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[kiss-my-battery-505]

Hi guys I made RE4 art <3

[re-re-redline]

Constantine XI Alter (Saber)

>Spoilers for Constantine’s Interlude<

Foreword: This was supposed to be a sketch, I swear. But on another note, I am alive! Just slowly working up to writing after a few hectic weeks. But the train is moving, just very slowly which I imagine is nothing new. One thing I HAVE been getting up to is my painting of portraits of my blorbos for their birthdays. I suck at drawing anything festive, so I hope the quality of the piece makes up for it, hehe… I have Constantine’s done and I am extremely proud of it.

Buuut that’s in February, so let’s get into my explanation and thoughts on this hypothetical of my boi! Starting off with…why he looks like this.

(I would also like to note that I haven’t ran this through TTS yet so there probably is some grammatical errors and for that I will apologize in advance, I will iron them out soon.)

Fixed it! And I added a few more lines just to explain things further.

On the Subject of Appearance:

Alright, obvious and iconic Alter color palette aside, what’s up with the vast amounts of white? That’s because… Our guy wears black mostly in his first ascension and then dies it down in his second by adding a LOT of red, so it’d make sense that his alternative would be set apart by having him wear and have the color white. Plus it illustrates just how DIFFERENT he is compared to Micheal, how opposite or perhaps opposing he is. But more on that later.

I also tried making his hair look significantly messier than Constantine’s to set him apart and make him look more scary with his wild hair, especially in his third ascension. I looked at a panel of Yhwach from Bleach to see how I could do that since his hair looks so COOL but I couldn’t quite get it to how I wanted it thanks to the pencil I was using admittedly not being the best for that sort of thing. Now if I had used monoline instead then maybe it could’ve came out better…

(Also I was planning on this being just a sketch so I wasn’t really thinking of coloring anything until his second ascension when I realized I would have to in order to communicate how different he is from Constantine and it kinda snowballed from there. Oops… You might be able to tell, but I was looking at Saber Alter’s sprite from Stay Night for ideas on how to color him. Now. I just noticed that I forgot his crown for 3rd ascension and I did try adding one recently but it looked kinda bad… So we’ll just leave him without it for now. I could justify its absence by saying that it broke when he was altered and it basically signals his now ironically unholy nature, but I had to speak truthfully first.)

Now, about the cracks on his skin. THAT is marble. Sections of Alter’s body are petrified marble with a few dry cracks in the skin. Why? Because of the legend circulating after his death of him being a marble statue. It’s like how Hans has mermaid scales and how Okita will forever have tuberculosis, Alter’s body along with several other things were affected by how people saw him. I’ll get into it more later.

But! There are some cool things, or not cool rather, to note about the marble patches on his body. Like how a lot of pain he’d feel is nullified by it thanks to lack of, y’know, nerves. This also goes for sensations in general as he wouldn’t know if you were tapping him on the shoulder or were pouring boiling water on that spot. Sections of his body cannot feel but can still move just fine. It doesn’t impede his movement at all. It just…cracks a lot.

If you ever see him stretch and pop his spine, you will not only hear the snapping of bones but also stone splitting. Don’t worry, it’ll fix itself so you don’t have to worry about him sustaining major damage from just moving around. It’ll just take some getting used to on your end.

Now. You may have noticed that the marble patches grow more the further into his ascensions he is, to the point where his armor receives patches of marble on it too. Now this wouldn’t even be something to mention if not for the fact that I’d like to think that anything new he wears in his 2nd and 3rd ascension starts petrifying slowly over time. Not all the way but enough to the point where it gets to be a chore doing laundry. Just a neat addition to what is already there.

But yeah, that’s all I got for his design so far. On to the next!

On The Subject of Class and Gameplay:

If you play JP or have Clairvoyance then you already know why its not the obvious choice. Because his legend mentions specifically that the angel who wakes him up will give him the sword he used on his final day. So it’d make sense that his class would change to Saber.

Now. In this hypothetical where I’m the one designing him as a unit. I’d imagine his gameplay to be like so:

2 Buster Cards with 5 hits, 2 Arts Cards with 4 hits, and 1 Quick card with 3 hits. Five hit Extra Attack because he’s cool like that. Same card numbers but different hits on most.

His NP would be an Offensive Buster NP whose description looks something like this:

Legend of The Marble Emperor (EX):

Increase Buster Card Effectiveness for 3 Turns, Increase ATK for 1 Turn, Inflict Curse, Deal Major defense ignoring damage to one/all enemies, Restore HP by 2,000 (effect increases with Overcharge), Apply Resistance to Death by 5000% for 1 time (non-stackable) and Apply a stackable Guts for 5 turns that restores half of Constantine XI Alter (Saber)’s HP upon Death.

That is one hell of an NP that not only hits hard but also provides major survivability which is what Constantine is all about. Now, I could quite decide if he should be a Single Target or an AOE but I do imagine his gameplay to be your awesome clutch soloist unit for CQ’s, Advanced Quests or boss fights. Is this really cool hypothetical NP a showing of my massive bias? …Maybe. But that’s not important, onto the skills!

Skill 1: The Ends Justify The Means (A) [Cooldown at LV.10 is 6 Turns]

Increase Buster Card Effectiveness for 3 Turns, Increase ATK for 3 turns for All Party Members and Apply Target Focus to All Party Members Excluding Constantine XI Alter (Saber) for 3 Turns.

Skill 2: Demise Privilege (Alternative) (C) [Cooldown at LV.10 is 7 Turns]

Increase NP Gauge for Self by 50%, Gain crit.stars per turn for 3 turns, Remove 2,000 HP from all Non-Roman Party Members and Restore HP by 3,000 to self, Apply Guts to self for 3 Turns.

Skill 3: The People’s Wish (Alternative) (EX) [Cooldown at LV.10 is 6 Turns]

Apply a State Where Upon Hitting an Enemy, Inflict Curse (1,000 DMG) and Disastrous Curse for 3 Turns, Apply Special ATK to enemies with Curse.

As you can see, Alter is a very selfish DPS that drains HP from his non-Roman allies to keep himself alive along with inflicting curse stacks for damage over time. He’s be a nice pair up with Van Gogh for that last thing. And much like his NP, he really wants to live and it’s going to be difficult to kill him. So yes! Soloist in the form of a Saber.

Is his kit too cracked? …Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll let you all tell me what’s what.

On the Subject of Composition:

Constantine XI Alter is a Saber class servant comprised of three parts.

The first and the largest portion—the base, if you will—is Constantine’s ideal self, dreamed up during his final years of life in the late 1400s. As we are aware, Constantine utterly despises how weak he thinks he is. He hates the fact that he feels like he wants to breakdown and cry so much, he hates the fact that he’s terrified of dying, and most of all he hates that he isn’t strong enough to take the current crisis in stride like he believed his idols would have. Thus, Constantine saw his ideal self as a man who would not feel fear in times of crisis, would not cry when he was losing, and would not break under pressure. A truly stoic and strong leader that can handle any sort of disaster, that is to say: an emperor who wins for his people and survives.

The second part that makes up this servant are the wishes of the people of Constantinople. After Constantine’s death, a rumor floated around that the emperor had not died. He was rescued by an angel at the brink of death and turned into a statue. He would then sleep in a hidden cave underneath the Golden Gate of Constantinople awaiting the call of an angel who would restore his form and give him the sword he used in the final battle. It was a lovely thing to hope for and believe in, thus that rumor turned into a legend backed by the hopes and dreams of the people. It is this that would have completed this variation of Constantine had it not been for…

The third and final part is less of a ‘part’ per se and more of a distortion of what already existed. A wild, vengeful anger and grief corrupted what would have been the lovely culmination of the ideal self of Constantine plus the people’s hopes and dreams and twisted it into a cold automaton hellbent on continuing the existence of Rome as he knew it no matter the cost. These intense negative emotions came from the one and only Constantinople herself. When our favorite emperor perished and the Ottomans took over, there was no one as thoroughly stricken by grief—if we ignore George and Constantine’s remaining family—as Constantinople. It was pure agony to watch her people be murdered, enslaved and violated for days with the subsequent rebuild and installation of new buildings hurting too. But the most painful thing of all was watching her subjects slowly disappear one by one: people she watched grow up and live life for centuries on end vanishing never to return until all that was left was a large group of strangers who now occupied that space. It was maddening to say the least. The result was a lot of time passing and the events of Constantine’s interlude (yes, I read a summary of it and it could not come sooner for me.) While Constantinople WAS forced into slumber through the battle, much like the emperor she is so deeply connected with, Constantinople made a final last ditch effort to have her and Constantine’s wish come true. Thus the creation of an Alter of Constantine XI as well as a new singularity set shortly after the death of the real Constantine came to be.

On The Subject of Personality:

Alter is barely like the man we are familiar with, he would be practically unrecognizable if his face and voice were different. The most glaring difference is the lack of any expression on this man’s face. The muscles on his face only move for three reasons: he’s speaking, blinking, or the boiling rage underneath his skin has erupted upon the mention or appearance of the Ottomans. He just carries that same deadpan expression no matter what happens, good or bad. This is due to Constantine’s wishes to be a truly stoic man down to his core. Though, thanks to the distortion caused by Constantinople, most of his other emotions have been muted to make room for the, and I quote: “Boiling Rage™ that is 100% necessary and important to the restoration and maintenance of the Byzantine Empire. Yup, totally required. Why? Because screw you that’s why!”— Constantinople, circa Right Now. I kid, I kid. But really. Alter is either having tiny tinges of emotion flittering around in his skull sometimes—you know like the alleged to exist fruity taste of La Croix—or pure and absolute anger, no in between. Thankfully, for masters, the percentages of the anger are incredibly low unless for some odd reason you have Ottoman Turks appearing left and right in your area.

Unlike our friend Micheal, or any sapient being really, Alter doesn’t really…have opinions. He’s just neutral about most things in the world and mostly shrugs at whatever he’s interacting with. Good weather? Okay. Great food? Okay. Amazing friends? Okay. The milk went bad and the store’s closed right now? Okay. You stepped on the corner of five different Lego blocks on your way to the bathroom? Okay. Your pillow is scorching hot and you can’t sleep? Okay. Several hundred people just died in utter agony? O—you get the point. I’m sure you know one exception that Alter has, but allow me to provide you with one more and we’ll get into another in the next section.

The red earrings on his ears, cracked beyond belief yet still hanging just fine… Yes, Alter likes those. That’s why he hasn’t taken them off or let them shatter. Why? Well… He vaguely recalls someone important to him gifting him these. That man, after helping Constantine put his on, took out another similar pair and placed them on his own ears. He then said: “Now we match! Plus, I’ll be able to pick you out in even the most dense of crowds, my lord, as these earrings are one of a kind.”

(Yes, I headcanon that George gifted Constantine his iconic red earrings and has a matching blue pair for himself so that they both kinda match but hold their individuality all the same. A nice little thought that warms my heart.)

On The Subject of Speech:

The way this man talks is so dry and bland that one would think that Alter is bored out of his skull by simply existing. His voice is so flat and borderline monotone, no effort to emphasize anything or even to make digesting the info any easier. And to make matters perhaps worse he doesn’t talk much and tends to make what little he does say compact. It’s a flavorless way of communication that only changes when, you know, the Boiling Rage™ surfaces.

You know how in Constantine’s Bond Profile #1 it states that he “sometimes speaks more roughly in times of duress?” (Or “a more crude tone” if we’re reading the fan translation.) Yeah, well that’s no longer a sometimes. He still doesn’t talk much but man is he swearing and being rude as hell when he is pissed. The imperial decorum that our Micheal lives by has gone out of the window and will not be seen again until Alter calms down. No, he won’t apologize to anyone. Don’t bother, it’s a fruitless endeavor.

On the Subject of His Knowledge:

Alright, what does Alter know about himself? He knows that he was crafted by Constantine to be the ideal version of him. He knows about the legend surrounding his death and that being the reason for the petrification on his body. And he knows about Constantinople messing with his Spirit Origin and his current reason for existing and the objective that comes with it. …That’s it. That is all he knows.

Nothing about his personal life or his family or his best friend who had his back throughout it all, nothing. In its place are vague and fuzzy vignettes of familiar people he can’t put a name or face to that appear in his mind’s eye from time to time.

Now, as for his opinions on what he knows… Uh, I’ll just get the one with the least words on it out of the way first. The petrification thing? Yeah, he could not care less. The patches of marble on his body don’t limit his mobility any and yeah, the petrifying of his clothes is kind of annoying but it’s slow enough to where it’s not that big of a deal. It’s whatever for him.

Now. As for his creation—that being Constantinople messing with him and him being Constantine’s ideal self—he has a…not very good opinion on the two. And by that I mean he absolutely hates them both.

He hates Constantinople for twisting his already good spirit origin into what it is now and placing within him an undying anger. He also hates her for basically using him as a tool to get what she wants all because the ‘real’ Constantine rejected her wishes, essentially using him as a replacement. A simple means to an end… Yeah, even someone as dry as Alter isn’t happy with her one bit and immediately rebelled against her the moment she turned her back on him.

He hates Constantine for cursing him with the ridiculous traits of being stoic down to his core as well being the ‘perfect’ emperor for his people, the one who wins and survives. Because of that, not only does he not FEEL anything at all but he also has this immense pressure in his very soul that he MUST have Rome survive at all costs and that he must solely devote himself to that cause with every fiber of his being. Yes, the severity of those traits were caused by Constantinople’s anger and grief distorting him but the base traits were all on Constantine.

Now, in Constantine’s defense (because I am a Constantine defender), he had no idea that this would happen let alone that an Alter of himself based on what he saw as his ideal self, the emperor his people deserved and would suit them best, even existed in the first place. It was a dream to him. A dream of a man who was much better than he was, doing way better than he is and winning all at once. That is all that Alter was to him then and what he was to Constantine before the singularity. And upon seeing the cursed man before him, he could not feel worse about himself if he tried.

Endnote: Whew… That was a lot! But I think that was I’ve got on Alter. As you can see, I’d been doin’ a big think on him and he was a very fun character to design both artistically and in writing.

Whew… That was a lot! But I think that was I’ve got on Alter. As you can see, I’d been doin’ a big think on him and he was a very fun character to design both artistically and in writing. I hope you don’t mind the crumminess in the piece, if you can even call it that. I wasn’t joking when I said it was supposed to be a sketch hence the noticeable climb in effort across the ascensions.

In other more exciting news… I have 10 followers! Ten whole people! That’s enough to get one of those long tables at the fancy restaurants with!

It’s quite the milestone, one I was not expecting. So, to celebrate, I’m going to bypass the order of things I WANTED to get through with before I did this sort of thing—since I didn’t think I’d get 10 followers, honestly. But, I will be dropping a poll sometime soon—before the day’s end Nope, way too sleepy right now.—of a few headcanons you guys can choose from for me to do next! And not JUST for Constantine, Mehmed, or Sannan—no, no. I will also be tacking on my two other blorbos that I have neglected to mention, them being Hajime-chan (my strongest Saber) and Izou (my strongest Assassin.) So it’ll be Multi-Core Headcanons (haha), five people in one list. And don’t you worry, it won’t be like, one paragraph long or anything half-assed. That shit will be long, like 4k minimum per person which would—if I strictly hang around that number—would be a 20k long HC list.

So case in point! It’ll be a celebration and I implore you to vote.

But yeah. That’s all for this post. I’ll also be posting something else shortly after that is NOT the poll but a nice occurrence for lil’ ol’ me. If you have questions, comments, a desire for elaboration or a keyboard smash of your thoughts, let me know! And I’d like to thank you all for indulging my delusions today and before today and I hope you all have a great day.

—Redline, over and out!

[nightwitchlurker]

XL: But Pookie, you promised you wouldn’t hurt them!

HC: Not HERE Kitten Whiskers, Daddy will discuss it LATER :)

[Video Description: Hua Cheng is holding Qi Rong by his throat. Xie Lian sees this and taps Hua Cheng's back, urging him to stop. Hua Cheng taps Xie Lian's chest, magically muting him. Hua Cheng then goes back to tormenting/smashing Qi Rong's face into the ground. /End Description]

Edit by: Mitsuyawifey4 on TT

I had to edit this post to make the video quality a little better

[dojae-huh]

why do you think there's this disparity between doyoung as taeyong promos overall as soloists (that all fuels the fire to the already existent akgae fanwars) ? not blaming doyoung but just curious i guess sm doesn't see potential for ty to reach the gp meanwhile doyoung has and is doing it

but TY had a full album ready but sm decided to go with a mini for tap meanwhile DY released a full album on his debut

jut wanna discuss

The main reason is that Taeyong went to the military. He will dissapear from the public's eye for two years. It's a huge time period in SK. Idols fear they won't comeback to their level of pre-enlistment popularity for a reason. Taeyong also talked a lot about this fear. Of being forgotten.

