#pro sakura lee

[martialartslover7]

Sakura VS Sasuke (Kage Summit Arc - Rewrite)

Alright, I cannot hide this anymore. I HAVE to show this. Because I was so freaking annoyed with how the writing of Naruto Shippuden took a serious nosedive after the Pain arc (literally, the only big positive I can name, is Sasuke FINALLY killing that son of a bitch, Danzo, the guy just had it coming with his disgusting anti-Uchiha sentiment, abusing their power for his own aspirations), especially how the Five Kage Summit arc got concluded, with all of Sakura's sacrifices, once again, ultimately leading to yet another failure of hers, which, for some of her supposed IQ level, is just disgraceful (and mind you, I am not blaming Sakura, I am blaming Kishimoto for being a living laughingstock when it comes to writing females, I repeat myself, but this shit seriously gets on my nerves here, because the fandom is just as illiterate, as he is in writing any character with a vagina, on top of being a toxic cesspool too). You can dislike Sakura all you want, but it doesn't change the fact, she is part of the main cast, yet during this arc, where she could have done SOMETHING, she only ended up being a liability, yet again. All that training, all this yearning and devotion, all the sacrifices she made to get to this point to try and face Sasuke on her own terms, and she only ends up hitting a brickwall, as always. As if, all her attributes mean absolutely nothing, and she only exists for Naruto, or anyone else to save her, even in her best form. Yeah, no.

FUCK. EVERY. SINGLE PART. ABOUT ALL THIS.

And well, with all this in mind, I decided to rewrite the entire endgame portion of this arc, down to the root of it. Instead of Sakura hesitating, you will NOT be seeing this with me, the girls in Naruto are all queens, and deserve to be more than just the labels that Kishimoto put on them. She won't kill Sasuke, but she will beat the ever-living crap out of him. He is injured, blinded, exhausted and drained of almost all chakra. It would be STUPID to not see the chance, and get all in. Maximum effort.

And I was actually inspired to write this story, thanks to another dedicated Sakura fan on Twitter, who made this lengthy post, showcasing their efforts to rewrite that portion of the Kage Summit arc, as well. Go and check them out, this story wouldn't have been possible without them. In fact, I took a few notes from it, to write the fight choreography. You will notice, once I show you.

Side-note: And unlike what the canon story did, I will NOT go this route with the cast, Kakashi and the other Jonin will slowly catch on to the fact that, Danzo, and the Konoha elders, had always been the true evil, this whole time. And the assault on the Leaf village, along with the fact that, Naruto's arrival was uncomfortably delayed, all can be traced back to the elders, and mind you, for those who have read my "The Hero, The Blind & The Martyr" story (click the title to immediately get there, to get back up to speed, especially in the final portion), as a follow-up of the rewrite, Nagato had dropped a hint for them to take seriously. That there is a traitor among them, and he wasn't talking about Sasuke. So yes, once the war is over, do not expect Kakashi to play bootlicker to these assholes. And Sasuke WILL be getting the peace and pardoning he, and the rest of his family and clan, so dearly deserve. And Sakura is not blind to it either, anymore.

Especially not Neji, Shikamaru and Kiba, whose families unveil more evidence of what the elders had done, behind the scenes. Yes, another link, connecting to this story, and that is this one:

"Weird Wednesday Headcanon: Outside of Team 7, Neji, Shikamaru and Kiba sympathize the most with Sasuke's fall from grace after the Five Kage Summit"

And now, time for the main event, here is the link:

Sakura VS Sasuke (Kage Summit Arc - Rewrite) - AO3

PEACE.

[luna-blood]

I was debating on YouTube about Sasuke but YouTube deletes comments, especially those that have a link. It was also difficult for me to search for the publications. So I gave myself the task of collecting posts from all Sasuke fans and neutral critics of the work 'Naruto' that talk about Sasuke and his relationship with the other Naruto characters. I have also included my contributions, such as questions to other users and post responses. I hope this post helps you when you need support when you are debating in favor of Sasuke. Without anything else to say, I leave you the links:

Positive qualities of Sasuke.

Sasuke's chakra is extremely powerful, voluminous, and denser than Senjutsu chakra!

It is false that Bee could have killed Sasuke any time he wanted.

¡Sasuke has been shown to nullify mortal wounds with Raiton!

Sasuke is literally the first person to survive the Raikage's Liger Bomb.

All Sasuke received from Raikage was a small lip bleed, while Raikage lost an arm and another Kage, Gaara, had to intervene to save his leg and his life.

Orochimaru's "physical condition" has nothing to do with his ritual and Sasuke's victory.

Analysis Sasuke vs Deidara.

Sasuke killed Danzo; he did not commit suicide.

Are Itachi and Kakashi really prodigies at the level their fans believe them to be? No.

The only reason Naruto managed to hurt Kaguya was because Sasuke forced her to change dimensions more than once and she herself had changed dimensions about four times in total.

Because Sasuke haters say that Haku is simply more tragic and a better person than Sasuke; and Batman too!

What is it about Sasuke that provokes people so much, compared to all the other fictional characters (in and out of Naruto) who have done bad things? Gaara was killing people for fun in part 1, but no one ever complains about him not being punished. Zuko from ATLA burned down a village of civilians, sent a hitman after Team Avatar, and was just lucky that no civilian was injured/killed, but everyone adores him. But Sasuke is unredeemable for threatening to destroy the village?

A back and forth on why Sasuke is a much better realized character, with thematic and narrative depth, compared to Kurapika and Zuko.

Sasuke is the imperfect victim unlike the perfect victims of ATLA and Full Metal Alchemist.

Sasuke's character is too good for the Naruto universe.

Are people upset that Sasuke was going to let the Shinobi Alliance perish?

Sasuke as a feminist icon.

Sakura is a female incel.

Sakura is a narcissistic.

Sakura inserted herself because she wanted validations from people who were out of her league, that's why. She is perfect for self-insert.

The mere idea of turning over an entire manga in your head in which Sasuke hides a raging boner (at age 12) for Sakura is... repulsive. Don't you have anything better to do?

Sasuke never kissed Sakura.

The blow on the forehead is not the maximum expression of love.

Naruto Gaiden is a fucking masterpiece! It proves that Sasuke doesn't love Sakura.

Sasuke retsuden is not canon.

Sasuke retsuden is not canon, Jun Esaka herself said it and if you are a fan of Sasuke it is normal that you hate Sakura because Sasuke is unhappy with her.

Sasuke still considers Sakura inferior.

Sasuke didn't push Sakura away because of the curse of hate.

Sasuke rejected Sakura, Ino and Karin, he didn't push them away because he was afraid.

Sasuke is not in love with Karin and did not have sex in part 2 with Karin.

Why Karin's fans say she had sex with Sasuke in part 2.

What does Kakashi know about the genocide and the physical and mental torture that would lead the child victim to a fatal coma, at the hands of a family member?

Naruto is a narcissistic.

Why Naruto is the worst character.

How can anyone read the two chapter panels showing two very different worlds the characters occupy and be surprised by the way it ended? They were not going to reconcile since the world where Sasuke exists is the antithesis of the world where his former team resides.

Lee was never "good” at Taijutsu, let alone being a genius at it. The series' main theme, revolves around bonds. When the manga began, Naruto let loose Kurama (unintentionally) against Haku, breaking all Ice Mirrors that ... no Jutsu could break; and that, happened way back in the Waves Arc. How does that associate "hard-work" with Naruto's character, upon whom many poor souls project their misfortunes to feel vindicated, when two geniuses (Sasuke and Kakashi) in the near-vicinity failed? Naruto powered through this via nothing but brute force; and that isn't a precursor to hard-work. That's the exact opposite. With the beginning of the next Arc, the "if we work hard, we could beat all odds, too" trope lovers got their kicks from Sasuke's humiliation at Lee's hands (or gates?); but then they conveniently forget that Lee himself stated that what Sasuke accomplished was literally impossible for someone like him (he even emphasized on this argument). Gai even went so far as to state that even with the Sharingan's power, Sasuke should never have been able to do what he did (he literally invented his own Taijutsu maneuver from Lee's in a single day; if that's not prodigious, I don't know what is); and Gai, last I checked, is an authority on the subject of Taijutsu, not you—yes, you! Sasuke mastered Kimimaro's CS in under two hours whilst Lee survived simply because Kimimaro was dying and he literally died whilst delivering a death-blow to Gaara and Lee; so thematically, narratively, and metaphorically, Sasuke matched an adversary against whom both Gaara and Lee lost? That and Lee was outshined by Sasuke twice in a row, going so far as to undermine Lee in his own life endeavors that involved years of sweat and tears?

Shikamaru's revenge is meaningless unlike Sasuke's.

People who support Nagato but vilify Sasuke sound a lot more idiotic than they think.

In defense of Fugaku.

How does Sasuke's revolution develop?

Why didn't the narrative validate Sasuke's radical change from Konoha's Will of Fire to the Revolution?

Itachi massacred the clan out of conscience.

The difference between Kushina and Itachi is not that big.

The policies of Tobirama Senju and the Uchiha genocide.

At what point will people stop demanding Sasuke?

Tsunade was at the forefront of the Second Shinobi World War that massacred the people of Nagato, plundered their land's resources, and continued to use the land as a battlefield resulting in mass deaths, poverty, and suffering. A war that Konoha started.

Why do so many people still blame Sasuke for Sasuke's past?

Uchihas do not have mental illnesses.

Sasuke vs Readers without empathy.

Kishimoto canon vs Studio Pierrot fanservice.

The brilliant change of perspective and theme between Hebi and Taka Sasuke; and that there is no writing defect in the moment in which Sasuke stabs Karin to reach Danzō.

Tobirama never accepted the Uchiha as true allies like Hashirama did, never trusting them, something he admitted so openly that his brother had to warn him "not to continue pursuing the Uchiha." And the Uchiha weren't planning to kill innocent people, they were planning to take over the government itself.

Kishimoto is anti sasusaku and anti naruhina.

Kishimoto never wanted to write Boruto.

The real Sasuke fans.

Sasuke winking at Sakura was never happened in the manga, it was a translation error.

Sasuke didn't stalk Sakura.

[kakashiswilloffire]

rereading naruto. sakura should have been in love with rock lee after the fight in the forest during the chunin exams. he swoops in, says "i promised when we met... to protect you... until death do us part!", and then rips an entire tree root out of the ground. sasuke could never

[the-real-sasuke-uchiha]

During all my life, people came at me with full intent to kill me or seriously hurt me for the most stupid reasons. Because they wanted to prove themselves. Because they were insane and believed their purpose in life was to be a mass murderer. To bring me back "home" (aka the place that murdered my family). Based on false accusations. Because I was "evil". Or just because.

But somehow all those are heroes that get everyone's sympathy and I am the villain of the "curse of hatred".

[holly-natnicole]

It woulda been so awesome if Sakura had fought Rokku in the Chūnin Selection Exams she participated in during the timeskip between Parts I & II!! 14-year-old Sakura would be advanced at taijutsu, but not quite as awesome as in Part II yet; which would mean 15-year-old Rokku still is better than her at it. But she does know chakra-enhanced strength thus hitting harder & thanks to Tsunade's evasion lessons improved her speed, so Sakura at least would give Rokku a good battle and – even if she loses (Sakura is smart, so she might figure out a brilliant strategy that lets her win) – she'd do better against him than her tie with Ino when the girls were 13 years old. And, after the fight scene, they could hang out as friends (maybe Rokku gets over his crush on Sakura quickly in the months after they 1st met during canon when Sakura was age 12-13 and Rokku age 13-14) and talk to each other 'bout how both of them have grown as ninja through working hard (others do too, but these 2 have no ninja clan to give 'em advice and/or a kekkei genkai; they only have Tsunade & Shizune and Gai respectively).

Maybe, a year later, Rokku calls out Sakura for her self-sacrificial tendencies coz his canon character growth included learning that he shouldn't harm himself for the sake of proving his worth to make his insecurity shut up (Sakura is insecure in herself, fearing her skills won't ever be good enough). And then another year later she after the 4th Ninja World War apologises to him, coz she had ignored his advice from after her & Chiyo's fight with Sasori to rush recklessly towards Madara for the sake of providing a distraction so that Naruto & Sasuke could attack him. Then they hug, happy the other survived the war.

...I just think they coulda been good friends simply with a couple more scenes added to the manga. It woulda been nice to see!!

[sasusaku3]

[crownedhades]

naruto wise ,, the only pairs i really ship is madara x hashirama anddd sakura x lee and thats about it

everyone else i subconsciously headcanon to be aroace because i get too distracted by found-family dynamics and wholesome friendships.

naruto is my comfort show.

[sakuraharuno156]

Naruto wasn't born great, though. At the beginning of the series he was a loser who couldn't even create a regular clone. He had to learn to control the power within him, and we have examples of people who failed to be jinchuurikis, who had a monster sealed inside them that they were unable to control.

Not to mention calling Sakura 'literally the best written character in Naruto' is a slap in the face to characters like Rock Lee. Sakura always had expert level chakra control. Lee had absolutely nothing going for him from the start and persevered through nothing but hard work and willpower.

By your own definitions, Rock Lee is the best written character in Naruto.

I'll divide it into 3 separate points:

1) Naruto as a loser.

Naruto was a loser, but that doesn't change the fact that he was born great and to be great. He lacked the training and was socially unprepared because of his family situation, but he was still born great.

I'll break this down for you.

Uzumaki chakra is one of the best and the amount of it in Uzumakis was CRAZY, their sealing abilities were feared by nations.

Not to mention Narutos mother that especially HAD AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL CHAKRA.

And sure, without training it would be nothing, but without the ability to use it, it will still be sh*t.

If Rock Lee had that amount of chakra it wouldn't change his abilities one bit, even tho he trained like noone else.

Also, Naruto is an incredible Jinchuuriki - sure, but let's not forget that he was born to be one. He is an Uzumaki.

Also also, he was able to access Kuramas chakra not because of him personally, but THANKS TO A SEAL THAT WAS PERFORMED BY HIS FATHER AND MADE BY UZUMAKIS AND WAS DESIGNED TO HELP HIM.

Then Naruto accessed Kuramas chakra by befriending him - yes of course, BUT DONT FORGET how he got there. Thanks to his own mother.

Naruto was about to lose himself to the dark side, but Kushina saved him.

Then, he trained really hard to get rasengan - sure, but don't forget that he was able to get to this so fast was ONLY BECAUSE OF KURAMA THAT GAVE HIM THE STAMINA AND HEALING FACTOR.

Time and time again we see him getting heald by Kurama and his abilities to learn jutsus as fast are there BECAUSE OF KURAMA THAT GIVES HIM THE STAMINA AND HEALING FACTOR.

