#they had a pretty boy rivalry thing going on friendly of course

[counterclan]

Finally some karstclan cats Other than burnstar and rabbitdapple LOL

[pespillo]

The entire bizzyboy team x godpoke

wait hold on had to make a whole graph for this

i present the bizzyteam panopticon of romance routes, Godpoke in da middle. biased to headcanons of course as godpoke is a player stand-in after all.

pink heart is for most potential mutual relationship/crush. red heart is infatuation, more of a heavy handed attraction than actual investment. light blue circle is friendly terms. grey zig-zaggy line is for complicated, unsure feelings.

pattypoke, obvious, i think they found eachother at the right point in time, godpoke traveled real far simply for the sake of meeting an idol and ended up becoming part of history, and patty did as well by standing up for herself and finding her voice and identity again, they are sweet like candy to eachother.

alexpoke, i honestly think godpoke tries to flirt with em but alexei is incredibly skittish or straight up doesnt get it, doesnt mean it CANT work, but al would need to come around n not get distracted so much.

vibipoke, ive seen cute stuff with em but i dont really ship em, in fact i think vibi simply cant really vibe romantically with a person of so few words of their own, vib wants megapon, or capo, whoever comes first.

banapoke, this is krerdly deltarune 2 if we believe in ourselves/lh, i honestly like it a lot, its cuteee.

grujapoke?, i think grujaja feels unsure about godpoke and really hasnt opened a lot to people in general to form a coherent relationship at this point in time, also sometimes megapon loud as fuck and he cant take it, godpoke wants to try to be more mindful of their wellbeing to hang out.

capopoke oooohh boy, capo definitely feels Things for godpoke, its mostly about the rivalry going on and being pitted against eachother, but its also the fact that Godpoke doesnt feel that strongly against Capo even after everything, in fact they seem to Actively care, which drives that weird attraction further, Capo is just that guy that loves provoking something just to get manhandled, probably.

Inspekpoke , HOOOH BOY how do i say this its pretty fucking obvious that Inspekta is crazey for the new deputy, immediately wants to pull them in, immediately wants to get weird about it, a lot of it comes from Spek projecting a buncha things at once at em, and thats a problem, i think he sees them as a strictly blank canvas that can be easily swayed by promises and sweet nothings, but to me Godpoke finds it probably a bit cute at the beginning and then it just turns, clingy and uncomfortable towards the end, especially with the passive aggressive behavior and mood swings coming in, too much too quickly. they got a lot to talk about post-canon, lotsa things to be apologizing for.

anyways thanks for coming to my bizzy presentation.

[arisewanekosuki]

TLH -Extra-: The love is in the air! - Charlotte (Feat. Fontaine boys + Aether x Fem!Reader)

Finally found motivation to write this one! The idea came from conversation I had some time ago with my dear friend @shizukano , thanks Shizu (^ v ^)/)

---------

Nothing can hide from Charlotte’s eyes, not even the way many guys look at you with adoration.

When Charlotte met your group in Mondstadt for the first time, she genuinely thought that you and Aether are more than only traveling companions. The soft look he always give you, making sure that you're always safe and sound. He will never let anything hurt you on his watch.

But then she noticed that you weren’t looking at him the same way. You treat him like your other friends and not only that but she started to doubt if she was right about Aether's feelings towards you as well. Because when you traveled around nations in search for Card Thief, she couldn’t help but notice other guys that your group met in other Nations, being very friendly with you too as well. 

But then, when you, Aether and Paimon came to Fontaine she saw it with her eyes. It wasn't immediately but after some time, the first ‘victim’ that got caught in your charms from the Nation of Hydro Archon was Lyney. At some point whenever he saw you taking a walk around Court of Fontaine, he would in fast speed approach you, making small ‘magic shows’ just for you. You always end up with flowers adoring your head or you clothes after them. The magician always ‘invites’ himself to whatever your little group has planned. Going for dinner? Nice, he’s hungry too! Diving? Sure! He knows some nice places that his younger brother told him about. Oh you need some Fatui insignias? Magically they are in his hat just for you!

Another ‘victim’ was the talented diver, Freminet. Charlotte was surprised to see this shy guy who seems to prefer being alone, catching the same feelings towards you like his brother. Freminet is always ready to help you with anything. But there are moments when his shyness seems to go away. In those moments he ask you for his next orders, waiting with anticipation for it, no blush and no stutter, looking like a servant that would give his own life for his master than just a boy in love. The diver is rarely smiling but if anyone would like to see his face adored with smile they have to see the moment when you invite him to join for your ‘little adventures in Fontaine’.

The most unexpected 'victim' was the Iudex of Fontaine, Monsieur Neuvilette. At first glance Monsieur Neuvillete didn’t looked interested in you in such romantic way. But then Charlotte notice, those small things the Iudex was doing for you. Inviting you for dinners, always making time if you need his help, giving you some pretty shells and rocks and other gifts that seems the Melusines helped him to pick up for you. If you feel tired, suddenly there is room prepared in hotel for your group and you don’t have to worry about cost. The only thing that Charlotte can’t understand is why whenever it rains and you meet Neuvilette, the rain immediately stops.

Another even more unexpected ‘victim’ was the Administrator of the Fortress of Meropide, Wriothesley. At that point she really wished she could change into fly and saw what happened when your lil group was in prison. She only learned of new victim after seeing him with you and Aether while taking commissions from Katheryne. She followed to see if the Duke truly become charmed by you and he indeed did. For you, both guys were just doing their job at commissions but she saw the rivalry between them, especially when there were enemies to beat. And let’s not forget about him inviting only you for some tea party. Of course Aether won’t leave your side, much to Duke disappointment.

The journalist couldn’t help but wonder… How are you doing this without knowing you are stealing these men's hearts?! ---------------------------------------------------------------------

-“Paimon had a feeling that lately… many people are watching us…” the little girl said while looking around. Aether did noticed it too, like all Fontaine started to be so interested in your group but nobody is really approaching you to ask for something like always. -“You think so? I didn’t notice anything.” you said while eating the cake that Aether bought. You all decided to take a break and eat something at Café Lutece. Suddenly Mr. Arouet approached your group table, bringing some more cake. -“But we didn’t order this one?” Aether said to the man, who only smiled and winked at him -“It’s on the house.” Then he whispered so only Aether could hear it “Don’t give up! I know you can win her heart!” And with that he went back to serve other clients. The blond traveler was confused by it, but you and Paimon seemed happy for getting another cake and for free.  

...

While you were looking at books with Paimon, Aether by accident overheard conversation of two women that were standing not that far from your group. -“Traveler have the best chance of winning her heart! Both of them are always together!” one said -“But they been traveling for so long and they still are not together, I think at this point Lyney have better chances of winning! He can be really charming if he wants!” the other said. For a moment Aether was wondering if he heard it correctly. Why are they talk about your group and friends like this? Then he heard Paimon gasp, he turned around to see what’s going on. You were asking her as well, what did she read on the paper to bring such reaction but the little girl poorly lied that she remembered that she left book at café and asked if you can go bring it back. You didn’t question her and you did go. Then the little pixie flew over Aether, showing the news paper in his face!

“One girl steals hearts of men without knowing it!! Who will be the chosen one at the end?!

Wherever she goes, new ‘victims’ appear. This time she came to the Nation of Justice and managed to charm many fontainian men without knowing it. The traveler always by her side, still fighting for her heart but right now the magician, diver, Monsieur and the Duke joined in this race towards her heart.

It is some kind of her power? Or maybe curse? Or maybe we can even call it a blessing that she’s not aware of it? Or maybe she’s just that a lovely person that after knowing her better those men can’t help but fell in love with her? Whatever it is, now is the biggest fight over her and she doesn’t even know it! So who will be with her at the end?”

-“This explains a lot…” murmured Aether. -“Yeah! Paimon was wondering why two guys were placing bets on Freminet and Wriothesley! After all those two have nothing to do with each other! …Well that was Paimon first thoughts back then…” Aether sighed, at this moment he’s even more grateful that you can’t read Teyvat language. He wonders if he should talk about it with Charlotte, she didn't even hide that well identities of people involved in it and he doesn’t like the idea of whole Fontaine being interested in ... this whole ‘love race’.

[rascals-forthememories]

Alex V. “Ajax” Johnson moodboard + random headcanons

🎸⋆➤Imagine him to be born in the early 80’s, ok 1988 which makes him a millennial of course, raised in very supportive but sassy asf parents, he could've been from the hood but he's too nice for hell. His momma is very good at coming up with insults, but she's got a very good voice, and dad is clever dude who knows life hacks n shi then they all moved to a citylife. He has to be a city boy...

🎸⋆➤He and Keegan were either childhood best friends bc they were neighbors, went to the same school, playing pranks and causing trouble but always having each other's backs. Their moms being friends is also a nice touch, maybe they even used to arrange play dates for them when they were younger.

🎸⋆➤Being a bit of a 90s video game nerd. Maybe he had a SNES and Genesis when he was a kid, and now as a teen he's moved on to the 360 or PlayStation. (challenging Jemima to random games or competitions, just to see who can be the more competitive) He might even have a Game Boy stashed away somewhere for all those late-night gaming sessions. He'd probably be the one to drag the others into retro gaming binges where they'd spend hours playing old school Mario or Zelda, until Merrick or Keegan finally puts a stop to it. Always trolling Keegan at Mariokartt, Ajax's goal isn't to win the race, his goal is to green shell Keegan in game.

🎸⋆➤Ajax as the 2nd bassist in the band, making it a duo with Keegan. Maybe they bonded over their mutual love for bass, spending hours practicing together and jamming out to their favourite songs. They could even have a friendly rivalry going on, trying to outdo each other during rehearsal and constantly one-upping each other's riffs and licks.

🎸⋆➤^And considering Ajax's "cheesy goofball" personality, I could see him always coming up with the cheesiest bass-related puns and jokes. Like when Keegan asks him to play a funky bass line, Ajax might respond with a cheesy line like "Oh, you want funk? I've got the funk, baby! I'll hit that note so hard, you'll hear it in your bones!" or "You want to make the bass sing? Well, I've got the perfect recipe - a pinch of slapping, a dash of popping, and a whole lot of attitude!"

🎸⋆➤Can beatbox decently but only to the point he can impress people who don't beatbox, not the crazy sounds. Hes just very good with rhythm and beat.

🎸⋆➤DEFINITELY be all over Keegan for having Jemíma, just picture him constantly teasing Keegan about her, saying things like "Hey, look who's got a pretty girl tagging along with him lately!" or "Hey, loverboy, can you spare a minute from your little date to focus on the music for once?" Maybe he'd even write a cheesy love song about Keegan and Jemima, just to get under Keegan's skin. "Love Ballad of the Bassists," anyone?

🎸⋆➤Ajax's bassist skills would pair with Keegan's - both of them are pretty damn good. But where Keegan is more technical and focused on precision and technical skill, Ajax would be wilder and more energetic, playing with raw energy and power.

🎸⋆➤Loves indie rock and the classic boy band sound of the Backstreet Boys. And the drummer covers are a great touch too! Maybe he stumbled across a video of a sick drum cover on YouTube one day and got hooked, spending hours watching and rewatching the performance and trying to mimic the insane beats. Now, he's a total drum cover enthusiast, always keeping an eye out for the latest and greatest covers on the internet. (Meanwhile, Merrick might roll his eyes at Ajax's love for drum covers, saying something like "Seriously, man? You're more obsessed with those drum covers than you are with actual music. But Ajax would just wave him off and say, "Hey, you're not the one playing the thunder-making instrument here)

🎸⋆➤Has a few other quirky habits and interests outside of music. Maybe a secret love for collecting vintage action figures or sports memorabilia, or a hidden talent for painting or drawing. A weird addiction to eating way too much chocolate or candy and strange obsession with collecting rare bands vinyl's like ''Yo check this out''. He’s also a bit of a wisecracker and loves to banter back and forth with his friends. Habit of accidentally dropping his bass during rehearsal and blaming it on the other guys, saying they spooked him or something.

[roseshewrites]

A GOLDEN PIECE OF YOU~(RadioApple)

*Chapter 3, Second Waltz

Of course Charlie had hung a gigantic WELCOME HOME, DAD sign decorated with rubber duck stickers and rainbows on the stair banisters. She had also tied an unholy amount of balloons on every single balloon-friendly surface she could find in the front lobby, which was surprisingly quite a lot.

Of course, Alastor was standing front and center in front of the group waiting to shout "Welcome!" At him as soon as he walked in. Only the group of misfits that made up the hotel's population all shouted it at random intervals and in varying decibals, Husker coming in last with a deep mutter, and Nifty, who was sitting atop Alastor's shoulders gave a gleeful, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Well, it was the thought that counted.

Of course Alastor said nothing to him whatsoever and only widened his large yellow grin, his red eyes narrowing as he stared Lucifer down.

Charlie cringed and then giggled at the chaos, running to hug him.

"We're all so happy to have you here, dad!"

Minus one.

But, he could put aside a rivalry for now. For Charlie.

"Thanks, babygirl!" He grinned up at her.

Dear gods, she had gotten so tall. So tall and beautiful, and confident.

She certainly did not get any of that from him.

Party chaos ensued.

