#please. please just let time stop. i think too much n i wish i cld just have some more time

[reversecreek]

clicks onto the dash wearing kitten heels n coyly holding my bang....... hi. me again. it took me so long to select a gif to use on cricket’s intro n i settled on this one bc he looks so unsure abt his smile n it’s rly his essence <3 u can find his pinterest board here n his (work in progress) spotify playlist here. hmu to plot!!! 

* alex wolff, cis male + he/him | you know cricket donahue, right? they’re twenty-two, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, all of their life, on and off? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to should have known better by sufjan stevens like, a million times this year, which slipping on wet leaves to photograph a tree struck alight by lightning, delivering a tedtalk to your own reflection to hype yourself up to buy groceries, hiding your hands inside of your sleeves in case you grew an impromptu megan fox thumb overnight thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is october 1st, so they’re a libra, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( nai, 24, gmt, she/her )

HISTORY:

cricket ws born to a couple tht lived in lilac ridge. their trailer was tucked closest to the woods n always fell under the shade. it was like the leaves wanted to pretend they were a perpetual hanging cloud on the family n that was kind of fitting. their only reason fr having him in the first place was a kind of shrugged like........... we’re under the income bracket we’d get child benefits so why not! may as well try it to rake in some extra cash! needless to say they didn’t rly think it thru or anticipate all of the responsibilities tht came w children n wound up seeing him as an extremely large burden n boy didn’t he know it!

(child neglect & abuse tw) i’ll try to keep this part vague n brief but things were Not Good for cricket growing up. people in lilac ridge didn’t like his parents n it was for a gd reason. he remembers foggy things. being little n wandering around combing the grass with a stick to search for wrappers to suck on bc he was hungry. feeling uneasy when the front door opened. finding out his name was cricket bc the insects used to crawl into their trailer thru the vents n his parents liked to squish them into the carpet -- his mum told him as much once. i think this says a lot. to excessively trim the fat of the story he wound up entering the system at around 8 after his latest and most serious hospital visit. his parents hd to deal w the authorities n last he heard they bounced to evade charges.

(anxiety & violence & trauma tw) cricket sustained a few lifelong injuries from his time in lilac ridge. his knee didn’t heal right which meant he had (n still has to this day) a limp n he’s partially deaf in one ear. he’s always been an incredibly insecure n anxious person so this mde him rly self conscious going into a strange n new environment tht wld b difficult fr any kid to adjust to, nvm w these added worries. he jst felt like something weird to ogle at honestly. he probably wld have felt like that no matter where he was or what he looked like. he cld be in a huge hall of 200 people all wearing the same uniform n he’d still feel like the odd one out. needless to say this didn’t rly help him make friends

cricket’s coping mechanisms were romanticising the things tht other people found ugly or embarrassing or painfully ordinary. he liked it when the rain hit clunky drops against school windows n forbid everyone from playing outside bc he could feel the vibrations through the rubber soles of his shoes n it was a little bit like hearing all of the world at once fr just a moment. he liked medieval fantasy lore about stout gnomes w crumbs in their beards n cheeks red from ale. he liked fallen nests with the remnants of hatched eggs still dirty from the branches n soil they’d hit on the way down. he liked the way the sunlight leaked thru the leaves of the trees in the woods and how, when he sat very still, he could tune into the ringing that was always in his ear n pretend it was coming from the same place, that light thru the leaves, that the angels were trying to talk to him.

he spent a lot of time in the red room at his high skl (i’m begging u this is not a 50 shades reference) (after googling i jst realised it’s called a darkroom bt i’m leaving this fr the sake of sexy bimbo authenticity) n felt quite at home in there. he borrowed a camera whenever he cld (maybe he did yearbook) n photography became his way of immortalising the world as the romanticised version he wanted it to be. his memories were bad bt his photos were beautiful. maybe if he took enough they’d paste over n bleed into each other. maybe bad cld be replaced w beautiful if he tried his very best.

he got placed into fostering w a family once bt apparently didn’t meet the vibe check of their tastes so he wound up returning to the group home he’d initially been placed in. overall this is where he grew up n he aged out the system rather than getting adopted. there was a sense of floundering/isolation/not feeling gd enough in tht bt cricket made do the best he knew how. 

that said there were some gd points! (shocking i kno bc his life hs been so fking bleak so far bt please it’s ok........) (is it?) (🤔). basically he interned as an assistant at this local photography studio during high skl working under this kind of whimsical yet endearing old man. suspected wizard possibly in cricket’s eyes, as an avid fantasy genre reader. for one of his bdays said old man / his boss bought him his very own film camera n cricket cried bc he’d never been bought a bday gift. this ws rly embarrassing bc this old man didn’t know how to emote n neither did cricket so he ws jst sort of sat wiping his eyes n sniffling saying he wasn’t crying as the old man pretended to suddenly clean his lenses. when cricket graduated he offered him a full time position there. they do like. wedding photographs n family portraits n all kinds of things...... pay isn’t huge bt it’s something n he Loves taking photos so it’s sexy <3

