#trying so hard to be an adult and not talk about that one street sign

[cadmusfly]

three years ago marshal lannes was cleaned

i mean he probably deserves it especially after his crocheting

[perseidlion]

Fandom needs to have a serious conversation about the difference between a sexual character and a predatory one.

A character who is comfortable in their sexuality, is a flirt, and attempts to charm other characters isn't a predator by default. Predatory behaviour ignores signs that the attention is unwanted. Predatory behaviour means ignoring consent and pursuing someone when they're clearly not interested and blatantly ignoring their wishes.

Conflating the two downplays ACTUAL predatory behaviour and makes it harder to spot both in fiction and in real life. It's also different in the context of a story than it would be IRL. It's important to keep in mind that the purpose of fiction is to have narrative tension, conflict, and character development. The purpose of fiction unless it is religious or for children, is not to model ideal behaviour. A story for mature adults trusts that its audience knows the difference between permissible behaviour in real life and permissible behaviour in fiction.

Still, someone flirting with someone when they aren't immediately into it isn't some transgression. Neither is continuing to pursue someone or show attraction when they aren't given a hard no or directly blown off. ESPECIALLY in fiction where one party playing hard to get is a common story element.

The difference between a predator and a sexual person is emotional intelligence and an ability to both read and respect body language and signs. An emotionally intelligent flirt will back off when they know their attentions are unwanted. But shooting their shot to see how the person responds isn't evil behaviour, nor is trying to convince the person of their merits.

If this were true, a lot of people would never get together both in fiction and in real life. You can never 100 per cent know how a person is going to respond when you flirt with them. That's why flirting exists, to test the waters. Not every relationship starts with friendship, either. A lot of people jump right to romance. Also, sometimes people aren't into it immediately because they haven't thought about it. So the response can be ambiguous. There's been a worrying trend of people vilifying and painting characters as criminal/problematic/evil for simply being sexual and making their desires known. This is a prudish attitude that is very damaging - especially when levied on queer people who have historically been vilified, criminalized and experienced violence for expressing their sexuality.

It may be uncomfortable if someone expresses sexual attraction to you when you don't want it and don't reciprocate it, but if it's done respectfully, it isn't a crime. The crime comes if they ignore your wishes and pursue you anyway, or objectify you. **Addendum to note that I am talking about flirting that approaches a person like a real human being and not an object. This doesn't apply to say, dudes trying to talk to women on public transit with headphones in, or street harassment of any kind. I'm talking about flirting that comes from a place of respect and genuine interest at an appropriate time and place. Edited to add proof that the Cat King is definitely reading emotional signals from Edwin that encourage him to keep flirting:

[goldengroovy]

I like the idea of MC being really quiet and barely speaking in response to Qiu and Tamarack until they truly grow comfortable- then soon becoming a complete chatterbox around the two after trust has been built!

They like talking it can just be tiring and overwhelming, especially around people they don't know...

I just kinda like to imagine how starstruck the two would be once hearing MC talk so much for once after barely giving responses that were three words at best for quite some time...

Tamarack and Qiu with a quiet MC, who slowly becomes a chatterbox

Author Notes at the end!

STEP 1 !

QIU

-> He is absolutely ready to pounce on anyone who tells you that you should talk more, whether its one of his friends or some random adult on the street.

-> But of course, pouncing on people usually does not end well, so he settles on saying: “They don’t need to talk to you if they don’t want to.”

-> Afterwards, he shoots an apologetic smile at you, and would comfort you at the first sign that you’re uncomfortable from the interaction.

-> Sometimes, he hands you his notepad if it makes it easier for you to communicate.

-> He never lends it to anyone, but you’re special to him. So there’s zero hesitation.

-> Always compliments your handwriting, no matter what. Even if its a super small detail.

-> “I like how you doodle hearts on the dots of your ‘i’s!”

-> You always thought that he would throw away your notes when the day is over, because you could never find them the next day.

-> But he actually stores them in a cabinet full of the things he treasures. (The cabinet is mostly full of your things.)

-> If you like to doodle in his notepad when you guys aren’t conversing, he would make cut-outs of those doodles and stick it on his wall.

-> Always pays extra attention to you. He knows that your communication isn’t purely based on words alone, so he watches closely.

-> Somehow, he doesn’t need to hear you to know how you’re feeling.

“Qiu, you have something in your hair.” You said, quietly, trying to warn him that you were taking a leaf that got stuck to his head.

He was talking to a couple of your classmates, so he was facing away from you. But, the moment your words reached his ear, he immediately jumped to face you.

He was silent for a few seconds.

“Woah.” He said, seeming genuinely awestruck.

As the attention of the conversation suddenly turned to you, you shied away from all of the eyes watching you.

Soon, he realized his mistake, and immediately started talking about something that immediately turned the attention away from you.

Relieved, you let out a short breath. You decided to go to Tamarack, who was doodling something with her new markers.

A few minutes later, you guys were all walking home together. You and Qiu were waiting for Tamarack, who was taking her sweet time talking to Ms. Murray. You didn't mind.

“Hey, um.” Qiu said. Suddenly, he walked a little closer to you, leaning in as if he was about to say something important.

“Hm?” You were a little startled, but it's Qiu. You trusted him.

“Your voice is really nice.” He said, with that determined look.

You smiled. As soon as you did, his face had a fonder expression, like you being happy from his compliment was magic itself.

TAMARACK

-> This girl is the most understanding kid ever.

-> If you don’t want to talk to anyone, Tamarack will gladly talk for you!

-> Having a hard time asking the cashier for your change? She will ask for you! Wondering what an item on a menu is, but too shy to ask the waiter? She’ll have them explaining if full detail in just seconds!

-> If anyone is pressuring you to talk, she will protect you with no hesitation.

-> “That’s mean! You shouldn’t make them talk. They’re quiet, and theres nothing wrong with that!”

-> The times when you do talk, though, she absolutely gushes over your voice, and hits you with the most lovey-dovey eyes.

-> She can talk enough for the both of you! But, if talking gets a little too hard for you, she notices. She notices every time, and is fine with just being with you in silence.

-> When you have something to say but don't want people to hear it, you like to whisper to her ear sometimes, which makes her feel absolutely special.

-> Sometimes, when you whisper to her ear, her hair brushes your cheek. It is unbearably soft.

-> If there's anyone you obviously don't want to talk to, she stands in front of you and puts her arms out. Solid wall of fluff, after all.

You and Tamarack were walking home together. Qiu was a little busy with his other friends, but that's okay!

Your focus was more on Tamarack, anyways. Her hair seemed sparklier than usual.

Without intending to, you stopped walking for a moment. Tamarack, who was a little behind you, stumbled.

“What's wrong?” She asked.

Suddenly, you reached up, getting a feel for her hair. Her hair was soft.

She was a little shocked, but she didn't stop you.

“Tamarack, your hair is so pretty. I like the sparkles.” You said with a gentle smile on your face.

Tamarack, who was barely used to hearing you say three words in a row, was a little shocked. She always found the words she wanted to say, but somehow, you made her speechless.

She stood there for a second, red in the face, before coming back to her usual self.

“Thank you so much!” She said, with the biggest grin you've ever seen. “I like your hair too.”

A/N: Hello! Author Rivs here! This was so much fun to write! My MC is based of off myself, which is why I was already familiar with the idea of a quiet MC.

I know this only tackles the "quiet" part of the MC, so I am making a sequel to this!

[marsprincess889]

Me getting political

🇬🇪🇪🇺

So, I know I mostly only really talk about vedic astrology here, but I'd like to speak to the very same audience who found and followed me because of that about what's going on in my country. So, followers, dear mutuals, those couple of ppl I know irl who are on here, or someone who randomly found this_please, read and interact. (!!!please)

For context, the vast majority Georgia, mainly gen z, has been protesting a "foreign agents law", which is almost identical to the law that russia passed in 2012 and that has resulted in significant restriction of the freedom of its citizens. So, eurovision, met gala, whatever.... this is the reality my country lives in.

I had no idea so many people from other countries were this misinformed about georgia(in general)? People thinking photos from our massive protests were not from here because we have "police" written in english and not "policija"(which is not a fcking georgian word??????)?

People thinking america funded, I repeat, MASSIVE protests that have been going on for a month(and have also taken place in the march of last year for the same reason), just because some of the protestors wrote signs in english? Like, the sheer idea of that is honestly infuriating.

I don't think anyone who has not lived in Georgia will understand the situation clearly. The government is ordering to beat up peaceful protestors, is using pepper spray on them.... and most of the protestors are teens and young adults, trying to make a better future for themselves and for generations to come, tired of fighting the same fight that their parents and grandparents have fought.

When you are born georgian, patriotism is instilled in you like vow. I was born in 2002, a decade after my country exited the soviet union, fresh out of the notoriously hard and dark 90s(full of poverty and crime), six years before I started school and russia invaded the city of Gori. We learned all the poems and novels of our great writers, learned the stories of them fighting for freedom of speech, for the freedom of our country, our teachers would explain every detail of their astristry and their importance. At some point I think we all got tired of it, no matter how loving and full of care they were, but then I remember the presentation my class did in sixth grade about february of 1921, how Georgia exited the russian empire in 1918 and how the brand new(at the time) constitution was implemented just a few days before the red army came in 1921... MY PARENTS were born when Georgia was in ussr, my mother had to spend her years as a young student in the 90s in constant fear of danger on the streets, our parents saw the worst of it and did everything in their power for us to live in a better environment. But we're first generation in georgia who grew up with internet, who is fluent in internet slang and is way more informed, with a completely different mentality, for whom the decades of oppression is more distant. We know russia is an enemy, we know what our country has gone through, but we are the first gen with the freedom to speak up when yet another attemp to control is made.

We have a very long and rich history and one thing that is clear from it is that we are supernaturally resilient, and our refusal to be subdued has protected not only ourselves, but countries that lie west from us, the countries that make Europe, that we consider ourselves a part of.

My friends know I'm the quickest to say that I feel like I don't belong here(georgia), that I never really connected to what I saw, generally, in my country, but maybe there are thousands like me here. Maybe(100%) the men in power haven't been paying their due respect to my generation and how persistent we have been in our actions and convictions. And maybe, the rest of the world(western countries) have significantly undervalued our importance. We deserve our due, and to me, the least that others can do, is to educate themselves before typing or speaking about us.

We are not a "former soviet country", we are an ancient civilization with an extremely unique culture that has survived to this day, that has protected its customs, identity and the right for freedom, and has been under almost constant threat for losing them. And, once again, if there was any doubt, we are not our government.

I sincerely hope for this to get as many notes or possible, or at least, to reach the right people.

[glitter-stained]

On Duke Thomas and the problem with the ASPD diagnosis

There are many many messed up things with the way personality disorders are classified in the dsm-5, but I think what best illustrates how fucked up the ASPD diagnostic criteria are is that Duke Thomas (yes, Duke Thomas, the Signal) could definitely get diagnosed with ASPD.

FYI, ASPD means Antisocial Personality Disorder, this is the clinical entity usually referenced when we talk about psychopathy or sociopathy. So how does that fit Duke? (It doesn't. And yet...)

First is the question of why should we diagnose Duke, a teenager whose personality is still in construction, with a personality disorder? Well, while you only get diagnosed at 18 (criteria B), your "transgressions" occur since age 15, which means Duke's behaviour in We are Robin (when he was a traumatized homeless teenager in a hellscape of a city)can 100% be used to spring a diagnosis on him at 18. Criteria D is just excluding schizophrenia and bipolar episodes. Now let's take a look at criteria A: at least three manifestations from this list of signs that someone is "disregarding and transgressing other people's rights" :

1. Repeated liable to arrest behaviours

So, like when Duke got arrested for being part of We Are Robin, then escaped arrest and did it again and again?

2. tendency to lie for either profit or pleasure: repeated lies, use of pseudonyms or scamming.

Funnily enough, I don't think Duke had a pseudo in WAR aside from Robin ofc (feel free to correct me if I misremember) but Isabella and the others sure did! Still, when Duke gets arrested, he lies and insists he isn't part of the WAR and hasn't done anything illegal, which fits the criteria as "lying for personal profit". (If you're feeling full of righteous rage reading this it's normal, I'm trying to prove a point.)

3. Impulsivity OR inability to plan ahead.

Duke is definitely able to plan ahead, but I know very few clinicians who, upon hearing how this mf jumped off a bridge to escape a moving police car, wouldn't write down "impulsivity"... And it's not like it's his only similar offence. I'm not saying he is impulsive, but that behaviour is definitely enough to get him classified as one in the eye of a clinician, especially if they're meeting him after an arrest and hearing from that episode second-handedly.

4. Repeated fights and aggressions.

Do I need to develop why this would fit Duke?

5. Inconsiderate disregard for his safety OR other people's safety

If you thought I was being unfair about the impulsivity for jumping from a bridge, you can't tell me this doesn't fit here. Again, far from the sole iteration of it from Duke in WAR, but one of the most memorable.

6. Persistent irresponsibility: this one is all about pathologizing and shaming financial and employment struggles, which is its own nest of issues but doesn't concern our boy Duke since he isn't an adult.

7. justification/indifference after harming, stealing or mistreating someone (lack of remorse).

The question here is, does street vigilant violence count as harming someone? I'm gonna go with yes, because there is no question of whether it is justified, and attempting to defend oneself is here considered a sign of a lack of remorse. (Whether or not you count it doesn't matter so much though, because we're already over three hard yesses.)

So, to recap, whether or not we count criteria 7 and 3, Duke already fits the bill of 3 criteria, and thus fits criteria A.

The last criteria to examine, criteria C, is :

"manifestations of a conduct disorder before 15". So you're going backwards in time investigating the person's past actions to see if they fit the criteria having, most of the time, only data like police records, grade reports, foster care interviews sometimes, on top of your own retroactive bias. To quote Duke's bio "during his time in foster care, Duke went from an upstanding student to becoming a bit of a delinquent, receiving poor grades and racking up an extensive police record due to his investigations into his parents." I'm not gonna go through the whole list of conduct disorder symptoms because there is so many, just know the cutoff is 3. For Duke, we can identify: "picks up fights", "stays up late at night despite interdiction from his guardians (before 13 -when was Duke first placed?), "often skips school" (again, before 13), "has run away and spent the night outside at least twice or once but didn't come home for a long time", "has b&e into someone's house/car/building" (i'm pretty sure that happened at some point? An abandoned building that legally belongs to someone else counts btw), "lies often to avoid obligations". I might have missed some from Duke's time in foster care so feel free to point out any sign of conduct disorder I didn't spot!!

In conclusion, Duke fits the criteria for ASPD and would have been, in universe, liable to be diagnosed as soon as he turned 18 (which could very well had happened if he had stayed in the system or gotten arrested). So, is the conclusion that Duke Thomas actually has ASPD? Obviously not. The point is the dsm criteria for ASPD (and conduct disorder) are so fucked up that fictional superheroes who definitely don't have it meets them on a technicality. Even if we accept ASPD as a valid clinical entity (which is highly debatable) this wording is so wrong I can't wrap my head around this.

Another point you might have noticed is that post-crisis Jason Todd (Jaybin, not the Red Hood) would also have been a very valid test to highlight how problematic these criteria are. While little Jason is at risk because there is also a huge classism problem in these criteria (which don't do shit to acknowledge necessity theft and actively shame financial insecurity), Duke is at risk because studies have highlighted the racist bias in these criteria: regardless of clinical intent, the awful, unclear wording of these criteria have led to a huge race difference in ASPD diagnosis. Add to that the foster care to prison pipeline, a story where Duke had been diagnosed with ASPD would have been all too realistic (assuming dc writers know about aspd).

All these critiques are acknowledged in the DSM-5: Revised Text version, where researchers warn against the bias and unclear wording of these criteria. But let's be honest: clinicians barely ever read the diagnostic characteristics of the original DSM-5, let alone the revised text (generally because 1. They're overworked and 2. To interview properly, you need to ask questions based on the criteria while talking to the person, which is super hard and means you need clear, defined, easy to memorize criteria). So most of the time, clinicians just base themselves on the diagnostic criteria. Just saying "hey careful about bias these criterias aren't that well written" in the revised text isn't enough : if ASPD is going to stay an entity at all, it needs better criteria.

The ASPD criteria are amongst the worst failures of the DSM-5, and the case of Duke Thomas perfectly illustrates the pitfall in which we might fall if we don't remain critical of classifications and take into account how they fit within a social and political sytem.

*This post simplifies listed criteria to what clinicians actually use while diagnosing for clarity's sake, but doubting your sources is smart, so feel free to check out the detailed criteria to check I'm not misinterpreting what the dsm says by simplifying it since the DSM-5 is available online for free, search key for ASPD is F60.2 and for conduct disorder is F63.81.

[alientitty]

Persona 5 (Royal) Guys Punchability Rating

Should you, playing as Joker, take a swing at your confidants? Find out here!

I-The Magician: Morgana

Hey, he's just a little kitty cat! It might be annoying how he doesn't let you go out at night and keeps talking when you're trying to read or meditate, but when he's not around it's clear you can barely function without a feline handler. He does keep saying weird shit to Ann though. 3/10

IV-The Emperor: Yusuke Kitagawa

Is it even fair? The guy's a toothpick. He's gonna blow away with the next breeze. His stamina in the Metaverse comes entirely from sitting around thinking about the darkness of the human soul re:art all day. Isn't he a starving orphan? But he does keeping saying out-of-pocket shit and you don't care how gay he is, that's no excuse for being a misogynist. Violence isn't the answer, but he'll feel the passion behind your slap, even if he doesn't entirely approve of the method. 5/10

V-The Hierophant: Sojiro Sakura

Aww, isn't he such a lovable tough guy? Basically your new dad, generational enmity and all. Hey wait why is he checking out your teenage friends. Hitting on all these younger women. Isn't he like 50? 60? If he's in his 60s you worry his brittle bones will shatter on impact, but if it's 50s then he's fair game. Maybe he'll finally trust you after some male bonding through friendly roughhousing and all. Depending on how early it is in the game there's a chance you'll be out on the street, though. 6/10

VI-The Chariot: Ryuji Sakamoto

He's your homeboy, your bro, your best buddy! And sometimes friends deck friends when they get outta line. You do feel kinda bad since he's been trying to channel all those big water sign emotions into becoming a gym rat instead of getting goaded into fights and all, but you'll keep it clean. You love him, but he can be so embarrassing in front of your other friends! Maybe he'd stop chasing skirts like a doofus if he just got some friendly skin-on-skin contact with other guys now and then. Wait, what? Well, anyways, it's totally a fair fight. As you throw the first punch you remember, wait, isn't he a domestic violence survivor? Shit. 9/10

XI-Justice: Goro Akechi

You can't tell if he's actually cool or just pretentious, but you've been waiting for a chance to wipe that shit-eating grin off his pretty face. You bet he has a 15-step skincare routine to get that perfect glow when he delivers a backhanded compliment that subtly conveys how much he thinks he's better than you. Staring each other down across the billiard tables while you play a verbal game of cat-and-mouse isn't enough. This cold war's gotta heat up. And, spoiler alert, he will challenge you to a duel...and then some. This ends with one of you on his knees. 10/10

XII-The Hanged Man: Munehisa Iwai

What beef do you even have with this guy? He's the hot gun guy who gives you custom builds in exchange for glimpses into the life of a Goodfellas side character. Besides, with his history, you don't wanna risk it. He's way too experienced and strong and grizzled and smoldering and...ahem. Maybe you would learn something. 4/10

XVI-The Tower: Shinya Oda

That's a kid. You do wanna punch the people making this poor child's life so hard, though. 0/10

XVIII-The Moon: Yuuki Mishima

He looks up to you so much it just wouldn't be fair. You've seen him beat up so much already that, even if he asked you to fight him, it'd be like kicking a puppy. He can be annoying and a creep and maybe even a little scary sometimes, but a punch is not what he needs. 2/10

XIX-The Sun: Toranosuke Yoshida

Dad?! For real, though, he's just about the only adult in this game besides Lala-chan who seems actually cognizant of the fact that you're a teenager. If you tried to take a swing at him he'd be incredibly disappointed that his lessons didn't stick, and you'd never forgive yourself for letting him down. 1/10

(Igor isn't here because he's nothing. As in, literally immaterial. You can't punch your dreamscape spirit guide with your real life human hands. He's, just, not there.)

