#pride weekend 1 has me cooked

[murchins]

twink at pride

[thelikesofus]

starting our forever, baby

9-1-1 on ABC | Buddie | 2.1k words | s7 spec, prev bucktommy, getting together, love confessions, love is stored in the kitchen

Eddie wakes up to a surprise visit from Buck and they finally talk about forever.

Read on AO3

Eddie wakes up to the sound of pans clanging in the kitchen and the smell of pancake batter and hot butter. Neither of these things is cause for alarm nor out of the ordinary but he is ninety-eight percent certain he went to sleep in an empty house. 

He rolls out of bed, shrugging on a sweatshirt and grabbing a pair of soft socks out of his drawer on the way past and to no surprise finds Buck in the kitchen.

“Hey! Eddie,” Buck smiles brightly at him as Eddie cautiously perches himself on a kitchen stool. “Good morning.”

Buck is bathed in sunlight from the kitchen window behind him, a halo of gold filtering through his soft curls, gel-free and touseled on the top of Buck’s head in a way that Eddie wishes he would let them be more often. “Morning, Buck. You’re here early.”

Buck bustles around the kitchen, pulling milk out of the fridge and grabbing a mug from the top cupboard, his body moving around Eddie’s kitchen as if it has been programmed with an innate sense of where to find anything and everything. He could be convinced that Buck knows his way around Eddie’s kitchen better than Eddie does. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m sorry. It’s just–it’s been a while, yeah? And I feel like I haven’t seen Chris in ages–I miss the kid–and I figured he was probably, if not missing me, at least missing my pancakes. I hope he hasn’t been letting you make them.”

Buck pours coffee from the pot into the mug, tops it off with the precise amount of milk that Eddie prefers, and sets it in front of Eddie before turning to the frying pan and flipping the pancake. “I know you’ve been improving in the cooking department–I can see it, Eddie, and I’m proud of you,” Eddie’s heart squeezes in his chest. “But pancakes are my department.”

“I wouldn’t want to steal your thunder.” Eddie quips and Buck whips around to wave the spatula at him.

“Exactly!”

“Buck,” Eddie presses carefully because there’s a frantic energy fizzing beneath Buck’s skin, he can see it in the way he moves, the line of his shoulders, and the exaggerated way he swings his arms. “Christopher isn’t here. He’s on school camp until Friday.”

“Oh, right, I knew that.” Buck’s whole body joints to a stop like a record skipping on a turntable and then just as soon he’s back in motion again. “That’s okay! I brought lemon juice for on your pancakes, we can save the bacon for the weekend when he gets back.”

Eddie’s heart grows three sizes in his chest, threatening to burst out all over his kitchen and cover Buck and the bench top in a flood of emotions he’s spent the last month and a half trying to fold smaller and smaller until he can safely tuck them away beneath his ribs where it can’t hurt anyone but himself. 

“Buck?” The other man glances at him before turning back to the stove, giving a soft hum in response. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Buck grins at him again but it doesn’t reach his eyes this time. 

“You’re buzzing, and not the good kind.” Eddie stands and rounds the counter, he leans against the other side while still giving Buck as much space as he needs. He presses again, softer this time. “Buck? What’s going on?”

Buck deflates and turns the stove off, removing the pan from the element and leaning against the other counter opposite Eddie. “Tommy and I broke up. I broke up with him, or we broke up with each other, I guess.” 

Eddie isn’t sure what to say. As far as he knew Buck and Tommy’s relationship had been going smoothly. They were a good fit, even Eddie could tell, as much as it sometimes pained him to admit. But he was happy for them. Seeing them dance together at Maddie and Chimney’s wedding had filled Eddie with a sense of pride even when it also left him feeling like he was walking with a permanent rock in his shoe—a phenomenon he could finally put a name to after a few long talks with Frank and an enlightening if not nervewracking night at a bar called the Peacock that Hen had suggested he visit for ‘research purposes’. 

“I thought you really liked Tommy?” Is what he finally manages to say once he unsticks his tongue from the roof of his mouth.

“I do,” Buck says. His arms are still full of static as he gestures with his hands in that way that Buck does when he’s nervous or overwhelmed and he’s not looking Eddie in the eyes. Buck shakes his head. “I did. I did, and Tommy is wonderful but I think we both realized that it wasn’t going to last. He got offered a job, down in Mexico.” Buck pushes away from the bench, pulls two plates out of the drawer, and starts dividing the stack of pancakes between them.

“After the whole fiasco with the cruise ship, the LAFD decided they wanted someone on the ground down there as a sort of link between the Los Angeles rescue helicopters and the team down in Mexico City. They’re going to put him in charge of his own team and he’s been working towards some sort of promotion for ages so he’s really excited about it.”

“He didn’t ask you to go with him did he?” Eddie can’t help but let the question burst out of him. The thought of Buck leaving already feels like tearing out a lung but he also knows he’s in no position to ask Buck to stay, certainly not for Eddie’s sake. 

“He did, sort of.” Buck shrugs. “I think he already knew I wouldn’t say yes. L.A. is my home, I couldn’t leave the 118, I couldn’t leave Maddie and Jee-yun. Christopher, the thought of being anywhere that kid isn’t is just—and I know he’s not—but I still couldn’t. I won’t. Tommy knows that. He also knew that I wouldn’t leave you.”

“Me?” Now Eddie has to swallow down a lump of surprise. Eddie doesn't think that little of himself, he knows he’s important to Buck, they are important to each other, but important enough to be the reason Buck stays in Los Angeles while his boyfriend moves to another country?

Buck turns to place two plates, carefully stacked with fluffy, golden pancakes, each drizzled in lemon juice and sprinkled with sugar—Eddie’s favorite—on the kitchen island, and then he’s facing Eddie again only feet away in all his early morning glory and Eddie dares to hope.

“You.” Buck rests one hip against the counter and turns the full power of those bright blue eyes on Eddie as he finally makes eye contact for the first time all morning. “Yes, you, Eddie. Tommy is lovely and sweet and he has been so, so good to me for the last two months, we’ve been good for each other, I think.”

Eddie breaks the eye contact, he’s heard all about how wonderful and lovely Tommy is for the last two months and while he has been so happy for Buck, truly, it has also been agony. But then Buck is stepping up into Eddie’s space and gripping his elbow. Buck ducks his head until he can catch Eddie’s eyes again and follows his gaze until Eddie gives up on trying to hide from him. 

“But it was never going to work long-term, I don’t think it was ever meant to. He’s very sweet and we get along well but it never got any deeper than that. We made better friends than anything else.”

“Okay, so you ended it on mutual terms and he’s moving to Mexico?”

“Not for a few months but eventually he is yes.”

“A few months?”

“Next February.”

“February? Next year? Buck that ages away, why break up now if he’s not leaving until–.”

“Because it was time.”

“Time for what?”

“To stop lying to myself, to you.”

Eddie almost bites his tongue. “Lying to me? Buck, I am so confused right now. Did you hit your head? You do remember coming out to me right? You’ve been dating a man for the last two months. You brought a man to your sister’s wedding. Honestly, I am still living off of the high that I got from seeing your mother’s face when you kissed Tommy on the dance floor, that was—.”

“Eddie!” Buck laughs around his name and it’s the sweetest sound Eddie has ever heard. “Would you let me finish talking? Please?”

Eddie nods. “Right, yes. Sorry. Proceed.” He swings his arm out dramatically and Buck pinches the skin on the back of Eddie’s arm and rolls his eyes. 

“Eddie,” There’s a seriousness to Buck’s tone that Eddie doesn’t hear often. “I don’t want to presume anything okay, so if I’ve been reading this wrong then please tell me because I don’t want to make this weird, the last thing I want to do is hurt you or make you uncomfortable but—.” Eddie watches the tick in Buck's jaw tighten. “There’s something here, right? You and me?”

“Do you think there is?” Eddie whispers into the space between them, barely getting the words out past where his heart sits in his throat. 

“I dare to hope there is,” Buck whispers back. “I would like there to be. Eddie, you’re my best friend, you’ve been my rock for years and I love you more than anything but I also—I also think I might be in love with you, and I think I have been for a long time.”

“You think?”

“Like pretty God damn certain actually.” 

“Good, good.” Eddie nods, barely keeping the grin from breaking across his face. He can feel his lips twitching with the effort to suppress it. “That’s good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He steps into Buck’s space and leans forward until he can press their foreheads together. Buck’s arm slides from Eddie’s elbow to around his waist and Eddie rests his palm against Buck’s chest, sliding it up until he can wrap his fingers over the swell of Buck’s shoulder and press his thumb into that divet in Buck’s throat where Eddie can feel the heat of him and the pulse of his heartbeat beneath the pad of his thumb. “Because I am definitely in love with you.”

“You never said anything.”

“I didn’t know and then I did but you were with Tommy and you were happy. I was happy for you.”

Buck breathes deeply and Eddie reveals in the way it rushes past his cheek. “What about you?”

“I’m happy now,” Eddie says and it’s true, and realizing that only multiples the happiness tenfold. “I’m so happy I could burst.”

“Happy that I got dumped again?”

“You didn’t get dumped, you said it was mutual.” Eddie squeezes his shoulder. “But yes, happy that you might finally be mine, that I might finally get to be yours.”

Buck leans back and when Eddie opens his eyes he finds Buck’s eyes glassy and brimming with tears.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Buck says and Eddie pulls him into his arms until they are chest to chest, chins hooked over each other’s shoulders and wrapped up in each other so completely that Eddie could not tell you where one of them ends and the other begins and it feels so right, so right to have Buck so close to him, for them to be one and the same. They breathe together for a long time, squeezing each other closer whenever the micro fraction of an inch between them begins to field like football fields of distance.

“We take this slow, we do it right,” Eddie says carefully, pulling back just far enough to cup his hand around Buck’s cheek and hold his gaze. A niggly part of his brain tries to remind him of everything that could go wrong, of everything they have to lose, but a bigger part of him can only hope for everything that could go so beautifully right. 

“We have the rest of forever, after all.” Buck’s smile is soft at the edges and it smoothes the jagged parts of Eddie’s worry. 

Eddie leans up and presses one gentle kiss to the corner of Buck’s mouth, allowing himself that much for now. The rest will come, he is in no rush for the rest of his life. On Friday Christopher will be home and they can make pancakes again. At the end of the month, Buck’s lease will expire and Eddie will finally have an excuse to never let Buck leave his house again. In February they will wave Tommy off at the airport and Eddie will get the chance to thank him properly. Soon enough they might get to dance at another wedding, maybe their own, definitely together, for the rest of forever. 

“Forever and a day.” He promises.

[clarisse0o]

Camp Wiegman - Part 11

Lucy Bronze x Ona Batlle

Alternative Universe : Military School

Words : 4k

Masterlist

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Sunday, November 1; 7:45 PM - Cafeteria.

I deeply regret Bronze' idea. She convinced me to eat in the cafeteria tonight. I've regained some color, and she decided it was time to reintegrate me. I still have a slight fever, but my nausea has completely disappeared for the day. I might even be able to return to my room tonight and go back to class tomorrow if my night goes smoothly. According to her, it would have been better for me to stay one more night in her room, but Wigeman insisted otherwise. She doesn't want me to miss another day, not being one to grant her students absences easily. Here we are in front of the cafeteria, with my spirits in the gutter. I don't even know what I'm doing here. I have barely eaten all week. Bronze has forced soup on me since Thursday, but I'm getting sick of it. Most of the time, it ended up in the basin a few hours later. She’s lucky I’m no longer as stoned or sore, or I wouldn't have even gotten out of bed. Now that I'm standing in front of the doors, I dread going in. She promised we’d go later to avoid as many people as possible, but it’s Sunday night. Everyone is back from their weekend, so the people who eat at the cafeteria come at various times. Bronze knows these kinds of details perfectly and failed to remind me. I feel all eyes on me as we walk through the doors. I stare at my shoes to hide my horrible face. I had to make the effort to replace my pajamas with simple jogging pants and a casual sweater to look at least somewhat presentable.

"I can't," I say, trying to turn back.

"Hey,  Ona," says Bronze, holding my arm. "You promised you'd try to eat."

"Do you see all these people!?"

"What people?" she asks, looking around the room. "There are barely thirty people. That's hardly ten percent of the capacity."

"Please, Bronze..."

I pout to show her my discomfort. It's not like me to beg. I feel like a weakling. However, I'm willing to do anything to get what I want, even set aside my pride. She crushes my plan by gripping my shoulders.

"Look at me," she orders, and I comply. "I promise they won’t say anything. You need to think about yourself. You need to eat."

I turn my head toward the exit door next to us. It would take just three steps to reach the hall. Bronze interrupts my thought by gripping my chin, forcing me to face her insistent gaze. I know she won’t let this go. I sigh, knowing she's doing this for my own good. I need to regain my strength by eating something substantial. It’s the first day I’ve been able to move around on my own, but I haven’t fully regained my strength. I doubt I can carry a full tray.

"Okay, fine..." I concede.

"Will you be alright?"

"Yeah..." I mumble.

"Come on, go ahead and tell me what you want," she says, pushing me toward the buffet.

"I’m not taking a tray...?"

"One for the both of us will suffice," she says, placing our utensils on it. "It’s not like you’re going to have a full meal."

