#this isn't a new issue by far. i'm just... putting it back out there once more.

[ourceliumnetwork]

dry swallowing pills is my stupidest flex. i'm not even showing off anymore i'm just impatient

[itsshypen]

ᰨᰍׂP.JS - Jay.❝ OFFICE.❞

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- Pairing :: Dom!CEOJay! x Sub!femreader.

- Synopsis :: You are an employee of the company where Jay is the CEO, you stood out... and that's why with you once again in front of him, he couldn't contain himself.

- Warnings :: Jay is the CEO; Anger issues on Jay's parts; Smut; Dirty talking; pet names (doll, little princess & dear); fingering; Safe Sex (USE PROTECTION GUYS!!); Praising; Jay gives orders to reader; Hair Pulling; Cursing; Jay uses reader as stress reliever (but is also his love interest); Jay not much older than reader!; BigDick!Jay; Let me know if I forgot anything.

A/N NOTE :: It's a One-Shot and I'm happy to post it for the first time 🥺, I hope you like it and enjoy reading! Btw, requests are open.

─ !!MINORS DNI!! ─

Seoul City; HYP COMPANY. ; 08:34 A.M;

─ You had tried your best to leave the house as early as you could, trying not to be late... but as always, you arrived a little late. You greeted everyone who crossed your path, embarrassed about being late yet again, but you soon got over the embarrassment and finally arrived at your desk, which already had a large amount and variety of papers piled up on it, meaning that someone had already given you a job that wasn't even for you.

── "They can't even leave a note anymore..." You snort and leave your bag hanging on your comfortable chair.

Luckily for you, your boss and CEO wasn't so strict with you, which you didn't understand why since you joined that company almost two years ago; you had made so many mistakes at work, he seemed to turn a blind eye to these details and always gave you a second chance and new ways to solve that task that had been done wrong... leaving you embarrassed and confused every time. You just put on your headphones, shook those thoughts away and put your best songs on Spotify, starting that work, the result of the scam of lazy people, who you knew very well who they were. You kept thinking about your relationship with your boss, whose name was Park Jongseong, or Jay, as people called him; every day you tried to understand your relationship with him, whether in the middle of the morning or late at night lying in bed, it took away all your peace trying to understand your boss.

It may be the fruit of your fertile imagination, but unlike the other employees, he seemed to have a better temperament with you. Sure, he lost his temper a few times, but he was never rude or heartless. And if you go into detail, his gaze were too intense for your liking... but in your head, the reason was because he considered you the best employee in the company. You even won 3 certificates of excellence in delivering work, so... that must be why, right? You decided to stop thinking about it. You knew it would go too far, new paranoia would come and things you didn't want to feel would arise; after all, you started playing your favorite song on your headphones and got distracted by that, as well as by the paperwork there.

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JAY'S POV.

He was in his office, on the phone with one of the company's employees, already stressed and his voice was loud.

── "What do you mean you didn't hold him back?!" - Jay said frustratedly and even put two fingers between his furrowed eyebrows.

With each word from the person on the other end of the phone, he huffed more and more, until he finally hung up after muttering "fix this."; Sighing and massaging his temples, he took a deep breath and went back to checking his cell phone, no message.

── "Mrs. Jin, call employee Dohyun to present me with those papers I gave him yesterday" - Jay said flipping through his notebook, when he saw his secretary pass through the room.

── "Uhm.. Mr. Park, this employee isn't even in the company right now.." - She said fearfully, knowing that Jay wasn't in a good mood at the moment, and even shrugged her shoulders a little as she spoke to him.

Jay slowly looked at her, a look of disbelief, and closed the notebook with just one hand.

── "Fire him. Now." - He said simply.

Miss Jin nodded and was preparing to leave the office to go to her own work room, on his computer, to tell the boy, but Jay spoke again.

── "Who's taking care of the papers then? Or did absolutely no one competent did them?" - He said, placing his fingers on his chin, waiting for the answer.

The secretary then took a look at her tablet, seeing that Y/N marked as the person responsible for the papers and sighed, relieved.

── "Y/N, she put it in the system that she's doing those papers" She said in her calm voice and hugged the tablet.

Jay gave a little smile, seeing the altruism you had, it wasn't even your job and yet, you had done it.

── "Call her here, please." He said without taking the smile off his face, and fiddled with one of his pens.

The secretary nodded and finally left the room, closing the door. She went to her office, and used the phone to call you.

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There you were, walking down the hallway to your boss's office, wondering what he wanted and the papers in your arms, but you maintained your posture and when you reached the door, you took a breath in and out through your nose and tapped on the door, quickly hearing a "come in".

Every time you went into that room, something made you nervous and had incessant thoughts, maybe it was his great and intense presence..? You could not deny his appearance in any way.. His black hair, always well combed; His muscular physique, which with the suit, was even more visible and accentuated; His sharp jaw and gaze, as if they could cut the air.. everything about him caught you in an inexplicable way.

You decided to shake your head and stop thinking about such nonsense, as you walked to the desk of the owner of your thoughts, who gave you a little smile and straightened up in his large upholstered chair.

── "Y/n.. the excellent employee for three times in a row.." - He said with a little laugh and clasping his hands together

── "It's me.." - You laughed awkwardly and stopped in front of him.

── "So.. you took care of financial papers that weren't even for you?" - He said, with a clear tone of pride.

── "Yes, I arrived earlier with this pile on my desk." - You give a small sigh and carefully place it on his desk, and straighten up again.

Jay picked up some papers, carefully analyzing them and giving a small smile, sighing happily and putting the papers back in place, looking at you with slightly shiny eyes and from top to bottom.

── "Great job.. that's how it should be." - He relaxed in his chair and kept his little smile on. ── "Are you okay? How were you last night?" - He asked with genuine interest.

── "I'm fine, and I slept half the night, it wasn't much" - You say, fidgeting with your bracelet, you were nervous for some reason..

── "That habit of yours.. is going to kill you yet" - He chuckles, looking you up and down again..

── "No way... I'm used to it" - You laughed a little.

Just as Jay was going to say something else, his cell phone rings and he looks at the contact, his expression closing in irritation in the same second and he huffs, answering.

── "You have work to do." - He said in a clearly irritated voice.

You spent minutes watching him extremely stressed, yelling at the person on the phone, and you just stayed quiet. Soon you said goodbye with a bow and left, going to take care of your other services.

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The day passed, it was already late afternoon, when you finished doing your work, and were about to leave, however... you had to deliver an envelope to Jay, so you had to go up to his office floor again.

After going up, your heels made noise on that very quiet floor, with few people; Before going to his office, you stopped by to get a coffee, you suddenly felt like it; You soon went to his office, as soon as you reached the open door, you saw him slap the table and throw his cell phone away, growling in frustration and putting his face in his hands, scaring you briefly, then you entered slowly after closing the door.

── "Mister.. Park?" - You said fearfully, approaching and seeing him lift his face and look at you.

── "Yes..?" - He practically whispered.

── "Before I leave, I came to deliver this envelope from one of the employees near my desk who had to leave early." - You said and gently placed it on his desk.

Jay nodded and put the envelope without even looking inside a drawer and sighed, looking at any corner of the room; You took a deep breath and drank the last sip of your coffee and threw the cup away, sighing.

── "Where's Jin? You look stressed... isn't she here to help you?" - You said, scratching your arm

── "She had things to take care of and left." - He said simply, without moving a muscle.

You nodded and silence fell for long minutes, the freezing air conditioning made you feel a little cold and you saw him lean his back against the chair soon after, finally looking at you.

── "Y/n.. I'm really stressed, but.. can I admit something to you?" - He said, clenching his jaw.

You were uncertain but nodded, moving a little closer to the table.. innocent you.

── "You don't leave my head. You have no idea how incredible you are, and this way of yours... gives me an absurd desire, and it frustrates me so damn much." - He said, getting up slowly and walking around the table until he reached you.

You were speechless, you retreated slightly due to a minimal loss of balance; those words served to give you the minimum amount of heat that was missing in your body, so you took a breath through your mouth.

── "What.. do you mean...?" - You said, looking at him with confused doe eyes.

── "You still ask..? I'll tell you very clearly.." - He said, getting closer.

── "I want to put you on this table and fuck you until you understand how hot it was just to have done work that wasn't yours out of pure independence." - He said very close to your face, making you feel his breath on your lips.

You certainly felt that choice of words and proximity like fuel for the fire that was already lighting inside you, there was no other name. You didn't know what was pulsing more, if it was your heart or your pussy. He had already placed his hand on your jaw and moved closer, that look under you was having an effect that not even you knew it could generate. You were resisting.

Fuck if it was wrong, crazy or weird to give yourself to your own boss, after all, he started it and who were you to deny a hottie like that?

At the very least, you nodded to him, and he calmly but hurriedly glue your lips to his, which made you sigh against his mouth, already holding onto his covered biceps for support. In a short time of kissing, he dominated your mouth with his tongue, exploring every inch and taking away the last of your breath. You broke away from the kiss with a click of your tongues and he took the opportunity to lower his face to your neck, kissing and nibbling there while one of his hands went behind your social shirt on your back and ran his hand up and the other went down to your hip, gluing you guys together.

── "Mister Park.." - Was all you could manage to sigh, at least

── "Jay." - He corrected you between stronger bites on your neck

── "And just be quiet, just say something to moan." - He growled as he already opened your social shirt, still with his mouth on your neck.

You shivered at the order, and didn't feel like contradicting him.

Soon, he leaned against the table, red and already panting, seeing the neckline of his loose shirt; you had been confused by his stop, but with his panting, you realized that a break was necessary, and it was enough for you to see the noticeable erection well marked in those pants that matched his suit. You salivated at that sight and on impulse, you approached him and squatted down, already fiddling with his belt buckle.

── "Looks like someone here know what they're doing, huh? Damn.."

Your cheeks flushed with the discreet compliment and you were already desperate to suck him so you opened it as fast as you could, as well as the zipper and lowered his pants a little, enough to come face to face with his black Calvin Klein boxer briefs.

My god. Was that going to fit in your mouth? Fuck it, you were so greedy for that that you were going to make it fit one way or another. However, you decided to tease him first of all... giving him little kisses and licks over his briefs, not touching him at all and breathing hotly on him; his reactions were satisfactory for you, panting and whispering incoherent words, going straight to your insides.

── "Oh God.. why do you think teasing me is a good idea, dear..?" - He said with a voice choked with lust and that made you want to tease even more, and so you did.

You kept licking him with more vigor and kissing him with desire.. and you added the sucking, which made him give a mini spasm and put his hand in your hair, no longer in the hairstyle it was before.

── "Either you put that dick in your mouth right now, or I'll jump to the main thing." - He said as an order and lightly squeezed your scalp, making you give a tiny moan.

You felt like he could break you in without doing anything else first and you wanted to save at least a little of your motor coordination;

He soon pulled those underwear down, making his already erect member almost hit your face. To your eyes, it was the best dick you had ever seen from all the guys you had ever dated, pink and the head perfectly shaped, thick.. He pulled your face close to that, as a form of command in your vision and soon, you grabbed the base with one hand moving there and started licking, with the intention of stimulating it a little, already hearing him gasp and that gave you goosebumps.

── "Fuck.." - He groaned and threw his head back a little, his hand leaving your hair and being placed on the table to support himself.

You sucked around the length while massaging the base, as if you were preparing him; you did all this while keeping eye contact with him, knowing that he was doing the same. There came a time when you were getting impatient yourself and finally put it in your mouth, doing everything you could to not show that you were choking, but it was in vain, he was too big for your mouth, which was of medium size for that.

── "Fuck... you even make great use of your mouth..." - He practically moaned when you started moving your head up and down there, wrapping your tongue around his member at the same time.

You spent a few minutes in that back and forth, massaging his testicles, which you discovered was a weakness of his, since he was constantly contracting his belly and you got a few whimpers out of him with that. You could feel your panties sticking more and more with each second that lasted, and his reactions made it worse (or better); And suddenly, you felt his firm hand on your scalp again, and soon he himself dictated the rhythm of your mouth there, and you didn't stop massaging his testicles, seeing him spasm with each descent on his member. Before long, his dictation became clumsy and you knew he was probably close.

── "Fuck.. I'm going to cum... no, shit.." - He sucked in air between his teeth, taking your mouth away from there in a quick movement, recovering his senses and regulating his breathing.

There was a snapping sound when you separated and strands of saliva connected you to his already abused by drool and still hard member, apparently harder than before as soon as he saw your teary eyes.

── "I want you ass up that table, now." - You knew it was an order.

Without saying anything back, you stood up and lay face down on his desk, your ass still covered by your tight skirt; which didn't stayed down for long because he got behind you and lifted him up enough to show off your big ass. He brought his face to your ear, breathing hot and hoarse there, slapping one of your ass cheeks hard, giving you a tiny jumpscare and that would certainly leave a handprint.

── "You have no idea how many times I've fantasized about you ass up like this for me.." - He whispered and began to touch your already completely wet panties.

── "Fuck.. so wet." - It sounded like a growl and soon you felt him move your panties to the side, starting to caress your plump, soaked folds.

He didn't waste any time, penetrating you with two fingers straight, feeling you already stretched out with excitement; He didn't wait long and started to thrust you with those fingers, getting them wet with your natural lubrication, making a scissor motion and folding them inside, making you moan softly and whimper his name.

── "This is because I haven't really fucked you yet.." - He chuckled and increased his speed.

The only sounds in that office were the wet sounds and whimpering, coming mostly from you; Jay's dick was twitching with lust, but he still wanted to tease you, as revenge for your previous provocation. In your head, it was a pleasure to serve as your boss's stress reliever, you never imagined during your work time that on a day like that, you would be face down on his desk and giving him your pussy freely; ..not that you were complaining.

── "You know, doll... you as a whole are a temptation for me, since you came in this company..." - He said, slightly increasing the force where he saw that it made you moan more. ── "Now I'm going to show you how much desire I've accumulated for you."

Jay said and removed his fingers, emptying you and you complained slyly about the sudden emptiness, moving your hips and laying your forehead on the table; which made him chuckle, you knew that at the same time he was enjoying himself... and that turned you on in an absurd way. You only heard him tearing open a condom package, and took the opportunity to take a peek seeing him sigh as he put it on, your legs trembled at the sight and you swore you could melt right there.

── "Do you like what you saw?" - He said in a seemingly confident tone of the words, and you felt a little pathetic as you nodded quickly.

You only felt him in your ear as he walked his member between your folds, even wetter than before, thanks to him and what he had done up until that moment, well, your mind wasn't helping either. You realized that he was going to spend good minutes just teasing your entrance, so you weakly protested.

── "Aren't you going to do it..?" - Your voice almost didn't come out, you was so altered, consumed by lust.

── "That's because I was the one who was most desperate for sex, wasn't it, doll?" - He chuckled and without warning, he slowly penetrated you, opening you painfully but at the same time pleasurably.

As he slowly sank in, you felt your inner walls opening in a way that was so painful but so good at the same time, that you muffled your sounds, almost like whining, by biting your hand and holding tightly to the edge of the table. He kissed the back of your neck to distract you until he put everything in, and it took a few more seconds, because soon you felt his pelvis touch the sides of your ass and you sighed in relief; leaving marks of your teeth on your hand, as well as a little drool, of course. He had barely started and you were already a wreck..

