#one is a HAMSTER yao

[thekatea]

Falling Into Your Smile

Watched: 12.04.2023

10% of the writing and 90% of fluff.

It's the most digestible show I have ever seen with close to zero stakes, almost none evil or mean characters, no long term conflicts, every character starts more or less already good so you don't get stressed out by how bad they are and how much they have to improve and since their flaws are so inconsistent, they don’t create much tension either.

That said, it does have a lot of truly good elements. First of all, the relationship between the leads evolve in a really natural and entertaining manner. The bickering is always lighthearted and Lu Si Cheng is for sure not one of the mean main leads. The interactions between the team members are heartwarming at times, and even the relations between different teams made me smile more than once. I also loved the female friendship between Tong Yao and Jin Yang.

One of my favorite things about the show was how it truly did address the toxic fans culture - the idolizing people fans don’t know, seeing them as flawless, trying to control their private lives, living in a delulu land they created in their heads and then getting paranoid and angry when the unrealistic bubble shatters. But, and it’s a big but - I truly disliked how they did not present the same stance towards all public figures. Lines that went similar to: I’m not an idol, I can date, gave the message that idols do not deserve the same level of privacy and personal life as, in this case professional gamers do.

Another straightforward, but fairly well presented issue was the discrimination of women in certain jobs and social groups. They did not shy from showing the unfair treatment Tong Yao had to face especially in terms of the public's opinions and reactions.

Production value was great. The game scenes looked amazing and I loved the design for the in game characters. On a technical aspect, I think they did a perfect job with opening each new episode - added enough scenes from the previous one to make a proper set up, but not long enough that you want to just skip it all.

Performances were… questionable. I was slowly losing my mind with each and every Korean scene. The dubbing was so awful I wanted to cry. The fact that Chinese characters spoke better Korean than Korean characters was just the cherry on top. Cheng Xiao had a few glimpses of potential in a few scenes, but overall the whole performance was mostly a surprised hamster. Xu Kai was honestly not much better and there was only one scene when I went: oh, acting! That said, I still enjoyed his handsome face in each and every scene.

Overall, the only thing this show had to offer was cute fluff, but sometimes this is all one needs to be happy.

[eruhamster]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "eruhamster "?

Fanfics? Tbh I rarely read fics. I loved one Hetalia one that really deserves to be its own book, one about Ivan and Yao as Russian and Chinese soldiers during WW2, you can read it here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7663978/1/The-Unfinished-Portrait-FIN

But I doooo WRITE my own fics. I have a Jihwa/No Name one shot:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60275611

And I have a long ongoing TGCF fic in Hua Cheng's POV, made of diff stories, some finished some still being written(and I'll be updating it within the next few days, nearly done with 2 more chapters):

I'm also planning on writing a post-TGCF Beefleaf fic soon.

As for my username, it's meant to be eruhan(aot couple) + hamster. Not into aot anymore but kept the username cuz it's cute sounding and people sometimes call me eru on here.

[condraws]

it’s ye luan o-clock, featuring not even one image of ye luan themself. 

YLHT campaign run by @exile-wrath

[rarepears]

Masterpost [July 2022 ideas 2/2]

July 2022

#made up fic title ask game

shen yuan and luo binghe are aizawa’s adoptive parents au

Tom Riddle's new aim is not to become lord voldemort but sung jinwoo's trophy husband au

pidw AU set in disney descendants' world

hiruzen and danzo get dumped into bnha after the kyuubi attack au

the au where meng yao is actually lao nie's bastard but no one questions meng yao's parentage until the sworn brotherhood ceremony

beru needs reading glasses au | the shadow summons become luxury brand models au

sung jinwoo the e ranked babysitter au - why be a hunter if you can be a babysitter? it's far safer

female wei wuxian uses her period blood (since it's just blood) to draw talisman but that provokes greater backlash au

married couple shen yuan and luo binghe get a vacation home in the imperial capital to get away from sect and demon politics au

the Jin Zixun x Jiang Yanli fic idea no one asked for au

sung jinwoo accidentally running into variety shows being filmed on the streets au

sung jinwoo being a dirty little gremlin and getting away with it thanks to his shadow monarch abilities au

12 year old tsuna thinks that his intuition is a sign of madness and decides to go full on clown insanity as a result au

in which Shen Yuan and og!shang qinghua have to share one body together because the system messed up shen yuan's transmigration au

thomas andre x sung jinwoo au

lan qiren x jin guanyao au where meng yao befriended lan xichen for the sole purpose of seducing lan qiren

sung jinwoo learns that there are many minor monarchs and rulers out in the world... au

svsss but as cowboys in the wild west edition au

groot gives birth to a baby groot au - nope this isn’t baby groot since this isn’t from a cutting, rather groot somehow has a seed pod that pops out a little tree??

in which commander fox accidentally goes viral and becomes a holonet star au

a snapshot into bnha future of deku the future no 1 hero au

groot is a jedi master (and rocket the raccoon is a force sensitive) au

ned stark walks into his father fucking tywin lannister au

nie mingjue x liu qingge au

aizen is a fuckboi who doesn't date shinigami to hide his sordid dating history au

Tsuna sawada runs into james bond while he’s in Italy AU

a brief bit of wei wuxian x aizawa that was never meant to be au

shen qingqiu gets the ranma 1/2 treatment au

ashborn (solo leveling) x aro (twilight) au

Without the gates and hunters occurring in solo leveling kingsman shit happens instead & Sung Jinwoo finds himself the unofficial king au

mdzs modern au where lan wangji is a rabbit photographer and wei wuxian is a farmer whose crops are being eaten by rabbits au

game of thrones football au

harry potter attends a vampire's wedding au

luo binghe and shen yuan in solo leveling au

cat shen qingqiu and hamster shang qinghua bros au

Nie Mingjue X Meng Yao - married AU

long before he learns that he's to become a mafia boss tsuna sawada gets despicable me minions & reborn now hates bananas au

shen yuan and the ice cream assassins au

telling the evolution of dabi x hawks through sex drugs and fried chicken au

in which endeavor accidentally burns his house down in the throes of passion and the kids are SCARRED au

in which L (death note) gets sebastian as his personal butler au

sung jinwoo doesn't have wifi au

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SEE CATS SITTING ON URAHARA'S HEAD

sung jinwoo and sung jinah go to a buffet au

sung jinwoo somehow ends up dating kim kardashian au

sung jinwoo x shouto todoroki au

fat gum offers mineta an internship and turns mineta into a not!asshole and not!perv yay au

Kurosaki Isshin attempts to explain dating and sex to ichigo without mentioning his zanpakuto's involvement in his own dating life au

shen yuan judges a cooking contest between hannibal and luo binghe au

hidan x squalo

sung jinwoo doesn't know that sung jinah is a kpop fangirl au

tywin lannister x sung jinwoo

bdsm bakugou au

in which a new person moves into the apartment complex and becomes sung jinwoo's neighbor au

in which kakashi was a bit of a slut when young & now he discovers that he's been a deadbeat dad without knowing that he's a dad au

yuuri attends 25th university reunion au

hibari kyoya gets scolded by a 5 year old for biting people to death au

kakuzu gains a love admirer au

an office au of solo leveling

gojo satoru x shigaraki tomura

Wei Wuxian becomes known as the S rank villain: The Necromancer in BNHA au

the obito and kakashi catfish online dating au

just some bakugou family fluff au

padme x hondo ohnaka au

e ranked hunter sung jinwoo becomes a single parent because Sung jinah somehow got deaged into a baby au

sukuna is a cat and his owner is a very insane Christian priest who believes his cat is a mouthpiece of god au

the au where sung jinwoo has a nightmare about being a kardashian

bnha ballet au

hannibal is arya 's mentor in the art of killing au

a 5+1 fic about wei wuxian and lan wangji's love over the years au

hannibal lecter is the no 1 most desirable bachelor among ghouls

in which meng mo develops a crush on shen yuan au

naruto wore frog pajamas to bed on night and the next day finds himself and other people thrown into the past au

sung jinwoo shadow extracts a buddhist statue au

gojo and getou vs evil goose au

gai and lee get dumped into the bnha world and aizawa s u f f e r s au

House of Lannister; taking over the world! A master plan by Lord Tywin Lannister.

luo binghe's palace becomes the burial mounds au

#shen jiu’s brocon brother au

shen jiu gets a thirsty onlyfans system so he never goes to cang qiong au

imagine if itachi uchiha was reborn as lan xichen au

wei wuxian is reborn to the world of pokemon au

[anotherehetalia1p2pblog]

If they could have any pet, what pet would each of the Allies have?

