#somebody has probably said this exact thing somewhere

[kissboybyler]

no cuz i need the byers to stay over at the wheeler’s house and, like,for them to turn the basement into some kind of meeting place with weapons and strategy thingies (im losing my mind) so that not everyone fits to sleep there. And thus Will has to sleep in mike’s bedroom, so he brings over his sleeping bag, places it on the floor and is ready to go to sleep, but then mike enters the room (freshly showered) and stops right there in his tracks, and tells Will he can have the bed if he wants to. Will refuses (obviously) because he doesn’t want mike to have to sleep on the floor of his own room, but mike besically insists and Will doesn’t really have the energy to argue, so he takes him up on the offer.

Will tucks himself into Mike’s comfy blanket that smells like him, and is almost immediately taken by sleep. Mike’s lying down on the floor, unable to sleep, heart in his throat, entranced by the look on will’s face, looking more relaxed than he has in a really long time, but exactly like the angel mike’s always loved. He can’t take him eyes off of him, and he’s trying really hard not caress will’s arm that’s hanging from the bed. And even though Mike is fighting his feelings and pretty much freaking out because will’s in his bed and sleeping like the most unfairly angelic and beautiful person that’s ever existed, he can’t look away. Until Will suddenly opens his eyes, catching mike in the act. Mike feels like he should probably look away, but it’s all in vain. He’s been caught either way, so he might as well keep looking at his best friend who he definitely doesn’t have the most non-platonic, consuming feelings for.

Or you know…they could just. Sleep in the same room and look at each other. Or something. (im losing my mind)

[inkskinned]

for a while i lived in an old house; the kind u.s americans don't often get to live in - living in a really old house here is super expensive. i found out right before i moved out that the house was actually so old that it features in a poem by emily dickinson.

i liked that there were footprints in front of the sink, worn into the hardwood. there were handprints on some of the handrails. we'd find secret marks from other tenants, little hints someone else had lived and died there. and yeah, there was a lot wrong with the house. there are a lot of DIY skills you learn when you are a grad student that cannot afford to pay someone else to do-it-for-ya. i shared the house with 8 others. the house always had this noise to it. sometimes that noise was really fucking awful.

in the mornings though, the sun would slant in thick amber skiens through the windows, and i'd be the first one up. i'd shuffle around, get showered in this tub that was trying to exit through the floor, get my clothes on. i would usually creep around in the kitchen until it was time to start waking everyone else up - some of them required multiple rounds of polite hey man we gotta go knocks. and it felt... outside of time. a loud kind of quiet.

the ghosts of the house always felt like they were humming in a melody just out of reach. i know people say that the witching hour happens in the dark, but i always felt like it occurred somewhere around 6:45 in the morning. like - for literal centuries, somebody stood here and did the dishes. for literal centuries, somebody else has been looking out the window to this tree in our garden. for literal centuries, people have been stubbing their toes and cracking their backs and complaining about the weather. something about that was so... strangely lovely.

i have to be honest. i'm not a history aficionado. i know, i know; it's tragic of me. i usually respond to "this thing is super old" by being like, wow! cool! and moving on. but this house was the first time i felt like the past was standing there. like it was breathing. like someone else was drying their hands with me. playing chess on the sofa. adding honey to their tea.

i grew up in an old town. like, literally, a few miles off of walden pond (as in of the walden). (also, relatedly, don't swim in walden, it's so unbelievably dirty). but my family didn't have "old house" kind of money. we had a barely-standing house from the 70's. history existed kind of... parallel to me. you had to go somewhere to be in history. your school would pack you up on a bus and take you to some "ye olden times" place and you'd see how they used to make glass or whatever, and then you'd go home to your LEDs. most museums were small and closed before 5. you knew history was, like, somewhere, but the only thing that was open was the mcdonalds and the mall.

i remember one of my seventh grade history teachers telling us - some day you'll see how long we've been human for and that thing has been puzzling me. i know the scientific number, technically.

the house had these little scars of use. my floors didn't actually touch the walls; i had to fill them with a stopgap to stop the wind. other people had shoved rags and pieces of newspaper. i know i've lost rings and earring backs down some of the floorboards. i think the raccoons that lived in our basement probably have collected a small fortune over the years. i complain out loud to myself about how awful the stairs are (uneven, steep, evil, turning, hard to get down while holding anything) and know - someone else has said this exact same thing.

when i was packing up to leave and doing a final deep cleaning, i found a note carved in the furthest corner in the narrow cave of my closet. a child's scrawled name, a faded paint handprint, the scrangly numbers: 1857.

we've been human for a long time. way back before we can remember.

[gnomebinary]

This is my protocol bingo! (Thank you as always osric.com).

Lena is just doing her evil job - No thoughts, no morals, no alligence. Girlboss.

Nobody ever finds out Jmart's real names - I just think that would be tragic, and fit in with what RQ have been saying about this not being too attached to Archives.

Redemption arc - There was a notable lack of these in Archives even though forgiveness and making a conscious effort to behave morally were important themes in the later seasons. I'm ready for Mr Bonzo to have Kylo Ren's exact redemption arc where he's redeemed mostly through kissing. I don't even care who he kisses.

Froyo trip - It's pretty clear that we're being told that this is Somewhere Else through things like the Archives staff having tea and the OIAR staff having coffee. The s1 Archives gang iconically got icecream, so I'm gunning for a froyo trip, and a Gwen monologue about preservatives.

Colin dies first - He's just so killable. Plus, Celia can't die until they do her reveal and they'll probably want to build up to it, Sam can't die because he's the driving force behind investigation into Magnus, Alice can't die because she kinda makes the whole show, Gwen can't die because she's mid-arc and it is of the type that if left unfinished it would be anticlimactic not tragic, and Lena can't die because the impact would be pretty low.

Nostalgic PC games - I LOVE that RQ appears to be into old tech. I want to see Chester and Norris play Catz 5. Lowfi retro charm.

Dyhard - I go back and forth on this one, it feels too obvious what with the hot drinks imagery workplace annoyances to lovers stuff, but at the same time it does Just Make Sense.

Somebody becomes disabled - In Archives people were injured a lot, but none of that amounted to a long-term physical disability, except for Melanie's blindness. Feels like something to do in Protocol.

Police brutality - Feels like a theme that Jonny still has more to say about, and an incredibly easy one to weave into this kind of story.

Alice is hiding something - I actually think she isn't but y'all are saying it.

Alice naming stuff has consequences - She does it so much and Colin warned her off it, clearly seeming concerned but not explaining why, I think it will have unforeseen and damaging consequences.

Someone has a pet - In Archives, especially in the earlier seasons, everyone was notably unattached. Martin has a mum to take care of, but nobody has partners or children. I think this was partly because it made them easier to manipulate, and partly because it meant that tragedy could be dialled up: Sasha dying was sad, but not as gutwrenching as Daisy dying because Daisy's relationships were more fleshed out because it was later in the series. We're already bucking that trend with Celia's son, so I think we might see a pet too. Also, the pet will probably die.

Alice dies in the last season - Alice is very killable but she's also the heart and soul of the character relationships, so I think they will kill her but they'll wait to do it, and then do it mid-final season as an OOH THEY WENT THERE turning point, like how Tim dying brought in a new, darker era for Archives.

Conclusion that love isn't what makes you human - At London Comicon in October, Alex or Jonny (I forget) said that if Archives was about what makes you a monster, Protocol is about what makes you human. I think it's kinda trite if love is the answer, and I think the conclusion re love will be that monsters can love, because that's cooler. Hell yeah romantic monsterfucking.

Celia evil - I LOVE that we're seeing another Welsh person, but she doesn't sit well with me.

Agnes returns but we don't hear her speak - The tree on the other side of the rift is still alive, and if that universe was this one then that means that Agnes may still be alive. Jonny and Alex have said that they regret not doing more with Agnes, and I don't think they'll miss out on the opportunity to use her again. However, I think the fact that she doesn't speak is central to her tragic character and role as Jon's character foil, and I don't think they'll change that. I actually posted a tiktok about this.

Scene on London public transport - We're already seeing our gang at the pub and on dates, I think we're going to get some tube content.

Jmart fate worse than death - They're going to have us WISHING that they died in mag200.

Fears never treated as separate - I just think we're over that.

Breakup - They're getting the character relationships in early, so I'm predicting an onscreen breakup, because that's one of the few ways that we didn't see relationships between characters going bad in Archives.

Gerry's life gets ruined again - I'm sorry guys but I don't think they're going to let him have peace. He's going to get dragged into the OIAR situation and he's going to suffer.

Alice's brother lives - People are already noting similarities between Alice and Tim, I think that it'll be essentially the same character beat again if her brother dies. Adapt, improvise, overcome, RQ.

Another Michael - Just another character called Michael, unrelated to the four existing Michaels. I wasn't going to put this because Jonny is very aware of the four Michael problem, but this man plagurised his own full legal Christian name, so anything is possible.

Jack is Agnes' Jack - I think it's cool if we all think about how there was actually a massive age gap between Agnes and Jack because she didn't seem to age past her twenties, so he was absolutely a child when she was an adult. Not that I want to have Discourse or anything, that relationship was hecked up and complex in plenty of other ways, just because it's interesting.

Onscreen kiss - They said they wouldn't do it during Archives and then they did and it wasn't that gross, so I'm ready to see it happening again. They might have a relationship between allosexuals this time, I don't think they're going as far as onscreen fucking, but I'm game to be surprised. Insert joke about reusing the whimpering noises from Archives here.

[blueflyingturtleontheway]

As your royal guard but also as your friend

A collection of little moments and a slowly breaking barrier.

Fandom: Elena of Avalor

Characters/relationships: Elena Castillo Flores & Gabriel "Gabe" Núñez

Words: 2,390

Tags: Mid-Canon, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Retrospective

No warnings, Gen audience, oneshot

It took them quite some time to find the balance between the guarding and princessing and simply being friends.

The first time Gabe accompanied her to an official meeting outside of the palace (it was somewhere in the very centre definitely. Maybe something to do with trading guilds and taxes or import laws?) she noticed him hesitate before the threshold. The whole day he has been trailing her like a shadow, as if leaving her side for even a moment would immediately put her in danger. This simple wooden frame however seemed powerful enough to make him stop and allow the distance between them to grow to a whole 2 meters. He glanced between the carriage and the entrance to the house and she almost heard the clogs turning in his head.

"Can I go with you?" Elena couldn't help but snort when he revealed the reason for his turmoil.

"I'm really tempted to say 'no' and finally have some breathing space."

Gabe huffed and repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time since she met him those few weeks ago:

"I'm your guard, I'm supposed to protect you, and I can't protect you if I'm not with you." But then, with far less confidence he added, "But I don't know if I can come with you now. I mean, this meeting is probably confidential, or something?"

Her mocking smile unwittingly softened, when she saw him so uncharacteristically unsure. She decided not to bully him this time.

"Well, you're not exactly 'with me' if you're standing somewhere on the street while I'm getting kidnapped in there, or something like that." She chuckled again, seeing the horror on his face as such a possibility dawned on him. "Besides, it's not anything that confidential anyway, I'm sure all the newspapers are going to know about our decision before tomorrow morning."

He exhaled audibly and jumped up the few steps to join her at the door to the big city house.

"If they do, that definitely won't be from me," he said seriously, but with such a grin that she couldn't help but tease him a bit.

"Oh really? You're not one to gossip, Gabe?"

He laughed and raised his brows in a fake pout.

"Princess, how am I supposed to gossip, if I won't even understand a thing from what you'll be talking about."

That was the first time Elena believed that Gabe actually had a sense of humour. Still, it was whole months before she saw him be anything close to "relaxed" when on duty.

It was some party in an out of town villa. There were important conversations at the dinner table of course, but it was obvious that the whole event served more as an opportunity for the currently most important of the nobility to meet the new crown princess - and for Elena to establish her position as such.

It was after a third or fourth hour of constantly feeling his eyes on her back that she finally approached him. Gabe was standing in the exact same spot where she left him, by the door but close to a window.

"I see you're not enjoying the party," she said casually taking a sip of her punch.

Gabe's shoulders lost the tension they gained when he saw her approaching and he shrugged.

"I'm not here to enjoy it."

Elena sighed into her glass. Sometimes she wondered why she even attempted to have conversations with this guy.

As if summoned by this internal complaint, her mind reminded her of the times Lieutenant Nuñez revealed that he is actually capable of a winder range of human emotions than stone faces and stupid grins. Holding onto those memories and feeling her own stubbornness forbid her from letting him blow her off so easily, she continued to push.

"Which doesn't mean that you can't." She punched him lightly in the arm. "Come on Gabe, relax a little, get a snack, talk to somebody. There are tons of boring guys with swords here, I'm sure you'll make a friend in no time."

Gabe rolled his eyes.

"This is relaxed." He addressed only the first part of her offer. He raised his brows to show her just how unimpressed he was with her attempt to make him leave his self appointed post.

"You're at ease, I'm pretty sure that's different." She graced him with an equally sarcastic glance. And when she sighed, it was only with a dash of dramatics. "Alright, I suppose mister guard of the year just doesn't like to have fun."

Gabe huffed out a laugh.

"Of course I like to have fun," he crossed his arms and she could finally see a teasing spark light up in his eyes. "But I'd hardly call four hours of talking and eating to be the best party I've seen."

"Oh yeah? Somehow I find it hard to believe you're such an expert on parties." The competition was on.

"You'd be surprised, Elena, I have my experience." Gabe scoffed. "But it doesn't take an expert to know that music is supposed to be danced to and not just played for the sake of it."

Elena cringed but had to admit that he had a point. The mediocre string quartet must've surely been hired as a simple backdrop for the conversations. They were torturing the same piece for the twelfth time today. Her mind has become numb to it after the first half an hour, before he drew her attention to it again.

She groaned.

"Fine, you win this round, Señor Fiesta." Gabe puffed out his chest, resembling a giant peacock. Even the colours almost matched. "But I still won't believe it until I see it."

"Sure. The next time there's a real party, I'm all yours."

And he sent her another of his stupid grins.

She absolutely didn't miss them once he finally stopped with them a few more months afterwards. She didn't even notice at first. It must've happened gradually after all, from one ancient magical foe to another and with all the other trouble they got into in between. One day she just realised that she's grown fond of having a reliable companion wherever she went, especially once she discovered that under a thick layer of bravado and perfectly practiced plans, that companion can actually crack a joke or hold a conversation about something other than his muscles.

That's probably why she didn't hide the disappointment in her voice when he suggested, that this time, maybe he wouldn't go to the next event with her.

"You're really leaving me alone?" Her words were punctuated by a frown of a kicked puppy.

"You're really asking me to sit through another boring meeting?" He matched her pleading tone. "I don't even understand half the things you discuss in them."

He had a point. She had to go bigger.

"But what about my safety?" she pulled out his favourite argument.

"Come on, I doubt you'll get kidnapped in there while I'm the whole time right outside anyway." She internally cursed the moment when he stopped being such a stickler for the rules. "Besides, I doubt you'll have to face anything scarier than Doña Paloma in there."

Elena's eyes darted towards the door to the building in terror.

"You don't think she managed to invite herself to this one too?"

Gabe just raised his hands, waiving the responsibility.

"It would be the third one today! Out of four!" Elena threw her arms up. The cruel skies however didn't listen to her frustrations and didn't seem eager to strike the businesswoman for the crime of being a pain in the side. In fact, they were annoyingly clear, in the perfect shade of summer afternoon blue. "And we've been at this since morning."

She raised her hands to her face and exhaled slowly.

"I wish I could just take a break."

"From Doña or in general?"

"Both," she groaned. She finally let her hands fall to her sides and heaved a sigh. "But of course you don't have to suffer with me, you wouldn't really have anything to do there anyway."

He put a hand on her shoulder. The corners of his mouth raised in a small smile when he lowered his head to look her better in the eyes.

"You can do it. If you've survived the chancellor's endless lectures, you'll survive anything." When she snorted at this comparison, he added, his smile widening, "And I can always gracefully interrupt this whole charade and say that you've been called for an urgent crown princess business and have to leave this, definitely fascinating, conversation."

Her eyes sparked with hope again and she punched him in the arm.

"Lieutenant Nuñez, you'd really risk lying on duty?"

"Who said anything about lying? Maybe I'll..." His eyes searched for something for a moment and finally stopped at the carriage beside them. "Maybe I'll set the carriage on fire, or something."

Elena punched him in the arm even stronger, as she erupted in laughter. "And I'll spontaneously grow wings and fly away."

Gabe finally dropped all pretense of seriousness and joined her.

The bell tower signaled the arrival of the full hour.

Elena sighed and straightened her dress, as if to sweep out the remains of laughter from its ruffles.

"Alright," she turned to Gabe with one last pout, though without much effort behind it.

"I'll see you in an hour." Gabe saluted casually and started backing off to the carriage.

"I wish it was just an hour." Elena shook her head but she answered with a wave and finally left through the big, wooden door.

The session went about how she expected and of course Doña Paloma was there. After the initial introductions and overly courteous pleasantries, it was time to sit down and listen to the whole litany of problems that the fabric merchant guild was struggling with and that only she could fix.

She tried to focus at first and then she tried to at least look focused. After the fourth meeting in a day, all of them relating to commerce in one way or another, all of them full of people she's met only once before or not at all... She found herself thinking about her family, the comfortable sofa in the drawing room and a warm cup of té de manzanilla. All the things she was still three meetings away from.

