#technically part of the meow meows live au

[scarygreenlightning-art]

2am post mission grocery run

[catindabag]

TBOSAS AU ✨CRACK! TAKE✨: The 10th HG Mentors According to Drunk Dean Highbottom. (Part 1)

⭐️❄️⭐️

In my TBOSAS Crack!AU (Read [this] & [this] for context), Drunk!Casca Highbottom has a major problem when it comes to pronouncing people’s names right (intentionally and unintentionally). Many even accepted the fact that the Dean just gave up correcting himself after the last PTA meeting.

Moreover, most of the time, drunk Highbottom thinks that his top student, Coriolanus Snow is the 2nd coming of the ever gorgeous Crassus Xanthos Snow. And yes, Crassus was in fact Casca’s former super dead lover, drinking buddy, and karaoke pal.

In addition, the Dean hates the Plinths with a passion. However, it is not because they’re District. Casca simply hates them because according to rumors, Strabo Plinth, who was also serving in the army with Crassus Snow at that time, stole (dated) Casca’s ex boyfriend after the infamous Crasca University Breakup.

And now, Coriolanus Crassus Snow is going to marry the rich bastard Sejanus Plinth after graduation. And Casca is still swimming in DENIAL. How the odds were never in Highbottom’s favor.😭🔪

So here are our Mentors according to Drunk Delusional Dean Casca Highbottom (plus with his personal side notes and opinions about them).

Here are the other parts: [2] [3] [4]

⭐️MENTORS⭐️

Crassus Xanthos Snow (Coriolanus Snow)

I hate you, I love you, Crassus!😭🔪

You smell like roses and cabbages.

Poor AF. That’s what you get for breaking up with me!!

Is currently dating that idiot Plinth. I don’t know which one.😩😭

Obviously, you only did it for the filthy money!

Has a severe case of OCD and Paranoia.

Depressed & Obsessed AF.

War orphan who can’t pay his taxes.

Can’t even pay for therapy.

Can’t afford to buy f*ckin’ shoes.

Wears old clothes from the last century.

I want to spoil you so bad!😩

I too have money, please 🙏 marry me!

Extremely smart, but stupid.

Sucks at Physical Education.

Can and will malfunction when in a state of confusion.

Needs to pet a fluffy fat cat to avoid going batsh*t crazy.

Snow lands on top?? He’s a freaking “bottom”😏 for goodness sake.

Almost got evicted by loan sharks.

Can be easily hoodwinked into marriage.

I miss our ✨Thursday Clubbing✨!😭

Come back to me, Snow Bae!

I’m still single and waiting for you!

We’re technically still dating, right?🥺

That infamous “University Breakup” NEVER happened!!😫

CRASCA FOREVER!!

Will most likely win the Hunger Games by acting like a weak (but hot) little meow meow before poisoning everyone with Nightlock Berries.

Syllabus Plinth (Sejanus Plinth)

Ughhh!😩 Just go back to District 2 already!

You rich social climbing bastard!

Stole my gorgeous boyfriend!😡🔪

Is reckless AF.

Is wasteful AF.

Is a natural born menace to me.

The idiot heir to the largest munitions empire of Panem.

Wants to become the President of Panem for some reason?🧐

Throws bread to the dead.

No fashion sense at all.

Dr. Gaul hates him for being too nice.

His boyfriend stealing father throws money at me all the time.

Does not know what “personal space” is.

Doesn’t deserve to date my Snow Bae!

How dare you steal my boyfriend!!

I’ll crash your f*ckin’ wedding!!🤬🔪

How dare you stand where I stood!

You have daddy issues!

Peace loving?! Your family sells guns and nuclear missiles for a living!

The audacity! Give me your sandwich recipe!

Once choked my former boyfriend with gumdrops.

Will NEVER WIN the Hunger Games!!🤬🔪 I won’t allow this boyfriend stealing bastard to win anything!

Fetus Creed (Festus Creed)

A self proclaimed “Professional Dumpster Diver.”

Panem’s garbage boy.

A menace to society and the food industry.

Likes to act innocent & clueless.🙄

A natural born leader for fools.

President of the Losers Club.

King of delinquents.

Loves to steal and eat my hamburgers.

Can’t afford to buy a slice of cheesecake.

Is currently dating the cannibal.

Breaks the law everyday, all day.

Peacekeepers loathe him but can’t arrest him.

The Academy’s very own village idiot.

Your family owns the largest construction company in all of Panem, but reconstruction is still slow AF because of your very existence.

Your family members are super weird and super annoying.

Claimed to have never received the 200+ expulsion letters that I’ve personally written and sent to his parents.😫🔪

Has received at least 70+ demerits from me.

Why can’t you attend at least one f*ckin’ detention?!😡

Hangs out with cabbage boy and Plinth’s idiot heir all the time.

Needs to be expelled ASAP.

Why do you succeed and fail at the same time?!

Your ODDS are a piece of sh*t.

Will most likely win the Hunger Games through sheer DUMB LUCK.😩🔪

Listerina Listerine Vickers (Lysistrata Vickers)

Gives free hugs drugs to friends.

Does not prescribe morphling bottles for free.😭

Founder and leader of the “Snowjanus” fan club.🙄🔪

Started the “shipping” war of the century.

Very responsible, but unpredictable.

Suspicious AF.

You’re super lucky that your mommy and daddy are working under the President.

Stop using your “My parents are famous doctors” card to get out of trouble!

Biology is her forte.

Broke my expensive office aquarium on accident purpose.

Gave me weird looking vitamins as an “apology” gift.

Will stab people for medical reasons.

Knows how to manipulate the law.

Your wannabe local drug dealer doctor.

Has a neat appearance, just like her parents.

Might be the leader of an underground illegal drug company that I can’t name.

May have manufactured medicine without the President’s consent.

Is secretly a cry baby.

Hangs out with stupid garbage boys.

Girl, your so called “Miracle Pills” might be lethal and illegal.

Empathetic, I guess.

Will most likely win the Hunger Games by secretly slowly hugging drugging everyone to death.

Philip Raven’s Bill (Felix Ravinstill)

Ultimate Nepo Baby of the century.

Everyone’s favorite boy by default.

Very cool and competent.

Was given the biggest bedroom in the President’s Mansion for some reason.

President Gran Gran’s favorite grandnephew.

Is very rich, but don’t ask why.

Can win a war through the power of friendship and stupidity.

Extremely likable AF.

Must be protected at all cost.

VIP student who can’t be arrested.

Is the Class President.

If he gets hurt, we all get hurt.

I’ll be dead before you get kidnapped.

Haven’t you heard? His granduncle is the current President of Panem.

Has common sense.

Your bromantic boyfriend is a freaking kleptomaniac.

What’s with the Hello Kitty merch?!

Your family is corrupt AF.

Hates his shady & scheming relatives.

Half of your uncles are banned from entering The Academy.

Can you file a very powerful restraining order for me?🥺

Needs to work on his “begging” skills.

Might have the power to end the Hunger Games forever.

Will most likely win the Hunger Games by hiding and having a lot of sponsors to keep him alive.

Andrew Keys Under Sun (Androcles Anderson)

A wannabe reporter like his mama.

A self proclaimed “professional kleptomaniac.”

Stole my morphling bottles.😠🔪

Stole my very expensive wristwatch.

Stole my personal diary journal.

Where is my freaking wallet, Andrew Keys?!

Is straight up a criminal.

Knows how to pickpocket like a pro.

Never give him a hairpin.

I gave you an inch, you f*ckin’ ran a mile.

You’re lucky that your mama can destroy my reputation.

Stole a thousand & plus items from school.

Is maybe secretly dating the Class President.

The only reason why you haven’t been arrested by the authorities is because of your bromantic boyfriend.

Your family only got filthy rich by blackmailing powerful people.

Can break into anyone’s house without being detected.

Dammit! Why do you have natural luck?!

The odds are always in your favor!😩

Can bribe anyone with a slice of pizza.

Will most likely win the Hunger Games by literally stealing everyone’s weapons, sponsors, lovers, mothers, fathers, and of course, your life.

[minimag1c]

Posting two in one day because I've missed a day fuck my life

Why not both!

Day 5 ----->ᵍᵒᵗʰⁱᶜ/ᶜᵒᵘᵖˡᵉ ᶜᵒˢᵗᵘᵐᵉˢ

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧 ✏ Well like the title suggest both so- uh yeah lmao

Also swap au yipeeee 🎉🎉

Rushed out and short like always because I didn't timed my writing well rip anyway enjoy

Fun fact: I accidentally wrote the 30th October prompt before this. Anyway

Edit: Okay I lied the aren't actually gothic in this more edgy/emo and that's it lol. Also this thing doesn't make sense at all and if y'all have any questions asks and let's see if I will be able to answer them. And I'm talking about the swap au not- not the one-shot please even I didn't understood what shit I was trying to write-

•• <<────≪•◦⚜◦•≫────>> ••

Cherri bomb slightly gawked, holding firmly her drink.

"Wait- Halloween actually existed during your time???" Cherri bomb asked to Vagatha as the two women sat on the bar, bewildered. Vagatha raised an eyebrow at her question, scoffing slightly at such obvious question, her permanent smile wavering slightly.

"We actually didn't called it "Halloween", especially when people would go crazy over the smallest new things and would scream witchcraft and heresy at the top of their lungs. It was either labelled as "Samhain" or just "pagan festivities" in general." The captain explained before adding quickly. "But yes Halloween actually existed during my time of living on Earth."

"Technically Halloween has already existed many centuries ago, if I'm not wrong." Pentious piped in, cleaning up the bar and the remaining shots that weren't being used. Cherri turned her head to look at the barman, raising an eyebrow, even more surprised. "Wait really??"

"Actually it was even already present after Charlie's and Sera's fall!" Luce's voice butted in as he was holding Keekee's food bowl in which the one eyed cat kept demanding her food, meowing loudly and scratching her papa's pants. The hotel owner couldn't help but chuckles a bit at the cat's antics as his tail picked up the small female, earning a startled meow from her, however she quickly relaxed upon recognizing the pattern, her own tail swishing in impatience.

Luce then continued, using magic to pour down kibbles in the bowl. "Sera was not really fond on the holiday itself, since it wasn't supposed to be a religious holiday in the first place but more like an esoteric one, despite her being officially recognized as a fallen let's say. Still, it was those times where she would actually let me go outside of the temple since it was dedicated to other beliefs so I was freer than other days and holidays primarily." The prince said the last part with an almost nostalgic tone, laughing slightly.

Vagatha raised an eyebrow at him but didn't added a remark as Cherri rolled her eye, her tone sarcastic.

"Wow. Sera must be really fun at parties."

Luce winced at the words.

"She was not actually that much of a killjoy. It's Just- Halloween was not her thing."

"I'm even surprised this kind of holiday is something Vagatha is into too if I have to be honest. You know, being the whole angel thing and stuff." Alastor added, looking up from his book. Said Vagatha hummed, shrugging her shoulders while her finger traced the shot on her place. "I cannot really blame you, dear. After all, we were taught above that Halloween was a demonic and antichrist festivity that needed to be erased at all costs."

The atmosphere in the hotel's lobby suddenly became thick before Vagatha laughed out loud, the rest of the hotel's residents, except Kitty who was who know where, looking at each other with concern.

"Oh but us exorcists weren't even supposed to exist in Heaven in the first place! Why should we even follow this doctrine even though we already purge those antichrists?? Not celebrating their festivities was something wimpy compared to what we do to them! Pff what an idiocy."

No one didn't really seemed to follow her own jovial and jokey tone as Luce coughed up, trying to shake off the awkward moment that occurred.

"Uhm- anyway- why the sudden question though? Halloween is barely a week later." The hotel's owner asked.

Cherri made a sound with her mouth, waving her hands around. "Well we are in the season of it! We're supposed to be in Fall if we refers to Earth's weather." She then added, smiling mischievously and in excitation. "Oh oh! I remembered me and my friends used to scare people or scam them during this time of the year where we could threatened them with false ransom." She then sighed in content, crossing her arms, smiling lightly. "Good times really."

"I didn't understand half of the things you've said but I suppose it's what mainly make you stuck here." Alastor deadpanned at her before Cherri blinked innocently. Pentious stared at the woman, midly concerned.

However, before she could add anything else, Luce suddenly beamed as he gasped loudly, grinning.

"Wait guys I have an idea!" He said, almost dropping the now full bowl as he quickly apologized to Keekee before continuing, letting the cat eating her food quietly. "Why don't we organize a Halloween theme costume party it in the hotel?? Plus it's also a way to celebrate its reopening AND our newest member Hu-!"

"Crymini." Everyone corrected.

That took the prince a back before he rubbed his neck, chuckling awkwardly before continuing. "Yeah. Right. Crymini not Husk. Sorry. Anyway! What do you guys think about it??" He asked, looking at everyone.

For a moment, no reactions until Alastor spoke, pursuing his lips at the idea. "Yeah I don't see why not? Plus it can be a way to bond with others." The deer argued. Then, Cherri hummed, considering it before the rest agreed to the prince's concept, much to Luce's joy...

•• <<────≪•◦⚜◦•≫────>> ••

"Holy fucking shit Alastor WHAT DO I DO??!"

... Or not.

Alastor and Luce were in their shared bedroom, the deer waiting patiently for the prince to stop pacing and creating a hole on the carpet. After realizing that it would have been fruitless, the taller sighed and reculantly got up to calm down his prince.

"I just said that out of impulsion! I don't even know how the fuck Halloween is even supposed to work! Wait Cherri said she would scam people during that time- but what if no one actually like this AND-!!"

"-No one is going to die if you don't actually follow the same traditions." Alastor piped in, going behind Luce as he put his hands on his shoulders to calm the anxious little blonde. However, before the later could say anything else, the deer added furthermore, his tone indicating that he was already used to this kind of outbursts, whatever its degree of negativity it was. "And no. No one is going to hate you forever because of a failed party."

"But-"

"No. Cherri will not abandon you nor myself."

"And-"

"Yes I would still love you even if you make a complete fool of yourself. Yes Vagatha will still stay by your side. Yes Charlie too no matter what because she really wants to bond with you again and NO-"

Alastor then proceeded to turn Luce around as to face him before finishing his sentence, firm.

"You are NOT going to throw yourself in a ditch if it doesn't go as planned."

Luce pursued his lips, feeling a bit embarrassed at how Alastor could read him so easily like an open book. However, the deer couldn't help but chuckle slightly without malice but more of fondness as he let go of the prince.

"Luce mon ange everything is going to be alright. It's just a party between friends and acquaintances! Not some-" the deer made vague gestures with his hand before continuing. "-Official royalty kind of ball of whatsoever. Just a costume halloween party let's say? Uh whatever you get it."

The deer stopped as he straighten his back while Lucifer was processing the other's words, getting calmer although he still had an weird feeling about it.

Then it hit him.

"Shit I don't even have a costume-"

"What did you say-?" Alastor asked as he was going through his wardrobe, not looking at Luce who seemed to feel another wave of panic going through him again.

"Shit shit shit shit shit FUCK-!"

"Probably you should stop swearing that much first thing first you know how the butterfly effect with curses and stress works on you Luce." Alastor calmly adviced, while he himself was looking for any inspiration or what to exactly wear.

And, if he had to be honest, even himself didn't really knew WHAT was the clothing he needed to put on-

Well technically he knew! But his own choice of style was actually adequate for it-? During his time of living as a human, his mother was actually religious thus it was unsurprising that he wasn't familiar with all of this even if being around horror was something he was used with.

While he was still rummaging through his clothes with Lucifer having another stressful episode, he accidentally bumped on a black cloth that he almost forgot its own existence.

Curious, he pulled it from the other and couldn't help but frown albeit it wasn't out for any negative emotions.

A black creole dress.

Uh. Weird. He didn't remembered having this in his wardrobe, especially this unique with that color. Was it grief? Probably during her mother's death anniversary? There were chances, plus it was still his size surprisingly. Now it has been a while since he wore any considered feminine attires but maybe he could do something with th-

"Al I finally found it!"

The concerned one couldn't help but bleat slightly in surprise, finally turning back to look at Lucifer as he calmed down, pretending to not have been startled, as he lightly smiled in curiosity.

"Really Luce? What is i-" he stopped on his track when he saw the toned down purple almost pitch black toga with golden motives sewed on it with a golden apple pin. Said Lucifer was smiling widely, feeling victorious until his eyes widened his surprise at Alastor's own choice.

"Wow-" he siffled out, his eyes sparkling in wonder. "It's- this dress is actually really pretty Al! I love it!" The prince beamed before growing confused. "Wait- but where do even got that? I've never seen you wear it before?" He asked, titling his head to the side. Alastor looked down at the fabric before shrugging slightly.

"Have no ideas either. Probably when I was grieving my mother but either forgot about it or just couldn't bear myself to wear it." He said, not missing the flash of sympathy going through Lucifer's eyes but he nodded, understand.

"Well I think this can be an opportunity then! Augh- I mean if you want of course-" Lucifer choked out and said in flushed embarrassment before he continued. "Well- I don't know exactly how can you work with it- but for me it's more the angel of death let's say" he justified, holding up the toga in his arms with a wider grin

Alastor couldn't help but also mirror the same expression, the prince's excited energy infectious.

"Well you sure are having ideas don't you?"

"I need to. After all, I'm the idiot who impulsively requested a costume party even though I didn't even had one." Lucifer shook his head, still not over the fact that he did that.

Alastor suppressed a laugh before pondering as he was contemplating the creole dress.

Maybe he could try and dress like those ladies during carnivals in New Orleans? Or just doing a more over exaggerated caricature of those voodoo priestess or a queered version of... What was his name again? In the movie about the frog? Faciler? Whatever. Probably something among those lines but either way, the deer was mainly just trying to find a spark of imagination.

Until.

"Maybe an allegory of Clémentine Barnabet?"

Lucifer blinked his eyes in surprise.

"Clémentine Barnabet-?"

Alastor shrugged.

"Yup. The serial killer. Now the photos of her were in black and white obviously this her dress was definitely not this color but-" he sighed. "Meh. It's just a costume so why not. Might as well just play it." He said.

Lucifer listened to his explanation before he nodded slowly. "Oooh I understand-"

When he realized that Alastor had nothing else to say, he continued, now smiling again. "Well. I think you would be really amazing as a costume of Clémentine Barnabet."

Somehow Alastor couldn't help but blush, despite finding his own idea ironically stupid.

•• <<────≪•◦⚜◦•≫────>> ••

"..."

"..."

"... Guys let's be real these two tried to do some matching or not?" Cherri asked, wearing her Harley Quinn outfit while sipping on her weirdly good but nonalcoholic punch drink while she watched from afar the owner and the manager discussing with Vagatha who wore a bloodied nun outfit while holding her spear, under the suspicious gaze of Crymini.

Anthony, who decided to tag along and mainly because Cherri invited him, hummed at the cyclops's observation before watching the two as well.

Pentious, who only found himself tracing a cut line on his neck, slowly slid between the two at the counter, squinting his eyes as to analyze before the snake approved. "Uh. Now that I think about it... And that you bring that up... They both did wore black!"

Cherri deadpanned at him while Anthony raised an eyebrow. Pentious looked at the two, wide eyes. "What??"

"Uh forget it-"

"It's actually not just the color theme. Isn't that also the same jewelry they also use?? Okay what the fuck even shortie here has the same ring as Bambi-" the spider realized, also squinting his eyes to see more details.

"Almost looking like Morticia Addams and Gomez... Except it's a Louisianan guy and his greek demigod."

"So basically just Clémentine Barnabet and Icarus." Pentious concluded.

"I have no ideas who's that Clem but I guess so" Cherri added, still finding it cute that he two were trying to be seen as the couple of the party.

Well. Party was a big word there weren't that many and the queen Charlotte even had to recluse herself for an apparently important matters but hey, as long as Lucifer seemed content with it, the first patron of the hotel would say nothing.

