#over the years one notices that every character gets squished down to the exact same idealization and while i can give

[skunkes]

my trio version(s) of "he would not fucking say that" wrt people writing characters from existing media are he would not be a good or willing father, he would not call anyone darling or similar, and he would not be good at sex

[alicanta77]

Chapter 1: Tomorrow Never Dies

Pairing: y/n x Jeno

Themes: mutant au, angst, fluff

Warnings: mind control, experiments performed on people, needles, violence, minor character death, blood, descriptions of injury, swearing

Words: 14k

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Finale

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The repetitive high pitched beeping drew you out of your heavy sleep. You winced as the ceiling light switched on automatically, the brightness glaring down at you. You heard a groan from your roommate, signalling that he was also awake. You lay there for a second, your eyes trying to adjust, before pulling yourself up into a sitting position.

You turned your head towards the boy on your left, wincing once again as your neck cracked loudly. His eyes moved towards you, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

‘Lab last night?’ He asked, the three words asking the question that all of you dreaded.

Did they take you into the lab last night? Did they experiment on you? What did they do to you? What do you remember? Do you remember anything?

‘Yep.’ You muttered. ‘Routine 2b.’

It was Jeno’s turn to wince at your revelation. He knew that 2b was a painful routine that they could put you through, involving a lot of needles and a heavy focus on your neck.

You simply let out a dry chuckle and shrugged, a short yet sharp pain shooting through your neck and upper back as you did so.

‘Still feeling it?’ He asked again, clearly noticing your obvious discomfort.

‘How could you tell?’ You gave him a small smile, a sad but familiar one that was always exchanged between the two of you the morning after a visit to the lab.

The door of your cell buzzed, signalling that it was open, and in walked a single guard. He was wearing protective gear from head to toe, from thick boots, to a bullet proof vest, to his gloves, all the way to the helmet covering his face. You never knew who was behind all the gear, having never seen the face of a single guard in this facility for as long as you’d been here. The pistol strapped to his boot, or the knife at his side, or even the machine gun across his back probably should have scared you, but when that’s all you’ve known, you don’t see anything wrong with it.

Besides, you’re only in this facility to protect the outside world from dangers like you. The facility you’re in holds some of the most dangerous people in the world. The upper levels of the facility held criminals, each getting more threatening as you ventured down through the floors of the building. Those arrested for petty theft or vandalism were kept at the top, then the serial killers and mass murders were contained one floor above the bottom. You were kept in the most secured sub basement section of the facility. The lowest possible layer. You were watched at all time by guards and cameras, taken into labs for tests and experiments. Doctors would perform these on you, taking samples and notes, figuring out how to help you control yourselves.

The sub section you were kept in held around 150 people, most of them teenagers and young adults like you. You were different, called mutants of some kind. That was the closest you had ever come to an actual answer about what you were. What you did know was that you had abilities, something that the average human didn’t have, and that was what made you dangerous. Out of all the years you had been here, you had only managed to figure out a few other subject’s abilities. The seven other boys you shared your area with, to be exact.

You first found out about your roommate, Lee Jeno, subject A7, weather manipulation. He could create a storm by narrowing his eyes or make the sun shine brighter by simply smiling. His abilities were often affected by his emotions. The happier he was, the easier it was to create a sunny environment, but when he was angry or frustrated, he often found it difficult to control the storm that started brewing. There was something oddly poetic about his abilities though. This thought occurred to you the one and only time you saw him cry. To this day, you still have no idea what happened to break his heart like that, but, you watched one day as the guard pulled him aside and delivered some news. The next thing you knew, Jeno had collapsed to the ground, sobs tearing from his chest. Even though you were inside, rain droplets started to fall on your head. It was as if the sky had decided to cry with him. 

There was Mark Lee, subject A3, healing and super speed. Apparently it’s incredibly rare to have more than one ability. That’s why they call Mark Lee the ‘Golden Boy’. He often finds the world running at a pace that was too slow for him, his naturally faster system getting bored easily. He would spend some time running laps around the training room faster than you could blink. His healing skill is the one he has most trouble with. It doesn’t come as easily to him as his speed does. Instead, he has to learn it. Without thinking much, he can mend cuts and fade bruises, and, when he really focuses, he finds a way to stop serious pain or bleeding, and often pulls the body back together slightly.

Next, Huang Renjun, subject D9, image manipulation. He is the hardest to get a read on. You often can’t tell if he’s really in front of you, or if it’s simply just an image of him. He can make you see anything he wants you to see. Whether that is an empty training room when there’s actually ten people in there, or if it’s suddenly transporting you to a beach in the Caribbean. He seems to have the most control over his abilities out of all of you. Focusing now on making multiple people see what he wants them to, rather than just an individual.

After him, Lee Donghyuck, subject B5, he sees the future. No one knows how much he can see or how accurate it is, but he always know more than you do. You often think that he knows a lot more than he’s letting on. He likes to use his ability for trivial things, like telling people what’s for lunch or what to expect in training today. He has a much more serious and caring side to him though. You suspect that he uses his ability to keep an eye on your emotions as somehow, he always seems to know when you’re having a bad day.

Also, Na Jaemin, subject D2, mind control. Sweet as sugar but just as artificial, he could send you the deadliest smile, all while secretly enticing you into doing something for him. Normally it’s nothing drastic, fetching his lunch for him or asking a guard the question he doesn’t want to. But you never know when he’ll get bored of that and make you do something you really don’t want to. You always make sure to keep him on your good side. Similar to Donghyuck, no one really knows the true extent of his powers, making him even more mysterious. Even the guards seem nervous of him because you can never quite tell when he’s enchanting you, not until it’s too late.

Then comes Zhong Chenle, subject C6, a shapeshifter. Can transform easily if he’s looking at the animal, harder if he has to remember it and really has to focus if he wants to take on the form of another human. He always seems to be in a good mood. How he manages that you have no idea, but you’re always thankful. He takes the whole situation less seriously than the others. Choosing to randomly turn into birds and fly into the guards helmets or run up their legs as a mouse. No matter what, he always manages to make you laugh. 

And finally, Park Jisung, subject D4, super strength. Not exactly what you would expect the boy to have, considering his personality. He seems too sweet for this reality. He always wants the best for people and sees the good in everyone. Sometimes, you wish that you could have that mindset. He’s such a pure soul that you often forget he could squish you in between his fingers like a fly if you weren’t careful. He constantly seemed to forget that he was incredibly strong, often banging the table when laughing and knocking off a leg, or clapping Hyuck on the back and sending him sprawling to the floor. He was a bit clumsy but had a heart of gold.

Rounding out the floor, there was you, subject A1, telekinesis. You could move a glass simply by looking at it, pick something up by blinking or shake your head and watch the overhead lights swing. If you focused hard you could lift or move heavier things, but moving people took almost all of your energy. Like Jeno, your emotions affect how powerful you were. Unlike with Renjun and Chenle who seem to lose control the angrier or more emotional or worked up they get, with Renjun’s images flickering and Chenle shifting uncontrollably from animal to animal, you and Jeno seem to be able to do more. Jeno could make a thunder storm powerful enough to blow the windows out by clenching his jaw and you could lift impossibly heavy objects and even throw them. Pushing people to the side also only took a slight flick of your hand. Sometimes your powers scared yourself. What would you do if one day you lost control and hurt someone you loved? If you were already dangerous enough to be locked in a facility like this, what would that make you? You would be worse than a monster.

As well as sharing the same floor with you, you also shared the same training room and dining hall. You even shared the same lab. It terrified you every time you walked into or past it and got a glimpse of the blood coating the doctor’s hands from their previous procedures.

The guard back out of your doorway, keeping an eye on the two of you at all times. You tilted your head to the left slightly, narrowing your eyes at him, watching as the guard’s moves sped up. He tripped over his own feet slightly in a bid to leave the room as fast as possible, causing both you and Jeno to burst out laughing when the door was shut.

‘You really have to stop doing that. It’s mean.’ Jeno lightly scolded you, the smile still present on his face.

‘Oh please, I am nowhere near as bad as Chenle. You know, Jisung told me that the last time the guard went into their room, Chenle had hidden himself as a moth under the bed, and then dropped in front of the poor guard and turned himself into a bear.’ You recited the story of yesterday morning to Jeno’s disbelieving face. ‘It’s true! Besides, at least we get to wake up to a smile on our faces.’

‘Yeah, you have a point.’ He paused for a second before giggling again. ‘Chenle is ruthless.’

You couldn’t help but laugh as well, treasuring the rare moments like this. Moments where everything seemed ok, seemed normal, and you could enjoy life and laugh with friends as if nothing else was wrong. However, those moments only ever last a few seconds.

The speakers in your room buzzed to life as a voice cracked through them.

‘All subjects to the rose room in five minutes. All subjects to the rose room in five minutes.’

You both looked at each other and sighed, before climbing out of your beds and grabbing the clothes provided. The guards come in every morning to drop them off. A simple grey jumpsuit, that was all you wore, everyday. You grabbed yours and headed into the bathroom to change. You pulled it on and spared yourself a short look in the mirror. The dark bags around your eyes were prominent, as were the small red dots on your neck. The only traces of what you went through the previous night. You rubbed them, trying to soften the aching before turning to leave the bathroom.

You knocked on the door, waiting for a shout from Jeno to say that it was okay for you to come out, before exiting. Together you waited for the trademark low pitched buzz that signalled your cell door being unlocked, and headed out into the hallway.

As you left you spotted the doctor waiting by your door. The other cells on your floor made the same low pitched buzz, and, gradually, out walked the other six boys. There were doctors positioned by each door, prepared with an injection. You received it every day, a numbing agent, that dulled your abilities for a period of time. It was given to you in the morning, allowing you to do your work and have lunch before it wore off and you went to your training sessions. 

The doctor extended a gloved hand to you, silently asking for your arm. You handed it to her and she rolled up your sleeve. She turned over your wrist and held you by the elbow as she positioned the syringe just below the joint.

The syringe wasn’t the kind they used in the labs. It wasn’t glass with a long metal needle on one end, it was thicker, something that had to be properly gripped with a button on the top to administer whatever was inside.

The doctor gave you no warning before she pushed the button and you winced as the machine let out a hiss, injecting the blue serum into you. You watched as she held out a hand to Jeno and repeated the same procedure. You blinked slowly a few times, the effects of the drug already taking hold.

‘Make your way to the rose room. Now.’ A guard to your left barked.

You turned robotically, your mind fuzzy and clouded. You began the journey to the rose room, your entire being occupied with the simple task of getting there. You had no thought process, no questions running around your mind, you weren’t thinking of anything. You just did what you were told.

You walked down with Jeno by your side, the white walls and floors passing you by with every step you took. You vaguely registered Jaemin joining you in your peripheral vision, but you didn’t turn to look at him. You kept your head straight, your face emotionless and your mouth shut. None of you looked at each other, none of you looked anywhere but straight ahead, and none of you uttered a word. None of you gave an inclination that you were more that walking robots, fully compliant and prepared to carry out any instruction given.

Because, in reality, under this drug, that was all that you were reduced to. You just didn’t realise the danger of that yet.

---

The door to the rose room was already open when you arrived, a guard standing there holding it for you. You didn’t spare a look towards him, your dull eyes kept focus on what was in front of you. You trudged towards your position, finding the spot labelled with your subject number and began your work.

The rose room was a large greenhouse. Inside it was a maze of rose bushes, sporting roses of all kinds and colours. If you were more awake then maybe you would appreciate the reds, blue, yellows and purples a lot more, but in your zombified state, you only knew work. In the middle of the room, however, was a large conveyer belt. 

Your job was to extract certain things from these roses, place them on the conveyer belt, and move onto the next thing. You did this for three hours in the morning everyday.

It was only in the rose room that you saw more of the subjects that were kept in the facility. You were just conscious enough to be aware of the girl and boy on either side of you, and of the fact that you didn’t recognise them.

However, you were blissfully unaware of the guards stalking through the rows of you. They stopped by the boy on your left and grabbed him by the shoulders. You didn’t register the guards movements. You didn’t register the boy being violently yanked out of his position. You didn’t register him being dragged down the halls. You didn’t register his screams.

You did your work.

---

Due to the numbing agent of the serum, time didn’t seem to exist during your work and lunch, so, before you knew it, it was time to train. 

The training room was a very large open space, with an area of it dedicated to a certain activity. Your training works in a circuit. Each of you has an individual routine, specific activities and exercises to work on each day that are tailored towards your abilities. As well as the ability training, you all have fitness training and agility and other physical exercises to complete as well. You weren’t sure what you were training for, but you had been doing it all your life.

Yesterday you had been working on distance training. This was one exercise that was centred around your ability and focused on you trying to move the same object from a further distance each time. It was repetitive and mentally draining, but always gave you good results. Since that was yesterday, it meant that today you were working on your physical agility and assisting it with your abilities. It involved things such as jumping from narrow beams and using your telekinesis to help and support your movements.

You always began without using abilities, trying it by yourself so that you knew where you needed to direct your energy. You started on two long beams that were only around two feet off the floor, and you simply jumped between them, trying to keep your balance. You had to make your way down them while jumping from one to the other, speeding up each time you completed it.

Then, once the instructor watching you was satisfied, you were told to use your abilities. You now used telekinesis to manipulate the air around you to help you jump. It made you jump further and faster, also with safer landings. You continued with this for a short while before the instructor stopped you.

‘Right, now let’s actually put it to the test.’ They said, turning away from you.

You watched them, confused, bending over slightly with you hands on your knees as you tried to catch your breath. You had been hoping for a break so that you could rest briefly but you had no such luck. Your instructor turned around and pointed above them.

‘Up you go’ They said nonchalantly. You followed to where they were pointing and you let out a breath of disbelief. Above you, hanging from the ceiling, were thin beams that were swaying the the minute breeze cause by the movement.

‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’ You thought. But you instructor simply looked at you expectantly and you knew that you weren’t getting out of this. All the other boys were drawing to a close with their exercises, which didn’t go unnoticed by your instructor, so they decided to make a small change to their plan.

‘You get through this once, and then we’re done for the day. Okay?’ They said, nodding with a smile that was anything but friendly.

You took a deep breath and climbed the stairs to the side of the room. On the way up you looked down and watched as Jisung finished his final exercise, meaning that all the boys were officially done. You reached the top and looked out in front of you.

The beams were much thinner than those you had been working on below, and, not to mention, the ropes holding them up looked suspiciously frail. They creaked as they moved and the wooden beams swayed gently in front of you. You knew that you weren’t getting out of here without completing this task, so you jumped.

The first jump was easy. It wasn’t even half a meter long and your telekineses helped you to keep the beam steady. You took careful steps, wincing every time the beam creaked underneath your weight. The ropes groaned as you moved but you kept going, knowing that slowing down would be more dangerous. 

You cleared the second jump again, with a little more effort required, but you couldn’t quite figure out why it was more difficult. You made you way across this one swiftly, keeping you steps as light as possible due to the trembling ropes. The last thing you wanted was to fall now. It wasn’t until you reached the third jump that you realised why it was getting harder.

The jumps were getting bigger.

You swallowed, risking a look down and seeing the seven boys watching you carefully. You took a shaky breath, keeping your eyes on them as you saw Jeno give you a nod of encouragement. You nodded back and lifted your head, determined to finish this. You focused your mind on using the air around you and pictured pushing the particles together to form a barrier. You jumped forward and used that barrier to lift you slightly higher. You let out a sigh of relief when you cleared the distance, but you relaxed too early as you hadn’t taken into account the weight of you landing.

The ropes creaked dangerously loudly and you watched in fear as they began to fray. You knew you had to finish this quickly, or else you would be taking the quick way down. You took step after step, walking as fast as you possibly could to reach the second to last jump. You lifted off again, this time with less preparation due to you worry of the beam snapping, and you almost didn’t make it. You landed, roughly on the edge of the beam, holding onto it desperately in an attempt to pull yourself up.

You could hear the worried intakes of breath from the boys below you, but they didn’t say a thing. They weren’t allowed to. Interfering with another subject’s training had painful repercussions. 

‘Come on y/n.’ You heard Jaemin’s voice echo through your head. You spared a look down to find him looking at you intently. You realised that he must be using his abilities to speak with you telepathically. You didn’t know he could do that. ‘Pull yourself up. You can do this.’

You forced yourself to focus, using your ability to help your legs up and you got onto the beam. You had just straightened up when it started to shake, the ropes of the verge of breaking.

‘Run!’ Jaemin’s voice shattered your dazed mind and you took off. One foot in front of the other, just trying to reach the end. You only had two jumps left to make, one to the final beam and one to the solid platform at the end with the stairs to take you back down to the safety of the ground. 

You launched off the beam and onto the final one, the impact of your landing causing the ropes to tremble. You began to run and they properly gave out. You felt the beam beneath you begin to give way and you placed a final foot as close to the edge as you could, and leaped.

You used your ability the best you could, but you could tell that you weren’t going to make it. Then you felt a sudden gust of air push you up slightly, allowing you to just clear the distance and land in a heap, safely on the other side. 

You lay there on the ground for a second, catching your breath. The instructor’s voice echoed around the training room.

‘Head back to your cells! We’re done for the day!’

---

You and Jeno were making your way back to your cell after dinner. The events of the training room hadn’t left your mind. That final gust of air had saved you. And you knew that it had to have come from Jeno. No one else could do that.

‘Hey Jeno?’ You asked, keeping your eyes on the floor as you walked.

He hummed in response.

‘Thank you for earlier. I don’t know what I would have done without you.’ You said honestly.

He stopped you walking, forcing you to look at him.

‘You don’t ever need to thank me. I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. No matter what, we’re always gonna protect each other yeah?’

You nodded, a smile etching its way onto your face.

‘Yeah.’

You kept walking, turning the corner into your corridor that your cell was near the other end of. On the way to your cell, you passed the lab with its door open. You looked into it as you passed and stopped in your tracks. Donghyuck was on the operating table they had in the middle of the room, being restrained by two guards as he whimpered and resisted. You watched as they clamped metal restraints over his wrists and ankles, keeping him in place. A doctor began to approach him with a scalpel in his hand when the two of you were noticed. The doctor gestured towards the guard who reach forward and slammed the door shut, the lock clicking afterwards.

You and Jeno shared a sad look. The familiar whirring noise of the doctor’s instruments radiated through the door and you winced. You both recognised that sound and knew what Donghyuck was about to be put though. Jeno’s arm came up to your back to begin to guide you back to your shared cell. You accepted and walked with him. You knew that there was nothing you could do.

You hadn’t even got halfway down the corridor before Donghyuck began to scream.

---

9 days had passed since your last lab visit, meaning that you would be back in there tonight. And you were. You hadn’t even finished eating when the guards came to collect you. The other boys watched you sadly as you were escorted away.

You lay down on the operating table waiting for them to proceed. You felt the two guards approach you and you instinctively began to draw yourself away.

‘Strap her down. We don’t have time for this.’ The doctor instructed, frustration already present in his tone.

The guard stepped towards you again, grabbing your hands and pushed them down onto the table you were lying at. He ignored your begs and pleads to let you go and, instead, clamped the metal restraints down over your wrists. He repeated this process with your feet, effectively locking you in place.

You struggled against the cuffs with all you might but couldn’t budge one bit. You were used to being cuffed at your wrists and ankles, but it was when the guard approached you with a large belt, strapping your stomach to the table, that you really began to freak out. Your whole body thrashed from side to side as you tried to break free, but eventually, you found yourself unable to move.

The doctor leaned forward and pushed the guard out of the way. You noticed that, for the first time, there were three doctors preparing to work on you, rather than the normal one. This, and the intense measures that they went to to ensure that you couldn’t move, caused your fear to shoot through the roof.

‘The new procedure today Doc?’ One of the younger doctors asked.

‘Yes. We should be able to get some good data.’ The doctor leaning over you answered. 

You whimpered slightly, terrified of what was about to happen. The doctor leaned further over you, adjusting the scalpel in his hand. You tried to move away from it, but you had no power. The other two doctors held you head and chest, exposing you neck.

You felt the small knife make a long incision on the back of your neck and you couldn’t stop the scream that ripped from your throat. Something was on this knife that was making it unbelievably painful.

‘Don’t panic, she’s just reacting to the acid that’s on the tools.’ The first doctor’s voice cut through.

Acid.

Whatever was happening to you, it was going to be the most painful experience of your life.

And it was.

You screamed and thrashed and sobbed, trying everything you could to escape the merciless torture that was being inflicted upon you. You were cut in areas, injected, and hit with other objects. The doctors measured you reactions to each of these and took notes on how your body reacted.

You eventually transcended the level of pain, you body and mind too broken for you to register the full extent of what you were going through. You couldn’t even scream anymore, your lungs and vocal cords exhausted from the amount you’d used them in the previous hours.

‘Ok that’s enough.’ You heard a voice say. You tried to pry your eyes open to see who was speaking, but you couldn’t move. You could barely even focus on the words that were being said.

‘It’s not your job to tell us what to do.’ You recognised the main doctor’s voice.

The previous voice replied again. ‘It’s my job to keep them alive. Now stop.’

You managed to pry open your eyes and noticed a guard standing in front of the doctor, staring him down. You could’t process what was going on. The guards never stood up for you.

However, something in the guard’s words made the doctor turn back towards you, and when he saw the state that you were in, he swore.

‘Fuck.’ The words left his mouth softly and he suddenly began to rummage through the drawers. ‘Save the data, we need to eradicate this experience. She couldn’t take as much as we thought she could.’

The younger doctor’s voice piped up, a sentence that sent a chill down your spine. ‘We could try it on subject A3. The higher levels of speed mean that he heals faster, we would probably get further on him.’

‘Good idea.’ The first doctor replied.

Subject A3... Mark.

‘Now this is going to wake her up for about thirty seconds before knocking her out again. But she still isn’t going to have control over her limbs so you need to get her back to her cell, understand?’

You assumed the doctor was talking to the guard, but your eyes had closed again. The weight of your eyelids being too much to hold open in your current state. You tried to protest as the doctor tiled your head to the side, but all that came out was a choked whine. You hissed as the needle pierced your skin and something was injected into you.

You head spun violently as your body registered the new drug and you felt as though you were going to throw up. Your eye shot open as you gulped for air, your newly freed arms coming up to scratch at you throat.

Not even two seconds later, your entire body was numb. You couldn’t move, stand or pick yourself up even if you wanted to. The guard approached you, holding one of your arms over his shoulder and supporting your waist with the other. He lifted you up and walked you out of the door. Until the doctor’s voice caused a sudden stop to his movements

‘Ten? Not a word of this to anyone.’

The guard, Ten, didn’t move, didn’t even turn back to look at the doctor, but he didn’t need to in order to understand the threat. He made his way down the corridor, swearing as you slipped slightly from his grip. You watched the floor begin to spin under you feet as you were carried back to your cell. He finally reached the door, swiping his key card in the lock and kicking it open before throwing you back inside.

Your limp body hit the floor with a hard thud and the door closed behind the guard as he exited, locking with a click and a buzz. The ceiling spun above you and you couldn’t move to pull yourself up from the floor to get to your bed. You just registered Jeno’s worried face coming into your vision when it all went black.

---

You woke to the same high pitched beeping you did every morning. This time, however, to the view of Jeno’s head on your bed too. He had fallen asleep on the floor, watching over you throughout the night.

He stirred slightly, groaning as the beeping woke him from his slumber. He lifted his head, turning suddenly to look at you, his eyes widening when he saw that you were awake.

‘Y/n? Are you okay?’ He asked, concern etched on his features.

You opened your mouth to speak, but all that came out was a hoarse croak. You throat burned from the previous night and you winced at the pain. Jeno stood quickly, running into the bathroom to get you a glass of water. He came back and handed it you, watching as you gulped it down.

‘What did they do to you?’ He whispered, watching you form sadly. 

‘I don’t know.’ You whispered back, unable to speak any louder.

The door buzzed open and a guard walked in, the number 10 easily visible on the strap on his upper right arm. He placed the new grey jumpsuits on the end of your bed began to walk away again. The guard stopped in the doorway and turned back.

‘The rose room has been cancelled.’ He informed the two of you. ‘Instead, you train in the morning, then go for lunch and have a free afternoon. Get out of bed y/n.’

Both yours and Jeno’s heads shot towards the guard as he left, the two of you frozen in shock as the door locked shut.

‘Tell me you heard that too.’ Jeno breathed.

‘Yep.’ You confirmed, your brain running at a mile a minute.

‘They never address us by our names.’ He stated, and he was right. You were always addressed by subject number, nothing else.

‘Yep.’ You repeated.

‘Only by subject number.’

‘Yep.’

‘What do you think it means?’ He asked, turning away from the shut door to look at you.

‘I don’t know.’ You shook your head, your eyes still locked on the cell door that was staring back at you.

‘Why was it only you?’ Jeno wondered aloud.

‘I don’t know.’ You knew about as much as Jeno did so you honestly had no idea why he was asking you all these questions.

‘How do you feel about it?’

You paused, not knowing how to answer the final question that, for some reason, made your blood run cold. You turned to look at him.

‘... I don’t know.’

---

You and Jeno were the last to enter the training room. You both scanned the guards surrounding you all, but when none of them had the number 10 on their armour, you shared a disappointed look. Before arriving, you had decided to keep a look out for that guard, to see if there was something that separated him from the others. Something you could notice that would give you a reason as to why he used your name rather than your number. Once the eight of you were in the room, the guards turned and left, shutting the door behind them. You all stared at the shut door, then at each other. You had never been left alone in the training room before. Never.

What was wrong with this day?

You walked towards the physical agility station, confused when you saw Chenle standing there, preparing for his training. You weren’t sure why he was there when it was your turn for that station. He turned around when you approached him, his confused features mirroring your own.

‘Umm I’m meant to be on this station today.’ You informed him, not quite understanding why he didn’t already know that. You had all been on this training timetable for as long as you could remember.

‘No you’re not.’ Chenle replied bluntly, staring at you as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

‘Yeah, I am.’ Chenle shook his head at you but you persisted. ‘Yes, I am! I was on distance training yesterday so now I’m on this. Aren’t you on strength and conditioning?’ You stared at him expectantly but instead watched as worry spread across his face.

‘Y/n...’ His voice was low, quite as if he wasn’t sure how to tell you this. ‘You did physical agility three days ago.’

‘What do you mean?’ You asked, unable to quite wrap your mind around this new piece of information.

‘I mean you did this activity three days ago.’ He repeated, his eyes widening with worry. ‘Don’t you remember?’

You shook your head and took a shaky step back. By this point the other boys had begun to notice the conversation between the two of you, prompting them to come over and see what was wrong. Jeno placed a hand on your should, having just overheard the last two sentences.

‘Y/n, what do you remember?’ He looked you straight in the eyes.

‘I don’t know.’ You repeated the words you had already said multiple times today, fear and frustration growing. 

‘What did they do to you in that lab?’ He questioned, desperate for an answer.

‘I don’t know.’ You could hear the emotion creeping out in your voice.

‘Think!’ Jeno said, shaking you by the shoulders gently.

‘I don’t know! I don’t remember!’ You raised your voice, your body beginning to shake. All of the other boys stared at you in horror and you fell into Jeno’s hug whispering a scared. ‘Why don’t I remember?’

It was Jaemin’s voice that spoke the words you were all thinking but too afraid to say, scared of what it would mean for you all.

‘They wiped her memory.’

---

You eyes opened to the harsh light above you as the same rhythmic beeping woke you up. Even though you have woke up to the same noise for as long as you can remember, it still drives you insane to listen to it.

You rolled over, pulling your pillow over your head as you waited for it to stop. You felt a weight on the side of your bed and hands gently pull the pillow off your face. You opened one eye to be greeted with Jeno’s smiling face. You couldn’t help but let out a smile at the little crescents his eyes made each time he smiled. It always managed to make you happy as well.

You rolled onto your back and shut your eyes again, pulling one arm over to help block out some of the light that was still making its way though. Jeno’s hand came up to rub your arm comfortingly.

‘How are you feeling today?’ He asked, his voice slightly raspy from just having woken up.

You groaned out as a response

‘I don’t know. Better, I guess. We talked about it a lot yesterday which helped. At least now we know how much I’m missing.’

You removed your arm from your eyes and looked at the boy above you who was nodding.

‘Three days, including an entire visit to the lab. We have to assume that something happened that they didn’t want you to remember.’ He mused, the logical and rational side of his brain showing.

‘But what?’ You wondered. It annoyed you so much that the only person who had these answers was you, and you couldn’t even remember them.

The cell door buzzed and a guard walked in. You lifted your head to get a look at his number. 23. No luck. He threw the jumpsuits onto the end of your bed and then proceeded to stare at the two of you.

‘Stay apart. No need to be that close.’ He ordered, but neither of you moved. ‘I said, keep distance between the two of you. Stay on your own bed!’ 

He took a step forward, as if he was preparing to pull the two of you away from each other, but you acted faster. You threw your hand out, making a pushing motion and watched as the guard flew out of the door, landing on his bum a few feet back. 

He stumbled to his feet, attempting to stammer out an insult or some other kind of attempt to show off his power, but instead just settled on slamming the door shut. 

The lock buzzed and Jeno turned to look at you, shock and amazement clear on his face.

‘How did you manage that? That took almost no effort.’

You sighed.

‘I’m tired.’

Jeno’s brows furrowed at your reply.

‘But you’re like me in that being tired means it takes more effort and focus to use your abilities.’

You nodded at him as you explained yourself.

‘Yep. But I’m not that kind of tired. I mean I am, but most of all, I’m tired of this. This life, whatever it is. I’m tired of being treated like I’m a monster, I’m tired of the experiments, I’m tired of the training, I’m fed up with being here.’ You turned your head to look at Jeno after your confession and watched as he nodded with a sad but understanding smile on his face.

‘Yeah... me too.’ He admitted, his voice soft.

‘I know.’ You whispered.

---

You exited your cell, ready for the day and saw guards lined up by your door. You and Jeno shared a confused look, wondering where the doctor’s were, when the guard next to Jisung began to speak.

‘From now on, we’ll be administering your serum.’ He then turned to the boy in front of him. ‘Arm out.’

The guard by your door did the same, grabbing your wrist and exposing your inner elbow. He placed the syringe just below the joint and pressed down. You winced at the feeling that you were unfortunately used to and stepped away so that Jeno could get his. You then waited for the usual symptoms to hit you, watching as your friends turned into the comatose shells of themselves that you were expecting.

But they never came.

Your mind remained as sharp and aware as ever, and you could feel every thought that ran through your mind. You turned back to look at Jeno and, one look at his eyes told you that he was feeling the exact same thing. Your eyes flickered towards the guard who administered your serum and you focused on the number on his arm.

10.

Jeno followed your gaze and looked back at you with wide eyes. The guard began to walk towards the two of you and, out of the corner of your eye, you could see the other guards doing the same so you didn’t think too much of it. Until he began to speak.

‘You’re heading to the rose room.’ He then made sure to look the both of you directly in the eyes. ‘And you’re under the usual effects of the serum.’

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving both you and Jeno alone. You decided to just do what he said and head to the rose room, but you made sure to act as though you were feeling the usual effects of the serum. You moved lethargically, dragging your feet and keeping your eyes ahead at all times. Jeno did the same, both of you faking it the entire way there, while wondering what the hell was going on.

---

You stood at your usual position in the rose room, gathering ingredients and putting them on the conveyer belt like you always did. When you entered the room it was hard not to react to anything. The range of brilliant colours blinded you as you entered and it took everything in you not to just stop and stare.

You noticed that, out of the all the subjects there, that you guessed would be around one hundred, it only looked like your group was under the serum. The rest of them seemed very much aware of their surroundings and what they were doing. When gathering the ingredients you took a quick look at what it was exactly that you were gathering. When you got a glimpse of the label, your heart stopped. These were the same bottles that were found in the lab. It wasn’t until you managed to look over every different object obtained from the genetically modified roses, that you realised you had spent your entire life gathering the solutions and serums that the doctors had used to perform experiments on you.

You had been assisting in your own torture.

You found yourself standing at your final station, a girl you didn’t recognise on your right and the space to your left was empty. The guards began to march between you all, weaving their way through the working subjects. They stopped next to you, so close that you could feel their breath on the back on your neck.

The hairs on your arm began to rise and goosebumps began to form at the close contact. You prayed that they couldn’t see your reaction, knowing that it would give away your state. But they weren’t there for you.

