#sometimes rendering is not knowing what the fuck is going on <3

[wibblewomble]

Mastermind

[poisonouspastels]

@beegswaz genuinely i think my favorite tags on any of my work ever. i fucking love when people talk abt my characters like this

[midnightwriter21]

can we have the first meet soulmate thing for sorcerer! reader please?? w gojo only

jjk hcs: satoru meeting sorcerer!soulmate!reader

characters: satoru gojo x reader, megumi (mentioned), yuji (mentioned), nobara (mentioned)

warnings: u kill a cursed spirit, possible injury but not rly, mature language (reader cusses gojo out lmfao), the kids & reader lowkey bullying gojo lol, gojo is kinda suggestive at the end

AN: soulmate au where the first words your soulmate says to you are tattooed somewhere on your body!! read the non-sorcerer version HERE

SATORU GOJO

being called in as back up for a mission involving a 2nd grade cursed spirit was not on ur to-do list today

but guess where you are!!

an empty mall!!

an empty mall where you’re currently watching 3 teenagers run around like headless chickens

the curse is ugly… as most of them are but..

this one is NASTY looking

several different colored eyeballs sticking out of various places on its body

it’s oozing some sort of greenish brown liquid

and the smell

dear lord it’s bad

the poor pink haired kid is simultaneously holding his nose and trying to fight the curse with one hand

and it’s main attack seems to be the ability to spit that greenish brown liquid at whoever it’s attacking, rendering them immobile

almost like a glue trap for mice

the curse backs the three kids into a corner and prepares to spit that sticky liquid at them

and that’s when you decide to make your entrance

jumping from the second floor of the mall, in front of the kids, and drawing your weapon

you block the attack and jump towards the curse

severing it’s head and therefore exorcising it in one quick movement

you sheathe your weapon and turn to the kids, “why the hell are you three taking on a 2nd grade mission?”

the pink haired boy from earlier explains, “our sensei was supposed to be with us but when we split up he went to the food court… and uhhh… we haven’t seen him since.”

you give the kids a sour look, “your sensei must be a complete moron”

all at once the kids agree

“he is” -the girl with the hammer

“yeah, pretty much” -the boy with the black spikey hair

“i mean.. kinda, sometimes” -the pink haired boy

you sit the kids down on a bench so that you can check over them and access any possible wounds

mama bear mode activated.

you ask the boy, who you now know as megumi, to get in touch with his sensei

when his sensei answers the phone, megumi explains that the curse has been exorcised

but before he can explain about your presence, you snatch the phone from him and let out a string of expletives directed towards the man on the other end

“you must be a fucking idiot huh? your kids could’ve died taking on a 2nd grade alone and you’re off being an irresponsible jackass somewhere-“

before you can continue you hear the dial tone

he hung up on you

without even saying a word

nearly growling in anger you shove the phone back to megumi and move over to yuji

you take his hands in yours and begin to wrap his hands in bandages saying, “you know, if you keep punching through walls you’re going to end up really hurting your knuckles”

as you wrap his hands you’re not really paying attention to your surroundings, so the smug voice coming from behind spooks you a little…

“it’s good that a pretty little thing like you came to the rescue or else my kids could’ve died since i was off being an irresponsible jackass”

he’s throwing your own words back in your face

whipping your head around fast enough to give yourself whiplash, you prepare to launch into another ass chewing

but your words get stuck in your throat when you’re met with a tall, blindfolded, white haired man

a man known to everyone in the jujutsu world

Satoru Gojo

in response to your stunned silence he lets out a chuckle, “what? cat got your tongue, pretty?”

his mocking snaps you back into reality as you fire back, “no, i’m just surprised on how someone like you can be such a complete and utter dumbass!”

“awww cmon is that the way you’re supposed to talk to your soulmate?” he smirks down at you

you give him a confused look before it hits you

his first words to you from earlier…

“it’s good that a pretty little thing like you came to the rescue or else my kids could’ve died since i was off being an irresponsible jackass”

those exact words are printed on your back underneath your shoulder blade in neat handwriting

looking up at him with wide eyes, you watch as he turns his back to you, pulling off his uniform jackets and lifting up his shirt

ignoring the faint gagging sounds from his students

and there it is, printed in the exact same spot as yours, in your handwriting

“you must be a fucking idiot huh? your kids could’ve died taking on a 2nd grade alone and you’re off being an irresponsible jackass somewhere-“

“no. fucking. way.” you say in disbelief as he turns back to face you

“you have a dirty mouth, sweetheart,” he leans in and whispers softly in your ear, “can’t wait to see just how dirty it can get,” he leans back and says in his normal voice, “but we’ll save that for later!”

[the-one-who-lambs]

hi hey holy fuck i'm done with this. I tried to render for the first time following a "15 minute" tutorial and my noob ass turned it into a 3 hour learning experience. But now I have Narinder's reference for The Risen Lamb and the Fallen God! Rambles under readmore

SO I BARELY DRAW because I started learning how to draw like... May of last year, and then went bonkers over the summer making lots of progress and once the school year started in august I dropped it to focus on writing... and have drawn basically 1 thing in between then and now. Anyway. Last week I remembered, oh yeah, I used to draw sometimes. And suddenly had an all consuming urge to practice again.

And you know what? I forgot how fucking FUN drawing is. I take it much less seriously than I do my writing so my technique for now is pretty much "go ham and try a bunch of shit because you're getting practice and having fun with it anyway". and it IS fun until I try to do a specific thing and can't figure out how so thanks to those who tuned in to my stream tonight to see me push through the frustrating part of finishing this LMAO. uh according to the krita file this took me 13 and a half hours

If you didn't catch it a while back, the one thing I drew during my kinda-art-hiatus was my Lambert reference! Normal outfit, casual outfit (that they sometimes wear while off-duty, usually when visiting Ratau or just hanging out alone), and wedding outfit ^^

...Which means now that I have my narilamb references I can commission my friends. i have a few people who i already plan to open my wallet for.

"Ive already drawn you fanart for ur fic and now the outfits are very slightly wrong :<" ITS FINE I AM CHERISHING IT FOREVER PLS DONT CHANGE IT ITS PERFECT

"is it okay if i draw your designs" Why do yall think i would be mad about this i will eat that shit UP i would fucking LOVE that and I'm already foaming at the mouth because i'd been asked that a couple times while i was drawing narinder's reference lol

I'm still a beginner and constructive criticism is welcome! Will probably make less intensive references for the OCs in Risen/Fallen or at least draw them, Thenana and Juno for sure

[homosexualmorelikehomiesexual]

yknow its interesting to me how ppl read the final bit of the monologue where oliver says that sometimes he hated felix as like. genuinely contradictory and therefore usurping of the fact that he also loved him. because 1) multiple things can be true at once 2) none of yall know what an unreliable narrator is holy shit 3) my immediate first reading of that scene was specifically that *he hated how much he loved him and how helpless it rendered him*. especially considering the one thing we really seem to know about oliver is just how much he hates being humiliated, just how much he hates being out of control. and with felix he is utterly undone. because every single shot in the montage where he says he loved him is obviously romanticized shots of felix looking like a god yes but. but. every shot where he says he hated him is not of felix being cruel, not of felix doing anything worthy of garnering hatred, but of *oliver*. oliver falling to his knees. oliver crying. oliver sobbing. oliver humilated. oliver covered in grave dirt. oliver wretched and helpless and agonized, wracked in pain by the love that has overtaken him and will not let him go. he resents it. he is repulsed by it. he is a moth to a fucking flame and it *burns*. he is swallowed whole by it, and it frightens him. consumed by the desire to consume, his object of desire reduced to ash by the intensity of the flame, and he himself left badly wounded with nothing to show for it. of *course* he hates him. by god i loved him. how anyone can think those things dont go hand in hand is baffling to me, really

[ilivingonmyway]

Something, something, some headcanons about the Ninja team that I have this is in alphabetical order. Part II here!

Cole

• Being the Earth Elemental, he knows several types of rocks, earth and minerals, as each one has a different structure that can interfere and/or contribute to a task/fight.

• Even though he hated dancing for a long time, he still practiced some steps from different dance styles, because some of them were very similar to moves that could be used in battle he did it in secret thought.

• For a long time he always acted a little distant from the other team members, but he was still there to support them if they needed it.

• He's a mama's boy, and he loved seeing Lilly and Lou dancing together.

• It was his grandfather who chose his name. He was bedridden, but he held on until Lilly gave birth to the baby, and when Grandfather saw the little one he cried, because he knew he wouldn't survive to see the child growing up, So, Lilly asked him to name him, as if it were an "I'll always be here" gesture from grandfather to grandson.

• His favorite game is the one where there's a bunch of food falling from the sky and you have to catch it, he's already broken a record 3 times in this game.

Jay

• He's the fastest and most elastic/flexible on the team. This guy's ability to put his thigh behind his head is insane, you DON'T want to be his partner in stretching exercises.

• He knows the Kyusho-Jitsu. This is a technique/type of fight used to stun/paralyze the opponent by striking pressure points (Curiosity, this is the technique that inspired Ty Lee's Chi Blocking technique from ATLA). He uses this on normal criminals, like thieves, assassins, and smuggling gangs, that way they don't get hurt. However, he also use it on Krypytarium criminals, but with the addition of a mild shock to ensure the criminal is rendered unconscious.

• Edna taught him how to cook, so he has the ability to make really good food. Although he prefers to make roasts and stews.

• Jay is a sleepwalker. Not daily, but during really bad lightning storms. Master Wu often found him sleeping on the highest point of the Monastery after the storm. Once, the Ninjas tried to keep him inside the room during the storm. They locked the door and windows and kept watch. But somehow, Jay still managed to get out of the room and get into the storm. No one ever found out how he did this.