── "Are you okay? I'll wait for you adjust.." - He asked in a gentle tone, and he was going to do what he said... even though he felt an absurd urge to go all out right away.

── "I'm fine.. you can go, please.." - You didn't plan for that phrase to come out as if you were begging, but your voice was so thin with lust that it came out that way.

Jay gave a little smile, as if the way you were caught him right in the heart, and soon began to move, slowly at first... but a few seconds passed and he gradually increased the speed. At first you just panted, but as he increased the speed, you began to moan thinly and loosely, already feeling improvement in the way your walls stretched. You were feeling that he were too weak, you were not like a porcelain doll... you liked intense things sometimes, and at that moment... It was one of those times.

── "You.. are too slow and weak.." - You tried to choose your words carefully, and he just bit his lip and suddenly increased his strength and speed in a surprising way.

That made you choke out a moan, your body began to rock with each thrust that was the source of the snap sounds in that office, you hoped there was no one on that floor at that early night time.

── "So my excellent employee likes to be used without mercy..? It was better than I imagined when I was alone.." - He suddenly whispered hoarsely in your ear, and wrapped your hair in his hand, and when he was straight up again; he began to pull your hair, but with the necessary and right force to increase your pleasure.

You had already lost all your senses, he was being rough. Even though it was you who had asked, maybe it would have been better to let him go in his own time, but on the other hand, you were loving that state and your vision was getting blurry with each strong thrust of his. If he asked you where you were, you wouldn't know how to answer; what you were there, you wouldn't know; what your name was... you wouldn't even know. You were focused on the way he held you, even on the care he took even though he was completely ruining you, your eyes were starting to fill with tears, your hair was messy along with your clothes;

He firmly grabbed one of your thighs, lifting and holding it, reaching even deeper and increasing the speed even more; He was sweatier than a water bottle, but he was smiling without any control and tilting his head back, enjoying the pleasure as your pussy squeezed him strongly.

── "You're swallowing me, doll.. I didn't know you were so greedy for cock.." - He whispered in your ear along with a little laugh, without missing a movement of his hips.

Damn, he knew how to make you more shaky and lost, the fun fact was that it was the first time you two were in that kind of moment; you knew it would last more times, and you wouldn't mind. You were so lost in pleasure and thoughts, that as soon as you became "conscious" of your situation again, you felt him reach a specific point that made your vision fill with stars and your body stiffen;

── "Oh my god..!!" - You whimpered loudly and goosebumps rose all over your skin, making it very clear to him what was going on.

── "Hmm.. I found, didn't I, little princess?" - He chuckled, knowing that he was the only one to see you like that at that moment.

You couldn't form any coherent sentences anymore, tears rolled down your cheeks and your moans were only soft; your legs wanted to weaken and let you fall, you were shaking all over. He lifted your hips more in order to hit your G-spot more times, and the unfortunate man managed it. He had you practically crying on his desk, in his office, in the start of the night where you would already be at home, bathed and watching some drama to pass the boredom; but of course... That was much better, even if surprising.

You were so immersed in the pleasure you felt that you didn't even notice when he used his fingers to stimulate your clit roughly while abusing that specific and sensitive spot inside you; result? You came all around his cock, painting his cock white as you choked out a long, tearful and louder moan from the pleasure of the orgasm. He didn't last long after that either, soon you felt his hip movements become clumsy but still strong, and you only heard him gasp hoarsely followed by a deep moan, stopping moving and staying still, while filling the condom.

You stayed there for a while, regulating your breathing and coming back to reality, sweaty and trembling from the intense pleasure. Then he carefully withdrew from you, inevitably you grumbled at the sudden empty feeling, but you accepted it. You guys settled everything in silence, you made sure to tidy his table and listened to him chuckle, hugging you from behind.

── "If you're not too tired and busy tonight.. we could go out and.. enjoy some time together, how about that?" - He said gently, giving you a kiss on the cheek and you blushed at the affection.

── "Let's go, the night has just begun." - You laugh a little with him.

You two leave his office, after he locks it and holding your hand, you guys leave the company together, ignoring the suspicious looks of certain employees who stayed late; in order to enjoy the rest of the night together.

@itsshypen property!; do not copy and give credit. ★

☆ MASTERLIST ☆

Requests and comments are welcome and appreciated ¡! 𖹭

[genericpuff]

say sike right now, she's actually going back to The Doctor Pepper Show-

Like, this is just "What if The Doctor Pepper Show and LO had a baby?" Because at this point it's very clear Rachel only knows how to write from inside her own head, which is full of unresolved salt towards her childhood and medical fetish shit. The imagery in the first panel is very LO, and the imagery in the second is literally The Doctor Foxglove Show-

Evidently she's been reskinning the same shit for years-

Listen, I've been, for the most part, keeping my lips sealed on a lot of Rachel's old projects and what I've dug up on her previous works, for a few reasons:

1.) We were all cringe on the Internet at some point in time and a lot of these older works, such as Freak Scene Surgery and The Doctor Pepper Show, would have been from when she was in her late teens / early 20's. I'm not here to judge Rachel's personal preferences or whatever kind of fetishes she's into. It's totally normal, expected even, for a lot of creators to have older works they're trying to bury or disconnect themselves from because it's simply not them anymore.

2.) Ultimately I've been focused on discussion around Lore Olympus and Rachel as she currently operates as a creator, so I don't want to go digging up her old skeletons as any sort of "gotcha" towards LO today. Ultimately a lot of these works don't have anything to really 'do' with LO as it exists today.

That said, the reason I'm bringing it up now is because these new series... are bridging that gap that I've been avoiding for ages now. The gap that's filled with skeletons of Rachel's past that she's trying to both disconnect herself from but now fall back on with LO come and gone. It almost goes to show that her being a one-note pony goes back since far before LO - these are literally the only ideas she's able to come up with at this point, and it's painfully obvious in how both these new "graphic novel pitches" are pretty much the exact same and could apply to the same character, and that character may as well just be Persephone, i.e. Rachel, all over again.

Like, I'm calling it now, Patients in the Dark is just gonna be more "moms are bad" rhetoric, and Eleanor's Deathbed is gonna be Hades and Persephone, but replace Hades with some death god and Persephone with a training mortician, which is basically also still just Foxglove training to be a doctor, and Icy Shaw bragging about fondling corpses.

If anything, now that Webtoons is no longer carrying her around on their shoulders, this is gonna be Rachel's moment of "put up or shut up". She can either actually put in an active effort to write something that's decent, or she can flounder under the weight of her own tired mediocrity that's been knocking at her door for years now. As much as she's using her labels that were bought for her to sell these books which aren't even in real development yet-

-Webtoons isn't gonna be there to buy her Eisners forever. This is entirely on her and the imprint that Webtoons shoved her into. Her process is still the same, she's learned nothing from the experience of making LO, she's just got the money and awards now and is trying to run with it, but all she has are the same tired pitch lines that she's been using for decades now and just so happened to work with LO because LO had both Webtoons and the appeal of it being a Greek myth "retelling" to carry it into fame.

I'm gonna go into a bit of a tangent here, but it's been weighing on my mind since I found out this news and have been discussing it with pals within the ULO circle. Rachel once said in an interview that she wanted to use her platform to raise awareness of issues regarding sexual assault, mental health, and "the patriarchy":

"Who do you know that hasn’t been sexually assaulted? The number is depressingly low, right? Why is that? There is no short answer or an easy fix. I have a platform. I can tell a story that will hopefully educate and help others feel acknowledged and vindicated." - Rachel Smythe, Interview with Gossamer Rainbow

"...obviously I'm very feminist, and that sort of stuff really matters to me, um, the best way to approach this question is… I began, the pilot was written in sort of mid-2017, and I think what I wanted, what I wanted to achieve, and I don't even know… probably in 5 years time I don't know how I'm going to feel about this but I'm taking the risk, I really wanted to write a story where, uh…this female character goes through these things and I think what I wanted to do, what I wanted to achieve, was like a really common, I can't speak for like, men, but I can definitely speak for like, you know, if you're sitting in a group of your female friends and you're like "Hey! Who's been sexually assaulted?" … The response is going to be really depressing… Most female people that you know have probably experienced sexual assault to, on one level or another, and I'm like, for me I'm like "Why is that? Why?" And is it because there is a lack of information, lack of education, like what is it? And I'm lucky enough to have a platform and I'm like, if I could just provide some information in story format, would that help? Is this what I can contribute? So I feel like, especially, when writing sexual assault in media often it's… it's a way for the main male character to be, like, uplifted to hero-ness by, usually like, violence is the way to fix the problem, and that's not the approach that I want to take… um, I think [sighs], oh god, sorry I've lost my train of thought, [sighs], yeah, I think a lot of the time in movies when they, like, show rapists or something it's generally someone who's jumped out from behind the tree at a lady in a park and it's not really how it is like 90% of the time [laughs], so I just wanted to make something realistic where people could at it and be, like, "hey, nagging someone into sex isn't cool" or like removing all of their opportunities to say no isn't cool, or for someone to look at it, and just like feel validation, this is me trying, trying my best to make a difference with the platform that I have, and yeah, this is my roundabout answer for it" - Rachel Smythe, Interview with The Comic Source

And yet not once has Rachel actually used her platform for good outside of herself. She just asks the question, "Sexual assault?" and then writes off the answer "yes, it's bad!" and it especially shows in LO where the resolution to the one plotline she kept around to draw in readers was "assaulters are sent to the timeout corner!" Sure, it works for the readers who are simply seeking validation that their experiences aren't unique to themselves, but is it actually doing any real work to talk about the systems in place that leads to people like Apollo being created? Is it doing anything to address purity culture as it exists and the double standards that exist for women who are navigating sexual relationships? Is it doing anything to take the discussion outside of the narrative and put it into action through support of women's shelters, charities, mental health support for men, etc.? Not really. Like many of Rachel's ideas throughout LO, she simply goes, "Men, amirite?" and the answer is "yeah men suck!" and nothing more. The answer to the entire SA plotline is "rape is bad, don't do it" when anyone who could even relate to that conclusion in the first place already knows that.

Ultimately the activism she claims she's trying to do doesn't actually service the issue at hand - it just services herself and her own insecurities, her own unresolved trauma, her own need for validation through Eisners and merch sales. She asks the question, "Who hasn't been assaulted?" so that when she responds to the women who come forward and relate to Persephone, it's with the intent of getting them to read LO and buy her merchandise. She winds up making herself the center of other people's experiences, even ones that she cannot relate to. At BEST her attempts to "use her platform" as a means of starting discussion around ongoing societal issues like the patriarchy and sexual assault towards women is about as effective as Bell #LetsTalk, it's purely performative, self-profiting, and offers nothing of real tangibility.

If she just wants to write her own self-empowering personal works, that would be fine. Plenty of creators do it. Art is, at its core, self-expression. But it's extremely telling that she's built a platform off her self-expression, and twisted it into what she believes to be "activism" and "feminism", so that she can continue to profit off it in her future works such as this, which, again, are just reskins of her previous projects which were largely centered around the fetishizing of abuse towards women.

I don't want to claim that this is what it is, but... how much of the "feminism" in LO is done purely through the lens of victimizing women? Why is there more effort put into torturing female characters like Hera, and Demeter, and Minthe, and even Persephone to a certain degree, than there is into actually addressing the larger issue that she's claiming she wants to shed light on and resolving her questions with actionable answers?

That is the only question I will leave you all with. I am absolutely 100% not planning on touching these works with a ten foot pole, even if they should come to fruition. With the recent realization that she was into artists like Trevor Brown, alongside the fact that we've known for a long time she's into Lolita and there are very clear parallels to draw between it and LO, I think it's safe to say at this point that Rachel's work is not something I want to continue to support even when it's "hate reading". Again, I'm not going to outright accuse her of anything, but I feel like the writing is clearly on the wall here and I'm taking that writing as my warning to steer clear.

I didn't want to discuss the elephant in the room - her older works as they exist in the distant past of the early 2000's - but she's now riding the elephant.

[hwaslayer]

love you in slow motion (psh) | one.

♡ spotify playlist | series masterlist ♡

—summary: seonghwa will go through hell and back for you, as long as he can continue to see that smile on your face. because to him, that smile feels like a rainbow after the rain, the warmth of the sun on a winter day. because to him, you’re more than just his bestfriend—you’re love. even though everyone seems to see that except you.

—pairing: park seonghwa x f!reader

—genre: (18+ - minors dni) bestfriends to lovers | fluff, angst, eventual smut

—word count: 5.7k

—chapter warning: cussing/mature language, hints of a toxic relationship & ex-bf, mentions of a broken family and death, just a good ol' intro to hwa and oc + their dynamic + their family dynamics, buried feelings and overthinking!!

"Seonghwa?" Your cousin, Soyeon, calls for him on the other line. Soyeon rarely ever calls Seonghwa, but when she does, it's usually for good reason.

"Soyeon, what's up?" Seonghwa says, hand on his hip as he tries to regulate his breathing after a late night boxing session with Wooyoung and Hongjoong.

"Y/N said she would be home earlier, but she hasn't been. Yaya's worried, I'm worried. It's pouring outside." She says frantically. He sighs, stomach slightly dropping at the statement.

"Okay, where did she go last? I haven't heard from her since earlier this morning." Soyeon lets out a hefty sigh.

"Of course she wouldn't tell you. She was with Mingi." She says sarcastically, knowing Seonghwa would be upset with you for giving in, yet once again. Seonghwa had no issues giving you the 'I told you so' every single time you've been with your shitty ex-boyfriend. He always makes you cry, and it never fails. He doesn't understand why the fuck you keep running back to him. So to Seonghwa, it's not surprising that you kept this from him. Doesn't stop him from pinching the bridge of his nose before nodding, though.

"Alright, I'll find her. Don't worry."

"Thank you. Seriously. When you see her, you better tell her to stop seeing that fucking asshole. All he does is treat her like shit."

"Yeah, I know. Are you and Junseo home now?"

"Yeah, we are. We were gonna go to Yaya's but she told me to call you first before anything."

"Good, stay put. I'll take care of it and text you. She won't be far."

"God, such a headache. Thank you, Seonghwa."

"Course." He sighs as he ends the call, tossing his phone onto his duffle bag before un-doing the wrap around his hands. 

"Done already?" Wooyoung asks, making Hongjoong shift his attention to the platinum blonde while they stand near the bag.

"I gotta go find Y/N."

"What? What happened?"

"Who knows, she was with Mingi."

"Dude is always bad news." Hongjoong chimes in, watching as Seonghwa throws his hoodie on and slings the duffle bag strap over his shoulder.

"Tell me about it." Seonghwa rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Text us when you're all good. Hope she's okay."

"She's fine. Just needa get her out of this rain." He says, giving them one last wave as he walks out of the studio and down the steps. Soyeon is right; the rain has picked up over the last few hours, creating huge puddles near the sidewalks and curbs due to the intensity. The stream of water makes a loud noise as it falls into the drain nearby, the loud pour of the rainfall echoing throughout the empty street. Seonghwa drags the hood over his head, doing a slight jog to his parked car on the side of the studio. Luckily for him, he knows where Song Mingi lives. Luckily for him, this town isn't that big and you couldn't have gotten far.

Luckily for him, he's right.

He finds you walking about two blocks away from Mingi's place, just getting ready to turn the corner to lord knows where. He slowly drives alongside of you, rolling down his passenger window to peak over at you. He's glad he found you when he did because you have a flimsy hoodie and leggings on, the hood completely drenched and barely doing anything to protect you from this rain.