And then, he trained really hard to get Rasenshuriken - sure, but don't forget that he GOT THERE SO FAST ONLY BECAUSE OF UZUMAKI/KURAMAS CHAKRA.

Kakashi said that this training is only possible for Naruto. The training took him DAYS and his progress was thousands times faster, you can do the math here, how much of CONTINUOUS TRAINING would it take him without it. It allowed him to make so many clones simultaneously, and then again he could use it only because of sage mode and then Kurama.

But he trained to get sage mode really hard and it was even harder for him because of Kurama - sure, but he got there because of Jiraya, not because of himself. Then again, why did Jiraya train him? Because he was stubborn, BUT ALSO BECAUSE JIRAYA WAS HIS GOD DAMN GODFATHER.

So I'm not denying that Naruto worked hard, but look at this objectively:

He was born an Uzumaki (with incredible amount of chakra) so he was by nature a great Jinchuriki.

Then he got Kurama (additional crazy amount of chakra + stamina + fast healing/recovering).

Then he's Godfather trained him (sage mode/summoning/rasengan).

Then his training was possible thanks to:

crazy amount of chakra

healing/stamina

great jutsus

an incredible ninja who taught him those jutsus.

So was he a loser? Yes. Was he born to be great BY DEFAULT? ALSO YES.

Do you understand now?

2) Character development =/= training hard.

Is that a factor? Yes, but it's not a synonym.

I love Rock Lee, he is great and he worked hard, but he is lacking in character development. We met him like he is in Shippuuden. His personality is the exact same.

IF we met him before his green suit and saw him develop after some time, like he became Rock Lee (that we know) in Shippuuden - maybe, but we only got a few flashbacks of him "developing". He was introduced and ended as THE SAME PERSON.

And yes, i respect him for his development during that one year, sure, BUT IT TOOK HIM ONE YEAR AND WE DIDN'T SEE IT. He graduated at 12yo and at 13yo he was a little copy of Guy that we all know and love.

Do you see the difference?

We met Lee as a guy who at 13 yo KICKED UCHIHAS ASS.

We met Sakura as a weak crybaby.

We met Lee as that nice and kind person.

We met Sakura as that little B*TCH (and I say that with all the love i have for her)

We met Lee with great goals of proving everyone he CAN BE GREAT and an incredible ninja even with all of his handicaps.

We met Sakura as a girl who... wants to get with a boy.

So when we met them IT'S SAFE TO SAY SAKURA WAS LACKING A LOT.

But then Sakura got better, and Lee got... stagnant.

Sakura GOT crazy strong, and Lee was STILL strong.

Sakura BECAME nice and caring, and Lee STILL was.

Sakura BECAME useful, and Lee was STILL useful.

Sakura BECAME independent, and her goals (that she fulfilled) were noble. She wanted to be useful, to help people and to stand with god-like ninjas like Naruto and Sasuke and fight with them hand in hand.

What about Lee? Well he... wants to be a good ninja - STILL.

Sakura BECAME important to the village/the story and Lee faded out.

Im aware that he was meant to do that, he was a secondary character and she is a heroine, but when you compare those two AS WE KNOW THEM - Sakuras development is just far better.

We met Sakura as noone and we met Lee as a genius of hard work that kicked a Uchihas ass.

I do respect Lee and I do see him as a great example of that definition as well, but not as prominent and not as important AS SAKURA BECAME.

3) "A noone who became important"

If you read my post you would know the definition I used "A NOONE WHO BECAME IMPORTANT", and as much as I love Lee - he is not important. In og Naruto - sure, but further into the story he's just... not.

In Shippuuden he didn't achieve anything special, he was still nice, but far less important, then he trained the su*cide squad and that's great, but... they didn't do ANYTHING. Then he worked during chunnin exams and thats great, but so did that guy, and we all know how important he is 🤷‍♀️.

Lee is a junin and that's great, but come on, we have known that he will be one since we met him, for Sakura it was INCREDIBLE.

Lee did train harder, but his character development was nonexistent (apart from a few flashbacks that we got) and his relevance to the world or the story ended in og Naruto and then... stopped.

Do you understand now? 🤷‍♀️

I'm stating it, because that's what was shown in manga but I want to say again - I love Lee, he is great and an another great example of that quote (just not that great).

He is (and forever will be) one of my favorites ❤️

[ginjaanimeloversstuff]

We were robbed of seeing Hinata training boruto in the anime, like how the other mother's training their kids, it would be cool to see boruto to use more Hyuga techniques.

Sp not only have beef with sakura but hinata as well...sure they some times give them a cool moment and let them shine, but soon after, they crush that moment and make them look bad.

We Hinata don't seem much so, having an opportunity to see her doing other than housework, or something out of context were anti make fun of her some reason was a bad mood.

But it would be cool to see some Tenten action, or something to make her shine.

Tenten,Hinata,Ino,Sakura,Kiba,Shino,Sai,Choji,

Lee,Karin, suigetsu, juugo, Yamato, Kakashi,Juugo, Kurenia.

, felt like they were meant to be a big deal in the og, or in shippuden, they all had screen time more than other, boruto series, they basically nonexistent, it's like there development went down the drain, I know boruto is about the next generation, but having them showing up, showings their years of training didn't go to waist, or how, they are stronger than they look...

Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Naruto have more screen time in Boruto than the other og main cast. but,

Here is a qustion, If Neji didn't die would he have more screen time or none

[gluion]

[part one] the perfect pair ➵ “ew, is that sunwoo over there? 저리 꺼져.”

esports player!kim sunwoo x esports player!reader

being a woman in the esports league is hard, but dealing with cocky kim sunwoo is unmatched. with the valorant champions tour about to commence, you two are forced to team up to retrieve the trophy. what will be tested—team morale or your patience around sunwoo?

chapter genre/warnings ➵ enemies to lovers, afab reader (they/them pronouns), slow burn, slight angst, crack, sexual tension, misogynistic & sexist remarks and behaviors, sunwoo is such an annoying teammate... retired ow player now val player…, rush gets introduced YIPPEE, sunwoo gets jealous...?, bets are made, a lot of gamer lingo (check the guide & visual aids!)

word count ➵ 10.5k words

parts ➵ check out the series masterlist

a/n ➵ it's out! felt a lil pressured by the number of notes i wont lie! i hope u guys enjoy this along with the visual aid <3 special shoutout to @shegotthewoobies @vernyangel @heemingyu @deobienthusiast for beta reading <3 much love to you all <3 esp to ki who made the usernames <3 if you enjoyed reading, do reblog and leave feedback!

want to be part of my taglist? send me an ask! masterlist

HYST wins VCT’s Game Changers By Bae Sumin

HYST takes the title as the winner of the Valorant Championship Tour (VCT) Game Changers in Los Angeles, USA against defending champion 88RR. The team took over the playing field, showcasing their astounding teamwork and tactful gameplays, and won 3-1 in a best-of-five series.

Since the first match on Bind, players Ailurus (Y/N) and bokku (Miyawaki Sakura) demonstrated their chemistry through their formidable performance as Omen and Yoru respectively. Their alliance was enough for their opponents to avoid one-on-one battles.

Rising player Ppiya (Hong Eunchae) secures her position as one of the most impressive duelists to come from this year’s VCT. In all of the matches played, Ppiya secures at least one kill per round, placing her 3rd in the leaderboards out of all players in the event.

In their second match on Ascent, remarkable sentinel players CHUU (Kim Jiwoo) and subakhye (Son Hyeju) built solid defense systems and dealt with flanks with ease. They can adjust their setups accordingly as they observe their opponents’ playstyle.

Although their exceptional performance in Game Changers makes its mark in VCT history, Ailurus only hopes that they are given more opportunities to engage in such tournaments. “I am happy [about our win], but I hope that the [VALORANT] esports scene sees us more than just winners [of Game Changers]. I want to be seen as a remarkable player regardless of gender,” they share.

Despite HYST participating in VCT for the past two years, this is their first championship win. In last year’s VCT, the organization met its defeat in VALORANT Challengers through their other roster consisting of players bae (Jacob Bae), nuguri (Kim Sunwoo), Darong (Lee Jaehyun), gyulz (Ju Haknyeon), and Maize (Lee Juyeon).

Both teams are under the guidance of Coach bori (Kim Younghoon), a retired VALORANT and League of Legends pro player.

These turn of events displayed HYST’s dedication to improvement and VALORANT. Many followers hope to see more of the reigning champions of Game Changers.

ROUND 1: “WELCOME TO MY WORLD!”

The moon radiates tonight, its white gleam accompanied by speckles amidst the sea of black. Now would be the perfect moment to take some time to yourself; get in more hours of sleep, or pick up a book you’ve been putting off. Instead…

“Hi, everyone! It’s been a while,” you greet your viewers through the webcam.

The monitor shines on you, colors of blue and violet painting your skin. On the wall behind you is a shelf filled with memorabilia; medals from small competitions along with trophies from bigger tournaments. 

“I know it’s a little late here, but I was itching to play some matches.” Your eyes glide through your stream’s chat. Many viewers are ecstatic to have you back on Twitch while others question your late hours of streaming.

jseollie: even after game changers?? CRAZY! bboppull: GRIND NEVER STOPS 💪💪💪 bookeucutie: tell us abt vct!!!

A chuckle leaves you as you open up Valorant. “I really enjoyed my time in VCT! I met some of my favorite players like Lorri from Evil Genius, sonder from Shopify, even Version1’s MeL.”

You lean back on your chair as you recall the event. “I won’t lie, I was very nervous about going against 88RR, which, by the way, is a lovely team. We met up for drinks after.” You scratch the back of your neck as you try to go through what your chat says.

“I remember talking to Kura about it since the semifinals, and she had to give me a constant pep talk.” The memory of Sakura knocking sense into you after every match makes you laugh.

As you dish to your viewers about your experience throughout Game Changers, you read their comments. Many of your viewers were happy with your revelation of the teams' bonds with each other. “Yeah, we’re competitive but we’re here with the same dreams, so I think it did help us form some kind of connection. I was able to exchange contacts with Sunmi and Taeyeon as well. I told them that whenever they decide to come back to Korea, they should give me a call.”

ajiajibee: is the trophy with you? ghanadara: i think it’s beside the picture frame

“Oh, I don’t get to keep it. It’s back in the headquarters,” you say as you slightly swivel your chair to the side. “That picture frame, however,” you point at your shelf, “is my certificate. That way, we all have something to bring home.”

You adjust your chair before smiling at the camera. “Anyway, I’m really happy that our practice paid off. It was an honor to even participate and meet other players.”

Most of the reactions were positive ones; congratulations and desires to see your team play together for more events. Yet, regardless of your achievements, there’s constantly a handful of negative ones.

hwithefool: Cant believe you won game changers. Ur not even that good. hwithefool: didn’t even get to champs L honeycube: boosted ass universefactory deleted hwithefool’s message. universefactory deleted hwithefool’s message. universefactory deleted honeycube’s message. hwithefool is now banned from this chat. Reason: Being rude honeycube is now banned from this chat. Reason: Being rude

Thankfully, your moderators were there to take control of such—but you’ll always know what people think of you.

“Anyway, for today’s stream, I’ll be playing with Juhak and Hyeju!” You exclaim as you switch scenes, now showing the Valorant lobby. “We’re going to play on our alt accounts for today, so it should be fun.”

real_juhaknyeon: LFGGGGG goated team rubyvobo: we get nom, jeorge porkwell, AND hyejuseyo?? We win today sunwooluver: what about nuguri?? he’s solo queuing right now rubyvobo: OFHEJSHSJJSKS I LOVE YOU GUYS sunwooluver: WILL NUGURI JOIN??

One of the few perks that comes with being an established streamer is that you could ignore comments, pretending you never saw them, and you’d get away with it; people just didn’t need to talk about it all together and you’d be fine.

So when you invite Haknyeon and Hyeju to your party, you continue talking to your chat about today’s stream. “We’re not going to play ranked today, I think?” You hum for a moment, going through the agenda in your head. “Well, we might, but I have no clue. It depends on what they want.”

Before you can continue with your rambles, your phone vibrates on your desk. Once you grab it, you notice that text messages from Kim Younghoon, the coach of the organization, have come your way.

coach bbang 🍞: hi y/n! don’t forget to remind your teammates about tomorrow’s meeting for vct ☺️ coach bbang 🍞: and gl with your stream tonight! y/n: teewai coach :DD see u tomo

“Sorry about that!” You put your phone away and give your full attention to your monitor. Hyeju and Haknyeon already joined your party, and you spot that they’re in a voice channel on the HYST’s Discord server. “Before I go join VC with the others, I just wanted to say thank you for supporting me and the others in Game Changers. It was a fun but tough competition, and I wouldn’t be here without you guys.”

Although your job did start as a hobby, you continued to persevere through such hardships thanks to your support systems; your teammates and viewers alike. You only ever considered going pro thanks to two friends. Unfortunately, time has its way of making you drift apart from them; you hope you can go face-to-face against them one day if the universe willed for it.

“Anyway, let’s have some good games!”

“I tuned in to your stream last night, Y/N,” Eunchae starts. “That losing streak is insane.”

You sigh, shoulders down as you walk dejectedly. “Don’t even get me started. Our randos were ass and wouldn’t stop talking shit.” You look at your younger friend who only pouts as you recap the events of last night. “I know you would always enter and clear sites for us, my Manchae.”

With your arm wrapped around her shoulder, her expression shifts into a smile. “I mean, that’s the least I can do as your duelist.”

“Well, not everyone seems to know that.”

The HYST headquarters is a three-story infrastructure whose interior resembles corporate buildings; the furniture is mostly of sleek leather and dark-stained wood. Monotone linoleum tiles and off-white walls stretch throughout the building.

As soon as you both arrive in front of the meeting room, you swing the doors open, revealing Sakura, Hyeju, and Jiwoo who sit together on one side of the conference table. You and Eunchae rush to them, exchanging greetings and embraces.

“Do you always play Valorant?” Jiwoo directs the question to you, referencing your stream last night with Hyeju and Haknyeon, to which you roll your eyes.

“No, I just had the itch to play!” You take a seat in between Sakura and Jiwoo. “Plus, I’ll take any opportunity to make some money.”

The doors swing open. “Hi, everyone. It’s nice to see you all,” Younghoon greets your team before walking to the whiteboard situated in the corner of the room.

The organization’s general manager, Lee Sangyeon, trails behind him, a smile painting his face as he takes a seat at the end of the table. “I’ll say this again, but good work in Game Changers.”

“Thanks, Sangyeon,” Sakura expresses her gratitude on behalf of the team. “We wouldn’t have been able to win without your help along with Younghoon’s.”