The guards grabbed the girl on your right by her shoulders and pulled her backwards. They held her underneath each arm and dragged her out of the rose room. Her screams, struggles and pleas for help went completely ignored as she was eventually pulled out of sight. No one took any notice, not single subject seemed to realise what had just happened. You could her your heart pounding louder than every before, the girl’s screams still echoing in your head, haunting your thoughts.

A sudden bell sounded through the rose room, one that you recognised as signalling the end of the session. You turned in your spot, waiting for your turn to leave as all the subjects filed out of the rose room in orderly fashion. The fact that the girl was taken at the end of the session made you nervous. Is that what the guards were doing when walking through you all? Looking for their next target? And how long it would be until it was one of you?

---

After the longest day yet, you and Jeno were back in your cell. The door locked behind you and you both turned and stared at each other in disbelief.

‘How much have we missed by being under the serum?’ You asked.

‘They must only put us under it so that they can get away with doing all those things, it’s not to protect us at all.’ Jeno stated and you nodded in agreement.

‘And did you see what we were gathering in the rose room?’ You brought up, watching as Jeno’s eyes widened in realisation.

‘The solutions they use in the lab! And what did they do to that poor girl?’ His voice softened as you both thought about the subject being dragged away from you all, begging for help.

‘I didn’t even know her name.’ You muttered.

‘Me neither.’ Jeno admitted. ‘But did you notice, I don’t think anyone other than our group was under the simulation.’

‘Yes!’ You agreed. ‘I saw that too. Everyone else seemed perfectly aware of what was going on.’

Jeno nodded and you sat down on your bed, your brain feeling as though it was about to explode.

‘Huh...’ You mumbled, a sudden thought crossing your mind.

Jeno turned his head towards you, his eyebrows furrowing at the confused look on your face.

‘What?’ He questioned.

‘It’s just... the other subjects were definitely awake. It was obvious that they hadn’t been given the serum that we normally are. So, why didn’t they react to that girl being taken by the guards.’ You pondered.

Jeno thought for a moment, sitting down on his own bed opposite you.

‘Maybe they’re used to it.’ He suggested. ‘We don’t know how often that happens, it could be considered normal.’

‘I guess.’ You conceded. ‘But they didn’t react at all... I mean, even if you’re used to it, she was screaming for her life and they didn’t even spare a glance. It’s strange not to take any notice of that. I mean, we only didn’t because we had to act as if we were still under the serum.’

Jeno didn’t reply for a second, his eyes fixated on his hands that fiddling were in his lap.

‘Why do you think we weren’t given the serum?’ He asked, looking up at you.

You opened your mouth to tell him that you had no idea, but the lock on your door buzzed, and it swung open. Four guards stalked in causing you and Jeno to both stand out of shock. You were never disturbed at this time unless it was to take you to the lab, and it was Renjun’s night tonight.

Two of the guards approached you, the other two heading towards Jeno.

‘What’s happening?’ Jeno asked, but he was ignored.

Not a words was uttered by the guards as they grabbed you by the arms and began to drag you out of your cell. You began to kick and scream, struggling with all your might to break free.

‘Jesus, why can’t she go quiet?’ One of the guards complained, earning a groan from his partner.

‘Just get her to the lab and stop complaining.’

The lab...

You began to throw yourself about, desperate to not go back there, whatever the cost. You had no idea what it was that was making you react this violently, but your instincts kicked it and told you to fight with all your might.

Upon seeing you reaction, Jeno tried to reach for you, but he was stopped by the other two guards who grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him back. They held onto him tight as he tried to break through them.

‘Y/n! Let go!’ He yelled out, trying to land a hit on one of the guards.

‘Jeno!’ You called back, kicking out with your feet in an attempt to throw the guards off balance.

‘Y/N!’ You could hear Jeno crying out for you as you were pulled out of the cell completely. You just managed to see the two guards holding Jeno throw him to the floor before they turned to leave. They locked the door, with you on the outside and Jeno on the inside.

You continued to be dragged away, crying out for dear life, begging someone to come and help you. But no one did. They all acted as if you didn’t exist. You couldn’t help but wonder if this was how that girl had felt earlier. Screaming and pleading for someone to save her, only to be treated like a ghost.

Jeno’s screams for you could still be heard halfway down the corridor, along with the heavy banging against the door from him throwing his body against it in an attempt to get out.

As you approached the lab door, every morsel of your being was telling you, screaming at you, not to go back in there. But you didn’t have a choice. The two guards threw you into the lab, one of them following you in, before the door was locked shut. You were stuck in the lab with one doctor and one guard, and you were terrified.

You banged on the door, trying desperately to get out. You were so frantic that you couldn’t hear the doctor trying to get your attention. It was only when you realised that they were making no effort to restrain or cuff you that you managed to calm yourself down slightly.

You turned away from the door, the tear tracks down your face prominent. You weren’t sure when you had started crying, the utter terror you had been feeling having taken over your entire body.

The doctor took one step towards you, holding up his hands as if in surrender, but also to show you that he wasn’t holding anything.

‘Well done y/n. Just try to keep yourself calm okay? Breathe... Can you do that for me?’

You didn’t reply to him, simply staring at the man that seemed to act as if he cared for you. These doctors didn’t care for you. Normally you would be handcuffed to the table, screaming in pain by now, but for some reason you were standing upright being told to breathe.

The guard to your left took off his helmet, causing you to take a breath of surprise. You had never seen a guard with his helmet off before, much less one this close. You gawked as the man smiled at you, a genuine, comforting smile that for some reason made you feel safe.

The doctor began to speak again.

‘Y/n, we’re not going to hurt you. In fact, we’re trying to help you. My name’s Doyoung and this is Ten.’ 

‘Uh huh...’ You stuttered, not really managing to get any real words out.

‘Ten administered your serum this morning, the serum I created for you. And you probably don’t need me to tell you that it was a fake.’

You nodded at the doctor’s words, still trying to calm your racing heart.

‘We did that because there’s a lot that you don’t know about this place that we think you should.’ The doctor, Doyoung, then turned to the guard. ‘Ten can you get her some water?’

The guard, who you assumed went by his uniform number 10, nodded before standing up.

‘Do you want to sit down?’ Doyoung asked, pulling up a chair for you.

You nodded, gladly taking the chair and very grateful that he didn’t ask you to sit on the table. Ten offered you a glass of water, which you took with a small smile as thanks. You took a sip, relishing in how the cool liquid managed to calm your mind.

‘Ok, keep going.’ You said and Doyoung’s eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘Why are you surprised? Like you said, after what I’ve seen today, I’m not so sure that this place is really meant to keep me safe.’

Doyoung sighed and looked down sadly.

‘It isn’t. This place isn’t designed to keep you safe, but rather to keep you in. It’s a prison. I know that to you it seems as though there are hundreds of people here, but there aren’t. Only the eight of you on your floor are being kept here.’

You let out a deep breath you didn’t even know you were holding.

‘A prison...’ You whispered. ‘Only for the eight of us?’

Doyoung nodded and Ten placed a comforting hand on your shoulder.

‘Why us?’ You asked.

Doyoung and Ten shared a look, making you dread what was coming next.

‘Please, just tell me what I am.’ You begged, so tired of having spent your entire life not knowing the most basic thing about you.

‘Doyoung, she needs to know.’ Ten said, as Doyoung sighed.

‘Yeah, I know. There’s no easy way to tell you this y/n. The world fell into chaos slightly. Political leaders began to clash more and more with each other and, before we knew it, we were on the brink of a third world war. One that, this time, really would involve the whole world, and with the creation of nuclear weapons, our government want something that would set us apart from everywhere else. He decided to turn his intentions to modifying humans. He exposed children to certain chemicals and levels of radiation when they were young to see if anything had an affect on them. Eventually he found success, but at a very large cost.’

‘How large?’ You whispered, scared of the answer. Ten spoke up this time, making you turn your head towards him.

‘He tested on over three hundred thousand children. You eight are the only survivors.’

You didn’t know how to react. Eight out of three hundred thousand. Who would be willing to pay that high of a price?

‘What does that make me? A weapon?’ You asked, your voice quiet, almost inaudible.

‘You were human, at some point. Now, we’re not sure. I would believe the closest definition is a mutant of some kind, but y/n, you have to remember that this doesn’t define you.’ Doyoung leaned forward but you shook your head.

‘I’m not human, I’m a mutant, a weapon, an experiment. I’m nothing more than an experiment, a toy for you to play with in your lab. That why I’m prisoner here. I’m a monster.’ You were spiralling, caught up in a mess of reality and new information, you couldn’t control where your mind was heading.

‘Y/n, Doyoung is right, this doesn’t define who you are.’ Ten tried to reassure you but you whirled on him.

‘Doesn’t define me? Yes it does! It literally is what I am, how can you say it doesn’t define me?’ You accused.

‘Because you’re more than that! Beneath all that’s been done to you, all we’ve done to you, we know that you’re people. You are human, you think and feel as we do, you love like we do, you die like we do. And who gives a damn about what made you what you are. It’s who you are that matters.’ Doyoung stood up during his small speech. He somehow managed to verbally slap some sense into you, allowing you a brief moment to calm your mind.

‘The others need to know.’ You blurted, your thoughts suddenly drifting back to Jeno.

‘Yes, and we will tell them.’ Ten reassured.

‘Tonight.’ You insisted. ‘They’ve been through exactly the same thing I have. Why should I get to know the truth and they shouldn’t?’

Both Doyoung and Ten looked at each other, having short, silent conversation before Doyoung sighed and agreed with you.

‘Ok, tonight. Ten go and fetch them from their cells. The doors are locked so the corridors should be empty of guards.’

Ten nodded and left the room quickly, stopping briefly to scan the hallways and only continuing once he knew it was clear. The door automatically shut softly behind him. You suddenly remembered something else Doyoung said, causing you to turn back to face him once more.

‘What changed your mind?’ You asked, only receiving a very confused look from the doctor in return. ‘You’ve worked on us for years, as a trainee then as a real doctor. You haven’t had this position long, so why are you risking everything you’ve worked for? When did you start to think of us as humans?’

A guilty look crossed Doyoung’s face.

‘I’ve done some terrible things to you, to all of you, over the years, and I cannot apologise enough for that. I always thought... that we were doing the right thing, the thing that should be done. We needed something to set us apart or, before we knew it, we would be a speck of dust on the ground, bombed within an inch of our lives. But that was over ten years ago, and you guys haven’t left the facility once. I kept telling myself that it would be worth it, that this was all being done for a reason, and that you would understand that. But then I was in the lab and something made me look at a subject differently. The way he acted, it was something so vulnerable, so human, that it changed my perspective completely.’

‘What was it?’ You asked, immersed in Doyoung emotional words.

‘It was Jeno. He was undergoing a procedure that had been done a thousand times before, but the head doctor that day decided to make some changes. I don’t know what he did, but Jeno started to scream, and not just shout out in a bit of pain, I mean, properly scream. I could hear the strain on his vocal cords and he started crying out and begging for help like I had never heard anyone beg before and he kept calling for the same person over and over.’

‘Who did he call out for?’ Your voice was shaking slightly, your emotions running high at the thought of what could have made Jeno scream out like that.

Doyoung looked at you, complete sincerity in his eyes.

‘You. He called out for you.’

Before you could reply, or even process this information, the door to the lab burst open and the other boys all piled in. Jeno spotted you, alive, awake and well and made his way towards you immediately. He pulled you in for a tight hug as soon as he reached you, wrapping his arms securely around your waist. 

‘Oh thank god, you’re okay.’ He whispered. He pulled back and brushed the hair out of your face, holding your cheeks in his hands while he searched your face for any sign of pain. ‘Are you okay?’

You nodded in response. ‘Yeah I’m okay. But you guys need to hear this.’

You watched as Doyoung and Ten explained to the other boys what they had just told you. You watched as they went through exactly the same reactions that you did. And you watched as each of them managed to process this information in their own way.

‘There’s only one thing left to tell you all.’ Ten said, watching as eight pairs of scared eyes looked up at him. ‘We’re going to break you out.’

‘I’m sorry, you’re gonna what?’ Renjun asked, voicing the shock you were all feeling.

‘You’re more than just subjects, more than just experiments, you’re people. And you don’t get the chance to just be people when you’re trapped here. So tomorrow, we’re gonna break you out.’ Doyoung explained.

‘Tomorrow?’ Chenle questioned and both Doyoung and Ten nodded in confirmation.

‘What’s happens after that? Where do we go next? All we’ve known is this facility, so what will we do outside of it?’ Jaemin piped up, thankfully thinking ahead for all of you.

‘I already have a truck ready for us to escape in tomorrow, from there we will drive out of range so that they can’t detect us. Doyoung and I know some people who are willing to help. We’ll stay with them for a while and then, eventually, reintegrate the eight of you back into the world, and allow you to lie the normal life you’ve always been deprived of.’ Ten spoke. You sat there silently, just taking all this information in. You were getting out, and not only that, but also going to get the life you never thought you would ever be able to. You weren’t sure what life would be like on the outside, but as long as you had the guys there, you knew you would be okay.

You felt a pair of eyes on you and turned your head, only to catch Jeno staring at you with an unreadable expression on his face. He looked away as soon as you noticed him, clearing his throat before asking one last question.

‘So... how are we getting out of here?’

---

You lay in bed that night, unable to sleep. You knew that you could probably do with a good rest, but your mind was so active that it was impossible. You couldn’t tell if Jeno was awake too, worried that if he wasn’t you might wake him from your constant moving. Doyoung revelation about him calling out for you when in pain was plaguing your mind as well. You had often found yourself thinking of Jeno when you were undergoing procedures in the lab, but you had always dismissed it as wondering what state you would be in when you were returned to your roommate. Was it possible that it was something more? You can’t deny that you’ve felt something for Jeno, he was kind, compassionate, empathetic and so damn loyal to you.

‘Y/n?’ Jeno’s voice disrupted your thoughts, causing you to jump out of your skin.

You swallowed before replying.

‘Yeah?’

‘Oh you’re awake too.’ He mumbled.

‘Yeah... I can’t sleep.’ You admitted.

‘Me neither.’

The conversation stopped for a minute and, for the first time since you met him, you didn’t know what to say to Jeno. You felt colder in your bed than you ever had before and you wanted nothing more than to crawl into his and fall asleep there.

‘Y/n?’ Jeno spoke again, much softer this time.

‘Yeah?’ You whispered back.

‘I’m cold...’ He confessed and you could almost hear the blush that you knew would be dusting his cheeks.

Before you let the surge of courage you felt pass, you climbed out of your bed and padded softly over to his.

‘Move over.’ You instructed, gently tapping his side.

He did just as you told him too, moving himself to the edge so that you could climb in. You lay facing each other for a while and you found yourself unable to tear your gaze away from his eyes. He lifted up a hand to move a stray piece of hair out of your face and sighed.

You shut your eyes slowly, hoping that by being closer to him you would be able to get some rest. The only problem was, the beds that you slept on were not the largest and could only really fit one person. You found yourself almost pressed up against his chest and that made it very hard for you to calm your rapidly beating heart.

‘Hold on, bear with me for a second.’ Jeno mumbled as he moved himself around slightly. You squeaked in surprise when you felt his hands come to waist, pulling you halfway onto his chest as he settled down on his back.

‘Is this ok?’ He asked hesitantly, and you nodded in response.

Even though you were practically lying on top of him, you couldn’t deny that this position was much more comfortable. From here you could hear his heartbeat and you allowed the consistent rhythm of it to help lull you to sleep.

You wrapped your arm around his waist, the other coming up to rest on his chest as his arms found their way around your shoulder and stroking your hair. You closed your eyes and felt yourself finally drift off to sleep, almost missing the soft sentence Jeno whispered into your hair.

‘I don’t know what will happen once we get out of here, but please just... don’t leave me. I think I need you more than you know.’

---

For as long as you can remember, you have woken up to the sound of the high pitched repetitive beep of the alarm. Not today.

You were quickly pulled out of your sleep to the sound of alarms blaring, red lights flashing and shouting in the corridor. You and Jeno shared a sleepy but scared look before quickly climbing out of bed. You bit your lip slightly in embarrassment as you remembered the position that the two of you slept in last night. Jeno approached your door and pushed on it gently. The door swung open and the two of you stared in disbelief.

You followed him out into the corridor and found yourself standing in the middle of the chaos. Guards and doctors were running up and down the corridors shouting commands and arguing with each other while the eight of you all stood in your doorways, confused to high heavens.

‘Grab them now!’ You heard one of the doctors yell as you were finally noticed. ‘They’re not getting away.’

You saw a guard lunge for Chenle, who quickly turned into a fly and disappeared from sight. Three other guards ran towards you and Jeno, their intentions obvious and the two of you immediately began to move. Jeno threw up a gust of air, knocking them off their feet, while you pulled doors open and moved their legs so that they were constantly tripping over.

‘Guys we have to get out of here now!’ Mark yelled over the noise.

He suddenly appeared from nowhere, making you jump.

‘They somehow found out about our plan, either we leave now, or we’re never getting out.’ And with that he was gone, disappearing at the speed of light.

Jeno opened up a hailstorm on the guard in front of him, his efforts useless against the tough armour that they were wearing. You pulled out a metal drawer from one of the cells and used your telekinesis to ram in into the guard’s leg.

He crumpled where he stood, his head landing hard on the concrete. Your eyes went wide as he lay there unmoving for a second, until he let out a breath and groaned in pain. Jeno’s grabbed your arm and shouted something at you that you didn’t quite catch, you eye still fixated on the guard in front of you.

You really were dangerous. You had hurt someone. And it had taken very little effort from you to do so. What could you do if you really wanted to hurt someone? How badly could you hurt someone without meaning to? 

You lost focus on your surroundings, Jeno’s sudden pull on your arm causing you to lose balance. You managed not to fall over, but it slowed you down. You forced yourself to focus, to think rationally, to prioritise leaving and then you could figure out the extent of your abilities.

But you were too late. One of the doctors noticed your stumble and grabbed a taser from a fallen guard. They quickly pushed it into, electrocuting you where you stood. You mouth fell open as a scream tore out of it and your body collapsed onto the ground.

Your mind went fuzzy, everything around you slowing down as you tried to take it all in. You vaguely registered Jeno screaming out for you as you lay on the cold floor. You lifted your eyes and stared into the open door in front of you. It took you a few seconds to realise that you were staring into the lab. You watched as one of the guards cornered Doyoung, who stood with his hands up trying to explain something. They didn’t listen however, and you watched as the guard pulled a gun out of nowhere and squeezed the trigger.

Doyoung doubled over, a red patch forming on his stomach. His back hit the counter behind him and he sank down towards the ground, the pain evident on his face. The red mark on his shirt was growing by the second until it covered half of his lower stomach. You found yourself staring into the dull, lifeless eyes of the one doctor here who had actually tried to look out for you.

Your eyes welled up with tears, blurring your vision. You barely felt the arms that hooked under your elbows and began to drag you down the corridor. The last things you registered before you blacked out were Jeno screaming for you, and Doyoung’s dead body.

--- 

‘God this kid is a pain.’

‘I know man, I don’t get why we have to be stuck here with her.’

‘Doyoung though? Hmmm, I didn’t see that betrayal coming.’

‘Really? Out of everyone, I’m least surprised that it was him. He always had the weakest stomach when it came to things like this.’

You heard the voices before you even realised that you were awake. The guards in your room were having a casual chat while they waited for you to wake up. Your head was pounding and your mouth tasted like pennies. You scrunched up your face in discomfort, trying to open your eyes but with little success.

‘Oh, look. I think she’s coming back...’

You groaned out slightly, your mind suddenly becoming aware of the pain your body was in. You forced your eyes open, regretting that choice as soon as you were blinded by the harsh white light of whatever room you were currently being kept in.

You blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to your surroundings, before taking a quick look around. You definitely weren’t in your cell anymore. You found yourself chained to the wall, literally. There were heavy metal cuffs around your wrists, ankles, stomach and even your neck. Each of those cuffs were attached to a chain that was embedded into the wall behind you.

They had taken every measure possible to imprison you somewhere they knew you wouldn’t be able to escape from.

You lifted your head and found yourself staring at two guards, both with their helmets off. They looked at you with such patronising looks on their faces, but you couldn’t focus on them. Your eyes were trained on the cupboard behind them, an open cupboard that you could see was filled with guard uniforms.

One of the guards followed your line of sight and laughed.

‘You’re not in our cloak room, don’t worry sweet heart. You’re in the maximum security room at the end of the hall.’ 

Your blood ran cold at his revelation. No one who entered this room ever made it out alive. But then, that was before you learnt that there were only eight of you actually being held in this facility... You really had no idea what this meant for you.

‘Allow me to explain.’ The other guard took a step forwards. ‘Every time you get drugged and tiptoe off the the rose room to do your work, we walk in and grab a random person standing next to one of you and drag them back here. Now their job is to just scream and kick and draw as much attention to themselves as they can while everyone else ignores them. Once they get here do you know what they do? They get back into their guard uniform and go back to work. All those people you know, everyone in the rose room with you, all of them are one of us.’ He let out a laugh. ‘I can’t believe you were stupid enough to think that they were real subjects!’

The first guard joined in, enjoying taunting you when you were at your most vulnerable.

‘God you really are stupid aren’t you?’ He commented. ‘You thought you were getting out? You’re never going to get out of here. You’re simply going to be stuck here for the rest of your life.’

The other guard laughed again.

‘Yeah, you know that war you were made for. It’s not going to happen so you really aren’t ever getting out. You’re too scared to hurt one of us, how would you ever be useful in a war?’

‘God you’re such a waste of space. I can’t believe that out of the hundreds of thousands that went through the initial testing, she was one of the few to survive.’

‘Tell me about it. Why is she even in maximum security? She probably wouldn’t hurt a fly.’

The guards continued with their taunts, each one crueler than the last. You tried everything you could to block them out, but it was difficult. Especially when they were right, you had been useless. It’s because you were too scared to hurt a guard’s leg that all of you are stuck here forever. This is your fault.

‘No it isn’t.’ Jaemin’s voice echoed through your head, startling you. ‘Ignore them y/n. None of this is your fault, it’s theirs. Don’t forget who put you there in the first place. Now, listen to me, you need to get out of there. Now. I don’t care how you do it, but y/n, it’s time to go.’

The guards continued to taunt you, telling you how powerless you were and you started to feel your anger grow. Jaemin was right, these people did put you in here. They imprisoned you, tortured you and the people you care about. They put you through hours upon hours of pain, just to tell you that you weren’t good enough.

You pulled your hands closed into fists and focused your mind like you never have before. You channelled your anger into your being, thinking of everything you’ve lost, everything they’ve taken from you. A family, a normal life, the ability to just be human. You felt the power rumble from within you. It was like nothing you had ever felt before. It grew from your soul, feeding off your raw emotions, evolving and mutating as it made its way throughout your limbs. It finally reached your head and your opened your eyes. They were pure gold.

The guards stopped their conversation and stared at you in fear, completely at a loss as to what they should do.

You finally understood. You weren’t human. You were so much more than that. And it was time they learnt just how powerful you could be.

You threw your head back, and screamed.

You unleashed all the power within you as a sheer bolt of energy. The chains imprisoning you shattered, falling to the floor. The guards were throw backwards, both of them hitting the wall with a sickening crack, and your door was blown off its hinges. You stood and began to move, feeling every part and every being in the universe working with you and you knew, this is what true power felt like.

You had no idea how to come down from it, you were so taken over that you didn’t feel the hand that gently found its way into yours until you were being turned where you stood and found yourself looking into Jeno’s eyes.

‘Come back to me y/n.’ He whispered, pulling you into his chest and stroking your hair. You let go of all the anger you were feeling, choosing instead to ground yourself with the boy in front of you. ‘We have to go.’

‘I heard.’ You mumbled, pulling yourself away from him chest.

You ran through the corridor, gathering all the boys on the way. Jeno had managed to create a mini hurricane in his room, effectively blowing his way out of the cell he was in. Jisung quite literally just barrelled straight through his door, but he once again misjudged his strength and couldn’t stop himself. He kept going straight into the door on the opposite side of the corridor, luckily bursting it open it for Renjun.

It the situation weren’t so dire you probably would have fallen over laughing at the scene in front of you. 

Chenle turned into a midge and flew through the key hole of his cell door, making you admire the boy’s talent to find a loophole in every scenario. Jaemin used his mind control to get the guard who was watching him to open the door for him. Also making the guard bow for him as he walked out as a finishing touch. You couldn’t help but smile at that. Jisung pulled off the doors of both Mark’s and Donghyuck’s cells and the eight of you ran.

You turned a corner and barrelled straight into a guard. All of you threw up your hands, ready to fight, until you saw that it was Ten. Instead of getting a punch in the face, Ten found himself with eight superhuman teens hugging him with all their might.

‘Ok, let’s do this later, the truck’s outside. Go!’

He pushed you all off his and pointed towards the door in front of you. You ran towards it, turning your head to the left as you passed the lab and not missing Doyoung’s body, still lying there on the floor. You swallowed back your tears, promising that you would mourn him properly later, and pushed forwards. You burst out of the doors, shocked beyond belief to find yourself in a lobby of some kind. Your entire life, you thought you had been in the sub basement section of a facility, but really you had been above ground the whole time.

You didn’t have time to marvel however, because, as soon as you were spotted, the alarms went off. They blared through the building and you took that as your cue to leave.

Jisung ran first, easily breaking the main doors open, despite their heavy lock, and the eight of you poured outside. You saw the truck that Ten had mentioned, the trademark number 10 a sign that it was yours. It was on the outside of the barbed wire fence that surrounded the facility. The fence was too high to climb so you took a deep breath and held your arms out. You pulled them apart, imaging a rip and watched as the fence tore in two.

You all sprinted through the fence and piled into the truck that was waiting for you. There was a fabric roof and some metal beams making the skeleton on the inside so you held onto that as you climbed in. Mark moved around to the front seat and you look out, waiting for Ten. You needed him to drive this truck as none of you could. 

Ten finally appeared, running at full speed towards you.

‘Go!’ He screamed. ‘Just go!’

You wanted to shout back to him but you never got the chance to. The gunshot rang out loudly and Ten fell straight to the ground. He lay face down in the grass, not breathing, not moving a muscle. 

He was dead.

‘Mark... Mark drive. We need to go.’ Donghyuck’s shaky voice tore you out of your trance. Mark moved himself so that he was in the driver’s seat and turned the key.

‘Ok, I can figure this out.’ He reassured himself.

‘Well can you do it now because we have some rather unfriendly company arriving in about thirty seconds. And you don’t want to know what they’ll do if they catch us.’ Donghyuck warned, making all your eyes widen in fear. When the boy who can see the future tells you that something is going to happen, you’ve learnt that the best thing to do would be to listen to him.

Mark moved the gear stick into ‘D’ and slammed his foot down on a random pedal. Luckily he seemed to get the right one because you all lurched forwards, speeding away from the facility. Mark’s super speed means that he has extremely fast reflexes, making it very useful for when he needs to learn a new skill. He reacted quickly to the movements of the car and it didn’t take long before you were smoothly driving away from the prison that was also happened to be the only home you’ve ever know.

Renjun shuffled in his seat, facing his body out the back of the truck and towards the facility. He lifted up his hands, turning his palms out before suddenly clenching them into fists. He then sat back down, his back hitting the seat as he let out a deep sigh.

‘Just a quick image of an empty field. It’ll throw them off the scent long enough for us to get out of here.’ He explained before leaning his head back and shutting his eyes.

You looked back at the large building that was disappearing rapidly into the distance and thought of Doyoung and Ten. The two who risked everything so that you could all be where you are now. And they were the two who paid the ultimate price.

You felt your eyes beginning to droop, the gentle movements of the car lulling your tiring body to sleep. You felt Jeno’s arm come around your shoulder and you leant into his warmth, relishing in the comfort of being close to him. Only now did you realise how exhausted you really were. You allowed your head to fall onto Jeno’s shoulder, feeling his arm tighten slightly around you, and you felt safe.

For the first time, ever, you felt safe.

[thisnoodlewritesao3]

The Girl Who Radiated The Sun - Part 1 | Sugawara Koushi/Reader

Characters: Sugawara Koushi, Reader (Sunshine), mentioned: Azumane Asahi, Shimizu Kiyoko, Sawamura Daichi. Original Characters: Previous!Reader(Moonlight), Kado, Joji, Etsu

Pairings: Sugawara Koushi/Reader

Warnings: jealousy, drinking (Suga, Reader, and Moonlight are all 22-23), implied/referenced depression

Word Count: 4165

Summary: Working at a café had been your dream come true, so was meeting Sugawara Koushi. Things were so perfect that you didn't notice the tides shifting until it was too late, and the moon had already piqued her way over the horizon.

A/N: This took me far too long to finish, and I am so sorry for that for those of you who have been waiting for this. If you haven't read this series before, then check out the other two parts for Moonlight and the start of her story, as well as Angel too. A big thank you to @pies-writes-and-more and @satan-ruler-of-hells for keeping my head in place while I wrote this. I could not have done this without you my loves.

Previous | Series Masterlist | Next

--------

People have always intrigued you; their stories and the worlds around them that you’d get to glimpse into if you really paid attention (and you paid attention). There wasn’t anything more exciting to you.

That was why you loved your job at a café, you could observe the people around you with such ease. Some you only got to see for that day, some maybe a few more, but others would come weekly - maybe more. You had a few favourite characters in this little story.

The first was a tall, skinny man with brown hair. He always wore a suit and adored a black coffee every day - to go, obviously. Most of the time he was on the phone, grumbling to some poor human about a task they failed to complete, but the few times he wasn’t were more intriguing. He had a very calm air about him then. Very charming (especially when he tried to flirt with you, to no avail). He always tipped 200 Yen, telling you to treat yourself to something nice - you always wanted to pour his coffee over the expensive suit.

Next was the tired mother and her daughter. Every Friday, 3:35 on the dot, that’s when they showed up. The daughter would squish her cheeks together and gasp at the array of cakes before picking a cheesecake. The mother would smile almost sadly before getting herself whichever tea you’d recommend that day - normally a green tea, but you’d change things up sometimes. They were always a relieving sight. You knew the mother was single, listening as the daughter bragged about what she’d be doing with her dad this weekend. You watched the twinkle in her eye dwindle at the mention of her father, but the mother smiled through it all and smiled so sweetly. Such a brave woman.

And finally, one woman who had held your intrigue for the entire two years she’d been coming. Every single Saturday she’d enter, always ordering a tea and daifuku with anko filling. For the first year, she seemed so hopeful as she nervously rubbed her hands together; the few times you’d actually talked to her, she told you about her boyfriend, how she was waiting for him to call. And for a while, he did. Then slowly, she stopped getting that call.

She only ever missed one week - when you asked her about it the next week, tears pricked in her eyes and she broke down. You took her into the back quickly, ushering away the peering eyes of your co-workers so she could feel secure. You learnt her name, but you’d come to call her Moonlight (something about her just reminded you of the moon), and in turn, she’d call you Sunshine (because something about you reminded her of the sun).

You never talked outside of the café, but she seemed to open up just a little more with each passing week, discovering new things about her that you hadn’t expected. Things that exceeded your expectations. Only once did she show up with three small children in tow (Kado, Joji, and Etsu), and it was absolute hell - but the best day you’d ever worked.

Kado and Joji were truly little demons, just turned 5 and already forces to be reckoned with. Etsu was about to be 3, a beauty already. Despite being their sister, Moonlight acted more like a mother. It was almost sad to see.

Moonlight was somehow so open and yet so closed off at the same time; every inch closer you’d step towards her, she was pushing back. Always at arms reach. You could try and slip past her barriers (if you could figure out which ones actually led to her).

One week, you awaited her arrival with bated breath; something in the air today had you more nervous than usual and you couldn’t quite figure out what it was. You’d just gotten back off of your break when she arrived, smiling so beautifully. “Same as usual?” You chirped, already writing down her typical.

“For me, yes,” she chimed. Something about her was glowing more today - subconsciously, your brows twitched upwards, trying to figure it out what she meant. Your confusion seemed to click with her because she elaborated, “oh, I brought someone with me again. He’s just… I don’t know what he’s doing.”

Almost as if on command, the door to the café opened and in walked a man, a cheeky smile plastered on his lips. Something about him made it impossible for you to not look at him; then his eyes landed on her and you knew you never stood a chance. “What’re you ordering, bitch face?” He asked, snorting as she rolled her eyes.

