#not about trying to play your cards right so that the guy who is publicly unhinged will get the highest power

[ilikecarsandsupport4artists]

Everything hurts a bit too much to think and I'm so very stressed about the presidential elections

[lucabyte]

what would your ocs be as pokemon? or if you've already done that what would they be as bugsnax??

Oh I have never been asked this publicly before (for I have not been asked... anything publicly before this week LOL) but I don't know if you're prepared for how much I have thought about my ocs as pokemon or how much effort I am currently putting in to... Well. You'll see.

So. I have Thoughts.

Here are my thoughts (names quickly added for this to be understandable by anyone but me. But I've had this image made for quite some time)

(I love that regular wingull appears on here twice. It was kind of the only choice for both of them LOL.)

(also I like how this shows you who my brain considers In A Group with each other... hee hee)

So this is like.. The whole cast of MYMK lmao. Even down to background characters. These are like... PMD style pokemon assignments. I tried to balance "literally looks like them" with "has the right vibes, thematically". So you can see a couple thematic pairs of pokemon like the cherrims, meowstics and such. Then other fun picks like Charizard for Hainu, since he's a, well, hypebeast more than he is a person. Then, Markus and MacGuffin get Silvally and Type: Null for (wink) reasons.... And Miao is Marowak because don't even worry about it. Lupus is Lycanroc-Dusk because funny doggy shounen protagonist :)

Also there are ABSOLUTELY pokemon that fit Tabitha better than Persian does but I've been saying hes one of those since 2015 and I'm attatched to it now.....

The reason I went ahead and planned these out and finalised these recently though.... Is because I also assigned them all ideal ribbons/marks/pokeballs and am going to hunt them all! Right now I'm prioritising getting ones where the ribbons/balls necessitate getting them from gens 4-7, but they're all nearly done and are sitting in ultramoon while I grab the royal master ribbon for a few!

(Obviously I've named pokemon after OCs before but these will be The Definitive Guys... Until next gen inevitably introduces the perfect guy for someone lol. C'est la vie!)

I've got a couple more already in swsh and scvi (recently I caught Lazulite in swsh! Go Raid RNG!) but this is the big first step. As for how many other steps there are....

Don't.

Don't even worry about it.

Anyway! Most of the main characters have fully assigned "if they were a pokemon trainer" Rosters too with some lore. (Chrome does contests, All of Tabitha's pokemon have been gifted to him, Lupus has insane shiny luck, Ali Will Summon Giratina....)

Also! The Alighieri triplets map perfectly onto the shiny meowths! They were the first three I went out of my way to hunt back when I saw shiny G-Meowth and realised!!! Pink Yellow Blue!!! My little guys!!

And lastly the thing you almost certainly weren't asking was "what would your OCs look like if they were fakemon, but I also have that for, you guessed it, Chrome, Tabitha and Ali.

Now... As for bugsnax. I have not played bugsnax but I DO have a resident bugsnax fan... So I asked him out of curiosity and they Extremely Delivered. So, Courtesy of @thebrightesteyes....

(me, going on the wiki for the first time: WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE 112 BUGSNAX I THOUGHT THERE WERE LIKE. 20)

these things are cute i should play this game. i hear there's divorce.

Anyway I've been trying to rotate a PMD AU in my brain for some time now (purrgatorio lends itself well to it, obviously...) I wonder what I'd make the antagonist...

Also, of note. Ali (and their siblings) does actually have a canon favourite pokemon and opinion on pokemon because they're from a real-world setting. Thing is they are like, not a gamer. So...

Ali likes Dusknoir and Seviper because they saw them on trading cards as a kid and likes Hoopa Unbound because Ari showed them on pokemon go knowing they'd like the design. If they gamed though they'd LOVE Giratina but Hoopa would probably stay top spot.

Ari likes Raichu, Lurantis and Toucannon. (Gamer)

Avi likes Clefairy, Meloetta and Brionne. (The kind of person to seek out fanart and gifsets online to reblog)

[pythoness94]

Hello! Once you get this, you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly. Then you have to send this to ten of your favourite followers.

@the-aphelion-archives Alright! I'll lets see here. Mhm...

One: My hair, it's actually really fluffy and low effort. I can take a brush through it and it looks like what people on tiktok take hours to do. I have it in a Robin Buckley type bob right now (I was going for my usual Mike Wheeler season 4 I've had for the past two years but I accidentally cut it lopsided when I got distracted so it's a bob now.) I love it when people touch my hair ngl.

two: (this is actually really hard ngl) My sense of humor if that counts. I actually like to think i'm quite funny. (Please nobody drag me in the comments, my self esteem is already on the ground and my 7 bottles of pills on my next say so.) and I make my friends laugh so thats good enough for me.

three: my hands I suppose. My girl loves to hold them, and I've been told I got musician hands which makes me very happy since I like to play guitar and violin.

four: (fuck I'm actually struggling guys PLEASE.) How much shit i collect. I get very happy having things from my favorite intellectual property's. (The Finn Wolfhard extended universe shrine mocks me with the center piece being a poster my girl bought me for my birthday. Yes i am buying that Mike Wheeler painting funko pop the moment I can get my grubby mitts on it. I'm trying to get my hands on Trevor Spengler merch who is arguably my favorite Finn Wolfhard character but there seems to be none. People, send me links i'm BEGGING. I'm also trying to get my hands on those ST fucking bath and body works candles but they're sound out in, i'm not joking, a 50-mile radius of me. I've checked.) So my entire room is PLASTERED in things I like. The entire Rick Riordan book series in on a shelf in my room, I have two exclusive figures of Lara croft in tomb raider. And 7 pokeballs with REAL gold cards of the pokemon with 5 of them unopened. (I will post a picture if anybody wants to see.) I LOVE my shit guys. It's the neurodivergent in me

five: My sense of style! It's been called divorced dad fashion by everyone I know. It's also been called "Stereotype California" which is remarkable because I am Californian and totally don't do that on purpose because i think it's funny. It's also been called "Airport Mike Wheeler on steroids" and "Richie Tozier if he had access to a Old Navy and Ross) which have to be my favorites. It's also the fact I am, to this day, Divorced dad in one of my friends phone. @i-promise-i-am-not-on-drugs called me something else that I can't remember rn.

Thanks for the ask and I hope this is what you wanted!

[tobiasdrake]

If we play our cards right, we might not get shot today. Those are better odds than we had ten seconds ago.

You, sir, are a braver man than I. You were hanging onto that thing with one foot in a footrest. You could not pay me to balloon-float from the highest point in the city like that.

Hahaha I don't think you have the authority to make that happen. Everyone, including you, has talked about how this guy's organization are basically the supreme rulers of Kanai Ward.

Son of a fuck I knew I should have thrown you out that window!

Shit, maybe you do have the authority. Halara, kill. Uh, please.

That's not quite the story he told us earlier. He said he has demon blood and that seeing his face causes people to lose their sanity.

Of course, Yuma cut him off before he could tell the full tale, so this might be some of the stuff we skipped. Or he's lying.

Honestly, I think it's a lifestyle choice. He invents stories to avoid having to explain that he wears it because he likes it. Hey, you do you, man. I'm not gonna judge.

Just like that? Man, you have told me outright that the Peacekeepers are basically the rulers of Amaterasu and this company town. I doubt it's going to be that--

Oh, We definitely should have thrown you out that window if you have clout like this. Holy shit.

The CEO can be top dog of a privately-owned company, but a company of Amaterasu's size is likely publicly traded. That would mean the company has a Board of Directors that the CEO must answer to, who are themselves accountable to the shareholders.

That might not be what Makoto's talking about, though. The fraught relationship between him and Yomi is extremely imbalanced. Though Makoto legally holds authority over Yomi, at the end of the day, all of the guns in this city answer to Yomi.

The line between megacorporation and mafia is extremely blurry. If Makoto tries to fire Yomi, Yomi can respond, "Yeah? Well, all of these men with guns say you're fired."

This is a company town. The first right of a government is the monopolization of violence. The Peacekeepers are that monopolization. If Yomi and a thousand men with guns decide that Yomi is God-King of Kanai Ward now, who's going to stop them? The military is always the greatest internal threat to a government.

Makoto is walking a thin line, trying to resist Yomi's consolidation of power without outright provoking Yomi into a full-scale coup.

Of course, like I said back in his tower, being against bad things doesn't make you a good guy. To be a good guy, you have to be for good things. We only know what Makoto's against. As CEO of Amaterasu, he's a key component of the mechanism that made this monster in the first place.

Makoto gives me the heebie-jeebies, in a "The enemy of my enemy can kiss my ass too" sort of way. But I suppose he did bail us out back there, so we owe him one.

...and then what? This is an isolated city-state, my dude. When you declare his exile and he and a thousand guns respond, "No, you go," what are you going to do to make him? What higher authority wields power over Yomi and the Peacekeepers that can force him out against his will?

This is the same problem that Shachi had with his plan to "gather evidence" of Peacekeeper corruption. When he starts shooting, when the streets run pink with the blood of his enemies, how do you intend to pry that power from his fingers?

No matter how sound your logic or how solid your evidence, you can't win a debate against a bullet.

...Did... Did Makoto just gift us a new sub? Ooh, maybe it'll have that new car smell. And bunk beds. I call rooming with Fubuki!

[xplrvibes]

Ok, I wrote out my rant. Read it back. Realised I kept arguing with myself and didn't actually have a solid opinion. Deleted my rant, and now I will just leave you with this.

I don't get this argument/theory that snc may have signed an NDA and that's why they haven't spoken out against c&s being "frauds." As someone who has worked with numerous NDAs (context: I work in film/tv production, primarily as a producer) I just don't see how one fits into the equation.

Unless, and this is a big 'unless', everything about that week went according to script. Then yes, there would be a non-disclosure agreement in place for everyone. Because, truthfully, I actually struggle to see how the week at the Conjuring house could have been entertaining enough to make so many videos had c&s not been there. Look at their initial plan for the week, and look how effortlessly it flew out the window when they met c&s.

Because fakes or not, c&s add an amazingly entertaining and interesting element to the series. If this was always marketed as a fictional/scripted production, c&s are awesome characters! They add such a great element to the story. It's like adding a powerful witch to fantasy stories, they're your catch-all get out of jail free card characters. But since snc market their content as genuine and real, which I do believe them with, c&s having this powerful connection to the other side was maybe a bit too much for people to swallow.

Anyway, long story short, my rant was about how stupid I found this argument/idea of snc signing NDAs and that's why they haven't spoken against c&s (if they have anything to speak against about) Even taking into account Kris went on a podcast and said snc got scammed, which led people to assume they'd spoken to her and maybe revealed something they otherwise can't say publicly. I just, idk... it doesn't make sense to me why an NDA would be in place. I can't think of any reason why there would need to be one. If they did need to sign one, I'd be raising my eyebrows high key. For me, that would personally throw away any credibility to that location and people inside.

-- aussie anon

Yea, I don't know where the NDA story came into play, honestly. I just think people really wanted snc to come out and be like, "You're right guys, these people are frauds, attack!!" And when snc didn't do that - because why would they, they themselves couldn't prove or disprove anything - the people who wanted any excuse for snc not declaring c&s frauds threw NDAs out there as a plausible theory as to why they are playing nice.

I'm sure they've signed many an NDA in their lives and business. I doubt Conjuring was one of them.

First of all, I'm sorry - I just don't think snc would be stupid enough to bet the farm on something that they knew could 100% be debunked. Maybe back in 2016, when they had 1/15th of the following they had now and any press was good press (see: Killing Best Friend Prank or some of their early attempts at theater of the mind), sure; but not at this stage of their careers, with getting this into movie theaters and all the mainstream attention they knew it was going to get.

If they were scripting something, they wouldn't be trying to have it shown on such a large platform. It would've been a throwaway video that only their dedicated fanbase of people who wouldn't question them would see.

And second of all - people act like snc haven't come out and said a word about c&s, and that'd not true. They did a whole interview where they answered a skeptic's questions about them. They made a video on the react channel addressing everything, their concerns, their attempts to debunk those concerns, and, most importantly: their failed attempts to try a third series of tests with c&s, who refused. They ended that video basically saying, "We can't disprove this, and they won't let us go further with trying, so we're just gonna move on." They tried to debunk it directly from the source and couldn't. Not sure what more they could say or do.

Third - I know what more people wanted them to say or do. They wanted them to go "well bobthedebunker65 on youtube said you can pop your joints so clearly he's right and they are frauds and fuck them and the horse they rode in on," only snc don't know bobthedebunker65 (and bobthedebunker65 keeps referring to them in very patronizing ways, such as floppy haired idiots who only girls like, [cause ew girls' interests amirite], so why should they validate him anyway?). They do know c&s, the Conjuring staff, and the experience they had. They aren't gonna shit on that to please some people who just want blood and drama.

If snc had been able to prove that c&s were frauds, they would've said it. From a business standpoint, it would actually be better for them in the long run. They'd be the victims and/or the heroes in everyone's eyes.

But they couldn't prove it. So why burn a bridge and cause a stink unnecessarily?

Now all this to say, I was never on board with c&s from day 1, and you can read my posts on the Conjuring at the time to see me debunking the whole thing in real time. That being said, I also take snc's stance...unless you can actually definitively prove fraud beyond a shadow of a doubt...eh. I'm moving on. Everyone else should as well. All these people are doing now is just driving more foot traffic to this video they want scrubbed from the internet and more attention to the people they want kicked out the paranormal community. Kind of counterproductive, honestly.