There is no point investing in trying to catch new fans if they won't be given easy means to develop real interest (media and tv appearences, concerts, merch, new albums).

Just think of how JaeDo are believed to be a dead ship by newer fans because there is little concent from thm. It is the older fans, who knew JaeDo pre 2020, are still very dedicated. It is the same idea with Tae and his core fans. The fans he already has will wait for him. The viewers of TV-shows he could have appeared in - will not care.

Secondly, the time of album preparation. Taeyong had to release early, before his enlistment. He even had to shoot his MV in Japan, and discuss arrangement of his songs deep in the night, half awake. He had no time to go on many programmes.

There is little need, really, to introduce Taeyong. Everyone knows he is a great rapper and dancer. He is front and centre in 127 MVs, he has his own multiple performance clips, features, special stages, solo stages (Super M, Link). If someone develops an interest "hm, is this guy any good as an artist?", there is no lack of material for them to watch on YT. Meanwhile there are so called NCTzens who don't think Doyoung can sing that well. Do needs to be introduced as a real deal. And away from k-pop, as a soloist he sings in other genres (pop-rock and band music). Lots of live singing clips thus are needed. There was a comment "YT keeps offering me vids with this guy, is he OK? he sings so much" (paraphrasing).

Tae has lots of tiktoks for Tap era. Fans of other idols he danced with had seen those reels. Thai actors did his challenge a lot. His promotion works on TT, on the internet, through virality (remember the case with "Zoo") and inside k-pop sphere. He has always caught people's eye by looks and moves alone.

Doyoung, on the other hand, is known to general public as a variety personality. His potential audience as a soloist, people who like ballads, Korean music, go to festivals and musicals, don't find new artists on tiktok. Melon top100 chart, YT programmes, TV programmes with live singing are what they tap into.

Do got a concert tour because he wants to sing as much as possible, to be in a band. Tae got a fanmeet tour because he wanted the love from the fans, the reassurance that they will stay before his dissapearence. (Plus, as I said before, he should have been busy with 127 preparations in March).

Doyoung came up with the way he wants to see his promotions unfold. Documentaries, medleys - his idea. He supervised it. He pushed for more.

Fans count numbers, but forget about contents. Taeyong's promo clips were very innovative, fun, effort was put in developing them. Wasn't his abduction video memorable? Despite very pressing circumstances, very short time to work, Tae's comeback was of high quality (photoshoots, the MV, stages, his 2 day concert was prepared better than Link).

Shooting singing Doyoung five times is not a big deal, it is easy to increase the number of uploaded promotional material. Heh, antis counted "medley clips" as content, when it is just a track playing over a circled on itself short video of nature (that you buy on stock sites).

Taeyong had two albums in the same year. Who gets two albums same year right away? Even Baekhyun didn't. And fans dare complain.

Tae had songs he wrote in thepast. However, those songs needed to be re-recorded and remastered. We've seen it in bts video. Either there was no time to record enough songs for a full album, or Tae's songs were lacking/didn't fit the overall sound of the album. Remember how DJJ re-recorded "Ordinary" a year later (we can sing better now), how "Can we go back" was re-arranged for the album (bless, the track was saved for me). Songs take time, SM works up to 6 months on one song.

[ivyfox-illustration]

Buckskin PLOTT HOUND gaiting movement well bred akc breeds Unisex Ultra Cotton Tee Your favourite breed art print - head or body conformation - groomer gift - Other Breeds Available - dog breeder gift - regional specialty or national specialty prize gift idea Artwork by Ivy Fox Illustration Follow Ivy Fox Illustration on social media https://m.facebook.com/IvyFox.illustration/ https://www.instagram.com/ivyfox.illustration/ Find your dog breed: Personalized Pet Portraits: https://ivyfoxillustrates.etsy.com/ My website: https://ivyfoxillustration.com/ Art Prints Merch Original PaintingsThis unisex ultra cotton tee is a classic. Quality cotton construction means that designs are sure to shine. The shoulders are tapped for a good upper-body fit. There are no side seams, ensuring a clean, unbroken flow. The collar has ribbed knitting for improved elasticity. The materials that went into this product are sustainably sourced and economically friendly. .: 100% Cotton (fiber content may vary for different colors) .: Medium fabric (6.0 oz/yd² (203 g/m²)) .: Classic fit .: Tear-away label .: Runs bigger than usualContact Email: IvyFoxIllustration@ gmail(dot)com ———— Tags and other miscellaneous info: ———— Ivy Fox Illustration Ivy Fox dog art Museum of the Dog American Kennel Club Showsight - Where Champions Are Celebrated American Dog Fancier InfoDog Best In Show The Canine Chronicle AKC Gazette best pet portrait artist watercolor fine art unique art Akc meet the breeds Westminster kennel club dog show national dog show crufts grooming intergroom superzoo petquest groom expo dog sports well bred dogs purebred preservation breeders ethical breeders breeder of merit akc grand champion Ch – Champion of Record – earned by gaining 15 points in conformation wins. Points awarded is determined by the number of other entries the winning dog defeats. A dog must win at least two majors (by winning at two different shows under two different judges where there are enough entries defeated to equal 3-5 points by the AKC point system. OTCh – Obedience Trial Champion To earn an obedience title, the dog must have a passing score of 50% of possible points or better, and an overall passing score at three different competitions under three different judges. CD – Companion Dog (First Level Obedience Competition, basic obedience exercises) CDX – Companion Dog Excellent (Intermediate Level Obedience Competition, more advanced obedience work) UD – Utility Dog (Advanced Level Obedience Competition, difficult obedience work, including hand signals) UDX – The highest obedience degree AKC presently awards TRACKING TD – Tracking Dog TDX – Tracking Dog Excellent VST – Variable Surface Tracking HERDING HIC – Herding Instinct Certificate HT – Herding Tested PT – PreTrial Tested HS – Herding Started HI – Herding Intermediate HX – Herding Excellent HCh – Herding Champion AGILITY NA – Novice Agility OA – Open Agility AX – Agility Excellent MX – Master Agility Excellent NAJ – Novice Agility Jumper OAJ – Open Agility Jumper EAJ – Excellent Agility Jumper AKC Unofficial Titles CGC – Canine Good Citizen ROM – Register of Merit – A dog or bitch must earn a number of points specified by the DPCA rules, and also meet the numbers of champion and major pointed progeny required by DPCA. The requirements for bitches are less than the requirements for the dogs because males have the opportunity to produce a far larger number of offspring. ROMC – Canadian ROM ROM/C – designates that the dog has earned an American and a Canadian ROM. TT – Temperament Tested TC – Temperament Certified AOE – Award of Excellence-A dog must meet qualifications in conformation, obedience, and also be OFA´d to earn this award. New competitions are being added and rules for competitions change, for the most up to date rules and regulations, check with the AKC and the DPCA. Miscellaneous American titles often seen on pedigrees and in advertising. BIS – Best in Show at an All-Breed Show in conformation. BISS – Best in Show Specialty (where only dogs of the same breed are competing in conformation) BOB – Best of Breed BOS – Best Opposite Sex BOW – Best of Winners (best between Winners Dog and Winners Bitch in breed conformation class competition) WD – Winners Dog – the winning dog overall of the regular classes of his sex. WB – Winners Bitch – the winning bitch overall of the regular classes of her sex. RWD/RWB – Runner up to the winners dog and bitch, if the winner becomes ineligible for the award then the runner up will receive the points awarded from that show. Special – A dog that is already a Champion that is competing for Best of Breed only. A Champion cannot compete in the classes where points are earned (because a Champion has already earned them!) RTD – Registered Therapy Dog TD I- Dog has passed Therapy Dog International´s testing HEALTH CERTIFICATIONS OVC – Ontario Veterinary College OVC Hip Certification – A dog may be preliminary screened at a younger age, but will not receive a certification unless the dog is at least 18 months old. It was told to me by a tech in the radiology department of OVC that they consider hips to either be bad, in which case they are rated on a scale from 0 – 4, with 4 being the worse, or they are “good” in which case the animal will receive a certification number (if 18 months or older. Therefore they do not follow the U.S. rating system which includes “FAIR”, Good, Excellent”. Their exact words were “the hips are either GOOD or they are NOT. OFA – Orthopedic Foundation for Animals OFA Hip Certifications – dogs within a specified range of normal hip x-rays are certified OFA-Excellent, Good, or Fair OFA – Elbow Certification – Certified by OFA for normal elbows on x-ray, only one grade recognized as normal. Check with OFA for proper procedures and positioning for hip and elbow x-rays. A dog may be preliminary screened at a younger age, but will not receive a certification unless the dog is at least 24 months old. OFA is also now doing certifications for other canine health concerns such as normal thyroid levels, check with OFA for accurate data and rules concerning these. CERF – Canine Eye Registry Foundation-dog is certified to have normal eyes. Re-certification must be done annually. vWD – Von Willebrands Disease free-meaning the dog has been tested and found free of vWD, a bleeding disorder, vWD free ratings also are often given with a percentage listed. For the best information on Von Willebrand´s Disease, contact Dr Jean Dodds, who is the leading research specialist in blood disorders. Dog show prize idea

[hardkuna]

asmr

› 𝚜𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚜𝚊 𝚡 𝚏𝚎𝚖!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 

› 𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚍𝚘𝚖/𝚜𝚞𝚋 𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚜. 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜. 𝚍𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔. 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐.  𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚜𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚜𝚊 𝚊𝚜𝚖𝚛 𝚊𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘.

› 𝟸𝟼𝟻𝟸 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜

You’ve always had a fascination with sounds and movements. The gentle rustle of a bag being rummaged through often sent a delicate sensation over your scalp, for example. The sensation was similar to fingers ghostling along your hairline, trailing down the back of your neck and continuing down your spine. If the sound or motion were specific enough, goose flesh would prickle your skin in its wake. With it came serenity - a peacefulness that helped lull you into sleep.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR, is what it was called.

There were, however, some sounds that sent your nerves into a short circuit. Sometimes hearing them would break any attention you’ve devoted to another task, making your thighs squish together ever so slightly. You would be lying if you said you didn’t fantasize while listening to the gentle hush of whispers or the light clicks of a tongue over saliva. The sharp trickle of consonants commanded a strum within you in ways you couldn’t fully explain. You’ve tried with previous lovers, asking to wear headphones and lose yourself in a soundscape, but would come to no avail. Many didn’t understand the interest in the first place, let alone sexually.

That was until you met Sakusa.

(Like yourself, he was one to binge video after video of audio, especially while in a crowded space. He didn’t get the same physical response but it did calm him down and distract him in the ways that only ambient, repetitive noise could.)

There were many nights where you’d lay in bed with headphones in and that particular sound would wrap warm tendrils along your senses. The caress on your spine made your muscles twitch with each subtle click. Sakusa often felt the gentle sway of your hips as you rubbed your legs together in a feeble attempt to rid yourself of the ache between them. Or he took note of the way you take shallow, shaking breaths, struggling to keep your lungs in control. A dry swallow peppered here and there confirmed his suspicions.

One night, Sakusa decided to find out just what was on your phone to make you so aroused. As he reached over you, nudging your phone screen up, he saw it. An asmr video put on repeat of someone speaking closely into the microphones. They moved from side to side, lips moving in ways unread. He hummed to himself, settling the phone back down. One long arm wrapped around you as he tucked your body into his.

All of it was quite baffling. Why wouldn’t you just tell him that something as mundane as mouth sounds or whispering turned you on? Originally, he wanted to refrain from caressing your form until you brought it up to him. He wasn’t in competition with anything. So long as it made you cum, what did it matter to him what you listened to? But then he recalled the stories. One of your ex’s who belittled your interests. Weaker men, truly.

With a plan in mind, Sakusa came to a resolution.

-

Thumbing through youtube, you aimed to find the perfect video to sleep to. Your back leaned into Sakusa’s chest, comfortably forming to him. There was a peculiar expression he wore, upper lip pursed and brows slightly furrowed. Defensively, you hugged your phone to your chest, cheeks puffing out, “What? What’s that look for?”

“I can do better than them.” His voice vibrated within you, deep and gravely, triggering a sudden chill to lick your core, freezing you in place. The ravenette craned his neck so that his lips rested next to your ear. He let out a little sigh and a small ‘tt’ sound of his lips separating flushed your cheeks.

He scrolled through the videos with you, making small noises as he’d stop at one to read the description and move on. The thing about Sakusa’s hands was that despite the thickness of his lengthy fingers, they moved with a fluid grace. It was bewitching, the smallest sense of comfort and tiredness inching its way into your periphery. Visual triggers were a very specific spell to cast on you.

Small and hushed, you questioned, “Do better in what? Against who?”

Not that you could see from your  vantage point, but you could hear the way his lips pulled back into a smile. Or was it a smirk? “Do better at turning you on. Fucking you,” The syllables swam laps around your left ear. His voice dipped and crackled in just the right way to make your back twitch against him at its call. At the first long release of air form your nose, he pulled the device from your fingers and set it at the night stand. His chest pressed you forward as his muscled arm reached for the light, tapping it to the lowest dim.

The hand now found its home at your mid-thigh, the tips of his fingers just barely grazing the bare skin as it danced up, up, up. It pressed on the fabric of your panties at the hip, dragging it slightly before letting it go, “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?” He dropped his tone to a whisper, practically pressing his lips to your ear, “How every night you’ve been denying yourself a simple satisfaction?” The hiss of the ‘s’ and click of each consonant triggered your body to move. You pressed into him, crossing one leg over the other in a squeeze.

Sakusa kept speaking, but of nonsensical words made up of nonsensical syllables. His own breath was heavy, lust lacing each sound as your body rhythmically rolled into his. By the redness in your cheeks and the effort to restrain the swirl of your hips against his, he could tell you were trying to be good for him. It was amusing to see how flustered you got that such simple sounds could make you react in this way. He tsk’d thrice, large palm slinking to and then sinking into your inner thigh. Fingers wrapped hard into the flesh, pulling your leg away from its cross.

The motion alone would have had your cunt clench at nothing, but paired with the low lights and entrancing quality of his tone, you were dripping in anticipation. To make matters more complicated, the arm underneath you began to wrap around. He pressed heavily into your breast and let the warmth of his palm be the only signal for you to tilt your chin up for further purchase of your throat.

You were trapped into him, feeling his cock harden through his sweats at your back. Sakusa muttered into you, “Is this what you’ve wanted?” He hooked your leg around his, propping you open for his fingers to prattle up to the lining of your panties, “For me to whisper close to you? You’ve held back from me, baby. I don’t like that.” The fingers around your throat squeezed at the words and you bit your lip to cage the mewl threatening to leave them.

His forearm pressed into your chest, keeping you locked into place against him. He made it damn well apparent that you were in his control. And god you needed him to stop fucking around! The way he teased with a single finger, so lightly slipping up and down your slit was torturous. Sakusa let a low groan out as he rocked his hips against your ass in time with each teasing slide. He loved the desperate pulse of your heat every time he passed the entrance. He adored your high whine when he just barely touched on your puffy clit. Your body ached in wanton need and suddenly you regretted every night you went without being filled.

Weakly, your left arm wandered up so that dainty fingers slid into black waves lapping at the sands of his neck. He planted a small kiss along your cheekbone. With a bit of a devious streak, his lips carried back to the shell of your ear, where the tip of his tongue languidly traced the curve. His fingers nudged away the fabric of your panties. The pad of his index made circles against the quiver of your entrance. You shuddered in response, mouth opening just enough for a drawn and annoyed moan to escape, “Saa- ah!” The first breath you took, he pulled his finger back, slipping over the nub of nerves begging for his attention. Your sharp change in pitch was music to his ears. An instrument for him to play a tune of pleasure.

All the while, he continued to mutter nonsense into your ear, drowning you with the sounds you craved to engulf you. Your mind swam at each sense slowly being taken by him. His voice filling your mind with filth and praise. His body pressed so tight against yours that his warmth overpowered your own. Even your hands grasped at whatever surface of him they could find. Your existence was Sakusa Kiyoomi. Just how he wanted it to be.

Pleasure snaked into his insides with your grinding hips, his own following their rhythm. Cock twitch angrily, jealous of the finger that swirled still at your entrance. His lungs caught as the sticking sound of slick weeping onto his hand echoed. It was a gentle sound that he wanted to push farther. This was barely all his effort yet.

For as much as Bokuto or Atsumu could brag about getting their lovers to cum as fast and as many times as possible, Sakusa preferred the long and arduous route. He wanted begging. He wanted you so frustrated by your own desires that you couldn’t think of anything other than his cock stretching your gummy walls. He could rut you out from the start, but the way you drew his name out when you were at a breaking point was sheer decadence.

