#they’re both the exact same age give or take a couple years

[scoutpologist]

ppl on pinterest complaining about the sniperscout “age gap” because sniper looks older than he is…. i am so glad i can go back to tumblr whenever i want holy shit

[itoshi-s]

Heyy :) I hope you’re doing good! I see your taking thirsts and stuff 👀 I would like to have bachira x reader (aged up obv) where they’re married and he gets a special lingerie surprise ✨ + breeding kink 🏃‍♀️ Thank you <33

──✧ ˚ · “ 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭

*.✧ ft. 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮

*.✧ wc: 2.6k. nsfw / 17+ only / minors dni ! - fem reader, characters are in their early/mid twenties, meguru & reader are married, breeding kink, mentions of planning babies. not proofread // notes: this is such a cute idea ,, thank u nonnie for the request !! and sorry for makin u wait that long </3 hope u like it tho !!

there is something saccharine about the way you treat him, meguru thinks. 

he’s tried his whole life to be a good person - never really did anyone wrong, at least not by intention - but could meeting you really be an adequate reward for his heartfelt nature? 

just in case the universe ever decided to change it’s mind about it, he doesn’t want to waste no time or take you for granted. it’s a little unexpected, perhaps crazy - but meguru knows it well. isagi pounces on his best friend as soon as he opens the neat cream-colored envelope and reads the very few words of the wedding invitation; and as you both stand at the altar and read out your vows to each other a few months later, you swear you can see the rest of the former blue lock top players wipe at their eyes.

he’s never been big on giving out details on his private life to the media, even despite his open and playful personality, but the wedding of course brought their attention; once you’re back from the two weeks long honeymoon trip and the season starts, meguru can only laugh and grin at the reporters as they congratulate him on the marriage.

“yeah, i really am a lucky guy,” he looks over to the camera, eyes twinkling despite the exhaustion making him pant slightly still. he brings a hand up, showing off the white gold ring that beams in the reflectors, “love you, baby.”

the news about japan’s best dribbler tying the knot at such an early age surprisingly doesn’t bring too much negative feedback - and actually, you two might just be one of the favorite soccer couples in the country. you’re just too sweet - always in the very front row of the bleachers, clad in your husband’s jersey, screaming your lungs out whenever he steals the ball. there’s always a picture of bachira with his arms wrapped around your waist, you giving the crown of his head an earnest kiss, taken just minutes after the final whistle of the game. you’re the very first thing he wants to feel - the only person that can handle his emotions, his frustration, his joy. 

despite being only in his mid twenties and the idea of being a married man at this age would make him roll with laughter long years ago, meguru’s sure that somehow, this had to be written in his fate - because it just feels too right to have you.

    he thinks the exact same when you welcome him home at the front door, in your cream colored silk robe already due to the late hour, and manages to steal a glance of the white lace hiding underneath.

    “is that a prize for yesterday?” he sounds playful, giddy, even, but you can tell by his dilated pupils that it takes a lot of control for him not to bend you right over the couch. 

he kicks his shoes off, a slight grin tugging at his lips, and rests his hands on your hips with an urgent squeeze.

you hum, a small giggle slipping past as you feel meguru’s teeth nibble on your earlobe, “you noticed? i wanted to give you a little show,” you mumble, hands resting on the slippery material of his training jersey. he breathes against your ear, heavier and quicker than usual. he’s needy and you can tell - feel his already fully hard cock press against your abdomen. 

“you still can,” he murmurs, pressing little kisses to the sensitive skin just below your ear, “please, baby?” his lips move against your heated skin and a sigh slips past your mouth, the feeling causing your head to lull to the side and your eyelashes to tickle against your cheekbones. 

meguru gives your waist a squeeze, fingers digging into the satin clad flesh, before moving to the couch and plopping down. he lets go of you just enough to keep you standing between his spread legs and looks up at you, waiting. bangs stick to his forehead slightly, still sweaty from his practice, and his eyes are wide - excited and bright.

if there was one thing you loved most about your husband, it’s definitely the glint behind the honey colored irises that makes him so warm, inviting, and so alluring.

leaning his head back comfortably, his eyes follow the way your hands slowly slip the robe off your shoulder, then work on untying the knot at your waist.

“fuck,” there’s an urgency to his little whisper, a sound that makes the corners of your lips twitch. “reminds me of-”

“i know,” you mumble with a smile, so sweet it makes bachira’s tummy flutter. the eyelash lace is a bright white, a pretty contrast to the hue of your skin, a rich gold thread drawing pretty little flowers along the swell of your breast.”figured you’ll like this.”

oh of course he did. in fact, anyone else would probably feel embarrassed upon getting so worked up so quickly - but meguru has no shame in the way looking at his pretty little wife, clad in a lace set that resembles the one you wore on your wedding night, makes his cock twitch in his shorts within a minute.

he’s needy, but you’re at fault for it.

your fingers slip up, nails catching on the white elastic of the garters that digs into the flesh of your thighs, and meguru’s eyes follow the movement, saliva thick in his throat. as your fingertips caress along the lace suspender belt, your gaze moves down, catching on the visible bulge in his shorts, and how he keeps his hands on his knees - so well behaved it makes you chuckle. “don’t be shy,” you tease, and bachi blinks once before grinning himself. he leans forward, hands moving to grab at your thighs and pulling you forward. you stumble a bit, not expecting such an urgent movement, but don’t have time to react as meguru’s mouth already latches onto your neck.

he breathes against the soft skin, a trail of goosebumps rising in turn, and grips your hips tightly to rut his hips against your core. it’s sudden and quick, desperate, and you can hear the exhilaration as he whines. 

“so pretty,” he sighs, nearly dreamily, and digs his fingers in the flesh of your ass. “want you so bad now, baby. you make me so hard it hurts.” 

bachira isn’t ever the one to shy away from letting his mouth run - always vocalizes each and every need, no matter how filthy and desperate it is - and hearing his breath hitch as he does it is just enough to make arousal cling to your thighs. 

“meguru,” you whimper, the force of his grip enough to make you bruise - but it’s okay. “please, i need you.” 

gold eyes lock with yours, and he pulls away from your chest, where he was busy nipping and kissing. “yeah? y’missed me?” there’s a hint of hope in his voice, as if surprised. as if you weren’t soaking wet for him nearly all of the time - particularly waiting for him to get back home from practice.

he hooks a few fingers behind the elastic of the thong and pulls it down with your help, a little lift and shimmy of your hips, and eases the flimsy material down your legs. as soon as it’s off, he cups your heat with one hand, warm and rough, and it makes you jolt. 

“hah- fuck- you’re dripping all over me, baby. m’sorry i kept you waitin.” he moans, palm rubbing against your clit messily, and he can feel the throbbing pulse against his hand. his fingers are wet with your slick already, but he doesn’t mind - not at all.

resting one hand at the small of your back, bachira’s quick to flip you over with no effort, lips connecting with yours the second your back hits the couch.

his kiss is messy, soft moans breathy against your mouth as he pushes his tongue against yours with need. it’s hot and wet, desperate as his hands stumble to push his shorts down and hold himself up above you at the same time.

your legs wrap around his waist instinctively, the movement almost a muscle memory by this point, and you watch as meguru takes his shirt off hurriedly. slim muscles flex at the action, the scent of sweat and his cologne still clinging to his milky skin. you moan out, the pheromones clouding over your mind, and you reach between your bodies, fingers barely wrapping around his throbbing cock.

“ah-” there’s a slight whine ripping from bachira’s throat, a sound that’s so pretty, so fitting to the already fucked out expression on his features. “you’re a needy thing, aren’t you? want me inside of you already~” you flick your wrist, giving a few long strokes to his length, and muster a quick nod. 

“yeah, ‘guru,” you breathe, chest heaving softly with every breath, fingers moving from his crotch to grab at his bicep instead. you watch, eyes glued between your legs, as he slides his cock between your folds a few times, coating it in your slick, before eventually easing himself in.

your body grows tense at the feeling, walls throbbing and tightening on bachira, swallowing him whole - right up to the very base as he bottoms out fully, a grunt rumbling in his chest.

your head tilts back, not a single moan having slipped out yet, and it feels as if your mind’s slowly turning into mush. it’s just him, all inside of you, his body so hot against your frame, pressing against you and overwhelming each and every of your senses. it only ever brings you back afloat when meguru starts to move, hips moving back just slightly before pushing back in. he’s so deep inside if you, it feels as if he’s in your guts.

“just like that,” you struggle to focus your eyes on bachira’s face as he moans, voice already reaching an octave higher with arousal, and you notice his eyes are trained just above where your cunt is grappling to fit all of him. “fuck- ngh- can you feel me here?” 

your quick pants turn into little whines when meguru places a hand on your lower abdomen, pressing down on the flesh, and the crazed look behind his eyes makes you shudder. you can feel him move inside of you, rubbing up all against the most sensitive spots, the flared head of his cock stumbling against your cervix - and it would usually make you wince, but this time, as he presses a large palm against the fucking bulge in your tummy, it makes you feral.

“you’re- ‘re so big,” your voice is wet with tears, adrenaline pumping through your veins and easing the discomfort that comes with each of bachira’s thrust that almost feels like he’s going to break you apart. “feel you whole, meguru.” there’s something so sweet about the way you say his name, it makes his hips stutter before picking up a quicker, steadier rhythm. bachira groans under his breath, bending his arm so he can rest his elbow beside your head, and moves his hand from your tummy to wrap your leg around his waist even tighter. 

your pussy’s so warm, so slippery, and it’s almost as if you’re sucking him in even deeper each time he pushes his hips forward. he wonders how is it even possible for you to feel so heavenly, as if your cunt was molded perfectly for him to fit. 

maybe you really were made for him only.

bachira feels the familiar pull in his balls, as if a jolt of electricity runs through his nerves, and he whines, shameless and breathy as his eyes find yours.

“my pretty girl,” he moans, watching your face contort in pleasure, brows furrowing and eyes glimmering, “wanna stuff you full, ‘kay? you want that?” there’s no time for a coherent response as his hips smack against your ass, thrusting so hard it makes you jostle. the slight twitch of bachira’s cock inside of you is just enough to give away his climax creeping in, but as he lets the filth spill out past his mouth you realize just how desperate he is to reach it. “fill you up with m’ cum until you leak. yeah? wanna make me a daddy, pretty girl?” 

he’s blabbering at this point, high pitched moans breaking into a whine as he watches your eyes roll back. he’s down so bad, chasing his orgasm and the feeling of your pussy clamping down on him, you don’t think he even realizes the weight of his words. 

your back arches, legs tightening around bachira’s slim waist, and cry out as his hand once again rests on your abdomen, pressing down and making your pussy spasm. 

“please, meguru,” you gasp, the familiar spark growing stronger in your tummy. you can feel his cock drag against the front wall of your cunt, rubbing against the spot that makes your muscles grow pliant. “please- fill me up.” you breathe, shakily, and your voice barely makes it out of your throat. “wanna give you- aah- give you a baby.”

it’s experimental, sounds so lewd as you say it between little moans, but you know bachira’s lovesick. you know that the slim, white gold band that sits snugly on his finger is his greatest possession, a reminder of his devotion to you - and even though the two of you haven’t discussed expanding your family yet, you can see the way meguru’s eyes widen slightly and adam’s apple bobs upon hearing your words.

you can feel his hips stutter, sturdy quads pressing against your ass, and bachira whines, long and needy, as his heavy thrusts grow sloppy. you can see him struggling to keep his eyes on you, drinking up the look you give him, egging him on - but as your walls throb around him and a gasp catches in your throat, your orgasm hitting you full force, he squeezes his eyes shut and drops his head in the crook of your neck.

he ruts into you, the few last pushes into you reaching so deep it makes you cry and grab at his back, and eventually, he stills. his hips are snug against yours, breathy whimpers loud in your ear, breaking through the white noise that echoes through your head, and you feel his seed spurt right against your cervix. it’s hot, feels sticky and thick as he fills you up, granting you your wish and stuffing you so full, there’s a rivulet of milky cum seeping out and down your thigh. 

“baby,” he sounds so riled up as he breathes, mouthing against your collarbone, “shit - feels so good.” he’s choked up with pleasure, body trembling slightly with aftershocks of his climax, and you wrap your arms around his neck - inviting, easing him through.

“i know,” you whisper, legs eventually loosening in their spot around his hips as he lets himself rest on top of you. his body’s spent, heavy as it lays on you, but you don’t mind it one bit - not when he nuzzles against your neck, eyelashes fluttering against your jugular, and sighs. 

bachira sneaks his arms around your waist, skin clammy on one another, but it feels so familiar, it’s warm in his chest and makes his heart throb. 

it doesn’t stay silent for too long as meguru’s soft laughter cuts through the heavy, humid air. he cocks his head up, a glint in his eye.

“you meant it?” he’s curious, almost hopeful, and despite your cheeks already having reddened with exhaustion, his inquiring brings an even deeper blush to your face.

you shrug, softly, and meguru reads right through it, the giddy smile wide on his lips.

“do you want me to?” 

reblogs are greatly appreciated ! :)

© itoshi-s. do not plagiarize, repost as your own or mention on other sm platforms.

[darlingpoppet]

any updates on wtdf? i hope u have a wonderful day 💕

Hi anon! Thanks so much for checking in! And thanks for doing it on tumblr, this is a good opportunity to push me out of lurk mode and refill my queue while offering some much needed updates!

Anyways, the short answer is: WTDF chapter 8 is coming along, albeit more slowly than I intended, and it might still be another month or two before it’s finally done.

The longer explanation is this: Chapter 8 is another doozy like chapter 4 was… if you read the notes for chapter 4, or read my other WTDF-related posts here on tumblr, then perhaps you’re familiar with the fact that completing that chapter was also a protracted process that juggled a different fic project with a fixed deadline, a bout of writer’s block, and inspiration wandering to some different one-shots before ultimately getting me back on-track. I’m a bit sorry to say that I seem to be unintentionally experiencing an exact repeat of last year 🥲💦

In April, when I was still on-track to finish the chapter within my self-imposed deadline, a friend asked me to pinch-hit for their zine, and I was happy to put all my own projects on the back burner for a couple of weeks while I helped out a friend in-need. Once that project was finished at the end of April I immediately got back to work on WTDF, but less than two weeks in (right around the time Hades II Early Access dropped, so I was already a little bit distracted lol) I got saddled with a leadership position preparing for an event at my kid’s kindergarten, which took up 100% of my free time as well as the complete use of my hands (because A LOT of crafting was also involved lol.) So for the rest of May, zero writing got done (though I listened to a lot of podcasts and youtube video essays during that time, I’m thinking of making a rec list sometime of the stuff I enjoyed just for fun!)

And now here we are toward the end of June and the chapter still isn’t done. Even now I keep huffing the copium by telling myself I can finish it by the end of the month, but I’m gonna be honest: all of the interruptions & delays have left me struggling to get back in the right headspace for this story & at this point I admit that I seem to have fallen into another writer’s block 🥲 The last couple of weeks have been me making incremental progress while also trying to refill my cups.

I really hoped I could finish it this month because I’m already planning on doing camp nanowrimo in July to FINALLY finish the draft for the dreamers AU that has also been in the works for over a year now. And tbh that’s the story that I’m now daydreaming about as I start to get myself back into the writing zone. So I think I just gotta Trust The Process on this one and strike the iron where it’s hot for now, because at least I can point to my experience last year and give credit to my fics Closest & Flourishing for giving me the needed momentum to finally get WTDF Ch 4 over the finish line (followed by a streak of productivity that lasted me pretty much up until this point!)

So while I’m sorry that this means WTDF Ch 8 is gonna continue to be delayed a bit longer, I also think it’ll be worth it in the end when I have both these projects finished and I’m feeling good about the direction the inspiration is taking them. FWIW a lot of the ideas & themes I’m thinking about for the dreamers AU—such as prolonged periods of transition, coming of age, and the liminal qualities of queerness & gender identity—they are helping ideas coalesce in my approach to WTDF Ch 8, which, as I may have mentioned before, is a treatment of the Skyros arc. It’s actually fitting that I’m working on these projects both at the same time because I think they’re actively making one another better, which means I’m getting even more excited to complete & share them! The dreamers AU seems likely to be split into two parts at this point, so it makes sense to me to sandwich the WTDF update in between those. I can never really make concrete promises about my publishing schedule anymore, but for now at least, that’s the plan.

Anyways sorry for the longwinded & possibly boring explanation/list of excuses. But I appreciate your ask, it means a lot to know that people care 🥹🙏 Thank you everyone for their patience so far!!! I know I’m slow haha but everyone has been nothing but kind & understanding about it <3

You have a wonderful day as well ❤️

[electricbluebutterflies]

Joel/Tess + “an abrupt, heated kiss during the middle of a fight”

Something like mid-era, PG-ish (there's Language but nothing more), also on ao3.

Fuck.

Tess is not mad. Tess blew past that emotion maybe two hours ago, and now she has a cut on her fucking hip that’ll probably scar and she’s lucky that’s where that asshole knifed her and she’s lucky that’s as far as their weapons supply went and-

By the time she gets home, she’s pretty sure she’s never doing favors for her partner ever again.

She knows the ground rules of their relationship – she gets to do most of the local stuff alone because her pre-apocalypse life choices did not give her a lot of useful skills for the current state of the world, and she’s just as capable of handling their black-market activities, and for god’s sake she grew up in Philly in a family of hockey fans, the half-feral gangster wannabes of Boston do not scare her. And in fairness, she usually enjoys all of it. Makes sure she pulls her weight, handles most of their connections because she at least had once worked retail long enough to be able to play nice with just about anything on legs for a couple minutes at a time, and-

Normally this works out great. Today is not fucking normal.

Today is she got knifed, and the little jackass half her age who thought that was a great idea got knifed in return – never escalate weapons level, Tess has learned, especially in situations that remind her how close she is to forty – and everyone will be okay in a day or two but by the time she makes it back to the apartment she’s not sure how okay she is now, and she’s absolutely going to-

Unfortunately for him, Joel is home and at least looks like he’s had a better day. Fair game.

“What the hell-“

Tess laughs, full-body overwhelmed visceral. “Don’t start. Don’t fuckin’ start.”

“You come home late, I’m gonna-“

She lifts her shirt for the visual, the wound just above the waistband of her pants – unpleasant but it’ll heal, with a little care it’ll at least be a subtle scar – and glares at her partner with a frustration she can only justify with how many years they’ve put up with each other’s bullshit. He’s just as bad, different flavor but the same passively suicidal tendencies, but difference is he’s bigger and the people they deal with tend to take that a little more seriously and-

“Don’t send me into the fuckin’ depths and then get worried when something goes wrong,” she hisses. She’s not blaming him, let her make that absolutely clear, but she needs to yell at somebody and he’s here and convenient and peripherally involved and-

“Other person look worse?”

“Does it matter? I am bleeding and you are-“

“Wondering whether we have to lay low a while is a legitimate-“

“You can’t even stay focused on me for two damn minutes, you can’t-“

He clears the distance between them and gets his hands on her face and his mouth on hers and it’s… more intense than usual, she realizes that in the haze of it all, they both run more aggressive when one of them has recently gotten hurt but this is bitey and full-on and-

“That look like not focused to you?”

What it looks like, Tess is half tempted to say, is the exact placement of her recent wound is going to make the usual conclusion of these days hard to a point of unthinkable. They’re volatile lovers and she’s pretty sure she could still wind him up enough to do her, but injuries get respected and the goddamned cut is right where he’d put a hand if he were fucking her… basically anywhere, neither wall nor couch nor bed is safe, she is so annoyed, she is so-

“You can screw me tomorrow,” she suggests, delay not deny. “When I’m not…”

“Shit. Yeah.” He kisses her again, a little softer, one of those kisses that makes her wonder about the future of them. “Just… can’t lose you. Don’t wanna think about it.”

Love you too, she’d say if she were a little braver. She never will; she’s accepted those words just don’t sound right in her voice, just as they wouldn’t in his. But she can hear them in the silence, as her lover walks away for a few moments and comes back to her with a rag dipped in moonshine that stings like hell on her exposed skin. They’re not like that, but they don’t need to be either.

“You take such good care of me,” she murmurs, leaning into the touch anyways.

Love you too, his gentleness says. She’ll take it.

[socalbhrt]

Southern California Center for Anti-Aging (aka Anti-Aging Center at Make You Well) 23211 Hawthorne Blvd Suite 200-A Torrance, CA 90505 424-247-4962  SEMAGLUTIDE PEPTIDE THERAPY FOR WEIGHT LOSS | OZEMPIC AND WEGOVY WEIGHT LOSS DOCTORS  Hi everybody, thank you for being here today with me. So what's all this hype about the Semaglutide peptide known as Ozempic and Wegovy - the weight loss medications that are blowing up on the internet and going viral on social media. They're being touted as Miracle weight loss medications and now everybody ran out to get them. So what is the big deal? I'm dr. Judy Gold Stone. I am an obesity medical specialist with the anti-aging Center and make you well and I'm going to share with you my two best weight loss tips at the end of this video. So please be sure to stick around. And back to Ozempic and Wegovy - They aren't exactly the miracle weight-loss drugs, that everybody sang but they do work better with less side effects than any other medication approved for weight loss of till now they're both the same thing of peptide called semi latitude 72 has been around for a while and in 2017 the FDA approved it as a treatment for diabetes. St4 on those jumping were noted to be losing pretty significant amounts of weight. So in 2021 the FDA approved, something creative for weight loss and that drug was called Lugo V. They are both the same thing. The only difference is the dosage of the similitude, it's higher in were bovie. So your best office just thinking of it as so many fortitude. How does it cause weight loss? Well, it mimics a natural hormone which lowers blood sugar causes, the feeling of fullness and slows the rate of which food empties out of the stomach that all leads to feeling full and a decreased appetite. So people eat a lot less Another great thing about 70. Good to, you know, sembach and we'll go visit. The same thing is that there are no Jitters or staying up late at night. Right thinking of the older medications. The older medications, the best, you can hope to get was about 5 to 10% of your body weight, lost at the end and a good diet and exercise, people are losing up to 15 to 20% of their initial body weight within a year. That's better than anything and almost like a gastric bypass surgery. The side effects are pretty minimal, nausea! Vomiting and constipation diarrhea. There can be in a rare event and acute pancreatitis or a gallbladder attack. Gallbladder test can happen to anybody losing significant amounts of weight. I'm so confident in these medications that I even have my own daughter taking it. Now there are a couple people who should not use it for medical reasons. So please be sure to check with your physician before you start jumping on a medical weight loss plan. It can be very expensive as I'm sure. You know, it can cost 1200 to 1500 dollars per month without insurance and insurance companies have very strict fight. Materia about who they will approve, 470, good tubes. So approval doesn't happen that often since so sympathetic, and we'll go VR so hard to get. Now I use a compounding pharmacy, which does make something with to the exact same chemical structure as Exempted or would go. Lea to same selling with you and a much more reasonable price. It's taken as a subcutaneous injection. That means just below the skin. It's easy to do and painless And remember, you have to combine it with exercise and a good weight loss program to get the best results. Most people, unfortunately will regain the weight, they lost within a year. That's just the sad fact about weight loss and this is where the two tips that I promise to give you come in. I learned these tips from my weight loss, patient number one is accountability patients team in and setting in so many ways. They said, I need to pay the money. I need to have something to report to. I need accountability. Otherwise, you just go back to your old habits and regain all the weight that you lost. And the second tip is support only you care and we care about your weight loss, pretty much nobody else really does, they're not going to encourage you. But at the anti-aging Center at make you, well, first, we customize a weight loss program for you, with exercise, we do a medical evaluation And, We give you the support that you need every week you come in and get your cellular to the injection. We counsel you and you have them much better chance to keep that weight off permanently because we haven't maintenance program where we keep you coming back for that, support that you need. We promise to get your cheerleaders for life. Weight Loss Doctors in Los Angeles

[messers-moony]

Accepted | F.H

Paring: Five Hargreeves X Wife!Reader

Summary: Five craves nothing more than to be accepted and loved by his siblings. That doesn’t appear to happen when he time travels back to 2019 after disappearing for seventeen years.

