#sorry if ranked a show u like less than you did :/
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legendaryrooftopscene · 1 year ago
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It's my two-year anniversary of discovering Bad Buddy and falling head over heels for Thai QL! Last year I watched 112 shows
This year, I'm down to a healthy 53 shows/movies/short watched (not counting 10 shows currently airing). My rankings are as follows:
10/10
She Loves To Cook and She Loves To Eat
9/10
To Sir With Love
My School President
Moonlight Chicken
Laws of Attraction
Our Dining Table
Tokyo in April is…
Be My Favorite
My Beautiful Man Eternal (movie)
8/10
Dangerous Romance
Step By Step
The New Employee
My Beautiful Man S2
Never Let Me Go
Our Dating Sim
My Ride
La Pluie
Jun & Jun
Re-run
What Did You Eat Yesterday? S1
WDYEY movie
If it’s With You
Kiseki: Dear To Me
7/10
Only Friends
Candy Color Paradox
The End of the World With You
Sky In Your Heart
Our Skyy 2 (collectively, most scored 8/10 to 6/10)
Step For You
Novelist: Spring Life & Spring Life Continued
Some More
Love Tractor
Childhood
Stay By My Side
WDYEY New Years special
My Personal Weatherman
6/10
A Shoulder To Cry On
609 Bedtime Story
Bed Friend
Naked Dining
Star Struck
Private Lessons
21 Days Theory
Why R U? (Korea)
One Room Angel
5/10
A Boss and a Babe
Destiny Seeker
Cutie Pie 2 You
Future The Series
The Morning After
You Are Mine
4/10
Smoke
Dinosaur Love
Currently airing, no ranking
Last Twilight
Pit Babe
The Sign
Cooking Crush
Bake Me Please
Love Senior
Shadow
My Dear Gangster
Playboyy
VIP only
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belmottetower · 2 years ago
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ur post about jamie’s loan has me thinking soooo many thoughts but the main thing im confused about is this: how was jamie able to get on the starting line-up so quickly after returning from his loan to richmond? city obviously hadn’t originally intended to recall jamie for a while as of 106 — jamie’s loan being pulled and him actually being sent back is presented like a surprising piece of information for everyone in the team, and i just can’t interpret that as “his contract was expiring soon, he just went back a week earlier than normal”. it felt like ted (at the very least) was setting up jamie to stay for a while after that, both strategically and socially. so, if he had spent much less time in richmond than intended (and thus probably developed a lot less than intended), how did he manage to start in richmond’s relegation match? it could have been city trying to give him more minutes against a lower ranked team, but then why would they start him AND let him play the whole game even after it was tied 1-1 if he’s not a consistent part of the starting line up? im a silly little american who knows nothing about european football, but it just doesn’t make sense how jamie could go from “we’re going to give you so few minutes that we basically have to loan u out or else you’re just wasting time” to “you’re going to be on the starting line up/close to it” so quickly once returning to city? was it just him learning to be a team player or is the show just getting fuzzy w the details? (also that was so long im sorry this is just a Very Specific Question and im trying to get it across properly)
This is referring to things from my earlier loan ask, so linking that here.
First of all, I am sure that Jamie's loan was meant to go until the end of the season. However, a loan can be terminated at any point during the season if both parties agree to it. So in this case, City saw he wasn't playing every possible minute with Richmond and they said to Richmond, "if you aren't going to play him, we want him back. We'd rather be the ones training and not using him if YOU'RE not going to use him." They were the ones that instigated the recall of Jamie, Rebecca just simply had to agree to it on behalf of Richmond and Jamie goes home. (Let's not worry about the fact that his agent would have been involved in this process because 2 seconds of digging in that direction makes the plot fall apart.)
But Jamie had been playing for Richmond for almost a full season at this point, from the summer of 2019 to what has to be around the February of 2020. He was there for over nine months of the season, and he went back to City when they only had a couple of months left.
In 1.08, when he visits Keeley, it's late March and he tells her that City were in town playing West Ham. He says "I had ten touches, I had two completed dribbles, and in the 89th minute they let me take a free kick." This implies to me that he was being brought on as a substitute at that point. Because ten touches, for a forward, is not very many during a full 90 minutes. And then the "They let me" in terms of taking a free kick sounds to me like he's still very much not a major power player, more like he's been given a chance, like "give the kid a turn, see how he handles it."
But it still feels to me like City valued Jamie as a player, and when they got him back after around nine months of a loan, they decided to give him a few more chances and see what he could do. And if he's succeeding for them in games as a sub, it's more likely that he will start the next match.
And the thing about the Richmond relegation match is that it's implied City had already secured the Premier League title, weeks before. They are not awarded the trophy at the end of the match. They're not celebrating having won the League. There's no commentary from Arlo and Chris about how City need this to secure the title, unlike they way they explain it in 3.11 and 3.12. So Ted's dressing room speech about giving the champs 90 minutes of hell implies to me that City were ALREADY the league champions, that they'd won it a little earlier in the season. Hopefully it's clear to everyone by now that with a league table, this is pretty common, if someone gets enough points that it is mathematically impossible for other teams to catch up. 
In real life, this year City won the league with three matches left to play. And in this circumstance, once the thing is already won, Pep will shake up the starting line ups quite dramatically and give different players the chance to play. For example, Cole Palmer, who I mentioned in the other post? He started for City in their matches against Chelsea and Brentford at the end of the season, AFTER City had already secured the title, when there were no consequences to City winning or losing. They won against Chelsea and Palmer got an assist on the winning goal, and they actually lost to Brentford in the final match of the season but it didn't matter. Pep uses a high rotation anyway - City does not have a fixed starting eleven, it changes all the time, Palmer has started a handful of other matches in various competitions - but this is very likely what happened to Jamie in terms of the Richmond match. It's the only match we know for an absolute fact that he started in for City, and it's probably because it was a game where the line-up could be changed around and experimented with to give different players opportunities, because they weren't "playing for anything."
Basically, in summary - Jamie played for Richmond for 9-10 months (depending on how early he came in preseason.) By the end of that stay he had played a lot more minutes by then than he ever had before even if he didn't get to stay the whole length of the season. City knew he'd improved and recalled him, deciding that if Richmond weren't going to utilise him, they'd prefer he be with them in Manchester to use when they want. They start using him as a sub in the last couple of months of the season, and he proves himself to be a valuable player for them. So he gets to play more minutes, maybe gets subbed on earlier each game, and eventually he gets to start a few matches, especially ones after City has already won the title and Jamie gets to play the match just for the experience.
In terms of being a team player, I fairly strongly believe that at City, this would have been a given for Jamie no matter what. Jamie got full of himself playing as a 1-up-front striker at Richmond, maybe in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but that's not how he would have ever played at City. Pep's favourite formation during that era of City is 4-3-3 and that's what Jamie was playing in for the Richmond match, he was part of a line of three (the formations are on the Arlo White cheat sheet) against Richmond's 4-4-2. City in this shape favours high possession and passing, so Jamie would have to have been succeeding within the style Pep wanted, i.e., being a team player and passing a lot and not acting as an individual star taking control of the match.
Jamie at Richmond was a selfish player largely because he didn't see the other players as good enough. He saw himself as a cut above them and their only value was to facilitate him in taking control of the match. He's not actually wrong about the skill level objectively, and even Roy admits it in 1.04 - that he knows he should be passing to Jamie but he can't stand Jamie's attitude about it. Because shaping the team to facilitate a star striker like that is not inherently bad football, not if the player isn't a cunt about it - it's a bit like what we saw with Zava, which looked ridiculous to us as viewers but was not actually a situation that anyone other than Jamie resented because Zava made the others feel valued, even if it felt fake to us. But look. Footballers do understand that some players are just better than others, and if your star striker is a nice person who makes everyone feel valued and treats people as proper teammates, there's nothing wrong with the tactic being "get the ball to that person and let them take charge." 
Richmond was Jamie's first taste of being that heroic superstar, where he was the one with all the glory, and because he didn't see the rest of them as on his level, he became a bad "team player" due to not recognising the part the rest of the team played in his success, or helping them improve (playing with people better than you should make you better, generally!) or believing that any of the others could achieve anything. He felt he was doing it all by himself. And George Cartrick clearly also had no interest in training the team in any other way. Very much "just get the ball to Tartt, he's the only one who's any good, and try not to fuck up in the process" as opposed to using Jamie's prowess to elevate EVERYONE. 
At City, where Jamie probably wasn't the best player on the team, where the standards were more equally at his level or better, this factor is not an issue. That's not how Pep trains them, it's not how Pep thinks. Jamie knows that he's not the solo star there. He knows that all the other great players will be contributing to making things happen, that everyone is smart and talented and aren't going to fuck up. Whether he liked it or not, he would have had trust in the way that playing style works, knowing that it's what's being asked of him from Pep and what the situation calls for. But Jamie didn't trust the Richmond players to be good enough to contribute. We see this Sam a lot - his attacks on Sam are often because Sam has failed to put a pass where Jamie wanted it, or missed a shot in training, or whatever. This is not an excuse for his behaviour but it is clear evidence that Jamie is frustrated because the rest of the team isn't at his level. And unlike season 3, he has no interest in working with them on improving, or showing them how best to play with him. Being a good team player isn't always about sharing the ball equally or whatever, it's about working as a team to feed each other's strengths - that's how season 3 Jamie can be both a team player and a total star player at the same time.
Honestly, to me, Jamie making that extra pass in 1.10 wasn't anything to do with Ted, aside from narratively for us as viewers. That's just how City plays football. That's Pep's influence, not Ted's. Ted sees it happen and thinks he's done something to change Jamie's attitude but in my opinion, Jamie is just playing the way Pep wants him to, because he actually values Pep's opinion about tactics in a way he didn't value Ted's. 
There is no way in hell Jamie went from age 13, or whenever he was scouted, to age 23, being a consistently selfish ball hog style player at Man City. Lots of players want to be stars, but I believe that the level we see in season 1 is just how he thought he needed to play at Richmond, because he felt like he was the only one who knew what he was doing and making anything happen on the pitch, and then of course he liked how it felt to have all that attention on him. But the way Jamie was playing at Richmond is simply not how City play football, and season 3 makes that canon to the Ted version of City too, not just an unfounded real life football comparison. City in the show are coached by Real Pep and play Pep's version of total football. That's what Jamie was doing when he made the extra pass,  and it's his experience with Pep's total football that allows Jamie to help Richmond so much in season 3.
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ryo-hirakawa · 9 months ago
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top 5 f1 prospects (anywhere in the feeder series)
omg thank u for this nonnie. alright so this will be kids i acc think can make it to f1 and not necessarily my fav juniors rn. holds up a sign that says "ask me about my youths for hypercars recommendations"
5. victor martins
putting him 5th because i fear putting him higher will jinx him and ogs know vic is one of my main guys. has had a pretty ass start to the season which i am not forgiving art gp for btw, but if este and pierre really both go "fuck it" then victor could get a chance. but it'd only happen if both seats are vacant bc there's still jack. honourable mention to jack who did not make top 5 simply bc i like victor more but he's the 6th. oh also if jack gets the f1 seat but vic doesn't i would love to recommend him to a certain affiliated hypercar team. in the 36 bc im attached to 35's lineup already #thealiens
4. zane maloney
f2 championship leader rn. i know it's incredibly early days and he has to contend with theo BUT if he does win f2 this year he would have done it in 2 years as opposed to theo's 3. although his case will only truly be made if theo flops in superformula (probably measured by performance relative to other toyota cars rather than the whole grid, but if ayumu beats him it Won't look good.) anyway if the above two things do happen zane's in a real shout for an audi seat. come on audi you can't be serious about hulk rn can ya...
3. arvid lindblad
why not the loveable red bull f2 lineup? imo it's the timing; isack and pepe are too close to make it to the next big rb shuffle, but arvid is 16, youngest f3 winner ever, and has the time to polish the rougher edges to be the prime choice for the baby bull seat when it becomes vacant again. also arvid is good although he panicked at the end of his f4 campaign and handed it to kacper. but isack also panicked at the end of his f3 campaign and i still rate him so. also hi isack have you considered hypercar (i know pepe already has)
2. liam lawson
pre-f1 debut i would think liam was doomed to be forgotten by the red bull machine because it's not easy to get your foot in the door. but because he did, and also because of the general wackiness of the red bull driver situation rn, he could stand a real chance. most likely he will take ric's seat. in the event they decide to show both ric and checo the door, they probably won't put him straight in the red bull. then again maybe verstappen will veto sainz jr again and then they'd have no choice (they won't put yuki in the second rb. i don't trust like that.)
1. ollie bearman
lil bro's destiny is all but written for him at this point, i'm very confident he will get a haas seat. whether he manages to make it into ferrari will imo depends less on how the charles/lewis lineup does and more on whether he can get to grips with the beast that is haas. once upon a time mick schumacher won euro f3 and f2 but what did haas do for him? exactly. although he is the best fda prospect of his generation (i am so sorry dino) so i am more inclined to think he will swim rather than sink
EDIT HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT KIMI ANTONELLI. although i think the f1 community as a whole is hyping him up too much and he deserves some breathing space to do what he does at his own pace so i am not ranking him 🫶
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xanderlovesscones · 1 month ago
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hello snowflake!!
heey xander!!
this is kinda getting in the way of my greeting, but I've just decided for the sake of simplicity to just bracket ur message to show what my message is respond to. hopefully that makes it easier <3
(sorry it took me so long to get back to you but I went to my eyebrow appointment, after burning it off constantly I’m tying to grow it back!! my day was fantastic but it highly improved after receiving your scones!! both recipes were AMAZING but the second had this wow factor I was addicted to, what did you add into them??)
you really didn't take long to respond at all!! dw!! hope your eyebrow grows back quickly 🤭 as for the scones, i added a little bit more vanilla extract and granulated sugar this time round!! i actually had another recipe as well where i added a tiny pinch of lemon extract, and while i think it tastes pretty okay, i'm not sure if it's for everyone. and i know how much you detest lemon soo i decided not to send those to you. if you want, i could tho - no promises on the taste!!!
(well I can’t speak for my dear brothers but I can definitely sense at points they get bored of my scone talk… I know GASPPP how could they?! wooowww your brothers clearly don’t understand the art of scones, only us highly intelligent people can, it’s a rarity!! (disowning them is a good way to get rid of the toxic scone-haters, good to know you’re not like gray’s dad))
wow, i'm not sure i've ever been called highly intelligent b4, but i suppose i have a really refined palate and scone eating expertise. maybe it has smt to do with that. i could talk about scones all day long too, but when i do ppl tell me to shut up or give me weird looks 😒 and then they have the audacity to start talking abt roblox or fortnite. like, u evaluate it, which do you think has more value? 😒 but ofc they won't listen to me then, only when they need hw getting done. well, sucks to be you guys, cuz you can do it by yourself! use that lone braincell of yours!
(THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TALKINH TOO MUCH ABOIT SCONES!! I personally could talk about the all day. oooo your group chat name is good!! me and my brothers in fact do have a group chat but I’m not sure our lawyers would be pleased if the name was leaked, but I can tell you that the footage of grayson in leather pants is on there 🤭🤭 and as for the rankings
most mysterious:
1) nash
2) gray
3) jamie
this may have surprised you but here are my reasons… you see jameson is ranked third because although he is very mysterious I’ve gotten quite good at reading him which makes him less mysterious to me and then there’s of course the fact that he’s the most indiscreet person on this planet. grayson is second because gray likes to act mysterious but in reality is not that mysterious at all, it’s all a facade. Nash is definitely the most mysterious, always somewhere other than hawthorne house, always knows the right things to say, always won the old man’s games… )
awww its fine for the group chat thing - can't upset the lawyers 🙃🫠 and i'm pretty sure alisa has enough on her plate anyway. could you still send the grayson in leather pants pic please? pwetty pwease? 🥺
as for the rankings, can't say i'm surprised tbh. i pretty much agree with your reasoning. tbh, I would put gray in last place if Jamie isn't so indiscreet. that guy has no stealth at all 😒
( better brother:
I can’t choose!! they’re all the best for so many reasons!!)
well, gfu if you can't choose for who deserves the better brother. for mine, it's a tie between insufferable and annoying for both of them. ah well.
((your brothers should not be mean to you!! because you’re also kind and amazing and smart and deserve the world!! don’t forget to tell yourself that!! my favourite colour is in fact blue because it reminds blueberry scones))
awwww ty. tbh, it's fine when they're mean cuz i can be mean right back 😃 ykw what they say: "a lady doesn't start fights, but she can finish them" 😃 i really like this quote a lot. also, ur fav colour is blue??? i mean, i should've guessed it by ur blog colour but tbh you always struck me as a my-fav-colour-is-green kinda guy….. idk it's the vibes ig. but the reasoning is valid. i like blue too!! soo blue hearts from now on then!!! hmmmm dark or light blue tho? i kinda like the light blue more….💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵 aww these are so pretty
(sometimes I think it would be cool to have a sister, but in a way there are people in my life that are like my sisters, like avery and libby and bex and thea!! )
awwww ur so lucky to have so many amazing sisters/friends! i just don't click with a lot of the girls ik unfortunately 🙃 most are nice enuf but we're not really on bestie terms like u and avery yk?
(you are not annoying at all!! I love talking to people and you happen to be a highly interesting person snowflake!! you’re definitely not the problem because I think you’re great and if you have xander-approval then that means you’re fantastic!!)
awww ty for the xander-approval🩵 does that mean i get a blueberry scone? (jkjk, ik i'm probs pushing it) still not sure if lamenting about my lack of friends is interesting tho ☹️ maybe we need a topic change. but right after i respond to ur last few messages!
(there are aspects I don’t like. it would be nice every once in a while to not have all the lawyers and bodyguards and people, I wonder what my life would be like if I was born in a different world entirely. of course, I’m grateful for everything but still my mind does wonder)
yeah, i understand that. can be a bit opressing with all the bodyguards and stuff. and the expectations are never ending ☹️ still not sure if i forgive your grandpa for that. i'm kinda like half-half. yeah, he was cool. but not really. idk 🤷‍♀️
(oh 100% a ten!! gray is the biggest softie!!)
haha, take that grayson!!!!! hmmm…. it's annoying i can't tag ppl here. ah well, guess u have to do it for me 😝
soooo do you have any hobbies?? wait, stupid question, ofc you do…. uuuum, do you do anything else besides making exploding robots?? i'm afraid i'm not much of a tech person, and i'm def not at a xander hawthorne level. speaking of which, YOU ARE SO INCREDIBLY SMART AND KIND DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE.
okay, so i'm horrible at topic transitions so uuuum forgive me but uh actually, does it suck smt to be the youngest bro??? i noticed then in most of the families ik, the sibling dynamic is smt along the lines of the older child having a more dominant personality, especially in twins. since, well my brothers are twins. and the older one has a VERY dominant personality so in certain cases the younger one is a bit overshadowed. actually now that i think about it, my brother which is the older twin is kinda similar to jameson. hmmmmmm… idk if that's good or not… jameson is certainly not the best example. but i suppose its too late at this point. it's like when you finally realise they're stubborn as sh*t and nothing can ever change that. ah well (sry i just realised i was ranting. i just kinda find pyschology interesting yk? and it translates into family dynamics and since ur family is so, in one way to put it, interesting i thought i'd ask)
oh, wait, do you do sports?? ik grayson swims and nash probs does horse riding or smt idk. and well jameson is jameson. falling of the roof is probs exercise for him.🤷‍♀️ what abt u? i'm doing pre-competitive swim training. i almost died during yesterday's 10 by 100m set 😭 it was brutal 😭 at least it wasn't an IM set ig. bet grayson would be like "that's so easy" or some shit 😭😭😭
how much do you like emojis??? i luv them but it's so difficult to use them on pc. like i have to search the web browser to copy paste them 😭 but if i type on my phone then it's so slow. lord help me 😭
oh wait i have an idea. since we're talking about emojis, describe your ideal adventure in 3 emojis. (i'm random like that. don't ask why. when i want to get to know ppl more i just ask them random questions. it's my love language ig. speaking of love languages, what's urs??? and may be a bit personal, but what do you think ur toxic trait is? i honestly don't know mine. smt i try too hard, other times i have no motivation. smt i'm optimistic, other time's im not. so i have no idea really. here's a quiz for u if you want: https://www.truity.com/test/toxic-traits-personality-quiz) anyways, i'll go first: 🌌🔮🪽 it's kinda giving fantasy, astrology, otherworld vibes. I like that. speaking of which, what's ur zodiac sign?? ur birthday is sometime in December right? i'm a November scorpio 😃
okies i think that's enough for this round. this message is hella long. anyways, hope u have a nice day Xander!! 🩵 - ❄️
hello again snowflake!!