Sakusa was enamored by the beautiful glass sheen of your eyes as he agonizingly pressed the tip of his finger into your heat. You blinked a frustrated tear that clung to your lashes, lips prettily swollen from the abuse of your teeth. You were close, but stubborn. His own sex ached to be in you, his mind caught up in the fantasy of it. He growled, “How do you manage to stay so quiet when you’re swallowing up my fingers? I want to hear you. U-use your words, brat.” His brows twitched as the satisfying throb of you against his fingers.

Frustrated grappled with the words. His composure was crackling. Your mouth fell open at his admission, mind beginning to fog as his finger pressed fully into you, “Oomii,” your whine was throaty, barely squeezing past tense vocal chords, “just, ah- I want- your cock!”

“Where, baby?” The words were made in efficient haste. He would have chuckled when your hips roughly rubbed into his had he not been throbbing to be in you so urgently.

“In me. Now. Please, please,” Your pleading repeated into muddled huffs as his thumb drew circles on your clit. That was the last straw. Desperation drew your hand from his hair and to his pants. Your back arched to accommodate the room as you slinked your hand through his waistband to pull his length out.

In a succinct motion, you wet your hand with saliva, and pumped him twice. A deliciously loud, “Hng!” vaulted past his open lips, which pressed hungered kisses onto your jaw. The hand at your throat now cupped your breast, teasing the sensitive bud in its grasp. His mouth littered violent along the freed and smooth surface. Fingers slipped from your cunt and occupied themselves with your clit instead, tapping lazily, “My pretty baby is so responsive. So sensitive-�� His lips moved along your colored nape.

You shimmied up, aligning him at the entrance and letting go once his tip pressed firmly at your arousal. You couldn’t wait. You didn’t want to wait. Sakusa’s teeth sank into your shoulder. He wouldn’t let you just pull him around. Swiftly, he tugged you on your knees, fingers digging into the crease that thigh made with hip. The tip of his cock eagerly shoved past your twitching entrance. All that teasing, keeping you right at the cusp per his will built to this. Your eyes glazed as your walls stretched to accommodate him. Every small movement felt like a mile slide, sparking fire quick in your core. Legs shook with impatience.

Sure, his composure may have crumbled, leaving behind raw instinct to kiss at your cervix, but he still snapped you back with his movements forward. He still held you up with strong, calloused palms as your legs threatened to collapse. In only a few strokes, your walls clamped down on him, pulling him greedily back for every stroke out. You could feel the nails of orgasm claw its way from your walls to your throat, a beast ready to escape a cage holding it for far too long. Your fist balled the once pristine-pressed sheets beneath you.

Every muscle in your body tense, chaining back what threatened to unleash. Sakusa ran a hand through messied locks, pushing them back to admire the beauty of your blissed out expression. He leaned forward, left hand now entangling in your hair while the right rubbed your clit. He rutted mercilessly into you, a crisp and wet smack then stick filling the four walls around you. You wailed, “C-cum now puh-lease?”

Rough, careful, and managed, Sakusa tugged you onto your hands, leaning over you so only his voice took residence within your mind, “Mhm, but I want to hear you scream.” His breath hitched as you released. Your throat burned with a loud, low, and uncontrolled howl of his name. Every once tensed muscle spasmed so that the only thing keeping you up was the adjusted grip Kiyoomi had on you. From your hair, his arm supported your torso and pulled your back close to his chest in a kneel. He pumped through your orgasm, burying his nose into the crook of your neck as his own body wracked itself free of pent-up pleasure that curled at his stomach. A swallowed hummed filled the space between the two of you as his cock pulsed against your twitching walls, ropes of hot cum coating you from the inside and dripping out as he unsheathed.

Strong arms wrapped around you in an embrace as he flopped onto his back on the bed. Rapid pants conversed back and forth. Reality came back to you in slow pieces, recollecting like shattered porcelain glued by gold. Coming to was always the roughest part, even if the session wasn’t exactly the hardest. Kiyoomi kept his lips on your forehead, deliberately ignoring the sweat trickling on it and the cum spilling onto his thigh and bed. His large hand rubbed circles at your back and in turn, your fingers traced shapes along his chest.

Just as his own mind cleared, he grabbed the phone from the nightstand and clicked on a video he knew you liked. While the audio wasn’t exactly the same without headphones, you both collected your wits to the gentle sounds of wood-surface tapping. When you called his name, peering up through thick lashes, he felt his heart clench. Your voice was soft and filled with exhaustion, “Thank you. I love you. A lot. I mean it. So much.” You cooed at him, mumbling your praise and adoration. He returned each on in some way, whether it be a small “love you too” or a light press of his lips to your temple.

He had a goal to tear down the fear that he’d judge you like the others may have. To you, he not only tore the notion down, he disintegrated it to nothing.

 The thing is, Sakusa Kiyoomi, the man who seldom spoke past commands during sex, just devoted an entire session based on the sound of his voice for you.

[thr-333]

Drastic Measures- Part 7

@daminette-december2019-2020

~Chill~

Wrote it all in an hour and 20 minutes just about? Not bad, not bad at all.

Ao3

First< Previous

----------

“Why! Why does it have to be so cold!��� Marinette pulls on her coat tighter.

“Why did you come if you’re just going to complain?” Damian scowls, looking over the list they were given.

“Dick asked me to,” Marinette shivers, “Besides I need to get out and see the city, you said you would show me,”

“I only agreed to this because Dick insisted I apologize for trying to kill you,”

“You were trying to kill me?”

“... No?”

“Damian,”

“Fine,” He pulls off the sweater he was wearing, the one she had made him, “My bad, now keep warm,”

“My bad is not an apology,” Marinette chides pulling the sweater on, “If you didn’t like the sweater you could have just said so,”

“That's not-” Damina turn to see her smirk, tutting then turning back around, “You're incorrigible,”

“Your apology is accepted,” Marinette giggles skipping slightly to catch up, she takes note of how he shivers as a gust of wind blows through, “Hey you're cold now right? I have an idea,”

“I’m not cold,” Damian snaps, picking up the pace, “Unlike you, I have more discipline than that,”

“Oh please, you grew up in the desert right?” Damian glares at her, “What? You think I didn’t know anything? Maman not as good at hiding things as she thinks she is,”

“Be careful where you say that,” He warns, they walk for a little while more the temperature dropping. Marinette continues to keep an incredulous eye on Damian. After ten minutes he sighs, “What's your idea?”

“It involves me getting on your back,”

“Not a chance,” Damian tuts, “You could stab me in the back,”

“Literally or figuratively?” Another glare but Marinette just smiles under it, “Fine then, I’ll just take this sweater off and we can both freeze,”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Damian snatches it off her, “I’ll just wear it,”

And so he does. They walk for a while longer Marinette simultaneously congratulating and cursing herself for picking such a warm fabric for Damian's sweater as she shivers in the cold Gotham winds. Her teeth are chattering and they are still a long way off from their destination. Marinette starts to slow down, ever since she had become ladybug her tolerance to the cold was lowering, like how Adrien's eyesight at night kept improving; although she probably got the short end of the stick for that one. Her thoughts are interrupted by a long suffered sigh from Damian.

“Fine, we’ll do your plan,”

“Really?!”

“If we actually want to get there today, yes,”

 ---

 “This was your plan!” Damian shouts as they run down the street.

“It’s a great plan!’ Marinette clings to his back.

“Everyones staring,” Damian scowls, the sweater just big enough to stretch over both of them locking Marinette against his back.

“Then run faster!”

“Maybe if you stopped strangling me I would!”

“Oh please, stop being dramatic,”

“Why don't you start running and we’ll see whos being dramatic!”

“I could probably get there before you!”

“Yeah right, you-”

“Wait! Wait! Go back!” Marinette tugs, Damian lets out a choked sound stopping as he brings his hands up to remove hers.

“What,” He is unable to get her off with the sweater around them both.

“Pet store,” Marinette shimmies down, managing to get out with some difficulty, “Look how cute- wait,”

“Where are you going!” Damian calls as she storms into the pet store, he trails reluctantly behind her. Marinette walks right up to the desk slamming her hand down.

“Excuse me are you in charge of this store?”

“I’m the manager, yes,” The man raises an eyebrow looking up from his newspaper.

“Are you aware that the enclosure out there is filthy?” 

“Animals get dirty,”

“It’s a health code violation,” Marinette scolds, “You're going to make the animals sick,”

“Tt, she’s right,” Damian looks around the store, the rest of the cages in even worse condition, “Just what sort of business do you think you're running? These are live animals, you can’t even see into the fish tank at this point,”

“I’ve followed company policy,” The manger huffs, going back to the newspaper adding a mocking, “So if you want to take it up with anyone take it up with them,”

“Oh I will,” Damian hisses, before going to the other end of the store intently tapping at his phone.

“Ha, have fun getting bounced around the phones for the next ten hours,” The manager barks, Marinette rolls her eyes turning back to him.

“Look it may not be required by your employer but try to have some compassion these are living creatures, they look miserable,”

“Well then, why don’t you buy them if they look so miserable,”

“That's not the root of the problem and you know it,” Marinette reasons with the unreasonable, “You’ll just replace them with more animals, this place isn’t fit for that,”

She could just feel the negative energy coming from the place, a place of suffering for those who had no way out. Her magic had perked the animals up a bit but that wouldn't solve the problems at hand. Not that any of this seemed to get through to the manager as Marinette kept arguing. She brought up her phone and articles to help support her argument. Only finding to her disdain that the pet store franchise itself had a long history of animal abuse, that this was the norm, not an exception. They just threw money at any lawsuit that came their way and bribing inspectors.

“Why are you even working here if you hate-”

“Excuse me,” A new customer walks up, Damian close behind, “Could I look-”

“Do whatever you like!” The manager snaps, “Can’t you see I’m busy here?!”

“Do you treat all your customers like this? No wonder your not getting any business if the facilities alone didn’t scare people off,” Marinette finally snaps. Damian, dare she say looks impressed, which probably isn’t a good sign.

“You’re insulting me now?”

“I’ve been insulting you the past hour, nice of you to catch on,”

From there it devolves into a full argument. They rage while Damian and the other customer poke around the store, talking to each other. Damian keeps on making calls and Marinette wishes he would stop and come help back her up, he seemed just as disgusted with this place as she was. But whenever she sends a look his way Damian just brushes her off going back to his call.

The argument escalates. Marinette's magic lashing out, subconsciously sending the animals into a frenzy. Barks and howls ring out mixed with cat yowls and whatever noise the other animals can manage.

“Quiet down you!” The manager roars, winding up to hit a puppy yapping at him, Marinette moves just a fraction of a second too slow.

“How dare you,” Damian catches the fist, twisting the arm in a painful unnatural position, “You’re fired,”

“You can’t fire me!” He struggles in Damian's grip, who in turn looks completely unfazed by the effort.

“Actually I can,” Damina flips his screen around to show a contract, “I just brought the company,”

“You what?!” Both Marinette and the manager shout at the same time.

“Yes well, it was easy enough to get in touch with the president of the company, when I put in my offer he laughed me off,” Damian shrugs letting the shell shocked man go, “So I called in one of our best lawyers,”

Damian nods to the other customer, who nods back.

“She built a case for us compiling evidence from this store, thank you for full access by the way,” Damian looks smugly at the manager gaping like a fish, “Other lawyers were in charge of inspecting other stores and researching past allegations, and I had some working internationally look at the branches in other countries, the results were not flattering,”

Damian's glare turns cold and piercing. Marinette had been on the receiving end of that glare and would like to think she handled it better than this guy was.

“Couple that all with the declarations I recorded from you arguing with Marinette,” Damina inclines his head to her, Marinette nods kind of dumbly, “And we had quite the case to shut the business down, you can guarantee the Wayne influence and lawyers would prevent this all from being swept under the rug,”

“Wayne?!”

“Yes, and as you can imagine after we sent through the case file the owner wasn't laughing me off the phone, he agreed to my price,” The man was sweating buckets now as Damian advanced looming over him, “The contracts aren't finalized or signed yet but you can guarantee by the end of the week I will own this place,”

Damian leans over him as the manager tries to sink into the floor.

“So. You. Are. Fired.”

 ---

 “So are you going to teach me the glare that makes grown men pee their pants and run for their lives or do I have to figure it out myself?” Marinette teases, picking through the stocks in the back.

“You wouldn't be able to pull it off,” Damian shoots back, taking the bag she hands him, “An emergency demand was put out for new workers, they’ll be here soon to do this,”

“Oh no you don’t you little rich boy,” Marinette laughs at the face he makes, “You don’t just get to roll through here, throw some money at it and expect your job to be done, you took this company on so show a little responsibility,”

“I am taking responsibility,” Damian scowls, “I fully plan on improving this place,”

“What? By hiring someone to take over with the vague demands of ‘make it better’?” Damian sour look is all the answer she needs, “No way, this is your own responsibility and no one else's, so you need to take a long hard look at what's wrong and figure out how to fix it,”

“If I recall this all is partly your fault,” Damian stacks another bag where she told him too.

“If I recall I didn’t tell you to buy an entire pet store franchise,” Not that she didn’t approve, “But fine, I’ll help you out if you want,”

“I didn’t say that,”

“You didn’t have to,” Damian huffs and looks away, Marinette smiles and picks up a bag of food, “First things first, the food is horrible quality, it’s all filler with little nutritional value,”

“I’ll order new stock right away,” Damian takes out his phone, Marinette snatches it from him.

“Hold on now,” Damian gives her that little put off look she finds adorable, “You have to look at all the problems first then make a plan of action or you're just running around like a headless chicken,”

“Your point?”

“The staff are also underpaid, it’s not enough to live off and certainly not enough to motivate a good work ethic,” Marinette hands back the phone, Damian pockets it, “So before you go around firing everyone that's ever worked here why don’t you try changing the bones of the company then picking out the bad seeds?”

“Alright,” Damian concedes, “... You have a point,”

“Was that tough to admit?”

“The only excruciating part of it is your smugness,”

“Why hello kettle,” Damina gives her a light glare but she just laughs it off.

“All these changes are going to be expensive,” Damian frowns looking through the statistics the lawyers had sent them, “The company was already falling into debt,”

“It needs a hook,” Marinette hums, “Something new and unique that no other chain has…. I got it!!”

She brushes past him, going for her sketchbook and starting the brainstorming process.

“Would you like to share your epiphany?” Damian asks after about five minutes of watching her sketch. “An exclusive pet clothesline!”

“Oh boy,”

 ---

 “See I was right wasn't I?” Marinette finishes fixing the outfit onto Titus.

“I was under the impression you were going to make something vapid and ridiculous,” Damian deflects, looking at the raincoat Marinette had made for Titus, it fit him perfectly and worked well with his fur color as well, “This is at least useful,”

“Wow, that might be a bigger compliment than ‘it’s well made’ or is it?” Marinette cocks her head to the side, “Should I start a ‘Damian's compliments’ tier list?”

“Do not,” Damian calls Titus back to him, taking off the raincoat, “This should at least partly help make up for the new expenses,”

“What changes should we make first?” Marinette follows Damian inside, already sketching new designs into her book.

“There's no point in launching the pet clothes until the company goes through its rebrand, and that will take some time anyway,” They settle in a study they had commandeered to work together in, a sewing machine up near the window, “By the way whats your design fee?"

“Hm… make me a co-owner and we’ll forget about the design fee,” Marinette smiles as Damian doesn't immediately look disgusted by the prospect, “Besides If I recall this is partly my fault,”

“Fine co-owner,” Damian rolls his eyes at her, “I guess we’ll be drafting a new contract,”

“Make sure our shares are 50/50,”

“80/20,”

“Awe you’d let me have 80%”

Damian gives her a withering glare with no heat.

“50/50,” Marinette holds out her hand, “Equal,”

“... Equal,” Damian takes her hand, “You better design a lot of clothes,”

“Already on it,” Marinette holds up her new sketchbook, dedicated to just this, “Plus I’ll be part of the planning so let me in on it,”

“I was-” Damian cuts off glaring towards the door, Marinette follows his eye to see Dick and Adrien caught like deer in headlights looking at them with phones held up.

“Adrien!” Marinette starts towards them getting overtaken by Damian as they both start sprinting.

“Delete it or I destroy your phone!” He threatens, chasing them down the hall.

“Already backed it up to several computers!” Dick calls back, disappearing around the corner, the three yells disappearing into the distance. Marinette chuckles to herself, going back to finish up her designs.

