#throwback to when he came out as straight

[happy-quack]

Here’s a link to a reblog with a transcript of the video

[sweetiepoison]

Famous Baby blurb

(The Leafs Game)

A/n: I’m actually really struggling writing the next part so a throwback! Italics indicate a flashback

“Try going up one note” You suggest standing across from Justin at the piano.

Your friend asked you to come over to help out with some new music he was working on. You also were trying to write an album of your own and figured the afternoon spent working would help you as well. Justin sang the previous verse over again but higher like you suggested.

“Yeah I like that.” He commented going straight into the next verse. You hummed along joining in on certain verses creating a harmony.

“How would you feel about this song being the first I release off the new album?” Your jaw dropped at Justin’s question.

“For real?” You gasped. Justin’s return to music had been long anticipated by both fans and the media alike. And for him to want the song you collaborated on to be his intro back into the music industry was appreciated.

“Of course!” Justin exclaimed scooting back from the piano. “(y/n), you are one of the biggest names in the industry right now if not the biggest” he said putting an emphasis on the word the.

You were like a little sister to Justin, originally signing onto the same label when you were 16 and starting your career. Justin knew what it was like to be so young and in the spotlight so he looked out for you. Despite you switching labels and Justin taking a step back from music, you remained close. There was no one else he trusted more to debut his new album with.

“You’re still Justin Bieber.” You reminded him. “You don’t need my name attached for this to be successful.”

You continued practicing until the afternoon slowly turned into the evening and Hailey came downstairs with a leafs jersey on and an extra in her hands.

“Cult meeting tonight?” You asked as she handed the jersey to Justin.

“Yeah, do you want to come?” She offered.

You laughed at the thought, “Hell no.”

“C’mon, (y/n) please.”

“Come support our friend with us.” They both wore the same pouty expression.

“Auston is not my friend.”

“But we are,” Justin cut in before you could go on a rant. “And would you rather hang out with your friends or stay in by yourself tonight?”

“I’m fine with staying in.”

“C’mon everyone’s going, and it’ll be a fun night and we can go out after-“

“Fine.” You give in. “But I’m not wearing a jersey.”

—

It wasn’t enough for you to just not wear a maple leafs jersey. You knew one thing would piss off Auston even more. So once you all settled into your seats you grabbed your best friends hand and dragged her down to the gift shop.

“You don’t even like hockey.” She reminded you as you searched through the jerseys. “Why waste money on something you’re never gonna wear again?”

“Because, Auston will hate it.”

“And why do you care what he thinks?”

“I don’t.” You immediately snapped. “But I definitely don’t want him to think I came willingly. Plus we’re from here so why not support the hometown team.” You shrugged continuing your search.

Once you finally settled on a jersey you liked you didn’t wait for a bag and instead immediately pulled it on over your shirt. The jersey may have been petty, but you knew it would get the job done and that’s what mattered.

Justin groaned and rolled his eyes once he saw you return to your seat, “I’m not even gonna say anything.”

“Good choice.” You said sitting down next to Shawn with a satisfied smirk, actually looking forward to the start of the game.

“The arena is packed tonight. And we are not short of celebrity guests. Up in the stands we have Justin and Hailey Bieber, Shawn Mendes, and (y/f/n) (y/l/n)” The crowd cheered loudly following the announcement and the excitement only grew as your section was featured on the Jumbotron. You waved and smiled for the camera.

“It looks like there’s a rivalry going on up there.” The other announcer commented on the oppsoing jerseys you were wearing. You adjusted in your seat making it very known that you had a Kings jersey on.

“I would love to hear the trash talking that’s going on up there between Justin and (y/n)”

—

Once again the crowd went wild as Auston scored a goal. The group around you excitedly jumped up cheering along with others. You remained stoic looking down at your phone to check the time.

“At least pretend to be happy.” Justin leaned down to whisper his back facing the ice. “The cameras are on us.”

“Excitement for Auston is just something I can’t fake.” You finalized with a shrug of your shoulders, but the pleading look on Justin’s face was too hard to ignore. So you forced a smile throwing in a few claps.

“I’ll take it.” Justin said satisfied.

Once everyone calmed down you went back to your phone showing Shawn pictures from the vacation your family took recently. You were so absorbed in telling various stories from the trip you didn’t notice the time out that was called.

Shawn’s song, Fallin’ All in You began playing. You absentmindedly hummed along and looked up to see the Jumbotron started back up and this time with the kiss cam.

The camera suddenly panned on your section and was featuring Justin and Hailey. All of your friends instantly began cheering the couple on. And when they gave in and the crowd erupted.

Your excitement was fleeting though as the camera moved off of them and onto you and Shawn.

“Oh God.” You mumbled with a smile on your face trying to cover up any discomfort you were feeling.

You thought your immediate hesitation would be enough of an indication that you didn’t want to kiss your ex, but they persisted refusing to move the camera.

“They aren’t going to move on till we kiss.” Shawn whispered.

“Fine.” You conceded leaning back and looking over at him. “You make the first move.”

“Like our first kiss all over again.” He laughed before leaning over and kissing you. It was gentle and sweet, but had the whole arena booming with excitement.

You immediately covered your face laughing along with him as the camera stayed on you two to get the aftermath. Shawn kept his arm wrapped around your shoulders and kissed the side of your head. “Give it a second they’ll move on…And we’re good.”

You were relieved when you looked up and it wasn’t your face you were seeing on the screen. The breakup took place seven years ago and you stayed true to your word remaining friends after the split.

While there were no longer romantic feelings, Shawn was a comforting piece of your foundation. He not only maintained a good relationship with you, but your family as well. You knew he would be a part of your life for the rest of your life.

“Good job guys, no matter what happens with this game, that’s all anyone’s going to be talking about.” Justin reached over to fist bump Shawn.

“So we need to know are you guys back together.” Your best friend held out her water bottle as a fake microphone to you.

“Yeah, that kiss seemed pretty intimate.” Your other friend, Mason joined in also holding out a water bottle.

“Shut up.” You giggled pushing the water bottle away. “If any of you say we’re together I will end you.”

“Not the threats.” Mason joked, “I’m for sure telling TMZ that when they call me.”

Following the kiss cam the intensity seemed to go up for both teams, especially for one player in particular.

Auston wasn’t sure why seeing you on the kiss cam annoyed him so much, but it did. Everyone was supposed to be here to watch a hockey game and you turned it into a joke.

“Fuck.” He angrily slammed his stick against the boards breaking it before taking a seat on the bench.

“Dude, take a breather.” Mitch encouraged sitting down next to him.

“I’m fine.” Auston insisted taking a long swig from his water bottle.

“You sure because you’ve seemed tense?”

“Yeah I just want to win.” Mitch knew that wasn’t the reason, but he also knew not to push so he let it go.

Following your kiss he began playing harder. His hits were more forceful, his trash talking more heated, and his need to score at an all time. The intensity in the arena extended beyond the ice. As the game drew closer to ending fans of both teams started getting more aggressive.

“Matthews sucks. Anytime anyone gets near him he’s crying and acting like a little bitch.” A man sitting in front of you screamed at the glass. You had watched him down four beers already and become progressively drunk as the game went on.

“He’s talented, but selfish with the puck and a show off. The talent won’t last forever.” His friend next to him chimed in. They were both wearing Kings jerseys similar to the one you had on.

The way they were talking about Auston didn’t sit right with you. Any other day you would agree and probably even say those things yourself, but today was not that day.

You may have not known much about hockey, but you knew Auston was good (you would never admit that to him). And two middle aged men saying otherwise annoyed you.

“(Y/n), don’t.” Your best friend wrapped her hand around your wrist. You looked down now noticing that your hands were clenched and tapping against your leg.

“I’m not going to do anything.” You reassured her, trying to take deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

“Are you sure? Because you have this crazy look in your eye and your extremely stiff right now.”

“I’m fine.” You seethed through clenched teeth.

“He’s overrated and overpaid.”

You took it upon yourself to tap on one of the men’s shoulder. As they turned around you cleared your throat and plastered on a tight smile. “Don’t you think this is the type of conversation you can have in your car on the ride home or maybe not even at all?”

“I can talk about whatever and whoever I want, when I want to.” The man on the right replied his beer sloshing around in his glass.

“You are two grown men talking about another grown man, be realistic.” You bit back, your attempt at being nice slowly fading away.

“You’re right we are grown men and allowed to have whatever opinion we want.” The second man replied raising his voice.

“Yeah maybe just don’t have it so loudly.” You suggested shrugging your shoulders and leaning back in your seat.

“You don’t know anything about hockey.”

“I know that right now the leafs are beating the kings.”

“Games not over yet.”

“And Matthews has scored two of their four goals.”

Despite your best attempts to keep the conversation cordial. The raised voices started gaining the attention of others around you. You knew a disagreement was one thing, but a full blown fight wouldn’t be a good look for you. As far as the public were concerned you weren’t the type of girl to be aggressive. And you would have maintained that look had one of the men not stood up so he was towering over you.

“He sucks the same way you probably get on your knees every night and suck his dick.” Any thought of being passive for your public image was out the window as you also stood not backing down.

“Excuse me.”

“You heard me.”

“No say it again I want you to hear yourself and how stupid you sound.” Image be damned. You didn’t want someone talking about Auston like that and you definitely weren’t going to allow them to talk about you like that.

“You’re nothing more than one of his sluts.” He threw his arms in the air, but before anything further could happen security was closing in on you quickly. You realized you hadn’t only caught the attention of the people around you but the whole arena as you looked up and could see yourself on the Jumbotron.

“And you’re a pathetic excuse of a human being. People pay to watch him, you’re running your mouth for free.” You had the final say as security pulled him away kicking both man out of the game. The crowd cheered watching them get escorted out, still fighting with anyone they could.

Watching them leave, however didn’t make you feel any better. You quickly picked up your bag and began climbing up the stairs before anyone could stop you. You were embarrassed that someone spoke to you like that especially in front of a crowd. You ran into the nearest bathroom locking yourself in a stall. You cursed yourself for letting your anger get the best of you. You knew this was going to be everywhere in a matter of hours. The string of texts coming into your phone from your publicist let you know that word already got to her.

“Fuck.” You groaned letting your head fall against the stall wall.

“(Y/n)?” You knew your best friend would find you. She stopped in front of the stall you were in, “I know you’re in there. I can see your feet.”

You groaned stomping your foot on the ground,“Go away.” There was no way you were opening the door.

“A security guard came over to us, Auston’s asking to see you.”

“No.” You flat out refused.

“Please.” You didn’t need to open the door to know she was biting down on her lip, a nervous habit she picked up from you. “He’s refusing to go back on the ice until he talks to you and they kinda need him.”

“Oh my god, he’s so dramatic.” You exclaimed opening the door. You usually were against giving into tantrums, but this needed to be resolved.

You begrudgingly followed security as they took you down to the tunnel where Auston was waiting.

“Are you crazy?” Auston screamed as soon as he saw you walking towards him.

Auston was confused as both teams were forced back to their benches in the middle of the game. Nothing happened on the ice to justify this, but as the crowd started to get loud and the Jumbotron featured the stands he realized it wasn’t because of what was happening on the ice, but rather off of it.

He watched as two people stood toe to toe yelling back and forth, neither backing down. But once he looked closer he realized he recognized the people around the two and then realized one of the people standing was you.

“So fucking stupid.” He mumbled, anger starting to flare up in his eyes. He continued to watch until the man raised his arm and that’s when Auston started moving before he could think. He didn’t get very far though, before multiple people were holding him back.

“Get off me.” He growled fighting against Mo, John, and Willy.

“You’re not going over there, this isn’t our arena and those aren’t our fans.” John kept his arms on Auston’s shoulders.

He continued watching as security closed in on the altercation separating you two, “fuck this.” He snapped breaking free from the hold on himself and moving towards the tunnel. “Someone get her down here.���

“Are you?” You shot back, “your holding up a whole game for this!” You motioned your hand between the two of you.

“I wouldn’t have to if you would’ve just sat down and stayed quiet!” He was pissed and didn’t care about who could possibly hear him.

“Oh yeah because I wanted a grown man yelling in my face.” You sarcastically let out, your voice going up an octave as you also got louder.

You watched as Auston shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. He had a concentrated look on his face, a look you’d seen before. This was the look Auston wore when he was trying to figure something out. But unlike before, the look didn’t go away, he was still frustrated.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He huffed pacing back and forth.

“I wasn’t, I was defending you!” You flung your arms in the air voice strained. “And based on how you’re treating me right now, I shouldn’t have.”

“I don’t need you to defend me.” Auston didn’t hold back, “people say shit all the time. You included.”

“But they weren’t me and no one besides me should say those things about you.” Your pulse was racing and it took a generous amount of self control to bring your voice back down to a reasonable level.

It felt like an eternity of silence before Auston finally replied, his voice much softer and more worn out, “You could’ve gotten hurt.”

“But I didn’t.” You watched as he leaned against the the wall hunched over. You realized that this was effecting him more than you. You were worried about your image, but Auston was worried about you. If anything would’ve happened to you, he would’ve never forgave himself. That’s not because he had any feelings for you, but because his parents raised him right (or at least that’s what he told himself when he flew off the ice and down the tunnel demanding to see you.)

“Hey, Auston.” You timidly touched his cheek forcing him to look at you. “I’m fine. Okay?” You searched his eyes for any confirmation that your words were getting through. “Plus I didn’t totally disagree with them, they did call you a little bitch.” The smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth and the deep chuckle confirmed that he was fine.

“A little bitch, huh? Not very original.”

“They also called me a dumb bitch so we have that in common.” You shrugged taking a step back.

Auston was amused, “Who would’ve thought that would be what we have in common.”

You smiled crossing your arms over your chest. You both took a second to really look at each other. You may have disliked each other, but you shared common ground when it came to dealing with hate. Auston didn’t deserve it any more than you did.

“This color looks terrible on you by the way.” Auston broke the silence lightly tugging at the jersey you wore.

“Really? You looked down at your outfit, “I think it’s sleek and flattering.”

“You’d look better in blue.” Auston stood to his full height.

“Win this game and I might consider it.” You offered side stepping to allow him to get closer to the entrance.

“Really?”

“No.” You shook your head, “but I do actually need you to win now. That fight can’t be for nothing.”

“This next goals for you, then.” He smirked.

“Don’t miss it like the last one.” You teased.

“Don’t get into anymore fights.” He retorted walking away and you watched as he returned from where he came.

[bridgertonandchocolate]

Top Polin moments from part 1. I can't put them in any particular order because I really LOVED ALL of them. Truly. But there is obviously a top favorite. If it's not everyone's #1 I don't know what you've been watching.

Carriage. Need we say more?! This is the top Polin moment of part 1. The way I finished the season around 6:30 in the morning and then proceeded to watch the carriage scene over and over for about an hour straight before I had to leave for work. They told us we weren't ready and they were right. I'm still not ready and I must have watched it hundreds of times. The rollercoaster of emotions from the anger and desperation to the despair to pure love and laughing together. Not to mention I think this has to be one of the longest Bridgerton love scenes (besides Simon and Daphne's honeymoon probably). It was the hottest make-out sesh followed by some special finger time I've ever seen. The way that you know they're both gonna be kinky too. The hair tugging and smirk. The AFTERCARE. Good god. I can't. It's fantastic. The way you can see in Colin's eyes that he's like "she's my wife now and forever" before he climbs out of the carriage. He's like maybe I should ask her lol. This will be my favorite scene of Bridgerton forever until part 2 comes out probably and then it might get topped.

Now in no particular order:

2. Cake. I really want to know what was going through Luke Newton's mind when he was watching her lick icing off her fingers. Because...the boy was hungry. You can't tell me he wasn't thinking about just how her mouth tastes but other parts too. You know he was. Also throwback to season 1 when Marina told Pen babies basically came from cake lol. And then Colin bought the same cake just to taste what she tasted and he LICKED HIS FINGER just like her and then looked at her. Like...bro be more subtle please.

3. "Shall we gallop on?" The two of them laughing together is something I absolutely ADORE about them. Colin and his dad jokes. I don't find dad jokes funny unless they're coming from Colin Bridgerton's mouth and obviously so does Pen. Even in the market when they giggle about their first meeting. PLEASE. Giving me life. The other two couples were too serious for me. This couple DGAF about propriety. Obviously.

4. Drawing Room Lesson and Cutting of the Hand. From beginning to end. Another rollercoaster of emotion. The fact that Pen no longer feels comfortable in Bridgerton House (like bitch you belong there don't even) to Colin's hand on her back. Had to rewind that a few times in the initial watch. And then he's setting the scene pretending they're at a ball and telling her to flirt with him. The eyes. A confession that's not really a confession from Pen. Colin rushing her out of the room. Her reading the journals (naughty Pen) and then we know what happens. He literally holds her hand. You cannot convince me he doesn't curve his fingers against hers to pull her in.