1-The Councillor: Takuto Maruki

The most punchable guy in the entire game. Everyone thinks that self-effacing, oblivious beta male act is so charming, but you're not buying it. He's only there for Shujin to cover its ass until it cycles out of the news and is either willingly complicit or too incompetent to notice. He thinks his disarming, approachable shtick is a therapeutic icebreaker, but it's more like a lack of boundaries bordering on malpractice. He's one of those self-described "empaths" who projects his own personal issues onto everybody else and plays the victim when you call him out on it. The last thing you or any other troubled teens need is this bumbling, paternalistic stooge messing around in your heads. Plus, every time he makes that stupid pouty face you wanna slap the license outta him. Hey, does he even have one? 11/10

Bonus: Protagonist/ Joker / Your Name Here

Well, you play as him, so he's kind of you? The dialog options let you be a little mean or creepy sometimes, so I guess it's up to the player to decide if he's a jerk or not. Or you can take all those options as reflective of his personality (add in the fake glasses and Uniqlo mannequin getups, and he's kind of an asshole). Just keep in mind that, for a guy who eats a single loaf of bread at lunch every day, he's surprisingly built and pretty strong. You'll be in for quite a fight you can't back out of if you take a swing at him. At yourself?

??/10

[crime-wives]

ouat 1x01 thoughts

god regina, you dramatic bitch. “I shall destroy your happiness if it is the last thing I do” ok darling, you can destroy me if you’d like

henry is so small, his tiny cheeks awww

not to be gay but… emma swan in the pink dress. fuck. i forgot how attracted to her i was. and the HAIR, the fucking princess curls. jesus christ her ARMS.

“bail bonds-person” i love her

yesss bitch, strut across the street like you own it. absolute icon behavior, slamming that asshole’s face into the steering wheel.

babe you’re so sad and pathetic with your vanilla cupcake. i bet she wished for family.

not her apartment door saying ‘cast a spell’

“My name’s Henry, and i’m your son” agevgsvegw STOP

her having a panic attack in the bathroom, so real.

once again, her ARMS, i want her so bad

henry’s cute little freckles, i can’t do this.

idgaf abt snow and charming “She poisoned an apple because she thought I was prettier than her” shut up bitch, you know that’s not why

“Oh kid, you’ve got problems” emma swan, insulting children since 1983

ok but the fact that they chose the name ‘emma’ in a fairytale world, lmao

evil queen theme song playing as they enter storybrooke

emma swan wearing the most dyke outfit possible. getting ready to impress milfs

not that there’s any significance, but emma’s license plate is: 836•M4X

snow and charming are so annoying istg

ewww the blue fairy, i hate that bitch (derogatory)

regina running towards henry and wrapping him up in a hug. her eyes are wet. good lord, her first reaction is concern and worry, not anger.

“I found my real mom” my HEART. her face after he said that, so stricken and hurt, baby…

emma’s little flustered, ‘hi’ when talking to a gorgeous milf. ok babe, we get it, you’re gay.

graham leaving bc of emma and regina’s immediate sexual tension. and regina’s eyes roving over emma.

first ‘Miss Swan’ of the show at exactly 21:00 minutes.

emma swan is so desperate to impress regina. it’d be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic (affectionate)

“Sneaky bastard” once again, emma swan insulting children since 1983

crashing into the storybrooke sign like the absolute icon she is

the cgi 💀💀

yay!! curse time :)

emma waking up in a jail cell. she just does not give a fuck about this shit.

her lips parting when she she’s regina, ok babe, she’s hot we get it

LIP SCAR

god mary-margaret pisses me off

go regina, knock over mary-margaret’s shit, absolute queen

“She’s kinda a hardass” yes but that turns you on, doesn’t it?

gina’s so hot when she’s evil

putting a newborn through the wardrobe to save themselves, a+ parenting

henry mills, once again, the most mature one in a situation “You don’t have to be hostile. You like me, I can tell. You’re just pushing me away because I make you feel guilty.”

“I wanted you to have your best chance. But it’s not with me. C’mon, let’s go.” go emma! be the mature adult i know you can be

petition to get emma swan a therapist so she can deal with all her issues (trust me, she’s got a lot of them)

“Look, your mom is trying her best. I know it’s hard, and I know sometimes you think she doesn’t love you, but at least she wants you.” emma swan, standing up for regina mills since the moment they met

mmm regina’s voice is so hot.

her unhinged laughter, i love her so much

“Where are we going?” “Somewhere horrible, absolutely horrible” takes them to maine

emma swan is so fucking desperate for regina’s approval. she wished to not be alone on her birthday, baby…

second ‘Miss Swan’ of the show at 38:43 (i will be keeping count of all of them :D)

regina fidgeting with her blazer pockets, she’s so anxious

first “He’s my son” at 39:01 minutes

“I will destroy you if it is the last thing I do” babe, it’s kinda gay to have a nemesis, just saying

third ‘Miss Swan’ of the show at 39:32

baby… gina is coming apart at the seems

god, not to be gay, but regina’s HANDS at 40:27 agevvegse

emma’s only staying because of regina’s provocations. she wouldn’t have stayed for henry.

gold is so icky.

she’s staying a *only* a week, sure babe, sure.

also side note, i forgot how good the coloring was in ouat. like its very faded, maybe indicative of storybrooke being stuck in the past???

[illym]

“BECOME MY WIFE! YOU'RE UTTERLY GORGEOUS! AND YOU HAVE KILLER—”

“Ah. About that.” Sylv held her hand up, cutting the robot off. “I'm not a woman.”

They threw out a thumbs up. “I CAN WORK WITH THAT! MARRY ME AND BECOME MY BEAUTIFUL WIF— HUS— WIFBAND!”

Xe rocked on her heels, excitement radiating from her entire being. “And if I win, I get to take you apart and see how you work!”

"EH?"

—

We meet Robo-Ky.

“...Maybe I shouldn’t have given Bridget my deliveries.”

Stepping down the road, xe focused more on placing the heel of her shoe fully on each stone instead of where xe was actually going. Her whole day had been planned around delivering those packages, and the sudden plan change was throwing her off. “...But then, I’d have felt real bad about not even trying to help her out…”

Pulling hard at her cheek, xe screwed her eyes shut. “I said I’d just have fun today, but what even is there to do? I haven’t read the paper in ages; I’ve no idea what’s going on around here. I don’t know when the next train gets in, and even if I did, I don’t know about anything going on anywhere else.”

Stepping to the side to allow an adult and child to pass, xe chewed the inside of her mouth. Going home was an obvious answer, but the idea was sickening. It’d make leaving pointless if she didn’t actually do anything while out and about.

“...Tea is only fun with a friend…” Xe discarded the idea as soon as it came up. “Pottery is always fun, but I’d feel like I was betraying Rye if I went anywhere else.” Rye’s pottery shop was back home, which made it off limits. “I could go order more supplies?” Sylv twisted her lip at the thought. “But that’s… Well, it’s fun, but it’s not the sort of fun I wanted.”

Why was having fun so hard? What did Sylv enjoy? All her hobbies had flown away the moment she needed them, which was typical, if infuriating. Maybe the library had a book on typical hobbies or ways to spend the day.

The library.

“Perfect!” Sylv clasped her hands together, smile overtaking xer face. “I love the library! How wonderful! I have a plan!”

The library of Illyria was one of the most wonderful places in the world. One could spend days there just exploring around without even touching a book. The library was the perfect place to visit; even if xe couldn’t find a book on things to do, it would be a great way to spend the day.

Mind made up, xe rocked to the tips of xer toes, eyes flickering around for a street sign to orient herself to the train station.

A flash of glinting green in the crowds caught her attention. Head tilting slightly, xe stepped forward off her tiptoes, slipping through to try and catch a better look. The next look xe got made her entire face light up, thoughts of the library slipping away like oil.

“Hey! You there!” She waved her arm. They didn't turn around, though others peered at her in curiosity. “The blond fellow!”

No dice. Undeterred, xe shoved through a pair blocking her way. The taller one shouted, but she paid no mind. “Please! The one dressed in white and blue!”

No response. The stranger turned left at the intersecting streets, where far fewer people were coming or going.

“The one with the green metal for skin! I'm talking to you!” Sylv broke out of the throng of people, stumbling on the cobblestones.

The robot finally turned, fingers curling and clenching. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU—” They broke off in the middle of the sentence. Sylv finished closing the distance, pulling xer fingers through xer hair.

“BZZZ-ZZZT! Y-Y-Y—!” The robot stuttered, jaw clanking.

“Oh, wonderful. You stopped. Thank you. I wanted—”

“YOU'RE JUST MY TYPE! MARRY ME, PLEASE!” They bent over to be at eye level with Sylv, steam blasting out of the sides of their head from behind double loops of metal.

“Huh?” Sylv started, blinking.

“BECOME MY WIFE! YOU'RE UTTERLY GORGEOUS! AND YOU HAVE KILLER—”

“Ah. About that.” Sylv held her hand up, cutting the robot off. “I'm not a woman.”

They reared back, right arm jerking in front of their chest. “GRRR-KK! S-SO YOU'RE A MAN?”

“No.” Xe shook her head.

“. . .” The robot stared at xem. “RECALIBRATING. ANALYZING.”

Sylv flexed her fingers. The robot had rivets in their faceplate. Xe wondered what they were there for.

“ANALYZING.”

And the metal on the sides of their head— were they themselves useful, or a visual signifier of something?

“ANALYZING.”

Shifting her weight from foot to foot, xe wondered if the robot needed this much time to analyze all the information they took in, or if this was a bad day for them.

“ANALYSIS COMPLETE.”

They threw out a thumbs up. “I CAN WORK WITH THAT! MARRY ME AND BECOME MY BEAUTIFUL WIF— HUS— WIFBAND!”

Sylv snorted, a smile spreading across xer face. How funny. The top of their head flew off, releasing even more steam.

“Well… I actually stopped you for a reason.” Xe laced her fingers together, swinging her hands back and forth.

A trill came from the robot. “EH? LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT? THIS IS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER!”

“Uhm…” Sylv swung her hands a little harder, teal hair bouncing. “How about this? We have ourselves a round of combat. If you win, I'll sign the marriage paperwork. The parameters will be nonlethality, and I will do my best not to inflict the equivalent upon you.”

The robot's eyes flashed between red, yellow, and green, finally landing upon a bright green. “TERMS OF AGREEMENT: ACCEPTABLE!”

“Oh, really?!” Sylv beamed, eyes crinkling. Xe rocked on her heels, excitement radiating from her entire being. “Wonderful. Great. Incredible! And if I win, I get to take you apart and see how you work! I'll put you back together, of course. And I won't do anything lasting.”

The stranger froze. “EH?”

HEAVEN OR HELL.

Sylv tapped her lower lip. “My apologies for not getting your name earlier. I'm Sylv Clayflower. And yourself?”

“HOW THE HELL HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF ME?! I’M THE BEST OF THE BEST, ROBO-KY!” Robo-Ky splayed his fingers across his chest, other hand cocked on his hip. “BUT YOU CAN CALL ME YOUR FUTURE HUSBAND, BABY!” 

“Hm.” Sylv leaned in to get a better look at where his faceplate connected to his neck, wrist pressed against the small of xer back. Xe smiled. “I am very, very glad that I came across you today. You are a very fascinating individual.”

Red flooded through-out Robo-Ky’s body, flashing rapidly until he exploded, flying backwards.

Eyes gleaming, Sylv jumped back.

LET'S ROCK.

Sylv swung her hammer up— but in the middle of the motion, Robo-Ky’s bullets blasted xem backwards. BANG. BANG. BANG.

He dashed forward, shoulder-bashing her back into the wall. Raising his arms out, he laughed. “YOUR OWN INCOMPETENCE IS A HINDRANCE!”

“You really can't be saying that after the first strike.” Xe wiped her mouth, grimacing at the feeling of dust on her lips. The ground was utterly disgusting; she'd have to do her best to ignore it until she got some water to clean her mouth. Shoving back to her feet, xe immediately dropped to a crouch, kicking a leg out as he brought his sword down.

Her foot connected moments before his sword did, shoving him off balance and away. Pressing forward, she lashed out with an arm, jabbing xer elbow in the side of his knee to collapse him to the ground.

Or, tried to.

“O-o-o-oh f-u-u-u-uckkkkk!” Clutching xer elbow, Sylv’s head rang from the impact. “Tha-a-at totally hit my funny bone! Shit! Argh! I totally forgot that that wouldn’t work!” He was made of metal. It was the entire reason he’d even caught her interest in the first place.

His foot shot out, kicking xem away. “ARE YOU STUPID?” He taunted, throwing down a glowing red mat. “MY SUPERIOR METAL FORM WILL HOLD UP TO YOUR SQUISHY HUMAN LIMBS ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!”

“Well, the issue is that it takes a bit more force to get you where I need you.” Dashing back a step, xe grinned, eyes gleaming. “This is turning out so much more fun than I thought. I cannot wait to see what’s inside you.”

“TOO BAD!” Kneeling on the cobblestone, Robo-Ky’s arm turned into a bazooka, shooting out a searing missile. “I’M THE BEST OF THE BEST!”

Swinging her hammer up, xe sent the rocket hurling into the sky, letting it explode overhead. “Just like that.” Sylv nodded, letting xer hammer vanish. “Fun. Delightful. Very, very enjoyable.”

Arm raising up, Robo-Ky cackled as bullets burst out. “I COULD GET USED TO HEARING THAT! KEEP THE COMPLIMENTS COMING!”

Hammer smashing down on his head, Sylv twisted as xe landed, spinning to bash her hammer into his side. “Didn’t intend it to be one, but I wasn’t planning on stopping myself.” Smashing the bottom of xer foot into the back of his knee, xe grinned as he stumbled.

Digging her heel into the stone, xe smashed xer hammer upwards, sending the robot flying. Jumping after him, xe twisted once more to send him smashing back to the ground. Letting her hammer go, xe spun rapidly, summoning it back to hand to hit the cobblestone hard enough to send chunks of stone flying. Robo-Ky skidded across the ground from the force, nuts and bolts flying.

Shit. Sylv hoped xe wouldn’t have to help pick those up after the match. Would her magnets work to pick them all up…? Ugh.

“Oh, can you not move any more?” Sylv leaned over his prone body. Facedown, he looked no different from a human.

“I JUST FOUND SOME COINS!” He snapped, voice pitching as he pushed himself up on his elbow to look up at xem. “I’VE GOT ENOUGH JUICE LEFT TO FIGHT TEN OF YOU!”

Xe peered down at him, blinking. “Are… You gonna get up, then?” Was he pretending that he could still fight? Xe’d just have to hit him until he couldn’t even do that anymore.

“...” He tilted his head. “01000100 01000001 01001101 01001110 01001001 01010100, 01010111 01001000 01000001 01010100 00100000 01000001 00100000 01010011 01001000 01001001 01010100 01010100 01011001 00100000 01000001 01001110 01000111 01001100 01000101.” Clicking loudly, he finished hauling himself to his feet. 01001001 00100000 01000011 01001111 01010101 01001100 01000100 01001110 00100111 01010100 00100000 01010011 01000101 01000101 00100000 01000001 00100000 01010100 01001000 01001001 01001110 01000111!” Beeping, he jumped back, swinging his sword while in the air. It shouldn’t have the range necessary to hit her, but—

A hammer smashed her in the face, sending xem flying and crashing into the wall. Across the street, Robo-Ky placed another mat down. “HA! NOBODY CAN STAND UP TO MY SWORD! IT’S A MIRACLE OF SCIENCE!” He crowed, adjusting his grip on said sword.

Shakily getting to xer feet, Sylv beamed. “Wow…! That truly was incredible!”

“...HUH?” He clanked, arm dropping. “YOU LIKED THAT? YOU SOME KINDA MASOCHIST?” Steam bellowed out from his body. “HEY, THAT’S KINDA—”

“Oh, no. Not getting hit by it. That sucked. I just thought it was a very cool hammer!” Xe locked her fingers together, pressing them against her cheek. “It had such an impressive conversion speed, and the size of it—! I love my hammer far more, of course, but I must admit that yours is lovely! I’ll have to investigate it at some point!” Hands dropping, xe heaved a breath. “At the least, I admit to being jealous of how quickly it converted to and back. My own hammer takes far longer to convert.” Summoning it to hand, xe caressed the head, fingers slipping under a belt. “But we’ve been through so much together, so I can’t truly be envious!” Pulling xemself away, she let the hammer fall into nothingness. “Really, I’ve been meandering. You keep intriguing me too much.” Xe smiled, eyes screwing shut briefly. “I suppose I’ll have to end this as quickly as I can, in order to avoid any more mistakes.” Her smile became sharper, and xe sprang forward.

“HEY, WAIT A—!” Her hammer crashed down on his head, smashing him to the ground, shards of stone flying up. “MY… MARRIAGE…!” He groaned.

SLASH!

Sylv clasped xer hands to xer cheek, hammer falling over and hitting the ground. “Oh, good. Wonderful. Spectacular. I've won!”

“GZZ-BBBZZZ-TTTT.” Robo-Ky twitched on the cobblestone road, facedown. A person walking by gave the two of them a wide berth.

“Hm. I suppose we should go somewhere more private. This'll take a while, after all.” Sylv crouched to lift Robo-Ky into a bridal carry, extracting xer arms moments later. “Oh no. Yeah. No. I can't do that. Metal is heavy. Uh.”

Looking around, her eyes drifted to the road leading out of town. There hadn’t been anybody coming from that direction the entire time they’d been there. If xe recalled correctly, there was a small clear area there. It should be secluded enough for their purposes. “Ah. There we go. Are you able to walk?” Turning back, she caught Robo-Ky faceplanting from his prior crawl. “It appears not.”

“YOU D-D-D-DISCONNECTED M-MY-Y-Y LEGS! STUPID!”

“Ah. My apologies. I'll see if I can fix it when I open you up.” Crouching once more, xe pushed him over onto his back, picking him up under his arms and beginning to drag him.

“AAAA! ABDUCTION! I'M GETTING ABDUCTED!” Robo-Ky screamed, alarm blaring. A person from across the street threw out a middle finger without turning their way.

“You are not. We're moving right over there.”

“I'M GETTING TRAFFICKED!”

“You are not!” Sylv huffed, dragging him over a particularly tall stone in the road. “We both agreed to the terms. I won, so I'm allowed to take you a short distance away to make this easier for us both.”

“ASSAULT! SPY! YOU JUST WANT MY INFORMATION SO YOU CAN BUILD YOUR OWN SUPERIOR LINE OF ROBOTS, DON'T YOU?! WELL, YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO BUILD THEM AS GOOD AS ME!”

Sylv screwed xer eyes shut. Pulling Robo-Ky off the road to the little clearing, she leaned over his head to make upside down eye contact with him. “Okay. Listen. We agreed to the terms. But. If this is genuinely something that you don't want to do. Makes you uncomfortable or something. Tell me. And… I dunno. I'll make you get me some stuff that I need. But. I don't.” She dropped her hold and walked around his side, keeping eye contact. With his legs splayed flat out, there was no room to keep level with his head as one should for an important discussion.

Swinging a leg over, xe crouched over his lap to stare him evenly in the face. “If you are not comfortable with this. Tell me now. I'll be unhappy as you agreed to it, but I do not wish to force you into something unreasonable. Do you understand my words?”

Robo-Ky’s jaw fell open and snapped shut a few times, glowing eyes flickering. Finally, he jerked his head to the side, metallic face heating to red again. “SHUT UP! I'M A MAN OF MY WORD! DO WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS YOU WANT! I'LL TAKE IT ALL!”

A beaming smile broke out over Sylv’s face. “Really? I'm so glad! Okay, let's get started!”

[lookismaddict]

Lookism: Rendezvous 🔞 (Ch. VII) || Gun Park x Fem! Reader ♡

Author’s Note: All I’d like to say is, thank you for the ongoing support for Rendezvous!! I was going to keep this story short because I believed that not too many people would read it, but I didn’t know that there would be more than I expected so tysm!!! 🥹💞 And I’m sorry this took me a long time to write this chapter!!! I mentioned this in one of my Q&A’s, but I accidentally sprained my dominant arm so it was a bit hard for me to even lift my arm for a few days, but I still tried to finish the chapter as much as I can. I mentioned before that I plan on creating another story for another Lookism character as well, but not sure if I should work on it now or after Rendezvous. I will post my story ideas soon, so I hope you look forward to them! I’m open to your thoughts about them, so feel free to leave a comment about them once I post my story ideas. But for now, I hope you enjoy this chapter with a bit of some wholesomeness!! 🖤 (Also, I was inspired by some things while writing this chapter, so you might catch some stuff that might be a bit familiar.)

NSFW Warning: Violence, strong language/cursing, sexual words, and light sexual content (teasing).