The bell tower announced the arrival of the next hour. She counted the muffled strikes of the large bell outside and the melodic chimes of the clock in the room, and when they reached four, she let her shoulders slump just a little. She finally admitted to herself that she might have actually hoped that she would really get to leave this room after an hour. Though (she hid her smile by resting her chin on her hand) at least it meant that Gabe didn't set the carriage on fire.

Exactly at this moment her thoughts were interrupted by knocking on the door. Whichever of the representatives was currently talking (Señor Carreras? Carrera? Zanahoria?) trailed off, as a familiar blue and red uniform stepped into the room.

"Your highness," Gabe addressed her and clinked his heels. "I am sorry for interrupting, but you are urgently needed elsewhere."

Elena stared at him with wide eyes. Am i a telepath now too, crossed her mind before a sharp voice to her right pulled her back to earth.

"Can't it wait?" If the tone of voice was reflecting appearance, she'd be sitting next to a lemon now.

"I'm afraid not, Doña." Gabe inclined his head to her and then added, looking back at Elena, "It's an urgent crown princess business."

Elena finally understood his hints. She cleared her throat, putting aside all her questions and simply grasping the occasion when it arised.

"Forgive me, but it seems like I need to leave." She sent everyone apologetic smiles and assured them that she'll deliver her decisions to the board in writing, and not more than a minute later was finally safely behind the door.

She let out a long, relieved, dramatic sigh.

"So does that mean that the carriage is on fire?" She asked when they were descending the stairs.

Gabe laughed.

"Something better."

He winked and held the door for her.

Elena sent him an intrigued look but let him lead her to the side of the building (the opposite one to the meeting room) and sure enough, the carriage was parked there, safe and unscorched.

Gabe opened the door and dove inside, then turned back to her, holding two big paper bags in his hands. He passed one to her and she immediately felt that it was warm. Not getting any answers from his self assured smirk, she finally looked inside.

A gasp escaped her lips. In a moment she already had half an empanada stuffed in her mouth and could only hum in pure bliss.

As soon as she swallowed, she asked, "Are those from your parents?"

"You bet," he bit down on a taquito, "The best in the whole city."

Elena could only nod her head as she was finishing the other half of her empanada. Then she realised.

"So you had it all planned, huh?"

"Not really, I only came up with everything on the way here." He averted her eyes with a sheepish smile. "And I wasn't sure if my plan is even going to work, so I didn't want to make false promises."

He stopped for a moment and fished out another taquito but played with it a bit in his fingers.

"But I saw how tired you were already and there's still a few things to do in the day." He took a bite and shrugged. "You deserve a break from this whole rush, you know."

Elena bumped his shoulder lightly with hers.

"We both do. Need I remind you that you've been rushing with me this whole day too?" She leaned on him and felt him relax against her. With a bag of warm, delicious food, unexpected free time and a friend by her side (both literally and figuratively) she felt herself relax too.

"Thanks, Gabe."

"Anytime." She heard the smile in his voice. "That's what friends are for."

They continued their late lunch in silence and let the minutes pass, slowly.

[rist-ix]

I got a question about winx, and I think you’ll be able to answer. So to get the enchantix a fairy needs to save her kingdom or somebody from there. Valtor is from Domino, right? (I guess, i’m not sure if it’s canon or it’s something i read in so many fics and became head canon for me) So if Bloom save him from something she would get her enchantix? 🤨

Big question, gonna divide that into strictly canon and somewhat headcanon-ish (as in interpreting canon).

Going with what's strictly canon? Probably not. Valtor's exact place of creation is left pretty vague, and the only real references that come to mind are Faragonda's explanation in s3 ep 7 or Valtor's allusion to a “shared past” in the infamous Andros episode. As always, there might be differences in dubs, but as far as I remember, Valtor is never specifically tied to Domino — to Bloom's parents and the company of light, yes, but not to the planet. And I feel like if it were the case, it would have had to be mentioned at one point or another. It’s a pretty important detail!

From what I recall of the German dub and the background animation that accompanied Faragonda's exposition, it seemed to be implied that Valtor was created somewhere out in space, so nowhere at all. With that, I’d argue that we can safely assume Valtor is NOT from Domino, and does not share Bloom's nationality (planetality?).

Which is why we're gonna delve into fanon-territory now and ask: does it matter?

Enchantix rules and regulation are, to me, a bit wonky. Even leaving aside the fact that Bloom was able to creative-mode her way into one, how does the magic that triggers enchantix determine whether the saved person is from the same planet as the fairy in question? Does it run a cold, calculated if(get(nationalityOfDamsel) = get(nationalityOfFairy)) {return Enchantix = true}? Does enchantix check passports? Does it trace bloodlines? What happens if the saved party in this situation is mixed-race or emigrated to another planet? Does only one nationality apply, do both, or neither? Is it more important what ethnicity or people you belong to, or does your current home address supersede that?

In a universe as big and diverse as the Magical Dimension, having a transformation take nationality into account is kind of difficult. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, or that enchantix is being racist or anything. It makes perfect sense that a transformation that elevates you to guardian fairy of a planet requires you to demonstrate your care and devotion to the people of said planet.

So here's my personal work around:

People with magical abilities hailing from the same planet tend to have similarities in power. Think Princess Galatea, a music-adjacent fairy, or Nova, who has a star theme going on. It’s not 100% guaranteed, and the system completely falls apart if you count the Earth fairies, but it did give me the idea that ppl who come from the same planet share some kind of magical origin. If that core slash origin fits to a certain degree, that’s enough for an Enchantix. Kind of like how blood types can match, but the DNA is still different.

And for that, I think, Valtor would 100% suffice. He pretty much consists of Bloom's magic. Or, well. The magic Bloom is in possession of. Mom said it’s her turn with the dragon flame.

That being said, something people tend to forget is that Enchantix runs on two-factor-authentication. You need to save someone who matches the criteria, AND you need to make a big and personal sacrifice. So not only would she have to save our local megalomaniac's well-dressed ass, she would need to make a sacrifice in doing so. Which is the trickier part, in my opinion.

[catchyhuh]

How do they celebrate each other's birthday?

you know lupin’s birthday is right around the corner from valentine’s day? of course he’s an aquarius. wait (this is where i googled aquarius stereotypes) of course he’s an aquarius. you know fujiko is a gemini. i don’t think i even need to make a joke there

also heads up this one kinda spun off the rails a bit so it's LONG, be aware

lupin’s birthday:

you know mr attention whore LOVES a good spotlight, and as such, he’s the one most hyped as his birthday draws nearer. a holiday just for HIM?! a medically provided reason to be the center of attention yet again? the exact minute it’s just the month of he’ll be like What did you get me. What are we Doing. Hey what did y

he’ll take almost anything activity-wise as long as it’s, you know, about him, and the others have learned how to meet his expectations while also not sacrificing their enjoyment lmao. sometimes they’ll do something like nice lil night in and just chill, other times he might just steal a whole cruise ship and celebrate that way. either way, it’s going to be an EVENT, just maybe not a huge huge one EVERY year. after all, he really only needs the company of three other people, maybe four, depending on how agreeable someone is to the “c’mooon it’s my BIRTHDAY” excuse

for somebody who can just steal whatever he wants, the presentation of a gift matters more than the gift itself. jigen just got him a box of cigarettes one year and lupin’s face lit up like he’s just uncovered a bar of solid gold. but,  of course, the fact that it came from his best friend ever probably sweetened the ordeal up a bit. if you’re a slightly more distant 3rd party that’s still somehow aware that it’s his birthday, he WILL be expecting something from you, and he WILL be ‘hmm’ing and ‘huh’ing as he appraises that thing

the worst thing you could give him is money, and again, the others know this. to the point that one year, he opened a box and found it full of cash. and he was like ??? because again, this is stuff he could just. get for himself. what’s special about this? but then fujiko was like “get to the bottom” and under like, all the bills, there was a sticky note that said “we took the fiat to the shop and they fixed that whole exploding engine damage it had” and he was like OHH YOU GUUYYYS!!

jigen’s birthday:

jigen isn’t huge on his birthday. he’s not huge on ANYONE’S, really, but he’ll get them some junk, y’know, show him he’s at least somewhat glad they’re in his life. but for his OWN birthday, eeeehhh. in fact, he’s SO lowkey about it lupin didn’t even realize he’d never celebrated with him until he’d known him for like three years. it’s not even that he has some sort of bad association with his birthday, he’s just very much comfortable on the sidelines, and having that much positive attention on him doesn’t feel… right. even if it’s just a surface level thing, he does not like it. his idea of hell is someone telling the waiter at olive garden that it’s his birthday.

as such, his birthday is 9 times out of 10 treated like any other day. they usually don’t do heists, but honestly they take more off days than most people would expect anyway, so it’s not strange or anything. it doesn’t FEEL like they’re making a big deal, purposefully avoiding scheduling heists and shit just cuz it’s his birthday. (in fact, don’t tell him, but the other three have figured out a pattern of alternating when they do and don’t set up heists on his birthday, just so he doesn’t get suspicious about their treatment of him. these are all very strange people) mostly, the gang does small things he pretends not to notice, like making his breakfast for him because “goemon’s cooks in bulk anyway, you know this” and letting him sleep in because “we just aren’t in a rush today!”

doesn’t even get his gifts in person. they usually just leave the box/bag somewhere they know he’ll run into it, and he opens it on his own time, smiles to himself, and sets the gift down somewhere he won’t forget it. except in fujiko’s case, of course, because she’s made a point to get him the ugliest ties every year just to annoy him. he does keep them though. the material is pretty good at wiping up messes in the kitchen

the only way you’re getting some actual “let’s celebrate” action out of him is if it’s a milestone. y’know, birthday’s ending in 5’s and 0’s. the more time he spends with these motherfuckers though, the more he’s incessant that they ONLY “do” shit on the 0’s but let’s be honest. nobody’s going to stop them from taking him all the way to new york city for just 3 hours just so he can get that one drink he really really likes from that one little hole in the wall bar.

fujiko’s birthday:

bizarrely the most normal about birthdays, her own and others. fujiko is incredibly good at reading people, just in general, so she has a knack for finding the gifts people actually want (above example naturally excluded) and really, she knows with the way she is, even a card is pretty damn sweet. of course, BEING fujiko, there’s no way she’s passing up the free attention and presents and everything else that comes with wearing the birthday crown for a day

fujiko doesn’t have birthday parties. again, none of them really do; they’d only invite like 8 people, max, anyway, and even then who’s to say those people standing on opposite sides of the globe could make it? no, fujiko does birthday trips. fujiko is going to greece for her birthday. fujiko is spending a whole week on some beach somewhere in the mediterranean, and she doesn’t care if you’re coming or not, because she’s doing it for HER!!

 but don’t you think you can skirt by without getting her a present. the same logic of “can’t a thief just steal what they want?” is kind of at play here, but it’s not about if SHE can get it. it’s about if someone got it FOR her. lupin pulls out all the stops for her on a random tuesday, so you can’t IMAGINE the level of luxury her BIRTHDAY treats come with. jigen, of course, deliberately gets her purses just as ugly as the ties she sends him, and goemon’s gifts (as they are with everyone) tend to be small, practical things, usually things he’s just outright heard her talk about. the gift he was most proud of was definitely the pocket knife shaped like a lipstick tube, oh he was SO proud of that. and zenigata… 

fujiko usually plans a little theft on her birthday. something she wanted but nobody got her, like a necklace or something. she purposefully does a sloppy job, takes twice as long to evade the scene, and damn, somehow always gets captured! and the SECOND she’s in cuffs, she turns to zenigata and goes “what did you get me :) something great i bet. something super nice. you wouldn’t have forgotten, right?” and. he forgets. every year. every single year. and for some strange reason he feels so guilty that he just. slowly hands her back what she stole. tells her not to tell anyone about this. and lets her go. the look on his face is almost a better present than the little trinket she nabbed anyway

goemon’s birthday:

birthdays are kind of just a fact to goemon. you were born. what do you want, a medal? but uh, he does like this person, and it’s an excuse to show them his appreciation for the fact they’re alive and all that, so he does have a bit of fun with others birthdays, if he’s close enough to them. but with his own, whereas jigen just doesn’t like celebrating his birthday, goemon just doesn’t think to do it. he doesn’t MIND it, exactly. of course, he doesn’t want strangers crowding around him and singing for some god forsaken reason either, but dare i say he would be a tiny bit secretly delighted by a tiny little surprise party. not a huge ordeal by any means, but pleasant. just like he likes it

the REAL way to do the goemon birthday circuit is to start the day normal, if a little spaced away from him. he says he’s going outside, and the others nod and keep their asses planted on the couch. he enjoys a little me time, but in the back of his mind, he’s a bit happier than usual, because he KNOWS there’s more coming, and yet he still gets time to relax and chill and do his usual shit. it’s thoughtful!! it’s nice! and most importantly it gives him a fucking break

goemon doesn’t usually get like, GIFT gifts from everyone each year. they usually just like, ask him if there’s anything he wants to do, or if he wants something special for lunch, stuff like that. he always gets at least ONE thing, because being as materialistic as these bitches are it feels… weird, to have him go to bed on his birthday emptyhanded, but its usually nothing largely extravagant. sometimes its just stuff he needed anyway, like a new comforter, more alcohol to clean his sword, things like that. it’s probably a subconscious thing, since he usually gets each of them practical stuff. they just turn it back around on him. also you gotta remember, uh, also a thief, also hard to shop for,

the main thing is that he just feels loved. not to be sappy and lame but that’s what he REALLY gets out of his birthday. it feels like every piece is deliberately chosen to make him comfy, to celebrate the exact way HE wants to. if he felt like just walking around by himself all day, they’d let him do it! of course, they’d feel… very strange going to bed without even saying happy birthday to him BUT HEY THEY CAN ALWAYS DO THAT TOMORROW. FIRST AND FOREMOST ITS ABOUT THE BIRTHDAY BOY

zenigata’s birthday:

no he doesn’t celebrate his birthday. he’s a very busy grown ass man with SO many things on his plate you wouldn’t believe-- omg is that one of those little cat statues that holds your ramen lid closed for you so none of the steam gets out and it cooks faster!! omg!! you shouldn’t have! that’s so thoughtful! y’know that’s a gift he’d actually get some use out of, most of the guys at interpol just give him like a scarf that doesn’t even fit him or some crap like-- I MEAN, NO, HE DOESN’T EVEN LIKE BIRTHDAYS!

it’s… messy. with the Situation. but both parties (haha get it) find a way to celebrate on the appropriate days, somehow. the gang almost ALWAYS pulls up with some shit around his birthday, but never the day of-- and not because of the whole “huh dec 25th is a busy day for some reason” thing but just because they like fucking with him. even when they’re being nice they have to toy with his emotions. if it’s before, they just sneak up on him like HAHA SURPRISE ATTACK!! and if it’s after they’ll wait EXACTLY until the point where he’s like “oh i guess they. forgot. not that that would bother me. why would it bother me?” yeah it bothers him immensely and THEN they SURPRISE ATTACK!! LET’S GET YOU SOME RED ROBIN ASSHOLE 

does not get them something every year. only if he happens to find something. but then he has this awkward but hilarious confrontation with them on the years where he finds something he thinks they’ll like. like he’ll do the arresty spiel, have them locked up for maybe 20 minutes before going “oh btw there was this, uh, package. for you. probably from one of your rotten criminal friends. and if it’s a bomb i’m kicking your ass. here.” and then he leaves the room all stiff with his hat hiding half his face and it’s like well. if the fact that he’s leaving them ALONE for a period of time while allegedly keeping them under custody wasn’t enough of a dead giveaway, the fact that he’s so embarrassed that he’s giving a birthday present to one of the people ACTIVELY RUINING HIS LIFE to the point that he’s tensing up and stepping away… yeah that kinda gives it away. a bit.

strangely only started looking forward to his birthday MORE as time passed because he knew there’d be something coming, but the point where it REALLY became a thing was the year 1 A.Y. (After Yata) because you KNOW that guy’s not missing his birthday!! zenigata doesn’t really want like, big stuff (it’s another reason the gang torments him with a big You Have No Say In The Matter deal each year) but yata always manages to get him something nice and thoughtful, and insists on doing more to help out. which… they’re. not making you work anyway yata it’s christmas. and you do a thousand things more than you have to every day anyway. but it’s appreciated

and since i mentioned him let’s do a bit for yata: 

admittedly the gang did not anticipate this motherfucker sticking around as long as he has, and none of them… actually know his birthday. nobody could put aside their pride to ask zenigata outright until jigen just got tired of hearing the others gossip and aimlessly speculate on whether they should do anything even IF they knew this guy’s birthday, and he just asked him point blank, in the back of the cop car, “when’s the weird little bastard’s birthday again?” and zenigata just went “oh its-- wait. why are you asking?” and the other’s just kind of. sit awkwardly. because now that they’ve asked, they HAVE to get something. but worst of all: zenigata won’t tell them.

he takes the opportunity to be a real ass about it too. “you know yata knows YOUR birthday, lupin” “WELL YEAH, IT’S PROBABLY IN THE SYSTEM” so lupin, goemon, and jigen (fujiko doesn’t care too much lol can’t manipulate the master manipulator) all just. find random birthday junk they think yata might like and hand it over to zeni. they don’t even know if yata’s getting the stuff. especially because zenigata brings this up year round. when even is the little fucker’s birthday?? how old even is he?

and the answer is, jokes aside, yes, zenigata saves all the cards and trinkets and everything else, stuffs it all into a basket or something, and leaves it on yata’s desk for him to find the morning of. and yata is so surprised! wow! they did all this for him? he didn’t even know they knew his birthday. uh, he hasn’t gotten anything for any of them. was he supposed to? and zenigata’s like oh well you know those fuckers. probably some sort of manipulation tactic to make you think you owe them. just don’t overthink it and enjoy your cupcake. and yata goes   .    “ok can’t argue with that, word up sir o7” and enjoys his cupcake as instructed

all that aside, yata is a pleasant birthday celebrator, as you’d expect from him. usually gives out birthday cards with gift cards and stuff, because he doesn’t want to get the wrong thing, but if he DOES find an item he’s fairly sure the recipient will like, he still tucks a gift receipt in the box, just in case. very thoughtful like that. very thoughtful, our yata.  it’s the anxiety

[kkatastrophic]

Byakuya Togami: I hate him a lot

Long ramble

The best title I've ever written. Uhhh yeah this is my long ramble shitpost on my dislike for Byakuya Togami, my least favourite character in media EVER! :D

If you like him tell me why, I'm not gonna hate on your opinion. If you get pressed about my opinion on a FICTIONAL character and are going to hate, please step away from the device this is *my* post. You can make your own about how great he is somewhere else.