"What are you doing, Seonghwa?" You ask, eyes glued forward as you continue to walk.

"What does it look like? Get in, you're gonna get sick." You squint your eyes at him as you continue to walk. "Y/N."

"How did you even know where to find me?"

"It's not hard to figure out when you're with Mingi." He quickly glances at the street ahead, making sure there are no oncoming cars or passengers in the way. "Plus, Soyeon called. Her and Yaya are worried because you told them you'd be home earlier."

"Of course." You mumble.

"Y/N, get inside and stop being stubborn."

"Seonghwa—" He starts to obnoxiously honk his horn on the quiet street, making your eyes widen at him. You continuously tell him to stop and to quit being so loud, however, his efforts don't stop. "Park Seonghwa, what the fuck! Fine!" You groan loudly, quickly opening the door when he stops the car. You plop yourself onto the seat, glaring at him. "Happy?!"

"Not really, but at least you're in the car." He locks the doors and turns up the heat, driving off to his 1 bedroom apartment. "You can stay at mine for tonight so you don't stress out Yaya." He keeps his eyes on the road, thoughts shifting to your grandma and how worried she might be right now.

"She won't even be that—"

"She sure as hell will, Y/N. Besides, who the hell wants to argue with you this late at night? It's almost 1am. Knowing your ass and how you never listen, even though you should." He sighs. "I'll take you home tomorrow morning before I head to work."

"Whatever." You cross your arms, still feeling cold and uncomfortable after being in the rain.

"Why were you walking in the rain?" He asks, most definitely knowing the answer already. Your nights with Mingi always end on some toxic shit, all this yelling and back and forth— arguing over empty promises and issues from the past.

And for what? The dude is never gonna change. Seonghwa isn't sure what the hell you're holding out hope for. 

"I'll tell you if you spare me the 'I told you so.'" He shakes his head.

"Can't promise."

"Then you don't get shit from me." 

"Why do you let him do this to you?"

"Wow, that's actually worse than an 'I told you so.'"

"I'm being serious." He glances at you with a very mixed expression, mainly serious and worrisome tones.

"I don't know, okay. I wish I could tell you." It's silent for a minute, the only sounds filling the car are the rain pounding against the windshield and the heat on high. 

The thing about Seonghwa being your bestfriend of 16 years is the fact that you can always rely on him to be there no matter what. He's always so, so good to you; always so caring, so supportive and so protective. You've never had to ask Seonghwa for anything because he always gives, and is always ready to give. Just like tonight, when he shouldn't be here but he is. 

He had been yours, just as you had been his since the beginning.

Sometimes, it's easy to believe you don't deserve someone like Seonghwa by your side.

You met this adorably shy, sweet kid when he was introduced to your class as a new transfer in the 3rd grade, most kids in your class politely saying hello but going about their own business afterwards. You, though, had stuck around to show Seonghwa his new school and to eat with him. Since then, your relationship had flourished. His dad had become bestfriends with your own dad, the two of you always going on family trips together, hanging out at each other's homes, going to the same schools onward— Seonghwa was always there, you were always there. He had seen you through your very best, seen you through your very worst. Was there during your highs, was there during your lows. Knows exactly how to push you right to the very edge, but also knows how to make up for his dumb mistakes. Knows exactly how to handle you, attitude, temper and all, knows exactly what makes you happy, what makes you sad.

He knows you like the back of his hand.

Probably better than you know yourself.

Seonghwa became the golden child though, you know? He had loving parents who supported him through everything. He was a superb student [a teacher's pet, if you may], an athlete, a prodigy; always winning numerous awards and medals throughout his academic and athletic career. He had countless talents and a positive energy that people admired him for, though shy and timid in the beginning. He got along well with people and was the ultimate charmer. Attractive, had his way with the ladies— albeit, he can be an idiot when he thinks with his dick from time to time and not his brain. But nonetheless, Seonghwa is Seonghwa. He would never intentionally hurt a soul, would never intentionally give people what they didn't deserve. To be clear though, Seonghwa has his fair share of mistakes and fuck-ups, but in the end, he would always apologize when in the wrong and make up for his actions. While you, on the other hand, were his polar opposite and struggled to find your place in this crazy, crazy world.

You had never met your biological mother, and your dad had spent majority of your earlier years working graveyard to keep food on the table, to keep sending you to a good school. You spent most of your childhood growing up at Yaya's house, where your dad's sister and her family lived for awhile. That's how your older cousin Soyeon became the sister you've never had, somebody else you could rely on, fight with and experience the ups and downs with. Things were good, and they were good for awhile until you lost your dad to a rare and sudden illness.

Then, things went downhill for you.

You continued to stay at Yaya's, only having her, Soyeon and her family, Seonghwa and his family by your side. You began to push people away, you got into trouble and made dumb mistakes that hurt your loved ones more times than you'd like to admit. You had your moments where you acted solely on feelings instead of being rational. You had no filter, not being afraid of telling people if they were wrong even if it meant hurting their feelings to no end. You no longer got along well with most people, finding it hard to vibe well with majority of the crowd. No longer caring about what was in the know, what was trending; was incredibly selective about who you gave your time and effort to in fear of losing more loved ones dear to your heart.

Without Seonghwa at your side, you're not sure where you'd be. Because truly, if it wasn't for him, you don't think you would have continued to try. He was the only thing that remained constant in your life, one of the only people who continued to show you genuine care and love despite your flaws and all.

"Have you eaten?" He suddenly speaks and changes the topic, not wanting to upset you any more than you already are.

"I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat something." You don't respond. "Mom made some kimbap today, I can set some aside for you."

"Thanks." You say softly, watching as the car finally drives into the familiar apartment complex. Seonghwa turns the wheel with one hand, pulling into his assigned parking spot before shutting off the car. He lets out a sigh before looking over at you, noticing you're still in your sad, sulky position in the passenger seat.

"Ready? Or should we just sleep in here tonight?" You slowly turn and glare at him, mocking him before answering dramatically— knowing it's the most childish thing you can do right now, especially after Seonghwa took the time to find you and pick you up in this rain.

"Why don't you just leave me here?"

"Good with me. At least I don't have to lend you any more of my clothes and have you sleeping on my couch. Matter of fact, more kimbap for me." He says, stepping out of the car, keys rattling in his pocket as he turns to shut his car door. He continues to walk without worry because he knows the shit you pull.

You'll end up following him.

He doesn't even have to turn over his shoulder to make sure you do. He hears the car door slam after a few minutes, and he smirks a bit to himself before locking the car using the key fob in his pocket.

"You really have to slam my car door like that?" He asks, slightly looking over his shoulder before climbing up the steps.

"Sorry." You mumble, pathetically following your bestfriend with your arms crossed tightly against your chest. He unlocks his door and waits for you to make it up the steps, letting you step in and out of your shoes first before following you inside. He tosses his keys onto the entryway table before walking into the kitchen and pulling out his phone to text Soyeon that you were safe with him for the night.

"You can go shower first. Just take whatever you want from my closet." He says, eyes focused on the bag of kimbap his mom had dropped off earlier in the day. You simply nod and head straight to his closet, grabbing some pajama pants and a longsleeve. You toss your clothes into the bathroom sink, mentally making a note to ask Seonghwa if you can throw in a load of his laundry with your clothes. The last thing you wanna do is make a mess in Seonghwa's super clean apartment, let alone drag home some wet clothes from the night prior.

The shower you take is short, but relaxing. You let the hot water beat down on you, thoroughly scrubbing and scratching every inch of your body, your scalp. When you finish, you lather some lotion and pad back out to his living room. Seonghwa glances up, watching as you come towards him with his long pajama pants and a long sleeve with sleeves that falls past your hands. He thinks you're the cutest thing he has ever seen [especially in his clothes], but he subtly bites onto his bottom lip to suppress the smile forming at his lips.

"Can I do some of your laundry so I can wash my clothes? They're just sitting in your bathroom sink." He shrugs.

"Don't worry about it, I'll toss it in there before I hop into the shower." He slides a small plate on the counter of his kitchen island bar area, before handing you a hot cup of green tea. "Eat at least one." You nod, watching as he washes his hands and begins to make his way to the bathroom. You're hungrier than you thought, popping in all the pieces of kimbap Seonghwa prepared for you before downing the green tea. In the end, you feel full, satisfied.

Content.

Warm.

After a good thirty minutes, Seonghwa is out of the shower and tossing the load into the dryer. He's ruffling his semi-dry hair as he brings out a thick blanket for you, glancing at the random Cars movie playing on the tv.

"Here." He says. "You finished eating?"

"Mhm."

"Okay. I'm gonna go to bed then." He turns to head into his room.

"Hwa, can't you just sleep out here with me?" You point at the free part of his L-shaped sectional couch.

"Why, when I have a perfectly comfortable bed to sleep on in here?" He points to his room, but you pout.

"But, you also have an amazing couch that you can share with your bestfriend."

"You snore and you move around too much."

"I do not, and you'd be on that side of the couch anyway!" You furrow your brows. "You snore, too!"

"Not as loud as you, sounding like you belong in that Cars movie." He glances at the tv screen while making the dumb joke, and you groan.

"Okay, fine. Whatever." You succumb to defeat and wave the white flag. "I just don't necessarily wanna be alone."

"You're not, I'm right here."

"Pichu." Ah, there it is. That stupid nickname he's painfully grown to adore after you've told him time and time again that he looks just like the pokemon. He sighs, realizing you probably won't let this up. On top of that, he knows he can't say no to you regarding most things. So, he drags himself into his room and rips off his duvet comforter from the bed to bring with him into the living room. He sets himself up on one section of the couch, while you take up the other— heads meeting at the corner.

"The moment you rip out a big snore, I'm leaving you out here." He warns and you snort.

"You're a dick. I don't even snore like that."

"And how would you know, sleeping beauty?" He looks at you, heart content with the way you happily look at him from your side of the couch. You have no rebuttal though, so he shuts off the tv and rests his hand on the back of his head while closing his eyes. "Thought so. Get some sleep, it's getting late." He hears you rustling underneath your own blankets, head gently knocking onto the side of his that makes him suck his teeth. "Y/N." He groans with a whiney tone. "This is what I mean."

"Sorry, sorry." You pout, rubbing the side of his head. "I'm good now." You mumble underneath the blankets as you settle, satisfied with your warm and bundled position. You can hear Seonghwa's soft breathing behind you, signaling that he'll probably fall asleep soon [and quick, too]. "Hwa?" You softly call for him one last time.

"Hm?" He hums.

"Thank you." You pause. "For everything."

"You know I care about you more than anything, right?" He says, close to a whisper. "You deserve way better."

"Yeah." Is all you respond with before closing your eyes, hoping to finally be at peace for the remainder of the night. "Love you, pichu." You say sleepily.

"Love you, too." He feels the statement tug at his heart strings because Seonghwa does love you, he has loved you for years. Been in love with you for years. But you were always the most important, this dynamic and relationship was the most important, that he's learned to suppress and live with it— even though at times, he feels like he gives it away pretty easily, or lets his emotions get to the best of him. 

Everyone can tell. 

Everyone knows. 

Everyone but you. 

Surprisingly, you do fall asleep before Seonghwa. He can't help but peek from his peripherals, noticing your steady breathing under the covers. Your head is barely poking out from the covers, making Seonghwa smile to himself. He settles a little closer to you, top of your head tucked near the crook of his neck as he slightly turns towards your side and finally shuts his eyes to get some sleep.

When you wake up the following morning, it's because Seonghwa's cussing to himself as he runs to grab his ringing phone on the island counter. His eyes quickly dart to you as he snatches the phone and answers the call, noticing you're starting to wake up.

"Sorry, Y/N." He apologizes and you let out a small squeak as you stretch and shake your head.

"It's okay, Hwa. Should probably get up anyway." You rub at your eyes, watching as he paces back into his room to finish getting ready for work. He's apparently talking to Wooyoung, agreeing to pick the guy up after bringing you home since they work at the same place— two athletic trainers for the men's sports teams at one of the universities in town, Wooyoung and Seonghwa mainly taking care of the football and basketball teams, popping into other sports if the help is urgently needed. They've both worked really hard to earn their current positions, being two of the leads who focus on training, treatment and rehabilitating their athletes at homebase, and only participating in a few quick trips for away games if asked.

As you stand and start to fold the blanket, you catch sight of how tired Seonghwa looks and you feel terrible. You know Seonghwa loves to test his limits, working out late after his shifts and barely getting 8 hours of sleep right before a busy day of tending to athletes. Despite your nagging and lecturing him on getting more rest, Hwa has gotten used to doing things this way.

However, part of you still feels guilty that he doesn't look as bright and alert this morning because of you. Because you needed more saving, because you chose to be stubborn and listen to Mingi even though he hasn't given you a reason to trust him since you've broken up.

"I didn't mean to wake you so early."

"I mean, you do have to leave soon, don't you?" You check the clock, peeping the current time as 8:27am. "Isn't this really late for you, actually?" Especially during the season, Seonghwa is always at work by 6AM, leaving super late in the afternoon. Off-season is a little easier for him, being that practice schedules are spread out due to sharing space with other sports/teams.

"Not for today. The team is lifting right now, I need to work on some rehab reports first before training and practice later today." You nod. "Are you good to leave soon then?"

"Of course."

"Okay, let me just grab a few things so we can head out. I need to pick up Wooyoung's lazy ass."

"He's not in to help with lifting?"

"Not anymore. Dude overslept." You snort.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Director Shin loves him. She would never get him in trouble or scold him."

"She loves you, too." You say.

"Not as much as Wooyoung. She'll bite my head off first before she ever thinks about coming for him." He throws in some food into his duffle bag solely for work. The duffle bag is huge, having the university's name plastered on the side in big, bold letters— followed by his name etched onto the corner with his athletic training certification. "By the way." He points at your neatly folded, washed clothes on the coffee table. "Don't forget your clothes."

"Thanks."

"Are you just gonna go home like that?" He eyes his clothes on your figure.

"Yeah, why not?" He shrugs.

"Alright then. Let's go." He pats himself down to double check that he has everything on him before heading out of the door. You lazily follow behind after slipping into your sneakers, having to roll up Seonghwa's pajama pants so that they don't reach the floor and get dirty. You plop into the passenger's seat with your clothes on your lap, rubbing at your eyes once situated. "You didn't have to get up so early. I technically don't need to be there until 10."

"It's fine, Hwa."

"Did you tell Yaya we were on the way?"

"No, I'll just surprise her when I get there." You smile and he shakes his head.

"You need to stop worrying your grandma and your cousin."

"I'm not even doing anything!"

"You're not? Then, what was last night?" He glances at you then lets out a small scoff. "Exactly. And please stop running back to Mingi. That dude isn't gonna change, and you know that. All he does is make you upset and I can't stand it. You two aren't good for each other."

"I hear you." You say lowly, head leaning against the passenger window.

"I'm sorry." He lets out a breath, genuinely just worried about you and your wellbeing. "I don't mean to do this so early, but I just get worried about you." He ruffles your hair a bit, causing a small smile to creep up on the corners of your lips.

"It's okay. I need to hear it." He chuckles.

"Yeah, you do. You're such a fucking headache." He jokes. "But you're important to me, and all I want is for you to be happy." He pinches your cheeks, making you scrunch your nose.

