#the whole gang is here and supporting chip

[satsujinkiren]

(might have been a little inspired to write a whole thing for this)

Chip pulled the worn white shirt over his head as he changed into the "casino clothes".

It wasn't the first time he had shown his post-op chest in public but there was always a small victory wrapped in warm insecurity that came when he did.

He started to button up the top when a particular fish stumbled through the curtain. "What's going on man, you look like you're struggling," Chip said as he moved the curtain to let Gillion in. Gillion had both eyes and hands transfixed on the cloth that was meant to be a tie, "I am... trying... to tie this... tie as Jay instructed." He struggled for a bit until Chip snickered and took the tie in his hands.

"Here I got it, man."

Gillion nodded thankfully and tried his best to watch Chip's technique before becoming transfixed on something else.

"Chip... what fearsome beast have you slain to give you such scars as those." His hands stilled and became almost shaky as he followed Gillion's gaze to his chest.

Of course, Gillion doesn't know about this. But how could he explain? What could he really say? How could Gillion comprehend the beast he faced every day that left him with these scars? There's no way he ever would.

"It was the hardest battle of my life."

Chip looked up towards Gillion, gauging a reaction, and he was met with the widest eyes he's ever seen. It was like Gillion was hanging off of every word and Chip laughed as he realized he was going to become the coolest person Gill had ever met.

"It was a beast that followed me all my life, hunting me down no matter where I went. I could be resting easy when boom, the chase began again." He flourished each word with dramatic hand motions as he continued his work on the tie, "And its name? Dysphoria."

Gillion gasped with starry eyes, Chip continued, "I fought it off as best I could for 18 years of life until it had me in its clutches, its unbearable weight on top of me and its claws dug into my skin. We fought for hours until it slashed into my chest and I cut it off! I ripped that weight clean off me and vanquished the beast!"

Gillion stared at Chip and then down at his scars. The buttoned shirt displayed only half of his chest but that just made Gillion all the more impressed that Chip had endured such a challenge. His eyes almost glowed with admiration, he opened his mouth but as he did Jay knocked on the curtain.

"Oi what're you two doing in there, can we go now?"

Gillion ripped the curtain open and excitedly announced to Jay, "Chip was telling me about how he got his glorious scars!" Jay scoffed as she saw the aforementioned scars she knew the origin of; Chip had never told her but it wasn't something that was earth-shattering. "And what did he tell you then," she said as she slyly eyed Chip who sweated under her stare. "He told me of the perilous battle he endured for all his life before he valiantly overcame the beast known as Dysphoria."

Jay looked at Chip, a haunted one, one who struggled all of his life. She sighed, and then she smiled.

"Did he tell you about how powerful it is? They say those hunted by Dysphoria have been running from the beast since birth. And very few truly ever vanquish it," she winked at Chip as Gillion's eyes filled with wonder yet again. "Y-yeah! And in all honesty, I think the beast might still be around, sneaking in the shadows, in the corner of my eyes. At any time, it might pounce again."

Gillion was wowed by this barrage of fantasy, this tale that was being spun. He couldn't believe that he had never heard of such a creature, he wondered if he would ever encounter such a foe. He walked away with a knotted tie and Chip walked away with a shirt buttoned wrong.

"Thanks... Jay." He said quietly as he walked next to her. She softly smiled, "we all have our battles, we get to tell the stories of our scars."

Do you think Gillion would look at Chip's top surgery scars and think he fought a big monster like Kuba Kenta? Do you think Chip would clear up that it was surgery or do you think he'd say it was a fearsome beast known as Dysphoria? No but like, do you think Jay would clear it up, or do you think she'd play along? Do you think this would happen early on in the campaign or do you think it'd happen around the current episodes when Chip no longer has a shirt? Do you think Chip, despite promising not to lie, wouldn't be able to tell Gill the truth on this because he can't bring himself to remember what it was like being trapped in the wrong body?

Guys I'm totally normal about Chip Jrwi.

[witchthewriter]

𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆   𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄

Paid story for @yourwinchesterbros. Word Count: 3.1k Warnings: swears, SMUT no one under 18 read this please, i.e., rough sex

ᵐᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡⁱˢᵗ

Jax decided to drive both of you over to his place, pick the boys up and go to the park. You agreed, because … you didn’t really know what the boys liked to do. Jax found your anxiety a tiny bit humorous, only because you were so riled about it.

    “I mean, what if I say … the wrong thing and they hate me forever? I don’t want to be the evil stepmother!” You said while the two of you got dressed.

 “Babe, they’re not gonna think of you like that. I promise,” he said and gave you a peck on the cheek. Rolling your eyes, you zipped up your boots and went to feed your own two boys. They were waiting patiently at their bowls, both tails wagging when you made their food.

   With Jax in the shower, your mind wandered to all the things that could happen. Fuck, what if one of them gets hurt on my watch? You thought while placing the silver bowls on the ground.

You weren’t expecting things to go well. That’s just how your mind worked sometimes, okay ... all the time. Low expectations meant you couldn’t get hurt. That whatever went wrong was bound to happen anyway. Basically, you were a supporter of Murphy’s Law.

You were already dressed and waiting on Jax. So, you decided to do a bit of tidying up, which turned into cleaning and when Jax came out of the bathroom, he saw you with two gloves on, heavily scrubbing the benches.

   “Babe! It’ll be okay. They’re just kids-“ Jax had your face in his hands as he spoke, so you had nowhere else to look but in his eyes. Eyes that seemed to look straight through you. To see everything you were feeling.

It made your stomach flip. He truly believed his sons would somehow adore you. Just as he did. Oh, the folly of men.

You rode over to Jax's place on his bike and the whole way there you couldn't stop panicking. Children frightened you a little, but what you didn't realise was that Jax could feel your heartbeat through his back.

And at one point, he lightly slapped the side of your thigh. It was his way of trying to get you out of your own mind.

The ride felt shorter than usual and as you hopped off the bike and undid the helmet, you followed Jax up to the house. It was just like any other house. It was middle-class; clean, and well-maintained, even the lawn had been mowed. The mailbox stuck out to you, and you didn’t know why. Maybe it was because of how weird a biker in a gang would have such a normal, everyday, and mundane … thing. It wasn’t rusting or chipping either...unlike yours.

   With one knock to the door, Jax opened it and went inside. With you right behind him, he squeezed your hand once and went to find his boys.

Oh fuck, okay here we go, you thought, looking around the place. Hell, it was clean. Cleaner than your own home. Well, Jax would have hired a cleaner, or at least, Gemma would have. But if you ever moved in with him, would you still keep the cleaner around? Would Gemma still come around as often?

It was these weird thoughts that sometimes kept you up at night. Were they stupid thoughts? Over the top? Were you thinking too far ahead? Calm down, you thought to yourself. And tapped your thigh right where Jax had before.

  Your mind was snapped out of its cage when you heard the sound of heels on tiles. Holding a breath, you saw ...that Wendy wasn’t there. Unbeknownst to you, Jax had had a conversation with her the night before. It wasn’t a fun one either. But he did make things clear, as well as assure Wendy that her boys weren’t being taken from her.

  Gemma stood there with her arms crossed. Was she glowering at you? No, no she was sizing you up. Once again.

   “The way you handled Wendy the other night was pretty badass, Zoe.”

Some people would see that as a compliment but there was something sour in her words.

Before you could reply, Jax came out with two blonde-haired boys.

Abel and Thomas were hesitant as they clung to their father. All three had blonde hair, and the thought made you smile. For a split second, you wondered what coloured hair your baby with Jax would be, but instantly you scolded yourself. Don’t think so far ahead! you thought.

Abel was the easiest one to get along with, all you had to do was ask him about his toys and off he was, running around his house trying to drag you along, showing you all the different rooms and what he used them for.

   “And in that one we do number ones and number twos,” he said brightly while pointing to the toilet.

  “Whew, that’s good to know,” you responded with a laugh. Jax howled with laughter, while carrying Thomas close to his chest. Jax held onto Thomas, who didn’t want to leave his father’s arms. Not because he didn’t like this new stranger, no, he’d been around strangers all the time. It was just that right now he got all his father’s attention. Finally.

   “Isn’t that right, daddy?” Abel said with such innocent eyes.

“Absolutely,” Jax huffed, and scruffed his son’s hair.

   But he wasn’t done. Once Abel got someone’s attention, he had to keep it.

“And this…” he swung open the door, “is my bedroom!” He opened his arm in a ‘ta-da’ kind of way and then ran to his bed and jumped on it.

   “Woah man,” you said. Trying your best to be as interested as possible. And it was interesting to see the little knick-knacks in the toddlers room. It was blue, with shelves full of photos and race cars. And a LOT of miniature toy bikes.

   Jax followed you guys in and took in the picture before him. The three people he loved most in this world. His two beautiful boys. And the woman he’d been waiting for.

  “Hey, you guys wanna go to the park?” Jax said and both the boys screamed “yes!” Even Thomas let his excitement show.

Fuck Murphy’s Law, you thought. The sun was shining, warming everyone’s skin, not a cloud in the sky. The playground was empty except for the four of you, who were currently in a very serious game of tips. Abel was it, and he had to tap the closest person so then they would switch. In a child’s mind it was perfectly logical. But explaining it to Thomas was a bit of a challenge. He was just happy to cling to Jax.

  Whenever you looked over at Thomas, he buried himself further into his father’s chest. Almost covering himself with the kutte. God, if you weren’t seeing a lot of Jax, then these poor boys barely saw him. A pang of guilt hit you in the chest and you felt a little sick. You hadn’t even thought about the boys and what Jax meant to them.

“No, no ah!” You yelled as you ‘ran away’ from Abel (you couldn’t help but go easy on the kids. If it were with other adults … then your competitive nature would send you overboard.)

  Abel’s tanned arm reached out and tugged at your shirt. “Got you! Got you!” He screamed in delight, his little mouth curling in a big smile.

    “Zo is it!” Thomas babbled, giggling near his dad. The first time he acknowledged you. It made you beam. Maybe this was the reason people had kids … for some validation.

Looking at both boys, you curled your fingers, and you did your worst evil laugh. Abel screeched happily, jumping to the upper level, and running to the slide. Jax held Thomas’ hand and slowly ran away from you, hiding between the swings.

    “Ohhh, I’m gonna get you!” You said to Jax, who looked at you with a sly grin.

“I would like to see you try-“ he replied, trying his best to hold in a smile. Being suave wasn’t actually that easy. Especially while playing tips.

  But you took off, and without even moving, Jax let you jump onto his back and down to the ground. Abel and Thomas screamed in pure excitement.

   The little boys piled on top of you two, squealing and giggling, they could barely stay on top because they were so small.

    “We got you Dad!” Abel said, holding onto your back.

“Yeah, we dot you!” Thomas echoed, giving his father a kiss on the face.  He was going to be the sweetest thing on earth. You just knew.

Your things were sitting on the park bench not that far from the playground. But Jax didn’t hear his phone ring. He placed it in your bag and actually forgot about it.

   For once he wanted not to be interrupted, to have time true family time. Because he learnt from his past. And wasn’t going to make the same mistakes again.

  But that meant he missed a call. Well, a few calls actually. Ones that would change the course of club business.

  On the drive back home, you looked at Jax and spelled out “I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M?” He only responded with a deep belly laugh.

   “Yeah, I reckon we can do that.”

By the time the boys arrived home, their faces were covered in icecream and sprinkles. Much to Gemma’s dismay.

   “God, now they’re gonna be running on the roof,” she said with a huff. But you knew it was an act. She loved that the boys were spending time with their father.

   “It’s alright Ma, I’ll clean them up.”

“Yeah I know you will,” she said like a whip. Her hands on her hips as she led the four of you inside. She ran the bath, and although the boys were filthy, they both whined.

   “C’mon, Zo loves baths,” Jax said, adding bubbles and toys to the tub.

“Y-yeah, I do! They’re great!” You said enthusiastically, doing your best to persuade the two little grubs to get clean. They looked like the lost boys from Peter Pan.

  When the tub was full enough, the boys still wouldn’t get in. Both with crossed arms (Thomas just copying his brother), they refused.

     “I bet,” you said with an idea in your head, ”that you’ve never had a bath with your clothes … on.”

And their eyes lit up.

   Gemma rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“I mean a bath is a bath right?” You said to Jax, who looked at you with raised brows.

    “I mean … yeah.”

After the boys were cleaned, Gemma was almost adamant that the two of you leave. You could feel the ownership radiating off of her.

  Like leaving a lioness’ den, you got on the bike and Jax took you home. Gemma watched as you two sped off, and when she turned to go back inside, you could have sworn her tail followed.

  When Jax dropped you home, he finally looked at his phone. You could see the concern on his face, but something in you told you to back off. To give him some privacy. Hey, maybe it wasn’t club business for all you knew. Maybe it was a big day for him as well.

Barely giving you a kiss, he waited for you to walk inside and sped off.

The club business had Jax fired up. And when he got to your place, he harshly knocked on the door, then started pacing back and forth.

   “Coming,” you called, slipping on your pajama pants. Reaching the door, you yanked it open and saw a frazzled Jax Teller.

   “Shit,” you said plainly.

“Yeah, shit,” he said darkly.

Moving aside, he stalked in and did not take a seat.

  “Do you want a drink?” You said letting the door click closed.

“I- I don’t know,” he started pacing again, and you realised you were seeing the real Jax. The one that no one else saw. The one who did all his thinking by himself.

   “Yeah, I know what you need,” you said slightly wide-eyed. Half of you was worried for Jax, and the other half was … excited. Excited that your relationship had progressed to letting each other see one’s breakdown.

In the kitchen cabinet sat a heavy glass bottle of brown liquor. It was something that Skeeter had made at home. You tried it before, and one glass was the equivalent to four standard drinks.

Getting out your nicest drinking glass, you put in a few ice cubs and two shots of the liquor. Before closing the lid, you took a swig and scrunched your face in reaction. That shit was strong.

    “Here,” you said and sat down. Finally, he followed your lead.

For some reason, it was only now that he could take a deep breath. When you handed him the glass, Jax’s fingers lingered over your own, needing to feel your touch. It was then that he started to calm down. Down a step, then another.

 Jax drained the glass and looked at you with the hunger of a wild animal. Pure lust in his blue, glowing, eyes. Heat travelled from your face, down your neck and in between your thighs. Fuck.

  Prowling over to you, Jax picked you up with ease and laid you on the carpet floor. Your long hair now a messy crown around your head, the tv became background noise, as Jax became mesmerising in his pursuit of pleasure.  

Biting down on your neck, he claimed you as his. With his hands clutching you tight, moving your top further upwards, he kissed at the exposed flesh. Groaning at your taste. The smell of you turned him on, let alone how you looked, how you walked and talked. The whole of you was like a need for him. Sustenance, nourishment; he needed you.