Five had never seen anyone so beautiful before. Even in the apocalypse, she was gorgeous. He knew it wasn’t because they were the only ones left either. She had his heart from the moment they accidentally ended up in the apocalypse together.

Y/n was a normal girl, an ordinary girl. She had no powers, completely powerless. It just so happens she was walking down the sidewalk and brushed shoulders with Five, which brought her with him.

He couldn’t be mad at her. It wasn’t her fault that they had brushed shoulders. He should’ve been more careful. Y/n was a shy and skittish girl. Not very talkative. It took her a week to use her voice after being thrown into the end of the world.

Despite Five’s commonly inpatient nature, he was extremely patient with her. She was all he had now, and he felt completely comfortable with her. It took a year for her to open up to him, to trust him finally.

She told him all about school and what it was like while Five listened intently. He loved listening to her talk about normal kid activities, things he never got to participate in. Y/n promised him once they got back to save the world, no matter how old, they’d do those things together.

The girl had a certain aura around her that just made him smile. After five years, they were inseparable. Five couldn’t imagine life without her. He couldn’t fathom how he lived without her. He could tell her anything and didn’t fear of being judged.

He had been strong for so long, but not he didn’t have to be anymore. He could let loose and be himself, whether it was being playful, cheerful, upset, or angry. He could be him, and that’s all that mattered to him.

At the age of twenty, they decided to date, knowing it’d be a risk but a risk well taken because Five proposed at the age of twenty-five. Obviously, getting married wasn’t really an option. Nevertheless, he always thought of her as Y/n Hargreeves. His pride and joy.

At the age of forty-one, they were both taken into the commission– a job they both loathed. However, in order to get back to their time, it had to be done. Every night after a mission or a long day, Five would snuggle up Y/n’s chest and sob.

It became a daily routine for the next four and a half years. Every night Five would cry. He missed everything and hated everything. He regretted not listening. He hated the killing. He missed his siblings. Y/n would sit and listen while rubbing his back.

She thought for sure that his siblings missed him. Oh, how wrong she was. She found that out when they returned back to their timeline. Both lovers had fallen to the ground back in their thirteen-year-old bodies.

“ Does anyone else see Little Number Five and a little girl, or is that just me? “ A male queried as five people peered at the two.

Y/n and Five both got up from the ground looking down at their attire. Their clothes were ten times too big for them now. Five appeared to look just as young as he did forty-five years ago, and so did Y/n. Five couldn’t help but smile at her gorgeous appearance that he hadn’t seen in years. She was beautiful at all ages, but he was particularly fond of her teenage form, as was she of him.

“ Shit. “ Five muttered as he walked past them, and Y/n followed.

Five led her into the Hargreeves manor. It was a huge house, one that consisted of too many bedrooms and bathrooms for one person. He held her hand tight, and he stood at the end of the table. At the same time, his siblings piled around the table.

“ What’s the date? The exact date. “ Five’s voice was stern as he began making food, “ The 24th. “ A brunette female responded.

“ Of what? “ Five asked, annoyed, “ March. “ She replied again.

“ Good. “ Five said, opening the loaf of bread.

“ Are you gonna introduce us to your lady friend? “ The male from earlier questioned, and Y/n took refuge behind Five.

Five sighed as he pulled her next to him, letting his arm rest upon her waist, “ This, is Y/n Hargreeves. “

“ Hargreeves? Is she dad’s biological child, or was there another child we didn’t know about? “ The big male quizzed, and Five smirked, looking up at his siblings, “ Or perhaps the most obvious conclusion, but you guys aren’t smart enough to see what’s right in front of you. “ Five insulted, which made Y/n lightly hit him.

“ She’s my wife. “ The boy summarized, kissing her cheek, “ Wife?! You guys are thirteen. “ A woman in a blue shirt interjected.

“ Ignore that. What just happened outside? “ A large male queried as Five continued to make his food, “ It’s been 17 years. “

Five scoffed, “ It’s been a lot longer than that. “

Gently Five removed his arm from Y/n’s waist, and spatial jumped behind Luther to grab something. Y/n was hesitant but took a seat on the counter as her husband's siblings stared her down

“ I haven’t missed that. “ The big male murmured, “ Where’d you go? “ Questioned a male in all black.

“ The future. It’s shit, by the way. “ Five replied as he spatial jumped from getting his marshmallows and back to the front of the table, “ Called it! “ The skinny male exclaimed

“ I should’ve listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing. “ The teen began as he looks through the fridge, “ Jumping through time is a toss of the dice. “

The boy looked up from what he was doing and took his sibling's appearances in, the ones he missed dearly but saw all dead. If you were Y/n, you could see his green eyes glass over. But if you were the Hargreeves siblings, you saw a heartless and cold teenage boy.

“ Nice dress. “ He complimented, “ Oh, well, danke! “ The skinny male exclaimed.

“ Wait, how did you get back? “ Asked the anxious brunette, “ In the end, I had to project our consciousnesses forward into a suspended quantum state version of ourselves that exists across every possible instance of time. “ Five answered.

“ That makes no sense. “ Blurted the black-wearing male, “ Well, it would if you were smarter. “ Five smirked.

“ Five, stop. They’re trying to understand. You probably sound insane. “ Y/n spoke up for the first time since coming back, “ Oh, I like her. “ The skinny male chuckled.

“ I’m Klaus. “ He introduced, “ Pleasure. “ Y/n greeted with a smile.

The strong male looked baffled, “ How long were you two there? “

Y/n sighed, “ Forty-Five years. Give or take. “ Five answered, “ So what are you saying? That you two are 58? “ He questioned again.

“ Our consciences are 58, apparently our bodies are 13 again. “ The teen boy answered, “ Wait, how does that even work? “ Questioned the brunette again.

“ He got the equations wrong. Meaning his math was off, bringing us back into the same bodies we left in. “ Y/n softly explained as Five ate his food.

“ Guess I missed the funeral. “ Five said as he picked up a newspaper on the table, “ How’d you even know about that? “ Asked the large male.

“ What part of the future do you not understand? “ Five barked, “ Heart failure, huh? “

“ Yeah/No. “ Contradicting answers.

“ Nice to see nothings changed. “ Five said, clicking his tongue, walking away.

“ Uh, that’s it? That’s all you have to say? “ Questioned the curly-haired woman asked the boy who was walking away.

“ What else is there to say? It’s the circle of life. “ Five said now out of the room and into the rest of the mansion.

“ Well, that was interesting. “ The big male concluded.

Y/n sighed, “ I’m sorry for him. The past few years for him haven’t been the greatest. Just know he cares about you guys. “

“ I’m Vanya. “ Smiled the anxious brunette, “ And that’s Allison, Luther, and Diego. Klaus interjected earlier. “ Vanya introduced, pointing at each member.

“ Nice to meet you all. I’m going to go find Five. “ Y/n smiled as she walked away.

It took a couple of minutes, but she eventually found what seemed to be like their bedrooms. Only one door was shut, so she knocked hesitantly on it. Sniffles were heard on the other side.

“ Five, it’s me. “ Her voice was serene and quiet, “ Come in. “ His voice was muffled through the door.

Her hand turned the door handle, and she walked inside. Gently she shut the bedroom door and locked it, knowing he hated people seeing him vulnerable. Y/n turned to see him sitting on his bed with his elbows resting on his knees, hands on his face crying.

She knelt in front of him, taking his hands into her own, “ They don’t care. “ Were the first words muttered from his mouth, “ They do care. They’re just confused. “ Y/n replied.

He shook his head and sat on the floor in her embrace, sobbing, “ It’s going to be okay, Five. I’m right here. I’ll always be right here. “ Y/n reassured as she ran her hands through his hair.

She felt a gentle kiss being laid on her shoulder, knowing it was his way of acknowledging what she said. After minutes passed, he had stopped crying and instead fell asleep, right in his lover's arms where he was always accepted.

[blu-joons]

Age Gap Relationship ~ Kim Mingyu

You immediately turned your phone off when you noticed Mingyu walking into the room, placing it down on the arm of the sofa. His eyes watched over you closely as you shuffled in your seat, giving him a bit of space beside him, trying your best to force a hint of a smile onto your face.

“What have you been up to?” He asked, knowing by the look in your eyes that something wasn’t quite right, “something about the article release?”

Your head nodded, knowing that Mingyu had advised you several times to try and ignore what was said about you, especially on the first day of such a huge release to the fans.

The two of you were sure that you were careful as you headed down to the park a couple of evenings ago, convinced that the streets would be quiet. You thought that you were clear, only when you woke up in the morning, your names were trending on every social media platform.

“I’m sure you can guess what most people are talking about,” you weakly smiled, as his head nodded back at you, “I’m not surprised really, if I was them, I’d be asking the exact same questions.”

It didn’t take long before journalists managed to dig up some information on you, making sure their articles were as detailed as possible. Before you knew it, just about every detail about you was public knowledge, with your age attracting most of the attention.

“You know most of them are just gutted that they’re not able to walk in your shoes,” Mingyu tried to comfort, moving his arm across to wrap around your shoulders.

“Most of them probably want to know what you’re thinking being with me.”

Mingyu’s head shook as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head in an attempt to silence your doubts. He understood your concerns, but each time you fretted, he made sure to remind you how happy he was with you, despite the couple of years between you both.

He had always grown up knowing that age was just a number, the one thing that his parents always told him to focus on was his happiness, and he knew that he had that with you.

“I don’t care that people are obsessed about the differences between us, I want to focus on the similarities instead,” Mingyu prompted, “we’re great together, aren’t we? We get on, we have similar interests, aren’t those the things that relationships are supposed to be about?”

Your head nodded, knowing that as ever, Mingyu made a great point, despite your concerns, there were much more important things about your relationship that meant much more to you both too.

“I know it’s a lot for you to get your head around right now,” Mingyu acknowledged.

In just a few short hours it felt as if your world had been turned upside down, you’d gone from being a nobody, to having thousands mentions you, unaware of what most of them were saying too.

“I feel a little lost, it’s all quite a bit to get my head around,” you explained to him, “maybe I’m overthinking bits of it, especially the mentions about our age.”

Mingyu always knew that when the time came it was going to be a soft spot for you, despite your relationship being seemingly normal to most, he expected not quite such a positive reaction from his fans. Many of them couldn’t understand what you had that they didn’t, especially when you were of such a similar age too.

“Is this how we carry on forever now?” You questioned him.

“Give it a day or two, something new will happen.”

As your phone continued to buzz beside you, you were struggling to imagine how the two of you went forwards. You didn’t know the industry like Mingyu did though, trusting that he would know what was best for you both.

“Do you still want to be with me though?”

“Of course,” he replied straight away, “I’ve not given you anything to make you think that I don’t want to, have I?”

Your head shook in reply as you tried your best to silence the voice in the back of your head. You knew that Mingyu loved you, he told you enough times, whether your relationship was private or not, you just wished the part of you that doubted so much would be quiet and just let you be happy for once.

“I don’t want to ruin what you’ve made for yourself Mingyu.”

His head shook with yours, tightening his grip around you even more, making sure that you didn’t go anywhere, sticking by his side.

“You’ve not ruined anything; you’ve improved it instead.”

Seeing his name mentioned always made Mingyu shiver, but seeing his name mentioned with you brought a wide smile to his face, knowing that everyone knew about you both.

Unlike you, Mingyu felt confident in your relationship being revealed, he didn’t care about the fact that he had a younger partner, and he certainly didn’t care about what many of the fans had to say, especially those who decided to go on the attack with you.

“Nothing bad is going to come of this,” he reminded you, “it might be earlier than we wanted it to be, but doesn’t it feel nice to know it’s done now?”

You thought for a moment, shrugging your shoulders at his question anyway. “I’m glad that we don’t have to worry about it anymore, but we still didn’t expect it to happen this early, right now I feel as if I’ve just been thrown into the deep end.”

You’d had no time to prepare for the sudden attention you received, to prepare for the comments of love, and of hate too, that suddenly came your way in their thousands, when usually your social media feeds were dead during the day.

“It must be different for you, having your name caught up in something like this,” you noted.

“I’m used to it,” Mingyu chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of your shoulder, “I’ve handled much worse situations than this before and got through it, people knowing that I’m happy and in love certainly isn’t going to bring me down.”

His words brought a smile to your face, assuring you without even knowing that he was doing it. Each time you were reminded how happy Mingyu was, was another boost to your confidence in trusting that everything would be alright.

If anyone knew his fans, Mingyu did, and even though things felt pretty low currently, he was sure things would get better, and therefore, you were too.

“As long as we remain as a team whilst we ride this out, there’s nothing to worry about,” Mingyu whispered across to you, “nothing bad can happen from this.”

“I’m trusting you; I really hope that you’re right too Mingyu.”

His head nodded, offering you a wide smile, “nothing, height, weight, age, hometown, matters, we’re just two people, just like any other relationship.”

“Can you tell everyone else that too?” You joked, “get them off of my back as soon as we possibly can.”

“Things will be alright, everyone’s shocked and confused right now, but this just means that now I get to show the world how amazing you are.”

Your head nodded in reply, “do you think the world is ready for you to do that?”

“I don’t care, I’ll be there to do it anyway.”

---

Masterlist

[lovelytaes-blog]

colours (1) - kth

pairings: singledad!taehyung x artist!reader

synopsis: when you meet a little girl at a park by chance, who would've thought that you'd be falling in love with the man who had the exact same boxy smile as her in such little time?

genre: angst, fluff, smut (18+); strangers to lovers

warning(s): angst, fluff.

word count: 8.8k

note(s): helloo lovelies!!! Introducing my taehyung fic! It's pretty short, but I am super proud of this one. I'm so in love with this couple, that it hurts. I hope you enjoy their story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

↳ series masterlist

“So pretty!” You were currently smiling at your toddlers as they were finishing up their finger painting for the day.

You held painting classes on Saturdays in your little studio for toddlers. You began offering these classes in attempts to help out busy parents, that way they could get some errands done; in a sense, it was like a ‘daycare’ program. You didn’t think that it would be as great of a turn out as it was, but thankfully, many parents have taken up the opportunity. You had around 10 kids per session, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but because they all vary in age (3-8) it gets a little rowdy from time to time.

Luckily for you, many of the kids are behaved and well-mannered, of course, you still have the mischievous children, but they never bothered you or done something to upset you. You love kids, so this was really a great addition in your line of work. As an artist, who is well-known for many beautiful paintings at your local art museum, your modestly high income allows you to broaden the creativity in the community. It also gives opportunities for children and their parents to find potential opportunities in the art industry.

“Y/n, they’re doing so well!” Mi-ha whispered to you, while observing the quiet toddlers smiling to themselves while they continued painting.

Mi-ha is one of your best friends, who also happens to work with you during your painting lessons. You and Mi-ha have been best friends ever since college when you both continued your degrees; her in fine arts and yours in sciences. For a number of years, you were in the operating room as an anesthesiologist assistant, surprising, right? Not a lot of people knew you were in the medical field before you quit altogether—well sort of… you still volunteered on your days off at your local hospitals—to pursue your art career, it really is unbelievable and a great accomplishment at just 22. You were always a smart child, graduating high school and university earlier than most. Your parents couldn’t have been prouder, even when you told them that you wanted to pursue your art career, they supported you through and through. You were thankful that they were so supportive of your decision.

“Yoon-ji is enjoying herself, I’m glad!” You gushed while pointing to Mi-ha’s daughter who was happily painting random lines on her canvas. Mi-ha had Yoon-ji three years ago, with her long-time boyfriend, now husband, Namjoon. It was a surprise for everyone, nonetheless, the couple was excited for the arrival of their first child together. You remember how freaked out Mi-ha was when she had the positive pregnancy test in her hands. She was nervous about telling Joon, but eventually you had given her enough courage to tell him, after all, it’s his kid too. From your understanding, Namjoon’s friends all had children, at least from what Mi-ha said, maybe a couple of them didn’t, but you weren’t completely sure. You, however, hadn’t any of them, even though you’re closest to Mi-ha, Joon, and Yoon-ji, you never really had the pleasure of hanging out with Joon’s friends.

“Okay kiddies, time to clean up! Your parents will be coming soon!” You exclaimed to the kids while hearing groans. Giggling to yourselves, you and Mi-ha helped wash up the kids. It didn’t take long to put away the paints, easels, and canvases, since they were much smaller than your normal sized ones that you keep in the back room, for your purposes. You had gathered up the mini stools and stacked them in the closest where your other mini supplies were. Shutting it, you turned around to see all the little boys and girls smiling brightly up at you.

“Thank you, Ms. Y/n!” They bowed, respectively. Bowing too, you smiled at all of them.

“You’re very welcome! Now let me just get your parents!” Walking over to the closed door, you welcomed the parents of the children. Each child held up their artwork towards their parents while they left with mumbled thank you’s and see you next week’s. As the last child left your studio, Namjoon walked in giving you a wave.

“Appa!” Yoon-ji ran towards her dad, who welcomed her with opened arms. Picking her up and spinning her around, Mi-ha giggled beside you at her little family.

“Hey, Yoonie, what’chya got there, hm?” Yoon-ji thrusted her artwork towards him, almost getting his blonde-dyed hair wet with drying paint, had he not tilted his head fast enough, “Wow, princess! So pretty!” He walked over to Mi-ha, pressing a kiss to her temple before turning to you.

“Yoon-ji’s birthday is coming up,” Namjoon says giving his daughter to his wife.

“I know,” You nodded smiling, “Next, next Saturday, right?”

“Yeahp, all of my friends will be there too! So, you finally get to meet the other half of the family.” He jokes with you.

“Ugh, I can’t wait,” You huffed out, “it’s like you two didn’t want me to ever meet them.”

“No!” Mi-ha exclaimed, “it’s just that every time we had something planned with them, you always had an art show!” Joon laughed as Yoon-ji blew raspberries at him with a gleeful gaze.

“Oh, actually?” You wiped your hand on your apron, untying it and hanging it up on the hooks behind you, “Well, thankfully I don’t have an art show for a while, so I’m free!” You checked your watch, “Oh, shoot, sorry guys, I have to run!” You exclaimed grabbing your keys, “I need to let Mochi out.”

“Go ahead, we’ll lock up!” Mi-ha says, “See you next, next Saturday Y/n!”

“Don’t forget to bring whatever snacks you want!”

“Bwye, Awnty Y/n!” You waved to the three and exited the studio.

══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════

“Good girl, Mochi!” You exclaimed jogging with your baby Pomeranian-Husky mix who was running beside you with her tiny legs. Giggling to yourself you picked her up walking her to the park that was by your apartment. Giving her treats as the two of you sat down on the grass, you looked around you to see the park with couples walking their dogs together, people running, or elderly sitting on the benches feeding the birds. You smiled down at the puppy who was gently gnawing at her treat, but her eyes started to droop, leaving her treat half in her mouth and half on the grass as she closed her eyes. You pat her head gently, only to stop when you heard a little yelp from behind you. Peering around you see a little Pomeranian and a little girl with pigtails bobbing behind it.

“Oh, hello there!” You smiled down at the dog, patting its head you noticed the dog staring at the treat in your hand, nudging its head towards it. You comply, as it ate the treat from your hand.

“Yeontan!” The little girl gasped, crouching down to the puppy, who yelped at her. Sighing she sat down with him, but looked up at you with a shy gaze, “Sowwy…”

You cooed at how cute she was, “Oh, don’t be! I have plenty of treats! Mochi is sleeping, she won’t mind!” Handing the little girl more treats for her dog.

“Tank you!” She placed another treat in Yeontan’s mouth, she looked behind her and sighed, “Tannie, Daddy go get mad at us fow wunning off again…” Her shoulders slumped as she placed the dog in her lap.

“Kim Aera!” A man came from behind the trees jogging towards the little girl.

“See, Tannie… He mad mad.” She sighed again, petting the dog.

As the man jogged closer you noticed that he was in baggy pants paired with a beige vest and a white t-shirt. He sported white shoes and many bracelets decorated his wrists. Puffing out air, he crouched down beside the little girl.

“Didn’t I tell you not to run off with Tannie like that?” He sighed, picking up the dog, “and you,” he looked down at the confused looking puppy, “you know better than to run away from your sister like that.” He scolded.

“Sowwy, daddy,” The little girl says making sad eyes at her father, “but! Pwetty yady keep com-com-com... pony!” You watched as the man paused and turned around to look at you. His eyes were a beautiful hazel, probably contacts, and his hair was fluffy. He was really attractive and seemed really young to be a father to a girl who couldn’t be any older than four years old.

“I see…” His eyes gazed into your own, gulping, he gave you a nervous smile, “I’m really sorry about Aera, she and Tannie have a habit of running off.” You laughed dusting off dirt as you stood to your full height. Your eyes widened when you notice that you were still peering up at the man.

Shoot, dude’s gotta be at least 6 feet.

Blushing you coughed, “It’s not a problem, really!” You smiled at him.

You see the child tug on her dad’s pants, he bent down and she whispered to him. His eyes bulging out of his sockets as he put Tannie down and dusted himself off.

“Sh—” He sighed, “I didn’t even introduce us,” He patted the little girl’s head, “This is my daughter Aera,” Aera smiled at you and gave you a wave, “This is Yeontan,” he pointed to the dog that was now laying beside Mochi, who stared with curious eyes at her companion laying beside her.

“And I’m Kim Taehyung.”

Drawing your attention to the model-like man, you smiled shyly, feeling heat rushing to your cheeks as he gave you a boxy grin.

“I’m Hyeon Y/n.” You peered behind you to the puppy that was nuzzling her face into Yeontan’s fur, “and that’s my puppy, Mochi.”

Aera squealed and bent down towards the two puppies, Mochi greeting her with many kisses. Taehyung smiled down at his daughter and looked back at you.

“It’s really nice to meet you, Y/n.” His deep voice rang in your ears again, “Thank you again for accompanying Aera while I looked for them.” You waved a hand.

“Really, Taehyung, it’s no worries, I love kids and puppies!” Gesturing to the three on the ground. Taehyung chuckled before looking back at you.

“We should get going, I’m sure you have things to do. Aera, Tannie.” Taehyung says as Aera patted Mochi’s head one last time before scooping up the Pomeranian and smiling at you.