5. First Kiss. Perfect in every way. It's a moment I loved in the book and it was nearly identical and I loved seeing it play out on screen. The quick peck. The going back in for seconds and thirds. The hand lingering on her face. The way you can see he's fundamentally changed. GAH!

6. The Dream. I want to know what other dreams Colin's had because it seems like there was definitely more than one because he said he prefers sleep to being awake so....there's definitely more than what we were graced with. The way he pushed her up against the door frame. Good Lord Colin.

Honorable mentions: literally every other Polin moment. The savior moment with the balloon. The first lesson while promenading and then again in the market when she thinks she can't be taught and he's like "you already know what you're doing babe." Post kiss under the willow tree. Colin's conversation with Mama Bridgerton even though Pen wasn't super involved. It was magnificent. Colin getting interrupted by Debling when he wants to ask Pen if she feels the same way and he just can't help but stare at her lips and totally forget what he came there to do. Pen literally looked at him scared that he was about to eat her face. And then him sad and depressed watching them dance like he just lost his wife.

[mrs-monaghan]

Did you see jm's new song title and poster? what do you think about it?

Happy New Year Everybody!! 💚

No, baby's not out yet. Still very much inside me. But with only 5 days to go I'm now slow AF and tired AF so even typing is a chore 😤 but I'm alright and I hope so is everyone else. I have personally been enjoying posts by this account.

Its such a small thing to know they are eating so well but it just makes me so happy. Yk?

Anyhuuuuuuuu, closer than this i love it sm 🥺🥺 this part; just call my name outloud his voice sounds incredible. Thats my favourite part of the entire song. ☺☺☺☺ I love it!

That being said;

I can accept this song is a fan song. Sounds like it, looks like it... I mean, I also think its mostly about his members.... but... yeah. I can accept this has nothing to do with Jikook. Even though JK appears on this line of the song

But, we're not gonna talk about that. CTT is an Army/BTS song. I happily accept 🙌🏽

LETTER on the other hand though....

Oh boy.

Let's not even get started on that one again. 🙅🏽‍♀️

Oh! Sorry anon. Almost forgot about the poster. I had alot of questions about when he filmed this

The throwback is huge on this one. First thing that came to mind as soon as the MV started was this clip of Jimin talking to his younger self and accepting the manly thing was just a persona

My mind went straight there. But... People already figured out when it all began; 2 years ago.

Anyway, HNY anon! 🥳🥳🥳🥳 here's to hoping people are done insulting Jimin's intelligence and acting like everything he does is a coincidence

[happypopcornprincess]

Call It What You Want (Chapter 2)

Note: The story is set somewhere in 2018, pre covid, before Yei won the world champion. A lot of Oyei, Yak and Cher's backstory has been my own creation. Also some new characters are also purely fictional.

Please do not repost or reupload this story as your own.

a/n: I imagined Ice being played by Aye Sarunchana [Torfun from ATOTS] and Lita being played by Sara Legge [Paan from Theory of Love]

TW: anxiety, PTSD, mentions of assault

Series Masterlist

---/---/---

One Week Later

Ice and Lita had basically held him up at their place for a week, refusing to let him go unless he willingly ate something. Ice stayed glued to him the entire time, and even though Cher never said it out loud, she knew he didn’t want to be left alone. It was a throwback to their teenage sleepovers, filled with rom-coms, junk food, and the comforting presence of a best friend. But this time, the laughter was replaced by a heavy silence, a shared understanding of the trauma he'd endured

And true to her word, Lita had pressed all charges. Attempted kidnapping, robbery, assault, and harassment. Cher had told her everything when she came back from the station, and she assured him not to worry as they have both proof and witness. “They’ll go to jail. I’ll make sure of it.”

He was grateful to have them, and even more grateful about the fact that they didn’t let this out to Cher’s mother. He knew she would want him to move in with her and would stay paranoid if he kept on living in his apartment.

He should be happy, right? His assailants are going to get punished, he’s got support from all his friends, he is safe. He should rest and get back on his feet.

But why can’t he rest?

The memory of his helplessness during the attack replayed on a loop in his mind.

How easily those men had overpowered him, the terror that had left him frozen. He could have been dead if it wasn’t for Yei coming to his rescue. He couldn't rest until he felt a semblance of control again.

As Lita dropped him off at his place, a flicker of determination sparked in Cher's eyes. He may have been a victim that night, but he wouldn't be one anymore. “Lita,” he began, his voice firm, “do you have any way to contact P'Yei?”

===

“I’m sorry for the mess, we just moved in, I didn’t have any time to clean up.” Yei was embarrassed by how messy everything was. He led Cher to the back of the warehouse and into their home. “Please, make yourself…” Yei kicked yet another box out of his way, “comfortable.” He led Cher to the back of the warehouse and into their home.

Cher, the boy from that night, had turned up at his warehouse out of nowhere. Turns out he lived nearby and judging by how his lawyer friend acted at the station… he was rich. The clothes he wore right now; classic brown trousers and loose white shirt, screamed upper class Thai money to him.

Which let him wonder what was he doing in the neighborhood late at night.

Cher took a seat in his living room/bedroom/dining area, Yei saw him looking around the place, crates of things everywhere, the gas stove in the corner still on cooking soup for lunch. Half of the rooms were in dire need of a reconstruction after years of neglect. He slept in the living room and gave the least damaged room to Yak, he knew how teenagers are with their privacy.

Thank God that boy was at school because his room was on a whole other level of messy.

But to Yei's surprise, Cher didn't seem disgusted. Instead, he looked around with a curious gaze, like an artist studying a blank canvas.

“So let me get this straight,” Yei begin, taking a seat across him, “You want me to train you for boxing.”

“Self-defense.” Cher answered with complete seriousness.

Well, this was going to be weird.

“Cher, I understand why you’re asking me to do this but…” Yei took a deep breath, “I am actually  thinking about retiring from boxing.”

"What!" Cher exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise.

Yei did his best to explain his situation. "I have a younger brother to support, and boxing championships only bring in a little money. I don't have any sponsors. How can I keep going like this? I need a stable job," he blurted out.

It felt strange to say it out loud, after keeping it bottled up for so long. Cher took a deep breath, his expression unreadable.

"So you're just going to give up boxing?" he finally asked.

Yei offered a sad smile. "I don't have much of a choice, Cher."

Cher remained silent, his shoulders dropping as he took a look around the house and out the main door at the warehouse. Cher kept looking at it, los in his thoughts as Yei was left wondering what he was thinking about.

“Is that warehouse empty?” he asked after a while.

Yei hesitated, unsure of where this conversation was headed. 'Yes,' he finally said, 'it hasn't been used in a while.

"What if I told you there was a way for you to keep boxing and make money?" Cher proposed, a glint appearing in his eyes.

===

Next Day

“This is a crazy idea, Cher. You hardly know this guy!” Ice looked at him holding her bottle in a tight grip. They were having brunch at his house when Cher explained his plan to help Yei build a Muay Thai training center in his old warehouse and teach him self-defense, Ice looked like he had grown two heads. Lita, on the other hand, just smiled and started investigating Yei on her tablet.

“It is a good investment Ice, believe me.” Cher said, sipping his beer in his living room.

“Holy shit dude, you were right.” Lita blurted out, slamming her food down and shoving the tablet towards the center of the table. There were countless articles about Yei Phadetseuk, a national-level champion and renowned boxer with a string of tournament victories under his belt. A household name in the Thai boxing scene.

“How the fuck is he unemployed?” Ice grabbed the tablet, scrolling frantically through articles.

'His dad left the family for another woman, taking his sponsorship with him,' Cher explained. 'His managers did a lousy job promoting him, and his mom recently passed away. He has a younger brother in high school and no income. That's why he hasn't had any fights scheduled.'

Lita shot him a curious glance, “well someone did their research.”

Cher nodded. 'I've seen him fight, Lita. He's got incredible potential. With proper support and training, I'm confident he can reach the world championships.'

Ice chuckled, “Also; he’s kinda hot.” she added, pulling up a photo of Yei in the boxing ring – shirtless, glistening with sweat, and undeniably ripped.

Cher swatted her shoulder playfully. 'He's a good man, and he saved my life. This is the least I can do for him. He has the talent; he just needs someone to help him showcase it properly.'

'Are you absolutely certain about this, Cher?' Lita asked, a hint of concern in her voice. 'Take your emotions out of it for a moment. Analyze this as a businessman, then decide.'

“I am saying this with a sound mind Lita. I won’t jump to conclusions without having a plan, I promise.” He assured his friends.

Cher understood his privileged upbringing. Witnessing all the entitled, two-faced heirs around him, he knew he never wanted to become one of them. His skills in management and renovation were the reason his mother had allowed him to move out after college. He was confident in his ability to help Yei and his brother out of this predicament.

“Have you talked about this with him?” Ice asked him.

“Yes, I have. He said he’ll think about it, but I’m sure he’ll accept. He gets to keep boxing, all while earning money. It’s a win win situation.” Cher smiled.

While Ice and Lita shifted off to a different topic, he couldn’t help but look out of the window, thinking of the kind man with golden eyes and his gentle smile.

He had saved his life, and now it was his turn to do the same.

To be continued...

/---/---/---

Masterlist || Part Three

---/---/---

Taglist - @seoulmates98 @randomia-in-wonderland @fandomforever369 @nitorem

Comment down to be added to the taglist.

---/---/---

More Thai BL Fanfics

Tangled Fates: The Sign Series Fanfic A Phaya x Tharn fic about their past life as Sapuna and Wansarut.

[cauldron-of-oddities]

Because you can't tell me otherwise, these two like to play, and like a good challenge.

It starts like this: he lost his cuff with his hourglass symbol in a fight, Jinx found it when she came to check out what happened. Sentiment made her pick it up, and maybe she could rile him up a bit.

They're not actively each other's enemy (there are other dangers and worries these days and a common enemy) but they steer well clear of the other, but every so now and then they cross paths.

Next time they meet, she teases him “Missing something?” While flicking a new little braid just behind her ear over her shoulder where she's put the cuff. “Want it back? Come and get it."

Why did she start? She couldn't give a straight answer if she tried. In the end, it boils down to this: He was her friend, her playmate, and she's bored and, if honest, still wants some form of connection.

He steals it back. Why? He could just make a new one. But this offers just the littlest of connections, a throwback to his friend, that he can't help but want to indulge in. Also, if she's distracted by him, less of a chance for her to cause harm to others. And if he's honest, he misses their games, the fun they used to have.

She doesn't really put up a fight for it. She wants him to take it back; he's missing something that makes him, him. Silly as that seems.

“It's part of you, completes the look.” followed by “Watch out, I'll get it back next time” - he's shocked, dare he say it almost sounded like a challenge (and a flirt). Would he and Powder have played such games if the explosion never happened?

So he takes a gamble, and well, they'd always loved a good game, so he's down to play. To show it; he adds a piece.

Next time they meet, she skims past him and, like she said, steals the cuff right off of him. He'll give her and him this. He slows time for a moment and puts a cuff in her pouch with her symbol on it.

His is silver in colour, hers is copper. Before she slips away with her prize, he tells her “Looked good on you too."

She finds the new cuff when refilling her pouch. Jinx does not want to admit how that makes her feel. To still be thought of, and not just as Powder or the memory of, but as Jinx, sure as day that's her symbol.

With that, the game begins properly. The extra shorter little braid becomes a thing. Both cuffs are on it, and she dares him to take them from her. He succeeds. And the time after that, she from him, both having fun teasing the other. And so it goes for a while. Until it goes wrong.

She may not be fighting him or the firelights, but she sure as hell isn't taking them into consideration. When they end up in a fight with the same chem baron, it goes almost terribly wrong when she launches one of her bombs. Those with him barely escaped the blast radius.

He is beyond angry at her, rightfully so. He can't, he knew he was playing with fire, but he had hoped something was changing, to have her do exactly what he feared, broke something in him. He has the cuffs at the moment. There will be no game, not any more. He throws them at her. “Keep ‘em, I'm not playing anymore!"

At first, she's angry, too. If stupid boy saviour didn't want them, then she didn't either. She leaves them where they fell. She fumes for a good few hours before she realises she's all alone again, but for her voices, who tell her she once again ruined everything. Frantic, she searches the area where they'd landed. They're scuffed but still there. And she pickes them up like precious treasure.

This game, this one good thing, this fun thing, it's something stable, something that reminds her she's not entirely alone, there's still one person who will actually look at her, play with her, touch her, even if it's brief. It's something she wants, something that engages her, makes her feel alive without all the destruction. It made her feel human.

And now it's gone.

There's no getting close to him. He avoids her like the plague. It hurts. Even if they still share the same battles.

At some point, Ekko gets kicked off his hoverboard and gets knocked out. Jinx is the one to pull him out of harm's way. When he comes to, the other firelights are with him.

“That menace pulled you to safety, we thought she'd done something but, well you're ok.” Later when he's back home he finds both his and her cuff in his pocket and a crumpled piece of paper, a doodle of an explosion on it with an x crossed through it and green bugs flying around.

And he knows it's her way of saying sorry, that broke him a little more. One silly little game with your ‘not quite enemy anymore’/‘once upon a time friend’ carries all that meaning, all that longing, and just the smalest bit of hope, it's that one remaining connection he has and fuck the baggage he wants to hold on.

He's wearing the cuffs again. The grin that lights her up is something to behold. For a moment, he thinks he's maybe made a mistake when she takes out something, a mini grenade? She dropped it between them. “Playtime!” A puff of smoke rises and clears quickly. She's standing a little bit away, putting the cuffs in her hair. “Were ya worried?” Her voice sounds small and a bit thick with emotion. “I can play safe.” Her voice cleared up a moment later. “Call your bugs away. This ship's going boom.”

The ship of shimmer does indeed explode, but not before those he was with were out of range.

It's his turn to steal them back, and he does something the others would call him stupid for, but he misses her and she kept her promise and well he's wanted to do this since he was twelve.

He kisses her, just a quick brush of lips as he flies by on his hoverboard, slowing time just for a moment, but she's thoroughly stunned. It's an easy steal.

“Want them back? Come and get them.” He echoes back at her. She definitely wants to steal them back, the kiss too.

The game gets infinitely more fun after that.

[green-socks]

Teenage Dream

Pairing: Willard Hewitt (2011 version) x f!reader

Summary: Moving back home turns out more exciting than you'd thought when you run into Willard, your crush from way back.

Words: 2.2k

Warnings: rated M: car sex but not explicit, only mentioned. Aged up Willard so he's mid to late 20s in this!! They're at a bar but no one's actually drunk.

Notes: I don't know if anyone but me is into this but I just wanted to hear it for the boy. Give the boy a hand!! I love him so. Much love, as always, to @a-reader-and-a-writer for betaing and for putting up with my booty-calling ass at all times <3

If you've seen the video of Miles dancing to footloose while driving, that's 100% grown up Willard, just so you know.

Moving back to Bomont didn't feel nearly as bad as you once had thought it would. Getting out for a few years felt good, sure, and seeing more of the world even better. But now it just felt nice to return home and be closer to your family. Besides, your work allowed a remote position, so it didn't much matter where in the world you were as long as the job got done. And Bomont allegedly had great internet these days, so you figured why not.

Your friend Iris from school had also moved back two years ago, so you knew there was at least one good friend there waiting for you already. It would be nice to catch up with her and be closer again.

And what better way to catch up than go out to the closest bar (which was in the next town) where the clientele wasn't exclusively well over 55. It was a good bar. They had great cocktails and gave discounts to anyone who sang karaoke, so the people were generally in great spirits.

Around midnight, after a couple of drinks that provided an unnecessarily vivid throwback to your teenage years and a powerful duet of I Will Survive, you were on the hunt for some water.

Stumbling right into the solid chest of an actual tall drink of water wasn't on your mission plan but you were willing to roll with the punches. Only before you even had the chance to raise your head and see who the chest belonged to, the man happily shouted out your name.

"Wait– Willard?"

(It really shouldn't have surprised you that in this corner of the world you always had a chance of running into someone you knew.)

That face you recognized. That face hadn't changed basically at all in the nearly ten years that it had been since you last saw him. The rest of his body was what didn't compute. The Willard from school had been tall too, obviously, but also kind of lanky with long flailing limbs. The Willard in front of you now was huge, with broad, strong shoulders and biceps that– okay yeah you were staring. But seriously, that t-shirt had to be a size or two too small.

The man himself fortunately seemed oblivious to your gawking, and instead wrapped you in a quick but enthusiastic hug.

