#the cute aggression in the comments on twitter for the first picture

[mmothmanners]

Shared him over on twitter, so now I share him here.

It's Ris'daer - but make him baby. He also attracted many flumph as a little guy, and his caretakers hated it.

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

I'm bored...I'm gonna analyse a GIF.

This year marks Ed, Edd n Eddy's 25th anniversary. I may not talk about it much on this blog, but it's one of my all time favourite cartoons. I'd watch it constantly during my childhood and to this day "Big Picture Show" is my favourite series finale. So, given how much I enjoy the show, I was happy to see more tweets about it than usual on my Twitter (yes I'm still calling it that) timeline because of the anniversary.

The influx of tweets (yes I'm still calling them that) about the show led me to this tweet. There's a very good analysis of the moment here on Tumblr, but here's a screenshot from a reply under the tweet of what the user said.

It made me think of other similar moments of character acting in animation, and of course I started thinking of examples from Animaniacs.

There's many to be found across the original show and the reboot, but one example I really like is this moment here:

For context, all three Warners are making similar jokes about the size of a hunter's feet.

It's not the dialogue I wanna talk about, this moment is brief and ultimately not that important, but I just love how the Warners are animated here. It tells you a lot about them based only on the character acting and body language:

Yakko

Yakko is the first to come onscreen to make a comment, indicating that he's the leader. He calmy walks into frame holding one hand out conversationally, before standing with both arms behind his back. Compared to the other two's stances, this makes him look more reserved and professional. This not only indicates that he's older, but also suggests he's cool-headed and not as reliant on physical action as his sibs, hence why his arms are behind his back; he only really needs his voice. He gives a smug grin, so even without hearing what he's saying you know he's being snarky right now, which contrasts with his body language, showing he's purposefully maintaining a deceptively non-aggressive demeanour and is likely a smart aleck in general.

Wakko

Wakko is the only one who doesn't come in from the side, instead he enters frame from below, indicating that he's the most unconventional of the three. He flails his arms around rather than keeping them in one place like Yakko, which not only suggests that he's more wild and energetic, but (as I said earlier) is more reliant on physical action than Yakko. Wakko does a sort of "don't worry about it" motion with his left arm with a simple smile on his face, a smile that lacks any smugness. This suggests that he's a little friendlier in comparison. He sticks out his tongue like a dog and eventually settles on T-rex arms, indicating that he's more animalistic than his sibs.

Dot

Dot quickly hops into frame from the side, almost like a pounce, with a determined and somewhat aggressive facial expression, showing energy and spunk. She punches the air, which only emphasizes her feistiness. Her movements suggest she's more prone to being outwardly aggressive than her brothers. Her expression softens to more of a cute smile, showing that she's not all aggression and is quite cute and jovial too. She settles with her hands on her hips, a typical pose used to show that a character is sassy and/or confident, hence indicating that Dot is too.

Basically I just think the way animation can be used to establish characters without us having to hear a word out of them is really cool.

[ingravinoveritas]

Is it sad that I immediately thought of AL when I saw this? I don’t know if it’s the fact that the 3rd year of my husband’s passing is quickly approaching, or what, but it infuriates me how AL treats Michael.

Hi there! Still playing catch up on Asks here, but first my most heartfelt condolences on the loss of your husband. To lose someone you love dearly must be incredibly painful, and especially near to the date of their passing. I'm so sorry.

As for your question, it's both sad and not sad at all that you thought of AL, because I actually had someone send me this exact cartoon just days before I got your Ask, also in reference to her. So you are definitely not the only one who had that thought, it seems.

I'm grouping your Ask along with the one from @phantomstars24 because today we got another new post from AL on Instagram that merited discussion. Probably everyone has seen it by now, but for those who haven't, the post contains a cute picture of Michael with a puppy:

But when we look at AL's caption on the post, that is where things take somewhat of a turn:

The caption seems to be referencing what is in the pictures she posted, but one word in particular stands out: "Trolls." In the pictures, we see deer, the girls, other family members, puppies. But if you Google pictures of "Scandinavian trolls," this is what they traditionally look like:

So if we consider those images and then think of AL's pictures, the only thing in them that seems to fit this description is Michael, which would mean she is calling him a troll. It's actually not surprising or out of character for her, as it does fit with her long-running pattern of making snarky/mean comments about Michael's looks.

What makes this all even stranger is that Michael went on a tweeting spree on the 8th and 9th (answering a lot of GO-related questions in particular):

And then AL posted an Insta story of him throwing an airplane with the caption of "Family holiday is going well," followed by this reply from her to a fan who shared the video on Twitter (to whom Michael had also replied during his Twitter spree):

To recap: Michael was on a family holiday in Sweden last weekend and spent most of it scrolling on Twitter, for which AL passive-aggressively called him out (suggesting that he was happier/paying far more attention to Twitter than to her), and now she posts the pics from the trip and calls him a troll.

I mean...you can spin things a lot of ways, but this doesn't come across too well from any direction, especially given how she made sure that she looks good in the picture of her (and because I don't think there is any flattering or complimentary way to call someone a "troll," as it's meant to describe something as ugly, unattractive, etc.). However if there is some other meaning or if I'm just reading too much into this, I welcome folks to comment on here with their thoughts, because I'd love to hear other perspectives.

It's ironic, too, that she used the caption "Family holiday is going well" when so much else seems to indicate otherwise. Thinking about Michael in that puppy picture among the other pics in that post, you can see how he just doesn't quite "fit." Not just because he looks different from everyone else (recalling AL's pointed mention of "curly blondes"), but because there is a community there that he is not part of, and for someone like Michael, for whom community is such an important thing, him being a stranger among these folks makes him stand out even more, and for all the wrong reasons.

So yes, I would agree with your assertion @lepqueen of that cartoon being reminiscent of Anna, and I share your sentiment in disliking the way she treats Michael. I just keep thinking of how different the reaction would be if Michael had a history of commenting on her appearance, or if he called her a troll. The uproar would be staggering, I imagine, yet somehow no one blinks an eye when it's her doing it to him. Things that really do make you wonder...

[cherrykindness]

wild tweets |

pairing: Harry Styles x Actress!Reader

summary: as newlyweds, you and harry read thirsty comments for buzzfeed.

warning: it's thirsty tweets, so below there is adult humor 😳

"It's a bright, sunny morning in Los Angeles, and there's nothing I want more than to be on BuzzFeed and read wild tweets alongside my husband."

"Thirsty tweets, babe." Harry corrected, laughing out loud with the producers behind the cameras.

"Thirsty Tweets." You said quickly, putting your hand over your mouth to stifle a giggle. "I'm terrible at that, I'm sorry. Can we start over?"

"Let's take a break for one to two minutes. You've given us a great introduction, Y/N."

You shook your head, smiling shyly before turning to Harry, who was already watching you with that easy smile at the corner of his lips. You liked how his hand remained firmly on yours, making those circular movements with the thumb that always served as a natural medice for your anxiety.

"You look so fucking beautiful."

The pleated dress with flounce sleeves fit you like a glove. You had made peace with the various shades of white since the wedding and knew that Harry liked to see you in that color too.

"Thank you, you're not too bad either, Styles."

You intimately suspected that Harry would always seem far beyond that "not bad" that came out as a euphemism from your mouth. He wore nothing but a pair of bell-bottom pants in a strong shade of blue and a soft vest printed with fluffy little sheep on a striped American collared shirt - in your opinion, no one could look better in farm animal clothing than Harry Styles and Princess Diana with her red "Black Sheep" sweater in the 1980s. In contrast, you knew your husband well enough to know that he was arrogant and knew exactly how hot he looked - you also made your thoughts clear enough when you kept him backstage beyond ten minutes in a rather heated kissing session.

"Are you anxious?" you asked curiously, remaining with downcast eyes fixed on the strokes that remained assiduous on your warm skin. "To read about how the whole internet dreams of fucking my wife?! Of course." Harry joked, leaning over to leave a small one on your cheek. "We agree on that, don't we? Although I'm a little nervous, I'm really interested to know all the crazy things they say about you. Everyone knows you're mine at the end of the day, that's enough."

At the end of the break, you and Harry made a silent agreement that you should be the first to pick up one of the scattered papers in the red pot. There were quite a significant amount of tweets, and as much as you were used to reading rather sordid things about your husband on the Internet, the excitement was there as if you were wading into uncharted territory.

"I would be a good girl all year round if Santa guaranteed me a threesome with Harry and Y/N Styles on Christmas Eve." You laughed, Harry staring at the camera with an expression close to the meme of the surprised Pikachu. "You guys are incredibly nasty, I love it."

"If that was the first one, I'm really worried about the next ones." Harry commented with a little corner smile, picking the next tweet out of the bucket. "I have an entire folder on Pinterest dedicated to Harry Styles' hands, and let me tell you why: those hands are art, and art needs to be recognized."

"What- Guys, you promised you wouldn't post my anonymous tweets here." You quipped with false reproach, laughing at your own stupid joke while everyone else in the studio did the same. "But I can't blame her, honestly." Shaking your shoulders, you opened another piece of paper. "Harry Styles finally confessed that he wrote Watermelon Sugar for Y/N!!!! Are you guys imagining the same thing as me?!!!!!! 🥵🍆💦"

"Exhausted emoji, eggplant emoji, and water emoji?" Harry frowned, staring at the tweet you held up. "I imagine you're in need of a vacation somewhere refreshing and you're craving a fruit that everyone eats like it's really a vegetable."

"That reminded me of that story-" You laughed, hiding your face on the table as Harry continued to offer a poker face to the camera, struggling not to keep up with you laughter. "I'm sorry, lovie, I have to share this with the rest of the world." You stated, wiping a few tears from the corner of your eyes. "Harry always wears those fancy suits to concerts, right?! Right! Turns out he looks really hot in some, like his ass molds perfectly into those tight pants and everything. I was home that night because I wasn't feeling well enough to face the big crowds, but I was still following everything on twitter. It was a concert in London, not so far from where we lived at the time, so it was obvious that he would come home after it was over. I follow some portals that do really fast updates of pictures, videos, etc; everything that happened at Harry's concert was on my timeline in a matter of seconds. When one of these profiles uploaded a picture of him with his back to the camera in a heavily accentuated black and white suit, I quickly sent him the image along with a peach emoji and then wrote "looks good tonight". He didn't reply to me until a few hours later, of course, but I obviously didn't expect a "ready for a Fifth Avenue peach salad for dinner?" and numerous cutlery emojis."

Harry rolled his eyes comically, indulging in laughter as did everyone else who occupied the backstage area.

"I'm against the eroticization of emojis." He said between uncompensated breaths, shaking his head negatively. "Let's go to the next ones, please, I'm already feeling exposed enough here."

"I like your old-fashioned spirit, baby." You assured him with a smile, laying on the sturdy shoulder hidden under the fluffy fabric.

Harry chuckled low, leaving a little kiss on the top of your head before selecting the next paper. The fans would die when that video aired, everyone was sure. You two easily forgot the cameras when you were side by side, and the public display of affection had never been a problem.

"My life mission is to look at someone the way Harry looks at Y/N and be reciprocated the way Y/N looks at Harry, then I could die happy." Harry read. "That was very good and healthy, thank you!" He smiled. "But don't settle for death in that case, please. Just make sure to keep that person around forever."

"Awn, we got so sweet now." You made a pout. "Thank you for sending us something so cute! I really hope you find the right person soon." Sending a kiss to the camera, you moved on to the next tweet. "I wouldn't want to get a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka's factory, I would like to get a golden ticket to actively participate in Y/N and Harry Styles' Honeymoon.

"That was creative, so I will disregard the fact that you removed my last name from my wife's name." Harry joked.

"I will always be an Y/L/N." You flashed the tongue. "We had a great Honeymoon, but I know you guys already know all about it because there are pictures all over the internet of outings that I don't even remember existed."

"Even though we chose a rather reserved city, many paparazzi still managed to photograph some of our nights there." Harry agreed. "There was one particular day when we opted to have dinner at a restaurant near the beach. Y/N had found it even before the trip, it was pretty laid back and we could spend the evening at karaoke. I don't really remember what happened, but we woke up the next day with a terrible hangover, still wearing the clothes from the dinner and with several headlines saying that I was cheating on my wife in the middle of our Honeymoon with a blue-haired italian girl."

"That wig made me sexy, man." You blinked, laughing as you remembered the situation. "It's a shame the paparazzi only got low quality images, but I swear I looked really amazing that night. Italy, I miss you."

"We're coming to the end and I haven't had to ask production for a glass of water yet, thank you to whoever selected these tweets." Harry raised his thumb to the camera, smiling before turning his gaze back to the small paper he had chosen. "Y/N could literally punch me in the face and I would just bow down and thank them for it." He laughed. "She has heavy hands, so I would rethink that choice."

"It takes strong hands to be a superheroine." You blinked gracefully, referring to your works as a Marvel actress. "I move around a lot during the night, so I'll take this lovely opportunity to say that twitter can dismiss all the malicious theories about Harry always show up with a new bruise all over his body."

"Please stop making indecent assumptions while Y/N is aggressive with me at night only unconsciously, her father has access to social media."

You laughed, clearing your throat before reading the next obscenity aloud.

"I would sell all my possessions to have Y/N sitting on my lap for ten seconds."

"Oh my God." Harry laughed out loud, throwing his head back. "I should have said that in our wedding vows."

You shook your head, laughing low as you set the tweet aside.

"That was pretty funny and cheeky, I approve."

"Okay, looks like we finally got to the last one." Harry announced, waving the paper in the air dramatically before opening it. "Harry could literally crush me with those boots while fuc- I need that glass of water." He said dumbfounded, hiding his face between his hands after throwing the tweet over his shoulder. You laughed out loud next to the organizers, and meanwhile Harry leaned his head on your bust, staring at you still with wide eyes. "Please promise that we will be careful with our future children on the internet."

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Tues 30 March ‘21

Happy Tuesday! And to make it a happier tuesday, here’s Louis bursting on the scene to spread some cheer: “every day is a day closer to the first show back!” And that’s just the beginning! Someone asks if he has thought about making a documentary-- “already on it love” he replied. Listen yes, we knew that was what he and Charlie Lightening were up to BUT STILL- OMG!!! SOOO cool. Some people are not so sure but me, I think it’ll be awesome- cannot wait! Trust in Louis yall. And just to prove he’s a man you can trust he reacts in the ONLY correct way to react a dog modeling Walls merch-- “haha love that.” It’s wearing a bucket hat!! The Clifford picture we deserve tbh but for now this is excellent. He also said “got a decent chorus idea down” about what he’s been up to and doubled down on his most hotly debated tweet of recent times, 369. “Explain pls” begged a fan; “369” said Louis again, faaaanks for that love. That’s our guy, always forthcoming about his tattoos! Hahaha. AND THEN he responds to a tweet about how we always read too much into things but that he also trolls us with mystery posts: “fair comment”. WOW. He is truly a little shit and that is that on that! The man we love to hate ladies and theydies! And more on the louie topic of the moment people actually kind of hate, the NFTs. He’s asked about his recent follows and says, “some cool nft companies. I've been trying to educate myself in everything that already exists in that space.”

This year is gucci’s 100th anniversary I guess, and they are marking it by making a push to sell handbags, which means new pictures of Harry with a purses! Or so one can assume, the preview image we’ve seen so far is just his scruffy face, a lot of fluffy fur (on his Macklemore looking coat I mean but there is a lot of Harry hair on display too), and his dick necklace peeping out of the lapel of his shirt, looking extra obscene tbh cause the banana part is covered up so it’s just little unsolicited dick pic hiding in Harry’s chest hair, good lord. Yes yes we know babe you love gucci and dick and your gucci dick banana… anyway, the campaign drops April 22. It’s shot by Harmony Korine, who is a filmmaker, and a set director posted about working on a gucci commercial featuring Harry and Dakota Johnson back in Jan in LA so it seems safe to say there will be moving images to come. And speaking of Harry and filming, Heidi Gardner talked about doing SNL with Harry and told a story about him being reluctant to touch her shoulders for their sketch until she brought it up, and then him saying he was waiting for an explicit invitation to touch her. Aw, that’s our Harry; thoughtful and anxious. I feel like he works so hard to model the behavior he wants people to use towards him like, ‘people please I am begging can you please just be NICE and be respectful and stop grabbing me’, or maybe it’s just that he really understands firsthand how awful it feels to have your boundaries violated- either way I would love to manifest the same respect for him.

Ingrid Michaelson did a patreon live and talked about To Begin Again and how great having Zayn on the track has been; “Zayn's fans are intense. Very sweet. Aggressively supportive I think is the right word.” AHAHAHAHA YES ‘aggressively supportive’ might be the most perfect term anyone has ever coined for any subset of 1D fans so once again, HATS OFF to Ingrid the poet for a winning turn of phrase that I will certainly be using for a long time to come! She also said that the music video will be out in early April (and that it’s “a proper music video. It's not like your standard two people in a studio singing blah blah. It's different.”) Oh yeah and also that… Zayn and Gigi are married??! She said, “We’ve never met, I’ve never spoken to him. Zayn doesn’t do stuff he doesn’t wanna do and the fact that he did this song is very flattering. He’s such a private person and now he’s married and has a child so he does the things he wants to do…” prompting mass chaos in the zquad, but she later confirmed that she had just misspoken/ made an assumption based on their cohabiting and having a child together. And speaking of twitter leaping at the chance to go bananas over nothing, thousands flipped out because Lottie posted her gift bag from the Brits like “this means Louis is nominated for a Brit”!!! Lol WHAT? She got it cause she’s an influencer, but more to the point how does the SISTER of the nominee getting a gift bag make sense in any universe, you think they’re just looking up peoples’ family trees and everyone’s aunt gets a present like… WHAT??? Oh and also that they’re spilling the beans via gift bags before the big reveal… everything about that is ridiculous. Again, I’m sorry to say that I will be very surprised if Louis gets a nom but either way, we’ll find out tomorrow and not before.

