#so. brb going back to class again lol

[catiuskaa]

new task: valentine’s day.

PAIRING! seungmin x reader ; enemies/rivals2lovers!

SUMMARY: boring classes, boring classmates, boring assignments…to seungmin, everyone is boring even if he’s used to pretend otherwise, but you seem to get on his nerves. you, your stupid poem, and his stupid letter.

WC: 10.6k (OH MY FUCKING GOD)

CW: it’s like fluffy comfort because I say so, kim seungmin supremacy (YES), use of spanglish (just on the text messages bc yes, it’s not relevant to the plot, dw), use of text format for plot convenience (and a whole bunch of emojis and colors), the reader is stupidly short (which i know all about), use of cliché valentine and enemies2lovers tropes (BECAUSE THEY ARE FUN AND THEY WORK), academic rivals (we love to see it), bad student reader x good student seungmin (like bad/mean girl x good boy ish), mentions of the unability to deal with complicated feelings, mentions of masking feelings, slight hint of bullying?, mentions of being followed, use of (pet)names because I don’t like using ‘y/n’: little one, shortie, shortcake, smallable, pretty, (yes i’m just petty like that, sue me), hyunjin as a walking therapist, and the ending is almost a reference to a show i'm obsessed with (not gonna say it so i don't spoil it for you guys hehehe)

SPECIAL THANKS! To my lovely pookies @lyramundana and @tonks-21 for ideas and support, plus also, most of the classmate’s names are thanks to gorgeous gourgeous @stayconnecteed and her spanishverse series bc i’m so invested! Go check all of their blogs out! 100% recommend. son mis chicas españolitas, hehe<3

A/N: alone on valentine’s day? same for me, pookie! but dontchu worry, mister kim seungmin is here to help us out<3 (and if not, we can always help each other😚🫶)

[☆★🌷★☆]

{PROLOGUE: THE GROUPCHAT}

At first, you didn’t really know him.

To think for a second that there was a time where you didn’t know who he was made you sigh. Oh, how you wish you had never, ever encountered him.

…Kim Seungmin.

Some may say that ‘rivals’ or ‘enemies’ is a term that could seem too intense regarding a simple statement: that you two didn’t get along.

But no. Because those kind of words were exactly how you’d define your relationship.

And it had all started the first day of your last year before graduating. When you made the class groupchat.

> you created ‘Year 13-A 😼😼’

> you added ‘lucas🤺’ ‘atenea🛐’ ‘noa🫶’ and 16 more.

> you: guys help, am I missing people?

> you: @ atenea🛐 told me to create this group for homework n stuff but idk if I have everyone’s numbers 😵‍💫😵‍💫

< noa🫶: tía you’re missing two people no?

< lara💋: hala, new people?? 👀

< noa🫶: pero- they’re literally from the other group, girl

< abril🌻: you even know them lara

< abril🌻: se te va la pinza JAJSJA

< miguel📚: sí, there should be 22 people (creo)

> you: oh right, Lix told me!

> you: yeah i’ll add them now, brb 🏃‍♀️

Well.

Rookie mistake.

> you added ‘kim seungmin™️’, ‘hyunjin🎨’

> you: omg i even added everyone

< lucas🤺: omg omg

< kim seungmin™️: omg omg so crazyy

You rolled your eyes, smiling slightly as you texted. But that was just because you hadn’t talked to him before.

Now was a different story, of course. You wouldn’t smile, not for Kim Seungmin.

> you: @ kim seungmin™️ what was crazy is how difficult it was finding someone who had your phone number, lol

< han(gry)🐿️🎙️: fr fr omg

< lucas🤺: que es omg

< lucas🤺: ‘oh me gustas’ ? omg?

< lara💋: you’re such an idiot, asshole

< lucas🤺: ohhh you love me so bad 😌😌😌

< isabel🌸: she knows better lol

< lucas🤺: dude, you’re my sister

< lucas🤺: shouldn’t you be backing me?

< isabel🌸: there’s a fee for that, dude.

You giggled at the stupid teasing, used to your mates’ shenanigans that never ceased to make you laugh.

But then, he replied.

< kim seungmin™️: @ you the only difficult thing here is you reaching graduation

…

Your smile faded.

You read that once more. Then again. And another time.

You chuckled dryly.

What was this guy on about?

> you: ah? wdym?

You remember thinking that maybe he was joking. That maybe he was someone who talked to people with a lot of harsh remarks without really meaning them. That maybe he was trying to be funny, or something.

Other texts showed up, but Kim Seungmin —named like so in the contact Felix had shared to you— wasn’t replying.

< minho🐈: guys wtf it’s 00:12

< lucas🤺: oh he uses the other clock

< lucas🤺: so its am-pm for us but not for you

< lucas🤺: think you’re special? wanna fight?

< noa🫶: lucas just shut up and go to bed

< han(gry)🐿️🎙️: damn right 🛌🛌🛌

< miguel📚: guys, stop texting 😓

> you: yeah guys lol

< minho🐈: no u started this

< minho🐈: u shush

You snickered softly, used to Minho’s humour, quickly playing along.

> you: ?! unfair ☝️🤓

< kim seungmin™️: no, minho’s right for once

< kim seungmin™️: you should shush

< kim seungmin™️: you’re less annoying when you’re quiet

You frowned at your phone, your face contorted in angry confussion.

Who did this guys think he was?

With a huff, you typed a rapid “gtg guys!”, ignoring Seungmin’s texts, and quickly settled your phone back on your pocket, getting off the bus and finally arriving home.

You groaned, the text that that Seungmin idiot had sent still rolling in your head even after you laid in bed. You passed your hands through your hair.

“Difficult to reach graduation?” You mumbled, eyes fixated ln the chatroom the sentence feeling like acid in your mouth.

Kim Seungmin wasn’t ready for how difficult his last year was going to be, solely for his stupid text message.

[☆★🌷★☆]

{ACT 1: NOT A LOVEFOOL… YET}

To be in the same class group than him was slightly tolerable.

Is what you’d like to say if you were in a good mood. But it wasn’t the case.

You were mad. As fuck.

“I just need you to give it a chance,” Miss Fernández stated once more, and you had to hold back to not roll your eyes at her.

“But Miss. I know that this subject is difficult and that he could, uh, help me out with the project,” you muttered reluctantly, because on normal circumstances, you wouldn’t go as far as to let Kim Seungmin help you with chemistry. Not ever.

You weren’t in need of help that desperatly.

And that was a fact, not a matter of ifs, buts, or maybes. That was an absolute. Something that lovely-yet-not-so-much teacher Lucía Fernández, spanish accent and all, was not getting.

“Listen. We both know that your grade is the best I can offer considering your behaviour in my class, despite of your average knowledge of the subject. And in this case, I am offering to set that aside if you work on these following assignments with your classmate Seungmin.”

Her harsh tone was also an absolute, and that made you clench your jaw. You blamed Lucas for her attitude towards you —after all, that one accident with a Bunsen Burner had been mostly his fault—, but you breathed in, trying to offer your most pity-inducing grin.

Judging by her glare, it wasn’t working.

“Miss, I—”

“I’m sorry.” She didn’t look like she was. “It’s my last word. And I think that after coming three days to my office on each of your free periods, this is getting a bit tiring.” She sighed, adjusting her glasses by a soft push of her finger.

Nope. She definetely wasn’t sorry.

Witholding a groan you left her office, and huffed as the door closed behind you, swiftly heading to meet your group of friends when they got out of their Biology lesson in other building within the school grounds.

It was a chilly evening, maybe not too much from what one could expect for the first week of February, still one that made you hide your face in your scarf and you hands in your jacket pockets.

You settled your headphones where they belonged, humming to the music to hold back the need to rant and rave against your chemistry teacher, when your phone dinged.

< henry li🫧: everything ok? saw you in lucifer’s office rn

< henry li🫧: did you do smth again? you cheekyyy 🙊

You gingerly laughed, and started typing out your answer, when, out of nowhere, you bumped against someone, making all of the books that they were carrying fall down of their grasp.

You pursed your lips, then pressed them in a thin line. Staring at their— his back, you saw that his backpack was almost empty. Why the fuck would he carry all of his books on his hands then?

The guy had quickly bent down to get his books back, and you followed too, taking your headphones off and quickly trying to prevent the papers from getting wet because of the floor, that was damp from the rain before, when your hands softly brushed against each other, still, you forced yourself to ignore it.

“I’m so…” the word dissapeared in your mouth.

“It’s ok, don’t… oh.” He blinked, his face showing nothing. For fuck’s sake.

Why did it always have to be him?

He swiftly took all of the things from you, as if your touch could be worse than the wet floor. You frowned, feeling a cold shiver trail up your spine, and you crossed your arms in front of you, struggling to seek some warmth.

“Watch it, little one.” He mocked with a light smirk. “I might accidentally step on you one day.”

You looked at him through your eyelashes. What. An. Idiot. You passed a hand through your hair, chuckling dryly.

“I-,” you sighed, shaking your head sideways. “Nah, you know what? I don’t have time for this crap.” You smiled at him widely, full of sarcasm.

But just when you were about to leave, you felt a tug at your sleeve, the fabric of your shirt not thick enough to hide the warmth of Seungmin’s grasp on your forearm. You frowned, confused at the lack of any uncomfortable feelings because of it. There was none, but rather a need to cover yourself with it and wear it like a jacket.

“Did you fix it?”

You blinked, trying to get your brain to focus on his words.

“Huh?”

He rolled his eyes, but his hand didn’t move an inch. “You said you were going to talk to Miss Fernández so we wouldn’t be partners, which is, well, so mature, congratulations,” he tsked, but then continued. “But did it work?”

You licked your lips and swallowed, your throat feeling dry. What was going on? You needed to focus.

In a harsh motion, you moved your arm away from his grasp. You forced yourself to ignore how your skin missed it.

“I… no. She settled. You- I mean… we…” the word felt awkward when it rolled off your tongue.

We? There was no such thing in between Seungmin and you. No we, no us, no nothing. And it was like that for a reason. One that you had almost forgotten with how softly his slender and warm hand had been holding your forearm. Ugh.

As you struggled to say those infamous words, your phone dinged again, and you mumbled a short “oh, wait,” and unlocked it.

< henry li🫧: leaving me on read, shortcake?

Seungmin stared at your phone, shoving his hands on his pockets when he saw you smile at the bright screen. He bit his lower lip. He hadn't taken all of his stuff out of his backpack just for this.

“So,” he licked his lips, and it almost shocked you the sudden roughness on his tone and demeanour. “Chemistry is easy. We can meet up on Friday in the public library. An hour or two should be enough, even for someone with a fun-sized brain like yours.” He chuckled meanly, the motherfucker.

Ever since that stupid text from him, you had made it your mission to surpass him, or at least reach his level, and to be honest, you were even succeding in some cases, like philosophy, art history, spanish, technical drawing and business studies. But Chemistry?

Chemistry would always kick you in the ass.

Before you were able to come up with a comeback for his stupid snicker, the bell rang, and you felt an arm laying its weight on your shoulders.

“Smallable!” Lucas laughed, then realized that you were talking to a certain someone and ful Ty ly gasped. “Oh my god. Are you two finally dating and I interrupted— AH!” He was interrupted by your elbow hitting his side. Noa and Atenea chuckled behind him.

“No. Seungmin was just leaving.” You huffed with a frown, but then you smiled, almost excessively, like a small maniac. “Right?”

But before he was able to reply or mock you, Atenea spoke, ruining your chances of kicking him away.

“But we all have English now,” she said, and if it had been someone else, like Lucas, you would’ve stepped on his shoe or something. “We’re going to the same place, we can go together.”

Seungmin felt you stare intensively at him. He smiled at Atenea, finding that he enjoyed having you look at him, reason why he loved annoying the shit out of you.

“Sure!” He smiled politely, almost sheepishly, and you bit your lip to hold back the need to scoff at his 'obviously fake' kindness.

Because except for you, the rest of your class —heck, probably the rest of the school— were smitten with Kim Seungmin.

Top of the class, funny, kind, and cutely introverted Kim Seungmin was just a dorky student who tried to get along with everyone.

But that was wrong. And you may not have any proof aside from his mean attitude towards you and only you, but you knew it.

Seungmin had to be more than just a pretty boy with high grades, and it was only with you that he proved you right.

You stayed next to Lucas, hoping that Seungmin would at least stay with your friends and ignore you.

But to your horror, he smiled at you, a pink dust on his cheeks. “If you don’t mind?”

Oh, son of a bitch.

“No… it’s whatever.” You huffed.

Because against his dorky self, to the rest of your class —heck, to the rest of the school— you were the quote on quote “bad student.”

Troublesome, mean, class clown? Check. You laughed at teachers in class with Lucas far more than what could be ignored, the dresscode had always been more of a guide in what to wear, unlike what most students usually followed, and you may have been expelled a bunch of times.

Even if you were somewhat kind to the people in school, and even if they all knew your rivalry with Seungmin, God forbid you were mean to him.

You wouldn’t see the end of it.

And he knew it.

Bitch.

So there you were, walking to English class with your friends plus innocent Seungmin —who no one had called, not even the ghostbusters—, who was snickering and giggling with Atenea about who-gives-a-shit. Something class-related. You couldn’t be bothered to listen.

Lucas chuckled next to you.

“Careful, Spongebob.” He laughed. “Some could say you seem jealous.”

…WHAT?!

“Of… of Kim Seungmin?” You snorted. “Are you on drugs?”

He ruffled your hair. “Sure, sure, keep lying to yourself, shortie.”

Finally, you arrived to class, but before you stepped inside, Seungmin stopped you, whispering in your ear.

“Yeah, shortie.” He teased, his lips almost grazing the shell of your ear. “Don’t be too jealous. We wouldn’t want everyone to know you love me.”

His whisper would’ve been almost enticing if it weren’t for the fact that it was Kim Seungmin the man in question, and he snickered, pushing his glasses back.

But then someone cleared his throat behind you two.

“Care to sit down? I don’t have all day.” Mister Holmes grunted, carrying a monster drink and a coffe at the same time.

That mas was slightly terryifing.

You squinted at Seungmin and then walked to your place at the back of the class, hoping that your cheeks felt warm because of how the teacher had startled you and definetely not your classmate’s honey-like voice.

“Pssst. Heeey,” Noa smiled teasingly, whispering with a smirk. “Pssst. You’re blushing…!”

“Shut up!” You frowned at her, but you were unable to hold back a smile. But it was because of your friend Noa. Not Kim Seungmin.

Mr Holmes cleared his throat, and finished off his monster, throwing it to the bin.

“So. I’ve been hearing from some students in the hallways that you’re all excited for saint valentines’ day.” He stated in a strong voice, one that filled the class with little to no effort. “And sadly so, I was thinking of putting an exam that Wednesday…” he faked a sigh, and you had to hold back a laugh, contrary to the frowns and groans that appeared in your classmates faces. Pfft, what a character. “Unless… you guys want to do something in true valentines fashion.”

Mr Holmes crossed his arms, laying back on his chair, his stare cold and face lacking any kind of emotions.

“Say… any ideas, Mr… Kim?”

Seungmin sat up straight at his name being mentioned, and you rolled your eyes, holding back a mocking smirk.

“I ugh… I wouldn’t want to bother my classmates with a lot of work, sir… but maybe… maybe a writing assingment related to the topic would be… enough?” Seungmin stated, his tone soft and shy, and there was even a blush that trailed up from his neck, but he stayed staight and firm as he spoke.

“A valentine-themed task.” Mr Holmes enunciated as he pondered. “It’s a… decent idea. Any complaints?”

You felt some of your classmates’ eyes on you, and you sighed, crossing your arms in front of you, remaining silent. As long as it wasn’t an exam, you’d accept whatever.

“With that settled, I’ll upload the task online this afternoon, but it’ll have to be written by hand. Be sure to hand in a picture of your assignment on time, or your final grade will be affected.” The teacher turned on his laptop, and started taking assistance.

[☆★🌷★☆]

Time had passed dreadfully slowly, until the bell rang and Mr Holmes dissmissed all of you so everyone could leave for the day.

“A valentine-themed task.” You huffed in annoyance as you stuffed your locker with books you weren’t going to take home.

“I thought it was original.” A voice snickered lowly behind you, and you slapped your locker close, smiling at him.

“Well, Henry. It’s no surprise your taste sucks.”

You chuckled when he rolled his eyes.

“I was waiting for your reply,” he mentioned with a soft tone.

You closed your locker, and you two started walking together. “Oh, sorry, I totally forgot,” you apologized with a smile, but he brushed it off. “Yeah, I was with Lucifer earlier. She’s making me work with Seungmin for this term’s assignments.”

Henry frowned. “And we hate that guy… right…” you chuckled.

“Exactly. We don’t like him.”

“So then, don’t do it. You were going to meet him to study, right?” You nodded, smirking slightly at him.

“We agreeded to meet on Friday to start, in the library.” You added, watching his smirk widen. “What are you thinking?”

He stopped walking, smiling at you. “There’s this club that opened recently. Been wanting to go have a look. Apparently, it’s like exclusive and shit. And it’s Friday.” His light-coloured eyes shined as he looked at you. “Meet me there?”

You grinned cheekily.

“Sure. Can’t wait.”

[☆★🌷★☆]

You hadn’t noticed Seungmin on the school bus until this year.

Because he had made himself noticeable, sitting at the back of the bus, a couple seats away from you, but oh, dorky Seungmin was always friend of everyone, sheepishly starting conversation with any kinds of people in the bus, no matter the year they were in.

Before his text, you had even thought he was cute as he gingerly chatted with a group of kids who were probably starting high school.

“Is it too difficult?” A little girl asked.

And it surprised you how he turned to her and smiled, almost tugging at your heart strings, eyes like crescent moons.

“It’s only difficult if you stop trying. And we don’t give up, right?” He stated cheerfuly, and all the kids shined at his sheepish and bashful brightness, high-fiving the girl that talked to him.

You forced yourself to shove those memories to the back of your mind. That Seungmin wasn’t real. And you didn’t like him. The real him. Right?

“Oi, Kim Seungmin.” You called, as it was only you two left on the bus.

He was surprised at your call, but only side-eyed at you, lazily raising his brows, signalling that he was listening. You frowned.

See? You thought to yourself. He’s mean. He isn’t sweet, nor cute. Focus.

“What kind of lame ass idea was that?” You huffed with a mean smile. “A valentine-themed assignment.” You snorted.

His bus stop was close, so he ignored you as he picked up his coat and backpack, but you kept on talking. “You know? Hallmark office called, they want their boring clichés back,” you mocked, laughing.

Backpack on and coat hanging on his arm, he stared at you, and waited for a red light to walk to your seat.

He settled next to you, still staring at you as you chimed mean remarks about his originality and such and such.

“Anything else to mumble? I couldn’t hear you from down there.” He snorted meanly, and you were too focused on annoying him that you didn’t notice his stare at your lips as he licked his own.

You rolled your eyes. “You’re such a lame guy. He gave you the chance to choose, and you chose that piece of—?!”

His lips tasted as sweet as his voice that day with those little kids.

You felt his hand slowly creep up and cradle your face, his eyes closed as he kissed you, and slowly, your eyes closed too.

It was sweet. So sweet. But what was it? It was a flavour that you knew. Its sweetness was so familiar, but you couldn’t seem to figure out what was it.

You kissed him back, and he let out a surprised whine as you sighed, your hands, which had been frozen on his shoulders, waiting for your order to push him away, slowly followed up and remained on his face, your thumbs almost stroking his cheeks.

You wanted needed to know what he tasted like.

But it was when your hands went into his hair that he sighed too, melting under your touch, that your brain clicked.

…

what were you doing?

…

WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!

You pushed him away, and your breath hitched.

He didn’t look like fake Seungmin.

In front of you was not the innocent boy who had straight A’s and was shy enough to not be able to say no to a lot of things, who sheepishly spoke up in class, or who treated everyone with a bashful kindness that was so endearing.

This Seungmin was different. His glasses had a bit of a fog in them, his hair was all messed up, and his lips were plush, pink from your tinted gloss and slightly swollen from your kiss.

This Seungmin was a wreck, all flustered and kissable, and he looked like a mess.

But it felt real.

And for a second, you wanted to kiss him again, yearning to figure what that kiss tasted like, the word for it almost in the tip of your tongue.

He panted, struggling to catch his breath.

“Finally,” he huffed with a smile, but his dark eyes didn’t match the mocking in his tone. A small part of your mind thought that they looked prettier than any light eyes you had ever seen. “So you were able to shut up, after all.” He gulped, still panting.

He moved away from you slowly, as you remained there, frozen, like a piece of art in front of him, cheeks blushed, lips flushed and parted as your eyes stared at him, an emotion much different from this evening.

He found himself enjoying this one even more.

“Eh… T-this is my bus stop.” He muttered when the bus stopped. Maybe it wasn’t, but he didn’t care. He felt like he would have the energy to run home if needed. “I-I’ll… see you tomorrow.”

You blinked as he stood up and walked away.

What…

What had just happened?

[☆★🌷★☆]

{ACT 2: UNDER THE STREETLIGHT}

After avoiding Seungmin like the plague all Thursday, only looking at his back when you zoned off in class, Friday arrived earlier than expected.

You hadn’t been able to concentrate at all, the thought of his sweet taste lingering in your mouth, almost letting you feel the ghost of his lips pressed against yours.

“Hello? Earth to… oh, you’re awake, Jesus.” Abril looked at you with a smile, but she was unable to hide her worried look.

“Of course I am,” you mumbled, shaking your head sideways. “What’s going on?”

“You haven’t even touched your delicious and totally-not-overcooked pasta.” Lara mentioned the cafeteria lunch as she poked it whith her fork, full of humour. “It leads to believe that you’re dealing with something far more interesting that the technical drawing homework, that’s for sure.”

You bit your lip, hesitating.

“Is it because Henry Li has been ignoring you?” Noa mentioned softly.

You blinked, puzzled. “Huh?”

He’d been ignoring you? Now that she had mentioned, maybe that could’ve happened. Maybe you would’ve realized if you hadn’t been so focused on Seungmin and whatever-happened-that-cannot-and-should-not-be-remembered-every-five-minutes…

…or maybe you should look for an easier name for it.

“Uh, no, he invited me to this new place today, actually,” you brushed your hair with your hand mindlessly. “But I’m fine. Really. Just tired.” You smiled at the girls, and joined in at their conversation.

After lunch, you separated from Lara and Noa, who had literature, and Abril, who had been hanging out with a guy called Jeongin from her photography club recently, and so you headed to the study room.