I bite my lip, thinking she’s probably right. At least that solves my tray problem. I look at the appetizers while she slides the tray along the rail.

"I’m not asking you to take everything, but at least pick a dish and a yogurt. Does that work for you?" she suggests.

I nod, glancing at her. She grabs an appetizer before we move on. What she picked would tempt me if I were hungry. However, that's not the case today. The food they serve us isn’t that bad. It’s not up to the standards of what Sam makes at home, but it’s edible. Contrary to what one might think, we’re rarely served frozen food. The school makes sure to order and cook fresh products. I think that's good. That wasn’t the case at my public high school in Miami. The next step is the main dishes. I give a timid smile to the employees who seem happy to see me, judging by the light in their eyes. I know most of these people from my punishments imposed by Bronze. They were very kind to me, surprisingly.

"Your flu is finally gone?"

I frown, not understanding why the cook is asking me that. I look to my supervisor for answers. She smiles at them and places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"She felt better today," she announces. "She didn’t want to get out of bed, but I managed to convince her."

"Good to hear," he replies. "What can I get you?"

I look at what’s available. Once again, the food is tempting, but the appetite isn't there. This makes me question my presence here again.

"Come on,  Ona, make an effort to take something," Bronze encourages.

"Just pasta with sauce."

"No meat?" he asks.

I shake my head no. He smiles and fills a plate, which he hands to Bronze. He prepares a plate for her as well while I continue to move forward. I skip the dairy section and head for dessert. I decide to opt for an apple instead of yogurt. Once we’re done, I’m grateful to Bronze when she suggests we eat in the educators' section. There’s not much difference since only rectangular flower pots separate the two areas, but it’s better than being among the students.

"Come on, sit there," she says, tapping a chair facing away from the cafeteria.

"Thank you," I breathe.

It’s strange to be on this side, but I’m not going to complain. She smiles as she places my plate in front of me. I look at her with a grimace stretching across my face.

"Are you okay?" she asks for the umpteenth time.

"I feel like throwing up."

She chuckles at my disgusted expression. The soups may have gone over my head, but the idea of a full meal is overwhelming.

"Come on, eat a bit. I’m not asking you to finish the plate, just fill your stomach."

"Tsss. If I throw up all night, you’ll be the one cleaning it up, I warn you."

"That’s already what I’ve been doing from the start," she laughs.

I don’t retort, realizing it's true. I sigh and reluctantly bring the fork to my mouth. The first bite feels mushy. It’s like rediscovering food. She smiles with satisfaction and starts her own meal. I rest my heavy head on my palm, watching her.

"Why did the cook mention the flu?" I ask.

"Wiegman passed off your absence as the flu. Only she and the instructors in charge of you know the truth."

"Why?"

"To avoid spreading the news," she shrugs. "She has a reputation to uphold, you know."

Obviously. Interests over truth. It’s not even worth commenting on. I continue to eat my pasta, most of which sticks in my throat. I manage to swallow half before feeling stuffed.

"Do I really have to go back tomorrow?"

"I guess so, yes."

"And if I don’t feel ready?"

"Are you getting depressed?" she smiles.

I lower my head, playing with the rest of my dish. I really don’t want to go back to class tomorrow. I have a bad feeling. I still feel a bit unwell, and it’s too sudden. Bronze places her hand on mine to stop my circular movements in my plate.

"What’s wrong? I’ve known you to be more tenacious than this."

"What if I have a withdrawal episode in the middle of class? It’s not out of the question, you know that, right?"

"Calm down,  Ona. Everything will be fine. Anyway, it's just a possibility. You still need to have a peaceful night."

"Can I make myself throw up right now?"

Bronze laughs softly, removing her hand. I already miss her reassuring warmth. I don’t find it funny. I’ve thought it through and could seriously consider it if it meant staying one more day in my room or hers. I have no desire to go back tomorrow. She seems to understand I’m serious because her smile fades, and she raises an eyebrow, appearing to judge me.

"Are you going to talk to me?"

"There’s nothing to say... I just don’t feel ready," I admit timidly. "I don’t know... Maybe others will figure out the truth by looking at me? I’m sure there are plenty of junkies here."

"It’s not like it’s written on your forehead."

"Who knows?" I half-joke.

"Well," she sighs. "I’ll try to negotiate one more day for you. But Tuesday you’ll go back to class no matter what. OK?"

I’m sure my eyes sparkle with happiness. I didn’t think she’d go so far as to grant me an extra day. If I had known, I would have spoken to her sooner. I nod enthusiastically, creating a mischievous smile on her face that doesn’t bode well.

"However, it’s not without condition."

I groan in frustration, letting my head slide from my palm. Damn, it was too good to be true! I sit up to look at her with puppy eyes.

"No need to look at me like that."

"What’s the price?"

"You need to regain your strength, so I want you to finish your plate and eat your apple," she orders in a more serious tone. "If you succeed, I’ll speak to Wiegman. If not, I won’t bother. Deal?"

"Deal," I say, already regretting it.

"Perfect," she smiles. "I’ll let you eat and come back to get you. In the meantime, I need to check on others."

I nod, watching her leave with her tray. She also ate less than usual. I think she’s staying on the lookout. I prefer it that way. Once she disappears, I turn around to see if anyone noticed me. I recognize one of my friends, who seems absorbed in her conversation. I wonder what excuse Bronze used to explain my absence to them. I haven’t spoken to them since last Sunday. I’ll have to be honest with them one day. I eat my pasta, though I doubt I'll manage to finish the apple.

"I remembered Friday night. You know, when you ended up just as soaked as I did."

"Is this how you thank me for helping you?"

I giggle at her clearly exaggerated offended look. She kicks my shin under the table, immediately calming me down without erasing my smile.

"Admit it was funny looking back on it."

"How can you remember that? You were completely out of it."

"I have no idea, but it's worth remembering, I laugh even harder."

This time she laughs with me, shaking her head.

"Stop making fun of me. I have plenty of dirt on you from this past week too."

"Go ahead."

"Not now. I'll save it for when I'm in a tough spot."

"Of course, I roll my eyes."

I hand her another piece of apple, which she accepts without protest. Finally done! She stacks our plates on her tray.

"Let's go, I still need to see Wiegman because of you."

"Sorry, but I really don't want to go back to class tomorrow."

"This is the last favor I'm doing for you. Make sure to get back to your life quietly starting Tuesday and catch up on all your missed classes."

"You're really depressing when you want to be."

"I know."

She smiles proudly. We're the last ones in the room with the staff cleaning the kitchen. I help Bronze clear the tray, then we leave the dining hall to return to her room. She drops me off and immediately heads to administration. I take advantage of being alone to take a shower and put on my pajamas. A slight headache returns when I lie down in bed. I sigh, thinking it can't be more unbearable than what I've been through this week. I turn off the light and try to find sleep. Just as I'm about to succeed, Bronze reappears in the room. Her first instinct is to turn on the light, making me groan into my pillow.

"What's wrong with you? Why were you in the dark?"

"Because I maybe wanted to sleep?"

"At nine p.m.?" she chuckles.

"Shhh, I groan. Turn off the light!"

I pull the blanket over my head to block the light that's worsening my headache. She turns it off a second later and crouches beside me. The back of her hand rests on my forehead, making me sigh.

"No, I don't have a fever. I just want to sleep."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Bronze."

"Well, I'm going to shower then. Sleep well."

I turn my back to her and pull the blanket over again. I hear her sigh before a door slams. I lower the blanket to get some air. She turned off the main light but left my bedside lamp on. I hear the shower running in the next room. I can't fall back asleep. I toss and turn, but it's useless. Bronze comes out of the bathroom before I manage to fall asleep. She ignores me and heads to her bed behind me. I wait a bit before rolling over. I'm surprised to see her on a computer. In a week, I've never seen her on one. She usually prefers books. I even thought she didn't have one since I didn't find any when I turned her room upside down a few weeks ago. She must have brought it from home. I smile when I notice glasses on the end of her nose. It's the first time I've seen her wearing them. It's weird seeing her with them, but they suit her. She turns her head towards me after a moment of silence.

"I thought you wanted to sleep?"

"I can't anymore..."

"Sorry, I thought you were joking. Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, just tired and a bit of a headache."

"Go back to sleep then."

"Easier said than done. And with the light and all..."

"Do you want me to turn it off?"

I shake my head. The desire to sleep has passed since she returned. She stares at me without speaking.

"Has anyone ever told you that glasses suit you?"

"Yes," she chuckles." But thanks for the compliment. I was going to watch my series. Want to join?" she offers.

"Which one?"

"Game of Thrones."

"Oh, yeah," I say enthusiastically." What episode are you on?"

"I just started. I'm mid-season one", she says, sitting up.

The idea is appealing; I love this series! I lean against the wall, pulling the blanket up. She swings her legs out of bed, keeping her laptop on her knees. The Apple logo dazzles my eyes as she types. When she finishes, she places it on a chair she moves closer so we can both see the screen. She presses play and positions herself like me in her bed. As for me, I finally lie down, noticing I can see the screen from this position too.

"Bronze?" I ask after a while.

"Hmm?"

"So what did Wiegman say?"

"That it's okay, but it's the last day she'll give you. As I suspected, you won't be able to get out of it on Tuesday."

"How did you persuade her?"

"Doesn't matter."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing," she chuckles. "The how is just administrative, it's my job. The important thing is the answer, right?"

"Hmm..."

Her answer hurts. "It's just administrative." "It's my job." So I'm nothing more than a job to her? I thought she did it because she understood me. I turn my head when I feel her gaze on me. A silly smile spreads across her lips.

"What now?"

"Nothing..."

"I can feel you thinking from here, and I'm not putting up with it through the whole episode."

I ignore her, focusing on the screen. Now I feel foolish for thinking she might care about me. She sighs and pauses the episode. She keeps staring at me, but my eyes stay fixed on the screen. I don't want to give her the satisfaction or she'll win.

"What do you want to know?"

"Nothing, it's fine."

"You're so stubborn when you want to be. Too bad for you."

I bite my lip. Damn it. My curiosity gets the better of me. I speak just before she presses play.

"Why don't you want to tell me?"

She looks up at me, keeping a neutral expression. I feel stupid. I always seem to ruin good moments.

"Because there's nothing to say. You shouldn't worry about the how. That's my problem, but if you must know, I said you still felt unwell and weren't ready. Nothing more, nothing less. Can I resume now?"

I think I made her angry. I hide the blush forming on my cheeks by rubbing my head against the pillow.

"No need to get mad. You could have told me right away."

"No, it's none of your business. The liaison with Wiegman is my job. You really need to learn to trust me."

"It's not about that."

"Yes, it is, and you know it as well as I do."

I sigh, lowering my head. Yeah, she's probably right, even if we're not thinking about the same thing right now. Now that I know she's doing this just as part of her job, I'm afraid she'll tell Wiegman everything I confided in her. I haven't opened up like this in a long time, and I don't know how I'll take it if she repeats it. Our relationship has evolved a lot in a week, but not in the way I thought.

"Trust goes both ways... I tell you things, unlike you."

"I'm not your friend, Ona. I'm your instructor, even your supervisor. I'm not supposed to bond with you beyond this relationship. I'm not going to tell you about my life. My role is to guide and help you. The liaison with Wiegman is part of that."

"You ruin everything."

"Why? "she frowns.

"I really thought you liked me."

"I do. You're my student."

She doesn't understand. For once, it's not me. I cross my arms and sink into my bed. She sighs deeply.

"What now?"

"Nothing."

"Yes. Spill it now that we're here."

"I opened up to you. I confided in you and even let you shower me. God knows how hard it was for me to let you do that! A simple supervisor wouldn't have done that! You even gave me a birthday present. I thought you liked me more than any other student for doing all that."

"You're not just any student, you're my student."

"Great, I say sarcastically."

"Stop sulking. I've always acted professionally. You knew what to expect in the evolution of our relationship. Sorry if you felt differently."

"Yes, you're right. I misinterpreted things."

She sighs, watching me. She surprises me by getting up and sitting on my bed. I instinctively pull back and turn my head away.

"Stop acting like a child, Ona."

She forces me to look at her by holding my chin. Her green eyes pierce through me.

"Let go of me!"

I try to pull away, but she releases my chin to hold my head. I can't escape her now. I could close my eyes, but I'd look even more ridiculous than I already do.

"Ona, I really like you. You're different, and that makes you special. Your case intrigues me, and it makes me want to invest more in you than the other students to help you change. However, it won't change our status. I'll never offer you friendship or anything like that. Can you understand that?"

"Yeah," I grumble." At least I won't be fooled twice."

"Don't take it that way."

"Yes, the message is clear."

"This shouldn't change anything between us, she says, making me laugh bitterly."

"It's not for you to decide."

"Ona..." she sighs.

"I got fooled by imagining things, but it won't happen again."

"I don't want you to become that insufferable student again just because of a misunderstanding."

I don't respond. There's nothing more to say on my end. She releases my head, sighing once more. She admits defeat and goes back to her bed. She resumes the series, which I keep my eyes on, trying to ignore her gaze on me. I thought we had moved past professionalism. Sure, I don't expect a great friendship, but at least a slightly more friendly relationship instead of sticking to statuses. It seems I was just daydreaming. When I leave here, she'll go back to being the unpleasant commander.

"I see the defiant girl you were in the first days."

"She never left. Looks like I wasn't the only one imagining things."

