#they wouldn’t do that because they are both invested in not seeming like rivals which

[moonshynecybin]

trying to imagine a rosquez charity boxing match. first off no one is having fun. marc cries. the academy boys ARE there but they do. feel very weird about it yes i mean sexually. marc and vale both simmerrrr the entire pre fight press conference insisting they are doing this for CHARITY as their tragic little love story gets monologued at them (pedrenzo is going 2 be. giggling. kicking their feet. like we wonnnnnnn we loveeeeee each other isn’t it so funnyyyy we used to be rivals :) hard cut to rosquez. white knuckled. oscillating between BIG fake pr smiles insisting they have no actual problem with one another and. stone faced.) they are NOT leaning into the goofy it is serious 2 them. yes they are wearing dumb outfits even so. marc is winning but he is not feeling good about it. there IS a moment where it looks like they are fucking that if you showed it won any sports man he would be like aw. they’re playing.

[essskel]

Hi, as there is w2 and roche discussion on your blog, I had to join in - though this is not relevant to the points the other anon is arguing.

I was always in the camp of 'iorweth and roche hate each other', which seems logical, right? both their stations and sentiments would make it a sound conclusion. or, more accurately, 'they hate each other equally'.

But I've been re-playing w2 lately, (I have not left flotsam yet, so there might be more revelations to come) and I've been struck by how roche.... doesn't care.

He does think iorweth is disturbing the peace and getting in his way, and his postion as commander of the blue stripes of course means he feels it's his duty to resolve the problem. But from 'a regular son of a bitch' in contrast to iorweth's speech, to the many comments he makes throughout your stay in flotsam (can't quote them, sorry - it also depends on how sympathetic to the elves you seem in his eyes, I've tested this) it's clear iorweth is not his sworn enemy he single-mindedly hunted throughout his life.

(Side note - I never quite caught the... dismissive contempt in his voice in the abovementioned quote before.)

Iorweth is the one with a life-long vendetta. Roche just views it as another job.

And that... blew my mind a bit. And made me rethink some of my preconceptions of the characters. It's easy to fall into the one-note trope of bitter rivals - and isn't their relationship and personalities much more nuanced and interesting this way?

And isn't that such an interesting commentary (be it purposeful on cdpr's part or not)? The very government organisation tasked with exterminating them does not care the same way the scoia'tael do. Their hatred is not the same. You're just another elf, another commando, it's not so personal - while to the squirrels it's everything.

Anyway, I simply wanted to share my thoughts - and see what you think! Is it perhaps a common thing to observe and I just caught up late? I hope I articulated myself clearly.

- karanfile

oh yeah definitely with the uneven levels of hate upon their first meeting - Roche wants Iorveth to know defeat, but it’s hard to see this relationship as being ‘personal’ to him for the majority of the game. The conflict with the scoiatael is just part of his job. He’s preoccupied with the death of Foltest, and later the massacre of the Blue Stripes. He’s way more emotionally invested in those events that he really ever is with Iorveth.

Also for Iorveth’s side, I’d agree that he’s put more emphasis on their meeting than Roche has, but Iorveth is not being funded or supported by a whole kingdom. He has to scrounge, work, and categorize all his own intel in ways Roche wouldn’t have to worry about. Iorveth’s extensive knowledge and study of Roche’s career is a skill that he has to maintain in order to be prepared for battle, to me it’s maybe not necessarily a singular obsession. Also Iorveth is just a more extroverted and eloquent speaker, so I feel like his speech on the log serves to introduce and announce his character way more than it does to spark a ‘rivalry’

So overall yeah I totally agree. This specific fight is always going to be more impactful and important for the Scoiatael because they’re in this war on their own, and for their own survival. Theyre not safe on either side anymore. The Northern Kingdoms just treat them like a stepping stone to get to Nilfgaard.

The only thing i’d add maybe is that post tw2, now that Iorveth and Roche have met, dueled, and shared a mutual friend, I feel like their future interactions (bascially the cut content from tw3) would have allowed for a more person-to-person competition and vitriol to exist simply because Geralt would have forced them into close quarters for an extended amount of time. But CDPR hates us so …. 😔

EDIT: It wasn’t really that clear but - I was not praising Roche’s character here. Him doing something horrific and partaking in the murder and oppression of a marginalized group and then …. not really caring, is not something I consider a positive trait. I’m not calling him out or wever like, characters need flaws, that makes them more interesting, and oppressors not giving a shit about the people they hurt is pretty realistic, so I don’t even disagree with the writing very much. But yeah this post is not a celebration of a his character in any way

[rapifessor]

It’s come to my attention that there have been some balance changes to Layla in the Genshin Impact beta. I’ve updated my theorycrafting post about her as a result, but I also want to talk about the changes in their own post, so here we go.

Elemental Skill

Skill DMG has been reduced from 14.85% to 12.8% ATK and Shooting Star DMG reduced from 17.1% to 14.7% ATK. However, the cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 15s to 12s.

The cooldown reduction is the most important change here, because it takes Layla’s shield from ~80% uptime to theoretical 100%. I say theoretical because in practice you won’t typically be re-casting it the moment it wears off, so there will still be a brief window in which you won’t be protected, but it’s much shorter than before.

I’m not sure why they bothered nerfing the damage on this ability though. Layla didn’t really scale with ATK to begin with and 14.85% is such a pitiful number that it’s completely inconsequential, it’s literally a fraction of the weakest hit of her Normal Attack combo. The nerf to Shooting Stars is a little more relevant but still not a substantial change as the Bonus DMG they gain from Layla’s Passive Talent makes up the bulk of their damage.

Elemental Burst

Starlight Slug DMG has been reduced from 7% to 4.6% HP. Energy Cost reduced from 60 to 40 and cooldown reduced from 15s to 12s.

Lots more to go over here. First of all, this ability’s damage has been significantly nerfed. This is something I was afraid was going to happen, but I decided to look more into what testers were saying about her damage output and from the sound of things this nerf actually makes sense. Prior to this change her damage was super solid, even comparable to Rosaria who’s a much more DPS-oriented character. Keeping Layla’s numbers the same wouldn’t have rendered Rosaria obsolete by any means but it would be a little strange for a character with Layla’s level of utility to rival the damage output of a character designed primarily to deal damage.

Additionally, the nerf won’t hurt as much as it would in isolation thanks to the reduced Energy Cost for Layla’s burst. This almost completely alleviates the need for Energy Recharge on her, allowing you to invest in more HP and CRIT Rate/DMG. Having such a low Energy Cost on an Elemental Burst is pretty rare and a huge boon for a support character, so this is quite the buff for Layla.

Of course, with reduced Energy Cost comes reduced cooldown, so Layla now has theoretical 100% uptime on her burst as well. This is a decent buff that puts her in quite a unique place as a character; I don’t think any other character has this quality on both their skill and their burst, so it’s definitely worth noting. As long as you’re switching to Layla with the right timing, she’ll pretty much always be firing projectiles from her shield and her burst at the same time.

My Thoughts Overall

I was pretty discouraged when I first saw the nerfs to Layla’s damage, particularly her Elemental Burst. I still think they’re a little extreme and that something like a 20% nerf would have been more fair (reduced to 5.6% instead of 4.6%), but on the whole I don’t think they hurt her as much as I thought.

These changes constitute a net positive I’d say. They’ve certainly elevated Layla’s support capabilities and made her more uniquely powerful. It seems HoYoverse has somehow managed to make a 4-Star character better for once, despite doing the thing I most feared they would.

It’s technically possible for Layla to be changed again before her official release, but it’s quite unlikely. On the off chance it does happen though, I hope they keep the changes but give her back just a bit of her damage. She might still deal okay damage regardless, but it couldn’t hurt to make her a little stronger.

[dearestones]

Screening (Mello, Near, and L Interaction)

Warnings: Tantrums.

@hisredhysteria Request: I hope this isn't too weird, but would it be okay to request a Mello interaction piece...? Perhaps with L or Near? Even both if you're up to it or if it makes anything easier to write! I haven't seen Death Note in a while but these 3 were always so interesting to me- Of course, if not that's perfectly fine too!

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“If I’m not mistaken, I do believe that it’s almost time for your bedtime.” The voice on the other side of the screen, although distorted and unmistakably robotic, sounded almost fond. Teasing. Like a doting parent who wanted to keep their kids up longer to continue the fun, but who knew the consequences if they didn’t get adequate sleep.

As the cries of dismay filled the room, one of the aides that helped around the orphanage began to round up the children. It wasn’t until the aide said that their benefactor had left gifts in their rooms that the whines gradually transitioned into whoops of delight, which accompanied the sound of many children making a mad dash for the dorms. Another aide helped some of the younger children onto their feet, their tired yawns making them seem more angelic than usual.

However, Mello chose not to pay attention to the aides or the children. They were nothing more than background characters who had no say or part in his life. He was one of the older kids, but he was one of the smartest and likeliest to succeed their benefactor. Despite himself, Mello flicked his gaze to a boy who sat curled on the ground, a few cubes of dice rolling around in his hand, the pieces clacking together rhythmically.

When all of the children had been escorted out of the room, one of the aides immediately left—

Only to return with Roger.

The elderly man’s eyes drooped with stress and old age as he turned to the remaining children in the room: the highest ranking of all the Wammy’s Children, Mello and Near.

“Thank you for your patience.” His voice was quiet, measured. His was a voice that was gravelly and worn, like listening to someone striding down a path that had been worn down by the elements for so long. “I believe that you have been informed that Master L has requested that you speak to him in private?”

Mello couldn’t help but sneer.

Of course he did.

And if he knew, then of course, Near also knew.

Succession.

There was only one reason why Wammy’s House had been created and it was because old man Quillsh wanted to make sure that his investment wouldn’t fade into the annals of history. Sure, even if a person could see the benefits of such—raising orphans, giving children an education that most would kill for—it was all just a front for a cutthroat race among all of the children. There was no camaraderie here, especially for the children whose only purpose was to succeed their shared benefactor.

There were probably candidates in other countries, but the Wammy’s House stationed in England was perhaps the most valuable. It wasn’t out of sentimentality—if rumors were to be believed that L himself was a British citizen—but because it was rumored that the best scholars were personally shipped in from other countries so that they could be face to face with their opponents for succession. It would explain the plethora of accents that dominated the halls of the orphanage, of the way different cultures melded and blurred together to form their own way of life. 

Child geniuses groomed the instant they were found. 

Mello offered a stiff nod, not even bothering to look down at his rival. 

Near didn’t say anything even on good days. In fact, he preferred to keep to himself like he was too good for the rest of them. 

Roger wiped a hand down his face before turning towards the laptop that still rested on the low table. He fiddled with the controls for a second, making sure that the connection was stable before speaking directly towards his employer. 

“Master L,” he began in earnest. Roger sent them both a look that told them to behave or else. “M and N are present.”

“Excellent.” 

And with that one crisp word, Roger stepped away and collapsed into a nearby chair. One of the aides gave him a glass of water and then practically ran out of the room when Roger gave her the go ahead. It was no secret that Wammy’s House wasn’t a legitimate operation. There was only so much they could do to cover up the fact that it wasn’t ethical of them to pit small children against each other just for the sake of one man and his legacy. Furthermore, knowing that the world’s three best detectives were direct supporters for the organization could easily be exploited. Legend had it that once you were employed by Wammy himself, you could say goodbye to any other job opportunities.

Once you were in, you stayed in.

Mello once overheard one of the tutors gape at how much money they made after three months. Almost too much.

Yet, understandable. It was hush money. 

Living up to the name was a hefty price, but it was one that Mello wanted to shoulder alone. All he had to do was knock Near off his pedestal. 

After a meaningful glance from Roger, Mello moved away from the furthest corner and halted to a stop in front of the laptop. The screen glowed pure white, the only color staining the screen came from the Old English font L. Meanwhile, Near continued to huddle over his dice, the clacking ceasing until Mello could only hear his heart thumping in his ears and his brain briefly echoing with static. 

This was it. 

L was going to choose his successor. 

There was a crackle on the other end of the monitor, like the shuffling of papers. It was a faint detail, but Mello committed it to memory. He had never met the man, but he could almost see the spider thin fingers flipping through his case files and assessments. Was L smiling with pride? Or was he maintaining an objective stance when analyzing his two prized candidates? Mello’s heart ached—he had enough talks of congratulation from his tutors, he needed validation from L. 

Finally, the man on the other side of the screen spoke, his voice low and considering. “I’ve been going through the results of your past thirty assessments, have listened and watched recordings from your weekly interviews, and have spoken directly to your tutors.” 

Mello’s jaw ached from clenching it so hard. If this wasn’t the man that he had spent years idolizing, planning on toppling, he would have told him to hurry up with the news.

“After much debate and consultation, I have come to a conclusion regarding your status as my top candidates for succession.” 

There was a pause and Mello could hear the telltale sound of someone sipping tea. If it weren’t for the fact that his future and his life were hanging in the balance, he would charge forward towards the laptop and start shaking it. There was too much tension and Mello. Needed. To. Release. It. 

A clink of a teacup landing on a saucer.

“The both of you are to attend mandatory counseling sessions both joint and solo. M, you are to receive anger management classes. N, on the other hand, it is prudent that you engage—”

Mello could never understand why English classes were mandatory. Reading was child’s play and comprehension and analysis of the text was a walk in the park. That said, when the words ‘anger management classes’ came straight of L’s mouth, all he could see was red. 

Mello didn’t know what happened, but one second he was lunging forward and the next, he was being held back by one of the male aides that patrolled the halls for roughhousing. As Mello felt his arms pinned to his sides and his legs uselessly kicking in the air, he heard Roger apologizing profusely for Mello’s impulsive decision.

“Like a bull in a china shop, that one,” Roger said. 

Mello struggled harder. “I’ll show you what a bull in a china shop can do!”

Rearing his head back, Mello tried to headbutt the male aide, but of course, he was only a prepubescent child going up against a trained professional. As he struggled, Mello brought his head forward, opened his mouth, and—

“I concur with M. I see no reason to attend counseling. It’s our intelligence that you value, not our emotional responses.” Near’s voice, as always, was measured and steady: like a metronome set at sixty beats per minute. Straight, concise, and utterly inhuman.

Mello found himself irritated with Near no matter the situation. Now, he was torn between agreeing with the supposed number one prodigy or railing against both parties. Both options were too terrible to consider, but Mello didn’t want to concede the point to Near. 

So, Mello did the one thing that he could do while still restrained.

He threw his head back and screamed. 

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If you want to donate a Ko-Fi, feel free https://ko-fi.com/devintrinidad.

DEATH NOTE MASTERLIST

[shotorozu]

TITLE : CARTOON KISSES

pairing : todoroki shouto x reader

synopsis : it looks like your boyfriend doesn’t understand why you like miraculous ladybug, but i guess you could say that he was more jealous, than confused. thus— why he did that

legend : [Y/N = your name, L/N = your name] afab! reader with they/them pronouns, quirk not specific

note(s) : self indulgent because yeah, my birthday‼️‼️ yes i’m an aries. the episode i’m referencing in this fic is backwarder— season 3, episode 4, and dark cupid, season 1, episode 10

this is a birthday fic for me 💅🤍✨‼️

Lately, everything has been hectic— on both sides anyway.

Was it really your fault? Or was it his fault? In fact, it wasn’t either of yours faults. UA was just very meticulous about what the students should be doing when and how.

Then again, it wasn’t like you never saw your boyfriend— Todoroki Shouto; the boy with dual colored hair that could easily blend in with the peppermint candy isle. That’s not the point though, you do actually see him

The only time you get to actually spend some time with him, is when the two of you are in each other’s rooms. Either enveloped in each others arms, or really— doing the most random things, at the most random times.

Or the other possible outcome, watching shows together. Which would rather be right about now.

Shouto lays right beside you, his right arm draped around your shoulder to keep you in his firm hold. Meanwhile, you’re cuddled up right on his side, occasionally pressing your face into his shirt because why not?

“For crying out loud! can’t they just date each other already?!” You exclaim in absolute agony, watching the two main protagonists— Ladybug and Chat Noir, be playful with each other mid-battle.

Shouto’s gaze averts down onto you, and in reality— he doesn’t look all that invested, compared to you, who’s making commentary everytime something drastic happens in the episode. If he wasn’t, you couldn’t really blame him. He only just started watching this show with you merely a few days ago (really, it has only been 2 days.)

“Aren’t they like.. the same people?” He’s puzzled. The masks hide nothing! Even he could piece together that the two heroes could be linked to their civilian selves— most especially, Marinette. Since her persona doesn’t really have a drastic change her appearance, in comparison to her partner.

“Yes, that’s what makes this entire show so.. interesting! They’re so.. oblivious! And this has been dragging on for several years!”

Shouto’s confused, in all honesty. Really, what even is the love square? can’t they just say who they are? he’d guess that the mechanics are different, compared to the real world— where people already know who you are (excluding special cases)

He has so many questions, and his train of thought is put to an end, when he hears a high pitched squeal—

“DID YOU JUST SEE THAT?” You practically squirm in his hold, thrashing back and forth as you replay the scene of Chat Noir kissing Ladybug’s hand, as he bids farewell to her.

“He.. kissed her hand?”

“Yes!” You replay the scene, and you thrash around in your spot on the bed, practically fawning over the simple gesture. His expression falters when he sees you slip out of his grasp, and he can only gently pull you back in

When you kiss his cheek goodbye, as you part ways with him, he’s left sitting in silence. He doesn’t know what to think

I mean, it really could be a stretch of a situation. Why else would you be squealing watching such simple acts of romance— and it all seems too easy. Maybe you like guys similar to Chat Noir? who are natural romantics, and people that are just oozing of confidence? Maybe you love hand kisses? (It’s not like he doesn’t give you them, but.. out in public? not really.)

Or maybe.. there’s something else.

And maybe you like being called M’lady, and names similar to that? he doesn’t really know.

Which is why, he decides to binge at least half of the show, and understand the lore of “Miraculous | Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir”

»»————-　♡　————-««

You’re puzzled when Shouto starts acting differently

I mean, it could be a dare for all you know— but he doesn’t seem like the type to drag out a dare for 5 days. He wouldn’t be that committed to a.. what would you call this?

It’s.. just different. He’s acting differently, and you could just hope it’s a prank, or even a drawn out consequence of a bet he manage to lose— it would be nice to know about the sudden change of attitude.

He says nothing the next time you guys have another miraculous marathon, nothing out of the ordinary! however, the youngest Todoroki seems to be wanting to do.. something.

As per usual, you’re seated next to him, a change compared to the usual times where you’re slumped against his side, which really— bugged your boyfriend.

Your eyes stayed glued onto the screen, as you attentively watched Chat Noir pull Ladybug down from a dangling roof, chest to chest, shushing her, as if he wanted to tell her all of the things that were on his mind at that exact moment

“It’s happening, it’s happening!” You squeal, as if it wasn’t the 10th time you played said scene— and by the looks of it, you’re a ‘ladynoir’ fan.

You can’t see it, but his two toned eyes narrow down into slits— and he grumbles, knowing that he probably should just.. do it. There’s not stopping it now, he’d take the chance.

When the moment nearly happened, you body made an impulse— and simply moved on it’s on, without much thought.

You wouldn’t have noticed it, due to the awfully large (to an outsider, it wasn’t a large distance, but to him, it was.) distance— but you’re awfully aware of the warm hand trailing down your forearm, your body immediately relaxes when he tugs on your arm with care, peppering kisses along your forearm, and going down to the backside of your hand.

“W-what are you doing?!” You exclaim in surprise, your cheeks heating up like a fresh batch of toast coming out of the toaster. Yet, your hot-cold boyfriend says nothing, and continues to plant kisses onto your skin with no hesitation.

Then, he makes a point to trail back higher and higher, every time his lips press against your skin, you only grow closer to the brink of overheating.

“I figured you’d be interested in such a gesture,” He mutters against the crook of your neck, not caring at all if the kiss he just pressed against your delicate skin, was rather damp at all.

You’re still stunned, you’d question whoever wouldn’t! A second ago, you were just watching cartoons and.. he was—

“I thought it would be nice to.. replicate them.” His gaze shifts onto the screen, referring to the cartoon, of course.

He.. was copying the show?

“You mean by.. flustering me like how Chat Noir flusters Ladybug?”

“You said it, not me.” Which only confirmed your previous theories and questions. You don’t know why and how you didn’t see this all before— but it does make sense now.