It was a quiet place, quieter that what you had initially expected for a high school study room. Matter of fact, you thought it was a pity that the school closed it after class, considering that in that case you wouldn’t have to walk to the public library.

You opened the door silently, finding that there were barely any students, only three or four people studying silently. You were heading towards a lonely corner so you could listen to music in a high volume without having to pay attention if it could be heard through your headphones. Or maybe, considering that it hadn’t been a lie and that you had slept like four hours maximum, you could probably rest there until the bell rang.

You snickered when you looked to your right, finding someone struggling with the technical drawing homework that had been assigned that morning, the one that Lara and Noa had been talking about.

You gently tapped the guy’s shoulder, but spoke before he even turned.

“You’re missing this incline here,” you whispered on his ear, your arms coming above his shoulders, placing your hands above his, placing the square and bevel on the right angle. “It should be seen, but with dotted lines, get it? That way the side-view makes sense.” You added with a soft giggle.

“Oh, right. T-thank you…” he mumbled, not facing you.

You brushed it off as weird, but your sleepy self wasn’t bothered enough to notice or pry, and instead smiled, ruffled his hair and settled in your cozy little corner, placing your scarf in between your arms and rested your head on it, merely “resting your eyes”, but only if a teacher happened to come and check on the students.

Seungmin stared at your sleeping figure, eyes almost wide. He felt like his heart was going to explode underneath the layers of flesh. His hands tingled, his usually warm and sweaty palms missing the comfortable coldness of yours, so soothing and relaxing.

Either you had completely gone crazy, or he had fallen asleep trying to complete the stupid assignment. He knew you were good at technical drawing, it was one of the subjects were he wasn’t. It wasn’t a surprise when several students started asking you for help on their papers and assignments, considering that you were one of the few who was able to receive praise from the teacher, a middle-aged man with no kind of vocation with kids or teaching, by any means.

But it had never happened when he was the one in need of help, had you ever considered the idea of helping him.

He watched you, puzzled, as he had never done before, and maybe it would be the first time of many because Seungmin found himself liking what he was seeing, dare I say mesmerized by the image before him.

By you.

Your sleepy figure was as calm as he had ever seen from you, sleeping with little to no care in the world. Your hair remained stuck in a ponytail, which allowed Seungmin to notice that it left the skin of your neck visible, and despite the voice on his head saying that it was a behaviour quite like a man from the Modern Ages, just being so fixated at that small bit of skin, he couldn’t help but feel bashfully amazed.

Suddenly, he noticed you licked your lips, your eyes still closed and your small smile never faltering, but that made something start to flutter in his stomach, as if a whole lot of butterflies had been awaken at the sight of you, tranquil, and sweet, and cute, and he forced himself to stop looking at you abruptly, wondering why he had done that in the first place.

Licking your lips only made Seungmin aware of how dry his were, and action plus the thought of your lips immediately brought back what had happened on Wednesday.

Crazy. He’d gone completely crazy.

He felt his hand slowly approach his lips and he grazed them with his fingers, almost able to taste your chapstick back on his lips. Because he had been able. All Wednesday night. And a small part of him wanted more of it.

He blushed, scratching his eyes. He hadn’t slept shit, his mind betraying him every time he attempted to close his eyes instantly going back to the memory of how you stared at him after your kiss, dark pupils, and red lips, and so ridiculously gorgeous that it made Seungmin wonder why whenever he saw you he resorted to his first line in code: being mean.

He never used that side with anyone. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried, because small, teasing and slightly unhinged Kim Seungmin had tried to be himself in middle school, and… well.

Let’s just say that it didn’t work like expected.

But everyone loved dorky, funny and sweet Seungmin. Even with the difference with grades, that had definetely not been appreciated in his early years, nowadays people would see that as a part of him, and he recieved praise for it, not only from teachers, but also nice classmates, who sometimes went to seek help from him.

He just needed to pretend for a bit. Smile here and there, and put on a sheepish act of bashfulness that despite it not being natural, it wasn’t totally bad. It wasn’t like middle school.

But then you came in the picture.

Something about you made Seungmin want to tease you. To see you finally look at him after battling in your head if you even should, and then, sometimes when you were mad enough, you’d glare at him, and he couldn’t help but grin. Your cheeks flushed in anger that creeped up your body, how you looked at him through your lashes or how you’d tease him back. The first time you had done that, his brain’s chemistry had changed, he was sure of that.

He didn’t care about the mean remarks, and that now seemed almost obvious, considering what had happened almost two days ago in the school bus.

But it got impossible to miss when Seungmin noticed your sleepy self shivering in your slumber. With a mental groan, careful of not making any kind of loud noise in the study room, he slowly got closer to your corner, and tried to close the windows near it. And failed, because the stupid windows were old and rusty, only able to move them a bit.

He bit his lip, arguing in his head. Would that be enough? No, it probably wasn’t, right? Yeah, it couldn’t be. Considering that you always wore thin clothing, always borrowing your mates’ jackets…

…it couldn’t possibly hurt to do a bit more, right?

Seungmin approached you further, and shook a hand close to your face, but you were dead, as still as a fallen tree, despite the sunlight that enetered throught the windows glowing on your face, the Sun in winter, that brought little to no warmth, made you shine in his eyes.

He’d see you in the public library a couple of hours later. It didn’t mean anything. He could probably tease you for sleeping in school later. Yeah. And then he’d ask for his jacket back.

Seungmin was lost in his thoughts as he carefully settled his jacket over your shoulders, and he froze when you sighed deeply, surrounded by a familiar warmth and a cozy scent that you didn’t know you had missed or needed until then, but you didn’t wake up.

He blinked when he noticed your phone in your hand, the screen suddenly turning on. He giggled at your wallpaper, which had a silly joke on it and a funny doodle of a banana.

But then his eyes trailed down to the notification that had made the phone turn on.

[3 new messages from: henry li🫧]

> sorry i didn’t get to see u yesterday, had to sort smth out!

> guys.its.totally.a.real.address.wdym.lol

> it’s the address for later, shortcake 😉❤️

…huh?

Seungmin blinked once. Twice. Nah, his glasses had to be deceiving him. Then, another notification popped up.

> can’t wait to see you ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

He winced silently.

Ugh. What a cringy choice of emojis.

Did you really like this guy?

He frowned, going back to his place in the study room.

Ugh.

He didn’t care, obviously. Why would he care? That wasn’t his business. Never was, never would be. Not like he was interested. Pffft, no. Not at all. Yeah, nah. That kiss had been a one time thing. Totally. 100%. He wasn’t thinking about it again. Nope. Nor did he want to kiss you again. Not in a chance.

Just… ugh.

It was just that… no. Scratch that. No further comments.

He sighed as he went back to his work, feeling a sudden inspiration hit him as he took out a blank paper for the English class valentine’s assignment, but not before he looked at you again, then shook his head, turning the music back on in his headphones. He started writing, drafting, and throwing papers away, getting slightly desperate at his perfectionism.

He sighed. His eyes trailed off towards you.

Slowly, words started to flow in his head. Pretty sentences, things that he had kept hidden in the back of his mind. Maybe it could be good to let it all out. It couldn’t hurt. Yeah.

So he stared writing. Vomiting word after word. And he finished earlier than expected, with two papers.

One was perfect for the english assignment. It was boring and dull enough to be handed in for a school work, but good enough for his perfectionism.

And the other… was something different.

Something that had only happened because you were there, in front of him.

He stood up, letter on his hand. He leaned against the table you were sleeping in, and settled the jacket further on your shoulders. He sighed, grabbing a pen from his pencil case, folding the letter and signed it.

Maybe it was a bad idea, he thought as he picked up his stuff from the table and adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

He looked at your figure once more before heading out.

It had been to check if you were still asleep, of course.

Just to check.

Yeah.

[☆★🌷★☆]

Your phone vibrated in your hand again.

And again.

And again.

With a groan, you silently accepted that there was no way you could fool an inanimate object into believing that you were still asleep.

But when you yawned and looked around and didn’t find the posters in your room, but rather a whole bunch of tables and chairs, your eyes widened.

It hadn’t been your alarm but a phone call that had awoken you.

“Y-yeah?” You mumbled, picking up the call and quickly taking your backpack and scarf and rushing out of the study room, taking a quick scan and making sure you weren’t leaving anything behind.

“I’m heading to the club now, shortcake.” A low voice greeted. “Are you getting ready?”

Who…?

“H-henry?” You frowned slightly.

You heard him snicker through the other side. “Yeah?”

Fuck, shit, fuck.

“N-nothing! Nothing, I, uh, I was just doing my make up. Y-you know.”

What? You frowned, even more this time. No, that didn’t make any sense. You always blabbered about how you never did your make up for clubbing because the one you owned was cheap and never stayed on anyways.

“Sure, yeah.”

It didn’t seem like he had noticed.

“You can head there before me. I’ll go there eventually, yeah?”

You heard him snicker on the other side of the phone call. “Ok, baby.” He cleared his throat, stuttering a bit. “Y-yeah, I mean, I’ll uh… get there in a bit. Don’t rush.”

Only then you felt that the wind from outside wasn’t freezing your bones like usual. You squinted at the jacket you were wearing.

“Henry, did you…?” But he hung up.

It probably was him. Yeah. That’s why he had called you. To make sure you’d wake up.

Besides, there were little to no people who’d do such a kind gesture towards you, and even if the jacket was pretty much your style and it smelled like heaven, it didn’t feel like something any of the girls would keep around.

So, why didn’t it made you feel giddy that Henry had given you his jacket?

You kept on running through the hallways and catched the bus that was usually there for students who had extracurricular classes, unlucky people who had to stay in school late in Fridays. You never had, using Fridays to be a bit lazy or to start homework sooner just to hand it in earlier than Seungmin.

Oh.

Friday.

Seungmin.

The library.

You bit your nails, staring through the window.

Would he wait there for long?

What was he going to do once he figured you weren’t going to show up?

Were you… feeling guilty?

No… that… that couldn’t be, you chuckled dryly. Mean decisions against Kim Seungmin didn’t spend too much time on the judgmental side of your brain. You just… teased him back. And he’d take it. And double it. And so on.

So why did this feel too mean?

Could it be because of whatever-happened-that-cannot-and-should-not-be-remembered-every-five-minutes?

Could the fact that it had been the best thing that had happened in a long while?

Well, fine.

Not just ‘thing’.

A kiss.

And for fuck’s sake, what kiss.

You groaned and grunted, sprinting home as soon as the bus stopped.

Why did it always have to be him?

You entered your room and burst open your closet. The jacket was cool, you thought. And if you were going to see Henry, you could just wear it and hand it back to him in the club.

It was vintage, but its warmth engulfed you as if it had been handmade. Its funky designs and patterns looked cute, and its grey color contrasted well with it. You chose the first dress you saw, a tight black dress with no sleeves that you would’ve discarded as too short if you had more time, but it wasn’t exactly something you could’ve bragged about.

Jacket, dress, high socks, boots, wallet, phone, keys, headphones… yeah. You nodded, checking all of the boxes in your mental list, and started hurriedly walking to the address he had sent.

You hoped you weren’t going to be too late.

[☆★🌷★☆]

“Pick up, pick up, pick up…”

“The number you are trying to call is turned off or out of coverage. Please, leave your message after the—”

You hang up, tired of hearing that mechanic voice over and over again.

You looked around you, and there was nothing that looked like a club. You had tried to enter the building that the address lead to, but it hadn’t got well.

A strange figure opened a small window and gave you a look, almost disgusted. It took you a second to understand that they were wearing a mask, with dark lace and other colours. But just when you were about to speak, the window slammed close.

You blinked, puzzled. Where the fuck was Henry sending you? What kind of club was this?

You had started to roam around the building, trying to call him —and failing misserably, because the damn guy couldn’t pick up the fucking phone for the life of him—, but now you were starting to run out of ideas.

It was past 12pm, your legs shivered with every slight wind that swooshed your way, and there was no one that was going to pick up the phone. Not Henry, that ridiculous imbecile, not Lucas, who always bragged about having his phone in night mode, so nothing would get to him until morning, and not the girls, because Noa had her phone turned off, Atenea was most likely sleeping, Abril and Lara hadn’t picked up either, and your list of close friends who could possibly pick up was… that.

And no one was picking up the fucking phone.

You were about to keep on ranting about how disgustingly bad this was turning out to be, but you heard footsteps coming your way. You looked around, but didn’t find the source. With a frown, you walked to the building again

Placing your hand on one of the windows, who were dark and almost impossible to see through, you could notice that in the dim light from what could be seen outside, Henry was well entertained with a certain kind of company, so much that he couldn’t even pick up your phone.

You closed your eyes and leaned your forehead against the tinted glass. Of course. Yeah. That made total sense. It was Henry, after all. He had always been known to be kind of an asshole anyways. It couldn’t possibly come out as a surprise the fact that he actually was.

You shook your head and mentally mocked him and the blond girl he was kissing.

Henry Li could go to Hell.

Guess there was nothing left to do now. You had dumped Seungmin, and Henry had dumped you. It was an ass move over an ass move. Maybe you kinda deserved it.

But then your thoughts ended in a halt, because you swore you could feel a shadow starting to follow you from a distance.

They were behind you, but not too close, and due to their hoodie it was imposible to distinguish their face.

So you started walking. Turning left. Right. Left again. Right. Just kept on walking. Don’t look behind you. They’d probably just leave. This had to be your imagination, 100%.

But when you took a peak, the silhouette was not only still behind you, slowly walking towards you, but a slight bit closer this time.

You swallowed dry, gulped, even. Your heart tightened in your chest. What kind of joke was this? Your eyes were tearing up. You were tired, and this was mental. Adrenaline rumped through your body, and even if you were already lost, you kept on walking.

You took your phone from your pocket. Think, think, think. Who could you call? Who could pick up at one am? You scrolled down your list of contacts, until for a reason you don’t fully get, your eyes stopped at a certain name.

—> seungmeannie

It couldn’t possibly hurt to try… right?

You sniffed almost silently, and pressed call.

One beep.

Two beeps.

Three beeps.

You started crying a bit louder, unable to hold it back.

“Eh, hi…?”

“S-seungmin!” You sobbed, smiling. It was the first time in your life you had been that happy just from being able to hear his voice, raspy and low.

“W-what?” He stopped talking, and you guessed that it was because he hadn’t figured out who was calling him so late at night. “Do you know what time it is, you fun-sized dingus?” He groaned sleepily at the phone.

You bit your lip and sniffed.

“Wait. Are you… crying?” His tone had changed.

“I-i’m sorry about t-this eve-ening.” You sobbed, failing to hold back the tears, hugging the jacket that was still on your shoulders.

“Are you drunk, little one?” You never thought your shoulders could relax as fast as they had when his soft tone of voice called you that stupid nickname.

“N-no, I… I went to this stupid club, with-“

“With Henry, yeah.” The way he said his name, as if he wanted to put that stupid bitch in a box and send him to the end of the world took you by surprise.

“B-but um, he’s not picking up my phone and I…” you gulped. Taking a peek behind you, you shivered. “I think someone’s following me.”

“Wait, what?” Seungmin had never stood up from bed as fast as he had done that night. “Where are you?” He asked to the phone as he randomly picked a sweater and his glasses, biting his lip as he struggled to put on his shoes.

“I… I don’t know.” You sobbed. “I started walking away so he’d go, but it didn’t work.” You mumbled, sniffing. You felt so stupid.

“Everything’s going to be fine, yeah?” It was the first time in the whole afternoon that you felt like that statement could be true. Because Seungmin was going to help you. “Don’t hang up. Tell me what buildings can you see. Try heading away from small alleys. I’ll find you.”

Seungmin rushed out of his appartment, not before scribbling down what was happening in a post it note and left it on his mother’s bedside table.

“T-there are some restaurants, but they’re all closed.” You started, dubious as how was this going to work. “There’s a road to my left.”

“Can you name any of the restaurants, little one?” Seungmin had a hunch, and he huffed, sprinting to the plaza closest to his appartment.

“I just passed by a Mexican, I think.” You sniffed, Seungmin’s soothing voice working like a charm and calming you down slowly. “In front of me, I think this is a Japanese… it’s called Ginza.”

Seungmin chuckled, feeling relief flooding his body. “Y-yeah, ok! I- god, yes, I know where you are. Keep walking straight ahead. There should be a park, right?” He started running, hiding the fact that he’d have to rush and make the usual fifteen minutes it could take him to arrive where you were and make them five.

He needed to see you and make sure you were safe.

“I… shit, yeah! I can see it!” You went back to crying, a smile planted in your features.

“I’m almost there. You’re doing so well, little one.”

You felt your cheeks getting warmer at that. Walking a bit faster, you looked behind you, finding that the silhouette was still there.

But Seungmin was close. Seungmin said everything would be fine.

“S-seungmin?” You mumbled at the phone, wanting to hear his voice, so soothing and warm.

“Under the streetlight, silly.”

You heard the beep that sounded when Seungmin ended the call, but he was there, tangible, a couple of meters away from you.

You chuckled, happy to see him for the first time ever, and crying away the pent up stress and worry, you ran off to him, and clung your arms around his neck tightly, unbothered at the need to stand on the tips of your toes to do so.

Seungmin stuttered, still panting from the marathon he had ran to get there, 100% baffled at this. But it was ok. You were there. You were safe.

“T-they’re still behind me.” You whispered against his chest.

He could feel your nervousness on your tone, how scared you were judging by how strongly your arms closed behind his neck, and hesitated for a second before hugging you back, his arms pulling you closer by your lower back, keeping you grounded and so weirdly safe in his grasp, and it felt so strangely comforting coming from him that your eyes swelled with more tears.

You couldn’t see or feel the person behind you anymore, but Seungmin did, somewhat clearly.

The only thing that his mind made up that moment is that for the person to leave, they’d have to believe you two did know each other.

And Seungmin’s heart beated loudly in his chest when your grasp loosened and you stood back on your feet, allowing him to see how your lip trembled, how you were holding back tears and how you looked at him with a million emotions hidden in the colour of your eyes. He had never seen you cry before.

His hands itched to touch you again, a sudden need to comfort you that overwhelmed him.

So he did.

His hands cradled your cheeks, his thumbs brushing away your tears, and he pecked your lips softly, smiling at your baffled face. His arms engulfed you in a comforting hug that smelled so much like the jacket you were wearing.

He looked behind you, and the silhouette was nowhere to be found. As if it had never been there before.

“It’s ok.” Seungmin whispered in your ear. “I’m here now. You’re safe. They’re gone, yeah?” His arms rested on your shoulders as his slender hands stroked your hair. “No one’s gonna hurt you now, pretty.”

And you started to cry on his shoulder, because not only then you realized how bad you had needed a hug, and not even the fact that it had been a hug from him that you had secretly yearned for, but because none of your excuses made sense now.

There was no ‘fake’ or ‘real’ Seungmin.

Whatever he was, fake or not, stood in front of you as he hugged you under the streetlight.

And you sighed as he cooed at you softly, because deep down you had known for a while.

It was time you came to terms with it.

[☆★🌷★☆]

{ACT 3: WINDOWS, LETTERS AND POEMS}

Wednesday. 9:56 am. 14th February.

Most of your classmates were still arriving from their next class as you stared at two papers in your hands slightly from afar, pencil in your lips.

You had discarded most of your creations all Monday and Tuesday when you finally ended with a draft you liked for the stupid english homework. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

But the letter in your other hand, however, was something you had never done before.

“What’s that you got there?”

Any kind of bubbly and nervous emption you had vanished at the sound of that low voice.

“Fuck off, Li.” You grunted in a husky tone, frowning at him and grabbing back the letter from his hands.

“Is it a love letter for me?” He chuckled, ignoring your behaviour.

“Why the fuck would I write that, huh?” You laughed, a chuckle full of acid, one that had much more hatred that you had ever said before.

Henry brushed a hand through his hair, and you couldn’t help but think he looked stupid. You had liked this guy? Ugh.

“Because today is valentine’s day, shortcake.”

You squinted and frowned at him.

“Swishing those dyed and damaged locks like a Loreal advert won’t make anyone fall in love with you.” You snorted, and realized the people in the hallway had fallen into silence, listening to your conversation. “Or maybe it worked with that blond girl in the club?” You pretended to ponder out loud, leaning against the locker behind you, facing him with confidence.

“Wait, what?” He mumbled.

You snickered, taking him by surprise. “Oh, silly. I was never going to date you. I kept hearing that you were an ass and figured that was right, because aside from me, little to no people talked to you. I guess I just felt pityful.” You faked a pout.

He clenched his fists, his shoulders tense.

“You’re lying.” He grunted.

You chuckled. “You wish I was. That blond girl didn’t steal my man. She stole my problem.” You heard some gasps from the people in the corridor, as they had formed some kind of circle around you two.

But then, Henry snorted, and cleared his throat, talking with a much louder voice. “So you’re not going to let everyone know about you and Seungmin?” He smirked. “I feel like that’s a bit unfair. Making it seem like I’m the bad guy and all.”

You tried hard to make it seem like that hadn’t surprised you. You were so surprised by it that you didn’t have time to react when he yanked your letter from your hand.

“Such sweet words, all dedicated to him,” he mocked. “I think these people want to know.”

“Give it back!” You clenched your jaw, your eyes dull with embarassment.

Even if he wasn’t as tall as Seungmin, there was still a decent difference between you and him. And with a sly grin, he raised the paper above your head.

You licked your lips, anger filling your body.

“Give. It. Back.”

But then he started reading.

“I looked at him as if he were the Sun, in that I never looked at him except in frustration.” He read out loud, moving the paper from your reach everytime you tried to reach. “I seeked his warmth, I complained when he was gone, but I never looked, not until I noticed he was leaving, and in the beauty of the sunset, I wondered how I had never seen him before.”

You stared at the floor, a blush spreading through your cheeks, coming from your neck.

“And that’s basically what happened.” You mumbled to Abril and Lucas over at a bench in the school grounds, hours after that whole thing had happened.

“What?!” You flinched at Abril’s loud voice. “I’m going to kill him. I am so going to murder that nasty ass bitch.” She threatened to stand up, but Lucas grabbed her forearm.

“And what about Seungmin?” He questioned softly, a lot more gentle that what you usually would expect.

You felt heat rush to your cheeks.

“I haven’t spoken to him since Friday” You stared at him with a weakness you had never felt before. “It’s like he doesn’t want to talk to me, I…” you sighed. “I don’t know what to think anymore.” You sniffed.

