice on the table. “I did not tell him why. But he will not trust me! He will not see me! I feel trapped in these walls”, the amber eyes shed tears of fire, “and so I shall remain, if I choose to relay on him”.

“If you feel that strongly about it”, he said, calculating the words on his favor, “you must think further. Killing Theon Greyjoy will not bring justice to the North, you know that”.

The amber eyes crackled with the fire. “Then…”, she chose her thoughts carefully, slowly remembering the dream where she ate a lion. “I must fulfill my destiny. I must trouble you with it, little brother”.

“Little cub, you must be brave. If you fail, I’m afraid not even I can save you”.

“You’ll be lord of Casterly Rock”, she promised, and they toasted. Tyrion gave her half of his smile.

The imp walked to and from the corridor, his thoughts racing against the pain his sister would face. He had heard their father pray only once in his life, and it was for Myrren’s hair never to turn pale. Tyrion already feared for his sister’s loneliness on the North, but would never imagine she would be so traumatized to show her dragon self and thus threaten the seven kingdom’s peace. His greed made him encourage her to seek justice, and he was now filled with regret.

“Lord Tyrion”, the esquire opened the office’s door. “Lord Eddard will see you now”.

The little man entered the small room, greeted the stoic tall man, and sat in front of him. “I hear my little sister has caused quite an uproar”.

“Lady Lannister has a feral temper. Her presence alone brings uncertainty”.

“Such traits would not show unless there was reason. I’ve never seen her this anxious, clinging to every threat and word. Let your conscience speak freely, Lord Stark”.

“I indeed failed her”. The weight of his confession made his head fall, together with his gaze. “Upon my negligence, a servant tried to poison her, and Myrren was taken by madness. A horrid sight”. The memory of his lioness in her cocoon muttering High Valyrian, with eyes that drank blood, haunted him frequently. “Maester Aemon revealed me her lineage, and concealed her madness with a potion”.

Tyrion joined his hands above the table. “There is nothing left to hide, then”. He poured himself wine, and as he reached for the cup, Lord Eddard pulled it far, to encourage the imp.

“When father brought Maerryn to Casterly Rock, we all had a fright. At first, it seemed he kept her in case a Targaryen restoration took place. Then he revealed she was his daughter, and would raise her as such. Made us all swear she was a true lioness. Sought a witch, made the princess forget her trauma, turned her hair gold. As long as she was spoiled, as long as her heart was trapped in this deceitful happiness, as long as she didn’t roar, madness wouldn’t take her”.

Eddard gave him the cup.

“Ned… can I call you Ned?”, the wolf nodded, “You may not remember, I’m sure there were many issues at stake, but when Jaime had slain king Aerys”, Tyrion’s hands made a gesture, “the mad. Jaime told me, the moment the princess set foot on Casterly Rock, that she had seen him kill her father. That she begged father for mercy. A little thing, anyone would pity. I cannot wrap my mind on why those children were slain and he spared her. Perhaps only to let her suffer”.

Lord Stark poured himself wine, and drank every word on his lioness’ past.

“When she arrived in King’s Landing, the memory of Maerryn Targaryen was still alive. Ser Barristan was the first to oath to her. Then Jaime, in remorse. All the knights previously loyal to the mad king, and all the courtiers, were secretly at her feet. Hence why Cersei was so eager to marry her far. Let me tell you this, I don’t want to be alive when Lady Lannister discovers she is princess of Dragonstone”.

For a moment, there was silence. Tyrion was the most sincere Lannister, no wonder his Cat welcomed him so well. Eddard trusted his judgement. “How can I save her?”.

Tyrion shrouded, there was disdain in his face, as if her fate had already been sealed long ago, partly because of his own greed. He could not help it, he was too a lion. “Do the same as father. Keep her happy, and she will not bite”.

The lioness laid still on the hot water. Dina went to fetch the rose oil for her mistress when a knock was heard. “Come in”, the lady ordered.

Behind the painted screen, approached the figure of the man she had long waited for. Dina quickly dropped the rose oil on the water and whispered to her lady.

“My lord. It’s late. Don’t you sleep?”, Myrren maliciously repeated the words he once speared her heart.

“I must speak to you, my lady. If you’ll hear me”.

The lioness looked ahead. Did her ears betray her? Was Lord Eddard finally to open his heart? “Leave us”, she ordered. Dina panicked, “but, my lady, your bath…”. “My husband will assist me”, she explained, and Dina bowed, leaving the room. Myrren took the sponge, and continued her routine. “Speak”.

Lord Eddard sat on the vanity’s chair, in front of her. “My lady, I…”, his voice failed. Despite being naked, the lioness showed no shame to his presence, as the fierce eyes pierced him. His head met the hands on his knees, “I regret hurting you. I used my grief as a shield to not approach you, and yet I’ve caused you to wither. Your life was threatened because of my neglect as a husband. And I fear my spirit will never find peace, if I don’t earn your forgiveness”.

Lady Lannister let his words echo through her heart. Something felt different, she feared his change of heart was funded on the rumors of her intact maidenhood. Had his honor turned into pride? “Why do you suddenly care?”, she said, abruptly emerging from the bath. Eddard got up to help her, but she dismissed, dressed the velvet robe on her own. “Nothing hurt me more than your lack of interest, of intelligence, of care. Your so loved honor has deceived you”.

Eddard dropped his head once more. Myrren pulled his face to her, frowned, he shed copiously, there was no hint of pride. Her heart shrinked at the spear he once planted, filled with envy, she could never be as humble, as vulnerable. Wiped a tear with her finger, Eddard put a hand over hers and pulled it, kissed it, passionately. “I was afraid of my love for you”, he confessed, trailing kisses on her arm.

Myrren felt her body surrender to his gentle touch, collapsed on his lap. Wrapped the fragile body in his arms, his tongue burned her neck, the sudden pleasure made her grasp his hair with the claws. “Forgive me, my lioness”, he whispered on her ear, his beard scratched her face as his lips touched every visible inch. “I have longed for you, Eddard”, she managed to say. “Ned”, he corrected, before diving into her lips.

Lifted his lady, landed her on the bed and quickly removed her robe, as his lips found their way on hers again. Drunk on his love, Myrren nearly scratched his bare back as he poured his seed into her. For each thrust, her eyes widened as the stone walls collapsed on the ground, revealing a dark sky covered in a veil of stars. Felt his lips on her neck, a hand pressing hers, a black dragon flew above them. Myrren shivered in fear when the dragon landed beside them, almost the size of a hill, its scales shining in amber. The beast spit fire to the moon, triumphant over the darkness. Before she could see more, Ned climbed his lips on hers, adjusting his rhythm to her pace. Once he released his member and laid beside her, the walls reappeared. The dragon was gone. Myrren sighed, and wrapped her legs on his.

Felt a kiss on top of her head, a hand caressing the curls. “My love. Did it hurt?”.

Myrren was so frightened by the vision of the dragon she could not tell. “A little”, she mumbled, and kissed his chest. Ned left out a grunt, “A little, aye? I’ll make sure my lady feels some pain the next time”. The lioness hit him playfully, and rested in his arms.

[rassicas]

Summary of the new Splatoon character chart from the Nintendo JP website

I spent a couple hours writing up a summary of all the new, noteworthy, or otherwise obscure information from this character chart. Basically, if its lore that’s been mentioned in a more known source like a sunken scroll or in the game itself, I left it out. Click the link above to see the chart, its interactive and more than what I can fit in a single screenshot. Summary under the cut, with my own notes written in brackets.

Agent 3/S1 Player character -came from a region a little far from Inkopolis where there are many prosperous towns. they left their parents at age 14 and moved to the city. [old comic in the 1st artbook followed this backstory. mentions of parents are rare in splatoon lol] -the age that inklings gain their humanoid form varies, but its usually around age 14 [mentioned in 1st artbook, nice to see it brought up again] -some inklings keen on turf wars participate in competitions held in distant lands [probably in reference to IRL competitions] Agent 4/S2 Player character -came from a place about 40 minutes away from Inkopolis square by train, so they didn't have as much longing for the city as the S1 player character -was too busy with extracurriculars to know who Marie/the squid sisters were [previously mentioned in the S2 artbook] -many Salmon Runners have become "addicted" to the work Pearl -She thought of the Squid Sisters as rivals, but the 2 duos hit it off when they performed together in a distant foreign country. -When she gets serious, she builds up emotional energy by hopping side to side [in the JP version of Octo Expansion, she does this to build up her special to use the princess cannon. this was localized to her warming up her vocal chords in English.] Marina -She loves shoujo manga and practices her crosshatching -She got the groove of the squids in her soul after hearing the Inkantation [bringing this up because in the JP dialogue there's no mention of being 'freed of the oppression of Octarian society' or whatever. She wasn’t literally sci-fi mind controlled by Octavio, and still holds some respect for him despite leaving the Octarian world] -her description is "Maiden in love," the word for "love" seems to be the romantic type. [pearlina real???????] Callie and Marie -Callie loves the outdoors, while Marie is bad with both hot and cold weather -Their debut happened after their performance at a youth singing competition in their home region caught the attention of Shy-ho-shy, who then went on to become their producer [mentioned in Splatune album jacket] Agent 8 -worked in combat in Octarian society -really looks up to Agent 3 and has a “strong mental image” of them. Watched the battle between them and Octavio. [the inner agent 3 fight was never real, its just 8's active imagination. hence the name “inner” agent 3.] Judd and Lil Judd -Judd's eyes are able to instantly determine the winner of turf wars -the voice that you hear when first arriving in inkopolis is not some out-of-universe narrator, it's Judd talking telepathically -While Lil Judd is always plotting to backstab Judd, his plans fail because he's too small -Lil Judd is basically an omnivore, but is especially interested in 'crispy prawns' -once again it's brought up that judd and lil judd are the only 2 mammals to exist, and that judd is immortal. [considering Lil Judd was intended to be a back up for Judd in case he died in cryo freezing, I wouldn't be surprised if lil judd was immortal as well. hasn’t been confirmed tho] Capn Cuttlefish -[if you played Octo Expansion then nothing really new in his info, mostly stuff mentioned in the chat logs.] over 100 years old. made the zapfish plushies that appear in place of the real zapfishes when you replay a level. Annie and Moe -Annie is a fan of metal music -Sheldon sometimes asks her to help him decorate weapons -Moe is a bit overweight because Annie feeds him a lot of sweets

Crusty Sean -he can sometimes sense that Judd and lil Judd are looking at him in a "i want to eat you" way, but he doesn't seem to care. -not new info, but the tidbit about why he uses tickets instead of cash is mentioned. Basically when he first set up his food truck, the long lines were bothersome to the folks running The Shoal, so he worked with the Inkopolis chamber of commerce to set up the ticket system to cut down on lines and bring customers into The Shoal as well.