“Tank you fow da tweats and watch me!” Aera says sweetly before pressing her cheeks against your legs and staring at you, “see you again?” Shocked you peered down at the little girl.

“Aera!” Taehyung exclaims, his cheeks tinted pink as he looked down at you, “I’m sorry—she—”

“Of course!” You smiled, crouching down to the little girl, “I actually hold painting classes at my studio, completely free every Saturday at 9!” You watched the little girl’s face brighten as she looked at her dad. Stunned with yourself you looked up at her dad too before uttering out, “only if it’s cool with your dad.”

“Daddy? Pwease, pwease, pwease! Paint, I paint!” Aera jumped excitedly as she asked for her father’s permission.

“I—” He starts looking down at his daughter’s bright eyes filled with excitement, “I—sure, why not?” He smiled down at his little girl. Aera rushed up to him and gave him a big squeeze, excitedly repeating tank you’s.

“Yay!” You perk up looking at the two, “I’ll see you two…on Saturday?”

“Yes! Next Saturday, though. We have prior arrangements, but next one for sure.” Taehyung says. You smiled.

“Next Saturday then.” You agreed.

“Great, uhm—” Taehyung begins, taking out his phone, “Do you mind if—Can I—May I have your number uhm so I know where your studio is?” He blushed facing his phone to you. You nodded frantically.

“Right! Uh—” You typed in your number giving his phone back to him, “Here you go!”

“Thanks,” He sighs, “for everything, we’ll see you not this week, but next!” You nodded your head.

“Of course! See you guys, it was nice to meet you three!”

“Likewise!” Taehyung said sending you a boxy grin, Aera having the same smile as her dad, the three walked off, while you picked up Mochi and headed to your apartment.

══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════

19:21 08.25.21 ???: hey, thank you again for today. -taehyung.

19:25 08.25.21 y/n: hey, Taehyung! Really, it’s no problem!

19:26 08.25.21 Taehyung☺: Aera is super excited for next Saturday, you said it’s at 9am?

19:28 08.25.21 y/n: yeahp! Here’s the address of my studio xxx!

19:29 08.25.21 Taehyung☺: I was just about to ask, thank you! I’ll let you go, Aera can’t find her socks. Goodnight, y/n.

19:31 08.25.21 y/n: Oh no!!! Guess you gotta find those socks lol! And no problem, Taehyung. See you Saturday ((:

“Who are you smiling at?” Mi-ha’s voice scares you, causing you to tuck your phone away.

“Wha—me?” You blushed looking at your best friend who was carrying a sleepy Yoon-ji, “Just some guy I met at the park today.”

“A guy?!” Mi-ha screeched in a whisper. You nodded.

“Yeah, his daughter was chasing their dog and the dog stumbled upon me and Mochi.” You shrugged, “and before you ask,” Mi-ha’s mouth opened and closed, “yes, he’s unbelievably attractive.” You whine throwing your head back against your couch.

Mi-ha wiggled her eyebrows while heading for the door, “Ouuuu, does he have potential?” Shrugging your shoulders…

“Well—I just met him…” You sighed, “but… maybe? I don’t know.” You mumbled.

Taehyung is an attractive man, and just from meeting him and Aera today, you could already tell that the two were super sweet and super nice.

“Hm… Well, just play it by ear, I guess.” You watched as Mi-ha slipped into her shoes, still carrying a sleeping Yoon-ji, “You deserve to be happy, by the way. I just want you to be happy and in love.” You giggled.

“Yah,” You made your way to the door, “I’ll find it when I find it.” Smiling you gave Mi-ha a side hug as she made her way out of your apartment and down the hall towards her and Namjoon’s.

It was now Wednesday and you were in your studio with Mochi.

After a long week, you were excited to finally see Aera and Taehyung this coming Saturday. You and Taehyung have been texting back and forth during the week, getting to know each other a little more, and of course exchanging work stories for the day. Sometimes he’d text you good morning and good night as well, so you’d often times find yourself smiling constantly whenever you see his name pop up onto your screen. He was—is—such a good guy. The sweetest human you had ever met, and Aera was no different than her father. Some days, Taehyung would send you a picture of Aera, because she wanted to show you her new painting. You couldn’t help but feel all fuzzy and warm when you would receive a text from him. Sometimes he’d even tell you all about the important meetings he’d have and his success with collaborating with other big time fashion icons with upcoming collections for his new menswear line.

Today though, the museum had asked you to come up with a few pieces that could be showed in their gallery for the end of November. It wasn’t one of your art shows, so it wasn’t too demanding and you didn’t have to show face. However, you had to finish the pieces a month before the showcase. It never took you too long to finish a painting piece; you’ve always been creative and had an eye for art. This time you wanted to try something different. Many of your paintings were hung up on display in the museum, along with some of your photography pieces, so this time, you wanted to mix the two mediums in a way that’ll capture the uniqueness of your work.

You heard a quiet bark behind you to see Mochi wagging her tail looking up at you with curiosity. You bent down to pat her head and led her to her little bed in the corner of the studio. The minute she jumped into the large puppy bed; her eyes began to droop. Mochi was so tiny still, only 10 weeks old, that the large bed engulfs her tiny figure. Cooing at the adorable puppy, you went back to painting the large canvas. Humming along with the quiet radio in the background, you left some spaces open for the pictures that you need to take before pasting it onto the canvas too. You were in your own little world thinking about Yoon-ji’s party on Saturday. You had all her gifts ready, along with remembering to pick up her cookies that you had promised Mi-ha to pick up, since Namjoon had to go pick up the cake.

Taehyung then drifted into your mind. Encountering him two Saturday evenings ago, hadn’t stopped playing in your mind. He was the prettiest man you had ever met, and he sounded so humbled, soft-spoken with a very deep voice. He was enticing, and you couldn’t wait to see him again on Saturday. And Aera. Aera is probably the cutest little girl you had ever met, and that’s saying something because you worked with many kids, along with Yoon-ji –who is another very adorable child— but Aera’s features were striking. Definitely too pretty for a three-year-old. But now, with the fact that you two have been texting back and forth for about a week now, that really couldn’t be good for your heart. You’re really not the type to fall for someone quickly, you enjoy being single because it’s less complicated, but for some reason… You were just drawn to the strikingly handsome man.

You heard a knock at the door ripping you from your thoughts. Thinking you were hearing things, you continued painting… Until the knock came louder. Furrowing your eyebrows, you checked your watch, 10:17am, you weren’t expecting Mi-ha for another couple hours.

“Just a minute!” You called setting down your brush and wiping your hands on a rag that you retrieved from the top of your canvas. Pushing your hair out of your face, you reached the knob of the door and pulled it open to reveal the duo that clouded your thoughts just moments ago.

“Hi, Awnty Y/n!” Aera quipped brightly. Today, her hair was pulled up to one side, where she bore a purple bow. She was wearing loose jeans with a white shirt and denim jacket. Beside her stood Taehyung, handsome as ever. Today, he sported loose shorts and a black t-shirt. Super simple, but for some reason, super attractive.

“Oh my gosh, hey!” You peered down at your attire which consisted of leggings a baggy top, and your painting apron. Your cheeks heating up, “Sorry—gosh—I wasn’t expecting anyone today.” You smiled sheepishly as Taehyung quirked an eyebrow.

“No—no, it’s cool,” He gestured to Aera, “We were in the area picking up some food and we thought that we’d come say hi.” Aera thrusted a small box towards you.

“Yeah! We bwought some cookies!” Aera says, “Daddy say that pwetty giwls need deli…” Aera paused, scrunching her eyebrows, “delis-eowus cookies,” She confidently smiles, “so Daddy call da-da cookie stow and buy his favowite cookies fow you! He no let me have any and say that he buy some fow me next time, because he want to buy just fow humph—” Taehyung gently cupped his hand over his daughter’s lips, chuckling nervously to himself.

“Hahahaha, oh Aera, you’re so funny!” Taehyung coughed out, his cheeks turning slightly pink, “Kids…” He trails off giving you a boyish grin. Releasing his hand from his daughter’s mouth, Aera seemed to have forgotten what she was talking about as she squealed seeing Mochi. Bouncing her way towards the sleeping puppy, you turned your attention back to Taehyung.

“That’s really sweet of you guys! You didn’t have to buy me anything, a simple ‘hello’ would have sufficed, or even a text to let me know you were both coming today.” You nudged his arm, spinning around, you gestured him to follow you as you placed the gifted cookies in the small kitchen of your studio.

Taehyung shrugged, “We figured you’d be too busy for a text, so we kinda dropped by as a surprise…” Smiling you opened the box of cookies, taking three out and putting them on a plate that you keep in the cupboards. “She hasn’t stopped talking about you since last Saturday.” He confessed.

Smiling up at the handsome man, you place the cookies in front of the two of you, “That’s so cute!” You gushed, pushing the plate towards him; he happily accepts a cookie, taking a bite. Walking over to Aera and Mochi, you handed her the small plate with the cookie on it. Luckily Mochi didn’t notice that there was food on the plate and Aera quickly took the sweet treat and popped half of it in her mouth.

“Were we interrupting? We could—”

“Oh! No—” You started, seeing worry flash through Taehyung’s eyes, “No—don’t worry about it! I’m almost done anyways.” Taehyung visibly sighed a breath of relief as he peered around your studio.

“Your paintings are really good.” He observed staring at your almost finished canvas and your other completed works that were hung up around the room.

“Thanks, they really don’t take much time for me, I guess I’m one of the lucky few that were able to get somewhere with their hobby.” You shrugged staring at Taehyung.

“You really are talented,” He turns around to face you, “What else do you do? I know you said this is basically your job… But you seem like the type to have a lot of things going on?” You laughed.

Funny that you both have been getting to know each other during the week, but you had never asked what he did. Your conversations would always end up with work stories, but you both never really spoke about what you both truly do.

“You’re a gifted observer,” You teased, “Other than holding a bunch of different art classes, I work part-time at the hospital.” Taehyung’s eyebrows raised.

“What do you do in the hospital?”

“Anesthesiologist Assistant.” You smiled; Taehyung’s eyes grew wider before showcasing an impressive grin.

“Huh,” He smirked, “You’re quite the character huh, but don’t take this the wrong way,” He trailed, “but aren’t you quite young?” You giggled to yourself.

“I get that a lot,” You start before washing the paint brushes that were on your counter, “I actually graduated high school and university fairly early. I was turning 16 when I finished high school, took my MCAT at 18, got my undergrad at 20, and settled for an assistant rather than an actual MD, but still had to go through the same process.” You finished looking up at Taehyung. He held an impressed expression the whole time and smiled at your back story.

“That’s actually insane,” He chuckled, “You make me sound less successful than you!” You furrowed your eyebrows.

“OH—please don’t compare yourself to me! It really is nothing.” You blushed, now drying your paintbrushes.

“Intelligent, talented, beautiful, and humble?” Taehyung questioned, “You really are a man’s dream, Y/n.”

You blushed profusely, “Oh please, look at yourself Mr. Kim.” You teased, “What is it that you do by the way? Seems only fair that you tell me about yourself since I just told you my life’s story!”

Taehyung’s laughter boomed throughout your studio, “I’m actually the CEO of Gucci Korea.” It was your turn to gasp.

“Gucci—” You choked, “CEO…? Korea?!” You stuttered, feeling intimidated.

Taehyung chuckled, “Yes, CEO of Gucci Korea.”

“But? You’re so young!” You sputtered out.

“Ah, Ms. Y/n, you can’t possibly think that you were the only child prodigy, did you?” He teased, but before you could voice out an apology, he continued, “Much like you, I graduated at a young age as well!”

You were in awe, man’s was smart, handsome, and freaking humble?? Where has he been all your life.

“I’m 25 by the way.” He winked before going over to get Aera who seemed to have fallen asleep next to Mochi. Smiling at the two, you watched as he lifted her into his arms and walked back towards you.

“I’m really sorry to cut this short—I’m needed back at the office—but hopefully we’ll have more time to get to know each other more, in person at least?” He asked with a hopeful smile. Nodding your head, embarrassingly fast, you led them to the door.

“Yes—I mean, yeah—sure! I’d love that.” You sputtered, “Thank you for dropping by… and for these amazing cookies.” You gestured behind you to the opened cookie box on your kitchen island.

“Of course, it was our pleasure.” Taehyung winked, causing you to blush again, “We’ll see you on Saturday? For the painting lessons?”

You nodded, “Of course, see you then, Taehyung!” You watched as the man headed out of your studio and you shut the door. Catching your breath, you couldn’t help but smile. Was he flirting with you? Or was he just being nice?

“Mi-ha!” You called while greeting the parents, yet again, this beautiful Saturday. Smiling and waving, you held small chat with some of the parents as their kids ran past you and to Mi-ha.

“Don’t worry, I got them!”

You sighed in relief, a smile returning to your face as you continued to greet the parents. As you watched each child enter, along with their parents, you failed to see the familiar tall man that had captured your attention with the few interactions you had with him and his adorable little girl. You couldn’t help but briefly look around the parents in front of you as you greeted them, in hopes to find the boxy grin that had been haunting your mind as of late, only to be disappointed with the bright blue sky outside the door. Sighing, you watched the last parent leave, walking them out the door, you peered around one last time in hopes to find the little girl and her father. To your dismay, your eyes were greeted with an empty street and nothing but cool air kissing your face. Frowning, you headed back inside your studio; Mi-ha already starting the class for you while the kids waited. You sat down on your bench, watching Mi-ha take over the class for today, since you two alternated each Saturday.

You couldn’t help but feel disappointed, you had just seen them a few days ago, but when Taehyung had said he’d be seeing you Saturday—and he did state Aera has been talking about you nonstop—you had hoped they’d be the very first people to be at your studio door… Yet you haven’t seen them; no boxy smiles and no text messages either, you’d think that Taehyung would have texted you to let you know that they were going to be late or maybe that Aera—or himself—have changed their minds in coming; you were hoping to have at least a head’s up so that you didn’t get your hopes up.

Why were you even concerned? Dang it, Y/n, you encounter the family and received cookies from them once, and you’re hung up on seeing both of them. Maybe they were just too polite to decline your offer, after all, Taehyung is a busy man; He’s running Korea’s biggest fashion line and he’s a father. Maybe he’s still with Aera’s mother, but you never recalled seeing a ring, or him speaking of her… But maybe that was it, had you overstepped a line with flirting? But he was flirting too? Wasn’t he?

The frown etched onto your face deepened, while you thought about all the possibilities as to why you hadn’t heard from Taehyung today. Biting your lip, you got off your chair and headed over to the little girls and boys that were happily painting away on their canvas’. Faking a smile, you crouched down to each individual and complimented their art works, earning massive grins from the children. Your heart still tightening as you gazed at the door from time to time, in hopes you’d hear a knock, but it never came.

“Y/n?” You heard Mi-ha’s voice. You peered up at her with a small smile, brushing off your pants, you stood up beside her.

“What’s up?”

“I think the parents are here, Yoon-ji and I can clean up here, you okay to get her cookies?” You looked at the clock—Oh wow, has it really been 2 hours?­­—you nodded shaking your head. Time really flew today.

“Yeah, sure! I’ll bring them over! I’ll see you guys at your apartment!” Shrugging off your apron, you smiled at the kids, waving goodbyes to hear little voices of “bye Ms. Y/n!” as you opened the door to let parents in. Peering down at your phone you see unopened messages from non-other than the man you had hoped to see today. Reluctantly you opened it.

11:10am 09.04.21 Taehyung☺: I’m so sorry, Y/n, Aera really wanted to attend today, but I had forgotten that Aera and I had breakfast with her mother today at the same time ):

11:11am 09.04.21 Taehyung☺: I was going to text you earlier, but we were in a rush and I completely forgot to tell you.

11:11am 09.04.21 Taehyung☺: I’m really sorry… Next week??

11:13am 09.04.21 Taehyung☺: You’re probably still with the kids… Text me when you get these? Aera and I would really love to make it up to you.

Frowning at the texts, you opt to locking your phone and sliding it back into your pocket.

You knew that there was a possibility that Taehyung was probably married; he has a kid. You probably shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up with him, seeing as you had literally just met that guy—despite you texting. But anyone with eyes could fall easily for a successful and humbled CEO such as himself. You were scolding yourself for falling for his boxy smile and his kindness so quickly, that you felt as if you were a teenager falling in love.

Walking towards the cookie place that Mi-ha had ordered Yoon-ji’s birthday treats, you were gazing at all the couples that were roaming the streets. Letting out a sad sigh, you continued your way. Your heart still feeling the aches of being let down by the guy that you potentially began liking… Maybe liking, you weren’t exactly sure what it was, but you knew that this man was on your mind. Constantly.

The sign of the dessert place is now in your line of vision, so you picked up your pace in hopes to forget the numbness you were feeling in your heart. Goodness, this wasn’t even a date, it’s not like you were stood up.

Upon entering the little store, the workers smiled and waved as you accepted the order for your best friend. Walking out, you couldn’t help but deflate. As if this man is consuming your thoughts the way he has. You’ve met over a week ago, and yet he’s running through your mind like clockwork. Not just him, but sweet Aera… You couldn’t help but fall in love with the sweet little girl; the cutest, most polite 3-year-old you had ever met, besides Yoon-ji, but nonetheless, you enjoyed the little girls presence just as much as you enjoyed her father’s.

Shaking your head from your thoughts, you headed towards your apartment. Times like these is when you’re grateful that your best friend and Namjoon have decided to stay in their apartment complex down the hall from yours. Of course, eventually the family of three will move out, but as of right now, it was nice to have them so close to you… Especially seeing as you’re still a bachelorette.

As you walked towards Mi-ha’s apartment complex, you could hear many people talking and socializing, unsure of who is all invited, your heartrate picked up slightly at the thought of finally meeting Joon’s friends. It has been a long time coming, but it still made you nervous to meet new people. Would they like you? Will they hate you? What if you don’t like them? Your thoughts disappeared as you come face to face with Mi-ha’s apartment door. Apparently, your hand had a mind of its own, your own fist knocking on the door loudly.

Expecting Mi-ha or Joon, you were surprised to be greeted with a man with blue hair with a bunny smile.

“You must be Mi-ha noona’s friend, Y/n!!!” The man states, gesturing you to enter. You bowed with a small smile tugging at your lips to see a group of men and women around your age—maybe slightly older—gathered around Mi-ha’s kitchen.

“Hey, Y/n!” Mi-ha waved you over, standing next to her were 3 other women who looked at you with warm smiles. As you approached, Mi-ha gestured to the women, “Y/n, please meet mine and Joon’s friends! Everyone,” Mi-ha turned towards the men on the couch, “please come introduce yourselves to my best friend from college!”

Feeling heat coming up to engulf your cheeks, you smiled shyly at everyone. As you stood next to Mi-ha, the men from the couches stood next to what you assumed to be their wives or girlfriends.

“You’re Y/n?!” The girl with a long bob squeals, “Mi-ha talks about you so much! I’m so excited to finally meet you! My name is Rae and this is my husband Hoseok,” The couple pulled you into a tight hug, before turning around and gesturing to a little boy who was sitting next to Yoon-ji on the floor in front of the tv, “and that little boy by Yoonie is our son, Mujin!”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Rae and Hoseok!” You smiled at the two.

“Hobi!” Hoseok chuckled, “Please, call me Hobi. Hoseok is way too formal for me!” He finishes wrapping his arm around Rae. Nodding in agreement you smiled.

“It’s so great to finally meet you, Y/n!” A girl with long, blonde-dyed hair smiled at you, “My name is Sarang, and this is my husband Jin!” Gesturing to the blonde-haired man next to her, “We’re the elders of the group, only by a smidge!” She winked, earning a laugh from her husband. Clinging onto Sarang was a little girl and clinging to Jin was a little boy.

“These two are Ji-hoon and Yuna, our 4-year-old twins!” Jin exclaims, picking up the boy.

“Very nice to meet you guys!” You smiled, “Hello Ji-hoon and Yuna!” You waved at the two children who greeted you with claps of their hands and little hello’s.

“Hi, noona, I’m Jungkook!” The blue-haired man smiled at you, “This is my girlfriend Haru, and this is our son, Youngji.” The beautiful girl beside him with dark brown hair, that reached just below her ribcage, was holding a little boy no older than 2 years old.

“Super excited to finally meet you! You’re stunning!” Haru gushes while bouncing the sleeping boy in her arms.

“It’s nice to meet you three! You have a beautiful family!” You say to the couple with a grin, “but you don’t need to call me Noona, Jungkook… You’re older than me!”

Jungkook’s eyes widened, “Huh?”

Nodding, “Yeah, I’m only 22! I think I remember Mi-ha telling me that all of Joon’s friends and their wives/girlfriends range from 23-28!” You quipped with a small smile. Jungkook fist bumped the air and shrieked “I’m finally not the youngest!”, causing everyone to laugh.

Lastly you were engulfed in a hug by two women that had two men trailing behind them.

“Hello Y/n! My name is Seung and this is my husband Yoongi!” The man with a gummy smile waved as he hugged his wife’s waist, “our daughter Nari is here somewhere…” She trails looking around the apartment, “uhm… you’ll meet her later!” Chuckling you smiled.

“Hi!” A girl with straight pink hair waves, while the blonde man behind her gave you a shy smile, “I’m Hyuna, and this is Jimin!” Peering around her, she scrunched her eyebrows together, “I think we lost ours, Chim…” She whispered to the man beside her who frantically looked around the room. Sighing he gestures to the little girl cuddled up against a pillow on the couch.

“She’s so tiny, I can’t see her sometimes,” Jimin chuckled, “our daughter Soomi is 1, so she… kinda likes to just sleep a lot right now.” He chuckles quietly.

“It’s very nice to meet you all!” You smiled at everyone, “Your kids are adorable!”

“Aish,” Namjoon circles around the table to stand behind Mi-ha, “We’re missing one more little family… They should be here—”

“Sorry, we’re late!” A familiar voice echoes throughout the complex, which made you freeze in your spot. Quietly turning around, you face the man that’s been consuming your thoughts every waking hour. He was breathing heavily with his arms wrapped around his daughter who was cradled into her father’s neck, slumped over in his arms. His hair slicked back, unlike the mess of curls they were a few days ago. His eyes locked on yours with his mouth slightly agape.

“Here he is!” Joon cheered, clasping his hand around the man’s shoulder, “Y/n, this is Taehyung and Aera!”

To say you were surprised was an understatement. What were the odds that the man that was clouding your every waking thought, would stand before you AND is best friends with your best friend’s husband? That was just too weird…

The fact that your eyes were blown out of your head, along with Taehyung look like a deer in headlights, Aera was the one to break your staring war with Taehyung, when she sleepily turned around in her father’s arms but her eyes immediately widening as soon as she spots you.

“Awnty Y/n!” Aera struggles against Taehyung’s hold, dropping down from his arms and running towards you and clasped her little arms around your leg. Gazing down at the little girl, a small smile etched its way onto your face, bending down to engulf her in your arms.

“Hey, cutie!” She giggled as your hair brushed against her face, “Missed your face today!” You whispered into her ear, trying hard to cover up the sound of disappointment. The little girl pouted and stared at you.