Okay so I don't like Byakuya. This is established in the title of my ramble.

Why? Well he's just annoying. Like he gets all "Makoto clean my shoes" "Makoto tell them" "Makoto stop talking" like LET Makoto grow as a character before you push him around like that. What really annoys me is that EVERYBODY (EXCEPT FOR HINA AND KYOKO - and Mondo tried to that one time but he died before he could so it doesn't count -) let him get away with it and do what he wants, just because... why? He's blonde? He's rich??? Seriously why does NOBODY else humble him? They talk behind his back like "ohh Togami's not at breakfast he just does his own thing ohhh Togami's such an asshole" SAY IT TO HIS FACE BRO. DO NOT LET HIM GET AWAY WITH SUCH BEHAVIOURS!

Okay so his character annoys me, that's a good reason to dislike him, sure. Byakuya fans who might still be reading this are probably going to lose their marbles when I say THAT HE'S NOT EVEN AN ANTAGONIST!!!!

THH has NO main antagonist aside from the VILLAIN Monokuma/Junko! Why?? Because the antagonist has to have goals that differ from the protagonist!!! BYAKUYAS GOAL IS TO ESCAPE. WHAT'S MAKOTO'S GOAL??? THE EXACT SAME THING!!!! IF THEY HAVE THE SAME GOAL, WHY THE HELL IS BYAKUYA TRYING TO STAND IN THE WAY?!??!? IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!! DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE, BYAKUYA??? THEN FUCKING HUMBLE YOURSELF, SIT BACK DOWN AND JUST LET MAKOTO AND KYOKO PLAY DETECTIVE.

You could argue "Ohh Kat he WAS an Antagonist look at what he did to Chihiro's body ooh!" EVEN THAT ISN'T HIM BEING AN ANTAGONIST. That's him doing something antagonistic, that's an antagonistic action. One bad thing doesn't automatically make him a bad person. AND HE DIDN'T DO THAT TO STOP MAKOTO. He did that to give Mondo false confidence in his case, fuck with the rest of the cast over who Genocide Jill was and THEN tell everybody Toko's secret.

I literally hate him for that ngl. "You p-promised you wouldn't tell anyone" HE MADE A PROMISE AND BROKE IT WITHIN LIKE LESS THAN A WEEK. HOW CAN YOU TRUST THIS GUY??? And THEN why does NOBODY call him out on that?? I know that the rest of the class is like "Ohh Toko what's her deal she's kinda weird" But you'd think that somebody with as strong morales as Ishimaru, Asahina or Ogami would go "not cool" AT LEAST!!!! I can let this slide though because the murder investigation was more important than getting Byakuya to shut up.

ALSO he played brain games with my boy Mondo. WHY did he do him like that, we could've left that trial within like... 3 minutes and saved Owada AND Ishimaru all of the trauma and emotional outbursts that they went through.

Moving on from chapter two, and skipping chapter three because I hate that chapter it's so bad I hate that trial I hate everybody there I hate the whole cast when Ishimaru and Yamada die I hate the-

Chapter 4. He gets humbled woahhh!! Awesome job, Hina! You humbled him so hard ilyyy!

But then.. that's all he gets? For everything he's done and every assholish word he's said, despite being in a DEATH GAME where he could be TARGETED for that shit, he gets humbled once and everybody is like "Okay now who murdered Sakura. :3" LIKE??? WHAT??

And the fandom treats this as character growth??

One character rightfully telling another character to shut the hell up is NOT character growth, that's just... what... WHAT?!??!! HOW WAS THIS INTERPRETED????

Moving onwards to chapter 5, I forgot about this chapter I haven't played the game in a year ngl. SKIP THIS CHAPTER BECAUSE MY NEXT POINT IS CHAPTER 6!!!!

He literally didn't seem to care whether they loved or died, he was like "Ohhh my family is dead" like yeah that was established in chapter one, did you forget?? Everybody here has dead family?? Including the dead students??? AND THEN MAKOTO IS LIKE "Byakuya I'll shoot down your despair hyah!!!" And he doesn't get a thank you???

Makoto saved them and Byakuya scoffs like "heh whatever idc" LIKE NO?? THANK MAKOTO FIRST???

I hate him I hate most of THH this is such a scattered ramble it's probably all wrong because I don't remember much of the game but I wanted to make a ramble and put this out there for anybody who wants to see it. I just don't like him at all.

Okay bye

[survey--s]

609.

The last time you were in the fridge, what were you looking for? Iced coffee.

Do you like clowns? Nope. I'm not terrified of them or anything but they really do freak me out.

Have you answered all of these questions honestly so far? I mean, there have been two questions lol.

What’s the third text in your inbox? It's from Mike saying he needs new tyres on his car.

Are you listening to anything at the moment? I have Two and a Half Men on in the background and I can hear my own typing, the dryer and the dog snoring.

Do you twitch when you’re falling asleep? Yeah, all the time.

Are your dishes in the dishwasher clean or dirty? We don't own a dishwasher.

Are you at home or with friends more often? Home.

When is the last time you were on a bicycle? About six years ago.

What have you eaten today? Two slices of toast and a donut.

Would you date someone 15 years older than you? No, probably not.

Do you own a strapless bra? I'm sure I have one somewhere, yeah.

Does the person you like know it? Yes.

Did anything brighten up your day today? It was nice to have a lie in, but otherwise it's just been a pretty normal day so far. I slept in, had breakfast, walked the dog, bumped into Suzanne and Charlie, showered, did two loads of laundry, went to the shops, fed the animals and now I'm doing this.

How are you feeling at this exact moment? Kinda hungry, but otherwise I'm absolutely fine.

Are you someone who worries too often? Not so much anymore.

If you could date somebody who would it be? My husband, lol.

Do you ever wonder how other people see you? Sure, I know people judge me when I'm walking Archie and he's stressing out about other dogs.

What is one good thing you’re known for? Ironically, how good I am with other dogs haha.

How about one bad thing? I have no idea.

Are you taller than most? Most what? Most women, yes. Most people in general? No, I don't think so.

When was the last time you sang an ENTIRE song? Today in the shower.

Are you the type of person who likes to be out or home? I like both. I find being at home really relaxing and I recharge the best that way, but I can't spend too long indoors without getting out - otherwise I get cabin fever.

What time do you normally go to bed? 11 pm - 1 am. 

What is one thing that is currently bothering you? Nothing in particular, to be honest.

What did you do today? Oh, I kind of answered this already lol. I slept in until about 8.30am, did a load of laundry, vacuumed, had breakfast, walked the dog, came home, showered, did another load of laundry, went grocery shopping and fed the animals - now I'm doing this and watching TV.

Do you consider yourself to be attractive? I think I'm pretty average looking.

What was the last thing that you drank? Pepsi Max.

Is anything annoying you now? Not right this second, no.

Has anyone ever said i love you to you and not meant it? Yeah.

Do you regret going out with the last person you did? No.

Do you realise it when you curse? No, not always.

When was the last time you showered? About three hours ago when I got back from walking the dog.

Who did you last talk to in person? Suzanne.

Do you ever have days where you just don’t do anything? I always do SOMETHING, but yeah, I do have some properly lazy days at times, lol.

Have you ever been extremely tired but refused to go to sleep? Yes.

What is your favorite episode of True Life, if you have one at all? I've never seen it.

Have you ever experienced something paranormal? Nope, I don't really believe in that stuff.

What’s the longest amount of time you’ve been stuck in traffic? About 3-4 hours.

Best field trip experience? When we went to Paris for a week.

Have you ever been to New York City? Nope.

If so, is it all its cracked up to be? ...

What is the most amount of money you’ve spent on a meal before? Personally, about £30 per head but my dad once took Mike and I to a restaurant that was about £300 per person, not including alcohol.

What museums have you visited, if any? Too many to name. I was always dragged around museums as a kid.

Have you ever had a group project and one of your partners bailed on you? Sure, all the time. It's why I've always hated stuff like that.

What’s your worst travelling experience? Getting scammed in France I guess, but it was no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Sims 1, 2, or 3? Why? The first one, I guess because it's what I grew up with along with all the expansion packs.

Have you ever dealt with noisy neighbors or roommates? How did that go? Sure, but that's what happens when you live in terraced housing or apartments. You just deal with it.

Who was (or is) the teacher that gave you the hardest time in school? Probably my senior school tutor.

Best muffin you’ve ever had? I love a freshly baked blueberry muffin.

Have you ever taken a woodshop class? Yeah, we had to for a while in school.

How much time do you spend on Facebook, if you have one? I'm logged into it all the time but I only really check it when I have a notification or want to upload something.

What area of math are you best at? Worst? I'm not good at any kind of maths, lol.

How do you feel when you meet someone with the same music taste as you? I love it - most people I meet haven't heard of the stuff I like, ha.

What is the strangest thing you’ve ever seen outside of your house? I honestly have no idea. The girl over the road from us walks her ferret sometimes, that's pretty weird.

Do you believe in luck? Why or why not? I mean, I think sometimes people get lucky, sure, but I don't think it happens for any particular reason.

How often do you “half-ass” things (put little effort in)? God, all the time hahah.

Do you ever feel self-conscious when you eat around other people? Sometimes, yeah. I don't pick messy foods if I'm out in public as I'm pretty much guaranteed to spill it down my front LOL.

Has a teacher ever made you hate yourself/your work? Ohh yes.

How reliable is your internet connection? Generally it's fine but it has been going on/off a bit lately for some reason.

Have you ever missed a meeting/event that was required/necessary? Yeah, sure.

What’s something that makes you incredibly nervous? Phone calls with people I don't know.

What’s the latest you’ve ever stayed up to finish homework/a project? I pulled multiple all-nighters at university.

If you don’t have glasses, how would you feel if you had to get them? I've been wearing glasses since I was seven years old.

If you do have glasses, how would you feel if you didn’t need them anymore? That would be AMAZING. Unfortunately, my prescription is too complicated for laser eye surgery so I'm just gonna have to live with them for now.

How many vegetarians do you know? Probably quite a few, but I don't really go around asking people things like that.

Have you ever considered going to art school? Nope.

Is there anyone in your life who consistently angers you? No. I don't really spend time with anyone like that.

How quickly can you write an essay? Depends on the subject and how long the essay has to be.

Have you ever had problems falling asleep in class? Nope. I've never understood how people can do that.

Have you ever been on the barrier or front row at a concert? Yeah, a few times.

If you have a job, who is your least favorite coworker/manager? I'm self-employed.

Favorite episode of Spongebob? I couldn't pick a particular favourite. I like the ones with Squidward as the main focus.

Do you have any silly/odd emotional connections to anything/anyone? Sure, don't most people?

Are your parents supportive of you? They most certainly are.

How often do you take the train to go places? Never. Around here, it's MUCH quicker and cheaper to drive.

Do you play with your phone in awkward situations? I do when I'm like, waiting for an appointment or for a friend to come back from the toilet or something, but I try not to do it in company as it's pretty rude.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AAHHHH

Oh hey Buck's exact age :D

AAAHHHHH OH NOOO

Nooo Maddie 😭😭😭😭❤️💔💔

I knew she'd have to find out but <333 💔💔

Ahh so it's medically induced :'((

Naur not a 24 hour critical condition 😭😭

A A A A A A A A A H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H

THE ALTERNATE REALITY!!! HE SAID IT!!!

A A A H H H H H H!!!

:OOOO IS THAT DANIEL??!!?!???

AAAHHHHHH 😭😭 CHIMNEY DOESN'T KNOW WHO HE ISSSS

HE'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME O.O ರ⁠_⁠ರ

BRO'S BOUTTA PULL A TK 😭😭 WITH THE YK DREAM SYMBOLISM NOT GIVING UP THING

Not just the plain old coma xD

ANYWAY UH OH

AAAHHHHHH STOPPPP THEY ALL LOOK SO WORRIED 😭😭😭😭😭💔💔❤️

I mean as they should but yk xd

HENNN 😭😭💔❤️

HMMM SUSPICIOUS ABSENCE OF EDDIE

THEY'RE SAVING ALL THE BREAKDOWNS/THE BREAKDOWN FOR US WITH NO PROMO 😭😭😭💔❤️

OR imagine the power of not having Eddie be there at all like in the episode at all because he's too distraught and then we see him next episode, be that with Buck awake or not o.o

. . . Eddie's the new, current life. . . Daniel and all of them are the old. . .

AAAAHHHHHHH

Anyway I'm assuming it'll get worse throughout about Buck yk not existing or whatever, since Chim didn't know him, but whether it starts that way or not - less of a "the transplant worked" and more of a "he was never sick"

That's the last of my last thoughts, now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

I loved this episode!! It was great, and a great return to the show/season :)). I've seen some stuff saying how the cast is/seems really excited for season 6/6B and that makes me extra excited lol! By the way, this will probably be pretty short because I put off (finishing for some, but for this one only till "never sick" before right now lol) all three reviews till Saturday xD. Anyway lol! It's now actually Sunday :)). And I have to do all three. So xd. Anyway for real now lol!

Bobby! Plus May and Athena. I'm glad they're investigating the rehab center (and not getting caught lol). It seems like we're getting somewhere! And Athena and May were hilarious xDD. Anyway, it's kinda 😬 seeing Bobby so focused on it, but I am still glad they're investigating :). Somebody has to ❤️. Anyway, they were great at their jobs (didn't really see any of Athena but she was investigating lol). Bobby especially, since we did see him doing it xD. I love him <3. I do love all three of them, by the way lol <3. I am nervous about next episode for them! They're already dealing with a loss and all the drama surrounding that, and adding Buck onto that? Their unofficial/adopted son?? My poor babeys 😭😭❤️.

Hen! Seeing her with Denny was so cute :DD. I totally forgot about the storyline of him contacting his dad though xD 😬. I'm deeefinitely a bit worried for when Hen and Karen are gonna find out o.o - especially given that he's been hiding it for a W H I L E. Also, Hen was wonderful at her job as always 🥰🥰. I love her :DD. Also, I think Hen will have to be holding it together with Buck :'((. Bc everyone else will be a mess xd. But we better get to see her being a mess too :'DD. Anyway, good luck with baseball, D 🥰.

Chim and Maddie! I'm REALLY glad the Buckleys visiting wasn't too bad xD. I'll talk some about it here and some with Buck, but that argument was 😬😬. Plus Chim's dad showing up was o.o. and I'm pretty sure that's his stepmom? But I don't actually remember lol. Anyway, it was T E N S E but I'm glad it at least worked out okay xd. Like, okay as in just barely fine lol. Okay in the most basic, watery meaning of it lol. Anyway, I'm glad (especially after seeing how nervous she was) that Maddie didn't have any huge problems with her parents :D. Looks like they're finally learning lol. And, of course, Maddie and Chimney were both great at their jobs :)). Also I didn't realize it until I saw somebody say it but IT LOOKS LIKE DOUG IS IN THE PROMO?? LIKE WITH MADDIE???! AAHHHH!!? I'm so excited xD. And scared lol. Plus it'll be rough for them like in the real world :'((. Anyway, I love them both 🥰🥰.

Eddie! We didn't see much of him this episode, but he was great 🥰. I'm ESPECIALLY interested in seeing how he reacts next week :DD >:DD. Y'all I'mma be screaming but I'm also so excited for the angst xDD. But also 😭😭. Like y'all it's the way he screamed for Buck- I can't xd. Anyway lol! He was great at his job :)). Also him playing catch with Hen was so cute 🥰🥰. Especially when the others were working and they were just chillin XDD. But yeah lol, scared and excited for next episode. I love him 🥰❤️❤️.