Alastor was made to play some radio music with a cue from Charlie who cried, "Hit it, DJ!"

("Hit what?")

"Play some music, asshole," Angel Dust supplied helpfully.

"I remember her asking me to supply music to her little party. I don't remember being asked to strike someone named DJ."

"Oh, for fuck's s-"

But the rest of Angel's swear was suddenly drowned out by the loud jazz tunes strumming agressively from the radio demon, who looked like he knew exactly what he was doing.

"DOES THE GUY KNOW ANYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN ELEVATOR WAIT MUSIC-"

The jazz increased in volume till even Angel's shouting was drowned out and Husker was seen in a corner pressing his ears and hissing.

Nifty, unaware of the tension or perhaps feeding upon it, hopped from Alastor's shoulders and proceeded to attempt a messy looking Charelston dance where instead of just holding her arms up, she was also stabbing at the air.

Lucifer sidestepped her quickly before she could impale his ankle, and muttered conspirationally to Charlie, "Is it always like this here?"

His daughter grinned, "Hehe, yeah..pretty much all the time." She scrunched her shoulders sheepishly then said, "But I love it!"

Alastor finally found a reasonable volume for his jazz tunes much to Husker's relief, and twirled Nifty around by her little finger when she asked.

"Spins! Haha!"

"Watch the daggers, darling. They're for the bugs, not my feet, remember?"

"Uppy spins, please. Please, Alastor!"

Nifty was bouncing on her little feet.

"Oh, very well."

The radio demon swooped Nifty up as she demanded, much to her squealing delight, and set the both of them spinning about the room as the jazz music settled into a record crackling waltz.

Oh hell, Lucifer thought. They're so fucking adorable. When had he ever seen Alastor so gentle?

Lucifer caught Charlie grinning at him, and knew she was remembering a time in her childhood when he would do the same thing with her.

"I can't pick you up like that anymore," he said, actually a little bit sad. Maybe just bittersweet. He had missed so much of his little princess' life.

"You can just lift my spirits instead, dad," she laughed.

He chuckled. "That, I can do!"

Nifty pointed out Lucifer from on top of Alastor's neck and when they got closer she cried, "Now go dance with the baaaad boy." She clutched at his ears and giggled.

"I don't know Nifty darling, *is* he a bad boy? Perhaps you should go find out for yourself."

"Hey!" Lucifer said, slightly miffed. "I'll have you know I'm the original bad boy."

"Ooh!" Alastor chuckled, "So touchy. Perhaps a little dance would cheer you up, *King.* "

He was holding out one clawed hand to Lucifer, eyes narrowed at him expectantly.

Nifty clawed her way down Alastor's back and with a little "hup-hup!" Ran off to go stab some bugs, bored with the party.

"Well, I, uhhh.." Lucifer didn't know what to say.

"Oh, no worries, Applesauce, I promised your daughter I'd be on my *best* behavior this evening."

"Well, I suppose one dance wouldn't uhhh...wouldn't hurt," he agreed reluctantly, taking Alastor's hand. "Don't call me that again though."

Alastor swept him seamlessly into the dance. The man was right on time with the music, and led Lucifer around to a perfect pace.

Lucifer fell naturally into the pace too, noting how Alastor had so gracefully taken the lead role. He'd feel irked by that if he wasn't so impressed by how Alastor had a hand on Lucifer's waist, the other lightly holding his hand but yet kept the rest of his body at a respectful distance.

He was being...well, this evening anyway, he was being a perfect gentleman. So far.

"Your footwork is amazing. I like the song, too. Shostakovich."

"Second waltz. You know your music."

Lucifer chuckled, "Kiddo, I invented music."

"HaHa! Don't me call that."

"HaHa! I was created before the garden of Eden was a sparkle in God's eye. You're a kiddo to me," he smirked up at Alastor, whose eyes narrowed and glinted dangerously.

"Ahh yes, that's right. Samael. God's favorite toy. Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?"

"Smooooth," Angel crooned from a corner, whistling at them. Husker not so delicately clocked him on the shoulder. "OW, assfuckinlicker!"

"For your information, KIDDO, it did."

Lucifer spotted his daughter running frantically to try and get Alastor's attention and saw her whisper-shouting "IXNAY. ON THE SAMAEL-HAY."

Vaggie's face palm from this was audible.

"It's Amael-Say, babe. And EVERYONE heard you."

"Shit."

"You know what? That's okay," Lucifer broke free from Alastor's arms, standing back, "You wanna dead name me for no reason, bastard? You got a problem or something?"

"Dad! Dad, I'm - I'm sure he didn't mean it like that, did you Alastor?"

Alastor was very catlike observing his own claws, eyebrows delicately raised, "Really, I was simply making conversation. How was I supposed to know your father was still sensitive about something that happened so long ago?"

"See?" Charlie appealed, "And you're sorry, right? For hurting dad's feelings?"

Alastor just stared at her deadpan grinning, the radio waves about him crackling loudly.

"We'll, uhhh....we'll work on that one."

The party broke shortly after that with Angel dragging Husker off to go to the bar, Alastor bidding everyone a good night and Niffty was... Well, she was doing Nifty things. Where did she even sleep?, Lucifer wondered.

"Thanks for the welcome, Ducky," Lucifer yawned, "But your old dad's beat. Got stuff to unpack before I hit the hay."

Charlie looked at Vaggie then glanced at her dad. She gave her girlfriend a look and said "Go on ahead, I'll be up in a minute."

Both Lucifer and Vaggie exchanged looks that seemed like a moment of solidarity.

Because both of them knew Charlie, and they both knew no one was sleeping until SOMETHING had been resolved.

Behind her girlfriend's back Vaggie mouthed Good Luck at Lucifer, who winked in return.

When everyone else had gone to bed, Charlie and Lucifer stepped into a living area on one of the upper floors. Lucifer sighed and collapsed on a nearby sofa, flinging his top hat to the side.

She sat down next to him, looking a bit nervous.

"Okay. What is it? Spit it out, junior."

"I...just wanted to make sure....that Alastor's little comment didn't um...get under your skin too much."

"Oh please! I'm not worried about that jerk."

"You're really all right?"

"Charlie," Lucifer said impatiently, "I know you're worried I'm going to....maybe...fall back into some old habits of mine. You know my problems and that worry is certainly valid, sweetheart, but I haven't had a post-traumatic whatever in ages."

"So you're not gonna..."

"No self isolation," he said firmly, "No episodes. And I'm certainly not gonna let a reminder of my time in Heaven ruin my sleep tonight."

She grinned, her face lighting up like he loved so much.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for moving in with me."

"Of course!" He brightened, "Char, you know what we're gonna DO with this place?"

"No, what!" She was sitting in the edge of her seat now.

"We're gonna take hell by storm with it, Ducky. In a month it'll be so full of patrons we'll need to build."

"Yeah!! And after that?"

"Your dreams are gonna come true. I'll make sure of it."

After promises of going over group plans with her in the morning, they began to part ways but not before his daughter scooped him up in a twirling hug that lifted his feet off the floor.

"I love you Dad!!"

He chuckled when she set him down and he took his hat off and placed it on her head, walking off to his room.

"Love you too, darlin'. Good night."

~

He was walking down one of the hotel's many hallways when a slight burst of conversation came to his attention, punctuated by that distinct radio crackle.

Dammit, he was not in the mood for another encounter with jerkface McRadio.

The two characters rounded the corner though, and he was trapped.

Alastor was being followed around by one of Sir Pentious' remaining Egg Bois, who was bopping along talking Alastor's ears off in a steady stream, Alastor nodding and "Mmhmm"-ing in all the right places, tolerating the Egg's enthusiasm.

"Say, boss, I gotta joke for yah!"

"Sure, Egburt."

"Why did the chicken cross the road?!"

"I don't know, why *did* the chicken cross the road?"

"Because America’s aging infrastructure doesn’t adequately provide footbridges or pedestrian underpasses!!!"

There was almost an audible pause, then Alastor cracked up, a real honest laugh that echoed around the hall.

"Oh my dear Egg, you do have your moments of lucidity, don't you?"

"Whatsat??"

"Never you mind. Now run along, there, I've preparations for tomorrow's broadcast."

 

"Okay!!"

The egg bopped ahead of Alastor, promptly rounding the corner ahead and leaving Lucifer alone...again...with the radio demon.

"So..Egburt, huh?" Lucifer remarked, just to break the silence.

"He answers to just about anything. Egburt, Egghead, The Great Eggsbie. Just don't expect him to understand that reference."

"Right..."

"I suppose I'll see you for your daughter's most recent group excercise itinerary in the coming weeks. It should be...enlightening."

Uh-oh. Charlie hadn't mentioned anything about that to him. Things at the party had been so chaotic, and then he'd gone and ruined things by getting pissy with Alastor, and..

"Yup, sure will," Lucifer aimed for assuming an air that he completely understood what the hell Alastor was talking about, and bid him goodnight; cringing inwardly that he went to tip his hat, then forgot he wasn't currently wearing it, disguised the movement with an awkward head scratch and left to the sound of Alastor chuckling deeply to himself as they both went their separate ways.

Enlightening.

Hooray.

What did Alastor know that he didn't?

[autumnslance]

6. How did they feel about competing against Thancred and Urianger?

Surprised, a little mad, then absolutely delighted.

Thancred didn't tell Aeryn about working for Koana. They were all still living in the Annex, even if the boys were busy doing other things while Team Void dealt with everything there, with occasional help from the fellas. So Thancred listened, and seemed pretty chill about her going across the salt to Tural, but adventuring is what she does and she can teleport more than most, it was fine, they'd "see each other again soon enough."

So seeing them in Tural with the Second Promise was more of a surprise than it should have been, Aeryn's smart but sometimes a bit naive and even when Thancred's dropping hints she doesn't get it.

This triggered her competitive streak like few other things do; Alisaie trying to challenge her? Eh, she'll humor lil' sis. Others, it really depends how much she likes them or not, stress she's under, but usually it's low key.

Thancred and Urianger though? Oh, it was on. That's her love and her bro, she knows exactly what they're capable of (especially together) and they were going to regret holding out on her.

(which is exactly why they did, of course, to get her riled up and make this fun. They are both the best kind of trolls.)

Also the things it does to Aeryn & Thancred's sex life is a side effect he was really hoping for; Aeryn in high, keyed up emotion tends to translate her need for physical closeness aggressively, and with Thancred intimately, and I have a few notes for a scene at Many Fires, after the cutscenes there at each camp, where they meet up...

Anyway, she had a blast with the friendly rivalry, especially given how it was obvious Koana and Lamaty'i care for one another, and worked well together when the contest called for it. The Scions didn't miss a beat when having to work together instead of at odds, always aligned, which was reassuring.

Also she thought, as she got to know Koana more, that Urianger and Thancred were good companions for him, given their own hard-learned lessons they could use to guide the young Promise into being a strong Vow.

Aeryn does kinda wish they had a few more opportunities for being at odds, though. She'd have liked to see if Thancred could put Alisaie on her arse in a more serious match now - right before Aeryn (carefully) put Thancred on his, to "discuss" in the For'ard Cabins later.

[vanillablankcanvas]

Wait, is Sable that mystery troll JD married? Wow! Please, tell us more about their romance

Shhhh Spoilers! 🤫

.......but YES!

It was rocky at first. They had no intention of ever being a couple.

She was in The Sugar Gals, the hottest girl band at the time and they had a competitive rivalry with Brozone.

Sable was mean. A bully to everyone around her, even to the other Sugar Gals.

The start of their romance was really just Sable trying to make amends for her behavior and hoping they could be friends.

John Dory didn't expect to enjoy her company so much. Neither did Sable. They had more in common than they realized.

Basically they've both been through some similar stuff and they bond over it and find comfort in each other.

But it's more than that...

Little things:

Previous suitors put her on a pedestal and treated her like a goddess until they realized she had flaws and immediately treated her differently for having them. John Dory treats her like an equal, he's blunt and doesn't sugar coat things or say things he doesn't mean. He doesn't see her flaws as flaws, they're just part of what makes Sable... Sable 🩵

Sable is often given expensive gifts. Custom made chess sets, vintage bottles of berry juice, rare jewelry and luxurious perfumes. She appreciates them of course, but there is no heart in these gifts. John Dory however will find a piece of a critters shedded skin and thinks Sable will like it because it's a pretty colour. She keeps every single one of these otherwise weird gifts. ❤️

John Dory sometimes feels that Trolls are only tolerating his presence. They want him to shut his mouth and leave them alone because he's loud and says what's on his mind even if no one wants to hear it. He feels when a Troll would rather be anywhere else. He doesn't get that feeling with Sable. She wants him around.

They lift eachother up. John Dory is a little intimidated by her thorough education and finds himself going back and finishing his high school diploma. Once she finally finds out, she is his biggest supporter. Sable is independent but not very independent if that makes sense. She has her own pod, her own career and her own money but she doesn't have many practical skills. (She has a personal chef and a maid) John shows her how to get her hands dirty. She learns to cook (sorta 😆), fix her own things and she ends up helping with the critters where JD works.