Ohhhhh good question

Alfred is a sucker for dogs. Big, small he loves them all!

Arthur is more of a cat guy. Dogs are a bit to loud for him.

Francis adores birds. He likes to sing with them and teach them all sorts of tricks.

Ivan always has wanted a hamster. They are so tiny and adorable. However, he is so big he worried he would hurt the little creature, which is why he has never had one.

Yao favors pandas of course, but he would adore having a Chinese Crested. He loves the cute, ugliness of them.

Matthew loves and adores all animals. He would want them all as apart of his family. Although he would probably pass on snakes and big lizards. He knows mice and other cute tiny creatures are part of their diet, and he would have a hard time feeding them those cuties. Since that would not be fair to the reptiles, he will refrain from having them as a pet.

[danhoemei]

[ID: Anonymous asked: Just wanted to know who your favorite “villains” (or antagonists) are in all of MXTX novels. Whether it’s a big bad/final boss like *censored* or more of a side character like Xue Yang. Whether you wanna do a ranking or just throw some names out in no particular order. /end ID]

Sorry anon for the screenshot, I wanted to avoid a major spoiler for one of the novels 😘 Even though this blog is not spoiler free I try to avoid at least the major or too direct ones.

That being said,

VERY MAJOR SPOILERS ALERT

for mdzs, tgcf and svsss.

Really don’t read if you don’t want to spoil yourself the whole novels.

Nie Huaisang

Goddaaaaaamn I was IMPRESSED by his level as the mastermind. He fooled me for over half a book, I started being suspicious just a few (10-odd?) chapters before the big reveal. I think cql has more obvious foreshadowing, from what I saw on some screenshots, but in the novel he was impeccable. Such a meticulously woven plan, executed perfectly and fooling everyone to the very end, even the most perceptive characters like wwx. Absolute fav from the antagonists (honestly weird to call him that but he pretty much is).

Meng Yao

I gave some thoughts on this character here. He deserved better ;-;

He Xuan

I liked him as ming yi, his grumpiness and done attitude, and very enjoyable dynamic with sqx (beefleaf 💚). Then the venerable of empty words arc absolutely destroyed me. It’s one of my fav arcs in tgcf actually. I experienced literal catharsis in the culmination scene with shi brothers, I was freaking gaping at the screen, then mumbling and tearing up, then key smashing to my friend who read the novel earlier. This whole arc was a wild ride, fascinating and with a lot of unexpected turns, constantly keeping me at my wits end and hungry for knowledge, while I gradually learnt about he xuan’s devastating story, shi wudu’s ruthless selfishness and sqx’s obliviousness. This whole story was really extreme and even though it was absolutely heart-wrenching, I was elated by the amount of emotions it dragged me through. I am regretful AF that he xuan couldn’t end it in a different way and am sad for beefleaf 💔 But still, I like him as a character and can’t really hold his choices against him. I dwell on wholesome AUs though xd

Shen Jiu

Also pretty much this (the same ask as linked for Meng Yao).

Jun Wu

Ngl, he was very annoying for me and I wished many times for him to leave xie lian tf alone xd But he grew on me at the end during his exchange with xie lian and mei nianqing, but especially as we learnt his background. So I ended up pretty much with mixed feelings towards him, annoyance for his present sorry self and softness for his past. I also like dwelling on what ifs and AUs here xd Not too much because, on an everyday basis, I don’t think about him at all, but whenever I see a fanart of junmei, I melt a bit xd

From the ‘smaller fries’:

Mobei Jun

Cold, emotionally stunted demon learning what care and love is thanks to his hamster’s influence 💙

Qi Rong

He was quite annoying and just a comic relief, but I grew to enjoy those comedic scenes with him, and especially his progressing father-son relationship with gu zi. There was development in this character, who was quite human and relatable in how he starved for recognition and attention, but still failed miserably and was always second (or worse). I agree with this post by @thisworldgodonlyknows​.

Sha Hualing

Wild, cheerful, chaotic lady ❤ I respect her and enjoyed her appearances (rather later in the book, first appearance was as an annoying, overconfident brat, but later we get to know her better and I love the friendship and banters between her, lbh, and mbj).

Tianlang Jun

Such a non-stereotypical demon for PIDW world, just wanted to indulge himself and experience the world, fell in love and wanted a happy life. Which got harshly destroyed ;-; I regret their tragic backstory, his and su xiyan, and wish they could have been happy together ;-; He was also very fun (a bit like pei ming), with his constantly shipping mind xD

[linxuelian]

I found a Chinese BL Warring States Game of Thrones, three years older than The Untamed

And I just had to write a review about it! It’s 60 episodes long so I haven’t finished it yet at the time I’m writing this - but I decided to just go ahead and recommend it anyway.

Why, you ask?

For one, it’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms with all the Hollywood action and adult HBO things. It’s got explosions:

Horses falling down:

People getting flogged:

Sweaty soldiers getting mauled to death:

Children used as hostages:

Dead bodies presented in court:

Stylish dye jobs:

Loving father figures:

A Jon Snow lookalike:

And very gay innuendo:

That’s right, unlike The Untamed, which was first written as a straight series featuring Wen Qing as the main female lead and then rewritten again after fans of the novel decided to boycott it, this series was written to be gay from the very beginning. It got taken down by the Chinese Censorship Board after twelve episodes and river-crabbed to death, but a good number of scenes survived censorship. Those that did not made it to BiliBili in the form of “hidden” videos and disguised as “music videos”.

That’s not all. For a warring period Wuxia series, it’s got very beautiful actors, backdrops and clothing. It’s dressed like a fairy tale, with different kingdoms sporting different colours and styles in fashion and tastes.

In terms of art direction, it’s pretty low-budget for a series but the team makes good use of existing props, locations and brighter-coloured fabric to make up for the quality. The costume design is more fantasy-based than period, and the vivid takes and angles in the first season add to its charm.

There’s also its complex story line, which brings us to...

Men with Swords is not a title for the faint-hearted. There is an acute absence of black-and-white morality depicted in it.

If you think a BL series with such beautiful backdrops and fairytale-like clothes is for the simple-minded, one-track-good-vs-evil sort, think again. The series is a tale about Murong Li, a vengeful prince disguised as a musician and his rise to power, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction in its wake.

Where The Untamed fails at delivering gray morality unlike the novel it’s adapted from, choosing to alter its script to fit a more general audience (a commercially-wise decision which got it into Netflix), Men with Swords succeeds in faithfully telling a tale where there is no good or evil, only humanity, jealousy, grudges, rebellion, loyalty, life, death, greed and love.

Everyone has both good and bad sides, just different camps and motives. Men with Swords tells the story from not just one person’s perspective, but from the perspective of many different people, all of whom become entangled in a battle for their figurative Iron Throne - to become the king of the world.

There are no “what ifs” in this story, only decisions, reactions and repercussions

A prevailing theme in this series is that there are no “what ifs” and no turning back in life, only things that have happened and will happen. Murong Li starts his journey as a prince who has lost everything and a victim of war, wandering around for three years while being put down and getting sexually harassed, eventually losing it, taking his chances and hardening his heart as he walks down his conniving, badass path of destruction towards the top.

Men with Swords is not a series for the faint-hearted. It’s a game of chess where the main character, Murong Li, is cunning and decisive, cold and ruthless and many recurring characters die horrible, sudden deaths, friend and foe alike, a la Attack on Titan.

The series is filled with political strife and warfare, peppered with some sweet, comedic and romantic undertones. There is a stark contrast between fluffy and dark in its narrative, which is pretty refreshing overall.

With that all aside, I know what you’re probably scrolling down for:

The main characters and their boyfriends

This is it. This is what you’re here for. Most “BL” series are actually bromances, but the real upside for a BL fan is that this show is not a bromance - it’s a BL title, and even with censorship, the love stories prevail.

I’m going to put this under a cut because it’s LONG AF, but what that means is that there is a LOT of BL content available, and not the type that you have to hunt for. They’re very open about it.

While the show itself has a lot of ships, there’s a larger focus on three main ones, namely the beautiful Murong Li and two powerful kings, the fairy-like Ling Guang and his servants, and King Jian Bin with his general.