Anyway. Yea. I agree. Lol.

[seedsofwinter]

The apartment was rent controlled. Which is bonkers for New York City, but they disclosed about the murders (plural) over the past few years. So you chalked it up to that. Besides, it's fun being a "westie", playing some card game with your eccentric new floor-neighbors.

Only, there's another murder. And you don't know it but: you're on someone's suspect list. Three someones, actually.

As you're getting your mail in the lobby, these old guys named Oliver and Charles start chatting with you. It's so awkward at first but, somehow, they know exactly what will get you talking: they ask about your latest hyperfixation. Oh no, they've unlocked your unskippable cut scene. When you see the understanding leave their eyes, you check in but they ask about what that ship was called again (buying time for young Mabel up in your apartment while she snoops to learn... the truth!)

Later the trio regroups, and Mabel explains to the guys what she found, why you're so secretive, and always trying on what they thought were different "disguises".

After Mabel's discovery, Charles practices your pronouns and name for days, hoping to run into you and get them right. But he fumbles them the first few times; in his embarrassment he overcompensates by hanging pride flags in the lobby and wearing a pin so everyone knows he's an ally. Meanwhile, Oliver talks your ear off about a wild party he attended in the late '80s after seeing an opening run showing of M. Butterfly; well! he and John Lithgow were chatting when Justin ViVian Bond walked in, who was just about to be swooped up for a new one-person show and—

You zone out. ...They've cleared your name and helped you decide to try on pronouns more publicly, but was it worth it? Now you have three randos who keep talking to you in the elevators.

And there's still a killer on the loose.

You never should've moved into this building.

sherlock holmes deduces you are trans before you've figured it out yourself and refers to you with those pronouns and then when you look confused is like "ah...had you not arrived at that conclusion yet?" and wafts away in his dressing gown to smoke seventeen pipes, leaving you in a gender crisis

[oraclekleo]

I want to preface this message by saying that I accidentally sent this WHOLE THING to ANOTHER READER I DON’T EVEN FOLLOW and now I’m mortified 💀 For some reason I thought of taking a screenshot of what I wrote and I’m extremely grateful to past me bc I would’ve thrown myself out of the window if I had to type it again 🌚

…

Ok Kleo, it's finally time for the compatibility game feedback I'm so sorry for taking so long 😭 you posted it right before uni started and then I got sucked down the school and work waterslide and kinda procrastinated it🥺

As I told you the other day, when you posted about not getting a lot of feedback and reblogs, I feel kinda "morally ambiguous" about mature-themed celebrity content, just because I think I'd feel weird if I found random sexual content about me online, posted publicly (especially if it was very different from who I really am), but I don't want to be a hypocrite because I did ask you for this reading myself 😬

So... All in all, I think you're quite respectful with the way you conduct and write your readings. I get a more "for research purposes" vibe from them, as opposed to what I've seen in other blogs I've come across, that are outright objectifying and disrespectful in my opinion. So I guess I do feel comfortable with your content? This is just me trying to take a moral stance, so l'm not trying to "give my approval" or anything. I'm just a person who thinks things through a lot Imao

Now about the reading itself...

Right off the bat you had me laughing because what do you mean you "didn't intend for the reading to be very 18+ but it turned out that way"?? 💀😭

Like was it me? Is that bad?? I'm sorry??? 🙃

The second thing that caught my eye were the cards themselves... I think I've told you before, you have so many interesting, beautiful decks and I love how they (in my opinion, at least), give the readings such a diverse, particular vibe. Is it hard to work with many different decks? Energy-wise I mean...

I think, for the most part, your reading actually resonated? (Is it weird to say it resonates if it's a hypothetical reading about my interactions with a person I don't know personally? 😂)

I remember reading a while ago that Yeonjun could be an Aries rising, so if I compare what you said with the Astro synastry between us, it does totally check out! And our charts would be super similar too, since l'm also a Virgo sun with Aries rising

Power couple? My Jupiter would be on his MC, and his Jupiter on my 2H. We both have libra mercuries and our Vertex are conjunct, so... I smell ✨success✨

Deep soul exploration? Based on my only, but tee long relationship, I know I crave that deep emotional intimacy, getting to know each other's darkest bits and learning to love them, and all that dramatic shit Imao. He has a Scorpio moon that would be in my 8H, his Chiron conjunct my Pluto in his 8H and our suns are conjunct too, so yeah I could see the vision.

Do I see him being devoted and submissive? Yes, but personally I think it would be more of an "equivalent exchange" in this personal dynamic, where we'd both be equally devoted and submissive to each other. I see him listening to me a lot, because I'm on the mature, rational side and he gives me "mommy issues” vibes, but I'd honestly wear myself to the bone to make my loved ones happy, so there's that lol

Astrologically speaking, I have my moon, Venus and mars in Leo 5H, and he has Leo Venus 5H too so that would "confirm" the love language and relationship dynamics, but also hints to a lot of attraction, which relates to the sexual chemistry bit of your reading.

I can say you nailed the neck and voice thing for sure, at least on my side... My neck is definitely one of my weak spots, and I like guys being "vocal" so much you can't imagine 😩 12/10 for sure

Also foreplay is key for me, so much that I can't even think of it as "fore"play, it's an essential part of the whole thing, not just the appetizer..

Now, as of now I can't really see myself being dominant enough to enjoy restraining a guy per se, but l'lI like it if I know he likes it, and even more if i know he'll "get back" to me later lol like that would be the end goal maybe?

To summarize, it was very interesting to read, like I'm amazed at how you can get information like that from the cards! And it was damn accurate too.

Again, sorry for taking so long but you've probably realized by now that I tend to write A LOT so sometimes I feel overwhelmed when thinking of writing feedback because I know it will take me a while to write the whole thing

(Also if you think it's just TOO long please tell me so I can try to make it shorter next time 😂)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS READING FOR ME (and all the other reading as well)… You’re really talented, and definitely have a gift for tarot 🥹

Bye!🥰

Hello!

Don't worry at all. As I said, I don't care about time, I'm always happy to receive feedback. 💖💖💖

Honestly, I don't understand the fuss with NSFW tarot readings. Do people have the same issues with smut fics? Because it's basically the same. Only in tarot readings you base your fantasy on what you interpret from the cards but it's still a work of fiction. Tarot isn't a science. What's written in tarot readings aren't objective facts, they are notions, impressions and interpretations.

Also, I do these readings about celebrities because they have public status. When you become a celebrity you deliberately give a large portion of your privacy up. Not all of it, but much more than a regular non-celeb person. This is not violating their privacy. Fanfics also don't violate their privacy. These are merely fantasies shared. If you are dellusional and want to take these works of fiction as a fact, you will do so no matter whether it's NSFW or not and it's harmful and the only solution is to educate the delusional person not to censor free speech and creative content.

I know it's difficule to take moral stand here but this is how I see it and people are free to disagree with me and even unfollow me if they wish so.

But to like and read a NSFW content but be ashamed for liking it is a road to hell. And it's weak and pretentious. I know it might sound unfair but a mentally healthy and mature person does not feel ashamed for what they like as long as it doesn't break the law. That's my personal opinion here and it might be a bit too strong for more sensitive individuals but once they grow up they will learn. 😊

As for your actual feedback, I'm not big on astrology so... I assume you studied it well and I take your word for it 😂

I like to use very diverse decks of cards because human nature is very diverse, too. Most people aren't just one dimensional characters. It's not difficult for me to read the different energy of the cards as I have picked them myself, I had a reason to do so, I followed my intuition. I have a connection with my decks and I acknowledge and cherish the fact that each one of them has a different 'personality'.

I have mentioned it before that even when it does sound like it resonates, the tarot readings are basically works of fiction as they are not based in research or hard facts but they are based in personal interpretations of symbolics. I think it's the basic mistake many people make, that they take tarot readings as facts. It's not like that. But people tend to follow patterns and if I hit the right pattern in the reading it will sound to you like it resonates with you. Tarot is NOT magic. My intuition picks information about you from your feedbacks and other interactions with me and the cards only help me to give sense to all those random pieces of information in my brain. It's not witchcraft, it's psychoanalysis. I understand why many people get confused here, though 😂

Once again, no need to apologize, I understand that life gets in the way and everyone needs time to think things through, especially to respond in such a detail 😀

I love your long feedbacks. You don't have to cut them short for me. 😂

Thank you so much for taking time to give your opinion on the reading! It means a lot to me 💖💖💖💖

Kleo 🦄

[paradisetemporarilymisplaced]

So I was being a basic bitch the other day and listening to my true crime podcasts when it occurred to me just how suspicious Nile’s “death” would look to everyone not in the Guard, leading me to a train of thought that, 2200 words later, absolutely got away from me but I can’t let go so I’m inflicting it on all of you!

To set the stage, we know the movie takes place over approximately a week. Here’s what happens to Nile from the military’s point of view:

She dies is very seriously injured

She heals without a scratch

Just before she’s supposed to be shipped out to Germany, she vanishes, leaving two men concussed (and presumably reporting being knocked out by a woman with short hair wearing civilian clothes)

She goes AWOL for several days

They get word from the CIA that she is to be reported killed in action (details unclear)

So, at the beginning of this very weird week, the USMC has to tell Nile’s family of her death critical injury. What her family was told depends on how long she was dead – a Google search tells me that family will be notified in person within 8 hours of a soldier’s death, but we don’t know how long her first death lasted. For an injury, however, they’d get a phone call to notify them and the unit would arrange for them to visit as soon as the soldier is transferred out of a combat zone. Like I remember when I was in high school, a guy from my church who was a Marine was really seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq and from what I could tell, his parents were told immediately and were flown out to Germany to see him, so it stands to reason that Nile’s family would have been informed relatively quickly after her throat was slashed, one way or another.

And then, she goes AWOL. Her family would be notified while the USMC tried to figure out where she went, not least because the military would want to know if she’s contacted them. (And it’s possible that her family may have been on the way to Germany to see her since we know that’s where she was supposed to go!) So for several days:

Nile’s mom and brother have no idea where she is

They know she was seriously injured and most certainly should not have been moving around on her own

They can’t get a hold of her

The military can’t tell them anything

And the next thing they know for sure is that she was “killed in action.” After being injured and vanishing into thin air. And they presumably cannot produce her body or any concrete evidence of her death. In any case, something sketchy is going on, so they’re like. SMELLS LIKE A MILITARY COVERUP.

In a surprise to probably no one, there is a well-documented legacy of mysterious US military deaths, particularly of women of color (TW for sexual assault in these links). The cases of LaVena Johnson and Vanessa Guillenin particular have made national news because of their families’ persistence in seeking justice. Likewise, Nile is a Black woman, and her mom and brother are most certainly hypercognizant of (a) state violence against Black people and (b) these high-profile cases of suspicious military deaths. So her family are seriously side-eyeing the situation, knowing that (a) the military has a serious incentive (and a documented history) of covering up things that make them look bad and (b) nothing about Nile’s disappearance and supposed death are adding up.

And Andy’s right. Nile does come from warriors. And you know who else does? Her brother.

Don’t get me wrong. Nile’s mom would absolutely not back down. She’d know something was up and want to get to the bottom of it. But based on what I know about Gen X parents (mine), they’re not the most technologically savvy. Like they can use the internet, but they didn’t grow up with it the way we young millennials and Gen Z did. So Nile’s brother takes the lead. And what do zillennials do best?

Social media.

Nile’s brother starts going hard on any site he can, trying to get the word out to see if anyone knows what happened to his sister. He starts a Reddit thread. He starts a Facebook group. He reaches out to the media and true crime bloggers and podcasters à la Sarah Turney, getting loud and being a general nuisance in hopes of getting some answers. He gets his friends and Nile’s friends involved. Maybe eventually Dizzy, Jay, and others from Nile’s unit hear about it and reach out, telling him what they saw and how weird it all was. He’s drumming up interest, and soon “Nile Freeman” becomes a household name (at least among the true crime fans).

Copley is, of course, trying his best, but at this point there is just so much that it’s impossible for him to scrub everything. Sure, he can erase new footage of Nile and the Guard, but what can he do about Reddit threads and podcast episodes that are speculating something weird has happened? Maybe he could hack the sites and shut those things down, but honestly, that’s the last thing he’d want to do, because that only adds weight to the theory that Nile’s disappearance is a military coverup. So eventually he has to tell Andy what’s going on.

Andy, obviously, does not take the news well. However, she is also completely computer illiterate, because that’s Booker’s job and he’s the only one who ever bothered to learn what the internet is in any meaningful way. (She probably calls Booker for advice, and for the record, I think Booker would have no qualms about shutting down conspiracy threads, tinhats be damned, but Copley is too concerned about the consequences. He’s ex-CIA for crying out loud, he knows how it’ll look if they scrub every mention of Nile’s name from the internet.) Maybe she confers with Joe and Nicky but, let’s be honest, they’d be equally unhelpful. So at this point, she knows they have to bring in Nile.