Jelonzo -his store doesnt sell pants because jellyfish dont wear pants [makes sense lol] Jelfonzo -He won the National Karuta Tournament on his first go because of all the old books he read to memorize the Inkling language. [This tidbit was referenced in splatoon 2's sunken scroll 8 but was never really explained. Karuta is a japanese card game thats been around since the mid 1500s.]

Sheldon -The building that houses Booyah Base is owned by Sheldon's family [I think this was mentioned before in a 2015 famitsu interview] -Sheldon's grandpa, Ammoses, made a fortune off selling weapons for use against the Octarians during the Great Turf War

Spyke and Murch -both came from the same town in a nothern region [previously mentioned in a famitsu interview] -Sea urchins are good at processing Super Sea Snails, and use their spines to dexterously remove the insides -the process of applying chunks is described as a technique(technology?) developed by Murch, and that sea snail shells are used to reapply gear abilities -Flow loves to dote on Murch

Flow and Craymond -Flow loves to drink alcohol, and when she gets drunk, she loves teasing cute kids. [in the 2nd artbook theres art of her getting drunk.  In the chart, her thoughts on the player character is that they are a cute kid. This also explains why she dotes on Murch] -her age is unknown but the inklings think of her as a 'cool older sister' kind of lady -Craymond cleans up parasites that may have latched onto Flow

Bisk -the 3 shoes he wears are his favorites -mentions the thing about him leaving his lover to pursue a band career in the city of Inkopolis, but that’s not really new info CQ Cumber -Kamabo Co. continues operation nowadays just for the sake of those living in the Deepsea -CQ detonates the ink-filled backpack on test subjects when they fail without hesitation because they're faithful to their duties -life form created solely to operate the deepsea metro. there are many of them spread throughout the metro. [this tidbit was previously mentioned only in Haikara walker concept art and the Nintendo Dream interview in 2018] Telephone/Tartar -being left alone for over 10000 years made it go from 'lonely' to 'completely out of control' [the 'lonely' part was previously only mentioned in a couple dev interviews, nice to see it brought up again] Iso Padre -the bag he carries is said to be filled with 'hopes and dreams' DJ Octavio -described as indomitable, and able to escape and rise up after defeat -his wasabi DJ style is unique to him -the music played throughout the Octarian world is mixed by him. The rhythm regulates the dilligent octarians [again, Octavio is not literally mind-controlling his soldiers! think of 'regulate' like how a commander keeps a military in line.] -He once hijacked Inkling airwaves to provoke the Inkling world. The Inklings, however, thought it was a new promotion or something and didn't care, but they appreciated the music. Octarians -Extremely dilligent, follows the music that is played in Octarian society -due to their diligence, they dont really care about how their designs (of their machinery) look -There are two types of octarians: those that are made from tentacles cut off from a host, and those that can become humanoid. more limbs=more intelligence [Essentially, it seems that Octolings reproduce the same way as Inklings, while other Octarians like Octotroopers are made through severed tentacles. octarian reproduction FINALLY clarified after years of confusion massive W] Mr Grizz -described as a mysterious entity, seen by nobody and unknown whether he really exists -the benefit package for Grizzco is described as "excellent" : free transportation, no overtime, and free uniform rental -golden eggs are used as a high-performance energy source, and may be contributing to the overall energy situation in Inkling society [i speculated this for years FINALLYYYYY THEY CONFIRM THIS OUTRIGHT] -some inklings are addicted to the experience of using the illegally modified grizzco weapons, since its a feeling you cant get in normal turf wars... Salmonids -They can live in both land and water, and have the intelligence to weaponize junk that sinks underwater [like ive been saying guys salmonids arent a bunch of dumb animals, thanks] -many of them feel that they are prisoners to their part time jobs [im unsure if this is referring to ω-3 or to salmonids as a whole tbh] -[personal note: the "smoke rises from the 7 rings" bit from the sunken scrolls is brought up and not explained, but i finally realized... the seven rings is in reference to a shichirin 七輪, a small charcoal grill... the literal translation for the kanji is "7 rings." same tattoo ariana grande got lol]

[angelasscribbles]

Savage Love Chapter 26: Squid Whiskey

Series: Savage Love

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Riley x Liam, Riley x Drake

Rating: R         

Warnings: Mature themes

Song Inspirations: I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick and Don't Stop Believing by Journey.

Huge shout out too @nestledonthaveone for pushing me to write a fic with Drake as a drummer since forever lol, sending me song ideas and picture inspirations forever.

Word Count: 3,329

My other stuff: Master List.

We had the answers we’d gone to Auvernall to get. All of the ones that existed anyway. I was anxious to get back to Cordonia, to follow up on the missing Rys sibling, to get back to taking down the Via Imperii, and to get back to doing what, and who, I wanted when I wanted.

But a promise was a promise. We had one charity variety show to save first.

I spent the day with Liv and Savannah sightseeing and having lunch followed by an afternoon at the spa.

Since I was stuck in Auvernall for an extra day with nothing productive to do anyway, might as well enjoy it.

We were well into the middle of a pedicure when Savannah decided to give me the third degree. I was trapped in that chair, and she knew it.

“I like you, Riley.” The words were nice, but her tone conveyed something different.

“Okay…”

Olivia’s head snapped toward us with interest.

“I’ve never seen my brother like this over a woman before. He’s in deep.” It sounded like an accusation.

“I like your brother, Sav. A lot.” I responded carefully.

“It sure seemed that way at the bar the other night.” She agreed.

I waited. There was obviously something else.

“But am I wrong that there is a strong vibe between you and Liam?”

And there it was.

I arched an eyebrow at her, “Are you asking me what my intentions are with your brother?”

Olivia cackled. I could see where the thought of Drake needing protection from a woman was amusing. From what I’d heard from others, and even from himself, it was generally the other way around.

But I couldn’t deny that this was different. His heart was involved. I could tell.

I could tell.

And wasn’t that the crux of the problem right there? I knew him. I knew him on a deeper level than I had ever anticipated, or wanted, or intended.

Liam too.

Shit.

Savannah didn’t flinch at Liv’s laughter. She returned my gaze with the same steadiness I’d seen a million times in Drake. “Yes, I am.”

I sighed.

Fuck my life.

“Drake and Liam are both grown-ass men, Sav,” Olivia said, “Why don’t you let the three of them work that out?”

“Thank you,” I told Olivia, then to Savannah, “But I understand the sibling protectiveness. I had to talk Drake down off a ledge yesterday over Bertrand. What’s up with that?”

Savannah flushed, “We’ve been seeing each other for a couple of months now. I think it’s getting serious.”

“Really?” Olivia asked doubtfully.

“Yes!” Savannah tossed her hair back as she spat, “Just because I’m not from the nobility-“

“Oh, good lord, Sav, it’s not that!” Olivia scoffed, “I was wondering what you see in him! He’s a bit of a stick in the mud, don’t you think?”

“What?” Savannah seemed genuinely surprised, “He has an amazing, dry sense of humor and he’s so smart, he knows so many things! He’s like a walking trivia game! And you should see him without his shirt!”

“Oh, no, thanks!” Olivia laughed, “I’ll have to take your word for it!”

Savannah was suitably distracted for the time being. I owed Liv one.

But just wait until Drake’s sister found out I was also a suitor for Leo. She was going to lose her mind. She might try to stab me. I made a mental note to watch my back around her.

I picked a shimmery gold dress for the variety show. It had a cowl neck and spaghetti straps that crisscrossed over my back. It hugged the curve of my ass and the skirt stopped midway to my knees. No bra and no panties because damn if I was ruining it with panty lines. A pair of glittery metallic stilettos completed the look.

The event in question was a thousand dollar a plate dinner and variety show. There was a comedian, a magician, clog dancers, and several other acts before the finale. Squid Whiskey was performing last, a four-song set. They had been rehearsing for two days.

 Sav, Liv, and I would stay backstage, the dresses were for the afterparty.

Max had insisted we go.

We met the guys in the green room, where a table full of food had been set up for the performers and staff.

I already knew I looked good; the mirror had told me that and the turned heads as we made our way through the building were satisfying but the real payoff happened in the green room.

Drake saw me first. Our eyes met as I went through the door. He had been laughing at something one of the guys had said as his head turned toward me. His body froze as his eyes slid down my body and back up.

“You okay there?” Leo slapped him on the back and Drake fumbled the food that had been halfway to his mouth, dropping it onto the floor.

Drake still hadn’t spoken, and I was definitely feeling myself when Liam’s voice got my attention, “Riley!”

I turned my guaranteed to knock the socks off of them smile on him.

Listen. Don’t judge me. These two had been mercilessly tormenting me for days. Maybe not on purpose. But still.

Revenge is sweet. So very, very sweet.   

Liam literally tripped over his own two feet as he made his way across the room to me, “You….look….amazing! I mean… you always do! But that dress….”

I felt things low in my body tighten as he took my hand in his and kissed it.

Heat flared everywhere our skin touched and his lips left tiny pools of lava on my flesh.

I glanced over at Drake who shook his head as if to knock cobwebs out of it and then walked away while Leo was in the middle of saying something to him.

“Really, man?” Leo asked, throwing his hands out in front of him.

Liam had me wrapped in a hug when Drake made it to my side, “Hey, Brooks.”