They both make an effort to get along with each others families. Sable's parents are elderly and JD is a sweetheart to them. He brings them things to read and helps make and feed them meals. Sable of course already has a history with JD's brothers, which is an issue at first. They expect her to break his heart coz she used to be a cow to all of them. She says to Clay in particular "One would think you of all Trolls would not judge someone by how they acted as a teenager....Fun Boy." 😏 The friendly back and forth insults, lay the foundation for them to eventually get along.

Am nearly finished a little page of them being a couple. We shall have visuals soon! ❤️

[swifty-fox]

actually now ive thought of a hockey au question although really it’s kind of like six questions on the same topic:

so you’ve mentioned an iconic moment where bucky gets penalized after he goes after someone for hitting buck - are there any other incidents like that of them being protective of each other? how do they react if the other gets into a fight? do they have any serious rival teams or players, and does any more serious conflict with them arise if/when the boys’ relationship becomes public?

Plenty!

Honestly for the most part Bucky lets Curt do his job and protect/avenge Gale. They're there to do their jobs and for Bucky to drop the gloves every time someone fucks with Gale would not only put his own career in jeopardy but would also not be appreciated by his Partner. He talks a LOTTA shit and calls people the FUCK out when he sees them messing with Gale on the ice. (people go after Gale HARD. he's quick and talented they wanna take him out. Sid Crosby dealt with this a lot in his early years and it had a lasting impact on his play style)

He lost two teeth from that hit

Goaltender fights are really rare. In a lot of ways they are the most valuable member of the team and getting injured via a stupid fight is kind of a massive fuck you to the efforts of the rest of the team. Goalie on Goalie fights are the most common. John squaring up with a Defenseman or a Forward is pretty unusual

Gale is actually more likely (and acceptable to do so) square up for John. it's REALLY taboo to check (hit with your body) or touch the other teams goaltender. It happens, of course, and you get the whole team squaring up over it. So Gale has been known to drop the gloves over John from time to time and Bucky LOVES it. Just grinning the entire time.

Bucky LOVES seeing Gale fight. it's a rare occasion, it's not his job or expertise but seeing his man lose his temper does things to Bucky what can I say. Here you can see Crosby squaring up after a nasty double hit on his fellow linesman Letang (they've played together for almost twenty years. Maybe a Gale squaring up for Curt moment)

Every team has a rival team! Since this a new team i think everyones gunning for them a bit but I could see them developing a healthy rivalry with maybe one of the newer teams; the Krakens or the Knights.

For the most part most of the guys in the league are buddies or at least friendly. Trades happen all the time, you could be playing with anyone at any time so nobody wants to HATE eachother (it still happens)

I think bucky does hate Gales former team for their treatment of them though. on a one man mission to create a rivalry with the jets fr.

Hockey is really homophobic honestly. It's probably one of the worst out there. I dont look at comments on insta because guaranteed theres going to be some shit in there. So they do catch a LOT of flak online and it affects Gale a lot I think he def takes a long social media break. But they have their team and management behind them 1000% percent and theyve already proven themselves as players. They have that to stand on against any hate.

[despair-to-future-arcs]

Anything else on the Nevermind family?

CHIAKI: So your father let you see an R-rated film?

Well not exactly, I think he was expecting me to pick a more child-friendly film and his film was starting so he didn't have time, I know mother was pretty cross with him but we did laugh about it as it was a mistake.

CHIAKI: Well at least there were no hard feelings...

No and if asking, I do get along well with my other relatives; in fact my cousin, Gordana show me more horror films whenever I visit uncle Daniel which I was quite close to them.

CHIAKI: Gordana? hmm, I'm checking your family folder and it says that there is no family member named that - I did find Gordan, however.

Oh wait, you did? I guess they didn't update it and using her dead name instead.

CHIAKI: A dead name...?

Oh sorry, I'm sure you must be confused but the thing is that Gordana was transitioning around 2009, the thing is that Gordana was originally born a boy name 'Gordon' but was transition when I was going to enroll, we all been quite supportive of her for the transition as well when she discover this at 18.

CHIAKI: Right I see, thank you for the correction - I'll be sure to update the information, anyway can you speak about your relationship with your cousin?

Well as say, me and my cousin were getting ready to watch a film...

But she was also helping me calm my nerves as my coronation was coming quite soon and of course, I was nervous.

...

...

...

Date: October 11th, 2009

*As then the door open*

Oh Sonia, how've you been?

Wonderful, Gordana! Thank you for asking - I'm honestly quite excited to watch some horror movies and anime with you.

Oh yes of course, come with me - we can start watching together.

*the 2 walk down the hall, seeing images which Sonia came across 2*

So how has the transitioning so far?

Been taking some medication which has been a bit hard to do, they say that my operation could start around spring, maybe March or April at the latest.

To be honest I was nervous of how father and the rest of the family would respond given how other countries are far worse about this.

Nonsense Gordana, you know that Novoselic is quite safe with LGBT rights and was one of the first country's to recognize trans people.

After all, I think regardless of gender; your still quite beautiful and people should not judge you for that.

Right... thank you, Sonia - at least the rest of the family have been quite supportive of my transitioning and honestly it was silly how it was for assuming the worse.

Anyway, here we are - I got a bunch of movies and anime we can watch so pick whatever you like.

Oh that's great, I really want to watch some anime and Japanese drama! *Sonia rushes over and looks at the set*

Oh hey Gordana, what about this one? I really want to watch this one.

Oh, death note? I suppose we can watch that, I suppose the mystery aspect gets you?

Well yes, of course - as say I think the premise does look interesting and a lot of fun so let's watch that.

Okay, let's do that then Sonia.

*Gordana sets the DVD which the 2 began watching...*

...

...

...

*After a couple of hours, they were finish the last episode...*

...Goodness, so that's how Kira was caught.

Right... honestly I felt it was more exciting when L was alive, I think their rivalry was the best part.

Right, honestly I feel the same too; I think Light had a pretty good rival but still a really good mystery no doubt.

And my birthday is coming up, honestly I'm rather nervous...

Right... your going to be coronated as your mother's heir, correct?

[dolphin-writer]

Danny is pretty sure Bruce Wayne is his soulmate since the ghosts of Martha and Tomas Wayne keep encouraging him to reach out. But Danny had decided years ago he wouldn't seek out his soulmate. But that didn't mean he couldn't observe from a distance.

Bruce was kind. He had a huge heart with so much love for his fellow people. He had so many kids that at first Danny was worried where these children were coming from. He simply could not turn away a child in need. And boy was he proud of his kids. It was encouraging to see and made Danny miss Ellie. She had decided to go explore a new planet so she would be gone for a while. Bruce's oldest remained him of Ellie at times with how free and happy he could be, especially while teaching the kids at his gymnastics gym. So Danny watched the family from a distance, learning about his soulmates family and that was enough.

Until the invasion. When the invasion reached Gotham only hesitated for a second before he heard the screams and transformed. He made his way to Batman first. This was his city after all, best to let him know he was here to help. And of course he was paranoid about an unknown but he let him help. Fighting alongside the bat felt surprisingly natural. It was nice. Than Batman got called off to help the justice leaguers. And he was left with the batkid.

These kids were spectacular! He hated that teens were in this fight, but they all had support and training. Both things he had little to none of when he was a teen. But than unlike him these young heroes weren't just starting out. So he fought and quipped with them as they defended their city. Was his core getting attached? Most definitely. Was he going to let any of them get hurt in this fight? Absolutely not. If that ment he tanked a few shots, well he'd handle a lot worse.

If he noted down to introduce Ellie and Spoiler at a later date, well that was no ones business but his.

As the battle ended he did one last check on all of them before going back to his apartment. He knew Batman would investigate who he is. Probably dig up some thing that were better left buried. But his peace was worth keeping the citizens of Gotham safe. So he patched himself up and waited.

Tim was the fist one to any mention of Phantom. It was on an old abandoned reddit thread debating if dating him would count as necrophilia. And Phantoms wasn't the only name mentioned in realition to the debate. Tim stopped reading when the debate changed from is it necrophilia to ok but is necrophilia that bad if it's ghosts. But the mention of ghosts sent him down a different rabbit hole. Which he was pulled out of by Alfred and promptly sent to bed.

Ghosts. Bruce was looking over what Tim's research had turned up. Phantom was a ghost. Not unheard of to them, but definitely different than what their current understanding of ghosts were. Deadman was very different to Phantom and the others described. He didn't enjoy not knowing, nevermind the fact that this was his soulmate. His pondering was interrupted by Alfred coming back down to make him go to bed as well.

He'll have to message Zantanna later.

Danny was anxious. So far Tucker hasn't had any of his alerts flagged. Meaning either the bats weren't looking, unlikely, or they had found a loophole to slip information from. The later option was the most likely and worrying. Cause while he trusted the bats to a degree, if they didn't know where they were getting information they couldn't direct them to the correct information. Tucker wanted to reach out to Oracle directly, as apparently they had bumped into eachother on the dark web and have formed a time of friendly rivalry. Danny had asked him to hold off on that for a bit longer as he was going to try and approach Red Hood. RH was a revenant and just had lots of angry baby ghost energy that was just adorable to Danny. So yes he was taking the easy way out and talking to the most ghostly of the batfamily. Sue him

Jason was not expecting to see Phantom again anytime soon. Much less a week after the invasion. But here he was bothering him on his patrol. Jason honestly about to radio Tim when Phantom asked him if he still struggled with his anger.

Jason did not misfire his grapple, thank you very much. He simply had a grapple that needed tunned up. The problem was with the gun not him obviously.

So Jason had of course demanded answers from Phantom. And turns out he didn't come back wrong, he just came back as a revenant. And the Lazarus pits just amplified his righteous anger and call for vengeance. Apparently he had flushed most of the lazarus pits effects out of his system naturally. Phantom brought it up because he saw a bit still lingering and was offering to get rid of it for him.

Ofcourse when Danny realized that the young revenant was dealing with some corruption he offered to get rid of it. He didn't expect such a shocked reaction but eh he gets it death is weird sometimes. He was given a phone number and asked to meet back up the next night. He agreed but had to push down a coo as RH pulled himself together trying to look big and scary. Adorable! Danny few home feeling accomplished until Tuck texted asking if he'd found out what the bats knew.

Well shit

Bruce watched dick get up for the bat computer and head out on his motorcycle. Confused on where his son was going as patrol was done and he was staying in the manor while he was in town. Bruce sat down at the computer to see what Dick had been looking at. Dick hadn't tried very hard to hide what he had apparently copied to a separate drive. It was everything they had on Phantom and his type of ghosts. What was his kids getting into? Because if Dick was going somewhere with this information at this time of night it was to help one of his siblings. It wouldn't be Tim as he had his own file. Duke, Damian, and Cass all still lived in the manor so that leaves Jason. Jason his second oldest. The one he had failed over and over. His little Robin that had had magic.

Bruce sighs and rubs his face. If Phantom was targeting Jason it wouldn't matter that they were soulmates his son comes first.

Bruce Wayne’s soulmate died when he was 17.

At the time, it was just another senseless tragedy in the misery that was his life. He was too wrapped up in his grief for his parents and his planning for his mission to really think about what it meant when the words on his wrist drained of color.

Later, he would wonder about the person he had been fated to be with and how they died. Secretly, guiltily, Bruce was relieved that whatever had happened to them had happened before they met. He wasn’t sure he could take another tragedy in his life.

—————

Prompt: Danny is Bruce Wayne’s soulmate. Unfortunately, Danny died when he was 14. Like with all soul marks, his drained of color when its mate died. Danny’s mark is its match, but vibrant and full of life. He’s happy to have finally found him but… how on earth is he going to convince his soulmate that he is who he says he is???

[richincolor]

YA Romance Reads by Adult Romance Authors

With the popularity and success of Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert, I've been keeping an eye out for Adult Romance authors making the jump to YA Romance. While my main reads tend to be SFF and YA lit, I love picking up a romance book once in a while. Talia Hibbert is one of my favorite authors, so when I heard she was making her YA debut with Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute, I was over the moon. (And ICYMI, we're posting a group discussion of Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute on 3/8 -- hope you'll read along with us!)

I can't help but sit up and take note when I read about Adult Romance authors coming out with YA books. And yes, I've been compiling a list. Here's what I have so far:

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert [Out now!] From the New York Times bestselling author of the Brown Sisters trilogy, comes a laugh-out-loud story about a quirky content creator and a clean-cut athlete testing their abilities to survive the great outdoors--and each other.

Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He's a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.

Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption--yet, she's still not cool enough for the popular kids' table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that's how Celine sees it.)

These days, there's nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she's surprised to find Brad right beside her. Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?

While You Were Dreaming by Alisha Rai [Out March 21, 2023] This YA debut from powerhouse romance author Alisha Rai tackles undocumented immigration against the backdrop of viral online fame, fake dating, and a love triangle. A must-read for fans of Nicola Yoon or Sandhya Menon.

If Sonia Patil had her way, she’d be attending her local comic con instead of covering a shift for her boss’s daughter. Since Sonia’s mom was deported and her sister, who never claimed deferred status under DACA, had to forgo college to support them, Sonia’s had her hands full with work, school, and pretending everything is okay at home.