 It was as if you both had that same thought. Jax needed Zo. And it was a race to have all of you.

With swift movements, he pushed your clothes from your body, grabbed ahold of you, and twisted you around. With your face to the ground, he pushed down your pants and ground against your bare ass.

   “Jax,” you whispered and in response all he did was growl. Fuck, you thought. You weren’t with Prince Charming tonight. He wrapped his hand around your neck and with his lips, pulled on your earlobe.

  Jax let go of you, only to undo his pants, and you started to move. But as quick as lightning, he pushed you back to the floor.

    “Don’t fucking move,” he roared and the heat between your legs turned to slick.  

 In a split second you were completely naked. You could feel the roughness of his beard between your legs, the warmth of his hands rubbing your thighs, his mouth was everywhere. All you could do was lay there, doing your best to slowly arch your ass closer and closer to his cock.

 Tonight Jax was full of aggression, of rage, of … tension. And he needed you. He hadn’t planned on having you face down on the ground, ass in the air. Such a pretty ass, he thought. And slapped it hard.

   “Ah!” You flicked your head towards him and your eyes grew red. Raising an eyebrow, he inclined his head.

  “No?” He grumbled. His voice was lower than usual. Gravelly, hoarse.

“Yes,” you said in a command. And an evil grin spread across his face. Within moments, your ass was red raw and it made your cunt even more sensitive.

    Seeing you in that position made Jax want to touch every part of you. His hands gripped your cheeks and spread them apart. You knew his face was centimetres away from your core because you could feel his hot breath against it.

  If it was any other night you would say something, but all you dared do was whine.

     “Shhhh,” he cooed, swiping his nose against the exposed flesh. Licking your folds, toying with your clit with one of his fingers.

  “You want me to fuck you?” He asked, almost entranced.

“Yes,” you whispered, and tried to move backwards, so his face was flush against you. At that, he laughed. But a hard hand slapped your ass again and you cried out.

    “I know you want me to fuck you…” and then his mouth was sucking on your cunt, his nose gliding up and down. “I know you do…” he murmured against you.

The tension in stomach was tightening and tightening, but you didn’t want to cum without him inside of you.

  “Jax-“ you whined, trying to get his attention. But he hands were firmly planted on your hips, his face completely buried in your ass, his fingers in your pussy, his mouth moving everywhere.

    “I’m gonna-“

“I know,” and then he undid his pants and let his hard cock spring free.

It didn’t start off slowly like it had the first time. No, this time around Jax was rough. He plunged himself into you, thrusting hard; in and out, in and out. The sound of his balls slapping your ass filled the room but you were too hazy to be embarrassed.

  “G-god,” you moaned loudly, letting his body pound into your own. Jax’s body was practically on top of yours, one hand around your throat, and the other around your middle, thrusting into you erratically.

“Fuck.” 

     “Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

    “What was that about.”

“The deal went through babe, I’m sorry – wait I didn’t hurt you did I?” Jax got up from the floor to look you over. Only a few hickies on your neck and breasts. Well, and some on your thighs.

 But you only laughed, a glint in your eye. Having his kneeling body right next to you was a sight to behold. Tanned all over, his hair messed, muscles bulging (may or may not have been flexing). He looked like a god. But to you, he was only a prince. Your prince.

   “I’m fine, Prince Charming, now go get me a blanket, I’m cold.”

“As you wish,” he said and got up, his cock dangling between his legs. You almost gasped. Yes, you were a mature grown woman, but seeing the male form always gave you a little shock. Especially a male form that had been inside you.

“I gotta talk to you about somethin’,” Jax’s voice was heavy and your stomach twisted.

    “…yeah?” You looked up at him and he sighed.

“I have to leave again, not as long as last time though. But I leave tonight.”

  You groaned and flopped back onto the floor. You had only just gotten him back.

“Hey baby,” he said with a smirk on his face, “at least you have somethin’ to masturbate over now.”

[co-mixed]

Why Boom Still Can’t Get Buffy Right

My love for the Buffyverse is concrete but it has its limits. Yesterday I had a very unpleasant experience finishing yet another unimpressive Buffy run, courtesy of Boom Comics. It’s always disappointing to me because Buffyverse has so much potential and untold stories. It’s a goldmine that is constantly held back and simply can’t find its footing in the comics medium. Why is that? 

Boom’s been rather relentless in trying to make Buffy work. Several years and runs later, there’s still no big WOW story that can attract readers and viewers alike. Not just that, but even seasoned buffy fans don’t seem very interested in continuous attempts at rebooting the Slayer tale. You can blame the word reboot (it does tend to scare people) but the real reason is still Boom’s inability to deliver a good captivating story.

Boom had tried reinventing Buffy, sending her back to school, developing alternate realities and futures. But in every iteration, Buffy and the Scooby Gang were plagued with the same mistakes over and over again. 

Hey, I’m not sure what I am, so bear with me here 

The characters from Buffy are some of the most well-developed characters out there. Each one has a point of origin, a story, and a final form. We love them because we know them. And we know them extremely well. 

Let’s take the fan-favorite, Spike. We’ve seen his whole afterlife and even bits of his life. We know how he became William the Bloody, then Spike, a neutered vampire, and finally, an ensouled champion. We know how, and more importantly, we know why. 

I’d hate to throw in one more why but there is a reason Spike exists in the show, and we know it. 

When you read Boom comics, it feels like writers stick him into every arc just because they like him. He brings nothing to the story, he has no soul or chip yet chooses to join the scoobies. That does not look like the Spike we know. That guy was in s2-s4, not s5-s7. That’s the guy from School Hard or the one who got the Gem of Amara and happily marched to kill Buffy. 

But there’s nothing stronger than the author’s desire to make things ‘right’. Hence this spike lookalike joining the team every time. 

The funny part is, I can very well imagine a soulless chipless Spike who’s not a monster. If Dru sires him and never sees him again, if she never introduces him to Angelus, if he keeps on writing his bloody awful poetry only forever. He probably would’ve turned out like that poor librarian guy whose glasses Dru broke or like Harmony who still tried to be decent. But it’s the writer’s job to explain it, to write it into the story, not just throw a character into a book and see whether they swim or go down. They will always go down. 

Spike is only one of the issues here. In the show, both Kendra and Faith exist to show us the perfect (according to the council) and the fallen slayer. Two possible realities for Buffy. They have their own arcs (well, Faith does) but the show is strong because supporting characters serve a purpose. Just like the people we meet in real life always serve a purpose for us. You might believe that one character pushing the development of another is cruel, but that’s still how good stories are made. That’s still why Buffy is popular 20 years after the show’s finale. 

Kendra and Faith did that for Buffy in the show. In the Boom comics they just exist. They show up for no reason and they just hang around. You can take them out of the story and nothing will change. At one point in the initial reboot there were three slayers at the same time, and that felt more like a fix-it fanfic than a quality comic book. Unfortunately, some slayers have to die and some have to turn evil. Besides, without her rebellious personality, Faith is meaningless.

I have one more bone to pick. I know that Buffy and Angel (still the OTP of the show!) are a complicated matter to many modern writers. And readers, and viewers. There’s no place to hide from the creep factor and even though I will defend this ship till the day everyone finally agrees with me, I can’t deny its presence. But that doesn’t mean you get to discard this ship and separate Buffy and Angel into different books. One doesn’t exist or grow without the other. There is no Buffy in love with a vampire without Angel. There is only Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire. 

Without Buffy, Angel is not in LA helping the helpless. He’s in New York eating low rats. Before trying to launch two separate books, how about Boom launches one good one, that provides background, even if revised and adapted to the modern days? 

I always worried what would happen when that b*tch got some funding

All this chaotic mess with the characters determines the stories Boom puts out. They tend to have an interesting start but by the time issue 3 comes out, it’s either Camazotz flying around Sunnydale, a giant crab taking over the main street, or whatever the hell Silas was (a soul eater?) Didn’t care for him much. Not even when we were evil. 

More often than not Boom writers suffer from the same disease that plagued Dark Horse comics – scale. Just because you can do anything doesn’t mean you should. Comics allow you to draw literally any kind of baddie but you are playing within a specific world, and suspense of disbelief only goes so far. Besides, in the show, it all grows gradually. You go from the Master to the First evil. In the comics… seriously, what the hell was Silas? 

From what I’ve read so far, Boom knows how to ask interesting questions: 

What if Buffy went to school today?

What if Willow took over as the slayer? 

What if Buffy was older? 

Those are all good what ifs but Boom has a problem following through. They don’t know the answer to this question and it feels like they’re making it up as they go along. If I’m being honest, it even feels like they wrote random ideas on pieces of paper, through them in a hat, and started pulling each time they hit a wall. 

Characters show up for now reason (hi, Tara from the latest run), they don’t feel like themselves, and the saddest part – none of it feels like you are getting your favorite show back. 

These characters deserve better than that. 

And there’s not a one who can say this ended well

At this point, I don’t know if Boom wants Buffy comics to succeed. I don’t mean to be this dramatic but every time someone mentions comics, fans think Dark Horse. Not because they are still considered canon, but because they had a connection to the beloved show. Boom comics don’t give you that, so you can’t look the other way when writers don’t deliver. It’s just how it works. 

I keep thinking what Boom can do to get out of this vicious circle. And I do believe there If they want to successfully play in the Buffyverse, they have to seriously up their game. It’s not impossible either. I mean, Something is Killing the Children is being released by the same studio. And what is that if not a more gruesome version of Buffy? So it’s not exactly magic. It’s doable. 

Personally, I still hold out hope that someone would dare explore the terrifying bloody past of the Whirlwind. Wouldn’t that be fun and gory? I’d like to see deep well-thought-through stories of past slayers. I’d happily read a well-illustrated comic run based on In Every Generation. And if we have to go back to Buffy variants, why not reinvent her story? But before we get to that, we’d have to work through every step of every character. Get them to where we want them, and start with a story that we want to tell, from start to finish. From her first day as a slayer to her last one (she didn’t have to empower the potentials after all).

That, of course, requires a lot of work. And if Boom isn’t ready to put in that kinda effort, they could just move from season 5, introduce a new slayer, and watch how her adventures unravel.  

Buffyverse is a hell of a property and there are too many stories waiting to be written. I’m probably still gonna give it a shot whenever Boom comes up with something new. I just hope I won’t have to write yet another long read complaining about it. 

[one-vivid-judgment]

LET THE GATES OF HEADCANONS HELL OPEN! 🔥 Hcs for Seonhee, Yamai and Eiji! Pweeeease!

I'm a simple woman, I see Eiji, I jump. Since it wasn't specified whether they had to be SFW or NSFT, I went for the first option!

Anyway, here they are!

General headcanons (Eiji, Yamai & Seonhee)

Eiji Mitamura

• Before everything eventually crashes and burns, he's a shameless son of a bitch. Hand on your ass or waist at all times, straight up making out in front of everyone who so much as looks at you like they might want something to do with you. If you ask if he's possessive, he'll say he's not, he just thinks it's funny to see the looks on those guy's faces. Of course that's a lie though. 

• He's not into the cutesy pet names or things like cuddling. You can do it if you want to, he will coo and call it adorable (a bit patronizing, because of course), but don't expect him to do it. Occasionally, he'll pull a cigarette kiss, and he will let you sleep with your head on his chest whenever, but that's the most he'll ever do. 

• After the whole shebang, it's a complete 180. He (for good reason, may we add) thinks he doesn't deserve shit—if you are willing to help him, visit him while he's in prison and show him support like Ichi did, he might cry. PDA after everything is... a touchy subject. You better be patient with that. A part of him does feel a little happy that you'd want to show him off like that though. 

Yutaka Yamai

• If he ever lets you borrow his jacket, you BET you're special for this man. He is always cold, even in the heat of Hawaiian summer, turtleneck and thick jacket and all. So if you ever see him take off that jacket and drap it over your shoulders, you should take it as the big sign of trust it is. 

• Surprisingly a pretty chill dude. He never formally introduced you to his gang. He's the boss, why would he need to, right? Even so, all his boys know who you are; how could they not, when the boss brings you around pretty much everyday? His hostesses know and love you. Everyone is at least a bit surprised that Yamai is into someone younger for once, but no one dares ask out loud. It's way better that way. 

• He hasn't worn his hair in a ponytail ever since his days at the Tabata family. Hasn't even considered it, actually. If you even suggest tying it up for 'convenience', he'll refuse. If you just start playing with his hair for the sake of it though, he will go stiff for a moment and then just... let it happen. The softer things are usually not his thing, but this... this he can tolerate. And then you might be able to coax him into wearing a ponytail again. 

Seonhee

• She may look all tough for the sake of upholding her Queen of the Geomijul status, but she LOVES cute things. Teddy bears, heart-shaped make-up containers, butterfly claw clips (yes, the irony of the spider-butterfly thing is not lost on her). She may not show it outwardly, but if you gift her something cute, she'll absolutely MELT. 

• Doing your nails together is probably her favorite thing ever. Something about letting her partner hold her hands to file and paint her nails feels so intimate for her. There is not really any need to speak either; it's a comfortable kind of silence. If she likes your work a lot, she might go without the gloves for a few days until they start to chip. 

• Be prepared to eat gyoza and VERY spicy food. She will try to tone it down if you tell her it's too much for you to handle, but at this point, she really can't cook any other way. It's in her DNA. At least you'll learn to handle your spice.

[broadwaydivastournament]

Audra and Bebe and Bernadette and Christine: The Good Fight

Diane Lockhart:

After slapping the shit out of Julianna Margulies in the series finale of The Good Wife, Diane Lockhart became the star of her own spin-off series The Good Fight. On the eve of her retirement, Diane finds out she's dead broke due to a series of financial schemes perpetrated by friend and client Bernadette Peters' husband (whose name I don't care enough to look up). Following this disastrous turn of events, Diane becomes a partner at a Black Chicago-based firm, and is later upgraded to named partner.

She's also a fashion icon, so jot that down.

Throughout six seasons, staunch-Democrat Diane spends her storylines addressing the social and political climate of the day. She handles cases revolving around fake news and the MeToo movement, briefly joins an underground anarchist group because Katie Finneran tells her to (understandable), gets SWAT-ed, has a few breakdowns, and enjoys the fun of microdosing. In short, she's living her best life.

Liz Reddick:

In the second season, Liz Reddick-Lawrence joins the gang at Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart. Formerly a U.S. Attorney, and Boseman's ex-wife, she joins the firm following her father's death. Initially, she and Diane get off to a rough start with their professional and personal differences. White name partner, Black firm... You can understand why. They spend the series butting heads as often as holding hands, and when the chips are down, they'll support each other.