Murong Li: Da Ji 2.0 and his rich and powerful kings

If you’re a Jin Guangyao fan, you’ll probably enjoy Murong Li and his elegant, charming viles and ruthless scheming. He’s a surprisingly good fighter too, and unlike most elegant and waif-like beauties in dramas and novels alike, he’s a beauty with brains who uses his physical weakness as his strength, bending and seducing his way up to power.

Murong Li only really goes after rich and powerful people, worming his way into the kingdom and taking them down from the inside. Two main love interests are King Zhi Ming, the childish but rich king of Tianquan:

And Yu Xiao, a powerful barbarian king with a soft heart:

Murong Li, while wandering around as a musician, picks up many tricks along the way to hone himself. He’s adept at dressing up, making himself look helpless and alluring to bewitch powerful men, for one:

See that small smile right there? Yes, our boy knows what he’s doing.

Aside from that, Murong Li’s also pretty good at manipulating people by using their jealousies and insecurities, getting them to fight with each other over him.

Murong Li, although modeled after the cruel and beautiful Murong Chong, the Emperor of Wei, is likened to Da Ji, the favorite consort of the King Zhou of Shang. Da Ji was said to be a malevolent fox spirit who started the art of foot-binding to hide her fox feet. Everyone else looking in can see it, but the King was blinded, just like Murong Li’s powerful love interests. In fact, the series draws a direct parallel to it:

The Guo Shi here uses the term “yao”, which alludes to a malevolent spirit.

It’s not that Murong Li doesn’t have a weakness, though. Just like every Jin Guangyao has a Lan Xichen around to cause him to slip now and then, Murong Li surprisingly is weak towards the most naive and childish character in the series, the truant King Zhi Ming, whose only qualities are having purple bangs and being rich and playful.

No matter how calculative and ruthless Murong Li is in the series, he does end up almost slipping up and giving everything away when it comes to this bumbling fellow:

He’s saved only at the nick of time by one of his followers. Murong Li tells a lot of lies, but the one thing he can’t lie about are his feelings towards King Zhi Ming, who is ultimately the one thing he can’t give up next to his kingdom.

There’s a lot more one can write about a complex character such as Murong Li, but the second ship is just as good. It features:

Ling Guang: The Ex-Arrogant Depressed Hamster hung up over a dead ex

Ling Guang, the mortal enemy and foil to Murong Li, is a baby-faced, very-much-older-than-he-looks character whose sole purpose in this series is to wear frilly magenta clothing, destroy the kingdom of Yaoguang, set Murong Li down a path of vengeful destruction and piss off eligible, probably younger bachelors by comparing them to his very handsome, very loyal and very dead boyfriend, his personal guard, Qiu Zhen, who died sometime over thirteen years ago.

The bachelors’ pissed off takes to this are particularly priceless:

Here’s another one from season 2:

That HMPH face is to die for.

Ling Guang’s delusions are met head-on by these eligible bachelors, his ministers and his allies alike:

Only to be met by a, “haha, NO.”

Frustrating, right? It only gets worse as the series progresses. Due to Wuxia’s fantastical existence of sword souls, he begins to actively test his subjects out to see if they’re his dead boyfriend, whose sword soul is still alive:

Gu Shi’an: WTF.

So why do these eligible, handsome bachelors, particularly this guy from season two, jump at his lap every chance they get?

First off, he’s very, very pretty. He’s arguably the prettiest and fanciest king in the series, with a cute rounded face, favoring fluffy organza, frills and feathers in his garb, and sporting fabulous curls like that of a swan princess on a good day.

Secondly, and more importantly, it’s likely because he’s the type loyal dogs adore.

He’s stupidly and openly attached to his bodyguards and servants, unable to hide his feelings or control them. Ling Guang’s relationships are technically the opposite of Murong Li’s. While Murong Li hides his feelings and goes after men of power and tends to use them before leaving them, Ling Guang’s willing to sacrifice everything, including his kingdom, his health and his own life for men who are merely servants.

He's a king who doesn’t know proper protocol. He’s the type who’ll demand to eat with you at the same table:

Creeps outside the palace to see you off:

Hugs your sword around like a pillow while he waddles around listlessly and sleeps with it by his side after you’re long dead (grand total: 13 years):

Coddles you when you’re sick:

Takes arrows for you:

Isn’t afraid to cry and tell you how it is:

Faints violently and won’t rest until he can get your stolen body back:

The results?

If he’s not what loyal bodyguards like, I don’t know what he is. If Murong Li’s love interests have to pit themselves against each other to show how useful they are for his sake, Ling Guang’s love interests need to wrestle with a dead man he can’t let go of... which is hopeless, because you can’t kill a guy who’s already dead.

As a foil to Murong Li, what’s also interesting to note is that it’s alluded to and foreshadowed that he’s exactly the sort the loyal Yu Xiao, the current barbarian king, would have loved to have as a lover - honest, loyal and doting - unlike Murong Li himself. Gongsun Qian, a deputy minister with great foresight, had wanted Ling Guang to go to see the new barbarian kingdom, but he had refused to go outside the palace, shutting himself inside like an otaku. This decision ultimately gave Murong Li a step forward with his plans, at the great cost of four kingdoms, including his own.

Jian Bin: My boyfriend can (REALLY) fight

Next up is Jian Bin and his general. Jian Bin’s the king of Tian Ji, a new kingdom founded by astrologers. The catch here is that Jian Bin and his boyfriend, Qi Zhi Kan, are both men of science, and this tank of a boyfriend is a genius on the battlefield who doesn’t give a single shit about star signs, astrology and superstitions.

A story between a serious, loving king and his handsome general who was once a simple sword-maker in the woods, King Jian Bin meets his handsome ex-lumberjack boyfriend when he’s attacked, falls down from his horse and is rescued by the man himself.

Jian Bin then brings the guy back to his palace and dresses him in armor:

This puts the king’s general on the war path of several ministers and the superstitious people in their kingdom. As lovers, the two go through various trials together in an attempt to run their kingdom their way.

Qi Zhi Kan may seem like a herbivore in front of the king, but he’s really not one at all. He’s terrifying to a degree when it comes to warfare, and very, very difficult to take down. Unlike the other ministers, Qi Zhi Kan knows that he can expand the kingdom quickly and solve problems by waging war.

Even his allies are scared of him:

Ultimately, it’s a ship meant for those who like watching the king teasing his loyal subject and caressing armor whenever he’s around AND not around. Jian Bin even admits to it on-scene:

This loving and devoted couple were originally blessed as the ones with the most piggyback scenes, tender bandaging-your-chest and armor fondling, but they got censored unfortunately.

Scenes like these made the cut, though:

And that’s it! There are actually other minor ships, but these are the main ones for now.

If you’re sold and interested in the show, the series is available online on Rakuten Viki. https://www.viki.com/tv/35524c?locale=zh

[justkeeptrekkin]

Object Permanence prompt idea: literally anything involving Mingjue + the baby

this has been in my mind rent-free for months 

***

A photo sits framed on the mantelpiece. A little boy with a great, dimpling smile, blowing out the sparkling number four candle of his astronaut birthday cake.

“Was that the doorbell?”

“Yes-- I’ll get it.”

A photo sits framed on the mantelpiece. It’s smaller than the other, the size of a polaroid. A father looks down at the top of his seven month old son’s head, in the middle of telling him a quiet story. He hadn’t noticed the camera. They share the same dimples.

“Baba-- can I get it? Can I get it?”

“On this occasion, yes.”

A photo sits framed on the mantelpiece. The boy’s other father carries him on his shoulders at Disney world. Their smiles are different, but the affection for the person taking the photo is clear in both of their eyes.

“I’ll get it!”

“Can I get it with him, shufu?”

“Can I answer the door?” “Let’s answer it together!”

“This isn’t your house, dummy!”

“OK-- baby, don’t run down the stairs--”

“I’ve got it-- oh, hi shufu!”

Meng Yao is in the middle of an excruciating conversation with Wei Wuxian (most of them are) when the doorbell rings. He’s really rather relieved to move from the kitchen to the hall, cradling a glass of homemade lemonade and ignoring Wei Wuxian’s muted complaints.

“I don’t want to talk to Lan Zhan about it. What if he isn’t ready? I mean, one kid is tiring enough and...”