Then Sonia, in homemade superhero cosplay, stumbles into saving her crush James’s life. When a video of the daring rescue goes viral, she—or, rather, a mysterious masked savior—is thrust into the spotlight. Now she’s hiding from TikTok detectives while trying to connect with James. And while she’s drawn to his friendly but oblivious nature, she can’t deny her escalating chemistry with another awkwardly charming boy. Juggling crushes and a secret identity might just take superpowers. Will Sonia be able to hide in plain sight forever?

Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon [Out May 30, 2023] A swoony, heart-melting YA romance from beloved author Rebekah Weatherspoon about two awkward teens who decide to practice dating in order to be good at the real thing. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Jenny Han.

Sixteen-year-old Bethany Greene, though confident and self-assured, is what they call a late-bloomer. She's never had a boyfriend, date, or first kiss. She's determined to change that but after her crush turns her down cold for Homecoming--declaring her too inexperienced--and all her back-up ideas fall through, she cautiously agrees to go with her best friend's boyfriend Jacob. A platonic date is better than no date, right? Until Saylor breaks up with said boyfriend.

Dumped twice in just two months, Jacob Yeun wonders if he's the problem. After years hiding behind his camera and a shocking summer glow up, he wasn't quite ready for all the attention or to be someone's boyfriend. There are no guides for his particular circumstances, or for taking your ex's best friend to the dance.

Why not make the best of an awkward situation? Bethany and Jacob decide to fake date for practice, building their confidence in matters of the heart.

And it works--guys are finally noticing Bethany. But things get complicated as their kissing sessions--for research of course!--start to feel real. This arrangement was supposed to help them in dating other people, but what if their perfect match is right in front of them?

And here's a bonus book -- while Olivie Blake is a Fantasy author, not a Romance author, I do think it's notable that Olivie Blake (pen name for Alexene Farol Follmuth) has a really cute YA Romance out right now:

My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth [Out now!] Opposites attract in this battle-robot-building YA romance from the NYT best-selling author of The Atlas Six.

Bel would rather die than think about the future. College apps? You’re funny. Extracurriculars? Not a chance. But when she accidentally reveals a talent for engineering at school, she’s basically forced into joining the robotics club. Even worse? All the boys ignore Bel—and Neelam, the only other girl on the team, doesn't seem to like her either.

Enter Mateo Luna, captain of the club, who recognizes Bel as a potential asset—until they start butting heads. Bel doesn’t care about Nationals, while Teo cares too much. But as the nights of after-school work grow longer and longer, Bel and Teo realize they've made more than just a combat-ready robot for the championship: they’ve made each other and the team better. Because girls do belong in STEM.

In her YA debut, Alexene Farol Follmuth, author of The Atlas Six (under the penname Olivie Blake), explores both the challenges girls of color face in STEM and the vulnerability of first love with unfailing wit and honesty. With an adorable, opposites-attract romance at its center and lines that beg to be read aloud, My Mechanical Romance is swoonworthy perfection.

[starglitterz]

to all the boys i've loved before.

─── AYATO ! // the pretty boy with a hidden playful side.

─ a short series based on my own personal experiences with love and crushes. a sort of messy goodbye to all the boys i’ve loved before.

warning(s) ; ayato is mentioned to be taller than reader once, 绫人 is ayato's cn name apparently read língrén according to the wiki

series masterlist.

to everyone you know, kamisato ayato is the perfect package; smart, respectful, and he's got the looks to boot. with his long blue hair and trademark smile that makes every junior fall for him in a matter of seconds. you're not even going to lie, you had fallen for this facade too, believing it to be reality. but somehow you started getting closer to him through one of your mutual friends, and that painted him in an entirely different light, yet somehow this side of him seemed much more real.

for one thing, ayato isn't actually as quiet and well-behaved as everyone makes him out to be. sure, in school he's practically silent outside of his own friend group and when answering questions, but through text and when there's no one else in sight, he honestly could win an award for his silly behaviour. one of the things you'll never forget is when it was just the two of you in class after school packing up your bags when he started singing that song from frozen 2 for literally no reason. yeah, the one that goes OOooOOOoo… into the unknOWNNNNN!!!!!!!! actually, you're not even sure if it could be called singing when he was practically just yelling it. you shot him a surprised glance, trying to hide the smile twitching at the corner of your lips, but as soon as you met his eyes, you both burst into laughter.

however, he is (un)fortunately as clever as everyone believes, which spells nothing but trouble for you. not in a serious way, it just means you had more competition to get the best grades. ayato tops the class in additional maths, but he doesn't rub it in anyone's face or brag about it, in fact he even helps you out whenever you're struggling with the homework, although he does scold you for not paying attention. he even sends you the chemistry notes you missed so you don't get in trouble for not copying them, so you could never be upset with him for doing better than you. both of you are equally matched in accounting though, which leads to a friendly rivalry where both of you always try to outdo the other ever since the teacher himself announced that both of you were the only ones who could compete with each other's level for the subject. the two of you manag to get the exact same mark in the finals, scoring full marks on the mcq paper and the same mark for the structured paper, and so a truce is called. you still study together though, and exchange tips right before the papers which may or may not have saved your grades… you'll never tell.

-

ayato does things that you would find annoying if it wasn't by him. for example, he's taller than you, so he constantly steals your stuff and holds it above his head because he knows you can't reach it. he teases you about being a shortie and tells you to drink more milk when you jump for it and still fail to get it back, but he returns it when you ask nicely, though you swat his arm after and threaten to beat him up next time. also he purposely steps on your school shoes, but he makes sure to do it gently so you don't get hurt, but it usually ends up in a stupid race to step on each other's shoes, which actually seems like it'll give teyvat school a bad rep since both of you are prefects. (did you mention that he actually looks very hot in a white shirt and tie? because he does.)

there's even one time where you're on the phone with potential colleges (he's applying to the same ones as you, albeit for different courses), and he's being so irritating in the background, but it's so funny that you nearly burst into laughter while on the phone. it goes something like the person on the other end greeting you, "hello, this is liyue university, how may i help you?" and in the background he just goes, "wow, y/n, can't believe you got accepted to inazuma college!" it seriously makes you want to slap him but you end up snickering onto the phone before you remember you're still on the line and have to quickly try to cover it up, which only makes him laugh too.

ayato the genius all-rounder is also an incredibly good pianist, who's been learning since he was young. he performs at the annual school events, and submits a video for your online talent show during the pandemic. you're not going to lie, besides the fact that it's astonishing how quickly he can play and make it sound good, you do have an ulterior motive for rewatching the video at least twice… it's not your fault ayato has really nice hands! you swear your gaze turns into heart-eyes whenever you look (respectfully) at them. there's one day when the two of you are alone in the student lounge, and he starts playing this really beautiful song, and when he's done you just grin and applaud it, a million genuine compliments spilling from your lips. you'll always remember how his face turned a rosy hue at the praise, and he looked away, unable to meet your eyes as he thanked you embarrassedly.

-

kamisato ayato has been voted the #1 guy to date by every single girl in your grade based on his personality alone. honestly, the standards are so low but he's so sweet to everyone and never gets involved in drama, which makes everyone fall head over heels for him. sadly, you aren't exempt from this plague either, but you do feel a secret sense of satisfaction when one of the girls remark that they wish he was 'more flirty'. because the truth is; ayato is a flirt!

when the two of you start getting closer, the comments he make start to be more and more teasing, as if he's getting a kick out of your ?!?!?! reaction every time. for example, when you make fun of him for being single, asking, "ayato, when are you getting an s/o?" he doesn't miss a beat as he replies, "depends when you're free." safe to say you nearly melt into the floor at that exact moment.

also, he has another name which nobody calls him by, and so do you! but one day he suddenly asks you about it, and you respond that nobody's ever asked to call you that so you just don't mention it. you like your first name anyway. but ayato proudly declares, "then i'll be the first! if you're okay with it, of course." it's oddly endearing, in a way, so you give him permission, and he says you can call him 绫人. both of you change each other's contact names to your 'secret' other names, although ayato steals your phone and puts the word 'best' in front of his name so it ends up becoming something like 'Bestayato 绫人'.

a common trait between you and ayato is that both of you are always awake at weird hours, although for wildly different reasons. he's an insomniac, so he can't sleep, while you stay up late doing who knows what, so you just won't sleep. but one thing's for sure, you can always count on him to reply even if you shoot him a text at 3am. you'll end up scolding him for still being awake, and then he'll scold you for being awake, and then both of you will promise to sleep earlier the next day only for the same thing to repeat. one time he makes fun of you by sending you a picture of the ice-cream in his freezer as he goes to get a snack when you were about to sleep, and he promises he'll buy you some next time as an apology for making you crave dessert at 4 am. your late night conversations are the best though, with the glow of your phone illuminating your face and a stupid smile curving your lips every time you read his replies; having a crush is so much fun.

a/n ; lol academic rivals to lovers my beloathed /hj

© starglitterz 2022. do not repost or modify in any way.

[saxophonesir]

Fuck do I know about xo kitty, anyways have this

Tim Drake didn’t mean to have this many situationships. It just kind of… happened.

It started at Brentwood. The all-boys prep school was a nightmare, but at least he got through it with minimal social interaction—until Rafael, his chemistry lab partner, started making eyes at him over their titration experiments. That was manageable. Then there was Elliot, who had a thing for late-night rooftop conversations. And Jamie, who dragged him to chess club under the pretense of “friendly rivalry” but kept sitting just a little too close.

Then came Gotham Heights. Co-ed meant a whole new level of complications. He wasn’t sure how it started with Olivia, but somehow, she’d begun waiting for him after class, sharing notes and brushing her hand against his just a second too long. Saanvi’s friend Amari challenged him to fencing matches and then texted him things like u up? at 2 a.m. And Marcus from student government kept insisting they had “undeniable political chemistry,” whatever that meant.

Louis E. Grieve Memorial High was the worst. Or maybe the best. He wasn’t sure anymore. There was Adrien, who kept calling him pretty boy and sneaking him pastries from his family’s bakery. Reese, the overachiever, who always had some excuse to study together and once asked if Tim wanted to get coffee “as a treat for our hard work.” And then, of course, Ash, who claimed to hate him but somehow always ended up at his locker, glaring at anyone who got too close.

Tim had handled it fine—until someone (Bart, definitely Bart) made a compilation of all the almost-romantic moments he’d had with each of them and sent it to the entire Brentwood-Gotham Heights-Louis E. Grieve student body.

Now, his inbox was flooded with texts, his social standing was a disaster, and Kon was laughing so hard he nearly ruptured his stomach.

Tim Drake was going to kill Bart Allen.

…Right after he figured out his shit.

xo, kitty au except it's tim drake and his 10 million situationships from brentwood, louis e grieve memorial hs, and gotham heights

[yyxgin]

my only hate, my only love (kim seungmin)

pairing: kim seungmin x fem! reader genre: enemies to lovers au, highschool au             angst, fluff word count: 11 k requested by: @joons-asscrack​ warnings: swearing, mentions of broken home 

synopsis: A high school Shakespeare club angrily splits into two groups when they can’t agree on the correct interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. One group thinks it’s a cautionary tale about the stupidity of youth and shallow lust; the other group of youth thinks it’s a beautiful tragedy about poisonous hatred conquered by love. Reconciliation seems impossible-- then a person from one group falls in love with a person from the other. 

(this dea is not mine !! I found it on pinterest under the tumblr user @/sarah531, however, i looked for the account and couldn’t find it. if you have any idea what the current @ of the owner of this prompt is, please let me know !!)

I actually used a lot of passages from this essay of Romeo and Juliet since I didn’t actually read it, all passages of the characters that talk about the play and are in italics belong to the rightful owner of this essay.

1.

“A glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be pardoned, and some punished. For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” your voice resonates in the quiet classroom, your words followed by more silence as you drop to your seat and close the book, placing it onto your table. The reality sinks in as the entirety of your English literature class doesn’t dare to say a word, the moment you finish reading the oh so famous Shakespearen drama making everyone lose themselves in their thoughts.

Your professor looks you in the eye, smiling a little. “So? What did you think about it?” she asks, moving her glasses further up her nose with her pointer finger, gazing onto the few people that actually chose this class as their subject of choice just to get more credit. You liked reading, to be honest. Everything about this class seemed inviting-- there were only a few people there and those that did actually care about the literature itself enough were thoughtful enough to hold a proper conversation with. You actually made friends with a lot of your classmates, your brains working at the same frequency as your shared ex gifted child burnout syndrome draped over your brains way too often after arriving to high school, making you connect on another level as you tried to soothe each other’s nerves and be there for each other. It was no secret that only the biggest of nerds went to the English literature classes, but you were okay with that idea.

You snort out a laugh, raising up your eyebrows in amusement. Your classes were always open for discussions, so you didn’t even have to raise your hand to speak-- one of the perks of being the professor’s favorite. You open your mouth to begin talking, when a voice cuts you off, beginning the discussion instead.

“Well, I think it was pretty,” mumbles a boy from the corner of the room, the only one you didn’t even particularly like in this whole class, making you roll your eyes. It was hard, being in the class of your favorite professor when you had to fight over being her favorite student with Kim Seungmin himself-- the devoted dandy boy, the member of the book club, the student council president. You despised everything about him only from one sole reason-- he was the top of the class. That was enough for you to hate him. 