(you really didn't take long to respond at all!! dw!! hope your eyebrow grows back quickly 🤭 as for the scones, i added a little bit more vanilla extract and granulated sugar this time round!! i actually had another recipe as well where i added a tiny pinch of lemon extract, and while i think it tastes pretty okay, i'm not sure if it's for everyone. and i know how much you detest lemon soo i decided not to send those to you. if you want, i could tho - no promises on the taste!!!)
I hope my eyebrows grow back quickly too!! they’re taking they’re damn time!! ooooo that definitely made the difference, I loved them. hmmmm I’m curious of this pinch of lemon… maybe I’ll sacrifice my good taste to try something new
(wow, i'm not sure i've ever been called highly intelligent b4, but i suppose i have a really refined palate and scone eating expertise. maybe it has smt to do with that. i could talk about scones all day long too, but when i do ppl tell me to shut up or give me weird looks 😒 and then they have the audacity to start talking abt roblox or fortnite. like, u evaluate it, which do you think has more value? 😒 but ofc they won't listen to me then, only when they need hw getting done. well, sucks to be you guys, cuz you can do it by yourself! use that lone braincell of yours!)
WHATTT!??? OFCCC YOU’RE INTELLIGENT YOU WANTED TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME!! okay but in all seriousness you are :)) anyyywayys I find that people who enjoy scones so much as you and I tend to be more intelligent beings. oh my gosh!! I cannot believe they would pause scone talk to discuss that!? that’s sooooooo silly!! OFC SCONES HAVE MORE VALUE!! SCONES ARE LIFE 👹👹 *cough cough* anyyywayyss you tell them snowflake!! don’t give them ur homework!!
(awww its fine for the group chat thing - can't upset the lawyers 🙃🫠 and i'm pretty sure alisa has enough on her plate anyway. could you still send the grayson in leather pants pic please? pwetty pwease? 🥺)
yesss alisa is already mad at me 😔😔 … leather pants picture coming right up!! I love sharing that!!
(well, gfu if you can't choose for who deserves the better brother. for mine, it's a tie between insufferable and annoying for both of them. ah well.)
ahahahahhah I do understand your pain sometimes, my brothers can also be annoying and insufferable but they have their good aspects as well!!
(awwww ty. tbh, it's fine when they're mean cuz i can be mean right back 😃 ykw what they say: "a lady doesn't start fights, but she can finish them" 😃 i really like this quote a lot. also, ur fav colour is blue??? i mean, i should've guessed it by ur blog colour but tbh you always struck me as a my-fav-colour-is-green kinda guy….. idk it's the vibes ig. but the reasoning is valid. i like blue too!! soo blue hearts from now on then!!! hmmmm dark or light blue tho? i kinda like the light blue more….💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵 aww these are so pretty)
yesss, sometimes you just have to be mean right back!! quoting the ‘aristocats’ I see!! I love that disney movie. yesss my fave colour is blue, hence the blog colour. tbh I do love green as well!! oooo that pattern of blue is so pretty!!
(awwww ur so lucky to have so many amazing sisters/friends! i just don't click with a lot of the girls ik unfortunately 🙃 most are nice enuf but we're not really on bestie terms like u and avery yk?)
I am very lucky!! but don’t worry you will find some too, I didn’t get mine until quite late in life you still have time. but for now… hmmmm I think you need a BHFF!!
(awww ty for the xander-approval🩵 does that mean i get a blueberry scone? (jkjk, ik i'm probs pushing it) still not sure if lamenting about my lack of friends is interesting tho ☹️ maybe we need a topic change. but right after i respond to ur last few messages!)
ofc you’ll always have xander-approval!! AND OF COURSE YOU GET A BLUEBERRY SCONE THAT ISNT PUSHINGGG IT!! you can rant to me all you want and remember, I’m your friend and that’s all that matters 😊😊
(yeah, i understand that. can be a bit opressing with all the bodyguards and stuff. and the expectations are never ending ☹️ still not sure if i forgive your grandpa for that. i'm kinda like half-half. yeah, he was cool. but not really. idk 🤷‍♀️)
yesss definitely ☹️☹️ I’m glad you understand me!! my feelings towards mr grandfather are very conflicted so I don’t really know either
(haha, take that grayson!!!!! hmmm…. it's annoying i can't tag ppl here. ah well, guess u have to do it for me 😝)
I will!! @therealgraysonhawthorne READ PLEASE 🤭🤭
(soooo do you have any hobbies?? wait, stupid question, ofc you do…. uuuum, do you do anything else besides making exploding robots?? i'm afraid i'm not much of a tech person, and i'm def not at a xander hawthorne level. speaking of which, YOU ARE SO INCREDIBLY SMART AND KIND DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE.)
I do many other things: eating scones, inventing things, exploding things, hacking things, coding things, (basically everything technological), reading, some fun little maths questions, doing illegal things with my brothers, and ofc my boring boring school work
WHY THANK YOU!!
(okay, so i'm horrible at topic transitions so uuuum forgive me but uh actually, does it suck smt to be the youngest bro??? i noticed then in most of the families ik, the sibling dynamic is smt along the lines of the older child having a more dominant personality, especially in twins. since, well my brothers are twins. and the older one has a VERY dominant personality so in certain cases the younger one is a bit overshadowed. actually now that i think about it, my brother which is the older twin is kinda similar to jameson. hmmmmmm… idk if that's good or not… jameson is certainly not the best example. but i suppose its too late at this point. it's like when you finally realise they're stubborn as sh*t and nothing can ever change that. ah well (sry i just realised i was ranting. i just kinda find pyschology interesting yk? and it translates into family dynamics and since ur family is so, in one way to put it, interesting i thought i'd ask))
I mean sometimes… it can be a bit… but at the end of the day I love my life and I’m lucky to live it. wow of your older brother is like jameson then I finally have so,one who understand me!! yay!! also twins, that’s so so cool, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a twin, imagine two xanders 😁😁 jameson definitely is the most stubborn person I know!! (I most certainly love your ranting, psychology is VERY interesting)
(oh, wait, do you do sports?? ik grayson swims and nash probs does horse riding or smt idk. and well jameson is jameson. falling of the roof is probs exercise for him.🤷‍♀️ what abt u? i'm doing pre-competitive swim training. i almost died during yesterday's 10 by 100m set 😭 it was brutal 😭 at least it wasn't an IM set ig. bet grayson would be like "that's so easy" or some shit 😭😭😭)
now I’m not known for being the sportiest hawthorne but that doesn’t mean I can’t play well. basketball is a personal favourite because it allows me to make fun of my short brothers, although when savannah plays it becomes un-fun because she is flawless at that game. I can play hockey moderately well and most sports really, but there’s not one I’m more inclined to like gray with his swimming. ooooooo you should make friends with gray too, he loves to swim!!
(how much do you like emojis??? i luv them but it's so difficult to use them on pc. like i have to search the web browser to copy paste them 😭 but if i type on my phone then it's so slow. lord help me 😭)
🎡I🏖️L🛁O💌V✂️E🐁E🦭M🐠O🎩J💀I💩S🫡
(oh wait i have an idea. since we're talking about emojis, describe your ideal adventure in 3 emojis. (i'm random like that. don't ask why. when i want to get to know ppl more i just ask them random questions. it's my love language ig. speaking of love languages, what's urs??? and may be a bit personal, but what do you think ur toxic trait is? i honestly don't know mine. smt i try too hard, other times i have no motivation. smt i'm optimistic, other time's im not. so i have no idea really. here's a quiz for u if you want: https://www.truity.com/test/toxic-traits-personality-quiz) anyways, i'll go first: 🌌🔮🪽 it's kinda giving fantasy, astrology, otherworld vibes. I like that. speaking of which, what's ur zodiac sign?? ur birthday is sometime in December right? i'm a November scorpio 😃)
oooo fun okay so….
my ideal adventure:
🤖🧁🤯
take from that what you will 🤭🤭 I’m still sad there is no scone emoji!!
love language:
probably gift giving, hence the book bouquet or quality time.
toxic trait:
I’m very obsessed with scones and may have a little itty bitty addiction…
quiz:
well… it says I’m a mansplainer but I’m not sure I quite agree
zodiac:
my birthday is in fact in december and apparently I’m a Sagittarius!!
I like that this is random!! don’t worry!!
(okies i think that's enough for this round. this message is hella long. anyways, hope u have a nice day Xander!! 🩵)
no worries snowflake!! you have a nice day too!!
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berryunho · 2 years ago
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helo it is i san anon and i am here to tell u abt the concert !!
we had seated tickets so went a bit late (still like an hour before the show started 🫣 um) AND I WAS RESPONSIBLE by not buying any merch bc i bought a lot at the popup store hehe
anyway so the atinys behind us were rly nice n started talking to us AND THEN ONE OF THEM GAD ALREADY SEEN THE SOUNDCHE K PICS OF MINGI AND I WAS LIKE WAIT WHAT?? HE DID WHAT??? I FEEL SO BAD bc so many ppl like it but i… i can’t.. i just.. idk… maybe i have to get used to it but it’s not for me 😭 i loved the mango hair </3 where is the length on this one </3 pls </3 i also didn’t love hongjoong’s hair on pics previously but irl?? that was styled to perfection he looked so fucking fine oml cult meeting when?? lead the way sir /hj
anyway so i’d been MaNiFeStInG san’s long dark hair bc last year i saw him w the guerilla hair and i didn’t love that tone either (i miss her now ngl but the dark hair outdoes (hongruella back then oml drooling)) and then the airport pics w his long hair 😮‍💨 drooled a lil /hj ANYWAY SO HEEEEE LOOKED FINE AS FUCK and THE cyberpunk outfit oml he wore everything i wanted him to !!! ig he loves me bc i’ve been manifesting oreo woo for a year now and where is it. where. jung wooyoung. we need to have a talk.
AND the tinys behind me asked who my bias was and i was like uhhh bc i’m actually?? wooyo bias?? or supposed to be?? but san n joong are also in my bias line and recently it’s been a bit of a problem.. am completely normal about san.. as some may know.. so normal.. haha anyway I SAID I AM IN BETWEEN BIASES BUT!!! I DON’T THINK THAT IS THE CASE ANYMORE choi san has me in a terrible chokehold that i will never be able to escape from (and i got a san freebie hehe <3 cute) but literally when i said “ok i’m san biased now” they performed i’m the one heat topping ver AND WOOYOUNG??? IDK IF ANYONES SEEN VIDEOS BUT HE?? HIS BODY ROLL? I ??? that felt so personal ANYWAY I EXPLAINED IT TO MY MOM (she loves woo since i never shut up abt him.. i thought she liked hwa smh traitor) LIKE LISTEN. WOOYOUNG WAS AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS. AND SANJOONG AT THE SECOND STEP. BUT SAN DIDNT LIKE IT THERE. SO HE TOOK A STEP UP TO STAND WITH WOO. but since san is a bit taller.. that automatically makes him rank a bit higher. bc his height quite literally puts him higher than wooyoung. i don’t make the rules.. woo should’ve grown more. LMAO
anyway so that!! is it!! they were so fucking good as ALWAYS (tho i liked last tour’s setlist a bit more.. but we got mist this time so i happy also i am THE biggest new world stan choi san the man that u are today and choi jongho the talent that u have) the vocals were on point the performance was perfect the outfits were so gorg mingi’s hair wasn’t it for me we had a lot of fun the tinys behind me barked yeosang’s hair was SOOOO LONG yeah anyway IT WAS GREAT and why tf are the spaces between paragraphs on my phone so fucked like this looks so ugly i’m sorry if this is an ugly piece of text in ur asks but !!! whatever 😍 pls do look up that wooyoung video… idk if anyone posted it but.. i’m drooling /hj oh and i cheered very loud for yunho!!!
HI ALKJDF;ALSKDJF
screaming the amount of detail here i love it its like we're penpals omg but YAAAAAYYYYYY IM GLAD YOU HAD FUN !!!!
pls when they were in the us... i preordered all of my merch through one of the popups but um ..... yeah i still bought more merch at every show i went to it was so bad i think i collected nearly every shirt/sweatshirt possible idk i blacked out SO PROPS TO YOU FOR STAYING STRONG !!!!
AKDJFSFJSLDJK THE PINK HAIR ....... i dont dislike it but its not my fave on him lol i think maybe after a few washes when its less ... neon itll be better LKJALKSDFJALDKJF BUT THATS FAIR AND yeah hj .... mmmmmmmmmmmm he is scrumptious always and IN PERSON ..... HHGHGHGKSGLKJ im normal about him. i always am... AND SAN !!!!!!! SJKLDFJASDF im sure we'll get oreo woo back one day .... i hope .... it was too iconic to be gone forever
PLEASE THAT EXPLANATION IM SCLKJRELAKJSJF IT MAKES SENSE THOUGH !!!! my best friend was a jongho bias .... until we saw them and somewhere between the start and the finish wooyoung SNATCHED HER SO AGGRESSIVELY HES ALL SHE TALKS ABOUT NOW PLEASLKEJLSESKJALKJFDS AND ........ im loyal im SO loyal like id never ever consider a double bias idk what anyone is even talking about (................................/s) BUT FR CHOI SAN? IN PERSON? BEFORE YOUR EYES? LIKE ANYONE WOULD BE TEMPTED THATS ALL I CAN SAY SO YOU'RE VALID SAN ANON SO VALID !
BUT YAYYY AGAIN IM SO GLAD YOU HAD FUN !!! living vicariously through this ask rn AKJDFLSKJFALSKJF omg idk which setlist i prefer honestly .... bc last tour i was sad about exactly 4 songs not being on the setlist and they all of them were added this tour ... but at the expense of my favorite title track ................ and also inception ..... so like .......... yeah idk LKAJLFDKJDSF BUT YAAYAYYY TY FOR SCREAMING FOR YUNHO AND TY FOR SHARING W ME I HOPE YOU'RE WELL !!! <3333
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sociallyanxiouss · 4 years ago
Text
I Can’t Lose You (Draco Malfoy)
MASTERLIST
pairing : draco malfoy x slytherin reader 
summary : draco and you have dated for a couple years now, but pansy can’t really get over draco, and decides to seek revenge.
word count : 3,075 words
request : can i request a one shot where the reader and draco are both in slytherin and are dating and they get into an argument and pansy overhears and maybe she laces a potion to have the y/n get sick slowly each day and by a couple of weeks of the reader and draco not talking he notices she looks deadly and her being friends with blaise he asks her what’s wrong and she’s like she doesn’t know she’s been feeling horrible for days but she can’t do anything about and maybe draco overhears and she passes out in class and draco apologizes and the reader and them get back together and maybe she passes out in his arms during class one day and she won’t wake up for a few days until madam pomfrey tells draco she took a cursed potion and it’s all angsty but it ends in fluff? that’s kind of the premise i’d like but if you want to tweak somethings feel free to!!
oh sorry! i asked the request of the reader getting sick from pansy’s potion, i also wanted to ask if you could add to that possibly a scene where the reader is a lot of pain because of being so sick and draco tries to comfort her and he’s truly scared of losing his love? thank u 🥰
a/n : sorry for the hiatus, i’m actually sitting for finals. i won’t start writing new stories until the end of the week since my last paper is in 3 days! thank you for waiting :)
at first, yours and dracos relationship was platonic for years. until you saw how touchy and flirty pansy, the pug faced parkinson was, you felt overprotective towards the malfoy boy. 
one day in third year, you brought up your feelings to him. to your surprise, he hugged you tightly and told you how happy he was to hear that you liked him as much as he liked you. 
when you both officially told the rest of hogwarts, no one was surprised. even the professors thought that you deserved each other since day one. even your godfather, the former potions, now DADA professor thought the both of you fit well together. 
you were born into a rich and pureblood family. one of the top ranks in the pureblood community, followed closely by the malfoys. this meant that you grew up with purebloods around you. 
the malfoys and your family were close friends, which meant you grew up with draco and soon met crabbe, goyle and zabini. the five of you grew up inseparable, constantly wanting to be with each other. you didn’t mind being the only girl. in fact, you enjoyed it more this way. 
when you finally reached hogwarts as first years, the five of you met pansy parkinson. at first, she seemed sweet, a pureblood like yourself, it was easy to make friends with her until she became obsessed with draco. 
you were never a jealous girl, so it surprised many people when you grew angrier just from looking at her and draco together each day. draco showed no interest, but it didn’t mean you couldn’t feel jealous at the thought of them being together. 
even when the whole of hogwarts knew you two were together, she didn’t change her ways. in fact, it seems like she became worse in her ways of obsessing over draco, your boyfriend. 
everyone knew you two were inseparable, more so that you were now in a relationship, if that was even possible. everyone also knew that you rarely fought, or always knew how to resolve a problem quickly.
but pansy took that as a challenge. at first, it was as simple as trying to make it seem like they were snogging, or had just came out from the broom closet, but you knew the type of person she was, and never believed her. anyways, you knew draco would try his best to avoid her at any cost.
it became apparent that she would never take no for an answer, so the five of you would try to avoid her in the halls or exclude her from group activities. but one day on the start of your seventh year, she decides to cross the line. 
pansy knew that her parents would listen and do anything she wanted, so she knew that it was easy to get her way of revenge on you. she wanted to feed you the curse potion. 
the curse potion is not something to play around with. unlike the spell ‘avada kedavra’, the curse potion would cause the drinker to be in immense amount of pain for weeks, until their body decides to shut down finally. when drank, it would feel as if someone is rearranging your insides and squeezing them, tighter every second. 
hence, when she told her parents she needed this potion in order to seek revenge on you, they were hesitant. it was for one reason, you came from a high ranking family. if your parents knew who fed you the potion, the parkinsons would not only be sent to azkaban, but also be on death row. 
although they were reluctant, they listened to their daughter and gave her the desired potion. 
-
you walked in the great hall, hand in hand with draco for breakfast. he lets go of your hand and holds your waist gently before guiding you to sit on the bench before he slides besides you. he scoops food onto your plate for you before putting food on his own plate and digging in. 
you slowly ate with him, sometimes conversing with him and blaise, who was seated on your left side. you looked up from your plate and held a hand out to grab your goblet. thirsty, you take a couple sips of water before placing the goblet back down in front of your plate.
unnoticed to you, pansy was staring at you, slighly smirking when she sees you sipping on the water in your goblet. 
soon, draco gets up before you from the bench and extends his hand to grab yours as you stand up to walk out the great hall for a small rest before the start of your classes. 
eyes trained on the couple, everyone was jealous of the powerful, pureblood and rich couple. everyone knew they would stay together for a long time, if not, forever. they looked envious at the way draco was treating you, and the way you were treating him, with respect and a lot of love. 
pansy knew nothing would get them apart, she tried it all. thus, her last resort was to kill you. she wanted to be the one to stick with draco as he mourns your death. that way, he would finally realize that she was the one for him, not you. 
as days go by, you realized that your stomach was always in pain. since it has been less than a week, you brushed it off as stomach cramps. blaise, being a good friend and always observant, always sees you cowering in pain, trying to stabilize  your breathing. you always assured him that you were fine, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t worry about you. 
as the end of the week came, you brought the pain up to draco, but he assured you that it was probably nothing and that you would be fine again in no time. you believed him, of course. but as soon as the week extended to two weeks, you weren’t so sure anymore. 
it’s been about two and a half weeks now and to you, the pain you’ve been feeling in your stomach was too unbearable. but you weren’t one to skip classes, so you pushed through the pain and kept an emotionless face all day. 
draco has started to be a little more concerned. he thought at first that it would be your stomach cramps from your time of the month, as he knew that you had terrible cramps when you have your period. but as soon as a week became two weeks, he grew more worried but still pushed the thought of, thinking maybe it was a stomach bug. 
you were the type of person to always show up prim and proper, hair always neat down or in a ponytail and face always ready, never swollen from sleep, but everyone seemed to notice that you came to meals or classes, hair in a messy bun and face constantly contorted in pain. 
pansy noticed all of it, of course. she felt a little guilty, knowing that draco would be devastated after you leave him. she knew she needed to get rid of you to have him for herself, but it did make her slightly scared, now that the potion is kicking in. she had never killed anyone and she never thought that she would ever murder anyone. 
you walk in the great hall for dinner alone, as you took a different class from your friends. you slowly sauntered towards your normal seat. you glided your hand slowly on draco’s back as you slid in to sit next to him, in between him and blaise. 
the couple exchange smiles. draco pushes a full plate of food towards you, signaling you to start eating. you silently thanked him before picking up your cutlery to start your meal. you didn’t realize that draco was still staring at you as you slowly ate your food. 
when you finally noticed the gaze on the side of your face, you turn to him. 
“you just look so cute with your hair up so messily.” he says, after you turned to him. 
you brought up your hand to touch his, as your way of thanking him. you couldn’t brind yourself to open your mouth to talk to him, everything hurt, even eating. 