And! You can bid now on a giant orange football jersey signed by Liam (or just look at the cute pic of him holding it)! It’s a benefit for the Wolves Foundation (a network of foodbanks in Liam’s hometown Wolverhampton, it’s unrelated to the criminally underrated 1D song alas). I hear it calling for you…

And finally, tune in tomorrow for Harry as Starfox rumors pt 369, this time For Real (only hmm nope probably not)

[sunderedazem]

Moonrise Legacy on twitter/socmed

oh god what have I done

Imperial side first!

Elennye Trizz: Social media ghost. She doesn't have any social media that anyone knows about and people are always wondering how the hell she understands any internet memes. (little do they know she makes all the internet memes. she is the origin point. she has 800 gimmick blogs all spouting vaguely republic-critical noise and cat pics. she's a psyop and a half)

Astayr Caleo: surprisingly domestic. Xey have a cooking space-instagram where xey document hir disasters in the kitchen trying to replicate Mandalorian dishes. Torian and Mako feature in some of them as damage control or taste testers. people love how ridiculous it is and cheer when xey manage to make something yummy. Xey never post anything work related and actively block people that try to ask about it.

Sekulyn'torr: before her rise to the Dark Council she mostly just used her social media to troll and annoy other Sith - she's proud to admit she's been suspended from all social media platforms at least three times for threats of violence that offended even the Hutts. (Especially aimed at Thanaton) After their rise to the Dark Council however, they use social media mostly for policy updates and to bait their political opponents into saying some Dumb Shit that they can then use to attack or arrest them. They also occasionally get into twitter-fights with certain ex-Jedi Alliance Commanders.

Republic-side now!

Deitente Verrni: the only completely normal one of the bunch. She uses socmed for life updates and posting cute pictures of her and Aric when they're on dates off duty. She also runs a memorial page for SpecOps soldiers who fell in battle and posts obituaries upon family request.

Kessin Meyka: incendiary radical but also memer. Kessin is *always* in politicians' comment sections aggressively pointing out hypocrisy and claiming wild shit like "uh huh remember the time you tried to pay me to smuggle spice? bitch" which is usually actually true and people hate them for that. They have a library of political memes to put the Jedi archives to shame and always have at least two snappy comebacks ready on demand. their fatal flaw is that they're always commenting on random people's posts like "oh you're cute :) hmu if you need anything...discreet" and it's simultaneously a hilarious business strategy and also really cringe.

Kalvonut: Basically just one of those Inspirational Christian Instagrams, but the Jedi version. it's lowkey tacky but he thinks it's funny and nobody on the council wants to burst his bubble so they just smile and nod. he also gives out pretty decent life advice too though, so while his socmed is THAT his DMs and askboxes and comments are always filled with really sincere advice and well wishes. he's wholesome cringe, basically.

and Zakuulan SocMed (aka Greine family)

Corrain Gealai: While he was a Padawan and Jedi Knight prior to his capture, his social media presence mostly consisted of retweeting/reblogging cool art and occasionally yelling at nuclear-waste-bad takes from some Republic senators - nothing too odd. But after his stint as Lord Lune under Vitiate's control, he doesn't return to social media...until he's unfrozen from carbonite during KOTXX. He immediately starts using his old accounts to post stuff promoting galactic unity against Zakuul. He also does 'blooper reels' where silly Alliance moments that Lana and Theron declassify can be posted - mostly featuring Imperial and Republic troops coexisting or getting into stupid mischief (ex: a video of a food fight where some uppity Sith lord threw applesauce and before long there were nineteen Sith and Jedi just. dripping gravy and being lectured by Sana-rae and Bey'wan while Corrain's in the corner laughing his ass off). His socmed presence is essentially a combination political and PR account that communicates in memes and sass. After he takes Zakuul's throne however, Indo Zal jumps in to manage his public persona. This mostly consists of "please stop telling Saresh's allies and Malgus to go 'karking jump in the interstellar void,' it's bad form" so there's a notable drop in fiery internet debates after this point.

Eiri Greine: pre-KOTXX he has Generic Badguy SocMed just to keep up appearances and occasionally bitch about other Sith Lords. he rarely uses them. Post-KOTXX and his return to Zakuul he deletes everything and starts running a "shit my nephew says" account where he details all of Corrain's shenanigans and other random Eternal Family buffoonery. Iomlan features a lot just with her head in her hands. it's got several billion followers and Corrain is constantly trying to get Eiri to delete that one post about the lightsaber cheese baking incident. Eiri posts updates about Corrain's saga to delete that post. This is a Viral Meme and Eiri is constantly tagging verified accounts in the dumbest shit just to fuck with them.

Iomlan Greine: She doesn't use socmed at all until Corrain's coronation, at which point she develops a very mild case of Cat/Nexu Pic Addiction. Her socmed accounts are all just cute pictures of animals and publicly scolding her son for being an ass, or on occasion tag-teaming with Lana and Theron to publicly shame Corrain into self-care. It works pretty well, and she's confused by the number of people who follow her for cute animal pictures, but she's having fun with it.

[holycow99]

石田お寿司 12/9/21 stream translation Part 4

This is not the full translation of the stream. I only translated the parts I could understand & interpret or parts I found interesting/important. I’m still a beginner in Japanese, so the translations may not be accurate. If you want to repost, please repost at your own risk.

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(t/n: ** means translation may not be accurate.)

I: We’re talking about the commemoration of 30,000 subscribers, right? What should we do?

C: Is this a chatting stream?

I: Well, yeah.

C: Let’s play game now.

I: I’m totally okay with it.

C: I feel bad that I pinned this person’s comment. Should I unpin it? This is what’ll happen if you guys aren’t careful with your comments. You’ll be exposed. I’ll forgive this person.

C: Please do streaming of you working on lyrics.

I: I’m totally okay with something like that.

C: Have you ever received hair?  

I: I did receive something similar. A deep red colour. Was it a wig or something? This is a true story.

C: Scary!

I: I didn’t think it was scary though. I was like “I see…”. It was unique.

C: Have you received a marriage registration form?

I: No, but I once received a purikura photo from a gal. The letter was cute. She’s seriously a gal, with the round letters and all. She’s super young and the purikara was cute. The content of the letter was hilarious. She’s like “Let’s hang out!”, “It’s fun!” “I read TG! I don’t understand it, but it’s fun!”.  She’s totally a gal. It was amazing. How did I get that? That’s a good one, though I didn’t get to hang out with her.

C: Eh, is it okay to send purikura?

I: I’ll just take a look at it if you send one. I won’t do anything about it. Nothing will happen.

C: Impressive move.

I: Right? But I think it’s the culture. I wanna experience this kind of culture as well. I want gals and Exile fans to read my works, not just people who have read TG. I wanna write something that everyone can enjoy.

C: You wanna interact with gals?

I: I wanna try. Normally, you won’t be able to, right? Have I ever talked to a gal before? A real gal. Avu-chan was super gal-like. Avu-chan is a gal. My first encounter with a gal was with Avu-chan from Queen Bee.

*He’s imitating Avu-chan’s way of talking.

I: I see. So there’s a lot of way to enjoy TG.

C: Seems like you’d be a grandpa.

I: Definitely the case if I ever meet a gal.

C: Are you extremely close with her (avu-chan)?

I: I’m the type who approach the other party. Well, I’m sure everyone is like this, but don’t you have different personas? I wasn’t pretending or anything, but I wore a gal persona for the first time when I was with Avu-chan. Avu-chan has a gal-like personality, so I thought I also needed a new persona.  By the way, have you played the game Persona? Just like how the main character attained new personas, the gal persona came out aggressively from behind me and possessed me.

I: Akechi is cool, right? (t/n: Akechi is a character from Persona 5.)

C: Please impersonate Avu-chan.

I: Avu-chan’s impersonation? “But then~”. How is it again? “Sui Sensei is~”. But she talks about deep stuffs, even though she’s a gal. Although she’s a gal, she’s someone with a lot of knowledge.

C: can you read gal’s alphabet?

I: I can if I try hard enough.

I: I wanna include a gal character in choujin x.

C: Sensei seems to have high communication skill.

I: I don’t think so. There’s a term called ‘communication monster’. My friend, Takahashi Kunimitsu form Osterreich is a communication monster. He knows how to hype people up, since he doesn’t say offensive things.** He can join in conversations with anyone, anywhere like a clown. Then, he’ll be very tired after that. It’s wearing him out on top of having a high communication skill. That is a communication monster. I can join in a conversation as well, but unless it’s with someone I’m fond with, I won’t. It’s tiring.

C: People who are good at getting along with others do exist.

I: Yes. He’s good at that.

I: Kunimitsu’s seriously amazing. He got along with a granny he just met in a bar. I just listened to their conversation the entire time.

C: Isn’t that considered as a communication disability if you get tired by it?

I: I do think it’s a sign of communication disability**, But again, that’s just another side of it. It’s the same as shy people who can speak well.

C: Was it the one you posted on twitter?

I: Yup. The one at the bar in Nogata. Was it in Nogata? Probably there. But I think band men have great communication skill, since they meet various types of people.

Y****: I don’t like gals.

I: That’s not good. You’re in the theatre club, after all. Someone involves in theatres can’t be bias. It’s okay if you don’t like them, but it’s better to come across them.

C: Is it important to talk and meet with various people?

I: Hm, I wonder. I think it’s important, especially when you’re still shaping your identity. I speak like this because I didn’t manage to meet and get along with people. I was super serious whenever I was invited to a live show, like the time I met Mr. TK. I was super serious every time I met people when I was in my 20s.

C: You did meet Gegegay, right? (t/n: Tokyo Gegegay is a Japanese dance & music group.)

I: I did. I might not be able to converse with him if I didn’t come prepared. They’re super nice though. Mr. Mikey’s punch was strong. I was like “so we’re gonna have this kind of conversation on our first meeting.”. But it was really entertaining. He’s actually being considerate of me. Somehow, I’ve had a conversation with Mr. Mikey and Ms. Reol, just the three of us remotely. Mr. Mikey was really considerate during the conversation to make it very enjoyable. I was amazed by it.

(t/n: Mikey is the leader of Tokyo Gegegay. Reol is a Japanese singer.)

C: Have you ever met Hirose Alice? (t/n: Hirose Alice is an actress. She’s a big fan of TG.)

I: Nope. I think it’s better not to meet her. There’s no chance to meet her.

C: Who’s the person you’re most nervous with when you met them?

I: It’s hard to tell, but I felt nervous every time I met someone for the first time. Then, the feeling gradually disappeared after I got to know them. That’s not good, isn’t it? But, when I met Togashi sensei, it’s more like a dream. It’s an indescribable feeling when I met him. I was like “This kind of feeling exists.” I was nervous when I met Avu-chan as well. But rather than feeling nervous, since she was very nice, I was able to talk a lot. It was fun.

*Someone asked if he had meet Masataka Kubota.

I: I’ve met him.

C: Do you have a mentor?

I: Probably Hara sensei. The word ‘mentor’ is hard to describe. But, he’s somewhat a mentor-like presence to me. I don’t know.  

C: Do you like Yonezu Kenshi?

I: That’s needless to say. Everyone likes him.

*Someone asked if he’s met Horikoshi Kohei sensei (BNHA’s author).

I: Nope. We have the same age.

C: He drew the draft while lying down, right? (t/n: OP probably talking about Togashi sensei.)

I: He showed me how he did the draft.

*Someone asked if he’s met Inoue Takehiko sensei (Slam dunk’s author.)

I: Nope. If Hara sensei is considered as my mentor, though I can just call him that, Inoue Takehiko sensei would be my mentor uncle.

C: Was Masataka Kubota good-looking?

I: He’s super good-looking.

*Someone asked if he’s met Kotoyama sensei (Dagashikashi’s author).

I: I’ve never met her.

*Someone asked if he’s met Araki Hirohiko sensei (Jojo’s author).

I: Nope. Wait, I did. It was when I was still an assistant. My senior, Matsubara Toshimitsu sensei, who’s writing a manga called Kurogane no Valhallian in Young jump, was like “Araki Hirohiko is here! Let’s meet him for a bit!”, and I agreed to him. Araki sensei is on another level, as expected. He’s super-duper famous, after all. All the assistants were surrounding him, asking him for pictures. When it was our turn, my smile was so stiff when I took a picture with him. I was too nervous. It was a distorted smile. Then, Mr. Matsubara accidentally stepped on Araki sensei’s foot. He’s like “I’m sorry! I accidentally stepped on your foot!” By the way, I went to the new year’s party in my pajama, which had curry on the sleeve and took a picture with Araki sensei. The clothes were shabby. Since Araki sensei was a nice person, He complimented me saying the it was fashionable. I was so thankful. He complimented my pilled and curry stained clothes. I was happy for that. I went there wearing pajama because I didn’t have any other clothes. The clothes were in a white colour. I went there wearing a parker with dull pants. He was really cool. Very young-looking and a wonderful person.

C: Have you gotten a chance to meet Miura Kentaro sensei (Berserk’s author)?

I: No, I’d never met him. I liked him a lot. I still like him. I can’t continue talking about him. It’s too sad. I can’t express how I feel other than I’m sad. Death. Regarding this, I wish people wouldn’t pray to the dead souls so casually. I don’t like praying to the dead souls nor do I like people doing that as well.

C: Have you met Mengo sensei (Scum’s wish’s author) and Aka sensei (Kaguya sama’s author)?

I: I’ve met Ms. Mengo a long time ago. She’s always present at parties. She’s quite stand out as well. She’s wearing cat ears the first time I met her. It was cute. I think I have met Akasaka sensei.  Probably just introduced myself.  

C: You’re a mangaka, but have you been surprised by other mangakas’ personalities?

I: Pretty much. Like their images or...Well, aren’t you like that with everyone? Isn’t it normal to be surprised by their images, physiques, and voices? Since you never imagine about those things.

C: I want you to meet Isayama sensei.

I: Isayama sensei’s also the same age as me.

C: I have met Itagaki Keisuke sensei (Baki’s author)!

I: So you���ve met him. I see.

C: Have you met Inagawa Junji (actor & director)?

I: I want to.

*Ishida was about to read a comment but stopped.

I: People will keep asking who I’ve met if I answer this, so I’ll skip it.

*He still answered the question.

I: I’ve never met Ryuuichi (illustrator & character designer). He’s gotten married. He looks happy, so it’s all well. Ever since before, I didn’t think he had to be that self-asserting. He didn’t need to tell who he was. It’s already written in his account. I was like “Don’t worry, everyone knows. Everyone sees it.” Well, he looks happy, above all.

C: I was excited seeing Hara sensei at the Kingdom exhibition.

I: Oh, he was there.

Part 5

[bisluthq]

Sorry I just caught up with your blog. I’m into wildestyles so I sometimes come and look up your tag and what you say about them because I love how much you love them haha but I’m not very active on tumblr so I tend to see things a while after you posted them.

No shade or aggression at all btw so don’t take it that way, but I think you’re mistaken about “COVID scandal” in the DWD set. They did stop for two weeks in November because there was a positive case among the crew but that’s all that happened ~COVID related with the set. It wasn’t really a scandal and they followed protocol, they didn’t get bad press or anything.

Also, that was in November and the news of them dating were in January, so I’m not sure what you think was the correlation? They didn’t play it up for PR at all. Olivia didn’t wear his pearls. She was wearing two Éliou necklaces with the names of her kids, but Harry had no involvement with that, other than the fact that he’s worn the brand before. They’re not even considered jewelry, it’s beaded necklaces, and a lot of celebs wear them. Harry doesn’t sponsor them or anything.

The media was just hungry for news of them. A friend of mine is friends with a bunch of LA paps and they all knew they were holed up in Harry’s house in Laurel Canyon, one of them was stationary outside the house trying to catch them but only got a few shots of Olivia alone and the media and fans at large didn’t really know Harry had that house so they weren’t the money shot. The Santa Barbara shots were tipped off. If you go to fans’ accounts you’ll see that there’s a set of pics that never made it to the press. She’s wearing a blue shirt and he’s wearing a robe. They’re having breakfast in a balcony and both have their hair wet. Those were the first pics they got taken together outside of set.

I don’t know this for a fact but the speculation I’ve heard from people in the know is that they negotiated for those pics to not come out in the press and instead gave the paps limited shots of the wedding. It was like “well, cover is blown, we’re gonna make our tabloid debut, might as well do it dressed up and formally and not LIKE THIS” But they’d been hiding their relationship since early November, unfortunately they couldn’t get away with it much longer.

That weekend they were papped leaving Santa Barbara but that was the last time they were caught together by paps until the Italy trip in July. They’ve been together 10 months and have been papped together five times (Santa Barbara is all the same pap and same place and within two days so I count it as one), Santa Barbara in January, Italy in July, and then three times in LA, once outside their house in Los Feliz, once walking to a restaurant (from their house), and once leaving a gym in Santa Monica. They’ve been spotted by fans a hell of a lot and some of those pics made it into articles but they had to insert the tweets to use the pics so obviously they weren’t taken by paps.

The lack of news from them (they were both also almost 100% silent on socials), right after the blow up of them as a couple is why the tabloids were scrambling to find stuff to write about them, hence the necklaces. It was like “they wear the same brand” and it came from fans on Twitter 💀 The press has gotten creative with them. They wrote articles about Olivia driving Harry’s car, about Olivia commenting an emoji in a post about him by a random dude who does podcasts, there were fifty articles about Olivia posting an old picture of Paul McCartney eating a watermelon lol

And in terms of “they did a world tour during the pandemic” ummm I wouldn’t say all that? They were in LA until mid February, then they flew to England, because Harry had to film a movie and Olivia’s kids were there since Jason was filming Ted Lasso. They stayed there until July, when they went to Italy for a couple of weeks, then they went back to LA. Pretty tame? Also I would say that Harry is more famous and has more influence than Taylor in the UK lol. It also helps that Harry IS British and Olivia has Irish citizenship. The UK has special agreements with Irish citizens. For going to America, Olivia is a citizen and Harry has a working visa, otherwise he couldn’t go (his sister and mom both posted about wanting to go to his tour but not being allowed despite being vaccinated).