“Communication is the cornerstone of any relationship,” Meng Yao returns with a smile.

“Oh, as if you can lecture me on that-- hi, da-ge.”

Three little boys open the door to reveal Nie Mingjue. The first little boy clings onto him in an enormous hug. The second one whoops and starts dancing and striking rock-star poses. The third starts running circles around him.

A-Xing, A-Ling, and A-Yuan. They make quite a trio. Meng Yao supposes that being friends practically from birth will do quite a lot to solidify a friendship.

“Da-ge.”

“We’re done,” Nie Mingjue says gruffly.

“You knew the door was unlocked,” Meng Yao replies. “You could have come straight in.”

Nie Mingjue allows the boys to poke him and clamber over him. Jin Ling is trying to push him into the house, hands against his back and sneakers scuffing on the front doorstep uselessly. “Xichen is just finishing up. And I didn’t want to tread in sawdust and mud. You nearly lobotomized me for that last week.”

“Wait-- finishing up what? What’s shufu finishing up?”

“I told you! The dads are trying to organise a surprise party for A-Xing.”

“LingLing, you probably shouldn’t have…”

“It’s ok, A-Yuan, I’d figured it out already. Uncle Wei Wuxian was all awkward and weird about it today.”

Meng Yao observes this conversation. The three boys crane their necks to view the two parents. Meng Yao then turns his cool gaze to Wei Wuxian, who’s rubbing the back of his neck.

“Aha… what was I supposed to do? He’s inherited your puppy dog eyes and he was asking me all these questions and I-- didn’t know what to do. I didn’t tell him anything! Just, yeah. Was weird and awkward. Stop glaring, what was I meant to do?”

“Lie,” Meng Yao replies easily. “You lie to children.”

“Hey!”

“He doesn’t mean it.”

“No. He does. Baba says white-lies are the cornerstones of relationships.”

Looking at Meng Yao with mock horror. “Oh does he now?”

Meng Yao clears his throat and clicks his fingernails against his glass. “I believe you said Lan Xichen was ready for us?”

Nie Mingjue purses his lips and quirks his brows: yep.

“Uncle Mingjue! Shufu-- why are you so dusty?” Nie Mingjue is uncle to everyone despite bearing no family relation to any of the children. Jin Ling continues to push him by the back as they walk outside to the front lawn. “What’s this dusty stuff?”

“Sawdust.” Lan Yuan skips ahead. “Sawdust. From saws.”

“Is sawdust wood?” Cheng Xing asks contemplatively. “Can you have sawdust if it isn’t wood?”

A very good question, as most of A-Xing’s questions are. Meng Yao walks behind the boys, Wei Wuxian slinking sheepishly by his side. “Perhaps that’s something we can look up later when we go back inside.”

“Wait--”

A-Xing stops. He looks at Nie Mingjue with a gently baffled look that is absolutely inherited from Lan Xichen, regardless of the lack of Lan genetics. “Why are we going through the gate to the back garden?”

Nie Mingjue folds his arms and hums conspiratorially. (Jin Ling pokes his bicep with a furrowed brow.) “Well. Your dads have worked very hard to keep that a surprise.”

Meng Yao clears his throat politely-- a slight intended for Wei Wuxian, who covers his face in shame.

“I didn’t tell him, I promise,” he says behind his hands. “It’ll still be a surprise.”

At this moment, Meng Yao measures the confusion on his son’s face turning to amusement. A-Xing has inherited all the good traits from Lan Xichen. (Then again, does he have any bad ones?) He is handling this air of mystery without any concern or anxiety. Whilst Meng Yao abhors surprises, A-Xing adores them. He trusts his parents, Meng Yao realises.

Stepping over to his son, Meng Yao offers his hand. It’s getting a bit embarrassing for A-Xing to be holding his fathers’ hands, but neither of them care right now, in front of family. “Let’s go take a look together. Maybe Nie Mingjue’s just playing a particularly cruel prank on you.”

A-Xing beams up at him and laughs. “This is so weird. You’re so weird.”

“I am so weird,” Meng Yao agrees.

They step through the little private alleyway beside the house and into the back garden. So far, there is nothing new to see; the monkey puzzle tree that the boys like to climb, which A-Xing fell from last year and fractured his wrist in the process; the peony bed at the end of the lawn; the little, carved wooden sign for the pet hamster who passed away last year; the Frisbee that’s been collecting water for about two weeks now, and that Meng Yao hasn’t moved because it’s turned into a bird-bath and Lan Xichen likes has gone mushy over this.

“Where’s dad?” A-Xing asks, swinging their arms between them.

“Ah, well--” Wei Wuxian adds mystical hand gestures, “perhaps we should explore a little further and solve that particular mystery?”

A-Yuan beams. He runs over to his father and hugs him. Lan Yuan is a very affectionate child, far more than A-Xing of A-Ling. The other boys have known him long enough that they don’t find it unusual. Wei Wuxian, to this day, still appears a little tearful whenever he receives an impromptu hug.

“You’re weird, too,” A-Yuan mutters into Wei Wuxian’s stomach.

They venture to the end of the garden. Wei Wuxian makes a show of peering over the fence with a hand shielding his eyes.

Nie Mingjue climbs over the style. “Are you following or not?” he demands of Wei Wuxian.

“Ooooo! What could possibly be in there? Hmm? What could possibly be in the little patch of woods between A-Xing and A-Yuan’s houses?”

“The little patch of woods that A-Yao spent an awful lot of money and time blackmailing the estate agents into selling to me for half price,” Meng Yao mutters to himself.

“Oh look. Could I possibly see your dad in the near distance, A-Xing?”

A-Xing is already climbing over the style. A-Yuan is clambering over the fence, offering a hand to A-Ling who swats it away with a scowl. Meng Yao watches the three children gambol into the woods. Nie Mingjue follows at a slow saunter, brushing his hands on his jeans.

“This is going to blow their tiny minds,” Meng Yao says.

Wei Wuxian whistles. “It really is.”

Cheng Xing is a little shorter than both Jin Ling and Lan Yuan. Nonetheless, he sprints ahead, and his two friends flank him. And there-- Meng Yao spots his partner crouched in the leaves, packing away the toolbox and stretching his shoulders. He’s been working all afternoon with da-ge, tanned and limber in a white tshirt.

“WOAH!”

“Is that--?”

“TREEHOUSE! TREEHOUSE! IS IT OUR TREEHOUSE? IS IT MY TREEHOUSE? CAN WE GO IN?”

“DID YOU MAKE THIS?”

“HOW DO WE GET UP? LOOK, A LADDER!”

“THIS IS SO COOL--”

Jin Ling is clambering up the ladder. A-Yuan tugs him gently by the t-shirt and tells him to get down since it’s technically a birthday present for A-Xing, not him, and he should be the one to go up first. But A-Xing is hugging his dad with ferociously tight little arms, and Lan Xichen is laughing quietly to himself, stroking the top of his head. 

“You should thank shufu, too. He built most of it.” He gives Meng Yao a small smile, the smile that still melts him even now, eight years later. “I held up lots of heavy planks of wood.”

“So impressive,” Meng Yao grins. He kisses his boyfriend on the cheek. “Very impressive. Isn’t baba impressive?”

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank youthankyouthankyouthank--” A-Xing hugs Nie Mingjue, who smirks. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthank--”

“Why don’t you go and try it out,” Lan Xichen says.

The boys scrabble up the ladder. A-Yuan is a little older than the other two, and whilst he never abuses this authority, A-Xing and A-Ling treat him with the respect of a wise elder. They therefore listen to A-Yuan’s words of caution climbing the tree, advice about watching their footing and not going too quickly.

The four men at the bottom of the tree peer up at the platform three metres above. It’s shrouded in leaves, branches, a lovingly carved roof (trademark Nie Designs) and fairylights. The boys are babbling in hushed, awed tones, interspersed with laughter and childish squeals.

“I think this was a good choice,” Lan Xichen remarks a little dreamily. Meng Yao lays his head on his shoulder and feels it rise and fall with his sigh. “This is going to make them happy for years.”

“You know when they’re teenagers they’re going to use it as their sordid den,” Wei Wuxian says. “Like, they’re going to go there to like, talk about girls or boys or both or neither and like, make low, grunting caveman noises about how much they hate us.”

“Well. They’ll need a safe place to do such a thing,” Meng Yao admits.