“you okay, love?” draco asks. 
you nodded to him, looking back at your food before pushing the plate away, your appetite gone. you rested your arms on the table before putting your head on top of it, using your arms as a pillow. 
you felt draco slowly rub your back as a sign of comfort since he knew you’ve been in pain for a while now. he rubs your back with his left hand and eats with his right, while talking to crabbe and goyle, who was seated opposite the three of you. 
pansy looked at you. your head was deep in your arms and draco’s hand rubbing your back comfortingly. she didn’t feel jealous. in fact, she felt terrible, now seeing you in pain. she knew that in the matter of a week, you’d be gone. pansy thought about bringing you to the hospital wing, in hopes you still had time to survive. 
slowly, some students have stood up in their group of friends to leave the great hall to finally catch up on sleep.
draco turns back to you and gently taps your shoulder to wake you. you didn’t show signs of you waking up. draco then shakes you slightly, whispering your name in your ears from time to time. you still hadn’t moved from your position. 
this alarmed draco, you were one of the lightest sleepers he has ever met, he knew that you would have surely woken up by now. the rest of the boys around you also became concerned. 
draco moved your face to tap your cheeks, in hopes you would wake up. once he sees your face, his eyes widen slightly. blaise, who saw his best mate’s expressions, walks beside him to see you. once he sees your face, he backs away, slightly surprised. 
your face was pale, drained from any type of color. your lips were no longer pink and soft looking. it looked like all your blood was drained from your body. 
draco slowly moves you from the bench, so that he could carry you instead. as he moves you, the students in the great hall, including the professors could see your face. gasps were heard throughout the hall. 
as draco sets you in his arms, he noticed how light you had become, and how fragile you looked. draco almost cries from seeing you like this. he glances up to find the former potions, now DADA professor, more known as your godfather. draco notices that he was already walking towards the both of you. 
he turns to walk out the hall, towards the hospital wing. soon breaking out in a jog, with you in his arms. he was scared, he didn’t know what was going on with you. 
pansy saw the commontion. she pales slightly, constantly playing with her hair as she was nervous. this was too soon. you weren’t due until next week, at least. was your body already giving up? she needed to talk to her parents. she didn’t know what to do. 
she ran to the owl post to send a letter to her parents, she needed to fix this, fast before you become any worse. 
hours later, your friends are still worried sick about you. madame pomfrey wouldn’t tell them anything, besides that she would try her best to help you. all that draco know is that you’ve consumed something bad. but what could you have taken that he didn’t notice? 
your godfather, severus, knew everything that was happening with you. you drank a curse potion, he didn’t know how it got in your system in the first place, but it was in you. he was determined to find out who had fed you the unforgivable potion, and they were to be sent to azkaban and be left to die there. 
he was concerned for you. he quickly got his patronus to tell your parents about your wellbeing. unfortunately, your parents were stuck in a different country doing work, but they knew that you were in good hands of severus and draco but still tried their best to come as fast as they could.  
now, severus was flipping through a book for counter curse potions for you. he needed to be quick in order to save you before your system breaks down. he couldn’t lose you, he won’t 
draco was silently crying beside blaise. they both hoped that you would get better, they needed you to get better. they couldn’t see the future without you in it. blaise had silent tears going down his cheeks, his left arm draped around draco’s shoulders as sign of comfort, knowing he needed it most. 
although you were unconscious, you still felt the burn everywhere. your stomach, ribs, veins. you were in a lot of pain, but you were not about to give up, not when you haven’t said your goodbyes. you needed closure before you could ever think about giving up your life. 
pansy runs in the hospital wing, panicked, looking for something, someone. all heads shoot up as they heard the fast paced footsteps. draco makes eye contact with the parkinson girl and quickly looks back down to his hands, shaking his head, not wanting to deal with her at the moment. he didn’t have the energy entertain her.
“i’m sorry, i did this. i know it was wrong but i only realized it now. i have the potion to heal her. i’m sorr-” pansy tries to finish her sentence, not before severus puts both his hands on her shoulders, startling her. 
“you did this?” he says with his intimidating tone, scaring pansy even more. 
pansy slowly nodded, not wanting to anger him any more. 
“give me it.” your godfather demands. 
pansy grows confused. she didn’t understand what he wanted. 
“the counter potion, you dunderhead.” he says, voice increased as he grows more and more impatient. 
pansy quickly realized what he wanted. she dips her hand in her robes pocket and takes out something. a vile of liquid. a liquid everyone knew would make you better. 
“if this makes her worse, you’d be dead faster than you can say your own name.” severus tells her. 
pansy pales, and silently prayed that the potion worked. she couldn’t see you suffer any longer. she saw a glimpse of you when she walked in. you looked pale, almost lifeless, but she didn’t want to think that you were dead, by her choices. 
it took weeks to finally see progress in you. when you drank the potion, nothing noticeable happened. you cheeks didn’t gain any color until three weeks later. classes now were dismissed earlier as many professors had to help with your recovery.
draco was miserable, constantly crying. when he knew that pansy was behind this, he was beyond furious but he hadn’t tried anything. he didn’t have enough energy to, he was beyond exhausted to do anything. on the contrary, he knew that pansy would get the punishment she deserved later on, but for now, you were his first priority. 
a full month go by. now, all the professors are watching you, hoping that today was the day that you would wake up. everyone prayed for you, even those who hated slytherins. everyone knew you are a sweet girl, and you didn’t deserve this at all. they hoped that you would be well again soon. 
when you first regained feeling in your hands, you were confused. why couldn’t you open your eyes? you could feel drops of water dripping on your left hand, which you then understood that it was someone’s tears. you could tell it was draco, since he would whisper sweet things in your ear, begging you to wake up. 
you also knew that besides showering, he stayed at that spot everyday. you felt bad, and worked hard to try and open your eyes. for him, for your friends and family. 
the day you opened your eyes, you didn’t expect to see almost everyone you knew, professors included, standing and staring at you. 
when you finally opened your eyes, everyone let out a breath of relief. you could tell it has been a while since you slept. draco almost pounced on you in happiness, but he knew you were still sore from the pain you went through from that stupid potion that pansy gave you. 
he was relieved to hear that pansy was sentenced to azkaban soon after she gave your godfather the counter potion. and although most people had doubts about that potion, they knew that it was their only choice to save you. 
skipping your recovery time, it has been a while since you became full healthy, now in your seventh year, your graduating year, but draco was still as concerned as ever. you always told him that you were fine, and there was nothing to worry about, but he would tell you that he didn’t want to take any chances, as he had to see the love of his life sick and pale, on her death bed. 
the day of your graduation was the best day of your life so far. everything went smoothly. the head master’s speech was boring, but all the seventh years were too excited to care.
as the graduation ceremony came to an end, all the graduating students ran to their parents, to give them a hug, finally able to leave the school and find a career. everyone was excited but still sad to leave the beautiful place they called school ever since they were eleven. 
your parents and the malfoys were talking when you and your boyfriend went to find them. as you reached your parents, they pulled you two in for a group hug. although you enjoyed it, draco was pushing his parents away, telling them not to embarrass him. 
as you pulled away from your parents, you laughed at draco. “you’re so dramatic, just hug them and not make a fuss for once.” 
draco rolls his eyes, before slightly chuckling. as you both stared at each other, you knew that this was what you wanted from the day you met him. you’re happy that the both of you graduated together, relationship as strong as ever. 
-
TAGLIST
@imonlyherecauseimbored
@lokilover-39
@evilluciferisevil
@misselsbells06
@thatcatsit
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spike-and-faye · 4 years ago
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Hello, I require your infinite wisdom please!! :O So I just finished cowboy bebop and I am so confused like who the fuck was Julia. WHAT was Faye's past. I literally never process tv shows and the bebop was not immune to my stupidity LMAO like... I guess the ending just really confused me, from what I gathered Spike and Vicious were friends? But then they weren't? And Julia dated Vicious but also Spike? And he? Went after Vicious even after Julia had died? I am Confusion. Please help. Thank u...
Oh BABEY I am so glad you asked! :) Be prepared for a long answer and I apologize in advance for how incoherent it will probably be.
ALSO Please note: this show is fucking complicated. I have watched it all the way through several times a year, every single year, for over a decade now, and I am *STILL* finding new shit every time I watch it. It's packed with symbols, motifs, allusions and underlying themes that are just so rich. It is so extraordinarily well-written that it could give a lot of classic literature a run for its money. I'm literally working on an in depth literary/film analysis my husband lovingly calls my Manifesto on the series right now. SO PLEASE don't beat yourself up about not catching everything on the first go round.
HEY BTW for anyone who hasn't finished the show, please know there will be MANY spoilers ahead!
Anyways ~
1.     Spike / Julia / Vicious:
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The information we get on Spike's past, including Vicious and Julia, is pretty limited considering how big of an impact they have on the story. We get our first glimpse in Session 1: Asteroid Blues, then again in Session 5: Ballad of Fallen Angels, Sessions 12 + 13: Jupiter Jazz, and Sessions 25 + 26: Real Folk Blues. I recommend reviewing these episodes for you Julia and Vicious fix.
What we know:
Spike and Vicious were both members of an organized crime syndicate called the Red Dragons, which is roughly analogous to the Yakuza or the Mafia. Their positions in the organization are not clear, but there are some images alluding to them being hitmen, and they likely rose up in the ranks as they were close acquaintances of Mao Yenrai, a Capo of the Red Dragon.
Spike and Vicious were close comrades. Spike taught Vicious everything he knew about fighting, and the two had a deep trust in each other. Which Spike fucked up ….
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^^Vicious looks hot asf here
Julia was Vicious' lover/girlfriend. One night in 2068 (three years prior to the time we watch in the Bebop) Spike is injured, presumably from a syndicate-related fight and he passes out in front of her door. She takes him in and nurses him back to health and he SIMPS HARD for her. We’re all but told he's in LOVE love with her. They start an affair, and Spike tells her he's ready to abandon the whole life - the syndicate, Vicious, Mao, all of it - and they could run away together.
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WELL Vicious finds out about this whole affair, and is DOUBLY betrayed because his literal best friend and girlfriend have been having an affair, and tbh I think he was just as jealous of Spike's attentions as he was of Julia's. (Whether or not it’s a sexual thing for Spike … well … I have my own headcanons about that). SO when he finds out they're going to run away together, he gives Julia an ultimatum: you can either kill him, or I'll just kill you both. Spike had written her a letter about meeting him in the graveyard to start their new life together, which she tears up to hide his location from Vicious. (This is the falling ripped up pieces of paper we see in Spike's flash back in Session 5).
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^^ r/gifsyoucanhear
**NOTE: There are those who disagree with this view, (looking at you Cowboy Bebop wiki) instead suggesting Vicious and Spike were buds in the past, but then hated each other once they were both considered as potential successors to Mao. That's why Vicious wanted him dead, and he was enlisting Julia (who he didn't necessarily have a romantic connection to) to help kill Spike since he knew Spike loved her. Personally, I think there is plenty of evidence that Vicious also wanted Julia, and in fact was already with her, when Spike started seeing her. If you want me to cite my sources please send an me an ask about it :)
Spike gets the idea, whether by her just not showing up or word around the syndicate being like YO Vicious wants you dead. Despite Vicious' ultimatum to Julia, he was gunna kill Spike either way. SO he sets up an ambush, and SadBoy™ Spike walks intentionally into their trap. Somehow, he doesn't die, though the entire syndicate thinks he did. (Note Annie's reaction to seeing him alive in Session 5). It’s also implied that this is where he lost his eye.
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HIS EYE - possibly the most important symbol in the show so I do have to mention it. In episode 26, he explicitly explains to Faye that one of his eyes only sees the past. (PS this isn't dissimilar to Jet's arm… we can get into that another time). Basically, he's constantly living halfway in the past and halfway in the present, and describes the past like a dream he can never wake up from. Because dysfunctional or not - the syndicate WAS his family. (Again - see his relationship with Annie, Mao, and Vicious (prior to Spike's betrayal)). It's his reminder that Julia didn't run away with him, and that he'd left behind that life for her. (He didn’t know she was being threatened until the final episode). Basically Spike is hyper-fixated on what he had and what could've been.
Not long after this, Spike starts bounty hunting because like? What else is he going to do. He doesn't care if he lives or dies but if he has to be alive, he may as well be able to eat. He joins up with Jet Black on the Bebop.
TL; DR: Spike stole Vicious' lover, Julia, so Vicious made Julia choose between her killing Spike or Vicious killing them both. She instead went into hiding and Spike thought he'd been stood up. He fake died and got the hell outta dodge.
2.     What was Faye's past?
Ok let me start by saying Faye is my wife and my life. HOWEVER I hated her the first time I watched this show circa age 13 because I thought she was annoying/vain/shallow (also because #internalizedmisogyny lol am I right fam). Good news! She is all those things! But she's also very lonely and scared and an amnesiac and secretly a sweetie and she realizes she loves the crew of the Bebop like family.
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SO my wife's backstory:
she was born in the 1990s (#only90skidsremember). There's some debate over her race/nationality, but due to the images of her hanging out in Merlion Park in Singapore, my bet is that she's Singaporean. She comes from a wealthy family with a big house, and we see some utterly *adorable* film of her as a child/young adolescent in Session 18: Speak Like a Child. I cry everytime </3
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^^ Holla for the representation
In 2014, circa age 20, she and her parents were going into space when the shuttle they were on had some kind of malfunction/accident and it killed an unknown number of people, including her parents. At the time, the technology didn’t exist to be able to save her, so she was put into a cryogenic sleep state. Meanwhile, the Lunar Gate accident occurs, breaking up the moon and causing rock showers on Earth's surface. Most people died, moved to Mars, or settled underground.
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She wakes up from her cryogenic sleep in 2068. (Also the year Spike leaves the syndicate.) She's 'woken' by the corrupt Dr. Bacchus who plans on charging her for the years and years of medical debt she's accrued. (See Session 15: My Funny Valentine.) Luckily a lawyer takes interest in her case (Whitney Haggus Matsumoto) and tries to help get rid of her debt. The two fall in love, but turns out Whitney is a Scumbag. He's actually Dr. Bacchus's nephew, and faked his death, writing Faye as the sole inheritor to his will. This means she'll take on all his debts. So baby girl has LOTS of debt at this point.
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In the intervening years prior to her joining the Bebop, she gambles, cheats, gains a lot of street smarts, and adopts a very seductive character to get her way. She joins the crew on the Bebop in Session 3: Honky Tonk Women.
TL;DR: Faye is Austin powers
YIKES this is so long I am so sorry. Bitches are obsessed with this show. (I am bitches)
3.     The Ending
Okay I'm going to present this in the way, in my scholarly opinion, would be correct, though there are SO many interpretations other than simply 'Spike died :/".
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To understand the plot of the last couple episodes we actually have to go back to Session 5: Mao is instructed* to sign a treaty with a rival syndicate called the White Tigers. (*He's instructed by The Van (Council of identical creepy old men) who are the actual head of the dragon. I think we only see them in Session 26.) Well - Vicious is a Bastard Man and he and his fellow mutineers blow up the White Tiger guys' ship and slit Mao's throat. Before he dies, Mao is like "Gotdamnit if Spike was still here this shit wouldn't have happened." Later in the Cathedral battle, Vicious explains to Spike he killed Mao because Mao 'lost his fangs'. He planned on killing Spike for good her, IMO, so there'd be no rival to take over as Capo for the Dragons.
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^^These guys are The Van btw
THEN in Session 25, the Van basically catches Vicious and is like “you killed Mao and now you have to go to Time Out.” The Van also decides to just kill everyone associated with Vicious, just 2 B safe. That's why there's a big ass shootout at the Loser Bar where Jet and Spike are chilling, drinking, (missing Faye and Ed and Ein lol) and Shin (younger brother to Lin, who's helping Vicious overthrow the Dragon) explains all this to Spike. OH and PS JULIA IS ALIVE AND HERE IS HER LOCATION :). (**Notice Spike's reaction at this point is different than his reaction in Jupiter Jazz when he hears there's a Julia on Calisto. Much less excited… hmm…).
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SO THEN you know we get some flashbacks of the past as previously explained *and* Julia just happens to run into Faye. She recognizes that Faye is one of Spike's friends from the Bebop (she was keeping tabs on him it seems) and picks her up. Faye doesn't know who Julia is but is like damn bitch I'm a little gay for you. (I mean … that may just be my bi ass projecting, but Faye is REALLY struck with her. Look at how she describes her to Jet, I mean come on.)
 Faye's like, 'we should team up' and Julia says 'no thanks but also tell Spike to meet me at *the place*'. Meanwhile back on the Bebop Spike and Jet are talking and Spike goes on about some dream woman who was his other half. (We assume he means Julia … I have my reasons to doubt this … I have a lot of angry DMs about my opinion here lol but I just do not give a fuck (: I can expand on this in another post or you can refer to the title of my fucking blog haha) Personally, I think Watanabe personally left this specific scene open ended, the same way he does with the ending and various other things.
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more like SIMP Spiegel
ANYWAY Faye comes back to the Bebop to tell Spike about Julia, and Jet gets intel from a former cop buddy that there's some shit going down with the Dragons. (Again, the Van is hunting down everyone ever associated with Vicious, including your pal Spike). Bebop is attacked, Faye tells Spike what's up with Julia, and he heads out.
 PAN TO VICIOUS chained up - about to be executed - but what's that!? It's a bird!? It's a pla- no it's just a bird. (With one glowing red eye … hm … reminds me of Spike, also the drug Red Eye. Pls let me know if you have any thoughts on this). Just a bird with a BOMB! Explosion (RIP bird c. 2065 - too soon), Vicious kills the elders, his buddies show up and are ready to go fuck shit up.
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this show could not be more of an aesthetic
MMMPhhh okay RAINY CEMETERY. Spike and Julia. She draws a gun, explains why she didn't meet him that day, and then hugs him. Now Spike is not *great* at showing his emotions but he literally just stands there. Maybe it's a stoic expression of how sad he is that he never knew she still cared, when it seemed like she dumped him. Maybe he's finally getting some closure on his past. Maybe the past doesn't mean the same thing it used to. (I'll elaborate later on this).
They go to Annie's to get stocked up on stuff, she lets them know she denied knowing Spike was still alive and hey also the Van was assassinated by Vicious and his guys so. Watch out for that. Then her shop is surrounded by Vicious' guys and she dies :(. Spike and Julia escape to the roof, but she's shot and dies in Spike's arms, and says 'it's all just a dream' :(. (Refer to: Spike living in a dream of the past).
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Anyway Jet SAID he wasn't gunna go after Spike but. Jet's parental instincts kick in (oh yeah he was shot in the leg earlier btw) and he goes to Sitting Bull to see if he knows where Spike is. He basically says yeah Spike's about to die somewhere. (I want to do a further analysis on all the Sitting Bull scenes.) Well conveniently Spike returns to the Bebop, eats, tells his story about a tiger-striped cat. (At one point Jet asks if he's going there for her, and Spike is like well she's dead now so whatever). THEN we get to the scene where Faye is like HEY YOU CAN'T GO OFF AND DIE ASSHOLE and he's like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I 've been living in the past so I might as well see if I'm living now. (**This will play heavily into my interpretation of the ending). Faye is pissed, shoots the ceiling and he goes off to the syndicate headquarters to fuck shit up.
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He basically John Wicks his way through the building, Shin dies, he and Vicious have the big boss battle and whatnot. He kills Vicious and stumbles back out down the stairs and says "Bang!" and collapses. We pan to the sky and see a star fade away.
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Well that explains the plot … now here's what I think happened!!! ALSO may I mention, anon - you picked up on something I feel like a lot of people miss out on. Why *did* Spike go back to kill Vicious if Julia was already dead??
Basically, once it became clear that anyone associated with Vicious was being killed, Spike knew they'd hunt him down, and they weren't beneath Kill-Billing their way to him, (i.e. systematically destroying this companions to get to him). And for all his apparent indifference - he really loves his new found family. Jet is literally like an older brother to him. Ed is a little sister. Ein is well … a very good boy. And Faye? Well the relationship is complicated, and I'm not going to get into the 69,420 reasons I ship them here, but I think it is beyond argument that he really does care for her, even if that just in a filial way. He didn't want the syndicates to kill them for their association to him, or in order to get to him. So he did what he had to do to protect them. *AND NO* I am not saying that he didn't love Julia. But it was clear that his desire was no longer to run away with her. I think he genuinely loved and cared about her, but at some point between Jupiter Jazz Pt 2 and now, he accepted that their time together was over. Now he had a new raison d'etre, which is the Bebop.
I think at this point Spike has 'woken up' to reality (as he implied to Faye in their final conversation in episode 26: "Look at these eyes. One of them is a fake, because I lost it in an accident. Since then, I have been seeing the past in one eye, and the present in the other. I had believed that what I saw was not all of reality...I thought I was watching a dream that I would never awaken from. Before I knew it, the dream was all over." (This is from the sub btw I'm too lazy to look up the dub transcript.) He wasn't going there to die, he's going to find out if he's really alive. This line is fucking cool and everything - but it's implications are multitude. I won't go into them all here but basically : what makes him alive now is that he's free from his past. He's alive because he has this new family and protecting them is all he really wants now. Spike was protecting Jet, Faye, Ed, (and Ein) by going and facing the entire syndicate, knowing that their lives would all be in danger.