Liz, another fashion icon, has a young son, divorces her cop husband, has a romantic liaison with Wayne Brady, has another affair with her ex-husband (and perjures herself when asked about it in court), and fucks a workplace subordinate (a white man, which is the real crime here). She and Diane briefly put aside their fight-of-the-week to lean into the rumor that they're lesbian lovers in order to win a court case. And we didn't even get a fake dating kiss out of it, so if anyone wants to join my class action lawsuit for emotional harm, let me know.

Judge Claudia Friend:

Judges on The Good Fight, often have a fun little schtick that recurs throughout their guest appearances. Judge Claudia Friend is cursed to always preside over cases where the lawyers see fit to bicker like children the entire time. She is...so tired. (Hence why my multi-story saga about this minor character started with her getting absolutely railed over her desk by another judge--as played by Joanna Gleason).

In addition to three appearances in The Good Wife, including Audra McDonald's single guest appearance where they shared a scene, Claudia Friend presides over two episodes/cases in The Good Fight. And I, for one, would have liked more of this exhausted and exasperated judge in my life.

Lenore Rindell:

Mother of early-series protagonist Maia Rindell, Lenore is a co-conspirator of the ponzi scheme that makes Diane flat broke season one. While her husband fucks off to some island to avoid prosecution, Lenore has to stay and face the music. She's also having an affair with her brother-in-law, so there's that.

Okay, sucks for Diane and all that, but take a look at this woman and tell me you wouldn't let her do whatever she wanted? I support women's wrongs, and I really support the costume department putting Bernadette in this pretty little nightie. Anyway, Lenore is eventually prosecuted for her part in the whole financial scheme and her character is written out of the show.

Other Divas who appear on The Good Fight include: Brenda Braxton (Madeline Gilford - 16eps), Andrea Martin (Francesca Lovatelli - 6eps), Mary Testa (Amy Ann Howard - 3eps), Katrina Lenk (Naftali Amato - 3eps), Jayne Houdyshell (Renee Rampling - 2eps), LaChanze (Julius's Wife - 2eps), Carolee Carmello (Judge Eve Sebald - 2 eps), Linda Emond (Judge Leora Kuhn - 1ep), Katie Finneran (Valerie Peyser - 1ep), Judith Light (Deidre Quinn - 1ep), Joanna Gleason (Judge Carmella Romano - 1ep), Kelli O'Hara (Deirdre Kresteva - 1ep), NaTasha Yvette Williams (Juror - 1ep).

Other Divas who appear on The Good Wife include: Mary Beth Peil (Jackie Florrick - 49eps), Anika Noni Rose (Wendy Scott-Carr - 14eps), Vanessa Williams (Courtney Paige - 4eps), Joanna Gleason (Judge Carmella Romano - 3eps), Linda Emond (Judge Leora Kuhn - 3eps), Jan Maxwell (Camilla Vargas - 2eps), Debra Monk (Tracy Mintz - 1ep), Julie White (Selma Krause - 1ep), Susan Blackwell (Professor Jolie - 1ep), Tovah Feldshuh (Lena - 1ep), Karen Ziemba (Lina Banner - 1ep), Ann Harada (Isabel St. Jean -1ep), Donna Murphy (Judge Alice Adelson - 1ep), Victoria Clark (Shannon Janderman - 1ep), Jackie Hoffman (Judge Maria Felletti - 1ep).

And pretty much every other Broadway actor you can think of.

[pentacass]

Idk if you've answered this before or if you've made your own canon for ves and lana but what canon choices did ves make during her class story? Is lana introduced sooner than the revan expansion?

alllright *cracks knuckles* sith clown time!!! (art by yarpell)

My OCs for each class exist in the same canon verse where my Jedi Knight, Aelirra, is the Outlander and Alliance Commander. Their stories happen in parallel with the game’s main events, with most of their paths converging during the Alliance era, then diverging after. It’s the same for Ves, except she meets Lana much earlier.

For Vestra’s canon choices, I’ll just mention the more ‘significant’ ones? (which really isn’t a lot lol)

On Nar Shaddaa, she chose to cure the plague instead of wiping out the Krayts gang, finding twisted amusement in a Sith being revered as a healer and saviour. She takes over the cult, and has it run to her specifications.

She bound all of the ghosts by force in Act 2, save for Horak-mul on Hoth. Horak seemed eager to go with her, and Ves wanted to know how it feels to bind a ghost willingly. 

In Act 3, she freed the Mother on Belsavis because the machine’s capabilities intrigued her, and she wanted to win it over so that she could look into augmenting herself in future. On Voss, she gave the dream-walking Gormak, Hadrik, passage offworld, and Force persuaded the Voss who confronted her in the airlock. It was the best she'd felt in ages, her mind and body whole once more, and Lord Lenshe was feeling magnanimous enough to hold up her end of the bargain.

For the Silencer CN-12 chip quest, she retained her cult and Force persuaded the Veil into serving her. During the Kaggath, she won over Darth Achelon and Lord Skar as allies, painfully aware that her power base is small and needs to grow beyond Pyron's fleet.

For the final Khem/Zash choice, she kept Khem instead of Zash.

In the end, she gained the canon title of Darth Nox, because she leaned very heavily into the dark side during the class story. (I changed it to Darth Avriss in my fics, cos I’m picky like that) She also released all the ghosts; she was so damn sick of them by then, and craved some time alone.

As for Lana, they meet way back in Act 1. After Ves collected two of four Hord artifacts, Zash recalled her to attend a Sith Lord’s soiree - they met here and had a one-night stand. They’ll meet again on Hoth in Act 2, and have another roll in the sheets. (It’s cold, okay??) After Ves ascended to the Dark Council, they became friends with benefits, and grew closer from there.

By the time Marr asked Ves to help on Makeb, she and Lana were a couple. Ves wasn’t involved with the events of SoR and Ziost (my JK has that…traumatising ‘honour’), but she’s there to catch Lana after Ziost beat her girl down.

During the five years while the Outlander was in carbonite, and Lana’s on the run from the Empire (can’t remember if this is hc or canon), Ves basically acted as Lana’s rock and secret accomplice. The initial idea of forming an alliance to fight the Eternal Empire came from Ves, and while Lana contacts Theron to rustle up Republic support, Ves pulls on her network in the Empire. So when the Alliance is finally formed, most Imperial recruits (and a lot of the initial resources) are there because of Ves. Aelirra may be the Alliance's Commander, but Ves is its sugar mommy.

[chaosbound-official]

Update

(Note: this is a long and kinda overshare-y post about getting demotivated. Tldr is I still love this project and am leaving the blog as is in case I want to return to it, but it may be another hiatus for the foreseeable future. Feel free to skim, but it's not under a readmore because it feels too important to hide any longer.)

I hate to say it, but I'm thinking about shelving the pollsim - and this blog project - possibly indefinitely. It's hard to say this, because I still adore Chaosbound with all my heart, and I wanted to see this blog through. We got so close to a few milestones I wanted to meet - like seeing the remainder of the cast, the reveal of a sister blog... I was hoping I could push through to those at least, have a chance to work with some of the cast I don't spend as much time with, help everyone get to see some of the plans I have in the works for the gang.

The problem here is, the operative word became "push" somewhere along the way.

I love Chaosbound. I still love its cast and the work I've put into it and the story I still want to tell. But after burning out in art college, art got harder for me to do. Chaosbound, and this blog specifically, became one of the few things I could put my all into - and if you take a skim through any character's tag, looking at the sprites I made, you can probably tell that.

But somewhere around the ghost event, I got really demoralized. The ghost event was an event meant to encourage a lot of interaction and engagement, something for blog followers to also try to puzzle out alongside the trolls. And maybe this is partially on me for how I presented things, I don't know.

But by this point almost all of my engagement, outside of likes and whatnot, was from the same few people - all of them my friends no less. People in the server I had for the blog at the time. And this is not meant to devalue their input in any way at all. I'm still very appreciative because without them, I probably would have abandoned the event altogether, and may have struggled to come back at all.

But I knew there were others following too. Others interacting, and at points earlier on I'd gotten some wonderful anon messages that I still have saved in my inbox.

But for whatever reason, everyone had gone silent. Watching quietly, waiting to see how things would play out. I was practically relying on prompting friends to send in responses just to move things along, and eventually was forced to give up and have the ghost reveal himself. I was like a puppeteer performing in the spotlight of an otherwise pitch black theater, wondering if I even had an audience to speak of.

I hated working through the ghost event. It was meant to be an exciting part I was building up to, from the start of the blog's inception I had the whole thing planned out. But between being burnt out irl and the passive reception I just. Didn't want anything more than to get it over with.

I went on hiatus. And Tumblr collectively got steadily worse about its responsiveness and support to artists.

When I came back, I thought I was ready. I'd missed Chaosbound and was picking up drawing again, incrementally. Pollsim was meant to be padding for my slow work process, so I could chip away at sprites and event art for my next big reveal. But of course, I signed up for too much. I got too ambitious with the idea, but then also found I was much shakier than I thought.

The votes to decide which troll we'd find were a good amount, though I highly suspect at least a few were just passerby who like to click buttons. But once we actually got things underway, Makkea's first choice poll saw a steep drop in participation. I felt the stress from the ghost event grip me once more. But, I reminded myself, things were just getting started. Maybe people who aren't interested in Makkea aren't voting, and will jump back in later. Maybe I'm not boosting the event enough. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But I also saw something else happen to me. Now I'm reluctant to pick up my tablet pen. And when I do, I'm always agitated. Angry. Asking myself why I'm even bothering, not just for this blog but at all. Each time I pick up my tablet, I'm suddenly reminded of all the times my art - and these blog events - flopped.

I never thought I'd become the type of artist who relied on the external validation online to do art. For a long time, I wasn't. But art college did something to my relationship with art, and I think creating an art project that intrinsically relied on that external validation was the final nail in the coffin.

I don't want that to happen to me. I don't want to give up art, or to only associate it with stress and rejection and being ignored. And I don't want to associate that with my audience here, either. That's not fair to everyone who's been here, past and present.

A part of me still feels bad for even writing this. For even thinking of posting it, behind a cut or not. I've felt bad for as pushy as I've gotten, about how people need to engage here more often. But keeping this locked up I think only serves to keep the lid firmly on the boiling pot, and I'm tired of it all threatening to explode.

So in short, I'm sorry that this is how things ended up. To those who have been supporting me, quietly, loudly and all the ways inbetween, I'm sorry I couldn't find that as 'enough' - but your support does mean everything to me regardless, and remains why I am still open to the idea of coming back.

The fate of Chaosbound is up in the air. I was hoping the ask blogs I started would be a sort of warm-up to eventually publishing a fan webcomic - a low-pressure venue for character exploration and a way to garner a little audience interest so that, once the webcomic dropped, I knew someone outside my social circle somewhere would be there to see it off on its first day.

I still pick away at Chaosbound, and I still have some assets for the blog that are as yet unposted. A close friend and I have some ideas for pollsim to lead to a potential game, second of its kind for this story in fact. I'd still like to see its realization, and to get the fantroll's stories out into the world, someday. But I have other projects I've been picking at too, so I may just have to give up on regular progress here in exchange for energy to post anything at all.

So, I may randomly post pollsims. I may answer one-off asks I get in the inbox. I may go silent for a year or more inbetween posts. But for now, I really need my art to be for me, and that means I can't hold myself to any external expectations, perceived or otherwise.

If you read this, thank you for doing so. Thank you for your patience, and understanding, and support. Despite how ungrateful I sound, it really has meant the world to me. I look forward to seeing you all where I can, and I hope anything I do come back with does not disappoint.

Sincerely, Mod Caspian

[reikunrei]

I’ve said this a hundred times before but I’m always thinking about how odd it is that so many people insist that henry/vecna/one are these intrinsically evil characters who don’t deserve any understanding toward their actions/circumstances when. the show is literally telling us to be compassionate toward them?

a child was struggling in life. he tried to escape his circumstances because he felt he was in danger. he was then kidnapped by the creepiest man in the world, squirreled away in a secret lab, branded, bred, chipped, and tortured for over 20 years… and even if this child grew up to be someone to commit mass murder, why don’t people see this situation for the tragedy it is? why is it so hard to understand that he was pushed to this point, not that he was going to do this from the start?

you can get on your high horse all you want and claim that you would never snap like that if you were kidnapped branded bred chipped and tortured in a secret underground lab with no one in the outside world knowing you were still alive for over 20 years. but tbh. I would kill some people too if it meant I had a chance to get out of there. if I thought doing that would grant me my freedom, as well as the freedom of other victims (remember, it’s clear that in some way one thought he was saving the lab kids/they weren’t actually gone) then yeah I’d fucking take it

now, does someone deserve forgiveness for killing dozens of people, including children? no, not for those actions. that’s still a fucked up thing to do, obviously

but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about how so many people seem to have forgotten who brenner is. the dude kidnaps (or breeds) kids and forces them to do his bidding under threat of torturous punishment. he never gives any of the kids proper support, and that includes henry and any other version of him that may have existed

we’re shown henward being scared of brenner when he’s being tattooed. we’re shown el being wary of brenner in the lab. we’re shown her defying his commands (ie. not killing the cat) and him retaliating with torturous punishment (ie. isolation, electrocution). we’re shown her (and one) calling hnl a prison. we’re shown how competitive the lab was between el and her siblings, and them ganging up on each other/brenner pitting them against one another

not to mention that henward had a whole childhood outside of the lab and knew what he had been taken from, and as he grew up he would have known all of the milestones that he was missing by being trapped in hnl. he would be aware of the potential for the real life he could have had. anyone would be more than bitter about that

sooo again, why exactly is henry/vecna/one the big bad when brenner is right there with his fingers stuck in the guts of everything smearing blood all over the walls because he’s too busy having fun to care about what consequences his actions might bring?

and yes, the show is presenting everything as if henry=vecna=one and that he did do everything he’s being accused of. but folks loooove to say that st is all about subverting common tropes. so why can’t that be happening here too? why does this hodgepodge of information have to be so cut and dry when the veneer can be scratched off with just your fingernail to reveal the frankenstein’s monster of mismatched pieces that it is underneath?

the show is screaming at us, both in subtle and blatant ways (how many times does it have to be said in the script that not everything is black and white before people take it to heart), that nothing is as it seems. that something weird is going on and things aren’t adding up. that just maybe maybe maybe we should feel bad for this kid who was forced to become a monster because nobody would listen otherwise

it was so obvious to me when I first watched st4 that we were meant to see that el could have become a “vecna” if she didn’t get the love and support that she received. and that will could have become a “vecna” if he was never saved from the ud. and if henward had received the love and care that those two kids did, he probably would have turned out just like them. but he didn’t. and it’s a tragedy to see what could have been, and how quickly it was all snatched away

…….. but people refuse to acknowledge that, and continue to tout that henward is a born-and-raised monster who was never deserving of kindness like his protégé(s)?

we have no idea what’s going on, but that also means we can’t take the portrait of this “villain” at face value. not when every core aspect of the show is telling us the exact opposite

[thedamnedhq]

CHARACTER NAME: Edward ‘Eddie’ Munson CHARACTER FACECLAIM: Joseph Quinn CHARACTER AGE/DOB (if relevant/they're not old af): 25, November 2nd 1998 CHARACTER PRONOUNS/GENDER IDENTITY/SEXUALITY ETC: he/they, genderfluid more masc presenting at times, bisexual/biromantic CHARACTER FANDOM (if relevant): stranger things OC OR CANON: canon CHARACTER TYPE (for example: vampire, witch, human, etc): human ARE THEY ASSOCIATED WITH ANY GROUPS/COVENS/ETC: hellfire club, corroded coffin ( formerly his band ). WHERE ARE THEY PRIMARILY LOCATED NOW: London, England couch surfing because see you later Hawkins post sacrifice that didn’t end up being a sacrifice. IMPORTANT CHARACTER INFORMATION TO NOTE AND SHARE (this could be important headcanons for initial plotting, bios etc, supporting docs):

Eddie’s mum died when he was young and his dad liked to partake in criminal activity, giving his son skills like knowing how to hotwire a car, eventually his dad was incarcerated and his uncle Wayne became his guardian. The two resided in Wayne’s trailer in Hawkins and he had a pretty normal life, he enjoyed his life…

During this normality he was unaware of the portal that Will Byers had opened, that the upside down was some fucked up hell dimension that all of those poor kids had to fight demons from.