I stepped out of Liam’s embrace and into Drake’s. “Hey yourself, Walker.”

“Damn,” he whispered in my ear as he hugged me, “are you trying to kill me with that dress?”

“Obviously,” I smirked at him as I stepped away.

Leo, Max, and Bertrand had made their way over to greet everyone. Drake didn’t even glower when Bertrand hugged his sister.

“We should move out of the doorway,” I suggested as one of the clog dancers tried to squeeze past us.

Our little group congregated in a corner, eating, drinking, and laughing as the guys regaled us with stories of their college boy band days.

“This must be the origin of your man whore reputation,” Olivia said to Leo.

Drake laughed, “He never went home alone after a gig, I’ll tell you that!”

“I’ll bet you all could say that!” I asserted.

“You would be wrong,” Liam told me, “I was more…discerning than these guys.”

“More lame, you mean!” Max chortled, “Even Bert got more tail than you did!”

“Excuse you,” Bertrand shot his brother a disapproving look, “I don’t think Savannah cares to hear-“

“Oh, yeah, Savannah does!” She put one arm on his shoulder and leaned on him as she pointed with her drink at Max, “Tell me everything!”

Pink rushed across his face as Bertrand gave Max a death glare, “Not if you value your life!”

“What was that?” Max cupped his ear as if listening to someone then walked away, calling over his shoulder, “I think that blond in the corner is calling me! Sorry guys, bye!”

Laughing, I asked Drake, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Did you get a lot of girls in college?”

“I had my fair share, but not after playing a set,” Drake answered.

“Why not?” I was genuinely curious. Drake was hot as hell, there was no way he wasn’t pursued by all the screaming groupies.

“Well, the lead singer, that’s Liam, and the guitarists, Max and Leo there, they were right up front for all the screaming girls to see. Even Bertrand was visible. I was hidden behind my drum set and soaked in sweat before the whole thing was over.”

“So?” I lifted an eyebrow, “I like you soaked in sweat.”

He stopped with his beer halfway to his mouth, “Damn it, don’t say shit like that right before I have to go out on stage.”

“Why not?”

Leaning over so I only I could hear him, he asked, “Do you want me to have to go out there with a hard-on?”

“I mean maybe…”

“Anyway….” He made a point of shifting his body away from me as he finished his story, “After a set was over, these fuckers would take about five minutes putting their damn guitars in the cases and walk right off the stage into the hordes of horny women. Meanwhile, it took me forty-five minutes to break down my kit and three to four trips to the van to load it all up. By the time I got back, if there were any girls left hanging around, they’d say shit like, oh, you should have been here earlier, you missed the band, they were really good.”

I looked at him skeptically, “Are you telling me that you weren’t able to close the deal with the stragglers?” 

The rest of the group howled with laughter as shocked indignation crawled across Drake’s face, “What? No! That’s not what I…. you know what? You have a mean streak, Brooks, a real mean streak.”

“You like my mean streak.” I bumped my body into his.

He laughed as he slid one arm around my shoulders and tipped his drink up with the other, “That I do.”

“Should you be drinking before you perform?” I asked.

“It’s one beer, Brooks.” He shook his head, then he leaned in to whisper in my ear, “You of all people should know that one beer isn’t going to affect my performance.”

“Touché, Captain.”

Anita, the brunette woman from Dr. Boedecker’s office appeared in the green room signaling for Squid Whiskey to get ready. “Come on, I’ll show you to your dressing room!”

“We have to go now,” Drake removed his arm from my body with a good deal of regret.

“You’ll be backstage,” Anita told me, “Roland will show you where to go. You’ll be able to see everything from there.”

The young reddish blonde man we’d met the same day we’d met Anita ushered Sav, Liv, and me to a spot in the wings.

We watched the magician for about twenty minutes then the guys joined us.

Liam was dressed like a freaking rock star with a leather jacket and sunglasses. The guitar slung across his body completed the look.

“Damn.” I made a show of checking him out.

He blushed a little.

Why did that turn me on so much? He was just so goddamn pure.

“Like what you see?” He held his arms out to the side and did a slow turn.

“Yes!” I told him as I applauded, “You’re hot, Liam!”

“Glad you think so.” He moved the guitar around to his backside so he could pull me into his body, “Can I have a kiss for good luck?”

“How could I deny that request?”

I was expecting a quick, and socially appropriate, peck on the cheek. But what I got was pulled into his chest and kissed like he was leaving for war and didn’t know if he’d ever see me again.

I can’t say that I was displeased with that turn of events. It was a toe-curling kiss.

Fuck I needed to get laid. And soon.

My fingers covered my lips as I watched him walk out onto the stage.

“If you’re done drooling all over Liam, can I get in on this action?” Drake’s voice rumbled from behind us.

I spun around to take in his simple Cheap Trick t-shirt and ripped jeans. He looked better than anyone had any right to look in a damn t-shirt and pair of jeans. “Damn, Walker. You’re looking pretty damn good yourself!”

“Nobody looks as good as you though,” he said softly as he ran his fingers through my hair.

His thumb traced down the side of my face and the look he gave me made my stomach do flip flops. His eyes were soft with unspoken emotion as he placed a finger under my chin and tipped my head back.

“There are things I want to say that I just can’t seem to find the words for,” he told me.

Before I could respond, his lips brushed across mine with such tenderness that it took my breath away.

“What was-“

“Hey,” He said with a sudden grin, “I picked the first song. It’s for you!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!” He twirled a drumstick in his right hand then turned and damn near skipped out onto the stage.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

I turned toward Savannah in surprise, “What will you be damned about?”

“My brother. He just straight-up watched you kiss Liam and didn’t bat an eye!” She replied.

“Yeah,” Liv supplied, “And then he kissed her too! Damn girl, what kind of spell did you cast on those boys?”

“I have no idea, this is kind of a new thing,” I replied.

“But haven’t you been seeing my brother for a couple of months?” Savannah asked.

“And the thing with Liam, that’s been going on for a while too, hasn’t it?” Liv added.

“That’s not what I meant…. Never mind,” I responded.

The blatantly touching and kissing me in public, in front of each other, that part was new.

If anyone thought I was going to say or do anything to discourage it, they were sorely mistaken. I was not going to complain if both of the ridiculously sexy men that I was currently sleeping with wanted to kiss me back to back. It actually opened up some pretty intriguing possibilities that I was more than willing to explore.

I turned my attention to the stage as the first notes of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” filtered backstage.

I couldn’t hide the smile that stretched across my face. It fit his personality perfectly. Drake Walker wasn’t a sappy love song kind of guy.

But it was a love song.

I pushed that thought out of my mind as my foot started tapping along to the rhythm.

I know I’ve said it before, but I’m saying it again. You don’t really appreciate the physicality of drumming until you see it up close and personal.

Drake was right about being hidden behind the drum set. The audience focuses on the guitarists and the singers because that’s whom they see.  

But when you do actually see a drummer doing their thing, well, it’s hot as fucking hell is what it is.

I was mesmerized watching him play. From my position in the wings, I could see him clearly, drumsticks flying, muscles rippling, his body a flurry of motion as he played, sweat dripping from the hair that fell across his face. The vibration from the percussion instruments washed through my body, accelerating my heart rate and making me want to dance.

As the song ended he threw a quick glance my way. I gave him two thumbs up and a smile that threatened to reach my ears. He smiled back and tossed a spinning drumstick into the air then caught it again before they moved on to the next song.

They played “Come Together” by the Beatles and “We Will Rock You” by Queen.

My attention darted back and forth between Drake and Liam as they played. Liam, Max, and Leo all had good stage presence, but Liam was the only one of the three that I was interested in.

He was wearing skin-tight leather pants to match the jacket and the way he swayed to the music while strumming the guitar and leaning into the microphone had me ready to pass out.

I suddenly understood why women at concerts throw their panties onto the stage.

In no time at all, they were announcing the final song.

“This last song goes out to the most amazing woman I’ve ever met,” Liam said into the microphone as he glanced backstage, “Brooklyn, this one’s for you!”

Olivia elbowed me in the side with a smirk as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” started.

My stupid, traitorous fucking heart melted.

It was kind of our song.

The one we danced to the night we met. The one his nickname Detroit came from.

He was totally trying to remind me of that night, and it was totally working.

Memories spun through my head.

The first time I saw him….

I glanced up in annoyance then my breath caught in my chest. Holy mother of God this man was gorgeous!

The first time we danced together…

We danced to Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, his arms wrapped around me, holding me close, our hips pressed together as we swayed back and forth. His eyes ran down to my lips and lower then he cleared his throat and pulled me closer. I laid my head on his shoulder and he rested his on top of mine.

The first time we kissed….

I decided to kiss him. On the ferry, under the moonlight, it was romantic as hell, not gonna lie.

The first time I’d taken off my clothes for him…

I swayed my hips and started doing a little strip tease. He froze, leg in the air, one shoe off, one shoe on, mouth hanging open as I peeled the dress off my body.

The awe in his voice afterward….

“That was amazing, you’re amazing! Thank you for the most amazing night of my life!”

And the sadness I’d seen in him that night….

Several emotions slid through his eyes, but his only response was to whisper, “Spend the night? Sleep with me?”

I now knew why he hadn’t been able to tell me who he was. I hadn’t cared at the time, I’d had my own secrets to keep.

The song finished to uproarious applause. The crowd was on their feet.

Olivia and Savannah were jumping up and down and clapping. I joined them in the clapping.

Drake was off the stage first. He just dropped the drumsticks and walked off while Liam and the rest of the guys were waving to the audience.

His shirt was soaked with sweat. His hair was wet with it. He strode off the stage with purpose and made a beeline straight for me.

He took my face in his hands and delivered a crushing kiss. I tried to move closer but he pushed me back as he broke the kiss, “That dress is too nice for me to cover it with my sweat, but believe me, I want to do so much more than kiss you. I’m going to take a shower now. I’ll see you at the after-party and if there’s a God, I’ll have that dress off you by the end of the night.”

I was regretting my choice to forego underwear as I felt a gush of wetness between my legs.