“I’m sowwy, Daddy fowgot that we go out wit Mommy fow bweakfas,” Aera states sadly, “Daddy say he text you.”

You nodded, “Yeah, he did. I’ve—” you paused as you noticed from the corner of your eyes that Taehyung perked up, probably wondering why you hadn’t texted back if you got his messages, “I was super busy today.” You finished.

“Okay wait—” Mi-ha interrupted as you stood up from hugging Aera, “Y/n, you’ve met Taehyung and Aera?”

Nodding sheepishly, Mi-ha put two and two together and her eyes widened.

“Y/n and I met in the park a few weeks back.” You heard Taehyung say. The rest of the group giggled and chuckled.

“What a small world.” Namjoon laughed. Feeling awkward—along with feeling Taehyung’s eyes on you the entire time—you decided to gesture to Yoon-ji.

“Well—it’s someone’s birthday!” You turned away and picked up Yoon-ji from the living room, “Let’s blow out some candles and eat some cake!”

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“It was actually really funny,” Hyuna giggled, “Chim and I weren’t friends at all! He was that cool jock guy in college, and I was just admiring him from afar. He was also so mean too!” You giggled along with the girls, as Hyuna continued her story about how her and Jimin ended up together.

“—low and behold, we went to the same frat party, hooked up, and I guess Jimin couldn’t help but keep talking to me so… Here we are!”

“That’s actually really cute,” You sighed, looking at Mi-ha, who was eying you wearily. Since she is your best friend, she could tell that your demeanor had changed ever since a handsome dad walked into their apartment.

If it was obvious to anyone, it was especially obvious to Mi-ha, that something was bothering you. You had become a little quieter ever since the father and daughter—that you were hoping to see that same day in your art studio—had joined the party. You were sneaking glances at Aera’s dad while he was manspreading on the couch chit chatting with his best buds. You shouldn’t be feeling this way, you couldn’t like Taehyung in that way. Not only was he a father with an adorable little girl that you very much enjoy being around, but it was clear that the mother is, in fact, still in the picture—despite the fact that he doesn’t wear a wedding band on his ring finger. You know you shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up that you possibly found someone that you were so into. You couldn’t possibly like him after the few encounters you’ve had. You’re being ridiculous. What were you? A girl in high school?

“Y/n?”

Snapping out of your trance, you stared at Mi-ha, who was staring at you with worry, “Are you alright?”

Were you?

The man that ultimately had you pining over him was in the same room as you, the same man that had promised to see you today after dropping off cookies at your art studio the week before because he was in the area. How could you be fine? Maybe he was just being nice, you thought. He never gave you a reason to think he was even single. Sure, it seemed like he was flirting—and sure he bought you cookies… But again, he never gave you a reason to think he was remotely interested in you, he was just being nice.

“Never better.” You forced a smile. Mi-ha looked skeptical; she knew you weren’t okay.

“We can talk…” Mi-ha offers, giving you a sympathetic look. You shrugged, you could feel a certain individual’s eyes on you, but you refused to look his way. You weren’t mad per say, but you weren’t exactly feeling the greatest. You didn’t know how you were supposed to act now. How were you expected to react when you literally just found out that the guy you were constantly thinking about was best friends with your friend! Alright, that’s enough. You wanted to hurl, you wanted to scream, just disappear. You were still unsure why you were so hurt by not seeing him today, maybe it was still the fact that he could’ve texted you sooner, or maybe he should’ve stopped giving you mixed signals… Who just casually buys you their favorite cookies and delivers it to you just because he was in the area???

Having enough of feeling like complete ass. You turned to Mi-ha, “I think I’m gonna head out early, I’m not really feeling well.” You gave a small smile to Mi-ha.

“Are you sure? I can drop—”

“No, it’s okay!” You rushed out, “I’ll see you Monday! Thanks for the invite.”

Giving Mi-ha a tight-lipped smile, you turned to the rest of the group, “I’m going to head out now!” A chorus of boos and no’s erupted from the group, Taehyung keeping his eyes trained to the floor, not uttering a word. To say you were even more disappointed was an understatement. You didn’t quite know what you were expecting from him, but you sure as hell wasn’t expecting him to remain quiet or to completely ignore you the whole time. Your heart clenched, yet again, but you shoved the feeling away as the rest of the girls gave you group hugs.

“Please!!! Let’s all hang out! This was so much fun!” Haru exclaims jumping up and down.

“Oh my gosh, yes, yes!!!” Seung exclaims, “Oh, do you mind giving us your number?” Thrusting her phone in your face you giggled, typing in your number, and giving it back.

“It was really great to meet you, Y/n!” Rae smiles warmly, while Hyuna and Sarang nod in agreement, “We hope to see you soon!” The rest of the boys waved at your departure, while Taehyung remained silent, but now was shuffling around the kitchen, pretending as if you were already gone.

Ouch.

Saying your final goodbyes, you attempted to make it out of the door quickly, trying to leave before you could feel the ache in your chest grow heavier with every movement towards the door. Trying to keep your breathing as normal as possible, you felt a little fingers wrap around your pants, gently tugging at you. Squeezing your eyes shut to try and rid yourself from the unnecessary tears that were willing to fall, you peered down to see Aera shyly smiling up at you.

“Bye awnty, Y/n,” As if your heart couldn’t hurt more. “I see you swoon?” Her big eyes that shimmered with hope stared right back at you.

Please, stab my heart some more, Aera, you thought.

Unsure of what to say, you ruffled her hair, “Sure, sweets. Soon.” And with that Aera lets go of your pants running back towards Yoon-ji to continue playing.

Without another glance, you exited the apartment with a shaky breath, and making your way to your own apartment down the hall. Flashes of Taehyung’s face appeared in your mind as you walked towards the end of the hall and to your apartment complex; the way he had smiled at you at the park when you had first met, the way he looked so interested when you were exchanging information in your studio, the cute text messages he would send throughout the day… All of that was now clouded by the way he looked at you with surprise when he had first entered the apartment, the way he wouldn’t meet your eyes from across the room, the way he had his muscular back faced towards you—as if he was deliberately trying to find every excuse not to look at you. You didn’t think that letting down bits of your wall and opening up to someone that had made you happy would’ve backfired on you. Especially when he had been so inviting, so sweet, and so interested… but maybe he truly wasn’t into you that way.

Upon finally stumbling into your apartment, you shut the door quietly. Sliding down the smooth, cold surface of the wooden barricade that divided you from the comfort of your own home to the hallway, the tears flowed down your cheeks; your hands finding a way onto your face as your sobs filled the quiet space of your home, and pieces of your heart breaking for the man that sat with his daughter just down the hall.

Waking up the next morning was dreadful. Absolutely awful.

Your eyes were sealed shut due to the mass amount of crying you had done the night before. You were being pathetic, you knew that. You have no reason to be hung up on this guy when you have a whole life ahead of you. Well… a whole life, you’re only 22. But seeing that you had met all of Mi-ha’s and Namjoon’s friends, you felt as if you were behind. They were only a few years older than you, and they all seemed to have stable jobs—which you have—their own forever homes, and a little family.

Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you really didn’t feel like going to your studio today, luckily for you though, you had your own little makeshift studio in your apartment. It wasn’t as large, obviously, as your actual studio, but it does the job when you feel like staying at home to get some work done. Sometimes, you find that you get more work done at home than you do in your studio.

You here Mochi padding her way through the hallway and towards your bedroom. Watching as your bedroom door creaked open, you were greeted by the little puppy at the foot of the door, curiously examining around the room to find your eyes. As if the stars in her blue eyes weren’t bright enough, the moment she saw you, you could’ve sworn you saw the galaxy in them. Mochi trotted her way towards the little stairs by your bed, struggling to get up them, she growled in annoyance and plopped down by your side. Your little pup gazes at you with a questioning look, almost as if you ask if you were okay. You had been told before that most animals feel the emotions radiating off their owners, but you hadn’t really believed in that. Until now.

Mochi’s eyes drooped, almost forming a sad expression and nudged her little head against your hand with a tiny whine. If you had thought that you were all cried out from last nights fiasco, you were terribly wrong. As soon as Mochi crawled her way onto your lap to snuggle closer, the tears began to from and roll down your face. Choking out tiny sobs, Mochi continued to snuggle closer in attempts to comfort you.

You honestly couldn’t remember the last time you had cried this hard—let alone over a man. Maybe you were just so used to having such high expectations that the other men that you had dated, or had gone out with, just never had this type of affect on you. You were always used to being let down, anyways. So, what really made Taehyung any different? Why had you gotten your hopes up? Was it his constant texts that had you unknowingly falling for him? Was it Aera who seemed to have idolized you? Was it the kind gesture of buying you cookies that had made you think about a potential future with him? A future where, in a perfect world, Taehyung was your husband and Aera as your step-daughter coming to visit you during your workdays with the same batch of cookies that they had delivered to you on that Wednesday?

But that’s all it is, right? Just wishful thinking, hoping, that the guy that had made you fall in love with his charms, his devilishly handsome good looks, and his kind heart—hoping that he was the one for you, hoping that he was the one to love you unconditionally. But that’s all it was.

Wishful thinking.

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“—so, are you going to tell me what’s going on or…”

Mi-ha had dropped by with Yoon-ji to come check up on you. When she headed towards the studio, but didn’t see any lights on, she knew you were cooped up in your apartment complex. So, it really wasn’t a surprise when she had knocked on your door to see your eyes swollen and red with your hair up in the messiest bun she had ever seen, and a paint brush in your hands. Like the best friend she is, she gave you a sympathetic smile, but didn’t comment—at least not until now.

You had continued painting one of the art pieces that you had began working on. Getting lost in the strokes of your brush to numb the pain in your chest, sniffling here and there, yet no tears had fallen. You were finally all cried out. Nonetheless though, your eyes still stung, as if it were trying to produce some form of waterworks, but you know that you really couldn’t cry anymore. Dabbing your under-eyes and feeling the sting from how raw the skin was from all your continuous rubbing.

“There’s nothing going on.” You croaked, still facing your canvas, and ignoring the presence of your best friend that stood behind your easel with her sleeping toddler in the little bean bag chair that you have in your art room.

“Cut the bullshit,” Mi-ha snaps quietly, “Have you forgotten we’ve been best friends for so long? I know when something’s wrong, what did Taehyung do?”

Pausing your brush strokes, “How did—”

“Please,” Mi-ha comes around to lean against your easel, “anyone with eyes knew something was off between you two. What happened, Y/n?”

So, you told her.

Your first encounter with him at the park, your constant text messaging, how he had dropped by as a surprise. You told her how you were confused, how could you fall for someone so fast? You were choking on sobs again, but still no tears have fallen from your eyes.

You felt pathetic. But bless your best friend as she continued to listen to your confused self, rubbing your back and whispering encouraging words. By the end of your talk, Mi-ha gives you a soft smile.

“Oh, baby…” She says in hushed tones, “You’ve got it bad…”

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tag list: @belladaises @chimmysomemochi @kirbykook @ggukkieland @taeandpuppies @betysotelo18 @maichiverse @rjsmochii @vaekth @hantaev @purelyecstacy @preciouschimine @jenotation @dear-thama @gukkmoans @xpeachesncream @kookingtae @writtenwhalien (my moots, I hope you don't mind the taggg <3)

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➼ next

[lilietsblog]

so whenever Russian characters crop up in American/English-speaking media theres a very noticable thing where writers v often dont understand patronymics and full names.

Now, there’s two gradations of “full name” that are in use here. There is the “FIO” full name, or SGP perhaps (surname, given name, patronymic), and there is the full given name.

As an example, let’s take Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich.

Ivanov is the surname. You can tell bc of hte -ov suffix at the end. (Not the only one possible but a pretty decent indication something is a surname when it is there)

Ivan is the given name. You can tell bc Russian has a set (an expansive one) of given names and this is one of them, one of the most historically popular at that.

Ivanovich is the patronymic, it can be translated as “son of Ivan”. You can tell bc of the “ovich” suffix. There is also “evich” and for at least one name just “ich”. Colloquially they will also get shortened into just “ych” making the variation “Ivanych”. (”Y” is the letter used for transliteration of a sound that doesn’t exist in English but is considered fairly close to “i’)

To be clear, “Ivanov Ivan Ivanych” is the exact same person as “Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich”, this is hte exact same name, the only thing that changes is how formal the speaker is being about it.

Female suffixes are “evna” and “ovna”. Anna Petrovna, Anna Fadeevna. There is also “ichna” for at least one name and an antiquated “ishna” which is the colloquial alternative in some cases. Anna Fadeevna = Anna Fadeishna. This IS antiquated tho.

Coming back to our Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, this is the “FIO” form of his name, the way it will be put on formal documents that require one’s full name. The “Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov” form is also acceptable, its just not the order you write on documents in. The patronymic (Ivanovich) always comes after the full given name (Ivan), the surname can be stuck on either side of that.

The traditional respectful address to someone you know is the full given name + patronymic. Ivan Ivanovich! Could you come over here? It’s used with plural/formal “you”. This form is also becoming obsolete in recent years but if you’re writing mid-20th-century or characters of middle age+ Ivan Ivanovich is the name to go.

(Note the difference from the address + surname form in English: Dr. Smith or Mr Smith etc. In Russian this form does not exist except several centuries back or in very very impersonal century back “citizen Ivanov” that like a policeman would use to address you. Not anyone you actually know personally. Schoolchildren will often not know their teachers’ surnames because they are all Ivan Ivanovich to them.)

Now I keep saying “Ivan” is the FULL given name. The short given name from “Ivan” is “Vanya”. This is a set linguistic fact - the set of given names in Russian is factually two linked sets, a set of full given names and a set of short given names. Some short given names can  be short from several full given names, some full given names can have several short names (a person will usually pick one to use). A short given name doesn’t go anywhere on formal documents. It just follows from your full given name naturally, like conjugation. Some full given names (Gleb, Oleg, Diana, Vera) are short enough to be used as short given names too and so don’t realy have assigned short counterparts. In fact Vera can be both a full name on its own - Ivanova Vera Ivanovna - and short for Veronica - Ivanova Veronica Ivanovna.

Short names are formed through a variety of rules. There are basic requirements for the form they take as a result though. Full given names can have “complicated” consonant pairs together: Dmitriy, Aleksandr, Pavla, Anna. Short names are “simple” will almost always go consonant-vowel. Dmitriy -> Dima, Aleksandr -> Sasha, Alik or Shura (don’t ask how that last one happened, it’s a miracle of absurdity, but it’s one of the traditional shortenings), Pavla -> Pasha (well, Pavla is a rare name, you hear Pasha and you usually assume Pavel, the male name), Anna -> Anya. (”y” is not a consonant here, “ya” is a vowel sound English doesnt really have)

(As an exception to the consonant-vowel rule, when there’s a consonant pair the second of which is “l” it’s usually kept together in the short name - it’s just very simple to the Russian ear / tongue. Vladislav - Vlad or Slava, for example)

Often a name will be formed fully from the syllables / consonants of the full name, give or take changing the last vowel to the gender neutral “a”/”ya” (It will either be “a”/”ya” or a consonant). Vladimir -> Vlad, Ruslana -> Lana, Tatiana -> Tanya, Anna -> Anya, Katerina -> Katya, Dmitriy -> Dima or Mitya, Ivan -> Vanya. And then there’s the “sha” suffix tacked on as the second syllable: Pavel -> Pasha, Natalia -> Natasha or Tasha, Daria -> Dasha, Aleksandr -> Sasha, etc.

So long as they conform to these rules, you can kind of make them up. Though considering the whole of history, you’re not super likely to make up something that hasn’t been made up before you. Anna historically speaking turns into Anya, Nyura, Nyusha... -shudders-

So how are short names actually used?

As an implication of familiarity/subordination, that’s how. For the weebs in the audience, you know the ‘-chan’ suffix in Japanese? Kind of exactly like that. Japanese has more nuances, but generally if you wouldn’t call someone -chan, you shouldn’t call them by their short name. (Unless they specifically asked you to, but I think that’s a thing in Japanese too)

Short names are never paired with patronymics. The steps of formality in address are basically “Ivan Ivanovich” => “Ivan” => “Vanya”.

(There’s also formal you, so to be completely clear: “Ivan Ivanovich” (formal you) => “Ivan” (formal you) => “Vanya” (formal you) => “Vanya” (informal you). If someone is getting called their full given name + informal you, it’s either implying antiquity - pre 20th century - or they’re using their full given name as their short given name.)

You call your children and siblings by short names. You call your friends by short names. You MIGHT call your employees, especially if they are sufficiently young, or if you’ve known them for a long time and the “familiarity” part applies, by short names.

SHORT NAMES ARE NOT FORMAL. This is important. Nobody has “Natasha” written in their passport (unless I guess they were making new documents in America or something from scratch and didn’t use any old ones as basis of establishing idenity so could make up whatever. It’s still weird! It’s like having “Johnny-boy” written in your passport!)

SHORT NAMES ARE OFTEN GENDERED BUT YOU CANNOT TELL HOW WITHOUT KNOWING THE CORRESPONDING FULL NAME. “Pasha” and “Misha” are both male names becaus they are short from “Pavel” and “Mikhail”. Of course you could have a Pavla or a Mikhaila, but the former is very rare and the latter is probably a foreign Mykaila Russianified or something. In these cases it’s usually considered normal to assume gender, even if there’s a tiny chance you could be wrong.

PATRONYMICS ARE NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES INTERCHANGEABLE WITH SURNAMES. You have the same surname as your family members, but if you have the same patronymic, either you’re siblings or there are multiple people with the same given name in your immediate family, which is slightly odd. A patronymic is formed from your father’s name by unambiguous and definite rules. Foreign names can be turned into patronymics easily. (Though kids of foreign citizens can get whatever their parents want on their birth certificate - patronymic by the rules of one of the parents’ home country, no patronymic at all, whatever) Surnames are surnames and work the same way they work anywhere else.

PATRONYMICS AND SURNAMES ARE NOT CONNECTED IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. Any surname goes with any patronymic same as it goes with any given name. Except for the obvoius “statistically likely to be from the same culture” part. (Your “Russian” character could have Georgian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Lithuanian, Bielorussian, Kazakh, Tatar descent, descent from any number of indigenous cultures on the territory of Russia that I personally never heard about until I started translating documents in high amounts and stumbling upon them. Russia is an empire!) But even that’s just statistics - you could have a Tsukino Farha Bogdanovna and I’d just go “that’s a fascinating family history right there”.

GOOGLE RUSSIAN GIVEN NAMES, DON’T MAKE THEM UP. And pay attention if something is marked as “diminutive” - that means it’s a short name, and it will not be used on formal documents or in conjunction with a patronymic. Go for the name it’s diminutive for and just have the character ask everyone to use their short name if you want - it’s trendy these days.

There’s all kinds of fuckery going on with name use on the margins - some old people will call their close friends the “patronymic + informal you” construction. (Actually it’s a “Russian babushka” stereotype that actually exists within the culture. And if anyone ever uses the “short name + patronymic” form irl it’s this category of people, though I’d imagine only in third person) Some bosses or even teachers will invite their students to call them by their short name (I am so deeply uncomfortable with this). Age is often the difference between a Vanya and an Ivan Ivanovich in the same situation.

All patronymics and a good share of surnames conjugate by gender! “Ivanov” and “Ivanova” are the exact same surname, but a guy will have the former writen in their documents and a gal would have the latter. If you legally change your gender that letter changes too. (No, there’s no gender neutral form. Some surnames, like those ending in -enko, just don’t do this, but those that do are at all times one or the other) I guess expatriates a couple of generations down could have whatever going on, but if you have an actually-born-in-Russia “Ivanova Ivan Ivanovna” that means “Ivan” is a girl with a male name for some fucking reason. Name gendering is just tradition, patronymic gendering is grammar. (And if you have an “Ivanova Ivan Ivanovich” that’s just someone making a typo) (Maybe our hypothetical Ivanova Ivan Ivanovna transitioned and liked her birth name so much, she decided to not even go for Ivanna or something else plausible, Ivan or bust. Officials would probably just shrug and go with it lmao)

Oh, and in less formal lists and situations, surname + short given name is a classical combination. When I call my grandboss, surname + short given name is how I introduce myself, because I’m much younger and much subordinate so short name it is, but she’s under no obligation to identify me from my given name so surname it is. (To people who I expect to remember my name but who weren’t expecting me to call, just surname is good, but to people who can connect my surname with my identity but probably don’t remember my given name immediately & exactly from that, giving also the form of given name they address me by is the reasonable person thing to do)

If I were introducing myself in the “Hi! I’m Tsukino Usagi!” anime intro format, I’d go for “Short given name + surname”. Short name is usually the one people think of as their personal identity as it’s whatt their close circle will have been calling them for their entire life, and ACTUALLY it’s normal for the surname to come after the given name. In a book citation of “famous doctor X did Y” they will probably be “famous doctor fullgivenname-patronymic-surname”. For a Russian speaker, switching between Japanese name order and English name order is not a difficulty, but we WILL be distressed by not being able to tell which is which and therefore which it is on sight )=

MARVEL COMICS WALL OF SHAME

- Natasha Alianovna Romanova. First, “Romanov” is not a common surname, it’s the surname of the royal family, it’s like a random English guy being called “Tudor”. Well, it’s plausible, it IS formed by the classic “common given name + -ov” rule, but Roman isn’t even that common a name (and not exactly Russian), and... well. It’s just weird. I don’t think there’s good chances for it to have come into existence as such historically WHEN IT WAS THE RULING FAMILY SURNAME. Second! Natasha is a short name! She should be Natalia/Natalya! Third... I mean I will not say Alian is not an existing male name, and I won’t even say it’s not used in any cultures that exist within Russia, but if they were aiming for “common Russian male name” they missed 180 degrees.

- Ilyana Rasputin. First, -in is a suffix that makes this surname adjective-ish, meaning it conjugates by gender, meaning she is RASPUTINA. Her brother is Rasputin. She is Rasputina. Second, again, I have heard of exactly one (1) guy with this surname, and it’s the same guy you’re thinking of right now. It is in no way, shape or form common, or reasonable to give to a character without making it a plot point. Third, Ilyana is not a Russian name that exists. Ilya is a male name, but there’s no female form. FOURTH, I distinctly remember reading a comic where she was calling her brothers “Piotr” and “Mikhail”. That’s their full names! I mean bonus points for actually finding the full names this time, but it’s extremely weird for their LITTLE SIBLING to use them! They should be Petya and Misha as far as her own speech is concerned!

P.S. “All Night Laundry” is a fantastic webcomic, but “Grandimir” is not a real name, “Grand” is not a Russian word root and will not be used in a name this way, you’re looking for “Velimir” or somethng (though that’s, like, a thousand years antiquated). Also while both the uncle and the nephew having the “Petrovich” patronymic is not that odd, Petr is not THAT rare a name and maybe their brother/father was Petr Petrovich... considering we never learn their surname, I seriously suspect the writer just confused a patronymic with a surname. Also, naming their dog the same name crosses the line into slightly weird. Who names a dog after their father? This is actually what prompted this...

[umbran6]

The Argument Against Caleo

Spoilers up to Blood of Olympus and beyond. Beware! (Or not, the book series has been out for a few years, get over it). I wrote this after seeing a user wondering why people didn’t like Caleo, or in some cases, hated it. Here, I want to explain the answer as much as possible while doling out my own points. 