Story Summary: You traveled abroad to help support your mother who is sick, back home in Japan. However, once you reached Korea, everything went downhill until you met a stranger who offered you a deal that could benefit you. But who knew that this special encounter would turn your whole life around…

The dark sky reigned down onto the city lights of Seoul, as the full moon illuminated above. The screeches and honks of cars can be heard from a nearby freeway in the city that would drive any person mad with frustration. This became the usual time of when Korean adults were released off of work, which would explain why there was already traffic in the freeway at this hour. It was already dark outside and it was seven in the evening, as you were still trying to find your way back to the marketplace. You were wandering around a street near the exit of a freeway, hoping that the answer to your problems would be solved. The street that you were walking through were dim and lacked proper lighting. The street lights barely hung onto what little power left they had in their light bulbs, as you cautiously walked through the darkness that was starting to cave in around you. Including the buildings, all of them were dark without any signs of life within them. While going around in circles through the streets, you still couldn’t find your way back on your own. All you could do was blame that phone snatcher who had led you astray from where you were supposed to be, so you cursed at him from under your breath.

That asshole brought me to some part of Seoul that I’m not even familiar with and now, I’m all by myself with no sense of direction of where I’m actually going. Geez, I can’t even see anything either! This place is as dark as my home back in Japan when it runs out of power! And I can’t even contact Gun because of my broken phone. Plus, even if I ask someone out here if I could borrow their phone, I still can’t even contact him since I didn’t memorize his phone number! Ugh (Y/N), talk about useless!!!

As you changed your sense of direction to the opposite street this time, you felt that your feet were already sore from walking for almost the whole entire day. Your hands became blistered due to the long hours of holding onto your grocery bags. You felt your stomach grumble in hunger, dying to at least get food into your system to regain energy. Your eyes were getting droopy from how tired you were from all of the lost energy that you’ve burned throughout the day. But with the determination that you still had left inside you, you still kept pushing yourself to keep going.

God, please, give me a sign…

From far away, you spotted a small lit building in the distance. If “head towards the light” was a true saying, then you were sure of it that heaven was actually real, for only that moment.

Who knew my prayers have been heard so quickly! Thanks Big Man.

You began to sprint towards that bright building, as your eyes can now make out what the sign said.

“7-11. Ah, great. How convenient.” you said sarcastically while entering the building.

Already, you were greeted by a sea of snacks and prepared meals. While your stomach growled in response to the sight of food in front of you, you decided to feast on whatever good thing that you could find.

A Korean dosirak (bento box), a pack of kimchi, a tuna kimbap, and a cute little bottle of banana milk was all it took for you to consider it all a feast. Once you’ve paid for all of the food that you’ve gathered, you took a seat inside of the convenience store, near the big front window of the store. While munching away on your dosirak, you realized how good Korean food can be, especially when you’re at the point of starvation.

Wow, this is really good! I’ve never had breaded fish like this before. Even the little rice cake that comes with it tastes good too! I wish Gun was here to try the food with me. Then again, I don’t think he’ll settle for convenience store food. He even judged me yesterday for wearing clothes that looked like I was going to get food from the convenience store… Jerk.

While trying the kimchi, your face lit up in content, amazed at how Koreans developed a food that held such good pickled cabbage.

Woah, this is amazing! No wonder Koreans eat this stuff everyday. That nice little punch of spice really does kick in! Now let’s try the kimbap…

As you unwrapped the plastic from the kimbap, you went in for a big bite. Again, you could feel your brain melt from how good the food was at 7-11 even though it was just your hunger that made the food taste ten times better.

Oh. My. God. This thing is also pretty good! It even tastes like an onigiri too. How nostalgic…

All of a sudden, you remembered how your mom used to make onigiris for you, especially for school lunches. Those were the best onigiris that you’ve ever tasted in your life. Not even the 7-11 kimbap could beat your mom’s homemade onigiris.

Hm… just thinking about Mom makes me miss her so much. I wonder how she’s doing? I should try and call- oh wait, woops. Haha, I don’t have a working phone on me right now. Great. Just great.

You whined to yourself as you slammed your head onto the table in frustration. While still laying your head on the table, you wondered where Gun could be right now, and what he was up to. You couldn’t help but think about him at this time of need. Remembering those times of when the both of you would argue over the littlest of things, when the two of you would act cheeky with each other, and those warm moments of just being comfortable with each other’s personality made you feel a sense of loneliness inside of you. Even the thought of him being at work right now with Crystal Choi made you feel even worse for some reason. She’s gorgeous after all and everything about her was perfect. Obviously, she was well-educated and knowledgeable about the real world, coming from her knowledge of business and economics. Not to mention, her fit body too was perfect as well. The thought of them being together felt like there was a deep hole in your heart. It pains you to even think about that at the moment. As you sat up to straighten up your posture, tears started to form in your eyes. The feeling of desperate longing for you to be with Gun became too unbearable. Your hands on your thighs balled up into fists, as you continued to sob to yourself.

“I f-feel so… so l-lonely… I-I can’t believe I’m alone in… hic- K-Korea… I m-miss him so much… please come find me… you asshole!”

Right when you shut your eyes, it was as if God had sent you one last gift. Suddenly, you heard someone call your name from a distance.

“(Y/N)!”

Are my ears playing tricks on me? Talk about timing…

“(Y/N)!!”

Oh god, make it stop!

“(Y/N)!!!”

When you heard that the voice was very close to you, your eyes quickly opened as you spun around in your chair to see the source of where that voice was coming from. And as you turned, right in front of you, was none other than Jong Gun Park. He was standing there, panting as if he just ran a marathon. His hair was all messy and his clothes were mostly wrinkled, but not dirty. Your tear-filled eyes widened as he stormed towards you.

“HEY, (Y/N)! WHY THE FUCK WEREN’T YOU ANSWERING ME WHEN I WAS CALLING YOU?! AT LEAST LEARN HOW TO PICK UP THE DAMN PHO-”

By instinct, you leapt out of your seat and ran towards him. Your arms instantly wrapped around his waist as you buried your whole face into his chest. At that moment, you were bawling your eyes out onto him, crying and sniffling as if your whole world came crashing down on you. Gun was stunned to even speak, as he looked down at you, seeing that your whole face had waterfalls leaking from your eyes. He was confused and was caught off guard by your sudden embrace yet concerned from your current state of sadness. He didn’t know what to do at that moment, since he barely knew how to even comfort someone. Hell, he doesn’t even comfort people at all! He would’ve left them to cry and die for all he cared. But with you, this felt different to him. It was a special case that he had to take care of somehow. Hesitantly, his arms started to move little by little until they managed to wrap around your body, pulling you closer into a tighter yet comforting embrace. His right hand started to brush your back gently, back and forth, while you continue to heave out in small cries. As he watched your back jolt up and down from the excessive pour of emotions coming from you, his left hand then reach around to the back of your head then held you there onto his chest as you cried, waiting for you to calm down.

In between sniffles, muffled words spewed out of your mouth as you weeped. “I-I’m sorry… I th-thought I w-wouldn’t be… a-able to s-s-see you again… my ph-pho… -one got s-stolen… then br-… oke… so I ca-… n’t call… th- en… I got l-lost…”

Gun sighed, now understanding the situation a bit better now. Inside, Gun felt relieved that nothing bad happened to you. He saw that you weren’t hurt at all in front of him, or worse… he could have found you dead. If that were to happen, he would’ve done everything to hunt down the person responsible and he would’ve inflicted so much pain onto that person until they beg him for the sweet release of death. That’s just how things usually go, in the life that he’s living in. He already fully embraced this ever since he was young, so it became the “norm” to him.

Gun thought to himself about how someone like you who’s already strong, can also be so delicate at the same time. That really did intrigue him the most at that moment.

However, while holding you in his arms, he remembered the exhausting trial he had to go through just to find you.

Earlier back at the meeting, Gun was sitting cross-legged as he had his arms crossed, trying to keep his calm from the anxious thoughts that were running through his head. He’s been sitting there for a few hours now, still waiting for a text message from you and for the final word from Charles Choi to be dismissed.

He cursed under his breath in an impatient tone. “Tch, this is ridiculous. When the hell is this meeting going to end? And how long does it take to send just a single damn text message back? How dare she make me wait like this…”

His hand reached out to his phone to open it and send a quick text message to you:

“Hey. Don’t ignore me. Answer your damn texts already.”

Gun waited for about ten minutes and there was still no reply from you. The possibility of something bad happening to you began to fill his thoughts. His head was starting to fume from the frustration of silence from your end, as his fingers dug into his biceps from when he’s still crossing his arms. He decided to send you one more message that said:

“If you don’t answer in the next five minutes, then I assume that you’re waiting for me. I’m expecting you to be there by the time I get there.”

Once Gun sent that last message, he suddenly stood up from his seat and decided to walk towards Charles Choi, DG, and Crystal. As he caught the attention of everybody in the room, their voices fell silent and their eyes were drawn to him in fixation and curiosity. Even Goo’s mouth was wide open when Gun suddenly got up like that. He was starting to believe that Gun had finally lost his damn mind. Gun stopped in front of them saying, “Mr. Choi, Crystal, I apologize for my abruptness, but I have to borrow your car for a bit. I swear, I’ll bring it back to you when I’m done using it.”

Charles crossed his arms and looked at Gun, emitting authority from his eyes. “Is there something wrong, Jong Gun? Why are you in a hurry all of a sudden?”

“There’s an emergency that I need to urgently take care of. I’ll have to explain later.”

Crystal let out a willing sigh as she said, “Ask the person at the front desk of the lobby to call for the driver to give you the keys to the car.”

“Alright, thank you. I’ll be taking my leave now. Please excuse me.”

As Gun rushed out of the room, Charles turned to Crystal asking her, “What’s gotten into Jong Gun recently? His attitude has changed quite a bit.”

Crystal sat there in silence, trying not to disclose Gun’s personal affairs as she already had a feeling why he was acting this way. She felt that she didn’t have a right to tell her father of what Gun has been up to, so she decided to leave that to Gun instead.

Charles eyed Crystal suspiciously for a second until he turned to DG, asking him, “Have you noticed any changes in him, DG?”

DG shook his head, dismissing the change in Gun’s behavior. He had no idea what was going on at the moment, but he had a feeling that Crystal might know the reason to Gun’s sudden change in behavior. “I have no idea sir.”

Kouji just sat in his chair, interested about the whole situation for only a split second until his attention turned back to his phone to continue his Genshin Impact gameplay. However, on the other side of the table, Goo bit the inside of his cheek anxiously. He was willing to stay quiet about Gun and his little affair with you, and cover Gun from the rest of the geniuses until they find out on their own.

Goo decided to send a silent text message to Gun from underneath the table as he texted:

“I’ll cover for you in any way I can while I’m still here. Don’t get it mixed up. This is for dropping me off that one night. 🤧 You better remember to pay me back, you pervert!! 🙄”

. . .

Down the streets of Seoul was a Lincoln Navigator going about eighty miles per hour. Gun didn’t care if he was speeding. He just wanted to see if you were really alright. Also to confirm if you really did see his texts and if you were listening to him. But the thought of something bad happening to you crossed his mind repeatedly, which caused him to step on the gas pedal.

Simultaneously, he reached over to his phone and pressed the “Call” button under your name. As he anxiously waited for you to pick up the phone, the call rung a few times until the phone answer system led to a voice that said, “The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later.” His left hand clenched tighter against the wheel while his other hand tapped on the “Call” button once again.

“Pick up the damn phone, (Y/N)…”

“The person you are trying to reach is unava-”

Gun ended the call then slammed his phone next to his ash tray in frustration. When the Lincoln Navigator pulled up into the exact same spot where he dropped you off with Crystal, Gun’s eyes roamed through the overwhelming sea of people but his eyes could not detect where you were.

“Tch. Where the hell could she have gone?”

He continued driving onwards down the street while carefully scanning the bustling crowds of people. Every crevice and every straight of each sidewalk that he looked at, his eyes still couldn’t spot where you were at. Finally, Gun made it to the end of the street, where the big supermarket stood with all of its commercial greatness.

Gun did not waste a second as he decided to park out in front of the market, to look inside the huge store. When he rushed through the automatic doors, he stood there at the front of the store as his eyes looked around actively until he decided to turn to his right. His feet sped down the line of small shops until someone called out to him from behind.

“Young man! What are you in a rush for?”

Gun turned around to see an old man standing there in front of him from a few feet away. He approached him then asked the man directly, “Have you seen a woman who was wearing a black turtleneck shirt, and gray joggers by any chance?”

“A black turtleneck shirt and gray joggers? Oh! You must be talking about that girl, (Y/N) Sasaki! Ah yes, she was my valued customer today.”

“‘Valued customer’?” Gun had a stern demeanor on, despite his confusion.

The old man waved his hand in an aloof way saying, “Oh never mind that young man, but yes I have seen her.”

“When did you last see her?”

“That was earlier, this afternoon. I believe she said that she was going to a doctor’s clinic down the street.”

“I see.”

When Gun was about to leave the old man, the old man suddenly asked, “Are you by any chance Ms. Sasaki’s ‘friend’ that she mentioned?”

Gun stopped at his tracks before turning his attention towards the senior citizen once more and asked him in an indifferent tone. “‘Friend’? What do you mean by that?”

The old man ignored him as he continued on saying, “Ah yes, you must be him! Well son, when you find her, you should talk to her directly about how you FEEL. You don’t want to lose someone as special as her just to be apart from you and to have her left astray!”

Gun gave him a cold look before saying, “I don’t know what you’re on about old man, but I don’t have time for your nonsensical words right now.”

Gun finally left the elderly man, walking away from the stranger while making his way past the automatic doors of the supermarket. Standing there, the old man watched Gun from behind as he left. The elder said to himself, “Ah, youth. So impalpable with their own feelings. If you keep being dishonest with yourself, young man, you’ll soon realize how much that certain someone actually means to you when you cannot find her anymore.”

. . .

When the Lincoln Navigator made its way into the parking spot in front of Ahn’s Doctor Clinic, Gun gave no further hesitation as he locked the car behind him before entering the clinic in an intimidating fashion.

Once his eyes met with the relaxed doctor’s assistant at the front counter, the doctor’s assistant gulped in nervousness as she recognized Dr. Ahn’s “frequent” patient.

“Where’s Dr. Ahn?”

“A-ah, Mr. Park… glad to see you again. Do you have any business with Dr. Ahn today?”

“No, I’m just here to talk to her only for a brief moment. It’s urgent.”

“Oh, well… I’m sorry Mr. Park but I cannot let you in without the purpose of an appoint-”

That wasn’t going to stop Gun from barging further into Dr. Ahn’s clinic. While passing every unnecessary room around him, Dr. Ahn’s assistant chased Gun down the hallway, desperately scurrying after him like a little mouse.

“Mr. Park, please wait! You’re not supposed to be here right now!!!”

Finally, he made it to a door at the end of the hallway that had a gold plaque that read “Dr. Na Ri Ahn’s Office” next to the door. With sharp quickness, he grabbed onto the door knob to open the door immediately. When the door flung wide open from Gun’s abrupt entrance, his eyes immediately locked onto Dr. Ahn, who was busy organizing medical records of her patients on her desk. When she looked up from behind her papers to see who it was, she sighed in exhaustion at the sight of Gun Park standing before her, assuming that she had more work added to her list of problems. As she set her papers down, she asked in a dry tone, “Are you here for another check-up? You know, you REALLY need to stop getting into dangerous-”

“Where’s (Y/N)?”

Dr. Ahn blinked in confusion. “What? What do you mean?”

“Have you seen her today or not?”

“Well yes, I have. But the last time I saw her was a few hours ago when she came here for the prescription.”

“If she shows up here, call me immediately.”

“Wait, Mr. Park-”

Once Gun was finished talking, he turned around to leave as quickly as possible. Dr. Ahn’s assistant did not hesitate to briskly move out of the way, as she was blocking the door behind Gun when she caught up to him.

Dr. Ahn and her assistant watched as Gun speed-walked down the hallway as if there’s no tomorrow. When Dr. Ahn’s assistant turned back to her, she apologized to her by bowing as she said, “I’m so sorry Doc, I couldn’t stop him…”

“It’s alright, nevermind me. From what I’m getting at here, it sounds like (Y/N) might be missing.”

“What, really?! Oh no, Doc! What should we do?! Should we call the police???”

“I don’t think the police will take this seriously if she’s been missing for only a few hours. And also, we can’t get the police involved. Knowing Mr. Park, who hates getting involved with the police…” Dr. Ahn laid her arms on her desk before resting onto them like a pillow from how tired she felt.

“So… what should we do Doc?”

“All we can do is wait and hope that she’s safe. I truly hope that she’s ok…”

. . .

When Gun returned to the car, he started it immediately then began to speed down the street after he left Dr. Ahn’s Clinic. Swerving left and right in different lanes would make anybody nervous, but Gun didn’t pay those drivers any attention at all as a bunch of thoughts started flooding into his anxious mind.

“Dammit. Where the fuck could she have gone at this time?! Why didn’t she just text me if she had somewhere else to be?! Damn that woman, making me go insane. What if something happened to her? What if those bastards at that filthy bar from before decided to go look for her, and they actually did manage to find her? I should’ve killed them all when I had the chance. Tch… She’s barely new at fighting, but she might not be able to defend herself completely. My masterpiece isn’t ready. I haven’t even taught her everything yet. But, if someone touches her, then… I’ll make sure they never see the light of day ever again.”

The pressure that his foot was putting on the gas pedal increased as the car accelerated through the streets of Seoul. He had no choice but to start searching around the proximity of the marketplace, and so he did.

For hours, Gun had been searching through the streets closely while keeping an eye out for you. The sky was starting to get dark, as a dark blue hue filled the night sky. At busy streets, he stopped by to check the inside of certain shops and restaurants to see if you were in there. But with no luck, you were nowhere to be seen.

Gun was starting to grow impatient, which resulted in him taking a short cigarette break outside of the car after he just checked the last restaurant at the end of a street. While lighting his cigarette against the expensive car in the cold night air, he puffed a deep smoke as he exhaled heavily, hoping to relieve some stress. From his pocket, he took out his phone to check any messages that you could have sent him when he was searching for you, but there was still none. He scrolled through the messages you sent him a few hours ago while reminiscing that soft smile of yours. Even when he’s stressed, tired, and currently frustrated at himself, you were the one who was still on his mind. Oh, you probably had no idea how much Gun longed to see you. How much he unconsciously missed you, even though he couldn’t admit to himself through words that he did. How much he just wanted to see you again, and make sure that you were okay. And how much he wanted to touch you again, just to reassure himself that you were right there with him.

All those thoughts, however, made him rethink about last night when the two of you shared those intimate moments together. Confusion started to settle into his head, as he began to doubt his own words. Was it wrong of him to believe that you were his after that happened between you two? It made him question what he really meant by making you “his”. What if you weren’t “his” to begin with? Was it wrong that he crossed the line without even consulting you about it? After all, you didn’t go to Korea to meet Gun. You were here to make money. Nothing more, nothing less. This was all basically accidental. If Goo hadn’t found you there in that alleyway that night, then Gun wouldn’t have met you in the first place. It disgusted Gun to think that the changes that he had been experiencing in himself could be traced back to Goo. How ironic.

Although Goo was the source to his changes in thought and behavior, it was mainly you who have impacted him greatly with all of that. By taking you as his trainee, Gun didn’t expect it at all that he had actually risked himself being exposed to you. He had to risk it all just so he can take down the four major crews. Consequently, he didn’t think that he’d have to actually deal with someone who would cause him to go out of his way just for that person. From the beginning, he thought it’d be the other way around since he believed that he had the upper hand to begin with. Thinking that he’d use that person for his own benefit was originally the plan. Not in this case though. He’s been risking it all just for you, and he didn’t want to admit that you were making him weaker than his usual self.

While thinking about how you were influencing him, the memory of that old man from earlier at the supermarket appeared in his head. His words seemed to have struck Gun’s head as they kept repeating in his mind over and over again. What did that old guy meant by telling you how he “felt”? Felt about what? About how bothersome he felt about you, always being the cause to how tired he was most of the time? What did you even tell that old guy in the first place for him to lecture him like that? Gun thought that you better not have ran your mouth about what the both of you have been doing within the walls of his own house, especially the purpose of you being trained by him…

Gun remained to be lost in thought about the situation until he caught movement from the corner of his eye. From far away, he turned his head to see a man in a dirty hoodie limping out from an alleyway. Blood splatters were covering some parts of his body though, which interested Gun for a minute. He decided to investigate for the meantime, thinking that the man might have seen something that could possibly be related to you.