"Don't lie to yourself, she scolds. You're far from the girl who came here a month ago, and you know it."

"Hmm."

"Fine, as you wish."

She focuses on the series, creating a deathly silence. I can't even follow the episode anymore. The conversation keeps spinning in my head. Will she change when we go back to our normal lives? Hard to say, but it's scary. She's taken care of me so much since the beginning. I'm almost glad she was assigned to my case. The episode ends. Fortunately, I've seen it before because I haven't followed it since our exchange. I'm barely staying awake, but I hold on. I don't want to sleep being on bad terms with her. Deep down, I know she won't change her behavior.

"Bronze...?" I call her timidly.

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I got upset. I imagined things... I don't know, I sigh. I knew what to expect, and I should never have said what I said."

"I know, Ona. Rest now, I can see you're forcing yourself to stay up until the end."

"Hmm... Good night, Bronze."

"Good night."

My heart is much lighter now. Hopefully, I'm not wrong. I take a deep breath before letting my eyelids close on their own. I feel like I'll sleep well tonight for the first time in a long while.

[icyg4l]

PAC: How Can You Attract Your Lover: Queer Edition

Hello beautiful people! Today marks the last Friday that I will be posting for a while. However, I’ll still be here for the remainder of the weekend. If you would like to purchase a reading, please message me privately. Today’s reading is the last post regarding Pride Month. Thank you all for supporting me financially and content-wise. It is much appreciated. Without further ado, please select your pile.

Top Left-to-Bottom Right: (1-4)

Pile One: You’re not boring at all, Pile One. You are just very particular with the way that you want things. You may feel like your love life is an “abomination” right now but it’s not. You are fixed in your conviction of what love looks like for you. However, you need to open your eyes. Love will not find its way to you if you keep trying to manipulate the situation. Keep an open mind of what’s out there. Be open to flings and short-term romances. In my mind’s eye, I am seeing a butterfly open its wings, getting ready to fly. I heard the “Empire State Building”. If you have been thinking of taking a weekend trip to New York or New Orleans, then you should do so. You will meet someone there. This person has a Coca-Cola smile and piercing eyes waiting for you to arrive.

Who: This person is tall, not average tall either. They’re abnormally tall. They’re into anime/cartoons. They have distinctive features as well. They are fluent in French. This person could be into watching cooking shows/MTV. They are sensual and suave. They are intuitive, very in touch with themselves. They could wear a dangly earring. They could definitely live in New York or have an obsession with “The Big Apple”. They could have ties to the military. They are quick-moving. They like to flirt with others. They love to smoke, and they have an oral fixation.

Cards Used: The Tower, Five of Swords, Page of Wands, Judgment, The Star, Eight of Wands, Nine of Wands, Queen of Cups, Queen of Wands.

Pile Two: You need to stop being so uptight! Let loose and groove a little bit, Pile Two. You need to go out dancing with your friends. You will enjoy it there. You will meet someone there who catches your attention. They will be watching you from afar. I am seeing the Barbie movie dance scene, where everyone is having a good time until Barbie starts having an existential crisis. Your boredom is preventing you from seeing how good you really have it. You have the gift of gab so use it! It is also easy for you to manifest through the utilization of your physical body, if you know what I mean. So, if you wanna manifest using the ‘o’ method, DO IT!!! Start doing things that you would typically shy away from. Aim to step away from the crowd.

Who: This person is a little younger than you. They could be on the petite side. They have a cockiness to them that can’t be turned off. They could own a motorcycle. They have impulse issues/have ADHD/ADD. They like to do things quick and fast. They move and talk like they have somewhere to be. They could have long fingernails (stilettos, if acrylic). They could have some sort of connection to Cardi B/Left Eye. They have a dream where they’re the head of the spaceship; they want to pioneer a project. They are extra-terrestrial simply put.

Cards Used: Strength, Eight of Cups, The Sun, Four of Cups, Six of Pentacles, Three of Wands, Queen of Pentacles, The Empress, Eight of Wands, Page of Swords, Six of Wands.

Pile Three: It feels as though you are healing from a past heartbreak. Give yourself time to move past that situation, Pile Three. Sit in the discomfort. Trying to avoid it will not make the time pass by quicker. You need to lick your wounds. If anyone tries to artificially speed up your process of healing, do not hesitate to cut them off. You need to take this time of seclusion to sit with yourself and ask: “How can things be different the next time around”? Forgive yourself for allowing the mistreatment. You have a long road to go down on this journey of self-forgiveness babe. Hug yourself but also hold yourself accountable. You need to do some serious shadow work, Pile Three.

Who: They have a lot of tattoos. Their eyes are warm and dreamy. They have luscious hair. They could like the movie ‘Mean Girls’. They take a lot of pride in being your partner. They stand on business. They have a good relationship with their father. Dignity, pride, sensibility are words that come up to align them with. They have good manners. They could be kind of cold, at first but don’t judge a book by its cover. This person is drop dead gorgeous, no matter what their gender is. They have a tender heart. They like to move with a purpose. They are calculated, and value their time and money. This person is marriage material.

Cards Used: Seven of Swords, The Chariot, The High Priestess, The Devil, The Emperor, Ten of Swords, King of Cups, Knight of Swords, Knight of Cups, Two of Cups, King of Pentacles, King of Swords.

Pile Four: I can tell that you just need a break, Pile Four. You need to go and move on from whatever has been affecting you negatively (emphasis on the has been). Let bygones be bygones. Air out your grievances. You will feel much lighter. Send that text message you’ve been meaning to send. Reconcile with that person you’ve been pondering on letting back in. There’s dead weight on you. Let it go. You would benefit a lot from twerking/whining/moving your hips. Let it all out. Even if you do something you regret, so what? We’re all human. Just live your life, babe.

Who: This is someone you have a spiritual connection with. It could be karmic. This person is not naive. They know a lot about religion or spirituality. They are big on tradition. They want marriage; a traditional wedding to be exact. They could be going through a time of abstinence right now. They have a masculine flair to them. This person could have multiple ear piercings and/or an eyebrow piercing. They are intimidating, but they are fun to be around once you get to know them. This person is well-respected and adored by many. They are psychic, and proud of it. And, they take their job seriously.

Cards Used: Eight of Cups, Queen of Cups, The Sun, The Empress, Knight of Wands, Page of Pentacles, The High Priestess, King of Wands, The Hierophant.

[wongyuseokie]

Masterlist: Seventeen 💎

Key: ☆ 18+ minors dni |☀︎fluff | ☁︎ angst | ♕smut | ♥ completed works | ✍️ work in progress | 💯 written I just need to post it. 

Indi’s Note 1: I’m aware that this might be a very long masterlist hahah. Bear with me heheh 💎💕 Indi’s Note 2: These fics are most if not all NSFW and contains mature elements, if you are a minor please do not engage with my works. 💕 Quick member links below because this is a very long masterlist to save you some time💕...these will be updated accordingly!  Seungcheol | Jeonghan | Joshua | Jun | Soonyoung | Wonwoo | Jihoon | Seokmin | Mingyu | Minghao | Seungkwan | Vernon | Chan © wongyuseokie 2023. All rights reserved. Do not, copy, edit, translate, my works, on any platform. I work hard on these stories. If you find it absolutely imperative to translate anything, MESSAGE ME FIRST 💕

🍒 Olive You ☆☀︎♥ Summary: Your boyfriend attempts to cook you breakfast after tiring you out the night before. Only problem? He’s not the most talented cook, but he’s a determined lover.

🍒 All Too Well ☆☀︎♕♥☁︎ Summary: You thought you met the man of your dreams. He was everything you ever wanted, but what happens when that dream falls apart and when that man is no longer the one you recognise? You want to love him against all odds because you believe things can be better. 🍒 Bake a Wish ☆☀︎☁︎ ♕ Summary: Seungcheol knows it’s silly. Getting this mad that you forget his birthday, but it only happens once a year. He’s too prideful to let it go so quickly, and you’re too determined to continue letting your boyfriend sulk.

🍒 One Trick Peony ☆☀︎♕ ♥ Summary: Choi Seungcheol could only do one type of floral arrangement, and the rest he’d pawn off to you, granted he got a ton of orders, but he would always take the orders for arrangements that he could never do. This time he went too far. He took an ‘only peonies’ arrangement–a painfully delicate flower–and took an order for a wedding, and with your luck, you’re the only two florists available that weekend.

🍒 Silky ☆☀︎♕ ♥ Summary: Your boyfriend got his hair permed and wants to know if it still feels as soft when you tug on his hair, mainly when he’s laid between your thighs. 🍒Count for Me ☆☀︎♕ ♥ Summary: You’re unsure what to get your boyfriend for Valentine’s. Thankfully, he has a plan, and you might just be very spent after giving him exactly what he wants. 🍒 Practice Makes Perfect ☆☀︎♕ Summary: Mingyu needed some help sexually. So his Hyungs decided to ask a simple favour of you, and who are you to say no to them? Besides, who could deny them pleasure? 🍒 Setting the Mood ☆☀︎♕ Summary: After a gruelling day, you want to make your boyfriend feel better and care for him. You think you’re in charge, but that lasts only a little bit. 🍒 Your Loss ☆♕ c.h.v | k.m.g | c.s.c | y.j.h | b.s.k Summary: Your ex-boyfriend and you broke up a few months ago, but you two remained friends, and of course, his nosy friends can’t help but pry and get as detailed as possible to find out what ended the relationship, and then, of course, offer to make only you feel better. However, they can. All while your ex-boyfriend watches.

🍒 Daddy Cheol (Fake Text) ☆☀︎♕ ♥ Summary: The one where you can't sleep, so you decide to text and tease your boyfriend until he snaps and tells you that you only come undone for him. 

😇 Gotcha! ☆☀︎☁︎  Summary: Jeonghan loves pranks, creating chaos and mischief, and you love it too, but one day he goes too far, and he’s unsure how to fix it because how do you fix a broken heart?  😇 Your Loss ☆♕ c.h.v | k.m.g | c.s.c | y.j.h | b.s.k Summary: Your ex-boyfriend and you broke up a few months ago, but you two remained friends, and of course, his nosy friends can’t help but pry and get as detailed as possible to find out what ended the relationship, and then, of course, offer to make only you feel better. However, they can. All while your ex-boyfriend watches.

🦌 Relax ☆☀︎♥ Summary: You and Joshua try role-play. He’s not very good at it, but he’s hot, so it works out anyways. 🦌Teardrops on My Guitar ☆☀︎♕♥☁︎ Summary: You loved him, but he was your best friend, and while he sometimes blurred the lines, he never saw you more than a friend, but since he was your best friend and you were so in love, you’d break yourself apart for him. You watched him fall in love with everyone, but you, only question for how long?

😼Crossing Lines ☆☀︎♕♥☁︎ Summary: Your boss is a dangerous man, and you foolishly messed up his schedule, now he’s pissed and you’re the only one that can fix the problem you caused. 

😼 Lollipop! ☆☀︎♕♥  Summary: You’re distracting your boyfriend while he’s working, and you do so by sucking a lollipop, but you’d much rather be sucking him. After a few moments of teasing, he snaps and decides to indulge you by tasting just how sweet you are. 😼Ugh! As If! ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend decided to take you into a drive-in movie for date night. Only problem? He looks scrumptious, and now your task is to ensure he knows just how good he looks without the others knowing.

😼 Sulky Jun (Fake Text) ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Jun looks incredible in his new drama, and you couldn't be more proud. You're just a little sulky about the amount of kisses. 

🐯 There Was Only one Bed ☆☀︎♕☁︎ Summary: You like Soonyoung, and Soonyoung likes you. You won’t tell him, and he won’t confess either, and your friends are tired of the back and forth and after concocting an elaborate plan that leaves you to share a room with the man you’re hopelessly in love in the hopes of a confession, or at least a night of torrid lovemaking.

🐱 Cuffed ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend’s latest photoshoot has you reeling and wanting more, and lucky for you, you have just the thing to keep him in place as you overstimulate him. 🐱Forgive Me? ☆☀︎♥ Summary: Your boyfriend is late and buys a giant teddy bear to help make his case. He just forgets how adorable he is. 🐱 Tasty ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend said the word tasty in a deep voice, and now he’s showing you what other things he likes to call tasty in that ocean deep voice.

🐱 Leaf Me Alone ☀︎☁︎ ♥ Summary: Jeon Wonwoo is the newest hire at your flower shop, and he’s handsome, tall and painfully shy, and worst of all, in the last three months, you’ve exchanged three whole sentences and nods, you never know what he’s thinking, but you can’t help but wonder if he’s annoyed by your presence. 🐱 Like a Cowboy ☆☀︎♕ Summary: Your boyfriend sang the line, “like a cowboy,” and that’s precisely how you want to ride him. 🐱 Practice Makes Perfect ☆☀︎♕ Summary: Mingyu needed some help sexually. So his Hyungs decided to ask a simple favour of you, and who are you to say no to them? Besides, who could deny them pleasure? 🐱 Super Shy ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend gets super shy when showered with affection, and it’s really adorable, so you won’t stop.

🐱Collage BF Wonwoo (Fake Text) ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Wonwoo has been sulking about the fact everyone is clowning his collage skills, so to show you how good he is, he decides to make a collage of your nudes. 

