#this will not stop me from being the biggest ruin enjoyer

[o-i-w-u]

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT RUIN NO FUCKKKEHGRNSOSHHSHD BDJNEMSDHRN WHY AHHHHHHHHH

KRILLMYSELF MY BRITISH BLORBO MY GUY MY LIL BABI MY SILLY FUCKING HELL NOOOO

bangs my head against a wall the innocent babi is not so innocent and i'll cry about it

(i've been in denial idc how obvious it was LMFAO)

[planetception]

Pain and Heartbreak - The True Meaning of Love - Part 2

Summary: You made the decision to finally get back into the dating world after swearing it off, and you manage to get yourself involved with the star guard of the Indiania Fever, Caitlin Clark.

Cw: Begins with angst and ends in fluff, Cailtin being the biggest sweetheart, still asshole Paige

pt 1

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It’s been about three months and moving on from Paige was one of the most difficult things you’ve ever attempted. It felt as if you saw her everywhere—sometimes with a new girl or surrounded by her teammates, who would give you a sad smile as you walked past. You noticed how quickly Paige moved on from you, as if you had never existed in her life. Surprisingly, you grew to accept it. You learned not to care when you saw Paige passionately kissing another girl at a bar, her eyes locked onto yours with a sly smirk on her face.

Even though you were done with Paige, you still supported the basketball team and you still went to their games. Even if Paige gave you a dirty glare whenever you both made eye contact, you still didn't care. Your ex girlfriend wasn’t about to ruin your enjoyment of basketball, and you weren't going to entertain her little game, she was just a bitter ex who wanted to ruin everything you liked. You just hoped that you weren't fucking anything up between the girls just because you still supported Paige’s teammates and still hung out with them and such.

And that brings us to today. You were somehow in Cleveland (Courtesy of Aaliyah buying you a ticket) to watch the Final Four game between Iowa and Uconn and that's where you truly got to know the star guard from Iowa. After the heartbreaking loss, you were on your way to stand outside the Uconn locker room to comfort your friends after their loss.However, you were stopped in the hallway by none other than Caitlin Clark. She was still in her uniform, though her jersey was missing, revealing her sweat-covered, muscular figure. Despite trying not to stare, you couldn't help but take in the sight. You stood there, feeling like an idiot, worried she might scold you for being in a restricted area. Instead, she smiled as she walked over to where you were standing.

“Hey, you aren’t Paige’s girl are you?” She asked kindly.

“Um no, at least not anymore I guess.” You replied as she gave you a sad smile.

You two talked for a while about various little things, and you explained the situation with Paige, detailing how the humiliating video had made it impossible for you to go anywhere without being questioned about it. One thing you noticed about Caitlin was her exceptional ability to listen. She never once interrupted you, and you deeply appreciated this about her. By the end of your conversation, you had exchanged numbers, just for chatting. Before you knew it, Caitlin had to return to the Iowa locker room to celebrate their Final Four victory.

“Shit, I gotta get back to the locker room before Bluder kills me.” She sighed as she spoke, she really wanted to stay and talk to you but duty calls.

You giggled as she began to run away, but that was before she turned around and ran back to you before giving you a light hug, then she turned back around and began to run before she called out to you. “I’ll see you later Y/N!” She yelled as she ran, her voice was filled with warmth. You were a blushing mess from the hug, one thing you noticed was how nice her hugs felt although she was a sweating mess. But deep down, you knew better. After what happened with Paige, you had sworn off dating, unable to trust anyone with your heart again.

Although Caitlin seemed like a genuinely nice girl, the fear of being hurt once more loomed large. You couldn't bear the thought of enduring another heartbreak. You were brought out of your depressive state of mind by the Uconn locker room door opening, and out came Paige. She looked at you in disgust before scoffing, walking right past you and you could’ve sworn she mumbled something disrespectful under her breath as she walked.You wanted to say something but that was before Nika, Aaliyah, Kk and Azzi came out together as they all gave you a sad smile and you knew that they needed the comfort, sp you hugged all 4 of them telling them that they all played well and that you were proud of the whole team.

Over the next week and a half, you talked to Caitlin almost everyday. You heard a lot of wild stories from her childhood, like the one time she almost killed Colin or the time that she almost got attacked by the stray cat on her street. You grew to enjoy these little phone calls with her and you could’ve sworn that you started to grow feelings for her, but you didn’t want to give in, because you didn’t want your heart to be shattered. However you started to realize that not every relationship was going to be like your last two, you began to accept feelings and you could tell that she was developing a crush as well, you even started to flirt with her and so did she.

Caitlin eventually asked you to be her plus one at the Wnba draft and you just couldn’t help but accept her offer, you thought this would be a great start for a relationship to be. Caitlin managed to buy you a ticket to come out to New York with her as well as some of her teammates that you will probably be meeting at the draft. It wasn’t until you were in New York and that's when Caitlin confessed to you in the most romantic way possible.

While Caitlin came to pick you up from the airport, Kate, Gabbie and Jada helped transform the hotel room into a romantic haven. They put a candle on each nightstand, scattered some rose petals around and on top of the bed, they even spritzed some of Caitlin’s favorite perfume around the room, and Jada dug around in Caitlin’s bag to pull out the box that had a CC22 necklace inside that Caitlin was going to gift to you after she confessed. After they made sure that the room was ready they left and headed back to their room, Gabbie texted Caitlin letting her know that the room was ready and Caitlin quickly texted back a thumbs up.

As you two walked hand in hand to Caitlin’s room, you could sense her nervousness through her increasingly sweaty palm. She flashed you a big smile before leading you into the elevator, and you blushed at her endearing nervousness as you ascended to her floor. When you reached it, Caitlin stepped out first, then turned to take your hand again, guiding you towards her room. Just before unlocking the door, she pulled you into a strong embrace from behind, pressing a tender kiss to the back of your head.

“Close your eyes for me Y/N/N please?” She softly whispered into your ear.

You obliged as Caitlin chuckled before she unlocked the door, she guided you into the room and once again whispered into your ear to open up your eyes. When you did, tears flowed down your face in happiness.

“Oh my god Cait, this is, it’s, fuck its beautiful.” You spoke as you turned around and gave her a tight hug, burying your face into her neck before she once again kissed you on the head.

Caitlin guided you to the bed before laying you down, you two smiled deeply at each other as she hovered over you.

“Y/N, I know that your past relationships didn’t end well, but I saw that you were special when I first met you. I love how you talk to me, I love your clinginess, fuck there’s so many words I wanna say. What I’m trying to say Y/N is that I want you to be mine, I want to proudly show you off to people, make people fucking jealous of the relationship that we have. I’ll treat you like the princess you are, buy you everything you want. Be my girlfriend Y/N?” She confessed as she leaned down to you, lips brushing against each other.

“Of course I’ll be your girlfriend Cait. Can you kiss me please?” You spoke in desperation as her hazel eyes stared into yours.

Caitlin closed the distance between you, kissing you deeply, making the moment feel like a scene from a movie. Her lips were incredibly soft, with a hint of strawberry chapstick that you could taste. The kiss gave you butterflies, and as she caressed your cheek and gently broke the kiss, she gazed into your eyes. Both of you were blushing, and she tenderly cradled your face in her hands, kissing your forehead and wiping away the tears that streamed down your face. She then gave you a gentle peck on the lips before reaching for the box Jada had placed on the nightstand. Opening it, she carefully took out the necklace, ready to adorn you with her heartfelt gift.

“Sit up baby, wanna put this on you.” She said as she showed you the necklace that had her initials and number on it. You smiled as you turned around and lifted your head up as she put the necklace on you, once it was latched she kissed you again, muttering a “You’re mine now princess” in between kisses. She hugged you tightly as you two fell asleep in each other's arms. You finally felt at home with Caitlin and you could finally heal your heart with her.

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It was finally draft night and it would be your and Caitlin’s first public appearance as a couple. While Caitlin was dressed in all white, you went with an all black fit. You two walked down the red carpet with each other, hand in hand as photographers and reporters were all yelling for attention. You two posed for some photos and Caitlin let you be as clingy as you wanted to her and you were grateful for the way she has been treating you. After finishing up some more photos and interviews, you two made your way into the building and sat down at the table with Caitlin’s family. You guys talked until the actual draft started, Caitlin let you lean your head on her shoulder as she gently rubbed your back.

When Caitlin got drafted, she hugged you and kissed you first before she hugged the rest of her family. You whispered “I love you.” to her as she walked up the stage, shaking the commissioner's hand as she held up an Indiana Fever jersey. You watched her in awe as she started to talk to reporters again and you turned around to meet eyes with Jada, Kate and Gabbie as they all smiled at you. You also smiled at Nika and Aaliyah as they looked so happy of you finally in a healthy relationship. You also felt Paige watching you as she sat next to Azzi, the same look of disgust on her face, but it didn’t feel genuine, however you couldn't care. Azzi smiled at you as you smiled back at her.

As the final chapter of you and Paige’s relationship closed, you found comfort in Caitlin who showed you that being clingy was okay, and showed you what a real relationship looks like and you could’ve never been so happy.

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And there we go, pt two of the Paige fic. Yes I made Caitlin endgame. I hope you guys enjoy. Thank you for all the support and as always, requests are open.

[sukioyakio]

KÖÍNG BLURB/drabble (College au)

warning: SMUTT

Koíng being a loser and being tried of having a skinny body,and so he spend his time in the gym in the winter break.

Köíng being more built then before but is still is a loser.When the break was over he didn’t even really notice about the big changes In his body.

He walked into the hallways without caring about the shock faces or whisper in the hallways.He just went to his locker and got his books and went to the classroom.Where he sit in the same spot as he always does—all he cares is his education and of course his video games.

Everyone is talking about him and how much his changed,most of them were saying how he had a glow up.

And then you were one of the ones that Köíng despised;You were the most bratty person if not THE most bratty in the whole college ever.You were always bully him for enjoyment,for your own self stress relief,for fun.He hated how you looked down on him,how you flexed on your wealth on him.You had such an disrespectful mouth that would make him want to shut that mouth with something up.Your attitude was the same with that mouth. All you really needed was a lesson to be…taught.He would be lying if he said you weren’t gorgeous.

You with a big ego didn’t care whether Köíng had a glow up or how much his body changed.To you he will always be the little skinny nobody;the one you love to bully.And that would be your biggest mistake.

You were on the dirty floor of one the unused classroom,the same room you always bully him.And now your on all floors with your ass revealed to Köíng–your painties were somewhere in the room.Köíng was behind you,and your hands tied behind your back.Your is full of tears and ruined by Köíng hands spanking your ass with such intense pressure.

You were an absolute whimpering mess underneath Köíng.Begging him to stop abusing your poor ass.

Predator eyes boring into yours.Another slap towards your ass,As he watches it jiggle due to his impact.Looking at your pretty little pussy,getting wet from his spanking.

You wouldn’t believe how your body love this,how much your body betrayed you in this moment.

“Such a slut-all it took for you to stop being such a brat is some spanking”Köíng says in raspy low voice,enough for you to make you whimper in pain.An chuckle escapes his throat as he continues doing his lesson on you.

“Please-pls pls pls-please I’m sorry..s-Sorry”Your words filled with pleading,making him laugh at your words.Your words mean nothing towards him.

while you pant heavily like a dumb dog in heat, your ass painful from being spanked repetitively. “Such a very hoe-getting very wet from me spanking you.Your practically making an mess out of yourself slut” he says with another slap on your ass,your ass already having an redness from the spanking.

it was useless for you to get out of his trap,you felt something hard and long.You tense up.

“Wait!!no please Köíng-I can’t be fucked by y-you, ”You said with tears rapidly rolling down your faces,as you looked at him with an expression of pleading eyes and somewhat of disgust.Seeing his hard dick laying on top of your ass,and how big it is.

Ignoring your comments.

“Should’ve have been less of an brat towards me,but I’ll make you my perfect little brat for now”he says in an low husky voice as he grab his meatly cock and angle it towards your entrance,and slowly move it in your pussy.You never felt so sketched out and filled before.

Gasping for air,whimpering and panting as you grip the leather material that holds your hands.

Köíng smirks at your movements.It was just his tip inside your wet tight clit,He use one of his huge hands to hold your tied hands and thurst his whole veiny cock inside.And his other hand gripping tightly on your hip.

Thursting in an out of you in a brutal pace.Holding the your hands with a bruise grip.Your moans were mix with his Goans. The way your pussy clenches on his dick like a tight vine. “It like. .your…pussy-grab my dick s’o it can’t leave,such an greedy pussy”Köíng says in your ear his hot breath hit your ears,his breathing could be heard from you.

The sound of skin slapping could be heard,koing hard balls slapping against your sensitive clit.

“Ngh!!- ffuck kKöíng —afhhh ahh”You moaning,your back arches from his brutal pace.You were feeling so much pleasure from his meaty cock,at the same time pain.Feeling very vein of his cock–The way his stupid cock hits your cervix.You tears rolling down more—your pussy wrapping his cock so perfectly.

“M’hat happened to the brat that w‘as so cocky”He says breathlessly chuckling in a deep huzy voice.His pace brutal goes even faster then before if that a possible.

already cockdrunk,getting stupid off of his big dick. you're barely unable to mutter a coherent sentence out. “Köíng-Köíng kk-Köíng!! .. Köíng”You say like a prayer.As you cum around his dick,you show white when you cum,you thought he would slow down but no.

Hips slamming harder and harder into you, the tip of his cock hitting your spongy cervix.

THAT ALL I HAVE AND IT MY FIRST TIME WRITTING SMUTT SOO YEA and I don’t know how to continue this 😭😭

BUT THANKS TO MY pookie @scoobysnakz

✌️

SORRY FOR NOT POSTING

[skzhua]

Caroling to my Heart

MASTERLIST

Pairing: Lee Minho x Female!Reader

Genre: Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Christmas love story, angst, fluff.

Word Count: 14,653

Warnings: Swearing, talks of regrets, mentions of alcohol, heartbreaks.

Summary: Christmas is meant to be spent with your loved ones. Minho stopped loving a long time ago.

A/N: Credits to my boyfriend for the general idea of the plot (story is all me, though)

November nearing its end, Chrismas was approaching quickly. Children playing in the snow, shops filled with decorations to sell for the holidays, sales everywhere for presents shopping, music playing everywhere you go; truly the most wonderful time of the year.

At least, that's what most people think.

Chan has always loved Christmas. He always took it as an opportunity to gather up with his college friends with whom life was always enjoyable. Jeongin had recently gotten a promotion at work which he took very seriously, Hyunjin finally opened his dog rescue center a few years back, Felix was happily getting married in the following spring, Seungmin had finally started to get recognition for his stand up comedy shows, Changbin had entered a production company with Chan, and Jisung was finally seeing someone after not daring to date for years.

And then, there is Minho.

Him and Chan used to be the closest friends ever, and Minho was always the life of the party. He messed around in college, got good grades, made his way up to become a successful lawyer. Overall, things had turned out pretty well for him.

What Minho considered as his biggest accomplishment was his lover. The apple of his eyes, the prettiest woman he had ever laid eyes upon, the sunshine of his life. Y/N was in the same major as him, one of the top students. It started out as a very typical college love story. He was annoying her, she found him funny, they were paired for a project, they got closer, and they got together in a matter of weeks. From that point, life was perfect. They moved out together after college, adopted a ton of cats, went on so many trips outside of the country... they even got engaged.

That was until Minho messed it all up, losing everything he loved the most in one go.

Ding dong.

Jumping at the sound, Minho takes a second to recover and puts the movie he was watching on pause. He checks the clock; it is 7 o'clock in the evening. He wasn't expecting anybody to visit him. Nonetheless, he goes over his front door and looks into the peephole. He isn't surprised to see Chan waiting patiently with a plastic bag in hands. He rolls his eyes in annoyance before letting his friend in, greeting him boringly.

"Hey, Chan," he says before yawning loudly.

