#we've probably still got another 8 or so hours to go of content

[pickledfingers]

Almost finished playing Borderlands 3 for the first time. My husband and I played female characters, and I absolutely LOVE that all the NPCs in that scene where they're in the great vault, all of them are women. The villain is a woman, your allies are women, the only way there would be a man in that scene is if you played one. Absolutely love this. Is this how men feel ALL the time when they play video games??

[stormblessed95]

Soooooo jikookers are getting cooked on twitter and I'm finding it hard to just roll my eyes at it and shrug it off even though I know I don't have to prove anything to insecure jikookers or antishippers. And it's not cause I'm insecure, cause I don't think anything short of a denial from them would change my mind rn especially after that bday vlive. But there's no disputing that the facts as they were presented are on the side of antis. At least in my opinion. But idk if you would want to answer this to put on your master list or anything if you have any strong thoughts about it.

This is essentially about how in ITS2 ep1 Jimin said he hadn't seen Bam in a while and people are using that to say clearly jikook aren't together cause then Jimin would see him more often. But on the other hand didn't jungkook say he's staying at some kind of dog pound and he just goes to visit him? Also Jimin was the only one who got up to pet Bam when he came on the bus. But I can still see the other side of the argument cause Jimin was talking like he hadn't seen Bam since he was a baby just like the other guys. I think though that we should wait to watch more because we only saw glimpses of bam and Jimin together and so far he seems to be the one most comfortable with Bam other than jungkook.

Another point against jikook living together that they're using is the fact that they didn't seem to be in the same place sleeping on that day they were suppose to go on the journey towards ITS2. They were informing each other on the times they woke up and such. But I'm more inclined to believe that conversation was more for us the viewer than it was for Jimin and jungkook and there were some suspicious undertones during that discussion.

But either way, it's all speculation on our part and facts on the part of antis. A mess all around. Avoiding twitter for the next few hours

This is so dumb. I saw so so many anons over this on other blogs and I'm just. Can yall not just vibe and enjoy content?! And it baffles me because like there was so much jikook happening in this episode too?! Not that it needs to be addressed but let's talk about these two points I guess.

1. Jimin and Bam:

Bam is big. Yes. But he is STILL a baby, a puppy. He is only like 4, maybe 5, months old. Let's keep in mind that puppies don't leave their moms until they are 8 weeks old, minimum. JK could have picked him out and bought him before that, but he wouldn't have been able to bring the dog home until he was 2 months. He could have visited the puppy while he was with his littermates and mom only. So that leaves us with 2 months of time to work with. JK explained during the intros of ITS that he didn't really get to see Bam much lately either, which is the whole reason he brought him on ITS with him anyway. Bam had been away at a doggy training facility. A Google search tells you that good average Korean Korean training facilities keep your dog for around a month and a half on average. So that gives us about 2 weeks of time to work with. Those 2 weeks that were probably BEFORE the training facility too. JK tells us about how he saw Bam when he would go up for visits. Bam was not at home with him.

Not to mention that when they got on the bus, everyone else cooed from afar mentioning how long it had been, how big he was, etc. But no one made a move to crowd him. Jimin hopped up and leaned over the seat and Bam immediately turned into him for pets, snuggles and kisses. That is a dog who is familiar with Jimin. There was no figuring out which human this is, there was immediate recognition there. Not to mention that while it's clear all the members love on and play play him during ITS2, from what we have seen so far, there is an extra level of comfort between JM and Bam. The dog walked past other members to get to Jimin and Jimin offered to take him out then too with more head kisses.

There is nothing about these interactions that prove anything other than Jimin is good with animals (we've known though). This doesn't and can't disprove jikook or that they live together. And it can't prove they do either. But the response they had on the bus shows a great ease of comfort and familiarity as well, and for a Doberman, even a puppy, that's important. Not to mention everyone saying why is he just JKs dog then? Because he is? I'm married. We got a dog AFTER we got married. My husband picked him out, my husband does the primary care taking and training and playing for him. I love him with all my heart, but we ALL acknowledge in our house that he is my husband's dog.

2. I'm assuming we are referring to this moment:

For starters, long term relationships don't mean you wake and/or sleep exactly the same constantly. Last night I was asleep by 11pm. I could not tell you WHEN my husband came to bed. I just know I had tiktok notifications from him from around 2am. Lmao other days I'm up and out of the house with the kids or vice versa and the other one of us sleeps in. Normally we then later talk about it and ask how the other slept, when they went to bed. What time we woke up, etc? How are you supposed to always know things if you don't talk about it?

