#the series is too long and I lowkey forgot what she does later on

[lezabeththetheodoraimposter]

maturing is realizing the only reason we hate Alina is because keefe does (and she got people in trouble)

[guiltyasdave]

are you ever dreaming of me?

series masterlist • this is part IV

pairing: Dave York x f!reader

a/n: This got very dark very quickly, but it had to be done. It’s basically just one big love letter from me to Dave and his character. I know Dave’s behavior in the last chapter has been a little frustrating but I hope it’ll make more sense now (it’s still frustrating though ngl). I also know this is not as smut-heavy as the other chapters, which might come as a disappointment to some. Stay with me here, more filth is coming soon, I just had to get emotional for a second. <3 (also, please be nice because I lowkey hate this, actually)

word count: ~3.1k

summary: Dave’s side of the story.

warnings: ANGST, bits of fluff if you squint, age-gap, mentions of killing people, mentions of death, mentions of rough sex, power imbalance, able-bodied reader, somewhat unhealthy relationship dynamics, dubios morals (Dave is cheating on his wife… kinda), idiots in love, this whole serious is still very much 18+ only, mdni… did I mention angst? (As always, please tell if if I forgot something!)

dividers by @/saradika <3

find my full masterlist here!

Dave York isn’t a good man.

He isn’t a good man and he hasn’t been in a long time. He probably had been, once, when he first joined the military, when he still thought that he was doing the good thing, the right thing. Before he killed his first man. Now he’s living in shades of gray, where nothing is as simple as right or wrong.

He knows that what he’s doing is not right, but then again, the people that he’s killing aren’t good men either. He’s doing what he’s good at, what he has been trained to do for years. He doesn’t really know what else he’s good at. If there even is anything else.

He makes enough money to provide well for his daughters, the only thing in his life that he really cares about, the two girls that he loves more than anything. He loved their mother too, once, when they were both young. They were high school sweethearts, got married quickly simply because that was the thing that you did, only to realize later that adult life with each other wasn’t what either of them had imagined.

He’s never told Carol what exactly it is that he does, trying to protect her, which then led to her not understanding what was going on when he came home feeling cold and empty, a void inside of him that nothing could fill. They both grew distant from each other, not sharing any real connection anymore, just living aside one another. It works for him; their daughters are still the top priority for both of them, and they’re going to do everything in their power to give them the best possible childhood.

He suspects that Carol is seeing someone else, with the way she’s sometimes working late for no good reason, sliding out of the room to answer her phone at odd hours, the way he occasionally finds a position on their shared credit card bill that he doesn’t have an explanation for.

Dave knows that if he cared, he could easily find out every little detail about it. If he cared, he would probably be angry at how she’s not even making an effort to hide it. But the thing is - he just can’t bring himself to care. Has never done the same thing either, neither out of spite, nor because he had any desire for it.

Until he met her.

Sitting in a hotel bar, two seats over from him, when he’d just gotten a job done and figured that a quick drink might help him fall asleep easier. The whiskey’s burn in his throat didn’t ease the coldness that felt like it had permanently settled into his chest, not that he’d expected it to.

He had just decided to retreat to his room and get out of the city first thing in the morning when she sighed loudly and downed her own drink abruptly. He had noticed her when he walked in, the way he always clocked every person in any room he entered, and every possible exit route. He had absentmindedly noted that she was attractive, then dismissed the thought immediately. Probably here for a date, much younger than him, not paying him any mind. Not a threat, and therefore not important.

Not important at all, until he found himself turning to her and offering to buy her another drink before his mind had even caught up to his actions, learning that she had just been stood up for what would indeed have been a date, noticing the glint of interest in her gaze as she eyed him up and down, feeling a kind of longing that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Getting her to go up to his room with him had been easy. A mutual understanding of wanting each other, the desire to turn a shitty evening into something else, something that he doesn’t think either of them understood at the time.

Kissing her for the first time had been easy, too. Touching her, feeling her hot skin under his fingertips, her entire being so much softer, lighter than he was, felt easy. It felt right, like something that he hadn’t known he was missing right until that moment. He wanted to devour her, make her his, get her as close as he possibly could, before he inevitably had to give up this fleeting moment of something that suspiciously felt like happiness, and happiness never stayed within his reach for too long.

Sinking into her for the first time, hearing her gasp, her breath hot against his neck, felt even better. This was never gonna last, things this good never did. The way she clenched around him when he first slapped her ass and her whimper of “harder, please” turned him feral in a way that he hadn’t known before. How she gave up all control to him so willingly when his entire life had felt out of control for so long - it was addicting. He had known that he would come back for more again and again before he had even spilled himself into her for the first time.

He hadn’t planned for her to stay the night. Hadn’t planned for the way she kissed his lips in the morning, acting a little shy, like she was worried that he might send her away, but so clearly showing him that she wanted more of him, if that was what he wanted. And god damn, did he want to give her more, give her all that he had to offer, if only it wasn’t for the fact that any more of him would be enough to scare her away for good.

So, he didn’t give her more. Made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t looking for an emotional attachment, told her about his marriage, told her that they couldn’t be a thing. She was quick to hide her disappointment, but not quick enough for him not to notice. He half expected her to walk out then, that this wasn’t something she wanted, but instead she scribbled down her phone number, gave him a flirty smile and told him to call her “whenever”.

He knew he was being greedy, that he should have kept it a one time thing that he could keep a fond memory of, but of course he called her. Kept making stops in her town before flying back home, started spending weekends with her, the feeling of being around her too good to let go of.

He knows that it’s not right, that he’s probably taking advantage of her in some way. Of course he sees how badly she wants to please him, how she looks at him like he’s hung the moon for her. She has never denied him anything, no matter what kinds of depraved things he’s wanted to do with her. Hesitated, yes, but she has never said no. Never called red, never asked him to stop. Not when he first told her to call him “sir”, not when he spanked her for the first time, not when he’s edging her until she’s barely coherent, not when his fingers tightened around her throat for the first time. He could leave her a crying, shaking mess on the floor, and by the end of the night she’d still look up at him with those wide eyes and thank him.

It’s addictive and he can’t stop, always comes back for more when it feels like his whole life is spiraling out of his control again, when the darkness around him is threatening to swallow him whole. She’ll let him grab at her with rough hands, mold her body into any shape he wants, let him spit filth at her and let lose until he feels grounded again, until some of the darkness around him has dissipated.

Lately, work has been weighing on him even harder. Maybe he’s just getting older, maybe he has finally reached his limit, he’s not sure. With the whole week off, an incredibly rare occurrence, he knew who he wanted to spend it with. She had seemed stressed lately, like she needed a break too, so it was easy to convince himself that he was doing this for her. That it wasn’t just a selfish plan of his to spend more time with her.

Because somewhere along the way he has come to enjoy the time with her way too much. He enjoys lying in bed together, both of them catching their breaths, laughing about a stupid joke, the little tidbits from her life that she shares with him, the rare occasions when they’re walking around her neighborhood. The way she shyly grabbed his hand the first time, like she was scared that he would pull it away. The smile that she tried to but couldn’t hide when he didn’t.

This isn’t right and it’s not going to last, he’s well aware of that. As clear as he has been about his intentions, he still feels like he’s leading her on sometimes. But it feels too good to stop, to let go of one of the few comforts that he has in life.

The past few days with her have been heaven. He hadn’t anticipated how much he would enjoy spending so much uninterrupted time with her, how good it would feel to be around her the entire day, just watching her be herself and listening to her talking. And he has been talking as well, the feeling of speaking to someone without an ulterior motive, of someone listening to him just because they wanted to, more meaningful to him than he could put into words.

And all throughout, she had so willingly bent to his every wish, put all her trust into him, secure in the knowledge that in the end, he would take care of her.

So, Dave had let his guard down. Relaxed. Then the dream happened.

Last night, he had come home to find the girls slaughtered in their house, their small bodies soaked in blood. It’s a recurring nightmare, a fear that he can never entirely shake off, that haunts his subconscious every couple of weeks. He’s being thorough in his work, never leaving loose ends, keeping his private life concealed from the world that he moves in. The risk that anything could happen to them is as low as he can push it, but it’s not zero. Never zero, and it’s eating at him. Usually, he wakes up alone, gasping for breath, the sheets soaked with sweat. Him and Carol haven’t slept in the same bed for a long time.

Last night, it had been different. It had been different because she had been there beside him, shaking him awake and holding him in her arms until he calmed back down. It had also been different because she had been part of the dream. Just as dead, just as blood-soaked as his daughters.

She had been so sweet when he woke up, and it broke his heart. He wasn’t a good person. He was endangering everyone around him, he was endangering her by not being able to end this thing with her, and yet here she was, oblivious, comforting him.

He had always thought that eventually, he would be the one to break things off. But what if it was her? What if she figured out what a pathetic excuse of a man he was, that he couldn’t give her anything? Not a real relationship, and no future. He couldn’t let her in, couldn’t let her see who he was. What he did, what he was afraid of - and just how realistic those fears were.

He couldn’t even bear to picture the look on her face if he ever told her. The betrayal, the disgust, and eventually the fear. He couldn’t tell her. He wouldn’t. But how could he go on with this, knowing that every minute that he spends with her, he puts her in danger? Someone could find out. Someone could find her.

So does what he does best. Makes a plan. Suppresses his emotions until he’s sure of what to do. How to keep her safe. The logical part of his mind arrives at a solution pretty quickly: She’ll be safest if she stays away from him.

The emotional part of him, the part that he tries to keep shut down, doesn’t approve of this idea.

He has to tell her. Sooner rather than later, while the dream is still fresh in his memory, while he can still see her dead body when he closes his eyes.

Because he obviously knew about the dangers of being with him when he first laid eyes on her. When he kissed her for the first time, texted her for the first time, walked up to her apartment for the first time, when he booked this damn vacation because he’s unable to stay away from her. Unable to think straight when it comes to her. There’s a million reasons why he shouldn’t be with her and yet, he always finds a reason not to quit.

He tells himself that he’ll speak to her as soon as she gets up. Then once he’s done with his phone call. Maybe after they’ve had breakfast. At the end of the day, when they’re back in the room. He never does. He can’t.

The tension has become unbearable at that point. He knows that she’s confused, that she has questions that he doesn’t have answers for. His life feels out of control once again, so he tries gaining it back in the only way that he knows.

He half expected her to refuse him, but she seems just as relieved as he feels when he tells her to get down on her knees. Afterwards, he doesn’t feel better. Possibly hates himself even more.

He can tell that she’s off afterwards, and he’s battling himself to comfort her. This is not what he should be doing. None of this is what he should be doing.

Usually, she tucks herself into the space between his shoulder and his chest before he can even say a word. Not tonight. Tonight, she had her back turned to him before he had even switched off the lights, the “good night” that she normally breathes against his neck nothing more than a murmur from her side of the bed.

He stares at her backside in the darkness of the room, the way she seems to be curling in on herself, and he has no idea what to do. What they just did seemed like what she wanted, she had appeared eager, enthusiastic even, but maybe he read her wrong. Shit, he hadn’t even asked for her color once.

It’s quiet for a long time. He finally feels himself slowly drifting off to sleep, when her hears her sniffle. His eyes fly open again. It’s only minimal movements, but he can see her tremble ever so slightly. Fuck it, he thinks to himself as he reaches out towards her.

“Sweetheart? What’s wrong?”

You tense at his words, at the fact that he’s apparently awake. Has probably been the whole time. You try your hardest to make your voice sound normal, even though you know that it’s pointless.

“Nothing.”

It comes out even weaker than you had anticipated. You keep your back to him and feel him shuffling closer, his hand gently pulling at your shoulder to turn you towards him. “Baby. Talk to me.” His voice is soft in your ear and your heart is beating painfully in your chest. Baby. He has never called you Baby before. You feel a fresh wave of tears welling up in your eyes and shake your head but let him turn you around until you’re facing him.

His eyes search your face in the faint moonlight that’s filtering into the room and his hands cup your damp cheeks, his thumbs gently running over the skin under your eyes. The worry that’s so evident in his expression right now makes you want to break down. You’re exhausted, and confused, and you don’t understand the man in front of you and his contradictory behavior at all. So far you’ve been crying silently, but you can feel your bottom lip trembling as you try to suppress the sobs that are threatening to crawl up your throat.

“Did I- shit, was I too rough, did I hurt you? You didn’t say anything, but I never asked- I should’ve checked, I’m sorry, I-“

“You didn’t hurt me,” you whisper, cutting off his frantic rambling. He didn’t, not in the way that he’s referring to, anyway.

“Then what’s wrong?” he pleads, his hands still on your face, “Talk to me.” You inhale deeply. You really don’t want to have this conversation, but maybe it’s best like this. Rip the bandaid off, make it quick.

“Do you want to leave?”

Your voice breaks on the last word. He stares at you for a beat, his eyes wide. “Do I- What?” You shrug, unable to bring yourself to ask a second time. One of his hands slides down to your shoulder, holding you there. He doesn’t speak, his eyes boring into you.

You can’t hold his gaze any longer, your eyes dropping down to his chest instead. “You’ve been… weird. Today. I thought- I don’t fucking know, that I had done something or that you’ve-” a sob breaks free and interrupts you, “that you’ve had enough of me. That you don’t want to go on with… this.” You gesture helplessly between the two of you.

You’re certain that now you’ve said too much, that if he hadn’t had enough before, he definitely has now. You’re supposed to be fun, a distraction, not someone who’s clinging to him, but you’re feeling too exhausted, too raw to keep pretending like this thing between you doesn’t mean something. To you, at least.

“Fuck,” Dave mumbles, and you gaze up to see the anguish in his eyes before his arms envelop you and he presses you against his chest, speaking into your hair. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise.”

It’s quiet for a minute as you’re inhaling his scent, trying to calm yourself down, when something occurs to you. “You didn’t say no,” you whisper into his chest, “you said that I didn’t do anything, but… you didn’t say that you don’t want to leave.” Dave freezes for just a second, searching your face, then he sighs heavily. He sounds defeated, you think.

“No, I don’t want to leave.”

taglist/people who have expressed interest in this: @joelscurls @reddedmiller @iamasaddie @guelyury @theywhowriteandknowthings @amanitacowboy @corazondebeskar @vabeachazn @mellymbee @bbyanarchist @untamedheart81 @missladym1981 @no1-nosesitter

let me know if you wanna be added, also no hard feelings if you wanna be removed! 🫶🏻

if you enjoyed this, please consider leaving a comment or reblogging <3

series masterlist

[livecharliereaction]

U know what. Im reading the umi mangas but instead of making proper separate tags and all im just going to dump it all in one big post under the read me for each existing tag #Yay

Id like to read it on my own unfortunately im obsessed with Talking

Starting from ep2 cos i feel like it

Obvious spoilers im not going to pretend like i havent read all the vns

Shes so cute

Actually think about her and george a lot recently. From what i think shannon is.... its very very sad to me actually... shes living a sort of bride fantasy but its not with the one she REALLY wants right... And i find it interesting that most people default to calling yasuda sayo (i think it suits her enough and im used to seeing it around too) but the idea of her "true name" being the one that is exclusively used by george in the series is kind of interesting to me... some sort of declaration... I think this manga will overall make me decide what to call them anyway im using yasuda right now to make sure its not confusing but yeah ok

Actually not sure how to interpret that belief of hers either... Im still not completely sure on what i think magic means like i think the simple answer is Love but. I dont know

ALREADY PUNCHING ME IN THE FACE WHAT? KIYO?? Ok maybe thats why then. Hmmmh.

This scene i briefly forgot about actually but i did remember it the other day and out of all the magic items and stuff the mirror thing is the most obvious. So awesome

They draw her insane pretty im kinda obsessed

jessica said georges into "family oriented girls" oughhhh I was thinking about this too well not this exact scene but i did notice shannon visibly get a little quiet whenever george brought up kids. I used to hate the couple so i just assumed it was just their dynamic like george says things and shannon seems like she doesnt even like him But yeah.

Eva one of the people ever isnt she.

Well she does too #HALF COUSIN

UGH. i love her. one reason i wanted to read was to check some subtle things i didnt pay attention to for example is shannon+kanon the only person to call herself furniture? like eva here saying shes worthless n shit but not using that word. Another thing i wanna see how often those two are in the same scene and generally just idk staring at them

Hi kanon. Lmfao i was reading my old livetweet i kept saying he looks like a girl. Yeah. Kanon shannon appearance counter: theyre both here yes but theyre alone

Bae. I missed her. Omfg is she lowkey being born here. I think she doesnt appear in ep1 except maybe tea party... Oh man

like u see it right. im not sure how long ago this was though i forgor even though they just said it. less than 6 years surely

yes ok i checked it was... lets think

i love them

this too makes sense to me even more now. She wouldnt want to end up too close to george like physically i dont mean sex necessarily but like, at all and george is sheepish enough that he might not even have asked

jessica ur so fun to me. favorite cousin? ohhh but i love maria too But jessica is up there. I love her so bad

Now this is funny as hell to me u know. she was saying she wants a boyfriend tooooo and look whos going to show up sooner or later Extremely funny. I remember thinking her and kanon were super crazy good so... I want to OBSERVE

theyre talking about the affinity for seeing magic CLICK CLICK CLICK i dont remember exactly WHO was able to see beatrice surely it was just maria and well shannon and kanon

ugh

There it is #REAL ohh but i like the vn translation phrasing better

EYES WIDE OPEN. KANON IS STANDING THERE WITH HIM

LMFAO. I think he means it too... But it was shannon who suggested to jessica shed do it too... These things can coexist to me

they made him look CRAZY hes complaining. Ok gender dysphoria!

shes so cute i understand what happens next kiss kiss fall in love

Wait i dont like a lot of kanon depictions besides og sprites but i like this he looks CRAZY

OH GIRL SHE DOESNT KNOW WHO SHES TALKING TO ITS SO CRAZY.

Apparently theres a 30 image limit per post but thats ok im alr like 1/3rd done with this ep so ill just split it up. ANYWAY I FORGOT THIS IS HOW HE ANSWERS ITS. He was NOT thinking about it before this. Oh ur crazy. Since the sayo thing bothered me i thought about it a lot too like why yoshiya where does it come from. Im sure theres something w the letters n stuff but idk japanese so i wont know. Yoshiya

[xpeachesncream]

lowkey (jjk) | 02.

⦿ boo’d up in the daytime

⦿ mackin’ & hangin’ in the nighttime

↳ series masterlist

summary: in order to pass organic chemistry and pay off your car damages from an accident, all you have to do is help the nerd, jeon jungkook, with a few things: pretend to be his girlfriend and teach him the ways of dating.

pairing: popular!reader x nerd!jjk

genre: college au, fake dating au, friends (with benefits?) to lovers au | fluff, angst, smut

words: 3.2k

warnings: cussing, implied sexual content/mature language, kissy-kissy koo, mentions of a boner, mention of sex and cum, seokjin’s still toxic

note: posting this chapter a little early since it’s butter weekend, plus the last part of liquid courage should be up sat/sun. still sticking to my schedule in my faq though, srry loves! i’ll do my best to update as soon as i can. 💗

tags: @taegularities​ @jimidol​ @miinoongi​ @bluesharksandfish​ @ggukkieland​ @unicornbabylover​ @thebeebi​ @preciouschimine​ @ladyartemesia​ @moonchild1​ @jikookiekosmos​ @marcoazz2​ @kootaes​ @wearenot7withu​ @codeinebelle​ @bigbootyjoonie​ @thisartemisnevermisses​ @maichiverse​ @ppeachyttae​ @fairysunooo​ @secretlycrazyhummingbird​ @yukiehyukie​

"I heard you were in an accident last night, babe. Are you okay? I'm so sorry I got mad at you yesterday." Seokjin comes towards you, cupping your face to look at every inch, every detail. You move away from his hold, backing up to give yourself some space.

"Seokjin, I told you to stop calling me that. Jesus. I'm fine. Don't need you to check up on me."

"Are you really gonna keep that up? I said I was sorry."

"Okay, and? I heard you."

"Really, that's it? Y/N, why are you being like this? What's the real reason?" He follows after you as you make your way to the library. To say Seokjin was persistent is an understatement— he was persistent for the wrong reasons. Like, keeping you close so he had you to fall on when things went wrong with another chick, his safety net.

"Because this is done, I don't know how many times I have to tell you. I'm tired of you doing this so, please. Just go." You slightly turn towards him as you climb up the stairs.

"I wanna work this out with you. Don't push me away. Let me help." You don't respond. He watches as you adjust your bag strap and wave at Jungkook. Seokjin chuckles and grabs your wrist gently, making Jungkook suddenly hop on defense as he balls his fists. Like he could do shit. Seokjin would probably wreck his ass with those broad shoulders.

Still. He hated how much of an asshole he was to you.

"Wait, what the fuck?" Seokjin laughs his rare, deep laugh that he uses when he's caught off guard. "You're hanging out with nerds, now?"

"And if I was, that would be none of your business." You snatch your arm away while glaring at him. You shake your head and continue walking towards Jungkook, relieved Seokjin finally left you alone today. Probably off to tell Namjoon, Yoongi and his friends how much of a bitch you've been and that you actually left him to hang out with a nerd.

Sunmi knows you're being tutored. However if that wasn't the case, she would question you, but she never take their side on shit. She remained loyal to you, and always supported you through whatever. That's why she's remained your bestfriend until this day. The senior chicks Seokjin and them hung around with though? Questionable. As long as Sunmi was by your side and you by hers, you both didn't care much for getting close to them.

"Hey, sorry you had to see that." You say as you sigh and set your bag down alongside of you on the long table.