•• <<────≪•◦⚜◦•≫────>> ••

I'm really not proud of this one. Probably redo it with more love and passion but for now have this shit

Anyway uhm bye I'm tired af

[29/10/2024]

(2418 words)

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Wattpad version

Archive of our own version

[quietwingsinthesky]

Wait now I'm curious, which characters would you bring back for your fun self-indulgent fic?

first and foremost is that by the end, all angels have been restored to life. they're a little fucked up and traumatized and disoriented by all of it, but they're alive and ready and willing to start fixing heaven to not be a torture cult. archangels especially. this is mostly their mess, they're gonna fix it. special mentions go to uriel because i need his interactions with lucifer's children, that would be insane.

second and also obviously to me is charlie and kevin. they're. they're fine. they're literally fine, their deaths were stupid and pointless and they're fine. i guess by nature of the rewrite rowena hasn't died yet but like. she also falls under this category. crowley too.

oh! and meg! absolutely meg! very important to me that if this is a story about lucifer's kids, that we address the elephant in the room of demons Also Being That, Sort Of. and like. megstiel endgame. megstiel endgame is so real to me. they get each other. they have both done some fucked up shit but they tried to be better and waaah. there is no castiel confession scene in this au because things do not get that dire but if there were, he'd be giving his confession to meg.

now we get to the slightly more complicated choices. first up, bobby & rufus. because they are a pair, do not separate, ect ect. i love death's door as an episode but. i feel like we all have to admit that without bobby there was a huge hole in the show that logistically they filled with the bunker (home base + knowledge) but like. fuck that, man. let that old man live. let him be grumpy gay married with rufus. let him meet his grandkids who are technically lucifer's kids but whatever, it counts.

and jo and ellen. jo. and ellen. and. on the one hand, by s13 where do they fit, is it cruel to bring someone back after that long dead, but on the other, they deserve a chance. plus, maybe ellen and mary can bond over the whole dying and coming back and being moms thing, even if ellen's was a significantly shorter tenure in death. and jo trying to fit in with sam and dean when she's still so young... yeah. i think they should come back.

(and also nick should be. around. but like. very much not how he was written in s14 im so sorry my poor meow meow murder man but i find you significantly less interesting the more the writers pushed for you to be evil)

that's all the characters i can think of rn, but yeah. moral of the story is that Everyone's Fine. Highly highly traumatized, and that's part of the point, but like. they're alive. they have the chance to keep going. that is what matters.

[star-sim]

clementine ☆ heeseung lee

☆ non-idol! heeseung x fem! reader ☆ summary: heeseung was home for the summer. but so were you, the one girl that he's always hated since your playground days. the worst part was that you suddenly got hot, and now he had no idea what to do with himself. unfortunately, an entire year of not seeing each other creates the perfect conditions for one of you (or both of you) to catch feelings! ☆ genre: fluff, college! au, loser!heeseung, boyfailure x girlboss, nerdy heeseung LOL, childhood enemies to lovers, neighbors au!, humor, #patheticmen, suggestive-ish but not rlly ☆ warning(s)? loser!heeseung is SO awkward you might get embarrassed MEOW ☆ word count: 16.1k words ☆ based off the song "clementine" by grentperez. i hope this feels summery and cutesy hehe

Heeseung swore that he was going crazy.

Because why on earth was he actually attracted to you?

You, who used to kick over his sandcastles in the sandbox. You, who always hogged the slides at the playground. You, who always made a point to get him first in a game of tag. You, who always rolled your eyes at him no matter what he said. You, who made it clear to him and everyone on the face of the earth that you couldn’t stand him.

Heeseung couldn’t believe that he was even thinking about it— Why were you hot?

It's been about two weeks since Heeseung returned home for summer break. He'd finished his first full term at UC San Diego, majoring in communications. He had been living in the dorms the entire year, so it's been quite a while since Heeseung had been home.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed like nothing had changed.

They always said that adulthood and college really changes a person. But Heeseung felt the same as always.

All throughout middle school and highschool, Heeseung's summer days were often spent indoors. Reading books, drawing in his sketchbooks, playing video games, talking to his friends, and sometimes even laying in complete silence and just staring at the ceiling. 

And all these years later, Heeseung was still doing the same this summer. 

It's only the beginning of summer, but Heeseung has done next to nothing. He's seen his old friends maybe once or twice, and really only went outside from time to time to take out trash or help his mom water the plants in the backyard.

Truthfully, nothing about Heeseung has changed. He was still the quiet, introverted guy that liked time alone.

Nothing has changed.... all except one thing.

And it was driving Heeseung nuts.

You.

You were the neighbor girl, and consequently, someone that's shown up in every stage of his life. Your parents quickly became friends, so your families were closely intertwined and spent a considerable amount of time together.

The two of you went to the same high school, middle school, elementary school— heck you even played at the same playground. 

And for some reason, you just loved to torment him. It was never anything serious, but any opportunity you got, you would bother him and just be the most annoying person ever. 

Everyone in his life insisted that you were just the best little angel, but that couldn't be any further from the truth. You were mean and childish and insufferable.

And to make it worse, you always seemed to beat Heeseung at everything. Ever since your elementary school days, you somehow always got a better score than Heeseung, whether it be an assignment on coloring shapes or your AP US History scores. His parents and your parents always reassured him that he was good too, but how was he supposed to feel encouraged when you just beat him at everything?!

And you never failed to let him know it, too. You always had that sly little grin.

You even beat him in getting into his dream university. It's not really your fault technically, because it was your dream university, too. But it's the principle of it!

Heeseung couldn't help but narrow his eyes and clench his fists when he heard his mom talk about how well you're doing at UC Irvine in your prestigious little public health major.

Hate was too strong of a word, but he couldn't say that he liked you at all.

Which was why Heeseung felt his sanity slipping away.

The last thing that he expected when he came back for the summer was for you to get hot. And boy, you were hot.

It was actually infuriating how attractive you got.

Sure, Heeseung's seen you grow up beside him, but in his mind you were always the snotty six year-old that stole his candy. But after an entire year of not seeing you, he couldn't help but gawk at you.

Look, he wasn't actively seeking you out. 

Just, every time that Heeseung was out watering the plants or helping with yard work, you just so happened to peek your head over the garden wall to say hi to his dad. Your face always scrunched up when you caught a glimpse of Heeseung, murmuring a tight-lipped greeting to him too before your head dipped back under the wall.

The first time it happened, Heeseung's jaw nearly dropped. Because since when were you pretty?

The second time that Heeseung saw you was at the local ice cream parlor near the pier. In all the ice cream parlors in Orange County, you just had to go to the same one as him. 

You were wearing a bikini top with denim shorts, sunglasses atop your head. Clearly, you had just been at the beach. You had a group of friends around you (after all, between the two of you, you were the social and popular one), yet Heeseung could only look at you.

There was just something about the way the bikini top hugged your body. Maybe it was the droplets of water running down your chest. Or maybe it was the way you swayed to the faint background music of the parlor, your face looking relaxed and dreamy. Or maybe it was the way he felt so goddamn small next to you, despite having screamed and yelled and fought with you so many times in his childhood.

Since then, it felt like you just popped up everywhere. On days that Heeseung's brother or cousins forced him out of the house, you somehow managed to be where he was. And every single time, he'd just stand there and ogle at you. Even when his brother or cousins would say hi to you and strike up a conversation, Heeseung was always rendered speechless, too busy looking at the way your lips moved to truly register anything.

It almost made him angry. How dare you become hot over the past year? How dare you make him feel so stupid?

In every way possible, you were glowing. 

And it was killing Heeseung.

Heeseung let out a sigh as he sunk down onto his bed. 

It was already 8PM, yet the sky outside was still amidst the sunset. His fan was blasting, and so was his house's AC system— he even opened up his windows— yet it was still too hot.

Jamming his earbuds in his ear, Heeseung picked at the hem of his t-shirt, ignoring the way that the hair on the nape of his neck clung to his skin due to sweat.

Heeseung, even throughout college, called his friends a lot. But now that it was summer, all his friends were busy on vacation or having plans, and didn't have a lot of time to call.

Heeseung listened to the ringtone, tapping his fingers impatiently.

Finally, the ringtone stopped.

"Hey, man," a familiar, deep voice rang in Heeseung's ears. "What's up?"

"Jay!" Heeseung cried.

Jay Park was Heeseung's best friend all throughout his life. Although Jay was a year younger than him, that never was a problem in their friendship. Jay had just graduated high school, and he'd be attending UC San Diego with Heeseung next term. 

Out of everyone at home, Jay was the one person that Heeseung spoke to the most. 

He told him everything, and if he didn't, Jay always managed to get it out of him one way or another.

"What's on your mind?" Jay huffed. He always sounded exasperated, but he meant well. The moment that he graduated, Jay went back to his hometown in Seattle to meet with family. Luckily, Heeseung caught him before he left to congratulate him. Otherwise, Jay's been busy, so Heeseung appreciated him taking the time to talk to him.

Unfortunately, Jay knew Heeseung too well. Of course there was something on his mind— You. But Heeseung would rather die than admit it, even to his closest, most trusted friend. Not only was it embarrassing, but Jay's heard and witnessed it all. Heeseung would never live it down if Jay found out.

"Nothing!" Heeseung said in a sing-songy voice. "I just miss my best friend soooooo much."

Jay was fun to tease.

"Yeah, yeah." Heeseung could practically hear Jay roll his eyes, scowl, and scrunch his nose over the phone, something he did whenever he was embarrassed. "Well, I had a feeling that there was something on your mind. You never spam me with emojis unless you have something serious to talk about."

Heeseung scoffed playfully. Jay really did know him too well. 

"Nope!" Heeseung said, popping the p. 

"Right," Jay responded, and the older could tell that he was suspicious. 

A few moments of comfortable silence fell over the two of them. Sometimes, they didn't know what to say to each other, but being in each other's presence was enough.

"Oh!" Jay suddenly exclaimed, "I just remembered something that I wanted to tell you!"

Heeseung hummed in response. It was probably some crazy gossip about a teacher from their old high school getting arrested.

"But, you need to promise me that you won't tell anyone," the younger boy said, his voice eager and impatient. "Like, you can't tell anyone."

Heeseung hummed again. "Yeah."

"No, like, promise me," Heeseung could hear the fervor in his friend's voice, almost as if he's been holding this information back and was just itching to tell someone. 

"Is it that bad?" Heeseung chuckled. "You're scaring me, man."

"Promise me," Jay repeated.

"Fine," Heeseung huffed, crossing his arms. "I promise I will not tell anyone. Not a single soul."

"Okay, okay," Jay took a deep breath over the phone. Just by the sound of it, Heeseung could tell that he was about to burst if he didn't tell someone now. "So, a few weeks ago— I don't know how it slipped my mind, I was going to tell you the moment I found out— I was in Macro, and do you remember that one girl Natty, or something? The one with the bangs, like, the one that dances, and—"

"On with it!" Heeseung interrupted impatiently.

"Okay, well, Natty asked me if my friend Heedeung Lee was dating anyone, and I was like 'Who is Heedeung Lee?' so I just looked at her like she was crazy and so she never spoke to me about it again until—"

"Hurry up!" Heeseung groaned. Jay talked a lot. "Get to the point, please!"

"I'm getting there!" Jay yelled over the phone. "Well, basically Natty told me that her friend told her that [Name] [Last Name] used to have a massive crush on you."

.

.

.

"Huh?"

You, [Name] [Last Name], had a crush on him? 

On Heeseung Lee?

"I know!" Jay laughed over the phone. "That's crazy, isn't it?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Heeseung's lips moved faster than he could think. He could feel his ears burning, and they stung like hell. "Who told her?"

Jay paused to think. "Natty said that Ryujin Shin told her."

Ryujin Shin was your good friend. She wouldn't lie about something like this. Jay's source was definitely trustworthy.

Heeseung's heart was now pounding in his chest. His palms felt clammy. 

He simply couldn't process it. You? Liked him? It just didn't make sense. And after all the thoughts that he's been having about you, it didn't feel right. Something must be mistaken, right?

"When?" Heeseung blurted, swiping his tongue over his bottom lip. "When did she like me?"

"Hmmm," Jay hummed. 

Surely, you liked him in elementary school, right? There was absolutely no way that you liked him any time recently. That's impossible!

"I think she liked you..." Jay trailed off, thinking, "I think she liked you all throughout highschool."

Shit.

"I mean, I think everyone knew. It's not that surprising to me, I'm more surprised that you didn't know all this time. Like, it's so obvious— she was so obvious—"

Heeseung hung up.

"Heeseung?"

Wow, has grass always been that green?

"Heeseung, what are you—"

Heeseung never knew the world could be so beautiful. The sky was so blue and the clouds were so fluffy.

"Hey, Hee—"

What's that bright ball in the sky? Why was it yellow and so warm? Is that what people call the sun—

"Heeseung!"

Heeseung was pulled out of his daze as his older brother shook his shoulders.

It's only been a few days since Jay told the news on Heeseung, but it felt like weeks. Since then, Heeseung has gone outside more times than he ever had. He'd sit in the front yard and feel the grass under his fingertips, reconnecting with nature after such a bomb was dropped on him. Other days he'd dip his toes in his pool, just basking in the sunlight, and sometimes he'd go on walks, taking time to appreciate the world around him.

After all, if Heeseung stayed all cooped up in his room, he didn't know what he would do with himself.

Truthfully, nothing has ever impacted Heeseung as much as the fact that you liked him. Genuinely, Heeseung has never felt more confused, distraught, distressed, and downright afraid in his life.

Because... How could he?

Heeseung wouldn't be completely truthful if he said he didn't think you were attractive before this summer. How could he not? There was a reason that you were popular at school. You've always been cute. It was just your personality that made Heeseung hesitant to admit it.

But to think that you— the you that always went out of your way to get on his nerves in every capacity— had a crush on him? Absolutely insane.

And the craziest part was that your crush was obvious to everyone but him. Heeseung made a point to ask all of his old friends as discreetly as possible. Same answer every time:

"Yeah man, she was soooo in love with you."

You? Obvious? With your crush on him? Absolutely not!

This was not something that Heeseung would have expected in a million years!

And the nail in the coffin was when he asked Ryujin Shin herself.

"Oh yeah, she used to make me pick out her outfits to impress you," was all Ryujin had to say in order to kill Heeseung.

It just didn't make sense! Heeseung genuinely couldn't believe it. Of all the people in the world, you had a crush on him? It's not like no one's ever had a crush on him, but it's literally you!

Every time Heeseung thought about it he felt light-headed.

Currently, Heeseung was standing under a tree, cooling off from the rising weather. He had agreed to go on a walk at the park with his older brother. After all, after everything, he needed to touch grass. 

"You've been spacy lately, Hee," his brother nudged him. Heeseung was grateful that his brother was also back from university for the summer. "Everything okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Heeseung murmured in response. 

Wow, the dirt felt nice under his shoes. He could feel mosquitoes biting at his ankles, but the hot weather was making him too exhausted to care. He should go outside more often. Maybe he'd be less distracted. And he wouldn't think about you.

Heeseung's brother smacked the back of the younger boy's head. "You sure?"

Heeseung chewed on his bottom lip. His mind was completely fried, blank. He couldn't think.

"Hellooooo? Earth to Heeseung?"

Radio silence.

Yeah, he was cooked.

It took Heeseung an entire week to even be able to think of your name without wanting to pass out.

He didn't completely come to terms with it, but he was at a point that he'd gone over the thought too many times for it to sting anymore. Still, Heeseung couldn't stop thinking about you.

All this time you liked him and he didn't notice. Probably because you tormented him the entire time. Not quite flirting, in his opinion.

What made matters worse, though, was the fact that Heeseung would see you from time to time. It was hard.

On one hand, you were an absolute treat to look at. 

Like, wow.

Anytime he caught a glimpse of you, whether over the fence or through the kitchen window, Heeseung could physically feel his eyes get blessed.

You really were one of the most beautiful people Heeseung had ever had the privilege to lay his eyes on. He choked on his spit every time he saw you, it was insane.

On the other hand...

Ohmygodyouhadacrushonhim.

Seeing you was terrifying.

You were the one person that's always been his sworn rivalry... and this entire time you probably never saw him like that.

It was absolutely horrifying to think about!

Heeseung's cheeks felt warm at the thought. In fact, his entire body felt hot. He wasn't even sweating but his skin begged for a bucket of iced water to be poured on him. Maybe he should hose himself down later.

Maybe it was just the summer heat.

"You want me to what?!"

No, no, no!

"You heard me, young man," Heeseung's mom crossed her arms. Heeseung watched with eyes wide as saucers from his seat at the kitchen island as his mom organized the pantry. How could she be so casual?!

The world was ending. It's over.

"Nooooo," Heeseung cried, burying his face in his arms. "Mom, I can't!"

"Why not?" Mrs. Lee cocked her brows. "It's not like [Name] has a disease or anything."

Heeseung shook his head profusely. "I know, but—"

"Then what's so difficult about going over and saying hi to her? It's been an entire year since you guys have seen each other!"

Heeseung groaned.

And that's how he was forced to walk over to your house next door and say hi. He didn't know why his mom was so insistent, but it's probably because she was good friends with your mom, or something. Him and your families have always been close, so Heeseung was bound to interact with you this summer.

Heeseung dragged his feet as he walked over to your house. He really didn't want to see you.

At first, he thought you hated him, but now apparently you've liked him all this time? And he's also sexually frustrated so now Heeseung was just confused.

And lo and behold, the moment that your house came into view, there you were. 

You were in a swimsuit, sunbathing on your front lawn. You wore your chunky sunglasses that fit you too well, your pretty lips sipping on a fancy glass of coconut water.

Heeseung had to force himself to not gawk.

Goddamn, was all he could think, because goddamn were you fine.

The way the sun shone down on your skin made it hard for him to look away. You were completely relaxed, alone in your own world, yet you managed to still be glowing. Heeseung's mouth felt dry, his heart rate speeding up at the sight of you sprawled out on the lawn like that.

Heeseung's feet took him further than his mind could, too busy gaping at you. He stopped at the front of your house, just enough for you to notice him.

"Oi!" you yelled from your lawn, perching yourself up on your elbows in a way that made you even more attractive. "The fuck do you want, Lee?!"

Heeseung had to shake out of his daze. 

"H-Hey," he stuttered out, an awkward hand coming up to wave at you. Heeseung winced in his head, feeling embarrassment wash over him as you took off you looked over your sunglasses, shooting him a questioning look. 

He'd never been like this with you. Ever. The only memories that Heeseung had with you were just the two of you bickering. Never any shyness or awkwardness. So why was he so nervous now?

"Ummmm," you said. Heeseung recognized that tone: it was the tone that you used when you wanted to obnoxiously pretend to be confused to embarrass him. Usually, it would just annoy him, but this time Heeseung was actually embarrassed. "Hi?"

Heeseung could feel your judgy gaze under your sunglasses. You were definitely staring him down. Whether with love or with hate, he didn't know. But it scared the fuck out of him.

"Well, I'mgonnagonowbye!" Heeseung spouted before running off.

(Heeseung could tell that you were watching him as he struggled to get his front door open. In fact, he had to knock multiple times and yell for someone to let him in, because he was actually locked out. And the moment that he was let in, Heeseung ran up to his room, and slammed the door. Never again.)

Although you thought it would be 10x funnier if you didn't, you did in fact think Heeseung Lee was cute. Of course you did. Especially after a year of not seeing him, you couldn’t deny that he’d really grown into a man. He definitely got taller, and his voice sounded deeper too. The way the muscles on his biceps and forearms flexed when he did yard work gave you more of a reason to peek over the garden wall to say hi.

You thought your dumb little childhood crush on Heeseung had subsided by now. You felt a little bad for a while, for always being mean to him— but you just like him so much! 

When you went away for school, you were sure you’d forget all about it. After all, you had a feeling that your feelings for him were out of convenience: he was just a guy that you were close in proximity to. Plus, it was so obvious, too. He definitely knew all throughout high school and middle school how much you liked him. It would hurt your pride to go back to him.

But now that he’s back (and so are you!) you’re having second thoughts.

Sure, he was cute. 

Would you kiss him? Sure. 

Would you date him? The answer to that would be kept a secret. 

For now, you were just going to have fun with it. Whatever happened was not up to you anyway. 

Though, you’d be lying if you said that you never tried to impress him, especially now.

You told yourself it was in a condescending way. 

In a "look how hot I am" way. 

In an untouchable way.

Because you knew that he’d be looking anyway. He always did, even if he didn’t mean to.

And you knew for sure now, as you put on your fitted bikini top that he’d definitely be looking.

Lucky you, your siblings and cousins were close to Heeseung’s brother and cousins. When you were younger, everyone would gather in Heeseung’s backyard for a pool party. 

And now that it was summer, it was no surprise that there was a pool party at the Lee house today.

So here you were, in Heeseung’s backyard, dipping your toes in his pool. 