He shakes his head, trying to play it off. “No, I’m just here to make sure you guys get to participate, you know? Just want to make sure that you guys get recognized.”

Silence settles. The squeaking from Younghoon's marker is faint but loud enough to capture your attention. Although his figure covers most of what’s written on the whiteboard, you catch sight of a few gamer tags—Ailurus and bae.

Before you can decipher the other words, the doors open. “Hi, guys!” Haknyeon enters the room with all smiles. “Hello Game Changers winners,” he bows his head, making you chuckle.

His teammates, Jacob and Juyeon, trail behind him, relaxed expressions resting on their faces. “Congrats on the win,” Jacob shakes hands with everyone on your team. “That one play on Ascent went crazy, by the way.” His praise is directed towards you, and you try to play it cool.

“Ah, it was nothing. Just got lucky.”

“If I was in your situation, I probably wouldn’t have secured that round,” Juyeon chimes in as he takes a seat beside his teammates. The three boys sit across from your team.

Haknyeon smacks Juyeon’s arm, laughing at his words. “Yeah! Remember that one round in Breeze?” Juyeon only rolls his eyes while his teammates recap the events for your team.

You don’t really interact with Haknyeon’s team (or Jacob’s team if you were going to follow formalities), just the occasional greetings and small talk if you were going to be honest. It’s not like you didn’t want to be friends with them; there aren't enough opportunities to bond when you all have different schedules, let alone priorities. But you did enjoy their team's presence, and every interaction with them is one you hope may bring your team closer to theirs.

Except for one player.

“Sorry, we’re late!” Hyunjae enters the room with an apologetic smile. “Someone decided to sleep in.”

“Not true! Hyunjae’s lying.”

The room starts to grow dimmer, almost as if life were sucked out of it. Only you seemed to see it, never the others. There he is—the only exception. 

He’s dressed in an oversized graphic tee layered on top of a white long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black baggy jeans. His hair shows its soft curls, clearly indicating that he’s the one lying.

A playful pout rests on his lips as he tries to continue his defense. Yet, when he locks eyes with you, he holds back. A scowl now paints his face.

If you follow esports, then you would know who Kim Sunwoo is—an established pro player who switched from Overwatch to Valorant. At first, many people were confused by his choice, throwing away years invested into a different game. Yet, it seemed that he didn’t care about what others had to say as he signed with HYST a few months after he started playing Valorant.

Within that time frame, he was able to impress Younghoon and Sangyeon with his gameplay. After all, Valorant and Overwatch required different playstyles. It was easy for him to become big in the Valorant pro scene, as you would like to say, for he made use of his existing fame.

He’s adored by many people who follow the pro scene; audience and players alike. You, however, seemed to think differently.

You shift your gaze to Younghoon, silently hoping that the meeting will commence. As if he heard your thoughts, he says, “No worries. Go, take your seats.”

Unfortunately, Hyunjae opts to sit across from Eunchae, leaving one vacant seat across from you. 

Sunwoo sits on the chair as a dejected sigh leaves him, causing you to roll your eyes while you keep your gaze away from him. All you need to do is get through the meeting and you won’t have to face him for a while.

“Thank you everyone for coming here today,” Younghoon starts as he faces all of you. The whiteboard behind him has now been flipped, and the gamer tags are now hidden. “Uh, before we get into the agenda for today’s meeting, let’s congratulate the winners of Game Changers!”

Applause erupts from everyone who didn’t participate in that competition, but your eyes don’t miss how slow the boy across you claps, almost as if he wasn’t impressed.

“Now, we can get to the point of today’s meeting.” Younghoon steps to the side, revealing the text written—VCT GAMEPLAN with irregular shapes surrounding it. “We all know that VCT is around the corner, a few months from now, which means we’ve got to start our preparations.”

“Normally, we would’ve gone straight to strategizing and having you guys,” your coach looks at the team across you, “practice, but Sangyeon and I have agreed on doing things differently this year.” He flips the board, revealing everyone’s gamer tags. “We’re changing the roster.”

Many players are caught off-guard by Younghoon’s announcement. It’s not usual for a roster change to take place, especially with only a few months left before qualifiers commence.

“We know that not everyone may want to participate in the upcoming VCT, and I’ve spent weeks trying to configure what’s the best roster to represent HYST.” Younghoon then pulls out a blue marker and starts to circle some names; CHUU, Darong, bae, nuguri, and… Ailurus? “These are my picks for VCT.”

A frown appears on your face, but before you can comment, Haknyeon beats you to it. “I don’t know if having Hyunjae and Sunwoo play together is smart.” All eyes are now on him. “I mean, no offense,” his eyes flicker to the two subjects, “I don’t know if Jiwoo and Y/N would be able to keep up, and that’s not a diss to them.”

“I agree,” Jacob chimes in. “Haknyeonie, Juyeon, and I can play with Sunwoo and Hyunjae as duelists because we know their playstyles well. We’ve played together for years. Y/N and Jiwoo would be playing with them for the first time.”

Younghoon bites the inside of his cheek, deep in thought as he considers what’s been said. “Thoughts?” He directs his question to the two people in question. The two players exchange glances, almost as if they were communicating.

“Yeah, I know Sunwoo and I can adjust our playstyle but it took more than half a year for Juyeon and Haknyeon to get used to our playstyle,” Hyunjae says as he scratches the back of his neck. “And if it helps, I’d prefer to sit this one out. You know, I have a lot of sponsorships lined up that I need to stream for also.”

Your coach sighs. “No worries. What about you, Sunwoo?”

“Wait, can I say something?” Jiwoo gathers the attention of everyone in the room. “I also want to opt out of VCT. I mean, I just played in Game Changers.” A guilty smile takes over her features.

Thankfully, Younghoon acknowledges where Jiwoo comes from. “Of course, I understand. After all, that’s why we're having this meeting.”

Before your coach can try to reconfigure the roster, Sangyeon stands up from his seat.

“Can I suggest another rotation?” Younghoon nods before handing him a red marker. Sangyeon starts to circle another list of gamer tags, ones he believes should be in the final line-up of players for VCT; it consists of bokku, bae, gyulz, Ppiya, and… Ailurus, again? Your coach frowns as he looks at the selection.

“I think Sunwoo should be benched.” Your eyebrows shoot up at Sangyeon’s words, not expecting those words considering the player’s reputation.“He’s made some rash plays recently, and you know that.” You glance at the boy who sits across from you only to see that his gaze is affixed to the ground. 

Younghoon shakes his head, clearly in disbelief at the manager’s words. “Yes, but that’s only for a few matches. Trust me when I say that Sunwoo is strong as a duelist and an initiator.” His attempt to defend his mentee is weak against Sangyeon’s opinion.

“He plays for himself!”

Clearly, the two higher-ups have opposing views.

“Think about it; Eunchae and Sakura are great duelists, and anyone else on that team plays initiator.”

Although Sangyeon seems to believe his proposed line-up is the best one yet, your coach shakes his head. “Eunchae isn’t playing.” He glances at her before saying, “She told me beforehand.” All eyes are now on the teen who only shows an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, I wanted to take a break from this year’s VCT to focus on my studies.”

Sangyeon scratches the back of his neck. “Well—”

“Hey,” Sakura cuts into the conversation. “Haven’t we considered that Y/N and Sunwoo might not want to play together?” She looks at you two with scrunched eyebrows, clearly confused by your coach’s proposal. “I mean, we all know their relationship, no?”

Your feud isn’t under the table. All of the players know about your distaste towards each other but they don’t know where it stems from.

“Yes, but their playstyles complement each other.” Everyone’s confused as to why Younghoon is persistent. “Out of all my mentees, I’ve worked with them the most, and I know exactly how they can work together.”

“Well, I want Y/N on that team.” As your manager says that, all the attention is now on you. You’re not sure why Sangyeon would say that. Uncomfortable with how you’ve become the topic of the conversation, you cannot help but sink into your seat.

“And I agree with you. But if we’re going to have Y/N play, I need Sunwoo on that team.” You lock eyes with Sunwoo briefly as your coach says that. “He’s my one-pick, and I know he’ll help the team out the most.” Sangyeon sighs, rethinking the roster once more. You shift your gaze to the ground, clearly unhappy being paired with the player across from you.

You weren’t happy that the two continued to discuss the final roster without asking you, but before you could speak up, someone beat you to it.

“Shouldn’t Y/N take a break?” Your gaze lands on the boy across from you, eyebrows now furrowed over his suggestion. “I mean, they did just come from winning Game Changers. We can have Juyeon take over.” When you spot a small smirk resting on his lips, you ball your fists.

Whatever game Sunwoo is playing, you don’t want any part of it. If anything, whatever he’s trying to insinuate has you clenching your teeth. And you’re about to retort—

“No,” Sangyeon says, speaking on your behalf. “Y/N’s a good leader and a team player. I trust Y/N the most out of all the people on the roster.”

Sunwoo raises his hands in defense. “It was only a suggestion.” But when he glances at you, you don’t miss the sinister smile on his face.

Not only was Sunwoo trying to bench you out of the competition but Sangyeon and Younghoon were too invested in their conversation, speaking on your behalf as if you were nothing but a tool for the organization. Without a second thought, you stand up from your seat. Everyone’s eyes are on you as you storm out of the room.

That’s the thing about being a pro player in the esports scene; no one seems to listen to you if you aren’t a man.

For once, silence settles amongst everyone. Your departure is a message, one that everyone failed to see earlier on.

A sigh leaves Sakura. “I know we’re all worried about VCT but let’s not forget to hear everyone out, okay?” She glances at the doors that are now shut closed, wondering where you may have gone. “You know Y/N. Just avoid speaking on their behalf and let them talk for themselves.”

“Yeah,” Eunchae huffs, “let’s give them time to cool down. We only wrapped up Game Changers a few weeks ago.”

As Younghoon crosses his arms, a sigh leaves him as he looks down to the floor. “Sorry, Sangyeon and I were too caught up with what we wanted.” He glances at his watch before shifting his gaze to the players who sit idly. “Let’s talk about this again once they come back.”

In the eye of a hurricane stands you, a witness to the chaos, wondering what course of action nature shall take upon you. Somehow, your screams are soundless—not a single soul minds the hurricane for as long as it doesn’t hit them.

You stand in front of the washroom mirror, taking your time to recollect your thoughts. The stress that comes from the upcoming VCT, the pressure to represent HYST once more, the likelihood of working with Kim Sunwoo for the first time—there’s nothing you can control.

The stars point you towards acceptance, perseverance.

It’s not that you were against representing HYST for the upcoming VCT events. If anything, you were grateful that Sangyeon and Younghoon trusted you to undertake such an important role.

Although you’ve competed in Game Changers, the audience it attracts is smaller in comparison to the ones your manager and coach want to see you in. All eyes will be on you as you compete to reach to Champions.

The weight that comes with playing in a worldwide esports event, one that most of the community is tuned into, rests on your shoulders—a coalition of anxiety from every round that plays out, migraines from reconfiguring your strategies, the comments of you playing just because you aren’t a man. Those reasons should be enough for you to decline the offer, to protect your peace, and to make more out of your streams.

But nothing can compare to bringing back home the fruit of your labor—the Champions Cup—the recognition that comes from competing, and the bond built amongst teammates. If you got to experience all that from Game Changers, you’re almost certain that VCT will bring experiences to be marked in your books.

But what do you know, right?

With a mind clearer after today’s event, you exit the washroom, still deciding whether you should compete or not. Yet, it’s as if the universe has plans to provoke you as you come face-to-face with the last person you want to see.

His eyes lock with yours and a snarl appears on his face. “What? I had to use the washroom.” Defensive, like always.

Before you can make your way back to the conference room, he grabs your arm, holding you back. You glare at Sunwoo, your eyes glancing at his hand on your arm, and he lets go.

He bites the inside of his cheek. “I know we don’t like each other.” Tell me about it. “But,” he sucks in a breath as he stares back at you. “I know we want to prove ourselves, so why don’t we just suck it up and work together?”

Anyone could believe that Sunwoo’s trying to play nice with you—he’s willing to make amends in hopes that there’s no bad blood between you two—but you could care less about what this man has to say.

“It’s not that easy,” you start. “You don’t understand what I want.” Unlike him, you know that proving yourself does nothing.

His frowns over your words. “What do you mean—”

“Sunwoo, you can easily say you want to play to prove yourself,” you cut him off. “I can’t say the same for me. It’s a privilege enough that I can even play in these events.” You jab your index finger against his chest, making him stagger backward.

That’s what makes you and Sunwoo different; while he chases praises from a few lucky plays, you’re left to deal with the backlash from just breathing.

If Sunwoo wants to retort, you don’t give him the chance to do so as you walk away from him. As you reach the doors, you take a deep breath in before swinging them open. The chatter is interrupted by your presence as you make your way back to your seat.

Sunwoo follows shortly, keeping his gaze on you as he takes his seat. You would’ve ignored the way he looks at you but the eye contact you two exchange amplifies what you told him then in the halls. So when an ominous grin appears on your face, the lousy bridge he tried to build towards you crumbles. After all, it was constructed on a poor attempt to save his career.

“Count me in.”

ROUND 2: “YOUR BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS THAT YOU PISSED ME OFF.”

With every day that passes, the weight of VCT rests heavier on your shoulders. Playing with a team you don’t compete with is not easy. Yet, you’re hopeful today—it’s all you have, after all.

As you enter the practice room, you are greeted by the chilly air that emits from the air conditioners. The practice room resembles an internet cafe; desks are lined up with monitors and keyboards while CPUs are placed under the tables.

You catch sight of Sakura and Haknyeon chatting away as they sit in front of their assigned computers. Jacob, however, is busy talking to Younghoon; you can only assume they’re talking about possible strategies.

Before you take a seat beside Haknyeon, you make sure to greet everyone. “And I couldn’t believe Juyeon just fell to the floor!” He exclaims which has Sakura laughing.

“What’d I miss?”

Haknyeon looks at you on the brink of tears before he retells the story. “Okay, because you know how Juyeon and I share a room?” You nod. “So, I told Juyeon to shut the lights off on his way to bed because I was ready to go to sleep. But somehow, he got lazy while walking so he had this genius idea to just jump to the bed.” At this point, your friend is laughing in between words, and the story has gone incomprehensible.

“And the next thing you know it, Haknyeon hears a sudden thump.”

You burst into laughter over the story. “You’re telling me he missed?!” The only answers you get are chortles from the two.

Preparations for VCT have fueled your anxiety for many reasons, possible losses and backlash to name a few, but Haknyeon and Sakura bring pockets of sunshine amidst the storm. If they weren’t here, you wouldn’t know how to deal with your worries.