The older man looks him up and down, analyzing every bit of his friend's appearance. "Wow, you look like shit."

Minho doesn't answer, giving Chan the death stare instead. "What do you want?"

"Well," he starts while allowing himself to get comfortable on the couch. "Jisung is presenting his new girlfriend to us and because you didn't answer in the group chat, I thought I would check on you."

"Tonight? No, I have to get up early tomorrow."

Chan's shoulders drop as Minho, once again, declines an invitation. "You haven't come to see us in months."

Minho shrugs, visibly not seeing a problem. "I'm just very busy. I have cases coming in all the time and I can't trust my associate to work on them."

"You're overworking yourself, a break would do you some good. Besides, we miss you."

It's not that he doesn't want to see his friends, of course he does. He just knows very well he'll only end up ruining the night by not being the funny guy he used to be.

"I don't know."

Chan takes a nicely ironed shirt out of his plastic bag and puts it on the coffee table in front of him, and stands up to walk to the door. "You're welcomed to drop by if you change your mind. It's at the restaurant we used to go in college."

"Why the shirt?" Minho's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Consider it as an early Christmas gift from me."

After throwing a small smile his way, Chan opens the door and leaves. Minho finds himself alone again, perplexed. He approaches the shirt and scrutinizes it. It's a designer piece which does not surprise him, Chan has always been the kind to go an extra mile for his loved ones. Looking at the clock again, it indicates 7:20 P.M. Does he still have time to go? It would mean he has to shower, get dressed, drive all the way to the restaurant... Right, that specific restaurant.

He will visit his friends, just not tonight.

2 years ago.

Christmas was the most important holiday to Y/N. It brought so much nostalgia to her and she absolutely adored every aspect of it. Baking cookies and go ice skating were part of the many activities she loved doing in December.

This was also the first year she had to spend it away from her family. She didn't regret choosing to study so far away from home but it hurt nonetheless. It would be difficult and Minho knew that.

Y/N had to work an extra shift that night if she wanted the day of Christmas Eve off. It was ridiculous, she thought. As if the restaurant really needed her to stay so late. Coming home, Y/N was so glad to finally be able to relax as she climbed up the stairs.

Meanwhile, Minho was waiting excitedly at the front door of their shared apartment. He made sure the gingerbread cookies were all ready to be assembled to construct a house, checked if the Christmas lights were working fine, and put a playlist of Y/N's favourite holiday songs on his speaker.

"Soonie!" he yelled frantically at his cat as he saw him get on the counter. "You don't want to ruin your mama's night, do you?"

He picked him up and brought it close to his body, petting his head lovingly. Needless to say, this couldn't be a cuter sight to have when Y/N walked in.

"Hey, my two favourite boys," she chuckled at them before taking in how well-decorated the home was. "Min, did you set up all this?"

Her boyfriend put his pet down before bringing her into his arms. "I did. You've been feeling off recently, I thought it'd be a good idea to cheer you up. And since Christmas is next week, why not decorate cookies for the occasion?"

"You made gingerbread cookies?!"

Y/N's eyes lit up from seeing the baked goods and she rushed to go sit at the counter. Minho smiled at himself, proud he had managed to lit up her inner light just a little.

"Thank Felix for these."

"Well, thank you Felix."

Present.

Minho remembers every night she came home from that workplace. He always tried to make her feel better each time, Y/N despised working so late but she somehow always stayed positive.

How much he misses her.

Minho gasps for air, sweat all over his body. He had another nightmare, nothing unusual. What is odd is the phone ringing nonstop at this hour of the day; 4 o'clock. Who in their right mind would call someone so early?

"What?"

The person on the other side of line doesn't respond, Minho can only hear them breathe unsteadily.

"Hello?"

"Minho," Jisung finally speaks. "Sorry to bother you this early."

"It's 4:00 A.M."

"I know, I know. Just, I'm getting worried about you and I can't call you tomorrow –well, today–  or you'll say you're busy with work as always. You're not okay and I think you could use a friend."

Although not wrong, his statement fueled Minho with annoyance and frustration. He doesn't need help, or anyone for that matter.

"Minho?" Jisung speaks up again as he doesn't get a response.

"Good night, Jisung," he simply says with the intention of hanging up.

"Wait!" he hurries to stop him. "If you don't want to talk for your own sake, at least do it for mine. Not just mine, the other guys' too."

Sure, Minho hates talking about his feelings. Still, he's not a monster and cares a lot about his friends nonetheless. Feeling a bit obligated, he agrees.

"So, uhm, who's your new girlfriend?" he asks, getting uncomfortable already.

"She's a friend of Jeongin. Remember that girl he worked with in college? Well, that's her. She's so nice, I wonder why Jeongin hadn't introduced me to her sooner. She kind of reminds me of..." he trails off but stops himself before stepping out of line.

"I'm happy for you two. I'm sorry I couldn't come."

Jisung lets out a huff. "Thank you but I know you could have, you just didn't want to."

"That's not-"

"Don't lie, Minho," he cuts him off. "You didn't come because of her, am I right? Because of Y/N again?"

Minho can feel his heart tighten while his friends keeps going at it, insisting on speaking about her. He doesn't want to, is it so hard to understand?

"Let's not talk about her."

"That's the problem, Minho. You never want to open up about it."

"She left. What is there more to say?"

"How you're coping with all, how we can help-"

"The only thing you can do to help is leave me alone. I'm doing just fine. Talking was a bad idea, I should go back to bed."

"Min..." Jisung says in a desperate voice.

"Good night."

As he hangs up, he can sense it might have gone too far. Regardless, he discards his phone on his nightstand and buries his body in his bedsheets. He hears meowing coming from the entrance of his room. A second later, his cat Dori jumps on the mattress to come and lay next to him. Minho reluctantly cuddles the cat back, his last one he got with Y/N. Dori is technically her baby but she left so suddenly that Minho had no other choice but to keep him.

"Where are your brothers?" he whispers affectionately to the ball of fur who replies with some more purring. "Are Soonie and Doongie sleeping too?"

Chan is probably the only one able to get Minho out of his house, especially during Christmas time. Maybe it is guilt or shame that he feels, but Minho hasn't been so great ever since he had his early chitchat with Jisung. Shopping for presents wasn't what he had in mind when he thought of making up for it but Chan insisted it would be a good idea.

"Look," he says while pointing at the pig plush on the top of the pile. "It looks like Changbin."

Minho shrugs. "I guess it does."

"What about this?"

He looks boringly at the shirt Chan is showing. Yeah, maybe he should have done something else to make the most of his day off. A good meal at home seems so much more appealing to him.

"Come on," Chan encourages him. "Enjoy a bit."

"I am enjoying, look," Minho tries to convince him with a forced smile.

"Hmm, maybe it's time to go to the food court and take a break."

Dragging his friend behind, Chan moves from restaurant to restaurant in search of a meal for his lunch. After a while of debating internally, he settles for a hamburger. As for Minho, rice with pork seems to be tasty enough. They sit at a table and start to eat in silence. Minho looks around the place, watching people chat and laugh. He sees one couple in particular and they remind him too much of Y/N. Adverting his gaze from this spot, he focuses back on his food before speaking.

"I was thinking of buying a new hoodie for Jisung."

Chan is surprised his friend is even conversing with him but smiles. "A hoodie? Doesn't he have plenty of them already?"

"He does but he sent me a picture of one specifically the other day."

"Then you should buy it for him. Have you heard from him, by the way?"

Minho gulps. "No."

Although suspicious, Chan doesn't push it. They quickly finish their lunch and decide to head towards a clothing store to find Jisung's present. At a certain point, they unconsciously part ways as they look at different pieces of clothing. Minho would look for Chan but he has the hoodie to find. Chan is fine on his own anyway, he tells himself. He goes to the right section and begins to browse through each item. He frowns as he inspects them, not convinced these would be appropriate for his friend.

"Minho?"

He freezes in place. Has he gone crazy or has he just heard Y/N's voice?

"Minho," she says again.

Finally turning around, he is somewhat relieved that it isn't his former girlfriend, but her sister. "Deena," he greets her politely.

"It's been a while, wow. How have you been?" she asks cheerfully, too much in his opinion.

"Nothing much."

She seems taken aback by the short length of his answer. Minho used to be the nicest man she knows. Of course, she doesn't know the full story about what happened. Nonetheless, she still considers Minho as family. So seeing him so lifeless in front of her is quite a shocker.

"I'm in a bit of a rush but we should go grab coffee soon and catch up," she suggests but from the look on Minho's face, she knows she shouldn't have.

"I'm pretty busy."

"Alright," she answers, uneasy. "I'll see you around then."

"Yeah."

Without adding anything, he resumes to looking through the hoodies. Deena eventually leaves and Minho feels like he can breathe again.

He has nothing against his former "sister-in-law" but seeing her so unexpectedly is not something he has prepared himself for. He will go grab a coffee with her when he feels ready to.

Chan comes back a few minutes after with a couple of black shirts and an oversized pair of jeans he picked for Jeongin. As they wait to pay for their things, Minho can feel that Chan has something to say. It wasn't an abnormal occurrence but this time feels like it's eating him inside.

"What is it?"

Chan hesitates for a second. "It was Deena, right?"

He hums. "Yes."

"I'm running out of ways to tell you appropriately but you need to get your shit together. The girl did nothing to you and she seemed to be on the verge of crying when she left the store."

Minho rolls his eyes, like always. "What do you want me to do? Run after her and apologize? I didn't do anything."

"Exactly. Dude, everyone around you is getting sick of your way of dealing with what happened. Sure, your feelings are valid. This doesn't mean you have to inflict your pain onto us. We only want to help," Chan responds, not realizing his tone is increasing more and more.

"Always wanting to play the good savior, uh?" Minho scoffs. "In front of strangers too? Look, I don't need you to tell me how to be. You're not my dad or anything."

"I took you under my wing in college, of course I'm still looking out for you."

"That was back then. I don't need your pity anymore."

Chan's jaw clenches as the two men stare right into the eye. The cashier awkwardly calls for them to proceed to payment which breaks their staring contest. They hurry to pay before storming out of the mall, both of them fuming with anger. The moment they get into Chan's car, the latter explodes.

"This has lasted long enough. How long has it been now? A year?"

"Eleven months," Minho corrects.

"Whatever, same difference. My point is that it might be time for you to move on or at least stop being such a pain in the ass."

Minho's eyebrows raise as he lets out a chuckle. "I didn't know such strong words could come out of your mouth."

"Minho," Chan says in a warning tone.

"So what if I'm not as easygoing as before? You don't understand how it feels anyway."

"Help me understand, then!"

"You just wouldn't!"

He surprised himself by yelling so harshly. The hint of regret creeps up but he tries to hide it by looking away. They both know this is the end of this conversation, neither want to continue anyway. Chan starts the car and the ride home can't be any worse. The tension is so heavy, he swears he feels his body crushing.

Still in silence, he drops Minho off in front of his apartment complex and drives away. Face blank, Minho goes in his building and lazily enters the elevator. It's like he's in a daze, not fully aware of himself. Before he knows it, he's back home sitting at his counter with three cats waiting patiently in front of him as they expect him to fill their bowls with food. But he remains still and stares at nothing in particular. Has he gone too far this time?

In all of the people he knows, Chan is the last one he would have thought to snap at him so harshly. Most importantly, he never thought he'd yell at him for no reason. For the first time in a while, Minho allows one single tear drop from his eye.

Christmas has come. Well, almost. Work has been the same and no contact have been made with anyone for the last week or so. The lack of human interaction felt both good and bad, but mostly aching.

Every day is the same, Minho realizes. Waking up, eating a very mediocre peanut butter toast with coffee, scrolling through his feed on social medias, getting dressed, going to work, bossing his ass off in return of a less than decent pay, coming back home, eating, washing up, going to bed, sleeping, only to do the same all over again the next day.

In a way, he loves not having to think about planning things out. On the other hand, his life is becoming more and more dull with less of a purpose. Why is he alive for if it's only to do the same task over and over again?

For a change, Minho decides to start a Christmas film instead of rotating watches of the same five movies. A mistake he does is not reading the synopsis before pushing play on the remote. He settles comfortably on his couch while Soonie and Doongie cuddle next to him. Dori is somewhere nearby, playing with a piece of paper Minho had dropped on the floor earlier that week.

At first, the show is boring he thinks. The more the story develops, however, the more he sees the resemblance between himself and the protagonist. The movie is A Christmas Carol, one Y/N once had begged him to watch with her. Scrooge is very unlikable, there is no denying in that. But Minho tries to ignore the similarities he shares with him and keeps on watching the screen in silence. At some point, it simply became impossible to ignore the tightness in his chest. In an abrupt move, he turns the TV off, picks up his two cats, and heads to bed.

Christmas is so near, he thinks as he is watching his alarm clock getting closer to midnight. He really does his best to not make a big deal out of it but his mind can't stop having these images of Y/N, his friends, Christmas... everything. He can't escape pain, no matter what.

Thankfully, Dori comes in his room to join the other felines which distracts him for a second, just long enough so he can finally fall asleep.

The clock indicates 11:55 P.M. when Minho is in a deep sleep and the only sounds that can be heard throughout the whole flat are the appliances running and the cats snoring. Maybe some snores are coming from the man himself but they are faint. Slowly, Doongie wakes up. He wiggles around to find a new comfortable position but fails and falls off the bed. Luckily, cats always land on their feet. He was going to hop back on the bed but a weird sound catches his attention. It sounds like a bell. Curious, he comes out of the room in attempt to find where it comes from. But nothing. Or maybe there is something.

A faint light can be perceived from the bottom of the front door. The cat carefully gets closer, lowering his body. In a single snap, something flies right from under the door and moving straight into Minho's room which scares Doongie well enough to go hide in his cat tree and let out a cry.

This immediately wakes Minho up as his instinctive cat dad senses take over but it is soon replaced with an unsettling feeling as he sees the bright light in front of him. He squints as it almost blinds him but he wants to know what it is. He can feel his heartbeat increase by the second as the source of light gets closer and closer. Holding his breath, he shut his eyes closed and moves his head away from whatever that is. Until he hears a sigh too familiar to his liking.

He dares to open his eyes and his shoulders drop at the sight. "Chan?"

It's not exactly Chan, it is more of a ghost-like version of him. He wears a very formal suit with his hair styled with gel and his body is translucent, making Minho very skeptical. This is a dream, he thinks. Chan is very much alive and very much not in his apartment. Certainly not after the events of the other day.

"I see you didn't even reach out to me."

Minho frowns and looks around the room as if to make sure he really is speaking to him. "What do you mean?"

Chan chuckles, his voice sounding more like an echo. "After our fight, dumbass! Come on, you weren't going to leave things as it is until Christmas."

He checks his alarm clock quickly. "Well, it is Christmas."

"In five minutes," Chan smirks at him. "I know the past few months have been hard on you."

"Great, even my subconscious is trying to fix me," he whispers to himself, loud enough that the ghost-like figure hears it.

"As in a dream?" Minho nods to the question only for Chan to laugh some more. "You're funny. Anyway, I'm not here for fun. I'm here to help you."

"You tried that already," Minho grumbles in an annoyed voice but receives a shook of the head as an answer.

"My human self tried, I haven't tried yet. You see, I only appear if I'm really needed and your case is a pretty severe one."

Minho tries to protest but is quickly shushed.

"Look, this is a night shift on Christmas Eve, I don't want this any more than you do so let's do it quickly. I'll send you three spirits tonight before it hits midnight. They'll guide you through your entire life and help you make the right choice. Got it?"

"Midnight is in five minutes."

"I know."

"But-"

"You'll understand," Chan cuts him off. "As for now, bon voyage."

Not even conscious that he had been awake —or dreaming— Minho hears a snap of fingers before opening his eyes widely and gasping for air as he wakes up. He is still somewhat confused, but rather glad this was simply a dream. He can feel that the sweat has gone through his pyjamas and makes a face out of disgust.