I don’t know how Joe got in America. I’m assuming work visa as well. I don’t think Taylor would have any restrictions to go to the UK right now.

Sorry for the essay! You just seem interested in them and I figured I’d give you a rundown and you might enjoy it?

Oh, btw, Olivia has been to 3 out of 5 concerts so far! She even went to Missouri. She’s so cute! She just referred to her and Harry as “we” in her stories ❤️❤️❤️

Yeah this all tracks. It seemed like they were into the attention when the first pics of them dropped but I’ve changed my mind radically on them. I’d still call it a world tour, they’ve been to LA the UK Italy and now the tour. It’s fine they have reasons to but still.

[berrymeter]

hi everyone this is my first fic be nice to me <3

in which y/n gets to bully mark tuan for free - somewhere over 1k words

It’s getting a little late, isn’t it ? You check your watch— just kidding, you don’t have one. What year is it, 2006 ? Don’t make me laugh. Rather than a clock bracelet conveniently placed around your wrist you lower your eyes to the bottom right corner of your laptop to confirm your suspicions… Ah, yes, the passage of time. You spent the entire damn afternoon scrolling through social media like some kind of zoomer-millennial-loser, again. (Chances are you’re one.) Still that doesn’t negate the fact that it is assuredly late now ; shouldn’t that passive aggressive twink-passing dude be back by now ?

Okay, it’s not that late. Just about time for dinner, the good ol’ almost-nine in the evening. Realistically you shouldn’t be complaining, you never actually have dinner with your problematic roommate nor do you eat dinner at an appropriate time yourself, but you open your notes app nonetheless and add another bullet point to your list: “Things I Get To Throw In His Face When We Have An Argument”. Build up your arsenal and release it all when the time is right, that’ll show him. An exaggerated sigh escapes your lips. Is it so hard to be punctual, after all ? He told you he’d be back by eight ! You’d planned to watch a movie together ! Not that it ever amounted to anything since an argument always broke out mid-film, but plans were nice every once in a while. You bite your bottom lip in annoyance, zoning out for a brief few seconds ( minutes ? Are you aware of time ? I’m not) as your eyes lose focus over the screen emitting all that nasty blue light, before deciding to just brush it off – at the very least, until he gets there. Once the door opens, it’s on. Some more scrolling and it gets you thinking, since your brain doesn’t have much better to do while he’s not here to get his ass jumped by you. You think. You think about how you referred to him as a “twink-passing” dude just a few paragraphs earlier. (You are currently in the mind of the narrator. I get to be y/n.) Why so ? Well, very simply, a twink would refer to a man who engages in romantic relationships with other men, or would at least be willing to. You’re unsure whether he would consider it. He sure looks like you could snap him like a twig though, so you call him a twink anyway. What’s he going to do ? Punch your kneecaps ? (Even if you are short, I, the writer, am shorter than you. I am offering you the ability to be taller than Mark Tuan. Use it wisely.) You think a little further, and think of how ‘twink’ has been used so many times as a joke, like it’s a funny insult. Is it right ? Are we not taking the term seriously enough ? You drop that train of thought soon enough. It doesn’t matter: twinks should be bullied. What convinced you of this is that twink from that NCT group, the one with the monosyllabic name. You nod to yourself. Yes, twinks should undeniably be bullied. (Note that I am a twink too, it’s okay, relax, I’m not calling for twink oppression. I mean I kinda am actually tho.) Within a few more seconds, your eyelids start to slip shut. Ah… What was that about the zoomer-millennial-loser thing ? You know it’s not easy these days to be productive, to find things you enjoy when you’re not in the right headspace, and being in the right headspace is not easy itself either. Work is tiring. You need those bucks, though. You struggle to work and then on your day off you scroll through social media. It doesn’t actually make you a loser, does it ? That’s what the bitter older generations will try to feed you, but it’s all wrong. You’re just living. Yes, you are. I’m proud of you. You made it this far ! Keep scrolling. Maybe get off Twitter though, that’s not how you’re going to make yourself feel any better in any capacity, unless your thing is pissing off ARMYs and getting terminated within the hour… The door unlocks. Your mind snaps back in. Wow, gee, at least you managed to pass time ! And it’s… yikes, you probably dozed off too during that time, because it’s past ten. An offended frown graces your features as you turn to look at that little bastard, that short fucking stick, that— “ Wha ! ” You get hit in the face with a purse… Damn, gay ass, he’s carrying a purse around now ? Wait, hold on. Why the fuck— “ Why the fuck did you do that ? ” you exclaim as you throw the purse aside. The devil’s looking at you with that passive aggressive smile of his on his face. Sickening. “ I heard what you said about Virgo men the other day, ” he responds, his voice barely hiding the pent up anger, “ and that wasn’t really nice, (y/n). We actually shower, you know ? ” “ Yeah, well, you’re gonna need to prove that, bitch boy. ” He grabs his keys and throws them in your face. Ouch, hey ! “ Stop that ! I wasn’t even lying, I— " His hand goes through his pocket while you speak and this time his phone hits your head. It’s enough. Quickly you stand, pushing your laptop aside and throwing the phone right back in his face… but it’s too late. He’s seen it. Your laptop. He gets a flash from the past ; years ago, when he was just a young Virgo man navigating this cruel world, although the world was at his fingertips by virtue of being a FUCKING Virgo man (tells you a lot about why the world is cruel), back when he met that so, so young Taurus boy, and he grabbed his laptop… You notice his glare. Your eyes narrow, and before you can yell out “No” he’s leaping for your laptop, grabbing it and holding onto it tight as you try to pry it from his hands. “ Let it go or I’m calling Jaybee ! “ the words shoot right out of your mouth. “ You think I’m scared of that catboy ? He showers even less than me ! ” “ Did you just admit to not showering ? Fucking nasty ! Go shower, stinky ! ” He roars in response, but it’s really embarrassing because he’s not a lion in any way, shape or form. He is, fortunately, very much human. You move your foot to rest it on his back (picture it: he’s on his stomach, across the couch, holding onto your laptop. So it is possible for you to rest your foot on his back). You put a little pressure on it, and his back cracks a little ; he goes “Ouch, fuck !”, and releases his grip. Yes, good, the laptop is yours (you knew that but I mean it’s in your hands again, don’t be annoying). Once again you put it aside – he uses that time to straighten himself up a little – but you have no mercy. You rush to the fridge as he follows suit, grab the bottle of milk, open it and throw it in his face. “ Jesus Christ, dude ! ” he yells out, completely inconsiderate of whether or not you’d like to be addressed as such. Don’t forget: as hot as he may be, he is a Virgo man. He does not care about you. Stop loving him right now. “ Guess you’re gonna have to shower for real this time, ” you comment, the satisfaction of this battle you just won seeping through your words. “ Fucking loser, lmao. ” “ Fuck you, (y/n). ” “ You look stupid as hell right now. Boo! Take a shower, you and your crusty musty ass ! That’s what you get for making me wait two hours ! You can’t even find the beat though, I guess you couldn’t find where to read the time on your phone. ” The court jester known as Mark Tuan proceeds to exit the scene under these humiliating claims, wiping some of the milk off his face with his milk-drenched shirt. “ Ew, ” is what you have to say to that. “ I beg you to shut your mouth right now, ” he responds from the bathroom.

But you don’t shut up. You’ve got your list, after all. You come closer to the bathroom door and lean against it, opening your handy dandy notes app – it's actually a Drive file so you can open it both on your laptop and your phone, handy dandy ! – and beginning to go through it all. " You remember when we moved in together and you stubbed your toe ? You thought I wouldn't notice how you blamed me for stubbing your toe on YOUR table that I hadn't even touched, and just casually didn't do any chores the next week ? Or the time I asked you to not touch my food and you went and ate all of it without even thinking about it, the time you threw my phone away because you thought it was too old and cheap to still be used by someone... Or worst of all, the time you said Zuko wasn't a 'compelling' or 'well-written' character, and that you found the Joker much more relatable... " " Go away ! " He kind of sounds like a child, not as in cute but as in immature for a grown ass man, and next thing you hear is the sound of rushing water. He's actually showering ? Damn, guess all that bullying paid off at the end of the day ! You smile to yourself but in an evil way. “ What a fucking embarrassing manlet lol, “ you mutter to yourself. Your job here is done (for now). All is well in the world. You go sit back on the couch, grab your laptop again, and browse AO3 for self-insert fics where you help Jinyoung and Jaebum hide their relationship by being Jinyoung’s beard. No way you’d get that close to Jaebum even in the dreamscape ; Mark was kinda right about him not showering…

[giosprey]

Artists’ world is messed up: a personal thought

One of the worst thing that can happen is when one if your favorite artists acts so bad that everything they do become just... not special as it used to be.

I recently came across one of my favorite artists (and before someone says anything, they’re not like the 100k follower kind of artist who doesn’t respond due to the amount of messages they receive. They have 19k followers and they usually respond to messages etc) and since it has been so long since they last posted something the day they did I decided I should took that opportunity to finally leave a comment and let them know how much I appreciate their art and their work, and also naively thought I could do something nice for them.

Now, I’ll start by saying I am an artist as well (even though I don’t post much stuff and I don’t like posting some of my art for insecurity issues) but I do love to draw. And I pay really attention to what I say and what I do because I know artists can get touchy as hell sometimes... So, they posted a pic of their OC and wrote sth like “they’re totally not based off of me” (sarcastically, ofc, the OC was basically a sort of self insert). Since I’ve had my OC in my head for a very long time but only recently decided to actually draw her, I thought it was cute to share it in the comment section. But my intention wasn’t to spam my art, I mean, I don’t even have 30 followers on Twitter! Instead I wrote them that I like their oc a lot and that it’s perfectly normal to create an oc based off their own creator. But instead they wrote me I did something rude because people shouldn’t post their art in the comments of other artists’ posts because it can be seen as a way to get noticed. It felt so bad. All they cared for was their own stupid visibility. They didn’t even considered the compliment I had left in that comment. What makes me laugh so hard is that in the message they wrote me, they started off by saying “first of all I like your oc! I like their hair and their weapon” like ���hm how can I tell this dude to delete the fuck out of that comment without sounding rude? Oh yeah I’ll compliment her for her oc. Yeah.” All I wanted to do was share a thought with them AND YES, also sharing my OC, but I mean it was just a way to start a conversation... Furthermore they talked like they had one million followers all waiting for me to stop following them and following me instead, like??? Dude??? What the hell chill... I’m sure if your followers knew what you write to me they would stop caring so much about a person who is this rude to her fans.

After that, I went through their Instagram and guess??? They posted the same drawing and wrote “do you guys have any ocs based off of you?” Like REALLY??? I have!! If only you let me—hm. Never mind. Oh yeah I forgot that on Instagram people can’t post pictures in the comments. Anyway, after that they told me to even delete the comment. And I did. I did everything they told me to. I’m here contesting because I just think it was too much of an exaggeration. And what’s even worse is how I acted, how I responded to their awful and sad passive-aggressive behavior, telling them I felt ashamed and sorry, almost in tears, that I’ve been following them for two years... You know what they simply told me? “You said you’ve been following me but you’re not” - did they... did they check it??? Right after I said it??? Instead of being proud of what a fan is saying to you and being grateful for the compliments?? Literally one of my fav artist is now one of the WORST I’ve ever talked to.

[moduinne-and-redjamie]

Here We Go Again (its a long one)

You know in school when they said “ignore the bully and they’ll go away”? Yeah, that’s a load of bull. It never worked in the school yard and it clearly doesn’t work on SM either. 

It’s come to my attention that this guy is at it again, accusing me of another secret identity (seriously, I can’t make this shit up). As if I have time to have kids home 24 hours a day for months, run a household, make videos, and still have a SM presence AND keep track of secret identities??? I mean, it took me 2 days just to find the time to write this. I should be flattered they think I have impressive super powers. I’m not going to focus much time on that, I mean, he’s been proven wrong the last time, he said it about me and my sis before and we proved them wrong. They said they had the IP dress of the person “pretending to be Jess” so my sis offered her’s up proof on twitter for the whole world to see, and they didn’t come back with anything because they don’t have anything, and when Jess posted pics of her place, it’s proof she’s lived in Europe and we don’t, also Bernie-whatever-her-name-was attacked me and my sis on SM and even her friends told her to step back form us cause they knew it wasn’t true-oh yeah, and she’s been blocked off Twitter because of her vile harassment. If there was any sort of proof that I have another SM identity, show it, but you can’t, cause there is none. I’ve never been into crazy conspiracy theories. Most people with 2 brain cells aren’t. 

Everyone knows I used to be a shipper. That was never a secret. I never hid it and I never cared to. I shipped from 2015-2017 or 18 ?-whenever the video of Sam and Cait came out saying they weren’t together. I was never an extreme shipper by any definition at all. 

So first, it’s important to define what an “extreme shipper/troll shipper” is as William Shatner (WS) has said…

I totally agree with him.  I am also FULLY!!!! against doxxing (yes, you know who you are)

Now look at any of the tweets that this guy has shared of mine?  Did I once do anything WS defines as extreme? Nope! Even in 2016, I said I��“HOPE” they would get married one day. That is the definition of a “wishful shipper” NOT an “extreme shipper. Nice try guy. Notice all the dates are form 2015, 2016 - 4 to 5 years ago!!!! OMG it’s beyond ridiculous. 

Therefore, I’m not an extreme shipper. In fact, I challenge anyone to find ONE tweet, comment, ANYTHING that I have sent to Sam/Cait their SO, or anyone involved in the cast and crew-guess what, you would never be able to because I never have-not once.  Theres a lot more about this bullies lies below 

Here’s another thing, I’m am not a WS fan, he does his thing and I do mine. I don’t care much either way. If he wants or anyone wants to believe crazy proven wrong conspiracy theories, go right ahead. People who know me don't believe the lies and anyone who does I just don't care about.

BUT I will defend his and other’s right to defend themselves when they’ve been attacked 

See, I even blocked this person who kept insisting I was wrong for defending WS. 

Now to this tweet by Nancy, sure, seems “nasty” BUT what I find interesting is how this guy takes EVERYTHING out of context. This tweet is in response to an Anti-shipper meme that was making its rounds around SM to shoot shippers (before Sam and Cait’s denial video) Now, as I said with WS, everyone has the right to defend themselves if they’ve been attacked. And being threatened to be shoot someone is very extreme. But hey, there are some antis that are very extreme and are trolls. And I don’t confuse them with regular respectful antis or NTS 

I couldn't find the meme, but this is the pic and they wrote that they would shoot us if we said Sam and Cait were together. Talk about extreme. 

This one actually made me laugh!!::: this guy says: 

The guy admits he has no idea what I’m talking about, but somehow uses it as an example of “extreme shipping” (how one can square THAT circle is beyond me-if you don’t know what I’m talking about, how is it extreme?) What’s most interesting is that that tweet is talking about a video that non other than his friend WS shares of NANCY talking about being a respectful shipper (you know, not sending Sam and Cait and their SO hate, doesn’t mean you have to like them, but don’t send them hate, the key-don’t send them hate!). The video was taken down with our YT page, you can type the link into your browser, and see that it isn’t there anymore. 

Here is what I was responding to; you know, what rational people call “context”: 

he even thought it was funny that Nancy called him “Shitner” because in the video she mentions stands AGAINST attacking him

Oh! and this LOL:

“Here’s Nancy tagging Julia on a meme of calling Anti-shippers cows.  I didn’t notice Juila disagreeing” 

oh my. She isn't calling antis cows anymore than Joey is calling Monica a cow! Its a line from friends about OPINIONS and how their moot vs. what Joes thinks “moo”! Goodness gracious. And me not responding means what? You know, it likely means that I didn't see, cause this is one of my favourite lines from Friends LOL Are you tired of being wrong yet? 

Let’s move on to this “ship on” tweet. Oh yes, LOL Again, doesn’t meet WS’s definition of extreme. But also, let’s see what the Straz exec says during the time I wrote this tweet. 

 “”fun kind of fantasy world...go on with your bad self”...so yes “Ship on” was in line with what the Starz president said. If it’s aggressive or harassment, then its an issue, Again, non of my tweets were aggressive or harassing. 

Let’s see what Cait has said about what crosses the line. 

Did I do what they define as “crossing the line”? Nope! Nothing abusive towards anyone from me and definitely NOT anything sent to Sam/Cait or any one associated with them. 

There is nothing wrong with shipping properly. Even Elle magazine is a cute shipper article after Sam and Cait went public about not dating.  

https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/gmp30165/sam-heughan-caitriona-balfe-outlander-pictures/ ). 

Are you going to now accuse Elle magazine of harassment? Please. I agree with WS, it’s when it gets into harassment of them that it’s a big problem. And I’ve never once done that. I’ve been incredibly vocal against it. 

That’s what I find so hilarious about this. All my tweets form when I used to ship fit perfectly with WS’ own definition of respectful shipping AND Cait's, as well as the Starz exec during the same time period! How on earth is the extreme?? Well, its not. 

Here’s another one he shared-of course out of context again LOL, but here's what I was responding to

Again, I was not rude to this anti troll at all, even though she did insult me. Again “ship on”...there is nothing against shipping as WS, Starz, and Cait has said, harassment is wrong. 

Now, I came into shipping in 2015, I used to follow Puffy but stopped when she sent Sam and Cait hate. So why bring out a tweet with me laughing in response to something she and Nancy said is beyond me. I mean, if it would prove I was an extreme shipper, then he would have shared the whole context right? But he didn’t so I guess it doesn’t. I can’t even find that tweet myself to put the context up. 