• This one I got from Lloyd’s Guide To Surviving The Merge, a lovely fanfiction of @omgjayaaa, I really loved that one He's a medic. He knows how to treat illnesses, injuries, concussions, etc. It started out more as a hobby. Check out medical books from the local library and spend hours reading and applying the teachings on the Monastery's training dummies (sometimes Zane was the victim) just as a "strange diversion" (Kai's words). However, one day, there was a training accident and Cole dislocated his arm, while everyone was worried trying to call the hospital, in an incredible act not to mention strange of calm, Jay grabbed Cole's arm and relocated it back into place, then he borrowed some materials that were in his room and made a sling for the Earth Elemental's arm. No one ever forgot that day, because while Jay was "Just another normal day" the others were staring at him like "What the fuck was that?"

• I also got this from a Ninjago chat fanfic, also from @omgjayaaa He is a natural with children. You can't say otherwise, that this super sensitive and humorous man doesn't have a natural ability to calm/entertain/do anything involving children. And he really enjoys that, being able to make a baby stop crying and go to sleep or helping a child that got lost from the parents. Your honor, this man has everything it takes to be a good father and you're not going to change my mind.

Kai

• He hates super spicy food, being the Fire Elemental doesn't mean his taste buds are pepper/wasabi approved. He just likes a small amount in his food. Ironically, spicy food can kind of serve as fuel for the fire, so the hotter the pepper is, the more heat the fire emanates from it. Although he hates this ability.

• He's not very good at reading/writing, he left school very early to take care of Nya and the Blacksmith, so he lost most of his literacy skills. However, he took some lessons from Wu, so he didn't feel so out of place.

• In fact, his natural hair is like his mother's, but it's as untamable as his father's, which is why he uses so much hair gel. Like, you can't say that wavy and stubborn hair is not hard to care.

• He's that kind of person who sings in the shower, he often forgets that there are people in the Monastery and starts singing so loud that you can hear it from the training yard.

• He and Jay, often in secret, hang out together. Where? Karaoke. Kai sings and Jay plays the guitar, sometimes they change roles Kai prefers to play the bass. It's a lot of fun for both of them, but they don't want to let others find out, because they know none of them, especially Nya, would let it go.

• As much as many people think otherwise, of the RGB siblings, Kai is the most "stable". Not because he wants to, but because he is Nya and Lloyd's support. He feels very embarrassed when the papers change.

• He is super attentive to people close to him, especially Lloyd, who is the youngest on the team. However, now with the addition of Wyldfyre, Sora and Arin in DR, he is as protective as he was with Lloyd.

[gabessquishytum]

some dom/sub stuff because why not <3

Hob was never all that sexually adventurous for [insert reasons here] and could probably be considered a bit... repressed, for an immortal his age. His current, modern era friends say he's vanilla, whatever that means. He refuses to look it up. He's fine, really :) :) :)

He just goes through periods- sometimes weeks, or months, or years- feeling something he can't name. Before, he would fight, box, whatever was available in that era to get it out of his system. And it was always gone before he saw his Stranger again.

But now his Stranger is back and Hob's already started to feel that itch and hasn't had the chance to find a new outlet yet.

Dream, though... Dream knows what he's looking at. And what he needs. He sees a poor little submissive in need of a firm, but gentle, hand- and a good fucking.

Well, Dream is going to be that hand. He refuses to even think of anyone else touching Hob like that.

He's already mentally designing Hob's future collar while he plans his seduction <3 <3 <3

I have so many feelings about repressed sub!Hob omg.

Like. He goes to the underground boxing club and fights and maybe even deliberately gets beat up. Or he works and works and works and doesn't sleep because he needs his brain to be full of something, but all it does is make him physically collapse. He doesn't know it but he basically has regular sub drops because he has no idea how to handle what he's feeling.

But Dream knows, and when he witnesses Hob’s first drop after their reunion, Dream takes action. He grabs Hob by the collar of his shirt (it'll have to do for now) and drags him off to the bedroom.

Dream orders Hob to strip and kneel and Hob does it without even questioning it. His eyes are wide, his heart is racing. He doesn't know what's happening to him. Next thing, Dream is just stroking and petting him all over, telling him that he's a good boy and that everything will be okay. At this point, Hob begins to drift... as his mind and body have longed to do, for so many years.

Dream doesn't fuck him that night. He washes Hob in a warm, lavender scented bath. Wraps him in a towel, and feeds him chocolate chip cookies by hand. He keeps his hand wrapped carefully around the back of Hob’s neck, like a temporary collar. Hob is in a state of bliss, meanwhile. He's still totally confused, but that doesn't really bother him. He feels safe.

In the dreaming, Dream sternly scolds Hob for neglecting himself. He states his intention: he will take care of Hob from now on. Dream won't let him suffer alone ever again. Hob protests (still shy and confused), but inside him there's a sub so eager to obey and give in. He just can't help himself.

Imagine how good it feels to be owned and fucked and loved after nearly 700 years of need. Hob rendered speechless, floating in a cloud of total bliss. Dream is gentle with him - it's not whips and chains (yet) but it is firmness, dominance, love. Hob feels complete. He's never been more sure: he wants to live forever, with Dream’s collar around his neck.

[lemoncherrypop]

To Build a Home

seventeen x harry potter au

deatheater!seungcheol x gryffindorprincess!reader summary: The war has finally come and your entire world falls into ruin. After a surprise attack from the Death Eaters, you barely escape with your life and find refuge in a faraway safe house. Everything would have been fine, all things considered, except for the fact that you had fallen right into the snake’s pit. notes: hello :'))) i am back from the dead. i can not apologize enough for the three year hiatus. i went through some family stuff, some mental breakdowns, and also just life in general made me not want to write anymore. but all the messages and comments I've gotten throughout the years have been so heart warming and touching. your words of support have genuinely made me want to get back into this again, so thank you thank you thank you. all your likes, comments and shares really kept me going, sometimes I felt like I was writing into the void, but knowing that others read and enjoyed my story was a very validating and heartwarming feeling. again, I am SOOO sorry for the extremely late update, but if you are still around, I hope you will enjoy this next chapter! i love you all <3 P.S if you prefer AO3 viewing, it will be linked in my Series Masterlist :) word count: 4.3k

Series Masterlist

One l Two l Three l Four l Five l coming soon...

Chapter Five

//

The bed is warm when you wake up, but you can not move.

“If you try to get up, I will incarcerous your ass.”

The air smells bitter and burnt, and it makes you want to gag at how strong it weighs in the air. Blinking past the candlelights, you find Jean sitting in a chair next to your bed.

Groaning, you try and curl your fingers, but you find yourself unable to. Not even needing to look down, you could feel the thick bandages wrapped around your whole chest and the entire length of your left arm.

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t,” you grumble, voice feeling raw and dry in your throat. “What the fuck did you do to me?”

“What did I do to you?” 

“I can’t fucking move!”

“I bloody well put you back together in one piece!” Jean snapped and you can’t remember the last time you’ve seen so much anger in your friend’s eyes. “You nearly got yourself killed, and you’re complaining about a couple of bandages?!”

“A couple is enough to render me completely useless?!”

“You’re not useless.” Jean rolls her eyes. “You’re just forced into recuperation.”

“Well, it’d be fucking nice if I could at least scratch my nose.” You scrunch your nose unpleasantly.

“Your right arm still works, you know.”

“Oh.” You blink. “Right.”

Jean sighs deeply and goes back to focusing on something on your night table. Feeling awkward, you stretch out your right arm the best you can and reach up to scratch the itch on the bridge of your nose.

“What’s that?” You point at the stack of small withered leather pouches and tiny vials of potions.

She lets out a grunt of frustration. “It’s your medicine. You lost so much blood, I thought you turned into a bloody ghost.”

“Well, blame that on—”

“It’s both of your faults,” Jean cuts you off with a sharp glare. “Don’t go blaming Seungcheol when you put him in an equally bad position.”

You can’t help but smirk at the news. “He strapped down onto his bed just like me?��

Glass bottles click and clatter as Jean slams down your medicine. “Wake up! This was all meant for training, not to cut each other’s throats and bleed each other dry.”

Rolling your eyes, you turn away to avoid her glare. “Did you give him the same lecture?”

“I’m serious, can’t you just listen to me?” 

“It’d be nice to not, but I don’t think I have a choice.”

She scoffs. “We’re not at school anymore. There’s no more petty house rivalry, no house points to fight over, or exams to stress over. We’re on the same side of the war, we can’t keep fighting with the boys.”

“Don’t be a fool.” You snap back at her with furrowed brows. “You want me to trust these boys? Thought you were supposed to be the smart one—”

A click— the door opens and Wonwoo walks in as if he were coming in like routine.

“Ah,” he says in quiet surprise. “You’re up?”

A brow quirks. “What are you doing in my room?”

Jean clicks her tongue and goes back to refilling your medication.

He holds up an amber glass bottle. “To heal you back into a functioning human.”

You place your good arm under the back of your head and prop yourself up a little to get a better view of your two housemates.

“Jean’s already got my medicine here.” You nod over to the glass vials on your night table.

“Yes, but this one—” Wonwoo holds it closer to your face, the clear glass has no label but contains a sticky, thick liquid. “—is for those cuts that Seungcheol gave you.”

“Of course,” you groan, rolling your eyes. “Even the cuts he gave me aren’t ordinary. I need a special potion just for that?”

Wonwoo takes a seat at the end of your bed. “You lost a lot of blood.”

“A lot.” Jean glowers.

“Stop worrying,” you chide. “I feel fine!” You cough, embarrassingly, your throat still raw and dry.

“Fine my fucking arse,” Jean curses, and you know she’s truly mad because when was the last time your friend has ever cursed? “Fine isn’t being completely incapacitated for days. I had no idea when you would even wake up.”

“Wait a sec—” Your forehead wrinkles as your face contorts into confusion. “How long have I been out?”

“Only three days,” Wonwoo sighs, and uncorks the bottle in his hand. “He’s just as immobile as you, thought you’d be interested to know.”

“That is good to know.” You can’t help the grin spreading on your face. Jean’s scowl only deepens.

A cup is conjured out of thin air, and Wonwoo pours some of the amber liquid into it. “This is going to be hard to swallow, but drink the whole thing, okay?” He hands you the cup.

It looks even darker in the cup and moves like molasses. “And what is this supposed to help with? All the blood that I lost?”