You fall forward, bursting into laughter. The effect of his actions seem to be the opposite of what he was hoping for

“I’m sorry, did I..”

“No! You actually got me, don’t get me wrong. You absolutely wooed me!” You poke at his cheek, in a poor attempt in brightening up the hush mood.

“In all seriousness, you don’t need to copy whatever Chat Noir does! Do what feels natural to you, and as much as I really liked that kiss, I prefer.. your signature style of kisses.” Shouto didn’t get the chance to question what you meant at that moment— it being all too quick, since you lifted his arm to rest against his side, your gaze suddenly apologetic “I’m sorry if you felt like you were doing things wrong. No character from a TV show can rival you!”

The knot that he didn’t even know existed, slowly eased away from the pit of his stomach. He smiles, content with your words— he didn’t know how you did it, how you knew the way to his heart with your words but.. he’s happy

“But it did work though, right? I did make you flustered.”

Yeah, Shouto is back to normal, when his terribly blunt questions come back.

And yeah, Chat Noir might be charismatic and swave, but at the end of the day— anything Shouto does fills you with satisfaction, up until the brim.

If it would be cartoon kisses, or his signature style of affection.

»»————-　♡　————-««

[oh-boy-me]

Can I please see MC beating the brothers at something they would normally excel at? Thank you, and have a great day or night! 💚

Hello look I’m finally getting back to old requests!  Surprise, 💚 anon!

Also, I chose specific things for MC to beat them at, because it made it easier to formulate thoughts.

--

Lucifer: Chess

Hmm.  This is.  He doesn’t like this.

He’s the demon of pride.  He’s supposed to be--no, he is--the best at everything.  Diavolo and Barbatos are the only ones allowed to hold a candle to him.

“Congratulations, MC,” he says out loud.  “It was a fluke.  I let them win.  There’s no way they actually beat me,” he says to himself.  He tries to hide his bad mood, but it’s pretty noticeable that he’s seething in his seat.

He needs to reclaim his throne, and they better not even think about letting him win or they’ll just make things worse.  Is this a healthy way to handle defeat?  Absolutely not.  But a hit to his pride is a hit to his pride, and he doesn’t take those as well as he’d like you to think.

The only way for MC to remedy this quickly is to point out that he taught them these skills.

Honestly the fact that it was chess specifically doesn’t really matter.  Lucifer is only fine with being second best at something if it’s luck-based (like Candy Land), or if he REALLY doesn’t care about it (like Candy Land).

Just kidding.  He will destroy them at Candy Land if it’s the last thing he does.

Mammon: Card Games

I tried to keep things related to their sins out of this, because being beaten at your sin would probably make you question your identity.  But with Mammon most of his hobbies seem to tie into his sin in some way, so I think this is our best option.

Anyway, Mammon isn’t happy about this by any means, but it’s also not going to ruin his day like it’d ruin Lucifer’s.

Like, he’ll grumble about it.  And complain.  Loudly.  He might even spam the group chat complaining about it while MC is still right next to him shuffling cards, and then Asmo will say “lol” and Lucifer will accuse him of something unrelated and that’ll make him grumble more.

And MC might have to step in somehow to get him to stop pouting.

If they were playing for money, he’s gonna keep demanding rematches until either he wins or something forces them to stop.

Unlike Lucifer, Mammon will be fine with them letting him win.

But once again, that’s for the money, not really for his pride.  He’s kind of used to losing at the things he’s good at.

Leviathan: Video Games

Hmm this is he doesn’t like this #2

Levi’s kind of built his identity around the things that he’s good at and the things he likes, so for MC to come in and upset that makes him, well, upset.

The first time sucks.  Like Lucifer, he sits there stewing in his frustration.  Unlike Lucifer, he doesn’t bother trying to hide it.  He might even tear up, which definitely pulls on the heartstrings but he shouldn’t be such a sore loser.

The closer MC is with him, the less upset he’ll be over time, though.  Because it changes from “this fucking normie came in and ruined everything” to “ahhhh dammit my friend beat me”.

Also, he’ll only get moody if MC beats him at a game he’s currently invested in.  He’s not gonna be surprised if he’s a little rusty at Street Fighter II now, but ex-father have mercy on anyone who beat him at a DBFZ when it first came out.

He’ll only legitimately try to kill them if they beat his Ruri-chan platformer speedrun time.

Satan: Grades

Satan thinks it’s great!!  He highly values being smart, but he doesn’t think it’s threatening for someone else to be smart too (except Lucifer).

If anything, he’s glad to know MC is someone he can reliably study and compare answers with.  Most of his study buddies end up being impromptu tutoring pupils, and he’d really like to just study for once.

Maybe it's surprising that the avatar of wrath isn’t angry, but like, he seriously doesn’t see this as something to be angry about.

Of course, he’s still literally the sorest loser in the three realms.  Never play games with him.  But this wasn’t a competition, and I can’t exactly say he excels at anything that would be considered a competition.  So yeah, MC manages to escape his wrath through a loophole in the ask.

Is he mad that he didn’t get full marks?  Of course.  But he’s mad at the teacher, not MC.  Unless MC tries to rub it in his face, because that’s just rude.

Asmodeus: Design

I was gonna do like a popularity contest, but we’ve seen him go through one in canon and that’s not gonna really add anything new.

So!  Let’s say he and MC’s designs were both candidates for something, and MC’s ended up being chosen.

Hmm this is he doesn’t like this #3

The problem is that while design has nothing to with his sin, and therefore his base identity, he sure seems to think it does.  Asmo thinks his entire personality is the things he’s good at.

He’s simultaneously the easiest and hardest to deal with out of those who are legitimately upset.  The easiest because while he’ll pout a bit, he’s going to properly congratulate them and it’s hard to tell that he’s upset when he’s giving them so many compliments and talking about how he’s gonna buy one of everything.

The hardest because he’s actually really passive aggressive about it.  For a WHILE.

He’ll also definitely try to steal their ideas for the future, or seduce whoever’s in charge of making the final selection.  It doesn’t matter if he got chosen legitimately or not, what matters is that he gets chosen period.

The best thing MC can do in this situation is get him to understand he wouldn’t actually be happy with a shallow victory like that.

Beelzebub: Sports

Another one who is very excited to have an equal!

Sports need more than one player, after all, and it gets really boring if your opponent is no match for you.

He’ll start to consider MC his friendly rival.  He asks them what their training regimen is and what diet they’ve adopted, so they can compare it with his own (scaled down to be equivalent).  Basically he gets information from them like Asmo does, but unlike Asmo Beel gets it by asking and shares the benefits with MC.

If there’s a sport that neither of them have tried before, he’d love to see how they do one-on-one as complete novices.  He’ll do his best to be mindful of his brute strength advantage if it’s a sport where that would matter.

The only thing he could be upset about MC beating him in is those restaurant challenges where you finish a massive dish within a time limit.  But even then, it’s not because he’s upset he lost.  He’s more concerned about their health, because if MC beat him at that holy shit.

Belphegor

He doesn’t care.

This took so long to come out because I couldn’t think of something MC would beat him at that he would care about.

Like

Slept longer than him??  He’s not gonna throw a fit about that.

And it’s not like he goes into things expecting to win; he barely wants to do things at all.

So yeah the answer for Belphie is it doesn’t matter what you beat him at, he won’t lose sleep over it.

Lmao sloth pun

Masterlist

[dontcallmecarrie]

Replying to @kine-iende​ [hope this works and you see it, still trying to get the hang of how tags work] who said:

Thank you, author-person, for this incredible detailed answer. (Also i don't mind being tagged - or not) With Tony being so aware of the dynamic between those rivals, Justin ending as a villian is less going a betrayal from almost-family and more of a 'natural phenomen' he should have seen coming. Because as always:rivals ^^

.

To be completely honest, if this AU were a tv show the ‘Justin Hammer accidentally founded Cabal’ reveal would’ve been the huge plot twist revealed at the end of either Season 2 or 3, and it’d be a major shocker for the Avengers...but not Tony.

also just realized I somehow made an AU where the protagonist basically becomes a villain out of Spite™ and I’m not sure if that’s the weakest origin story ever, or what

After all, if this were a tv show, it’d be centered around the Avengers, and the main season one conflict would be in seeing how Tony fits in the team— which would get resolved eventually, but not before the audience gets a good look at their dynamics. Like, the chemistry between Iron Man and Captain America, how easily and seamlessly they work together without needing more than a word or two because they’re on the same page, or Tony’s cordial yet distant academic respect for Bruce [which gets contrasted with Iron Man’s uncharacteristic instant bromance with the Hulk], or... well, the list goes on.

Not to mention that having a common enemy alters their dynamic as time goes on, because while if this’d been a one-off things would’ve still been rocky between Tony and the team, whereas having to constantly coordinate because new intel indicates that their last enemy was actually connected to something bigger and that means even more teamwork...

So by this point they’ve got a good idea of their characters, how they roll, how they react under pressure and during downtime and throughout all this, Justin Hammer would make cameos because he’s SHIELD’s main weapons supplier [...among other groups, which in and of itself foreshadows some of his shadier connections later on] and between him and Tony, they’ve basically cornered the market on experts in that field— which comes in handy when we’re talking about alien tech. 

Justin wouldn’t get much screentime compared to the others, but enough for the Avengers [and the audience] to see he makes for a very good foil for Tony, with their differences being highlighted all the more due to the similarities. After all, both come across as good people: Tony’s very friendly to anyone who isn’t on his shit list, and Justin acts very polite and gentlemanly to strangers [and is 100% a mom friend to anyone he cares about]. Tony’s a hero, though, while Justin’s long since made it clear he was a businessman first and foremost.

Through all this, Justin and Tony’s dynamic is intentionally kept vague— one moment they’re perfectly friendly, the next they'll be at each others’ throats and, again, sometimes can get misinterpreted as something else. 

Then the Reveal happens, and suddenly all those past encounters and hints come up and it’s so obvious in retrospect but—

Who would’ve expected it?

Tony. 

Tony’s the only one who’s not surprised by what the latest intel’s hinting at, obtained from an intel broker who turned up dead not long after [...because said broker’d also been messing with HYDRA, but that’s the plot twist that comes up in the next season]: nothing specific, nothing concrete, but something that ties a good chunk of the previous Villains Of The Week together to reveal a far, far greater threat. 

The Cabal, and while some of its members have long since become familiar names— e.g. the Fantastic Four normally are the ones who have to deal with Victor Von Doom, but not always— its founder had been a mystery for the longest time. A mystery that has just been ended, except nobody could have expected to see the name on the file.

Everyone else’s caught flat-footed and going through several permutations of ‘oh shit’, meanwhile Tony just leans back, scrubs a hand down his face, and looks out the window with a low whistle.

“Well played, Justin. Well played.”

.

Which is when the audience learns more about their very strange dynamic, which gets revealed to have started out a rivalry during their childhood [and has now basically escalated to the most high-stakes game of chicken there ever was, but shh].

Here’s the thing: if Tony were to call their rivalry off, Justin would stop.

But...

Tony can count on one hand how many positive constants he’s had in his life: Jarvis’ [and, after his heart attack, JARVIS’] presence, and his rivalry. Those are the two things that’ve been there for him through thick and thin, the only two safe places where he knows where they stand, knows they won’t try and tear him down and that means something. 

JARVIS will never leave him [not this Jarvis, at least], but... this rivalry’s been a thing since before he met Rhodey, since before his parents died and Tony’s not entirely certain just how much it’s shaped him, but he can count on one hand how many people give a damn about him and want to see him succeed and— 

Tony’s not sure he has it in him to call it off. Not at this point. 

Not when part of him knows why he did it, because— well, every superhero needs an adversary, don’t they? For a moment, he’d been surprised Justin had the guts to do this, but it makes complete sense the more he thinks about it and Tony knows just how little respect Justin has for the others, of course he’d be the type of guy who’d go “ugh, fine, if you want something done right, gotta do it yourself”. 

.

also, before this all seems very one-sided, I think I forgot to mention that Justin’s really benefiting from this rivalry too— not as obvious early on, but it gives him something to focus on and work towards. 

Something that kept him from depression when he thought too much about his past life and discovered just how much he’d forgotten, was still forgetting, something to keep him from being bored when he looked up one day and realized— he didn’t actually have any goals in this life, did he? 

Not when his life thus far had been dictated by his parents, and he’d been okay with following along to their script for him because if it wasn’t him, it’d be his sister or an innocent child who’d be forced to live up to their impossibly high expectations as the heir to Hammer Industries... but it was something he was resigned to at this point, not something he was particularly happy about. 

This time, he... didn’t know what he wanted in life. Nor did he remember what he’d wanted last time— had they wanted to be a doctor? Teacher? Writer? They didn’t remember anymore— and it’s startling to realize that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled if he wasn’t talking to his little sister. 

Justin’s never been one to seek out the approval of the adults in his life— the fact that he was surrounded by Parents of the Year [note the sarcasm] probably had something to do with that— and remembering a past life means he sees everyone his physical age and lower as kids, so he doesn’t see many people as equals.

...and then Tony decided he’d like having a rival.

At first, yeah, it was confusing; even as an adult, Justin didn’t entirely get why, but it was. Something.

Something good, and gets even better because this is something they both decided, that had nothing to do with the meticulously-annotated plan his parents had for his life, and while at first it was weird, Justin found he was actually enjoying himself [for once].

To the point where he found himself actually getting honestly, genuinely invested in said rivalry, and if he sometimes found himself trying to drill self-care into Tony sometimes, well, those bags under his eyes made them look bad, okay? It was self-interest, nothing more, really!

Really.

So when Tony went and became a superhero, Justin found himself taking a step back for a moment as he paused to consider his actions.

Paused before taking the plunge, because this was it, was serious, was pushing the limit and going past the point of no return. Was he really willing to do this?

A moment to consider things, deliberate on the possible consequences and what could happen— then he gave a sharp, decisive nod.

“Yes, we’re doing this.” 

[darkstarnight02]

Why the Akuma Class Doesn’t Trusts Lila Rossi

Nino

This dude is a loyal friend

Like, he’s also a loyal boyfriend, so it’s hard when his girlfriend is siding with Lila

But he’s the one who’s like

“Dudes, we’ve known Mari for years there’s no way she would do the stuff this new girl we’ve known for five minutes says she did.”

He and Kim and Mari were besties since preschool, I think we all know that.  

Adrien

I hate it when people say he tries to defend her with the high road crap

When he sees her hurting people, especially Marinette

Because lets be honest, he cares about her alot

He’s less forgiven

Like do y’all remember the “BeCaUsE We’Re FrIeNdS, aReN’t We?”

So he’s not going to try and make her life miserable

But he is going to try to get her to stop

Chloé

Let’s be honest, she never liked Lila in the first place.  

So Imma give y’all bonus “how she figured out everyone’s identities”

So once she became friends with Marinette

Cause they formed a “we hate Lie-la” alliance

(tho since Mari’s still friends with the others its kinda awkward)

Chloe’s pretty smart.  

Like, she totally could have figured it out before they became friends

But she would never have believed back then that Mari-trash was Ladybug, her idol (and lesbian awakening, lesbihonest)

But now that she’s friends with her, it’s way too obvious

And she definitely already knew about Adrien because these guys are besties

And, dudes, she never had a crush on him, she was just an overprotective best friend

And a very touchy one

To her, it’s all pretty obvious.  

She thinks that its just whatever magic thats blinding everyone of the obvious, its immune to (like low-key Rachel Dare here)

But Sabine, Tom, and Jagged probably know to because they’re all Kings and Queens.  

So Chloe figures everyone out pretty quickly.  

Sabrina

She trust Chloe more than anyone.  

But I’m not just gonna use that because its kinda boring.  

Tho Chloe is her bi crush so that definitely helps secure loyalties

Its only when Marinette becomes MDC that she realizes

and yes, Sabrina probably knows because Chloe and she also recognizes the designs from some stuff she has in her own closet.  

So anyway, she realizes Mari is MDC and she’s some famous designer and Lila is not

And Mari also knows Jagged and Clara and a whole bunch of other famous people

And she never brags about it but there’s proof that she knows them

while Lila always brags about it but she’s never been mentioned and no one knows her.  

Alya

I hate it when people say she totally sides with Lila.  

This girl knows that her bestie never lies(or at least thinks)

and some things with Lila don’t add up.  

Like she doesn’t check directly if what Lila says is true

But she’ll be doing research for something else and see’s that it contradicts something that Lila said.  

So she’ll do more research and try to figure more stuff out

And she’s like holy f*ck nothing Lila says is true.

Or, alternatively, for those of you who have watched season 4

She immediately realizes Lila’s a liar right after Marinette tells her she’s Ladybug.  

Marinette

No explanation needed.  

Mylène

Mylene notices when Lila insults one of her classmates one day.  

Even if its subtle, or just piping on the edge of her blaming Marinette for something, she notices it.  

And a good person wouldn’t say something like that,  

Like Chloe, they all expect something like that from

No one every really liked Chloe in the first place

And Mari never says anything rude

Sure, she gets angry at Chloe and Lila sometimes, and she tries to prove what they say is wrong, but she never directly attacks someone.  

I don’t know who Lila was being a bitch to this time, but it cost her a follower.  

Alix

This girl is probably one of the most Gen Z kids in the Akuma Class, which is pretty sad because they’re all supposed to be Gen Z. 

She can smell bullcrap from a mile away

Not to mention the little hints older Bunnyx drops whenever she visits.  

With the mix of her being the future miraculous holder of time and being the daughter of a historian, she’s very aware of history and timelines and cause and effects and chain reactions

So when Marinette starts ‘acting up’ she tries to find when her personality switched over

And even if she seems more like a background character, this aro/ace queen always seems to know your secrets. 

So even before she knew Lila was a phony, she knew that Mari was MDC and that Jagged Stone was Juleka and Luka’s dad

So she definitely figured some stuff out that way

Honestly, next to Chloe, Alix was probably one of the first people to figgure out Mari’s identity.  

She’s a detective to rival batman

Ivan

I think Lila would make some sort of rift between him and Mylene.  

He loves her so much and it would be so hard

And mari and her friends would help him out

and he would see the truth

They wouldn’t like break up or anything

But he can just tell immediately when someone’s being a bad person.  

Kim

Probably something similar to Nino

But I think it’d be a bit more like he’s totally a die-hard fan of some of Marinette’s connections or some of Marinette’s work itself

And when he puts the pieces together its like everything makes sense in the world.  

He really feels super stupid afterwards.  

Ondine probably slaps him for not trusting his childhood best friend before some bitchy new girl.  

Max

This is the smartest dude in class

He made a f*cking robot with emotions you can’t tell me he doesn’t figure Lila out.  

A part of me believes that in the first episode with Lila when they were all waiting on her hand and foot they were probably aware that she was kind of delusional, but were giving into it the way you give into the tales of a six year old.  

Like ‘yeah, okay sweetie.  Sure’.  

I mean, at least that’s why Max went along with the napkin thing, because there’s no other excuse for that whole incident.  

Nathaniel

I don’t totally know how he figured her out, but I love the idea of her saying that she can introduce him to the creator of the Ladybug Comics.  

They actually sit next to each other in class, so he definitely is more aware of her weird behavior than others.

And since he’s an artist he’s very observant, always noticing things like her facial expressions and what seems more exaggerated than real.  

And we all know how kwami-damned done Nathaniel is with the class, so he probably knew all along.  

Not to mention that since the rest of the school is less submissive to Lila’s lies, Marc probably pointed it out to him at some point.  

There’s also the idea that since Nathaniel is pretty much never mentioned anymore, the class forgets about him and he ends up having to spend some time with Marinette and the other outcasts

In which he realizes that they are actually good people.  

Honestly, Nathaniel probably knew all along but he’s just not a drama queen about it so Lila never bothered him.  

Rose

Girls besties with Prince Ali, one of the key components of Lila’s lies

She definitely does not want to believe that someone is capable of so much evil, and she definitely gets Akumatized when she figures it out

She goes through a lot of denial but is eventually convinced.  

Juleka

Her dad is Jagged Stone, also another key component of Lila’s lies.  

After becoming Tigris Pourpre, the holder of the tiger miraculous (that’s canon in the future), she gets a little bit more invested in cat culture

And omfg I just realized that both of our models are kittens and I just wanna DIE because that’s so cute.  