--------

No tag list :P

[aj-artjunkyard]

Batfam musical headcanons

Dick:

instrument wise? Nothing, the man couldn’t tap out a tune on the piano if his life depended on it but boy that doesn’t stop him from trying

Sometimes the more musically inclined of the family will try to teach him a simple tune or beat to play in the background of a musical video they’re recording, but he’ll always forget the notes in 5 seconds and just improv when he feels it, it always sounds terrible but he’s having a blast 

Can sing though. Oh man can he sing

Doesn’t mean he sings anything other than Disney Princess songs tho 

If you were to ask me for a voice reference, I’d say Thomas Sanders

He has quite a wide vocal range but he’s better on higher notes

He sings quietly or under his breath most of the time, but then he’ll get to a line he’s confident on and he’ll belt it out at full volume

Sometimes a random line will ring out across the manor and it will 100% be Dick’s voice singing I Can Go The Distance from Hercules 

Doesn’t remember half the lyrics 

This still doesn’t stop him 

Remember that scene at the start of Spiderverse where Miles is singing ‘Sunflower’, but only knows half the words, muttering the rest and getting REALLY into the parts he knows? Yeh that’s Dick

plays a KILLER kazoo solo

no he doesn't but it does annoy everyone in a 10 mile radius so there’s an major upside here

Jason:

This man has a breathtaking bass singing voice 

He claims he has never and will never sing in front of anyone, but sometimes when he’s in a rare good mood, he’ll mess around with his siblings in the music room and end up singing sea shanties with Tim and Dick (and sometimes Duke if he’s not too shy)

This is Jason, Dick and Tim. Damian is recording

Sings exclusively Hamilton, but his real talent in singing isn’t in the rapping area he just loves that musical 

Secret Theatre Nerd™

Famed for roping Tim and Duke into musicals; exclusively Dear Evan Hanson, Hamilton, Heathers and Les Misérables

One day Dick and Jason tease Duke out his shell enough to preform this with them

Would sing to himself in his safe houses and while ripping down the road on his motorcycle at top speeds

Not much of an instrument guy, but could tap out a piano tune or a drum beat if someone needed it

Keyword here being *could* bc he CAN but he WON’T

Even if someone managed to loop him into doing a backing beat for a tiktok or smthn he most definitely wouldn’t remember how to do it 30 minutes later

He claims his mind is too crammed with actually important information to remember a dumb piano tune for more than 10 minutes 

Tim:

Can carry a tune, but prefers the instrumental side of music 

He’s a tenor and sings higher than Dick, but Dick has a wider vocal range and if he wanted to, Dick could hit high notes Tim couldn’t dream of. Tim just doesn’t have the same range

But he’s fantastic at instruments 

He plays a wide range due to his private lessons back at Drake Manor, including but not limited to: Piano, saxophone, drums, cello, clarinet, acoustic guitar, trombone and the triangle 

Can Timothy Drake play incredibly difficult classical pieces on almost any instrument with ease and move the listeners to tears? Yes. Will he? No. Because the only tunes you will ever catch Timothy Drake playing is exclusively meme music

If it’s a sound on TikTok, this child can play it double time guaranteed

I’m talking the Mii theme, the Subway Surfers theme, Axel F, Wet Hands, you name it

K I lied he sometimes plays fantastic renditions of pop songs or movie scores 

He also likes joining in on those “adding an *instrument* solo to a song that does not need an *instrument* solo” TikToks

This child makes quality TikToks

His acc has a great following bc has such a vast variety of content and its all peak. It ranges from music to music memes to family shenanigans to academic memes to whatever was in his mind that day

He has a sparse posting schedule but when he does post its always worth the wait

ANYWAYS back on track

Tim will 100% play saxophone on top volume outside Damian’s bedroom when the kid is annoying him

Sometimes Jason joins in but he plays his chosen instrument horrifically just to annoy Damian more 

Jason and Tim do this

ok its time for my favourite boy

Damian:

Damian isn’t a singer. He refuses to ever sing in front of anyone, and he’s got the whole ‘boys’ tween voice’ thing going on too, and though he’ll probably have the capacity to be a great singer when he’s older, he won’t ever sing enough for many to find out

Instruments on the other hand,,,,

Damian does his little “*tt* I don’t care for the music, I play because it quickens reaction time and helps improve my memory and hand-eye coordination” and everyone’s just “sure Dami, thats why you were playing Merry-Go-Round of Life on repeat at 4am”

He likes orchestral and classical music, he’ll often play the song over the speakers in the music room and play along on his chosen instrument

He considers that genre more impressive for a musician instead of the pop rubbish Tim plays

He was taught violin by his mother back in Nanda Parbat, and it’s still his go-to favourite instrument, but he’s been teaching himself every other instrument in the music room

He uses music as a release, because he’s finally starting to get that violence isn’t always the acceptable release like it was back in the League and Dick and Bruce are so happy to see him start to understand this and get hobbies that aren’t related to work

When he gets older his taste in music expands to more electric guitar and drum heavy songs, but right now he’s still a bratty rich child and not an angsty teen

Jason is the one who introduced teen Damian to TØP, MCR, P!ATD and BMTH and now they jam together at excruciating volumes, screaming lyrics and wildly strumming on bass and electric guitar and banging on the drums and everyone would gladly slap Jason if not for the soundproof walls in the music room

Bruce:

Bruce used to be classically trained in a few instruments but he just didn’t care enough to continue them into his teen years so he just kinda forgot them

He regrets it now, seeing all his talented kids bonding over music and thinking that it probably would be been better for him to have a hobby when he was younger 

On one rare night he has the manor to himself, so he sits down at one of his grand pianos and tries to remember one of the tunes he was taught. Alfred hears his woeful attempts and starts to teach him some easy tunes

They do this every time they have the manor to themselves 

Bruce finally masters a song and he’s really pleased with himself Alfred is just so proud of his son,,,,

[chaotic-halflife-related-things]

TT au stuff go brrrr.

Context. TT fears over spilling. He doesn't want people finding out what he is because they'd be terrified of him because of the information that goes on about him.

Tap/click for better quality

Process ig go brrr

[utau-bowl]

Looking at all the Voicebanks on the Arpasing website

This is a project that took a good amount of time to write and publish, so I’m glad I’m finally here! For context, there is an unofficial Arpasing website with reclists, plugins, and USTs to use. There’s also a list of avilable Arpasing voicebanks to try out, and here’s where I had the idea to download and talk about-all of them. These will generally be pretty short, but I hope they’re at least somewhat informative. Many of these voicebanks are in beta/unfinished to a degree, so keep that in mind. Since a lot of these are old beta voices, if you don’t want your VB on here, just send me a message and I’ll delete it.

All of these voices can be downloaded at the Voicebank Directory on the Arpasing site. 

A few of the links on the site didn’t work, so sorry Cherry, Daichi Hayashi, and Armani. I’m also not including the Arpasing prototype VB since it’s just recordings and has no oto. For people who don’t know much about arpasing: 0.1.0 is the original version of Arpasing with 219 samples, and 0.2.0 is an updated later version made by Kanru Hua that has 334 samples. I also bring up the alveolar tap a little bit. The alveolar tap is a consonant common in american English (it’s the “tt” sound in butter, better, and letter). Since Arpasing was optimized for American English, it’s surprising that most of the reclists for it don’t include the alveolar tap! So I might point that out when I see it added into a vb.

Aero-gen Shinsu by Wolfe Nebula

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 3 ※Has FRQs?: Some Aero is a mild adolescent sounding voice with lots of noise. He generally sounds pretty sweet and light, I love his voice a lot! There is a decent anount of background noise, which some may be picky about. Still, it doesn’t affect the quality much and he works with most resamplers. Putting high BRE on him makes him sound pretty good. I generally had no issues with his oto, but the CC transitions aren’t otoed very well and some are off time.

Aino Erufu by Jasputing

※Reclist: 0.2.0  ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes, also has full llsm and pmk files Aino has a very unique voice acted timbre, and it’s almost difficult to find a song to match her. But when you do, she’s a sweetie. ^^ She has a sweet, louder voice and sounds best above A3, or even higher in the soprano range.  She is touchy with resamplers but works well with fresamp and world4utau.

Aki Toka/幸兔雪  by Yukito Yuki 

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Aki is clear and strong and has a good tone. good tone, clear. has full frqs. got one of my favorite accents. Despite being monopitch, he has a very wide range and can go a little below his stated range of F3-C5. The mid/low range sounds best though imo. He comes with a guide for aliasing for those new to Arpasing, and a list of all the sounds which were affected by the VP’s accent. The Finnish accent does come through in the vowels and ending consonants, but the duplicates allow for more varied pronunciation so it’s not a big deal. Akihana ENG [radiance] D3_beta by Lunamageice ※Reclist: 0.1.0, uses phonetic filenames  ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Akihana has a low, rich, full voice that’s good in bass and baritone range. I’ve used his VCCV before, but the Arpasing actually has more natural pronunciation. It has been in beta all this time, but it’s still worth it to use because of the rarity of this voicetype in UTAU. Angus by ReticentResolve

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes    I was blown away by how good Angus was! He’s a deep, soft masculine voice ranged F2-G4 with a nasal quality. He comes with a tripitch VCV JP bank for those who’d want that too. The mic he was recorded on picked up a lot of background noise and makes him sound muffled, but he’s still a decent vb.

AWG YukiList verKLAD by Adlez27 ※Reclist: YukiList with modifications ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No This is an example voicebank for the Yukilist arpasing recording style created by YukitoYuki. It has 800+ samples and a lot more coverage than basic Arpasing. It’s a tenor vb with a mild tone. The alveolar tap (dx) samples are in a separate folder for some reason and aren’t fully otoed, but they work fine. Some of the VC transitions aren’t configured correctly, but generally the oto is good.

Canary by SlightlyShredded

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (D3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Canary has a really pleasant voice! He’s a sweet, fruity baritone with power in his voice. He’s very suitable for pop/edm. His oto kept spitting out errors while I used him but he sounds mostly fine despite that. 

Eon_Arpasing by fmccaddy12 ※Reclist: Custom (made by fmccaddy12) ※Number of pitches: 2 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Eon is a very realistic baritone voice. He sounds a little congested but is overall one of the best voicebanks on this list. He can be pushed a bit out of his range As far as I’m aware, his official site/character revamp is not done yet but his dl is still up on this website. Not even sure if I should share the link but it is still up publicly...

Hailey Denali by CatMoun

※Reclist: Custom  ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm  Hailey has one of the cutest tones one of all these voicebanks. She’s very nasal and sounds almost voice acted. Her reclist is 500+ samples long and doesn’t lack anything. However, all the vowels and most of the consonants are 2-3 syllables. Hailey also comes with an automatic updater.

鳳鐘ユウリ(Houshou Yuuri) by さきた (Sakita) 

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Some  Yuuri has a range of about A3-D5. She has a heavy Japanese accent but a decent range. She’s very emotional and pretty sounding, especially in the higher ranges. Though, if you want to use her, know that her oto requires a lot of fixing, as a lot of VC transitions are configured incorrectly.

Johatsun Kikuro Arpasing by Awes0meBr0/Biohazard-P

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm/bak/pmk   He has very quiet samples which causes lots of distortion in the program. Nevertheless, he still manages to sound realistic somehow-? He reminds me of older vocal synths like Microsoft Sam almost. I did mess around a bit with resamplers/flags for Kikuro and the best combination I’ve found so far was f2resamp and F0g1H20h0C10. Using Kikuro requires some effort but he’s sill pretty good.

Kara Kokone by SunGuardian524

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 5 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Some  Kara is most impressive for being one of the UTAU with the highest number of pitches on this list- each of them has a different tone, with one being a falsetto and another being a shout pitch. Her range is pretty wide, reaching almost into alto and being able to hit the high soprano notes too. However, this bank really does feel like a beta that hasn’t been touched in a while. It doesn’t have a fully configured prefix.map and the oto is pretty off and requires a lot of adjusting. I also wish she used a more comprehensive form of the reclist, since there is a lot missing. At least there’s a lot of duplicate entries.

Kayaka Konagi Arpasing(English) by こむぎこ (Komugiko)  ※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Konagi is very good, her pronunciation is clear and she has a nice tone. She is a bit finicky with resamplers and flags, probably meant to be used with default settings. She does have a Japanese accent but it’s a little less pronounced than Yuuri’s.

Kevin Futarine STUDIO (VP2 Arpasing) by FRAloids

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No  Kevin is another baritone voice with a youthful flavor. It has a good amount of flexibility, being sort of emotional and soft sounding but also capable of producing a bright, clear sound. He was recorded at E3 but has a flexible range and even sounds good higher. His pronunciation is pretty on point, but the t/d are a little mixed up. His dh sounds are also so short they’re hard to hear at times. The oto is generally good but might need some adjusting out of the box. He has a ton of extra samples of sighs, laughs, whispers, etc. I’ve been a Kevin fan for years and this voicebank definitely keeps the tone his Japanese vbs have.

Kii Nane by kii ※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Some   Kii Nane is a sugary sweet voice that sounds best at C4 and above. Her samples have a lot of reverb, and there is some background noise which affects the output. Her pronunciation is very good, but a little slurred and off because of the engine noise. Resamplers are hit or miss, she does sound good with world4utau though.

Koyanagi Sayuki DEITY by Mango-tama

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 4 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, but has full llsm  Sayuki is a very realistic voice ranged F#3-G5. Her low range is soft and her mid/high range is loud and clear. Lovely to tune and use in anything, I don’t have much negative to say about her.

Koyanagi Takehiko_TSUNAMI (BETA) by Mango-tama

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (G3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, but has full llsm Takehiko is very cool sounding and bassy, and the voice acting makes him distinct from his sister. His best range is from D3 to G4 and he has sorta a soft tone that can be boosted via resamplers. He sounds great with f2resamp.

KYE by WinterdrivE

※Reclist: 0.1.0 + a few Alveolar tap samples ※Number of pitches: 5 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, but has full llsm Kye needs no introduction-he’s the guy who got most of us interested in Arpasing in the first place! His abundance of pitches works in his favor. He’s probably the best of these voicebanks to just plug and play to learn how to use Arpasing-if you don’t mind waiting for all those 1000+ frqs to generate. He is by far the best in baritone/bass range. A lot of the D4 pitch actually has pitch/frequency issues that can’t be fixed without workarounds, so using him from B2-C4 is your best bet-or just using a different pitch for the higher ranges. He does have a sort-of lisp but overall, not many oto or pronunciation issues.

Marie Kagekine Arpasing (v1.0) by AdagioFantasque

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes +  some llsm, pmk, and uspec  Marie is an operatic voicebank who tries to recapture the charm of Prima in an UTAU format. She has a wide range of B3-F5 and a mature, yet high and bright, sound. She has some of the best understandability out of any of these voicebanks. I really like her <3

Mikone Samu by codyboyo

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Samu/Sam is a port of Microsoft Sam done in a similar way to how Defoko was made. He’s a crisp sounding masculine low voice. Due to the samples being short, he can sound very stilted. But for a jinriki (?) like this, he is very high quality.

Resonance Harmony (Arpasing English) by Hazu/パワ 

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 6 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes I have a lot to say about Harmony, and no good way of wording it. Okay. Resonance is very nasally and high, she has 3 base pitches plus growl, power, and whisper appends, and some vocal fry. Conceptually, she seems like a pretty good bank but I’ve always had trouble using her...it feels like a hit or miss on whether she’ll sound good or not. She sounds decent with f2resamp and w4utau but not many flags make her sound better. If anyone else wants to download her and play around, I’d love to hear it.

Rose Mae Arpasing BETA by Monochrome Rose ※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Rose has a bright, tomboyish, androgynous voice. The readme file notifies us of the non-native accent in the vb. It does have a drawl and some of the consonants aren’t recorded/otoed right, but overall the vb sounds very smooth. Honestly, I care more about recording conditions/oto/general feel than accent most of the time, and Rose does well in those ways.

Ryuunosuke Aoyama by Mattsuran 

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (B3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Ryuunosuke is a childish, boyish voice with a strong Chilean accent. I think this vb may have actually been recorded by a kid, so that’s a point for uniqueness at least. He sounds best with fresamp and f2resamp. He has a gentle tone that can work in a lot of different ranges.

Tarek by Tadashi

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (B2) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, has llsm Tarek has a clear, loud tone with a noticeable lisp. UTAU recommends using him as a baritone, but I found putting him into higher ranges generally worked too. His samples sound less like singing and more like talking. He was recorded on a midquality mic which causes some distortion in the output. Still, I think his voice is really cute and I’m a sucker for baritones.