It was his final year, the year he’d been certain he’d graduate this time that became the start of the end. The finale of the biggest DnD campaign and a fateful beginning into the introduction of what was really going on in Hawkins.

Crissy died, fuck vecna and of course all of those fucked up jocks and popular kids were just the start of the town turning on him. He hid and ran, hiding in the dock house where he was eventually found by Max, Dustin, Robin and Steve. After holding a broken beer bottle to Steve’s neck and being talked down by Dustin, Eddie was eventually calm enough to let Steve go and the gang explained what was going on. Far fetched as it was, it made a whole lotta sense. So they had to find Vecna and prove he was innocent right ?

They eventually found themselves in the Upside Down and the hunt was on. Nancy went about describing how fucked Hawkins was gonna be and maybe that awoke something in Eddie, something more than just survival and fear. He watched as they tried to wake her from Vecna’s grasp and knew all of this was more than him just trying to clear his name and they weren’t about to let Vecna take a fourth victim.

Shit goes down and by the time they’re back in the Upside Down with a plan hatched, it becomes evident that those demobats couldn’t be held back forever. he stays, he plays ‘masters of puppets’ and he almost dies —- frankly if you ask him, he’s still sure he did. still sure it all went to shit but that all fades to black and the next thing he remembers is London. Some random ass tourist prodding him with a stick, there’s scars from his wounds which prove it all happened but he can’t be sure what the outcome was.

Then it’s distractions and living, hell at least he’d put an ocean between him and the town that had wanted him dead right ? Little does he know that being a runner for the band that Lestat is a part of, might just be as dangerous as Hawkins but hey here’s to good music and denial.

AESTHETICS/VIBES THAT REMIND YOU OF YOUR CHARACTER:

black chipped painted fingernails, the constant reminder of all the ways he’s a mirror of his dad, chipped guitar picks and open wounds that make him want to scream to Black Sabbath.

ONE SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF YOUR CHARACTERS:

Fuck Away The Pain by Divide The Day

ADMIN LEX APP.

[lakesbian]

see here, but also:

yes brian respects his father. this does not change that his father treated him poorly & brian outright acknowledges him as someone "not meant to raise a child alone." the fact that brian feels necessary to go "well he wasn't abusive, but..." is an indicator that his dad was Not Great for him. but this is all irrelevant--how much someone retains bigoted rhetoric they're taught by their parents doesn't depend solely on how much they like that parent. being steeped in an environment for your entire life will psychologically impact you regardless of whether or not you like the people creating it. alec hating his father really does not change the reality that his reward for getting his powers & beginning to use them to hurt others was being pushed into sex w/ adult women as a material prize. it doesn't change that he grew up seeing women treated as combination maids & sex toys (+ Mean Annoying Bitches to him before he was given sexual access to them) and being explicitly groomed to follow in his father's footsteps.

"human brain vs lizard brain" this is simply not how brains work at all in any way

alec's siblings were not a support net. via WoG, his older siblings were complicit in pushing drugs & hypersexual behavior onto him, and this bit in 14.1 (take a shot every time i mention 14.1 in an alecpost):

“Ouch,” Cherish layered on the sarcasm.  “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do.  You’re delaying me, so I have less time to work with.  Why don’t I get started?  Let’s talk about your first kill?  Gang member, a kid.  You used him to kill his boss.  His older brother, in fact.  Because daddy wanted you to.  Then dad ordered you to kill him.  But you didn’t make it fast, did you?  You made him stab himself with a fork, over and over, and over…” “Keeping in mind that I was hanging out with you and the dirty old man and our brothers and sisters.  Nature and nurture, I was kind of fucked on both fronts.  It was a matter of self-preservation to keep you guys entertained, and that was the sort of thing you liked.  Sorry, like, present tense.”

makes it clear that they were also very explicitly responsible for coercing him into the whole "turning into his father" thing under threat of harm to him, hence the "matter of self-preservation." as for his younger siblings, the vast amounts of "them literally trying to kill each other" makes it exceptionally clear that their dynamics are extremely splintered and violent--vasil siblings were used by heartbreaker as weapons against each other & tools for bringing each other into line. there's quite literally a line in ward where some of the younger heartbroken talk about having "won" because they have genuinely functional and caring relationships w/ each other & decently happy lives despite heartbreaker's attempts to turn them against each other. he wasn't friends with them, he practiced his powers on them. there was zero possibility of a support net, particularly for alec, who would've been both suffering abuse at the hands of his older siblings & abusing his own younger siblings to struggle for some level of self-preserving status in the household. the fact that he has been deeply, fundamentally lonely for more or less his entire life is integral to his character. there's a reason his power is the ability to force people to help him--it's the power of someone who has never had a support net, and sees no route to gain one but through force. "alec had sort of a support net" is like. a statement i would say about alec if i was posting about alec on opposite day. brian and aisha actually demonstrate consistent both-ways fumbling attempts to care for each other and alec his siblings were just in there beating the shit out of each other for the last bag of chips every other day 😭 literally the most we hear him talk abt his siblings is him being like "ooooouh i hate that Bitch Cherie and Everyone Else Sucked Too. And I Had To Change Stupid Diapers."

if you think about it it's really funny that alec is less misogynist than brian

[lgwifey]

THE LITTLE SISTER

noel gallagher x sister!reader

liam gallagher x sister!reader

damon albarn x fem!reader

Summary : Even after her childhood doesn't treat her the best, Y/n somehow finds herself being chatted up by one of the most sought after guys in the country.

Warning : not proof read x

MASTERLIST

1983

The ponytail wearing seven year old girl faultered her conversation, a very important one with y/f/n about the new My Little Pony dolls they'd both seen on tele over the weekend. She slowly turned around without any attitude change, her ear and cheek stinging with a large outline. Y/n expected someone to have kicked a football at her by accident, but when she turned around she was met with the ebony haired, blie eyed boy who she hated. Her arch-nemisis, Eric.

A snide smirk was plastered on the boy's face, his little gang arms crossed and laughing behind him.

Her eye's darkened, smile dropping at the sides and a hard glare, which her brothers had taught her unintentionally, fell on her face.

Y/n slouch on the uncomfortable, blue, plastic chairs which rowed outside of the headteacher's office like a prison line up. Her arms where crossed, the blue jumper crinkleing.

She hated her uniforms, it was her brother's old one seeing how they didn't have the money to buy a whole new set. Worn out grey trousers, white polo tshirt and the school's blue jumper. She fitted in perfectly with the rest of the lads in the class whilst all the girls wore sundresses and cardigans and skirt with white knee high, bowed socks.

Across from her sat Eric, fiddling with his thumbs in the slightly baggy jumper that fell over his fingers from pulling at it. Also supporting a scatter of scratches, like he'd been attacked by a kitten. His eyes looked up in fear, immediatly looking down with a wimper when he met y/n's scowl.

The two both looked up in surprise when the reception's door clicked open and three figures walked in. Two adults and a teenager. As the new group appeared, so did the headmaster of the primary school.

Everyone was lead through the light oak and to a seat, five chair spead out infront of the office desk. Cabinets behind it heald the school's pathetic achievements, sports day trophees against other schools in the county and certificates off of the local cathedral for multiple fundraisers.

Y/n turned to Noel as to ask him why he was here instead of their mum, but she was just twisted back forwards in her chair by him so she was facing the grumpy elderly man wearing a sharp suit.

"So as you know, we had an incident on the playground today."

He turned and gave a pointed look to both Eric and y/n,

"Didn't we ?"

The two children lowered their heads, pouts being drawn out. Y/n and Noel both knew who would be blamed no matter who actually started it. It was a battle between the family with good paying and respective jobs or the kids from the coucil estate in a split family. Oh wonders of who would get bugged about it (!)

"I'm sure it's all just a misunderstanding Mr Duffy."

Noel gave an awkward smile, pitting a hand on y/n's shoulder, she looked up and pulled on her best 'please pity me' face which Liam taught her to do so they'd get extra chips for free. Unfortunatly it didn't work.

"Mr Gallagher, where is your mother ? We did ask for Y/n's parent or guardian to be here."

"She's at work."

A scoff came from the other side of the room where a luxeriously coated womam sat. He aimed a glare at her and the conversation carried on with the sixteen year old trying to defend his sister.

Life carried on like that for what seemed like forever.

Every time someone would strike up a fight, y/n found herself in the middle of it and thus so did the teachers.

Highschool was probably the worst, everyday it became a more difficult challenge.

Y/n was usual busy herself with covering up the handful of bruises up with concealer, she would never wear much makeup if it wasn't for the injuries she owned. Her brothers never fought her, she was too young, and a girl, so their mum would've killed them.

The only brother who was still at school with her was Liam, well at least he was for the first two years of highschool, then he left.

When she left at sixteen and started work straight away, she didn't see a need for college or sixth form, she'd probably just end up working a rubbish job in Burnage anyways. Life carried on in the same boring routine life that for the next four years, working at the local record shop on a slowly increasing wage for eleven hours, four days a week, fourty seven weeks a year. She stayed living with her mum, like she could afford her own place, whilst her brothers all moved out. First Noel went and became a roadie, then he came back and Paul left and soon Liam and Noel left to tour Oasis. So it was just her, in the once loud house, by herself. Her mum worked shifts so they where barely ever in at the same time which just added to the lonely feeling of the house.

02 : 09

The pink digital clock made her blink hard. There shouldn't be a logical reason for her to be awake at the moment seeing how she hadn't been awake past half one since she was like ... seventeen ? Anyways, she had just heard the door downstairs open, the one between the kitchen and the dining room which squeels like a piglet when you move it. After it made noise she heard a curse aimed at it, someone eho wasn't her mum was in the house with her.

Y/n silently slipped out of her bed, being sure not to step on the floorboard just next to her bed seeing how it made a volcanically loud noise whrnever she did. Her hand caught the cricket bat which rested against her wardrobe. Her room wasn't big in any way so she could reach it without moving too far from her bed. The white foam surrounding the handle sat comfortably in her hand as she make her way down the stairs, expertly directing past the squeeks and creeks. She snuck down the hall, through all of the half opened doorways and to the livingroom at the front of the house. She krept the door parctially open.

Two figures !

Wait no, three ?

No two, definatly two.

"Stay where y' are !"

A scream left one of the figures as the twenty year old pounced into the room with her bat swinging, she never played cricket before so she wasn't too sure what to do with it. The light flipped on beside her and she stopped.

"Oh, hi ?"

"Hi ?! Hi ?! Are you looney Y/n ?!"

Noel jumped off of his seat, leaving Liam who had jumped behind the couch. He rushed over to his little sister, ripping the weapon out of her hands and throwing it over onto the arm chair.

"You nearly took our heads off with that !"

"I thought yous two where burglers ! Why didn't you call before hand ?"

Liam's head popped out, finally moving back to the couch.

"We called mam ! Anyways, didn't think our baby sister kept a bat with 'er at all times !"

"Baby ! I'm twenty you pillock !"

"Still a baby."

"You're only three years older, Noel tell 'im."

"Anyways yous two !"

The older brother dragged the two apart before they attacked each other like a pair of pack dogs.

"Look Y/n, put the fuckin' bat away yeah and of to bed. You better get some sleep, got a big day tomorrow. "

Y/n's eyebrows pulled at Noel's words. What was happening tomorrow ? He must've guessed that she was confused by her facial expression.

"Y'know, the Brits."

She furthered her confused looks.

"Mam said she'd tell yer."

"I barely see mam, nevermind talking to 'er. Anyways, i've got work tomorrow. Mr Sifter'll have me head if I don't turn up."

"Mr Sifter wou'n't do nought to yer, poor dude couldn't live without yer crappy help 'round that shop.."

Liam gave a scoff,

"Plus we need to be in London by 5:45 so you have enough time to get ready like."

"We need to leave at 12 to account for traffic and station breaks so you need to go off to bed now."

Noel gave an enlonged explaination that truefully wasn't needed, before pushing her up the stairs and into the white room.

"Nighty night."

Y/n gave a sarcastic smile at his words, flipping him off as he closed the door.

Wait.

"Noel ! I don't have a dress !"

Y/f/c satin fell over the twenty year old's body, the fabric curving at the perfect places. Y/n stood awkwardly at the bar in Alexandra Palace in the halter-neck dress with two splits dancing up to her hips. She'd been ordered requested by her brothers and their band mates to go and get the selection of drinks they waited whilst they waited to see if they could laugh victoriously over Blur for the Single of the Year award. They'd already been beat for the first catagory they where nominated for, by Blur, and truthfully y/n needed to leave the table so she could finally laugh at her older brothers' faces when they found out Definitely Maybe hadn't won.

A round of applause made her spin around from the bar where a man was busy making the dozens of drinks she'd just ordered. She hadn't heard who had won but caught eyes with Damon Albarn on stage so knew it was Blur.

"Your boys aren't going to be happy."

She gave a laugh at the bartender's comment as he put two pints of Guiness on the tray.

" 'igh yep, and i'm the one who has to deal with the pair after all this. Gonna be dealing with Li's hissy fits for months now."

Her head looked back to the stage only to find the radio host back at the podium and the blond singer back at his table. Her eyes looked around, trying to find Blur's table amungst everyone elses, she would be lieing if she said he wasn't attractive and she honestly couldn't care less what her brothers thought, they hadn't been a big part of her life in a good four years. A evil thought ran back through her mind as she finally carried the full tray over to Oasis.

Why would she turn his head ? She's just a kid from Manchester with no hopes for her future other than working at the music store she'd been at since she was seventeen.