After extinguishing his cigarette on the ground with his foot, he checked to see if there were any other people outside in the street before he strolled towards the guy from behind him. Gun then reached his hand out to catch the guy by the hood of his sweatshirt. Right when he got a mean grasp onto the guy’s hoodie, he pulled him backwards which made the guy fall back onto the cemented sidewalk. As the guy’s whole entire back hit the pavement, the guy yelled out in a pained groan. “What the fuck?!”

The guy’s eyes met with Gun’s gaze as Gun lingered over the guy’s weak body. “Let’s have a small chat, shall we?” Gun forcefully grabbed onto the man’s hoodie, as he started to drag him back into the alleyway where no one else could see them in the darkness. Meanwhile, the guy was being choked by the neck due to Gun tugging onto his hoodie, restricting the airway of oxygen going into the man’s lungs. While dragging the man by the neck like a poor impala who got caught by the throat from a predator’s mouth, Gun looked at his surroundings down the dark alleyway until an enormous crack in the wall to his left had caught his attention. He eyed the stains of running blood on the wall, which now looked smeared with rusty brown splats from how long ago that occurred. Eventually, he shoved the guy onto the spot of where the big crack stood, releasing the man as he coughed from the lack of air. The dirty hoodie man looked up into Gun’s eyes as he said, “Who the hell do you think you are, you crazy bastard?!”

Gun cracked his knuckles, preparing himself for the man’s predetermined interrogation session before informing him, “I’m an impatient man, so I’ll get straight to the point. Have you seen a woman who was wearing a black turtle-neck sweater and gray joggers?”

The guy had a confused look in his face until he remembered the image of you from earlier, in his head. “What? You know that bitch?”

Once Gun heard that vulgar word come out from his mouth, he immediately pulled onto the guy’s hoodie strings right below his neck as he socked him hard onto his face, landing a damaging blow. The guy screamed in agonizing pain, as some of his teeth fell onto the cement with a few skids of mineral against mineral. Blood started to spurt from the guy’s mouth, resulting in tears to form from within the man’s eyes. “AHHHHH!!WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Well that wasn’t very nice, now was it? Calling her a ‘bitch’ wouldn’t help your case, if I were you. I was hoping that you’d come out with clean answers, but I guess I was wrong. So, tell me…”

Gun then held onto the guy by the neck this time, raising his weak body from above the ground, watching him struggle to breathe for air. “When did you last saw her?”

“I- kuh… I last saw h-her… w-with a g-guy…”

Gun’s grasp automatically tightened around the guy’s neck, as Gun’s eyes were starting to glare at him in a threatening way from beneath his glasses. “What ‘guy’ are you talking about?”

The man was starting to hold onto Gun’s arm for dear life, writhing in pain as his body hovered in the air through the lack of oxygen. “T-there was… a g-guy who… ugh- h-helped her g-… get her ph-phone back!”

“Was he the one who made this crack on the wall?”

The man couldn’t look back at the great fissure on the wall, but he knew what Gun was talking about. He nodded desperately before Gun could drop him back onto the floor, allowing him to catch his breath with pants of air that he really needed. The guy was breathing heavily, looking down at the ground while he was on his hands and knees. Gun watched the guy weakly collect himself, taking another cigarette from his pocket then lit it with his lighter once more, lighting the dark alleyway with what little light he had from his lighter for only a second.

Without any warning, Gun’s foot hovered over the man’s weak figure as his foot slammed against the guy’s back, causing him to get smashed onto the pavement beneath him. Cracks from the guy’s rib cage could be heard from the intense impact, causing him to choke up blood from his lungs. His damaged lung tissues and bones had the guy paralyzed, leaving him to heave in motionless pain.

Gun still had his foot pressed against the guy’s back, as he loomed over him menacingly. “Now I know why she hasn’t been answering my texts and calls, and that’s because of your own selfishness. What a fool, trying to steal her phone…” He deepened the pressure on the man’s back, as his foot was now buried into this man’s spine. With one sturdy push of his foot, he managed to crack the guy’s spinal cord, resulting in even more pain to erupt onto his back. The hoodie guy yelled in agony, as he began to sob uncontrollably.

“P-please man… w-why are you doing this to me?!”

“‘Why’, you say…?”

Gun leaned over closely onto the guy, as his foot flattened his back out more and more, as pain began to surge throughout this man’s back from the damage that Gun had caused to his body. “It’s because of you that I can’t even find her. And you’re asking me, ‘why’? Are you dumb? You must be a stupid motherfucker too, if you couldn’t quite put the puzzle pieces together. I might as well humor myself for the time being, since this is clearly YOUR fault, right?”

Gun released his foot for only a second, allowing the guy to breathe for that one second. Gun knew that once the oxygen has seeped into this man’s lungs again, the man beneath him would feel even greater pain than when he felt pressure on his back from before. He was obviously right, as he watched the guy struggle to breathe through his bleeding lungs from the inside. By now, his chest would feel like it was lit on fire, and nothing but pain could be felt at that very moment.

Gun smirked at the guy’s pained expression from below him. “You led her astray from where she’s supposed to meet me, so this IS your fault. How does it feel to experience such pain? Such torturous agony? Lowlife scum like you who barely even work a day to even build your own success, truly disgust me. No ambition… no determination… no will… no money… I wouldn’t even bat an eye to look at your direction if I were to still choose my successor. You’re just a waste of life.”

As Gun decided to torture the man a bit further, he stomped on the stranger’s back multiple times, hard enough to feel the intense pressure whenever the man felt it on his damaged body. With each stomp to his back, came out a lowly threat from Gun who said, “If your foolishness results in something terrible to happen to her, then you better believe that your life will become a sacrifice to hers. You’ll be begging for the sweet release of death once you’ve hit the peak of true pain.”

While Gun’s foot landed on the guy’s back with a powerful thud over and over again, the man started to plead for forgiveness. “P-please… ugh! s-spare… agh! Spare me!” In between each cold hearted stomp, the dirty hoodie guy inhaled sharply in pain through gritted teeth with every bit of strength he had left to endure the torturous treatment that Gun was giving him.

“Spare you? You must be joking. Have you spared (Y/N) when you had the chance? No, you didn’t. You just decided to take her phone without even giving a second thought about whether or not she needed it the most. You’re clearly at the wrong here to begin with. I’m just here to give you what you truly deserved. And that is… to watch you suffer.”

Gun still went at it, still showing signs of no mercy. He didn’t care if the man was suffering underneath his foot at all. He just wanted to get him back for the troublesome inconvenience that he had put you through earlier. His thoughts ran wild while inflicting pain onto the man, reverting back to what the dirty hoodie guy had told him of what happened earlier. The thought of the man who was there with you earlier, who had helped you try and get your phone back, somehow made Gun pissed off even more. Gun thought that he should’ve been the one to be there for you, and not some other stranger. His absence while you were too busy dealing with your own problem made him felt like total shit. Absolutely useless. Not being able to be there for you when you needed help the most was the most shameful thing he had ever felt in his damn life. He even believed that due to your absence of texts and calls, something might have happened to you due to this man’s stupidity of leading you farther away, as he shouldn’t have messed with the wrong person. The wrong woman, in particular. Gun imposed him with one last question, as he asked, “Where did you see her head off to?”

As blood started to spill from within this man’s mouth, Gun listened to the man’s croaked voice from his throat as he continued to cough up even more blood onto the cold ground. The poor guy gave one last attempt at saving himself as he said, “I-I don’t know! I d-didn’t… s-s-see where she g-gone off to… I was u-unconscious! I-I’m… sorry… for stealing your f-friend’s phone… I s-swear, I won’t d-do it a-again…”

Gun’s eyes narrowed in an irritated way. Annoyed by the man’s meaningless apology, his foot took in one last thought, ready to strike one last imposing blow to his back. When he sent his foot flying towards his back, all of a sudden, his foot suddenly stopped just an inch above the hoodie guy’s back. Instantaneously, his mind backtracked to how you’d react if you caught him beating up a poor defenseless person like that. You could possibly appear out of nowhere into the alleyway at any moment. The thought of you being disappointed in him even more caused him to pull his own foot back, finally showing a sign of mercy.

While the man laid there on the ground, panting through deep heavy sighs of injury, Gun stepped back before clicking his own tongue in frustration. “Tsk… bastard. Consider yourself lucky this time. If I ever catch you again in the streets at any given time, you’d best believe that you’ll be dying by my own hands.”

With that final warning, Gun released a puff of smoke from in between his fingers, pulling back his cigarette from his mouth before throwing it to the ground. He didn’t bother to snuff his cig out completely, as he walked away from the man leaving him to struggle in pain from within the darkness.

When Gun returned to the expensive automobile, he started the car then drove off as he continued his search for you. Now that he knows that you’ve gotten this far away from the marketplace, he is aware of where he should go. The Lincoln Navigator commuted down the streets of Seoul, straying further and further away from the marketplace.

The area that Gun was driving past was beginning to turn into a secluded area, away from the hustle and bustle of the busier streets in the city. Lights glowing in this area were much dimmer than the typical bright street lights seen around the city. Barely any lights were on in some of the buildings that he drove through. Close to the area, Gun could now hear the honking of cars since there’s a nearby freeway where he’s at. He realized that it was rush hour, when cars started to flood the freeway because of the many releases off from work.

“Damn. I can’t go through there right now since everybody’s out. I might as well stick to the streets for now.”

Little by little, the amount of working street lights lessened as he drove deeper into the streets until the car’s headlights were the only source of lights that was guiding Gun down the pitch black path. When he made a sharp turn at the corner of a street, he was then greeted with a light at the end of that street. It was as if he found a very noticeable glint of treasure.

Fascinated by the source of light, Gun drove slowly towards the light. Call it anticlimactic, but this better be worth looking through, he thought. When the tinted car rolled up to where the light shined, a clear view of a building with lit windows from inside it was now in focus. Under Gun’s vision, his eyes looked up as the sign of the building that said, “7-11” on it.

“Just great. A dead end…”

Or so he thought.

When his eyes trailed towards the big windows of the convenience store, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

There you stood, walking towards the window of the convenience store, as you sat down with a bunch of food in your arms, along with a big bag of your groceries. Gun halted the car, about ten meters away from the window. Somehow, you didn’t notice the Lincoln Navigator parked in front of the store, as you continued to unpack the food that you just bought.

When Gun parked the car right in front of the building, his eyes scanned your face and your entire body to see if you were actually alright. Luckily, it looked like you were fine from far away. Gun’s grip on the wheel loosened, as he leaned onto the wheel to rest his head. With a heavy sigh, he can now relax knowing that you’ve been okay all this time. His head looked up, watching you eat from the window with that eager look in your eyes and that delightful smile of yours that he had missed to see, all day. He chuckled at your cheerful expressions, while watching you devour your meal in excitement. As he watched you intently from inside the car, he rested his chin on his crossed arms that laid on top of the steering wheel.

“Look at her all happy and shit, while I’ve been suffering for hours because of her. Ah, what am I going to do with you, (Y/N)? You handful of a woman…”

While watching you, his mind suddenly wandered off, remembering the frustration of how he’s supposed to feel at that very moment. He’s relieved to see that you were okay, but he should be annoyed. He should be angry that you didn’t pick up his calls even when you got your phone back, so why…? The thought of you ignoring him suddenly made his blood boil.

“That’s it.”

He unfastened his seatbelt before getting out of the car with a slam of the door behind his back. From outside the front door of the 7-11 store, he ran towards the door as he called your name over and over again. Once he set foot inside of the store, he called out to you for one final time.

“(Y/N)!!!”

Gun ran in there, panting softly. He didn’t care if he looked like a mess in front of you. Both his hair and his clothes weren’t presentable at the moment, but he didn’t care at all. His mind was clouded with rage as he rushed towards you with a fuming look on his face. He was bearing his teeth like a wild wolf, ready to pounce on his prey. His fists were clenched, as if he were ready to give you a piece of his mind.

“HEY, (Y/N)! WHY THE FUCK WEREN’T YOU ANSWERING ME WHEN I WAS CALLING YOU?! AT LEAST LEARN HOW TO PICK UP THE DAMN PHO-”

At that time, Gun wasn’t aware of how you weren’t in the best of moods to argue with him at the moment. Instead, when he saw your face, he saw tears in your eyes. As you quickly rushed towards him and wrapped your arms around his waist in a tight embrace, Gun was absolutely stunned. For a few seconds, his face remained shocked at what was currently happening. He was at a loss of words. It was obvious, that he lost this fight right from the very beginning. He was defenseless, unable to defend himself from your soft sniffles and your heavy cries as he watched tears stream down your face.

Gun was clueless in the expertise of comfort, since he didn’t have to look after someone before. Except for Crystal Choi, but that was a different scenario. In this situation, he didn’t know how to look after someone who was feeling down. Someone who was clearly spilling all her emotions out, unable to control herself like a big tsunami that couldn’t be blocked by some sort of wall. If that were the case, all Gun needed to do was just support any infrastructure as best as he could.

The smartest way to deal with this, was to take it easy and to move as slow as possible. Gun decided to hug you in return, as one of his hands reached your back from behind as he gently placed his hand on your back, moving his hand in a slow rhythm that goes up and down, unsure if he was actually doing it right. Alright, here comes the next step. While still caressing your back softly, his other hand reached over to the back of your head to hold you in place, allowing you to further bury your head deep into his chest as a sign of comfort. Will this be enough for you? Who knows. Gun didn’t know what he was doing. All he could hope for was for you to stop crying.

While your sinuses were starting to get clogged from the excessive sobbing as you said to him, “I-I’m sorry… I th-thought I w-wouldn’t be… a-able to s-s-see you again… my ph-pho… -one got s-stolen… then br-… oke… so I ca-… n’t call… th- en… I got l-lost…”

At least Gun was smart enough to understand the babble of words that came from your mouth. He now understood the situation a lot better now, which explained why you weren’t able to answer any of his texts or calls. After all that, he was just alleviated from the worry that he had gone through. At least you were right in front of him, safe in his arms right now. If something bad WERE to happen to you, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. His inner self would be drowned in a violent frenzy, that no one would be able to stop him from hunting down the person who would inflict any pain or harm towards you. If the worst case scenario of death were to happen, he wouldn’t show any mercy whatsoever. He’d just go full on, bloodlust mode. Who would need mercy, if they were the one to take you away from him permanently? But damn that hooded bastard, he’ll definitely get it from Gun if he ever saw him again. The amount of hassle and inconvenience that both you and Gun had to go through because of that man’s foul actions made Gun seethe in pure rage. However, his anger died down quickly, as he remembered that you were currently right there in front of him, still crying your heart out.

While still trying to “comfort” you, Gun still held you in his arms, wondering how someone like you could have it both ways. You were ferocious like a feline cat when you needed to be. But at the same time, you can be as delicate and dainty as a flower. Gun couldn’t tell if it was a “feminine” thing that women had to deal with, or if it was just you in particular who had to endure such things. Don’t women get mood swings? He thought that their attitudes would change out of nowhere very frequently, but it was a first to see you act so… “normal”, being a woman. He thought you were a special case, but he didn’t once think that you’d be capable of ever crying in front of him like this.

Gun was still clueless as ever and remained unsure of what to do next, as he thought of a next step to try and make you feel better. This had to be the use of “comfort” words. While still maintaining his gentle rubs on your back and his firm grasp around you, he said in a soft tone, “Everything’s fine. You don’t have to cry anymore…” He repeated this process over and over again until he could no longer count how many times he’d done it.

It took about fifteen minutes for Gun to calm you down. The two of you stood at the same spot for fifteen whole minutes, as Gun kept comforting you until your sobs died down. While doing so, some people who have entered the 7-11 looked at you two in confusion and concern as they walked passed both of you in the store, mostly thinking that you just got dumped or something. One instance of this occurring, happened to be an old man who came to buy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes. As the old man entered the store, he was startled to see the both of you blocking his way to the cashier, who unknowingly was just staring at you and Gun hugging each other from behind the cash register, like you were in some sort of K-drama. When the old man awkwardly passed the two of you with a small cough while saying “excuse me”, he walked a few feet away towards the cashier before grumbling to himself, “Youngsters these days, don’t got any shame. How can they just cause a scene out in public like that? Good grief…”

Even though Gun caught the old man’s words even from a few feet away, he didn’t care about what he had to say. His words were irrelevant to him. Just noise from an old grumpy elder who probably didn’t know how to comfort his own woman. Speaking of comforting women, Gun looked down to see if you were still crying, but to his surprise, you were starting to calm down like he had hoped for. As you began to pull your face away from his chest, you wiped your face with the back of your sleeve, trying to dry your tears out the faster way. Gun patted your back a few times as he said, “(Y/N), we should go now. Come on, I’ll carry the groceries you got back to the car.” While still cleaning up your face with the back of your sleeve, you nodded from behind your sleeve as you both slowly released yourselves from each other’s grasp.

You returned back to the spot where you left your trash, your bagged groceries, and your unopened banana milk at the table from behind the big 7-11 window. From behind, Gun followed you as he reached over to the big grocery bag from one of the seats next to yours, to carry it in his left hand. After throwing away all of the leftover trash from the spot that you sat at, you made sure that Old Reliable was still on you and your banana milk was with you, then followed Gun out the door of the convenience store without saying a single word.

Once he had unlocked all of the doors to the Lincoln Navigator, you simply got in the seat next to Gun’s. You waited for him in silence as you watched him from the sideview mirror to load the grocery bag into the back trunk of the car. From behind the car, Gun looked into the bag before placing the grocery bag and all of its contents down into the trunk. However, when he peeked inside the bag, his facial expression changed in an instant from pure shock to regretful disbelief, as he saw that the pack of eggs that you’ve bought from earlier were all cracked. The yolk from the eggs painted the rest of the food all in yellow, leaving the bag’s contents to bathe in its stickiness.

Gun facepalmed himself as he gave an aggravated sigh. He was already tired from everything that had happened today, and now he had to deal with this mess.

“Dammit. If only she hadn’t- You know what? I’m not dealing with this shit right now. I don’t want her to end up crying again, or else that’s just going to be another issue added to another…” He told himself, before setting the bag down into the trunk before slamming the trunk door shut. When he went around the car to go back to the driver’s seat, he went into the tinted ride then shut the door behind him. While starting the car, he noticed how you were still quiet. Just having you sit there all quiet made him feel weird, so he encouraged you by saying, “Hey. Why are you still quiet over there? Just… act like how you normally would. I don’t want to have to see you cry again. So just… cheer up already…”

Your head turned towards Gun as his eyes were now focused on the road in front of him, driving down the street to turn at a dimmed street to go back to the ordinary streets of Seoul. You didn’t realize how uncomfortable you made him, as you were still lost in your own thoughts from a minute ago. All this time, you wondered how long has it been since someone was there to comfort you while you cried. You didn’t expect Gun to be the one to hold you in his arms, as you weeped over something so pathetic, such as loneliness. You didn’t cry at all when you were back in high school when all of the students there didn’t even bother to interact with you. Some would just turn their heads the other way, while others would pay attention to you only for the sake of entertaining themselves. But… why did you have to cry over someone, such as Jong Gun Park? It was embarrassing to even think that you’d shed tears over someone who’s stuck-up, rude, arrogant, sadistic, and perverted. Yet, why did your heart still yearn for him even when he’s not there with you? This whole idea left you feeling confused and lost. Even Mr. Nam’s words came flooding back into your head like a flash flood without warning. Mr. Nam told you that you have to confront him about how you feel at some point, but why does that idea scare you the most? Is it because you’re scared that you might get rejected by him? Is it because you think that he might not feel the same way as you did for him? Or is it because of how, if you DID tell him how you feel, then things won’t be the same between the two of you and you’d just push him away even more? Well, you already had sex with him to the point of no return, so what’s the big deal? This is basically… self sabotage. The thought of having to confess to someone about how you felt, just to fuck up your relationship with them was such a scary feeling to you. It made your stomach churn in an unsettling way.

He must be uncomfortable because of me. Now I feel bad…

You didn’t want to think about all of this any further, so you decided to try and act normally like you usually do. You gave Gun a reassuring smile, as you told him, “Don’t worry, I’m all better now. Thanks for being there for me, Gun.” Gun glanced at you for a split second as he felt himself relax at the sight of your familiar smile. The smile that always manages to wipe his worries away.

Gun cleared his throat as he changed the subject, away from the soft tension that he still wasn’t used to. “I’m driving this car back to Crystal, since I only borrowed it to try and look for you. When we get there, I need to gather a few things from my office before we go back home. In the mean time, just wait in the lobby on the second level of HNH Group’s headquarters. It won’t take long for me to get everything.”