Quickly, he eats breakfast and freshens up before leaving for work. Yes, he is working on Christmas day. This might be the only way he can get distracted from everything going wrong in his life.

As he approches his work building, he notices a young man. He looks awfully similar to Jeongin but not quite. Curiosity gets the best of him, however, and Minho instinctively walks up to the man. He takes a moment to scan his appearance: he's shorter than Jeongin, has light golden hair and wears loose white streetwear clothing. He also takes notes on the grey of his eyes.

"Lee Minho!" he says cheerfully before Minho could let out a single word.

The man jumps in surprise. "Jeongin?"

He shakes his head as a no and smiles brightly. "No, my name is P."

"P..." Minho repeats slowly, slightly confused.

"Shall we go in?"

He doesn't wait for an answer as he begins to walk and Minho automatically follows him into his building, assuming this boy might be a new worker in his firm. They hop onto the elevator together and P pushes the button to level 7. As Minho is about to look for his own floor, he notices something odd. The building has 26 levels. So why the hell are the numbers going up to 30? He slowly turns to come face to face with the younger man who keeps a wide smile on his face, fear creeping in.

"Who are you?" he dares to ask.

"I told you, I'm P!" the boy repeats with an even bigger grin, almost creepy. "Short for Past."

Oh. Oh no. It all suddenly clicks in Minho's head. Either this is a dream occuring because of the movie he had watched before going to bed or this is his own story of A Christmas Carol. He pinches the side of his arm, hoping he would be back in his room but it only results to him hissing in pain.

"Do you remember your Christmas when you were seven years old?" Minho can only glare at him but P doesn't seem to care. "This might refresh your memories."

The doors of the elevator open right after and not only are they not in his workplace anymore but the setting is exactly as he remembers it from his childhood. They are right on the street of his parents' home. The street is empty, understandably so because of the light snow falling down and the cold weather. It is early in the morning and his childhood home looks much smaller than he remembers, and in a much poorer state.

P walks out first before turning around, encouraging Minho to follow. "Can they see me?"

"No."

The answer satifies Minho and he finally steps out of the elevator, letting himself get led by this Jeongin look-alike. He wonders why this specific time was chosen in all of his years of life. He ponders the idea of asking P but it soon vanishes when he spots his younger self coming out of the house with his parents observing him in a loving way. A knot forms in his belly. He hasn't talked to his parents since Y/N left. Are they doing okay? Maybe he should have called a few times at least.

"Can we bring one home?" younger Minho asks his mom, eyes full of hope.

"Do you want a kitten as your Christmas gift?" his mother asks and the child happily nods. "We'll go see the cats and I'll think about it, okay?"

Satisfied enough, he skips down the street while humming a Christmas song. Oddly enough, it is Y/N's favourite: Winter Wonderland.

Minho watches his former self with nostalgia. He remembers the moment perfectly. This was the first time he ever owned a cat after begging his mother to get one years after years. He had named her Nala, which he thought was very clever at the time.

"Can we follow them?"

P takes his hand, much to Minho's surprise, and they begin to float just slightly above ground and fly right to where his past self is. He doesn't question the spirit about how this works and resumes to watching himself coo at the cats. For a brief moment, his eyes advert from the scene and land on his parents. But there is something catching his attention. He sees his father emptying his wallet as well as his mom before they give it to the worker. His breath gets heavier as he looks back and forth from them to himself.

"Is this why my mother stopped going out for tea with her friends? And why my father couldn't take my mother out for dates? They used to argue so much about it..." Minho almost whispers.

"Parents make great sacrifices for their children," P says longingly.

"Why didn't they tell me?"

P shrugs. "Probably because you were a literal child but also because they didn't want you to feel bad."

"My grandmother would have helped us in an instant if she knew."

P shrugs again. "They didn't want help."

He easily catches on why the ghost brought him at this exact moment. Just in time, Minho gets a hold of himself and says in incoherent words that he won't fall for P's tricks. The latter isn't nearly fazed by this statement and he takes the man's hand to bring him back to the elevator in a quick flying trip.

After the door closes, Minho is relieved that he can finally go back home. That is until P pushes the button for level 18 which earns a frown from Minho.

"Aren't we done?"

"No, you have other things left to see before I send you back. Well, a few more years to see."

"And me at 18 years old was an important year?"

P sends him a knowing look but he acts clueless, as if he doesn't know what happened back then although it's painfully obvious he does. Denial is the best way to cope, isn't it?

The doors open to the hallway of his college dorm he used to share with Chan. He can instantly recognize the said-man and Changbin joking around before they walk in his dorm. Without waiting for P, Minho follows and freezes when he stumbles upon Y/N. This moment was merely over two months into their relationship but he could tell he already knew she was his everything at that time.

Y/N greets the two boys and encourages them to put their wrapped presents under the mini Christmas tree she had insisted on making to display in his small living room. Meanwhile, a nearly adult Minho is unwrapping takeout as he watches the scene with a huge smile.

"What took you two so long?" he asks, walking towards the group with the food in hands.

"Chan's fault," Changbin immediately accuses, earning a stare from the older man.

"Not true."

"I'm not the one who lost Hyunjin's present."

Hyunjin's eyes lit up. "You got me a present?"

A small smirk appears on Chan's face. "I got all of you a present."

"Even me?"

Minho's heart tightens. He still struggles to listen to your voice and because you were there physically in front of him, it pains him so much more.

"Even you."

"Can we open them?" Felix asks, eyes lighting up.

"After eating," younger Minho says in a stern voice. "Otherwise, you'll get your dirty ass hands on the gifts, or on anything for that matter."

Y/N glances at Jisung with a knowing smirk that his friend returns, something he hadn't caught onto back then. She still hastens to give Minho a hand with all of the food dishes, not forgetting to give a napkin to each person. He knows he can be a bit peculiar with keeping his place tidy and he never wanted Y/N to feel pressured with that. Still, it visibly seemed to have been a common issue she and Jisung had with him.

"Y/N, I thought you were supposed to go back home for the holidays," Seungmin tells with food already being chewed in his mouth.

"I was," she confirms. "Minho and I determined we wanted to spend our first Christmas together and, sorry, but I rather be here than with my aunts. They were going to be all over me about not knowing what I want to do with life, I can spare myself from it."

The whole group lets out a laugh as they go on with their feast before discussing all sorts of things. Hyunjin and Chan are in the corner laughing their asses off, much to Minho's dismay who is keeping a close look at his white carpet. Hyunjin has always been clumsy and this wouldn't be the first time he spills something.

Present Minho watches it all, fully aware of what is about to happen. He never regretted getting mad at his friend for a small spoil but this kind of behaviour is one of the many that contributed to his separation. He sees what P is trying to do by showing him this.

"I get the point, can we go?"

P chuckles. "After you know what."

In shame, he observes from the corner of the eye himself exploding at Hyunjin for staining the carpet, Chan nagging at him for doing so, the boys uncomfortably watching the scene as they back away from him... and he catches a glimpse of Y/N getting the necessities to get rid of the sauce stain, not even complaining.

"I think we're good here," he tries again to convince P.

He receives a playful smirk from the spirit. "Are you sure?"

Minho groans but, nonetheless, nods. "Please."

P is quick to grab his hand and fly right back into the elevator, doors shutting behind them. He does give Minho a minute or two to recuperate from the sight before pushing the button 24. Minho's eyes are stuck on the lit up number and gulps, feeling suddenly hotter. That was last year.

"Don't you have another Christmas to show me before..." he trails off.

He is met with no answer and has to settle for the tranquility of the metal box going up. Anxiety keeps letting itself known through his body the more the number rises. Finally, after what felt like eternity to him, the ding sound signals that they have reached the level.

"You might want to prepare yourself for this one."

Minho huffs and glares at the ghost as to tell him "no shit". The doors slide open and they are already in his apartment. At least, P was kind enough to spare him from reliving what triggered the actual argument.

His cats are all doing their thing as normally. All seems out of the ordinary until he feels footsteps through the ground. He takes a deep breath in and watches Y/N barge into the place, hair messy and tears streaming down her face. The guilt pit down in his stomach when he sees himself step inside after you, throwing his scarf carelessly on a chair.

"Are you going to talk at least?" he asks, looking down at Y/N who scoffs at her boyfriend's question.

How dare he is the one demanding explanations from her?

"Are you going to talk about it?" she questions back, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Oh, come on, I didn't do anything."

"Telling everyone you want to call off the engagement is something."

P hisses in a disapproving way. "Man, you outdid yourself with this one."

"Shut up."

Y/N still waits for Minho to speak up but nothing comes out of his mouth other than his unsteady breathing. In a swift manner, she walks behind the counter and fills their cats' bowls in the meantime of waiting still for her lover to say something. But the man stays where he is, observing his surroundings in awkwardness.

"Minho," she finally calls out.

"I didn't call off the engagement."

"Really? Saying getting married is bullshit isn't telling everyone you don't want to marry me?"

"It's not like that. I meant it's not a necessity for us to know we love each other."

"You don't get that marriages can mean something other than that, it's so much more."

"It's an excuse to spend thousands of dollars on things that will last a day or two at most."

Y/N buried her face in her hands as she let out a groan. "You've always been like this."

"Realistic?"

"No, a grumpy old man. You can't see the beauty in anything."

Minho smirks for a second. "I see beauty in you."

"Don't try with your sweet words, Lee Minho," she says, raising a finger up at him. "You know exactly what I mean. I can give you so many examples. Firstly, you never buy me anything on Valentine's day because it's a marketing holiday. Then, you want every single aspect to be perfect and at their exact place although life isn't like this. And finally, you just see the negative everywhere, always pointing out what is wrong. What happened to my sweet Minho who would smile at the slightest thing?"

He remains quiet as he sits on one of the dining table's chairs. Not knowing what to do next, Y/N copies his actions and gets seated in front of him. They don't dare to look at each other just yet but Minho most definitely wants to. His ego too big, he doesn't budge.

"Minho, please," she begged.

"Alright, it's enough."

P lets out a huff. "The action barely started."

Clenching his jaw, he doesn't insist more and settles on looking at the ground while the scene he had been trying to forget about for almost a year was happening right in front of him. Minho hates it, his heart is bleeding in pain.

"I've grown, maybe that's something you should consider doing as well," he hears himself say.

Curiosity gets the best of him and he can't contain himself from looking at her, he never knew how she had reacted to his words. The view he has in front of his eyes makes his heart shatter in an instant. He swears he can see her soul leave her body just now. Had he really done this to her?

"What- Min, I-" she tries to speak, but struggles.

"Y/N, we want different things now."

She chokes out on her tears, the ones that she finally lets stream down her face since she had been containing them. She hated crying, especially with Minho.

"No, we want the same things," she affirms, her voice breaking. "You've just become too obnoxious and focused on your career that you don't see it anymore."

"You think I'm the obnoxious one? Y/N, have you seen yourself?" Minho asks in a loud voice as he gets up from his chair. "You're so full of bullshit with your positivity and ignorance towards actual problems, it makes me sick. Take the cat, for example. We don't have space for a third one but yet, here is Dori who can't even behave properly. And your Christmas decoration is taking too much space too."

"This is about space now?"

"Yes, I need space! And I'm sorry I cancelled our last date but I just can't deal with you right now. You're in the way and I can't work and- Fuck, I don't know how to tell you but we can't keep on going like this."

Her breathing is becoming more unsteady while the tears are still flooding out of her eyes. Present Minho approches her and tries to put a hand on her shoulder, but it goes through. Right, he forgot. He is not really there.

"I didn't want to call off our engagement. But maybe I do now."

Slowly, she gets up and walks towards their shared bedroom which leaves a perplexed and helpless Minho standing alone in the middle of his dining room. He hears unknown noises and hesitates on whether he should go to you or wait. But again, his ego takes over and he stays right where he is.

Soon later, only a couple of minutes, he sees Y/N walk out of the bedroom with one bag and two suitcases full of her belongings. His face dropped immediately.

"You're leaving?" he asks, desperate. No answer. "For how long?" Still silent. "Y/N, please, I know we can figure it out."

Her lower lip quivers as she sobs some more, trying her best to ignore the man in front of her. She dares to walk towards their front door, not acknowledging her lover for one second.

"My love, please," Minho tries once more.

And just like that, she walks out, door shutting quietly behind her.

"We've seen enough."

P is about to say no when he catches Minho's watery eyes. He taps himself on the back mentally, he didn't think he would break down so fast. Taking him by the forearm, he leads him towards the elevator. The doors slide shut rather fast, which Minho is thankful for. In a careful move, P presses the ground floor button and the elevator goes down.

Once arrived, the doors reveal Minho's bedroom. It looks the same as it did the night before. Minho takes notes on that, it means his night is far from being over.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"You will," P reassures. "I'll leave you alone, now. It was my pleasure being your guide for tonight."

As the two men exchange a small smile, more as a form of respect, P begins to glow, brighter and brighter. So much that Minho can't even look at him anymore and is blinded. He tried to look away but even then with his eyes closed, the light goes through.

Suddenly, there's nothing.

The morning is brighter than he thought it would be. He swears he saw on the news the day prior that Christmas day was going to be gloomy. The blue sky with the sun shining is definitely a pleasant surprise.

Enough with admiring the weather, Minho finishes rapidly his coffee, grabs his briefcase, and heads out to work. As he walks towards his building, he can't help but think of his dream from last night. He did expect dreaming of Y/N but not having to relive the day she left so vividly.

As he is about to cross the road, he feels his body collide with someone which is soon followed with the feeling of burnt. He curses out loud and is considering telling the other person off. Only, it is someone he hasn't seen in a while and who has a face he definitely recognizes.

"Hyunjin?"

The man cocks his head to the side and frowns. "Are you Mr. Lee?"

Minho, as equally confused, nods. "You don't recognize me?"

The Hyunjin look-alike seems to take notice of his whereabouts and clears his throat. "I apologize, sir. This is my first year working as a guiding spirit. Shall we start over? Hi, my name is P."

Suddenly, Minho has flashbacks of his encounter with the boy of the same name. Was he still in the dream? Or was the Chan spirit saying the truth? He feels a lump growing inside of his throat as the P man in question goes on about himself.

"I'm sincerely sorry about the coffee I spilled, let me fix this," he says before splashing Minho's figure with gold dust. The stain instantly disappears. "Now, where was I..? Oh, right! I'm P, short for Present. I was assigned to you to review your Christmas of this year."

At this point, Minho doesn't have it in him to protest. Without saying a word, he walks in the building as P follows him behind. This one spirit is much giddier than the previous one. The moment he steps in the elevator, he does nothing but look around nervously. It is with a heavy sigh that Minho empresses himself to push the button next to 25.

"I thought I forgot something, thanks," P laughs nervously, receiving a glare in return.

The ride up is quiet and awkward but when the doors open, they both step out in sync and walk along the trail of snow. The Christmas market is an event that the real Hyunjin takes part in each year. He always contributed with an animal rescue center to help them give puppies up for adoption.

This year is especially important to him, it is the first time he does it with his own dog rescue shelter. For the occasion, a few of the boys promised him they would come by to encourage him. Including Minho.

Far from the distance, Minho sees Felix and Seungmin arguing about whatever while Chan greets warmly their friend who has just finished setting his booth up.

"Guys, come look at the doggies," he calls the younger men who rush to pet the furry creatures.

"I'd call this one Seungmin," Felix jokes as he picks up a baby labrador.

Hyunjin laughs at the comment. "Her name is Daisy."

"Not very original," Felix allows himself to point out to which Hyunjin chuckles again.

His laughs trails off while he looks around, brows furrowed. "Didn't Minho say he'd come too?"

Chan sighs heavily, giving one of the poodles some scratches. "I called him but he didn't answer. Plus, we had an argument last time I saw him so I don't think he'll come."

"About Y/N again?" Seungmin asks and Chan nods. "The number of times I told her to talk it out with him, she really should call him. The guy is getting on my nerves."

Minho's heart stops for a moment. Not only because he finally knows what his friend thinks of him but also because he apparently has been in contact with Y/N, without his knowledge. He thought all of his friends haven't heard from you since.