“It’s to make sure your wounds heal completely,” Jeans explains. “Unfortunately… you won’t be able to get rid of the scars, but at least they’ll be completely closed.”

“That spell he used on you…” Wonwoo says quietly, his face looking serious as he tries to word it properly in his head before saying it out loud. “It’s— it’s not a spell to take lightly. Obviously, it would have been best to use the counterspell right after you got hit, but you continued fighting—”

“Absolute blockheads, the both of you!”

“— and the lacerations only went deeper and deeper as they spread. It’ll take a few days of rest before you’re fully healed, but just hold your nose when you take the potion because it—”   

“Tastes like fucking shit!” You gag.

“— tastes pretty awful…”

//

Mandatory bed rest for the rest of the week.

Those were the orders from apparently everyone else in the house. Sneaking out was not an option because there was a spell that made the entire house ring when you tried to sneak out. It was equally both embarrassing and frustrating, seeing as how you couldn’t even take a piss without having Jean come over to help you over to the bathroom.

The only good thing about being imprisoned inside your own room was Wonwoo’s cup of tea. 

He brought you a cup of tea every morning. Earl grey. Always piping hot, and with just enough cream and sugar to make anyone else’s tongue curl from the sweetness.

It was the perfect cup of tea.

The damn snake was slowly creeping his way up your ladder that goes from enemies to acquaintances to just barely being friends. He was still low on the ladder though, just marginally above the other snakes.

But the cup of tea did nothing to make you feel any better. Any less useless.

The wounds have healed completely when you finished up the rest of the amber liquid, and the bandages were finally all released with permission from Wonwoo and Jean, but no one allowed you back into another round of dueling. Not yet at least. They all said it's because you needed more time to get better, but you knew it was because they all thought you weren’t mentally stable enough to go back.

“You almost died!” You remember wincing in pain when Jean readjusted your bandages. 

No matter how many times you insisted that you were feeling better and thinking more clearly, she stayed firm in her decision. 

“Not. Yet.”

You can only hope that the same was happening to Seungcheol.

//

Minghao sips on his glass and the candlelight illuminates the grimace on his face. “This is not what I meant when I said they wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off each other.”

“I was hoping they’d just fuck each other’s brains out,” Mingyu shrugs. “But I guess this is another way of them taking their anger out on each other.”

“How could you joke like that when they both nearly died?” Trinh scowls, smacking the back of his head for the comment.

“Hey!” Mingyu rubs his head with a groan. “You think I wanted that to happen? I nearly shit myself when I saw the amount of blood in here!” He shudders dramatically. “But they’re both healed now, yeah?”

“Doesn’t make the situation any better.” Trinh tiredly rubs her eyes. “We can never pair them up again for training. I refuse to clean up that much blood again.”

“The reality is,” Minghao sighs, reaching over to pet her hair. “They fucking hate each other. I’m sure they’ll find another excuse to get into another bloody fight.”

“As much as I hated the fight as well, I can’t say that I’m not surprised.” Mingyu sighs. “This was a fight years in the making. We put those two together without any supervision of the professors, and what did we expect? Sunshine and chocolate frogs?”

“Their fighting in Hogwarts was child’s play compared to this,” Trinh groans, looking more tired by the second.

She shifts in her chair just enough for her to lean her head on Minghao’s shoulder, and he suddenly laughs. “Remember that time he spiked her ale with some babbling beverage right before potions class?”

A light chuckle comes from Mingyu. “Or that time she used locomotor mortis right before he leaned in for his first kiss with that Gryffindor girl and he fell right into her breasts?”

Minghao throws his head back with a loud snort. “Then there was that brilliant prank where he charmed her quill to write everything backwards during our O.W.L.S!”

“See? I’m telling you, they just need to fuck.” Mingyu lays his finger on the table to make his point. “They’ve already beat each other bloody.”

Minghao’s laughter slowly fades until his smile is no more, and reaches for his glass again. “Yeah, but he’s not the same boy as before.” He takes a final swig and downs the whole drink. “He’s changed.”

“We’ve all changed.”

Their heads all snap up to see Wonwoo standing at the end of their table. Minghao grimaces, and all traces of laughter have disappeared from his face. Looking forlornly into his half-empty glass, Mingyu stays silent as well.

“Done drinking for tonight?” He asks the trio, looking just as solemn as his crew of snakes.

Trinh throws her head back to finish hers and slams it back on the table. “Now I am.” 

Mingyu holds up an empty glass for Wonwoo in offerance. “How are they doing? Still, being stubborn?

Wonwoo declines with a shake of his head and sits down to join them. “I don’t know what I expected from either of them,” he sighs. “She’s still fighting tooth and nail to get out of the room, and Seungcheol’s… well, you know how he gets when he’s moody.”

“Got the temper of a five-year-old.” Trinh shakes her head.

“But thankfully the medications are working well,” Wonwoo continues. “Wounds are pretty much all healed. I still think they need more time to mentally recover from their fight.”

“I’ve got high hopes for the Princess, but Seungcheol? Like that stubborn dickhead has any space in his thick skull to even comprehend how to do that.”

“Mingyu.” Wonwoo places a firm grip on his shoulder. “We’ve got to do something. He can’t keep going on like this, he’s only going to get worse.”

“Well, what do you suggest then?” Mingyu snaps. “Like he’ll listen to any of us. 

Minghao’s expression is grim. “I’m afraid the only way he’ll get any better is if he is dead, my friend.”

//

Days and weeks flew by in the cottage and the house was slowly coming into action once again. Mingyu and Jean were still flirting around in every room, Trinh could be found giggling away with Minghao whilst pretending to not care about anyone else. 

And yet, you haven’t exchanged a single word with Seungcheol. It was harder than you expected, pretending like someone doesn’t exist under the same roof as you, but you were determined to see past him like a ghost. Unsurprisingly, he had shown you the same courtesy. Seungcheol even ate his meals alone in his room or in the room down in the basement.

Walking around the house post near-death-fight was an even bigger pain than before. There was an unspoken mutual agreement between the two of you, and that was to be completely oblivious to each other’s existence. Although the entire household was pushing for the both of you to make amends, it was clear that they have all underestimated both your stubbornness. You bet you could go months, maybe even years, pretending like Seungcheol didn’t exist within the same home as you.

While the lack of contact with the miserable imp was nice, the tension still weighed heavy in the air, and you knew it was beginning to suffocate the others as well. But as much as you felt bad for your housemates, they were the ones who forced you into this whole situation in the first place.

And so, he continued to act as if you were nothing but an echo in the hallways. He didn’t even sneer or frown, or show any physical signs of threats or discomfort. He simply acted as if you didn’t exist.

And you were fine with that.

Until, well, everyone else wasn’t.

//

The night hung heavy, and the moon cast a haunting glow on the house as you readied for sleep. You were seconds away from slipping under your covers when a timid knock echoed from your door. Wearily, you trudged over to answer, revealing a Wonwoo poised to knock again.

“Wonwoo?”

“Hi.”

“Can I help you?”

Wonwoo’s arms fall to his sides, his body rigid and expression wavering with hesitance. It was clear from his eyes that he was unsure of his presence at your door, especially at this late hour.

The past few weeks have admittedly been easier with the help of Wonwoo’s presence. He took care of you in little ways that you did not expect. He brought medicine with a cup of hot tea on the side for you every day. He would accompany you in silent book readings in the common room, discreetly sitting across from you in your favorite armchair to keep you company. And whenever you felt yourself about to be overcome with anxiety, somehow, almost miraculously, Wonwoo would appear to chase that sinking feeling of fear in your chest away.

Most times, he would ask if you’d like to accompany him in some tasks, like baking muffins for breakfast the next day, or flying on the broomsticks to help clean up the roof, or even picking flowers outside to make bouquets around the cottage.

Other times, he would make you a cup of tea and simply just sit by your side. He would make small talk if you felt like talking, but if you didn’t, he would just sit in silence with you. Sometimes, you would sit in silence for so long that your tea would grow cold, but by the time you noticed, Wonwoo had already gotten up to make you a fresh cup of tea to replace the cold one in your hands.

He had such a keen sense of your anxieties, you wondered if it was because he had the same fears as you.

A heavy sigh escapes you, heart feeling pity for the boy who has diligently stayed by your side everyday since the duel. “What is it?” Your voice is soft, speaking low to not be heard by others. “I was just about to go to sleep.”

“Oh— I’ll come back another night then—”

“Nonsense. Come inside.”

“I… I don’t want to take up too much of your time…”

“You spent the past three weeks putting me back together. You are allowed some of my time.”

He still seems hesitant. A jitteriness that was now making you nervous.

“What is it?” You ask in a tense whisper. “Did you get any news? Has someone else—”

“No! No, not at all,” He waves his hands quickly, immediately banishing the thought of losing yet another classmate. “I just— well, I’m not sure if this may come as a shock to you, but you must know that your fight with Seungcheol is making everyone else in the house deeply uncomfortable—”

You let out a deep sigh of relief.  “Is this what you came in the middle of the night for?” Turning your back on him, you wave your hand back, motioning for him to leave your room. “Go to bed, Wonwoo.”

He grabs your left hand, making you halt in your tracks. Turning to face him, you saw the strain etched into his expression. His other hand pauses for a second before reaching over to pull up your sleeve. “Look at what's happened to you.”

Your hand whips out of his and you bring the sleeve down in a defensive rage. “What are you here for, Wonwoo?” You demand this time.

He gathers in a shaky breath as if he were afraid to speak another word out loud. “Have you ever heard of that spell?” His voice drops to a whisper, making sure that you are the only one that can hear him. “That was dark magic, nothing like what we were ever taught in school. Who do you think taught him that spell?”

“You think I care where you learned all your demented spells from?”

“Well you should! I know there’s been a difficult history between our houses, but we’re all here together now. We’re all classmates here, why can’t you just—”

“Just what? Want me to pretend like everythings okay? Like the outside world isn’t burning up all around us? Want me to forget what he’s done to me?”

“I’m not asking for you to forgive him or any of us, but I am asking you to just… accept the situation that we’re all in. Whether you like it or not, we are on the same side now.”