“Okay… But how are we going to get back home?”

“Crystal will be the one to drop us back home. She’ll just be accompanying us with her chauffeur.”

“Oh, I see…”

Crystal, again? Why can’t she just let her chauffeur do the job without her being there? She even has to tag along with her driver, just like a mother watching over her own kid.

“And another thing to mention. When you get there, don’t go anywhere else and wander off. Just stay in the lobby. I don’t want to have to deal with my boss if you go missing.”

“Your boss? But doesn’t Crystal already know me?”

“No, not Crystal. I don’t have just one boss, you know. My other boss is Chairman Choi, Crystal’s father. He is the CEO of HNH Group.”

“Ohhh… right. You did mention her father earlier…”

“So you were eavesdropping on us from earlier?”

“Hey, what do you mean by ‘eavesdropping’? This car obviously is an enclosed space so I had no choice but to listen to whatever you two were talking about. The information that you and Crystal spilled was LITERALLY forced onto my ears.”

“You didn’t even bother to cover your ears during our conversation? Or ignore it?”

“Why the hell would I cover my ears just because you two were talking?! That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard you say so far. You usually say some really smart or intellectual things Gun, what happened?”

“Oh, my bad. I didn’t know ignoring someone would be so hard. Or was it because you’re too nosy to even try to ignore such valuable information being exchanged right in front of you?”

“WHAT?! I DIDN’T EVEN WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR BORING ASS CONVERSATION ANYWAYS!! That shit literally made me yawn to the point that I almost fell asleep! Talk about a sleepfest…”

“That’s because your interests in conversation topics consists of topics that aren’t even mature enough for you to even comprehend. That little head of yours probably couldn’t even handle basic topics such as the increase in supermarket prices nowadays. You probably would rather talk about things like kid’s cartoons…”

“Oh yeah? When the hell did you care so much about supermarket prices?! You earn a lot of money for being just a bodyguard! A. FUCKING. BODYGUARD. Hell, probably EVEN MORE than just any bodyguard out there! Like what type of bodyguard has at least a million won in their own bank account?! That’s fucking insane!!! And at least kid’s cartoons won’t make me snore mid-conversation…”

Gun sneered as he was steering the wheel while driving. “How childish. You’d be surprised by the amount of work that I needed to clean up when I have to deal with all of their shit. They’re all just a bunch of bad software with incompatible hardware.”

“‘Clean up’? What do you mean by that…?” That last reply from Gun confused you, since you had no idea what he was talking about. He had lost you at the “software and hardware” part, which made you believe that he had to deal with actual computers.

A bodyguard that deals with computers…? Is that his side job? I didn’t know he was a tech nerd too.

“We’re here.”

Gun informed you as he pulled up to the curve in front of the tall HNH Group building. As you watched Gun unbuckle his seatbelt, you did the same as well as the both of you got out of the car at the same time. Before doing so, you took your banana milk and Old Reliable with you before leaving the car. Simultaneously, Gun gave back the car keys to Crystal’s chauffeur who was standing outside waiting for Gun to return with the car. After that, Gun made his way towards the back of the car to open the trunk again as he grabbed onto the bag of groceries. He handed it to you before closing the trunk door shut, leaving the car behind to Crystal’s chauffeur to take care of it. You followed after him through the automatic sliding doors of HNH Group’s company building.

Right when you walked in, your eyes roamed around the building’s internal features as the whiff of corporate power hit you with a bang. The company was grand, as you eyed its massive stairs that connected to its upper floors. Elevators can be seen from either side of the first floor, as many businessmen and other employees entered and exited through them. When you looked down at its black and gold tiled floor, you saw HNH Group’s massive logo greet you with its corporal fame.

Wow, so this is what being in a powerful company feels like…

From how distracted you were with HNH Group’s building, you didn’t realize that you were falling behind Gun until you heard Gun yell at you from up ahead as he said in a bossy tone, “Hurry up, or else I’m leaving you there!” Your startled eyes immediately turned back to where you were supposed to be focusing on as your feet picked up the pace right after him.

Once the both of you got inside an empty elevator, you stood right next to Gun as he pressed the “2” button. In response, the elevator door slowly shut in front of you, leaving you to wait in the rumbling elevator for only a few seconds. When you heard a small ding from within the elevator, the doors reopened itself, allowing Gun to walk ahead of you to lead the way.

While winding through the crazy amount of employees down a narrower black marble hallway, the room transitioned to an open large space. Gun led you into the room where a lot of chairs were placed in horizontal rows in front of a big white granite counter with an employee taking calls behind it. Suspended above, was a big fancy glass chandelier, illuminating the entire lobby with its bright dazzling light.

What is up with rich people and their chandeliers? Almost everywhere I go, they always have their own chandelier. Is that some sort of a “rich people” thing?

Gun stopped in front of you as he turned around to look down at you. You stopped behind him as you caught yourself from walking any further, almost bumping into him.

“You’ll be staying here in the mean time while I go get my things. And then, we’ll be leaving. Don’t go anywhere. Got it?”

You teased him with a playful smile, giving him a firm salute. “Yes, sir!”

Gun gave you a regretful look before turning around and strolling off towards God knows where, leaving you to explore the lobby for a bit.

Hm… let’s see what they have here…

You walked towards the transparent glass wall on the right side of the lobby, which left you dazed just by staring at the wondrous view before you. As your eyes scanned the view of Seoul’s nightlife scenery, your hands pressed against the glass in amazement.

You softly said to yourself under your breath, “Woah… so pretty!” standing there for a few minutes while city-gazing from the second level. Looking down, you could see people walking past the building as they all look like tiny ants from below. It was a funny thought to think about, until you decided to release your hands from the glass and to step away from the wonderful scenery that distracted you for only a moment.

That was fun while it lasted. What else does this place offer that could relieve me from this sense of boredom?

While looking around the wide room, something caught your eyes from among the business setting. More like, SOMEONE. That person looked like they obviously did not fit in with this busy environment, which made you think how foolish you were for not noticing them sooner.

As you decided to sneak your way towards that person in curiosity, you circled around them to see what that person was up to. You stopped behind a kid with bright purple hair, who was just sitting in front of a computer screen right behind the counter of the lobby. He made you wonder why was there a kid in a building that occupied busy and sophisticated adults.

Is he here to wait for a parent? Is his mom or dad working right now? That must be why he’s waiting in the lobby, just playing games or somethi- what the…???

As your eyes trailed to the kid’s computer screen, you couldn’t believe what was on his screen. The boy had two open windows split in between the entire computer screen. On his left window, was an article on learning how to program your own game. But on his right open window, was some sort of private security system. The kid’s hands rapidly typed on the right window, inputting codes of commands to unlock encrypted locks of heavy virtual databases. You gasped while clasping your hand onto your mouth in bewilderment at how quickly this kid managed to crack through the passcode of such advanced encryption. When he finally got into the system, he rested his hands for a bit as he cracked his own knuckles, readying himself for more typing. However, you jumped when he instantly said, “I know you’ve been standing there, staring at my computer screen like a creep. You don’t have to hide it anymore.”

As you gulped nervously, he pushed his wheeled seat back a bit before spinning around to face you. The boy’s face had a mischievous smirk, enough to want to smack this kid from upside the head. He was wearing school uniform, which looked familiar to you for some reason. As you stood there to recollect yourself, you cleared your throat awkwardly before replying to him.

“W-why didn’t you say anything sooner if you knew that I was just standing there behind you…?”

“Because it’s amusing to even see you sneak around me like that. You looked like an idiot too, while trying to peek from behind me. Talk about creepy. Haven’t you ever thought of me possibly catching you through the reflection of my screen?”

“Why, you little brat! Don’t you have parents to be with right now?! Just run along home, it’s probably already past your bed time!”

“Huh? Are you a moron? Why would a kid be here in the first place hacking into an advanced system, like you just saw. Haven’t you ever thought of me possibly WORKING here?”

“W-what…?”

Who the hell is this kid?! The level of hacking expertise that this boy had was on par with a professional hacker! A cybersecurity genius! AND THIS KID WORKS HERE?! WHAT TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT IS THIS? HE’S JUST A MINOR! WHAT EVEN IS THIS COMPANY, AND WHAT DO THEY EVEN DO?! Wait… does Gun know about this? Does he know this kid? What type of shady business is this, if they allowed such a young person to even work for them…? Wait a minute… does this tie to the four major crews that Gun mentioned from before? Now I’m curious. Well, I won’t be surprised if this is some business disguising itself just to hide its true motives. Even Gun’s position seemed a little… off to me. I need to ask Gun later about all of this…

“Anyways, why is a simpleton like you even here? You couldn’t be working here since you’re too dumb to even manage things around here. They probably wouldn’t even hire you.”

The purple haired boy was starting to get on your nerves as you reacted in fury by clenching your fists.

“Oh shut up, Purple Fanta! Why the hell did they even hire someone as young as you in the first place?! You’re not even dressed properly for the job. Like what is that? Oh yeah… your school UNIFORM?!”

“‘Purple Fanta’? How dare you even call me that! God, you’re really starting to piss me off here.” The kid place his hand on his forehead, gripping his own temples on the sides of his head as if he just got a huge headache.

“And you think I’m not pissed off here, as well? Geez kid, you’re really giving me a backache from all of the annoying things that just came out of that rude mouth of yours!”

“Ugh, whatever. I shouldn’t even be wasting my time with you right now. I have better things to do…” Purple Fanta boy turned around in his seat and returned back to hacking.

“Hmph…” You crossed your arms, annoyed by the kid’s bothersome attitude. But you couldn’t help but be drawn to whatever he was working on, as you walked closer to him and leaned in over the side of his computer screen.

“Where the hell did you learn how to hack like that?”

While not even taking the energy to turn his head to look at you, the kid scoffed while typing as he said, “You’re still here, Ajumma? I thought you said that your back was aching…”

You ignored his irritating name-calling as you pressed him further. “Aren’t you supposed to use a VPN while doing all of that? Be careful. If you don’t use one, then they might trace your IP address back to you.”

“Of course I’m using it. I’m not an idiot like you, you know. And besides, even if they did manage to find my location, I can always use DDOS to block their interference on their end.”

“Alright, but have you ever tried sending them a virus before? That’ll crash their system in no time and it could lower their system’s run-time until they won’t be able to use it on their end. Besides, you’ll be able to retrieve information if their system is weakened.”

While typing, the purple-haired kid chuckled deviously as he said, “I’m wayyy ahead of you on that. Watch this…”

As he received a red signal that sensed an unknown interference trying to access his data, his fingers sped through the many keys on his keyboard until he finally tapped on one final key, which resulted in the red message to clear from his screen.

“What just happened?”

“I just sent them a virus. They should have received it by now. Haha, what a dumbass.”

“Ohhh nice!” The kid glanced at you with a straight face, watching you giggle in triumph.

“Have you… hacked before?”

Your eyes met with his, shaking your head. “No, never. I only read about this kind of stuff, and watched some videos here and there about it. I’ve always wanted to learn how to do it though…”

“What, really? You seem knowledgeable about it, even for someone who hasn’t hacked before. If I asked someone who works here about it, they wouldn’t even know what the hell I’m talking about. They’d think that I’m just saying some sort of complicated spell, even if I tried to explain to them about hacking. They’re all just a bunch of dumbasses…” He mumbled that last sentence while looking down at his keyboard in embarrassment.

“Really? Wow! Then you must be some sort of genius then if you’re the only hacker around here!”

“Yeah, something like that…”

The boy’s eyes seemed to be lost in thought so you decided to change the subject by directing it to his other interest. “So… you’re interested in making a game?”

“What?”

Your finger pointed at the left window opened, with the article still there.

The kid crossed his arms as he scoffed to the side. “I was just curious to see how games were made. It doesn’t mean that I’m interested in making one!”

While looking at the boy’s flustered face, you raised an eyebrow with a questioning look. “Oh, really now?”

As you took the mouse in your hand, you scrolled through the article, reading and skimming through the words to see if most of the information given was accurate or not. The boy watched you in silence, while you read through the article in front of him while he was still blushing. While doing so, you didn’t notice three people heading towards your direction. Gun was done retrieving his things from his office, as he was holding a leather business case in one hand and a Manila folder on the other hand that held important documents. He was walking with Crystal beside him and DG who was walking side-by-side next to Crystal, filling Gun in about the meeting that he had to leave early from.

While talking to them, Gun turned his head away from the two of them, as his eyes were now focused on you right in front of him. Crystal and DG’s eyes followed his gaze as the three of them now stopped to stare at you and the purple-haired boy communicating amongst yourselves.

“Is that (Y/N) and Kouji?” Crystal looked at you and the purple-headed youth in curiosity.

DG looked at you and Kouji, holding his own chin in deep interest. “Who’s that with Kouji? Is she new here?”

Crystal looked at Gun, waiting for him to explain to DG about who you were. As Gun sighed, he said, “She works for me. She’s actually my maid.”

DG looked at Gun with a bit of surprise on his face. “Your maid? You hired someone to take care of your house for you?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Why all of a sudden? I thought you don’t trust people with your own home?”

“I decided to get a housekeeper because I don’t have time to clean shit up. Plus, I was the one to interview her personally and I already did a background check on her, so she’s safe.”

“I see…”

While the three of them stared at you and Kouji still talking to each other, another voice decided to join in on their little group.

“What are you guys looking at?”

Three of their heads turned around to see Goo walking towards them from behind, stopping to stand next to Gun’s right side.

“And where the hell have you been?” Gun asked in an indifferent tone.

“Who, little old me? I just took a potty break, that’s all. You should’ve joined me Gun! We could’ve been toilet buddi-”

Gun interrupted Goo in an instant as he said, “No thanks.” leaving Goo to chuckle in entertainment.

“You’re no fun at all! Anyways, what are you guys just standing there for?”

All of their heads turned back towards you and Kouji. Goo smirked at the sight of the two of you as he decided to break the distance between their group and your little group with Kouji, walking towards you to get a better listen in on your guys’ conversation.

“Hey, Goo! What are you doing?!” Crystal called out to him in a rigid whisper, but Goo ignored her as he stopped at a spot where he can finally hear your exchange of words with each other. The rest of the three followed as they now were able to listen in on your conversation with the kid from a safe distance.

“Well, since you’re ‘not interested’ in making a game, then let me ask you this… What’s stopping you from actually making a game? Is it the programming part, or do you just not have the time to create one?”

“I told you already, I’m just not interested! Why can’t you just accept that fact, plain and simple?!”

“That’s a load of bullshit.”

“What-”

“I don’t believe you one bit. If you’re really interested, then don’t let anything or anyone stop you from doing it!”

Kouji looked down at his hands as he balled them into fists of frustration, as he said through gritted teeth, “But I’m a hacker, not a programmer. I can’t be both at the same time…”

“Who said anything about not being able to do both?”

Kouji looked up at you to see a face full of strong determination with a glint of encouragement in your eyes. As you bent down on one knee to meet Kouji face-to-face, you placed your right hand firmly onto his shoulder while you still held onto your grocery bag in your left hand.

“You can be both if you tried. If you really believe that you can do it, then don’t be afraid to try. I know you can do it kid, you’re smart! If you got the brains already, then all you need is the right amount of determination. So, don’t let your position limit who you can become. Learn how to be confident in yourself, before you can accomplish even greater things.”

As your hand released his shoulder, your hand then gently pat Kouji’s head repeatedly, resulting in him to just sit there motionlessly. Currently, Kouji was too stunned to even speak. At that moment, he was wondering who had sent an angel to him. An angel that was sent to him from the heavens up above. In all honesty, he didn’t really think much of your presence because you didn’t smell rich and you didn’t look the part to be a rich conglomerate at all. You were just an ordinary person. However, he never knew that hearing a stranger’s words were enough to comfort him deeply. Even the rest of the four geniuses who just watched you give Kouji that pep talk were speechless. Crystal was moved by your speech, as she smiled at how heartwarming that was. DG was intrigued even more by you, wondering who was this stranger that managed to enchant Kouji like that. Goo, on the other hand, was fascinated by Kouji’s change in behavior as he saw his facial expression changed instantly. Knowing how the little brat normally would have replied rudely, that just wasn’t the case at all this time. And Gun? Well, he thought whatever he saw was almost holy. Too holy. It was like seeing a caring mother comfort her own child. Madonna and Child. A truly inspiring masterpiece, like the aura you had around you was glowing in a warm and welcoming light. Gun thought that your kindness was too perfect, like you always knew how to do the right thing. Were you always like that? He wasn’t sure.

Kouji finally realized that you were still petting his head as he just brushed your hand off of him to the side saying, “Psh, whatever… stupid lady…” You grinned before reaching over to his head again to roughly mess with his hair. “Yeah, yeah, whatever Purple Fanta. Acting like a tough kid, when you actually act like a baby brother. How cute~”

The violet headed boy glared at you as he began to smack your hand whenever you reached out to pet his head. “Hey, knock it off, lady!You’re so annoying! And stop calling me ‘Purple Fanta’!!!”

You ignored the violet headed teen’s demand as you continued on with the conversation. “Okay Purple Fanta, let’s get back to the programming talk. So, this is what you got to do before programming the game. Forget naming your game, you can do that later. First, you have to learn the basics like with variables, arguments, and functions. I’d prefer using Python since that language is more up-to-date and convenient, but it really doesn’t matter what language you start with. After you get used to the basics and learned Object-Oriented Programming, you’ll have to think of which algorithm to use, so before you select one…”

When you turned your attention back to the article on the screen to point out information while lecturing him, the four of them still stood there in amazement while listening in on the technological terms that came out of your mouth. They had no clue what you and Kouji were talking about at that point, so they turned their attentions back to each other.

Crystal turned her gaze towards Gun as she asked him, “Gun, did you know that she’s a tech genius?”

Gun shook his head. “No. Actually, this is a first that I’ve heard her talk about this kind of stuff.”

Goo let out a sly laugh. “Well of course she wouldn’t talk to you about it, you wouldn’t even get it! You’re too dumb to even know about that techie mumbo jumbo.” He said, as he lightly patted Gun’s back before Gun swatted him with his leather case.

DG immediately turned to Gun as he came up with a good idea. He suggested, “Gun, what if I introduce her to Chairman Choi? She might be able to get a working position here with the amount of tech knowledge that she has-”

“There’s no need for that.”

“What? But wouldn’t that benefit your housekeeper more if she got a job here for HNH Group?”

Crystal thought it was a good idea as she joined in on DG’s recommendation by stepping into the conversation. “I have to agree with DG here. She could also benefit the company if we were to take her in under our care.”

“Like I said, there won’t be any need for that. I still need her to do the chores for me at home. Also, I was the one who brought her into my own personal life, so I’m still responsible to look after her. Please excuse me…”

“But-”

Gun dismissed himself, squeezing through DG and Crystal as he began to walk towards you while calling your name. “(Y/N)!”

When your ears caught the sound of Gun’s voice, you turned around eagerly with a bright grin as you said, “Gun! Are we going n- …”

The volume of your voice died down gradually as you saw Crystal right behind Gun, along with Goo and another stranger following him.

Oh. So he’s been with Crystal all this time…?

You felt your chest tighten at the sight of them together. From behind them, Goo waved as he yelled out to you. “Yoohoo! Hey, (Y/N)! I told you we’d see each other at an interesting time.” Kouji beside you turned around in his seat as well, as he glanced at you, Gun, and Goo who seemed to have known each other already. “Wait a minute… you KNOW them?” One of your hands rubbed the back of your neck while you bashfully nodded, due to the feeling of all of their eyes on you.

Goo stood right beside Kouji as he ruffled with his hair too, beaming with delight. “Hey there, Kouji! Awww, is my little baby still wetting the bed?” He said in a playful tone, which caused Kouji to slap Goo’s hand away from his head while giving him the death stare.

“Shut the fuck up, Goo! And stop labeling me as the ‘Baby’ in our group chat! It’s fucking annoying!”

Goo shook his head while clicking his tongue repetitively in a chastising manner. “That’s not very nice Kouji. Little kids aren’t supposed to be cursing.”

“I’m a few years younger than you, you asshole!”

While Kouji started to squabble with Goo, you stood up to meet with Gun’s gaze in front of you. “Did you get everything that you needed from your office?”

Gun held both of his hands out to you, showing the folder of documents and the leather case in his hands. You nodded in affirmation, confirming that you did indeed see that his hands were full.