"I told her too but what can I say? They're both stubborn," Felix shrugs. "I thought of stopping by her place today to see how she's doing but Minho would kill me if he discovers."

"Oh, please. He'd kill you if you even mention her name."

The four men share a sad laugh before changing topics. Hyunjin is careful with each dog as he introduces them one by one. All of it becomes a blur for Minho, he doesn't know if he wants to leave now or listen more to it. As much as it hurts him, he can't help but be curious.

"Did you know this?" he finally says, turning his body towards P.

"I did read it on the report paper before meeting you but, hey, I don't know you all," he responds with his hands up in defense. "We can go see her if you want."

Minho ponders for a moment. Was he ready to face her once again?

"No. Not yet."

"As you wish. Your friends are having a party tonight if you didn't know. We have to see that."

"I know, yeah."

P takes his hand as they float away all the way to Changbin's house. Before setting foot on the ground, he can already see all of his friends with Felix's fiancé, Chan's wife and Jisung's new girlfriend. Everyone is there. Except him.

He carefully approaches the group inside the living room where the girls are busy putting the presents under the Christmas tree. What takes him aback the most is seeing a tall and beautiful woman coming down the stairs before placing a kiss on Changbin's cheek. Since when is he seeing someone? It takes everyone a few minutes to settle down and serve themselves drinks. Once everyone is sat, they hold their glasses up for a toast.

"Who wants to do the honours?" Jeongin asks and Jisung immediately gets up.

"Merry Christmas, guys! Thank you for this year and thank you to Changbin for hosting the dinner tonight," he says, bopping his head towards him. "And let's have a moment for our Minho. He might not be here but he's in our heart. Let's hope he can get back on the right track next year."

There is a pause in the room, everybody suddenly feeling a wave of guilt and sadness. They know they've done everything for their friend, but they still feel like they should have tried harder.

Minho, this time, doesn't try to contain his cries. He walks up Jisung and smiles, just a little.

"Thanks, Hannie," he whispers.

"To Minho," he cheers, holding his drink higher.

"To Minho."

P lets out a cough, grabbing Minho's attention. "Not to be a mood breaker but I think you should see Y/N."

"What do you mean?"

"See what she is doing at this exact moment."

He surprisingly agrees with no hesitation and they both float away to another neighbourhood of the city. One Minho isn't too familiar with. This must be why she chose to move there, somewhere she knew she wouldn't encounter Minho. They float down at the apartment's balcony and Minho can see her right away through the window.

"You can go through walls," P informs and he does as told.

He's surprised to see her alone with her sister. She used to be a social butterfly, he wonders what happened. Deena sets the table while humming to Christmas music and Y/N finishes up with cutting the ham. It's not as Christmas-y as it should be, it's rather sad. The atmosphere is sad.

"Need help with that?" Deena offers.

"I'm good, thanks," Y/N answers as she brings the dishes on the table.

She looks paler than he remembers, maybe because of the lighting. Her hair is longer and she seems to have dyed it brown. She's also much skinnier.

"Thank you for cooking," Deena smiles warmly at her.

"It's nothing," she smiled back and begins to serve herself a plate. "I would have definitely given a piece of ham to the cats if they were here."

Deena shakes her head. "How many times did I tell you that I can go get them back?"

Y/N shakes her head too and sighs. "He loves them as much as I do, maybe even more. Who knows how he would survive without them."

"He's not really surviving, if you want my opinion. You should have seen him at the mall the other day."

Y/N shrugs while playing with her potatoes. "He's coping in his own way."

Her sister lets out a groan, desperate. "Jeez, you two are so sad to see, it's depressing."

Well, if Minho wanted to be sure Y/N is still struggling with getting over their separation, he has his answer right there.

"I'll be fine and so will he. Besides, it's not like we lost everything. I still have you and he has the boys."

Deena deadpans at her and then points at her ring finger. Minho looks at it more attentively and allows himself to gasp quietly. Y/N still has the ring, the one he proposed to her with. After what he said to her, she still wears it?

She is quick to pull her hand off the table and cover it with her sleeve. "It's a pretty ring."

"It means more to you than that and you know it."

"He didn't want to get married and it's alright. We grew apart and it is what it is. Can we talk about something else now?" she says in annoyance.

"Y/N, Felix, when he called-"

"Stop," she cuts her off. "Felix doesn't know what happened. He doesn't understand."

"Okay, I'll stop. But just so you know, this is doing no good to anybody, especially the two of you."

Minho can't hear any more of it. In a second, he turns around and goes back to the balcony which indicates to P that the visit is over. The ghost throws some of his golden dust in the air and the elevator magically appears next to them. They step inside and press the button to the ground floor.

As it goes down, Minho is looking away from the spirit, he has a certain pride to maintain. P hesitates but decides to put his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Can I just say? In my whole year of working, this might be the only case where I really empathized with my client."

Minho moves his hand away from him and grumbles something under his breath. P doesn't hear it properly but it goes along the lines of "I don't need empathy, don't act like you care".

When they get to his room, the spirit is quick to take a leave, leaving Minho alone in his cold room. At least he has his cats. He has them because of Y/N's kind heart knew he needs them.

At least, maybe she still cares a little.

The formula is the same this morning. So much that Minho knows he isn't going to work and is still trapped in this weird loop of exploring his life. He doesn't bother dressing properly nor bringing what he needs for his job. He doesn't even change his cats' water.

The moment he walks in his workplace, it doesn't even take him a second to spot the ghost of his future. It's Jisung this time. Well, not him exactly.

"Hello, my name is-"

"F, I suppose? For future?"

The spirit, stunned, slowly nods. "Usually, people are happy to see me."

"I had a long night, buddy. Just show me what you have to show me and I can move on with my life."

F doesn't argue with him and he leads him to the elevator when he presses the button 30 right away. "We'll do the quick version since you're in such a rush. I would have gone through 26 beforehand but-"

"What happens next year?" Minho interrupts him.

"No, you want this to be quick. I respect that. It's Christmas anyway, I can make an exception."

"What happens next year?" he repeats.

F smiles knowingly before glancing at the button 26. Minho, hesitantly, goes ahead to press it himself to which the ghost responds with a satisfied smirk. Before he knows it, they already reached the level.

As the doors open, Minho soon recognizes Jeongin's penthouse. Looks like that year's Christmas is settled to be at his place. Jeongin is alone with Changbin as they seem to be preparing food and drinks for the guests they are expecting. It is soon confirmed when Jisung walks in without knocking, alongside with his girlfriend. In the following minutes, each of his friends, sometimes with a significant lover, come inside and the party gets louder and merrier. However, after Hyunjin arrived, it dawns on him that his future version himself won't take part on that year's dinner.

Just like the previous year.

After chatting some more about what they are up to in their lives (nothing much other than Felix getting married but everyone knows as they attended the ceremony), Changbin calls everyone for dinner and they sit around Jeongin's dinner table.

"Can I make the toast this year?" Jisung asks, earning looks from his friends.

"You did last year, I say our host of the night does it," Seungmin suggests and they all seem to agree.

So, a bit uncomfortable still, Jeongin gets up with his glass of wine in hands. "Thank you for another year of our usual Christmas party. I'm really glad all of you were able to come. Of course, we still have a thought for our Minho who won't be joining us, yet again, tonight." The guests exchange glances in agreement and let the youngest continue. "Merry Christmas and let's enjoy our meal!"

They cling their glasses together, wishing a merry Christmas to one another, and don't lose another second to attack their plates. Although it pains him to not see himself enjoy the feast with them, Minho is somewhat happy. At least, they still have each other.

"Why couldn't he make it, anyway?" Chan asks around the table, looking at anybody who might have the answer.

The only person to answer is, unsurprisingly, Jisung. "The last time I saw him was in September and he said he had some issues with the cats. I don't know if he was making up excuses but he seemed to be alright."

"It was a miracle he even showed up for my wedding," Felix scoffs, making Minho huff. "An even bigger miracle was that he didn't make a scene when he saw Y/N there."

"They left together, no?"

What Seungmin just said gives him some kind of hope. Wanting to be sure he would hear every detail, he gets closer to his friend who continues to speak on the matter.

"I know they drank a lot but has someone seen what they were doing?"

"He was cuddly," Jisung answers. "No, clingy as hell. Poor Y/N who had to drive him home."

"They could have made up then?" Chan questions and Jisung nods.

"But we all know him, he missed his chance to fix things again."

"I really thought inviting both of them would have put an end to their mishaps," Felix sighs, discouraged. "I'll send Minho a message later."

"We could call him all together?" Chan suggests but by the reactions of everybody, this is not an option.

Just like that, they change subject and continue to discuss cheerfully about everything and anything. F gives a sad smile to the man, who watches the scene feeling beaten. There must have something really wrong with him that his closest friends wouldn't even wish him a merry Christmas.

"Where am I while all of this is happening?" he asks the ghost.

Carefully, he is transported away from the penthouse and directly to his apartment. The moment he takes in the sight of his place, he sees how nothing much changed in a year. Everything is still where it was during the present year.

His hair is longer, he notices. Not only that but he grew a bit of a beard, a choice he questions a little. His cats are still doing their thing, none of them appear to be sick. What particularly catches his attention is the glass filled with a bright yellow liquor that is set next to him as he scrolls down through his feed on his tablet.

Is he drinking? He does have a few occasions where he'll consume alcohol but a glass full of whiskey is new.

Soonie jumps on the counter and, unlike what Minho would automatically do as of right now, his future self pushes the cat off. He gasps in horror and runs to catch his pet. Only, he did forget he isn't actually there and that things pass through his body. Fortunately, Soonie is fine.

"I should text her, at least," he hears himself say.

The man he sees is far from being remotely close to what he is. Hair messy, tie loosened and a beer belly growing; he wonders what caused him to let himself reach this point.

Future Minho opens his e-mail app and clicks on New Message. He is quick to find Y/N's e-mail address, which real Minho takes as a sign he must have done the same more than once in the last year. He tries to read what he is typing but the amount of typos is quite overwhelming. Despite that, he manages to make out a somewhat coherent note.

___

Hey,

I know I should probably not be writing this but it is Christmas today so, merry Christmas. Remember how we used to go out with the others and play stupid games until late? Then, we'd come home and I'd make you a hot chocolate before going to be? You remember all of that, don't you?

I miss it, and I miss you. I know I said I'll stop writing but you broke my heart, Y/N. How can I forget and ignore what happened? You left so suddenly for no reason. I should be furious, maybe I am. No, I know I am. I still can't help myself but longing for you.

Have a jolly holiday, even if it's without me,

Min xox

___

"Wow, that's pathetic," Minho breathes out after reading. He turns to face F and frowns. "That's a year from now?"

"Precisely."

"No, it can't be. I'm alright, I moved on."

F visibly tries to contain himself from speaking on that, but he can't. "You're one oblivious man."

"I am okay!"

F scoffs. "Sure. Now, shall we visit you at 30 years old? It's Christmas and I have others plans after this."

Minho keeps finding it ridiculous how these ghosts continue to act as if they are actual people. He's still dreaming, why would he bother imagining spirits with personalities?

He is soon led to the actual elevator of his apartment building where F presses the button quickly. Once the level reached, the doors open to a beautiful wedding reception, leaving Minho confused. He does not know anybody other than Felix, who is supposedly already married by then, who is engaged.

The two men walk around the room, recognizing a few faces, and Minho finally spots himself sitting with his friends. At least he isn't alone, he tells himself. He goes straight ahead to observe the scene where he is obviously bored and sick of being there. He does notice how his appearance seem much better than before with gel in his hair and a tuxedo well ironed on.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Chan asks him in a concerned voice.

"Stop with that, I'd leave if I wasn't fine," Minho rolls his eyes.

"You haven't spoken to her, though."

"You really are good at observing, Chan," Minho responds in a mocking way and the older man simply sighs.

Suddenly, the entirety of the room begins to cheer loudly and clap. Minho tries to follow their gaze to find out who they were waiting for. After moving around to see through the dozens of head, he finally spots her. And him.

Y/N. It's her wedding. And she invited him of all people?

His brain short-circuits and he feels his heart pounding faster and faster. He can't think properly anymore, the only thing he can vividly see is her. How she smiles at every single person who congratulates her. How she clings onto this man as if her life depended on it. But most importantly, he sees how her smile just gets sadder when her eyes stop on him.

He knows time stops for the two of them before they walk towards each other. He knows so many things are still left unsaid. Gaining back his consciousness, he follows himself to watch what is about to happen.

She hugs him, a bit awkwardly. "I didn't think you'd come. Thank you."

"Congratulations," Minho says, retracting from the hug as fast as he can. "You two make a fine couple."

"Thanks," she chuckles. "Look, Min-" she starts but Minho shakes his head.

"Don't, it's okay. Enjoy your day."

Grateful, she sends him one last smile and moves to thank other guests. Chan, at this point, can do nothing else but pat his friend's shoulder. Surprisingly, Minho doesn't budge. He does, however, let one single drop fall from his eye.

"That's it?" he exclaims, now looking at F. "I'm not even trying? I just gave up? What even happened between then and that moment?"

"I've shown you plenty, you can figure it out by yourself," F says calmly and then begins to walk back to the metal box.

Minho, refusing this as an answer, runs to join him hastily. "Who's this guy, anyway?"

"Does it really matter? You two are not together anymore."

"Yes, if it can help me to prevent this."

"So you don't want her to be happy?" F perks an eyebrow making Minho groan in frustration.

"I'm asking you what I need to do to change this. It can't be like this. I'm the one who's supposed to marry her."

F smirks as they walk in the elevator, presses the button to the ground floor and finally looks at the man. "You know what has to be done, you're just afraid."

"Of what?"

"Oh, please. Stop with the act. How has the last year really been like for you?"

Minho gulps, already feeling himself choke up. "I-" he starts. "It's been hell."

F nods. "What else?"

"Y/N was right, as she always is... I'm the one who lost myself with time. I did want to marry her and I did not think she was obnoxious. Certainly not..."

He starts to cry, heavily this time. There is no more hiding or denying, he just said it all out loud. Regrets and pain, that's what's been eating him. He sobs as everything finally hits him so brutally. He lost Y/N for good. Or he will lose her for good if he keeps acting the way he does.

And his friends, the only people who stick with him through everything. The ones he keeps pushing away in fear of himself.

"You're home," the spirit says, interrupting the moment.

Minho doesn't hesitate to crash into his bed and sob some more. Even if F wanted to leave so badly, he doesn't think he should just yet. Cursing at himself, he comes to sit on the bed and pats the back of the broken man.

"It's alright, let it all out. You've had a rough night."

Minho hiccups and sniffles before glaring at the ghost. "No shit."

"You know, I think you can fix this."

Minho shrugs. "I've been horrible to everyone."

"You acknowledge it, that's a start. From there, only you can decide how things will be." F looks at his watch for a second and gasps. "I'm late for my next human! Good luck with everything."

Minho doesn't watch him leave. He is still crying but he has no more energy. He desperately wants to wake up, but mostly, he wants to see Y/N.

Minho doesn't wake up until the later morning. With the dream he just had, the sleep deprived guy seriously needed more than eight hours of resting. He does miss out work but, honestly, is not bothered the slightest. In fact, he is grateful he won't be working today.

After feeding Soonie, Doongie and Dori, he determines he should catch up on the gifts he planned on offering to his friends. Walking to his home office, he pulls out the wrapping paper he hadn't touched in a while and begins to wrap each and every single one of the presents he bought. He is definitely happy to have made some purchases the day he went shopping with Chan.

The task does grow tiring and boring after a while. To keep himself motivated, he plugs in his speaker to play some music and hums alongside the lyrics. He hasn't done that for a long time. As he is about to skip the current song playing on his playlist, his solo karaoke session is interrupted by a call coming in.

Not bothering to look at the contact, he answers happily. "Merry Christmas, you joined Lee Minho. How can I help you?"