Thoma by Nythoma

※Reclist: 0.2.0 + vocal fry/alveolar tap ※Number of pitches: 1 (F#3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes   Thoma is an androgynous alto/mezo soprano. They have a soft, plasticy sort of feeling to their voice. They sound best from C3-F5. I feel a little..weird linking to/talking about Thoma since they were redesigned and are supposed to be a private voicebank, but the download is still linked on this site. Also please check out Nythoma when you get a chance, they make the best Arpasing USTs which helped me a lot while making this post. I feel like I haven’t checked in on anyone here in a while. How are you doing? I’ve written most of this post within the span of a few days and I think my brain is not capable of producing any thoughts other than “monopitch.”

Tsubasa Arugo Arpasing (BETA) by WinterStar

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes   Tsubasa has a soft, androgynous voice that sounds best from E3-A4. The samples are full of static, which causes some distortion. The ending vowel sounds also cut off too much at the beginning, making them too breathy. Still, it’s always nice to see another soft vb.

Xiao Meihua by 実偽Migi

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 2 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No Meihua has a realistic mature voice that’s also sweet and friendly sounding. She has a sort of low voice, and sounds the best from G3-C5. The download comes with a natural vb and a Sweet append, both monopitch. I listed them as being different pitches because they aren’t recorded at the same note. The Sweet voicebank is nasal and stronger too-it sounds more solid than sweet. She’s one of the vbs on this list that sounds the best with little to no edits. Her oto is smooth as butter :0

And that’s all of them done! Thank you SO much for reading if you got this far, seriously. You are what makes writing this blog worth it <3

Also I wanted to list my favorites of the bunch! This isn’t meant to pit any vb against each other or anything, just the ones I’m likely to go back to. -Canary -Eon -Xiao Meihua -Marie Kagekine -Kii Nane -Aki Toka -Thoma -Kevin Futarine Studio

Who are your favorites?

[greytoiletpaper]

Out on Allen Street, it’s 7 in the Morning

Set in the same-ish street-siblings universe as First Contact by @cryptids-and-muses and @a-sketchy-character @streetsiblings (they’re still awesome). Now, the pieces start falling into place or smth lmao :))

Drizzle | Deluge | AO3

Chapter 3: Squall

Did they get rid of her?

He dreads to think of it, but there’s nothing else he seems to be able to pick out from what information he gathers. Three years after he died, Cass (who hated killing, would never do it even for the worst of the worst) had nearly murdered the Joker. She almost finished the job until Batman saved the madman and subdued her. After that,

Nothing.

Not a single report on Batgirl. Nor a photo of Cassandra Todd. Only two traces he could find. One a significantly sullen Wonder Woman (he and Cass had liked her, and she, them). The other an interview of Bruce, repeating that she’d gone to ‘travel the world’.

Jason knows a lie when he hears one.

“It’s – It’s like she just disappeared,” He’s gripping his head, rocking back and forth while Rose smooths out his hair. “He cut her out of the family and then what?”

He remembers a promise, a vow Bruce had made with him. It had meant the world to Jason.

Bruce had broken that vow. Torn it apart and stomped all over it.

Rose watches him as he breaks down with no judgement in her gaze, just holds him close as his world crumbles around him again.

--

There’s a child in Nandra Parbat, and Jason has to train him.

“This is my son, Damian,” Talia had said to him, showing him some new kid as if he hadn’t just killed three assassins in the space of a minute. He would have said as much if she didn’t immediately order him to be the kid’s new teacher.

Looking at him now, all Jason can see is a small girl with a crooked smile mouthing his name. He blinks, and he’s met with a scowl and sapphire eyes (eyes just like Br-).

“Mother has requested you to be my instructor,” The kid repeats and lord, his voice is nasal. Jason chooses to stare at the kid, who fidgets. If he looks close enough, he could swear Damian’s scowl looks almost precisely like-.

“Is he mute, Mother? I do not see how an invalid could assist me,” He can tell by the way Rose’s head shoots up and glares at Damian whose side she would choose if this escalates. A flare of anger rises in Jason’s chest; his eyes start to flash a sharp emerald. Still, he pushes it down and diverts it to strengthening his stare, dominating the room.

He can’t read people the same way Cass can, but Jason could swear that the kid’s composure cracks at his uncertainty.

“Wanna repeat that for me?” Jason’s voice is low and even. He can tell the kid recognises the threat in his tone. To his credit, Damian hesitates before he honest to god tts, like every single other haughty, uptight rich boy.

“Regardless, habibi, you will treat your new instructors with respect,” Talia speaks, gesturing to him and Rose. “The quality of your instructors was incredibly subpar, and you have them to blame for killing the previous masters beforehand.”

“I do not think that a lowly thug and his harlot-,” Jason’s arm shoots out in an instant, clasping his hand over Damian’s mouth and clenching. Indignant fury flares in the boy’s eyes as Damian tries to slap Jason away. It does nothing, unsurprisingly.

“So long as you are under my tutelage, you will never speak that way to any woman. That is no way to speak to anyone, regardless of what they do for a living,” Somehow, the kid actually listens, the flinty look in his eye lessening somewhat. “I bet your own mother had to pull a fuck ton of strings just to make sure this meeting even happened in the first place.”

Jason glances up to Talia, expecting a reprimand. What surprises him is how genuine the approval she emits is. It hits him that he has literally confirmed to training Damian. He coughs.

“You should know,” Talia pipes up. “His full name is Damian Wayne-Al Ghul.”

Jason stares at the ceiling and curses the rain as it tap-dances with the universe, mocking him.

“All right, then, I’ll go to hell.”

--

Cassandra shakes herself from the nerves and rings the doorbell. The last time she had been here, she had kissed Alfred on the cheek and let him drive her all the way to the airport. That was only two months ago. Two months away from Gotham, away from Batgirl, away from-.

Bruce. He’s standing in the foyer, his gaze cold, but his body… his body seems unsure. She doesn’t know what to make of it. She half expects him to turn her away, but he moves to the side. He opens his mouth.

“Cassandra!” Steph darts from behind Bruce’s body, all flailing limbs and mismatched socks. “You’re here!”

“Yes.”

The girl grins, periwinkle eyes dazzling (They’re from the same cloth, just not the proper stitching) as she drags Cassandra away.

“So… how’s life in Hong Kong?”

“Peachy,” Cass answers honestly.

“Think of any names for your new identity?” Steph gesticulates to nothing, but her body language is focused on questions. So, she doesn’t give the girl any. They walk a little more until Steph decides to fill in the silence again.

“Tim’s dad found out about the vigilante business,” Cass nods as Steph talks. “Wants him to quit being Robin and Bruce doesn’t seem to know what to do about it.”

“His problem.”

“Well, duh. It’s just that….” Steph rubs her arm shyly, the same way she always does when she’s afraid of what she will say next. “When I was growing up, with my villain dad and addict Mom, I always imagined that Batman and Robin would save me. I’m here now, and….”

“You want to be Robin.” Cassandra deadpans, even as Steph whirls to gape at her. Really, it’s not like she wasn’t obvious. “Why not go for it?”

Silence for a moment. “Because I’m afraid.”

Cassandra looks at the blonde sharply. Stephanie Brown? Intimidated-by-Batman-and-joined-vigilantism-anyway Stephanie Brown was afraid? She doesn’t know what to think. That is until the dots connect in her head.

“You’re afraid that you won’t be able to help as much as you want to,” Steph scuffs the carpet glumly.

“With Mr. Anal-retentiveness-to-the-9’s? Yeah, that’d probably happen,” Steph sound so defeated and desperate that Cass curses because apparently, fate chose now to be when Steph is truly like Jason.

“Then don’t wear it,” Steph’s scuffing gets a little stronger. “I, for one, think you’d be a really good Batgirl.”

Steph makes an incredible impression as a fish and stares at Cass, barely wheezing as she gawks. “But Bruce -.”

“Bruce doesn’t have autonomy over Batgirl,” Cass smiles sweetly, echoing Barbara. “It’s your uniform now, and no one can take that from you but yourself.”

Her friend squeals loudly and squeezes Cass, gushing her gratitude over and over. Cass hugs her back, pretending it’s Jay she’s holding in her arms, giving the assurance of family she failed to keep.

--

He’s only trained with Damian for a few months, yet he’s seen more than he really should from the boy. His younger brother (the kid’s only a child, it doesn’t matter what Jason’s previous misgivings are) has been raised in the League of Assassins since birth. He can already use a sword with deadly efficiency at eleven years old. His attitude's as ruthless and condescending as every other assassin in the compound.

However, what is an exploitable weakness for Damian is the fact he’s only just started puberty. Most easily demonstrated when Rose makes a suggestive pose before tackling the boy and pinning him in place. Jason whistles because he’s fond of her, an asshole like that. Rose flips the bird at Jason and sticks out her tongue, now lounging casually on Damian’s squirming body.

It’s cute, the scene, but Jason knows how wrong it is. As long as Damian is with the League of Assassins, he won’t live normally. To find his own love, his own family. Even as the child wrestles with Rose and yells at him to help, it won’t ever be enough.

He’s not projecting.

He’s not.

He’s going to concoct a plan.

--

Ravi, Damian’s caretaker, has that air about him that Jason has only ever seen come from Alfred. So, he guesses trusting Ravi with this is more than okay. The man may be blind, but with him, they manage to smuggle Damian through the channels of the League, avoiding everyone who could threaten their goal.

“If I may ask, Mister Todd,” Ravi says as they reach the last legs. Jason nods. “Why are you doing this? To what gain is rescuing this child for you?”

“I don’t do this because I want to gain something,” Jason replies immediately. “No child deserves to grow up in this place. He deserves to have as good a childhood as he can get.”

Ravi stares patiently, hearing what’s unsaid.

“Sound reasoning,” Talia’s voice echoes around them. Everyone tenses. The woman steps out from behind the pillar ahead of them, alone. “And where, may a mother ask, are you taking my son?”

The woman’s voice lacks her usual veneer, sounding so genuinely earnest that he can’t help but blurt out: “Gotham.”

“Gotham,” Talia repeats, her forehead pinched. “With him?” With Batman? Jason bristles. “Might I remind you; he left your death unavenged and replaced you in mere months.”

“Fuck that,” Jason snarls. Ever since he came out of the Pit, madness clings to the edges of his mind whenever he thinks of how Bruce replaced him. This time, it only flickers. “What I want doesn’t matter when Damian needs his father figure. I’m – I’m not stopping him from having that.”

“So, you no longer wish to kill him,” Talia states. He sighs.

“I guess not,” Jason frowns, considering her presence. “Want to take him to Bruce?”

If Talia is surprised, she doesn’t show it, only beckoning for Damian to follow her. As the kid moves, Jason realises this might be the last time he’ll see Damian on the same side of the fence. He grabs the kid’s shoulder, who oddly doesn’t resist.

“Look, Damian,” Jason starts as his younger brother stares up at him. “Doing right is right, and wrong is wrong. A body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.

“Living with your father, it’s rules like that he follows like gospel. He’ll love you; I know he will, but with him it’s always on the condition that you adhere to his principles. Can you promise something for me?”

Damian nods, soaking every word in.

“I need you to keep an open mind with what he says, but I don’t want you to follow them like gospel the way he does. You’re more than his soldier, you’re my brother, you’re his son.”

The kid nods again, shifting on his feet.

“And – And look after yourself, okay? And -,” The words that come out of his mouth feel like hot coals, but he has to say them. “And if somehow Cass is there, can you look after her too? For me?”

“Of course,” Damian answers softly before throwing his arms around Jason’s waist. “I will find your ukht, ahki, and make sure she is well cared for.”

Jason smiles. It's a broken, weary-looking thing.

“And Todd?” Jason raises his eyebrows. “You should confess to Wilson about your ridiculous affection. It is sickening to watch you two dancing around one another every lesson.”

Jason can’t help it; he laughs and lets his little brother go, his tears like raindrops.

--

Cass leaves the fresh hydrangeas on the headstone. It stares back at her, its date (four years) seeming to mock her from beyond the grave. Literally, Jay says in her head, which has her biting back the laugh that builds in her throat.

Bruce’s son had come in a few days ago, obviously an assassin child, yet he’s still… subdued, somehow. She knows the boy is there, at her brother’s grave, and that he follows her all the way to the manor. Even then, Cassandra lets it go. He probably took all his cues from Bruce anyway.

It’s when she’s sitting at the new memorial for Jason, a small statue of an apple with a plaque underneath, that Damian approaches her.

“Cain.”

“It’s Todd.”

Something crosses the boy’s face. She can’t tell what it is.

“Todd,” Damian says, his eyebrows pinching like a mini Bruce. “What is this?”

“It’s Jason’s memorial,” Cassandra traces the words on the plaque, a quote, one whose meaning she had struggled with a lifetime ago. She gestures to the book in her hands. “I read to it, every time I’m here.”

Damian looks like he’s about to say something about that, but he withholds it. Instead, he sits down with her, his head upturned, not unlike a bird.

“What was he like?” The boy asks, the words seeming to grit out his teeth.

“He was amazing, and we loved him so much,” Dick speaks up, out of nowhere, cutting Cass off before she can even begin. “I had a few issues with him, but I promise that I’ll be as good a brother to you as he was to us.”

Cassandra snorts, and Dick’s smile falls off his face.

“Cassandra, come on, I was just-.”

“You weren’t even a good brother to me or – or him.” She says quietly, because why is he even speaking now? “Why are you trying now? Why not before?”

“Like I said, I had a lot of issues with -.”

“I don’t care, Dickface.” Does it hurt to say Jason’s old nickname for the boy? Yes. Does she draw satisfaction at how much he flinches? Also, yes.

Barbara chooses then to speak up.

“I don’t think that’s fair for you to say, Cass.”

She freezes. The fact that even Damian, who hardly knows her, does the same with the others means they know how huge an error they’ve made.

“Don’t call me that,” Cassandra snaps, voice desolate and lethal, thoughts squalling and refusing to calm down even as she buries her head in the book in her hands.

Barbara sighs and calls Dick away to discuss the mysterious hacker that’s been pulling information from them. Damian, seeming to recognise her desire to be alone, follows him. Good. Cassandra’s mind falls in and out of a lull as her eyes try to refocus. So, she caresses the edge of the apple reverently. In its reflection, tears run down her cheeks. She can’t feel them.

--

“The information breaches just keep searching for Batgirl,” Barbara says, snapping Cassandra from her stupor. She pulls up a list; every entry confirms Barbara’s statements. Every entry, that is, except for one that catches her eye. The text flashes brightly, making her head spin, and she can’t look away because printed in the bright neon text is-.

There’s a memory, one she’s locked in the far recesses of her mind, where things like the Joker and David and all her other demons live. She remembers Faizul asking who her mother is.

David smirks, a savage thing he does whenever he’s about to order her to do something (murder, as it turned out, then) and says:

Sandra Wu-San | Lady Shiva

The words blare in her mind, bouncing round and round and blocking out all sounds in the cave. It certainly explains a lot; only Shiva can read the body like a novel. Plus, Cassandra isn’t sure that assassin skills are genetic but having two master assassins as biological parents should factor somewhere. It also opens a new avenue of thought. Why? Why did she give her up and never look back? Why did she leave her with her monster of a father? Cassandra craves needs answers, and she needs them now.

Staring up at the name printed on the screen, Jason once asked himself the same questions.

While the others discuss what to do, Cassandra has already listed Shiva’s last known locations and activities. They don’t notice she’s going to leave until she revs the engine of her bike. She sees them open their mouths, but over the sound of the motor, their voices fail to reach her.

All except, somehow, for Alfred and if there is anyone in this family Cass will listen to; it’s the one Jay loved the most.

“If you do pursue her, Miss Cassandra,” The butler has never been unkind to her, yet she can’t help but feel like he’s trying to keep her in place. “I am not sure if you will find what you are looking for.”

She leaves anyway, soaring underneath the tresses of Gotham as they settle around her, the mist obscuring everything but her path forward.

--

“Damian probably landed in Gotham last week,” Rose says casually. Too casually, she realises. Jace side-eyes her and snorts in response. Damn him and his ability to pick apart what she’s asking. Four years constantly in one another’s presence would do that to people with his life experience. Yet, as much as Jason can read her, she can’t say she can do the same for him.

Something about him seems fragile, like plaster covering a beautiful and distracting collage. Rose wants to dig past that plaster, through the collage and see the mind that is Jason Todd.

She has seen him at his highest and lowest points and always makes sure to stay by his side, as she does now. He’s her best friend; he might not know it, but he’s kept her sane (reassurances her father will not find her come to mind) just as much as she’s done for him.

“What do you think of the new Batgirl?” This time, she means to be conversational. When they stumbled across the profile of Cass’ successor, Jace had shaken his head and laid out half-heartedly into a punching bag.

“I don’t hate her, if that’s what you’re thinking,” That response was… not unexpected. But, when she raises her hickory eyes, Jason has his head raised to the sky. “I looked into her, and – and she’s like us.”