Before I had recovered from that, Liam had me in his arms spinning me around with a laugh. “Woo hoo! I had forgotten how much fun that was!”

I laughed as he sat me back on the ground. Leo and Liv were making out and Savannah was hugging Bertrand.

“Fuck this,” Max said to no one in particular, “I need to get to that after party, see you bitches later!”

“Go, we’ll meet you there!” Liam told him as he slid an arm around me, “I’m going to go shower and change. See you there?”

“Yep.” I agreed.

“What the hell are you going to do?” Olivia asked me once the guys had all disappeared.

“I have no idea,” I answered truthfully, “None at all.”

Lead vocals/rhythm guitar: Liam Rys

Lead guitar/backup vocals: Maxwell Beaumont

Bass guitar/backup vocals: Leo Rys

Keyboard/backup vocals: Bertrand Beaumont

Drums: Drake Walker

[pricklynoodle]

real or not real

Itadori Yuji/Fushiguro Megumi pairing | Squid Game AU | Rated T | warning: implied character death | ANGST

( yes, writing instead of doing school lol, squid game ruined me so if you want to read this then be warned of SQUID GAME SPOILERS. There's no graphic death, but its sad as hell either way TT)

---

“The player who takes all ten marbles from your partner wins.”

Megumi had always kept to himself, never saying anything unless spoken to, never stuck to groups, and never took the choice to attach himself to something. Everything had an expiration date. Unnecessary things like friendships had never appealed to him. He only needed his sister, and it wasn’t like she had the choice to have him as her brother. But the fact that she still stuck around caring for him until she worked herself to a coma.

So honestly, it’s a surprise why he feels his heart drop when the announcement tells him he has to go against … whatever 310 is to him.

He hardly knows 310, and doesn't know anything about his life actually. Other than that he’s crazy strong, has an impressive pain tolerance, but also the loudest kid he’s ever met. He's always around him, sticking to Megumi like a persistent piece of gum stuck to his shoe. But he doesn't dislike him, but he can't say he's thrilled with him either.

But would Megumi kill him?

Stupid, he tells himself.

“Oh, fuck, I honestly didn’t see that coming,” 310 says with a grimace, looking at Megumi guiltily as if he was the cause of Megumi’s inner turmoil. He sits down on one of the stone benches. The whole setup was supposed to mimic a typical neighborhood, something Megumi wasn’t fortunate enough to grow up in. The bastards even made the effort to add in the sounds of cicadas from the fake trees, as if this was a completely normal summer for a couple of teens.

Megumi doesn’t say anything, he feels dizzy. He drops down to the bench, away from 310 as possible.

“I’ve always wanted to say this,” 310 says as he rests his elbows on his knees, looking at Megumi seriously, “This whole thing reminds me of Hunger Games.”

Megumi looks at him with furrowed brows.

“You know, Jennifer Lawrence?” 310 pushes. Megumi says nothing. “...Tall girl, big ass? The one with the arrows?”

“Can you shut the fuck up,” Megumi deadpans, then he shakes his head. He takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He counts to ten, then glances down at his hand. 10 marbles. “Just tell me how to play this game.”

“I don’t know either,” 310 admits, sounding sheepish. He shrugs carelessly, “This is more of the games my gramps used to play, but he was too busy being sick to teach me though.”

Megumi looks up at 310. He looks tired, but nostalgic. Like he was thinking of a good memory.

310 perks up, grinning at Megumi brightly, “though they said that we can make our own rules. I’ll think of something.”

Megumi nods solemnly. The silence stretches until 310 lets out an ‘aha!’.

“Let’s bet everything and just play one around,” 310 says, even dropping his fist down onto his hand as if it were the best idea ever.

Megumi freezes, staring at 310, was he going to trick him? He doesn’t even know him. They’re not friends. Of course, everything still is a death tournament at the end of the day.

310 seems to pick up Megumi’s reluctance, he jerks his head to the side. He points towards the pair of men competing against each other, looking frantic and panicked.Their faces are sheened with sweat, t-shirts drenched in sweat. It’s… it’s a pathetic sight.

“Fine,” Megumi relents. “What are we playing?”

“Calm down,” 310 chuckles, “are you that excited to kill me?”

Megumi stays quiet.

“We have a lot of time left,” 310 says breezily, pointing towards the timer mounted on the wall. “Let’s do it at the last minute.”

“What do you suggest we do till then?” Megumi asks with a scowl. “Sit nice and pretty, twiddle our thumbs and shove these marbles up our asses?”

“Jesus, man,” 310 laughs, “no just… talk.”

“Talk,” Megumi repeats.

“Talk,” 310 smiles, looking down at his hands. Megumi looks at them too. He remembers the hard calluses on them, when they shook hands. They’re thick and sturdy, and hold a lot of power. He really could have killed Megumi before, just wrap his hands around his neck and it’s all over.

Megumi also shakes away the filthy thoughts of what else those hands could do. Get a grip, Fushiguro.

“Things we couldn’t tell other people,” 310 says, smiling wistfully. “One of us is going to die here anyways.”

Megumi swallows the lump in his throat.

310 smiles wider. He’s always smiling, Megumi notes.

“There’s no reason to feel embarrassed if that’s the case,” 310 tells him, “I promise I won’t laugh when you blush like a tomato.”

“I don’t,” Megumi denies, but he can feel the heat already rising up to his cheeks.

“You do,” 310 says, “but I think it’s cute.”

Cute.

“So, uh, you have someone back home then?” 310 asks.

“Yeah,” Megumi says.

“...like a girlfriend or something?”

“Sister,” Megumi says quickly, “no...never a girlfriend. Impossible for me.”

“Ah, okay,” 310 says, nodding. “Just your sister?”

“I had a dad, but he … never came back.” Megumi confesses, “he was a shitty dad. He was never really home, but he gave us shelter and food. He had a bad temper, but he never hit us. He never liked to be around me especially. I … used to think he hated me.”

“What changed?” 310 asked.

“I… I became him. I understand why he did what he did,” Megumi says, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket. “Doing dirty jobs, stealing, never at home. Hiding from danger. Hiding us from danger. Protection.”

310 nodded, he slid closer to Megumi. Thighs brushing. Silence continues.

“He came here,” Megumi says, looking up at the ceiling. It’s painted a pink-orange gradient, like a sunset. “I found half of that business card in one of his jackets. The last two digits were cut off. I dialed every possible number until I got here.”

“For what?” 310 asks.

“Find him,” Megumi says, “punch him. I would have killed him, I think, if I found out that he left us to rot. Then steal all his money to pay for my sister’s medical bills.”

“Oh, she’s sick?”

“Coma,” Megumi clarifies. “Some rich bastard from work hit her on her way home. He got off easy because of money.”

“I see,” 310 says, clenching his fists. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah,” Megumi says gruffly.

“You’re still getting money though,” 310 says. He doesn’t say but you don’t get your dad back. “What would you do with it?”

Megumi doesn’t even hesitate, “pay for my sister’s medical bills. Buy a nice house for us to live in. A car, if I can.”

“If you can?” 310 says, “where would you drive your car?”

“school,” Megumi says simply. “I would use my car to drive to school.”

310 blinks. “You know, you can do much more with that 40 billion. You really don’t want anything else? Don’t have a destination?”

“I’d go to Sendai.”

“Wh—Sendai? I’m from Sendai. Are you kidding me? Are you going to drive there with a shiny new Toyota Yaris?”

Megumi blushes furiously, “enough about me, ugh, it’s your turn anyways.”

310 shakes his head, but he’s giggling like a schoolgirl. “You really have to think bigger. Have you ever been to the beach?”

“No,” Megumi says.

“You should, one that’s got nice soft sand and blue water. With palm trees too. And you should get piña coladas.”

“What?”

“C’mon man, you don’t get to be frugal with 40 billion. I’ll teach you how to splurge once we get out—”

Ah.

“Right,” 310 breathes out, laughing to himself all silly. “Only one of us leaves.”

Megumi grunts.

Silence.

“...Ever seen a dead body?” 310 asks.

“...I’ve been answering all these questions. You haven’t answered at all,” Megumi points out, feeling far too exposed for running his mouth.

“Ah you’re right! Uh, I don’t have anyone.”

“But your grandfather—”

“He’s dead. For a while now. My mom and dad. Also dead. My brother is on the run. He’s, uh, killed a lot of people. He got the death penalty, so yeah, haven’t really seen him around.”

Megumi looks at him.

“I don’t think he counts,” 310 says, scratching his face. Megumi realizes the scars on his face aren’t from the previous games. They looked healed, puckered and faded from time.“He looks a lot like me, though. A lot of people can’t tell us apart. He hated that. He’s only a bit taller than me, and he loves to brag about it. He has a huge ego.”

“I see.”

“Yeah,” 310 says, but he doesn’t look awkward about it. Just mildly inconvenienced. “Oh, have we really been talking for that long?”

Megumi looks at the time. They have less than 2 minutes.

310 stands up, swiping the dirt off his pants. He pats around for his marbles. “Okay, so you see that wall over there?”

Megumi nods mutely. It’s quite far, maybe around 2 meters.

“Okay, we throw one marble, and the one closest to the wall wins, okay?”

“Okay.” Megumi nods, easy enough.

“Okay, you go first.”

Megumi scowls.

“added rule, we do it together,” he says, jaw clenched.

“Eh?” 310 looks at him, confused.

“I’ve been doing things first, so it seems rather fair if we do it at the same time, with our best effort, okay? I have the blue marble, you get the red one.”

“... okay.”

“Don’t give me a weak ass toss, alright, that doesn’t count,” Megumi says gruffly, narrowing his eyes at him. “Do your best.”

310 nods, giving him a thumbs up. “Okay!”

“On three,” Megumi says.

“Okay!”

“Three.”

“Two,” 310 continues, positioning his arm.

“One,” Megumi does the same.

They both throw their marbles. Megumi’s heart leaps out of its chest as he watches his marble in the air.

Clack!

Clack!

Clack!

Megumi looks down on the marble that lands right next to his shoe.

It’s red.