“Sorry, I’m late!” Your mood shifts as your last teammate enters the room with an iced americano in his hand. You both lock eyes for a brief moment before you shift your gaze back to your friends, chewing on the inside of your cheek.

“Okay, hurry! Everyone, start fixing your setups,” Younghoon orders as he claps his hands, grabbing everyone’s attention.

You chose your seat in hopes that Jacob would sit beside you, making it easier for you both to discuss possible team strategies. Yet, the other in-game leader sits somewhere else, leaving Sunwoo to take the spot next to you. Your bubbly mood has turned sour.

“Anyway, today we will be having a practice match! So, what to expect is that…”

Younghoon’s words fall flat on your ears as your heartbeat fills your ears. As you try to fix your monitor and audio settings to fit your preferences, you hope that the anxiety will die down. Yet, you feel a pair of eyes stare a hole right into you—annoyance now accompanies your anxiety.

“Can you mind your own business and listen to Coach?” You raise the question, only loud enough for your annoying teammate to hear.

“I am paying attention.”

You scoff, “Oh, so you’ll listen now?” You rip your gaze away from the computer to glare at Sunwoo. “You didn’t listen to me last time.”

A few days ago, your team decided to scrimmage against the other members of the organization. It was a good way to practice before signing up for scrimmages against other teams participating.

Unfortunately for you, it was a match that solidified your dislike of the player. With every round, he found ways to get on your nerves, ignoring your comms and playing for himself to name a few. If you were going to be honest, you expected a bit more from Sunwoo—Sangyeon is right about his stance on the player.

Sunwoo shrugs, glancing at your coach who continues to explain today’s practice match. “I don’t know, your strats weren’t making sense last time. I trust Jacob more.”

You clench your fists as you close your eyes briefly in disbelief. “So, if it’s a man speaking, you’ll listen?” You shake your head in disbelief as you return your attention to the computer. “Jacob and I had the same plan, asshole.”

If Sunwoo wanted to defend himself, he’s not allowed to do so as Younghoon calls on both of your names. “Hey, are you listening?” The two of you nod profusely in a poor attempt to hide your conversation. “Okay then. For today’s scrimmage, you’ll be going against RUSH.”

There’s no way, right? “Sorry, did you say RUSH?” You earn a nod from him, and your world tilts on its axis. After how many years, it only took one scrimmage for you to reunite with your reasons behind why you stand in the pro scene today—Jeon Jungkook and Eric Sohn.

The three of you first met each other in university in a club full of people who liked to play video games. At first, you weren’t sure why you joined in the first place, dreading the possibility of dealing with men who would throw misogynistic comments towards you. Yet, the universe found a way to make sure you would enjoy your stay, gifting you two boys who became your best friends from university. 

“Today is the perfect time to get to know your opponents, get a feel of what they do. I know that you guys have started playing together, trying to get a feel of what it’s like to play together, but I hope this scrimmage will build on it,” Younghoon says as your team quickly logs into their accounts on Discord.

Once you’ve logged in, you notice that Younghoon has sent you an invite to a Discord server. You accept it, greeted by the huge selection of teams participating, and you catch sight of RUSH in a voice channel. All of their gamer tags are recognizable, but two of them have stuck with you since your university days.

“You can all jump on the voice channel with them. Don’t forget to introduce yourselves.”

You’re the first to hop on a call and your teammates follow you shortly. Usually, you were the type to have someone lead the conversation, but to say you were excited to talk to your old friends would be an understatement. “Hi, everyone.”

“Oh my god, is that Y/N?” Jungkook asks, surprised by the sound of a familiar voice.

“Y/N?!” Eric’s microphone crackles over how loud he exclaims your name, and a grin rests on your lips over the reactions.

There they are. “I know, it’s been forever. I haven’t talked to you both since we graduated.”

The next thing you know, their faces appear on the screen; they don’t look too different from when you last saw them, but they’ve grown up. “Is it actually you?!” Jungkook asks. “I won’t believe it until I see you.”

A chuckle leaves your lips over your old friend’s words. “God, I’ll turn my cam on.” You click on the video icon, revealing your poor attempt to hold back your grin. “Happy now?” 

“It’s been so long, what the fuck? I miss you! Congrats on your win!” Eric says. “Everyone, why don’t we turn on our cams?” Both his teammates and yours have turned their cameras on. “Let’s introduce ourselves.”

The introductions are quick. You learned the real names of Jungkook and Eric’s teammates; Choi Soobin, Jeon Wonwoo, and Lee Jeno. RUSH’s roster is a good selection of players. Your palms get sweaty as you hear your heartbeat in your ears—nothing could’ve prepared you for today’s scrimmage. 

Before you can all agree to start the match, Sunwoo pops a question. “Sorry, how do you guys know each other?” You watch his expression through Discord, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

Jungkook chuckles before saying, “We went to uni together, met in this club which we all left after our first year.” All he gets is a hum from your teammate, but you don’t miss the way Sunwoo looks off into nowhere, almost as if he’s irritated—you wonder why his mood shifted. “Anyway, are we ready to have our match?” You all hum in agreement before turning your cameras off.

“Alright, good luck and have fun!”

The worst Valorant matches are the ones that reach overtime. It’s 12 to 13 on Icebox in RUSH’s favor, and your team is on the brink of losing—only one win is needed and your opponent will leave victorious.

“I think we should go through mid and then make our way through A-site.”

You shake your head in disapproval. “No, Jacob, I think we should enter a site together instead. It’s risky to pass through mid since,” you glance at the leaderboard to check how many credits Jungkook has, “I have a strong feeling someone will use an operator.”

Although Jacob seems to consider your suggestion, a groan leaves Sunwoo. “Wouldn’t it be better to split up?”

“No, we’re not strong enough to fight our own battles. We need to play together, fight together.” You would like to think that your team can handle isolated battles, but you guys were weak against RUSH. Perhaps they had good reflexes or better game sense.

As the timer starts to count down, Jacob orders, “Okay, we’ll go with Y/N’s plan. The most important thing is that we don’t pick fights on our own and plant the spike.”

The round commences, and you all make your way into your positions; Sakura and Jacob slowly make their way through A-main while you go up to the belt. Haknyeon carefully sets up his trip wires and camera before joining you.

“I’m going to dart first.” Once you get your recon bolt out, you shoot it far enough to land on the wall; it catches the presence of Soobin and Wonwoo. The toxic screen goes up, perfectly concealing the site.

“Go!”

It happens all too quickly, shots fired and damage dealt and received. Before you know it, your team is dead—except for one who didn’t seem to listen to your plans.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” you say as you spectate Sunwoo, watching that he’s making his way back to where you guys died, leaving mid. There are only two players that he needs to fight, Jungkook on Jett and Eric on Deadlock. You know the round is tense, and the last thing you want to do is aggravate him.

Thankfully, Sunwoo plants the spike, but he situates himself in a spot that wouldn’t allow him to reposition quickly. A pair of footsteps go up the stairs, signaling that someone is making their way to heaven.

For a moment, he keeps his gaze affixed to screens, but he looks back to A-main, expecting a flank, and he’s right; Eric comes into his vision.

You expect Sunwoo to win the fight, but when his body falls to the ground, a sigh leaves you. The mood has plummeted, sinking into murky waters of frustration, disappointment. “Fuck, sorry,” Sunwoo apologizes as he covers his mouth in frustration.

“It’s okay, you tried,” Jacob attempts to console his teammate. “Good work, everyone.”

The spike gets defused; HYST has lost against RUSH.

“Come on, let’s go hop on a call with them again.”

With that, your team follows Jacob’s orders. “Tight match everyone, but a fun one!” Wonwoo says.

“Yeah, thanks for the game,” Sakura responds, trying to stay in high spirits.

“Well, we have to get going. We have another scrimmage,” Eric starts. “Y/N, send me your number through DMs. Let’s hang with Jungkook.”

You hum, a small smile resting on your lips. “Sure, see you guys in Challengers.” With that, everyone leaves the voice channel.

While RUSH is probably celebrating their win, HYST is in low spirits. It’s a practice match, sure, but still a match nevertheless.

“Good work, everyone,” Younghoon says in an attempt to cheer everyone up. “I really liked the energy I saw from you guys. You all put up a good fight and fought together.”

Although everyone seems to hum in agreement with your coach, you don’t join in. “Why did you stray off?” You redirect your gaze to the boy beside you, only earning a frown. “Didn’t we agree to play together?”

He rolls his eyes at you. “Yeah, but—”

“But what, Sunwoo? What could’ve been the reason for you to not enter with us and not follow the game plan?” You’re frustrated over everything; the stress of VCT, your loss against RUSH, your teammate who never listens to you.

“Hey, knock it off!” Younghoon gets in between you two. “Now is not the time to be fighting.” You and Sunwoo only glare at each other. “Cannot believe I’m dealing with a bunch of 5-year-olds,” he mutters under his breath.

“Jacob and Sakura, nice work in holding B-site, by the way. Haknyeon, you also did well holding A-site.” Then, your coach glances between you two. “Now, we still need to work on your coordination and teamwork.” It’s a statement for your whole team, but it feels as if it were directed at you and Sunwoo. You wish you sat out of VCT.

“You can go now.”

With that, everyone gets ready to exit the practice room. Your coach is the first one out. You think you’re at fault for causing stress on him but if only Sunwoo would work with you—listen, for the matter—then maybe you two wouldn’t be in this mishap.

“Hey, you two.” You look at Jacob who calls on you and Sunwoo. “Can you stay behind for a bit?” You glance at Haknyeon and Sakura who observe the interaction briefly. As you both nod, your other teammates have taken their leave.

Now, you stand in front of him with your teammate beside you. A sigh leaves him as he rubs his jaw while a frown rests on his face. You only see Jacob like this when he’s focused on his games, but never when it comes to dealing with issues like what your team (or you and Sunwoo, really) has.

“I know you two don’t like each other, and I still don’t know why.” You and Sunwoo exchange glances before ignoring each other once more. “But you understand that you both signed up for VCT, right? That means you will be playing many matches together.”

You’re aware that agreeing to represent HYST means having to work with Sunwoo. Your reasons for participating are enough to convince you that you handle all the upcoming matches with Sunwoo—all adversities will be dealt with. Yet, you couldn’t speak for your teammate. 

“So, I’m asking that you guys focus on working together. I’m not asking you to make up or anything but to still be professional around each other. We still have to win the qualifiers, so no funny business, okay?”

Jacob was right. Your dispute is getting in the way of team dynamics, holding HYST back, and you didn’t want to inconvenience your team any further. With that, you nod, begrudgingly accepting Jacob’s request. You can spot Sunwoo nodding along with you in the corner of your eye.

“Okay, thanks. You can both go now.”

When you and Sunwoo leave the practice room, not a single word is exchanged. 

ROUND 3: “DON’T LOOK SO SMUG, SUNWOO!”

Over the last months, you and your team have spent every waking hour on Valorant—practice, practice, practice, until you all felt satisfied.

To say you were sick of the game is an understatement, but some of your teammates try to make every minute enjoyable; Haknyeon would goof off some rounds and knife opponents from behind, Jacob would make comments that you never would’ve imagined leaving his mouth, and Sakura would ask questions about everyone before every round. You take your part in lifting the spirits and making these matches less monotonous by reading stories from the r/AmITheAsshole subreddit.

As for your relationship with Sunwoo, you’ve tried to keep it professional. During matches and strategizing phases, you would communicate with each other, exchanging ideas of how to win these games. Outside of those periods, however, were spent ignoring each other’s existence.

Thankfully, all those months of practicing didn’t go to waste—your team went against multiple organizations during Qualifiers, and now you’re on the last leg of the event. Only one more win is needed and your team makes it to Challengers.

Now, your team is in the practice room, head-to-head against another team. It’s 11 to 12 in your team’s favor on Ascent. It’s absurd that your opponents made a comeback from 3-9, but you’ll blame it on the superstition.

“Let’s play default. Their team tends to push out anyway,” Jacob orders before he takes a sip of water. “I’ll play by tiles while Sakura and Haknyeonie can go to A-site. Sunwoo and Y/N, play near B-site. Just make sure to not get caught by their Sova’s recon dart.” Everyone on your team agrees with Jacob’s plan.

The round commences. Just like what Jacob called out, a recon dart is thrown, but it doesn’t catch sight of you and Sunwoo. “Sova’s by B-site,” Sunwoo tells the team. 

“I hear footsteps by tree,” Sakura starts, and Jacob takes it as his sign to smoke the cubby off. Before you know it, he takes a peek at mid and kills off the enemy team’s Gekko. Sakura flashes A-site before double-swinging with Haknyeon. “There are three players by A-site! Go to B-site!”

You and Sunwoo start to make your way through B-site. You walk in front of him, trying to smoke off  hall and market. It should’ve occurred to you how weird it is that Sunwoo trails behind you, but it doesn’t, and you choose to enter the site.

The next thing you know, your body flops to the ground, and you let out a groan. As you spectate Sunwoo, he successfully trades you. “Spike down B,” the announcer voices out. Now, it’s a three versus one battle.

“Astra’s with me! Go plant,” Haknyeon calls out, and Sunwoo listens. He plants the spike like a breeze and situates himself in the boathouse.

Jacob tucks himself by mid, waiting for Astra to pass through spawn. “I can catch Astra off-guard while you try to pinch them,” he tells Haknyeon. Within a few seconds, he successfully lands his shots and kills Astra, securing HYST a win—your team will be participating in Challengers.

Everyone cheers, getting off their seats and huddling into a group hug. “Holy shit, Jacob! That was such a good 3K!” Haknyeon cheers as he’s overfilled with joy.

Your teammate tries to shrug off the compliments. “We all did good.”

A pair of arms wrap around you and Jacob. “That was an amazing play!” Younghoon is thrilled by today’s matches. “WE’RE GOING TO CHALLENGERS!”

It’s a dream come true; you’ll be competing on stage in front of a wider audience against teams who are more capable than you—who have more experience than you—but the journey has only started. You wonder what the upcoming months will have in store for you and your team—what will time do for you and Sunwoo?

You’re the first to break up from the hug, everyone else following along. “I’m going to call Sangyeon over,” your coach announces before making his way out of the practice room.

Then, Haknyeon pulls out his phone. “Wait, the guys are blowing up our group chat. I’ll just call them.”

Sunwoo is about to follow his teammates, but you grab hold of his forearm as you hold him back, and he frowns at you. “I need to talk to Sunwoo,” you smile at the other guys who only glance at each other, confused by your actions. Yet, they let the matter go, letting you deal with your business with him.

Sakura grabs your shoulder. “I’m going to call the team. Anything you want me to tell them?”

“I’ll tell them myself, it’s okay. You can go.”

With that, it was only you and your teammate.