Nie Mingjue grumbles. “Without you running into A-Xing’s room, swatting him with a broom or your shoe at the slightest hint of hormones.”

Lan Xichen laughs.

Meng Yao stares at them all. They’re all laughing.

“I would never,” he argues. Peering up at Lan Xichen with wide, imploring eyes. “You know I would never.”

“Of course not, love.” Lan Xichen plants a consolatory kiss on his forehead. “We just know that you’re very protective of our son.”

“Of course I am. Of course I’m protective. Gege, why are you laughing? Do you think I’m such a bad father, gege?”

Nie Mingjue pinches his nose. Wei Wuxian is cackling.

“No, A-Yao. You’re the best father in the world, and A-Xing knows it.”

“He’s referring to the fact that you tried to get a child expelled for kicking over his mud-pie in nursery.”

“And if they’d let me on the board of governors, justice would have been served.” There’s also the fact that he admitted to Lan Xichen, face buried in his chest, that he doesn’t want A-Xing to be a smelly teenager. He’d wept. Proper, sobbing cries. Is it awful that Meng Yao wants him to be wide-eyed and adorable forever and ever, and if Meng Yao knows that no one will ever be good enough for their son and-- and how is he meant to let some snotty-nosed teenager take him to the cinema or a terrible fast-food restaurant on a first date?

Lan Xichen had said his distress was both understandable and endearing. Thing is, Meng Yao is only partially putting it on. He really is heartbroken by how fast A-Xing is growing.

The three boys erupt into laughter from the treehouse.

“I want another baby.”

Meng Yao says it before any coherent thoughts go through his head and have a chance to wrangle the sentence back into its box. Wei Wuxian gasps. Nie Mingjue looks genuinely shocked. 

Lan Xichen shifts beside Meng Yao and looks at him with parted lips.

“I’m sorry?” he croaks.

This time, he knows exactly what he’s saying. He looks Lan Xichen dead on and says in his most business-like, I’m-putting-my-foot-down voice: “I want another baby.”

The birds sing overhead. The boys laugh in the treehouse, out of sight. Meng Yao’s friends stare, open-mouthed. He looks at Lan Xichen and waits.

Lan Xichen smiles.

[ithinkiknowenoughofhate]

Tagged by @lovedthe-stars-toofondly

Name: Edward Elric

Alias: Fullmetal Alchemist

Gender: *vague handwave.* Uses both he/him and they/them but doesn’t normally go out of his/their way to inform people.

Age: Depends on the timeline. Anywhere from 15 to late 20s, depending on the thread.

Species: Human.

Zodiac: Ed dislikes astrology deeply. He’s the master of his own fate and a man of science. I headcanon his birthday as January 31, though February 3 makes more sense in the continuity of the 2003 anime.

Abilities/Talents: Absolutely brilliant in alchemy, which means knowledge of chemistry, geology, mathematics and (to an extent) physics. Highly intuitive but lacking the emotional toolbox to tell people’s motivations reliably. Specializes in thinking outside the box. As an alchemist, rather than focusing on a single specialization he’s good at all of it.

{𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵}

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true

Religion: Agnostic or Ishvalan, depending on the verse.

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility / justice / kindness / patience

Languages: Amestrian (Resembool and Central dialects), Aerugan (conversant), Cretan (can only read), Drachman (barely), Xingese (approaching conversant but not literate), Xerxian (native speaker/spoken at home). Depending on verse: Ishvalan, German, English, French.

Family: Alphonse Elric, Van Hohenheim, Trisha Elric, (depending on verse) Scar (cousin)

Friends: Alfons Heiderich (@lovedthe-stars-toofondly), Riza Hawkeye (@scentedbygunpowder), Sheska (@theburiedbookworm), Ling Yao, Lan Fan, the Tringhams, Winry Rockbell

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual / pansexual / omnisexual / homosexual / demisexual  / asexual / unsure / other - demi/gray/aromantic

Relationship status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / other / verse dependent

{𝓟𝓱𝔂𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵}

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other

Eyes: brown / blue / green / black / other (gold)

Skin: pale / fair / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: under 3 foot / 3-4 foot / 4-5 foot / 5-6 foot / 6-7 foot / above 7 foot

Weight: under 100 pounds / 100-150 pounds / 150-200 pounds / 200-250 pounds (a lot of it is the automail.)

Scars: From automail installation, injuries from Baschool, one on his forehead that keeps opening up. Small scar that crosses lower lip, not very noticeable. Some others (mostly verse dependent.)

Facial Features: Very Xerxian. Prominent cheekbones and nose, high forehead. He looks very not Amestrian and it confuses people because he’s also blond. Has freckles, though they’re less noticeable because of his skin tone.

Tattoos: Verse-dependent. As an adult, he has a flamel tattoo to honor Izumi. Modern Ed has a semicolon tattoo (many people who’ve struggled with their mental health get them as a reminder that their story isn’t over.)

{𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓸𝓼𝓮}

Dogs or Cats?

Birds or Hamsters?

Snakes or Spiders?

Red or Blue?

Yellow or Green?

Black or White?

Coffee or Tea?

Fruits or Vegetables?

Sandwich or Soup?

Magic or Melee?

Sword or Bow?

Summer or Winter?

Spring or Autumn?

The Past or The Future?

Tagging: Whoever wants to do it. Go ahead!

[incorrectcqlsubtoo]

Actually I don't understand why ppl say that Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao/Meow is THE shorty. Zhu ZanJin is 1.77 m but so is Wang Hao Xuan and nobody calls Xue Yang shorty. Shouldn't there be two evil hamsters in this equation? :)))

Hear me out with the 177 cm of ZZJ. I know that’s his “official” height but,,, *wears conspiracy hat* i believe his height is 173-175 cm and those last few cms are insoles. Like have you see the shoes that he wears? omfg… baby zan zan pls

and i-

Don’t tell ZZJ that i’ve told this to you guys before ZZJ appears in my anon box and starts defending his height 

(fun fact: Us admins with other admins of Zanjinthings, wrongmdzssub and zzj official thai fanclub (one of the admin here) and co share like one discord and one night we were heavily debating ZZJ’s “real” height and then suddenly at that same night out of nowhere ZZJ made a twitter. *wears conspiracy hat* legend says if you talk about his height ZZJ comes back online)

With that we’re going off topic, I’m really not sure. I think it’s cause Jiggy is always with Xichen and Mingjue (two really really TALL people with imposing height and size and whose actors are very serious people) that dramatically makes jiggy’s small stature that more obvious. 3zun lmfao. 

And 3zun had more screen time in CQL than the Yi City people so we get to see jiggy getting dwarf by his two tall sworn brothers more. 

Also jiggy’s height in the novel is even shorter hahaha, at this point his height is a running meme/joke in the fandom. But we love our evil hamster that way.

[torisfeather]

Also on Archive of our own : http://archiveofourown.org/works/10930521/chapters/24774624

Sweat was running down his back, leaving a long icy trail. His chest was wrapped in an iron grip, and helicopter blades  were desperately trying to dig themselves a passage out of his stomach. His legs could barely carry him, and wouldn't even think of walking. His father's hand on his shoulder was the only thing reminding him of moving in the noisy corridor, behind the dark skinned woman.

He wasn't scared.

He was terrified.

He hadn't chosen to be here. If he had any say in it, he would have become a hermit and hid in the depths of the Chinese countryside for the rest of his life. He did not want this school. He didn't not want those classmates. He was a real danger for everyone, and they wanted him to live among a hundred potential victims. Best. Idea. Ever. It was about as wise as giving a kindergartener an armed grenade.

He didn't know what his parents had believed to think even one second that coming here would solve his "problem". For now, all he hoped was that the kitchen only used electricity. That nobody would light a candle or a fireplace in his presence. And that he'd remember not to use the lighter he preciously kept in his pocket.

He vaguely heard the young woman speak with his parents before they left. They looked a little worried, but mostly relieved. Probably because they could finally get away from their freak of a son. He felt anger rising. He bit his tongue, tried to calm down. Stay zen. He couldn't take it out on them for being scared of him. He was dangerous, it was normal to be afraid.

She smiled at him kindly before turning around and leaving. She had other kids to greet. He waited until she disappeared around the corner to open the door to his new bedroom.

His blood froze cold when he realized there were two beds, and someone was currently reading, lying on one of them. A roommate? Really?