The tweet about stalking? Yeah, I’m against stalking-always have been. Somehow that makes me an “extreme shipper”??? I’m against calling hotels to see if Sam’s there and who he’s with-you know who you are. I’m against standing outside people’s apartments to spy on them. I’m against taking pictures of people on the beach and trying to pass it off as Sam-ahem…you know who your are. I’m against stalking where people’s family members are buried (we all know who did this) And, like WS, I’m against doxxing (which extreme antis aren’t). I’m against ANY type of stalking.  

So lets take a look at the context about me saying getting sources from stalkers is wrong. In 2016 neither Cait nor Sam had gone public about any relationship then.  So how did they get the information about Cait's relationship for two years (before she even stated Outlander at this point) and Sam dating other women? Sam didn't go public with any relationship until Mackenzie. So any info would have been from “other sources”. Being against stalking is extreme??? Wow. That’s a new one! LOL. And this is the context of the tweet. 

So really, I challenge anyone to share a tweet or comment or anything harassing/insulting that I have ever SENT to Sam/Cait their SO or anyone in the show. Go ahead! Find one tweet or anything of MY comments that fits WSs definition of extreme/troll shipping. I dare you, go ahead. While we’re at it, any tweet or comment about them lying and being together AFTER their video. Go ahead. 

WS is not extreme so neither are my tweets.

This is the BEST he had to offer about me being an “extreme shipper”?? This the the most “extreme” I get? 

Seems like a bunch of malarkey to me.

Oh! and here are some other tweets from Nancy and me about NOT sending  Sam and Cait and their SO any hate. You don't have to like them, keep that in your own space,  but don't harass them-ever! 

In 2015, intrusive trolls were sending Cait congratulations on her “engagement” to Tony---in 2015! LMAO. Where would they even get this idea? I have no clue, because I never stalked anyone. 

[blarhiv]

Pre-Debut Fan on Shipping and KM

Guys,one wonderful Anonnie decided to bless us with so well written article.So,please,read it <3

Anonnie,thank you for sharing with us your thoughts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BE WARNED VERY LONG SHIPPING/KM POST AHEAD!!!! 

First of all, I just want to clarify that I’m a KM supporter. By my current understanding and my own personal definition, this is to say that that while I believe in the possibility of these two individuals being in a real-life relationship, I am at peace with the reality that it is also conceivable that they are merely very close, wonderful friends. I will get to KM a bit later, but I first want to go through some general commentary on the statement of the fandom in regards to shipping first. I’ve tried to be as respectful as I could and so, things have gotten quite lengthy indeed. 

PART 1: Shipping and Fandoms

Shipping Wars

My first point of major contention lies in shipping wars—in quick and easy summation, I truly really fail to understand shipping wars.

It doesn’t quite make sense to me that there are individuals warring over which ship is real when, no one in the band has ever confirmed a heterosexual relationship, never mind an in-band relationship. So, why fight about it when we can enjoy the lovely bonds between human beings and celebrate good, ostensibly healthy relationships?

If shippers were really into their “ship” (for lack of better terminology) for the bond between those two people, I feel that it is imperative to acknowledge what complete injustice one is doing by participating in something so meaningless and hateful as shipping wars.(Now, despite my refusal to get involved in shipping wars, I do empathize and understand those combating the wretched comments and criticisms these toxic individuals in the fandom say about undeserving band members. But I still do implore people not to argue over with some of these hyper-volatile, toxic individuals about why their perspective is inherently flawed because these people are highly unlikely to entertain a healthy, open discourse about a difference in opinions.) 

And at the point where shippers are determined to evince the realness of their ship, I think their intentions are automatically highly suspect.

Why?

If one is truly trying to celebrate the connection, the supposed love, and the affection of said ship, there absolutely shouldn’t be a pressing need or compulsion to prove others wrong for not sharing the same perspective as yours. 

At that point, it becomes less about a celebration of love and more about selfish gratification—whatever it is that may be incentivizing said shipper (And there are, unfortunately, a plethora of self-serving reasons people ship which are not limited to the fetishization of gays/Asians, the determination not to have their dreams of being with a band member to be shattered by their significant other being a female, the egotistical compulsion of needing to be “right”, etc.). And if one is shipping with the genuine intentions of supporting a potentially LGBTQ band member or generally supporting two humans demonstrating great love (whether it presents itself in a platonic or romantic expression), it needn’t matter what the label or status of that relationship is. 

So, if one is supporting with selfless intentions and a sincere desire to see members happy, there’s no point of arguing about the “realness” of a ship because at the end of the day, all the ships in the band are real—because they all have honest, genuine relationships with one another as friends. Shipping Real People 

This is also a highly controversial subject and I believe it is mainly due to the lack of boundaries people have set in place when they participate in shipping real people.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with real people ships—but only under great constraints and self-monitoring. Most people who ship real people do so because human beings are naturally drawn to and attracted to love—that is to say, people love love. That’s why people enjoy romantic movies and relationships between characters on television shows. That’s why writers like to write about love and photographers take pictures of things and people they love.

However, the problem lies in people who take liberties with how seriously they can invest into a real person ship or how entitled they begin to feel towards someone else’s life.

This is where para-social relationships come into place—through the use of social media, fans are given ultra personal ways to interact with celebrities causing them to believe that they’re connected to their idols despite the reality that it is a one-way relationship. These celebrities do not know you—and therefore, they owe you absolutely nothing in regard to their personal life. And so, I absolutely do not condone writing or tagging or demanding things from any real-life ship (ie. VLives, Twitters, fan meets, InstaLives, etc.) where one could be causing the human being distress or pressure. They are, at the end of the day, real people with real feelings and real lives—and we, as fans or spectators at best, are simply entitled to no components of their life.

I think there are instances that you can comment on a celebrity’s life and have it be a perfectly innocuous encounter. For example, it’s quite alright to appreciate and feel second-hand joy at seeing two people whom one respects and follows as a fan looking happy with their potential partners (as in the case of KM) or commenting supportively on a confirmed real-life couple’s Instagram photos (Justin and Hailey Bieber, Michelle and Barak Obama, Hyuna and E’Dawn, Cara Delevine and Ashley Benson, etc.). Feeling joy at seeing someone else happy or commenting something cute and chill on a real-life couple’s picture doesn’t cost anything nor does it harm anyone. But if you, as a fan, begin to demand things from said people if the real life couple breaks up (Justin Bieber-Selena Gomez, Cole Sprouse-Lili Reinhart, etc.) or you hate the real significant other after one half of a popular ship is revealed to be dating someone else (Zendaya-Tom Holland-anonymous girlfriend), that’s when you’ve got a real problem and you need to reassess what you’re doing. If you are going to ship a real-life ship, do it sensitively—don’t personally bother these people with your unsolicited advice and woes, they don’t care about your ships, they just want to live their lives.

Fetishization and Homophobia

Another deeply problematic that comes with the shipping territory is the fetishization.

There are, unfortunately, many fans that like the idea of a real ship right up until the point there’s a possibility where the members might actually be part of the LGBTQ community. It’s sexy and sensual, a “guilty pleasure”, to imagine the idea of gays, but the actual concept of homosexuality as a real part of someone’s identity is somehow unacceptable to many fans.  This is definitely a problem in the Asian music industry. 

While girls fawn over the boy-boy interactions on stage, these same young women are equally likely to be disgusted by the existence of actual homosexual men trying to celebrate their love on the streets—and the KPop industry feeds into this by via methods like encouraging fan service between members or the Pepero game.

This is deeply disheartening as there are, without doubt, LGBTQ members in this industry—we may not know them by name or face (aside from Holland), but they certainly do exist. And how sad is it to imagine that the closest to acceptance these human beings will ever attain for their sexual preferences is on stage for the gratification of fans who won’t even support them if they actually come out? If you only enjoy same-sex interactions on stage, feeling repulsion or deterrence in supporting a gay or lesbian idol based on their sexual preferences, you probably have some soul searching to do. 

Another thing I’ve noticed is the tendency of same-sex shippers to modify a harmless interaction between members as they make jokes or innuendos that splatter a hue of raw sexual essence onto the moment—this is, in part, some fetishization. We should try to avoid this as gay men are trying to escape the sexualized view a large majority of people have about them. 

And KMers are guilty of this—after all, sometimes when a boy says he wants to do his laundry, he really just wants to do his laundry.

So, this is something else to keep in mind. 

General Homophobia

How many times have bloggers received comments about how X members can’t be gay or how if X is gay that the anon can’t be a fan of that person anymore? I’ve definitely read several too many in my time and these are all exemplifying comments of people who house internal homophobia.

Unfortunately, the need to explicitly state and prove homosexuality will always be a symptom of the heteronormativity of most societies—and I do understand why it happens and it’s not always a malicious assumption.

What I peacefully and regretfully do not understand are aggressive fans who flagrantly deny the possibility of any other sexuality aside from being straight—these instances really make me suspect these are mainly female fans that can’t stomach the possibility of their idols not being into their gender or are straight up homophobic without any other reason. (That being said, I also don’t encourage any same-sex shippers/supporters to make assumptions about sexualities either. It’s fine to support and to suspect the possibility of a same-sex relationship, but there should always be that margin for error since none of these idols are definitively out.)

Conclusion to General Shipping 

TLDR; my basic point in the first part of this ridiculous essay is that, we should really all respect one another as members of a single fandom. And beyond that, we should all respect the people whom we are shipping, taking great care and using our sensibilities to ensure we aren’t making real people uncomfortable.

PART 2: KM

History as a Fan of BTS

So, I just want to clarify that I am a pre-debut BTS fan. I literally read about JM and JK a couple days before they were due to debut and as a huge hip-hop fan, I was immediately interested in their concept. I instantly fell in love with JM’s voice and JK’s multi-faceted talents (and live vocal skills)—that is to say, I was most interested in these two members from the very beginning. As of recent days, I have detached myself from the fandom, preferring to keep a great distance away due to the toxicity and negativity I’ve unfortunately been privy to as the fan base grows bigger and bigger—and it really does make me incredibly sad. I’ve always been into BTS for the music—they were what I listened to bussing up to school as I admired the Cyphers by the rap-line, the gorgeous fluidity of JM’s melodic voice, the deep resonance of TH’s voice, and JK’s talents as a quality, consistent singer despite his age.

And now, sometimes the ship wars and solo stans are louder than the positive members in this community. Luckily, I’ve found a small niche of BTS blogs and KM blogs that have made this experience a lot easier (for KM blogs, many thanks to people like blarhiv, slowlybutobvious-jikook, gaja-aegiya-gaja, chaotic-jikook, singwriteluv, jiminkoo, etc.)

Shipping as a Whole

Now, as for the shipping component. I want to clarify I’m a very selective real-person shipper—I don’t look for mere skin ship or overt proclamations of love or popularity of ship.

Of course, these are initially the easiest features to discern a shippable “ship”, but I’m well practiced in the KPop industry and know these factors between members are virtually useless in discerning romantic interest. 

On top of being a selective shipper, I also think it’s safe to say I’m pretty respectful about shipping as I always try to maintain reasonable skepticism and I’ve never commented anything about shipping on any forum that could make the involved individual uncomfortable. With all that being said, the beginning of BTS, I did not see ANY SHIPS that I could’ve deemed suspicious enough to be considered real.  They were all just young kids that were trying to pave their path to success and just boys messing around on their early television appearances whilst trying to promote their albums.

And even when YM and TK began to gain traction as the fandom’s decidedly largest ships with some believing them to be “real”, I still didn’t see it—and this is said with utmost respect to their closeness and respect for one another as teammates, colleagues, and close friends. 

Undoubtedly, their interactions were playful and adorable, but there was nothing in how they interacted to rouse any suspicions whatsoever. I would view their interactions as commonplace as any other men in regular friendships—with their culture and their age and their jobs in consideration.   Again, I never understood people who truly believed in the validity of these ships.

Now, to be fair, I have, of course, also participated in casually shipping a few members for fun too. For example, I thought Sope was cute and I was drawn to VM’s friendship as well—JM and TH were so ridiculously cute and close, it was nearly impossible not to casually ship them. In the earlier years, since I believed there to be no "real" ships, I was on board with other casual shippers but was greatly confused by those who believed the big three ships (YM, NJ, and TK) were actually real.

My View on Early KM

I first started tuning into KM when I saw a particular Bomb clip of JM and JK messing around with a phone app where their voices were autotuned. Whilst JM was laughing, JK just had his face crinkled up with the softest look on his face. I was like, “huh”—but it definitely wasn’t enough for me to begin thinking it could be real.

Since it was one isolated incident, caught directly on camera, it wasn’t nearly enough evidence to make any logical inferences. At that point, I’d just be jumping onto the train of delusion. While on the subject of early KM, I also want to take this opportunity to quickly give my take on this malicious narrative that JK doesn’t like JM—as a pre-debut fan, I’ve never bought into this.

Between JK’s self-proclaimed shyness towards JM’s unadulterated fondness for him, JK’s proclivities to drop honorifics on camera even from the beginning, JK telling JM he teases his hyung because he likes him—I was almost flabbergasted when I first caught inklings of it.  

This is such an outrageous vilification and outright character assassination of a young kid in his teens who didn’t know how to deal with his hyung’s affections, despite having always confirmed and reassured JM that he does, in fact, like him. 

The fact that so-called fans to this day still try to drive this narrative despite the fact that JK has set fire and gasoline to this toxic roller coaster ride of lies and delusions is actually unfathomable to me. Never mind the exact type of relationship KM have, it’s just so distinguishably clear that JK really, really likes JM judging by the amount of time they spend together and how beautiful JK’s smile is when he’s around JM. 

The Shift

Essentially, I casually shipped Sope, VM, and KM at some point—they were my favourites to see interact and I was always cooing over how adorable their bonds were with one another. And if I’m being frank, I was especially partial to the latter two ships because of how attentive and caring JM is to his younger members.

JM’s kindness has always touched my heart.

I find JM’s interactions with people the most fascinating based off the fact that he is just an enthralling, ethereal human being with this gorgeous voice and enormous heart—and for that, he was my very favourite member always.

But, of course, I am a KM supporter.How did this happen?

Well, my eyes nearly bugged out of my head at the infamous back hug at 2015 KBS Music Festival—especially since it was JK being so unusually expressive and forward with his affection. But perhaps this was a cultural thing? I definitely felt some cognitive dissonance as I tried to explain the strange, almost romantic aura of the moment using logic despite sensing that this string of reasoning didn’t sit quite right with me. But again, one isolated incident is a whole lot of nothing in the world of skin ship and KPop. 

But as we all know, at this point, we got see KM get closer and see their relationship develop and I was really all for it as I was incredibly pleased by that personal growth in JK as a maturing adult and the joy it conversely seemed to bring JM with this newly matured JK.

JK’s Development

A large part of my transition over from casual to serious “shipper” is actually because of JK. I’ve always viewed him as a talented individual, as aforementioned, but other than that there was certainly other larger personalities that caught my eye quicker—between JM’s big heart, JH’s enormous personality, and TH’s quirks, he was definitely quietly existing in the background when he wasn’t performing. But he really just grew into himself and I think any fan can see that.

There’s all the general ways he grew up, his physique and his facial structure and his height, but more than anything my heart softened immensely when I began to see what a beautiful soul this boy had always had. I’m not saying that he’s not without flaws—because another a huge problem in the industry is the fans’ tendency to idealize their idols past the mortal realm of making mistakes or having character flaws—but anyone can see he’s clearly matured.

The way he treats JM only gets better and better with each year.

And I genuinely don’t feel that it’s delusional to say the way that he treats JM is vastly different from any other member. He is kind-hearted with a dreamy view on the world and he’s good to his hyungs after everything they’ve done for him when he’d been a child, but he’s that in tenfold around JM. To say he doesn’t play favourites when JM’s involved is being willfully ignorant because there’re so many recent examples alone (the way he splashes water on SJ vs. JM, the way he roughhouses other members vs. JM, the way he gives JM a big pancake because of an impending punishment vs. SJ in same predicament, the attentive way he watches JM in interviews over other members, the way he monitors JM's health via food and drink, etc.).

I also want to mention as a disclaimer that these comparisons aren’t made in any type of malicious way or with the intent of discrediting relationships between JK and other members. It’s simply instrumental in understanding why such a large population of non-shippers have been drawn to KM as a potential real pairing versus any other pairing. If everyone stopped inserting their own captions and interpretations of JK’s actions and only had the source material in front of them, no misleading historical content to waylay new fans with a tired and counterfeit narrative, it’s pretty clear that JK displays incredible fondness and tenderness towards JM in a conspicuous manner.

It doesn’t make his relationships with the others any less, it just makes his relationship with JM just that little bit more. It’s not about putting down or undermining the other relationships, it’s just about acknowledging the reality of JK’s obvious magnetism towards JM. If a fan really cares for JK, it’s almost cruel to disregard the fact that his face lights up when he’s with JM (WeVerse picture, JM punching him on the shoulder, FaceTime picture, VLive, etc.) and his voice softens when he speaks to JM (Run episode with JK slating, Run episode playing palm game, Run episode asking JM if he’s ready, etc.).

These examples aren’t delusions, it’s reality—the evidence are quite literally in photographs or videos. As a longtime fan, I honestly and sincerely mean this—JK has become a handsome man in my eyes not because of his appearance (though he’s undeniably good-looking) but because of the way he treats JM and others he cares for. As the years pass by, his heart and soul has become more and more beautiful in my eyes. I can’t attribute it fully to JM, but I can certainly say that my heart melts when I see his interactions with JM—not because I am a shipper/supporter but because as an empathetic human, I am viscerally drawn to humans with kindness in their hearts. The man treats JM so, so well. I know I keep repeating this but it’s just a grave injustice to ignore how much JK cares for JM. Never mind your projected desires and your biases, just look at what’s in front of you and just appreciate that enviable, lovely bond. Even if people will choose to disregard romantic overtones in GCFt or the meaningful lyrics during the times JM shows up in GCFsai or the fact he has the most screen time overall (which is fine), it'd be prudent to at least acknowledge the fact that JM is incredibly treasured by this young man.