Unexpectedly, the stranger approached you from beside Crystal. You had to admit, this mystery stranger was handsomely similar to Daniel, with his clear face with no blemishes. He made you question what was his skincare routine, to have such flawless skin. The stranger’s light pink hair was parted down the middle of his head, as his hair color reminded you of spring cherry blossoms. His eyes were beautiful too, as they looked like clear gems. The man’s tall and broad figure got you staring at him, with his Louis Vuitton T-shirt, his light ripped jeans, and his Givenchy shoes. Around his neck was a gold chain with the Chanel symbol dangling from it. This man’s physique screamed “Rich!”, almost as if he looked like a famous celebrity. You can’t help but think that you’ve seen his familiar face before.

My god, how many beautiful ikemen did I run into today?

“Hello, I don’t think we’ve met. You must be Gun’s maid, that I’ve been hearing so much about. I’m not sure if you need an introduction. But just in case, hello, I’m DG. I work with Gun here at HNH Group. You can say that I’m Gun’s senior and co-worker. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

DG smiled and held out his hand to you, resulting in you to stare at him, mesmerized by this man’s charming charisma. As your hand reached out towards him to give him a firm handshake, you replied politely by saying, “It’s nice to meet you as well, DG. I’m (Y/N) Sasaki. Thank you for taking care of Gu- er… Mr. Park while working here.” You gave a casual laugh while trying to ignore Gun’s hostile eyes, knowing that you almost caused your act to slip.

With Gun still standing there right next to you, he turned his head away from you, while trying to calm himself down from the built up annoyance that he now has to deal with. When you let go of DG’s hand, something in your mind hit you.

Oh my god. No wonder this guy in front of me looks familiar…

“DG?”

“Yes?”

“By any chance, have you recently appeared on the reality tv show called ‘Running Man’?”

DG’s mouth curved into a wide grin. “Oh, you’ve seen that episode already? I just filmed that with them a few months ago. I didn’t know that they already released it.”

“Oh my god, so that was you?! I knew I’ve seen your face before! Now that explains it. Sorry, I don’t know who you are and what you really do. I’m unfamiliar with the pop culture around here, so…”

“No worries. I’m actually a K-pop idol. You’re actually the first ‘young’ person that I’ve encountered who doesn’t really know who I am. I feel somewhat humbled…”

“Oh, geez… I feel bad for not knowing who you are, I’m terribly sorry-”

“No, no, it’s okay. I understand.”

“Um… do you have any song recommendations that you’d like to recommend for a… first-time listener of yours?”

“Ah, well… Most artists would suggest listening to their newest album, but personally, I’d suggest my oldest songs first. That way, you’ll get to hear the progression of how my music changed over time. Actually, here, I’ll show you.”

“Oh, no, no! You shouldn’t bother showing me your music! I don’t want to bother you anymore than I already have…”

“I insist, (Y/N). It’s the least I can do for someone new to treat me ‘normally’. I haven’t been able to experience an ordinary interaction like this, in a while. So, here…”

DG took out his phone from his pocket as he leaned in closer to you to show off his saved albums from within his phone. While letting you listen to bits of his older songs, Gun turned his head back towards you, as he saw you and DG standing really close together. While looking at you smiling up at DG, Gun’s eyes silently pierced the both of you dangerously as his grip around the handle of his leather case clenched tighter than before.

Everybody was busy doing their own thing as no one realized that Crystal was still standing there, observing everybody’s actions like a hawk. It seems like Kouji and Goo were too busy to notice what was happening between you and DG yet. On the other hand, she noticed the little interactions among you, DG, and Gun. Her eyes looked at Gun intently, as his eyes were focused on you and DG talking with each other. Crystal could obviously see that Gun looked angry towards the two of you, but… why?

“(Y/N), we’ll be taking our leave now.”

When everybody around Gun heard his announcement, the rest of them were now focused on him. His domineering presence had somehow gained control of everybody around him. Right when you heard his voice, you turned your head towards the sound of him calling your name.

“Oh, okay…” You took a few steps away from DG as you bowed at him as a sign of thanks. “Thanks DG for showing me your wonderful songs! I’ll listen to them whenever I have free time to myself.”

DG beamed at you saying, “Anytime, (Y/N). I can’t wait to hear what you have to say about them. Until next time…”

You smiled back at DG and as you were about to follow Gun from behind with your grocery bag still in your hand, Kouji suddenly yelled out, “Wait, (Y/N)!”

Everybody’s eyes were now on Kouji, who was now blushing from his own sudden outburst. When he caught your attention, you turned around and asked him, “Yes, Kouji?”

He looked down at his own fists on his lap as he couldn’t look at you eye-to-eye from what he was about to ask. Unexpectedly, he asked, “C-can… Can I have you number?” Everyone’s eyes widened from Kouji’s unusual request, that even Gun stood there surprised. You didn’t mind at all as you said, “Oh, sure kid! But, um… the phone that I have with me right now doesn’t work…”

Crystal raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why? What happened to your phone?”

A small embarrassed laugh escaped from your mouth as you explained to them, “Well, you see… My phone was stolen from me earlier, but I got it back! It just broke during the process of when I was trying to get it back…”

“Oh…” Kouji’s head slumped down, feeling disappointed. You couldn’t bear to look at the kid’s upset face, so you came up with a quick solution.

“But! I know what you can do…”

You took out the slip of paper that Gun gave you from earlier this morning, with Dr. Ahn’s address on it. You didn’t need it anymore, so you decided to tear a piece of it and gave the blank side of it to Kouji. Afterwards, you took out a small pen from within your bag then handed it to Kouji as well. You gestured for him to use those objects in his hands, as you said, “There, use those. You can just write your name and phone number on there. When I try and look for a new phone, I promise I’ll text you right when I get it.”

Kouji’s cheeks still had that bright red tint, as he started to write down his name and phone number on it. “D-don’t get the wrong idea! This is for when I needed to ask questions about how to program some parts of the game that I’m going to make…”

You giggled at his cute reactions while saying, “I’ll take your word for it.” While waiting for Kouji to finish up writing his phone number, DG approached you to ask, “Is it alright if I can give you my number as well? You can text me about what you think about those songs that I just showed you. I’m curious to hear about what you have to say regarding them.”

In surprise, you quickly nodded. “Of course you can! And once again, thank you for your song recommendations. I’ll make sure that I’ll get to every song in each album.” Once Kouji was done, DG decided to write his name and phone number too on that piece of paper.

Goo snuck around to where Gun was standing, as he stood there waiting for you. When he finally made it to Gun, he gave a small casual whistle, as he leaned in next to Gun with that usual cheeky smile of his whispering, “Uh-oh! You better watch your girl from now on, Gun. Now you’ve got some competition to look after…”

“Tch. Shut the fuck up Goo, before I decide to bash your head in. I’m not in the mood for your pathetic half-assed sympathies.”

Goo smirked as he retreated a few inches away from Gun. “I was only joking Gun. Besides, you shouldn’t act like that. I know that you must’ve made your move by now, knowing you. So, did you guys have fun last night…?”

That really did it for Gun. His eyes directed at Goo’s in a very sinister way, as if he wanted to murder him at that very spot. Goo, of course, was very pleased with himself for having to piss off Gun for him to be looking at him like that. It really goes to show that Gun was extremely bothered by what’s happening right now in front of them, as Kouji and DG might be interested in you, but that is a far-fetched idea… for now. Goo chuckled at himself before placing a hand on Gun’s left shoulder before leaning into him once more in a whisper saying, “Ah, ah, ah. Be careful Gun. You’re bearing your fangs a little too much. I suggest keeping it on the down low, if you know what I mean?”

Gun was still glaring at Goo, as his hand grabbed onto Goo’s wrist to lift his hand up from his shoulder. With such force, Goo gave a foxy grin back at Gun, loving his wrathful reactions more and more. He could feel his wrist crushing from Gun’s unbearable strength, but he could still withstand him. Gun usually was able to ignore Goo’s bullshit being thrown at him while keeping a straight face. However this time, Gun was more of a mess than usual. It was unlike him to show how bothered he was, and Goo finds it interesting to think that you changed him so much in about a month. When Gun finally got rid of Goo’s hand from his shoulder, he turned around while heaving out a heavy breath before calling Goo a “Dick.”

After both DG and Kouji wrote down their numbers on that piece of paper you slid it into your pocket and gathered all your things before walking towards Gun to resume following him from behind, along with the rest of the geniuses. You were about to go until you stopped in your tracks to look at Kouji one last time.

“Kouji, it’s Quick Sort, not Shell Sort. I forgot to mention that to you, that the article stated something incorrect on there. The run-time for Quick Sort is much faster than Shell Sort. That’s just a little tip from me to you, if you want to use that to search for items if you plan on making an Adventure game. Well, I hope your game comes out well, and when you finish it, let me be a beta-tester, okay?” You gave him a wink before returning to Gun and the rest of the geniuses.

“Man… who is she, really?” Kouji whispered to himself, still dumbstruck from the conversation you just had with him.

. . .

When Crystal’s car arrived to pick you, Gun, and Crystal up from the front, you said your goodbyes to DG and Goo right before you got inside the car.

“Bye Goo, DG! I’m not really sure when I’ll ever see you guys again, but I hope you take care.”

DG smiled at you as he replied with, “Likewise. Take care, (Y/N).”

Goo gave a cheerful wave while saying, “Goodbye (Y/N)! Let’s hang out sometime in the future!! Oh, and Gun…”

Gun turned his head around to look at Goo one last time. He already had a feeling that Goo wasn’t going to let him go silently, without toying with him one last time.

“Just confess already!”

Crystal and DG had confused looks on their faces, while Gun shook his head as he grumbled, “Fucking idiot.” before opening the door of the car to sit on the seat across from you. He had a lot on his mind that day and he wasn’t going to let Goo ruin his mood even more with that unnecessary comment.

You didn’t quite hear what Goo said since you were already in the backseat of the car. All you saw through the tinted glass window was Goo mouthing inaudible words with the usual devilish grin that he always had on his face.

After Crystal took the front seat next to the driver’s side, her chauffeur started the car right away, which was a sign for you to wave goodbye to DG and Goo. You found the button to roll down the window by pressing it. The window rolled down, as you waved out to DG and Goo for a final goodbye. DG gave a short wave, while Goo waved wildly enough to annoy Gun who could be seen glancing at him from behind you for only a split second, then turned his head away to the window next to him, embarrassed to be even associated with Goo.

The car finally exited the driveway of the company’s building, now entering the busy streets of Seoul. Once they were out of sight, you rolled up the window again to rest your elbow onto the window frame to lay your head on your hand while you looked out the window. Meanwhile, Gun and Crystal started discussing about the usual business related topics.

“How come I didn’t see your father around in the office?”

“He left right after the meeting ended to prepare for another business appointment at nine.”

“I see. I was hoping to explain to Chairman Choi about why I had to excuse myself earlier.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. He’s preoccupied with a lot of things on his mind, so I’m sure he’ll let this one go.”

“Alright.”

“As far as I know, he still doesn’t know about you hiring a maid, so I’ll leave that up to you to explain.”

“I’ll do that right when I meet with your father again. In the meantime, I-”

Unexpectedly, a low snore can be heard from beside Gun, which interrupted his train of thought. Both Gun and Crystal were caught off guard as they both turned to see you sleeping so soundly while resting your head against your hand.

Crystal covered her mouth with a smile forming on her face, trying to contain her own laughter. Beside you, Gun’s eyebrows were knitted, ashamed at the sight of you sleeping without a care in the world.

He scoffed while shaking his head and crossing his arms in disapproval then said, “I have to apologize again. She can be quite… something. I’ll go ahead and wake her up.”

Crystal giggled slightly, before stopping Gun from reaching his hand over to you to shake you awake. “No, no, it’s fine! She must be tired from her little escapade today, so let her get some rest before you two arrive.”

Gun sighed, pulling back his arm from further interrupting your sleep. He crossed his legs while watching you sigh in between soft snores. A small smile formed on his lips saying, “This idiot…”

Crystal smiled as she asked, “Oppa, doesn’t she look cute when she’s sleeping?”

“Hm? ‘Cute’? ‘Cute’ is quite the understatement. More like, a ‘bother’ to begin with.”

Crystal let out a cheered laugh, which was rare for Gun to even see and hear. His eyes turned to your unconscious face once more, thinking that you were some sort of a ‘unique gift’ that randomly dropped under his care. It was a surprise to even believe that you were the cause that allowed him to see such rare events today, especially with the geniuses involved.

What an interesting show of events, he thought.

. . .

When the tinted luxury vehicle arrived in front of Gun’s driveway, Gun attempted to wake you up by shaking you awake while telling you to wake up and, as expected, you wouldn’t budge at all. So, he decided to carry you from your seat, exiting the car and making his way to your side. Crystal insisted on helping him out too, as she told her driver to wait in the car as she went to retrieve all of Gun’s belongings from his seat, including your grocery bag. His hand pulled on the latch of the door to open it slowly, knowing that your head was leaning onto the side of the door. Fortunately, he caught your head on his chest, as his muscular arms snaked around your figure carefully to grab a hold of you gently. With your bag still slung around you, he rearranged it onto your lap to make it comfortable for him to carry you. He then placed your arms around his neck, while supporting your back with his left hand before scooping your legs up in his right arm so he could finally lift you out of the car. After he had gathered you in his arms, he closed the door shut, making his way up the marble pathway to the front door. Crystal followed right after him, still carrying his things and the grocery bag that was now dried with egg yolk from the inside.

Gun stopped in front of his door, and was able to still stretch one of his hands over to the advanced passcode lock to input the password to unlock the door. Of course, he he was still wary of you in his arms, so he was still careful enough to move while you were still asleep. When he got it, he opened the door and immediately headed over to the lounge area to set you gently down on the couch. Gun was aware that the couch still had that big stain on it, but he had no choice since Crystal was present in his house. At least your body would hide the stain for only a temporary period.

Crystal was about to set everything down near the door, until Gun stated, “I’ll take those.” He left your side for only a brief moment, strolling towards Crystal to grab everything from her grasp. He returned beside you, setting down everything near the couch, allowing Crystal to give her final words to Gun.

“Tell (Y/N) that I wish her good luck in working as your maid. It must be always tiring for her to keep up with the workload that you gave her so far. Also, tell her that I said thank you for being a sister-figure for Kouji. It’s hard to get to him sometimes, but I’m glad to see that he gets to open up to someone who finally understands him. I’ll be taking my leave now. Goodnight, to the both of you.”

Gun nodded, and with a final nod in return, Crystal walked out the door while softly closing the door behind her. His attention turned back to you, staring at your relaxed state again, snoring away.

“And what am I going to do with you now…?”

In his head, he was thinking of what he should do to wait for you to wake up. Gun decided that he’ll let you rest on the couch for a bit while waiting for you to wake up. He’ll stay with you for only a few hours until he decides to carry you back to your room before he gets to finally sleep. No amount of talking and nudging could wake a sleeping log, such as yourself. But first, he had to move all of his belongings from the office into his room. As he grabbed all of his things, he went upstairs to transfer them into his room.

Gun came back downstairs and when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed the bag of desserts from that restaurant, still out on the table beside the stairs. He let out a disappointed sigh, asking himself, “Why didn’t she even bother putting this back in the fridge? It’s as if I have to do everything by myself around here. So much for being called a ‘maid’. If she really was my maid, she’d definitely be fired in an instant.”

As a responsible adult, he decided to take the bag of desserts and put it in the fridge but before he did so, he checked to see if the food was still alright to still be consumed. He took the takeout box out and opened it. When he leaned in closer to the slices of cake, he smelled it to see if there was a weird funky smell, but it smelled “normal” to him. It wasn’t enough for him to be convinced that they were still edible to eat, so he took a piece of a slice of cake by pinching a piece straight from it with his hand and tasted it. Gun wasn’t really into sweets, but he thought the cake was pretty good. Not too sweet, not too bland. It was spongey, yet not dry at all. After taste-testing it, he confirmed that the food was still good, as he closed it then walked towards the kitchen to finally put it inside the fridge.

Afterwards, he returned back to the lounge room, grabbing onto the TV remote on his way to one of the bar stools to sit on. He leaned his back against the counter of the bar, before turning on the TV, switching through the channels to find any interesting shows on for the night to try and occupy himself while watching for any signs of consciousness from you on the couch.

“All these shows, and there’s nothing good to watch. How boring.”

His eyes glanced at your peaceful face once again, until he said, “You better not make me wait for too long…”

Three hours have passed, until your eyelids began to twitch. When your eyes slowly fluttered open little by little, you asked yourself, “Where am I…?” before helping yourself to sit up properly on the couch. Confused, you looked around to see that you were back home in Gun’s house, specifically in the lounging area. Your eyes scanned the room until you spotted Gun sitting at the bar, watching a late night Korean reality show from the flat screen TV with a dead expressionless face. From Gun’s peripheral vision, he sensed movement which made him fixate his gaze right at your conscious self.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.”

“Urgh… what time is it?” You asked Gun while rubbing your tired eyes.

“It’s one in the morning.”

“WHAT?!”

Gun took out his phone from his pocket, as he held it out to you to reveal the actual time.

He is right, it is one in the morning. I’m officially awake now, hahaha…

“How long was I out for?”

“For three hours.”

“Oh god, for that long?!”

“Yes, you were sleeping like a bear in hibernation.”

Your face flushed into an embarrassed state, realizing that your sleep must’ve dragged on even from when you were riding in the car. Which means…

“Oh no… did Crystal see me sleeping too?”

“Quite frankly, yes. You were even drooling too.”

“W-WHAT?!”

You panicked as you began to consecutively wipe your mouth with the back of your turtle-neck’s sleeve. Gun snickered, now glad that his real form of entertainment is currently wide awake.

“While you were asleep, I was the one who had to carry you in here. So, I just set you on that couch since there wasn’t any comfortable place for you to lay in.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. So, you’re telling me that you decided to put me down on the couch?”

“Yeah.”

“THIS couch?” You asked while pointing at the leather couch you were sitting on that still had the dirty stains from earlier’s sinful fiasco.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And what made you think that was a good idea?”

“Well, I didn’t want to bring you up to your room. That would be too suspicious and Crystal followed me inside the house since she wanted to help bring our stuff for us.”

“Did she even SEE what was on the couch?”

“No, she didn’t. You don’t have to worry about that. And even if she did, she wouldn’t even think like that. Her mind isn’t as polluted and dirty as yours.”

Your face erupted with an even greater warmth of blood in your cheeks, as you shot him a nasty glare. “Oh yeah, I wonder who’s the bad influence here who made me think like that…”

Gun chuckled as he turned off the TV to stand up from his seat. His eyes glanced at yours with a mischievous gleam. “Am I really the bad influence here?”

He slowly walked towards you with that same gaze in his eyes, making your heart pound even faster than usual. His feet stopped right in front of you, who was still sitting on the couch. You looked up at him as his eyes peered down at yours. He bent down to lean in closer to you, meeting his eyes at the same level as yours. Gun reached out his hand towards you, making you flinch until you realized that he only placed his hand on the couch’s cushion from behind you to help hold himself at that position to lean in even closer to you. His face was already so close to yours that you could feel his breath when he whispered, “It was you who seduced me first. I only reacted to your invitation. You can call me the bad guy here, but you’re the one who’s even naughtier than me. You’re such a bad girl, (Y/N)…” All of a sudden, you felt his left hand grip your chin firmly, as Gun’s face slowly inched closer towards yours. You felt your lips quivering nervously, as his own lips were now a few centimeters away from yours. Not to mention, your body was starting to heat up even more, especially with that warm turtle-neck already on you, making your body sweat from underneath.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, not this again… it’s going to escalate into THAT, isn’t it?

Bracing yourself, you closed your eyes, anticipating for what was about to come until you heard a, “Phfft…” You opened one eye to peek at what was going on, in which you see a laughing Gun in front of you. His touch left your face, as his hand was now covering his eyes while laughing hysterically.

“Ah (Y/N), your reaction was priceless! I didn’t know that you’d be making such a funny face like that.”

Clenched fists accumulated from Gun’s tease as you yelled, “You’re such a fucking asshole!” You didn’t think twice when you decided to punch him on his shoulder. Gun didn’t expect your hit as he felt the strong impact from your hard punch, head on. Concurrently his grip on the couch released, resulting him to fall on his back for only a short moment, before he quickly picked himself back up by rolling backwards and pressing both of his hands on the floor to push himself up on his feet again. When he landed cleanly on his feet while crouching, you couldn’t help but be impressed by how fast his reflexes were, even though you were still pissed at him for what he did. When he stood up straight to crack his own back muscles, he rearranged his tie around his neck in an unintentionally attractive way, which just made your indignation towards him grow even more.