You’re asking why? Well, you were supposed to be the top of the class, of course. And you were, for the main part. You didn’t share any other classes with him, making it easy for you to ignore his existence, but it just so happened that your favorite class also had to be the one where you had to see his face so often.

He was your moral enemy.

“Care to tell us more, Seungmin?” professor Jung asks, motioning for your classmate to continue speaking, to tell her all of his thoughts. You knew Romeo and Juliet must have been her favorite play by the smile on her face, eager to hear all of your reviews and thought processes while reading the piece.

“Well, I think it was quite poetic. Tragic, even. I like the way Shakespeare portrayed the prejudice and ending of a long conflict just with the power of love.” he nods, licking his lips after his bold statement, making you laugh out loud this time. 

All the eyes of your classmates turn to you, even your seatmate-- ever so laid-back and chilled out Han Jisung furrows his brows at your sudden outburst. You were never the one to turn attention your way in classes, the sight of you not reddening under the gazes of the people in the room nowhere to be seen surprising even you.

“Is there something funny, Y/N?” asks the professor, calling you by your first name. You liked the way it sounded, cringing at every teacher that called you by your last name as if you were a legal adult with your life figured out. This seemed more friendly-- it seemed kinder, even. You liked the way it made it feel like your professor actually cared about your opinion.

“I think there is, yes,” you nod, giggling to yourself again. 

“And what is that?” she seems intrigued, taking a few steps to your desk, listening to what you have to say.

“Well, I think what he said is ridiculous.” you point out, a shock spreading on your professor’s features, making you continue. “The only thing tragic about this whole play is how Shakespere portrayed the fake image of love. I mean, Juliet was only 13, don’t you think it was a bit early to get married to a man? After a day, that is?” you explain, intriguing your classmates even more.

“It was the 16th century. It was normal to get married young back then,” mumbled your enemy, Kim Seungmin from his seat, locking his eyes with you through the classroom. 

“Of course I know that,” you ironically smile at him, rolling your eyes in the process and looking back at your professor with a genuine smile this time, explaining more of your point of view, “I think it portrays girls as boy-crazy. Like love is everything they are made of and that they are worthless without a partner-- and that’s why Juliet chose to kill herself. If anything, I think it portrays the stupidity of the youth the most.” 

“So you think she was stupid just because she killed herself upon seeing her loved one dead?” Seungmin’s brows are raised now, looking at you as if he was mocking you.

“Well, Romeo did the same thing, so yes. I think it was stupid of them. They were reckless, the whole situation was. How could they know they were in love when this all happened in one day? Nobody can fall in love that quickly.” you mutter, shaking your head in disbelief.

“I think the play portrayed love at first sight beautifully,” grins Seungmin, the teasing smirk on his face bothering you so much you want to wipe it off his face. Is he really that ridiculous?

“There’s no such thing. And what were the families doing, after all? Arguing without even knowing why? For all we know, their ancestors may have hated themselves because they accidentally took their cow and they decided to kill each other for that?” you scoffed, your voice raising increasingly.

“Now that’s ridiculous.” rolls his eyes Seungmin, taking you over the edge, your voice raising with every spoken word.

“Your view of love is ridiculous. If I knew the boy I was eyeing was my family’s enemy, I wouldn’t bat an eye before dropping him, but no, she chose to marry the guy. Did she really have such twisted morals?” you scoff, a part of your class laughing at your outburst.

You hear a few quiet, amused ‘yeah’s and ‘she’s actually right’s from everywhere around you, only flooding your ego more as you recognise that your point of view is shared by more people and you aren’t actually crazy. 

“I think love is more important than rivalry.” speaks Seungmin, cocking his head to a side, teasing you just by the look on his face, your eyes scanning his features as you hear a few other comments from your classmates around you. Some girls even go as far as cooing at his romantic statement, making you laugh and roll your eyes at them. Were they all this ridiculous? 

“She was thirteen!” you argue, screaming. That is all that takes professor Jung to interfere your heated discussion, clapping her hands in authority, making everyone’s heads snap to her figure standing in front of the classroom with an amused look on her face. 

“Looks like we have quite the discussion here,” she points out, seeing your angered face. 

“Yeah, because Seungmin’s point of view is stupid!” you grunt, making her point a scolding look into your skull that almost makes you shrink in your seat in embarrassment.

“Y/N, no one’s point of view is stupid. Literature is all about the impertretation,” she states, earning a few nods and hums from your interested classmates, “now, who agrees with Y/N’s interpretation of the play?”

A few hands shoot out into the air, Jisung’s following as you angrily nudge him into his side, making you grin. No way your friend is going to support your moral enemy’s idea-- he was your friend, after all. Something inside of you is telling you that this whole feud wasn’t only about the play anymore,. You were fighting with Kim Seungmin, and that was enough to keep you standing by your point.

“And who agrees with Seungmin’s interpretation?” she asks again, searching through the classroom. It seems like the amount of people that agree with your classmate is about the same as the amount of people that agree with you, making you annoyingly roll your eyes at the realisation that you once again didn’t manage to outpower your moral enemy. 

“I see the classroom has split into two teams,” she grins, nodding her head, “well, I did think you were going to have different opinions on this, but I didn’t think it was going to get so heated over here.” she points out, switching her gaze from you to Seungmin and back, as if to scold you and support you with your antics all at once.

“Yeah, well, it’s not my fault Y/N can’t appreciate one of the most important pieces of English literature-”

“I’m all about supporting, if it was actually good and meaningful-”

“Stop it, you two!” she scolds you, making both of you shut up and finally provide some silence in the room. “Well, since you all look like you have different opinions on the topic, let’s try a fun experiment. I was going to make you all write an essay on the play by yourselves, just like we usually do, but I think this is going to be much more fun for all of us.” she states, smiling to herself like a happy child on Christmas. You wonder what’s racing through her head as she searches through the classroom, locking eyes with you, then continuing.

“I want you all to write an essay and do a presentation on Romeo and Juliet-- you can write about anything, whether it is your ideas, what you took from the play, what is your view-point on it. But you have to write it with the person who has the exact opposite opinion on this play. So this way, we can get the story from two points of view. Let’s see what you agree on, what you don’t, make it a discussion, I don’t care, just make it make sense. Do you understand me?” she smiles and you swear you can already feel what is going on before she says it, making your head hurt and breath hitch in your throat.

“And since Seungmin and Y/N seem to have the most different opinions on this, I am picking them as a pair-- no, there’s no way for the two of you to change.” she says before you can even open your mouth to argue back, leaving you to stand up from your seat just at the time when the bell rings.

“But miss Jung-” 

“I want it done until the end of this month.” she smiles, taking her things and leaving the classroom, letting the thought sink in. You lunge yourself back to your seat, defeated and left to process the fact that you now had two weeks to work on a project with Kim Seungmin-- your biggest enemy.

A sigh escapes your seatmate’s mouth upon the scene, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “That’s what you get for always picking fights with him.”

2.

That’s how you end up in a coffee shop two blocks away from your house. You didn’t exactly ask for Kim Seungmin’s number-- you weren’t in the 2000s anymore-- you swiftly added him on Facebook in order to get this over with so you wouldn’t have to meet with him anymore. Yes, you were mad at Mrs Jung for pairing you up with him, but you still adored her and wanted to do well, so that’s why you chose to do what you had to and arranged a meeting with him.

Kim Seungmin appears in the coffee shop in his usual cozy demeanour-- oversized sweater and everything, with a backpack hanging off his shoulder and a serious look plastered on his face. He places his copy of Romeo and Juliet onto the table and sits his figure into the chair right in front of you, sighing heavily as he stares at you from under his eyelashes, voice low and defeated.

“Hi.” he greets, resting his back against the head of the chair, waiting for you to take initiative. You were the one who arranged this whole thing in the first place, so it was kind of your responsibility now in his books.

“Hello,” you cleared your throat. You felt like you were sitting there with the devil himself, just begging yourself in your head not to explode like a raging volcano with every movement he made that always somehow ended up irritating you. It was like his aura was everything you despised-- his collected way of discussing and his calm way of thinking getting on your nerves with every sigh he sent your way.

“So… how do you wanna go around this?” he asks, raising his eyebrows at you in question. 

You sigh back at him just to show him how annoyed you are by your professor’s choice of your partner, bringing your hands to rest them on the table and cracking your knuckles in nerves. You didn’t meet his eyes, you felt too intimidated to do so in the moment, before you spoke up and managed to get your point across. 

“Well, since we have to gather both of our viewpoints in the essay, I think we could just start of by telling the other one what topics we want to talk about so the other one can debunk them.” you mumble, suddenly feeling nervous by the possibility of your idea being rejected. If you could disappear on the spot, believe me, you would. 

Seungmin hums from his seat, nodding. “Seems reasonable.”

You try your hardest not to let out a relieved sigh, nodding back at him. “I brought some notes.”

You did some preparation for this. Well, a lot of preparation. There was no way Kim Seungmin could catch you unprepared at your study meeting. You wanted to prove to him that you were worth so much more than sharing your grade with him and if he had any snarky or teasing remark, you best believe you mastered up a response just as spiteful, if not more than what could possibly leave his lips in the moment. You weren’t here to embarrass yourself. You were here to look smart. Smarter than Kim Seungmin. 

“Perfect.” he just mutters, taking the sheet of paper you were offering to him from your hand, placing it on the table in front of him and skimming his eyes through the lines of text you scribbled down yesterday evening.

The silence makes your palms sweat. It makes you nervously bite down on your lower lip. You felt embarrassing-- you were never the conservative type. All this time, you used to hate your classmate from afar. You never actually spoke to each other, all you did to express your hatred for the boy was in the way you always rolled your eyes when he spoke up in class, or you sighed when Mrs Jung was complimenting him in front of everyone, making sure he heard you. You don’t know what broke in you that day-- you were quite the shy type, to be honest. You didn’t like to be the centre of attention. What were you even thinking by all of this?

“I don’t think we should mention their age as an argument,” he says, finally meeting eyes with you. 

“Why?” you ask, dumbfounded.

“Because as I already said, it was long ago. People used to marry young.” he shrugs, offering the sheet of paper back to you with a judging look on his face.

“Okay and? My point still stands. They were too young and reckless.” 

“I also don’t think we should talk about the sex part.” he concludes, landing his hands into his lap.

“Why? Because it’s controversial?” you teasingly grin at him, waiting for his response.

“No. Because it clearly brings nothing to the table about our arguments. It doesn’t even really play a big role in the whole thing, so I think it’s useless to mention,” he shrugs, looking at your face. It felt like his eyes were studying you, judging you. It was hard to keep eye contact with him-- so you didn’t. You averted your gaze out of the window, opting to watch the passer-bys instead. 

You sigh, waiting for him to say something against your notes again. Of course you could expect this-- there was no way Kim Seungmin would agree with anything you’re trying to say in the matter at all.

“And the point about Rosaline is a little over the line as well…” 

“What do you want me to put in the essay if you’re just going to tell me it’s unreasonable and over the line, huh?” you voice out, pinning your eyes onto his shocked figure, “it’s supposed to be an essay on everything I didn’t like about it, so that’s what I’m going to put in it and your job is to comment on my arguments. Just like my job is to comment on what you loved about this piece of shit of a play, and that’s what I’m going to do, so fuck off.” you growled, standing up and taking your things with you, too frustrated and hot-headed to continue the discussion.

Only Kim Seungmin could make you this mad and you hated him for it even more.

3.

You hear your door open, revealing your mum standing in the doorway with a mug of hot tea and a soft smile playing with her features. You sigh, playing with your pen in your hand, waiting for her to say what she needs to say and leave so you could have some silence to finally work.

“Sweetie, you should really relax for a while. You’ve been studying for the whole day…” she mumbles, taking the tea to your desk and running a hand through your hair. You fight off the urge to pull away from her, knowing damn well it would hurt her feelings, so you just opt to nod at her face and faking a smile.

“Yeah, sure, mum.” you respond, but make no effort in getting up from your chair and moving to your bed. It was already late in the night and your mum was wearing her pyjamas, signaling that she was going to sleep. She always went to sleep early, because she needed to wake up in the early hours of the day to go to work, but you usually didn’t go to sleep earlier than midnight anyway-- homework was taking you too much time sometimes.

“I mean it. You’re doing great job in school, sweetie, but you have to lay off for a while or else you’ll overwork yourself.” she says affectionately, making you grunt on the inside.

“Okay, okay, go to sleep now, good night mum…” you mumble, waiting for her to finally leave you alone. 

“Are you telling me to go away?” she asks with a hint of laugh in her voice that you know for a fact is fake, because the expression on her face looks hurt. You hate to see that face, because it makes you feel guilty, but you really can’t help yourself sometimes.

“No.” you mutter, shaking your head.

She just stares at you for a while, biting down on her lower lip, before she hangs her head low and sighs out. She turns around, taking a few steps to your door, turning around only for a moment when she stands in the doorway and whispers a quiet ‘good night’ at you, closing the door behind her and disappearing into her bedroom. 

You feel a sense of relief coming over you. Of course you weren’t going to sleep yet, but she didn’t have to know that. She didn’t have to know a lot of things. 