The Southern California weather was not doing anyone justice. The blue sky was clear, with no cloud in sight. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on anyone who dared to be in its presence. 

The air smelled of Mrs. Lee's lemon tree, sunscreen, chlorine water, and barbecue. Loud music boomed throughout the Lees' backyard, coupled with shouting, laughing, and the sizzle of the grill.

Everyone was here— Heeseung’s brother, his cousins, and all of your siblings and cousins— except the boy himself. 

He’s probably inside cooped up in his room, you thought with an eye roll. He always was. Whenever there was a pool party like this, he always came down the latest, after getting an earful from his mom about being a party pooper. 

You’d always hoped that he’d come down. After all, he was the only one your age, and you wanted to show off how cute you looked. 

That’s something that never changed. 

You pushed up your sunglasses, watching as the boys that you grew up with tackled each other in the water and screamed bloody murder. You couldn’t help but chuckle.

At pool parties like this, you usually found yourself sitting near the shallow side of the pool, dipping your feet in and just enjoying everyone's presence. 

Frankly, you weren't a fan of the water.

You were too busy splashing your cousins with water and laughing at how stupid they looked with their hair all wet and swooped around to notice the sound of a very familiar boy being dragged downstairs.

"Dude— Let go— Ack!" Heeseung's voice boomed all the way from behind the screen door. "Let go— Ow!"

You turned over your shoulder to see Heeseung himself standing at the entrance to the backyard, pouting like a child with his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing swim trunks, but wore an oversized t-shirt over it.

Still, he looked as good as ever.

His tan skin, disheveled hair, and overall awkward and loserish look— you loved it too much.

You watched curiously as he stood there awkwardly while everyone else played in the water. 

You sighed. Some things never change.

You pulled your feet out of the pool, before walking with wet feet over to the cooler next to the grill to grab two Caprisuns. Then, you trudged over to where Heeseung was standing.

"Look who decided to finally go outside," you said with a deadpan tone. Usually, Heeseung would glare at you, maybe scoff and look away. But this time, his eyes just shakily shifted to your face. Weird.

You could see his eyes widen a fraction, before they traveled down to your bikini top. You had to hold back a smug grin— Good, he was looking.

You shoved one of the Caprisuns into his hand, while stabbing your own with the straw. 

He still stared at you, as if you were some kind of unicorn.

"Why do you keep staring?" you asked bluntly, quirking your brow at him. It was weird. Where was the annoyed Heeseung that fought back whenever you bothered him?

The boy tensed up, his eyes widening into saucers before he turned away from you altogether. 

Was he... sick?

You looked at him questioningly. Heeseung stood completely still, his back turned to you, gripping onto his Caprisun for dear life.

You sighed. You nudged him with your elbow. 

"I thought a school like UCSD would make you at least a little bit cooler," you began your way back to the pool, but stopped. You looked over your shoulder at him. "Still a loser."

And with that, you left him standing there.

Heeseung swore that he's not a loser.

Well, maybe he was just a little bit of a loser, but not that much. You called him a loser all the time, and it never really got to him. After all, you were cooler than anyone Heeseung knew, so your standard of coolness was off the charts.

Though, it did bother him a little bit this time. And for the life of him, Heeseung couldn't figure out why.

Eventually, he trudged over to the pool and dipped his feet in beside you. Though, he made sure to keep a big distance between the two of you. 

Heeseung didn't know what he would do if he was any closer to you. And plus, you'd probably start screaming anyway.

In fourth grade, he pushed you into the pool as a joke, without knowing that you didn't know how to swim. Since then, you made it a point to scream whenever Heeseung was near you at the pool, always claiming that he'd pose a danger to you, or something like that.

The music was nice, and so was the feeling of the sun on his skin. Heeseung just felt a little bit out of place, but he wasn't unhappy to be there.

Heeseung was lost in thought, a habit that he's had since he was younger— so lost that he didn't hear the splashing of the pool, so lost didn't hear his brother ask you why you weren't swimming, so lost that he didn't hear his cousins threaten to push you in if you didn't get in yourself.

But the moment that Heeseung heard your shrill scream, he was up on his feet.

In a few quick seconds, Heeseung's brother had hauled you up over his shoulder, ignoring the way that you wriggled in his touch, and threw you into the pool. 

It all happened so quickly before Heeseung's eyes, yet it felt like time slowed down.

As the water splashed in what felt like slow-motion, Heeseung watched as your eyes widened into large saucers, a loud shriek ripping from your throat. His breath hitched. Other than those sounds, he couldn't hear anything else: not everyone laughing, not the music, not the grilling, just you and him and the water.

Heeseung's lips moved faster than him.

"You idiot!" he shouted, and although his entire body felt like it was frozen in time, he was already halfway through throwing his t-shirt off. Heeseung tuned out the sound of more laughter. He could feel his blood boil. "She can't swim!"

With no hesitation, Heeseung dove into the pool, ignoring the cold sensation that sent goosebumps down his spine as the water engulfed him. 

There were some things that cannot be forgotten, and something that Heeseung knew he'd never forget was the way you wrapped your arms around him the moment that you felt his presence. Your once tense body relaxed immediately. You clung onto him, your eyes squeezed shut as stray tears spilled out. He could hear the raggedness of your breath, and just by your face, Heeseung couldn't even imagine the panic and fear that you'd felt. 

"Heeseung," you whimpered, grasping the boy as if you would die. You sniffled, pressing your face into his neck as your arms tightened around his torso. "Hee—"

Heeseung could feel chlorine water droplets slipping into his eyes, burning them. Yet, he didn't remove his hands from around you, not even once. As he stabilized the two of you in the water, he squeezed your shoulders comfortingly.

"You're safe," he said against your ear, "I got you."

The last thing you expected to happen was to be sitting on Heeseung Lee's bed.

He still had his shelf full of comic books and figurines. Except, the last time you really took a look at the shelf was when you were 13, and now six years later it was completely filled to the brim. The walls were still covered in superhero posters. In the corner of his room, there used to be a tiny little ukelele from when he was just learning how to play, but now it was replaced with a guitar.

You shivered, pulling your knees to your chest as you sniffled, holding the towel draped over your shoulders tightly. Your skin felt cold to the touch, but on the inside, you felt like you were burning up. Hot tears lined your eyes, threatening to stream out.

After that fiasco, Heeseung took you upstairs to his room. He left you a few moments ago to find you clean clothes.

You were angry. Why did they throw you in the pool? You thought it was common knowledge that you couldn't swim. You grew up with these people! How did Heeseung Lee remember and not anyone else? How annoying.

"Uh," Heeseung cracked his bedroom door open, poking his head in. You cocked a brow at him, especially when you noticed that he came back empty handed. "Just— Give me a second."

You watched as he went to his own drawers, taking out his own clothes.

"I— There's no girls living in his house," he said sheepishly as he handed you his clothes, unable to hide his red ears. "I couldn't find you— uh— girl clothes, so just— just take mine."

You just frowned.

Although you didn't do any swimming yourself, being thrown into a pool and drowning for a few moments was physically taxing enough. You didn't feel like moving right now, even if it was something as easy as changing clothes. You just put the clothes beside you on the bed, muttering a quiet thanks before pulling your knees even closer to your chest.

Heeseung stared at you. It was uncharacteristic to see you so... small. Someone so bothersome and mean to him, yet here you were curled up like you didn't want to be seen.

Heeseung would never admit it, but he felt bad for you at that moment.

Heeseung sighed.

He took a few more steps forward, standing in front of the bed.

"Scoot over," he said, motioning with his hands.

You looked up at him through your eyelashes. Your lips jutted out for a few seconds into a pout, but you huffed and nodded. Heeseung plopped down beside you, letting out another sigh. 

The two of you sat in silence like that for a few moments, both staring at the floor. In the distance you could still hear water splashing and music from the backyard.

"Thanks, by the way" you murmured, breaking the silence. You kept your eyes down.

"Huh?" Heeseung whipped his head over to you.

"I said thanks," you repeated yourself, this time louder and with annoyance. "You loser."

"Oh." Heeseung blinked. "Sorry."

It was silent again, before you clicked your tongue. You nudge Heeseung with your foot. 

"Why are you apologizing?" you sounded irritated, but Heeseung knew that that was just your natural tone when you weren't trying to be nice all the time. 

"I dunno," the boy shrugged. "I guess for being a loser."

You sighed loudly, your brows furrowing as you nudged him again. 

"You're taking me too seriously," you rubbed your temples. "I mean, you are a loser, but I don't really give a fuck if you are."

Heeseung blinked. "Huh?"

You groaned. "You're so dense. My point is, you have nothing to apologize for, including for being thick in the head and a loser."

.

.

.

"As a matter of fact," you grumbled. "I'm grateful for you. I'd be six feet under if it wasn't for you."

.

.

.

You finally turned to look at Heeseung. Your hand came up to flick his forehead.

"Ow!" Heeseung cried, his hand shooting up for his head. "What was that for— Ack!"

You grabbed a pillow and smacked him square in the head.

"What the hell?!" Heeseung yelled. He reached across you to grab one of his pillows, launching it at you, hitting you in the face.

But instead of fighting back like Heeseung expected, you threw your head back, falling back onto the bed. You were laughing.

"What are you—" Heeseung scrunched his face, before he grabbed another pillow and smacked you again. "What are you laughing at?"

You didn't respond, only continuing to laugh. Heeseung watched as you clutched your stomach, your eyes squeezing together as your lips parted, airy giggles pouring out.

His ears burned. Did he say something funny?

Had Heeseung ever seen you laugh so... light-heartedly? It seemed like the only times you'd laugh was when you were making fun of him. But here you were, laughing like he'd just said the funniest thing.

"Sorry," you said when you finally calmed down. You relaxed into his pillows, letting out a soft ah. You wiped your eyes, which had tears coming out from how hard you laughed. "It's just..." you glanced at him, "You were scaring me."

"Why?" Heeseung's brows furrowed. 

"You were, like, being so awkward," you said coolly. "I mean, you're always awkward, but you were being awkward in a weird, shy way. You weren't fighting back like you usually did."

You flashed him a cheeky grin. "But you seem to be back to normal now."

Heeseung stared at your face. 

Well, even if you were super hot now, and even if you had a crush on him, nothing would change the fact that the two of you were (no matter how much you didn't want to admit it) childhood friends. Heeseung wouldn't want anything to come between that. Even his own awkwardness. There was no use being weird about anything.

Maybe this summer was for the two of you to finally connect, rather than push each other away.

"Ew," you kicked Heeseung, "Stop staring, you freak."

Heeseung rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Go change."

Truthfully, it was impossible to be awkward like this around you. Heeseung was awkward with everyone, including his own mother sometimes, but not you.

(By the end of the pool party, you and Heeseung had spent most of the time up in his room, which wasn't uncommon throughout your childhood. Though, the difference now was that you and him weren't arguing.)

Normally, on summer mornings, Heeseung slept until noon. But his slumber this morning was rudely interrupted by the sound of someone banging on his door.

"What the fuck?" Heeseung cursed under his breath as he trudged downstairs, still shirtless and groggy in his Minecraft pajama pants. He'd curse at his brother for not answering the door, but Heeseung remembered that everyone else in his family had a life that didn't include being home all day, unlike him. 

Heeseung hastily opened the front door, ready to yell at whoever was disrupting him at this time. It was probably one of those solicitors trying to sell him something, or some kid that accidentally threw a ball into his yard.

But when he opened the door...

"Hi, loser."

Heeseung slammed the door.

What the hell were you doing at his house at this time?! Granted, it was almost 11AM, but still!

"What the fuck?!" you began banging again, "Open up!"

"No!" Heeseung yelled from the other side of the door. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, open up and I'll tell you!"

After this back and forth for a few minutes, Heeseung finally agreed on letting you in.

"Rude," you muttered, crossing your arms. "Didn't your mother teach you to not slam the door on people's faces?"

Heeseung grabbed the door, beginning to close it again. You jammed your foot inside. "Not so fast, little boy."

Heeseung rolled his eyes. "Explain."

You huffed. "I'm bored. Can we hang out?"

.

.

.

"What? Why?"

You pushed past the boy, stepping inside his house and making your way to the kitchen.

"I already said," you said coolly. "I'm bored."

Heeseung trailed after you. "It's too early!"

You shrugged, making a bee-line for the fridge, looking through it. Heeseung sighed. There was no reckoning with you. He took a seat at the kitchen island, letting out an annoyed groan.

You looked over your shoulder, quirking your brow at him. 

"Nice pajamas, by the way."

It was now that Heeseung realized that he was half naked with messy hair and his embarrassing Minecraft PJ pants.

His ears burned.

"I thought you were done with Minecraft," Heeseung could hear the teasing tone in your voice as a sly grin spread across your lips. "I guess some things just never change."

"Shut— Shut up!" And he scurried upstairs to freshen up and change. You chuckled.

Apparently, your definition of "hanging out" was gossiping in your car while devouring frozen yogurt.

"Why are you so surprised?" you asked, while indiscreetly stealing a strawberry from Heeseung's frozen yogurt.

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I just thought you'd have more extravagant plans for what a 'hang out' is."

You scoffed. "Like what?"

"I don't know!" Heeseung shook his head. "Maybe, like, going to the beach? Or going to the movies? What do cool people do these days?"

"Why would you think that?" you almost looked offended. 

"You were popular in high school, weren't you?" Heeseung reasoned. "I assumed that your hangouts were cool because everyone wanted to be there."

You scowled. "Okay, well, getting frozen yogurt is cool. I don't know what you're talking about." Heeseung shrugged again. "And plus, I chose this activity because I knew you wouldn't like the beach or movies."

Heeseung blinked. Did you really do that for him?

"Why are you looking at me like I killed someone?" you rolled your eyes. "Why would I hang out with you and only do stuff that I'd enjoy? It's not fun when the other person isn't having fun, you know."

"I—I know," Heeseung stammered. The corner of his lips lifted a little bit. "I just can't believe you have feelings."

An offended sound came out of your lips. You slapped his shoulder, once, twice, three times, ignoring his yelps.

"I'm sorryyyyy!" Heeseung cried, squirming away from you. "Ack! What is your problem, dude— Ow! I said I'm sorry!"

"Take that back, you freak!"

"I did...!"

Heeseung never thought that he'd wake up on some mornings and see you in his kitchen, scouring his pantry and fridge for food. 

At first, Heeseung found himself panicking every time he inevitably trekked downstairs, all groggy and shirtless, at noon and you were there munching on cereal.

"Why— What are you—" Heeseung would stare at you horrified, immediately feeling shy because he was shirtless. How could you be so... so casual?! "How did you even get in?!"

You'd just shrug nonchalantly, ignoring Heeseung's spluttering. 

"I asked your mom for an extra key," you had pulled out of your pocket. "See?"

And ever since then, it wasn't common for Heeseung to hear the front door cracking open, followed by the sound of rustling in the kitchen and living room.

Initially, Heeseung made a point to freshen up before clambering down to give you an earful for turning the TV's volume too high. He made sure to throw on a shirt, maybe brush his hair and teeth and wash his face. 

But the moment that Heeseung no longer relied on his biological clock and his alarm clock to wake him up because the ruckus that you'd make in his kitchen was loud enough to shake him out of his slumber, he realized that there was really no escaping you.

"Turn it down, will you?!" Heeseung would shout from upstairs, barely awake. You'd groan, but you'd comply. After all, it was his house that you were raiding.

It was weird. Heeseung never thought that he'd become comfortable with you like this, and in such a short amount of time. There was a level of friendship between the two of you no matter what. You'd grown up together, that was undeniable.

But Heeseung had always expected you and him to actually become friends through other means. He'd always thought that something bigger, more dramatic, would happen, something that would force the two of you to finally get along.

But all it took was for you to be bored one day and go to his house.

Had he been misinterpreting everything? All this time, Heeseung always thought that there was a wall around you, something that he couldn't break down. Yet here he was now, minding his own business while you ate at his kitchen island.

It made him think, was it college and summertime that made the two of you like this? Or has it always been like this, and he never noticed it?

It made him think back to his childhood.

He had so many distinct memories of you.

You pushing him down the slide, you calling him stupid, you pulling his hair when you were bored.

But there were also other memories, ones that Heeseung had to think hard about, ones that made him question whether or not his memory was playing tricks on him.

He could remember you following him upstairs after one of your families' dinners when you guys were six years-old. 

If there was something six year-old Heeseung and you could agree on, it was that the adults' conversations at dinner were too boring and convoluted to follow. 

Heeseung faintly remembered the way you paused briefly in front of the shelf in the corner of his room. It was the shelf that he displayed his comic books and superhero figurines on, a collection that he'd spent all of his allowance money on. 

Heeseung had ignored you as you messed around with his stuffed animals, opting to read his comic books in silence. You had crawled up beside him, your squeaky voice pulling Heeseung's head out of the pages.

"What's that?" you had asked him.

Heeseung's teeth sunk into his bottom lip. He remembered what happened after you asked that clearly.

"A comic book," young Heeseung had said annoyedly, shooting you a glare. "Duh."

Heeseung could distinctly remember how he felt at that moment. Embarrassment. His brother, his brother's friends, and Heeseung's own friends liked to tease him for his nerdy interests.

Six year-old you didn't take the hint, only further poking and prying him. Your fingers plucked one of the pages, curiously looking at the screen-toned pages and text bubbles. "What's it about?"

Heeseung had snatched the comic book from you, so hard that the page you were gripping ripped. His memory was fuzzy here, but from what he could recall, Heeseung got angry and yelled at you. He had pushed you, making you bump into his figurine shelf. One of his bigger and sharper figurines managed to knock over, falling and hitting your square in the face.

It was nothing serious, just a scratch, but you were crying by the end of it.

As an adult, Heeseung cringed at the memory.

Poor, awkward six year-old Heeseung, who thought you were making fun of him when really you were just interested.

And after that, you never asked him about his superhero comics again.

As Heeseung now peered at you scrolling through movies to watch, he couldn't help but notice how you hovered over all the superhero movies, before moving past them. He wondered how different things would have been if he didn't yell at you that day. In fact, he wondered how different things would have been if he didn't yell at you at all.

Because now that Heeseung thought about it, all of his memories of you annoying him were really just you wanting to talk to him. When you slapped his shoulder and called him stupid, it wasn't you trying to be mean to him. You were just like that.

Had he taken everything wrong all this time?

First, it started with you eating in his kitchen everyday.

The next thing Heeseung knew, you were forcing him to go outside everyday, one way or another. This must be the most sunlight that Heeseung has ever had in his entire life.

On some days, you wanted to go on walks around the neighborhood.

"Do you remember that house?" you asked him once, pointing to the house at the end of the block. 

Heeseung's lips lifted. "Of course I do. How could I forget?"

You chuckled. "Hell-bound dogs, right?"

Heeseung could remember the day. When you and him were ten years-old, you went trick-or-treating down the neighborhood. The house at the end of the block was new to the neighborhood, so the two of you kids had no clue what your new neighbor was like.

Big mistake. That year, Heeseung was dressed as a demon with a plastic demonic mask, while you were a witch.

The two of you had no idea that your neighbor would be so... afraid... of two children dressed as a demon and as a witch. 

As fast as you rang that doorbell, chanting trick or treat!, the two of you were sent running back home at full speed, with a shouting neighbor threatening to call the police on you "hell-bound dogs." And that's how that neighbor earned the name Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs.

Poor you.

"Do you think she's still alive?" you grinned cheekily, nudging the boy.

"Who?"

"You know..." you drawled your syllables, "Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs."

Heeseung scoffed. "Of course she is!"

"But it's been nine years!" you shrugged. "You don't know what happens in nine years."

"She wasn't that old," Heeseung reasoned. You sent him a look. The both of you collectively recalled that neighbor being a hag. "Okay, maybe we were just young, so everyone looked old to us."

You hummed. "You're right."

As the two of you approached that house, preparing to pass it, you were engulfed with silence. The neighborhood that you grew up in held so many memories. 

You and Heeseung had spent the entire walk pointing to various houses and obscure things in the neighborhood, recalling old stories of memories of the shenanigans that the two of you would have with them. Heeseung couldn't remember the last time he laughed like this. It wasn't the type of laugh that made him fall to his knees and well up tears in his eyes.

It was more like a laugh that felt mixed with a sob. In a weird way. Each laugh that tumbled from his lips felt so foreign, yet so familiar. 

The type of laugh that could only be elicited by an old friend.