One of the main grievances I have as a fan of Leo Valdez would be the ship Caleo, or Leo x Calypso. It’s a complicated ship, to say the least, with multiple issues that make me question why people like the ship. And I admit it, they initially had some chemistry, but there’s multiple issues that Uncle Rick produced through making such a relationship that makes it extremely open to criticism, criticism which I will explain through this post.

One of my main points against them is that the ship was created on a very limited time scale. Although we aren’t given an exact date to date of when Leo and Calypso met to when they fell in love, we can safely estimate it to be a week at best. Such a limited amount of time from going through the multiple stages of a relationship already stresses the limits of the suspension of disbelief.

A counterexample would be Percabeth, or Percy x Annabeth. Throughout the series, we aren’t introduced to them being romantically involved until the Titan’s Curse, which was two years after they met. Specifically, this is brought up by Aphrodite, the goddess of love herself. Admittedly, Percy and Annabeth were twelve years old when they first met, when romance was definitely out of the picture, especially with a quest to get the Master Bolt.

However, from there we get to see multiple examples of their character depth, ranging from their respective fatal flaws to their ambitions, hopes and dreams, and their friendship. We get to see the slow build up of their chemistry, which was a really good writing move on Uncle Rick’s part. These characters took their sweet time to get to where they wanted to go, and despite the false romantic lead of Rachel, they still got together.

On the other hand, we don’t see enough of this between Leo and Calypso — we only see one book where they interacted with each other in The House of Hades, and that was only for a handful of chapters. While they are definitely older so they can jump straight to romance (some may say too old, but I’ll get to that) its still a pretty huge gap to jump through without making it stick. This makes it hard to root for a ship when it is built on a rather faulty foundation from the ‘they just met’ to ‘they get together’, especially when they don’t have a lot of events to show their chemistry.

Which brings me to Ogygia, which has raised a few red flags for me when looking at it from a retrospective point of view. Now, we know what the main issue of the island is that the hero who landed on said island can’t leave until Calypso falls in love with them. And we’ve seen this with Percy during the Battle of the Labyrinth, where he lands in the island and Calypso falls in love with him while tending to his wounds from, you know, being erupted from freaking Mt. St. Helens. Needless to say, this falling in love with each other montage happened quickly to the point of suspicion, which sets up the complication that Calypso and Leo might have fallen in love due to magical intervention.

And hear me out, because although this  might be a pretty big pill to swallow, we have evidence for this through Percy. It only takes one chapter for Calypso and Percy to meet, and the next he’s willing to consider leaving Camp Half-Blood and Annabeth behind to live on the island when Hephaestus gives him the choice to leave Ogygia or stay. We don’t even get an explanation on why Percy considered giving it all up just so he can be with her. All we know is, girl meets boy, now they want to live on an isolated island forever. It’s especially absurd considering Percy’s hamartia (fatal flaw) is freaking loyalty to those he loves.  Needless to say, It’s a huge YIKES, especially when we apply it to Leo and Calypso. 

It also raises the possibility that the romantic relationship between them is doomed to failure. And if you guys want to fight me on this, let’s look at Jason and Piper, a couple whose relationship started with a similar foundation. Piper had romantic memories implanted into her brain by Hera through the use of the Mist, while Jason was reduced to a Tabula Rasa (a blank slate for those who lack culture) by said goddess. They broke up before the Trials of Apollo because it was clear that when the dust settled, Piper had been aware that their romance was a lie and that their intentions to stay together was a mix of delusion and pressure from freaking Aphrodite. Leo and Calypso get together under what is arguably a very similar set of conditions if Ogygia’s magic had any influence on their relationship, and that this magic could wear off if given enough time. 

Third, and here’s a pretty big one for me, would be Calypso’s character, mainly because there are a lot of unfortunate implications attached to it. In The Blood of Olympus, she was turned into the divine equivalent of Princess Peach, with Leo being her Mario (except he saves her with a badass metal dragon). Its extremely unnecessary to make a character, especially as one such as Calypso, get  turned into the typical reward of a B-Class action movie. It’s insulting and puts her up as a trophy, a narrative that is definitely not ok by any means necessary.

In another direction, Calypso is also really, really worrying when things don’t go get her way. First, let’s look at The Odyssey, the first myth she pops up. Calypso had imprisoned Odysseus for ten years on her island until Hermes said to let him go, and although it gives them plenty of time to fall in love, it also raises the implications of stockholm syndrome. Then we’ve got the fact that Calypso cursed Annabeth out of spite, implicitly saying that she wished the daughter of Athena would suffer the same isolation that she did, which came to reality when Percy and Annabeth met the Arai in Tartarus. And Annabeth wasn’t even aware that she was still in Ogygia, much less intentionally intervened in the matter. When Percy left Ogygia, rather than be angry at Percy, Calypso cursed Annabeth out of all people to suffer the same loneliness and misery she went through. That’s some Hera at her worst levels of spite. 

Through such evidence we can see that Calypso is extremely wrathful towards those who break her heart even though they don’t want to. It certainly implies that Calypso isn’t in a good state of mind, and could easily repeat said actions if provoked. We could almost compare it to Medea and the original Jason, but at least in that case, Medea has every right to be pissed off at Jason and take her revenge. Calypso’s curse and how she handles things certainly implies a level of immaturity that would end in disaster if they broke up.

One issue that, I’ll admit is more from my personal point of view is that the ship took a lot of Leo’s character and threw it in the garbage in Blood of Olympus. Though we see him do a lot of stuff behind the scenes, the fact that its all for the goal of reaching Calypso just reduced him to someone who is more focused on love than, you know, fighting the evil goddess that was responsible for killing his mom and getting sweet sweet revenge. While the revenge plot can be cliched sometimes, it can be played well, while romance and the typical ‘always save the girl’ trope is just overdone. If Leo had been allowed to, you know, be more focused on other things rather than Calypso, we could have seen a lot more variety in his character.

For example as one of the possible character arcs he could’ve gone through, Leo has always been alone among the couples, often being isolated. Heck, Nemesis herself stated that he would always be the seventh wheel, and that he would never find a place among his brethren. Though some fellow tumblr users have taken this in multiple ways, either saying that he should learn to be happy by himself or that he is socially isolated in the Argo II because of these romantic relationships (I prefer a mix of both). Uncle Rick just giving him a girlfriend seems like taking the easy way out of solving such an issue and abandoning what could’ve been a rather interesting character arc. The relationship isn’t a bad thing if we remove some of the unfortunate implications, but it is a bad way to end what is a complex and realistic problem for a character and in some cases maybe possible in real life.

One more minor but still yikes worthy point is that there’s a huge age gap between them. We’re not talking about the ‘Hazel is 15 and Frank is 17 and in one year that’ll be a problem because then Hazel will be jailbait’ age gap. And even then, we can argue that Hazel is older since she is chronologically ninety-one years old. No, Calypso is older by millennia in terms of mindset and body due to the perks of being a goddess, while Leo is sixteen.

God-to-Mortal relationships are already complicated, even with emotionally and socially well-functioning adults. The fact that Leo is underage, inexperienced with romance (despite his flirting, Calypso was his first kiss), and has been through a freaking ton of trauma in his youth, does not make this okay. At best, they’re both mutually interested in each other but may have different expectations when it comes to a relationship. At worst, Calypso is taking advantage of a boy just so she can get out of Ogygia and possibly dumping him later on like the wrapping of a candy bar. Even though Calypso lost her immortality during The Trials of Apollo, that doesn’t even compensate for the immense age gap alongside Leo’s guilt at the possibility that he might’ve been responsible for her losing said immortality.

Oh, and about Leo... I’m a fan of him, but I can admit that he is in a bad spot both mentally and emotionally throughout the series. He’s lost his mom due to a mix of his own powers and Gaea’s trickery, and never had the chance to fully process that event and come to terms with it. The foster home system alongside his own trauma has forced him to hide his emotions through a façade of happiness and jokes when it’s quite clear to me he needs a therapist, stat. He's also run away from several foster homes, implying this means he was and still is being affected by the event. His mask is still on during The Blood of Olympus considering he hid a lot of things from Piper and Jason.

Speaking about them, not helping this matter is the fact that he’s rather isolated in terms of friendships since Jason and Piper, his supposed best friends are more interested in locking lip rather than, you know, actually hanging out with each other.  He doesn’t have good friendships with the rest of the Seven, and the closest ones he does have is with Hazel and Frank. And even then they start off in the wrong spot since Frank is very insecure about possibly losing Hazel to him during Mark of Athena while Hazel in the meantime, is also dealing with the fact that he is the descendant of her possible boyfriend Sammy Valdez. 

This could indirectly have made him desperate for affection since he has nobody else to confide in during the rest of the series, which is a bad mental state to be in when one lands on Ogygia, the island that we’ve seen could possibly force two people to fall in love with each other. A romantic relationship is not something that he needs or something that will help him in the future. He needs more than that, and having him in one that could end in disaster is the last thing he needs. 

And that does not make him a bad person, much less a bad character. While some who are similarly emotionally and socially isolated may turn to violence or creepy behavior on those they want affection from, Leo does not do that to the other characters. It just means that he as a character needs more time to recover and develop before we go giving him romantic relationships, much less one with Calypso.

That’s not to say that they don’t have some things in common. Both are starved for love and affection, with Calypso being constantly rejected by heroes while Leo was rejected by foster homes and his own family. It’s a trait that they have in common, but it shouldn’t be the only thing that they have in common, especially since it is laced with a trauma that is clear they haven’t had help processing. They need to develop more as characters and as friends before they should be paired together.

So… yeah. The Caleo relationship is, in my eyes, doomed to failure, or at least heavily flawed after taking the above points into account. Uncle Rick, as if seemingly aware of these criticisms, has put the relationship in a rocky place by The Tower of Nero, giving them the possibility of overcoming the above criticisms and their own flaws, or giving fanfic writers an out and pairing Leo with another character or have him single, but happy. Either way, in my opinion Caleo is a bad ship when it comes to how it was created, alongside the flaws and unfortunate implications it has.

While I can see some of the chemistry the ship has, you can’t just use a couple of moments where they get along as evidence that they belong together, especially with the above reasons. That’s like using a band-aid to cover a bullet hole without removing the bullet, stopping the bleeding, and preventing infection. If both characters and their relationship had been given more time to develop, I would understand how they would get together. 

[shinidamachu]

I need some Inuyasha as a great father (more like DILF, amirite?) headcanons, can you help me out?

I'm here to serve!

• It isn’t until they’re happily married for at least one or two years that the possibility of children are brought up.

• At first, they took that time to relearn each other, enjoy their company and make the honeymoon phase last a little long. They did spend three years apart, after all. There’s so much time to make up for, so many catching up to do before they’d even think to throw a kid into the mix. Plus, being a modern woman, Kagome would know how to avoid pregnancy the best her new circumstances allowed and how important that time alone is for a newly-married couple.

• They never actually had the child talk because Kagome just assumed that’s where their relationship would naturally lead to, given her motherly tendencies and Inuyasha’s history of ultimately giving her everything she wants. For his part, Inuyasha knew she wanted to be a mother someday and he'd be lying if he said he never indulged the fantasy of fathering her children. However, he has serious trouble wrapping his mind around the idea that, in reality, Kagome would still be up for it if he were to be the father. He could never dare to ask of her more than she has already given him. Be that as it may, it was not a big deal because it was not a dealbreaker. Nothing was.

• But with time, Kagome would have noticed how good Inuyasha is with Hisui and the Mirsan twins. How his relationship with Shippo had developed from a sibling banter to a makeshift paternal relationship. How people like Shiori and Bunza would look up to him like he was some kind of movie hero. How every kid in the village seemed to adore him despite his grumpy demeanor.

• And Inuyasha would have noticed the way Kagome would look at him whenever he so much as interacted with a child, the way her smell would spike significantly.

• She, of course, was the one to make the first move, jumping him one night, after they had spend the whole day stuck with babysitting the Mirsan children and popping the question.

• Inuyasha was relutant. There was a part of him that was adamant on making her happy and even believed having babies would make him happy too. On the other hand, he was terrified. Terrified of how her body would react to childbirth, of if her spiritual powers would accept his demonic energy. But mostly, about what would happen once the baby was born. The last thing he wanted was for Kagome to go through everything his mother had to go through. Or for another kid to face the same prejudice he did. Besides, he grew up with no father figure whose steps he could follow. He didn’t know how to be a father.

• Kagome assures him that they won’t have a baby until they’re both ready and on the same page, that they have time and that Inuyasha will be a great father.

• Inuyasha believes her.

• Then it is him felling some type of way whenever he sees Kagome around kids. And something deep inside desperately wishes to find out what would their children look like, what would it be like to hold and take care of someone born from their love.

• Finally, he caves.

• Inuyasha wants a big family, considering how lonely his childhood was. Kagome finds it pivotal for their first-born to have a sibling, since she had Sota and their relationship was one of the most important things in her life. That’s why they’d have two children minimum, preferably a boy and a girl. However, giving how dangerous and uncomfortable childbirth can be, especially without the perks the modern era provides, I don’t think they’d have more than three.

• Naturally, Inuyasha relies on Miroku for advice and the latter is more helpful than not. Except for the times Inuyasha asks or says something that makes it way too easy for Miroku to mess with him. Like the time he told Inuyasha that if he doesn’t get Kagome whatever food she craves while pregnant, the baby will be born looking exactly like that food. And Inuyasha believed him.

• And if you thought Inuyasha was protective of Kagome before... oh boy! He’d be almost overbearing, but Kagome would see it as endearing. Most of the time. Sometimes, though, a woman has got to have her privacy. He also becomes more attentive, more gentle, sweeter.

• After their first child is born, Inuyasha gets a makeover of sorts. He’s always borrowing the Fire Rat to Kagome and the baby anyway, so he figured it’d be more practical to just pass the clothes on to them already and get something new for himself.

• It’s white.

• Inuyasha becomes taller, stronger. And often lets Kagome experiment with his hair with braids, top nots... and ponytails.

• Old Myoga is the first one to notice the resemblance. And it’s true. He’s the spitting image of Toga. Former enemies and allies often mistaken him for Toga and Kagome thinks the look on their (and Inuyasha’s) face is hilarious.

• Sesshoumaru does not care for it (I stole this one from @heavenin--hell).

• Inuyasha hates his human nights even more because now his vulnerability also means he might not be able to protect his family as he usually would (Together Changed by @goshinote and @lostinfantasyworlds inspired this one). Plus, the black hair and lack of dog ears confuses the baby, who cries and fusses for a good while until realizing it is, in fact, Inuyasha holding them (this one I saw in an adorable fanart I can’t find).

• But since he needs way less sleeping than humans and he spends the New Moons up anyway, Inuyasha gets a lot of quality time with their infant at night, which allows Kagome to actually get a good night sleep unless the baby is hungry.

• The Beads of Subjugation get dooled and chewed on. A lot.

• A little contest takes place between Kagome and Inuyasha about what the first word of their first child would be, with Kagome going for “dada” and Inuyasha going for “mama.”

• Kagome wins.

• Inuyasha’s fighting style changes. He still says some snarky remarks, but now it’s more to push his opponent‘s buttons down so they would get sloppy than anything else. After all, he has a child to think about and provide for now. He doesn’t have the luxury of gambling with his life anymore. He has a home to come back to and therefore won’t be taking any chances (credit to @born-for-eachother for this one).

• And so he becomes more lethal on the battle field. Pragmatic. Objective. Calculating. Decisive. Cold blooded. Much like... Sesshomaru.

• He had never been more offended on his life than the day Sango pointed this out to him.

• When the kids grow up a bit, Inuyasha and Kagome start to tell them bedtime stories, with the PG version of the story about how the met and defeated Naraku being their favorite.

• Kagome tries to be a reliable and calm narrator while Inuyasha exaggerates the events and the voices, almost always breaking objects of their house in the process.

• After hearing one too many times about the Beads of Subjugation, their child tries to “sit” Inuyasha. Of course it doesn’t work, but he still makes a big deal out of throwing himself on the ground every time they say the word just to hear them laugh.

• The first actual toy Inuyasha buys them is a ball, just like the one he had as a kid, at the same time accomplishing a childhood wish through them and ensuring that they would always have someone to play with.

• Kagome is more protective of their physical state while Inuyasha is more protective of their emotional one (see Fist Fight by @omgitscharlie)

• Inuyasha goes to Totosai and asks him to make a weapon out of one of his fangs to each of their children once they get old enough for it. Not necessarily a sword, just something of their choice and that better fits their personality.

• He would be a just father, doing his best to show no favoritism, treat his children equally and make sure no one felt overlooked or unloved.

• But truth be told, if one of their babies turn out to be a daughter, he would definitelly let her get away with almost anything, no matter how much of a gremlin she is. Daddy’s little girl would have him wrapped around her tiny fingers.

• Life never treated Inuyasha kindly. From a very young age, it was kill or be killed. It wouldn't be too far off for him to think the exact same thing could happen with his kids, therefore he tries to prepare them, to tough them up so they can take it.

• And I believe this sentiment would be significantly amplified with a son, because it would involve the whole “suck it up”, “men don’t cry” and “man of the house” aspect of it. The “it is your duty to protect your mother and sister when I’m gone” too, especially because he couldn’t protect Izayoi himself.

• It’s “tough love”, but it’s love nonetheless. And in the right dose, which I believe Inuyasha manages to nail, it can be very important for one’s development and growth.

• But it’s hard to imagine him being as tough with a daughter. Probably because he sees so much of Kagome on her that the mere idea of seeing her cry simply breaks him.

• Kagome would actually have to step in when it comes to disciplining and saying “no”, because he simply wouldn’t have it in him to do so.

There’s actually a really nice post by @keichanz I reblogged a while ago discussing precisely that, but I can’t find it to save my life (should I start to properly tag my reblogs? No, it’s a lot of work and I’m right not to).

Anyway, that’s all I got for now.

Peace out.

[nyx3927]

I see a lot of deaf Bakugō or deaf Present Mic headcanons floating around and I figured that y’all could use some more technical information on it instead of just “can’t hear” and “learns sign language”.

This is going under a cut since it is a lot but it is all information that would help with writing/developing a good Deaf character and not just focusing on what inconveniences/fascinates hearing people.

It covers assistive devices and fittings, audiograms, medical stuff, and the Deaf community.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive covering of all the technical aspects and is based mainly off of what I’ve experienced/have seen happen/have asked professionals about. I might come back and add more as more comes to me.

1) Types of assistive devices that can be used to help reach the needed level of hearing

The devices depend on the severity of the hearing loss. That is determined by an audiogram which tests the quietest noise at a frequency you can hear which is discussed later.

If you have a mild hearing loss, the chances of you needing an assistive device is low, almost nonexistent. That is because you can still hear the speech of most people which is what an assistive device helps with.

The two assistive devices used are a hearing aid and a cochlear implant.

A cochlear is only for profound or total deafness. You can only hear really loud things, and sometimes not even that. The basics of how it works is you have a sound processor that converts noises to electrical impulses which go to the physical cochlear. It requires surgery to install and you can get that at 12 months at the youngest.

A hearing aid has 6 different appearances which depend on what your needs are and what you want.

a)iitc-invisible in the canal. People can’t see it but it’s better for less severe hearing losses because it’s smaller and can’t process as much

b)cic-completely in the canal. Pretty much the same as an iitc just a bit bigger and more visible.

c)itc-in the canal. Again, same as above, but it does have more ability to help with more severe hearing loss.

d)ite-in the ear. Visible, and can help with moderate hearing loss.

Most in the canal designs are made for less severe hearing loss and better. They’re small and discreet, especially if you get skin-colored ones. They also can have smaller batteries which can be an issue for dexterity.

e)ric- reciever in canal. The power bank is behind the ear while the reciever that makes the noise is in the canal

f)bte-behind the ear. Most visible

The ones that go behind the ear are best for connecting with additional assistive devices because you can fit Bluetooth in or connect a receiver to it. These are also good for children who lose things and are a bit sturdier.

2) What an audiogram is and how you get one

[Image ID: A graph with the left axis labeled “Loudness-measured in decibels(dB)” going from 0-120, the right axis labeled “degree of hearing loss”, normal in 0-25 decibels, mild in 25-40 decibels, moderate in 40-70 decibels, severe in 70-90 decibels, and profound in 90-120 decibels. The top is labeled “pitch (or frequency)-measured in cycles per second(Hz)” and goes from 125-5000. Pictures of different things that make noise are over the graph with a yellow banana-shape in the middle of the graph. End ID]

This is an audiogram with the “speech banana”(the yellow banana shape) which is where you have to be to hear and understand speech without any devices and it is how you find out if you have a hearing loss.

To get one, you have to go to an audiologist and take quite a few tests that take forever and suck. Keep in mind, these tests can go in any order but as kids are a handful they tend to go in this order from experience.

Test one: You go into a little sound dampening booth so you can’t hear outside of it and the doctor puts what is basically wired earbuds in your ear. They leave and sit at a table full of controls and start pressing buttons. You’re told to repeat whatever words you hear through the earbuds and you do it. It goes on for a while, lots of boring words and struggling to make one out, it is done in a single ear and both ears. It can be done by the doctor saying words but that’s not as common in professional settings.

Test two: You stay in the little booth with the earbuds. Now you have to listen to sounds and confirm that you heard the sounds. This can be done verbally, by raising your hand, or by pressing a clicker that tells the doc you heard it. The sounds are piped in through one ear at a time, this is to determine if one ear has a more severe hearing loss

Test three: The doc comes back in and removes the earbuds. Next, they put a special band on your head that looks like a headband but has a cold hard bit on the end that goes right on the bone behind your ear. It hurts and is very uncomfortable. Then repeat the same stuff as test two with the doc coming in to put the headband on the other side of the head so both sides hurt from the bit on the end.

3) Hearing aid fitting

First step, you go and get any big lumps of earwax in your ears cleaned out. Too much earwax means they can’t make a mold of your ear. Second, the doc shoves mini sponges with a string attached into your ear to make sure that you don’t get anything down the canal and it doesn’t get lost. Third, they open up a package with a syringe and some sort of molding stuff, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s often blue or pink or a mixture. The molding stuff gets put in the syringe which is then used to fill up your ear. The stuff is cold and feels weird while it’s drying which takes ~5 mins, and while it is in there you cannot hear a single thing from that ear. Then the doc pulls the dried thing out of your ear using the string and you have an ear mold for the hearing aid. Repeat for other ear if needed.

Couple weeks later, you go back and the doctor has your completed hearing aid with everything preset to compensate for your level of hearing loss and a perfect fit in your ears. Then you fiddle with the settings a bit so that you’re comfy and trim the wire if it’s a bte to make it sit better. It’ll feel weird for a bit as you adjust to it, but it’ll feel comfy after a week or two.

4) Deaf community and sign language

First, sign is a real language which has its own dialect, slang, jokes, and grammar. Go away if you disagree.