SO - did Spike die? Well again - Watanabe has purposely and artfully left this open ended. Well, if we're following the symbolism from Sitting Bull, then yeah, the man is as dead as disco, and wouldn't that be a fitting ending? BUT at the same time, Spike always refers to having 'died' before (meaning when he was ambushed by the syndicate, and they all thought he died, and he pretty much did). Don't forget that in  movie (takes places roughly between episodes 22 + 23, and yes, was made AFTER the series but whatever) he like .. DIES dies. He goes to the afterlife and everything. He wakes up to find he's chilling with Sitting Bull, who's like nah it wasn't your time to die yet. So the fact Sitting Bull confirms Spike will die in the final episode, means yeah, Spike is pretty much dead.
BUT -- okay now hear me out -- could this death in the final episode be a death to his previous life? The person he was in the syndicate? Now that he's extinguished the Red Dragons for good, is it not possible that its merely *that* life which has ended? That's the optimist in me saying that, but if it keeps me from staying up all night crying, I guess it'll have to do. Watanabe definitely wants to leave it up to the viewer, so whatever you think, I feel like there's validity to it.
WELL any anon, sorry for the fucking lecture - and believe me, I could've said MUCH, MUCH more - but I enjoyed this question. I always love talking about this show so please all you fuckers feel free to message me or send an ask about anything any time. I am really slow at replying because #life'sAbitch.
Love you all.
SY,SCB <3
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yozzers · 4 years ago
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vexos hcs and random notes
ill update as i go, because yes i do update my masterlists every once in awhile, i should probably add them to my pinned... 
General
I sincerely hope they have a small living arrangement so I can inflict them with the pain of having to share almost everything with each other
I just want Shadow and Lync to share a bunk
Like to think that alongside Volt, Mylene and Lync were also recruited by Hydron
None of them officially joined until they were a bit older but probably trained to eventually join the Vexos; in the mean time they probably worked for Hydron or something like that
Volt recruited at 11; Lync a year later and Mylene following not long after (respectively 13, 8, 12 when they’re all gathered)
My reasoning to why Volt is patient with Lync’s antics and Mylene less so but doesn’t lash out as badly as you think she would around annoying little kids; grew up tgt moment
Spectra probably forced his way into the Vexos like “hiiii i see you dont have any Vexos members <3″ bcs obv he wasn’t using royal scientist dad privelages (i think, bcs Clay seems horrified abt Spectra being a Vexos and well, being Spectra) 
Shadow had an advantage of being a nobleman (in terms of him being accepted into the Vexos’ ranks)
the Vexos and their set of rules magent-ed on the fridge door or something and every time they go over a page they have to staple/tape a new page on
Joined in this order, Volt, Spectra, Shadow, Mylene, Lync, Gus 
Vexos being a “chance of death low but the chance is still there” type of job... they feel like idols girl help they are bakugan idol group who work for the government 
sorry the way the vestal kids talk about them... going to treat the Vexos like a kpop group now
Spectra Phantom / Keith Fermin 
[canon] son of a (royal?) scientist. definitely had it good and comfy
think it’d be REALLY funny if he already knew Shadow before he became Spectra, Shadow just doesn’t recognize him bcs of his stupid get up
throws childhood friends Shadow Spectra at you, just two weirdos 
Keith specifically keeps Shadow from ever meeting his sister which is why neither of them really recognize each other
Pre-Spectra; probably would’ve been really into bakugan biology and what not. Feels like the kind of person to talk w/ his dad about “do you think we could change their appearance if we messed w/ their mechanical ball form or would it not carry over to their released forms”
this mf looks like a biology major i feel it in my guts 
mom isn’t dead she just divorced Clay bcs he didn’t know how to balance family and work, good for her
probably lives in another city now, and it’s a bit more of a hassle to meet with her kids so they don’t see her as much but she is present in their lives (keep in contact in other ways) 
probably went a bit silent when Keith went missing
didn’t bleach his eyebrows bcs he didn’t want to harm the skin around there and he never thought he’d take the mask off around others, or about how stupid he’d look without the mask
please please please please draw him with his pink hair roots in his MS fit he should've grown out some of his bleached hair by then
daddy issues is truly the root of evil
Gus Grav
Just Some Gut background; middle class just living life
[canon?] was going on a route to being an “idol brawler”, because that’s kind of what their brawls felt like, since it was all purely for show with some competition. it felt less like a sport and more spectacle.
Gus wanting to be an idol brawler is actually such a funny string of words put together I’m making that a thing, if he didn’t join the Vexos he would’ve been an idol brawler
I like the Gus needs glasses hc (shoutout to @marmeladebois ‘s post on that) 
The hc of him being half human and Runo’s half brother is so good 
Cooks well but refuses to help cook fr the Vexos (unless Spectra specifically asks) --> that job is usually left to Volt
not related but reminds me heavily of yugioh vrain’s Spectre (or other way around... Gus was the blueprint) 
Shadow Prove
[handbook canon] a vestal nobleman 
has an older brother (oc; Lux- casual Haos brawler)
inferiority complex or whatever, the only thing he bested his brother in was Bakugan
the Prove family being typical prim proper noble family and forcing Shadow to be repressed is something, but the Proves having the same kind of wavelength as Shadow but in different variations is funnier. They’re just Like That.
Probably not a military family, does work closely with the government still; um im thinking somewhere under the Fermins but not by much
Considered running away from home several times 
Unwillingly has knowledge on Vestal classic literature/ music
hard clutching a wall whenever he wants to join in on discussions about it bcs he knows this stuff but no way is he going to make himself look like a nerd + hes not actually that interested
*debates you for fun and bcs i hate u <3* 
You know how he doesn’t take his job as a Vexos member super seriously, I wonder:
did his parents force him to be a Vexos since he wasn’t interested in the political side of his family and probably against taking up anything related to it, so they had him do something that’d still be beneficial to the family?  
joined to pursue a freedom he didn’t have as a nobleman and is now just taking it really easy?
has clowns > jesters debate with volt; obv he’s team clown, volt is team jester
incredibly irrelevant but if he was a human he’d be chinese, i’ve claimed him, prodigal son older brother and fail son dynamic is there 
Mylene Ferrow
While I like the idea of her being from a military family, I want to make her like Ling Wen (TGCF) in the sense she started from the bottom and climbed to the top... it fits her ambitious nature of grasping for more, she hasn’t reached what she considers the top just yet... 
[very Ling Wen specific but Mylene being put in jail fr crimes unknown to me and being recruited  by Hydron bcs she kicked serious ass is an entertaining thought] 
I like to think she’s closest to Shadow due to the fact he kind of forces his presence onto her so... not her choice in that matter. “annoying” to “endearingly annoying, you still aren’t getting special treatment though”
Ofc Volt and Lync are on the same level, but I think they all know when to give each other space so they’re more of a “we hold each other at a distance, but we’re aware of out closeness which is enough for us”
Then its Spectra and then Gus in the “closest to Mylene” scale; she just straight up hates Gus and it’s mutual
whoever made the “Mylene and Spectra were exes” hc I think it’s really funny so I’m adding it here 
terrible fashion, she’s the one who chose the outfits when she and Shadow went to earth; her fashionable armor look she usually has was designed with Volt’s help, she just voiced what she generally wanted 
Her red lipstick look was bcs she thought it’d make her look more serious/ intimidating (Volt and Lync approved, it rlly does work on her)
Shadow matches w/ her (via his red nails) after they get teamed up tgt several times bcs he thinks they’re basically the go-to duo matchup whenever they’re assigned work n it’d be cool
Very forthcoming about the fact she used to be considered a criminal and was from same rundown area Volt and Lync come from
She’s grateful she got out of jail but she still has no respect for Hydron and despite how much she tries to hide it she does make it pretty clear to him she doesn’t really like him
I wish I had more to say about her... but It’s all relationship esque, i think in general she’s enjoyable and good so what I want more out of her is character dynamics
Lync Volan
[eng dub] he has grandparents; whether they’re still alive or not is...? 
was part of the same area Volt is from
probably aware of each other but didn’t really know each other
you sound like you have mommy issues 
came from the same area as Volt, but lived further out and closer to those areas where there were some bits of nature left 
ill expand on why he got picked up by Hydron another day lazy rn
Volt Luster
[canon] he’s from an area that just straight up looks like yugioh 5ds’ Satellite, and Hydron was the one who pulled him out of there  
He says Hydron pulled him out of there when he was a kid? I’d assume at youngest it’d be like Hydron (8) and Volt (11)
has a neat collection of handmade jester dolls 
lot more artistic than he seems 
Had his guardian bakugan with him the longest; had Brontes even before he met Hydron
Would the others consider him weird fr having a talking Bakugan that acted friendly with him n cracked jokes? 
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bakugohoex · 4 years ago
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chapter one ➺ auld rivals
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pairing: pro hero katsuki bakugo x pro hero female reader
cw: language and angry boi
word count: 2000+
a/n: omfg sorry for positing this at midnight but hope you guys like chapter one i think it’s starting off good so far and this is defo a slow burn so don’t expect action until later on
summary: in which you and bakugo are rivals always competing against one another, you get called into the commission late at night, unbeknownst that bakugo is there you arrive expecting nothing important but instead are met face to face with the president herself
masterlist | chapter two 
↞ back to my hero academia masterlist
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Blood dripped from the side of his face, his breathing heavy and resting on his lips was a smirk. The god damn cocky smile that you wanted to punch out of him. “Fucking hell Y/n only 10 people saved, someone’s doing shit.” You scowled how could he talk about saving people when you were the one who was making sure buildings stopped falling on him and the civilians.
All his quirk was bang bang explosions, nothing special. Yours on the other hand telepathy and psychokinesis one hundred times better than shitty Bakugo’s quirk. He would always prance around acting like a penguin with his ass on fire as if he had been the one saving people. All he did was carry them away, you on the other hand, stopping buildings and rubble fall off them with your mind. 
It was a lot harder than Bakugo thought, one wrong thought and everything would come crashing down. But what did you care? His opinion meant nothing and as long as the people were saved that’s all that really mattered. The  stars guided the darkness like a picture-perfect scene, the only torments being the blond beside you explosions in hand and the A rank villain in front of you. 
“Let me handle this.” You were going to have your glory if it was the last thing you’d do, you didn’t want the glory of praise and admiration. You wanted Katsuki Bakugo on his knees admitting that you were better than him. 
You activated your telepathy going into his head, “don’t you fucking dare.” He was unable to move and that’s all you wanted him to do, his silence and lack of movement confirmed he was obeying you before you turned to the villain, their quirk seemed to melt away things it touched. 
You ran up to it, the sweat falling down from your body. You had made a hero costume which suited you and had easy mobility allowing you to not only use your psychokinesis to trap the rubble around the villains arms but to easily run and jump onto objects to kick the villains down. Their arms became trapped as it had already begun to melt away the concrete that you latched onto it and before you could use your quirk you felt the melted away rubble hit your body. 
“Fuck.” A low whisper came as you could hear Bakugo’s thoughts, the hatred he had pent up to you but his inability to move suppressing him. Maybe it was selfish to let your own aspirations get in the way of a quick defeat, but where’s the fun in that. 
You used your quirk effectively getting inside the villain as you prevented it touching anything before grabbing the discarded metal from the destruction that had been caused prior. Metal surrounded your arms as you made it move along with your walking. Both your quirks in action before you pushed everything you had onto the villain. Their movement limited as they were trapped underneath, you heard nor saw no movement and the smirk you felt on your face rise made Bakugo’s blood boil. 
You stopped manipulating Bakugo as he ran towards you quirk raised, you could almost feel the explosions and burning sensation his pace quickening. “Bakugo don’t you dare, or I’ll get inside your head again and we both don’t want that.” 
Telepathy took a toll on you the majority of the times, hearing thoughts and emotions wasn’t something you were too fond of doing. The villain in question had transformed back into a human having previously been a sluggish type of creature, he was knocked unconsciousness, you both saw the police force come and arrest him. 
“Don’t you ever fucking do that shit again Y/n.” Bakugo raised his voice catching the attention of the police force and commission representatives. 
You crossed your arms raising an eyebrow, “I’m the one who defeated the villain.” He was furious, the rage that filled inside of him was more than he could ever imagine, and it was going towards a pipsqueak like you. 
“You got into my head and prevented me from doing my job you dumbass.” His knuckles had turned white at the clenched fist he was making. You had pissed him off and all you could give him was a shrug. 
“Shitty woman.” He could say all he wanted about you, but you didn’t care. 
You didn’t expect him to get on your knees for you, but you were doing your job, and logically you knew that if he used his quirk it would have no effect on this type of villain. You were able to suppress and defeat him and with both you and Bakugo fighting together the chances of risk increased. It wasn’t that you assumed the level of  risk would be high, you knew you had worked it out whilst preventing rubble from falling from civilians. And one of the likely outcomes that had the highest percentage was Bakugo melting away. 
You would never tell him you suppressed him to save him, you’d rather he be pissed with you then even consider that you two were more than rivals. He had left to go back to the agency, whilst you explained what happened to the police force knowing you’d be the one to have to do the paperwork. 
You signed walking back as well, it had reached pitch darkness by the time you arrived back, stripping the costume off, the long-sleeved black leotard covering most of your body, with exposed legs which were covered by thigh highs that went right up to your mid-thigh. 
Your quirk didn’t mean you necessarily needed any fancy costume but the one you wore made it easier to move especially the gloves on your hands which allowed for more materials to be controlled around your fingers. It was a benefit of some sorts; a black necklace went around your neck which allowed for a lack of nausea to occur. It was common for you to vomit up after controlling too many people back in your UA days but now it was less common, only a mild headache occurring. 
Wearing normal clothes, you grabbed your bags knowing your patrol was over and you could have a weekend of relaxation. Mina and Momo having invited the girls for a catchup, it had been months since you last saw them and to have a catchup on life events was a must. You all had been busy and as you all grew older the busier everybody got, even the boys seemed to have their own lives. You didn’t mind but working alongside Bakugo in the same agency was a pain, you never expected it once graduating together but now you and Bakugo were like auld rivals. 
You saw Bakugo at the front entrance he was on the phone as he paced back and forth. Probably one of his hook ups telling him he’s the father, you didn’t dare look into his thoughts, it was his private life and in honesty it made you uncomfortable. 
He saw you walking out, you easily passed him he was still pissed by how his voice raised even more. Someone had made him even angrier than before clearly; you didn’t bother to ask mainly due to not caring. 
A couple signs and vulgar swears came out of his mouth, you didn’t know if it was a friend, mother or even some from above but you stopped caring once you heard something from your bag. 
Your phone ringing loudly, you hated phone calls even from your own parents, the idea of talking to people wherever you were was disgusting. That didn’t mean you hated people you just liked your own space and liked hanging out with people on your own accord. You answered the unknown number you were met with someone you never expected. 
“This is Y/n Y/l/n.” They were almost unsure themselves, why call if you don’t know if you’re talking to the right person. 
“Ugh yeah.” You were hesitant not liking the weakness of not being able to hear or know the other person’s thoughts on the other side. 
You heard a sign of relief as they spoke again, “thank God, we thought you had been sent to the hospital, it’s the Hero Public Safety commission, I work under the president and we want to see you.” 
“You didn’t have to make it so dramatic” You mutter barely audible, “I’ll be there.” 
She says no more hanging up, you hated being called to the commission, they had no need to directly go to you when they could just go to someone who truly cared about the formalities, all you wanted to do was save people and piss Bakugo off, but no something always seemed to happen. 
You turned around walking back the way you came from, passing the agency, Bakugo had probably already gone home himself. Why the fuck did you have to go to the commission why couldn’t that shitty man get called in as well? 
You didn’t hate Bakugo you were just tired and hated how he could go home probably to a nice warm bed whilst you had to take detours for hells know what reasons. 
Finally arriving after your unrelieved feelings had become dull to bare, you walked inside a man already waiting for you. You followed trying to get some sort of vibe from the man, you couldn’t bare to read his thoughts knowing it’d be emotional with anxieties over work so tried to look at him seeing if he had anything to him that showed hope. 
He didn’t! He led you to the presidents office after a silent ride u the elevator, you didn’t mean to stare at the man, but you wanted to know if he had any clue of what was going on. And when you did finally get into his brain it was more worries about if his wife would let him in the house for being late. 
A bore as you had thought, the double doors enticed you to come forward, someone was already waiting in the chair as you walked in, what you hadn’t realised was a woman had been walking back out. You both crashed into each other and her papers fell everywhere, using your quirk you gathered the papers quickly preventing them for falling on the ground and getting muddled up, the papers rested back in her arms as you helped her up. 
“Sorry I wasn’t looking where I was going.” You hummed an its okay before seeing the president. It was a shock to see her the one leading this meeting but you didnt ask just wanting to get it over and done with.
“Agh Y/n so glad you could join us, take a seat.” At the sight of your name being spoken the man quickly turned his head, and it was someone you hadn’t expected. 
Bakugo sat on the chair, angry as always. You sat beside him, his glare on your body, he watched intentively as you tried to make him stop by glaring back. 
“What’s the stupid psychic doing here?” You continued to glare but at the word psychic you got pissed, you weren’t a stupid fake psychic and it irritated you when he said it.
The president watched you both glaring it was a sight to say the least, you were on the verge of pushing his chair over and you could already sense explosions about to appear before she finally cleared her throat before speaking. 
“We didn’t call you both here to fight we have a proposition for you two.” You both gave blank looks before Bakugo spoke. 
“If you want us to do some shitty work in other fields than I’m already out.” Bakugo was ready to leave. You nodded in agreement not wanting to be involved as some promoter for a shitty energy drink to be sold to the youth. Both ready to leave on your own accords, the president finally turned away looking out through the glass windows admiring the stars and the moon which shone throughout the blues and blacks of the sky. It was a river of opportunity that you had often admired whilst on patrols. 
She spoke again but this time the next words that came out of her mouth had stopped you both in your thoughts. “What do you two know about the Paranormal Liberation Front?”