"It's alright." Jungkook replies softly. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Thanks." You give him a tiny, tightlipped smile. "So, should we get right into tutoring, or should we talk about the details of our deal? I have all afternoon." Luckily, it was quite loud in the loud section of the library. No one cared much to listen in to your secret deal with Jungkook, nor did anyone care because it was Jungkook.

"I do too. I guess, whatever works for you?"

"Let's get this tutoring over with first then iron out the rest." He nods.

"Sure." He pulls out his notebook. "Tell me, what are you struggling with?"

"Everything." He does a small head tilt.

"I doubt that. I'm sure you understand some things."

"No, you don't understand Jungkook. I'm legit drowning. I don't know what I'm doing wrong or where I'm lacking." Jungkook simply looks at you, lips pressed together before he nods. You're not lacking anywhere, he thinks. You're really not. The subject is just shitty and the spawn of the devil.

"That's okay. Well, can I go over some basics? Throw in some tips?"

"Yes, please. Lead the way. I need you." You chuckled, but it makes the heat rush to his cheeks. He hopes you don't catch the rosy tint creeping up on them, so he instantly grabs at the whiteboard near your table and starts to go over the very beginning, the very basics of this semester's OChem class. Maybe a bit from last semester, but last semester wasn't entirely that bad compared to this one.

He didn't expect you to be all that engaged for some reason, but he should have known you'd ask questions left and right, taking the black whiteboard marker from his hand to practice what you've learned with him watching and guiding you from your side. You were always focused, always so determined. You were incredibly smart. Incredibly beautiful.

Honestly, Jungkook go on for days.

The both of you hadn't realized it was nearing close to 5PM and neither of you had really eaten much since lunch. You sit, feeling pretty good about your first session with Jungkook. You feel a little bad having kept him for so long over OChem, realizing you still had things to iron out with him.

[sunmi] 4:34pm: hey babe, not gonna be leaving for a bit. i forgot i had to work on this psych project with jennie. you okay with leaving around 6/7?

"Crap."

"What's the matter?" Jungkook glances at you as you continue to stare at your phone and scroll away.

"Sunmi isn't leaving until later. I'll probably be stuck here for a little longer after you leave." You put your phone down, now resting your chin against your palm, nails slightly digging into your cheek.

"I-I can give you a ride, if you'd like? Plus, we still need to talk.. about stuff." He shyly says.

"Jungkook, that's too much to ask for."

"It's really not a big deal. How far do you live from campus?"

"Maybe a 10 minute drive, the next exit off the freeway." He shrugs.

"I'm going in that direction too."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. We can just talk on the way home."

"Would you be willing to stop by for dinner? We can talk then. Maybe it can be considered our 'first date.'" You joke with a small giggle.

"Oh, sure. Yeah." He gives off a tiny, nervous laugh. "Where did you have in mind?"

"Can we get.. hm—" You hum. "Fire Wings? Down the street?" He almost feels intoxicated watching how your eyes gleam under the light, how they brighten and widen when you mention food. You were cute, and you didn't even know it.

"Only if you tell me what flavors you get." He tries to get smart, which makes you laugh. He made you laugh.

"Is this judgment day? Gonna see if you should call quits on our deal before it even starts?"

"Maybe." He goes along with it.

"Okay. Garlic Parmesan and Dragon." You pack up your things before shooting him a look.

"Okay, solid flavors." He nods. "I guess we can continue on."

"You're funny." You giggle as you both throw your bags onto your backs. You stay in your position until Jungkook comes to your side so you can walk by him. You don't know much about him, but he has a soft demeanor and he makes you feel comfortable. You had only seen him a couple of times across campus, not really noticing him much in class either. You feel a little bad knowing you didn't even try being that he sat behind you, but better late than never I guess? Maybe there was a reason for all of this happening. The way he tutored you today was insane, too— he was super smart, but broke it down perfectly, was patient. He was patient.

No wonder Dr. K loved his ass.

"What about you?" You picked up the conversation.

"I usually go for a dry rub and Garlic Parmesan."

"I haven't tried any dry rubs."

"You can try one of mine later."

"Okay." You suddenly remember to shoot Sunmi a text before she comes looking for you everywhere on campus. Jungkook stays silent beside you, allowing you to do your thing without being too overbearing or nosy.

But, he honestly can't help but glance a few times.

[y/n] 5:11pm: sorry just saw this, hitching a ride with my tutor. don't worry about me! ty ily, have fun working on your project.

[sunmi] 5:13pm: tutor, as in jeon jungkook?

[y/n] 5:15pm: yeah, he offered.

[sunmi] 5:16pm: okay, that was nice of him. if he tries anything tho i'll beat his ass. text me when u get home?

[y/n] 5:17pm: don't worry about him, he won't lol i will.

[sunmi] 5:18pm: kk love u b

"Sorry." You say, tucking your phone into your pocket. "Had to text Sunmi."

"That's okay. You two are really close, right?"

"Yeah, since high school."

"Cool." At this point, Jimin, Taehyung and Hoseok are coming out of the café at the same you two are passing.

"What about you, where are your friends?"

"Um." He sighs, trying to avoid his friends obnoxiously waving and calling him from the distance. You glance over from behind his figure, chuckling a little bit. "That's them."

"Cute. You all are really close, too?"

"Ya, I've known Jimin the longest though." You smile and wave at them, causing them to gasp and whisper amongst each other with huge smiles on their faces.

"I'll need to meet them if we're gonna do this thing for real. Do they know?"

"Yeah kinda."

"That's okay. We should probably work on keeping it between us though." He nods.

"Okay, but. Can we save meeting them for later? They're a bit.. much." You smile.

"Sure."

"D-do I have to meet Sunmi?" You nod.

"If you wanna make this believable, yeah."

"She's kinda scary."

"Jungkook, she's not gonna bite your head off. She just has that look, but I promise she's sweet." That look, that resting bitch face. Really, you could be biased because it's Sunmi. She really only had issues if she felt disrespected. Other than that, she meant well. Same with you— you've been accused of being intimidating and having the same look but you don't mean any harm by it.

"Okay." Jungkook unlocks his black 2016 Honda Civic and pops his bag in the trunk. You do the same, while Jungkook goes to open the passenger door for you.

"Thanks." You smile sweetly at him. He climbs into his seat, hitting the button to start the car and sighs. The music in the background starts to play, and it sounds mellow, soothing— like it came straight out of a fairytale. His eyes widen as he rushes to lower the volume before shyly looking at you.

"Sorry."

"What, no. Don't be. What is this?"

"A Final Fantasy lofi mix." He begins to drive off as you turn the volume back up.

"It's nice. Pretty relaxing."

"Ya, it's nice to listen to after a long day." He pushes his glasses up at the light.

"Do you have family here?" He nods.

"I do. My mom and dad live about an hour away. I'm the only child. What about you?"

"Same. They're probably 30 minutes up north."

"Do you live alone?"

"Yeah, I live in a studio. It's actually my coworker's. She bought the space to rent it out. She lets me rent it for pretty cheap though."

"That's nice."

"You?"

"I live with Jimin. Our parents are close."

"What about your other friends?"

"Hoseok is dorming, and Taehyung would rather live back home with his family and commute. He's close to them. He'll crash at ours or Hoseok's from time to time."

"Are you close to your family?" He nods as he turns into the plaza lot.

"I suppose, yes. I'm just really quiet overall, so they think it's hard to read me sometimes." He parks and you watch as he shuts the car off with the same button. "You?"

"Yeah, I'm really close to my mom. Dad, a little questionable."

"Why, if I may ask?" He comes to open your door again, causing you to give him a small smile.

"He, um. Just got into some stuff." He watches as your body tenses while you fiddle with your fingers waiting in line.

"It's okay, don't think about it. I won't ask again."

"It's okay, Jungkook. Really. Maybe another time?" You look up at him and he nods. He stands way taller than you, almost at Seokjin's height, if not the same. He likes to wear baggy, dark clothing and doesn't do much to fix or style his hair.

He's simple, but in a good way.

You both order your food with Jungkook going first so he can grab a table afterwards. Before he could pay though, you offer to cover him for dinner as your way of thanking him for driving you home. You make your way over to the table he snags, Jungkook silently sitting at the high table with his legs pressed together and his hands clasped tightly on his lap.

"You okay?"

"Ya, why?"

"You look tense."

"Sorry. It's not everyday I have dinner with Y/N." You smile.

"Stop, relax." You watch as he slightly eases up. "So, this deal." He nods. "A month?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"We have to convince people it's real or else people will know something weird is going on." You look at his hand, now resting on the table. "You're gonna have to hold my hand and kiss me, you know?" He swallows the lump in his throat. Shit, he thinks. Don't know if I can actually pull this off?

A kiss?! Fuck.

"Y-yeah."

"When was your last relationship, Jungkook?"

"8th grade." Your eyes widen.

"O-oh, now I see."

"What's that supposed to mean? It's terrible, I know but I—"

"No, no, no. You're good. It's totally okay, it doesn't matter. I'll just have to teach you to make it look realistic and not.. awkward." You perk up again. "Not saying that you are though, okay."

"I know."

"So, are you.."

"Am I..?" He cocks hid head to the side in confusion.

"Like.."

"Just ask Y/N."

"Are you a virgin?"

"I don't know." You furrow your brows.

"Huh?"

"Look, this is gonna sound really embarrassing and I don't know if I'm even ready to tell my fake girlfriend about it."

"Just say it. We have to know things about each other." He sighs.

"I— ugh." He groans. "I did it with my girlfriend at the time. Or I guess my ex because we had broken up and this was sometime during freshmen year in high school and she came onto me out of nowhere at a mutual friend's pool party. But it was weird because we were just hormonal kids and I was just curious so I slipped myself into her only to slip back out right after because—" He's rambling, but you're doing your best to keep up.

"Because?"

"I-I, ugh. Y/N." He shuts his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Are you really gonna make me say it?"

"Jungkook." You lean a bit to try and catch eye contact.

"I came right away." He says just as the worker puts down your food and takes the number from your table.

"Ohhhhhhh." You say as you nod slowly. "Okay."

"You can just run now." His head hangs low as he slowly slides his chicken over in front of him, causing you to chuckle.

"I'm not going anywhere. It's okay. Stop that."

"It's pathetic."

"No. Besides, I know you'll get better overall, and you'll find someone who will rock with you till the end. We'll work on this."

"Thanks." He says, feeling comfortable around you. You were quick to reassure him and smile at him, he felt himself melting in his seat. Yeah, you were too good for Seokjin.

"You'll have to come to parties with me. Club events. Events in general. It won't look right if I'm always going without you."

"Okay. Can I bring my friends?"

"Sure." He nods. "What do you do in your free time?"

"Play video games and listen to music. Read comics, manga. Build lego sets with the guys."

"Cute." You smile.

"You?"

"Hang out with Sunmi, or just watch movies on my own at my place. Read. Eat by myself. Explore by myself. I value my alone time."

"It's nice." Jungkook's familiar with it. Even if he had his friends around, he truly liked being in his own peace when allowed. "What about outside of the public eye?"

"Hm?" You hum.

"Do we hang out?"

"Yeah we can." You nod.

"Cool." He smiles.

"Is my car gonna be a lot of work for you?"

"Don't worry about it, it'll be good soon. Just might take a bit cause I need some parts to make it look brand new again."

"I really can't thank you enough." He shrugs.

"Only trying to help my girlfriend out." He boldly says, causing you to laugh.

"Confidence is peeking through already, are you sure you need me?" You joke. The rest of the evening, you continue to talk to Jungkook about pretty surface level shit— what you like, dislike, overall experience in high school and college so far. It was a nice, harmless conversation, one where you were starting to see how warmhearted Jungkook really was. How real and laid back.

None of the shit in Seokjin's group. It was refreshing, a breath of fresh air.

Once dinner had finally finished, Jungkook was on his way to drop you off. He had parked in an empty guest spot, offering to walk you up just to be sure. At the door, he took a peek at how clean your studio was, mainly soft colors of white and cream taking over, with plants scattered around your living room area. The hallway in was sandwiched between your kitchen area and another wall, Jungkook assuming your bed was on the opposite side of it. He awkwardly stands at the door, afraid of overstepping.

"Well, goodnight Y/N. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hey, wait." You smile and come close to him. He swallows, his mouth suddenly feeling dry when he feels your breasts press against his chest. "First lesson— give me a kiss."

"Right now?"

"Jeon Jungkook, we're doing this tomorrow. People are gonna have to see this at least once while we're together." He nods and presses a quick kiss against your cheek. "Not bad, but a little longer?" He complies and presses another kiss, leaving his pillowy lips against your cheek for a little longer before pulling away. "Perfect. Now here." You point at your lips before crossing your arms.

"Y/N, I—"

"Don't be afraid, just do it. I won't kick you in the balls or anything."

"It's not that. I just don't think I'm a great at this stuff."

"Okay." You tippytoe and gently grab his jaw while you lean towards his face. "Just relax, okay? Don't think too much of it." He stays silent, doe eyes constantly on you as you continue to inch forward.

Sparks. Just sparks everywhere for Jungkook.

He feels your soft lips against his and he relaxes, moreso because he feels like he's lost all senses being this close to you. Taking in your scent. Kissing you.

"There." He stands still, still trying to process the kiss. "Not bad. We'll get better over time, but at least that looks believable. Just—" You put his hands down as they were about to fall onto your hips during the kiss, but they fell short. "Let it happen and hold me, okay?" You smile. "Night Jungkook."

"N-night." He stutters as he watches you close the door. "Fuck." He whispers to himself when he realizes he's now sporting a boner. "Jungkook, what the fuck is this?!" He continues to whisper to himself as he waddles down your hallway.

[toomanyopinionss]

My thoughts while watching…

Young Royals, Season 2

It was EVERYTHING

I don’t think you understand how much i adored this season. I think I liked this one more than the last season two be honest. But maybe that’s because i lowkey thrive on drama.

First things first:

My lil’ Crowned Prince?! best character this season. i love him so much The pure chaos wille brought this season was GOLD.

they had my boy leaning against fences and looking out at the sunset with a sad song playing in his ears like he was the female protagonist of a 2000s romcom.

they had my man scheming and orchestrating august’s downfall like a young swedish doofenshmirtz. (as he fucking should, but we’ll get to his pasty behind in a minute)

they had my dude jumping on a desk renouncing his claim to the throne because he saw ex singing karaoke with someone on insta.

they had my baby point a RIFLE at his cousin to defend his man’s honor like a champ.

Ok ok but in all seriousness, the emotional range from wilhelm this season was staggering. watching him navigate his rocky relationship all while having quite literally the weight of the country on his shoulders was a lot. shoutout to edvin for that performance.

I have surprisingly little to say about Simon, other than the fact that his voice is angelic and makes me cry and he deserves to be protected at all costs.

Now August….

*sigh*

You have to understand, I try my best to give characters the benefit of the doubt. We’re all human, we all make mistakes. But I’ve truly had it trying to quell my intense dislike of this dude. At first I went between hatred and pity, but the minute they named him Wilhelm’s successor I KNEW there was no going back. This man is a selfish and self centered prick who cares more about himself and what others think about him then he does the people around him. And I’m tired of trying to like his bitch ass, cause it’s just not gonna happen at this point.

And while we’re on that note, let me break a couple bubbles here:

For any August/Sara shippers out there… the only reason you like them together is because they are both attractive people.

Name one reason they work together… I’ll wait.

Their relationship was built on August outing her brother and Wilhelm’s relationship. So it’s already flawed to begin with. Add on top of that the fact that they both could use a lesson in a little something we like to call “loyalty”. i think it would benefit them greatly seeing as they both were too quick to betray family for personal gratification. but hey 🤷🏾‍♀️ maybe that’s just me.

Other hot takes:

Alexander is stupid af. the hell is wrong with that kid. this herd mentality thing that he’s got going on is not it. he needs to start thinking for himself if he wants to get anywhere in life. when they said he got back in, i thought we were gonna see some type of evil storyline with him… nope, he’s just an idiot.

Felice was absolute perfection, as usual. she did nothing wrong and i love her. i wish we got more of her, tbh. In fact, that entire friend group is the cutest thing, we love it alllll. (and i saw that lil bestie in love with bestie thing they had going on 👀👀)

Marcus is boring. I forgot his name, so i had to look him up… he was too sweet, to the point where he made me uncomfortable. Although that scene with him and simon and the fish tank had me screaming laughing. This just goes to show that I can’t do the sweet nice boring white guy thing anymore, netflix, do something different.

Ok this is getting long. these are just something’s i had to get out the minute i finished watching the series.

8.5/10, could round up or down depending how i’m feeling later - it needed to be longer. six episodes is not enough time

[dolliedarlin]

Hi I’m one of the anons who’s obsessing over the P.A series!!!!! For some reason my brain has been full w diff things that could happen IDKKK! Hope u don’t mind if I dump a few....

TW: this is A bunch of rambling and some grammar errors LMAO sorry

Idk y I c y/n having a stalker💀 this prob sounds rlly weird but hear me out. (To add drama, also I Lowkey wanna c Mina,Sero and kiri get mad idk y-)

Since we all know y/n is the baddest most sophisticated b*tch (sorry idk if I’m allowed to cuss or not LMAO) her Ex lover is still obsessed w her and thinks that they are soulmate even tho they obv aren’t. I feel like y/n knows he stalks her but she ignores it until it gets worst. Like he found out where she lives. (He finds out where she lives while she’s sick which is now loll)

Anyways I feel like Mina would be over at y/ns place and since she’s getting better they are In her living room talking abt who knows what and y/n gets a knock on her door she goes to open it and admittedly closes it looking shocked. Mina being a pro hero is  supposed to be able to read body language. Mina ask her if everything is Alr and y/n OFC (stupid a**) says yes. Mina didn’t want to keep pressing the issue so she dropped it until it became a reoccurring thing with y/n and it’s not just her that noticed. She (y/n) is extremely hesitant to open the door and when she does she opens it a little bit. (And then idk her EX does crazy like breaks into her apt and scares the sh** outa y/n) THIS IS WHERE MY BIG IDEA STOPS 😭😭😭😭😭😭 that was a lotta rambling my apologies

Have a great day dollie!

oh no! please don’t feel bad, it’s always fun for me seeing what you dolls would want to happen next

although i don’t plan on bringing any psycho exes into ‘the p.a’ series, as a writer and an avid daydreamer, i can’t help but play around with this idea 

warning: there are brief mentions of violence ; this is not a part of ‘the p.a’ series but is just a little thought that i just couldn’t help but try my own hand at also ; i didn’t edit this either 😂 so kindly forgive any grammatical/spelling mistakes 

continuing on from your idea...

⏤mina, having the sneaking suspicion that something bad might happen to you that night, notifies the rest of the group later on that day

⏤usually, bakugou was in charge of you during the night and always sat in a chair beside your bed on high alert, ready to serve your every need...

⏤BUT!

⏤now that mina told them about your suspicious behaviour, all of them were put on high alert. 

⏤they all agreed to keep you unaware of their intentions by having bakugou take care of you like usual but they made sure that when on the night patrol, they were close by with their radios on and constantly being hyper aware of the shortest route to your residence from wherever they were situated - just in case of an emergency 

⏤naturally, they trusted bakugou with keeping you safe but that didn’t mean that they had no worries for you at all 

⏤seeing as you usually feel asleep before bakugou switched with the sero, who took care of you in the late evening, you were under the impression that you were alone at home 

⏤your current condition disallowed you from comfortably staying awake so you were constantly tossing and turning in bed, brows furrowed and sweating more than usual

⏤”what is she dreaming about?” bakugou utters in frustration as he continues to wipe away the vastly accumulating sweat rom your wrinkled brows

⏤he wasn’t frustrated at you no no, he was annoyed at the fact that he couldn’t make you comfortable no matter how many wet towels he uses to cook your forehead or wipe your sweat clean off your skin 

⏤as the night progresses, you eventually fall into a dreamless sleep, far too exhausted to continue stressing over your ex with the added burden of your fever on your body

⏤nevertheless, bakugou continues being on high alert at all times except for when he momentarily leaves to room so as to go to the toilet 

⏤this was the perfect opportunity for your crazy ex to sneak into your room via the window bakugou left ajar so as to help cool you down better 

⏤your ex was a creepy and disgusting man - someone that you had grown to dislike the more you got to know him and naturally left as quickly as you were able to 

⏤what followed was harassment to the highest degree, thankfully you were able to protect yourself due to your self defence training and quirk, however, it didn’t take away the shuddering feeling of being watched constantly

⏤you grew paranoid and extremely fidgety over time and eventually filled for a restraining order. unfortunately, that didn’t work and left you to deal with the situation yourself

⏤you were naive enough to think that you had shaken him after a particularly horrible beating he took from you in self defence. he had come at you with a knife but you were able to disarm him and send him limping home with a dislocated arm, a black eye and a bruised ribcage 

⏤over time, you got busy with work and slowly forgot about him, it wasn’t until today that you were reminded of his crazy obsession with you and were thrown into a panic 

⏤believing that you were alone at night and in your most vulnerable state, you didn’t feel safe and sought to deal with the situation however you could, even in your dreams

⏤all attempts were in vain, however

⏤bakugou, returning from his momentary break to the toilet came back just in time to see your creepy ex hovering over your sleeping figure. as if you sensed the unpleasant existence stalking you, your body stiffened under the blankets and you began to breathe uncomfortably, beginning to sweat bucket-fulls once more

⏤not wanting to disturb your sleep as rest was the top priority for you, bakugou crept up from behind the unknown figure and instantly went for his neck, choking him into silence as he dragged his thrashing figure outside, far away from you all the while sending a emergency signal to the rest of the squad 

⏤in no time at all, the rest of the squad arrived and had your crazy ex cornered. at this time he had already been tied up by bakugou and was ready for a quick chat 

⏤”what the hell were you doing with our yn?” kirishima began, sharp teeth grinding together as he clenched his jaw 

⏤silence 

⏤”speak up, we can’t fucking hear you,” bakugou spat as the others glared on from beside him, their eyes piercing through the moonlight and darkness of the night 

⏤”y-yn isn’t yours - that’s the first thing,” your ex finally cracked, giggling creepily in between 

⏤”you’re right,” sero began, “yn doesn’t belong to anyone so why were did you break into her house,” it took everything in sero not to lash out but they needed answers

⏤”wrong again!” your ex sang, “she doesn’t belong to you, she belongs to me! i’m her boyfriend!”