PERSONALITY:

SUCH an anxious person it’s actually unreal. overthinks absolutely everything he’s ever said. one morning he might hv put green socks on n for the rest of the day he’s nervously looking around like omggggggg they’re all looking at my socks probably thinking im a little green sock boy thinking i’m a fool n a jester this is all everyone’s probably thinking about i hv to hide my green socks..... even tho literally no-one cares

once saw a girl eating a chicken wing n in his head was like ok she likes chicken good future gift idea..... n turned up at her house with an entire rotisserie chicken

probably thinks WAY too hard abt what to write in bday cards n googles like generic ideas that he can use.... u open a card from cricket n it always says smthn weird like “Warmest wishes and love on your birthday and always!” or “You deserve everything happy. Wishing you that all year long!” tht he got off google

nervously fiddles w things a lot. literally anything. his hair. the cuffs of his sleeves. a thread on his bag. u name it

struggles w eye contact sometimes............ it’s like. he wants to talk to ppl n make friends bt he’s honestly so bad at it. he’s fumbling thru life like a nervous headless chicken

ALWAYS has his camera on him. like always. will tke a photo of u bc he thinks u look nice then be like im so sorry im so sorry...... bowing his head shakily holding his camera bc he doesn’t even kno what possessed him he jst thought it’d be a nice photograph bt boundaries exist. probably breathes very heavily over this later in his room panicking thinking he nw seems like hannibal lecter

probably more confident online bc he has time to think abt what he says more.......... i can see him hving a group of online friends tht he’s more confident w. honestly he’s pretty witty at heart he jst has a hard time verbalising things so ppl overlook him sometimes bt once u get to know him more / he’s more comfy he can b a funny little man.....

loves photographs where he cuts something out of them. loves missing spaces n voids. thinks it’s a rly interesting concept when something that isn’t there becomes the focus of a photograph where everything else is. probably loses his mind fr a collage like a front row 1d stan. likes experimenting w light n perception. pretty artistic honestly hs probably made a stop motion film in the past bc that’s just an extended form of photography in his mind bt i doubt he showed anyone

ummm...... very sweet bt like. he reminds me a lot of this quote. “he had the awkward tenderness of someone who has never been loved and is forced to improvise.” feel like tht sums him up quite nicely

WANTED CONNECTIONS

someone he met at a wedding: cricket probably ws forced to photograph a wedding fr his boss one time n it cld b interesting as a place to meet from that....... like. i can imagine either it being rly awkward maybe he accidentally spilled a drink on ur muse n was stuttering rly apologetic n it ws just a train wreck. or mayb they took pity on him or even (in a shocking turn of events) a shine to him n invited him to drink n dance. omgggg the thought of cricket trying to dance makes me wna die n probably mkes cricket wna hyperventilate bt idk maybe he went wild n let loose. mayb they wound up damaging the camera somehow. mayb they had to scramble to get another one n ur muse covered the cost n it was a strange late night excursion tht cricket thought about a lot since. cricket probably vowed to pay them bk somehow no matter what. idk. we can work things out. lots of diff options here. doesn’t have to b a wedding either can b any event tht required a photographer

ppl he went to school w: pretty self explanatory i suppose...... maybe they were frm completely different worlds..... mayb ur muse was popular n cricket was definitely not but they got paired fr an assignment n had to work on a project together....... mayb cricket asked ur muse on a date one time n it was completely embarrassing bc he didn’t realise they had a bf n it haunts cricket at night still bc he’s rly dramatic.... mayb ur muse felt sry fr him n ate lunch w him n inducted him into their group like a lost puppy finding a home.... world’s our oyster

neighbours from his brief time at lilac ridge: not to reference taylor swift but i’m gna reference taylor swift n say we cld do a seven inspired plot here. sighs a little..... then sighs a lot. he was here ages 0-8 so idk. we cld work out childhood plots perhaps....

sickening simp: i mean.............. cricket probably gets crushes on ppl so easily like just. anyone who’s the slightest bit nice to him.................. he’s a disgrace. ok i take it back. bt also please get it together freak............... i didn’t say that. he’d probably b extra nice to this person n try n pay close attention to things they liked so he cld get them little gifts. just a bit embarrassing n lovestruck bless his heart. wldn’t expect anything back tho honestly that just isn’t something he tends to do.

let’s go gays: cricket’s bi but he probably was rly in his head abt liking boys n tried to sort of squash it internally during his younger yrs...... i think he’s more comfy w it now MAYBE idk bt back then i picture him having a friend tht ws kind of like. similarly loserish as him perhaps (no offence to ur muse potentially filling this plot or cricket bt let’s face the facts) n they’d hang out n play games a lot n one time it jst kind of happened n he was like............. *struts in looking around sharply* What going on here? except not. bc it’s cricket. more like *shambles in looking around anxiously* What’s, uh... What’s... the happenings? S--... I’m sorry. (immediate apology for saying what’s the happenings bc nobody talks like that n it was an impulsive panic bc he didn’t know what else to say)

those who grew up in the system w him: maybe at the group home or i’d also like the family that fostered him n said sayonara. honestly i imagine the parents just thought he ws a bit too much of a handful / had too much baggage which is rly quite merciless n terrible but. if u think that aligns w ur muses home situation hmu......

um. can’t think of more bt just anything honestly. jst go wild.......