And honestly now that I’m thinking about it if she was a celebrity she would totally take after Jagged and have an emotional support tiger like Princess Jasmine. 

ANYWAY, I’m kinda getting off topic here.  

So she asks Jagged about his cat, and he’s like 

“wtf I’ve never had a cat why would I have a cat I have FANG my CROCODILE”

And she’s like but your cat...

And he’s like “Jules, darling, I wrote a song about how I replaced my family with a guitar and I have three instagrams for Fang, why would I have a feline animal?”

And she’s just like

....

And honestly she probably already knew some sh*t was up before that

Because Luka obviously, despite only having met Lila, like, once, probably, dislikes Lila severely

And also Juleka is more of an observer than a do-er so she probably saw that some stuff was up.  

[iraacundus]

make a wish

resonance series one:

investmentbanker!xiaojun x reader

genre: fluff, smut, tiny weeny angst words: 5.4k warnings: swearing, explicit sexual content, mentions of drug use

investment banking was a high stakes game, even for the interns. you and him were in constant competition, living the high life, stressed out of your minds, unwilling to let the other know that. “i could do this all day”.

******************

He looked so smug as your supervisor named him intern of the week for the fourth week running. Once again you were just a few thousand won behind him. You could have beaten him… you just suffered an unlucky loss seconds before closing.

You typed furiously into your computer, nonsensical words appearing one by one in your spreadsheet. If you looked like you were working, you figured he would be less like to disturb you with his gloating.

Yet your bad luck seemed to be continuing as you were so focused on your angry typing, you didn’t notice Xiaojun standing behind you causing you to jump slightly when you heard his voice whisper in your ear,

“It must be hard always losing to me, but if it makes you feel better, no one ever does beat me, at anything,” he boasted.

You swivelled your chair round to face his grin. You wanted to strangle him with that stupid striped tie he wore. You stared into his eyes refusing to drop his gaze, that would be admitting some sort of strange defeat and you couldn’t face to losses in one day.

Xiaojun backed down first by deciding to wink at you, a glimmer of chaos in his eyes.

“Do you get off on being a dick?” you asked him, hastily closing the nonsensical spreadsheet even though you were very sure he had already seen it.

“It’s just friendly competition,” he said with a grin and you rolled your eyes at him. The competition was anything but friendly, it was far too much like bloodthirsty roman gladiatorial games to be considered as such. Every person for themselves.

That’s why you always pushed back your attraction to Xiaojun and replaced it with shallow hate. The only time you would sleep with Xiaojun would be to use it against him, to win. Yet that standpoint was so hard to keep when the breath of his whispered fanned your neck.

“Better luck next time babe.”

You didn’t want to kiss him, you reminded yourself, you wanted to throw him down a flight of stairs.

“Fuck you,” you replied, turning back to your computer, ignoring how you missed the warmth of him standing by you as he walked away, ignoring the irony of your statement.

He had totally interrupted your focus, you wanted to get back to work but instead, you couldn’t help but keep glancing over to look at him. He had aimed to throw you off and he had achieved that goal.

What would be anywhere else be seen as casual flirtation, in this world was a dangerous game.

You pinched yourself slightly under the table, forcing yourself to focus on the stock market and not Xiaojun’s stupid face.

You had so much work to finish before the drinks party that evening, especially now you had come second place again. You had spreadsheets to prepare, articles to read and a plan to set out for the following week. All you wanted to do after completing that was sleep but schmoozing with the higher ups, the investors, the CEOs, it was all part of the job.

You loved your job to a certain extent, the thrill, the high stakes, the money to be made. You hated your job to a certain extent because it made you stressed out of your mind.

One wrong move and you could lose the company ten million dollars in ten seconds. That kind of mistake would put a mark on your name forever and all you had worked would be for nothing.

So, when Xiaojun was winning, his face may have been good looking, but all you wanted to do was smack it.

That evening was the fourth party in as many days and you were tired, you weren’t sure that even the expensive layers of concealer you were wearing could cover that fact.

The lights of the club were bright through the darkness as you smiled at older men, damning sexism that this was the easiest way for you to gain favour. You drank one cocktail after the next, hoping it would dull the sensations of the world, just for a few hours, just so the stress of the job would go away and only the thrills would remain.

You shook the hands of some executives in the VIP section, conversing perfectly about market changes and ideas despite the fact you could barely stand. If investment banking didn’t work out, you were pretty sure you could become a professional actor.

It was half-past midnight when you noticed Xiaojun staring at you. He was sitting alone on a sofa in the VIP section, arm draped lazily over the back of it as he sipped some expensive liquor. His eyes were dilated, and you couldn’t tell whether he was attracted to you or had just taken far too many drugs.

You weren’t sure what possessed you to stumble over to where he was sitting, and half sit, half fall down next to him. Talking to Xiaojun presented no value your job, it wasn’t going to get you a promotion or a favour.

“Are you okay?” he asked, he gaze fixed on yours. You rolled your eyes. You were ninety-percent sure he was looking for you to admit any sign of weakness he could use to take you down; you were his strongest competition after all.

“I’m fucking peachy,” you replied, taking another sip of your drink, the world around you just a blurry collection of lights.

In fairness your aggression towards him was unwarranted, it wasn’t his fault you had a bad week, but you were drunk, and he was easy to project your emotions onto.

Xiaojun sat forward slightly, leaning towards you, his face not close enough yet for to discern his intentions due to your drunken state.

“You seem like you could use some water,” he said, pushing a glass towards you. With this action you could just make out his face through the blurring and the lights, it wasn’t as smug as usual, yet you refused to believe he didn’t have an ulterior motive.

You ignored the water, childishly. Instead you sat back, far enough away to frame his face through your fingers,

“Why are you so perfect?” you asked him out of nowhere but perhaps out of jealously and curiosity. Xiaojun stared at you for a second but never answered your question.

“Just drink the water, y/n, you have to work this weekend to catch up with me, I don’t want my greatest rival to be taken out of the race by a hangover.”

You frowned slightly but took the water and sipped, the cool taste pleasant against your dry throat.

“And for the record, I’m far from perfect,” he added.

You did still make it to work the next morning but with a hangover indeed. You felt like you had been runover by ten buses as you teetered into the lift in your high heeled shoes and tailored dress.

Not everyone worked weekends, just interns with something to prove, the stock market wasn’t open on weekends, so you just did grunt work, hoping to please some executive and climb one rung up the ladder to hell.

You sat down at your desk and began to run the numbers, pushing your headache out of mind. You were so focused you didn’t see who had left some extra strength paracetamol on your desk, but took it anyway, grateful to dull the sensation.

This was your reality, no matter how you felt, you still had to give your top level of performance. Your ability to do this was almost the sole reason for your success to that point.

Every so often, when you stopped to drink water or check the time, you noticed Xiaojun glancing at you. It was both flattering and unnerving, you couldn’t decide which.

His eyes were a deep brown, mesmerising – distracting. He was throwing you off and deep down you hoped that throwing you off wasn’t the reason he was staring.

The next week for the first time in a month you won intern of the week. Xiaojun was no longer smug, on the intern ranking he had dropped to seven. You didn’t see him glance at you that week, you didn’t see him smile.

Xiaojun had never been below five up to that point, he had tainted his record far more than you had ever tainted yours with just one really miscalculated risk.

Winning had spurred you on to work late, to continue what you had achieved. You worked after the market closed on until 2am and when you finished Xiaojun was still there, his eyes bloodshot, his fingers typing away.

He was chewing his lip anxiously as he backspaced about fifty-times, beginning to look slightly unhinged.

You had seen Xiaojun like this before, everyone in the company had weeks like this, but for the first time seeing in him this state somewhat upset you.

You didn’t know why it upset you, Xiaojun wasn’t your friend. Maybe, despite everything you hated that he endured the same struggle you did, perhaps because you fully understood how awful the pressure could be. It was the true embodiment of “you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy”.

The next night you woke up at your desk at four in the morning after drifting off. The keyboard had imprinted into your face and the lights in the office were off. The only light still illuminating the office was one computer, even the night cleaner was long gone. Yet Xiaojun was still there, typing away.

You chucked your shoes off onto the floor, sighing at the comfort of it, before wandering over to his desk, settling down into the chair next to him and spinning to face him.

“You will make yourself sick, you know,” you told him.

Xiaojun looked up in surprise, he hadn’t noticed you sit down. Despite his somnolence he still managed a witty reply,

“From staying up late or the drugs I take to do it?” he said, making a joke but not joking, dangerously nonchalant about the gravity of his remark. You didn’t know what to say back, there wasn’t a lot you could say.

“I don’t want my greatest rival to be taken out of the race by hospitalisation,” you finally decided on, copying his own words.

Hearing this, Xiaojun’s faced curved slightly into what was almost a smile and he stopped typing.

“I’m afraid we face mutual destruction, neither one of us will stop until we win,” he said, his eyes searching your face, his eyebrows contorting into an expression you couldn’t fully understand.  

“Maybe we shouldn’t be so competitive,” you joked, but your face wasn’t smiling. Your face was tired and grey, yet Xiaojun still looked beautiful, his eyes shining in the computer light, even if they were fucked up and red, “sometimes I’m not sure what we are competing for,” you told him.

“We both love the competition though, you can’t deny that, if there was nothing to compete for, we wouldn’t work as hard. We compete for the thrill and the money; we both know that.”

“Maybe you could finish work before the early hours if you stopped staring at me all day,” you pointed out, changing the subject slightly. Xiaojun grinned but his face tinged slightly red.

“So, you caught that? I have to have some bright points in my day, the rush of success and looking at you.”

You laughed softly, pushing him and his chair away slightly and taking control of his computer. You saved his document and logged off.

“Go home Xiaojun, I would prefer if you survived, and for that you need sleep. I can’t win if your dead.” This time it was your turn to joke and yet not be joking.

You stood up together to leave the building, Xiaojun muttering something about this being a tactic for you to be the weeks winner. He didn’t notice that when you were walking along the empty street with him in the cold air, you, for one short moment, really didn’t care if he beat you or not.

That when you got to the subway station that ran all night and parted to get on trains in opposite directions, it took everything in your body not to kiss him.

Xiaojun won that following week and you wanted to throw him out a tenth-floor window. But when you saw his smug smile and his eyes a normal colour, you didn’t quite hate him as much. You would settle for throwing him out a third-floor window.

It wasn’t all bad either, not just because Xiaojun had moved away from the knife edge but because you made a record trade. You through your arms in the air and shrieked with happiness.

Everyone in the office looked at you, some clapped, others glared. Xiaojun settled for a soft smile and a text of congratulations – you never knew he had your number.

Both of you were celebrating at the office ‘party’ that night. Schmoozing CEO’s was off your mind for one night only. You thought you had made enough of an impression that week.

You did more shots than you could remember and hit the dance floor. Numerous guys tried to hit on you, but you weren’t interested. Only one man played on your mind and you wanted him out of there.

You drank more to forget him, but you couldn’t ignore him when he was standing in front of you, face flushed red with alcohol and a stupid grin on his face.

“I don’t know what is sexier, your intelligence or your ass,” he said, coming to dance next to you.

You hit his shoulder lightly,

“Oh, you’re such a gentleman, Xiaojun,” you replied sarcastically.

“I stopped taking drugs these last few weeks,” he continued, slipping his arms around your waist as he continued to dance, “you’ve become my natural high.”

You thought he was making a joke, some vague attempt at a pickup line. Yet even though he was smiling, you saw a sense of earnest in his eyes.

“I hope that’s true,” you said, “about the drugs at least.”

“I think I would do about anything to make you happy at this point… except losing to you,” he whispered back, his lips dangerously close you yours.

“As they say in our business, how about you put your money where your mouth is?”

His hand pushed your hair behind your ear gently,

“And just what do you mean by that?” he enquired. Yet before you could reply his arms released from around your waist and he grabbed your hand, leading you off the dance floor and towards the bar.

“A cosmopolitan for the lovely lady and a whiskey for me please,” you heard Xiaojun ask the bartender.

Xiaojun pulled out a barstool for you and sat down on the one next to it.

“We always sit in private rooms, how about a change, mix with everyone else for once,” he said smiling.

“At least there are no creepy CEO’s here,” you conceded, “how did you know my favourite drink?”

“I know you better than you think… and I’m accustomed to taking calculated risks, I seem cooler if I guess right than if I have to ask you, but if I guess wrong, I just wasted some money. Yet I figured money spent on you couldn’t be a waste.”

You decided that he was definitely hitting on you and while you hadn’t expected it, you equally weren’t surprised. You and Xiaojun were close by investment banking competitor standards.

“Why have you decided to start flirting with me?” you asked in a drunk moment of directness.

“Liquid confidence mixed with the fact you’re very beautiful.”

The bartender placed the drink down in front of you and you took a sip as Xiaojun handed him a 50,000 won note,

“Keep the change,” he added, nodding at the waiter before picking up his drink and turning back to face you.

He said something but the music in the club was so loud you couldn’t hear him.

You leaned in and talked somewhat loudly,

“It’s loud in here, I didn’t hear what you said sorry,” you told him.

“I really wish I didn’t have to compete against you,” he said, leaning in to close the distance, his whisky touched breath fanning your face.

“Because you think you’re going to lose?” you joked. Xiaojun shook his head, placing his whisky back down on the bar.

“Because I really don’t want to have to take you down to win.”

In that moment you really just wanted him to kiss you… but he never seemed to make the move. Once he had stopped talking, he leaned away again and sipped his whiskey, something which confused you.

You really thought he had been flirting with you but now you had doubts, what if he only had a friendly concern for your welfare.

You drank your cocktail contemplating this, analysing what he did, trying to calculate which side of the equation his brain was on. He was as unpredictable as the stock market, yet unlike with work, here you didn’t know what to guess.

Even if he was flirting there was the chance that he didn’t actually have an interest with you, but instead he was trying to emotionally fuck with you.

You downed your drink and placed it down on the side. Xiaojun looked like he was thinking himself. You couldn’t guess his emotions, but unlike with work you reckoned you could figure it out.

“It’s nice to talk to you for once, outside of the work setting, well… almost,” you said, casually placing your hand on his thigh as you leaned in. That was your plan. Judge his reaction but Xiaojun just smirked. While you decided that probably got rid of the friendly concern option and confirmed his - romantic intent – it didn’t solve the question of how noble his intentions were.

“You could make a wish, y/n, I would give you anything you wanted,” he whispered, this time his lips physically brushing his ear.

“Except winning the internship competition,” you confirmed.

You laughed without humour. It was like a wall between the both of you.

“Not that I would ever ask you to give that up,” you added, “wishes are for genies and birthdays anyway.”

“Well, I’m not a genie but you could always make a birthday wish.”

“My birthday is in five months, so a bit of a wait. Another drink though, that I can make happen now… What do you want?” you asked him.

“I can buy you one,” he protested. You rolled your eyes.

“Gender equality Xiaojun, I can buy a guy a drink.”

“Then I will except anything you give me,” he relented.

“A sex on the beach and a whiskey please,” you said to the bartender. It was slightly dark, but you almost thought you could see Xiaojun blush slightly when you mentioned sex, even just in the context of a drink.

Then again, it could have just been the whiskey.

You only got halfway through that next drink before you realised simple conversation and suggestive gestures wouldn’t be able to discern what you wished to know.

You didn’t know whether to give up or give in.

“I think I should go home,” you said standing up. Xiaojun’s face fell slightly before he managed to put his smile back in place.

“I’ll call you a cab,” he replied standing up next to you, it was lucky he did as the first step you took almost sent you to the ground. Xiaojun managed to get a hold of you and stop you from falling.

“Aha thank you,” said, unable to stop yourself from grinning at him brightly. Xiaojun put his arm around your waist as you both walked along the side of the crowd dancing and out of the club.

The air outside was cold but Xiaojun was warm. He instinctively took off his jacket and placed it around your shoulders.

“You must have good intentions,” you mused, not realising you had thought aloud.

“Why would I not?” Xiaojun asked, looking slightly confused but unfazed.

“I’ve been trying to work out all night if you are genuinely into me or if this is all some part of a masterplan to take me down,” you answered, no idea why you were suddenly being so truthful.”

“This job really does fuck up one’s mentality,” Xiaojun said, looking ever so slightly forlorn.

“Maybe so… but I think you are a good guy Xiaojun, you have fooled me if you’re not. If this a lie, then I lost to you. I want to make my wish now,” you wrapped your arms around your waist.

“And what would your wish be?” he replied, his eyes gazing at yours. But you didn’t tell him your wish, you simply actualised it as you brought your lips to his.

The warm taste of whiskey against the cold was mesmerising. Now you both had your bloodshot eyes closed you almost seemed like you could be a normal couple.

Xiaojun pulled away slightly, his thumb pressed lightly on your lower lip.

“I just want to remember how beautiful you are,” he explained. You were speechless at the sight off him.

The taxi Xiaojun had called pulled up in front of you. Xiaojun let go of you so you could get in the taxi.

“Goodnight,” he said, pressing a kiss to your cheek, opening the door for you to get in.

“You can come too, back to my place I mean, if you want to, that is?” you propositioned, feeling oddly nervous, scared you weren’t quite on the same page. You shuffled over to the opposite side of the taxi so that he had the choice.

When he got in beside you and closed the door, you felt your heart begin to race slightly. Your heart leaping – literally. “322 Sinsa-Dong, Gangnam,” you said to the driver and the car started to move. Xiaojun moved his hand so his pinkie was touching yours across the seat between you and you couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You’re really cute you know?” you said to him. Xiaojun made a sad face,

“Surely if you invited me back to your apartment you must think I’m attractive, sexy, enthralling…” he said, quietly enough only you could hear him.

“You are all of those things too, but you really are cute Xiaojun, especially when you wear your glasses at work and your face concentrates on something hard.”

“You watch me at work? I never caught you staring at me once and I stare at you pretty often so I thought I would have noticed.”

“Always got to keep an eye on the competition.”

“I never knew you liked me back, that’s why I always kept my feeling hidden until now… I didn’t want to complicate anything, life is already hard enough,” Xiaojun explained.

“I didn’t realise I liked you either, I was too focused on winning, but at some point, I started to realise, I didn’t like winning if it meant you lost… that’s caring about someone I suppose. The passion… we already had that, enemies or lovers, the passion always existed.”

The car ride wasn’t much longer and neither of you said much, you simply paid the taxi driver and got out of the taxi, holding Xiaojun’s hand instinctively when you led him up the staircase to your flat.

It wasn’t an instant thing. You both spent your lives making split second decisions. You knew how important every second was and that’s perhaps why you took it slow.

When Xiaojun came in you hung his jacket up and asked him if he wanted anything to eat, he politely declined.

You settled for watching Netflix together in a drunken haze, your head resting against his shoulder, his arm around your shoulder.

It wasn’t until the two actors kissed, an hour into the movie that you began to refocus on why Xiaojun really was here.

His arm around you, suddenly seemed different to just moments before. Xiaojun’s blush matched yours as you turned to face each other. Unable to ignore the building tension any longer.

Neither of you were exactly pros, you spent far too much of your time working. When you thought back you hadn’t had sex in over a year. Now, sitting so close to Xiaojun, you wondered how it was possible that you had managed that. “We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to,” Xiaojun began, “we can just continue watching TV and then go to bed, I can even go home if you want me too.”

Once again you didn’t respond with words but by kissing him. You sat up and moved so you were kneeling over his lap and leaned downwards, pushing him into your sofa cushions, until your lips met his.

His lips were slightly chapped from the cold, but you didn’t care, melting into his touch as his hands moved to grab your waist.

He sat up slightly to move closer to you, his hands pushing you down against his hips as he began to press kisses to your jaw and down your neck.

You jolted slightly with pleasure causing the friction between you to increase as your hands messed up his hair.

Beneath your thigh you could already feel Xiaojun starting to harden as your hips rolled back and forth against his.

“How comfortable is your bed?” Xiaojun asked, pressing his forehead against his, his breathing already affected.

You moved off him to stand up, grabbing his hand before you had time to miss his touch.

“You can be the judge,” you told him.

Xiaojun sat on the edge of your bed, taking the time to look at you as you tossed your dress to the floor, revealing your black lingerie.

“Did I tell you, you are beautiful,” he uttered, his gazed fixed on you, mesmerised.

You notice him readjust his trousers slightly, the bulge forming, starting to appear uncomfortable.