“Ahh, shoot, I threw it too hard,” 310 says with a pout.

Megumi sees red.

He shoves 310 against the wall. “Are you fucking with me?”

“Whoa! No, you won f-fair and square, man,” 310 stutters. “I did my best shot, like you said!”

“Any idiot would know that shit would bounce right back if you threw it like that!”

310 laughs, “I must be some one of a kind idiot, then.”

Megumi shoves him further into the wall. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

“You can’t kill me if I’m gonna be dead anyways.”

“THEN I’LL KILL YOU IF YOU DIE.”

“See, that doesn’t really make sense—”

“Shut the fuck up! Why did you do that?!”

310 slumps against the wall, body lax. Not looking at him.

“Answer me!”

“You… you have a lot more to live for than me,” 310 says quietly. He looks up at Megumi, tears in his eyes, “what kind of asshole would I be to deny you for a life?”

“You have a life!” Megumi snaps.

“I don’t, not anymore,” 310 sobs, a wobbly smile on his face. “Before my grandfather died, he told me that I should help others. That when it was my time to go, I would die surrounded by others and not end up like him.

“I should use my strength to help others, that’s what I’ve been doing here. Out there, no one wants me to help them. No one wants the face of a killer to help them. No one wants me to be around them. I can’t go to places, I’ve… I’ve always hated what Sukuna did to me. Made me carry his sins, his crimes. The way people looked at me as if I was him. I can’t move forward, not like you.

“I… I never went to school either, y’know. Or I never graduated. When Sukuna became a wanted man, I became a target. I stayed in my room. The doors were locked. The curtains were always down. It was like this for years. I received no support. The only way I could get by was doing interviews with journalists, feeding the narrative. Making people hate Sukuna more, making them hate me more. That’s no way to live.”

Megumi felt the back of his eyes burn, his teeth aching from being clenched too tight.

“Even if...I had the money. I can’t erase what my brother did. I can’t erase my existence in the world. I would just keep doing the same thing everyday. I don’t… I don’t want a bigger house, not when it’s just me who lives there.”

“You and I are not so different,” he says, looking up at Megumi.. “I think that’s why… I want you to win. You get to experience all these normal things, and feel… happy. You have a chance.”

Megumi wipes his eyes harshly, “Shit.”

“That’s true.”

“... What’s your name?” Megumi asks.

“Itadori Yuji,” 310—no, Yuji says. “My name is Itadori Yuji.”

Megumi takes a shaky breath, he raises his hand for him. “Fushiguro Megumi.”

Yuji grins, he clasps his hand onto Megumi’s. “That means blessing, right?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

“I’m glad then, Megumi. That I’m friends with you even through this hell. That itself is a blessing in a disguise.”

“Shut up,” Megumi punches his shoulder.

A guard suddenly arrives, carrying a gun in his hand. Waiting.

Yuji looks behind Megumi’s head. “Ah, I wish we had more time.”

Megumi bites his lip. “I wish I’d… met you sooner. I don't know anything about you.”

Yuji jaw drops, “Okay, I’ll … summarize this in ten seconds! I’m twenty-years-old, my favorite color is green, my favorite manga is Bleach, my type is tall people with big butts! Uhh, I really like watching action films—”

“Not … whatever, nevermind,” Megumi says softly as he listens to Yuji ramble on about himself.

Yuji pauses from his ramble looking winded, “uhm, Fushiguro, can I hug you?”

Megumi freezes.

“I just haven’t had a hug in a long time—” Yuji trails off before he gets cut off with Fushiguro hugging him desperately, clinging to him.

“Idiot, idiot, idiot!”

“...Hey, Fushiguro Megumi, live a long life, okay?”

Megumi lets go.

He turns around.

Eyes burning as he stares unblinking down the path. Footsteps. Silence. Breathing. He feels something salty on his lips when he licks them. It's not sweat.

He... he got attached. He stares forward, he doesn't regret it. Not at all. He got to know Yuji Itadori, the real him, and the pain in his heart is the best he can give back. A reminder that he was more than what people saw him. Yuji Itadori didn't deserve what the world gave him, they did not deserve his cries. The fact that... no one would shed a tear for him.

...Ah.

Megumi notices the dark wet spots on the dirt.

“Thanks for playing with me.”

[dadsbongos]

[golden squid chapter 5 - shatter] series masterlist honestly there's no excuse for this late update, i just forgot it was monday

_____

You don’t rise from bed as quickly as usual when the lights come on that morning. You don’t feel the need. You’re glad that Izuku’s survived. You’re glad that Hitoshi’s alive. You’re glad your own heart continues to thrum inside your chest.

You’re thankful for the ones still here. You are.

Really, you are.

Izuku gently shakes you awake, sitting at the edge of your mattress, “Hey, 69, you should get up and eat.”

You turn enough to look at the man. He reminds you of a puppy. Why’s he here? What did Midoriya, Izuku do to land himself in a place like this?

He can see it in your weighted eyes that you didn’t sleep well last night. You can see it in his furrowed brows that he’s masking his own exhaustion with concern.

He’s holding out a bun and some milk, “You really should eat.”

Hitoshi comes to a stand by your bed as well, “If you fall behind because you haven’t eaten it could be bad for us,” he squats down to be at eye level with you and tilts his head, “I know it hurts. We just have to keep going.”

He’s being so strong.

He just watched his dad be shot through the head so he could keep playing this fucking nightmare and he’s trying to get you out of bed.

You reach out and place your hand atop the spot on his jacket over his heart, right over his white label - 412, and clench your fingers, “Shinso… I’m sorry. I- I never would’ve let you go with him if I knew.”

“But you didn’t,” he shakes his head, “Blaming yourself does nothing. We just have to win for them.”

You know he’s blaming himself as he says that. You know Hitoshi well enough to know he doesn’t take his own comfort. He’s always taken misfortune personally and pinned it on himself and this misfortune is the kind to make one’s entire world crumble.

Sitting up, you pull Hitoshi down into a hug, “I’m sorry.”

“Please,” he shakes his head, “don’t do this. Don’t apologize.”

He can't handle it.

Upon parting, you take the bun and milk from Izuku, nodding to him in thanks.

Across the room, Himiko is rolling a marble in her palm. Watching the twists of color inside as the glass slides over her skin.

“You really did consider him a friend, huh?”

She looks up and sees the man going by Dabi standing above her bed holding out breakfast.

“I know it was silly,” she mumbles, sitting up and taking the food offered to her, “I thought we were all friends. I really liked all of you.”

Touya takes the open spot on her mattress as a seat, watching as she stares at Tomura a few beds away, “It was a little ridiculous but I can’t say I blame you,” his gaze flickers briefly to his little sister, “I’m sure a lot of people felt that way about the groups they formed here.”

“He told us all to team up with each other and then went off on his own…” her eyes narrow to a glare, “He ditched us. He’s a scummy guy, Dabi.”

“I know,” he mutters, “Bubaigawara was a good man. Magne was a good woman.”

“I hate him,” her quick passion reminds him of someone.

“Nothing we can really do. We need the numbers,” he sighs, “Now eat up, we don’t know what the next game will be and you’ll need your strength.”

“I hope we get out of here, Dabi…”

“Touya,” he’s nearly inaudible as he says it.

“Huh?”

“My real name, it’s Touya. Don’t tell anyone else.”

She grins faintly, “I won’t, Touya. I promise.”

He feels like a big brother again as he watches over her. It makes him itchy. Like he should be running from this feeling but he isn’t. Instead, he finds himself careful to watch that your bed isn’t cornered by another player looking to drop numbers between the games. He keeps his distance because he doesn’t need anyone figuring that the man at the mean, scarred 456’s side has a little sister in this place.

He never approaches you when you’re alone because he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say when he isn’t even certain that you two can leave together with the cash.

The time for breakfast is starting to wrap up when more guards are coming through the door to gather the players for the next game.

As the remaining twenty players are led to a lineup of pink vests with black numbers bolded on them, that familiar voice picks up over the speaker,

“Welcome to the fifth game. Before we begin, please choose a mannequin before you and take the corresponding vest. They are numbered one through twenty.”

“If numbers are made such a point, it might indicate which order we play in. And if that’s the case then we should probably go for the latter ones,” Hitoshi mumbles, watching people hesitantly begin picking the vests in the middle.

“The only problem would be if we’d run out of time,” you stare at the mannequins, “I think we should try thirteen to fifteen…”

“Who will be thirteen?” Izuku looks between you and Hitoshi.

Hitoshi steps towards the mannequins and takes fourteen.

You look over at Izuku, “I can do thirteen, if you’d be comfortable.”

“No, no,” Izuku heads forward and takes the thirteenth vest, “I can do it.”

You grab fifteen and put it on before joining Hitoshi and Izuku off to the side.

You peek around and see that Dabi’s taking sixteen. Izuku’s friend, 189 - Katsuki, is wearing twelve. The blond girl, 112, has eleven. The shaggy-haired man, 456, has taken ten.

Once everyone has on a vest, you’re all moved into another room. It nearly reminds you of the circus with its high, striped ceiling and flashy bulbs, but you’d never seen a circus with glass tiles like this.

“Players, welcome to the fifth game, Glass Stepping Stones. The stepping stones before you are made from either two types of glass, tempered glass or regular glass. Tempered glass is strong enough to hold two players’ weight, however, the normal glass will break if even one person steps on it. Your goal is to guess which tile is made of which in order to cross safely.”

“So then” the person with the number one vest speaks up, you recognize her as the elderly woman 077, “the numbers on our vests are… the order that we’ll cross the bridge?”

The guard nods.

“For this game, you will have sixteen minutes to cross the bridge. Each player must remove their shoes before they attempt to cross.”

The timer starts as 077 removes her shoes. She jumps to the tile to the right of her. It shatters and she screams while falling through to her death. There's a resounding thud from below just as those screams cut off.

The second vest goes next to the left. Then the right. He lands safely. He moves to the next tile on his left and falls through.

Third follows the path. She makes it one more before falling.