⏤”yn doesn’t have a boyfriend,” kaminari spoke up

⏤”that’s right! and if she did, we would have known,” mina agreed

⏤“that’s because she doesn’t know it yet, we broke up but we’ll get back together again soon” the tied up man giggled to himself, “it’s only a matter of time before she realises her mistake and she comes back to me,” 

⏤the team of heroes didn’t know what to say, they were so shocked and appalled at what they were seeing and hearing that they couldn’t bring themselves to utter a single word of response, they only listened further

⏤”i hoped she’d come back soon, anyway...but i was getting impatient so i had to try and convince her a little more. she’s been ignoring my love for her all this time, she can’t continue rejecting me for long...” he laughs, “i bet she misses it”

⏤“miss what...?” bakugou didn’t want to know but it had to be said

⏤”i bet she misses being with me. she’s so beautiful and so soft to the touch, she always smells good too and she has such a lovely voice - i want her all to myself, she doesn’t deserve to be anybody else’s”

⏤it was then that the team of heroes just about lost their minds. the creep before them didn’t say anything explicit but the madness in his eyes and the harrowing smile he was displaying was off putting. they dread to imagine what a lowlife nasty sob like him put you through but they saw flashes of unforgivable scenes that sent all of them into insanity 

⏤someone so precious to them didn’t deserve any such treatment. you may not have disclosed anything to them strict on being professional but if this man was willing to break into your house...they were fearful to think about what else he was capable of

⏤he deserved a beating from that act alone, actually, and a beating he got

⏤they could’ve killed the guy - they were more than tempted to and it would have been so easy...but he deserved to suffer in jail for his crimes against you so they held back no matter how painful that was for them 

⏤the very next day, under their authority and recommendation, the man was locked up for as many years as they could tally up and seeing as they were heroes, they were able to look into his past documentations and found you had filed a restraining order for him under harassment, assault and a number of other things they grew all the more furious at the more the read

⏤they would prefer it if you didn’t realise what they did that night but the media couldn’t let the story of 5 high class pro heroes sending a singular, beaten man to jail for life

⏤your creepy ex’s battered photos were all over the news and you were so incredibly grateful  

[waitimcomingtoo]

fine line - p.p

pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Synopsis: there’s a fine line between love and hate and you and Peter dance it on a regular basis

Series Masterlist and Regular Masterlist

When your dad told you he had recruited a boy your age to the Avengers, you felt a little flame of jealousy bubble inside you. Without any superpowers of your own, you were often left out of the heroic and dangerous missions the Avengers went on. Your dad did his best to include you by letting you help out in the lab and tag along on lowkey missions, but that all changed when Peter started coming around.

A lot of things changed when Peter started coming around.

The way he seemed to replace you, and so effortlessly at that, boiled into a deep resentment for the young hero. He was always there, occupying the spaces you once did, and you resented it. You resented him.

Just not as much as you resented the way he made your heart flutter when he looked at you.

~

“What are you guys doing?” You asked as you walked into the lab to see your dad. Peter was by his side, as he always was, making you roll your eyes. Peter smiled brightly at you as you sat down, and you gave him a tight lipped smile back.

“Hey, Princess.” Your dad greeted. “We’re adding back up back up jets in the butt of Rhodey’s suit in case the back up jets in his legs fail.”

“I call them the weapons of ass destruction.” Peter said gleefully as he held up the jets.

“Yeah, hilarious.” You said sarcastically and turned to your dad. “Um, daddy, I thought we were gonna do that.”

“Sorry sugar plum. I needed to get this done before the trip later and sticky fingers said I shouldn’t wake you.” Tony apologized to you and a familiar feeling of anger filled your tummy. This wasn’t the first time you’d found Peter doing something with your dad that you were originally supposed to do. It seemed like every plan you made, Peter weaseled his way in and took your place. You looked at Peter with narrowed eyes, to which he responded with a sympathetic smile.

“Did he now?” You said, just a little bitterly.

“Maybe you can help us next time. Did you sleep well?” Peter asked politely, and you just rolled your eyes.

“Did I sleep well? What are you, my Fitbit?” You snorted and looked away from him. Peter’s heart sank at yet another rejection from you, but he kept his mouth shut and continued working. Your eyes shifted back to him once he went back to his work, feeling a pang of guilt for being short with him.

“What trip are we going on later?” You directed your question only to your father, acting like Peter wasn’t there.

“Cap got a hit on where Bucky might be. We’re heading to Canada to check it out.” Your dad explained as he twisted a screwdriver.

“Okay. I’ll pack my stuff.” You got out of your chair and went to leave before you heard your dad sigh.

“Sorry Princess, but this is just gonna be an avengers thing.” He said with apologetic eyes. “We only have room in the jet for four and I promised Peter-“

“It’s fine.” You cut him off, not wanting to hear about Peter again. “I’ll just hang out with mom.”

“It’s really cold in Canada anyway. It’ll probably be a bad trip.” Peter offered to make you feel better.

“Yeah, thanks weather boy.” You teased and looked at your dad again. “Can we hang out tomorrow then?”

“Of course. Mall and a smoothie?” He asked, making you smile as he suggested your signature thing to do together.

“Mall and a smoothie.” You nodded, happy that he was finally making time for you. You rested your chin in your hands and watched them work, feeling slightly better now that you made plans with your dad that Peter couldn’t infiltrate.

~

You tripped over a cardboard box the next day, stumbling right into Peters arms as he caught you. You looked down and saw a bunch of boxes outside your old playroom, boxes with Peters handwriting on them.

“What is all this? You’re blocking the hallway.” You snipped at Peter as you stepped out of his arms.

“Sorry, Y/n. I’m almost done.” Peter apologized as he picked up another box. “Hey, I like your shirt.”

“Almost done with what?” You ignored his compliment, despite it making your face flush.

“Moving in. Mr. Stark gave me this room so I wouldn’t have to commute here everyday.” Peter explained. Your eyes widened up upon hearing this, not believing your dad would let Peter move in without asking you.

“You’re moving in?” You nearly yelled, making Peter clutch his box in fear that he did something wrong.

“Yeah.” Peter nodded. “Maybe we can hang out more now that-“

“Sorry, I’ll be right back.” You cut him off and rushed to the kitchen, finding your dad rummaging through the refrigerator.

“What are you doing?” You demanded.

“Making a smoothie. Want one?” He offered as he shut the refrigerator with his butt.

“No thank you.” You shook your head. “And I’m talking about Peter. Why did he tell me he’s moving in?”

“Oh, cause he is. Now, do I want straw-bana or kale-berry?” Your dad pondered as he tapped his chin.

“Why does he have to live here? He has a house.” You reminded him.

“He has an apartment smaller than the first dollhouse I bought you. Princess, he was basically living in a cardboard box and sleeping under newspapers.”

“This isn’t an dog pound, daddy. We can’t just take in strays.” You whined, wishing he could take your side for once.

“He’s not a stray. He’s my son.” Tony quipped as he booped your nose and crossed the kitchen. Your heart sank to your stomach at his words and you felt your face fall.

“No he…no he isn’t.” You sputtered in a weak voice.

“Cheer up, sour patch. Think of it this way, now you have a brother.” Tony shrugged and dropped some blueberries in the blender.

“I don’t want a brother. Our family is fine the way it is.” You insisted, feeling the jealousy come back in a wave when your dad called Peter his son.

“He’s a good kid, Princess.” Tony said in a tone that told you the conversation was over. “Give him a chance. He’ll surprise you. Hell, he surprised me.”

Before you could respond, Peter entered the kitchen with a happy smile.

“Hey Mr. Stark. Hi Y/n.” He waved at you and put some bowls in the cabinet.

“Yeah, hi Parker.” You said dismissively, wanting him to leave so you could finish talking to your dad.

“You ready?” Tony asked Peter as he poured the smoothie into two cups, handing one to Peter.

“Yep. I’ll see you in the theater.” Peter nodded as he clicked his glass against your dads.

“What are you guys doing?” You wondered, watching them interact with disgust.

“He’s got me hooked on this show about teenagers in a glee club. The writing is horrible, I love it.” Tony beamed as he took a sip form his cup.

“I thought we were gonna hang out today. You know, mall and a smoothie?” You reminded him, feeling a bubble of hurt that he didn’t remember.

“Oh, sorry buttercup.” Tony realized he forgot. “I promised Pete the treat I’d watch the show with him. Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure.” You nodded sadly as your dad cupped your chin and left the room.

“You could watch with us if you’d like. They sing a lot of the songs you like.” Peter extended an invitation to you when he saw your disappointment.

“Thanks for the sales pitch, but I’m good.” You mumbled at him and left the kitchen, missing the solemn look on Peters face as you went.

“She doesn’t like me.” Peter sighed, shaking his head as he looked down at his smoothie.

“No, she does not.” Tony laughed, cutting it short when Peter looked at him in dispare. “Oh, not funny. Don’t sweat it, kid. It took me a long time to like you too. She’ll come around.”

“Okay, good.” Peter nodded, content with the answer. “Wait, what?”

~

“FRIDAY, what’s my assignment?” You asked the screen outside the lab as you reported for your job the following day.

“Good morning, Y/n.” FRIDAY greeted. “Mr. Stark asks that you repair bullet holes in one of the suits.”

“Cool. Let me in.”

“Access granted.” FRIDAY chirped as the doors opened. You only got a few paces into the lab when you saw Peter sitting at a table, sighing in annoyance at the sight of him.

“Hello.” He said weakly, knowing you wouldn’t thrilled to see him.

“What are you doing in here?” You eyed him skeptically as you got some tools off a shelf.

“Not much at the moment.” Peter shrugged, trying to make a light hearted joke.

“Well you can’t stay. I have an assignment.” You told him, a little proudly at that. You were finally given a task after being idle for months.

“Actually, I have to stay.” Peter said, looking a little weary of you as you neared him.

“Why?”

“I am your assignment.” He grimaced, anticipating your reaction to be bad.

“You have bullet holes?” You folded your arms and eyed his body.

“Canadians aren’t as friendly as I thought.” Peter chuckled.

“Fine.” You rolled your eyes. “Where’s the suit?”

“Right here.” Peter pulled it out of his backpack. “Theres three of them. The holes are in the front. And the back. They sorta went through.”

“Went through?” Your eyes widened as you worried for him. “As in went through your body?”

“Canadians really aren’t as friendly as I thought.”

“You said that already.” You stated as you laid his suit out on the table.

“Sometimes jokes are funnier when you say them twice.” Peter explained, coming to stand by your side.

“I don’t need you to explain humor to me.” You grumbled as you began working on the holes.

“Feels like I do.” Peter muttered, adverting his eyes from you.

“Excuse me?” You snapped your head up to glare at him.

“Nothing.” He gave you an obviously fake smile. “Nothing at all.”

Doing your best to ignore him, you got back to your work. He was close enough that you could feel his breath in your neck, your elbows touching every-time you pulled on the thread.

“Is there a reason you’re hovering?” You said suddenly, losing your ability to focus with him that near.

“I just want to make sure you’re doing it correctly.” He shrugged, leaning down to check your work. Your jaw dropped a little, feeling offended that he didn’t have faith in your to do it correctly.

“So what, you think I can’t patch a bullet hole on my own?” You laughed shortly as you raised as eyebrow at him.

“Well I know the suit better than you do.” He said simply, taking pleasure in getting a rise out of you.

“I helped design it, Parker.” You narrowed your eyes at him. “I know it just as well.”

“Then you won’t mind me making sure of that.” Peter shot back, running his finger over the newly patched hole.

“Whatever.” You scoffed and went back to work. “Just because you’re my dads lab rat doesn’t mean you’re mine.”

“I didn’t say I was.” Peter leaned again, watching your work closely.

“And yet.” You looked up with a sarcastic smirk, your nose nearly touching his from how close he was. “Hovering.”

“Sorry.” Peter mumbled and took a step back.

“You said there were three holes. I only see two.” You realized as you held the suit up.

“That’s weird. I definitely got shot three times.” Peter tilted his head as he stared at it.

“Did you find three bullets?” You asked him, a rare moment of civility.

“No. Just two. Oh…” He trailed off when he realized where the third bullet was.

“Yeah. Oh.” You mocked him. “Take your shirt off.”

“What?” Peter furrowed his eyebrows at your request as you went to a different shelf in the lab.

“You can’t leave the bullet in there, you’ll get an infection.” You reminded him as you set medical supplies on the table. “Take your shirt off.”

Peter hesitantly pulled his shirt over his head once you turned around to disinfect the table. You turned around, needle in hand, and turned a deep red at the sight of him.

“Good.” You swallowed thickly. “Just leave it on the counter.”

“Are you trained to do this?” Peter worried as he folded his t shirt. You did your best to hold eye contact, but your eyes slipped every now and then.

“I’ve read about how to do it.” You said quietly, not trusting your voice to be steady.

“Have you ever done it before?” Peter wondered as he stared at the large needle.

“I’ve read about how to do it.” You repeated to avoid the question.

“See? You said the joke twice. That makes it funny.” He smiled smugly at you and you made a face.

“Shut up and get on the table.” You groaned and he complied, laying on his side to let you work. You rounded the table to work on his back where the exit wound was located.

“Oh good.” You commented as you rested a hand on his bare rib cage. “It’s right at the surface.”

“Okay. Try not to kill me while you’re back there.” Peter looked at you over his shoulder so you stuck your tongue out at him.

“I won’t.” You grumbled, hesitating a little as your stared at his wound. “Um, this is gonna hurt.”

You felt a moment of sympathy for him, knowing he was in for a lot of pain. His skin was hot, even under your surgical glove you could feel it. In a brief lack of judgment, you squeezed his arm to comfort him.

“I’m Spiderman. Nothing hurts - SON OF A BITCH.” Peter screamed as you pressed a hydrogen peroxide soaked gauze pad to his wound. You quickly took out the tweezer and fished out the bullet, all while Peter hissed in pain.

“Sorry sorry sorry.” You stammered and threw the bullet into a dish. “It’s out.”

“Oh my God. I feel like a pencil sharpener.” Peter whined as he rubbed his back near the area.

“Sit up. I’ll patch you up.” You said in a kinder tone then he was used to hearing.

“You don’t have to.” Peter looked at you as he sat up straight.

“Yes I do. You’re my assignment.” You shrugged, trying to portray that you couldn’t care less when in reality, you did. As much as he got under your skin, you didn’t want to see him hurt.

You poured more hydrogen peroxide on a gauze pad as you cleaned his wound, feeling his body retract at first contact.

“That’s cold.” He winced, twisting his body around to avoid the pad.

“It’s also gonna save your life.” You grumbled. “Hold still.”

“Ow.” Peter jolted when you applied numbing cream to the wounds. “Cold again.”

“Can you stop whining?” You yourself whines as you blew on his cuts.

“Can you be a little more gentle?” He retorted. “Just try to be nice to me for five minutes. It can’t be that hard.”

“I am nice to you.” You hissed as you started your sutures. “I sewed up your dumb suit and I’m cleaning your stupid cuts so you don’t get an infection in your dumb ass body. I am nice.”

“Said the joke twice.” Peter quipped, grinning at you over his shoulder to rub it in.

“Shut up.” You sneered. “Stop fidgeting.”

“You think I’m funny.” He said in a sing song voice. “That’s fine. I get it all the time.”

“Oh my God. Could you be anymore irritating?” You groaned as you put the last bandaid on his back. You walked around the table to patch the front, looking up at him shyly as his bare chest rose and fell.

“Easily.” He snickered. “Wanna see?”

“I’ve seen plenty, trust me.” You rolled your eyes, meaning more than one thing with your words. Peter smirked a little, able to heart your rapid heartbeat with his advanced hearing. You rested a hand in his shoulder as you cleaned his chest, the wounds in the front stinging less as they already began to heal. Peter watched you intently as you worked, admiring the way you bit your lip when you concentrated.

“You know, if you stopped acting like I was the devils spawn for a minute, you might actually like me. We’d get along.” He laughed softly, making you look up at him. Your eyes locked and for a moment, he saw kindness in them. It quickly retreated as your face hardened, looking down to avoid his gaze.”

“Thanks for the life advice but I think I’ll pass.” You replied sarcastically as you opened a bandage.

“Is there a reason you don’t like me?” Peter honestly wondered. “Is it something I did?”

“No.” You grumbled, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment. “Be quiet, I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Oh, I get it.” Peter nodded like he knew something you didn’t.

“You get what?” You took the bait, looked up at him in angry confusion.

“You like me.” Peter smirked, making your whole body ignite. Your face twisted in shock, followed by anger as you stumbled over the right words to say.

“What?” You sputtered. “What could possibly lead you to believe I like you?”

“That’s the most obvious answer.” Peter pretended to yawn, making you even angrier. “You’re mean to me because I you like me. Classic playground logic. It’s cute if you think about it.”

“I do not!” You stamped your foot, feeling frustrated that you couldn’t come up with a better argument. He had caught you red handed and you didn’t see a way out.

“Okay.” Peter’s voice was dripping with false innocence. “I believe you.”

“Listen Parker.” You growled, leaning your hands on either side him and gripping the table. “Let me make this clear, I do not, nor will I ever, like you. I don’t even tolerate you.” You shook your head slowly while holding his gaze. “I don’t want you here, okay? My life was a whole lot better before you came around and ruined it. If it were up to me, you’d be thrown out on your ass before lunch. I do not like you.”

“And yet,” Peter leaned forward, tilting his head a little, “your heartbeat says something entirely different. You know what they say, there’s a fine line between love and hate.”

“You’re all done.” You ripped off your gloves with a loud snap. “Put your shirt back on.”

Peter smirked as he tugged his shirt over his head, loving the angry flush he left on your face. You gave him one last glare before storming out of the lab, your footsteps echoing loudly as you went.

“See you later!” Peter called cheerfully, laughing when you let out an angry huff.

 To be continued…

@awesomebooklover17 @thebookwormlife @imanativeofswlondondahling @weirdr-artiest @serendipitous-amor @dummiesshort @foreverxholland @lavender-writer @captainmandeestudent17 @whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning @imyourliquor-youremypoison @theolwebshooter @andreasworlsboring101 @guksmyfav @waiting-to-be-myself @letsloveimagines @peterparkoure @a-villain-vying-for-attention @justcallmehitgirl @averyfosterthoughts @jackiehollanderr @tiny-friggin-human @mara-twins @iamaunicorn4704 @the-crazy-fanfictionist @maryjanee23 @geeksareunique @emmamarshmellow @jillanaholland @unbelievableholland @rebekkah4766 @flixndchill @sovereignparker  @thisisthebiplace @spideydobrik @every-marveler-ever @undiadeestos @caelestii-e @eridanuswave @itscaminow @fiantomartell @solarxmoonchild @where-art-thau-romeo @canyouevencauseicant @illwritetomorrow @thehappygrungelife @saysomethingspiderman @parkerboop @smilexcaptainx @hes-amarillo @quaksonhehe @kelieah @kickingn-ames @purefluffykiwi @seasidecrowbar @lovelessdagger @love-sick-blues @electraheart-3174 @lou-la-lou @unbelievableholland @yourtypicalhotmess @spideyanakin @horanxholland @thesuitelifeofafangirl @anapocalypseinmymind  @marshxx @heyheycharlatte @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie @tomshufflepuff @cookiemonstermusic258 @maybemona @young-romanoff @alexxcorona113 @spidey-reids-2003 @lethal-wisdom @xo-spidey @im-still-tryin-to-find-it @big-galaxy-chaos @pandaxnienke​ @spideydreamers​ @parkerpeter24​

[jisungsmochi]

somebody to you - hrj

somebody to you - renjun

behold,, the FINAL part of my nct dream x the vamps songs series! leaving y’all with something really wholesome and fluffy bc i’m inlove with renjun 

word count: 2.8k 

summary: huang renjun didn’t like relationships. he thought they were messy, and honestly, a waste of time. he had his whole life ahead of him, so why would he need a significant other to be happy? that was all until he met you, and thought to himself, maybe it wouldn’t be all bad...

read the rest here! 

//

I used to wanna be

Living like there's only me

But now I spend my time

Thinking 'bout a way to get you off my mind

renjun scrolled through his endless instagram feed, swiping through threads of his friends with their girlfriends. he would be lying if he said it didn’t make him

borderline sick. he was always a realist, never really seeing the point of having a serious relationship at such a young age. in his life so far, he’d probably say he’s only had one girlfriend, and it was a random girl he asked to prom so he wouldn’t feel left out. renjun was never opposed to love, he just wasn’t actively seeking it.

“dude i reckon you’re gonna like her! she’s super cool from the sounds of it, and she goes to our university!” haechan insists as the four boys sat down for dinner in their shared apartment.