Second, one sign language isn’t the same as another. ASL is not the same as BSL which is different from JSL which has little in common with SSL. There are similarities but they are very different from each other. I can’t interpret for a deaf British person because I don’t know BSL

Third, yes staring at someone who is signing is rude and annoying. If you know it, it’s like you’re eavesdropping on them. If you don’t know it, it’s like staring at someone speaking a language you don’t know just because you don’t understand them.

Fourth, sign names are given by a Deaf person. If you’re hearing and learning sign, you can’t give yourself a sign name, that’s disrespectful.

Fifth, most Deaf adults don’t support getting cochlears when a kid is still a toddler or younger because it implies that deafness is something that needs to be fixed and the kid has no real say in the matter.

Sixth, Deaf person and deaf person are two different things. It’s similar to identity first vs person first language, but not the exact same.

Seventh, the Deaf community is fairly welcoming to everyone. Someone who’s just going deaf is just as welcome as someone who’s been deaf all their life. A hearing person learning sign is welcomed in as long as they’re polite and don’t expect the community to shift to make them more comfortable. A parent of a deaf kid is welcomed and given information that the kid needs.

5) Medical Stuff

Technically, speaking if you have any sort of hearing loss, you should wear a medical alert bracelet. It’d have your name, a phone number, if you wear a hearing aid, cochlear, and/or use ASL, and says that you might not respond to vocal prompts. Most of us don’t wear them, it’s just kinda a hassle to do.

Since both cochlears and hearing aids do have metal, you have to be careful about MRIs because if they are removed, they can get ripped out and injure you further. That mainly a concern for cochlears since they’re surgically installed under the skin and not visible unless the outer piece is on

Using hearing aids does cause earwax buildup, so you need to get that cleaned out regularly or it’s make your hearing worse.

Audiograms are typically redone every 5-ish years to update the cochlear/hearing aid ability and to make sure you’re getting what you need.

Anyone can get hearing loss, and it’s almost impossible to not get it as you age. The severity of the hearing loss is dependent on what you do and where you live. The chances of a single accident wiping out all of your hearing and rendering you completely deaf is fairly low, but not impossible.

[out-of-jams]

War & Peace || jhs

↠ War & Peace ↞ “Your rivalry with Jung Hoseok first began at the tender age of five, right after you’d beamed a cardboard box of crayons straight at his forehead. He’d bled and it’d later left behind a thin scar that sliced clean through his right eyebrow. You should’ve felt guilty, but you hadn’t. Still didn’t.

He’d had it coming for trying to Compel you to hand them over anyway. And technically, you did hand them over. Just not in the way he’d probably wanted. At least, that was what you’d told the teacher after Hoseok had growled wildly at you from across the playroom table.

But you know what they say; all’s fair in love and war.”

Pairing: Hoseok x Reader

Word Count: 9.9k

Warnings/Genre: Alpha!Hoseok. Omega!Reader. Enemies to lovers. ABO dynamics. Explicit language. Fluff.Slight angst. Cliché spin-the-bottle scene. Pining. They’re both annoying idiots. Competition au(?). Bad puns. Cliche Jackson throwing a party (a party ain’t a party if it ain’t a Jackson Wang party).

All works here are purely fiction. Everything I write is my intellectual property and therefore belongs to me. ©out-of-jams. Do not copy or repost without permission. That is illegal and you are stealing no matter if you give credit or not.

The room was abuzz.

You paused where you stood at the entrance to the Four Seasons’ Hotel ballroom. Fingers tightening around the small, black clutch bag in your hand, you let your eyes rove over expensive dresses and suits and quaffed hair and curls. At least the spaghetti strap, two piece off-white dress your mother had bought (and forced you to wear) fit the occasion quite well, so your inherent fear of accidentally standing out wouldn’t come to fruition.

Whoever had decorated the ballroom had pulled out all the stops. There were miniature chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings, lights turned to a dim setting. Small-yet-cosy circular tables were spread out evenly, chairs for two either occupied or emptied. A man in a catering ensemble approached you, extending his tray of bubbly champagne. Normally you wouldn’t put alcohol of any kind into your body, but you’d make an exception just that once. You took one with a smile of thanks and swallowed a mouthful in an attempt to chase away your nerves.

When your parents had first approached you about attending the matchmaking event, you’d been wary. The events themselves weren’t rare; young adults who had yet to find a mate would go to them. They had a ninety-nine percent success rate when it came to matching you. However, you found the whole thing to be quite archaic.

It wasn’t that you were against love or finding a mate or anything like that, you just didn’t think that attaching yourself to another person for life should be so significant. You’d been too busy during college getting your degree to date anyone seriously. And you’d never felt the desire to, hadn’t needed to.

As an Omega, you were the lowest tier in the societal hierarchy. And as an unmated Omega, you were a rare commodity. It was expected for an Omega to be mated before they even reached their twenties. Something about needing to be taken care of or some other bullshit that you disagreed with. You could take perfectly good care of yourself.

But when you’d come home mateless after graduation to visit your parents before trying to find a job with your degree, they’d been concerned. Your mother, a fellow Omega, had sat you down and forced you to fill out the overly long, three hundred questionnaire for the matchmaking service. Of course, you’d rolled your eyes, but ended up relenting. You’d decided that you’d just go to the damn event, let the mysterious matchmakers do their thing, give some excuse to leave sometime in the middle of the thing, and then go home and tell your parents that you’d tried.

You should’ve known that it wouldn’t be that easy.

Glancing down at the dark red card the size of your palm that the woman manning the check-in desk had given you, you memorized the two numbers printed on it. As if you hadn’t looked at it a few dozen times already. Just in case. You didn’t want to be there, but you weren’t about to somehow accidentally embarrass yourself either.

The flared, lace skirt of your dress brushed against your legs while you made your way through the room, eyes scanning the number placards on the table in search of your own. Some of them already had couples sitting at them, engaged in conversation and hiding shy smiles behind dainty hands. Your heels click-clacked against the shiny marble flooring as you weaved between others who were still finding their seats.

Eight, nine, ten, you mentally counted in your head, passing by the white-clothed tables. Eleven.

Your feet halted and you glanced down at your card one last time before looking up. Table twelve was already occupied, leaving a single seat left.

“Wow,” you murmured through red painted lips. He looked up at the sound of your voice, soulfully deep brown irises alighting on your form. Dark hair parted perfectly to reveal the smooth, tan skin of his forehead curled above a single one of those eyes. Heart-shaped lips that appeared soft to the touch parted in surprise. “I know you almost failed fifth grade math, but I didn’t think you were still this bad at counting.”

"I—what are you doing here?” Jung Hoseok looked so utterly bewildered that it would’ve been endearing if it had been anyone but him. He subconsciously smoothed a ringed hand down the front of his midnight black satin tux and stared at you like he’d never seen you before.

“What are you doing here?” You avoided answering his question with a raised eyebrow.

“What does it look like I’m doing here?”

“It looks like you’re sitting at my table,” you gestured at the aforementioned seat with your flute of champagne.

“No, I’m sitting at my table.” Hoseok tilted his head, sharp jawline standing out and tiny dimples revealing themselves as he pursed his mouth. “It’s not my fault that you can’t read.”

“Excuse me?” A sound of indignation sprang from the back of your throat and you dropped your clutch on the table in order to flip around the tiny card in your hand. The number twelve was embedded on it in swirling, looping gold font. “Now move.”

He did not, in fact, move. He just sat there like an impressive impersonation of a statue. The only part of him that moved was when those espresso hued eyes of his widened in either surprise or shock, you didn’t know. Nor did you care. Or at least you hadn’t until he slowly lifted a hand to show you his own card with the number twelve printed on it.

And then you too, did the best performance you could muster at being frozen solid. As if the universe was attempting to prove that the two of you had, in fact, been matched together, your voices harmonized as you spoke at the same exact time:

“Oh, you’ve gotta be shitting me.”

                  (Seventeen years ago)

Your rivalry with Jung Hoseok first began at the tender age of five, right after you’d beamed a cardboard box of crayons straight at his forehead. He’d bled, and it’d later left behind a thin scar that sliced clean through his right eyebrow. You should’ve felt guilty, but you hadn’t. Still didn’t.

He’d had it coming for trying to Compel you to hand them over anyway. And technically, you did hand them over. Just not in the way he’d probably wanted. At least, that’s what you’d told the teacher after Hoseok growled wildly at you from across the playroom table.

The kindergarten classroom had been packed with screaming, rambunctious toddlers. It was an important time in every child’s life — not because that was the age where friendships first began; it was when nature started to reveal itself. When the part of the brain in charge of scent glands that separated the Alphas from the Betas from the Omegas developed.

You’d been relegated to one of the tables in the corner with all the rest of the soft, floral smelling, shy Omegas. Until the green colored crayon you’d been using to smear across your paper in an attempt at drawing the vast forest outside ran out. The closest resupply of your writing instrument had been lying all the way across the room on one of the empty tables.

Of course, because fate was nothing but a bitch, your quick hands snatched the crayon box up point-two seconds before a pouting Jung Hoseok could. He’d looked at you with those gentle, chocolate brown eyes of his, and then the first words he’d ever spoken to you passed his heart shaped lips.

“Hey, give it!”

And yours to him. “No way! I got them first, loser!”

The rounded apples of his cheeks puffed up with a scowl, jaw clenched. If he’d been taller than you, maybe he would’ve been intimidating. But to you, he’d just looked like a fluffed up chicken.

“Well, you’re an Omega and I’m an Alpha, so you gotta do what I say,” his tongue fumbled over the larger words and he crossed his arms over his chest with a look that told you he thought he’d just won the battle.

“Make me,” scoffing, you leveled him with a glare and waved the box of crayons under his perfectly straight nose.

“Fine.” His eyes narrowed and he took a deep breath. “Give them.” His dark irises flashed gold as he laced his words with the power of an Alpha Command.

If he were older and had more of a grip over his powers, perhaps you would’ve felt compelled. But the only thing that overcame you was annoyance. Your fingers tightened around the box; your arm cocked back. “Fine.”

And it went careening straight into his forehead with a crack! that had all heads in the room turning to look back. Sticking your nose in the air, you slipped your stolen green crayon into your dress pocket and skipped back to your table.

That was when your rivalry first started.

And the war began.

Eleven years later and the whole town knew of your blatant dislike for one another. It was difficult not to when the moment the two of you entered the same room, you were immediately at each other’s throats. Some of the older, more set-in-their-ways Alphas frowned upon your rivalry with Jung Hoseok. Though they were more annoyed at the fact that he never used his Alpha Compulsion to “put his mouthy Omega in her place” than anything else.

His. Hearing them call you his never failed to absolutely infuriate you. Like you were nothing other than a piece of property. Like you belonged to the one person in the world who you despised the most. Like you could belong to anyone at all.

Omegas were supposed to cow to Betas, and above all, Alphas. The hierarchy had been around since the beginning of time. Since Alphrina, the goddess of all mankind, had created the first Alpha in her image. They were the strongest of the Three, Betas coming in second and Omegas last.

If Hoseok had been like any other Alpha, then he probably would’ve long since made you submit to him. But he never had. Lisa, your childhood best friend and the town’s most popular female Alpha, had theorized that maybe he just didn’t know how to use his Alpha powers. But you knew better. His pride would never recover if he’d been forced to Compel you into listening to him.

Not even after you’d paid Jeon Jungkook a hefty sum to switch Hoseok’s shampoo bottle during the football team’s after practice shower with a similar one you’d filled with green hair dye back in high school. He’d stormed up to your locker the next day, cheeks aflame with rage and jaw clenched while he spat out (true) accusations.

But he’d had no proof that you’d been the one to make him look like a very festive Christmas tree, what with the already bright red strands of his hair stained with streaks of green. You’d thoroughly made sure that Jungkook would do it while the team was actually showering, so the soap and hot water would wash away any lingering scent of the culprit.

Hoseok had gotten you back, of course, by sticking a huge glob of chewing gum in your hair after you’d fallen asleep on your desk during history class. You’d cried for two days straight after your mom had to chop off your long locks into a shoulder length bob. And the cycle repeated itself with you taking revenge by stealing the janitor’s keys after school, and hiding a dead fish in Hoseok’s locker to decompose over the two week long Christmas break.

At least your rivalry had stopped anyone else from trying to mess with you due to your Omega status. Either they’d been too afraid of stepping on Hoseok’s toes, or had just been way too entertained by your antics, you weren’t sure. But you weren’t complaining, not when you saw how the other Omega’s in your school had been treated.

It hadn’t been good.

At all.

Suffice to say, maybe you would be somewhat grateful for Hoseok if you didn’t despise his existence so much.

You blamed your last weekend of your high school career for implanting the seed into your mind. For flip-turning your opinion of Jung Hoseok right upside down. Not that you’d exactly noticed it at first; it’d just kickstarted the slow sliver of doubt that began to fester.

Partying wasn’t usually your thing. You didn’t have anything against it, nor the people that chose to do so, you just refused to partake in anything that could alter your state of mind. Because being an Omega not in full control of yourself was a dangerous thing to be. But it was the end of mandated schooling and a very important milestone that deserved celebrating.

Which was the exact argument that Lisa had used in order to convince you to go with her and Jennie (a Beta and the most recent addition to your friend group) to the after graduation party. Jackson Wang’s house was unnecessarily massive, most likely due to both of his Alpha parents being on the city council. He’d somehow been able to convince them to take a weekend vacation and leave the estate in his (ir)responsible hands.

By the time you pulled up with both of your friends, the party was in full swing. Cars littered the curved driveway all the way down to the street below. (And seeing as how the Wang Estate was fifty acres, that was a long way down.) Music poured out from the opened front doors, heavy bass rattling the windows of Lisa’s Nissan.

You pressed your nose against the passenger side glass with a grimace. Fiddling with the overly tight dress that Jennie had forced you into, you sighed deeply.

“Oh, come on, Y/n, it’ll be fun,” Jennie leaned forward from the backseat to cheer encouragingly.

“I didn’t even say anything,” you argued and finally turned away from the steadily approaching mansion.

“You didn’t have to. You have that I-Don’t-Want-To-Be-Here face,” Lisa spoke up from the driver’s seat, eyes intently focused on finding a parking spot.

You snorted. “That’s because I don’t. Being surrounded by loud, drunk Alphas and Betas isn’t the most appealing way to spend my Friday night, thank you very much.”  

“We already told you that we’re going to watch out for you tonight.” Lisa made a noise in the back of her throat when she finally found somewhere to leave her vehicle.

“Exactly. Remember what happened last time some asshole Beta harassed you?”

“You mean the time Lisa almost got arrested when she fought that guy in the McDonald’s line?”

“Yup, that’s the one.”

“I’m still mad I never got my McDouble,” Lisa sighed forlornly and cut the engine to her car.

“All you think about is food,” Jennie laughed, quickly scrambling out of the car before Lisa could turn around and swat at her leg.

“Well, she’s not wrong.” The only thing that saved you from your best friend’s wrath was the fact that you were faster than she was.

Inside the house was just as you’d expected: crowded, loud, so many smells and sounds that had your heightened senses almost crying from overstimulation. You followed Jennie and Lisa to the kitchen for them to make themselves drinks (and to snatch up a can of soda for yourself).

Somehow, somehow, your night ended up with Lisa shoving her tongue down some poor Beta’s throat, and you stuck sitting in a circle in the basement of Jackson Wang’s overly large house. Playing a game of spin-the-bottle with a group of people that you barely knew. Well, most of them anyway.

And you hadn’t intended to play at all, hadn’t had any interest in it, but one look at your mortal enemy’s shit-eating grin sitting across from you had made you stop yourself right before you bowed out. Because you knew for a damn fact that if you’d tried, he would’ve ended up saying something to try and embarrass you.

So instead, you reached out and watched intently as the beer bottle spun around and around and around and around. The green hue of the glass gleamed beneath the dim, blue lights in the basement tauntingly. Everything slowed down, your heartbeat thundered in your eardrums, the music faded into the background. You thought it’d never stop.

Until it did.

A hush fell around the group as you sluggishly trailed your eyes upwards and locked them onto your apparent make-out partner. Fate was a bitch and your life was nothing but a cosmic joke. Because of course, of course, clichés wouldn’t be clichés if they weren’t clichés.

And god you hated clichés.

“Ew no,” slipped out of your mouth unhindered before you could even think to form the syllables.

Directly across the circle, Hoseok raised a perfectly shaped dark eyebrow. (You hated he looked so good even when his hair was such an obnoxious and unflattering shade of red.) That annoying, self-assured smirk tugged at the corner of his coral hued, heart-shaped mouth. “Afraid?”

Everyone around the circle had fallen silent, choosing to sit back and watch the drama unfold instead of talking over it. Like you were some kind of live entertainment, their heads bouncing back and forth between the two of you. So when you scoffed, it was loud enough that every ear could hear it.

“I’m not afraid, I just don’t want you touching me because you’ve slept with so many people. I don’t know where you’ve been.”

“Careful, you sound a little jealous there, L/n.” A second eyebrow jumped up to join the first and Hoseok leaned his weight forward. That insufferable smirk grew.

“Jealous?” Now it was your turn to raise an eyebrow. “As if I’d ever be jealous of anything involving you, Jung.”

“It’s okay to admit it,” he shrugged casually. “If you ask me, I think it’s kind of flattering. Sad and a little pathetic, but flattering.”

“What would I possibly be jealous of? Didn’t you have an STD last month?” You shot back with an unamused snort.

He did that thing again where the apples of his cheeks puffed up and his mouth pursed. While that expression had made him appear very non-intimidating in the past, with puberty had come the sharpening of his jawline and the development of high cheekbones. Maybe if it were any other Alpha looking at you like that, your inner Omega would’ve been cowering. But witnessing someone pee their pants and then cry about it in the first grade tended to make it impossible to see them as menacing.

“That was just a rumor!” Hoseok glared, face beginning to pink beneath the stares of everyone in the room.

“That’s not what Sulgi said,” you hummed. “Yikes.”

“You—”

“As entertaining as this foreplay is to watch,” Jackson’s deep voice piped up, leaning back on his hands from where he sat between two girls you didn’t recognize. “I’d like to take my turn sometime tonight. So either kiss or go fight out in the parking lot, I don’t care.”

Hoseok’s eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, more than likely contemplating arguing with the party host (you knew he didn’t like being ordered around, especially by another Alpha), before a spark of mischievous amusement lit up his mocha colored irises and he turned back to you, head tilted. “I would love to move on, but L/n over here is too afraid to.”

Your lip curled. “I already told you that I—”

“Nervous then? I bet that you haven’t even been kissed before, have you?”

Even though he was correct, you refused to allow him to know it. So you’d never kissed someone before, who cared? People graduated high school all the time without locking lips with someone else. And it wasn’t like you’d never had the chance to—you’d had plenty of dating offers—you’d just never found any of them worthy enough to kiss. That was it.

Not that Jung Hoseok needed to know that.

So you lied.

“Of course I have.”

“Oh really.” It wasn’t a question. “Who?”

“That’s none of your business,” you sniffed.

Hoseok looked like a wolf right before it pounced on its prey: smug. “Then what’s the problem then? Afraid you’d like it?”

“Wow, I don’t know how you fit through the door with your ego as inflated as it is. Like I’d ever enjoy kissing you. It took Sulgi months to shut up about how bad you are at it.”

His haughty expression dropped from his face and his stare darkened at the blatant insult. You realized your mistake the very moment that the challenge sparked within his eyes. He stood slowly, gaze locked on your own as he stepped over the bottle in the middle of the floor. When he reached you, his hand shot down and grasped onto your upper arm, lifting you from your cross-legged seat and onto the soles of your shoes.

“Wha—” He cut off your indignant protest with his mouth before it could fully form.

The last thing you ever would have expected was for Jung Hoseok to kiss you, let alone softly. For his mouth to press against yours with just enough pressure to be labeled as delicate—like the tickling of butterfly wings. He trapped your bottom lip between both of his, slender fingers threading through the hair at the nape of your neck. You shouldn’t have let him touch the most sensitive part of your body. Shouldn’t have instinctively liked it.

Shouldn’t have let your eyes flutter closed and kissed him back. But you were too wrapped up in his strong scent, the warmth of his skin, the gentle exhaling of air as he breathed, the lingering taste of the alcohol from his emptied cup. One kiss turned into two, into three, into four. Until your hands came up to grasp the material of his shirt between your fingers.

Jung Hoseok kissed you like you’d always wanted to be kissed. Slowly and softly and warmly. When his tongue slipped between your lips and touched yours, it wasn’t with the roughness of someone trying to take control. It was a dance; one where he took the lead subtly and you willingly let him do it.

His hand on your arm found your waist and pulled you close, pressed your fronts together until there was no longer any space separating you. A sigh escaped when his tongue brushed against yours more firmly, more determined to have you melting and pliant beneath his touch. Until you had to swallow a whimper when he finally pulled away.

He didn’t go far, just enough to look at you down the slope of his straight nose, pupils blown wide and eyelids heavy and mouth kiss-swollen. You hated him then, in that moment, more than you ever had before. Hated him for stealing your first kiss. Hated him for making you want to lean forward and pull him back until you could no longer breathe. Hated him for dropping his hands from your heated skin with a wink and that knowing smirk of his.

Hated him.

The rest of the game had been a blur after that. You’d sat back down between Jennie (ignoring her imploring expression) and a Beta whom you couldn’t even process the face of. You didn’t spin again, had been content to just sit next to your friend and sip at your almost empty can of soda.

And you hated, hated, hated yourself for noticing that Hoseok never took another turn either.

                           (Present Time)

You’d been content with the fact that you’d never have to see your rival again after that night. With high school finally over, you would be going off to college on the other side of the country and would finally be free. To say that you’d been ecstatic would’ve been an understatement. There would be no more biting comments aimed at you in the hallway, no more having to be paranoid about being the victim of another of Hoseok and his friend’s pranks.

No more Hoseok.

It had been a glorious, stress-free (to an extent) four years of your life. Both Lisa and Jennie had applied to and been accepted to the same university as you, so you’d split the rent three ways and moved in together. City life had been a difficult adjustment, a culture shock, but now you were used to it and absolutely loved it.

Which meant that fate had to come around and fuck things up.

Silence had fallen between both you and Hoseok. All around you, couples sitting at the other tables in the expansive ballroom were jabbering away, getting to know one another to see how compatible they were. Laughter and glasses clinking harmonized together with the gentle music playing from the hotel speakers hidden somewhere you couldn’t see.

You’d collapsed bonelessly into your seat after the shock of being matchmade with your mortal enemy wore off. Now you were just annoyed. At your parents for making you go to the stupid thing, at yourself for not lying on your questionnaire, at the universe for existing. At Hoseok for existing. There was a lot to process.

Obviously, the matchmaking service was flawed, false, fake, inaccurate. And you were glad that you hadn’t been excited for the event in the first place, because you would’ve been dead by now. Reason of death? Disappointment. How in the world someone could think you and Hoseok were compatible at all was a complete mystery to you.

Glancing up from where you’d been glaring at your still half full flute of champagne, you eyed your unwelcome companion. Hoseok was looking out into the crowded room, stare blank as his mind went somewhere you had no interest in trying to follow even if you could. Four years had passed since you’d last laid eyes on him and in that time he’d changed physically, but also still looked the same.