But the thing about Nile is that she, too, knows how to use the internet (duh). Aside from her being a young millennial/digital native, we know from the cave scene where she’s giving Booker suggestions on how to track Copley that she clearly is even more computer savvy than the average person. And for that reason she almost definitely took over the day-to-day tech stuff after Booker’s exile. So I think it would be foolish to expect her to be unaware of what’s happening. She’s not contacting her family or posting on the message boards or anything, but she knows what’s up. So Copley and the team probably sit her down to “break the news,” but we know the girl does not have a poker face (see: literally shooting herself in the foot and not being able to play it cool whatsoever) and cracks immediately, telling them she’s seen everything about her case – she’s not interacting with any of it, she certainly didn’t instigate anything, but she knows. (And she is so goddamn proud of her brother.)

At this point, I’d like to pause and consider Nile’s role in the overall narrative of this movie. She’s set up as a foil to Andy, obviously, but she’s also a foil to Booker. Booker, who, like Andy, is a serious pessimist, but who, unlike Andy, still has very fresh memories and trauma associated with being the new kid, which have destroyed him. In his mind (and Andy’s), if Nile communicates with her family, she’ll become just like him in a century or two – bitter, alone, and stuck with her grief and memories of watching her family die and knowing they died resenting her. It’s a small sample size, but this is the only experience they have to go off of.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

There’s been a lot of discussion of TOG being a fundamentally queer movie – a group of people brought together because of something inherent about themselves that is different, that must be hidden, that causes others to hate, fear, and reject them. Booker’s backstory is the archetypal traumatic “coming out” story – his family learns who he is, hate him for it, and attempt to cast him out of their lives. He’s stuck with his trauma, his pain, his loss, and it consumes him.

But what if Nile’s family would be the opposite? What if her “coming out” to them as immortal is met with acceptance, love, celebration? What if her family is just overjoyed to have her back, and they don’t care what the circumstances are? I'm reminded of this incredible post from @shitty-old-guard-deaths a while back, where Nile’s mother hits Booker with a frying pan because “my baby let me believe she was dead for FIVE YEARS based on your bad advice???” (which may or may not have inspired this whole tangent). Nile takes the advice of someone who did the same thing she wants to do because she doesn’t want to risk her family’s rejection. She wants the good memories with her family and is afraid that showing them her true self will bring her unbearable pain, forever replacing those memories. But, with high risk comes high reward.

Anyway. Nile and the team are trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this whole thing, but she’s not really participating because she’s too afraid to hope. Until finally, quickly, so she doesn’t lose her nerve, she suggests she reach out to them, knowing that, realistically, that’s the only solution before things snowball even further out of control. The team is shocked, but realize that she has a point. They decide that Copley should actually be the first point of contact, posing as a US government official to talk with them and test the waters.

So Copley goes to Nile’s family’s house to talk with her mom and brother. They’re probably distrustful and apprehensive, but nonetheless secretly ecstatic that their work has paid off. They talk and review all of the information that they’ve collected, including testimonials from the people on Nile’s base and recent sightings (along with photos) of Nile (with the same three people) over the last few years that people have sent them but they haven’t posted publicly. At this point, Copley’s like, yeah this is about to blow up, we gotta put our cards on the table. He convinces them to come with him to some safe house/black site/whatever he can get that is technologically impenetrable (I’m picturing them in like, an interrogation room at a police station kind of deal), takes their phones, locks the doors, and brings in Nile.

What follows is the most delightful reunion scene of all time, bringing Joe, Nicky, and even Andy to tears as they watch and listen from outside the room. With Copley’s help, Nile tells her mom and brother about her immortality and what’s been going on since she died (within reason, of course), and they are thrilled. They don’t understand why (because no one does) but they don’t question it and they see it as a gift from God – she’s been resurrected, she will live, and she has a purpose. Her mother and brother are so happy to see her again and are willing to agree with pretty much anything to stay in her life as long as they can.

So. They set up some complicated agreement (they bring in the other three for support/intimidation as needed) setting the terms of their relationship. They swear Nile’s family to secrecy, maybe bringing up the lab to show how high the stakes are, and they readily agree. They come up with some cover story for Nile’s brother to share on the message boards (maybe that the government has opened an investigation but because it’s an open case he has to shut it all down? Tells people to direct their tips somewhere else? Something to that effect). There’s still speculation, of course, but without Nile’s brother at the helm providing the energy, the hype dies down as news stories are wont to do without any movement. And Nile’s family goes to work for the team. The experience has taught them that Copley can’t possibly do everything himself, especially when it comes to social media, so Nile’s brother takes the lead on the day-to-day tracking/social media while Copley and her mom focus on finding jobs and scrubbing their traces afterward.

So there you have it: Nile gets to integrate her biological family into her found family and spend the rest of their lives with them as it should be, Copley gets some badly needed help managing the reality of social media, the team finally has a positive narrative surrounding outsiders Knowing About Them AND about interacting with people from their previous life, and the audience gets the happy ending to this very lovely and very queer story to counteract the pain associated with Booker’s family.

Plus, you know, I’m a sucker for both a good government conspiracy theory and for Nile getting every good thing she deserves.

[airin-lavellan]

my brain agonizes me every day about latching onto rezaren and here's the thing. here's the thing I dislike most about how he was written: he was an inconsistent and rushed character. the inconsistency was the worst part and I could go on forever.

he starts as the morally questionable guy right? the show leads you to believe he's grey in morality- willing to fight a spirit for what he believes is right, manipulative but still caring. the first major hint of the backstory/flashbacks we see is rezaren crying. crying asking what miriam has done in the bloody scene. and that hits like a "holy shit there's more to it

then they open up with the brother/sister thing when they finally meet. still incredibly interesting- a villain who platonically loves the mc? who cares about them but in the wrong way and does the wrong things because of it but overarchingly loves them? amazing.

then in episode four, they build it up. the flashbacks point to rezaren having an idealistic idea of their past and miriam being rightfully very angry. we see it from his eyes, them laughing and playing together. then we see what rezaren ignored. he deflects this by saying he was a child and couldn't protect them- a fair point if we infer his mother was abusive towards, which we can infer from the harrowing "no ammosine has failed" part. he could apologize. he does not. miriam brings up the harrowing as her trump card- extremely strange to me in terms of narration because it portrays rezaren in a...not bad light? his mom is the aggressor, he's just shown as younger and weak and helpless. it doesn't match the buildup

there is a very clear snapping point where redemption is no longer an option for him: when he loses his temper at miriam. the switch is jarring, very jarring, at first, but it's okay. it would have been preferred if he was redeemed but it's not necessary, he could still be an amazing pure evil character.

...and then he's not. he goes far too quickly into too much evil- they set him up for a descent to madness and then go from one scene of "i won't use blood magic tassia don't worry" to "watch me publicly kill this guy on my own team".

when his character is really messed up is the finale. when he decides to go super sayan racist mode and be like "i'm going to enslave you bitch kys" but is STILL TRYING TO RESURRECT NEB. perhaps he's delusional but they don't explain that!! if he's angry with miriam now, if he's fully evil now, his character motivation is gone. it cannot be "i want to resurrect my 'brother' and have a happy family again" because if he's going to turn on miriam in this way he should have no reason to keep trying with the circulum.

the show had so many places it could have solidified him as a villain- a true villain like he was supposed to look like at the end. they could have, say, shown him mistreating miriam or slaves. or shown him owning slaves. because we don't have any idea if the slaves in the summer palace are his- and they're probably not because he doesn't even live in that city. the palace is in Nessum, and he explicitly tells Tassia "don't worry queen i can't keep doing evil blood magic study because soon I have to go back to Minrathous".

they could have made him a descent into madness character- which is totally thrown off by the whole "hey don't get too deep into blood magic" "*kills people*" swapup. so now people can basically paint things however they want- because a lot of the "proof" for him being a certain way is inferences. justified, reasonable inferences, but inferences nevertheless and the show is just badly paced. and so we have people differing from "if you like rezaren you're a slaver" to "actually his enslavement was good and miriam is the real villian" and it's just. aagg. they were all good and bad characters!! liking a fictional character does not mean you agree with them. agony agony agony. anyways sorry for my 9 paragraph essay in your ask box but I am Tormented By Thots and your rezaren post reminded me of the queercoded little man who would call me slurs if I ever breathed the same air as him (he has 55 limp wrists and two arms. and it's no coincidence the show censored the only heterosexual kiss him and tassia have to be fruity at least just a bit)

Wow first of all thank you for taking the time to read my post and giving me your insights. I was fully viewing this in terms of what we see in the show but reading this, I must say a lot of aspects of how he was written also came into play. I loved the show and it's characters and I think it's biggest flaw is it's length since a lot of things had to be rushed and couldn't get explored on a deeper level.

He is definitely presented as a rather grey character and I think it's thanks to all of these sudden shifts that the fandom is very divided, since we didn't get to explore more about him and his other motivations or actions in the past we can merely judge him by what we see, and only what we are shown. From the start he did seem a bit manipulative, hiding true intentions behind the so called kindness, yet as the show progressed I couldn't help rooting for him, like you said: the harrowing scene doesn't show him in a bad light. He was completely helpless and in danger himself, the choice to use Neb was his mother's and I do believe she was also abusive to him. Sure not in the same way as Miriam got abused but you can see how fearful he was. When they were kids he was taught that slavery was normal and okay, yet we see an adult that wants to change that, he recognizes his mistakes.

The snapping did feel rushed and out of nowhere, and you're right. I hadn't noticed how conflicted his motivations are during the show. Perhaps it is indeed flawed writing but I think if we can find a logical explanation, it would point to the circulum itself. Tassia openly says that the thing is changing Rezaren, and she has known him for a while. Again, we haven't seen anything else from his past so nothing we can really base ourselves on. He seems to know blood magic and as far as we know he was always in control using it. Why did it change now? I blame the circulum, mixed of course with his desires being frustrated. Miriam was algo blinded by rage, both were equally stubborn and wanted to do something yet they sought a different purpose with different means and I can love and appreciate both. I just indeed dislike the discussion about Rezaren being a slaver, because imo he definitely isn't.

[weedeaterisback]

I was born with a extra chromozone that fucked me over with the ability to speak or WRITE! And if you have seen how i write on my first day on discord. You realized that my writing on the document is more of a 3rd grader.

"2: you bring up the fact that they called you mentally ill (literally one time i think) constantly. yet you also call snail two faced. nose a fetishist and a pedo (its implied dude), the entire 'effin mod team narcissistic, and probably more!"

Hmmm... Maybe its because that Snails is a TWO FACE and Nose a fucking fetishes because he cannot keep out his fetishes out from any game he has ever made. Literally any old fans before votv can fucking confirm that he inserts his fetishes and talk about around minors on discord. And it is not fucking implied that he is a pedo. I literally said in the same fucking document that I don't think he is a pedo! Have you forgotten or did you ignore it? And to compare it to call shit about a minor (which they are fully fucking aware about) mentally ill or disabled? They've been doing that before the document. And because of them I see fucking idiots calling me that while they try "debunking the document" to people who believe me. 3. You misunderstand on what my point on 'growing up' but that is on me because of my fucking dumbass ability to fail to proper explanation of ANYTHING. "Refusing to accept criticism? what criticism? you cant act like an expose doc is criticism. you were borderline dehumanizing him, not really criticizing him in any way other than calling him a million different ways of saying "irredeemable creep"" This guy has been already exposed to fucking argue anyone who criticize or fucking delete it entirely. It has been exposed already about how itch comments that criticize his game in any way gets deleted.

"7-A: when you say things like this, all I see is that you are very angry. It isn't a coincidence anymore. You're pissed. It's a nothing burger of a point and only showcases that you are pissed the hell off." Nothing burger. Of course you missed all the recent shit that has happen. 1. Refusing to ban an exposed pedophile from their server. A member has exposed a pedophile, who has sexually harassed multiple minors, in their server and brought it to the mods. The mods did nothing. And than that member sent me the dm and me and the victims brought it light. Now the pedophile is gone from the server (unsure they were banned or just left). 2. Fucking abusing the Russians from their server. Now there is this big separate drama because the mods and nose has been mistreating Russians. And now been exposed by a russian youtuber who made a video and even reference my document. Где рутина, Там и Сиськи... | Voices of the void (минусы игры и ��е только игры) (youtube.com) 3. Actively choose to ignore their fucking fanatic defenders going around harassing people who supported the doc and spamming gore into their dm. And they are aware of this happening because two or three people has brought this to their attention. One being a itch post which got deleted by the mods and the others were a discord user and twitter user who told him about this. He fucking ignored them. 4. Actively insult anyone who is against him And there is so much more I can't list here because that will take forever. But because of this drama that I've been contacted with multiple patron supporters who came to help me find more evidences. "7-C: you made a point in your doc about nose always playing the "Tee hee I was just joking bro" card, but that point is completely null and meaningless if you were always... Just joking. Right?" That does not excuse fucking publicly sexualize their characters in a public full of channels.

"8: This comment sums up my stance on your doc well. (Also all the positive comments called you the world's best guy for some reason? That's odd.)" They are fucking kids from gamejolt going onto my youtube to call me that. They are not my fucking alts because it requires another email to make another account which I DO NOT HAVE. And these comments have grammar worst than mine.

[skamenglishsubs]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 1, Episode 2

Episode 2 picks up the morning day after the initiation party, the girls are having breakfast lunch at their dorm, the boys at theirs, and everyone wants the juicy details about what happened at the party...