“i don’t need you to set me up on a blind date. i’m capable of finding someone on my own, thank you very much” renjun rolled his eyes, fed up with the continuous discussions of his single status.

“yeah, and how’s that going for you?” jaemin chimed in, causing jeno and haechan to chuckle in response. renjun just scoffed, shoving his mouth with more food to avoid speaking further.

“give it a chance. the worst that could happen is that you don’t vibe with her and you never talk to her again” jeno tries his best to convince the stubborn boy. renjun just shrugs, his mind contemplating the idea.

“okay fine, one date. if you guys really think she’s soo good for me, let’s see how accurate you guys are” renjun snickers. he was not confident in their matchmaking skills at all, but he loved seeing them fail.

“perfect, i’ll set it up for you. just sit back, relax and be your boring self” haechan grins, tapping away on his phone. renjun ignores the cheeky boy’s comments, finishing up his dinner. his first date in over two years, this should be good...

I used to be so tough

Never really gave enough

And then you caught my eye

Giving me the feeling of a lightning strike

renjun was regretting this date already. all he knew about you was your first name and your uni course, nothing else. the boys had refused to show him any photos of you, claiming that it would be more ‘romantic’ if he fell for you at first sight...what a cliche, he thought to himself.

“how will i even know it’s her, if i don’t know what she freaking looks like?” renjun groaned, nerves slowly building up as haechan pulled up to the date location.

“i’ll point her out, okay? just trust me” renjun let out a short sigh, hands slightly jittery. why the hell was he nervous? it wasn’t like he was going to see her after this one date.

as renjun stepped out of the car, his eyes scanned the scenery.

“jeez, you guys really went all out for this date” he was amazed by the view. it was a restaurant that was by the water, multiple little boats sailing across it and the sounds of birds humming.

“of course, you only deserve the best” haechan winked, eyes looking for renjun’s date.

“dude what if she doesn’t even show up. does she even know what i look like?” renjun was slightly panicking at this point, drifting from his tough exterior.

“haechan?” a soft voice interrupted his thoughts. renjun’s eyes diverted to the owner of the voice. he felt stunned by the sight of you, dressed neatly in some jeans and a flowery blouse. you had slightly curled your hair, hands clutching to your purse as you greeted the two boys infront of you.

“hey y/n, this is renjun, your date for tonight! see you kids later, don’t get up to anything crazy” haechan chuckled to himself, shoving renjun to meet you. renjun almost clashed into your smaller frame, catching you off guard. you gently held his arms, keeping a small distance between you both.

“o-oh my bad, i-i’m renjun” he stammered, eyes meeting yours. you were slightly blown away by his looks...he was really attractive. well done, haechan.

renjun would say the same about you. even though he didn’t have a particular type, (as he found it kind of dumb tbh) he believed you could fit it perfectly.

“i’m y/n! nice to meet you” you widely smiled, renjun returning your expression as he pulled out his hand for you to shake. maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

Look at me now, I'm falling

I can't even talk, still stuttering

This ground I'm on, it keeps shaking

you were currently trying to hold back your laughter as renjun recounted the story of how he caught jaemin with his girlfriend...doing the nasty, during their first week of university.

“oh my goodness! were you scarred for life?” you slammed your fist on the table, causing others around you to glare. but renjun couldn’t even focus on them, attention solely on you.

“of course! it was the first week! like couldn’t they have just waited until midterms?” renjun chuckled at the memory, proud of himself that he made you laugh so much. he must be doing something right.

“you’re really funny, renjun. some of the other guys that haechan tried to set me up with were lowkey boring. i guess he sees me as boring too” you slightly frowned, watching as renjun piped up in his seat,

“y-you’re not boring at all! you’re funny! and pretty too” he muttered the last part, not wanting you to have heard. but you did. you decided not to linger on it much, afraid to make him too flustered.

“you’d be the first guy to say that” you shrugged, taking a small sip from your glass of water.

“have you had boyfriends in the past?” renjun suddenly asked, causing you to raise an eyebrow.

“i-uh i’ve had a few. nothing too serious though, how about you?” you curiously ask in return, watching as renjun looked down to his lap. he hesitated before answering,

“i’ve only had one girlfriend before. i’m not really an avid dater” renjun admits to you, hoping that you didn’t find him lame.

“oh neither am i! we have another thing in common! i feel like relationships can get really difficult to manage, especially if you aren’t in the right headspace, you know?” you started rambling, renjun stringing along to your every word. he found such beauty in the way you articulated your words. he was so entranced he almost forgot to respond.

“i totally understand how you feel, i’ve always thought that i should live my life to the fullest before i consider settling down” he commented, causing you to nod along. you really liked his answers, it seemed like you were both on the same page about relationships. you didn’t expect to enjoy his company this much, initially agreeing to go on the date so that haechan would stop teasing you for not having a boyfriend in uni yet.

you walked alongside renjun, waiting for your roommate to pick you up.

“i had a really good time tonight, renjun. thankyou” you kindly complimented, causing renjun to become more shy (if that was even possible).

“no thankyou! there were times i felt kind of awkward, but you really know how to carry a conversation” he smiled, watching as you started to get shy.

“are you flirting with me, huang renjun?” you teased, nudging his arm gently.

“so what if i am?” he nudged you back,

“well i don’t think i’d want you to stop” you smirked. before renjun could say anything back, your heard the familiar voice of your roommate urging you to get in her car.

“oh that’s my ride. i have to get going. this was nice, i’ll see you around renjun!” you hurriedly embraced the boy, placing a gentle peck to his cheek before rushing to your roommate’s car.

renjun still didn’t say anything back to you, his body frozen from your touch.

‘no no no’ he thought to himself...he was falling for her.

All I wanna be, yeah, all I ever wanna be, yeah, yeah

Is somebody to you

Everybody's tryna be a billionaire

But every time I look at you, I just don't care

“so are you gonna tell us about the date or do we have to call and ask her instead?” haechan teased as the rest of the boys sat in their living room. renjun has a book in his hands, wanting nothing more than peace and quiet after his long night.

“gosh, will you let me finish this chapter?” renjun huffed, causing jaemin and jeno to snicker. haechan pulled out his phone, holding it to renjun’s face,

“oh would you look at that? it would be a shame for my finger to slip and dial y/n” before he could continue, renjun hurriedly tossed his book to the side, tackling the pestering boy onto the ground, holding him down firmly.

“holy shit, did you get stronger?“ haechan could barely speak, still in shock from the sudden attack. renjun slowly leans back, letting out a tired sigh.

“you two are ridiculous, let’s cut to the chase, did you like her or not?” jaemin rolled his eyes, ready to hear all the tea.

renjun looked from side to side, not liking all the attention that was on him.

“i-she was really cool. honestly yeah, i did like her. but i don’t think she’s looking for anything too serious at the moment” renjun shook his head, thinking back to your heated discussion about relationships.

“okay that sounds like a cop out excuse. i think you’re just scared” jeno chimed in, the two other boys nodding along. renjun glared at them, trying his best to maintain his composure.

“yeah, i mean, did anything happen aside from good conversation?” jaemin continued to push, renjun now becoming more reserved. of course he trusted his friends, but they never really openly spoke about their feelings like this, it was quite new to all of them.

“she kissed me on the cheek before she left, does that mean something?” renjun muttered, watching as haechan tips himself over, now laying on the ground.

“you’re an idiot, must we spell it out for you? she’s totally into you as well” jeno groaned in frustration.

truth was, renjun wasn’t sure how to properly ask someone out, nonetheless be in a proper relationship with them. he was in desperate need of help...but all he had were his three idiot friends.

“i know i don’t know her well and all, but after she left, i couldn’t stop thinking about her. is this what it’s like to fall for someone? oh god...i’m falling” renjun started rambling to himself, jaemin and jeno now rested against him, shoulder touching either of his.

“the answer is pretty clear, man. go for a second date! make the move, she might be thinking the exact same thing” jeno shrugged, trying his best to advise his friend, the best he could. renjun bidded, actually agreeing with jeno for once.

suddenly, renjun felt his phone ringing. he immediately picked it up without looking at the caller ID.

as if you were listening in on their conversation, your voice rang through renjun’s ear.

“hello? is this renjun?” you nervously stammered, waiting for a response. renjun was completely frozen, his mouth hung wide as jeno pressed his own ear closer to the phone.

“y-yes this is him” renjun finally spat out, hands slightly shaking.

“oh great, this is probably coming as a surprise to you. but i uh, wanted to know if you’d be interested in going on another date” you were able to finish, heart racing as you held the phone tightly. renjun felt his heart stop after your words, jeno shaking him gently to snap out of his daze.

“o-oh yeah, i’d be really interested” renjun replies, mentally face palming himself for sounding a little too eager.

“amazing, i’ll keep in touch” you smiled to yourself, trying your best to contain your excitement. eventually you hung up, screaming into your pillow, kicking your feet up and down. was this how it felt to actually like someone?

“there’s your chance, don’t blow it!” haechan teased, throwing a cushion over to renjun who was still frozen well after the call had ended.

‘holy shit’ he mumbled.

//

the date you had planned for renjun, involved attending the local food markets they held once a month. you thought it would be a social enough setting for conversation to not get too awkward, as well as enjoy a variety of food. renjun met you at the bus stop, dressed in baggy jeans and a blue wind runner jacket. his hair was slightly styled, some strands gelled back. it really accentuated his facial features, making you admire him even more than you did before.

“you look really good today, i mean, not like you don’t look good everyday i’m sure you do..” you shook your head at your rambling, wanting nothing more but for him to laugh it off. renjun just smirked at you, planning another witty comment to respond,

“not as good as you though” he gently guided you to walk with him, his hand travelling to the small of your back. you slightly froze at the contact, but aimlessly followed him. he surely had his way with words.

as you both tasted some amazing food, renjun found him standing quite close to you. if you were trying a sample, he would stand behind you, his chest touching your back occasionally. it seemed really natural to him, and you didn’t mind it at all. he would often touch your shoulder gently to grab your attention, or pull you along by your waist. it gave you massive butterflies that you could shake off.

“did you want to start heading home? we can walk to the bus stop together” renjun offered kindly, his arm wrapped around your shoulder as you slowly made your way out of the large crowd. just as you were about to respond, rain started sprinkling from the sky. renjun quickly moved you to stand under some shelter as the rain came pouring.

“how the hell are we meant to walk in this?” you half shouted, clutching onto renjun’s side. he couldn’t bear moving you away from him,

“let’s just run, we can’t wait for it to pass” he suddenly took your hand, pulling you along as he bolted to the nearest bus stop.

“you’re so crazy, renjun!” you shout at the boy, giggling at the entire situation. before you knew it, renjun span you around, pulling you close to his chest.

“the only thing i’m crazy about is you” he confessed, catching you completely off guard. he had a habit of making such flirty comments, but this time you felt he wasn’t trying to joke around.

“w-what?” rain was washing over the both of you, your clothes completely soaked at this point.

“i really like you, y/n. i really freaking do. i didn’t want to admit it at first because i was scared of the idea of dating. but i want to be with you. i want to be somebody to you. everyone is out here trying to settle down and start their lives, but i feel like with you we can go at a steady pace. i don’t want to rush things, incase it gets messy, and difficult. but i just needed you to know that i really like you, and i hope it’s not all in my head that you like me back” renjun firmly confessed to you, eyes never leaving yours. you slowly raised your hand to wipe some rain drops off his face, watching as he smiled into your touch. he held you tightly in his arms, awaiting your response.

“renjun, i think i made it really clear that i like you back. i was also nervous about how you’d react, considering you weren’t really looking for anything serious at first. i think we should give it a shot, we can worry about all the stress and possible fights later on. all i know is that right now, you’re the only person i want to be standing in the rain with. now can you please kiss me?” you couldn’t contain your smile as renjun leaned into you. his lips pressing gently against yours. your fingers now running through his wet hair as he held your waist firmly. the kiss started getting deeper, the atmosphere really playing into the romantic nature of it all. eventually you both pulled away, foreheads presses against eachother, softly giggling.

that was the beginning of your relationship with renjun. despite having ups and downs (as expected) you both persevered and tried your absolute hardest to make things work. renjun finally admitted to himself: falling inlove wasn’t so bad...especially when it was with the right person.

[sherlokiness]

Flowers, blue eyes, and death

"No," Ned said with sadness in his voice. "Now it ends." As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death.

This is a weird one. Why would Ned associate blue roses with blue eyes? Death has no eyes nor are the blue. Or are they?👀👀

"Othor," announced Ser Jaremy Rykker, "beyond a doubt. And this one was Jafer Flowers." He turned the corpse over with his foot, and the dead white face stared up at the overcast sky with blue, blue eyes.

Here we have Flowers who had blue eyes upon death. Flowers✔️ Blue eyes✔️ Death✔️ If Waymar with his grey eyes(later- one blue) is a stand in for Jon, I say Jafer with blue eyes could be a stand in for Lyanna.

Blue eyes of death is a very odd way to describe the color of those roses, wouldn't you agree? That's just not something you say in any normal convo. Granted, this scene was actually from a dream. Later, those blue roses will be described like they were meant to with "blue as frost" and the like. But if we look at this death which has blue eyes closely, we can still see some clues concerning Othor/Other and Flowers.

His hands were black like Jafer's. Blossoms of hard cracked blood decorated the mortal wounds that covered him like a rash, breast and groin and throat. Yet his eyes were still open. They stared up at the sky, blue as sapphires.

This is a more natural association. Othor had blue eyes like sapphires which means so does Flowers. Eyes are blue. Sapphires are blue. Blue eyes= blue sapphires. No problem with this.

So Jafer, a dead Flowers, has blue eyes.

Sansa, a dead flower (Jonquil/Roadside Rose), has blue eyes.

I think that Lyanna, a dead flower(Winter Rose via Bael), has blue eyes.

Jon, a dead flower(Blue Rose via Lyanna), will have blue eye/s.

"Do you require guarding?" Marillion said lightly. "I am composing a new song, you should know. A song so sweet and sad it will melt even your frozen heart. 'The Roadside Rose,' I mean to call it. About a baseborn girl so beautiful she bewitched every man who laid eyes upon her."

Sansa is referred to as a rose albeit roadside because Marillion thinks she's just a bastard but she's not.

I am a Stark of Winterfell, she longed to tell him. 

She's a Stark. She's more precious than that- a winter rose?

"She was," Eddard Stark agreed, "beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time."

It was as if she had become a ghost , dead before her time.

That phrase has only been used twice in the series and in the first book to boot. Arya may look like Lyanna but GRRM also tied her with Sansa in text and it has to do with death. We would then have two women referred to as roses and are both dead. Dead! Dead! Dead! 😭😭😭 Sansa will not die so how will she end up “dead” like Lyanna? Marrying a Targ and giving birth to a little prince!

The only eye color associated with Lyanna is the "blue eyes of death" so if we read it with the clues above, GRRM may have already given away Lyanna's eye color. Sansa, Jafer, and Lyanna(all dead flowers) have blue eyes.

Not my mother, Jon thought stubbornly. He knew nothing of his mother; Eddard Stark would not talk of her. Yet he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost see her face. In his dreams, she was beautiful, and highborn, and her eyes were kind.

Notice how there is no eye color mentioned.

"More's the pity. And yet there was that one time … what was her name, that common girl of yours? Becca? No, she was one of mine, gods love her, black hair and these sweet big eyes, you could drown in them. Yours was … Aleena? No. You told me once. Was it Merryl? You know the one I mean, your bastard's mother?"

They are lowkey talking about Jon's mother and again, there is no hint of eye color but there is mention of "sweet" eyes.

"But he does not know you," Dontos insisted, "and he will not love you. Jonquil, Jonquil, open your sweet eyes, these Tyrells care nothing for you. It's your claim they mean to wed."

And the only other woman described as having sweet eyes is Sansa/Jonquil which goes back to the theme of flowers having blue eyes. If you look here, I explained more about the eyes and they involve 5 people who said they'd drown/drowned/almost drowned- Jon, Tyrion, Sansa, Cersei, and Robert.

When she had been presented to him, Cersei had almost drowned in the depths of his sad purple eyes.

Sweet and sad. That's how the love songs are described in the books.

Cersei plucked a string and smiled at the sound. "Sweet and sad as love. Tell me, Wat . . . the first time you took Margaery to bed, was that before she wed my son, or after?"

Sweet and sad as love?👀👀

Lately, though, he was noticing some other things. When she grinned, the crooked teeth didn't seem to matter. And maybe her eyes were too far apart, but they were a pretty blue-grey color, and lively as any eyes he knew. Sometimes she sang in a low

So Ygritte has blue-grey eyes and they are "pretty." Eddard and Brandon have grey eyes. Benjen has blue-grey eyes. Why not just make Benjen have strictly grey eyes? The only one unaccounted for in the books for the 2 gens of Starks is Lyanna. Me thinks it's sus...

The boy absorbed that all in silence. He had the Stark face if not the name: long, solemn, guarded, a face that gave nothing away. Whoever his mother had been, she had left little of herself in her son. "What are you reading about?" he asked.

Ironic if his mother actually left most of herself in him. Except the eyes. Cause her eyes were blue. I hope we get confirmation for this on the next two books where Lyanna's eye color will finally be explicitly mentioned. We'll get a tie in how Rhaegar gave her the blue roses- for the blue of her eyes.

They look as though they belong together. Val was clad all in white; white woolen breeches tucked into high boots of bleached white leather, white bearskin cloak pinned at the shoulder with a carved weirwood face, white tunic with bone fastenings. Her breath was white as well … but her eyes were blue, her long braid the color of dark honey, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.

And then we have Val who was mentioned to have only grey eyes turning blue, not blue-grey, just blue, when Jon thought she belonged with Ghost. Her hair also turned a darker shade. It could be another Renley situation(green to blue) or this is deliberate. I prefer the latter because the color is preceded by an ellipsis!!!!I said that the eye color is very significant because that's the whole point of the passage. GRRM goes to great lengths to describe Val being clad in all white just so he could finally contrast it to what's not white- her blue eyes.

But what about Jon? Another flower? How will he have blue eyes? Well, he will be “blind” and see through cat’s/Cat’s eyes like Arya. I am very convinced of this because of the passage below. 

"There is no woman more lovely than Your Grace. Only a blind man could believe otherwise, and Daario Naharis was not blind."

Like Daario isn’t but Jon is exactly that blind man. Errr... he will be. What I forgot to mention about the Timett/Jon One Eye connection from link above is the importance of White Knife. It’s a real place in Westeros ruled by someone named King Jon Stark. So it’s a nice little nugget.

[catboycafe]

I Will Now Express Every Thought I Have About Pacific Rim: The Black 

⚠️ spoilers for the whole thing baby

I actually forgot Pacific Rim: The Black was premiering today until I saw it in an article this morning! When I first heard about it months ago, I was decidedly not sold on a Pacific Rim anime. Uprising burnt me the fuck out and I don’t have a lot of trust left in me for new entries to the franchise. But I had heard rumblings of Raleigh and Herc being referenced after going into #pacificrim and I decided I may as well check out to see what was up! I binged it in 4 hours and it sure was a whirlwind, I’ll tell ya

The Plot

I really enjoy the setting and initial concept! We’re so use to seeing Kaiju/Jaegar shenanigans play out within these major cities with helpless civilians everywhere that spending so much time in a lonesome desert and these destroyed civilizations was really cool and indicative of the changes Pacific Rim has undergone in the last few years. I also looooved the Desert Settlement from the beginning!! It seemed really homey and picturesque; I wish we’d spent more time with the other survivors and got to see more of their day to day aside from farming and sitting. 

I also found the first episode set up to be really tight and well written! I was hooked during the initial flashback, Hayley and Taylor’s fight was really poignant and well acted, and the reveal of Atlas Destroyer felt really huge and epic!!

But once we left the Desert Settlement and the plot started actually moving along, the pacing becomes suuuper rough. We spent way too long in Bogan with Shane and Mei; there’s only 7 episodes and we spent, like, 3? 4? within the confines of that camp and I felt it weighed the plot down. Boy is introduced in the 2nd episode and, because the narrative spends so much time on Shane’s evil machinations and Mei’s back story, we still don’t know anything concrete about his origins or purpose 3 episodes later! That felt frustrating to me

The story beats overall were very predictable. I was able to pick up on Mei’s backstory via her dynamic with Shane in their introductions, so her memories felt too built up and too hollow once they were revealed. The same with the reveal of Boy’s Kaiju form; he was in a big green test tube in a PPDC base - I assumed immediately he was a part-kaiju experiment and again his reveal felt hollow, especially after the glacial pace of it’s development. 

Even when events weren’t predictable, they lacked weight. The appearance of several Kaiju Breaches in “Boneyard” felt very cheap for some reason; I wasn’t scared and I didn’t feel tense about these odds mounting against the protagonists. This was just happening and I was just watching. 

The Art Direction and Animation

I’m very obsessed with all the new Kaiju we got from this; I love how Copperhead is rendered, they’re a joy to see on screen!! The Rippers are also very cute and deserve little plushies...i love these neat little dogs. Boy’s Kaiju Form is very intimidating with an interesting color palette and I loved seeing him next to Copperhead’s highly saturated design!

That’s unfortunately all that I liked however; All the human character design is unmemorable to me. Every character looks exactly like another easily identifiable anime character from a different property (Hayley looks exactly like Zero Suit Samus to me, for example. And Mei kept reminding me of both Bernadetta Fire Emblem and Motoko Kusanagi from GitS. The list goes on). 

I can sort of understand why they’re so bland? A franchise going from Live Action to something as heavily stylized as anime is probably a really difficult transition and these designs are probably meant to be more lowkey than more unique anime designs in order to help that transition. But realistically stylized designs can still be recognizable and unique! These feel uninspired and bare bones.