And finally, Buck :)! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! MY BOYYYY!!!! 😭😭😭😭💔❤️❤️. HE BETTER BE OKAY!! I mean I'm sure he will be (or he'll survive at least) but still you never know 😭😭❤️. Anyway, he was amazing this episode :)). Seeing how he was with kids was so adorable 🥰🥰. And he looked so nervous when his parents found out about the donor situation 😭😭. I would say donorship but that doesn't appear to be a word lol. Eh xD. Anyway, that scene was TENSE 😳😳 xd. And also kinda funny with Chim being like uhh??? no??? I don't think we're pregnant?? XDD. Amazing lol. Anyway, the other family scenes were so cute and sweet :')). I'm glad they managed to get everything sorted out <33. And even though his parents don't totally agree, I'm happy that they decided to support him anyway :'). Also, Buck was, obviously, great at his job this episode 🥰🥰. Now. The ending 😭😭😭. A A H H H! I'm not okay xdd. They way he FELL aUGH!! I know I just said it but I'm not okay 😭😭. And that PROMO??? AAHHH. And ik a lot of people figured it was gonna happen (I only found out when I saw people that were like 'we might actually get coma Buck y'all!!!' lol) but AAHHHH COMA ALTERNATE REALITY BUCK!!! Dude it looks so crazy but it's gonna be SO good :DD. It looks like he won't exist or smth?? Idek o.o. But, I'm sure it'll be wild, and amazing :D. And I'll probably scream the whole time xD. But yeah! I love him 🥰🥰❤️.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode! I thought it was super fun, and the cases were cool and interesting. The way they all related to the storm? Great!! :D They were really good and it helped lead up to the ending. Of course, everyone was amazing this episode 🥰🥰. And I'm really excited to see them all angsting next week lol! Buck's coma dream juxtaposed with everyone dealing with the coma in real life is going to be AWESOME. And also heartbreaking xD. With this episode as a whole, I'm glad everything worked out, for the most part :). Obviously there were some things opening to ongoing storylines, but I think it was a great half-season premiere :). Just the right amount of wrapped up for an episode lol. The rehab storyline less wrapped up, but that makes sense since it seems like it'll be a more pressing/sooner storyline than the others. And of course, I have to mention again the end of this episode. Y'all 😭😭. Seeing them all go to Buck, trying everything, is just ❤️❤️. They're family, your honor :')). And I love them all so much <33. Anyway, this was a great episode, and I'm REALLY excited for the next one :)).

So yeah! I really loved the episode, I thought it was amazing. I'm nervous for the next one! This has been my review of. . .

9-1-1, Season 6, Episode 10: In a Flash

It was great!! I'm definitely excited for the next episode, if very scared. I'll be back next week with my review of. . .

9-1-1, Season 6 Episode 11: In Another Life

See you next week!

[coldhndss]

──★ ˙ ̟Blue Lock mini matchups! No.6, 7, and 8

ﾟ𐦍༘ No.6: @somewhere-stuck-in-the-stars

Do you know what I mean when I say your request gave me autumn/fall vibes? Like all I could imagine was a fireplace, hot cocoa, maple trees and a nice cozy cottage home.

So, I ended up matching you to Yukimiya Kenyu!

Initially, I actually thought of matching you to Alexis Ness, but… I couldn’t do that to you 😬

So, we know that Yukimiya is canonically a model, dresses nicely and has a calm/soft kind of aesthetic. I feel like he’d dress more of a light academia with coats and scarves, contrasting nicely with your deep jewel and earth tone attire/aesthetic. I know MBTI tests aren’t usually completely true to someone’s personality, but with you being an INTJ, I’d imagine you bring a vibe of comfort and care that not everybody does. With Yukimiya having constant worries about his wellbeing alongside playing soccer, you’d be able to be able to bring him a breath of fresh air and take his mind away from worrying too much all the time. 

For a day where the two of you go someplace together, I’d imagine he’d take you to see the cherry blossoms in full bloom, seeing as its one of the things that he’s interested in. He’d take sweet, candid photos of you, knowing the best angles to shoot from. Of course, he wouldn’t leave without getting some photos of himself. I get the feeling that he’d probably post an aesthetic reel of the trip on Instagram as well. It might spark some controversy amongst his female fans once they notice you being a little too close to him for their liking! Not that it’ll change anything between you two, of course. I have a feeling it'll just make him want to post you even more.

I think somebody like you is very in tune with other people’s emotions. Not like a psychologist or an ‘empath’ (whatever that is), and you’d be able to tell when he needs a little bit of a mood booster. You’d be a caring person who is able to watch over him and treat him with kindness that isn’t contingent on his popularity or skill.

ﾟ𐦍༘ No.7: @darthvada

I've said this before, but I don't always match people up with someone who is the exact opposite. So in this case, I decided to match you to Bachira Meguru!

Writing this matchup literally made me realise how lonely Bachira was for a majority of his time before Blue Lock (Bachira fic incoming very soon). So although he puts on an energetic and happy front most of the time, I feel like he definitely has some unspoken problems that flood his thoughts daily. For the most part, he's extroverted and positive most of the time, so I think he'd be able to easily get along with another person who shares the same/similar personality as him, seeing as he (alongside lots of people, but especially him) yearns to be understood by someone else, and I think you'd have no trouble bringing him that sort of comfort.

Bachira would probably love the fact that you do theatre. Seeing as he likes exciting things, I'm sure he'd definitely enjoy seeing the different characters you play and roles you partake in (I don't know much about theatre and choir so I'm sorry if you don't actually do any acting!). I'm sure he'd enjoy watching you practice. Here's a scenario that I imagined:

You've got an important play coming up, in which you take part as a person who gets rescued by a prince, king, or hero of sorts. Seeing as you don't have the male actor at your beck and call, you decide to give Bachira a call and ask him to help you. Elated, he immediately agrees and comes over to where you are. To your surprise, he's very enthusiastic, and plays the role with a lot of confidence! 'I wonder why he didn't pursue acting...' you ponder.

Seeing as the both of you are super enthusiastic about the things you're interested in, Bachira would definitely yap a lot about different soccer players, teams, which team he finds interesting, or which players he would love to go up against. He'd also be the type to spam you with reels of either incoherent memes with the most random audios, couple videos strung along with an 'us' or 'you', or edits that people make of him, with him sending '😳😳' emojis to you in response. He acts embarrassed but he secretly likes all the edits and saves them to a collection on his private lists.

Bachira would definitely love being around you at all times. He may get a bit attached sometimes, but you pay it no mind. He'd appreciate that you lend him an ear and always listen to his worries without shutting him up or making him feel worthless, seeing as others have ostracised him simply because they think he's 'weird', and that's why you'll always mean so much to him.

ﾟ𐦍༘ No.8: Anon

Honestly, I think this was arguably my hardest matchup. Probably because the character I ended up matching you to is always at the back of my head (I don't hate him, I just don't really think about him at all).

So after spending ages deciding, I chose to match you to Ikki Niko! Hear me out on this one, okay?

Niko doesn't show it, but he's actually relatively passionate about the things he likes, and although he doesn't look it, he's interested in things other than soccer. Seeing as he enjoys watching Anime and is sort of a nerd in that regard, he'd definitely watch plays with you in the theatre or at home. He wouldn't really say anything to you about it at the start, but after a while, you'll find that he's randomly gotten more into it than before. I think Niko would definitely look into something that someone important to him really enjoys. That way, he can get closer to them without having to embarrass himself by asking them questions upon questions.

He also comes off to me as more of a listener than a speaker. Seeing as you enjoy talking lots and lots about the things you like, Niko would definitely sit and listen. I have a feeling that the two of you would sit on calls for hours, majority of the time would be spent with you talking about things you enjoy (aka, mainly history related things). He'd also take notes on the little things about yourself that you're interested in that you don't notice yourself talking about. Niko wouldn't want to show that he's overly into what you're saying, acting like he's doing work on his laptop over your call. It turns out that he's keeping track of what you're saying on a locked note called 'Her 🤍'.

Although Niko might make fun of you here and there, he's not the type to really care all that much about clothing styles. Also seeing as you say you're lazy in things which include sports, watching Niko play is just about the only thing you'd probably do in that regard. He doesn't say, but it secretly makes him super happy to know you're only watching it to see him on the field. For a little side scenario, I imagine that despite you not being overly extroverted, you might run up to him on the field after he scores the winning goal in a game, and hug him. He definitely wouldn't pry you off, but he'd get a little flustered. Though secretly he'd want everyone watching to know that he actually does have a special someone rooting for him and him only.

[wri0thesley]

Hey Nat, I'm kinda blaming you for my budding infatuation with Nanami and I was wondering if I may request Nanami and his s/o having their first kiss? It doesn't have to be long but I'm just feeling soft and with the way you write him it sounds like a treat once this reserved, professional man finally allows himself to give in

oh anon i am so... so very soft.... you cannot blame me for the nanami desire. he is simply irresistible. 

date night - nanami x reader (3k)

you’re nervous about your first date with nanami.

warnings: none. fluffy, soft. neutral reader, some mentions of food and alcohol.

You cannot help but be nervous about tonight.

Your friends have made fun of you, talking about your hot date – Gojo thumping you on the back, Shoko looking at you with her tired eyes but a smirk on her face. Neither of them really get it, you don’t think – to them, Nanami is their former junior who is just a little too serious for his own good. A gloomy, stoic presence who they trust implicitly due to the good head on his shoulders, but who they do not really see as ‘a potential romantic match’. They know that you’ve been harbouring a crush on the former salaryman for months, and they’ve already tried to warn you off him.

“He can be so boring,” Gojo had said, swinging an arm around your shoulders. “Let me set you up with someone instead!”

Your face had heated up at the idea that Gojo didn’t trust you to make your own romantic decisions, but he was already halfway through listing the name of every eligible bachelor he knew (and a few who he said ‘weren’t eligible, but they probably could be, for you!’). You’d been able to do nothing but listen politely as you’d walked with him to his classroom, occasionally gathering strange looks from the students that were milling around in the corridors.

“Think about it!” He’d cried to you as he’d stepped into his bare classroom (you hardly ever see him doing any actual classwork in there; mainly, you see him lying on top of desks and making fun of his students) and greeted the three first years waiting for him. “You don’t wanna be stuck ironing Nanami’s socks for the rest of your life!”

You hope his students don’t hear him, as you decide to go for a walk outside to clear your head.

You and Nanami have been dancing around the idea of maybe possibly being something more than friends for weeks. You’ve felt it, in the brush of his hand against yours, the way that his eyes seem to soften and his tiredness seems to lift when you’re near him. You’ve felt it, as you’ve passed him a cup of coffee and he’s relished the warmth emanating from the cup. In the soft way he speaks to you.

You’ve felt it when he’s held your hand as the two of you have walked together, not saying anything. In his scarf wrapped around your neck, smelling like him.

What you haven’t done, is go on a date.

And perhaps this isn’t a date the way you’d once have dreamed about it. You’re going over to Nanami’s place; he’s going to cook a meal for you, the two of you are going to catch up after he’s been gone on a mission for almost a week -  the two of you are going to watch a foreign film he’s been able to get hold of, that you’ve been saving to watch with one another. You’re going to perhaps have a glass of wine together, or two--

You kind of do want to be stuck ironing Nanami’s socks for the rest of your life.

It sounds so silly when you say it aloud! You haven’t even kissed him, just brushed fingers and held hands and saved each other’s lives whilst on exorcisms together. But whenever you close your eyes and imagine your future, Nanami is always there, right beside you.

You breathe in deeply. You have to ignore what Gojo and Shoko and everyone have been saying. They’ve known Nanami for longer than you – they were his upperclassmen, after all, and you suppose it’s traditional to make fun of and quash your younger classmates a little. You just need to think about what you want, and what Nanami himself may want. Plucking uselessly at your clothes, nerves fizzing in your stomach, you elect to ignore the anxiety gnawing at you until you’re at least outside of Nanami’s front door.

Then, you tell yourself, then, I’ll allow myself to panic a little bit. Seeing Nanami’s calm, handsome face always calms me down. The minute he answers the door, I’ll forget that I was even nervous, and everything will be just as it should.

It doesn’t stop you worrying, as you get dressed and try and fluff your hair and rearrange all of your accessories whilst you get ready. It’s just an evening at his house, you try and keep telling yourself. He’s not expecting me to show up like a runway model, he’d probably hate that anyway--

Still. Having a crush on somebody is never easy, and Nanami can be so utterly unreadable at times, that you get dressed and undressed twice more before you settle on something in between casual and formal; that looks like you’ve made an effort, without looking like you agonised for hours to figure out what the level of effort should be. You’re clutching a bottle of wine and standing outside of his door three minutes early, wondering if he’s the kind of man who gets annoyed if you are there too early.

The door swings open, and Nanami is there, leaning on the door frame. He’s breathtakingly handsome, in casual clothes – an expensive looking sweater in soft grey that gives just a peek at the column of his throat, cuffed jeans. You’ve never seen him look so . . . relaxed. And the fact that he’s looking at you, his lips barely tilting, his tired eyes just a little turned up at the corners.

“You look nice,” he tells you, and you thank God that you went with this outfit. You hold out the bottle of wine for him, and his smile breaks wider as he looks at it. “You didn’t need to bring me anything, you know. I’m happy to be the provider this evening.”

“It’s-- it’s polite!” You insist, and Nanami steps aside to allow you into his house. He’s very proper, and you’d wanted to impress him – you think the young lady who had served you in the specialist store you’d anxiously entered had sensed your worry, and had been very kind as she’d picked something for you she was certain you’d like.

“You made a good choice,” he tells you, as he invites you into his hallway and you gratefully pull off your shoes. “This one looks fine--”

“I didn’t really choose it,” you admit. “I let the experts do it.”

He laughs, the sound like an early spring morning. You don’t think anybody else hears him laugh like that, and the comfort that the two of you share makes you feel soft and warm.

“Even more admirable, then,” he says. “Most people we know would just barrel in guns blazing and insist they knew the right way to do things.”

You both share a secretive smile, your cheeks warming. You can feel tension draining out of you the longer you spend in Nanami’s company. Something about him just sets you at ease.

When you’d first met him, you’d been frightened of him. He seemed so gloomy and intense, so utterly focussed on his goals – when you had tried to speak to him, he had brushed you off with short one word answers and you’d caught him looking at you when your back was turned as if he was waiting for you to slip up.

But as time had worn on . . . as time had worn on, Nanami’s edges had softened. You’d realised that he was willing to talk, when the participant had proved themselves to be worth talking to. He’d told you once, shrugging, that most jujutsu sorcerers just tended to be . . . odd.

“Not you, though,” he’d said, and your heart had leapt in your chest. “Well. You’re not odd in any way that isn’t charming.”

He’s not usually the kind of man who heaps praise on other people; that little compliment, you had carried with you like a flame in your heart. The first time he had held your hand, he hadn’t said anything. The first time he had walked you home, and met you for coffee in a morning a half hour before you were due to be at the scene of an exorcism; Nanami Kento shows that he cares about you in a hundred different little ways that aren’t as simple as telling you it out and out. You admire that about him. You’re so used to putting your foot in your mouth.

“Come sit at the table,” he says, and you follow him obediently. His house is tastefully decorated, somewhere between modern and traditional; he has shelves of books everywhere, and that makes you smile. You’ve heard him say, sighing; “When I’m done with all this, I’ll finally have time to get around to reading them.” The shelf in the very corner of the dining area is the only one that looks well-thumbed; even from here, you can see that it’s where he keeps his recipe books.

“I hope you’ll like it,” you settle into the chair that he pulls out for you. He moves into the kitchen with purpose, grabbing serving dishes and utensils and juggling them with a precision that makes you admire him all the more. “I’m very glad you were on time. It’s the kind of dish that needs to be eaten at the exact right moment.”

He whips the cover off the main dish.

You knew that Nanami was a foodie. His instagram is full of pictures of various places and treats he’s eaten – with a particular focus on adorable baked goods, especially bread, that had made you feel warm inside when you’d noticed. Still, the spread that he’s laid out before you would not look out of place in the most high-class of restaurants; the kind that you’d never had the money to afford to eat in, and you’d have been afraid of showing yourself up at the tables of. You stare at it, mesmerised; the vegetables, so bright and colourful and steaming, lovingly presented – the glaze of the meats, the bowls full of side-dishes that you can’t quite recognise.

There’s an anxiety in his face when he looks at you.

“Sorry,” he says, quietly. “I think I probably over-estimated. And over-compensated, I suppose, for not taking you out to a restaurant--”

“No,” you say, quickly. “It looks delicious. I’m glad you invited me. It’s just . . . a lot.”

“Yes,” his eyes rove over the table. “There are only two of us.”

“It’ll make good left-overs,” you suggest, and he brightens.

“That should have been my line,” he tells you as he retrieves the wine you’d brought. You can see that there was already a bottle chilling in a bucket by the table, but Nanami’s face is affectionate as he pops the cork and pours some into the wine glass by your plate. “I’m supposed to be the responsible one.”

“Sorry for stealing your thunder,” you take a sip of the wine.

“Just as long as you don’t make a habit of it.”

The food really is delicious. You could easily have had seconds, or even thirds – on an ordinary day. A day in which your stomach isn’t churning from how alone the two of you are. There’s a buzz in the air that isn’t quite tension; more, it’s a promise that there’s more yet to come. You and Nanami laugh over dinner, the conversation surprisingly easy when the knot in your insides is so tight. He talks about his old job, and you talk about your own adventures before you’d ended up in Tokyo – he smiles, and laughs, more than you’ve ever seen him do.

He seems so much more at home here. That’s silly, considering it is his home – but somehow, there’d always been an image of Nanami in your head as serious and unforgiving with his tie very tight and his suits perfectly pressed even when he was relaxing in his own rooms.