"Thanks Hwa." He looks at you while posted at a stop light, admiring the way you scrunch your nose and let out a little giggle. That's how he likes to see you. Not upset, sad, or crying. Especially over Song Mingi.

The drive to your house isn't too far, or at least, it never feels too far since you and Seonghwa always engage in conversations about various things while in the car. He pulls into Yaya's driveway, parking right next to Soyeon's car. You occupy the tiny detached in-law suite in the corner of the backyard, so Seonghwa isn't surprised when you try to scurry to the backyard to avoid Yaya and Soyeon.

"She's here!" He yells and points at you.

"You're a pain in the fucking ass, Park." You glare at him while you simultaneously hear Yaya telling you to come into the house and to not even think about running into the backyard.

"Oh, Yaya! Miss damsel in distress just walked in."

"Y/N. You should've called or texted. We were worried when we didn't hear from you." Yaya looks at you disappointingly while whipping up some breakfast.

"Sorry." You mumble as Seonghwa brushes past you to kiss ass to Yaya.

"Always needing her bestfriend to come and save the day." Soyeon says sarcastically before crossing his arms. "Seriously, what the hell would you do without Hwa? And why the hell didn't you make it home in time or text to let us know you'd be late?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Hi to you too." You squint at her. "He was supposed to bring me home but we got into another stupid fight, that's all." You roll your eyes before glancing at the empty luggages she has next to her.

"So, he just let you walk in the rain? What a fucking dick."

"Language." Yaya warns, glaring at the two of you from the kitchen next to Seonghwa, who is quickly peeling a banana he took from the fruit basket.

"Where are you going?" You nod at the luggages.

"Me and Junseo are heading to Japan in a few days." She smiles. "We're way overdue for our anniversary vacation. Meaning, you're gonna have to man the restaurant." You groan. "And watch Charli? Pretty please." She pleads in a sweet tone, knowing you'll always do anything for their 3 year old daughter.

"Seriously?!"

"Charli loves staying with you and Yaya! And all you have to do for the restaurant is make sure everything runs smoothly and be the cute waitress that you already are! It's nothing you haven't done! Plus, Yoongi and Jini will be there, and Charli will be in preschool for the most part." At this point, you whine [moreso about maintaining the restaurant] while Soyeon continues to check the list on her phone.

"Speaking of the restaurant, are you free tonight?" Seonghwa chimes in, looking at his phone.

"I don't know, depends on my boss here." You glare at Soyeon before looking back at Seonghwa. "Why?"

"San is back home so we're going out to the bar."

"Excuse me?!" You yell. "What the fuck!"

"Hey!" Yaya glares at you again. "Say that word one more time in my house."

"Okay, I'm sorry!" You point at Seonghwa. "But, you! Why didn't you tell me about Sannie coming back?!"

"How could I? You were too busy sulking over Mingi." He says, furrowing his brows with a cheek full of banana. Soyeon snorts and shakes her head, making you glare at the both of them.

"Ha-ha very funny. You didn't think you could tell me any other day?"

"Well, he wasn't even supposed to be coming back until next week. But he just texted us saying he decided to come back early and that he's already settled at the condo his uncle owns."

"Why aren't I getting these texts?" Seonghwa smirks and flicks your chin with his finger.

"Because boys need to talk about boy things."

"Oh whatever, it's not like any of you are getting any—"

"Seonghwa, please. Tell that girl to stop talking like that." Yaya pleads for him to tell you to keep it quiet. He chuckles a bit before looking at you pointedly, tapping the tip of your nose.

"Stop that." He smiles down at you. "And who said we weren't?"

"Please, all you guys do is yell while playing FIFA and Mario Party." You sigh. "Anyway, I'm going back to sleep for a bit. I'll come in for an earlier shift at the restaurant so that I can see Sannie." You direct the statement at Soyeon and all she does is nod.

"Pick you up afterwards then?"

"Ah, it's okay. Usual bar, right?" He nods. "I'll just bus over." You tap his chest. "Thanks pichu, see you later. Have fun at work!" At this point, Yaya is walking towards Soyeon and Seonghwa, hands placed on her hips as she observes you skipping to your in-law suite.

"Hwa." Yaya tugs on his arm before he can help Soyeon pack the large luggages in her trunk and head out to pick up Wooyoung.

"Hm?"

"It should just be you two." She pouts, making Seonghwa laugh. Time and time again, Yaya has always pushed the 'you and Seonghwa' agenda, stating that you two were meant to be together. And Seonghwa doesn't mind, he always laughs about it. He kinda likes that Yaya [everyone, really] thinks so, and if things were easy, he'd make it happen without question. But things aren't— because there's always that voice in the back of his head that tells him he needs to leave things as they are or else everything will be ruined.

He doesn't want that.

He would rather bury his feelings than lose you.

There's no way you'd go that route with him. You've made it clear to everyone that Seonghwa was your bestfriend and your bestfriend only. That people need to quit shoving the idea down your throat because you could never; he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt to hear it.

"Yaya, you already know the answer to that." He says anyway and she pouts even more, leaning her head against his firm bicep.

"But you're the only one who knows how to handle her. She's such a handful but you've always stayed by her side."

"Mm, I don't think I necessarily had a choice." Yaya chuckles and gently swats his arm playfully.

"You two should just kiss and get married."

"Kiss and get married? Wow. What a plan." Soyeon says sarcastically, making Seonghwa laugh.

"No can do with that one." He places a small kiss on the top of her head before helping Soyeon with the last large luggage. "I gotta pick up Wooyoung and head to work. Text or call me if you need me." Seonghwa says.

"Make sure my baby cousin doesn't do anything reckless tonight when she's out with you guys? Like, I don't know, run to Mingi while drunk?" Seonghwa shakes his head at Soyeon's response.

"Won't let her out of my sight." He waves one last goodbye before settling into his car and driving off.

It's 20 minutes to Wooyoung's apartment, and another 15 to the university from there. When he arrives, Wooyoung tosses his own duffle bag in the back and plops into the passenger's seat before slouching into it.

"Did you find babygirl?" Wooyoung asks, making Seonghwa furrow his brows at him.

"Yes I did, and stop calling her that."

"Why, are you jealous? You can't gatekeep Y/N to yourself. I'm close to her, too." Wooyoung smirks.

"Shut up before I make you walk to work." Seonghwa glares at him. "It's not even that, it's just weird."

"Why is it weird?"

"Because it is."

"Because you love her?"

"Get the hell out—"

"I'm sorry! I'm kidding!" Wooyoung says in a high-pitched tone before laughing. "But, really, it's not weird."

"Yes, it is."

"She loves it and she's used to it. Therefore, I'll keep using it. Resting my case, your honor." Wooyoung snorts. "What happened last night anyway?"

"I don't know, she got into a fight with Mingi and walked out."

"He didn't come after her? It was pouring."

"Nope. She was gonna walk to.. I don't know, actually. She was just walking in the rain."

"That's not okay." Wooyoung sucks his teeth and does a slight head tilt. "They're toxic as hell to each other." Seonghwa shrugs.

"I know. I tried to tell her but at a certain point, that's all I can do. It gets really hard to control someone's behavior and police their actions."

"Can I ask you something?" Wooyoung looks at him with a small smile. "I'm genuinely curious."

"What?" 

"Why haven't you made your move on Y/N? Your feelings for her have always been obvious."

"Have they? Seems like she's the only one who hasn't seen it." Wooyoung shrugs.

"Yeah. I mean, you drop everything— and I mean everything— for her without question. And you get all affectionate with her!" His tone raises a bit. "You hate initiating affection! If that ain't love.." Wooyoung tilts his head again and squints at Seonghwa.

"She's my bestfriend. All of that happens naturally."

"It's not just that, and you know it. I know people really do put their bestfriends on a pedestal, but you put babygirl before anyone and anything. Even yourself." Seonghwa slightly winces at the Wooyoung's nickname before shaking his head.

"Not true."

"Very true. Look, dude. It's not bad, but I do hope you leave some space for yourself. I know she would never intentionally hurt you, but it still doesn't eliminate the possibility of getting hurt at some point. I don't want that to happen, especially if you've poured everything in her over these years." Seonghwa lets out a breath and pauses for a moment because for once, Wooyoung makes sense. And he's right. He has poured everything in you, continues to pour everything in you very willingly— sometimes, he doesn't even realize he's doing it. Sometimes, he doesn't even realize he's putting you before everything, that he's dropping everything for you.

Hell, it's even to the point where he can't even date properly and sleeps around from time to time to let out steam. It's because he just feels this attachment to you; an attachment past being your bestfriend— like some thread of hope he holds onto, thinking that some day, you'll see him in that light.

Someone who could genuinely, deeply and strongly love you, care for you, support you, with no boundaries.

"I know."

"Why don't you just tell her? You know, be honest." Wooyoung shrugs. 

"I don't wanna lose her, and I'm afraid I will if I do. I'm afraid I'll fuck everything up between us and change the dynamic just because I wanted to be selfish."

"I don't think you'd lose her. I'm sure she wouldn't let that change anything between the two of you, either. And why don't you think she'd go for it?"

"I just don't think she would."

"Maybe she's thinking the same way as you." Wooyoung sees the university in sight and starts to loosen himself up, getting ready to head out of the door as soon as Seonghwa pulls into a spot. "I think you should go for it, Hwa. You can't live like this forever. You love her, she should know. And if things don't work out, I doubt she'll let that change things between you two. You two understand each other well, and you both make sense together."

"Mm, yeah. Thanks." Seonghwa gives him a pursed smile before Wooyoung slips off his seatbelt and smiles.

"Guess that means I can tag along again tomorrow?" Seonghwa rolls his eyes and steps out of the car before slamming his door.

"I'll think about it, lazy ass."

♡ taglist: @hwasbabygirl @fairyofhueningkai @chngbnwf @tinyteezer @everyonewooeverywhere @pearbunny @mxnsxngie @starhwahwa @woosmaid @cheolliehugs @asjkdk @bintificreads @interweab

[circusmania]

Can i request some fluff with platonic yandere SCP 2662 who see reader who is also immortal but doesn't really know about it that is uneffected by SCP 2662 anomalous effect as a friends?

Both of them playing animal crossing

(Platonic) Yandere!SCP-2662 x GN!Reader ──────────────────────── Notes: Tysm for requesting this. I had so much reading about SCP-2662 and writing this request! I hope you enjoy ♡. Muah Muah ✮

───────────────────────

SCP-2662, a Keter class anomaly, is a humanoid who's actually (surprisingly) pretty chill. Also known as Cthulhu f'UCK OFF! (we'll just call him Cthulhu here), has a pretty humanoid(ish) appearance, along with fully functional cephalopod limbs attached to his back. He possesses the ability to manipulate and put false information into humans' dreams. Although his "followers" view him as all high and mighty, Cthulhu has no intentions of being their god. Rather, he prefers to sit in his containment cell and go about his day. Be it reading his daily newspaper or playing his many video games.

Tossing the introduction aside, You, an immortal being, had landed in the hands of the SCP Foundation. Be it intentional or not, you're stuck in your cell whether you like it or not. It ain't all that bad though, you're pretty cooperative and kind to those assigned to you, earning you a lot of rewards.

Once the Foundation found out that you're unaffected by various anomalous effects, new doors opened for you. One of those doors was he, himself, Cthulhu. A kind but massive beast, you two hit it off well.

At first, Cthulhu had thought you were another of his "devoted" followers.

You found him sitting at his table, a newspaper in hand and a coffee in the other.

"Oh, Saint Alagadda... what show are you going to put on now!? Hello?! Task Force!! Another one got in!!"

You stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Excuse me?"

You cringed, and he stopped yelling once he realized you weren't stripping or yelling insanities.

"You're not going to smear your blood and/or fluids on my walls…?" He asked, warily.

"WHAT!?? No?? What made you think that??"

He narrowed his beady eyes.

"Well, can't rule you out yet... You might just be faking it..."

"Right..."

"Trust issues much…" (He glared at you).

"In the meantime, you can stay...mm... over there." He pointed to the furthest corner from him possible.

You obeyed and sat in the corner, not making your case any better, since obeying him made it look like you were following his commands as your “god”.

Whenever you were pushed into these experiments, the researchers never gave you any information on the anomaly. Normally you don't care, but you would've appreciated some info on this one. By far, this one has made it to the top of your list of "Top Ten Weirdest first impressions."

You remained in the corner for hours a day to maximize as much exposure as possible (occasionally you got breaks and check-ups from the personnel). At the 2-month mark, Cthulhu had become pretty fond of you. He was very relieved that you showed no signs of wanting to perform rituals for him.

He allowed you to join him at his table and provided you with your very own cup of coffee! (If coffee isn't up to your taste, he's more than happy to supply you with anything else. Well, anything that the Foundation will allow).

Your relationship with Cthulhu got stronger as he invited you to join him in his many video games. Be it horror, indie, action, survival, or RPG, he's happy to be able to play with someone who views him only as a friend.

"You know, I'm happy you're different. It's nice that I can finally interact with someone without them flashing their cloaca at me."

"... Do I even want to know?"

As time passed, you two got to know more and more about each other. It took Cthulhu some time to open up after the "Massy's Big Chance" incident. You found out that Cthulhu had run away from home when his dad wouldn't stop projecting his sex cult on him. Yikes. You comforted him the best you could.

However, when he really started to like you (platonically) was the time when his worshippers broke into his cell again, and he found out that you weren't just a regular human.

This time, he was in the shower, and you were the unfortunate one to fall victim.

Cue in 3 naked, sex-crazed humans.

"What the actual fuck... How did you three get in here??" You had a newspaper in your hands and were sitting at his place at the table.

They spared you no less than a glance and made their way toward the bathroom.

"Uh, the hell? You can't go in th-"

You made the mistake of grabbing onto one of the humans' arms, and they quickly pulled out a knife and stabbed your arm.

You shrieked, alerting Cthulhu. Although being immortal, you could still feel pain, and god did this hurt like a bitch.

Cthulhu came rushing out, grabbing his follower's attention.

"Oh, great one! We've come to liberate you!"

He paid no mind to them, his focus was on you and your bleeding arm. Which didn't look well in his follower's eyes.

"Oh, sweet Alagadda! Are you oka-" He started to make his way towards you when one of his followers jumped in front of him.

"But first, we'll start with a sacrifice!"

"This one will do!"

One of the humans grabbed a fistful of your hair and pulled your head back. He raised his knife, and before he could reach your neck, he got sucker punched into a wall by Cthulhu. Really unexpected considering Cthulhu's nature.

He scooped you up in his arms, not letting anyone touch you till the Task Force arrived with medics.

"Don't worry... I just so happen to be immortal…" Your voice strained and weak as you tried not to pass out from the blood loss.

"WHAT??"

You ended up fainting anyways.

Fast-forward...

"Never thought you could actually hit someone."

You sat on the floor, leaning against Cthulhu's shoulder. Your arm was tightly bandaged, despite your protests.

He sighed. "Neither did I... Must've been the adrenaline."

Cthulhu was still annoyed that you hadn't told him earlier about your immortality.

"To be fair, you never asked."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm just glad you're safe."

He smiled in his own unique way and you returned the gesture. You two spent the afternoon playing Animal Crossing together and blabbering about anything that crossed your minds.