Culture: Tell me more, tell me more, did you get very far? Although, it's pretty funny how the roles are reversed, Maddie is all "meh" about it, while Nils tells a different story. Then again, since when do you get together after a blowjob?

Culture: I actually have no idea why Simon is having breakfast at Skogsbacken, since regular schools only cover lunch for students, everyone eats breakfast at home, and then goes to school. Then again, it allows a scene where (Never mind, they're having lunch, thanks @kamand !) Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm casts some nervous glances at Simon after having been called out for disappearing at the party and almost forced to confess to making out with someone.

Culture: I know Felice is trying to put August down, but don't knock a proper Swedish pizza! As much as I like living in the US, they can't fucking make pizzas here, and the first thing I eat every time I go back to Sweden is always a real pizza. With pineapple and shrimp as God intended pizza to be made!

Culture: August is namedropping ski resorts in the Alps, which is where you go skiing in Europe if you have money, although Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is actually near Val Thorens in France, while Verbier is in Switzerland. It does have a three-star restaurant, though. Sweden and Norway have a couple of decent ski resorts, but the Scandinavian mountain chain is simply not as impressive as the Alps.

Subtext: Remember Wilhelm getting up and hurrying to math class in the beginning of the scene? It was so he could grab the other seat next to Simon, because he knows Simon is gonna sit next to Sara, since no-one else does.

Culture: Formally greeting your teacher before class is very uncommon in Sweden, but since Hillerska is all about discipline and tradition, of course they do it. Note that they're again using the formal Swedish title for male teachers, Magister, which in a regular school would be kind of a joke, since teachers and students are on a first-name basis with each other.

Subtext: Wilhelm is exposing how the world works if you have money. At Simon's old school, studying alone would result in good grades, but Hillerska is slightly corrupt and almost expects the students to essentially pay for getting a good grade.

Subtext: Simon is lying to his teacher, he absolutely hasn't talked to his parents about paying for private lessons.

Subtext: No, Sara absolutely does care about what other people think about her, and when she directly tells Felice that she would actually like some friends, that's when Felice gets it and starts making an effort to become real friends with her.

Culture: They're all bilingual at Simon's home, they're all speaking Spanish and Swedish, although Linda has a very noticeable accent to her Swedish. Based on demographics and statistics, the most likely scenario is that Linda immigrated to Sweden from Chile, met Micke, and started a family. In real life, Omar Rudberg was born in Venezuela and grew up in Sweden, while Carmen Gloria Pérez was born in New York, and grew up in Puerto Rico.

Subtext: Remember how I talked in the intro post about how distant social classes know nothing of each other? Ayub and Rosh are either working class or lower middle class like Simon, and since rowing is a typical upper class sport, they know nothing of it, they don't even think of it as a real sport. Unlike football, which is a proper working class sport, they know all about that!

Subtext: Scandinavia has Jantelagen, and everyone there thinks it's uniquely Scandinavian, but all countries have some form of Tall Poppy Syndrome. In this scene, Simon is starting to make a class journey, he started rowing, he started trying to fit in with the other upper-class kids, and getting into a relationship with someone as upper-class as Wilhelm would definitely move him all the way. But going on a journey means leaving things behind, which is why Rosh and Ayub are cutting him down and literally turning their backs on him. They like it in the small town of Bjärstad, why can't he be happy there too? Why is he betraying his roots?

Subtext: This comment from August nicely foreshadows a later episode when August does something traceable on a School computer...

Subtext: What August means is that he's not sure Wilhelm has the same desire to be accultured into the upper class, to play the part of a proper prince, in the same way that he and Erik have accepted their roles and are even enjoying them.

Culture: Although it's impossible to read the name of the medicine, the paper tag on the bottle indicates that it's some kind of prescription medicine. From the conversation with Vincent, we learn that it's some kind of ADHD medication, probably some kind of Dextroamphetamine since those improve athletic ability and cognitive functions in healthy people.

Culture: Birkenstock sandals are associated with hippies in Sweden as well as in many parts of the world, so August is actually saying that the school counselor isn't really part of the same upper-class society as the rest of the staff. And again, his use of the word sosse drives the point home.

Subtext: Consequently, the counselor sees right through August and refuses to immediately prescribe him the medication that he wants...

Subtext: ...even though August tries to both bribe him and threaten him into giving him the medication he wants.

Subtext: A big theme of this episode is class journeys, and in this scene and a previous exercise scene, August gushes about how good a thing that is, how proud he is of Simon for going on one, and spouts some crap about how everyone can make it if they really want to.

Subtext: Thankfully, Madison says what we're all thinking: August is full of shit, life isn't fair, and they're only at the school because they were born into privilege.

Blink and you miss it: After Wilhelm has nervously texted his crush for the first time, he starts to bite his fingernails, but quickly stops himself, because why would he be nervous? He's just texting another boy about rowing practice, there's nothing more to it!

Subtext: Simon's texting game is on point though, he knows exactly what he should write to get Wilhelm to go on a totally-not-a-date with him.

Subtext: In the same way that August couldn't convince the counselor about being sick, I don't think Wilhelm's atrocious acting here convinces August that he's sick either.

Culture: Public transport in the greater Stockholm area - or wherever we're supposed to be - is of course cash-less, and you pay by either charging a special card, or by signing up in their app and buying tickets through there. The point of this scene though is to drive home how Wilhelm has never ever had to take the bus before in his life, and therefore has no idea how it works.

Culture: The totally-not-a-date starts at a Circle K, which in Sweden is just another gas station, but it is actually a Canadian multi-national convenience store corporation. The price of gas is of course posted in kr/l, and 13.98kr/l corresponds to roughly $6/gal.

Subtext: Throughout the totally-not-a-date, Wilhelm is trying to reach for common ground with Simon, trying to show him how he's just a regular guy...

Subtext: ...but then real life intrudes, Wilhelm is recognized by some local girls, who call out to him and run away giggling, which shows how he's not a regular guy, he's going to get recognized wherever he goes.

Culture: Kokt eller grillat, boiled or grilled, are the two ways you can get your hot-dog at pretty much any hot-dog place in Sweden, and ketchup and mustard is always offered. The correct answer to this question is of course grilled, with ketchup and mustard, and this just shows that Wilhelm is a man of culture and good taste. Unfortunately, they were out grilled ones, so they all got boring soggy boiled hot-dogs instead. Is there a metaphor here? I don't know.

Subtext: Again, the show drives home the point that absolutely no-one has a problem with people being gay. Simon is clearly out to Ayub and the rest of his friends, and Ayub immediately picks up on the fact that this is totally a date.

Blink and you miss it: Ayub nudges Simon with his elbow to tell him that he should make a move on Wilhelm.

Culture: What we're looking at is just the local junior/high school football team, Bjärstad, playing a match against some other unnamed junior football team. Since the stakes are super low, the audience basically consists of whichever parents and friends of the players that could be bothered showing up.

Culture: Driving age is 18 in Sweden, and even then getting your own car at that age is extremely uncommon. However, you can easily get a license for a moped when you turn 15, so these are the vehicles of choice for teenagers to get around.

Subtext: August found out about Wilhelm's trip to town, but his main problem with it is that he wants Wilhelm to stop slumming it with lower class people, and to start hanging out with everyone at school instead, so that he can be properly accultured into the upper class. Again, sosse in this context means working class, not socialist.

Subtext: Although Simon felt really great about his first date with Wilhelm, the text message reminds him that Wilhelm isn't a regular person, and that even this innocent little trip generates interest and scrutiny, and can't be posted publicly.

Culture: As everyone should have noticed by now, Madison keeps speaking English, while everyone speaks to her in Swedish, so clearly she understands it. But here she gives her motivation for sticking to English, and that is that she doesn't feel she's good enough at speaking Swedish. Boarding schools like Hillerska attracts international students that have some kind of connection to the country, so a likely scenario is that Madison grew up in the US with a Swedish parent, and she's being sent here to experience Swedish culture and get immersed in the language to learn it better.

Cinematography: This shot of August drives really home all the pressure he is under, he's out of drugs, the headmistress just hinted that he's out of money, and he's literally being weighed down by books and work-out weights.

Subtext: Simon has kept his visits to Micke a secret from Sara, so here he has to intervene to make sure August doesn't accidentally reveal this to her. He also wants to protect his sister, so he's redirecting August's search for drugs onto himself.

Subtext: And on the flipside, Simon isn't really telling his dad that Sara still hates him and really doesn't want to see him, so he's vague when Micke asks about Sara and Linda.

Culture: Finally a bottle of medicine where we can read the label! Unfortunately for Simon, this is Tramadol, an opiate prescribed for pain relief, which is the complete opposite of the kind of drugs August wants.

Subtext: If you haven't figured out yet that this episode is about class journeys, August spells it out for us here. However, the reason he's "congratulating" Simon in front of everybody is because Simon just supplied him with more drugs, so this is his way of thanking him, since he can't really pay him.

Blink and you miss it: For a split second, Wilhelm grabs Simon's leg during the scary scene.

Subtext: The entire dialogue of the movie works as subtext for what's actually going on between Wilhelm and Simon at this point, and Wilhelm is getting a little freaked out by this sneaky display of affection.

Subtext: The movie also puts words on the implications of Wilhelm getting together with a boy, what about having kids in the future? Can you carry on your family name and traditions, or will they die with you?

Lost in translation: The plaque actually says "FEEL YOUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HERITAGE". Even though the plaque means the heritage and legacy of the school itself, Wilhelm is thinking about his legacy, his heritage, and how getting together with Simon would threaten that.

Lost in translation: Wilhelm actually says "jag är inte en..." - "I'm not a..." before he stops himself. So it's not possible that he was trying to say "I'm not gay", because that doesn't work grammatically in Swedish either. He could be trying to say "I'm not a guy like that" or "I'm not a guy who likes guys", that would work.

Cinematography: The framing and silhouetting of this shot is just chef's kiss. The outline of their hair allows us to see who is who, and we can see from their poses that Simon is welcoming a kiss, while Wilhelm is still hesitating.

[blackswan18]

Too Good To Be True - Ch. 2 | kth (m)

Summary: Kim Taehyung is a world famous idol in the hit K-pop group, BTS, and you are his personal stylist. Per your contract with BigHit, he is absolutely, 100% off-limits, and yet, you are completely and hopelessly in love with him. You’ve spent years trying to shove your feelings down, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore and hide them, especially considering the way Tae always treats you. He’s affectionate and protective and sometimes outright flirtatious, but that’s how he is with everyone, right? Confused, frustrated, and lovesick, you find yourself wondering if it might finally be worth risking your career and your heart to find out.

pairing: Taehyung x reader

genre: Idol! au, fluff, angst, eventual smut, friends to lovers, slow burn

rating: 18+

word count: 1.4k

warnings: swearing

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Chapter 2: Stupid Blue Lipstick

It was a few weeks later and you were at yet another show, this time the Golden Disc Awards. You sat backstage watching the broadcast on the monitors in the dressing room. The performances from the other artists were entertaining enough, but really you were just waiting for the camera to show the guys in the audience. The adorable look on their faces when they realized they were on the big screen just never got old.

Sure enough, within a few minutes seven familiar, beautiful faces were gracing the screen. However, your stomach lurched when you saw that a certain scantily clad woman had somehow weaseled her way into the chair next to Tae.

Jisoo.

You honestly weren’t usually the jealous type. Hell, you shared your love of Tae with literally millions of other people. But you could not deny that you absolutely hated seeing her with him.

She was another idol who had joined BigHit a little over a year ago. A solo artist with the requisite narcissistic tendencies and inflated ego, she was best known for her suggestive lyrics, provocative dance moves, and electric blue lipstick. You often wondered how a company as conservative as BigHit allowed her to get away with half the things she did and said. 

You might have forgiven her for playing the ‘sex sells’ card and doing whatever she could to stay relevant in the ever changing K-pop industry were it not for the fact that she had spent the last year not-so-subtlety lusting after Tae.

Her advances on him were so blatant it was almost shameful. She was constantly coming around to the studio batting her eyelashes and flipping her hair and she was always touching him somehow when they talked. She also called him TaeTae which absolutely set your teeth on edge. He humored her, he was far too nice a guy to publicly rebuff and embarrass her, but he never seemed to encourage her or initiate interactions which provided you some solace. 

You were pulled from your hate-filled thoughts when the cameraman suddenly panned to a closeup of the two of them.  Jisoo had her phone out in front of them, clearly about to take a selfie. They both initially threw up Tae’s signature ‘V’ over the eye pose, but at the last second Jisoo dropped her hand, turned her head, and planted a kiss on Tae’s cheek. Bile rose in your throat.

God I hate her.

Instinctively, you opened up Twitter, knowing that she purposefully pulled stunts like this because she knew it would get people talking. Sure enough, she had already posted the photo with the caption “Quality time with TaeTae”. Within minutes the photo had gone viral and #TaeSoo was trending. 

You were still scowling down at your phone a while later when the guys came in to get ready for their performance at the end of the show. Tae sat down in front of you and your spirits were momentarily lifted when you looked up and saw his beautiful, boxy smile, but then you saw the blue smudge on his cheek.

“I see Jisoo is wearing her signature blue lipstick today,” you said trying to sound casual as you started fussing with his hair.

“What?” he asked, looking genuinely confused for a second before reaching up and touching his cheek. “Oh that? Yea she wanted to take a selfie.”

“That’s not all she wants,” you muttered under your breath.