"Y/n, we're missing half the drinks."

"Oh right, sorry one sec."

Her wandering mind had ruined the boys drinks, forgetting the second half of the order at the bar. She pushed back her seat and strutted her way back over to the sticky substanced counter, strutting was the only way for her to walk in these heels the boys' management had bought her to wear.

"Hi sorry, I forgot the second lot."

"Yeah, thought you'd come back for them. They're just in the back, didn't want anyone to slip something into them whilst you where gone. I'll just be a moment."

The man from before left through the arched doorway to where y/n assused 'the back' was located.

"Hi."

Y/h/c swished gently as y/n moved to see who had spoken.

"You look a bit lost."

"Aye, just in my own head."

She gave an awkward smile, a small pause taking place before the 'stranger' spoke again.

"I'm Damon, I, urgh, I saw you from the stage. Thought you looked nice and that i'd come say hi."

She gave a small, genuine smile to him, leaning against the bar some more and wishing for the bartender to loose his bearing for a while so she could stay looking into those deep, oceanic eyes.

"Yeah I saw you too."

OMG WHAT WAS THAT ! Earth, feel free to just collapse right now.

"Well I mean like, obviously I saw you but like. Urgh yeah like... yeah. "

He gave a staggered laugh at her stuttering.

"You say 'like' alot."

"S' kinda our thing up North. We say like alot."

She nodded her head and pursed her lips, causing Damon to laugh some more and rub the back of his neck, his jacket sleeve riding up to reveal his forearm.

Arm- GOD Y/N GET YOURSELF TOGETHER !

"So are you here with anyone, I haven't seen you in the papers or anything recently ?"

He gestured for her name.

"Oh i'm y/n, and im just here with my,"

She thought for a moment, a rare occation. He didn't like her brother but he didn't know she was related to them yet. She liked him and so far he probably liked her so,

"my friends, we're sat upstairs."

"Well, if your friends don't mind, maybe you'd like to sit with me, and the band of course. But mainly me."

He leant aginst the bar, their faces moving closer togther as he talked.

Y/n's eyes flickered up and down, from his endelvering eyes and parted lips. Mouth moving slowly and with hushed worda coming out of it and-

"Here's your tray lass."

The two broke apart slightly, Damon still basically ontop of the girl, their arms touching as they both leant against the bar.

Y/n tilted her head, basically glaring at the poor bartender who was resting the drinks tray on his arm.

"Thanks."

She muttered through gritted teeth as he handed over the tray to her, forcing her to part from Damon.

She swiftly turned back to look up at the blonde, fluttering her eyelasges and biting her bottom lip slightly.

"I've just got to take these back to my friends, but if the offer's still open i'd love to join."

He nodded his head hurriedly, eyes wondering as she swiped past him with the tray, she felt a sudden bucket of confidence pour over her body.

"I'll be here in like 5 minutes yeah, you can walk me there ?"

" 'course."

She gave a heartmelting smile before strutting back off over to her brothers through the masses of tables.

What she hadn't put into account is that Blur still had a few awards they where nominated for and that a camera picks up footage on the nominees tables each award to stream.

[tiny-katara]

cilla my beloved not to bother you in the asks again BUT i realized i’ve never seen your LOK thoughts & i’d love to know them! (i just saw ur tags & u mentioned the animated movie probably wouldn’t be any better than lok - agreed - so i assume you’ve seen it, but if u haven’t then feel free to ignore this!)

have a great day my bestie!!

bestie you literally cannot bother me in the asks i don't think it's possible. i love seeing you pop up in them! it makes me so happy <3

if i'm being perfectly honest, i've only seen 3 or 4 episodes of lok, but i do have a vague understanding of the plot and it's such a mess??? some of these things i say could very well be misinformed, so don't hesitate to correct me lol.

honestly i think korra herself is kinda cool. she reminds me a lot of katara tbh because she wants to fight and she's really good at it. her design is cute and i do like her shorter hair as well. i think her little gang is also pretty fun and they all had some good potential. it's also never going to not be funny that korra and asami both date mako and then decide that dating each other is better. also bolin seems like he's a cute little dorky guy, which i whole-heartedly support. they all deserved better characterizations but the overall concepts weren't bad at all.

something about korra that really bothers me is that energybending isn't exclusive to the avatar. it seems pretty dangerous for the average person to use, so i wish that it had just stayed as something the avatar could do to maintain peace when absolutely necessary. it just feels wrong to take a core part of someone's identity. kind of reminds me vaguely of the way our restraints work at the hospital i work at. we consider chemical restraints to be much more severe and intense than like literally tying someone down to the bed because takes their identity and very being away from them. we have some pretty nasty patients here in america and i have never seen us use chemical restraints and my unit has some batshit people. so yeah, something about that whole thing rubs me the wrong way. i think taking away ozai's bending was valid because he had abused it, but that conclusion was far too easy for aang to come to. it is not something that should be taken lightly.

i also hate they solve the airbender crisis by just "now everyone bends" because it just kind of fuels this idea that if you don't have an exceptional skill, you're not as good as other people. like nonbenders have their strengths too??? getting rid of them does not solve the problem, it will only create new weaknesses. becoming too reliant on something that can be taken away is dangerous. we want a functioning society, not a building on the edge of a cliff that will crumble if one little stone chips off.

one of the worst things about korra is how they treat bloodbending though. do you have any idea how fucking useful that could be??? literally life saving. so many zutara fics under like 100k handle bloodbending better than a 4 season show and that's just ridiculous. katara should have been able to hone the skill and find its weaknesses and strengths. it's honestly very ignorant and just shows that they have a very poor understanding of the importance of blood in the body, which i could excuse if they didn't also demonize the skill and treat it as pure evil. i swear part of the point of the oringial show is that no form of bending is inherently good or evil and then they do that??? they don't even have a proper understanding of their own themes.

i don't think i really need to mention that the show is just full of blatant sexism towards katara doesn't get a statute, autonomy, accomplishments, etc. but that happens to all the women??? like where tf is suki??? you're telling me this girl that hijacked an airship and just vanished off the face of the earth??? yeah, i don't think so.

also yue??? she's badass of her own accord--and this a bit of a tangent but yue is a badass in a feminine way. like katara and suki are both feminine and badass, but they're badass bc they'll beat you up in the street if you're out of line. yue is badass in the sense that she is endlessly serene and patient and can calmly take you down without a single rude word. she will not be a pushover even tho she is kind and she is understanding, yet stern with her judgements. she is so cool snd it literally does not make any kind of sense that she is not mentioned or given a statue or any kind of acknowledgment. its literally so ridiculous and infuriating.

toph is treated slightly better, but is still a bad mom and everything surrounding her is just a mess. the fact that the stupid cabbage guy (sorry i don't really like him that much lol) gets his own statue makes my blood boil. like i know it's supposed to be a joke, but it's just a slap in the face because none of our beloved female protagonists get the same respect. it's disgusting.

i really don't even have the strength to get into kata/ang and their children and the damaged relationships and ignored cultural values and all of that, but just know that it's absolutely horrifying that katara had to give so much of the culture and identity she was proud of up for a man. no one should ever have to give up a piece of their identity for their partner.

anyways thanks for the ask bestie <3 you're welcome to drop in anytime i really do love hearing from youuu!!

[renchinworld]

NCT DREAM AS TYPES OF GROOMS ♡

before, during and after the wedding

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, NCT DREAM! ♡

- gender neutral

- on crack, what’d u expect from this account lmao XD

- the picture qualities are Jurassic negative HD 0.4K but they still look good because dem visuals infinity/10

DISCLAIMER: Considering that not everyone has the same religion and wedding traditions, just imagine that this is for y’all own culture & religion’s weddings. Also, these men will be down to marry you a thousand times in one lifetime so.... conducting a ceremony again is no problem (that equates to more honeymoons and we love honeymoons).

♡ MARK

The “I do this for my squad, I do this for my gang” Groom

⊰⊹ BEFORE: The type to inform family and friends a year before the actual wedding (he says it's an adult thing). You and Mark will have everything ready as early as possible so y'all can just chill as the date draws near. Will also be loud about it but not in an intentional way, he’s just neomu excited.

⊰⊹ DURING: Dude will throw finger guns to the guests *ehem* Johnny & Yuta *ehem* while he’s literally right next to the priest. He will also shed a few tears and laugh at himself for crying as he sees you walking down the aisle. Will never forget to thank God for blessing him with you ♡

⊰⊹ AFTER: Mark will dance with you in different genres (except there’s no twerking and grinding because you gotta leave space for Jesus). After the big reception, there will be a smaller reception at home with just you, him and yall parents before the actual honeymoon. He will do everything you like once you two are alone tho ;)

♡ RENJUN

The “You’ll remember this as the wedding of the century” Groom

⊰⊹ BEFORE: Renjun's the type to write the most touching and heartfelt vow that will make you both cry and then add some savage twist at the end which will make everyone laugh (flashback to Haechan's birthday vlive). He will also make sure that everything--from the theme to the background music--is aesthetic af.

⊰⊹ DURING: Mans will 100% cry as he pictures you and him spending your entire lives together once he sees you walk down that aisle. Also, he is genuinely crying happy tears but will wipe them dramatically while he’s being filmed by your wedding videographer for ✧ remembrance and effect ✧

⊰⊹ AFTER: “Renjun, why is the temptation of wife OST playing in the background?”

He will sing close to your ear and give you a peck on the lips once in a while while everyone's busy partying. You two will greet the guests for a short while and then escape in a private plane to an island getaway for your honeymoon… it will take off in front of everyone because... ✧ art ✧ Also, get ready for the most romantic love making in Maldives ;)

♡ JENO

The “You thought it’d be no jam but it was actually the best wedding” Groom

⊰⊹ BEFORE: Lets you take charge of planning, but when he suggests his ideas it’s so top notch that you’ll be all “why aren’t you saying more?” and it’s because he believes that the wedding is not as important as the person he is marrying (opposite to Jaemin: Jeno thinks you’ll be happier if he just lets you do whatever you want--as an act of letting you have freedom in your creativity). He’ll be super helpful if you need it tho so no worries.

⊰⊹ DURING: Will accidentally open your veil before the person in charge says “you may now kiss the bride/groom.” He doesn’t care about the cameras, all he sees is you, you and you. Jeno won't cry in the actual event but he will be teary eyed af for sure (he's saving the tears for when you guys are alone).

⊰⊹ AFTER: He will take all his chances to carry you and hold you in his arms all night long. Jeno’s signature eye smile will be plastered on his face all night. That innocent face also prepared a bed of roses and other surprises in your room ready for the honeymoon ;)

♡ HAECHAN

The “We’re not going home until someone blacks out” Groom

⊰⊹ BEFORE: Haechan will pull a prank on you before the wedding so that you’ll coming running to him and he’ll see you (he can’t take the “you can’t see each other the night before the wedding” tradition because he misses you already). He will even make the vow writing a group activity lmao: “Whatchu writing?” “Haechan, stop looking! This is supposed to be a surprise.”

⊰⊹ DURING: He will tell everyone “I’m not gonna cry, that’s sus” but will definitely cry while laughing and get laughed at by family and friends lightheartedly. Haechan will say the funniest vows out of everyone but will also make you emotional because he can switch from being humorous to serious in 0.00001 second.

⊰⊹ AFTER: Reception is real party vibes; it’s not over until it’s game over. He might get bored eventually so you too will sneak out laughing in your wedding attires and just chill around the hotel’s swimming pools. He might also push you into a pool so he can save you and bathe you afterwards ;)

♡ JAEMIN

The “I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life” Groom

⊰⊹ BEFORE: He’ll make the wedding planner question their entire existence (opposite to Jeno: Jaemin thinks you’ll be happier if he plans the wedding for you--as an act of service). He’ll be super open to your suggestions though and will immediately change up anything you don’t agree with so no worries.

⊰⊹ DURING: Jaemin will also give one of the funniest vows but it's because he's unintentionally funny in his speech delivery. He will say the sweetest and uplifting words, refraining from being too emotional because he doesn't want to see you cry... but you still do. Dude might do mild aegyo in front of everyone just to see you smile again (you know the finger on pouty lips one that he does with Renjun? Yep, that one).

⊰⊹ AFTER: He will drag you somewhere when everyone’s busy partying just so he can give you a kissth. He’s down to party with your family and friends but only if you’re always by his side. And he definitely won't care if the party's over or not--once he sees that you’re tired or want to be alone with him, he'll announce to everyone that you guys are gonna bounce… and bounce you shall ;)

♡ CHENLE

The “We can afford a Kardashian wedding but I’d rather keep it simple” Groom

⊰⊹ BEFORE: Boi WILL 100% invite his bestie Stephen Curry. There will be three weddings: one for the grand wedding (at an arena for all of Shanghai to see--he doesn’t like this one but gotta keep those investors in check, you know?). Another for a small circle wedding (just family and friends). The last will be the “just the two of us casually exchanging chips and diamond rings while playing pubg” wedding

⊰⊹ DURING: Daddy Chenle will never forget to mention his son Mark in his vows and speeches. His whole clan will shower you with gifts and affection so much that he doesn’t know if he should be happy or annoyed because they’re not giving you two enough time to spend YOUR wedding together. He’s staying put though because hakuna matata #the scorpio side jumped out

⊰⊹ AFTER: No one else is allowed to touch you except for him. He will carry you bridal style away from the building and to his car so he can have you all to himself. He’ll definitely cry happy tears when it's just the two of you.

♡ JISUNG

The “We really should’ve married in secret instead” Groom

⊰⊹ BEFORE: Will let you take control of the event but will pitch in his creative ideas here and there. Jisung insists that you have a small wedding but the number of NCT members is far from small lol. There's also a high chance of a beach wedding because he loves the open area (gives him more space to breathe plus he’ll see Haechan and Renjun trying to drown each other in the distance and that’s free entertainment).

⊰⊹ DURING: Dude will 100% get clowned by the NCT members while saying his vows (honorable mention: dreamies). He might rap some of his words out of nervousness (which everyone finds cute because it is). He will be all shy and awkward at first and then surprise everyone by his sudden bold moves (e.g. dip you as he kisses you, say the sweetest things). He will also cry happy tears as he sees you walk down that aisle.

⊰⊹ AFTER: He's truly grateful for all the support and love of everyone who attended but as an introvert and an Aquarius Plus Pro Max, he’ll be wishing on the inside that everyone just goes home already so you two can have fun alone. Mans will still get clowned by the members even during the reception but he doesn’t mind because he’s clowning them back now. His hand will be glued to your waist all night and he will sneak in a few kisses here and there.

♡ OT7:

- Everyone will get clowned by the other members regardless of the event so a wedding isn’t an exception. So either you protect your husband or join in on the light teasing... or both. 

- You may also get clowned. It’s NCT we’re talking about.