That day, Cthulhu promised himself to protect you at all costs. Perhaps, one day, when he's "older" you two will live together in a house. Playing all the video games possible and away from anyone that could tear you two apart. ──────────────────────── Cites: “SCP-2662 - SCP Foundation.” The SCP Foundation, 15 March 2023, https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2662. (Official info on SCP-2662)

“SCP-2662 | Heroes Wiki | Fandom.” Heroes Wiki, https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/SCP-2662. (Additional info on SCP-2662)

Bierman, Ed. “Skeeve Online - SCP Foundation.” The SCP Foundation, 15 December 2022, https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/skeeve-online. (Massy's Big Chance incident)

────────────────────────

[cator99]

(Re: previous post about my home) with all that said yes i did finally snap and admit that the stress of this situation has been affecting me and pointed directly towards how PG and new girl have irresponsibly conducted themselves and pushed an unstable situation onto all of us which I did not appreciate considering how hard I've worked to reach a point of relative housing stability. They must have assumed I wasn't home because I heard the two of them reacting in a very real ie messy way (I seriously respect that they were just being real about it for once instead of putting up a front like nothings wrong and using instagram infographics speak to slough off taking responsibility for their actions and guilt people into placating their poor behaviour ykwim) like really just cackling about how I brought up the overall flippant attitude that the situation has been treated with, and that [new girl] may think the house is in an unlivable condition (she brings this up constantly as though this is a reason to approach all of this with utter disregard) just because it's not the suburbs but for some of us who grew up without shit this place is a godsend and honestly there's not that much wrong with it at all, so please try not to jeopardize our ability to live here for the people who really need it just because it means nothing to you. Grow up. That was what comprised my (now deleted) message. They were having real fun in the kitchen laughing at how seriously I was taking everything. Fair enough. Their issue at that point wasn't that I was somehow wrong but rather that I care at all enough to get butthurt about it and to say all of this. Then they got to the real issue: how to respond to it? I came out of my room and assured them that there was no need to. Doesn't seem like there's a conversation to be had. New girl ran off and hid behind the corner while PG sat there and shifted back into her can-do-no-wrong sjw mode and asked me if I wanted to talk about it. I leaned against the stove on the far opposite side of the room from them and told new girl that if she really didnt care about all this at all then she should say so to my face. Everyone else has to live with the consequences of what seems to just be a joke to you, so why do you get to hide? I was entirely calm about this for the record so this didn't seem to be a fear thing it's just that she'd just been caught acting shifty lol. She just kept hiding silently around the corner in the living room. PG tried to come at me with the "to be honest, you're Causing Harm by singling out [new girl]'s attitude towards the situation." I told her that overstating harm isn't appropriate here (again, these words exactly. I'm not here tweaking acting out or losing my mind I'm just calmly telling them what I think but I got the impression that it would've made no difference either way) and assured her that the particular statement about Attitude was directed at how everyone involved has handled this. We talked about the minutiae of my language and I reiterated that I was addressing the Overall Attitude that people have taken towards the issue. "But you're singling her out." I don't find that unreasonable. We went back and forth about language until she told me: "if you take issue with the way someone is conducting themselves then you need to tell them." I said she was right! She was absolutely right. So I invited new girl to peek her head around the corner. She brought herself into view. "I think that you are careless and irresponsible. You've made decisions that put people's housing at risk. And yes, you have a shit attitude." They stared at me.

[lilacmingi]

THE GOAT

My works are 14+ ONLY. If you’re under 14 DO NOT interact with me or any of my works

Pairing: Hongjoong x fem reader, Mingi x fem reader

Word count: 4,790

Note: I’m doing something new with this little series. Each part will have two imagines based on the duos from the Bouncy music video, so you guys are getting TWO imagines in one :D

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐉𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐆 | 홍중

Hongjoong released a long sigh, staring through the telescope he held between his glove-clad hands.

"Tired?" You questioned.

He scoffed. "No."

"Liar."

"I'm used to staying up late. You should know this by now."

"Yeah, yeah." You waved a dismissive hand, repositioning yourself on the raised platform Hongjoong sat upon, fixing your gaze on the city below. "How many nights are we going to spend keeping watch out here like this?"

"Until we get the signal."

"The signal." You muttered through a sigh of exasperation. "And when will we be getting that?"

"Don't know." Hongjoong pushed the telescope closed and set it aside.

You leaned back, resting on your palms while gazing out at the nighttime cityscape lit up with vibrant neon hues from the different signs displayed on buildings. The streets were empty, completely vacant and void of any civilians. This place you called your temporary home was practically a ghost town. Despite the people here being away from the government's control, they all seemed to prefer to move quietly throughout to city so as not to draw any attention to themselves.

The sound of a motorcycle revving loudly echoed somewhere in the distance.

Well, except some people.

Hongjoong chuckled softly. "That must be Seonghwa."

"Must be. What is he doing anyway?"

"Riding around with his new motorcycle gang I suppose."

"That doesn't seem like something that pertains to the plan."

"No, but who says we can't have a little fun while we wait to put the plan in motion? He grinned.

"Yeah. You have a point."

"Plus, we're just regular civilians going about our daily lives. Isn't that right?"

"Right."

Hongjoong adjusted the hat on his head, pushing it back enough to where he could look up at the stars. His cowboy attire was a bit ridiculous, but it was his disguise and unfortunately yours as well. All the boys were staying in separate hideouts around the city. You, Hongjoong, and Mingi were located in a part of the city that had a more western feel to it and in order to blend in, you had to dress the part. Not only that, but the boys were wanted for their crimes against the government and they needed to keep a low profile, lest they get captured by the android guardians.

"Mingi's face is plastered all over the city." You commented, recalling the numerous sketches of him you had seen stuck to nearly every building.

"I know."

"You don't think our cover is gonna get blown?"

"No. There have been plenty of times we've almost been caught in the past, but we always make it out."

He had a point. All of them were uncannily lucky when it came to escaping the clutches of the android guardians. Yes, Yeosang got captured once, but he was brought back completely unscathed with his emotions still intact. That was a miracle in and of itself. There wasn't a day that went by where the boys weren't thankful for all eight of them being safe.

"At this point, what are we even watching for? Nothing has happened in Prestige Academy for months."

"We're not watching for anything. We're just keeping an eye on them."

You hummed and nodded, your fingers mindlessly fiddling with the fringe on your vest.

"Do you ever miss home?" You questioned, eyes locked on the dreary slate gray city of Strictland far in the distance—a reminder of how vastly dissimilar this world was from the one you grew up in.

Hongjoong pursed his lips in thought.

"Not really. Our lives weren't exactly perfect and it seemed like none of us had a purpose. The group broke apart and everyone was dealing with their own issues. Here, we have a purpose and whatever problems we had back home are insignificant now, especially compared to the threat we're facing here." There was a brief pause before he added, "What about you?"

"Do I miss home?" You questioned.

He nodded.

"No, but sometimes yes. Back in our world, I felt stuck I guess. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life and I felt like I was being held back. If you can believe it, I feel more free here, even with all the rules the government is trying to enforce."

Hongjoong chuckled softly. "I get what you mean."

"When we first started this journey together, I was terrified. I didn't think I had it in me to make such daring moves, but now I want to do thrilling things like infiltrating an academy, but I do sometimes miss the normality of my old life. I miss hanging out with you guys in that old tin building."

"I do too." Hongjoong smiled fondly, turning to you. "But it's like I said earlier, who says we can't have a little fun? This dystopian world may be bleak, but we can still take it easy and have moments of normalcy."

The light from the large neon sign reading The Goat shone along his face, highlighting his side profile as he looked at you. It was a heavenly sight and one that had your heart thumping wildly with adoration.

You felt strongly about Hongjoong and had been quietly swooning over him for a long time now. Unfortunately, with all of the chaos constantly going on around you, there was no possibility of confessing. However, in this moment of vulnerability, you found yourself uttering something you normally wouldn't say.

"I'm glad I'm here with you."

Hongjoong's head lifted at your words. Now that he was looking at you, his eyes studying your face, you got nervous.

"Sorry." You murmured an apology, fiddling with the fringe of your vest again. "It's just that... well, you mean a lot to me and if we hadn't gone on this rollercoaster of a journey together and I stayed at our old home I'd probably be miserable. What I'm trying to say is that I'm thankful that we stuck together."

His gaze softened, a gentle smile gracing his pretty lips.

"I feel the same way."

A beat passed and Hongjoong scooted closer, it was unnoticed by you, as you'd turned your gaze back to the neon dotted cityscape ahead, staring out at the nighttime scene. His lips pressed together in momentary contemplation while his fingers fidgeted with the chains attached to his black leather gloves.

Hongjoong was a smart man, but your words caused him some confusion. Was that a confession? A subtle way to declare your feelings without saying it outright? Maybe you were just showing him appreciation for your companionship—or maybe you were hinting that you wanted something more. He hoped it was the latter.

There was only one way to find out.

He had taken on the android guardians multiple times, broke into a museum to steal the Cromer, snuck around Strictland to set up speakers, and now he was planning to infiltrate Prestige Academy to save as many students as possible, which would be one of their biggest and riskiest plans ever. Confessing is nothing compared to that. It should be a piece of cake. Keyword should.

Swallowing his pride and pushing away his nerves, he leaned over towards you, the movement grabbing your attention. Seeing how close he was made you tense up, but you didn't make any efforts to move away. Truthfully, you didn't want to.

His eyes were a little wider than usual, hesitancy swimming in his brown irises. The reason for that reluctance, you didn't know.

"Hongjoong?" Your voice came out much quieter than you intended. "What's happening?"

"I'm about to kiss you."

There was a brief pause of silence as your brain processed what he had just said. The only word that managed to come out of your mouth in response was,

"Okay."

You hardly had time to internally cringe at your lame response as Hongjoong's lips made contact with yours, promptly silencing your thoughts. Their softness alone had your mind turning to mush, your eyelids sliding closed as you practically melted into him. His gloved hand moved to cradle the side of your face while your hands relocated from your lap to the nape of his neck to keep him held close, hoping that this moment would last long enough for you to believe it wasn't a dream. His kisses were so delicate and slow. It felt like he was pouring all of his emotions into it, conveying just how much you meant to him with each gentle press of his lips.

Only a few moments passed before Hongjoong's kisses became a little more heated as he picked up the pace, moving his lips with more urgency. He even nipped at your bottom lip a couple times, earning a quiet squeak of surprise from you. You were thankful to be sitting down or else your knees would have given out on the spot. He chuckled lowly against your lips, amused by your reaction. His sultry laugh made your heart thump rapidly, your hands tightening into fists.

It wasn't long before your hands moved to his hat, pulling it off his head and tossing it to the side somewhere so you could card your fingers through his blue locks, grabbing handfuls of it. He let out a low hum that vibrated against your lips and sent a rush of butterflies to your stomach. After a particularly dizzying kiss, you sighed out his name, your mind far too clouded to realize what you had said. Hongjoong couldn't ignore the way that lit a fire in him. He liked how you sounded and he wanted to hear it again.

At this point, keeping watch was at the back of Hongjoong's mind. All he could think about was you and how glorious it felt to be kissing you like this and what it would take for you to say his name again.

"Say my name." He sighed out between heated kisses. "Please."

You did as he asked, repeating his name in a breathless whisper, egging him on.

His hand that cupped your cheek slid around to the back of your neck, his thumb gently rubbing your nape. You suppressed a shiver as he took your bottom lip between his, encasing it in warmth.

The both of you parted ways, Hongjoong's eyes looking hazy while his tongue darted out to wet his lips that were slightly swollen from your intense make out session. It seemed impossible, but he looked even more stunning than usual.

"What was that for?" You questioned breathlessly.

"I didn't know how else to convey my feelings."

"So, instead of just confessing, you did something riskier by kissing me?" You asked amusedly.

"What can I say? I'm a man who likes to take risks." The statement was confident, but judging by the pink tinting the tips of his ears, the thought of straight up confessing hadn't crossed his mind.

"Now what?"

"Well..." Hongjoong trailed off, his hand finding yours. "We can be together and still take down Prestige."

You gave a lighthearted chuckle. "Alright then. If you think you can handle balancing a relationship and overthrowing the government."

"Please." He scoffed playfully. "I'm the captain. I can handle anything."

Hongjoong's eyes shifted slightly, moving away from your face and focusing on something in the distance.

"Someone's coming." He announced, his gaze fixed on a figure riding a delivery scooter.

You chuckled softly even though you were bummed out that the moment had ended.

Duty calls.

He scrambled for his telescope, opening it up and peering through the glass.

"We didn't order any food." You mused.

"I know."

He zeroed in on a logo stuck to the delivery scooter that read Blue Bird Delivery. A silent sigh of relief was released. As the person approached, Hongjoong began messing with the pulley system attached to the roof of the building, lowering a beat up metal bucket to the ground below.

The moped came to a stop and the rider pulled out a plastic bag, placing it in the bucket before Hongjoong raised it.

"Is that Yeosang?"

"I think so."

The driver, who you assumed to be Yeosang got back onto the scooter and took off towards his next destination.

Hongjoong removed the plastic bag, carelessly tossing it aside as he opened the styrofoam takeout container. Inside was a single Cheongyang chili pepper.

Your brows furrowed in perplexmxent, wondering why Yeosang would bring you something like that. Hongjoong removed the paper from the container and examined it briefly. Glancing around, he broke open the green chili pepper, pulling out a rolled up note that had been put inside.

"What it is?" You inquired, watching as he unraveled it.

"It's time."

𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐈 | 민기

The atmosphere in the dim Chili Peppers bar was filled with the sound of low murmuring from the few patrons it housed, the occasional sound of clinking glasses or pool being played accompanied the low conversations. You pressed the corners of the wrinkled paper to the wall, hanging a new wanted poster, this one bigger than the ones that already hung there. Most of them depicted the same man while others showed images of a few other fugitives who were believed to run in the same group. The only thing that was different from the rest was that any poster that showed this particular man said DEAD OR ALIVE in large letters. You weren't exactly sure as to why this man was wanted, but you heard whispers throughout the city that he looted local businesses in the area and sometimes traveled with a group of other fugitives. Some even say he runs with the masked men in fedoras, but you're not sure—this town talks a lot.

The wooden doors of the saloon squeaked as they were pushed open by a strong force. A tall figure stepped into the establishment, all of the attention drawn to him, the chatter in the bar coming to an abrupt stop. Every patron in the saloon had their heads directed towards the stranger, their eyes following him across the room. He wore a large hat that blocked his face, keeping his head low as he approached the bar you stood behind. You took note of the large shotgun strapped to his back, not thinking too much of it, as quite a few people around here carried weapons with them.

"How can I help you?" You asked, leaning on the wooden bar top.

"Why else do you think I came to this bar?" The man responded, his voice low and incredibly deep.

"Not everybody comes into this bar to drink, you know."

"Soju." He responded, taking a seat on one of the stools.

Reaching underneath the bar, you grabbed a shot glass and a cold bottle of soju from the mini fridge. Cracking open the alcohol, you poured the clear liquid into a shot glass, sliding it over to the man. His gloved hand reached out and lifted the shot to his lips, downing it just as quickly as you had poured it. He slammed the glass down onto the counter with his head hanging low. It was only when he raised his head that you got a clear look at his face.

First, you noticed his strikingly handsome features, then instant recognition. This was the man from the wanted poster.

You opened your mouth to speak, but your voice was stuck in your throat as he stood up, pulling his long, leather coat back to flash the gun sitting in a holster on his hip.

"When I turn around, duck under the bar." He instructed lowly.