And it was then that Heeseung realized that that's what you were to him. An old friend.

"I dare you to knock on Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs," you said suddenly. You loved to do this, even when you were a kid.

"No," Heeseung shook his head, hiding a chuckle. "I am not doing that."

"C'mon," you nudged him again. "It'll be fun."

Heeseung narrowed his eyes.

"And we'll get to know if she's still alive."

Heeseung looked at Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs' door.

He was curious.

And besides, it would be payback for chasing you two out all those years ago.

Heeseung sighed.

"Fine."

It couldn't be that bad, right? Heeseung and you were older now. You wouldn't be afraid of some old lady. Right?

Wrong.

Because the next thing Heeseung knew, you were carrying him princess style, running as fast as you could down the street. The both of you were cursing at the top of your lungs, shrieking for your dear lives. Heeseung's large body awkwardly draped into your arms, his arms clumsily around your neck, but the two of you were too scared shitless to care.

The moment that you reached the comforts of the Lee house, Heeseung and you caught your breath, keeling over.

After a few moments of just breathing, the two of you made eye-contact. 

At first, you just stared at each other, wondering what the fuck just happened.

But then a smile began to spread on your lips, then on Heeseung's lips, and suddenly the two of you were laughing. Laughing so hard that your stomachs hurt.

"She's way scarier than I remember!" you cried, clutching your stomach as you gripped Heeseung's shoulder for stability. 

"I— I know!" Heeseung laughed. He wiped away his tears, shoving his face in his hands. "I can't believe we just did that!"

And the second thing that Heeseung realized that day was that you, too, were a loser. 

"What’s got you smiling at your phone, Hee?" Heeseung’s dad asked him in the car one afternoon. The Lees had a short weekend getaway, and they were now on their way back. It was no denying that Heeseung had been on his phone much more than he usually was.

"Yeah," his brother nodded in agreement. "You've been texting a lot these days."

Heeseung's mother gasped. "You didn't get a girlfriend, did you?"

The whole car erupted, the tires of the Lee car skrrting against the wheels abruptly. His dad and brother whooped, while his mother excitedly squealed.

..... Except Heeseung heard none of this.

Because he had his earphones jammed in his ears, completely absent as he stared at the window.

The offense?

Heeseung was busy blasting your summer playlist.

Look, it wasn't because he liked you or anything. It was just that your summer playlist had all the songs that he liked! Maybe except a few...

The other day when Heeseung found himself in the passenger seat of your car chowing down on fast food, the two of you talked about music. Surprisingly, you had a lot in common in terms of music taste.

You guys ended up riding along the coastal highway late into the night, just sharing songs.

Heeseung remembered how the traffic lights reflected off your face, illuminating your pretty eyes. You chuckled at a few songs that came up.

"You know," you had smiled, but your brows furrowed, "Kai sent me this song when we were dating Sophomore Year."

And when another song came up, you furrowed your brows again. "I think EJ sent me this one when we were dating."

And again. "Oh! When I was dating..."

And for some reason, Heeseung couldn't bring himself to listen to any of the songs that your high school exes sent you. It could've been his favorite song, but for some reason, any association with your past lovers made Heeseung feel sick.

Heeseung couldn't figure out why he was so bothered. There were songs that he swore he could never hate, but it left such a bitter taste in his mouth that another man sent you songs.

Now, Heeseung's nose curled as he glanced at the song now playing.

I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys. Everyone knew this song, so it shouldn't be a surprise that one of your exes sent you this. But still. Heeseung felt uneasy listening to it. He couldn't figure out why. It was such a weird feeling. His heart felt like it was throbbing in his chest, tightening at the thought of it.

By now, Heeseung was certain that Jay's earlier report about you having a crush on him was outdated. It's been a while since Heeseung's thought about it, and while it still made him burn up, he was convinced that even if you did like him, that was the past. There was no use in dwelling on it anymore.

His finger hovered over the skip button for a few moments, taking in the sound of the rough bass. 

Heeseung didn't know why he felt a sense of disappointment. Disappointed that you probably didn't like him like that anymore. 

Skip.

Sooo... you're not very successful at forgetting your mini crush on Heeseung. You swore that you could, especially because you thought you'd grown up.

But now as you watch the way Heeseung's big hands wrapped around the steering wheel, his eyes focused on the road while your collaborative playlist plays on repeat, you're finding it difficult to pull your eyes away from him.

He was just so... loserish. He was so awkward, and clumsy, and embarrassing, yet somehow every time you saw his grimace after he tripped over his feet yet again, it made you feel so warm.

One of your old highschool friends was throwing a party at her beach house, and you were invited. You didn't want to go alone, so you begged Heeseung to go with you. And after some hefty convincing, he finally agreed.

The two of you (mostly you) had spent the entire afternoon getting ready.

You made sure to put on your tiniest dress and tallest heels, glittery makeup across your face and curly lashes lining your eyes. 

As you fixed your lipgloss in Heeseung's rearview mirror, you glanced at him from the corner of your eye.

You had to sit Heeseung down and give him a lesson in fashion. He was really about to go to a party in a hoodie. His entire closet consisted of baggy t-shirts and hoodies, and while they looked damn good on him, he needed proper party attire.

You searched through his entire closet, and lo and behold, you found the compression shirt that Heeseung borrowed from his brother and never returned. 

You couldn't stop looking at the veins on his forearms, or the biceps on his arms that flexed everytime he gripped the steering wheel. You knew Heeseung worked out, but seeing his toned arms in the flesh made your cheeks feel warm.

Under his big doe eyes, pouty lips, and disheveled hair was a man.

It was hard to fully conceptualize sometimes— that you were no longer the squeaky teenage girl head over heels for your nerdy childhood friend. Instead, you were a woman, and so was he.

Heeseung's eyes fluttered over to you, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip as the two of you pulled up to the house.

"I don't think I know anybody here," Heeseung sighed, wringing his fingers nervously. As the two of you got out of his car and approached the door, he groaned, "It's gonna be so awkward."

"Relax," you grinned at him, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. "Just stick beside me the entire time."

He chewed on his bottom lip. He was uneasy. You sighed, linking your fingers with his. His eyes widened into saucers, but you ignored it. You gave his hand a squeeze. 

"You're gonna be fine," you reassured, before dragging him into the party, hand-in-hand.

The moment that you stepped inside the beach house, you could feel Heeseung tense up, squeezing your hand. 

You couldn't blame him, for the bright strobe lights, booming music, and smell of sweat, alcohol, and drugs hit your senses immediately.

"Just follow me," you whispered to him. You shot him another smile. "C'mon. Let's get some drinks."

And despite what everyone liked to think, you were a law-abiding citizen. You were not about to get wasted, and you were under the drinking age anyway. You got yourself orange juice and Heeseung apple juice (something that you knew he'd like because you used to argue about it).

You found it a bit entertaining as you went around the house, saying hi to all of your old classmates and friends, while Heeseung followed you like a lost puppy. You had him hold you by the shoulders, finding it awfully endearing every time he squeezed them.

"I thought you hated her," he whispered into your ear after you just greeted someone, striking up an animated conversation with her. 

"I do," you chuckled. Of course Heeseung would remember. "She's why me and Taehyun broke up."

You heard Heeseung's breath hitch, a gasp in his throat. "Really? That's fucked."

You chuckled again. So cute. "I know."

Every time you encountered someone that Heeseung personally disliked, you could feel him gripping your shoulders. It was cute. 

"Is that Heeseung Lee?!" a squeaky voice suddenly filled you and Heeseung's ears. And the next thing you knew, Heeseung was being crowded around by a group of girls, leading him to be whisked away from you. You couldn't remember any of their names, but you definitely remembered who they were.

When you said that Heeseung was a loser, you meant it in an endearing, mean-but-not-really way. 

These girls were actual bullies in high school, and for a time, they'd bully Heeseung. If it weren't for you scaring them off everytime, Heeseung might be dead.

But there they were, crowding around and cooing at Heeseung, touching his arms and batting their eyelashes at them as if they didn't bully the shit out of him. 

"I didn't know you got so hot, Hee!"

"If I knew you'd be so strong, I would've fucked you in high school."

"What're you doing after this, Heeseung?"

You could sense Heeseung's discomfort. From the way that he recoiled from each touch, to the way his wide eyes occasionally met yours, to the way that his lips curled.

And it made your blood boil.

Not only were these the people that went out of their way to hurt him, here they were acting like Heeseung would forget just because they thought he was hot. Blatantly disrespectful.

Help me, his eyes read. And of course you did.

You marched over to where they were, creeping up behind Heeseung and grabbing his shoulder and yanking him backward away from the hoard. 

"Get behind me," you whispered to him, and Heeseung immediately complied. 

"Hi, guys!" you greeted with a tight-lipped smile. You could feel Heeseung's fingers playing with the lacing at the back of your dress, something he did when he was nervous.

"[Name]!" the girls exclaimed, but you could tell that they were unhappy with your presence. "We were just talking to ourHee."

"Oh!" You faked excitement, flashing them another smile. You narrowed your eyes at them, before reaching behind you to grab Heeseung's wrist. "Well, me and Heeseung were about to leave just now."

"Aww!" one of them whined, yet she still managed to bat her eyelashes at Heeseung, who shifted uncomfortably. 

"C'mon, [Name]!" another crossed her arms. You could tell that her tone was playful, but you knew better. "You got all the hot guys during high school. Let us have this one, won't you?"

You feigned a giggle. 

"No, sorry girl," you said in a chirpy tone. You didn't want to seem hostile. "This one's mine."

The girls blinked at you. "Yours?"

"Mhm!" you smiled again. You squeezed Heeseung's hand in yours, bringing it up to show them your interlocked fingers. "Right, Babe?"

Heeseung stared at you for a few moments, before nodding his head quickly, his tongue swiping over his bottom lip. "O-Of course, baby."

You craned your neck up to gently press a kiss on his neck, ignoring his surprised yelp, before you turned back to the girls. "We'll be leaving now. It was nice seeing you!"

And with that, you pushed through the crowd of people, making a bee-line for the door and taking Heeseung with you.

The walk back to Heeseung’s car was silent. When the two of you got inside, it was still silent. Heeseung didn't start the engine or the music. He just sat there quietly.

"I'm sorry," he finally blurted.

"Huh?" you cocked your head. "What are you sorry about?"

"I feel like I ruined the night," Heeseung murmured, a large frown on his lips.

"What?!" you furrowed your brows, reaching out to touch his arm. "No, no, no! You didn't ruin anything."

He continued to frown. The car shook just from how loud the music was, and you could feel the bass in your chest. 

"And you had to kiss me!" he continued, shoving his face into his hands.

You furrowed your brow. Did he not like it? Was he disgusted with you?

"You shouldn't have!" Heeseung continued rambling on, using his hands. Poor boy sniffled, and it was then that you noticed the way his doe eyes welled with tears. From the way he blinked quickly while turning away from you so that you couldn't see his face told you everything. "Now everyone is going to think that you're dating me!"

You were a little hurt. "Why is that a bad thing?"

"It's a bad thing for you," Heeseung muttered into his palms, sniffling quietly. "I'm a loser, [Name]. And you're not. What if everyone starts seeing you differently?"

Your hand ghosted over his shoulder. "Why should anyone's opinion matter to me?"

"Because!" Heeseung whipped his head over to you. With the sun setting, orange light reflected off his cheeks and red nose, as well as his glassy eyes. 

"Because....." he sighed, before stopping. "What, you don't regret it?"

You crossed your arms. 

"The only reason I'd regret kissing you is if you felt uncomfortable." You met his eyes. "Did I make you uncomfortable?"

Heeseung stared at you for a few times, before he whipped his head away again. But this time, it wasn't out of shame or remorse. You could tell by his shaky voice, pink ears, and rigid body language that he was embarrassed more than anything.

"No..." he mumbled. "The k-kiss... didn't make me uncomfortable. I actually kind of— Never mind."

If you hadn't known him all your life, you wouldn't have been able to tell that Heeseung was flustered. Flustered beyond reason. If you asked him a question about superhero comics, a topic that he knew front and back, he still wouldn't be able to give a coherent answer. That was how flustered he was.

How cute.

"Hmm?" you hummed, the corners of your lips raising. "Complete that thought."

Heeseung groaned something that you couldn't understand, shoving his face back into his palms. You chuckled as you pulled him away from his hands, gently clutching his jaw and forcing him to look at you.

"I wanna know what you were going to say, Heeseung," you rasped, unable to hide the slyness in your voice.

He let out an embarrassed squeak. Even if it weren't for the orange sunlight, you would still be able to tell how red Heeseung got. The warmth emitting from his face was so strong that you could feel it. Poor boy couldn't even look you in the eye.

So cute.

"I-I..."

You hummed. "Go on."

"I was just going to say..." Heeseung squeezes his eyes shut, something he did when he was so embarrassed that he'd explode. "I l-liked the kiss."

.

.

.

You opened your mouth to speak, but he continued to ramble on. "I-I mean I didn't mind it that much. Itwasjustnicewhenitcamefromyouanditmademefeelreallywarmandmushyand—"

"Let's get out of here, Heeseung," you interrupted him with a reassuring smile. "We can go somewhere else."

"L-Like where?"

You grinned.

Where it all began.

"The playground?"

Heeseung gaped as you pulled him out of the car. He let you drive this time, fully expecting to go somewhere like the pier or the end of some road where it was quiet. Not the playground.

"Yessir."

The playground near your neighborhood was nothing special. It had a spiral slide, swings, rock-climbing, telephone, a basketball court, hopscotch, and then some. It looked much smaller than you and Heeseung remembered.

This was where it all started, where you and Heeseung met as young children.

Things have changed since then. The swing set has been remodeled, the sandbox removed, and the railing have been repainted with a different color from your childhood.

"C'mon," you tugged on Heeseung's arm.

Heeseung stared at you. By now the sky was beginning to turn blue and the streetlamps were on. Even so, you still managed to glow. All his life, you glowed. You glowed so bright that you outshined him, so bright that you attracted everyone like a moth to a flame, and he never understood why.

But now he did.

The mischievous glint in your eyes, the grin spread across your face, and the way you called out to him to go play— it was like nothing changed. You were still you, still the cheeky little shithead that you always were. And he loved it. He loved you. Maybe he always had.

Some things really never changed. 

"Heeseung, push meeeeeee!" you shouted from across the playground. As a kid, Heeseung loved to collect rocks. As a grown-up he thought it was ridiculous, but now Heeseung couldn't resist the call of the rocks. 

Meanwhile, you were on the swings.

"You still don't know how to do it yourself?!" Heeseung yelled back. 

"I doooon't!"

Heeseung sighed, shoving the rocks that he collected into his pockets before trudging over to you. Though, not without chuckling to himself.

After running around the playground a little bit and taking a trip down memory lane and whatnot, you followed Heeseung to the basketball courts. In your middle school days, you remembered how Heeseung would ditch you at the swings to go play basketball.

You sat next to the base of the hoop, just far enough to not get hit.

You watched in awe as Heeseung dribbled the ball, passing the orangey ball from palm to palm. He was always good at basketball. You remember pressuring him in highschool to try out for the school team. And when he made it, nothing made you feel giddier than seeing the proud and excited look on his face. That's why you went to all of his games in secret, just to silently cheer him on. Of course, you'd never let him know that.

With each flick of his wrist to shoot the ball, you couldn't hide your amazement as he made every basket.

Every.

Single.

One.

Tall, strong, talented, and a loser.

Gosh, you wanted him so bad.

Him and his nerdy little antics.

On Heeseung's end, he made sure to play his best.

Sure, he was in his childhood basketball court. Sure, he wasn't playing against anyone else. But that was exactly why he had to do his best.

You were watching.

He'd never forget how you ran up to him after seeing him hoop one afternoon, exclaiming, "You need to try out for the basketball team!"

Back then, he thought you were being mean, but your words rang through his head enough that he actually did try out for the team. And he made it.

Now that he was an adult, Heeseung realized that you were anything but mean. If anything, you were encouraging him. 

And now that you were watching him play all these years later, Heeseung had to prove to you that your words were not in vain.

"Woooooow," you drew out your syllables as you watched, silently clapping your hands at each basket. 

Heeseung chuckled, jogging up to where you were. Letting the basketball roll across the court, Heeseung crouched down to your sitting figure, wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his palm.

"You're so good at basketball, Heeseung," you said coolly, trying your best to hide the fact that you were 100% gawking at him and his sweaty face.

Heeseung laughed as he caught his breath. The smell of the night air was making him feel so alive, so bold.

"All thanks to you," he breathed as he ran a hand through his sweaty hair. 

"Nah," you waved him off. "You're giving me too much credit. It's all because of your hard work."

Heeseung shook his head, lightly punching your arm. "It's your support that made me so good."

You shook your head. "Not at all."

The boy gave you a look, quirking his brow, almost like he was doubting you. "You think I never noticed you at my games?"

.

.

.

Shit.

"Y-You knew I was at your games?!" 

He knew all this time?!

!!!

Warmth washed over you.

All those times you screamed his name from across the court to cheer his name, all those times you snuck, all those times you jabbed at him for playing too much even though you spent too much time at his games.

Your cheeks felt warm as your hands found refuge on your head, shaking as you squeezed your eyes shut.

"No, no, no!" you cried. "That's so embarrassing!"

Heeseung's deep laugh made you even more embarrassed, especially the way he cooed at you and put a hand on your knee reassuringly.

"Of course I knew you were there," Heeseung said, putting a hand on his chin. "I knew it every single time. I don't think you missed any of my games."

You squeezed your eyes shut even harder, groaning. "Stooooop."

Heeseung laughed again, before clicking his tongue. He got back up and strolled toward the stray basketball.

You didn't know why, but his nonchalance and ease at picking up the ball made your heart pound. He was just so... strong.

Sure, he was a loser most of the time, but on the court, he was a completely different person.

As Heeseung began to dribble again, you had to admit that it was attractive.

With one more bounce, Heeseung snapped his head at you, meeting your eyes. 

"This one's for you."

Your heart drummed in your chest. This was the type of stuff that happened in movies, when the basketball player dedicates a hoop for their loved one. How were you a grown woman and still feeling giddy and nervous over this?

It felt like it happened in slow motion. 

You watched as the ball seemingly floated between his fingertips. The sound of the rubber ball as it collided with the concrete courts filled your ears, coupled by the sound of your heart pounding in your chest. 

Heeseung's tongue swiped over his bottom lip. With a flick of the wrist and a jump, he shot the ball up into the air. 

It stayed up in the air for what felt like an eternity, before it propelled forward.

There it was, its orange skin against the blue night sky.

And as gravity pulled it toward Earth, you held your breath.

Closer and closer, the ball inched toward the red-brimmed hoop.

And just as you held your breath...

The ball...

Missed.

.

.

.

You deadpanned.

Heeseung was going to dedicate a ball to you... and he missed the hoop completely.

That's...

So cute.

You snorted, before you keeled over, some of the hardest laughs of your entire light spilling out of your mouth. This was hysterical. You laughed so hard that your stomach hurt.

Heeseung was such a loser, and it made you feel like a little girl.

Meanwhile, Heeseung stood there, completely red in the face.

"Sh-Shut up!" he grumbled as you laughed. How embarrassing!

When you finally calmed down, you had to hold yourself back from cooing at how cute Heeseung's embarrassed face was. But you just look at him with a grin. 

"Try again."

And he did.

And it felt like suddenly the world was against him.

Just a few minutes ago, Heeseung made every single one of his shots.

And now that it actually mattered, he missed.

Every.

Single.

One.

And to make things worse, you laughed at every one of his missed shots.

"Heeseung Lee," you announced as he gave up, taking a seat beside you. "You are such a loser."

He groaned, pulling his knees to his chest. 

The two of you sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the grasshoppers sing their hearts out. 

Neither of you wanted to move. Because if you did, it would mean one step closer to this night ending. Of course, there was always tomorrow and the rest of the summer to see each other, but to be separated even for a little bit as night passes was too long.

It felt like so much had changed, but at the same time, it felt like everything was exactly as it was left.

Feeling a stroke of boldness, Heeseung guided your head onto his shoulder, before slithering his arm to wrap around your own shoulders.

You guys stayed like that for a little bit.

Heeseung gazed at you. You could be lost in thought or dozing off, he wouldn't be able to tell.

He wanted this to last a little bit longer than forever.

Something was changing and neither of you could tell what it was.