🐱Enough For You Social Media AU ☆☀︎☁︎ ♥ Summary: You care for Wonwoo a lot, arguably more than a friend, but he has reservations and feels smothered and instead tries to push you away because he's scared he can't be enough for you.

🐱Wonwoo’s Approach to a Threesome (Fake Text) ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: The one where Mingyu sees a nude of Wonwoo's girlfriend, and instead of getting mad, Wonwoo asks the involved parties if they want to have a threesome instead. 

�� Ruby Lips ☆☀︎♕ Summary: Your boyfriend looks incredibly hot while working and you can’t help but get distracted.

⚔️ Dolphin Like ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend once screamed like a dolphin, and you want to know if he can scream like that during sex, too, so what do you do? Overstimulate him until he does. ⚔️ Saddle ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend has gloriously thick and muscular thighs and accentuates them by wearing tight jeans, which only makes you want to climb and ride them.

⚔️Buzz Buzz ☆☀︎♕♥  Summary: Your boyfriend discovers your sex toys and is now wondering why you need them if you have him, but more importantly, he wants to see what they do to you.

⚔️Neural Networks ☆☀︎♕☁︎♥ Summary The Escape allowed Dokyeom to gain a new life, one full of feelings. When he meets you when you save him, he experiences all of them - but did you? Strange things start happening once Dokyeom meets you. You embrace him, love him, and protect him. But when the dust from the chaos settles, Dokyeom can't help but doubt you. You have needs different from his. It's almost as if you're not like him at all. ⚔️Sharing is Caring ☆♕♥ Summary: You and Mingyu have always fooled around, and no one really caught on, but today, Mingyu was feeling rather bold, and so not only do you now have an audience, but you also have two new joiners.   ⚔️Sleep Talking ☆♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend has a habit of talking in his sleep, and usually, it’s something very random, but tonight? He mumbled that he loved you in his sleep.  ⚔️ Stitches☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Seokmin is nothing if not the perfect boyfriend, so he decided to manscape a little to spice things up. Unfortunately, he wasn’t paying enough attention, and he’s been stitched up for a week. He’s determined not to let you in on why he’s rejecting your advances, but all it’s doing is making you think he’s not interested. Seokmin sees that you’re upset, but he just doesn’t know how to tell his girlfriend that he accidentally cut his penis and now has stitches in it. 

⚔️Better Than Me (Social Media AU) ☆☀︎♕☁︎♥ Summary: You and Seokmin have been dating for a few years, but now you're the star of a new drama with your co-star Rowoon, which makes Seokmin insecure. Seokmin tries his best to be supportive and understanding, but sometimes it's too much, and you're both unsure if your relationship can survive the jealousy and fights.

🐶 Pussy Drunk ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend loves your pussy. 

🐶 Drift Away ☆☀︎♕☁︎♥ Summary: You made the biggest mistake of your life, and now, Mingyu is trying his hardest to forget and forgive you, but how long till your infidelity rips you both apart? Besides, it’s not like you’d blame him. You hurt him. You did the one thing you promised never to do.  🐶 Exile ☆☀︎♕☁︎♥ Summary: You two were high school sweethearts, and your love story was something only found in the scripts of a shitty teenage rom-com, but he was a jock, and you were shy and quiet. It shouldn’t have worked, but somehow it did. Now, fast forward ten years, and things aren’t the same. Your lives aren’t the same; he’s stuck in the past, and you only focus on the future. Neither of you has your priorities straight, and neither realises that your present is a complete and utter mess. You won’t let him go because he’s all you’ve ever known, and he won’t let you go because you’re the only thing right in his life, but will love and high school promises keep you two together?

🐶 Posey Bee ☆☀︎☁︎ ♥  Summary: Mingyu is the new hire and the walking definition of pretty privilege. His clumsy thumbs have broken more vases than you can count, yet he brings in the most orders to your shop. It's all thanks to his handsome face, it’s annoying and unfair, and you’ve vowed that if this week he breaks another vase, you’ll feed him a cactus.

🐶 Practice Makes Perfect ☆☀︎♕ Summary: Mingyu needed some help sexually. So his Hyungs decided to ask a simple favour of you, and who are you to say no to them? Besides, who could deny them pleasure? 🐶Sharing is Caring ☆♕♥ Summary: You and Mingyu have always fooled around, and no one really caught on, but today, Mingyu was feeling rather bold, and so not only do you now have an audience, but you also have two new joiners.   🐶 Snuggly ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: It’s cold outside, and your annoyingly handsome roommate keeps leaving his very comfy leather jacket everywhere around the apartment,  and you’ve returned it to him multiple times, but this time you’re sure you’ll just keep it if he forgets it again. Except for the one time he returns to retrieve the jacket, he finds you in the most compromising position possible. 🐶 Tall Boyfie and His Tall Friend (feat. Rowoon) ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: Your boyfriend has been neglecting you for long enough, and you decide to take things into your own hands. Is it your fault that your boyfriend’s very attractive colleague is there the night you decide to do so?  🐶 The One in Red ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: You had a plan for New Year, go out and find some hot guy, you found a hot guy, but he won't stop with his crappy puns and pick-up lines, but when he looks that good, you can ignore it.  🐶 Three’s a Company ☆☀︎♕ Summary: Your best friend claims that she’s better in bed than you, and your fuck buddy Mingyu doesn’t like that, but he’s open to sharing and changing your mind as well as hers. 

🐶 Your Loss ☆♕ c.h.v | k.m.g | c.s.c | y.j.h | b.s.k Summary: Your ex-boyfriend and you broke up a few months ago, but you two remained friends, and of course, his nosy friends can’t help but pry and get as detailed as possible to find out what ended the relationship, and then, of course, offer to make only you feel better. However, they can. All while your ex-boyfriend watches.

🐶 Jealous Mingyu Texts (Fake Text) ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: The one where Mingyu gets jealous about the outfit you're wearing to an event but can't do anything about it because no one knows you both are together. So what do you do? Naturally, you tease him until he snaps. 🐶 Wonwoo’s Approach to a Threesome (Fake Text) ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: The one where Mingyu sees a nude of Wonwoo's girlfriend, and instead of getting mad, Wonwoo asks the involved parties if they want to have a threesome instead.

🐸 Sharing is Caring ☆♕♥ Summary: You and Mingyu have always fooled around, and no one really caught on, but today, Mingyu was feeling rather bold, and so not only do you now have an audience, but you also have two new joiners.   🐸 Sweetest Kiss ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: It’s Valentine’s Day, and you and your boyfriend are determined to make it the best one ever, and a little edible lingerie never hurt anyone in the process. 🐸 Zen ☆☀︎♕♥ Summary: You have muscle soreness, so your boyfriend suggests yoga. It’s hard to stay calm and focus when he looks that good though.

🍊Slide ☆♕♥ (On Hold) Summary: You are sore after a very intense night, but you’re still very horny. So your boyfriend proposes an alternate solution.  🍊Your Loss ☆♕ c.h.v | k.m.g | c.s.c | y.j.h | b.s.k Summary: Your ex-boyfriend and you broke up a few months ago, but you two remained friends, and of course, his nosy friends can’t help but pry and get as detailed as possible to find out what ended the relationship, and then, of course, offer to make only you feel better. However, they can. All while your ex-boyfriend watches.

🐢 Your Loss ☆♕ c.h.v | k.m.g | c.s.c | y.j.h | b.s.k Summary: Your ex-boyfriend and you broke up a few months ago, but you two remained friends, and of course, his nosy friends can’t help but pry and get as detailed as possible to find out what ended the relationship, and then, of course, offer to make only you feel better. However, they can. All while your ex-boyfriend watches.

🦕 Taste of Metal & You ☆☀︎♕ Summary: Your boyfriend got his lip pierced and wants to know if you can feel it when he’s laying with his head between your thighs. 🦕The Best Day ☆♕♥ Summary: It’s Valentine’s Day, and your boyfriend has everything perfectly planned. 

[belphiesgirlfriend]

Obey me! Brothers music taste headcanons

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more like ramblings than headcanons tbh but i had this stuck in my head and needed to get it out, also feel free to send requests for diff headcanons!

Cw’s: none!

Little bit satirical (i over exaggerate sometimes cuz it’s funny) but pretty in character overall i thinkk

——————————————————————————

Lucifer:

• You know this motherfucker listens to classical music and classical music only cuz he’s boring

• Okay but jokes aside i see him listening to like 30’s 40’s 50’s music especially the love songs.

• Like straight up fallout 4 soundtrack music, he’d listen to it while doing paperwork or unwinding

• He’d definitely be really prideful (no duh) about his taste in music, he’d feel all fancy and refined when he tells people

• Type of dude to be like “modern music simply can’t compare to the classics…” shut up grandpa we get it u know bach’s zodiac sign, penis size, and mothers maiden name

• Wants to be different so bad, he’d strictly listen to music from his vintage record player or some shit cause it’s the “most authentic” way to listen, fr acts like a manic pixie dream girl (he’d hit me upside the head if he heard me say that sorry luci🫶)

——————————————————————————

Mammon:

• r&b and spanish music

•but i feel like he’d like 2000s party music from all the clubbing and casinos

• def a weekend listener and like 90’s rap

• but also like i wouldn’t be surprised if he listened to some 90s rock too

• he’d listen 2 sublime or nirvana or local h (i’m projecting on the last one)

• but anyways he’d be a #1 rihanna fan he’d blast her music in his room but then deny liking her💀make it make sense!!

• also he knows her best album is loud CAUSE HE HAS TASTE!!

• also tyler the creator i get the vibe he’d love him

• kali uchis fan too

•ALSO i feel like he had a phase where he listened to juice wrld and was like “these cheating lying females….” after he got his heart broken by a witch YOU CANG TELL ME IM WRONG😭😭 it’s okay though cause he’s embarrassed by it now

• oh childish gambino too duh forgot about him

ALSO LET ME MENTION DINERO IS LITERALLY HIS SONG ITS ACTUALLY HIS

——————————————————————————

Levi:

• this one’s gonna be real fucking short IM SORRYYY

• he listens to anime openings and game soundtracks

• also vocaloid

• that’s literally all i can think of dude

• he’d be like “i don’t have time for normie music…”

• his room is literally that old caramelldansen meme from 2019/2020

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Satan:

• this one was harder for me to pinpoint

• first instinct would be classical music but it’s canon he likes ska music too so 🤷‍♀️

• i really do feel like he’d listen to all types of music, like a true jack of all traits, if he likes it he likes it so his playlist is allllll over the place

• for some reason i get a vibe he’d really like 80s music in particular though

• the song that pops into my head is who can it be now? by men at work idk why

• maybe even older music i feel like he’d like sam cooke

• OH both him and belphie would like mazzy star and fiona apple idk why but they would

——————————————————————————

Asmo:

• okay crucify me for this one but…mitski I JUSG FEEL LIKE HE WOULD

• but i also see him loving lady gaga a lot cuz he has taste

•omg he’d listen to old katy perry too

•but yea also probably lil nas x he’d have a celeb crush on him

• oh tyler the creator too with his gay ass, him and mammon both love him, they def have done a duet to see u again

• he’d be a barb probably defend nicki too😭

• and as much as it pains me to say it, he’d fucking listen to ayesha erotica and be like “this is so good!!!”, hed post a devilgram story with one of her songs and then get cancelled on twitter

• “I made a severe and continuous lapse of judgement…” and then did the same thing a week later

——————————————————————————

Beel:

• type of guy when you ask him what music he listens to he goes “idk i don’t really listen to music”

• he legitimately looks up “hype playlist” on youtube to work out and that’s the extent of it

• really can’t see him being a big music guy

• if u invited him to a concert or something he’d go though for food

•he’d give you a piggy back ride so u can see better

• tbh if u were to put on music he would not care much no matter how good/bad it is

• you could walk in on him working out and literally listening 2 cbat or some shit

• HE LITERALLY IS CBAT GUY😭 he’d be like “i always use this song when i’m working out..

——————————————————————————

Belphie:

• emo fucker

• i feel like he’d like emo/ 90s rock ( but more “rockish” than mammons 90’s rock)

• but he’d also love any more relaxing music with softer vocals

• he’d be a deftones fan I KNOW GHATS FUCKING BASIC AND UR ROLLING UR EYES BUT LISTEN

• they have the combination of 90s rock but also more soothing calming vocals, theyd literally b perfect

• and for that reason his favorite albums r koi no yokan and saturday night wrist, also their self titled,

• would call mammon a poser for his music taste “nirvana isn’t even *real* rock idiot🙄”

• but nah, also like i said in satans fiona apple and mazzy star fan

• he’d suck so bad though he’d go on twitter and be like, “if you like deftones ur a poser” (while being their number 1 fan, fucking brat) then turn off his phone and take a nap for the funny

[wannaeatramyeon]

Gun Park x Reader: this is our place (we make the rules)

Chapter 2 - Probably should read ch1 first Gun has a new neighbour. Index: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Epilogue

Good manners cost nothing.

Certaining when you barely had a few wons to your name, that was all you could afford. And your pride.

So just because your neighbour essentially said ‘leave me alone, have a nice life’, he still did you a favour. 

That you owe him for.

Love thy neighbour and all that.

.

.

Gun Park’s home is not homely by any stretch of the imagination.

All black and white and grey, nearly industrial in taste with wooden accents. Straight lines and sharp edges softened by nature’s hues.