It was a pale giant with cinder hair. The bed looked almost too small for him. He was wearing the school's uniform with a scarf. This imposing appearance was completely contrasting with the tiny little book he was holding delicately in his hands. The title was Russian but the cover was decorated with a beautiful drawing of a bird with long burning feathers.

The giant looked up and stuck his purple gaze into his brown eyes. A small content smile was settled on his lips and didn't seem to want to leave anytime soon. "Hi!" he said as he put his book down.

He stood up and stretched. Now Yao had to look up to see his face. High up. It wouldn't be as intimidating if the Russian wasn't as large and if his little smile wasn't this creepy. Yao had had to deal with big guys like him but this one had something scarier, like some sort of dark aura surrounding him. It was fascinating in some way. "You are my new roommate, da?" he said like nothing was wrong.

Yao nodded. He wasn't going to show he was afraid. At least, now he could focus on him rather than on his fear of screwing up during class. The giant had a small laugh that sounded too innocent for his strong built.

"I hope we'll be very good friends! I'm Ivan, you?"

"Yao."

His head tilted to the side, without losing his smile. "Yao sounds nice." He laughed again. It sounded like the amused giggle of a child noticing their hamster is trying to leave its cage. "It sounds like a cry of joy," he said softly. "Yao! Yao! Like a party!"

"Um… Thanks?"

"You're welcome."

Yao was growing more and more awkward. The talk sounded strange. The voice of the giant named Ivan was too light, too delicate, too childish. And cute as hell. But it didn't fit the body it belonged to.

Ivan walked up to him and held his hand out. For a handshake, occidental tradition. Slightly hesitant, Yao shook it. His skin was strangely cold, in spite of the warmth of the room. The Russian frowned worriedly. "You're hot."

"What?"

"I mean you look like you have a temperature."

"Oh… No, really, I'm fine."

"Ufufu, good!"

They let go but the cold stayed for a few moments inside Yao's palm. Ivan was staring attentively behind his innocent face. It was impossible to know what was hidden under his calm little smile. "You are very, very cute, Yao-Yao," he said softly.

Yao chocked. "What?"

"I said you were very cute," he said again, calmly. He walked forth and caught his chin firmly. His smile grew more devilish as he steadily brought their two faces closer. "Say… Would you like to be one with me?"

"Wh… I… N…"

Yao was doing his best but he couldn't pronounce a single word. His breathing picked up, and so did his heart as if it was trying to climb up his throat. His head started to spin slightly and he felt a hot flash flooding him as Ivan's icy hands laid upon his cheeks. His face was growing closer still. He was going to kiss him. "I'm… I'm not feeling very good," he said, retreating.

Surprised, Ivan stood back and his concerned face appeared again. "Yao-Yao has a fever after all!"

"I… No… I… I'm just hot… I just need some fresh air…" Yao turned around and hurried out. He needed to get out of here. Fast. He felt like it was important. He was going to locked himself up in the bathroom, wait it out…

Suddenly, his legs refused to obey. They froze as he was about to walk out the door. Horrified, he looked down, only to find out his feet were trapped in two ice chunks stuck to the floor. He pulled and pulled and pulled but they wouldn't budge.

Ivan closed in behind him and laid his hand on his shoulders, gently. "No, my Yao-Yao won't run away this time…" whispered his sweet voice, drawing shivers out of the Chinese boy. Petrified, Yao watched as he placed himself in front of him with his toxic little smile. "If you are hot, Yao-Yao, why don't you take some of your clothes off?"

"No! No, no stop! Qǐng!"

"What is it? Is my Yao-Yao hiding something from me?" His voice was still giving him shivers, filling him with terror and some other feeling he couldn't really describe. Yao was usually brave. But right now, he was literally frozen in place as Ivan slowly took away every piece of fabric covering him. "Yao-Yao is mine, right? So Yao-Yao shouldn't hide anything from me!"

No! No, he couldn't see him! He should never see him like this! No, this was wrong! He couldn't see this! No way! No! No!

Yao's eyes shot open. He sat up. The room was dark, except for the time glowing red on the radio. Ivan shifted in the other bed, probably dreaming about sunflowers and vodka.

A dream. Just a dream.

He laid back down, hugging close his Shinatty-chan. But he couldn't go back to sleep.

Even in his dreams, that damn Russian should never, ever, ever find out about his stupid secret.

The PCD classroom was quite peculiar. As large as a small gymnasium, it was separated from the rest of the building by the playground's length. To get in, you had to cross two iron doors separated by an airlock. Just what you needed to feel awkward while entering.

The lessons used to happen in a normal classroom, inside the building. But several accidents, including but not limited to a fire, a flood and the emission of a smell of rotten egg in the entire building for several hours had convinced the principle it was necessary to take precaution measures. Just to make sure not everyone would die because someone sneezed at the wrong moment.

The floor was made of light wood that sounded like it was hollow when one stepped on it. "Like a dance studio," Lily shyly commented. The ceiling was high and, like a gymnasium, showed the girders carrying the roof. Tables and chairs were cast against the walls instead of being arranged in the middle as they would be for any kind of lesson. A door in the far left opened on a stockroom full of various objects, from simple paper sheets to baseball bats. There was also half a dozen fire extinguishers in a corner. Another door, opposite to the first one, led to a small projection room.

The first years were waiting, wearing the sportswear Luna had given them when they came in. Mei and Faustina were thoroughly biting their painted nails while Vash was talking his sister out of doing the same thing. Kiku was playing statues again, the Italian twins were getting rid of the stress by talking loudly with extensive gestures to anyone who'd listen, Feliks seemed like he was daydreaming, just like Tino whose arm Peter didn't want to let go of. Let's just say they were nervous.

Tension reached its peak when Luna came back from the dressing room, a file in hand. With a large smile, she gave them small sheets of paper and pens.

"Surname, first name, age and power if you know it. Oh, and everything I'd need to know if you have health issues. And please hurry."

Kiku, Vash and Peter started right away. The other kids shared incredulous looks. Seriously, even in a class about supernatural powers, they had to fill in information papers? According to Luna's serious look, they did.

"Like, that's lame…" Feliks sighed.

And for the first time, everyone agreed.

Eventually all the papers were done and given back to Luna. The young woman suddenly had a very scary smile and walked to the center of the room. "Good, now, you're going to run ten laps around the room! No slacking off! Then you'll do one sprinting, another one sidestepped, one heels high and one knees high. And when you're done, get in the middle so you can stretch, alright? Let's go!"

This time, the look they shared was stunned. But Luna didn't give anybody any time to whine and drilled their eardrums with a whistle she seemingly pulled out of thin air.

They started moving, with more or less enthusiasm. Kiku, as a student paragon, was doing his best and running like he was at the Olympics. At least for the first few seconds, for his mishandled body snapped at him and made him slow down. Tino looked like he had chosen to mother Peter and was encouraging him and helping him to keep up, which he managed pretty well. What the younger boy didn't have physically, he had in will. As for Vash, he was treating Lily like a porcelain doll and managed to encourage her while asking every three seconds if she needed to rest. Romano decided he wanted to look manly and tried to run in a cool way in front of Mei and Faustina, but he tripped and ate the floor. When he got back up, pouting as red as a tomato, the two girls giggled and said he was "just so cute", which achieved to make him depressed. And Feliks and Feliciano had started talking about pasta, fashion and ponies when Luna chased them with her whistle to force them to go faster.

It wasn't even a warm-up. Luna was pushing them to their limits, making them run as much as possible. When she'd notice one wasn't about to collapse from exhaustion, she'd give them one more lap to finish them. Once they were done, exhausted, extenuated, dead to the world, the teenagers fell to the ground to stretch as Luna read their papers. Apparently, most of them had no idea what they could do. That wasn't helping, but at least the class would be fun.

"Alright everyone! Are you ready to start?" It was dead silent in the room. The few students still alive glared at her. A smirk showed up on her lips. Of course they didn't like it, but tiring them physically was the best way to wake up their capacities, while keeping them easy to control. The idea was to have a clear mind to focus on one thing at a time. "Well it looks good… We're making three groups. Kiku, Peter and Faustina, you're going in the corner by the main entrance. Feliks, Mei, Vash and Lily, go sit down by the projection room. Tino, Lovino, Feliciano, go wait for me by the stockroom."