“Acceptance doesn’t come that easily, it’s something to be earned.”

His face falls.  “Haven’t I?” Wonwoo’s eyes turn soft, yearning and desperate. “I was hoping that— that at least I am…”

Your heart clenches with guilt. “No… you’re right.” Shaking your head, you reach over to grab his hands in yours. “You’ve— you’ve been a great friend to me the past few weeks, and I can’t ever deny that, it wouldn’t be fair to you.”

His shoulders relax, and he gently returns your grasp. Giving him a faint smile, you guide him into your room as he quietly closes the door behind him. Taking a seat together on your bed, facing each other, a sense of solemnity settles between you.

“This situation in the house…” Wonwoo’s voice is still cautious. “I felt like I needed to come to you, and tell you… if you and Seungcheol continue on this way, it will break us all apart.”

You resist the urge to roll your eyes.

“People are starting to walk on eggshells around here, and it’s because of you two.”

“Did you give him the same talk, or are you just lecturing me?” You snap, unable to hold down your annoyance at how everyone’s been treating you since the duel. That loathsome fuck was the one who almost killed you, and yet everyone’s coming to you to try and make amends?

“Oh, trust me,” Wonwoo almost chuckles. “He’s getting lectured by both Mingyu and Hao. You got the lucky end of the stick.”

You bit back a smile at that.

“But you know it’s true. We have to split up with dueling practice, we don’t gather anymore to hear Jun’s nightly news, and we just eat our meals separately now. There needs to be some unity between us in order for us to work together.”

A bitter laugh escapes you. “Since when did you become so pragmatic?”

“I’ve always been,” he responds in exasperation. “I might be friends with those idiots, but don’t lump me in with their antics.”

“You’ve revealed your true self to me six years too late,” You say wryly. 

Wonwoo reaches over to grasp your hands again. “I know, and that’s exactly why I refuse to let this chance slip away.” His look is so serious, your smile drops. “Besides, haven’t you ever noticed? I was always the one to pull the boys out of the fights.”

You pause, genuinely considering his words. “I can’t say I have.”

Wonwoo scoffs lightly. “Course not. Your attention was always elsewhere.”

“Like where?” You raise a brow.

“You know where,” he raises a brow back at you. “But now your attention is needed here. I came here because I need you to understand.”

“Understand what, Wonwoo.” Frustration starts to build. “That we’re all in this together now? That we aren’t enemies anymore because we’re fighting on the same side? I get it,” Your voice is dripping with sarcasm. “I still hate the bloody ass, but we’re stuck in this damned house for the same reason.”

The corner of his lips quirk up. “Glad to see that you’re not in denial anymore, but it’s important you know why we ran away in the first place.”

“Because your malevolent Dark Lord is out there murdering people left and right?”

“You’re not wrong,” he says, his eyes darkening. “Believe me when I say that even his most devoted followers feared him. It might have seemed like we were just taking Dark Magic lessons from the Death Eaters, but we were prisoners there. We— we were taught all these different ways to torture, sometimes even forced—”

Your face contorts in confusion, a sick feeling starting to settle in your stomach. “Have you ever…”

“Never.” He shuts you down before you could finish your question. “But… we came close a few times.”

Your hands draw away from his as a chill runs down your spine. Wonwoo looks ashamed, his hands clenched into fists.

“They trained us to be like them. They wanted us to just be another soldier. They taught us how to fight, how to torture, how to kill. They tried to poison our minds.”

A familiar panic starts to fill in his eyes, and guilt washes over you. The fear you’ve developed since running away from the Death Eaters was nothing in comparison to what he went through. How could anyone come out of that normal?

“They made us watch every night. We watched every single muggle, muggle-born or “traitor” be tortured until death. The Death Eaters were creative for sure, I watched some of their bodies be twisted in ways they shouldn’t and others lose their sanity. And on nights where the Eaters had a bit too much to drink, they would make us test the curses out on each other.”

A silence falls on your face, horror-stricken.

“One night… I saw him, Seokmin’s father. I recognized him from the platform before boarding the train. Seokmin looked just like him, the same eyes and smile… I had no idea he was a Muggle. I tried to help him escape.”

Your hands finds his again, gripping his fingers, apologetic for pulling away in the first place. The panic slowly rising in Wonwoo’s eyes.

“I had no idea he was a muggle,” he repeats, the pained look in his eyes begging you to believe him. “I thought we were almost out, but I got caught. Cicero— he was the one who caught me.”

His fingers felt cold in your hands.

“That was the last time I saw his father,” he murmurs. “And Cicero took me away.”

He pulls one hand up to his buttons on his shirt, a slight tremble as he starts to undo them. “Right here,” he guides one of your hands up to the center of his chest. “Is where I have the same scars as you.”

Your heart shatters at the revelation.

He laughs bitterly as you trail your fingers down his disfigured skin. “We all have them. Mingyu has them on his chest as well. Minghao is growing his hair longer to hide the ones on his back, and Seungcheol…” he shakes his head.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper. “I never knew… I never imagined… the things you’ve been through,” your words fracture, not knowing what to say.

He’s back to smiling, a maddening reassurance you know he’s trying to give you despite the panic still in his eyes.

“Jean and I may have mended you back together, but Seungcheol cast the counterspell. He’s the one that saved you.”

“Seungcheol? But he’s the one who—”

“I know,” he nods. “He’s the one who used it on you in the first place, but when you were bleeding out in the common room, shirt torn apart and lifeless, it woke something back up in him.”

You shook your head, not saying anything. You didn’t want to believe him, but there was a quiet stirring in your head.

“He was the Dark Lord’s favorite. He trained the most out of all of us, the Dark Lord wanted to use him for his plans, and after months and months of enduring his training… he just couldn’t take it anymore.”

Tears start welling up in his eyes, his voice a mere whisper. “Something inside him… just snapped.” A tear falls from his face. “He didn’t want to kill the headmaster, but he had no choice. He had to. My closest friend is broken now because of it, and— and I don’t know how to fix him.”

Your chest crumples at the sight before you.

“He’s made the Unbreakable Vow.” Wonwoo reveals. “I needed you to understand. He just wanted to live.”

[lazyveran]

Could I get a uhhh… *squints at the menu* Jinx burying or cremating Silco’s body?

you have chosen 'veran's interpretation of what a jinx mental breakdown would feel like, featuring dead dad number 3.' this was interesting as hell to write and genuinely challenged me thank u anon!!!

Dead bodies were waste. Big, bloated flesh things. Ugly, useless, so so useless. They took up too much space. In her eyes, in the street, in the inside too, deep in the dark thing that writhed around in untouchable—

Nothing ever stayed dead. Did it?

Living things were a waste too. More than dead things, sometimes. Dead things whispered, living things were big and loud and angry. Living things hit and hurt.

Jinx knows that. Has been that. Is that. The dead has no place. Useless. Like trash. The living always became dead. And lived again, as dead.

Nothing ever stayed dead.

An idiot’s prayer

Her first body was hot and fresh. A mothers face. Father’s disappeared. Gone. Bridge eaten. Her third down the end of a stinking lane, a rotting, a misface. Then her own. Then others. More— forgotten, as if she would—

Corpses weren’t scary. Never. It was normal. She knows what people do with them.

Jinx doesn’t know what to do with Silco’s father’s body. The last body had—burned? Burnt. Shimmer mangled and dead dead dead – her fault, always.

He was in his chair. She’d made it pretty for him, drawings like he liked. The ones she made for him. His paint blood was splashed with it, now. It was prettier. Worse. Neither. She can’t look. Looks anyway.

He was cold, now.

Jinx knows that bodies rot. Flies, maggots, the stench of decay. Seen them in the streets. Made them, dozens. Proud of that, when flesh was warm. Now, now, she—

Fishbones is heavy on her shoulder. It digs into her skin, cold metal. Cold like him. The eyes dead without the crystal. Silco father didn’t have his crystal anymore. Cold, dead, soft— not metal. Maybe—

She picks his body up. It weighs as much as Fishbones. Maybe Fishbones should have been red, like him.

She asks Fishbones. He answers.

At least someone stayed. Mylo hisses in her ears. A bullet shuts him up.

Jinx takes the body from the chair.

There should be a monument. There should be people in witness. No one should see her, her Jinx, no one should know but him, Silco, bigger and better and Zaun—

Vander had one, him in metal spikes, father’s face rendered and big hands around big pipes and what would Silco have when—

Sevika. She would know.

Jinx takes Silco father to the shore.

In the lanes, you burnt your dead. It was space efficient. The first father, the only mother, they were not burnt. Piltover took their corpses from their bridge to be buried in a shallow hole. Vander—she doesn’t—

Silco should be burnt. A true Zaunite.

Jinx Powder doesn’t know how to burn a body.

Useless.

Useless

His body floats on the waves, Jinx walks out with it. Where Powder died, here, in the waters. Where Silco had died. Where father will rest.

It was wrong. Right? What would Violet think of her, hugging a corpse, soaked in his ocean, shimmer mixing with the pollution in an agony wracking her body.

She doesn’t want to let go. Pain was evidence. Pain was a cleanser. How much did it do to her? All the purple purple pain and stupid grinning faces and that fucking woman—

Was she perfect? No, no, or else—

Silco can join his first death. Live and die and live again. Like Jinx joined Powder’s death. Wasn’t that what he wanted?

A face drifting in the tide. What was peace when his face was always a painting of a single thrash of brother given agony. Betrayal. Ringing knoll bell of a new death—

Dead. He was gone. Her fault, always her fault.

Someone is screaming.

Her grip loosens. The tide grabs him with invisible fingers, pulls him away. He should have been in his coat. With a cigar. She should have fixed his hair, done his eye, like he was particular about.

Jinx watches as father’s body disappears into the tide. Not burnt. Not buried. Jinx can’t do anything right. Or— Powder—

Fishbones speaks. Jinx sees her own face disappear with father’s.

Above the dark wash water, Piltover burns.