You walked over to stand between his legs as he pulled his shirt over his head.

“Would you like me to help?” you laughed slightly, getting down onto your knees in front of him.

“Are you sure?” he asked, “I can move so you can be more comfortable?” he offered. You shook your head and smiled.

“I assure you, I’m anything but uncomfortable,” you said, reaching to unbuckle his belt, before tossing it away as well. You unzipped his trousers carefully, Xiaojun sighed at the slight relief of pressure.

You pulled his jeans off his legs until he was just left in his boxers. You didn’t remove them immediately, you instead began to touch him through the underwear, causing Xiaojun to bite his lip slightly.

When the precum started to stain, you decided to put him out of his misery, pulling on his waistband until his cock sprung free.

For the first time you didn’t waste any time. You placed your hand carefully around his shaft as you ran your tongue over his tip slightly.

When you finally took him into your mouth it caused Xiaojun to elicit a moan so sweet you felt your core weaken.

Xiaojun’s leaned back as you started to move faster, the salty taste of his precum leaking into your mouth.

“Can you look at me?” he asked, “I want to look into your eyes as you suck me off.”

If that was his wish you were happy to oblige. You gazed up at him as his cock hit the back of your throat. Xiaojun let out a low moan.

“Your so fucking perfect,” he praised as he came, his cum leaking down your cheek as you tried to swallow it, “I’m sorry,” was all he said.

Once again you shook your head, wiping his cum from your face.

“Stop apologising Xiaojun, it’s making you cute again, not sexy,” you joked causing Xiaojun to chuckle.

Once you were on the bed next to him, he pushed you back into the cushions, propping himself over you.

He kissed down your neck and to your collar bone, reaching back to undo your bra clasp. It was his turn to toss your clothes away as he revealed your breasts, his eyes dilating.

He clasped your breast as he kissed you, pinching your nipple slightly causing you to cry out in pleasure.

“I think I am sexy now, am I not?” he said, not waiting for an answer as he continued down your body, kissing your chest, down to your stomach until finally be pressed a kiss at your waistband.

“Are you ready babe?” he asked you, his eyes soft but his grin devious. You nodded, slightly lost for words as Xiaojun moved your panties to the side, not bothering to remove them before he dragged one finger across your wet opening.

You moaned loudly as he slipped his finger in, quickly adding a second as he pumped in and out. It was the best thing you had felt in ages, but it just wasn’t enough, you knew what you wanted.

“Please can you just fuck me already?” you asked him. Xiaojun bit his lip again grinning.

“Your wish is my command baby,” he said, finally dragging your panties down and leaving them to the side. He was already hard again from the sight of you in front of him.

He placed his cock against your wet folds but before he could enter you had another wish,

“Can I ride you?” you asked him. Xiaojun smiled slightly, pressing a soft kiss against your lips.

“You can have anything you want y/n,” he said, sitting back so you could get up. You positioned yourself above him, his hands on your hips as you finally started to lower.

Xiaojun hissed softly as his length slowly entered you. You didn’t stop until you had taken all of him inside of you. You placed your arms around his neck and kissed him softly as you started to move, up and down him at a tortuous pace.

You didn’t want the moment to be over too quickly.

Xiaojun had other ideas, after a minute or so he started to push up into you, getting the message you speeded up, fucking him as quickly as you could.

“Fuck y/n,” Xiaojun cried out as he came closer to coming. You grinned slightly before moving off him completely. Xiaojun swore again at the loss,

“Are you punishing me for all the times I teased you?” he asked. You just chuckled.

“No, my legs are just tired, we can have sex whatever way you want to make up for it,” you said, stroking his hair lightly.

“On your hands and knees then babe,” he ordered, and you obliged.

Xiaojun began to fuck you again, but with him in control it much faster, much more needy. You whined his name as he fucked you relentlessly, his grip on your hips now strong enough to leave some sort of bruise.

“Please come in me,” you pleaded as you felt your high coming.

“So many demands baby,” Xiaojun remarked, tutting in mock dissatisfaction but really, he was happy that he was able to make you feel so good.

“Xiaojun!” You called out as you met your high, the feeling of your walls clenching around him causing, Xiaojun to cum too, just seconds later, filling you up until he pulled out.

You collapsed down on the bed beside each other, exhausted, glistening with sweat.

“You’re the best thing that job ever gave me,” Xiaojun said, pulling you in towards him, so your head laid on his chest.

“I think I would even lose the competition for you if you wanted,” he said, his finger tracing your cheekbone.

“I would never ask you to do that,” you replied, “also you really think I need you to lose, I can beat you Xiaojun, mark my words.”

“No chance,” he laughed, “Okay maybe some chance, but still, I will be the winner.”

You hit his chest lightly in jest.

“You’re overconfident.”

“No, I just know I’m already the winner, I have you as my girlfriend?” he half said, half asked with a raised eyebrow. You nodded in agreement.

“I have you as my girlfriend,” he confirmed to himself, “then my wish has come true.”

“You’re cute Xiaojun,” you smiled, kissing his nose, “and very sexy,” you added.

From then on, every time you needed to make a wish; you knew Xiaojun would grant it.

[ciggylungz]

Rivals

Summary: Y/n and Harry are both CEO’s of their parent’s companies since they inherited the businesses from them, they’ve been rivals since they were kids- now that they’re professional adults how will their rivalry affect them?   2.2k

 -

It’s no secret that growing up with a workaholic parent is hard for a kid, but for Y/n it was amplified due to the fact both her parents owned one of the most famous fashion companies in the world. This meant during most of her childhood she relied on nannies, private drivers, maids and child minders to care for her in absence of her busy working parents.

Of course having absent parents gave her some perks during her teen years, the ability to throw ragers in the absurdly large mansion they’d bought for the three of them –(well, they were hardly in it so mainly just their daughter)- not having to worry about getting caught when she decided to bring people over to get a quick shag in and the plus of having no one to bother her during her angsty middle school years. Those things were nice, yet you really can’t replace the role of your parents with teenage hookups and parties.

If there’s one thing that she absolutely hated about her parents work, it would be their former business partners cunt of a son. Harry Styles. Y/n had been forced to be in the twats life since they were 10 and his father joined stocks in her parents company before investing fully and becoming business partners. For Y/n that meant being forced to be around their son whenever their parents were too busy crushing numbers or out on boozy business trips clogging their noses with high end coke and buying out their competitors.

Harry was always a good-looking boy, and that only made things worse because he was a total prick. He was arrogant, annoying and always got away with being the biggest pain in the ass y/n has ever experienced in her life. He was insanely competitive, cocky and always found a way to weasel into Y/n’s business just to push her buttons. One’s he knew how to push perfectly to make her want to pound his head off a blacktop.

It was almost as if when it came to Y/n he never matured past being a 12-year-old boy, and now he’s a 23 year old powerful business man who still can’t manage to leave her alone.

Y/n had inherited her parents’ company when they decided to retire, two years before the retirement her parents and Harrys father had severed their ties and he’d gone back to his independent company. And just y/n’s luck, the man passed his roll as CEO down to his son, making the two young adults’ owners of two of the most famous fashion and beauty companies to ever exist.

Make no mistake, Y/n was a strong, independent and ruthless business woman so Harry’s subsequent inheritance didn’t threaten her in a business sense it more so made her worried for her blood pressure since the man couldn’t help but come bother her every chance he got. It didn’t help his dad had a single remaining stock left in the shoe portion of their clothing company giving Harry the perfect excuse to come barging into Y/n’s office to get on her nerves. To Y/n Harrys like a cold sore that won’t go away, just keeps coming back every time you think you’ve gotten rid of it.

___

Today was a busy day for Y/n, she had a meeting with her team that worked closely with her managing profit, stock, inventory, sales and all that stuff. Her team was large, with a company with over two thousand distributors worldwide and thirty-five exclusive stores scattered around the globe that’s to be expected. All in all, Y/n was responsible for making sure all one hundred and fifty thousand employees were running a smooth ship and every participating party was doing what they needed to do. It was a stressful job no doubt, but she never backed down from the challenge.

The meetings were always her least favorite part of her job. All the paper work that had to be read, numbers calculated, sales charted and any complaints or incident reports all had to be verbalized and talked about in detail with documentation of all the important things said as well as much more. Today the meeting took a grueling four and a half hours and the day was far from over.

Once she got out of her meeting it was nearing noon, she had to push her lunch off to phone the companies attorneys because one worker was trying to do a fake insurance claim. The man faked a work accident failing to remember every warehouse and factory was littered with security cameras that caught him in the act, so she had to inform them of the situation so they could sort it out. After that she got sucked into looking at new designs her design team had come up with for the next season, explaining that Chanel and Gucci both wanted to work with them to carry a few exclusive items only for that season.

Finally, at half passed two she made it back to her office, sitting down in her desk chair while taking her hair out of the headache inducing ponytail it had been in since she got there at five that morning. She opened her laptop, planning to send off some emails while she put in her order for lunch to her assistant, getting as much done as she could in the little bit of private time she was able to snag.

A knock sounded at the door, she knew it was Morgan coming in with the food she ordered so she didn’t bother to look up from what she was doing very drawn in to the email she was currently formatting. Only her attention was quickly severed when his voice rang out instead of the one she expected.

“I believe you ordered the chop salad, diet coke and fruit for lunch misses Yln.”

That annoying, cocky voice. You can hear his shit eating grin and teasing eyes simply in his tone, you don’t even have to look up at the jerk.

A prolonged sigh blew out of her lips, a grunt of annoyance following as she looked up at him. He looked nice, as always, she added bitterly in her own mind. She hated the fact someone so goddamn irritating was so undeniably attractive. He wore a dark blue suit, white button up with a black tie and yellow accent pocket square. Yet his fashion and handsomeness seemed a bit overshadowed by his personality that had the same affect on the woman as nails on a chalkboard.

“Harry, to what do I owe the displeasure?” Y/n reached her arm across the desk to snatch the paper bag from his ring clad hands, a sarcastic disapproving finger was pointed at her yet she didn’t take his bait opting to give him the death stare instead.

“Sassy today are we?” The man rested himself on the small leather loveseat that was in her office, propping his head on a throw pillow and putting his feet on the armrest. “You act like you’re not happy to see me, I know yeh missed me.” Y/n rolled her eyes, digging her fork into the salad aggressively. “I don’t think anyone’s ever been happy to see you, and I’m certain no one has ever missed your presence either.”

Harry chuckled slightly, loving how easily he could annoy the girl. Over the past thirteen years he’s learned just how to get under her skin, and he enjoyed doing so.

“Bit feisty today aren’t yeh Y/n? playing hard to get I see.” The man folded his hands on top of his chest, completely relaxing into the comfortable furniture, making himself comfortable for the undetermined amount of time he’d be spending there irritating his childhood ‘friend’.

The difference between Harry and Y/n’s perspectives on their rather odd ‘relationship’, if you could really call it that is Harry never hated Y/n. In fact he was always quite fond of her, he enjoys her company even when he’s forcing it on her and using the shared time to annoy the ever loving shit out of her. He and the woman have always been competitive growing up. In sports, card games, classes, and now business and Y/n took things a lot more seriously then he did. she was always wound a bit tight, she gets it from her mother.

Harry and Y/n had an interesting past. They have a love-hate relationship, seeing as even through the perpetual animosity they’ve carried since they were kids they did have their good moments too. And though Y/n would never admit it, there’s a part of her that does actually care about him even if she loathes that part of her deeply. In their teens they were at each other throats a lot, but in between that they would occasionally have their good days where they would refrain from getting into screaming matches and instead would be able to tolerate being together. Y/n chooses to describe it as tolerating him since she’d never admit she sometimes enjoys his company.

Through their formative years whenever Y/n was throwing a party, she wouldn’t protest when her friends would invite Harry as well. Pretending like she didn’t know he was coming and didn’t want him there when she saw him in the crowd, yet he always had a feeling she was anticipating and secretly wanted him to make an appearance. When he’d plan some sort of adventure with their friends he’d do the same, always slightly relieved when she’d show up but he’d put on the irritating act as soon as he got the chance which ruined her mood, every time. and well, it would be a lie to say the two never found themselves hate fucking each other after one of their parties, drunk and pissed at each other only to pretend like it had never happened.

To Harry, the animosity mixed with a hidden sense of fondness and maybe even a hint of attraction.

The woman ignored his comment, chewing her food before taking a swig of the soda looking back at him with a rather unamused expression. “What do you want Harry? And who the hell even let you in here?” she continued eating and wrapping up her email while he formed his reply. “Told Morgan I’d bring it up to yeh, she’s got a bit of a crush on me so she handed it over without much convincing.” Yet another eyeroll from Y/n was delivered. “She’s like 19, don’t manipulate her into worming into my office just because she can’t see that you’re a much bigger prick then the one in your pants will ever be.”

“First of all, 19 is legal so if she wants to eye fuck me I’ll allow it. Second, don’t be rude. This is a professional setting, do you think it’s appropriate to talk about my genitals in the work place? Might have to report you.”

Y/n couldn’t help the small snort she let out at his antics. As much as he annoyed her, sometimes she did find him a bit humorous. “and for the record, I’m very happy with my package and I don’t appreciate that comment.” He pointed a finger at her, a fake angry look on his face. “Just as much as I don’t appreciate you intruding on what was supposed to be my down time to eat, we’re even shrimp dick.”

Harry gasped at the insult, squinting at her slightly. While Harry was skilled in pressing her buttons, she could do it the same. Making comments on his dick size, sex skills, business deals or things of that nature always got him riled up. That 12-year-old boy mentality rearing it’s ugly head any time she makes a comment about his dick being small. Childish he was, absolutely childish.

“Don’t get smart with me, I’ll whip it out right here to prove my point.” His eyebrow raised and she could see him chewing on his cheek in annoyance. She truly found it funny how peeved she could make a grown man by making fun of his penis. He was ridiculous.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t, I didn’t bring my mental scrub brush to work with me today.” When she had finished speaking the woman tossed her now empty salad box into the trash, taking another sip of her drink and finally sending off the painfully long email.

Harry decided it was time for him to head back to his own office, which was right across the street much to Y/n’s displeasure but of course he couldn’t leave without a final childish jab at the woman.

“Just remember, I’ve had you bouncing on my dick more than once. Don’t hold yourself so high and mighty dear, because we both know I’ll have you like that again.”

And with that a Harry with a cheeky smirk on his face left the office, leaving a slightly stunned Y/n in his wake.

 (eek pt.1 lets see how this one goes.)

[causeiwanttoandican]

They are massive liars and have been planning this all along.

Meghan is definitely doing most of the planning.

Harry and Meghan were in talks with video platform a year before ‘Megxit’

The Telegraph has learned the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had discussions with the now defunct Quibi service from early 2019

By Camilla Tominey, Associate Editor2 April 2021 • 9:00pm

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were discussing projects with a billion-dollar backed US streaming service a year before they stepped down as senior members of the Royal family, it has emerged.

The Sussexes had a series of meetings with Quibi, a now-defunct rival to YouTube, from early 2019 until after they dropped their 'Megxit' bombshell in January last year.

The Duke returned from the so-called Sandringham Summit to meet executives from the short video platform in London as plans for him to provide content apparently reached advanced stages.

In their interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple said that they “didn’t have a plan” upon leaving the Royal family, but The Telegraph has learnt that they had talks with executives of the £1.3 billion start-up before their son Archie was born in May 2019.

The discussions are understood to have led to tensions with Palace staff fearful they would be accused of “cashing in” on their status, and because the couple were predominantly consulting Meghan’s US-based team of advisers.

A source with knowledge of the situation said: “There were well-developed proposals in place with Quibi from early 2019.”

A royal source added: “A lot of it was orchestrated by Meghan’s people in America. It was a bit of a secret squirrel.”

Sources in the UK and US confirmed there were numerous conversations with Quibi, including its founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, described as “one of Hollywood’s premier political kingmakers”, and Meg Whitman, chief executive, a former president of eBay.

After Quibi drew up a proposal in early 2019, there were conference calls to discuss a plan for their own series of 10-minute videos. There was a meeting in London last January, which the Duke attended with James Holt, the new executive director of Archewell, the couple’s non-profit organisation.

Shortly afterwards, the couple relocated to Los Angeles, and the pandemic put all plans on hold.

Quibi did well on its launch last April, but by September, around the time the Sussexes said they had signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Netflix, it was on the verge of shutting down.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Unfolding events

They told Oprah Winfrey they “didn’t have a plan”. Revealing that they had been “cut off” by the Royal family, Harry, Duke of Sussex, insisted that he and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, only signed deals with Netflix and Spotify out of immediate financial necessity.

As the Duke told the US chat show host: “The Netflix and the Spotify, they’re all . . . that was never part of the plan.”

“Because you didn’t have a plan?” prompted Ms Winfrey. “We didn’t have a plan,” replied the Duchess, with the Duke adding: “We didn’t have a plan. That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford . . . afford security for us.”

The Telegraph has now learned that the couple spent more than a year in the lead up to “Megxit” in talks with a now defunct US streaming platform which would have seen them make a series of 10-minute videos.

The story behind their conversations with Quibi, once hailed the next YouTube and backed by £1.3 billion of investment from the likes of Disney, NBC and Goldman Sachs, lays bare some of the apparent tensions between the Sussexes and their staff as they attempted to walk the tightrope between royal duty and potential commercial opportunity.

Throughout 2019, the couple held a series of discussions with senior executives from Quibi including its founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, described as "one of Hollywood's premier political kingmakers” and its CEO Meg Whitman, a former president of eBay and Hewlett Packard.

Worth an estimated £650 million, Mr Katzenberg, a former chairman of Walt Disney Studios, is one of the Democratic Party’s top national fundraisers in the US, having actively supported Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama.

Ms Whitman was a senior member of Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns in both 2008 and 2012 and ran for governor of California as a Republican in 2010, but supported Democrats Mrs Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

Both apparently viewed the Duke and Duchess as the key to getting their “mobile-based Netflix” off the ground, actively courting them in the run up to its eagerly-anticipated launch in April 2020.

The couple stated in their “Megxit” statement of January 2020 that they “intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.”

Still working royals

They went on to sign lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify, thought to be worth millions of dollars.

But when they were still full-time working royals, palace aides are understood to have long harboured concerns that the couple would be accused of cashing in on their royal status because of their meetings with Quibi, or tarnished by association if it failed to take off.

As one source put it: “Chinese walls were put up and certain amounts of information weren’t shared which just made it difficult to protect the couple from accusations of attempting to monetise their role.

“It was hard for royal aides to be supportive of projects like Quibi because they knew how it might look but the couple kept dismissing these concerns. They didn’t seem to see the pitfalls of any potential conflict of interests.”

Amid much talk of conflict behind the gates of Kensington Palace, with a bullying complaint submitted against the couple in October 2018, it seems one bone of contention for royal aides was the couple's “secretive” conversations with the Duchess's trio of US advisers.

Asked whether she would be giving up her career in their November 2017 engagement interview, the Duchess replied: “I don’t see it as giving anything up. I just see it as a change.”

Sunshine Sachs and sussexroyal.com

Multiple sources in the UK and US have confirmed that the Duchess continued to consult her lawyer Rick Genow, her business manager Andrew Meyer and her talent agent Nick Collins, during her time in the Royal family – with regular conference calls even set up to link both sides of the Atlantic.

Another key figure who remained in her sphere of external advisers throughout was Keleigh Thomas Morgan of PR firm Sunshine Sachs, who helped to broker the Duchess’s first interview about dating the Duke with Vanity Fair in September 2017, before going on to mastermind the couple's first charitable foundation, Sussex Royal.

The quartet are understood to have helped with the registration and development of the couple’s new website, sussexroyal.com, in March 2019.

According to one insider: “Rick, Andrew and Nick came with the territory. So did Keleigh. They were constantly fielding proposals for Meghan and bringing stuff to her.

“But the team in America did pose problems for staff at KP. There was always quite a lot of secrecy surrounding the couple’s conversations with the US.

“Certain people would be in the know about what was going on with things like Quibi, while others wouldn’t have a clue. Discussions that had been quite public would then suddenly go underground, into the 'private' space. It was all quite difficult to manage at times.”

In September 2019, James Holt, now executive director of the couple’s Archewell non-profit organisation, confirmed that Sunshine Sachs had been “supporting us with outreach and coordination in the US.”