You let go of his arm and a frown replaces the grin you once showed. “What was that during the last round?” As Sunwoo scrunches his eyebrows further, you groan. “You literally baited me.”

An exasperated sigh leaves him. “God, it’s not that serious.”

“Sunwoo, you’re playing duelist. You’re supposed to be entering sites for the team.”

“And I do!” He glares at you, annoyed by your complaints. “We still won. Can’t you just be happy that we made it to Challengers?”

That’s the thing you hate about playing with Sunwoo; if the outcome is good, he’ll turn a blind eye to his mistakes. How does he improve as a player if he doesn’t acknowledge his faults?

He’s about to turn away from you—make his way to his teammates and celebrate today’s win—but you grab his hand and pull him close to you. The sudden action almost has him toppling over you, and thankfully, his reflexes are quick enough to make sure you both don’t fall.

But the distance between you two is smaller, his eyes wide while yours remain stern. He holds his breath while yours grazes his skin.

You’ve never seen him this way—compliant, obedient—and it’s a sight to behold, one you’d like to keep for yourself. If only he were like this to you, then maybe you wouldn’t—no, snap out of it.

“Sunwoo.” He gulps at the way you call his name. “I’m your controller, I’m supposed to stay alive longer to support you.” You hold his gaze. “Try to keep this behavior up during the rest of VCT, I dare you.”

There’s malice laced in your tone, an attempt to make him cower—obey—over your threat, and you know your job is successful when Sunwoo doesn’t try to retort. He has every opportunity to retort—rile you up like all other times—and yet, he remains silent.

With that, you let go of his hand, stepping away to give you both room to breathe. Patches of warmth litter all over your skin, from your neck to your chest. To have Sunwoo look at you like that has—

“Guys!” Younghoon comes back rushing into the room with Sangyeon trailing behind him. You catch sight of the smile that rests on your manager’s face, clearly proud of your team. “Let’s look at the list of the teams who made it to Challengers.”

Your coach fiddles with the television remote and opens up the stream. Just in time, you’re able to look through the teams who made it to the next event. As you spot HYST in a sea of esteemed teams, fulfillment bubbles within you.

Yet, you know the battle doesn’t end here. RUSH makes the cut—will your team remain victorious or will it meet its demise?

ROUND 4: “YOU’RE HERE TO TAKE MY KILLS, SUNWOO? LET’S MAKE IT A COMPETITION.”

You were lying when you said you were sick of Valorant. There were other games you could be playing, Minecraft, Overwatch, and Stardew Valley to name a few. Yet, here you are, playing your favorite (read: most hated) game for today’s stream.

“I won’t lie, I’m not sure why I’m playing this game on stream,” you chuckle. “Like, I could be playing something else to save my mental health.” The comments keep coming as you ramble, trying to kill time.

keybladetwo: CONGRATS IN PLAYOFFS!!! GOODLUCK IN CHALLENGERS orangecheeko: HYST TAKEOVER 🔥🔥🔥 hungrydinosaur: the 3k bae did last round was INSANE

A flood of compliments comes your way, making you smile. “Awe. Thanks, everyone! I still can’t believe I’ll be playing for Challengers, and then there’ll be Masters and Champions.”

reingoaway: how was it like playing with the others :O noxturnal: U and Jacob on the same team must be crazy! Aren’t u both IGLs

A hum leaves you as you think over your answers. “It’s fun for the most part,” you admit. “I mean, it took us a while to get used to each other’s playstyles, but I’d like to think that the practice paid off.”

You fiddle around with your Valorant collection, changing skins on some firearms. “I’d like to think Jacob and I do pretty well in strategizing in the middle of matches. Sure, we have our fair share of contrasting opinions but we always consider each other’s ideas.”

Although the time you spend practicing with your team can be tiresome, your teammates try to make every round enjoyable. It’s thanks to them that you’re able to deal with the weight of VCT for the most part. There is burnout that comes from playing the same game at a pro level—at least you have most of your teammates to thank for the most part.

tagmeup: Will you play with nuguri? ailguriluver: YEAA u guys go crazy together ashfallen: nuguri & ailurus stream 🙏

You would’ve ignored it as you used to with all other streams, but your chat seems to flood the same question; there’s no escape even in the safety of your own channel. “Uh,” you scratch the back of your neck, “I didn’t really plan to stream with nuguri.” 

nugunuguwho: He’s on stream right now!

“He is?” You bite the inside of your cheek as you type out his username on Twitch. His profile shows up, showing that he’s live, and you adjust your stream so that it shows your browser. Now, your audience can see that you’ve searched him up.

Once you click his stream, you are greeted with the words “DEFEAT” flashing on the screen. “Aish, fuck this game!” On the top left corner of the screen is your teammate, all dressed in a gray hoodie with hair messier than usual, and frames resting on the bridge of his nose. He leans back on his chair, tonguing the inside of his cheek out of frustration from losing a match.

The screen shifts to the match summary, showing that he’s currently 00RR in Ascendant 3. “Man, you would think that people in these ranks would at least understand to comm!” He then showcases his match history and—holy shit, it’s a red carpet. “Guys, it’s not looking good.”

You hide your smile behind the back of your hand. Although you make comments about how terrible of a player Sunwoo is, you would’ve never imagined him to be on such a horrendous losing streak.

(At the same time, it could be the fault of his teammates, but you weren’t going to give him that satisfaction. He’s an awful player, point blank.)

“Ailurus is on my stream?” You are snapped out of your thoughts as he mentions your gamer tag. “How do you know?” He scrunches his eyebrows as he reads the chat. “They’re streaming?”

You rush to close the window and frown at the camera. “I can’t believe you guys sold me out!” As you shake your head, you shift your stream back to the game. “I was trying to spy on him! Anyway, I’m going to queue up because I cannot have Sunwoo ruining my win streak.”

You’re about to queue into a game, hoping to end the discussion, but your eyes catch sight of a familiar name and you halt your movements. 

nuguri: r u down to play?

It’s an internal battle—should you pretend you didn’t see Sunwoo’s message or should you fake your relationship with him?

Time ticks. The more you contemplate, the more you realize that you can’t play off that you saw his message in a sea of unfamiliar usernames. You’ve dug up your hole—there’s no turning back now.

“Okay, add my alt account.” Not a single mention of his name, and yet, your audience knows exactly who you’re talking to. The chat is filled with messages of excitement.

A friend request has been sent to you. “Is “sawako’s bf” your fucking alt?” Your gaze shifts to the chat, waiting for a message from Sunwoo.

nuguri: check discord

You roll your eyes before accepting his request on Valorant before opening up Discord. Another friend request has come in, and—is that a Smiski as his display picture? Your mouth parts open as you accept his request. Before you can shoot him a message, he calls you, and you don’t think twice before picking it up.

“I didn’t know you liked Smiskis,” you admit, surprised by the sight of the figurine. The sight of your profile picture, a Smiski from a different series, beside his photo is humorous—who would’ve thought that you two would match? “I didn’t even know you had another Discord account.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

You shrug. “I mean, you just don’t look like the type you know? You reek of “loser e-boy that can’t do shit” energy.” As you hear him gasp, you chuckle.

Perhaps it helped to interact with Sunwoo in front of an audience. You can say diss him if you wanted, boiling it down to banter, and no one would question it.

“First off, I have a Discord account for work and another one for just personal use. And second, I am not a fuckass e-boy.” His defensive energy has you rolling your eyes. “Hey, I see you rolling your eyes!”

“The fuck? Get out of my stream,” you say as you glance at the camera. As you go back to Valorant, you see that you’re invited to Sunwoo’s party. Once you accept the invite, Sunwoo queues you both up for a Ranked match. “If we lose, I’m blaming it on you.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault that I lost all my matches today.”

You bite on the inside of your cheek, holding back your laughter just in case he’s still watching your stream. “Okay, whatever you say. I know you only peaked Immortal 1.”

“Immortal 1 is a good rank! What are you trying to say?” A chuckle leaves him as he says those words, clearly knowing that he’s unfortunately not like you who is currently ranked at Immortal 2.

“I think you just want me to boost you.”

“Match found,” the announcer voices out. You are greeted by the opening screen of Sunset.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m down on my luck that I need someone to boost me.” Sarcasm is evident in his tone, and you can’t help but laugh. The screen then shifts to agent select. “What’s good, everyone?” A bad attempt at deep voice leaves Sunwoo as he talks to a team full of strangers.

You’re thrown back by the sudden tone shift, causing a giggle to leave you. “What the fuck was that?!”

“Go! Talk to the team.” You shake your head as if he can see you. (Maybe he’s still watching you, after all.) He hovers over Reyna before telling you, “It won’t hurt.”

The thing about you is that you would never talk to a team full of strangers, but you don’t think twice when you say, “I’m good,” before hovering over Omen.

“There we go!” He exclaims in your call. You try to hold back your grin.

Unfortunately, the moment doesn’t last long. “Didn’t you mean to hover over Sage?” A stranger on your team asks.

You frown. “What do you mean?”

“Because you’re a woman.”

You should’ve seen this coming—there’s a reason why you don’t like to speak in this game.

“Just because I’m born a woman doesn’t mean I need to play that agent. I can play Skye if we need a healer,” you suggest, trying to keep your cool over what the stranger says.

“Nah, Skye might be too complex for you.”

You’re thinking if you should just lock in on Omen or retort, but both choices lead to an outcome where they’ll constantly be on your ass. Before you can make a decision, however, someone speaks.

“Hey, let them play whoever they want to play. You can play Sage if you really want,” Sunwoo cuts into the conversation, hoping to diffuse the situation. But when a chuckle leaves the stranger, you know it’s far from reaching that.

“Ah, I see how it is. How’s the head?”

You’ve officially reached your limit, and it seems Sunwoo has reached his as well. “This shit isn’t worth it,” Sunwoo ends the conversation with that. Before you know it, you’re back in the lobby, alone. “Sorry, I quit the game. Just give me a second to boot it up.”

As you hear those words, warmth surges within you. You don’t like your teammate at all and he’s never given you any reason to treat him with kindness, but just this one action is enough to make you see him in a different light—is he rotten to the core or have you been blinded this whole time?

Before you know it, he requests to join your party, and you accept the invite. When your eyes catch sight that he’s deranked to Ascendant 2, it hits you that he lost some RR just to avoid playing with the player who was giving you a hard time.

(Would it be bad to hope he did it for you?)

You hop in the queue to find another match.

It’s quiet for a moment; the mood has been ruined by some stranger on Valorant. Yet, Sunwoo seems to have something under his sleeve, a way to lift your spirit. “What if we pick each other’s agents?”

“This is a ranked match. You know that, right?”

Sunwoo lets out a groan. “I know that! But think about how fun it would be! We can play each other’s mains!”

“Do you really want to play Omen or Sova?” The screen then shows you’ll be playing on Pearl. “I thought you wanted to win some games.”

“Hey, I can definitely play those agents!” You roll your eyes over his words, clearly not believing him. “Let’s make it a competition. Whoever gets placed on top of the leaderboard wins, but you play Raze while I play Omen.”

A hum leaves you as you contemplate his proposal. “What’s the prize?”

“Well,” Sunwoo pauses, thinking over what can be done. “What if the winner gets their wish granted by the loser?”

“A wish? What type of wish?”

“Well, that’s for us to determine in our own time.”

You should’ve said no—why would you agree to such a bet with the one guy you can’t stand being in a room with? But the problem is that your pride is on the line, and you wanted to prove to Sunwoo that you could do his job better as a duelist.

So, you don’t think twice when you say, “Ah, fuck it. Let’s do it.”

You should’ve played Raze earlier on in your esports career. The match passes you like a breeze, entering and clearing sites and shots landing on your opponents every round. You don’t remember having this much fun playing Raze for the first time.

But somehow, the universe didn’t listen to your wishes—Sunwoo sits on the top of the leaderboard while you’re under him.

“Fuck! I only needed one assist and I would’ve beaten you.” As you complain, your teammate laughs.

“Ah, I wonder what I should have you do for me.”

You roll your eyes before looking at the time. “God, it’s that late already? I think I’m gonna end the stream already.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ll be back.” Before you know it, he deafens himself on Discord.

A sigh leaves you before you briefly look through the chat. “Sorry guys, I’m gonna end it early. I still need to pack my suitcase for Challengers next week.” There’s a mix of comments, ones that beg you to stay while others that thank you for today’s stream. “I’ll try to stream again before I leave but no promises. Bye, everyone! Hope you enjoy the rest of your days!”

With that, you end the stream. Another good stream out of you despite how short it was.

The most surprising thing to come out of this stream is that you were enjoying your time with Sunwoo. Whether it may be from the later hours of the day or just a front that he was putting up for the audience, you didn’t want to think too much of it. You’ll accept it for what it is now.

As you quit out of some of your applications, you look back at Discord to see that he’s back.

For a moment, it’s quiet. There’s an internal struggle within you—should you thank him for what he said earlier or not?

You didn’t want to call attention to the issue anymore. Unfortunately, you’ve had your fair share of experiences with misogyny throughout your life, and it pained you to say that this wasn’t the worst thing you’ve heard. 

But he beats you to it, almost as if he was bothered by the silence, and says, “I’ll think about the wish for a bit, just want to think of my options.”

A groan rips out of you. “Don’t make me do anything stupid, please.”

He hums for a moment, almost as if he was considering your request, but you know who he is. “No guarantee! I’ll see you soon.”

Before you can retort, he ends the call. You stare blankly at your screen. If you thought Sunwoo was okay, you were absolutely wrong. He’s still a shithead.

But when you get in bed, you stare at the ceiling for a moment, and you can’t wipe off the grin that rests on your lips.

God, you need to sleep. 

perma taglist ➵ @deoboyznet @kflixnet @blankjournal @winterchimez @miusgirl @jenoscafe @sweet-unicorn-world @vernyangel @mosviqu @stealanity @deobi0412 @blue-rainydays @maessseongs

series taglist ➵ @wooluv09 @untilsunset @hiefisch @wonuroyal @sunkitti

if you enjoyed reading, please do reblog and leave feedback! don't just like :]

[badgalsasuke]

Do we know anything about how Sakura was created? Was it Kishimoto’s idea to create such a character or was she added by the editors so that the story wouldn’t look even more gay?

Hey anon!

yes, Kishimoto has talked about Sakura's creation before. He talked about it in the first official Naruto fanbook that came out in 2002

He also talked about it for the Jump SQ interview he did in 2014 [Full Interview]

Basically, Kishimoto didn't know how to come up with an actual plot or a conflict for the manga after he was done with the pilot chapter, so his editor Yahagi who was beast mode for Naruto suggested creating a rival (Sasuke) and then a heroine (Sakura).