The other side of the line is silent but he can hear that there is someone. Frowning, he repeats himself to encourage the person to talk.

"Minho, it's Changbin."

"Oh, hey! How are you doing? I was about to call you to ask what you wanted me to bring for tonight."

He senses that his friend is quite taken aback and he smiles proudly to himself.

"You're coming?"

"Unless I wasn't invited-"

"No, no," Changbin cuts him. "You're always welcomed, you know that. I'd just expected you to say you have work or something."

"I was supposed to clock in but I didn't feel like going to the office. Oh, by the way, can I ask a favor from you?"

"Uh, yeah, go ahead..." Changbin replies, skeptical.

"I know you're still in contact with Y/N."

Changbin, on his side, freezes. "How did you- Min, I swear we all wanted to tell you-"

"I'm not mad. I just wanted to know if you could possibly invite her and Deena for dinner, please? Don't tell them I'll be there, though."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, I want it to be a surprise."

He doesn't say anything for a minute, processing what is happening. "Then, I'll invite them and say you aren't coming."

"Good! See you tonight! And tell your girlfriend I'm excited to meet her!"

He doesn't let Changbin question him on how he learned about his girlfriend and hangs up. Resuming to his activity, he stops when he sees Soonie playing with wrapping paper. Filming him, he coos at him before giving him loving scratches.

"I won't ever hurt you, I promise," he tell his cat, recalling what happened in his dream.

When he has finished with wrapping his gifts, he goes to his closet to find an appropriate attire for the night. For the last year, he hadn't wore anything other than work clothes and sweats. The nice shirt Y/N once bought him catches his attention. The dark green buttoned blouse seem to be a perfect match for his black clean pants. He changes fast and does not forget to add a few pieces of jewelry to finish his look.

He is all set to go. But one look at himself in the mirror at his entrance stops him for a moment. It suddenly clicks that he is a couple hours away from seeing Y/N again, for real this time. Although terrified, he has found some peace with it from the events of the previous night. He wants to make things right.

And one thing he can do just now is call his parents, the ones he has been ignoring for a year. He did expect his mother to cry but certainly not his father. Both incite him to come to his hometown in the following days and he can't refuse the invite. Not when they are begging with their puppy eyes.

"I'll come for New Year's, does it sounds okay?"

His mother nods vigorously through the screen of his phone. "Will Y/N be coming with you?"

He might have left out that he isn't with her anymore. Seeing the look on his parents' faces, he does not have the heart to tell them yet. Instead, he goes with a safe answer.

"I'll see with her if she can clear her schedule, but no promise."

"Tell her she's always welcomed here whenever. Merry Christmas, son!" his father wishes him adoringly.

He smiles, feeling suddenly nostalgic. "Merry Christmas to you two!"

And he hangs up.

Before going to Changbin's place, he doesn't forget to stop at the Christmas market to pay his friend, Hyunjin, a visit. Mentally preparing himself to face a pissed off Chan, he strolls between the booths and stops at a few of them. Some are selling soaps, a lot of them in fact. Others sell clothes they crocheted themselves and a few offer samples of their baked goods.

A few minutes later, Hyunjin's golden locks are easily found from afar. Minho also spots Chan, Seungmin and Felix. He has a heavy case of déjà-vu when he sees the four of them discuss with frowns on their faces.

Discreetly, he walks towards his friends who don't take knowledge of his presence yet. That is until he arrives right behind Felix.

"-stopping by her place today to see how she's doing but Minho would kill me if he discovers," the man is telling the others, oblivious that Minho is hearing everything.

Seungmin gulps and nods his head towards him but Felix cluelessly frowns. Hyunjin does the same which finally makes him turn around and come face to face with Minho. His eyes grow twice their sizes and his mouth opens slightly in shock.

"Hi, Yongbok," Minho says, unbothered. "Cute puppies you got, Hwang."

Hyunjin smiles, thankful. "Do you want to pet one? I've got this chihuahua that looks like Kkami."

He doesn't have the time to answer when a small dog is suddenly placed in his arms. With no complaint, he pets the puppy affectionately. The four men look at him, rather confused, and say nothing. They simply have no idea on how to react to this.

"Minho, what I said about Y/N- She- Uh... We-" Felix stammers out his words but Minho interrupts him.

"I know and it's all good. She is your friend too, I can't be mad at her for wanting to keep you all around."

"I see you've made some thinking," Chan finally speaks up, eyes stern.

"You can say that... I'm sorry about the other day, you were right. I shouldn't have shut you out of my life," he admits, much to his own surprise.

"Apology accepted," Chan grins. "A little birdie told me you asked Changbin to invite Y/N and Deena for dinner."

Seungmin's eyes lit up. "So you changed your mind? You'll come?"

Minho huffs. "I never said I wouldn't come."

Hyunjin sneers. "I know someone who'll be ecstatic about that."

The girl paces the floor nervously, biting her nails as she waits for her sister to arrive. Even if Changbin assured to her that her ex-fiancé wouldn't be attending the party, she can't help but feel like he will find out. She already feels guilty for keeping contact with his friends, who knows how he would react if he learns she went to celebrate Christmas with them.

As Deena finally walks in the apartment, she lets out a heavy sigh of relief. "Finally!"

Her sister rolls her eyes. "It took me barely five minutes to get here."

"Still," she chuckles sheepishly. "Thank you for coming with me."

"What would you do without me?" she exclaims dramatically. "For real, it's very nice for them to invite you. Especially after last year. Plus, it's better than our sappy sister date night."

Y/N lets out a small laugh but resumes automatically to biting down her lower lip in nervousness. Deena notices it but doesn't comment on it. Instead, she rushes her to leave, saying they will be late otherwise.

In the car, Y/N can't wait any longer. She has worries and needs to let them out or she'll go mad.

"What if Minho ends up showing up?"

Deena gives her a look but answers nonetheless. "He won't. And if he does, he'll have to suck it up and be an adult about you being there."

"Do you think he'll get mad when he discoverd that I still talked with the guys?"

"Y/N, for fuck's sake, it's not your problem to deal with! He's the one being a little bitch. Besides, you're not with him anymore."

"It doesn't mean I want to hurt him... and..."

She doesn't complete her sentence since she knows Deena must have understood right away. Y/N is still hopelessly in love with Minho. As much as she believes that leaving was the right thing to do, there were so many instances where she tried to convince herself that he'd change if she goes back to him.

She knows, deep down, she might be right on that.

"I can't believe you're actually here with actual presents!" Jisung almost yells as he brings his friend into a warm hug.

Hyunjin scoffs. "Let the man breathe! See, Min? I told you."

Minho taps Jisung's back a few times as to tell him to let go but he refuses, tightening the embrace. Jeongin is the one to break them apart to be the next in line to hug Minho. Everyone is baffled by his change of heart but they look past it and are simply grateful to have gotten their friend back.

"So? Is she coming?" Minho asks Changbin once he greeted everybody one by one.

"She confirmed she is."

Chan frowns and takes him by the shoulders. "Are you sure you want to talk to her?"

"Things were left unsaid, I need to clear this out once and for all."

Ding dong.

Oh. Now things are getting a bit too real, and panic begins to settle throughout his entire body. With once glance exchanged with Chan, it somehow reassures him. Still with his heart beating fast, he retreats himself behind the group as Changbin goes ahead to open the door.

She looks just like he remembers, stunning. There is, however, a hint of something he can't quite understand. She is paler and shyer. Past that, she is the same. While hugging everyone with her bright smile on her face, she shines. Minho is not too sure if he wants to ruin her brightness by letting his presence known. Looking around nervously, we wonders if this was a bad idea after all.

Before he can escape, he hears his name being called from afar; Jisung. Cursing at him mentally, Minho steps aside from behind Hyunjin and waves, embarrassed.

To no one's surprise, there is a moment of awkwardness settled in the room. While Minho is too ashamed to look back at her, Y/N can't rip her gaze away from him. She can't believe he is actually there. She has to make a mental note for later to smack Changbin for lying to her.

The moment is interrupted by Deena, thankfully. "Hey, Minho! I didn't think you'd be here."

"Hi Deena," he replies in a small voice.

This seems to be enough for the others to resume to their thing: Changbin taking his guests' coats to the other room while his girlfriend offers drinks, Deena putting the presents under the Christmas tree, Chan's wife and Felix's girlfriend sitting in a corner to discuss... Y/N, however, does not budge. Not until everyone leaves the entrance, revealing Minho standing in front of her.

"You dyed your hair?" he finally says, more or less to break the weird tension between the two.

She chuckles and runs her fingers through her longs brown locks. "I did, I thought a change might be good."

He nods as he puts his hands in his pockets, rocking his body back and forth. Now what? He knows he wants to talk about the obvious, but how?

"You're wearing that shirt," she points out with a smile. "It fits you well."

"Thank you. Your dress is cute."

"Thanks. I haven't wore this in a while."

"In a dress or not, you're cute either way."

She blushes. It's not as bad as she thought, they can at least do small talk. Still, this is far from being what she was used to with him. It suddenly snaps in her mind how much she missed him.

"I'll go get a drink, you're welcomed to come along," she offers which makes Minho smile.

Changbin's girlfriend makes no complaint when Minho asks her to make a specific drink, one Y/N would always get when they were together. It does not get unnoticed by the latter and she is amazed he remembers such details even after not speaking to each other for a whole entire year.

"You seem to be doing good," he comments once they get a hold of their alcoholic drinks.

"I'm not too bad. I joined a new law firm and, hopefully, they'll let me work on a case on my own."

It pains him to know she is still struggling with work, this was never an issue for him. "One day, someone will recognize your competence."

"Easy for you to say. I've heard you climbed status and have your own office?"

"Which one of the boys told you that?"

By the look on her face, he has managed to surprise her. "So you know."

He takes a sip of his glass and shrugs. "It did hurt a little that nobody told me but it's alright. You needed them as much as I did."

Her eyes soften. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm the jerk here. I pushed you away to the point you left and after you did, I was so close to losing all of my friends. You did nothing wrong."

She moves her head to the side, unsure on how to react. "We both made mistakes."

He scoffs. "Maybe, but you have to admit I did things way worse than you."

"It's alright, we're okay now. It wasn't meant to be."

His heart tightens and he scoffs once more. "What if it was?"

"Minho-"

"No, Y/N, listen to me for this one. Please." The gleam in his eyes convinces her and she nods for him to continue. "I don't know exactly what happened, it might be work, but I lost myself at some point. I never thought weddings were bullshit, not once in my life. My dream the moment I met you was to put a ring on your finger."

Minho stops himself and gives a scan around to make sure nobody is watching. He is thankful when he realizes his friends are busy with watching a funny video on Felix's phone. With no hesitation, he takes Y/N's hand and moves her sleeve up to reveal her engagement ring, still beautifully worn on her finger. Embarrassed, she is quick to retract her hand back in hiding. How did he know if she has been hiding it as soon as she saw him?

"And I think you might still want that."

Her eyes get watery when she forces herself to stare back at him. "This year has been... a lot. I was not ready to remove it just yet and, I guess I just got used to wearing it."

Although tempted to correct her as he know the truth, Minho does not insist any more. Instead, he sends her a look that says he understands. Almost as if it was planned, Chan calls everyone in the living room to open the presents and to, as they do every year, make a toast.

It takes a few minutes until everyone is sat and silent but once they seem good to go, Chan nods his head at Minho. "Why don't you do the honours this year, Min?"

"Oh, um..."

"I think it won't be appropriate if it is anybody else other than you," Seungmin adds to which the others seem to agree on.

Reluctantly, he gets up from his seat and clears his throat. "First of all, I'd like to apologize for the way I've been acting. I was going through a lot and I shouldn't have imposed it on you, I'm sorry. Second of all, thank you all for sticking by my side although I was a total asshole."

"Heck yeah, you are," he hears Changbin jokingly respond.

"Something else I want to mention," he continues, ignoring his friend, "is how much regret I've felt this year. Y/N?"

All eyes move to her figure by the mention of her name. She looks at Minho, feeling a bit intimidated, but smiles to let him know she wants him to go on.

"I've never loved anyone else more than I have with you. I am aware things were not ideal but you brought the best out of me. I'm sorry I had to be the one ruining this for us. I love you still and I can only wish you the best from now on." He gives the others a last glance before raising his glass. "Thank you Changbin for hosting this year's party, and merry Christmas!"

Even though the entire room cheers and applauds in response to Minho's sweet speech, Y/N is not mentally there anymore. Her mind going wild, she can't think straight other than what Minho has said. She undeniably still loves him, more than she'd like to admit. But is she ready to let him in again?

"Hey," Deena calls her out, shaking her away from her thoughts. "You might want to figure some things out with lover boy."

Her face grows red. "You think so?"

"He just left outside to go for a walk but I'm sure he isn't too far yet. Go join him."

"I don't know..."

"Y/N, stop being in denial. You still love him, he still loves you, he obviously wants you back... Just go get him already."

Slightly intimidated by her sister, she doesn't need to be told twice to go grab her coat and boots, and walk out the door. She expected for him to be at least further away on the street but it is definitely a surprise to see him sitting down on the porch. His back facing her, she quietly approaches him and sits beside him.

There is a moment of quietness before he finally looks at her. "It's snowing."

She chuckles. "Thank you for the info, Mr. Obvious."

They share a laugh and both go back to watching the snowflakes fall. It's calm and peaceful, Minho loves it. It painfully reminds him of many occurrences where they'd watch outside the window for no reason on snow days.

"That was a good speech you just made."

He smirks. "I know."

His playful demeanor is something she doesn't remember seeing in the last moments of their relationship. It feels nice to see him back, as himself.

"What you said earlier, did you mean it?"

He frowns. "The part about regrets? Yeah, I mean, I was an ass and it didn't help me getting better so... I just know I want to fix it."

She shakes her head. "Not just that. The part about still loving me."

He moves his eyes from the snow to her own and she looks at him expectedly. She is so pure, he hates himself from even thinking he had hurt her. Carefully, he takes her hands in his and sets himself just a bit closer to her while still giving her space. He feels the sweat on his forehead, waiting for either getting rejected or getting the love of his life back. Either way, he has to say it. He's been putting it off for too long.

"I meant every word I said, I still and will always love you. How can I not? You're sensitive, smart, beautiful, and so caring. You always put me before yourself. So far, you were ready to give up your cats so I could have them because you knew I needed them."

"Minho-"

"No, you don't get to interrupt me until I'm finally done saying what I have to say. Y/N, never once did I think you were obnoxious. You see beauty in everything, something I'm incapable of doing and that's what bugged me. It bothered me how you are so perfect while I am not even close to be as loving as you are."

She scoffs with a knowing smile pending on her lips. "Now, I'll have to cut you here. You don't see yourself how I see you, Minho. Why do you think I fell in love with you in the first place? You have your own little ways of showing affection, each cuter than the other. I don't mind the rest because I know you do love me."

"I hurt you," he argues sadly.

"And I forgive you, just as long as you don't do it again," she grins, tightening her grasp on his hands.

Minho raises an eyebrow in confusion. "You forgive me... As in-"

"Don't make me say it, I have my own pride too."

Minho wipes away his tears he hadn't realized were starting to fall on his face and doesn't lose another second to bring her close to him and crash his lips onto hers. They're just like he remembered and maybe better, sweet and soft. At that point, both of them are crying. Only this time, it's not because they are hurting. So many feelings are said through the kiss and not a single one is coming from pain. It's sereine and warm, Minho can feel his whole body get lighter.

"Fuck, I missed you so much," he says when they break away, holding her close to his chest. "I'm never letting you go again."

"You better," she chuckles through a sniff.

The door behind them opens wide with more than seven pairs of eyes on them. Minho blushes while Y/N hides herself in the crook of his neck.

"So we good? Everything is sorted out? Please, the food is ready and I'm starving," Jisung complains, receiving a smack from Changbin.

"You're not starving and let them have their moment!"

Jeongin sighs. "I think the moment was already ruined.