You had to stay in the study room for the afternoon, waiting for Atenea to get out of the club she was in so you could head to the library together like you had promised, but as you studied in silence, someone sat in the chair in front of you, frowning at you.

You took your headphones off and scratched your eyes. “Eh… Hyunjin?”

“Abril told Lara and she told me,” he mentioned in a huff. “And I’ve known Seungmin for many years. He’s not an impulsive guy. He hasn’t treated anyone like how he treats you.”

You blinked, puzzled, but frowned at him. “Are you going to scold me?”

“You better believe I am!” He scoffed. “Would you like me to politely tell you that you’ve behaved like a total idiot around him?”

“What are you—?!”

“You simply never bothered to talk to Seungmin about any of what Lara told me!” He stated with force, and you didn’t think to tell him to shut up, considering that the study room was empty that time.

“Do you really expect me to understand whatever was happening and tell him right away?” You blurted out with anger, a bit shocked at his rough approach. “Had I had the opportunity I would have!

He rolled his eyes, passing a hand over his face in a sign of desperation.

“You had every opportunity! For months!” He left his hand on the table, and started tapping at it with force, trying to make a point. “Admit it. Seungmin has been in your head ever since we both changed from the other class and you two started bickering.” Hyunjin’s eyes stared at you with a fierce glare that almost threatened to pierce holes through your skull.

“That’s bullshit!” You spitted out defensively.

“Oh, spare me!” He brushed it off. “There have been countless clues! Your stupid need to make everything a competition when it comes to him is infuriating. He talks to me about these things, you know?” He swallowed, and you leaned back in surprise, but he kept on going. “How you look at him when you’re angry, or how you mock and tease him back. It’s stupid!” He cursed out loud. “And these last two weeks have only made it so much worse.”

“What do you mean, worse?” You pondered softly, slowly taking in Hyunjin’s dramatic act.

“I mean, you were totally smitten by how he ridiculously kissed you at the back of the bus last week, considering that you kissed him back.” He stated clearly. “And he wouldn’t shut up about it and how you were ignoring him after, which, great fucking work, by the way, the dude wouldn’t shut up about you.” Hyunjin blinked slowly, trying to recall and voice what he was thinking. “And then he lends you his jacket when a mystery debutant shows up.”

“A—a what?”

“Motherfucker, eh, that Henry asshole.” Hyunjin rubbed his eyes. “I had to endure him talking shit about him for an hour because he saw him texting you some weird shit with cringe emojis.” The exasperation on his tone rendered you almost speechless. “And even then he struggled to admit how fucking jealous he was about that guy. He had your attention. He had your smile. You looked at Henry, not at Seungmin, and ah, for fuck’s sake.” Hyunjin covered his face with his hands. “He felt so ridiculously powerless that he talked to me about it. He’s never done that before!”

You were only able to blink, struggling to grasp everything he was saying.

“And then, with no word of warning, you called him, at, what, like, one in the morning?” Hyunjin said in a huff, the thought of that bringing back his anger, making him stare at you with a frown again. “He, jesus, he talked for AGES about how you hugged him, and the fact that you were wearing his jacket, like— like you’re doing now, what the fuck.” He stopped mid-scolding, staring at you with confusion.

“It’s… it’s his?”

Hyunjin’s eyes widened slightly as he nodded. “What, you didn’t know? You helped him with tecnical drawing, he gave you his jacket, bla bla bla. That whole thing?”

You blushed, shaking your head sideways. You had done what?

“Nevermind. You can talk to him about that later.”

It was your turn to scoff now. “Judging by the fact that he sent you, I don’t think he would like to see me anytime soon.”

Hyunjin chuckled dryly.

“Don’t you even dare keep ignoring him. This stupid game has lasted for too long. Besides, he doesn’t know I’m here. He thinks I’m in dance practice, but whatever. You needed to know, because he’s a mess.” Hyunjin stated, passing a hand through his hair. “He can’t sleep well, he can’t concentrate, he can’t do anything.”

It looked like the scolding was over, but there was a remaining anger that came back to him as a memory struck.

“And, moreover, you callously ignored the letter Seungmin wrote you, even though he told you he loved you!”

You were looking at your notebook on the table, halfly staring at your nails and fidgeting with them, but your head almost snapped when you stared at him.

“What letter?” You muttered, your eyes locked on his. He frowned, his eyes slightly widening.

Your heart started beating faster, almost so loud you could hear it in your head.

“Hyunjin, what letter?!”

[☆★🌷★☆]

Seungmin felt his lungs on fire.

Run, run, run.

His feet were hurting, because his old ass shoes were busted enough that their insides were almost destroyed from everyday use.

But he needed to find you.

Maybe it was because it was Valentine’s day, despite the obvious influence that a certain friend of yours had done.

“Wait, you— you missed school this morning?” Lucas had muttered with a puzzled look, eyes wide.

“I had to go to the dentist to take my braces off. Yeah.” Seungmin stated again. “So whatever you meant by ‘being an ignoring bitch this morning’, I know nothing about it.”

And then someone next to them had chimed in. “You’re talking about Henry and what happened this morning with—“

“Yeah. Why?” Seungmin had interrupted, frowning slightly.

“There’s a video of it.”

Run, run, run.

The look in your eyes when you spoke with Henry. Your smug smile when you caught him by surprise.

Your poem.

His eyes had widened when Henry started reading it in the video.

Was it…?

Could it…?

Could it really be for him?

He wanted needed to find out.

He needed to find you.

“Watch where you’re going!” A man grunted at him, and Seungmin quickly apologized, running off.

Run, run, run.

He knew where you lived just because of Friday, when you had asked him if he could head towards your house with you, still a bit scared from what had happened. He accepted in a heartbeat, reassuring you that it was fine with a million smiles.

His hand had never left yours. Your touch, colder than his, had something so adicting to it that he didn’t want to let go.

Time seemed to pass slowlier when he recognized your neighbourhood. He was about to ring on your floor, but then, your silhouette got out of the elevators, and you both blinked at each other, staring through the glass door.

You opened it slowly, approaching him.

The look in your eyes was different than what Seungmin was used to.

It wasn’t similar to how you had looked at him ever since the school year started, with a shimmer of anger that turned your cheeks pink. Or how you had looked at him that afternoon in the back of the school bus, pupils dark and lips red and slightly swollen from kissing. Or how your eyes glowed in hope and comfort that Friday night.

It was different. He wanted to savour it. He wanted to see every detail of it.

He walked towards you and cradled your face in his hands.

“Wait.” He muttered in a whisper, taking off his glasses in a movement that to you felt almost enticing.

“What is it?” You whispered back.

He blinked at you as he cleaned his glasses with the hem of his shirt.

“You’re fucking blurry.” He snickered softly, with a sheepish smile that tinted his cheeks pink.

You giggled.

He settled his glasses back in place, and smiled when your image made sense before him.

“Better.” He muttered.

“Seungmin, I—“

But you stopped speaking when his lips crashed against yours.

There it was. He tasted sweet like how hot chocolate tastes in a rainy day. You smiled at your discovery, wanting to taste it for hours.

He wanted to kiss you for days to come, even if there was a million things left for both of you to say.

“I’m sorry.” Kiss. “I wasn’t in school this morning.” Kiss. “But I saw a video of it.” Kiss. “And I needed to—“

You giggled, taking his glasses and settling them on the top of his head.

“We can do the talking later.” You smiled, your cheeks red as your hands grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“Are you sure?” He gulped, blushing too as he mumbled.

“Yeah.” You smiled even more. “I’d rather do the kissing now.”

You'd never know what happened with his letter. But considering where that had lead you, maybe it wasn't totally bad that the wind had carried it out the window.

[☆★🌷★☆]

~Kats, who, believe it or not, took the text argument in the beginning from an old school groupchat (yes i was the target akbdksbdks idk why lol, but no, i did not have an enemies2lovers :( lmao)

HAPPY FUCKING VALENTINES DAY!

TAGGING! (oh wow) @that-crazy-five-foot-two-chick @deadcrow-donteat @obyyyy @euphoric-univers @aslou @19marka @daisyjihannie @im-loco66 @coolbabydumplings @amarecerasus @sharonxdevi @han-to-my-minho @abbiespooks @moon0fthenight @koala-wonderland @hecrtful @hheesungsung @vampcharxter @kpopandblunts @daisy-dont-play @skz-lover21 @skyl1nninie @lunathewonyoungstan @5starlee @pchyyhoe @4ln-stay8 @michelle4eve (bolded and/or purple means it won’t let me tag you, pookies! please check your blog’s privacy settings <3)

[missyourflight]

some stuff i read and watched in november:

taskmaster (s16): what a delight!! what a fucking charming bunch of weirdos, sam campbell somehow everything to me now?? if you think susan wokoma is hot you should watch bbc CHEATERS etc

black swan: first rewatch for ages and it still goes so hard, Love the score, natalie as ever at her best when you can see the gears going in her head, she was perfect!!

the girl with the dragon tattoo: it's been fincher season on blank check, rewatched this for i think the first time since i saw it at the pictures and liked it much more, especially the mara/craig chemistry and all the snow and knitwear etc. it's great when she's like put your hand back in my shirt and he does it

anatomy of a fall: more snow - really liked this - between this and saint omer it's the year of french legal dramas etc. her lawyer with the hair and the chemistry and that other lawyer from 120 bpm!

saltburn: UGH. i'd heard such mixed things and i was actually having fun up until the Turn (although if they're freshers in 2006 they're not the class of 2006 are they emerald) but the ending is So stupid that it made me hate the whole thing lol. imo it's fine to criticise posh people for making shit art!! some of them make interesting art but not emerald fennell!!

the eternal daughter: meanwhile joanna hogg said posh filmmaker rights actually! i loved this, so quiet and haunting and the costumes and the hotel of it all. you can't know your parents really ever!! when i'm old nobody's going to be around to take care of me!! and so like aching as an extension of the souvenir project plus back to the evergreen joanna hogg theme of rich people having an awful time on holiday etc

napoleon: had way too much fun with this, was not prepared for it to be so funny and so full of Guys - paul rhys! tom godwin! sam troughton as robespierre??? mr segundus himself aka edward hogg!!! great year of looking at vanessa kirby's feline face between this and mission impossible. aren't we all just trying to enjoy a succulent breakfast etc

may december: my favourite thing i've seen this year maybe?? natalie and julianne having so much fun with like the monstrous performance mirrors meanwhile charles melton's performance is entirely heartbreaking?? so deeply deeply sad and moving?? goddamn todd haynes

yentl: every talks about how hot young mandy patinkin is in yentl and yet i was Entirely unprepared my god

miami vice: loved this!!! like yes it's mumble city and who knows what's going on but colin farrell and gong li going to havana in a go fast boat to drink mojitos and dance salsa and fall in love??? it's digital cinema and it's very tender!!! brb listening to numb/encore again etc

robert macfarlane, underland: a deep time journey: macfarlane is like my favourite writer on like nature and our environment and this was just so cool, caves and catacombs and nuclear waste under the ice

victoria gosling, bliss and blunder: look, some of us were deeply into and forever changed by the merlin fandom, and that's okay! this was a sort of fun modern take on arthurian legend - parts of it worked much better for me than others (morgan, wayne/gawain) but like where was merlin??? could have done with a bit more allusion to like The Past and The Myth and The Cycle but eh

anne enright, the gathering: can't think of like a better marriage of audiobook and narrator than fiona shaw's performance of this tbh - just pitch perfectly sharp and wounded. families!

michael mann & meg gardiner, heat 2: lol i had a blast with this. like the michael mann bro equivalent of an extremely purple romance novel i guess? audiobook again and the narrator does a fantastic pacino

just a note that i'm taking a bit of a step back from social media stuff for the time being due to continued bad brain/feelings about fandom/writing/self etc and also in a concerted effort to spend a lot less time staring directly into the portal. love you pals 💕

[totallyexhausted]

Sick Megumi (Head Cold - requested fic) with caring Gojo...

Just small notes on one of the ff’s in case my computer deletes the files again (so I have like a triple backup)...

(Just random-ass notes for right now to have a back-up back-up for myself) - feel free to comment or motivate me lol jk brb crying....

Title: 

“Alright,” Gojo cleared his throat, “Since I’m the best teacher in the world, I’m going to dismiss class early today.”

“Yes! Now I can catch that sale at the mall!”

 Itadori goes to wake Megumi

 “Leave him, Itadori,”

“Oh. Uh. Okay…”

“Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you accompany Nobara today?”

“What?!” Itadori reeled back.

“Yes! That would be perfect- you can help carry my bags!”

“Do I have too?”

“Think of it as a learning experience. It’ll teach you patience.”

“Already feel pretty patient… Fine. But you’re buying lunch.”

“I don’t know why you’re so excited. Weren’t you just at the mall last week?”

“You clearly don’t know how a sale works. Tragic.”

“Do you need to see Shoko?”

“Definitely not.”

 Gojo kneeling next to the sleeping teenager... (fever, cough, dizziness...etc) Maybe Gojo checks up on him throughout the day... 

“Megumi?”

The teenager groaned in response, his head shifting slightly but made no attempt to open his eyes.

“Go-jo?” 

“The one and only.”

“That’s some fever you’ve got there, Gumi.” 

[teejaystumbles]

Ten Books To Know Me

Rules: 10 (non-ancient) books for people to get to know you better, or that you just really like.

No one asked, but @landwriter said go ahead anyone who wants and I wanted to sit down and think about this (instead of doing my work lol), so. (Dalek voice: Procrastinate!)

I am bad at remembering - things. Like, in general. and my English isn't good enough to properly do this. So I cannot give good overviews of these books. There are enough ways to find out more about them. All I can do is jot down what has stuck with me. That alone gives an insight into my mind I guess.

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin One of the latest books I've read and one that has really made an impression. The exploration of the concept of humans as a non-gendered species, only taking on a sex for procreation, is wonderful to read and still so valid to think about. I would love to see us get to an evolutionary point like that. The story itself isn't even about that as much as it is an arctic rescue mission, and about friendship and love that transcends gender assumptions.

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

"Montag looked at the river. We'll go that way. He looked at the old railroad tracks. Or we'll go that way. Or we'll walk on the highways now, and we'll have time to put things into ourselves. And some day, after it sets in us a long time, it'll come out of our hands and our mouths. And a lot of it will be wrong, but just enough of it will be right. We'll just start walking today and see the world and the way the world walks around and talks, the way it really looks. (...) I'll hold on to the world tight some day. I've got one finger on it now; that's a beginning."

I read this book in my late teens and I have bookmarked that page and I have reread it when I felt lost and I want to put it on the flag of every teenage generation to come. Shout it from the rooftops. Put it on my fucking grave with the addition "they tried as best as they could". brb, crying shivering breathing in a bag

Guards! Guards! - Terry Prattchet Prattchet's books were among the first I read every one I could find in our library in my teen years. Now I own them all. I could add every watch book to this, because Sam Vimes' struggle to become a decent person and be better than his own prejudices, pulling himself from the literal gutter - that man is a symbol and will always be one of my favourite fictional characters. Also, tumblr made me ship him with Vetinary and I am not looking back.

City of Bones - Martha Wells Underrated fiction that has all the good things, adventure, absolutely awesome world building, great characters, again human evolutionary advancement that simply collapses pre-conceived sexual stereotypes - love it and want to reread it now I've been thinking about it.

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell Bit long that I read it but the way the stories of several people transcend lifetimes and lifes is simply magnificent. I also loved his book Ghostwritten for similar reasons.

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams One of the first book series I ever read, probably, started in my young teens, probably at first read the graphic novel my dad owned when I was 12 or sth and then the books. It has definitely shaped my sense of humor. I'll never forget how I did a book presentation on it in school and was very confused when the jaguar in the toilet and the descendent of Genghis Khan jokes fell flat - while I was struggling to even read it aloud without laughing. Philistines.

Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse Another book that shaped my teenage self because I felt known. It is about a man who is unhappy because he feels he does not belong - he is of two natures, one sophisticated and one wild, untamed. Perfect for adolescents. I got bad marks in German class because the way I was writing essays had become too much like 1920's German and lots of words and phrases aren't used anymore lol

The Crystal World - J.G. Ballard I could add every other story or book by this man because I feel like they all have a certain tone - a kind of fatal sense of the inevitability of change, often not for the better, but the protagonist feels compelled to seek that change anyway. (Suddenly Morpheus feels) Something about it makes me ache and yearn, like these characters, because he writes from a mindset that is slipping into insanity quite masterfully I'd say.

The Stars My Destination/Tiger! Tiger! - Alfred Bester Absolutely made an impact with how a completely unlikable character, who makes his way through the world and universe without remorse and kindness, can achieve the highest form of meditative stance needed to space-travel. I don't remember much of the plot but that bit stuck. He's awful and you made him awful and then he goes and surpasses all of you anyway, despite being a brute and idiot. (A bit of Hob Gadling energy, if he wasn't as nice)

The Never-Ending Story - Michael Ende I could put Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter here, but this was the fantasy book I read before those and therefore it has shaped me more I guess. The beauty, and utter importance of imagination, the escape into a fantasy world to fix all real-world problems. Adventure, friendship, overcoming of fear, finding what really matters. There's a lot in this book that will never get old.

Now I feel like I bared my soul. You're welcome.

[storiesofsvu]

Happy thursday.

fair warning, if you care about svu spoilers at all, make sure you're staying FAR away from social media until you've watched it.

WOOF

spoilers under the cut for all three l&o's and not really for CME, but just some minor thoughts

Thursday Thursday… here we go!

As usual Ayanna looking like a fucking bomb snack in her suits

Ian doyle get your crusty ass face off my fucking tv. Like, im literally writing Emily fic as I’m watching organized crime, this is NOT THE TIME.

Okay, not surprised the snitch is already dead.

Ah… and we’re back to the sleazy casino manchild. Amazing.

The more we find out about jet, the more I love her.

Wait… bobby’s MARRIED??!? Did we know this already and I just forgot or is this new information? Or is the new info just that he’s married to a mob boss’s niece?

Okay also…the mob boss woman was in the once upon a time in el barrio svu ep.. that’s where I know her from…

LOL to Jamie little white kid freaking over the food and bigger LOL to them having a giant pile of containers to take with him…

Murphy’s accent keeps slipping in and out which is weird cause the actor is irish… then again, if he’s been living in the us for that long it probably does that anyways

The girl playing Rika has defs been on svu before… but im not complaining… she’s hot.

Yeah she was in s19.

Bobby’s such a lil cutie.

“I deserve a lot more than that. But you’re going to spend it on me. Dinner, maybe some jewels…”  “buy you a house if it means I get to come home to you.”  ….things to file away for future fic inspo….

Jet… omg.. I love you.

Okay… but like… jet was being flirted with by a KNOWN gangster ,one who clearly wanted more time with her, whether that is pure intention or not (cause out on the street he did seem a bit genuine, esp once murphy showed up) and like, yes I get that she’s a cop, but WHY would she be left to walk to her car alone late at night. Like, im not talking police escort, but at the very least a “security” from the club or a bartender or anything like… there are some bars that don’t let their service staff walk to their cars alone….

Okay, im actually invested in this arc…  weird.

Now we’re onto mothership. Will I pay attention or will I focus on the prentiss smut I’m working on? Only time will tell!!

Shouldn’t this be a special victims case?

Cops walking up to a suspect muttering “don’t run, don’t run, don’t run.” Will always be hilarious to me.

“these Zumba classes are not working…”  “…I did all the running.” LOOOL that is some quality partner banter. Love it.

I literally just said “where tf are this kid’s parents.”  Like… he’s under 18..

God this is one of those cases that just has curveball after curveball…

Wait… barba upped a case to reckless endangerment and rita’s response was “really, now we’re talking felonies?!” but now RE means no jail time?? Brb while I go google some shit. Okay… It looks like its first degree vs second degree. I’ll accept that.

Samantha maroun and rita Calhoun go on shopping sprees together and I will not accept notes on this. They’re both always so colourful.

I feel like this case would be a super hard one to take to trial… like that jury is gonna be deadlocked no matter what, it would so likely be a mistrial.

Damn these lawyers are fucking smart and know their shit. Good job.

Holy FUCK another curveball. Damn. This is old school writing. Bless.

 Okay, svu time. I don’t know if I’m prepared. (and not because I ship it…)

Still cant get over that Oscar papa is a fucking TWINK

Awwwee sonny… sweet sonshine. I fucking miss you. Wish you were around more often.

Wow… timing.. Seriously? We couldn’t even get sonny in the room?? He had to zoom in? wtf?!

This aint the first time a perp has threatened her son.. like.. she aint fucking around anymore

Also… the fact that they were *actually* going for noah is terrifying and makes it like, so much more worse?!

Fuck.. Velasco… ive missed you…

A phoebe mention!! Can we see her again pls?

Still haven’t decided if I like Bruno or not. Wouldn’t be mad if he joined the team cause lort knows they need a bigger squad. Also really liked that other Bronx detective

Okay.. note on the commercial break… they’re making ANOTHER magic mike??? Is channing tatum that desperate for money??

LOL the “let me call you amanda from now on” line followed by “alright well tell carisi I’ll be home late.” Omg. Fin. Best one liners.

“all you white boys look alike to me” LOL.

Bruno my man, why TF you carrying around that much cash?!?

Yes… THIS ONE! The black girl detective from the bronx. I want more of her.

HANDS! Joe.. jfc calm yourself

Churlish! Okay… imma try to remember that name

….im assuming we’re not getting any muncy in this ep

YEESSS VELASCO playing dirty fake UC (well… kinda…) this should not be as hot as it is…

OH MY GOD ARE WE ACTUALLY IN COURT?! IT’S A FUCKING MIRACLE.

Man… testifying/prosecuting/being on the jury in a gang related case like this, like, my anxiety would be through the fucking roof for the rest of my life…

Im over here still trying to figure out just how dirty joe was playing? Like, if he was gonna go that bad why do it in front of a cop he doesn’t know that well. Like yeah maybe he has a hook with mcgrath but im just wary of shit rn. He’s not that ballsy….

Okay, this isn’t the first time that liv has made threats like this, and it wont be the last.

Yeah.. still so confused about joe… like he *knows* what he’s doing…. Right? Like at first I lowkey thought it was the two of them playing good cop bad cop like liv & Elliot used to back in the day.

“that an invitation?” DUARTE WOW WAY TO BE FUCKING BOLD (would probs prefer that to eo tbh)

Theyre flirting your honour

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??!!! ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME?!!? I legit wish you could see my face rn. WOW SVU WAY TO FUCKING GO DARK THERE IS ONLY 10 MINS LEFT OF THIS SHIT AND THAT INCLUDES COMMERCIALS WOOOWW

 Are you fucking with me???