That image is quickly wiped away, by the way he looks as he rolls up the sleeves of his sweater to take the dishes away.

“Let me help you wash up,” you try and say, but he waves you away.

“I’ll leave them for after you’ve gone,” he says. “I’m not going to ask a guest to do that. Or maybe I’ll even be bold; leave them for in the morning.” His smile makes you feel weak at the knees, this time – a spot of pink high on those sharp cheekbones. Is he blushing, or has his face gone rosy from the wine?

The two of you migrate into the living room. His television is large, but not ostentatiously so; a row of DVDs are neatly in the cabinet beneath it, mainly drama films, period films and some foreign prestige box sets. The movie the two of you have been talking about is one of those – a Danish film about an ageing detective who takes on one last case. You had originally planned to see it together, when it made it to Tokyo cinemas; but one thing had lead to another, and before you could both get the schedules to work out it had gone.

He places the DVD into the player and you can’t help but stare at him; how the soft material of the sweater clings to his broad shoulders, how the jeans seem to emphasise his ass – he’s always in slacks, you’ve never really had the chance to ogle it before, but seeing it in front of you now you suddenly understand why he keeps it covered. Who knows what riots it might incite, if it were just out and about for anyone to see?

“You’re staring,” Nanami turns his head slightly, catching your eye. Heat rushes to your face – but he keeps your eyes pinned with his own for a moment, before deliberately dragging them down the length of you, sat on the sofa. You feel hot and warm and bothered by the way he smiles afterwards, as if he is saying that he likes what he’s seeing too. “You don’t need to be sneaky about it. I don’t mind.”

You swallow, your throat suddenly going very dry. Nanami moves across the room, sitting on the sofa beside you. Heat seems to be radiating off of him; there’s a comfort in having him next to you.

“You look uncomfortable,” he says, five minutes into the movie. He leans back, an arm coming to rest on the back of the sofa behind you. “You can lean on me, you know. I don’t mind.”

He looks inviting. His head is tipped to one side as he meets your eyes; there’s no challenge in his. Just a softness. A quiet affection. Perhaps a touch of nervousness – of trepidation, that you’ll refuse the offer. You hesitantly sidle closer, leaning your head against his side. His scent wraps around you; freshly cleaned laundry, peppermint, coffee, spices, some of the wine from earlier--

You fair go dizzy at it all, but not as dizzy as you go when the arm on the back of the sofa wraps around you, his fingers resting on your shoulder. How are you supposed to concentrate on anything, with him so close to you? With everything about him making you feel like you’re on a roller-coaster climbing upwards and upwards, hurtling towards the inevitable?

You try – oh, you really do try – to keep your eyes on the film and the subtitles scrolling across the bottom of the television. But the aged detective is not half as interesting as Nanami; as the way he focusses on the screen, as his face bathed in the light. As his hand, as it gently starts to stroke over your shoulder, as if he’s barely aware he’s doing it. As his tongue, as it darts out to nervously lick at his lips.

“You’re staring at me,” he says, and you flinch that he’s noticed. His head turns, pinning you with the full force of his gaze. “Are you not enjoying it? We can turn it off?”

How do you answer that?

The real answer: ‘I’m not enjoying it because I can’t concentrate on anything other than you, and how badly I want to be brave enough to kiss you’, feels too bare and bold. You bite your lip.

Nanami leans in closer to you, so close that you can see the flush on his cheeks. The slightly ruffled hairs falling over his forehead. You can count his eyelashes, almost--

“I’m not sure what’s going on either,” he admits, softly. “And I can speak Danish.”

The arm not around your shoulders moves, resting on your waist. You can barely breathe. He’s so close to you; so gorgeous, in the light. All of that former salaryman indifference seems to have gone; he’s not cold any longer, but boiling hot. You’ve been watching it slowly strip away from him since you met him, you think, but tonight might be the first time he’s been Kento Nanami with no pretension.

Nervous about his food, even though he knows he’s an excellent cook. Blushing as he realises you’re checking him out. Almost trembling, as his hand slides up and he cups your cheek like you’re made of porcelain and he’s afraid he might drop and shatter you at any moment. You blink up at him, honey-slow, so dazed by his touch and his presence you can barely make sense of what’s happening.

“I’m going to kiss you,” Nanami says, as a warning. Even now, he seems to think you might pull away. But you cannot, you do not; you just press yourself closer into him, your voice coming out very soft and small as you whisper;

“Please do.”

He does not need to be asked twice. His lips are so soft against yours. The wine clings to them, intoxicating and heady. The hand on your cheek tips your face further up, so he can keep his mouth pressed against you so sweetly. You pull back, your heart pounding.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” he’s saying, almost immediately, nervous that you have changed your mind – but all you do is free your arms, so you can wrap them about his neck and pull him in closer, to devour him the way you’ve wanted to for months.

The movie plays on, forgotten.

[sacrificialgod]

All the greats are gone

When Hunter and Amity had their fight, the thing that caught my eye was, Hunter said "You're strong and I'm tired"

But that's not entirely true, is it?

Why should he be any more tired then Amity? We've seen both their days, they both had a stressfull, but more or less similar day, I mean he probably beat up those guards, physically most likely

He isn't more tired, not by much, that's not it, Amity is just better, she's a portage and he's not

He doesn't even have barely any magic to begin with, the fight is unbalanced and she is so much more in control, compared to him, he's huffy and disheveled and just outmatched

That's seems to be the theme, ignoring Amity, there are no greats on Boiling Isle, Eda, Lilith, Luz, Kikimora, Belos, there are only second bests at best and pretenders

Eda, the greatest which on the Boiling Isle, has been brought down and debuffed twice, by a curse and then by losing magic entirely

But she's also ostracized from society and her talents are no longer recognized, and ultimately, because of her curse, she does lose to Lilith

Lilith, however, as good as she is, was second best to Eda, she said herself that she worked more then Eda and that simply didn't translate, Eda was simply better, by pure talent, and there nothing she could do about it

So she isn't above cheating, so she cheated her way to the position of the best, that doesn't belong to her by right, she's a fraud, and Eda loudly proclaiming herself to be the greatest which just don't let her forget it

And she's so insecure and petty

She let slip her greatest secret, just because Eda was providing herself better for a second

All she needed to do was wait out for the curse to kick in, but she wanted to prove herself better, right then and there

Hunter is in the exact same position as Lilith, he's cheating his was to the top, given the position of authority by nepotism

Not only is he not the protage, he doesn't have magic at all, probably like Lilith is trying to replace talent by pure work, by studying, if his room and the bag under his eyes are an indicator, but considering how easily his confidence about his position is shaken, he's very aware of his fraud status

Also he uses physical strength, not magic, in his fighting style, with Amity all he's doing is trying to bully into her space, physically crowd her, to get a leg up, because that's the only he's got going on, that most witches might lack

Kikimora's also about to murder a teenager to get his position

Luz is a permanent outsider, outsider in the human, and a human among witches, but that's her strength, she's not as preoccupied with her position, it's what she's bringing to all of these witches

She's trying to do best as herself and not by trying to knock somebody (eg Amity) of the throne

And that's why she can reason with Hunter, where Amity cannot, she a break from the theme, the solution

And then there's Belos/Philip, and his brother

I think their relationship is going to parallel Eda and Lilith

His brother is Eda, and Philip is Lilith

I think his brother was the leader, the friendlier one, the better one, to his follower

Look here

Philip is caring a torch, and I think that's a wanted poster

I think they came here to kill the witch, and his brother befriended her, and got them both stranded on the Boiling Isle

I bet his brother was the great one, and he's gone

I wonder if Philip had something to do with it, like Lilith did to Eda, if he's an usurper somehow, if he got rid of the man that got him somewhere, he doesn't want to be, but can't leave, or if he's gone by lucky coincidence

Everything about covenant system is about him clutching that leadership position with an iron grip

And also, who usurped King's father

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 320: Deku vs. Class 1-A

Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Kacchan was all “fuck Deku and fuck his stupid goodbye letters, I need to speak to somebody in charge.” Endeavor was all “hello, I am Somebody In Charge.” Kacchan was all “listen up asshole, you need to let us go out and collect our wayward nerd because you stupidly left him alone with All Might and that’s a fast track to disaster right there.” Endeavor was all, “[self-incriminating silence].” Rat Principal was all, “okay sure, have fun kids.” Back in the present, class 1-A was all “hi Deku” and Deku was all “I’M FINE!!!!!” and Kacchan was all “THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU’D SAY YOU DUMB FUCKING NERD” and so the kids all got ready to fight, because OF COURSE they’re gonna fight. Sorry guys, but yeah it’s happening.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “what’s up Deku you look like a possessed Rorschach test, so anyway how are the new quirks coming along.” Deku is all “they’re coming along like THIS” and uses Smokescreen to try and get away. Kacchan is all “PHASE ONE COMMENCE”, and Kouda, Sero, Jirou, and Ojiro leap into the fray to shower Deku with heaps of love and violence, because this is a shounen manga and kicking someone’s ass while simultaneously proclaiming your undying admiration for them is just how it’s done in these parts. The KoudaSeroOJirou squad then passes the baton to Satou, Momo, Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Shouji, who are all “fuck this mask” and do a bunch of stuff to tear Deku’s mask off because they’re the real heroes. Shouto is all “LOOK AT THE LITTLE CRYBABY, THAT’S RIGHT, GO AHEAD AND FUCKING CRY and by the way let us share your burden please,” and once again I swear this is all very deeply moving and touching within the actual context. The chapter ends with Tsuyu being all “look at me. I’m the cliffhanger now,” and damn.

lol what

I don’t think anyone was expecting that. I mean, not that I’ve got anything against Tsuyu or anything. anyways it’s a very nice cover and I love the colors and I hope this means Tsuyu’s gonna do something badass

also, “Deku vs Class A” -- pretty much the expected title, but it’s still got me hyped nonetheless fuck yeah let’s go

IIDA ANGST

Iida Tenya really said “fuck the uniform code, we’re leaving the helmet at home today.” sorry kids, prim and proper C-3PO Comic Relief Iida has left the building. can I interest you in some Serious Iida

meanwhile Kacchan is all “sup Deku, I heard you got a few more quirks, and might I just add that you look like the Snyder Cut of Detective Pikachu”

“you look like a tarred and feathered squid” okay easy there Kacchan. I mean it’s all true of course, but still

“thank you all for coming” OH EXCUSE ME SON, WERE YOU PLANNING ON GOING SOMEWHERE. LET’S JUST SEE HOW THAT PLAYS OUT

yep and there’s Smokescreen, right on cue

okay Horikoshi, I leave it in your hands. hopefully you can come up with some more interesting combos than my dumbass predictions lol

LOL THIS ISN’T A COMBO AT ALL

“explosions solve everything” -- Horikoshi Kouhei, 2021. something something shockwave, something something handwave ta-da no more smoke. lol okay then

oh, ouch

he would know, wouldn’t he. nice application of one of your many hard-earned life lessons, Kacchan

by the way you guys, just as an experiment, I’m going to try to anticipate some of the discourse this week in the hopes of preemptively addressing it and thus saving myself some time later on lol. so here’s our first test run!

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “oh my god what a fucking hypocrite can you believe this fucking guy”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: it’s precisely because Kacchan has been in this exact situation himself that he’s able to recognize his past self in Deku now and call him out on it. just because it took him sixteen years to get it through his head that he can’t accomplish every single thing completely by himself doesn’t mean Deku has to go down that same path. so yeah, maybe it is a bit hypocritical, but if you insist that the only people qualified to call out stupid shit are people who have never done a single stupid thing in their own lives, then what you’re basically saying is that absolutely no one on earth is qualified lol. so yeah, I’d have to disagree

and one last unrelated note, I’m willing to bet the whole “you didn’t even say a word before you ran off” thing is possibly the first thing Kacchan’s said in this whole encounter that actually does stem from genuine hurt rather than his tough-love-harsh-truths strategy. I’M TAKING NOTES HERE HORIKOSHI. at this rate it’ll take twice as many chapters as DvK2 for them to hash out all the stuff between them, geez

anyway so I gotta say, so far Deku vs. Class A is looking an awful lot like a DvK3 wearing a hat, trenchcoat, and sunglasses lol

OH SHIT I TAKE IT BACK??

FUCK YEAH, YOU GO KOUDA. and I guess he ditched his mask as well! excellent

so far the strategy here seems to be “Kacchan says all the mean tough love shit while the rest of 1-A balances it out with warmth and kindness”, which actually works pretty well imo. Deku is one of those people that doesn’t usually need a Kacchan Translator anyway, but just in case, this is very efficient

mm but of course Deku is slingshotting himself away with Blackwhip. all right then, who’s up next!

FUCK YEAH

okay but seriously you guys, what is going on with Sero’s face in these last couple of chapters though, it’s really starting to unnerve me. is he trying to emulate Kacchan’s whole asymmetrical facial expressions thing?

in fact let me just quickly hit pause here because,

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “SERO IS TOGA??!”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: no

oh snap looks like Jirou’s getting in on the action too!

poor Jirou probably spent days racking her brain trying to think of something she could bond with Deku over. is Horikoshi doing these in reverse order of the kids who have had the most interaction with him? that would explain why poor Kouda didn’t get a flashback lol

omg. well that answers that

so by my count, Satou and Hagakure are the only ones remaining in this first tier of kids who Still Appreciate Midoriya even though they’ve barely ever spoken two words to him in their lives lol. so they’ll probably be next, and then we’ll get to the next tier of kids who are pretty good friends with him but not quite besties. and then we’ll move on to the IidaRokiRaka trio, and then lastly, to the boy who is in a tier all his own

BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

and by “sponsor” I mean the Dekuangst. just in case that wasn’t clear. indeed, many thanks to the Dekuangst for making this all possible

(ETA: okay so this whole “take me away” line seemed pretty weird to me, and sure enough it’s yet another one of those cases where only the verb is specified, and the object is left to the reader’s interpretation. so even though the translation says “take me away”, I’m pretty sure that what Deku’s actually saying is “take you away” -- as in, his loved ones will be taken away by AFO.

and that is literally the way he phrases it, though -- the verb used is “奪う” (ubau), meaning “to snatch away; to dispossess; to steal.” which, god, that hurts my whole goddamn heart though, because for him to say it like that?? not “AFO will kill you”, but “AFO will take you away from me.” he can’t have nice things anymore because of AFO. he can’t be around the people he loves because AFO will hurt them. he can’t have happiness because AFO will take it away from him. anyway so where the fuck is AFO right now, motherfucker I just want to talk.)

by the way can Ojiro just extend his tail to whatever fucking length he wants or what because it’s like twelve feet long in this panel lol

WOOO FUCK YEAH TOKOYAMI

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!! BUT WHERE’S YOUR FLASHBACK? YOU’VE HAD A BUNCH OF INTERACTIONS WITH HIM, THAT’S NOT FAIR

okay so now Satou’s stepping in which is back to my anticipated order, so maybe Toko will finish his little moment afterward

dskfjfkk

“REMEMBER THAT TIME DEKU BORROWED SATOU’S FOOD COLORING” Horikoshi says, sweating. “AND REMEMBER THAT TIME HE, UM, SMILED IN HAGAKURE’S GENERAL DIRECTION”

actually I am curious about what Hagakure’s part will be because, you know, the whole traitor thing lol

(ETA: funny how we just skipped right over it huh. can we get a traitor reveal countdown started here? definitely getting close to that time.)

whoa lol wtf

MOMO??? THIS HAS MOMO WRITTEN ALL OVER IT DAMMIT

-- SWEET MOTHER OF FUCK

“SORRY MIDORIYA-SAN, I LEFT MY FUCKING CHILL AT HOME IN THE LOCKER NEXT TO IIDA’S HELMET” holy shit lmao

and here I thought she’d get a flashback to her time on the Baku Rescue Squad or something. but nope, no flashbacks from Momo, only terrifying sci-fi torture devices

poor Dark Shadow is such a trooper omg

“why am I the only one who has to make prolonged contact with his smelly disgusting self” taking one for the team there DS

FUCK YEAH KAMINARI NO JUTSU

THE PRICKLY BASTARD WHISPERER STRIKES AGAIN!! don’t suppose you brought any clean clothes you could sneakily force him into huh Kami

okay here we go, so now Shouji and Tokoyami are joining forces

um excuse me this is fucking awesome

wonder how he’ll break free? don’t think he’ll reveal Fa Jin until the end of the chapter, so maybe Air Force or something? idk

TOKO GETS AN EXTENDED MOMENT BECAUSE HE IS A TIER TWO PATREON REWARD LEVEL FRIEND YAY

WHY IS MOMO MAKING THIS FACE LOL YOUR THING WAS WAY WORSE

and Shouji just casually hitting him with what is easily the best comment from anyone yet. too bad Deku’s just gonna ignore it. you deserve better Shouji

KAMINARI OMFG

it only just occurred to me that Kami is currently trapped inside Dark Shadow right along with him lmao omg. realest one in the entirety of BnHA, right here. we will never forget your sacrifice

aaaaaaand Deku’s yeeting himself

do you really hate the thought of taking a bath that much my dude

oh shit the mask!!