JMs Shift

Another thing that made me suspicious was the transition of JM’s behavior as well.

I find it harder to read JM than JK in many ways—perhaps it’s just an introvert relating with follow introvert—but there are differences in his behavior that also made me question things as well.

It’s obvious that JM used to be a little much for shy, introverted JK in front of the camera and that that behavior tapered off as the years went by. I do think a large part of it is due to JM growing up (although I do suspect some part might be due to vicious fans who might’ve hurt his feelings about his personality) and reigning himself in. But even then, he was still visibly touchy and affectionate with JK—just as he is with all his other members—whether he was petting his head, openly calling him cute, or what have you.

In my view, the most telling thing about JM is how careful he seems around JK—something in his behavior feels tailored in a way that’s still affectionate towards JK but in a way not to rouse suspicion even if the body and eyes don’t lie.

I’m not sure if it even makes sense, but I do sense a certain sense of caution about how JM treats JK in the public eye in comparison to JK who reliably wears his heart on his sleeve. He seems to be more aware of cameras and the public eye than JK does. It’s really hard to verbalize, but I’ve sensed a discernible change in how JM treats JK—it’s not bad or worrisome, it’s just different.(Although, they’ve gradually become a lot more carefree this year.)

Time Skip

I don’t want to bore everyone anymore than I already have, but the point of how I became a more serious supporter compared to my origins as a casual shipper is based off suspicious trends and continuous patterns in the boys’ behaviours over multiple years.

Even now, I continuously try to translate the boys’ body language, vocal tone (when speaking to each other vs. another member), facial expressions, and constant mentions of one another as a platonic demonstration of affection. And some interactions are pretty harmlessly adorable, just a little something to wet the lips of any casual shipper, but with the surmounting amount of moments it becomes really hard for even the most logical person not question the nature of their relationship.

KM and Ship Wars

Clearly, the progression of their relationship has been the target of incredible hatred and frustration on the parts of hostile members of other ships and it’s gotten to a point where they’ve resorted to subterfuge to try pilot a plane missing a wing—that is to say, they’re trying to keep an aircraft based on intentional mistranslations, vicious lies, and carefully crafted stories of events that have been disproven afloat.

The incredible discrepancy between what sorts of behavior can be categorically classified as fan service seems to conveniently shift based on whatever is keeping the fragile balance of their dreams alive despite evidence to the contrary.

The moment we try to discount or negate the relationships a member has with another one in the name of a ship, there’s absolutely a problem that needs reassessment—this goes for all fans including KMers. 

KM and Coming Out

I want to clarify very firmly that if you are a true supporter of KM, one who selflessly wants their happiness above everything (which includes everything from the potential of KM having other significant others, KM being single, KM being involved in a fling, etc.), you absolutely do not want or need them to come out. 

If they do come out, of their own choice and volition, you can happily support them, but you do not need or seek this from them.

And may I carefully remind people that if you want them to come out for the sole purpose of feeling vindicated against other shippers, you’re not a true supporter and you’re in this for selfish reasons. So, if you imagine your first instinct will be an outcry of “I told you so, I’m right” with the express purpose of throwing it in another ship’s face, please evaluate your role and incentive in being a KMer. It doesn’t matter if you’re right or if you’re wrong—all that matters are these incredible boys who inspire people on the daily are happy, healthy, and well. I honestly want their happiness and safety over a confirmation of a relationship any day and I really encourage all supporters to feel this way as well. In a conservative Asian society, it wouldn’t be easy to maneuver as an openly homosexual man. I implore you to consider the occurrences of hate crimes in more liberal countries. It’s not going to be an improvement, only likely to be a far more isolating experience, in a more traditional country with homophobic tendencies as the majority sentiment. So, while I know most reasonable supporters feel this way, this is a reminder to toxic shippers to stay in your lane and stop demanding things from other human beings that owe you nothing—they don’t owe you pictures of WeVerse, they don’t owe you selfies with one another on Twitter, and they don’t owe you a coming-out story to prove your ship right.

Conclusion

To sum up, I’m not saying that KM  is real for sure.

No one can know that except their personnel, their friends, and their family—or sadly, in a conservative country, perhaps even just themselves. The point is, we as fans, absolutely cannot know for certain.

And this is mainly why I'm not too concerned or bothered about timelines or specific dates. We don't know and there's no point (for me) to delve this far into the realm of speculation. But to each their own as long as you're not being invasive to KM! 

However, I’m not unconfident in saying that if they are not real, the likelihood of any other same-sex relationship in the band is highly unlikely—though not impossible.

I also want to reassure everyone that I love the bonds between all the members and encourage everyone to understand that even if you favour or don’t favour one member over another to realize that your opinion really doesn’t matter in comparison to how BTS feels about one another—they love one another. 

And at the end of the day, shipping isn’t so important that we need to fight over it.

After all, if all we’re trying to do is support love, then shouldn’t we be doling it out to?

And with that, I’m out!

Thank you to anyone for reading and keep well and healthy everyone!

PS Thank you very much to Blarhiv to allowing me to use her blog as a platform! This very, very special individual we should all treasure in the KM community!!!❤️❤️❤️    

(omg anonnie this is too cute тттт Thank YOU).

[torunarigha]

i made this the other night and honestly its not as cringe as i thought it would be! its a get to know the hertha players + my dumb commentary...

hertha squad smash or pass bc apparently i’m already too exhausted from school work to have a brain

1. Thomas Kraft:

Legend against Frankfurt, sexy saves, but pass

12. Dennis Smarsch

tall and large boi™, our future when he shapes up, pass bc he’s always posting cute shit with his gf (also gives off basic white boy vibes)

22. Rune Jarstein

octopus KING, saves my life every game, along with sala my first favorite player, smash the saves, pass on the father of three daughters (me and his two actual ones)

13. Lukas Klünter

squirrel man from köln that was the fastest runner in the bundesliga last year, was called most consistent man under covic and now is less so, i want him to SHINE but i also want him to stay with us forever bc i’m selfish, i cannot explain but smash 1000000%, e v e r y t h i n g . 

17. Maxi Mittelstädt

square faced spandau berliner boy!!! i call him maxi n cie after the quebecois grocery store but that’s neither here nor there. he’s still got some work to do but he’s getting so much better and i’m SO proud of him. more my son than anything so pass for now (emphasis on for now...)

20. Dedryck Boyata

honestly what a cute and beautiful man. killer defender (we miss you! get well soon!) if it wasn’t for man city comment and connection might be smash...but looking at this pic i just want to hug him...so pass (when he comes back with them sexy tackles that answer might change)

21. Marvin Plattenhardt

poor marvin...only call up was for the world cup 2018 (why i’m putting germany jersey pic here). free kick skills through the roof when it happens and solid player...pass bc not my type. 

25. Jordan Torunarigha

what a man WHAT A MAN! he is an INCREDIBLE defender, a MYSTERIOUS instagram caption maker, and a HEART that beats more blue and white than anyone in the world. i can’t wait to watch him flourish as an amazing german defenseman and yes that is of course a smash for my bae jordan ... 

4. Karim Rekik

ah karim...i always had mixed feelings about him as a defender but now i miss him...as a person i always thought he was cool. he honestly has a gorgeous face and that could be a smash just for that...but i’m gonna say pass. frustration lingers.

5. Niklas Stark

ah nik...the one hertha player everyone on this site knows and loves and my one pride on the NT <3 he made me VERY MAD at the beginning of the season and that tarnished my opinion of him. but he has an incredibly attractive face and seems chill ! i think i’d smash if the chance presented itself !

11. Mathew Leckie

where on EARTH did this man go?? only Australian footy man i know...tbh completely forgot how he plays at all...the mustache ruins it for me, pass

15. Marko Grujić

sexy soft doe who makes dumb tackles sometimes! brilliant footballer, drools over the PL a little bit too much but i do love his love of liverpool. gives off sweetest man in the world vibes when off the pitch (on the pitch, quite the opposite). smash smash and more smash

16. Javairô Dilrosun

okayyyyyy this picture gives off different vibes than i normally associate with my always smiling super talented dutchboy but i’ll take it. literally would give the world for him. please stay at hertha. we love you. originally wrote smash but i cannot legally say that...too much sun/son vibes...pass my sweet legend

18. Santiago Asacibar

uggggghhh my least favorite transfer of all time. he’s ok. he’s been solid so i can’t complain. but a hard pass.

23. Arne Maier

the amount of love and affection i feel toward this berliner born in 1999 man for the amount of time he has actually played in the last while is...incredible. please don’t be a dumb bitch and move and that all the headlines were just made up. you’ve been injured !! be patient !! you’re too much homegrown talent for us to squander you i promise...not my normal type but smash...

3. Per Skjelbred

norwegian that gets up early and looks confused all the time. he’s been solid for us but apparently we’re selling him according to...will miss this deer in the headlights...pass

30. Marius Wolf

he just transferred sometime last season and he’s bffs with EVERYONE honestly respect but the guy freaks me out of bit...can’t explain it. super inconsistent but when he’s good he’s great. his instagram hashtag under every picture is #UNLEASHTHEWOLF ... when will he be unleashed ???? hard pass tho

6. Vladimír Darida

plays one (albeit incredible) game. twitter: BEST MAN OF THE VORRUNDE (honestly though some people’s opinions make me feel like i don’t understand this sport). he is pretty great though, not denying that. pass but respect. lots of it

8. Salomon Kalou

if this man doesn’t get a great send off i WILL riot. incredible presence on the team, nicest happiest funniest man alive. goals that he scores when he actually gets playing time ??? beautiful. couldn’t smash this man though, he’s the uncle i never had. i’ll pass him off to someone who loves him like he loves them.......

9. Alexander Esswein

couldn’t tell you much about ole essy over here...he’s not done much. he’s one of my friend’s exact type so i’ll save him for her. pass.

14. Pascal Köpke

the lad is TRYING! being the son of the NT goalkeeper coach is never easy. its hard to just be thrown on the pitch for the first time and be expected to create magic. hope he just gets better! solid pass bc his face looks like a prof of mine...yikes

19. Vedad Ibisevic

*gently strokes picture* i didn’t know how good i had it. yes i get annoyed at his aggressive testosterone-yness but lordy does he love hertha and is a good captain. i miss seeing him on the pitch and scoring those goals, saving our asses. props, old man <3 definite pass though.

27. Davie Selke

what CURSE has davie fallen victim to??? this man has no aim anymore and i miss his speedy legs and fancy goals !!!! absolute passion to sometimes ridiculous levels on the pitch but i love his heart. off the pitch, most down to earth nice sympatisch guy ever...hard smash 

28. Dodi Lukébakio

oof...OOOF. i really really REALLY like him. he shuffles cards well, his voice is so soothing, his smile is INCREDIBLE. and yeah...incredible goal scored and weaver around defenders. and so chill !!!! i hope he stays with us for a long time. smash. marry. 

BONUS

(on loan at norwich) Ondrej Duda

my heart grew three sizes when i saw this picture and now my eyes are all misty... he and sala have made my days so good when they were otherwise bad. his goalscoring last season incredible. he barely played this season at all. i don’t understand it. i hope and pray he comes back for us. duda...i love you (pass tho for the same reason as sala...)

[falloutfiona]

new man- bucky barnes

new man

Summary: female reader’s ex-girlfriend has a new boyfriend, and you think he’s not the right kind of guy for her. The Avengers tend to hear this conversation and they understand your strife, so it didn’t come as a surprise to you when Bucky Barnes offered to be your fake boyfriend to show your ex how much you upgraded. Turns out, it was all a plan to get you two together- for real.

Pairing: bisexual female reader x bucky barnes

Song: New Man by Ed Sheeran

Warnings: angst, this is the dirtiest thing I’ve ever written so PLEASE know it is NSFW and you should be 18+ to read this!!!!, jealousy, cheating, choking, alcohol

It was game night at the Tower, a night you and all the Avengers had looked forward to twice a month. You all loved destroying your friendship while getting super smashed, and you valued that bonding time after your longest relationship ended a few months ago. The Avengers had been nothing but supportive, and though game night was pretty brutal, everyone sprinted down to the common room the second the clock struck 10 pm. You would often stay up all night playing Monopoly or another long-winded game of Cards Against Humanity, and it was a much-needed break from the drama and the lingering pain you still felt. It gave you an opportunity for your stomach to hurt from laughing instead of crying. That was, until, your phone suddenly rang. It was your ex-girlfriend.

You stood up, backing away from the coffee table, not sure if you should answer the phone.

“Oh my God, is that Allie?” Steve asked you. You nodded, groaning and tossing the phone back and forth in your hands before you finally swiped to accept her call.

“Allie, why are you calling?” You asked in a passive-aggressive sing-song voice, spinning around in circles. “Oh, right. It’s Friday, so it must be Ladies’ Night at the strip club your new boyfriend goes to, so you’re alone in the apartment regretting everything you messed up with me?” You began, attacking the conversation with words like knives.

“Allie, your new man is a douchebag. He literally buys designer jeans and goes to the gym at least six times a week, if not more than once a day. He wears Sperrys without any socks and he bleaches his asshole, and you can’t even eat anything anymore because he’s on that stupid diet and you’re doing it with him. He literally has a tribal tattoo on his bicep. You’ve got to be kidding, right?” You spoke, irritation in your voice.

All the Avengers were listening, so you got up from the couch and rolled your eyes at the group in reaction to Allie before walking further away. They all stopped their game of Monopoly and were eavesdropping on you, and you knew it. Your ex-girlfriend situation had been painful, but hilarity ensued when you found out who she had downgraded to.

“Well, Allie, if you’re really into this guy, you wouldn’t be calling me up trying to fuck!” You exclaimed with a laugh, finding her unbelievable. “I KNOW he doesn’t want to find out about me, so you shouldn’t call.”

Upon this statement, Tony Stark quietly handed you a shot that you downed while listening to Allie’s response. They had dragged you back to the Monopoly table, egging you on to put Allie on speaker, but you knew that was a bad idea considering how you were going to respond.

“Allie, it’s a damn lie that the dude that owns every single Ministry CD and carries a purse he unironically calls a satchel can do it better than I can! I know you’re missing this kind of loving, but that doesn’t mean that you can call me and make it all better. You cheated on me for him, so there’s nothing I owe you, and nothing you’re entitled to. Actually, you owe me a lot. So, if this guy makes you happy, then cool, but don’t fucking call me telling me about your new man, then ask me to come over! I’m hanging up cause I literally have to vomit. Thank you, next, babe.” You responded, hanging up your phone and tossing it to the side.

“Holy shit!” Bucky exclaimed, every other Avenger knowing they could finally react. They were well aware of what had happened, and were completely involved in all the drama.

“You came for that man’s life!” Steve exclaimed, unaware you had that kind of mouth on you.

“Yes, because he’s literally a human disaster!” You defended yourself. “And she can’t just cheat on me for this dude, then cheat on this dude for me.”

“Does he really wear Sperrys without any socks?” Natasha asked. “Is everything you said true?”

“Unfortunately.” You sighed, finishing off your drink and making your move on the Monopoly board.

“I don’t know if it’ll stop her, but you should show up to a place where they’ll be with some sexy beefcake and show her how good your rebound is compared to hers. Plus, it might make her leave you alone if she knows there’s not a chance of redemption.” Wanda suggested, taking a swig of her vodka cranberry.

“There are plenty of sexy beefy dudes here. Or, I’m sure you’ll make the same point if you go out with one of these ladies. I mean, you’ve got your pick of fake rebounds.” Clint pointed out. At first, you thought they were joking, but they were entirely serious and after a few moments of thought, you knew it could possibly work.

“You’re right. Does anyone want to volunteer?” You asked the group.

“Oh, we all want to do it. But some aren’t reasonable or believable, so we have to narrow it down.” Natasha spoke. “For example, Thor is just a little bit too inconspicuous for the fake rebound thing to pass. He’s way too sexy for that, and everyone knows he’s a god. So, sorry Thor, you might not be the best candidate.”

You leaned back, listening to Natasha, because she obviously had some insight you didn’t.

“Steve? Now Steve is a good candidate. He is so nice, people get tattoos of his face they love him so much, he’s got his shit together, could kick your ex’s ass. Steve is definitely in the running. Clint’s got a wife and kids, so he’s out. Bruce is in love with me, so the chemistry won’t be believable if he were to be your fake rebound. Tony is the least inconspicuous of them all. Everyone would know it was fake. So that leaves you with me, Wanda, Steve and Bucky. What do you think?” Natasha explained, then turned it over to you.

“Well, Wanda looks too much like Allie, so Allie would think I was just trying to find another version of her.”

“I didn’t think about that. Good point. I personally think Bucky should be your fake boyfriend. You guys have legitimate chemistry,  and he’s got all the qualities you need for this plan.”

With that statement, Bucky nearly choked on his drink. He had stayed very silent for the whole conversation, and for a reason. He wanted to hide his crush as best as he could, but he knew that everyone knew an would put him into the place of your fake boyfriend.

“You okay there, Buck?” Steve asked with a smile.

“I’m good, I’m fine. Sure, I’ll be the fake boyfriend.” He agreed, and everyone toasted to that.

“Hey, does Allie still follow you on Instagram and Twitter and shit?” Tony asked, after everyone had a couple more rounds. They were all pretty smashed, and for enhanced humans, that said a lot because they had all had enough to kill a normal human being.

“Yes, she does, and I only follow her so I can creep on her Instagram a little bit.”

“I have an idea. In order for this whole thing to be believable, we need to start now. Give me your phone,” Tony asked, and you unlocked it, giving him the device.

“Great!” He exclaimed before putting his hand on your shoulder, turning you around and sitting you down on the couch next to Bucky.

“Tony, what are we doing?” You laughed nervously.