I don't know for sure if Yahagi suggested a traditional love triangle (two boys fighting over a girl) and then Kishimoto was like "no, thank you" and did his own gay thing or if right off the bat Yahagi knew what Kishimoto intended which was Sakura and Naruto chasing and fighting over Sasuke, the gay version of a love triangle, basically making Sakura a character that was conceived as a red herring from the beginning.

I personally think it's the second one and let me tell you why, Kishimoto *LOVES* Yahagi (some mangakas hate their editors like Togashi lowkey), in every interview where he talks about that man he's always so grateful for having to work with him and saying how he learned so much from him and so on which leads me to believe Yahagi was a very flexible editor when it came to the story, but also that Yahagi himself has talked about how he saw something fresh in Kishimoto's writing that wasn't being done in shonen when he was first assigned as an editor to him. Now, it could be that "fresh" aspect was the colorful foreign looking ninjas, a concept which before Kishimoto didn't exist but it could also be that he took the relationship between two boys (the main character and his rival) in shonen manga beyond what was accepted and running at the time. Yahagi is not dumb, he was supervising 100 other mangakas and worked with Kishimoto from 1995 to 2008, that's 13 long ass years so you can't pull the "Kishimoto accidentally wrote Naruto and Sasuke gay" because Yahagi would've 100% noticed (if 12 year old kids notice, what makes people think an actual pro-editor wouldn't? lol) and then make Kishimoto correct and change the manga, because that's the other thing, Yahagi was always telling Kishimoto to change shit, a few examples:

Change the story from a fox that can turn into a human boy into the Naruto/Kurama dynamic we saw

Kishimoto wanted Hokages and senseis to be animals (the fourth hokage was a dog before Kishimoto came up with Minato) and Yahagi had him turn them into humans.

Kishimoto wanted Kakashi's rival to be from another village and introduce him during the Land of the Waves arc, Yahagi made him wait to properly develop a rival and make him from Konoha instead, that's how we got Gai.

Speaking of Gai, it was Yahagi who designed Gai and Rock Lee based on Bruce Lee

Kishimoto wanted more missions abroad but Yahagi made him instead come up with a tournament arc, that's how we got the Chuunin exams.

These are just a few of his contributions to the manga, that's how much power he had over it, if he didn't like what Kishimoto was doing with Naruto and Sasuke he would have put a stop to it *instantly* and yet it kept going and going and going, to the point Kishimoto talks so fondly of him years after they stopped working together. Yahagi knew and I believe he encouraged Kishimoto even more.

[socra-time]

Naruto Episode Comments, Ep 31-40

Ep 31:

-again, I like that other characters are doing the title voiceover instead of Naruto (it’s Lee this time)

-god the writer is really doing Sakura so fucking dirty

-I love Lee so much, he’s my cringefail but also badass son

-Neji was NOT having any of Team 10’s bullshit

-the way Sakura says Lee’s full name makes it sound like she’s saying “broccoli”

-I like that even though Neji is kinda an edgelord and clearly looks down on others, he’s still more cooperative with his team than Sasuke is. It’s clear that he’s more experienced than Sasuke

-at this point Lee has had two fights and Sakura has still had zero. Justice for Sakura

Ep 32:

-finally Sakura gets to do something hoorayyyy. -The hair-cutting moment was nice actually

-little Ino’s hair is so cute, she should’ve kept it short

-why do Ino and Sakura have more of a compelling relationship than Sakura and Sasuke do lmao

Ep 33:

-the soundtrack switchup into more upbeat music was kinda jarring ngl

-I love how Shikamaru and Choji don’t even object to Ino calling their team “Team Ino”

-Shikamaru’s shadow possession is one of the cooler powers we’ve seen so far, I’m curious to see if there’s anything besides immobilization he can do with it

-aw I actually like Team 10 more than I thought I would

-I love how it’s this big deal that Sasuke was going to kill someone when a couple episodes ago Kiba, Shino, and Hinata literally trapped people with man-eating leeches

Ep 34:

-Lee is so pure of heart, dumb of ass. I feel like I might not have liked him as much if I watched this show as a kid but I actually adore him

-awwww the kiddos are bonding

-Neji needs to get his antisocial ass down from the trees and talk to the others

-Akamaru is such a lil babyyyyyyy I wanna give him hug

-Kiba wanting to steal more scrolls has its pros and cons but he’s kinda right? As people with good tracking abilities, Team 8 kinda has an advantage in this phase of the exam, so they might as well press that advantage and pick off a bit of the competition

-lmao not Kiba calling Gaara tiny-

-the implications of Kiba smelling blood in Gaara’s sand are so fucked-up. Like he’s killed so many people with the sand that there’s just blood mixed in there

-Jesus fucking Christ Gaara

-Gaara has officially won the edgelord competition and it’s not even close

Ep 35:

-I fully thought the Heaven and Earth scrolls would be blank ngl

-Naruto and Sakura should have consulted with Sasuke before deciding to open their scroll, it should have been a team decision

-Naruto really sucks at all aspects of being a ninja that don’t involve duking it out with enemies

Ep 36:

-I like the muffled vocal effect on the illusions guy

-Naruto is one tenacious fucker lmao

-and Sasuke continues to not be able to catch a break

Ep 37:

-Iruka is so fond of Naruto and it’s so cute

-Lee and Gai continue to be peak characters

-this government system sounds kinda sus ngl

Ep 38:

-there were a lot of “secret” conversations in this episode that were in blatant earshot of other people. Like Anko was literally yelling at Kakashi about how dangerous the curse mark was in front of all the genin

-I don’t think I like that Sasuke goes in the first match, it cuts some of the hype buildup

-and as usual Sasuke can’t catch a fuckin break

Ep 39:

-to the surprise of absolutely no one, Sasuke won

-the sharingan is so fucking broken and ngl if I had to work super hard to train my jutsu and then here comes Sasuke fucking Uchiha who just… copies it, I’d be pissed as hell

-Sasuke really should have told Naruto about the curse mark. Like he says it’s because they’re a team and he doesn’t want Naruto to worry, but also they’re a team so he should TELL HIS TEAMMATES what’s going on with him

-the theme that plays when Orochimaru reveals himself to Kakashi goes so hard

Ep 40:

-Shino is so fucking cool but also I would never ever ever want to fight him

-“Orochimaru stop taking advantage of vulnerable hurt children by offering them power” challenge: failed epically

[thehaniverse]

HYBE vs Min Hee Jin - The Full Timeline

[Last updates: June 1st 2024]

Hi guys, Han here, and LORD, this has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I hope this is helpful to all those who are trying to follow this mess in its entirety.

Important notes:

I've included the pre-audit timeline to help you understand the history and context of everything that's happened

I will be updating periodically with new information

I will try to keep entries to the point, and highlight the main points given by each side without adding too much of my own opinion - so make your own conclusions!

Credits to TMIKpop on Twitter for most of the translated news articles as I'm far too lazy, busy (and dyslexic) to read all those Korean articles myself.

I tried to include sources as much as possible in the more recent news, but honestly, I'm going to be a little lazy with this as I don't have enough free time to go back and find sources for things that happened way in the past or are already well-known up to this point. Feel free to send me sources in my ask box though!

Green text indicates the latest updates for those following!

Also for reference, here are the key involved characters (and name abbreviations that will be used throughout this post.)

Bang PD (Bang Shihyuk, HYBE Chairman & BigHit CEO)

PJW (Park Jiwon, HYBE CEO, ex-CEO of NEXON Games)

MHJ (Min Hee Jin, ADOR CEO, ex-SM employee)

VP L (Lee Sangwoo, VP of ADOR, ex-financial division at HYBE)

VP S (Shin ??, VP of ADOR)

NJs (NewJeans), LS (Le Sserafim), IL (ILLIT), GFRIEND & BTS

BHM (BigHit Music), SouMu (Source Music), BELIFT & ADOR

Items with * are accusations by either ADOR or HYBE, but that haven't been 100% verified as true or false. Things that have been verified won't have any *.

Similarly, (RUMORS) that seem to have some basis in reality based on existing evidence but have not been explicitly stated by either side are also included. Also disclaimer: I am not pro-HYBE nor pro-MHJ, I have my personal opinion but I've tried to keep this as impartial and unbiased as possible. I've just presented the news that has been released, if it tills one way, that's just how it is.

Without further ado(r LOL), let's begin!

2019~2021

MHJ joins BigHit Ent as Chief Branding Officer for all labels - this is in preparation for Bighit Ent becoming HYBE.

*Between then and 2021, MHJ suggests making a girl group to Bang PD, and they agree to make the group under SouMu rather than BHM. However, MHJ is never officially employed at SouMu.

*Bang PD promises that MHJ's group will be HYBE's first girl group.

All NJs members join SouMu (Minji joined in 2017 / Hani 2019 / Haerin & Danielle 2020 / Hyein 2021)

*NJs' debut is pushed back initially because of COVID, then again due to contract issues, resulting in LS being ready to debut first and PJW telling MHJ that NJs will no longer be the first gg from HYBE. MHJ claims the reason for NJs' debut delay is because they didn't like her creative vision though.

2021

Q1 (Exact Timing Unknown)

Bang PD starts developing LS with SouMu as he wants to create a group featuring known members, Chaewon and Sakura from Iz*one.

*NJs' debut is pushed back initially because of COVID, then again due to contract issues, resulting in LS being ready to debut first

PJW tells MHJ that NJs will no longer be the first gg from HYBE.

*MHJ is upset that another gg is being developed under Source and claims that it's because Bang PD didn't like the direction she was taking NJs and abandoned her to work on LS instead.

MHJ later agrees to the new debut schedule, with LS debuting just 2 months before NJs, and decides that is enough time for her to promote NJs.

Feb/Mar

HYBE is officially established as a company with Bang PD as CEO.

May

PJW is announced as the new CEO of HYBE.

Bang PD continues as CEO of only BGM but only the chairman of HYBE. This means he has no say in the daily operations of HYBE, but can make big decisions that go to the Board of Directors (BOD). Note: Each label under HYBE has its own individual CEO.

GFRIEND is officially disbanded without any notice from SouMu.

*MHJ is accused (by HYBE staff) of taking almost all of the SouMu staff to ADOR resulting in SouMu not having enough staff to manage GFRIEND and LS. SouMu also had a lot of debt from the training of NJs that they would no longer see a return on as the profits would go to ADOR so they needed to take dramatic measures. (RUMOR) SouMu had already sunk a lot of money into LS (and NJs) and expected LS to be more popular as they were debuting under HYBE, so they decided to terminate GFRIEND at the end of their contracts without warning.

November

ADOR is officially established so that MHJ can have full control over her group's image and development, rather than answering to SouMu CEO and Bang PD.

HYBE gives 16.1B won investment for the establishment of ADOR

Bang PD gives MHJ 2B won to buy 2.8B won worth of ADOR stocks (amounting to 20%, 2% of which she later shared out to her two VPS.) He also gave her 2.9B of HYBE stocks as part of her official recruitment package as CEO of ADOR at only 23% of the actual share value (aka she got a 77% discount). However, MHJ sold 1,000 shares in mid-Nov and another 1000 shares on 8 Dec 2022, earning 760M, and walked away with an additional 120M in cash just 15 days after her investment. // Source: Silsa Journal

2022

May

LS debuts from SouMu

*HYBE claims they shortened their promotional period in order to give MHJ enough time to promote NJs ahead of their debut, but MHJ shows Kakao messages of PJW specifying that NJs should not be promoted ahead of LS' debut so they can benefit from the speculation of them being MHJ's group.

LS' debut is overshadowed by the Garam scandal.

(RUMOR) While Garam was later found to be innocent and misrepresented in the media (ie she was protecting a friend from a bully, not actively bullying someone), many believe MHJ was the one who leaked the information to the press to jeopardize LS' debut. This comes from the statements from HYBE that they have evidence of her collecting and leaking artists' private information.

July

NJs debuts with ZERO pre-debut promotion, instead dropping an incredible amount of content for the debut promotions. Note: While MHJ claims HYBE tried to stop her promoting at all before their debut, she has not provided any evidence. It is the responsibility of each individual label to plan and execute their artist's promotions.

End of Year

Thanks to NJs' successful debut, ADOR has paid off a majority of their debt to HYBE, and now only owes 4B won.

2023

Dec // Source: Donga Ilbo

Bang PD lends MHJ money to buy cheap stock options (intentionally discounted by HYBE for her to buy) and MHJ uses the loan to buy a 20% stake in ADOR. This means she gets paid her shares on top of her 1M USD annual salary as CEO. Note: I couldn't confirm this, but it's believed she is the only CEO of any HYBE label that has stocks in her company. BHM is private so there are no stocks and it is owned completely by Bang PD, while the other labels' stocks are owned 100% by HYBE.

MHJ buys the shares on the following conditions: + If she decides to quit, HYBE is obliged to buy the stocks back and pay MHJ 13 times [ADOR's profit from the last 2 years x her % of shares] + She can quit from Nov 2024 and has a non-compete clause for 2 years where she must maintain a 4.5% stake in ADOR. Note: This means as a stakeholder she can not establish her own company or work for a company that will directly compete with ADOR for those 2 years, as she can not do work that can potentially devalue her shares. This is standard in many industries.

MHJ later shares 2% of her shares to executives of ADOR: VP S and VP L. Note: It is unclear if she sold them or gifted them.

Q4 (Exact Timing Unknown)

VP L leaves their position in HYBE's financial team and starts to work at ADOR under MHJ.

*HYBE accuses VP L of downloading a bunch of HYBE's private financial data that he should no longer have access to, and giving it to MHJ to later use to try and blackmail HYBE into selling their ADOR stocks with the investors she is colluding with. This would mean the majority of ADOR stocks would be controlled by people who support MHJ's decisions.

2024

Feb // Source: Donga Ilbo

MHJ tries to negotiate the terms of her contract with HYBE. She requests the following: + The 13x valuation of her shares be increased to 30x. Taking their value from approximately 100B won to 270B won. (This would be 5.5x the amount of profit she actually made with ADOR in 2023.) + The complete removal of the non-compete clause, allowing her to cash out all of her stocks and start/work for a competitor company immediately after leaving the company.

Additionally, she asks for the ability to make decisions regarding outside investors by herself as the CEO without HYBE's input.

HYBE rejects all of her requests because they would be complete financial losses and risks to HYBE. Negotiations stop as neither side will budge.

It is also around this time that HYBE gets the tips that MHJ is planning a management takeover with outside investors.

Mar

HYBE received a tip that MHJ is planning to try and make ADOR independent by gathering investors who support MHJ to buy up the majority of ADOR shares.