What? Is what you wanted to say, but you didn't have time as he spun around, pulling the gun out.

You dropped to the floor and covered your head as the sound of gunshots rang out above you, some stray bullets hitting the bottles of alcohol displayed behind the counter, the shattered glass falling onto you, liquor splashing onto the wooden boards of the floor.

You didn't even have time to consider wether you trusted this stranger or not, yet you did exactly as he said without a second thought. Then again, it was the only thing you knew to do when you saw him draw his weapon.

A thump sounded from above you, the noise drawing your attention. The man now stood on  the bar holding the shotgun that was previously strapped to his back, firing the weapon mercilessly. Based on the heavy thuds you heard after every shot, he was good.

"Alright. It's safe. You can come out now."

Deciding to peek out from your hiding spot, you slowly stood up, peering over the bar top. Bodies littered the floor, tables were overturned, and shell casings were scattered everywhere. Your eyes were blown wide in surprise as you took in the scene before you. The stranger hopped down off the bar, landing behind the counter with you. You unconsciously took a step back, still wary of the man.

"Who are you?" You asked in a shaky voice, rattled by the experience you just had.

"Mingi."

When you didn't respond, he held his hands up in a placating manner to show he wasn't a threat.

"I won't hurt you. I'm a good guy."

Still skeptical, you studied him for a moment, your eyes scanning his sharp features for any signs of dishonesty.

"I saved you." He added.

"Saved me?"

"Yes. Everyone in this bar was working for the government."

Your expression shifted upon hearing that.

"Strictland is getting tougher on enforcing their rules and regulations. They were going to bring you in and have your emotions taken away."

"What?"

You couldn't believe what you were hearing, shaking your head in denial.

"That's not possible. This is the outskirts of the city. The government has no control here."

"They're trying to."

Mingi could see your breathing start to quicken, a look of fear crossing your features.

"What do I do?"

"You come with me."

"But I don't know you."

"Have you ever heard of The Black Pirates?"

"No."

"They're a group of people who are rebelling against the government and trying to undo what Strictland has tried to enforce. Me and my friends work with them."

So that's why his picture is all over the city. Those other wanted posters are probably the friends he mentioned.

"Trust me, it's best if you listen and come with me." He added.

After taking a few seconds to think it over, you caved and agreed to go with Mingi. It seemed to be your best and only option.

"Smart girl." He commented. "Follow me."

Taking a final glance at the bar that was in complete disarray, you turned your back and followed Mingi out of the establishment. There was something sad about walking out of that dingy bar. It felt like you were leaving a part of you behind. Chili Peppers was a place you had spent a year working at and met many  different people. You were well-acquainted with the regulars and enjoyed catching up with them when they came in. It was a fun job and one that had marked a new start of your life, so walking away from it broke your heart.

"Can I go back?" You asked.

"Probably not. You'll need to lay low."

"Right."

Unable to look at the bar any longer, you dropped your head and moved forward, rounding the corner of the building. It was only when Mingi came to a stop that you lifted your head.

He stood before the side of the Chili Peppers bar, staring at the multiple wanted posters depicting a sketch of his face that were plastered along the siding. Painted in harsh and aggressive black streaks across the posters was a giant Z. Mingi rolled his eyes, letting out an annoyed huff.

"So freaking persistent." He muttered under his breath.

"What's that?" You inquired.

His tongue poked the inside of his cheek in agitation. "He's the one in control of everything going on in Strictland."

You pressed your lips together as a bitter taste invaded your mouth. "I see."

Mingi turned to look at your expression, seeing the discomfort that flashed across your features as unwanted memories more than likely invaded your mind. It was clear to him that you felt ill will against Z.

"We all hate him." Mingi spoke up, hoping to ease your mind a bit. "That's why my friends are here. To get rid of all these rules and laws. This world is... wrong."

"I used to live in Strictland." You spoke up after a moment of silence. "I had to watch my friends turn into emotionless zombies. The android guardians tried to get me, but I fled. That's how I ended up here in the outskirts of the city. I felt safe... until now."

Mingi frowned upon hearing your story. Z and his twisted way of thinking has ruined so many lives. Your story was just a reminder of why he and his friends constantly put themselves in the line of danger and why they needed to continue doing so.

They wouldn't stop until this world was saved.

Your feet dragged through the dirt that lined the streets of the city, your eyes cast downward to stare at your shoes as they kicked up tiny puffs of dust.

"So, where are you taking me?"

"My hideout."

"And where is that?"

"Rooftop of The Goat."

"Rooftops aren't very secretive."

Mingi chuckled softly. "No, but it's the perfect spot to keep watch. My friends and I split off into groups of two so it would be harder for us to be tracked down and possibly caught if the android guardians decide to infiltrate this temporary safe haven. I've been staying in this part of town for a while."

"I heard about a group of people displaying acts of rebellion against Strictland's government and they've never been caught. It seems like they slip away in the nick of time every single time." You paused for a moment. "That was you and your friends, wasn't it?"

Mingi gave a nod.

A short walk through the dusty streets led you to the building with the giant neon sign reading: The Goat shining brightly at the rooftop, the word entrance accompanying the name of the building. It was then that you realized there were no doors.

"Come on." Mingi beckoned, climbing up a set of rickety metal stairs that lined the side of dilapidated building.

With each step, the stairs rattled softly and you hoped they would stay together long enough for you to reach the top.

"Hongjoong." Mingi announced, using his knuckles to knock lightly on a metal pipe as the both of you emerged on the rooftop.

"Oh, Mingi. Hi." A man with vibrant blue hair and cowboy attire greeted while peering through a telescope.

"Any news?"

"Not at all." The man who you assumed was Hongjoong lowered the telescope and pushed it together into its compact form before setting it aside. When he finally turned to look at Mingi, his eyes landed on you.

"Who's this?"

"You know I told you I was going to Chili Peppers to take care of some business?"

"Yeah."

"Everyone sitting in that bar tonight was working for the government. Y/n was the bartender and the only one there with her emotions in tact. They were going to bring her in and brainwash her."

"The government has no jurisdiction here."

"They don't seem to care. You know Z is going to try and get his way no matter what."

"Great." Muttered Hongjoong. "Just what we needed."

Mingi removed his hat and let out a sigh, running his fingers through his short, choppily-cut pink hair.

"This is bad." He said to Hongjoong.

Meanwhile you were left to watch the tense exchange between the two, a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. These two and their friends were the only people who could undo all of the damage Z has done to Strictland and here they are, visibly distraught.

"We still have the raid on Prestige." Hongjoong mentioned, making your ears perk up.

"Right." Mingi nodded. "That'll surely light a fire under Z. He won't see it coming."

Hongjoong peered into the distance, presumably where Prestige Academy sat.

"It's just a matter of time." He murmured.

"What's going on with Prestige?" You inquired, too curious to keep your mouth shut.

"We're going to sneak in and break everyone out of their trances. We've got an elaborate plan in place, we're just waiting to put it into motion." Mingi explained.

The government of Strictland was very powerful and this group of, you weren't sure how many people, are out here making big moves in order to save humanity. You commend them for their bravery but at the same time you wondered how someone could be so brave.

"I can't believe you guys do stuff like this."

"We have to. It's what we're here for." Mingi told you, his eyes holding a tsunami of emotions: commitment, determination, perhaps even a hint of fear.

"I'll leave you two alone." Hongjoong spoke up. "If you need me, I'll be downstairs."

With that, he stood up and entered a door that you assumed led to the inside of the building,  leaving the rooftop so you and Mingi could converse in private.

"Have a seat." The pink-haired male gestured to a raised platform resembling the front of a ship with two telescopes set up on it.

He stepped up on the platform, offering you a gloved hand to grab onto, which you did and allowed him to assist you onto the raised surface.

He set his hat aside and took a seat, his long legs hanging off the side of the platform. You followed suit and made yourself comfortable beside him, resting your arms on the metal bar of the railing that lined the ship-like structure.

"So, what's your story?" You asked, gently swinging your legs back and forth.

Mingi's captivating lips stuck out in though while his eyes focused on the buildings in the distance.

"I guess I should start from the beginning."

And so he did. From being brought here by the Cromer to taking the places of the masked men in fedoras and saving Strictland. You stayed silent the whole time and let him speak without interrupting. When he finally finished, a heavy and lengthy silence hung in the night air.

"So, you're not from this world." You said it like a statement.

"No."

"And you agreed to take the place of the men in fedoras just like that?"

"Yes. There's no way we can go back to our old world, especially knowing this one needs saving."

An overwhelming rush of admiration swelled in your chest, as did your respect for Mingi, if that was even possible.

"You and your friends are so brave."

He huffed out a light chuckle. "Yeah, I guess we are. It's weird. When we were told we would have to step up, we did. We did it without thinking."

"Do you ever get scared?"

"A lot. There have been times where I worry our plans won't work or one of my friends is about to get caught. I'm afraid one day, we won't be so lucky."

"If you need an extra person on your team, I'm willing to step up."

Mingi's brows raised, his sharp eyes becoming rounder in surprise.

"I'm not sure what I can do, but I'm willing to help however I can." You added.

"Are you sure?"

Yes, Mingi had just met you but he felt somewhat protective of you and there was a small part of him that couldn't see you get hurt or captured by the android guardians.

"Yes I'm sure." You were adamant in your decision. "I lost the only friends I had to that dictator. He stripped them of their emotions."

Mingi's eyes met yours, serious and searching for more confirmation even though he could see it clearly on your face—there was no changing your mind.

"We need all the help we can get, but it won't be easy." He told you.

"Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. I'm up for whatever Strictland has to throw at me."

"Very well."

About that time, Hongjoong emerged onto the rooftop with a large sheet of rolled up paper in his hand that you presumed was a blueprint.

"Joong, we've got a new recruit." Mingi informed him.

"Is that so?"

You nodded in confirmation.

"What do you say we fill her in on the plans to invade Prestige?"

"I'm way ahead of you." Hongjoong wiggled the blueprint in his hand, bringing it over to spread it along the ground, revealing a grand plan. "Let's begin."

Seonghwa & Yeosang ⟡ Yunho & Jongho ⟡ San & Wooyoung

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Masterlist ᝰ — enjoyed this imagine? reblogs & comments are very much appreciated!

DO NOT steal, plagiarize, copy, repost, alter, or translate my works in any way

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

[cosmicroadkill]

So after obsessing over Arachnis Prime and reading @sonicasura's bat Optimus idea I just was really, really digging it and was inspired to make my own AU similar to it

So basically in this AU both Optimus and Elita fall back into the cavern; Elita's power times out like in canon but Optimus manages to catch her as she's falling. The issue is all that does is put too much sudden weight and tension on his grappling hook causing it to pull out of the rock and send them both tumbling down. The explosion separates the two of them, sending Optimus even deeper in. While Elita becomes Blackarachnia as she does in canon, during and after her change she's looking for Optimus to see if he survived, eventually finding him in a terrible state. He'd run into the cavern's other denizens, massive vampiric and carnivorous bats. He managed to fight off and kill a few but not without serious damage, bordering on death.

In a bid to save him, but also for the selfish reason of not wanting to be a freak alone, she makes him a techno-organic like herself. From there, Optimus lives up to his name for the first little while, practicing with his new alt and eventually managing to fly out of the cavern to watch for any Autobot ships, believing Sentinal will surely come back with or at least send help since he didn't come back for them originally, eventually realizing that Blackarachnia is right, no one is coming.

Well, no Autobots at least. The two get picked up by the Decepticons, Optimus being very much not about the idea but following Blackarachnia almost blindly as he still sees Elita-1 in her and basically owes her his life.

From there it's kind of all over. For a good bit he kinda just follows her around like a puppy and follows her commands; after all initially the idea is for them to return to how they once were, but eventually, Optimus will realize that Blackarachnia is no longer his beloved friend and something will happen to cause him to finally turn on her and split off into his own thing, of what I'm not sure; honestly, it'll more than likely be a build-up of things instead of one big thing.

There's also the debate of how Optimus deals with the Decepticons and basically being one for a while. On the one hand, I like sonicasura's idea of him just being a victim of circumstance. He's not a Decepticon, or in this case, he's only a Decepticon in name, he's just a man who's trying to deal with his current situation the best he can while sticking to his morals and general worldview.

On the other hand, I like the idea of Optimus realizing the flaws and downright failings of Autobot society and becoming a Decepticon for real. He doesn't agree with their morals and what they do a lot of the time, but the ideals Megatron puts forth? He can get behind those, especially since he and Elita were failed by the system they followed so doggedly while Sentinal abandoned them (as far as he's aware) and potentially still gets 'rewarded' (given the rank of Prime and his own team; Optimus would not know he's delegated to bridge repair until later if at all)

More than likely he might fall into a third option of neither, where he abandons the Decepticons like Blackarachnia does but refuses to rejoin the Autobots because of the whole debacle, likely hiding away with the Dinobots on their island.

Also as you've likely noticed I haven't quite come up with Optimus' new name? I'm partial to Chiropteras, as Chiroptera is the order bats are from. I considered going with Optimus Primal since Blackarachnia is also from Beast Wars and a lot of people used/use Tarantulas for spider Optimus before Arachnus Prime was revealed, but my biggest thing is in TFA Prime isn't technically anything special, it's just a rank, so why would he still be Prime or even make it Primal? Unless he's giving himself the rank because he feels he deserves it/is bastardizing it for his own use. I could also potentially use the name of another bat transformer in the way that Tarantulas is the name of a Predacon from Beast Wars but none of them really fit? Cause there's Nightscream, Sonar, and Nyx (and technically Noctorro but he's a bat and a bull). I could use Nocturne or Nocturnus, too.

Lemme know what y'all think?

[mourningliliesmorningglories]

Blowing Smoke

A Jegulus song lyric one shot. I'm trying a new layout so lmk what you think! Guys this actually came to me like a fever dream.

wc: 1042 // @jegulus-microfic

Regulus isn't stupid. He sees it, all of it. He sees how she looks at James and how James looks back at her. It wasn't enough for him to have Regulus because you always chase the things you only get a taste of. This too, Regulus knows all too well. He stays hidden in the astronomy tower, behind tapestries, and alcoves in the dark. She can be loved out loud, in the common room, in the great hall, in the daylight. Today is the end day. Regulus plays the part of executioner and guilty both. He knows that to love something is to lose it too. That does not make this easier. 

James crashes through the door of the tower, rumpled and blushing. He was always loud, always the centre of attention. His eyes land on Regulus, and just for a second, Regulus stills. He can't keep this, but god, how he wants to. Maybe he never even had it, but there's something there, just not worth playing second for. James carries that boyish smile, the one reserved only for Regulus, but it's too late. A sacrifice is only a sacrifice once the blood is drawn. 

"Tell me, is she prettier than she was on the internet?" Regulus' face shifts into indifference. No preamble, no games. He is still a Black at the end of the day. 

"Reg, what are you talking about?" James shifts uncomfortably. He knew this was coming. Not this soon though, he pleads, not right now. 

"Are your conversations cool, like are you even interested?" Regulus stands, leaning against the railing of the tower. His arms sit crossed over his chest, less to be intimidating, and more to keep his heart where it should be. His tone is light, conversational almost. 

"This is about Lily." James' voice is toneless, his eyes immediately dull. Not now. Not now. 

"Who else, James, who else?" 