As number eight begins to follow seven, you feel a hand over your shoulder. You turn back and almost expect to see Tenya ready to share his wisdom. Instead, you’re caught with your brother’s scarred face.

“Turn back and watch,” he mutters, “I just need you to listen. Try getting one of your allies to tie the shoes in their jacket when it’s their turn. To swing at the glass and break it.”

“Why them?”

“If the guard decides it's cheating and has to shoot somebody for that, it shouldn’t be you.”

The line moves forward as you nod.

Leaning over so Hitoshi and Izuku can both hear you, you share the plan your brother conjured, “You guys see the shoes up there?”

They’re both immediate to confirm.

“When it gets to be your turn, Midoriya, try tying the shoes already there into your jacket so you can swing it at the glass before you jump.”

“Would the guards consider that cheating?” Hitoshi quirks a brow, subtly glancing over at the triangle mask standing by the front of the line.

A scream cuts through the air as another player falls. The line moves up.

“We won’t know until we try,” Izuku brushes off the concern as 456 finally starts to traverse the glass steps.

It's so strange to hear such a thing from the golden boy.

But the blond girl, 112, follows after her leader before you can contemplate it too much.

Number nine makes it just over halfway before falling through an unlucky tile.

Izuku leans down and takes off his jacket, laying the tossed about shoes inside before tying it back up into a tight bundle. He looks up at the guard’s mask, then his gun, then back to his mask. When the guard makes no move to reach for his gun, Izuku comes to a stand and follows after his player 189 on the glass stepping stones.

456 goes to the last guaranteed tempered glass before stopping. He’s shaking. He turns, eyes wide as they fall to the girl behind him, “C’mon. Go ahead of me.”

“What?” her head wrenches back, eyes narrowing, “You can’t use us like shields anymore, Shigaraki.”

“I’m the boss, we all agreed.”

“Well, your bossing got Big Sis Mags killed,” she hops to the tile 456, Shigaraki, is on and gets in his face, her voice thick with venom, “You got Bubaigawara killed. It was your idea to pair up with each other and then you went off with someone outside the group,” she grabs onto the front of his jacket tightly, “You’re a real lousy guy, you know that?” she pushes her weight forward just enough to make them both noticeably lean, “I hate lousy guys. They're not cute at all.”

Touya tenses up as she begins leaning forward, out of your peripherals you can see that he’s ready to jump over there. You wonder what that girl’s done to make him so protective. He only got like that with you and your siblings when you were kids.

“If you push me down,” Shigaraki grabs the blond’s wrist, his hand is shaky, “I’ll take your crazy ass with me.”

“Whatever it takes to make sure you don’t win,” you can just barely see tears reflecting off her skin in the lighting of the room, “Not after what you did to Mags and Bubaigawara.”

189 is silent through the exchange, watching as his own teammate continues to push forward until unluckily - or maybe for her purposes, lucky - she and Shigaraki are crashing through a glass panel.

Hitoshi and you move up panels.

189 jumps to the next safe tiles before being struck with the difficulty of decision. Before he can even properly look at either panel, Izuku chirps up behind him.

“Kacchan, wait! Let me go first.”

As 189 opens his mouth to shout, he spots the jacket in Izuku’s hand and shuts his mouth, letting his childhood friend onto the panel.

Izuku swings his weighted bundle at the glass in front of them and it shatters. So he goes to the other. Dabi is practically breathing down your neck as you make your jumps. Whether it’s out of concern for you or eagerness for winning, you aren’t sure.

Izuku continues his method until he and 189 are safely at the other side of the bridge. Hitoshi hurries along to safety and just as you’re about to jump from the last panel to the finish, you feel a fist on the back of your jacket. Touya’s holding to you tightly as he stands on the same tile.

“What the hell are you doing?” you try and wrangle yourself from his grip, “We’ll both die if we don’t get moving!”

“Shut up, will ya?” Touya’s eyes are focused on the clock as it ticks down, “I know what I’m doing.”

The players still trapped behind you two are crying out in protest. One man shouts threats to shove you both if you don’t move.

“Go ahead and try it,” Touya sounds so distant, it’s a skill he mastered that makes anyone he’s talking to feel small, “But you heard that announcement. Tempered glass can only support the weight of two players, so if one of you comes over here, you’ll break the only tempered glass left,” he shakes you slightly in his grip, “And look here, I already got another person on this panel.”

He watches the clock.

“You’ll kill them all,” you shake your head, “Touya. Listen to me, you’re gonna kill them.”

“I know.”

He still sounds cold. Aloof.

It makes you feel unheard.

Small.

Just as Touya sees those red numbers hit three seconds left, he shoves you towards the safe zone and follows after.

By the time the buzzer to announce the end of the game is sounding, the glass panels are bursting and the unfortunate souls still trapped on the bridge are screaming and falling and cursing you and Touya’s numbers before they thud to the floor.

You can hardly believe that Touya would do that. You know he’s desperate for money, just like everybody else here, and that he’s always been unwilling to lose.

This, however, is so much different. That was purposefully ending lives. It was so Dabi.

But then he’s shielding you from the glass shards that come your way in the wake of their explosion - something so irrevocably Touya.