[deadgirlwalking91]

Scene idea for ya. Lute's a jealous girl. Imagine she and Adam are getting nasty, and she says something like "Tell me I'm better than Layla."

Adam complies, something like "Miles better, babe."

But after when they're cuddling, he nudges her and goes "Hey...No more about the other girls, alright Lute? There's a reason you're here, and they're not, and you already know why." And pulls her in closer.

(Im terrible at writing sex forgive me if this is bad lol)

Hey Anon,

Your wish is my command <3

“Say it, Adam.”

He blinked, confused. “Wait – what am I supposed to be saying?”

Conversation wasn’t important right now. What was important though, was the fact that Lute was riding him like her life depended on it, which had rendered him mostly speechless.

Most of the time, she was more than happy for Adam to take the lead in the bedroom – which he had no complaints about whatsoever. He liked being the one in control. Sometimes, however, Lute would suddenly get a tell-tale gleam in her eye, and before Adam would have the chance to question it, she’d pounce on him, practically ripping his clothes off with her hands – her teeth too, if she could.

It was hot as fuck.

Tonight, had been one of those nights. They’d been hanging out on the couch after work, like normal, and next thing Adam knew, she was dragging him into the bedroom and threw him on the mattress. In that moment, he knew this was going to be one of those encounters.

He just wished he also knew what the fuck she was on about. It didn’t help that he could feel himself starting to climax; he found his hips starting to chase hers, a dead giveaway that he was close.

“Say. It,” she growled, placing emphasis on each word as she continued to roll her hips forcefully against his. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look her in the eye, her golden irises burning into his own. “Tell me I’m better than Layla.”

Oh.

Oh.

She was in one of those moods.

“Babe,” he panted, taking hold of her hips as he bucked up into her. “Nobody even compares. You’re so much better.” He found himself momentarily breathless as he started reaching the point of no return. “So. Much. Bett-argh!”

He couldn’t finish his sentence; his release sent thousands of tiny, pleasurable shockwaves that pulsated throughout his body. Throwing his head back into the pillow, he groaned as he felt Lute contract around him, the overstimulation now almost unbearable as she collapsed onto his chest with a loud cry.

It didn’t happen often, but fuck it was hot when they came together.

She rolled off him and immediately flung an arm over her eyes. Her heaved erratically, and Adam couldn’t help but smile as she tried – in vain – to bring herself back down to Heaven from wherever she ascended to during her orgasm.

“That good, huh?” he breathed. She nodded, unable to speak. It wasn’t uncommon for her to be rendered speechless for several minutes after they had sex; especially when she was the one driving it. Afterglow Lute was something else entirely. Her hair was tousled from running her hands through it, her cheeks and chest were flushed from exhaustion, and her lips were so swollen from how forcefully she’d been kissing him. Adam thought that she looked the most beautiful like this, in her blissful, fucked-out state that he’d grown to love over the short amount of time that they’d been together.

“Yeah,” she sighed eventually, removing her arm from her face as she smiled at him. “That good.”

He smirked back at her before nudging her arm with his elbow. “Hey,”

“What?”

Rolling onto his side, Adam brushed Lute’s damp hair back from her face. “No more about the other girls, alright Lute?”

“Adam, I—”

“—I fucking mean it, babe.” He scooted closer to her and pulled her to him, their sweat-slicked chests pressing together. “There’s a reason you’re here and they’re not.” She looked up at him and the corners of her eyes crinkled.

“Why?” she pressed, drawing lazy circles with her index finger on his bicep. The lightness of her touch sent a pleasant shiver down his spine.

“You know why.”

Lute shifted her attention to his hair, raking her hand through it. “Because I’m your best girl?” she offered, her voice shifting to a softer, shier tone that contrasted her hard, determined demeanour entirely.

“Yeah, Lute.” He kissed the top of her head before wrapping his arms around her small frame, holding her tight. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, and he smiled as he rested his cheek atop her head. “You’re my best girl, alright.”

[hyuckie-angel]

treasure reaction; college boyfriend

in which they love their partner and their studies (sometimes)

a/n; a lil suggestive in jihoon, yoshi, asahi and doyoung’s parts

최현석 • choi hyunsuk

the making music at 1am boyfriend

the raw talent your partner hyunsuk possesses is no joke

the way music seems to come from his fingertips

magically into the software

renders you speechless sometimes

‘come look at what i made :D’

he’ll never say it but all of his lyric inspiration is you

he’s never failed a project and he knows its because he’s got you there to write about :’)

but anyway

despite adoring his creativity, sometimes he really just has no clue 

like there’s a road in his brain but its one way and the lines are fading

if you get what i mean

it’s really late

the world is silent

you are drifting off into dreams

when out of nowhere you hear a really loud Dm chord blasting through the stereo

‘hyunsukkkkkkkk’

‘yeah? :0′

he’s cute when he’s confused so you forgive him

when he has an early class you sometimes have to get out of bed and force him away from his desk

‘but im almost don-’

‘hyunsuk it is 4am go the fuck to sleep’

sometimes he whips out the guitar at 1am, strumming a few chords and humming along

this you could never say no to

‘i wrote this one for you the other day’

lying there listening to him quietly serenade you fills you with this warm comfortableness 

so you jump out of bed to grab his face 

planting a soft kiss onto his lips

you can feel his grin even with your eyes shut

its safe to say that sleeping doesn’t play a huge part in the relationship, and you could not care any less :)

박지훈 • park jihoon

the ‘if i finish my project will you finish me? ;)’ boyfriend

lord help your soul

jihoon may look like the sweetest, most innocent guy on campus

but oh boy is that incorrect

before you were even dating he was winking at you across the classroom

or running ahead of you to open doors

and despite his wide and elated smile when you finally accepted his advances

he is a fiend

he’s like your own personal devil on your shoulder

‘surely we skip this class’ wink wink wink

you quickly figured out that the best motivation for this man is

well

the intimate kind

the ‘if you finish this project in the next hour ill let you do whatever you want tonight’ kind

he has absolutely no complaints

it was a dream come true when he realised you would reciprocate

besides

both of you would much rather spend a night having fun

than reading coursework and hating life

of course he has his sweet moments

buys you flowers

brings you chocolate when you’re sad

agrees that making a pillow fort is very important rn

cue the next 3 hours of bickering and pillow related injuries

but his tendency to get distracted

makes itself known quite often

of course you use this to your advantage

walking into the room in a tiny little skirt and an almost see through top

you get more attention than you’ve ever dreamed of

and the sex 

you don’t wanna blow up his ego

but it’s just always really, really good

your professor has started to become suspicious

sometimes both of you do fantastic work

but sometimes both your projects look rushed  (¬_¬)

‘we just spent too much time studying for our other class professor i swear’

this boy will be the death of you 

金本芳典 • kanemoto yoshinori

the always late to class boyfriend

you love this boy to the grave

but you cannot count on all your fingers and toes the amount of times he has forgotten about his classes

never once has he done it on purpose

the man just gets so distracted by anything and everything

especially you

he is no thoughts head empty only yn

‘holy fucking fuck i have class rn’

you have his schedule written down in your phone

so when you tell him you’re going to the shops and he says he’s coming

you can tell him 

‘no yoshi you have literature in 5 minutes’

cue yoshi olympic sprinting out of the house

the amount of times he comes back from class with a paper that has been graded 

‘98%... late’

its basically his brand atp

you’re no better sometimes though

if you’re making out and in the back of your mind you know he probably has class soon

but you’d much rather be here

with his hands in you hair and your heavy breaths breaking the silence

you just say nothing

yoshi doesn't care if he’s late because you guys were having sex

in fact unsurprisingly

he quite enjoys it

 as do you lmao

‘yoshi you have class’

‘stfu do you wanna have sex or not jesus’

he’s also developed a sixth sense when around his professors

if he passes by one of them on campus

he immediately leaves your side

jumping behind a bush

as you get confronted by his literature professor asking why tf he missed half an hour of class again

‘just tell them i died’ 

‘no??’

he’s never going to change, but as the wisest men say

yolo

김준규 • kim junkyu

the studies until 5am then sleeps through the class boyfriend

if theres one thing about junkyu

its that sleep >>>>> anything else

(aside from you >> ofc)

he also has this unbelievable fear of failing

so to compensate he spends hours and hours studying

into the night

you wake up sometimes and there’s 4 redbull cans scattered across the desk

and a very unconscious junkyu drooling onto his workbook

you take a photo of him

you gently shake him and wake him enough to get himself to bed

you can always tell how hard he’s working to try and pass his classes with the best marks possible

and you admire him for it

but goddamn does he need to stop staying up so late

you remember the infamous night that he stayed up super late cramming

absolutely determined to pass his exam with the highest marks possible

and then proceeded to sleep through all his alarms

you received a very tearful phone call that morning

‘can you wake me up at 6:30?’