“Acting normally for a candid romantic picture on game night.” Tony stated as if it was obvious, but you and Bucky hadn’t quite mastered being candid or romantic. Tony rolled his eyes, put Bucky’s arm around your shoulders, turned you towards each other and lifted one of your knees over the other to cross your legs so yours would be against Bucky’s. Tony kept taking pictures until he found the right one where Bucky was smiling down at you and your hands almost covered your mouth in a laugh. Tony posted the picture with the caption “he owns my heart and my properties #gamenight”

All the Avengers had immediately liked it, leaving cute comments that would make it even more believable. The problem was, Bucky wasn’t sure how good he could be at being fake.

You all continued your game through the night until Tony won, per usual, but you had continued the drinking and were all absolutely blacked out. You woke up on the couch next to Bucky, not sure where all your clothes went, until you remembered that when the game began getting heated, it quickly became drunk strip monopoly. Game night had never been this intense before. You knew that Tony already had a picture of you two sleeping on the couch together, barely clothed, but what’s done is done. You had fully committed to this fake relationship.

You swung your legs over the side of the couch and stood up, trying to find your clothes and every memory of last night, but Bucky woke up at the same time you stood up and your scantily clad butt and lace thong was right in front of his face. His eyes shot open wide, not sure what to do. You turned to him after you heard him groan, meeting his staring eyes.

“Do you know where my clothes are?” You asked, your voice raspy and hungover. Bucky couldn’t even form words at the sight of you. You sorted through the clothes that were strewn all over the floor, having to figure out which clothes belonged to eight other people, but there came a point where you didn’t care whose clothes you donned, as long as you got a shirt on. You put on Bucky’s black tee shirt and moments later you found your loose running shorts.

“I’m gonna go vom for the rest of the morning, so swing by my place if you wanna visit later.” You spoke to Bucky, who was still speechless, before you walked back to your room and regretted drinking for the whole night for the entire morning. Bucky did stop by later, he lightly knocked at your open door. You knew you were going to be in your bathroom all day, so you kept your door open to air out the smells as well as leave it open for Bucky.

“Come on in, Buck. I’m good, what’s up?” You asked, gagging a little more. He waited to respond until after you were done gagging. You wondered what exactly you had drank you make you feel this bad, but then you remembered that you all drank everything. Thor’s Asgardian alcohol that kills people, beer, wine, liquor, mixed drinks, shots, you guys really went off for this one. It was outside the norm, which was good, because you were miserable.

“I just wanted to stop by and check on you,” He began, not making himself comfortable in your room. He didn’t sit down or really look at you in the eye. Your stomach sank, a different feeling than the vomit you were dealing with all day, knowing he wasn’t here to tell her something good.

“Listen, we were really drunk last night, all of us, and I don’t know if you remember everything that happened, but it was a lot and I kind of wanted to talk about it when we were sober.”

You wiped your mouth and stood up to face him.

“Bucky, I get it if you don’t want to be my fake boyfriend. Or, I’ll try to understand.” You responded with sadness in your voice.

“No, that’s not what I was going to say, even though the way I said it it kind of sounded like I was going to. But I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about it. I’m your fake boyfriend and you’re my fake girlfriend so we can get back at your ex.” He confirmed. “Do you want boundaries for our fake relationship? I know that Tony’s taking pictures and posting things and I know we’re going to go out in public, so I just want to be clear about the things you don’t want to happen.”

“Nothing comes to mind, I’m down for anything.” You answered. “How about you?”

He hesitated.

“I’m not sure if it’s the best idea for us to kiss, because I think then it crosses the line in to real.” He spoke, and your heart jumped, not sure how to feel about that. Especially after your breakup, it felt like there was something wrong with you, or undesirable. You nodded, biting your lip and hiding your emotions badly.

“I have to continue vomiting, so if you’ll excuse me,” You said, closing the bathroom door behind you, letting your empty stomach continue to hurl, and you heard your bedroom door close upon Bucky’s exit.

From that night on, Tony was in charge of your Instagram account, posting pictures he secretly took of you two throughout the weeks. It hurt a little more knowing that it was all fake and Bucky wouldn’t kiss you, and you were nearing the time that you had planned to go out in public and face Allie and her new man. The team knew this too, and they asked the question when they knew Bucky couldn’t run away.

“So, in two weeks you guys are going out to the club and I’m all out of pictures.” Tony stated, leading into the next conversation.

“Everything has been believable so far, Allie is subtweeting you and Bucky on Twitter, she’s adequately jealous, but now that I’m out of stock on pictures and each one has been kind of similar, we need something else.”

Bucky knew where Tony was going, and he didn’t like it.

“We need you guys to kiss.”

“Tony, we kind of agreed not to.” You answered in the least awkward manner you could find.

“Um, why?” He asked, utterly confused.

“Bucky thought it would be too real for a fake relationship.” You answered.

“Huh.” Tony hummed quizzically.

“I’ll do it for the picture, if that’s what you need.” Bucky answered.

“Oh, thanks for sounding so excited about it.” You answered, a little hurt at his delivery of that message. Everyone simultaneously felt a yikes pass around the room.

“If you guys could just stand by that big window with the natural light,” Tony spoke, trying to move on and cut the tension by getting it over with as soon as possible. You and Bucky stood face to face, making eye contact that you could only describe as hostile.

“Okay, this isn’t a hostage situation. You’re telling me after all these weeks of insane chemistry and disgustingly real romance, you guys don’t know how to kiss?” Tony asked.

“We get it, Tony.” Bucky stated, and he quickly put a hand on your back as he leaned down and gave you the driest, least interested, grandma kiss you have ever gotten in your entire life before you grabbed your phone from Tony and ran off, flustered.

“Bucky, can I talk to you for a second?” Steve asked, but it was more of a command. He grabbed Bucky’s arm and led him out into the hallway.

“What just happened there, Buck? What’s going on with you? What do you mean it would be too real to kiss her? You’ve liked that woman for months and haven’t said a word, and you get the chance to kiss her and don’t kiss her in the ways you’ve told me you want to?”

“Yes, Steve, because this is a fake relationship that exists solely for the purpose of revenge, and if I kiss her like I mean it then I’m afraid I won’t be able to bring myself back. Then, I’ll be humiliated for getting to into it and putting my feelings into a fake, set up arrangement. I won’t lose anything if I don’t ever give anything.”

“Bucky, you’re the stupidest person I’ve ever met. You have dumbass disease, and it’s incurable. The whole idea of a fake relationship was so we could set you guys up finally. It’s been long enough, and you’re so stupid to think she doesn’t feel the same way towards you. You broke her heart just now, Buck. It’s meant to be real, Bucky, and you just ruined it.”

You didn’t speak to Bucky until it was the day you were supposed to go out with him and meet your ex, Allie. You had spent the whole day considering if it was even worth it to go out, if all the weeks you spent “pretending” with Bucky were just trash. Was it worth it to just make Allie jealous? You thought you should cancel the outing as you questioned if it was all worth it.

Nat and Wanda invaded your room to style your hair and put you into a pair of suede Louboutin boot heels and a red miniature two piece set. You looked the best you ever had, but you felt like absolute crap.

“I’m not sure if I want to do this, guys.” You told Nat and Wanda.

“Why not, darling?” Nat asked.

“Because I knew I was really going to fall for him. I knew that I couldn’t keep it fake this whole time, and I let my emotions get the best of me. So now I’m hurt that he doesn’t feel the same way.”

They laughed out loud.

“You sound like Bucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s literally what he said to Steve. You both don’t think the other is interested. He’s so crazy about you.”

“Then why did he kiss me like I was gross?” You asked.

“Because he’s an idiot, but also because he didn’t want to reveal how he really felt to you since he thought you didn’t feel the same way. So you’re gonna go to this club, show Allie who’s boss, get your ex off your back, and then finally get into bed with Bucky.” They explained.

“Oh my god, I’m not even sure if I still even want to go out tonight! Let’s take it slow.”

“You won’t be saying that after he kisses you like he really wants to.” Wanda responded, and it was time for you to head out to the common room to meet everyone, and Bucky. He was wearing a white shirt with a few buttons undone with his cuffs rolled up, tucked into black slim pants and leather shoes. His hair was tied back into a bun with two long pieces hanging down around his face. It was high-end club, and there was a dress code. He couldn’t stop staring at you, making you wish you weren’t doing this even more. You hadn’t talked about your first kiss where he really didn’t want to kiss you, and now he was basically drooling like a hyena over you. There was a lot of unspoken tension, and your outing wasn’t going to make it any better.

“You look great.” He spoke to you, finally able to form words.

“Thank you. We should get going,” You responded plainly. He knew you were still hurt, so you drove in silence to the club in one of Tony’s Ferraris. The Valet took care of the car while Bucky walked around to your side and opened the door for you, extending his hand so you could step out with ease. You took his hand for the moment before you let your hand fall, and you walked up to the door together. The bouncer let you both in, and you stood at a tall table while Bucky headed to the bar. He got you a vodka soda and a gin and tonic for himself, because he liked disgusting drinks. The music was loud but you still weren’t talking to Bucky. You were looking for Allie, and you knew she had to be around because you saw her car pull up a few ahead of yours. You became frustrated not being able to find her, but then a server approached you with a tray and sat down a rum and coke on your table.

“From the woman in VIP.” He explained. Bucky was confused, but you knew.

“Rum and coke is Allie’s favorite drink. She sees us but we can’t see her. It’s like a calling card, she’s toying with us.”

“Well, the server said she was in VIP, so let’s go find her.”  Bucky suggested, feeling like that was the best option, and he started walking in that direction. You followed close to him, turning a corner and finding Allie lounging on a velvet couch in a silver dress. She waved to the VIP bouncer and he let the pair in.

“Allie.” You stated, not sure of what you were going to say.

“Baby, come sit!” She said, trying to entice you over to her.

“She’s good, thanks.” Bucky answered, snaking his arm around your waist and immediately becoming protective over you.

“Oh, so that’s real! I was sure it was fake.” Allie spoke in response, pointing between you two.

“Yes, it is, and you should back off, considering you’ve got a new man.” Bucky answered.

“I’m just shocked it’s real. I didn’t think she could get anyone after me.”

“I loved you so much and you hurt me so badly, so get off your goddamn high horse, thinking that you’re a god.” You answered, hurt in your voice.

“So like, is this thing serious with him or is he just a rebound?” Allie asked with an evil chuckle.

“It’s serious, Allie. We only just recently made it public, and you shouldn’t be looking to get her back when you’ve got somebody else. You must have wanted him so badly you cheated on her, right? Stick with that. You’ll never get my girl back.” Bucky responded. “And if you try, I’m going to come for you and your new boyfriend so hard, you’re going to regret ever getting close.” Bucky growled, leaning forward more towards Allie.

“Oh, do you promise?” Allie responded, biting her lip.

“Okay, we’re done.” Bucky stated angrily, pressing you close to him and walking away.

“She’s pretty shitty, you know?” He spoke, once they were far away from her.

“Yeah, I know.” You spoke, feeling dejected.

“But, the good news is, she’s with someone equally shitty. Her new boyfriend is making out with that blonde.” Bucky pointed out. You saw him, and the random girl.

“It’s a match made in cheater heaven.” You spoke with a hint of a laugh, knowing that you were better off without Allie, despite how much you loved her to your core before she ruined you.

You decided to get the words you wanted to say off your chest, so you blurted them out. Bucky knew it was coming.

“Bucky, why do you not want to kiss me? I know this is supposed to be fake, but I get this feeling that I’m not pretty enough for you to want to kiss me, and I feel like I’m reasonably attractive, but you just seemed revolted at the idea of having to kiss me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you. It’s the fact that in that moment, I couldn’t kiss you like this.” He answered, not caring that you were both in public before his hand sunk deep into your hair that Wanda and Natasha spent an hour styling, and his other hand grabbed your ass and pulled you against him. He kissed you as if his life depended on it. He broke the kiss when he realized that you couldn’t breathe, and he took the moment to clear the air between you.

“I know we agreed on doing this as a ruse, but everything I feel is so damn real and I want to be with you so badly, it’s killing me.”

“Then don’t let it kill you and just be with me.” You answered. “It’s been a long time coming. Everything I’ve felt has been as real as it can get, and I know everything you’re feeling is real, because I can feel it too.” You spoke, pointing out the fact that he was holding you tightly against him and you could feel his bulge against your leg.

“Yeah, we should go home.” He smiled at you. You both headed outside and waited for the Valet to bring Tony’s car around, and since you were both sober, it was a fight for who was going to drive back. He held you against him as you stood in front of him, a hand strategically placed on your hip.

“You drove here, so I’m driving back! I think I can work the gearbox better than you can, too.” You argued, running around to the driver’s seat when the car arrived.

Pulling off quickly, letting the engine roar, Bucky waited until you were on the freeway to head home to unbuckle his seatbelt, lean over and put his hand on your thigh as he kissed your neck. You missed a gear change in your distraction, but quickly fixed your mistake that Bucky chuckled at. Trying not to get caught for speeding, you went as fast as you could without getting a ticket and it wasn’t long before you were back at the Tower. You tossed the Ferrari keys up on the wall of the garage, and Bucky couldn’t run fast enough to the elevator button. You were both getting impatient at the agonizingly slow pace of the elevator that had to operate on 50 stories, so you grabbed Bucky and pulled him over to the nearest car hood to wrap him back up in your embrace until the elevator got to you. Once you both heard the chime and the doors opened, it was a sprint to get upstairs in time before clothes started coming off in places they shouldn’t.

Bucky pushed you to the corner, his hand running up your thigh as he continued the work he started on your neck. He grabbed your butt from underneath your skirt, his fingers finding the lace of your underwear.

“If you’re wearing something under this dress that is like what you wore for game night, you’re gonna kill me.” He groaned into your skin.

“You’re in luck, Bucky. I’ve got that and more.” You responded, and you knew that all it did was get him harder. He knew you were teasing him, so he teased you right back and slipped a finger into you. You let out a small sigh of pleasure, but it was cut short when the elevator stopped at your floor. You both took a second to regain your composure before stepping out, not sure who was still around to see you. Bucky called out to the empty floor, and got no response. You picked up a slip of paper on the table and showed Bucky.

“They’re all out for the night.” You smiled, handing him the note.

“Thank fuck-” He exclaimed before setting it aside and resuming your close contact you had moments before. He wrapped his arm around your waist and threw you over his shoulder, getting to his room as quickly as possible. You laughed at his methods, but were suddenly brought back to the moment when you finally understood why you were thrown over his shoulder in the first place. He only had to adjust you slightly so you were straddling his shoulders, facing him. He pushed your skirt up to reveal your lacy lingerie and thigh garter, and he could get off easily by just seeing you in that.

Finally in his bedroom, he laid back on his bed and he kissed the insides of your thighs, the lace brushing against his face. As much as he loved the lingerie, they had to come off and he carefully removed them as he ran them down your legs and tossed them aside. Grabbing your thighs, he used his mouth in a very different way than when you had kissed.

Eventually, you both lost all of your clothes and were left in your underwear, or what was left of it. Your bralette was a sheer lace, and he was able to see through it. As sexy as it was, it was gone in the blink of an eye. You grabbed his hair and gave it a strong yank, pulling his chin up so you could kiss his lips. You were straddled against his hips, and you knew that both of you were just about dying the longer you waited to just get to it. Though he was playing rough, he dialed it back a little bit and took it a little easier when you were getting used to him. Once he knew everything was good he flipped you over on the bed, your hair cascading in all directions across the pillow, and his hands traveled up from your waist to your neck and cheek to hold your face as he kissed you. You looked him in the eye as you moved his hand just a little lower on your neck. He was taken aback just a bit.

“Okay, before I choke you I need you to know that the last time I choked someone, I was doing it to kill them.” He warned.

“Good. Don’t choke me so hard I die, but I don’t want to be sure I’m going to live, either.” You instructed. “Ease up when I start turning blue.”

Taking your instructions, he nodded and eased his way into it, not wanting to go too hard too fast. He was worried he was going to hurt you, but he could read you like an expert and was able to know what you needed before you said it. He threw your leg over his shoulder and made you see stars, and not from the lack of oxygen. There were things that only he could do, and only he could do to you that you’ve never experienced with anyone else.

It wasn’t long before you could even remember the pain of being hurt, and Allie wasn’t even a thought in your mind. It was just you and Bucky, alone in his apartment and nothing else mattered except for the way he touched you. It took a surprising amount of time to wear each other out, and the sun was rising by the time you both hit your complete endpoint.

“Not bad for a fake boyfriend, right?” Bucky laughed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Best sex I’ve ever gotten from a fake boyfriend.” You responded, taking a pause before the words you were thinking about just fell out. “But how about you be my real boyfriend?” You asked. Bucky didn’t have to think about his response, but he smiled when he heard you.

“Damn, now I have to earn the title of “best sex for a real boyfriend”? That’s a lot of pressure!” He exclaimed.

“Nope, you’ve already won that title too.” You responded. “Don’t worry.”

Soon, the morning was approaching the afternoon, and the rest of the Avengers still hadn't been back. You got a call from Natasha just as Bucky was bringing you a Gatorade. He tossed you the bottle and laid back down on his bed as you answered the call. Bucky reached over and put it on speaker, so he could chime in, too.

“Hey love, how are things going? Just wanted to call and check up on you.”

“Things are going great!”

“I hope you’ve been taking the time alone to your advantage.” Natasha spoke, trying to get you to spill the details without asking for them. Bucky responded in his deep voice,

“Natasha, I’ve done things that should land me in jail.” He stated, never having done some of the things you wanted before.

“Glad to hear you’re branching out. Do you need a couple more days alone? We can stay away for the entire weekend.”

“Yes.” Bucky answered without letting you even think. “Where are you guys, anyway?”

“We’re at Clint’s place. We promise to bring you guys back some smores, it’s like summer camp out here. Super woodsy.” She answered. “And it seems like you might need the extra calories by the time we come home.” She laughed.