“What was that?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at you curiously. 

“Oh, uhh, I just said I saw the selfie on Twitter,” you quickly replied.

“It’s gone viral,” you added, “and your ship name is also trending again.”

You had tried to hide the disdain in your voice, you really did, but you must have done an awful job because when you looked up Tae was looking at you with a knowing smirk. 

“You don’t like her,” he said simply.

“I never said that,” you replied defensively.

“You didn’t have to,” he said, his smirk now unbearably smug. 

You glared at him and he glared right back, the two of you locked in an intense staring contest for an absurd amount of time before you eventually blinked.

“Ok fine,” you finally admitted. “I don’t like her.”

He let out a huge laugh.

“I mean, just look, she makes my job so difficult,” you said in mock-exasperation as you pointed to his cheek. “I have to scrub that crap off and redo your foundation.”

His laughter grew, his eyes growing adorably squinty in the process, as you continued.

“Also, she doesn’t write her own songs, I’m pretty sure she lip syncs, and,” you said, choosing your next words carefully, “I personally, as a stylist, think she might wear clothes that are just a bit too...scandalous.”

He was keeled over at this point, rendered momentarily speechless by your hysterical, woefully out of character, but completely adorable tirade.

“But mostly,” you said, adding a note of finality to your voice, “I don’t like that she uses you for clout.”

He softened ever so slightly at that, genuinely appreciative that such a thing mattered to you, before laughter overtook him once more. Even after a few minutes he was still laughing and staring at you in disbelief.

“I know, I know,” you said, feigning remorse. “I’m a terrible person for thinking and saying such things.”

“But, if it makes you feel any better,” you continued more seriously, “the feeling is definitely mutual.”

“What?! No way,” Tae said, genuinely surprised. “No one could possibly dislike you.”

Your heart fluttered a bit at his sweet words. “It’s true. She stares daggers at me every time she sees me at the studio. Also, I’m like 99% sure she reported me to Mrs. Choi for being too loud and ‘unprofessional’ at last year’s BigHit family photoshoot.”

“Wait, what? You got in trouble for that?” he asked, his eyes wide in shock.

“Yes! I absolutely did!” you exclaimed. “Which, by the way, was totally unfair because that was entirely your fault.”

“Hey, that was an accident. How was I supposed to know that was superglue? It looked like a tube of hair gel!” he all but shouted back.  

At that, both of you lost it, ironically probably causing yet another scene.

It was a solid five minutes before either if you had calmed down enough to form coherent sentences. 

“Well, it’s settled then,” Tae finally said, still catching his breath.

“What’s settled?” you questioned back.

“If she’s mean to you and makes your job difficult then I don’t like her either,” he stated sincerely.

Your heart swelled at his simple yet powerful statement of loyalty, only to nearly burst at his next words.

“Nobody messes with my stylist Noona and gets away with it. If she’s mean to you again, let me know,” he said sounding almost serious.

“What will you do about it?” you asked, genuinely curious.

He thought for a few moments before saying with a completely straight face, “I’ll have Tannie attack her.”

You doubled over again in laughter as you pictured the tiny teacup Pomeranian attempting to maul the grown woman. 

“He may seem sweet, Noona, but he can be vicious when he wants to be. He’s very protective of the people he loves,” Tae said matter-of-factly.

Your heart fluttered again at the potential insinuation of his words, that Tannie’s love was somehow an extension of Tae’s, but you quickly shoved the thought aside. Of course he didn’t mean it like that. You internally scolded yourself; it did you absolutely no good to entertain such notions.

“Ok so the next time she gives me a dirty look I’ll call you and you’ll release the furball?” you asked.

“Absolutely, Noona,” Tae replied, earnestly. “Just say the word and he’ll be there to protect you.”

Satisfied that you had won this round of the war you were secretly waging against Jisoo, you let yourself relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. Their performance was fantastic, honestly one of the best they’ve ever done. And, by the time they had returned backstage and an adorably disheveled Tae had come bounding up to you, positively beaming as he asked you what you thought of the show, you had entirely forgotten about Jisoo and her stupid blue lipstick.

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[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#10: Felix, Part Two: The Episode Itself

Here’s Part 1

So, uh... here's the thing. I was going to divide this post into three parts, but I had to cancel the third part where I analyze the stuff involving Astruc defending the episode on Twitter, specifically a certain scene that really showed off some serious double standards in regards to the way Adrien is being written, because Astruc deleted most of his tweets regarding the episode. I wonder why he did that? I thought he wanted to expose himself publicly and interact in a peaceful way.

So yeah, instead of a big three-parter, this is going to be a two-parter, and I apologize for that. I might be able to do a third part if anyone has any screenshots of some of the tweets Astruc made after “Felix” aired. If you did, I would really appreciate it, but if not, it's fine.

Either way, let's just get this over with, because I have SO MUCH to talk about. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about Season 3, Episode 23 of Miraculous Ladybug, “Felix”?

So we start off with what Gabriel does for half of his scenes when he isn't Hawkmoth, monologuing to his (possibly) dead wife, Emilie about how Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous will soon be his and all that crap. Sure, he's sent God knows how many Akumas after Ladybug and Cat Noir, and they've all failed miserably, but I'm positive he's getting close to his goal.

After he finishes cleaning his and Emilie's silver wedding rings that sadly don't allow them to transform into Ultraman Ace, Gabriel goes to check on Adrien, singing to a statue of Emilie (glad to see the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree), intending to tell him that he is Hawkmoth.

Gabriel: There is something important I have to talk to you about. I think about telling you every day, but I don't know how to find the right words.

Adrien: I think I already know, father.

Gabriel: But, how?

Adrien: I've noticed how close you and Nathalie have become. If she can make you happy again, then... as far as I'm concerned, she's already part of our family.

Yeah, apparently it's obvious that Gabriel and Nathalie are close or something, with how casually Adrien assumes they're planning on starting a relationship. I mean, it's not like Nathalie is close to Gabriel because she's his secretary or something like that.

Gabriel's response isn't any better, as he immediately jumps down Adrien's throat for daring to assume he might try to move on from his wife.

Gabriel: How could you possibly think such a thing?! Nobody could ever replace your mother! As long as she is still in our hearts, she lives on!

Even Adrien's face shows he's a little taken back by his father's brief outburst.

Part of me likes to assume that Plagg is trying to not break out into laughter at how crazy Gabriel sounds, while Nooroo is mentally questioning the sanity of his master.

Plagg: Wow! Your father's like a piece of tomme cheese, where the rind's so thick it's almost impossible to get inside the center.

Adrien: Don't be so hard on him, Plagg. It's been a year today since Mom... went away forever.

Oh my God, just say she DIED already! Why are so many kids' shows afraid to say the D-word? How can I cite an episode of Caillou of all shows as something that that actually talked about death to it's audience in a nuanced way?

It turns out that Adrien's aunt is visiting for the day, as it's the one-year anniversary of Emilie's “going away forever”. We also learn that the gene pool in Adrien's family is so shallow, a toddler could swim in it, because Emilie's sister looks exactly like her.

Even better, her name is Amelie. I bet the parents thought naming their kids Emilie and Amelie was hilarious for like three minutes.

And of course, she also brought her son, the asshole of the hour.

Someone cue the Imperial March.

So Felix is finally here, and of course, he looks just like Adrien. It's almost like the animators didn't want to create any new character models for this episode, so they thought nobody would notice if they just reused a few. Seriously, towards the end of the episode, we see Felix wearing the Cat Miraculous on his hand, and none of the animators noticed it.

So while Adrien is happy to see his cousin, Felix isn't. I'll talk more about it in a minute.

Amelie mentions that the wedding rings are actually heirlooms in her side of the family, so she naturally wants them back. Of course, Gabriel, being Gabriel, responds accordingly.

Gabriel: These rings are obviously very special to me.

Amelie: And they're very dear to me too, Gabriel. Those jewels have always been in the Graham de Vanily family, not the Agreste's.

Gabriel: We'll discuss it later.

“Yeah, yeah, these rings are priceless family heirlooms or whatever, but why can't you think about how important they are to me?”

Meanwhile, Marinette and her friends are planning on recording some messages for Adrien to cheer him up on this day, but Marinette isn't sure what to say before she decides to confess her love to him. I'm sure Adrien will get the message and return Marinette's feelings this episode... and Cliff Hanger will finally escape that cliff he's been hanging from for years.

Speaking of, Adrien and Felix are hanging out in the former's room where we learn that Felix's father passed away recently. We don't know how long, but with the way they talk about, it's clear the funeral wasn't too long ago. Keep this in mind.

So while Adrien leaves the room to get a chess board for the two to play a game of, Felix, for no reason, decides to search through Adrien's things and crush a piece of cheese that Plagg had been aging for two weeks. And here is the interaction that helps this episode go from mediocre to aggravating, just because of what they imply here.

Adrien: Listen, Plagg. Felix lost his dad not so long ago, he's probably not himself.

Plagg: I'm sorry, but there's just no excuse! You never touch my cheese, and yet, you just lost your mother not so long ago, right?

Yes. The show is actually implying that Adrien is better than Felix because Adrien isn't acting out because his mom “went away forever”. Keep in mind, we know that Felix just lost his father, while Adrien has had a year to cope. I'm not saying he can't be sad anymore, as everyone processes grief differently, but you can't set up Felix as a foil to Adrien just because they both lost a parent, as their situations are entirely different.

Oh, and when Plagg's statement upsets Adrien, it isn't because he's angry at Plagg for making the comparison, it's because he mentions Emilie. And this argument is never brought up again.

I still can't believe this episode is basically saying that even if you lose a loved one, that's no excuse to get emotional. This isn't just a horrible lesson to teach children, but it pisses me off on a more personal level. Why?

My grandfather died last year after a long battle with lung cancer.

He had been in and out of the hospital for a few years at this point, and part of me was relieved that he was finally free of the pain. I tried not to let it bother me, as I had already mentally prepared myself for the day he would die whenever he was readmitted to the hospital. But it was still painful to go through because he was so important to me. Instead of simply telling someone how I was feeling, I threw myself into my schoolwork in an effort to distract myself from actually confronting my emotions. After seeing A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a movie where the main character made peace with his father on his deathbed with some encouragement from Mr. Rogers, it made me think about how unhealthy it was to bottle up my emotions, so I started to open up more about how I was feeling. When I told my mom (who was his daughter) about why I was so conflicted regarding his death, she said it was completely understandable, as she had been an emotional wreck as well. I also talked with my therapist about how this was affecting me mentally.

What does this have to do with the episode? I don't think Felix had access to this kind of emotional support when his dad died, or that he tried coping the same way I did initially.

And the worst part is that this could have been used to teach people a lesson on how to cope with losing a loved one. Maybe Adrien could have helped Felix find a healthier coping mechanism, or simply help him open up emotionally, teaching him that it's okay to be upset when someone close to you dies, but that you just need to be honest about your feelings.

But no, rather than portray Felix's actions as a troubled youth lashing out because he's angry at the cards the world dealt him, Felix does several awful things this episode for no other reason than because he's evil, even though he has a good reason to hate Adrien and Gabriel.

So the very next scene, we see Felix has stolen Adrien's phone and is going through the messages that Adrien's friends sent him, but not before insulting his crush on Ladybug. I'm not sure if that's supposed to reflect the fandom's criticism of Adrien's crush on Ladybug, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

Nino's Message: Hey, my dude! I'm not quite sure what to tell you, except that, you're my man, dude! And bros are always there for their guys!

Felix: (Mockingly) “Bros are always there--” blah, blah, blah! Moron.

Rose's Message: Unicorns have a saying: even when there's nothing but gray skies and rain, all it takes is one little sunbeam for a rainbow to appear!

Felix: Loser.

Max's Message: It's one hundred percent proven, you should feel fifty-two percent happier with a healthy dose of laughter. So Markov has uploaded a few jokes for you! Starting with--

Felix: Freak.

Chloe's Message: When my mother left for New York, I felt so sad. It felt like she was... (sighs) She came back, and I know how lucky I am. So, you can count on me, my Adrikins.

Felix: Chloe. Just as annoying as usual.

And that line right there is the only time Astruc actually liked writing Felix, as it gave him the chance to satisfy his need to insult Chloe.

And then when he sees Marinette's message, he deletes it because... hell if I know

Again, this scene could have worked if it was interpreted as Felix saying stuff that he wasn't dependent on others for support and that he could easily power through life on his own, but nope! Instead, he hates Adrien's friends and only deletes Marinette's message instead of all of them simply because he's evil, heart blacker than Don Cheadle.

Felix continues to show how awful he is by dressing up in Adrien's clothes and—Oh, son of a bitch, SERIOUSLY? This is the SEVENTH evil doppelganger plotline we've had in THREE SEASONS! You're telling me this isn't doing the same thing over and over again, Astruc?

Yeah, so Felix records some messages to send to his friends that, once again, could have worked if this episode was actually teaching a lesson about dealing with grief.

“Adrien's” Message:  First of all, thanks so much for all your messages, guys, really. Sending me messages on today of all days... (angrily) to remind me how sad I'm supposed to be feeling? Why, that's great! Really, Thanks a lot!

But because nobody ever considers how Felix is feeling, it's never acknowledged, because that would actually involve writing him with complexity.