"Great to see you! I heard you were back but didn't expect to run into you just yet. What's it been, nearly ten years? Man, time flies," he prattled on, releasing you and looking you over as if he was cataloging if anything had changed.

"Good to see you too," you finally managed, looking up at him. "Yeah, I moved back just three days ago. But you never left, did you?"

"Hey, I went to college!" He pouted in mock offense. "But yeah, then I came straight back. Big cities freak me out." This time he pretends to shiver. "If I need to experience the wild world for a weekend I go stay with Rusty, but otherwise I'm good here."

"Oh, how is she doing? I haven't seen her in years either."

"She's doing great! She lives with her girlfriend Annie now, and they have a really cute dog," Willard said excitedly.

You knew that Rusty had a girlfriend through Iris who was the one in the loop for all gossip and followed everyone on social media, still keeping up with everything. You hadn't bothered with that so much, but it was still nice to hear these updates. You hadn't been that close with Willard or his gang, but you had some classes together and became friendly enough that way.

"How about you?" you asked. "You and Ren still going strong? Still do everything together?" You smiled a little teasingly because this one you already knew the answer to. You had heard that they had mostly taken over Ren's Uncle Wes's car shop, and apparently business was going so great people came there from out of town in search of better service.

"I accidentally put on his shirt tonight because our laundry keeps getting mixed up. Does that answer your question?" he deadpanned, making you laugh.

"That explains it. I thought your arms looked about ready to burst out of that shirt."

You immediately snapped your mouth shut, feeling embarrassed. Why would you point that out?? He brought up the shirt and your mind immediately went there again, but you didn't need to say it for crying out loud.

Thankfully Willard only laughed. "I know right? I don't understand how it keeps happening, it's not like we even have the same size most of the time. You should have seen one time I put on his sweatpants to run to the store, I thought I was gonna get arrested for public indecency or something!"

You choked a little bit on your water at that mental image.

"I'm sure the old ladies at the market were quite delighted," you chuckled.

Willard snorted. "Yeah, I got some looks alright, though I wasn't sure if they were into it or if they thought I needed Jesus."

The two of you continued catching up, moving farther to the edge of the dancefloor where you could talk without having to shout. You had no idea how much time had passed until Iris came to knock on your shoulder. After greeting Willard, she turned back to you, pulling you aside to talk a little more privately.

"How would you feel about me staying here in town for the night? We can totally head home together, but I have a chance to get laid if I stay here. Maybe you could get a ride with Willard?"

"You wanna go and have a sleepover with Alex?" you teased her. You knew Alex was her regular companion here, that she was kind of hoping would turn into something more, so you couldn't begrudge her.

"Could I?" she tried a half apologetic, half pleading smile. "You and Willard seem to be hitting it off." Her eyes were pointedly looking in the man's direction, who was still hovering a few feet behind you.

"Speaking of which. You didn't warn me he looks like that now!" you hissed. She was the one who was supposed to relay all the interesting knowledge to you!

"Well, I mean, he doesn't do anything for me. I didn't think it was important," she shrugged.

"But you know I was super into him in school, obviously he does it for me!"

"That was ages ago! I'm barely into people I liked two years ago let alone in school!"

"But it's Willard," you gesticulated broadly with your hands, hoping to emphasize the point.

"Alright, fine, I understand. But we're getting off track here." And with that Iris side-stepped you to talk to the man himself. "Hey Willard, could you take her home tonight? I'm staying in town, but I trust you to keep her safe," she smiled sweetly, playing all innocent.

You noted three things. One, she used the words take her home, and you were definitely going to kick her for that later. Two, Willard didn't even need to be buttered up, because of course he would help an old friend. And three, he honest to god puffed out his chest at Iris telling him he was trustworthy. Even tipped his hat, giving her his word that he'd take care of you.

Goodness gracious, you might not survive this night.

"Are you sure it's not too much trouble? And that you're good to drive?" you wanted to check.

"I've only had one beer tonight, I'm cool. And it's no trouble at all, I promise," he smiled.

With that, Iris took her leave, but not before giving you a hug, demanding you check in later, and threateningly muttering something about crushed testicles to Willard. He looked appropriately nauseated.

Clearing his throat a couple of times, Willard turned to you again. "Uh.. uhm, do you want to go home right now or, uh, do you wanna dance for a bit?"

"I could dance for a bit, yeah!" You were so proud of yourself for sounding totally cool and normal.

The dance floor was unfortunately packed because the night was at that point where everyone had had just the right amount of liquid courage to let loose.

But no one let loose like Willard.

You had never before danced with a guy, or anyone really, who was so willing to absolutely tear up the dance floor with no regard to how it looked. Of course, Willard looked fantastic – Ren was a great teacher after all – but more important was the fact that he was genuinely having fun with it.

It was infectious. Not just to you, but to the people around you as well, though it seemed Willard was unaware of the effect he had.

You were breathless with laughter, and sweaty as hell, but you didn't mind. That is until the song switched to something slower and sensual, and Willard held you so close you knew he could feel your sweat-soaked back. What had started as an overexaggerated "sexy" grind making you laugh wasn't that funny anymore. It had morphed from a joke into something actually hot, and you were breathless for a whole different reason.

Before you could get too in your head about it, the song changed again, this time to an upbeat rock song. You continued dancing, but the energy from before was gone and the crowd on the dancefloor was thinning, so you noticed another need taking over.

"I'm kind of hungry, would it be okay to leave now?" you asked, shouting up to Willard.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

You wanted a burger. So that's what Willard got you.

The night air felt exceptionally lovely after the sweaty bar. You ate your burgers on the bed of Willard's truck, because he was surprisingly strict about not getting a mess inside the car.

On the drive home, you talked more about what both of you had been up to in the last almost decade, while still jamming along to the radio. There was no stopping Willard.

"In college Ren dragged me to cheerleading tryouts. He had that gymnastics background and thought it would be fun, but, honestly, back then I thought that cheer was just for girls. I obviously don't think that anymore." He rolled his eyes – you did too. "Anyway, I got sucked into it. Now I coach two teams, so that's a lot of my free time spent with that. It's gotten pretty popular in Bomont lately!" he gushed.

"I don't doubt that, with you coaching," you chuckled.

"What do you mean?" He glanced at you.

"You know, 'cause you're so likable. You're the kind of person who gets others excited too, and I'm sure you're a really great coach."

"Oh. Thanks."

Willard was trying to hide his smile, but there was no hiding that blush. You thought it looked adorable.

As the conversation went on, you moved from trading stories to light flirting and playful banter, the mood in the truck relaxed but cheerful. At one point you made Willard laugh so hard he had to pull over to an empty lot not too far from home to avoid crashing. After the last giggles subsided into quiet hiccups, you just continued talking. It took you nearly thirty minutes of conversation to realize that a) Willard never started the car again and you had just been standing still in that same spot where he pulled over, and b) you two had drifted closer to each other while talking, so much so that Willard's face was mere inches from yours.

Which made you realize your gaze kept dropping to his lips a whole lot. They just looked so.. kissable. You'd always thought so. His lips looked so soft and plump, his smiles so warm, that you desperately wanted to lean in and get a taste.

It was nearing two am but you were wide awake, nerves alight with excitement from Willard's proximity.

And unless you were much mistaken, his pupils were fairly dilated, looking at you just now.

"In my experience, if someone looks at your lips a lot it means they want to kiss you," Willard murmured quietly.

You couldn't even bother to pretend to be embarrassed about getting caught.

"Yeah, I think that's true," you breathed, looking into his eyes that were now boring into yours.

"Do you think it's true or is it true?"

"Yes."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes, I want to kiss you."

"Oh thank god," Willard groaned and cupped your cheek, pulling you in the rest of the way.

-

2:24 am

"Should we stop? You said you don't want your truck to get messy," you panted.

"I've had a shift in priorities. I no longer give a shit about my truck," he murmured into your neck without even stopping the movement of his hips.

-

Your text to Iris at 2:59 am:

I may have just lived a teenage dream of mine and fucked Willard Hewitt in his truck. Now home ok. Talk tomorrow❤️

You fell asleep immediately, and let the responding reaction gifs and exclamation points be tomorrow's problem.

[pandor-pandorkful]

It's time for another ADHD-fueled ramble! This one is about Homestuck, kind of. Saw a post about someone never reading it in spite of being a tumblr oldie, and that lead to some introspective reminiscing. Maybe it's interesting, maybe it isn't.

I reckon a lot of folks who read Homestuck were kind of peer-pressured into it. I was no exception, though the pressure applied was relatively passive. And if my memory serves me, I started reading Homestuck on MS Paint Adventures before I was a regular tumblr user... sometime in 2011, I think? The year I took off between grad school year 1 and 2, or maybe just slightly before that...

Anyways, around that time I noticed most of my Silent Hill fan art buddies on deviantArt suddenly switched to drawing trolls pretty much non-stop out of the blue.

I felt confused, and kinda left out. I was already feeling like being so overwhelmingly distracted by grad school had permanently damaged my connection to those friends...

So in kind of a last ditch effort to not lose yet another friend group, I dove headfirst into the webcomic, hoping to understand why the steady stream of old man yaoi had been replaced by weird preteen aliens.

If you've read the majority of Homestuck, you know what an effort that was. Its first few chapters are incredibly long and slow paced. By the time I even caught up to the trolls actually being visually introduced, I think my SH-turned-HS friends had moved on to something else entirely. :B

(Later I'd learn that the majority of HS fans during the height of it's popularity were, uh, kinda "fake fans". In that they skipped directly to the troll chapters. :B)

Granted, I had taken the longest possible road to catch up with MS Paint Adventures. When it comes to comics, any comic, I am a completionist. Maybe it's the anxiety from feeling like I'm always missing out on CONTEXT due to ADHD... My brain is broken and I must read everything in chronological release order, so that nothing is missed. (This is a big reason I never got into superhero comics.)

Homestuck was only the current series on MSPA, there were several other completed or abandoned series as well. So I started at what seemed like the very beginning, with Jailbreak. By the time I was done with Problem Sleuth I was very hooked on the throwback to text-based adventure games meets forum shenanigans baked into a comic formula.

Homestuck itself was delightful, from an adventure game mechanics perspective. It had all the frustrating backtracking and plodding story of a classic hardcore adventure, as well as the wild traditional-format-breaking jankiness of the experimental web comics imagined in Scott McCloud's "troubled middle child*," Reinventing Comics. (*as he described the book to me when I asked him to sign my copy lol)

No wonder so many readers skipped straight to the troll chapters! You really had to have a very specific string of incredibly niche, nerdy interests in order to appreciate the slow-burn of the chapters leading up to the trolls... and apparently that's exactly what I had.

Like, to the point that it took me a long ass time to warm up to the trolls at all. Maybe it was because I was an older reader than the typical HS fan and had actually experienced more eras of the internet, but the trolls were just as annoying as the real life types of internet trolls they were based on.

I don't think I started to actually like any of them until the second set of trolls were introduced. The generational conflicts between old-internet and then-current types of trolling was fascinating and honestly hilarious.

By the time I was finally caught up, the comic was close to it's first ending. (And in my opinion, only ending. As I didn't bother checking in with Hussie's later attempts to rekindle the series.)

Having read through everything on MSPA that came before Homestuck, as well as stumbling into Andrew Hussie's even older comics, blog posts and Picard/Riker ST:TNG fan edits on youtube, I had built up maybe an unrealistic hope for the future of MSPA: I was excited for the next comic project to come once Homestuck was finished.

What a big assumption! I don't think anyone would have an easy time just moving on to "the next project" after making something that had garnered as big of a reaction as Homestuck did. So watching Hussie spiral into milking HS for all he could really shouldn't have surprised me.

In an ideal world, artists, writers, creators in general would be able to just move on from project to project. Creation to creation to creation. But we're not machines, and none of us exist in a vacuum. We need to survive somehow, and our feelings of importance and self worth can get so dangerously tangled up with the reaction others have to our work.

Some may find success and never work again. Some may find success and seek to recapture that high for the rest of their life. Some will never find success and give up creating altogether. Who am I to judge or hope for anything from any creator? I'm barely holding on by the whites of my knuckles and the skin of my teeth myself.

But part of me still grieves for the "Next MS Paint Adventures Project" I made up in my head. Something that scratched the itch for interactive comics in new and exciting ways. With brand new characters, settings and bizarre lingo to get used to. There would be references to prior projects, just as HS was peppered with references to Problem Sleuth and the other MSPAs, but on the whole it would be a self-contained work, as it's predecessors were. Another volume for the abstract digital bookshelf.

MS Paint Adventures is dead, the site is just Homestuck now. Flash, the format that made up the very backbone of the comic, is dead and banished. I haven't chatted with most of my old dA buddies in over a decade. We all move on, or don't, in one way or another.

[love-killed-the-superstar]

The Last Ronin 2: Re-Evolution Issue #1 LIVEBLOG

SPOILERS ABOUND. I'M NOT GOING TO BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS IT'LL PROBABLY GET SUPER LONG

Okay so Casey Marie's muscles are something I'm never going to get over. SHE LOOKS GOOD!!!!! Her getup is feeling a little too reminiscent of a cape-wielding superhero for my tastes to be honest - I really loved the more practical outfits she wore in TLR Lost Years, especially in issue 4 when she was running the training mission for the kids. But ah well, I'm sure this will grow on me. It may not be practical (edna's law of no capes is coming to mind, also PLEASE TIE YOUR HAIR UP WHEN YOU'RE FIGHTING GIRL!!!) but it's very cunty anyway which I appreciate

Straight up thought she killed this guy - what was that sound effect if he's still able to walk??? I fr thought she snapped his neck

IDK if we needed a whole 8 pages of punching and kicking to exposition dump what we kinda already knew from what's been shown in the lost years (esp the lost day special) but IT'S FINE IG... NOW ONTO THE BABIES

SORRY, SORRY. TEENAGERS NOW.

GIGGLING KICKING MY FEET. We're ALREADY getting the leo-v-raph adjacent dynamic with these two and I'm living for it. if one of them drops a stone cold 'fearless leader' jab i will lose my shit

HI? HELLO, EXCUSE ME, MIND-TALKING? PICTURES IN HEAD? ARE WE A FAMILY THAT LUCID DREAMS OR SOMETHING?!?? I DON'T REMEMBER THIS BEING SOMETHING THEY COULD DO?? every new speech bubble here is like a punch to the gut, wdym telepathy wdym secret lair wdym honouring everything master splinter taught you???? (although i'm proud that when this panel dropped on news sites i was immediately like THAT ISN'T THE KITCHEN FROM LOST YEARS. turns out it was a Secret Lair TM)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Seance -- TURTLES COUNT IT OFF!!

not gonna screenshot the whole backstory but they're basically doing a telepathic puppet show explaining the backstory and it's pretty much the mirage origins with a bit of extra tlr flair. as always it HURTS ME seeing the turtles dying so thanks for that tlr2 :'')) icb these kids watch a mind movie of their uncles dying every fucking night. yall are messy

SOBBING AND CRYING,, I WISH YOU'D ALL HAD THE CHANCE TO KNOW HIM TOO!!!!!! I WISH YOU'D GOTTEN TO KNOW ALL OF THEM!!!!! (tlr splinter doesnt count tho because hes a dick)

there was a cool sequence of them rooftop hopping n stuff but i wont cover it bc we already saw it in a bunch of news articles weeks ago

i just did the SHARPEST INHALE. casey marie you and your beautiful muscular arms have aged like the finest wine

YI NO!!!!!

lmaooo moja is JUDGING your taste in women u two

lots of text... blah blah blah jobs, crimerates, blah blah... jiro in pig uniform jumpscare.. casey marie i thought u were going to fix him :(((

YESSSSS KIDS ARE GOING ON A MISSION WITH THEIR MOM, LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

MY BABIES ARE KICKING ASS!!!!!

....,.HUH

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY BABY BOY ODIE!!!!!!!!!!! WHO DID THIS TO HIM!!!!!!???? WHAT??!???? HUH/1?!!? EXCUSE ME????