The small, old copy of Romeo and Juliet falls into your eyes in the corner of your desk. You had to borrow your book from the library and you hated how some pages were torn and the ink was so old it was hard to read sometimes, but you couldn’t afford to buy yourself one, because you were saving up for college and every cent counts in your household. 

You take it into your hands, reading over the passages you bookmarked when you were first reading the book, wanting to refresh your memory with the lines that stood up to you and made you snort at how ridiculous the book truly was again before typing them down into the document you had opened in front of you.

“Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake- it’s everything except what it is!” it says. You run your fingers along the words, the curves of the ink cutting you like a knife. Love is all of these things-- it’s terrifying and it’s unpredictable. It sounds scary in your ears and you’ve seen it right in front of your eyes- love is everything except what it is. 

Love isn’t heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold. Love isn’t sick and healthy. Love is pain. It takes everything you have, it ties you down, it makes you do things you would never do if you weren’t in love. It intoxicates you and makes you make bad decisions. When you love, you’re irresponsible. You’re like a storm. 

Your mum and your dad were in love. Or, your mum always told you they were.

So if your mum and your dad were in love, they were supposed to be together through the heavy and the light. Through the bright and through the dark. Through sick and healthy. They were supposed to be there for each other. 

They were both really young when they fell in love. You understand-- they were reckless and they were stupid. 

But did your father really have to leave you? 

Love is nothing from the above. Love is sick and love is just a play. It would be stupid to be hung up on that idea that Kim Seungmin so desperately wanted to believe in.

4.

“So, how far did you get with the essay?” asks Jisung on your lunch break, looking at you with expectation. You told him about your planned meeting with Seungmin, but you didn’t get around to telling him just how it went yet. 

“Oh, that…” you mumble, letting out a dry chuckle, “well, he told me my ideas are stupid, so I’m just going to write it by myself and send it to him so he can add his points into it.” you shrugged, taking a bite from your sandwich, stuffing your cheeks with the food so you didn’t have to explain any further.

Jisung sighs in front of you, rolling his eyes like every time you gush about Seungmin and how he gets on your nerves. “Can you lay off that Anne and Gilbert attitude already?”

“Stop saying that, that’s disgusting,” you scrunch up your nose, shaking your head in disbelief.

“Well, it looks like you two are doing a whole 21st century remake right in front of our eyes, though,” chuckles Jisung, teasing you further, “with that whole top of the class students that hate each other and act like children just because they don’t agree on something. It’s only a matter of time before you fall in love.”

“Ew,” you fake a gag, rolling your eyes at him, “that is so not happening.”

“Yeah, sure, tell me about it at your wedding in a few years.” he mutters.

“I am not getting married in my whole life, marriage is wack,” you roll your eyes at him for the millionth time, the gesture so familiar to you over the past few days. Everything seems to annoy you recently. Maybe you were just going through a bad patch, who knows?

“Oh would you look at that, Y/N’s acting like a Grinch again,” giggles Jisung, ruffling your hair in the process just to annoy you even more, making you pull away abruptly from his touch.

“That doesn’t even make any sense! Grinch hates Christmas, not fake images of love.” you argue back, finishing your sandwich and rolling the plastic that was covering it into a little ball, throwing it into his face to shut him up.

“Yeah, sure.” he snorts, throwing the ball back at you. You catch it in your hands with a promise to yourself to throw it out when exiting the cafeteria later, when you feel a light tap on your shoulder that makes you turn around.

The sight in front of you makes you shoot your eyebrows up in shock, leaving you flustered and surprised. “What do you want?”

“I just wanted to ask when we can hang out again to work on that essay, since it’s, you know, like half of our final grade…” mutters Seungmin, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly and pointing his eyes at you, casually waiting for your answer.

“Oh, we’re not meeting again. I’m just going to email you the file when I’m done.” you shrug.

“But that’s unfair to me?” he offers, eyebrows shooting up and his hand falling to his side.

“Why would it be?”

“That gives me less time to work on it, you know. And you have to add your comments to my work anyways, so it would mean you’ll have to write those at the last-minute.” Seungmin explains, his tone of voice calm and collected, just as always, after all, making you roll your eyes and fume up again. 

“I don’t really care,” you shrug, smiling ironically at his face.

“Why- what?” he asks, looking genuinely concerned and confused, eyebrows scrunching up and his voice raising a little by an octave.

You don’t answer him, though. You’ve had enough of his snarky comments and remarks in the coffee shop-- you weren’t going to meet up with Kim Seungmin again, even if it meant the possibility of getting a bad grade from your most favorite and treasured subject. 

After the boy is met with silence, all he does is scoff at you, shooting his arms up into the air and shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re such a fucking child, oh my god.”

And with that, he strides off, your eyes following his every move to make sure he doesn’t come near you again. His steps are quick and angry, and this is actually the first time you’ve seen him get so frustrated with something. You take pride in getting him over the edge. You were finally even. He doesn’t look back once and you think you finally made it.

“Stop staring, Anne.” you hear from your friend sitting right in front of you, making you break away from your bubble and taking a look at him, seeing him amused and with a teasing grin plastered on his face.

“Fuck off.”

5.

“Peace? I hate the word as I hate hell and all Montagues.” Mrs Jung reads out, when you start dozing off in the class. You’ve read the play a lot of times already, making you feel bored even by the repetitiveness of your class. You understand that she is just waiting for all of you to turn in your papers, not wanting to move on from Romeo and Juliet just yet, but you find yourself slowly falling asleep under the spell of her voice and the fact that you spent the whole night studying again. The sentence startles you awake, making you chuckle to yourself.

‘Peace? I hate the word as I hate hell and Kim Seungmin himself,’ you think. If Han Jisung could read minds, he would be surely teasing you with another smart remark of how much energy you’re spending by hating the poor boy and how it’s not possible for you to not fall in love with him soon after how much time he spends in your mind, but Han Jiung can’t read minds. And even if he could, you’d just tell him to fuck off. Because he is wrong.

“Am I boring you, Y/N?” asks Mrs Jung, fully startling you awake as you straighten your back and properly sit on your uncomfortable chair again. 

“Of course not!” you call out, blinking rapidly to keep your eyes from closing on themselves again. 

“Oh, I thought I was, by how tired you seem by listening to me.” she just smiles at you, then continues talking and looks at the other students in your class, leaving you to blush to yourself without giving you more attention. 

You chew on the inside of your cheek, looking around the classroom. You feel embarrassed. You really didn’t mean to give your favorite professor the wrong idea-- you just got to bed really, really late yesterday. It happened often, but you guess that it just took a bigger stroll on you today. 

Your eyes meet the orbs of your moral enemy, that just gazes into you with intensity. You quickly look away. Why is he doing that? His eyes look worried. He’s not supposed to look at you in such a way-- he’s supposed to laugh at how you’ve just been scolded. He just won a few points to himself by paying more attention than you, he just got on the better side with your favorite professor, yet he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying it at all. 

A small piece of paper catches your interest from the corner of your eye. You read through it, recognising the loopy handwriting of your seat-mate.

did you stay up late studying again?

You sigh, taking a pen out of your pencil case and neatly writing under it, trying not to get caught by Mrs Jung. You really don’t want to get scolded for the second time today.

yeah

you should probably relax a little, your grades are already good to begin with

You roll your eyes at the note. Of course he’d say something like that. In elementary school, your grades were good without even trying. All you had to do was pay attention in class and write what you could remember, but now, in high school, everything is a little harder for you and you suddenly weren't good enough anymore. And yeah, you could say that grades don’t even matter that much, but for you, they meant everything. 

yeah that’s bc i study jisung

now you’re falling asleep tho how is that helping

You don’t answer him. It’s not that he’s wrong. It’s just that… you’re not going to tell him that he is. Yes, you falling asleep wasn’t helping you in the tiniest, because the less you pay attention in class, the more you have to study at home, and the more you study, the less you sleep, which means you’re going to fall asleep in class the next day and it’s just an endless cycle.

sorry :( but just remember that grades aren’t everything Anne you can get an F once in a while

thanks

You write. But you don’t really mean it. 

Because if you get an F, you’re not going to be the top of the class anymore.

And how will you get a scholarship if you’re not?

6.

You arrive to the library, sighing to yourself as you quickly take your coat off and smile to Mrs Kim, the older librarian that let you work here part-time for the time being. You didn’t get paid much, but you loved the job. For the most part, it was easy-- there weren’t many people coming to libraries these days anymore and you could just stay behind the counter, occasionally letting people borrow books and writing them into the evidence. You had a lot of time to study there as well, it was silent and calm. Sometimes, you felt like your heart could rest a little in the small place.

“I’m sorry for coming late Mrs Kim, but the bus was late so I couldn’t get here sooner-” you rush out out of breath, dropping your backpack under the counter, ready to change seats with your employer that was done with her shift for the day.

“It’s totally okay, sweetheart, you know there’s no rush.” she smiles at you, reassuring your nerves with the gesture. You were glad you had such caring people around you. You met with Mrs Kim more than you did with your own mother-- it was strange, but comforting to know that at least someone close to a parental figure was still in your life.

Maybe you just hung yourself into older, reliable people because you lost the security you had in your own mother. Or because you didn’t even have a father to begin with. You don’t know if you’re doing the right thing, but in your heart, it surely feels like you are. 

You nod at her, seeing her leave and wave at you as she takes her things with her before you’re left alone with your thoughts. You sit yourself on the chair, looking around for a moment, before you take out your notes and start working on your homework. The library felt like a safe space-- not that you didn’t have the silence and comfort at your own home, since you were home alone all the time anyway-- but here, at least you felt like there was a reason behind your loneliness. You were at work, after all. 

You wonder if things would have been different for your mum if she didn’t have you so young. Maybe she would still be happy with your dad-- maybe she wouldn’t have to work a lot just to get you through life. It’s not easy, raising a child on your own when you are a child still, you realise that. And your mother does a good job-- at least you think she is-- but sometimes, you wish your life would be different.

You curse at your mother for being so reckless when she was young. If you’d be born later, she’d finish school. Give you a better life. Maybe, you would even have a father. You would be a little happy family, going on vacations and enjoying your lives.

Now, you’re stuck with trying your hardest to be the best at everything. To have your life figured out, because at your age, your mum surely didn’t. You know you shouldn’t blame her-- you need two people to create a child, but there was no other person for you to blame. 

You try your hardest to get a scholarship, because you can’t pay for college on your own. You work so your mother doesn’t have to stay at her job over-night so often just to pay the bills. You educate yourself to be smart and successful-- because that will surely change your life for the better, right? 

Suddenly, you hear the bell above the door of the library ring, startling you away from your thoughts. You look that way with a polite smile on your face you’ve taught yourself while working at customer service, ready to greet the customer with fake enthusiasm, when your mouth hangs open without a word. Startled would be an understatement to the feeling you feel at the moment.

“Hello,” the person greets politely, looking at you momentarily before going up to the counter with a stack of books in his hands. He looks up after placing them on the surface and that’s the moment when you see he realises your presence fully-- after seeing his face fall into shock.

“Good afternoon,” you grunt ironically, taking the books closer to yourself so you can check them in, recognising his eyes following your every move from the corner of your eye, “your ID?” you raise up your eyebrows at him, annoyance apparent in your features.

“Oh, right,” he catches himself, quickly patting every pocket of his clothing, until he puts up his hand into his backpack and browses through his wallet, slender fingers offering you the little card so you can scan the code.

The computer freezes for a bit and you curse to yourself-- did it really have to happen now? With Kim Seungmin watching you like an alien? The computer at your local library wasn’t the newest, per say. It didn’t even have to be, your usual customers were just as old, if not even older than that piece of machinery, they didn’t mind waiting. But now wasn’t the time for the computer to freeze. You feel yourself losing your nerves, bouncing your leg up and down, angrily glaring at the screen. 

A minute passes, than another-- could it even get worse than this? 

“So,” clears his throat Seungmin, making you snap your head up to meet his gaze, “what’s up?” he asks, shocking you again. 

“Why do you care?” you snap, glaring at him instead. How dare he act so casually after saying all those mean things to you? You couldn’t believe your ears. 

“Because you’re my classmate…?” he furrows his brows, tone of voice cautious, sounding like a question instead.

“And?” you ask, watching the screen of the computer instead, cursing at the new electronic system Mrs Kim decided to install. It would have been so much easier if you could just scribble down your signature on a small piece of paper and take the books like you used to do before, but no, she was all about innovation. 

“And I thought we were civil enough for a casual conversation,” he rambles, making you snort in disbelief.

“Oh, we are anything but civil.” you respond, losing your nerves, taking your hand and angrily hitting the top of the screen, as if it was supposed to make the computer work. You violently curse under your breath, hitting it a few times, each one more lightly, until the program starts to work, finally registering the books back into the library evidence.

“Why do you even hate me so much?” he asks after you stop, looking at you with annoyed eyes and a look worthy of an oscar-winning actor. He didn’t care, you knew that, but he sure looked like he did.

You just scoff at him, shaking your head. 

“Goodbye,” is all you offer him, his library ID in your hand, before he takes it and rolls his eyes at you again, like many times before. With that, he leaves-- just like you wanted him to-- and you can finally relax. 