Maybe it was now early July, and the heat was unbearable. Or maybe it was the intense scent of bug repellent that had gotten to your heads. It could be all those frozen yogurts you guys ate in your car, or the amount of shitty superhero movies you binged together.

Whatever it was, it was changing everything.

A single atom was out of place, a molecule of carbon was in the wrong spot. Heeseung couldn’t put his finger on it.

The air felt so warm, but not in a humid, suffocating way. 

More like in a rosy way, like someone put a filter over Heeseung's world and now everything was more vibrant.

Heeseung had reason to suspect that you were the culprit.

He'd known you his whole life, and it was only up until recently that he understood why people loved you so much. Because who wouldn't? You weren't just beautiful, but so goddamn incredible. In every way possible.

Heeseung couldn't explain it. He didn't think he had a crush on you. 

In all the romance books and games and movies that he'd consumed, they portrayed crushes as this magical unicorn of all things. Nervous, awkward, clumsy, and an upward battle.

But when Heeseung thought of you, he didn't feel any of these things. 

He felt at home. Comfortable, as if he could be as much of a nerdy loser as he wanted and he'd still be treated the same way. 

Unlike all what fiction would tell him, you weren't some god to him, nor were you a venerated saint. You were just you, and that was already enough to make his heart race. 

There wasn't that urge to constantly hold your hands or kiss your lips (not that he didn't think about it!).

Rather, there was a need to always be with you, to be let into your world, to listen to every thought that you had, to hear your laugh until he fell asleep.

Maybe Heeseung didn't have a crush on you, but it was certainly something else.

And it was the same for you.

You've had crushes, and you've had boyfriends.

You always felt like you needed to be perfect for them, to be drop-dead gorgeous and put-together all the time, to be the kindest version of yourself.

But when it came to Heeseung, it didn't feel like that. 

You could be as brash and annoying as you wanted, without the fear that he'd shun you. In fact, Heeseung would fight back or laugh.

While with all your boyfriends you wanted intimacy, validation, and constant reassurance, Heeseung felt safe. 

You craved nothing from Heeseung except... Well, Heeseung himself. 

And it was driving you nuts.

Help!

It was another family dinner, with both of your families, this time at your own house.

Heeseung and you sat across from each other. From when you were children until now, the two of you still ignored everything that the adults said, opting to stare and make faces at each other.

Except this time, it was absolutely impossible to look at each other without bursting out laughing. 

You dug your teeth into your bottom lip, holding back a smile as you glued your eyes to your plate. If you dared to look up and even catch sight of Heeseung's hair, you'd probably laugh.

You gripped your fork. Even if you weren't looking at him, you still somehow could hear him. The way he obnoxiously and loudly poked at his food with his fork was something you always jabbed at him for, and it was still noticeable to you now. Except, instead of annoying you, it only made it harder to not laugh.

"[Name]," Ms. Lee's voice pulled you out of your thoughts. You looked up with shaky eyes, and when your eyes passed over Heeseung, you had to bite back a giggle. Alas, you weren't strong enough to hold back a smile.

"Yes?" you responded. From the corner of your eye, you could see Heeseung's nose scrunching. You sent him a quick glare, one that could only last a millisecond.

Don't you dare make a funny face or I'll spill my water all over you, your glare read. But it didn't seem like Heeseung cared.

"What have you been up to all summer?" Ms. Lee smiled. "Any summer programs?"

"No, not this summer," you answered politely. "I've just been—"

Your mother interjected, wiggling her eyebrows. "I've noticed [Name] and Heeseung hanging out a lot this summer."

From under the table you felt Heeseung kick you, but you still didn't dare look at his face. You had to bite inside of your cheek to keep laughter from tumbling out, your eyes wobbling.

"Oh, really?" Ms. Lee looked over at her son. "I didn't know you and [Name] were close, Hee!"

And this was when you unfortunately made eye-contact with Heeseung. Poor boy, his lips wobbled and twitched, trying his hardest to keep it in.

"Y-Yeah," he answered quickly, his voice shaking. That in itself was enough to make you let out a giggle. But before it could be uncontrollable, you clamped your hand over your mouth. You watched as Heeseung did the same, except this time, his face was bright red.

"That's so great!" you moms rejoiced. "We were so afraid that you guys would hate each other forever! You know, when you were kids, you used to..."

You and Heeseung tuned everyone out as they joined in the conversation about your old antics.

Instead, the two of you stared at each other, both completely blank-faced. But a simple look at you and it would be painfully obvious by the way your lips twitched that you were fighting for your life to not burst out with laughter.

And it was when Heeseung was taking a sip of water that you decided to make your attack on him. Just as he was raising his glass to his lips, you quickly made a face at him.

And just as fast as his entire face contorted, a loud laugh fell from his lips. Unfortunately for him, he still had water on his mouth. Poor boy began choking on his water, keeling over himself as he coughed up a storm. 

And while everyone was busy helping him, you were busy laughing your ass off.

You win this one, was the agreement.

"You were 100% playing dirty," Heeseung whined.

You rolled your eyes. "Who gives a fuck?"

After you and Heeseung were excused from the dinner table, the two of you went up to your room.

Currently, the two of you were just lazing around your room. Both of you were on your bed, but Heeseung laid upside-down, with his head hanging off the edge. Although you barely exchanged any words, it wasn't awkward. 

You scrolled through your socials, while Heeseung played his games on his phone. Just the two of you in your own worlds, occasionally breaking the silence to make a jab at each other or to show the other something.

"Oh my god!" you cried suddenly, tossing your phone aside and putting your face in your hands, your fingertips rubbing your temples. "What the fuck?!"

Heeseung, startled, looked at you concerned. "What happened?"

When you groaned into your palms, shaking your head profusely, Heeseung shut off his game, putting his phone away. He sat himself upright, shuffling over to you.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"Bad!" you cried, sinking your head into your pillows. "Horrible! Deplorable! Despicable!"

Heeseung stared at you questioningly, his brows cocking into an arch.

"Tell meeeee," he prodded you, watching as you only sunk back into your pillows. You grabbed one of your plushies and shoved your face into it, flipping over so that you could kick your feet. 

You groaned more, before you screamed into your plush. "I hate men!"

Heeseung poked you again, this time a little bit harder. "Tell meeeee. Did your ex text you?"

"Worse!" your words were slightly muffled, but Heeseung could hear the sheer irritation. "Way, way, way, way, wayworse!"

You did this a little bit longer, before you huffed and flipped yourself over once more. Sitting upright, you saw Heeseung sitting there patiently, waiting for you to explain to him what the fuck was going on.

"Okay so," you began, wincing at the next words you were about to say. "You know how my Instagram is public? So that anyone can message me?"

Heeseung narrowed his eyes. "Yeeeeessss?"

You grumbled something under your breath, taking Heeseung's hands in yours. You traced shapes on his palms and played with his fingers, anything to distract yourself from the godforsaken things you'd have to say next.

"Well," you sighed, shaking your head. "I got a dick pic from some random guy."

Heeseung blinked.

"Oh."

.

.

.

"Wait, you got a what?!"

Yes, you really received an unsolicited picture of some guy's dick. Insane, really.

It was now Heeseung's turn to tweak out. 

"Oh my god!" he fell back into the pillows, grabbing at his hair. How ridiculous! "What the fuuuuuck?!"

"I know right?!" you fell back with him. The two of you laid like that, your heads next to each other. 

It was silent again, save for the sound of your parents chattering downstairs.

"Did you block him?" Heeseung suddenly asked.

"Nope," you sighed loudly. "Not yet."

Heeseung hummed. 

He couldn't imagine how many times you'd probably encountered this type of situation. And if this was the first time, it was already too much. If he were in your position, he'd have absolutely no idea how to react either. He'd be paralyzed, with no idea what to do! Maybe except...

"Do you want to fuck with him?" Heeseung blurted.

"Huh?"

"You know..." the boy swiped his tongue over his lips, wringing his fingers. "Fuck with him."

You looked at him, your head tilted as if you didn't understand.

"I-I mean, if this guy's going to be disrespectful, it wouldn't hurt to give him a taste of his own medicine, right?"

You nodded, understanding. "But how?"

Heeseung's nose scrunched. He had many ideas, but he wasn't sure which one was the best. "Well, do you want to have fun with it or do you want to genuinely scare this guy off?"

You thought for a second, before a sly grin made its way across your cheeks. "There's no harm in having fun. I can just block him afterwards, easy peasy."

"Oh," Heeseung said. Then, a good idea popped into his head. His lips curved. "I have just the idea for that."

"Is this okay?"

"Hmm, a little to the left."

Heeseung's plan was funny, but it also made you feel... mushy.

The idea was for Heeseung to respond on your phone pretending to be your boyfriend, something that would probably scare the other guy off. 

After a little bit of stalking, you guys concluded that the guy was a frat bro, so it would be best to prepare some pictures for evidence.

The first picture you decided to take was one that showed just a small part of your back and shoulders in bed, just enough to make it seem like you were in bed with someone. That way, it would be believable if Heeseung pretended to be your boyfriend.

So here you were, laying in bed with the blankets strategically draped over you, pretending to be asleep, while Heeseung snapped 'candid' pictures. You turned off all the lights to make it more believable, so if your parents walked in now they'd be confused as all hell.

"It's a little blurry," Heeseung remarked as he looked at the camera roll.

"That's perfect," you rolled over, facing him. "It'll look even more candid."

The next picture that you prepared was a little bit more risky, but all the more impactful.

"So... So.. Uhm—" Heeseung's cheeks burned as he explained it to you. "I think it would scare him if he thought he was messing with a super buff guy, you know?"

"Uh huh."

"W-Well," Heeseung grimaced. "If I send— like— a picture of my muscles, or something, I think it would scare him off."

You blinked. "Is this just an excuse to show off your biceps?"

"No!"

As you tuned out Heeseung's rambling, you thought for a few seconds. If you were a guy, and some girl's boyfriend caught you trying to flirt with her, what would make you piss yourself?

Well, it would definitely be any explicit indication of intimacy... Your lips moved faster than your mind.

"What if you sent a picture of you with hickeys and lipstick marks?" you gushed.

Heeseung choked on his spit, coughing so loud that you thought he would burst a lung. His face was bright red, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stared at you horrified.

"A picture of me with what?!"

"Hickeys and lipstick marks," you said casually.

"And where would I get them?!" Heeseung was going to faint. If you said what he think you were going to say, he'd absolutely combust—

"Me, duh."

Flames. Absolute flames. That's what Heeseung felt on his skin. Were you just suggesting that you could give him hickeys and lipstick marks? His heart was pounding in his chest, so loud that he could barely hear his own thoughts.

"I mean, if you don't want to, we can just—"

"No!" Heeseung interrupted you, as if he wasn't as red as a tomato. "I can take it!"

And that's how Heeseung found himself sitting on your bedroom floor, his body so hot and hands clammy as he watched you roll up his sleeve. 

Here was the plan for this picture: You'd put a few lipstick marks and hickeys on his biceps and neck. That way, he could snap a quick picture of that area alone while flexing, effectively scaring off the guy.

(Or maybe this entire plan was a very poor excuse for Heeseung to pretend to be your boyfriend and for you to kiss him.)

"Have you ever gotten a hickey?"

Heeseung's cheeks flared. "N-No."

You quickly put on your most pigmented lipstick. Slowly, you leaned closer to Heeseung's neck. He could feel your breath against his ears, making him want to squirm away. You put your hand on the other side of him so that you could stabilize yourself.

"Well," you whispered. "It doesn't hurt, so don't worry."

You brought your hand up to Heeseung's hair, gently tilting his head back to get better access to his neck. 

"Can I...?" you rasped, wetting your lips.

"Y-Yes."

And with that, your lips attacked his neck. You made sure to press on firm kisses so that the imprint of your lips would be defined on his neck. 

With each kiss, Heeseung let out a quiet whimper, his eyes squeezing shut as his arm jerked out to grasp your arm gently.

He felt like he was dreaming, because here he was, having you kiss him. No intense build-up, no dramatic reason, just because it was funny and you wanted to fuck with someone. God, Heeseung would be lying if he said he never thought about what your lips would feel like. They were always so pretty, and so soft.

All throughout his life, Heeseung had never had a romantic experience. It was his first time ever being kissed on the neck, and goddamnit was he sensitive. The way your lips pressed against his skin made him feel so weak. 

He wanted to be closer to you, closer than whatever this stupid little plan was. He craved it.

His other arm came up to slither around your waist, pulling you even closer to him.

"Hees— Heeseung— Ah—" you pulled your lips away, both of your hands coming up to clutch his shoulders for stability. "What are you doing?"

Heeseung's pupils were blown out. 

"Get on top of me," he breathed desperately, "Please."

"Shiiiit," you cursed under your breath, before you plopped down on his lap, your legs on either side of his hips. 

The two of you locked eyes, staring into each other's swirling pools of color. You could've been lost in Heeseung's eyes for minutes or for hours, there wouldn't have been a difference.

Oh, how much you wanted to kiss him. Not just a stupid little kiss on the neck. You wanted to kiss him on the lips, kiss him so hard that he forgot his own name.

Yeah, you had a crush on Heeseung Lee. You always had, and it seemed like no matter what, you were always bound to be downright attracted to him. God, you wanted him so bad.

Meanwhile, blaring alarms were going off in Heeseung's head. 

He wanted to kiss you so bad. He wanted to drown in you, for you to be the only thing enveloping his senses.

Except... he had no idea how to— he had no idea now to express that. And it was making his head spin.

You opened your mouth to speak, not realizing that Heeseung, too, had something to say.

"Hee—"

"I—"

Both of you shut your mouths so quickly.

"S-Sorry," you stuttered. "Go ahead."

Heeseung blinked a few times, before he shut his eyes. You watched how he parted his lips, yet no sound came out, almost as if he was searching for the words in his head to say. 

"I-I—" he started, before cutting himself off. His eyes squeezed together, his brows crashing together. You could feel his body tense under you.

"I don't know," he finally got out. "I-I— I don't know what—"

You brought your hand up to cup his cheek reassuringly. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and your thumb rubbed his cheek gently. 

"Tell me," you whispered. "Tell me, baby."

Heeseung gulped. He felt like he'd melt under your gaze, but the way you were so gentle encouraged him. Heeseung kept his eyes glued on the floor, because if he even dared to look you in the eye he'd turn to stone.

He took a deep breath. He'd tell you how you made him feel. It shouldn't be too hard, right?

But the moment that he opened his mouth, his brain turned to mush.

"I want to— I just— I don't know—" he stammered— "I wish I could— You know— It's hard to say, and—"

And if it wasn't for the way you stifled a giggle, Heeseung thought he would've gone on like this for another ten minutes. 

The moment that Heeseung realized you were smiling at his struggle, he shut his mouth, letting out a groan. He threw his head back, bringing his hands up to shove his face in.

"Shut up," he groaned. This was so embarrassing. He could feel heat prickling on his skin. His face was so hot that he thought he'd explode. "Shutupshutupshutup!"

You giggled again, this time using both your hands to cup his face. 

Despite your cool, nonchalant exterior, you were giggling and kicking your feet on the inside. 

"You're—" you breathed— "You're such a fucking loser."

Heeseung was about to tell you to shut up again, but you cut him off.

"Can I kiss you?"

You relished in the way his eyes widened, probably the widest that you've ever seen them. So cute.

"P-Please."

And with that, you smashed your lips against his. 

Poor boy, he was completely frozen at first. But as you swiped your tongue over his bottom lip, you relished in the way that he let out a gasp, giving you just enough room to slip your tongue inside his mouth. You explored his mouth— every corner and every crevice was meant for you to corrupt. 

You could feel his hands fall down at his sides. Of course, a loser like Heeseung wouldn't know where to put them. As you taste his lips, you guided his hands to your thighs. He gasped again, and you took this as an opportunity to deepen the kiss. As you did, Heeseung squeezed your thighs, letting out a whine.

Finally, you pulled away.

The two of you stared at each other, both breathless with swollen lips.

And as you caught your breath, you breathed, "I like you."

Maybe he would've been too stunned to speak after a kiss like that, but your words a loud "Huh?!" spill from his lips.

You grasped his chin, pulling him in again. 

"I like you," you murmured against his lips, your eyes lidded.

Heeseung's breath hitched. "I—"

"Was that what you were going to say?" you said slyly, unwilling to hide your teasing tone. A whimper came from him. "Did I beat you to it?"

You ghosted your lips over his teasingly, loving the way that Heeseung leaned forward a little bit, whining as you pulled away just enough for him to miss you.

"Just—" he murmured, "Just kiss me already."

"Gladly."

And with that, your lips crashed together. This time, Heeseung's lips were moving, too. He was a clumsy kisser, someone who had no fucking idea what he was doing. But that made the kiss even better. You've kissed many boys, but for some reason Heeseung was the best kisser you've had. You could taste him.

"Such a fucking loser," you murmured. You felt his hands slide up your waist, squeezing you.

"Yeah," Heeseung mumbled against your lips, and although his words were muffled, his voice drove you crazy. "Yourfucking loser."

Immediately you pulled away.

You looked at Heeseung, and he looked at you.

.

.

.

You bursted out laughing, and so did he.

"God, you're so cheesy!"

"Shut up!"

BONUS

You rested your cheek on Heeseung's shoulder, watching as he typed away. After all this, the two of you still needed to fulfill your plan: fuck with Mr. Dick Pic.

"What are you going to say?" you asked, nuzzling your face into Heeseung's neck. You admired the purple-pink marks littering his skin, the ones that you left. Your lipstick marks smudged when you and Heeseung were making out earlier, so you had to redo them. It was hard, because all Heeseung could do was giggle like a little girl.

"Trust me, I'll cook something up."

And cook he did.

[name]: she's busy bro

[name]: [photo]

The first photo he sent was the candid one of you.

You waited a few seconds, and Mr. Dick Pic immediately opened the message.

Heeseung hid your phone from you, so you couldn't see the guy's response.

But what you could see was how he furiously typed away.

You thought it was funny at first... until Heeseung was typing paragraphs and paragraphs so loud that you could hear his fingers tapping the screen.

"Hold on, babe, I'm fighting this guy!"

"Just block him...!"

Some things never changed.

[proton-selfships]

✍️📝🤪, if you're still doing the ask game?

‘Imagine Your S/I Was Canon…’ Self-Ship Asks

Thank you, Jenni! I answered 📝 here! ...And I may have forgotten this was in my drafts so long. Oops

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

I think I'd be... Not popular, per se, since this is a fandom aimed at teens that tends to focus on its primarily teen cast and I don't know how yuri that starts out this toxic would go over with that demographic, but the adults who like the series would definitely love me! Primarily for my relationship with Laurel and how it evolves over the story, but also for my cool powers that get put on explosive display at key points in my arc. My fellow milf-loving sapphics would definitely think my S/I is living the dream, and might even project onto said S/I when writing ship fic.

And hey, on the younger side of things, maybe I'd even start a trend where a bunch of teen viewers discover 90s alternative rock and grunge thanks to my music taste! (My S/I definitely wears an AiC shirt at some point.)

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

I'd say my catgirl tendencies, but honestly? I meow and knead and stuff to stim pretty often in real life, too, so I don't think it'd even be far off to focus on those. Fandom might exaggerate the pointiness of my teeth or give me cat eyes in fanart when neither of those are canon traits, I guess? It'd also be inaccurate if they claimed I'm a furry. (I technically have a fursona if you count my Sonic AU and I like cartoony art with animal characters, I just don't consider myself part of the overall fandom. They're cool in my book, though!)

I feel like they'd also exaggerate how much of a doormat I am for Laurel. And I mean, yeah, I do spend our early relationship getting manipulated and controlled, but I do very much put my foot down and go "hey what the fuck" once I realize what's going on. That misconception would drive the meta-writing fandom nuts, too, since that's actually one of the key factors motivating Laurel to change: the fact that I now see her for who she really is, and still hold onto the belief that she can be better, but don't take any bullshit from her in the meantime. That's the push she needs from someone she (secretly) cares about to reevaluate everything.

(And also my reason why Larissa's attempt to reason with her failed: not only did Laurel not have the same soft spot for her, but she still said "please don't make this more difficult than it already is, Marilyn" and not her real name. So she was still denying the real Laurel, unlike my S/I when my first line after learning her identity is "...Laurel?")

[nerves-nebula]

hi your "hunter escapes and has a fun little camping moment" au is living rent free in my brain rn, please Please share some more thoughts and rambles about it!