“Make your own decision, Suga tits.” There’s a chemistry between them that you can’t quite figure out; enough space between them to leave it up to the imagination. Either old friends or lovers, now was the task of figuring out which it was? She glanced down at her phone, brows furrowing - he must have seen in the corner of his eyes because he immediately looked worried.

After he figured out his order, they sat down at a table and kept up their light chatter.

You hadn’t expected her to move on so quickly since whatever heartbreak she’d faced just over a year ago, but you were happy for her. With this boy - Suga, you guessed - she was able to open up and smile so freely. There was nothing forcing it.

You were happy for her, you told yourself.

----

The next week, Moonlight returned by herself, holding her hands in front of her and smiling ever so sweetly. “Hey.” You smiled so brightly, and she returned the gesture (you noted the emptiness in her eyes now that Suga wasn’t here). “Your usual?” You asked, and she nodded. “So, where’s that boy you were with?” You hummed, looking up at her.

“Oh, Suga?” She asked, and you could only nod because you didn’t really know who he was. “He’s got some work to do today; tough life being a university student, I suppose.”

“I wouldn’t know.” You laugh. There’s a questioning look in her eyes, but she slowly manages to piece things together and nods.

“Same. I only know what I know because of Suga and-” there’s a moment of hesitation and her expression falls to a sadness you recognise. You know exactly who she is thinking about in that moment and are quick to distract her.

“So is Suga, like, your boyfriend…?” That works and she looks up at you cackling with laughter, her head tossed back as she clutches her stomach. Her laughter is infectious in the nicest way and you giggle with her.

“God, no!” She calls out, brushing away tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes. A mixture of disgust on her face answers your first question, but it raises so many more in its place. Like a ‘one door closes and twelve more open’ sort of situation. Before you had a chance to ask, she had a chance to explain, “he’s just, I guess, my best friend.”

You nodded slowly and she glanced up at you as you mused, “I see.”

The smirk that tugged at her lips spoke a thousand words. “Why? Do you think he’s cute?” She asked, resting her head on her hand. The warmth that spread to your cheeks was a tell tale sign, but you denied it anyway. She only laughed and brushed you off.

You hoped that that would be the end of that conversation. That you wouldn’t have to face up to these feelings any time soon (because they weren’t really feelings). Of course, Moonlight had other plans.

You were cleaning off the table she’d sat at after she left when you noticed a piece of paper on it. All you could think was oh no.

Carefully, you unfolded the paper, and you were greeted with a little message - obviously from Moonlight. It read:

So, ya like Suga? Perfect, because he told me he thinks you’re cute.

xxx-xxx-xxxx

Go get ‘em :D

You hid the squeal of excitement at the words on the paper, but your co-workers would be sure to question why it was suddenly like you were floating for the rest of the day.

----

Had there ever been someone more perfect than Sugawara Koushi? No!

That was what you thought, of course, because Sugawara Koushi was an angel disguised as a devil. Sure, he liked to play little tricks and tease, and sometimes he could get a little too aggressive with his ways of love. But underneath all that was a soft interior that made your heart melt.

Every interaction with him left you on a high - which meant you were like this on, basically, a daily basis. Who knew that just a few months of dating and a month of officially being together could make your world so full of life of joy.

And the best part? He felt the exact same way.

You’d be sure to thank Moonlight for this opportunity to be with him until the day that you’d die. Without her, you never would have gotten this far; you would have passed up the greatest opportunity for love that you’d known. And for what? You didn’t even know.

“You know, I think you’re pretty cool.” You hummed one afternoon, curled up next to him on his couch, the film you’d been watching not long ago forgotten so you could trace the shapes on his face. Something so soft in his features as he looked at you. God, you just wanted to kiss him, and hold him, so much for so long.

“I think I’m pretty cool, too.” He chuckled, brushing a strand of hair out of your face.

You only laughed and pushed yourself away from him - a small defiance - but he was quick to grab your wrist and pull you back.

“I guess you’re okay, too.” He planted a soft kiss on your forehead and you rolled your eyes.

That was the thing about Sugawara Koushi: his heart was so open and warm to the world around him. To the people who he held near and dear to him. You just happened to be lucky enough to be one of those people.

“I’m more than okay and you know it.” You said, resting your head against his chest and listening to his even heart rate pick up ever so slightly.

You wouldn’t call it love, not yet, not when it’s still so early into it. But you do know that you both care for each other so deeply, more than anyone will ever care about you, and more than anyone will ever care about him.

For a little while, it feels like the whole world only revolves around the two of you.

So much that you can’t see something rising over the horizon.

----

Of course, good things always seemed to get interrupted for you.

Sugawara was your world, but that was the thing about worlds, they’d normally bring along a little something else with them that you might not notice until it’s too late.

For you, that something would be the very thing that brought you together. Moonlight was great - you knew that - and she had no intentions of ever dating Sugawara - or trying to steal him from you. But when they interacted, you couldn’t help but feel inferior. Like you were the third wheel in their world. Like they had a bond that you could never be a part of.

“Are you sure nothing ever happened between you and her?” You’d tease, trying to keep the air lighthearted as he looked at her with a content sigh - his expression switched to that of disgust, and you knew your fears were unwarranted.

Honestly, you don’t really know what you were expecting, you knew they were close when you started dating him. Yet you couldn’t stop the sickening feeling of jealousy twisting your stomach, making your skin crawl. Those feelings only got worse when they’d laugh together about something that happened so many years ago. Moonlight was snorting, clutching her stomach like her life depended on it.

It only made it harder when she depended on him. You knew why - she just simply didn’t have anyone else other than Suga - and you didn’t mind, not at first, not until he’d answer her calls in the middle of your date and leave you wishing you’d never texted him that evening after Moonlight had given you his number. Wishing you’d never met him. Wishing it was just as easy as giving up.

And the more you looked at her, the more you knew you could never compare. Though she looks slightly older for her age, slightly more tired, the beauty she radiates is far more than you have. Her laugh is so contagious; humour perfectly matching his in every way that yours can’t.

You speculated that it was because they’d been together so long - that thought would be correct - but you couldn’t help it. You wanted to be close to him. You wanted what they had. How were you meant to do that?

And so what if you end up reading more into their relationship than you should, a little jealousy is healthy, right? Watching the way they interact and wishing it was you is normal, right? Begging that she’d find someone more captivating and leave him alone for good isn’t a horrible idea, right? That you’d finally get to have some time with him and not feel alone. God, that would be nice.

You resist the urge to cry as she leans into him while they exchange their laughter; Suga glances at you and you offer him a smile. Sure, it was nice they’d invite you on their weekly excursions (you’d pretend that the fact you got a bi-weekly date didn’t affect you), but you were like an awkward piece to the puzzle. You fit, but something was missing.

Or maybe you didn’t fit as much as you thought you did.

----

So maybe you invited her to a night out, just the two of you.

And maybe you started drinking just a little more than you normally would because you were nervous.

And maybe you ended up getting into an argument with her that went something along the lines of you telling her that you hate her because she is always with Suga. And her telling you… something?

Once again, these were all just maybe’s, you couldn’t remember what happened last night at all. Not with the pounding in your head. You felt light and heavy at the same time, and the water Suga kept offering you wasn’t doing you any good.

He ran his hands through your hair and looked down at you sadly as you mumbled into your pillow.

You really wish you could remember what you’d said last night (at least, not exactly). The only thing you can visibly remember was the sickening look of sorrow in her eyes. A look you recognised from some time after she’d ended things with her ex; had your words really hurt her that much? You doubted it, she was probably just putting on some sort of act to try and make you feel bad. You couldn’t feel bad.

Maybe you should have felt bad because Suga kept looking at his phone with worried eyes. Normally, she would have been messaging him so much, checking up on you and making sure that you hadn’t died in the night. Today: nothing.

You wanted to tell him that she’d message soon, but you weren’t sure. “How are you feeling?” He asks, putting his phone to one side and gently cupping your cheek.

“Like shit.” You mumble, nuzzling closer into his warmth, tossing an arm over his body. Suga lets out a soft chuckle as you smile. “How’s Moonlight?” You ask, but it’s half-hearted and you don’t know why.

“I’m sure she’s fine.” He assures you, but there’s hesitation in his voice and it makes your stomach sink. “Did something happen last night?” You can feel his eyes on you, trying to work out why she wasn’t checking up on you. If only you remembered.

“I don’t know.” You admit even though you are aware of something happening. “I can’t really remember anything.” You say. His face shifts, but he looks away before you can fully understand the expression. God, if only there were an easy answer for everything.

That night you manage to distract him from his sadness with snacks and a movie.

If only snacks and a movie could fix everything.

----

It isn’t until he comes home late from work a week later, crying and completely drenched head to toe that you understand something is not right. Something more not right than what you thought.

He tries to avoid your hugs, but gives in and eventually melts into you. He grips the back of your shirt tightly, like he’d fall apart if he let go. Like he’d fall apart if you let him go.

You choose not to care about the fact his tears are soaking through your shirt, or that he’s created a wet spot on the carpet from his drenched clothes, or the light pain as he holds you closer. Right now, he needs you.

It takes some time, but you manage to get it out of him; he’d gone to visit Moonlight after he’d finished work to try and see what was up with her (because she’d stopped calling and messaging him entirely). Apparently, she hadn’t even let him in the door, refused to talk to him about the problem - because you were the problem - and told him to leave her alone.

Even as he tried to get her to open up and talk about it she just refused. Of course, the conversation lasted longer than he thought, but only because Kado and Joji had forced the man inside. Moonlight tried to tell them no, but they weren’t listening to a thing she said (though that wasn’t exactly a new situation).

You tried not to think about how this was most definitely your fault. The fact that his current problems were because of you.

God, you should have just sucked it up, dealt with it. She made him happy - but not as happy as you - she hadn’t done anything wrong. And yet… you were jealous. Why?

Thinking about it made your head hurt, so you focused on rubbing slow circles on his back, humming a soft tune to try and distract both of you from the thoughts that wracked your brain. Maybe it all hurt more because Suga had always been so much stronger than anyone you’d known, and yet, here he was, broken in your arms.

You helped him strip off his clothes, saying, “you wouldn’t want to catch a cold, would you?” And he agreed, letting you whisk him upstairs, running him a bath. His eyes were dull as he looked to the side, barely keeping up any conversation with you.

It hurt. More than you ever thought it would.

----

You really regretted ever thinking that things would be better if Moonlight wasn’t here. If she’d left your life.

The moment she’d left, she seemed to take a part of Suga with her; sure, he was still Suga, he’d tease and and make fun, and you’d end up in laughing fits, but there was something missing in how he works.

You’d watch his eyes light up when his phone buzzed, only to die immediately.

You winced inside with each night that he’d ask you if you’d heard something, anything, because he was worried.

It was like something inside of Suga was programmed to protect Moonlight, but he would never tell you why. Like it was some sort of trade secret between the two of them. Another thing you’d never get a chance to be a part of.

Things became just a little harder after she’d stopped visiting the café. It was abrupt. After almost four years of knowing each other, it was over. She’d taken herself out of your life as well as Suga’s. Did you even have any right to be upset with her?

No.

Every time you watched him jump at the sound of the door, you knew it was your fault, because the disappointment that would follow was more than enough to break your heart a thousand times over. Maybe even more. Definitely more.

You wished you could make this pain go away, you just didn't know how to. If Moonlight was in the picture, then it might end up destroying your relationship with Suga; but if she wasn’t in the picture, then Suga was… well, he was depressed.

He’d smile at you weakly from his end of the couch before he looked away, eyes void of emotion.

You ran your hands through your hair, sighing to yourself as you poured the coffee for a customer, feigning a smile.

----

You wished things weren’t like this.

You wished feelings weren’t messy.

You wished that you knew how to make things better.

Even when Suga told you he’d be okay, you couldn’t help but not believe him.

You bit back the tears in front of him, gave him the sweet kisses that he needed at the moment; when you were alone, it was a different story. You could only feel guilt.

God, you felt stupid. Time didn’t make things better, they made things so much more worse. A few months had passed since your maybe-argument with Moonlight and nothing had changed (though Suga did cling to you considerably more now).

When you were at work one weekend, Suga had found an old box of memories from his high school years. You returned just in time, catching him holding onto an old picture of the third years from his volleyball club.

“What’s that?” You called out from the door frame. He looked up at you, a little surprised, but his face softened and he motioned for you to join him. You did, not even hesitating.

“I found this box,” you glanced around as he explained, humming a little at the small memories that were spread across the floor, “and this is a picture from our last year in high school.” He passed you the picture.

There were two faces you didn’t recognise (another face you knew to be Azumane Asahi. You’d only met him once or twice, but he was very nice - though rather timid).

One belonged to a girl with black hair and glasses, a small smile on her lips, but her eyes were shining with such joy in this moment.

The other face was a boy. He had short brown hair and the most charming smile you’d ever seen. Stood just a little in front of this boy was Moonlight, looking barely younger than she did now, but her eyes were glowing with so much happiness. Next to her was Suga, so relaxed and awash with content that it was almost strange.

“Is that Moonlight?” You asked, checking your facts.

“Yep,” Suga nodded, looking at her with a sigh.

“I didn’t know she was part of the volleyball team…” you hummed, resting your head on his shoulder.

You can’t see his face, but his tone of voice is enough to tell you what you need to know. “She wasn’t.” A question lingers on the tip of your tongue; you don’t need to ask it, he’s already explaining, “she, um…” he pointed to the boy with the short brown hair. “This is Sawamura Daichi, he was… her boyfriend.”

“Oh…” you were smart enough to fill in some gaps, but Moonlight had never told you what had actually happened between them.

“You know,” Suga sniffed, starting to pack away the things back into the box, “I know things get hard sometimes. And that I’m really close to Moonlight, but I hope you know you never had anything to worry about. I knew that girl for almost six years. I’ve seen her at her worst, never at her best though.” You nod, not really sure how to respond. “Before I met you, we were the only people who really understood each other; I’m in love with you, though.”

You feel your heart warm at the sound of that; yet something in his eyes kept you from feeling so elated.

“You’re my everything, but…” he paused. Of all places to pause, he paused there. And why?

You knew why.

Like how every world needed a sun, Suga needed you. You provided him warmth; helped him to thrive; you brought light into his life that he could never describe. But worlds need more than just a sun to thrive. Worlds need moons to hold back the tides; to light up the darkness; to reflect your love further and deeper.

And right now, your world needed his moon.

--------

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[hopetofantasy]

Culture, parallels & meta - S2 E10

Zaterdag 09:56

Perfect parallel: 

Zoë laughing off Senne’s supposed ‘flirt attempt by telling her his childhood sob story’ at their first date, Zoë actually hearing his and Viktor’s childhood sob story from Gill in this episode.

Viktor’s manipulative “He would have these crazy temper tantrums” about Senne in E6, Gill stating the true “Viktor used to throw these crazy temper tantrums” in this one.

Oopsie: Before the “Viktor and I woke up naked together in a bed”, Gill’s hair is in front of her face. After that, her hair is tucked behind her ears.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Gill mentioned that Viktor was 14 when the accident happened, making Senne 11/12 years old at that time. 

°

Maandag 11:45

C is for culture: 

“That’s a rental book, you realize that right?” - In a lot of secondary schools, course books can be rented instead of bought. The content doesn’t change that often anyways, so it’s cheaper to offer them for a certain fee to the students. Though, at the end of the school year, they have to be returned in the exact condition. Paper workbooks or prints, however, have to be bought. 

“Come on, warm waffles!” - There are actually two types of Belgian waffles: the Brussels and the Liege. The girls bought warm Liege waffles, which are thicker, chewier and with uneven edges. The Brussels one is more a rectangular shape, with a lighter and crispier texture.

Funny coincidence: Luca’s “Free at last” sounds like the quote in Martin Luther King’s speech ‘I have a dream’.

Nod to the OG: The song ‘Paradise’ by Coldplay.

Perfect parallel: Amber’s tired “Why are you always so loud?” directed towards Luca in S2, Noor’s hungover “Do you have to be so loud?” to Amber in S3.

Lost in translation: Amber saying "We gaan een terrasje doen" (literally: ‘we’re going to do a terrace’), it’s an expression indicating that you’re going to drink something on the outside (summer) terrace of a bar. 

Oopsie: The girls pass along a college campus, after they step off the tram, and cross the street for the ‘Groenplaats’. But then it cuts back to the girls passing the college campus again, right before crossing. 

Hello from the outside: The girls pass along a parade of mustached men, with Jana mimicking the facial hair with her napkin. This parade was actually part of the ‘2019 World Beard & Moustache Championships’, which was held in Antwerp on Sunday the 19th of May. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The girls picking up the papers Luca tossed in the air. Them all walking along the crossing in Beatles’ formation (like the Abbey Road album). Luca is eating two waffles at once.

°

Maandag 12:58

C is for culture:

“Robbe. Robbedoes!” - Luca calls Robbe the nickname ‘Robbedoes’, a reference to the Belgian comic ‘Robbedoes & Kwabbernoot�� (English version: ’Spirou & Fantasio’). Its two main characters are spontaneous journalists who run into fantastic adventures, aided by the pet squirrel ‘Spip’ and their inventor friend ‘the Count of Champignac’.

“Are you going to Rock Werchter next week?” - Rock Werchter is a large, annual pop/rock music festival in Werchter (near Leuven). The four-day event is organized every first weekend of summer vacation. The number of attendees can rise up to 149,500 people for the whole festival, with a noteworthy influx of international festival goers in recent years (British, French, Dutch, Australian, South African, ...). It has three spin-offs: ‘TW Classic’, ‘Werchter Boutique’ and the French ‘Main Square Festival’ in Arras.

Perfect parallel:

Jana buying her summer outfits at C&A in S2, her shopping at the same clothing chain - with Noor helping her - in S3.

Yasmina again hinting at a (former) crush on a boy, just like the earlier conversation with Zoë in S2 and doing the same in a conversation during wtFOCKDOWN.

Lost in translation: Luca's "Eentje is geentje" (= literally: ‘One is none’), stating that it’s better to drink/eat/do at least one or more than having missed one (thing). 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Robbe's eyes dart upwards for a millisecond, after Jana asks "For Blonde Ambition?", confirming that he indeed voted for them.

°

Dinsdag 08:42

C is for culture: What’s with the last week of school? Well, after the December/April/June exams, the school can fill the days before the break with what they want. Most schools give their students a couple of free days, others might organize fun excursions or festivities. On the last Friday, however, they’ll hand out report cards and discuss them with students/parents.

Perfect parallel:

Zoë quickly darting away to avoid Senne in E7, Senne doing the same to her in this one.

Her making up lame excuses not to contact Senne in previous episodes, Senne’s “My phone was turned off. I didn’t want to be distracted while I was studying. Sounds familiar?” here.

In the first episodes, Zoë keeps saying that she won’t fall for what Senne says - his flirt attempts or lying stories, in this episode she states “I’m not falling for your bullshit” - his statement about wanting to leave. 

Zoë saying “Isn’t it time to get over it?” to Senne in S1, her “You should stop feeling so sorry about yourself" in S2.

Zoënne letting go of each other’s hands after a painful conversation in S2, Sobbe doing something similar after their make-up kiss in S3.

An upset Senne left behind in a high school hallway in S2, a sad Robbe ignored in a college hallway in S3.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Senne’s slight nod at Zoë’s “Away from me?”. 

°

Woensdag 11:44

Perfect parallel:

Zoë acting cold, because she doesn’t trust Senne, in the earlier episodes. Senne looking for reasons to be cold, because he’s scared of people being too close to him in this one. 

Senne’s “I don’t believe that” at Zoë’s statement that her parents don’t love her in E4, Zoë saying “I don’t believe that” at him denying his love for her in this one.

Zoë always running towards Senne - to chase him, to apologize, to talk - in previous episodes, him running towards her - to make-up - in this one.

The song ‘Nightcall’ by London Grammar played during their first kiss in E3, the same one plays during their reunion in this scene.

Their kiss can be compared with their first kiss, only quicker and more frantic: her rubbing his cheek, pausing to smile in relief, wrapping her arms around his neck, putting the palm of her hand under his ear, Senne messing up her hair, her squishing his head between her hands.

The movements of the sex scene in S2 are similar to the ones from S1 and S3. Foreheads leaning on each other before a kiss, a cut to pushing themselves through a open door, a hand caressing along the side, a neck kiss, kissing down a stomach, fingers gripping a back, a hand through the hair, a cut to both of them having naked chests with one on top. 

Nod to the OG: 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Zoë never ends the call with Jana. (Awkward!)

°

Donderdag 09:32

Perfect parallel:

The entire cuddle scene in S2 can be mirrored with the Sobbe hotel clips in S3: the way they’re positioned (big spoon-little spoon, face towards each other), movements (caressing cheeks, going through each other’s hair), the kisses (forehead kisses, cheek kisses, full-on making-out) and the looks they give each other (Zoë looking up at Senne).

Senne saying “He can’t get away with this” in this clip, repeating it in the next.

Zoë inviting Senne to come live with her in S2, her offering a room to Robbe in S3.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Zoë is still wearing her white and black hair tie on her right wrist, like she consistently does throughout the season.

°

Vrijdag 15:43

Perfect parallel: 

The theme of their FreeFest team was ‘80s flashback’ in S1, Luca wears an 80s-inspired-outfit in S2.

The season opening with a (washing machine) door to Zoë’s POV, ending with an aerial shot away from her in S2. The third season opening with a door that Robbe opens up to a party, ending with an aerial shot - through the roof - away from him. 

Zoënne kissing at a party while their friends cheer in the background, before the camera pans away at the end of S2, Sobbe experiencing the same in S3. 

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe pushing Milan away from him, saying “Get off me, faggot”. Moyo can see what’s happening and laughs at his embarrassment.

Hello from the outside:

Somewhere during the exam period (I can’t find whén anymore), Luca and Amber made tiny exam motivational quotes, which were spread out all over Antwerp. Fans of them found them and made pics.

At the party were a ton of Belgian influencers, who made multiple insta stories of being there at the same time that the clip dropped.

Where’s Wally? Hey, look, Keisha dancing with Jens and Moyo, Britt in the crowd with Gill, Max' making some dance moves towards Luca and Lisa is vibing with Milan. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Jana mouthing ‘hoi’ (= hey) to Luka. The tiny nod Jens gives Robbe, so that they go upstairs. The millisecond of hurt on Luka’s face when he noticed Jana greeting Jens and her lingering look on him afterwards. 

[seodami]

Sucked in | CSC

INTRO

Summary: After a stressful year full of work and assignments, all you wanted to do was relax in the old, cozy library across the street from your apartment. Little did you know, your plans all vanished as you suddenly found yourself inside one of your favorite Mangas ‘My little ghost’ . A totally different magical world where soulmate connections exist. And it definitely didn’t help that you aggressively hit the main characters pretty nose with a book right when you arrived. Oh and how could you ignore that adorable squish ball, who just happened to be someone who you never thought existed...your soulmate? Will you ever find your way back home or spend the rest of your life inside a comic book? Or do you even want to go back after all what you’ve went through?

Genre: Comic AU, soulmate AU, fluff, angst, ...

Pairing: Comic Character!Choi Seungcheol x reader from another world

Sucked in MASTERLIST | Previous | Next

“Why in the world do you worship this Comic so much Y/N? I know the dudes look good but...” your friend Suyeon suddenly pulled the already slightly wrinkled comic book from your grip with a frown on her face.

“But what? Leave me and my comic alone. My life is completely fine looking at them every day.” You huffed in an attempt to try getting your book back but without success. Suyeon was was taller than you and held it up high over her head. In moments like these you wanted to damn her glamorous 179 cm of height.

The tall girl shook her head aggressively with you nearly clinging onto her. “I’m serious. All I see is you reading this over and over. I’m slowly concerned about your mental health.”

You sighted. Of course you wouldn’t want her to know that she was right. Even when it was just a little bit.

“Stop it Suyeon, it’s really not that bad. I just...really like it. That isn’t bad at all, isn’t it?”

“I think it’s more of an obsession by now. You know, you could read other books. I have plenty of recommendations. Nicholas told me about some. They seemed interesting.”

You looked up to her, seeing that she unconsciously lowered the comic. You took the moment to grab it with an evil laugh.

“I don’t care what your boyfriends recommendations are. I’m perfectly fine with this one. Maybe another time.”

Suyeon besides you whined. “He’s not my boyfriend stooopp. You always tease me.” With a swift roll of your eyes and a small smile on your lips you shook your head.

“Honey, I’m just stating the obvious. Also you deserve that after you stole my comic.”

She huffed and shoved her hands inside her jacket pockets. The walk towards your shared apartment went peacefully compared to earlier and soon enough you arrived at the olive green building in the corner of the street. You always loved the building.

Inside, you quickly shook off all your extra layers and layer down in your bed with the Comic still in your hand.

You stared at the cover, wondering what Wonwoo and Nari, the two main characters of the cartoon named ‘My little ghost’, would be doing right now. Would they still try to find a way to be together?

You sighted. You knew very well that getting that deep into a fictional story was bad. Pretty bad. Sure it’s great for escaping reality but you just seemed to be way too attached to it by now. Why couldn’t you just let go? Read another comic. Go outside and get a dog or whatever. But yet, you were still here, figuring all these characters personalities out while fantasizing how it would be if they were actually real.

You quickly flicked through all the colourful pages, having read it already a dozen times. Nostalgia hit you like a truck. This book accompanied you through many years of your youth. It already felt like a part of you. And that send you in a state of slight panic.

Maybe Suyeon was right. Maybe you actually needed some more variety in your dull life. This comic couldn’t be the only thing in this world making you happy.

Suddenly you remembered the old library across the street from your apartment. The one you never saw anyone ever entering or leaving. You wanted to check it out years ago but never had the guts nor the motivation to be honest. Maybe it was time to spice it up a bit and just dare it?

With another sight you pushed yourself off your bed, leaving the old comic behind. With a quick explanation to Suyeon, where you were going, you already headed out dressed in your checkered coat since it was freezing cold at this time of the year. You only managed to grab your phone and some spare money before you left.

Like predicted, it wasn’t far away from the olive green house. The small building had a vintage look to it and seemed like you expected pretty abandoned. You took a look through the dirty window, seeing nobody inside. But what you did saw, was a small light bulb being turned on.

You grinned, heading towards the door, pulling it open bit by bit. The heavy wooden door creaked slightly from the movement but soon closed itself again as you were standing inside now.

A musty smell crept into your nose, immediately reminding you of your grandmothers house. The light inside was dim but you could still figure out where what was. Some people might would find it eerie but you surprisingly found it pretty comfortable. It felt familiar to you in some way. You couldn’t describe the feeling very well.

You took a look around. From the inside it looks way more spacious and higher than from the outside. There were golden ornaments all over the ceiling and the shelves. The corridors between were wide, which led to an area of cozy looking Polsterer chairs and round desks. From down here you could see a second and maybe even a third floor, full of colourful book shelves. It nearly took away your breath. It was gorgeous.

Regret filled you that you have never visited this place before. Such a wonderful place. It nearly felt magical being in here. Like you were in another world.

“Good Morning Miss, may I help you?” Suddenly a fragile woman voice echoed through the big room, revealing a small old lady in a purple dress. She had a nice smile on her lips. She was definitely that old lady you wanted to get cookies from and pet her cats. She seemed friendly.

You cleared you throat, forgetting for a moment why you actually were here in the first place. You stepped a bit closer.

“Good Morning. I...I think I’m fine for now. I’m sorry if I’m seeming weird, I’m just starstruck right now.” you commented smiling back at her.

“Oh why, darling? It is your first time here, am I right? Most people tend to react like that when they first visit, even though it is not many.”

All you could do was nod. “It is. I was planning to visit years ago but never seemed to have done it. I wish I would have come earlier. It is beautiful in here.”

The lady chuckled and made her way over to you. “It really is, right? I own this library for over 50 years now and I’m still in love with it.”

You couldn’t help but smile genuine over her touching words. “Now tell me what you are searching for young lady, I see it on your face.

You nodded with wide eyes. “You do? I mean I was reading this one comic book for years and years and I really loved it. But I came to the conclusions that I needed some more variety.”

She nodded with a smile still present on her face as she now was standing a few feet away from you. “So you are searching for more comic books, I see. Follow me, follow me. We indeed have a great collection.”

The old lady went ahead of you, signalling you to follow her. You noticed she was even smaller than you. Her purple flows summer dress swayed evenly with each of her steps, making you want to wear such a piece as well. It totally contradicted the cold weather outside but you loved it.

“I really like your dress. It’s pretty.” you quietly commented trailing behind her. She grinned at you from behind her shoulder. “Thank you darling. I really like it too. Seems like we have the same taste.”

“You know, you really remind me of myself back in the days. I was obsessed with comic books as well. I have the feeling this place is exactly the right one for you.”

“I was thinking the exact same just now.” You giggled amused. As you went through some more corridors, left, right and then left again and a last right turn, you arrived at a section with two big shelves full of comic books. They reached up high to the ceiling.

You gasped in awe. Never would you ever had expected such a great selection. Right across the street!

The friendly lady laughed at your reaction, gently patting your shoulder. “Enjoy yourself. Let me know when I can help. Oh, and don’t forget the key.”

You stared at all the different books, literally screaming for you to open them. You didn’t even register the lady disappearing back to her usual place probably, but you replayed her words once more. Key?

You quickly shoved it to the side when you let out an excited squeal. It was just amazing. You have never seen so many in one place, not even in other libraries or book stores.

You started tracing your fingers across the book spines while reading the different titles with tilted head. This didn’t feel real at all. How could no one know about this place?

Suddenly your sleeve got caught up by something, which made a book stumble out of the shelf and fall onto the floor. Quickly you kneeled down to pick it up again. However, you stopped in your tracks as the title chaught your eyes.

“What a weird coincidence...” you mumbled to yourself, noticing that it was indeed the book you wanted to forget in the first place. ‘My little ghost’

You wanted to put it back, when you noticed that the cover looked somehow different... both of the characters were looking directly at you, instead of somewhere different. “What? Is that a special version?”

You opened the first page and frowned even more. Instead of credits standing over the whole page, there was a small text in cursive letters printed right in the middle.

Your fingers gently stroked over the delicate words written in french. You did learn french back many years ago in school but it was a long time ago to remember everything.

“Me transporter maintenant er ici. Je Vaud tout cover maintenant.” You slowly spelled out each word after another, being surprised by your still present acceptable pronunciation.

You hummed, closing the book once again before placing it back into the shelf. You would love to read it again but that wasn’t why you were here in the first place. Variety, yes!

You quickly grabbed another comic book, which title sounded interesting and made your way towards the comfy armchair, sighting as you sat down and began reading.

You started to become more and more immersed in the new story line and soon didn’t even notice anything around you anymore.

You also didn’t notice how a huge wave of tiredness rolled over you at some point. And not even minutes after, sleep tightly had wrapped its arms securely around you.

[shockpop]

         being  a  textbook  overthinker  is  a  strong  suit  denki  is  not  particularly  known  for .    a  head  regularly  presumed  empty  has  worked  to  incessantly  churn  the  argument  on  playback  over  the  course  of  three  days ,   violet  staining  crescents  beneath  his  eyes  at  some  point  between  the  late - night  mumbling  and  a  time  wherein  he  doesn’t  even  remember  falling  asleep .     his  oh - so - gracious  host  is  left  at  a  loss  when  she  is  forcibly  tasked  with  shoving  him  awake  each  morning .    

as  much  an  empath  as  mina  prides  herself  in  being ,   it  ain’t  exactly  a  cakewalk  to  get  into  a  neurotic’s  mindset  when  he’s  the  one  insisting  that  he’s  fine ,   that  everything  is  fine    ;    practiced  charisma  a  much - appreciated  plus  in  attempts  to  persuade  his  longtime  best  friend  that  he  just  needed  a  little  breathing  space  from  the  situation .     because  that’s  what  they  have  to  call  it ,   now .    ‘ the  situation ’ .

this  was  all  before  denki  proceeded  to  peel  himself  from  eyesore - chartreuse  cushions  an  hour  late  each  day ,   and  the  reason  why  mina  now  harbors  heavy  concern  beneath  the  initial  irritation  as  she  beats  him  awake  with  a  pillow  for  the  third  day  in  a  row .

astonishingly  enough ,   through  all  the  budding  bruises  and  little  cricks  of  his  bones ,   denki’s  still  not  used  to  it  ----  confused  as  to  why  in  place  of  a  fluffy  orange  butt  sat  directly  on  his  face  is  a  firm  pink  hand ,   squishing  freckled  cheeks  that’d  never  quite  lost  their  baby  fat .  

the  phone  promptly  shoved  in  his  face  (  raw - eyed ,   drool - sticky ,   red  where  strong  fingers  have  imprinted  themselves  into  his  skin  )  reads  7:12  am ,   a  good  hour  and  some  past  his  normal  wakeup  time .    he  shouldn’t  be  so  pikachu - meme  shocked  when  this  scenario  is  the  direct  result  of  a  profuse  refusal  to  take  the  device  off  silent  mode  these  past  few  days  ----  afraid  to  wake  up  to  any  late - night  texts  or  calls .    

and  yet  here  he  is ,   eyes  squeezing  shut  as  he  mutters  his  third ,   grumbly  shit  this  short  week .