[emperor-lover]

hi omg i love your minhyun scenarios so much!! cld u do one where you're both idols dating secretly but the public finds out and ships it? make it long please😘😘😘😘tyty

hi, thank you kind anon!! haha I tried making it long, and i’m sorry about the long wait! This will be in the same setting as the WGM!AU, so please read that if you haven’t yet! Enjoy!!!! xx

soooo Minhyun and you have been dating secretly ever since the WGM break up 

But one day you get a casting call to be the 2nd female lead in an upcoming drama

you’re really excited and you tell Minhyun about it

and he’s like wait, is this for this drama??

and you’re like yeah! wait how did you know?

And he’s like, I was going to tell you tonight but I got cast as the 2nd male lead!

and you’re both like omg

you’re going to be working together

what’s great is that even the public are like omfg my faves from wgm are going to be reunited on this drama

and everyone’s so excited because it’s been a couple of years since youve publicly interacted

and you know everyone kinda goes crazy when former wgm couples even so much as walk past each other or make eye contact

so the fact you’re both going to be acting together as a couple is a big deal

your managers are wary but they trust that you’ll be good at concealing it seeing as it’s already been a couple of years and no one has found out yet

also because you two have been really good at keeping your relationship a secret ever since wgm finished

like you’d never do anything that would cause suspicion

so you’d never wear couple items out when you went to the airport in case they’d get photographed

there was only one instance where both of you had promoted albums at the same time, but even then you’d make sure to only go to each other’s waiting rooms when there would be no cameras around

the time you two had gone on a date outside you had been so very careful, and had succeeding blending into the crowd like any other couple would

luckily both of you are homebodies, so lounging around at each others dorms was fine for both of you

which is why the two of you are actually so close because you literally tell each other everything

if a day has been tough for you, Minhyun just opens his arms up and you just melt into his embrace while he sings something sweet in your ear

on days that Minhyun happens to be feeling more tired than usual, you’ll bring over some homemade comfort food and some classic movies to watch until he falls asleep

you both kinda baby each other when someone is tired or under the weather, like Minhyun will tuck you into bed if you’re the one who falls asleep first and vice versa

also both of you have A++++ cuddling skills 

every couple of months on your days off, sometimes you’d go on long drives together to the countryside, where there wasn’t as many people

you’d go on walks along the coastline and find a nice area to sit and have a lil picnic

Because of how careful the two of you were though, you weren’t too sure what to do now that you’d be acting together

So on the day of the first table reading of the script, both of you just acted as if you hadn’t seen each other since wgm

Minhyun being the crap liar he is, had been attempting to to strike up a weird conversation at one point but it was so forced both of you were trying so hard not to laugh at each other

because it was being filmed, you were slightly nervous but after the video came out, you were pleasantly surprised about the majority of comments from knetz 

oh my god, look at this it’s my fave wgm couple’s reunion

aren’t they so cute, i can’t wait to see their scenes together in the drama

even at a table reading they’re perfect for each other

i wish they were dating for real ;;;;

Shooting went smoothly, especially because the chemistry between the two of you was very very real

The way that Minhyun had been looking at you was as if honey was dripping out of his eyes

“Either he’s a natural born actor, or he’s seriously in love with Y/N”

It was the same for you though, being around Minhyun all the time at work made it easy to become very casual around him

You’d playfully hit his arm if he messed up a take, or pull a silly face at him across the room before he had to act a serious scene

Fans were becoming more and more suspicious but played it off as if you two were just super close friends (which you are)

There were also a few kiss scenes, and they were all so damn natural

Even the director was like ???

Done in one-take?? Usually it takes a few more for people who don’t have much experience with kiss scenes

but nope, “you two are just so natural, it’s almost as if you’ve done this before??”

*cue nervous laughter*

so one night you’re hanging out at Minhyun’s dorm after a long day of filming and one of the pds calls you because there’s an extra scene that they need to add in to the upcoming episode and you’re needed

At the same time, Minhyun’s phone rings and it’s another pd who is also letting him know that he’s needed for said scene

And he’s like “yes, i’ll go there right away!” 

and the pd on the phone to you pauses slightly before asking…

“Why are you and Hwang Minhyun still together at 2AM?” 