 I have no problem with the switch to CGI animation that modern anime is doing because I know it’s a lot cheaper to produce and it can still be really unique and striking! But The Black’s model animation felt very stilted and inconsistent. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about animating so I don’t think I can accurately describe what I disliked? Wooden is probably the best term. Character movements felt wooden and things like hair and clothes felt plastic. 

Impacts also had very little weight. The fight between Tayler/Mei and Copperhead reminded me of when you’re in a dream and trying to punch something, but you can’t punch hard. It was simply too floaty and too soft. The final showdown in “Showdown” was better, but not by much. It was very immersion breaking seeing these Giant Robots and Giant Monsters unable to throw a real solid hit!

Characters

My favorite character was unequivocally Joel Wyrick. We love Joel Wyrick in this house! Joel’s character has real charisma and charm. I love his flirtations with Loa, how his cocky disposition is juxtaposed with his drinking problem and later insecurities over his lost memories, and his genuine kindness shown to Mei, Taylor, and Boy. No one ever plays with Boy, they just run after him and drag him around...but Joel has this moment in “Escape from Bogan” where he kneels down to Boy and helps him collect rocks. It was sweet!

So of course, when Joel dies for absolutely no reason 5 minutes later - pissed! I was pissed! I yelled “COME ON” aloud in my studio apartment! I was genuinely so excited to see him interact more with the rest of cast then, poof. No More Joel.

His death felt like it was for shock value to me rather than actual narrative development. Why kill him when we still don’t fully understand his and Mei’s relationship? Why were they so close? Were they childhood friends, or just coworkers that happen to become friends? Why did he specifically know all the details of Shane’s abuse towards Mei before she did? 

What did his death accomplish? It made Mei sad...ok? She was already...very sad. Her running away from Shane already had consequences - the consequences of Shane coming after them for revenge in the future. Why did Joel have to become a causality? 

His death is ultimately tied to Mei’s character arc which is, unfortunately, my least favorite :c I find Mei to be a really one dimensional character with a personality, backstory, outlook, and motivation that I’ve seen done a million times before with a million other characters. She feels very out of place in the franchise as a whole - Pacific Rim is, at it’s core, a story about connecting with others. Her self-centric arc and lack of desire to connect outside of drifting really alienates her from the story at large and it frustrates me how long The Black’s narrative spends on her. 

Hayley and Taylor were otherwise very interesting in the pilot episode, but become similarly one dimensional at the story chugs on. Taylor’s unflinching (bordering on unhealthy) faith in their parents was really interesting next to Hayley’s complete acceptance of their parents’ death. But once the two of them make up their differences, they lack an interesting dynamic and become very passive protagonists.

 Taylor especially has no personality - how would you describe Taylor? He’s...brave. He’s the older brother. He’s a leader? He’s nice? There is nothing noteworthy about him at all, which is sad considering I think he has the potential to be a really interesting way to explore the original movie’s influence on The Black’s story.

Hayley’s grief and self-blame are more interesting than Taylor’s...nothingness, but she still falls into this one-note trope of being the naive, excitable little sister. I guess I feel abnormally frustrated about this flat character writing because Pacific Rim’s incredibly unique cast has always been an inspiration to me! It feels sad that this new iteration into the series is full of what feel like stock characters. 

Then we get to Boy. How come Boy can’t have a person name? It’s specifically written in a dialogue between Taylor and Hayley: “I’m not going to call him Chad or Barnaby or one of those names for a baby brother you wanted as a kid,”

Why?

He’s by all accounts a human child when they find him. Yes, he was found in a big green test tube - but he walks and acts just like a human child. The only difference, seemingly, is that he is non-verbal and engages in strange/annoying behavior (running off, eating bugs, etc). So he isn’t deserving of a name?? I don’t know why that makes me so mad, it just does. it’s like they refuse to treat him as a human even before they find out he’s a Kaiju  - it’s super weird! How can the story sell me on the three of them becoming found family (like they’re seemingly trying to do) if the protagonists won’t even treat this kid like a kid??

Misc. Thoughts

The callbacks to Stacker, Herc, and Raleigh were cool! I also like that Herc is a major plot point! We love Herc Hanson and it’s what he deserves. I also find Loa’s connection to Horizon Bravo very interesting...and the fact we’re getting Kaiju cultist lore! Love that! Love that!

Fucked up that the only two dark skinned characters were: 1) removed from the story 10 minutes in with no call back yet, 2) Killed after having 1 line of dialogue and fridged for the character development of the blonde white girl. I really need to know what the deal with those 4 characters leaving in the beginning was about - I absolutely thought we’d see them again by now, but no dice

I don’t know how to feel about Ajax and have no clue what their purpose in the story is. They’re cool, but whats the point? 

If Mei and Taylor are paired up together romantically, I’m putting Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson in the time out box. Very tired of seeing random hetero romance B plots in stories that can’t even get their A plots together

Overall, it’s kind of subpar! It has the foundations of a really interesting story, but the pacing and characters really took me out of it. I’m interested in Season 2! I know season 2 is already ordered and I’d love to see how things continue to develop, see if the character writing gets any better - but I’m not too hopeful unfortunately. I really really love Pacific Rim after all these years and I’m happy to still be getting content and world building! There’s just sooo much I would change about this however. At least fanfiction’s free! 

Thanks for reading all this, I have ADHD and just go on and on if u let me. hmu if You Too have thoughts about Pacific Rim: The Black and have no one to talk abt them with

[threeletterslife]

All You See is Blue

→ [3/7] of the Society Series

→ summary: It's true. The skies are so beautiful here when you look up, a vast expanse of cerulean blue stares right back at you. You're in paradise. Right?

→ pairing/rating: jungkook x reader | PG-13

→ genre: 100% soft angst (🥺✨but make it lowkey 💀🥀⛓) | prince jk!au

→ warnings: underage drinking, death, believing in multiple deities

→ wordcount: 9.2k

cr.

You sniffle.

You sniffle again.

You're about to sniffle a third time when your mother jerks her head towards you, shooting you an unappreciative look.

"But mother—"

"Hush, Y/N. The crops aren't going to harvest themselves," she retorts. "Stop sniffling. And stop daydreaming about the damn sky. You're becoming delusional."

"But mother," you insist. "Today's the Choosing Ceremony! I need to get cleaned and dressed. I'm filthy—"

"You will not be chosen." Your mother turns her back away from you, hunched over and tending to the sprouts that had somehow miraculously found purchase in the dry, dusty soil. "You were not chosen last year. Nor the year before that. Nor the year before that. I could continue on, child. You're 19, now. This year will do you no favor once again. Throw away your foolish high hopes, Y/N. The royal family will not look at you twice."

You grit your teeth, scrutinizing the dirt clinging to your only pair of shoes before scoffing out loud. "It's my last year to make an impression."

"Don't waste your time."

You throw down your basket, glaring at your mother's backside.

"Stop being such an ungrateful child," she says without turning around to face you. "Who will take care of the fields with me if you are chosen? You can miss the Choosing Ceremony. Would you want to abandon your family to live with the spoiled royals?"

Yes.

All your life, you've daydreamed about being admitted into royalty. To spend endless hours looking up at the beautiful blue skies of the blessed Cerulean Kingdom. To admire the dazzling fireworks in the night sky and the glamorous rooms of the castle. To feast on the towers and towers of bountiful food. You want to do whatever you want whenever you want.

To honor the villagers who work tirelessly in the fields, every year, the royal family takes in one lucky girl from ages 13 to 19 under their wing and lets them live lavishly for the rest of their life.

A lavish life is what suits you. You're no good at housework and just barely decent working in the fields. But you tend to daydream often, staring up at the alluring blue sky—before your mother scolds you for sticking your head up in the clouds, that is. You doubt you're helpful in the household. You might even be more helpful when you're gone.

If only your mother understands.

She won't be able to change your already made up mind.

"Mother, I'll help you later." You stretch your back, shading your eyes from the sun beating down upon you. You squint at your mother's hunched back in pity. Years and years ago, she hadn't been chosen in the Choosing Ceremony either—stood through seven ceremonies in silence, clapping bitterly when every year, a girl who wasn't her was chosen. She's still bitter about it. But she should just move on. Let you take one last chance. Shaking your head in dismay, you bite your lip. "Um, I'll be back in an hour."

"Y/N!"

You don't turn back as you run away from the fields. This is your last chance. And something about this year feels good. If you played your strings just right and caught the royal family's attention... then maybe... just maybe, you might become part royalty.

You'll never have to be covered in dirt. And you will have all the time in the world to admire the cerulean skies.

"The prince is coming this year!" the girls chortle giddily.

They're the fifteen-year-olds who hope to snag a chance in the ceremony. You are indifferent to them and their gossipy antics. But the rumor of Prince Jungkook coming does make you straighten your back and stand in your best posture. It's not often the prince comes out in public—his parents raise him as if he is a fragile diamond. Prince Jungkook is their only child, after all. To be frank, you don't think you've ever seen him before in person. But you've heard of him and his devilishly handsome looks.

The easy key to the royal family might be to catch the eye of the prince. If the village rumors are true, he is looking for a wife. Self-consciously, you smooth out your only dress, fiddling with the ends of your sleeves to get rid of the bare strands of thread. The dress is brown. The color of the mud. The dirt. The dust. Consequently, it is also the color you see most often. The color you absolutely despise.

But you try not to let it affect you very much. With your head held high and an alluring smile pasted on your face, you try to act like royalty as much as you can. The other girls are starting to gossip about the last chosen girl. You forgot her name. But she was a beautiful, pale-skinned, daughter of a poor widow; a girl who was notorious for sitting in the house and weaving all day. She (the natural beaut) caught the eye of the king last year. And so she was paraded away in the royal carriage and straight up into the castle.

No one's heard of her since.

In fact, none of the chosen girls ever visit the village again. Of course they don't. Who wants to see dirt after seeing gold?

The girls' chortling grows louder when the familiar carriage rolls up at the very end of the two lines everyone is ordered to stand in. You hold your breath as the inhabitants of the vehicle step out.

The king emerges from the carriage first. He looks regal. A bit older than he was last year, of course, but he's aged like fine wine. The royal crown sits on top of his white head, bedazzled in blue jewels and shining diamonds. He murmurs a few sharp words to the knights behind him, and they immediately dart forward to carry the train of the king's long mantle. The king huffs, nodding in approval before dusting off the bit of dirt that had fallen at the side of his clothes. Then, he turns, calling for someone else inside the carriage.

True to the rumors emerges Prince Jungkook. He's breathtaking. Twenty-two years old. Fairly young. Handsome. Tall. Fit. Majestic. He bears no crown on his head but instead a dainty, silver circlet. His warm, chocolate eyes make you want to melt. And when his face hits the glint of sunlight, his silvery, dangly earrings gleam, drawing your eyes to his neck, where a delicate necklace rests—a sun-shaped pendant that lies between his collar bones. When you've admired his jewelry enough, your eyes trail back up to his face. His lips are colored with just a dash of light pink and his cheeks are flushed with a rosy tint. Gods, his jawline...

You find yourself staring.

Until he meets your eyes. Gasping in shock, you would've looked away immediately—if he hadn't expressed interest in you too. But he does.

The prince's soft doe eyes scan your face, and the corners of his lips lift into a subtle smile. He gazes into your wide eyes, his own pair sparkling in the warm sunlight. He doesn't look at anyone else. Only walks toward you.

Your heart beats rapidly in your chest, and you stay frozen still. This is it. This is it!

You hold your breath.

But Jungkook doesn't spare you a second glance; at the last minute, he turns away from your direction with a barely noticeable crease on his forehead and he occupies himself with looking at his other options.

You let out a deep breath in time with your plummeting heart.

You're beginning to think your mother is right. Why did you think this year would be any different? You weren't chosen for six years straight. What made you think you'd be chosen this year?

You dejectedly sigh, gripping the sides of your dress as you stare at your dirt-covered shoes. Maybe you weren't pretty enough for Prince Jungkook. He did frown as he walked away from you. Ha. And you thought you'd caught his attention.

Pathetic. Maybe he was marveling at how filthy you looked, though you thought you made a good attempt of scrubbing all the dirt and dust off of your face. Maybe you missed a spot on your arms?

I hope they choose someone and go. You're already starting to dread the spiteful words that will spill from your mother's mouth when you come back home. Unchosen. Abandoned.

That's when you see a shadow overlapping your feet, turning the tops of the dirt-covered surfaces even darker than they already are. Your breath hitches when you look up to see the king of the Cerulean Kingdom staring right at you. Nearly wobbling over, you force yourself into a deep curtsy, keeping your head hung down. "Y-Your majesty."

"Her," the king mutters, motioning to the knights who had accompanied him. "You," he says. "Your name?"

"Y/N, your majesty."

"Y/N!" the king warmly smiles. He reaches out but does not touch you. With your eyes wide and heart temporarily stopped, you wait for him to utter the words you've wanted to hear your whole life. "You are chosen," he declares, clapping his hands. The other girls, though clearly disgruntled, clap along politely.

Your head spins. Suddenly, the heat of the once warm sunlight feels scorching, beating down on your head, and the roaring applause makes your knees nearly give out. You've never been congratulated for anything in your whole life.

The king gestures to you in a paternal way, his eyes, though wrinkled, offering you a welcoming smile. "Come, my child. We must get you ready for the celebration of your inclusion to the royal family."

"O-Oh," you gasp when the knights take you by the arms and start to march away. "Oh!" Your eyes light up as your heart feels like it's about to leap out of your throat. Amidst your happiness, you manage to remember your manners. "Thank you, your majesty! Thank you!"

"No, thank you, child," the king answers grandly. "For you will contribute great things to our kingdom."

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Jungkook staring at you. A frown is etched on his face.

You have never been surrounded by this much luxury in your whole life. The castle walls are made of white marble. The floors stretch on with off-white tiles and the velvet curtains cascade down to the ground, letting the floor-length windows bare. You stare out of them and up to the clear, blue sky.

Immediately, some maids dressed in pale blue usher you away to a bathroom that is larger than your home back in the village. They scrub the dirt that had eternally been embedded in your skin and wash and condition your hair with soaps and fragrances that smell of blossoming flowers. Then, they bathe you in rich oils that feel too smooth for your skin. You are buffed and shined until when you look at yourself in the mirror, you look like a goddess.

"You will be wearing blue, miss, to honor the emblem of the Cerulean Kingdom," a maid tells you. "And there will be a party held in your honor later tonight."

You can only nod your head, dazed and slightly giddy. The thought that you will be living like this for the rest of your life puts you to the heavens. You won't ever have to hunch over and work in the dirty fields ever again.

It is precisely at 6 o'clock when the celebration begins.

You're escorted to the very edge of the stair steps of the royal courtyard where the party awaits for you at the very bottom. In your sky-blue dress and your hair up with pure-white ribbons, you blend in with the sky.

Men line up to dance with you. The music is lively, only enhancing the entertainment as your feet never cease moving. You never get to learn the names of these men either. They seem to come and go. But you don't mind.

Everything blends in bright colors and happy faces. When the sky turns black, the party turns livelier than before; the stars that had once adorned the night sky are hidden away when they start the fireworks. You've had too many glasses of an amber, bubbly liquid and had one too many dances with merry, attractive strangers.

The white slippers around your feet start to dig uncomfortably in your heels. So you throw them off to the side and continue to dance. The curls in your hair have died down and you've lost some of the white ribbons somewhere, but you don't care. You're the life of a party.

You dance until one o'clock when there is barely anyone left except old men and women who hardly look up to vigorous dancing. That's when you wipe the sweat off your brow and take a deep breath. The night air is refreshing, and now that the fireworks have stopped, the sky looks empty. But even so, the castle twinkles in the moonlight.

You find your white heels under a bush and take both in one hand, walking to the edge of the castle walls and looking out to the village that you had just left today. The Cerulean Kingdom rivals its day-time beauty in the night.

There's a piece of white ribbon that keeps trailing across your back, so you tug it out of your hair and admire it in your hands. It's the purest, silkiest piece of material you've ever held in your life, glowing in the darkness as the delicate ends of it flutter in the night breeze.

You exhale, your breath slightly trembling. A small part of you feels guilty for leaving your mother to fare without you while you bask in these luxuries. But you wave the guilt away. I'll just request for food to be sent to the family. Besides, you were chosen. You belong here, now. Staring up at the sky... Lavishing in regal parties... You shouldn't feel guilty about it... right?

It's a miracle on your part—from peasant to royalty. How funny luck works. I better go to sleep to really test if this isn't just a dream. You're just about to turn around and head to your expansive bedroom when you hear someone clear their throat behind you.

Whirling around, you see the prince.

Without a second thought, you drop down in a low courtesy. "I-It's a pleasure to meet you," you stutter, "your highness." You're slightly wary, especially since at the Choosing Ceremony, he hadn't spared you a second glance. If you close your eyes, you can probably see him frowning at you again.

The prince gives you a slight nod so you stand up straight, suddenly feeling self-conscious about your rather disheveled state.

"I saw you at the Choosing Ceremony," Prince Jungkook says. He pauses, gazing at you from under his thick lashes. "You're beautiful."

You flush. "Thank you, your highness." It makes you wonder why he didn't pick you himself. Or why he frowned at you.

"How do you like it here so far?" the prince inquires, stepping closer to you. You notice that he maintains heavy eye-contact with you, and feeling flustered more than ever, you almost stumble backward.

"I-It's amazing, your highness," you manage to say. "The sky," you breathe, gesturing to the black emptiness above you, dotted with nothing but the twinkling stars and the shining moon, "has never been this beautiful."

Prince Jungkook smiles. He steps forward again, making your breath hitch. Seamlessly, he takes the white ribbon out of your hand. "Oh, there are things that are more beautiful than the sky, darling."

"O-Oh?"

He turns you around wordlessly, softly taking the strands of your hair and tying the ribbon back in. "Follow me, dear," he whispers, taking your hand.

And he leads you away in the darkness. Careful step by step, you're taken away from the royal courtyard and into the back gates of the massive castle. The more you walk, the better it feels to be out in the dark with only the moon and prince to guide you. It's starting to smell nicer too—a nice, natural scent from flowers and trees.

Prince Jungkook stops walking, smiling gently as he looks ahead. You follow his line of sight. "This," he announces proudly, motioning his hands across the expanse of the beautiful green flourished with blue and purple light, "is the royal garden."

Oh, gods. He's right. The garden is absolutely enchanting.

The flowers glow in the moonlight, twinkling almost as dazzlingly as the stars in the sky. Soft blue light rains down on the water lilies next to a pond. There's a quiet sound of trickling water, and you turn your head to follow the noise. When you see it, you gasp.

"A water fountain!" You point excitedly at the majestic stream of blue-lighted water falling into a shallow pond.

"Would you like to dip your feet in there?" Prince Jungkook smiles. "They must awfully ache."

You turn to him in surprise. How did he know...?

"Darling, you have quite the stamina," he laughs and it sounds like shimmering silver chimes. "You were dancing all night, weren't you?" He points at your slightly swollen feet as if showing you proof.

You duck your head down. He's right, your feet are probably going to be sore tomorrow morning. But... "Your highness, I didn't get to dance with you."

The prince chuckles. "I don't like public events. I rather stay inside and watch."

He must be sick of them. After all, he was born into this life, unlike you.

"It's much quieter here, isn't it?" the prince says. He cautiously takes your hand, leading you into the pond. The water is refreshingly cool and so clean that you can see your feet. "I come here often."

"I can see why, your highness," you breathe, marveling at the clear waters and the beautiful lights that surround you. Everything is beautiful. Even the people. You steal a glance at the handsome prince.

His lips are parted, water droplets from the fountain cascading down his chiseled face. His eyes gaze up at the night sky. "You'll have the best time around here," he tells you.

"Thank you, your highness."

The prince grins, looking sideways to stare fondly into your eyes. "We'll become well acquainted."

Your heart leaps in your chest. The prince! Is! Interested! In! You!! "I hope so, your highness."

"So I'd very much like it if you can call me Jungkook."

Your eyes widen and you glance unsurely at the prince who casually sits next to you. But he doesn't take back his statement so you believe he's being serious. "O-Oh," you stutter. "Of course, your h—I mean, um... Jungkook."

The prince laughs. "I look forward to meeting you again... Y/N."

"M-Me too, Jungkook."

The young prince smiles to himself. "I'll see you tomorrow."

It isn't a question, but a bold promise.

You sleep in a grand, mahogany bed with a soft mattress and warm covers. It's the best sleep you have ever had in your whole life.

Waking up with the birds chirping outside and the sunlight beaming in the room is something you can definitely get used to. When you turn your head, there is a bouquet of flowers on your nightstand that definitely wasn't there the night before. You pick up the bouquet and smell them. Roses.

A smile stretches across your lips when a note drops out amongst the sweet flowers.

Meet me in the garden for breakfast.

You don't have to be a genius to find out who that handwriting belongs to. There's only one person who knows you've been to the castle gardens. The prince. And he's waiting for you at the bottom of the steps.

"You look beautiful," he compliments, nodding at your royal blue dress and taking your hand. "I see you received my gift."

You clutch the bouquet of roses in your hand. "Thank you, Jungkook. I love them."

"My pleasure," he says, squeezing your hand. "Come, darling, I've arranged a picnic for us." He begins to lead you away into the depths of the royal garden and you follow him, entranced by his voice, his charm and his face.

Sure enough amongst the healthy bushes and towering trees and blooming flowers is a little white blanket spread out. On it are plates full of all kinds of delicious pastries. You drool just by the sight of it.