       ❛   seriously ,   dude ?   ❜      mina  chides  as  she  flips  through  the  unsung  alarms ,   each  set  five  minutes  apart  from  one  another  beginning  at  5:30  in  the  morning .    

getting  himself  out  of  bed  always  had  been  something  of  a  chore ,   emphasized  by  recent  reasoning  that  he’d  not  been  catching  more  than  half  a  wink  prior  to  that  exact  time  each  day .      ❛   you  teach  people  for  a  living  and  yet  remain  willfully  oblivious  to  the  very  accessible ,   very  convenient  do  not  disturb  function .   ❜      

she  lets  the  phone  fall  unceremoniously  onto  denki’s  lap ,   cushions  creaking  beneath  their  weight .       ❛   get  off  my  couch ,   spud .   ❜

he’d  love  to ,   actually .    every  node  in  his  spine  pops  in  agreement .

the  minutes  between  then  and  hurriedly  collecting  stray  pieces  of  clothing  off  the  floor  pass  in  a  rheumy - eyed  blur ,   other  possessions  that’re  repeatedly  tripped  over  a  courtesy  of  the  emergency  overnight  bag  he’d  emptied  out  over  the  week .    kept  in  the  back  of  his  car  for  situations  that  call  for  it ,   this  doesn’t  really  qualify  as  one  of  those  times .

        ❛   hey .    what’s  the  status  of  you  reevaluating  your  life  choices  so  that  you’re  not  crawling  out  my  door  late  to  work  in  the  same  inside - out  v - neck  you’ve  been  wearing  all  week ?   ❜      mina  prompts  in  midst  of  tossing  on  a  jacket  as  gaudy  in  design  as  the  rest  of  her ,   somehow  completely  comprehending  what  vague  semblance  of  shut  up ,   shut  up ,   shut  up  denki  conveys  through  hand  gestures  in  between  hurriedly  scrubbing  his  teeth .

without  time  to  style  his  hair  this  morning ,   he’s  left  to  ruffle  through  the  unkempt  locks  in  his  reflection  through  the  elevator  doors ,   displeased  in  how  they  refuse  to  obey  any  law  of  gravity  but  deciding  that  he  might  as  well  just  go  ahead  and  look  as  shitty  as  he  feels .    hurts  less  to  acknowledge  it  himself  before  mina  eagerly  relays  just  how  divorced  he  looks  mere  moments  later .

         ❛   you’re  gonna  have  to  talk  to  him  eventually ,   ❜      she  reminds  him  just  before  they  part ,   chaste  kiss  pressed  to  either  cheek  and  equally  reciprocated .      ❛   before  it’s  too  late .    i  know  you’re  both  pretty  keen  on  letting  things  fester ,   but  how  ‘bout  you  just  nut  up  before  your  idiot  boy  pride  makes  things  completely  irreversible ?   ❜   

at  her  humble  suggestion ,   denki  mulls  on  the  air  of  an  amused  hum ,   shouldering  open  one  of  the  glass  doors  for  her  to  walk  through  first .      ❛   my  idiot  boy  pride ,   huh .    s'a  little  misandristic ,   don’tcha  think ?   ❜

she  replies  with  a  wag  of  her  middle  finger  in  the  air  behind  her ,   a  stark  gesture  that  bakugou  would  appreciate  and  that  denki  hates  thinking  that  bakugou  would  appreciate .    he  silently  curses  mina  once  for  the  reminder ,   then  again  for  her  uncanny  talent  of  always  being  right .

on  that  note ,   he  mentally  checks  ‘ idiot  boy  pride ’  as  a  contender  for  the  working  title  of  an  eventual  autobiography .  

           lunch  passes  by  a  lot  more  slowly  in  the  days  he’d  been  forcibly  weened  off  of  bakugou’s  cooking .    left  to  survive  off  what  loose  change  could  nab  from  the  vending  machines  outside  and  random  snacks  found  throughout  the  cabinets  of  the  teachers’  lounge ,   denki  finds  that  whey  milk  and  loose  granola  by  the  fistful  are  not  all  that  amazing  a  combo .   

mina  is  wise  beyond  her  years .    this  is  a  meal  of  a  divor - fuckin’ - cee .

actually ,   the  sudden  absence  of  a  balanced  diet  may  even  be  reaching  the  point  of  a  pressing  health  issue .    when  he  brushes  granola  grains  off  his  shirt  ----  now  worn  correctly ,   after  having  uncomfortably  fumbled  with  it  in  his  car  earlier  ----  he  notices  how  tight  his  chest  has  begun  to  feel  over  the  course  of  the  morning .    an  ache  like  a  scream  that  won’t  come  out .    he’s  bound ,   yes ,   and  dry  granola  has  probably  not  made  the  trip  down  his  esophagus  very  easy    ;    but  had  the  pain  always  been  so  prominent ?

❛   didja  check  twitter  yet ?   refresh  your  timeline  ----  look ,   see ,   it’s  trending !  ❜ 

denki’s  attention  piques ,   turning  towards  the  flood  of  students  rushing  by  the  lounge  door .    on  their  way  back  to  their  classrooms  to  ride  out  the  last  few  periods  of  the  day ,   he’s  not  surprised  to  see  so  many  of  their  eyes  glued  to  their  phones  as  they  walk ,   given  that  lunch  and  homeroom  make  up  the  only  two  slots  of  time  wherein  students  are  allowed  access  to  such  devices .

their  conversations  spill  in  a  slew  of  muddled  topics   :   is  the  villain  big ?    how’d  you  do  on  that  art  history  exam ?    shouldn’t  he  have  backup?    my  sister’s  taking  me  to  that  new  poke  bowl  restaurant  tonight .    is  he  breathing ?    cats  can  doggy  paddle ,   can’t  they ?    blasty’s  a  top - five !   indestructible !    i  hope  i  have  a  team  one  day .    but  so  was  jeanist ,   and  look  what  happened  to  him .

          ❛   bla ----   ❜      denki  starts ,   sparing  a  few  minutes  heading  back  himself  to  fish  his  phone  from  his  cardigan .    he’s  usually  never  without  it ,   idly  recalling  a  time  in  their  youth  where  bakugou  would  have  to  manually  pluck  it  from  his  grasp  so  that  he’d  settle  into  bed  for  the  night .    over  the  past  few  days ,   though ,   he's  been  more  than  content  to  break  character  and  distance  himself  from  the  buzz  of  social  media  under  some  years - too - late  guise  of  self - care  and  breaking  addiction .

waking  his  phone  now ,   the  top  notification  banner  reads  a  single  message  from  his  current  roommate .    

are  you  ok?

below  it ,   an  informal  update  from  twitter ,   alerting  him  of  exactly  what  his  curiosity  demands  to  be  sated  with  right  now .

 trending  in  heroics    :    #BLASTYEXPLODO .

he  doesn’t  need  a  little  shoulder  mina  angel  to  tell  him  that  reading  about  his  ex  is  technically  just  the  time - sensitive  equivalent  of  purposefully  sifting  through  bakugou’s  online  presence   ;    mostly  because  the  app  is  barely  flicked  open  when  the  tightness  across  his  chest  constricts  to  a  sudden ,   sharp  PANG .    

it  doesn’t  take  some  deep  search  to  unearth  the  context  of  his  students’  obsessive  chattering  nearby ,   considering  that  his  entire  timeline  is  being  consistently  updated  with  live  footage  from  the  scene .    a  bird’s - eye  view  of  the  site  below  captures  where  several  heroes  can  be  spotted  as  moving  dots  along  the  destruction  of  the  outskirts    ;    all  save  for  one ,   reported  to  have  been  caught  in  the  fray  after  a  building  collapsed .

fingers  press  deep  into  the  pain  of  his  chest .    his  shoulder  hits  the  wall  to  support  his  weight ,   face  paling  as  he  forces  himself  to  read  the  oncoming  slew  of  tweets  one  by  one .    a  lot  are  unhelpful  ----  mere  wishes  for  blasty  to  hang  in  there ,   some  questioning  where  he  is ,   false  memoriam  by  people  denki  knows  bakugou’s  never  met ,   lots  of  clickbait  for  merch  and  inappropriate  thirst  posts  layered  in  between .    

nothing  gives  him  a  solid  answer .    because  nobody  has  a  solid  answer .

lacking  the  word  association  necessary  to  properly  reply  to  mina’s  text  without  stirring  either  concern  or  cause  for  a  possible  lecture ,   he  shoots  something  quick  to  kirishima  instead .

hey  man ,   thanks  for  everything  lately .    i’ll  feed  the  cats  tonight .    can  you  do  me  a  solid  and  leave  a  key ?

           the  car  ride  home  is  as  long  as  ever  in  traffic  surrounding  the  incident .    every  instance  of  a  top  hero  barely  escaping  the  brink  of  death  is  all  but  a  grim  reminder  that  life  is  short ,   speaking  volumes  to  average  citizens  rushing  home  to  spoil  their  families  before  everything  settles  back  into  a  regular ,   non - life - threatening  routine  for  them  tomorrow .

shortly  after  lunch  (  and  trying  to  shake  off  what  he  was  certain  were  signs  of  a  small  heart  attack  ) ,   denki  decided  that  there  was  no  use  cutting  his  day  short  to  make  an  appearance  at  the  scene .    rapid  updates  from  twitter  and  associates  alike  informed  him  that  blasty  had  eventually  made  it  out  on  two  legs ,   triumphant  as  ever ,   before  being  escorted  to  an  unspecified  hospital  in  order  to  avoid  the  public  eye  in  his  recovery .

denki  takes  his  chances  in  calling  his  mom  between  catching  every  red  light ,   hope  breaking  in  a  small ,   audible  whimper  when  she  doesn’t  answer  his  one - or - nine  calls .    bakugou  wasn’t  the  only  victim  in  today’s  events    ;    he  rationalizes  that  nariko  is  probably  up  to  her  neck  in  new  admissions  regardless ,   but  the  thought  doesn’t  exactly  bring  him  any  peace  of  mind .

breathe .    an  impossible  demand  to  meet ,   but  one  necessary  to  keep  his  electricity  from  snapping  at  the  wheel .

he  doesn’t  exactly  know  why  he’d  even  bothered  showing  up ,   sluggish  steps  treading  the  long  lengths  of  tiled  hallway  leading  to  bakugou’s  residence .    not  really  any  use  hanging  around  an  empty  apartment  all  night    ;   even  despite  the  pressing  matter  of  the  question  mark  tacked  behind  his  current  living  situation .    he’s  not  really  looking  to  task  himself  with  packing  just  yet .

             ❛   it’s  just  something ,   ❜      denki  tiredly  tells  himself  aloud  at  the  foot  of  their  doorstep ,   head  tipped  to  the  ceiling  in  a  brief  moment  of  reprieve .    the  sentiment  resonates  as  somewhat  redundant .    it’s  always  something .    he’s  got  a  million  somethings  in  his  life  that  he’s  never  cared  to  name ,    piling  one  over  the  other  in  the  corner  of  his  mind  without  thought  to  the  mental  repercussions  dealt  to  everyone  involved .    

maybe  there’s  only  one  something  afterall .    maybe  the  common  denominator  was  just  him .

tip  of  his  shoe  peels  back  the  corner  of  the  mat  he’d  insisted  on  laying  there  some  short  while  ago ,    the  key  tucked  beneath  it  shining  in  the  hallway  lighting  once  its  cover  is  disturbed .    bless  his  heart ,   but  kirishima’s  not  very  creative  in  his  hiding  places .

this  copy  is  as  shiny  and  unbroken - in  as  the  one  bakugou  had  given  denki  when  he  first  moved  here ,   spare  a  few  spots  of  dirt  he  brushes  off  before  lodging  it  into  the  keyhole .    

without  a  set  of  miscellaneous  dangling  objects  attached  to  it ,   the  action  of  turning  a  bare  key  into  the  lock  takes  him  back  a  full  year  ago  ----  wherein  he’d  rigidly  haunted  this  exact  spot  on  a  matless  tile ,   uneager  to  begin  a  new  phase  in  his  life  eventually  titled  reversed  strength .

unlike  back  then ,   however ,   the  key  is  met  this  time  around  without  resistance  in  its  lock ,   nothing  to  combat  it  as  it  turns .    the  door  before  him  is  open .     presently .

his  stomach  drops .    

hesitant  to  ease  himself  inside  when  so  actively  adorned  in  hair - raising  suspicion ,   denki  is  met  with  the  usual  stagnancy  of  an  empty  apartment  ----  no  wafts  of  food  cooking  on  the  stove ,   no  sound  of  the  television  on  for  background  noise ,   no  cats  tripping  over  each  other  to  greet  him  with  a  howling  demand  for  kibble  and  petty - pets  (  which  smarts  a  little ,   considering  his  absence  ) .    

there  is  dim  warmth  from  sunlight  pouring  through  the  windows  and  little  else .    not  even  a  speck  of  dust  found  to  sift  through  it .    he  wonders  if  kirishima  had  simply  forgotten  to  lock  the  door  behind  him .

and  yet ,   even  with  this  thought  in  mind  ----  this  silent  prayer  ----  denki  still  holds  a  name  on  his  tongue  as  he  steps  fully  into  the  apartment ,   pocketing  the  key  where  its  triplet  sits  unperturbed  a  few  feet  away .    it’s  a  momentary  struggle  to  find  his  voice ,   and  he  doesn’t  recognize  the  sound  that  comes  out .      

          ❛   k ------- ...   katsuki ?   ❜

@blstys​ .

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Endless Possibilities

Characters: Spencer Reid x Reader

Word Count: 1,636

Warnings: headache pain, implied smut at the end

Summary: When Spencer misses the last train, he turns to you for a ride back to his apartment.

Squares Filled: “Wanna bet?”

Author’s Note: This is for @fluffbingo and if you have any requests, please send them in! this is unbeta’d and every mistake is all on me.

Feedback the glue that holds my writing together

Tags at the bottom

It was the end of the day, your favorite part. This week has been hellish, and Hotch promised everyone to take the weekend off for themselves. Penelope and JJ were talking about being with their significant others, Emily wanted to go to Vegas, Morgan was going on a small road trip, and Rossi and Hotch didn’t really give details on what they were doing, but you had a feeling you knew what it was. Hotch had a four-year-old to take care of, and Rossi probably was working on wife number five at this point.

When the week started, you promised yourself that you were going to go home, take a long bath with your favorite scent and a bottle of wine, and then stay in your pajamas the entire weekend binge-watching your favorite shows. Usually, your weekends were filled with overtime, paperwork, and listening to your teammates bicker at one another, so the thought of doing nothing all weekend sounded like Heaven.

Lastly, there was Spencer. He does the same thing he always does whenever he had some downtime: learn and read. He could never seem to stop reading because his brain was always eager to learn. And it was never the trashy novel that you believe every person should read at least once in their life; no, it was academic books that only he seemed to understand. The only part you loved about him reading those kinds of books was that he told you all about it the next day. Granted, you never knew what he was talking about, but it made him so happy to share what he learned.

That’s all you ever wanted Spencer to have: happiness. He rarely sees it, so whenever he finds it, you vowed to never be the person to take that from him. He was cautious, always did things by the book, and rarely ventured out to do something new and exciting. Maybe that’s why you two gravitated towards each other because you were the exact opposite of him. Adventure and thrill are what fueled you. It’s why you were so good at your job because you genuinely loved what you did despite seeing the horrors of reality.

Spencer envied that part of you. He loved to hear stories of when you went skydiving, hiking through the Grand Canyon, cliff jumping, and so much more. You were seeing the world in its true beauty, and he was kind of jealous. It took a lot out of him to even do the job he has because it was hard for him to come out of his shell. He kept to himself and didn’t like other people touching him except for the team. It amazed you why he would continue to take the subway when it was always crowded, but you let him be. Everyone else drove to work, but he opted to take public transportation. He explained why once, but you’ve forgotten the reason.

It was turning into a late one on Friday and everyone else had already left the office except for you and Spencer. You two must have had the same thoughts because you decided to get all your paperwork done before going home so you didn’t have to do it on Monday morning. It was nearing midnight when you finished your last file. Looking over your desk to Spencer’s which was right across from you, he was also finishing his last file which meant he was just about ready to go home.

Taking a moment, you leaned back in your chair to get a good look at him. Your desk was a good vantage point to really stare at him without him noticing. He could easily look up and see you being creepy, but he was always invested in his work so it didn’t give him time to look up. The view you were at gave you access to his strong jaw as he flexed it in frustration. His tongue ran over his lips for the tenth time that hour which is another thing you couldn’t stand about the man. He drove you crazy whenever he would lick those damn lips right in front of you. He must know what he’s doing, and if he did, then he didn’t seem to care how it affected you.

“You done?” you asked.

“Yeah, I am. Are you?” he asked, flipping his file shut.

“Finished about five minutes ago.”

“And you were just sitting there?”

“I had a pretty good view,” you winked, causing a blush to creep onto his cheeks.

“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked as he got up and gathered his things into his messenger bag.

“Binge-watching Game of Thrones after I take a long bath to soothe my muscles. What about you?”

“I wanted to get in about twenty books before Monday. I have a list of some I want to read.”

“You know, that will never not amaze me,” you chuckled as the two of you walked to the elevator.

“What will?” he asked when the doors closed behind him.

“How fast your brain can process words. What I wouldn’t give to read that many books in such a short time,” you giggled. Spencer managed to smile, but it was lost when he looked at his watch.

“Shit,” he sighed.

“What is it?” you asked as the doors opened to the parking garage where your motorcycle was.

“The train I usually take isn’t in service right now. I remember they made an announcement saying that the last train left two hours ago. The busses are all down too. I guess I’ll have to walk home.”

“No, you’re not. I can give you a ride. It’s on the way,” you smiled, grabbing the helmet you left on one of the handlebars.

“On that thing?” Spencer gulped.

“What, you scared?” you chuckled.

“You don’t have two helmets. It wouldn’t be safe.”

“You think I would leave the house without two helmets? Here,” you tossed him the one you were holding before reaching into the compartment on the back of the motorcycle and pulling out another helmet, “you can use that one.”

“A total of 5,286 motorcyclists died in crashes in 2016. 41% of fatally injured motorcycle drivers were not wearing helmets,” Spencer spits out the facts as if he just happened to know it.

“Luckily for you, you have a helmet.”

“But--”

“Reid, do you need elbow pads and knee pads too?” you teased him. “I have some if you really want them. Come on, would I ever put you in danger? You’re not going to die or get hurt.”

“Okay,” he whispered, sliding on the helmet. Grinning, you put your own on before starting up the bike. Getting on, you waited until Spencer was behind you before taking off. Almost immediately, he grabbed your waist and held tight, scared of falling off it.

“You’ll be fine, Spencer. Nothing is going to happen to you. Why ruin such a pretty face?” you teased him once more. The cars were nothing as you whizzed by them, but the lights were so pretty at this time of night. Spencer got scared whenever you would change lanes without really looking over your shoulder to check to see if it was safe. He knew you knew what you were doing, but it was still scary to him.

Approaching a traffic light, you were still at a far enough distance that if the light turned yellow, the proper thing to do was to slow down. Just your luck, the light turned yellow… but you weren't slowing down.

“You’re not going to make it. Y/N, slow down!” Spencer urged.

“Wanna bet?” you grinned, cranking the gas up. Spencer pulled you into his body tighter, but you had to ignore it if you wanted to make this light and not cause any accidents. The light turned red just as you entered the intersection, and Spencer watched as you fled from the would-be scene.

“You’re insane!” Spencer yelled. Approaching his apartment building, you slowed down to a stop right in front of it. Spencer didn’t let go of you just yet because his mind was still processing what just happened and what could have happened if you were a tad too slow.

“Spencer, you can let go now,” you chuckled.

“I don’t think I can,” he whispered. Grinning, you grabbed his hands from the front and unfolded them so that you were set free. His arms felt nice around you, but he probably didn’t want to be with you for much longer. He had twenty books to get through this weekend, and you’d only serve as a distraction. Both of you got off the bike, and he took off his helmet and returned it to you. Placing it in the compartment, you turned to him with your helmet squished between your arm and your right hip.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” you laughed.

“I am never riding on that thing again,” he shook his head.

“Well, have a good night,” you smiled, going to place your helmet on again when he spoke. He didn’t want you to go because despite being scared, he actually had fun. He loved the kind of person you were, and if he let you walk away now, then he would never forgive himself.

“Actually, I don’t think I should be alone. I’m still too scared, and I think some company would be best for me right now. Would you like to come in and have some coffee?”

You knew he was bullshitting you right now, but the fact that he would make up an excuse to get you to stay made your heart sing with the thought of endless possibilities.

“I’d like that,” you grinned.

Your bath and binge-watching could wait another weekend.

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[thebestplltheories]

PLL The Perfectionists - Season 1 Finale (and Season 1) Review

Here we go friends, season 1 of the spinoff is over and I have a lot to say. In this post I’m gonna review the finale but also season 1 in general.

Dare I say it, I think season 1 as a whole was flawless. Sure, some episodes were better than others, but no episode was down-right horrible, boring and without a purpose. All 10 episodes were great as the plot was constantly progressing. We started off with totally innocent characters, doing their best to be perfect in a high-pressure and competitive school. A person who loosely connects them is murdered and as the investigation unravels, the innocent people get pulled together by forces outside of their control. Consequently, they become best friends. Caitlin’s mother put it really well in episode 9: Caitlin got hit by a car, was dating someone who got murdered, is friends with a fugitive’s daughter and is hiding a bag of money. How did all this non-sense happen to someone who was so innocent and perfect 9 episodes ago? That’s what I love. That’s what’s entertaining for me. As Claire said, they’re trying to dig themselves out of a hole but they keep falling and the hole is getting deeper and darker. This whole plot about being almost strangers and then best friends is a plot that could have very easily been squished into the pilot, and at the time, that’s what I wanted. But now looking back, I really appreciate that they stretched this across 10 episodes. It feels organic that this friendship didn’t just happen the day after Nolan died. It happened after 10 episodes of chaos and that’s not forced. It’s realistic. So overall season 1 achieved everything a season 1 should achieve: it brought the characters together slowly over time and reinforced that bad things are going to happen to these previously perfect people.

Casting is spectacular. I’m absolutely sucked into the worlds of Caitlin, Dylan and Ava and whilst the addictive story is definitely contributing to these feelings, I need to give a shoutout to Sydney, Eli and Sofia. They’ve achieved the one thing PLL did that no other show has done for me since PLL ended: they created extremely loveable and addictive characters. Sure, I watch heaps of other shows, but there’s just something about the core cast on a PLL show that is different. 

Some quick reactions from the finale:

This whole time we were wondering what they will call this new enemy, yet it was right in front of us this whole time in the episode title! Not only was “The Professor” right in front of us, but the title literally says ‘enter’. You know... say hello to the new A. That’s essentially what the title of the episode says. Now I feel dumb for not guessing that. More thoughts on The Professor later.

"Jealous much?” was a shocker! I love Mona’s confidence. Even when Claire says “that’s not how this works”, she insists, and gets what she wants.

I’m so glad Mona is here in this show. I love the new characters and I would be watching even without Ali and Mona, but Mona just fits in so well. Like PLL, this seems to be another game, and Mona is falling back into old habits. She not only wants to win, but she wants to know who is smart enough to create such a game, and why and how such a game is created. “Dying before I find out who you are bitch!” Loved that!

Mona’s red coat... her dolls in her apartment... I appreciate that!

Blowing up the RV was unnecessary. I think they did that just to put an action shot in the promo, to attract viewers. That’s not a complaint, just an observation. 

PLL always succeeds at making the town feel like its own character. Rosewood was a town that kept attracting misery and murder, like a person. And now we have Beacon Heights; a town that demands perfection so much that you get kicked out when you fail to be perfect. 

I think the storyline with Dylan and Luke was not necessary for this finale. It’s a fantastic story that should be told, just not in a finale. I wouldn’t say it’s a filler story, but it’s definitely not central to this professor story.

As someone studying psychology, and is in their final undergraduate year, I don’t think it’ll help as much as Alison thinks it will (in terms of working out who the Professor is). She can study psychology all she wants but that doesn’t really give insight into a person’s twisted game. Anyway.

I kinda ship Mona and Mason! You could see it on Mona’s face that it was hard for her to lie to Mason like that. I guess she’s extra motivated to solve this game now so that she can go back to Mason.

Add “your lips are moving but I have no idea what you’re talking about” to Ava’s list of iconic one-liners! Everyone loves insulting Booker and I live for it. Mona’s “yes you need a makeover” comes to mind too!

I hope Booker doesn’t go away. She lost this mini game but she’s a great villain.

I hope that’s the end of the story of Ava’s father. I’m just not compelled by this one story, sorry. All I really care about is that Ava stays at BHU (because she has the money to pay). I don’t really care about her relationship with her father. Maybe this is due to the casting of the father? I don’t know, but I’m not drawn into this story like the others and I can’t pinpoint why. 

What a full circle moment, playing Poker Face in the final scene like they opened with Poker Face in the pilot! It’s a small detail but it just makes the show feel cohesive. Like a distinct beginning and end. Can’t explain it.

So season 1 is over and they STILL have not tapped into that amazing storyline they started in the pilot... “it’s exactly like you imagined it”. Surely the Professor will bring this up during the social experiment.

Beacon Guard is going to start to get annoying. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this element that someone is always watching and listening, and that someone hijacked this system. But if they really need to find a safe spot every time they want to talk... surely the season 2 finale will be them destroying Beacon Guard!

The Professor! Wow. I’m... shook. 

With A, we were never really sure if it’s just a sick twisted game that someone is having fun with, or, if A actually chose these Liars because of a personal vendetta. But with The Professor, it is clear from day 1 that this is a game. It’s a social experiment. I fucking LOVE that idea. 

Again playing with that theme I touched on before: I love how previously innocent people are getting sucked into madness. 10 episodes ago, everyone was leading a seemingly perfect life and now they’re part of a social experiment that they’re forced participate in because they were recorded staging a crime scene and being involved in a shooting. That’s so twisted and it just really sucks to be them.

I lowkey want to cry for Ali and Mona. They went to hell and back in Rosewood and now here goes another potential 4 year mystery. Will they EVER live in peace? I mean, for the sake of this show, I hope the Professor makes this game as twisted as possible. It’s entertaining. But at the back of my mind I am crying for Ali and Mona. 

When all their phones rang/vibrated at the same time, I felt at home?? At that exact moment I had a rush of nostalgia. It’s close enough to the original series to provide that nostalgia that we all want, but it’s distinct enough to be its own show. I love this Professor storyline because I think they’ve found that perfect middle-ground.

I hope they don’t give the Professor a black hoodie, but if they really want to make this as iconic as A, they absolutely need to give this villain an outfit. 

Is the Professor a short/mini story arc? Or is this the series-defining story, like how A defined PLL? Will there be a Big Professor and Uber Professor (lack of better terms)? I’d love for this to be the series-defining story and enemy. I’m all for this social experiment. 

Did anyone notice the Professor speaking in the third person? Is that the writers hinting that there is more than one person here; the Professor AND a helper? Kinda like an A-team? Or was speaking in the third person just the way of emphasising the new name for the enemy?

So many questions about the Professor!

Tonally, this finale felt like a premiere. It raised questions rather than answered questions. It told us that there IS an enemy, rather than tell us WHO the enemy is. That’s an odd structure, but I’m totally okay with it for 2 reasons. Firstly, because I’m simply just not hungry for answers. The mystery is still new and fresh. We didn’t get our first major answer on PLL (who is original A) for 2 years. I’m not expecting an answer as to who killed Nolan within 10 episodes. Secondly, it’s fitting because the entire first season was spent establishing that friendship. That needed to happen before such an enemy was introduced. It would be awkward watching strangers get sucked into this social experiment together. Now that they’re friends and they trust each other, it’ll be more entertaining to see them respond to the Professor.

There’s so much to theorise about now! But I need to say it again: this show is suffering from a major lack of a quantity of characters. Every scene revolves around Mona, Ali, Ava, Caitlin, Dylan, Taylor, Booker and Claire. That’s literally all there is. There’s the occasional side character like Mason and Zac, but no one is really key to the mystery like Noel, Jenna, etc were in season 1 of PLL from the get-go. I like that we met Luke, and I think season 2 really needs to prioritise ASAP increasing the quantity of characters. The lack of characters makes me think that we have not met the Professor yet. It’s obviously not Mona, Ali, Ava, Caitlin or Dylan. Maybe Taylor, she was missing. That’s a theory topic. Maybe Claire. Not Zac. Maybe Mason. And my list of suspects ends there? Again, season 2 needs to increase the quantity of characters.

Now I’m just gonna sound like a broken record, but in the extremely low chances that someone at Freeform catches this post (hey, the cast reacted to Tumblr posts the other month so we know they do snoop here)... I need to say it again: it’s no secret that the ratings are low, so you’ve got a lot of work to do for season 2 to get this show the recognition it deserves. Please consider reading this post. Do not give up on this show. It has really high potential. It just needs a few tweaks in terms of promo and supply system. The low ratings do NOT correlate to low quality. 

Look at me, writing massive posts like this! I haven’t done this for a TV show since PLL ended. Only this show will get me intrigued enough to come online and talk. There’s something about the PLL universe that distinguishes it from other shows, in the best way possible!

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S1 Ep 31: Bandit Keith Decides To Make Minimal Effort

I just finished showing my bro Legion, (it was nice of FX to make a really lovely, very adult, live action gritty Yugioh-without-the-cards so we never have to make one) and I was like “So, which Egyptian Shadow King would win in a fight--the anime one or the Aubrey Plaza one?” because I know so little about Yugioh and about the more obscure parts of the Marvel Universe so this paradox doesn’t bother me, and because I know it would bother my brother a whole lot. Needless to say, Steve-o ranted for like 15 straight minutes, going back and forth between Pharaoh and Farouk, and ultimately deciding that we just can’t ever say, because Pharaoh rarely seems to use his full potential because he just doesn’t ever need to or maybe has forgotten how. What a cop out answer.

And so, on that line of doing the bare minimum effort required to succeed despite being a very powerful dude, we have a Bandit Keith episode.

Last we left it, Yugi’s duel is over and Pegasus makes some little golf claps of approval. I’m still not sure if the commonly accepted applause of Duel Monsters would be more like a golf/chess match clap or not, because it feels like Yugi’s friends are always overly loud about their applause while everyone else just kinda glares at them. That may be mostly because there’s only like 4 voice actors.

(read more under the cut)

Like all of Yugi’s very overbearing friends, Tristan fights to be the most overbearing of them all, by basically putting him in a handhold and listing all the nightmares that could go wrong, much like when my Mother dropped me off at camp for the first time.

I don’t know why Tristan didn’t think to check his pockets to make sure Joey has the ticket because that’s what you need to do every 3 minutes when watching children, but whatevs.

This episode I got to get a really good gander at the worst choice in hallway colors I’ve seen in my life.

I get that this horrible orange is supposed to be unsettling, because this whole dueling segment is unsettling for our characters. I just hate this combo an awful lot. This orange with that grayed blue and that dark gray purple is sort of like when you bit down on your silverware by accident.

Anyway, Joey has a lot to say to Yugi in front of the worst choice of orange backdrop, just so it can burn my retinas forever.

So, they pinky swear that they’re still friends no matter what, although honestly, why would they need to duel? It’s already been clarified that dueling Yugi carries kind of of a russian roulette risk to it, and Joey only wants second place for the prize money and Yugi needs first place to resurrect 3 people so like...whatever. I’m thinking too much again. I gotta go turn that brain right off.