-- oh shit the feels

o(TヘTo)

fuck. and I mean, we knew he was crying, that was a done deal. but still, to see him in this much pain is just...

and the acknowledgement that he knows they’re worried about him, but that it doesn’t change his mind one bit. this, right here, is why they have to be a bit harsh with him, you guys. because they’re up against the full, unbridled stubbornness of Midoriya fucking Izuku, and if they don’t match that stubbornness with an equal stubbornness of their own, they basically don’t stand a chance

(ETA: quick note that there is apparently another mistranslation here -- rather than saying that his friends are oblivious to the danger, what Deku is actually saying is that none of his friends have activated his Danger Sense once throughout this entire fight. which I had been wondering about, and it turns out Horikoshi actually confirmed it. so basically none of the kids bears any ill intent toward him, and there’s literal proof right there.

incidentally, as @class1akids​ pointed out, this also casts an interesting light on this chapter in terms of who hasn’t fought Deku yet. not to play the Hagakure Traitor Music for the billionth time you guys, but I’M JUST SAYING lol.)

anyway, but the good news is that they all seem to understand that. and the even better news is that we have reached the tier 3 friends!!

“OR ELSE” lol, great to see Shouto wielding his friendship just as aggressively as Deku once did towards him. I do love a good role reversal

p.s., ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “why is Shouto being so cruel to Deku can’t he see how hard this is on him”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: this is a callback to the classic “even heroes cry when they have to” Shouto line from chapter 137. Shouto is clearly following Kacchan’s lead here and going for the more ruthless approach, knowing that the gentle approach isn’t getting through to him (if anything it’s only making him more stubborn as we saw on the previous page). basically it’s his way of pointing out that even heroes are still only human, and so is Deku last time he checked

ah okay, and there Tsuyu is at last

okay real talk, I get why Tsuyu is included in the tier 3 friends, because she was one of the first people to team up with Deku going all the way back to USJ. but that said, this probably would have had more impact if their most recent interaction hadn’t been like 150 chapters ago

but anyway though it’s still a good speech. maybe not quite a cliffhanger-level speech, but a good speech nonetheless. in a way though, I’m glad to see that Horikoshi seemingly didn’t give a fuck whether he ended this on an actual cliffhanger or not for once

and that “headed toward the climax” part has me excited too, ngl. because if we really are getting to the so-called climax this soon, that makes me even more certain that there is indeed a DvK3 in the forecast. so I presume that next week (or I guess two weeks from now) will be the tier 3s along with the remaining tier 2s like Kirishima and Aoyama

and then after that, well... [orange and green banners being hoisted] [sound of screeching airhorns and vuvuzelas in the distance] [sound of All Might approaching in his car which I didn’t notice until I looked back at this page a second time whoops] THE PROPHECY WILL NOT BE DENIED

[ifmywishescametrue]

omg now im jealous about all of the breaking up and making up stories!!! they're all so wonderful but is it okay to ask for a steve/tony one? i know you've made one inspired by ts (amazing) and this time, maybe they meet/bump in a coffee shop? idk angst potential but also hopeful/happy ending aahhh. your stories are amazing esp ivy!!! thank you! <3

thank you so much!! it ended up being more cute than angsty, but I hope you like it!

Steve's pencil drifts idly across the page of his sketchbook with no end vision in mind. He's killing time until Nat shows up, which could be anywhere between the next five minutes and the next two hours with her vague text that simply said running late. When he looks up to reach for his near empty coffee cup, he freezes with his hand in the middle of the air.

At first he thinks it might not even actually be him. Tony's hair was never quite this well styled before, always a tangled mop on his head that sometimes fell into his eyes. Steve used to spend hours sometimes running his fingers through those wild curls while Tony slept on his chest. It's been tamed since then, cut shorter and held into place by some type of product. The facial hair is new, too. He remembers a time when it would always come in patchy and uneven, and Tony would pout as he shaved away the latest attempt at looking older than he was. The eighteen year old boy in oversized hoodies and stained jeans he met years ago has been replaced by a man in a well-pressed, expensive looking suit with a leather briefcase, like he just stepped out of a boardroom a minute ago. From what Steve has read about his life since they broke up, he probably did.

Steve stares without fully meaning to and for much longer than he would have if it was intentional. He watches him order his drink and smiles when the barista’s eyes widen at what he knows is an overly complicated order, wondering if Tony ever did finish his quest to find that perfect combination of syrup flavors, sugar, and cream that only he would ever like.

He catches the double take when Tony notices him there, right as he’s taking his first sip of the iced drink, and the cough when he chokes on it is anything but subtle. Steve looks away with red cheeks and tries to pretend he wasn’t staring, but it’s a futile effort. He can’t say he minds, though. Not when it means Tony walks over to him and unceremoniously drops himself into the chair across from him.

His mouth forms a familiar smirk, and he says, “You seem to have a staring problem, Rogers.”

Suddenly, Steve is nineteen again, falling hopelessly in love with the boy in his introductory chemistry class. It felt sort of like fate at first when they were paired together for the final project, and Steve remembers thinking that his chances were shot to hell when Tony sat down next to him and said those exact words. He never was any good at being discreet.

Back then, for that first time, all he could manage was a stuttered apology in response. But eventually it became their thing. Something just for them that no one else could ever understand. When Steve would watch him from across the room at parties, because he knew how much Tony loved having his eyes on him, and Tony would saunter over with that same smirk and those same words, there was only ever one reply.

“Guess I just really like what I see,” Steve says, and Tony’s face splits into a grin that matches Steve’s own. He’s still beautiful, even if it’s different now. Less softness to his appearance and more defined edges and sharp lines, but heart stoppingly beautiful nonetheless. He doesn’t quite say as much, but he does comment, “You do look good, by the way. Different, but good.”

Tony’s smile softens into another familiar one. It’s his smile for compliments, when he’s thinking self-deprecating thoughts that he won’t voice. Instead he’ll turn the attention back around, shifting the spotlight.

“So do you. The good part, but not really the different part.”

Steve runs a hand through his hair, contemplating if not looking different contributes to the good or not. He should look different somehow, shouldn’t he? After two and a half years not seeing each other in person and what feels like a lifetime’s worth of heartbreak in between then and now, he should look as changed as he feels. As changed as Tony looks now, like he’s someone new entirely. He’s pretty sure the t-shirt he’s wearing now is one he owned back then.

“Thanks,” Steve says anyway, for lack of anything better.

Just before it has the chance to fall into awkward silence, Tony says, “I didn’t know you were in New York these days. I would’ve called or something if I’d known.”

Steve raises an eyebrow. “Would you have?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I would’ve thought about it, at least. You know, stalked you online, found your number, dialed and hung up a few times.”

Steve laughs, fiddling with the straw wrapper from earlier to give himself something to look at other than Tony. “I moved back last year. Thought about calling, but I figured you were busy. Didn’t want to waste your time.”

It’s only a partial truth. He did think about calling when he came to Brooklyn after his year-long internship in London ended, but he didn’t want to know what Tony would say if he did. If he would have some sort of transparent excuse to avoid seeing him or if it would be an outright rejection.

“I would’ve made time for you,” Tony says, so painfully sincere that Steve has to look up again to meet his eyes.

He wonders if Tony is thinking of that last fight, if it’s a purposeful or coincidental reference to some of what Steve said. It was by far the worst fight they’d ever had, all over the phone with an ocean between them and so many things that Steve still wishes he could take back. Accusations flew on both sides until the entire thing was blown so completely out of proportion, yet impossible to reel back in. He should have just hung up the phone before it went that far. Before he could tell Tony that he always felt unimportant compared to everything else in his life, which was sometimes true but entirely unfair. Before Tony could say that Steve talked about Peggy in the same way he used to talk about him, and he didn’t have to finish the thought for Steve to understand the implication.

“Are we talking about it?” Steve asks.

Tony shrugs, feigning casual, but just the corner of his lip is between his teeth in that way that means he’s nervous and trying to hide it. “I guess that depends on what this is.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we said back then that maybe it was just bad timing. You were in London, and I was in Boston until graduation, and it was always going to be a bit of a mess, but there was always that someday chance, right? So maybe this is someday, and we talk about it, and try to get it right this time,” Tony says. “Or maybe that was just something we said and didn’t mean, and I ask you about your life, and you ask about mine, and we talk and laugh and pretend that we’re friends again for the next half hour or so before we go our separate ways.”

It’s an easy choice, really. If there’s one thing that Steve’s sure of, it’s that it’s always been him and always will be.

“I don’t want to go separate ways,” Steve says. “The first time was hard enough, and I never really moved on. I got better, but I don’t think I’ve been more than just fine in a long time.”

Tony nods slowly, “I kept thinking you would call, you know. Back then. I thought you would call and tell me that it was a mistake and it would be okay again, but you never did. Although, I guess I could’ve called, too.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“For the same reason as you, probably. I couldn’t risk it if you didn’t want me again. Couldn’t risk getting back together just to break up again, either. We weren’t exactly the poster children for making long distance work.”

“We were terrible at it, weren’t we?”

Tony’s smile is tinged with the pain of the past. “It’s kind of funny because I remember thinking that it might be a good thing for us when you told me about London. Can’t get sick of somebody if they’re not always around.”

“You thought I would get sick of you? You never told me that.”

“Why would I?” Tony laughs. “Just put all my insecurities on display like that? Come on, Steve, that doesn’t sound like me, does it?”

Steve laughs with him briefly, “No, but I could’ve told you back then that it wasn’t possible. Told you that I wanted you around all the time and I missed you every second you were gone. I might’ve even stayed if you had told me. I was thinking about it, you know? I almost turned the internship down. Probably would’ve if you’d asked even once for me not to go.”

“It was your career. I never would’ve asked you to give that up for me.”

“There would have been something else. Another job somewhere closer to you.”

“I still wouldn’t have asked,” Tony says. “And I would have told you to go if you’d said you were staying.”

Steve knows that, which is why they never talked about it much before he left. Tony pretended to be happy for him, and Steve pretended to be happy for himself, when really it already felt like the beginning of the end. A year apart is longer than it seems, and it didn’t take more than a few months to realize it.

“I never…” Steve starts, trailing off when he doesn’t quite know how to finish the sentence. “There was never anyone else. Not while we were together, and never with Peggy.”

“I know. I knew back then, too, that you were never that kind of person. Jealousy’s just a real bitch sometimes.”

“There’s really not been anyone since, either,” Steve adds, and Tony’s mouth quirks into a half smile. “I mean, a couple of people here and there, but nothing like what we were.”

“There’s not a whole lot out there like what we were, is there?”

Steve smiles, leaning back in his chair, “No, there’s really not. But I do remember reading a rumor that you got engaged.”

Tony groans, and it’s so much like he used to sound when he was nine pages deep into a ten page essay at three in the morning that Steve has to laugh.

“Don’t you dare laugh. That rumor haunts me, Steven,” Tony says, belied by a grin that he seemingly can’t control. “Do you know how I found out about my supposed engagement? When my mother called and asked why I hadn’t told her I was planning on proposing.”

“So I’m still the only person you’ve ever proposed to,” Steve teases, just for the way he knows Tony will get indignant about it.

“How many times do I have to tell you that one didn’t count?”

“You were on one knee, you asked a question, and you had a ring. All the boxes are checked, sweetheart.”

“It was a blue raspberry ring pop, and you ate it,” Tony argues. “Not to mention that I actually asked you to marry me someday in the distant future. That’s not a proposal.”

Steve laughs again, thinking about that day in the middle of their living room, just a few weeks before Steve got the call that would take him to London and change everything. It was almost like a joke, and for anyone else it would have been. Not for them, though, because Steve remembers the look in Tony’s eyes when he dropped down in front of him, spur of the moment and impulsive like almost everything was back then. He remembers how it still felt like a promise, even if it wasn’t the real thing.

“But I said yes, which I think technically means we’re still engaged.”

“Absolutely not,” Tony scoffs. “It’s going to be a production when we get engaged. Elaborate and planned and romantic as hell.”

“When, huh?” Steve grins.

Tony’s cheeks pinken a touch, but he doesn’t take it back. He reaches for Steve’s hand on the table. “Yeah, when. Is that alright with you?”

Steve threads their fingers together, holding on tight. “That’s alright with me.”

[beca-mitchell]

little taste of heaven (i'm caught up in you) (1/1)

Summary: now i see daylight AU - Beca and Chloe’s first date, finally. 

Word count: 3.9k

For @anna-kendrick​: We've worked on this universe for the past year and holy, it means the world to both of us that you guys love Beca and Chloe as much as we do. Thank you so much for the encouragement and love, always.And of course, again, thank you to Josi who is an incredibly talented artist. Look at this art.

title from "untouchable (taylor's version)" though I did heavily consider using "our song"...i just liked the energy of untouchable a bit more.

Read below or on AO3!

* * * * *

AGE: 15/16 LOCATION: Brookline, MA MONTH: June

 * * * * *

 It is finally June. The warm air is only a hint of better things to come. Like the last day of school before total freedom.

Beca smiles at Chloe as she nears Beca’s locker. “Hey,” she greets. “Good practice?”

Around them, students mill about excitedly, cleaning out their lockers and making plans for the summer to come. Chloe shrugs, hair clearly still damp from her shower. “I don’t know why we keep running through practices when we have no more games for the season.”

“Got to keep the regional champions in top shape,” Beca teases. “Keep the other teams on their toes.”

“But I’m tired,” Chloe complains. She leans heavily on a neighboring locker. “Since it's the last day of school, will you come over tonight for dinner? My parents are whining about how they haven’t seen you in a while.”

Beca clears her throat, thinking about how the last time she had gone over to Chloe’s house had been when Chloe and Tom broke up...at the end of April. Over a month ago. She had gone because Chloe had been crying and upset. She had gone because even if her body ached with the anxiety of not knowing where she and Chloe stood, she and Chloe were always going to be friends first. Best friends.

Best friends who felt something more than friendship for each other. Confirmed, real feelings. Feelings that made them want to kiss each other.

Feelings that they hadn’t yet talked about. Or acted on despite both of them being extremely single at the moment.

Hell, Chloe's birthday came and went a couple weeks ago without much fanfare. Beca had been too shy to do anything remotely romantic and they ended up going to a movie with a few friends before going to an arcade.

“Bec?”

Beca nods stiltedly, pretending to contemplate her now-empty locker a bit more before turning to face Chloe. She steadies herself with a quick breath. “I’d love nothing more.”

 * * * * *

 Beca stares at her reflection with some trepidation.

“It’s just Chloe,” she mutters to herself, eyes tracking over every crease in the skirt she has picked out. Maybe I should go with jeans, she thinks. But it’s gross and hot out today.

She isn’t even sure why she’s nervous. It just feels like a return to normalcy of sorts, but Beca’s pretty sure that now that she knows what it feels like to kiss Chloe and what it feels like, a little bit at least, to know that Chloe feels somewhat similarly to her. It’s different. In a good way. Maybe it’s different in a scary way.

She isn’t even sure she can bring up the topic with her mother, so that’s an added layer of uncertainty: it’s additionally anxiety-inducing not knowing how her mother will react.

It’s well past the time that Beca should have already walked out the door to head next door by the time she actually forces herself out of her bedroom and down the stairs, but she figures Chloe will understand. And dinner is rarely ever prepared at the exact time stated in the Beale household anyway. Beca’s not too worried. Just nervous.

She finally reaches out to press the doorbell.

Chloe opens the door almost immediately. “Thought you got lost,” she teases.

“Were you just waiting behind the door?” Beca asks quickly, allowing Chloe to grab her wrist and pull her over the threshold.

“And if I was?” Chloe shoots back, offering Beca a lazy smile, playful in nature. With an underlying hint of something else.

Beca blinks the surprise away. “I wouldn’t be complaining if you were waiting for me. Just sorry I kept you waiting,” she offers.

“Dinner’s not ready anyway,” Chloe says, as Beca expected. They breeze past the living room area, taking a mild detour past the kitchen and towards the back porch. “I might have told you a slightly earlier time because I wanted to talk to you about something,” Chloe says lightly.

“Should I say hi to your parents?” Beca asks worriedly before it registers what Chloe just said. “Wait, what? Talk to me about what?”

“Come sit with me,” Chloe says instead. Patiently. She gestures towards the tree - the tree they used to play under all the time as children - nestled in the corner of the backyard.

It’s one of Beca’s favorite spots.

She follows Chloe, wondering if it’s too late to run home and change into her jeans because she’s sure the grass and sticks will prick at her skin, but she’s surprised, as they near, that there is a small blanket laid out underneath.

Chloe had planned for this.

“Please sit,” Chloe offers. She sits comfortably, patting the spot next to her. “I had a feeling you’d dress up a little. Didn’t want you to get a dress dirty.” Her eyes drift down to Beca’s skirt briefly before she lifts her eyes, smiling at Beca. Beca doesn’t feel self-conscious, shockingly. She feels content. Safe.

Maybe a little warm if anything, but she knows that’s probably the proximity to the girl she’s been crushing on for the longest time.

“I...wanted to talk to you because we haven’t...really talked. About...y’know.” A hint of nervousness creeps into Chloe’s voice. “When we kissed and then Tom…” she hesitates. “We just didn’t get to talk about anything. And now the school year’s pretty much over, so I thought…”

“Right,” Beca agrees quickly. Her palms begin to sweat. She sure as hell hopes Chloe doesn’t expect her to lead this conversation. It was mortifying enough the first time around when she had basically laid everything on the line while Chloe was still dating somebody else. When Chloe had left her with nothing more than a heartfelt, vulnerable don’t give up on me. Then she had broken up with Tom and that was all their school could talk about for weeks.