The firm helped with the launch of the Duke's sustainable travel initiative, Travlyst.

Mental health initiative

Around the time the Sussexes had received a proposal from Quibi in April 2019, they announced that the Duke would be teaming up with Ms Winfey to create a series of documentaries about mental health. The shows were to air on Apple TV+, Apple’s video streaming service expected to be released that autumn, after Ms Winfrey had signed a multi-year deal to create programmes for the streaming platform.

But the announcement on the Sussexes’ new Instagram page took Buckingham Palace by surprise, with the Queen’s private secretary Sir Edward Young and Prince Charles’s counterpart Clive Alderton both contacting Samantha Cohen, then the couple’s private secretary, requesting more details.

“The Apple TV series was a bit problematic because senior palace staff were given minimal information about it," added a royal source.

“Meghan had insisted it be announced on Instagram because they had just launched the Sussex Royal page and wanted to make all the big announcements on there. But no one had seen the fine print. There was uncertainty over the commercial terms of the deal.”

The palace briefed at the time that the collaboration to “accelerate change for a more compassionate, connected and positive society” was the result of “several months of discussions” with Ms Winfrey, who had attended the couple’s wedding in May 2018.

'Surviving' rather than 'thriving'

Confirming the Duke would be donating his fee to a mental health charity, a spokesman for Kensington Palace said the multi-part documentary series "will focus on both mental illness and mental wellness, inspiring viewers to have an honest conversation about the challenges each of us faces, and how to equip ourselves with the tools to thrive, rather than to simply survive".

The Duchess would later use the same terminology to describe how she was “surviving” rather than “thriving” in the Royal family during an October 2019 interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby.

During the Oprah interview, the Duchess suggested that she went into the Royal family “naively” and that they “only wanted to have the same type of role that exists”.

Citing royals who “earn a living, live on palace grounds, can support the Queen if and when called upon", she said: “We weren’t reinventing the wheel here.”

However, there was no precedent for full-time working royals to earn money outside the institution. Figures like the Earl and Countess of Wessex had to give up successful careers to devote their lives to public service.

While Prince Andrew’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, do earn their own living, they are not and never have been full-time working royals.

The royal source added: “There was a constant dialogue from the couple along the lines of: “Why can’t we do this? You can’t stop us from doing what we want to do".

Calling the shots

“They were calling the shots and would be the ones instructing the press office on what line to put out.”

The Duchess suggested in the Oprah interview that the institution did not do enough to defend her against negative press coverage. But insiders on both sides of the Atlantic revealed the Duchess did have a great deal of control over the couple’s PR, writing her own Instagram posts and even selecting the imagery to go with them.

“Meghan was the one controlling the timing of announcements, and doing a lot of the planning,” said one source. “She had a grid and was plotting the cadence and order in which all of their plans would come to fruition. There was a sense that Meghan thought she knew what was best for them.”

Another insider revealed how royal aides were left in a quandary after Meghan attended a baby shower in New York without taking any palace staff with her.

As guests including Serena Williams and Amal Clooney began to arrive at the exclusive Mark Hotel alongside trolleys-full of baby items, staff back in London wondered how they should register the freebies in accordance with the Royal family's strict rules on declaring gifts.

“That was a bit of a headache, not least because no one from the palace was there to oversee what was happening,” said the source. “The American lot were the ones dealing with the baby shower.”

Eyebrows were also raised four months later when the couple attended the Lion King premiere in London, when they met the singer Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay Z.

Voiceover work

Video footage later emerged of the Duke touting the Duchess's skills as a voice over artist to Disney CEO Bob Iger. “You know she does voiceovers, right?” he told the media mogul. “She’s really interested,” to which Mr Iger replied: “We’d love to try”.

In January 2020, it emerged that the Duchess had signed a deal with Disney to do a voiceover for a wildlife charity called Elephants Without Borders, having reportedly recorded it before the couple left for their six-week sabbatical in Canada in November 2019 to consider their future.

The couple said Disney had made a donation to their charity work on the environment and conservation.

Holed up in a multi-million pound mansion on Vancouver Island over Christmas 2019, the couple are understood to have masterminded their departure from the Royal family with the help of Mr Genow, Mr Meyer, Mr Collins and Ms Thomas Morgan.

Around the same time, the Duchess’s company, Frim Fram Inc, was moved out of California and incorporated in Delaware, which tax experts suggested could have been done to avoid being hit with tax liabilities in California.

Corporation filings seen by The Telegraph showed that the move was made on New Year's Eve, while the couple were still in Canada. Mr Meyer and Mr Genow are listed as CEO and secretary of Frim Fram Inc.

With its flexible business laws and low personal income tax rates, Delaware is known for being home to more corporations than people, with almost 65 per cent of Fortune 500 companies incorporated in the state.

A source said at the time that as the Duchess was no longer resident in California it was appropriate for the registration to be moved. It is understood that the company receives payments for work undertaken by the Duchess before she joined the Royal Family, such as residual payments from her acting work.

The company was described by the source as "largely inactive". On March 10 last year, the company’s status changed from “active” to “merged out”.

In January 2020, the Duke had his last meeting with Quibi at Soho Works, a workspace in London’s White City. Previous conversations had taken place while the Duke was at Kensington Palace and at Frogmore, the couple’s Windsor home.

The discussions with Quibi, understood to have been about a sustainable tourism project, never came to anything. Its app fell out of the list of the 50 most-downloaded free iPhone apps in the US a week after it was released in April 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic put the global economy on hold.

In late 2020, the streaming platform shut down after just over seven months of operation due to a lack of interest and profitability. Of the initial £1.3 billion raised, Quibi only returned £250 million.

On October 22, 2020, Mr Katzenberg reportedly told the employees to listen to the song "Get Back Up Again" from the Dreamworks movie Trolls as he announced that they would be fired.

By then, the Duke and Duchess had announced they had signed a multi-million dollar deal to make content for Netflix. Three months later, they announced they had also signed a similarly lucrative deal to make podcasts for Spotify.

[life-rewritten]

ITSAY EP 4/5- PROTECTION, THINGS I’LL NEVER SAY AND EASY PROMOTIONS

Warning another painful post coming. Episode 5 of ITSAY trailer focuses on Oh and his decision to walk away from all things Teh and move on. This hurts so much, and because I have spent almost all of last week seeing things from Teh's point of view, I started to feel angry and disappointed at Oh. I'm not sure if that Bas scene where he's holding hands with him and swearing to be with him forever is a fantasy (I hope it is, I hope we're being misled as the trailers have done that a lot, for example, Tarn's reaction to Teh and Oh and them singing the ost to each other scene). I'm not sure if Teh will be strong enough to pass these exams if he even sees a glimpse of Oh and Bas and I'm worried for both of these twos mindsets during this. So here are things in OH's perspective before tomorrows episode comes out. And to be honest, if I cried for Teh because of his self-sabotage and hindrance, I cry for Oh because of his self-loss, doubt, and destruction. Let's begin:

Oh: Protection, Things I'll never say and Easy promotions.

Thing is from episode 1 (mirroring episode 4 and 5 in which we see the fulfilment of many clues and hints to our characters) we've seen that Oh is like this when he gets hurt: he can be resentful, secretive, and put up a front that he's good. We were introduced to his dynamic when we saw him and Teh fall out at a very young age, we saw his dreams: he didn't have one, he always gave up and didn't care about things too deeply until he started practising acting by Teh's side when they were kids. Sometimes I think he's Cancerian (Like me!), like the crab horoscope he ends up burrowing back into his shell for protection when things don't work out;

WHAT IS PROTECTION TO OH

Avoiding all things to do with Teh: Refusing to have anything in his mind connected to Teh, i.e. rejecting the application for the university, so he doesn't owe Teh. 

Returning to a safety net (something that has been proven to be safe to lean on): Having Bas; who he started of crushing on, feeling good by his side, and someone who he fell for because of his kindness, understanding and actions that show Oh is a priority to him. 

Returning to what is easy for him when it comes to feelings, and letting Teh be with Tarn. Giving up on his dreams and relying on his parents to offer him an alternative pathway; Luckily Teh has done something (given him his spot in university), and  I think him doing this though will  cause a push for him to fight again for him or just go to inquire what’s happening but I think he’ll misunderstand Teh, get hurt again and then move to Bas as we see in the trailer. 

For the protection of his mind, and heart, Oh resorts to accepting he gives up on things easily. Its easier to not invest in things when they hurt you, reverting back to the time and person he was when his friendship group was without Teh (in episode 1 which is going to mirror episode 5) and going back to the time when he was starting to heal and be confident after Teh left his side when they were kids. 

When hurt, he burrows deeply, hides away from the truth and pretends everything is fine. He warned Teh in episode 1 that he won't let him in so quickly, because he's always held resentment and self-doubt because of what he said when they fought at a young age, he warned him that their friendship wouldn't be able to go back to the way it was. Plus it took almost all of episode 2, to pry out that intimacy back with Teh we had to watch Teh lose his mind because Oh refused to open up easily and we watched Oh be scared of the intimacy and try to play it off as nothing. (I spoke about this in this post here)

Protection of Himself, Teh and Others

 So it makes sense that once he realises how much being with Teh isn't good for him (dealing with Teh's up and down feelings, losing his individuality and self-esteem rapidly, and also just breaking down to the point of exhaustion),  Oh of course snaps! He regresses back to keeping distance, he'll speak to Teh. Still, they can't be close; he'll be civil. They'll be rivals again during this exam, but they can't help each other out, because helping each other out is a hindrance for both of them with these feelings; mentally, physically, and emotionally. 

They can't focus when they're near each other; they can't think straight about themselves when it comes to the other;

 Oh can see that Teh is losing his dreams; something he would never do because he let him know how important it was to him with their first fight when young and Oh has been the person who knows how desperate Teh wants to be an actor. The very first person who believed in him and saw him prove he could do it. He's giving all that up for Oh; it's something he can't accept, something that makes him feel so guilty, uncomfortable and  feeling problematic. So he has to avoid thinking about it, he has to prevent what it means for him and Teh, he has to avoid thinking Teh didn't make his dreams come true because of him. 

On the other hand, Oh is giving up on his confidence, and pride for Teh. He's rolling around crying continuously, losing his focus on his goals, losing his love for himself, and regretting the gender he was born with. It's too much for someone like him; it's belittling, insulting and painful. 

THINGS I’LL NEVER SAY: SECRETS AND LOSS OF INDIVIDUALITY

Just Look at the things that revolve around Oh in this episode; the title of this post we have Things I'll never say shirt he wears when he and Teh give into their feelings. It's all to do with secrets and perception of self (loss of esteem, ego and self). 

With the things I'll never say, a T-shirt, that's precisely a symbol for who Oh is before Teh shows up. He likes Bas, but he's secretive, he's quiet, hidden, he's scared of being hurt, so he doesn't take that leap, he knows the consequences of it; Oh overthinks about that so instead he retreats, he hides and accepts that it's acceptable this way. 

Truth is Teh enters his life and forces him out. Teh teaches him how to trust and communicate/show how he's feeling. But it's like once he and Teh get past that line and he falls for him uncontrollably, he feels like he's back to  square one. He tries to convince Teh that it's okay if he's kept a secret, but we know it's not fine, he's regressing again, he's being forced to be hidden like he's some sin, something terrible, something that shouldn't be on the surface because he's a boy. After Teh made him feel confident and able to take steps forward, to start caring about things and being more connected with things, the result of it was just more pain, insult and exhaustion, and the most painful ironic part of it was that also was because of Teh. 

For Oh it's like he's proven right with his mindset from episode 1-2; he shouldn't get close, only to people who show repeatedly proof that they're there like Bas. It's only once he has 100% evidence that this is normal, and okay that he falls back to lean on that. 

He doesn't like things complicated; we see it when it comes to the exam,. He gets things his way generally because he's good-looking and charismatic (again shown in episode 1).  Even for acting/fame in episode 1, he got it easy because of this, when it comes to the actual hard work and the translations he struggles, he's frustrated, and he wants to give up. 

The only reason he didn't was because of Teh.  Oh knows this by the way,  about himself and he worries about it because his father also sees him in episode 1, this way. That's why he's even more frustrated and hurt when Teh calls him out on it; Everything that happens to him is because of his looks, his charisma or his connections, that's why the next title Easy promotions is also connected to him.

EASY PICKINGS/PROMOTIONS; GUILT AND SELF DEPRECIATION 

Again Chinese translations in this show are meta and used to back shadow and foreshadow what's going on with characters and the plot. In episode 4, we also see the translation for Easy promotions/pickings when Teh makes the tutorial guide for Oh. That's why he's upset when Teh gives up his space for him again; it's insulting to him because yet again he's gotten an acting spot because of something other than his hard work. 

Remember because of Teh he spent eight years working hard trying to get into the university just to prove to himself, family and friends that he also got things because of his own efforts, and his own diligence. 

Once he and Teh reverted back to rivals, it felt insulting for him because it felt like Teh was mocking him all over again with checking the test results, with giving him his spot for free or to make Oh feel grateful and go back to being friends with him. Teh was telling him  basically with his actions ‘I don't see you being able to pass this exam on your own. ‘That was another belittling thing for his self-esteem. Oh felt depreciated because of how people perceive him, Teh is the person who showed him that. 

But can you blame people, though? 

Because Oh tries to be protected from disappointments and rejection (because of that burrowing back to his protection), he seems inconsistent, fake and unreliable. 

He gives up immediately when the going gets hard; he gives up on the exams after all the hard work he did just because he no longer wanted to keep the dream with Teh, it brings the question does he really care about the acting thing or has he just be doing this all along for Teh? 

He gives up on Teh as well, and I get why he does, don't get me wrong, but still, he gives up and runs away when he feels insulted and tired. 

And from episode 5 trailer he truly moves on to the next thing and pretends everything is fine. That's not okay for me, but I get why he does it.

It's hard for me, to see how easy he moves on and gives up on things he says are important to him, to trust him when he says that acting is also his dream, but then when I look at the hard work he's put in, and the excitement he had when he told Teh in episode 1, that he wanted to join him to do it too, I still feel for him. 

Teh; Oh’s Aspiration

However, I do think it's not the acting that is his dream; it's just the being rivals with Teh and being by his side he aspired to. It's the same reason why he was meant to pass the exams, so he runs by Tehs side to scream at the sunset. Teh was his aspiration. 

And Teh revived it even more in episode 1 and 2 by coming with that suitcase of revision books to make Oh keep trying to get into acting. When he pushed for Oh to wake up and work hard and study for the test . But in Episode 4 when Teh was no longer a good source of joy in his life, he gave up and became lost and confused. 

That's why he rejected the offer when Teh gave up the acting spot to him if Teh didn't do the application why would he want to do it when the very reason he wanted to was because of Teh in the first place? 

The Bra Scene; Easy Promotions vs Vital  Rejections

The ironic thing as well about easy promotions are that even if on the surface it seems like life gives Oh everything he wants easily without effort (when perceived by people), in episode 4, he realised that life didn't give him the one thing he wanted; to be promoted/chosen as the right person for Teh. 

As he goes through his self hate, doubt and loss, he questions if he should have been born a girl if he was a girl, would everything be better? Why was he born to suffer such pain? Why didn't life make it easy for him? 

That's all he thought with the bra scene. He felt humiliated, broken and hateful that he wasn't what Teh wanted, he didn't have the boobs Teh wished to touch each time they became physical, and he didn't have the appearance Teh would have found acceptable. His sense of self warped with what Teh wanted, that's why he posted the picture of him in the bra on Instagram. 

He lost his self, mind and ego for a moment, but then it came crashing back to him that he couldn't change who he was, and he broke down because of it. By the end of the episode, he reverts back to defensive mindset because he hated how much he did lose himself because of Teh

Teh and Oh both suffer from Vital rejections, though they’ve been easily promoted with all they wanted: Teh is easily about to get everything he wants; the girlfriend, the university entrance but he rejects it because of Oh and he feels even more rejected by life towards the end for what he really and truly wanted which is Oh by his side and being grateful to him. Instead Oh rejects his sacrifice and hates him further. Oh is easily promoted in life; he gets the waiting list because of Teh, an alternate pathway if he doesn’t go to university because of his parents,  love and affection because of Bas but he also gets gets rejected from something important/vital to him Teh’s love, affection and choice because of his gender. 

See they both feel rejected when it comes to the things they really needed and the thing that was the most vital to them although they actually are being given all they wanted in the beginning of the show by life.

TEH AND OH; SELF SABOTAGE OR PROTECTION?

Teh and Oh are different when it comes to protection; 

Teh gives and tries to appease others to ease his self esteem, and his ego, he sacrifices parts of himself so people are happy and he feels protected when he's seen by what he wants others to think of him (analysis of Teh here).

 For Oh, Oh hides himself to save his ego and self esteem, he retreats and doesn't take risks because they hurt and damage everything, he lives very safely and feels protected when everything is on the surface, evident and easy to see. (Bas's feelings, his family resort, and his fame on social media) 

That's why when he cries to his parents. he realised they were fine with whatever he did, he found trust and ease following his dads wishes because it seemed more accessible and better for him, he won't be judged, he will be safe from all things Teh, and he won't have to struggle and lose his self for the exam. 

That's another reason why he rejected Teh's application. The thing is it makes it even more painful for Oh because Oh also needs Teh as he needs him; as much as on the surface we know how vital Oh is to Teh (like boy can't breathe, think or act without him, the boy needs him 24/7, is encompassed by him and addicted to him), Oh needs Teh to be his true self also.  Ironic right? 

The Dramatic Irony of Teh and Oh

Teh is the one who is making Oh doubt and lose his self-esteem, but Oh is also not Oh when he retreats. Oh doesn't deal with genuine emotions, true wishes and dreams, true self when he isn't with Teh. Teh forces him to see things and want to take a risk. Teh pushes him either by rivalry, love, hate to do things because of him, Teh makes him question what he truly wants, who he really is, want to work hard to achieve something, want to care for something, and want to be something more than what he's been easily promoted to be. 

Teh's taunts haunt him and cause him to want to be better, he spent 8 years on a goal because of Teh, he spent all of the previous episodes choosing to run back and communicate and give Teh another chance because he doesn't want to lose their friendship, Teh helps him commit and Teh helps him stick to things he cares about, but also Teh makes him brave and confident to say how he's feeling. 

For Bas, he couldn't, but when it came to Teh, he was open, ready, eager and 100% sure Teh loved him the way he did. It's ironic that the most authentic version of Oh is right next to Teh, but in episode 4 the worst version of Oh (anxious, lost, doubtful and exhausted mentally) was also right next to Teh.

Oh's self-loss is just as painful as it was for Teh. These two both love each other so much, but because they are young, they don't understand how to protect themselves adequately when it comes to the whirlwind that is feelings. Feelings are crazy, they can mess you up, break you down, make you lose everything you know or want for your self, but with the right person, they can push you, make you brave, raise you up to your potential and make you know everything you didn't know about your self. Its dramatic irony the way love and feelings can be, and with this show it even more ironic that both Teh and Oh need to be by each other's side for both of them to indeed be themselves, and be free and be loved.

Writing about Teh before already broke me and I already started to be defensive for him but now I can get kind what Oh is doing and why he’s running away. To be honest he believes that the world isn’t good when he and Teh are together destiny doesn’t want them to be together because they’re bad for each other they’re only leading each other to hurt and more pain. And it’s painful and it’s sucks because it’s not true they’re meant to be together once they mature. So I really hope we do get a good ending for these two because right now the world does seem against them in their head and really all they want to do is run away and choose each other but for the sake of people they can’t. Just like in the song and ost Skyline it does seem like destiny wants them apart so should they give up? Well Oh and Teh both have become defeated and have decided to let destiny win. Oh to protect himself and to protect Teh too, and Teh for other people sake.

 Okay now, it's back to waiting anxiously for Episode 5 finale, let's pray these two find a way back to each other, let's pray for growth and maturity and communication before its too late.  Let's pray for sunsets and reunions and confessions of true love. Wish us luck.

PREVIOUS ANALYSIS: PROMISES, SUNSETS AND MALE PROTAGONISTS

PREVIOUS ANALYSIS; XIN THE FOCUS OF THE HEART

PREVIOUS ANALYSIS: EP 4 SELF SABOTAGE, HINDRANCES AND REVERSE HELP TEH’S PERCEPTION

[rist-ix]

Shadow and bone afterthoughts, spoilers for show and books beneath the cut

Ok, first some rambling. I felt a bit disappointed directly after watching the show, with how prettied up Malina was and how underdeveloped Darklina felt, but after rewatching, I really don’t know where I got that feeling from. If anything, it’s the other way round, but all in all I feel pretty good about the show.