Gabriel gets a message from Lila, who recently became one of his confidants to spy on Adrien, tells him about the fake message, and decides to use the negative emotions felt as an excuse to get rid of his in-laws. No, seriously.

Gabriel: All this disappointment might just help us get rid of our unwanted guests.

To be fair, I'd probably do the same thing just so I wouldn't have to talk to some of the people I hate at my job.

And so, Hawkmoth akumatizes Alya, Juleka, and Rose into the Punisher's Trio, who are basically just their previously akumatized forms Lady Wifi, Reflekta, and Princess Fragrance. Because why would you expect anyone to use an original character model for this episode?

All joking aside, this development raises several questions. First, why wasn't Nino one of the Punisher's akumatized? He's Adrien's best friend, so shouldn't be just as upset as everyone else? Hell, the whole reason he was akumatized into the Bubbler in Season 1 was just so he could throw Adrien a birthday party after Gabriel said no. Then there's the fact that Chloe could have also been akumatized because she's just as close as Adrien, which is another wasted opportunity here.

Second, why bring back Reflekta and Princess Fragrance of all villains? It doesn't even make sense when you consider their motifs are based off of the circumstances that led to them getting akumatized in their respective episodes. Juleka became Reflekta because of her anxiety over easily blending in, so she got the power to turn everyone into an exact copy of herself so they could understand the feeling. Rose became Princess Fragrance when Chloe destroyed her letter and perfume bottle dedicated to the prince of a foreign nation, so the perfume bottle was the basis of her powers. At least Lady Wifi makes sense as the akumatized object this episode is a tablet used to record the messages to Adrien, but Reflekta and Princess Fragrance have nothing to do with the plot of this episode, and just feel tacked on. If it was just Lady Wifi or the Bubbler, I'd get it, but this just doesn't work.

Third, what exactly is this show's obsession with Reflekta? We saw in Reflekta's first episode that her powers had a huge drawback as if either of the heroes is zapped by her, she can't get their Miraculous, like what we saw happened to Cat Noir. Yet, this is the second time this season that Hawkmoth had the bright idea to bring back Reflekta (even giving her a giant robot to amplify her powers). At least Lady Wifi and Princess Fragrance's powers worked together well (Lady Wifi could freeze someone in place, while Princess Fragrance can brainwash them with her perfume), but Reflekta just feels like the odd one out here.

Fourth, and most importantly, why did we only get to hear the line “At your service, Princess Fragrance!” A single time this episode?

So the Punishers head to Adrien's house to take their revenge, but see Felix, still dressed in Adrien's clothes, and are naturally confused. Adrien pretends to be Felix by running away while laughing evilly (so not too far off from how Astruc sees Felix), while the real Felix and Nathalie put up a good fight against the Punishers.

And then... here is the moment that shows just how skewed Astruc's view of Adrien really is.

Felix pretends to confess his love to Ladybug as Adrien, trying to force a kiss on him, making Ladybug punch him in the face by claiming that the real Adrien “would never be so pushy”.

BULL. SHIT.

Yes, Ladybug doesn't know that Adrien is actually Cat Noir, but it's clear that this scene is meant to solidify just how Felix is far worse than Adrien because according to Astruc, he would never do that.

But maybe I'm being too hard on him.

It's not like Adrien has ever forced himself onto Ladybug, right?

I mean, imagine if the show just ignored something like that.

All while trying to teach kids the importance of saying no when someone harasses them.

Can you imagine if someone was that oblivious to their own hypocrisy?

I'm not saying that the lesson is a bad one, but you can't call someone out for doing something bad, and then ignore one of your main characters doing the exact same thing!

Even in the context of the episode, the comparison doesn't work. We know that Felix is only doing this to make Adrien look bad, and has no romantic feelings towards Ladybug like Adrien does. Felix knows what he is doing is wrong, while Adrien doesn't. Whenever Cat Noir tries to kiss Ladybug, he is never aware that what he is doing is wrong, and while he is almost always stopped from kissing Ladybug for one reason or another.

Like when the episode tried to compare two different characters reacting to losing loved ones when there are different circumstances regarding them, the comparison DOESN'T WORK.

And to add insult to injury, Cat Noir shows up just to insult Felix by implying he doesn't have a lot of friends because of the way he acts, because why would he? After all, he's a complete loser that nobody would want to be friends with, and if you like him, you're an idiot for thinking so! At least, that's probably what Astruc was going for.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, leading to a brief Mexican standoff, until Felix steals the tablet containing the Akuma, making a deal with Hawkmoth that he'll help out the Punishers as long as he gets the wedding rings. Do you hate Felix yet? Come on, do you hate him? WHY WON'T YOU HATE HIM, GODDAMN IT!?

This whole bit is completely pointless as Ladybug immediately finds a way to stop all four of them and de-evilize the Akuma.

And when it looks like Felix is actually apologizing for his actions this episode, it's naturally a ruse he put on to steal one of the wedding rings from Gabriel to give to his mom. Because why would Astruc even think of portraying him sympathetically, or at least have him learn a lesson?

So Felix stares out the window with an evil look in his eye (possibly foreshadowing another appearance), as Gabriel takes Emilie's wedding ring to wear for himself, and the episode mercifully ends.

It also means that I never have to watch this episode ever again.

Do you understand why it took so long for me to fully analyze this episode? Hell, it would have taken longer if Astruc didn't delete his tweets defending the kiss scene and how Cat Noir is totally a gentlemen unlike Satan, I mean Felix.

What else do I have to say about this episode that hasn’t already been said? Well, I do have one thing.

I’m not that big a fan of Felix.

I think he’s an okay character in fanfics, but I’m more indifferent to him and fanfics that ship him and Marinette together. I don’t know, maybe that’s because there are so many Felinette fanfics that are heavily seasoned with salt, or it could just be because I’m complete Love Square and Lukanette trash.

But just think about the fact that the scathing criticism of this episode was delivered by someone who isn’t that into Felix. That is how bad this episode is.

In addition to being an obvious mouthpiece for Astruc to yell at fans why they’re idiots for actually liking Felix, it does so by touching on delicate subject and trying to act like it’s easy to tell how Felix is worse than Adrien when the circumstances are nothing alike.

But the fact that Astruc takes a popular character just to portray him as a complete menace just to antagonize his fans is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

[dontcallmecarrie]

can we get a little taste of what would happen if someone tried to get justin assassinated and very nearly (as in he needed hospital close) succeed? like justin's reaction at how close that was 👀 family/friends reaction 👀 what would happen to the person who hired someone to hire someone to get rid off justin so they wouldn't be traced back to the incident except the people in justin's sphere of influence are all smarter than that ok? even if somehow this attempt went over everyone's head in such a way that no one noticed until it the deed was done. imagine if it was justin's DAD. OH. THE DRAMA. OH THE TRAUMA maybe. 👀

...I get the feeling that you really want to see these characters in a very different genre than what No Hero is turning out to be.

Mainly because the above situation is something I'm not sure I have the energy to tackle, and I applaud your imagination because I wouldn't have even thought of it in the first place.

See, early on is when Justin's probably most at risk in this AU; while his charisma never wanes, his network is something that grows as time goes on. Early on, before he's made his alliances and started really building his network is when Justin's at his most vulnerable— but even then I don't really picture him as getting in nearly as many sticky situations as Tony would've?

Bear in mind that Justin's reputation as a responsible, hardworking dependable guy started very, very early in this AU. Since his boarding school days, even, and some of those kids [...other than Victor, because of obvious reasons] probably later on went to invest in his company as shareholders, etc.

But.

Beyond that, remember that at the end of the day, Justin Hammer is the only son and heir of one of the biggest names in the defense industry.

...suffice it is to say that it takes a very special sort of stupid to want to piss off the guy selling you your guns.

Especially when his main competition has ridiculously high standards for anyone who's not the U.S. military.

So all in all, it's in nobody's best interests to hurt Justin; not when they've got a good thing going on, with a very reasonable businessman who knows how to play the game, and when to look the other way.

This is all a long way for me to say that even before Victor von Doom showed up again, Justin already had people willing to do him favors. Tit for tat, and all that. Victor's different in that any favor would be of a different sort of stake, with a different price; after all, he's no longer in need of weapons. Not anymore, at least.

So if someone was foolish enough to put a hit out on him... I'd think that there would be enough groups who prefer the status quo the way it is to give him a heads up, and look into taking out the threat themselves. Oh, and of course, expect a few very nice discounts afterwards. That's how I'd see something like this going.

Before Cabal was a thing, anyway; after that... woe betide whoever wanted to mess with him, because Justin has friends in very, very high places and I'll just leave it at that.

.

As for if Justin's father would try to pull something like this...

Hmm. You know, I honestly don't know anymore. Hammer Senior's the type of guy who's very big on appearances, and while he might not have liked being essentially ousted as the CEO of Hammer Industries, part of him was honestly pretty impressed at how his son handled the who fiasco— to the point that he wasn't even mad when he left.

Bear in mind that Justin's father is a piece of work: he's incredibly sexist, of the "dear god why hasn't he been fired ye— oh he's the owner, oh, okay, fuck this I quit then" variety, cheated on his wife for what was probably the entirety of their marriage and is just generally the embodiment of that one stereotype about trust fund brats because he's old money but that doesn't mean he knows what he's doing.

Part of why Justin caught everyone's attention at first was because he was, well, basically the exact opposite of his father: responsible, level-headed, hardworking, and competent. To be honest, there were probably some people who side-eyed him and his father and went "who the fuck knows where he gets it from, because it sure as hell ain't his old man" because of it— because other than genetics, there wasn't much else the two had in common.

It's why Justin had such an easy time becoming a CEO despite doing everything he did to get there— all he had to do was prove he was a better candidate than his father, and since his father set the bar so low, well... you get the idea.

As for Hammer Senior, in all this: let's be honest, the man stood to benefit either way. Because part of the deal for his publicly "gracefully stepping down" meant he got a very nice paycheck, and an early retirement to do whatever the hell he wanted. And, since Justin had masterfully orchestrated everything to make their family come out of it smelling like roses, it wasn't like he had any hard feelings about how he got there.

After all, that's how he raised his son.

.

...now, if anyone actually met Justin's father, that'd be another mess entirely. Their family in general, for that matter, but emphasis on their father because again, the man is a piece of work who cared more about appearances than anything else, and the older Justin got, the less and less they respected him.

It doesn't help that both of their parents are homophobic, and Justin's sexuality [...not to mention the gender thing, which is a whole other kettle of fish] is something these two are still unhappy about but forced to live with— though at this point, Justin's father has convinced himself that his son is just being a good, celibate Christian [Justin: ...that's hilarious on a number of levels], while his mother has just taken to pretending it's not an issue in the first place.

At this point, it's just something they have to live with, because Justin is the only child they're willing to acknowledge that acknowledges them back. So it's not like they've got many options with how to pressure him, not that they're able to at this point.

Not when he's an adult and an ironclad reputation that, in turn, makes them look good as well, because obviously they did a good job at raising him, didn't they, if he turned out so well?

So this is the stalemate they're at right now: a tension no healthy family would have but is the only thing they know, and the bitter knowledge that there's nothing they can do about it, not when Justin holds all the cards these days.

[tomdiddlyumptious]

Can u do a Tom Holland x black model reader

And she’s zendayas friend and she introduces Tom to her and they hit it off he ends up seeing her outside they have a sentimental talk about what it’s like being famous and they end up kissing maybe smut at the end and they wake up the morning after 😩😩😫

I MIGHTVE GOTTEN....YA KNOW TAKEN AWAY BUTTTTT

warnings: terrible fans, sadness, annoying papis, and I guess heavy smut but idk 🤷🏽‍♀️ NOT PROOFREAD, PROBABLY TERRIBLE ✌🏽

a/n: REEEEE I HATE MYSELF

You sighed as she grabbed your hand, pulling you, “look you have nothing better to do, so you do this or keep watching re-runs of Harry Potter and trying to shift, which isn’t gonna work” she rolled her eyes at the idea, looking at your scrunched up face.

“Well whatever, so much for getting a spell book” you huffed in loss, zendaya laughing at you as she let your hand go and opened the door “for my princess please” she dramatically said, her hand pointing inside the restaurant.

“We couldn’t have taken a walk-“ “y/n shut up and sit down please” you giggled as you walked slower to let her infront of you and guide you to a seat, next to her but also next to a nice, brown haired, of course skinny lean white boy.

And how did you know that? You checked him out without hesitation. As you looked back up at him you found himself with a cocky ass smirk. “Don’t flatter yourself” you chuckled only leaving him doing the same.

“Hey a pretty girl like you how could I not?” His hand lifted and ruffled his hair some, leaving you with a smile. “We all know who we are right?” Daya said, not wanting to introduce anybody when your all basically famous. “Yes?” The group said.

You knew Tom of course but not officially, your brother made you watch Spider-Man because he’s two years older then you and loves to debate that tobey Maguire is the best, which you have to agree, its only by the way he swings. Your brother also thinks tobey can play Batman but he is like 46, he will have a heart attack.

As you all ordered your meals and passed around plates Harrison and Jacob talked, zendaya and her brother talked, which left you and Tom.

“Hi I’m tom” he said, lifting his hands wanting a handshake, orrr possibly a hug, what’s the damage?. “Well hello Tom, my name is Y/n” you said, taking his hand in yours, also noticing you can’t even shake his hand because of his hand size, it basically devoured your whole hand. Tom chuckled as he looked at your small fingers.