I can’t believe my joke of Keith taking a nap for the past two episodes was secretly canon. Genuinely surprised he was able to sleep over Yugi’s panic attack but like...maybe that’s just white noise at this point because it happens so often?

Why do so many blondes call eachother blondes? I used to be a blonde. This is a thing and I don’t get it.

Will they figure out that the BANDIT Kieth BANDITed their card?

N-no of course not, because this is Joey and they automatically assume he’s lost it because he’s just kind of bad everything else. Despite the fact that Bandit has told them outright that he’s going to do whatever it takes to win, despite the fact that Keith has tried to kill them once and stole all the star chips he used to get into this castle--they do not ever once suspect him because they are so certain that Joey has screwed it. It’s...fine.

Joey is given five minutes to find his card. I’m pretty sure it took more than five minutes of show time for him to do this but whatever.

PS they never show him checking the dining room although he clearly talks about running straight there.

Meanwhile, Keith is getting comfortable.

How did he sleep in this position???

Who’s massive bottle of pills is this!? What ARE they?

Yugi very seriously considers giving Joey his card. He ends up slowly putting the card back into his pocket and hoping no one noticed that.

It has just occurred to me that I haven’t put “Meanwhile” on any of these title cards so...forgive me if that’s confusing. Like Bandit Keith, I’ve been having insomnia like you can’t believe so I’ve been a *little* forgetful. Luckily this episode is pretty simple to follow.

Anyways, Mai is here to save the day for the third time to give them whatever thingy they lost that she had ample leftovers of. Mai has been the true hero of this season. Mai should have totally won this whole season, had she not been a muggle.

Anyways, time for this gross handkerchief trope, still going strong in the year 2000.

(he does not use it)

And then there she goes, into the ether--to resurface again when we desperately need something; their acidic, rude guardian angel.

Anyways, equipped with a card he strides back in to the room.

This is the crazy smile of someone who has never seen you do anything right in your entire life and is absolutely certain they will never witness this moment ever again.

He does not say “Mai gave me this card” because Mai does not need credit on this show apparently. Anyways, so they duel, but it turns out that Mr Bandit has been paying some attention to the majority of the room and so he’s made a deck mostly suited for fighting Pegasus and Yugi--youknow, the magicians.

Bandit Keith’s deck is basically different takes on Metal Gear. Lots of traps. Also, a VERY weird face wipe.

Usaully Yugioh duels are an artistic experiment into face wipes. I don’t know if any other show I’ve watched has really tried to push the envelope into face wipe theory. Almost as if the people drawing this got HELLA BORED and were like “If I do another normal face wipe I will set this place on fire” and so this happened:

LOOK AT THIS FACE WIPE

There’s a lot to take away from here--other than the fact that Joey’s monster is wearing a very tiny breast plate bra, the littlest helmet, and little else. Firstly, the fact that they wanted to make a perfect flower-petal arrangement from Joey and his monster out to Yugi--but ran out of space and so squished Tristan like 3 inches shorter than everyone else. The fact that they shrunk the necklace so we get a little bit of that eyeball so Pharaoh can be like “I’m here too!” The fact that it isn’t lined up with the bottom of the screen for some reason so we got a little lip there that is just hanging.

And here I thought they couldn’t give me a weirder face wipe than the one that had like 8 people in it a few weeks back. This here...they’ve set a real high bar for themselves as far as weird face wipes go.

Anyways, next week, on Yugioh:

Does Bandit Keith just fall asleep in the middle of his next turn because he clearly has narcolepsy? Does Joey accidentally drop his brand new ticket card down the bottomless chasm by accident? Will Mai get back to the boat and steal Rex’s room again the exact same way as she did last time?

[bittersweetmelodie]

home

Fandom: RWBY Pairing: Blake Belladonna/Sun Wukong Summary: Sometimes home isn’t four walls; it’s two eyes and a heartbeat. But oh, how easily all of that can come crumbling down.  FF.net

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and places belong to Rooster Teeth

A/N: Have some blacksun word vomit, because I am trash and their interactions this volume are killing me. Half inspired by Blake’s “word for a person” thing. Although every blacksun shipper probably wants it to be “love”, I’d like to think Blake thinks of Sun as “home”.

Blake groaned sleepily as the familiar vibration of a scroll call pulled her from her dreams. She rolled over onto the other side of the bed, half expecting to snuggle into Sun’s warmth, only to find his side of the bed empty. Sighing as she remembered that Team SSSN was still away on a mission, she sat up and grabbed her scroll off the dresser. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was four in the morning.

She frowned – phone calls at this time of night usually didn’t amount to anything good, especially for a Huntress. “Hello?” she asked, her voice heavy with sleep.

“Hey Blake.” Sun’s voice carried through the scroll.

Had she been a little more alert, paid a little more attention, she would have noticed the slight tremble in his voice, the quiet, but sharp, intake of breath at the end of the greeting. But it was the middle of the night, and her sleep-addled brain let the small details slip under her radar.

“Sun?” she blearily tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. “Is something wrong? Do you know what time it is?”

“Yea, sorry. I woke you, didn’t I? Of course I did – it’s four in the morning. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. Being woken in the middle of the night kind of comes with being a Huntress. What’s wrong? Are you and your team okay?”

“Yea, no, no. We’re fine, everybody is fine.” A muffled grunt. “I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. I think I miss you too much.”

She smiled, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. “I miss you too, Sun.” Quietly, she slipped out of bed and padded, barefoot, across their apartment to the kitchen. She squished her scroll between her ear and shoulder, and started filling the kettle with water. “How much longer do you think you and your team will be out there for?”

“A couple more days at most,” he said, his voice sounding oddly tinny.

Blake frowned. Was it her imagination or did it sound like Sun was running out of breath? Or was it just bad connection? She opened her mouth to ask, again, if he was alright, but he spoke over her.

“There’s just a lot of Grimm here… More than we’d been expecting. We were hoping to get back last week. I think we’re all really excited to be coming back to see some familiar faces. Especially Neptune. He really wants to get back so he can tease Weiss and Yang.”

Blake let out a soft chuckle. “Who spilled? Weiss has been working up the courage to let him know when you guys got back.”

“Scarlet – you know how he loves to run his big mouth.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t you?” she teased. “You always were terrible at keeping a secret from Neptune.”

He let out a breathy laugh. “Yea. Yang made me promise not to say anything. Well, she threatened me, really, and I really don’t want her to break my legs. But I can see why they wanted to tell him themselves, Neptune being Weiss’s ex-boyfriend and all.”

“Hmm,” she hummed in agreement, and the conversation dropped off into a comfortable silence, punctuated only by Sun’s heavy breathing.  

“Are you making tea?” he huffed out when the shrill shriek of the kettle pierced the silence.

“I’m tired,” she retorted as she poured the boiling water into her mug and watched the tea leaves float to the surface. “You did wake me up in the middle of the night, after all.”

“Coffee works wonders.”

She made a face, even though he couldn’t see her. “It’s also disgusting. I don’t know how you drink that stuff.” She wrapped her hands around the warm mug and headed back to the bedroom. “I will admit that I miss the smell of your coffee in the morning, though. It certainly smells better than it tastes.”

He chuckled, but it came out sounding a little watery.

She frowned. “Sun? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yea, m’fine,” he mumbled. “Just… miss you a lot. It feels really good to hear your voice.”

“You’ll be home soon; hopefully just a couple more days.”

Home, she mused. She wondered when she had started associating Sun with the word ‘home’ – with the way that he seemed to always know what she was thinking, and how to cheer her up; with the way that he would wake her up in the mornings by peppering kisses along her cheeks and jaw. Home was the way he would pull her away from her paperwork, and into his arms. It was the way he would twirl her around the living room while he hummed whatever cheesy song he’d heard on the radio that day. Home, she realized, was Sun’s smile that radiated warmth and happiness, bringing joy to everybody around him. He might have been the one on a mission thousands of miles away from their apartment, but she was the one who wouldn’t feel at home until he came back and wrapped her up in his warmth.

“Blake?” Sun’s voice pulled her from her reverie.

“Yea, sorry.” She put her mug down on the bedside table and pulled the blanket around her shoulders in an attempt to stay warm. “What was that?”

“You said ‘home’, and it made me think… I’ve never really had a home before. I mean, Vacuo was… just a place where I grew up. I was always moving, and never stayed in one place for long.”

“And Mistral?”

“Mistral and Haven Academy were always meant to be temp-temporary. Just a stepping stone to get stronger – to help me survive. Neptune, Sage and Scarlet – they’re a big part of my life, but… I still felt like something was always missing, and I would never be home until I found it. Maybe that’s why I never managed to stay put – because I was looking for something.”

“And? Did you find it?”

“Yea. Yea, I think I did. Have you ever been with somebody, and it just feels right? Like you could spend the rest of your life with them?”

She paused before answering. “Yes. You, Sun. You’ve always been there for me, despite how many times I pushed you out, despite my flaws and my broken past. You took those broken pieces and you glued them back together. I don’t tell you enough how grateful I am that you never gave up on me.”

“I would do it again, and again, and again, if it meant you would be happy, because I’m happy as long as you are. I’ve never felt like I ever belonged somewhere until I met you. You’re home, Blake, and I love you so much.”

“Sun…” she breathed out, touched by how earnest he sounded. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I love you, Blake,” he repeated. “I am always going to love you.”

She sighed, contentment and warmth washing over her. “I love you too, Sun.”

She could hear a rustle from his end of the call, before he said, “I have to go. I need to wake Nep so I can get a bit of rest.”

“Be careful on the rest of your mission, Sun. Good night.”

“Good night, Blake. Sweet dreams.” And then the line went dead.

“See you soon,” Blake whispered into the open air, even though she knew he’d already hung up. She set her scroll down next to her untouched cup of tea and snuggled deeper into the blankets. It didn’t take long for sleep to overcome her once again.

Having finally hung up the phone, Sun let out a pained gasp and coughed, blood spilling out from the corner of his mouth. He pressed his hand, already slick with his own blood, against his abdomen, where Wilt and Blush had pierced him – in the exact same spot where he had stabbed Blake all those years ago. He couldn’t help but think that Adam was trying to make a statement, and he knew exactly what it was – this is your fault.

And, hundreds of miles away from the nearest city, and miles away from where his team had set up base for the night, he knew he wasn’t going to make it out alive. Nothing his team had in their meager first aid kit could stop the amount of blood that was flowing out of his wound. So he’d called Blake – if only to hear her voice one last time, and to tell her that he loved her.

“Sun!” Neptune’s voice, filled with concern, reverberated through the night. “Sun!”

Sun let out another cough, blood spurting out. He could hear the familiar footsteps of his teammates rushing to his side.

Neptune landed next to him. “Sun!” His voice was panicked as he took in the sight of his best friend, lying in a pool of his own blood, an open, gaping wound in his abdomen, and blood dribbling down his chin. He had his scroll clutched in his right hand, Blake’s smiling face the only source of light illuminating the dark (Neptune can remember the shenanigans he and his teammates had gotten into to get her to smile like that). His other hand was clamped over the wound, trying futilely to staunch the blood flow. His face was contorted in pain and his breathing was heavy.

“Sage, Scarlet, call for help! Now! Yang and Weiss are on a mission near the outskirts of Vale – see if they have anything better than the first aid kit we have back at camp!” Neptune yanked his jacket off and pressed it against Sun’s wound, applying as much pressure as he could.

“You guys found me.” He let out a grunt of pain and let his eyes fall closed – he was starting to find it hard to concentrate, and his eyelids were starting to feel heavy.

“Sun, open your eyes!” Neptune said in a rush, his voice panicked. “I swear to dust, if you don’t open your eyes, I’m going to sic Blake on you when we get back to Vale. She’s going to let you have it for getting yourself so injured. Open your damned eyes!”

Sun struggled to pry his eyes open. “I’m okay,” he mumbled.

Sage jogged up to the pair. “We called for help – they’re sending in an emergency chopper from Vale, but it could be hours before they get here. Yang and Weiss are…” his voice trailed off when he saw Sun’s condition, and panic flashed across his usually calm façade. He swallowed loudly. “Keep him talking, Neptune. Don’t let him lose consciousness. I’m going to tell the girls to hurry.” His voice, usually calm and collected, was starting to take on tones of desperation.

Neptune nodded numbly as Sage took off towards Scarlet, who was giving the girls details about their location. He turned his attention back to Sun, whose breathing had started to turn shallow. “What happened? Why didn’t you wake us?” He asked, grasping for something – anything – to talk about in his panic-induced state.

“D-don’t know,” Sun sputtered, choking on his blood. “Was a noise – went to investigate. Caught me by surprise.”

“Who?” Neptune could feel fury building in his chest – he was going to find the monster who did this to his best friend, and make them pay. “Who was it?” he growled.

“A-Adam,” he slurred. “Don’t – don’t tell Blake. Promise – promise you won’t tell her.” He coughed again, spraying more blood everywhere.

Neptune wanted to scream. Even now, as he was laying there, his life slowly seeping out of him, Sun was thinking of Blake. He couldn’t promise that – he knew why Sun wanted him to, but he couldn’t. Blake would never forgive them if they kept something this big from her. But she would also never forgive herself for something that wasn’t her fault.  

“Can’t – I can’t do that, Sun.”

“Please! You h-have to. She can’t know. She doesn’t – doesn’t deserve to…” his voice trailed off into a shallow exhale as his eyes started to close again.

“Sun! Stay with me! Open your eyes, Sun! Tell me about Blake – you always want to talk about Blake, right? Tell me about your first date, what your wedding will be like, anything!”

“S-sorry, Nep. I don’t think I can – tell Sage and Scarlet that –” he let out a pained breath. “You guys were the – best team I could’ve asked for.” He forced his eyes open and gave Neptune a weak smile. “Thanks for – putting up with all my crap.”

“You can tell them yourself when we get back into the city! Just a little longer, Sun! Yang and Weiss will be here soon with help!” Neptune looked around wildly, as if it would somehow make the two girls magically appear. “Sun!”

“Tell Blake I love…” his words trailed off as the light faded from his eyes.

Blake was pulled out of her slumber again, when she heard somebody loudly banging on her apartment door. She buried her face into her pillow and let out a muffled groan. Maybe if she ignored them, whoever it was at the door would go away. But the knocking didn’t cease and, with an irritated growl, she tossed the blankets aside and stormed across the apartment. She threw door open, forgetting that she was in nothing more than one of Sun’s old t-shirts (which she had donned because she missed him, and it smelled like him – not that she would ever admit that to anybody).

“What do you –” her words died in her throat when she took in Yang and Weiss’s disheveled state. “Yang? Weiss? What’s wrong? Aren’t you guys supposed to be on a mission? Are you guys okay?” She asked in alarm when she finally noticed the dried blood on their hands and sleeves.

Yang looked at her sadly. “Blake – I’m so sorry. Something’s happened and –” she broke off as a sob overcame her.

Weiss, whose eyes were uncharacteristically shiny with unshed tears, gave Yang’s hand a comforting squeeze.

Blake could feel dread pooling in the pit of her stomach. She had never seen Yang at a loss for words before, and Weiss had never been one to show intense emotions. Something was definitely off. She clutched the doorknob so tightly that her knuckles started turning white. “Guys?” she prompted, her voice cracking.

Weiss glanced at Yang and, seeing that her girlfriend was in no state to talk, turned back to Blake and mumbled something. But the only thing Blake managed to make out through the buzzing in her ears was the word Sun.

She could feel the strength leaving her legs, and she reached out blindly in front of her for support before she completely collapsed.

Yang and Weiss immediately leapt forward, each clasping one of her arms to hold her up.

“What – what happened to Sun? Is he okay?” How could something have happened to him in such a short time? She had spoken to him a mere few hours ago!

“Let’s go inside,” Weiss said, a slight tremble in her voice despite her attempts to remain calm and unemotional. She and Yang led her to the couch and sat her down. “We should have sent Neptune,” she grumbled under her breath.

Yang elbowed her sharply, and glared at her through the tears in her eyes. She sighed heavily. “Blake…Sun is – he went to investigate something during his night watch. Things…things didn’t – they didn’t go well.”

Blake felt herself seize with terror. “Sun – where is Sun?” she demanded frantically.

Yang and Weiss shared a look before Weiss spoke up. “Blake … he – Sun didn’t make it.”

“No…no, that’s impossible! I just spoke with him. He was fine!” She shook her head in denial.

“I’m sorry, Blake,” Yang whispered, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“They called us in the early hours of the morning, asking us to bring help. We got there as fast as we could, but… w-we were too late. He’d already –” Weiss cut herself off and took Blake’s other hand.

“He was… He was in really bad shape.” Yang swallowed the lump in her throat. “He didn’t go down without a fight, Blake. He did everything he could to make it back to you, but…”

Blake was stunned, frozen to the spot. “How? How did he –” she stopped, unable to bring herself to say the word ’die’, as if uttering the word would make it more real.

“We don’t know,” Weiss admitted. “Neptune was the last one to speak to him, but he refuses to say.”

“Blood loss,” Yang said. “He had a severe wound in his abdomen. On the left. I – Sage said it was probably from a sword.”

Blake felt like somebody had poured a bucket of ice over her. Unconsciously, she reached down to touch the scar on the left side of her stomach, a scar from a wound that haunted her even to this day, and would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. Her stomach rolled, and she struggled to keep herself from throwing up all over the rug. “No,” she whispered. “No.”

‘I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love,’ his words echoed through her mind and her heart clenched. Was he still trying to haunt her? After all these years, was he still trying to take away everything that she loved? Would her friends – her family – ever be safe?  

“Blake?” Yang glanced worriedly over at Weiss who looked just as lost and miserable as she felt.

“Adam,” she managed to get out through clenched teeth. She felt like she was suffocating, like the world was closing in around her. “It was Adam.”

Yang stiffened, her eyes going instinctively to her robotic arm. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” she growled, her eyes flashing dangerously red.

“My fault,” Blake said as if Yang hadn’t said anything. “It’s my fault. I killed Sun.”

“No,” Weiss whispered. “It’s not. It’s nobody’s fault but whoever did it.”

“It was Adam! Why else would Neptune keep it a secret? That – his wound – was a message. He’s telling me it’s my fault.” She gestured wildly to Yang’s arm. “That’s my fault too. This is why I left! He won’t s-stop until you’re all dead.” She buried her face in her hands as she tried to keep the tears from falling.

Yang sighed. She took a seat next to Blake and wrapped her arm around her. “Nobody blames you, Blake. Sun – I know Sun wouldn’t blame you either, and he wouldn’t want you to blame yourself. It was out of your hands. Adam is – he says he’s doing it to hurt you, but if Sun had nothing to do with you, and he was on the same mission, and confronted Adam, do you think Adam would have just let him go? Just because he had no connection to you?”

“Yang is right, Blake. It doesn’t matter who it is or who they are to you, Adam will kill everybody who gets in his way. It is not your fault,” she emphasized. “So please, don’t run from us. You don’t have to do this alone, but we can’t be there for you if you don’t let us in.” She sat down on Blake’s other side and put a comforting hand on her back.

Blake looked up, a desperate look on her face. “But Sun –”

“Sun wouldn’t want you to do this alone,” Yang said firmly. “Please, Blake. Stop pushing us out. We want to help you.”

Blake’s breath hitched at the familiarity of the words – the very words that Sun had used to get her to stop running away, and to bring her back to the people she loved. “Okay,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “Thank you.”

“You’re our family, Blake. You know we’ll always be here for you, no matter what.”

She gave Weiss and Yang each a tight hug before bidding them goodbye. She shut the door and leaned against it, letting herself slide into an exhausted, defeated heap on the floor of their apartment. Her apartment now, she realized as the sinking feeling in her gut grew. It wasn’t theirs anymore; it would never be theirs again. Only hers.  

She replayed their last conversation in her head, and she wondered how she could have missed all the signs. The watery laugh, the way he sounded like he was running out of breath, the fact that he hadn’t said ‘see you soon’ like he always did. He had known – when he’d called her, he must have already known then that he wouldn’t come back to her.

And if he had known, then his telling her that he loved her hadn’t been a spur of the moment thing. He had called her with the specific purpose of telling her that he loved her, that he would always love her (but, she thought bitterly, the ache in her chest growing more and more painful, always didn’t last very long), to make sure that she knew. And she was certain that Neptune refusing to tell them what happened had everything to do with Sun telling him not to. Even in his last moments, he had put her first. He always put her first, and for once, she wished that he had put himself first.

She buried her face in her hands and let out a broken, heart-wrenching sob, finally letting the tears fall. Sun was dead. How could Sun be dead? After so many years fighting extremists, Grimm, after defeating Salem, how could he be dead? After everything they had all been through, she supposed she had started thinking that they were invincible. But they weren’t. And now… now Sun was gone, and she would never see him again. She would never again see his smile that shone brighter than the sun; she would never get to walk down the aisle to see him in a suit; she would never again fall asleep to the sound of his beating heart or wake up to his warmth. She would never really, truly be home again.

A/N: Vaguely based on this prompt, because apparently, I really like killing off my favourite characters. 

[pinknerdpanda]

Fall

Word Count: 2000ish

Characters: Dean x Reader

Warnings: FLUFF, Nerdy!Dean, burnt marshmallows

A/N: This was written for @d-s-winchester’s Fall in Love with Fall photo challenge. The photo below was my prompt. I hope you enjoy this! Tags are at the bottom - please send me an ASK if you would like to be added (or removed).

Beta’d by: @wheresthekillswitch and @hannahindie - your combined feedback and wisdom give me life and encourage me beyond words. Thank you both dearly.

x

Fall

The sound of dry leaves crunching under your boots makes you smile as you hurry along the path, hoisting your bag higher on your shoulder. This is exactly what you’ve been waiting for since the first drop of sweat had trickled down your spine months earlier. Autumn had begun ages ago...technically. While the days had been growing shorter, the temperature hadn’t seemed to have gotten the memo. The air had continued to hang thick and unseasonably warm and you’d started to wonder if fall would ever come.  But, as September melted into October, the last greedy, sweaty tendrils of summer heat had begun to fade into crisp, bright mornings and cool, starry nights. Finally.

The last couple of months have not been kind and not just because of the sweltering heat. It’s been case after case for as long as you can remember and the weeks on the road have taken their toll on everyone. You feel like you’ve aged twenty years since the leaves now littering the pavement under your feet had sprouted, hopeful and resilient, just months before.

Though, as tired as you feel, you know Dean has it worse. He’d never admit it, but he’s running on fumes. The dark patches under his eyes have deepened to a brutal purple that, while accentuating the mesmerizing green of his eyes, make him look as though he hasn’t slept in days. Given the amount of coffee you’ve watched him consume over the last week alone, it wouldn’t surprise you if he hadn’t.

The last hunt hadn’t gone exactly as anyone had hoped but it was finally over and the world was short another werewolf thanks to your combined efforts. All any of you cared about, however, had been getting home. You’d been looking forward to some much needed alone time with Dean. Things had begun to feel off between the two of you lately, but you had a feeling that was in direct correlation to the number of stitches and bruises you’d accumulated recently.

The ride back to the bunker had been a quiet one and it hadn’t taken long for a plan to formulate in your mind. When you’d finally approached the entrance to the garage, you’d all three sighed in relief. Dean had called first dibs on the shower and you took the opportunity to scour the cupboards for supplies.

That was yesterday. Since then, you and Dean have managed to do little more than sleep and neither of you were too upset by this fact. You’d snuck out while he was still sleeping, leaving a note on the bed for him to meet you in the clearing behind the bunker in an hour.

As the dense woods opened up, you found the exact spot you’d been looking for. You’d found it by accident not long after you’d moved in. Thankfully the path had been worn down over the years by both Sam and Dean or you may never have emerged from the trees at all that day.

It had been a dark, misty night and the reality of what you’d just experienced - no, survived - had overwhelmed and consumed you and you had done the one thing you could think to do - run. You can’t recall now how long you’d sat in this very same place - your knees tucked up under your chin and your hair plastered against your face as you’d convulsed involuntarily from the tears and the cold. All you remember for sure was the immediate shock of fear that had exploded through you when you’d felt a hand on your shoulder and the way your body had flooded with immense relief when you’d looked up to find green eyes staring back at you.

That was the night you’d first realized that, despite all that had been taken from you, you could actually survive. And not just survive, but thrive. Dean had been patient and compassionate and you’d fallen in love with him before you’d had the opportunity to talk yourself out of it.

You smile to yourself at the memory; it’s hard to believe how much can change in a year. Setting the bag down, you remove the blanket and spread it across one of the long, faded logs that had been carefully arranged in a half circle. You check the time on your phone - thirty minutes to go -  before searching for “how to build a campfire” - thank God for YouTube - and setting to work.

The orange and red flames have just begun to creep skyward, consuming each other and folding in on themselves as they hungrily devour the heap of wood underneath, when you hear the gentle crunch of footsteps approaching. The steady popping and creaking of the fire accentuates each step as the sound draws nearer.

“What’s all this about?” Dean’s smooth baritone rumbles through the autumn breeze, his lips curve upward and confusion is etched into the planes of his face. He stops a few yards from you, his gaze absorbing every detail before him.

You feel your stomach drop, suddenly unsure. But as his brilliant, green eyes return to yours, every doubt you could have managed to concoct drains from your mind. The look on his face is pure joy, from the tiny crinkles under each eye to the wide, toothy smile; it had been far too long since you’d seen him this happy.

“I just thought we were about due for some alone time,”  you grin, stretching a hand out towards him and wiggling your fingers for him to take it.

The weight of his palm against yours is enough to make your chilled skin flare with a warmth that has little to do with the fire you’re approaching. You guide him to the blanket-draped log and motion for him to sit.

He lowers himself and you join him. He’s silent for several seconds and it seems as though he expects to find the words he’s searching for in the dancing flames.

Grabbing the thermos and two paper cups from your bag, you unscrew the lid and fill them with the steaming, amber liquid. You hand one to Dean who graciously accepts the drink before taking a tentative sip.

“That’s delicious! Tastes like that apple pie you make,” he moans somewhat obscenely as he hastily takes another swig.

“Full disclosure?” you lock your fingers around the cup, allowing the heat of the cider to warm your hands. Dean nods. “I buy those apple pies from the grocery store in town.”

Dean blinks a few times before a deep chuckle explodes from his lips. “I knew it! For a while I was convinced you were some kind of pie-ninja, but then I started noticing patterns and I tracked….”

“Ok, Winchester, no shop talk,” You wink at him, setting your cup down before grabbing the two sharpened sticks that have been propped on the end of the makeshift bench. You hand one to Dean and then, after rummaging again through your bag, produce a bag of large, fluffy marshmallows, a box of graham crackers and a fistful of Hershey bars. “No campfire is complete without s’mores.”

“I can’t even remember the last time I had one of those!” Dean beams at you through the warm shadows cast by the fire’s glow.

“I thought they sounded pretty tasty,” you chuckle as you skewer a marshmallow on the end of your stick.

“Woah woah woah,” he jerks the stick from your hand. “What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna burn this marshmallow and then I’m gonna eat it - sandwiched between melted chocolate and two halves of a graham cracker - the way God intended it,” you scrunch your nose up, not understanding Dean’s look of incredulity.

“It’s like I don’t even know who you are, y/n,” his eyes glint with a hint of teasing. “First of all, why the hell would you want to burn it? And b, you can’t come into this all half-cocked. What happens when your marshmallow has reached optimum toastability - “

“When it’s burnt,” you interject, reaching for your stick and Dean cringes, holding it just out of reach.

“Optimum toastability,” he continues, more firmly, pronouncing each syllable carefully, “and you don’t have your runway cleared for landing?”

“Are we still talking about s’mores, Dean? Because I’m very confused.”

He props your stick against the log and purses his lips, his eyes staring straight into yours as he removes a graham cracker and breaks it into two pieces. He sets both on one of his knees and, without looking away, grabs a Hershey bar. Breaking it into four sections, he places one on each graham cracker half and set the other two aside. He flattens his hand with his palm up and motions across his work like a model from the Price is Right.

“Your runway is now cleared for landing, m’lady.” He hands your stick back before repeating his efforts and stabbing his own marshmallow.

“Can I roast this puppy now, please?” you smirk, unable to look away from his angular jaw lightly peppered with scruff. Your heart swells as you study this incredible dichotomy of a man; all his nerdiness - usually buried under a thick layer of sarcasm and self-assured swagger - on full display. You aren’t sure if you could love him more that you do right now.

“Burn baby burn,” he rolls his eyes, snickering as you lower your sticks into the flames.

Dean carefully rotates his skewer, never allowing it to stay in one spot for too long, ensuring a perfectly golden crisp to form. You, however, unceremoniously shove your own  into the largest flame, smiling triumphantly as it ignites and every speck of white is consumed by the hungry, merciless flame. From the corner of your eye you can see Dean grimacing. After a few seconds, you lift your stick and puff out a breath to extinguish what remains of the fire.

“So wrong,” Dean shakes his head as he assembles his sugary sandwich.

“Hey, don’t knock it till you try it, babes,” you mumble as you squish the now blackened marshmallow between the two halves of the “runway” as Dean had deemed it, the chocolate melting instantly and melding with the other ingredients.

Without intending to, you each take your first bite in unison and groan with delight as your personalized creations hit your tongues. You’re both so completely consumed with your enjoyment of the treats that several minutes pass, the only sounds are those from the fire pit and the crunching of your s’mores.

You dig two wet-wipes from your bag and pass one to Dean. Neither of you had been successful in your attempts to eat them mess-free. Once you’re both cleaned up, Dean stretches one, large, muscular arm around your back and you melt against him, sighing contentedly. The silence is comfortable, and it lingers as Dean’s thumb rubs small circles against the ball of your shoulder. You concentrate, determined to drink in as many of the details of this moment before they vanish in a puff of smoke. The rich, earthy smell of the fire complementing Dean’s own scent so perfectly; the sound of his chest rising and falling steadily against your head; the feel of his lips against your hair.

“Y/n,” his voice is soft. “This is…” he trails off, leaning back to look down into your eyes. His free hand sweeps a stray hair from your face before lowering to cup your chin, his thumb resting on your bottom lip. “Thank you.” He smiles broadly and you quickly etch the image into your mind’s eye; it’s far too rare an occurrence not to remember it.

His kiss is soft and slow, as though this moment could last for the rest of your lives. When he finally breaks the kiss your eyelids are heavy and you feel as though the world is spinning erratically.

“I love you,” he pecks the top of your head again before cradling you once more to his chest. And for one night, though brief, you aren’t Y/n and Dean, hunters. You are just two people enjoying the crisp autumn evening, wrapped in the arms of the person you love and you have never felt more free. The monsters and demons? They’re still out there and they’ll have to face their fate eventually. But right now, you couldn’t care less.