You sigh out, taking a seat on your chair again, angirly shutting your textbooks close and grunting under your breath. You put your head into your hands, resting them on the table, breathing heavily. You won’t even be able to study now, and it’s all thanks to him.

Why do you even hate him so much?

7.

Kim Seungmin is an interesting individual. As you continue to work in the library the next week, you meet him there every single day. You don’t even have the energy to bark at him anymore-- he slid into your life like a gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Always there, but you never get used to it and it’s still annoying when you walk around. 

Kim Seungmin is your moral enemy, as we already established. He comes into the library every day and you’re convinced it’s just because he wants to piss you off, but you don’t give him the satisfaction of letting him rile you up anymore. You just silently glare at him and sigh when the timing feels right to show him how much you actually still hate his presence. 

He comes back one day while you’re working on your essay, sitting at the table with furrowed eyebrows and the end of your pen trapped between your teeth. The copy of the play is sitting open right in front of you and his eyes fall into it, recognising the underlined replicas and words. You didn’t work on that essay together ever since your first meeting and the due date was nearing, all he wanted to do was review it with you to at least know what he was getting into.

“Can you even read all of these books in a day when you keep coming back for more every time?” you grumpily mumble as you check back the books you, as the librarian, let him borrow yesterday. They are quite thin, but still, you doubt he was so quick to read all of them in a single afternoon.

“Why do you care?” he asks, snickering to himself. Of course, here he is-- annoying every single cell and fiber of your body again.

“Oh, trust me, I don’t. It’s just getting a little annoying.” you ironically smile at him, sitting back to your chair as you finish lending him the new stash of books. You’re not even sure where he got all of these from, since they don’t even look that interesting, but you choose not to think about it any longer as you get back to your essay, scribbling onto the lined paper.

“I like what you’ve written so far,” he says, startling you. You thought he left already-- I mean, why would he even stay? But he didn’t and he was standing right in front of you, eyes skimming over your messy handwriting.

“No you don’t. You’re arguing against me.” you snap back, darting your eyes to him, seeing him sigh.

“Whatever,” he shakes his head, “I was just wondering when you’re going to finally stop being so childish so we can work on that project together, you know.”

“I’m not childish-”

“Stop arguing with me for once, for god’s sake!” he rushes out, throwing his arms in the air in nerves, huffing out in frustration. “Look, I’ll be here tomorrow. The same time. I’ll bring my things and if you still don’t let me work with you, I won’t write anything and we’ll get a bad grade together. Take it or leave it.”

And with that, he is gone. 

Fuck Kim Seungmin.

8.

Turns out your enemy is a man of his word. 

He truly does show up the next day-- with his backpack slung on his shoulder, cute big glasses sitting on his nose and a stack of papers in his hands. He raises his brows at you upon arriving and you just let out a defeated sigh. 

You put a lot of thought into this yesterday evening. Did you hate Kim Seungmin? Of course you did. Was he really annoying? Yes. But were you going to get a bad grade just because of that? Not a chance. 

And so you choose to give up on the small war and let him sit in front of you, you let him casually ask you questions about the essay and surprisingly, you answer. It is kind of easy, working with a partner on the same exact level as you, because, and now, don’t get me wrong, you love your classmates, but it seemed like you did all the work all the time. It was nice to have somebody by your side that actually managed to do something and took his part responsibly.

“So, since we’re not just gonna go there and argue right from the start, I wrote a little something about William Shakespeare and his background as well in the introduction, I actually didn’t get around to writing the introduction to the play itself, but-”

“Oh that’s fine, I have it done. We can just stick that in there,” he smiles at you warmly, taking you by a surprise. 

You’ve never seen Kim Seungmin smile at you. It was strange to act so friendly around him. Perhaps you were really losing your mind while studying so much. 

“Perfect.” you nod, chewing on the inside of your cheek. 

“I also have the general storyline written down so you don’t have to do that…” he mumbles, looking away for a while when your eyes meet. Is this supposed to be so awkward?

“Nice.” you opt to simply reply in your usual cold nature, nodding.

“Can you tell me which topics you wrote about? So I know if I need to write my part about more things…” he takes the initiative again and you’re actually kind of glad, because that means you don’t have to think of the schedule of your little meeting anymore. 

“Oh, right,” you say, shuffling around in your papers, “um… I just wrote about the age aspect, how reckless their love was, the image of love itself in the play, I also wrote about how meaningless the rivalry was…” you mumble, averting your eyes to the blue ink on the paper.

“Awesome, so we have all of that done… except from the love thing. Okay, I’ll write it next time I come around, since I have tutoring in a few,” he smiles, standing up from the chair, taking all of his things with him.

“Next time?”

“Yeah, well, we still have to finish it. You’ll be here on Tuesday, right? Since the class is on Thursday, so we can have time for the finishing touches.” he proposes, leaving you staring at him, startled.

“O...kay,” you nod, watching him leave.

“Perfect! I’ll see you around, bye!” he cheers, escaping the library that now feels so much hotter than before, leaving you all alone. You notice his tall figure rushing the other way of the library, watching it until it disappears completely out of your sight. 

You notice how hot your cheeks are, bringing a hand to rest against the burning surface, taking deep breaths to somehow calm down the racing heart you are only recognising now, that he’s gone. 

You still have a lot of work to do before Tuesday-- one of your tasks, it seems, is to try to not fall for his friendly nature and welcoming smile. Because perhaps, he was right all along-- why do you even hate him so much?

9.

Kim Seungmin has always been your moral enemy-- you despised everything about him, from the way he was always so calm and collected, so sweet and caring, so smart and thoughtful. You despised his composure. You despised the way he always somehow managed to make friends with everyone around him no matter who the person was. 

He was everything you weren’t. You were just the quiet kid from a broken family that always had to look after herself. You were the kid that had to keep on trying to be the best one, because your mind didn’t let you accept the second place. 

Yet now, that Kim Seungmin is sitting right in front of you with a sweet smile plastered onto his features and a stack of notes in his hands, making your heart race with his every move, you start to quietly doubt your silent hatred for the boy.

He makes it so easy to be likeable. You’re jealous of him.

“Okay, so, do you want to start reading? I think it might help us to have a run down before presenting this on Thursday,” he asks you, leaving you to take a deep breath in, nodding to yourself.

You skip the introduction bits-- both of you know a little too much about the play and its author already, you have no reason to be reading those parts out loud. Something inside of you starts shaking at the thought of presenting your work to him. You were never really good with presentations, your quiet nature leaving you getting hot in the cheeks and stammering every time you had to read in front of the class, but now, it feels even worse with the boy staring at you, listening to everything you have to say.

“They say Romeo and Juliet describe a love that surpasses all boundaries, but a close reading of the play suggests the lovers’ feelings are more complicated than pure love. If we look, we can find plenty of evidence that Romeo and Juliet’s love for one another is, at least initially, immature. Romeo begins the play claiming to be passionately in love with another woman, Rosaline. When he sees Juliet, he abandons Rosaline before he has even spoken to his new love, which suggests that his feelings for both women are superficial. Juliet, meanwhile, seems to be motivated by defying her parents. She is unenthusiastic about her parents’ choice of husband for her, and at the party where she is supposed to meet Paris, she instead kisses Romeo after exchanging just fourteen lines of dialogue with him. When Romeo returns to see Juliet, she is focused on marriage. For Juliet, part of the appeal of marriage is that it will free her from her parents: ‘I’ll no longer be a Capulet’,” you read out quietly. The room is silent, you can even hear the passing cars outside of the window, but Seungmin says nothing. You pay a daring look to him, finding him focused on your face, which makes you shakily drift your eyes back, reading some more so you can distract yourself.

“Marriage is, also, another great aspect of the story-- Juliet is only 13 in the play and even though we can argue and say that historically, she was of age to get married, I still think it is irresponsible to marry so young and so quickly. It brings a bad view of reckless love to young readers that are forced to read the play while growing up.” you continue, hearing Seungmin smirk from the other side of the table.

“‘With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out’, Romeo says, however, to Juliet, all of the freedom she gets from love sparks in the idea of leaving her parents so she can have sex.” you read out, hearing Seungmin finally burst out laughing.

You stop reading, looking up to him with questioning eyes. 

“Why are you so dramatic about all of it anyway?” he asks you, making you furrow your brows in confusion.

“What do you mean dramatic? I was supposed to write about my own view of it, so I did just that. You don’t have to laugh at me for it,” you shake your head, kind of feeling pathetic for the way your heart is racing. The thing is, and you know it sounds ridiculous, you actually feel kind of hurt by the sound of his laughter.

“I understand that, but why do you keep bashing the author for writing it like that? It’s like you don’t even believe in love, all you did was criticise all of the ideas he had. And so what if they were young and reckless? They were still in love, you know?” he rambles, making your blood boil again.

“You can’t just ignore all of it because it was in history. I don’t think it’s normal to marry so young and to claim you are in love so quickly, because you know what? If they survived, they would make a child. And then, they would realise how they fucked up their own life and Romeo would run away from her with a snap of his finger, because that’s what young, immature boys do. And then-” you raise your voice, not even realising how heated you got with the argument as you continue to ramble. The vision of your own parents and your own story is slowly eating you all up from the inside, when suddenly, Seungmin cuts you off again with a laugh.

“But you don’t know that. It’s not even in the play and your conspiracies are just… pathetic, really,” he shrugs, taking in your distressed state.

Pathetic conspiracies. Is this what he called your life?

“Leave.” you say, breathing heavy.

“What? We didn’t even-” 

“You criticize everything I write, not even recognising that maybe I do have a reason for feeling like this and maybe I really do not want to idolise young, immature love when I know just how much damage it can make, so please, for the love of god, Kim Seungmin, leave me alone!” you yell out, standing up from your chair and pointing to the door.

“Y/N-”

“I said get out!” you scream. His deep eyes stare at you for a few minutes, startled, before he hurriedly takes his things and leaves through the front door. 

Once you’re finally alone again, you sigh heavily and put your head into your hands. You feel your eyes burning, trying to desperately blink away the stupid tears filling your saddened orbs, but it’s no use as you see a few teadrops fall onto the opened copy of Romeo and Juliet on the table. 

‘It’s easy for someone to joke about scars if they’ve never been cut.’, it says.

Maybe you were fooling yourself when you thought Kim Seungmin will no longer be your enemy after all of this.

10.

You raise up to your feet when Mrs Jung calls on you on Friday. You already know what’s going to happen-- you’d been preparing yourself for this moment for the past two long, miserable days. You hadn’t spoken to Seungmin since that day in the library and frankly, you feel like after all of this, you have nothing to say to him. You feel like all energy has been sucked out of you, like you are just a walking cage without a soul just ready for this whole project to be over.

You scan the faces of your classmates, most of them looking interested by your essay. They must be expecting drama, an outburst of emotions as you listen to Seungmin’s words, but you won’t give them the satisfaction today. You’re just going to do your part-- you’re going to read out what you have to say and that’s where it ends. You’re not wasting your energy on Kim Seungmin anymore. It’s not worth your time at all. 

So you start, just like that time in the library. You make all your points, you mention all of the topics you wanted to discuss. You throw it right in front of their faces, silently confessing to them all of your deepest secrets and insecurities, because the truth is, you wouldn’t feel so strongly about the play if it didn’t affect you as much. 

And when you’re done, you let your rival speak. You listen to him with curiosity, it doesn’t matter how much you’re trying to convince yourself you don’t actually care. His words flow into your ears and fill your mind with thoughts, every single one of them dedicated to his neat handwriting and his brain full of mysteries he is currently uncovering right in front of you.

“To be honest, Y/N’s words made me think. They made me think too hard. They made me question if my point of view was actually as correct as I thought it was. You see, Y/N is a smart girl. No one can deny that. Perhaps that is what made me doubt my own words so much in the first place,” he starts, looking you directly in the eye, but quickly averting his eyes to the small group of people in the classroom instead, “but still, even though there are some points of her essay that I agree with-- like the age aspect, even though historically, it could be meaningless, as well as the way their marriage comes too fast, there are still things I strongly disagree on.”

He takes a deep breath, shuffling the papers in his hands until he finds the right one, and starts speaking again. “Y/N says their love isn’t as pure as it seems to be. With Romeo abandoning Rosaline and with Juliet desperately wanting to break away from her parents, it may seem that way. However, I think that yet, while the two characters may have initially fell for each other due to a mixture of convenience and lust, Romeo and Juliet’s language shows their passion maturing into real love,” he says, taking a short look at you that makes your insides burn in flames, “In their first meeting, they compose a sonnet together using the religious language of pilgrimage. They both start using astrological language to describe their love. As their relationship develops, they use less rhyme, which has the effect of making their language feel less artificial. These changes in the lovers’ language show that they are growing together. They are growing to care more deeply for each other, they are growing into a feeling of love they have for each other.”

“Another thing I disagree with Y/N on is her image of love. ‘Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn,’ she quotes. Romeo asks his friend, Mercutio, this question when he feels hurt by his love. Yet, as I already mentioned, in my opinion, love is growing. And growing is a journey-- in every journey, there is going to be some pain,” he looks at you again, as if to tell you that his words aren’t meant for the class, but for you and your ears only. It doesn’t look like he’s arguing with you anymore--he is simply telling you what’s on his mind. What he believes in. 