Oh.

“Girl’s from the Narrows. Didn’t live on the streets, but from her background, her home life definitely wasn’t that great growing up either.”

His hand is trembling, so Rose grabs it and tries to keep him steady with all the power in her.

“She’s going to do Batgirl proud,” Jason says shakily. “I think you’d agree.”

They stand there, leaning on each other, tranquillity settling around them as Jace lets his tears flow. It occurs to Rose that she never let his hand go. She doesn’t plan to. The feeling makes her feel warm inside, and as much as she wants to go further, she also doesn’t want to push her best friend away.

In the distance, the outline of a jet approaches the runway they’re on. It is time.

“You ready?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I said yes.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hey,” Rose looks up at him, waiting for him to continue. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to stay out of sight of the others and get away from Gotham.”

Rose growls. “No way, there is no fucking way I’d leave you alone with them.” She steps closer, jabbing her finger on his chest. “I didn’t train with you for the past four years for it all to be thrown away just because Batman is an asshole. My dad’s just as bad, remember?

“You’re stuck with me no matter what Jace. Deal with it.”

He gives her a wry smirk that has her heart fluttering as much as her returning grin is sharp. Even as the plane touches down, she realises that he hasn't let her hand go, and neither has she.

In the next week, Red Hood and Ravager will carve their way through the deeper bowels of Gotham’s stomach, a bag of heads linking their iron fists.

For now, Rose breathes in the moist air as a drizzle begins.

--

Mad Dog, Cassandra muses, is a morbid reminder of what she might have become if she stayed with David. He doesn’t have her abilities, but he has more physical strength in spades; his movements are so strange, so unpredictable, that it’s not like it matters.

A deft swipe narrowly misses her throat, and Cassandra cuffs the man in the jaw with her knee, knocking him back.

She had definitely found Shiva. Tracked her all the way to some subset of the League of Assassins. The woman had only gazed coolly at her and set Mad Dog on her.

True to his name, the assassin growls and leaps at her, fury behind each of his strikes. Cassandra dodges one of these, the fist cratering the cement wall, and gets socked in the chest for her trouble. The force of the impact sends her flying metres away.

Getting up from the blow is a chore, and she can feel the agony her body is in, feels the blood run down her mouth as she rises. Her fist is shaking; her stance is uneven. Mad Dog notices, and he grins like David, drawing a jagged sword from his sheath and charges.

Cassandra darts past the assassin. She knows she can win this. Even though his movements are swift and deadly, she manages to outpace him. His sword strikes aim to draw blood as he swipes at her, but she’s still managed to weave her way around them, causing sparks to fly into the air. When he tries to hit her, she still uses his momentum against him and knocks him down.

Yet, Cassandra can feel herself getting slower now; her arms are still shaking. She dodges another strike, but it’s a feint, and Mad Dog grabs her by the hair and slams her onto the ground. Hazily, she watches his wicked grin widen as the assassin raises his arms and prepares his blade.

As Mad Dog is about to drive it into Cass’ chest, she thinks (This is it. It’s all over. It is time.) of a boy in an alleyway, an apple in his hand and a smile on his lips.

She closes her eyes and listens to the sprinkling outside.

--

“Do you think we were unfair to them?” Dick seems to ask to open air, but Bruce knows when his sons want a genuine response. “Like, that we didn’t give them enough credit for what they could do. And because of that, they’ve never had anyone but each other?”

Dick slumps. It looks so wrong on him that Bruce wraps his arms around him, especially careful (As a real father would. An insidious voice in his brain sneers). “Do you think, that if maybe we treated them so much better...” His boy is crying now, usually joyous lapis eyes cold and red-rimmed. “That they’d still be here?”

Bruce only grunts because not one of his answers is what Dick wants to hear.

On a slab of stone, the petals on the hydrangeas wilt, droplets dappling their edges.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

[burgerkang000]

Serve an ace through my heart

r

this is a Jongho fic and its pretty long so I'm gonna do the read more thing 

@beyoncesdragon   @aixy-hpsa(if anyone else wanna be tagged pls tell me!!!)

tumblr i hate u, u keep on eating my spaces TT-TT

Being out of your comfort zone; nobody likes that. For you, you never really got around into being comfortable with, well, a lot of things. And you never really saw what was wrong with that. You hear your friends talking about how they were dragged into doing things they never wanted to do, and they either end up loving it or hating it.

It wasn’t like you were entitled to sort out the uneasiness.

Right now, the uneasiness you felt towards playing volleyball is an example of something you didn’t want to sort out.

But the volleyball team was lacking, and the captain was looking for new players and training them separately, until their ready to join the team.

And you must have checked all the boxes for ‘volleyball player’, because the captain has been constantly nagging you to at least try it out.

And in a moment of fury, you had said no, you’re not interested, you’re afraid and uncomfortable.

And even though looking back on it, you felt that you were a bit harsh, but even so, you had thought that he was done bothering you.

But the next day Choi Jongho; the guy you spend YEARS pining comes up to you. And that’s new, because you’re sure he doesn’t know of your existence, and he says-

“Sometimes you have to do things that make you uncomfortable to actually like it”

And you don’t understand; you gape at him for what feels like centuries, as you haven’t caught on yet; for fucks sake the guy hasn’t even said hello.

And he sighs, as if he’s done with people not understanding him, and you blame exactly him for that because of the cryptic way he speaks, he could speak Morse code and you’d understand him better; and he begins to explain, as if that’s the most draining thing in the world.

And you think that this guy is getting less and less charming the more he opens his mouth (That is a lie).

“Play volleyball with us, join the team, you fit the qualities to be one, and its actually fun- not easy- but fun; and about the uncomfortable thing, sometimes you just need to get past the feeling, and then you can actually feel , once the cloud of poor judgement is out of your system.”

And he said a lot of things, he did, but somehow the moment you actually stop and say something you HAD to say-

“I have poor judgement?” and you blink up at him.

And let’s be honest here- scary looking, kind of jerk face, jock, probably bullied into asking you to join the volleyball team; totally would have said something along the lines of ‘of course, what do you expect your judgement to be? Reliable?’

But Jongho looked taken aback, sort of offended that you thought of him as lowly, as he aggressively shakes his head.

“I meant the being uncomfortable; it makes your judgement poor, and I would never say that, what kind of person do you take me to be?”

And you sigh and rub you’re temple. You can’t believe the fact that you’re actually considering this. It’s like the captain knows about your massive crush and is totally using it against you.

“I – well I – I’m not sure if I’ll like it.” You reply, fidgeting with the watch that has been strapped on your wrist.

HE sighs yet again (AGAIN) and says-

“Well, you’ll never know if you won’t try, I can give you a test run if you’d like.”

“Well uhh-“

“There are no girls on the team; we genuinely want people who think that girls can’t make it onto the team to change their mind-set.”

OK if anything can convince you, its woman empowerment, so you nod, and try to convince yourself that this is you’re part of showing support; and that watching hot sweaty guys (read: Choi Jongho)  play volleyball was just a plus side.

“Great, tomorrow, Gym, after school.”

And he leaves.

Where does he think he is in? High school musical?

“Tomorrow, Gym, after school” you mimic as you resume packing your stuff.

.

.

.

The school was empty and it was something you haven’t experienced before, other than the club people there was pin drop silence in the corridors, when you passed by the basketball court you could hear the aggressive squeaking and bouncing.

You had never really stayed behind after school, except that one time your whole class had failed on a test and all of you had to stay back for extra classes. But it was noisy then.

When you entered the gym, you spot Jongho and the captain talking. And once the captain notices you he smirks. The captain is evil, you think.

“So I thought you weren’t joining?”  He asks as he walks up to you.

You angrily mutter-

“Well, yeah, I’m here to watch”

You realise that you don’t know the captains name.

The captain chuckles and as he’s walking past you, you grab his arm and ask him.

“I didn’t get your name…”

“I can tell it to you if you join the team”

“I can ask someone here” you tighten the grip on his hand.

“….. Song Mingi”

You hum and let him go; he caresses his wrist, where red marks your tight hold of his hand.

“Oh don’t be so smug” he tells you.

“If anything it tells me you have good grip; that just makes me want you in the team so~ much more than the last time”

You poke your tongue out at him, because you’re a mature human being and walk towards the bleachers.

And after an hour of watching them play, you’ve gathered nothing.

All you think is that volleyball is cool. It makes the players look cool; and sure all of them are eye candy, but you’re eyes draw to Jongho more times than you would like to admit.

You can’t help it, the boy’s expression when he’s half crouched and waiting for actions makes you shiver, his hair sticking to his forehead, beads of sweat trickling down the sides of his neck, the slight exposure of his skin when he jumps or serves.

And you can’t get started on the guy’s thighs.

And you lied; the whole half of the game your eyes were trained on him, your mouth slightly agape as you watch him.

And if you knew you would have stopped, it was only when you were admiring Jongho drinking water that the captain- Song Mingi- decides to interrupt you.

You were in the middle of watching him gulp down water; sometimes he aggressively detaches the bottle from his mouth and takes sharp gulps of air before immediately bringing it back to his lips and gulping, and the water sometimes escapes from the corners of his mouth and-

Your soul has left your body, and you’re definitely drooling, and as you shuffle to get a more comfortable position and a better view, you feel a tap at your shoulder.

You shrug it off as being stupid, sometimes a hair moves a tiny inch on your body and your convinced it’s a spider, maybe it’s one of those times, and spider be damned, you’re looking at Choi Jongho in all his sweaty glory.

But then someone says-

“Like the view?”

And you startle backwards and see Mingi in stitches.

You look at him un-amused as he finishes up laughing, and once he’s done you want to hit him, but the thing is you have self-control. What you don’t have control over is how you want to stop watching some guy laughing and continue to stare at Jongho like he’s some interesting movie.

So you do exactly that only to find Jongho is dead on staring at you too, and you startle backwards yet again, hand flying towards your chest and hastily look away. And you can hear Mingi laughing again, then you look u to take a peek to see Jongho jogging up to you.

He’s panting and breathless and he smells like sweat, but he still manages to look drop dead gorgeous, he bends over hands on his knees and asks

“So…. Like volleyball yet?”

And he’s panting between his words; so it’s only kind enough to-

“Would you like some water?”

He nods, so you hand him your bottle and avert your eyes while he drinks, because they guy is right in front of you, and you don’t want to do anything stupid.

He hands you the bottle when he’s done,  swipes the back of his hand to get rid of the water that has clung to his lips and you’re eyes linger there more than necessary.

“So…?” he asks. Here he goes again with the cryptic speaking, you resist the urge to roll your eyes and you ask-

“So….?”

He sighs like he’s done with you and asks-

“So how do you like volleyball?”

“Oh... Umm its cool I guess, but I don’t think I can do all that- it looks hard”

“It’s a matter of practice”

“I don’t know”

“Maybe you shouldn’t join, if you’re this uncomfortable”

And you felt a pang of disappointment at that, as if you’ve let him down.

“I can try… to play- I mean”

He looks at you for a few moments and says-

“Great, be there tomorrow after school on the tracks; captain said I can train you”

He flashes a smile at you- gums and all, waves and hurry back to the game.

Something that caused you’re stomach to flutter was that he waved alright, walking backwards while you waved and smiled back, all the way to the centre of the gym until he hit the pole and sheepishly rubbed his head, waved one last time and let the game take over.

.

.

. 

The next day after school, you were in an empty track. You thought the track team would be there, but there was no one except Jongho and you.

You were told to run, and do all sorts of crazy exercises that you didn’t even know the name of. It was safe to say you were making demonic breathing noises through the whole ordeal, taking way too many water breaks and you looked far too messed up then you usually are. The uncomfortable feeling of sweat causing your clothes to cling to your body, and sweat trickling down the sides of your neck, was in fact not that uncomfortable. Quite the opposite; it was satisfactory, you think you look cool like those sports people in the ads, until you caught your reflection at a glass door and decided to not look again, and either way, you wouldn’t exercise for hours and NOT sweat.

And Jongho? He was pushing you through the whole thing, telling you what to do, how to do, basically training you; you haven’t even learnt one volleyball trick.

And you think this is hard.

Very hard.

But on the not so bright side, this time around you couldn’t stare at Jongho, every time he comes close; your heart does palpations, every time his skin comes in contact with yours, the warm sticky feeling made your stomach do summersaults.

And this continued on for a week. Yes, you, the most talented person when it comes to not doing any physical activity, did crazy exercise routines with a ball for Choi fucking Jongho, there’s no denying at this point. Even though you won’t voice it to him, Choi Jongho better be grateful or you’re going to die.

On the bright side, you and the team captain have been hanging out a lot lately, talking over coffees and homework and subtle smiles in corridors. And you voice it to him one day, of how Jongho should be grateful, because you can’t move your body.

“I must have been right to send Jongho to ask you then?” He says with a smug smile.

And you angrily mutter threats that hold no meaning and look away.

.

.

.

Even though it’s only been a month of training, and they want you to play.

And you’ve put all you’re arguments out on the table, and the team has shot all of them down as if it were that easy. But the whole idea of playing for the team, on a real match that counts, makes your gut churn and twist and tighten all at the same time.

And once all the members left, you see Jongho from the corner of your eye, sit next to you.

You feel his long, slender fingers rubbing you’re shoulder, probably for a soothing effect, that actually made the butterflies to flap and you didn’t really need that will all the churning, twisting and tightening happening down there.

And he says

“Calm down, ok” And you nod, but your attempts to calm down are useless, uneasiness clinging on to you.

Jongho sighs, and by now spending one month with him, you have noticed how he sighs a lot. In the past one moth, you both have been hanging out every chance you get, besides training.

It was really more calming, if you overlook the feelings on your side. Being with Jongho was calming, and knowing yourself, you usually are too busy trying to make memories you forget to live in the moment. But when you were with Jongho, you were pulled into the moment, in fact you were so into the moment, you haven’t even thought about making it a memory. And the plus side is you remember everything that happened when you’re with him. More than that there is this creeping feeling of how attached you’re growing to him that you will away for now.

One thing that makes your heart flutter every time is when he leaves, he walks backward, waving to you all the while, until he hits a pole, tree, human, pillar, or any object, then waves on last time and leaves.

.

.

.

You lost.

Great

You feel this intense mixture of dread and guilt.

It’s sad, it’s your first match but you’ve managed to lose for your team, because the other team could tell your inexperience, and even though you and Jongho had worked on your legs trembling while playing, you couldn’t control it out there.

There were people watching you so everything you did was a mess, every thrust was weaker than you thought, every opportunity was a lost one

You wanted to tell the team I told you so, but they didn’t look so bummed out, Mingi said some bullshit speech about how the team tried its best and it’s all about having fun anyways…

He also told you to take it easy.

But you felt like you were swallowing shards of glass, and breathing in iron fillings and as soon as the team left you could hold you’re tears back anymore, and it hurt because you were excited, and if it were not for you the team could have easily won, and you felt as if you shouldn’t have agreed to join in the first place, damn you Choi Jongho.

But really damn him; because he sat next to you and then one look at him was all it took for you to break down into sobs and he pulled you toward him, your face was snuggled up into his chest. And you were painfully stiff at first, until he started stroking you’re hair and whispering how its ok and how he’s proud of you and how you did well, and how everyone is proud of you and as you continued crying you were relaxing into his hold, which was stirring up warmth and you sobbed into his shirt for a really long time.

And when you were finally done, you looked up at him, and he was very close, like very, nose touching kind of close and you weren’t able to do anything but stare with wide eyes.

And was he getting closer?

And then there was no more distance between the both of you as a pair of lips captured yours, and at first your eyes were open and looking at Jongho’s closed ones, and soon enough he grew impatient and began prodding at your lips and you closed your eyes and kissed him back. Your heart was beating very fast, you wanted to swallow, but can you? Like is it allowed to swallow in a kiss, and it was painfully quiet all around you, until Jongho pulled away with a drawn out breath .You didn’t even have time to open your eyes, as a pair of lips part at your neck and he leaves open mouth kisses along the length of you neck, you hiss as he sucks particularly hard at a spot. He guides you to half lie down on the bench as he attacks your neck, and he scrapes his teeth along the attacked area and your hand shoots out to his shoulder, and he continues littering soft kisses and apologetic swipes of his tongue to sooth the pain. And soon enough he was back to sucking and nosing at your neck, and your grip on his shoulder tightens as you let out little mewls of satisfaction, at one point Jongho grunts and pulls away.

And you lie there and Jongho is back straddling you . His face hovers just above your ear, he says-

“I’m going to take you on a date and then we’re continuing this.” And it was so low and so husky that you can’t help the sound that gets past your lips.

He nips at your ear and crawls away from you.