Like what you see? Want more? My Masterlist is here. Thanks for reading! :)

My Forever Tags (I love ya’ll - stay weird!):

@wheresthekillswitch @arryn-nyxx @emilywritesaboutdean @fandommaniacx @cookie-dough-lova @spnfanficpond @impandagrl @maddieburcham1 @trexrambling @27bmm @beachballsizeladyballs @hannahindie @rosie-winchester @winchesterprincessbride @that-writer-one @amionthetumbler @abbessolute @deansdirtyduchess @fandomismyspiritanimal @angelsandwinchesters @cfordwrites @zenia3 @charliebradbury1104 @9769997118 @mogaruke @luulaachops @supernaturaldean67  @barbedwireandbubblegum @karlee-fay-my-wayward-son @muliermalefici @galaxy-jellyfish-queen @canadianjelly @kathaswings @almusanzug @feelmyroarrrr @captainradicalpassion @bethbabybaby @thinkwritexpress-official @akshi8278 @hexparker @emoryhemsworth @boxywrites @justanotherdeangirl @atc74 @anticipate1003 @super100012 @lovesj2m  @easelweasel @masksandtruths @thing-you-do-with-that-thing

Pond Tags (Dean + Fluff): @aprofoundbondwithdean @manawhaat @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @nichelle-my-belle @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid @notnaturalanahi @bkwrm523 @salvachester @whispersandwhiskerburn @roxy-davenport @impala-dreamer @deathtonormalcy56 @samsgoddess @frenchybell @for-the-love-of-dean @mysupernaturalfics @spn-fan-girl-173 @deandoesthingstome @jelly-beans-and-gstrings @fiveleaf @deansleather @curliesallovertheplace @whywhydoyouwantmetosaymyname @waywardjoy @mrswhozeewhatsis @imadeangirl-butimsamcurious @kayteonline @supernatural-jackles @wevegotworktodo @ilovedean-spn2 @quiddy-writes @babypieandwhiskey @wi-deangirl77 @deantbh @supermoonpanda @sinceriouslyamellpadalecki @deanwinchesterforpromqueen @chaos-and-the-calm67 @memariana91 @plaidstiel-wormstache @teamfreewill-imagine @chelsea-winchester @fandommaniacx @writingbeautifulmen @revwinchester @lucibae-is-dancing-in-hell @castieltrash1 @supernaturalyobessed @ohwritever @ruined-by-destiel @inmysparetime0 @winchester-writes @deals-with-demons @maraisabellegrey @faith-in-dean @winchestersmolder @bennyyh @clueless-gold @deanwinchesterxreader @melbelle45 @winchester-family-business @4401lnc @teamfreewill92

[writers-leir]

soulmate!non-idol!wonwoo

it’s been like 1287461872467124 years but i finally have an update!!!

idea credits to this post here

soulmate!non-idol!wonwoo where you’re born with a tattoo of your soulmate’s name in their handwriting on your skin

honestly you’ve checked over your entire body probably like a hundred times by the time you were ten

because your parents kept asking if you knew what your soulmate’s name was

but you????couldn’t find anything that resembled a name

you just had a really oddly shaped birthmark on your wrist where your soulmate’s name was supposed to be

and you swear that it could be their name

but even your friends are like lmao,,,,,,,,,not even a doctor’s handwriting could be that bad

so you basically went on with your life believing that you didn’t have a soulmate

your friends have tried to comfort you they really have

your best friend baked you an entire cake one time even though you knew they weren’t the best chef

and you were so,,,,,,,,,,,,touched?? it made you feel instantly better (even if the icing wasn’t spread evenly and the cake tasted saltier than necessary)

you go through high school without worrying about the whole soulmate thing because all your friends are just as alone as you (lowkey sounds mean but i say this in the most loving way)

it’s not until you enter university that things start to kinda go,,,,,downhill?

your friends start finding their soulmates and eventually they start going on like double dates and even triple dates

and you’re stuck sitting on the couch waiting for your friend and roommate to return so you two can binge watch some tv shows or something

(unfortunately they normally get back super late ):)

after your first year of university when you start looking for an apartment you decide to find someone who hasn’t found their soulmate yet (also because your roommate and their soulmate once put a sock on the door handle and you were stuck outside the dorm for the rest of the night,,,,,,,,)

your best friend though is like noOOOoO!!!!! i’ll be your roommate :)))))))))))))) and you’re like oNly if you don’t diTCH me for your soulmate and they’re like lMAo who do you think i am of cOURse not (maybe, may be  n o t)

so you and your best friend rent an apartment together and everything goes suPER smoothly for you two

wonwoo on the other hand

he’s known the name of his soulmate (you) since forever because your name is printed sO neatly onto his wrist that he swears you must have somehow typed it

when he was little he was always worried and self-conscious about his handwriting because his teachers kept trying to “correct” it

his best friend (mingyu) was always like nOooO YOU can be a doctor with that handwriting!!!! it’s a known fact that doctors have the worst handwriting

and wonwoo’s like k,,,,,,for once you actually said the right thing at the right time congrats

but wonwoo still feels bad because he knOWs his handwriting is bad so he knows that his soulmate’s gonna have a hard time deciphering it

mingyu lowkey makes it his job to find anyone with the name on wonwoo’s wrist (yours!!!)

first year university is busy so neither of them really have the time to try and find you and you don’t either

so when second year comes mingyu’s like “hey wonwoo remember in fourth grade when i promised to help you find your soulmate. yeah i’m gonna start again”

you’re actually friends with chinaline (aka xu minghao and wen junhui)

you told them about how you didn’t know the name of your soulmate because you couldn’t find it

but they were like lmao you definitely have one their handwriting just sucks

so apparently that weirdly shaped thing you thought was a birthmark was actually the name of your soulmate

the three of you spent hours trying to figure it out lmao you felt like an idiot sitting in the library holding your left arm out with two of your friends squished next to you staring intently at it

you arm was sore for the next few days from being stretched out for such a long time

but on the bright side!!!!!!!!!!you actually deciphered parts of the name (maybe, maybe not)

minghao and jun suggested that their last name could be 권 (kwon) ((my friend says that if the handwriting is rEAllY bad then jeon mIght be confused with kwon so i’m gonna go with that,,,,,,,,,,))

but like you guys aren’t 100% sure because the handwriting is just,,,,,,,,,so messy

(jun and minghao even asked their friends from the dance team aka the other 1/2 of performance team for help but not even they could help much) ((soonyoung even joked about it being him if the last name was kwon but minghao gave him the Look™))

soonyoung also joked that you should probably start wearing a shirt that has your name on it so that your soulmate will be able to find you easier but minghao was like don’t. don’t do that. that’s a BAD IDEA. and soonyoung was just like wHY are all my ideas being SHOT DOWN

tbh though rather than actually finding your soulmate you really want to find the person whose handwriting is so bad that none of your friends could decipher it

and wonwoo really wants to find you to apologize for his terrible handwriting,,,,,,,,more times than he could count he’s had teachers and friends asking him for confirmation on certain characters

and it’s not that he’s not neat, he just has too many ideas to write down to actually take time and make it eligible (as long as he can read it, it’s fine right?)

mingyu and dokyeom have talked to him a few times about making his handwriting neater so that his soulmate can actually read his name

he tried to (but then decided that if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen)

and it seems like all hope is lost until!!!!!!!!!!! mingyu literally slams into him one day screaming something about seungcheol saying something about a kid named jihoon who was in one of his classes who knows a kid named soonyoung who happens to know someone (or someones) who happen to be bffs with a person with the name of his soulmate

long story short mingyu found you

and even better apparently mingyu managed to get seungcheol to ask jihoon to tell soonyoung to tell your friends to get you to the fountain in the center of the campus at noon

if minghao and jun are 100% honest with you though,,,,,they lowkey didn’t want to take you because the entire plan just smells sketchy,,,,,,,

they agreed only because 1: it was at noon and 2: they could stay with you

and you guys get there a little bit early so you just sit there drinking coffee,,,

and wonwoo’s running late because mingyu decided to last minute ask seungcheol to ask jihoon to ask soonyoung what the plan was

everything turned out well though they ended up just barely ten minutes late

and tbh wonwoo saw you and went wow,,,,,,an ANGEL,,,, and he felt all fuzzy inside

and honestly he thought that you were just a friend of his soulmate there to tell him that his soulmate didn't want to meet him or something because???? how could you be the soulmate of someone like him

and you saw him and thought the exact same thing like HOW do i get a soulmate like that that’s impossible

but then mingyu went like “this is your soulmate!!!” and it finally sunk in for both of you like okay,,,,,i don’t know what i did in my past life but thank you,,,,,

minghao and jun leave when they notice you and wonwoo kinda in your own world

you hold up your arm and ask him if his handwriting is that bad and he’s like unfortunately,,,,,,,,,,,,,yes,,,,,,,,,i’m sorry,,,,,,,,,,,,

IT’S OKAY THOUGH because he invites you to go to a bookstore/cafe and it’s cute because you get to watch him get super excited when you ask him for book suggestions

as a significant other he probably prefers to sit on the couch reading a book with you but if you wanted to go to an amusement park he wouldn’t complain

book recommendations every week!!! and he probably acts super offended if you don’t finish that book during the week

he once gave you a list of 20 books that he liked the most and you were like wonwoo i love you but THIS IS SO MUCH

probably takes pictures of you sleeping cause he thinks you’re the cutest person alive ever but doesn't set it as his lockscreen cause he doesn't want anyone to see

probably has a folder dedicated to pictures of you sleeping

he doesn’t tell you he loves you often

like i sincerely believe that he prefers to show his affection

and in the smallest, cutest ways too

he probably puts all your misplaced things back in their places

like if you left your keys on your bedside table he’d probably move it back to the little bowl next to the door so that you don’t start freaking out right before you leave

he prefers to listen over talking so normally he sits on the couch listening to you talk about your day

and he’ll give you legit advice

like it sounds harsh at first but it works?????

“mingyu put all the cups on the top shelf today, so i had to use a stool”

“kick him in the shin next time”

(it works trust me)

he likes to joke a lot too so if you play along he’ll love you for the rest of his life (he already does but it doESn’t hUrt for some more love)

[lisatelramor]

To Immortalize in Full

...and gain something new along the way

You know how I kept saying I was going to make one of those kiss prompts actually shippy? This is the shippy one. Shhhh. I know. 

That said, I've crossed over Yu-Gi-Oh! and Hikago, and now Yu-Gi-Oh! and DNAngel. All that's left is squishing all three together some day into some sort of unholy angsfest of moving on from your now-absent mind-spirit-buddy. Person. Thing. This prompt was Yuugi-Daisuke: perplex. Noooot sure if it really came out to much perplexing so much as 'this person reminds me of me for some reason' for most of it, but hey, prompts are just there to light the spark.

The Mutou Yuugi that first stepped foot in Domino High never planned to go to college. He’d hoped to survive school without too much bullying, make friends besides Anzu, and eventually take over Grandpa’s shop where he could be surrounded by the latest games of all types to his heart’s content. But the Mutou Yuugi who entered high school was not the Mutou Yuugi that left it, and several years with a spirit sharing his body and confronting an array of powerful, morally questionable people and an ancient Egyptian evil kind of put him at a different mental state than when he’d entered high school. The world was a lot bigger than his little game shop and there was a lot he would love to know more about. Plus he had friends now who were all making their own way in the world. Yuugi had had to decide what to make of himself.

So, contrary to where he thought he’d be, he’d decided to go on in schooling. Learning more about Atem’s country and times was helping fill the gap he’d left. And learning about game design was right up Yuugi’s alley. In fact, Kaiba had even made subtle, backhanded remarks that insinuated that he wouldn’t mind having Yuugi’s brain coming up with games for his company once Yuugi was out of school.

So there he was.  In college and in over his head whenever he had classes that didn’t immediately relate to his obsessions. Yuugi still couldn’t really believe he was there. He could have just gone into pro Dueling like Jonouchi had. But as much as he loved Duel Monsters and always would, Duel Monsters had been a little too painful to play for a long while after Atem had left. Back around again to why college had ended up in his future.

Yuugi sighed. Game design, he was finding, required just as much knowledge about art and computers as it did crafting unique gameplay elements and storylines. Neither of which were his forte. Painting a figure for a tabletop game did not transfer over into sketching a character. And that was why Yuugi was at that moment sitting in the art building and hoping he could catch a professor or someone from one of the lower level art classes to get some tips, or at least some book recommendations.  He didn’t think his professor would be very thrilled with Yuugi’s current doodle designs. They looked more like balloon figure caricatures than a serious design for the video game concept he was piecing together for his class final.

Somehow Yuugi hadn’t expected a whole art building to be so...quiet. Or empty. He’d passed six classrooms and what looked like the entrance to a dark room, but there hadn’t been a single person. Maybe they were in a computer lab? Or one of the reserve-able workrooms upstairs? Or maybe there just weren’t any art classes taking place at ten thirty in the morning.

Yuugi wandered up a staircase and down a hallway. Whoever built the art building had an interesting idea on how architecture worked. In that there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to where the halls and rooms were in relation to each other and different floors. It would be an easy place to get lost in.

At the end of that hallway before it took a sharp left, there was a room with the door ajar and the light on inside. Yuugi clutched his sketchbooks tighter; finally, there was someone else in the building after all.  

The room’s occupant was painting, headphones over his ears with spiky red hair jutting out around them. There was a large canvas propped on an easel in front of him and a few more finished works scattered around the room. The current painting was still in a sketchy framework phase, rough shapes and colors blocking out segments of the canvas. In the paintings around the room, there were clear interconnected color schemes of purple and black and blue and red, with the occasional jarring yellow. The second thing Yuugi noticed was that every painting had wings—feathers, winged figures, or just silhouettes worked into an abstract design. Looking at them felt a bit like intruding for some reason. Yuugi tore his eyes away.

“Excuse me!” he said, raising his voice a little to try to get the painter’s attention. He edged further into the room. “Hello?” The painter set down a brush, turned to grab a tube of paint. “Hi,” Yuugi said with a wave. The painter jolted as he caught Yuugi from the corner of his eye, accidentally sending a paintbrush spinning across the room. It left a streak along an already stained floor.

The artist clutched at his chest with one hand, the other lifting one headphone away from his ear. “How long have you been there?!”

“Um. Just now actually,” Yuugi said.

“Oh.” The headphones slid off completely. The artist rubbed a hand against his face leaving a small streak of indigo just under his left eye. “Hi? Did you need something?”

Yuugi opened his mouth, then closed it, painfully aware that he’d just interrupted a private painting session for completely selfish reasons. Still, this was the only person he’d found so far... “You wouldn’t happen to know if there’s a professor around? Or if there’s anyone who tutors for drawing?”

“It’s kind of quiet today, isn’t it?” The painter glanced at his mixed paint and the canvas before shrugging and wandering closer. “The professors are all out today because there’s an art exhibit opening up in town with some work from an alumni featured in it. A lot of people have class assignments related to it too.” Yuugi vaguely remembered something being mentioned about an art exhibit. He’d been a bit too caught up with thinking up puzzle mechanisms for the game he was designing to pay attention that day. “As for tutoring,” the painter said, “I don’t think there’s anything formal like that here. You can always ask a professor or a classmate for pointers though.”

“Ah.” Yuugi deflated a bit. “I don’t know much about art,” he said. “I’m a game design major, not an art major.”

“Okay.” The painter nodded. “You know what, I’ve got a bit of time. How about you show me what level you are at and we can go from there?”

Yuugi glanced at the unfinished painting. “That’s okay! I can come back another day to talk to a professor!”

The painter smiled, and he looked too young to be in college the way it softened his face—not that Yuugi was one to judge; people thought he was still a middle school student on a regular basis. “I’m not working on an assignment. This is just for...for fun. I have time.”

“Thank you then.” With some lingering hesitation, he handed over his sketchbook. “I’m Yuugi, by the way.”

“Daisuke,” the painter replied, already flipping through the couple of pages Yuugi had filled with sketches. His eyes lingered on the little things Yuugi had drawn in the corners; duel monsters and doodles of his friends. On one page he’d written out hieroglyphics that Atem had recognized at some point or another and Yuugi’d sought out again in the immediate aftermath of his passing on. It was uncomfortably soul baring to have someone seeing some of the things in there.

“I’m not much of an artist,” Yuugi said while Daisuke looked at a doodle of Jonouchi with a hoard of Duel Monsters cards.

“Actually,” Daisuke said, not looking up from the page, “this isn't so bad. You have your own style developing here.”

“Yeah, but it's all just doodles. And they all look the same.” He hadn’t noticed until he was looking at examples of character design in his class, but all Yuugi’s doodle people had the same ‘U’ shape head and proportional chibi bodies with hair to distinguish them from each other.

Daisuke looked up with a hint of a smile curling at his lips. “I was worried it was going to be stick figures or something from how nervous you looked. You just need to practice more and play around with shapes.”

Play with shapes. Practice was a given, but Yuugi wasn’t sure how to really go about the actual playing around bit. “...anything you can recommend? Books or...?” Examples would be great.

Looking thoughtful, Daisuke nodded slowly. “Actually, yeah. Here....” He pulled a pen from seemingly nowhere, turning to a blank page in Yuugi’s sketchbook and jotting down a list. “These are some useful titles for character design, and these are helpful for things like anatomy. Even cartoon styles can benefit from that. You need to know what you're doing before you exaggerate it anyway...”

Yuugi’s eyes went wide as Daisuke kept adding to it. “So much...”

The pen paused, finishing a character with a slow slide of the nib. “Ah, this isn't all that helpful is it? You were probably looking for more of a hands on approach...”

“No, it helps!” Yuugi shook his head. When Daisuke held out the sketchbook, Yuugi took it from him. He ran a finger along the list, plenty of books to get examples from, much as he felt intimidated by the amount of things he didn’t know that they could provide. “I’m a little overwhelmed with everything. Somehow I just wasn't expecting to need to draw for game design....”

“Well... when you think about it, in most game design it's a team effort, so you'd have people who focus on character design and people doing coding and someone else working on story and dialogue.... So you don't have to be great at it, but it doesn't hurt to know how to do it either.”

“Huh. Good point. I'm more used to coming up with plots and puzzles.”

Daisuke grinned. “I have a friend who is in the design course too and he's the exact opposite. He's great at the art end but is having trouble with the whole game aspect.”

Yuugi couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to go into games if they didn’t know much about them. “Well what kind of games does he like?”

“I don't think he ever really played games until a year ago. I'm not sure even he knows what he likes. Having fun is hard for him.”

“Why on earth is he in game design then?” Yuugi asked, but then he thought of Kaiba who made games but only seemed to enjoy them if he was winning. There were reasons to do everything he supposed.

Daisuke smiled ruefully. “It's about as far from what he was doing before as he's comfortable going. He had a degree in criminal law before. And art history too I suppose.”

“Huh.” Whoever this friend was must lead an interesting life.

“Yup.” Daisuke shrugged before nodding at the sketchbook. “Here, try sketching some random shapes and once you've done that, make faces from them. That will help get some diversity. Try to figure out what the rest of them might look like and go from there.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Daisuke turned back to his painting and after a moment, Yuugi sat a ways away and started sketching. They worked in silence, just the soft sounds of pencils and Daisuke’s paintbrush filling the space. It was surprisingly both relaxing and focusing to have someone working nearby; it was a motivator to keep working.

Yuugi couldn’t say how much time passed, but after a whole he had two pages full of sketches. They were still pretty simple, but trying to use different random shapes had helped.

Daisuke, noticing the pause, glanced over. “See? You’re getting the hang of it.”

Yuugi rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks. Sorry again for bothering you.”

“It's not a bother.” Daisuke grinned. There was another bit of paint next to his nose, purple like one of the figures slowly taking shape on the canvas. “I needed a break anyway. If you need any help later, I'm usually in this room...”

“I’ll keep that in mind!” Yuugi had other classes to get to now, and books to find from the campus library, but it was reassuring to know that he had someone willing to help. He waved to Daisuke and left the artist to his winged paintings.

*

Daisuke hadn’t been joking about being in the room a lot. Every time Yuugi had sought him out over the next few weeks to ask about techniques or opinions on how Yuugi’s designs were coming, he was always in the art room. The painting was almost done now, filling in from its rough figures to be something that reminded Yuugi of a yin yang, but with winged people instead of black and white images. It was a color-clashing purple and yellow piece, but there were other colors subtly worked in so that it balanced out somehow. Yuugi was sure Daisuke could have explained the color theory he was working into it, but Daisuke didn’t seem to like talking about his paintings. The one time Yuugi brought them up, he’d found the conversation deflected around to the sketches of Duel Monsters he had left in the margins of his notes. So Yuugi hadn’t asked again, even if he was curious about how if he stepped back and viewed it from a distance it almost looked like two more people overlaid the angels on the canvas.

Yuugi was content to let Daisuke keep his secrets. He was just glad to have a new friend and help on his project. Daisuke was easy to get along with and easy to work next to; Yuugi found himself visiting Daisuke’s painting room a lot more than he planned just for the atmosphere and quiet company.

It was sometime during the third week of this that Yuugi walked in to find someone else sharing Daisuke’s work space. The stranger had a notebook in his lap, bent over it with Daisuke’s head bent alongside his as the stranger wrote in the margins. They both looked up when Yuugi walked through the door. Daisuke smiled and welcomed him. The stranger lifted one eyebrow before staring at Yuugi like he was a museum exhibit. Yuugi paused in the doorway.

“Hey!” Daisuke said, sitting up and giving a wave. None of his painting things were out for once. The painting he had been working on had been set aside, perhaps finally complete. “Yuugi, this is Satoshi, the friend I told you about that was in game design like you. Satoshi, this is Yuugi.”

“The person you’ve been teaching to draw,” Satoshi said. He had a flat tone of voice that at first reminded Yuugi a bit of Kaiba, but there wasn’t any of Kaiba’s defensive hostility in Satoshi’s voice or body language. He looked curious if anything.

“Giving tips,” Daisuke corrected. “He already has a style.”

“Teaching,” Satoshi said. “Teaching art is giving tips and things to practice and watching students improve through their own efforts.”

Daisuke rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Satoshi’s been working on a game of his own, but he’s having a little trouble with character dialog. Think you could help?”

“I can try?” Yuugi said. But this was something that he was good at. Tabletop RPGs and text games had given him a lot of practice in this sort of thing. As he walked over, he thought he heard Satoshi whisper to Daisuke, “You always run into interesting people.”

Yuugi chose to ignore that and whatever connotations were behind it. He could give Satoshi the benefit of the doubt. And it was fun to help someone else with characters and plot for a bit instead of prodding at his ever changing character designs.

And that, Yuugi thought, was how he made friends with Satoshi and cemented himself in Daisuke’s friend group without realizing it.

*

Yuugi held up his latest sketches to his laptop camera. “What do you think?”

“Looks good!” Anzu said, smiling. Her hair was long enough to tie back right now, a bit flyaway at the moment since she had just got back from her morning run. Behind her Yuugi could see the early morning sunlight streaming through her apartment window. Here in Japan it was already well into its decent. Yuugi felt a little wistful of the past where they didn’t have to work around twelve hour time difference. “You’ve got a lot of details now. They remind me a little bit of us actually. All of our friends.”

“That’s what I’m basing it off of a bit,” Yuugi admitted. “The characters aren’t too close to us, but...” He couldn’t deny that he’d drawn on his friends for inspiration. “I wanted to write something similar to what we went through. Not so close that anyone who looks at it can figure it out, but for those of us who knew Atem...”

“Yuugi...” She looked at him with the same expression she’d had when they gave up trying to date, a bit sad, a bit worried, but mostly supportive friendship.

“I’m making something he’d like,” Yuugi said. He smiled because focusing on the good things pushed back the times he felt sad. “But enough about my game, how did your audition go?”

Anzu gave him a look that said she knew exactly what he was doing by changing the topic, but she launched into an explanation on how she’d managed to get a minor stage role as a backup dancer and how there was another audition coming up in a few weeks and that show was compatible with this one so she was going to try out for that. It sounded busy and stressful, but Yuugi couldn’t help smiling genuinely at the pride and determination in Anzu’s tone as she spoke. She was following her dreams and that made him happy.

“I saw Jonouchi and Mai when they were in town for a bit,” Anzu said toward the end of the conversation. “Did he send you the picture we took?”

“The one with the port in the background?” Yuugi nodded. Jonouchi and Mai were both pro Duelers now, and that lifestyle took them all around the world. It could be fun to see where he was at any given time.

“Yeah! They were heading out to semifinals of a tournament—not hosted by Kaiba this time, can’t remember who. He’ll probably call sometime soon.”

“I look forward to it.” Yuugi missed Jonouchi but he was glad all of his friends were finding what they loved in the world.

“Good luck with your game, Yuugi,” Anzu said waving at the camera.

“Have fun dancing,” he said back.

Like always, it was a bittersweet feeling to end the call.

*

Daisuke had started a new painting. This one wasn’t purple or yellow, but it did already show signs of wings. Yuugi sat off to the side and worked on making tiny pixel sprites for his character designs. While he wasn’t expected to actually make a functioning game yet, he couldn’t help starting it in his spare time. Making a plan and design and building it up in concept was enough to make him want to make it real. Today Daisuke wasn’t painting, though, but sketching, off in a separate corner. The soft scratch of pencil lead along paper was almost meditative alongside the sound of Yuugi’s tablet.

Yuugi was so caught up in making a tiny coat for a tiny pixel character based off Kaiba that he almost didn’t notice that the sounds of Daisuke’s pencil had stopped. He glanced up and found Daisuke looking at his character sketches again. “Hm?” he hummed in question.

Daisuke twitched, like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t rather than just looking at sketches he’d seen dozens of times. “You know, I don’t think you even said what your game was about?” he said. “You’ve talked about the characters and what they’re like, but...”

Yuugi set aside his laptop and tablet. “It’s a puzzle game,” Yuugi said, picking up his sketches. He pointed out characters as they become relevant. “The main character is a high school student that solves an ancient puzzle and ends up sharing a body with a millennia old spirit.” Beside him, Daisuke blinked rapidly, but leaned in to look at the drawings with new interest. “There’s the protagonist, and then there’s the protagonist when he’s possessed,” Yuugi said, pointing to the slightly different designs. Showing the shift in pixel avatar has been harder than drawing the design had been. The character didn’t resemble Yuugi or Atem much, but Yuugi knew what he represented and that was enough. “Whenever the main character is possessed, his abilities to solve puzzles goes up because the ghost was obsessed with solving them before he died. The protagonist doesn’t realize he’s being possessed at first, but as the story goes on and you solve more puzzles, other characters create challenges. If you can complete the challenges right, you can make friends, and making friends opens more opportunities.” Like making friends had given Yuugi more from life. He smoothed a finger along the possessed version of his character.

“That sounds pretty cool,” Daisuke said slowly. “Does the protagonist ever realize he’s being possessed?”

“Yeah.” Yuugi smiled. “As you go on, you unlock bits about who the spirit is and at some point you become able to talk to him. He can become another friend, and you can unlock even harder puzzles where you have to work together to solve them. The end goal is actually to solve the puzzle of the spirit.”

“And if you solve it?”

“Then you have to decide whether to keep the spirit or to let him pass on to the afterlife.” Yuugi’s heart hurt thinking about it. It was a risk putting so much of himself into this, but it felt right to do it. If he made it, it would be just the sort of tribute to Atem’s memory that he’d appreciate.

“Oh.”

There was something sad in Daisuke’s voice and Yuugi glanced up. He’d never heard Daisuke sound sad before.

“That sounds like it would be a hard decision,” Daisuke said finally. “Because you made friends with him.”

“Yeah.” The echo of heartbreak he’d felt in that moment of decision was still there. To be selfish or to do the right thing? To feel whole or to let his other half rest at last?

Daisuke touched the sketch of the protagonist, something similar to Yuugi’s heartbreak in his eyes. Almost like he also knew what it felt like to make that kind of a decision. “What would you choose?” he asked. “If you were playing through the game?”

“I’d choose what I thought would make the spirit happiest,” Yuugi said immediately. “The protagonist has all the friends he’s made over the course of the game to fall back on, but the spirit was stuck in the puzzle alone for a long time, and could be stuck for who knows how long after the protagonist dies. If it was the only chance to let him move on and be at peace, I’d choose that than the possibility of condemning him to being alone and forgotten again.”

There was the sort of silence that comes after a confession, too close and personal, with all the blatant emotions out in the open. Yuugi didn’t take his words back though even though he felt like it could reveal too much. Daisuke swallowed thickly. “I can tell you’ve thought a lot about the choices,” he said finally.

“Yes,” Yuugi said. Because the choice had once haunted him like a second ghost until he’d come to peace with it.

“I don’t know if I could be that selfless in making the choice,” Daisuke admitted. “If I was the protagonist and cared about the spirit, I don’t think I’d want to let go.”

Yuugi’s smile was wry, barely the upward twist of his lips at the edges. “That’s how hard choices and love work; you might not choose what you want but you’ll do what will make everyone happiest in the long run.”

With one last touch to the sketch, Daisuke pulled back. “Sounds like you’re talking from experience.”

Yuugi shrugged. He closed the sketch book, suddenly not wanting to look at it. Or maybe not wanting Daisuke to look at it; Daisuke looked unsettled, like talking about the game had brought up things he didn’t want to think about. “That’s my game more or less though. I’m working on the puzzles already. I like that sort of thing, so it’s fun to come up with.”

“It sounds like it will be a cool game.” Daisuke gave him a quick, there and gone smile, moving back toward his work space. “If you ever do make it, I think I’d like to play it.”

The idea of someone playing a game Yuugi made, playing a game and enjoying it, made him feel warm inside. Like a little part of him would reach out to each and every person who played it, giving them a connection whether they knew it or not. And a little part of Atem that went into this game would live with them too. He wondered if that was part of what Kaiba liked about creating games; it was forging a connection without the difficulty of actually socializing.

“Thanks,” Yuugi said. He wrapped that warm feeling up inside to bring out whenever he got frustrated about the project. Then, curious, he asked, “What would you choose? Would you befriend the spirit knowing you had to choose?”

“I wonder,” Daisuke said, introspective. “I might be one of those people that never finishes the game, not wanting to make that choice at all.”

Fair enough. Yuugi couldn’t fault that he supposed. It would be a pity to leave anything unfinished though. He always has preferred to see things through to their ends.

*

They were in the usual room, Daisuke starting a new painting again, this one smaller and like none of the other paintings in the room. A scenic painting, Yuugi thought, instead of abstract or angelic portraits. Satoshi was there today as he sometimes was, poking away at his game concept. It was not the sort of game Yuugi would be attracted to playing, full of dark and introspective themes with a main character that is slowly losing trust in his own mind and judgment. Whatever it means to Satoshi though, he looks like each bit of progress is cathartic so Yuugi had the idea that it meant about as much to his as the game Yuugi was working on meant.

The door was propped open to let airflow in and Yuugi had music playing in the background as he ignored homework in favor of building up his game world pixel by pixel. He had far far more respect for Kaiba’s skills now than he ever thought he’d have. Granted, Kaiba had a team that probably did the tedious stuff like making textures for terrain and background images.

He had just about finished up the layout of the school when he heard a familiar voice.

“Yuugi!”

Yuugi’s head whipped up, seeing his best friend standing just outside the doorway. He couldn’t put his laptop down fast enough. “Jonouchi!” Yuugi tackled his friend. Jonouchi whirled him around in a hug, grinning from ear to ear. “What are you doing here?” Yuugi asked when the room stopped spinning. “I thought you were in the middle of a tournament?”

Jonouchi laughed. “I got a place in the finals so I have a bit of time off before the semifinals finish up! Figured I'd visit my best bud and see how college life was going. Your campus is a hell of a maze by the way.”

“You should have called!” Yuugi said, pulling back. His face hurt from grinning. It had been months since he last saw Jonouchi in person.

“That'd ruin the surprise,” Jonouchi said. He set Yuugi down. While Yuugi wasn’t nearly as short as he’d been in high school, he would always be much shorter than his best friend. Jonouchi got twice the growth spurt Yuugi had gotten.

“A friend of yours?” Daisuke asked, and Yuugi realized they had an audience.

“Ahaha, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his head, finally noticing that both Daisuke and Satoshi were staring intently. “This is my best friend, Jonouchi Katsuya. Jonouchi, this is Niwa Daisuke and Hiwatari Satoshi.”

“The guy who’s helping you with your drawing, right?” Jonouchi said, remembering their Skype conversations. “Nice ta meetcha. Hope you don’t mind me barging in.”

“It’s fine,” Daisuke said, since it was his study room after all. “We could probably use a study break.”

Jonouchi grinned before turning back to Yuugi. “So, being around all these books and drawing, how’s your Dueling? Getting rusty yet?”

Yuugi narrowed his eyes at the challenge. “Rusty? Never. How about I show you, Mr. Tournament Finalist?” He reached for his bag. Even now he had the habit of carrying his Duel Monster cards with him. “I challenge you to a Duel.”

“Duel?” Satoshi asked sharply.

“Duel Monsters,” Jonouchi said holding up his deck of cards. He snorted at Satoshi’s blank look. “What, did you think I was gonna whip out a knife? I don’t look like that much of a delinquent these days.”

“Nope, just scruffy as always,” Yuugi said. He cleared a space on the desk before shuffling his deck, intent on his friend and opponent. “Duel Monsters is a strategy based card game,” Yuugi explained to the others. “With a certain amount of luck too.”

Jonouchi snorted. “Luck, fate, whatever you wanna call it.” He exchanged a glance with Yuugi.

“Heart of the cards,” they said at the same time.

“Anyway,” Yuugi said, “Jonouchi plays it professionally. I used to enter tournaments but I haven’t played much in a while.”

“Yet you still hold the title for King of Games,” Jonouchi said.

Yuugi shrugged. It was a title he didn’t feel like he’d earned. After all, Atem had done most of the Dueling to get it. “Anyone’s free to seek me out and win it properly.”