- This is a work of fiction. Except the clownery & RenHyuck drowning each other in Jisung’s wedding. That’s true to life.

Happy Anniversary to our Dreamies >u< we love you guys sm!

[cherryvampiro]

  Horror move night at Ben’s house with the ms gang! 🍿✨

As promised I’ve written a quick introduction to my Middle School au! All information will be under the read more 😊 :

 Main plot (Spoiler warning for Ben 10 (2016) Movie) : 

 The big plot for this au is there’s a war going on in space. Since the Omnitrix was created fighting against planets emerged all due to Vilgax’s first use of the Omnitrix as a warlord. Though the fighting started off small, it soon escalated and began to grow larger and larger. 2-3 years of nonstop fighting soon formed into one big territorial war. Which is why Argit, Rook, & many other aliens are on earth. Everyone is looking for a safe planet to hide with their families, hoping whatever planet they find themselves in will be spared or undetected.

 ((I will elaborate more on the space war when I introduce Albedo & Attea))

 Basic theme of the au:

The main theme to this au would be “Change” = Change in yourself, your friends, your life, & the universe around you! The reason I picked this specific theme was so each character can have their own arc/growth in this au. It also suits the coming of age themes that many kids go through in that age (their appearance, their morals, who they are,etc.) This au is still very new in my head but below I’d gather enough ideas I have for each of the characters! 

 ((Some of it may change in the future))

  Ben Tennyson: 

 After having the Omnitrix for 2 years, Ben thinks he can handle it all ((but boy is he wrong!)) Ben’s main character arc would revolve around making tough decisions and not being afraid to ask for help.

 With beings coming from other planets, he’s gonna face off many new foes! Foes who do not care that he’s a child, beings who are willing to sacrifice a child for their own ideals. He’ll have to make decisions on who to trust and deal with the potential consequences with owning the watch. With bigger threats landing on earth Ben gets the fortunate and unfortunate of meeting new people! (Such as Albedo, Attea, & Julie) 

 It’s his choice now on who he’s willing to trust, help, and who to fight for. Lucky for him he’s not alone!

 Fun Character Fact: Ben wears baggy clothes ((sweaters, hoodies, sweats, cargo pants)) due to a little body insecurity he has! He’s not so much ashamed of his body, just a little embarrassed and would prefer the comfort of his big green hoodie.

 Gwen Tennyson: 

 Gwen goes to a private all ages school and is the top student in all her classes! Gwen’s main character arc would be dealing & learning about her new found powers. Not only that but to learn she doesn’t have to be what others perceive her as.

 To elaborate on the second arc: My Gwen has grown into the role of being the Smart Kid™️. By being the top student she’s also pressured to fit a certain expectation by her teachers and peers. She has doubts of herself and wonders what’s deemed as “appropriate” for her intelligence ((like no more kiddy stuff, even if it interests her)). 

 This would come to fruition when her anodite powers emerge ((in the scariest way possible)) She’d start her daily routine the same only with a slight migraine problem. Migraines soon turn to ache and ache soon turn to her face cracking like a porcelain doll while at school. Afraid to ask any adult she asks help from Ben & Kevin ((Then Rook, Julie, & Argit who end up sneaking through Gwen’s window after they get dragged into hiding Gwen from her parents)). The whole event was scary but with clarification from her grandpa it all became clear.

 Fun Character Fact: Ben can’t scan Gwen’s Anodite DNA into his watch due to the Omntrix stating “DNA already attained” since they’re related. He’d have to scan an Anodite not related to him by blood to absorb their DNA.

 Kevin Levin:

 Kevin in this au no longer wears his Anti-Trix. He took it off the first day of 7th grade and hadn’t put it on since. He’s not sure he’s cut out to be a hero and instead focuses his time on his crafts. Kevin’s main arc is one I have yet to think about fully. I’m not sure whether to have him grow into his osmosian DNA or have him go through a different self discovery. Bashmouth is my favorite alien of Kevin and I’m thinking of having him have his DNA altered like in the OS but with Bashmouth only. It’d make more sense to explain once I introduced Albedo later ((hopefully!))

 Fun Character Fact: Kevin has gotten better with his mechanical skills and uses those skills to make the goofiest stuff ((Such as a mobile couch on wheel so he and the homies can ride it to get some smoothies)).

 Rook Blonko: 

 Rook Blonko is a foreign exchange student, as far as anyone knows, who goes to Gwen’s school. Rook's main arc would be choosing to run or fight with the Tennysons.

 Rook was originally sent to earth to see whether this planet was safe or not for his family to relocate to. Unbeknownst to him and his family, Rook would be staying with the cousin of the keeper of the Omnitrix. With this discovery Rook should have hopped to another planet to live in but he took the chance to know the user of the watch. Getting to know the Tennysons and the people of earth has changed Rook’s thoughts of his mission. Should he run away and save his own family or should he stay and fight with his new found friends and make sure no one else is forced to abandon their home.

 Fun Character Fact: Rook stays with Gwen’s family. He’s introduced to Ben, Kevin, & Argit when Gwn begs them to hang out with Rook ((He’d often stay in his room studying and Gwen wanted him to socialize. She regrets it later when they all come home smelling like garbage)).

 Julie Yamamoto:

 Julie’s one of Bellwood Junior High’s top tennis players! She takes many AP classes which explains why Ben’s never seen her around school before. Julie doesn’t actually have an arc. She’s one of the characters willing to help no matter what. She’s first induced to alien knowledge when she saves Ben from a DNAlien. Through Ben she learns about the Omntrix, aliens, and what’s going on outside their planet. From then on she’s supported and helped Ben on his mission to save the world and beyond. If she had to give a reason as to why she’s helping she’d have two:

Innocent beings shouldn’t have to flee from their homes.

A 12 yr old shouldn’t have to deal with this alone.

 She may be human but she’s willing to do what she can to make a difference in any means possible. ((She maybe reward too with a certain pet from space))

 Fun Character Fact: Julie is a trans girl in this au 🏳️‍⚧️ Julie’s also super into horror media! 

 Argit:

 Argit is the kid in the halls you can get anything from. Candy, chips, test answers, phone numbers, you name it! Like Rook, Argit’s main arc would be choosing to run or fight with the Tennysons. 

 Argit is one of the kids most affected by the war. He no longer has a planet and was forced to flee to another planet.  Since his first foot step on earth he’s only looked out for himself. He adapted to his environment and learned to support himself. Argit’s the most afraid of the alien kid bunch to be outed as non-human. He’s already built so much for himself here on earth that he’s afraid of losing it all just for his appearance. 

 Argit would rather high tail away from any alien fights then stay and help. He doesn’t care much for the Tennysons but he does respect Kevin. But hanging out with Kevin means hanging out with The Tennyson twins. Hopefully their good nature will rub off on him. 

 Fun Character Fact: Argit is the treasurer of his 8th grade class! His least favorite person is Ben and if he had to pick a favorite between his friends (aside from Kevin) he’d pick Julie. 

 This au is still new and it may go through some changes later! Please tell me what you think! 

[fallindomino]

how i would have changed s2 of hsmtmts

obvious disclaimer but im not a screenwriter or anyth so im not claiming what i want is best, this is just for fun lololol

okay so first of all nini would still have dropped out of yac but she wouldn’t have gone back to east, she would have transferred to north bc she was too ashamed to tell anyone she left at first and maybe she still wants to explore who she is away from ricky and the others

nini could join north’s batb and this way maybe we could have some playful rivalry with lily and nini and more scenes with antoine shdhdjdj also it could have been a great opportunity to flesh out lily’s character so those scenes where she reaches out to ricky and her confession at the end of the season actually make sense lol

speaking of ricky ,,, i think he should have left the play at some point hear me out. he only joined in the first place because of nini and barely wanted to do it at all once he realized he wasn’t gonna be able to perform with her. he could have joined crew and been a manager with natalie or smth considering he rlly does see the theater gang as a second family. also this would leave so much room for ej and ricky development and bants since ej joined the av club and began to pursue film. they could have some convos where idk ricky asks ej how he figured out what he wanted to do after duke didn’t work out and ricky could actually develop some interests that arent the play or nini ,,, maybe fucking art club i mean he did p good on that centerpiece for carlos’ quinceañera.

with ricky not being the beast anymore i think seb should take his place that would be soooo good. and since seb isn’t chip anymore carlos won’t make those snide comments about chip being a small unimportant role and we can just cut that whole fight bc it was dumb and bad. we could still have seb being insecure that carlos is only dating him bc there aren’t really any other gay guys at school. in a heartbeat is great and i did like ricky being supportive in the background it was kinda funny too idk dhdjdjfj

ooh i almost forgot abt rini ahshdj okay so i still think they should break up. but in my version there’s no ricky pulling an ej 1.0 and deleting comments off of nini’s insta, cause with ricky in art club and nini at north trying to figure out what she wants i think one of them would realize that they’re going in different directions and only got back tgt because they made each other feel safe cause what they had was familiar. this could be triggered by ricky mentioning smth abt nini at yac and then nini breaks down and tells him that she dropped out and is at north and doesn’t know where she’s going. and then they can both realize they aren’t good for each other rn and have a less tragic mutual break up.

honestly i really liked the scene of nini taking charge after miss jenn freaked out cause with the character detail of nini giving every person in the cast of productions she’s in a thank you note she just seems really like someone who is suited to lifting others up. this could still be explored at north, maybe she could help lily through her issues that were briefly implied in ep 11 and nini realizes she wants to be a drama teacher and encourage kids to go off book and put themselves into their acting, something she couldn’t have at yac.

okay now ej ,,, so like i said in ricky’s section, more bants between them cause i feel like friendships kinda fell by the wayside due to all the relationships so more friendship !!!! also the scene where ej tells his dad he’s not going to duke shouldn’t have been an ending scene, it should have been fleshed out with his dad pushing back saying how he pulled all these strings to get him in and ej saying he doesn’t wanna go if his own hard work couldn’t get him there. and also more scenes of ej doing av club things !!! and realizing he rlly likes film and wants to do it OMG IT WOULD BE SO COOL IF HE BROKE THE FOURTH WALL AND ASKED THE DOCUMENTARY CREW ABT THE FILM INDUSTRY god i would love that. the only scene we rlly got of ej doing film things was at the quinceañera which made me kinda sad. uhhh also i just wanted to specifically mention how ej got mr mazzara that job at cal tech bc it really showed how he wanted to be there for people not just for gina, who he had a crush on, but for mr mazzara who supported him outside of romance, so i wanna keep that for sure.

gina !!! okay so i mostly liked her arc in this season, the only changes i would make would be to flesh it out a teeny bit (god this hypothetical s2 would have to be like 22 eps at least shdjdjdjfj) anyways besides ashlyn singing home to get gina to stay i think there should be a scene where they actually talk in her room abt how gina feels safer when shes on the run (second chance reference ilysm) hhhh and also a scene of her and carlos actually working out compromises for their choreo cause i liked that bit of development too and fleshing that out would make gina an even better foil for lily, who felt a need to hog the spotlight like gina used to. with gina’s own arc fleshed out her character would feel more whole independently from romance and portwell would be even more rewarding than it is in the current s2. the only thing i would really change abt portwell is that they would kiss !!! in the finale but thats bc im biased.

ashlyn should have gotten a more fleshed out storyline about being insecure about not being a good enough belle or the typical belle. there were some throwaway lines when north did their typical dramatics but the only two real scenes that showed it were when ash talked to big red about it and when she was telling nini she wanted to do a run in “home” bc lily did it. ashlyn should get more screen time where she has to grapple with the reasons she doesn’t feel good enough and big red can still support her but also gina too bc i would like more roommate besties interaction.

kourtney could still date howie, that harry potter shit was cute but there needs to be smth else for kourtney’s arc. idk she’s still into fashion so maybe she could be out here trying to create her own line or smth? this doesn’t have to be resolved in s2 like making a wholeass line takes time and she could work on it into a potential s3. kourtney just didnt get much outside of howie and the stuff at the beginning of the season where she said nini inspired her to be independent and that's why she got a job was just dropped?? so i think that fashion could fill that for her if she’s still dating howie cause like having her whole arc just be the pizza place kinda overlaps w big red’s mini arc abt how he wasn’t settling for hospitality, its what he wants to do with his life.

ik what ur thinking. anna, even if you added more episodes, where would u find the room to add all these plotlines?? well first we cut (most of) the seblos fight, so thats some time saved. honestly most of the time that we r going to gain is going to be from cutting ms jenn’s time. things like ms jenn’s and nini’s car ride would get cut, but mostly all of ms jenn’s romances would get cut down. considering she’s the teacher and isn’t actually a character with an arc how does she have THREE love interests this season?? like all of the weird tension between her and zack can be cut, like just some short scenes of them being competitive can stay. all of the stuff with ricky’s dad can go bye bye we don’t need it. i did like her w mr mazzara so most of that can stay i just didn’t like how he said he would give up cal tech for her, ew no that would be gone.

the MENKIES !!!! this is the last thing im gonna address cause in a perfect world every character would get a long fleshed out arc but then the season would be waaay too long and also im mostly trying to work within material the show gave so this is mostly made up of “realistic” deviations from what actually happened. lol idk what that even means it just makes sense to me. but anyways!! uhhh bro idk i thought them dropping the menkies was funny but it also made the finale really BAD lmao. in this finale, seb is the beast, east still had to deal w the fact that they’re underfunded compared to north but no one is injured, lily is less of a poorly written character and maybe ppl are even rooting for her, and wow i just realized i never actually said what role i think nini should have in north’s show. OOH she could be student director instead of lily cause lily both being in the play while also directing was weird considering omg i just checked and according to her wiki page shes a FRESHMAN?? and they let her be student director? lol hell nah. okay so with all that in mind ,,, the menkies should have been the season cliffhanger instead of portwell. east and north should both be nominated, both schools perform at the menkies, and then the award winner is about to be announced and THATS when it cuts to natalie and the end of the season.

one, this actually gives more tension for a summer s3 as we would be waiting to see the consequences of whichever school won. also i bet people would be wondering if nini’s gonna be transferring back to east or staying at north. people would also prob wonder if ej would be getting the scholarship if east won and what that would mean for his interest in film.

lmao that got longggg and idk if anyone’s even gonna read this but it was fun to do :D

[thekidultlife]

Plot: After an unexpected encounter with Yoon Jeonghan during a baby shower, more memories unfold from your mind, and his.

Genre: slice of life, angst

Pairing: Jeonghan + fem!reader + Mingyu

Warnings: a bit of explicit language

A/N: Many thanks to my incredibly amazing beta reader, @secndlife​, for helping me make this beautiful! Also, I would like to express my gratitude to @xuseokgyu​ for taking the time to make lovely banners and even a teaser for this series! You are both a joy to work with and I am so blessed to have you both help me. 🧡 Lastly, to our followers and readers who are continually supporting this blog despite its inactivity, thank you! More details about my future works will be addressed after this fic.