‘junkyu its 5am that is 1 and a half hours of sleep’

‘yea??’

he lives and breaths energy drinks

cue his hands shaking to the point where both of you are like

‘maybe we should go to a doctor’  (≖_≖ )

your favourite thing to do together is nap

because he is always sleep deprived

he turns into a cuddly gremlin when you lie down together

you want to get up and use the bathroom

too bad

wait until he wants to let go

its okay though because he’s so cute

sometimes when you’re napping he unconsciously kisses your forehead and cuddles closer to you

and you have to say nothing so you don’t wake him but also die inside from love and affection

although he is clumsy

and somewhat disorganised

he’s your clumsy and disorganised, and you love him more than anything <333333

윤재혁 • yoon jaehyuk

the ‘whats the answer???’ boyfriend

you met jaehyuk in a class the two of you shared

you could tell he was an absent minded guy

he was often staring towards the front of the lecture hall

looking directly through the teacher

and taking in precisely zero information

but because you were sat next to him

and you liked to think you were a decent person

you would give him a tap on the shoulder every time you thought he was missing something important

this seemed quite mundane to you

just a girl helping out a fellow classmate  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

but the butterflies that birthed in his stomach every time you leant over to help him out

made him feel crazy

so he asked you out

after getting over the initial surprise of this gorgeous man wanting to be your boyfriend

you began to notice all these little habits about him

his confused squint when he’s trying to figure something out

the way he clenches his jaw in understanding

his fiddly hands when he’s losing his attention span

and your personal favourite;

the way he leans over to ask you questions about the class

‘hey what did you get for number 1 coz i got 35 but its not even a maths question?’

he’s also so unintentionally funny

‘babe i lost 17 pens can i borrow one?’

once you snorted in amusement so loudly the teacher said bless you

which made jaehyuk loose his shit laughing

and now whenever you laugh at his expense he says bless you

so you slap him (gently)

he pokes his tongue out 

you pretend to get offended

he laughs and kisses you softly

you forgive him immediately

his attention span in class has definitely improved with you helping him

even the professor has noticed

but

he maaaay or may not be pretending to zone out sometimes

just so you’ll tap him on the shoulder and look at him with your pretty eyes and ask him if he needs anything :’)

浜田朝光 • hamada asahi

the quiet sober; crazy drunk boyfriend

when you first met your boyfriend asahi

his quiet and calm temperament had caught your attention

you’d seen him in the library, head down, brown hair falling in his eyes

and you’d realised that you needed this man

he was beautiful

so you went and talked to him

his responses were

well

limited

‘hi’

‘yeah’

‘haha’

but little did you know his heart had swelled and his palms had become clammy at the sight of you

you and your face that he thought was maybe the most gorgeous he’d ever seen

so two months later you were dating

he’d told you he didn’t drink much

he didn’t care for it

but when you were invited to his best friend jaehyuks birthday party, he told you he’d probably indulge a little

“a little” he said

by the time you got into the uber to go to the party, his cheeks were flushed 

by the time you got there, he was smiling wonkily at you like an idiot

about half an hour later and you’d totally lost him

you weren’t worried, it was a safe environment

but you were curious

so out you went to look for him

and there he was on the roof

ON THE ROOF?!?!

his hangover the next morning was his punishment for doing stupid shit you’d told him

now every time you drink

you wait for an incident ™

sometimes he just gets super horny

‘can we leave plzzz babe ;))’

and sometimes he manages things you don’t understand

‘okey we needa go coz that guys wantz to fite me idk why’

but all times, he is hungover for three days and one of his professors thinks he has an alcohol problem 

‘i’m never drinking again’ :(

김도영 • kim doyoung

the hits on you like you’re not dating boyfriend

just like jihoon

doyoung has this innocent exterior, devilish interior 

kinda vibe

he also has absolutely no shame ever

and so has this habit of constantly putting you in awkward situations 

where people think he’s harassing you

but in reality he’s just being a dickhead

‘hey bby girl you wanna come back to my place tonight?’ ;)

before you had told your best friend that you and doyoung were dating

he had come over, slung an arm around your shoulders and gone

‘hey sexy’

you had turned bright red

and your friend had looked so confused you thought she might have an aneurism

doyoung lives in a share house just off campus with three roommates; jaehyuk, jeongwoo and junkyu

the first few times you’d come over, doyoung turned off the weirdness

opting for just following you around

like a lost puppy

but when he realised his roommates didn’t pay you guys any attention

suddenly he’s backing you into walls

grabbing you from behind in the kitchen

staring at your chest almost all the time

and just being a general menace to society 

you have a really lovely and not embarrassing at all memory 

of a beautiful spring day

5:30pm

you and two friends were walking out of class

giggling at everything under the sun

when a voice echoes through the air

a voice belonging to your beloved boyfriend who’s standing 20 feet away from you with a shit eating grin on his face

‘yo yn... is that a mirror in your pocket coz i can see myself in your pants!!!!’ ;)) 

your physics professor was standing right behind him 

you’ve never seen someone go from confident to embarrassed that quickly

but even though he is your personal humiliation creator

you still let him hit

what can you say, he’s dumb but he’s hot lmaooo

渡辺春虎 • watanabe haruto

the ‘i fcking hate this class’ boyfriend

you were the year above haruto

you in your third year of studies, him in his second

you had dreamt your whole life of becoming a marine biologist

dedicating countess hours to study and achieving perfect scores

it wasn’t a secret that you loved all of your classes

now

one evening you were asked by your professor to attend a lecture and maybe help out anyone in need

and that’s when you first saw him

you thought he was cute immediately, his platinum blonde hair framing his face nicely and his glasses sliding down his nose a little

but you weren’t one for pursuing attraction

so you spent the lecture walking around and giving tips to people that asked

until haruto raised his hand as you walked by

secretly happy, you sat down next to him and asked what he needed

it was basically love at first sight for both of you

you spent the rest of the lecture sitting with him

he found you so endearing 

and you thought he was hilarious

all was going so well

until he opened his mouth and went 

‘yeah i fucking hate this class lol’

you awkwardly smiled

‘this is my favourite class’

his grin dropped dramatically

‘ah- ah i’m sorry idk why i said that’

you weren’t offended in the slightest

but his flustered reaction made you giggle

you began dating only weeks later :)

haruto’s favourite thing was to annoy the shit out of you talking about how much he dislikes the classes you love

you could be sitting in the food court

having a loving conversation

and out of nowhere he goes

‘i’m so glad im not in that class rn’

you deadpan stare at him 

if he sees you studying for the class

‘damn i was gonna stay over but not anymore i guess fuck’

so dramatic i stg

despite wanting to punch him in the jaw sometimes

he makes you laugh more than you had in years

and so you can move past the difference in interests for him

박정우 • park jeongwoo

the second-hand embarrassment boyfriend

like

confidently raises his hand and says the total wrong answer

kinda guy

trips over and sprains his ankle in the food court

kinda guy

not that you’d have it any other way

but damn sometimes you have to restrain from cringing visibly

he’s like a walking sit-com

and you are the audience

your personal favourite pass-time is forcing him to listen to his own actions retold from your perspective

as you wheeze with laughter and he sits there like  (－_－) 

he secretly loves it though

if his misfortune is enough to make you happy

he thinks you might be slightly weird

but your happiness is all that matters to him

so he can deal with it

‘im glad me falling on my ass was this amusing to you thanks heaps babe’

one day you were sitting in a class you shared 

it was business and it was boring but it was both of your favourite class because you were in <3 love <3

and jeongwoo had a question

the professor was walking around the classroom so he was waiting

and as they walked over, jeongwoo opened his mouth

and you watched practically in slow motion as he said

‘hey mum i have a question’

your eyes widened

his eyes widened

the professors eyes widened 

doyoungs eyes widened

you held back on laughing until he’d gotten the answer he needed

and then you and doyoung let loose 

‘hey mum’

‘mummy i mean mummy i mean-’

‘excuse me professor birthgiver’

‘OKAY I GET IT SHUT THE FUCK UP PLEASE’

if he ever gets insecure about anything

you look him dead in the eyes and tell him that he may be an idiot, but he’s your idiot, and thats all that matters :)

소정환 • so junghwan

the spends all his money on you boyfriend

from the beginning

junghwan had been spoiling you silly 

buying you lunches

hearing you say you liked something and immediately purchasing it

you hadn’t thought anything of it at first

assuming it was just a friendly gesture

but the smirks from all your friends told you a different story

after the two of you began dating, his bank account began suffering

you had told him countless times

he didn’t need to be doing all this

but to him, it was his way of showing you he cared

‘you like this? i buy for u bby girl’

‘junghwan no-’

he also wasn’t afraid of showing people how much he spoiled you

read: ‘one time he walked into your class whilst the teacher was talking and everybody looked at him confused and he walked to you and gave you a block of chocolate and then walked straight back out but blew you a kiss just to make sure you were sufficiently embarrassed’

you adore him for it though

no matter how much he tries to humiliate you

you also aren’t allowed to try and pay him back

if he catches you tryna pay for something

or transferring money

its on sight

‘i am a grown man and i am insulted by this behaviour’

sometimes you run to the food court to buy both of you lunch before he gets there

so that he can’t lecture you on spending money

sometimes you think he’s a bit dumb though

you once broke a pencil you’d been using in your art class

and in response junghwan had bought you 83 more

‘why are there 7 parcels at my door rn’

‘damn that shits crazy i have no idea’

despite this

you know his only intention is to be there for you and help you out

so you always thank him with a huge hug 

and only one or two insults about him being a walking wallet

[miradanii]

Beast Wars First Watch - Complete

I almost teared up at the end. 52 episodes of a old ass Transformers show. For a primitive CGI show about toys beating each other up from 1996 it holds up like REALLY. The issue is that we're in the year 2024 and it's very understandable that it wouldn't be easy to go and watch janky polygons for 52 episodes. So if anyone was interested in Beast Wars but couldn't go past the first episode because how weird everything looks, here's what helped me:

This is the second CGI tv show ever to air on TV, so give it a break.

1996...Beast Wars was animated by Mainframe. And their first CGI show in 1994 was called Reboot the first ever CGI show ever made. Sure when Toy Story came out and changed the game in 1995, they worked within their limitations. All the toys were plastic for a reason. They were very simple. Beast Wars said fuck that and in each 20 minute episodes contain characters with various textures, performing complex animations during whatever tv schedule they were on. If you ever spotted a character's face or body sliding when it's not supposed to, they were probably running out of time or there's an error that just couldn't be fixed as easily as it could now. I studied Maya in college years ago and I'm telling you rendering was a bitch if your sequence was long. Keeping in mind with what the team had to work with or possibly even invent on their own was just enough for me to be massively impressed. Our standards for CGI in TV have risen over the course of the years. We had Transformers Prime in 2010, 2015 Miraculous Ladybug premiered, CGI films became experimental such as Spiderverse and Puss in Boots. So think of Beast Wars as an early part of history in animation. It's nice to see how far we've come.

If you crave a silly time, this is for you. Whatever choices the animator's made were really funny (not the ones they had no control over), or just bizarre. When you get used to the style, over the course of the series the animation of the characters start becoming more expressive. Season 2 I think Megatron got increasingly expressive with his body movements. Whoever was animating him, they were having a lot of fun (at leas that's what it seems like). Inferno is a character to keep an eye on because he does a lot of fun motions with his body too. I kept losing my shit on the choices on how they animated in certain scenes. Kept me entertained until the very end.