And now this. Somehow Beca survived all of that while slowly making sure her friendship with Chloe survived as well. They both made sure of that.

“I like you,” Chloe declares. “I mean...I think I always did. Like you, I mean. As more than a friend. But the feelings were really confusing.”

“I get it,” Beca says a little too quickly. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs, laughing a little when Chloe smiles at her. “I feel like I haven’t stopped thinking about this for a while. But I never wanted you to feel pressured to talk about this with me even though we kissed.” She ignores the way her voice totally cracks over that last word.

“I never felt pressured,” Chloe assures her gently. “I am so...grateful that you’re in my life. I didn’t want to mess this up. But I think we should...try.”

“Try?” Beca echoes.

Chloe blushes. Like a full-on blush that spreads across her cheeks, visible to Beca even in the dying daylight. It makes her cheeks rosy and Chloe even flinches at her own reaction. “Dating,” she says simply once she seems to regain control of her emotions. “I want to go on dates with you. And hold your hand. And more kissing! If that’s what you want.”

Beca’s sure that her heart explodes somewhere in her chest because she suddenly finds it very difficult to control various parts of her body. She can’t control the smile that spreads across her face and the following, matching blush in her cheeks. It heats through her face with ease. And even worse, she can’t control the way her hand comes up to her mouth as if to instinctively cover her smile because somehow being thrilled that her crush is basically asking her out making her body react in embarrassing ways.

Chloe laughs at her, not a hint of malice in her laugh. Just joy. “I take that as a yes. Thank God, I wasn’t sure how I was going to convince my parents to move away.”

Beca rolls her eyes. Finally. Teasing. She can do that. “You wouldn’t be able to leave me. You like me too much.”

Chloe’s smile grows soft. “Well...yeah. I do. A lot.”

Beca’s breath catches. She’s sure she could kiss Chloe right now and the crazy part is, it wouldn’t even be totally weird. Or out there. Because they’re going to start dating. But maybe kissing Chloe again before their first date is frowned upon? Beca has no idea. She’s still only ever kissed one person and that person is sitting in front of her.

“Girls! Dinner!”

As if Chloe had been reading her mind and her intentions, Chloe shakes her head and stands, offering a hand to pull Beca up. When Beca stands, they’re somehow even closer - almost nose to nose - than they had been when they were sitting. “Saved by the bell,” Chloe whispers, breath close enough to be felt on Beca’s mouth.

 * * * * *

 The most interesting part is that Beca hadn’t really thought about any of this - dating Chloe - beyond just vague daydreams and fantasies about just some kind of happy utopia with Chloe by her side. It’s honestly not much different from their usual day-to-day considering how close they already are, but dating? Actual dating?

Her Google search history stares back at her accusingly.

dating tips dating best friend first date first date movies dating girl what to do

She supposes she could ask her mother, but even that brief thought makes her shrink away from her desk. Beca stands and begins pacing. She’s sure that she’s overthinking this all. That Chloe could probably care less about what they do on their first date. That Chloe’s probably just expecting them to spend time together, just the two of them. With more handholding. And maybe a kiss at the end of the night.

“Shit,” Beca mutters suddenly. She rushes back to her computer, adding another search to her list.

kiss on first date ok???

She frowns. Not quite.

kissing before first date acceptable

In the end, she is saved from her descent into a hole of online searching by a text from Chloe herself.

Chloe dinner tomorrow at south street? haven’t been downtown in a while

Beca i’m down!

The ease at which Beca replies does not at all reflect the somersaults in her stomach.

 * * * * *

 “Hey,” Chloe calls, putting her menu down. “Where’d you go just now?”

Beca blinks, realizing that she had glazed over the menu entirely, too wrapped up in her own thoughts. “Oh, just...contemplating…” her eyes land on the first item she sees. “Salad.” She can’t help the way her own nose wrinkles instinctively at the thought of eating salad.

Chloe is as intuitive as ever, smiling as she reaches across the table to touch Beca’s hand. “You hate salad. Especially here.”

Beca swallows, struck by both the normalcy and intimacy of Chloe’s touch. They’ve been friends for years—there is nothing extremely off-putting about them holding hands or even just randomly touching each other on the arm, shoulder, knee.

And yet—

Chloe draws her hand away, seemingly not at all aware of Beca’s inner turmoil this time. She refocuses on her menu. “Want me to order something for you?” she asks instead.

Beca nods, though she is surprised. “Sure.” Now she’s curious as to what Chloe will order for her. And if she’s being honest, it kind of makes her feel giddy, the thought of Chloe knowing her well-enough to order something. Not that Beca would even bother with telling Chloe that she’s wrong. She’d eat anything at this point, just to spend more time with Chloe.

It’s not even like they’re at a fancy restaurant. It’s a diner downtown. The bright retro designs all around plus the comfortable, plush booth seats are all appealing to Beca and she likes the general atmosphere.

But she kind of wants to just…

“Can I sit next to you?” she blurts out. Immediately, she clamps her mouth shut, resisting the urge to avoid Chloe’s curious gaze, which lifts to meet hers immediately.

Chloe grins. “I would want nothing more. Get over here.”

Beca nearly sags in relief, but focuses instead on moving around the booth so she and Chloe are sitting closer, now on side of the booth.

Beca focuses on the frequent piece of advice she had found through a few somewhat reliable Google results.

Hold her hand.

Beca does. She inches her pinky across the cool vinyl seats until she can feel Chloe’s against her finger. Then, she slips her hand over Chloe’s, gently hooking her fingers on Chloe’s palm until Chloe gets the idea.

Chloe’s hand flips slowly, their palms touching. Beca exhales, sliding her fingers between Chloe’s, already liking the easy, comfortable fit of their hands.

Chloe says nothing, content to enjoy the silence and familiarity just as Beca is content to allow her feelings to take over. For a moment, Chloe appears to be perusing the menu in silence, but there is a steadiness to the set of Chloe’s shoulders. Beca can tell, having been so attuned to Chloe’s characteristics for longer than she’d like to admit. For longer than even Chloe herself knows at this moment. She glances at her date—her date!—selfishly taking the moment to appreciate Chloe’s profile.

It’s something she has done so many times before, but this time...this time, in a diner outside of town with the soft clatter of dishes around them and Chloe’s soft, warm palm against her own, Beca knows this is different.

“You know,” Chloe starts awkwardly. “I...obviously don’t mind if you ordered on your own.”

Beca laughs. “Why’d you offer to then?”

“I don’t know,” Chloe says, exasperation in her voice. She groans and hangs her head slightly. “I asked Max and-”

“You asked your brother what to do on a date with me?”

“No!” Chloe explains before she snorts. “I just...told him I was worried about impressing a girl. And I don’t know why, but I somehow thought he’d have some idea.” She grins a little, glancing at Beca out of the corner of her eye. “Did it work?”

“Maybe a little,” Beca says distractedly. She’s more fixated on the fact that Chloe must have been truly desperate to have turned to her older brother for help.

“Oh and he totally guessed I was going out with you, by the way.”

That’s not something that thrills Beca too much. Her imagination immediately conjures up a comically exaggerated vision of Chloe’s brother threatening her with a knife. “How?” she asks. “What did he say?”

“Nothing, really. He just kind of guessed and then said ‘finally’ or something like that.”

“Well, thank you for offering to order for me. It was very...chivalrous of you.”

“Please stop.”

“Quite charming.”

“Beca.”

“I can’t wait to see what other moves you try on me. Are we going to share one milkshake?”

“...no?”

 * * * * *

 They end up ordering two separate milkshakes because Beca sticks to her vanilla and Chloe orders chocolate.

“Try,” Chloe commands. “You always get vanilla. Chocolate is so good.”

Beca sighs, but obediently sticks her straw into Chloe’s cup despite Chloe’s protests of “contamination” and quickly takes a sip just to shut Chloe up for the time being. It’s not horrible - Beca just isn’t the fan of how chocolate tastes in milkshake form, though she’s sure Chloe will claim there’s no difference if the milkshake were in a solid chocolate bar form instead.

However, she’s mildly distracted by the sudden proximity she and Chloe have between them. Chloe’s arm rests loosely over her shoulder, where she had put her arm when Beca leaned in to drink from Chloe’s cup. She can practically feel Chloe’s breath on her neck and her cheek.

It would be so easy to just turn and -

Beca shakes her head slightly and shifts back. Chloe takes a moment longer to slowly move her arm from around Beca’s shoulders.

“What?” Beca asks quietly, poking at her fries a little. She catches Chloe smiling at her affectionately.

“Nothing,” Chloe replies quickly. “Just...you smell nice. That’s all.”

 * * * * *

 “I guess it’s kind of convenient that we live together,” Beca remarks, trying not to think too hard about the way Chloe’s hand feels in her own. She winces. “Well. Not live together. But…you know. Live next to each other.”

Chloe tilts her head, smiling as they walk up the path towards their houses. “And why is that convenient?” she asks lightly.

Beca blushes. She hadn’t thought this far. “I’m…I don’t know. I was just…commenting. On the convenience.”

Chloe giggles, pulling Beca closer ever so slightly. Beca likes the way their arms press together. She likes holding Chloe’s hand. She likes lifting her other hand to curl against the bend of Chloe’s elbow.

She likes knowing that Chloe likes her—really likes her—and Chloe enjoyed their date and—and—

“This is you,” Chloe murmurs, stopping in front of Beca’s door.

Beca kind of doesn’t want the night to end. She wants to sit on the porch and talk to Chloe for a few more minutes. Maybe one more hour. Just to hear the sound of her voice and have her attention for a few moments longer.

“This is me,” Beca parrots, feeling a lot more nervous than she thinks she’s letting on. That was what people said in those movies adorning Chloe’s shelves, right? It was what the internet said. Normal first date cliches. She steps backwards, under the light of her front porch, still holding Chloe’s hand as she does so. Chloe hesitates for a moment like she wants to follow, but ultimately she simply squeezes Beca’s hand in understanding and drops her own hand away.

Beca is immediately disappointed. She hadn’t wanted that at all. She bites her lip, watching as Chloe awkwardly shuffles her feet before she glances back up at Beca. A soft, slow smile spreads across Chloe’s lips, gentle and affectionate all at once. It makes Beca’s heart pound ridiculously hard.

“I had fun,” Chloe whispers, like she’s afraid somebody else will hear her. But not because she's afraid of other people. Just afraid that their bubble will burst, like Beca is. Another step closer. Beca swallows. “Can we do that again?”

“You’d want to go on more dates?” Beca asks, just to clarify, even though she knows exactly what Chloe’s asking.

“I would love to go on more dates with you.”

“Me too,” Beca squeaks out. “I—um—”

Chloe’s smile stretches, somehow happier than before. “Goodnight Beca.”

Something in Beca snaps. She steps forward, just two small steps and calls out Chloe’s name. “Wait,” she adds hastily.

Chloe stops and turns, surprised.

“Can I—” Beca swallows, licking her suddenly dry lips. “Can I kis—”

She doesn’t get to finish her question before Chloe is covering the ground between them in two short strides, wrapping her hand around the back of Beca’s head, letting the other come up to Beca’s arm, and kissing her for all her worth.

Beca gasps in surprise into the kiss, hands coming up to Chloe’s shoulders, squeezing tightly. Gently and slowly, Chloe presses further into the kiss, her lips moving ever so lightly against Beca’s. It is so much more than their first kiss—a do-over, if anything—and Beca realizes, with a jolt, that this is something she can do now. She can kiss Chloe because Chloe likes her and Chloe went on a date with her. Chloe held her hand all night.

Chloe wants to kiss her too.

Beca hums happily at the thought, looping her hands behind Chloe’s neck. It feels instinctual even as Beca blushes at the sudden intensity of the kiss. She knows Chloe has kissed more people than she has; she knows Chloe will forever have more experience in this regard. But God, Beca thinks that she has never felt more wonderful or powerful than she does in this moment, tightening her grip on the fabric of Chloe’s light jacket.

Pulling back ever so slightly, Beca heaves a breath and rests her forehead against Chloe’s forehead. Chloe’s breathing is the tiniest bit labored as well. For a moment, neither of them dares to move, too afraid to break the spell between them.

Chloe is the first to smile—the first to press forward ever so slightly so their noses brush delicately. “What were you going to ask?” Chloe murmurs.

Beca swats her shoulder lightly. “You’re so weird,” she mumbles back, leaning in to steal just one more kiss from her beautiful, wonderful date.

 * * * * *

 When Beca reaches the solitude of her bedroom, she finally gets what all those high school romcoms were about. Showing their protagonist thrilled to finally finish a date so they can squeal and giggle and simply dream about their crush or date. It’s probably the first time that Beca has felt her energy rebound around her room with such happiness and positivity. The sensation is addicting—she honestly just wants to text Chloe all night.

Which, honestly, she could.

Chloe kissed her. Chloe kissed her because she likes her and they just went on a date. A freaking date.

A text from Chloe jolts her back to reality.

Chloe i miss you, is that weird?

Beca no because i miss you too. weirdo.

Chloe i have something else to tell you. that might be weird. Idk

Beca go for it.

Beca watches the text bubbles float in and out on her screen, like Chloe is typing a paragraph. Despite Chloe just saying that she missed her, Beca can’t help but feel nervous.

Chloe I just wanted you to know why i picked south street. it’s because. well. Remember when we first went there by ourselves without our parents. Sometime last year. With a few friends. And we all squeezed into that booth and sat there and shared fries and milkshakes and felt like we were at the top of the world because we were finally in high school or something stupid like that. I don’t even remember much about that night or who we were with but i do remember seeing the way you laughed at something and how your entire face lit up. and i remember thinking that i really liked you and how scary it was that i felt these things for you so suddenly and so much. Like a lot. but i’m so glad that we both got to this point - that we both feel the same way. I just really loved the way you looked when you laughed and i am so happy you’re in my life.

Chloe also i really like kissing you

Beca doesn’t even bother replying.

She shoves on her shoes again and rushes out the front door. She is only surprised to see Chloe sitting on her own front porch, staring worriedly at her phone.

“You really are so weird, y'know that?” She calls out, careful not to startle Chloe too much.

Chloe does jump anyway, but she sets her phone down quickly. “What are you doing?”

“Finishing this date off again that you confessed your big scary feelings. Through a text message.” Beca pretends to be annoyed as she stomps over to Chloe. “You couldn’t have said all that?”

“You make me nervous!” Chloe exclaims.

Beca shakes her head, mustering up all the courage she has in the world, pulling Chloe in for a kiss like she wanted to earlier before Chloe beat her to it.

“So much better,” Beca whispers, smiling when Chloe huffs quietly against her mouth.

It's the perfect end to the beginning Beca has been dreaming of all this time.

fin.

[sundaysundaes]

My Words, Your Thoughts (Teaser)

Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Reader | Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Smut | Soulmate AU, Friends-to-Lovers AU

Part of the beautiful ‘Aubade’ collaboration hosted by @hyucksie​

Synopsis: As an introvert, you are familiar with the silence. Drowning yourself deep in your thoughts has been a habit you’ve become addicted to. Your life begins to change, however, ever since the day you turned twenty. Suddenly, there’s this song that’s stuck in your head, and no matter how much you yearn to hear your thoughts or be comforted by the silence, it keeps on playing. You only get to find the answer to your problem when a young, cute barista hands you a cup of coffee one day, with that song’s lyrics written on the side. And you realize that you’re not the only one who’s been hearing voices in your head.

Warnings: explicit sex, expletives, mentions of physical abuse and astraphobia (not for the main characters)

WC (Teaser): 4k

Release Date: June 27, 2021, 10 AM KST

It’s weird. It’s so weird.

It’s weird that you’ve been hearing this song replaying over and over again in your head when you’re sure you’ve never listened to it before. It’s also weird because sometimes the song sounds like the ones you often hear about on the radio—complete with instrumental accompaniment and everything—but most of the time, it just sounds like someone is humming to it. Sometimes quietly, but more often than not, vehemently like they’re having a concert in the shower, not caring if the neighbors might hear.

As someone who rarely listens to mainstream music, you don’t keep up with the trend these days but the tunes are catchy enough that you think, maybe, it’s one of those Justin Bieber’s songs people always talk about. You’re not fond of it, though, so even if you’ve heard it somewhere in a cafe or a mall, there’s very little chance you’ll be humming it in your head.

And yet, it keeps on playing.

It gets worse when it goes on for a whole day—a whole fucking day—that your brain feels like it’s seconds away from bursting into pieces. It doesn’t even sound like your voice. It seems like it belongs to a male, a bit light and a pitch higher than most. Though it sounds pleasant, the voice is unfamiliar to your ears and that’s what bothers you the most. 

Trying your best to escape, you plug in your AirPods to your earholes, choosing one of the most beloved tracks from your playlist—today, it’s Bloom by The Paper Kites—to help you relax as you lie down on your bed. But no matter how many times you turn up the volume—it’s practically turning you deaf, ironically—you can still hear that one goddamn song playing.

“Oh my God,” you groan, projecting a murderous glare at the ceiling of your room before you shriek all of your heart’s content to your pillow. “Make it stop!”

This has been going on ever since your twentieth birthday and it’s been three months since then—three months of suffering, to be exact. Fortunately for you, you haven’t been listening to the same song for those amount of time—God, you would’ve killed yourself if that was the case. The song changes without warning. It can change ten times within a day, or stay the same for ten days. You have never heard of these songs except for the popular ones, and even then, you only ever listened to snippets as they don’t suit your taste. 