“Compare?” He asked, “oh what are we in fourth grade?” You giggled but agreed, he put his hand up flat and open and you did the same, touching hands you noticed your hand was small, or his hand was big, who knows. “I should call you robin!” He chuckled.

“You are really a child, teen titans really?” You bursted into laughter but only Tom could really hear. “Hey I have to do something to keep me satisfied right?” He shrugged, “and tough talked for a woman with small hands”.

You playfully gasped as you hit his shoulder “no you just have large hands, above average, so leave me alone, and tough talk for a guy who’s 5’8, my brother was that height at like 14” he only left his mouth open as you laughed, his eyebrows raised as he said “touché, but you’ve been doing some research on me havent you?”.

“Eh, something like that” you shrugged, getting chopsticks and trying to set it up but failing, of course Tom hysterically laughed at you “fuckin chopsticks” you mumbled to yourself, still trying to get them in between your fingers but utterly confused.

“Here darling, let me help you yeah?” Tom said in his slick British accent,

leaving your stomach to drop to your ass but you agreed, forgetting what he was helping you with.

He took your hand softly and fixed it, staring at him in awe before-

snap

You both looked over and seen a photographer running away, leaving Tom pissed but you could only laugh. Everyone around the table noticed and started to feel bad about being “famous” because it does take away your private life.

As they all looked at you both you continued laughing, leaving them all confused “did you see the way he ran?” You only busted out laughing more as Tom could still see him, looking at the way he does run and starts laughing after.

“Your right!” Everyone starts to catch on as zendaya pulls out her phone to record him, putting it on her instagram story with text of “running to his casket” (I KNOW THIS IS MEAN BUT I COULDNT HELP IT)

As you all as a group ate your food, well you ordered a fork, and talked you all giggled, and got to know more about each other, when he found out you were a model he only smiled more because, you deserve to be one, your beautiful in so many ways anyone could see that, not just Tom holland.

You cracked open the cookie and grabbed the paper “I wanna see!” Tom said, scooting closer and resting his head on your shoulder as you read it “hop on a ride but you won’t go outside, lucky numbers 11,9,10,20” tom furrowed his eyebrows, “I don’t get it” he whispered in your neck, platonically. But he got your sweet spot so you bit your tongue some. “What makes you think I do? You do yours!”

He sat back up straight and grabbed his, opening it. “Hmm, take your time, try to wine and dine, same lucky numbers as you” he looked at you while your lower lip was puckering out, confused but not gonna stress yourself out about it.

“Aren’t they just beautiful” daya quietly said, recording it and putting it on her Snapchat instead. Harrison agreed as they all started at both of you but you didn’t take any sense to notice.

“Who’s paying?” Tom said. “Split” you say back, everyone taking out their credit card and placing it in the middle.

About two days later you went out for shopping, mostly for yourself but you did think about buying daya matching Harry Potter mugs.

You looked at Victoria secret, looking at all the options you could get, but you got white lingerie, lacy white lingerie. You had about 3 bags in your hands, all clothes as you found yourself hungry, you checked the time and noticed it was about five thirty but daylight saving so it was darker then usual.

You found yourself at a Chinese place at the food court, ordering what you wanted as your phone blew up from the events of yesterday. “Y/n?” You heard a familiar voice, you turned to see-

“Thomas?” You smiled at him as he smiled back, coming up close and seeing ‘foot locker’ and ‘Nike’ bags in his hand. “Hey!” He came over and reached out for a hug which you accepted, and you smelled so good, like no one else. He knew once they started to publicly date he would have to point out that you have this magnificent smell.

“Hey babe how are you?” You ask looking at him, letting him go as his hands were still on your arms. “My phone won’t stop blowing up” he sighed and rolled his eyes “eh same here” “what are you doing?” He asked, you pointed at the title of the food place “Chinese food” “your trying again aren’t you?” “You know what- shut up” you laughed making him join along.

He decided to join you at one of the tables, both with hats on and black tinted sunglasses. “This is humiliating” you sighed, playing with the noodles. “What?” He asked looking up at you. “I shouldnt really have to hide because I just want to eat alone” you let out a distant chuckle and let the food alone, looking at the table.

“Yeah I know it does suck, but atleast we have killer fans right!” “Yeah but then they want to turn on you because you wanna make a point or a decision for yourself” he only sighed in defeat at your point, nodding in agreement. “I mean I guess it’s what we signed up for” “I just really want to do what I love but then there’s the pros and cons, people loving my body and people hating my body, telling me I should lose weight and that I should just kill myself-“

“Well you shouldn’t, people tried to cancel me because I didn’t vote? I can’t!” He grabbed your hand and that made you look at him “and your beautiful, so beautiful, don’t take only my word but everyone else’s, and whoever is telling you to kill yourself has a problem with their body image, they want to be you!” He gave you a smile, you gave a weak one back. “Hey love, darling, trust me. There’s a lot of people out there that support you! Why do paparazzi want to take photos of you? To let everyone know hoe your doing at the moment!”

“That wasn’t a good one Thomas” you laughed which made him giggle, he reached over and let go of your hand and places his thumb on your chin, the coldness of his ring on his pointer finger as it’s under your chin.

“Your really fucking beautiful, princess, fame is annoying celebrity is a annoying word but guess what? Isn’t it worth it?” “Yeah I guess, because I met you” you smirk, he tilts your head up and looks at your lips, looking at your eyes for approval and you nod your head.

He presses his lips on yours, pulling you closer as he wants to climb over the table and just take you there, his lips on your soft delicate ones is heaven, feeling your hand raise up to his cheek as you let go for a longer one-

“Hey get out of here! It’s like 7, stop sharing your cootie germs!” The janitor says with his strong Indian accent which makes you both laugh while your lips are still pressed together.

“Hey I really mean it!” You both let go as he shouts a thank you and you didn’t even notice it was that dark, he didn’t either. “Wanna get out of here?” He asked, you nodded as you both grabbed your bags and threw away your food.

You both couldn’t keep your lips off of each other, he slammed you against the apartment door, leaving you to moan as he focused on your neck, grabbing the key from his poket and shoving it in the door, opening it as he twisted to nob you fell and he feel ontop of you, well on your stomach.

You both laughed out of breath as he got up to close the door, thankfully there was a door stopper that didn’t allow a mark on the wall, he came back down and helped you up, taking the bags from your hand and throwing it on the couch, the boxes of shoes falling out of the bag and on the floor.

You quickly took off your clothes, leaving you in your underwear with Tom just admired you, your sweet brown skin just shinning of cocoa butter lotion and body oil, smelling so intoxicating as he walked up to you, his hand softly placed on your waist as he whispered in your ear “help me” you giggled and unbuckled his pants while he unbuttoned his shirt, quickly only in his-

“Really? Spider-Man? Your such a narcissist” “your ruining the moment” “whatever kiddo” he took your hand and ran into the room, falling on the bed from the jeans around his ankles, you got comfy on the queen bed with the silky black sheets and blanket, your legs open waiting for him as he kicked off his jeans.

He looked at you and your legs, crawling over to kiss your shins up to your thighs, his lips so soft on your skin as if he doesn’t want to break it.

“You such a pretty girl” he purred, kissing up to your stomach, to the middle of your breasts to you neck. “Touch me please tommy” you sighed in relief as he went down to your underwear, pressing your clit and trailing down to see you soaked. “I’ve barely touched you princess, do I make you wet like this?” He talks mostly to himself, not expecting an answer but you do “yes you do, fuck you make me so wet tom, watching your hands move, you mouth-“

“My mouth huh? What do you want me to do princess? Eat you out? Make you come then I fuck you and don’t miss a beat? Make everyone hear my good girl?” He asked, making you moan at the scenarios “I want to you to be on top of me, I want to you fuck yourself on my dick until you make me whine” he comes up to your ear and whispers “which I don’t do”, you whimper as he unclamped your bra, the cold ring and Rolex on your back as he gets it off.

You smile as he just stares, reaching down and taking a nipple in his mouth, moaning as he punches the other. “Fuck Thomas your really good” “shh now, remember what I want you to do f’me okay?” He asked looking up at you, you nodded as he reached down in between your thighs, pushing the underwear to the side.

He puts a finger inbetween your folds, his fingers rather warm and he rubs right over your whole while he continues to kiss and leave hickeys around your neck and inbetween your breasts.

He pushes in his finger and you let out a whimper, his fingers way bigger then your own “your so tight around my finger, fuck your gonna feel so good around my cock, just let me make you come first” you nod at him and give him a open mouth kiss as he goes down, taking off your panties and lifting your thighs and putting them inbetween his head.

He pumps is finger in you slowly, my the third time you suddenly let out a “oh” as your breathe starts to get heavy, “don’t give up now darling” “get to work and I’ll see what I can do for-“ you moan as he wraps his lips around your clit, kitty licking.

“Don’t talk down on me, darling” he says, before adding another finger, his long slender fingers finding your spot as he rubs over it, shaking his head from side to side around your bundle of nerves, your legs raise into a butterfly just asking for more.

Your hands reach down to his hair and you pull it, ruffle it and whimper as his fingers press hard on your spot “ah!” You let out a high pitched moan, he makes eye contact with you as his tongue continues to run miles, infinity signs, even his own full name on you “I’m so close” you whimper, he already knew by how much you were clenching around him, he sped up his movements, licking the slide of your clit, bucking your hips and pulling his hair making him moan on you, high pitch moans, the sounds of his fingers in your wet slopping whole is just enough to make you come, “Aw please! Fuck tommy!” Your eyes roll back as you cum, your back arching more as your fluids let loose and your stomach a pit of fire.

“You tase so good, Mmm” he licks you clean, savoring your tase as he licks his lips and comes up to kiss you, sharing tongues and humming at the taste on his lips.

And it was your time for the deal, he turned you both so you were on top. His hands already behind his head as he enjoyed the view already, you grabbed his member and pumped it a few times making him groan, you swiped him between your folds and cried at the overstimulation.

“Fuck y/n” he moaned feeling of your wetness looking down and seeing his spit and your arousal connected to the tip of his member, you both moaned at the feeling of his member getting in you so slowly.

You started to move your hips against his, seeing him so comfortable and watching every single move you make could make you come right there, you started to bounce and you sat up straight, moaning as Tom took a hand of his and licked his thumb to roll your nipple “faster” he said, as you did it.

“Fuck tommy your so good” “oh no it’s you babygirl, fucking yourself on my dick like I told you to, I don’t have to do any-“ he groaned “work, your such a good girl, my princess” he praised making you whimper and lean down. In this moment he could stay there forever, your ass on display as you bounced your whimpers in his neck right on his sweet spot. “Shit y/n”he moaned, letting his hands go to your ass and lift his legs to thrust into you, “no tommy” you say weakly, pushing his legs down “I get to fuck myself on you like you said” you hit back a moan.

“I did princess- fuck” he let out an ‘uh’ as you clenched around him, his eyebrows furrowed as his mouth opened, you leaned back up to kiss his neck, his sweet spot and made hickeys with no hesitation. You moved faster and placed your hands in his chest and hearing your ass on his thighs, the slickness coating all over his member and trailing down his thighs “fuck!” You come, “don’t stop-please! Don’t stop” he practically begged, thats more than a whine and you were willing to take it, it was all so good, so good.

His hands left your ass and went up to your neck, looking down at his darkened eyes as he bit his lip “fucking yourself so good on my dick, fuck!” He came and shot his load up you “yes Tom!” You whimpered and arched your back coming with him. He painted your walls as you ride it out, him massaging your thighs and biting his lip as he watched his cum trail down your thighs and on his dick.

“You tired?” You asked, throwing yourself over, he looked over “yeah” he reached over to kiss you and wrap his arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his chest, he turned off the light on his night stand as you lifted your leg over his thigh, both on the left side of the bed and taking in each other, drawing patterns in his chest. “So does this mean-“ “yeah of course”

You woke up in the same spot, looking up at Thomas and finding him already looking at you. “Hey princess” he smiled, taking his arm and drawing circles on yours. “Hey bubs” you kissed his chest. You only admired each other before having to clean each other up, sharing a shower, nothing happened but giggles and soft rubs on the butt, of course until you put on the lingerie that you bought yesterday.

[purpleyellow]

Boy’s night

NCT 22nd member / Dream 8th member

Bee’s Masterlist

“Does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes”

a/n: Don’t be shy and interact a little, ask box is always open. Any kind of feedback will be very appreciated💛

“What are we having for dinner?” Bee asked Jaemin from her laying down position on the couch.

“Oh, hello Jaemin? How are you doing? Did you enjoy your nap?” He said sarcastically, taking the book she was reading from her hands and flopping down on top of her, still very sleepy.

“Sorry, sorry. But do you know what we’re having for dinner? It’s already past eight and I’m hungry” Bee pushed him a little, so she could cuddle him without getting suffocated. The girl wasn’t opposed to skinship and she knew better than to try to escape when Jaemin was like this.

“Let’s wait for Renjun to come back and we’ll decide” He mumbled resting his head on top of hers and slightly falling back asleep.

“Wake up. Jaemin, wake up. Jaemin, wake up” She poked his ribcage repeatedly until he groaned and pushed her off the couch. “Why did you throw me?” Bee let out giggling at his annoyed face.