I never liked Mal in the books, but show!mal? A sweetheart. Ride or die for Alina. The mutual yearning had me awwing a lot, Archie’s performance is wonderful. I hope he lets his locks grow out next season, he really deserves fancier hair.

I’m still not invested in Malina, but I know I’ll feel much better about their endgame in the show than their ending in the books. I get what the stans see in them. The show is obviously saving some of their more important moments for the next seasons, but more on that later.

Darklina too is very different from the books, and at first I felt a little underwhelmed. It goes hard fast, with less build up than expected, but their intensity is spot on and I love this new version of them. Book!Darkling is more aloof and composed, and whenever Alina makes him lose that composure, he is angry about it. Show!Darkling though? Loves her and has no regrets about it. Cries every time Alina looks at him. So happy to have her. A jealous bitch, and valid. Gets his girl flowers and steals dating advice from his rival.

Ben Barnes is an artist, when he improvised that second kiss in the war room?! I died.

Alina herself takes more action in both relationships than her book counterpart, which I love. She’s DETERMINED, whether it’s about following Mal into the fold or snogging her dark prince. Her soft, tender looks are to die for, I get why Kirigan tears up every time. And, ahem. That look she gave him during her performance at the fete? Hot.

Points I didn’t quite like:

They made Malina a little too ideal, in my opinion. I feel like there’s too little room for development, especially if the next season keeps the course of the second book. I like that they took away some of Mal’s worst moments, like his jealous little fit at the fete and all that, but they glossed over most of his other flaws too. His wariness of the Grisha is dropped pretty quickly, and most of his character now revolves around Alina. They took away the parts where Mal is more promiscuous, and oblivious of Alina, which makes his “but I see you now” line feel undeserved. His tryst with Zoya was given to Kirigan instead, and his popularity and charisma compared to Alina’s mousiness fell a little flat. They’re taking away a lot of possible conflict material, which makes me scared they’ll go stale and stagnant too soon. He also didn’t have any emotional arcs of his own, his side plot is pretty boring save for the final moments. I do like how they are setting up his heritage and skills already, though, and there’s still time for development in the next season.

It’s been a while since I read the book, but I do think Alina and the Darkling communicated more about amplifiers and the stag, back then. The hunt for it was a mutually wanted thing, not something the darkling did behind her back. I liked Alina’s ambition, I don’t want the show to make her all pure and humble. The drama about it felt too sudden and random, but that’s just my personal opinion.

I felt bad about the Darkling’s changes at first, mostly because it seemed the show wanted to nerf Darklina before it got too powerful. Alina’s parents falling to the fold instead of the Tsar’s constant wars screams unnecessary, his lack of the Darkling title and openness with his name disappointed me a little. Then again, this darkling is less of a cold commander and more of a respected leader here; I like how he interacts with his Grisha. It really hammers home how much he cares about them, his interaction with David made me crack up.

The name reveal was too little, too soon, but it’s consistent with Kirigan’s “openness” and I’ll get over it. I talked about the amplifier thing here, so I’m not gonna go into more detail again.

Something makes me wonder though, and it’s his dialed down evilness. The Darkling in the books was cruel and impersonal in battle, and Novokribirsk demonstrated that perfectly. Which is fine! I like the darkling villainous too, but that’s not what we see here.

In the show, Kirigan doesn’t... do all that much evil stuff, actually. He keeps the hunt for the stag from Alina, I guess? I would have liked more emphasis on his exact plans there.

He reads and keeps her letters too, but that’s petty manipulation and not grand-scale evilness. His great sin, the fold, was an accident and later a safeguard for his kind, and his attack on Novokribirsk felt kinda justified in the shows context.

Book Novokribirsk was a starving village full of innocent civilians, and its destruction was a calculated sacrifice to the darkling. I felt bad for their deaths.

In the show, however, it’s an industrialized city and military headquarters of an enemy who tried to kill Alina, and would have tried again if the skiff had docked as planned. That’s just not as tragic, it doesn’t garner as much sympathy.

It’s destruction isn’t just for show and effect, it’s not a needlessly cruel “sacrifice”.

It’s an act of war against a scheming general and his forces. The innocent rest of the city perished too, sure, but the only real connotation the audience has with that city is general Zlatan and his supporters. That waters down the evil-level of it, from a narrative perspective.

The antler thing looks... uncomfortable, but Alina got rid of that pretty soon so there’s not even the lasting reminder of the book!collar. Alina takes Kirigan’s hand and stands up to receive it, giving her a bit more agency too. (Probably wouldn’t have mattered if she had refused, but that’s not what the audience gets to see)

Kirigan doesn’t plan to execute Mal or to make Alina watch; another one of the Darkling’s villain moments. He’s pretty soft actually, compared to his book version.

Which gives me both hope and apprehension.

Either they’re doing that on purpose, in order to divert from the books, which seems unlikely but not impossible. Maybe they’re planning to let him live at the end of the third season, he gets revived in later books anyway.

Or his downward spiral has only just begun, and they’re saving the big things for later.

I hope they decide early on whether to keep the darkling redeemable, by mainstream standards, or to go all out with his evilness, because I don’t want a middle path. If he’s a better man than in the books and still dies, I can’t handle it. If his death is still what they are aiming at, I have to feel like he deserved it and there was no other way.

No more “redemption in death” scenarios please. Either embrace the villainy or give him a happy ending, just be decisive.

My heart can’t handle more tragedy, I’m a crybaby.

[thequibblah]

⭐ honestly there are so many things that I'd likevto ask which is why I want to ask a broaderish question.. How do you approach the characterisation of your "Main cast"? I think you have created some really great complex characters even though they do not exist in canon or even fanon (Germaine in example)

I hope this isn't too broad lol

no, i don't think it's too broad! just let me know if my answer doesn't actually touch on what you were wondering about haha

character creation for me tends to be spontaneous rather than conscious — i.e. i'm just writing my way through a scene and i'm like anyway, these people are new and they're friends or they're dating or they hate each other, and there's rarely a ton of forethought put into it. the vast majority of the ct cast was like that, i would say, except possibly michael, who was the first love interest i invented so there was a little more intention there

(but other than him i was really pulling things out of nowhere for the rest of the students especially — including with emmeline which sometimes surprises me)

the exception is, of course, the main cast. they and sara were very intentional, and i wrote little bio thingies for them before i started even outlining the fic. i mean the non-canon main cast, of course, lol — mary, dorcas (they're both canon but i've invented virtually everything about them, so), and germaine.

i did actually do a lot of hemming and hawing about how many girls there would be in lily's year in gryffindor. as discussed in a previous "my beef with j/k/r" instalment on this blog, the numbers of the hogwarts population really don't make sense at all, so i knew i could be flexible and kind of hand wave any questionable bits away. but the composition of the gryffindor girls was crucial in deciding lily's characterisation, imo — an easy way to convey implied characterisation is to show someone in contrast to the people around them. so: who is lily within the context of her friend group? is she friends with all the girls she rooms with?

separately, i've always liked writing friends in groups of four. in the planning stage of this i was like urghhh it's four girls, the four marauders, is that like too perfect....... and one thing i HATED was that people could then map on each marauder to each girl (lily = james is a bit questionable, though i firmly believe they're much more alike than they seem, but it kind of works.... mary = sirius, dorcas = remus, germaine = peter). and i didn't, and don't, want to make it seem like i've just made vaguely distinct female versions of each marauder!

i've made my peace with that risk, of course, and i think each of the girls is significantly different from "their marauder" (LOL) that it's actually fine — and, better still, if that thought occurs to anyone i hope that their characterisations will go on to provide interesting nuance to the parallels

but, anyway, tangent aside, i love groups of four because i think basically all my life i've had groups-of-four friendships. to absolutely go to bat for us foursomes, it's nice because no single person is the obvious odd one out, and each combination in pairs brings something different to the table — the role that doe plays in the group of four at large, for instance, isn't exactly the same as who she is in her individual friendship with mary, lily, or germaine.

the three main cast members came of some very clinical answers to those initial questions about lily.

one, i have always liked having mary be one of lily's friends, and in my characterisation of her she's obviously a great foil to lily, as a fellow muggle-born student. so, she was a lock.

two, i wanted to write one other canon order character, but i didn't want it to be marlene because in my reading of her canon mention, lily is unlikely to write a letter to sirius with her full name (paraphrasing but "i was so upset when marlene mckinnon died, i cried for ages") or, indeed, write a letter discussing how sad marlene's death made her, if they were besties and schoolmates. i went with dorcas because why the hell not? in developing her i then added all these thoughts

three, i felt the need to make up an oc so i could have absolute freedom over their fate. i had certain preconceived notions about mary and dorcas and what their stories would be, so there were other things (e.g. playing quidditch) that i wanted to have a friend of lily's do that they couldn't. plus, i wanted to write a massive lesbian.

another little sticking point, though, was that i (for a very SHRUG?? reason) didn't want lily to be besties with everyone she's lived with, but i didn't want to insert a catty rival into her dorm either. (now, don't get me wrong, i do love a good rival. i did, after all, write mary and amelia, and i am a known appreciator of carlotta meloni, and i adore TLE's marlene mckinnon. but i wanted the gryffindor girls to be like lily's safe space — a contrast both to her home life and to her recently-strained friendship with snape, where she's spent some time having to second-guess herself a lot. in my mind her friendships with all three of her besties coalesced at various points organically, until she was like wow wait i do actually have a home base here.)

the compromise was someone who was friendly with lily, but there's no strain on that friendship to be more than it is — which, sara and lily respect each other but have also learned they're not so alike that they need to hang out all the time. sara, to lily, is the girl you do things with because you're schoolmates, and then once you're out of school you amicably drift apart and occasionally leave a nice comment on their instagram

so that was how the gryffindors coalesced in my mind as placeholder figures. i will fully confess i start with tropes and then work out ways to deconstruct them or complicate them — as i've talked about in multiple of these questions, i think a lot of my characters are caught between sticking to their perceived label and acting the way they want to, aka the ripest high school drama fodder known to humankind

Wearing a fake smile and watching her sister’s sickening love life had put things in perspective a little. Why should she always do what was expected of her?

(we construct ourselves in contrast to those around us....)

mary started off as boy-crazy, doe started off as idealistic, and germaine started off as struggling to find her place. then i built up from those foundations, adding in tropey bits i enjoyed and wanted to engage with — i wanted doe to be passionately principled, but the gentler counterpart to mary, and even-tempered where lily runs hot. i wanted germaine to be a little bit thoughtless, changeable, someone utterly herself but still uncomfortable in her own skin. knowing, then, that the other two were going to be, how shall i put it, gentler hearts (LOL), i went back to mary and decided she would have this tough-girl, queen-bee persona.

then doe got her family background, which added in her ambitions and hinted at her future, and made it so her foundation would be threatened by events of the story. obviously i was writing mary in the aftermath of the mulciber/avery incident, so i needed to ask how much her take-no-shit vibe was threatened by it — and if not, why? how? unsurprisingly, even to people like amelia...

“At least I’m not overflowing with insecurity,” said Amelia. Mary laughed. The sound echoed through the courtyard. “We both know that’s not true.”

...the persona is put-on, but the "real mary" is so caught up in the invented mary that even she couldn't hope to uncover an authentic self...nor would she necessarily want to, because her affected self is still her...

wait don't get me started

germaine was already a quidditch player, and i wanted her to be a seeker because that's automatic investment in perhaps the single player with the most impact on the game — crucial for what i knew would be many, many quidditch sequences, where james wasn't always the most important pov! some of that seekery vibe leeched into who she is: she's searching, right from the start, for a sense of self that feels just out of reach:

“This year is going to be a year of change,” Germaine said [...] “Henceforth I will be going by... Gemma.” The girls looked at one another for a beat. Then Lily, Doe, and Mary burst into laughter.

she's more anxious and outwardly uncertain than her friends, and i wanted to consciously engage with that — proper teenage awkwardness, the kind that wouldn't really happen to Main Character lily, I Have No Sense of Shame mary, and I Am Overflowing with Good Sense doe. more than the other three, germaine is a normal person in the context of this world — she's not a muggleborn, so the war has a different impact on her; she's not the child of activists; she's not well-off. an absolutely spontaneous invention that i was really quite thrilled by was having her sister be crouch's secretary, because it's such a sudden, shocking realisation for her that she's got such a close connection in the thick of it

Germaine clapped a hand over her mouth. “Big news soon,” she mumbled. “Big news soon, that’s what Abigail said, only she didn’t say what big news…”

so germaine is really just... living her life, an indie coming of age film in which her friends' subplot is a fucking war LOL

i defined germaine in contrast to the other girls a lot when drawing out the characters for myself, mostly for a practical reason — i didn't want her to overlap too strongly with any of them, since she's the only one who's wholly my invention. i think some of that remains in her characterisation, but i decided to make it conscious instead:

Germaine saw herself as a happy medium, flexible enough to stretch sympathetically between her friends. But— What does it mean that I define myself in comparison to them? Nothing. She was only seventeen and she was finding her way.

i knew germaine was going to get the chaotic sporty romance pretty much right off the bat, but, fun fact, i hadn't actually picked out who her love interest would be until after i started spitballing other sixth years' names and had a basic idea of who emmeline was. wild!

i feel like i haven't said all i want to say but let's stop there or i'd go on forever, ha!

[i-stan-nct-and-satan]

Not Broken pt 13 (Jaehyun Mafia AU)

Not Broken Masterlist

Jaehyun X Reader

Y/N is a burlesque dancer living in Seoul. Jaehyun is one of the most powerful mafia men in Seoul. How will Y/N survive when Jaehyun suspects that she is involved with a rival gang?

Reasons to read this story: Ten’s a cross-dressing madam so….. yeah read it ya freaks.

Trigger warning: mentions of abuse

<><><><>Several hours before Y/N was called to Jaehyun’s office<><><><><>

“What’s so important to discuss that a member of the council decided to visit me personally?” Jaehyun asked in a disinterested tone as he poured two glasses of brandy for him and his guest, sealing the decanter once he had finished.

“A member of the council? I know that it’s best to keep an air of formality when in the presence of council members but given that it’s just the two of us, do call me Uncle, won’t you?” The older man requested, accepting the drink as it was handed to him.

Jaehyun moved to sit at his desk while Suho remained standing at the vintage drum table which the decanter rested on.  

“Why are you here?” He requested, setting his drink directly onto the cherrywood’s finish.

Suho’s eyes wandered around the room, feigning confusion towards his nephew’s inquiry.  

A soft sigh of frustration left the younger man’s lungs.

“Why are you here, Uncle?”  

A sly smile crept onto Suho’s face only for a contemplative expression to succeed it.  

The man began to swirl the amber liquid within its glass shell taking his time to notice how it coated the crystal walls for a fleeting instant before returning to a stagnant state.  

Jaehyun, whose patience usually would have been wearing thin at this point, allowed the man his thoughts as he began to observe his liquor as well.  

Suho was a member of Exo’s council, an alliance organization, of which Jaehyun’s father had also been a member. Exo could be characterized as a network of gangs or a grandfather gang, so to speak. It served as both an alliance and an enforcer, allowing associated organizations a considerable degree of protection against rival gangs. Several gangs in Seoul were affiliates of Exo, including NCT and all its current subgroups, Shinee, Super Junior, TVXQ, Red Velvet, BlackPink and many others. Although Exo was arguable the largest and most powerful gang alliance in Seoul, it wasn’t the only one. Got7 for instance, arguably NCT’s biggest rival gang was under the protection of JYP, an elusive organization that had begun growing exponentially over the past several years.

Although Exo’s membership technically extended to any and all members of its associated gangs, it’s only the Exo’s council members who hold any real power. Joining Exo forces leaders to relinquish many of their decision-making freedoms in exchange for protection, meaning that the council now had final say on important decisions involving their gangs.  

The council itself was made up of a select few individuals, each holding remarkable influence over the innerworkings of Seoul’s mob scene. Jaehyun was familiar with each of the council members for his father had been a member of the council since its creation, as had Suho.  

The two had been friends since they met in Juvie as teens, NCT was the fruit of that friendship. They started out preforming simple bank robberies, then quickly grew into a full-fledged gang eventually forming subdivisions meant to expand their territories. Sooman was NCT’s official leader and Suho was his right-hand man. They created Exo after forming an alliance with Super Junior and Shinee’s former leaders.

Not all council members were experienced crime lords. A handful of them were better described as investors, such as Sehun, who made billions investing in the drug trade. Becoming a member of the council was almost impossible, as members served lifetime appointments and a strict selective process was employed to take their places when they died. Those selected were never informed of their selection until after they were appointed to prevent any violence being committed against council members in the hopes of gaining a position.  

Jaehyun held great disdain for the process since every time a member died, he would be replaced by yet another old geezer who would continue to uphold the council’s outdated and traditional values.  

To Jaehyun, the council was nothing more than just another source of irritation. When his father died unexpectedly, the several members of the council opposed him, Jaehyun, from taking over his father’s position at such a young age despite SM and Suho having been even younger than he was when they formed NCT. Their official objections only ceased when Suho vowed to watch over the young man, although they continued to express their disapproval whenever the subject was brought up. Being the son of SM, one of the council’s original members gave Jaehyun a privilege that many of the other leaders did not have. He often got away with challenging the council with only a lecture for punishment whereas anyone else would risk forfeiting their gang’s Exo membership altogether.  

Jaehyun’s status didn’t spare him from any of the council’s scrutiny though, if anything, it was magnified.  

Out of all Exo’s affiliated gangs, NCT was the most powerful, meaning that if Jaehyun messed up in any way, the losses could be detrimental.  

Jaehyun had been called to face the council more than anyone else making him feel like their sole purpose was to piss him off. After the death of IU, the council began making what he viewed as unreasonable demands in order to protect NCT’s image.  

He had instructed Taeyong to send regular updates to the council regarding their captive and once Taeyong confirmed with them that not only had they proven Y/N irresponsible for IU’s death, but that she had actually killed the man who was, Jaehyun knew that it’d be a matter of time before he would be summoned once again. Jaehyun ignored the councils request to meet with them and thus Suho was sent as a representative in their absence.

“Are you sure that the girl is responsible for Lucas’s death?”  

Jaehyun returned his focus to the gentleman who had wandered over to one of the bookshelves. He used his free hand to graze the bindings of each of the collected works as if he were looking for something in particular.

“If you came only to confirm the information that was sent to you, then you’ve wasted a trip.”

Suho sighed, removing his hand from the bookshelf.

“I hope you’re aware of how this could make us look.”

Suho turned towards Jaehyun taking his time to meet him at his desk before sitting in the brown leather chair that mirrored his nephew’s.  

“Lucas having been killed by someone outside of NCT and all,” He finished, taking a sip from the crystal tumbler.

Jaehyun quirked an eyebrow.  

“What do you mean?”

Suho set his drink on a nearby coaster and proceeded to lift his leg, crossing his foot over his thigh, before leaning back in his chair.

“Think about it from a rival gang’s point of view. A year into his new position, a position given to him at what many considered too young of an age, the leader of NCT’s sister ends up being kidnapped and murdered by Wayv, a gang made up of former NCT members. Not only that, but three years later, NCT has still been unable find the man responsible,” He recounted, staring off into the room.

“That’s because he was dead this whole time. How the fuck were we supposed to know he was dead? You can’t find a guy who can’t be found,” Jaehyun reminded defensively.

“You of all people should know that image matters far more than truth. Remember how the council basically scrambled to protect NCT’s image? How we kept the truth about IU’s death under wraps so that to outsiders her death would have seemed like an accident? How none of us had even a second to mourn her loss as we were all too busy trying to do damage control?”  

Jaehyun didn’t respond.

“IU’s death was tragic. You know this, but you also realized the importance of minimizing its effect on NCT which is why as SM’s successor, you pushed through the pain to protect those of who were still alive, your members. We knew that presenting her death as an accident wouldn’t work long term, but the council hoped that it would buy you time while you searched for Wayv but now....”  

Suho’s eyes met Jaehyun’s as he stressed the seriousness of the situation.  