“Bye, Nat. See you soon.” You smiled before hanging up the phone and facing Bucky.

“Do you ever get the feeling that Natasha was the mastermind behind setting us up?” You asked him with a smile.

“Oh, I know for a fact she did this to set us up, and I’m glad she did. Because I knew I was in love with you, but I had convinced myself you didn’t feel the same way about me. I never would have done anything, I never would have made a move. So for once in my life, I’m glad you have a shitty ex, because it brought me to you. I’m so sorry for all the pain you endured, and I wish I could take that away, but I’m always going to be thankful I have you now. This also wouldn’t have happened if Allie hadn’t found her new man. I’m not a superstitious guy, but I know that everything that happened was meant to bring us together.” Bucky spoke, and it was the first time he had really revealed his heart to you. You knew that you were in a so much better place than you were with your ex.

You knew that you didn’t want to hear about your ex’s new man because you found someone so much better than him and better for you, and his name was Bucky. 

[uniqueharreh]

Affection

Summary; Harry and Y/N has been dating for some time now, so it was the time for Y/N to introduce Harry to her dog, nervous if they’re going to get along. 

Warnings: mostly fluff, a bit of angst

Word Count: 1.5k 

Y/N and Harry have been dating for a few months now, even though he counted only the time after the tour when he could be finally with her. They met in a club when he had two days off. He just needed to clear his mind, have few drinks and go back to his hotel. But then he saw her across the room. She was there with her friends, a bit drunk already by the way she was stumbling on her feet. They were playing pool, and she definitely seemed lost. Harry was definitely entertained, she was a cute lil’ thing to watch and after a couple of more minutes of him watching her struggle, their eyes met. Y/N smiled at him and he returned the smile, wondering if she knew him, if she knew who he was.

And even though his mind screamed to finish the drink and go, he went against that and walked over to Y/N. First, he kind of stood around and helped her by pointing which balls to hit in which direction. Her laugh was poisonous and he felt like he just met his own personal sunshine. After she lost the game successfully, but with less of an embarrassment, she looked at him, sipping from her pink drink.

“I’m Y/N!” she yelled over the loud music, chuckling, leaning more towards him. “You know your balls,” she added, but after realizing what she said, her eyes widened. Harry was trying not to burst out in laughter. He wasn’t so sure if she was this bubbly because of the alcohol in her blood, or it was just her character. But it was definitely a fresh air, of someone who didn’t think twice about the reputation, about people staring. She was her own person and it attracted him even more.

“I didn’t mean it, that way.”

“I didn’t even think about the other way of meaning.” Harry was enjoying the teasing and torture he was putting Y/N through back there. And it still was quite the legendary comment she made. He always made sure to remind her.

They spent the night together, Y/N wasn’t thinking much about who he was, but he was taking care of her throughout the night and even though they both tried to keep their hands and bodies to themselves, it didn’t necessarily work the way they intended.

And even though he asked for her number, he had a hard time texting her. He never really had one night stand. And he wasn’t stupid to bring fans into his hotel rooms. But with her, it was different. She insisted on paying for her drinks, she wasn’t asking all these career questions some people tended to ask.

And the time with her was flying by. He never felt as comfortable next to someone, as he did with her. Maybe it was her whole attitude towards fame. She never craved it, she was happy with her 9-5 job where she worked as an Advertisement Specialist, and that was it.

Sometimes she even spat out the I don’t know how you can handle it. When they were on a date and she noticed people taking pictures of them together. They also never publicly admitted to a relationship, Harry was private enough to go to twitter and confirm anything. And well Y/N didn’t really care to flaunt him on her social media. A few weeks ago, she even decided to go private and block all people she didn’t know that followed her. Simply because of the privacy she valued that much.

And she rarely invited him to her place. Simply because of her dog, she was anxious her pup wouldn’t like him. And it would break her heart. So it was usually dates and sleepovers at his place. She wanted to be sure with him, before taking him to her own apartment, to share that with him, and also introduced him to the little one.

She got her dog a few years ago, little puppy of mixed breed, possibly a Staffordshire terrier. Father probably unknown. And she was a problematic baby, always too anxious to trust people and dogs and everyone. But she knew it was the time to get those two together.

She invited him for the weekend, he made sure no one would bother them. Harry knew he was going to meet her dog and not her family. He wondered when will he ever be asked to meet her family if she waited a few months before letting him meet her dog. After he pulled over in front of her house, she giggled at the sight of his sports car parked at a street full of Toyotas.

She put her dog into the bathroom for a bit, made sure to put her on a leash so it would be safer to make them bond for a bit under control.

“So, some instructions. Don’t move suddenly, you could make her act out of instinct and bite, she never bit anyone, but I don’t want that to happen, okay?” she said with a tensed face, she was nervous. Harry nodded and kissed her lightly.

“Baby, she’s not a first dog I’m about to befriend. Dogs love me.”

“Yeah, yeah, everyone loves you. I just want to be sure, honey.” Y/N said and looked into his eyes.

“Okay, continue.” he smiled and caressed her cheek.

“She loves back rubbing, especially above her tail, and belly rubbings as well. And she loves to give kisses, so if she wants to give you few, let her but not anything too intimate you know. She’s sometimes too excited and would literally kiss you for ages. Also, don’t let her lick your feet. She’s sometimes too affectionate to humans she bonds with.” Harry let out a laugh.

After the instructions, she kissed Harry lightly and went to take her dog out of the bathroom, barely managing to keep up the pace, because the second the little one saw Harry, she was running towards him. Her tail wagging as crazy and she was letting out crying noises, trying to get to him faster.

Harry got on his knees, and the little furry friend didn’t hesitate to put her paws on his shoulders and basically give him a hug. He was rubbing her bag, cooing over how lovely she was.

“Who’s been a good doggo? Who’s been a good doggo? You! You’ve been a good doggie!” he lisped in higher pitched voice. Leaving Y/N to quietly laugh and nearly cry over the sight in front of her. Her dog loved Harry as much she did, maybe even more.

And even a few hours after the meeting, the black fur baby was following Harry everywhere. At some point, she even tried to go with him to the bathroom when he went to urinate.

“No, you can’t go there with me, buddy. No, don’t do those eyes. You can’t. Nah-ah. You can’t.” she heard him outside the bathroom, his voice few octaves higher than usual.

And after the dinner, where Harry tried to feed her grilled chicken without Y/N noticing, they went to watch some TV shows in bed. Followed by the four-legged friend.

“Is it okay if she sleeps with us in the bed? She usually stays at the legs for most of the time.” Harry was caught off guard, but in the second the pooch jumped on the bed and immediately laid in between Harry and Y/N, he lost his words and agreed quietly.

Sadly Y/N wasn’t the one cuddling to Harry for most of the night, she managed to hold his hand and cuddle her dog instead. And in the morning, she was awakened by Harry coming back from the walk with her dog, having just his shorts and cap on.

“You walked around like that in the neighborhood?” Y/N murmured exhausted.

“Yeah, it’s at least thirty degrees outside, we went for a jog,” he said excitedly, already making her feel as if they just became husband and wife.

“You’re going to make a lot of old ladies jealous that you’re not theirs.” Y/N laughed a bit and stretched in the bed.

“Are you going to be jealous, when they talk about your boyfriend in a thirsty way?” he said playfully, bending over for a kiss.

“God you’re so sweaty.” she laughed. “I might throw some punches if they do.”

“You’d be that aggressive you say, huh?”

“Always for you.” she leaned for a kiss, but at that moment a ball of dark fur jumped on the bed and started licking Harry’s face, demanding attention and affection from him. And maybe, just a little, Y/N started to feel a bit jealous. Of her own doggo.

But waking up in the middle of a night for a glass of water and see them cuddling was probably the softest view she ever had. And she couldn’t be upset too long when she saw the love in Harry’s had for both of them.

[minyoongijjangjjangmanboongboong]

Ephemera Chapter Sixteen

Ephemera: In art, transitory written and printed matter (receipts, notes, tickets, clippings, etc.) not originally intended to be kept or preserved.

Alternatively, things that exist or are used for only a short time.

Description: Nobody knows who Vante really is. Everything about the popular artist is shrouded in secrecy: from his face to his name to everything in between. After years of working for his art gallery, Y/N feels she may just be the closest thing he has to a friend. Between her success at work and her relationship with campus hot-shot Jeon Jungkook, Y/N’s life has never been better. But is Jungkook truly who he says he is? And who will Y/N protect now that she knows Vante’s livelihood may be on the line?

Genre: Romance, Drama, Fluff, Angst

Pairing: Jungkook x (f) Reader x Taehyung

Word Count: 5.5k

Tags: Non-Idol!Au, Gang!Au, Art History Student!Reader, Film Student!Jungkook, Art Student!Taehyung

Warnings: Swearing and mentions of alcohol, although infrequently

A/N: Woo hello! I’ve had a wild few days, but here we are! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter. As always, I’m so so grateful for your support and feedback. It means more to me than I’ll ever be able to say. I’ll try to get this chapter up on time, but it might come a few hours early/late because of the way the queue system works on Tumblr. Anyway, please don’t be shy and send feedback, critique, questions, theories, and comments my way. I’ll be sure to respond to all asks I receive within a day of receiving them! Links will be added later, so for now check my masterlist to find previous chapters!

And again, if you want to follow my Twitter, my username is @/plzpunchmebts. I’m super active over there and hopefully in the future I’ll do some livestreams/chats with you all! And concert videos!!

- Mercury

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Weekly updates: Sunday, 1PM (PST)

My common sense returned quickly and I leapt away from Jungkook, hands touching my mouth. His eyes were wide, lips still pursed like we were kissing, and there was a look in his face like he’d been slapped: shock and betrayal. I watched, nervous, as he opened his mouth to say something, probably something too loud. Before his mind could run circles, I shook my head and approached quickly once more, clamping a hand over his mouth.

“We’re in your headquarters right now,” I whispered tersely.

I glanced around the back corner, suspicious, and thought perhaps I caught sight of movement out the corner of my eye beside the dividers. My whole body tensed and I clenched my jaw.

“If we’re gonna talk more, we’ve gotta get out of here,” I said through my teeth, glancing around.

Jungkook stiffened beneath my fingertips and nodded once. “Let’s go to my apartment,” he mumbled against my palm.

My eyes flashed back toward him, brows furrowed. “And risk running into Seokjin?”

He blinked at me. “Then…yours?”

I swallowed hard, thinking. Was this wise? Was it a good idea to indulge this relationship that would, undoubtedly, end poorly a second time? I wasn’t certain. But I knew from the shy warmth in his cheeks and the way his eyes were already smiling that I didn’t have much of a choice.

I kicked off my shoes and fell against the sofa with a thud, sighing as my legs draped over the arm of the couch. Jungkook chuckled and joined me, sitting properly beside my head. He smoothed his hand against my forehead, guiding my hair out of my face. I wanted to hate it, to hate him, but I simply eased into the feeling and shut my eyes, humming a little.

“So let’s talk,” he said gently, voice soft but strong. Just like him.

I nodded. “What are we gonna talk about?”

He sounded like he was smiling when he replied. “How’s your dad?”

I sighed. “Good. That good-for-nothing punk he hired for harvesting is still slacking.”

He chuckled and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. “You two really are similar.”

“You said that last time,” I mumbled, opening one eye to look up at him.

He smiled and nodded, staring at me from above with a tenderness that nearly knocked the breath out of me. “What I mean is…you two are both really soft on other people.”

“Oh,” I said, sitting upright and pulling my legs to my chest, putting distance between the two of us. I smirked. “Then was I too soft on forgiving you?”

He rolled his eyes and pulled me to his side with a laugh. “Don’t bully me.”

“I’ve earned it.”

He sighed. “Anyway…you’re a bit different these days.”

I was quiet for a moment before nodding. “Yeah.”

“I’m proud of you.”

I stiffened, glancing at him out the corner of my eye. He was smiling gently, looking at the opposite wall like there was something interesting there and not a blank TV screen. He smoothed absent circles into my shoulder as his arm draped across it. The picture of ease, it was almost like the words had escaped without a plan.

I swallowed hard and felt the need to look away, my cheeks flaring. I cleared my throat. “Ah, well…,” I began, smiling at my hands as they sat on my lap. “Thank you.”

“When I was a kid, I won a taekwondo competition for the first time,” said Jungkook with a smile and a nod. “And my dad said, ‘Good. Now do it again so they don’t think it was a fluke.’” He hummed. “Now that you’re here, you gotta keep doing well for yourself to prove that it’s not just a fluke.”

I raised my brows. “Your…your dad,” I hedged, eyeing him from below. He looked peaceful, still unbothered. I exhaled slowly. “You mentioned your dad was a deadbeat…”

He nodded. “Mhm,” he said with a comfortable sigh. “Had a shitty DVD rental shop that went under.”

I watched the patch of sunlight from the window shift with the geometric shadows of a tree branch in the breeze. “Did he open it himself?”

“Yeah, asshole had no business opening a shop,” he said with a sigh. “He’s a drunk, you know? So he’d always go into the store hammered and drive customers away. When I was young, I used to help out around the shop, but every day I watched him sit behind the counter like a prop or something. He rarely spoke to the customers, rarely stocked the shelves. Just…an all-around shitty owner.”

I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder. “You picked up the slack?”

He hummed. “Yep,” he said, then I felt him shrug. “Wasn’t so bad. You learn a lot when you’re working young. How to be responsible even when adults aren’t,” he chuckled. “Mom used to scold me for going there after school instead of coming home and doing my schoolwork. But I told her I wanted to be a taekwondo champ so I didn’t need an education anyway. Said I might as well help Dad.”

“Was it stressful?”

“No,” he said with a sigh. “Scary sometimes, since Dad gets loud when he’s drunk. No, like…aggressive. Just loud and stupid.”

I nodded. “You took on a lot as a kid.”

“Wasn’t ever a problem until it started interfering with my taekwondo,” he said. He ran his fingers up and down my arm. Like a comforting gesture. Like I was the one who needed comforting. “I had to start skipping practice to work since Dad wasn’t pulling his weight and eventually I had to quit. Mom was pissed, but she thought I might focus more on my grades.”

“Wait, you had to quit just like that?” I asked, stunned. I sat up and looked at him head-on, eyes wide.

He laughed and raised a hand to pat my head, smoothing my hair down. “Just like that.”

I furrowed my brow. “That’s not fair at all.”

“Life’s like that sometimes. Only the lucky ones expect it to be fair,” he said, then shrugged and guided me back to his side. “It’s pretty lucky though, because since I was spending so much time at the DVD shop I got to watch a lot of movies. Got really interested in film.”

“So that’s how you found your passion,” I said with a nod.

He smiled. “Cute,” he said, chuckling as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “I guess you could put it that way.” He exhaled, long and slow, and rested his cheek against my head. “Seeing all those directors, watching the art they made from the ugly, everyday parts of life…it was definitely inspiring in a weird way. Made me feel like even if I was miserable, at least it would make for good film.”

The more I heard, the more similar Jungkook and Taehyung seemed to me…

I laughed. “That’s dark, Jungkook,” I said, sighing. “Edvard Munch said that art comes from both joy and pain,” I began, eyeing him with a smile, “but mostly pain.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Edvard guy’s right,” he said. “I guess…when the shop went bankrupt it was most devastating for me. Probably because of all the films we’d have to destroy. The life we’d have to destroy. Maybe it’s because I was a teenager, but it kinda felt like everything I loved was running away from me and there was nothing I could do to hold onto it.”

I nodded. “Is that when you started selling drugs?” I asked, and immediately regretted it.

He stiffened, eyes wide. “Who told you about that?”

I shook my head. “Seokjin mentioned it while I was…uh…kidnapped,” I said, voice trailing off.

Jungkook sighed, raking his fingers through his hair, and nodded. “I mean…it’s better for you to know anyway I guess.” He leaned back into the couch with a pout. “Anyway, yeah. My mom didn’t have a college degree so she could only find shitty work. Waitressing and stuff. And Haneul was just getting into middle school, so we needed the money. He was doing really well in his classes and his teachers thought that if he started taking it seriously, he could get into one of the SKY universities. So…my mom and I started pulling the family up by the bootstraps I guess.”

“Your mom knew you were dealing?” I asked, leaning away to get a better look at him.

There was an old shame in the set of his eyes, the clenching of his jaw. He nodded. “She figured since I was already behind, it didn’t matter what I did as long as it helped the family. We kinda staked all our hopes on Haneul,” he said, shrugging. He wouldn’t look directly at me. “I wasn’t pulling in good money, Dad stopped working altogether and started drinking more, Haneul was trying his best but he was stressed, and my grades were…depressing.”

“But…you got into college…?” I urged, scanning his face.

He chuckled, knotting his hands. “Ah, yeah. Barely. By the time I was applying, Seokjin had found me on the streets and he pulled a few strings. My test scores were just good enough for them to overlook my grades, and with Jin’s help I got in.”

“Jin helped you into college?” I asked, something odd tugging at my heart.

He nodded. “Jin believed in me. Thought it was wrong for me to be selling at my age. I mean, I was eighteen and all so don’t worry, but…,” he sighed. “Anyway, he wanted me to make a better life for myself and he offered me work.”

“So the money you make with Bangtan…,” I began, watching him carefully.

His eyes fell to the floor, face flush. “Uh, yeah. It’s…it’s all going back home.”

“Is Jin letting you live with him for free then?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah…”

“And if I succeed and Jin loses everything…”

He turned to me abruptly, eyes wide, and shook his head, grabbing my hands. “No, no! Don’t think about that. I’m already looking into jobs and I’ve got some interviews coming up in a week or so. It’ll be fine.”

I swallowed hard, heart racing, and nodded. But if Jungkook’s reasons for joining the group were so heartbreaking, I didn’t even want to imagine what the others’ were…

Quietly, I reached my hand out and pressed my palm against his jawline, pulling him toward me. I pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek and pulled away, throat tight, with a smile. “You’ve done well, Jungkook.”