You wish you could have the Touya without the Dabi. You wish you could go back. Back to when the games of your childhood weren’t so soaked in blood. Back to when you wouldn't be trapped here with souls who had to die for you to win.

~~~

taglist :D

@underratedmage

[danishmiilk]

dedication - na jaemin

genre || crack, fluff

pairing || na jaemin x reader; mentioned one-sided markhyuck

fic type || drabble; short fic?

word count || 1.4k

au || hogwarts!au, best friends to lovers!au

summary || na jaemin dedicated his quidditch win to you for no obvious reason. at least, not until he asks you “do you trust me?” and well, do you?

note || when did writing 1.4k become a normal thing for me? i remember the early days of this blog *sob* 1k was so hard to churn out istg- but anyway its not even a fic it’s a drabble just imagine!! oh and im super sorry for the very very rushed plot and everything that doesn’t make sense i’m high. this was supposed to be a timestamp but it spiralled out of hand so ok

“aaaaand what’s that? slytherin seeker na jaemin’s pulling his firebolt down into a nosedive - could he have seen the snitch?” the boy beside you hollered into the megaphone. you slammed your gloveless hands onto the cold metal railing and leaned out of your seat to look at one of your best friends barrelling toward the ground like he was suicidal. you trusted him and knew he was a good enough flier not to crash, of course, but it still worried you to see seeker!jaemin in a vertical dive down to the ground. “ugh, no, he hasn’t gotten it. HEY, NA JAEMIN, YOU SUCK!” professor mcgonagall turned and shouted in hyuck’s ear, “LEE DONGHYUCK, YOU BEHAVE, OR I’LL GET MISS L/N TO REPLACE YOU!” “sorry, professor, just some kindhearted encouragement, you know, but sure! y/n can replace me!” your best friend grinned impishly and held the megaphone out to you, offering you the chance to commentate. you shook your head firmly. the one and only reason you were sitting in the commentator’s box with hyuck was because it could only fit two people and professor mcgonagall wasn’t about to sit there and control the scoreboard next to her least favourite student of all time. it could also be partly to prevent hyuck from cheating, you supposed, though you had no idea how anyone expected you to be the one stopping him. if anything, you’d have come up with the idea. 

donghyuck had resumed commentating at the side, making snide comments every now and then. it was thirty minutes into the slytherin versus gryffindor game, and it showed no signs of stopping yet. the seekers were still circling above the pitch, gryffindor’s seeker zhong chenle (another one of your friends) trying his best to climb onto jaemin’s broom. you were pretty sure that was dangerous and against the rules, but whatever. “and slytherin chaser kim doyoung passes the quaffle to, well, another gryffindor, i mean slytherin chaser- what was his name? nokomota yuto? right, nakamoto yuta, sorry hyung- and yuta SHOOTS!” 

your head snapped back toward the game, squinting at the gryffindor goalpost. “oh, he misses, wait no he doesn’t miss! keeper mark lee saved it, excellent save there mork! you know, mark is such an awesome person, if only he’d go out with me, i’ve been pining after him for the past three years but he still won’t say yes. ah well, he’s in denial, one day he’ll realise how much he loves m-” “HYUCK,” you screamed, shaking his arm madly, “LOOK AT JAEMIN. STOP GIVING US DETAILS OF YOUR LOVE LIFE AND FOCUS ON THE GAME.” professor mcgonagall had given up on him long ago, but you were, of course, compelled to at least get him to stop waxing lyrical about mark lee.

“huh? oh yeah- uhm- slytherin must win! ah yes jaemin’s diving again but honestly who cares he’s coming up without the snitch again, stop giving me false hope na jaemin. yes, anyway, what was i saying? right, the tea. so siStErS if you would look in the corner there gryffindor beater lee taeyong’s… beating the bludgers away from slytherin chaser kim doyoung? what is this i see, people! i am scandalized! doyoung, i see you blushing! yes, i can see you blushing because i charmed my glasses! you are fraternizing with the enemy! have babies later! play the game nOOOOOOOW! oh but he’s the one giving you protection. okay. EVERYBODY LET’S CHEER ON THEIR BLOSSOMING LOVE IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER! SAY WOOOOOOOOO.” screams from the crowd. the hufflepuffs and ravenclaws had all come to watch the quidditch match - something only half of them would’ve turned up for if not for the commentary. which brings you to another point. it’s clear to everyone, you’d think, that lee donghyuck is the person most unsuited to be the commentator, like, ever. he doesn’t focus on the quidditch match at all, instead choosing to provide a detailed oral report on the latest gossip around campus. professor mcgonagall had tried to take him off the role before, of course, but she had no choice but to put him back on after 90% of the school signed a petition for “best commentator lee donghyuck” to return to the pitch. hyuck’s the dispatch of hogwarts, and he’s annoying, but he’s also funny, friendly, and sure as hell caught up on the latest tea. what’s not to like?

“right, so then i walked in to the girls’ bathroom, on accident i swear i’m not a pervert, and i saw irene and seulgi kissing in the corner and i was like what?? did not expect that. but i’d always kinda expected it because i can see couples in the future you know you can call me up anytime to predict your chances with your crush slight self promo but my rates are cheap af. where are seulrene? oh, there? i see your friends waving, congratulations guys, and oh wait jaemin has the snitch i think he’s holding something in his hand. oh. okay. 450-380 to slytherin, and slytherin win! tune in next quidditch match for another episode of Haechan’s Finest Tea Brewery!”

jaemin flew toward the commentator’s box, gesturing wildly with his hands. you stared at him, not comprehending, while hyuck chose to shout “HUH?? HUH??” repeatedly into the megaphone. jaemin rolled his eyes in annoyance that you could feel from a long distance away, pointed his wand at his throat and murmured sonorous. 

“i’d like to dedicate this win to y/n l/n over here. speaking of which, she’s my motivation to win for every match,” jaemin went on with a shy smile. you felt your eyes widen and your earlier excitement for slytherin winning slipping off your face. what was he talking about? “i understand if you see me as just a friend, but i still think i’ve got to show the whole school i love you.” jaemin flew closer to the box, hovering at the side of it. “do you want to be my girlfriend? do you trust me? if the answer is yes, mount this broom with me.”

hyuck had apparently also been startled into silence, not having made any snarky remarks about the scene very obviously plagiarised from aladdin. you gasped softly, getting up to move closer to the railing, your body deciding for you instead of your mind. jaemin’s smile widened, “do you trust me?”

did you love na jaemin? up until ten minutes ago, you were sure you didn’t. he hadn’t even been a candidate for being your love interest romantically. you were taken aback by the confession, but you weren’t upset by it either. you felt slightly fuzzy inside, like you were a stuffed teddy bear, and even on a winter day as cold as it was, you felt warmth spread throughout your entire body. what did hyuck always say about love? he said that love means you’d do the best you could to make them happy. that love’s about giving, not about receiving. that you’d always put them before yourself, and you’d pay extra attention to them, always. and that you’d be ready to carry them off on a bed of roses and bear their children, but then again, you supposed that was just one of hyuck’s strange fantasies about mark. reflecting on all the years you’d been friends, you’d always been staring at jaemin to see if he laughed at a joke before you did too. you rushed to the hospital wing at 3am, not caring about the three months’ worth of detention you could potentially (and later did) get, only wanting to check on him and see that his injured leg was alright. you’d done everything reasonable (like let him copy your homework) and everything unreasonable (like stealing telescopes from the astronomy tower with hyuck to feed the giant squid) just to see a smile on his face. and that smile could warm the harshest winters. 

maybe you were in love with na jaemin.

you walked up closer, and put your hand into his waiting one. the school, who’d been waiting with bated breath, exploded into cheers, but you heard none of it. there was only you and him. and the 30km drop to the ground.

jaemin’s grin looked like it was about to split his face into half. he pressed your cold hand to his lips, pretending to be a gentleman. pulling you onto his broom in front of him, he put his arms on both sides of you. un-amplifying his voice, he leaned forward, pressing himself into your back. “are you ready?” you nodded, fingers clutching tight onto the wood.

“i can show you the world.”

©danishmiilk, 2020.

[ninjaslegos]

*Falls of of a cliff and lands on their back* im ok and for this One can you do ninja + nya and pixal(hc) with an reader who has either (the powers are from a show called the tales of miraculous ladybug and chat noir) ladybug’s or chat’s powers

sorry I keep on giving you requests with stuff you don’t know about wat I’m taking about

also heres a fnaf meme

OH my sister loved the new five nights at freddies, even if she can't play it, so she looks at all the memes and showed me the ones where Freddy has a kid named gregory and they talk about squid games. Also that freddy can open himself up and now because of the meme I'm thinking about him being full of rocks.

Also...I like how the names are ✨Miraculous Ladybug✨ and then...black cat. X3

I'm giving reader Ladybug powers because yoyos are cool and it can transform into other stuff which is useful.

A Miracle

Nya

She first meets you during a battle in Ninjago City. Everyone else is running and screaming, yet you seem more annoyed than frightened. "Are you crazy? Get out of here!" She yells at you.

Instead of listening, you sigh and turn to some sort of strange creature by your side. It makes a strange circular object and pawns it off to you. You blow a bubble with the gum you were chewing, then spin your yoyo upwards. You're surrounded by enemies, surely needing her help, but before Nya could step in, your yoyo turns into a hammer.

You swing it ruthlessly at your adversaries, winning against them with ease, and making the others grow fearful and run.

"What are you looking at?" Your voice makes Nya snap out of it. The strange creature hid behind your neck, and the hammer turned into a yoyo once again, as you shoved it in your hoodie pocket.

"Oh, uh, uh, n-nothing! I just thought you needed help but, uh, you seem like you can handle it on your own." She stumbled through her words, embarrassed she got caught staring.

"Okay." You shrug, then continue walking away.

"Hey, Nya, a little help here?" She can hear Jay calling for her. She rejoins her team, but can't get you off her mind. She knew she'd see you again, and when she did, she was sure to ask more questions.

Kai

He thought you were attractive the moment he laid his eyes on you. Despite not knowing what you looked like, he admired how you fought both with elegance and ferocity, and your attire was certainly flashy.

So he did what he usually does when he's interested in something and...followed you. He watched you transform from your red and black hero attire into regular old street clothes, and the mask on your face disappeared in thin air. Some small thing resembling a ladybug floated beside you, and you thanked it, calling it 'Tikki'.

That's when he got caught. Tikki noticed him and hid behind you, causing you to look over at him. "Hey!" He didn't have time to escape, and you grabbed him by his wrist, flipped him, then pinned him to the wall. "Who sent you?"

"Wh-huh? No one sent me!" You shook him and demanded him to stop lying. "I'm not lying, I just watched you fight - and - and I thought you looked nice, and I really liked your fighting and-" He grinned slyly as he looked back at your face, "you're blushing~"

You let go of your right hand to punch the wall beside his head, leaving cracks in it. "Don't mess with me!" "I'm not, I'm not!" He squealed, "I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret thing! I won't tell anyone! I promise, I promise!"

"Good! 'Cause if word got out, I'd hunt you down." You let him go and turned to leave.

"Wait, I want to see you again!" He called out to you. "We will. On my terms, next time."

Cole

You had known Cole since you were little. Your parents often set up playdates for the two of you, and you loved hanging out together.

When the two of you turned 13, your parents' gave each of you some money to spend the day out together. It soon turned into a weekly thing, where you would go out buy ice creams, and browse shops for an hour.

One day, Cole figured he could take a short break to use the restroom. "I'll be right back!" He promised. As he was washing his hands, he heard screaming, and when he came out, you were missing. He spotted your kidnapper running off with you in his arms, but Cole wasn't fast enough to reach them.

Your parents were fuming when he returned without you, and fought with his parents, and he never saw you nor your parents again.

In the future, he found himself fighting against someone in attire resembling a ladybug. It wasn't until he got a hit on them, that he heard their voice. "(Y/N)?" He ripped his hood off to stare you in the eyes. "No..." You pulled your mask off, and began to tear up, "Cole...?"

Neither of you cared about fighting anymore, you just hugged each other as tight as you could. "I thought I'd never see you again!" He grinned. "Me neither...the guy who kidnapped me...said he killed you."

You caught up with each other and you even introduced him to Tikki, the source of your powers. In return, he introduced you to his ninja team and invited you to live with them.

Zane

Zane had heard about Kwamis before; they were magical creatures who chose worthy heroes to defend the land from evil. He just didn't expect to find one.

Dressed in black with a red cape and hood, you sat in his usual meditating spot in the forest, admiring your view in the water's reflection, and combing tangles out of your unkempt hair. Ladybugs hovered around you, along with some sort of creature he'd never seen before.