“Now that Wayv knows you have Lucas’s killer, they’re going to start forming connections, building alliances with other gangs, anything it takes to get to her. Word will get out that it was actually Wayv who were responsible for IU’s death and that the man who organized it wasn’t killed by NCT, but on accident by a mere burlesque dancer. NCT won’t just be seen as weak, it’ll become the laughingstock of Seoul.”  

“But, Uncle, Wayv must not want word getting out about Lucas’s death either. Why else would they have covered up his death and continued on as though he were still running everything?”

“That is true. It’s safe to say that before recent events, Wayv didn’t want the nature of their leader’s death reaching their rival gangs which is probably why they didn’t expose us when we buried the truth about IU’s death. They would have wanted to avoid suspicion at all costs. Even now, I’m sure that Wayv would prefer to keep this information to themselves especially after learning that Lucas was killed by someone with Y/N’s background.”

“So, what’s the problem?” Jaehyun asked, feeling uneasy about where his uncle was leading.

“The problem is that even if Wayv doesn’t want details regarding Lucas’s death reaching the public, their image won’t be hit as hard as NCT’s will, and it stands to reason that they’d be more than willing to cut off a few of their fingers if it meant NCT would lose its limbs.”

“What do you mean it would hit us harder? We’re not the ones whose leader was killed by a goddamn stripper!” Jaehyun boomed.  

“Yes, you’re right. He was killed and that’s exactly why they aren’t facing the same level of risk NCT is. Lucas was killed, making him Wayv’s former leader. He no longer represents them and thus whatever happened to him has very little effect on their image now. If anything, his death will actually strengthen Wayv’s image since after Lucas died, his successor somehow managed to keep his death a secret for almost three years. It takes a lot to hide something as big as the death of a prolific mob boss. If even one person were to squeal, the entire city would know within a matter of days and yet we’re only learning about it now, three years later. Wayv can only benefit from all this, You, on the other hand, will be seen as weak, incompetent, and a disgrace to your father’s legacy,” The older man explained.

“And that’s a shame because you’re not, Jaehyun. Your father would be proud to know how far you’ve come despite those whose doubt you,” He added.  

“That man never approved of anything I did when he was alive. I don’t know why he’d start in his death,” Jaehyun sneered.  

His face had fallen from its angered state, yet an air of bitterness seemed to linger in his features. Suho could only sigh at his nephew’s hardheadedness which had surely been passed down to him by his father.

“The council wants to replace you.”

“Oh yeah? And how do they plan on going through with those plans?” Jaehyun scoffed.

Suho gave his nephew a softhearted look.

“They don’t. You and I both know how capable the council is when forcing their agenda regardless of the leaders who oppose them, but I convinced them to hold off on their plans just until you’ve had a chance to resolve the issue on your own.”

Jaehyun leaned back in his chair as he pondered his uncle’s remarks. It was true that the council was more than capable of replacing him as leader even if his men continued being loyal to him. Exo wouldn’t just threaten to withdraw their protections over NCT, they would find a way to completely dismantle NCT, rebuilding it in their ideal image. Exo had more than enough funds to obtain whatever resources needed to preserve control of their affiliates. The only thing he could do, was roll over and hope they wouldn’t tighten his leash any further. He had to act.

“What should I do?” Jaehyun asked, finally letting his guard down.

“You need to get on top of this. Find a way to ease the council’s anxieties.”  

“And how exactly do you suppose I do that?”

Suho lifted his drink from its coaster, bringing it to his lips and finishing it in two large sips. He returned the glass to the desk, causing it to make a soft thumping sound as it contacted the wood.

“Have you thought about the council’s suggestion from before all this began, about taking a wife?”

“Oh, not this again,” Jaehyun groaned.

“Look, the council is worried. They don’t think you hold the same values your father did. To them, you’re a firecracker just waiting to go off. It makes them antsy. Marriage will show the council that you hold traditional values and are not the irresponsible rebel they think you are.”

“Marriage will do all that?” Jaehyun laughed, obviously not taking his uncles advice seriously.

“You were so insistent on being able to choose your own wife and rejected any thoughts of allowing the council to make any arrangements for you, which pissed off a lot of people. Taking one of the councilmen’s daughters or nieces as a wife would have shown commitment to your role as SM’s successor. Your refusal shows a lack of respect and makes them question how much power they should allow you when you continue to make them feel uneasy about the future. Your parent’s marriage was arranged. It really isn’t that big of a deal. Have you at least started considering any possible applicants?”

“I haven’t exactly had any time to mingle given how I’ve been busy trying to find the men responsible for my sister’s death and all.” Jaehyun reminded his uncle in a tone drenched with sarcasm.  

“Hmmm, well I guess that’s probably a good thing considering the circumstances,” Suho mused quietly.

“Excuse me?” Jaehyun leaned forward so that his forearms rested on the desk.  

Suho returned his focus to his nephew whose curious features urged him to go on.  

“The girl, take her as your wife.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jaehyun gawked, unable to believe what his uncle was saying.

“Marry her. That’s the only way you can turn this around. If word gets out that NCT’s leader got married to the girl responsible for Lucas’ death, they’ll assume that his death wasn’t actually an accident but was all a part of your plan. Even if people don’t come to that conclusion, which I don’t see why they wouldn’t, marrying her will prevent all of the damage that she’d cause us if you let her go. How I see it, you have two options. You could let her go get captured by Wayv, which you do not want, and let everyone view NCT as weak for not being able to kill the man who murdered their leader’s sister, which you definitely don’t want, or you can marry the girl and kill three birds with one stone. She’ll be safe from Wayv, NCT’s image will be as strong as ever, and the council will view you as a trustworthy leader who shares their same values.”

Jaehyun scoffed in amazement, unsure of what he could possibly say to respond to such an outrageous proposal.  

Were these just the crazy ramblings of a man entering the stages of early onset dementia or was his uncle actually onto something?

“I mean, it’s not a bad deal. She is a very attractive young woman. I’m not sure you could do much better, even if you were to marry one of the councilman’s daughters,” Suho smirked.

Jaehyun glanced at his half empty glass, reaching towards it to take a sip.  

His uncle was right. Despite the bitter taste that the idea of marrying a burlesque dancer left in his mouth, she was more beautiful than any of the councilmen’s daughters. He couldn’t brush off the fact that marriage could very well be enough to stop them from interfering in his business as much as they did. Although the council members would probably prefer it if he didn’t marry a foreigner, perhaps marrying an American would grant him a bit of status. When he thought about the possibility of marriage before, he believed that he would be happy as long as the girl was beautiful and didn’t speak up too much or challenge him. That’d be the perfect arrangement, yet he didn’t see Y/N as the obedient type.

“Ok, wait a second. Suppose I were to commit to such a plan, how would I get her to accept my proposal? We didn’t exactly get off to a great start, so I doubt she’d agree,” Jaehyun asked, beginning to entertain the idea.  

“Present it as though she doesn’t have a choice,” He advised.  

Jaehyun shifted his weight off the desk and leaned back against his chair, taking a moment to process the suggestion.

“Even if I didn’t give her a choice, I’m sure she’d find ways to be as bothersome as she could. Dealing with her rebellious moods might be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Well, finding a way to ensure her compliance shouldn’t be too hard, should it?” Suho hinted with a smile.

The younger man hummed, as he contemplated what his next actions might require.  

“No, it should not.”

<><><><><>

“Does everyone understand?”  

The members of NCT 127 stared at their boss, astonished by the sudden announcement. None of them knew what to say so many of them merely nodded, pretending as though they understood the situation.  

After Suho left, Jaehyun called Taeyong into his office to inform him of his intentions to marry Y/N. Taeyong was understandably shocked by his boss’s unsettling plans. To him, it didn’t make any sense to marry a girl who was rightfully terrified of him even if it was in the best interest for NCT. He tried to talk him out of it knowing full well that Jaehyun doesn’t just get talked out of things. After Jaehyun revealed that there were discussions of replacing him among the council and that Suho, himself, recommended the marriage, Taeyong conceded to his boss’s orders and called a meeting in the billiards room.  

“You are all dismissed then. Except for you two,” Jaehyun motioned towards two of his men before turning to Taeyong.

“Bring Y/N to my office when she is done eating. I need to have a discussion with these two first,” Jaehyun instructed his right-hand man.  

<><><><><>

“Have a seat.”

Winwin and Johnny sat in the chairs that were placed directly across from their boss.  

Jaehyun took his time studying his raven-haired colleague whilst almost completely overlooking the gentleman who sat beside him.  

“What do you think about what was discussed at the meeting, Winwin?” Jaehyun asked, taking care to analyze his reaction.

Winwin, who had been glaring at this boss up to this point, let out a dry laugh and shook his head to show his irritation.

“What are you trying to do here?” He demanded.

Jaehyun laughed in amusement.  

“What do you mean? I just asked for your thoughts.”

Winwin rolled his eyes.

“Listen, I couldn’t care less what you do with the girl. It’s just business, right? Or did you think I’d be against it since marrying her is all a part of your ploy to win against Wayv?”  

All traces of amusement were now gone from the Jaehyun’s face as he turned to Johnny.

“You’ve been keeping an eye on him all this time, right? Nothing suspicious?”

The man nodded in response.

“What about when you two were separated?”

“The only time we weren’t together was when one of us was using the bathroom, but like you instructed, I searched him for  any electronic devices before he entered the bathroom and had Taeil watch over him when I wasn’t able to.”

Jaehyun leaned back in his chair, staring behind the two men. He still didn’t trust Winwin but he couldn’t keep him on watch without there being any new evidence against him. Doing so would lead the others to believe he was making decisions based on his emotions instead of what he thought was best for NCT.  

His thoughts were interrupted when a soft knock came from the other side of his office door.

“Johnny, you will no longer be required to watch over Winwin. Winwin, you are free to interact with whomever you feel inclined, but I will be keeping my eye on you. You are both free to go.”

He watched as the two men exited out the door, catching a glimpse of them stopping to greet whom he presumed to be Taeyong and the girl.

After taking a moment to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come, he called out to them.

“You may enter now.”

Y/N was the first to enter while Taeyong held the door open for her. Jaehyun took note of what she was wearing, faded black jeans and an off-white shirt. It made him wonder why she wanted to wear something of such a low quality, when she could have worn what was prepared for her, but then he remembered what Jaemin had said about her not wanting anything he had to offer her.

Y/N made no effort to hide her avoidance of his gaze. Once she sat down in the chair Winwin had previously been seated in, Jaehyun dismissed Taeyong.  

It was just the two of them now.  

He silently stared at her frightened figure which seemed to shrink further and further into the brown leather chair. He noticed her bruises. They had almost completely vanished from her face and only small patches of discoloration remained.  

He hadn’t forgotten how beautiful she was the night of the performance, though he couldn’t help but observe how much more ethereal she looked than that night before everything went down. Sure, her wounds hadn’t completely healed, and her appearance revealed a tinge of dishevelment, but her flashy costume and makeup from the night of her performance only seemed to distract from her natural visage.  

“Y/N?”  

She looked up at him, finally allowing their eyes to meet and for a split second, Jaehyun forgot why he had called her into his office in the first place. It was only after he noticed her shaky breaths that he was reminded of what he was to say.  

“It has been decided that you and I will get married this month.”

<><><><><>

I was the type of person whose mind went blank whenever she heard something she didn’t want to believe was true. I felt as though I could turn any unwanted reality into a dream I could wake up from as long as I didn’t think about it, or anything else for that matter. If I allowed myself to process the situation, it would be like thinking it into existence. I didn’t know why this was my first instinct. It never changed anything. It only allowed for me to live in denial a moment longer. That was how I reacted to my parent’s death, and to my brother’s betrayal, but those weren’t dreams or even nightmares. I had to accept them for what they truly were. My reality.

Even now, I wanted nothing more than to fall back into that familiar state of disassociation. If there was ever a time to mistake my reality for a delusion conjured up by my unconscious mind, this was it. It was all so bizarre; too preposterous to be real. My rationality was evaporating, and my vision blurring.  

I bit down on the inside of my cheeks, determined to find some sort of grounding. I focused on the metallic flavor that began to coat my tongue. I continued to stare at the man that had found yet another way to afflict me, this time with words instead of fists. I wanted so desperately to snap out of it, yet I didn’t know how. I could feel myself falling deeper and deeper into nihility when a memory of the Madam entered my mind.  

“Those who believe that heaven and hell are opposites of each other are cursed to only experience one at a time. They say you gotta go through hell to get out of it but why not learn to love the heat?”

That was her go-to toast when having drinks with the performers. Why I had thought of that speech, I didn’t know. Maybe my mind was just trying to find a memory to latch onto hoping it would stop me from falling into oblivion. I used the memory as a chance to break my gaze from his. My eyes moved to see the glass of brandy that rested on the desk near his hands.  

I instinctively reached out toward the glass earning a wide-eyed stare from its owner. Without thinking I dipped my fingers inside the glass and scooped out the ice cube that was floating just below the amber liquid’s surface. The ice cube dropped to the floor and I bought the glass to my lips, quickly draining it of its contents. The familiar burn that traveled down my throat managed to return my soul to my body. From how many gulps it took to finish, it must have been a double, not nearly enough to get me drunk, but hopefully enough for the liquid courage to do its job once the adrenaline started to fade.  

I slammed the empty glass down on the desk and stared into the eyes of my captor.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

<><><><>

Jaehyun’s shocked expression disappeared and he began to laugh.  

“That’s what I get for not offering you a drink, I presume.”

My gaze became venomous, calling attention to the severity of the situation.  

Jaehyun noticed this and returned to his humorless disposition.

“You and I will be married this month,” He repeated.  

“You must have lost your mind. You and I? Married?” I scoffed.

“As the leader of NCT, I am required to take a wife for reasons of status. It has been decided that you will be that wife.”

“So? I’m sure there are tons of other women you could marry, why me?” I demanded.

“It has come to my attention that your involvement in Lucas’s death poses a threat to our organization’s image. Seeing as how you were the one to kill him and not one of my men, it’s likely that this could send a serious blow to us. That is, if it gets out that the man responsible for my sister’s death was killed by a mere... dancer,” He divulged, a speck of distaste coated his voice as he uttered the last two syllables.

“You’re crazy. You’re telling me you wanna marry me? How did you find the nerve? And while I still have bruises and a cracked rib that you gave me,” I spat.

I was seething in anger.

“This isn’t a matter of what I want or don’t want. This marriage, along with the wedding itself, will only be for the sake of appearances. If it were my choice, you wouldn’t even be here, but now that Wayv wants you, it’s in my best interest to keep you here, no matter what it takes.”

“You said I was free to leave whenever I wanted!”  

“Well I guess I changed my mind,” He declared using a dismissive tone.

“No, I won’t. I won’t do it.” I stood up, hands gripping the edge of the desk.  

“You don’t really have a choice now do you, Kitten?”

“This is insane. What on earth makes you think that I would willingly marry you? If you’re really just doing this for appearances, then... then I’ll do everything I can to show everyone just how unwilling I am. I’ll act out. I’ll... I’ll-”

“You will do nothing of the sort.” Jaehyun bellowed in a voice, almost intimidating enough to scare me into backing down... almost.

“What are you going to do, kill me?” I challenged.

Jaehyun stood up, allowing his oppressive height to add to his threatening demeanor.  

“You will do as I say whether that is going through with the wedding or anything else for that matter. You will behave from now on because if you don’t, it’s your friend who will pay the price.”

Extinguished by his menacing implication, the fire that ran through my veins was nowhere to be found.  

“W-what are-”

“Remember how you asked me to check on your friend from the other night? Wendy, was it? Well I had my men check the local hospital’s records from that night. It turns out that they treated three patients from the burlesque club the night of your performance and that included your friend. Somehow, she sustained the worst injury of all having received a bullet to the chest. Luckily for her, the bullet missed her heart and was easily removed through the surgery I paid for. She was released from the hospital yesterday.”

“Wendy’s alive?”  

I fell back into the chair, unable to believe how I had forgotten all about my friend these past few days. With everything that had been going on, I hadn’t thought of her since I made the request in the first place.

“She’s alive and will likely go on to live a full and meaningful life especially after having been granted 20 million won to study at the university of her choice... as long as you do what I say.”

I did my best to fight back the tears that were already beginning to stream down my face completely unaware that Jaehyun’s anger had turned into discomfort.

I gave up trying to hold back my tears and brought my hands to my face. After sensing a nearby presence, I removed them to see that Jaehyun had also returned to a sitting position and was offering me a royal blue handkerchief. I stared at him, confused by the gesture.  

“I didn’t want for things to turn out this way either. I understand why you’re upset and I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you because of me. Think of our marriage as an arrangement. Being my wife will offer you a degree of status and wealth, not to mention protection from Wayv. You’ll have to act as my wife at social events, but besides that, you’ll be free to do as you wish without any disruptions from me.” He explained looking away.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?! I’d rather you keep me locked up in that room for the rest of my life than spend one minute married to you!” I shouted, ignoring the handkerchief.

The neatly folded handkerchief was now wrinkled by the harsh grip that held it. The anger had returned to his face.

“Fine! If that’s how you’re going to be then who am I to deny you your wishes? Stay in your room and rot for all I care,” He roared.  

Taeyong quickly entered the room.

“Get her out of my sight and don’t let her out of her room until I say so,” He ordered, abruptly standing up from his desk and knocking over several items in the process.  

Taeyong escorted me back to my room. The only time he said anything was to tell me that he’d try to calm Jaehyun down and that I should probably stay in my room until he’d given me the go ahead.  

I spent the remainder of the night crying. Crying for Wendy, all the things she went through because of me and for the others who got hurt that night. I mostly cried for myself though. My worst nightmare had come true. I was going to have to marry Jung Jaehyun, the leader of Seoul’s most notorious gang, NCT.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I woke up to the sun shining through my window, something I wasn’t used to, given my early morning training sessions.

It still seemed pretty early though.

I rolled over to look at the clock but saw a note on the vanity table along with a glass of water instead.  

I grabbed the water first, glad to have something to drink as my head was pounding.  

I picked up and read the note while sitting up against the bedframe.  

Y/N,

I talked to Jaehyun. He is sorry and you are free to move around the building unescorted. I asked Jeno to allow you the morning off from training.  

-Taeyong

Memories of the day before came flooding back all at once. It really did feel like I was hungover, but not from drinking too much.

I had no idea how Taeyong managed to get Jaehyun to ease up on me, although he must have since I was now able to leave. I doubted that Jaehyun was actually sorry though. Taeyong probably added that in just to give me some sort of relief.  

I heard noises in the hallway. It was a loud rustling noise. I got up from the bed to investigate. Creaking the door open slightly, I noticed that I really was unguarded. I peeked into the halls seeing nothing but closed doors.  

My curiosity got the better of me causing me to follow the noise until I was standing in front of a closed door. I could hear two people talking, but not very clearly. It sounded like they were having an argument.  

I pressed my ear to the door.  

“I just don’t get why it’s such a big deal. It’s not like we can act all lovey-dovey around the other members anyways,” Said one of voices.  

“That’s not the problem. The problem is that you can’t even tell them we’re dating. It’s like you are ashamed of me or something,” The other voiced whined.

My eyes widened in shock. Was this Jeno and Jaemin on the other side?

I focused on the voices. They both sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place who they belonged to. Luckily, I didn’t have to.

“Mark, I’m serious. If you can’t open up about us to your friends, then we can’t do this anymore.”

Mark?

If that’s Mark, then who’s-

The door opened causing me to stumble back and fall on the floor.

“Haechan, wait!”  

I looked up to see who had unintentionally knocked me over but was met with someone I would have never guessed.

“Donghyuck?”

“Y/N?”

“Haechan, what’s-” Mark came out from behind him before looking down at me.

“Y/N?”

I looked up at Donghyuck.

“Haechan? Wait but you’re Donghyuck.”

“Donghyuck?” Mark quirked.  

Haechan facepalmed.  

“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded.  

Mark looked at me, then back at Donghyuck then down at his hands that seemed to be working him through some sort of calculation.  

“If you know Y/N, and she recognized you but called you Donghyuck instead of Haechan, then... oh.”

<><><><><><><><><><><>

After our run-in upstairs, Donghyuck and Mark told me to wait outside their room while they called Taeyong. He had arrived shortly after and was ushered into the room with them. I stood there outside the room silently. I didn’t even try to eavesdrop for I was worried I wouldn't like what they were saying. As soon as the door opened, Donghyuck practically lunged at me, grabbing my shoulders so I would face him.  