So… It doesn’t make sense that you could recite the whole lyrics, does it? 

And yet, you can. 

Somehow, you already know every word, every tune, even every ad-lib in these songs and it both amazes and creeps you out. It’s as if somebody else is singing about it in their mind, and you, somehow, are mentally connected to them.

But that’s surely not the case, right?

With more days passing by, as your brain deteriorates little by little, you start to think that maybe that is the case.

Or maybe you’re just going crazy.

It’s nine in the morning and your eyes are bleary from how you involuntarily skipped sleep last night. With the loudest sigh and your half-charged MacBook sitting still in your backpack, you let your wobbly legs carry you to the nearest coffee shop. There’s a new Starbucks store opening just a couple of blocks away from your apartment and it’s perfect since you’re going to pass it every day on your way to college. 

You’re not excited though, not when you have Michael Jackson’s Man in The Mirror playing in your head for the, approximately, thirty-fifth time that day. And it’s only nine in the fucking morning.

When you enter the coffee shop, greeted by a cute Christmas tree and festive decorations spreading all over the place even when it’s still three weeks away from the holiday, you almost weep in joy when the song stops playing in your head. It does happen from time-to-time, sometimes it stops for a few hours before it starts again with the same song or an entirely different one. But in most cases, it only pauses for a few minutes which just doubles the torture whenever you’re trying to concentrate on your paperwork.

“Hi.” You display a timid smile at a female barista, slightly wincing when the song in your head starts blaring again, as expected. It’s still the same song this time—so that thirty-sixth by now, Jesus Christ—but instead of someone humming it, it’s the original version that plays. You’re having trouble focusing on her greeting when the sound of a synthesizer echoes through your ear, stridently so. “I would like a tall skinny latte with a double shot, please.”

“Would you like anything else to accompany your drink?”

Perhaps a gun to blow my head off? “No, thanks. That’d be all for me.”

“Is that for here or to go?”

You take a quick scan of your surroundings. You still have an hour before your first class starts and since the place isn’t that crowded, you figure you might as well just spend some time here. “For here.”

You tell her your name and slide down your card to complete the payment. “All right. We will call your name once your order is ready.”

“Fantastic. Thanks.” As the female barista takes an order from another customer, you drag yourself to an empty seat in the corner of the room, next to the glassy window where you can glance at passersby. You lay your head down on the table, cheek pressed against the wooden surface, lower lip jutting out in weariness. You’re drowsy and you want to think about the snow that’s probably gonna fall sometimes near Christmas’ Day and maybe the sight of a warm fireplace where you can cozy up with your imaginary boyfriend (also known as Jung Jaehyun—that one perfect boy who lives just across of your hallway), but no, unfortunately for you, you no longer have any space left in your brain since Michael Jackson is performing a damn concert and it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna stop anytime soon.

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror…” Great, now you’re singing it. “I’m asking him to change his ways…”

The music in your head abruptly stops again but before you can close your eyes to finally enjoy your silence, a familiar voice chimes in.

“It’s a great song, isn’t it?”

Shocked, you quickly lift your head to identify a male barista placing down a cup of your ordered latte on your table. You swear you recognize his voice but his face doesn’t ring a bell.

“Hi,” he greets, smiling a bit sheepishly. “I don’t usually bring orders directly to the table but I think I misheard your name so I couldn’t call you out from there.”

“That’s, umm, that’s okay…” You hide the bottom half of your face behind your scarf as you’re not used to talking to a stranger, especially one that looks overwhelmingly pretty. “What did you think my name was?”

“Umm…” He rubs the back of his nape awkwardly. “I don’t think you want to know. It was a bit… inappropriate.”

“R-right…” You glance at the cup. “It says ‘Michael.’”

He chuckles but with only a slight hint of amusement in it. “Yeah, sorry about that. I had to come up with something and it was the first thing that came to mind.”

“And it has…” Your eyes widen when you notice the words he’s written on the side of your cup. It’s not a greeting, it’s not a motivational sentence, it’s the fucking lyrics to Michael Jackson’s Man in The Mirror.

“Yeah, okay, so—” Noticing the appalled look on your face, he hurriedly tries to reason out. “I’ve had this song stuck in my head all day long—I just listened to it a minute ago while making your order—and the lyrics are just so inspirational so I decided to write that down. I hope that’s not too weird.” Then he laughs a little, a tad more genuinely this time. “But I heard you singing that song just now. What are the chances, right?”

You swallow hard. He’s been thinking about that song too? Listened to it a minute ago? What are the chances of this is happening? Is he the one whose voices I’ve been hearing in my head—

The male barista abruptly takes a step back, his tray nearly slipping out of his hold. He has a hand pressed against his ear, eyes blinking several times in disbelief. “Holy shit.”

“Excuse me?”

“You—” He splutters, Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “I can’t believe it’s real.”

“What?” The way he seems like he’s looking at a ghost sends goosebumps all over your skin. “What is it?”

“Think about something.” 

“Umm—” What is he talking about?

This time he gapes, his jaw dropping low. “Holy shit, I can really hear you. Think about something else—think about me.”

“Look, I don’t know you and you’re being weird.” The sudden change of conversation baffles you but when his words sink in, you can’t stop yourself from thinking about him as he orders. He’s cute, his entire features are cute—you’ve noticed that from the first second you laid your eyes on him, but what catches your eyes the most is his lips—the way they’re shaped so beautifully, like a cupid’s bow—

“You’re thinking about my lips? Seriously?” He asks, but might as well splash cold water to your face. “If you said something about my eyes, sure, I mean, they are attractive. One might even say that God Himself took the stars from the sky and put them in my eyes—but my lips? Huh, that’s new.”

You loudly gasp when you’re finally aware of the situation, hands flying to your face to cover your gaping mouth. “You can hear my thoughts!”

“And you can hear mine too!” He points out, and as startled as you are from the previous realization, you instantly frown upon his words. 

“I don’t think so,” you reply. “I can only hear—”

“Donghyuck-ah!” Another barista comes to interrupt from the other side of the room. “We didn’t pay you to flirt, come back here!”

“I wasn’t flirting!” He shouts back, tips of his ears reddening. When he turns to you again, he has a prominent scowl on his face which makes you squirm on your feet. “We need to talk about this. My break is in an hour, do you think you can wait?”

It sounds more like an order than a request. “B-but I have a class in an hour.”

“Skip it.”

It takes all the strength in your body to be brave enough to retort back with, “Why don’t you skip your work?”

“I’m already half-done with my work, I can’t bail out now.” He rolls his eyes. Suddenly, his courteousness just vanishes without a trace. “Look, I’ve been hearing your thoughts for months now and I have a lot to complain to you about.”

You grimace. “It’s not like I can control my thoughts—”

“I know, I’m not blaming you.” He picks up the tray, his gaze softening but only slightly. “I just want to complain. You’ve been driving me crazy these past few months.”

You glance away, pouting. Wow, he surely knows how to befriend a stranger.

“I can hear you, you know.” He sighs as if talking to you is exhausting, when it should be the other way around. “Look, I’m sure you’ve been going through the same thing. Don’t you want this to stop?”

You’re not wasting any second. “Yes, please.”

“Then wait for me. We’ll talk this through.” He pivots on his heels, his tray glued to his side. When you can finally breathe properly, exhausted from the social interaction as you sink back to your seat, the barista—Donghyuck—adds, “Oh, as you wait. Can you please stop thinking about my lips? Or just how cute I am in general? It’s sweet but I gotta concentrate so I won’t write another Michael on my next order.”

You slam your forehead down the table, face aflame. “I-I’ll try.”

“Thanks.”

***

“You just can’t stop thinking about my lips, can you?” Is the first thing Donghyuck states out as soon as he’s approached your table. He runs a hand through his brown hair, which looks out-worldly fluffy that you begin to wonder what kind of hair product he’s been using. “Or my hair.”

Mortified, you mumble out, “I’m sorry,” with half of your face covered by your hands. The more I try not to think about his lips, the more I do—shit, is he hearing this too—

“Yes,” Donghyuck says, but this time with an amused smile. “Man, I didn’t know my lips were that appealing to ladies. You’re gonna make me blush.”

Well, he’s making you blush for sure. “Would it be too much to ask for you to stop listening to my thoughts?”

“Believe me, woman, I’ve tried.” He groans, taking his apron off before he sits in front of you. He loosens up his collar, unbuttoning two buttons of his white shirt—which is two more than necessary to your liking—and you have to gaze away before another thought forms inside your head about a certain part of his body. 

“Sorry if I came on too strong before. I’m Lee Donghyuck,” he introduces formally, offering you his hand. You reply with your name but you’re reluctant to shake his hand since you’re sure you’re breaking into a cold sweat, and an overly sweaty palm doesn’t really scream attractive—

“It’s literally just a handshake,” he says, stifling down a laugh. “I’m not gonna start judging you about it. You’re cute, sweaty palms or not.”

You nearly choke. “If I can’t ask you to stop listening to my thoughts, can you please be quiet about them?”

“That’s also impossible since talking is an integral part of my charm.” He leans back to his chair. “I’m pretty good with my mouth.”

That was… a poor choice of words, you think, as you stare at his lips and can’t help but wonder what can that mouth do other than talking. You take a bite of the bagel you just ordered, desperately trying to avert your attention.

“It wasn’t a poor choice of words.” He winks. “I did mean that in every way possible.”

This time, you really are choking.

“Okay, so what’s happening to us?” Donghyuck questions, after you manage to shed a tear or two during your attempt in relieving your throat. “Why have I been hearing your thoughts? I don’t even know you.”

“Same here.” You’re still going through a hard time keeping eye contact with him, but with more seconds passing by—and him pronouncing every bit of your thoughts out in the open—the knots inside your chest begin to loosen. “Ever since I turned twenty, I’ve been hearing these songs playing in my head that I’d never even heard of.”

“Never heard of?” Donghyuck snorts. “What, you never listen to Billboard’s top forty?”

You weakly shrug. “I prefer indie music better. Or instrumentals.”

“I would say that you have a soul of an old lady but the way you’ve been thinking about my lips reminds me of my sister who’s going through puberty.”

“Okay, this isn’t fair.” You shake your head, ashamed and tired of being humiliated over something you can’t fix. “Why can you hear my thoughts but I can’t hear yours?”

“Believe me, you’re much better off this way.” His face contorts in pain which makes you feel somewhat sorry if he’s not constantly being an ass about it. Hearing your insult, he notes, “Also, I’d prefer to be called with terms of endearment in the future, if that’s okay with you. Something like Babe or Darling.” The way he raises his eyebrow is just strictly illegal. “And in return, I’ll call you Sweetheart.” But before you can say anything—or run toward a running bus to put an end to this endless humiliation—he questions, “Wait, when you hear the songs I’ve been thinking in my head, does it sound like the original version of the song, or like me singing it?”

Finally, a proper conversation. “If you’re listening to the actual music, I can hear the original song as if I’m hearing it through my headphones. But when you’re just thinking about it, well, I‘ve never heard you sing, but,” you decide to tease him back—which startles you from how blatant you’re being. “From how amateur and pitchy this voice sounded in my head, I think I’ve been hearing yours.”

“Cute.” He scrunches up his nose. “Okay, let’s try again. Can you hear what song running through my head now?”

You stiffen, sitting in silence. After a few seconds pass by with only you exchanging stern stares at each other, your eyes gleam with a spark of hope. “Wait, I can’t hear you. Does this mean it stops? Because we’ve met in person?”

“Sadly no, because I was just thinking about how silly you looked when you choked over your food earlier.” He chuckles to himself and sends you another wink when you degrade him in your head. “Okay, let’s try again.”

“For real this time?”

“For real this time, Sweetheart.” He closes his eyes, holding back a smile when he catches how you flinch a little at his pet name for you. This time, you really do hear him humming inside your mind. “Don’t tell me by words,” he immediately adds, “Just think about them.”

Heaving a sigh, you close your eyes too. I’ve heard this song somewhere.

“If you’ve never heard about this song, I will literally cry and apologize to the world on your behalf.”

Be quiet, please, I’m trying to concentrate.

“Worried that you’d be thinking about my lips again?”

You almost fall from your seat. Almost. Okay, you’re singing to… You knit your eyebrows together as you provide your best effort to remember the tunes. You’re singing to Super Mario Bros theme song?

“Correct.” He taps his fingers to the table, simpering. “This is actually pretty cool. We can be, like, partners in crime or something.”

You shudder. “Please don’t tell me you’re an actual criminal.”

“If looking this handsome is a crime then I am, yes. Guilty as charged.” He makes a kissy face when you think about throwing the rest of your bagel to his head. “You look like someone who writes fan-fiction about their idols having sappy first kisses in your spare time but you’re actually pretty wild in your head, aren’t you?” He loves seeing your reactions, you know that, so you give your all in trying to act nonchalant. “Now, let’s try again. Did you bring your headphones with you?”

You check your coat’s pocket. “I got my AirPods.”

“Perfect. Put them on and play something from your phone.” As someone who’s pretty carefree, he can get serious at times. “Play as loud as you can until you feel like you’re going deaf.”

“I’ve tried that many times.” You nearly wail at the memory. “But it’s hard to drown your voice since it comes from inside my head.”

“Yeah, I know that. I’ve been hearing your thoughts too, remember? Don’t you think I would at least try something like that?” You narrow your eyes menacingly at him but he simply waves you off. “Anyway, that’s not what I’m trying to do. Put them on and you’ll see.”

He’s ordering you around. He just met you and he’s ordering you around. Socializing with people in general already zaps your energy pretty quickly, so socializing with a brat—

“I’ll grow on you, don’t worry.” He smirks and you take a mental note to really learn how to control your thoughts this time.

You follow his lead, as requested, connecting your AirPods to your phone and play something relaxing—because God knows how desperately you need it—as loudly as you can bear. Okay, go try… whatever it is that you want to try.

He smiles and shifts slightly on his seat, facing the window. His eyes glimmer under the light when he parts his lips, mouthing some words—no, singing something that you can’t hear.

Wait. I can’t hear?

Donghyuck glances at you, a grin breaking further on his lips upon hearing your thought. He gestures to you to take your AirPods away and you nod. Vacation Manor’s You promptly fades as his voice enters, and it’s weird because you’ve heard him sing in your head so many times yet it doesn’t do justice to how beautiful he sounds in real life.

It’s almost angelic, the sound he makes, which is kind of ironic for a little devil that he is. His honeyed voice is soothing, almost like the patter of rain on your window at dawn, lulling you back to sleep. You’re no expert in music but to you, he sounds impeccable that you run out of words to describe how pleasant his voice is to your ears. It’s so distinct, soulful—

Donghyuck giggles. “Thanks.”

—and annoying. “Okay, so what happened?” You try to divert the topic. “I can’t hear you when you’re singing out loud, but I can hear it when you’re thinking about a song?”

“I guess so.” He furrows his eyebrows, deep within his thoughts. “I figured it out when I couldn’t hear your thoughts whenever you spoke out loud. I think we can work from this?”

“So instead of thinking about what I have to say, I should focus more on saying what I want to say?” You shake in horror. “I don’t think I can do that.”

“What, you don’t like talking?”

“I’m…” You swallow your breath. “I’m not really good at that.”

“You’re talking to me just fine now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, because you make it so easy.”

“Aaw,” he purrs, a lopsided smile painting his face. “Thanks, Sweetheart.”

“No.” You hold up a hand. “I mean, since you can hear my thoughts, I have no other choice but to speak. Also, you seem like you’re the type who just says whatever that comes to mind without worrying too much about my feelings—”

“Hey, now you’re just making me sound rude—”

“You are rude,” You emphasize. “But it works well with me because then I don’t have to hold myself back and pretend to be somebody else.”

“Why do you have to pretend?” He frowns. “Because you’re afraid people are gonna hate you? Judge you on your words?”

“It’s…” You look away, nibbling on your bottom lip. “I just… I’m trying to be a good person so people will like me—”

“I like you,” he says casually as if he was talking about having a cute Pomeranian as a pet, and there you are, almost fainting in your seat. “I mean, in the last forty minutes I’ve known you, I think you’re great the way you are. You don’t have to be good, you just have to be you.” He shifts closer, crossing his arms on the table, and lays his chin on them, gazing up at you with a soft smile that doesn’t match well with his previous attitude. “Don’t you think it’s great if people accept you the way you are?”

You hurriedly take a sip of your coffee, pretending to swallow even if it’s already empty. “You’re… not so bad yourself.”

“What was that?”

“Okay, well I think I should go.” There’s no way you’re gonna repeat that. Donghyuck titters, taking a hold of your wrist when you’re about to stand up from your seat.

“We still have loads to talk about.” You observe the way his fingers linger around your arm, his sun-kissed skin feels silky smooth against your own. “Why don’t we have lunch together? My treat?”

“D-don’t you have work to do?”

“I’ll make an excuse.” 

A barista with the word Jeno written on his name tag walks by and slaps Donghyuck on the back of his head as if it’s something he’s done on a daily basis—probably is. “You’re not going anywhere, asswipe, get back to work.”

When the brunette boy turns to you, he winces. “Or maybe you can give me your number so we can meet up later?”

***

A/N: I’m both nervous and excited for this as this is my first collaboration. Thank you so much, Denise, for having me on this wonderful collab!