The kids obeyed, too tired to protest. Tino almost had to carry the Italian twins all by himself. The two brothers looked like they were going to pass out.

Kiku, Peter and Faustina opened wide eyes when their teacher came back from the stock room with a large wheeled mirror and paper sheets. Luna caught her breath before explaining. "You three already know your own capacities. Looking younger, giving life to origamis and enter mirrors," she said, pointing at each of them.

The two boys gave the young girl an impressed look, which made her blush a little.

"You've found out about those capacities by accident, from intense emotions," Luna continued like it was no big deal. "That's the first step. Now, your goal will be to learn to use your power intentionally, which means without any outside disturbance. Questions?"

No one spoke.

"Perfect. Kiku, come here."

She sat the Japanese boy at a table and gave him a white paper sheet. "You are going to make an origami. Preferably something easy to animate, like an animal. Then you'll try to give it life through visualization. Can you do that?

"Uh… I think I c…"

"Good. Get to it." She left him with the paper, dumbfounded. Slowly, the Japanese boy tried to stay calm and started to carefully fold the paper into a crane.

After she left Faustina with her hands on the mirror's surface, trying to remember how to get in, Luna had to face Peter's enthusiasm as he looked up at her with eyes filled with hope. She knelt to his level, uneasy.

"Er… Peter? Listen… Your capacity is a bit peculiar so I'd rather if we worked on it together later. Is that alright?" At the little boy's disappointed face, she quickly added: "But I'd like you to help with the others for now. You'll be my assistant, how does that sound?" He nodded and forced a small smile. She felt sorry for him. She knew how much he wanted to get his old appearance back.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She called Lily and gave Peter a keychain. "Peter, I'd like you to bring Lily to the school library. Take the most interesting book you can find. When you're done, don't forget to close the door. Oh, and then, please go to the biology lab and ask Mr. Bondvik for a mouse."

"A what?"

"A mouse. You know, the little animal that has a long tail and likes cheese. Ask him for one. And specify that it has to be alive, alright? And if you could hurry, it would be perfect."

Peter and Lily shared a stunned looked before obeying.

Luna smiled as they left. Then she looked at Feliks, Mei and Vash and thought for a little while…

"DVDs?"

Luna happily nodded. The three students were standing in the projection room, unsure. Smaller, it looked a little more like a classroom. There was a projection screen in front of the tables, right above a DVD player already on. They heard Luna whine about "idiots who never turn the devices off after using them" as she slipped the first disk into the player.

"Wow, that's, like, awesome! We're gonna watch movies?" Feliks exclaimed as he sat on one of the desks.

Luna had an amused chuckle but didn't answer. Vash and Mei sat down as well, not as excited as their classmate. Luna turned the projector on, the light off and around after asking them to tell her if anything weird happened.

The three kids shared a look and focused on the movie.

Ten minutes later, terrified screams raised from the little room as the students watched the horror movie the teacher was showing them.

Now came the most difficult part. Luna headed towards Tino and the Italian twins who looked a little better. She gave them a shimmering smile as she walked to them.

"So, who wants to go first?" she chirped.

Tino immediately knew something was up and stepped back. Lovino also guessed what was going on and hid behind the Finnish boy. As for Feliciano…

"Ve! Sure, I do! What are we going to do? Pasta? Pasta sounds good!"

The three students were each tasked with something: Feliciano had to run around the room without stopping, Tino had to befriend the adorable mouse Peter and Lily had brought back, and Lovino just had to jump on one spot. Luna had then left, pretending she had to go get something.

After a few minutes, all three of them had stopped doing the exercises they deemed pointless. And since Luna wasn't back yet, they started chatting.

After about fifteen minutes of talking, they started to worry about their teacher being gone for so long.

The bell rang the end of the first hour, but still no teacher around. Kiku and Faustina were still focused on their exercises and the others were enjoying their movie with panicked screams. Peter was listening as Lily read her book out loud, in a corner.

After another half-hour of waiting, the Italians and the Finnish boy wanted to go see what was taking Luna so long, when suddenly everything went black.

Everything.

Even the windows that should have let some of the morning sunlight in were suddenly dark. Total darkness. The students could have sworn they had suddenly gone blind. Tino, Feliciano, Lovino, Lily, Peter and Faustina screamed as one. Kiku stayed calm, though.

The light slowly came back until the kids were surrounded by purplish darkness that reminded them of a haunted house. Lovino felt like he had to yell "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" just so he could express a little bit of his fear as his twin just clung to him, crying and calling for help.

Suddenly, red light exploded in the entrance, and a dark, menacing silhouette emerged from it. It had claws longer than Wolverine's, and as if that wasn't enough, it had a large butcher knife in each hand. Its face was hidden under a slenderman white mask and it wore some sort of long coat hiding its body entirely. It didn't let the student stare at it any longer and dashed towards the twins.

Lovino hid behind the first thing that could serve as a shield, which was a shaking Tino with a mouse in his hands. As for Feliciano, he ran away immediately. The thing followed him with heavy footsteps and terrible roars. Completely panicked, he rushed to the door which happened to be locked. Terrified, he started to run again, the monster following him.

As the creature was about the catch him and he thought he was about to die, probably more from asphyxia than from bloody murder committed by a killer monster, he was surprised when his legs started moving even faster without tiring him more. He didn't stop to ask why, though, and kept running faster and faster to try and get away from this menacing thing.

Realizing its target was fleeing, the creature stopped and turned to Tino and Lovino with a menacing glare. Paralyzed with fear, the two teenagers could only walk back against the wall as the monster closed in. Tino whispered a barely audible "help".

He had only just said this word when his mouse jumped from his hands and onto the masked monster's face to burry its teeth in its skin.

The thing let out a terribly feminine cry and fell over.

"Ouch! Ouchie! Ok, ok! Fine, I give up! Ouch, Tino, call your mouse back!"

The light came back immediately and everyone could see, instead of the hideous creature… Miss Luna Chrones, dressed in a long black coat, cardboard claws and plastic knives, fighting with a rodent that was trying to eat her face. A white hood had fallen to the ground. Everybody stared, stupefied.

"No really, get that thing off me, please!"

They needed a few minutes to strip their teacher from her horror show outfit. Back in her usual clothes, it was hard to believe it was the same monster who attacked them earlier. Apart for the teeth marks on her face, it was like she never even left.

"Uh… So, ma'am? Would you tell us why you did that?" Faustina asked, fists on her hips and angry faced, obviously upset.

"Ahaha, you didn't like it?" the dark skinned teacher said.

Silence.

"Uh… Ok…" She cleared her throat slightly and stretched her back before explaining with a clear voice. "It is difficult, nearly impossible, to trigger consciously the first manifestation of your power. Capacities usually stay dormant until puberty and only manifest, in general, as a reaction to a powerful emotion."

"It's really just like the X-men, then," Peter commented.

"… So I tried to use the emotions most easy to generate: fright and surprise. Normally, we shouldn't need more than three sessions for the whole class to know what it can do. This was already nice results!"

"Uh, nothing really happened…" Lovino grumbled.

When she heard this, Luna smiled. Nobody dared to move when she walked up to a table, grabbed a weird device from it and came back fidgeting with the screen. "Feliciano," she called. The boy walked forth with a distracted "ve". "What a nice sprint you did when I almost caught you."

"Vehehe, you scared me, ma'am!

"Precisely. Look at the speed it saved."

Curious, the Italian boy took a look at the screen and tilted his head, unsure. "Ve… Sixty kilometers per hour… Is that good?"

"It's more than the world record of speed. No human being can run this fast." Then, when she saw Feliciano's still concerned face, she added: "Yes, it is good."

"Ve!"

"Besides, this was the first time, by accident. If you train, you'll be able to run even faster.

"So that's my power? ... I would have liked something that helps making pasta more."

Luna chuckled at his slight disappointment, and then turned to Tino as he cuddled the mouse who tried to save his life. "Tino? Do you know why your mouse jumped on me earlier?"

"Uh… I think?" he said, hesitantly. "I asked for help and Aurajuusto…"

"Who?"

"Huh? Oh, that's its name, it sounds nice, doesn't it?" The Finnish boy smiled as he pointed at the mouse trying to climb his shirt.

"It is a nice name," Kiku said. "What does it mean?"