[23rd~29th] MHJ and VP L share messages about selling ADOR after 'emptying it like a shell', how to make ADOR independent, and how they should blackmail HYBE and ruin HYBE's reputation. *HYBE believes the 'empty shell' comment means terminating NJs' contracts with the majority shareholder power from the investors MHJ was meeting. Note: MHJ has confirmed the existence of these messages but insists they were just jokes between disgruntled employees. HYBE retorts that these plans are too specific and detailed, and they found additional evidence to prove they were more than just empty words.

[25th] ILLIT debuts with 'Magnetic'

April

[3rd] MHJ submits an internal complaint to HYBE and BELIFT that IL's concept is copyright infringement of NJs and that HYBE has the obligation to protect them. She requests they respond by April 23rd or 24th (not clear.)

MHJ also complains to the parents of NJs that HYBE is trying to sideline NJs with IL.

[22nd] HYBE and BELIFT submit a 6-page response to MHJ. Note: She later claims that she didn't receive any response, but HYBE provides proof that she received it, so she changed that they replied last minute so she couldn't prepare for the audit, but the response doesn't mention the audit because they are separate issues. However, MHJ believes the audit is all because of the IL situation.

HYBE carries out and publically announces the ADOR audit. This results in an 8% drop in HYBE stocks. (Whistleblower will be revealed later!) *They claim to find evidence of her plans, the illegally obtained company and artist information, and more.

[23rd] MHJ holds a 2.5 hour press conference in retaliation. *She doubles down that she believes this is all because of the complaint she filed and that HYBE (and particularly Bang PD) has hated her and NJs from the beginning. Conference Transcript Here:

[24th] This was also the deadline for which all company devices needed to be returned for the audit but MHJ refused to return her work laptop (and still hasn't as far as I know.) *MHJ claims the timing of the audit was intentional to jeopardize NJs' comeback, however, HYBE provided copied devices to all the employees. She has since not given any justification for not returning her laptop and NJs comeback is continuing as scheduled.

[26th] While HYBE initially stated they wouldn't respond on the day of the conference, they later released a full statement addressing the key points of MHJ's argument. HYBE's full response in English:

NJs's fans (Bunnies) sent trucks to HYBE requesting that MHJ stop using NJs and their parents to protect herself and that NJs stay within HYBE.

NJ's parents refuse to accept calls from HYBE but express their support through newspaper interviews.

Both NJs and BTS RM announce their comebacks set for May 24th. (HYBE's stocks recover thanks to this.) MHJ paints this as HYBE trying to crush NJs with their biggest group because NJs surpassed BTS - HYBE retorts that BHM picked the date first and advised her to change the date, but she insisted on having NJs' comeback on the same day.

[30th] HYBE calls an extraordinary general meeting with the BODs, but the ADOR executives and MHJ do not attend, meaning they have to file a legal suit requiring the MHJ, VP S and VP L to attend the ADOR BODs extraordinary general meeting on May 31st instead.

Other things of note that happened between the 22nd to 30th:

News reports broke that a petition for re-investigation regarding a 2017 allegation against BTS for Sagaeji was passed to the KFTC & Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism. Days later the organizations responded by clearing the charges and asking that all musicians be as honest and forthcoming as BTS. It was later discovered at the hearing that MHJ was behind this situation, and ordered her VPs to create a buzz around the issue to distract attention from her. // Sources: Link / Yonhap News

Similarly, following the accusation from HYBE that MHJ was talking to her 'shaman friend', a rumor broke that BTS were members of a cult that the chairman of their university (Cyber Global University) is rumored to be part of. The Chairman denied being part of a cult, and HYBE/BHM released statements denying the allegations too.

(RUMOR) "K-ARMYs" sent trucks and funeral wreaths to HYBE dissing the company and pleading allegiance only to BTS until May 7th. The following day, these were replaced by trucks from "Bunnies" showing support for MHJ - contradicting the prior trucks sent criticising her. The suspicious timing, the unusually fast fundraising, the contradictory message, the hiring of bodyguards to protect the wreaths, and other strange coincidences cast doubt on if any of these trucks are actually from fans. Many believe MHJ is funding these herself to paint the image that fans are on her side, or at least hate HYBE, justifying her own discontent with HYBE.

May // Source: Biz Chosun

[7th] MHJ files an injunction to Seoul District Court to block HYBE from using their 80% share of ADOR to vote her out (fire her.)

[10th] ADOR BOD agreed to HYBE's request to hold the extraordinary general meeting to discuss the dismissal of MHj (and the two VPs.)

*The same day, prior to the BOD announcement, MHJ's side said a styling team leader was subject to improper coercion during the audit. // Source: Lee Daily HYBE later retaliated explaining how the audit was conducted and that when the staff wanted to stop, they respected her wishes. Furthermore, HYBE said they found evidence of embezzlement and improper payment receipts for ADOR staff. // Source: Newsen ADOR denied that the payment methods were normal and legal, but definitely they are not. // Source: Newsis However, the staff did come forward to say she felt pressured and blackmailed with the embezzlement claims if she didn't comply with the audit. // Source: Ilgan Sports

[12th] An email from "NJs Parents" to HYBE is released to a newspaper, the contents of the email describing how Bang PD did not greet the girls in the elevator, and how they are their parents were upset by it. HYBE retorted that this was not true, and that the email was fabricated by VP L and MHJ and they had proof of this. // Source: YTN A parent of NJs later gave an interview with Ilgan Sports revealing the email was in fact written by MHJ, based on conversations she had with the parents. She also claimed PJW had said the girls would take a break for 1.5 years in order to find a Grammy worthy producer for NJs and that the parents were worried about their careers. // Source: Ilgan Sports HYBE denies any such statement and that they plan to continue NJs schedules as planned. //Source: Seoul Newspaper

[13th] YTN reports HYBE has selected a new CEO for ADOR to replace MHJ once she's voted out, and that they will reveal all of the results of the audit at the court hearing.

Controversy about NJs new song 'Bubble Gum' being plagiarised from a 1982 song called 'Easier Said Than Done' by British Rock Band ShakaTak. // Source: Biz Chosun

[14th] HYBE filed a complaint with the FSS due to insider trading carried out thanks to a tip from MHJ's side about the upcoming public scandal. Note: It's complicated and is about additional people not mentioned until now, so I will link the thread explaining it. It is relevant however, as it backs HYBE's claim that MHJ had planned to ruin their company image as part of her management takeover plan even before the audit. LINK

[17th] The hearing for MHJ's injunction takes place. Each side has 30 minutes to present their arguments and evidence. The below tweets summarize the main points.

HYBE's Side:

ADOR's Side:

Although MHJ requested her Kakao messages not to be shared publically (despite her already showing some), a reporter did recreate the messages. (He copied them word for word but recreated the image so it doesn't break the rules.) The messages show her hatred for women in general, particularly a female employee who was reported assaulted by one of the VPs. Messages Translation: LINK Message Source: LINK LINK

[17th] NJs members and their parents all submitted petitions to oppose the dismissal of MHJ and request that MHJ and NJs continue to stay under HYBE - these petitions were submitted before the hearing where MHJ's disparaging comments against NJs were revealed. // Source: Hankook Ilbo

A petition signed by 10,000 NJs' fans, and various petitions from ADOR staff members was also submitted to the court in favor of MHJ.

Various staff from HYBE (Pdogg (BTS producer), CEO Han Seongsoo (Pledis founder and producer of Seventeen), CEO So Seongjin (Source Music), Son Seongduk (BigHit performance director), Kim Seonghyun (BTS and Le Sserafim’s creative director), and Slow Rabbit (TXT producer)) filed petitions in favor of HYBE showing strong loyalty from various labels and artists. //Source: News 1

[17th] HYBE's Q1 results were released and showcased how NJs/ADOR is not as valuable an asset as MHJ is painting them out to be. This goes against MHJ's argument that HYBE is trying to crush her because NJs are getting 'too big'. LINK

[17th] The whistleblower who tipped HYBE off to make them do the audit is revealed. Long story short it was one of the associates of the investors MHJ had been trying to get to buy shares of ADOR who reached out to HYBE. MHJ has claimed during her conference she never met any investors and that HYBE should prove who they are. Now that they've been named, she's still deflecting because it was VP L who met with the investors rather than MHJ herself. // Source: LINK / Biz Chosun

[17th - yeah, a lot happened this day] MHJ accuses HYBE of trying to make her commit 'Albun Pushing', as well as complaining about the distribution deal with UMG - HYBE retaliates denying the allegations and provides evidence of MHJ doing the exact thing she accused them of, and also explains how the UMG benefits all artists and has already benefit NJs. // Source: LINK Note: This is NOT Sajaegi, but it is still a tactic to inflate sales. The difference is Sajaegi is the company buying the albums themselves, whereas this album pushing is forcing distributors to preorder more stock and then hold events (like fansigns) to help them sell out after.

[22nd] BELIFT also filed an official defamation suit against MHJ. // Source: Hangkook Finance // Note: In Korea, you can sued for defamation even if what you said is proven true if it is deemed not beneficial to the general public and detrimental to the person/entity who was defamed. If found guilty, this would be grounds for MHJ's injunction to be canceled.

[24th] This day is the deadline by which both sides can submit additional evidence before the courts make their decision on whether to pass MHJ's injunction (stopping HYBE from voting her out) or not. // Source: YNA

[24th~19th] Various text messages, supposedly from HYBE's legal argument are leaked to the public. They contain damning messages that show that MHJ was planning (in detail) the takeover of ADOR/NJs prior to the debut of ILLIT. As the messages are 'leaked' it is hard to prove their validity, but MHJ later states (on the 30th] that the messages were taken out of context (not that they were lies/edited.) // Source: KBS

KakaoTalk Message Translations are available here: PannKpop

[25th] PJW met with 3/5 NJs' mothers and guaranteed that they would be able to carry out their Tokyo Dome performance plans regardless of MHJ's status after the injunction - despite MHJ refusing to share the files/information related to the concert plans. // Source: Ilgan Sports

[30th] The court rules in favor of Min Hee Jin. They admit that while she did plan a management takeover and take action that could be harmful/disadvantageous to HYBE, she did not do anything that would be detrimental to ADOR which is her prime responsibility, and that the loss of MHJ to ADOR could be harmful. // Source: Hankook Ilbo

This injunction temporarily stops HYBE from firing MHJ unless they can prove she is bad for ADOR or that she has committed some sort of criminal offense against HYBE. // Source: Kyunghyang Newspaper

HYBE says they will respect the court's decision and act accordingly (likely file an appeal.) MHJ announces she will do a press conference the following day. She also claims that the dismissal of her two VPs will be against the court's decision, but technically they aren't covered by the injunction. // Source: Seoul Newspaper

[31st] The ADOR extraordinary general meeting takes place.

HYBE fires the two VPs who worked under MHJ and replace them with with three Hybe officers. Kim Joo-young, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Lee Jae-sang, Chief Strategy Office (CSO), and Lee Kyung-joon, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) were appointed at the EGM. //Note: The CHRO is a woman, which is interesting due to MHJ's disparaging comments about working with women according to the messages allegedly leaked by HYBE. // Source: Yeonhap News

This new BoD line-up for ADOR means MHJ is outnumbered 3:1 in any decision and is seen as a way for HYBE to keep her in check.

Note: I haven't included notes from MHJ's conference yet as I haven't watched it for myself yet! I also don't know what parts will be relevant to the main timeline later, so I will update again a bit later.

This is all the information so far, I've skipped some of the common knowledge things like the details of the IL plagiarism or cult accusations because I think they just muddle the whole timeline and are very inconsequential.

I will continue to update this page as things continue to happen. And I want to show out TMIKPOP from Twitter one more time as I wouldn't have been able to put this together without their tweets.

[zeroeightzeroone]

serenade - lee felix

genre: fluff/soft, boy next door felix vibes

pairings: gender neutral reader x nonidol!felix

warnings: none

wc ~2.8k | moodboard

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ｡ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:

'god, they make me so nervous.' 

felix gulps and quickly glances down at his lap, where he's fiddling with his fingers nervously as he tries his best to act normal.

emphasis on the word tries.

his heart is constantly beating out of his chest while his hands clam up–all because you're seated across from him. with each passing glance from you in his direction, felix's composure falters, and his heart wants to run into your arms.

when you look in felix's direction, with those breathtaking eyes of yours that felix finds himself lost in, time and time again. your eyes that mesmerize him, he finds himself analyzing the waves of colour in your iris, tangled up in you as he swims in the depths of your beautiful eyes; he wouldn't mind drowning in them if it meant your eyes were on him and only him for the rest of his life.

under your gaze, felix can only muster a slight smile that you return, but he wants to smack himself. he could feel just how stiff his smile was; no doubt it looked awkward. he can't seem to relax his lips around you–he can't relax, period.

felix is always scared to mess up around you, to stumble over his words, and for you to perceive him as an idiot.

felix likes you, no–felix is in love with you.

but he doesn't quite know how to go about it, how to confess or how to serenade you so you fall into his waiting arms.

no matter how many times chan tries to tell his younger friend to be himself around you, to act natural, and you'll become putty in his arms, as chan argues, who won't? with someone as bright as felix, anyone would fall for his cute freckled face and charming personality. felix just can't; he's not on the same page.

he's too busy overthinking his next moves and how you may perceive them, even simple questions such as;

"hi, the weather's nice. do you wanna take a walk?"

felix is too scared to ask; he's worried you'll say no. he doesn't think his heart can take it if you say no.

the possibilities of admiring you from afar suggest both pros and cons. secretly admiring you with no clue regarding your feelings for him leads to two possibilities: you reciprocate felix's romantic feelings, or you see him as just a friend. if the latter turns out to be true when rejecting his offer to take a walk, his hopes will be crushed. but if the former is true, then felix is over the moon.

the glaring possibility of you not reciprocating his romantic feelings and holding mere platonic feelings for felix holds him back from confessing. he doesn't know if he's ready for that possible rude awakening.

one could say that ignorance is bliss.

the ones who aren't ignorant are your shared group of friends, felix's feelings for you are glaringly obvious in their eyes. every little thing flies under the radar of those in your friend group with hawk-like eyes.

the boys are well aware of felix's crush: he never stops talking about you, and the boys also never stop talking about felix's confession, interested in the how, what, when's and where's of the big moment.

a variety of questions felix has yet to find an answer to as the thought of confessing scares him to pieces.

on the other hand, the girls didn't even need to be explicitly told about felix's feelings for you. the freckled boy always has heart eyes when he's around you, or his eyes light up with joy at the mere mention of you, that in itself made the crush strikingly apparent and practically confirmed every suspicion they had.

heck, the whole neighbourhood probably knows how heart-eyes felix is for you.