I'M . LIKE WHAT DO I EVEN SAY TO THIS. IT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE??? WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

dude that first issue was wordy but the kids were ON POINT. they were so fun!! their dialogue is fun and they kick ass.

i loved yi announcing the punishment for casey while the others were like NOO SHE DIDNT MEAN THAT DONT LISTEN TO HER. we're getting more of their personalities and it's great!! it was a nice throwback to issue 2 of lost years when they were cleaning - yi refused to help because of how strictly she was following instructions. im picking up that she might be neurodivergent but i did get that from the lost years too - only doing things within strict instructions, getting frustrated at teaching odyn chess, not because of him playing horseys with the knights but that it was Against The Rules Of Chess - and now not picking up on some social cues. It's nice to see!! I love her very much, but it feels like besides rehashing the origin story she took a bit of a backseat to the other three.

i want to know more about why uno said being a rebel was moja's 'thing', since she didn't seem to be any more rebellious than the other three in this issue. we didn't get any unique interactions between her and casey marie which is what i felt was lacking from lost years but i wonder if this is hinting towards a more turbulent mother-daughter dynamic with them... I REALLY HOPE SO!! her and uno butting heads in a leo-raph way is very fun - i don't mind one or two prior group dynamics leaking into the new turtle siblings because they're all so different from the original 4.

uno seems to be taking on slightly more of a leader role than moja so i think he won the title of fearless leader. which is fine, i think it'll be fun to see and he's definitely less of an asshole now than when he was growing up in lost years. still picking on odyn a bit but seems to snipe at moja just as much. even when he was commenting on yi's storytelling he didn't make fun of her, though - i think she may have inherited the 2k3 don ability of being Completely Unbullyable.

i was really pleased that odyn felt more involved!! i feel like he took the backseat a few times in lost years - it was fun seeing more of his personality shine through! he and yi seem to get on the best, and i giggled at them rolling their eyes at moja and uno's raph-leo schtick. i didn't expect him to TURN TO FUCKING STONE THOUGH, so i'm nervous about that. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHO DID THIS TO MY BOY? IS HE GOING TO TURN BACK NEXT CHAPTER OR IS HE OUT OF COMMISSION UNTIL THE END OF THE RUN??? (if it's the latter i'll be a bit annoyed - don't take odyn away from the equation please!!)

I do wonder if by introducing casually that they can PSYCHICALLY CONNECT, the turtles will use that as a technique to reach odyn's mind to make sure he's still in there and piece together what's happened to him. i mean, their casual telepathy has gotta be some sort of chekhov's gun right?

and shit.... april was so fucking mad casey took the babies out so she's going to EXPLODE when she finds out what happened to her baby boy, her beloved favourite, her baby odyn :''(( im giggling rubbing my hands together waiting for the fallout but also if she cries i might cry too. speaking of april, she seems to be working on a new project and i saw nano particles mentioned - are we going to have a roninverse version of nano in this run???? I NEED MY ROBOT SON

as always, casey marie... u have aged like fine wine. u are stunning. disappointed that ur still believing that jiro can do good as a cop when their entire police force and government is corrupt as fuck. just feels very naive of her. i'm excited to see her break down at the concept of losing odyn - in fact i need everyone to mourn this beautiful kid. they tell us so much that shes a super clingy helicopter mom and i am picking up on the strict part, but it would be nice to see more of her just... hugging her kids. holding them. i get why she didnt in this issue but id love more mama casey squishing their cheeks and kissing their foreheads.

i have zero fucking clue what's going on with odyn. im wondering if it's somehow related to nano, or to whatever project April is working on - she says it's to do with clearing the tunnels, but I''m not convinced. who knows, there might be some ulterior motive happening.

Anyway, that's the end of my liveblog!! thanks for reading all the way to the end... go read it wherever you read ur comics!!!

[neon-green-reagent]

50 Underrated Horror Films: Part 4

What in absolute hell. We made it to part 4? Well, here we go then! Oh, also, links to the other parts: One : Two : Three

Undead : Starting off with an absolute banger. This is an Australian zombie apocalypse film. If you're familiar with Ozploitation cinema, then you know how nutso it can get, and this is a perfect example of just that. The action sequences are wild crowd pleasers, and the plot twists until it nearly breaks off.

Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory : I realize that sounds like porn. Just stay with me. It's a giallo! With a werewolf! For me, this was like finding the holy grail. Best of both worlds, truly. With... not the best looking werewolf, but this is an older movie, so cut it a little slack. It turns into a fun mystery with that special Italian flavor to it.

The Outwaters : Everyone was talking about Skinamarink. No one was talking about this. It has a similar conceit. To make a horror film that defies the idea of plot. It starts like your average found footage, then becomes a drug trip straight to the depths. It really does feel like witnessing a cosmic horror story where the horrors are, indeed, impossible to describe.

Tomie : This is the first of me cheating and actually recommending way more than one film. The Tomie film franchise is a series of loose adaptations of Junji Ito's manga of the same name, and there are nine at the moment. They get wild and weird, and they explore parts of Tomie that even the manga doesn't cover. Female monster! You need these in your life.

Murdercise : Low budget silliness trying to be throwback 80s and mostly just being hilarious and noticeably cheap. I love that. It's stupid and seems like the kind of movie that was a blast to make. I definitely felt like I was laughing with them and not at them, which made it feel really charming. A great one for a dumb movie night.

Zombie Death House : Zombies in jail! Directed by John Saxon who strangely didn't case himself in the lead like some vanity project. Rather he plays a character I have dubbed "Colonel Herbert West" if that sounds at all appealing. I mean, it clearly was to me.

Dead Birds : There aren't a ton of horror films that crossover with westerns, so this is a rare gem. A bunch of outlaws take refuge in a deeply disturbed location, and things get super dark.

Satan's Princess : A neo-noir detective story with supernatural evil at its core. Imagine if Angel Heart was dumber and way cheaper looking. With Robert Forster giving a really fun performance and an ending that had me laughing out loud.

Werewolf Bitches from Outer Space : Do you love Troma movies? Do you wish they were worse? Do I have the film for you! With scenes that were clearly filmed without permits. Random bystanders interfering with the production. Terrible werewolf masks. And pizza sex? It's a laugh riot.

Butterfly Kisses : A genuinely upsetting found footage movie that understands exactly how to use the urban legend format. There's a beastie out there that, if you stare at it, it will imprint on you like a baby duck. Then if you blink, it gets a little closer. Try to imagine how long you can go without blinking.

To Die For : Wanna watch a really shitty, late 80s Dracula? Here you go! It's dumber than a box of rocks. No one's motivations make any sense. Dracula seems like kind of a jerk despite being a romantic figure. But most of the actors are hotties and know the silly movie they're in, so it comes out fun in the end. Oh, and no one can agree when it came out. But rest assured I don't mean the one with Nicole Kidman.

Home for the Holidays : Made for TV Christmas slasher! Starring Sally Field. With a whole lot of family drama, which makes it feel authentically connected to the holiday. Merry Christmas! It's March. Ahem.

Welcome to Hell : Heavy metal horror strikes again. This time, a black metal band impregnates and kidnaps a groupie for their dark ritual. She escapes, but they're hot on her trail. The ending is nothing short of a religious experience. WINK.

Isolation : If Alien took place on a farm. With mutant cow fetuses. I swear, there is science that makes some sense of that. And it's not a comedy, I swear! It's actually very nasty with some wonderful body horror.

Dr. Crippen : Based on a real crime of passion and clearly cashing in on the Psycho craze. It's a strange one to recommend, because it's based on a true event, and the movie leans pretty hard in the bad doctor's favor. But it's worth it if you're a fan of Donald Pleasence. He gets to be his strange, little self and also be the star for once.

Tamara : What a mid-2000s romp this is. A good girl gets treated like garbage and goes bad in a witchy-demon-spell kinda way. Jenna Dewan as Tamara is perfect in every way. Gives me the gay.

Dark Harvest : Don't be like "oh, I've heard of that, didn't that just come out last year?" Yep, and everyone ignored it. When it was pretty fucking great. Set in a cursed town that openly sacrifices their kids to a fantastic monster by the name of Sawtooth Jack. His head is full of candy. Like. Go watch it.

Night Screams : Regional 80s slasher where a guy dies getting his face grilled. I'm pretty sure that shouldn't have killed him. And there are like three killers by the end? Did it before Scream, just saying. Enjoy the vibes on this one.

The Third Saturday in October Part Five and Part One : Speaking of slashers. These low budget gems came out last year, and there was a cute, little gimmick to it. You're supposed to watch five, then one. It simulates growing up pre-internet. You walk into the video store, and all they have is part five. You decide to rent it, even though you've never seen the first one. Then a week later, you find one. This really worked for me. Gave me nostalgic feelings. Please, if you watch them, try it this way.

The Vampire Doll : What if Japan made a Hammer film? Well, here it is. With one of my favorite tropes: a super cute couple investigates the horrors!

Night Feeder : Genuinely the best shot-on-video horror film I've ever seen. It actually fooled me. I thought I was watching a bad VHS rip, but no, this was not shot on film. It's stylish, clearly better than you'd expect, weird, dark, and has a really bad rock band in it.

Older Gods : Low budget and full of heart and also Lovecraftian horrors. If you're reading this and care, to me it felt as if someone wrote an original story around Azathoth. Which is cool, because no one ever uses him in anything. Also, if you're like, "so what does that mean?" It means that reality is up for debate in this one.

Cheerleader Camp : One of those that people clamor for when you talk about movies that still need a proper physical media release. I see why. It's extremely fun with its tongue lodged in its cheek. It uses every slasher trope and laughs hysterically while doing so.

Below : I love my underwater horror, and this delivers wonderfully. Haunted submarine, dude. But honestly, that wasn't the scariest part. The plot was cool, and I enjoyed the mystery, yeah yeah. But more to the point, everything that can go wrong... does. Imagine being trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a giant, metal coffin. BRR!

The Werewolf and the Yeti : How many werewolf movies are on this list? Uh, shut up. As I was saying, this is great. Paul Naschy brings a massively enjoyable werewolf flick our way again. With all his swashbuckling charm. By the time the yeti shows up, so much awesome shit had happened that I forgot he was supposed to fight a yeti. I mean...

Subspecies : And how many vampire movies are on this list? SHUT UP I SAID. Anyway. Another where I mean the whole series. All of them. Radu, the main villain, is a joy. Michelle's story arc is super dramatic and full of that Interview with the Vampire angst. Special mention to the second film, which goes all out with the gore effects.

The Hills Run Red : A horror movie about horror movies. A lost film has gained a cult following, and a bunch of dumb college kids decide to track it down. You can guess how that goes. William Sadler steals the entire movie when he shows up. Babyface also has iconic slasher energy.

Abby : This one's underrated because the filmmakers got sued by the guys that made The Exorcist and lost. This is essentially the black version of The Exorcist, and it's so good that I'm depressed we'll never get a great release of it. Carol Speed is amazing as Abby. William Marshall, Blacula himself, is in it. Track this down and get mad about it with me.

The Appointment : What the hell is this. Even I'm not sure. Edward Woodward crashes his car. I mean, I don't know what else to say about it. The film ramps up the tension and dread until a ridiculously Rube Goldberg thing happens, and you have to experience it.

Frostbiter : Another of those movies made with ten cents and a lot of gumption. A bunch of people wanted to make Evil Dead II, and so they did that. They even put an Evil Dead II poster in the cabin they filmed in, so that you wouldn't even wonder about what inspired it. Also, special mention to the chili song.

Hell's Highway : Have you ever seen a movie that was really cheap and goofy, but you could see EXACTLY how it would've looked if they'd just had the money? This is that movie. Every special effect fails. Everything's so awkward and odd. But you can tell what they MEANT for it to be. So bad it's good and then some.

Dance of the Damned : Vampire. Sorry. So this one is about a vampire who wishes he could stop living eternally, because it sucks to live that long and be so alone. He finds a sex worker who is also feeling like she wishes things would just end, and they share their pain with each other. Way better than it has any right to be, mullet and all.

The Werewolf of Washington : Werewolf. I really am sorry. Dean Stockwell plays a truly adorable werewolf. And nothing about it is meant to be taken seriously at all. Gives An American Werewolf in London a run for its money in the goober department.

The Curse of Kazuo Umezu : From the man who brought you The Drifting Classroom comes... this! It's a pair of strange tales. One about a vampire, fuck, I'm sorry. And one about a haunted house that even the narrator can't figure out what's going on. Horror anime!

Lo : A young man has recently lost his love. She was dragged to hell. That old chestnut. So he summons a demon named Lo to try to get her back. With a twist that'll make you go, wait, I thought this was a comedy?

The Spider Labyrinth : This one recently got a really nice release, and I'm so glad, because it's bonkers. A young fella is sent to Budapest to find a lost professor. Instead he finds a cult. Uh oh.

End of the Line : Apocalypse horror that turns your brain inside out just a bit. A religious cult has decided it's the end of the world, and they start executing innocents so they'll "go to heaven." Are they brainwashed or is the world actually ending? You decide!

Off Balance AKA Phantom of Death : Just barely a Phantom of the Opera riff. A pianist discovers he has a rare genetic disorder that threatens to cut his career short. Also, he's kinda losing it. Starring Michael York, Donald Pleasence, Edwige Fenech, directed by Ruggero Deodato, oh my GOD!

The Lure : Killer mermaids. Well, sirens. Kind of a mix. It's also a musical. And about how awful the entertainment industry is for young women. It's also super gory, and they eat people. Truly little else out there is like this.

Redneck Zombies : What do you want me to say? It's a Troma film. It's called... that. I'm pointing. I'm pointing at the title. That's the movie. Just... Right? Yeah?

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats : Another of those gialli that is really just And Then There Were None. But the nice part is that Italy likes to get more sexual, violent, and fucking awful than Agatha Christie ever dreamed. This one also takes place in an old theater, so the vibes are choice.

Mary Reilly : I always include at least one entry in these lists that begs the question, "how did this become underrated?" And obscure, that too. When it's a Jekyll and Hyde retelling with an emphasis on the gothic and lush, starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich? By the way, I heard people hated it because of Roberts' terrible Irish accent. Damn, dude, I've heard way worse, fake accents than that. Anyway, this is fantastic. Watch it.

The Forest : One of those slashers where I thought I understood what I was getting into, but I did not. There's a man living in the woods who went postal on his cheating wife one day. The ghosts of his family are also haunting the woods. And he's a cannibal who feeds a guy his own girlfriend. I need other people to watch this so that I can be assured it was real.

Autopsy (2008) : I put a year, because there are around 800 horror films with that title. To further narrow it down, it's the one where Robert Patrick plays basically Herbert West fused with Mr. Freeze, and Jenette Goldstein is his nurse, and they chase a bunch of college kids around for science. Kind of a pitch black comedy with torture porn aspects, and I loved it.

Glorious : A guy gets trapped in a public restroom, which is horrifying enough. Then a cosmic horror god starts talking to him from a bathroom stall. He gives him the assignment of helping to stop the end of the world. The god is J.K. Simmons, and the whole thing is a delightful bottle movie.

Nightmare Detective : From the director that brought you Tetsuo: The Iron Man... Do I have your attention? Comes the Japanese Nightmare on Elm Street! That's oversimplifying, but that is my elevator pitch. It involves all sorts of dream powers and psychic battles that will blow your socks off.

House of Lost Souls : Directed by Umberto Lenzi, which means it feels as doobery as Ghosthouse. It's about a hotel desperate to decapitate you, and it has the silliest dialogue and acting known to man. Special mention to psychic powers being cited as a "rational explanation."

The Cleansing Hour : A priest who livestreams fake exorcisms has to rumble with a real demon. Super fun character piece where a conman has to look his sins dead in the eye. Truly obsessed with this one. Also, super fun demon effects. With Kyle Gallner, everyone's favorite scream king.

Deathrow Gameshow : What if Airplane was super violent? Or The Running Man was a dumb comedy? This hits the sweetest spot, where the humor is idiotic and the violence is cartoonishly nasty. This will speak to the sort of person, like myself, who wants their comedy to be indigestible for most audience goers.

Double Blind : This is a very recent release. A diverse group take part in a double blind drug test. Things go so extremely bad. I won't give anything away, because part of the fun is the unfolding chaos.

I can't believe I managed to do that again. Enjoy! I hope you find some new favorites from this list.

[artist-issues]

What do you think about Disney's Wish?

Predictions:

The movie will be an eye-candy with beautiful 2D and 3D. (But going by the trailer it's not as impressive as the Puss in Boots the Last Wish or Spiderverse. We need a better name for that animation style. How about 2/3D? ZED? I don't know.)

The music will be great. (But after listening to the song from the trailer that is supposed to be the ''I want song'', oh my God the lyrics are so generic and bland they can fit practically any main character ever. And it's just a lot of singing about nothing.)

The Star character, Valentino or both will be annoying.

Valentino will be funny and marketable but the movie could've worked without him.

The world will be huge, beautiful, and interesting and we explore none of it.

The protagonist will be bland with one obvious flaw or a dream which will be related to the message of the movie.

The message will have all the subtlety of the hammer in the face.

Inconsistencies, contradictions, and random stuff happening because funny/the plot.

References to older classics that you wish you would be watching. (You saw how many references they cram now into their other movies? And now it's one of the things they talked about the most!)

Death is funny until we have the fake-out death then you need to care.