Jungkook laughs when he sees you subconsciously licking your lips.

"I wasn't sure if you liked fancy pastries, but now I'm not so worried anymore."

You're broken out of your hungry trance and you giggle. "Well, I've trained myself to eat anything in the village, so you won't have to worry again."

"Anything??"

"Um..." you pause, thinking heavily. "Well, maybe not anything. I've refused bird carcasses, caterpillars, spiders..." you trail off, becoming self-conscious as Jungkook starts to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Sorry," you apologize sheepishly. "Probably not a great image to paint before eating this, right?"

"It's okay. I don't mind," Jungkook soothes. He shakes his head. "I'm sorry... I didn't know the village was like that."

"Not all of the village." You shrug. "Just the poorer part."

Jungkook's cautious, his head dipping down and his voice raising an octave as he asks, "W-Were you a... um, part of the, uh, poorer sector?"

"Well... I guess," you admit, awkwardly fidgeting with your hands. "I mean, objectively, yes."

"Objectively?"

"In my head, I was already here, in this castle, watching the blue skies without anyone having to nag at me to work." You giggle, gesturing toward the open sky and sighing. "And now I'm not so in my head anymore."

Jungkook laughs. "You can have all the food you want here. And also look at the sky for hours without distractions."

"And I even get you to talk to!" you exclaim. "It's like I've reached paradise... Though," you pause, "you probably think I'm overreacting, maybe."

"I'm used to that reaction."

You raise your eyebrows but don't say anything.

"I know what I have is a privilege," the young prince says slowly and surely. "And I'd give anything to find the courage to spread the wealth evenly..."

"When you become king—"

"It won't matter," Jungkook interrupts. "It never does. I won't be king for years. And by the time I am crowned king, I'll probably rule just like my father."

"Well, I think your father is fair."

"Really?"

"He's the reason I'm here!" you laugh. "Jungkook, he chose me at the Choosing Ceremony!" While you didn't, you want to add. But you don't. "He's generous, Jungkook. I admire him. If you rule just like him, I don't think there will be any problems."

Jungkook stares at you for a very long time. You start to squirm under his gaze.

Then the prince seems to shake out of thoughts and sighs. "I suppose so..." But there's something about the way he says it that you don't think he actually 'supposes so' at all. And then there's another long pause before: "Let's pray to the gods and enjoy our breakfast."

Jungkook clasps his hands together and closes his eyes shut tightly. Though you've never prayed before, you follow his actions, only opening one eye to see him murmuring prayers underneath his breath. It occurs to you that you don't even know how to pray.

And you're not very sure if the gods even exist.

But you stay silent and respectfully wait until Jungkook opens his eyes. He grins at you, holding up a pastry. "The god of sky blessed this meal for us. Especially for you."

"O-Oh. Thank you..." You take the pastry, marveling at the way the fruit sits perfectly on a well-toasted piece of... bread?? You're not even sure what that is, but it looks delectable. "I'm honored. Really."

"Go on, try it," Jungkook says. He doesn't touch the food, waiting eagerly for you to take your first bite.

So you do, careful not to take a large bite that will end up in you embarrassingly spilling crumbs and fruit pieces everywhere. Immediately when the fruity, tarty taste hits your tongue, your eyes light up. "Oh, gods," you groan, chewing slowly before swallowing. "This is amazing."

"Have as much as you want," Jungkook urges. "And then we can go to the kitchen later for lunch," he offers. "We have cakes and chocolate and candies there."

"Yes, please!" The thought of more delicious pastries and baked goods makes your mouth water—even with good food right in front of your face.

"Or I'll just give you a tour of the whole castle," Jungkook hums. "A different room every day. How does that sound?"

The crown prince! Giving you a private tour! He's really turning out to like you! Maybe the gods are really up there. "That sounds amazing, Jungkook!"

The prince smiles proudly. "Usually, I don't like to subject myself as the tour guide but..."

"But?"

"But I have a feeling we'll get along well."

After an extended breakfast, you and the crown prince walk around the gardens, talking and talking until your stomach growls embarrassingly loud. Jungkook had been telling you about the worst tutors he'd had in the castle and how he had pranked every single one of them. To see him reveal the sillier side of himself is adorable—and quite hilarious.

Under his formal, prince-like behavior is a young adult who is oblivious to the outside world; he's been stuck inside the protective walls of the castle for twenty-two years—of course the only problem he'd know is an intolerable tutor. You don't blame him.

It doesn't really matter when the prince is kind. He makes sure to ask you questions about yourself, but you much rather talk about his life, instead. Jungkook catches on fast, and he's been talking about his annoying tutors ever since.

You're actually sad that the fun conversation about Jungkook's heinous geography tutor has to come to a stop because of the rude interruption from your stomach. But Jungkook offers something even better than a story:

"I think it's time for a trip to the kitchen, darling." He grabs your hand and the two of you dash, side by side, back inside the castle. The open double doors reveal a massive kitchen that boasts hundreds and hundreds of royal chefs and bakers—both dabbling in their specialties of savory food and the sweets. The sight and gods, the smell overtakes your senses.

"Oh my gods."

"Right?" the prince grins. "The best bakers in the kingdom live in the castle to bake for us. Look!"

Jungkook resembles an excited child—his cheeks are flushed as he practically dances around the kitchen. "Come on!!" he exclaims, showing you around the massive kitchen and letting you taste-test everything. By the time you leave, you feel like you've gained fifteen pounds and acquired an extra stomach. You and Jungkook are both covered head to toe in flour as well.

"Well, you're quite the sight," Jungkook laughs, gently bopping your nose. He wipes a bit of flour off your chin, his fingers lingering. He coughs politely, drawing his hand away almost sheepishly.

"Thank you," you say, smiling. "But you're quite the sight too!"

Still, you have to admit, something about the prince's disheveled hair and the streak of flour across his cheek is adorable. You would've reached forward to clean him up but Jungkook beats you to it, quickly rubbing his arm against his cheek and subsequently getting rid of the flour stain. He even looks embarrassed about it too.

"Want to wash everything down with wine?" he suggests, shrugging casually. "I'll take you to our cellar."

"Wine!" It's a delicacy you've never had the privilege to try. The day keeps getting better and better.

"I'm assuming that's a yes." The prince takes your hand again and the two of you run down the empty halls of the towering castle. You pass by countless open doors, each promising a new world upon entering. A library, a drawing room, a theater room, a swim room (topped off with a hot tub too) and hundreds and hundreds of guest bedrooms (where the other chosen girls must be)... However, there is one door, you notice, that is locked with heavy chains from the outside. It looks like you'd need a key to get in. Which is strange, considering all the other rooms are open for access.

But your wondering is cut short when Jungkook halts to a stop in front of an open door that leads to what looks like the royal cellar. You squint, trying to get a glimpse at the bottom of the seemingly endless stairs. "Watch your step," Jungkook says in his dulcet tone, holding your hand as he guides you down a rather dark staircase. "The room's dimly lit, but it's worth being in the dark." He turns around to smile. "Wine has a way of relaxing you."

"I'm already the most relaxed I've been in my entire life!"

Jungkook laughs. "Fantastic. Keep that up, darling."

But the prince is right. You thought you were relaxed until six sips of a burgundy-colored liquid, and you've proven yourself wrong. Your head feels like it's resting on the clouds. Jungkook's equally relaxed as you, his legs spread out in front of him (a posture that his nanny would kill him for) as he has a lazy arm around your shoulder. Instinctively, you lean into his chest, letting out a soft whine of approval when he begins to pet your hair.

"Usually I drink by myself," the prince confesses in a low but mellifluous voice. It's almost as addicting as the deep garnet wine left in your crystal glass. "It's nice to have company."

You can smell the wine on his breath when he speaks. Nodding leisurely and pensively, you take another slow sip. "But one day you'll meet a princess from far away and you'll drink with her," you reply thoughtfully. "You're charming. And she'll be charming too. You'll do more than enjoy her company."

Jungkook laughs. And this time, it doesn't sound like silver chimes but dreamy, drawn-out heavy bells. "I'm not going to marry a princess," he snorts. He deliberately runs his fingers through your glossy tresses, shaking his head in denial. "There's nothing outside the kingdom except barren wasteland, darling."

If you weren't so relaxed, you'd think this was bigger news. But you merely laugh, nodding your head drunkenly. "Interesting."

"Quite so," Jungkook draws out slowly. "Well," he hums, pausing dramatically. "There are two neighboring kingdoms. But they don't call themselves that. It's a shame. No kings, queens... no royalty of any kind. They worship nothing. Heartless souls."

"Heartless, yes, heartless," you agree passionately.

Jungkook smiles. "Heartless, indeed."

You reach for your wine glass again but Jungkook stops you. "Come, let's get you to your room. I think you've had enough to drink for today."

"But—"

"We'll have some more tomorrow, darling. How does that sound?"

You nod eagerly. Jungkook looks at you fondly before helping you walk up the stairs and guiding you toward your bedroom. You collapse on your bed, handings splayed on your stomach.

Jungkook sits down at the edge, watching your face unabashedly. A giggle erupts from your lips so suddenly, the prince jumps.

"Jungkoo?"

The prince smiles at the new nickname. "Yes, darling?"

"Will there ever be a new queen?"

"Maybe," he slurs. "Not in a long, long time, though."

"Hmph."

"Why?"

But when you don't answer, Jungkook looks over to find you asleep. He'll have to call over some maids to cook you some hot soup for dinner—if you awake by then, that is. The soup will surely make you feel less queasy. And it's Jungkook's job to make you feel safe around here. As long as you don't ask too many questions, you'll be happy until the day you die.

He carefully tucks you in bed, letting your hair splay around your head in a neat circle. You'd called him Jungkoo. His heart leaps in his chest with the memory. The prince has been trained to stay rigid, regal, formal. He's not supposed to chase after a village girl, but even the gods can't stop him from liking you.

As of now, that is.

It is morning when you wake up to the smell of something delicious. A steaming hot bowl of soup and neatly cut slices of avocado sit on a tray on your nightstand. Though your eyes feel a little dry and there's a mysterious thumping in your head, you seem to have had a good night's sleep.

The breakfast in bed is delicious as expected. But now, you're not too sure what to do. Yesterday, Jungkook had written a note for you. Today, there is no such note anywhere in your commodious bedroom. So you dress in a pastel blue gown, fix your hair with a single white ribbon and begin to wander around the castle by yourself.

I figure I have to get used to this place. I'll be living here for the rest of my life.

There's a part of you that wants to meet the other chosen girls and see how they've been living in wealth. But another part of you wants to find the prince.

Since Jungkook's nowhere in sight, however, you end up knocking on all of the guest bedroom doors in hopes of finding a friend. Soon, it occurs to you that none of the girls are in their rooms. The castle is vast so they must be relaxing in some of the other commodious chambers the royal family has to offer.

It doesn't really matter, anyway.

Alone time is much appreciated too. The ceilings of the hallways are made of glass, letting the morning light flood in and bounce off of shiny decorations, making everything sparkle. You stare at the blue sky in awe.

The gods have blessed the kingdom with clear skies and good weather for years. It's no secret the royal family worships them. You, on the other hand, never had the luxury to worship anything when you lived in the village. Maybe Jungkook can teach you a thing or two about praying to the gods so you can finally thank them for creating something so magnificent.

When the sun starts to sting your eyes, however, you're forced to look away from the ceiling. Your eyes fall upon the locked door you had seen just yesterday. The chains look daunting, almost challenging you to a match. As if in a trance, you walk towards it, hands grazing against the silver doorknob. You suck in a breath.

There's something behind those doors. Something grand. An enigma for now, but maybe you'll find out later. You place your ear against the surface of the white door, trying to listen for anything that might be inside the mysteriously locked room. But all you hear is the light whispers of the wind. Inside, there must be an open window. Which means the sky would be in view.

Interesting...

"Darling, step away from the doors, please."

You gasp, stumbling back several steps upon Jungkook's soft but stern demand. His eyes morph from narrow slits to his normal, alluring doe eyes. "O-Oh! I didn't see you there."

"Of course you didn't," the prince soothes. He grabs your hand. "Come, let's enter the library. I have wine waiting for us there."

"Ooh, wine." But a frown morphs across your features. You look up at the handsome prince curiously. "Why are those doors locked, Jungkook?" He's being so defensive all of a sudden.

"Behind those doors is the sky room," the prince says. There is a cold tinge to his voice that makes you flinch. "The ceiling is wide open and the floor is flat with gravel."

He seems done talking, but he hadn't answered your question. "But—"

"Let's go to the library," he interrupts. You don't protest when he begins to drag you away. After all, you have years and years to figure out that secret. And right now, wine sounds very promising.

Everything is hazy again. Wine on your tongue and ancient texts in your head—it's quite a new feeling.

You and Jungkook share a seat on a regal-looking couch with a book in one hand and a wine glass in the other. Reading isn't exactly your forte, though you do know how to do it. So after a few minutes of staring at the small-print texts, you switch to admiring the pictures. Jungkook pours you wine glass after wine glass until you've drunken more than half of the bottle.

"I think that's enough drinking for today," he tells you. Today, he's not slurring his words. You notice that his wine glass sits barely touched in his hands.

"I am relaxed," you sigh. "I love it here."

Jungkook smiles, setting down his drink and book to wrap his arms around you. "Th-That's... That's wonderful."

You're so drunk you miss the way he stutters.

It's important that you stay relaxed here for the rest of your stay. Jungkook wishes he could do something... anything to help. But he can't mess with fate and what the gods have ordained for the kingdom.

"Do the gods really exist?" you mutter.

The prince jumps. It's almost as if you've read his thoughts. "Of course they do," he answers automatically. "They are the ones who help the kingdom prosper."

"If the other... neighboring kingdoms don't worship the gods..." you trail off, lazily reaching for Jungkook's sun-shaped pendant and playing with the necklace chain. "Does that mean the kingdoms... don't prosper?"

"Yes," the prince answers. "It might as well be a barren wasteland."

"That's unfortunate," you huff. "They should worship the gods."

Jungkook places a hand on top of yours, causing you to pause fingering his dainty necklace. "They should..."

But internally, Jungkook's glad they don't.

You giggle, blinking slowly as you unknowingly bat your eyelashes at the prince. He's trying to maintain self-control, watching you slowly drag your tongue across your lips to taste the remnants of the wine.

"Jungkoo..."

"Yes, princess?"

The nickname has you soaring. "You... At... at the Choosing Ceremony..."

Jungkook gulps. He knows what you're going to try to talk about. And while you're drunk, which saves you a lot of embarrassment and awkwardness, he isn't.

"You didn't choose me." Your lips pull out in a full pout. "Your father did."

"I am not allowed to choose," Jungkook says, petting your hair and holding you close to his chest. "It is not up to me."

It's half true.

But if Jungkook was given the chance, he'd stop his father from choosing you as well.

You wake up to a morning in a foreign bed that only smells familiar. Everything last night is still blurred in your mind. How did I get here?

"Darling? Are you awake?" Jungkook comes into view, holding a tray of pastries in his hands. He smiles at you charmingly, setting the tray down on the bed and sitting across from you. "You fell asleep in the library and my room was closer so..." he trails off, handing you a buttered croissant. "I hope you don't mind. I slept on the couch."

He also hopes you don't remember the conversation you had yesterday with him. He hopes you don't hold grudges against him for not choosing you. But maybe that thought is always at the back of your head. It's why you'd so suddenly brought that up to him yesterday. Being drunk on wine gave you courage.

"Oh..." you answer, rubbing your head. "Thank you, Jungkook." He grins when you take the croissant and bite into it. "Mmm!" you exclaim. "I'll never get used to the food around here."

From the looks of it, you don't remember yesterday's conversation.

Jungkook laughs with both relief and endearment. "So...? What do you want to do today? Something special?"

You chew thoughtfully on the pastry. "What if we just stay in your room?"

The prince frowns, making you wonder if you've crossed the line. "My room? Are you sure you don't want to go anyplace else? The stables... The pool... Not even the garden again?"

Of course, the offers sound welcoming but—"I just want to... rest."

Jungkook thinks you couldn't have chosen the worst timing. But he relents. He can't but let you do whatever you want. Especially when so many other things are out of your control. "Of course, darling. What would you like to do here?"

"I don't know!" you giggle. "Maybe... talk?"

"We've been talking for nearly three days!"

"I... um, don't exactly remember much from those conversations."

Right. You had been drunk. Thank the gods. Jungkook thinks conversation with you is easier when either one of you is drunk.

The two of you finish breakfast with leisure, laughing and giggling about childhood stories and memories. There is no serious talk—only happy tales and funny narratives.

The more Jungkook learns about you, the more he realizes how naïve you actually are. Almost as if the trauma you've faced in the village has activated a self-defense mode in you in which you close off reality and live in a bubble by yourself. But it's better this way. He wishes he were as naïve as you. Oblivious. Happy. Dreamy.

You talk about your mother—who wasn't really your mother, but a woman who adopted you so she could have an extra pair of hands on the field. A woman who would spend the day ordering you around and at night, send you back to the orphanage so she wouldn't have to feed you.

Not once do you explain this with a look of scorn on your face. You tell the story as if you're completely detached from it. Like it's a dark comedy. But you're safe inside your own bubble of comfort. Because in your own little world, you can look up to the bright blue skies. Depend on that to be your solace.

Thinking further makes Jungkook think about how unfortunate it is. Discomfort creeps up from his stomach to his throat, but he can't bring himself to say anything. So the two of you are left in comforting silence.

Then:

"I never got to thank you for keeping me company, here," you say, shyly, cautiously as if testing the waters. The prince smiles.

"Well, it's been a long time since somebody from the village offered good company," Jungkook confesses. "I don't normally come out of my room."

"So this must be like one of the other days..."

"It's better," he says. "Because I'm usually stuck here alone getting drunk."

"Why don't you like the other girls?" you ask. It's an innocent question that isn't laced with any malice or judgment. "You could easily spend time with them too."

"But I pity them."

"Pity?" You raise an innocent eyebrow.

"Yes." The prince doesn't offer more explanation.

"When can I see them?" you ask eagerly. "Maybe I can help you get acquainted with them."

If you weren't so excited, you would've noticed Jungkook flinching. "You may see them tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!"

"Yes..."

You turn your head to stare at Jungkook. He looks a bit lost, eyes glossed over and mouth set in a stern line. "Is something the matter?" you whisper. "Jungkook...?" You place a hand on his arm.

The prince shakes his head, blinking away his haze to look at you. "I'm fine, thank you, darling," he says. "Sometimes, don't you wonder though? What's really outside the Cerulean Kingdom? Beyond the barren wasteland, maybe?"

"No, not really." You laugh, shrugging. "I imagine nothing outside the kingdom."

"But in the slight chance that there is..."

"Are you suggesting we run away, prince? Have you forgotten your title?" you giggle.

"It is merely a title," Jungkook says. "Sometimes I want to escape this place."

"The beautiful skies? The perfect weather? You want to leave that?"

"Especially that."

You huff. "I wanted to leave the village to see the sky. And you want to leave the kingdom because of it."

"You'll understand soon," the prince says, his hand reaching out to play with your silky tresses.

"In a few years?"

"Tomorrow," he answers. His eyes gloss over again but this time, frown lines stretch across his forehead. But you don't see it. Too busy daydreaming about the morning skies and mulling over Jungkook's last words to notice.

If you had been attentive enough, you would've run away with him.

The rest of the day with Jungkook had been almost uneventful. The conversation had flowed easily and comfortably—especially after the prince introduced a new bottle of wine. He had let you fall asleep after pressing a chaste kiss to your forehead, mumbling a slurred goodbye which you had accepted, not thinking it was that special at all.

To Jungkook, it meant so much more.

In the morning, you find yourself being shaken awake on your bed in your own room. The maids are urging you to get out of bed. When you reach for a midnight blue dress, they swat your hand away and replace it with a silky white gown that falls past your ankles and trails a few centimeters away from your bare feet. You insist on white ribbons in your hair, but the maids silently shake their heads. Instead, they style your smooth locks in loose curls that cascade down your back. They keep your face bare too, even though you would've liked a little bit of color on your lips and cheeks.

If you didn't know any better, you think they're trying to get you ready to meet the other girls. You didn't know the gathering would be so formal. Jungkook had glossed over the details the other day, so you're not too sure what to expect. Something tells you a delicious breakfast will be involved, though.

You wonder when you'll be able to see Jungkook. And even though it was hazy, you still remember the kiss he had left on your forehead last night. Will your relationship with him ever develop into something... more?

Your daydreaming is halted when the maids who usher you out of your room are replaced by knights in silvery armor. The swords laced into their belts are daunting, but maybe they're trying to keep you safe? They urge you down the beautiful hallways of the castle and stop right in front of the locked doors.

You look questioningly at the knights but their faces are hidden behind their silver helmets. "Are we having breakfast in there?" They don't answer. Biting your lip, you wait for the knights to unlock the door. When they finally reveal the room to you, you realize the Jungkook was right. This is the sky room.

The light breeze you had heard is a result of the ceiling that is nonexistent. The sky gazes back at you. The blueness of it is absolutely mesmerizing. You sigh out in complete contentment.

If you had been less naïve, you would've seen the crowd stands against the sides of the wall. You would've seen the chains bolted to the floor in the middle of the room. You would've seen the traces of dried blood on the rough gravel.

Your daydreaming is put to a screeching halt when the loud chattering of people behind to fill the room. People, the same people you've danced with at the celebration party, flood into the sky room with blank faces. They are dressed in sky blue—the same cerulean color of the sky. It appears you are the only one wearing white.