Very few furnishings adorn his apartment, minimal and just shy of clinical. Anything that has a place is the best of the best, luxurious and with an exorbitant price tag to match.

Handcrafted bed from Sweden, which apart from Gun’s, has not experienced the same body twice.  

Imported italian coffee machine, used only with beans from Kenya. Drink of choice: 2 shots of espresso, taken as is. 

Never-used cooking appliances, still brand new and silver and top of the range. 

L-shaped sectional sofa from one of the hottest designers in South Korea, selected and praised by HNH’s own Interior Designer with words that held no interest to Gun.

An obscenely huge bathtub in the corner of a spacious bathroom and facing a breathtaking view. A shower with a rainfall head amongst other sprays and nozzles. Both having washed away a lifetime (and then some)of dirt and grime and blood.

Enough space for a personal home gym in one room (even if the building does include a gym and pool for communal use), and a walk-in wardrobe the size of most other pads in Gangnam.

He’s not much for sentiment, just a couple of more meaningful trinkets here or there. Reminders of Japan and souvenirs from his victims. 

Most surprising of all, in a lone forgotten corner, outlined against the impressive, sprawling cityscape and where the best sun spot should be, sits a plant.

Given to him by Goo Kim as a joke for housewarming, “Let’s see how well you can keep something alive”.

Gun’s first urge was to throw it back in his face. Though. The idea of keeping something living intrigued him. A little challenge.

Healthy and vibrant and green with long spiky leaves when it was thrusted into Gun’s hands. 

It didn’t hold his attention for long.

Kept alive in the early days by the cleaner, before Gun realised he hated the idea of someone touching his things and being in his space. 

Now a sad, neglected eyesore. Shrivelled and brown and hanging on for dear life. Lucky to get a few squirts of water once a month; momentary rejuvenation until it is left to wither again.

And lastly.

Hidden in the cabinet below the huge TV, regularly rotated out for the latest model, lives a few gaming consoles.

...Because Gun is still a young bachelor after all. He isn’t completely immune from the psychological thrills of video games.

.

.

Minimal as it is, and busy as Gun is - it’s still his home.

A sanctuary full of things he has collated and deemed worthy enough to be in his life that he makes sure to regularly return to. 

Today, he’s ready for a weekend of nothing. No doubt his leg will bounce and get twitchy after a few hours, but the last few weeks of being on the go with the Four Crews has taken a toll.

Not to mention the hijinks with his neighbour yesterday. Someone that looks like they don’t belong in this district, nevermind in the building.

Yet you knocked on his door. 

On Shiro Oni’s door. 

Exuding a quiet confidence even as your body betrayed your nerves. Even as two spots of pink appeared on your cheeks once you took in the full view of Gun Park.

Most fascinating of all is that you saw his eyes, treated it as an everyday occurrence, and did not hesitate or flinch.

Huh.

.

.

You ring the doorbell again.

At first, you thought this was an excellent idea. 

But now, as you wait (seriously, what is Gun doing in there), you’re feeling more and more foolish.

Tupperwares of homemade kimchi stew, and kimchi sits in the crook of your elbow. 

Because when someone has enough money to drown in, and obviously someone living in this building should have, then there’s nothing like a homemade touch.

Here he comes. 

The footsteps don’t sound irritable today. Thank the heavens. Maybe antsy, a little too quick footed to be relaxed.

The door is flung open, and your neighbour greets you. 

Ok, his footsteps didn’t sound irritable but his face certainly is.

And how does this guy have this effect on you? 

Your throat dries up as you notice his hair flopping over one eye, no longer messy after a full day of what must be work, instead likely just leftover from his bedhead. 

(Bed. Head. your horrid nasty brain repeats as you think about his BED.)

The linen shirt and pants. Chest bared, pretty collar bones on show and teasing the outline of hard pecs. 

Relaxed mode, weekend mode.

Sleeves again rolled up and highlighting the tattoos and faint veins protruding on his forearms.

Seriously, did this guy choose the tattoo placement just to highlight his muscular forearms? Fuck him, it absolutely works. 

Gun crosses them, leaning against his open door and observing you. His face, previously not bothering to hide his annoyance at being interrupted by you once again, only shows amusement. Amused to see how hard you are ogling him. It’s not new, though many don’t make it this blatantly obvious.

“Morning,” You hear your voice cracking and clear your throat. “Here.”

You hold out your tupperware boxes.

No hands receive them. They just hang there, in the air between you both.

Gun doesn’t move, continuing to look at you with a hint of a smile and an arched brow.

“It’s thanks. For yesterday.” You give the boxes a little shake. Why the hell can’t this guy just take it. 

“No.” is all he gives, retreating back and closing the door.

Your foot darts out, jamming itself into the gap just before it shuts.

“Just take it,” you try to shoulder your way in a little, "it’s for you.”

“I’ve broken people’s necks for less. Move your foot.”

“Just take it,” you repeat again, “then I don’t owe you anything. We’re even.”

Gun considers this. 

He didn’t think you owed him anything for yesterday, but you obviously did. It was a quick job in exchange for a peaceful evening, not out of the goodness of his heart.

If this right now is what it takes to get you out of his hair-

“I promise I’ll leave you alone,” comes your voice.

And out of his life forever. Fine.

Gun relents, stepping back as you stagger forward and into his domain.

You hold out the boxes, avoiding his gaze, face bright red at how much of an idiot you feel and what a fuss this has turned out to be.

He finally takes them, once again fingers grazing yours. “Thanks.”

Your eyes meet his as that singular word catches you off balance. You didn’t think it existed in his vocabulary.

“Now get out.”

Ah, that’s more like it.

[its-all-papaya]

omg so so so excited about landoscar kid fic. it'll be incredible to read no matter what direction you take it, your characterization hits!!!❤️

Ok these are just random headcanons that make me soft but (also just vibes would love to hear ur thoughts/opinions about this verse forever): 

Lando letting Emma pick out Oscar merch to wear on race weekends 

Lando & Emma become a very welcome addition to the paddock: Emma loves the cars; Oscar passing hospitality in a rush but seeing Lando happily chatting away with some McLaren ppl and it makes him both warm and prideful— Lando’s adapting so well to this new lifestyle and it blows Oscar’s mind every time they’re really making it work 🥺

Trips to Australia!!! Lando and Emma LOVE it there!

Lando’s handling the clothes shopping for the whole fam honestly😅 and the trip planning

Pre-lando Oscar could cook up like 2 nice dinners but after meeting him, he invests time into it and gets genuinely good. On non-race weeks grocery shopping with Emma is a whole thing—Oscar never knew it could be so enjoyable picking up groceries & cooking for his familyyyy

thank you for sending these so i can release them rn to vibes cleanse the dash 🙂‍↕️

emma wearing oscar merch is already in the outline and I've only outlined like 1/5 of this thing, so absolutely dw, that will be in there. she's a little confused about mclaren in general in this thing but she got the spirit.

lando and emma in the paddock also going to be part of this for sure. I took the max f inspo last night and just fucking ran with that, so f1 is not a new world for either of them now, but being part of oscar's corner of it is. And they're definitely around more races after lando and osc get together and it's definitely a dead heat between who's heart/brain will explode faster: oscar seeing lando waiting for him in hospitality & watching emma with her big headphones on in the garage during free practice, or lando watching oscar take little moments out of his work day to pay attention to them and give Emma high-fives and kiss lando's forehead before he has to run off to his next thing.

yes australia !! lando probably first meets oscar's family on a gp weekend tbh, but oscar's been itching to take them both home with him foreverrrrr bc emma's ALWAYS asking for stories about australia and begging to go see the kangaroos. and then yes, they both love it. and oscar's accent gets stronger when he's there and that's impossible for lando to deal with.

yeah the thing i didn't consider when making lando kind of a disaster is that oscar is also a mess of a different kind? and so that honestly probably makes lando feel BETTER, because lando feels self-conscious about himself as an adult almost constantly, but in comparison to oscar's four t-shirts (dried with the fkn oven, lest we forget) and general carelessness on some things, lando is like... perhaps i am sometimes a little put together after all. but osc when he's around takes on a select few of the domestic tasks lando loathes (cooking yes absolutely) and that's cool but it's mainly so nice to just have another person around. to entertain emma while lando does necessary adult things or to run grab extra shampoo from the store quick bc lando didn't realize they were out and now emma's already in the bath. having a partner? mint.

extras for youuuuu from my own early plotting and thinking:

calling/facetiming oscar before emma's bedtime on race weekends when they're not along with. esp when it's like the north american races and lando lets emma stay up an extra 45 minutes past bedtime so they can watch fp1 and then call osc to say goodnight. emma so impatient to call even though lando reminds her every time they do this that they have to wait for oscar to call them because he's at work and he'll only have a minute. but then him in his race suit still with balaclava lines and lando is like. extremely not normal about it. ever. and emma is like "you were the fastest, osc?" and oscar is like "well we were testing a new rear wing, so-" and lando's like "yeah she doesn't care babe" even though he knows oscar knows that and they're both just being shits bc they're helplessly FOND of each other. (lando stays up past his bedtime, too, to watch fp2 and oscar calls HIM to say goodnight after that as well)

i decided last night to just swap lando and max f in this universe, so max is the other mclaren driver. so then max being stupidly irritated all the time that HE'S been the one around emma since she was BORN and OSCAR won her over in like four days. after everything he's done for her, she still wants to sit in OSCAR'S lap in-between media events, smh. constant bickering between max f and oscar about whose merch emma is gonna wear and who she wants to finish ahead of the other (even though she truly can't tell them apart on track whatsoever and gets excited whenever any papaya car does anything) and who's her favorite. and she obviously drinks in all the attention and lando is just heart exploding bc how did he even end up with all of his most favorite people all in one place like what good deeds did past life him do to deserve this cosmic luck?

emma's used to daddy sleeping in, so she's good at waiting to get out of bed until it's time, but oscar gets up early and she quickly learns that when he stays the night, she can get up and follow him to the kitchen at like 7am and he won't even be upset. he'll let her sit on the counter while he scrambles eggs or whatever and talk to her about whatever she wants to hear about. premiere bonding time for them. (also then osc coming over once after a late flight home from wherever just to sleep in lando's bed bc he missed his bby and lando said it was okay. so he gets up to get water early, still sleepy, and emma comes running in to join and he's like "i need to go back to sleep, baby, sorry :(" bc he's rlly only gotten like two hours at that point. but she looks so sad... so he's like "do you wanna have a cuddle with us?" and obviously she does. so lando lifting his head all groggy and confused as oscar slides back into bed, but osc just shushes him and kisses his hair like "sh, go back to sleep, emma's here though" and then his daughter's on the bed, too, and lando's really not sure what's happening bc he's hardly awake, but em curls against his chest and oscar presses up behind him and kisses the back of his neck and like. there's literally nothing to complain about?? so sleepy lazy morning as they all snooze until like 11am.)

ANYWAY!! I'M NORMAL ABOUT THIS FIC!!

[theink-stainedfolk]

OC Facts Tag

Thank you @drchenquill for the tag, I love it.

I'll be taking my OCs from my ongoing novel Whispers of Shadow & Love. Since there are 4 main characters,it will me time consuming for me to write long paragraphs for them so I'll just make it shorter and easier to understand

Vesperine:

1. Favorite Food: Loves spicy ramen and always adds extra chili flakes.

2. Hobbies: Collects vintage items like keys, locks and other old antiques and often searching for unique pieces at flea markets.

3. Secret Talent: Can play the violin, though she rarely performs for others. Can also read and understand Eldarthian. Can speak too but never learned how to.