2. Banger Voice Acting

The voice acting is one of the standouts from this show. Though the animation may not hold up well, the voice acting does. Garry Chalk is such a sassy young Optimus. A bit more fun than the young Optimus Prime that David Kaye (oh shit I just realized he's Megatron in Beast Wars...wow yeah this guy has range) plays in Transformers Animated if you were looking for anything similar like that. You'll still get some goofy 90's voice acting though like with Dinobot and Terrorsaur, even Rattrap but I think it's part of it's charm. I once again bring up Megatron as a reason to watch this show. The way this man delivers his lines is just *chef's kiss*

3. Fun and Weirdly Dark...

After finishing the series holy shit. I cannot fathom how you have a show with a rollerblading t-rex AND a decent onscreen death count. Hanna-Barbara cartoon noises alongside characters being constantly impaled and ripped apart (sometimes its for a teehee haha but then spin it around adding in some tension and that sweet composition and suddenly its not so funny anymore). Shakespeare. I don't know if it was just me but I couldn't predict most of what would happen next. Because being a high budget show to sell toys...knowing the 1986 movie...these characters aren't safe. I lost my shit, multiple times. More than I thought it would. Before finishing this show I did sneak a peek at what other people had said about Beast Wars and what was constantly being said was that nearly every episode was important to the over all plot of the series. And it's true! You miss an episode and you might be a little confused. I wanna know how kids who were first tuning into the show after a couple characters die and what their thoughts were...cause it's not like Batman Animated where you could watch the show in any order and be fine. Even before the box sets were released too.

Overall in the year 2024, I love Beast Wars. Obviously it's a product of it's time and no doubt has its flaws. But, that's what happens with a lot of beloved older series. Out of all the Transformers stories I've been watching/reading the past few months, Beast Wars got the biggest reactions out of me. It's also the one I had a lot of fun with because it's so unhinged and goofy/bizarre. I cannot stress that enough. Because Transformers is already bizarre enough and Beast Wars shot past it for me. How is Beast Machines gonna go after it???

I dunno. It's next on my list.

Even more thoughts and spoilers (end of the show spoilers) below:

I...yeah Beast Machines is next for me. I am gonna miss the silly polygons of the original Beast Wars crew. NGL I thought I had one more episode since the youtube playlist said 53. There must have been a double episode or something. I am aware that Beast Wars had complications later on in its run. Similar to TFP so it's obvious to say that I think they needed at least like two max three more episodes for certain plot points and just...character life span. No shit I would have wanted one more season. The lil ol 12 episodes and a 45 minute special at least. Dude...Dinobot 2...when that clone came back for a while, I really didn't think they were gonna do anything with him. There weren't any reactions to Dinobot coming back from the Maximals other than...a Pred...always a Pred...so I'm like okay Dinobot 2...different character...I don't need to think about it. Thanks for pulling my heartstrings show...really gotta push me off the ledge when I'm not looking huh? Man finds his honor, do his good deed after being released from the grasp of Megatron's control....looks at Optimus to fully remember himself and FUCKING DIES IN THE END...AGAIN???? That's so cruel. owie.

Tigerhawk after over 20 episodes an INSANE character reveal and clever way of bring back two characters for the price of one (because they can only afford so many voice actors and animate so many characters). This was a good concept. I would have loved to see it be explored...IF THEY DIDN'T DIE...AGAIN. Especially Airazor can't catch a break...this poor woman.

Okay bye Death Charge. You got what you wanted. At least he technically didn't die in vain? The shock that Rampage just let it happen...yeah those two are a character study.

dsafghjghtrjy yeah give Waspinator what he wants. The potentially immortal robot a good ending. At least he's not evil anymore????? Man does not care his former coworker's body parts are used as musical instruments and cooking ware.

This show has a higher onscreen character death than Transformers Prime (Vehicons don't count). Sheesh. Transformers die...a lot. However, Beast Wars surprised me the most with it. I noted from above that these characters get shot, torn apart, flattened?, and beaten senselessly throughout the show. So when a character dies for good its somewhat shocking in my opinion.

All the love for Blackarachnia. I was in constant fear about her character because I couldn't tell what was going to happen. There was a good chance she would either die or disappoint and become Megatron's goon again. The best version is her Transmetal upgrade and recognizing the design as inspiration for Blackarachnia in Transformers Animated. I screamed when I saw her design. I was so happy. I love her and Silverbolt. What a healthy relationship.

This is a show I do want to rewatch it at some point and even just...be one of those people that make a 45 minute video essay some day. I want physical copies but the site where they supposedly sold it is...not there last time I checked? Which is odd because I had a paper ad for it on the TFP blue-rays I got for my birthday.

Also...I do like this series better than Transformers Prime...not because it's better overall, like if you seen it, you know. Also just rewatching Prime simultaneously cemented my feelings about it. I still love both though. Prime is close to my heart since it's what I grew up with, but Beast Wars has a Dino on rollerskates and Optimus Prime as a blue gorilla riding a hoverboard...like...idk man. I just think it's neat.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

I saw a stupid Google AI commercial that basically had a glorified version of Google Translate, where the phone translated a short conversation between two people in real time and, of course, had a message of like "lulz AI is the future :3"

As a language instructor, I need to rant about this lol. First of all, again, Google Translate already exists and you don't need to waste more energy (literally) with whatever new AI app they're trying to push. Secondly, have you used Google Translate? It's gotten better, yes, and it can be okay when used as a dictionary, but it's still kind of shaky when it comes to sentence structures that sound natural (and not like a machine made them), and it's even shakier when detecting spoken language. We have clients who come into our workplace all the time who don't speak any English, and they speak into their phone's translator to try to communicate. It gets things wrong all the time, and I know that because it spits out a sentence that makes no sense in context. It only needs to mishear one word to render a sentence nonsensical. It also doesn't seem to detect heavy accents very well. Hell, even in English, my phone's speech-to-text gets things wrong sometimes.

Next, translators are built upon the standard dialects of languages. I really doubt AI is going to be able to translate slang efficiently. If I say something like, "Nah man, I ain't messin' with that jawn", what the fuck would it spit out in Burmese? Can it efficiently translate AAVE into Khmer? Remember, translation is a skill and an art, because direct translations often don't convey the same meaning that they have in their original languages. That's why people spend their entire careers as professional translators. You need people to understand the innumerable nuances of human language, which is always changing, and heavily impacted by tone! I'm very skeptical that AI can reliably detect things like sarcasm or hedging!

[bonus-links]

Your latest update has me in awe oh my fuck

Any tips for rendering? The way you did the fairy/slate lighting is so pretty!!

Also the seeing the differences between pre and post calamity slate when you put them right next to each other is so good 😩👌🏼

thank you so much! I can go through how I colored one of the panels if that's helpful! This is the method I use for the whole comic.

I chose this panel since it's got fairy lighting. under the cut!

This is what my layer structure looks like in Clip Studio Paint EX. The layers marked in red are clipped to the BASE layer, meaning that they will only fill inside the lines of that layer. This makes the process SO much easier. You can clip layers to the layer below by clicking this icon at the top of the layer panel.

This is what the base layer looks like, just filling in the lines:

Then, I add flat colors:

I don't always do this, but for this setting I added a teal/green tint with the blending mode set to Vivid Light 16% opacity. Soft Light, Hard Light or Overlay are also good for this I usually just toggle until I decide one looks best:

I then add a layer filled completely with a shadow color set to multiply, usually lowering the opacity depending on how intense I want the shadows to be. I then add a layer mask (also at the top of the layers panel, it looks like a white rectangle with a dark circle in the middle) which allows me to mask out the shadow shapes without actually erasing anything on the color layer. This makes it easy to make changes!

Then I add in the lighting by taking a big airbrush and lightly coloring in my light color from the direction I want the light to be coming. I set the blending mode to Add (Glow) because it create a nice glowy effect and lower the opacity as needed:

Sometimes I will go and add little shiny details to the hair, and in this case reflected light/glow from the water below:

For the fairy light, I use the same Add (Glow) method as the other lighting, using pink this time and focusing only on the areas that would receive the glow:

And finally, I add some pink shine on the edges. I don't line the whole edge, but choose peaks the light would catch:

And that's it! I don't always do this many layers, most panels really only need the SHADOW and LIGHT layer and maybe a bit of hair shine. layer masks are SO helpful i highly recommend utilizing them. I'm always happy to answer questions on main if people want to know more about my process <3

[codgod]

ok im silly and obsessed with your art so i wanted to ask you about it!

i really love your shading on art, the layering and different colors is very well done! do you have any feedback on how to do rendering and shading? cause i know nothing about it

im also curious about your anatomy, its accurate but also very unique between characters! do you mind doodling like... how your format it? u know what i mean???