“JENO, CHENLE, JISUNG” Jaemin screamed the other boys over and waited for them to show up “Let’s order dinner”

“What about Renjun?” Chenle, who was spending the weekend over, asked them while sitting next to Bee on the ground. Jisung and Jeno sat on the second and smaller couch.

“He’s probably coming right -” Jaemin started but got cut off by Renjun walking inside with five pizza boxes stacked on top of each other “DID YOU JUST READ MY MIND?”

“What?” Renjun said struggling to take off his shoes and Haechan who was behind him walked inside as well, revealing Mak standing in the hallway while waiting for them to make some room so he could walk in.

As she saw his face, Bee felt herself tensing up, and she looked away almost instantly. Jeno and Jaemin didn’t fail to notice her change of mood, looking at each other with worry. Turns out her plan of ignoring the boy didn’t work as she had thought, especially because they work in the same place and had to promote at the same time recently.

They both had talked about how she would get even quieter and run off to someplace else as fast as possible when Mark was around and to be honest, they didn’t doubt she would make up an excuse this time as well.

“What is Haechan doing here?” Chenle said with fake annoyance from her side.

“If you told me Chenle was here I wouldn’t have come” Donghyuck threw right back at him and Rejun ignore them both, putting the boxes on the counter and making room for Mark to walk inside, to which he did waving at the sitting teenagers.

“I invited them over to have a boys night or whatever” Renjun rolled his eyes as Jisung got up instantly to check on the food. “I thought it would be fun to have a game night, we haven’t done that in a while”

“Well, if you need me I’ll be in my room,” Bee said getting up as well, but walking towards the hallway instead since she no longer felt hungry.

“Yun-hee, really? I was kidding about the boys part” Renjun said with little energy, “I thought you would get that by now”

“I know, I know,” the girl said looking at Jaemin for help, her voice getting smaller as she spoke “It’s just, I don’t really play the games you guys play”

“Yes you do,” Chenle said nonchalantly grabbing a slice of pizza for himself. “You’re just not as good as me”

“Just stay with us for dinner,” Mark said putting his phone on the counter and opening a third box “You can decide if you’re that bothered by our presences after” he smirked at her right before turning around to take a bite from his pizza and talk with Jisung.

Looking over at Jaemin and Jeno with wide eyes, they both just shrugged their shoulders, indicating with their heads for her to come eat with them.

Grabbing a pepperoni slice, she forced it down her throat and tried focusing on whatever conversation the boys were having. Of course, it wasn’t easy, especially because she didn’t want to seem more uncomfortable than she already was. Casually pitching in on a random talk about girl groups with Haechan and Jeno, Bee, managed to, very slowly, act more natural. 

She found comfort in the fact that everything was still the same between them, Mark was still the goofy awkward boy she was used to, and her heart randomly beating fast became something in the background of her mind, it was almost as if staying in the same room broke down the untouchable image she had built for him in her head. 

When Renjun started an Uno match before they were even done eating, Bee didn’t think twice before sitting on the floor with them, confident she could go through the night without any major crisis.

“I don’t want to play this anymore” Chenle whined after losing for the third time to Jaemin, who was smiling smugly while picking up another chocolate bar from the winner’s pile.

“I’m with you on that one. We have been playing this for more than an hour, I’m pretty sure I know all of your tells by now” Haechan whined and collected the cards. “We could play truth  or dare to make things more interesting”

“Isn’t that a bit too stupid?” Mark laughed at him “It’s not like we have many secrets from each other. Plus, we can’t dare anything too publicly risky or we would all be dead” Bee had to force herself not to make any movements when he said the word secret, but she did advert her gaze to Jeno for a split second. 

The older didn’t catch on her worries and just shrugged his shoulders before speaking “I mean it could be fun” he said leaning back  “we don’t have to make each other do anything too risky, but at least it’s a way to pass time”

“Let’s just play one round and then we’ll see if it’s worth to keep going,” Renjun said from Bee’s side and the rest of them agreed. 

They were already sitting in a circle on the floor, Renjun, and Jisung on Bee’s sides, while Haechan was straight ahead of her. The first few questions were all superficial warm-ups, your regular “Have you ever used somebody else’s toothbrush?” “Open the window and yell something embarrassing” 

“Please don’t talk about stuff like this when I’m in the room” Bee pleaded with wide eyes after Renjun asked a particularly embarrassing question to Jeno, making not only him but the young girl flustered.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s a good idea either” Mark laughed awkwardly and the blush on her face intensified, although, it wouldn’t be noticeable unless someone was paying attention to her.

“Well, I think it’s time for you to answer something right Bee?” Haechan smile mischievously at her “I mean, you’ve been watching us for the whole round, let’s be more inclusive. So tell me, truth or dare?”

Bee wasn’t a daring person by nature and the fact that Hyuck was the one giving her the prompt made her decision even easier. “Truth”

“When are you telling Mark you have a crush on him?” The words rolled out of his mouth like he had practiced them many times before. 

Taking in what he had said, the girl felt time stop and for some unknown reason, she couldn’t breathe or move properly, only staring at Haechan while her ears became red. There was no way he had just said that. He was joking, right? It was just another stupid prank he always pulled on her. But why wasn’t he smirking like he always did after trying to be funny?

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Mark said laughing, but when he noticed her unmoving gaze as well as the silence present amongst the other boys the smile on his face dropped.

“Who told you about it?” Bee’s voice was almost silent, and if the atmosphere wasn’t so tense, no one would have heard her.

“It was kind of obvious, no one had to tell me,” Haechan said nonchalantly, breaking eye contact to stare at Chenle and Jisung “I bet you didn’t tell them either. But you both knew, right?”

Looking over at her right, she saw both of them nodding along, Chenle staring at her carefully and Jisung’s gaze never leaving the floor. She didn’t have to turn to Renjun to figure out that he knew as well, his hand squeezing her knee in a supportive manner already disclosed that for her.

“Why are we all so surprised? I mean, Mark is oblivious to everything. C’mon, now you can both talk about it, no one here is judging you” He urged her to speak, but the girl couldn’t push herself to look at anyone on the face, looking down at the wooden floor and trying to organize what was going on in her mind.

She felt completely exposed, Hyuck had brought light to the one thing in her life she pushed away as much as possible, and he didn’t seem to mind it at all. So why did she care about it that much? The back of her neck burned with embarrassment and Bee suddenly felt as uncomfortable as she did the first time meeting the boys.

“I’m not staying here,” She said getting up and heading for the door without looking back, Jeno following on her trail.

“Wait, you can’t just leave like that” He jumped over Jisung’s legs “Really, it’s already late, it could be dangerous with the amount of saesangs out there”

“I feel like I should say something right now?” Mark whispered to Jaemin on his right but the boy shook his head denying.

“She isn’t ready to talk about this” Jaemin whispered back, but due to the silence the girl heard him, and despite it being true, she still hated how the words made her feel even smaller than she already did.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here” Her still soft voice had a demanding tone to it, it didn’t go unnoticed by Mark that she still wasn’t facing anyone specifically. “I’m going to 127’s dorm on the 5th floor. And you, Donghyuck, really didn’t have any business talking about this”

Leaving the apartment, she pressed the elevator’s button, and while waiting for it, the reality of what had just happened started setting in on her. 

Mark Lee knew about her crush on him. Well, all of the dreamies knew about her crush on him, and they all probably thought she was pathetic for developing feelings for a groupmate. They probably thought she was even more pathetic for acting the way she did. Not having control of her feelings, what a pathetic person Bai Yun-hee thought she was.

The ding indicating the elevator was on her floor woke her up from her thoughts, and in the mirror, she saw tears pooling around her eyes. Great, on top of everything she had to cry. 

If her rosy nose wasn’t a clear giveaway, her lack of shoes and mismatching socks told Taeyong something had happened for the girl to show up on his door unannounced when all of her friends were together downstairs. His tired mind went straight to the worst-case scenario.

“Did somebody get hurt?” He hurried her inside, engulfing her in a hug Bee could only describe as motherly. Her tears couldn’t help but flow freely at that rate. 

“Nothing happened, I’m just stupid” She managed to say and Taeyong’s hand flew to her hair, brushing some strands while the other rubbed circles on her back.

“Hey, it’s okay… you’re not stupid” He whispered to her trembling body.

“Who ringed the doorbell?” Doyoung left his room with one annoyed expression, but once he saw the leader trying to comfort the girl his face broke into worry. “Is everything okay?” 

Looking at him with a confused face, Taeyong mouthed an “I don’t know” to him and started leading her to the couch. “Do you want to tell us what happened? Or do you want to give it a rest?” 

“I was wondering if I could sleep here tonight” she indirectly answered him, the little cracks in her voice making her unconsciously cringe at how much this had affected her “I can stay on the couch if you don’t mind”

“No, no. You can stay in my room. Haechan is staying over at the Dream dorm, so I can go to his bed on his and Johnny Hyung’s room.” Doyoung’s voice trailed off at the end of his sentence and his eyes widened in realization “Did the one of boys make you cry?”

“No” She shook her head and looking away from him “It really is my problem” 

“Well, I don’t buy it. Tell me what they did and I’m going to talk to them right now” He got up from her side of the couch but didn’t move since she held his hand telling him to stop.

“Oppa, really. I’m the problem, this is all my fault” She said honestly, the anger she was feeling towards Haechan, didn’t compare with how angry she was with herself.

“Let’s get you settled okay?” Taeyong said rubbing her back, sensing she wasn’t in the right mood to talk about anything at that moment.

Walking over to the room, Doyoung patted the leader on the back and pointed to his room “Go rest, I got this” Not having enough energy Taeyong hugged the girl one last time and walked away. “Seriously, what happened?”

Going to his bed and slipping inside the blankets Bee shrugged her shoulders, her back leaning against the wall and Doyoung sitting on the edge of the mattress.

“I think it’ll help you to tell me and get a second opinion,” He said and poked her forehead with his finger “Knowing your little head, you already have every negative thought possible engraved there” 

Chuckling lightly, she eased her body a little and started explaining everything to him as superficially as possible. Going straight to the point she started seeing Mark differently (there was no way she was saying the name crush in front of Doyoung) and then saying how he found out about it and she freaked out and ran away. 

“Okay,” He said after she stopped talking “why were you calling yourself stupid when you got here?” 

“Because” The girl shrugged her shoulders and sniffled, although she wasn’t crying anymore her nose was completely stuffed “I shouldn’t have acted like that, you know. The whole thing didn’t matter that much, I was the one who made a big deal out of it when in reality the best thing to do would be lock everything up and ignore it until it passes”

“Okay, I might have to wake Taeyong up because you’re losing your mind” He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and grabbed one of her hands “First I need you to understand we’re talking about your feelings right now, they should never be pushed away and are the most important part of you, understand?” 

Doyoung stared at her in the eyes and waited for her to nod before keep going. “I get you’re feeling invalidated since someone took something you should have control over and exposed it to others. When I find out who did it, by the way, you’re getting a five-page apology letter from them”

“I’m never telling you who did it” She smiled and he let go of her hand.

“Aish, you’re making jokes already. It’s not as bad as I had thought” He smiled as well but when Bee’s face turned to a frown again he went back to therapist Doyoung mode “You feel like this right now because everything is still very new. I think we should give it some time before actually doing something about it. For now, all you need to do is rest and try to calm yourself, nothing about this is yours or someone else’s fault”

“It just feels like it is” Bee mumbled “Like when I’m thinking about it by myself, the whole Mark thing didn’t seem as important, but the moment Haechan spoke, it felt like the world’s worst secret had just been exposed and I needed to hide from everyone”

“Haechan huh?” Doyoung rose one eyebrow looking to the wall with a pondering look “I swear I always tell him to think before speaking”

“Don’t get mad at him, I know he didn’t do it to be mean” The girl defended her friend.

“I don’t care what you tell me, but going back to you” Doyoung returned his attention to her and sighed “You’re young, and I should tell you it’s going to get better but I have no idea,” He thought for a second before resuming “There’s this difference, I don’t know if it matters but, do you see Mark as a potentially significant other, or is it just an attraction?” He cringed after saying the last words.

“I don’t even see me dating right now” 

“Right answer” The boy smiled, but when she looked blankly at him he turned back to his frown “I mean, I get it right now, but think in the future. Like, when you see yourself going on dates and all of that stuff… can you see it with him?”

“I guess, I don’t know” Bee answered after thinking for some time “This might be hard for you to hear, but I see Mark for Mark. Like he’s cute and funny and very very awkward, but he’s also this badass rapper and dancer who changes completely on stage, meanwhile, he’s nerdy and likes to make people feel comfortable which makes my heart go soft. And I don’t know how I feel about him being all of that” She groaned and sank on the bed, pulling the covers over her head and suppressing a scream.

“Okay, you’re lost” Doyoung laughed patting her leg, but when the sniffling intensified he understood she had resumed crying “Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay.”

“But what if I get lost forever? Or if when I find myself the world doesn’t want the resolution I have” 

“Ahh Yun-hee, when a crisis hit we don’t look at the negative sides. Remember that sometimes, beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost”

“Who said that?” She removed her head from under the blankets pouting.

“I don’t know, I saw it on Pinterest” he said seriously, but after some minutes staring at each other they broke down laughing. Patting her head, he got up and walked to the light switch, turning it off “Rest well Bee, you don’t have to stress about this today. I’ll let you hide in here for as long as you want”