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sanstropfremir · 4 years ago
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the hotly anticipated kingdom episode 7 review is here!!
this episode was a lot less spectacle-y than the last one (the last episode with stages, i mean), and i think that was a good choice for all the groups on the whole to tone it down on the run up to the finale, because at the rate everyone was headed there would be no room to go any higher. i'm very glad that there was actually a collab stage and not just a song swap, especially because it gives a chance for the boys to work together and make friends when they otherwise arent going to be able to interact much. love love love to see them making friends and having fun doing these stages!
i'm not really sure why mnet didnt put the vocal stage this episode, because what on earth else are they going to put in the next episode with it??? i know it's a content stretch but still, it seems like a weird choice to me. anyways, there’s four stages for me to talk about this time and i'm going to try to not ramble out of control, but we’ll see. i did enjoy watching all of these, but we’ve all got favourites and i'm going to rank by which group i liked better out of the two for each stage, and then i put a few conclusions at the end. strap in folks this is another long one.
rap stages
skz + btob + atz
i was actually really surprised at how much i liked this stage. i would not classify myself as a rap fan and believe it or not i actually do not place a lot of importance on lyrics when enjoying music. although i have very high lyric retention and comprehension, i focus more on the sound than the literal words, so a fair amount of rap is swing-and-a-miss in my personal listening. plus when you add a language barrier on top of that, a lot of the nuance and technical skill of it just flies over my head. so i really dont have much to say about the sonic elements this time around, sorry. also.....i know i joked that nobody from the kingdom staff is reading my reviews.....but is someone from the kingdom staff reading my reviews????? i specifically mentioned that i think skz should do an art themed stage and then we got one????? i know i manifested the punk ateez stage but did i manifest this also??? am i just that powerful???
costume
obviously these are pretty basic rap/hiphop stage looks, but the white was a really good choice for visibility’s sake, and also thematically: it reflects the colours in the lighting really well.
i am DYING to know who the designer of minhyuks jacket is. if somebody knows please tell me i love it so much. it looks like some of the recent belted jackets that dior was putting out, but the drawing on the front armscythe piece reminds me of the superm/kim junggi collab for tiger inside. say whatever you want about superm, but you cannot deny that that is not some of the coolest merch on the kpop scene.
loved the traditional korean elements that came through in addition to the western references: the screens, hongjoong’s fan, minhyuk’s big fuckoff brush, the masks, and the sleeves on the dancers at minhyuk’s bit. those are a costume feature from a style of korean traditional masked dance called bongsan talchum. the masks themselves are versions of hahoetal masks, which are used in a very specific archetypal ritual dance in andong. i think these are imae masks, who is the servant/fool archetype that mocks the nobleman and the scholar. i suspect that was a deliberate choice, but i can only speculate.
another point about the masks which is not relevant but maybe a fun fact for people who don’t know. i actually thought at first that they were western theatre half masks, which are a very old style of mask that, like with hahoetal masks, represent a number of archetypes/stock characters. maskwork is a very common training practice in theatre schools, because it teaches body language and control, because half your face is covered and you cannot speak in your own voice (sometimes you cannot speak at all, this is one of the rules of full mask). the tradition of usings masks to portray emotion goes all the way back to the ancient greek chorus, but more commonly people in the west sometimes know it from the italian commedia dell’arte, of which you will have definitely seen some of the character archetypes before. i just find it neat that the same types of art pop up in different places seemingly independently of each other. humans are cool.
set
not much to say here, it's pretty bare with just some propwork. thought the screen use was fun and they used it smartly in a couple of transitions. 
thought changbin’s bit of ‘interrupting’ the artists was cute and fun. there’s obviously a picasso reference there, and the four technicolour paintings are a reference to andy warhol’s pop art silkscreen portraits, most famously of marilyn monroe, but he also did many other celebrities in the 70s and 80s.
lighting
i LOVED this lighting. super bright and fun, lots of use of colour, obviously. the projections were there to enhance the visuals and weren’t distracting in any way. i thought the transition to black and white/ink with minhyuk was smart and had good contrast, it gave a strong rhythm to build back up to for the climax.
sound
bang chan’s ‘spelling colour with a u’ bit had me SCREAMING with laughter. we spell colour with a u normally bang chan, the americans are the ones that are wrong. 
staging
i don’t really have a whole lot to say here, it was pretty straightforward and fun. like i’ve said in previous reviews, i wish they were more conscious of the steadicam direction and would stop showing extended bits of the production crew. at least everyone was wearing full blacks this time.
fun use of the upward angle combined with the groundwork/leg choreo during hongjoong’s verse, that was a highlight for me.
sf9 + tbz + ikon
nothing against this stage, the other one just hit harder for me. bobby is the best rapper on the show and he really carried this stage with his charisma. he’s a fun performer to watch and he knows how to command a space. i'm sure there’s technical notes that people have about the raps themselves, but i'm here looking at visuals as a priority, which i'm sure you’ve all grasped at this point.
costume
these were clearly extensions of these idol’s personal styles, with is a perfectly fine choice, especially for a rap stage where the emphasis is more on authorship. LOVED bobby’s 11yro girl at recess look.
amusing that both rap stages involved paint in some way? loved the backup dancers shooting supersoakers filled with paint at them, but i wish i knew the reason for it? i'm glad i saw this stage first because i would have been underwhelmed by the paint throwing if i had seen this after rainbow bonanza.
set
almost no set at all here, just a few props. i'm not judging as harshly on lack of set this round because these stages are meant to be more about skill than anything else. 
lighting
i loved the projections, i thought they were unobtrusive and i admit, i LOVE outer space themed anything.
i liked that they did more concert lighting and had no projections in the first half to put more focus on the performers, it really highlighted the fact that this stage was about them, and not about anything extraneous.
sound
it was indeed a song.
staging
i do wish there had been a bit more control of the space, because it did look very empty at some parts and they could have staved that off by keeping tighter camera shots. this stage is so fucking big, holy shit.
they really brought their onstage chemistry and they looked like they were having a blast, which FINALLY!! 
i actually really liked hwiyoung’s opening, i think there was a lot of potential there for some sharp contrast work that i wish had been played through a little more, especially with the cool white light overtop the black costumes. it actually reminded me a bit of the intro in the music video from a rapper i do actually listen to, bewhy’s gottasadae.
glad to see some more use of camera effects with the black and white, but why did they do it over the paint throwing? it just made the trajectory of the paint invisible because there was no colour contrast.
performance stages
sf9 + tbz + ikon
ok obviously im gonna have a lot more to say about the performance stages, nobody is surprised there. this one was the better constructed of the two and my personal pick for better stage, but i actually liked watching the both of them equally.
costume
king shit, literally. we love contemporary hanbok in this house. there was good colour and style distinction between the three of them without clashing. 
costume change was fun and neatly blocked, it's pretty common to see backup dancers and chorus hiding quickchanges but i liked how this was a more unusual formation.
taeyang rocking the organza skirt and the big purple eyeshadow, thank you for keeping it cunty as always.
i really liked juyeon’s underlayer look. finally we get a good tbz costume look thats thematically relevant!
set
like all the stages this round, pretty minimal. the setting was almost entirely established through the costumes and the projections, which is some really good designwork. it's pretty much just the litters (the lifted chairs they entered on), and some smaller props. they managed to not make the stage feel empty because there was a lot of projection visuals to compensate, which is difficult to do without being overbearing, but i think they mostly pulled it off.
i originally thought it was gonna be weird to try and mesh the traditional korean architectural aesthetic with the weird mnet deco, but i ended up not noticing it as much as i thought i would.
lighting
like i just said, projections very well done and do a fantastic job of conveying setting without being overly distracting. like with the atz/skz/btob rap stage there’s a really broad range of colour use here that they offset by brightening and properly fill lighting the faces so you can actually see what’s happening.
the use of the strobing lasers and more concert style lighting fit really well with the change in the music from traditional instrument sounds to electronica and the more hiphop/isolated movements.
sound
i liked it well enough! i think it had a good arc that we can see echoed through the rest of the piece, like previously stated in the lighting and movement style. 
staging
like i mentioned with the quickchange, there was some really interesting formations using the backup dancers here, especially as a lead toward/away from the camera
having the three of them enter on litters; again, literal king shit, love to see it.
this has a pretty clear narrative that doesnt really need an external explanation, which is good. i have to assume that the burning of the paper with 妃 (concubine) is intended to be a gesture of ‘burning’ the love out of their hearts, but that was the only thing i'm still confused on. this may very well turn out to be a reference to a specific story that i just have no idea what it is, but we’ll see once the subs are out!
i loved juyeons solo bit with the alcohol drinking and the table flip, that was the choreographic highlight for me. i just really wish he would use the other muscles in his face more often. we know youre pretty, you dont have to blue steel your way through all your performances!! take a page out of donghyuk’s book and make some ugly faces, it's good for you!!
i though taeyang’s swordwork was fine, but since i do actually have a decade of sword training i'm very judgemental. it's not bad, he obviously has practiced with the weapon and he knows how to control it, but he doesn’t have the same understanding as someone who has trained with a sword as a weapon and not just as a prop. if we hadn’t seen another stage with swordwork in it i probably wouldn’t have brought this up (that's a lie, i still would have brought it up, i have a third dan), but you can really see the difference between how minhyuk moves with his sword and how taeyang moves. a lot of this has to do with the proper weighting of the blade, which i mention briefly in my second episode review in btob’s section (and also this ask here, where i talk about properly weighted weapons in relation to the gun choreo in sf9’s and ateez’s previous stages); minhyuk is likely using a ‘real’ sword (it’s blunted but still made using proper methods and materials), and taeyang is using a cheaper-made replica (unless you’re doing full contact striking a LOT there’s no way a properly made blade breaks like that. also you would never tape it together hello??? respect the blade). if you know what you’re looking for, you can tell from the movements themselves when someone has training. minhyuk did a load of real training for a film where he was a swordsman, and you can tell; the sword is an extension of his arm, all the movements lead with the tip of the blade first, because that’s your first, your fastest, and your most dangerous point. you do 90% of your cutting with the first eight inches of blade, but it takes a lot of specific training to get your hands and arms to a place where that kind of movement is possible. taeyang’s movements are driven from his hands, which is unsurprising, because that’s where he’s used to his extensions stopping. the tip follows rather than leads. wow this got insanely sidetracked i hope you liked this crash course on swordwork.
this is pretty much what i expected to see from this unit. these three groups all have standout soloists, so i wasn’t surprised to see these three boys as the picks. juyeon and taeyang especially, theyre both from groups that are more likely to do experimental stages and choreography that highlights them as soloists and skilled dancers.
skz + btob + atz
this was a letdown from ateez’s last two stages, because they knocked those out of the park, but it's only fair that they have a bit of a fall. that being said, i did really enjoy watching this for its sheer ridiculousness; i’m forgiving the wolf concept this time because well, it’s wolf. you can't cover wolf and not do a wolf concept, that’s against the law. also, like i’ve said before, i'm all for dark concepts IF you give them thematic weight. is it on the nose? yes. is it thematically relevant? also yes. is it dumb? also also yes, but that’s never stopped a single kpop group in the history of ever.
costume
friendship restored with ateez stylists, rivalry started with skz stylists. the fur shoulder fluffs??? stupid and i love them. perfect in every way. however i keep seeing the same fucking costumes on the skz boys and i will come directly for the stylists at jype if they dont get their shit together. be! more! creative!!!
i really really wish they had gone more 2013 kpop with it, we need more of that ugly ridiculous styling. peniel was actually pretty close, with the overly long tunic and those yellow lenses. very vixx on and on (yes i know they were vampires from outer space, let me live)
i actually thought the wolf gloves were fun? the small bits of uv paint actually worked instead of looking out of place, and i'm glad they put them on wooyoung because the uglier an outfit, the better he pulls it off. 
set
same dice, just the long table and the camo net at the beginning, which i thought was unnecessary. the table was useful for levels though, so happy to see they utilized that.
lighting
there is so much happening all the time. lots of lasers. it's definitely aiming for camp territory, and i dont actually hate it as much as i did on my first watch. it actually wasn’t as dark as i thought either, because its mostly lit with blue and amber. but it doesn’t really have that great of an arc and its not really that good on the whole.
the projections are a bit much for me, but that’s only when i'm actually looking at them. true to form, i didn’t even notice the excess of red slashes until like my fourth rewatch because i was too busy watching the performers.
sound
rookie exo my beloved. the original wolf goes so hard for absolutely no reason, so i’m not knocking this stage for being ridiculous. in fact it should have been more ridiculous. i think they did a fine job updating the song for a.....less 2013 sound. 
i like that they didn’t bother to live sing the stage even though they recorded vocals for it, it gave them all a chance to actually focus on just the dance.
that being said, i am kind of missing all the adlibs from the original. but even though there’s some strong vocalists in this unit, they aren’t made of the same stuff as baekhyun, luhan, chen, AND d.o.
i literally just realized that peniel had already debuted when this song came out AND is technically exo’s senior because btob debuted like two weeks before exo officially did.....oh no
staging
choreographically this feels a lot more like the skz stages that we’ve seen rather than the ateez ones, so i'm curious as to who the choreographer was. 
the tricking was definitely more ridiculous in this one, but i can't really say any of it was there for no reason because it all had elements of fighting in it. the scale of the tricks was quite large though and not very well blended with the rest of the choreo, which ending up making them look awkward. i thought it was a nice detail that they shone a green toplight on the dancers that made up the cliff wooyoung climbed up so that it looked like there was grass on it. cute.
the blocking is lacking a lot of fluidity, and i think that’s partially the scale of the tricking and also the editing, because this editing is TERRIBLE. there’s so much cutting, why is there so much cutting!! haven’t we already learned that longtakes are the best for this???
there’s a lot of stuff here that had good potential but could have been pushed a little farther. i feel like i say this for every mediocre stage, but what can i say, i'm good at constructive criticism. 
they should have given more showcase to the tree and the scratching arms; it's the most iconic move!! i also wish they had kept some kind of iteration of the different unit ‘leaping’ in over the exiting one, i always thought that part of the original choreo was really fun and did a lot for establishing them as wolves. 
i LOVED peniel entering with all those backup dancers in chains, thats some fucking iconic shit. very ‘im the alpha wolf,�� which is valid because he’s like at LEAST five years older than everyone else on the stage. i wish that instead of being the backup dancers it was the actual members, because THAT would have been an image. theyre all wearing harnesses and collars anyways, just clip em in! he’d be like one of those dogwalkers!
me last week: specifically talking about how krump is an uncommon style in kpop and it's very hard to get right kingdom, throwing the manifesting dodgeball at me for the third time: here would you like a KRUMP SOLO?
if you didnt believe me before that krump is hard to get right, i sure hope you do now. peniel did fine, but you can see how easily you can veer off into looking ridiculous.
some conclusions
i mentioned this really briefly in an ask i got earlier today, but i do think it's important to establish that the two performance units are doing two different types of performances. i can understand why people are underwhelmed by the atz/skz/btob stage and wanted it to be less of a traditional kpop dance stage and more like the experimental stages we’ve been seeing for the last few weeks. and i agree! i think they could have done more with it. but i also think that this kind of stage was a good choice for this particular subunit. unlike with the sf9/tbz/ikon unit, there are not really any standout technical soloists in ateez or skz. ateez has, in my opinion, the highest ratio of dancers with actual stage presence of any of the 4th gen groups ive seen. they’re at a solid 75% for any given performance, and occasionally they can bump that higher depending on the stage. that high of a stat is rare. it's extremely rare for a group to have all its members have good stage presence (i can think of like, maybe two or three?), and to get over 50% is pretty damn impressive. but ateez’s strength isn’t in how good they individually are as dancers, but it's in how well they work together. there’s a reason why they put FIVE of them in the performance unit. one of the first things i said about ateez to hanya is ‘i love wooyoung but he doesn’t stand out when he's not centre.’ which is for good reason!! he’s not supposed to! they all willingly give up centre and take it back when they need to, because they have that charisma. there’s a very cohesive push and pull to watching ateez that speaks to their strengths as performers. dancing in a group where you are all meant to be equal is a very different skill than just being a talented soloist. you have to understand what to prioritize in a different way. taemin dances differently with shinee that he does in his solo career, especially since they’ve been back. he understands when to step back; more often than not i find key to be the standout dancer in shinee choreo.
this is a very long winded way of saying that wolf was a good choice for them even though the stage didn’t turn out as well as it could have. also the fact that they made a cohesive performance at all, with a week of rehearsal and while working with essentially strangers is a feat and speaks to all of their skill at their job. performing in a group is a huge part of kpop, and they did call this the performance stage, and not the dance stage.
i'm not entirely sure on what the breakdown is on why each of the subunits were formed. i know the team sizes are extremely uneven, with sf9/tbz/ikon clocking in at 26 people and atz/skz/btob clocking in at 17 (i'm not counting changsub because he's not there and probably has a scheduling conflict), which is like, a whole extra group of difference. but atz/skz/btob utilizing their whole groups for each of the units (5/3/1 for performance, 1/3/1 for rap, and 1/1/1 for vocal, for 7/7/3 total), verses sf9/tbz/ikon only bringing out six people for these two stages and then six for the vocal stage is......weird? that's over half of their group number that’s not performing. i do think the groups brought out their standout performers and made smart choices with the stages but the balance still strikes me as odd. i do wish tbz had actually done some group choreo because they are very strong group performers and it would have been fun to watch.
ateez really played the long game here, good job boys. teaming up with the group who gets the highest fan votes AND the group with the strongest technical skills? i see you.
i think this is probably too wild of an assumption and is only based on circumstantial evidence but.....i think hongjoong might actually have a lot more creative sway than i previously thought. all the stages he’s been a part of have been very well designed, and i know he provided suggestions for the two ateez stages prior to this... i’m probably thinking too much. 
ok you know what i know there were some other points in my brain somewhere but this is already 4000 words so i’m going to stop. if i remember anything else its probably gonna end up in the answer to some of the asks i’m inevitably going to get because i think my opinions on these ones are a little bit more controversial, whoops!
not entirely sure if ill do an extensive review for next week’s stage, because i'm not really a ballad fan and i dont really do vocal reviews, but i could do a quick one. i guess it also depends on what else they put in the episode. we’ll see!!
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katsukisbimbo · 5 years ago
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Bokuto Koutaro x Reader
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✯pairing: Bokuto Koutaro x Reader
✯genre: strangers-to-lovers au!! with fluff, cRack aND!! smut!! slight angst too. uhh the several uses of the term “fat c0ck” because bokuto has a big dick
✯summary: meeting bokuto was a roller coaster you weren’t ready for, but you knew that if you had the chance you’d ride on it over and over again just to experience everything all over again
✯wordcount: 3.7k
✯note: hey guys i’m slowly pushing requests out so i hope you guys can bare with me!! this is for @gulfwanq​ who’s writing i absolutely love!! keep making great content love, muAh
you first met bokutou when you went to the local convenience store near your school
you really wanted some onigiri plus you didn’t have lunch
aNd onigiri miya was closed today
sigh
rUmbLe RuMbLe
gosh you were hungry
when you went to grab the last onigiri on the shelf you were surprised to see another person grab it before you
like huh
do i have to bite this stupid persons hand of-
you turn your head to look at the culprit and
your jaw DROPS
this man is gorgeous
and he looks like an owl
a really cute owl
owo
“if you could kindly take your hands off of my lunch i’d greatly appreciate it >.
and that’s the nicest way you could tell someone to fuck off really
but he just smiles and pulls the onigiri towards him and turns to walk away
oH NO YOU DONT BEEFY BOY
you jump on his back and try to choke him?? and steal the onigiri back??
and this dude is just laughing
what part of this is a JOKE to you HUH
this is LUNCH
LUNCH IS NOT A JOKE
you were not here to play games with cute boys
but you would make an exception if he played with your-
ANYWAYS!!!
the store owner sees the two of you fooling around and just kicks you both out
in the end neither of you ended up with the onigiri
“did you see what you did horn head? now i’m hungry”
and he just grabs your arm and pulls you into a different direction
“hEY- wHere are you tAking mE” you yelled exasperatedly at the random boy who was pulling you
“we’re going to get ramen”
oh ok
but like,, was he going to treat u or,,,
“i’m paying, come on”
wEll
who were you to turn down free food??
especially from a beefy looking dad-
aNYWAYS
“wait a minute,,, who aRe you?”