God, this pisses me off. How can he be such an asshole, yet prevent himself from falling like that? And look at him, fixing his tie like that. Ugh, how annoying!

Quickly, you repositioned yourself on the couch to get up and stomp towards the stairs without even looking back at him.

Gun chuckled at your annoyed reaction to his teasing, as he called out to you asking, “(Y/N), where are you going now?”

Without sparing him a glance, you yelled back at him with, “None of your damn business!” while stomping up the stairs. Once you got to the top of the stairs, you were thinking of heading straight to your room until you caught a bright light shimmering down onto the dark floor from outside the glass doors near the top of the stairs, which led out to the balcony outside. You were wondering why it was so bright outside, regardless of it being late at night so you decided to go inspect it.

The walk towards the glass doors was a new experience for you, since you haven’t really took the time to explore what was on the second floor balcony outside. When you unlatched the handle of the transparent doors, you slid them open to reveal an even better view of the night city lights from afar, extending out infinitely to the sky and the full moon displaying itself with all of its glory. Captivated by how huge the moon was in the sky with its carved-out craters, you were hypnotized by it as you walked towards the railing of the balcony, leaning against it while mesmerizing at how beautiful the full moon was from above the night sky.

“I’ve never seen the full moon this huge before. It’s so beautiful, from up here.”

Distracted by its stunning astrological presence, you didn’t notice Gun peeking in on you from the opened balcony doors. A gust of wind blew from outside and into the house, as it caught Gun’s attention when he arrived at the top of the last step of the staircase. The opened doors peaked his interest, deciding to see the source to why they were open in the first place. He hadn’t really been out to the balcony in quite a while, but he had a feeling that it was your doing who have brought him there in the first place. It was a bit chilly outside, but that didn’t bother Gun as his suit was already warm enough for him to endure the cold. When he sauntered towards you, he halted right beside you. His eyes were also fixated onto the moon that was beaming at the two of you from above.

“So this is where you went.”

You rolled your eyes at how he ruined you mood of moon-watching, saying dryly, “Go be a dick somewhere else.”

Gun stood there next to you while viewing the moon in silence. During that long excruciating silence, you felt that it was time to bring up something important that has been bothering you ever since you visited HNH Group.

“Gun…?”

Gun’s dark fearsome eyes turned to look at your alluring face, glowing underneath the moonlight. As your head turned to meet with his eyes, you’ve gathered the courage to confront him about what has been occupying your mind.

“Tell me everything about yourself, HNH Group, and everything that you’ve planned so far. I don’t want to be kept in the dark from all of this. As your student who has been beside you all this time, I deserve to know what I got myself into.”

[End of Ch. VII]

[loveabledirtbag]

2.01 - beef

HERE WE GO SEASON TWO WOW OKAY!

right off the bat: that opening. such a tonal shift from season one. it’s dark, shadowy, calm, quiet. it’s the exact opposite of the opening of season one. truly telling us, the audience, that this is a different show now. PLUS it starts with marcus, not carmy. or even syd. it’s perfect. we’re being told “this is an ensemble and you’re gonna learn a lot about all the characters this season”.

plus the fact that marcus is so sweet to his mom. ugh, it breaks my heart. i just want all good things for marcus.

scraping the ice on his windshield physically hurts me to watch. i’m parking in the first garage of my adult life, and don’t have to deal with street parking and frost scraping anymore and it’s WILD.

the quiet intro of the bruce hornsby is so beautifully done. “the show must go on”. but it’s also the kind of dad rock that dominates so much of this season.

watching the beef sign get taken down is wild. truly wild. like, you kinda knew it was gonna happen, but then YOU SEE IT happen. you can see it on carmy’s face: the trauma, the guilt, the weight, the significance. and it’s being taken down so he can have a chance to make something new.

and there’s just something about the first lines in the beef/bear as everyone talks budget. carmy is different. the crew is different. there’s a familiarity that seems more mature and authentic than in the last season.

plus seeing that carmy is a chef and only a chef for a reason is really fun. because i get it. math is hard. fuck math. watching him struggle with math is very affirming.

i love that in the basement we see a canning machine, with a label on it that says KBL, showing us the audience how mikey put the money in the tomato cans last season. BUT it also leaves me to question….carmy spent almost every waking moment at the beef last season, obsessively cleaning and trying to keep it afloat. he also wondered about why mikey was making payments to KBL electric and what it all meant…he didn’t go down to the basement at all? not once? see a canner that said KBL on it? think to himself “hmmm, that’s odd. maybe i should check these cans of tomato’s we have?” idk. i get that we have to tie up the relative plot hole of “how did mikey stick money in cans of tomato’s”. but it opens another can (haha 🙄) of worms of how didn’t carmy see this. i find it hard to believe he didn’t spend any time in the basement, since he was obsessed with the restaurant. and not noticing a giant machine that puts lids on cans would be hard.

i love that season one truly broke down richie, and right away into season two we get a richie who clearly wants more out of life. he realizes he’s been wrong and hurting and he’s trying to get back on track. plus, more characterization of the fact that richie reads a lot and reads good books, as he brings up the story. but right away you see richie’s arch this season: purpose, growth.

not to mention, i love the emotional intimacy between the two. that richie sort of bears his soul to carmy about his fears of being left behind, and of not finding his purpose. carmy saying he loves richie, and then when he realizes that richie is hurting telling him that he has time for richie. something fundamental happened last season and these two really found a level i don’t think they ever had before. richie is older than carmy, he’s mikey’s friend. he might have been invited to family gatherings and events, but most likely acted towards carmy like an older “cousin” would to a younger one. just kinda talking down and ignoring and not respecting them fully as they grow up. we saw this with the fact that multiple times throughout season one richie calls carmy a “baby”. and not because carmy was whining or crying, but because carmy was just so young. but after everything from last season, the toxic masculinity that surrounded these two (especially richie) is giving way to an emotional connection that is really sweet.

i love the admittance of richie’s age. there’s an unspoken rule in tv that you don’t give peoples ages too willingly, because if a character “ages out” of the marketable bracket the “audience will lose interest”. which is bullshit, but execs will always push to keep a characters age in a liminal paradoxical sub space somewhere between 25-35. so they’re not too young that they can’t be respected as adults, but not too old that you don’t care about them because they’re “boring and not cool”. it’s why on the show friends monica and rachel start in season one as 25/26 years old, and then turn 30 in season seven. they fucked with the timeline just to make sure that the friends remained young and cool enough to watch. so for richie to be 45, is both intentionally pushing him out of the “cool” age bracket to execs behind the scenes, which is what richie is worried about in the scene. he’s old and worried he can’t find his purpose.

but how richie’s problem and his season long arch perfectly sets up carmy’s problem and his season long arch is amazing: fun. enjoyment. you have your job and then you have what you do for yourself that isn’t monetized, isn’t going back to being “work stuff” but is just for you. and richie assuming carmy has fun with cooking and restaurant stuff because it’s ALL he does, and carmy admitting it’s not “fun” for him. ugh. it’s beautiful.

also, in the old photos that richie is looking at. i never noticed until this watch through that there’s one of gillian jacob’s as tiff, richie’s wife. i just assumed she was introduced in the flashback episode. but they had a little tease right at the beginning of the season. which is more than they needed to do. which is why i love this show.

also, THE ORIGINAL BERF shirt! i love it. didn’t want that to go without saying anything. “printing mistake. collectors item.”

the admittance that chester is gonna watch marcus’s mom while he’s at work….THATS A GOOD ROOMMATE. like….romantic partner level good. again, i’m starting this season off by coming back on my bullshit that marcus has a romantic energy with just about everyone, and that includes chester. i am a marcus x chester fan.

that we saw fak talking to ballbreaker in the last episode of season one (and ballbreaker talking back…) and now he’s bringing it home. it’s concerning…

the quick scenes of ebra looking unsure of everything…

“i thought i wanted some and then i wanted throw up.” oh. so nat’s pregnant. like. the moment she said that i was like “ah. nat’s pregnant.” i love that abby elliot was actually pregnant while filming season two. i’m sure that they wrote her pregnancy into the show. which i love instead of trying to hide it.

the long talk of how absolutely stupidly annoyingly COMPLICATED AND TIME CONSUMING AND CONVOLUTED it is to get a restaurant started is so on point. it hits hard. just reps after reps after reps.

and the fact that that conversation is capped by syd saying “we just gotta stay calm” and then falling right through a wall….art. artistry. poetry. amazing.

i love richie doing a breathing exercise so that he can properly explain his anger without it just being a meaningless explosion of anger. he’s angry because syd fell through a wall and ripped the fenway poster. and the red sox were mikey’s favorite baseball team. this is about mikey, and honoring his memory, not just a random outburst. and he can explain that because he took the time to breathe, and to properly communicate that, which made everyone understand and empathize for him. instead of react to his anger. emotional and mental maturity, folks! it’s great.

also richie’s explanation that the wall is plaster because mikey wanted to burn the place down for insurance money…..uffda. again, it’s hard to marry everything we know of mikey together: he was so charming, personable, charismatic in the scene we saw of him in season one. but he was selling and using coke, he wanted to burn down the restaurant…and we see so much darker stuff from him later this season. it’s just a little hard to believe that the happy mikey is the same as the dark and depressed mikey. but obvious addiction can have a major influence on people’s attitudes.

the fact that the alarm goes off and carmy’s first thought is “….is that in my head?” really tells you a lot about carmy’s head.

the fact that when carmy tells cicero that mikey was telling the truth about franchising the restaurant, but cicero’s first thought was “the petting zoo? mini golf?” really paints a grim picture of mikey’s brain and relationship with cicero.

“how does that [alarm] not drive you nuts?” “i don’t mind it”. once again showing that carmy has this thing in him that kind of enjoys pain. he “dug throwing up before shift everyday”, and other stuff in season one.

the hinting of getting a star, which crops up a few times this season, tells me that season three is almost undoubtedly going to be about getting a star. even though i’m with carmy; fuck stars. you have to pay to get them, and the first one is the only one about food.

“can i tell you a story about complete and utter failure…?” - cicero trying to tell this story for the first time this season, which is interrupted by carmy saying that if they don’t pay back the loan cicero gives them in 18 months the building and lot and business is completely cicero’s

carmy giving that proposition is an interesting plot point. because it could be a major thing in season three, or they could blow past it and not even mention it. BUT even if they don’t make the loan payment and ownership goes to cicero, he could choose to keep the restaurant going and have everyone keep working for him (which would make more sense to keep his character in the show, in a behind the scenes kind of way). so, we’ll see what happens.

i think almost every single scene with tina this whole season makes me wanna cry. syd asking tina to be her sous, and tina thinking that syd is asking tina to ask around for a sous is just so good. and then her big hug as tina realizing syd wants her to be the sous. UGH. tina is just so good!

OK. SO. the scene where everyone’s going home, and it’s just syd and carm and they’re talking about how weird it feels to go home so early, but there’s only so much you can do without permits. 1) it’s SO relatable. anytime you’re expecting to be in the weeds and have that sweaty, fast paced, rush feeling and instead you get nothing it just feels….wrong. like empty. even though it means you’re not stressed for a night. 2) there’s just a vibe of carmy and syd being a little romantical. there’s a little second beat as they look at each other where i was like “ohhhhh!” and then nothing happens. but it’s there, right? just a bit?

the unsettling quiet as carmy sits at his apartment just at a loss for what to do and how to be still. and then staring at his chef jacket and the song. the CLASSIC song from season one. that new noise. it plays and you just go “yeah….we’re back.”

i love the camaraderie as carmy comes back to the bear and syd and nat are already there. and then the montage as they set up a schedule and print inspo and we see the hours tick by. it scratched an itch that i miss. i miss the feeling of starting a place and just the overwhelming amount of work involved in it. how the hours tick by.

and that’s the episode. ugh. it’s so good! the vibe, the pacing. everything it sets up. so so so good. i love it.

SEASON ONE: one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight

SEASON TWO: one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | ten

[medusapelagia]

Eddie's Month: day 4

written for @eddiemonth 

Prompt: Rejection | Arsonist’s Lullaby - Hozier | Lost

Rating: Mature Character: Eddie Munson WT: murder, violence, threats of violence, drugs, angst with feels, ambiguous ending WC: 1505

The first time the social worker comes into the squalid apartment in Indianapolis, Eddie is not surprised. 

He might be five years old, but he sees the other families from the windows: they go to the park together, they have clean clothes and, the most important thing, they don’t walk on the streets at night as he and his mother do.

His mum works strange hours, she works by night and sleeps by day, and when she wakes she always searches for Johnny, or Uncle Johnny as he asked Eddie to call him more than once.

Uncle Johnny is the one who gives the medicine to his mum, so she can sleep quietly and doesn’t scream all day.

Sometimes Uncle Johnny can’t give her the medicine she needs, and those days are hard. She can’t work, so they don’t have any money for groceries, and until she gets a little better, it is Eddie who must take care of her. 

But that’s normal, right? She is his mum. He loves her and he takes care of her.

That’s why he learns quickly how to steal bread and fruits to feed both of them until she gets better and goes back to work, and then back to Uncle Johnny.

Eddie doesn’t like Uncle Johnny. He smells bad and is always too tactile with him. But Eddie has a knife. A pocket knife. His mum taught him how to use it. How to open it quickly and use it to stab someone in the stomach “It’s the softer part.” she has explained to him.

Eddie knows that his normality is not really normal, and knows that the social worker that has taken the cup of coffee from his mother’s hands but doesn't dare to drink it, is studying both of them.

“Do you go to school, Eddie?”

Eddie doesn’t even know if he is old enough to go to school but he lies easily, he tells her about schools, friends, and lunch breaks. All things that he learned from television.

The social worker doesn’t take notes but seems somehow satisfied with his answers.

His mum is so proud of him that she takes him to eat burgers and milkshakes in a seedy place next to their home, and it’s not even his birthday!

Eddie is the only kid, so he entertains himself by looking at the water leaking from the ceiling and counting the drops while his mum goes to the bathroom.

One.

Two.

Three.

He can’t really count after twenty so he starts again. And again. And again.

Someone screams and he keeps counting.

Eighteen.

Nineteen.

Twenty.

One.

Two.

There is more screaming, his mum's burger is getting cold and a police car is parked outside of the diner.

He doesn’t like the police. They took away his dad and he has never seen him since.

One of the policemen gets closer to him.

“Hey, kid.”

He doesn’t respond. He is not supposed to talk to strangers, is he?

“Can you tell me your name?”

Fuck. He lost count. Now he has to start again.

One.

Two.

Three.

“His name is Eddie.” someone says from behind him “It’s Moira’s son.”

“Moira?” the policeman asks.

“The woman in the bathroom.”

“Oh.”

Eddie lifts his eyes, that’s not a good oh.

“Son. I’m sorry. Your mum… she is not feeling well. Why don't you come with me?”

No! They are not going to take him away as they did with his father.

He runs toward the bathroom, screaming “MUM!” he is so small that he easily avoids the adults who are trying to stop him, and gets into the bathroom.

His mum is on the floor, her eyes open and unfocused toward the door, red signs around her neck, and a syringe on the floor.

He will find out, years later, that Uncle Johnny gave her a dose and she didn’t have enough money to pay for it because they just had burgers and milkshakes, so he killed her in that lurid bathroom, but for the moment the only thing he knows is that his mum is gone.

He doesn’t know where, or how, but she is definitely not there.

***

Everything after that feels like a blur: one moment he is in the lurid bathroom and the next a man he has never seen before is taking him inside a trailer in a town he doesn’t know.

He said he is his uncle, but Eddie doesn’t like uncles, the last one he had killed his mother.

Thank god the little voices in his head arealways with him, whispering that everything will be alright, that he has his pocket knife hidden in his shoes, that if this strange man tries anything at all he will stab him in the stomach and run through the woods.

But the strange man never tries to touch him. 

He offers Eddie his room, he buys a Garfield’s mug just for him and some new clothes, and slowly the voice starts to fade in the back of his mind.

For the first time, he attends school. For real. 

He learns how to write his name and starts to write it everywhere, sometimes even on the trees with his pocket knife.

Wayne, that’s the name of the man he refuses to call uncle, doesn’t know that he has a knife. Adults don’t want kids to have them, Eddie doesn’t know why, so it’s a secret that he shares only with a kid he met at school.

His name is Garreth and he has a twin sister, a little miss-perfect with blond hair and blue eyes that easily capture everyone’s attention.

One time Eddie proposes to poke her with his knife, just a little. Just enough to make her cry.

Garreth thinks about it for a long moment but in the end, they decide that it’s not worth it. This is their secret and they don’t want to share it.

One afternoon, when Wayne is at work and they are playing in the woods, they cut their palm and shake hands, becoming blood brothers.

That’s the first real friendship that Eddie has ever had and it will last for years.

***

Garreth is the only one that gets him.

Everyone else avoids Eddie like he has the plague.

He tries to make friends with other kids, he even shares his secret showing his knife at recess to be cool, but the only effect is that the school calls Wayne who has to come to pick him up and scolds him for having such a dangerous tool. 

He will never see it again. 

The only thing that his mother left him, is gone.

The demons that live in his head, because now he knows that they are demons, not simple voices, are never satisfied. 

He smokes more and more, trying to shut them up.

He decides that if he has to be an outcast, he will be the fucking king of the outcast.

The goblin’s king.

He is not a freak. He is the freak.

Eddie the Freak Munson.

He is in a band, he is the DM for his little nerd group, and he doesn’t care if everyone at school despises him.

He is different from them.

He has demons, like all of them, but he knows their names.

His demons are fear, rejection, and loneliness, and he knows them well enough to give them just the right amount of leash.

People who don’t know their demons end up like his mum.

That’s why he is not too surprised when a blond cheerleader, the queen of Hawkins High, comes to his place to buy something stronger than weed.

He knows he should offer her friendship, it’s cheaper and it’s nicer.

He will, maybe not today.

He invites her to his place, and when they get there he starts to look around, searching for his little bag, when he notices that his demons are quieter than ever, like dogs scared of a bigger dog.

He turns.

Chrissy Cunningham is on the ceiling.

He screams her name, trying to bring her back from wherever she has gone, but deep inside he knows it’s too late. Her eyes are empty, like his mother’s. 

All he can do is run away from an invisible monster that’s hunting him.

He hears him call his name, as killing Chrissy was not enough for him, but Eddie is faster, he has lived on the streets, and he knows how to avoid problems and demons.

He runs toward the house of his dealer, hiding where he thinks no one will ever find him.

But he is wrong. There are voices. And people.

He tightens his grip on the broken bottle and gets ready to jump.

He has never felt so lost before.

He jumps, pushing the bottle at the neck of the intruder, a chestnut boy with wide eyes full of fear.

He sees the boy's demon in his eyes and lowers his makeshift weapon.

Eddie Munson may be a freak, but he is no murderer.

[karasbroken]

Other folks doing fanworks, this is a great day to share! I'd love to see what you're up to.. Me, well absolutely no one is interested in my sex shop AU, The Leviathan but I am undeterred (and I only have fragments started for my post-The Flax story) so this is what you get.

Making the weird setting work has been the easy part. The hard part, as always, has been trying to find the plot and keep my characters actually talking and doing things. It's also just hard to write John instead of Aeryn. I don't think I have him yet. It's just more intuitive to write the repressed, conflicted, internally messy girl rather than the wise-cracking, pop-culture loving nerd-bro boy. But maybe I'll get there eventually.

(This is still pretty much PG-13.)

John hadn't actually known what to expect when Jared Cobb had invited him to join the rest of the man’s mates at his stag party.

Crichton didn’t even like Cobb, head of security for the Australian side of the Farscape project. There was something unsettling about the man. A coolness and a sly scorn seemed to underlie even Cobb’s friendliest conversations. And when he was angry, Cobb was cold enough to seem capable of anything. John felt a little sorry for the woman Cobb was marrying, actually.

But Crichton knew the importance of team building on high pressure projects, so he’d accepted the invite. Besides, he was still pretty shaken from his recent car accident, and blowing off a little steam--and getting himself several beers closer to oblivion--sounded more than usually appealing.

A lot of drinking was a given, and he’d assumed there might be strippers. But John was entirely surprised when they’d all walked over from the last pub, in various states between tipsy and plastered, to enter, not a strip club, but a sex shop just off Oxford Street. It was tucked into a row of three-story buildings enough out of the way to have more creative uses. They passed several closed businesses, a pawn shop, travel agency, a small hardware store, a jeweler's and more, before arriving at their mid-block destination.