The couple, who are still sitting, explode in laughter before getting up and joining their friends in the warmth of their home where Changbin's girlfriend has selected a nice Christmas playlist to complete the ambiance. Music Minho recognizes to be Y/N's favourites. A coincidence? Probably but he likes to believe it isn't.

While the boys congratulate him for being back together with his love, Minho looks outside through the window one last time. He isn't too sure if what he sees is right but four figures seem to look at him proudly.

While nobody is watching, he mouthes a "thank you" before the silhouettes fade away in the wind.

Minho still doesn't know to this day if what happened that night was real or not. One thing for sure is he can't be any more thankful for these spirits. Most importantly, he is finally in a happy place.

taglist: @lenilla15 | @muddy-waters | @nanaspalette | @nattisbored | @popcatx0 | @vanblack95 | @aestheticsluut | @thanxxskz | @minhoino | @taetertotsv | @luvscrazy | @lethallyprotected | @foxinnie8 | @jisuperboard | @jihanlovic | @soobin-chois | @jinxwhore28 | @purplelandsworld | @yeojoongiee | @smugrogerina | @jaehyunicecream | @urmomlikeslinotoo | @syprosight | @thesassy-mia | @chaotic-world-of-the-j | @heartsforlevi | @miyakoa | @seungincore | @skzsilentcryy

Copyright © 2023 skzhua. All rights reserved.

[hotchfiles]

hey, congrats on 100!! wanted to request seth cohen with the prompt “i would do anything not to give a shit, but i do” thanks so much!!

lari's 100th follower bash + send me a prompt and one of my boys for a blurb

seth + “i would do anything not to give a shit, but i do”

his eyes haven't left you from the moment he barged into your room, the close friendship you shared allowing him to be as impertinent as he wished. your own glanced him from time to time through your mirror as you worked on your makeup. you had a date. an actual date. cohen was not going to ruin that for you.

"so you're actually doing this, you're really going out with him." if you allowed yourself to delve more into the terrible heart wrenching crush you had on the curly boy laying your bed, you would tell yourself his voice sounded disappointed, sad even. but you promised yourself you wouldn't do that anymore. not holding your love life back because seth might look at you softly once in a while, or because he would sleep on your lap while showing you one of his underrated tv shows that would surely be canceled in two seasons max.

"oh no, i just enjoy uncomfortable clothes and spending two hours on my makeup. the usual." seth's response to your sarcasm was to scoff annoyingly loud and roll on your bed to look up your ceiling, trying to think of anything he could say or do that could stop you.

he couldn't just lock the door and swallow the keys even though that was the first option to come to mind. a fake allergy attack wouldn't work, you knew of everything he was allergic to. he could just ask you not to—but then you'd ask why.

and he didn't know why. he just didn't want you to. it was unnerving to think of you having fun with another guy with your silly pretty dress and your red lipstick he never saw you wear before. and he couldn't even blame on your date. he was a cool normal guy, not some kind of awful jock.

"well, i mean, it's firefly night, you never miss firefly night. are you coming home before it airs or—" seth didn't finish his pleads, the way you looked at him was enough of an answer, you didn't even like firefly that much, your biggest enjoyment out of it was nathan fillion being a hottie and... cohen's company. you sigh deeply, avoiding his gaze as you went directly to your shoes, trying to find something remotely elegant for a dinner.

of course you would rather be laying on his couch, eating popcorn, cozy on his blanket that always smells like him, laughing at his jokes and pretending to be offended when he thought you didn't understand one of them. but the more you did that, the more you lost precious opportunities to find someone to actually be with you. love you.

"but like, you don't even know him." not true, he was older than you both, but he graduated from the same high school only months before. "and he's not even tall." he was taller than you though. "and he has a terrible taste in socks."

"socks, cohen? really?" you groan in frustration, at him and at the fact not one of your heels matched your dress. too high, too black, too thin, too tall. nothing matched. "why do you care?" you ask finally, your hands on your hips as you looked over at him, who, sensing you were getting madder by the second, decided to get up and just sit on your bed, looking into your eyes. "do i need your blessing? do i have to ask you before going out with someone? why, why do you care?"

"i don't know! okay. i don't know." his body jumps from your bed, pacing out through your room, avoiding your eyes at all costs. “i would do anything not to give a shit, but i do.” he stops on his tracks, his breathing is loud, was it ever that loud? or were you both just too quiet?

you think you're gonna regret this, but you step even closer to him, planning to possibly ruin your friendship but to at least get a single kiss before it happened. seth looks at your lips and like many times before he wonders how soft they are, if the lipstick you had on tastes like cherries like your balm you usually wear and forces on his lips with your fingers. would your thighs be warm around his waist? would his cold hands on your cheeks scare you away? just the usual stuff a good friend would think about his friend who is also a girl.

he acts on impulse as do you, both of you going for a kiss at the same time, laughing at how uncoordinated it felt because of it, noses hitting before your lips could touch. but they do eventually. and seth notices the lipstick does not taste like cherries on your soft lips, it actually tastes awful, but he doesn't care. your makeup is getting completely ruined, his fingers firm on your cheeks, but you're more than happy to let that happen.

the kiss doesn't linger, the need for air even stronger due to the surprise of it all, his forehead touches yours lightly, his hands never leave your face. "firefly night is just... very important to me." you nod at his joke, too stunned to even laugh.

"your house then." it's not a question, you let go of him and he groans missing how warm you felt. you put on the first pair of slippers you can find and pull his hand as you left your room. not a single plan to watch the stupid show in mind.

[sunlightbender]

A Somewhat Scathing Barbie Review (from a Barbie lover)

SPOILER WARNING FOR THE BARBIE MOVIE

Okay, okay, PLEASE don’t skin me alive for saying this, but I thought the Barbie movie was mid at best. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible, but I’ve been seeing people all over the internet praise it as the greatest cinematic masterpiece of our generation and it’s just... not.

As a positive opening, here’s what I liked:

Set design

Costuming

Acting

(Controversially) The narrator

The music

It’s obviously a gorgeous movie. It’s got so many references to actual Barbie sets and outfits, and as a Barbie fan it’s so much fun to see real people in replicas of Barbie clothes. It’s also super funny, and the music is really enjoyable. With so many positives, it might seem odd that this is titled as a scathing review, but for me, the most important factor in any movie is the story, and well... Barbie’s kind of sucks.

Look, I don’t want to ruin anyone’s perspective on a movie they enjoyed so I’d suggest stopping here if you really liked it. 

The storyline was so heavily lacking. My first biggest qualm: this movie isn’t feminist, it’s sexist, dressed up in feminist frills. Disclaimer: I’m a feminist, hardcore, my family teases me about it all the time. From the very opening of the movie, where they mention that the Barbies see themselves as having made a feminist impact in the world, implying that Barbie as a brand HASN’T done that... eugh. Sasha’s opinion on Barbie is very heavily hinted to be the ‘correct’ one, where Barbie hasn’t positively impacted real women. Gloria’s suggestion at the end, to make an ‘ordinary’ Barbie backs this up - the energy of “We need a realistic Barbie, not the silly, pretty, blonde bimbos of the past”, if you will. 

Let me state this: Barbie is, and has always been, a feminist. Barbie has represented strong women for ages. Barbie, in her pink and glittery glory, has had hundreds of careers, dozens of friends, is loved by all, lives life on her own terms, and has Ken as an accessory. She’s gorgeous and fun and smart and powerful and capable. She has ALWAYS been feminist, and any girl who grew up with Barbies will tell you that playing with them has only helped them imagine “what if I could be-”, in the best possible way. As a woman in STEM, I remember playing with Barbies as a kid, and knowing that I could really do anything, because Barbie could too. 

To build onto this, Gloria’s suggestion that an ‘ordinary’ Barbie be made is ridiculous - I’ve always viewed most Barbies as ‘normal’ people! Are they incredible? Of course! But they’re normal people - that’s the whole POINT of Barbie - she can be anything, she can do anything, she’s incredible because women as a whole can be anything, do anything, and are incredible. To have an ‘ordinary’ Barbie that women can relate to is to imply that ordinary women aren’t capable of being vets, engineers, lawyers, environmentalists, businesswomen, etc. It’s almost as if the movie struggles to differentiate Barbie, the brand, from Barbie, the character. Can any one person have 200+ jobs? No, of course not, but Barbie, the character, has NOT done all of those - it’s just all different fields that Barbie could be capable of - because Barbie, the brand, represents everything that women as a whole can accomplish.

Next, the Kens. Oh god, the Kens. I LOVED the start of the movie. Himbo, accessory Ken is incredible. I love him. I finally understood why straight women loved Ryan Gosling. Then he became a misogynist. Ken’s whole arc is so rushed and muddled. Ken was miserable and bitter even before things started going wrong. In the perfect Barbieland, why should Ken be bitter? It doesn’t make logical sense - before Barbieland was falling apart, you’d think the Kens would be okay with their position in the world. And if not, then is the implication that Barbieland was never perfect? That didn’t come across to me. Let’s be frank, in a perfect Barbieland, there’d either be perfect equality where nobody was upset, or everyone would be 100% okay with the inequality in the world. 

He was so obscenely sexist that the funny movie became genuinely uncomfortable to watch, and for the conclusion to be for Barbie to APOLOGIZE to him despite him stealing her house and brainwashing the country...????? And then the main issue was never even resolved - the hardcore matriarchy continues to exist - just everyone saying “I am Ken” is not going to prevent another Ken uprising, and if Barbieland is perfect, I reiterate once more, KENS DESERVE TO BE TREATED FAIRLY TOO. Also, it seems a little anti-feminist to make the Barbie movie essentially a Ken movie with Barbie crying in the back. The plot was SO Ken-heavy that it didn’t feel like a Barbie movie at all. A really feminist movie would’ve made Ken a background, barely-important character, but he runs the show.

I won’t go on and on, but it’s really uncomfortable. Including the forced almost-kiss. 

Lastly, my big qualm is that Barbie becomes a human. Come on, is humanity not over ourselves already? Why do we make everyone in movies obsessed with us? It’s not enough that aliens should want to live on earth, or that princesses should dream to be common, or that robots wish they were human, Barbie herself has to long to dress in beige and be called Barbara. It was implied that the feminist out here is that Barbie has to escape Barbieland, to become her own person, but Barbie, the idea, has already been feminist! It was important for her to be Barbie, the idea, and there’s no sense to why she should want to be human. Why can’t she stay a perfect stereotypical Barbie, another cog in the perfect, plastic Barbieland machine? What’s wrong with that?

Then, all the dropped plotlines:

Gloria and Sasha’s relationship

The CEO

Ken’s still miserable

Barbie’s impact on the women of the world

Brainwashing apparently is fixed by one cheesy speech?

I think it’s a huge case of target audience. I only realized today, three days after the early screening day when I watched it, that it was not made for Barbie fans like me, who watched every piece of Barbie media, who’ve loved the brand for years. It’s made for people who played with the dolls in the 90s, relegated it as “for kids” and were waiting for a socially acceptable excuse to watch a pink movie again.

Was it a terrible movie? No, I suppose not, but frankly, the movie was muddled, corny, bland, and everything that the movie tried to do has been done better by Barbie’s animated movies and show. If you haven’t watched them, I’d suggest starting with Big City, Big Dreams. It’s a short, easy watch about being competitive without being toxic. The Dreamhouse Adventures series also has a lot of great messages. And then, my personal favorite, the Princess and the Pauper, has an awesome message about women supporting women. Now the men in THAT movie really ARE side characters.

One final comment: Barbie doesn’t give kids eating disorders. Adults telling kids they should look like Barbie gives kids eating disorders. And if you’re blaming Barbie for that, well, please also look at Disney, which pretty exclusively has their fat characters be villains, or toxic teen movies from the early 2000s which called people at size 2s fat. Take it from a woman who’s had multiple eating disorders.

What a rant, huh? And that’s WITHOUT getting into the lack of queer rep in a movie that marketed itself as being very camp - Hari Nef aside (she was wonderful!). If you enjoyed the movie, please don’t let me ruin it. It was definitely a lot of fun, but for me, the story really broke the movie. I’ll give it a 6/10 for enjoyability, and a 4/10 for objective quality.

[youredreamingofroo]

Juniper Camila Norman

14 years old, DOB: 14/1/2010

Roo's youngest sister, Better known as Juno.

Born under Virginia and a man she met in Spain, Mateo García.

"I don't really... know Juniper, she lives in Spain with her father, Mateo, my Mother had another hookup some years ago and had Juniper, Juniper couldn't be cared for by her Mother, due to her inconsistent patterns of depression, while she pled sane, begging to keep her daughter in her custody, it was denied, and Mateo decided to take her, he didn't want her to end up in a janky foster home, he's kind and I love that for him, but from what I've heard from Mateo and my Mother, on the occasions that she can visit, it's nothing good, she seems to... use Mateo's kindness for her own enjoyment and manipulation, I hope what they're saying isn't true... but... last time my Mother told me about my younger sister, she was right... I worry for Mateo, and Juniper." - Roo

[Rest under the cut just in case, as it describes Juniper, who's overly exploitative of her father, doing things kids shouldn't be doing - nothing sexual 👍 E.G, Drugs, Vaping/Smoking, Drinking. There's also content involving an Eating disorder and fatphobia]

Juno is a terrible child, she's exploitative of Mateo's overly forgiving and kind person, Mateo is a very "she deserves a second chance," kind of guy, and at this point, he's given her at least 400 chances, and she's ruined each one, she's currently in 3º ESO, and averages around a 1.00-0.50 GPA, she views school as menial labour, and would rather hang out with her boyfriend and circle of friends. She spends most of her freetime [or otherwise, time where she's supposed to be in school] vaping, smoking, and getting drunk, the sheer rush of doing something she wasn't supposed to made her continue, but it was the rush she got from doing drugs, it made her feel like shit, and she regretted it afterwards, but it came full circle just for the rush.

She has struggled with her body, her boyfriend is openly against "fat" women, he will aloud judge her body in public, leaving her feel embarrassed, especially since she chooses to dress in more revealing clothes, leaving her vulnerable to judgement, and her boyfriend was her biggest critic. She doesn't eat much, she OMADs (One Meal a Day) quite frequently and fasts often, she's frail, but she does it for her boyfriend, and overtime, has become incredibly critical of other people and their body, while she doesn't openly state it like her boyfriend does to her, she finds herself doing it to her friends and sometimes telling her friends about people she saw and their bodies. With every passing week, she becomes weaker, she's still not considered severely underweight, but at 92 pounds, the effects of being underweight begin to take place, her periods slowly stopped occurring, she began getting dizzy frequently, she was always tired, she bruised easily and always felt like she was a sneeze away from collapsing. Mateo slowly noticed these symptoms, he cared for her and wanted her to be okay, so he took her to see a doctor, who had her sent to a treatment center.

Juno still suffers from a mild eating disorder, but has mostly recovered, Mateo makes sure to monitor her, as per her and the doctor's request, but she continues to be a pain in the ass to most people, and since recovering, she's lost all her friends and her boyfriend ended things with her, but he couldn't end it like a normal person, and had to call her all kinds of things, but the worst for her was "fat." Juno has lasting effects from being underweight and a recovering addict, she had to be pulled out of school, and resides with her father, who is helping her recover, while she more than definitely appreciates it, she has a persona that she has to keep up and acts annoyed and pissy with Mateo, but he knows better. She still has retained some habits from her old circle of friends, like dressing in revealing clothing (more specifically as a habit from her ex), putting on (sometimes) messy makeup, and getting her nails done.

[joeys-piano]

WIP Preview // Wholesome Story Opening on Crack

This is the first time I got to incorporate a little bit of my day job into a fic, and I find out I'm really decent at writing for parents as I am with old men and delinquents. I think it's pretty obvious which Hitachiin brother from Ouran I have a soft spot for.

---

“Risk management starts at home,” says the black swan of all his troubles. Or he tries to.