No love interest because love makes women weak apparently. Or no love interest because the actress is a lesbian and she talked about how Asha ''looks like her'' because modern acting isn't about pretending to be something you're not, it's about showing who you are every chance you get. And for those who think they might make a lesbian love interest, I would like you to take a look at the gay ''romance'' in the Strange World. But if by some chance they do I doubt it will be any good. When was the last romance in Disney, Frozen 2 (2018) and that's a holdover from the first movie (2013) and the last good romance was Tangled (2010).

Lame villain! It's supposed to be a throwback to the older Disney movies and that includes its villains but Disney is so incompetent with their IPs I wouldn't be surprised if they get their own villain ''formula'' wrong. I swear if they try to make him a twist after spoiling that Chris Pine will be voicing the villain and his evil laugh in the teaser trailer, or ''redeem'' him after he did unspeakable evils. And no villain song. Can Chris Pine sing? Please no terrible auto-tune!

Making jabs at old Disney tropes even tho this movie isn't even half as good as the movies that came before it, uses a bunch of other modern tropes or straight up the same ones that it mocked earlier and completely misinterprets them and uses them even worse! Modern Disney seems to hate its past and does everything to show how ''better'' they are now. Which is untrue in most cases and just smug and annoying!

I'm sorry for being so pessimistic but that's how jaded I become and only towards Disney. It might be their greatest hit that will make people think ''Disney is back''. But Disney needs to change. One good movie will not save them if they keep making remakes that lose money.

I don't know; some of the things you've listed are likely, but I doubt all of them will be true!

I think the animation looks...unfinished. Isn't that odd? It looks like there's not a lot to fill in the scene, and what is there didn't get done rendering.

See these are pretty, but there just isn't a lot going on in the backgrounds--it's very icon-y. Maybe they're going for a storybook-look, but...a very minimalist, simple storybook? Not like Snow White:

Or Pinocchio

I can see that there are 2D textures on the trees and grass and stuff, but I wish there was just more there. Like all these pots and all the stonework in the background, in the screenshots from classic Disney above. Where’s the stuff; it would look even better if there was stuff. You know usually when Disney tries a new technique or look, they show it off. In Moana, they’re like we animated water, and as a result, we are going to show you SO MUCH WATER. In Tangled, they were like, we nailed the hair, and as a result you get to see Rapunzel’s hair do SO MUCH. In Wish it looks like the artists were shy about showing off the painterly stuff. But I’m no expert.

I really agree about the music. Like I really agree. I have only heard snippets. But I remember seeing the trailers for Frozen when a little bit of the music would play and immediately wanting to hear more. Looking it up like “Frozen trailer music” because just the snippet was enough. In this movie, I like the trailer until she starts singing, and then for some reason my whole brain rolls it’s eyes. Why does it do that for this movie? I love Disney music. I listen to Disney Princess Christmas album every season even though it’s not amazing, because I just like hearing characters sing. So why should I be exasperated by new feature-film Disney music, even if it does sound just like the others? I don’t know. I am not a music expert, either; I’m just telling you who I am (a Disney lover) and how inexplicably I reacted to Wish’s little music thing. Chris Pine can sing, but just like everything he does: he sounds like Chris Pine singing.

I think you’re right about Valentino; I don’t know if that’s a fair criticism, though. The Little Mermaid could’ve worked without Flounder. Mulan could’ve worked without Cri-Kee. Cinderella could’ve worked without Jacques. Moana absolutely did work without Pua. But in the new movie’s trailer I did feel like, “this feels like a pointless character.” Don’t know why.

The world actually looks empty to me. See points about the art style above. I don’t want to explore what I’ve seen of it, because it looks like an unfinished Open-World game that someone wants me to stream walkthroughs of on YouTube, and I’m like “no thank you, that looks boring.” But maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe in the story, the Wishing Star deepens and fills up every piece of scenery it interacts with! That would be cool. Maybe there’s a story-reason for the world.

I don’t know about the protagonist being bland. To make a good character (particularly in a kid’s movie) you need one big flaw (to make the character believable) and one big strength (to make the character compelling) and then little flaws and strengths surrounding that. For example, Aladdin’s one big flaw is his insecurity, and his one big strength is his compassion. You can file smaller traits like “trust issues, impulsivity, defensiveness, dishonesty” under the Insecurity flaw, and you can file “generous, insightful,” under the Compassion strength. His compassion makes him help and connect with Jasmine in the marketplace even though his Insecurity leads him to think he needs to be a Prince to re-connect with her after she turns out to be the Princess, etc. So it’s fine if she has one obvious flaw. She just really needs it to be relatable. All Disney characters wish for something. But every single one of them typically learns that the thing they were wishing for isn’t what they thought it would be, and to have what’s worth wishing for (love, usually) requires sacrifice. It’s a formula, but it’s a tried-and-true formula. It’s a multi-faceted formula. If they pick a new facet but remember the good, plain, common sense in the same formula, everything will be fine.

Their messages have been less and less subtle. In general I don’t mind when messages are obvious, because (you know me) I think that’s what movies are for. But! I will admit that movies like The Little Mermaid or Beauty & the Beast or Lilo & Stitch, where the messages are wrapped in layers of compelling character arcs and feel more character-driven, are better than movies like Raya and the Last Dragon. No shade, Raya, but how many times can you say “trust” in the same movie? Aladdin did it in two.

I don’t mind references in movies. Worked for Frozen. But there’s a difference between having Anna excitedly see the sails of a ship entering the harbor as a callback to Pocahontas, and having Rapunzel ask Vanellope if people assume all her problems were solved because a big strong man showed up. One is respectful (hey, let’s parallel Anna seeing the start of a new chapter in her life the same way Pocahontas did with sails!) and the other is sort of poking fun at the audience for ever liking what Disney made. Basically I’m very tired of meta-references.

I think this movie has potential to treat death with the weight it’ll need. After all, if it’s about wishes, one of the very easiest but most emotionally-engaging things they could do is have the main character (or the villain) be wishing to bring someone who’s died back. Then the message could go hard.

I totally agree about romance. The thing about romance is, it is a great way for one character to self-examine and confront their issues, as well as move into a place where they’re willing to sacrifice for others. Having a young, naive character set out to get their dreams, and then run into another character and start to care about that character? It forces conflict and tension, and again, it’s a formula, but it’s a formula that makes sense and shouldn’t be fixed because it’s not broke.

What I really don’t like about this villain is that he just feels bland, like a rockstar character who turns out to be a jerk. Surprise, surprise. And Chris Pine plays Chris Pine in everything he’s in, so I’m not thrilled by that either. But whatever.

Yeah, this last point goes back to meta-humor. #NotMyDisney thinks it needs to acknowledge what’s being mocked in order to trick the mocking audiences into watching their new stuff. “If we just own up to our formulas with a joke, they’ll see we’re self-aware and they’ll come along for the ride!” No, actually, you’ll just take them out of the movie mentally and emotionally to hit them with a fourth-wall slap. And then they’ll mock you because that’s cringe. The truth of the matter is, Disney responded to their haters best with Mary Poppins, and then again with Enchanted, and should’ve left it at that. Don’t say “yeah I know we have princesses and cute animals in our movies, aren’t we silly.” Say, “yeah I know we have Princesses and cute animals in our movies, but that’s because life is dark and hard, and hopeful young women with lowly but loveable creatures are inspiring & important. Kids need a spoonful of sugar to HELP the MEDICINE GO DOWN. But it's still MEDICINE that we're making, you're telling us we shouldn't give kids medicine that tastes good?" That’s what they used to say. Now they just…agree with the haters? Because it's a popularity contest, not a responsibility, anymore. Like that’s going to help.

Anyway, I don’t have set-in-stone thoughts about Wish, because Wish hasn’t come out yet. I agree that actors and actresses can give you some idea of where a movie’s headed and sometimes that’s disheartening, but I haven’t seen anything that makes me worry about Wish—except that it looks bland.

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on today's volume ! sienna is annoying, and it's even worse because she'll continue to harass you regardless of whether you're pursuing your OG LI or not . i'm not trying to get back with jin (unless claud's somehow still unavailable at the next recoupling)

MC needs a "leave me alone, bride of chucky" option. moving on

next up is snog marry pie. once again, theo is flirting with me despite MC showing no interest in him ? i'll talk more about this later. for now i had to let him know that i'm Mx. Steal Your Girl

my wife !! i'll be wearing a wedding suit though, don't get it twistedddd 😏

i snogged kyle, married claudia, pied liam, then used the bonus pie on sienna. hazel pied off jin for some vague reason, "you know what you did," type stuff. and i mean ... sorry to the loyal girlies, but i actually hope OG LI did something major. it'd be sad & frustrating among other things if FB decided to set up yet another black woman islander as a petty, jealous villain

i can't lie, this argument was funny af. bonus points for this actually being unique dialogue (i think they should kiss...👀)

and what is this black swan (2010) halloween costume from shein-looking ass dress ???!!!! i think this rivals the season 7 suggested prom monstrosity as the fastest "see other options" selection i've ever made. this outfit is not the one, two, three, or four

next challenge is "couple goals 2.0," a bit lazy there😖

for the most part i've glossed over liam's dialogue cus he genuinely has nothing of value to say, but what ?? i've never gotten steamy with theo . in fact, i barely see the dude because (outside of casa amor) him and claudia share the same "slot" for private chats and alone time. not to mention the only person in this entire villa who's ever done anything with MC outside of a challenge is claudia (my MC didn't even go in the hideaway)

once we came back from casa theo began having a really obvious crush on my MC (don't get me wrong, i think he's gorgeous. i just avoid him specifically because the overlap of his & claudia's routes) and i know some people have complained about claudia flirting with them in casa amor on a straight theo route. i don't know if this is intentional, or if this is just the game falling apart. knowing FB it's probably the latter

venus girl you're so messy ... (acting like i didn't choose these options😭)

speaking of mess, i did expose sienna for hooking up with oakley . (mainly because she had the nerve and audacity to insinuate that i did bits with kyle in casa when we didn't even sleep in the same bed) i didn't reveal that it was theo who caught them, tho people should put two & two together based on him trying to get MC to stop talking lol . i kinda regret it, because oakley is trying to spin it as MC being the one that's somehow "out of control," but i'll just see how the next volume goes before i decide to do a replay. if they're exposed during movie night i'll go back and keep it a secret 🤷

enough of that though, we got a steamy scene with claudia 👀 plus some more confirmation that she's 100% focused on us ... i don't know when the next recoupling is but hopefully within the next couple of episodes, i'm tired of being forced to lead people on 😩

next volume is movie night ! i pray for some branching here, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was some ridiculous clip that can make everyone, even the loyal girlies, look "bad." throwback to vicky getting pissed at my movie night clip of giving bonnie a hug 🙄

[mlobsters]

supernatural s13e20 unfinished business (w. meredith glynn)

taking a second to reflect i'm just about a year into this spn first time watch. first screenshot i took was in s1e2 and that was feb 1, 2023. inching closer to the end but damn.

wtf is happening with gabriel fighting a werewolf-esque whatever with a singlestick type thing. and this music? so cheesy 70s whatever. i see you jay g (christopher is also guilty of it when there's A Theme though so)

aww he's got a list like arya. ok so, like kill bill. which i tried to finally watch here not long ago and i couldn't get past the first fight scene in the house. feel like i might have enjoyed it when it came out when i was 23, but my appetite for tarantino tanked somewhere along the line. also, we already did a reservoir dogs homage episode, did we need another one?

these massive motel rooms, what even

haven't made a dean loves the magic fingers reference in a long ass time. reunion tour of references too

so this is a directed by speight episode too. ok

the apocalypse is good for mary's hair apparently

GABRIEL I call that art. But yes, without me, you two chuckleheads never would've known how to throw Lucifer back in the Cage. DEAN But instead of giving us a hand, you ran. And you just did it again when you ditched us in the bunker. GABRIEL All right, Dean-- I have more important things to do than to join your little band of merry men. DEAN Hey, what you're doing? This? This is not important. GABRIEL Every day, Asmodeus tortured me. Every… day! He fed off my grace for years! He used me, he debased me until I was… What I went through… you don't forgive. Everyone who had a hand in it will die. Get me?

a) this weird explanation/retcon of loki actually being someone else and that's why gabriel was pretending to be him is... weird. b) i get the impassioned speech but talking to two dudes with many more years or torture under their belts, i think they get it

DEAN Not like I care about killing gods, okay? But this whole revenge kick? It's a waste of time. SAM What if it's not? DEAN You've seen it, Sam-- with me, with Dad. Revenge only ends one way-- ugly. SAM Well, maybe it doesn't have to. DEAN Okay, I think I know what this is. SAM Okay, what is this? DEAN You. You're you're so hopped up on this “Kill Bill” fantasy of his. SAM No, no, no. This has nothing to do with me. DEAN If you had a shot at Lucifer, you wouldn't take it? SAM Of course I would. But this is about Gabriel. He needs our help. [Dean rolls his eyes, but agrees to hear out Sam’s plan back in the room] SAM Gabriel, you agree to help us, we'll agree to help you.

and a throwback to revenge never pays. but like, why doesn't sam just go for the obvious, we need his help and maybe he'll do it if we help him quid pro quo. jay bringing the eye rolling music juice, wouldn't expect anything else

GABRIEL Well, Sleipnir's a lot of things, but mainly, he is a coward. I will bet all the personal lubricant in the S.F.V… that after we killed Narfi, he ran straight back to papa's skirts.

and throwback to references i don't understand, that used to be a regular occurrence in kripke-era seasons. per the wiki:

S.F.V. refers to the San Fernando Valley in California, the center of the adult entertainment industry.

wonder how many people caught that, seems awfully obscure

MARY I know you've been winning all these fights, and you want to take him on so bad. I was just like you, with hunting. But I learned the hard way-- thinking you can win all the time, running in blind into every fight? That's how you make mistakes. And the people here, they-- JACK I'm doing this for them. MARY You can't help them if you're dead. And I can't lose another boy.

i'm sorry mary but i snorted. we just haven't had enough time to really establish this, and it's been backburner at best when it's around. #boymom 🤪🤪🤪

LOKI Yes, you do. Little bit. Our treatment of your friend is payback for a slight of a more personal nature. The death of my father, Odin. DEAN Oh, that wasn't him. Lucifer did that. LOKI Ah. But why was my father there in the first place? To parlay, to deal with Gabriel's brothers. When we first made terms, I had only one condition-- I would give him my face, teach him to be me, the trickster, if he agreed to abandon the more… volatile affairs of his family. Forever. When he hit that hotel, he broke that promise, and it cost my father his life.

hokay. never gonna retain any of this. i thought odin died another way but i think i'm thinking of zeus. big ask for me to care/remember the nonsense plot going on from an episode in s5. i can only imagine if i watched this as it aired. perpetually lost

SAM That's not… I'm saying this has become a whole thing with you lately. DEAN A whole thing? SAM Yeah. DEAN Since when? SAM Since the last time we opened up a rift. Since you decided to sideline me and then head to Apocalypse World with Ketch. DEAN Okay, well… we talked about that. SAM Did we? Because I gotta be honest, after everything, you're treating me like I-I deserve to be back at the kid's table or something.

good on you, sam

DEAN Sam, I'm not gonna apologize for protecting you. SAM So that's what you think you're doing here? DEAN You remember what happened the last time we had front row tickets to the Lucifer/Michael show? 'Cause I do. You died… and went to Hell. But see, this time, the apocalypse isn't looking for us. We're actually looking for it. I don't care what happens to me. I never really have. But I do care about what happens to my brother. SAM Dean, we're going to that place, and we're gonna save Jack and Mom. Together. And if something happens, we will deal with it together. And if we die? We'll do that together, too.

on one hand it's like oh yeah, maybe dean is feeling the lingering trauma of what happened the last time michael and lucifer were in their lives. but also, they let so much of that slide it feels like it's just being used for convenience. but whatever. i'd rather this than no conversation at all

and damn straight, sam, everything together. dying is a little much, and you didn't get to follow through on that one anyway. read a fic the other day that was about dean being afraid once sam's blurry wife got to heaven, he'd want to leave to be with her. and they made the point that sam had almost the same amount of years with the blurry wife as he did with dean. and now i'm making myself sad again 🥲🫠 this is why i don't read much heaven fic

[kanene-yaaay]

Secrets and the Pros and Cons of Not Running Away

Kanene's notes: I will receive no constructive criticism on this, I saw a character that just keeps being destroyed over and over because he loves and cares too much and since mah bros on that island only SUFFER, I *WILL* take the matters onto my own hands and give them all the tickles and fluff thank you so much for understanding.

Anyway, the Happy Pills Arc is my absolute fave until now, and this animatic is my new obsession. It doesn't has anything to do with the fic, really, but I think it deserves more love drtyuiklkjhg.