Taglist: @haotheheckk, @jeonjungkaka, @soonhoonsol, @fluffyhyeju, @minkwans​

“If you love me like you tell me, please be careful with my heart. you can take it, just don’t break it — or my world will fall apart.”

🍁🎧🧡

The cobbled pavements of the narrow alley you were walking on were damp from the rain that had recently poured. It was chipped and uneven in some places, and your thin-strapped sandals would sometimes slip and get stuck between the cobblestones. Despite the imperfections of this street, you had come to love it, just like every other self-respecting college student living around the vicinity. Behind you, the signage of restaurants and thrift stores flashed in bright neon blues and violets, blending with the honey-golden glow of the lights coming from the shops and apartment buildings that rose around you.

This alley was the most beautiful place to go to in the city. 

It was a beautiful Saturday night, too, and in your opinion, you had spent it well.

You were walking back to the dorms with your friends and a couple of seniors. You were in the back of the group, where it was quieter. Clutching your arm was Jung Mirae, one of your roommates, who was struggling to walk straight after too many beers. 

In the process of half-dragging Mirae, an alarm from your phone rang. You hasted to get it switched off. 

Bright laughter pierced the stillness as the ones just a few steps ahead of you, Park Hyewon and Lee Joonyoung, your best friends besides Mirae, kept on cracking jokes that would make the whole group roar with laughter. You giggled at their ridiculousness occasionally while trying to keep Mirae on her feet. 

Hangout nights are incomplete without these two, you thought to yourself, as you studied long-legged, pink-haired Hyewon and the tall, broad-shouldered Joonyoung. You watched as they made mean comments at each other and then made up for the teasing by giving each other kisses.

“Gross!” someone called out from behind you, and you could not help but smile. 

Joonyoung turned around and playfully gave the finger to the person who had shouted out. "Go get yourself a girlfriend, Sunwoo! It's clear to me that you’re in need of love.” 

The group snickered at Joonyoung's words.

As you listened to everyone talk about how good the night was and how hellish the next week would be with final exams coming up, you felt cold fingers touch your cheek.

You turned to Mirae, who was looking up at you with quizzical—albeit drunken—eyes. 

“Hey, Y/N." Mirae’s voice was loud and clear in the narrow alley. You brushed her hand away gently. "Why are you crying?” 

“What do you mean?” You put a hand over her mouth and tried to tell her to stop spouting off nonsense, but it was then that you felt it—the wet trickle of tears on your face. Surprised, you wiped them away with your hand.

It was true.

You were crying.

The walking paused. Footsteps ceased over the cobbled pavement as everyone halted to look over at you. Your cheeks reddened at the unwanted attention.

“Y/N, is something wrong? Here, let me have Mirae.” One of your classmates reached out to take Mirae.

“Thank you.” I think I drank too much, you despaired, as you kept wiping at your face and waving people away. You made attempts to control your emotions, but nothing could stop the tears from coursing down your cheeks.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” you kept saying over and over with a hoarse voice that almost didn’t sound like you. “Keep walking, please! Don’t mind me. I think I just drank too much.” You gave a shaky laugh and rubbed your eyes. “I get like this sometimes. Sorry.” 

“You did not drink too much tonight, though,” someone commented dubiously. The others agreed and continued to look at you with confused expressions. "You never do."

“Jin-ah is right. And you don’t ‘get like this sometimes,’ babe.” Just a few feet away from you and leaning against Joonyoung, Hyewon crossed her arms. Her face, full of concern over your sudden outburst of emotions, made her look as though she hadn’t spent the night drinking as much as the guys did. “What's wrong?” 

“I really don’t know, to be honest.” You pushed a strand of hair away from your face and made a poor attempt to smile at Hyewon. "I think it’s just the beer. Really."

Hyewon looked like she didn’t want to stop questioning you.

Please don’t ask me anything more, you begged with your eyes.

Joonyoung nudged Hyewon casually.

"Okay." Hyewon shrugged as she reluctantly conceded to your lame answers. She walked up to you, linked her arm with yours, and turned to grin at the others placatingly. “Let’s go home for real, gang! I think my girlfriend here just needs to sleep.”

Everyone nodded, put on happy faces, and eagerly put the awkward scene behind them. They once again started with the jokes and laughter and even managed to loop you into their silly conversations. However, their eyes avoided you most of the time, and their jokes were careful. You sensed that nobody wanted to have any part in pulling any triggers you might have. Tonight was no time to be sad. With finals coming up, no one needed any sort of emotional baggage. You felt bad for making them cautious, but you were also grateful for their thoughtfulness about your feelings.

The happy atmosphere became short-lived, though, as five minutes later, a sound cut through the alley and through the facades that everyone was putting up for your sake. It made all of them stop in their tracks once more. Even Hyewon stiffened beside you. 

The sound perfectly explained everything that was going on with you, and there was no hiding it now.

Your alarm was playing again. 

“Oh, fuck.” Hyewon let out a huge breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She looked as though she was trying to block out the sound. “Y/N, for goodness’ sake, don’t be an idiot. Don’t listen to it. Turn it off—”

But of course, like an idiot, you listened.

“Hey there. If you find yourself listening to this, then it means we have made it to Year 3. Please meet me at the same place where we are tonight: the art pier, one hour before the day ends. I'll be the stupid-looking guy standing by the yacht statue while holding too many roses. I love you. Happy Anniversary!"

This alarm shouldn’t be ringing—because you didn’t make it to Year 3.

“Please turn it off.”

Joonyoung, who was right behind you, reached for your bag, rummaged inside, and pulled out your phone. Glaring at the screen, he shut it off and dropped the phone in the bag again.

The alleyway was silent for a while.

Hyewon sighed. And then she leaned against you and said softly, “Let’s go home.”

The cobbled pavements of the narrow alley you were still walking on were damp from the rain that had recently poured. Hands would steady you from behind when your thin-strapped sandals would slip and get stuck between the loose cobblestones. No one drunk should walk on this alley with its imperfect pavements, but you had come to love it, just like every other self-respecting college student living around the vicinity. As you passed, the signage of restaurants and thrift stores flashed in bright neon blues and violets before melting into the ever-constant amber colors of the street lights.

This alley was the most beautiful place to go to in this city. 

It was a beautiful Saturday night, too, and in your opinion, you had spent it well. But you weren’t supposed to spend this night here. Not in this place, despite its beauty, no. 

You were supposed to be somewhere else. 

You were supposed to be with someone else.

“I know that everybody here is trying to be nice, but let me say it for all of you here, so you don’t have to wonder how it sounds.” Joonyoung kicked a crumpled beer can out of his way as he walked. “Fuck Yoon Jeonghan.”

“Oh, please, Lee Joonyoung.” Hyewon sounded tired. “Thank you for making Y/N more miserable.”

“What do you mean? Bubs, I’m not the douchebag who—ah, whatever.” Joonyoung shrugged and flung middle fingers up the sky. “Wherever you are, Yoon Jeonghan, fuck you!” 

“He’s completely drunk,” Hyewon said apologetically, looking around her; some of the campus seniors with you were friends of Jeonghan’s. “Sorry.” And then, looking at Joonyoung exasperatedly, she hissed, “Joonyoung. Cut it out.” 

“Let him be,” you said in a drained voice, “let him be.”

You were supposed to be with Yoon Jeonghan tonight, but you weren’t. He was long gone, and all you have left of him was something that you had somehow forgotten to remove, something you wished so desperately to forget. 

All you have left of him was his voice—frozen in time through that alarm.

The rest was memories and history. 

🍁🎧🧡

Mingyu sips from a coffee mug and nods in understanding as you finish speaking. He leans back on one of the steps of the townhouse, where you both sit. Cars drive down your neighborhood street, their headlights coloring the concrete road with hazy white and yellow lights. You watch their signals blink as they find spaces to park. Leaves continue to fall, and some end up in your hair. You feel Mingyu brush them away. You smile and do the same for him.

It is way past midnight, and here you both sit, snuggling to keep warm against the cold night air and talking about a love long gone.

“So,” Mingyu traces the rim of his coffee cup as he puts the pieces together, “you and Jeonghan-hyung dated during uni days?”

You nod. “Mm-hmm. We dated for two years. And then we broke up during my junior year, which was when that alley story happened.” You look at your boyfriend in mock suspicion. “Not that I’m complaining, but are you sure you want to listen to this story? Because we don’t need to talk about this if you aren’t comfortable—” 

“—No, no, baby, I’m okay!” Mingyu chuckles a little bit as he turns to you. “I’m perfectly fine. I really want to know. If you’re not comfortable talking about it, though, we could just put it behind us.” He smiles at you. “I’m okay either way.”

He had stepped onto a minefield of your past without warning. He’s not supposed to be okay either way. You keep staring at him, not believing what he said.

“But, babe…” You sigh as you look at him. “Instead of talking about how Jeonghan and I ended up dating years ago, why don’t we talk about other things first?” You keep searching his face for any sign of uneasiness, any sign of hurt or confusion. “Like, how you felt when you found out. Or, how to avoid getting ambushed by stuff like this in the future.” You lean against him. “I don’t want something like this to happen again, no matter how great we both are at handling surprises. I think this is a good time to talk about things we haven’t talked about yet. Exes, our most embarrassing moments—” you giggle as Mingyu laughs at your last words. “Hey, I’m serious here!”

Your mind recalls the events of the night. You remember twirling in front of your full-length mirror to admire your new dress. You remember how perfect Mingyu had looked when he stepped out of his car and walked up to you. You remember the car ride, the conversation that you had about meeting his family and kissing underneath the porchlight of Aera’s house. You remember the baby shower: meeting Mingyu’s parents, Kim Aera, and Mingyu’s other friends. You remember how happy and secure you felt with Mingyu beside you as he introduced you to his family and some high-profile friends. You remember the crib and the games.

You remember Choi Seungcheol’s surprised expression and shaking Yoon Jeonghan’s hand for the first time in years. You remember Kwon Soonyoung’s drunken announcement.

“So, the former flames have finally met!” 

“Well, I guess I got surprised when I found out that you guys used to date,” Mingyu clarifies, “but if we will talk about whether I had strong, negative feelings about the whole thing...” his voice trails off as he looks at you.

“...Uh-huh?” you prod.

Mingyu shakes his head. “I didn’t have any.” He squeezes your hand reassuringly. “You don’t have to worry about me. To be honest, what surprised me the most was the fact that I handled the situation pretty well. Back when we were still at Aera’s house, I really did my best to be careful with how I took in the whole thing. I took care not to show how surprised I was with my expressions, my words...”

“Mm-hmm.” You nod along with him as his voice trails off. “Yes. I agree. You handled it pretty well. But I am still so sorry for dropping that bomb on you that way.” You look up at him with an apologetic expression. “We haven’t really talked about past relationships that much yet, so...” 

“Y/N, please don’t overthink.” His face hovers inches away from yours as he looks deep into your eyes. “See?” He makes all sorts of cute expressions, and you couldn’t help but smile. “I’m okay.” 

You become willing to believe him, but then you catch him looking at you with a twinkle in his eye.

“Although,” Mingyu adds, “I did feel a bit self-conscious.” He sighs dramatically, and he pouts—adorably. “I mean, he’s the Yoon Jeonghan. You dated the Yoon Jeonghan that most girls nowadays are swooning over. Who am I compared to that?”

As he continues to make such cute faces while saying the most outrageous things, you stare at him, open-mouthed. “What the hell.” You had seen through his joke, of course, but you could not help but look at him incredulously. “Is my boyfriend actually saying this to me right now while looking so drop-dead gorgeous beside me? Is he really comparing himself right now to someone else?”

Mingyu ignores your words and continues. “Yoon Jeonghan, actor extraordinaire, ranking twentieth at this year’s Asia’s Sexiest 100. Hmm. Yes.” He considers his words and nods. “I did feel intimidated. He’s good-looking and is amazing at acting and—”

“—Whoa, whoa, whoa.” You put your mug down beside you, and you giggle as you take Mingyu’s face in your hands. “You are one gorgeous person, too, and I am so, so in love with you. Stop comparing yourself to him.” You nuzzle his face, smiling. “I know you’re just joking about this, but please. Stop.”

He continues to look at you with a playful pout, but his eyes turn darker voice drops a notch lower. “Make me.” 

You feel him grin against your lips as you make him stop speaking.

At the back of your head, you remember Kim Aera’s words when she talked about her husband.

“Not all women are as fortunate as I am, you know? Some of us meet such crappy guys that it’s a miracle I ended up finding someone worth the wedding vows.” 

You aren’t one to believe in fortunes, so you try to think about all the things you must have done right to deserve a man such as Kim Mingyu. More importantly, you wonder if you would be able to keep him by your side. 

Too much thinking, too much thinking, you chastise yourself as you kiss Mingyu harder, wanting to erase everything from your mind.

“I love you,” you say after a while.

“I love you, too. But where were we with your story?” Mingyu lets go of you and takes his mug once more. Leaves still fall from the trees. The streetlights glow brighter as midnight darkens. A green sedan stops directly across you both, and you watch as a man staggers out of the driver’s side. 

“Well, if you really want to hear all about it, it would take us all night.” You look up at him with an enticing, hopeful smile. “Do you want to stay the night here? Hyewon and Joonyoung would be thrilled to have you. We can do storytime together with them.” You shake your head. “I still haven’t said a word to them about meeting Jeonghan again because we only went upstairs to get coffee. Hyewon will get a kick out of this.”

Mingyu laughs softly. “I can imagine.” He kisses your forehead before taking your hand. “Let’s head back inside.”

No more cars drive down your neighborhood street. No more hazy yellow and white headlights color the dark concrete road. Mingyu takes your hand and pulls you up from the steps. You feel him brush away some leaves from your hair once more. You look up at him appreciatively, and you do the same for him. Across the street, a glaring woman opens the front door for the drunken man from the green sedan.

You retreat indoors for the night. You think about how to tell Mingyu everything. And when Hyewon opens the door to greet you both, you wonder if she and Joonyoung would help you get the facts right about how you and Jeonghan started and how you and Jeonghan eventually ended.

With all these thoughts in your head, you faintly hear your phone ring in your purse. Getting a sense of déjà vu from the story that you had told Mingyu earlier, you feel chills run up and down your spine as you pull your phone out.

“Who’s your midnight caller, girlfriend?” Hyewon goodnaturedly teases as she takes your empty mug from your hand. Her face looks flushed, and you remember that she and Joonyoung had been drinking when you left them earlier. “Joonyoung! Mingyu’s here!”

“I have a confession to make,” you say as you look at the caller ID. “Mingyu and I ran into Jeonghan and Seungcheol at his cousin’s baby shower.”

Hyewon’s face pales at your words. “You what?”  