“hEY HEY HEY!!! dOnt you know me y/n??? i’m bokuto koUtaro!! i’m in the top 5 ranking of japan’s aces!!! i’m the best!!!”
his name,, did not ring a bell
nothing at all
“uhh,, ok,, how’d you know my name?”
ruh roh
bokuto started sweating profusely when you asked him that question
siri how do you tell your kouhai that you’ve noticed her ever since she was a first year but you were too pussy to actually talk to her or ask her out until you saw her trying to get the last onigiri at a convenience store so u say ‘hey why not steal her onigiri and make her fall in love with me’ so that’s exactly what u do
siri: here are the search results for “adult diapers”
sIRI THATS NOT WHAT I SAID
“ahh i’ve noticed you around before n i kinda thought you were cute”
take in bokuto didn’t even care that you didn’t acknowledge him before like he just cares that you’re talking to him now
n he was just avoiding your gaze but all u could think about was how cUTE!! he looked
wow
babie
and that was how you met bokuto koutaro
now he was almost leaving you
and through the months, bokuto had weaseled his way into life as your best friend, and in your heart, but as something more
it was easy to catch feelings for him
i mean,, who wouldn’t
you were currently in his bed, waiting for him while he showered
bokuto had graduated just today and you were gonna miss him so much :((
while you were thinking about bokuto, you didn’t realize that he had already exited the bathroom, sHIRTLESS
his grey sweatpants were hanging low on his hips, giving you a show of his v-line and delicious looking abs
wow
he turned to you and gave you a heartwarming smile
unfAir
he was too cute for his own good
“kouuuu come lay with me”
he dried his hair a little bit more before hanging the towel back into the washroom, then made his way to your spread out figure on his bed
he crawled on top of you and wrapped his arms around your waist while his head rested on your chest
your hands automatically made their way to bokuto’s head, massaging his salt n pepper locks just the way he liked it
he looked too pure right now
“kou?” “mm?” hummed bokuto
“i’m gonna miss you. so so much.” you forced out, feeling your tears starting to drip down your cheeks
bokuto immediately noticed the quiver in your voice and looked up, only to see his precious girl crying
“oh no bAby please don’t cry, please don’t cry i’m so sorry pretty girl come here” he cooed as he sat up and scooped you up into his arms, sticking you back in forth as you buried your face in his neck
but this only made you sob harder
“whyre you crying pretty girl? i’m not leaving tokyo, and i’m still gonna live here. you’re still gonna see me” he reasoned
he didn’t gEt it
he was going to go to a different school, meaning he wasn’t going to be with you all the time
and going to a new school means meeting other people
what if he meets someone and falls in love with them
and what if he just leaves you behind
you wouldn’t know how to deal with all that pain if that ever happened
you knew that bokuto was a busy man but you weren’t ready for him to leave you completely
like yeah you coUld come to his house to see him but you wouldn’t want to distract him from doing work or anything
you just weren’t read to let your kou go and that was okay
“i-i don’t want to be left behind” you sniffled
instead of comforting you even more, bokuto just tightened his hold on you and started laughing, letting you head the deep timbre of his voice
his laugh was so cute
“what do you mean pretty? im not going anywhere so how can i leave you?”
gOSH
did u rEALLY have to spell it out
bokuto looked at you expectantly as he lifted your chin to make you face him
you shifted your gaze to the suddenly interesting pillow at the foot of bokuto’s bed
“i’m scared that you’ll find someone better than me” bokuto’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and opened his mouth as he was about to interject-“i’m not the prettiest, or the smartest, or the coolest or the most athletic, but yet you chose me to be your best friend kou” you mumbled
all bokuto could do was watch as his love broke down in front of him, spewing all these lies about herself, degrading herself in front of him
honestly bokuto was pissed
who inserted all these negative thoughts into your pretty little head?
who made his special girl feel like she wasn’t enough for him, when it was him who didn’t deserve her?
she is kind, understanding, and loving. she is also vEry smart. which is why he couldn’t figure out why you thought you were less than what you were
he didn’t understand how you couldn’t see how wonderful you are
“i’m scared that you won’t return my feelings”
ah
there it was
bokuto pushed you by your shoulders, far enough to let you see his beautiful face, but not too far to the point where it seems like he’s doing it out of disgust
“oh y/n. my sweet girl, my special girl, you have absolutely nothing to worry about! y/n, i’m in love with you, i’ve been in love with you since you were a second-year. and i never doubted oNce that you were the one for me.” he stroked your cheek
“im so sorry if i didn’t reassure you, pretty. i just thought that you already knew these things. i’m kinda stupid, even for one of the top 5 aces in japan!!” he joked, causing you to let out a few giggles
you looked into his bright eyes, and cupped his soft, warm cheek, and slowly leaned towards his pink lips
“kOu!!! y/N!!! dinners ready!!”
goodamnit
you immediately placed your hands on his chest, planning to push him away and coax him to going down for dinner
until
he leans down and captures your lips with a heated kiss
your hands made their way into his still damp hair and tugged, making him groan into your mouth
your body involuntarily arched at his touch, letting you feel his bulge as he pressed into you
you started to rock your hips against his, wanting to feel the friction between your clothed groins
“k-kou— kou please‘ you whimpered into his mouth, not knowing what exactly you were begging him for
“shit babe i gotta stop or else i won’t be able to hold myself back,, and i want our first time to be special” he mumbled against your kiss bitten lips
gOsh
he was so cute :(( he wanted your guys’ first time to be special :((
mom :( i’m :( in :( love :(
“okay kou, lets go downstairs then” you suggested as you tried to push him off of you
“bUt pretty giRL—“ “no whining kou, lets go big boy, you must be hungry” you said as you finally got him off of you and sitting on the edge of his bed as you tried to pull his arm
“yeah i’m hungry just not for food tho” he mumbled lowly, not letting you catch it”
“what was that?” “nOTHING i’m starving haha let’s eat” “oh okay”
after the both of you made your way downstairs, bokuto i’d mom had immediately noticed your interlocked hands and started cheering
“I KNEW IT!! Y/N WAS GONNA BE OUR DAUGHTER-IN-LAW” she yelled in her husbands face as the both cheered while you and bokuto just stood there
“i’m so proud of you son, you finally grew a pair and asked her out after what? months and months of pining after her? ‘dAd how do i ask a pretty girl out?’ and ‘daD she’s so beautiFul i feel like i’m gonna pEe myseLf’”
“dAAD STOP EMBARRASSING ME”
any time spent with bokuto was never boring
after that day, bokuto had taken you on several dates, until he formally asked you out
and he was the best boyfriend you could ever ask for
he always had snacks ready
he always made sure to text you and call you to tell you whenever he was busy so that you wouldn’t worry
he always made you one of his top priorities which felt nice
and bokuto just gives you so much love
but one thing is that,,, bokuto is very jealous
he would get all mopey and dejected whenever a guy or girl would come up to you and ask you for your number, or if you wanted to hang out with them sometime
obviously you declined, informing them that you had a boyfriend
but the fact that people still wouldn’t leave you alone pissed him off to no end
he voiced his thoughts to kuroo, who just thought that he was being stupid
there was no way you are gonna leave him for anyone else
bokuto was stupid to not see how utterly and completely in love you were with him
all you had in your heart was bokuto and nobody else was needed
but there was this one incident, where someone had groped you in public, right in front of him
and he went ballistic
if it wasn’t for his friends and you who held him back, he would’ve certainly gotten arrested for assault
even though it would’ve been fair
sexual assault is a big no no
after that day, you made sure that whenever you sensed bokuto feeling down or jealous, you would insure him that he was the only one and will only be the only one
which usually got him feeling better in a span of 2 minutes
when bokuto had gotten into the MSBY Black Jackals, you were so proud of him
you were happy that he was able to do what he loved and made it into his career
he was really an excellent volleyball player
you would try your best to make it to all of his games and he honestly really appreciated it
he was so thankful for you for being as loving and supporting as you were to him, he honestly didn’t think that he deserved you
but let’s be honest
bokuto deserves the world
meeting some of his teammates for the first time was hEctic
they had all come over for a small get together at yours and bokuto’s condo
hinata wa stour favourite, just because he was cute and you saw how much he admired bokuto
and sakusa was very nice?? surprisingly you got along with him just fine?? which surprised everybody else
but miya atsumu
whew
this boy was something else
you lOved him!! honestly!!!
but he was just a little shit sometimes it made you want to rip out your large intestine and eat it
he would sometimes crash at your shared condo with bokuto, after a night of drinking with their team
and he’d let you clean up after him AND your boyfriend, as they were both drunk out of their minds
there was one night where you had to sleep in the guest bedroom because koutaro and atsumu had fallen asleep in your bed
while cuddling each other
wow
but all in all he was a great guy, and someone you loved as your brother
sometimes
phew
the first time you had sex with bokuto
you were afraid
bc of the fact that you were a virgin n it was your first time
but luckily it was kou’s first time too!!
which put you at ease a little
but you were still afraid that you might not be able to satisfy him?? like what if he says that it doesn’t feel good?? or if he says that you sucked at sucking dick??
that would be so sad
so you did what you had to do
you contacted all your female friends and asked them to teach you how to uh sex
which was a very awkward conversation between your friend group, since most of them were virgins too
they suggested to take it slow and not spring it on him all at once, especially since most days he’d be too tired from practice
so after practice, you made your move
bokuto had just gotten home and had gone straight into the shower after giving you a little peck while you were cooking in the kitchen
you decided that you were going to let him eat to gain some strength before you sucked him dry
after his shower, he excited the room with black sweatpants hanging low on his hips
kinda like deja vu
this was a scene that would never get old
you say him down and fed him, knowing that he liked being babied on some days
and you honestly didn’t mind, you liked taking care of your boyfriend
he was just too cute
after dinner, you washed the dishes and pushed him on your shared bed, face first
you sat on his bum and started lather his back with lavender oil, knowing that he loved the smell and how warm it made his back feel
you started to massage his back, slowly starting to press your thumbs into the knots in his back, making him groan at the feeling
it went like that for at least 45 minutes, you finished up after tending to each knot in his back, making you feel very accomplished
you flipped him over, only to see his blissed out face. his eyelids were drooping and he had a little dopey smile on his face
you put your hands on his chest and slowly made your way down until they reached the hem of his sweats, which you slowly pulled down
releasing his semi hard cock from its confinements
you felt yourself start to drool at the thought of gagging and slobbering all over his fat cock
he was barely conscious until you licked a fat strip from the base to the tip
which woke him up pretty well
“s-shit babe“
his large calloused hands tangled themselves into your hair and started slowly pushing your head back onto his awaiting dick
which you gladly took into your mouth
he stared with a slow place as you caressed his cock with your warm tongue as he pushed your head down, and suckled on his tip when he pulled back
you loved the feeling of his fat cock going down your tight throat
the feeling of your drool and his precum mixing made you clench your thighs, which didn’t go unnoticed by your boyfriend
“fuck, thats it pretty girl, take it down your throat. you’re such a good girl. baby’s gonna take my load right? you’re gonna be a good girl and swallow it all for me right?” he teased as he pulled you off of his dick
you coughed and nodded your head, moving your face near his crotch again, wanting to keep it in your mouth
he chuckled at the desperate look you had given him when he didn’t give you what you wanted
luckily, you had only been wearing your panties and one of bokuto’s oversized shirts
you loved wearing his clothing especially because you liked having yourself covered in his scent
he just smelled so nice
he pulled you up and pushed your hips to turn you around
which made your hips over over his awaiting mouth while your were faced with his dripping cock
you started to slowly give the head kitten licks, until those licks turned into long and hard sucks
he pushed your panties to the side and grabbed your hips, pushing your pussy into his waiting mouth
his tongue was relentless
alternating from roughly licking your clit to dipping his tongue in your slit, moving his tongue with vigour
his manhandling had made you work even harder, getting him closer to his euphoria
cuz you are the cause of bo’s euphoria🥺
yEah yEAh yEah yEah yEah yeAhhhh
anyways
once hit started to stroke your clit with his thumb
it was over.
you were done and creaming on his face while bokuto was releasing on your face as well
shiT
bokuto really do be hitting different
he gently pushed your body off of his and reached for a towel, gently wiping your face while whispering apologies
after he was done he gently kissed your lips and got on top of you once more, using both his hands to spread your legs to reveal your glistening slit
(psa sex isn’t really like this irl LOL i’m exaggerating it,, but if u find someone who cares enough about u then it might just be like how i describe it👁👄👁 my first time having sex was with a skinny weeb gamer boy who sold marijuana to the crazy people downtown so,,)
anyways
bokuto shoved two meaty fingers into your hole, spreading you out even more and scissoring you
making you arch your back off of the bed
shit bokuto felt like he was about to bust just looking at you
“i’m gonna make you feel so good pretty girl, you won’t even remember anything but my name.”
👁👄👁 ok den
one thing bokuto loved to do was go on late night drives with you??
it was surprising that bokuto had a license in the first place but after he had graduated you had forced him to get one, because obviously it was necessary smh
he had taken you to your guys’ favourite spot 
which was just on top of a hill that had a beautiful view of all the city lights 
his car always had extra pillows and blankets just in case you guys had a last minute trip to your spot
he immediately set up the pillows in the trunk and beckoned you to come over and sit next to him 
““i love being here with you kou, it’s like just yesterday i was still tackling you in the convenience market for the last onigiri” you reminisced 
he laughed and buried his nose into your hair, loving the smell of your fragrant shampoo
his large hands rubbed your sides, making you snuggle into his side even more than you were 
he was just so warm  and cuddly 
it was hard not to just bury yourself in him 
“i love you y/n. you know i’d give you the world if i could right?” ““i know kou, i love you too. you don’t need to give me the world because i have you, you are my world”
damn 
you never failed to fluster him, after years of being with each other 
you were so in love with this boy 
all you knew was bokuto 
he was your first everything, and hopefully your last 
he slipped out of your hold and stood up, admiring the view of the city as he walked a little, until he suddenly turned to face a confused you 
like y was he suddenly standing up 
until he wasn’t 
this was bokuto koutaro, the love of your life, down on one knee, as he held a white velvet box, which contained the prettiest diamond ring you could ever get 
you immediately felt tears starting to stream down your face, even though he hasn’t said anything yet 
“y/n,, i’m so in love with you. i don’t wanna be with anyone else but you. you give me happiness, love, faith, and courage. i want to be by your side until we grow old together. i have loved you since you tried to choke the shit outta me in that convenience store. you loved me at my worst, and my best, you are the cause of all good things in my life. you are the cause of my euphoria. no, you are my euphoria. pretty girl,, will you continue being my euphoria?”
you couldn’t help yourself as you jumped into his arms and started peppering kisses around his face while mumbling yes with each kiss 
he took your hand and gently slid the ring on your finger 
now he could show people that you were his, as he was yours
“i love you kou”
““i love you more, pretty girl” he mumbled as he kissed the top of your head 
“kou,,” “mm?” 
“i’m pregnant”
“wha”
480 notes · View notes
jae-canikeepyou · 4 years ago
Text
| smitten | j.jh
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pair: jaehyun x fem!reader
genre: au + fluff + idol!jaehyun & solo artist!yn
a/n: hnngg gosh i loved writing this request ;-; i combined this too!! it might not be well-written but i’m pretty sure my fluttery jeelings hit me so hard haha hope you all enjoy reading loves! ~j.
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aggravating clashes of utensils fell on the wooden floor, the impact squeezed chests and jolted the life out of those who heard it. they were finally having the relaxation they waited for until the corners of their eyes followed the fallen items to the source of noise. jaehyun leaning forward against at the kitchen counter; legs about to give in with his phone in hand.
jungwoo approached him, worried that fatigue might’ve taken over the guy. he picked up the kitchen wares and towels, placing them back where they were meant to be. “hyung, are you alright?” he touched his friend’s forehead since his ears were prominent red, hot to the touch. “you’re not yourself since you woke up. got anything to say?”
jaehyun could only press his lips like he tasted his own blood. no words came out of him and this only heightened everyone’s curiosity. he walked back to where the others were and put his phone on the table. how could he explain this news to them without letting them start to tease? they already teased him last christmas’ performance with naeun. he was sure they’d do the same for this one. and as far as he was concerned, his heart continued to drum heavily that he could feel its pulse against his skin.
should i tell them? he asked himself.
“nothing.” his glanced quickly. what he missed seeing were the sly smirks that began to spread around his friends’ faces.
johnny started to tease, a satisfied smile growing where it showed his pearly whites. “tell me it’s what i think it is.” because of this phrase it made jaehyun’s ears turned more red and gave johnny the impression knowing he hit might’ve the bullseye, right at the center. “no way, so it is!” he exclaimed repeatedly and the younger one hoped he would shut it.
their cheers went from one to another and at that moment he knew they shared the same brain cell. “ha? no. stop assuming, john.” jaehyun gulped from his cup, swallowing it like it was bottom’s up. he kept it by his lips so it wouldn’t reveal his actual feelings.
“stop denying.” yuta propped his chin for a better position. “your ears gave it away.” if it was yuta, everyone knew they were automatically knocked out in the battle. no one could stand a chance against his words or actions.
“damn it! don’t point out my ears!” jaehyun groaned and accepted defeat by slumping on the table. he unlocked his phone then sliding it across the furniture.
they crowded upon the device and scrolled to see what nearly made the dude fall on his knees. it was only one word and that was enough to lit the light bulbs floating on top of the others’ heads. “oh well what’s the tea?” taeil asked, clearly pretending to be innocent since they were all interested now that jaehyun reacted sooner than expected.
mark shoved spoonfuls of cereal before seeing the entire digital conversation with their manager, he grumbled and hit johnny continuously as he reacted with his mouth full. “you‘re doing a duet with y/n?!” he asked that he nearly spat milk everywhere.
jaehyun exhaled, brushing back the strands of his hair and wore his headband. “yeah. the agency told me to collab a cover with her and said we start in two days.”
“you don’t sound excited. you nervous?” taeil opened a bag of granola bars and laid them at the center, soon devouring them like it were the last ones.
“up until now we’ve only collabed with boy groups.” he showed them the rehearsal pictures from that time. his shaky hands were proof that he was probably nervous.
johnny poked the guy’s chest to come back to reality. “shouldn’t you be less worried? she’s from the same label as ours.” his laughs have made all of them giggle.
the dimple boy wasn’t nervous or worried, it was incomparable to a grain of sand nor those two words were in his dictionary. he was perfectly fine with practicing with you. however, have his friends forgotten about what they did to him during pre-debut days?
he recalled the time you both first met, and that became the most-discussed topic within nct. it spread to all like wildfires. how that started was during trainee life. popularity votes were common and each had to choose the first place female trainee votes by male trainees and vice versa. the results came out, you and jaehyun ranked first. they made you both stand next to each other and this was when it got messy.
everyone tends to pair the firsts, so they began by teasing because they believed this was where the “developing” start. jaehyun knew what they did was a natural thing to do, all have experienced the hot seat and the endless snickers. if there was anything jaehyun would like to change in his body, it has to be his ears. they turned red the moment the ooh’s and yeee’s echoed the rehearsal studio. of course he did like you, but it was just like every person in the agency did.
you were a new artist who debuted under the same label as the said group; doing mostly of your orginals, small ost’s and covers. they knew you. in fact during trainee days, they’ve heard your name countless of times as there were praises towards your angelic vocals and coaches would use you as an example. nct 127 never heard anything from you since they debuted, but knew you were still in the label.
“it’s been years, hasn’t it?” jungwoo turned the television on. “from what i know, that was the last voting we ever did.”
wait what? jaehyun stepped out of his dazed mind and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. they didn’t forget? he looked at his friends as they light up in realisation.
taeil popped a snack in his mouth, entertained with today’s topic. “ah! right right! we did vote! y/n was voted as the first once!”
johnny waved his palms and shook in excitement now that the memory from years ago was brought back. “man, i’ll hug whoever came up with this idea. they’re smart. we should make them do a throwback picture too.” he said as he quickly dove into the deeper files of his laptop to look for pictures for proof.
jaehyun rubbed his face in annoyance that they remembered that time. his phone vibrated as it indicated a new message from an unknown number on the lockscreen. he was about to reach it when yuta’s reflexes were faster.. always* faster; swiftly taking it like they were carkeys. yuta loved teasing and scaring the life out of his friends. among them he loved seeing jaehyun fluster the most.
he put the phone in front of jaehyun and made the lad think he was showing the message to him. this was proven false when the screen unlocked from the face i.d., and yuta laughed devilishly, typing away in a jiffy, which jaehyun panicked and tried to take the phone back.
“dude let me just press ‘send’!” yuta screamed, his smooth movements were impossible for the affected boy to catch up to.
“what were you typing?” jaehyun got hold of the phone and stared at the screen, his eyes adjusting to the fonts within the message bubble.
[16:08] from unknown: hyemin, this is y/n. stop changing your phone #! are u even my manager why did you say i agreed? :/
[16:09] from unknown: oh whatever i’m calling you rn >:(
he jogged out of the dorm when it began to vibrate crazily, your digits calling him. his friends’ yells were soon muffled to a silence as the door behind him clicked to a close. he pressed the green button to answer. “hello?” his voice greeted.
a hitched breath followed by a gasp heard from the other line. he let out a low chuckle, making you more nervous than usual because you recognised the owner of the voice and you hadn’t talked with him since his group debuted.
he backed himself into the door, one hands in his pockets whilst he waited for the caller’s response. soft thuds hit the door and he felt it often the more the whispers behind the wooden partition. his friends were indeed listening, actually, they were eavesdropping.
“j-jaehyun?” you closed your eyes, then cursing at yourself for being too careless and straight-forward with your actions.
“hyun. jae.” he chuckled. uh-huh. did he just tease you? “i’m kidding. it’s jaehyun. you thought this number was hyemin’s?” he laughed over the phone.
oh boy, he was just as you remembered him to be. a humble person who caused a positive uproar within the walls of the girls’ rehearsal room. co-trainees of yours always mentioned his name; saying he was kind and a gentleman. you never saw him until you both stood in front of everyone as firsts. “i- uh.. sorry, a phone number was anonymously given to me. manager hyemin’s been playing pranks and..”
“i see, it’s alright y/n. don’t pressure too much because of this. i’ll see you soon though?” his voice pitched higher as if he was interested and looked forward to the duet. maybe a lot more higher when he called you by your name.
“mhm, yeah.” your toes curled from feeling your chest experience a good panic. “see you.”
jaehyun didn’t know why he nodded despite the short conversation being a phone call. he said a gentle goodbye and once you did too, he ended the call, swinging the door open and caused the boys to fall to the floor like dominos. “i’m not helping a pile of idiots. you did this to yourselves.” he singsonged and stuck out his tongue and prepared to take his leave.
the monotonous beeps ringing through the phone somehow calmed the waves of your uncontrollable heart beats. you laid on your bed defeatedly, face down to the pillow. the entire noise of your apartment was nothing but the sound of your drumming heart, pulsing against your flesh and you could feel it in your veins. “so what they (co-trainees) said is true.. jaehyun does make you feel things.”
little did you know, he was on the same boat.
whether or not it was from the results of being the firsts from the trainees’ votes or that he began noticing your presence often in the company building at every recording schedule of nct’s, jaehyun was shocked at himself that he couldn’t concentrate at all. you, a girl super laid back during trainee life blossomed to be a professional artist everyone came to adore. maybe including him too.
the venue you both were told to go was perfect for the duet cover. staff members already prepared two instruments and were placed at one corner with the wall of plants. jaehyun sat at the table, earphones plugged into his ears as his head matched with the rhythms of the song. he then caught sight of you approaching him and removed one of the buds. “hi.” he stood to pull out a chair, a smile creeping on both of your lips. “last listen before we start?”