Wow… okay.. noted… pray for anyone named Mike on SVU

(but is he actually dead..  or is this gonna be a witsec thing?)

I WAS JUST STARTING TO LIKE HIM DAMMIT

Oscar’s got mommy issues… that checks

Okay well they prosecuted him for murder so… duarte’s dead… wow..

Her new apartment is gorgeous

Did we really have to go all dutch tilt for this scene?

LOOOOOLLL omg that promo had y’all fucking freaking your shit out and it turned into nothing. God bless. So proud of liv for saying no, that she can’t. like, not only did unstabler bring it up at a time that she was probably hella vulnerable, feeling the relief that she/noah were finally safe, like that’s gonna have her releasing emotions she didn’t even realize she was feeling. And then on top of that, someone, a friend.. a flirtatious friend maybe? Coworker? The SECOND person she’d worked closely with named mike be murdered a moment after she left their side, holds herself responsible. Like that is NOT the time to try to fucking kiss her my man. That is the time to wrap her in a hug, tell her that things will eventually be okay and let her cry into your shoulder, a light kiss on the head at most. Jfc. Read the room.

circling back to duarte.. they SERIOUSLY couldn't bother paying molly for like a half day of work to be in the waiting room? he was her captain.. she would be there...

ANYWAYS.

Uh,… CME summary?

Episode was meh. Like literally meh. I have basically zero good or bad points about it. AJ’s kids are so grown up now. JJ looks hot af as usual, and gay af, like the reboot really said “okay, jj is also gonna be secretly gay, don’t tell will”. Sick of the will they wont they with will being sick/dying, lets not tease this shit anymore. Also sick of the wardrobe dept giving Prentiss the exact same shirt in like 4 diff colours to wear and that’s it. Also please let Emily say fuck again. Also JJ. And Tara. Let the women swear pls. it’s not fair Rossi got the first like.. three… let’s hope next week is better!

[griba]

.

[shinsouskitten]

Okay so hc’s of Hawks, Dabi, Bakugo, and Shinsou with an outta pocket s/o plz! She just oozes crackhead energy and says the most funniest most wildest shit. (Hawks:*teasing her* S/O: Ah, so you think cuz your balls drag across the floor, you got jokes huh? ☺️) Sis could come up with the most immaculate of roasts (S/O: Mineta, you waste of sperm! I will rip your spine outta your ass and make it into fine China before sending it to your parents 😡) and do the dumbest things just cuz she wants to (Monoma’s on his bullshit and S/O just suplexes him without saying a single word). Imagine their faces when she breaks the fourth wall a couple of times, says some freaky shit with a straight face, or she’ll just go “Nope” and jump out of a window with no hesitation (she don’t care how high the drop is, she heading out). Need them to be with someone who just has “I woke up and chose violence” energy.

I POSTED IT TO THE WRONG ASK 😭😭😭 i still have the other request saved on the actual document so at least i didnt completely fuck it up

still, im gonna go cry in a corner so brb

---

i had a stroke reading this 😅

but like i read this out to my buddy @grapefantaenby and we both were like BRO I LOVE THAT, even if my writing of it is subpar at best lol

also that m*neta insult is actual perfection. might send it to my ex

Warnings: chaos, some swear words, m*neta exists 🤮

---

Hawks/Keigo Takami: 

🍗 Keigo loves it

🍗 He especially loved when the two are you are partnered up, simply because of how terrified the villains are when they see you. You’re not even that scary, they just have no idea what you’re going to do

🍗 You could either decide your weapon of choice that day is a chair, or take a bag of popcorn from a nearby store and just sit there eating it while Hawks does his job (heroes don’t steal so Keigo always makes sure to go back to the store and pay for you if you forget)

🍗 He’s used to you jumping out of random windows. He was absolutely terrified the first time, and jumped straight after you to catch you, but now he just sends a bunch of his feathers to make sure you make it to the ground safely 

🍗 You don’t bend over and accept everything the commission asks you to do, and it’s quite common for them to demand that Hawks keep an eye on you to ensure you don’t get into too much trouble. It’s also quite common for you to just walk out mid meeting with a middle finger to the rest of the conference room and a scream that you want food

🍗 The fourth wall breaks. Oh God the fourth wall breaks. Hawks literally just stand there like ‘what the fuck’ when you turn to an empty piece of sidewalk and mutter something about villains being too hot for their own good (legit thinks for a moment you mean temperature-wise, but is still confused anyway)

---

Dabi/Touya Todoroki:

💙🔥 Oh boy. If there’s one thing that gets on Dabi’s nerves it’s chaotic individuals. He deals with Toga and Twice on a daily basis, so you’d think he’d know how to tone out the craziness. Alas, he does not

💙🔥 Sometimes he wants to throw you against the wall and just tell you to shut up for a goddamn second, and other times he wants to praise you for showing some low level villain that the league was not to be messed with. Maybe you did it with an insult about his mother, but it still worked, and the villain left you with an apology quickly enough

💙🔥 Not that Dabi would ever actually tell anyone that he thought they did a good job, so he usually just ignores you, attempting to stay out of your way (he also doesn’t really want you to insult his mother)

💙🔥 Eventually he becomes more accustomed to your… uniqueness, and occasionally you actually manage to get a half smile from him with one of your numerous insults aimed towards Shigaraki. They can get pretty creative

💙🔥 If Dabi is ever at odds with the rest of the league for some reason (there’s not really a reason, he’s just being Dabi), they - usually mom Kurogiri - sends you in an attempt to cheer him up. If you don’t manage to cheer him up, you still manage to annoy him enough to force him back to the rest of them. Either way it works out

---

Katsuki Bakugou:

💥 ‘Wow you’re annoying’ is the first thing Bakugou thinks when he meets you (he should meet himself) so he plans to just ignore you. After all, he’s not there to make friends. He’s there to be the best hero

💥 Annoyingly, even with your naturally chaotic energy, you still manage to stay right on his toes. That’s what finally gets him to notice you (notice me senpai), and to his frustration, you’re barely even trying to beat him, and yet you manage to remain hot on his heels

💥 He’s surprised you’re not suspended from all the shit you pull, but you always manage to get yourself out of trouble one way or another. Even if that way is jumping out of a second story window and claiming they can’t kick you out when you’re injured (how that actually works he has no idea)

💥 He’s wanted to throw a chair at that stupid copycat Monoma since he first met him, so when you actually throw a chair at the guy, Bakugou laughs. Like really laughs. Kirishima thought he might’ve been possessed for a moment, but Monoma’s expression when he finally got back up was priceless

💥 It takes a while but he slowly manages to respect your skill as a hero - as much as King Explosion Murder can respect anyone. And even though your personality is… unusual, you’re not Deku, so he can deal with you

💥 Besides, anyone who can and will suplex Monoma without any warning is a worthy friend for him

---

Hitoshi Shinsou:

�� The first time he met you, you were screaming like a banshee running through the halls of school, chasing after a small purple speck some way off in the distance. He didn’t get involved

💜 He saw you next being held apart from Bakugou with help from Aizawa’s scarf. You were screaming again, but this time at least you sounded human. He heard something about an ‘angry pomeranian’ before he decided to leave you to it

💜 You’re part of 1A, so Shinsou doesn’t pay you much mind other than the infuriating need to prove himself to everyone that ever doubted him. He’s surprised when you don’t act like the others in your class, and first gets to talk to you after you barrel into him in the hallways mid lesson (you were both skipping so he didn’t call you out on it)

💜 He asked if you were okay, and your exasperated response of ‘Bakugou’ explained enough for him. You sat together for a while. Okay, you refused to get up from the floor. He got tired of standing and decided to join you

💜 You get your first smile from him after you’re almost caught by a teacher looking for you, when you grab his hand and make a mad dash to a darkened classroom currently unused by anyone else

💜 Your first laugh comes when you flip off Denki after he tried one of his many pickup lines on you. The blond’s reaction was great, and Shinsou couldn't help but chuckle at how you managed to twist Denki’s pickup line into some distorted insult to his… nether regions

💜 Your chaos is a nice contrast to how nonchalant Shinsou usually is. You bring some much needed joy to the purple haired insomniac, and he helps to calm you down when your usual energy might be unneeded in certain situations. You know what they say; opposites attract

[neoheros]

how would haikyuu boys handle getting shipped with a friend on tiktok? feat. kuroo tetsuro

kuroo tetsuro has a crippling tiktok addiction and he’s in denial about it but everyone around him knows because all he does in his free time is get on that app

that’s canon i’m not arguing with anyone about this

he’s the kind of guy to fall asleep from scrolling through his fyp and the moment he wakes up he looks for his phone under his pillow to watch more lmaooo

so anyways

you share classes with him and he’s not really the kind of guy to have crushes especially on people he’s not close with

but then one day he’s on his fyp and he stumbles on one of your videos

and he’s just like ?? woah

he recognizes you obvi, he’s not one to talk to people out of his friend group but he’s not completely ignorant to everyone else

he immediately sees that you have indeed quite the following and have almost majority of your posts going viral

so yea you can say he’d notice you more in class now

at first it was subtle, looking at you more when he’s spacing out or paying close attention to you when you’re reciting

he doesn’t even notice how he includes you more in his thought process until the day kenma pointed it out to him how he’s been a bit more distracted lately

he brushed it off thinking it wasn’t really anything serious

but then boy Oh boy !!!

he started noticing the fact that you’ve got a really nice room in your vids and your fave led lights are the red ones since you almost always use them

he’s also really into the fact that you upload more on comedic videos than dancing ones

but HONEY when you posted your take on the dance trend of savage by megan thee stallion ,,, he was GONEEEE !!!

he sent that video to kenma like five times in a row with the caption “aha brb gonna LIVE for this woman 😗✌️”

kenma be like: simp city population - u

at this point he just accepts it, like flat out he took it within himself to UNDERSTAND how much he’s crushing on you and kenma asks him if he’s gonna do anything about it and he’s like ????

like he gets how awesome he is and stuff cause duh captain of the volleyball team and most probably the most beautiful man on campus but you’re also really good in class and very attractive

not to mention that you’ve never even looked his way before

he was hurt, man !!

only he could feel as rejected as someone who actually did get rejected

nevertheless, he got over that and just woke up one day telling himself that he was gonna shoot his shot anyway !!

so one day in class, right after the lunch bell rang, he took a deep breath and rummaged his insides for every drip of confidence he could muster

he walked to your seat and you were kinda surprised because this boy right here has never once talked to you before

his opening line was “can i sit here?”

you were still really confused but then he said something about wanting to be friends and your heart was just really warm cause !!!! that’s so NICE !!

and he mentioned how he knew you from tiktok since you practically lived on his fyp

you were really embarrassed and he got to see in action how your ears turn really red when you get shy

kuroo, internally: “that’s so FUCKEN CUTE !!!!!”

he had to reassure you that it was indeed really cool that you made bomb ass tiktoks

you were so grateful cause like one minute you were having a terrible day because of your stupid teacher then bam this 6’2 beauty of a man came swooping in telling you you were terrific

you two became friends after that and it made you really happy to have someone as cool as kuroo as your best friend

kuroo likes to sit with you at lunch except when you’re with other people then he gets a bit dejected so he’s just “well damn maybe tomorrow then”

it’s all good though cause he has invited you to numerous of his practices and that’s when you SEE how amazing this man is at volleyball

one day you’re like “hey wanna do a tiktok with me?”

and he’s like “the one where you kiss me?”

you, flushed: DIPSHIT WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT !!!!1!1!1!!

you guys do the one where you dance to supalonely by benee

it went OFF !!! 700k likes and a solid ass 2.7M views because apparently the viewers really like it when kuroo dances next to you in his varsity uniform and has sweat dripping on his forehead

your comments for the next two weeks are just like “bro post another one with kuroo please PLEASE”

kuroo: guess people just like me more :)

you: leave my mentions <3

sometimes you’d get people replying to your videos with “you and kuroo look really good together”

you see them but you most likely ignore it because even if you did know how much you liked kuroo, you didn’t wanna jeopardize the friendship, yk?

anyhow due to popular demand, you include him in your videos again and every time you do they always go viral !!!

it’s very cute especially when you do the ones where you snapchat him song lyrics and he answers even if he does know it’s a trend

“can they please just get together already, we all know they’re pining but they’re too coward to say it !!”

you: ok u know what user9728182829 since u’r so good at this why don’t u be the one to make tiktoks at a volleyball court and dodge all those stray balls 😤

you were so fed up with it that you actually tell kuroo about the entirety of tiktok shipping the two of you together

he was worried that you were upset because people liked you and him dating that he thought maybe you just weren’t into him

BUT THEN !!!

because of the corona virus all the schools shut down and people were forced to stay in their houses for quarantine

it was sad that everything got cancelled and you weren’t allowed to see your friends anymore

but that’s ok cause kuroo insisted to facetime everyday

you: why can’t we just text

kuroo: because what if you forget what i look like 🥺

you: hey i’m not that blessed ❤️

it was like the quarantine never happened since you still saw and talked to him everyday

sometimes he’d show up at your place but refuse to come inside cause social distancing

this mfer threw rocks on your glass window just to get your attention once

kuroo: i got you those edible cookie dough in pints !!

you: omfg 🥺👉👈

then he chucks it at you because he ain’t boutta break the law to get you food 😤

it’s ok though you have really good reflexes and it only hit your elbow the first 2 times !!

you got it all on camera and posted it on tiktok and everyone in the comments were LIVID at the fact that you captioned it with “best friends b like”

“i just know that kuroo is punching the air right now.”

“imagine risking the corona and still being friend zoned.”

“when you realize kuroo is actually the president of simp city.”

other times he’d snap you at 3 in the morning asking if you want anything from starbucks

no one:

your snapchat dms at 3:28 am: you really went to bed you SN A KE !!

and when you wake up the next morning you find out that this guy is still awake and that he’s been chilling in the starbucks parking lot all morning !!!

that’s ok though because other than the fact that his sleep schedule is completely wrecked he still got you your venti strawberry acai refresher

you: thank you sm 🥺 what do i owe you

kuroo: a kiss on the cheek

you: you can have the drink back ❤️

that’s when the new tiktok trend started and people were posting the hottest guys on campus or revealing their crushes since 1st grade

you, feeling brave because school is cancelled: aight bet 😎

you do a tiktok hopping on the trend and you captioned it with “now that we aren’t coming back to school here are the boys from campus that i’d date for real”

you stall for the first 30 second by vibing to the music and when the beat drop !!

you showed a picture of kuroo and you put in the text “kinda missing him too”

you were extremely regretting this but numerous people already saw it and the comments went on and on about how unsurprising this was

press f ma’am

so one afternoon while kuroo was scrolling through his tiktok, he was surprised by the amount of notifications he was getting

cause he doesn’t even post videos ??

he’s only there to watch funny stuff and leave insulting comments on your posts cause he’s a good friend

he checks and they’re all just tags of him in this one video and he was kinda worried cause what if it was a hate post ??

but then he saw that it was yours and he’s less nervous !!!

kuroo, texting you: if you diss me in this one i’m posting the screenshot of you falling asleep on facetime

so he watches it and ??????????????

bro he went 🥺

before he messages you he went straight for the comments and !!!!!

“who knew it was kuroo before watching the whole video?”

“don’t be shy put some more photos of him !!”

“if kuroo duets this i’m gonna make sure to never fall in love unless its like this.”

“y’all he did it boys!! he graduated from the best friend zone!!”

he’s still really surprised by this and he really hopes you’re not kidding cause bro you??? like him????

thanks to that comment he saw, he decides to duet your video by using the same sound and doing the same dance with the same caption “now that we aren’t coming back to school here are the ones from campus that i’d date for real”

and they’re all just pictures of you 🥺

it blows up but before you see it on your fyp he’s already asking to facetime and when you answer you swear he’s just got the biggest smile in the world i’m :(

kuroo: lol remember when you publicly told majority of the internet how much you liked me

you: lol remember when you weren’t talking ❤️

[lopez-richter-fangirl]

Okay here’s everything I can remember hopefully further viewings can fill in some gaps:

So they opened doors early and there were just a few of us in the lobby with Jaime still walking around taking pics of all her decorations half in costume

Curt got there from a class and he came to talk to us and was really excited about the show and telling us how much we were gonna love it

And Jaime was still wandering around and she came over and was like you’re here early so she took us over to show us the christmas tree and said you can be in charge of making sure everyone knows about this decorate your own ornament station and I cannot overstate how excited and proud she was of her decor and it looked so good and she’s so fucking sweet (and it brought me back to my very first irl starkid interaction being her talking to a group of us at avpw right after getting off her flight she really is an angel🥺) and then she said she had go eat dinner but her hand was hovering by my shoulder as she was saying it and I was like oh no will she won’t she and then she DID and I was like OKAY BREATHE oh my god I love her

Angela from shitty broadway was there to play piano in the lobby and she was so nice (everyone’s so nice lol) we did the whole ‘where have you come from’ so she got very excited about me coming from London and then she was taking group pics of us

Amy was on merch and she was so nice SK customer service is really :)

Then Corey had to run around handing out wristbands to confirm our vaccine status for those of us that got there early before they were actually giving them out and thank god he did because some people had to go back to get them when they got to the point of seating us and then I wouldn’t have been so close but also two second interactions with Corey are scarier than conversations with anyone else lmao (I mean except J&L but I didn’t talk to them)

And no surprise Bob and Denise were there but I didn’t need them to be in my eyeline, as I said I could barely manage to look at them because the show was a damn spectacle but the couple moments I did see they looked so damn proud of their kids also no surprise

But yeah my seats were SO GOOD and I couldn’t believe I was seeing them all in person again and having them be that close like it’s so surreal. And they also made such good use of the space it was really cool

As I said AJ KILLED the preshow oh my god. And they got Britney to do a fun filmed thing even though they asked her to do it during company tech week lmao she’s such a good sport

Also like I’ve said it and starkid and curt have said it but truly the ENERGY in the room, we were so excited, THEY were so excited, genuinely eeeeverything was getting cheers. And it’s always so special to be in a room full of starkid fans like that’s home brb crying 😭

Okay actual show specifics lmao (or sometimes not specifics just yelling)

Clark is phenomenal and he wrote the best show and his costume? So good

Dylan’s just so damn good in this role

Teared up just when Joey came on I love him okay and I missed him so much, but his background acting is truly divine

Lauren’s first appearance was from the audience so my simultaneous first thoughts were “god she’s so fucking GORGEOUS” and “fuck she’s TINY” because she was barely taller than people sitting down lmao

Meredith looked so happy 🥺

JAIME queen she killed her choreo lmao

And I’m not getting over Lauren and Brian as siblings and Lauren and Brian hug we won 😭

Janaya was INCREEEDIBLE oh my god

CHRISTMAS ELECTRICITY JAMES HE’S SO GOOD AND THE CHOREO AHHHHH AND HIS LIGHT UP SHOES and EVERYONE’S costumes looked so good excellent work June and we got a lil James Lauren and Jamie dance trio ugh it was so good

But then the cratchit interlude 😭 It was very fun to have new little bits of content to the show but this one just made me want to sob already, Lauren walking up with the kids (wearing the fucking boots I just can’t escape them) and then Joey did fully carry Brian on and wonders why he has back problems lmao

And then he held his hand out for her to join him when he started the song and this is me just being overemotional about them lol but it did feel really symbolic for their first live performance as a public couple 😭😭 And I did have a moment of ‘oh my god *everyone* knows they’re together now’ and you could feel how special it was and ugh crying forever

And he spun her which honestly when I was picturing the performance I was like god that would be so cute if he did and then HE DID but it made me think about their first dance so I didn’t need that because god they’re just so soft and sweet and the heart eyes 😭

AND THEN they did an almost kiss and got cut off by tiny tim which thankfully I was forewarned about because I would have died they live to torture us but ALSO that’s when Lo’s wig almost came off (because she has to tilt her head so far back to kiss him because she’s so tiny byeee😭) so that alleviated the feeling of wanting to die a little bit 😂

But the hand on her stomach literally just holding it for a few seconds Joey let me BREATHE

Oh the “honey” did come back 😒

And the high note 😭😭😭

I just literally will never get over how fucking incredible priceless was and how much it feels like this is just what they’re *meant* for like they’re so in their element and they’re so in love 😭😭

Okay remember in final ghost how brian and mere played those spouses yeah it was brian and AJ lol

But J&L were holding hands in their part kill me 😭😭 They made me cry again fuck them

Also Jamie’s costume was GORGEOUS

And okay christmas day DYLAN’S RED SEQUIN JACKET THAT WAS A SURPRISE YES JUNE

And god Ali turkey boy I love you so much

I think this was where AJ was over enthusiastic in his exit and slammed right into Lo as she came on so she got giggly

And the bit where scrooge gives bob a raise Joey and Dylan hugged and it was so cute oh my god 😭

Then curtain calls I love curtain calls but this one felt so special like Joey and Lauren’s faces and Brian and Mere’s hug and everyone being so damn happy to have done a live show again

God the show literally left me breathless and no one wanted to leave at the end lmao

Also I don’t remember specifics but there were little changes in the way some of the lines were sung and ugh so good it made me wish they were doing like a live album

Anyway that’s it for now but I can’t believe I get to do it all again four more times 😭

[kbstories]

impression//expression

“It’s not like Kirishima had come all this way to U.A. to immediately break the promise he made to himself upon arrival.

It’s just that Bakugou is as feral as they come, and the moment Kirishima recognizes it’s fear he felt crawling up his spine that day, he makes it his personal mission to face it head-on until it’s gone.”

(Or: Being friends with Bakugou Katsuki is anything but a linear experience. Kirishima Eijirou would have it no other way.)

Tags: Kirishima POV, Developing Friendships, Kamino Arc, Kidnapping & Aftermath, Hurt/Comfort, Bakugou Gets A Hug

Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Content warning for kidnapping, aftermath of violence. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9.

***

Nitro!! (Baku 💣💥)

i’m gonna die (sent 19:08)

no seriously i’m this 👌🏻 close to losing it bro (sent 19:08)

aizawa’s voice is so zzzz and it’s like sir,, i’m begging,,,, (sent 19:09)

a little bit of energy. just a little bit (sent 19:09)

A nudge to his side, somewhat urgent.

shit brb (sent 19:10)

“Dude.”

Kirishima keeps his voice down to a hiss, shooting a glance at Aizawa’s turned back just in case. Hidden behind his pencil case, his phone shows Bakugou has read his messages – near-immediately, as always – before Kirishima locks the screen. His own face is reflected on sleek, innocent black.