The Leviathan the sign said, blue lettering glowing discreetly above a tinted glass door opening onto a tiny foyer. Stairs led up to suites or apartments above, but their destination was clearly the store beneath. An interior window display beside the entrance featured an oddly idyllic seascape with shimmering sands dotted with adult toys instead of shells. The centerpiece was a plus-size manikin in a mermaid costume, grappling in frothy fabric waves with a frighteningly massive black dildo that looked more like an obelisk than anything anatomical. John couldn’t tell if the detailed silicon-scaled tail included an orifice large enough to make use of that monstrosity, but it was certainly implied it did.

While John was still recovering from that mental image, the group entered into a rather shadowy, but clean and well-appointed showroom. The walls were a warm bronze that extended to metal tiles above. Occasional round display cases, like portholes, gave the room a vaguely submariner flair, Jules Vernes crossed with Penthouse. Costumes and lingerie were hung along the periphery, while rows filled with every possible sex toy, lubricants, adult books, and DVDs curved around a central checkout counter, ending at a curtained archway to either side. At the counter sat a rotund giant of a man who never looked up, beside a willowy older woman with a shaved head and multiple piercings in each ear.

The best man went up to discuss the arrangements with her, while the rest of the party browsed the aisles. John wasn’t quite drunk enough to join in on the joking around with dick novelties and general shit-talking. So he just followed in their wake, trying to put back on shelves the things that his more inebriated companions kept dropping and misplacing.

They made enough of a ruckus that an annoyed looking old man with deep scowl lines and out of control eyebrows poked his head out of the curtains on the left. Before he could say anything though, the tall woman was calling them over to the other side of the counter, where they were ushered down a short hall lined with several doors and ending in a large room, dark except for a few spotlights highlighting a semi circle of chairs flanking a wide, leather-padded throne.

Instead of typical strippers, apparently Cobb’s mates had arranged a private S&M show for his benefit.....

[mysteriawrites]

Hi! Here's my info for our matchup exchange. Could I please get a romantic matchup for Attack on Titan?

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Straight

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

MBTI: INFJ-A

Ennegram: 5w6

Personality: I'm pretty quiet in social settings but if someone talks to me first, I can keep a conversation going. I will occasionally go up to someone to initial a conversation but not very often. With people that I'm close with, I'm very open and sarcastic. And I make a lot of self-depreciating jokes (even though I have a high self worth).

Likes/Hobbies: Reading, writing, anime, video games, and listening to music (stuff like Hamilton, Panic! at the Disco and Offspring). I would love to be a published author one day.

Dislikes: Spiders (deathly afraid of those), being forgotten when I'm gone, and disappointing those who I care about.

Looks: I'm 164cm (5'4") and have an average build (not too curvy but definitely not straight up and down). I have green eyes that everyone thinks are brown and curly/frizzy dark brown hair that is just below my shoulders.

Hopefully I've put a good amount of useful information! I hope you have a lovely day and that life is treating you kindly!

~Eren

We interrupt you regularly scheduled program for........ A MATCHUP TRADE WITH @justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms!!!

Hihi Thank you for trading with me! Here is you matchup...DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

ARMIN ARLET!!!

LOL, WE MATCHED EACH OTHER WITH THE SAME PERSON XD

You and Armin are thick as thieves. From the moment you met he knew he had found his match, his equal. When you were kids you two would dream of life beyond the walls when the titans were gone. You stood up for him against bullies, and even from such a young age he knew that he loved you. He promised you that one day no matter what it took he would take you to see the ocean...and then the wall fell.

It was chaos. Friends and family dead, streets in panic, titans at every corner. You and Armin got separated in the chaos. He tried so hard to find you, he needed to make sure you were ok. He begged the adults to go back for you and struggled against the ones holding him back from finding you himself, but it was no use. He had lost you.

In that moment his decision was final. He now had a reason to fight alongside Eren and Mikasa. He would get his revenge on those who took everything from you, and he would see the ocean for you. He would build your grave there so you could finally see it too.

Years passed, puberty came and went, and now it was finally time to join the ranks of the scouts. He trained countlessly day and night to try his best to keep up (haven't seen season 1 in a while so my bad if the events or order of are wrong) with the other trainees. On the day of the final test, he thought he saw a familiar face in the crowd, but just deemed it as his mind playing tricks on him.

When he finally makes it into to the 104th cadet squad he's relieved. For once he can finally let himself relax now that one hurdle is over with. That is until a familiar voice sounds from behind him. When he turns around to see you, at first, he thinks he's hallucinating from grief even all these years later. Then you run up and give him a hug and he breaks down in happy tears. You're real and very much alive! That night is spent with the two of you catching up until dawn. That night you made a new promise: you would fight together to liberate your future and gain freedom for yourselves and everyone else. That night you two also share your first kiss.

From that day on you two are a couple, but you keep it a secret as to be able to focus on your goal and not let feelings get in the way of missions. Although you don't hide it very well. You always eat together, train together, and stick to each other on missions. Everyone just pretends not to notice because you two are sweethearts who never bother anyone (I mean Mikasa and Levi do get on your case about how relationships can jeopardize the missions, but since you're both stubborn they just let it go). Things were perfect.

Until they weren't. First came the traitors, then the truth of the walls, the desperate plans for survival, being wanted fugitives, but you got through everything together. Until Armin left this world without you. There you saw his broiled corpse laying before you cling desperately to the thin threads of life and the choice of who lives and who dies was in the hands of your captain.

You wanted to beg and blead for Levi to save the life of your beloved as much as Erwin and Mikasa were. He needed to live to see the sea, he needed to live to experience a life beyond the walls, a life with you. You needed him to live. However, you knew that there was no convincing Levi and that even if by some miracle he chose Armin over Erwin, that would cost humanity the best commander they had, their best chance at winning the war, and their beacon of hope. And you knew Armin would beat himself over it for the rest of his life. You knew he wouldn't want to be selfish, but for once in your life you desired to be selfish.

So, you just sobbed over your lover's body, apologizing over and over for not being able to save him. And then your miracle came. Before your eyes your beloved sweet, kind, smart Armin had become one of the behemoths you had sworn to kill. Soon it was all over, and your Armin was back in your arms once more.

After everything was said and done you and Armin did get to see the ocean together. You two were safe, your friends were safe, and although you had lost many you could feel their spirits watching over you. You both knew that there were many more challenges to come, but as long as you two were together you could get through anything. So, in front of the crashing waves of the ocean Armin got down on his knee and asked you to marry him. You two would never be apart again (aka I'm skipping season 4 cause I haven't seen it yet. This is becoming too long and we don't need anymore angst).

Wtf why did this become a long angsty piece out of nowhere I legit almost cried writing this. Welp sorry for making this depressing, but I hope the ending kinda makes up for it (maybe it's because I wrote a fluffy one yesterday). Anyway, thank you for doing this with me it was fun and it's hilarious that we matched each other with the same person (ig Armin has a type lol).

Runners Up: Erwin Smith, Connie Springer, Jean Kirstein, Marco Bodt (even though he's dead)

[paperw0rmz]

wut's a trend from the 90s/early 2000s u wanna see make a comeback? :0

THANK YOU FOR ASKING

For those who don’t know Hi I’m Grave and I am obsessed with 90’s-2012 things and have archives and logs of media, specifically web, of things from those eras

1:Radio shack

As someone who is getting into ham radio and also just misses being able to get funky little add ons to computers and shit, I think we should all as a collective demand a radio shack. “Oh bUt yOu hAvE bEst bUy” I will literally slit your throat if you are dumb enough to think that that ugly wanna be ikea shit is anything remotely similar to big daddy Radio Shack

2:Chatrooms

Was I way too young to be on them back when they were popular? Yes. Did that result into trauma? Yes. But I’ve learned my lesson and now I want this shit back so bad. I LOVE chat rooms. “YeAh wE hAvE dIscOrd aNd DMS” ITS NOT THE SAME FUCKING THING AND YOU KNOW IT.

Bring back chatzy, bring back IRC (I’m active on a few), I’m even on Wireclub if anyone wants to join my chat rooms there!!! And pesterchum

3: physical copies of media

I hate streaming services. I hate it. There is nothing but zombie glossy eyed, let’s market to the brain dead, shit on there. Like yes, I love some of the shows, but we have lost so much shit from moving to streaming services. Remember on a VHS or DVD where you could watch behind the scenes, bloopers, play movie/show related games all on a tape/disk???? It’s the same with any physical music media too. I think it makes you more so focused on what entertainment you actually like. Too many people just like things because it’s popular or trending, which is fine, but when it comes down to it do you actively want to OWN something physical from the media? If not then is it something you’re willing to put time into then? Why not do something else?

4:Arcades

I’m not talking about that Dave and buster shit. I’m talking not scam (at least not as bad as it is now) arcades that was on every Main Street, in every mall, like in a mall now of days is a small as shit arcade if it’s NOT Dave and busters. I hate Dave and busters mainly bc they ruined a genre. It was marketed as a arcade for adults but then they added kid I pad games and now it’s just an awkward overpriced place to be where you can see a seven year old play cross road or angry birds on a glorified I pad and also see grown men get shit faced drunk.

5:MAGAZINES

Literally so hard to find good magazines now of days. Especially for a cost that won’t fucking kill you. I managed to get most of mine second hand, but it’s so hard to find anyplace that sells magazines especially ones that are to kids without being too babyish. I go to a grocery store and if I look for a young girls/boys magazine it’s about very YOUNG things to the point I don’t think the market audience can even read??? That or it’s just guns or gardening. Which is cool, but there isn’t anything for teenagers really anymore. Like yes there are, but you have to sign up online for it which is fine, but I miss being excited to go to the corner store to see if there is any latest addition of the magazine I loved there.

6:social interactions

You would jus stay outside or inside right next to your phone/computer waiting for someone to come by and tell you where everyone else is at. Like having to go walk to every gas station and corner store to see if your friends are there and getting excited when they are actually there. I am thankful for being able to easily like meet up with people, but like the feeling you get when you run into people and then go fuck off is so fun

7:The video games

Video game quality has gone down hill. I’m not talking about highly detailed story based games, no. I’m talking about app games, free to play games, all that shit. It is now a click bait, league clone, or clash clone. And it’s BORING. It’s all ad based and trying to suck as much money from you as possible and it’s all so ugly in that ugly 3D art style.

8:intelligence

*insert the tweet about how if you say you like waffles people will just assume it means you hate pancakes* people today do not have common sense anymore.

9: sense of community

#coquette #grassfromthegardencore #corefromcore

Like yes, back then was also elitist, but not as bad and forced as it is now. So many people today are so focused on aesthetic labels instead of just focusing on what they just like. Like yes, labels are comforting, but to the point you’re desperately asking what aesthetic this is so you can then throw out and change your aesthetic to match it and then repeat over and over? Gross.

10: early web memes

Memes arnt long lasting today as it was back then. There aren’t even memes today. Just a tiktok video that was posted on Twitter. I hate it.

[oldfangirl81]

This is truly good advice that I rarely follow but please learn from my mistakes.

Long TMI involving catfish and not letting go because I wanted to understand why.

TLDR if you can't let it go then be prepared for the worst if you keep searching. I won't ever get my answers because I found an obituary instead. I was not prepared for that result.

Around '11-'13 I was active on Tumblr RP. In fact a large part of my interest in Clint Barton started because of that time but quickly stood on its own thankfully. Anyway my character wasn't Marvel but fit well enough since she was a fictional CIA agent (Annie Walker from Covert Affairs). I started getting close to this small group including a Hawkeye. Months pass and our characters get close, we start talking privately ic and ooc. I fell off hard for S. I tried to be logical about and was in denial for months. Everyone in my offline basically knew because how much I talked about S. I should add that I was a full grown adult of 29-32 during all this. S was in their 20s. I believed S to be a prison guard single father living in LA. I'm trying to touch only the highlights but it was a lot. I ignored red flags, like saying we couldn't meet when I was in LA for a con because they ended up needing emergency eye surgery. I've had health issues since preschool so it didn't seem impossible. But I think that was when the people around me figured this was ending in heartbreak. But as I said I fell for him. I was an absolute emotional wreck when he told me that he was diagnosed with end stage kidney failure and needed a transplant.

I was in the process of getting a hysterectomy for Endometriosis (it was later a failed surgery, longer story but didn't help my mental health) so again medical stuff was believable enough. Also, I rarely want to call someone a faker, I did it once and while I was right I'd never do it again. (it was jealousy, a catfish was catfishing my catfish.). I got the surgery date for my hysterectomy, my friend was having her bachelorette party and my love interest got given news his health was steadily declining. I had a complete meltdown while sober at 2:30am in the middle of the street by all the bars because my co-maid of honor sprayed me in the face with a squirt gun. Funny to picture in hindsight.

So flashforward my hysterectomy surgery failed and I was super depressed. I knew S was ill but I felt unsupported by them. I just wanted a phone call. But he kept making excuses. Until eventually he caved because I admit I pushed way too hard. He said he was going to call. He did but hung up within seconds. But I had his number now. And I had people around me saying I was being played. So I looked it up. The number belonged to a female name different from what he told me of any in his life and a different state. I pushed again as I was having a hard time ignoring the growing list of things not adding up. He told me it was registered in his Mom's name. He still made up an excuse. It turned ugly. Both ic and ooc, dragging other people into it. He denied ever lying to me about anything. I was devastated and cut contact.

Months pass, he contacts me again. I am still wanting answers, I want to be proven wrong about my suspicions so badly. I tell him to send me a pic (he never sent me one because of excuses) but holding a sign with my name. Eventually he gives in. Then the weird thing happened. I get two almost identical pics a few minutes apart. The first was a woman holding my name/date. The second was a man. After was a text saying the woman was his friend doing a favor to test lighting but the second was him. I knew in my heart it was the other way around but I wanted to be wrong. So I told him okay. We started up again in rp too.

But I couldn't let it go. So I googled the number/address(I mailed him a Christmas gift for him & his kid). And this time I found a female name I knew associated with him. Except he told me she died in a tragic accident the day after Christmas '11. So I started searching for reports in their smallish state for this specific tragic accident. I found NOTHING. It was the type of thing the news would have been all over, pretty 20something white woman tragically killed in a car accident the day after Christmas coming home from dropping a friend off at the airport when a semi-truck's brakes failed. Nothing in nearby states. I knew then that S was really T.

I confronted him. And got my ego manipulated nicely. I never made a secret I was bisexual. T told me I was right. S was made up by them on a dare. They never meant for it to keep going. T said they always thought they were straight. And got confused because they developed feelings for me. That they were serious when joking about wanting a cosplay wedding with me. But they were scared of these new feelings.

And so I believed her. I told her I understood struggling with sexuality. That it was hard to come out. That they never had to come out if they didn't want too. That we can just be friends. Just don't lie to me anymore.

T promised the only thing she lied about was her name. That everything else was the truth. And I believed her because I so desperately wanted to be wrong about the remaining red flags.

Once again we get super close ic and ooc. Our characters actually get married. But things continue to not always add up. And my trust never got rebuilt with them. I press things.

Then tragedy happens. T's sister died. And there was an obituary. Except there was a error in the obit if T wasn't still lying. Nowhere in living relatives was mentioned a nephew. A few months previously T's grandmother had died. That obituary was linked. In that one there was no mention of a great grandson from T.

I tried to ignore the obvious signs that T lied about having a kid. Was still lying about it. I don't remember how much longer but some of the health stuff wasn't adding up either. And I honestly don't remember what the final straw was. It might have been realizing T lied about her birthday and didn't even realize it.

Again I'm trying to shorten years and years of drama. I cut contact for the final time. They lay a huge guilt trip and still refuse to admit to lying about anything beyond name and gender.

This has screwed me up for years. Seriously messed with my ability to trust others. I kinda do but with the expectation of betrayal. I wondered for years if she ever had feelings for me. Did she even come to care a little for me. Why did she keep lying. On bad nights I'd look up her rp Tumblr. Or even Google her name. And then one day I stopped thinking about her every time I saw anything Hawkeye related, only occasionally. He still is my fav Avenger.

And then in Feb '23 because other things happening I found myself thinking of T. I wondered if she ever thought of me with all the Hawkeye MCU stuff. So I googled her.

And the first result was her obituary. She had died Fall '21. And the first thought I had "Oh fuck, she never got to see Kate, Lucky and Clint together on her screen." She died weeks before it aired. I don't even know if she still liked Hawkeye.

I got a few answers from the obituary. It was a third different birthday but now I know the correct one. There was no mention of a kid so that was definitely a lie. She didn't lie about having a criminal justice degree. And in the years apart she fell in love with a guy who was with her when she died. I am genuinely glad she found happiness before she died.

But the loss still hurts and probably always will. I wrote one of those letters you never send. It let me move on with forgiveness for both her and myself. It is a wip on the forgiveness of myself. It is still a bit bitter sweet any time something new to Kate, Clint or Lucky gets announced. I bet she would have loved Jeff's solo comics and the recent Avengers Unleashed.

If you can let go sooner. Learn from my years of wanting to know answers that will never come.

[lovethesagefan]

FOR THE CHILDREN!!!

I think I, and so many teachers, put up with all the crap from the bureaucrats and the low pay is for only one reason...the children. Teachers love what they do so much that they are wiling to be denigrated by society when athletes, and many of them do deserved it, get a boatload of money and are celebrated for their skills. Yet, teachers do the hard work day in and day out of trying educate the masses.

Today in my journey, the one thing on my mind was...the children. I soften my anger with the school because of the children. They are doing something that is old. They are putting glue on their hands to only peel it off. I told them that is so 1970s. I actually did that in 5th grade at Park Street Elementary School! For whatever reason, putting these pimple medication "stars" on their face. I thought they were regular stars I would put on students' paper. If you look at the picture, one student gave me a "star" to put on my face. I wore that star on my nose all day. I think I am on the downhill slide of being accepted by the children.

I have forgotten how dramatic 7th graders can be. It is days like to day makes me wish that I was in a classroom filled with high schoolers. They engaged in a lot of back and forth nonsense. I had a child who was just talking out during the lesson which was going over the code of conduct. I had to have a conversation about his behavior. Then a child who has given me the most trouble came to me....ME because she didn't like one of her teachers. Child, you don't even like me! She had a change of heart because after our row, I told her the next day we would start out fresh. You see, as a person of faith, I believe in 2nd chances. My problem is I may give too many chances for change. And now that I am where I am supposed to be, she is better. Maybe it's because I am not the main teacher. Anyway, she not as abrasive as she was when I was teaching ELA.

My work with the children has expanded to children who I do not come in contact on a regular basis. I saw a child sitting outside the classroom. A child needs to be in the classroom. There had been some type of altercation with teacher and he got put out. Now I could and should have ignored him because it wasn't my business, but I spoke to him. I found out the reason. Part of the problem was the teacher was calling him by his last name! Lord! Help me!! So I spoke with him. Then I had him to follow me to the office while we talk. By the time we got back, he realized that he should apologize and that being called by his last name isn't that disrespectful. I told him when I started teaching 7th grade I called all my student by their last name with Mr. or Ms. in front. The teacher wouldn't let him back in which bothers me, but I can't do adults, though I have been in that situation. LOL! So the students came into my class and sat at my desk. When the day ended, we went to speak to the teacher and he apologized. He promised to start fresh on Monday. I hope the teacher will do the same.

When I get some money I am supposed to go out to find a medium upper hoodie for a student who says he does have one. I am supposed to be trying to get something for some other student. I can't remember. The need is so great. It always has been.

This last story is last because it is so sad. We were going over the Student handbook and we were discussing gangs. Without being prompt, this young man asked to be recognized and he stood up in front of the class and made an impassionate plea for his classmates to not join gangs. He kept repeating his message. He talked about rappers and their "gang" signs. "Don't do it!, he said. I was almost in tears. This young man has seen some stuff. I could tell. I wanted to give him a hug. This is why teachers deserve NBA or NFL pay. We are tasked with not only teaching ABCs, Algebra, good health, writing paragraphs, what the insides of a frog look like, or even what is the capital of Alberta. We are tasked with molding and shaping a new generation. We can't solve all their problems. We can't solve even half of them.

Teachers are burning out faster than a raging forest fire in July in California. Some of the teachers who are coming into the profession are not the best because the best are choosing other paths. The ones who are coming in are not staying. Technology is here to stay but we are losing that "personal" touch.

I can be made at coworkers, but I can't be mad, for an extended time, at students. We are living at a time where you would think children are living lives that are great, but that isn't true. Homelessness and hunger are rampant. School is the only place they can get two free meals 5 days week. School is the only place where hopefully they feel safe. School is the only place where they can see Mr. Norah put a star on his nose. Why? The answer is...FOR THE CHILDREN!