“sure.” you took one and looked at him; an ethereal person in casual clothes, boyfriend material worthy. it’s no wonder people called him their first love. and this attire of his probably got you under his spell too.
trying not to sing out loud, you lip-synced the lyrics for the final time and swayed to each word. jaehyun took a good look at you, his eyes forming crescent shapes when he saw how embarrassed you felt— because you were caught by him. it hasn’t been a minute, the staff asked to be on cue and you both head to where the instruments were; a piano and an acoustic guitar.
instinctively, your hands reached for the edge of the piano, it was one you could play. however, jaehyun too, had his hands on it and simultaneously you both retracted. “you want to play the keys?” you hear him asked, immediately nodding at his inquiry.
he let out a nervous chuckle which was followed by his cute, jutted lips. “well i could play the guitar but it’s been ages since i last held one. my strums might sound rusty.”
“no problem.” you twirled on your heels and grabbed the guitar and saw an electronic finger drum pad beside the keyboard, pointing at it as well. “i’ll play these two and we’re good to go.” your giggles had him all feeling fluttery inside and he fought so hard to not be exposed.
he wasn’t going to lie. jaehyun’s heart did skip a beat. you were only doing final tunings for a better sound but the way you looked so dedicated with this field of work, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you. sunlight appeared like it was your own emitting aura, almost identical to an angel that was heaven-sent. the light current of wind added to your source of elegance and the plants behind became your world. took him a second or two to fathom out that he was dragged into your beauty.
were you always this gorgeous?
because it has been days since he was told to do a duet with you, sometimes he felt his breaths trying to catch up with his racing beats of his heart. they were lacking behind, so far back that you being there or just sitting.. had him awestruck.
“jaehyun?” you waved small that he twitched in his seat, his thoughts cutting short from your sweet voice. “they’re signalling to test the camera. are you alright with one practice?”
he turned to the staff and said the cue. jaehyun did stretches before placing his hands lightly on the keys. you sat straight to not appear tired as you palm muted the strings, soon harmonising with the sustained chords he played. a duet rendition of say you won’t let go.
the camera panned sideways along its dolly track rail, your eyes followed the lens as you began to set the mood. you took a deep breath before singing.
“i met you in the dark, you lit me up. you made me feel as though, i was enough. we danced the night away, we drank too much. i held your hair back when you were throwing up.”
he was amazed that you quickly brought your hands out for a while to tap the buttons for percussions, each beat matched with the rhythm of his playing.
“then you smiled over your shoulder. for a minute i was stone cold sober..” his baritone followed suit. it was hypnotic that you couldn’t resist to stare at him as dimples subtly reveal themselves on his smooth skin on each word.
jaehyun’s eyes grew at the sweet soulful tone while you sang the verse that he forgot to sing with you at the next sentence. “i pulled you closer to my-” you continued in a harmonised key and later stopped, a giggle bubbling out of you.
his admiration for you was interrupted upon your laugh. the frazzled boy lifted his fingers off the keys, hands clasped together for an apology. “ah, i’m sorry.”
“it’s alright. don’t pressure too much because of this.” you said with assurance. “i get nervous sometimes too.” yeah of course you were. you got to collab with him despite your busy schedules.
the dimples on his cheeks deepened. did you use the same sentence as he did few days ago?
“you looked fine to me.” he licked his lips. “pretty too.” and he mumbled to himself, but you were too occupied with the guitar in your hand that you didn’t hear what he said. “can we start from the top?” clearing his throat, he was glad you didn’t hear it. or else he would be embarrassed.
singing with you was like coffee. jaehyun had this particular, specific impression as he spotted a café prior to coming here. he knew fans loved his voice, a unique baritone that was very prince-like. if he were to reference it, his vocals alone was like americano. people would get addicted to the taste despite it being uncommon in the kpop industry. although they enjoyed it, the staff thought it would be better to include you in the duet.
so you became the sugar to his vocals, a pleasant timbre that was as calming as the rain’s patter. voices perfectly blended together in different ranges, both delicate and careful. you have sung with other artists through covers and orginals, however jaehyun stood out the most in all of those, in which made you think this collab was the one you enjoyed.
[ both harmonising ]
“..and you asked me to stay over i said, i already told you i think that you should get some rest.”
“i knew i loved you then, you'd never know ‘cause i played it cool when i was scared of letting go.”
“i knew i needed you i never showed but i wanna stay with you until we’re grey and old.”
“just say you won't let go, just say you won't let go.”
jaehyun felt giddy inside hearing your voice fit with his. as you both enjoyed each other’s presence during the cover, he could sense that after today, he definitely took a liking for you— but his heart knew him better than he thought.
he fell in love with you on the spot.
hours have passed and a total of five takes were recorded, majority of which three of them were slightly messed up because either jaehyun forgot his lines or you needed to be quenched or vice versa. jaehyun fixed his brown outerwear as he observed you from afar, tying a low bun to prevent your hair adding heat from the scorching hot weather. eyes extremely focused on the camera from the second last cover video.
all was finished for the day yet there was half an hour left until you both separate ways. jaehyun decided to buy drinks and got one for you as well.
the table you sat on slightly shook from the impact he did to place the ordered beverages. “i didn’t know what you like, so i got you latte.” he pulled the chair to sit, sliding the cup to you.
“hm, you sure about that?” you raised a brow and appreciated his effort to go out his way for this. “latte’s like my go-to drink. thank you.”
jaehyun kept himself composed, he had to hide his smile behind the cup. it was dying to show. he hoped you didn’t see him. your arms almost meet when he scooted closer to view the video together. the frame was perfectly placed at the center and you couldn’t believe you both sounded well together.
you heard his soft tsk’s, there were small amount of water rolling down his cup from the ice inside. he got up to get extra tissue. as you waited for him, you checked the device and clicked on its previous button. it was a video of him holding a wireless camera lavaliere microphone and with your mind full of curiosity, you played it.
it contained his ending ment and if you listened closely, it was for a vlog you were familiar with, a channel where he documented his daily ‘yuno’ vlogs for his fans. the motion automatically played and he spoke through the wireless mic.
something about this had you rewinding it twice. he was staring off into space as he spoke, his eyes trailing— actually following someone. he gave a little twitch and pout of the lips, that was the same when he forgot to harmonise with you. the wind blew his hair, revealing his dusted pink ears and eyes enlarging the more he followed where you went.
the thought of his reaction caused you to shy around him once he came back and had two desserts in his hands. maybe if the winds answered your prayers to confirm what you saw in the video was true, it could convince you enough.
the said boy handed you the utensils and as you had your first bite, he loved how the café’s lights became your glow, the music became your introduction. heat eventually spread his entire face.
yes, nature heard your calls,
and yes, his heart told him that
he’s so smitten with you.
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go-ldy · 4 years ago
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I have zero self-control, so, if you're up to it: best and worst episode(s) of Riverdale?
I love this question! Sorry for the delay in answering, I have had to give this the deep thought and contemplation it deserves! Best episodes is easier for me tbh because there are only maybe one or two episodes of Riverdale that I did not like. I’ve decided to break it down into my best/worst for each season.
I’ve tried to approach this being as objective as possible but.... you know, I am only human, and I am easily swayed when Betty and Jughead make out a lot. 
Season 1
Best
1x10 or 1x11 with 1x11 having a slight edge. Obviously, the bughead angst content in both is A++ and what I am here for, but I also think that 1x11 in particular does a good job of moving the plot along while developing the characters at the same time (Riverdale is not always good at this ok so it is important to remark on it when it meets this bar!). We have Homecoming, and the incredibly awkward Cooper-Jones pre-Homecoming dinner, and Varchie sneaking into FP’s trailer behind Betty and Jughead’s back, and Veronica desperately trying to determine if her father had a role to play in Jason’s murder, and FP’s arrest (!!!) and Jughead running off at the end in a funk. There is a lot that happens AND everyone goes to a dance! It is sadly rare to have a Riverdale episode where everyone feels intertwined to the main story and where the Core 4 get to interact and develop. Plus, Jughead is so adorably excited about his and Betty’s family meeting even though they are 16 and have been dating for like two months. MY HEART. He was already planning their wedding.
Worst
1x09. It is the only episode of season 1 that felt filler. And I would still rank it higher than the other “worst” episodes on this list. But the main plot of Archie being used by the Blossom family is ehhhhhh. And frankly uncomfortable given his all too real recent past of being used by Ms. Grundy with no acknowledgment from the show whatsoever that these gross adults keep using this 16 year-old kid to serve their own purposes. So yeah, probably the worst of season 1.
Season 2
Best
I have to go with 2x14. Okay, okay 2x05/2x06 are probably better written and better plotted and have less dialogue that makes me want to end myself, but hear me out. 2x14 is the absolute essence of Riverdale packed into 40 glorious minutes:
Each couple has a spat with each other and then against each other, we get Betty versus Jughead, Archie versus Veronica, Bughead versus Varchie, and it is great???? yeah, you all fight over Hiram’s nefarious plot to buy up all the newspapers in town. 
Bughead listens to Varchie have sex and the vice-versa like an hour later as normal friends do.
Betty and Veronica talk about abuelita (I must know more about abuelita!).
An entire scene where Archie wakes up early to chop wood?? At someone else’s house? Even though he’s only there for a weekend?? Again, very normal, every day teenage behaviour. And Veronica pervs on him while sipping coffee. Get it, V.
Some of the worst, cringiest dialogue this show has ever had, and that is a HIGH BAR including: “A Vughead Kiss? Right now, in the present, might be precisely what it takes to save a future Bughead from imploding.” THIS IS THE WORST LINE OF DIALOGUE EVER WRITTEN, LIKE OF ALL TIME, I CAN BARELY WATCH. IT IS NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD, END ME.
Archie doing push ups in his bedroom, because OF COURSE ARCHIE RANDOMLY DOES PUSHUPS BEFORE BED AND ALSO WHEN UPSET HAVE YOU SEEN HIM. And then Veronica propositions him for sex and Archie, still mad about Vughead, turns her down. And this is an actual scene that takes up time in a 40 minutes episode??? I love it.
Lodge Lodge
They play monopoly
And then get attacked by home invaders!!!
Who Archie chases into the woods only for one of them to be killed by Andre so that Hiram can later frame Archie for a murder he didn’t commit.
anyway 2x14 is the best episode of Riverdale maybe ever, tell your friends.
Worst
2x11 for the reasons @arsenicpanda has articulated before - mostly involving the clumsy way that the writers tried to parallel the Serpents to the plight of Native Americans. And Jughead’s awkward white saviour plotline, eugh. Although bonus points for Archie trying to wrestle to impress Hiram for some reason?? I can’t hate it.
Season 3
Best
Season 3 has a lot of contenders. I’m torn between the parentale breakfast club episode (which also featured crazy-G&G-Jughead, a fave of mine) and the Prom episode, but I’m going to go with 3x20, Prom Night because this episode is a sheer delight from start to finish. Hal Cooper fakes his own death by cutting off his hand and then he replaces it with a hook - legends only. CHONI FOR PROM QUEENS until the dream is killed by Edgar. U KNOW that is when Cheryl started reconsidering the whole Farm business even with the whole being able to talk to Jason’s corpse thing. 
Bughead investigate shit and make great faces. Varchie go to prom as the least platonic “friends” ever and it is adorable. Everybody somehow wears the best outfits even though Bughead changed the Prom theme the night before. Betty being chased through the school by the Black Hood/her dad is legitimately terrifying. 10/10.
Worst
3x09, hands down. I have a lot of beef with this episode. My main beef is that 3x08 ends on this great cliffhanger and there is zero payoff? Jughead and FP come home to find the town is under QUARANTINE, no one is allowed IN OR OUT, and then in 3x09, he is snuggling in bed with Betty and it was like????? but what about the quarantine?? how did you get back in?? honestly the first time I watched 3x09, I thought I must have skipped an episode, but NOPE, the quarantine cliffhanger was waved off and I will never forgive them for this.
Secondly, most of this episode is spent in Archie’s feverish dream/hallucination and I just find dream episodes real dull, sorry Archie. I love that Archie tried to box a bear, I mean good for him, but the the dream sequences are boring.
Season 4
Best
A tie between 4x14 and 4x15. I just love these two episodes. The Preppies are legit the best villains this show has ever had (especially Donna, my love <333). There were real stakes for the Core 4, and even though I was pretty sure Jughead was not dead, I was still insanely happy to see him again in 4x15. Betty threatening Donna in the woods while wearing Jughead’s sherpa is a total bamf move, MARRY ME, BETTY COOPER. Jughead’s faux funeral is a+. Even the BA fake dating scheme (before it went horribly awry in the following episodes) is hilarious to me. Like, what kind of horrible plan is this?? if Betty seriously dated Archie following Jughead’s death, she would need therapy STAT, but the town of Riverdale is just like “oh ok I guess Jughead is dead.” Okay, sure. Plus Donna taunting Betty over the fact that she apparently can’t go two hours without needing to bone Jughead and therefore Betty’s plan was doomed to failure. How was this a real scene that happened. Oh my god, these episodes are so great.
Worst.
4x17. I mean, obviously. Please don’t make me have to explain.
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tracynotabi · 3 years ago
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Riptide Day 2 / Undertow
September 11, 2021
D-Day.
Kevin, Ivan, Joey, and I were getting a ride from Spencer, who was also taking Narq to the venue, while Robert and Parker got a ride from someone else. Well, at least we didn’t have to walk to the venue. I didn’t pack sunscreen.
At 9am, about half an hour we were supposed to leave, Kevin gets a stomachache.
Me: He just needs to poop. Spencer: The classic.
We end up going to the lobby to wait for Spencer in Narq, which was fine considering we actually didn’t want Spencer, our ride, waiting for us.
Spencer: Okay, Narq’s just using the bathroom rq lol Me: Is he also having tummy problems Spencer: Nah just bein stoner and forgetting to do stuff lol Me: The classic
We go get Chick-fil-A and I’m sitting underneath the dashboard again by Kevin’s feet. I think the employees were very bewildered, as the woman on the other side of the window did a double take. I would, too, if I saw a smaller-than-average person just hiding underneath the dashboard sipping on a cup of Coke.
Some time after I get to the venue during doubles, I end up talking to Jimmy (j u m), when Kevin comes rushing over to me, a panicked look on his face.
Forgot to mention, but Kevin actually couldn’t get all of his poop out before coming to the venue and now it is back with a vengeance.
He tells me that he’s unable to go to any restroom because there were three stalls in the men’s restroom: two were occupied and one was clogged with poop.
He had tried flushing the poop one but it only made it worse. It just clogged more and the water level rose. If he had sat down and insisted on finishing, his balls would be touching the water and that’s a no-no.
He tried asking the front desk for other restrooms, but he was informed it was the only one. He was desperate and you could just see it in his eyes that he was about to break.
Me, using the big, wrinkly brain that I had, told him to use the women’s restroom. He froze, not even realizing that that was an option.
Now before anyone complains, hear me out.
I would rather be in a restroom with a male in the stall next to me, than exit the restroom and see someone standing outside the men’s restroom trying to wait for a stall with a shit stain in his pants. Excuse the vulgarity, but it’s true.
If you’re ever at one of my tournaments and you need to go and no male restroom is unoccupied, for the love of god, please fucking use the women’s restroom. I do not need this mess on my hands and you best believe I’m shoving myself in the men’s restroom if I gotta fucking go expel unicorns and rainbows.
I go to the restroom with Kevin and stand awkardly on my phone to keep watch, because he didn’t want any of the staff members actually seeing him and risk himself getting kicked out of the venue.
That would’ve been extremely unfortunate.
Luckily, nobody else needed to go use the restroom while Kevin was in there and he was able to safely compete his duty (lol).
If anyone is upset at my suggestion, I’m sorry, but I wasn’t about to not provide such a simple solution for Kevin’s emergency.
Anyway, the tournament start shortly after that.
First match I pay attention to is Kevin vs. Wombat. In my head, I think it’s pools so I shouldn’t worry too much. I try to watch Kevin’s sets, but it makes me physically ill sometimes because my anxiety is wracked up like crazy and I just want to throw up. Many have witnessed me walking away and trying to distract myself multiple times at multiple different tournaments.
It’s like that gory horror movie that you can’t keep looking away from.
Besides knowing that I get sick, I figured it would be fine since I actually enjoy trying to support my boyfriend and watch him come out of pools winners’ side. Not meaning any disrespect by Wombat, by the way. He’s great. Just realistic. It’s like how I expect Kevin to lose to Bob.
Kevin loses Game 1.
Ooh my tummy’s doing barrel rolls like the way Twisty did with that pullout bed. I look away but I’m just so distracted by the crowd noises.
I totally get it, though. Obviously, it’s sick that Wombat’s holding his own against Kevin, who is seed 3 of the tournament. I’d be excited, too, if my friend was making an upset on someone else. But Kevin’s my boyfriend, so obviously, I want him to win.
Kevin barely wins Game 2 and I’m like ooooh boy. My tummy’s going to town and I think I gag a little by how sick I feel. Gotta focus on getting Joey his next match. *deep breaths*
When heartswaptv airs the whole tournament, definitely check out the set. It was really good (as far as I can hear, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the rest of it).
Kevin comes over to me after he’s out of pools and I scold him for making me worried.
AND YOU NOW WHAT HE SAYS?
Kevin: Babe, it’s fine - I almost lost to Zeddy at Redacted City and I got 2nd. I’ll be fine. Me: T____T *incoherent whining noises*
Does Kevin thinks he’s fucking cute for saying that or something? I was not amused.
Since I didn’t have to volunteer TO the entirety of the tournament, I bounced around mingling with other people.
At one point, I get a message from Suvir in our group chat about how he, Sosa, and Narq were planning on coming to visit NorCal. Of course, since Narq was already here, I decided to just go up to him and ask.
Me: So I heard you’re coming to NorCal? Narq: I am? Me: That’s what Suvir said. *shows phone* Narq: I guess I’m going to NorCal!
Suvir: Narq doesn’t actually know. Sosa just said he’d take him with him and said Narq would agree to go because he’s Narq. Me: Oh that makes sense why he had no idea what I was talking about.
It wasn’t until around top bracket did things start to pick up. Not too many spoilers, because (1) no spoilers before they upload the vod and (2) I have a terrible memory when it comes to the matches.
I remember holding up Kevin’s phone to stream to our Discord because we had some non-PM player friends who wanted to see and I think Kevin wanted Thomas (ThundeRzReiGN) to give him some advice throughout the tournament. Not actually coach, but to critique his play.
As more and more top players fell, Kevin made it a goal to do his best not to fall into the landmine that was Losers’. So many heavy hitters were large threats to him: Techboy, Malachi, Akimi, Cloudburst...
Not to say that Winners’ side didn’t have their fair share of monsters: Peter, Parker, Kumatora, Twisty, Nogh, Lunchables...
Kevin’s first match in Top 32 was against Bongo, who people sleep on quite a lot. For those of you that don’t know him, he’s a Captain Falcon from NY who actually beat Kevin at Flex Zone 3 in 2018. Kevin had beaten him at Encore, but it wasn’t easy.
Not to mention Falcon is a pain the butt for Mario. Unfortunately, the match was not recorded (as far as I know), and it was a very exciting match from what I heard. I avoided watching it because based on how long it took, I knew it had to have been a Game 5. During that time, two matches have been finished on “stream.”
Kevin had said his match against Bongo was the toughest one he had - not to discredit his other opponents, of course - but according to him, it was the scariest and closest. Also the threat of being put into Losers so early would’ve made the climb to Top 8 a lot harder.
His overall goal was actually to make Top 8. Despite being a third seed and rank 5, what I’ve noticed about Kevin is that he does have doubts about himself quite often. He’s never complacent in his opponents and worries all the time about being upset and I don’t think anyone puts more pressure on him more than himself.
As I watched my friends progress through bracket, all I can think is there’s not much I can do. I don’t understand the game very much, despite my heavy involvement in the scene. In fact, more often than not, I believe I understand the game the least compared to everyone else.
A tangent from the actual tournament itself is coming, but I think I should address why I’m even in this community:
While everyone loves the game, I love the community behind it. I find it worth it to sit/stand in one location for hours at a time because it allows my friends to enjoy the game they love comfortably without worrying how the tournament is progressing. They can focus on their own growth and passion.
I think what I see is completely different. Like I said, I don’t really understand this game - I can’t differentiate uairs, bairs, d-smashes, etc. I compute it in my head, but can’t visualize it. I don’t recognize most combos - in fact, more often than not, I’m sitting there just staring at the screen kind of blankly. Sometimes, it does make me wonder if I really am part of this community because I don’t really understand the game.
I can’t say I particularly care too much about the game, but I understand how much of an impact it’s made on me and for that, I’m very thankful for this game because it’s led me to some great people.
Back to the actual event and less sap. lol. Is anybody still even reading?
For something put together in a mere two weeks, Trin and their team did an amazing job. Three recording set ups, graphics, a pot, a venue... props to them for gathering the scraps and making a whole out of it. And to think we almost didn’t go.