Next to him, Kaminari is looking at him like he’s lost his mind. “Don’t dude me, dude”, he whispers back. “Texting in Aizawa’s class? D’you have a death wish?”

Next to Kaminari, Mina leans over her desk, clearly curious and uncaring of her notes crinkling quietly under her elbows. “You? Kiri, paragon of wholesomeness and sunshine, breaking the rules? Lemme guess, it’s because of Bakugou.”

Next to Mina, Sero joins the fray with a muted headshake. “So brave yet so reckless. Truly inspiring.”

“You can say that again. That guy’s scary, man.” That’s Kaminari again. He leans in conspiratorially, nodding at Kirishima’s phone. “You got Blasty’s number? How? He almost bit my head off when I invited him to the 1-A chat.”

“Uh, yeah? We’re besties. But guys…”

If they were anywhere else, Kirishima would let out a whine. All he wanted to do was keep himself awake by texting his bro, is that such a crime? Especially since Bakugou’s the only one of ‘em who is actually allowed out there, where the fun stuff is happening. It’s downright cruel to have a new challenge dangled in front of their eyes like the juiciest steak only to be dragged away to the equivalent of plain steamed broccoli. Or something.

Point is: Kirishima’s bored enough he could cry and Aizawa, bless his insomnia-plagued soul, is making it about a thousand times worse with his monotone mumbling while he continues to write whatever-the-fuck in chalk to illustrate his point.

Three mouths open simultaneously in what Kirishima knows will be a too-loud bout of teasing – a frantic gesture of his hand to shut up, shut up, shut up has identical grins bursting on his friends’ faces.

Grins that disappear the instant the familiar sense of Aizawa’s quirk washes over them. Uh oh.

Aizawa doesn’t even have to say anything. Not even a brief pause registers in his lecture yet Kirishima snaps to attention so hard his buttcheeks clench as he furiously scribbles down what’s on the board. Some sort of… diagram? (It’ll make sense later, Kirishima hopes. And if it doesn’t, there’s always his equally draconic tutor-slash-best-friend he can poke into helping him eventually.)

After a semester at U.A., everyone in 1-A is whipped enough that not a single word is breathed between them for a good fifteen minutes. Aizawa talks, they take notes.

Then the adrenaline wears off and Kirishima finds himself drifting once more, fingers automatically flicking the home button. There, over Crimson Riot’s confident grin, three new messages.

Nitro!! (Baku 💣💥)

pay attention (received 19:14)

ffs (received 19:14)

hope aizawa murdered your ass (received 19:16)

No surprises there. Well, the fact that Bakugou has deigned to reply just before a training exercise kind of is, and he even triple-texted which makes a sappy part of Kirishima’s brain think he must’ve rubbed off on him over the past months. The day Bakugou Katsuki discovers emojis can’t be far off now and it will be Kirishima’s greatest achievement to date.

He bites his lip to suppress an amused noise at that. Ignoring the incredulous stare from Kaminari to his right, Kirishima types.

Nitro!! (Baku 💣💥)

haha! i lived bitch (sent 19:32)

minus the bitch askdjfhsk sry (sent 19:32)

i’m just tired af lol (sent 19:32)

how’s things on ur end tho? (sent 19:34)

no asses left unkicked i’m sure (sent 19:34)

👊🏻💥💥 (sent 19:35)

Kirishima gets about a solid second to feel good about furthering his pro-emoji agenda before his phone is snatched away by rigid, white cloth. Wide-eyed, his gaze is met by a flat expression that exudes more exhaustion than any human should rightfully have to feel.

“Kirishima”, Aizawa says, as calm as ever. “How kind of you to lend me your attention.”

Lord have mercy. Whichever hell Aizawa is about to unleash on him, Kirishima will be in it for a while. And when that’s over, it’ll be Bakugou’s turn to have a field day with it.

Somehow, Kirishima is actually looking forward to that last part.

*

Then, a voice rings out in their heads. Aizawa jumps into motion. The villains strike.

Afterwards, all Kirishima can do is stand there and watch the forest burn. His phone is silent, held between fingers that won’t stop trembling no matter what he does. He unlocks, checks, locks, only to do it all over again a few minutes or seconds later.

Around him, everything is spinning out of control. Reality is too loud, too bright, already overwhelming where it waits to be acknowledged beyond the soothing green interface of his chat with Bakugou.

The messages are still there. Marked read until they aren’t, and Kirishima stares at that subtle difference like it’s the last thing tethering him to the ground. Blue tick, his best friend is fine. Grey tick–

Bakugou let Kirishima take a photo of him, once. Kirishima had complained about his profile picture being that creepy default silhouette, especially once they started texting on a daily basis. So Bakugou sighed and leaned over the tiny table of the café, his chin propped on one hand and his coffee in the other. He’d kept still just long enough for the shutter to go off and called him a clingy bastard right after.

In the soft morning light, there’d been something warm in his typical glare. It’s still there, tucked away in the top left corner of the screen. Fond, red eyes, looking straight at Kirishima ever since.

Higher and higher, the flames reach for the sky with greedy, cobalt fingers, bright enough to take the stars with them. And Bakugou?

Bakugou is gone.

*

Nitro!! (Baku 💣💥)

hey (sent 23:01)

it’s a long shot but (sent 23:03)

are u there? (sent 23:03)

these are going thru so ur phone is on and i thought (sent 23:08)

idk (sent 23:08)

please respond man (sent 23:37)

please (sent 23:58)

katsuki? (sent 00:40)

*

Nitro!! (Baku 💣💥)

fuck (sent 3:24)

*

Bakugou Katsuki

um (sent 6:13)

the pros asked for ur number to track it and stuff so i gave it to them (sent 6:13)

turns out almost nobody has it?? so like (sent 6:20)

if u want a new one after all this it’s on me (sent 6:21)

pls don’t be mad haha (sent 6:21)

fuck that actually (sent 7:05)

be as mad as u want baku (sent 7:06)

u can do whatever ok? when u come back (sent 7:09)

free pass. i won’t guard this time (sent 7:09)

just come back (sent 8:00)

they’re looking for u so u gotta come back (sent 8:02)

* 

Baku 💣💥

sry i just (sent 19:55)

ok still going thru (sent 19:55)

that’s good right? (sent 19:57)

i need it to be good (sent 20:05)

yeah (sent 20:06)

*

Baku 💣💥

it’s saturday (sent 2:33)

please be ok (sent 4:46)

i miss u (sent 5:00)

*

Baku 💣💥

we’re on our way katsuki (sent 12:45)

just hold on we’re coming for u (sending…)

wait (sending…)

oh (sending…)

*

Bakugou is quiet.

When all is said and done, injuries patched up and police statements given, Kirishima waits and Bakugou looks… tired. Small. Glancing back at the precinct with eyes a little too wide, a little too hesitant to truly belong to him.

Whatever he’s searching, if he finds it or not – Kirishima can only guess as Bakugou’s shoulders slump further and he mutters, “Let’s just go.”

In retrospect, he was probably talking to his parents. The Bakugous came for their son in a car as expensive as they come, white with chrome highlights and an interior clad entirely in tasteful, beige leather; it’s an aesthetic that’s the antithesis to Katsuki’s. Their expressions are full of love, though, brows drawn in concern carefully left unspoken. His father opens the back door for him first, going for his own in the front, while his mother ruffles Bakugou’s hair within the one-second-window he allows for the touch before shrugging it off.

“Welcome back, brat. We missed ya.”

Familiar phrases laden with far too much weight. From the outside in, it’s just that: Mildly exasperated parents picking up their kid after some school thing that dragged on into the night, or perhaps a late hangout with a friend. No one acknowledges the nightmare-ish three days they’ve left behind by the merit of time passing and the world spinning on and nothing else – the countless people injured or dead, an entire district torn asunder in a conflict much bigger than any of them, especially Bakugou.

Bakugou, who shuffles onto the backseat without saying much of anything. It’s only after Kirishima trails after him and Bakugou’s eyes meet his own over his shoulder that Kirishima realizes that’s what he’s doing.

Then Bakugou’s gaze softens and he kicks the door of the car open wider. “Um”, Kirishima pipes up, the noise of keys clinking together drawing his attention to one Bakugou Mitsuki. “Is it okay if I…?”

She snorts and ruffles his hair, too. “Kid, after what you did tonight, a ride home is the least I can do for ya. C’mon.”

Kirishima bows politely, a mumble of “Thanks, ma’am” waved away immediately. A moment later, Kirishima’s hand is being grabbed and he’s dragged inside. “Get a move on”, Bakugou mumbles, staring pointedly until Kirishima rights himself and digs for the seatbelt with his free hand. The click of the clasp snapping in is oddly loud in the ensuing silence.

It doesn’t last. The moment the engine purrs to life and the lights go off, a heavy guitar riff screeches from cleverly hidden speakers in perfect surround sound and Kirishima jumps. He’s the only one in the car to do so.

“Whoops, my bad”, says Bakugou’s mom as she turns the music down the slightest amount, her smirk – so familiar and yet not – clearly visible in the rear-view mirror. Next to her, Bakugou’s dad chuckles and shakes his head.

Bakugou himself is turned towards the window, the hand against his chin barely hiding the tiny smirk there. Kirishima lets him have it. Anything that’ll replace that lost expression from earlier is good in his books.

“So. Eijirou, right? Nice to finally meet ya.” Mrs. Bakugou checks in with him via the mirror. Her hand rests on the gear selector. “Where to? We’ll bring you home first. I’m sure your parents are worried.”

And oh fuck, Kirishima hasn’t even thought that far ahead yet. When he snuck out of the house a lifetime ago, all his mind was able to process was getting to Bakugou, saving Bakugou, bringing Bakugou back. As much as both his mothers are angels in their own right, they’re also easily worried and twice as buff as him. There haven’t been many occasions which called for them to throw down for their son but they totally would if given half the chance.

If they catch wind of even a fraction of what Kirishima got up to tonight, someone will have to pay. Kirishima’s willing to bet his most prized, limited-edition Crimson Riot figurine that that someone will end up being all of U.A., nationally famous pro heroes or not.

Before any of that can make it out of his mouth, Kirishima’s hand is squeezed and… Oh. Bakugou’s still holding it. Their skin isn’t touching; Kirishima’s sleeve has been pulled down to prevent that.

(It’s one of those things Bakugou does, tracking who and what gets in direct contact with his sweat and how to neutralize it in time. It makes Kirishima’s chest ache that, despite everything that happened, he is still aware of small things like that.)

“He’s crashing at ours tonight”, Bakugou tells his parents rather gruffly. Still looking out the window like there’s nothing unusual about that at all, and Kirishima gapes at him in complete and utter surprise. Bakugou’s grip only tightens.

“Got a problem with that?”

Just like that, Kirishima finds himself able to process speech. “Nope! Not at all. Uh, that is– Mrs. Bakugou, Mr. Bakugou, can I?”

Bakugou’s parents look similarly caught off-guard. To their credit, they merely blink and look at each other, shrugging. Again, it’s the mother who speaks. “That’s Mitsuki and Masaru to you, kid. Let’s go home, then.”

And that’s that. They set off, the car’s movement a quiet thrum that’s drowned out by complicated drum solos and vocals barely scraping past outright growling. Any other day, Kirishima would’ve been ecstatic to finally get to meet the Bakugous. He’d hoard bits and pieces of knowledge about them – such as the fact that Katsuki’s taste in music runs in the family, what the hell – like a dragon does gold coins. The notion that Bakugou invited him to their first sleep-over ever would be the biggest treasure on that pile, for sure.

Because Bakugou Katsuki is anything if not cautious: with his quirk, with his time, with his trust. Because, after days of pacing his room and worrying himself sick and crying until exhaustion took him out, their plan worked.

They pulled it off, Bakugou is back and alive, and Kirishima’s allowed to stay by his side a little bit longer.

He’s here because Bakugou wants him to be and that… feels better than Kirishima can properly put into words. So, no, he doesn’t boast about it, he doesn’t have the energy to – but Kirishima notes and appreciates it nonetheless, relief forming a ball of warmth and light that radiates within him like a tiny sun got stuck between his lungs and his heart. Bit by bit, it melts the tension off Kirishima’s bones until all he can grasp is the steady presence of Bakugou’s hand in his and how heavy his eyelids feel.

Kirishima could sleep for a week straight and still crave a nap afterwards. Probably.

There’s something he has to do before he crashes, though. With a gentle squeeze, he frees his hand to grab his phone and winces at the dozens of unread messages and missed calls that greet him. Both the group he has with his family as well as the one for 1-A have been running hot most of the night, reducing his battery to a pitiful 12%.

Opening up the chat with his moms, Kirishima scrolls to the bottom of the increasingly worried barrage of texts and hesitates, his fingers hovering over the keypad. Once he starts typing, he’ll have about a minute before shit really hits the fan.

💪🏻Kirishima Power 💪🏻

guys i’m so sorry!!! (sent 21:58)

i know ur worried and stuff and i swear i’ll explain later ok?? (sent 21:58)

 just wanna let u know i’m safe!! staying over at baku’s tonight (sent 21:58)

he’s here and safe too (sent 21:58)

🙏🏻🙏🏻 (sent 21:59)

He pauses then, reading that last part over and over again. Safe. Safe, safe, safe. A smile cracks Kirishima’s lips apart and it remains there, steadfast through the flood of new messages rolling in.

*

Bakugou’s room is both everything Kirishima expected it to be and at the same time… not.

It’s huge, for one, the typical bed-wardrobe-desk setup expanded by a couch and a beanbag, a TV with a variety of game systems hooked up to it, a handful of shelves filled to the brim with books and manga and oh, a whole freaking drum set taking up a corner by itself. The walls are plastered with band posters and signed set lists and – less blatant but still there – the odd All Might merch Kirishima knows Bakugou would strangle him for mentioning, so he doesn’t.

What comes out of his mouth is: “Dude! I didn’t know you played drums. That’s so cool!”

Everything is kept in the triad of black-orange-green Kirishima recognizes from a certain hero costume. A few discarded shirts aside, it’s really tidy. So much so that Kirishima feels ashamed of the state of his own room just by seeing this.

The feeling is compounded by Bakugou picking up those shirts and throwing them in the hamper first thing, a quiet tch indicating he’s annoyed by it. Kirishima isn’t up to outing himself as an unrepentant walking mess in comparison – instead, he makes a beeline for the bookshelf with the manga, eyes drawn to a row of covers he’d recognize in a heartbeat.

“Wha– I’ve been looking for these for ages! They’re sold out every time I try to catch up on ‘em.”

A short glance at Bakugou is answered with a shrug and an eye-roll: It’s Bakugou-speak for do whatever the hell you want. Kirishima pulls out the volume he stopped at and leafs through it.

It’s meant as a distraction for Bakugou, a space for him to drop the put-together façade and breathe without people constantly fussing over him. It’s honestly what Kirishima would rather be doing right now (exploring his best bro’s room be damned) but it’s not what Bakugou needs. Well, what Kirishima thinks he needs.

It’s hard to get a read on him without the constant snark and pointed glares. With some dinner in their bellies and Bakugou’s parents now safely downstairs, the expression that fits nowhere on the Angry Bakugou Face catalogue is back. Kind of uncomfortable and so… absent.

Kirishima is really starting to hate that expression.

It’s entirely accidental that Kirishima actually gets into reading. One chapter turns to three, turns to five, and the troubles and worries whirling ever-tighter in his chest ease for a bit until–

Woosh. A soft, balled-up something knocks against the back of his head. Kirishima startles and almost drops the manga, a vaguely alarmed noise stopped short by the sight of Bakugou in sweats and a well-worn, black shirt. His hair is wet. Wild as ever. At Kirishima’s feet: A similar outfit including a towel.

“Bathroom’s that way. Leave your clothes out by the door, I got special detergent for the nitro. Shampoo and shit’s in the shower, there’s a toothbrush for you by the sink. Use it.”

Kirishima opens his mouth.

Bakugou sighs. “It’s just a fucking toothbrush, Kiri. Wreck it for all I care.”

Kirishima closes his mouth. He nods. His phone is quickly dug out of his pocket and set aside, then he slips out to shower.

A good fifteen minutes later, he opens the door to let out a gust of steam and sees his clothes are gone. The hallway is empty, half-lit by the light coming from downstairs. The Bakugous have been as nonchalant about their spontaneous guest as Bakugou himself; even so, Kirishima tries not to linger or make too much noise as he sneaks back to Bakugou’s room.

“Baku. I’m back.”

Bakugou gives him a grunt of acknowledgement from where he’s fitting some sheets over the couch, folded out to provide a decently sized bed. There’s a pillow and a pile of blankets next to him, wrapped in fresh linen as well. It’s unlikely he’s stopped doing stuff since Kirishima left and if he is about ready to crash in five to ten minutes, he can’t imagine how Bakugou is doing right now.

Y’know, the guy who just survived being kidnapped by Japan’s newest and most notorious villain menace. No amount of pretense can make that simple fact undone.

Kirishima pads over to help, the offer to take over already on his lips but– Too late. The last corner is already being tucked in and laid flat with grim-faced efficiency. Left with nothing else to do, Kirishima sits down on the very edge, eyes downcast and fingers fiddling with the hem of his borrowed shirt. There’s some sort of band logo on it, an English word written in that typical death-metal-font that looks like someone dumped a bunch of white sticks in a pile and called it a day.

It’s soft. A little loose and frayed around the edges.

“Hey, Baku?”

Taking the blankets, Bakugou dumps them in Kirishima’s lap. “Mh?” He makes to step away and Kirishima doesn’t think, just reaches out and catches the back of his shirt.

“Dude, seriously. Just… sit down for a minute. Please?”

And Bakugou… listens. He stops, he frowns at Kirishima for a moment like he’s trying to figure out what his deal is, he sighs like he’s been presented with the world’s most aggravating puzzle – and then he tells Kirishima to scooch. “What? I’m not gonna sit on the fucking floor”, he says.

Kirishima can’t keep the relief off his face as he gladly makes room on the couch, leaning against its arm and tucking his legs in. Once Bakugou has settled, cross-legged with an elbow propped on the backrest, Kirishima throws the blanket over both of ‘em. Might as well get comfortable while they still can.

“Okay.” He steels himself with a long, slow breath. “I know you hate this kinda thing and we’re both tired and… stuff. Still, though: Are you okay?”

Bakugou gives him a look, which– Okay, fair. It’s a dumb question with an obvious answer. Kirishima doesn’t back down, though, humming to buy himself some time to rephrase.

“Like… It’s fine if you’re not. Okay, I mean. And if you’d rather go the fuck to bed and not think about this for a while that’s fine, too. But that was pretty rough and you’ve been, um, quiet. And stuff. So, I’m kinda worried. Y’know?”

Kirishima pauses. A bit lower, he mumbles: “And I missed you. So yeah.”

At some point, he dropped his gaze to his hands, limp and useless in his lap. Kirishima swore not to be a coward anymore but it’s hard, to speak and ask about things in full awareness he has no fucking clue what he’s doing.

All he wants is for Bakugou to be okay. That’s all that matters, at the end of a day like this.

“I’m not”, Bakugou says, tentatively. Like he’s making up his mind as he goes. “I’m not gonna waste your time with ‘I’m fine’. I’m not. This shit’s fucked up.” And again he sighs, sounding so fucking tired Kirishima’s heart squeezes in sympathy.

“I haven’t slept in three fucking days; my shoulders are killing me from using my quirk and sitting chained to that stupid chair and whatever the fuck else. The League scouted me specifically because they thought I’d make a good villain and fuck them for that. Fuck them. But it’s just… It’s whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

Whatever Kirishima expected, it’s not that. He looks up and into Bakugou’s eyes and–

He can’t mean that, can he? Kirishima searches his face for evidence to the contrary, traces the tension around Bakugou’s mouth and the exhaustion smudged under his eyes and the line between his brows, growing deeper under Kirishima’s scrutiny. It all reads defeat. It hurts.

They won, right? A childish voice within Kirishima can’t help but cling to that even as he looks back down. They won, and things are supposed to get better when you win.

“People got hurt. People died, Kiri. Heroes, too.” Bakugou takes a shaky breath, a hand going to his hair and rubbing it roughly. “Fucking… Best Jeanist was there and nobody at the precinct wanted to tell me if he’s alive or dead or what. All of Kamino Ward is fucking gone and All Might–”

Bakugou’s voice cracks right down the middle and it hurts. Like there’s a beast tearing through Kirishima’s chest to rip out his heart and throw it to the floor, stubbornly beating as it bleeds out.

Kirishima wants to say something. Anything. All he can hear is Bakugou’s breathing but it’s all wrong, off-rhythm and thread-bare and upset, and any doubt what that means is erased as Bakugou’s hand clenches on the sheets and he sniffs, wet on the exhale.

“Baku–”

“Don’t. Kiri, don’t–”

He’s always been like that, ordering him around and demanding things when politeness dictates to ask for them instead. His tone is as close to pleading as Kirishima’s ever heard from Bakugou, though, and it twists him up inside to the point he feels distantly nauseous.

“Don’t look.” Bakugou isn’t supposed to sound like that. Not now, not ever. “Okay? Don’t f-fucking– Don’t look at me right now.”

“Okay”, Kirishima says. “I won’t.” His own voice is a mess as well, trembling all over the place. “I won’t, Nitro. I won’t.”

You’re safe, is what he wants to tell him. It’s okay, you’re safe now. That’s not what Bakugou is asking of him. Kirishima can’t stop himself from crying because it’s always been hard not to when the people he loves are doing it, but… He tries. For Bakugou, he’ll always try.

Through eyes heavily clouded by tears, he sees Bakugou’s hand tighten, knuckles going white and bloodless. Painfully tense, and Kirishima can’t stand the sight of that, either.

He shuffles a little closer to place his hand over that fist, careful to only touch the back of Bakugou’s hand. Kirishima whispers, “I’m here”, and Bakugou audibly swallows. He lets him slip his fingers in-between his own.

Holding on, just as he did in the car and when they met in mid-air, that desperate instance that decided whether he would make it out alive or not.

Bakugou holds on even as he breaks for good and his shoulders shake with his sobs. As he continues to breathe in gulps of air that sound strangled and desperate, through tears that leave a pattern of uneven dots on the blanket. By morning they will be gone without a trace: The sun will come up, the world will continue to travel around it, and time will reveal the road they walk on as they walk it, step by step by step.