ANON PLEASE- (affectionate)

you gotta understand I was not lying when I said I have 5 pages of a google doc worth of comic ideas. Unfortunately it's still kind of a mess and I'm still sorting out some of the basic dynamics of this AU. I also like the idea of keeping most of my notes and making them into their own comics/posts so idk how I feel about just saying stuff in a list AND YET.

So here's some stuff I think I can say outside of a comic?? I’ll still probably make some of these into comics/doodles, but anyway I hope this is what you were looking for.

Hunter:

Hunter gets very into studying wild magic up close, something he wasn't allowed to do much before. But now he lives in the forest surrounded by wild magic. Because of this I plan for him to discover a few glyphs on his own, like Luz does, mainly the plant one. But you’ll see how that goes later ;)

He's also still trying to cure his uncles curse. He insists he's not going to go back to Belos, but if pressed on why he's searching for a cure for a man he plans to never see again, he'll get very defensive and angry. Sometimes it's not as easy as "I'm leaving and never coming back." sometimes you still wanna help the people who hurt you :P and THAT one is from personal experience

Hunter takes a while to really get into the whole “I’m on my own and can do whatever I want” thing, but I plan for him to mess around with his presentation once he gets more comfortable.

Rascal helps him change his eye bandages! I haven’t decided if his eye is damaged yet or just the area around it tho so stay tuned.

Hunter will often assign himself “missions” to go on because he doesn’t know what else to do with his free time. He knows he doesn’t technically have any deadlines or stuff like that anymore but he gets stressed not having a goal to strive towards so to cope he just.. gives himself arbitrary goals !

Funfact! This is not the first time Hunters pissed Belos off so bad that he’s fled the castle for a moment. But it IS the first time he stays away for this long. 

Home Hunter AU subscribes to the “Hunter is the grimwalker/a clone of Belos’ brother” theory just for extra angst. I kind of like the idea that he wasn’t even a big part of Belos’ plans though, just that Belos saw a chance to “Bring back” his brother and went for it fsdfsfsdf.

Hunter is terrified of relying on someone too much because no matter how much he trusts them, they could always kick him out. And he’d rather kick himself out before they get the chance. Boys still got issues, is what I’m saying. 

Because Hunter lives in the woods he starts to get a bit... Feral. People will not see him for a week only to realize he’s been not showering or changing his clothes. He was never the most normally-socialized kid but now he’s in the habit of hissing at people the way he does at wild animals that encroach on his tent.

Hunter is very possessive of his belongings (he has so few) and will tackle you if you try to take something from him without asking. He also hoards food and has trouble sharing it, but he feels a bit more embarrassed about this habit than others so he tries to hide it.

Luz:

Luz is basically the first person Hunter reaches out to after living in the woods for a few weeks, and she’s the only one he trusts, at first. 

She offers to let Hunter stay at the owl house a LOT, and sometimes he does :D ! But usually only if it’s raining or he has an injury he can’t heal himself, or if they’re just hanging out. 

Luz’s Super Secret Sad Boy plan is to try to trick Hunter into staying at the owl house for extended periods of time, so that he eventually doesn’t want to go back to the forest. She brings it up A LOT. This has yet to work though, because Hunter feels very uncomfortable about not understanding their family dynamic. That and it makes him feel a bit worse about his own. (kind of like when you go to your friends house and their parents are nice, so you cry afterwards. But to the extreme that he has trouble relaxing cause he’s viscerally aware of how much he doesn’t feel like he fits in.)

Luz tried to teach Hunter glyphs but he brushed it off. 1. because he’s still nervous about wild magic lmao but 2. because he didn’t think he needed to learn them since he has Rascal. He only starts looking into them when he personally finds them in nature on his own. After that point he starts eavesdropping on Lillith and Eda’s glyph lessons and hijinks ensue.

Lillith:

I’m actually super down for the idea that Lillith would bond with goldie in some way. They both know what Belos is like so they can bitch about him together!

I’m also a fan of the “Lillith regrets calling Hunter a brat” idea. Idk if she’s canonically seen his face or anything but I like to think that, at least NOW, she sees him for what he really is. A poor little meow meow. 

That being said don’t think that Mom!Eda is out for the count. They’re  ✨ co-parents  ✨ and I like to think they bring different things to the table when it comes to caring about Hunter. Raine might show up eventaully too :D. They still can’t get him to move out of the woods tho.

Belos:

Not much to say about him and his plans yet, but what usually happens when Hunter runs off after upsetting Belos is that he comes back a few hour/days later with something to win back Belos’ favor. So the emperor isn’t concerned at first, but then a week passes, and then another. 

In this AU Belos is very protective of Hunter but in a weird, possessive, fucked up way. Basically, he’s convinced himself that nothing is really a threat to him or Hunter (since he trained Hunter personally and believes in his nephews abilities). He was never afraid of Hunter being killed or leaving him cause he never considered those things as possibilities. So when Hunter doesn’t come back and is seen actively avoiding him, he goes a little apeshit? But like in a subtle way? Like, he’s losing it but quietly lmao. BASICALLY I do have plan for Belos to attempt to do a lot of stuff to catch/coerce Hunter, and maybe he succeeds! We’ll see.

That should be enough for now!

important to note that a lot of this could change on a whim since I’m still thinking about all of it but y e ah these are some things I’ve mused about.

also I hope this makes sense, I’m not really a writer so I just kinda type it how I talk it I guess.

[cinnaminsvga]

#67 please and thank u kind miss zee <3

premise: “Someone just handed you a cat?” genre: roommate!au, humor || wc: 1K+ a/n: you didn't specify a member, so i hope it's fine that i chose yoongi for this (for reasons i am sure you understand) anyway this is so absurd i hope that's okay <5

The moment you entered your shared apartment with a nervous smile and an armful of blankets that definitely should not have been wriggling as much as it was supposed to, Yoongi knew that he was in for another batshit day. Or you know, just a regular Tuesday night.

"Please tell me that you aren't going to say what I think you're going to say," he starts, rubbing his temples with a weariness that would put war veterans to shame.

You pause, considering. "Well, I could maybe give you $5 if you can guess what I'm going to say."

Yoongi stares at the yellow-striped blanket in your arms which seems to have stopped moving, as if sensing his imposing gaze. "Please tell me that is not the cat from the 5th floor that you think you have a psychic connection with."

"Well, first of all, I don't like what you're implying! I definitely do have a connection with Mr. Sprinkles and we both think you're very rude!" you say, scowling. "And second of all, no, this is not Mr. Sprinkles. I know for a fact that he loves his sweet ol' Kitty Bitties very much and I would never do anything to separate soulmates—"

Yoongi wonders, not for the first time, if he should have read the fine print of your roommate advertisement before he'd unknowingly run headfirst into the worst decision of his life. Every word from your mouth feels like a hammer playing whack-a-mole with his braincells.

"Then tell me why on earth you have a fucking cat wrapped in a blanket burrito?"

"What makes you think it's a cat? What if it was a baby? Didn't think of that, did you?" you retort smugly.

Yoongi gawks at you, the urge to strangle you becoming unbearable. "Why are you saying that as if that's any better?! Do you actually think about what you say before speaking?"

You wave him off, ignoring his question. You brush past him and plopped yourself unceremoniously on the couch. Your rough jostling angers the mysterious bundle of fuzz in your arms, causing it to meow loudly in annoyance.

"Oops, sorry about that," you coo at the blanket, gently petting it as an apology. You turn back to Yoongi, smiling at him guilelessly. "So yeah, you were right, it's a cat. But it's not Mr. Sprinkles, so no $5 for you. I could settle for $2.50 if you're really bummed out about being wrong though. It was a valiant effort."

"Really? That's all you're going to say? You weren't going to run this by me before randomly adopting a cat? What about the roommate agreement?" he splutters, trying to make sense of it all. Which, for the most part, was a lost cause when it came to you.

You tsk, wagging a condescending finger at his face. "Wrong! The roommate agreement only says we need to discuss if one of us adopts a pet."

Yoongi gesticulates wildly to the pile of fur in your arms. "Is? That not? A fucking? Cat?"

You nod sagely, rubbing your chin. "Indeed. I am glad that we are in agreement on this."

Yoongi stares at you, shell-shocked. There have been many things in his short six months of living with you that have left him speechless. There were the alchemy experiments in the bathroom, the short-lived crystal buttplug small business venture, and even the haunted doll collection phase that you went through yet none of them have felt as insane as the conversation the two of you were having right now.

(Okay, that was an exaggeration. Yoongi still has nightmares from waking up at 3 AM with fucking Yo Gabba Gabba staring at him from across his bedroom.)

Noting his 100-yard stare, you decide to graciously offer a better explanation. "You see, I technically didn't break the agreement because I did not adopt this cat."

"What? So you're fostering it or something?" he asks, confused. "Why didn't you just start off with that?!"

"Well, no. I do own this cat," you explain. "Like, I've even named them Yoongi Junior in your honor!"

"What the fuck? You named me after a cat?" he hissed, like a cat. "That's the last straw."

You roll your eyes, tutting in exasperation. "Oh come on! Everyone knows you're a little cat boy. Hell, this cat looks exactly like you!"

There's no way in hell that this cat looks anything like him—

"Oh my god, it fucking looks like me," Yoongi says in awe.

When you unsheathe the cat from its soft blanket, Yoongi is shocked to find a tuxedo cat wearing a tiny black hoodie with the words "Lil Gangsta" written across its back with studs. Atop its head is a small grey beanie, almost identical to the one on top of Yoongi's own head.

"Holy shit," Yoongi mutters, his hand subconsciously going to pet his twin the cat of its own volition. "Holy shit," he repeats.

You smirk, self-satisfied. "I fucking knew you'd like him."

"T-that doesn't mean I'm okay with him staying! You needed to clear this with me before you adopted him! What if I was allergic or something?" Yoongi counters, but the fight in him has already left. The damned cat already has his cold, Grinch heart in a chokehold.

"You can't be allergic to your species, obviously," you scoff. "Besides, I already told you I didn't adopt him! Someone just handed it to me on the streets and no one said anything about getting free cats, right?"

Yoongi stops mid-pet, gaining a soft ireful meow from Yoongi Junior in response. "Wait, did you just say someone just handed you a cat?"

You shrug. "Yeah. What about it? It's pretty neat, huh?"

Yoongi steps away from you and the cat, his common sense returning to him. "Y/N, that's fucking shady as hell. What if this cat is chipped? What if they're tracking it and getting doxxing us as we speak? Holy shit, I knew this was going to be bad. We need to get rid of that cat, now!"

You and the cat pout back at him, hurt brimming in your equally doleful eyes. "Ouch, Yoongi. And here I thought we got something good going on..."

"The only thing 'going' here is that fucking cat," Yoongi humphs, grabbing the cat unceremoniously.

You stand up, chasing after him. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"I am going insane, that's where I'm going," he mutters, before turning back to face you. "Don't worry, Y/N. I'll bring him to the shelter. They'll probably know what to do with him better than we do, anyway."

"But... But..." you start, eyes already beginning to fill up with unshed tears.

Oh shit. Here it comes.

And just like every single time your insanity has caused Yoongi's quality of life to worsen, he finds himself melting under your gaze. Curse the soft piece of bread he calls his heart!

After what feels like an eternity, Yoongi sighs. "Fine. We'll keep him."

You cheer, whopping in celebration.

"But—"

You deflate immediately. "There's always a but and never enough butts..." you whine petulantly.

"But," Yoongi repeats, as if you had never said anything. "We still need to take him to the shelter and report him. If they find that there's nothing sketchy about him, and check if it's clean and healthy and whatever, then maybe..."

"Hell yes! You're the best, Yongo Bongo! I knew I could trust you, my beloved cat boy!" You say, jumping up to envelop him in a hug.

In response, he elbows you in the tit. He says he did it because he had a cat in his arms, but mostly it's because he doesn't do well with physical touch. You know, just cat boy things.

"You owe me, by the way," he grumbles as you both make your way to his car. You skip happily beside him, not missing the way his hands have not stopped caressing Yoongi Junior the whole while.

"Sure, sure. I'll transfer the $2.50 to you as soon as we get back."

"That really wasn't what I meant." He sighs, shaking his head in defeat. In his arms, Yoongi Junior meows happily, his eyes closed in contentment. Yoongi finds himself doing the same.

[sunset-embers-warriors-designs]

I have several ideas about how I would have written Starclan’s function in warriors and I MUST write them down I must express them. I have two different ideas, one in which I maintain the canon fact that Starclan cats can fade/be killed, and another in which I do away with the fading thing.

First, a few things I would want for Starclan regardless of whether or not the spirits can fade: 

- All cats, regardless of the age they die at, are given a full warrior name. Kits or apprentices who die early are either named by their leaders at their vigil and carry that name to Starclan, or they’re named by Starclan spirits. 

- After a leader dies, the -star suffix is removed and they return to using their warrior suffix as a Starclan spirit. Perhaps the -star suffix is given up right at the moment of death, or the -star suffix is given up after the leader ceremony of the succeeding leader to indicate an official transfer of leadership.

- The point behind everyone having a warrior name in Starclan as opposed to any of the “determined by status” suffixes (kit/apprentice/leader) is to further express that all cats are equal in Starclan. There aren’t any clan borders in Starclan’s hunting grounds, and neither should there be different ranks.

No Fading Starclan:

- Cats in No Fading Starclan are given otherworldly wisdom upon entering Starclan, regardless of the age of the cat. All of Starclan shares the same knowledge of the past/present/future.

- However, this knowledge takes a form such that Starclan aren’t able to express it to the living in clear and understandable ways, which is why they speak in riddles when delivering prophecies. Like Starclan is trying to translate some kind of language of the universe into meows and at most it does like a google translate quality.

- Individual Starclan cats each have a limited amount of spiritual/magical energy which they can use to interact with the living world. The longer the clans all exist, the more manpower Starclan has, which explains why their abilities from arc 1 to arc 4 grow from “clouding over the moon during gatherings” to “entering the living realm to fight a ghost battle.” 

- Similarly, the Dark Forest spirits have their own kind of energy that grows the more cats they have in their realm. However, as a punishment for their sins, they don’t get their godly wisdom, and their ability to reach out to the living is a little foggy. They ARE, however, able to latch on to cats who have negative energy surrounding them, and will try to bring troubled souls into their ranks prior to their deaths so they can gain more energy when those cats DO die.

- In this AU, spirits can’t be killed, so the Starclan/Dark Forest battle ghost casualties (Tigerstar, Hawkfrost, Spottedleaf) will not have died. Instead, the buildup to the battle is the Dark Forest attempting to take power from Starclan by reaching out en masse to the troubled living cats with the end goal of “replacing” or at least being on par with Starclan in terms of power, in order to maybe fight their way into the good afterlife or continue reeking havoc as revenge on Starclan/the living. The battle itself is then the Dark Forest’s attempt to overthrow Starclan and gain control over the living clans to ensure they stay in power. Ivypool’s role of convincing her fellow Dark Forest trainees to fight for their clans/Starclan instead then takes away the power the Dark Forest had built up for itself, and having this rejection of the Dark Forest’s influence become a part of the clan’s history/culture keeps the Dark Forest from rising back up. Not to mention, the Dark Forest having used to much energy to manifest and do battle will have left them drained, especially after their defeat, and even if Dark Forest cats have the ability to replenish their individual powers somehow, it would take a long time to do it.

- Spottedleaf continues to exist, as previously mentioned, but as a general rule in every single one of my AUs she and Firestar aren’t romantically interested in one another at all. The only interest Spottedleaf would ever have had in Firestar was because the “Fire Alone Will Save Our Clan” prophecy was Her prophecy, she was the one to interpret it, and she felt responsible to see it through even after her death. When Firestar dies in the battle, Spottedleaf feels that her role in that prophecy is finally through and she just does regular Starclan cat things like climbing starry trees and eating ghost mice.

- In the case of the great battle, spirits who have manifested on the physical plane I think should still have the ability to kill the living, so the deaths in the great battle still happen just for the sake of being consistent with who’s alive in what arc.

- Also regarding the great battle, perhaps Tigerstar’s spirit can kill Firestar’s mortal form, gloat about it, but then Firestar’s spirit rises up and with his Starclan Spirit Powers he takes Tigerstar down. I just think that would have been cool.

Fading Starclan:

- In Fading Starclan, there are actually two levels of Starclan, but the living clans only KNOW about one. The living clans know Lower Starclan, the Starclan made up of recently dead/not-faded spirits who impart the prophecies onto the living. Lower Starclan are Also recipients of the prophecies they then translate to the clans, but they don’t fully understand them and believe these premonitions to be coming from some essence of the universe. 

- In fact, the prophecies are first foretold by Upper Starclan, which is made up of the energies of the faded spirits. Upper Starclan spirits, since they’re faded, lack the identities they had in life and are more accurately interpreted as a hivemind. Like a God with a million faces. Upper Starclan are the ones who block the moon with clouds, control the weather, and do stuff like set fires in the living world to impart prophecy.

- Lower Starclan functions more like a transitional spiritual plane. It’s a place for the spirits to rest from their mortal lives, and then eventually shed their previous personalities and ascend. Lower Starclan being given the prophecies first to then give to the living gives the living cats more reason to listen, because these messages are coming from spirits who are still personable and likely cats who the living interpreters knew and respected in life.

- The Dark Forest is a place to hide away the spirits of cats who would impede on the goals of Upper Starclan. They eventually fade away too and are permitted into Upper Starclan because they’re no longer a threat without their mortal memories/personalities getting in the way of their roles as God(s). 

- The Tribe of Endless Hunting’s spirits also fade away into Upper Starclan because the two groups have the same origin. Like Endless Hunting and Lower Starclan manifested because of the split in the groups and Upper Starclan just said “Okay We can work with this”

- True Reincarnations only occur when an Upper Starclan spirit returns to a mortal form. Jay’s Wing, Lion’s Roar, and Dove’s Wing’s spirits had all faded into Upper Starclan but were reborn as new mortals in order to fulfill the Power of Three Prophecy. This also explains why they have “the power of the stars”, they were part of the Cat God Collective prior. Cinderpelt/Cinderheart was a “reincarnation” that was NOT sanctioned by Upper Starclan, which is why Cinderpelt and Cinderheart have separate souls. 

- The reason the Power of Three thing happened was because Upper Starclan saw their Dark Forest Timeout corner spirits being naughty and worried that those spirits weren’t as out of the way and not hurting their goals as previously presumed. The battle was orchestrated to reinstate faith in Starclan and have some of the more troublesome Dark Forest Spirits fade so they would stop causing trouble. Technically, Tigerstar, Brokenstar, and Hawkfrost are all part of Upper Starclan after the great battle, but none of them have those identities anymore, or at the very least, those identities are not “in use.”

- The only spirits that can walk in Both Upper and Lower Starclan are legendary/historical figures like the clan founders and probably other significant cats who have legends made of their life experiences. 

- Goosefeather, by some mistake or intention(?) was granted a mental connection to Upper Starclan instead of just Lower Starclan like other medicine cats, which is why his visions were so intense and so far into the future, and just the sheer number of them. He could see Lower Starclan spirits as well like Beetail because I guess if you can connect to Upper Starclan than Lower Starclan is just a side effect. 

- Spiresight and Shadowsight might also have this connection to Upper Starclan? Idk I can’t decide. Shadowsight did as a kit at least, but perhaps Upper Starclan decided to chill after seeing how poorly Goosefeather’s connection turned out for him.

- Upper Starclan’s concept otherwise is very vague. Their goals seem to be to ensure the continuation of the clans, which ensures their growth and power, but power for what reason? idk what to do with that

Since the Broken Code arc isn’t complete at this time I’m not sure what direction I wanna take for either Fading or Not Fading Starclan to explain Starclan’s disappearance or Ashfur’s ability to mess with other spirits... perhaps in the Fading version, Ashfur is the one Lower Starclan cat to discover Upper Starclan and figures out how to tap into his full spiritual ability before shedding his mortal personality and uses this to cause chaos. idk what to say for Not Fading rn tho

[sing-a-sirensong]

Venomous

A Reed900 Venom AU I had rattling around in my brain, thanks to Discord.