“If they can beat you.”

Yuugi shrugged again. They set up their station and drew their hands. It had been a while since he last Dueled, longer still since he Dueled without Kaiba’s technology bringing it all to life. It felt a little bit like high school, playing games at lunch. The cards were warm and familiar in his hands, feeling almost alive as they sometimes did. Yuugi wasn’t calling on anything, didn’t have Atem’s power over the shadows, but the cards still had presences even if he wasn’t using them that way.

“Huh,” Satoshi said, looking at the cards in their hands like they were something particularly strange and intriguing.

“Two thousand life points?” Yuugi asked.

“Standard Duel’s four thousand,” Jonouchi said.

“Yeah, but it feels more like high school if we play it that way.”

“Works for me.”

It was funny how normal it felt to play a Duel against Jonouchi—or maybe it wasn’t strange at all considering how big a part in his life Dueling once held, but he hadn’t Dueled anyone since the last time everyone was able to meet up together, and that was almost half a year ago. Everything still felt right though. His cards rose to the challenge like they always did, chipping Jonouchi’s life points down bit by bit. Even having an audience was familiar. Daisuke and Satoshi weren’t Anzu or Honda, but the balance felt right.

Yuugi called on his Kuriboh to end the Duel, just like old times.

Jonouchi made a face as the last of his life points drained away thanks to one of the weakest cards in the game. “One more turn and I’d’ve had you with my dragon. You’re still as good at this as ever, Yuug. No wonder Kaiba’s always trying to drag you into Duels.”

Yuugi snickered. “Kaiba just wants to beat me once and for all. Or make me test all his Duel tech.” If Yuugi ever took him up on that job offer, he had a feeling he’d end up doing more Dueling and product testing against Kaiba’s over competitive ego than actual game design.

“Wait,” Satoshi said from the sidelines. He had followed the game with interest, though it had looked like he was analyzing what game attributes made it enjoyable rather than enjoying watching the game itself. “Kaiba as in Kaiba Seto, billionaire game maker Kaiba?”

“Yeah?” Yuugi said.

Jonouchi sat back in his chair and laughed at Satoshi’s consternation. “Yuugi won the title King of Games years ago. He’s still the reigning champion Duel Monsters player and Kaiba hates it because Yuugi won’t enter tournaments anymore so no one can win the title from him.”

“They should just accept some other tournament winner as the best player winner,” Yuugi muttered. “Kaiba’s won most of the ones since I left the Duel scene.”

“Yeah, but Kaiba’s never satisfied til he can beat you.” Jonouchi turned back to their audience. “Moneybags was a classmate of ours in high school. Real ass, but he’s gotten better now that he’s stopped pulling shit that can get people killed. Still dramatic as heck though. Betcha he’ll come into the arena for the final on a jet pack or something with the Kaiba Corp logo all huge on the back. Or have it shaped like the Blue Eyes.”

“He’s a friend,” Yuugi clarified. Jonouchi always made Kaiba sound like an enemy when he hadn’t been anything like an enemy in a long time. “He wants me to join his company after school, but if I did that I’d have to Duel him because he’d hold my paycheck.”

Jonouchi snorted. “Sounds like the sorta manipulative thing he’d do.”

Yuugi hummed. “I wouldn’t mind Dueling him sometime though. I just don’t want to Duel at his command.”

“Fair enough. Beat him once and he either won’t leave ya alone til you have a rematch or he pretends it never happened.”

“...This is the CEO of the largest gaming empire in Japan?” Satoshi asked, skeptical.

“In the world,” Jonouchi corrected.

“Charming.”

“Eh, he grows on you.” Jonouchi grinned, lopsided. “Kinda like some sort of fungus.”

Yuugi rolled his eyes. “Kaiba is Kaiba. He’s there when it matters and tries. He actually has a pretty good sense of humor.”

“Yeah, at my expense.”

Yuugi patted Jonouchi consolingly. Kaiba and Jonouchi would never really get along, and that was okay. Besides, he figured that by now their back and forth taunts were just the only way they knew how to interact. The words didn’t really hit anymore. Yuugi was pretty sure that Kaiba even found it fun. Not many people insulted him to his face anymore. Jonouchi was a bit too straightforward to notice that though.

“I suppose he is still a good connection to have if you’re going into this field,” Satoshi said in what was clearly meant to be a diplomatic tone. It still came across a bit skeptical.

“He is.” Yuugi grinned. “Though I kind of want to set up my own indie gaming thing out of Grandpa’s shop and see how he reacts.”

Daisuke shook his head. “Save that for when you can actually do everything yourself.”

“Or have a team.” For a brief moment, Yuugi pictured combining the strengths of his friends from high school into the project. They all had something they could have brought to the table—Anzu with music, Hiroto with coding, and Jonouchi with story development and puzzles. Even Bakura could have helped with the graphic side of things. But he dismissed it after that moment. This wasn’t high school anymore and they each had their own lives to work through.

“Or that,” Daisuke said.

They were all quiet for a moment, then Jonouchi held up his deck. “Anyone wanna learn how to Duel?”

And then Yuugi was digging out the extra cards he still couldn’t help carrying everywhere he went, and Daisuke and Satoshi were tentatively Dueling each other, Satoshi frequently looking at the cards like there was something he didn’t trust about them, but Dueling all the same.

It was nice.

Yuugi sat back and watched friends interact, new and old.

It was very nice.

*

Jonouchi only stayed a few days, but by the time he left he’d made friends with Yuugi’s friends, corrupted Yuugi’s sleep schedule with first a Duel, then a movie marathon, and told enough stories about the Dueling circuit that Yuugi wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved that he hadn’t gone into Dueling professionally. It sounded like a wild time.

Then he was off back to attend the finals. Yuugi promised to watch them. He intended to drag Daisuke into watching them with him too.

The quiet after he left was a bit like missing a limb. Yuugi found himself in the art building even more that week. Daisuke, in his comings and goings—though usually he was there before and after Yuugi arrived—didn’t comment on Yuugi’s extra time there. He just brought a few more snacks and had music playing to fill the silence when Yuugi didn’t feel like talking.

It was a nice reminder that new friends could fill the open spaces old ones left without really replacing them.

*

Lately Daisuke had been sketching. No paintings, no charcoal drawings or powdery pastels covering the worktable with colorful dust marks, just pencil and a sketchbook every time Yuugi was there. Yuugi leaned over one day to ask about any tips on drawing foreshortening and blinked at the lines on the page.

“Is that a sketch of me?”

Daisuke almost dropped the sketchbook. For a second, Yuugi thought he was going to slam the book shut. “Yes?”

It was Yuugi; spiky hair and dark clothing, a profile of him smiling to himself as he worked on his tablet. There were smaller more dynamic thumbnails in the corner—Yuugi walking, laughing, throwing down a card in Duel Monsters, dozing off on the worktable. In all of the sketches his distinctive hair shape stood out along with the outlines of his clothing. “So, was it the hair or the clothes that made me an interesting sketch subject?” he joked. Those were the two things that people always noticed first after all. Spiked, bright colored hair, chunky silver and gold jewelry, and a taste for leather and belts.

Daisuke surprised him by flipping back a few pages to show studies of Yuugi’s face—just his face. “Your eyes actually...” Daisuke mumbled. He flushed and Yuugi couldn’t help blushing a little too. The sketches of his face were...intimate for lack of a better word. His eyes were riveted on a sketch on the right, his penciled lips frozen in a melancholy smile and a far off look in the sketch’s eyes like he was looking at something only he could see. It had to be a moment he was thinking about Atem and he wasn’t sure what he felt about having that captured on paper.

“Oh,” was all he could say.

Daisuke flushed deeper. “If it bothers you, I can stop.”

Did it bother him? Maybe if it was someone he didn’t know, but Daisuke was a friend now. He could see Yuugi as he was in all his range of emotions. “No,” Yuugi said. “No, it’s fine.”

Daisuke’s shoulders relaxed, his hands no longer gripping the sketchbook so tightly. “Your eyes show what you’re feeling really clearly,” he said. “The other day I was watching you work and I couldn’t help...” He waved at the sketches. “I like how you look.”

Yuugi could count on one hand how many times people said they liked his appearance, and two of those times had been Anzu while they were dating. He opened his mouth to...to what? Compliment Daisuke back? Thank him? He shook his head. “I don’t mind you drawing me.”

“Ok. I’m glad.” Daisuke twirled the pencil in his hands like he needed to do something with his fingers. “I’m also glad you came here months ago. It’s nice to have someone else in here.”

“Considering you practically live here.”

“Yeah.”

Yuugi sat back, asking a question that had been bugging him for a while now. “You’re here pretty much whenever I’m here. And lately if I’m not at classes I’m here. Are you always here? Is this a free study or...?”

One shoulder lifted in a shrug as Daisuke couldn’t meet his eyes. “I only have one class right now. I kind of had to take a break. I’m only supposed to be here for my class project but it felt like the only place I could be for a while.”

“Oh.” Yuugi reached out. He didn’t think he was imagining Daisuke leaning into his touch, gravitating toward the hand on his shoulder. “Is everything ok?”

“It wasn’t, but I think it’s getting better.”

Yuugi waited to see if Daisuke would say more, but he didn’t. That was okay. There were some things that you couldn’t talk about with just anyone, and some things that just couldn’t be talked about at all.

“Painting helps,” Daisuke said. “Seeing friends helps too. You help.”

Yuugi squeezed his shoulder in support. “I hope I can keep helping.”

This time he was sure he wasn’t imagining Daisuke leaning into his touch. “Just keep coming around.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about me leaving anytime soon.”

*

“The cards aren’t normal,” Daisuke said one day as Yuugi was helping him form a deck of his own. He’d Duel him sometimes if Yuugi was really in the mood for Duel Monsters. Daisuke held up a Chimera card, spinning it between his fingers. “There’s something about them... They almost feel alive.”

“The game is based off of an ancient Egyptian game played with stone tablets with souls sealed inside,” Yuugi said. He drew a card, unsurprised to find the Dark Magician in his hand. “I know it sounds superstitious, but the cards have spirits still, the medium just changed.” Dark Magician was joined by the Dark Magician Girl, then Kuriboh. “If you call them, they can answer.” He waited for Daisuke to scoff or look skeptical. Instead, Daisuke was nodding slowly.

“I can see that. It explains the weird feeling they have... Is it the art itself that gives them souls? Can anybody make a card or is there something specific?”

Yuugi stared.

“What?” Daisuke shuffled through the cards, pulled out Harpy’s Brother and Shadow Spell. “Art has a spark of life. Sometimes more than that. Why not cards too?”

“Most people don’t believe it unless they’re Duelists,” Yuugi said, “and even the people who are and have lived through spirits manifesting still don’t always believe.” Kaiba didn’t for the longest time. He does now, though. His Blue Eyes are all the closer to him for it.

“I can feel them,” Daisuke said, tracing fingers along the image of the cards. “So can Satoshi. That’s why he keeps giving you weird looks by the way. He’s not sure what to make of it.”

“Huh.” Yuugi could feel his cards—specifically the ones in his deck, and sometimes a few others, but not all cards spoke to him, and he hadn’t been able to until after he’d had Atem and started Dueling. “If you can feel them, you could probably call them. Some of them are still connected to the Egyptian monsters, and some were created by Pegasus, the person who resurrected the game, but... So far as I can tell they’re all alive to some extent.”

“Sounds dangerous.”

Yuugi wanted to laugh, and not in a good way. The Egyptian God cards had definitely been dangerous. “It can be,” Yuugi said bluntly. “I’ve seen it kill people.” Daisuke stilled. “But I’ve also seen the cards save people, and these days you don’t see as much summoning.” Not since the millennium items were sealed away. “Even then, outside of the top circuit of Duelers it’s pretty unheard of seeing anything like this at all.”

Daisuke looked at the cards in his hands like he was seeing them all over again.  “And kids play with these?”

Yuugi stifled a laugh. “Like I said, not many people can actually use them that way.” He rested his chin on one hand. “I wonder what one would answer you?”

“I don’t think I want to find out,” Daisuke said.

“This one’s mine.” Yuugi held up Kuriboh. “And sort of this one too...” Dark Magician joined it. It was more Atem’s card, but it had answered Yuugi’s call before too. Kuriboh just liked Yuugi in general.

“A winged fur ball and a purple sorcerer,” Daisuke said. “Yeah, I can see how they fit.”

“Was that supposed to be an insult?”

“Maybe.”

“Hey!”

Daisuke laughed.

He did finish putting together a deck eventually. He didn’t look quite as relaxed around the cards after that though.

*

“It’s not going to work,” Satoshi said to Daisuke as he added details to yet another winged painting. This one was made up of subtle shadows and glints of light, all purple and blue and black. The lightest points were the glint of gold in the winged man’s hands and the white of his smirk in the dark. “I know it’s different for you, but no matter how much you paint him—”

“I know,” Daisuke said, sharp. “I know it isn’t going to bring him back, but I can’t help it. It’s like it’s keeping him here.”

“There’s no him, only them now.” Satoshi sighed. “Have you thought any more on going back to regular classes?”

“It feels like too much still.” Daisuke set his brush down. “Do you think if I paint him enough, people will remember?”

“Perhaps.” Satoshi was quiet a moment. “I thought things were getting better.”

“They are.” The clink of Daisuke’s brush being rinsed clean, picked back up to start again. “But better isn’t completely over it yet.”

Satoshi sighed again and said something under his breath.

Yuugi took that as a cue that today was really not the best day to be there after all. He slid away wondering who Daisuke had lost to spend all his time painting him.

*

“Congratulations on your win!” Yuugi chirped over the laggy Skype call.

Jonouchi grinned at him, thousands of miles away, but still as close a friend as ever. “Thanks! Mai’s kinda pissed that I beat her out in the second to last round, but she’ll get over it.”

“It was a good Duel,” Yuugi said, having watched it very late—or early depending on your perception of time—in Daisuke’s dorm room with his friend drowsing off next to him and waking on and off whenever Yuugi got particularly excited. The thought had been nice even if it hadn’t quite worked out how they’d planned. “What now?”

“Eh, Mai and I’ll be headed back to New York to catch up with Anzu. Stay for a while there til the next tournament sign up starts. Maybe we’ll get a chance to visit Japan again too, if the timing works out.” Jonouchi was still beaming. It made Yuugi feel warm and happy to see him happy, glad to see him confident in his skills and excelling in life. It had been the right choice for him to Duel professionally.

“Going to go on some dates?” Yuugi teased.

“Well, if Mai forgives me for Time Wizarding her Harpies again, yeah.” With a shrug, Jonouchi added, “Not gonna tell you the details though.”

Yuugi wrinkled his nose. “I don’t want to know about the details of that kind of date, Jonouchi. Mai and Anzu would kill you if you talked about it anyway.”

He laughed. “Yeah, yeah. Hey; what about you? Have any dates lined up?”

Yuugi made a noncommittal hum in the back of his throat. His legs kicked aimlessly against his bedframe. “Still not dating anyone, Jou.”

“But do you liiiike anyone,” Jonouchi teased. If he was in person, he’d be pulling Yuugi into a playful headlock by now.

Yuugi hummed again.

“Not even that Daisuke guy you keep talking about?”

Did he? He wasn’t sure whether he did or not. It had been a while since he felt those things, wasn’t sure if he could tell them apart from friendship right now. The two had always gone hand in hand. “I don’t know,” he said finally.

“Huh.” Jonouchi sounded thoughtful. His expression didn’t give anything away for once, whether he thought it was a good or bad or anything in between.

“What?”

“It’s the first time you haven’t said no when I ask that question,” Jonouchi said.

Yuugi felt a roiling mess of embarrassed and flustered because that, he realized, was true. He didn’t know if he liked Daisuke that way or not, but he wanted to spend time with him—did spend time with him almost as much as he could spare—and that meant something even if it might not be romantic. “I’ll tell you when I figure it out,” he mumbled.

Jonouchi laughed and wished him the best before launching into a story about Haga and Ryuuzaki, leaving the topic of romance behind.

It was Yuugi who couldn’t get the thought to stop lingering.

*

The semester was almost over now. Projects were done and it was just Yuugi with his laptop poking at his game again in Daisuke’s art study room. Daisuke wasn’t there for once, just his multitude of paintings. There was a tiny painting of Yuugi up there with all the other ones and he wasn’t sure what to make of that. His eyes glinting purple from a shadowed image. It could have been a threat or an invitation into a secret, and Yuugi kind of hoped it was the latter because it wasn’t a very good thought that his friend might find him threatening.

Yuugi got caught up in the minutia of coding and checking his plot and dialogue script with each advance. So caught up he didn’t even notice Daisuke’s arrival until he turned to get his character reference sheets and found Daisuke sitting in a chair back to front watching him, and looking like he’d been there for a while. Yuugi dropped the reference sheets.

Daisuke leaned forward to pick the few that had scattered up. “You’re really making progress on that aren’t you?”

“Some?” Yuugi said. “Not as much as I would like, but I’m only one person and there’s a lot to do for a game, even just a simple one.”

“It’s come along pretty well,” Daisuke said. He looked at the character sheets in his hand, at the Spirit’s sheet on top. “You’re not making something simple after all.” A double tap of his fingers against the chair back, a tic he had every once in a while, like his hands got restless but he tried not to fidget with them. “You’ve written the rest of the plot now, right?”

“Pretty much.” It had taken almost as long as putting together the sprite world had. It was harder than Yuugi had anticipated to create a game off his life even in a once or twice removed fashion. “I still have some dialogue to go but the main parts are all written.” It was the puzzles that were harder to make.

“Did you ever decide what would happen if the player chose to keep the spirit in the end?”

“If he keeps it?” Yuugi glanced down at his drawing. The spirit looked nothing like Atem, the only connection the eye of Horus worked into his design.  “The spirit stays with him, still locked in the puzzle.”

“And after the protagonist dies one day?” Daisuke pressed. “What would happen to it then? Would it pass along to another family member or...?”

Yuugi shook his head. Whatever had been between him and Atem, he couldn’t imagine it happening between anyone else. Not his grandfather, not his friends, and not even a hypothetical child in the future. “It’s a once in a millennium sort of thing,” Yuugi said. Fate, or more that they’d perhaps once been one soul before Atem had been lost. Egyptian mythology held that the soul had five parts after all. “The spirit would be stuck in the puzzle alone until by some chance someone else who was compatible was born, which could take a long, long time.” Yuugi smiled wryly. “I’m sure they would be happy for the lifetime they had together, but there’s the question of if that evens out against a possible eternity alone after.”

“Oh.”

“There’s also a point where the spirit could have taken over the protagonist’s body,” Yuugi said. “Instead he rescues the protagonist’s soul. So they’re both looking out for each other in the end.”

“Oh,” Daisuke said again. This time it was slightly choked. “With two souls that close, it makes sense.”

Yuugi hummed, agreeing. For him and Atem, it had made sense. Even for Ryou and Bakura it had a certain amount of sense, and that was with Bakura lashing out at all times and willing to sacrifice Ryou. In the end he hadn’t—maybe couldn’t—and it was all more complicated than Yuugi could understand. Daisuke looked like he understood, though. Understood in a way that only someone who had lived it could. “Why does it mean so much to you?” Yuugi asked finally. “I know what this means to me, but what does the story mean to you?”

Daisuke, instead of answering, looked at the paintings leaning against the walls. “It’s hard,” he said finally, “to choose what’s right when there isn’t a right answer that will make everyone happy.”

Yuugi didn’t press the topic. The faraway look in Daisuke’s eyes was something he was too familiar with. “We make the choice and keep going,” Yuugi said. “Because if they cared, they’d want us to try to be happy too, right?” He smiled, more a slight lift of the corner of his lips than a true smile. “We have people who care to fall back on and then we find other ways to cope. You paint. I make a game.” Daisuke looked back at Yuugi. They hovered over the edge of mutual understanding. This wasn’t something that needed to be explained to be understood. Pain and loss were universal as were happiness and friendship. “We’re doing pretty well with what we have, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” Daisuke said. He sighed, then slumped abruptly, leaning against Yuugi’s shoulder. “How do you make it seem so easy to keep going?”

“It’s not.” Yuugi touched Daisuke’s hair, and maybe it was his imagination that Daisuke tilted himself into that touch. “But moving forward doesn’t mean the past never happened or that you can’t remember it or that you weren’t changed by it.” Atem changed everything in Yuugi’s life, from helping him make his first friend besides Anzu to opening up his world to so many more things than he thought it would ever hold. “I’d rather remember than forget, and if it’s hard, then it’s a good thing that there’s always someone who can help even if they might not be there yet.” Like meeting Daisuke and Satoshi had helped.

Daisuke breathed out a laugh. “Yeah. Thanks.” He moved away, back toward the side of the room that had become his as Yuugi had slowly taken over a part of his own. “When you finish that game someday, I’d like to play it,” he said. “With both ends.”

Yuugi nodded. In real life you couldn’t have both endings play out, but in a game? “When I get to the test phase, you’re one of the people I hope will play it.”

“I will,” Daisuke said with a quiet conviction more like an unbreakable vow than a casual promise. He started sorting through paint tubes and Yuugi pulled his character references to himself. He had a lot of work to go if he was going to meet that promise halfway.

*

The sun was bright and it was unseasonably warm for March, warm enough that they could sit outside with only a light jacket and enjoy the fresh air. Their convenience store bentou were empty beside them as they sprawled out in the grass and enjoyed the early spring sunlight.

Yuugi tilted his face toward the sun, eyes closed, a happy smile on his face. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I missed being outside so much. I didn’t even realize how much I was inside until it was winter and I missed the best of spring and summer glued to my computer.”

Daisuke, sprawled next to him, snickered. “You really do have to go out sometimes. I go out in the mornings to sketch. Believe me, your body will thank you for the sunlight.”

“Mm, no, I remember someone calling me a gremlin this winter, and gremlins don’t like sun.”

“You seem to like it right now.”

Yuugi aimed a half-hearted elbow jab in Daisuke’s direction. It missed and all he got was another laugh and a tickling poke to his side. Yuugi squirmed away.

“This is nice though,” Daisuke said.

“Yeah.” Tucked away in a quiet corner of campus with the first birdsong of spring and a cluster of daffodils a few feet away, it was peaceful. A little private bubble that wasn’t the art room and both more and less connected to reality because of it.

“I exercise most mornings too,” Daisuke said. “If you’re missing sunlight you could join me and—”

Yuugi groaned. “No, I am not a morning person!” Or an exercise person. Or someone who would ever combine the two.

Daisuke laughed at him. “Maybe that’s why you’re so short. Stunted growth from lack of sun, like a plant.”

This time Yuugi’s elbow connected. The tiny hiss of breath as Daisuke massaged the hit was satisfying. “I’m short because of genetics.” Gramps barely got over a meter and a half tall. Yuugi considered himself lucky to pass him up by a handful of centimeters. “I’m not sure why you’re so smug when we were both asked if we wanted children’s menus that one time.”

They watched wispy clouds chase like feathers across the sky.

“I think,” Daisuke said suddenly, “I want to paint something new.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He looked toward the daffodils and their bright green and yellow against the browns of winter hanging on. “I signed up for more classes this spring. I think...” Daisuke trailed off, voice going soft. “I think I can handle it now.”

“Great!”

The small smile Daisuke sent back Yuugi’s way was like the sun coming out from behind clouds.

*

It was Yuugi that moved first. It was less a conscious decision and more an inevitability, bridging the gap between them during a post-finals movie binge. Daisuke had looked at him for some reason—something to do with the movie that had immediately gone out of Yuugi’s mind because Daisuke had been smiling—and like an object caught in the Earth’s gravitational pull, he’d been pulled in by that smile. Lips, smooth except for the corner Daisuke was forever biting while he worked. It went on for an eternity. It lasted only a moment.

Yuugi pulled away. Daisuke’s eyes fluttered open; at some point he’d closed them. The movie kept going, white noise in the background of the moment. The air had the same feeling Yuugi got before he pulled the card that would turn a Duel on its head.

“Oh,” Daisuke whispered, both too quiet and too loud for Yuugi’s frantic heartbeat in that space of a moment before it was clear whether it was a good or a bad reaction. Then Daisuke’s hand was tangled in one of the heavy chains and gaudy pendants around Yuugi’s neck, pulling him back in. The second kiss was better because Daisuke was kissing back.

When they finally parted again, Yuugi couldn’t help but burst into giggles at how Daisuke looked more like he’d been hit over the head than like he’d been kissing someone.

“I thought—” Daisuke’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “I thought...your friend? You seemed...close.”

“Jonouchi?” Yuugi asked. He was almost in Daisuke’s lap, couldn’t help but keep touching him, fingers trailing on bare wrists and arms and along Daisuke’s strong fingers. “No, we’re just friends. He’s my best friend.” Yuugi reached up to touch Daisuke’s hair, like that kiss was permission to give in to all the little things he’d longed to do. “He’s dating Mai and Anzu. Or they’re dating him and each other. Or something.” He couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s complicated. And you’re not with Satoshi?”

Daisuke blinked, the dazed expression fading away. He caught Yuugi’s wandering hands in his own, lacing their fingers together. “No. Satoshi’s not interested in people like that. Isn’t Anzu your ex?”

“Yeah.” Yuugi kept grinning. Everything was right in the world right then. “And one of my oldest friends. But we didn’t work out, and she ended up falling for Mai, who also liked Jou, who liked her, and I don’t know how it all works with them, but they’re happy so I’m happy for them.”

“My ex only talks to me via her twin sister.”

“I think it helped that we were friends for a long time first. Friendship is more important than anything else.” And for Yuugi it always would be. Friendship had been part of what made him notice Daisuke. He wouldn’t have a romantic relationship any other way.

Daisuke scrubbed the back of his hair. “We weren’t not friends, but, uh...” He glanced in Yuugi’s direction. From this close Yuugi could really notice how long his eyelashes were. And how they were the same red as his hair. And how Daisuke was blushing and had very faint freckles from how he’d been making time to go outside lately. “I can see why being friends first can be good.” Their eyes met. Yuugi couldn’t look away, not even if Kaiba’s Blue Eyes were to burst through the door right then.

“I like you,” Yuugi blurted. “A lot. As a friend and more.” He gripped Daisuke’s hand tight.

Daisuke’s head tipped forward, their foreheads bumping together and noses brushing. Yuugi could feel the flutter of his eyelashes on his cheek and Daisuke’s breath against his jaw, so close, but not quite close enough. It was ticklish and electric, everything narrowing down to those points of contact as his heart beat too fast and hopeful in his chest.

“I think I like you too,” Daisuke said. He laughed softly, the tremors shaking Yuugi with him. “I like you a lot.”

“Date me?” Yuugi asked hopefully.

Daisuke pulled back and gave him a lopsided smile. “Yes. I can’t guarantee anything, but yes.”

“No one can guarantee anything,” Yuugi said. “If you worry over whether things will or won’t work out, you just miss out on actually living what you have.” If he’d learned anything over the years, it was to appreciate what he had when he had it. Friends, family, memories; all of that had been discovered and rediscovered with Atem and after him. This was just one more case of learning it again.

“I guess I should appreciate living then,” Daisuke said. He pulled Yuugi into another kiss. Yuugi took his own advice and just enjoyed the moment.

*

The game wasn’t complete, but it was far enough along to be playable in a rough way. It was far beyond the school project it had started as; in fact, Yuugi was already wondering if he could eventually submit it as his final project. It might just take the next three years of school to get it to the point where he was satisfied with its quality.

Still, it was playable. And Yuugi could feel the pride and weight of most of a year’s worth of work as he arrowed his avatar through a pixel world.

“So this is the game?” Daisuke asked. He sat next to Yuugi on Yuugi’s bed. He was the first person Yuugi was showing it to. The first person he would let play the parts that he had finished. If Jonouchi was here, he’d let him play it too, but Jonouchi was on a break in New York and Daisuke was the closest person to his heart right now even if he wouldn’t get the game the way someone who lived the events it was based off of would.

Yuugi handed over his laptop. “You can play through making your first friend and unlocking the spirit.” Technically you could play further, but only the main events could occur without any of the interesting side plots and puzzles and NPC interactions.

Daisuke settled against Yuugi’s side and let his fingers skim the keyboard, familiarizing himself with the controls. “It’s cool to see your character move,” he murmured.

Yuugi didn’t answer. He rested his head on Daisuke’s shoulder and watched him play with his heart in his throat. Somehow this was more soul baring than sharing the drawings. Than sharing the art room for almost a year, more vulnerable and intimate than kissing or any of the things that could follow that. This game was Yuugi baring his soul and most precious memories into something that perhaps one day hundreds of people would see and play. Those people wouldn’t know Yuugi, wouldn’t know how it mirrored his life or what it meant to him.

Daisuke knew him and how important the game was.

Onscreen, Daisuke played through the introductory puzzles and met the characters who would be the protagonist’s friends. He seemed to know how important this moment was because he didn’t say anything as he played, just followed along with the storyline. Yuugi could feel when Daisuke got it, right when the protagonist awakens the spirit and makes a wish. Yuugi had told him once how he became friends with Jonouchi. “It felt like fate,” Yuugi had said. As Daisuke continued, completing the puzzles as the spirit to get back at the bully and cement your new friendship, Daisuke finally looked Yuugi’s way.

“This is you, isn’t it?” Daisuke said. It wasn’t really a question with the certainty shining in his eyes. “Your story.”

“More or less,” Yuugi said. “I’m not including any ancient Egyptian gods or card games in this though. That would make it a bit too obvious.”

“The spirit?”

“He was a spirit trapped in the puzzle.” Yuugi hid his face in Daisuke’s shoulder. It felt so weird to talk about this to someone who hadn’t lived it, but so freeing as well. It wasn’t a secret hovering over his head anymore. “He was like a part of me, a part I didn’t know I was missing until he was there, and then he left.”

“You let him go.”

Yuugi hummed in affirmative. On screen, the protagonist’s avatar climbed into bed, the spirit’s outline hovering above the bed as he slept. It was the end of the intro chapter. It was a bittersweet feeling. Daisuke set the laptop down.

“That had to be a hard choice to make,” Daisuke said.

“It was and it wasn’t.” The hard part had been knowing he would be alone in his head again. The actual decision to let Atem have his peace in the afterlife hadn’t been hard to make at all. “There was only one way it could go in the end.” He wasn’t selfish enough to make any other choice.

Daisuke hugged himself, curling in on himself and it would have been closing Yuugi out except he was still angled toward him and hadn’t made any effort to stop Yuugi from leaning on him. “I.” He wet his lips. “I didn’t have any choice. With mine.”

Ah. “The person you paint?”

“Yeah.” Daisuke uncurled a bit. “He was a spirit of an artwork that was tied to my bloodline. Sort of meant to be closer to a curse than another half of a soul, but...”

“When you share a mind and body...” Yuugi said.

“Yeah.” Daisuke sighed. “He was half of a whole work. Return the two halves together, fix what shouldn’t have been separated... He doesn’t exist anymore. Not how I knew him. And after we sealed the painting he might as well not exist in any form at all.”

“We?”

“Satoshi.”

“Oh.” Yuugi thought of Bakura, the thief king he’d housed. He wondered if however Satoshi had been involved had been anything like their situation. Bakura’s relief at having it all over hadn’t been something Yuugi could fully empathize with even if they could both look inside and feel the missing pieces where the spirits had resided in their souls.

“I’d bring him back if I could,” Daisuke said. “It wasn’t a curse to me. It was to Satoshi though, and in the long run it wasn’t doing either of our family lines any good. I’d still paint him back if I could.”

Yuugi felt the part of his soul Atem had been in ache, like a phantom limb. He knew that emptiness well, but he was filling it with new bonds and experiences, bit by bit patching over the emptiness. He could be happy and mean it with his whole self again. It sounded like Daisuke was still reaching that point.

“It’s not possible,” Daisuke said. There was sadness there, but acceptance too. “It’s time to move on with living.”

“Souls,” Yuugi said after a long moment, “have a way of returning to each other.” From the Duel Monsters seeking out those they had been connected with in life like Atem and Mahado to parts of a whole like Yuugi and Atem had been, to even significant lives like Kaiba’s previous life had been to Atem. Even if it took a millennia, they found their way back. He’d see Atem again one day. And Daisuke would see his spirit again too; that was how the world worked. “Maybe not in this life, but you’ll meet again.”