4. Quirks: Tends to twirl her hair when deep in thought or nervous.

5. Childhood Dream: Wanted to become a lazy bum but rich one. (She is me, I am her)

6. Biggest Fear: Fire. And her nightmares.

7. Favorite Book: "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

8. Pet Peeve: Dislikes when people interrupt her mid-sentence. (She is me, I am her)

9. Hidden Skill: Knows how to pick locks, a skill she picked up from her father.

10. Favorite Place: A sea where she is permitted to dive, where she often goes to think.

Arkyn Fontaine:

1. Favorite Food: Enjoys a well-cooked steak, preferably rare.

2. Hobbies: Enjoys playing chess and often engages in online tournaments.

3. Secret Talent: Fluent in several languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek.

4. Quirks: Has a habit of adjusting his glasses when he’s about to say something important.

5. Childhood Dream: Wanted to become a pianist

6. Biggest Fear: Has a fear of failure, stemming from high expectations placed on him.

7. Favorite Book: "1984" by George Orwell.

8. Pet Peeve: Dislikes when people are late or unprepared.

9. Hidden Skill: Excellent at navigating and reading maps, often going on spontaneous road trips.

10. Favorite Place: A quiet, secluded library where he can read undisturbed.

Cleo Harrison:

1. Favorite Food: Has a sweet tooth for chocolate chip cookies.

2. Hobbies: Enjoys painting and often gifts her artwork to friends and family.

3. Secret Talent: Can mimic a variety of bird calls perfectly.

4. Quirks: Tends to hum softly when she’s happy or content.

5. Childhood Dream: Wanted to become a famous dancer and travel the world.

6. Biggest Fear: Afraid of heights, despite her love for adventure. (She is me, I am her)

7. Favorite Book: "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen.

8. Pet Peeve: Dislikes when people don’t listen when she’s speaking. (She is me, I am her pt2)

9. Hidden Skill: Can whip up gourmet meals from random ingredients found in the kitchen.

10. Favorite Place: A cozy café where she often sketches and drinks her favorite lattes.

Caden:

1. Favorite Food: Loves pizza, especially with lots of cheese and pepperoni.

2. Hobbies: Enjoys hiking and often goes on weekend trips to explore new trails.

3. Secret Talent: Can juggle up to five objects at once.

4. Quirks: Tends to tap his foot when he’s excited or anxious.

5. Childhood Dream: Wanted to become a firefighter and help save lives.

6. Biggest Fear: Has a fear of public speaking, despite his outgoing nature.

7. Favorite Book: "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.

8. Pet Peeve: Dislikes when people chew loudly or with their mouths open.

9. Hidden Skill: Excellent at fixing things around the house, from plumbing to electronics.

10. Favorite Place: A cabin in the mountains where he can escape and relax.

I'll tag @ascotwriting @willtheweaver @agirlandherquill @finickyfelix @leahnardo-da-veggie @illarian-rambling @paeliae-occasionally @winglesswriter @the-golden-comet and this is an open tag

[cruscribbles]

okay so, there are a few brainrot ideas of a jjk × hp crossover that are currently occupying my head so i'll just dump right here before i forget (just in case i either want to actually write this myself or if someone wants to write it— please go ahead!)

for now, these are all gojo-centric because he's a little shit and i love him for it <33

[ p. s. as you can see, i am too lazy and demotivated to cook my own food /hj ]

1. gojo (ends up in the hp world and) goes to hogwarts :

a. as a student - okay, this is probably going to be a bit hard to pull off, considering the man is literally almost 30, but hear me out

i could see him in either the hp generation or the marauders generation (but mostly the former)

could be an age regression thing where he gets bombarded with a curse that propels him into the hp world and for some reason he's back to his younger self (child or teen, who knows, just as long as he's around the same age as the protagonists of that era)

or maybe an exchange student program (au where jjk sorcerers and hp wizards both coexist in the same world) so maybe when he's 15-16 he's a "spy" trying to learn things from the wizard side of things?

clashes heads with harry AND draco from time to time; harry because of their different morals and draco because he probably pokes fun at him

come to think of it, who WOULDN'T gojo beef with actually

the student teachers think is gonna fail because he looks so uncaring and aloof and then proceeds to be one of (if not) the top scorers on the board

probably bothers snape constantly in his office (and probably also gets detention from time to time for being so annoying to him)

minerva also being irritated on the outside but also heartwrench on the inside because he lowkey reminds her of the old marauders in a way

every time he comes across voldemort face-to-face, he will not hesitate to make fun of him (like he did with jogo)

gojo : haha you're such a loser. voldemort? really? that's your name? you couldn't have picked anything better? *freaking fortnite dances or some shit like that*

voldemort officially has an extra child added to his hitlist after that

b. as a teacher - some of the earlier points of him as a student also apply here, except he's obviously more mature and wise in this instance

possible mentor of harry? like i said, would bond over being the chosen ones

the teacher that is either well-loved or hated (both teachers and students alike)

always the one popping in and out of the faculty with new tea and gossip to dish out

tries to hold back a little bit on the hogwarts students because they're not his students but is still absolutely relentless to them (displaying powerful demonstrations and also teasing them a bunch)

mcgonagall and snape being his favorite staff members because they remind him of utahime and nanami (idk would be close in personality to shoko tbh, then again she has the same type of dead air energy as snape but feel free to correct me woohoo)

ironically probably beefs with albus bc they are kind of similar in a sense but idk hmmm (they could also have some tea on the weekends too)

gojo : i once had a person i loved dearly that turned out to be heavily racist towards the normal human race for something they can't help and we had a messy breakup to boot

albus :

2. gojo is reincarnated as/ends up in the body of harry potter - not gonna lie, i'm more of a fan of this idea because you could do so much with this + it would be funny as HELL

harry grows up "cocky" and "prideful" (obviously still with some trauma and kindness attached because it's gojo) and correlates to the next points :

dumbledore thinking that since the boy grew up in a muggle household that he'll learn to be humble and sweet and lo and behold, he was wrong

snape getting vivid flashbacks of james from gojo!harry because of how cocky he is (gojo doing this unintentionally by being his authentic self)

even better if gojo!harry ends up in slytherin LMAO

dumbledore also getting flashbacks but of a different person : he doesn't want another tom riddle to happen (esp if gojo!harry vocalizes his want to change the world) so he keeps a very watchful eye on him

from the earlier point : gojo!harry not missing a fucking beat trying to make fun of tom "tommy boy, voldymoldy the oldie" riddle every time they meet (and not hesitating to name drop him in almost every conversation out of spite)

okay obviously he'll have some form of self-control over it but i have a feeling he'll do it just to test him and his patience

i feel like he would be SO CLOSE to triggering the underage magic alarm (or maybe he does and that's a drama for a whole chapter)

i feel like he would absolutely have a habit of disappearing and reappearing (even without magic) and he does that alot at the dursleys (especially when he's older)

gojo realizing he could talk to snakes, and he gossips to them whenever he can

moreover, it would be interesting if he sometimes has conversations with the horcrux inside his forehead (back-to-back mockery)

gojo knows somewhat quickly maybe because the signature is likely the same as sukuna in yuji's body

a really crack idea where gojo solves (one of) the horcrux problems by just hollow purpling the darn thing (wouldn't push it pass him to do it in the battle in the ministry of magic tbh)

either never gets fooled by the quidditch cup or immediately rectifies it by being able to teleport back (a good idea for a crack fic, but maybe for a more serious one he could either be serious or really dazed/overstimulated from the previous events to even think of doing so)

3. gojo ends up in the same body as harry potter and acts as a co-resident — ngl i am warming up to this VERY idea because i know it would become HELLA chaotic

i composed the original draft of this post ages ago but what gave me this idea is this amazing jjk!/bnha crossover fic titled "a hero without limits" by anonymous567 (if you haven't already, please read it because it's absolutely AMAZING)

idk how this would happen considering the shard of voldemort in harry's head (third participant forced to watch maybe) but shhh

basically gojo popping in harry's head either from the start or a from an event that happens to him later on (like the inspo)

he also makes commentary from time to time in his head and harry's like "shut uppp" — and sometimes people look at him and go "yo what's up with him""boy who lived shenanigans maybe"

it sounds stupid but i like the idea of gojo manifesting either on harry's body like sukuna or his image and his spirit manifesting on reflective surfaces like mirrors (his friends going "WHO'S THAT" while they point at the mysterious man in the mirror)

harry's magic "retaliating" and defending him when he's near death which is just a shadowy, smokey manifestation of gojo with the brightest most piercing lights as his eyes

very curious about the chamber of secrets section bc now harry probably doesn't even have look at the darn thing ("don't worry harry, sensei's got it covered!" or smth like that idk)

harry automatically deciphering the sussiness of almost every sus character because, like i said, live gojo commentary (probably would have solved the pettigrew problem faster tbh)

any adult that was around during the marauder's era straight up being reminded of james from time to time, especially the times when gojo is in control

i can imagine gojo knowing the jig is up with the horcrux in harry's head, and maybe as part of a crack idea, "seals the soul" from time to time which is the magical equivalent of taping the webcam lens with a piece of paper

gojo and the hat duking it out with rebuttals during the sorting ceremony and harry slowly going insane because of it

commentary of the black family being similar to the zenin's in influence, attitude and power (feel free to correct me); in short, gojo noting down funny coincidences and similarities to his old world

anytime someone tries to use legillimens on harry, gojo goes "uh uh uh *wags fingers*" and promptly kicks them out, promptly leaving the caster confused (gojo being harry's built in occlumency security guard <333)

idk if i want him to still have six eyes and/or limitless when he's reincarnated as harry (because it doesn't feel like gojo without them, but also he'd be so op— then again he already is by default so why not)

i think i would keep them since they're both the core ability aspects of his character but obviously in this instance, he doesn't have the hang of six eyes yet (major sensory overload as a drawback if he doesn't cover his eyes with a blindfold or a pair of dark sunglasses) and he doesn't unlock limitless until he's a teen (maybe during the gof or ootp plotline)

either way, i'm sorry if this plotline is too ooc, and please pitch in your own ideas in the comments or if you want to correct me!!

+ a little sketch of #3 because i've grown really attached to the idea JENDJEJDJ

[cecemoflo]

Entry 8: One Percent (Chapter 5) in the Pressure Cooker

Folks! Chapter 5 of my longfic "1% | One Percent" has been COOKING y'all ✨

Don't believe me? Here's the proof 😏

Not bad eh? 😌

So far I need to do multiple rounds of proofreading + editing the text. But I'm hoping that it will be out pretty soon! I'm estimating within this weekend at maximum.

And although I take pride in being such a tease, I wouldn't leave y'all hanging that much. Here's a little sneak peek for you bunnies ^^

Oooohhh~ ain't that spicy and dicy ehhh? ✨

Stay tuned to find out who those two lovey doveys are (Or are they? 👀🫨😏)

But anywayyy~ I will go back to my cave and finish the chapter!

Until next time,

-Cece M. 🖤✨

071124

2000

[drunkonimagination]

no thoughts head empty just Tom interacting with the carstairs and Alastair interacting with the lightwoods. Tom being in awe of both sona and risa. I feel like Sona would remind him of his mum, they're both very elegant, are passionate about their homelands and are fiercely protective of their families (which has been passed on to their sons). And Risa!! She might be no-nonsense and a bit scary sometimes (like most mums) but Tom finds her hilarious and always offers to help around the house 1/2

no thoughts head empty just this ask

gideon being alastair's dad and loving him like a second son is already canon to me, so yes.

sophie and alastair sharing recipes !!😭 oh imagine if every time he spends the weekend with tom's family sophie cooks traditional persian plates to make him feel like home and engages the boys in the process. like i have this mental image of the three of them in the kitchen with alastair giving suggestions from time to time since they're following a particularly challenging recipe and sophie is all *drama tone on*: “oh thank the angel we have alastair here with us or we would have messed the whole thing up ages ago, right tommy?” and little alastair, instantly feeling his cheeks burning, is filled with this sudden and unusual rush of pride and he can't stop smiling. he's just so happy.

yeees. tom would see so much of his mum in sona and he would absolutely LOVE risa too and he definitely finds her hilarious, he just does. i can't stop thinking about tom being the only kid who laughs at risa's grumpy attitude and comments while 99% of the kids are genuinely scared. he also thinks she's extremely similar to alastair and finds it twice funnier.

[brick-a-doodle-do]

You asked for this

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30.

ORCHIDDDDD WHAT THE FUCK?? !!!!! I WILL ANSWER THESE GLADLY BUT WTFFF 😭

1 : sleeping in or getting an early start?

for weekends, sleeping in

2 : coffee or tea?

i don't really drink either but probably tea

3 : favorite breakfast food?

everything bagels with way too much butter

4 : opinion on brunch?

too fancy for me

5 : how many houseplants do you have?

personally speaking i own none (why take take of a plant if i can't take care of myself?) but my grandparents house has a lot of them that i don't know the count of,,,,

6 : favorite flower?

calendulas (did i spell that right?)

7 : things that always make you smile

interactions between ccs idk why i like them sm but like seeing crimebois orrr alliumduo interact brings such a smile to my face :D maybe it's just the ccs in general? okay people hanging out with tommy is what always makes me smile. okay tommy often makes me smile. but wil does too, and quackity. okay all the ccs make me smile :)

8 : tv show you're currently obsessed with?

unbreakable kimmy schmidt!! binging it atm and am obsessed with ittt 💕

9 : favorite smell and why

gas & those chemical induced markers. if you like them too then you know why :)

10 : your hopes/wishes for the coming week

actually i started like trying to lose weight so i'm hoping i can actually follow through with that instead of fantasizing about it like i do with everything

11 : have you ever been to any pride (activities)?

no i have not, but i'd absolutely love to!!

12 : tattoos or piercings on your wish list

for piercings i want one on my upper ear and MAYBE in my nose but i'm on the fence about that one,,,, and for tattoos i might get like a flower tattoo of a calendula or maybe a brick? lol that sounds dumb but idk. i also want another one but i'm embarrassed to say pff

13 : what helps you fall asleep?

ycgma :D i fall asleep to it every night

14 : any cleaning or organizing life hacks?

No

15 : tell a joke

why did the chicken cross the road?

to get to the other side!!!!!!

16 : i already answered this one!