So that’s how the staff found out about your relationship

Like it was obvious to people who worked with both of you closely that the two of you liked each other, but no one wanted to assume anything

Everyone was giving you knowing smiles when you went into work and you just sighed because you knew the staffs were never going to stop teasing

Literally the littlest thing they’d squeal over

“Y/N, why don’t you sit next to Minhyun for lunch break?”

“Aw did you see Minhyun gave Y/N his jacket because it was cold!”

They drink the same juice!!! That’s so cute, what do we do? Young love must be nice

Minhyun was having a concert and some of the cast decided to go to support

so you took this opportunity to go along too

Minhyun didn’t know you were going so you were planning on surprising him

and it was such a happy night, everyone bundled in backstage congratulating him on a successful concert

And you tried to sneak past to your manager who was holding onto the flowers you were planning on giving him

but Minhyun can recognise your silhouette anywhere so he immediately knew it was you bundled up in a black hoodie trying to squeeze away from the crowd

You had just about reached your manager when you felt Minhyun’s hand wrap round your wrist gently, pulling you round to face him

“Y/N!!! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming!”

His smile was practically blinding, you had to blink a few times to snap our of your daze

and you’re a stuttering mess, gesturing to the flowers and then to him and you don’t know what to say because you’re just so freaking proud of Minhyun

and he just laughs and pulls you into a hug and everyone is like OoOOOOoOOO ;))))

And you get one of the staff to take a photo of the two of you, and you both set it as your lockscreen for good luck

Usually you were both quite sweet to each other in behind the scenes videos

for example, there was a clip where you’d been playing with Minhyun’s hand, something that you tend do without thinking which was obviously the case here because you had been staring off into space

and Minhyun had just smiled at you before flicking your forehead gently

which snapped you out of your little bubble, so you scowled up at him 

and he had just giggled before tweaking your nose

so it became this little war going on of you swatting away his hands and him trying to flick your forehead or squeeze your cheeks

That though wasn’t the key player in the reveal of your relationship

What gave it away to the rest of the world was literally the smallest detail

But of course the detective fans had managed to spot something

The stylists had been fixing up Minhyun’s hair and makeup, when one of the staff had asked what the time was

And Minhyun had checked his phone

Someone had screenshotted and zoomed in on his phone until it was a blurry af image of the lockscreen

with more detective skills, fans discovered from the clothes that the people in the pic are wearing are the clothes that you were wearing to Minhyun’s concert

so surprise surprise, big reveal everyone deducts that the two of you are dating

and your company and pledis don’t deny or confirm anything straight away

also because at that time you had been preparing for a comeback with your group

and you were so worried about it affecting the comeback and also the drama negatively

You don’t even know how to react because your phone has exploded with messages

it’s just crazy overwhelming, and it’s the same for Minhyun

and you give him a call and he’s full of apologies

“Y/N, are you ok? i’m so sorry, I didn’t realise my phone lockscreen would be seen in that shot;;”

Just listening to his voice calms you down, and you try to reassure him that it isn’t his fault

“there’s no way you could have imagined that anyone would have seen that in the shot Minhyun, it’s ok!”

“I don’t know what the company is planning on doing, but all I know is that we’ll make it through this, together.”

Minhyun tells you to go to sleep early and wait to see what your companies statements will be in regards to your relationship in the morning

you’re scared to log on to check the news and you decide to avoid it completely

but your group member comes rushing into your room with a big smile on her face

“Y/N! Read this!!” shoving her phone into your face

You take the phone hesitantly but your eyes widen when you read it

Literally pages of comments praising your relationship and how happy they are that it’s real 

Everyone ships it.

Most of your friends were surprised that you were able to keep it hidden for so long

And the two of you still try to keep it super lowkey because no one likes it when couples are super PDA

BUT at the end of the year, you attended the big awards ceremony with Minhyun and everyone was just so amazed

because damn you guys are like so hot, wtf it’s really not fair

Minhyun is wearing this reallllly nice tuxedo that does so much justice for his broad shoulders and long legs

it’s like how is it possible that these two people who have great personalities, and are such talented visuals, exist??

AND THEY’RE DATING EACH OTHER?

Life isn’t fair, where are all the other people in the world who are perfect like you guys?

So of course, it was no surprise when they announced you and Minhyun as the winners of the best couple award for the drama you were in

And Minhyun’s such a gentleman, offering you his hand when you’re going up and down the steps to collect the award

and his eyes never leave your face during your thank you speech

and both of you are just so thankful that everything is just so perfect and meant to beeeee

like wow love really does exist, don’t lose hope y’all i say as I type out these scenarios and cry because it’s so unrealistic, you can only dream

lol the ending im sorry ;;;; anyways, thanks always for reading!!