In any other scenario, you just might have been able to convince Regulus he was wrong, that James was just trying to protect them both. Maybe he would've believed that a year of hiding was worth it, that kissing in cupboards and avoiding eye contact in the dinner hall was just the way it should be. But Regulus will not be an object of shame outside of his home, he won't drag that ignominy behind him when he doesn't have to. 

"She's my friend." His eyes narrow. "I'm not going to avoid her just because she makes you insecure." James isn't an argumentative person. In fact, he's a talker, a placater, and so he can't quite figure out why defending Lily comes to him so easily. 

"I know what you are, brighter than the stars." Now Regulus' voice is pure mockery, just so he can see how far James flinches. "Did you mean that then?"

"That was a private conversation. Who even told you about that?"

"I don't think me finding out is the issue here."

"She was upset, she's got so much going-"

"And me, James? How much have I got going on?" Now Regulus promised himself to stay put together, but this, this is his frailty. Too emotional, too expressive when it counts the least. "I'm your dirty little secret because Sirius wouldn't be able to handle sharing. I'm one wrong step away from my parents beating me half to death. So tell me." 

"No."

"Tell me what the fuck is so awful in her life you just had to recycle the same line you used on me?"

James is quiet, chest heaving. He can feel curls sticking to the nape of his neck from sweat. How could he choose? How could Regulus make him. The silence was crackling like it was electrified. A blush crept up Regulus' cheeks. He looked younger in that moment, and something tugs at James' chest, but a callow face does not mean weakness. 

"Tell me if she takes you far." And James knows exactly what Regulus means. Even through his derisive tone, Regulus had something that kept James grounded, something that kept him tethered. And he hates it. 

"Far away from you." James is angry now, but he can't quite tell who it's at. "Far enough away from all the baggage you've been carrying." His head is a mess, and the only person who could help won't. Who the fuck does Regulus think he is? What the fuck has he done?

"My baggage? Oh, you're funny, Potter. Go on, run away again." Regulus' tone is harsh, derisive. "Up another hill to all the girls who'll help you bury it."

"Oh, fuck off Regulus. Back to surnames? Really? Can't we just talk?"

"About what? The lying? The running? The hiding? No, we can't fucking talk. Grow up."

"Baby Black, so insecure, so naive." James' words are trite to Regulus. "And the girls? What fucking girls? How could I when you're always just behind me?"

"Apparently that still didn't stop you." A flicker of hurt runs through Regulus, but he tamps it down. 

"You know nothing about me. You don't understand. I have a reputation. Everyone thinks I'm single, and Lily's just there. What do you want me to do when I'm constantly pushed in her way?" James is bright red and the air is cloying. His head is buzzing, and he just wants it to stop. "Everyone expects me to be put together, to get the girl, to be cool and funny, and attractive. I thought you'd get it."

"They're just blowing smoke," Regulus smiles, except it's not a smile at all. "I'll say what they won't." It's a realisation. Regulus knows that despite everything, despite being James' dirty little secret, he still has one thing James doesn't. 

James told Regulus the truth, everything. Every false laugh. Every tired smile. Every sleepless night. 

And James knows it too. 

"Reg, wait. Stop. Please." His hand reaches for Regulus, but he just misses, brushing the cuff of his jumper. 

"I know everything they don't." Regulus' footsteps echo all the way down the stairs. 

And for the first time in his life, James feels something bubbling up in his chest. A subtle burning that felt like agony. 

For the first time in his life, James Potter couldn't have the thing he wanted most.

[buddiebeginz]

I'm sorry but what exactly has the Buddie fandom started?

Was it Buddie fandom who (almost immediately after 7x04) started calling anyone homophobic/biphobic if they didn't like our ship or one of the characters in it?

Was it Buddie fandom who harassed anyone who included a ship and character we didn't like in Pride posts?

Was it Buddie fandom who tried to dox a journalist for talking about a ship?

Was it Buddie fandom who has repeatedly harassed the 911 news account?

Was it Buddie fandom telling an actor who had just talked about trying to ending their life that they should have finished the job and that the character they play should also have a s*icide attempt.

Was it Buddie fandom excusing racism from both a character and actor?

Was it Buddie fandom who went on 4 hour long rant bashing one of the actors in our ship because he posted a pic of himself wearing a fake mustache?

Was it Buddie fandom who annoyed the show creator so much he called us out in a podcast?

I'd love to know what exactly it is we started and how exactly it is we've kept things going? I'm not saying Buddie fandom is 100% innocent and that every single person in this fandom has always acted appropriately. Some people have said and done things that have crossed lines. Like when some Buddies pushed too hard for the karaoke scene. Still, what has mostly been happening is our fandom, which has been here almost since the show's beginning, has been having to fight back against a small but loud subsection that have really just become the biggest bullies in the 911 fandom.

There is nothing wrong with liking different ships and characters. I've often liked ships and characters that people found to be unpopular so I don't ever want to tell someone what they're allowed to enjoy from a piece of media. The problem isn't that some people ship B/T or like T*mmy. The problem is the way those fans have used that ship as a way to excuse their awful behavior. The way a lot of them only even joined the 911 fandom in the recent year and now try to act like they are in charge of the entire fandom.

I've been around the 911 fandom for years and I've never seen the level of toxicity that I've seen in the past year. You cannot put this all on the Buddie fandom because if it was all us that was the problem you would have seen it coming from us for years and there is no evidence to support that. And to be quite honest I'm actually starting to believe any issues that did come up in connection with Buddie fandom (in the past) were likely coming from some of the Buddie fans who left and are now B/T stans (like Bree).

I'm just so tired of all of this. I'm tired of having to deal with that part of fandom. Of them trying to play the victim when they're the ones causing the problems. Of them acting like there's something wrong with us wanting to see Buck and Eddie together just because they ship something different. I can't wait for the day when we get confirmation that B/T is done. Our fandom will never really be the same after this but in some ways I'm glad it all happened. I'm glad we were able to see the true colors of people who were once a part of our fandom (and will likely try to be again after B/T). I'd rather know who these people really are and keep them far far away from me.

[nerdierholler]

It's done! Attempt number two at book making is complete! It's still just Ethan's Wayhaven Book 1 run. I did a big overhaul of the typeset compared to the first one, which I was trying to make small to minimize the page count. This came out about 130 pages longer and the text seems to breathe much better now. I also added a couple of basic graphics, a moon in the chapter headings and little moons as section headings. I used variegated red embroidery thread for sewing the signatures for just a pop of ominous color between the pages. It is a game about vampires after all.

Working with paper instead of cloth for the cover was a mixed bag. It looks gorgeous in a way I couldn't do with cloth but it was harder to get just right and I'm not sure it will hold up the best long term. But as a second attempt, that's ok. I tried new things and learned new things this one which was the goal and overall I think it's a more attractive finished product, or at least more visually interesting.

The breakdown on mistakes is under the cut. It's mostly for my benefit so I can remember later but please learn from my learning if you would like!

First off here's a comparison of my first and second attempts.

The paper I used for the first wasn't exactly 8.5x11 as noted before and I think it was even narrower than I realized before I tried to trim the pages. It is a significantly shorter book! Also the typeset differences. I'm really happy with how the new one came out.

Mistakes and improvement for the future.

Paper, Paper, Paper - I didn't even attempt to use interesting paper for this, just regular printer paper. Not needing to worry about trimming was so nice. I bought 9x12 sketch paper thinking it would fit in my printer, it did not, and I wasn't going to trim every single page to size so I have that now in my crafting pile. Maybe I'll make some blank journals with it. I do like the slightly off white color and heavier weight of the paper I used the first time and if I put in a fancy paper order I'll take that into consideration.

Paper: Part 2 - I want the scrapbook paper I have to be heavier and the cardstock to be lighter. Once I put glue on the paper it was so hard to work with because it wanted to wrinkle but also felt like it might tear if I tried to smooth it too much or reposition it. I ended up backing the piece on the front cover with a piece of printer paper and that seemed to help.

Mull - I've been using cheesecloth. I didn't starch it last time so I tried that this time but also saw something about putting glue over the whole piece of mull first then attaching it instead of holding it over the spine and dabbing/brushing glue on top. Bad choice. The mull is a mess and it isn't flat on spine, it was weird and stiff and there's slight gaps in between signatures as a result. I couldn't rip it off though so it is what it is. Won't be doing that again in the future though. Minus the mull issue I was really happy with the textblock though.

Endpapers - Again fighting the thinner craft paper. I should have sewn these on but I didn't. However I couldn't add them later because of the mull issue once I realized that so they are fully glued to the first page for added strength instead of being tipped on. Making them then and sewing them on takes more time but might be the better route to go in the future.

Gluing - I feeling like have terrible gluing technique. Things feel too wet but then if I use less or add some water for easier brushing on it doesn't stick as well. I think this is just a practice thing but considering how much gluing there is, it is a little frustrating.

Labels - Tried that for the first time with paper. Not sure how I feel about it . I think it looks alright but mostly it was about the paper quality and durability. Story of this build.

The Casing In - It was not great.

The back is alright but I really messed up the front cover. I think I pushed it too far back into the hinge so the cover doesn't quite close all of the way and is why there's such a large fore edge wrap space. I also think I made my spine piece slightly too narrow so that didn't help either. Ah well. Warping could also be from needing to glue the extra backing paper to the cover paper first and it's just too much glue pull in one area with nothing to balance it.

She's done though and once again I'm carrying over lots good knowledge for the next one. If I saw it sitting on someone else's shelf and they told me they made it I would be super impressed so I should give myself that credit as well.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Since we're all in our feelings today and I'm going through my drafts to figure out what these half-baked ideas are I'm still kind of blown away at how Taylor's now using her own discography to flesh out old stories or tell new ones.

The mashups on tour are brilliant, and not only seem to have reenergized her (as if she needed it) but are such a testament to her creativity and storytelling. She's taken songs from different eras, genres, inspirations, etc. and melded them together to tell a different story, or make a new one altogether, and it's been so cool to see. It was neat when she first did Is It Over Now/Out of the Woods from a performance point of view, but it almost feels like she took that as a challenge and was like "wait, what else can I do with this?" and took songs that not only sounded good together, but ones that could be dissected and put back together to give us something entirely new.

And I think that dovetails with what she did with the TTPD pre-release playlists, too. If you listen or read her introductions to the playlists, it's really illuminating to hear her speak about why she's chosen the songs. Depending on the grouping, it's because the songs have thematic similarities (denial and acceptance) or she felt the emotion while writing them (anger, bargaining, depression). In some instances, it takes songs that were once heralded as being about one thing (e.g. a bunch of the love songs on the denial list) and completely reframes them. And it's not that she's saying, for instance, "this was a lie," it's more like, "I believed this was true at the time, but I've since grown and learned that's not what I want anymore" or whatever situation applies.

It's not that "Lover" is delusional in itself, it's that she thought at the time they would be together forever, unaware that the problems they'd face would be insurmountable. It's not that False God isn't sexy, it's that the communication issues they thought they'd be able to solve with sex ended up breaking them down. And so on for the other songs and other playlists.

We've seen the same thing with the mashups. Many of them make a lot of narrative or sonic sense. But the ones where she's made pairings to tell a new story are really fascinating. For instance, one of the early ones that stands out was Would've Could've Should've/ivy, taking a song about trauma and a song about yearning love (albeit forbidden) and telling a dark story about someone's actions taking root to turn love into a weapon. Or how New Year's Day/Peace spelled out an entire future she wanted to have with a person, ending with "you and me forevermore."

It's just really cool to see this all play out in real time through the tour and through the release of TTPD; the story isn't hers anymore because it's an organic entity. It is constantly evolving and even moments that seemed set in stone in the past take on new light. Honestly think this has been not only some of the most brilliant promotion for the album, but also a goldmine of creative inspiration for her (and the fans). I'm glad that this far into tour, she's still finding new ways to tell new stories.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

okay. i'm the anon with the normal story that ended up getting to an "i don't care i'm not the asshole" because of the other person turning out to be part of an odd otherkin cult but it genuinely doesn't matter. am i the asshole for killing off a player's character after they said they would leave the game if their character died? this happened a few years ago (2019-2020).

i (19NB) was the DM for a d&d game. i had made a friend who we'll call Max (20F) at college who liked d&d, and i had wanted to run a game for my friends of several years, so i wanted to invite her. Max got along pretty well with my friends during D&D for the most part, but there were some slight disagreements, but regardless, Max and my friends of several years did not talk much outside of D&D and scheduling D&D, and I wasn't going to force them to.

Covid starts, so we all sort of switch to discord and continue playing because the easiest place for us to play at (local library) is closed. One session, we have to end early because Max and another player started fighting about a rule, and wouldn't give me (as the DM) the space to come up with a compromise. Another session, we had an issue where she (after being given the floor to describe a kill she made) got way more graphic than any of us were expecting. I quickly wrapped up the session after and had to let Max know that she had went too far in her description. I spoke to everyone outside of Max after these occasions, and they had all admitted they were very uncomfortable with her behavior, but were willing to keep playing with her if she stopped. So, we play a few more sessions. After we started a boss fight and her character had taken a good bit of damage due to some unlucky rolls, she made a comment to me that was along the lines of "if [x] dies i think i'm just gonna step out of the game"

I had my out, and by the end of the boss fight (about 2 sessions[they were short]), I killed her character. Obviously, I made it seem like it was just a really unlucky day by fudging some rolls, but whatever.

But she changes her mind and doesn't leave the game, and rolls up a new character. She had no further major issues with anyone after her first character died.

The game finishes mid 2020, and before it ended, Max revealed she'd be moving by fall, so I would also never have to see her again in real life if I cut her off right as the game ended. Once it did, I acted as if my friends had just come clean to me about being uncomfortable with her behavior and I no longer wanted to speak to her because of it.

That's the AITA of it.

Anyway, early this year, after all of us have basically forgotten about this, I get an anonymous DM on twitter. It's a page run by Max actively detailing a spiritual cult that her and one of her friends and their boyfriend ran. They detailed several gods they worshiped, some of which were just characters I knew she or her friends liked, some were the more traditional witch gods and they spoke of a spiritual prison or something where her D&D character was now trapped in after I had cut her off. I look into it further. I found a tumblr blog of people claiming (with screenshots, photos, and videos) that Max financially, emotionally, and psychologically abused them. Anyway, does this addition change anything?

What are these acronyms?

[starkparade]

starkparade's 2024 Masterpost

2024 marked the year I started to write and post fics in the stevetony fandom! I posted my first one in August, and since then I published 9 works and 43,927 words in total. It's my first time writing for a fandom that has writing events, which is a whole new experience to me, and I've been having a lot of fun with them! I wrote my first four fics for Tiny Reverse Bang, I joined the Reverse Trope Bingo of the POTS 18+ MCU SteveTony Discord Server, and my first exchange event at the end of the year. It's been so inspiring, and adore this fandom so much, I'm sure I'll be here next year as well, hopefully with even more fics or words!

Who Wants to Live Forever (MCU, T, 2.8k)

Major Character Death, Immortality It turns out that not being able to get drunk is far from being the worst and only unfortunate side effect of the serum. As the years go by, Steve notices he has not been aging. Everyone else, including Tony, has been.

Morning Light (MCU, E, 1.8k)

Morning Sex, Mild Somnophilia Tony can’t sleep in complete darkness, and Steve can’t stay asleep once the sun comes up. Most mornings, Steve just gets out of bed quietly so he wouldn't disturb Tony's sleep, but this time he can't bring himself to.