17 : a book you're currently reading

guided evolution on ao3 💪

18 : what video games do you play?

uhh i don't play video games that often. if i do it's minecraft or roblox or any free games i can find on steam & that one indie website i forget the name of. i also play 2480 or whatever it's called a lot OH OH OH and i love the oregon trail i play that a looot

19 : the last thing that made you laugh out loud

a family member of mine was ordering at a fast food place and they didn't have what the drink he wanted so he said really loudly "WATER PLEASE"

20 : a skill you would like to learn

i would like to develop my writing skills a bit more and learn how to cook better cuz it seems fun

21 : what color would you like to die your hair?

hmm i like my natural color but that's basic so if i HAD to pick one it'd probably be like pink tips? think my pfp's pink,,,

22 : what was the best food you had this week?

oh my god i was on vacation this week so everything was absolutely amazing!! literally everthing i ate would be on this list

23 : a song that makes you feel poweful

idk if it makes me feel powerful but i like am i ready (to be loved) by lizzo like that's a really cool soon the tempo is rlly good and he beat drop is just 😍

24 : how was your day today?

uhh not the best tbh

lots of tears today

25 : are there any big or small decisions you have to make?

at the moment no but if choosing to commit to the weight loss thing counts then yep

26 : if you could be doing anything you like right now, what would you do?

hmm that's kinda hard. there's one thing on the top of my mind rn but that's embarrassing to say so i'll go with continuing my binge of kimmy schmidt :D

27 : what characteristics make a person wonderful?

i've answered smth like this before but honestly it's the aura they give off. if i am alone in a car with them i don't want it to be awkward and completely silent. i want to be able to talk wit the person and yk make memories? i mean it's a given considering my love language is quality time lol

like taking walks with people and enjoying it is just >>>> the best feeling i'll automatically bond with that person even if they don't feel the same way

28 : what characteristics do you like about yourself?

next question

29 : do you play an instrument?

nope but i'm tempted to learn either guitar or piano

30 : how do you feel about this weekend?

uhh saturday was pretty good but today honestly was really hard

it was a fast weekend too so i rate it like a 5.8/10

THANK YOU ORCHID FOR THE ENTIRE LIST LMAO

[monriatitans]

Ta-Da! List: Wednesday, June 5th

The image was made in Canva; check it out at the [referral] link here!

I share my “Ta-Da! List” every day so everyone gets a daily update and I have a reminder of what I’ve accomplished.

To learn more about “Ta-Da! Lists”, and other ADHD life hacks, check out @adhdjesse’s book Extra Focus: The Quick Start Guide to Adult ADHD.

Abbreviations

- MT: MonriaTitans - O&T: Opinions & Truth Blog - WGS: The Weekend Game Show - PMQ: Pride Month Quote - IG: Instagram - FB: Facebook - BMAC: Buy Me a Coffee - TDL: Ta-Da! List

Ta-Da! List

✧ throughout the day: - made emails manageable - filled out today’s TDL - WGS: the 3 scheduled PMQs posted ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the mobile phone: - WGS: shared the 3 PMQs to Hive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the bedroom setup: - WGS: shared the 3 PMQs on Bluesky - O&T: shared today’s TDL to various social media - YouTube: watched and/or listened to Jim Sterling (The Jimquisition)’s videos “Hate Raids” and “Earth’s Grindiest Heroes” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ on the office setup: - WGS: shared the 3 PMQs on Pinterest; added O&T’s IG and Threads to the WGS Carrd; deleted the FB Page; removed the IG and FB pages as connections from WordPress; replaced the WGS IG and FB links in Rumble, the WGS Linktr.ee, and the Legacy Social Media Icons Widget on the O&T blog with MT’s links - YouTube: watched and/or listened to: 1. LegalEagle’s video “Is It Legal To Ban TikTok? What Happens Next?” 2. heatherstudio’s videos “Etsy’s SECRET PROHIBITED Item List Every Seller Should Know” and “6 Strange Yet WILDLY PROFITABLE Niches on Etsy💸” 3. Jim Sterling (The Jimquisition)’s videos “Shady Sands”, “A Post-Nuclear Post-Mortem Of Fallout 76”, “A Lurid Post-Mortem Of Anthem”, “Hogwarts: A Legacy Of Hate”, “The Death Of E3 Celebration Special”, “I Was 100% Right About The Stupid Live Service Gold Rush”, “Marvels Avengers: The Disgrace That Was”, “Activision Blizzard And Industry Abuse: Burn It All Down”, and “The A.I. Tech Fad Is Just Compulsively Shady” 4. Starla Moore’s video “Etsy FINALLY has a Competitor” 5. Leeja Miller’s video “The Separation Of Church & State Is Eroding” 6. ContraPoints’ videos “Shame”, “Justice”, “Canceling”, and “‘Are Traps Gay?’” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✧ chores and miscellaneous: - Food: had coffee and chocolate chip cookies for breakfast; partner cooked chili for lunch and dinner; had chocolate chip cookies and Oreos for dessert - Chores: washed the bedspread

—

Well, these are all the updates I had for today! Thank you for reading!

May every decision you make be *in the spirit of fairness* and may the rest of your day *NOT go to $#!7*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch, YouTube, and Rumble! For more about MonriaTitans, click here!

[mood2you]

Food!

I'm a day late writing this, but that's okay. It was a pretty balanced week. Of course I kept playing Pokemon even when I wasn't listening the the Interview with The Vampire audiobook (it is a good book, GoodReads tells me I've read it 4 times)

I'm stuck at Watson right now, but I'm really only playing to get to that punk that tells you all your stats like St. Peter "you battled 1014 times. you made 0 pokeblock. you used 100 potions" Interesting stats, mouthwatering. Speaking of Pokemon stats, this video has such a good punchline

It is 24 minutes long. SmithPlaysPokemon makes secrets/obscure things RBYCSG videos which are actually secrets to me, so I'm loving that. https://www.youtube.com/@smithplayspokemon

I got that nice Starbucks drink I mentioned, and today I'm having a smoothie bowl which is very sweet because I subbed half a banana for the almond milk, if it's in a bowl I want it thicker. It has avacado and spinach, but the main ingreditent is peaches. I imagine it's very healthy. It has a little matcha powder. Avacado is not my favorite, but I recognize it as a vegan staple and luxery good. Sometimes half an avacado can cost $3 at a restaurant. Chased it with a 50 cent slice of cake for lunch.

I also made a simple chicken sandwich, just grill the chicken with cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper, and mix 1/2 lemon (juice and zest) with sourcream, then slap it all together with lettuce, tomato and FRESH chibatta bread. My friend said she would buy it in a restuarant! I love cooking because it's so objective--it's either yummy or not, but cinnamon makes it kind of artistic. It feels so good and true and pride when people tell me it's good, you really can't argue.

Using art as an outlet is more subjective

I'm doing yeehawgust! You can search it on tumblr to learn more. I'm also still working on Ozymanzous even though it's very stupid and I keep saying I should "just" finish Julia Play Ball. Very slow with Ozymanzous but I am chipping away at... the cover of the prologue which is, like everyone says of prologues, useless. But it will warm you up to see if you want to read it or NOT.

Weekend was good, hung out with family, gonna do it again. August is the time when everyone is in the same place.

I'm having fun reading nonfiction books, but I'm noticing they will make stupid generalizations about people that could never be true. "High taxes on hogs will make the Chinese peasants unwilling to work." Oh yeah? They'll just stop working? Is that the next chapter of the book or something? Oh, they didn't? Huh. I wonder if it has anything to do with what happens to people with no money?

And yes, a lot of Americans have left medicine in favor of prayer and borax, but what are their actual choices? Medicine or death. (Actually, I'm not finished with this one, and it has a chapter about bringing us back.) That's not a choice. I mean the Chinese peasants did revolt, and that has a cost (lives) which you just have to weigh against the conditions of the group. Can we please get universal healthcare, better conditions for workers, and them to actually fucking listen to their patients? I mean on simple things like not putting them on medicine they're allergic to for several days?

That's all I have time for! Oh wait, I'll put my SleepyReadathon updates in here:

If I don't post another one of these next week... yyyeah, I fell off.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 01/04/2023 (Ed Sheeran, Jimin, Paris Paloma)

Welp, you knew it was coming. Or, really, he was coming. Ed Sheeran takes the #1 from Miley Cyrus with his new single debuting at the top, “Eyes Closed”. More on that later but for now, welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, even on this busy week, we start with our notable dropouts – songs that are exiting the UK Top 75 (which is what I cover) after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week includes many of the debuts from last week, which is no surprise, including “Set Me Free Pt.2” by Jimin, but we’ll get back to him. Otherwise, we say farewell to “I Wrote a Song” by Mae Muller (it’ll be back in May), “PAINTING PICTURES” by Superstar Pride, “Weekends” by Freya Riding, “In Ha Mood” by Ice Spice, “Martin’s Sofa” by Headie One, “Pointless” by Lewis Capaldi, “Lavender Haze” by Taylor Swift, “Hide & Seek” by Stormzy and “Save Your Tears” by The Weeknd (again). There’s always one week per season or so where you can tell the hit parade is having a drastic change over the seasons, and this may be that week where we see that spring turnover – finally.

As for what’s filling in the blanks, well, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi and “Afraid to Feel” by LF SYSTEM are back seemingly at random at #65 and #72 but we also have two artists with albums impacting the chart in our returning entries, both of which we’ll talk about in detail with our batch of new songs. Firstly, “The Kind of Love We Make” by Luke Combs is back at #75, and secondly, Lana Del Rey takes “A&W” back up to #45 – neither reach new peaks, and it really would have been great to see “A&W” in the top 40, but both are great songs and I’m glad they’re back, though again, like much of this week, I’ll say more on them later. As for our notable gains, we see “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen at #66 (I imagine a lot of people will be bothered that this is a thing – not me), “Shivers” by Ed Sheeran getting residual hype at #55, “Oh Baby” by Nathan Dawe and Bru-C featuring Issey Cross and bshp at #41, “Hell n Back” by Bakar at #35 off of the debut, “Pretty Boys” by Caity Baser at #30 and finally, “REACT” by Switch Disco featuring Ella Henderson and the late Robert Miles at #26. I’m not exactly pleased about all of this, but what can you do?

Now before we get into our new entries, we can cover the top five, where we see “Die for You” by The Weeknd at #5, “People” by Libianca at #4 and “Miracle” by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding at #3. “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus has been pushed down to #2 by our ginger prophet’s debut, which we’ll cover at the end, but we’ve got a country song, a posthumous single, a K-pop track and Lana Del Rey album cuts to talk about so... joy. Let’s just get into them.

NEW ARRIVALS

#73 – “The Light” – Juice WRLD

Produced by Gezin, Hurtboy AG, ManOhManFoster and Max Lord

Even more posthumous singles from Juice feels like overkill at this point. I know the man recorded thousands of unreleased tracks but the way that the label and management feels the need to create genuine single and album rollouts has gone way beyond “feeding the fans” and into just pure exploitation territory, which is kind of sad because well, a lot of these songs aren’t even bad. This one... absolutely is, and honestly makes me mad. Juice’s vocals are drenched in reverb and echo that distance it even further from this obnoxiously programmed attempt at emo-pop, with drum mixing that sounds genuinely horrible, louder than any kind of melody that the song finds, but with too many cooks producing the track and Juice’s vocals still clearly an unfinished demo where we hear punch-ins just so he can try and find the beat, there’s not much melody to offer either. At some point they give up and put a trite trap beat under the whole song like some kind of amateur YouTube remix. I didn’t even notice initially but the more I researched, I found out that this was actually censored. I thought why of course, since none of the others had been censored, and honestly, I can’t seem to find much of a reason: they even uncensored one line about hoes being pretentious because fans complained. They reworked and censored a dead man’s art for what I can only assume are financial reasons in order to make it more accessible and radio-friendly, only for his fans – who otherwise eat up all of the posthumous garbage the label gives them (which is the label’s fault, not theirs) – to actually push back against it and force them into changing that one line and none of the others. This is an embarrassing and pathetic attempt, and the fact that it debuted so low may prove that people are sick of this grave-robbing schtick, and God, I hope so. The fact that this was originally intended to be a love song makes the label scum involved in revamping it seem even less sympathetic: I probably wouldn’t have liked the song if he was alive and fully involved in its production, but at least then it’d be a genuine track, released by someone who can consent to its release and adjust it to get to his artistic vision. Over three years after Juice’s death, that prospect is clearly no longer possible, and the flagrantly cash-grabbing label snabs to replicate the success and resonance he had with his audience is utter disrespect. The less Juice WRLD I cover from now on in this series, the better, because every time I do, it’s just a truly sad experience.

#71 – “Flip a Switch.” – RAYE

Produced by Di Genius, RAYE and Mike Sabath

I was a tad underwhelmed with My 21st Century Blues as a whole because it has most of the expected debut effort scruffiness and confusion in what it actually wishes to convey. With that said, it’s an honest album – one that kicks itself in the foot in order to be so – and has some beautiful songs... “Flip a Switch.” is not one of them. Sure, I like the harmonies in the intro, but otherwise I find it an oddly dull kiss-off about a guy who clearly didn’t want RAYE for love and just for sex, so it leads her to a similarly vengeful and careless mindset. It’s a cool enough sentiment and definitely one RAYE can deliver with both power and nuance – Hell, she did just that in “Escapism.” – but against this hybrid, mono-genre beat, anything she sings is going to sound disappointing, especially when her hypnotic harmonies are lost behind a deadpan performance from RAYE that kind of just sucks, I’m sorry. The writing’s okay, but the flailing acoustic guitars and sterile drums are not, and her lack of casuality in any of her rap flows becomes increasingly obvious with this one wherein she’s forced to rap for the whole song and she basically just loses any of her power on the mic. It just ends up sounding actually dead, which may have been the point, but without a bridge that actually, you know, sounds like a bridge, or any kind of further narrative, there’s not much of promise to be found on this mediocre production and one of RAYE’s worst performances, outside of those backing harmonies which again are great. It’s just a shame that the rest of the song really isn’t.