Dad had shown them what an internal control was when they were three. And there were three things a three year old and his older brother were excited about: Daddy, pick me up. What is that? Ooh – Hikaru! spilled in laughter inside an office they could waddle through without a key. But if there’s a fourth thing, it’s climbing the keyboards until a program nearly crashes. Because Dad was the kind of guy—and still the guy—with a ton of peripherals at his station, and a litter of No, Son! baby signs were powerless to stop his children. But Dad was smart. An internal control for when your children were the same as trouble was to disconnect any items you had laying around and weren’t really using. And that was the first step to risk management as far as Dad would have them know: if there is something you really care about, you have a process to keep it safe.

And Dad cared about his and Hikaru’s pure enjoyment in being children. Even if it flew in the face of all reasoning and there was a footprint on one of his monitors: he would hoist them on either thigh as they clamor up to see him work, and there would be these boring white dotted graphs with crazy red lines zipped about. Then he’d say, Boys. That’s how many devices Daddy’s pinned as rogue machines. and showed a different graph of the ones he dispatched from the home network in the past week. And though the takeaway was having processes that were on the lookout for any rogues, Hikaru’s ingeniousness looked at the computer and thought the coolest thing was to break the system.

Thus Mom lamented when her dearest darling became an eccentric little nerd, and there was never exactly a quiet moment when the home network could fall to pieces. So it surprises no one when Hikaru vapes about twice a day for his muse, but will begrudgingly be a son-in-law to one of the biggest heads in all of healthcare. Not that he says that, at least verbally. Nor in the toasty vanilla-smoke—because ‘water vapor’ ruins the rhyme—coming to clutch him around the shoulders like a cozy mourning gown.

For himself.

For his brother—Kaoru’s somehow hitched with demons, and there’s an exaggeration somewhere in there that neither of them will ever drop.

He’s convinced himself Kaoru’s married while at the very most, he’s just engaged. But that might as well be the Devil talking when Hikaru puffs up without a vape. He quickly joins him on the couch as if he heard his brother was having twins, like he’s too young—Hikaru—to be an uncle at twenty-three.

[citylawns]

this is so funny because I love my followers... we have great conversations on here lol. I switched the ask box off because there is one person who is taking advantage of that and the comfortable relationship I had with people on here by messaging me a billion times a day asking the same questions over and over again and telling me how much she values my body for being skinny, how much she wishes to be skinny, and I was spending hours after work coming on here to try and comfort that person but its really disturbing and upsetting me and was taxing a lot of my time and mental energy. so I just wanted to give myself a break but then this person is trying to find a way to speak to me in other ways. it's also sucked away all my time and enjoyment from connecting to my other followers on here. I've spent hours upon hours answering the anon messages this person sends which you can see on my blog but I had to stop for my own mental health and because it has ruined being on here for me.

so I'll switch the ask box off on my portfolio blog too since you literally can't behave or give me a break... like jesus....that's the blog for my work! where is your respect and boundaries?!

I stand by saying sometimes people need to try figure things out for themselves. no one is entitled to make me explaining myself or things I post for myself on here? just grow up a bit. seriously. I'm not a pushover and I don't care if you think I'm the biggest cunt in the world for having these boundaries. I've been on the internet a while and I know now and then people who follow me don't give a damn about me but just want me to perform some free service for them - and use me as the vessel to project their insecurities onto, using me to fuel their ED.

I'm just so, so drained by someone commenting on me and my physical appearance every single day. I know you can't imagine and I know you don't have compassion for me. I don't care about that, but you can't ever make me feel guilty. I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, I do not care what you think. I will be coming on here to have some god damn space lol. don't make this place toxic.

[bobwess]

Has your time in film affected how you consume media?

What has been your most surreal experience on set?

Has your time in film affected how you consume media?

Usually I'm good about managing not to think about it, but every once in a while I start focusing on the how-it-was-made instead of the whats-on-screen-storywise.

One difference is actors. There are a couple actors who I've worked with who were giant assholes, and I just can't watch anything with them in it.

(Doesn't happen as much, but there are a couple actors I've gotten to know very well over the years, and for them specifically I have a really hard time taking them seriously in villain roles specifically so a couple big movies have been completely ruined for me.)

I think the biggest change has been when something goes wrong, I can usually source what went wrong. But it sort of ruins my enjoyment of making fun of bad stuff? Sam's bad wig in the finale? Shit, I know what that's like and I know why it happened. So I miss out on being able to just sit back and laugh at people's fuck-ups. (Doesn't ALWAYS stop me, I'm not a saint, but--)

Another smaller one, films tend to just yank poor innocent crew members and force them onto the screen to fill out background, and there is a chunk of movies that I hate watching parts of because I don't really love seeing myself on camera, so a bit of it is just ruined for me.

What has been your most surreal experience on set?

That is difficult to pick there are so many!!

There was a film once that was filming all over, but unit base was in this giant sports arena, and all the trucks and some of our cars just parked in the middle of this sports arena. We go about our day from there, we're on a couple locations, I spend some down time exploring the tunnels under and rafters of the arena. It's a good day. (I was make-up on this particular set. That day there were only 2 of us.)

At the end of it, we have one scene left, with only one principal actor, so the other makeup artist is like "You go on home, you have a longer commute" because we don't need two of us for one scene.

So I pack up my case, and start rolling out onto the sports arena floor, heading for my car. Except I can't see my car. What I *CAN* see is this beautiful marble bathroom in the middle of the floor that HAD NOT been there when I parked and was now fully blocking my car in.

Sets department descended upon this place and had constructed a beautiful and complex bathroom facade set piece so they could film this last scene out of nowhere. (They thought my car was one of the grips' who would be one of the last people to leave set, so they didn't realize they were blocking anyone in.)

So I got to roll back in and tell her that in fact I couldn't leave because my car was in the bathroom.

I ended up staying. It was a scene where the actor dances around the bathroom getting ready and then takes a bubble bath, so I spent a large amount of my time up to my shoulders in a giant plastic bin, swishing around bubble bath to work up a huge foam so I could artfully coat him in it between shots.

It was actually a really good day. Loved that actor. We had a good time pranking the other makeup artist while she was away.

[crusherthedoctor]

No listen because I am just SO tired of seeing this.

It's happened with 2012 TMNT and it's happening with Sonic, like in every single form of media Sonic has.

People watch/read something they don't like and spread unnecessary hate/rumors about the media as if it won't affect anyone else. I've been a victim of this for so long and I genuinely don't understand why people just can't decide to stop watching something if they don't like it. The only reason I think this happens is because they WANT to spread hate for the media and that upsets me so much.

I understand criticism. It is necessary when it is necessary. But you can't sit there and say "this isn't my Sonic" and then continue to read the comics and find "your Sonic". There is no one Sonic, and I am sick and tired of people treating him like some. Thing they can just take for themselves.

Sonic is allowed to express emotion. The problem that I have with him is that he doesn't do it often, but this isn't me complaining about it because this was an intentional choice by SEGA/IDW, they have proven and said it many times now. He is not some robot, it wouldn't make any sense for him to get back up from being electrocuted and almost drowned (which is one of his biggest fears, by the way) and be expected to be okay. That exact thing happened in Forces and you all complain about it, but you expect that to happen here??? Istg make up your minds.

What Surge said was a lot. What he went through was a lot. He's going to be tired and angry. It's normal and it's allowed.

I have said this before and I will say it again: If you don't like reading the comics, then stop reading them just to hate on them. And if you can't do that for some reason, then stop posting your hate in the idw Sonic tags, make a anti-idw tag if it appeases you. But stop making it seem like they're ruining Sonic's character when other people are trying to enjoy this new direction.

I already use an anti tag for my more bitter-tasting posts about the comic.

I already stopped buying the comic a long time ago, because I'm not going to waste money on somthing that continues to disappoint me. As for why I continue to acknowledge it, that's because pretending it's not there won't make it go away, especially since it's still ongoing and still influencing the rest of the franchise to an extent. Not to mention the sheer amount of influence that Ian Flynn in particular has been given lately. It's kind of impossible to ignore.

I already limit my thoughts to my own blog and the reblogs of those who share similar opinions. If I'm reblogging a comment of someone who likes the comic, it's usually for the sake of bringing up a valid point rather than going "fuck IDW" and leaving it at that. And I tend to use the aforementioned anti tag on top of that.

I already go out of my way to NOT hunt down IDW fans' blogs just to shit on them and their enjoyment, nor do I wish ill upon them for having a different opinion. You know. Like what they do with me and my friends.

Sonic is allowed to show emotion, yes. Neither me or anyone else who has criticised the comic has ever said that he shouldn't. But different characters express their emotions in different ways, and not every character is going to react with 100% emotion. Sonic is a subtle character despite his simplicity and outward demeanour, and the games - the core and meat of the franchise, whether you like it or not - have consistently shown that when he's feeling particular strong emotions, he does it in his own way. Are you seriously going to tell me with a straight face that he wasn't cold to Erazor and then sympathetic with Shahra in Secret Rings, or sad when he seemingly lost his friends in Lost World, or when Emerl died in Battle? Fans demand for nuance, and yet they refuse to see it when it's there, in favor of shallow drama where everyone calls out their feelings like a Pokemon attack.

Also, Sonic gets back up in the face of adversary all the time. It's one of the most consistent displays of his resolve, with Black Knight being a famous example.

Also-also, while Sonic does have trouble with water, him having an outright fear of water is something that's only true in adaptations and mistranslations.

As for Forces... complaining about what in Forces? I genuinely don't know what you're referring to here. Do you mean the line about torture? Because I don't actually mind that line as much as most fans do, even if was a bit hamfisted in execution.

And spreading hate and rumors? How about you take that complaint to the people who are actually guilty of that? As in, the stans who stalk and send threats to people like myself who don't like the comic, and try to gaslight us? I've never done that once, no matter how passionately I've ranted about my issues with the comic.

But it's always us, isn't it? The people who actually engage in legitimately twisted and dangerous behaviour are allowed to do what they do, but the moment you explain on your own blog why a comic's character decisions don't work, oh no, THAT'S inexcusable.

If you're going to request that I silence my problematic Sonic thoughts like a good little subservient, the least you could do is pay attention to what I actually do and don't do. Your inability to tolerate the mere thought that someone isn't in love with what this comic has been doing with the characters ("stop making it seem like they're ruining Sonic's character") is not my problem.

[mouseandmice]

A long PSA to people who play or are starting to play DnD about some things I wish people told me and the people I have played with:

Establish boundaries, and remember, if you feel uncomfortable, tell people. Session zeros are really important in doing that, but remember that if you feel uncomfortable about something being discussed or something about the subject matter during a session (i.e. say a phobia of spiders while fighting a spider), even if it's a while into the campaign, you need to tell someone. Talk to your DM or your group and tell them what is up. Don't put things off and assume it will work out on its own. Stuff builds up, and the biggest part of DnD is that you enjoy it, so don't let the little things build into something that ruins your enjoyment of the game. Be open.

Take personal time when you need it just remember to give your a group a heads up. Life is going to life and its okay to miss a session just make sure your group knows you cannot make it. At the same time if you can't make sessions for a long period of time talk to your DM to work things out maybe your character has a side quest or gets cursed and leaves to break it until you are able to attend sessions. (Or maybe you are an in and out side character, a good DM will want to work with you to solve the problem and not cut you out entirely.)

(It can sometimes be unavoidable to miss and not give much notice just don't miss 10 sessions and then show up with an excuse about getting lost on the way to the store for milk. Unless you actually did I don't know your life, maybe you had really bad directions.)

Not every group works out and that's okay. Sometimes it's scheduling, sometimes it's because it wasn't enjoyable, sometimes it's cause people suck, whatever the reason you are not obligated to try and stick it out. If you are stepping out from an active campaign just make sure you inform the group that you can't make it anymore. (At some point they might figure your not coming back but it's a little bit of an asshole move, especially if you know them outside of the game)

Always communicate the things you learn! Secret info is great but remember there is expiration date to having a cool reveal, and also to info that could save a characters life. (Never be the dude I played with who almost watched one of our characters die after rolling a nat 20 to notice and chose not to say anything or do anything to stop them)

My number one though is IT’S A TEAM GAME. We play in groups for a reason so be ready to be a team player. Every character will have times when they standout maybe your character has a side quest or a goal they need to complete and that is their thing but remember you need to work with the party. It's cool to want to play the loner but be the loner with the group. If feel your character isn’t standing out enough then talk with the party but also don’t go in with the expectation you will have the One True Character to Rule Them All or are the only Chosen One. The rest of the party are not your sidekicks (unless someone is playing a sidekick) and you are not theirs (unless you are playing the sidekick or maybe your all sidekicks) (A campaign of sidekicks is actually a really funny idea)

Also if someone is uncomfortable with what you are doing? Stop it. Especially if they voice it at the table in the moment. Take serious no’s seriously. Respect the people you play with as people. (What happens at the table. Stays. At. The. Table. Unless it's real world illegal remember DnD laws are fake, real laws still exist.)

And in the end, just have fun with it. It's a fun game when you are with the right people. Some people will take it as serious life or death, and some will treat it as a loony toons adventure. There is no right way to play, so however you choose to play, just enjoy it.

[beevean]

I’m a big fan of IDW. I know there are problems with the writing here and there. I know it isn’t a perfect comic, but I think it’s a fun alternate medium to enjoy Sonic in. Plus, comics are a medium where characters can talk more and get more in-depth.

To be honest, I feel like you and your anti-IDW group get too bent up on things. I understand pointing out faults with a series, but sometimes you and your friends go on for so much. It’s causing fights and definitely has gathered mockery online off of tumblr.

I think you all try to articulate your points well, but I also feel you’re all so determined to hate everything in the comics or anything Ian Flynn works on. I’ve read through many of your points. Some are valid and fair, but sometimes it feels like you’re searching for the tiniest nugget to make a stink over. What’s the saying? Making a mountain out of an ant hill? I don’t remember.

I’m writing as one of the most avid IDW Sonic fans around. I hope you don’t get mad at this message, but this endless barrage against these mediums have don’t more harm than good.

I just think that if you hate the comics that much, just please stop reading it. You’re not enjoying it, you’re bothering people (also many if not most of your posts still pop up in the IDW tag), your group is being marked as a ridiculous part of the fandom, and it’s just very sad and draining to see.

That’s all. Thanks for reading.

I feel like you're someone I know. I hope I'm wrong.

I won't read anything after #50, that much I promised to myself. I'm also genuinely sorry that my posts pop up in the main tag - what other tag could I use? Maybe "anti idw"? I can try and replace all my tags and see if they still appear in the page. Again, I apologize for that :(

I know it seems like I'm trying very hard to be angry, but I'm not trying at all. It's just stuff that pops into my brain. What I'm pointing at are (in my opinion, you can disagree) genuine, glaring writing flaws that ruined my previously enjoyable experience, and only got worse as time went on. I care about these writing flaws because I care about Sonic, both the series and the character, and I'm very alienated by the constant praise Flynn gets, praise that got him to be called by SEGA to collaborate on what could be the biggest Sonic game to date

I'm a little skeptical of your claim that "we made a mockery of the fandom" - IDW is nowhere near as relevant outside of the Western Sonic fandom as the games are, and in the Western Sonic fandom it's clearly popular enough that SEGA considers him trustworthy enough to make him work on so many Sonic products: IDW, Frontiers, Origins, Prime, the low-quality enclyclospeedia. People adore the guy, we are a tiny minority. Trust me, non Sonic fans don't need IDW critics to think that Sonic fans are cringy.

Anyway, feel free to enjoy the comic. I have nothing against people who simply like it, and don't use it to bash the games, deliberately misinterpret the other side's position, or worse harass the other side like it has happened here on Tumblr. I'll try to find a better tag so that I will stay away from the main tag, and I apologize for ruining your fun.

And if you're someone I know and I've annoyed you to the point that you can't stand me anymore, feel free to unfollow me, I won't be mad. I understand.