"Blue cheese!" the blond boy proudly said. No one dared to say it was weird. But they were thinking it really hard. "Anyway," Tino continued. "Aurajuusto felt I was in danger and protected me. Even if I'm not sure wh… Wait, that's my power? Being protected by little critters?"

"Well… Sort of? It works with other animals as well and…" Luna stopped, as the Finnish wasn't listening, all too glad about his capacity. With a sigh, she turned to the last kid in the group, which was none other than the sulking Lovino a few feet away. "However, I am disappointed your power didn't manifest," she said. "But I suppose we should play more on surprise for this."

"Ha! Good luck with that!" the boy mocked.

"Why?"

"I'm never surprised! You can ask Feli, he tries all the time and it never works!"

"Ve… You kinda jumped pretty hard, last time, fratello."

"Shut up, bastard, that's not because I was surprised, that's because… Whatever! I just don't get…"

"SURPRIIIIIIIISE!"

Antonio had been waiting in front of the PCD room for a while now. Luna had come earlier, in the middle of a chemistry lesson, and asked him to help her with what she called an "emergency". Well, he was bored right now, and he didn't know why he should stay and wait when he was done with what she asked him to do.

He opened the first door, and then the second one, pretty silently. Back in her usual clothes, Luna was explaining something to the students who listened attentively. Well, she probably didn't need him anymo… He spotted Lovino among the others and a little smirk showed up on his lips. He tried to get closer to the group without being noticed by his target.

Just a little joke, he could do that, right? After all, the Italian boy wasn't going to hold a grudge against him for this, right? Besides, he was so cute when he was angry, he looked like a big ripe tomato! Yes, tomatoes are very cute. Especially the ones that yell at you while growing even redder… Wait, tomatoes didn't do this. Oh well, whatever, he was almost there!

He heard Lovino bragging about never being surprised was he reduced the distance, as slow as a spy turtle. That was probably very cute as well, a spy turtle that is. He would have said a ninja turtle, but copyrights, besides "spy" sounds better. What was he thinking about again? Oh, right, it was fun seeing how proud the Italian boy was under his frail appearance. And it made tricking him all the more appealing.

He sneaked behind the brown boy as silently as possible and, after making sure he hadn't noticed him, he pinched his hips and yelled. "SURPRIIIIIIIISE!"

The joke worked better than expected. Lovino jumped up to the ceiling.

Literally.

One moment he had his feet on the ground. The next, he was flying fifteen feet above them and screaming. And he reflexively grabbed a girder holding the roof.

Antonio froze for a second. Then he turned to the teacher and said with a concerned face: "Oops?"

Everything was that idiot's fault! Everything! He'd throw his fist into that son of a bitch's face if he could let go of that girder! But for now he didn't know what he should do. He had wrapped all of his limbs around it and was holding on with desperation. Don't look down, he thought. He knew all too well what would happen if he did. Everything would start to spin around him, he would close his eyes and start screaming and crying in spite of his Italian pride! It wasn't fair! Why did he have to be scared of heights?

And the other guy saying "oops"… Not but really. You say "oops" when you step on someone's foot, when you drop something at the grocery store, or when you start to flirt with a girl before realizing it's not a girl. But right now, "oops" was hardly appropriate. Because he was just showing how dumb he was and getting people into trouble! He heard Luna calling him from down below. "Lovino, are you alright?"

"Do I look alright, damn it? Help me the fuck ou…" Fuck… He just looked down. He felt the void calling him, his hands slipping from the beam. Reflexively, he gripped it even harder and bit his lip not to scream. He didn't want to know how he managed to jump this high. All he wanted was to feel the ground under his feet. Suddenly, he felt something change. He couldn't tell if it came from him or his perch but… Impossible! His hands and legs were digging into the metal beam!

"Lovino! Don't panic! Try to calm down or you are going to…" He wasn't even listening, trying to catch himself as well as he could. But every time he grabbed the girder, his hands dug into it even faster. It wasn't even deforming, his limbs were literally going through the matter! He was growing more and more terrified, and the more afraid he was the faster his arms and legs were losing their tangibility.

Sort of understanding what was happening, Luna turned to Antonio, an urgent glow in her eyes. The Spanish boy's eyes widened with fear. "I can't! It's way too far, I…"

"Antonio, we don't have a choice!" the teacher urged.

"But I…"

"Do it!"

Since talking didn't seem to do any good, the brown haired boy closed his eyes and focused. First, nothing happened. Then a transparent form, sort of like a glass dome, appeared right under the Italian. Antonio tensed, unfamiliar with such performances. He opened an eye to check on the young boy he was trying to save. "Okay, Lovi, you can let go," he said between clenched teeth.

"Don't call me Lovi, you bast… CHIGIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" His hands just went through the beam and so did his legs. Antonio prepared for the collision but, instead of landing on his force field as he should have, the Italian boy went through it as well, as if there had been nothing there.

"¡Mierda!" Antonio dropped his focus and the dome disappeared. Only one solution now: he threw himself under the younger boy and caught him before he touched the ground. Well, actually, he tried to catch him and his body broke his fall. He felt a crack and a terrible pain when the Italian boy's body hit his.

Terrified, Lovino had closed his eyes and was only more surprised when he saw who he had landed on. He cried out and slapped the idiot crying from pain. "Why would you do that, dumbass?" he yelled, hopping mad.

Antonio didn't answer, and Lovino realized he had passed out. Concern overwhelmed him and he slapped him again, trying to wake him up. But as much as he yelled, hit, insulted him, he wouldn't open his eyes.

Around them, nobody dared to move, afraid of making the Italian even more angry. To everyone's surprise, it was Feliciano who gathered enough courage to go and pat his twin's shoulder. He turned around brutally but didn't do anything more. "Fratello…" Feliciano said softly. "You are going to hurt him if you keep hitting him."

Lovino didn't answer but didn't try to do it again. Luna chose this moment to escape her stupefaction. "Lesson dismissed! You are all going to help me bring Antonio and Lovino to the nursery!"

Lovino protested as the young woman held him under the armpits to help him up but repressed a pained whine: his right arm and leg had taken the whole impact and beautiful nearly black bruises where already spreading on them. He was surprised he hadn't felt them while abusing his savior.

His brother grabbed his healthy arm to help him as Kiku gently held the bruised one. The rest of the students helped Luna pick Antonio up and keep him in a horizontal position. Peter, too small, couldn't help anyone, so Luna called him and asked him to go find Raivis Galante, a second year student, in Math class. He immediately ran there as the students slowly carried the victims to the nursery.

"Hey, miss! Like, the movie's over and we totally flipped and it was, like, totally awe… Hey? Miss?... Like, they're totally gone!"

"Uh? But then what do we do?"

"Lily's not here either?! What the hell happened?"

"Well, maybe the lesson is, like, over?"

"…"

"…"

"So, what do we do?"

"You do whatever you want. I'm finding Lily."

"You know your sister is a big girl, right? She can take of hers… And there he goes… Boys…"

"Like, yeah…"

"But, aren't you a boy too?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Nothing…"

[tottertrain]

Tagged by @einhornelch , i lied when i said i wouldn’t disappear from Tumblr lol

A- age: 18

B- birthplace: Malaysia, the land of perpetual summer and sweating outdoors

C- current time: 11 am

D- drink you last had: a thing called Milo which is basically a chocolate drink

E- easiest person to talk to: my mom surprisingly

F- favourite song: TOO MANY, but Emotion by Daft Punk, or Strawberry Swing by Coldplay depending on mood

G- grossest memory: I once covered myself in gray watercolour paint when i was five years old.

H- horror yay or nay? YAY!!!!!

I- in love? hmm perhaps

J- jealous of people? yes, I try to stop myself but can’t

K- killed someone? no hopefully never

L- love at first sight or walk past again? a little bit of both

M- middle name: Yao

N- number of siblings: 0

O- one wish: wish i had a little self control so i don’t hurt people with my actions

P- person i last called: my dad

Q- question you’re always asked: “can I have ur brain” to which I reply, “are you a zombie?”

R- reason to smile: sometimes I look at my hamsters and smile because they’re idiots

S- song you last sang: Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

T- time you wake up: anytime

U- underwear colour- black

V- vacation: anywhere that I can kick back and relax.

W- worst habit: peeling skin off my fingers

X- x-rays: never

Y-your favourite food: eggs, in almost any form

Z- zodiac sign: Leo

I tag: @zord-on!!