Summary: Gavin’s strange new “roommate” has some questions about human behaviour. Rating: E Warnings: None

On AO3 here

———————

Some people have their entire lives planned out. Others have no plans at all, just letting life take them in any direction it happens to go. Either way, “expect the unexpected” is a commonly spoken phrase. Unexpected changes are a fact of life, all just a part of the human experience. However, there are some events that seem so far out of the realm of possibility that one might wonder about the existence of some giant cosmic joke. 

Gavin Reed is not the type of man to wax philosophical, or question some cosmic order, or think about his place in the universe beyond being a damn good detective. Right now, in fact, he’s pondering little more than what to eat for dinner as he stands idly waiting at a crosswalk. Music plays a little too loudly in his earbuds. 

Chinese again? Gavin wonders, scuffing his shoe against the pavement. Maybe pizza. Got one of those coupon books in the mail. 

He’s pulled from his musings by a touch against his shoulder, an accidental bump by another pedestrian crossing the opposite direction. Gavin turns his head as they walk away, allowing himself a brief up-and-down glance at the retreating figure. Tall, fitted slacks, legs a mile long. Fuck. Gavin thinks, I haven’t gotten laid in ages. 

Gavin.

He sighs tiredly, pausing his music. He’s gotten so used to the internal commentary by now that he doesn’t even feel surprised anymore when his new… roommate pipes up. 

“Yeah tar pit?” He answers, out loud. He fiddles absently with his earphones, grateful for the wonders of modern technology that keep him from looking like a complete lunatic talking to himself.

Having offspring now would be very inconvenient. 

“W-What?” Gavin stutters, taken off guard by the odd choice of topic. “Dude, what the fuck are you talking about.” A mild annoyance that was not his own filtered into his mind. 

That other human. You considered procreating with them.

He scrubbed a hand over his unshaven face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That isn’t- ok first of all, don’t call it that. And second of all, this isn’t a conversation to have in public. Just wait five minutes until we get home.” The feeling of annoyance settled slightly, and his head was quiet again. 

Less than five minutes later, in the elevator to his apartment, the peace was broken.

We should not have pizza for dinner again. It is not healthy for us to have such an unvaried diet.

Gavin sighs again, something he seemed to do a lot more frequently now. He steps off the elevator, walking down the hall. 

“Alright, how about the chicken alfredo from that place around the corner?” He suggests, unlocking the door and stepping in, shrugging off his jacket and shoes. “I’ll even get it with broccoli so we can eat one whole vegetable.”

Can we get the chocolate lava cake? 

Gavin snorts, warm fondness settling in his chest. “Yeah buddy, we can get the chocolate lava cake.”

Excellent. 

A cantankerous meow signals the presence of Princess Peanut; Gavin’s crotchety, cranky, three-legged very senior cat. She stares up at him with two murky orange eyes and lets out another raspy howl. How rude of him to set foot in his own home and not pay attention to her immediately upon arrival. 

Gavin feels the now-familiar sensation of Nines manifesting physical form, a feeling akin to peeling tape or glue off of your skin, except it feels more everywhere. The odd creature Gavin now shares his body with leans down, bracing their weight on one hand and gently petting the cat with the other. It’s adorable, in a heartwarming, eldritch horror sort of way.

Nines appears to be a young man, looking almost human enough. Dark brown hair that sometimes slips into curling tendrils, blue-grey eyes that almost seem to glow, black stained nails that might be a little too sharp, gleaming white teeth that are definitely too sharp, and pale skin that’s just a touch too grey, fading into the swirling black mass at his hips where he emerges from Gavin’s torso. 

But as odd as it is, Gavin thinks this appearance is for his benefit. He knows that isn’t what Nines looked like the first time he showed himself to Gavin. He remembers it being almost… mechanical looking. All sharp lines, and sleek inky blackness. Two glowing eyes. Of course Gavin had been completely losing his mind at the time, in the middle of a (very understandable) breakdown, so his memories may be slightly exaggerated. 

Another grouchy meow jolts Gavin into motion, Nines retreating back under his skin.

“Alright you fucking Nut, I’m getting to it.” Gavin grumbles, opening a fresh tin for the princess’s dinner. He gives her a quick scratch under the chin, and leaves the kitchen to flop on the couch. 

Gavin.

He hums in acknowledgment, idly considering a nap before dinner. 

We are home.

“Yeah tar pit, we are.” He mumbles. 

We can continue the conversation about procreation now. 

Gavin’s eyes snap open, wide awake now. “Uh, yeah, I guess you’re right. Fuck, um.” He sits up, scraping his fingers roughly through his hair. “First of all, don’t call it that. It’s just sex. It’s not really about making babies or whatever, it’s to relieve tension. Because it just uh, feels good. Really good.” 

Unintentionally, Gavin remembers being bent over various pieces of furniture and fucked silly by his previous trysts. He flushes slightly with embarrassment, Nines definitely saw that. He’s still getting used to sharing a brain, sue him. 

An unconvinced murmur brings Gavin back to the present, Nines was apparently finished rifling through his sexual encounter memory catalogue.

The process of pursuing a sexual partner seems time-consuming and difficult. Why bother if it is not necessary? Your failures outnumber your successes. 

“Way to kick a guy when he’s down.” Gavin grumbles, but he knows the question is genuine and Nines has no malicious intent behind his statement. Nines simply thinks in terms of numbers; success and failure, yes and no, black and white. Gavin sighs. 

“I guess you technically don’t really need a partner, it’s just sometimes better when you’ve got one.” He explains, allowing Nines a very short glimpse of Gavin’s moments in bed or in the shower with just his hand for company. He can feel Nines consider this new information. 

A much more logical approach with a significantly higher success rate.

Gavin huffs out a laugh at Nines’ rational analysis, scratching idly at his chin.

“You’re not wrong.” He says. 

Show me.

“What?! No!” Gavin splutters, instinctively alarmed at the thought.

Why not?

“Because it’s fucking private, not some part of fascinating human culture to observe through a microscope!” A ridiculous point to make to someone that lives in his head and can read all his thoughts.

Gavin can practically feel the unimpressed look Nines is giving him.

Hm. It sounds like you are being a little bitch. 

Gavin barks out a surprised laugh. He’s clearly been a bad influence on Nines’ vocabulary. That warm fondness bubbles up in his chest again and he runs a hand through his hair. You know what, why the fuck not? His life is already so fucking weird, this might as well happen. 

“Shit, alright, why not.” He stands. “But we’re not gonna stay out here for this.” He closes the door behind him once he’s in the bedroom. Gavin does not want an untimely cat-shaped interruption. He strips down, tossing his clothes on the floor haphazardly, and lays flat on the bed. This, at least, isn’t unfamiliar territory. Nines has to be with him in the shower, and he’s merged with all his cells or whatever, so it’s not like he doesn’t know what Gavin looks like naked. 

Gavin relaxes into the sheets, one arm folded behind his head and the other palm resting on his stomach. He closes his eyes, breathing deeply, and tries to pretend this is just like any other time he’s jerked off. 

This is not very interesting.

Gavin can’t hold back his amused snort at the obviously unimpressed tone, but he feigns irritation anyways. “Yeah I’m going, I’m going.” He grumbles. 

He skims a hand down his belly, palming between his legs. This isn’t going to take long, he thinks, the barest touch and he’s already filling out from the anticipation of finally getting off.

Gavin eases into it, stroking slowly over hardening flesh. Pleasure sparks low in his belly, but doesn’t want to overwhelm Nines with too much too fast. But the mental feedback Gavin is receiving seems to just be curiosity at the new sensations, and steadily increasing interest. 

I think I am beginning to understand why humans choose to do this.

Gavin’s dick twitches at the low voice echoing in his head, and he laughs weakly. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” He jokes. 

On the next upstroke he twists his wrist, fingers tracing a vein along the underside. He bites back a small noise, forcing his breathing to stay even and trying to quell the simmering heat in his belly.

Do that again.

Gavin’s breath stutters at the abrupt demand, but he complies, hand speeding up and thumb smearing a pearl of precome over the sensitive head. His hips jump and the fingernails of his opposite hand dig into his palm. 

“Nines I- ahh, uhm,” Gavin pauses to swallow hard, “I’m not gonna- ah- not gonna last long. S’been a while.” He manages to grit out. Fuck he’s gonna have a hard time keeping quiet. 

His cock is getting slick in his grip, leaking steadily now. Gavin would feel embarrassed, if he thought Nines cared even a slight bit about how long he lasted. A groan escapes him on the next swipe over the tip, and Gavin brings his hand down from under his head and bites his knuckle to muffle the noises. 

I want to try.

Gavin wheezes like he’s been punched, nearly sitting straight up in shock. 

“You what?” He chokes out. But after the initial surprise of the request, Gavin is slammed with a wave of arousal at the thought of Nines touching him. He squirms in place a little. 

I want to touch you.

Gavin’s cock throbs in his grip. He can feel the hungry curiosity from Nines filtering through his mind, and yeah, fuck, why not. He settles back into the blankets, cautiously laying his hand by his side.

“Oh-kay, yeah alright.” He breathes. “Just be careful alright? Us humans are fucking fragile.”

I would never hurt you.

Gavin feels a pinch of emotion at the sincerity in his statement, and relaxes further into the bed. He gives Nines the mental go-ahead. 

A familiar sensation starts up on his skin, and Gavin looks down to see rippling darkness emerge and pool across his hips, brushing against his cock. Against his overheated skin, it’s fucking cold.

Gavin instinctively jerks his hips back and yelps. 

“Shit that’s cold, Nines, fuck.” An apologetic hum echoes through his mind, and Nines pauses briefly. He resumes his path after a moment and covers Gavin’s cock entirely, deliciously hot this time and squeezes. Gavin curses. 

Better?

“Yeah, fuck, how’d you do that?” He gasps, fingers gripping the sheets. 

Temperature regulation is imperative for survival.

The reply is offhanded, most of Nines’ focus now on consuming Gavin’s responses to his touch. 

Gavin groans, his head tilting back in the pillow. Christ it feels so good, hot and tight and slick. He moans raggedly, praise falling from his lips. 

“Just like that, fuck that’s- that’s good, keep going.” Nines trills happily at the praise, spreading further up Gavin’s abdomen. Curious tendrils flick at Gavin’s nipples, and his hands fly up, gripping the pillow above his head. Nines continues to play with his chest, and Gavin arches into his touch. 

The grip around his cock is scorching, twisting sweetly over the tip with every squeeze. Gavin squirms with pleasure, futilely thrusting his hips up.

More of Nines’ inky form skates greedily across his skin, drinking in every one of Gavin’s reactions. He twines up Gavin’s arms, winding around his wrists and through his fingers, pinning his arms above his head. 

Black tendrils slide down the inside of his thighs, and Gavin spreads his legs without realizing, rocking his hips desperately. Nines smoothes over his body, pressing Gavin’s thighs wider. Gavin lets out a whine, feeling filthy and on display. He tugs against the hold on his arms, whining again when there’s no give.

Gavin always had a thing for being manhandled but fuck, this was- fuck. 

“Oh God, fuck- ohhh don’t stop- baby don’t stop-” Gavin pleads. Nines is purring in his mind, eagerly devouring his pleasure, experiencing it with him.

Gavin keens at the feeling of something prodding at his entrance, nodding frantically and gasping when it presses inside. 

It’s like nothing he’s ever felt before, smooth and slick tendrils sliding into him and exploring, swelling inside him until he’s filled so perfectly. He shudders and clenches down, gasping at the fullness. 

Fuck, then Nines starts moving, not thrusting but pulsing, rubbing deliciously against his inner walls. Gavin moans with every movement, drooling onto the pillow as his throaty ah ah ah’s fill the room. 

Gavin’s drowning in pleasure, his eyes rolling back in his head. But then Nines presses up firmly, directly into his prostate, squeezing around Gavin’s cock at the same time. Gavin very nearly wails, babbling desperately. 

“Oh fuck, baby I’m so close- Nines, please sweetheart, I’m gonna come- don’t stop, baby please don’t stop-” He begs, writhing in Nines’ all-encompassing hold. 

“Gavin.”

His name is growled out loud, Gavin hears it right next to his ear, not in his mind, and the faint scrape of sharp teeth on his throat tips him over the edge. 

Gavin‘s voice cracks on a sob, mewling Nines’ name as he comes in long, aching pulses. His toes curl as pleasure rips through him so strongly it almost hurts. He clenches down hard on the tendrils inside him, thighs trembling from the force of his orgasm. 

Nines keeps moving, drawing it out until Gavin is whimpering from oversensitivity, finally relenting. 

Gavin melts into the mattress when Nines releases him, completely boneless. Instead of vanishing beneath his skin, Nines settles across his body like a soothing, form-fitted blanket, petting affectionately at Gavin’s arms and shoulders. 

Fuck, Gavin’s never come that hard in his life.

Was my performance satisfactory?

The smugness radiating through their mental bond was almost palpable. 

“You’re fucking insufferable.” Gavin slurs, tremors still running intermittently through his muscles. 

Perhaps more practice will be needed.

Gavin’s spent dick twitches pathetically at the thought. “If you want.” He mutters hoarsely. Gavin definitely wants. But his eyelids are drooping, and he nestles down into the pillow. A faint question tugs at the edge of Gavin’s mind. “Nap first, food after.” He mumbles, “And I’ll get your lava cake.” A moment’s pause. 

… Can we get two lava cakes?

Gavin smiles fondly into the pillow, chuckling quietly at the timid question. 

“Yeah baby, we can get two lava cakes.”

[artisticflutter]

AU August - Day One: Coffee Shop

Guess what tiiime it iiiis~?

Also, if anyone is wondering what my prompt list is this year, it comes from twitter! Do it with me! Meanwhile, here’s my fill for today~

Series: Miraculous Ladybug Rating: G Genre: Fluff, Angst Pairing(s): Cheesecake, Adrinette Summary: Cat-spresso Yourself is an adorable little cat café that serves up cute food with cute cat companions. Usually, it’s quite pleasant, but someone unpleasant has come by. Warning: A technical Part Two to this fill from last year… and minor Lila salt.

Tikki, Plagg, and Marinette stared at the table in the corner of Cat-spresso Yourself with different feelings, but none of them positive. Marinette scowled, Tikki’s ears were pulled, and Plagg was growling, tail whipping irritably behind him. There was not typically an issue if Adrien brought a guest with him. Kagami was cold and direct, but had similar social issues that Adrien had, and had no idea what to do when the biggest ragdoll just draped itself across her lap. And his co-worker, the dark beauty Juleka, was soft-spoken and withdrawn, but warmed up immediately once she had their toyger kitten in her hands.

However, those two young women were not this one.

No one else was Lila Rossi and thank god for that. 

Lila Rossi was - admittedly - gorgeous as many models were. Beautiful, flawless skin naturally tanned by the Italian sun when she lived there, gorgeous olive green eyes, slim and tall; perfect for photos and the runway. Now, if only her personality matched her beauty, but Marinette would compare it to spoiled milk - the kind you pour and don’t realize it’s spoiled until you taste it. In Lila’s case obviously, it wasn’t until she talked that one didn’t realize she matched the stereotypical self-centered model and then some because even those models probably didn’t lie as much.

The first time she’d come to the café, Marinette received a surprise visit from the health inspector the next day.

The second time, animal control had been contacted because an anonymous source reported one of the cats as rabid, but Marinette and the shelter that brought many of her new cats had their record up-to-date.

The third time… well, this was the third visit. And how suspicious it seemed she had come so soon after Adrien had visited.

Marinette had decided after the first incident already that she was prepared for anything Lila might do to shut her café down; however, she didn’t think that her presence might make Adrien miserable after Kagami and Juleka hadn’t had the same effect. Or maybe she had just assumed someone like Adrien got along with all his fellow models. How could a human be more clingy than her stray cats?

Sighing, Marinette glanced down at the gentle bump against her arm and caught Tikki’s deep blue eyes gazing back upon her. The calico mewed and purred, rubbing more, and Marinette managed a weak smile.

“I’ll be okay, girl. Thank you though…”

She’d have to wash her hands, but Tikki earned a pet for comforting her. As for Plagg, Marinette realized where there once had been a black furry void was now just counter space. Barely a second later did she hear one of her reusable cups clatter against the ground and a loud shriek mixed with a deep, bellowing and demanding meow.

“Oh, hey Plagg!”

Marinette laughed under her breath.

She would get the mop in a second.

[checkers-dance]

made an mx ouran au on the spot while chatting with noxia and i Must share

jooheon: hani. listen. yes its about the name but jooheon DOES love his aegyo doesnt he? HE'D FIT THE ROLE. and like hani he also has the power to commit murder so it all adds up.

minhyuk: tamaki. i just dont think anyone can match tamaki's loud energy as much as minhyuk. he'd be very enthusiastic about it.

shownu: mori. like, mori is quiet but to me he has this oddly calm energy to him, he doesnt feel intimidating the way other quiet types do, so i think that works for him.

hyungwon: haruhi. listen. i just find it funny.

changkyun/kihyun: the twins. yknow how some ppl say they look like each other? that is the logic of this, thats it.

wonho: the only other host club member left is kyoya but no. wonho is renge. not technically a part of the main group but still there in spirit. this is the one role im protective of, im willing to change the others but wonho HAS to be renge.

other alternatives:

kihyun as kyoya. listen. its abt the money. plus i like kihyun being a little bit mean.

hyungwon and kihyun as the twins but in an au where they hate each other. that'd be funny.

jooheon and changkyun/minhyuk as the twins. i just think they'd be able to capture the homosexuality of it all.

Help, why do ppl say that changkyun and kihyun look like each other, they look nothing alike 😭😭😭

It's so funny to me that the alternative option u gave for kihyun was kyoya SPECIFICALLY bc of the money...kihyun is never going to live down the young flexer joke is he

I think hyungwon fits as haruhi but I want to see hyungki as the twins, so I propose that changkyun gets to be haruhi. Listen I just think his poker face fits. Like everyone thinks he's well-adjusted and the "regular guy" from this bunch and he turns out to be equally weird. But also I like the idea of joohyuk as the twins.........what if kihyun was tamaki and hyungwon was kyoya (and changkyun can be haruhi as mentioned above). Kihyun doesn't necessarily have the puppy energy but I think the hyungki dynamic would fit here (like the "I'm better than u" banter but also the kihyun wet meow meow energy we've for some reason adopted for him in mx aus). I'm so sorry to kihyun for doing this to him but the connection is there

But that leaves us w no hani and jooheon would've been perfect for the role. This is so hard to coordinate 😭. Also don't think I didn't catch the showheon subtext in here 🧐

[writing-gifts]

typed out a quick 4th part, this is slowly becoming more than just a incubus!doppio au but we will just keep calling it that for consistency 

list of the current parts

-----

Apparently hoping to not have to interact with Doppio’s boss ever again was too much to ask. Ever since the first time he waltzed into your house and insulted you, he’s been making periodic visits, albeit in a less threatening manner

However the second time he had shown up at your house you had threatened him with the possibility of a holy water gun if he tried what he did last time. It was a bluff since you didn't want to risk hurting Doppio in the process but it seemed to work. The demon had chosen to reel back his intense attitude but he still wouldn't stop telling you to end your friendship with his nicer counterpart. He’d mention it at least once every time he showed up.

"I know he’s your...friend but it’s negatively affecting him and therefore me."

You move around the house sweeping, half listening to the demon as he unfortunately makes himself comfortable on your living room couch.

"How so?"

"He doesn’t want to have sex anymore because he has feelings for you and it’s lessening his power." The word ‘feelings’ was dripping with contempt and you could see the annoyance on the demon's face.

But his statement manages to catch your full attention and you stop sweeping.

"Wait, wait...does that mean he’s dying? He seemed fine the last time I saw him." Diavolo seeing you vulnerable in any way puts a bad taste in your mouth, but you struggle to keep the worry out of your voice.

"He's not dying, it just makes his magical strength weaker. He might as well be a megar mortal at this point."

"Is that necessarily a bad thing though?"

"I don't want to be reduced to a weak lower demon. I’d do it myself but my power stems from him."

"Oh, so you’re like a leech. Got it.” The demon scowls at you and you go back to cleaning.

“Well that’s cool and all but I don't really care what you want. If Doppio wants to keep being friends with me then I’m going to stay and nothing you say will change my mind. And I would really like it if you would get it through your thick skull.”

You expect Diavolo to get really angry but you get mild irritation instead.

"Stubborn…At least he chose to throw away what we have for someone who isn't weak willed. I'll give him that."

"Wow that's the nicest thing you've ever said since you started bothering me."