No longer was he the teenager who’d yet to grow into his cheekbones, though he still had those broad shoulders and large hands and muscular-yet-slim athletic build. He’d always been handsome—not that you’d ever tell him that, even if your life was at stake—and his looks had only matured. Hoseok was all angles and sharp lines and deep set eyes framed by long lashes that always made you secretly jealous.

Which only fueled your puzzlement.

“Why are you here?”

He blinked, snapping out of whatever thoughts were running through his mind and turned back to you. “What?”

“Why are you here,” you asked slowly, tongue spelling out each of the syllables like he couldn’t understand you otherwise.

Hoseok’s eyes narrowed. “I thought we already had this conversation.”

Scoffing, you crossed your arms. “I meant here as in this stupid event looking for a mate, not this stupid table.”

“Why are you? Already scared off everyone on the other side of the country with your annoying personality?” Four years later and he still had that infuriating smirk, that quirk of his lips that had your blood pressure instantly spiking.

“Are you here because you’ve slept with the whole town already?”

Humming, Hoseok tilted his head to the side in fake contemplation. “Your jealousy is showing again, L/n.”

“Your inflated ego is showing again, Jung.”

“Oh? If I’m recalling correctly, that’s exactly what you said years ago, right before you slobbered all over my chin.”

“Me? Me? Says the one who—”

“Could I have everyone’s attention please?” A woman’s voice cut through your heated response. Somewhere between the time the conversation had first begun and now, both you and Hoseok had gone from putting as much distance between the two of you as possible, to practically falling on top of the table to spew insults at one another.

With one last glare, you turned to look over your shoulder at the well-dressed blonde woman standing on the stage near the front. The material of her designer jumpsuit shimmered beneath the lights as her manicured hand held a microphone to her glossy, smiling lips. “Hello everyone! I’d like to welcome you to this year’s MateMaking—”

Hoseok’s quiet scoff echoed your own at the sound of the horribly unwitty play on words. His annoyed scowl also mirrored yours when you turned back to throw him one.

“—event! I can see that everyone has already found their mate-tastic partners for the evening.” She winked, earning a few light, nervous giggles from the crowd. “There are a few house rules that we must go over before we can officially begin. For starters, there will be no exchanging of partners. Secondly, a limit of two alcoholic beverages per person has and will be implemented. And last but not least, please make sure to enjoy yourselves! Now, onto the mate—” another wink “—event.”

“The grand prize for the lucky couple who wins tonight’s competition has been graciously donated by the Four Seasons Hotel.” She held up her fingers as she listed them, but you were too busy hanging onto her previous statement. “A free, one night stay in the penthouse suite tonight, an unlimited tab at the bar down the hall, and,” she paused in an attempt to build up the anticipation. “Eight hundred dollars cash.”

“Competition,” you questioned under your breath. What the hell did she mean by that? Wasn’t the whole event supposed to just be a glorified blind date? You threw a glance over your shoulder at Hoseok, who was too busy mouthing the words “eight hundred dollars” to pay you any attention.

“Now if you could all please leave your seats and gather onto the dance floor with your partner, we can begin.” The sound of chairs pushing back from tables echoed around the room and you watched as the people closest to the large opening in the middle of the floor started congregating.

Confused, you blindly rose to your feet and looked to see Hoseok doing the same. “What the hell is going on? I thought this was supposed to be about matchmaking?”

He blinked once, twice, before a laugh bubbled up his throat. “Did you not read the details of the event?”

“What details?” Your cheeks were slowly turning pink in embarrassment, you could feel it, and also couldn’t help it.

“You’re really telling me that you missed the giant, bold letters on the website?”

“What bold letters?” Weaving through the emptying tables, you tried your best to keep up with him on your shorter legs.

Hoseok tutted. “And you always tried to say that I was the stupid one.” He looked down at you once he finally found a spot on the floor that he liked, humor dancing across his face. You were just far away enough from the two coupled next to you that you couldn’t hear their conversations without trying to eavesdrop.

Annoyed, you smacked a hand against his arm and hissed, “Just tell me, asshole!”

“Owch.” He rubbed where you’d hit him, faking a grimace like you’d ever be able to actually hurt him. “Is that how you talk to someone you’re trying to get to help you?”

Your mouth opened to let out another string of character attacking profanities, but he halted them by holding up a hand. “This is a matchmaking event, but it’s also a competition. One that I’m not going to lose, not with that prize money on the line.”

“Oh,” you responded. Well, that explained some of it, but. “We.”

“What?”

“One that we’re not gonna lose,” you corrected him, mind already reeling with what you could use all of that cash for. “We win and split the money.”

“What makes you think that I’d want to split it with you?” A raise of his eyebrow.

A roll of your eyes. “Like you have any other choice. Do you see any other person you can impose your irritating presence on?”

A pause in the air. Pursed lips. Then: “Fine.”

“Fine.”

An agreement.

A temporary ceasefire just in time for one of the workers of the event to reach your side and gift the two of you with a bright green, inflated balloon. He walked off with the parting instructions not to pop it before making his way down the line and giving one to each couple he passed.

“The first stage of tonight’s competition,” the woman MCing (you were pretty sure she’d introduced herself, you’d just hadn’t been paying attention) addressed the crowd. “Is a slow dance to test you and your partner’s ability to be gentle with one another, both with the body and the heart. You must take the balloons that you have and put it in between your bodies.

“Whenever you hear the music change, you and your partner must step closer to each other. The last seven out of our ten couples that succeed in not popping the balloon or letting it fall to the ground will move on to the next round. Those of you who do not pass, will be shown to the bar across the hall to better get acquainted. Let us begin! Don’t be shy, everyone get into position.”

A few chuckles filtered throughout the room, balloons squeaking and strangers lightly conversing as they tried to follow the instructions. You looked up at Hoseok who looked back down at you with the medium sized balloon clutched in his hand.

He tilted his head to the side and wiggled the piece of rubber and hot air. “Are you going to come closer or not? Don’t pretend like you don’t want to touch me.”

“Trust me when I say that I don’t have to pretend,” you huffed, but stepped closer. One of his hands shot out to wrap around your waist, long slender fingers spreading across the whole expanse of the small of your back. You did your best to ignore the heat that bled from his body like a leech, and placed your left hand on his right shoulder.

With the balloon now firmly in place between the two of you, Hoseok took up your free hand with his just in time for the music to start pouring over the speakers. It wasn’t anything that you recognized—some indie song where the singer crooned lyrics about love or beauty or whatever. You didn’t care enough to pay attention.

“You better not step on my feet,” you spoke as the two of you swayed side to side, just loud enough for him to hear, but not enough for the slow dancing couples around you.

“Me? Step on your feet?” Hoseok gave you a look of disbelief. “Aren’t you the one who broke Felix Lee’s foot at prom?”

“No.” At the raising of his brows, you rolled your eyes and looked at some point over his shoulder so you wouldn’t have to meet his skeptical stare. “Okay, so maybe.” — he snorted — “But that had nothing to do with dancing!”

“You’ve always been a horrible liar, L/n.”

“And you’ve always been horrible at telling the truth, Jung.” The song changed into something a little more upbeat, one you thought you might have heard a time or two. Unfortunately, you had to step an inch closer to the man steadily guiding you around the dance floor.

A pop! resounded from the other side of the room as the first couple was eliminated. Squeaking from the balloon cushioned between both of your chests had your conversation pausing for a moment before it picked back up.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know what it means.”

“Believe it or not, L/n,” Hoseok began, “But I would never claim to know what goes on in that cluttered mind of yours.”

“I—wait,” you narrowed your eyes. “How do you know who I went to prom with?”

His mouth opened and closed, obviously ready to swing at you with another comeback before your question caught him off guard. “What?”

“How did you know that I went to prom with Felix?” Another change of the song had you automatically taking another step forward. “I thought you didn’t go to prom.”

“How did you know that I didn’t go to prom?” Hoseok fired back, avoiding the question.

“Oh, please,” you took a breath through your mouth and immediately regretted it when his strong, husky scent invaded your senses and lingered on your tongue. “If you were there, you would’ve been up my ass all night.”

“Now who’s the one with the inflated ego? Everyone was talking about how you’d stomped on him with your ogre feet the next day of school.” He didn’t make eye contact when you looked back at him, his gaze trailing over your head.

You raised an eyebrow. “Now who’s the horrible liar?”

“I’m not lying.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“And I don’t care.”

“Liar.”

“Truther.”

“Truth— what — what even is that?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like.”

“Which is?”

Hoseok’s lips pulled back into a grin, tiny dimples popping into place and white teeth kissing the air. “A truther.”

“You’re so annoying,” the words were supposed to sound annoyed, but you couldn’t help the amused upwards twitch of your mouth.

“I don’t think you have any room to talk, sweetheart.”

You blinked at the pet name. That was new. “Sweetheart?”

Hoseok didn’t respond right away. He just stared down at you past his perfectly shaped nose, dark eyelashes framing brushing the apples of his cheeks. And for the first time in as long as you could remember, you realized that you couldn’t read the thoughts lingering behind his softly bright eyes. Silence lingered for one moment, two, and then his heart shaped lips parted and—

Pop!

You started, jerking back in surprise and Hoseok’s grip on you was the only thing that prevented your balloon from falling to the floor. Pop! Next to you, a couple let out noises of disappointment as they watched the remnants of their popped balloon scatter beneath their feet. They must have frightened another pair of people in the center of the dance floor because theirs popped as well.

“And that concludes our first round!” The MC spoke out over the crowd. “Congratulations to those who have made it though. Now let’s see if your luck persists during round two!”

You looked at Hoseok and he looked back, previously open expression dropped. No words were exchanged, but you already knew that the conversation would be dropped.

Hoseok’s back was warm from where it pressed up against yours, the chairs you sat in doing nothing to stop it from seeping into your skin. In your hands was a tablet, screen displaying the game that the two of you were about to play. The goal was to “defuse a bomb” by following the manual filled with instructions. Which sounded easy in retrospect, but seeing as how the only way you could get said instructions was by Hoseok reading them off the packet in his grasp.

You weren’t allowed to look at the manual, and he wasn’t allowed to look at the tablet screen. And somehow, some way, you were supposed to “defuse the bomb” in five minutes. The MC had said something about testing your ability to communicate with one another, blah, blah, blah. All you knew was that there was no way you were going to lose the stupid competition.

Even if you had to deal with Hoseok’s frustrated grumbling.

“Just tell me which wire I need to cut, Jung!” Or perhaps it was you who was doing the frustrated grumbling. But eh, semantics. The tablet screen was displaying a section of the “bomb” that had four wires criss-crossing one another and you were only allowed to “cut” one of them.

“I already told you,” Hoseok grunted. “The blue one.”

“There’s two blue ones!”

“Then cut the one that’s more blue!”

“They’re the same color you idiot!”

“Stop yelling, I’m trying to read!” He huffed, the sound of paper turning accompanying it. Around the room, the noise level was a cacophony of people talking over one another. The closer the five minutes got to being over, the higher the voices rose. “It says, ‘if there is a red wire—’”

“I only have two blue’s and two white’s!”

“Cut the first blue wire then.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure, L/n.”

“Fine.” A pause as you tapped on the screen and waited for it to do something. “Nothing’s happening.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why would I lie—oh wait, no, there’s a little x on the screen. Okay I think we’re good with that one.” You didn’t even have to look back to see Hoseok’s face to know that he was rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Now it’s showing a square with four different symbols inside it. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Hold on.” He shuffled his papers in search of the next set of instructions. “Okay, it says ‘always press symbols higher in the column than lower in the column.’”

“What does that even mean?”

“How am I supposed to know? Do I look like the game designer?”

“You’re an Alpha, aren’t you supposed to have great leadership skills or something?”

“What does that even have to do with this?”

“Just give me the damn instructions, Jung!”

“You’re so pushy. No wonder you’re still single.” Hoseok didn’t give you a chance to respond to his jibe before he continued. “Push the symbol of the pitchfork first, then,” he halted for a second, more than likely trying to find his next words before continuing. “Press the one that looks like a pregnant letter T.”

“A what?”

“I know you know what I’m talking about!”

You scrutinized the symbols before going with the one he described, not that you’d ever tell him it was pretty accurate. “Now what?”

“Next is the one that looks like a football goal.” (“God, you’re such a jock.”) “And then push the last one.”

Your finger tapped the screen and a noise escaped your throat when all of the panels on the “bomb” turned green and the timer stopped counting down. “Oh, hell yes!”

“What? Did we beat it?” Hoseok’s head tilted in your direction without him actually having to look back at you.

“Fuck yeah!” Okay, so maybe you were shouting a little too loudly and maybe all of the other couples who had yet to finish the game were giving you looks, but it wasn’t your fault that you were the first team to win.

“Yeah?” Hoseok finally turned to face you, torso twisting in his chair in order to do so. His face was lit up in excitement, the adrenaline of trying to complete the game sparking to life in his beautifully expressive brown eyes.

“Yeah!” It was unusual for an Omega to be competitive, but you couldn’t help your inherent desire to win. If you were to analyse it, a therapist would probably say that it was more than likely due to growing up competing with the man who sat at your back. (But you weren’t a therapist.)

You weren’t sure who went for it first, who moved, who decided to cross that boundary. But one moment you were looking up at his face, and the next your nose was pressed into the junction between his neck and shoulder. Hoseok’s arm was wrapped around your upper back and both of yours were loops around his neck.

The celebratory hug didn’t last long, just enough for his scent — gentle and earthy like petrichor right before it rained — before the both of you pulled away like you’d been electrocuted. An awkward silence followed the accidental physical contact and you weren’t sure where you were supposed to look. But it wasn’t at him.

And you definitely did not miss the feeling of being pressed to his chest.

(Or maybe Hoseok was right and you were a terrible liar. Even to yourself.)

The second round had eliminated a majority of the remaining contestants. Now all that was left were you and Hoseok, a petite woman with a contrastingly tall man, and two average height men. Since your team had come in first place during the last round, you were relegated to nonsensically going last in the final one. With the previous eliminated couples allowed back into the ballroom, you had quite the audience.

Sitting in another chair in the middle of the dance floor, you fiddled with the whiteboard and marker in your hands. You were facing Hoseok so the two of you couldn’t cheat by looking at what the other person was writing. The MC stood between and a little behind both of you, lips pulled up into a smile as she held a stack of cards in her hand.

You’d only ever seen this game played at the weddings of family members you’d gone to over the years, so why they’d chosen to have to (what they thought) complete strangers play it was a mystery to you. Something about “getting to know one another” and “testing compatibility” bullshit and the couple who got the highest answers correct was the winner.

Whatever.

When the MC asked her first question, you were ready.

“Okay, let’s begin! First question, write down which one of the two of you that you believe owns more clothes than the other.” Holding back an eye roll, you quickly scribbled down your answer with the dry-erase marker at the same time that Hoseok did. “Now show us your boards!”

You turned yours with a flick of your wrist, Hoseok’s name written across the surface in ink. It came as no surprise at all that he’d also penned himself down; he’d always been on top of all of the trends in the fashion world so you knew for a fact that his closet greatly exceeded yours.

“Would you look at that!” The MC crowed. “Already so in sync!”

(Unbeknownst to you both, your faces mirrored the same grimace as you erased your boards.)

“Second question: who do you believe is the most stubborn?”

That one took a bit more thought, your eyes flickering up to watch as Hoseok easily scrawled on his board. You already knew what he was going to write and you wanted to win, and you’d do whatever it took to do so. Even if it meant admitting something that wasn’t true.

At the MC’s cue, your boards flipped around to display your name written down on both of them. You glared. The crowd aw’d. The MC squealed at how “you were on the same wavelength.”

“Who’s most likely to cry during a movie?” Hoseok.

“Who do you think is the smartest.” You (much to your surprise that he wrote that down).

“Who has to have the final word during an argument?” You. That one took a little longer to decide with the two of you eyeing each other over the tops of your boards.

“Who got better grades in school?” A snort and the sound of your marker dragging across the board to scribble your own name down.

“Who’s the better dancer?” Hoseok, of course. Who could forget him dancing in the school hallways early in the morning before people even deigned to enter the place?

“If you were to become a couple, who would wear the pants in the relationship.” That question had you glaring and fingers cramping as you dug the tip of the marker into the board. Both was scribbled down on each.

“How about this one: who do you think is the better kisser?” The time in Jackson Wang’s basement popped to the forefront of your mind. It’d been years, but you could still remember the feel of Hoseok’s lips moving against yours and the taste of him on your tongue. You paused, marker hovering over the board before you took a deep, silent breath and wrote your answer down.

That was the first question that the two of you got wrong. With his board displaying your name and yours displaying his, all you could do was stare. Hoseok’s mouth was pressed into a line, not one of his angry ones, but the one he would unconsciously do whenever he was thinking hard on something. You weren’t sure what it was, nor did you have the time to try and figure it out.

“Aw, the first question they’ve gotten wrong. Or did they get it right?” Cue a wink from the MC and a few chuckles from the crowd. “How about we get a little more serious with the final question, hm? Who do you believe would be the first to fall in love with the other?”

You were positive that that would be the second question the two of you would get wrong, but you wrote your answer down anyway. When the cue came to flip them over, you felt your heart stutter. Lips part in surprise. Breath catch in your throat.

Hoseok looked at you with his lips pressed in that thin line, espresso hued, deep set eyes displaying an emotion that you’d never seen before. Never thought would be aimed at you. The whiteboard clutched between your hands shook as you read his over and over and wondered at what it meant (and if you were going to lie to yourself again).

Hoseok was written down on both of your boards, much to the delight of the onlookers.

The MC announcing that the game was complete and that you and Hoseok were the winners was a blur. The cheers from the crowd were a blur. The way the MC held both of your hands as she congratulated you and gifted you with your prizes was a blur.

Hoseok’s refusal to look at you was the only thing that was crystal clear. His back, his broad shoulders cloaked in his black satin tuxedo jacket, the nape of his neck, were the only things you could see. You didn’t get the chance to even speak to him until the elevator doors leading up to the penthouse slid shut.

The MC had sent you off with the key and a wink and a promise that the aforementioned eight hundred dollars was awaiting the two of you in the penthouse suite. Silence engulfed the steel box as it ascended that was neither awkward, nor tense—just heavy. You couldn’t stand it. So you wouldn’t.

“Hoseok.”

He looked at you out of the corner of his eye, back braced against the elevator wall.

“Why did you write your name down for that question?”

“Which one? There were dozens.”

“You still suck at telling the truth.”

A pause hovered in the air, the red digital numbers above the elevator continuing to count upwards. And then he spoke. “I was telling the truth.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you really need me to spell it out for you?”

“Yes.”

Hoseok laughed breathily. Not of amusement, not of someone who’d found something particularly funny. “Do you remember the first time we kissed?”

You didn’t trust your voice, so all you could do was nod.

“I’d been wanting to kiss you since you threw that box of crayons at my head.” He turned to look at you, eyes deep and open and luminescent. “And I’ve been thinking about doing it again ever since that game of spin-the-bottle.”

Your mouth opened and closed, words stuck in your throat until you forced yourself to cough them out. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

He scoffed. “Why would I? You hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Hoseok.” The syllables of his first name were unfamiliar on your tongue, but you loved the taste of them anyway. “I’ve never hated you.”

Hoseok raised his eyebrows disbelievingly. “Really.” It wasn’t a question.

“Okay, no, that was a lie,” you mumbled. “I didn’t hate you until after that kiss. But it was only because I’d never wanted it to end.”

“What are you saying?”

“Do you really need me to spell it out for you?” You shot back without any heat.

“Maybe,” he hummed, lifting a hand to brush against your cheek.

Your eyes fluttered closed when his nose brushed yours. That was the only warning you got before he captured your mouth with his. Hoseok’s lips were just as soft as you remembered, his kiss just as slow, taste just as intoxicating. You involuntarily sighed into his mouth when his teeth caught your bottom lip and tugged.

“I love you,” he breathed into the crevice of your neck.

You sighed. A soft, gentle thing that had the corners of his mouth ticking upwards. “I love you too.”

A pause and then:

“Even though you’re annoying.”

Hoseok’s laugh shook both his frame and yours and you couldn’t help the giggle that harmonized.

tagged: @kotaevln​ @ladyartemesia @alana-ba @lifegoesondotcom @ardoren @awsome-small-k @chimchimsauce @jjamsbangtan @ohheyitssj @bewitch-me @lovetic @veronawrites @lilacdreams-00 @clarissalance​ @daydreambrliever @unicornbabylover @taestannie​ @forever-once-gone @outrofenty @hoseokslefteyebrow @1am9root6 @btsmylife21 @fireheart2003 @iv-bts

[cardentist]

I haven’t been in the star trek fandom for very long (I’ve only just started binging the series in the last couple months), so it’s been pretty surprising to find out just how negative the perception of the reboot movies are.

this isn’t coming from the perspective of someone who grew up with the series, so it hit different for me than it might for people with a different relationship to TOS, but I thought it was genuinely clever and Respectful with how it was handled.

To quote leonard nimoy: “Well the alternative timeline gives them license to escape from canon concerns. I can’t see people saying ‘they shouldn’t do that because…’ or ‘that doesn’t tie in to such and such’ because it is a different time and place. Am I right about that?” [Link]

the entire Premise is that the original series happened as it was presented in TOS, but an event late in Spock’s life caused the creation of a parallel universe in which everyone’s lives were significantly altered through two key changes to the timeline. this gives them the freedom to Both revel in fanservice And explore different facets of the characters and their relationships. 

the destruction of vulcan Vastly impacts the characters and the plot moving forward, and its a detail that a lot of people take issue with. but the emotional impact of sarek admitting Directly to spock that there is value in his humanity, that his feelings Aren’t wrong, that sarek married amanda because he Loved her cannot be understated. you can read all of these things into sarek as he was in the original series, but he Never had an open conversation about these things with spock. this creates a Believable and Rewarding change in their relationship, where we get to see a different facet of them Because of the changes made. and that’s exactly the appeal. showing us pieces of these characters that we never got in TOS that are nevertheless undeniably Them.

everyone is Different yes, but they’re also fundamentally the same people at their core and that matters.

kirk’s personality obviously takes the biggest change, with him experiencing trauma at a young age, losing his father, and having an implied abusive father figure after that point. he has a harsher personality in reaction to harsher conditions, he’s spikier and harder to love. but he’s also still fundamentally a Good person whose willing to risk everything to help people. he still has what made kirk prime a good captain and a good friend.

I’m not gonna say that it’s the most nuanced story in the world, but it explores a version of kirk that was born from even Less fortunate circumstances than kirk prime, exploring a kirk brimming with potential who learned to bite back after he was kicked down. exploring those themes of trauma and loss, of insecurity and growth, and coming to the conclusion that Fundamentally He Is Capable Of Good isn’t a Bad thing. you don’t have to like it, but his growth into a better person is The Point. they deepened his flaws (all of which were present in a less exaggerated form in TOS) To Show That Growth.

and then of course there’s his relationship with spock.

people are totally justified in not liking that they had a rough start to their relationship, I usually don’t like to see that kind of thing in reboots or hollywood adaptations either, but the way people talk about it is just unfair.