NEXT I WANT TO ASK! ABOUT YOUR OUTFIT IDEAS!! where do you get your inspiration for those beautiful fucking designs?

on the drawing you made of shrimp mariana being held by charlie, im curious about how you did the filtering to make it like. fuzzy but still clear???

last but not least, what application do you use for drawing, and which pens do you use?

sorry for all the questions but your art is a very big inspiration for me and i want to be as talented as u ^^💦

this got really fucking long and i don’t even know if it’s particularly helpful but LETS GO

—

OKAY SO. shading, thing i am apparently accidentally really good at. it’s probably the thing i’ve gotten compliments on the most over the years which is funny because it’s probably the thing i’m Least confident that i can do well. therefore i can’t really give a tutorial but i can give a bunch of disjointed notes

(shown above is my Default Shading, further examples of different lighting below)

everything else under the cut or this is gonna be a mile long

i like using blue for shading, yellow/orange for lighting but generally you can just make them opposite/complimentary colours to each other and that’ll work. cool shadows, warm light or warm shadows, cool light. you get it. that’s a general rule there’s probably exceptions. i will say i hate using purple for shadows but that’s a personal preference (as is every colour i use being so saturated lol)

the orange around the edges is supposed to be subsurface scattering on skin but i put it on all the edges because i like how it looks 👍

yes there’s two different bounce lights. idk why i do this. i also just think it looks nice. i guess the one on the shading layer is more for form and the one on the lighting layer is more for the yk. lighting? anyways the first one is just a lighter version of the shading colour the second one is darker and slightly hue shifted (depending on the lighting scenario — it can be brighter if the situation calls for it)

the reason i don’t just shade around the edges is because it can make things look very flat which is the opposite of what you want when shading. sometimes it can just go on the edges in some specific scenarios but i like my shadows Chunky. basically having it go over the form instead of just along it can help show that form more

top left - night time | top right - bisexual? | bottom left - spotlight i guess? | bottom right - default/daylight again, just wanted to show a shape example

something i’ll also do a lot is have a separate multiply layer that’s just one colour and i’ll throw that over the whole thing to get the base colours correct for the lighting scenario. some people do it by eye but i am lazy so i cheat 👍 often it’ll be the same as the more detailed shadow colour but as with the top right example sometimes it’s different

shadows are either on multiply or linear burn, lights are either on add (glow) or glow dodge. depends on what looks best. same with opacity, i don’t have any real rules there

i also LOVE harsh lighting but that’s just a me thing. UMMM i can’t think of anything else to say

—

so next is ANATOMY okay this is also something i’m not super confident with lol but i can give some more disjointed notes by just redlining my own sketches lol

the uuuh “bottom of boobs is 2/3 down the ribs” isn’t technically correct? if ur drawing someone with big boobs and no bra on they’re probably gonna go lower but that’s kinda. where they come out from i guess. i also don’t think the “ribs” i draw are technically accurate but it works for a reference point

arms are a diamond (the shoulder.. muscle.. thing… idk what it’s called) and then some Tapered Tubes idk they’re not super complicated. if you wanna get more into it go google buff people and trace/redline their arms that’s how i learnt orz and uuuh i kinda also have the taking up 2/3 of the ribs but a bit Above. the way i’ve worded that makes no goddamn sense i’m bad at explaining this

ANYWAYS yeah bodies are just shapes if you want ppl to look unique just squash or stretch out the shapes 👍 and also learn actual anatomy stuff that always helps. my final message: learn to draw fat people it is no more difficult than drawing thin people

—

OUTFITS i love outfits. i have a pinterest board where a lot of my inspo comes from and it’s a section within a bigger board so ig i’m just giving you my whole inspo board. here (it’s the one called character fashion) (i do not condone art being reposted on pinterest without artists permission just ignore how much i have saved)

pinterest in general is good for outfit design stuff as long as you know where/how to look. u could also try fashion blogs and stuff

ummm a lot of stuff does just come from my own head tho, like based on clothes i like or vaguely inspired by stuff i’ve seen before. if you look through the board you can also see that like i rarely ever copy stuff directly i kinda just use whatever stuff i find as a base to work from. just find stuff you like and go from there i guess, i sometimes like picking a specific subculture or fashion style for a character and seeing what i can make from that (like missa is emo/scene, slime is like some kinda ravecore thing?? idk)

—

OKAY i’m assuming you mean like the glowy effect? makes everything look Soft?

(idk if u can even see the difference here orz also ignore how many fuckin layers i use i’m a mess) (the top layer is that catboy missa doodle i did ignore that too)

this is something i do on Most drawings to the point i have an auto action set up for it. duplicate the entire drawing (on csp the easiest way is to just merge visible to new layer), gaussian blur to like ? idk i think it’s 40% or something? i don’t remember, set that layer to soft light and lower the opacity

if that’s NOT what you meant feel free to send a follow up question LOL

OH actually if u mean the colour jitter stuff on the . colours. that’s not a filter i was just using a brush with slight hue jitter on i was Experimenting

—

AND FINALLY i use clip studio paint on my ipad and most of the brushes i use on the reg can be found here

favourites are the ones i made (i actually have more of those i need to upload—) and the raz sketch ones 👍 namely raz sketch (thick) with the density turned up a bit from the default, been using that a lot for lineart

[rriavian]

Okay so I honestly don't remember if I sent you this already or not. My brain was very mushy near the end of nano, lol. But, for the december prompt list you reblogged:

Fuzzy socks, Hobrinthian. :)

You did so well to power through the curse of November! I also reblogged far too many prompt lists when I was supposed to be concentrating on Nano haha. This was a great prompt! I had a lot of fun with it (despite it not wanting to stay wholesome and cute) though this is still a new pairing for me so very much testing things out. It's still a little rough but please enjoy! <3

-

Hob must admit he’d been expecting this reaction.

One could almost say he’d been aiming for it—anticipating it, amused at the thought—had grinned while he’d wrapped the fuzzy socks in garish Christmas paper and tied a ribbon around the finished product. The socks were fairly soft, definitely warm, and, most importantly, ridiculously decorated with tiny toothbrushes and silly cartoon teeth.

The Corinthian wasn’t impressed. “What the fuck are they?”

Hob let an unhealthy dose of mockery slip into his tone when he replied.

“Socks.”

The Corinthian fell into outrage almost the same way Dream did, the difference perhaps in how here sophistication slipped a little more, his representation of affront sharpening feral rather than aloof. Hob might have been lucky enough to be allowed to examine the ocular teeth unbarred—it becoming increasingly rare that the Corinthian wore them around him at all—but whether those opaque glasses were on or not the eyes were always contemplating murder. Now it became the certainty of a threat rather than the tease of one. Golden lashes might be delicate but the Corinthian’s blink was far from benign, teeth snapping closed before he opened his eyes again, a bite to tear a chunk of flesh. Unmistakeably a glare.

The danger thrilled.

“They’re supposed to go on your feet.” Hob added.

The Corinthian smiled.

A sudden change for all it crept slow across his face; as if he’d seen footprints on a trail, read ahead and found spoilers, a secret entrusted to him just by Hob standing neutral in the Corinthian’s presence. It was as unavoidable as it was uncanny.

The truth of him was that any human left themselves unguarded when caught in the Corinthian's eyeline.

Hob watched as he set the socks down gently on the table, subtly stretching in a roll of muscled shoulders, what lay beneath the surface seeming to shiver free like shifting gears. Perhaps like flicking off the safety on an already loaded gun. A lean into the sensuality of motion, a perfect knowledge of what he looked like when he moved, the inhuman thing he was threaded intricately in flesh. Infused with a human shape to render a nightmare here, in the Waking World, to translate the Corinthian so perfectly to this place that had inspired his creation but would never be his home.

When he spoke the question was mild.

“You got me a Christmas present?”

“Yes.”

Oh, the danger was calibrated now, set to exactly the right sort of simmer, deliberate rather than an instinctive reaction. The Corinthian prowled closer, unhurried despite the growing loom of his threat, a trigger in that sinuous stride because Hob didn’t even realise he’d backed away until he found himself stumbling back against a wall.

He didn’t remember how he’d got there.

A moment of lost time; Hob couldn’t even say he’d been directed, knew the destination had been predicted nonetheless, knew it by the amused twist in the Corinthian’s deceptively charming smile. That was similar to what happened around Dream sometimes—when his friend let himself slip, when an implication of what he was decided it wanted to take a look out of his eyes—a fraction of a mask sliding to the side to reveal an scant inch of bare skin. It was a moment of instinct bypassing consciousness. Perhaps that was part of what a nightmare was, a peek behind the curtain, letting Hob see enough to know it, letting him recognise danger enough to act on it.

“Scared?” The Corinthian purred.

“A little,” Hob replied with a smile; no hesitation in the admittance, embracing the pounding heart, the quickened breath, fear responses so similar to another sort of reaction. For all terror served its own purpose it was still similar enough to tempt at crossing the wires a little.

Enough that Hob had long since been certain feeling afraid could feel so very good.

The Corinthian would know that too, far older, far more experienced—rare to come across that, to find what made Hob feel young, feel new—had been a monster for longer than even Hob could comprehend.

Had practised at it like a musician with their favourite score.

“Just a little?”

Hob smirked. “Well I—”

A soft little thud as a hand struck the wall next to his head, open palmed before curling into a loose fist, a sound that made Hob jump. He realised he was trapped before the flinch had even settled; really caged in now, the Corinthian smiling a rapidly sharpening smile, an answering instinct inside of Hob squirming with helpless fear and telling him to move. There was nowhere to go though. No where to run.

Oh how part of him wanted to run.

It was what was behind the curtain, wasn’t it? The Corinthian anchored fear in what looked like a man, no unknowable terror could ever be this stark, the truth that what lived alien in the darkness could step out wearing your own face. He unveiled the depth of an ocean, shone a light where human eyes alone could never hope to see, revealed how right it was to fear the dark by forcing you to understand what lived in it.

By making itself comprehendible it proved why you should be afraid.

“I didn’t get you a present yet.” The Corinthian mused; voice dipping low, smooth even in threat, even in innuendo, smooth because both could potentially be one in the same. “Let’s fix that hmm?”

Hob swallowed. “What do you have in mind?”

A hand crept to land heavy on his shoulder while the other remained languid beside his head. Hob tensed; relaxed as strong fingers flexed in a tease of superior strength before they groped upwards, found his throat, rested relaxed while a thumb teased at its hollow. The Corinthian knew how to handle a human, how much to push, how hard he could touch before one broke. That wasn’t always what he wanted. Now he hummed, thoughtful, the easy confidence of a predator deciding what to do with caught prey, a debate of whether what he’d caught would be better as a meal or entertainment.

It was honestly more than a little theatrical because Hob knew the Corinthian had already made up his mind.

He knew he could play as well as eat.

“Let’s get you out of those clothes.” The Corinthian replied at last, a soft drawl yet still an order, aware of what sort of game Hob had initiated. “Then we’ll see.”

Hob took a deep breath.

Then he grinned, unapologetically cheeky, taunting bold like a crooked finger beckoning for more, an invitation saying if you want me come and get me. Hob flicked his eyes to the table then back to the Corinthian, looked straight at those gleaming teeth and winked, half salacious, half cold.

“You should put the socks on first.”