He gasped when he realized it was a Kwami, but that only served to startle you. You went from calm and serene to alert and defensive, standing up and threateningly swinging a yoyo at him.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not a threat." "All humans are threats." You glare at him.

"Then it is a good thing I am not human." He smiles sweetly at you, and you let your guard down. He told you his business, and even about what he's heard of Kwamis, and that he was very pleased to meet you.

He talked with you and the Kwami, Tikki, before your heads shot up in sync. "We have to go, Zane the nindroid." You paused before disappearing into the wood, and smiled at him, "we'll see each other again."

Pixal

Many knew you as the travelling warrior. You would go where you were needed, and other than needing to stay somewhere overnight for a rest and some food, you were always on the move.

The one thing no one knew, was who your mother was. Well, maybe not your biological one, but definitely a mother.

When it was just you, a young teenager, and Tikki wandering the streets, you didn't have a place to call home, or even anything to eat. Pixal took pity on you, and decided to feed and house the two of you for the night while she looked for an orphanage for you to stay at. The day turned into three, the three days turned into two weeks, which turned into months, and soon enough the temporary guest room became your permanent room.

When she learned of your powers, she decided to help you with training. "Why would I need to train?" You asked. "(Y/N), you were blessed with Tikki. The two of you have a power that could make you heroes." And so you became heroes.

You trained yourself with different weapons so no matter what your yoyo transformed into, you'd know how to use it. You practiced for years, even battling alongside your mother when you needed to, until she finally deemed you strong enough to go on your own.

You made a name for yourselves, and made sure little was known about you so you could live peacefully without being pursued by enemies nor fans.

Of course, especially after a particularly hard battle, you would visit your mother from time to time. You owed a lot to her.

Jay

When he met you, you just crashed headfirst into him, knocking both of you over. You were panicked and seemed to be running from something, so he stopped you before you could pass out from exhaustion. You were injured and bleeding as well.

"What happened, are you alright?"

You stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, before you broke down into tears. "My village...my friends...I couldn't save them..." It was only then that Jay noticed the creature beside you, trying to console you.

He eventually convinced you to come home with him, where he treated your wounds and fed you. In return, you told him how you lived in a small village to the north with humans and Kwamis, the protectors of the humans. During your ceremony, you received your Kwami, a ladybug named Tikki, before armored villains burned your village to the ground. You thought Tikki could help you, but you couldn't understand your power in time, and had to flee instead.

He took pity on you, and let you stay with him while you and Tikki worked on your powers together. When the time came, you went back to your village, tracked down whoever destroyed it, and got your revenge.

Once they were locked away in Kryptarium prison, you set out with Jay to gather whatever survivors you could find scattered across Ninjago, and rebuild the village from scratch.

Lloyd

He was fighting against the latest villain of Ninjago...someone dressed as a ladybug. You didn't appear to have anything except for a yoyo, so he insisted he could handle you alone, and his team let him go with minor protest.

That was his first mistake. He met up with you at your base, and you smirked at him. "It's just you and me now, Lloyd." You chuckled, "I've been waiting to see you for a long time now."

His eyes widened, "you're...you're just a kid!" You looked to be 15-17 in age. You glared at him, "and I'm sure you are too. Under all that aging tea, you're just a scared, little boy."

Now he knew something was up. "Who...are you?"

You scowled. "Figures you'd forget. Once you're done with something, you throw it away. You let your dear old father die when you needed to get rid of the Anacondrai -" "- that's not true!" "You let poor Harumi die when she betrayed you -" "- you're lying!" "You left your team behind just to fight me -" "- stop it!" "And when the going got too tough, you left me behind at Darkley's to fend for myself."

His eyes widened as he watched you pull your mask off and drop it to the floor. "...(Y/...N)?" "Oh, so now you remember?" He did, he just didn't recognize you. "Does that mean you remember how we were supposed to leave together? Do you remember how you said you promised to come back for me when I got caught? Remember how you said we were...family...Lloyd? And how we would stick together, no matter what." You sighed, "however, seeing how you've treated other people you've called family, I've come to realize the word family doesn't really mean anything to you, now does it?"

"SHUT UP!! You don't know anything about me!" He shouts.

"No, Lloyd. I've been watching you; mistake, after mistake, after mistake. I know everything about you. I knew how to manipulate you into coming here alone, and I know how you fight. I know how to hurt you, Lloyd. But you didn't bother to know a single thing about me."

[robbyrobinson]

THOUGHTS ON KOMI CAN'T COMMUNICATE (EP 8)

Another good episode. First, we have Komi and her family visiting their extended family during summer vacation with Shuuko talking all throughout the trip. While I do love Komilf, I kind of admit that I'd have opened up the side door and jumped out.

Some highlights of the trip and the most hilarious is when the family stops to pray to their ancestors...and then the tombstone goes "eh!?" when Komi was there just being silent. They arrive at their destination with Shuuko greeting the aunt and happily speaking with her whereas Masayoshi and the uncle have an intense staring contest. Or maybe doing mental battles whatever the case.

We then have Komi meeting her cousin Akira who is practically just as anxious as she is (I also hope she has her own Tadano in school just because it would be cute). And it appears that the invisible mouth thing runs in the family. Then they meet with grandma and she is glad that her granddaughter is making friends...but then drills her on if she had a boyfriend. Looks like Tadano will have to battle Grandma to get her blessing.

The festival segment was also great due to Tadano and Komi spinning some time together with Tadano, ever the Chad, trying to make Komi feel more comfortable when she forgot her notepad. And then she even says his name! The boy keeps on winning!

As for side plots...of course, Yamai just so "happened" to be at the summer festival because she was totally not stalking Komi. I admit that while I still despise her, after the whole kidnapping incident, she did tone it down a bit where she was tolerable...except when she had Komi kneel on the ground to give her a roasted sausage. Dude, my guys, somehow she makes Mineta from My Hero Academia seem like a monk. But Najimi eats the sausage instead. Najimi, you have no idea how much of a hero you are.

Also, it's kind of funny how Najimi had somehow received invitations from around 1,000 people. Is...Najimi human at all?

Speaking of our favorite questionable gender lad, they show that they have a habit of being a gambler which is...troubling for when they get older. Watching them fail again and again and screaming their lungs out is comedy gold. I really have to hand it to their seiyu for their work.

Then we have Yadano again trying to compete with Komi over a shooting game, but that goes as best as it sounds. They then have to cut pictures out of clay, but I swear if anyone was saying "oh, it's just like in Squid Game!", there will be trouble. Funnily enough, Tadano successfully cut the picture out despite being universally average.

Komi is then invited to Tadano's house seeing that Najimi was already there as well. And then...for the love of, Yamai AGAIN makes herself an unwelcome guest when no one even freakin' invited her in the first place. I really wish that she would've fallen into a coma after fainting from seeing Komi in a kimono back at the festival.

We are also formally introduced to Tadano's little sister who basically has his face, just with ponytails kind of like some Mickey Mouse stuff. She greets his friends but wonders if Yamai was her brother's girlfriend. Ha, a hard no on that sis, Yamai hates his guts and only refrains herself from killing him because he was Komi's friend. When she sees Komi, she takes her brother out of the room to ask him what trick he used to wring Komi in. Dang, that is cold.

Of course, it turns out that Najimi spent so much time preoccupied with having fun, they had neglected to finish their summer homework, so they were wanting to mooch off the others. Tadano also did not complete his homework so decides to work alongside Najimi while Yamai stares at Komi. Girl, get some help.

Komi starts crying but not because she was hurt, but it was because she had so much fun during the summer that she did not want it to end. Our little girl is growing up the more she breaks out of her shell.

[moonshotsx]

this hurt me as much as it will hurt you guys reading this, enjoy <3

tw/ major character death, violence (also somewhat of a spoiler of ep6 of squid game)

—

“So… how did you end up here?”

Rosé’s eyes were fixed on the ticking timer, trying her best to ignore the occasional gunshot that echoed in the small city recreation.

“Uhm, don’t talk much, do you?”

That girl… could she even trust her?

If the past few days taught her anything that she already knew, it was that she couldn’t trust anyone but herself.

She had to stay alive. She had to come back to help her sisters, to give them the life they deserved.

‘Choose me and I’ll do whatever it takes to make you win’, the brunette had said to her before they entered the room.

That was before they found out about the twist, would she still stick to that promise?

Rosé glanced to the timer again, 27 minutes left before one of them was going to end up dead on the floor.

The guard watching over them hadn’t moved an inch, his automatic rifle shining under the artificial light.

To hell with it.

“My sisters…” her voice was hoarse from having barely spoken all day, “I was scammed out of thousands of dollars trying to get them to this country”

“You still got family?” the brunette seemed genuinely curious, “That must be nice”

Rosé paused, something felt odd about that last sentence, “You?”

“Uh?”

“Here… why did you join?”

The redhead felt the girl behind her shift, “Oh, I don’t have anyone left for me outside,” she started, “My father was a preacher but he wasn’t a nice man, whenever he did something to me or mom… he said the devil made him do it, that he was going to pray it away,” she was momentarily interrupted by another gunshot, another player eliminated, “One day, I came back home from school and found a body”

Rosé felt her heart pound, she grabbed onto the small pouch of marbles in her pocket.

“My father was there beside my mom with a knife, he hadn’t prayed that morning,” the brunette continued, “Next thing I know, there were two bodies and I was the one with the bloody knife”

The redhead was unnerved at how calm the other girl seemed, but she couldn’t blame her.

“I got out last month, without money to my name or anyone that would care”

Another gunshot, still 20 minutes on the timer.

“So, what are you going to do with the money?”

Rosé finally turned around, “Get a house on the East Coast”

“Just that? C’mon, it’s 40 million dollars, can’t you think of something else?”

The redhead paused to think, “Maybe, go to Mexico for a trip”

The brunette smiled, “I’ve been there! I can show you around and we can get mojitos on the beaches of Tijuana,” then her smile fell, “Oh, right, we can’t both get out here alive. I forgot about that”

Silence overpowered the desperate cries of the other players, battling their last moments to a game of marbles.

Rosé bit her lower lip, “Tell me more about Tijuana”

She really shouldn’t have gotten attached to that dimpled smile.

-

The timer was running down to the last few minutes when they knew it was time to play.

“We both throw one marble each, closest one towards the wall wins, okay?” Rosé explained as she took one of the ten marbles from the pouch.

She positioned herself about 10 feet from the fake wall and went for the throw.

The marble settled just a little over 2 feet to their goal.

“Rosé,” she said out loud, the brunette turned to her.

“What?”

“My name, it’s Rosé McCorkell” she repeated, “Thought I might say it, before, well”

The other girl smiled, “I’m Denali”

“No family name?”

Denali just smiled more before going for the throw, “I just want to be Denali”

Rosé felt her heart stop when she saw what the brunette had done.

Denali had let her marble slip through just where she was. She had just given Rosé the win, sealing her own death.

The redhead slammed the brunette on the wall, “What the fuck did you just do?! Why did you give up?!” she didn’t even notice her eyes had started to water.

Denali shrugged her shoulders, “I got no one waiting for me outside,” she replied with a teary smile, “Now, you have to promise to win this whole thing get those mojitos in Tijuana for me too, alright?”

Rosé remembered what Denali had told them before the game.

“Take care of your sisters too, make sure you go back to them, okay?” the brunette’s tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke, her smile never leaving her face.

The redhead felt her heart hurt as she was forced to let go of Denali.

“Follow me,” the guard ordered her, pointing to the exit.

Rosé took one last look in those big brown eyes she had found comfort in the last hour.

She turned around while Denali was being approached by another of the mask-wearing guards.

“Hey, Rosé!”

The redhead stopped, shaking as tears rolled down her eyes.

“Thank you,” she could hear Denali’s sobs through her dimpled smile, a gun clicking before one last farewell, “for playing with me!”

The next gunshot hurt Rosé as if she had been the one to be shot.

‘Player 041: Eliminated’

[princesscallyie]

lol so i know this has kinda spread around the internet, but have you seen the "squid game" show? kinda curious which of your ocs would last through it or not AU-wise

Me and my sister watched it. While she was doing her au drawings for her characters and helping her look over them, I was thinking Drake and Xiang as the childhood friends. Not sure who else though. I mostly see my adult characters fitting into it. Gonna leave the kids alone lol.