“In theory, I think love is beautiful. I understand the pain and I understand the journey. And with me saying I disagree, I’m not saying Y/N’s opinion is wrong. It’s simply what she believes in,” he nods his head, locking his eyes with Mrs Jung, “but perhaps, it’s the romantic in me that believes that the image of love portrayed in this book was, in fact, beautiful.”

He clears his throat, looking at you again, but this time, his eyes don’t drift to the papers in his hand, rather speaking from his memory instead of reading out the things he had written down. “‘The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing, and think it were not night.’ Isn’t that beautiful?” he averts his eyes to the class, smiling to himself and looking to the ground. 

Somehow, his words feel heavy on you. Like they hold the weight of the world, like what he said wasn’t just to prove a point to you. Perhaps Kim Seungmin saw through the hurt you feel-- perhaps he tried to understand. Maybe, he even tried to make you feel better. 

Somehow, his words feel like a confession. His ending ment of saying ‘thank you for your time’ goes unnoticed in your brain, everything turning blurry as the bell rings just as your presentation ends, your brain, eyes-- your whole being focused on Kim Seungmin and the way his voice recitated the words with such passion in his heart.

“‘And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury,’” the voice of your English literature teacher cuts through your senses like a knife, the smile on her face bringing you back to reality, “Good job, you two.”

11.

A kick in a face wouldn’t hit you harder than seeing Kim Seungmin appear in the library the next day. You aren’t prepared to see him, not when all you’ve been thinking of the last night without being able to fall asleep were his words, his mind and his face. You saw him every time you closed your eyes-- it was like he suddenly imprinted himself into your brain. It was crazy. You felt crazy.

Romeo and Juliet fell in love at first sight. Romeo and Juliet got married the next day. 

How much time did it take you to fall in love with Kim Seungmin? 

Suddenly, you have no idea. And what makes it all worse is the fact that somehow, it all makes sense in your eyes. Maybe Jisung was right when he told you that giving so much energy into hating the boy would somehow make you end up like the 21st century replica of Anne of the Green Gables and Gilbert Blythe.

“Hello,” he breathes out, the corners of his mouth slightly curving up before he bites the nervous smile down, chewing on his bottom lip. 

“Hi,” you shyly greet him, noticing the book in his hands alongside with the library card, taking it from his reached-out hand. You recognise the book way too well, the hard covers a little dusty and the spine damaged from the amount of people that had borrowed this book from the library before.

You take the copy of Romeo and Juliet and place it on the table, registering it back into the database. It feels like a chapter of your life is ending. It seems like forever since you’ve been assigned the project, but in a way, you know that nothing will ever be the same. 

You kept thinking of his words in the night. How in his romantic mind, love is beautiful. And it’s a journey that requires pain, in a way. 

You kept thinking of how your parents were in love. And then, they were in pain. It was their journey that somehow ended up with you being born, ended up with your father leaving you because he couldn’t bear the responsibility. You kept thinking about how you used to blame your mother, even though all she ever did was raise you and love you. And in a way, you knew Seungmin was right and love was beautiful-- it brought your mum pain, but she was happy while it lasted. And you were the proof of that.

You give him back his library ID, fully expecting him to leave without another word, but he doesn’t. He takes it back from your hold, slipping the card into his back pocket, giving you a meaningful look as he sighs.

“I-”

“Look-”

You both start at the same time, nervously laughing before prompting the other one to speak first. You avert your eyes away from his face, letting him know you won’t be the first one to speak this time, patiently waiting for him to start talking.

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry if I ever made it seem like I hate you or anything, because, well, it’s quite the opposite, really,” he chuckles, wiping his hands against his pants, “I never had the guts to hold a proper conversation with you before, because honestly, I was too shy to do that, since you’re like… so smart and everything, but yeah,” he sighs again, shortly looking you in the eyes before finishing his little speech, “I’m just… sorry, I guess?”

You feel your lips tugging into a smile, shaking your head in disbelief before speaking up again. “No, I should be the one saying sorry, because I was the one acting like a bitch… I guess that were just my own insecurities getting in the way.” 

His smile mirrors yours in no time, taking your breath away as you curse in your own head. You feel crazy. So, so damn crazy for liking it so much.

“It’s okay. I guess we both had some things that came in the way. If I wasn’t acting so cold, maybe you wouldn’t hate me as much-”

“No, it’s not your fault!” you stop him, reaching out a hand to gesture him that he is talking nonsense. 

He nervously shifts his weight from one leg to another, taking a short look at his shoes, gaining all of his courage before speaking up again. “I know this may sound ridiculous, but would you maybe want to… hang out sometime?”

“Hang out?” you repeat, voice a few octaves higher than usual.

“Y-yeah,” he nods, eyes big, “I was actually thinking of asking you out on a date but since you used to hate me until now, I didn’t want to go too fast-”

“It can be a date,” you jump in. The voice in your head is screaming at you now, hell, it is running around your head and hitting the walls in anger and panic. How the hell did you end up in this position? Asking Kim Seungmin out on a date? You really must be ridiculous.

“Okay,” he smiles, urgently nodding. 

“Okay.” you grin. You exchange a daring stare into each other’s eyes before he deeply inhales and scratches the back of his neck, turning on his heel and quickly pacing to the door. You almost think he’s going to leave, but he quickly looks back and stops in his tracks, shooting you one last, bright smile.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow!” he cheers, not even letting you respond before he runs out of the door.

As the library falls into dead silence, you take a seat on the chair, sighing deeply and bringing your head into your palms resting on the table, just like many times before when Seungmin left the comfort of the library, but this time, there’s a goofy smile playing with your lips as you think of the last few minutes, chuckling to yourself. This was an outcome you did not expect from the project-- but it’s an outcome you don’t mind at all.

Romeo and Juliet fell in love at first sight. How long did it take you? 

It’s fair to say at least two weeks.

Maybe you were foolish and maybe it will hurt, but there’s something tempting at the warm feeling in your chest and the excitement Seungmin’s presence makes you feel, and that feeling alone doesn’t let you give up on this just yet. 

Your eyes fall to the opened book of Romeo and Juliet you’d left on your table just before he arrived, meaning to return the copy of the play to the library. You’re met with a sentence that makes you chuckle at the irony, the foolishness washing over you mixed with a feeling of joy you can’t quite comprehend yet, but welcome it with your arms wide open and expecting heart.

‘My only love sprung from my only hate.’

[xawkward-ariesx]

It was a Friday night freshman year when the conversation occurred. Bonnie, Elena and Caroline were having a sleepover at the Gilbert's house. They were sprawled out on top of Elena's bed freshly showered from cheerleading practice now cozy in their pajamas. They had exhausted most of their gossip about people from school, giggled more than they had discussed homework and spoken about the boys they were interested in. It was a typical teenage Friday night, a night so normal they didn't need to stop to truly appreciate it at the time.

"If you could be an kind of supernatural creature, what would you want to be?" It was Caroline who posed the question from where she was gazing up at the ceiling.

It was an innocent enough question, the sort of thing they'd ask on nights like this while young and naïve. But it was a moment they'll look back on after everything changes for them with no small amount of irony.

"What?" Bonnie giggled rolling onto her stomach to regard her friend, "Where did that come from?"

Caroline abashed, shrugged as best she could laid down as she was. "What you've never thought about it before?"

"I don't know Bon, I think I'd quite like to be a vampire." Elena piped up a cheeky smile on her face. "Imagine being able to be young and in love forever? Wouldn't that be romantic?"

The girls giggled at Elena's words. Oh how typical of her. Between Elena and Caroline, and the small rivalry they had for each other, they practically ran the school. All the boys wanted them, Elena could have any pick of boys to be her immortal suitor. A fact in their little competition that drove Caroline insane.

"I'm not sure I could handle the blood. I think I'd rather be powerful, be able to defend myself, ya know? Maybe a witch or something. I couldn't hack it as a seer, I'd lose my mind if I had to be psychic." Bonnie explained, the weight of her words settled with in her, ringing true in a way she didn't quite yet understand.

Caroline hummed in response, "I could see that. Personally, I think I'd go with shapeshifter. Imagine being able to be or look however you wanted. You wouldn't have to worry about living forever but you could still look young and pretty for as long as you wanted." There was an edge of taunt in her words, in the deliberate wording, another move in Elena and Caroline's ongoing friendly competition.

Silence reigned over the trio for a moment as they consider the prospective answers.

And then, just like that, laughter broke out once more. An innocent dismissal of the entire conversation. It didn't matter what had prompted Caroline to ask or even what they had answered, it would never happen anyway...

Bonnie stands in her dorm room unseeingly for a moment, for some reason she's remembering that night freshman year. There's no reason it should stick with her, they'd had so many nights like that, but now it does. Now that those innocent moments where they just got to be teenagers are gone, that conversation seems all the more important. Particularly as she stands there as the newly assigned anchor to the Other Side with her two best friends and roommates as vampires.

The door squeaks open as Caroline returns from class, Elena isn't due back for another hour so it's easy to determine who it is even with how silent her footsteps are. Bonnie is still lost in thought when the blonde greets her.

"Do you ever think about those sleepovers we used to have before everything? And ask those," She pauses to roll her eyes at her younger self with fondness and exasperation in equal measure, "stupid hypothetical questions?"

"Of course." Caroline smiles but there's a tinge of melancholy to it that hadn't been there back then.

For all they've grown as people since becoming aware of the supernatural, there are parts of themselves that they've lost for good. With the loss of their ignorance so too do they lose their childish bliss.

"When did we stop?" She can't help but ask. She knows when to some extent, but she doesn't remember the last moment, she remembers it fading away but not when it stopped. When they stopped trying to hold on to their innocence.

Caroline tilts her head as she regards her, a sadness welling in her eyes that is difficult to disguise. Especially from someone who knows her so well.

"When we changed, I guess."

"Do you ever wish we could go back to before?" Bonnie whispers, barely able to voice the question for fear the spirits might take them as a challenge.

Caroline's expression tightens, a grief lining her face that Bonnie is familiar with from the mirror.

"All the time." She murmurs.

[nessacousland]

Consider: Finn and Dagna friendship.

I can see it going two ways: They get along way too well or they are intense academic rivals.

Oh boy, I've definitely given this some thought before, but not quite in-depth, so here goes: Frankly, while they're both the quintessential nerds in DAO, I've never really seen it? As in, I never thought of them as being super close in the time that Dagna was at Kinloch Hold.

Some of that has to do with the timeline: Dagna arrives at the tower sometime in 9:30 Dragon, maybe closer or in 9:31 depending on how you play the game, meanwhile Finn leaves Kinloch Hold sometime in 9:32 Dragon during Witch Hunt and never returns (that's how I'm interpreting Eleni Zinovia's prophecy about him, plus there's his WoT II entry, of course). So there's a year, two years max that they could have run into each other, and honestly, Finn is kind of a snob about being a full-fledged mage (he's not some "drooling apprentice"!). Dagna is new at the Circle and despite having read some books on magic before, pretty darn new to magic itself at the time, literally an apprentice. So, I don't know if he would have given her much thought/consideration?

And then there's also the fact that in the ten years that she's been studying magic, she's apparently been all over the world, studying in so many places that she's got a "chest full of letters" with references by the time she joins the Inquisition (see Dagna's WoT II entry). So, who knows how long she really stayed in Kinloch Hold in the first place before moving on? What I could see is them having some friendly talks in the library about Tevinter and its magic, considering Dagna says in DAO that she's begun reading the Fortikum Kadab and it was just fascinating - meanwhile Finn is hugely into the Tevinter Imperium. But again, I don't see an intense rivalry or a 'besties' type of relationship developing right then and there, because they're just at different points of their 'careers' at the time.

In general? I think of Dagna as more of a scientist/engineer, who really gets into the grit of things and does tons of practical research (beyond what others may deem safe or even possible). She's 100 % passion and excitement, witty, tough, crafty, a real go-getter who wants to push the limits of magical research.

Finn, on the other hand, I feel is less of a scientist and more someone who's partial to the humanities. Like, we see him being knowledgeable about magic: he can scry, he can uncover the Lights of Arlathan with some 'grey area' blood spell, (and he's got some insane starting stats in the DLC, so he definitely knows his spells), but it's his passion for history and languages that stands out to me the most when I play Witch Hunt. He's the kinda guy who will spend weeks buried in his books and scrolls to figure out the meaning of one elvhen word. And it doesn't even have to be this insane discovery that will challenge the status quo and change everything forever, he'll be completely satisfied with simply knowing more than he did before he started researching. Even if his findings have no practical use or value for anyone else.

So, they're two very different kind of nerds in my eyes. Dagna is a creative force, really avant-garde and goal-orientated, Finn is your classic library scholar who delights in uncovering the past. That's why I find a direct rivalry between the two highly unlikely, but I imagine they could have really nice talks about the areas where their individual research overlaps if they were to meet sometime after they've both left Kinloch Hold (I've actually written such a chance meeting between them sometime after DAI here).

So, yeah, these are my thoughts on the two of them and I apologize if they disappoint you. :o But thank you so much for the ask!!! I had a blast writing all of this out. :)