You groan and cover your face in embarrassment before you say-

“Ok, let’s go on a date” And when you finally look at him, he’s beaming at you, and its blinding.

.

.

.

Your date was mostly looking at each other and you looking away every five seconds, giggling and then blushing.

And you were halfway through you’re drinks when you suddenly exclaim.

“I should lose more volleyball matches if I’m going to end up with really hot dates”

And Jongho looks at you with a pointed glare and asks

“Really?”

And you hum

And before you know it he was right in front of you, lips nipping at your ear again, and he says-

“No more volleyball for you”

And you giggle AGAIN, and he smiles at you. And you have got a good feeling about this, whatever you have got going on with Jongho.

.

.

.

[msbarrows]

Made a post about a week ago about how I was planning on re-organizing all the cabling for my computer setup... and the last piece I needed to complete that was delivered today, a T-tap for the nearest grounded outlet (bottom photo) so that I could have two separate extension cords running from it without having to find a new home for the CO2 detector.

The top (grey) extension cord runs to the powerbar for my old laptop (Revenant), into which is plugged said laptop, my old monitor, and the powered USB hub for everything else the old laptop uses. My even older desktop is also plugged into that, and if I ever decide there is something I absolutely need to go spelunking for on its drive, I just have to move the USB hub and old monitor over to it and I’ll be GTG. Unless I feel like booting up the old laptop to watch a movie, this powerbar remains off.

The bottom (white) extension cord runs to the powerbar for my gaming laptop (Dark Omen) into which is plugged everything for both that laptop plus charging my tablet and its peripherals (bluetooth speaker for better sound quality when using TTS).

I also recently bought myself a nice gaming chair, which is SO much more comfortable than the leather executive-style chair I was using previously.

[eyes0ny0u]

Pastel Mafia

@quagmireisadora finished Chapter 2 - FINALLY! TT ^ TT

CHAPTER 1: A ROUGH DAY

CHAPTER 2: WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH

Kibum sighed as he entered his apartment. Leaning against the door as he took off his shoes. He glanced at the microwave clock he could see from where he stood: 2:18 am. He's got maybe three hours before he has to get up for his part-time job at Albert's, a fancy bakery in the upper east side, at the opposite end of town. He would love nothing better than to sleep in tomorrow, but Albert's paid the best out of all his part-time jobs, and he got tips. 

Right now, he needed all the tips and extra hours he can get. His last roommate had bailed on him, leaving him with an entire two-bedroom apartment to pay. He had begged his landlord to let him pay for his half of the apartment and will get him the rest later.

Kibum remembered the call from St. John's collection department, he still owed them a portion of last month's installment. His fist clenched at the embarrassment of admitting to a total stranger he didn't even have five dollars to his name. His last one disappeared when he lost his wallet.

Kibum trudged to the tiny kitchen and pulled out the leftover Chinese from his bag, thankful that the shift manager had let him take home whatever portions were left. He popped the take out carton into the microwave and looked around his apartment, with its peeling paint and cold air - he had barely turned on the heater since winter began. He was sleeping with thick clothes on, the thermostat just above '5' at the dial. 

Kibum's eyes landed on the syllabus stuck to the fridge. The tears exhaustion couldn't squeeze from him poured at the thought that he will have to stop school. 

 God, he was tired. 

 So tired - but life didn't care. 

 Kibum wiped his cheeks. Squaring his shoulders as he pulled the warmed up Chinese and dug in. No use in indulging his tears. He didn't have enough food to drown his feelings.

  - O -  

 "Carlos Amarillo at 57, was confirmed to have passed away by his son, Gian Amarillo today. No details were given to what caused the business tycoon's sudden death. Amarillo, who was the head of the Amarillo Group conglomerate, was a noted businessman and humanitarian in the area -," Jinki tuned out the late night news, lips tightening at the praises. 

 "What a bunch of hypocrites," Taemin sneered at the TV. "Not a month ago, they wanted Amarillo's head for Hawthorne Bridge!"

 "Had they pushed a little further, they would've found proof of involvement," Minho interjected. 

 "They would have gotten paid off or threatened," Jinki said, reviewing the report on the shipment of electronics that arrived yesterday. "Or found their contact dead."

 "True," Minho agreed, swirling the scotch he had been nursing since the news started. "What do you think Junior will do?"

 Jinki leaned back, loosening his tie. He'd never worked with Gian before. All he knew about the new head of the Amarillo was that he was in the business, and he was ambitious.

 "I heard Gian was banished from the main family for running that side deal with Salazar," Jinki said, referring to a semi-prominent Mexican cartel. "So, I'm not sure if he's going to declare war or be open for business."

 "My money is on declaring war," Taemin said, slurping an oyster. "If he wants to gain the respect of his father's men, he'll be doing just that. I mean, you did when you took over the business."

 "Yeah, but Gian has a hater with his father's numero uno," Minho said, leaning over Taemin's oyster bucket to reach for the charcuterie board. "Rumor has it Vincenzo Benotti might be the old Amarillo's love child."

 "Really?" Jinki asked Minho. "I've never heard of this."

 "I'm not surprised," Minho shrugged before popping a cracker piled with pate and cheese into his mouth. "It's parlour game rumours; some drunken Amarillo lackey may have blabbed over drinks or said out of spite. You know how it is."

 Jinki turned to his computer and pulled up the file on Carlos Amarillo. Under the 'Known Associates' directory, was a picture of Vincenzo. The man had black hair and brown eyes. Just like Amarillo Sr. Being Italian that didn't mean anything. But something about the slant of the man's jaw reminded Jinki of Carlos. 

 "Minho, investigate Vincenzo," Jinki ordered. "I want to know everything. What town his ancestors were from to the brand of their favourite red wine."

 Jinki wasn't sure if he was seeing things, but it was worth investigating. Lovechild or not, Vincenzo might be vying for the top seat. Gian Amarillo could need some help with ensuring his position in the organization. His deal with Carlos Amarillo may not be as dead as he thought it was. On life support, but it looked like it could be revived. 

 He just needed to convince either Vincenzo or Gian that he would make a good ally despite the little fiasco last week. What're a few bullets between business partners? In their world, it was practically considered a nicety. 

 "By the way," Jinki suddenly remembered his pet project. "What do we have on the guy who saved my ass last week?"

- O -

 Albert's was, as usual, teeming with yuppies, grabbing their trendy breakfast before heading off to work. Kibum rang up orders as fast as he could, but his mind still on the unpaid bills he needed to take care of. Kibum glanced down the line, trying to determine how much longer the rush was going to last. With detachment, he noted the quality of apparel Albert's clientele sported and envied the financial security, all of them exuded. 

 "A croissant and a large of your medium roast, please," a woman with flawless makeup and Gucci bag said, barely looking him in the face as she pulled out a Valentino wallet. Kibum punched the order in; $15.08 for Anna. A breakfast for Anna was Kibum's meal budget for 3-days, courtesy of his employee rate at the Dong Fan Chinese restaurant.

 "An espresso please and the fruit and protein box," man in gleaming Rolex and Balenciaga briefcase ordered. His suit was probably Italian, ranging around $5,000.00 to $8,000.00, depending on the make—the leather briefcase around $2,000.00. The Rolex was at least $3,000.00. The guy's entire ensemble would have more than paid off his grandmother's hospital bill. 

 Sir, would you mind pawning me your Rolex so that I can get the hospital off my back? Kibum silently asked the yuppie who didn't bother leaving a tip. 

 "The yogurt parfait and medium-light roast, please," a red-head regular asked. The diamond engagement ring on her finger was so big; it was at least 2 carats with a platinum band encrusted with tiny diamonds. Kibum's entire year of schooling was sitting on that woman's ring finger. 

 Would you mind lending me your ring so I can enroll? Kibum asked the woman in his head as he flashed his practiced smile when she dropped a toonie in the tip jar. I would like to make more of my life than bussing tables and waiting on people. Please. 

 The next customer was dressed in a simple navy blue pinstripe suit. One could say the man didn't belong in the "fashionable" line. Working at Albert's for the past three years had taught Kibum how to size people at a glance. Gauging where they belong in the socio-economic ladder had become his weird expertise. Though the outfit was simple, borderline plain, the perfect fit of the shoulders and elegant drop of the knife-edge crease of the pants said tailored. The understated silver - most likely platinum - watch and leather loafers screamed old money.  

 "The blueberry muffin and a tall medium roast, please," the man said, handing Kibum a fifty dollar bill. 

 Kibum barely stopped an eye-roll. C'mon, dude, it's barely 8 am. Have a little sense, and don't drop a bill so large so early in the morning. "Sir, do you have a smaller bill?"

 "No change?" the man asked an eyebrow raised. 

 "Unfortunately," Kibum said with a fake apologetic smile. 

 "Keep the change then."

 "Sir, your total is $12.30," Kibum exclaimed. 

 "I don't have a smaller bill," the man said as he placed the bill on the counter and walked away.

 "Sir -," Kibum called out, but the next customer stepped in front of him. 

 Kibum punched the payment on auto-pilot and dropped the change in the tip jar, almost feeling nauseous. That was hella over the top, and somehow assholish in its extravagance. But he was thankful for the extra cash he was going to get. 

 After his shift at Albert's, Kibum rushed to the bus stop for his afternoon shift at Dong Fan. The bus was pulling away from the curb when he arrived. Kibum gritted his teeth against the frustration surging through him. He was going to be late for his shift and that meant income loss. 

 Kibum took a deep breath to stifle the string of curses rising from his chest. He took out his phone to call the restaurant but noticed he had an email from St. John's. He was tempted to ignore it but tapped on the icon anyways. 

 Kibum blinked at the message. He scrolled up again to check the sender. Yeah, there it was, St. Johns Hospital. But something was wrong because the email contained a receipt for the amount he owed the hospital.

 Confused, Kibum clicked on the phone number in the signature, brow furrowing as the call went through. After being transferred to accounting he asked about the status of his account. 

 "Your account is up to date."

 "Excuse me?"

 "Your balance was paid for in full yesterday."

 "By whom?" Kibum asked still in disbelief, afraid to believe. "I didn't make the payment," Kibum said. "No one else would make the payment."

 "Payment came in electronically from Jjinggu LLC," the agent answered. "It could be one of those angel-sponsors."

 "What's an angel-sponsor?"

 "They're anonymous individuals or organizations who will settle random accounts as part of their charity work."

 "And you don't know their names at all?"

 "No, I'm sorry. Payors are not required to identify themselves."

 "Ok... but you're sure, they made the payment against my account?"

 "Yes, sir," Kibum heard the operator's smile. "I'm one hundred percent sure, Mr. Kim." 

 "OK," Kibum whispered. "Thanks."

 "Was there anything else I can help you with?"

 "No, that's it."

 Kibum disconnected the call, reeling from the relief. Tears pricked his eyes as the weight of the debt lifted off of his chest. Kibum cupped his hands over his phone, holding it against his forehead. 

 "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Kibum chanted in whispers, collapsing on the bus stop bench, trying to contain the tremors running through his body. Glad for a very long time he was alone. 

[wannaonestars]

soulmate! park jihoon

okay in this au you have the “you see color once you meet your soulmate”

and gOD do you hate this method you have because what the heck you’re a fashion and design major

your whole life you’ve been working with clothes in black and white and shades of gray and you had to bust your ass to get into the top university in seoul for fashion

whatever mythical being it was that gave you this curse basically said a massive fuck you to your hopes and dreams like rip

in middle and high school you would literally people-watch in different areas and different cities to meet your soulmate 

actually you didn’t give a fuck about who your soulmate was you just wanted to see color and work with it to produce high quality works

and end the shitty friend moments when you’re shopping with your pals and they go “hey should i get the blue shirt or the red one”

you: oh i don’t know andrea i think the slightly darker shade of fucking gray looks nicer

andrea: :DD

SO one weekend you’re looking around some stores in this mall and searching for inspiration for your next piece

and everything’s okay and in black and white as usual when suddenly you saw this??? strange shade???????? not in black or white???????

you’re SHOOK and immediately just start darting your eyes everywhere

and finally when your eyes land on a person at the men’s section of the store a burst of saturation and color splashes in front of you

and everything seems to have just...come to LIFE

you’re shaking because everything you see now feels like a new experience....colors that you can’t identify are everywhere you turn and you’re so EXCITED to learn the names of each

you turn to your “soulmate” person with tears ready to fall but suddenly

you: oh my sweet baby jesus

you: can his fashion sense be aNY SH I TT I E R

your jaw is like on the FLOOR and you’re absolutely appalled by the young man looking through some sweatshirts

in your mind you’re furiously criticizing all the choices he’s made and making 

you: why in the world would he pair that shirt with that vest

you: sweetheart that is one hell of a stupid hat you’re staring at

you: is he actually serious about picking that vest

you: what in the world did i ever do to deserve this

you’re fuming at this point and you’re ready to either stomp over and hit him on the head to get his senses back into place or walk away and pretend the meeting never happened

but then he turns around and sees you and when his eyes widen you know there’s no turning back

also you realize he’s really cute so

he walks over all shy with a hand rubbing the back of his neck and a suppressed smile to hide how excited he really is

he says “so....i guess.....we’re soulmates?” with pink steaming cheeks

it takes you like a few seconds to get over how utterly cute that was and the you’re like “yes. and your outfit is a disaster. how dare you.”

and that snaps jihoon out of his bashfulness and he’s just?? excUSE ME???? what the heck do you mean my shirt is suPER cute thank you very much

and you’re like SWEETHEART the design on that thing is utterly atrocious it doesn’t match your face at ALL

and that’s how you and your soulmate got into a huge argument in the middle of the store with ppl staring and taking pics

a few minutes later a middle aged man comes over and taps jihoon’s shoulder and says hey we gotta go you can’t stay here and act like this

jihoon glares at you before he turns around and leaves and you’re just HUFFS i hope i don’t see that kid ever again........

literally two hours later you friends spam your phone with articles about “Wanna One’s Park Jihoon’s Intense Argument With Mysterious Person”

you’re on the verge of crying after realizing you bickered with a massively popular idol and your friends are like “what kind of flowers do you want us to leave at your grave”

you couldn’t focus on anything for a week straight and you’re so scared of stepping outside and having people recognize you so you started wearing masks and sunglasses all the time

it hurt your fashion common sense to wear sunglasses while it was raining but you were too terrified

but good thing was!!! you learned the names of all the colors you could and developed this habit of differentiating even the slightest shade like “that’s not just bLUE that’s cornflower blue with a tint of turquoise on the lower right”

it would only be a matter of time before you start addressing colors by their html code name lmfao

anyways your friends are recognize that your works are becoming a lot better and the color mixing seem smoother and more elegant than before

they ask you if it's because you met your soulmate and beg you to introduce him but you know that they’d lose their shit and fall on their ass laughing if you tell them it’s actually the park jihoon you accused of having disgusting taste

you actually feel really sorry....like however much you hated the way he dressed you shouldn't have criticized him like that man

you start researching him online and you get really interested because damn he has such a nice face

in your head you could conjure so many different combinations of outfits that could work fantastically with him

a few weeks later wanna one is doing a fansign meet and greet thing and jihoon is smiling at every fan and holding their hands and thanking them for their gifts and doing his aegyo

and suddenly.....he sees YOU right in front of him with your deep blue hat and heavy trench coat to avoid being seen

he flinches at first but he can’t be rude so he fakes a smile and just goes...”hi”

and you’re like listen....i’m like seriously sorry for that fiasco back at the store..... and you proceed to apologize several times before he’s like okay!!! i got it you’re sorry

and then you take out the bag you’ve been holding and hand it to him

“here,” you say. “i included a booklet inside.”

and then you just rAN OUT OF THERE like you didn’t even talk to the rest of the members who’re looking at your back like wtf was that????

after their schedules end and they’re at their dorms jihoon takes out the bag you gave him and sees the booklet that read “ok i know i said sorry but please take a look at the clothes i picked out for u” 

he’s so ready to get pissed to see you STILL criticizing his choices but then he sees all the clothes inside and the different outfit combinations drawn and written in the booklet....and he’s sOLD like these are so pretty and cute???????

and he tries everything on and woojin is like whoa and guanlin probably gets gayer

jihoon wears one set for his airport fashion the next day and all his fansites basically explode bc he reached another level of stunning

and his stylists and managers are like????? what the heckie HECK

jihoon’s all smiles and stuff and he’s....really grateful to you.....

like when he met you and found out that you were his soulmate he never felt more crestfallen because the relationship already looked darker than woojin’s past

but now...he just really wants to meet you again and thank you....and maybe talk over a cup of coffee....and just be........a soft couple that he’s always wanted to be in..........