[rmbunnie]

Finished the Stone Ocean manga! Here’s what I thought:

- Not entirely satisfied with the end of it, but that’s how these things go, and I was far from surprised with how much people talk about the ending without saying that there will be spoilers.

-I knew about the Möbius Strip moment ahead of time, but it was still super cool to see! C-Moon’s power in practice was disgusting, but the gravity concept was really cool!

- Bohemian Rhapsody was my favorite of the new stands in concept, but I found the execution a little hard to keep track of (the way the stand worked was clear, but like, if the person takes the narrative place of the character they like then you expect me to believe the BIG BAD WOLF was a beloved character for Anasui? the WOLF??? Now that i type it out it might be because of the “cutting him up” bit and Anasui’s weird fascination with disassembly but come ON WHO LIKES THE WOLF???) Overall i loved the stand though.

- At some point near the end Jolyne kinda stopped feeling like Jolyne to me. I think it just about lines up with when Jotaro shows up again, which makes sense because a lot of the stuff that makes Jolyne stand out is the confidence and boldness and all the Joestar traits that she shares with her father and having two characters acting that similar would be a bit difficult to execute, but it still was a little disappointing, because her biggest moment was the Möbius Strip thing and,,, helping Emporio get away so he could be the one to finish the fight? It makes sense with the plot, really, but it is a little bit disappointing because I kept thinking “Oh, Jolyne is gonna have a big main character moment against Pucci, right? That’s gonna be just up ahead, right?” and then it just didn’t happen like that. I mean, I’ve seen people say Giorno felt like a side character in his own part (which I couldn’t agree with less tbh) but even Giorno, and every other JoJo of their part, including Jonathan who died doing it, got to face off with the main antagonist in the end, so the two characters who stood up most to Pucci being Anasui and Emporio was a little hollow to me.

- That’s not to say I thought Jolyne was written badly or anything like that, it was just a little disappointing to me that her big fights where she gets to stand on her own and have her main character moment were against smaller villains/inside the Green Dolphin Street Prison, but against Pucci and in the overall plot of things it’s FF, or Jotaro, or she’s just defending herself, or Emporio is the one who gets to end the ripple effect Dio started that has ruined her life since she was a child. I wish she got to be more active in her own part, and even though the original Joestar “curse” ends with her, it doesn’t sit quite right to me that it wasn’t ended by her. Jolyne is punished by fate for being a Joestar, bad things happen to her, she tries to stop those things, but when she gets to the source of the problem, she just dies there. She doesn’t get to stand against it as an individual, she simply dies. When she finally gets to be free of the weight of being a Joestar, it, like most of the other major plot points in Stone Ocean, is just something that is done to her, an action that is executed onto Jolyne.

- I liked Miu Miu’s stand and the Jailhouse Lock arc, I think it’s a really cool stand and in contrast to the issue above, it’s always so nice when Jolyne gets to really end an issue herself. It was really fun to see Gwess again, and all her moments were funny and overall enjoyable. It’s a little bit odd to me how many of the Jolyne “personality” moments that I saw being hyped up as funny before reading Stone Ocean (e.g. spoiling the movie, forgetting her underwear) were just because of Jailhouse Lock and overall unrelated to her main personality, but that’s not a writing thing or anything, just a bit weird in reception.

- Was not big on Erme’s usage post Kiss Of Love And Revenge fight. She was really cool in the Versus fight and her creative stand usage made the fight really interesting and tbh carried it (although putting Jolyne in her mouth was…. interesting?) but besides that it kinda just felt like she took the backseat to an extreme degree, and pretty much constantly since they escaped Green Dolphin Street Prison I was waiting for something to happen with her, and going “man, i miss Ermes, I hope she shows up soon!” and she just didn’t do that like she did back in the prison.

- I think this feeds into my main issue with everything post-breakout, which is not a critique on writing but simply a personal tonal preference: the character’s lives were more or less directionless, in what i believe is an intentional and justified way. It makes a lot of sense writing-wise, due to their circumstances and motivations, but I couldn’t see any of them getting out of prison and having a life after. Even if the ending wasn’t spoiled for me, this would have been one of the biggest indicators that the main cast was eventually going to die, because there would have been nowhere for them to go once Pucci was defeated. With Polnareff, similarly to Ermes, he was willing to die to avenge Sherry, but Avdol and Kakyoin talked him out of it, and he had a goal after, and he was able to choose what to do once their adventure was over. But Ermes had one life goal, and that was to kill Sports Maxx. If she broke out and survived afterwards, she would be wanted forever, and if she waited 8 years to get out she would have to restart her life with no family, nothing to do, and multiple criminal charges including armed robbery. This lack of prospects is similar with Anasui and Jolyne. There are possibilities for what they could do in their lives if they had survived, but none of them were hinted to in the story and there were no signs they would be inclined to do anything in particular post Stone Ocean. In a way, this makes the ultimate ending of Irene and Anakiss a bit kinder, because it removes the influences in their life that made them become that way, but “universe reboots where things are better” has never been a trope that I enjoyed very much, potentially because the better conditions still do not apply to the original versions of the characters, and to them all the suffering they went through really was in vain, because the self that they know did not live to see those conditions. This is a completely fine tone to write and creative choice to make, but for me it comes off a bit too depressing to really enjoy it.

- also Pucci would not have even been an antagonist to the Joestar’s specifically if it wasn’t for Dio introducing him to the Joestar feud, and if Jotaro had just left that diary intact and locked it up or something nothing bad would have happened to Jotaro that led to the ultimate loss that they suffered until Pucci started doing the Green Baby stuff, which they would have been alerted to via the star birthmark and subsequently could have prevented a lot better than they did in canon with coordination and probably stopped completely but it’s not like Jotaro could have predicted Pucci so that’s fate i guess

- It seems like this is the end of the “larger group of friends” JoJo structure that was in SDC, Vento Aureo, and to a lesser degree Stone Ocean for now, which is a shame because i like that set-up more than i do duos/trios but what can be done, it’s not like i’m gonna stop reading the manga and hey, one can hope for part 9 to revert to that arrangement. Tbh this particular one doesn’t really think that that’s gonna happen, but one can hope.

- Overall i think the strongest and most enjoyable parts of Stone Ocean were Savage Garden to Bohemian Rhapsody. I want to be clear that even though i’m talking a lot about the parts i found a bit of a let-down, I did like Stone Ocean pretty well overall!

tl;dr I was slightly underwhelmed by the ending of Stone Ocean, but i’m still excited for the anime adaptation to finish, i’m just looking forward to everything up until the Jailhouse Lock arc ends specifically.

I’m gonna start Steel Ball Run soon, but honestly i’m kinda just gonna read it so i can get to Jojolion haha

[gleefullypolin]

Getting stuck in a single mindset is really very bad for the fandom at large. I've seen people fall in love with a theory then refuse to be swayed by the fact that it's likely that's not what's going to happen. Or to like a fic and then get mad at other fics for not being the same as the fics they like. There's a lot of entitlement in that sort of behavior and I don't think people realize how they're acting when they're in the middle of it.

It all depends on the ship dynamic for me tbh. Mostly it's canon because the ships I like are usually rife with chemistry and it works for me. Sometimes I just think these characters might go nicely together, ha.

That damn boy has absolutely flirted with Pen before and either not known it or didn't think about it. The whiplash he has probably given her must have thrown her for a loop. I know he's not an idiot and I could be wrong but I feel like it's been implied in some of the interviews that maybe he's known her so long that he's just not put her in that position. Something has to flip the switch and oh boy it looks like his switch gets good and flipped.

I didn't read much about the scene just that the balloon scene is a bit of Hero Colin so I haven't heard anything else about it but between the guy trying to keep the balloon under control and the one who looks like he's holding her as a shield, I pick the one trying to control the balloon.😭

My girl! I want her to stand up for herself. I want her to love herself and accept herself and grow into her voice. I also want Colin to stand up for her and I want her to stand up to Colin and whoever else gives her reason to (except maybe not the Queen, keep your head, Pen) and do it confidently and let them hear the smarts and wit that we know is laying underneath the girl who stumbles over her words when put on the spot. We believe in you.

The Hook nonsense was unreal. I think one of the dumbest ones of the later seasons, one where it was obvious Emma and Hook were ending up together was saying how he promoted rape culture. Literally they would throw whatever at the wall and see what stuck. The same people who wanted Emma to end up with Regina, mind you, were very very concerned with Hook's purported support of rape culture. Unreal. And you're right, his redemption arc was insanely well done. Media could learn a lot from how they handled his.

I know it's 3 weeks away but if it could be now that would be great, ha. I just want to knowwwww and see it for myself. Also to scream and kick my feet but whatever, I am very adult I will handle this like a mature person, I'm sure.

Yes you have to be willing to move from a mindset especially if its something you came up with from a spoiler or a snippet or your own headcannon. Or to attach any of the actors life to the characters life. I’ve seen it all and that behavior doesn’t sit well with me. And I can’t see how it can help your enjoyment of a show. If I felt that way about a character or actor I would stop watching it. In fact I have done that honestly. But sometimes the biggest thing to ruin a show is the fans LMAO!!

I’ve had a few where they started to gravitate a pair together but nothing ever happened and that was a bummer but never went goo goo over. It takes a lot for me to truly gravitate to ship tho.

Yeah I remember the scene in season 2 where he returned and he was hugging his family and then he turned to look at Pen and you thought they were going to hug before the kids came running in but the look he gave her was a look that NO platonic friend would EVER give another friend. That was longing if ever I saw it and I was like WTF was that! But then he would do these things where he would say lovely things to her and then boom…of he ran like a turd! So flip the damn switch Pen, talk about his eyes and blink those lashes and flaunt those boobies cuz boy needs a wake up call!

RIGHT I thought the same thing. Why is the veggie boy hiding behind Pen? Like boy stand up and stop touching her! Ok I’m really joining the I don’t want to like LOWK! Let’s start the fan club right now! We can be the founding members!

Yes I was working on some quotes for my countdown to season 3 and I love a couple of them where she’s speaking to Colin and he’s like omg I can’t believe you are speaking to me like this and I really want to see that Pen! I’m dying for that girl to come out! Cuz yes girl that’s the one that needs to speak to Colin and tell him how you feel! He already knows she is smart and witty and the best person he knows, but once he sees her as a woman that he wants its going to be FIRE!

OMG yes the damn rape BS with the Swan Queen and Swan Fire ships was so freaking annoying. Because he was anything but like that. It was just so ridiculous because Neal left her pregnant in jail and Regina kept trying to KILL her. But OK!! And all Hook was doing the whole series was trying to chase her across every realm in every story. He died for her how many times? Lol.

I had to create my count down because I can’t wait any longer. 3 weeks isn’t going fast enough. I’m over this. I am kicking and screaming now. This is taking tooooooooooooooo long.

[aeoki]

SS Finals - Crown: Chapter 19

Location: SS Finals Live Stage Characters: Tetora, Subaru, Hokuto, Chiaki, Madara, Hiiro, Aira & Rinne

Rinne: “Gyahahahaha ☆ Hello everyone watching from home! Look, it’s your childhood bestie, who’s still being an idol, Rinne Amagi!”

“Are ya enjoying this year’s ‘SS’? No? Alright, then!”

“But of course ya ain’t! There’s someone out there who’s trying to ruin the biggest festival in the idol industry – ‘SS’! They’re the root of all evil!”

“No one’s gonna be able to greet the New Year with a smile unless he’s outta the picture!”

Madara: …What are you trying to do?

Chiaki: Umm, Amagi-senpa–

Rinne: “Shut ya trap, Bastard-Who-Delivers-a-Deadly-Blow-For-a-Job! You’re supposed to be on the side of justice! Takes one to know one – it ain’t ya turn right now!”

Chiaki: Uh, it is our turn, though.

Tetora: …Are you saying “Crazy:B” will represent the “White Team” instead of “Double Face” for the fourth round?

Madara: Uh, I haven’t heard anything about that, so I can’t just say yes.

Rinne: “I ain’t listening to what ya gotta say!”

“But yeah, how about we put your battle on hold and let me take the stage? That’s what I thought about doing…”

“But the people watching would just find that boring, huh.”

“It’s supposed to be an enjoyable and noisy festival – it won’t be fun just watching me having a grand old time, right?”

“Let’s switch things up. Hey, “Double Face”, could ya let me be in the fourth round instead?”

Madara: Hm? I’m not exactly willing to accept the request of someone whose intentions are unclear. Besides, that would mean going against what’s written in the “oracle”.

The representative for the fourth round is us, “Double Face”. That’s what the “oracle” said, right?

Rinne: “Then gimme that ‘oracle’! I’ll cross it out and write something new on top of it!”

“It’s not like the ‘oracle’ is law – there’s no reason for ya to follow it to a T, right?”

Madara: I suppose that’s true. The other units and I won’t be happy with that. We only did what was written on it because it would also benefit us, after all.

Rinne: “Gyahaha! And I’m here saying that we should break that premise!”

Hiiro: Nii-san! What are you doing!? Explain yourself!

Aira: Hey, the camera’s are on so don’t just get on stage, Hiro-kun! You’re gonna get yourself involved! Help me stop him, Akehoshi-senpai!

Subaru: Huh, me? How come? I’m actually pretty excited since I can’t tell what’s gonna happen…☆

Aira: Oh, geez! Each and every single one of you ES people are just…!

Subaru: Besides, I don’t think Rinne-senpai would do anything bad this time.

He talked to us earlier and gave us some information.

But I think he’s doing this to make sure his message is heard all over the world.

If that’s the case, then we should leave him alone. It might be something good for us.

Aira: ……? ……?

Hiiro: What do you mean, Subaru-senpai?

Subaru: Well, just watch. I’m jealous – that’s supposed to originally be our job, right?

Hokuto: Hmph. The title of the “previous ‘SS’ champions” is just a hindrance, and it’s stopping us from doing our usual thing during this year’s “SS”. That’s what I also realised during Hokkaido.

We have something we’re ashamed about, but this time, we’ll pass the baton on to the “arrogant rookies”.

Aira: No no, stop saying those confusing things and stop him! I thought Rinne-senpai finally turned over a new leaf, but if he does something again then–

Hiiro: Indeed. Nii-san has changed just a bit. That destructive air he had during the summer is gone right now.

Should I believe in him and watch? I’m worried, though…

Rinne: “You betcha. Just sit back and see how cool ya big bro can be ♪”

“No. Neither of you guys have taken to the stage yet, so any one of ya will do – ‘Trickstar’, ‘ALKALOID’...”

“Come on up here instead of ‘RYUUSEITAI’.”

“Let’s create a legend or make history or whatever as we sing and dance. How ‘bout it?”

Hokuto: Then, we’ll take you up on that offer.

Subaru: Hold your horses, Hokke~ Let’s let “ALKALOID” take this.

If we’re following the plan and “RYUUSEITAI” will be fighting against “Double Face”, then the “White Team” will just have “Eden” and “Knights” left.

The “General Leaders” will obviously battle it out last, so the unit that’s left by process of elimination is “Knights”.

It’d be pretty sad to see “Knights” – one of ES’ Big Three – go against newbies, right? As their seniors, the previous “SS” winners…

And as rivals of “Knights”, let’s take them on instead. “Crazy:B” is also a new unit, so let’s have “ALKALOID” fight them since they’re of the same standing.

Hokuto: Hmm. Now that you mention it, I think that would be the smartest decision. It was written in the “oracle” that “ALKALOID” would fight “Crazy:B” too.

Rinne Amagi tends to do whatever he wants, but he might go easy on his opponent if it’s his own brother.

Hiiro: Hehe. Nii-san isn’t that sort of person, though.

Aira: Hey, can you not decide that all on your own? Are you ignoring what we have to say!? You two are always like this!

Hokuto: Do you have a problem with that?

Aira: Obviously! I–I’m not ready to get up on stage, though…!

Rinne: “Gyahaha. Well, chat as much as ya want – Lil’ rookie Rinne here will fill in for ya.”

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