Just because it’s meant to pass doesn’t make this moment any less real. Any less important. Kirishima sits there and listens to his best friend cry. He remembers days spent without him and the mad dash to save him. He thinks of dumb questions and obvious answers.

It’s hard to tell if this is one of them, so he gathers all his courage and asks: “Katsuki. Can I hug you?”

Just like last time, Bakugou doesn’t say anything. He laughs, a watery, humorless thing – and he pulls at Kirishima’s shirt to crush him to his chest. His arms wind around Kirishima’s neck, Bakugou’s face pressing against his hair where Kirishima won’t be able to see him.

It’s fine. Kirishima’s great at hugs; he can totally work with that. Clenching his eyes shut, he adjusts his grip around Bakugou’s waist so he can rub his back, following the bumps of his spine. Up and down, over and over. Bakugou goes boneless in their embrace, not about to let go anytime soon and neither will Kirishima.

Eventually, Kirishima tucks his head against Bakugou’s shoulder, blinking sleep from his eyes. Safe. He doesn’t fight the sharp-toothed smile on his lips. Bakugou mumbles, “Fucking sap”, nearly drowned out by their collective sniffling.

It sounds a whole lot like thank you. Kirishima’s smile only grows.

>>Chapter 5

[catiuskaa]

new task: valentine’s day [ACTS]

A/N: reposting by acts! [see full version here]. wanted to see if this format works better (and yes i will squeeze everything in this one right here cause its amazing and i 100% worked my ass off on it)

PAIRING! seungmin x reader ; enemies/rivals2lovers!

SUMMARY: boring classes, boring classmates, boring assignments…to seungmin, everyone is boring even if he’s used to pretend otherwise, but you seem to get on his nerves. you, your stupid poem, and his stupid letter.

WC: 0.651k

CW: fluffy comfort, use of spanglish (not relevant to the plot, dw), use of text format, the reader is stupidly short (which i know all about), academic rivals, bad student reader x good student seungmin, mentions of the unability to deal with complicated feelings, mentions of masking feelings, slight hint of bullying, mentions of being followed, (pet)names: little one, shortie, shortcake, smallable, pretty, hyunjin as a walking therapist, and the ending is kind of a reference to a show i'm obsessed with (not gonna say it so i don't spoil it for you guys hehehe)

|PROLOGUE| |ACT 1| |ACT 2| |ACT 3|

[☆★🌷★☆]

{PROLOGUE: THE GROUPCHAT}

At first, you didn’t really know him.

To think for a second that there was a time where you didn’t know who he was made you sigh. Oh, how you wish you had never, ever encountered him.

…Kim Seungmin.

Some may say that ‘rivals’ or ‘enemies’ is a term that could seem too intense regarding a simple statement: that you two didn’t get along.

But no. Because those kind of words were exactly how you’d define your relationship.

And it had all started the first day of your last year before graduating. When you made the class groupchat.

> you created ‘Year 13-A 😼😼’

> you added ‘lucas🤺’ ‘atenea🛐’ ‘noa🫶’ and 16 more.

> you: guys help, am I missing people?

> you: @ atenea🛐 told me to create this group for homework n stuff but idk if I have everyone’s numbers 😵‍💫😵‍💫

< noa🫶: tía you’re missing two people no?

< lara💋: hala, new people?? 👀

< noa🫶: pero- they’re literally from the other group, girl

< abril🌻: you even know them lara

< abril🌻: se te va la pinza JAJSJA

< miguel📚: sí, there should be 22 people (creo)

> you: oh right, Lix told me!

> you: yeah i’ll add them now, brb 🏃‍♀️

Well.

Rookie mistake.

> you added ‘kim seungmin™️’, ‘hyunjin🎨’

> you: omg i even added everyone

< lucas🤺: omg omg

< kim seungmin™️: omg omg so crazyy

You rolled your eyes, smiling slightly as you texted. But that was just because you hadn’t talked to him before.

Now was a different story, of course. You wouldn’t smile, not for Kim Seungmin.

> you: @ kim seungmin™️ what was crazy is how difficult it was finding someone who had your phone number, lol

< han(gry)🐿️🎙️: fr fr omg

< lucas🤺: que es omg

< lucas🤺: ‘oh me gustas’ ? omg?

< lara💋: you’re such an idiot, asshole

< lucas🤺: ohhh you love me so bad 😌😌😌

< isabel🌸: she knows better lol

< lucas🤺: dude, you’re my sister

< lucas🤺: shouldn’t you be backing me?

< isabel🌸: there’s a fee for that, dude.

You giggled at the stupid teasing, used to your mates’ shenanigans that never ceased to make you laugh.

But then, he replied.

< kim seungmin™️: @ you the only difficult thing here is you reaching graduation

…

Your smile faded.

You read that once more. Then again. And another time.

You chuckled dryly.

What was this guy on about?

> you: ah? wdym?

You remember thinking that maybe he was joking. That maybe he was someone who talked to people with a lot of harsh remarks without really meaning them. That maybe he was trying to be funny, or something.

Other texts showed up, but Kim Seungmin —named like so in the contact Felix had shared to you— wasn’t replying.

< minho🐈: guys wtf it’s 00:12

< lucas🤺: oh he uses the other clock

< lucas🤺: so its am-pm for us but not for you

< lucas🤺: think you’re special? wanna fight?

< noa🫶: lucas just shut up and go to bed

< han(gry)🐿️🎙️: damn right 🛌🛌🛌

< miguel📚: guys, stop texting 😓

> you: yeah guys lol

< minho🐈: no u started this

< minho🐈: u shush

You snickered softly, used to Minho’s humour, quickly playing along.

> you: ?! unfair ☝️🤓

< kim seungmin™️: no, minho’s right for once

< kim seungmin™️: you should shush

< kim seungmin™️: you’re less annoying when you’re quiet

You frowned at your phone, your face contorted in angry confussion.

Who did this guys think he was?

With a huff, you typed a rapid “gtg guys!”, ignoring Seungmin’s texts, and quickly settled your phone back on your pocket, getting off the bus and finally arriving home.

You groaned, the text that that Seungmin idiot had sent still rolling in your head even after you laid in bed. You passed your hands through your hair.

“Difficult to reach graduation?” You mumbled, eyes fixated ln the chatroom the sentence feeling like acid in your mouth.

Kim Seungmin wasn’t ready for how difficult his last year was going to be, solely for his stupid text message.

[☆★🌷★☆]

SPECIAL THANKS! To my lovely pookies @lyramundana and @tonks-21 for ideas and support, plus also, most of the classmate’s names are thanks to gorgeous gourgeous @stayconnecteed and her spanishverse series bc i’m so invested! Go check all of their blogs out! 100% recommend. son mis chicas españolitas, hehe&lt;3

[mysticalmusicwhispers]

indus's google searches: "good apology gifts for neighbour" "how to keep your children away from bad influences" "preventing your child from being a delinquent" "how to prevent delinquents from coming into your home"

i think it's probably an accumulation of similar incidents that finally get yao banned from the house lol the third time they end up in trouble yao is kicked out and BANNED from coming back. ever. no matter how mournful aditya looks. no. so he just has to hang out with yao at the park i guess, or at yao's own house. yao's neighbours are greatly saddened by this development but aditya's neighbours heave a sigh of relief

but also imagine indus and nyo china meeting... indus being like "you have done a TERRIBLE job of raising this child he has engaged in so much property destruction!! do you know how much time and resources i need to repair relations with my neighbours now??" and nyo china being like "nah he's a good child look at his acads also ill give you money dw"

also YES she'd bring all sort of cool stuff and stores from around the world for yao and yao probably finds that so much fun... also lmao she probably thinks 1 healthy meal a day is sufficient (no) thank goodness yao is Independent™

parent teacher meetings are going to be so terrifying omg like other parents will try and passive-aggressively talk about the stuff yao has done and she'll be like "eh whatever idc your kid is just not powerful enough" and when the teacher brings up yao's behaviour issues she's just going to be like "he's getting 100s for math even though he hates it i think he's a great child he'll be fine" lmaoooo

ASDLKFDS YEAH poor Indus though.. her searches are such a mood... I feel like she would be pretty successful at getting back in her neighbors’ good books though, especially after booting Yao out lol

That sounds good! (when Aditya tells Yao, he doesn't look at all disappointed and says point blank "just sneak me in, nobody will know". Indus chucks him out by the ear when she finds out and prevents Aditya ever going to visit Yao's house again. Aditya becomes much more studious after this. "I need to go to the library today to do research for history/social studies! I need to stay after school for extra help! I'm going to the string recital today because [insert friend here] is playing!" There is no history project, no extra help session, and no string recital. He is actually just going to Yao's house.) "Yao's neighbors are greatly saddened by this development" THEY SURE WILL BE lmao half the time nyo china is not home and the other half she just gives them free reign to do whatever and just patches their destruction up with money. I think she would like India; he's a little more sunshiney and talkative but just as menacing as Yao sometimes so she can handle it lol.

Also omg the antagonism. At their first meeting Indus goes "oh that's who's been raising Yao this whole time? Imma go chew her out right now brb" also sksksksk THE MONEY... nyo China is truly a pragmatist. Money solves all problems lol

And yeah cool tourist merchandise haha. I think their whole dynamic is just "we kind of got pushed together randomly but it's ok". Yao likes nyo china because she is a moneybag, gives him cool stuff, and lets him do pretty much whatever he wants (fine by him). Nyo China is fine with handling Yao because she doesn't need to do anything for him lol. Mutually beneficial relationship (for those two only. Everyone else suffers.)

Also parent-teacher meetings... the palpable tension in the room lol. I love that everyone is giving the most blatant hints to nyo China that her child is a borderline delinquent and she's like "well if my child is a delinquent your children should get on his level." F in the chat. Nyo China takes one look at Yao's report card, sees the 100s (or A+s) in like every class, and is content. She does not read nor care about the teacher's comments at the bottom that say "mischief child, undisciplined, has been to detention 12 times already, uncooperative and does not like to follow directions. Has few friends or acquaintances, and often gets into disagreements with peers that usually result in physical altercations. Please talk to Wang Yao about his actions at school and discuss how he can improve his behavior." Nyo China just logics it out with "see, these numbers are objective. The teacher's comments are not, and I only deal with facts. Therefore you're totally ok in my book as long as you keep doing well in class." RIP Wang Yao's teacher lol

[totallyexhausted]

Sick Morty with Caring Rick....

Just small notes on one of the ff’s in case my computer deletes the files again (so I have like a triple backup)...

(Just random-ass notes for right now to have a back-up back-up for myself) - feel free to comment or motivate me lol jk brb crying....

Title: 

This wasn’t part of the plan. Not that they had much of one to begin with, but this was definitely not part of the plan. Fuck, he didn’t like the plan to begin with, but it’d been Morty’s idea. That’s why Rick never had plans; that’s why he never made them. Because they always ended badly. Because they were stupid and most of the time, they didn’t fucking matter. But this? This was definitely not part of the plan.

           Light filtered in from a small crack between one of the bricks, and the lanterns nailed against the walls, flickered, going dark momentarily before roaring back to life. Rick swallowed as he glanced around, squinting through the darkness as he thought over the past few days, the actions that brought him here, and how long he’d been here exactly. Honestly, it was hard to tell, but he was willing to estimate several days, or weeks… however time worked on this god-forsaken planet.

           Dust hung thickly in the air, cradled in his lungs as Rick coughed, pulling his hand to wipe at the spit sliding down his chin before remembering he was chained, tied against the wall, unable to move. His left arm hurt, the wrist raw and bloody as he’d been trying to wrench it from imprisonment for awhile now with no avail.

 “Oh wow. And the one time I- the one time I forget to bring the salt, am I right ladies and gentlemen?”

“Tell me, Mr. Sanchez, how are you liking my dungeon?”

“If by dungeon, you mean this dimly lit sex dungeon because that would explain all the dildos dressed in black leather and the hooks, the chains, the weak and pathetic torture-”

“SILENCE!”

“Oh wo-wow. Look, you pink loogy, I know you look like a giant-giant piece of shit but that doesn’t mean your breath has to smell like one.”

“What? You don’t like my form? Perhaps this one will better suit your needs…”

Rick scoffed, the chains jingling slightly as his hands moved. He rolled his eyes, “That’s cute. Tell me, did you learn that at Hogwarts, or did you just-did you just come from magic class?”

“Bring him in.”

             Rick arched an eyebrow as Pink turned slightly; her eyes meeting the confusion and curiosity in his as she smirked. The doors opened slowly, creaking as they were forced open by two other mirages of human flesh, complete down to the male anatomy and overkilled muscles. Rick clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as the light flickered, the men entering the room, dragging another being harshly.

           Pink chuckled slightly, and Rick lunged forward, the chains restraining his movements as he realized the third figure was Morty. His feet dragging slightly on the cement as the teenager struggled to gain any type of consciousness or strength in order to stand against the two men holding him up. His face bruised and bleeding, a cut tearing through his upper and bottom lip, across the bridge of his nose as blood still fell on his dirty yellow shirt.

           The 17-year-old lifted his head slightly, his pale blue eyes meeting Rick’s momentarily as he tried to find his footing on legs that refused to stand. He whimpered lightly, realizing his lanky body wasn’t willing to cooperate. His vision wavering harshly as he tried to focus on the dimly lit room, on the flames dancing off the walls, on the wet feeling pained in his left side, or the dizzying fog invading his mind.

           Rick growled as the men let Morty go, throwing him forward as the teenager collapsed against the cold ground, his face smacking loudly against the floor. Pink laughed as she dug a hand through his grandson’s hair, yanking his face from the floor so his eyes once again met Rick’s; pain, trust… disappointment surrounding his pupils before the 17-year-old groaned slightly.

“YOU BITCH!” Rick yelled, lunging forward again and gritting his teeth once more as the metal clasped around his wrists ate at the flesh. Pink snorted, letting the teenager’s hair go as he smacked once more against the cement. She turned, smirking, “Ah ah ahh, now. Is that really any way to talk to a lady? It seems as though your pet had better manners than you.”

           Rick let out a breath, his eyes fixed on her. Anger rising in his chest as he connected with the unmoving form of his grandson. Blood was beginning to stain against the floor, spreading from a wound on his side as the teenager failed to move, failed to show any indication that he was still hanging onto consciousness. Rick cleared his throat, “Morty! M-Morty, listen, I’m goin-going to get us out of here! I’ll fix this!”

           Pink laughed again, her voice echoing around the room as it bounced from the darkest corners in the chamber. She met Rick’s eyes, a grin forming on her face as she slammed her foot against one of the teenager’s hands. Morty screamed loudly. The cries emanating, covering any other sound in the room, and Rick flinched. He swallowed, tears pricking his eyes, and Rick grit his teeth as the teenager screamed again, pulling his hand closer to himself as Pink raised an eyebrow. The sound of bones breaking under force echoing in Rick’s ears as the teenager drew in a strained breath.

Rick took a slow breath as he calmed himself, “I’m going to-to fucking kill you!”

Pink shook her head, amusement masking her features as she took a step towards Rick; her arms crossed, “Oh really? You and what Army? See, I know you, Rick Sanchez. I know everything there is to know about all the other Ricks. After all, you’re not the first Rick or Morty to come stumbling into my territory… But… I must say… you smell much different than the others before you…”

           She took a deep breath causing the older man to grimace slightly, “Thanks. It’s the lack of bathing and alcoholism.”

           “Hm. All that wit. Hiding the enemy lurking in the shadows- the true Rick Sanchez. Such a pity, such a disappointment society must be to you as you are to it. Tell me, Rick, do you know what I am?” Pink asked, stepping around Morty. She took a few steps forward, wiping her hand over the dust, grime and blood covering the walls; letting the black dirt fall from her hand slowly.

Rick moved a hand, the chains once again jingling, “Really ugly?”

Pink smirked, her fingers once again meshing against the disgusting wall, “My kind, although few thanks to intergalactic terrorism, has the ability to see into one’s mind. To read into their deepest darkest parts of themselves. To learn the things hidden away, buried so deep, locked so tightly in the worst part of a being’s soul.”

“Sounds fun. I can-can accom-omplish the same thing with a few barrier reactors, a screwdriver, and a bicycle- a bicycle helmet,” Rick stared blankly, looking at his left hand as he tried squirming it from the chains gripped around his wrist. The metal digging harshly, blood lining his arm as the chain gave slightly. Pink snorted, moving closer, “You doubt my ability, then?”

“Oh boy, here we go,” Rick rolled his eyes, huffing, “The only thing I doubt, is that you do birthday parties on the weekends in order to maintain a rather clownish and some-somewhat de-demeaning flesh of a-of a wo-woman.”  

           Silence occupied the room, and Rick paused for a moment; his wrist throbbing as blood coated the chains, making it slippery, making it relatively easier to yank his hand free. Either that or dislocate it in order to try and figure a way out of here. He shivered slightly, freezing for a moment as stillness blanketed the room, and Morty groaned, moving slightly.

           Fingers smacked against Rick’s face, pressing his chin and cheeks violently together as the hand pried his eyes away from his grandson. Fingernails digging into his face as Rick’s eyes connected with Pink’s, a crazed grin plastered against skin pulled too tightly across her face; her eyes lifeless and cold, sparkling with what Rick could only assume was the real alien harboring the pound of flesh like a puppet.

           “You doubt me, then?” She growled, her teeth chipped and rotting as she smiled. Nails digging harder into his flesh, spit splattering against his face, and Rick grit his teeth as pain rose from his neck, exploding through his head as his vision faded, as the world faded and the pain etched into his skin from sharp red nails, dug deep enough to rip the flesh from his bones…

           “Rick, I’ll say it for the last time! This is my house! And you will not plan a rebellion for the space war or whatever in my house!” Jerry yelled, walking down the stairs. He tripped slightly, missing the last two steps and stumbled into the wall with a soft thud. Rick watched amused as the younger man quickly tried to straighten himself; a wavering stern look washed across his face as he once again tried to show a dominance that they both knew wasn’t there. The older man rolled his eyes and turned back towards his project as Jerry repeated the statement.  

Rick groaned loudly, “Jesus, Jerry. It’s the Dark Intergalactic Cause. You sound like a fucking moron when you say space an-and war. Look, if you can’t remember, call them the DIC Group.”

           Jerry growled slightly, mumbling something under his breath as Beth handed her father a screwdriver. She smiled towards Jerry then her dad, “Well, I think it sounds like fun. Maybe you should lighten up, Jerry.”

           Rick snorted, flipping a screw across the table as he turned towards the younger man, crossing his arms, “Y-yeah, maybe you should-should lighten up, Jer-ry…

             Pain slicing through his left shoulder as Rick slammed his head against the boulder behind him. Screams heard from the dust clouding the atmosphere, and someone screamed his name as bullets and blasts flew through the air. Rick swallowed, gripping his shoulder, looking momentarily at the blood gushing from the stupid wound, before pushing himself away from the rock; his gun gripped hard in his right hand.

           Bird-Person flew above him, dropping an atom bomb in the distance, the explosion sending a horrific gush of copper filled air across the crumbling planet. Rick coughed harshly, stumbling as he grabbed at the portal gun hidden in his lab coat; waiting to use it; waiting for…

             “Daddy!”

           Rick turned, dropping his coat on the floor as Beth ran to greet him. Her blonde pigtails jumping wildly as she ran across the hall, and Rick bent down, a huge smile radiating from his face. The 5-year-old threw herself at her father, laughing loudly as he swung her around gently.

           She pressed her little hands against his face, smiling widely; her two front teeth missing from the other night. A small Power-Rangers Band-Aid plastered against her left cheek from playing outside. She dug her hands in her pockets quickly, pulling out another Band-Aid, placing it on Rick’s forehead as he carried her into the kitchen.

           Rick threw a confused look towards his wife before Beth pressed her hands against his face once more, “I missed you, Daddy! We’re playing Doctor! Wanna play with us…

             Blood. There was so much fucking blood. Coating his body in a shield as the lifeless body of his grandson laid a few feet away, his eyes fixed on Rick in a dull stare of a dead reminder. God, there was so much fucking blood.

           Rick gagged harshly, throwing his body to the left as he vomited. Blood soaked hands wiping at his mouth as he shakily reached a hand towards Morty. There was so much fucking blood…

             “Stop,” Rick mumbled weakly as his vision cleared and the pain evaded, nails releasing his face and the older man closed his eyes, glancing down at the floor. He swallowed loudly as Pink stepped away, chuckling softly, “Family. Really, Rick? Oh, honey. But you are nothing more than a poison injected in the blood of those you love. A drug. A fatal toxicity promising adventure. Tell me, are you even the real Rick Sanchez? Or did he die years ago?”

           Rick swallowed again, breathing through his nose several times as the memories began to fade from his mind. As the hurt began to fade further in the background, and he cleared his throat as he looked up slowly, “Don’t flatter yourself. You know there isn’t such a thing as a real Rick Sanchez.”

           Pink faltered, turning halfway back to face him, “Such a lie you’ve wrapped yourself in. All hidden by an old white little lab coat…”

“Sorry, next time I’ll be s-sure to wear a fucking tux-tuxedo,” Rick interjected, wincing quietly as he struggled again to pull his left wrist from his imprisonment. He felt the skin pull, sliding somewhat from the thick metal.  

“What a simple mind. Filled with so much greatness. So much trust… love for his family. For you. Does he even know the truth? The truth about everything? About you? Does he even know who you are?” Pink stated. Rick felt a shiver run down his spine as he glanced back up, glaring towards the woman standing over his grandson’s limp form.

           The older man growled, “Don’t you fucking touch him!”

           Silence again. Embracing the dark room in a constant reminder of things and opportunities missed. And Rick felt his heartbeat quicken as he held Pink’s gaze; refusing to look away; refusing to break the threat he held against her. She snorted slightly before turning back towards the teenager, her hand gently tracing a cut on his lip like a mother soothing her child, “Why? What are you going to do about it? All chained and beaten? Besides… I think you’ve done more damage to him than I ever could in an eternity.”

           The older man’s expression faltered, and he swallowed, hard. His eyes dancing over the stilled emotion on his grandson’s face; guilt sitting heavily in his stomach, and Rick fought the urge to gag as nausea coursed through his body, pulling his hand harder against the chains.