"Don't get comfortable human. This is just a momentary hiccup. And once I find a way to become the main controller of this body, I'm ending your life for being such a nuisance. The fact that you've even seen me--"

You raise your brows at the sudden stop in his villain monologue, but before you can respond you see a tense look on Diavolo’s face. His brows furrow and he hunches over. You watch as he forms transitions into something more lithe, more familiar to you. The dark spots in his hair begin to fade and the freckles you loved start to reappear. By the time the transformation's done the clothes he's wearing sit loosely on his body.

You walk over and sit down next to his hunched form. “...Doppio?"

His head shoots up to look at you. “Don’t listen to him ____! I won’t let him hurt you.”

You flinch, “Woah, it’s fine! I’m not really worried about it...Okay maybe I’m a little worried, but I’m definitely not going to make it easy for him."

Doppio frowns before taking your hand and looks off to the side. "He’s all big talk anyways. I'd like to see him try to do anything to you without me intervening."

"Hmm, it's almost like you're the boss then."

"Well...not really. Technically he's stronger than me, as long as I feed his power."

Like a company...

"Do you even like your boss Doppio?"

He nods. "I respect him a lot. But ever since I met you he’s been a real pain. I wish he would let me have this one thing." His hold on your hand tightens slightly.

You can't imagine why the incubus would respect someone like that. Especially someone who was trying to take complete control and doesn’t ever consider his wants. At least, that’s the feeling you get from that parasite.

“He is a real pain," you say.

You look down at your friend's hand in yours. Diavolo did somewhat make you nervous but he annoyed you more than anything.

"Do what you want Doppio. It’s your body first and foremost. Diavolo has to respect what you want if he’s going to reside in it.” You smile. “And you have the upper hand here.”

Doppio looks a little uncomfortable at the idea, but he nods.

You hope he really takes what you said to heart though.

-----

You toss and turn in bed having a hard time finding a comfortable position. For some reason, you were struggling to sleep tonight. You had kept your eyes closed in hopes you would have drifted off by now, but it didn’t seem to help so you gave up.

Your gaze lands on the full moon in the night sky outside your window. Living out here had its perks even if you had to make the long trip to work several times a week or whenever you needed groceries. For one, you could easily see the stars in the sky.

There's suddenly a howl in the distance and your body tenses. You didn't know there were wolves around here…

After a minute of silence passes, your body relaxes and you attempt to fall asleep again. When you finally feel yourself drifting off your awaken by meowing at your window.

You groan. You really need to get a cat door if Mutton was going to be visiting you this late all the time.

You get up and open the window and the cat immediately jumps in and makes his way to your bed. He seems a bit unsteady on his paws though and almost misses the surface of the bed completely.

“Woah, are you okay?”

You try to pet the cat but he arches his body away from your hand and wobbly makes his way to one of your pillows before flopping over and grooming himself.

“Okay guess someone’s in a shitty mood…”

After closing the window, you get back in bed and finally manage to get to sleep.

In the morning, when you wake up the cat is gone and now where to be found in your house. You furrow your brows wondering how though and notice that your window is slightly cracked open. But you’re sure you had closed it the night before.

You shut and lock it before starting your morning routine.

When you come back to your room you see that the pillow Mutton slept on last night is covered in his shedded, white fur. Sighing, you go find a lint roller.

While rolling the pillow you pick up a very long white hair. You pull the hair off the roller and inspect it. It was way longer and finer than Mutton’s fur, just like human hair.

“Huh, weird.”

You finish rolling up the fur and discard the roller sheet and hair in the trash.

[voidcat]

Oh yeah, might as well make another part of 'spoon appreciating (simping for) someone's writing'

I'll just start with the first major problem!! Will you take responsibility of making me simp for Verlaine and Mori?? Like...how?? I am not exaggerating when i say that that would have never happened otherwise. Your writing just changed my whole perception of the two :D and i'd like to ask "how!?" I only ever simped for chuuya and dazai! And now i simp for the boomer-times new roman-cursive versions of the two :,(

What's the problem, you may ask?🤔🤔

Well maybe the fact that my brain only accepts your portrayal of them?! None other!! (I have reread your mori & verlaine work countless times. And i still haven't grown bored of it)

So you can imagine the death grip your fics have on me 😔😔 they hold me by the throat.

And then there is something that I had mentioned once before, but I got reminded of it when I was going through a writing high last week.

The way you write some of the x-reader pieces from the Canon character's pov??? Genius. I know you didn't come up with it, but those fics in particular live in my mind rent free. Looking inside character's minds, and seeing them be whipped for reader??? I just-- I can't!! And it's unrequited love too!!

Une Larme in particular!! What have you done to my poor heart!! >:(

I can't even convey just how much i love the things you've written. 

And when I say that, I mean, you indirectly changed my own writing style!! Which only happens when i read published work and see their writing style as ASPIRING...Who would have known a bsd x reader writer on tumblr will just go and climb on top of my 'fave authors list' ?? Is that allowed?? 👁👁

Yeah. 

Voidcat >>> my faves at this point

And I'll make sure to read A Case Of Bad Luck on ao3 and send you my opinions as actual comments, instead of these (whatever you can call these) asks!! 

The problem with these asks is that I started with just wanting to say what I like about your work, then I forgot to go into some things and had to send in another ask. And now that cycle continues as I keep finding things I have yet to say!!

(So yeah, part three of spoon dumping their unfiltered stream of consciousness on voidcat!! And this will surely not be the last!! the saga continues <3 )

And yes, I shall forgive your treason of doubting me 😌😌

ik i replied in a similar way to one of ur asks before but the fact that i LEGITHAVE NO WORDS THE WAY IM AT A LOSS OF WORDS WHEN I READ THESE?!?!??!!?PLSSSSSS idk what to say other than thank you for reading and thank you for sticking around dfsgdhf ily i May actually cry, im going thru one of my mood swings this week soif i cry its on YOU and You only (to emphasize my point:i rarely cry irl so magine the weight of my words rn... YEAH theyre huge)

and well.... good news ig? bc aqua and i were discussing abt writing a mori multchap fic adfsgxdhf genshin mafia au literally blinking at us rn it took us 6 months jusr to write the intro and we r gonna abandon it for a morally questionable hot doctor whos technically ex military....

and i suck when it comes to recording but i can naybe play une larme in vc one day if u want adfsgdfh i rlly dk what to say abt verlaine, his effect on me was so unexpected too...... i rlly a man suffering and go "yea bet im taking my claim on this poor meow meow now" (the meow meow in question: literally known as the king of assassings,,, but it ok im sweet he'd not harm me... right.....)

and ik i kinda exposed this bit abt myself in an answer to u before but maybe its bc i kinda write these stuff w7o a fic in mind???like as f wriiting smt and slapping a character name later on Or more like an analysis on a character/human and maybe thtas why it feels less like a x-reader fic sajdfdgf (i def opened this blog as 'wriitng practice' bc i wanted t expand my genre of og writings......now look at me still here after a year)

and ido like to tweak things from other character perspectivesbc i think i have this,, obvious profile for a reader adfsgd so i try to appear a bt more diverse. and ilikeexploring diff views if it makes sense:D (like how i cant relate to most mitski songs but i also /can/ bc i know i /couldve/ lived through the same pain, if not similar)idk humans are interesting and w bsd characters, the questioning of your humanity, emotions etc... i guess i just get it lol

and for bad luck i do have all the stuff posted and my links should work now so if its easier u can always read them here lmao

(also..... u can always have me as ur fave author ifi ever make that one idea of writingshort storiesinto a reality and get them published,,,,)

thank you for your forgiveness<333 i'll make sure not to hurt you like that next time ipromise

OHOH waiti forgot to add,, maybe the mori fic kinda hits bc at core,,, dazai and mori are not so different after all. in their few differences, dazai is (mostly) worse than him if we are being honest. but most of the mannerism and behaviors, even that damned smile and everything.... those are all the thngs mori has bled and blended into dazai. as much as the mighty feared port mafiaisactually just dazai, dazai mostly is just actually a copy of mori. (he just appears more charming/likeable)

so yea my "if you claim to like dazai but hate mori, youre a hypocrite" agenda is back again (lets ,gnore how i never mentioned it here before) <3

[franken-x]

This isn't a fandom but. characters specifically from vocaloid music videos if that works?

OO YES YES

so I'll be linking the music videos and this is probably gonna be mostly nilfruits focused (we'll see where this goes)

blorbo (top fave) : doc/dr popart

it kinda depends on the day but i uh. i listened to doctorine around like 400 times last year (I don't have the number anymore :pensive:) so def doc

doctorine

(hospitals, suicide, hospital affiliated paraphernalia)

scrunkly (cuteness aggression) : the bellboy

literally look at him. and I had a whole au and everything. i love him he is precious to me and he's living his best life in ironina

haine kleine

(see below for content warnings)

scrimblo bimblo (underrated fave) : oro andalucia

I cannot put into words how much I love this anticapitalist waluigi

he saw capitalism and was like "guess ill die"

ALSO THE FASHION JUST SLAPS. ITS SO UGLY BUT SO GOOD HE DID WHAT MAGICIANS PURE LOVE WAS TRYING TO DO BUT 10000X BETTER also I like the surrealism the references

salvador

(suicide references, eyestrain)

glup shitto (obscure fave): haine

not quite obscure but when I saw him in the background of ironina I was like "oh!!!! the man!!!!!!" haine and kleine is that type of song that you forget about for a few months and then when you listen to it again You listen to it for a week straight

but in terms of who appears in the background of music videos the most technically flurry and welter who have had the most appearances, one outside their actual series (baba yaga silhouettes (0:41)

haine kleine

(flashing, alcohol, depression, choking)

poor little meow meow (pathetic or problematic fave) : Fuck I already said haine he's literally the pinnacle of pathetic man UHHHHH armis?

I stole my name from her she's problematic bc she's a bitch but also I think she should be a pathetic girlboss I love those ppl i hope she's still alive OH BUT ALSO CLAY? definitely the most popular nilfruits character (maybe slightly less than kalmia but ehh) definitely a poor little meow meow

okay honestly most nilfruits mv characters are pathetic little meow meows

ESPECIALLY THE ONES IN SHAMA (which includes winnie schrader it's complicated but if u know miyashita yuu you know winnie)

shama kilmer

(religious trauma, human sexual trafficking, eye trauma, homophobia)

horse plinko (character id like to torment for whatever reason): okay first off fuck gui oakes but that answer is too easy so here's my ranking excluding gui

1. Ai (a mistaken belief of love)

2. Baron (franken X)

3. Haine (haine kleine)

okay so all of these guys are actively going through some shit and being tormented in all their MVs but that little part of my brain is like "it'd be so funny if you made it worse" and that's basically why

a mistaken belief of love

(animal death, suicide, blood, flashing)

franken X

(dysphoria, hospitals, blood, eyestrain)

haine kleine

(flashing, alcohol, depression, choking, honestly it looks like onceler x onceler shit I'm not even joking)

eeby deeby (send them to eeby deeby): strelitzia dude

I think he'd fit in

strelitzia

(eye strain, flashing, the mortifying ordeal of living to serve someone wealthier than you, blood, alcohol)

[therainroguefanfiction]

❉ 139 Dreams (Hoshi/Soonyoung Kwon) Ethereal

📑 Table of Contents

Genre: Fluff, Supernatural AU, Romance ☁

Word Count: 1,969 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Soonyoung ☁

World: Kpop, Seventeen ☁

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

The world of magic was a strange one, to be sure. It wasn’t believed to be real, but magic existed everywhere, you just had to open your eyes. As a child, you grew up reading books about witches and wizards, stories shrouded in magic and fantasy. You loved it, but like most people, you grew out of it as you aged, believing such things to be nothing more than a product of one’s imagination. Still, a small part of you longed to be taken away from the mundane life you led.

You looked out the window with a sigh, sitting back in your chair. The sky was dark gray, as it had been for the past week, yet no rain has fallen since they appeared. It was strange and the meteorologists had no idea what was causing it. Before you looked away, your eyes caught something in the sky. Squinting, you rolled your chair closer to the glass.

At first glance, it looked like a bird, it’s feathers dark against the gray sky, but it was far too large to be any bird you had ever seen before. You watched as it glided through the air, missing balls of light being shot at it. From where you couldn’t see.

“Y/N? What’s wrong?” Gemma, your coworker, looked at you curiously.

You turned to her, grabbing her arm. “There’s something strange in the sky!”

“Yeah, they’re called clouds.” She giggled.

“I’m serious!” You pouted, tugging on her arm once more. She relented, allowing you to bring her over. Your eyes scanned the sky, looking for the dark mass of feathers but it was nowhere in sight. “It’s gone…”

“I think it’s time you cash in on those vacation days, girl.” Gemma patted your shoulder, rushing back to her desk when the phone rang. “Thanks for calling Howl Industries! My name is Gemma, how may I assist you today?”

You frowned, eyes jumping around frantically. Had you imagined it? The phone rang and you sighed, returning to your desk. Maybe Gemma was right.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

As you stepped out of the elevator, you stretched your arms above your head, groaning as your bones popped. Sitting in a chair for near twelve hours a day was hell on your back and shoulders, but the pay made it worth it. Howl Industries is one of the world’s largest companies, dealing in children’s books, healing crystals, and various other business ventures. You’ve been working for the company for almost three years now, going from struggling to pay your bills to now having extra to do what you wanted with.

It was around ten-thirty and the sun had long since set. The moon was smothered by the thick clouds, making the night seem darker. Not even the street lights could lift the darkness. The cool Autumn air whipped around you, sending a shiver down your spine as you pulled your coat tighter around your body. You couldn’t wait to get home and relax with a nice hot cup of cocoa.

A faint white glow caught the corner of your eye and you paused. It was coming from inside the park, completely devoid of human life. You chewed on your bottom lip as alarm bells went off in your mind. By all accounts, walking into a deserted park alone, late at night on a cold windy night, was a horrible idea, but there was something stopping you from walking away. You couldn’t explain it, but you felt as if you had to enter the park and investigate that glow. Cursing your curiosity, you slowly approached it, looking around for any signs that this was a trap.

Swallowing down your nerves, you slowly parted the bushes, finding an unconscious man lying on the ground. His hair was a faded brown, his skin like porcelain. His body was thin and glowed a pale white. He was the most gorgeous man you had ever laid eyes on.

You kneeled down to get a better look at him but startled when a cold liquid seeped through your pants. Curiously, you placed your hand down to inspect it; it was blood.

Your stomach twisted at the sight of the red liquid staining your skin. ‘Oh, god. What if he’s dead?!’ You swallowed down your nerves, lifting a shaking hand towards his neck. Before you could make contact, his eyes shot open and his hand gripped your wrist tightly.

You squeaked in surprise, gaining his attention. His warm brown eyes bore into your own and it felt as if he was looking straight to your soul. It felt intrusive like he could tell everything about you with one look. You tried to remain calm, knowing that if you panicked it would only make things worse. “Y-You’re hurt… I’ll call you an ambulance, j-just let go, okay?”

His fingers tightened around your wrist, his eyes never leaving yours. His breathing was shallow, you noticed. “No ambulance. Please…”

“Oi… Oi!” You called out to him as his eyes slid closed but to no avail. He had lost consciousness once more, hand slowly falling from your wrist. You didn’t know what to do. He was obviously hurt pretty bad judging from the amount of blood on the ground, but he sounded so desperate that you didn’t call an ambulance. That left you with two options.

Though you had mostly grown out of the fantasy genre as an adult, your love for books and reading never dwindled. You had read so many stories where the main character found a mysterious man or woman that was unconscious, hurt, or running away from trouble. You remember laughing at them for being dumb enough to bring a stranger into their home, claiming that you would never be stupid enough to make that decision.

So why were you hesitating now?

You didn’t believe yourself to be a saint by no means, but you weren’t cruel, either, and leaving this man here to bleed out was not something you could forgive yourself for. With a frustrated groan, you made your decision, thanking the heavens that your parents had forced you to be active as a child. Those skills that you had never thought would come in handy were now helping you to lift the man onto your back. He was heavy, being a full-grown man, but either you were stronger than you thought or he was lighter than the average man. Even so, you hunched a bit as you walked and you knew that if you didn’t get home soon, you would probably collapse under the weight.

You struggled to get your keys out of your bag without dropping him, but with the help of the brick wall, you finally succeeded after ten minutes of fumbling around like a fool. You kicked the door shut with a huff, your body screaming as you took large steps to the couch, nearly dropping the man. Once he was safe, you collapse to the ground with a groan, your back feeling like it wanted to break in half.

“Meow~”

You tilted your head back, locking eyes with your cat. You could only imagine what she was thinking as she watched you. Rolling onto your stomach, you reached up to scratch her head only to pause when you remembered the blood.

“Shit, his wound!” You jumped to your feet, searching the kitchen cabinets for the first aid kit before rushing back to the couch. His white shirt was covered in blood in various spots, but the majority of it was focused on his right side. Silently apologizing for the invasion of privacy, you lifted his shirt to check the wound.

You blinked dumbly when you found nothing marring his beautiful skin. It took a minute to sink in and you felt your blood turn cold. ‘Is that someone else’s blood? Did I just bring a murderer home?! That would explain why he didn’t want an ambulance!’

A soft groan passed his pink lips, eyes fluttering open.

You knew it was stupid, but your body froze up. If you didn’t move, maybe he wouldn’t see you…

He turned his head, brown eyes boring into your own. His hand reached up, resting on your cheek. “You saved me…”

“I, umm…” Technically you did nothing but nearly break your back.

“Thank you,” he smiled and you felt your heart skip a beat.

“Gorgeous,” you muttered under your breath, but he heard it, letting out a melodic laugh. Your cheeks burned when you realized you had thought out loud.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, smiling at you. “My name is Soonyoung. And yours?”

We’re you really going to give your name to a strange man that may or may not be a murderer? Yes, yes you were. “Y/N… my name is Y/N.”

“What a beautiful name.” He commented, his lips curled into a gentle smile. “Thank you again for saving me. You have my eternal gratitude.”

“I… really didn’t do anything.” You rubbed the back of your head, glancing at his bloodstained shirt. He followed your gaze, his hand raising the cloth as he smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’ve finished healing.”

“Say what now?”

“I’ve finished healing,” he repeated, tilting his head to the side. “It took a bit longer than normal, nearly thirty minutes!”

“Normal people don’t heal from that kind of wound in thirty minutes…”

He looked at you in surprise. “Really? Humans are quite strange.”

“Huma – Are you not human?!”

“Of course not, I’m a wizard!” He grinned, proudly.

Your mouth fell open. “This isn’t Harry Potter, man!”

“Harry… Potter? What is that?”

You stated at him blankly for a moment before turning around, rubbing circles into your temple. “This isn’t real, it’s just a dream brought on by your overactive imagination.”

Soonyoung frowned, tilting his head again. “Do you not believe me?”

“Magic isn’t real.”

“How dare you!” He jumped to his feet, hurt swirling in his brown eyes. “It is very real and I can prove it.”

“Yeah? And how are you gonna do tha- OH MY GOD.” When you turned around, you found the boy now covered dark feathers, a deep silky blue. His fingers were now claws, and the only part of his body that wasn’t made of fur and feathers was his face. He stood tall, his head nearly reaching the ceiling. Wings were tucked into his body, shaking lightly. Feathers were now strewn across your living room.

“I don’t… I can’t… WHAT.”

He giggled at your reaction, sticking his tongue out. “I told you, didn’t I? Magic is real. Now, come with me!” He held his hand out and you only stared at it blankly. Your mind was running a mile a minute, but at the same time it was somehow working at only a fourth of its normal capacity. Impatient, he reached forward, picking you off the ground and into his arms. Before you could say a word, he rushed outside and took flight. You cried out, your arms nearly choking him as your fingers clutched at his feathers.

His laugh reached your ears over the whipping of the cool night air. “It’s okay, I won’t drop you. Promise!”

Swallowing your nerves, you slowly peeled your eyes open. They quickly grew wide when you realized how high up you were. The city below was a blur of lights as he flew over, the clouds swirling around his body. When you spotted Howl Industries, you realized that Soonyoung had been the strange creature you witnessed. You remembered the lights chasing him.

Your eyes examined his face, thoughtfully. ‘One of those lights must have injured him…’

Sensing your stare, he glanced down at you with a beautiful smile, which you slowly returned. You had the feeling that Soonyoung would quickly become a very important part of your life.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

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