“Holy fuck, Y/N. What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?” he exclaimed before pulling me into his embrace.

The three of them brought me down to the kitchen where we ran into Jeno, Jaemin, Yuta, and Doyoung, who all seemed to be getting ready for breakfast. Taeyong sat me at the table with Mark and asked everyone else in the kitchen to step out for a moment so he could talk to them. I tried asking Mark what was going on and why Donghyuck was here and why he was calling him Haechan but he only told me that I would find out soon enough. After what was most definitely more than just a moment, everyone returned to the kitchen except Taeyong and Donghyuck. When I asked where they were, Yuta simply responded with, “They need to talk to the boss.”

Jaemin and Jeno tried to lighten up the mood but to no avail. Jeno asked me how I was enjoying my day off from training while Jaemin set the table up for breakfast. Nobody spoke a word about the Haechan/Donghyuck situation or even mentioned the other elephant in the room. To be honest, I didn’t know whether to be grateful for not having to discuss the details regarding my recent engagement, or if it merely added to my anxieties.

The two of them finally returned after we had been eating, or more like absentmindedly playing with our breakfast, for over 20 minutes.  

As they sat down at the table, I noticed that Donghyuck’s eyes were glued to me. He looked pained, like a boy watching his pet cat run into a busy highway, knowing he couldn’t do anything to help the poor creature.

“Jaehyun is busy right now but he’s been filled in and has given me instructions on how to handle the matter,” Taeyong began.  

I felt myself relax a little after hearing Taeyong’s words. I felt relief knowing that I wouldn’t have to deal with seeing Jaehyun on top of everything else that was going on.

“It’s come to my attention that you and Hae-” Taeyong hesitated, not exactly knowing how to explain what he was trying to explain.  

“that you and Haechan, or Donghyuck as you know him as, are already well acquainted with each other.”

Taeyong paused waiting for my reaction but given that I was too confused to even know where to start, I stayed quiet.

“Maybe I should just let Haechan do the talking. He’s been caught up on your situation, so he can catch you up on his.”  

Everyone at the table turned to Donghyuck while he continued to stare back at me.  

A soft sigh left Donghyuck’s mouth as he broke my gaze to look down at the table.  

“Y/N, I’m a member of-”

“You’re a member of NCT?!” I blurted out.  

A small smile crept onto his face and a forced version of his laughter entered my ears.

“Surprise?”  

Everyone at the table stared at each other. It was agonizingly uncomfortable.

“I need a shot. Does anybody else need a shot?” Haechan awkwardly got up and walked over to the main part of the kitchen.

“Haechan, it’s 9:20. Nobody needs a sho-” Taeyong began.

“I would like a shot,” I announced, hand suddenly raised above my head.

“Thatta girl. Glad to see this place didn’t snuff out your party girl spirit. Jeno, where do you keep the booze in this place?”  

Haechan began opening the cabinet drawers as he continued his search for anything that would make the situation less uncomfortable than it was.

“There’s a bottle of cooking merlot in the upper left-hand cabinet above the main oven,” Jeno offered.

Haechan opened the cabinet and pulled the bottle out.  

“It’s not quite what I was hoping for, but I supposed it’ll do the trick.”

Haechan hurried to open the bottle, almost knocking it over in the process. Once the corked was freed from its enclosure, Haechan swiftly wrapped his lips around the bottle’s opening and started chugging. He held the bottle in its now tilted position for ten solid seconds before lowering it back onto the counter.

“That should do it,” He muttered, out of breath before grabbing the bottle by its neck and bringing it over to the table. As he handed me the bottle, I couldn’t help but notice that a measurable amount of the red liquid had disappeared from the bottle, not that it mattered. There was still more than enough wine left to get me through the next few hours.

I began to chug the liquid in the same manner that Haechan had, unaware of the impressed and/or concerned faces that surrounded me.  

The bottle couldn’t have been more than halfway full by the time I set it down. I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my shirt, unbothered by the risk of possibly staining it.  

“You,” I panted, pointing to Donghyuck,

“Tell me what the fuck is going on.”

Donghyuck, or I guess Haechan, did his best to fill me in on... well everything.  

The 127 member that Mark had told me about, was actually Donghyuck all along. He was working undercover as my apartment’s doorman, in order to get information on a former NCT member named Hansol, which is why he went by Donghyuck instead of his real name. Hansol had disappeared without a trace several years ago and 127 had been trying to find him ever since. One of NCT’s sources claimed that they had sighted Hansol entering my apartment complex with one of the building’s residents, a gang leader who usually went under the alias, Feeldog but was registered with the building as Kwang-suk. Apparently, it was rumored that Hansol left NCT to join Feeldog’s gang, UNB, a rumor that Yuta apparently took great issue with.  

“There’s no way. He wouldn’t do that. Not without telling someone at least,” He maintained.

Haechan and Taeyong glanced at each other.  

“What?!” Yuta snapped.

Taeyong sighed.

“It’s just that you and Hansol were so close, it makes sense that you would have feelings of betrayal surrounding his disappearance.”

“So what? You think I’m blinded by our friendship or some shit? That I can’t think clearly? Hansol disappeared and we failed him by not finding him. Who knows what could UNB could have done to him? He could be dead for all we know!”  

Yuta was so riled up that he had to excuse himself from the table. Doyoung, who had remained silent this entire time, left with him.

“He gets like this anytime someone brings him up,” Mark sighed.

“There hadn’t been any sightings of Hansol since or even before the one at your building. That’s why when we got the tip, we decided to send in someone to go undercover,” Taeyong revealed before Haechan chimed in.

“Jaehyun obviously couldn’t send any of the members on an undercover mission since Hansol would have immediately recognized them. Mark and I were the only two members who hadn’t joined 127 until after Hansol disappeared so it had to be one of us. Since Mark was being trained to eventually take over NCT Dream, the Canadian unit, I was the obvious candidate. After that, we needed to figure out how I was going to be able to constantly surveil the building without being suspicious.”

“As a doorman?” I interjected.

“Exactly! It isn’t abnormal for a doorman to take an interest in their building’s residents. They see everyone who comes in or out of the building. They know everyone’s names and everyone’s business. They’re always there so you never think twice when you see them around the building.”

I let out a scoff which prompted Haechan to furrow his brows.

“What?” He asked.  

“So, all this time, you were just pretending to be my friend so that you could blend in?”  

My accusation was immediately purged of all seriousness when a snort escaped from Haechan as he began to cackle.

“Pretend to be friends with you?! To blend in?! Y/N, I did everything in my power to avoid you!”

Now it was my turn to furrow my brows.

“The first twenty times you saw me you were either hungover or drunk. Either way, you found a way to make a scene, calling me Dongfuck, asking me why I was so serious and telling me to loosen up a bit. I was so worried that you would blow my cover that when I saw Feeldog coming down the halls, I agreed to go drinking with you just to get you to leave before he got close.“

I could feel my cheeks start to burn up. Taeyong started to chuckle, only attempting to recompose himself after noticing my glare. I remembered what he was talking about. After what happened with Lucas, I found the Heartbreakers and was able to make enough money to afford rent in a bougie apartment building. But to say that I was in a better place would have been far from the truth. I was an absolute a mess. The only time I was sober was when I had just woken up and sometimes not even then.  

“I knew if I stood you up that you’d only make an even bigger ruckus the next time you saw me, so I decided to just say ‘fuck it’ and go party with you. I didn’t expect to have as much fun as I did.”

I looked up at Haechan and was surprised to see nothing but sincerity in his eyes.

“Okay, but what about you and Mark?” Is he the guy you had told me about?”  

All traces of peacefulness had disappeared from Haechan’s eyes which looked as though they were about to pop out of their sockets. I felt an elbow dig into my side though when I turned to scold its owner, I saw that Mark was shaking his head at me with a look so serious and grave that I could barely believe it had actually come from Mark, himself.  

I shot a look back at Taeyong who seemed more confused than anything, before taking notice of Jeno and Jaemin who both sent each other a casual smirk. I had totally forgotten that they were arguing about the secrecy of their relationship before I unintentionally intervened.

“I just meant... the guy you told me about, the one who loved watermelon more than anything? That was Mark, right?”

Both Haechan and I looked at Taeyong, who was chuckling under his breath.  

“He really does love watermelon, doesn’t he?” He laughed.

Haechan’s eyes returned to their usual state after realizing that Taeyong was still as clueless as ever.

Once I had been caught up on everything, Taeyong excused himself, allowing the table’s remaining occupants to discuss more personal matters.  

“Yes, Mark is the boyfriend I told you about. The one who can’t even man up and tell his coworkers that he’s bi and has a boyfriend.”  

“Wait, what?” Mark quirked, having returned to his default state of confusion.

“Oh, forget it,” Haechan sighed.

<><><><><><><><>

I woke up the next morning to the sound of the alarm clock Taeyong had given me the previous evening. I was glad to have some way of waking myself up in the morning so that Jeno wouldn’t have be the one to do it. I always felt bad for him since not only did he usually have to wake me up, he had to wait for me to get ready too. This way, I could wake myself up and be ready to meet Jeno in the training room before 6:00.  

Before coming here, I was never able to get myself out of bed this early, usually due to being hungover, but I really didn’t want to keep Jeno waiting, especially since he was doing me a favor by becoming my trainer.  

I got out of bed, still sluggish with sleep, and proceeded to put on my workout clothes. I brushed my hair out of my face, pulled it back into a ponytail and headed out the bedroom door.  

Since I was allowed to sleep in the day before, waking up at 5:30 was harder than usual. Just when I was starting to get used to the crazy schedule, Taeyong had to mess it up by telling Jeno to let me sleep in. My eyes could barely stay open as I wandered through the empty halls. I lightly slapped my cheeks with my hands in an attempt to shake away my drowsiness.  

I hoped that Jeno’s training voice would be enough to snap me out of my dazed state, so I immediately entered the training room when I arrived at its door.  

“Goodmorning, Jeno,“ I greeted as I tried to rub the sleep from my eyes.

“Goodmorning, Y/N.”

My breathing hitched and my lazy steps came to an immediate halt.  

All fatigue left my body along with any last traces of serenity I was feeling only moments prior.  

My hands carefully removed themselves from my eyes and dropped to my sides. 

“What are you doing here?”

[wolfcha1k]

An analysis on Guy, Eep and Grug NOBODY asked for in Croods - A New Age but tough shit

help

So its theory time :U Since this trailer seems to finally go into Guy’s perspective over things happening in the story. It seems like though Guy has been accepted into the Croods family, its not peaches and cream as one would think. Guy is used to having personal space, basically being able to have peace and quiet. Now after a lifetime of solitude [srsly, how long has he been alone??], this is a big adjustment for him. I don’t doubt he doesn’t care and love the Croods like family because they are his family now, he gave up a lot for them and Eep. There’s something of a culture difference between the family and him, with the Croods being used to being jam packed together and Guy who is more used to personal space.

Look how excited he gets over having his own space once they get to the Betterman Farm!

This also translates into his relationship with Eep. If you notice in a lot of the teasers so far, they’re never alone together. Grug is usually looming in the background or the family is there, they’re even using Chunky of all things to try getting away from them.

[also judging by the weave work here on the wood she’s probably in one of the spare rooms at the farm and the fact the clip launched with ‘World’s First Crush’, it might be safe to say even Eep starts to enjoy having privacy since this means you know, more Guy time but I’ll get more into Eep and what I think their ‘conflict’ will be later!] 

but ofc Grug is still there getting in their way, and if you’re a teenage boy in love with a girl, it bites hard that you can’t just enjoy one on one time alone with her. They keep getting interrupted whether it be by animals, the family, Grug or nature itself; that would cause tension for anyone’s relationship. Guy even needs to explain to Eep what privacy is and knowing how she lived, ofc this is a real weird and exciting concept for someone so used to having other people breathing down her neck.  

This translates into his relationship with Grug because I personally feel this has nothing to do with Eep herself and Guy doesn’t hold that against her. Grug is mentioned in interviews that he’s “not ready to accept Eep is all grown up and has her relationship with Guy” and that “she’s ready to leave the pack”, as Grug calls it. 

They survived the end of the world, but dynamics change, and I love continuing with where do Eep (Emma Stone’s character) and Guy (Ryan Reynolds) leave off (with their romantic relationship) and how does Grug (Nicolas Cage) accept the change that his daughter is now grown up? So we definitely further those themes of a father not wanting his daughter to leave “the pack” – as they call it – but she’s ready, and her relationship with Guy starts off where it ended in the first film.

Guy even causes what seems will be quite a fight when he tells Grug to chill out after Grug mentions “the pack is stronger together”. 

Grug probably wouldn’t be having this kind of fear if there was nothing to fear. It might be safe to say Guy and Eep are planning to leave the nest to be on their own. They’re both young adults and in love, its a natural step in a relationship to want to fly the coop. This snippet here really gives me those “engagement/promise ring” vibes with how Guy is holding the rock drawing and Eep is reacting. 

Just what did he say before this? They’re also huddling away and discussing privacy, perhaps it was the lead up into “Hey Eep, let’s move out”, or whatever the caveman version of it is.

and Grug is watching them very worriedly. 

There is something up going on with them now, and though Grug has accepted Guy and Eep, this isn’t a step he’s ready for as a father [and honestly probably after surviving The End/repaired his relationship with Eep, didn’t think would be coming this soon]

This segment in the interview really heavily implies these sort of things too:

The world is always changing, and families also change. As a father, Grug’s maybe not ready for the next step of his daughter leaving home. And with Eep and Guy I thought, “This is a great opportunity to now hand it off to them.” In the first movie it’s like puppy love between Eep and Guy. They meet each other, and they’re in love. But they’re the only two teenagers in the world, so of course they love each other. This story answers the question of why they actually belong to each other. Through the course of this story, we challenge what their relationship means, and why they should spend their future together.

You don’t talk about challenging what a relationship means and what their future will be without planning something surrounding that. They are planning and its freaking Grug out.

I also think in Grug’s own way he doesn’t want to see Guy go either, since it must say a lot about how different the dynamic of Guy and Grug’s relationship as a son and father figue have shifted if Guy feels he can tell Grug to calm down and also flirt/court Eep with protective daddy vision on him all hours of the day. When the Betterman’s show up, I am convinced Grug is going to get defensive over Guy bc he’s now as good as his son.

There’s also these little moments which seem pretty small but:

[as sour as Guy looks here, it probably means a lot for Grug to actually let Guy be in their sleep pile]

[also look how pure and excited Guy is to share about the shower with Eep and Grug]

I feel Grug does care for Guy but being how Grug is has unintentionally made Guy feel like an outsider in the Croods clan.

Now, back to the Bettermans and Guy. The lifestyle they live is clean, modernized and has routine, things Guy is probably craving with an inventive mind such as his. He’s just in heaven rn. These people are more like him than the Croods are, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The Croods are still important to him but it probably feels invigorating to meet likeminded people.

You can already tell in the trailers Guy is going to form a bond with them. Part of me doubts they’re actually related to Guy like as parents and a sister but I won’t rule out the possibility, considering how invested Phil seems to be with Guy in a lot of the teasers and trailers. Perhaps they’re extended family or old family friends who knew Guy’s, we won’t know yet.

This bond I feel will be the prime focus of the film and conflict as well. [and no, not in the love triangle way concerning Dawn, there’s already an interview disproving that!]

“It seems from the trailer that Kelly Marie Tran’s Dawn and Emma Stone’s Eep hit it off immediately…” There’s definitely a lane that is driven a lot in romantic comedy type things where the new girl is the cause of jealousy. With Eep and Guy, when this other girl comes into the picture it would have been easy to go, “Oh, she could be the romantic rival.” We made the purposeful decision to not go down that lane.

However I do think his friendship with Dawn will be something as a compare/contrast with how Eep treats her. Both are doing what they feel is better and right for the sheltered girl, with Eep wanting to take Dawn outside the wall and Guy getting upset when he finds out Eep took her out.

He’s obviously going to catch them and lecture Eep about this. Now, how does Eep feel about Guy’s shift?

At first, I really think she supports him on connecting with the Bettermans and all the stuff he wants to do. Guy is quirky, he’s inventive, and likes to push the mold in what he can change to make life easier on himself and the people he loves. This place is his Utopia and considering the exchange she has with Grug over “a little change isn’t the end of the world”, she probably is willing to give the farm a chance because she knows Guy has been feeling lost and probably the butt of the joke lately [least where Grug is involved]

We also know Eep loves to try new things, she just in general loves new. Its what attracted her to Guy and even after it all, still loves Guy. 

However, this is what I believe is going to be the start of the conflict between Eep and Guy too. Guy starts to change too much and Guy being Guy probably doesn’t realize it. She starts seeing the farm as another cave, another place to hide and seeing Guy thriving here probably makes her feel worried about what this means for them as a couple. That wall like Eep said is Dawn’s cave, and Guy probably doesn’t think of it that way after a lifetime of danger and being on the run from The End. Also the private bedroom probably helps

Anyway, what was I saying?

also something I noticed was when they first arraive in the elevator you got Guy looking at Eep to see her reaction to this place. He’s obviously hoping she’s finding the Bettermans has amazing as he is.

and just look how happy he looks seeing Eep isn’t going to freak out at Dawn I guess??? lol 

Just “these two worlds are melding nicely”

However something I think is going to happen as the premises of the movie is both families settling their différences aside/celebrating them, is that somewhere along the line as Eep and Guy get closer to Dawn, there’s going to be a shift. The Bettermans perhaps act uppity with the Croods since they are cavemen and deemed less intelligent, so you got Guy stuck in the middle with his two found families trying to co-exist [also Eep too, bc her friendship with Dawn is obviously a major plot thread of the film]

Eep takes Dawn out for a joyride and the two bring in danger that followed them there.

“What’s on the other side of the wall?”

also totally predicting some kind of reveal that makes Guy have a temporary fall out with Phil, I don’t know why but its just a vibe I’m getting. Phil looks scared and Guy looks pretty pissed off while asking about the wall. That or he says something about the Croods themselves he feels is too far, I mean, Guy looks rather uncomfortable here as Phil says “We’re an evolved people” pretty smugly. 

“Phil those are my future in-laws, stop”

He’s also seated on their side of the table, keep note of that with the Croods on the other. There’s going to be a sense torn between both worlds going on for Guy in this film, at least I think so. And its going to challenge him and how he cares for Eep and the Croods. 

Leading into Eep and the Croods.

The big bad shows up, wrecks some shit and abducts everyone, at least it seems like it here.

“The only way to survive is if the pack stays together”, this whole adventure reminds Guy of his place in the Croods family and gives Eep and Grug a better understanding of what Guy is feeling/going through.

People loved The Croods, and they’d been trying to make another one… but it’s a high bar. I can say this because I didn’t work on [the first film], it’s a beautiful movie. It’s funny, and it’s about family. I was like, “I want to see the continuation of where we left off with these characters.” Especially with the father/daughter aspect of the first one, and going, “Now that Grug has accepted Guy into his pack, and has this great relationship with his daughter, where do they go from there?”

Something tells me Guy and Eep have their big blow up somewhere around Rafikzilla shows up, and after getting separated, Guy has a heart to heart with Grug about Eep and just their strained relationship in general. They patch things up, and together with Phil go forth to kick some monkey ass. And they reunite and things are okay again. Blah, blah, blah. Wow this got weak near the end, um but this interview sums it up pretty good for me tho.

“Was it always the idea to introduce a second family?” Yeah, that was there in my first pitch. You have the Croods come across another family, the Bettermans, who are a more evolved family, and these two families couldn’t be more different. The Croods lead with their heart, and the Bettermans lead with their brain. Of course, there’s conflict, they face challenges, but they learn to appreciate each other’s differences – not just to live with each other’s differences but to almost celebrate them. There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot of characters in this one. There’s a lot of wonderful, powerful themes. But it’s a ridiculous comedy too.

Basically, Guy is having a midlife crisis at the age of 19 and gets his shit together, Eep gets a better understanding of her boyfriend, and Grug finally backs tf off so we can get Croods 3 where Eep and Guy have a kid :U also I’ve been calling A New Age the “Shrek 2″ of the Croods in terms of how the story seems to be shaping up with Guy, Eep and the two families, I’m hoping I’m right because that would be some delicious development to see.