His eyes went a little misty, welling up as his lower lids went red. He scanned me for a moment that felt endless, glassy eyes flashing between mine, before he slowly pulled me against his chest and held me tight in an embrace that felt desperate. I slipped my arms around his back and squeezed.

I rocked backwards and forwards on my heels as I stood beside the gallery doors. It seemed that the chaos that Taehyung’s reveal had caused was slowly dying, as traffic to the gallery had slowed significantly. The space itself, however, held remnants of the stampedes. The lightwood floors still bore the scuffs of numerous feet and several frames were nicked and chipped from being bumped.

The relative calm and quiet was welcome to all of us, as Yuri and I worked opposite one another. She sat at the desk, half-asleep as she stared blankly at the computer screen. A few patrons walked past me and I offered them a smile and a bow, waiting until their footsteps had receded to raise myself up once more, making absolutely sure that my hair was settled properly in its bun.

“Y/N, good morning,” said a voice from beside me.

I nearly, jumped, but collected myself and turned to see who had greeted me. Standing slightly shorter than me, Mr. Kwon held his hands latched behind his back, a smile on his face. Seeing him in such a good mood was curious and unusual, but rather than risk incurring his frustration I kept my observation to myself and opted for a simple smile and a bow of my head.

“You seem well today,” he remarked, nodding once.

I smiled. “Yes, Sir.”

“The recent influx in customers has been…disarming for you employees, hasn’t it?” he asked, eyeing me.

I raised my brows. “Ah, well…I certainly can’t speak for everyone, but I would say it’s been a sizable challenge.”

He nodded. “I thought so,” he said with a sigh. “I only ask since you seem rather in touch with your coworkers.”

I stiffened, clasping my hands in front of my thighs. “I do?” I asked.

He smiled slightly, a rare sight, and nodded. “After our discussion of dress code, I started wondering if I was just out of touch with you all,” he said, huffing a little as he adjusted his suit jacket. “Everyone’s performance improved once dress code slackened. I realized that you seemed to understand your coworkers well.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can accept that compliment, Sir.”

He smiled again and nodded. “You have a good sense when you speak up,” he said, exhaling long and slow. Surely, he’d just gotten some good news. This was entirely too out of character to be organic. “I told you once that people only have the power you give them. I think you’re doing well protecting your power.”

I stiffened, swallowing hard. How many of these affirmations could I get? Everyone was saying I’d changed. And if someone as dense as Mr. Kwon could notice, it must have been pretty obvious. Why, then, did something in me feel slightly dissonant? Like it wasn’t lining up just right.

I supposed, when I really thought about it, could I take credit for any of the changes I’d made?

After all, if it weren’t for Taehyung and Jungkook…would I have even bothered to change at all…?

“I’ll be having a meeting with those Japanese philanthropists from a while back,” he said, then smiled again. Unnerving. “The ones you sold to before.”

I nodded. “I remember,” I said with a small, contained grin.

“We’re having some big talks with them moving forward, so please be on your best behavior if they send anyone to the gallery,” said Mr. Kwon with a bow.

I knew I shouldn’t, but my curiosity got the best of me and I grabbed for his cuff. He turned to me with wide eyes. “Uh…what sort of talks are happening?” I asked.

He smiled and put a finger to his lips, a playful bid for silence, and I felt even more unsettled. “Confidential. But when things are set, I promise you will be the first employee to know.”

I raised my brows. “Me?”

He nodded. “I’ll tell you more as we know more,” he began, swiveling on his heel before snapping his fingers and turning back to me. “Ah! Would you grab the new print from the back and place it in the photography section?”

I stiffened. Taehyung started working again? Slowly, I smiled and nodded. “Certainly, Sir.”

“Keep up the good work, ladies!” he called over his shoulder before walking back down the hallway.

Yuri and I exchanged puzzled looks before I shrugged my shoulders and followed suit, wandering down the hall until I reached the back room. A flood of memories rushed over me as I stepped inside the dark, dusty storage space. It felt like a lifetime had passed since I was following Jungkook back here, discovering Taehyung’s workroom, nearly getting caught…

I sighed and picked up my step, grabbing the covered print and removing the white sheet. I folded it and set it atop a shelf, turning back to the piece. And as I did, my confusion and unease only grew.

There in black and white was the familiar scene of Taehyung’s living room, blown up massive. The shot framed the side of his couch from the angle of the floor, leading the eye right toward the window and the monochrome morning light streaming in in shafts and spots. And, dangling off the edge of the couch, was a hand that didn’t look like Taehyung’s. I took a peek at my own fingers and, slowly, pressed them against the photo, matching them with the one in black and white.

A perfect match…

Pulling my jacket up around my shoulders, I walked slowly out onto the sidewalk, bracing the chill with a shiver. I ambled out along the concrete for a moment, my mind absent in my body. Why had Taehyung taken that photo of me? And furthermore, why had he decided to display it for sale in the gallery? Beyond confused, I was…unsettled. Had our relationship ever been that intimate? Had I been sending him signals that I didn’t mean to send?

Or…did I mean to send them?

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I jumped to answer it. “Hello?” I asked, plugging my free ear to block out the city noise.

“Y/N?”

I sighed, leaning against the front of the building, and gripped the bridge of my nose. Of course he had to call right now. “Namjoon…”

He chuckled, like something was funny, before replying. “The one and only,” he said, then hummed. “Although you don’t sound thrilled to hear from me.”

I shook my head. “Sorry. Kind of…a weird day. Lot on my mind.”

“Understood,” he said, clearing his throat. “Not that this topic isn’t fascinating, but I actually called for an update on your work.”

“Work…,” I breathed before it made sense. “Ah, yeah. Well, not much to update yet.”

He was quiet, pensive, for a beat too long. A beat that made me tap my foot on the floor, restless. “Well that’s…unfortunate.”

“Sorry.”

“Have you been trying to infiltrate?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m in and everything. Just…can’t get that information you need. They keep their documents locked up in a basement that I don’t have access to, especially with all the eyes on me there. There’s no way in from the sides and no way to sneak in during the day.”

“Well you’re gonna have to get access.”

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “I’ve already got a plan, Namjoon.”

“Unless it involves you dropping from the ceiling in the middle of the night and dangling from a wire, I don’t really know if it’ll work. You said this basement is strictly monitored,” he quipped with a sigh.

I nodded, exhausted, and scratched my arm. “A recording,” I said.

“And you think this leader is just gonna spill everything to you?” he asked.

I shrugged, picking at my nail. “I can steer the conversation.”

“You can steer it toward revealing trade secrets?”

I chuckled. “You underestimate how stupid he is.”

He sighed. “I hope so…,” he said, quiet once again. “Well…I guess I’ve just gotta leave it to you then.”

“I guess so.”

“Well…I won’t keep you then. Get to work.”

I scoffed. I’d just gotten off work and already-

I managed a tight-lipped smile and nodded once more, though he couldn’t see. “Sure thing,” I said before hanging up and shoving my phone roughly into my bag.

He didn’t strike me as a bad man. Perhaps a little eccentric and enigmatic, but not mean-spirited. But the guilt was starting to get to me. If exposing Seokjin meant ruining the lives of the people working under him…

Could I justify my petty revenge plot?

I rubbed my chin and stewed over it, so engrossed in my thoughts that I almost didn’t notice Nara standing beside a pillar, coat pulled up around her neck, chin buried in her shirt, eyes down and sniffling. But when I did see her, I nearly jumped out of my skin and without a second’s pause, I rushed to her side and grabbed her by the upper arms.

“Nara!” I said, gasping as she looked at me properly. Her silver hair was disheveled and her skin was red, eyes puffy and cheeks wet from still-falling tears. No makeup, just the natural blush of crying. “Oh my God,” I said, and she fell into my arms like she was falling into a warm bed.

She hugged me tightly, holding tightly to my back. So tight that it almost hurt. I wrapped my arms snug around her shoulders and ran my hand along the back of her head, cooing her softly.

“Hey, hey,” I said gently against her hair. She sniffled, crying quietly like she always did. “What’s going on, hm?”

She shook her head against my chest, dampening my shirt. “I…,” she began, then shook her head once more and clutched my back tighter.

I smoothed her hair, shushing her, and nodded. “It’s alright. It’s okay,” I said, guiding her toward the nearby bus stop.

Thankfully at this time of afternoon, it wasn’t too busy. I sat her down on the bench and took the spot beside her, creating a barrier between her and the rest of the world. Still crying, she hugged her legs to her chest and leaned against the side of the bus stop awning. I took her hand in mine and urged her to look at me.

Bloodshot, her eyes were practically shaking as they danced around my face. “Can you tell me what happened?” I asked.

She rubbed her nose and nodded, eyes on the crack in the concrete like it might swallow her up and she might let it. “I lost my job,” she said, voice weak, quivering.

My heart lurched. “Y-you what?”

She nodded, sniffling. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

She sighed and rubbed her arms. “You know that one customer who comes in a lot? The one who saved the stray?” she asked.

I stiffened. Min Yoongi. Swallowing hard, I glanced at her and saw nothing but broken pieces, barely adhered together, of the girl I knew. Cautiously, I nodded my head. “Yeah…”

“Well, he came in looking for a proper food bowl since he’s been feeding that cat out of tupperware or something,” she said, shaking her head. “And he looked, like…like he couldn’t afford it, you know? Like ten bucks on a bowl wasn’t in the monthly budget.”

“Nara…,” I began, groaning.

She sobbed. “I know!” she said, crying into the tops of her knees. “It’s so stupid!”

“Did you just give it to him for free?” I asked.

She nodded. “We break those shitty things all the time at work. Like, bumping the shelf and one breaks. Or sweeping and the broom knocks one down. They’re breakable and cheap,” she said, shaking her head. “So I figured that if I just said I broke it, it’d be fine.”

“Nara,” I said again, brows knit as I rubbed her back.

“I know,” she said. “My boss has been really crazy about the records lately since something keeps happening to the schedule. And on top of it since the shop’s not doing well, he needs to check the video if anything breaks and he saw me giving it to him.”

“Wait, something’s happening with your schedules?” I asked, the wheels in my brain beginning to turn in an unsettling direction.

She nodded, wiping her eyes. “He accused me of doing it since it’s usually my schedule that ends up getting changed. That’s why I haven’t had closing shifts these days,” she said, woeful. “I’d be thankful for a closing shift now…”

I sighed. “Why did you do that, Nara? That guy doesn’t-,” I began, then stopped and shook my head. “He probably doesn’t even need the charity.”

She rubbed her neck and shrugged. “I dunno…,” she mumbled.

I gaped. “Nara,” I said, shaking her arm so she’d look at me with those red, worried eyes. “You didn’t do it just because you have a crush on him, did you?”

“No!” she answered, too quick. I raised my brows and she cried again, crashing into my chest. “Maybe a little bit!”

I rubbed her back despite my frustration and sighed. “Let’s get you home. I’ll find a way to fix this.”

“What?” she asked, pulling back and revealing her tear-stained, red-cheeked face. “What can you do?”

I shook my head. “I’ll explain it some other time. For now just…cry it out,” I said, guiding her back into my side. Even though my motions were gentle, rage was seething in my stomach. And I knew just how to address it.

“Min Yoongi, what the fuck did you do?”

Yoongi jumped as I approached his work desk at the HQ, eyes wide. He pulled his big headphones off his ears and lowered his laptop screen. He was dressed sharper then usual, crisp white dress shirt tucked into nice black slacks. His hair was styled out of his face, and his shoes looked polished. What had he dressed up for anyway? I scoffed. Poor, my ass.

He blinked up at me. “I-what? What do you mean?”

I crossed my arms, furious, and sighed. “Nara lost her job because of you.”

Yoongi stiffened. “What?” he asked, and in his eyes I caught a flicker of genuine shock and guilt.

“She gave you that dog bowl,” I said, then scoffed and shook my head. “But no. That’s not enough for her boss to fire her on the spot.”

Yoongi swallowed hard. “She…”

“Her boss thinks she’s been messing with the schedule to shift it in her favor,” I said, turning my eyes down toward him. He stared off into the middle distance, like his mind was someplace else. “Now, who do we know who can hack into a pet shop’s online schedule and change it, hm?”

Yoongi shook his head and stood up, staggering toward me with one hand extended, palm up like he was asking for something. “Give me her number. I’ll fix it.”

“You’ve done enough,” I said, shaking my head. His eyes flashed toward mine. My stomach clenched. Guilt. I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “Listen, I know you had good intentions.”

He nodded. “I-I just wanted to help her…,” he said, eyes getting faraway once again.

“I know. But…this is Nara’s livelihood on the line, you know? You can’t just stick your hands in someone else’s life like that and expect no consequences,” I said, sighing. “It’s just shitty that the only one having to take responsibility for this is her.”

Yoongi glanced at me like I’d hit a nerve and I almost wished to take it back, but I stood firm. Keeping my eyes on him without wavering. Not even once. “I…Y/N, I’ll take responsibility. I’ll take responsibility.” He repeated it like a mantra, like he wasn’t talking to me anymore. Not really.

I nodded. “I want to believe that, but…I don’t know if I can trust you to do that,” I said, sighing. I gave his shoulder a pat. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Seokjin breezing in through the front doors, and once he noticed me he made a beeline. “You can’t run away though, Yoongi. You’ve gotta face it, okay? No hiding behind a computer screen,” I said, angling my body so Seokjin wouldn’t see my hand sliding into my bag and grabbing my phone as he approached. I quickly pulled up the recorder app and began recording, turning back to Yoongi whose eyes were wide on me. I held a finger to my lips and nodded. “Consider this part of you taking responsibility,” I whispered before shoving my phone back in my pocket and turning to face Seokjin.

He smirked when he saw me. “Huh, would you look at that. And here I thought you were never gonna fulfill your part of the deal,” he said with a chuckle.

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. “Kim Seokjin,” I said, making sure I enunciated every syllable. Even if I felt guilty doing it. “I’ve got a bit of info if you want it.”

He raised his brows. “You don’t say? Well, let’s head down to my office,” he said with a broad smile, sweeping his arm toward the stairs.

I nodded and followed him. We walked in silence until we were in the safe confines of the basement and I settled in the chair in front of his desk. I crossed my legs and watched him carefully, like a deer watching a cougar. Cautious, alert, ready to flee at any moment.

But as he settled into his seat with a contented sigh, I remembered who I was dealing with. “Tell me your news!” he said, clapping his hands once.

I cleared my throat. “I’ve been having meetings with his parents. Turns out his dad owns a law firm and his sister is in the US studying law.”

Seokjin cocked a brow. “Huh,” he said, nodding. “That’s pretty good. Two possible angles.”

I nearly scoffed. What could he possibly do with such vague information? I offered a smile and nodded. “He comes from a pretty wealthy family, so I don’t think taking a financial approach will work,” I said with a nod. “He’s got more than enough money.”

“Right,” said Seokjin, rubbing his jaw. “I’ll think of something.” He paused and glanced back at me, raising his brows. “Is there more?”

I shook my head. “That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll keep digging though,” I said with a nod.

Seokjin sighed. “Well, nonetheless thanks for the help. He’s a tough guy to crack. Even Yoongi’s having trouble pulling up personal information on him. It’s good that we have you around.”

I stiffened. “Are you…complimenting me right now?” I asked, nearly laughing.

He rolled his eyes. “No,” he said, then cleared his throat. “I’m just saying that I appreciate you doing this. Whatever your motivation is…you’re helping us a lot.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, eyes falling to the desk between us. “I know we don’t have this kind of relationship, but I’m curious,” I began, eyeing him to make sure I wasn’t pushing too hard. “Why is this job so important to you?”

Seokjin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and his thumb. “The stakes,” he said with a nod. “They’re…really high. Our client isn’t someone to mess around with.”

“And if you don’t fulfill your end of the bargain?”

He looked up at me seriously, brows furrowed. “The consequences…will be severe,” he said. It was the most serious I’d ever seen him. And in his eyes was a small measure of fear.

I swallowed white hot guilt down my throat and nodded. “I…I see…”

“It’s why Jungkook wanted you to stop involving yourself,” he said with a nod. “It’s remarkably dangerous.”

I nodded. “Yoongi said something similar,” I said.

Seokjin laced his fingers and rested his hands against his lips, eyes focused on something on his desk. “Yeah,” he said. “You’re…not really the sort of person who should be involved in all this. You know, corporations are competitive. They’ve gotta be. Markets shift constantly, so you’ve gotta keep an edge.”

“You seem to know a lot about this,” I remarked.

He smirked. “Grew up around it. Silver spoon kid,” he said, sighing. “Growing up in a household like that, I saw how ruthless big companies can get. I realized that corporations are just legal criminals. Figured I could at least get a cut off the corruption.”

My eyes went wide. “All corporations are like that?” I asked.

He shook his head and sighed. “Not Ori,” he said with a nod. “It’s a shame we’ve gotta ruin them, since they’re one of the only good ones to get big.”

“Do…do you have to?” I asked.

He ran fingers through his hair and leaned back in his chair. “Like I said, our client is no joke. If we don’t keep up our end, we could lose a lot more than just money,” he said.

“So you’re being coerced?”

“No,” said Seokjin with a chuckle. “You think really diametrically. Things are rarely that absolute.”

I sighed. “But you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared of anything.”

“You’re scared of your client.”

He was quiet for a moment, before meeting my eyes severely. “You would be too if you knew who they were.”

I raised my brows, heart racing as I neared the elusive piece of crucial information I’d been seeking from the start. “Try me,” I offered.

He took a deep breath, shut his eyes for a moment, then looked at me dead on. And without him saying a single word, I felt his anxiety. I felt his uneasiness. I felt his fear. I felt it all. He inhaled sharply and lowered his gaze. “Our client,” he began, and my legs bounced with anticipation, “is Sanyo Industries.”