           She was right. Rick knew she was right. Morty had been a kid- hell, he was still a kid. Only 17. Something Rick always seemed to forget. And whether he liked it or not, the kid was his grandson… whatever the hell that meant. He was his blood. Vulnerable. Susceptible. Following blindly as Rick drug him through realities, horrors, nightmares that could kill him- that had killed him. And yet, he trusted Rick with an unending love that he would never receive in return. He trusted Rick because Morty believed so fiercely that his life was nothing compared to a single smidge of his grandfather. And Rick knew- he knew the thoughts that haunted the kid every time, every silence parted between the teenager’s lips, every moment of unfocused emotion fixed on nothingness, the tears heard through paper-thin walls and red stains left unwashed in the bathroom sink- Rick knew. He’d seen the scars. The dark lines tanned against his grandson’s arms- the emotion hidden so damn deep behind a disguise of stupidity, bravery and that goddamn determination to prove himself enough. Rick fucking knew. And he never said anything… he couldn’t.

Morty had grown from the weird kid he’d once been. Fuck, he was still weird and awkward, but he was colder, harder, quieter, and he stopped worrying about everything somewhere along the way. He was devoid of things that phased other kids his age; still concerned with a girl out of his league, but no longer chasing after her like a lovestruck puppy. He’d matured into his own thought, towering over the young and pathetic memories of his youth. He reserved himself to isolation and solitude, creating a demeanor who would rather convey his emotions to himself in peace, and letting the world show their opinions of him. Letting society decide how they viewed him rather than fight against it. Because everything was bullshit, and nothing really mattered. A philosophy he had adopted from Rick, and one he lived by… one he’d die by.    

           Rick grimaced as he yanked his left hand free, busying himself as he tried freeing his other hand; trying to remember if he had any gadgets that could help him.  

“Tell me, Rick,” Pink said softly, still caressing the teenager’s face gently, “Has he even seen the real Rick Sanchez crawling beneath your skin? Such rage. Such destruction. So much blood on your hands that not even the purest Rick or Morty could absolve you of yourself. Has he seen what you’re truly capable of?”

Rick paused, and glanced down at the floor, pressing his lips together as the question reached him. He heard shifting and looked up slowly to see Pink turning towards him, and he slammed his hand back to the chains on his left. He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off, “A pity, really. What pain it must cause you to look at him. To lock away everything in your past that is their future. How it must feel to hide yourself away from everyone because you’re so afraid they’ll see you for what you really are.”

Rick belched loudly, “A badass fucking sc-scientist?”

“A monster. An evil greater than anything lurking in the depths of the universes, greater than anything hiding among the other realities.”

The older man bit the bottom of his lip. His eyes grasping between Pink then his grandson then Pink.

All of the infinite universes, the infinite families and Ricks, the infinite realities he’d lived… hell, even he’d lost track of the reality he was born into. The reality he’d lost everything. The reality he’d destroyed… the reality he’d destroyed everything… burned, incinerated, broken into so many fucking pieces that not even he could put back together again. The reality he’d fucked so hard he couldn’t fix… the reality that’d seen him; truly seen him, seen his anger, seen his rage, what he could do, what he was capable of. Because he’d lost… himself, everything. The infinite universes all boiling down to that tiny fucking and insignificant reality that he’d destroyed himself; creating the shitshow of everything he was fighting for today. The reality he had killed himself, killed what it meant to be human.

           Humanity. Humans. Weak and small. Pathetic and unimportant. The human race was weak and puny compared to the adventures lurking in the skies that he chased so desperately in the voids. Humans were weak. Sloppy. So many fucking emotions all wrapped in a wimpy fleshy suit of goopy matter. They were so easily replaced. Easily forgotten…

Despite everything, despite the Citadel, despite the vast realities and universes, Rick never had the fucking heart to tell Morty the truth… to tell him what really happened; he never had the heart to tell him about the one true Rick and Morty. About Beth. About everything he’d fucked up beyond repair; about the mess he’d created… and the inevitable end that hung over Rick as he haloed countless deaths, tragic and bitter, all his fault… including Morty’s own. Morty’s death… his end; that was something Rick couldn’t bring himself to face, but he couldn’t forget it either. Because it hadn’t happened yet, but Rick had already lived it.

Rick sighed, ���…it’s better this way. It’s better he doesn’t know.”

“Why? You think it’ll protect him? How stupid you must be. You really don’t see it, do you?” Pink stepped closer, confusion etched into the tighter corners of her features; her flesh beginning to droop slightly as her form was starting to lose shape. She ran a hand over her face, fixing the wrinkles sagging under her eyes and mouth. She took another breath, stepping forward again, “You can’t see how much you’ve destroyed him. His mind, his thoughts, his emotions. How much hurt you’ve painted on his body; the nightmares and horrors you’ve created in the darkest parts of his mind; a darkness you’ve crafted out of the safe reality he knew, and the twisted pain and hatred you’ve fashioned out of what should have been happiness, love, and joy. Such innocence he once possessed. And yet, you fail to realize that the more you try to protect him, the more you try to save him, the more you destroy him. You fail to realize you’ve killed him… and you’re slowly killing anything that’s left.”

           “I’m going to kill you,” Rick grit his teeth, “When I get out of here, I’m-I’m going to rip that stupid flesh from you-your bones, you moronic fucking slug.”

           Pink smirked as she turned slightly, “Oh, I don’t doubt that as I know who you really are. But first, I’m going to have some fun with your pet. Don’t look so worried, Rick, I’ll make sure he dies quickly.”

           She turned back towards Morty; her skin crawling and shifting as she shed bones and flesh; as she shed humanity, crafting her own form as acidic saliva dripped from her mouth. Rick pulled his left hand free, yanking harshly at his right as he heard bones crack, blood pooling from the pressure on raw busted skin.

           A laugh echoed around the room as the lights darkened; the fire dying quickly, and Rick pulled harder, winching as his right hand came free, and he fell forward; his wrist connecting with the cement, breaking fully as the dislocated bone jolted upright. He cursed loudly, pulling himself up as he struggled for the chains wrapped around his ankles, and Pink screamed.

            A blast lit the room quickly before disappearing, and Rick froze; his fingers trembling against the cold metal still wrapped against his right ankle, and he glanced up. Darkness covered the room, followed by an eerie silence that sent chills across the room. Something fell against the ground as something much larger smack against the walls, vibrating the chains hanging through the small chamber and crashing through a softer part of the wall, filling the room with dust.

           Rick coughed loudly as light filtered weakly through the dungeon, and he squinted as his eyes met the pink glob of the slug monster. He scanned the rest of the room, dust hanging thickly in the air. Rick’s fingers still pressed against the metal chains as he swallowed softly, “M-Morty?”

           Something clattered across the room sliding from the dust covered air, stopping at Rick’s feet as retching echoed off the remaining walls. The older man glanced down at the small gun sitting at his feet, the tiny purple blaster was barely anything Rick would consider harmful; but aimed correctly, fired correctly, the small fucker would be able to fire enough to kill something. Rick’s eyes locked onto the blood smeared across the handle as retching once again filled the room, and he looked up again, scanning what little he could see.

           “Mo-Morty? Where the fuck are you, you dipshit?” Rick yelled, pressing his hands once again against the metal. His fingernails pulling backwards and ripping as he struggled to pry the chains apart. The rough metal sliced through more flesh on his fingers, and Rick cursed as blood began to drip down his hands.

           Something moved, and Rick flinched as warm hands covered his, pushing his shaking hands away from the metal. Rick sucked in a steady breath as he traced over the busted knuckles and dried blood scabbed on the abused flesh; huge black and green bruises covering the left hand from where Pink’s foot broke bones; bitten back winces still audible as fingers were forced to grasp rough metal; and Rick looked up, letting out another long silent breath.

           Morty’s face was covered in blood which Rick hoped was mostly from Pink. Blood trailing from the cuts on his face as his eyes, slightly unfocused, concentrated on the stupid metal. Dirt covered the teenager’s neck and shirt as holes tore through the old material. Bruises painted against dirty flesh, dotted with droplets of blood, and a bloody red mess gathering on the 17-year-old’s left side that looked more than painful.

           Metal clattered to the ground as Rick’s eyes continued to trace over the damage. He rubbed his own wrist as it throbbed slightly, and Morty met his gaze. Unfocused blue eyes, lifeless and dull, pain hanging in the corners behind fake morality. Morty used to have Beth’s eyes; her bright blue eyes shining with so much wonder and life… but now, now, Rick feared the kid mirrored his own reflection more than anything else. You fail to realize you’ve killed him…

           Morty swallowed slightly, choking on the dust surrounding them and blood ran down his chin slowly as he wiped it with his shoulder. He smiled faintly, “You oka-okay, Rick?”

           Rick nodded lightly before finding his voice, “Wow. Those fu-fuckers really did a number on you, huh, kid?”

           Morty’s eyebrows drew together as he wiped more blood from his chin. He sighed loudly, bending down to grasp the stupid purple blaster between shaky fingers. He swallowed again, “I-I’ll be fine. Let’s just go. I just want to go home.”

           His voice was barely audible. Quiet and meek. Making Rick’s skin crawl as he hung onto every syllable. His mind racing as he wondered how Morty’s last few days differed from his own. The torture, the questions, the dimly lit dungeon…

           Morty swallowed again, wincing as he turned, grasping the blaster in his hand as he walked towards the door. He grit his teeth as he forced his body to straighten, the wound on his right thigh busting open again and the slick feeling of blood trailing down his leg, meshing against socks that were no longer soft nor white. The last few days, weeks, fuck- months, had been hell. The time spent with Rick, the time at school, with people Morty thought were his friends, and the shitty idea of something bigger in the universes that deserved Morty as he was, all plagued from the twisted crappy mind of a youthful and Disney-inspired child that he had tried to kill.

           The plan wasn’t supposed to go this way, that was for damn sure; but, considering Morty hadn’t had much of a plan when Rick convinced him to steal some Draxonen crystals, and the teenager’s own brilliant idea of stealing some weird looking weapon, Morty wasn’t really surprised it went the way it went. Besides, the pain plaguing his ribs, thigh, shit- the majority of his body, felt nice. It made him feel… alive. Something he hadn’t felt since his fight with Jessica’s boyfriend because he found out that her and Morty had slept together… several times in fact.

           Needless to say, the plan was screwed to begin with. And Rick’s stupid crystals he’d probably inhale the moment they were home, stabbed through the 17-year-old’s pocket, piercing the wound further on his thigh. Morty swallowed, resisting the urge to puke again as the stale taste of blood filled his mouth; the stupid cut on his lip refusing to stop bleeding.

           Rick cleared his throat, and Morty glanced behind him briefly to see the old man watching him. The idea that part of their situation was due to Rick pissed the teenager off… the other part was hidden in his jacket pocket; the small weapon pulsing, and Morty grasped his hand around the object, biting the inside of his cheek as spikes pierced through the globe, eating away at the flesh on his palm.

Rick didn’t give a shit about him. Something the guards had made damn clear even though it’d been obvious for a long time now. And despite his grandfather telling Morty how little he meant to him, the 17-year-old had always managed to pull himself up, to convince himself that somewhere, somehow, deep down, there was something, something riding in his grandfather that cared for the teenager. But that was just childish bullshit. Because Rick didn’t care about anyone except himself.

Morty should have known, and honestly, he should have cared. But he didn’t. It’d been a long time since he cared about something or someone. Jessica had fucked around with him for practice, and Morty had been okay with that because he was sleeping with his middle school crush; his parents calling it quits every few weeks when all the teenager wanted to do was scream for them to separate, to get divorced because he couldn’t take their arguing anymore; and Summer- Summer was moving out next Fall to attend some university a few states over. And Morty… Morty wasn’t really sure there was a point anymore.

The 17-year-old pressed his shoulder against the wooden door as he glanced again towards Rick. The older man’s eyes still transfixed on him, but a small gadget willed between his fingers. Morty rolled his eyes as he inched the door apart to see the hallway better. Black shadows danced across the dusty brick, voices in languages the teenager didn’t recognize several feet away, and the sound of an alarm blaring in the distance.

     “Fuck the crystals! M-Morty, do you realize what the hell you- you’re carrying? What it could do- do to you!”

Morty was silent for a long time, and Rick glanced over towards him….

Morty wasn’t stupid. Well, he was, but he wasn’t dumb. What the kid lacked in academics; he’d picked up in street smarts. A quick thinker when it came to action…

   imped slightly, trying to hide his gait from Rick, trying to hide the injury but his grandfather knew… he saw. He wasn’t stupid. The idea that those fuckers had tortured Morty, had hurt him… had screwed him up further beyond repair…. Rick couldn’t finish the thought.

“Lubba-dubba-dub-dub-da-dub-da-dub-da-so... the fuck’s the matter wi-with you?

“Hm?”

 you’re just going to ignore me the rest of the way home? You gunna be a big man? Huh? A dumbfuck? That it, Morty?

I-I just don’t really feel-feel like talking, Rick… I just want to be left a-alone, okay? So just-so just leave me alone, please.”

 “Hey, kid, I-” Rick started, his voice low and gentle. Unfamiliar even to him.

           The engine spluttered loudly as the car dropped slightly and Morty flinched, his hand smacking against the window as Rick cursed. The lights flickered, the engine groaning and something broke off to Rick’s left as smoke filled the cabin. Rick grit his teeth, slamming his fingers against some buttons he wasn’t even sure would work as the car dropped again, an asteroid crashing against the side and something else broke.

           The steering wheel pulled high as the older man prepared to crash against whatever shitty planet was in front of them. The dusty red globe’s atmosphere hitting hard against the windshield as flames engulfed the silver vehicle. Morty cursed as he pulled up trying to prepare himself for what was about to happen as Rick pressed more buttons, the car falling apart piece-by-piece as small rocks shot through it. Alarms blazing. The windshield cracking. Smoke blocking any visible sight Rick had as he held his breath and the car crashed against something solid.

………………………………………………

           Morty tried every damn day to prove he was good enough for Rick. But the truth was… Rick wasn’t good enough for him, for anyone. He wasn’t even the best version of himself… and he wasn’t good enough to be idolized by some kid; he wasn’t even good enough to be a decent father… that’s why he’d left when Beth was 12. Well, that, and the () Wars. There wasn’t time for family during the revolution… no room for emotional crap, for things that didn’t matter. He’d lost what mattered years ago… he’d destroyed it. Thinking he could drown the memories in endless alcohol, drugs, sex, and a fake facade of his family drawn from the similarities he’d come to know. Fighting so damn hard to explore the horrors of the universes in order to prevent what he’d already seen, what he’d already lived- trying so hard to cleanse the realities of anything that could destroy his again. He sacrificed everything in order to protect what little he had left, and in the end, just as Morty believed about himself, he’d finally see; his family, the universe, everything and everyone would finally learn that Rick Sanchez wasn’t worth it. He never ever was.

And despite the “adventures” Rick had brought Morty on; despite the resilience the teenager showed, the harsh criticism and slap-in-the-fucking-face from the world, his parents, his teachers, the kid still fought so hard to prove to everyone that he was better than their versions of him. He tried so hard to show them he was worth something. That he was enough. He tried so hard to prove that. To society. To Jessica. To his parents. His teachers. To Rick…

           Red. Red was what Morty woke to. The harsh color filling his vision as his body ached so fiercely, the mere idea of moving hurt. He exhaled loudly as he moved his left hand in front of him. The movement fuzzy and detached as he watched blood slide down the broken blue and black flesh, trying to recall what had happened, and where he was.

           He swallowed as his stomach revolted and stared upward, blinking several times before squinting at the red pouring over the broken glass window above him. Red. Red… rain? It was raining. Raining… blood?

           Morty watched dazed as red rain splashed against the window, melting between the small cracks in the windshield, plastering against his dirty yellow shirt. He shivered as he forced his neck to turn, his stomach revolting again, and he coughed slightly as the empty cabin of his grandfather’s shitty spaceship met his eyes.

           The cabin was barren, littered with small pieces of wires, broken parts, and slightly intact makings of experimental components of a car engine. The 17-year-old moved slightly, wincing as pain shot through his side, and he glanced down to find red stained against his stupid yellow shirt, a small piece of glass impaling his abdomen. Morty grit his teeth as he tried moving again before grasping the small glass, taking a deep breath before pulling it from his side, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out.

           Something smacked against the side of the car, and Morty flinched, dropping the glass, his hand pressed firmly against his side as he untangled his legs from the mess of wires. His vision wavered harshly as he shoved the door open with his shoulder, gripping his side as blood oozed from the reopened wound, and Morty stumbled slightly. He fell to his knees, crashing against the red atmosphere surrounding him and breathing deeply as red dust swallowed his lungs; his stomach threatening rebellion again.

           The teenager groaned as he wiped his mouth, glancing up and squinting through the thick dust as he tried to make out anything besides the red rain that pounded against the dirt infested world. He choked, expelling what he could only assume was blood from his mouth by the coppery taste and stood on shaky legs that barely held him upright. Wind brushing past him, blowing dust and rain towards him as he stumbled back against the vehicle, his back slamming against the metal, and Morty closed his eyes briefly.

           His memories were fuzzy and chaotic. His parents arguing, his sister making out with a guy in her room, and Morty… he’d been with his grandfather. He’d been with Rick. Then an explosion. Pain. Death…

           Morty opened his eyes as he glanced around, tears threatening to swell in his eyes as he realized everything around him was dead. The people he’d known, gone. The world, no more. And his family, dead- collecting in the red dust around him. There wasn’t any sign of life on this stupid red planet… and Rick was gone. The car was fucked. That meant that the rest of the world was too… and now, like he always knew, Morty Smith was alone.

           He’d seen too many deaths. Witnessed his sister and parents die in one universe and had killed them in another. Death followed him, haloed at his feet as he kicked through a happy life he no longer felt part of. He was alienated by the things he’d seen and the things he’d done… alone. Not even Rick understood. To Rick, it didn’t matter Morty had killed his family in a universe; destroyed himself, destroyed other lifeforms or worlds in other universes, because everything was bullshit and nothing mattered. And that made Morty alone. But now…

           The teenager swallowed thickly as he glanced around again. Rain beat against him as he shivered, and smoke rose from the cabin behind him as Morty stepped away from the vehicle. He had buried himself in one universe and disappeared in another; the empty feeling of abandonment and unfamiliarity shrouded by a happiness he tried to force every time he saw his sister smile, or his parents laugh. Letting his soul be anchored by the lives of others as he tried to convince himself that he was normal, that he was good.

           Dirt smacked against his sweaty face as Morty stepped further. His foot colliding with some burned wreckage from the vehicle still smoking behind him, and the teenager winced slightly. Red poured around him, drowning him in the sea of blood he had shed. Those who died because of him… those he’d killed. His mother. His father. His sister… himself.

           There wasn’t a way back from this. The wrecked car was proof of that. The absence of Rick was proof of that. Rick didn’t care. He never had… and now, everything Morty had come to relive again, to know again, was lost. Taken. Gone. Dead.

           The 17-year-old stumbled, his knees falling against the dusty atmosphere as his hands grasped towards a scorched lab coat, blood dotting the cuffs. Morty choked loudly, the material falling through his fingers as his stomach threatened to rebel, and Morty’s hands fell against something hard in the left pocket of Rick’s lab coat. The purple blaster. Blood still smeared against the small device, and the teenager grasped it tightly between shaking fingers; forcing the broken bones in his left hand to shift against the trigger because the pain was better than the emptiness surrounding him. The red.

           Something moved to his right, and Morty stood quickly, wiping at the tears falling down his face and holding the purple blaster towards the movement. The gun shook violently between busted fucked up fingers, and the world spun for a second. Red water splashing down his face, dust coating pale tired flesh, and Morty shivered again, glancing down at the torn lab coat before looking back up.

           Dust swam through the air, heavy and thick through crimson water that pounded against dirt, creating a mushy trail of blood-like matter at the teenager’s feet. The movement shifted, cursing slightly before a small wrench was thrown, beating the ground twice and then landing at Morty’s feet. The 17-year-old swallowed, holding the gun higher, clenching his hand so tightly against it that the teenager could seen the broken bones shifting under busted flesh. Rain fell harder, and Morty stumbled back slightly as the movement morphed into a shadow, a figure; dark and tall, thin and spiny until the dust cleared enough for the teenager to make out the shape of his grandfather through red strings of water.

           Morty flinched, firing the gun, causing Rick to duck slightly before throwing his blue towel down. Rick grit his teeth as he stepped closer, and Morty kept the gun aimed towards him. Rick growled, “Morty. The fuck are you- are you doing?”

           The teenager shook his head as he stepped backwards again, his aim fixed on Rick. Blood lining his grandfather’s hairline, oil and grease coating his face as red dust plastered against his blue shirt and pants. The 17-year-old’s fingers trembled as the gun drooped slightly before Morty grasped it again, wincing as bones shifted further, “Don-don’t move! Don’t move or-or I’ll shoot!”

           Rick faltered. No longer inching closer to Morty but instead plastered against the ugly red ground, the puddle of gooey red mud swallowing pieces of his shoe a small fraction at a time as Rick raised an eyebrow. Curiosity written on his tired features as he smirked, taking another tentative step forward.

           “You couldn’t hit me even if- if I had a big red target on my- my ass, dipshit.”

           Morty shook his head again, “I’ll do it! I’ll- I’ll-”

           Rick laughed slightly before anger crossed his face, “Doub-bt it. But you want to be a- be a tough guy? A big man? Then do it- do it, you stupid little-”

           A flash shot off, and Rick ducked as something sliced through his right shoulder. The older man cursed, grabbing the small graze as he glared back towards his grandson. He grit his teeth as blood seeped slowly through grease-covered fingers, “Okay. Okay, you- you little shit. Just take it easy, Morty.”

           The 17-year-old swallowed, “I said, don’t move.”

           “Okay, buddy, o-okay…” Rick trailed off, his eyebrows coming together as he took in the sight of his grandson. The pale complexion masked against the exhaustion swimming under the teenager’s eyes, in his movements, his hands trembling visibly as he took a step back. Sweat glistening in his messy hair, dripping slightly down his temple; and Rick watched the stale perspiration roll lazily down Morty’s forehead, brow, cheek, forming with others on his chin before the teenager wiped his face harshly. The older man swallowed, taking a slow step forward as a realization hit him. Something was wrong.

       “Kid… you’re right. There are other Mortys at the Citadel; plenty of them, all across the universes… but there is only one of you. There’s only one Morty exactly as you are right now, right here, with your thoughts, living the same exact life and being precisely where you are. S-sure, there are- there are similar realities with Ricks and Mortys in similar situations- but- but there is only one Rick and one Morty in this exact situation. There is only one of you, right here, right now, that matters…”

           To me. Rick trailed off, biting his bottom lip as he swallowed; his eyes fixed on Morty, the gun shaking in his grandson’s hand slightly. If he only knew. If the damn kid only knew the truth… that there was, that there is only one Morty that mattered to him. If he knew the truth of how everything got so fucked up. How it began. How it ends… if he only knew. He’d finally understand- they all would, if they all knew, they’d all finally understand why Rick was the way he was. Why he hid himself away and busied himself with technological advances; why he wore a mask of disassociation, digging and burying and drowning his emotions, his thoughts, his memories so damn deep in his subconscious that it fucking hurt to look at them- that it hurt to be alive. That it hurt to be himself.  