“Thanks.” Daisuke said. He didn’t sound like he believed Yuugi, but that was okay. He hadn’t seen the things Yuugi had to have that solid certainty. Daisuke twisted against Yuugi until they were face to face. “I only ever told one other person about any of that. Everyone else lived it or already knew.”

“Me neither.” Yuugi smiled suddenly. “Although I had to explain it to Kaiba a few times and he lived it and he still doesn’t want to believe it happened.”

Daisuke laughed. There were tears in the corners of his eyes that they both ignored. “I know people like that too.” His laughter trailed off, both arms coming around Yuugi in a loose hug. “Thank you.”

He didn’t need to say more than that. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for existing. Thank you for being here.

*

Kaiba set down the file in front of him, one eyebrow raised as he surveyed the man in front of him. “Let me get this straight, Mutou. You agree to work for me if I hire your boyfriend and his friend as an artist and a coder.”

“Yep.” Yuugi in high school might have felt intimidated by the cold stare across the desk, but Yuugi had lived a lot of life since then. Kaiba wasn’t very scary at all in comparison to some of the things he’d seen. That and Kaiba was the one who wanted him as an employee in the first place.

“Why?” Kaiba demanded. “I was under the impression that you hoped to start an indie game company of your own. Your first game has a cult following already.” Kaiba said it like it was more of an insult than a compliment, though it was probably because he took it as a slight that Yuugi had made and sold the game without ever approaching Kaiba about it.

“I considered that,” Yuugi said, rocking back on his heels. He’d thought about it the whole time he was in college, made several smaller games besides the one centering around Atem’s counterpart, all of which had done fairly well. But those games had been made either by Yuugi alone or with Satoshi and Daisuke’s help, or one of his classmates, all on school equipment or Yuugi’s own laptop. “It was pointed out that you had the resources and teams already if I wanted to put any of the more complicated game ideas I have in mind into action. It would take me a lot longer to establish a brand and get a decent staff and funding of my own, and that’s not the kind of thing I’m good at.” Starting from the ground up was more Kaiba’s thing really.

“What makes you think I’d put you in charge of a team?” Kaiba challenged.

Yuugi frowned at him. “Well you’re not hiring me just because you want an excuse to make me test all your new Duel Monsters things,” he said.  “That would be a waste and you know it. You hate wasting resources.”

There was a moment where Yuugi thought Kaiba was going to get annoyed, but instead he smiled. Smiles did not fit well on Kaiba’s face. He settled back in his desk chair looking too pleased. “You’re right. I do hate waste. Which is why your friends had better be top notch or they’re not getting hired, deal or not. I can’t have useless employees.”

“I’ll have them send you a resume and portfolio,” Yuugi said. “Daisuke was an art major and Satoshi has been doing coding for indie games for the last year.” He had a running bet with Daisuke on whether Kaiba and Satoshi would get along or hate each other on sight. It would be interesting to see how it turned out.

Kaiba snorted. He was still smiling. He always was in a better mood when things went the way he wanted. “No speeches about the power of friendship and how you believe in their abilities?”

“I could give one, but I figured you’d prefer seeing their credentials over taking my word,” Yuugi said drily.

“Good. I don’t need to hear that sentiment anyway.” Kaiba steepled his fingers. “Are either of them Duelists?”

“Daisuke has a Wind-Dark deck but he only plays casually.” Yuugi put on as harmless a smile as he could manage. “Satoshi doesn’t like the magic clinging to the cards.”

Kaiba grimaced just like Yuugi expected him to at the mention of magic. “So you’ve found more people who believe in your mumbo jumbo.”

“You lived it, Kaiba,” Yuugi said, more amused than anything.

Kaiba waved a hand, turning away to gather up papers from a file. “Something happened. I’m sure science will reach an understanding of it one day.” He held out a stack of papers. “Here. Get these signed and back to my secretary by the end of the week and you’re all hired.”

“There’s not a clause saying I have to Duel you at your leisure in here is there?” Yuugi flipped through the stack, glancing at the pages.

“No.” Kaiba sat back in his chair again, smug and content that things were going his way again. “But you can expect to be asked to test things in the future.”

“Of course.” Yuugi hadn’t expected anything else.

“I expect you to be an asset to my company, Mutou.” Kaiba stared him down. “If I’m putting you in charge of a team, I expect high results.”

“Of course,” Yuugi repeated.

“Then we have a deal.” Kaiba waved a hand and Yuugi knew he was dismissed. “I expect those papers back as soon as possible. If there’s anything on there that you need to discuss, you have my office number.”

Yuugi had his private number too, but he could appreciate keeping their private and work lives separate. He stood up to leave.

“And Mutou?” Kaiba said as Yuugi was almost to the door. Yuugi waited. “Tetsuro? Really?” Kaiba asked, referencing the game character Yuugi had based off him. His character had the most dramatic character development of everyone, going from full on villain to reluctant heroic tag along.

Yuugi sent him a grin over his shoulder. “I thought it was a pretty good likeness.”

Kaiba huffed and Yuugi laughed, leaving him to the rest of the work day. As soon as he was out of the office, he pulled out his phone to call Daisuke and let him know their jobs were lined up. He had an idea for a game that Daisuke would want to be involved with. It involved a phantom thief. His boyfriend had experience in that after all.

[spinji]

Human Boyfriend 101: Chapter 6

A simple time together to lighten the tension and catch up on things. But can this lead a relationship to the worst place of all?

“I told you Beast’s plan was dumb! I’m just going back to stalking him.” Bill huffed as Tom sat next to him, tightly clutching a bowl of cereal.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” Tom mumbled, shoving another spoonful into his mouth.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Bill gave him a perplexed look.

“Stresh eatin!” Tom yelled between the squishing noises of him chewing, finally speaking again once he swallowed. “Marco’s coming over to hang out today and I’m a little on edge.” he sighed.

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a human.” Bill rolled his eye.

“Speaking of which you better get out of here. I need to get ready.” Tom hopped off his bed and shooed the dream demon away with his free hand.

“Fine, sheesh, good luck kid.” Like always, Bill was gone before Tom could reply to that. It’s not like he would've anyway since he was focused at his bathroom mirror now, the overpowering scent of hair spray filling the air as he fixed his magenta locks into the gravity defying position he liked to keep it in, being especially thorough today. Tom couldn't help but feel like he was on thin ice with Marco. Even if Marco was smiling at the end of their Mackie Hand movie date he had still botched it horribly. He’d gotten too greedy and tried to use the date to also pass his anger management by lying to his life coach and saying that he still hated Marco the most.

He knew somewhere deep down that Marco didn't resent him for getting mad and destroying the tickets but that didn't stop his anxiety from bringing up the alternative as a possibility.

Tom continued to fuss with his hair and guyliner until he heard a ripping noise out in his bedroom. Poking his head back into the room he saw Marco step out of a freshly formed portal before pocketing his dimensional scissors.

“Hey Tom.” the boy smiled and gave a simple wave. Tom slinked out of the bathroom.

“Hey Marco, good to...to see you again.” he rubbed his arm awkwardly.

“You too dude.” Marco smiled sweetly before digging into the cloth bag he was holding. “I got that new fighting game Immortal Fighter 5. I thought I’d wait to play it with you since Star doesn’t exactly get video games. She almost broke the tv last time.”

Tom snickered slightly and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like Star. But sure man, I’ll play with you. My system is over there.” Tom casually pointed behind him to where his tv and bean bags were. Macro followed his friend over and set his bag of snacks down and handed the game to Tom.

“So I haven’t seen you in a while. What’s new?” Marco asked as he plopped down on one of the bean bags.

“What do you mean? It’s only been like a week.” Tom’s middle eye raised its eyebrow.

“Oh, sorry. I’m trying to remember that 16 years in Hekapoo’s dimension was only 8 minutes here.” Marco shrugged. Tom nearly dropped the game and stumbled to catch it again.

“You were in Heckapoo’s dimension?! I...guess that explains why you seemed so happy when I texted you earlier.”

“Yeah, but I got my own scissors now.” Marco smiled and held up the dimensional scissors from his pocket.

“Whoa…” Tom grinned and snapped his fingers, a small flame appearing on his finger tips. He held the flame to the scissors, illuminating Marco’s name engraved on that scissors.

“That is so cool!”

Marco smiled. “Thanks, it took a lot to get them.”

“I bet. I only learned teleportation magic because I gave up on her challenge.” Tom turned back around to put the game into his system.

“So what’s going on with you?” Marco asked as he put the scissors away again. Tom gave a shy smile and itched the back of his neck.

“Well, I graduated anger management finally…”

Marco smiled brightly. “Congratulations Tom.”

“Yep, no more obnoxious regiments to follow and Brian actually gets out of my hair every once in awhile.” Tom strolled over to a large cage, scooping up a familiar ball of fluff.

“And I got to keep little Marshmallow.” the demon beamed adorably, holding up the fuzzy pink rabbit with pride.

Marco giggled at the sight of Tom’s therapy pet, gently reaching over to pet Marshmallow once Tom sat down and set him in his lap.

The small bunny nuzzled Marco’s hand after sniffing it thoroughly. He had not a care in the world as he inched closer to Marco’s hand before flopping out of Tom’s lap and in between the two bean bag chairs with a squeak. Marco chuckled and picked him up. “You silly bunny…”

Tom smiled at their antics. “He likes you.”

Marco smiled back and set Marshmallow in his lap, letting him curl up in the diamond shaped gap made by his crossed legs as Marco picked up his controller as the game's first cutscene began to play, stringing together a ridiculous plot to attempt to give a reason for all of these colorful characters to be fighting each other in a brutal tournament.

Despite the lack of sense in the story itself, the boys marveled at the improved graphics and new characters, Marco particularly eying a new ninja character. They didn't speak a word, only communicating through conjuring gold Japanese characters that the subtitles translated into English. Stone cold like the metal in his blade, so cool!

Once the boys were allowed to pick their fighters Marco’s cursor took the shortest route possible to that guy, apparently named Nicos. Tom casually scrolled his cursor through the remaining cast, selecting and deselecting a few times before landing on one that caught his attention. A busty woman named Sonita, with flowing purple hair and black curled horns growing from the sides of her head, with an outfit that made it very clear why this was a T rated, almost M rated, game to say the least. With their fighters chosen the round began.

“I will not lose my honor to you.” Nicos’s text read as he dropped onto the platform.

“I won’t go easy on you darling.” Sonita quipped as she joined him on the other side. After a quick test of the jump, block, and basic attacks they took off into the battle.

“Whoa! This guy is fast.” Marco laughed as he frantically moved his controls so he didn’t fall right off the floating stage.

Sonita jumped him quickly, firing energy attacks toward Nicos. Taking a few hits, Nicos darted down to a lower platform on the stage. Sonita attempted to follow but the ninja was already across the platform and jumping back up to the middle platform by the time she got down.

“Hey, get back here!” Tom glared slightly at the tv as he continued to chase him.

Marco laughed and jumped around teasingly at the top of the stage. Sonita double jumped and went into a quick float as she reached the same platform. Nicos ran up to the edge of the stage and hit her with a flurry of swipes from his katana causing the demon girl to fall, just barely catching the edge of the platform.

A power up spawned next to her and quickly ran to it, Tom spending a few seconds to figure out which button would let her use it. The screen darkened as a purple glow formed around Sonita. In Marco’s panicked attempt to get away from the special attack Nicos ended up on the exact same platform as Sonita was on.

“Ha! Check this out!” Tom grinned as large balls of energy circled Sonita before launching toward Nicos in a hypnotizing swirling pattern. Marco yelped and attempted to dodge the attack but Nicos was met with a brutal hit as Sonita muttered incantations in an unknown language.

“Aw, what? How’d you survive that?” Tom pouted as Sonita finished her special attack animation. Nicos had managed to dodge the attack just enough so there was the smallest speck of health left on his health bar. Marco prepared to hold out as long as he could before Tom managed to hit him just once to end the match but then he noticed, Sonita wasn’t moving, and her head was stuck in the bottom of the overhead platform.

Tom frantically moved his joystick around and she wouldn’t move. He started mashing his buttons and although she performed the animations she was still stuck in place. In fact, jumping a few times seemed to get her more stuck. Marco covered his mouth, struggling not to laugh at the bug.

Tom growled, leaving scratch marks on his controller as he started getting angry. Marco dropped his smile when he heard Tom snarling in frustration, glancing around to see what could calm him down. His eyes went back to his own character, nearly dead and in a wounded idle position, and smiled slightly. Nicos shuffled toward the still struggling Sonita.

“Hey, Tom.” Tom glanced up when Marco called his name. Marco motioned toward the screen, Nicos was within Sonita’s attack range.

“You deserve it, it’s a new game so you gotta expect some glitches.” Marco gave him a warm smile and set his controller down.

Tom cracked a soft smile and Sonita dealt the finishing blow. The animation slowed down as Nicos fell to the ground with a yell of pain echoing through the now silent battleground.

“Do not doubt my skills, mortal.” Sonita remarked as it zoomed in on the victor.

Both of the boys couldn’t help but laugh as the victory music swelled and the camera zoomed in on Sonita’s head sticking out of the top of the platform, her entire model starting to twitch rapidly as it attempted to move into her victory pose. Tom clutched his stomach as he laughed at the silly glitch, Marco having tears in his eyes from laughing.

“Oh my god, that was great.” Marco said once they both calmed down.

“Yeah…” Tom snickered before scooping Marshmallow up from Marco’s lap to make sure he was completely calm after the brief frustration of the glitch. He sighed and relaxed in his chair, running his fingers through the bunny’s short soft fur.

Marco raised an eyebrow when he heard a low vibrating noise before glancing over at Tom. He looked like he was in absolute bliss, sinking into the cushy beanbag with an adorable bunny on his chest. Marco soon realized the sound was coming from him. Was he purring?

The boy shifted in his bean bag and noticed Tom’s long pierced ear twitch as he came out of his zen state. Marco couldn’t help but smile.

Tom raised an eyebrow when he noticed. “What?”

“Nothing, you’re just kinda like a cat.” Marco snickered.

Tom felt a faint flash of heat on his face. “Sh-shut up man…”

Unfortunately, the compliment caused him to start purring again. Marco couldn’t help but test his boundaries as he stretched out his arm and lightly brushed his fingers against the back of his ear. Tom jumped slightly from the unwelcomed touch as Marco gently scratched behind his ear. His purring got louder as he started leaning into Marco’s hand, unable to control his positive response to the contact.

“Like a fire breathing kitty cat.” Marco teased as he let his hand fall away from his ear.

“I don’t breathe fire, jerk.” Tom lightly punched his shoulder as his blush faded.

Marco squirmed out of his bean bag and stretched after a few more hours of various games and munching down snacks.

“I gotta head home. You can keep the snacks Star will just tear into them in the middle of the night anyway.”

“Alright, thanks.” Tom smiled and got up as well, popping his spine as he stretched.

Marco pulled out his scissors and cut open a portal in front of him. “I’ll see you later, Tom.” Marco smiled.

Tom smiled back, his arms outstretching a bit to offer a hug but Marco turned away before he could notice.

“See ya…” Tom mumbled as the portal shut behind the human.

Tom sighed and fell onto his bed, despite Marco’s friendlier tone towards him he was still distant towards him physically. The only time he touched him today was just to make fun of his purring.

What if Marco will only see him as a friend? He said his date with that other girl didn’t lead to anything but that didn’t make Tom a worthy candidate. The demon clutched the blankets under him and huffed before hearing his bedroom door open.

A servant slipped inside, not daring to actually set his feet inside the room. “Master Tom, the King requests your presence in the throne room.”

Tom sighed and crawled off of his bed, following the servant out of the room.

Just a little fluff chapter before some bigger developments and an excuse to make some cute head canons with Tom.

SO as of right now if I get two more chapters in before Star vs. starts again in November (which isn't likely but I do have a floor plan for these chaps) I'm going to wait on updates with Tom's story until the season is over so that any information about Tom's parents is accurate. I'm sure you guys are used to long wait times with these but I'm letting you know that this one will be intentional.

Got a question? The ask box is at your mercy!  Follow the blog for more HB101 and other nonsense!

Chapter 5 <===> Chapter 7

[awed-frog]

Hey! So obviously everyone loved the episode last night - there was just so much destiel feels in there it's enough to fill up an entire football stadium. BUT I keep thinking that the writers might be trying to set Cas and Kelly up, because you know, it's supernatural, and I just feel like the possibility of destiel going canon is too good to be true. I mean, Kelly is great, but it would be the worst romance ever - weird and force and kinda cringey. Maybe I'm paranoid, idk. What do you think?

(via @anon) Idk if i like where this story is going… i dont want to see cas kelly baby stories and him raising the child :/ i want cas with the brothers :(

Hi - I’m squishing these two asks together, hope you guys see it. :)

The Nephilim: what’s next?

Look, the thing is - maybe the Nephilim will die in the finale, or maybe he’ll be the Big Thing in S13 - we still don’t know. What we do know, on the other hand, is that it would be very hard to work him into the story in a way that’ll keep Cas away from Sam and Dean. Like, you know - from a narrative point of view, what do you do with this thing?

Option 1 It’s born and it grows at a normal human rate. If this happens, the Nephilim will have no place whatsoever in the show, because babies are both hard to work with and boring boring boring, and as much as we, the demented viewers, want to see Dean and Cas making nonsense noises and cooing at this second Antichrist, it’s not going to happen. If this is where they’re going, we’ll have a Jesse situation: the Nephilim will be carted off to live with some other hunter (not Cas, because Cas is one of the main characters and is needed elsewhere), and we’ll never hear from him again. 

Option 2 It’s born and grows Amara-style, turning from adorable creepy baby who moves stuff with his mind to overly attractive teenager who winks at Dean and makes him uncomfortable. I hope they’ll avoid this narrative, because we’ve seen the exact same thing last year, but if they do something like that -

Option 2a If the Nephilim is a bad guy, he’ll probably become S13′s Big Baddie, and Cas will have no reason to stick with him, so we’ll have the usual ‘only you can break me free from this mind control spell but nobody knows why’ trope and TFW will spend the rest of the season staring gloomily into space and wondering how to kill a semi-god, again.

Option 2b If the Nephilim is a good guy, he’s gone. There is simply no way they can keep around an allpowerful and benign deity without having massive problems. This is why they keep hurting Cas, remember?, because if Cas had his wings and his courage and his cold logic and his angelic self-confidence, Sam and Dean could spend their days playing beer pong in the Bunker. Cas would simply teleport himself wherever a monster has been spotted, look around with his x-ray vision, and then lift a finger and make a whole abandoned neighbourhood explode. And that’s it. So, well - like they did with Jesse, and even with Amara and Chuck - if this new kid is a Good Person, he’ll probably wander off on his own.

Option 2c If the Nephilim is a Gabriel-like morally grey trickster, it’s likely the Winchesters will still vote to hunt him down and kill him. They did it to Gabriel, after all, and if he hadn’t died (*wails forever*) in the war against Lucifer, I’m sure Sam, at the very least, would have gone after him. Tricksters work fine, or more than fine, as characters, but you don’t want one living in the same reality as you. Look at the messes Loki manages to whip up every couple of weeks - nope, if something is too powerful and you can’t understand how they think and feel, unfortunately the best option is to take them out. Better to be safe than sorry.

It’s still possible, at this point, that something happens and the Nephilim dies, likely with Kelly. This would make sense for a number of reasons, including that everyone except Cas, Lucifer and Kelly really wants this thing gone. The Host is gunning for him, Crowley would surely prefer he died, the BMoL (if they knew about him) would probably launch a nuclear grenade wherever Kelly is and to hell with ‘collateral damage’, and even Sam and Dean - they want to be normal and kind, but they might have no other choice, and if it comes to that, they know they must at least try to kill this child, because, yeah, NOT A CHILD, PEOPLE, and look at what happened with Amara. So maybe it’s not the Nephilim’s life that’s the big plot of next season, but his death and how it happens. We know we’re headed for some massive family conflict, and, in this sense, what’s going on with Cas is part of that. It’s those old what’s right and wrong, who’s your family, who do you trust questions Supernatural likes to throw at us, but, as we’ve seen in the past, whatever happens the endgame is what Dean just told us to our faces - him, Sam, and Cas working together, Team Free Will, because they’re better together and they’re family and that’s not gonna change, demonic baby or no demonic baby. So don’t worry too much - Cas won’t stay away for long.

Cas and Kelly: a romance in the works?

As for the romance part - I really don’t think that’s going to be a thing. I’m actually very surprised by the fact Supernatural’s gone out of its way, both in S11 and in S12, to show us that what you’d consider as ‘normal’ and ‘appropriate’ love stories aren’t a good idea at all. While we’ve seen some (brief but) wholesome examples of queer relationships, there’s usually something wrong with straight ones - from Kelly sleeping with Lucifer to those rabid people breeding in the street in The Chitters to that guy killing Sam to save his wife in Red Meat all the way down to the most glaring example - Amara’s unhealthy obsession with Dean - it seems the show is doing a lot to question the ‘normal’ way of doing things (getting married, having babies, ???, profit). 

This is not surprising, since Supernatural, despite the monsters and the occasional blurring of focus, can be really ferocious in its social critique, and the breaking down of traditional marriage, just as the current erosion of women’s rights, are just as apparent as Supernatural’s traditional motive: the deindustrialization, and death by unemployment and desperation, of rural America. Like, I know we’ve all noticed that rich people normally equal jackasses, and we all joke about the ‘abandoned factory of the week’, but watching this show from Europe, where our traditional media vision of the US is glittering cities and top models and trust fund kids sipping cocktails by the pool, is really shocking. Those rapidly depopulating towns they stop into, the motels in the middle of nowhere, and even - can’t believe they went there - some meat processing plant kept alive by human sacrifices - that’s powerful stuff, and part of the reason, I think, this show is so appealing to Republicans. And, as I said, Supernatural’s been showing the breaking down of traditional families as well - only this season, we’ve spent some time with Jody and her unusual household of stray and rejected kids, and seen Mary walk away instead of assuming her ‘appropriate’ role of stay-at-home mom for Sam and Dean. 

Cas and Kelly, I think - that’s the same pattern. Apparently, Kelly now regrets her relationship with President Whatshisface (“embarrassingly unprofessional,” she terms it) which is, again, a reversal of the traditional ‘the commoner married the prince and they lived happily ever after’ trope, because Kelly seemed happy and in love and it looked like the perfect thing, right? And we now know it wasn’t. So, again, this thing with Cas - on the surface, it could be a perfect ‘a child needs a mom and a dad’ kind of situation, but Supernatural’s message, which has gotten almost deafening over the last two seasons, is that free will and love trump all - that you shouldn’t do something just because that’s what we’ve always done - that you should queston things, find your own way, be true to who you are. So, well - Kelly is not a 1950s Stepford mom (she used to work in the White House, remember? which means she’s incredibly career-driven and most likely a shark) and Cas is no longer a mindless servant of some divine entity. It’s perhaps easier, for both of them, to go with that for a moment, because this is what they’re supposed to be - women are supposed to take care of children and be mothers even if it kills them, and angels are supposed to be fully dedicated to the mission and follow orders no matter the price - but the truth is, we have free will. We can decide who we want to be, and this is why Cas and Kelly teaming up rings so wrong and will never be framed in a positive light. So, again - whether Destiel becomes canon or not, Cas’ place is with the Winchesters, and this is just one more obstacle to overcome. That it takes the shape of that traditional family Cas was encouraged to form as a human and Dean can never give him (the pretty wife and the chubby baby), well, that was unnecessary and yet another fuck you to legally enforced normativity.

[horrible-monstrosity]

17 We open with friendly neighborhood dumbass Akko studying studiously, sitting on a bench in a sunny grassy field which she ignores in favor of a massive stack of books like the bookworm Lottie only sort of is, while redhead side witch bitches about dropping out of school because she's just too cool. An... interesting entrance into the episode, to be sure.

Redhead turns herself into a dashing boys' school student. ..... Did the spell make her grow bollocks

"even though no one's asking you?" is a pretty weird way to ask someone about their dream. I don't think anyone asked redhead to become a broomdancer, or robots girl to become robots, or... anyone to do anything they just wanted to do. and again, she has already accomplished what she says she wants to do- the yeti, in the next episode robert girl, the fairy strike... this show does not know what it has done or what it's doing.

... Wait, are they really here to just fucking steal the grail from the school? why? I've already forgotten why they wanted it, and why petty theft by a couple of randos is so easily accepted as a method of getting it back. Are there no witch authorities who might have wanted in on this? Later redhead says it "belongs" to the guys' school as a way to deflect explaining how it works... shrugg

Have I mentioned yet that I like the supporting trio more than the main three? I could probably write a whole fucking essay on that. All three of them are straight-up archetypes... but that alone is enough to make them at least basically functional as characters. Because that's *why* archetypes end up as archetypes- it's a grouping of character tropes and traits that hits a chord with people. And that's why "cunning normal" was such a fucking retarded concept, Kiznaiverrrrrrr-

It's kinda weird she stays disguised even after getting caught... I guess this is actually consistent; it's been shown before you need to use another spell to transform back, meaning unlike most settings ontological inertia actually applies. but then later on the transformation seems to start slowly undoing itself for no reason anyway. How does this work? magic router?? why'd akko even take that?... whatever

we finally get some violence against witches (threatened but never put though because of course not), which doesn't explain anything but at least characterizes the guys as your entirely typical medieval-styled witch not-likers. The fact that this is what passes for an improvement in this fuckshow of a shitshow is just fucking sad. there are some actually tense and brutal scenes in there, some nice visual shots, like akko getting thrown on the table tied up and the distant side-shot of the guy getting hit by the armor... that aren't killed by wackyness! Amazding! ... Though it still doesn't quite work, probably because the show is still clearly too light-hearted to, say, actually use the torture devices. But them being pulled out isn't a wacky gag either aside from a bit of the reaction. what tone is this?

"y u no use ur magic on me??" "because there's no reception here dumbass the fuck do you think this works like"

Yet another interesting unaddressed plot point- magic was what got them into this mess and turned blong guy into an armored monster, and while a witch was the one who stopped it little to no magic was used in doing so, she basically just needed to smack him hard enough. It seems like the takeaway from this is that witches are perfectly fine people, but magic still needs to fucking die. hmm

by the way what happened to the wordfinding plot this episode

So clearly this was Croi boi testing her angery magicks, but I have to wonder... *why* is anger magic the strongest sort? I mean, it can basically only be arbitrary, but how convenient that her evil energy-having plan can't just go off by spreading feelings of sunshine and happiness.

18 "trained to catch every gost in 12 days, but the goal is one gost in one year"... This is literally, exactly, what Lottie says. What? Literally one minute in and like 20 seconds of dialogue and already this shit makes not a single lick of fucking sense.

akko trips and fucks things up again okay we fucking get i- why was that enpugh to breakm the fucking robort? akko's own body must be the most destructive object know to mankind.

We return to the generic wackey-qwackey humorisms the show had mostly shed in the last couple episodes, and it feels more forced than ever before. After all these thng I can't actually believe Akko's still this shit... and apparently the show itself doesn't either, since as soon as Akko finds something she can actually do it entirely stops. Once she starts working as a convincer/go-between/gopher, not a single thing gets broken. In other words, Trigger just abandoned her character development to churn out and force out more mediocre obligate humor. But at least it was only for, like, half of the episode.

on the other hand once she gets her shit back together the cards get brought back. That was always a kind of interesting little thing, that Akko knew some things even other witches didn't because of the fandom-ing that brought her to the school where she was otherwise so far behind everyone else. I mean, that just raises the question of why the other witches apparently never saw these cards and I feel like I asked exactly this many an episode ago so let's just move the fuck on again

isn't the ship from the OVA? it looks like the shiny rod... and like the same old vaguely eva-lagann looking shit. I forget what it was from Gainax that looked like that, but definitely it was something.

"I already know I won't be as good as Constance"... Man, when Akko's good, she's fucking good. She really isn't trampling over someone else with the conviction that she's always right about everything, she's just so excited she wants to draw a fucking robort. And then Candace loves it and is inspired to make it actually work. it's fucking cute man

gosts viral on social media Normies can't see gosts, but presumably Akko can. How is this actually determined? Rather, the deeper problem is that the line between witches and normies was never defined. There's some implication that it's hereditary, since everyone aside from Akko comes from a "witching family", but the very existence of Akko belies that. So if anyone can train to become a witch, how much training do you do before you become witchy enough to see gost? Actually, should people with latent potential be able to see gost? If Akko is bad at becoming a witch, logically there should be some people who would be better at it relative to her. Shouldn't there be some people in the crowd who can see gost as is? Also, do any males exist with any amount of witch potential, who could see ghosts on their own? If they had never called attention to it by doing the "gost can't see normie" thing, there'd be nothing to really question- you could assume witching is a skill like any other that people could aquire, that's often handed down through families like any other job or career, and that some people are just kind of terrible at. Buuuuut they had to get in this lame "muh on muh cell phone at tuh evuuuunnnt" joke and didn't think it through. Good work, Trigger, keep it up

how is many crow? how many gost We're shown each cube succing up at least one gost each, then multiple cubes forming one crow, but then there's a whole fucking lotta fucking crows. How many gosts were there? How many were left after the large amount that were already taken out? There's just an unmeasured infinite supply of gost somewhere offscreen to conveniently move in as needed. Trigger didn't think this through. And then a super-giant mega-crow shows up which must have used up even more gost. Great

and then the robort- OKAY TRIGGER WE GET IT YOU WUZ GAINAX ONCE CALM THE FUCK DOWN this is just so boring. YEAH, A FUCKING ROBOT, WE GET IT TRIGGER, YOU FUCKS HAVE FUCKING ISSUES. GAINAX-SENPAI WILL NEVER FUCKING NOTICE YOU, GET OVER IT. ... reactions from the peanut gallery are on point tho. akko even credits constantinople for her part in making this possible. she's a good kid. so good. too pure for this fucking show - the robort runs out of energy- WHY DID YOU NOT BRING A ROUTER YOU FUCKNAUTS THERE WAS ONE IN THE IMMEDIATELY PRECEEDING EPISODE WHY - it's a drill. it's a fucking drill. ........ i want to cry acid.

team cubes it blastign off againnnnnnfuck this gay earth

aww man akko doesn't even want to be thanked but compton gives her a training broom anyway. it's beautiful.

19 an old tradition and a new power... croix-was-write is written into the very fabric of reality in this show. good and then mom-diana fucking dies. LOL BYE BITCH.

why would you have the head-appointing ceremony randomly every few years rather than, like, when you need to appoint a new family head? it would even affect the exact same urgency, just have events come to a head so she needs to be pulled out of school and become family head now. why are they electing a baby teen as family head anyway? what age are these kids, anyway? akko looks like ten sometimes.

the second diana says "muh respekt for convention!!" you know she's gonna be treated as full of shit. it's over something we've never heard of and had no reason to assume, anyway. i don't even know "you know about the words?" you've blabbed them to everyone including the rival school that wants to execute you all, so why are you surprised?

...... LOL WHUT THE AUNT LITERALLY HAS GLOWING RED DEMON EYES WHAT THE FUCC?

.... Andrew is one of the best fucking characters in this shitshow of a show. The amount of fucks he's come to not give... Just invite the witch girl your father knows and hates to ride in your car squished up between him and yourself. And dad-man just can't fucking do anything about it. Holy shit lol and lol these british people sure fucking love soccer. boy i sure bet this isn't hammed-in foreshadowing for some fucking bullshit that's going to happen in the last episodes!!!! i'd fucking bet my lyfe on it !!!!!!

what fuck is diantha wearing We get another one of those nice moments that makes me hate the rest of the show. Akko, being energetic and people-oriented as always but somewhat more constrained due to the awkward and unfamiliar situation, tries to go for the teddy bear as an attempt to start some conversation with Diana... Diana yells at her not to touch it, and she actually does not touch it. Now go back and watch the robot episode again. HMMMMMMmmmmm Except it wasn't about the bear, it was about the box of Chariot cards, because of course Diantha actually likes Chariot, bet no one ever saw that twist comingHEY WAIT A MINUTE, didn't one of the earlier episodes hinge on Akko knowing something Diantha didn't because of the cards?? It can't be because Akko was the only one to autistically memorize them all, because Diantha is smurt character and should have remembered it at least somewhat just from reading it normally. kindness from diana, when the rest of the family and household is by akko's own statement even worse.

old lady yells at akko while unfitting music plays