…

when sunday came around, it was a miracle that some of you had a day off on such a beautiful day.

the sun shone brightly, the trees up and down the streets were beautifully full and green, and other trees had pink and white sakura petals blowing in the wind. the floral scent of the sakura and flowers blooming danced along with the smell of freshly baked pastries and coffee beans. since most of you had a free day, you all met up at a local cafe to spend a lazy sunday morning together.

the group spread out at the different tables of the cafe's outdoor seating as they basked in the spring atmosphere. once seated, you all conversed with one another as you patiently waited for the drinks and pastries you ordered. depending on where everyone decided to sit and whom they were sitting with, the topics of conversation varied.

felix sat with seungmin and jeongin as they discussed the upcoming release of a role-playing video game they had been looking forward to for quite some time now. while you sat at the table next to them closer to the cafe window, yeji and ryujin sitting across from you.

in the midst of the conversations, the barista came out to serve the orders to the respective person. most of the group ordered their usual beverage alongside a small pastry, while the others picked some things off the best-seller list to try something new for once. felix noticed that they were offering limited seasonal drinks, so he opted to try that alongside a triple chocolate brownie.

when felix's drink was served, everyone's eyes were drawn to the layered, gradient detail, which made his drink more appealing and exciting than everyone else's; the matcha green, white, and pink layering was definitely eye-catching. however, what caught felix's eye was how your eyes sparkled in awe as he sipped on the drink.

it took him a couple of minutes to build up the courage to ask you, but eventually, he did. felix took one last sip and turned to you with a shy smile, "did you want to try?"

your eyes widened a bit at the fact that you'd been caught staring at felix and his drink, not noticing the redness on the tips of his ears. you shake your head with a smile, but felix hasn't spent the past couple of minutes building up his courage to say no.

"c'mon."

you shake your head again, "it's okay, i have a drink."

"sip for a sip?" felix suggests. you cock your head in confusion, "you take a sip of mine, and i take one from yours; that way, it'll be even."

jeongin and seungmin have amused smiles on their faces, watching this exchange go down, much like everyone else does. ryujin and yeji are holding back their giggles while jisung and changbin are holding back from teasing the shit out of felix for being able to get a few sentences out when speaking to you. instead of teasing felix to his face and embarrassing him in front of you at that moment, they're whipping out their phones and sending messages to chan, minho and hyunjin.

they're all trying to act like they aren't glancing over and listening to you two. 

after a brief pause, you're biting back a sheepish smile and shrugging, "why not."

when you and felix exchange cups, your fingers accidentally brush against him. it's a gesture you don't notice, but felix sure as hell does. it's pathetic, but he thinks he might just faint.

you’re quick to take a sip first, which is a testament to just how excited and curious you were when you first laid eyes on felix's drink. your eyes only light up further when the drink hits your tongue, and felix goes ahead and takes a sip of your drink. you go to take another sip, but you're quick to stop yourself, realizing it wasn't part of the agreement.

"if you want, we can just switch," felix offers when you turn towards him. you blink. " you seem to like my drink more than i do," he chuckles, and you feel your cheeks heat up.

"are you sure? what if you didn't like mine?" 

"i like yours better," he's lying through his teeth.

in all honesty, felix preferred the drink he ordered to yours, but if he could see that look in your eyes when you took a sip and offered to exchange drinks, that was enough to convince him that he preferred your drink over his. felix would lie and persuade himself he liked things he didn't if it meant he'd get to see that sparkle in your eyes—anything to make you happy.

felix is absolutely whipped for you. absolutely down bad.

especially seeing how it's now almost three thirty in the morning; he's laying in bed gazing up at the ceiling and replaying how your eyes lit up at his offer to first take a sip and then offer you the whole drink. felix also feels like a grade-schooler when his mind tells him drinking from the same straw as you did was an indirect kiss. just the thought of kissing you makes felix giddy.

his phone buzzing from its spot next to him on the mattress snaps him out of his trance. felix's mind now wanders to who would text him at three thirty in the morning, when everyone either had work or school the next day. regardless, he picks up his phone and nearly drops it on his face when he sees they're from you.

y/n :) : thank you again for earlier  i should've gotten it for myself in the first place so i didn't have to steal yours

felix: i gave it to you voluntarily, no stealing there no need to thank me at all

y/n :) : whatever you say lix

'lix'.

god he feels like he's going to go into cardiac arrest.

you've never called him that; it's always been felix or yongbok. this has him wondering if this is just a one-off occurrence or if you'll start addressing him like that now. he hopes for the latter, even though the latter will have him practically melting whenever you call him as if he doesn't already.

'are you free on friday? we can go back to the cafe together so you can get the seasonal drink this time.'

'i was just wondering if you were free on friday.'

'you know, since it's a limited-time seasonal drink, did you wanna go back on friday?'

he doesn't send any of those potential messages, psyching himself out of asking you to hang out just the two of you on friday. he just types them up and carefully deletes them, hoping he doesn't accidentally send them; he'd probably double over in embarrassment if he sent a half-deleted message asking you out. 

yes, he built up enough courage to ask if you wanted some of his drink earlier and eventually switched his with yours, but asking you to hang out with just the two of you is a whole separate thing. you've only ever hung out with each other in a group setting.

at least in a group, he can sit silently while he's freaking out internally and not have to worry about filling the air with conversation. he'd probably find himself stumbling over his words if it was just the both of you; he'd look like a loser and then have no chance.

instead, felix opts for a:

how was the rest of your day today?

with his phone resting on his chest and his screen facing the ceiling, he waits for your reply. his heart almost jumps out of his ribcage when his phone buzzes.

y/n :) : it was good! but the highlight was definitely the seasonal drink at the cafe haha  it was so good!

your little 'haha' at the end of the second message brings a smile to felix's face; he can hear your little giggles in his head when he reads the message. his heart flutters at the thought.

felix: i'm happy to hear you liked it so much it became the highlight of your day haha  you went to watch a friend's basketball game in the evening right?

y/n :) : yeah i did! 

felix: how was that? did your friends team win?

y/n :) : that was also fun, they didn't win, but it was a close call the other team was down by two but got a three-pointer at the buzzer  the crowd went wild at that

felix: oh wow, it really was a close call did you go wild too lol

y/n :) : i mean it was hard not to haha  my friend, even tho he lost, was raving about it afterwards  even his team was amazed by the chances

felix: are they playing against another team or was it their last game

y/n :) : they have another game on friday

well, there goes felix's plan of asking you out on friday, a plan he repeatedly talked himself out of due to his fear of rejection.

nonetheless, the plan was still up in the air and within reach if he decided he had the guts over the week. felix texts back, wishing your friend's team luck and hoping they win their upcoming game. feeling a bit dejected that you are, in fact busy, on friday, he hopes his dejection isn't evident through the pop-up on your side of the screen.

laying his phone back down on his chest, face up, he ponders, making up strategies in his head on potential ways he'll confess in the future, only to hit the conclusion that he needs to consult the boys; anything he thinks of on his own leads to him talking himself out of it.

whenever felix thinks of confessing, he has two potential outcomes in mind: you reject him, effectively breaking his heart and forcing him to move on, or you reciprocate his feelings; felix will be in disbelief that the girl of his dreams likes him back, and you both live happily ever after. the latter only manifests late at night, in the depths of his unconsciousness, when he's going through sleep cycles. where he wakes up happy until he registers he's been dreaming.

felix's phone buzzes on his chest multiple times, signalling he's getting more than one notification, prompting him to grab ahold of the device out of curiosity and silence it; it's almost four in the morning, and the vibration of his phone is louder than it seems in the middle of the afternoon. 

y/n :) : i've been meaning to ask actually did you want to come to the game with me this friday? it'll be just us two, and we could go to the cafe either before or after if you're free that is if you aren't that's okay too  

felix has the heels of his hands on his eyes, rubbing vigorously before he's looking at his phone screen again, making sure that he's reading correctly and not seeing things. he also pinches himself to ensure he isn't imagining anything, that he isn't dreaming of you asking him on a date–well, is it a date?

it could just be a friendly, platonic hangout alone.

regardless, it's the two of you alone, and he thinks he will explode. this is even more so when his eye rubbing and pinching only solidifies that he is indeed seeing what he's seeing.

it isn't a dream; it's reality, and they're staring at him through words on a screen. 

felix wants to take a breath to calm his heart but at the same time he needs to reply as soon as possible before you take back your offer if he seems uninterested.

felix: i'm free on friday! i'd love to go to the game and revisit the cafe with you

'was love too much? do i sound too excited?'

felix reads his message over and over again, his heart leaping when the grey bubbles pop up and indicate you typing on the other side. god, he hopes this isn't some cruel joke; his heart is too fragile to take that. if he reads into this wrong and you snap him into reality, then he will feel like his dawn has been ruined.

when his phone buzzes with another incoming message from you, he feels like he's dreaming, still not believing his eyes even as he repeatedly reads over your messages.

if felix felt like a grade schooler earlier, he feels it tenfold now. the giddiness and excitement bubbling up within him and threatening to overflow are reminiscent of your grade school crush telling you they liked your shirt or thought your pencil was cool. or when you're playing a game of truth or dare, and your friends tease you by daring your crush to hug you, the giddiness that comes from that hug.

he practically feels like he's over the moon, on cloud nine, giggling and kicking his feet as he repeatedly reads the grey bubbles on his screen. his heart soaring and tummy flipping after each read.

y/n :) : it's a date :)  i'll see you this friday lix <3

main masterlist

[turboacek-blog]

If Kiba was the main character

Made two recent ish posts where I did Tenten if the main character which was basically just some upgrade ideas for her

And I made/plan to make one where I thought the Inuzuka Clan and Aburame clan should use summons instead of their dogs and insects

So this is the follow up of that

Summon idea

To pull from my other post:

Basically things from Kakashi’s ninja dog summons where being able to talk and use weapons and such would be a nice plus to Kiba having Akamaru as a partner as those pros are added

Werewolf form

I’ve toyed with this idea with fanfiction and such but basically the flip of the man beast transformation where they become the giant two later three headed dog like a Cerberus.

Kiba and Akamaru become a normal (maybe taller and bigger than average human) size man with a lot of the dog/wolf characteristics a la a werewolf (not just transforming into a wolf that I know some adaptations of werewolves do)

Where they have the enhanced strength speed reflexes etc, would likely have the fur and fangs and claws enhanced

And I can see this form having more Justus versatility like unlike the giant one this one could use clones so it’s a numbers vs size

This can have the classic wolf howl be a sound based Justu

Etc etc there’s plenty of things to pull from but I do think in the Naruto world being essentially the super human is a good bonus alone

And it’s an upgrade to existing beast man transformation where Kiba already gets more dog like traits

Burrowing fang

There was an idea of what would each other member of the Konoha 12 nature affinity would be since we learned Naruto’s was wind and Sasuke’s was lightning

And while we don’t know his affinity we saw practically everyone in the war used earth style for that earth wall tactic

Before when trying to think of which element would benefit each person the most, ie people think Tenten should have wind or lightning because of her weapons

For Kiba I chose with earth even before that war move

And earth was mainly because of the digging connection with dogs

So the idea is that Kiba and Akamaru fang over fang can also go underground that way it can not only have a surprise element but also be more powerful with the nature added and versatile as just going underground seems one of the more underrated Justus in Naruto as Naruto and Kakashi have proven its usefulness and Naruto wasn’t even using earth jutsu

Muscle

The weakest and weirdest one but I think out of all the characters outside of Lee and Guy Kiba should be the one I think in the most physical shape

Like he should be built like Shira from the chunin exam filler where he has the muscle and size advantage over someone like Lee

I only bring this up as he’s a Taijutsu specialist and if you don’t have the speed like Lee and Neji or the chakra enhanced strength like a Sakura or Choji or even the most skilled like Sasuke Naruto etc I think you need the muscle to balance it out

This should overall be an increase to other aspects like his tunneling fang hits a little harder

Akamaru

For the other half of the pair ‘Akamaru’ needs some upgrades too

More dogs

Something interesting background lore is that Kiba’s sister Hana Inuzuka has three dogs

And I don’t think we ever see her fight (maybe in filler but whatever) but I think just the idea that having more than one dog at a time can increase the combination possibilities as it’s his version of clones

Red form

It’s implied but make his red form be way more powerful as it seems more Akamaru just gets into battle mode vs it being an upgrade or power boost

Akamaru should be either really feral or fast or strong or something as it just treats it as an equal to Kiba who we already said isn’t the strongest character

Or make it special as Akamaru turning red is already special based on what we know so what if Akamaru red form had special trait like maybe it’s nature is fire so now all it’s attack has a fire element to it resulting in potentially burning the enemy

That’s all for now

Kiba and the Inuzuka clan are hard to think of upgrades for as the dogs while unique in the verse does pigeon hole them into only focusing on the dog techniques established in the beginning

And as Taijutsu specialists it’s weird to say oh they need to be as good as Lee and Neji in Taijutsu when that’s kind of the point for Lee and Neji

If any more ideas let me know :)

[sagemoderocklee]

My Home is Your Home (5/8) Chapter Five: Belongings Event: @puregaalee Presents: WIP Your Heart Out Artist: @roarshackle Word Count: 8,319 Fandom: Naruto Pairing: GaaLee, mild ShikaTema, mentions of NejiTen, past LeeSaku; implied KankuroxOC Characters: Gaara, Rock Lee, Kankuro, OCs, Tenten, Haruno Sakura Warnings: past major character death, ghosts, sleep paralysis, past conservatorship, character death Summary:

Siu-lung's furniture isn't enough for Gaara. He wants more.

A/N:

Well, it's finally time I get this thing finished.

In an effort to get word out about the fic fundraising campaign for Gazan families' fundraisers, I've decided that the best thing to do to spread the word is to... well, update a fic.

Due to Ao3's rules about not referencing anything financial in relation to fanfiction, and also their silencing of pro-Palestine volunteers, I have kept the verbiage in my A/Ns on Ao3 less direct to avoid possible censorship, but the main purpose of updating this fic is to get attention for these campaigns, so please do click the above link and consider donating to the families listed. Again, there are three options for fanfic from me in exchange for a minimum $5 donation: a new fic, an update, or a sequel to RtS. The linked post goes into more detail.

And as always, please give lots of love to my amazing artist @roarshackle who consistently went above and beyond working on the art for this fic. I can never decide what my favorite piece is, but chapter 5's art is nothing short of breathtaking.

I can't say for sure when the next chapter will come. Though after re-reading the first 5 chapters of this fic, I am feeling a lot more confident than I was last year at this time, I am still sick with my second covid infection, and if memory serves, chapter six needs a lot more work than chapter 5 did. Plus, once I'm better, I'll be back to working on helping out families with their campaigns.

Anyways, without further ado... Chapter 5!

CLICK HERE!