Yes kirk and spock and bones have a very strong relationship in TOS, they also already know each other by the time the show starts. to look at them having to learn to get to know and trust each other when they first meet and say that it’s Bad because they were already full on ride or die for each other in the og series is silly. TOS kirk and spock had to meet and fall in love with each other too, it didn’t just happen over night kings.

secondly, the entire point of the first movie is that Even With reality itself being altered to pull them apart they are fundamentally compatible people that are Bound to each other. they meet each other on bad terms because of circumstances outside of their control, and yet they’re still pulled into each other’s orbit and find the other slotting into place next to them as if they always belonged. one of the first things that spock prime says in the movie is “I am and always will be your friend,” spock and jim are Meant for each other and the movie goes out of its way to explain that. which is what makes it so Weird to see people complaining about how they don’t like each other.

it’s a Different relationship, but it’s absolutely no less steeped in yearning or queer subtext. 

speaking of queer subtext ! some people are Very unhappy with spock’s relationship with uhura.

first thing I wanna say is that making the argument that they’re doing anything that the original series hasn’t done is just, completely untrue. kirk has fallen in love with more girls in the og series than he knew what to do with, leonard nimoy was a heartthrob in his time (and he deserves it, awooga) and spock reflects that ! Spock usually turns the women who come onto him down (or when he doesn’t it’s because a plant has literally altered his mind), but there are exceptions to even that. all of three of the main boys have plenty of romance subplots, it happens. if that takes the possibility of them being queer off the table for you (which it shouldn’t, m-spec people exist) then I’m sorry to say that TOS is not exempt.

now, I can understand why Specifically This Relationship could rub people the wrong way or being disappointed that they didn’t outright depict kirk and spock as having a relationship (if not in the first movie then in the following ones after they’ve gotten to know each other), but even in that context the way I’ve seen people talk about it comes off as insensitive.

no, the relationship did not come out of nowhere. they considered having spock and uhura date each other in the original show (and you can see signs of this in the earlier episodes, where uhura very obviously flirts with him and they spend time together in their down time) before they decided against it, and spock was originally going to kiss uhura until shatner insisted that he wanted to do it (because it was the first interracial kiss on tv). [Link 1, Link 2, Link 3]

nichelle nichols was asked about this exact thing (spock and uhura’s relationship in the movie), you can read the interview in full here [Link] but I’d like to highlight this paragraph in particular:

“Now, go back to my participation in Star Trek as Uhura and Leonard (Nimoy) as Spock. There was always a connection between Uhura and Spock. It was the early 60’s, so you couldn’t do what you can do now, but if you will remember, Uhura related to Spock. When she saw the captain lost in space out there in her mirror, it was Spock who consoled her when she went screaming out of her room. When Spock needed an expert to help save the ship, you remember that Uhura put something together and related back to him the famous words, “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m afraid.” And Uhura was the only one who could do a spoof on Spock. Remember the song (in “Charlie X”)? Those were the hints, as far as I’m concerned.”

the film makers looked at the fact there were Hints for uhura and spock, that they were Interested in exploring an interracial couple for the first time (both before and immediately after interracial couples won the right to legally get married) but Couldn’t because of the circumstances of the times and decided to Make that depiction. you don’t have to Like their relationship just because of that fact, but it’s Incredibly reductive to play down it’s significance as just a No Homo cop out. explicitly queer relationships are not the only progressive or culturally important relationships in fiction.

moreover, if you can’t imagine polyamory in the communist utopian future that’s on you.

moreover, this perception that this was a soulless cash grab is just, unfounded.

leonard nimoy returned to the role as spock for the first time in 16 years (since 1991) and this was Entirely because of the respect they had for nimoy, spock as a character, and the franchise as a whole. 

Lets look at some quotes from nimoy in interviews regarding the film:

Leonard Nimoy: When I first read the script (...) I immediately contacted J.J. and said “I think it is terrific…I think you guys have done a wonderful job. There is still work to be done, but it is very clear that you and your writers know what you are doing and you know how to do this movie and know what it should be about….and I am very interested.” Then as time went by we worked things out with Paramount, but the most important things were J.J. and the script. (...) I am very pleased about that and I am very comfortable with where this is going. I think the writers have done a terrific job. They have a real sense of the characters and the heart of Star Trek and what it is really all about.

(...)

TrekMovie.com: Now in the case of the new movie you have been retired from acting for years. What was it about this one that made you want to act again and go through the make up again? What was it that made you say ‘I really want to do this?’

Leonard Nimoy: You are right, this is a special situation. First it is Star Trek and so I have to pay attention. I owe that to Star Trek. Second place is that it is J.J. Abrams who I think very highly of, he is a very talented guy. Then came the script and it was very clear that I could make a contribution here. The Spock character that I am playing, the original Spock character, is essential and important to the script. So on the basis of those three elements it was easy to make the decision. So those three things: Star Trek, J.J. Abrams, and an interesting Spock role.

[Link]

Praising the cast playing younger versions of characters from the original 1960s TV series, he [Leonard Nimoy] said: “Let me take the opportunity to say this. Everybody at this table [the cast] are very, very talented and intelligent people.”

“They found their own way to bring that talent and intelligence to this movie, and I think it shows. (...)  When Karl Urban introduced himself as Leonard McCoy and shook hands with Chris Pine, I burst into tears. That performance of his is so moving, so touching and so powerful as Doctor McCoy, that I think D. Kelley would be smiling, and maybe in tears as well.”

“The makers of this film reawakened the passion in me that I had when we made the original film and series. I was put back in touch with what I cared about and liked about Star Trek, and why I enjoyed being involved with Star Trek. So, it was an easy way to come on home.”

“[In this Star Trek] they said things and showed me things, and demonstrated the sensibility that I felt very comfortable with, and I think that shows in the movie. I like it.”

[Link 1, Link 2]

again, you don’t have to like it just because leonard nimoy did, you don’t have to Agree. but the idea that nobody working on the film Cared is provably false. near everyone working on the project was already a fan of the series or were excited to be involved and did their homework. it’s genuinely a Miracle just how much of a labor of love this was, and in my opinion you can feel that through the movie itself. I’d highly recommend looking into interviews and behind the scenes details about the movies. they had a respect not just for the source material, but for leonard nimoy as a person.

there’s definitely more I Could say about this, but it’s 4 am now so I’m gonna shelve it jklfdsa

that said! it’s Fine to not like the movie, not everything is going to be suited to everyone’s taste, but the specific criticisms I’ve seen feel very off base

[nerdsideofthemedia]

I've come to terms with bb but I still want to know when it was decided to be endgame. I don't buy the "planned from the start" thing since everything in show points to the exact opposite. Maybe the volume commentary after the fact will finally put the matter to rest...or muddle things up further lol. given the likely possibility of them lying ) if it was planned from the start there should have been hints from the start they shouldnt have began hinting at bb halfway into the series ( and attempting to use bb being a same sex ship as a shield and claiming anyone who didnt see evidence just didnt see it because it was a w/w ship makes me roll my eyes "I recognize that BB is likely to become a canon ship. But given that it's a stupid-ass canon ship, I've elected to ignore it."

Have you ever gotten around to reading from start to finish the one giant post dedicated to you that goes into length about your harassment and it is now linked to in all my rwby post in the wordpress blogs, @megashadowdragon (yes, I am almost certain that is your actual real account even if my evidence is circumstancial)? Should I put a link to your tumblr profile too?

You've claimed to be in your late 20s, how the fuck can you be that old and still think it's acceptable to harass someone over a ship? and for months, no less. The only time you left me alone is when I had cut all means to do so. I shouldn’t have to do that. Have you been checking on my account every week for the last month to see when you could strike again? Get the fuck over it. BS sunk for good in early V6 (yes, the Renora/BB parallels are very clearly intentional and no, they didn’t change their minds mid-volume – that would have been likely impossible). V9 is starting in a couple of months.

If the writers told you every single hint they had to reveal BB, you would not believe them, so don’t bother feigning curiosity and pretending you’re open-minded. A person who thinks Adam attacked Yang and associated the word love without any planning on the writers' part is someone who could not care less about what the writers were trying to convey. A person who sees Yang getting associated with the ex and Sun getting associated with the unrequited love doesn’t think it says anything about story is naïve at best. And a person who keeps sending me to a goddamn post (that I’ve even quoted verbatim in one of my posts) that says “Like seriously if I was writing two characters that were only meant to be platonic, I would never write a scene like that. The implication of those words are too strong.” but tries to pretend this only applies to Renora and not BB is a deeply homophobic one. I have yet to understand how the hell you fail to see that that post makes actually a massive amazing argument for BB being planned from very early on. 

Nothing can be applied to Renora without applying to BB too. 

It wasn’t just the Renora scenes that were written by writers, the BB scenes also were, including the flirting and wink, the ship named Pride, the ex attacking and using the word love, yet classmate for Sun, Yang paralleling Pyrrha when they both helped the object of their affection in the dance arc, the Arkos/BB parallels in V3, etc. The writers decide everything. If they wanted Sun to fight the ex and not be associated with unrequited love, that would have happened. Don’t bother pointing Adam didn’t fight Sun when they were alone, that’s why he used the word classmate because the fight could have happened any way the writers wanted it to happen. If they wanted those 2 to fight (or with Blake) and use the word love, they would have.

The writers decide everything. If they wanted to associate Sun with the ex instead of the unrequited love or if they wanted to associate him with the word love instead of classmate, they would have. 

Instead of writing a post responding to all your nonsense for the 124539th time, 

let’s decide what to do with you. 

I’m guessing reporting you to tumblr is worthless because you harassed me using several accounts that no longer exist (mysteriouslypaleenthusiast, reallydelicateturtle, red2sposts, ravenstarsblog, violetcloudsworld, pleasantbarbarianfire, makofan and now lightningemperorsworld). Let’s not forget the multiple anons and the b@gmail.com and the m@gmail.com. Still, reporting to tumblr and see if they have ways to check it’s you and see what they can do about it, not off the table.  

Here’s my suggestion: you stop harassing the BB community (the entire community, not just me) and I let bygones be bygones. 

Or maybe, I inform your community (yes, I have also saved the usernames of the people you are constantly asking to bring down our posts because you can’t do it yourself – to be fair, neither can they) and let them know what you’ve been up to and how you’ve been using them to harass us. Unless of course, they already know, but they’re garbage so they don’t care. I may be willing to take a shot and find out.

Oh, and you can stop with the nonsense of being offended because I called you out on your homophobia. You don’t want to be called out on it, then stop being homophobic. For starters, stop harassing real LGBTQ+ people because your fictional straight ship didn’t become canon. 

If most saw it coming and you didn’t, then the writers didn’t fail, you did. Also, the hints didn’t begin mid-series, they have been there since the red fucking trailer. By the end of V3, a good chunk of the audience had called it. By the end of V6, almost no one thought BB wasn’t going to be endgame. 

You are one of the few exceptions. If that doesn’t scream volumes to you about your lack of understanding of storytelling/how much you live in denial, then nothing will. Live in “I’m right and everyone else is wrong” for as long as you want, but don’t ever bother me or anyone else ever again.

For the sake of honesty, I will say that I do not know if @megashadowdragon​ is the one behind the harassment of several BBers. I know with almost certainty they are behind mine, but I cannot be sure they have other victims since the patterns aren’t the same (at least, not the victims I know of). This been said, add them to the list of suspects.

I suppose I thank you for not being a complete asshole to me for the last 2,5 years, when I actually wrote the post that has you screeching for months. And now I say fuck you for being a complete asshole to me for the last 4 months because of a goddamn ship. Yet you have the fucking gall to pretend we are the toxic ones.  

TLDR: act your age (which you claimed is late 20s), and stop harassing people over a ship. No one owes it to you to pretend they did not see BB coming just because you didn’t. No one gives a shit about what you ship. Ship whatever you want as much as you want. Want to have an entire tumblr page just for BS? Go right ahead. What you cannot do is force your garbage ship down someone else’s throat. 

[jmoriarty-221b]

Ok so this idea was inspired by AUs where Tim Drake is a member of the Addams family and thus this cute idea was born

Ok so, Tim’s parents still travel a lot but instead of leaving him alone in a big empty manor they leave him with his aunt and uncle Morticia and Gomez Addams

And Tim is a weird little kid who grows up without fear of the dark figures at night because the boogeyman is actually a pretty nice fellow who was very touched when Tiny Tim gave them a drawing of themselves, the monster in the closet actually gives great fashion advice as well as providing the perfect clothes for playing dress up, and the monsters under his bed are great storytellers and the shadow man gives Tim great advice on how to hide and use shadows to his advantage, etc.

The point is that Timmy grows up under the care of the Addams when his parents have to leave on long business trips or excavation sites and as such, is exposed to Gomez’s great appreciation of swordsmanship and fencing, and the haunted suits of armors are always great at comparing which kind of swords are the best in which kind of combat as well as the the importance of craftsmanship when in relation to having a reliable sword

And then one day Timmy watches the movie ‘The Legend of Zorro’ and becomes absolutely obsessed with learning how to use a sword and fight with it in the way only little kids can become obsessed with something they find completely cool, and Gomez is so excited to be teaching Tim everything he knows and they work together to craft Timmy his very own mini rapier for learning how to fence (swords are heavier so Tim learns those from Gomez when he’s older and can parry more weight)

And Tim becomes very Focused and Serious on learning how to fence and he’s very excited when he manages to finally best his uncle in a fencing duel (not as excited as Gomez tho, “MY CHILD SHALL BECOME THE BEST SWORDSMAN YET MY LOVE, DID YOU SEE HIS TECHNIQUE, HAD I BEEN SLOWER HE WOULD’VE RIPPED OPEN MY THROAT IN ONE SWIPE, I’M SO PROUD” “Our child dear”)

And then the movie ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ comes out and both Tim and Gomez are super fans (as a whole the family’s favorite movies are this one as well as the Legend of Zorro because 1. Revenge is achieved to the improvement of the main character’s well being and 2. The Aesthetic) and Tim just focuses on getting the hang of swords now with Gomez being more than happy to help his darling nephew

So years pass and Tim’s parents have finished one of their most taxing excavation digs so they return to Gotham and Tim has to return too (for the purposes of this AU Janet and Jack actually do give a fuck about their son so they would call him every other night when they’re away and if they can’t then at the very least they would call Tim once a week; they also call Morticia and Gomez at least once a week to check on how Tim is doing and they were also very happy to know that Tim has taken a liking to swords so they try to bring new types of weapons or literature related to weapons from the culture of their latest excavation so Tim can learn how different types of swords are wielded all around the world)

But anyway, Tim is going back to Gotham so he and Gomez work on creating a new sword for him with the family motto carved on the blade “Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc” which translates to “We Gladly Feast on Those Who Would Subdue Us” which is metal as fuck so yeah, and this sword is super durable and strong, inspired by a katana’s durability and a rapier’s gracefulness with a blade that is such a dark purple that it looks black like obsidian and the inscription of the family motto is carved in letters that are ruby red with a black hilt where an image of a drake is engraved in the same ruby red as the family motto (basically it is a Very Deadly Sword that is also Very Pretty with a dark aesthetic)

So Tim gets back to Gotham and one day he’s watching the news and sees The Batman saving the day and what not and sees Robin do a quadruple back flip and figures out their identities and decides that he wants to meet them at some point while on his nightly photography sessions of Gotham architecture; and if he manages to snap a couple of shots of Gotham’s heroes sometimes then that’s a bonus but Tim is mostly focused on capturing the essence of Gotham city (at this point in time when Tim moves back to Gotham he physically looks like 10-12 year old; he did meet Dick at the circus when he looked like he was 4 years old but for the purposes of the timeline Tim, as an Addams, can choose to remain at any age he desires for as long as he wants so while he did appear to be 4 years old at the circus, he had been alive for a couple of years more at this point, this also explains how he can master swords and fencing while physically looking like a 10 year old because he has been practicing for years as well as why he remembers Dick from that night at the circus)

So the timeline continues with Tim figuring out that the Bats are actually his neighbors but instead of staying away from the Waynes, he decides to go ask his parents if he can stay with the neighbors whenever they have to stay later than usual at the company or have to take a short business travel and they talk with Bruce about it and he agrees to take care of Tim, so now Tim has an in to befriend the Waynes and helps smooth out the edges of Dick and Bruce’s relationship so Bruce doesn’t fire Dick from Robin, but rather they talk about their feelings for once and Dick decides he wants to create his own superhero identity and Bruce supports his decision (Tim may or may not have had to talk about how his family happened to be very open about their feelings and worry for one another and how much closer they are due to talking to each other and resolving conflict; Alfred may or may not have been 100% behind Tim every time he made such a conversation) also, Tim is basically a trial run for Dick on becoming a big brother for when Jason arrives

One time Tim asks Dick if he knows how to fence which Dick can’t really answer because technically he knows how to fight with a sword but that’s for vigilante purposes which his civilian self isn’t supposed to know so Dick says that he doesn’t and asks Tim why he wanted to know, Tim proceeds to talk about how his favorite masked hero uses a sword to fight injustice and he has a black cape and a black horse and Bruce comes into the living room they’re in in the middle of Tim’s rambling about his favorite hero using a sword and is Concerned for a hot minute until Tim finishes the rant by saying “. . . and that’s why I like his movie so much, have you seen the Legend of Zorro?” (Cue relief for both Dick and Bruce because for all that they scrambled to put a name to the hero Tim was describing they couldn’t come up with one and were considering the possibility of a new player in the vigilante scene) so then Tim asks Mr. Bruce if he knows how to fence and Bruce says yes and asks if Tim would like to learn cue the “Oh, my uncle taught me how to fence a few years ago and when I lived with them we had a duel at least once a week, it was very fun so I was just wondering if you knew so we could practice if you want to Mr. Bruce”

Dick is 100% on board with this because the idea of Tiny Tim and 6’1” Bruce fencing is hilarious in his mind, Alfred is there to supervise and both Tim and Bruce are provided with the appropriate fencing equipment and protection; Bruce starts off slow and is surprised when Tim manages to beat him before starting to enjoy fencing with someone who can surprisingly keep up with him (Dick is taking pictures because the height difference is just too cute to be ignored and Tiny Tim is adorable in his own mini fencing equipment)

Whenever his parents do have to leave for extended periods of time (any company trip that takes more than 3-5 days qualifies as this) Tim stays with his aunt and uncle, thus starting a fun tradition of having spontaneous fencing duels with his uncle Gomez, basically if one of them is in the library then the other will shout ‘En-garde’ while throwing a sabre towards the other person and engaging in a quick duel; basically, if Tim is reading about the latest poisonous plants produced by Poison Ivy and annotating his research in order to get an idea of what would be a nice gift for his aunt Morticia and Gomez walks into the library then Gomez will grab two of the sabres they have on the wall for this exact purpose while shouting ‘en-garde’ before throwing a sabre at Tim and engaging in a duel, same goes for Tim, it’s almost instinct to the point that Tim has to hold himself back from doing exactly this whenever he sees Bruce in the library of Wayne Manor

Later on, when Jason is already adopted into the Wayne family, Tim still comes over and makes it his sacred mission to teach Jason the art of swords so he has another fencing buddy because “Mr. Bruce isn’t always here and I have decided that we will be friends and you’re pretty cool but knowing how to fight with a sword just ups your coolness level ya know?” So now Jason has smol Tim teaching him how to fence and it’s pretty fun to be able to do a taxing physical activity outside of being Robin with a friend, when Jason gets the hang of fencing Tim decides that he must now advance to the next level: sword fighting (Alfred is always there to supervise and give tips and pointers because he also knows how to fence but chooses to stay in the sidelines and let the young masters have their fun)

The problem with this is that, while the Waynes do have sabres for fencing, they don’t have swords, at least not in their civilian selves, so Tim decides to bring his own swords to teach Jason how to sword fight, Alfred is the first to see Tim’s very own special sword and is both impressed at the craftsmanship and concerned as to why a child has a sword, Jason thinks Tim’s sword is the coolest he has ever seen and Tim is happy to talk about how he made it himself with his uncle’s help when he finally learned all about sword fighting and promises Jason that they can make him his own cool sword when he learns how to sword fight too, Dick also thinks that the sword is a little concerning for a kid to have but he also wants his own cool sword and so now he insists Bruce has to teach him how to sword fight because Tim said he’s not allowed to have his own sword until he learns how to sword fight, Bruce is baffled as to why Tim has a sword, impressed at Tim’s skills in craftsmanship, and a little Concerned as to why Tim’s sword has that Latin inscription on the blade (no Tim, knowing that “we feast in those who would subdue us” is your family motto doesn’t calm me down yet it explains a lot about your mother)

By the time Damian comes along to the family he is very interested in where Jason and Dick got their Very Cool swords from, his father also has one and he wants to have his own Very Cool Sword too, thank you very much, and Tim visits them when Damian is still settling in and asks his customary question of if he knows how to use fence and gets an affirmative answer he asks Bruce if it would be ok for him and Damian to have a fencing duel, Bruce explains the rules to Damian and makes sure that Alfred, Dick, Jason and him are present in order to keep Damian from maiming/killing Tim

The duel does get a little out of hand as Damian gauges that Tim is more skilled than he previously thought so he stops holding back, Tim is positively grinning at this since he always has to hold back with the Waynes in a way that he doesn’t with Uncle Gomez because while an Addams won’t die from a stab to the heart, the same can’t be said for anyone else; the duel ends with Tim winning because he has more experience than Damian but he is positive beaming at how awesome Damian was and how these duels could become a weekly thing before they transition to swords and once Dames graduates from swords he can design his very own sword with Tim’s help as a sort of graduation present for learning how to sword fight and he’s sure that it won’t take too long for Damian to master swordsmanship because he’s basically a natural already and very skilled and this duel was so much fun Damian we have to do this again sometime oh my gosh I want to teach you everything I know it’s gonna be so much fun

And Damian, a poor baby, was mad at having lost to Tim but then Tim hits him with all this excitement and smiles and it’s the promise of getting his own Very Cool Sword is what gets him to agree to learn from Tim, it’s not that he feels warm at getting compliments from someone who also likes swords and knows what he’s doing in a fight, he definitely doesn’t find Tim cool at all, he’s just making use of a resource and he will learn everything Tim has to offer and become better than both Grayson and Todd, that’s all (that’s not all because it turns out that Damian is the younger brother Tim never had and he takes Dami under his wing and helps him adjust to a life outside the League of Assassins and how to find hobbies to enjoy; Damian won’t admit it but he is also Very Attached in to Timothy and feels like he won’t be judged for his past with him and he is also a fellow sword enthusiast so yeah)

Tim decides to do the same thing to Damian and initiating a quick fencing duel whenever he sees that Damian is in the gardens (no fencing inside the Manor on pain of Alfred’s eyebrow of disappointment); this helps Damian with the transition of learning to have fun and also learn to realize that not everybody is an enemy, it also helps keep up his training and burn some energy whenever he gets restless and helps him bond with Tim more

The idea was that Tim and Uncle Gomez would surprise each other with spontaneous fencing duels by shouting ‘en-garde’ at the other person whenever they find one another in the library, and now it turned into a fluff AU where Tim isn’t Robin but he’s still a family friend to the Waynes and an Addams and helps bring the family closer through his love of swords because yes