"Hello!" you try to greet them. "It's nice to see you again!"

The people grumble back their salutations, leaving you feeling a bit rejected. What is going on?

Almost as if the gods answered your question, Jungkook comes practically flying into the room. Immediately, you frown. He doesn't look too good. His usually glowy skin is pale and he looks sick. When the prince catches sight of you, he rushes to pull you into a firm hug.

"Y/N..." he breathes.

"Oh!" you yelp. "Is there something wrong?"

Jungkook doesn't answer, digging his face into your pure white dress. You notice he's wearing a tailored sky-blue suit with golden cuff links. Silver suits him much better.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers in your ear. "I'm so, so sorry... I wish it weren't like this."

You pull away from him, giggling. "Like what? Are you okay, your highness?"

Jungkook doesn't think the situation is funny. Instead, he grasps your hands and pushes them on his chest. You can feel how quickly his heart beats. "Y/N, darling... From the first look, I knew..."

"You knew...?"

"I-I'm sorry," the prince stutters. He desperately looks around. "I should've snuck you some wine."

You frown. It scares you that his usually composed aura is in shambles. "Jungkook...?"

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry."

"Why do you keep—"

Before you can finish your sentence, you're ripped away from the prince. The knights forcefully pull you, your bare feet dragging across the gravel on the ground. Their disrespect appalls you for a split second before you holler a frustrated, "Wait!"

But they don't listen.

That's when you realize the people have gathered in their seats. The seats that surround you. Like they are an audience to a show. Suddenly, you feel vulnerable. As if your white gown is invisible and you're left bare for everyone to stare at and scrutinize.

Your protective bubble pops.

"W-What's going on?" you ask the knights. They're silent.

Instead, they force you on your knees, then push you so your back is against the uncomfortable gravel. "What's going on?!" you yell louder. Your voice seems to echo in the ceiling-less room. Nobody dares to answer. They all stare at you.

The clinking of metal makes you turn your head in shock. They have chains. You scream. When no one answers, you scream Jungkook's name. There are a few murmurs but no one comes to help you.

"Jungkook!" you shriek. "Please!" He watches with a pained look on his face. Unable to lose eye contact, he slowly backs away. Finally, he finds purchase on a special seat bedazzled with blue jewels. And he still watches, biting his lip nervously and clawing at his tailored suit.

The knights chain your limbs to the ground so you're left completely immobile. All you can do is look up.

That same sky you were barely able to gaze at for the first nineteen years of your life... it's all you can see, now. It's easily the bluest sky you've ever seen. For a slight moment, you're pulled into its beautiful trance again, momentarily pausing your struggling against the chains.

There is not a single cloud in the sky.

You are the only one in white in the vast sea of blue.

Your eyes shake when they catch sight of the paintings on the walls. There are graphic pictures—horrifying pictures—of death, blood and... the skies opening up with two outstretched hands. Dead girls with their internal organs spilling out. A cloaked figure holding up a bloody heart to the sky. The crowds mumbling their prayers.

Chills run down your spine.

That's when it hits you.

This is where you're going to meet the other girls.

How could I have been so foolish?

You're a sacrifice.

For the gods.

And when Jungkook said you were going to meet the other chosen ones, he had meant it. You'll surely meet the girls in the afterlife once you're dead.

You feel gutted. And you will be in a few minutes. A deep pain rings in your stomach as if they're ripping you apart right now. The sky looms over you sinisterly. You feel dizzy. Your ears begin to ring.

It's the feeling of betrayal. Tears sting your eyes as you struggle to look at the young prince. The glint in his eyes shows you that he's close to tears too, but he looks away before you can surely tell.

I trusted you, you want to scream at him.

But maybe it's not his fault, though. You weren't his choice at the Choosing Ceremony. He'd liked you from first look... but he hadn't chosen you on purpose. He'd walked away. He'd wanted to keep you safe.

Your attention shifts to the king of the Cerulean Kingdom who sits next to the young prince. There is not a single bit of remorse in his dark eyes. You want to wipe the smile off of his face. He had chosen you. Not Jungkook. He had brought you to your impending demise. Angry tears roll down the sides of your face. You thought he was being generous. You thought he saved you. But he was only putting you to death. A sacrifice for the good of the kingdom.

A man cloaked in a deeper shade of cerulean blue enters your line of sight. He holds a glinting dagger by his side. You suck in a breath. That was the man depicted in the paintings. He's going to kill you.

Your worst suspicions come true as he begins to recite in a piercing voice the offering of your heart to the god of the sky. The cloaked man thanks the god for another year of sunshine and blue skies.

You should've run away with Jungkook yesterday. Or you should've drunken some wine before this. Your senses are too sharp. You'll feel the pain when he rips out your heart.

I should've had wine.

Your eyes meet Jungkook's for a split second before you turn away. You should've run away with him. It's definitely too late now.

Everything he had told you makes more sense now. Why he wanted to explore the outside of this cursed kingdom. Why he didn't want to rule like his father. Why he couldn't possibly marry you—a sacrifice. Why he's so lonely... because he shouldn't get attached to the girls who will die in front of his eyes in three day's time. But he made a mistake with you. His curiosity and instinctive tendencies and your naïveness and blatant trust had been a recipe for disaster.

Now both of you are suffering from it.

But Jungkook is the least of your troubles now.

Your eyes begin to water again when the cloaked man brings up the knife above his head. It glistens and shines excruciatingly brightly. You're just seconds away from your death. Unless the process is slow. But you doubt even the king is that heartless to make you suffer.

You slowly move your head to the side where the cloaked man isn't blocking your view of the sky. The boundless, blue emptiness stares back at you. Mocking you.

This is the price you'll have to pay. You're finally giving what you owe for admiring the cerulean skies.

When you close your wet eyes, you aren't encompassed with a black darkness; bright blue light still filters through.

Gods, you wish to see anything but blue now.

—a/n: to read my behind the scenes thoughts/notes on this story, click here!

—masterpost

—masterlist

[winx-reimagined]

Ships & Relationships in Winx Club| Romantic

ToC

Okay, it's obvious that a lot of the relationships in Winx Club suck. In this specfic post, I'm mainly going over romantic relationships but I'll make another for friendships & family and I'll either squeeze enemies and more gray relationships on that post or they'll have their own post.

The two biggest issue couples, Musa & Riven and Bloom & Sky. At least with Musa and Riven they both tried to better themselves. They were both toxic too, it wasn't only Riven -although it was mostly him.

Riven & Musa.

Riven's selfish, beyond rude, and of course there was that time he bretrayed them. Musa doesn't even try to understand him and she only want to argue back, she just fuels the flame. From what I've seen, neither of them have any mutual hobbies or interests, they can't communicate like friends meaning they sure as hell can't communicate as lovers. As bad as this is, if Winx was more realistic and much more mature, I feel like their relationship would be purely sexual. Which is fine in general, but not so great in a supposedly committted relationship. Just sucks that they're trying to play off a toxic and abusive relationship as "fixing the bad boy."

Speaking about committment... Bloom & Sky.

I hate this couple the most. To be fair, most of us do. At least with Riven and Musa they somewhat learned from their mistakes and were held accountable. But Sky, barely was. I can't remember a time Bloom did anything serious (although I'm pretty sure in one of the dubs for season 4, it was made obvious that she wanted to cheat on Sky), the worst she does is just get really angry -usually for no reason- and refuses to listen. But Sky literally led on two girls.

Despite how close Bloom and him were getting, he never tried to tell her the truth. I don't care if he lies about being a prince because he doesn't want the attention -which is actually pretty stupid because Eraklyon is one of the biggest kingdoms it's strange that no one recognized him like, hmm I don't know, Stella- but that isn't a good enough reason to lie to your bestfriend and girlfriend.

Now him being in an unwanted arrange marriage and cheating, sure. It's like a forbidden love trope and in my books doesn't count as cheating. And I could maybe understand him not saying anything to her since it'd most likely get her in trouble. But I still question why he has that framed picture of Diaspro on his desk 🤔, it's almost as if they're close. Hmm. Sure she could've given it to him but there's no reason he couldn't just throw it out or lay it flat.

Before I move on, I need to talk about their relationship as a whole. They're so similar. Of course, you need similarities to make any relationship work but they're like really similar. They're both peacekeepers -which is ironic to say the least-, they're both agreeable -again, ironic- and this just kind of makes their relationship really boring. Boring doesn't mean there's no drama, there's just no interest. You don't watch the relationship grow like with Stella & Brandon or Aisha & Nabu. They never have any actual conflict nor any actual arc, I can't even call it a linear relationship. How do they relate on anything? Their lives are so different, the most the could talk about is what literally happened three episodes ago. Even if they didn't have these petty issues, it's still be a bad relationship.

More about boring couples... Flora & Helia and Timmy & Tecna

I have more to say about Timmy and Tecna for a different manner but like these two couples are so boring. That's probably because they're mainly in the background. But I do think Flora and Helia are kinda cute, but their kept in the background so much, I literally don't know enough about their relationship to make an actual conclusion about them.

But Timmy & Tecna... 👀, they're okay. My most vibrant memories of their relationship is Tecna constantly calling Timmy weak, pathetic, or a coward. I don't give a fuck how angry you are at someone, that is NOT a reason to constantly abuse them like this. And it is abusive, it doesn't help that Timmy sees Tecna as amazing. He lowkey praises her.

I do like the idea of them being very "emotionless" or not being able to recipicate said emotions very well then learning to open up. This is mostly for Tecna, but there are times Timmy falls under this like when Tecna was stuck in the Phantom zo- I mean Omega dimension. He abandoned any sense of reasoning and only went off his emotions, believeing she was still alive -to be fair, he was right. I actually have very big plans for this dynamic, that mostly has to do with Tecna. I'll be making a post about Tecna's Issue soon 😉, but to say the least, he unlocks more than just her emotions. (I swear if that post comes out before this.. A/N it did)

Aisha & Nabu

Out of all of them, these two are the best relationship. Although it is EXTREMELY weird how they set them up, with Nabu stalking Aisha. The way their relationship grew was beautiful and they were about to get married but then Nabu died. Which I would've enjoyed the tragedy of it, if 1. it meant something afterwards and 2. if it wasn't the only man of color this happened to (not to mention the only black woman is the one to ignore all sense of reason and go apeshit).

Nabu is most likely going to stay alive in my version.

I almost forgot about this one... Brandon & Stella

They're cute. They're one of the best couples in the series. Really the only issue I had with them was their petty arguements which, like any Winx romantic drama, had to do with "cheating." It's stupid that they'd accuse each other of cheating if they're literally comfortable with dozens of people flirting and complienting their partner. They even compete over it. It goes to show how much they trust each other yet they still get in a tizzy when their SO stood near the opposite gender.

I've just noticed something about all the relationships. They characters are matched up with someone who is almost basically the genderbent version of themselves. Bloom & Sky; peaceloving leaders, Stella & Brandon; vain, comical characters; Musa & Riven; damaged goods, punks, and so on. It's not the worst thing you could do, but when it's for all of your characters, yes.

Just to address it, I don't have anything to say about Icy's relationship with Tritannus.

I just realized the best way to describe the Winx relationships, and it's just teenage couples. Their relationships never seem to mature except for Aisha & Nabu's relationship.

Now for the SHIPS! There's many I won't include, just because I don't want this post to be very long and I don't know too much about too many, but maybe I'll come back to them or I can just answer asks.

Were gonna start with the ones I hate :) which isn't many

p.s if you ship any of these more power to you, I just don't like these ships in particular, I'm not attacking you as people.

Bloom X Valtor...

I cannot even begin to dig into this one... alright then, let's begin. To get the moral/ethical issues out of the way. Valtor is much older than Bloom. Sure she's 18 by season 3, she's an adult in most places but it's still really gross. Besides what does a thousand year old (wait, how old is he?) have in common with an 18-year-old teenager? He helped kill, if not killed her parents. Look, forgiveness is a beautiful thing... but that's too much. It's fucking unforgivable. His very existence is to destroy the dragon flame. His like, literal reason of existence is to destroy her magic, her family, her world, HER. Ignoring the whole age thing real quick, they just wouldn't work. There's no chemistry between them that won't lead to an explosion.

Now about the intrigue in the dynamic; you know hero x villain, I get it, but the conflict in their relationship isn't romantic.

I also cannot believe one of the official winx club channels made a video for this ship. It's just...

Bloom X Darkar...

I'm pretty sure this is somewhat unpopular but it still exists, which is just like... I have no words. To be fair, I do like them, but as a platonic ship, I'll explain in the continuation of this post. Darkar is a fucking entity he's even older than Valtor. His goal, I feel, is a little less defined other than "he's doing evil things because he's evil", he's a god of darkness not fucking evil.

- I need to rant real quick, I have such an intense love-hate relationship with darkness being evil and light being good. I love it because it's easy to make out and the whole forces of good and evil really gets me going, but like I hate it cause it's always light is good and dark is bad. To be fair, I do appreciate it when it's mudded in which some light creatures turn/are evil and dark creatures turn/are good. Like if there's a lot of gray, I'm happy. Not everything is in black and white.

Anyways, they also only interacted for a short period of time and that wasn't enough for any sort of real relationship (of any sort) to bloom. Although, Darkar is like one of the nicest characters to Bloom which is strange. I get he was just using her but I'll explain later why it doesn't make sense.

These are the two romantic ships that I hate. It's mostly because of age, like if Bloom were older and Valtor was younger I could see them being an interesting enemy to lover ship, but it'd still be a stretch to me. But Bloom and Darkar I can't see romantically, but that's probably because I see them differently.

For the ones I could somewhat see or somewhat like, bruh by this point I'll have to come back and make a continuation post just called THE POTENTIAL...

SunFire, Bloom X Stella...

They're bestfriends which is already a good start, although in the series I don't think they actually act that close, it tends to be more of a rare sight. They're always supportive of eachother (that is until all attention went to Bloom) and Stella was the one to help Bloom's "gain" powers and showed her the magic dimension. Stella immense confidence would be a nice boast for Bloom, since I personally see Bloom as not being very confident in herself and having low self-esteem. They're very cute too.

Tecna X Riven...

Honestly, I think they'd work. They both have common interests for machinery (and presumably sports), they both have emotional issues that would be interesting to see them work out together. I also think they're relationship would be more interesting than their canons ones.

There's always the issue of... y'know, Riven being a piece of shit. But Tecna strikes me as a "takes no shit" type and I feel like that would be their dynamic. I also feel like Riven would like that sort of confidence.

Riven X Darcy...

I also think they'd work. I know in some dubs Darcy used her powers to control Riven, which really just feels like an excuse for his actons. But in the Rai dub, the one I grew up on (is it the original English Dub?), Darcy just had a way with words and was easily able to calm Riven down.

They seem to be able to relate to eachother, and I would like to think that, despite the finale, she still cares about him. (Also I could see them as being a trans couple, I can see both of them being trans so there's something for them to relate to)

Soundwave, Aisha X Musa...

I love this ship. They have a lot of relatability, a lot in common, and have a lot of screentime together. Musa is the one that made Aisha feel accepted in the Winx Club and they found solidarity in each other. In comparison to everyone else, they just seem so much closer and honestly I don't remember a time they fought. Except for maybe the time Nabu died, but Aisha was fighting with everyone.

Speaking of which, I would write them together if I didn't find Aisha and Nabu so cute. Of course, if he dies, yeah, she can move on and be with Musa but I don't know if I'm going to kill him. So this is honestly a huge maybe for my rewrite.

Icy X Bloom...

Honestly, they're most likely going to be canon in my rewrite.

Their similar backstories are incredibly interesting especially since they basically took two different paths. Same cause, different outcomes. Which makes their relationship and dynamic pretty thrilling since to be together they have to be on the same side, so will they be good or evil together. It's almost like a game of tug of war, if you will.

It's hard to find any common interests between them in the series and I haven't read the comics, so I'll talk more about headcanon stuff. Neither of them get what they want in life, they always seem to be unlucky. Both of them are very lonely, usually it's their own fault; and (after the first encounter with Lord Darkar, where Bloom turns evil) Icy tends to find peace in Bloom when they're not fighting. I'd imagine them both to be very artistic, Bloom loves to draw (which is something they dropped in like the first episode) and I could imagine Icy liking sculpting.

Plus, it's the rivals to lover trope, that'd could actually be a healty rivals to lover trope. Which I love, literally one of my favorite dynamics.

Diaspro X Bloom...

Damn, a lot of these have to do with Bloom.

If Diaspro were to see how bad Sky was she'd probably want to be around the one that originally called him out, Bloom. Diaspro can actually be really fucking sweet, but only to people she likes which in this case, is Bloom. Although, she'd probably be very clingy. We don't get any information about Diaspro's interests or her actual personality because she's eViL. So it's difficult to see how they'd work out.

But it'd be cute to see Diaspro teach Bloom how to be a princess and to act like a "proper lady."And to see Bloom teach Diaspro to be more free-spirited and less uptight (I'm thinking about the second Mulan movie now). I'm really tempted to have them be somewhat hinted at in the story; like Diaspro likes Bloom but Bloom doesn't like Diaspro. We'll see...

Brandon X Sky...

Similar to Bloom and Stella, they're best friends which is a good start. They seem to have known eachother for a long time. Really if anything, they're just the male version of Bloom X Stella, but like a little calmer.

Diaspro x Icy...

I've seen this ship here and there, but to be honesst I really know what I think about it. From what I remember, they don't ever interact. And I guess they can just be a villaness power couple. Or hard and soft relationship, where like Icy's a hardass and Diaspro's her surprisingly sweet significant other. Well, sweet only to her.

Stormy X Musa...

They're both punks. They'd either always butt heads or they'd always vibing together. I think they'd be kinda cute tho, just two gals being wild.

Stormy X Flora...

A hardass and a softass, since Flora's gonna be like 5'10-6'0ft in my redesign and Stormy is absolutely shorter than her; they'd be the small, angry and big, soft dynamic. And I think that's kinda cute. Plus, they're both forces of nature. I could see Stormy allowing Flora to be more chaotic and open up about her more negative emotions, especially if these emotions have to do with the rest of the Winx. And Flora could allow Stormy to chill out and be calmer, I could see Stormy picking up a gardening habit because of Flora.

This is kind out of left field, Professor Palladium X Professor Avalon

I half-jokingly, and half-actually shipped them when I rewatched season 2, then I was surprised to find that people actually ship them. And that it was kinda popular. There's really not much to go off of, but they're really cute and I just really want them to be together. Palladium seems very anxious and is really sweet and Avalon seems like he has a lot of self-esteem, I don't know where I'm going with this so make due with these observations as you please.

There's like a million more ships and maybe I'll talk more about them if some catch my eye, but I'm stopping for now. I still have to work on platonic and enmity ships.

Honestly, writing about my thoughts on these ships and canon relationships kind of opened my eyes to possible pairings. Once I'm done with all of these, I'll definitely have a lot to think about when writing these character's relationships. Oh, and sorry about the long ass post. If it's an issue, I'll just separate it into parts.

[harley-michaels-main]

The Battle Between Akaza and Rui

Ight, so Akaza and Rui have been some of the main protagonists aside from Muzan in the show so far right? Right. So before I get into this, this is not an actual battle between Akaza and Rui because Akaza would win obviously. No, this is a battle between my sister and I. So um, Mugen Train and manga spoilers ahead I guess.

Context time, Rui is my sister’s favorite villain in the series while Akaza in mine. I have read all of the manga and my sister has not. Therefore, she knows nothing about Akaza while I know everything.

Idk why Rui is her favorite, she claims it’s because he deserved better and he only became a demon because of his family. What she does not know, is that Akaza did the same thing. BUT I CAN’T TELL HER THAT BECAUSE SHE WON’T READ THE MANGA!

It’s also really funny because we watched the movie together so during Kyojuro and Akaza’s fight I whispered “I’m so sorry” to her right before it showed THE seen. She won’t go see it again with me now.

It’s also funny because when he showed up I was fangirling and she was freaking out. Also because Kyojuro is my favorite side character and Akaza is my favorite villain. 

She can’t fathom why I would like Akaza even though his reason for becoming a demon were better than Rui’s. She claims it’s because I have a thing for pink haired boys with tattoos because I also have a thing for Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen BUT THAT’S COMPLETELY UNRELATED.

Alright, now that is over, I wanna talk about the difference between Akaza and Rui as characters. 

Rui, before he became a demon, he was a sickly child who was unable to do anything for himself. He was on bedrest for all of his life and could barely walk by himself. He simply wanted to go out and play with other children. That’s when Muzan found him.

He was around 12 I believe when he was transformed into a demon. His health got better and he was able to be like a normal kid, excpet for the whole sunlight and feasting on human flesh stuff, but ya know that’s not important.

Except it is and his parents tried to kill him because they felt as though they failed him. So he killed them because he thought that they had betrayed him which lowkey me too. So years passed and we got to where we are i nthe story now and he’s fucking dead. 

Akaza was born poor and had to care for his sickly father. As a human, his name was Hakuji. He was unable to afford medicine for his father so he stole money and medicine to help his family survive. Because of this, he was given thief tattoos, black bands around his arms to signify that he was a criminal.

When his father heard of this, he commited suicide because he feared that Akaza was doing this because he was a burden to his son. This didn’t really stop Akaza from stealing things, but it did give him major depression and anger issues.

That is when Keizo found him. Keizo was the owner of a dojo and later became Akaza’s teacher. Long story short, Keizo beat some literal sense into Akaza and took him to his dojo to train him. While there, Akaza was incharge of taking care of Keizo’s daughter, Koyuki.