Warnings: This is a tickle fanfic. It has hurt/comfort, fluff and some angsty thoughts, but nothing too dark. It happens after the Happy Pills stuff and doesn't follow the canon timeline. Ticklish!Forever and Ler!Philza, Ler!Bad, Ler!Pac, Ler!Mike, Ler!Richarlyson, Ler!Tallulah and Ler!Chayanne. It is 8,000 words long.

[~*~]

Forever woke up. 

His eyes hurt when they opened so he kept them closed for a few minutes more, watching the flash of memories run behind his eyelids in blurry movements and sounds. 

For the first time in a while his mind was silent, clear from all the effects of what the Federation did to him. His feelings no longer exploded crazy in his chest as they often did during the last few days, fighting to survive before the chemicals from the drugs washed them over and got suppressed by a blinding, fake happiness.

Their kids were gone. 

Richarlyson was gone. His son disappeared in thin air and there were no clues or hints that showed any single way to get them back or even know where they went. 

The island was in scrambles, empty. 

There were explosions and grieving and chaos everywhere. Every parent doing any and everything to cope with the fact that from day to night they’ve got what was the most important for them ripped right from their fingers. 

The N.I.N.H.O, his project (his responsibility) didn’t work out this time and they lost everything because of it.

Badboyhalo was losing his colors. Baghera disappeared. Cellbit straight out begged him to not leave him alone during all of this. Mike hadn’t been seen in a long time. Etoiles was trying to keep their hopes up. Everyone asked him what they should do, now. What would he do as their president. 

And what did he do? He fucking lost it. He let his feelings get over his head, exploded everything that he could put his eyes on, demolished his base with TNT and threatened Cucurucho, forced the Federation to do a throwback just so they would have an island to put their feet on. Made the Federation see him as a threat and force those pills on him.

He left everyone. His family. His friends.

(What more could he do?)

And everyone should've left him too.

…

And yet…

And yet Pac jumped head first to save him. Accepting to go under Cucurucho’s “treatment” so he could analyze the drugs and find a cure for it. No matter how much he was shaking in fear the entire time, how bad the Federation treated him before or how there was just no certainty that his plan would even work

And yet Philza saw under his mask of smile, past the point of his gun and right into the pain in his eyes in his lowest moment and said that everything would be fine, that he still trusted him, that he knew who he was and how much he cared about the eggs. He said they would find a way to solve things out.

And yet Cellbit didn’t let him go for a single second. He followed him no matter the instability, during those painful moments of consciousness, beyond the fake minutes of happiness and slipped past his traps just to go and pull him out of it. He shouted and hugged and taunted and broke and fought dirty and did what he could to bring him back.

And yet Bad still talked and answered him, even with how much he was hurting, even with the bombs and screams and the dismissing he came back over and over again with his chats and banters and discussions that so easily led Forever to the trap that would come to save his life.

Once again, there were tears in his eyes. 

They were too his family. Forever was the one who put himself under Cucurucho’s radar by going apeshit and bombarding the entire island and they were the ones who saved him from that white fucking bear. From himself. From the Happy Pills.

He cried.

(What else could he do?)

Agony and hope danced in harmony in his chest, sucking all his other senses to nothing and filling his soul with every emotion under the sun at the same time. It was overwhelming but good to be free to feel so easily. It was horrible that he knew how it was like to miss this freedom so much. It was empty to feel this despair all over again. It was good, no, essential to know he was not alone.

Almost hopeful, even.

And yet their children were gone.

And yet everyone was kind of lost.

And yet they needed someone solid, a strong leader to step in.

Forever didn’t feel strong.

(What would he do?)

He wiped his tears. Sat on the bed. Got up. Put back the flag on his shoulder. Took a deep breath, listening to the very known voices coming out of the infirmary that made his entire face change to a (this time genuine) happy, tired and relieved kind of smile.

The president of Quesadilla Island woke up.

(And he didn’t have any idea of how much everyone had been waiting to show him how much they were happy about it.)

[~*~]

It all started in very tiny ways, as most things did, easy to miss if you didn’t know where to look. 

The first time it happened Forever was at favela. He had just finished fixing the elevator from the Karaoke and was watching the sunset (Hi, Bobby) wash over the beach in a dance of colors at the top of the building, resting on the parapet. Pac was somewhere close, building more houses or getting in trouble with Fit, but, besides them, it was just him, his memories and Copacabana beach.

Forever laid his head in his arms, with a long sigh, closing his eyes and just letting the wind mess his hair and clear his thoughts, enjoying the brief moment of peace before he started thinking about more plans and projects to fill his day and mind with.

It was hard, though. When every block he put down or decoration he pulled up made the blonde turn around with a call in the tip of his tongue, words disappearing when he realized that there was no set of small footsteps following him and probably never would again because they were all gone and he was not and how could he ever even think about-

A shiver ran down his spine and made his thoughts come to a halt when he felt a light tickle in the back of his neck, making him have to move a hand out of his comfortable position to wipe the leaf or whatever out of his skin. 

His fingers made contact with nothing. Uh. Must’ve flown away already.

He was tired. Maybe he should take the rest of the day to clean his base. There were still holes from the mine traps that someone has been spreading across the island lately. Another problem for him to resolve. Looked like those were never going to end.

The tickle came back, following him even when he flinched away, with a puffed snicker falling from his tongue. His hand shot to scare whatever insect it was from his neck again but the touch was as nimble as it was soft, lightly and skillfully dancing away from his hold before it could catch him.

“Que porra.” (“The fuck.”) He tried again and again, going so far as slapping his entire arm behind him, hitting nothing.

The sensation disappeared for a brief while before running all the way across his spine, making him almost jump in the air and finally give up his comfortable position to spin around. “Que que é isso, cara!” (“What is this, man!”)

“Pfff- hahaha!”

Forever turned just in the right moment to see his short friend, with sky blue eyes shining with a playful light, pulling a black, crooked and beautiful wing behind his back, his laugh ringing across the building.

“Philza! Really?” 

“What? You wouldn’t have that problem if you wore a shirt, you know?” Forever’s shouted “WHAAAAT!” did nothing to alleviate his laughing fit, a snort not taking long to appear.

“You, you’re, you’re bullying me, man! I just came out of the hospital and you treat me like this. I can’t believe it!”

“You’re-”

“You come here, you hit me, you don’t let me rest after I get out of a coma… I am an injured, man, you know that, Philza? You’re bullying an injured man.”

“I literally,” his tune tried and failed to sound at least a tidbit serious before he descended in more laughter. “I literally didn’t even hit you!” 

Forever continued as if he didn’t hear the protest of the other, turning around and gesticulating dramatically. “You’re a bully, Philza. You’re such a bully.”

“I am doing that to remind you to put on a shirt! You just came out of the hospital, you’re gonna catch a cold.”

“Nah, nah, nah, you’re mean. You’re just so mean to me. Like, I thought we were friends, you know? But I see the truth now.” He tsked. “That is just sad, Philza. That is really sad, man.”

“Oh my fucking god.” The punch he gave on Forever’s arms didn’t even hurt, only making the president snicker louder. “Shut the fuck up.”

Forever chuckled at how done the other sounded, watching him roll his eyes and shake his head with a big smile before taking (he wasn’t resting anymore so might as well just finish his work here) the chance and walking in between the tables and chairs until he got behind the balcony. In no time he began filling the storage with drinks and food. The high, upbeat joy of banting with his friend slowly calming down.

“Actually, I am going to put back my old black suit soon. I am just taking a break from wearing suits so much, you know?”

He didn’t have to explain what the break was really for and how his old presential clothes didn’t have anything to do with it, Philza understood. 

“Take that time off, Forever, you deserve it.” His tune was soft. 

Forever smiled, wishing he could show Phil how wrong he was. A“break” definitely wasn’t on the list of things that Forever deserved at all. That anarchist was way too kind.

“Thank you very much, my friend.” He closed the cabinet door, turning around (and away), facing the entire restaurant. 

Each chair, each color and decor had been carefully picked by small , gentle claws. The building had been chosen by hand and even the balcony was built lower than normal, made so that a small child could go behind it and pretend to be a barman, sing with the melodies and enjoy the view with their family and friends. 

Signs were still spreaded there, on the restaurant, the rooms, the favela, the N.I.N.H.O, the Spawn, their home and island… None of it had been built to be just for the adults and it all brought a longing pang in his chest. 

Saudade.

They’re gone. They’re gone and he was here laughing and resting and doing nothing to rescue them and how could he be so usele-

Another soft sweep of feathers right under his chin made him flinch away with a surprised, bitten giggle, successfully making his line of thoughts disintegrate for a second time. A half smile painted his face.

“Stop with that, man! It tickles.”

Philza tilted his head slightly to the side, eyes sharp in concentration, as if just realizing something. But at the sound of Forever’s voice he blinked and let his expression become a tad more relaxed, with worried tunes.

“You just seemed to be thinking a whole lot back there. What is in your mind?”

“Nothing really important. It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, I’ve got some bad news for you then, mate. Because it will matter to me. You can tell me anything, Forever.”

And for a moment the other considered not doing that. Teleporting away or brushing his worries with another topic or a joke. But that was Philza. 

Philza, one of the most protective parents who still trusted him with Tallulah when he was away. Philza, who didn’t care about the elections but voted for him anyway. Philza, who trusted him with such a conviction and an unyielding loyalty that Forever had no idea of what he could ever have done to deserve it.

(“You saved my children.” Philza would say if he could listen to him. “You went beyond and further to save everyone’s kids for free over and over so no parent would ever carry the grief of losing them again. You did it for Richarlyson, for Tallulah, for Bobby, for Pomme, for you, for us, for free. I’m not forgetting that easily and I’m not letting you forget too.”)

And that was enough.

He stared at the beach again, the words coming easier when he was not looking at the other.

“Talullah was the one who decorated the restaurant. We were having a Karaoke Night and when we got up here she had already put all those nice trees and pretty flowers…It looks really nice.”

Philza sighed, looking ten thousands of years older.

“Yeah, she has an amazing taste.” Then he walked and stayed right in front of Forever’s view, staring right at his eyes, serious. “We’re going to find them, ok? Richas, Talullah, Chayanne, Ramon… Every single one, we’re going to get them back. So don’t let yourself give up and stay focused.”

The president, his friend, nodded.

“We will get them back.” Forever agreed. “No matter what it costs.”

[~*~] 

But Philza was a discreet fella, so things continued to be shown in tiny ways for a while. A poke when he got too distracted and his thoughts too dark, a scribble to get his attention, a sweep of feathers when he refused to stop working so much and listen to the reason. Forever pretended to be annoyed, but the fact that the other cared so much and in such a playful way kept fishing fond smiles and amused chuckles out of him and that he couldn’t ignore.

His cute secret was secure with him, and so things took a while before it began escalating, all because of a different afternoon…

It started with a jumpscare.

“FOREVER!”

“PUTA MERDA!” (“HOLY SHIT!”) The loud shout quickly descended in a series of nervous giggles. The blond holding his chest and resting in a wall to not fall, muscles trembling with the sudden shot of adrenaline. 

It took a couple of minutes for him to get back his composure and glare at the demon that was still snickering gleefully at him, tail swooping around in delight as he jumped around. 

It took exactly one second. 

In a blink Forever was getting his soul back to his body and then in the other he was throwing himself at him and both were rolling on the floor in a mess of pushes and kicks. “Tu se acha engraçadão, hein? Tu se acha muito engraçadão. Palhaço! Tá palhaço demais, hein, Badboyhalo.” (“You think you’re so funny, yeah? You think you’re so funny. You clown! You’re being such a clown, huh, Badboyhalo.”)

Forever didn’t care that his wrestling was uncoordinated enough so most hits didn’t even land on his friend, different from Bad that actually got more than one or two kicks right before letting himself be lost in a mix of too joyfully complains of “unfair attack” and “dictator” to have any true heat in them. 

Their playful fight was kept for a few pieces of a while before they were too distracted by their own amusement to not let the other go and try to recompose themselves.

“Where! is! it!”

“What?” Forever asked, staring with confused eyes at the black demon who crossed his arms and squinted at him in what Forever could swear was an annoyed composure if it wasn’t the way his tail swayed around and his eyes glinted in glee. Whether it was for being so unclear and successfully confusing the blond or for the original reason he appeared there in the first place it wasn’t clear. 

For a moment his eyes unfocused from the form of the other and watched the wall full of kind, heartwarming messages that he asked for everyone still awake at that night to write so he could make BadboyHalo a surprise. Suddenly all the pieces came together in his mind and formed such a cute picture that Forever couldn’t help but let out a delighted chuckle, lips curling in an amused, teasing smirk. “Ooooh, I see what you’re talking about now, Badboy.”

That chuckles almost became a crackle when the only response he received was a petulant huff and a hand extended in his direction, fingers twitching impatiently. Forever took out his backpack, rummaging through it until he found the compartment where he kept all his flowers, carefully pushing Richa’s favorite one aside so he could pull another one. His fingers clasped around a stem and soon a light purple grazed his sight. “Here. Your daily flower. It’s for until you get better, right?”

“Oh, nice, thank you.” Bad’s voice tinted with a softer tune, carefully gathering the gift and putting it on his own backpack, in a special place, together with the others, before his tune became agitated again, feet tapping on the floor with energy. “But that is NOT what I am talking about.” He got closer and repeatedly began slapping his arm, following the president when he shouted and started running around the enclosed space, jumping in attempts to escape from the sudden attack. “WHERE IS IT! GIVE ME, IT’S MINE!”

“What! What more do you want from me!” When no answer was given besides more chasing and (friendly) hitting, the blonde got the warpstone with an exaggerated sigh. 

“You know, Badboyhalo,” when Forever said his entire name, it wasn’t exactly sing-songing, but it had a little beat painted with amusement and tease, when the demons haven’t been able to successfully annoy him out of his mind, of course. “I really need to go, man, and since you don’t have anything to say to me… tsk, that is so sad, man, I was really feeling quite… generous today”

“No!” The demon tried to grab his shoulder, but the blonde dodged swiftly, still pretending to be looking busy and thinking hard about his next location. “Forever. Do not. You’re not running away. I know what you’re doing!” Forever smiled. 

Being friends with Cellbit, you learned a thing or two. Like how to disappear in the middle of a conversation, but, especially, how to do that in the most annoying way possible. “No, no, no, I’m not running away at all, Bad, I am actually…”

However, that was the thing: Bad was also Cellbit’s friend, and so realized the exact moment that glint filled the president’s brown eyes what was about to happen. His hand flew in another attempt of a grab, missing once again his shoulder when the other, a bit later than last time, dodged, which allowed his reflex to kick in and his hand changed the trajectory and lay on the brazilian’s side, squeezing.

None of them was prepared for the squeal that this action fished.

For a second, a blissful second, everything froze and both stared at each other. 

That is how Forever saw the exact second the demon’s eyes squinted and a playful flame alighted in them.

In a blink his other hand also flew to his waist and began attacking both sides with no mercy. Forever had no chance to even try to stop the barking loud laughter that exploded from him, immediately letting go of the warpstone to clue on Bad’s wrists, trying to push them away by sheer reflex even before his brain could process what was happening. 

“Nonono, stop that! BA-ad!”

Bad couldn’t help but giggle, half adoring and half malefically, at the way the laughter made most of his words get almost intelligible. Besides, Bad thinks he could grow accustomed to having his name being snickered in such an adoring - together with that cute smile and shiny eyes - way more often, really.

His fingers poked and prodded with skill and curiosity, looking for any sensitive spot that could create a new fun sound and concentrating there for a few maddening seconds and plenty of digging before looking for the next one. There was a very nice one juuust above his lowest rib that made the barking laughter become a string of snickers that seemed to grow higher and faster by the seconds. It almost made Bad forget his main job now as his friend and rival the second (actually, even before that, if he was being honest, but honesty was overrated) he discovered that little fun secret about their dear tyrant:

Tease him out of his mind.

“Huh? Stop what, Foreverrr?” “That! You’re ti-” Bad closed his hands in fists and pressed his knuckles on his ribs and rubbed as if his life depended on it, cutting the rest of the sentence with success and filling the room with much more shrieks than before. “What was that?” 

Forever couldn’t answer, his legs were failing and it made him get close to a fall if it wasn’t for the demon adjusting his hold on him and slowly lowering him to the ground, fingers still dancing in each and every rib, scratching and scribbling happily.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear what you’re saying, some muffinhead is laughing their heart out near here. Perhaps they heard a very good joke. Hmmm, what do you think Forever?”

Forever snorted, eyes almost closed with how much he was laughing, tears beginning to collect in the corner of his eyes. A few portuguese words got tangled with his crackling. Bad nodded seriously and slowed his tickle attack, not wanting to go too far.