The Fun Way (MCU, E, 1.7k)

Blow Job, Resolved Sexual Tension Tony is convinced Steve keeps harping on about him putting himself in danger on missions because he is frustrated about something else entirely. He has an idea how to relieve that frustration.

Close It (MCU, T, 3k)

Major Character Death, Soulmates AU Steve had to make the hard call to prevent the nuclear blast going off inside the wormhole from reaching the island of Manhattan. As a result, Tony Stark never made it back. Steve did what he had to, and yet his guilt is eating him alive and he can't figure out just why he is so affected.

Romcom Fantasies (MCU, T, 4.8k)

Too Many Beds, Misunderstandings Tony runs into Steve at the airport, and when the hotel Tony booked in Washington DC abruptly cancels his reservation, Steve offers him to stay the night at his place. It sounds like something straight out of Tony's romcom fantasies starring Steve, except Tony is convinced that Steve is in love with someone else.

Making the Right Call (MCU, T, 6.1k)

Civil War Fix-It, Getting Back Together Tony and Steve have not spoken to each other since that fateful day in Siberia. However, when Steve gets gravely injured in a fight and thinks he is going to die, he goes to find Tony in his workshop so he can see him one last time.

with you (in never-ending twilight) (Avengers Twilight, E, 5.1k)

Intimacy Issues, Body Dysmorphia In the dystopian future of Avengers: Twilight, Steve found out that Tony had survived the devastating H-Day that had claimed the lives of many heroes and led to the rise of a totalitarian government twenty years ago. After Steve rescues Tony from captivity, they must face their feelings for each other. The problem is, Tony's body is now reduced to his disembodied head. How could he ever be good enough for Steve like this?

love (if it means you) (MCU, E, 10k)

Demisexual Steve, Abandonment Issues Steve isn't a puritan prude, thank you very much. He may not have had partnered sex, but it's not because of some moral conviction or a conscious choice of abstinence. He simply never felt like he needed a partner. Even with his serum-enhanced libido, the idea of sex never meant much to him before he's fallen in love. With Tony, however, it does. Even if Tony doesn't think he's the right partner for Steve.

Not Like This (MCU, E, 8.2k)

Captivity, Fuck or Die Steve and Tony are captured while the Avengers are hitting a Hydra base in the aftermath of the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. The kidnappers try to coerce Tony into helping them recreate the Super Soldier Serum using Steve's blood, but when he refuses, they think of another way to destroy Steve and Tony, and with them the Avengers. The success of their plan is only threatened by the fact that Steve and Tony have been secretly in love with each other.

[strawb3rrysweetheart]

Hi again, I'm the one who requested the Lucifer Morningstar x oblivious! reader! Loved it! (Which is why I am here to request another!

Once again a Lucifer fic. (He has my heart)

Lucifer x reader who is ethereal looking(also who has unique features) So to describe her, she was an albino when she was human and she just so happened to keep most of her albinism even in her afterlife. She is quite pale with white hair and red eyes. (And for gojo reference, white eyelashes and eyebrows) She has pinkish speckles on her face and body which looks like freckles. (It is lol) Tailbone length hair, her nose and ear have a natural pink hue to them. Also she's short :/. I just wanna see how he would react when he meets her and how his crush develops. Please and thanks❤❤❤

AHHH HI!! WELCOME BACK! OKAY OKAY!

CW: reader is a POC because albinism is most common in africian areas :3, brings up readers human life at first to explain why she acts the way she does, reader used to be a christian. reader loves horror movies

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When I was born, I had albinism. It caused issues with my family. My dad was convinced my mom had cheated on him, but to his suprise, the paternity test proves, that I was in fact, his daughter. Even if we didn't look alike. My pale skin in contrast to his darker skin. Growing up I got called a lot of names. I mean all because of my condition. Other kids on the playground would call me freak, old hag, freak of nature, and well anything they could think of. The heavily christian kids thought I was a spawn of satan because I had red eyes. It was so strange because I went to church! Just like them! And I envied the people without my condition so hard. I prayed everyday I'd wake up normal. I just couldn't handle this existence I had been cursed to. They all see me like a freak. For what? Being born? The genes in my blood? Why, its not my fault I existed, yet because I exist, now I was a target of constant bullying. Once the bullying went way to far.. They decided I was too much of a freak to just leave alone. They started hitting me. I'd come home with bruises everyday. My parents decided to home school me, to save from the bullying. But I never forgot.

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Now that I'm dead, Life is different. To my joy, people in hell all looked off, different. I mean you could tell I had, had albinism in my past life, but I fit in more. It wasn't used against me. Yet one thing still bugged

me. Why was I even here? I never sinned, well besides envy. But that shouldn't count! God gave me a condition that ruined my life. And yet somehow he thinks its fair to punish me for his own cruel action. It doesn't feel right. Fuck god. If he

n's gonna curse me to an existence like this, then I'll find a wa\y out. So.. I started searching, for anyone.. anything, that could get me into heaven. I stumble on an ad for this hotel.. It had said it was a chance for redeemtion! And it was free, which was good because I hadn't had a job here in hell.. Eventually I make it there, and knock on the door. A pale looking blonde lady opens the door. "Hi!! I'm Charlie!!! Are you here to live in the hotel??" She basically squeals, she seems very excited. "Uh.. yeah" You say awkwardly. She lets you in, and you meet all the hotel residents. There's a tall-ish dude with multiple limbs.. I think his name was angel? A snake, A deer, A cat, this short girl, vaggie? I think? Charlie, and a shorter dude named lucifer. Whatever.. 'friends' aren't my concern.. My concern is getting to heaven to prove my point to god. You follow Charlie to your new room, and put your stuff down. As soon as you put your stuff down, you politely ask Charlie for some space. She agrees, exiting the room. God I hope that this whole.. ordeal isn't as interactive as its been so far. You start unpacking and then you walk out of the hotel room, waving to lucifer. Look if I was going to make god understand my problem, might as well befriend his worst enemy, right? Lucifer waves back, and to my dismay, he walks over. "Hiya!! So you're like new here.. Right?" He asks, he seems nervous. Why is he nervous? He's litterally satan. "Uh, yeah" You reply, matching his nervous energy unintentionally. "So.. why do you wanna get redeemed?" Lucifer asks, not holding your gaze for very long. He seems figety. "Uh.. just think I was an okay person, a bit envious, but fine" You shrug, not wanting to give away your entire life story to the literal devil, who could betray you at any point. "Oh! Well yeah, thats not.. bad, thats good! I-I mean not good that you're envious- but its not the worst? Its okay.." Lucifer feels the need to backtrack on everything. Why is he so nervous? Whatever..

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It had been a few months now. Everyone is nice enough. Its more interactive then I would've perfered, but whatever, they're nice and we're kind of close now. Lucifer has been acting even more strangely to me. He fidgets, backtracks, and stutters like usual. But he also blushes, gets me gifts, and well just gives me the most attention..

"Uh.. (Name)??" Lucifers voice breaks me out of my thoughts. "Oh! Sorry, Uh, whats up luci?" I ask. Me and lucifer are the closest. Hes the one I truly consider a friend. His cheeks tinge red at something, persumably the nickname. "Just asking you if you wanna have a movie night at my place.. but not like in a weird way! Just a friend way.. unless you hate movies.. or me.. uh it can be your place. or mine" He backtracks as usual. I giggle. "I'd love to. Horror movies pleaseee" I say, horror movies are my favorite. Lucifer nods a bit too quickly, and pulls on his collar. "Of course! You can cuddle on me if you get scared!! Unless thats weird.. Was that weird" He laughs. God he's so awkward.. I (love) like him. "Nah, you're chill luci. Nothing you do is weird" I smile. Hoping to give him comfort. He smiles, his blush redder then normal. Before he grabs my hands. I out of habit attempt to jerk away, but stop myself. "I-Its a date!! Date... uh.. date but not like in the romantic way... hah. I'm holding your hands too long aren't I?" He asks, his palms are sweaty but I don't mind. Mine are too. Symptoms of anxiety I guess. "A date, I'll get popcorn. And no, you're fine" I snort at him, his awkward smile, the glances away from me, the way his cheeks redden at me not pulling away. "No! Uh.. no, I can get popcorn, I'm the king after all, they like, kinda have to give me good popcorn.." He says, trying to seem confident, yet failing. He can be prideful around everyone.. I don't know why he's extra awkward with me...

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I put on my favorite horror movie. I snort at lucifer in his duck onesie. Sitting on his couch. Many pillows and blankets around me, with the bowl of popcorn on my lap. "What?? You don't like my onesie?" Lucifer asks, mock offended. He sits down next to me and eats some popcorn. "Oh you look gorgeous.." I giggle.

As the movie plays, Lucifer jumps at every jumpscare. Its incredibly funny to watch the big bad king get scared of a few jumpscares.. He ended up burying his head into my arm. "You scared luci?" I tease him. "No!.. no.. yes.. sorry I lied" He mumbles, not enjoying being seen as the weak one. He shoves popcorn into his mouth to avoid further conversation. "Lucifer, I'm not gonna make fun of you.. Do you wanna watch a different movie?" I ask. Lucifers eyes light up. He nods and takes the remote. Changing it to a romance movie. I smile as the king himself uncurls himself from my arm, watching the movie with intrest. I personally think the movie is incredibly boring, but he's having fun, and thats enough for me. I watch the movie with him, holding his hand and squeezing it. Lucifer blushes, eyes widening. Hes such a dork.. I eat popcorn as lucifer rambles about how sweet the love story is. "If only we fell in love like that.. UH!! I MEAN.. uh HAH! What a good joke right!!" He laughs, forcibly. My eyes widen, blush teases at my cheeks. "Uhm.. lucifer? Do you wanna tell me anything?" I ask. Still squeezing his hand. "Uhm.! Do I have to?" He squeaks out. I nod. "Well I'd say so" I chuckle. He sighs playfully. "Finee... Uhm. I have a massive crush on you and I love you and I really wanna hold you and maybe uhm... kiss.. you!" He says quickly. I snort, giggling. "I like you too luci" I say softly. My fingers caress his hand. He smiles like a school girl. "REALLY?? Uh-.. I mean, of course you do, I'm like, the hottest" He grins, trying to seem cocky. "Oh yeah, the hottest" I smile, and kiss his forehead. He blushes deeply and nods. Letting out unintelligable noises. Maybe I finally have found love. Maybe its all worth it. Maybe I do desserve love.

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[cator99]

The conversation went like this: general pleasantries followed by her being like I'm so relieved you reached out to me because I really just want to have a more positive relationship with all of you guys and I know how annoying it is when a landlord isn't able to deal with things in a timely manner I get it I'm a renter too... i get the sense that, just as i had over-prepared for the conversation, she had over-prepared to apologize for the fact that the basement bathroom has a recurring leak issues that get patched up and then continue to cause issues meanwhile she's literally going through a divorce and has to keep postponing because she wants to be there when the repair dudes come to make sure they're doing their job properly but she has a big trial coming up and had to put it off by another week, it's really no big deal tbh... I assured her that she's been doing a fantastic job at staying on top of things and communicating with us oh my fucking god okay new girl is banging that fugly creepy white boy she keeps bringing over so god damn loud l cant wait for her to gtfo anyways yeah so we basically just spent 10 minutes getting on the same page like we good we good she just wants to make sure that everyone is chill in the house and we had a really good talk about what we all want from this but TLDR once we got down to business it went like this:

Me: Pins Girl is the problem

Her: omg slay I fucking hate her please go on

Me: yaaaas she fucking sucks here's some tea sis....

Her: ok work so I'm not crazy for being like maddd uncomfortable around her like one time this thing happened...

Me: omg lol no seriously she's vile here's another wild example related to your anecdote....

Her: no way bestie she did that to me too. Just 0 to 100 in an instant I didnt even know what to do just being accused of every -ism under the sun

Me: yeah no that's just kind of how things go with her you cant get so much as an innocent Hello in without her immediately labeling it a hostile attack

Her: yas okay good riddance so what's the deal with this new girl she's her friend should I be concerned

Me: oh girl.......... so, no not really she's a sweetheart and also– thank god– fully employed. Absolutelyyy messy as hell tho so that's one of my biggest concerns. I think it would be best if you didn't add her to the lease no shade but she's really not a great fit since we're all older and chill and clean af

Her: ...and the rest of the concerns? Oh my god do you think [PG] will try to move back in if we decline her friend???

Me: no wayy she wants OUT out she's already got a new place lined up and her shit in boxes at the door waiting to be hauled off forever

Her: omg like. Far? Like is she moving far? Please tell me she's moving sooo far

Me: yes lmao dont even worry I dont know the exacts but it's nowhere even near here

Her: okay slayyyyy thank you for being dope as hell it's such a relief that this crazy person is gone so we can all just chilllll

Me: okay so about that

Her: ohhh no

Me: yes so you already know what we're dealing with. You know how she deemed me unworthy of being on speaking terms with her? I didn't mind that at all and really just kept tf to myself. Then suddenly she moves in this friend of hers and I just assumed this was done with some sort of approval from you, because that would be the normal thing to do.

Her: okay that's kind of wack, do you guys not like get a vote on these sorts of things

Me: I stayed out of it plus like I'm really not gonna start questioning her and risk putting myself in the line of fire and everyone is pretty much in that position as well

Her: omg no fr...

Me: so like I just kept to myself and my work without thinking about it... then I find out she was living here totally off the record when PG sent that email requesting that she be added to the lease. That's when the conversation opened up. And listen this new girl is super young super naive didnt realize that she was even doing anything wrong and then suddenly everyone's totally freaking out and realizing that this goes against the lease agreement and that if you find out, our ability to live here is jeopardized. She got us into hot water and then just... left us to deal with the consequences.

Her: she's still legally bound by the lease until it changes so if anything goes wrong she wont be escaping accountability no matter how many -isms she throws at me. I want this to work for all of us and we got this trust thang between us and I wouldn't evict you guys omg evictions are seriously sooo annoying and *most* of you have been great tenants especially (names everyone except for the unemployed ftm) they're all super chill and mature and we've had great conversations so yeah I'm just glad she's gone

Me: incredible yaas I love honesty. She has been actively impeding our ability to have a productive working relationship with you and each other it's so crazy

Her: literallyyyy😁🥂🔥yipeee

Me: yippee yaaaaay yay 😇☝️💯

Her: okay so my game plan is to interview the new girl irl like no zoom bs I really wanna read her vibes and decide if this is worth it... I'll give her a chance but if that doesn't work out... I mean... tee hee..... the yearly house inspection is coming up...

Me: ok that's so dope. She's gonna be moving upstairs once PG vacates so its gonna be pretty hard to hide the fact someone's right there even just doing a quick walk-through

Her: yeah so if things don't go well and I decide against putting her on the lease and they still don't admit to having her there then at least I can talk to them about it when the inspection happens and be chill about it and pretend like I totally had no idea. We can work something out as long as everything is good you know what I mean... okay if you need anything at all dont even hesitate to give me a call

Me: absolutely and if I have any updates I'll let you know ASAP, lmk if you need anything srsly I dont want to cause you any more stress like from what i understand you've had a stressful enough year

Her: yes good lord i have, thank you for being considerate..... seriously it's been hellish and this conversation has been such a relief

etc etc obviously the conversation was longer and more thorough but you get the gist. She's awesome. We hung up and I skipped my way to the grocery store