#70 – “Fast Car” – Luke Combs

Produced by Chip Matthews and Jonathan Singleton

Ohio singer Tracy Chapman first released “Fast Car” in 1988, and it became a top five single here in the UK, peaking at #5 in its original run and since kind of becoming a beloved classic. It reached a new peak of #4 in 2011 and for some reason became victim of several terrible tropical house remixes, with Jonas Blue’s version featuring Dakota out-peaking the original at #2. Now my favourite rendition of “Fast Car” will always be how it was sampled in the rap classic “Sometimes I Rhyme Slow” by Nice & Smooth, but the original is a pretty undisputed song so I was interested to hear how the UK’s favourite country star (not exactly the highest bar) would tackle it. As is, Chapman’s “Fast Car” is a beautiful folk-pop track about the cycle of life, starting with escapism: chasing their dreams with their partner and just driving away is a necessity with the tragic background, yet that backstory ends up informing how her partner ends up acting, just like her father, and Chapman takes a stand against it using the exact same motto they used to get together in the first place: “leave tonight, or live and die this way”. It turns out that it isn’t what it seems, and it’s a bittersweet song, sure, but there’s satisfaction in how much confidence Chapman has gained since, and still finds a lot of time to reminisce on the earlier escapism of that relationship. Does Luke Combs do it justice? Well, it’s hard to say for me; he does do it more justice than Jonas Blue but that’s a given. I do love his delivery as always, as he just has a BIG voice, giving more power – alongside the more conventional, streamlined country production – to the narrative and really amplifying the drama. He doesn’t change the narrative much either, even still calling himself a “checkout girl” in the verse, which I think is a great choice. It feels more like he’s elevating another voice than really lifting his own... which honestly works in this context. The album’s called Gettin’ Old – part of that is understanding other peoples’ stories and integrating what you learn from them into how you live your own life. If “Fast Car” is your choice to cover in order to express that, I’d say they’re some pretty damn good lessons to learn. It’s a great song, really difficult to mess up especially in this acoustic sound. 

#68 – “Candy Necklace” – Lana Del Rey featuring Jon Batiste

Produced by Zach Dawes, Lana Del Rey, Nick Waterhouse and Ian Doerr

No, I didn’t listen to that new Lana Del Rey album. Who do you think I am, someone who listens to Lana Del Rey albums? I barely have the time to read her album and song titles in full. I’m also not largely a fan of Lana, so having two tracks to cover here is not exactly exciting, but they do both have features so maybe it won’t be too bad – and hey, I loved “A&W”, so this could be good? I’d introduce Jon Batiste but I mean, he won Album of the Year in 2022 without anyone knowing who the Hell he is, so I think he’ll be fine. This is a song about young love, about Lana’s brain shutting off when she’s with this restless guy and all his innocent little candy necklaces, though you wouldn’t know it based off of the whispery vocals and intense pianos that eventually have credence given to them by the second verse, where for whatever reason, this relationship is bringing her down... with a pretty cheesy implementation of an A Tribe Called Quest reference before the chorus continues basically as if that verse didn’t happen. Now Lana is an albums artist; I fully expect that context is required and provided by the album, and this fits into a larger narrative, but considering how minimal the song is outside of the manic piano solo, I don’t get a lot from this song as it stands on its own, especially since Batiste could really have played off Lana for the whole song to give more detail and only ever shows up at the end for a final mantra. It just ends up kind of disappointing by the end, which is a shame because there’s something more to tassle with here.

#48 – “Paris, Texas” – Lana Del Rey featuring SYML

Produced by Jack Antonoff and Lana Del Rey

Okay, well, I will introduce SYML, since I had to look up who this was myself, and it’s the stage name for Seattle musician Brian Fennell, who does not provide vocals and is rather just sampled for the instrumental, though it fits very well into the sprinkling piano sound of the other Lana album cut we covered. I like how she specifies she is going to Americanised, diluted versions of these important European cities, it adds some cohesiveness and depth to the meandering track that absolutely makes use of that meander: it’s about moving on, even if it’s not onto anything all that new or special. If you’re no longer enveloped in that scenery, maybe it’s just time to go, and with her frail falsetto floating over acoustic guitars, it’s a pretty breezy track that exemplifies that feeling of not really being “home” in one place but still having the constant mindset of having to move around and venture into new place, only for the outro to kind of confirm the fears of this moving around all being a tad pointless. Surely, when you know you’re right at home, you will be, right? The framing can definitely be interpreted as about a relationship (or more than one), but I prefer the idea of it just being about uncertainty and not knowing where you can actually feel safe. It’s something that resonates with me particularly, not because I moved around a lot but because there’s no place that actually feels like home for me... except music. Okay, let’s not get too sappy on this, we’re only at #48 and I already put way too much emotional depth into two other new entries so far. It’s an excellent song, and I’ll leave it at that. The original SYML instrumental isn’t half bad either, but the Lana version adds a lot more depth.

#38 – “Fly Girl” – FLO featuring Missy Elliott

Produced by MNEK, LiTek and WhYJay

I really wanted to like this. The original “Work It” is undeniable and a song that hit #6 here in the UK in 2002, though I’m surprised it never reached any higher. This new song with promising girl group FLO is heavily based on that 2000s banger and... it’s just a mess. The first verse mentions a checklist and that’s absolutely what it is: does it have a slick R&B acoustic guitar line? Yes. Does it have an overpowering hip hop rhythm section with hard bass? Yes. Does it have good enough harmonies with lyrics about being fly, sexy and independent? Yes. Does it interest me? Well, kind of, but not for the right reasons – it seems like it’s checking all of the boxes, but the guitars sound like MIDIs, the “Work It” sample takes the reversed section and makes it sound oddly eerie, and Missy’s ad-libs throughout have way more energy than FLO do. I can’t really tell the difference between the girls yet – it took me a couple years for Little Mix even – and they do sound good together but the strings and bass just kind of protrude in a way that has less groove or nuance and instead just sounds kind of funny. That’s before we get to the trap breakdown which gives up on itself as soon as it kicks in, and the same goes in general for the warped bass in that second verse, or the build-up in the pre-chorus that anticlimactically stops bothering for the chorus. There is an uncharacteristically gritty beat switch that completely messes the song’s momentum in order for a mediocre Missy Elliott verse, even if she has some great lines and still as much effortless swag as she ever had. The problem is that she doesn’t have much room, with very little time and a lot of interruptions from FLO. The final chorus is genuinely so overwhelming I have nothing to say about it, and alongside the chorus with the staccato, Auto-Tuned riffing, random spoken word is that same interjected “Work It” sample which just comes in with no sense of sequencing. It’s bizarre, and only kind of in a fun way. Honestly, I’m just kind of glad there is a song this obviously messy and grandiose, hyper-focused on being as all over the place as possible, in the top 40 because if there’s anything about the 2000s I miss, it’s the guilty pleasure.

#29 – “labour” – Paris Paloma

Produced by Justin Glasco

Okay, I’ll bite: who the Hell is Paris Paloma? Well, they are a folksy pop singer with this being their breakout hit, and through some clunky, kind of old-fashioned writing, in not a dissimilar way to Hozier last week, condemns the patriarchy and misogyny, although Paloma is much more personal, focusing on a betrayal in what could be seen as a relationship but also the wider world that promises opportunity but really makes you work for it, with the elite playing God around you. It’s a good lyrical and thematic concept, but I don’t really like the song: Paloma is not an interesting or unique voice in the indie pop scene, and whilst there is some grit to the darker folk touches here that feel almost gothic, honestly, the chorus is pretty underwhelming. With some more electric guitar and less focus on the muddy, mono-genre-sounding bass and stomp-rock drums, I think I’d like this quite a bit, and be more able to get past the clunky lyrics that I think at least prove a point. In fact, the semi-sincere apologies and scathing attacks on this guy alongside a pretty smoky instrumental makes her sound kind of badass... but not enough, especially not if Justin Glasco’s going to make her sing over 2012-era Imagine Dragons. This is a good song just waiting to come out and prove itself, but the production holds it back – regardless, I’m actually interested to hear more from Paris Paloma if this brand of Tumblr folk pop is going to make a resurgence, just out of curiosity if anything.

#8 – “Like Crazy” – Jimin

Produced by Pdogg and GHSTLOOP

I knew there was hype behind Jimin and his solo debut, FACE, but I was surprised that this album-release single is out-peaking the debut... until I realised how many God damn versions he released. Whilst I try and appreciate all of the K-pop I hear, and often end up disappointed, I’m not afraid to say that this is just bad. It’s not as comical as “Set Me Free Pt.2”, sure, but the original Korean standard version – which I’m listening to as I write this – has these cheap acoustic guitars drowned in a lot of reverb and muddy bass alongside the vocal samples. I figured it’d be an alternative R&B track, especially considering the tacky sample of a 2011 romcom starring Jennifer Lawrence (really, guys?), but it turns into a boring 80s synthpop pastiche in no time, because why be interesting when you can be anything else but? The synths are either flailing or piercing, never floating or really finding any solid footing in the mix, especially once the cheap buzzing comes in post-chorus, only to completely render itself irrelevant soon afterwards. Jimin’s voice continues to sour on me with his nasal nothingness crooning over an already boring track. It’s honestly sad that this is the route Jimin’s going to get a hit; I know sales got it this far but the existence of an English version (though some of the original is also English) and several dance remixes makes this a clear push to the international market in just the laziest way possible. The English translation proves the lyrics as awkwardly generic, and then we have the remixes that feel like the cheapest, most surface-level renditions of the respective genres of deep house and UK garage possible. The deep house remix has these annoying and unfitting festival claps, and ends up becoming your typical house-pop nonsense. The UK garage remix starts with a freaking trap beat, so I didn’t bother listening to it in full – yes, it does eventually become UK garage, but I guess he just had to knock on another genre in there. I honestly can’t tell that the fact Jimin and co wrote a song that works perfectly fine in all of these genres but is never actually good in any of them is impressive or just proof that the cynical pop establishment is studying the vaccine that prevents its pop singers from ever being contaminated with any unique personality or defining sound. This is garbage, I’m sorry, BTS fans, but this is not how I, if I were a fan, would want my favourite boys to move past the group and their regional fanbase, because this is a gaping void of a pop song.

#1 – “Eyes Closed” – Ed Sheeran

Produced by Aaron Dessner, Fred again.., Max Martin and Shellback

So, Ed’s back, and thanks to great sales, he of course hits the top. It’s his 14th time here, how could you be surprised at this point? This is the lead from his upcoming album, - (Subtract), which promises a more personal and alternative style, probably courtesy of production from The National member Aaron Dessner, though it’s interesting to see Max Martin still here alongside Ed’s flagship co-producer Fred, who appears once again, as his name prophesied. Recently, I’ve been on kind of an Ed Sheeran defence streak, or at least for the past album cycle or so... so I ended up kind of excited for this, and were my hopes reached or hell, even surpassed? Well, you can tell it’s a mixture of Dessner’s folk rock and the streamlined pop of Max Martin considering how the acoustic pluck sticks out like a sore thumb amongst a sterile kick drum in that first chambering chorus. Ed sounds frail when dedicating each song and dance to the loved ones he lost, and for a song with a chorus about dancing with his eyes closed, it’s really not danceable. It’s a rhythm more appropriate for the third line in the chorus, “time is moving so slow”, and once the minimalism succumbs to a vaguely danceable rhythm with the tropical guitars back in the mix for the post-chorus, it becomes increasingly obvious how the emptiness is absolutely the point. That second verse about his delusion just wanting him to believe his room isn’t empty hits really hard, and I get this vision of Ed alone in a bar just kind of moving along – not dancing, just nodding his head and taking another drink. I’d like a bit more lyrical detail maybe, and whilst the production fits, it’s not exactly always to my taste, but as a concept, especially lyrically and thematically, it’s really well executed. The mixing does do it some justice too with how much echo there is and I can’t really fault a song with the perfectly melodramatic pop song line, “I guess I could just pretend the colours are more than blue”. It’s also decidedly not lead single material so if that’s all he has for radio, I’m excited to hear what Ed was cooking up with Dessner for the album cuts. For now, this is pretty solid, but I’m aching to hear where this is going.

Conclusion

I think it’s pretty obvious that whoever the Hell is managing Juice WRLD’s back catalogue gets Worst of the Week for “The Light”, and I can’t blame him for any of it. Please, let the guy rest. The Dishonourable Mention goes to “Like Crazy” by Jimin, though again, most of the blame for that doesn’t catch Jimin himself, not because he’s dead because I damn sure hope he’s not but because he’s one cog in a pretty hopeless machine, and it’s definitely not unique to K-pop. It just turns out that we didn’t get much of that this week, though you definitely could read “Eyes Closed” that way, even if I can’t because of how the lyrics resonate with me. As for the best, it’s honestly pretty easy: Best of the Week goes to “Paris, Texas” by Lana Del Rey featuring SMYL for, you know, making me cry, but Luke Combs easily snags the Honourable Mention for his cover of “Fast Car” and would on a good day maybe end up further than Lana though those two songs are just phenomenal. Maybe we’ll get a bit of a slow down next week, but who knows with these charts? Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you then for whatever’s on the horizon! Right now, though... God, I have a headache from listening to five versions of that bloody Jimin song.