“Uh hm, no, I get what you’re putting down here. We just need to ignore the laughter and keep up our nice conversation. I think that is a great idea!” He snuggled his hands cozily under Forever’s armpits, lightly wiggling and poking, which resulted in the laughter becoming a new dance of a calmer, but still high with adrenaline and mirth, string of snickers that made the blonde’s shoulders bounce in joy. “What were you saying before?” 

“Stop tickling me!” “What!” Bad gasped in offense. “How can you even accuse me like that! What the fudge, I thought we were friends. But, no, I see. I came aaaaall the way over here, did nothing wrong and you just treat me like that.” He gave a fake sniff.  “You’re hurting my feelings, Forever.” “Mentiroso!” (Liar!) It was quite difficult to see with tears and squinted eyes, especially when Bad’s hoodie always kept his expressions hidden, however, it was even harder to miss how those shiny eyes glinted with mischief and fondness and his smirk went from one ear to another. 

It was quite the sweet sight. Forever had to push his face away before it made him blush vomit. 

(For a second, he could almost swear that the blue that covered the other’s figure dimmed a little for a piece of time.)

“You’re such a liar.”

“Oh why, thank you.”

Bad freed his hands and softly attacked the back of the elf’s ears, still too lost in the lovely sound of his delightful giggles, crackles and snickers to actually let him go. That was the true sound of Forever’s happiness, not that forced, explosive laughter created by those pills. 

Besides, Forever also wasn’t pushing him away.

Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t the only one missing that freeing sound. Maybe Forever also longed for those moments of playful fights between them, of pushing the buttons and teasing and caring and always, always being there, for the better or the worse.

Eventually, the president held his hands and stopped the attack, left over giggles still pouring from his lips like a waterfall. 

Their eyes met.

Forever’s smile got relaxed and small before growing bigger. 

Bad just hummed, tail starting to sway fastly from side to side.

“So, Badboyhalo…”

“Yes?”

Forever’s grip got more firm. 

Bad’s pull got equally stronger. 

They kept smiling.

“Are you… uh.” His voice lost the undertone of playfulness, brown eyes focusing with true curiosity for a moment. “Coceguento? How is it in english? Tickly?”

“Oh, it’s ticklish. For example, you are very ticklish, Forever.”

“Hehehe,” he snorted, and his curiosity was satisfied. “Yeah, yeah, I got it. But what about you, Badboyhalo? Are you… ticklish?” The word came slowly and playfully, tinted with a nice accent.

Bad’s tail opened his backpack, rummaging in search for a very specific item.

“Hmmm… no, actually. I’m not.”

The blonde’s smile got more dangerous. “I don’t know… I don’t believe in you, man.” He found it. 

Bingo.

“Then why don’t you try to find out?” 

Forever pulled him closer and with a swift move the enderpearl that had been in his bag was thrown to the other side of the room, successfully freeing the demon from his hold. Not a second later, though, Forever was jumping on his feet, ready for another chase.

Lots of laughter filled the afternoon, that day.

[~*~]

After that, the avian wasn’t the only one who now randomly poked, prodded and attacked the outgoing brazilian when he wasn’t expecting, anymore. Even though Badboyhalo’s attacks were much more out of the blue, following him in those lonely afternoons when he was distracted in his adventures or too lost in a project to realize the other invaded his base in the middle of a sleepless night. 

But, you see, the difference between Philza and Bad and knowing that Forever is actually pretty ticklish is a very single detail: Bad is a fucking gossiper who loved to set chaos just to see where it would go. 

And, therefore, the main reason why Forever was so screwed right now.

“NÃO! SAI, SAI, SAI. LARGA DE MIM!” (NO! GET AWAY, GET AWAY, GET AWAY. LET ME GO!)

“Que isso, moço, tá fugindo da gente por que?” (What is this, bro? Why are you running away from us?) 

Forever didn’t even have to turn around to see Mike’s giant smug grin. It was almost palpable in his tune. But if anyone could have any doubt about its existence, they just needed to listen to his crackles as both him and Pac chased their friend through the Spawn, leaving a very amused Bad and  Bagi, who shouted a “Boa sorte aí, Forevinho!” (Good luck, Forevinho!) in the wind behind.

“Pois é, a gente só quer um abraço apertado do nosso presida da galera! Cadê o espírito da Favela Six?” (That’s right. We just want a tight hug from our favorite president! Where’s the Favela’s six spirit?) Pac, however, questioned with a genuine tune, almost naive like as he followed the other closely, getting closer and closer by the seconds. For a moment he almost tricked the president into thinking that he was the merciful one, then he remembered about that one tickle fight he, Mike and Tubbo had in the Favela.

Let’s just say it was just a very quick thought, really.

“Favela six é o caralho, ceis querem é me roubar. Eu já disse que não vai ter Armazém da Galera nenhum! Isso é ataque à autoridade, hein!” (Favela Six my ass, you just want to rob me. I already said that there won’t be any Free Storage! This is an attack on authority!)

“A gente só quer o que é nosso por direito, Forevin.” (We just want what is faithfully ours, Forevin.)

The blonde didn’t even have a chance to answer before an arm grabbed his shoulder and pushed, disbalancing him enough so Pac was able to sneak behind him and lock him in a hug, snickering gleefully in his ear.

“Que isso, cara, achava que tu era compromissado! Vou falar pro Fit, hein!” (The hell, man! I thought you were compromised! I’m going to tell Fit!) Forever’s struggles only grew stronger when he saw Mike getting closer, wiggling his hands in the form of claws as he stopped running and instead began to approach slowly, chuckles falling freely from his lips and making shivers run across his spine and giggles to pile in his chest. 

He tried again to free himself from the hug, showing no success. Pac’s hold was firm as a mountain.

“E desde quando que tu tá malhando? Tá todo mamadíssimo aí, né, eu tô sabendo.” (And since when you’re ripped? You’re all ‘mamadíssimo’ now. I see what’s going on.)

Pac let out an amused, with drops of shyness, snort. “Pois é, né, moço. Sabe como é né… Tô indo na academia do Fit bastante esses tempos e tudo mais, aí dá nisso.” (That is right, bro. You know how it is… I’m visiting Fit's Gym a lot these last days and that is what happens.) His tune lost a bit of the light and became more serious, cracked in the corners. “Também, né, a gente nunca sabe quando vai precisar. Eu não quero que quando chegue a hora…” (Also, we don’t know when we’re gonna need it. I don’t want that, when the time comes…)

Forever knew exactly what he was talking about, the same cloudy thoughts that filled everyone’s mind in the island the second he warned that the kids had ran away because a danger greater than everything they’ve seen before was coming, the Federation choosing to announce the train station’s opening in just a few days also did not help their nerves.

He looked at Pac’s shadows under his eyes, suddenly remembering that his friend also went under the Happy Pills Treatment, the horrible withdrawal, the exhaustion of recovery, all to save him. 

His struggles became just a little, a little less strong, heart melting and hurting like it did for every single member of their dysfunctional family since they arrived in that boat.

The scientists deserved to have their own silly fun, even if the fun was destroying their friend and president in a mess full of giggling pieces.

And so Forever let out a loud laughter, wiggling his eyebrows and giving him a knowing smirk. “Tu tá praticando bastante exercício com o Fit é? Aham, hehehe, tô sabendo.” (Doing a lot of exercise with Fit, yeah? Uh hm. Hehehe, I see.)

“FOREVER!” This time the snort that came out from Forever’s mouth was more of a result of Pac's unfairly squeezing his belly non stop instead of a reaction to the affronted shout, the one with blue hoodie not throwing any other remark or getting lost in any dark thought. The blonde counted that as a win for him. 

“Tá bem engraçadinho, mas você não vai conseguir me distrair. Sabe, o Badboy me falou algo muito interessante sobre você que ele descobriu mês passado…” (You think you’re being funny, huh. But you’re not going to distract me. You know, Badboy told me something very interesting about you that he discovered last month…)

Mike finally got right in front of him and Forever immediately started kicking in his direction to keep those offending fingers away from his torso at the same time that he continued to attempt to pry Pac’s hands - that somehow seemed to sense the exact spots he was the most sensitive and concentrate all their pinches, scribbles and tickly efforts on them over and over again - until the attack forced Forever to press his lips on his shoulder to contain the blossoming laughter and embarrassing squeals that tried to escape from his mouth.

His efforts to not let any sound out, however, were demolished when, in his distraction, Mike grabbed his ankle and grinned like a shark that finally got his prey. 

“Eu preferia uma mãozinha, mas já que é isso que você tá oferecendo…” (I’d rather you gave me a hand, but since you’re offering…) And, locking the leg in a headlock,  his fingers began dancing across his sole, walking around his arch and giving some special attention to the extremely ticklish space right under his toes, skillfully dodging any kicks that this move resulted in and breaking Forever’s barriers instantly.

Forever’s booming laughter filled the air in a free dance of joy, mirth and a warmth that filled his heart when he remembered just how long had it been since all of them could just get together and goof around a bit, no kidnappings or imminent dangers in their minds for a blissful pieces of time.

[~*~]

“Soooo, guys, I think I’m heading out, now.” Forever kept jumping on the trampoline, restless energy running on his veins after talking to Phil about his journey in the Nether. The virus hadn’t spread a lot those last days, but the conversation was hard, not only because of how, primarily, exhausting it was to go through all of it, but because for some reason something in him made he almost feel compelled to shut his mouth and not say a single word about the infection to anyone else.

They played and gave each other a few remarks and pokes of fun when Philza asked for Forever to take off his shirt in the bunker, careful touches analyzing the skin around the ébano substance glued on his back and in the nape of his head. Even so, it made the blonde want to hide away the result of his journey. Forever never have been ashamed of his body. He used to walk around shirtless, on the good old, first days on the island, afterall. But if he was being honest... he was afraid about that infection, and Philza didn’t seem very relieved about it either.

It was a literal mark about how he had failed in absolutely every single sense and chance he had out there. In finding any clue, in getting their kids back, in saving Walter Bob or even himself. In the end, he was not able to do any of this.

That is the President of Quesadilla Island, everyone.

(“We’re going to talk with Cucurucho and demand answers about what the fuck is this.”

Forever gave a humorless chuckle, happy that the children were outside playing so they weren’t here to witness how defeated he sounded for a second before adjusting himself to a playful grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Yeah, Philza, he is very good at this. Giving us answers, right?”

“We have to try. If someone knows about this it is the Federation.”  Philza brushed the other’s sarcastic ‘há!’ easily and moved until he was right in front of the brazilian, capturing his eyes in a firm stare. “And if they don’t have anything, we’re going to find our own answers.”

Forever nodded, not really believing.

“You worry too much, my friend.”

“Exactly. I already told you but I will repeat it until it gets through your thick skull: I always will worry and I’m not leaving you side, mate.”

For a moment words escaped from his tongue, a mix of feelings of ‘safe’, ‘happy’ and ‘embarrassment’ filled his chest before he got a hold of his senses. 

“Alright, alright, alright.” 

This time, when he smiled there was a light back into his brown, tired eyes. 

“You know, Philza, you really need to get over me, man. The line continues, I’m already moving forward and you still try to romance me, it’s- what is the word? Oh, embarrassing, hehehe”

The avian took advantage of his position to hit the other upside his head, a surprise snort being fished from his lips. 

“Oho, shut the fuck up. You’re the one who is still on this!”)

And yeah, maybe he was just making a strategic retreat after showing vulnerability, but who could blame him, really? No one, that’s who. He would be out before they did try.

“Come on, Richas, vamo de Megabase.” (Let’s go to Megabase) He called, getting out of the trampoline when the boy kept painting and paid him no mind. Tallulah, however, stopped writing on a book to go to him, Chayanne turned to look from his place next to the grill nearby, already testing a new recipe.

The girl placed a sign and stared at him with attentive eyes, lips firmly pressed in a shadow of disappointment. ‘You already going?’

(God. He really missed the sound of little steps and signs being placed. They missed it all so much.)

Forever internally winced. He really didn’t spend a lot of time with Chay and Talullah since they’re back, letting them enjoy more time with Phil and just making quick check ins once in a while. He also took the last days to spend as much time as he could with Richas, afterall.

“Yeah... sorry, Talullah, but me and Richas still have to finish our project, right Richas?”

Still no answer from the younger one, too concentrated in every stroke to pay the conversation any mind.

Forever chuckled, sensing a chance for some mischief. Cleaning his throat, he lifted his voice from the usual soft tune he always used with Tallulah to a more taunting tune, making it louder so Richas could listen perfectly well.

“Ohhh, but maybe you can go and help me to make it, right, Talullah? You’re such a nice, helpful egg who listens to your parents when they call you, just like Chayanne. Richarlyson could take some examples from his older siblings more, tsk.” The president had to hold the snickers when he saw the red cow head stop and slowly, threateningly slowly, turn around to face him, Richas letting go of the brush to squint their eyes at him. Talullah and Chayanne rolled their eyes, amused, already used to the playful banters between father and son. “But ahh, he just never listens. Oooh, I have an idea! While Tallulah helps me with the decoration, Chayanne, you can go too and make your delicious barbecue there to keep us- AH!”

The surprised shout was a direct result for when the younger launched himself at his father in protest and began roughhousing immediately, both descending in growls and portuguese for a few couple of minutes before Forever laid a satisfied Richas on the floor, who immediately placed a sign.

‘Pai, stop. I’m making Pepito’s birthday present, let me finish it >:0 we can go Mebase later :D’

“Ok, ok, I get it, I get it. You like Pepito more than your own father. Yeah, yeah, no Richas, no, I get it.” He began fake sniffing and making crying noises, leading to a Richas kicking his leg in a clear message of ‘stop the dramatics’ before going back to the canvas. “Ok, ok, warn me when you finish your drawing then, we can stay a little more.”

The three kids danced in excitement.

(...)

He is not sure how exactly he had ended up in this position.

Talullah and Chayanne were secure and cozy his arms, half because of a poke of fun at Philza that started with a joke ten minutes ago and they just kept it running and half as a parting hug that was stiffly (but still very carefully) answered by Chayanne and warmly by Tallulah. Forever enthusiastically squeezed and hugged them even tighter. A bit jealous of how Philza could shield them both with his wings during their own hugs and how he could only wish that his arms would be strong enough to defend them when the time comes.

“OK, now it’s for real. Richas, let’s go!”

But, when Richarlyson appeared in front of him, paints and canva already put inside his backpack, his smile had a different tint in it and, between his curls, Forever could recognize the flame that always appeared when that kid’s inner demon - not his terrifying artistic alter ego, though, the general demon that lives inside every rascal kid - woke in search of chaos.

He immediately became wary.

‘Chay, Talluh, can I tell you a secret about Pai Forever? 0-0’

Both siblings immediately nodded.

“Ohh, gossip. I like, I like.” Philza snorted at the affronted look in Forever’s face. 

“Vai contar nada, vai contar nada, seu muleque atentado! Nem sei o que tu vai falar, mas não vai falar não. Que que é isso, Richarlyson, tá se virando contra o seu próprio pai?” (You’re telling nothing, you’re telling nothing, you absolute brat. I don’t even know what you’re about to say but you’re telling nothing. What is it, Richarlyson, are you turning against your own dad?)

During the entire scold Richas kept jumping around in circles with the utmost, simple delight, wiggling his body and tail in sync in front of Forever, as if daring him to let go of the other two eggs to go and actually catch him, like a cat looking deep into your eyes before throwing the cup right off your table.

He put a sign on the ground.

‘Pai Forever is absurdly, awfully, very, very, ticklish. And it’s so funny because he always agrees to give us anything when we tickle attack him at home.'

“WHAAAAAT! RICHARLYSON, TU VAI FICAR DE CASTIGO, SEU OVO SAFADO. VAI PASSAR O RESTO DA VIDA NAQUELE CASTELO ASSOMBRADO LÁ DO TEU PAI CELLBIT. VOU CHAMAR O ELMARIANA PRA PUXAR TEU PÉ DE NOITE” (RICHARLYSON, YOU’RE GOING TO GET GROUNDED, YOU RASCAL. YOU’RE GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IN YOUR DAD CELLBIT’S HAUNTED CASTLE. I’M GOING TO CALL ELMARIANA TO PULL YOUR FEET IN THE NIGHT.)

His kid, his beautiful, beautiful baby boy that he would explode the entire island for and go through the literal hell all over again if it meant that he would be finally safe, only looked at him in a confused expression - as if the lil shit just couldn’t tell why his dear pai was running away from him as he tried to get closer - and began following his steps as Forever tried to put distance between them, holding Chayanne and Talullah the farthest away from his torso that he could while the two squirmed trying to escape and attack.

In the end his back ended up hitting the tree and, without being able to get his items to flee, he had nowhere to go.