He trained and took care of Koyuki who eventually got better. When she was perfectly well again, Keizo offered Akaza Koyuki’s hand in marriage to which he accepted. 

However, Koyuki and Keizo were both poisoned by a rival dojo who wanted to take Keizo’s from him, which he had entrusted to Akaza. When Akaza found this out, he killed all the members of the rivalling dojo which lead to Muzan investigating, suspecting that a demon had gone crazy. When he saw that Akaza was the cause, he transformed him into a demon.

Now Akaza and rui became demons for the same reason, they wanted to get stronger to protect those around them. However, they forgot about their past lives. Rui just wanted a family and Akaza wanted to be stronger and not fear death.

I love Rui as a character, but we don;t get the same time and emotional development as Akaza. He also did not leave as great of an impact on the show as Akaza did... Literally...

However, Rui is a lot younger than Akaza was when he turned into a demon. Rui was 12 (?) and Akaza was 18(?) Rui did not know better and was naive while Akaza was an adult and had experience in life.

But anywho, I’m curious about what other people think. Like who is your favorite villain in the show and why? I mean I think we can all agree that Douma is a shitbag and deserved to rot... again literally...

So if anyone says that Douma is their favorite in a good way, I will judge your mental health. 

Have a good day and thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[sapphicambitions]

what are your thoughts on luke asking annabeth if she loved him in TLO? many fans who dislike luke tend to use this example to portray him as manipulative (and slightly paedophilic given their age difference)

ah yes ive given this a lot of thought and honestly i have many thoughts head full. thesis: i dont think luke was asking in a romantic way. i think annabeth took it in a romantic way, and she was supposed to via the writing choices and what the narrative needed.

 I think when we look at choices authors made we have to examine WHY they made the choices. Not just as the character but as the author who is moving the story along (thank u to my play analysis professor for sponsoring this post). we don’t always have to agree with the choices the author made but like sometimes you gotta look critically at the work and analyze it if you want to understand why a choice was made. (also shoutout to my friend kara who keeps telling me that im getting a phd in analyzing ya lit with all my long pjo posts)

rick is a guy that’s HUGE on romance and pairing everyone off. the main reason annabeth is smitten with luke the whole series is to put tension on her and percy’s relationship and so they wouldn’t get together too soon. luke has to be older in order to be taken seriously as a villain. annabeth had to confirm in front of percy that she didn’t have feelings for luke so that percabeth’s relationship could move forward. Annabeth wasn’t just going to stand over luke’s dying body and be like “haha i don’t have feelings for you” unprompted after like a fucking battle, so dramaturgically luke had to ask her “did you love me” in order for her to shut it down so percy could see it. i don’t think it was the BEST writing choice because percy could have asked her about it later, but also, it’s the climax of the whole series. climaxes are supposed to answer questions. the question in that moment was “does annabeth have feelings for luke?” and the answer was no. i think also “did you love me?” was written purposefully in that way so that annabeth would take it to mean in a romantic sense so she would answer in a romantic sense so we could wrap up that plot point. 

but like lmao honestly i do not believe luke meant it romantically.  “did you love me?” can mean a lot of things. love doesn’t always have to be romantic. they knew each other for almost a decade. annabeth was basically the only family that luke had left. y’all think he didn’t love her? i think he loved her like a little sister ABSOLUTELY. because also he asked annabeth if she loved him, and he didn’t say “ive always been deeply in love with you” or anything confessing his own feelings, so miss me with that “he was trying to manipulate her” shit like HOW WHAT WOULD THAT ACCOMPLISH HE’S LITERALLY DYING.  luke did a lot of bad things. he made a lot of mistakes. a lot of really, terrible mistakes. i think at the end of his life, he was wondering if the one person in the world he actually cared about loved him. it even says when annabeth says “you were like a brother to me” he nods like he expected it because i think that’s the answer he was looking for all along.

also lmao anyone who knows me knows that i 100% believe luke was gay

but lmao actually i do think the phrasing of it is lowkey bad writing on ricks part and he could have phrased it in another way but even so looking at the choices he made leading up to that moment i think it was more about giving annabeth permission to move on from luke (because incase y’all forgot there was a LOT of tension between her and percy about her still excusing luke) so she could be with percy than anything else. No, I don’t think luke had a crush on annabeth. I think she was his family and i dont think he was trying to manipulate her. (like manipulate her to do WHAT i literally dont understand) i think rick needed to write a climax and that’s the choice he made to do it. 

[kazbrekkerrs-remade]

ekrjhak i lov eu and to further enable you: ur thoughts on blue, gansey, ronan and adam and henry? and their group dynamic????? 👀👀👀

Wow this took me ages sorry dfjfhd. Claire... u enable me too much these are my onions <3. Under a cut because I went. overboard :3. I’m probably going to have to shorten this I don’t know if tumblr will even let me post something this long dkshjfhg. (Also I wrote half of this in word so if there’s proper capitalization in places that’s why, don’t let it cloud my image as a cool, laid-back bitch that doesn’t care for grammar.)

i’m starting individually then moving onto group dynamics heh

blue i like blue but it did take a bit of growing on me djjdjhjss. i like her a lot bc i relate to her a lot, but i do think there was a lot of room for improvement. she said she wanted to see the world and make it better but how exactly.. is that a roadtrip? i mean i guess it’s a start in a way, but i think it would’ve been much better if we saw her join an activist organization.. volunteer for a non-profit or something. Also her misguided feminism ah! But I can be a bit more lenient with that bc she was still very young when the series ended so. Also she was revealed to be part tree and then like. Nothing substantial came of it? idk

Ganseyboy! I have to be honest my.. fave uwu. There is a Lot of room for improvement  but I just. Optimist!! insecurities :( also he KNEW he was gonna d*e I’m. sad. Anyway like I said a lot of room for improvement as in like.. not everything is about you king <3 also he needs more… idk I don’t wanna say empathy bc i think that’s something different but like. He needs to realise that what he thinks is best isn’t gonna be the way everyone deals with something, if that makes sense? Like basically the “how do you know what’s good for me?” “THAT’S MY OPINIOOONNNNN!!” vine. THAT SAID I love him so much.. he held up the mouse to his face! And smiled!! mon dieu.. when he made bird jokes to make adam laugh… “am I in your dreams?” AH! In a way, blue and gansey are sons of the same gun: I love them both but there could be more done with them tbh. But I have a lot of fun with Fansey, a.k.a: fatima gansey. Kind of like fanon gansey except no one’s opinion matters besides mine <3 (basically it’s  the *aggressively kicks off shoes* “yee haw”, parts of gansey, and then me giving him the arc he deserves) maybe we could sum it up to “ma’am that’s my emotional support projection character” but like. That’s my business.

ADAM! Previous endorsements include: “might fuck around and become an adam parrish stan account.” “I’ve only had adam for a day and a half but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.” “I go :D whenever I see it’s an adam chapter” (these are more or less verbatim from my previous posts.) that said, I don’t have many fully formed thoughts because I uhhh don’t remember the books that well and also I repress the adam chapters bc they hit too close oops :). tbh I don’t have many complaints at all heh. That’s not to say he doesn’t have flaws but a) I will excuse them because he’s justified, adam does anything problematique and I’m like he can have a little murder. As a treat. and b) I genuinely loved his arc so. No complaints for real!! Also.. adam realising he is capable of loving and being loved…. *kermit meme* I have nearly teared up while writing this. :( one more half baked thought: trc having being “known” as a mark of being loved but then adam being like “i am unknowable” and then there was a moment of him with ronan like “how foolish of him to think he was unknowable”.... *kermit hearts meme intensifies*

RONAN O CLOCK to be honest. I. don’t have any meta or complaints I just love him. I love him a LOT okay.. very much. Big love. Sharp edges tough guy but he names his dream animals chainsaw and gasoline and has a pooping blanket for chainsaw… I can’t remember the quote but that but in cdth where he was like the point is dreamer or not if people are going to get hurt I’m going to stop it… Much to think about. HIS GROWTH. IN THE DREAM THIEVES wow can you believe I read him in TRB and was like ‘I don’t care for him’ ddhfjdhf and then in the dream thieves I’m like.. I have rescinded all previous callouts of ronan lynch. Oops. HE LOVES HIS FRIENDS SO MUCH oh my gosh. Ronan just… he has so much range for feeling!! he feels so much!!! I love that about him so much omg

Henry. Ah. This is where we get kind of controversial jdhjdfh I’m sorry but. I’m going to be honest I like him well enough as a character but I don’t care for him much I’m sorry I just. It’s because he was introduced so late. And only became an important character towards like.. the last half of TRK? I mean, I’d have loved him if he was introduced earlier, hell at least have him come into play in BLLB. The issues I have with him isn’t because of anything about him as a character though, I think it’s all about the way he was handled. I think because he came in so late, there just wasn’t enough time to do justice to the depth that he had, or give him an arc or anything, or enough time to connect with him. Also a part of me feels like he was in there just to kind of tie up Blue and Gansey’s stories and give them something to do after the end of TRK (which sucks because like… making your only canon POC being primarily to develop/give your white characters storylines… (blue isn’t white in my mind but like she was written “colorblind” and when that happens it usually means the author viewed them as white at least in the beginning jhfhgfj. but i don’t remember it too well so if i’m wrong lmk please!)). But probably my biggest problem is: I couldn’t help get the vibe that MS was facing criticism for the lack of diversity and so decided to bring in an asian character. Like, I feel that way bc he came in so late, and because of that he was so half-baked I’m.. gah. GAH. That’s unfair maybe henry is a cool dude hdhfg but I just can’t warm up to him because of this :/

Group dynamics!! With the gangsey I have to *sobs* I love them so much I’m.. what a strange constellation they all were <3

blue and ronan!! BROnan amirite… omg. That moment when blue nearly slips and ronan immediately catches n holds on to her… she would have to remember that :( sons of the same gun. Best friends!

Blue and adam.. gah. As friends it really goes hard. Get you someone who will stab you if you fall too deep into the nether-realm <3 but uhh. As dates. YIKES. Blue really just. Kissed noah while dating him. And didn’t even think for a second “I have a bf” :( not very cool of her to tell gansey about the kiss curse but not telling adam which I mean, I know that happened to show that they weren’t a good match but. Still yikes. Blue was lowkey cheating on adam the whole time during tdt huh :( also bro I am number one stan of the “I wish you could be kissed jane” scene but it happened literally RIGHT AFTER she broke up with adam I’m. relax <3. I wish that was kind of addressed but meh, overall it doesn’t bother me too much. I think they’re great friends :)

Ronan and adam… I can’t talk about it too much. I really can’t!! I really really can’t! the fact that adam goes to gansey like what is love and gansey is like she makes me quiet… and then adam is like “he was so still inside”.. :( omg the bit during trb when ronan is going on a swearing tirade and adam is like “they didn’t start making the civic until ‘73 <3” what a JACKASS I love him. Second secret!! --okay! Wait I have to say: while this one is not really a big deal compared to all their other moments, my favourite quote is “ and he realised that while he’d been looking at ronan, ronan had been looking at him” :uwu face:

Blue and gansey: :3 :33333 maybe it’s the muslim but I really like the tragedy of not being able to kiss :( I would beg just one off you! Under all this! Maybe I’m crying because of the inherent romantic-ness of the night sky with all its stars and late night drives :( wow I love them. Also i know most people find it annoying but I personally love the “I’m never gonna fall for this person” *fast forward to getting to know each other* “ahahah. :) I have rescinded all callouts of ____. she is now my girlfriend (long story)” (not to be confused with enemies to lovers <3 (not to be confused with enemies to friends to lovers <3)) also they can kiss now thank you very much.

Okay I will just preface this with: gansey’s relationships with both ronan and adam have the “how do you know what’s good for me” element to them so I don’t have to address it later hdfgjlfj but bro they love each other so much I’m… “dream me the world… something new for ever night” you’re leaving for TWO DAYS.. gansey gave up monmouth omg what became of that I really forgot khffhk did he get it back. I don’t even need to elaborate on ronan, “ronan would do anything for gansey” :(

ADAM AND GANSEY I been WAITNG for this one! Turn it up! Bro if you saw the whole face I made when I realised it was time for this kdhfhfkhu this is so loaded despite the fact that I cant articulate it <3 the.. idk what to call them. Parallels? Foils? I didn’t take lit sorry but he RANGE we could have had there… remember when gansey was shocked in trk bc :0 you guys came with me and also “they had run for him”. bro their whole relationship had so much. Tension because of their different backgrounds and fundamentally different outlooks because of their backgrounds, and I think if we had seen them properly connect then both of them could have grown from that. I know we see adam understanding gansey a bit better I don’t remember when that happened but I know it did at some point hhdsf but gansey.. never does! Huff and puff. It’s really so FRUSTRATING to me bc that could have key development for gansey but also for adam and gansey’s relationship. And also I feel like we didn’t.. see them try either? Which is so frustrating like idk if it’s a fault on stiefvater’s part or just with YA lit in general that platonic relationships are kind of ignored. Or maybe it’s because idk I remember ms saying she had a lot of issues while writing trk.. but still. We could have really had it all but instead I have to live with “don’t break him adam” I’m (: ok but now I must lighten the mood hjsdhf so might I add: when one of them sees the principal in his crazy funky junky hat and goes “yee haw”… when gansey is like :DDD hey ADAM guess WHAT and adam is like ? and gansey is like oh it was a fully casual problem with the ALTERNATOR of my car of COURSE it was the alternator, it was really simple and I fixed it with much ease :D and adam is like :’D felt like the had hatched a baby bird.. my uwus. ADAM! give me an idea! ALSO if anyone will allow me to venture into adansey territory…. the fact that adam is cabeswater’s magician and gansey now.. is cabeswater in a way. MUCH to think about. I still spend a lot of time thinking about the dryad au the problem is I have never been to progress past the “vague concept” stage of stories and this is why I don’t write dhfjhfdhf. But yes. I think about it often :3

i also like the henry with the gang, i think it could work really well but once again it wasn’t given the time for me to really see it :( also. ronan being racist. and adam laughing along with that. why was that included, ms turn on your location i just wanna talk

okay once again thank you for enabling me claire and i’m so sorry for this monster dsjkhfjkdhg

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 503

Oh, Outlander. Le sigh.

On one hand, this episode gave me everything I’ve been wanting for 84 years a long time: Jamie and Claire, together, working as a team as the center of the episode. On the other hand, this very much did *not* feel like an episode of Outlander.

Bottle episodes are fine. The Garrison Commander, The Wedding and A. Malcolm were all basically bottle episodes. Two of those three are a couple of my favorite episodes of the whole series. This episode was like if the times the show decided to cosplay as a different genre (horror this time, rather than the political drama and military drama we’ve seen them attempt in the past) was dialed up to the point it no longer resembled an episode of the same show. From the music to the directing to p much everything.

This episode made me think that like if Outlander was a Venn diagram it would have Claire and Jamie working together as a team, them in the bulk of the episode, and a Good Episode™ of Outlander. You could have two but never all three.

(Also I hate horror movies. They’re just aggressively not jam.)

Ok but now that Marsali is Claire’s apprentice, can we have her and Fergus find out about time travel this season? Because in the books it’s like vaguely implied in MOBY but we never actually get to see that convo.

Also, yes, Marsali, Boston’s pretty rad. Not that I’m biased or anything. In addition to apparently “discovering” penicillin, we also invented Amurrica.

Shorter Claire’s VO: Idgaf about the timeline anymore. Don’t see how that can go wrong.

So was the blurry af title card Marsali practicing suturing? Why did they shoot it like that. It looks more like how they shot Mr. Beardsley’s POV rather than through the moldy bread covers or whatever it was through.

That whole intro part felt like it came from a different episode and was just tacked on to remind us that mold shenanigans are still a thing that is happening.

I do love Marsali, and her with Claire, though, but still.

SUPER SOFT FRASER FACE TOUCHING!

Ok so Jamie is only gonna do another cross burning when he calls his dudes to fight the English, right? Because he did the whole big thing like “I won’t light the flaming dildo again until we’re going to war” and now he’s raising the militia but not doing the fire part when they showed the new wicker dildo right there up high on the Ridge. So like, because that whole bit was about the men being loyal to him, he’s only gonna light it for freedom, right?

FLAMING DILDO OF FREEDOM

So Fergus using Claire’s list of medical tips as his note for the printer is def not going to come back to bite anyone in the ass. Nope. Def not.

Also I love that the whisky thing is Fergus’ thing in the show.

TEAM KEEP GIVING FERGUS AND MARSALI STUFF TO DO BECAUSE I LIKE THEM AND THE BOOKS FORGOT ABOUT THEM.

How many pigs is Marsali gonna butcher to practice her skillz? Also is Deadguy McWhatshisface still in the cellar somewhere?

Mr. Trouble! I love Germain a lot and would love more of him with Grannie and Grandda, pls and thx.

Also, would *love* some Bree and Marsali time. Maybe next episode while the bros are in Brownsville and they’re at the Ridge by themselves? Pretty please?

Ah yes, plantation jokes. In the time when those exist. And you’ve stayed at one. Come on, Bree.

Oh look, Jamie and Claire not keeping secrets from each other. Good. Well done, kids.

But they’re keeping it from Bree. Who, as the grown-ass woman at the center of the Bonnet bullshit, fucking deserves to know. So fuck y’all for not telling her.

She knows, I know that, but they think she doesn’t sooo, do better.

Lots of callback references from Jamie this season. The thing about his scars last week, Black Jack, the brand Claire cut off and his dad’s stroke this week. Ngl, the show is so different now that those references don’t even seem like they’re from the same series.

Gonna take this twin bit as an opportunity to remind everyone to watch Orphan Black.

Kezzie leaves-his-pants-for-the-kittens Beardsley, too good for this world. Too pure.

You come across a creepy fucking cabin in the woods, that you know is the home of a physically abusive fuckwad, and you immediately split up? Claire. Girl. You’ve seen horror movies.

OMG HAI CATS! I GOT ALL EXCITED THAT ADSO MIGHT BE ONE OF THE PANTS!KITTENS BUT ALAS. SOON. SOON, MY FLOOFER.

I fucking hate jump scares. Like I knew her face was gonna be in the window when Jamie turned back around, because this episode is the most trope-y horror short ever, but still. I fucking do not like horror movies, y’all, and jump scares are cheap.

Jamie on the other hand has never seen a horror movie and clearly doesn’t know that you DO NOT GO INTO THE CREEPY CABIN WITH THE CREEPY JUMP SCARE LADY.

Omfg with the banging door, it’s like they were like ok let’s read Making Horror Movies for Dummies and then put in ALL THE TROPES.

Also, this might be the one instance where the book name was better. Why the fuck would you name the goat Billy when Hiram is *clearly* a superior goat name.

CLAIRE. WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING UPSTAIRS. YOU ARE THE GIRL WHO GETS KILLED FIRST IN THE HORROR MOVIE. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS. STOP BEING A DUMBASS.

Oh, hey, another jump scare. I’m both bored and annoyed.

Like we finally get an episode that is centered on Jamie and Claire. Together. Team Fraser. And it’s this nonsense.

I cannot with this show, tbh.

“Poor men bleed for rich men’s gold.” Two hundred and fifty fucking years later and it’s still true, Mrs. Findlay.

Did they borrow zombie noises from The Walking Dead for this episode? I swear to fuck every time Mr. Beardsley makes a noise I’m like uhhh, what show am I watching again?

“What you must have done to deserve this.” Yeah, like don’t @ me. I know abuse is fucking wrong. But you know what? This is fucked-up-past-times. Fanny’s out here by herself with no rights and no help. Go for it, girl. Fuck that fucker up.

This season on AHS: Beardsley Farm, the dulcet sounds of afterbirth squelching.

Here I was, all pleased that we were spared Breast Milk and Periodpalooza in the premiere. I should have known better. And yes, I know it’s natural and a part of childbirth, yada yada. I watch Call the Midwife and even *they* don’t fucking squelch it like that.

The subtitles spell Baltimore “Baltimoe” and now I have Another Op’nin’, Another Show from Kiss Me, Kate stuck in my head.

Is it too much to ask that the show find some way to demonstrate the past being The Worst™ that isn’t women and children getting abused or raped or murdered by shitty men? We already know men are shitty. Men are still shitty.

Like seriously, who the fuck does Mr. Beardsley think he is, murdering all his wives for not having babies, Henry VIII?!

“Having a baby doesn’t make me a mother.” Yuppppp. You do what’s best for you, Fanny.

“And your name is Sassenach.” And she’s not even like and “that’s a weird ass name.” I lowkey love Fanny Beardsley?

I still wish they skipped this whole thing though.

Omfg Jamie. BuT tHeY wOn’T bE wItH tHeIr FaMiLy. YOU *HAVE* TO KNOW CLAIRE’S RIGHT. YOU CAN’T BE THAT FUCKING THICK. NO SHIT THE FUTURE IS SAFER. Also, they’re fucking adults. They are their own family. You left Jenny. Young Ian stayed with the Mohawk. PEOPLE GROW UP AND LEAVE AND IT’S OK.

“Maybe she’s gone to find help.” Apparently Jamie *is* that thick. Really, bro? She left to find help? Really? Fucking dumbass.

“And we’ll seek Mrs. Beardsley as we travel.” “We won’t find her.” That’s a nice way of phrasing “You’re a fucking dumbass, she’s gone and claimed her freedom for the first time in her life. Let her have that, you fuckwit.”

The shot of the leaves blowing is literally like straight out of The Walking Dead.

Also loool at the birds.

Oh hey, next week we get all the dumb Brownsville stuff! And probs little to no Claire and Jamie. Exciting times.