Madeline (Swanner) ended up coming and it was honestly so good to see her. We aren’t particularly close, but she’s someone I’ve come to care for and just want happiness for her.
Major spoiler, but I don’t think anybody who cares about PM/P+ doesn’t know Kevin won the tournament.
Everyone expected a pop-off, but Kevin just sat there, crying.
I don’t think there’s ever been anything that Kevin has been more passionate about. He loves this game; he loves this community. Never did it ever occur to him that he would win.
I wish I could say more, but honestly, him winning stunned me speechless. And if you didn’t know, the first thing he said after was that he had to call his mother.
His mom is one of his biggest supporters and I love her to death. She has such a huge heart and has never, ever frowned upon Kevin’s love for the game, whole-heartedly supporting it.
I hugged Maddy, because I can’t even imagine how heart-breaking it must be for her to see what could have been on the mainstage. I imagined how much it must’ve hurt her because she just loves the game and the community, but to see it constantly be torn down by Nintendo and her unable to do anything... Give Maddy a hug and thank her if you see her. She deserves the world.
We ended up walking home with PNW, Bob, Mar, Bongo, Cameron (LoyaL), Ivan, and a few others, honestly too dark to completely see and name. It was a very nice night.
We did, however, pass by the rundown house that definitely looked like if we were to talk in there, we’d be killed by the axe murderer that lived there.
Kevin also lagged behind a lot because his phone notifications were going off like crazy and I was worried he was going to just get lost in the darkness or get hit by a car. Stop looking at your phone when you cross the street, dammit.
We got back to our hotel room and ordered pizza - it was bad. God-fucking-dammit, Ohio, why do you suck so much? Kind of a shitty dinner to end the day on, but nothing else was open at 2am. FeelsBadMan.
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justjessame · 3 years ago
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Doomed From the Start: Gone
Gone.  Jenny was gone.  She’d been shot and killed along with two of James’ men.  As he helped deliver her remains - REMAINS, as if a seven year old could be nothing more than a body - I could see that he had shut down.  Completely and totally he wasn’t there, not making eye contact with me, barely speaking to anyone, not even my father.  
The fear that had gnawed at my insides from the moment I’d found her bed empty and the note left behind - that had only grown once he’d stolen that kiss from me - growing when I realized that I feared not only for her, but now for him as well, it was replaced with grief and pain.  
Her tiny warm body would never bounce into my bed and demand that I wake up so she could show me the sunrise because THIS one was so very different from the one she’d shown me the day before.  Or how she wouldn’t come up behind me as I made tea and ask the WHYs.  “Why do I like THIS tea and not THAT tea?” Then once I gave her my reasoning, she’d come back with, “Why do we drink tea? How did we discover that tea could be drunk at all?” and on and on.  If anyone had ever told me I would miss her endless questions, I would have shaken my head and told them they were insane, yet I’d give anything for one more round.  
One of James’ remaining men, his name escaped me until he reminded me - “Michael, Miss,” nodding through my tears, he held out a soft, slightly dirty floppy-eared rabbit and my heart tore further apart.  “Thought you might want this,” his hands looked huge holding it, yet I couldn’t reach out for it.  So terrified to touch it, was it in her arms when they - was she holding it when she was - “Miss?”  His voice sounded tinny and far off, and then the darkness rose up and I was gone.
When I woke up I was in my bedroom, fully clothed and on my bed.  I lay staring at the ceiling and allowed the silence to seep into my pores, pretending that any moment now Jenny would come rushing in with a quiet giggle and pounce on my bed - Hoppy held loosely in one arm as she snuggled against my side and three questions already loaded and ready to be unleashed.  
“I’m sorry,” his voice was unexpected, but so quiet that it didn’t actually startle me.  “Veronica, I am so sorry.” He sounded as though he was being tortured and it cut into me a little deeper, the pain of losing Jenny and now hearing how it must have felt from his side.  
Sighing, I moved so I could sit up with my back against my headboard.  It was still light out, barely, so I could see him leaning against the wall by the window - looking far less confident and more tired than he had when we first met.  His head was down, eyes on the floor and my heart broke a little more making me wonder just how many cracks one heart could bear.  
“Tell me,” my own voice was even quieter than his and yet I knew he heard me.  “Please?”  His shoulders sank lower still, that stiff soldier bearing of his dropping further.  
He did, he told me - how they found Jenny, he and his men.  How they’d had her safely within their ranks and were closing in on the border, so close that he could see it.  And how the sound of gunfire rang out, killing two of his men and Jenny with a precision and - that part was more difficult to hear than I cared to admit, but I listened to him, trying to push aside the pain of losing her with the knowledge that it had happened so fast that she hadn’t felt it.  That she was gone before her body hit the ground.  Before Hoppy dropped beside her.  
“The soldiers that took her?” His head lifted and I saw the slight shake.  “Oh.”  Worse still, a plot within a plot.  “Doomed from the start.”  
“I failed -” I shook my head, but he wouldn’t stop.  “I FAILED, Veronica.”  
“No, James,” my tears wouldn’t stop, but I couldn’t let him go on.  “How do you count this as a failure when you had only half the information?”  Twisting so my feet were dangling close to the floor, I sighed.  “If she’d simply been taken for ransom, as we’d thought, she’d be right here now safe and sound.”  I could almost hear her laughter, see her smile.  “You cannot take on the failure of a mission that was doomed by some plot that God knows who ran from -” my eyes shut as I slid out of my bed to stand.  “Please don’t take on this burden.”  
I could hear him push off from the wall, and then the heat of his body closed in on mine.  “Burden?” Fingertips were under my chin as his thumb was brushing away the tears from under my eye.  “Your little sister is dead, Veronica.  Two of my men are dead.”  Opening my eyes, I was confronted by his chest, but tilting my head a bit and I found his face - pinched and worn - his blue eyes shadowed in the slowly dying daylight.  “Under my command, under my lead - How do I not take on this burden?”  
“You’re human,” he was staring at me as though he wanted nothing more than for me to give him a liferaft.  Something to cling to, something to latch onto and give him hope.  “Human and while you can see so much, you cannot always see every evil thought that other humans conceive.”  Cupping his face between my own hands, I tried to smooth out the tension.  “Why can’t you allow yourself that much?”
“Because,” the break that came at the end of the word nearly broke me apart. “If I allow myself that weakness, then what else creeps in behind it?” 
Studying his face in the dimness, the shadows making his sharp angles sharper - I wanted nothing more than for a few hours to forget.  To forget walking into Jenny’s room and finding it empty, her covers pushed back and the bed cool of her warmth.  To forget seeing the letter, hateful with the words that told of her capture and ransom, propped against her pillow - where her head should have been - No, her head should have been against my shoulder.  She would have woken ME up, ready to show me the glory of another day.  I wanted to forget that she would NEVER wake me up again.  I wanted to forget the bickering that came when I raised the alarm, finding my father and her mother having breakfast - how they couldn’t agree on WHO should be notified, on why she’d been taken - to forget that I’d insisted on calling for professionals, on calling for HIM. 
“You should hate me,” why would he imagine I would lay the blame on him?  “I failed you.”  
“No,” shaking his insistence off, holding his face firm between my hands, I refused to allow him to pull away.  “Was it your gun, your bullet that killed her?” He started to speak, but I wouldn’t let him.  “You didn’t kill her, James Conrad.  And you did bring her home.”  
“She’s dead.” He looked as though he knew her, that he knew how bright she shined and how - “It’s so new to you, you haven’t processed it yet.”  
“Kiss me,” he shook his head.  “You stole a kiss before you left, I want another.”  He wanted to argue, but I wasn’t willing to - “Please?”  What little strength my voice had held was gone, and it came out as half plea half sob - and that did it.  It gave way what little resolve he had left, and the inches that separated our faces were gone - our lips, mine damp and salty with tears, met.  
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The kiss he’d taken before he left to find my little sister was sweet and filled with promise.  This kiss was desperate and hungry - we both needed distraction from the thoughts that were threatening to drown us.  When it morphed from a kiss to something more, from our lips and tongues, to hands searching for a way to touch more skin than just that of our faces - neither one objected.  
As clothing fell into piles on the floor, darkness overtook the daylight, and my bare skin was being traced by the calloused skin of his fingertips.  My lips were making a map of the dips and curves of his muscles.  And then my back met the silky sheets of my bed, but before I could feel the loss of his body heat, there he was hovering over me - my hands reaching for him, our mouths meeting even as our bodies joined.  
Some might think that I was being selfish - my little sister had just been murdered, two men died beside her as they were trying to rescue her - and I wrapped myself in a lustful bubble with the Captain who was in charge of the failed mission.  Bubbles are temporary, no matter how deeply I wished I could have stayed in the one I had with James.  It felt like we were locked together for minutes, perhaps hours - maybe days?  Yet, it was probably the former.  He held me as I fell asleep, arms tight around me as if I might drift away or as though I were a mirage in the desert.  
If I were being selfish, I had my comeuppance when I woke up - alone.  He left no note, no acknowledgement that he’d ever been there - other than the hint of the natural cologne that I would always associate with him.  He came to Jenny’s memorial services, but he kept a careful and proper distance from me. Any outsider would assume that we were nothing more than a grieving family member and the Captain of the British Special Forces who sadly lost men in the same failed mission that cost the life of my sister.  
Father stayed on at the embassy.  He insisted that his service was lifelong, but he also asked if I would rather return “home”.  
“I’ve lived here since I was 14,” staring at him as if he’d lost his mind, he sighed.  “Are you honestly insinuating that London is more ‘home’ than here?”  
“Veronica,” he sat next to me and took one of my hands in both of his, a rare gesture of affection that startled us both.  “Perhaps I was hasty in insisting that you stay with me after your mother died.”  I felt certain that my eyebrows were in danger of full retreat at this point.  He’d gone to battle with my grandmother, “hasty” wasn’t quite the word I’d use.  “I’m not sure this is the right place for a young woman of your status to -”
“I have to stay,” pulling my hand free, I stood up and moved to the window.  If I left, who would help teach the children of the next round of embassy officials?  “Not only have I grown up here, but I have a job too.”  
“They could hire someone else,” he was preparing for an argument, but I wasn’t in the mood.  “Consider it, please?”  Agreeing to at least consider the idea, he got up and kissed my temple, another rare gesture.  “I miss her too, you know?”  
“I know,” the house was too quiet without her.  He left me alone, with my thoughts and with the silence.  Neither were very comforting.  
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machikuragii · 4 years ago
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Rank the Sohmas and explain your ranking?
Anon, this got really long, so I’ve put everything under the cut. Also I don’t have solid rankings beyond my top 2 so I went into ‘tiers’ that aren’t necessarily ordered by how much I like a character. TLDR; I love all the zodiacs for different reasons, see readmore for more in-depth thoughts.
1. Yuki Sohma
Yuki as a character is really, really important to me. I think about him so much, and how he goes from a neglected, unwanted child with no support network to a confident young adult who is so comfortable with himself and free to be happy and at ease and surrounded by those who love him. I think about how important it is that Takaya displays this journey as incremental, and not necessarily linear. I think about how Yuki’s strength comes not only from himself and his desire to improve step by step, but from the support he gradually starts to receive from the people around him. I think about just how important it is when Takaya says that it’s ok to be weak, to reach out for help, and that for some people, it is only when they DO receive the needed support from others that they are able to get better. I think about just how much it means for a boy with so little self-worth to gradually find himself in the company of people who enjoy his presence and like him for who he is, and I think about how he is able to reach out and help others after receiving the warm and foundation he himself needs, when he is emotionally ready. I think about then, how SIGNIFICANT it is to show a character who had absolutely NOTHING in his childhood go on to make sure that his own child has everything he longed for in a home in his childhood. 
There’s a little bit of Yuki in everyone. Every bit of his internal monologue hits like a truck for anyone who struggles with insecurity and low self-esteem, and his drive and aspiration to find his own purpose and happiness, can be a source of inspiration to so many. Yuki Sohma is one of the best, if not THE definitely best written Fruits Basket characters, and I really wish more people recognised this. As sensei once said herself, I know that Yuki will always have his fans, but I wished that more people realised and appreciated his importance in the story and carrying the themes of Fruits Basket.
2. Hatori Sohma
This is more a remnant of a past phase, but Hatori is here because he was my first anime crush ksksksasoksks . Jokes aside though, I love Hatori because of his kindness and selfless nature that is masked by a cold exterior. As an adult I realise that Hatori’s actions are not always perfect or enough, but I still really think that he is someone who truly cares. There are so many instances that improve his character in my eyes. Can you imagine going through what he goes through with Kana, and learning of her marriage, and not feeling bitterness, but relief that she is happy? And yet he values his own happiness so little that it really breaks my heart. Or the way that he doesn’t avoid Momiji after the ordeal with his mother, but checks up on him and in a way helps raise him? Dude is more of a father figure to Momiji than his own dad. Narratively, Hatori’s backstory is such an effective introduction to the darker, more mature themes of Fruits Basket, and yeah you can bet it worked on kid me. 
TIER: “These are great characters, I love their complexity but I’m also just fond of them as well” (no particular order)
Isuzu Sohma
Someone who definitely grew on me this time round. When I was a child I found it hard to understand what she was going through and didn’t really relate to her either. But oh my god, this girl goes through so much. She’s such a kindhearted character at heart, but struggles with connecting with others and receiving their kindness because of what she went through as a child. It’s so hard to watch her struggle, because we know she deserves the world. 
Akito Sohma
Controversial to say I love Akito just after I said I love Rin, lol. I’ve never had an overly negative impression of Akito throughout Fruits Basket (this is partially because my friends used to call me Akito when we were little.....because I was an Asian girl... and Akito is also an Asian girl????? idk now that I’m thinking back over it...gee thanks guys), so it was relatively easier for me to accept her redemption when it came. Akito’s actions are not defensible, but I find it much more interesting to explore where she is coming from, rather than just mindlessly spew hate and wish violent things for her like some people prefer to do. Akito’s character is a tragedy, and I feel like people are way less willing to emphasise when the victim is not “perfect”, per se. Akito went through the same “broken home” parental abuse that a lot of the characters in Fruits Basket went through, but somehow people are unwilling even to extend the tiniest amount of baseline empathy towards her just because he trauma manifested in a way that hurts others. Guys, she’s a tragic character!!! A tragic character isn’t always “a perfect person who has bad things happen to them”, it can also mean “a character who becomes antagonistic because of circumstances.” Her actions are inexcusable, but there is a lot to learn when we explore WHY she became this way.
Shigure Sohma
Gonna try make this short. Shigure is a controversial character but I like him because I like characters that demonstrate moral ambiguity. The point of Shigure is NOT to be a good person, and he doesn’t have to be one to justify liking him. Once again, you can like Shigure and still know that he’s a piece of shit. The whole idea of “he genuinely cares for Tohru but will hurt her if it means achieving his own goals” is a fascinating one to me, because it shows that the idea of “good people” and “bad people” is vast oversimplification of how actual people think and behave. Still though, I’m really not fond of how Akigure was executed in canon. I think the two could have potentially had a fascinating relationship but it ended up being more disturbing and swept under the rug&uncomfortable than interesting.
Momiji Sohma
On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Momiji who is just genuinely such a good person. I like the dichotomy between his outwardly ‘childish’ and ‘immature’ appearance and behaviors, versus what we gradually learn about him: that he has had to be mature and selfless at a very young age, and that he is also very emotionally intelligent and empathetic. Watching him gradually grow up before our eyes (we were ROBBED of it in the anime) but at the same time feeling more and more lost broke my freaking heart. When his curse breaks and he realises that even though he is now ‘free’, that nothing has changed and the damage was already done -  absolutely heartwrenching. He’s someone I would have loved explore more of what happened post-canon, because I just want good things for him and Momo, screw whatever the hell their asshole dad thinks. 
TIER: “I love these characters but don’t focus on them as much as I think the fandom does”
Kyo Sohma
I’m a self-professed “probably don’t think about Kyo that much” person haha. I know I know, sue me. I think its because out of the main 3, I love Yuki and Tohru so much that I don’t tend to focus on Kyo. I still like him a whole lot though!! I’m a big fan of the way he matures and changes throughout the series, and much like how Yuki does too, becomes a much happier person. When I compare early-series Kyo with later-series Kyo, one thing that always sticks out to me is how much more he smiles. The way he smiles at Tohru is so full of genuine warmth and happiness that it makes my heart melt, especially when I think about how this is a boy who has so much baggage, and has to gradually accept the fact that he deserves happiness before he allows himself finally to accept it. 
Hatsuharu Sohma
Most of my love for Haru comes from the relationship he has with Yuki. It takes so much maturity to accept that your prejudices may be unfair, and Haru did so at such a young age. Sometimes I just think about how much Haru did and continues to do for Yuki without the need for reciprocation or even recognition and it just hits me how much of a good person Haru is. He was Yuki’s ONLY friend at a time he had NO ONE, and is the reason Yuki was able to move out of the estate and become the person we know and love. Haha sorry for making this about Yuki again, but I think their relationship also says a lot about Haru as a person.
TIER: “I like Kureno and am tired of making a thousand disclaimers every time I want to say I like him, Takaya-sensei whyyyy”
Kureno Sohma
I really like Kureno. This is again pretty controversial, but let me try to explain. I like Kureno because he’s an example of someone who wants to do the right thing that causes the least amount of harm to everyone, but inevitably ends up making the decision that causes much more damage. It’s a classic “good intentions, bad outcome” scenario and I freaking love it. I love that it’s absolutely not what he wants, but Kureno ends up doing a lot of wrong things and destroying not only Akito, but also his own life in the process. I just find the idea of an adult of his age who is so isolated from all of society that even a shopping trip is something foreign and out-of-the-ordinary, really, really sad. 
On the romance side though,  I hate that Takaya-sensei decided that Arisa would be his romantic interest, but I do like the idea of romance being a part of his arc. (I actually think their interactions are somewhat cute but that the overarching age gap ruins everything - i keep thinking about if Arisa was older or Kureno was younger, but touching their ages at all would affect the plot so I would rather it wasn’t Arisa at all). Just the idea of Kureno by Akito’s side, playing the part of what he thinks is her “lover” (god sensei why are u liek dis), when he meets someone on one of his rare trips outside the Sohma estate that causes him to realise that what he and Akito have is not at all what a healthy relationship should feel like - and it causes him to reevaluate the harm he is doing to them both, and take steps to leave her. That is...not exactly what Sensei did, but I always remember how much I felt for Kureno when he said in the upcoming anime chapter how it was the first time he had felt like he loved someone out of his own choice...I just felt like that one “choice” could have lead him to the realisation that he can start to make more of his own, healthier choices in life. But yeah. Wish it wasn’t Arisa because it didn’t do anything good to her character arc, and it’s creepy. 
TIER: “I really like these characters but don’t go out of my way to think about them”
Kagura Sohma
Ok I lied, I do go out of my way to think about Kagura. I love her too, despite common opinion. I think her reflection of her relationship with Kyo was so wonderful. Her confession that she started to like him out of pity, but that over time they became genuine feelings. But that Kyo can’t reciprocate her feelings so she’s accepting of that, and thankful that he gave her time to express herself, although she will still go on loving Kyo. Kagura is one of those characters where Takaya-sensei once again demonstrates her ability to take a “trope” of a character and actually delve into their psyche and explains why they feel this way. 
Ayame Sohma
I love Ayame because he’s genuinely so much fun! I appreciate the arc of him rejecting Yuki, but how he is now reaching out to help him, and I feel like we don’t get a good insight into just how significant this rejection was until we see it from Yuki’s perspective. I also admire how he is able to recognise his own shortcomings, and respects Hatori because of his sensitivity to other people’s feelings. He’s a character who could definitely have been explored more if desired, but isn’t underexplored or incomplete as is.
Ritsu Sohma
My poor Ritsu. In contrast to Ayame, Ritsu was definitely underexplored. Such a great potential to explore confidence, identity, and assertiveness. Ritsu as it stands though, is largely a minor character who wasn’t given the time they needed to be fully fleshed out. I would have loved to see them gradually gain more confidence over the series!!
Kisa Sohma
Love love love Kisa, she’s such a cutie pie. But I feel like there wasn’t much more to say about her that wasn’t said in her arc. Kisa is more a character who is used to show the messed-up state of the Sohma house/Akito more than she herself is a complex character, I think. I love her arc and her parallels to Yuki though, it gave us such a great quote about needing to be loved by others before learning to love yourself. 
Hiro Sohma
Hiro is known to be an unlikeable brat but I love him as well!!! I think it’s really important to have characters who aren’t just lovely and receptive to Tohru’s kindness, and his character served to show an important flaw in Tohru’s character, and the way that her kindness could be taken advantage of. For Hiro himself though, I think his brattiness is alright because he’s very young, and I really appreciate his efforts to become a more mature person when he recognises his own flaws! 
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