“We did,” Mingyu says softly, scratching his head while smiling at Hyewon. “He’s a good hyung of mine and Aera’s in the industry. We’ve been friends for a long time, but I didn’t know that he and Y/N used to date.” 

“Huh,” Hyewon breathes out. “All these years, the only way we could see him was on TV. We never ran across him, ever. And now we find out that he’s good friends with your boyfriend’s family.” Hyewon raises her eyebrows and shakes her head. “Imagine that.” 

“You met Jeonghan?” Joonyoung bounds into the foyer, which suddenly becomes crowded with the four of you there. “Was he with anyone else?” 

“Just him and Seungcheol-hyung,” Mingyu answers.

“Let’s not talk about this here. Come on in, you two. We still have some pizza, chicken, and beer.” Hyewon manages to push the two guys into the living room. She turns to you, clearly wanting to talk to you in private, but you put up a hand. 

“Hold on.” Your phone is vibrating in your hand, and you hastily answer the call. “Hello?”

🍁🎧🧡

He leans on the railings of the rooftop bar, a drink in one hand and a phone in the other. As he gazes at the city below, he knows that he has had too much to drink. The lights have started to pulse too much. The numbness inside him has finally reached his fingertips. He considers stopping to drink this last glass, but his call finally goes through. 

At the sound of the voice on the other line, he decides that he needs this one last shot of bourbon.

“I know that it’s too late to call you now,” he whispers almost inaudibly, “but if I don’t say this tonight, I probably never will.”

He lets go of the empty glass in his hand, and he watches as it shatters on the ground. 

“I miss you,” he says, oblivious of the curses and complaints from the people around him. “And I know that you’re in a happy place now, but I—” A painful pause ensues as he stands there, lost for words. Shifting his weight from one foot to another, he tries to ignore the ache in his throat and the burning in his eyes. “—I just wanted you to know that. Everything about this call feels wrong because I know that I am not supposed to and that I have no right to call you anymore, but I will never stop wondering how these words sound like if I don’t say it right now.” A tortured grin spreads across his lips. “I miss you.”

The phone falls out of his hands, and he blindly falls to the ground to pick it up. Sharp fragments from the broken glass cut through his skin and the material of his pants, but he doesn’t feel the pain. He is too numb right now. He couldn’t even feel his legs. As he futilely tries to smoothen the cracked screen on his phone, he hears a loud voice coming from a megaphone. 

“And cut!” The director’s voice rings loud and clear throughout the rooftop bar. He walks over to Jeonghan, who is still trying to bring his phone back to life. “Okay, did I suddenly step into some shitty romance movie after the break? What was all that?” The director impatiently turns around and gestures to the crew behind him. “I need a medical kit here; and another phone, please. Geez. What has gotten into you tonight?” 

“Sorry,” Jeonghan says apologetically. “I just got too immersed with my role.” He shakily stands up. “And I can’t feel my legs.”

The director shakes his head. “Look, Jeonghan, I know that you love ad-libs. I love your ad-libs, too. You know that. But your last lines threw me off.” He squints his eyes suspiciously at Jeonghan. “Where did you go tonight? You were fine the whole day, and then you suddenly get picked up by your friend. The minute you come back to work, you’re a different person.” He shakes his head again and walks away. “Read the script and pull yourself together. We’ll be taking a short break. And apologize to your co-star for spouting out all that mushy stuff!”

“What was that about?” Seungcheol has appeared from out of nowhere, arms crossed. “Why were you telling Jihoon that you missed him?”

Jeonghan laughs. He gestures weakly with his hand as he answers, “It’s the bourbon.”

“Who on earth actually drinks half a dozen shots while filming?” Seungcheol pauses as he studies Jeonghan’s face. “And why are you crying?” 

“I’m not.” Jeonghan wipes away something wet from his face. “Stop bitching, Cheol, and just help me sit down somewhere.” 

“Oh, Yoon Jeonghan.” Seungcheol sighs as guides Jeonghan to the nearest steel chair. “You said you would be able to come back to work after the baby shower! God, I was an idiot for believing you.” 

“This is not about the baby shower,” Jeonghan protests weakly as he leans back against the chair. “Leave me alone and let me rest. Please.” He closes his eyes. 

“So," Seungcheol fishes around for words, "what was that about?"

Jeonghan doesn’t answer. 

Seungcheol sighs again. “Was she the one you were ‘talking to’ in that phone call?” 

Silence. 

“Jeonghan—”

“—She looked happy.” Jeonghan’s voice is calm, but tears still escape his closed eyes. He leans to the side as though he wanted to sleep. “They looked happy. And when I saw them kiss by the front porch when we got to Aera’s, I felt funny." He grins. "I felt funny because a part of me got hurt—” He pounds his chest. “—Right here.” His grin widens. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just like this because I haven't seen her for a long time."

The rooftop bar is buzzing with activity: the director is making changes with the camera angles, someone is adjusting the brightness of the floodlights, and the extras are practicing the not-so-easy art of blending in with the scene. Jeonghan hears someone sweep the broken glass from the tiled floor.

“Mingyu is a good guy,” Seungcheol offers sympathetically. “At least we can both be sure that she will be alright.” 

“Mm-hmm.” Jeonghan continues pounding his chest with his bandaged hand. “I know.” 

“You are my first romance, and I’m willing to take a chance that till life is through, I’d still be loving you.”

🍁🎧🧡

The cobbled pavements of the narrow alley that he is walking on are still the same. It feels damp, even though no rain had poured that night. It is still chipped and uneven in some places, and he remembers how your thin-strapped sandals would sometimes slip and get stuck between the cobblestones. Despite the imperfections of this street, he knows that you loved it. But while you had loved this place for its bright lights and broken cobblestones, he had loved it for what it contained: the restaurants and thrift stores, all of which still had signs that flash in bright neon blues and violets. 

And he loved them because of the memories he had created inside them—memories that he had made with you.

He vividly remembers the first plate of spaghetti that you shared at Georgie’s, a quaint restaurant that would have been considered Italian but for the sweet spaghetti sauce that it serves. He has not forgotten the taste because he still goes there on Thursdays. And he has never forgotten the way you had laughed while eating spaghetti as he confessed that he wanted to date you.

“You have no idea how ridiculous that sounds coming out of your mouth,” you had said while pushing away your plate. Your eyes had been gleaming with humor then, but your voice had been guarded and careful. “To put it simply, sunbae, I am not going to date you.” You had shrugged, and locks of your hair had tumbled across that denim jacket that he had loved seeing on you. “You know why.” 

He had known then.

You had never fallen in love before. That knowledge should have made him cautious, but he admits to himself now that it had made him all the more desperate to snag that spot in your heart marked, “First Love.” 

It was at Georgie’s that you had first rejected him, but it was there that you also said yes to him a few months later. Twirling pasta in your plate, you had murmured, “Okay. Let’s date. But Yoon Jeonghan—” Your voice had shaken. And then you had looked at him. 

“Please be careful with my heart.”

He had answered that with your first kiss.

At signless thrift stores that are scattered a few stalls away from each other, Jeonghan remembers patiently waiting for you as you picked clothes for him and art supplies for yourself. He remembers how you would stand to the side to let Hyewon and Mirae haggle with the storekeeper. He remembers your apologetic expression when you felt like Hyewon or Mirae had taken the bargaining too far. He smiles as he remembers how embarrassed you would be during those times.

And then he smiles wider as he remembers Hyewon’s sharp fingernails that had dug on his shoulder when she pulled him aside during the first time he tagged along for the shopping. He chuckles as he remembers how menacing she had looked. 

“If dating my goody-two-shoes Y/N is payback because I broke your best friend’s heart a few years ago,” Hyewon warns darkly, “then you’d better know that I’ll be coming for you. And I have no qualms whatsoever about tearing you to shreds. You got that?” She had dug her nails deeper at that point. 

“I don’t care what history you had with my best friend,” he had answered calmly. “I am dating Y/N because I love her. That’s all there is. You’re reading way too much into this, Park Hyewon.” 

“Am I?” Hyewon had scoffed, clearly unconvinced. “Yoon Jeonghan, why are you dating Y/N? The real reason, please."

"I love her," he repeated. "That's all."

"No. That's not it. I refuse to believe that’s your reason. And we both know here that you can’t fool me with that crap.” She had let go of him then, but not before throwing out a few more words that sounded like a prophecy. Throwing up her hands in the air and rolling her eyes, she had said, “I’m calling it: you’ll only break Y/N's heart.”

Funny how Hyewon turned out to be right. 

“This alley is the most beautiful place to go to in the city, isn’t it?” 

At that moment, Jeonghan stops in his tracks. He stops reminiscing. 

He whirls around, his eyes wide and almost sober, searching for the owner of that voice. His heartbeats quicken. He clenches his jaw as another knife of pain stabs through him at those words. 

You used to say the same thing to him. You used to say those words while holding his hand or whenever he would kiss you unannounced while you walked this street. You used to say those words while looking up at him. He would never get lost anywhere in the world, but he used to get lost in your eyes when you did so.

He squints his eyes, certain that it had been you who had spoken. But as his vision focuses on the owner of the voice, he feels his heart sink inside him. 

Of course, it wasn’t you. Jeonghan laughs at himself and his stupidity.

It wasn’t you. It was some stupid co-ed echoing the words that any college student would say about this street. It wasn’t you because you were long gone from him now, and he had nothing left of you but all these memories that still plague him in this fucking alleyway.

It wasn’t you because Jeonghan had done what Hyewon had said that he would do. 

A hand grabs his arm. “Let’s go, Yoon Jeonghan. You shouldn’t be here.” 

Jeonghan recognizes Seungcheol’s voice. He grins at his friend’s frustrated face as he trips on a stupid loose cobblestone. “Hello, there. Why do you keep appearing out of nowhere? And did you also think of Hyewon while following me along this legendary street? You only loved this street because of Hyewon, but you still feel it, right?” Jeonghan helps himself up and absently studies his dirtied pants. “The nostalgia this place evokes?”

“Shut up,” Seungcheol snaps, “just shut up. You know, I expected you to act more maturely than this, Jeonghan.” 

“What?” Jeonghan laughs. “Can’t a guy walk in peace?” 

Seungcheol stops walking. He lets go of Jeonghan’s arm, and he faces Jeonghan with a furious expression. “You have no right to get hung up over Y/N,” he says with a poisonous tone. “You have no right at all.” 

Seungcheol’s words slice through Jeonghan like a blade he didn’t see coming. He wasn't able to brace for it. He didn’t expect those words to come, especially from Seungcheol.

“You broke her heart.” Seungcheol’s tone is more fit for a eulogy than for a conversation with his best friend. “You made a choice years ago. What did you expect the ending to be? You can’t cry now.” His face softens. “Be a man. Accept that she’s moved on. Did you see her face earlier at the baby shower? She didn’t even look at you with any hurt or anger.” He presses a hand on Jeonghan’s shoulder. “She looks happy. Was she surprised to have seen you? Yes. But she has clearly moved on, and so should you.”

There is silence for a while until Seungcheol hands him a face mask. 

"Spare yourself the hell you'd experience from gossip rags and wear the fucking mask. You look terrible and stupid, coming here without any disguise at all. These aren’t uni days anymore, dumbass."

The cobbled pavements of the narrow alley that Jeonghan and Seungcheol are walking on are still the same. It feels damp, even though no rain had poured that night. It is chipped and uneven in some places, and both men could still remember how easily one could trip and fall on the slippery cobblestones. But despite the imperfections of this street, they both know someone who had loved it for what it was.

Yes, you had loved this alleyway for its bright lights and broken cobblestones. Seungcheol had loved it because of your friend Hyewon, but Jeonghan had loved it for what it contained: the restaurants and thrift stores, all of which still had signs that flash in bright neon blues and violets. 

And he loved them because of the memories he had created inside them—memories that he had made with you.

But now he realizes that this alleyway is a literal Memory Lane, bringing him back to the past and clouding his judgment of the present. 

As he walks past Georgie’s, He remembers your words again. 

“Please be careful with my heart.” 

Friday has barely ended, and Saturday is just about to begin, but when Georgie’s fades behind him, he laughs. He laughs like the idiot that he is, and tears pour out of his eyes as he does so.

“I will be true to you—just a promise from you will do: from the very start, please be careful with my heart.”

🍁🎧🧡

The truth has finally hit him.

Everything that he had with you—all of it—is now just memories and history.

And his conviction that he should stop riding this rollercoaster of emotions about you becomes even more pronounced when his phone vibrates, and he picks up a call.

“Where are you?” a woman’s voice asks, worried. “I’ve been up all night waiting at your apartment.”

Seungcheol mouths, Who is it?

Jeonghan flashes the phone at Seungcheol.

It was Jung Mirae.

“I love you and you know I do—there’ll be no one else for me. I promise I’ll be always true, for the world and all to see. Love has heard some lies softly spoken, and I have had my heart badly broken; I’ve been burned and I’ve been hurt before.”

🍁🎧🧡

Mingyu stops staring at the ceiling and turns to look at you. You are sleeping beside him, tucked under his arm, and he is happy. He had spent the night with you, going through your memories and learning from them. He had spent the whole night immersed in the past that you had inside you.

Yes, indeed, he had learned a lot about you tonight. And as he presses a tender kiss to your forehead, he whispers something that you did not hear. He whispers words that he just wants to prove to you with actions.

“I’ll be careful with your heart,” Mingyu whispers as he kisses your hair, your neck, your bare shoulder, “because I know how it feels to get hurt, too.” If you had been awake at that point, you would have seen the pensive, faraway look in his eyes as he walks down his own cobblestoned path—his own Memory Lane. If you had been awake, you would have worried about his expression like he knows you would. So he quickly smiles at your peaceful, sleeping face.

“I have a story, too,” he adds softly, “but I’ll save it for later.” He hugs you close to him. “For now, I’ll just be content with taking care of you.” He kisses your lips, and you stir. “Of us.”

When your eyes open, he shyly ducks under the covers, his twinkling eyes peeking at you. And as you protest that it was late and that he should sleep, he laughs softly, and he nods. “Okay, okay. I’ll take care of you.”

“What?” you ask, uncomprehending. “Say again, baby?”

“Nothing.” He hugs you close again. “Just that I love you.” 

You fall back into sleep at his words, and he keeps watching you until his eyes close on their own.

“I love you,” he whispers again. 

“So I know just how you feel: trust that my love is real for you. I’ll be gentle with your heart—I’ll caress it like the morning dew. I’ll be right beside you forever, I won’t let our world fall apart. From the very start, I’ll be careful with your heart.”

Author’s Note: Thank you very much for reading! I know that I have been very slow and inconsistent with my updates, but as long as there are unfinished WIPs on this list, please expect me to keep posting, no matter how sporadic. Tell me what you think about this part on the askbox, comments/reblogs! Thank you! - Leanne.