 Rick owed Morty his life. But Morty… Morty owed nothing to Rick. Especially his life. Rick would rather kill himself than ask Morty to sacrifice anything, to sacrifice his life on his behalf.

        Dad?

Pft, yeah r-right moron, like that-that pathetic piece of human waste could fix an-anything. I really d-don’t under-

 Rick paused, feeling a warm hand grasp his and he glanced down, rolling his eyes….

[staliasjeronica]

Riverdale S5 Ep7 Thoughts *Spoilers*

Thoughts under the cut to keep the tag unclogged :)

- Jughead already knowing where Archie looking at the picture is going to go lol

- Jughead saying “Ronnie” gives me LIFE

- Dr. Curtle is so fucking creepy ugh

- VERONICA’S OUTFIT HOY FUCK SHE HAS ME IN A CHOKEHOLD

- We get s2 Choni back muah

- Cheryl having to dance battle a child though… asdfghjkl;

- adult friendship Varchie is a MILLION times better than romantic teen Varchie

- oh yeah Jackson

- “I’m looking for a few good men.” “Story of my life.” Kevin…??? you… are dating Fangs??? I—

- God I’m so grateful that Betty doesn’t dress like a fucking grandma anymore, and she’s a better character ugh I’m so happy

- Veronica ❤️❤️❤️❤️ and Cheronica 💞💞

- Business!Veronica is so sexy I don’t understand business whatsoever but for her I’d take the class a million times

- Poor Alice finding Polly’s phone 💔💔

- BETTY TONI TEAM UP??!?!?!

- Betty once again having the serpents at her disposal but for once it’s not for herself/selfish reasons 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

- YOUNG POP OMG

- Why would anyone have one of those clapping monkeys that’s like inviting satan himself into your space

- Jabitha is so sexc

- Why did Pop address Nana Blossom as “Cheryl’s grandmother” if he knew her personally like that, that’s so weird lol

- THIS DUDE EXPECTED TEENS TO HAVE EXPERIENCE PUTTING OUT FIRES???

- THE SOUND OF THE ROPES I’M DEAD

- I WANT VERONICA MONE

- Jughead using Veronica money 💞💞💞 even though it’s for alcohol 💞💞💞 we stan Jeronica crumbs

- We love Choni angst

- “As a father, I feel your pain” lol but if you truly did and had a heart you’d let them “tread all over your land” ugly fuck

- Beggie would be so sexy

- TABITHA NOT IN UNIFORM?!?!? FUCKKK 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

- Not Nana Blossom urging Jughead closer as if anyone would hear her…

- Veronica’s outfit, and her telling her dad to take a hike muah

- The grief on Betty’s face 😭😭

- MORE BEGGIE?!

- Reggie’s Hiram henchmen growth destructing ass opening up to Betty but no one else ugh the serve

- of course there’s a fire right outside. And of course Earl is in there, and of course Archie would run in there even though he could have hurt himself

- “As Archie would say, you suck!” you mean anyone

- TONI CALLING CHERYL OUT yesss

- “Cruelty” ??? she’s… right??

- HOW IS IT A FORGERY IF CHERYL’S THE ONE WHO PAINTED IT? IT’S HER OWN PAINTING.

- Wait but Jackson is such a great character… so we know he’s gonna leave

- REGGIE TRYING TO GET HIRAM TO DO THE RIGHT THING?!?! YEESSS finally someone can. Sucks that it wasn’t Veronica but hey at least she’s standing up to him

- Veronica knows. F’S FOR EVERYONE? FOR ONE/TWO PEOPLE’S ACTIONS?

- Archie 😭💔

- Jughead ignoring the jukebox turning on…? weirdo

- POP HAS HIS OWN BOBBLEHEAD FIGURINE???

- Veronica’s outfit muahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

- Now Kevin and Fangs want to join? okay… what prompted them lol

- “To help you and hurt my father.” yessss

- VARCHIE FRIENDSHIP IS SO GOOD I WISH THIS IS WHAT WE HAD FROM THE BEGINNING. BH AND VA FRIENDSHIP SINCE THEIR ROMANCE IS NOT IT

- so when will they magically make bk apart of this

- FANGS AND REGGIE KISS BRO brb byeeeeeeeeee

- So if taken people are a part of the key party PLEASE can we get another Jeronica kiss 😭😭😭😭

[yutaya]

Iron Fist Rewatch: 1x03: Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch

That's so terrifying. You look an entitled asshole in the eyes and say "no" when he tries to pressure you into doing something morally corrupt that would actively hurt another person - one who has specifically asked you for help - and then armed home invaders break in in the middle of the night. Ward is basically the mafia boss that Colleen has just pissed off, from her POV. No wonder she hates him.

Wow, now I want the fanfic where Colleen keeps calling Ward a mafia boss to his face. "Just because I'm under your mafia family's protection NOW doesn't make that time you put out a hit on me any better, mobster." "'Mob-' I never put out any 'hit'. I'm not the mafia." "You don't need to bother with pretence here, mob guy." (Danny helpfully does not point out that Ward definitely put out a hit on him, but the entire room is still painfully aware.)

Danny: Sorry the people trying to kill me broke your lock.

Colleen doesn't for one second find it out of the question that the cops might be in on the whole "corrupt rich white man is doing shady illegal things and trying to have a 'problem' 'fixed'" thing. Danny does, ("I haven't broken any law?") because Danny spent ten years as a rich white boy and then the next 15 in a culture completely separated from the rest of the world's reality. Or: Danny, a rich white boy, trusts the police. Colleen, who tries to make her dojo a safe space for a bunch of underprivileged majority bipoc kids living in the "bad part of town", does not.

Possibly the reason they speedrun us through Ward going up to the penthouse again is to remind the viewers how obnoxious it is to get up there before we see Danny climb the building later?

I forgot about this freaky tube thing. What is that? High tech coffin? lol. There's an implied "you should be unsettled by this" vibe to Harold's whole "it's so peaceful in here, I can't help but doze off" but when I don't know what the tube is the context is kind of lost on me.

Again with Ward calmly asking for an explanation about such a seemingly insane business choice, especially one that he's going to have to explain to people, and Harold brushing him off. Infuriating. And let's just toss in a sprinkling of "Joy has always been and always will be better than you, who can't do anything."

Harold: "Doesn't it occur to you that I'm doing this all for you?" Me: "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP I HATE YOU." He doesn't even just say "I'm doing this for you." No, he has to say "Doesn't it occur to you that I'm doing this for you?" Rather than simply lying, he just has to back Ward into that corner. Ugh. UGH.

Ward: closes his eyes, long huff of breath. I should start a count of how many times he does this.

MY SKIN IS CRAWLING. Freaking Harold. Ugh ugh ugh he's the worst.

Danny you realize you're both disrespecting Colleen AND talking about pretty sensitive subject matter right in front of her student?

Joy: "We need to do the right thing." Me: "You keep telling yourself you're a person who cares about that, Joy."

Joy used to do Ward's homework for him????

Like, what?

Seriously, what?

Was this supposed to be a cute exchange? Because my Asian American upbringing says it's NOT.

Joy: "In another life, this would have been romantic." Danny: "Gross, you're my sister."

"You and Ward, you're the only link to a life that I had. It kept me going under very difficult circumstances." ;___;

Joy talking about clinging to her dreams of Harold meeting her after school and holding her hand and smiling at her in her grief after he died is making me so miserable. To Joy, Harold means comfort.

Danny: *Starts talking about ghosts* Joy: Oh right, he's crazy.

Colleen: "You dishonor yourself when you fight for money."

Jeri, who has literally been mind-controlled, almost got murdered slowly and painfully, and brought a killer to her wife,

Young intern Jeri Hogarth calling the boss's secretary a "hatchet faced bitch" and then bribing said boss's 10yrs or younger kid not to tell is. Well. It sure is a thing.

I still want Danny inviting Jeri to Defenders friend group hangouts and Foggy and Marci both blanching. Jessica and Jeri can snark at each other and Danny can be like "You're friends too! I didn't know!! :D"

Honestly, I would have watched a whole show on the intricacies of classism issues, with the Elite like Jeri and the Meachums teaching Danny how to live and maneuver in that world and Colleen and the dojo and Big Al teaching Danny about the reality of life for the lower class, and our golden-hearted Danny in the center of it, consistently determined to do what's Right,

Joy: lol, isn't this such a fun, teasing, sibling-banter thing we do, me joking about how I'm going to close this deal and you would only endanger it?

Harold: punches trainer full in the face, then casually suggests weapons next time while the guy is still groaning on the ground

Is Gao terrorizing Harold and making him kneel on glass supposed to make me feel for Harold? No one deserves this but that doesn't make Harold magically not a monster.

Danny.... just taking over lecturing the class is not respectful to Darryl or Colleen either.

Danny: "What kind of soldier training is this? They're acting like kids!" Colleen: "That's the POINT! I am not training them to be soldiers, I am creating a safe space for them to be kids when they usually can't be in the rest of their lives." Danny's warped K'un Lun upbringing really shows here. It's heartbreaking to remember that Colleen isn't just some good samaritan either - that she was raised in a cult too and has her own warped upbringing viewpoints.

A line I need to appear in a Ward/Misty/Claire pov fic: "Colleen tends to seem normal because most of the time she's next to Danny. It's easy to forget that actually, she's completely batshit."

Colleen keeps throwing Danny out for bringing trouble to her doorstep and then not really fighting it when he sticks around anyway (Which: Danny. Danny, this is problematic behavior, Danny.) - it's when he becomes a danger to her students that she gets serious about it. Even if Danny wouldn't physically harm them again, he is now a drain on their mental health: he represents a potential danger, a reason to be constantly on guard, and a removal of their safe space.

Ward clearly has no idea what the heck Joy is doing. It's all very troubling and this family is so messed up.

The way Ward ever so slightly shakes his head at Joy as she bribes Patel with his nephew's actual life.

The blanket into snow is a great transition shot

Joy feels like Ward refuses to tell her things the same way Harold refuses to tell Ward things! But Ward doesn't actually have the ability to tell Joy anything because he doesn't know anything! Ugh!!

On Joy's desk: a photo of her and Ward toasting at some party. She also has a copy on her shelf at home.

Joy poured her blood sweat and tears into Rand. She's proud of it. To Ward, it's a prison.

Wait so their plan is that there's no record that Danny Rand ever existed? Like, besides. The city's collective memory? People know about Danny Rand, guys. You need to delete the ability to connect this adult man to Danny Rand, not young Danny's entire paper trail. I mean, anything linking them would be included in literally everything about Danny but still. Seems unnecessary and suspicious?? I know nothing about crime.

Jeri casually constantly reminding Danny that the Meachums are the corrupt villains of this story must be really messing with Danny's head. Not that she's wrong. Poor boy.

"Isn't it obvious!? I'm not your sister. He's not your brother. We don't want you here." brb crying forever

I have to appreciate that this fight moderator is actually trying to run a semi-safe tight ship behind the showmanship

"Cut the Floyd Mayweather shit." Floyd Mayweather: a former professional boxer, competed from 1996-2015. Often referred to as the best defensive boxer in history, as well as the most accurate puncher. Nicknamed "Pretty Boy" by his amateur teammates because his defensive technique left him with relatively few scars.

That whole Randy biting Colleen (breaking the rules about going too far laid out at the start of the fight) and then her climbing on top of him to keep on punching after he's down was really framed like one of those troubling "the hero loses control and it's bad" type scenes.

I am very curious about Jeri and the Meachums' history. Jeri and Ward snark at each other so much in this meeting. And they definitely seem amused while doing so. Also Joy was like "Hogarth" at Ward earlier, and Jeri described their relationship as "complicated" to Danny.

Ward slumps down in his seat so he's lower than anyone else in the room, despite probably being the tallest. This is probably meant as a show of dismissiveness: Danny's case is so insignificant that he doesn't need to respect them by sitting up straight - but it IS interesting, from a power dynamics in staging perspective.

Ward, who has a constant escape plan of stealing from his employees and running away with Joy, plus was literally talking about leaving and starting over with nothing earlier in this same episode: "It could have been easy. You could have taken the money and had a great life."

The elevator level can be controlled by the lobby man???

Another picture of presumably child Joy on Harold's desk, as a toddler this time. How many does he have?? This is cruel set dressing.

Harold playing on Ward's loyalty again. "I need you to help me. I don't have anyone else."

[whereconfusionisarhyme]

First Reactions To Logan’s Playlist

K first song let’s do this

White and Nerdy-Weird Al Yankovic

Wtf this song was definitely Joan’s idea I mean who else would think of ‘White and Nerdy’ for Logan

Is this like canon he listens to this stuff or like songs about him???

Not Perfect-Tim Minchin

TIM MINCHIN

Bo Burnham better be on Logan's playlist

#deep

Is this about the mindpalace/inside of Thomas’ head??? Cause like???? Ouch???? I think????

Lol nvm it’s not sad lmao

I take back my take back it is sad

So this could be literally “in his mind” or it could be figurative and it’s really messing with my funky flow

Streaks-ANIMA!

Cool instrumental

Love the voice sounds a little like MARINA and Regina Spektor

Oh no I’m two lines in and I can tell it’s gonna be sad

OH NO CONFORMITY RELATED ANGST AHHHHH

Wow Logan is just out here being relatable isn’t he smh 😔👊

"Cause you're a smart kid, but you're still a kid" LOGAN REALLY BE OUT HERE BEING RELATABLE ON MAIN

The Elements-Tom Lehrer

Sounds like what piano class would sound like if I took piano class

Something you would listen to in science class

Bop

Medicine-STRFCKR

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out vibes

Lmao nvm

Gonna go look up the lyrics rn brb

A sad bop

Philosophy cool

Human-Tank And The Bangas

Logan playing this to comfort himself because this singer is the only person who has ever told him this

WHO HURT LOGAN WITH THEIR WORDS

LOGAN THE HEART SKIPPING COMMENT ARE YOU OKAY IM GIVING YOU A HUG

GUYS LOGAN IS TRYING TO CONVINCE HIMSELF THAT HE MATTERS IM NOT OKAY

Last???? Relationship???

Okay I'm not a shipper BUT my theorist analysis obsessed brain is just SCREAMING about Roman and Patton

Observation: Logan is probably atheistic and this song covers God a lot. I don't have a conclusion or anything just pointing that out

This woman do be calming tho like yes I'm beautiful yes I'm special thank you

Okay so I already knew Logan wasn't okay but he 100% isn't okay

Fittet Happier-Radiohead

K two words in and I can tell this is gonna be sad here we go

Employees? Or maybe…other sides?

Minor key ok

SELF HARM ISNT OKAY

"WILL NOT CRY IN PUBLIC" NONONONO

So I heard of a good therapist just downtown-

The Watchtower-The Dø

I paused it cause I need a second after the last one

Guys as someone who dissosiates a lot I think Logan might be dissosiating

Dissosiating to protect himself from his emotions

Y'all just trust me in this one

Coming for the TØP brand I see

K ready to start again here we go

Fire beat I'm vibing with it

Is he trying to distance himself from his emotions to try and perform his tasks better like watching from a Watchtower???

This is the first character I've seen that might dissosiate which only means one thing

I'm gonna be projecting an unholy amount in my fanfiction

"No one in particular" hon who hurt you

City Lights=Emotions (which he considers distractions)??? Maybe??

I'm a William Finn fan come on this isn't my first rodeo

Art Is Dead-Bo Burnham

BO BURNHAM I WAS RIGHT

We all love some good Imposter Syndrome (tm)! :D

This gives Learning New Things About Ourselves' a whole new meaning

Ngl this is the first time I heard the degrading of the piano at the end and I'm here for it

In My Mind-Amanda Palmer

Oop we LOVE setting up impossible expectations for yourself to the point you have a cripplingly horrid self esteem! :D

Logan I've done this before and trust me it isn't worth it the mental breakdowns are too taxing

I'll do it when I'm older=I'm never gonna get around to it

I don't wanna be the person I wanna be either

Why do I perfectly understand every lyric am I ok

Live!!! While you!!!! Can!!!!

At least there's a happy ending

Okay so I've decided that once I'm done I'm gonna make a list of songs I think would fit in the playlist

Algorythym-Childish Gambino

K its spelled incorrectly get ready for some metaphors my dudes

Intro is cool definitely very very Logan WOAH OKAY CHAIN SMOKER

Gonna go look up lyrics I don't understand shit

The chorus sounds like Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house where like 100+ African American relatives blast house music and dance until their feet falls off

Nvm no it doesn't

GO OFF

ELPHABA BETTER WATCH OUT CHILDISH GAMBINO IS COMING FOR YOUR BELT

Adlibs are everything

Letter C-Zach Sherwin

This gives off the same vibes as that one pickle video by Charlie Puth

Roman vs Logan rap battle but it's this

I don't really see why this is related but sure

Time Adventure-The Marcus Hedgehog

Nostalgiaaaaaa

Okay Logan has too many songs talking about one (1) person who is it

I have a gut feeling that it's about Thomas and how Logan used to be enough "back then" but now he thinks he's not cause like let's be honest when was the last time someone gave Logan a strong sincere thank you for all that he does????Excluding DWIT (which doesn't really count in my opinion cause they said he was cool, not like an integral and arguably the most important and powerful side) nobody really appreciates Logan???? Hugs???

Anyway plz ignore this is just how my brain works

K next song

The Breach-clipping.

OKAY SLOW DOWN IM GONNA LOOK UP LYRICS

Is this Daveed Diggs???? I haven't listened to Hamilton in like forever is this Daveed Diggs???

LITERALLY PERFECY PARRALLEL TO LOGAN AND THE SIDES

Sound effects

Really just gonna fry my eardrums like that huh

What I Do For U-Ra Ra Riot

Okay scrap anything and everything I said about it being the sides Logan is 100% talking about Character!Thomas

Erase Me-Ben Folds Five

Ooh this intro reminds me of this one particular musical songs but I don't remember which one

Wait have I listened to this before????

I've listened to this before!

Okay I need to stop being distracted

NOOOOOO don't Erase Yourself!!!!

Logan really just do be having no Self Esteem don't he

Okay so theory: Logan didn't pop up in person in the last video because his eyes were too red from crying

I have 0 evidence so it's not a very good theory but…

Just throwing it out there

One More Time with Feeling-Regina Spektor

Oh no it's Regina Spektor

Oh no I'm gonna cry

Okay so Logan doesnt wanna block of all emotion, only permit some to show???? But most of the time block everything????

Did I get that???

Nobody!!!! Thanks!!!! Logan!!!!

Awww he just wants love and recognition

Tbh this sounds a lot like Roman they have so much in common despite their constant arguing

Galaxy Song-Monty Python

Ooh Monty Python

I haven't listened to Monty Python so I sadly don't know the context

Really just dissing all of the other sides aren't we

Can't really blame him tho

Very scientific

"Yeau~"

Sweet with dark undertones. Love it.

Equation-Hans Zimmer

Later I'm gonna check the equations if they're correct XD

Sunrise-In The Heights

!!!!!!

WHO???!!!!!

K to this is one of my favorite love songs ever it's just so sweet and as someone who's bilingual the concept is just amazingly wonderful so yeah I may be freaking out

Also because WHO??!!

Okay I said I wasn't a shipper but let's be honest this is probably about Roman not romantically but like

OR MAYBE JANUS???

IM SO CONFUSED

But Logan is definitely Nina in this situation it just fits so well with her character for the same reasons I really wanna play her (but never will cause I'm exactly 0% Latin American smh) yeah the pressures to be the smartest and then it backfiring horribly and oh God what if Inùtil is also in the playlist ahhhh

Okay moving on

Lifeboat-Heathers

WHAT

NO

NO

CONFORMITY RELATED ANGST LOGAN STOP BEING RELATABLE AHHHH

IS THIS CAPTAIN THOMAS??? THE OTHER SIDES AS A WHOLE??? AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT???

IM NOT OKAY

Bohemian Groove-Will Connolly

Okay I'm still not recovered from the last song but I need to continue or else I'm never gonna finish this playlist

Eeecccchhhhhoooo

Your friends haven't surpassed you Logan you belong with them okay????

Emptiness despite success??? Millennial who???

Vibing with it but also are you okay

Nvm I know the answer already

Hug All Ur Friends-Cavetown

Okay so Logan is a Cavetown gay noted

Self validation??? Who's she???

Lies. You care so much about what other people *sides* think about you

Maybe Logan listens to this song to remind himself to not care too much

But it doesn't work and it's getting to him more and more

Oh

That took a turn

Breathin'-Thomas Sanders

Good move

Don't really have much to say on this

The Bidding

Spoopy

Alchoholic!Logan

New idea for us fan writers

The pronunciation of beurgoise

Okay I'm like pretty certain at this point that all of the songs that mention a someone else is about Character!Thomas

A Better Version

OHMYGOD I LOVE THIS MUSICAL ITS SO UNDERRATED I HAVE LISTENED TO THE SOUNDTRACK AND UNGODLY AMOUNT OF TIMES YESSSSS

But also since I know the song in terrified cause the feels are gonna come in I just know it

Wait so is Jayce supposed to be Thomas???

I am suddenly feeling much more uncertain about my certainty

Okay let me unpause and just listen to it (even though I already know all of the lyrics)

Okay so I'm a dumbass and apparently this song isn't even part of the playlist

Okay so I'm an idiot and the last few songs have all been "related to playlist" and not in the actual playlist I'm big dumb.

Anyway here's my list of songs I think would fit. (BTW, I only went off of lyrics for these ones. I realize that there’s a general sound and vibe for the playlist, but I decided not to follow it.)

Oh No! ~ MARINA

Hug All Ur Friends ~ Cavetown

Bohemian Groove ~ Will Connolly

Guiltless ~ Dodie Clark

Lifeboat ~ Laurens O’Keefe

The Bidding ~ *idk who*

I Am Not A Robot ~ MARINA

Inútil - Lin Manuel Miranda

Through The Eyes Of A Child ~ AURORA

Community Gardens ~ The Scary Jokes

Let me know if I should do this with the other playlists as well! :)