“Wait, wait, wait, don-” A chortle escaped the very exact moment Richas began drilling on his sides, making Forever want to bounce up and down with the sudden tickly energy that shot through his entire body, leaving his mouth with a big, dazzling smile and his arms to fall in an attempt to protect himself from the tickling, which inevitably brought the other children close and sealed his fate.

Tallulah was bold, briefly looking at his face for any sign of discomfort before carefully shoving her claws under his armpit, scratching the ticklish skin with ease, but for the loud shriek that this resulted one could think that she just unlocked a full, unmerciful on a tickle attack.

Chayanne took a bit longer, giving his surroundings and sky a wary look, as if a monster would appear the very second he lowered his guard, only to end up finding his father’s gaze, who was watching at them with a soft expression and nodding encouragingly. The little (way to young) warrior relaxed and also took the job of scribbling, encircling and digging (just the tiniest bit, he had to be mindful about his claws after all) the other armpit, fish just more squeals and plenty of gleeful laughter with that.

Forever felt like he was about to jump out of his skin, his body going crazy at the ‘it tickles, it tickles so so much!’ feeling while his brain was still caught in the need to not move around too much to not hurt any kid with his squirms. All of which ended up with the blonde doing a weird little dance around the spot that brought plenty of giggles and amused snickers from the young ones.

Now, the similarity between Philza and Bad is that, while he wasn’t exactly the one who created it, Philza was more than inclined and wouldn’t necessarily refuse to add to a chaotic situation it if the chance came, if he felt like it.

That is why he stepped close, winking at them. “I think it’s better if you just agree to their terms, Forever.”

“I-I” the adult tried to bite back another giggling fit, but their tickles were so goddamn light and maddening- “I don’t even snk know what thehey want!”

“Just agree to give them anything then.”

Forever shook his head. He knew his son enough to understand how much of a pain in the ass that decision could become.

“Needing more convincing? Well, kids, you saw it.”

“Filho da puta-” (Son of a bitch-), and Forever threw his head backwards in more laughter, more squeaks, more half squirms.

Now, Philza may not know Portuguese. However, six months sharing an island with 7 brazilians and plenty of reasons to swear taught him well what some words meant. He snorted, half amused and half affronted.  

“Do NOT swear in front of the children.” Then, a wicked grin was formed in his expression.“You know what? I think the eggs need a little help.”

Forever’s eyes got wide when he saw the avian stepping close, cracking his fingers, making an electric shiver run across his spine and spread through his nerves, making his fingertips tingle with adrenaline and anticipation. 

His legs tensed in preparation for the chase, unfortunately, his son knew him too well.

In a blink Richarlyson threw himself on his legs and hugged them, successfully stopping him from even trying to escape. And those extra pieces of time were all that Philza needed. As fast as he was to defend and attack, he positioned himself right in front of the president, firmly pressing his shoulder to the tree and not really, truly, preventing him from escaping, but successfully securing him in place, in the same time.

“Ok, kids, what I know for a fact is that his neck is a very bad spot…” He demonstrated it by lightly tracing and wiggling his nails on said place, all of the dragon hybrids watching attentively as the action made Forever lose himself in a sea of snickers and yelps, a stronger reaction only coming out when two more tiny hands got mixed in the fun when Chayanne and Talullah tried mirroring their dad.

“But a spot that could make him cave…” Philza hummed before turning to the young one with a red mushroom cow head. “What do you think, Richarlyson? His hips or the back of his ribs?”

Richas looked at his dad. 

At how dark have been the circles under his eyes since he came back, at how he kept chatting with the islanders but never truly talking to them, how he always kept running off to another project or meeting, always saying that Richas was his son and his best friend and the only one he could trust when they got caught up in the middle of the night building and decorating his base.

He saw how, until now, he hadn’t run away. Through the teases, the attacks and tickles, he stayed.

And so, he smirked. 

Placed a sign.

‘Both?’

“Geez, I’m never getting into a tickle fight with you, mate.” Even so, the avian reflected his smirk right back at him and both turned to look at Chayanne and Talullah, who nodded in understanding and placed their claws on the back of his ribs. 

“Nononono! Wait!” Philza placed his free hand on his hips, thumb pressing the spot right above the bone, the palm resting on the back of his spine. Forever’s speech became more high pitched and much faster, with nervous, delirious chuckles already spilling and spinning in the air. “None of you said what you wanted from me! That is not justo, uh, just, huh, fair! Calma aí, come on, wait, wait, wait!”

They did not, in fact, wait.

For a second, once again, everything else in the world disappeared. There were no code monsters, no Federation, no Purgatory or anything else but the warm, electric feeling of fingers and claws prodding, pinching and scratching that took over his entire senses, making his laughter ring free in a song composed of yelps, shrieks, squeals and snickers that filled the air. There was nothing else but the fun, the joy and the warmth of a careful touch and silly taunting smiles that his heart melt with care over and over again.

In the end, after more laughter, plenty of teasing and lots of snorts, they finally agreed to ask him to visit them again after a couple of days for a nice picnic. A request which, in between leftover chuckles, plenty complains and a few gleeful tears, Forever agreed, a plan of vengeance already forming in his brain.

[impromptu-sketches]

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 ✦ 𝕎ℝ𝔸ℙ-𝕌ℙ ~ ℝ𝔼𝕎𝕀ℕ𝔻

Hi everyone! So, I started reading BL for the first time in 2020 but didn’t start doing annual wrap-ups until 2021. So because I feel like I’ve left out a ton of my favorite stories and because I’m a bit of a perfectionist... here’s my 2020 wrap-up rewind!

Out of all of the BL stories -ongoing and completed at the time- that I read, I have a winner in ten categories and four ‘best of’ winners!! Enjoy the 2020 throwback!!

-

✧ - FUNNIEST

And the nominees are...

- 19 Days

- Someone Else’s BL Manhwa

- Sign

- On or Off

- My Purrrfect Boss!

And the winner is…

SIGN

Sign was such a sweet manhwa, but the first 10 or so chapters got me laughing so fucking hard!! I will always remember the secondhand embarrassment, shock, and overall hilarity of these two (˃̣̣̥ ▿ ˂̣̣̥) 

✧ - MOST INTRUIGING

And the nominees are...

- Dear Door

- Killing Stalking

- Red Candy

- Blood Bank

- December Rain

And the winner is…

KILLING STALKING

All of these had me immediately hooked, but I’d be lying if I chose anything but Killing Stalking. Such a wild psychological thriller that had my anxiety through the freaking roof the entire time. I remember reading this for literally two days straight on a certain website that I didn’t have an account with so I clicked through each individual panel (which is why it took so long to get through) and honestly that probably exacerbated the suspense. Either way, there was no way I was putting this one aside until I finished.

✧ - BEST KISS

And the nominees are...

- Incorrigible

- Fools

- December Rain

- Blood Bank

- Cherry Blossoms After Winter

And the winner is…

BLOOD BANK

Blood Bank was such an amazing manhwa!! I loooooved it the first time I read it two years ago and it easily stays with me as one of my all time favorites ♡♡♡ There’s a particular kiss I’m thinking of near the end that I just love so much (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡ I was so happy at their happy ending and how it all came together, I just love Shell & Eric so much!! ♡♡♡

✧ - BEST SEX SCENES

And the nominees are...

- Dear Door

- Room to Room

- Liquor & Cigarette

- Unromantic

- Shame Application / Dirty Vibration

And the winner is…

DEAR DOOR

I didn’t want to pick Dear Door because it also won in 2021, but fucking hell I remember the first time I read it and that first scene on the couch... ///o_o/// I cannot lie, Dear Door is on another level ok... y’all know.

✧ - FAVORITE FLUFF

And the nominees are...

- Guang Xiang

- Never Understand

- Cherry Blossoms After Winter

- Path to You

- Fools

And the winner is…

FOOLS

I -love love love- all of these so much, it was so hard to narrow down this list to five, but I have such warm feelings whenever I think back to when I read Fools for the first time! ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)˚๐*˟ ♡ A little sad that the reboot is still on hiatus but tbh we didn’t need one in the first place ♡ But if it does come back I’ll be reading it immediately.

✧ - FAVORITE BOTTOM

And the nominees are...

- Jungwoo | Fools

- Nathaniel | Path to You

- Yu Yang | Here U Are

- Na-kyum | Painter of the Night

- Shell Overlord | Blood Bank

And the winner is…

SHELL OVERLORD | BLOOD BANK

Ahhhhhh Shell captured my heart as soon as he asked to be stepped on hahaha (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ such a powerful vampire and a complete masochist I love it!

✧ - FAVORITE TOP

And the nominees are...

- Yohan | Sign

- Eunho | Lover Boy

- Taehee | Banana Scandal

- Yoon Taejun | Unintentional Love Story

- Tsuchiya Hazuki | Kiraide Isasete

And the winner is…

EUNHO | LOVER BOY

Eunho ♡.。₀:*ﾟ✲ﾟ*:₀。For real, Eunho fought for their relationship so hard and for so long, I really loved that. This manhwa was really special to me when I first read it ❤

✧ - FAVORITE COUPLE

And the nominees are...

- Conor & Simon | Dark Heaven

- Suchae & Gusam | December Rain

- Yiyoung & Director Kang | On or Off

- Giovanni & Felix | Hold Me Tight

- Cho Ayeo & Woori | Incorrigible

And the winner is…

CONOR & SIMON | DARK HEAVEN

Without a doubt it’s Conor & Simon!! ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡ They were freaking ride or die, so in love, so good together ♡ I absolutely LOVED the flashbacks to when they were kids growing up and forming their band together. Just amazing. Just two boys in love! So many hardships, but they got through it ❤

✧ - FAVORITE SIDE COUPLE

And the nominees are...

- Chanwoo & MD | BJ Alex

- He Tian & little Mo | 19 Days

- Zhong Qiu Jie & Pan Shu |  Here U Are

- Donghee & Hotae | Unintentional Love Story

- Haruki & Akihiko | Given

And the winner is…

DONGHEE & HOTAE | UNINTENTIONAL LOVE STORY

I was waiting so long to get more of Donghee & Hotae!! And they finally gave us their backstory in the later chapters... but I wanted more!! And I was so relieved when they finally did get together (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ Something about these two I really loved.

✧ - FAVORITE BOY

And the nominees are...

- Taehee | Banana Scandal

- Baekyung | Scandalous M

- Na-kyum | Painter of the Night

- Shell Overlord | Blood Bank

- Yoon Taejun | Unintentional Love Story

And the winner is…

TAEHEE | BANANA SCANDAL

( ＾◡＾)っ ♡·ﾟﾟ·*: To nobody’s surprise, Taehee had my whole heart from the very beginning!! I simply love this boy!!

✧ - FAVORITE NEW BL

And the nominees are...

- Love me Dramatically

- Nomi x Shiba

- Red Candy

- Semantic Error

- My Purrrfect Boss!

And the winner is…

SEMANTIC ERROR

Also probably to no surprise, Semantic Error had me engrossed in their enemies to lovers, back and forth, the flirting!!!!! From the very beginning └(=^‥^=)┐ the dynamic between them was just so hilarious and I could not picture how they were going to get together but I needed it!!!!

✧ - FAVORITE ONGOING BL

And the winner is…

KING’S MAKER

There were so many amazing BLs I was reading at this time, but King’s Maker was elite for me. I love a good slow burn childhood friends time skip and I just needed them to be safe and happy together o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆

✧ - FAVORITE BL THAT ENDED IN 2020

And the winner is…

INCIDENTALLY LIVING TOGETHER

Straight up, this manhwa was emotionally damaging but therapeutic at the same time. Especially because I read it in fall of 2020 when I was at home a lot a a bit isolated, I really felt for these characters. I re-read this again in 2021 when I was going through a sad time and it kept the tears going, but that’s what you need sometimes ✿

✧ - BEST BL OF 2020

And the winner is…

HYPERVENTILATION

❀❀❀ Hyperventilation became my one of my all time favorites right away!!! It was so, so short, but it was beautiful and emotional and relatable. Everyone has regrets, things in the past they wish they acted on, and this gives hope to those ♡ It’s also pretty freaking adorable and I love a well done childhood friends to lovers, especially in flashbacks, so this was an easy one for me to love!! ( ＾◡＾)っ ♡ Check out the anime too!

-

Thank you for reading!

[justapracticingcreative]

Hello! Just a quick update.

I’ve been struggling with figuring out how the pieces would fit together in these few chapters, but finally I figured it out! I had the idea but it wasn’t fully fleshed out, now it is and I’m ready to start writing!! Chapter 48 is now in development

In the mean time here’s a throwback to a previous chapter. We’re going back to Central so here’s a reminder of what happened last time! Enjoy :D

A Watcher’s Redemption: Chapter 35

The tug was getting stronger and far more difficult to ignore as they continued. It seemed to be pulsing as it urged Grian to follow it. A tug on his core, his soul, he could feel it in his magic running throughout his whole form.

He kept his eyes low, allowing the hood to block his vision as he followed along behind Impulse. The usual noises from Central, shouting, talking, footsteps, the clattering of people moving various items about, all of it was drowned out by the pull. It was becoming Grian’s sole focus and he couldn’t ignore it.

He had no idea how far they had walked as a group and he realized this as he stole a glance at his surroundings. ‘A glance?’ He thought to himself as he realized he hadn’t looked up but instead had used his magic to See. ‘I need to stop this.’ He started to worry about his magic usage, wondering if anyone else could tell he was using it.

It didn’t seem like it, Tango and Mumbo still walking by his sides, Impulse still leading the way. They were getting closer to the train station. How long has he been stuck in his head?

He forced his vision to narrow back to normal, knowing that if he looked up his eyes would be glowing purple. He watched the ground pass and wanted to just close his eyes when he saw the purple string come back into his view. He wanted to shut it out but he didn’t know how.

His pace slowed when the purple string stopped being just a straight line and seemed to wind its way onto his wrist, wrapping around it even as he tried to flick it off. Another strong pull of the energy made him actually stumble where he was walking.

“You okay?” He faintly heard Mumbo ask beside him.

“Yeah- just tripped.” He forced his pace to return to normal. Matching the others. ‘Just make it to the portal.’ He thought to himself.

The portal, Evo’s Portal?

The thought popped into his head out of nowhere and he knew it had to do with the magic.

Images of the tunnel that he knew so well, the path to get to Evo’s Portal. What turns to take, the sounds of trains in the distance, the smells of the engines. The spot of graffiti that he always took the time to admire, it was a mural of what the first ever server supposedly looked like. It’s soft colors flowing together to make a beautiful piece of art. It was the only thing that Central never took down or painted over, becoming more of a landmark than a mess to be cleaned.

Passed the faded walls and cracked sidewalk, the echos of familiar footsteps running up behind him made him turn with a gasp. His hood falling from his head letting him see his surroundings.

“M-“ His eyes were wide as he looked around. The faded tunnel, the cracks, the mural. “MUMBO!” His voice echoed through the empty tunnels.

“Whatjusthappened?!” This time he whispered to himself as he held onto the red cloak in his hands.

Impulse was no longer in front of him, Tango no longer to his side. Mumbo wasn’t there helping him stay calm. Where did they go?!

“W-where did I go…” Grian looked around again, hearing a train whistle far off into the distance. He ran a hand along the wall next to him, making sure it was real. “…how did I get here…”

The string came back and this time he knew where it was taking him. Evo’s Portal Room was just around this next corner.

Surely it can’t still be there. Central always takes down inactive portals. They never leave them empty for long, wanting to use the space for a server that will be used instead of forgotten.

Another pull urged him to walk forwards. It was just a left and then a right.

The air felt heavy as he got to the first turn, changing his pace to turn left. The hall was nothing like he had last seen it and it made his heart drop.

The lights, those that were on, were flickering, only a few left that cast a faint orange glow down the long corridor, too long. Grian had always thought this hall was long, now it seemed especially so.

Warning signs greeted him as he took the first steps towards the portal room. Faded caution tape that used to block the path now littered the floor. ‘What happened…’ He knew what happened.

He could feel his feathers rise underneath his cloak. Anxiety making his heart rate pick up. The purple strand pulled him closer once again and he turned the last corner.

A tear fell from his eye as he gazed at what used to be the door to his home. The portal was shattered in an all too familiar way. Grass and moss seemed to have leaked out from the portal and now creeped up the walls and covered the floor.

His build, the one he built with all his friends, was completely destroyed or covered. They had worked on this room together, placing each block, they purchased in town, by hand. Pieces of his past strewn about in pieces on the ground. Except—

—Except for in the middle.

Full chapter is linked below!

Thanks for reading! I’ll keep everyone updated while I write this next chapter!

- JustaPracticingWriter/Creative