jihoon became the top search on naver for the whole week and became the reason for your smile

it’s the first time that your work has ever been “publicized” in any shape or form and you’re so glad it’s receiving such positive feedback

a while later you get an email during your lunch break 

and the sender is.....CJ E&M entertainment

they somehow figured out that you were the one who gave jihoon his clothes and discovered more of your works from blogs and stuff and now they want to hire you as a stylist for wanna one and the meeting date is....in three hours

you drop your cup of coffee and spRINT out of your university to catch a taxi cab

when you get to the meeting place at the company you realize that frick frack botta bing botta boom your hair’s a mess and you’re sweaty and you haven’t showered in three days due to your schedule and you’re in no way appropriate looking to be hired to be a person who’s in charge of making people look good 

but a staff sees you and is like!! come in!!!!! and you’re like welp it’s do or die

and the company manager and wanna one members are all in a private room waiting for you and the manager starts this speech about how he adores your sense of style and how all the members would be happy to have you as their stylist and how much they’re willing to pay you but the whole time you’re mostly sneaking glances at jihoon

you know how sometimes you would sneak glances at someone who just so happens to look at you at the exact same time and it gets awkward and then both of you would look away really fast

that happens so many time with you and jihoon but...the fourth time that it happens he stares back just three seconds longer than before

he blushes SO hard because of how daring of a move that was and starts fanning himself and beside him jisung is like??? it’s like 20 degrees in here what are you doing

and then the company manager says to you “usually we hire stylists who are married to prevent any kind of special relationship between them and the members...you’ll be an exception to our rule. but the second that we see something suspicious or that you’re violating that rule, then....well, you can guess what might happen.”

and you’re like wow what the heck so i’ll lose my job for getting together with my soulmate

and then the meeting is done and the manager goes to get you your id card and all the paperwork and everyone pre much disperses except for you and jihoon

it’s a bit awkward with both of you staring at the floor....and then you try to break the silence with “this sucks”

and jihoon laughs and just says “it’ll be fine” and he looks up at you and takes a deep breath and goes “give me your number before they come back”

his heart’s racing and he’s almost afraid that you’ll say no

and when you say yes and take out your phone he feels six weights being lifted off his shoulder

and his head jihoon imagines all the possibilities for you two...snuggling besides you as he watches you draw ideas into your notebooks, holding your hand and telling you to pay a bit more attention to him, and smiling when you toss your notebook away, giving in, and leaning closer to him

you have to shake his shoulders to wake him from his daydream lol

you’re like listen bud ur cute i gUESS but we ain’t gonna kiss or anything until i organize your closet

and that’s probably when jihoon realizes this relationship will be anything but the perfect manhwa couple he’s always dreamed of

and suddenly he finds himself swiftly pecking your cheek and going “yeah well i just dID”

you:

you: 

the other 10 members watching from a crack of the door: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

he saved u in his heart real fast

[shawol9196]

BFF AU 3/?

Kibum puts his snack down. “Jonghyun. I’m not asking you what you think of Minho in terms of his qualities, his merits as a friend, or what you think of his existence. I’m asking you what you think of Minho as a person who is a potential romantic partner to you.”

(Warning: rated N for neglect/mean parenting mention)

Jonghyun wakes up to his phone buzzing. He groans as he rolls over.

Chat: ㅎㅅ~

CineMin: Are you awake???? CineMin: Pls be awake I have something exciting :D

Jjongie: I am aware of my currents surroundings if that counts as being awake

CineMin: Ye! CineMin: What are you up to???

Jjongie: napping

CineMin: Did I wake you up? I’m sorry TT

Jjongie: it’s ok. I needed to be awake in order to continue contributing something to society.

CineMin: Are you busy with something? I was hoping we could meet up. I have something to show you.

Jjongie: I theoretically have things I should be working on but I can make time for cuties ㅎㅅ~ Jjongie: How long do you think it’ll take?

CineMin: Uhh I mean if you’re busy it’ll take maybe 5 min but if you have more time then that will also work nicely.

Jjongie: ??? Jjongie: I have 1.5 hr before class

CineMin: Meet me at the west gate in ten minutes?

Jjongie: it might be 15 minutes but ㅎㅅㅎ ok

Jonghyun sighs. He had wanted to get a nap before his class, since his professor always left him emotionally exhausted, but seeing Minho again was worth it he supposed. He got out of bed and -- after throwing on the nearest clean smelling clothes -- made his way to the gate as quickly as he could. When he gets there, he looks for Minho but doesn’t see him. Though his height should make him easy to spot, there’s a noted lack of cute tall people in his line of sight. He pulls his phone out to call.

“Jonghyun!! Over here!!” comes Minho’s voice just before he hits the button. Jonghyun looks around wildly before a waving hand catches his eye. Minho’s sitting in a new white car, face full of excitement.

“Look!! I won it!!”

“How did you manage that, cutie?” Jonghyun asks as he walks up to it.

“I entered a contest at school. It’s just my lucky day I guess. They called me yesterday and I just got it this morning. I was going to take Kibum to test it out with me but since he’s busy all day you were the next person on my list. Want to go for a ride?”

Jonghyun nods and opens the passenger door. Once he’s buckled in, Minho pulls away from the curb and back intro traffic.

“You’re a safe driver, right?” he asks. Minho laughs.

“Yes, Jonghyun, I’m a safe driver. Much safer than Kibum. I used to drive us to high school.”

Jonghyun hums and gets comfortable. He notices the music is turned all the way down and adjusts the dial so that it’s audible; there’s a pop song playing but Jonghyun’s not familiar with it at all.

“I haven’t had a chance to set up the radio stations or anything, I literally just picked it up. You can put whatever you like on, I’m not fussy.” Minho explains.

Jonghyun nods and starts flipping through stations.

“So I know what Kibum likes to listen to, what types of music do you like?” he asks.

“Like I said, I’m not particularly fussy.”

“Minho. What type of music do you like? I’m a music major you have to give me something, dude. Even if it’s just ‘I like commercial jingle music.’”

Minho chuckles. “I like 90s pop rock the best.”

Jonghyun thinks he remembers a classic rock station and when he finds it he leaves it on.

“What type do you like, Mr. Music Major? And you can’t say it’s your capitalist obligation to like all of them or anything like that.”

It’s Jonghyun’s turn to laugh. “I’m really good at writing ballads. But I also really like jazz and other stuff. Recently, I’ve been getting into lo-fi hip hop as well.”

Minho nods, though it’s obvious he’s mostly unfamiliar with music terms.

“So are we going anywhere in particular, Mr. Chauffeur?”

Minho shakes his head, humming along to whatever song has come on.

“Can I ask you something about Kibum? Like I’m not trying to ask anything behind his back it’s just there’s stuff that I want to know about and I don’t know how to ask them without upsetting him.” Jonghyun asks, fiddling with the strap of his seat belt.

“Sure.”

There’s a pause while Jonghyun collects his thoughts. Minho simply keeps driving with no particular place to go, though obviously not lost.

“So, first off, I understand that Kibum’s aromantic and asexual. And I respect that. It’s just a little hard for me to grasp, since I’m like very the opposite.”

They stop at a stoplight and Minho turns to look at Jonghyun before nodding.

“Was there like a moment that he was like super squicked out by something that made him realize that? Or like did he date anyone and then realized ‘uhh nevermind this isn’t for me’? Like I want to ask just so I can understand but like I realize that those are usually not a-spec friendly questions and I haven’t been able to figure out how to ask them without sounding like aphobic.”

“I get what you mean, it is kind of a hard thing to word without sounding that way. No, I think he’s always known. I mean, I can remember when we would watch cartoon movies when we were little and I’d always be crushing on the protagonist or the love interest, sometimes both, and he’d just be like ‘when will the animal friend be satisfied with their life they don’t deserve to put up with the protagonist!’. It was more of just an issue of finding a name for it and finding out that other people are the same way.”

“So what you’re telling me is that Kibum is ace/aro but also a furry?”

“Oh my god, no. Absolutely not. He just liked that they had at least some sense.”

“So, to be clear, he’s never done anything with anyone ever?”

“Not really.”

“So there was something??”

“When we were 16 or so, I let him kiss me so I mean there’s that but that’s it.”

Jonghyun’s jaw falls to the floor.

“You two have KISSED? And you still claim to be that you guys are not boyfriends??”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“What was it like then?”

Minho sighs.

“I had dated or at least attempted dating by that point. If he hasn’t told you yet, he’s in love with the concept of love but is disgusted by the thought of being in it. So he was asking me what dating was like and all of that. He said he wondered what kissing was like, so I said that since I had already had my first kiss that if he ever got too curious he could kiss me. So he did, said ‘huh that doesn’t seem so great’ and we both moved on.”

“I can’t even tap his shoulder without him getting grossed out and you guys are kissing?”

“Well first off, we’ve kissed once as consenting adults. Secondly, I’ve known him since literal infancy. So that gets me some upgrades to the friendship. Is he super physically affectionate with me all the time? No. But if I’m freaked out and need a hug or to hold hands or whatever he can usually find some sort of way to deal with it enough for me. Though I also respect when he can’t, which helps.”

There’s a pause in the conversation as Jonghyun tries to process the information. They park in front of a little sporting goods shop.

“This is my parents shop. I just want to run in and show them my car. It shouldn’t take long so you can either come in or just stay in here, whichever is better for you.” Minho explains; he looks nervous and Jonghyun isn’t sure how to deal with it.

“I can come in, it’s fine.”

“Just, do me a solid and be as casual as you can.”

“Casual meaning act hetersexual?”

“Yeah.”

“Got it.”

They get out and go into the store. There’s a woman at the counter helping a customer, the only people in there besides them. She nods at Minho but continues with the customer, so Jonghyun tries to occupy himself with looking at the few bikes they have while Minho appears to tidy up some shelves. Eventually, the customer leaves.

“Don’t you have class?” the woman asks flatly.

“I only have my 8am today, mama. I have a surprise though,” he says, going up to her for a hug.

“What, are they giving you more money?” she asks.

“No, they’re not. I did win a car today though!” he says, pointing out the window.

“Wow, is it new?”

“Yeah. Brand new. They gave me a parking pass and few gift cards with gas money and car washes and stuff too. I talked to Kibum’s dad and he’s supposed to help me work out the insurance this weekend.”

As his mom looks out the window, she notices Jonghyun.

“Oh excuse me, sir. Is there anything we can help you with?” She asks, putting her customer service voice back on.

“Mama, this is Jonghyun. He’s that friend of Kibum’s I was telling you about.”

“Oh. Hi Jonghyun. Nice to meet you. If you need anything, just say, okay?”

Jonghyun bows a little and says a hello. Minho’s mom is quieter now that she realizes they’re not alone.

“Why don’t you give it to Minseok? He needs it more than you do.”

“Mama, he already has a car. I don’t have one and besides I’m the one that won it.”

“But what do you need a car for? You can’t even pay for you schooling, how are you going to pay to keep a car!”

“I’m not giving him my car, mama.”

“God, Minho. You’re so selfish. You make us pay for all these things for you and you can’t even be bothered to help your brother out.”

Minho’s mom turns away and starts cleaning up something on the counter. It’s clear from Minho’s voice that he’s hurt at her reaction.

“Hey Minho, I forgot that I have to grab something from someone before class, can we head back?”

“Oh, yeah.” Minho says. He turns to his mom and reaches for a hug but is disappointed. “I’ll see you later, mama. Love you.”

She says something that sounds like an annoyed ‘I love you too’ and waves him away.

They’re silent as Minho pulls back into traffic and heads back in the direction of school.

“Is the time going to be okay?” Minho asks quietly after a moment.

“What? Oh, I don’t actually have anyone to meet. I just...that seemed uncomfortable and you seemed like you needed help getting out of that.”

“Oh.” There’s a pause. “Look, I’m sorry you had to hear all that. I’m just...they just...it’s...”

“Don’t worry about it, Minho. We all have situations at home. I tell you what, if you take me to the store, I’ll buy you a snack or something for getting me out of the apartment. I think it’s cool you got the car and I think you deserve to keep it.”

“You don’t have to do that, I’m just happy you could come.”

Jonghyun doesn’t force it and there’s a silence again.

“So what about you?” Jonghyun asks quietly.

“What about me?”

“You said you attempted dating before. What team do you play for?”

Minho attempts a laugh. “I guess you could say I play for both teams.”

“Do you...play? Or are you and Kibum the aces up each other’s sleeves?”

“I’m more of a holomorph.”

“A what?”

“A holomorph. It’s a term for fungi, like mushrooms and stuff, that go through both asexual and sexual phases.”

When they reach the stoplight, Minho glances at Jonghyun and laughs at his confused expression.

“I’m demi-ace.”

“Why...didn’t you just say that?”

Minho laughs but it's only for a moment.

“Is it ok if I just go ahead and take you back to campus? I have something I have to go do.”

Jonghyun hums. The rest of the ride is quiet and soon they pull up to the west gate.

“Thanks for riding around with me. I’m sorry again about my mom.”

“No problem. Just text me anytime you want to do this, minus the mom part, again.”

Jonghyun gets out and watches Minho drive away before heading to his class.

*

When Jonghyun gets out of his class, he has too many unread texts.

Chat: ㅎㅅ~

CineMin: Thanks again CineMin: It means a lot

Jjongie: no problem, it was good for me to get out of the apartment. Jjongie: besides, I’m always up for car rides with cute and lucky boys ㅎㅅ~

Chat: I’ll Uhhhh Just Have A Friendship Please

Kekeke: we need to talk when u get out of class

Kekeke: u left ur door open again so im here and helping myself to chips

Jjongie: not my chips ㅎㅅㅎ im on my way back ㅎㅅㅎ

He runs back to the dorm, fearing for his chips. When he gets to his room, the chips are safe and sound and Kibum’s sitting on his beanbag chair with some carrots and humus.

“I thought you said you were eating chips??”

Kibum laughs. “I’m not that dumb and also I don’t like that flavor.”

Jonghyun sighs, half in exasperation and half in relief, and plomps down on his bed. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“Minho told me he took you for a drive.”

“Yup. We went by his parents shop. Who’s Minseok?”

Kibum sighs deeply. “Minseok is Minho’s older brother. He goes here too, he’s a junior. He’s on a full scholarship like I am. Things are...easier for Minseok. When their parents had Minho, they were hoping for a daughter. Even now I think they wish he’d been a daughter.”

“So why would they ask Minho to give Minseok his car if things are easier for him and he has more money?”

“Because they feel Minseok deserves a new car and Minho doesn't.”

Jonghyun nods but doesn’t understand.

“Jjongie, how do you feel about Minho?”

“In what context?”

“Jonghyun, you know what context I’m talking about.”

Jonghyun sits up and grabs his bag of sour gummies off his dresser.

“I mean, he’s charming and sweet and handsome. He’s a very likable person.”

Kibum puts his snack down. “Jonghyun. I’m not asking you what you think of Minho in terms of his qualities, his merits as a friend, or what you think of his existence. I’m asking you what you think of Minho as a person who is a potential romantic partner to you.”

“Oh. He’s a total cutie and I’ve had a crush on him since you introduced me to him at the diner.”

Kibum makes a face between pleased and dissatisfied.

“Why? Did he say something about me?”

“You heard the conversation at the shop, yeah?” Jonghyun nods. “That’s how he’s treated at home. That’s how he’s always been treated at home. That’s part of why he and I are so close; I’m apparently the only person out of our two families who realize that he is his own separate person who needs affection.”

“Oh.”

“So he has difficulty distinguishing his own feelings for people if they show him affection.”

“Meaning?”

“The first girl he dated was this friend Sulli. They both played soccer, were both considered pretty, they were the typical cute high school couple. After a while though, it became clear that his feelings weren’t for her, but rather her attention. Things ended as well as they could but it’s left scars on him nonetheless. If you are planning on pursuing Minho romantically, you need to understand that things will be going slowly. That he is, in a way, affection starved and will need time to understand his feelings for you.”

“So if I want to try dating Minho, I need to make the first move but let him dictate the pace?”

“Yes. And as long as things are consensual between you guys and you make sure that he is doing ok, you have my blessing to do so.”

“Sweet!”

“Ok, that was all I wanted to talk about, so I’m going to go sleep now.”

Jonghyun doesn’t even wait for Kibum to leave the room before he pulls his phone out.

Chat: ㅎㅅ~

Jjongie: So if someone wanted to take a cutie like you out on a first date, where would they take you?

CineMin: Honestly, I’ve never been asked on a date before. I’ve always been the one to ask.

Jjongie: what are you doing this weekend?

CineMin: I have to watch the shop ;;;; CineMin: But I don’t have my afternoon class on Monday so we could do something then?

Jjongie: Pick me up at 5? I’ll give you more info later once i get a planㅎㅅ~ ㅎㅅ~

CineMin: ok ^^