Looked like Jimin got up first and went about his day while JK was still sleeping. And then the next day after their busy schedules and everyone else went to bed, they caught each other up on the little things like that. If you don't see the domestic vibes from that whole conversation, I can't help you. And if you can't pick up on the sus vibes when JK said he didn't sleep last night and Jimins pause before smirking, giggling and nodding... well that's on you and not my problem. Lol

3. Not something you mentioned but I'm mentioning too. Lmfao let's not forget about how everyone else went to bed by 5 am. Jikook were still going hard at 6 am. We actually got very little footage of their night together. 6am karaoke. JK makes his want some Ramen sex joke. They giggle their butts off. Leave the main house and comment on the fog. But by the time we see them going to bed (jimin going in his room with the camera turned off and JK already in bed) the fog is gone and we learn that Jimin said he was up till 8am. So we have 2 hours of missing time they spent together.

4. The domestic boyfriend vibes that just leap off of them together is insane. Jimin slept in till noon. Hobi drags him out of bed for lunch. He joins the rest of the group and sits down. JK goes from sitting straight at the table while he eats, to turning his whole body towards Jimin as soon as Jimin joins them at the table. And Jimin naturally leans in to JK as well. Jungkooks leg is practically behind Jimins chair he turned so fully towards him. I'm just saying.

And the best part is that this isn't even all the moments we were given of KM being together in this first episode. People need to relax and just enjoy. They are being so loud lately its insane. Insecurity makes no sense. Especially because this was filmed a while ago and JMs birthday vlive was just a few days ago (which would have been AFTER ITS filming) and they were so boyfriend it was hard to watch at times during that live. Lol

Relax, enjoy. Focus on happy vibing and just enjoying the members ALL being happy together. That's what this is about. People don't need to try and use every tiny thing to either try and prove or disprove KM. In fact with KM, it's mostly just a lot of moments that all just add up to what's obvious and clear to so many and others are just wilfully blind to.

Anyways, curate your Twitter timeline to happy vibes only and just enjoy ITS as it comes and let the healing and happy vibes soak in. I already love this season 🥰

[cinnonym]

take the day off, get a massage (cause we've got this one all under control)

Written for Day 8 - Winter Solstice of 12 Days of Supercorp @supercorpbb

Read on AO3

***

9:15 am

“Golly, am I looking forward to this day.” Kara yawns and huddles closer against the curve of Lena’s back. Her breath tickles Lena’s neck, warm and comfortable. Lena hums.

“Four.”

“Hmm?”

“That’s the fourth time you’ve said this,” Lena murmurs. “Not that I mind.” She can feel sleep tugging at her eyelids once more and relishes in the thought that she won’t have to fight it. That she can succumb to the weight guiltlessly.

Kara doesn’t reply. She’s probably drifted off again already and will wake in half an hour with the same sentence on her lips once more. Lena smiles a bit about the predictability of it all, before a yawn overcomes her and drags her down with it.

***

9:51 am

“Golly,” Kara says, sleep still blurring her words. “I love this, I really do. What a good idea.”

Lena makes an affirmative sound, somewhere between a sigh and a purr. She hasn’t felt this relaxed in months, maybe even years. The warmth of Kara’s arm around her waist, the cold of Kara’s nose against her neck, what more can a woman ask for?

“I am starting to become a bit hungry though,” comes Kara’s voice from behind, and Lena has to suppress a chuckle as she rolls around to face her girlfriend.

“Of course you are.”

“Hey!” Kara’s eyes were still closed, but they open now, blinking slowly several times until all traces of tiredness have given way to a semi-offended glare. “It’s – “ she pauses and squints at the clock “ – more than two hours after my usual breakfast time. Of course my stomach is demanding attention.”

Lena lets out a laugh. “Demanding, huh? And that although you so dislike to be ordered around.”

Kara’s on her suddenly, pinning her down so quickly that Lena strongly suspects the involvement of superspeed.

“Damn right,” she says in a low voice, letting her gaze wander over Lena menacingly. Unfortunately, the effect is somewhat undermined by Kara’s stomach releasing a protesting grumble just then. Kara blushes, and just like that she rolls off of Lena again.

“Boss said no,” she murmurs, shrugging helplessly.

Lena grins. “Good thing we’ve got all day.”

“Golly, am I looking forward to that.”

***

11:38 am

The phone rings just when Lena is beginning to contemplate a nap. The sun still hasn’t peeked through the clouds once, and so it continues to be exactly the kind of dreary that you could wish for on a day like this. The kind of dreary that practically invites you to sleep.

But the phone is ringing, and that means Lena has to make a decision. She groans as she lifts her head from Kara’s chest to look at her.

“Reject or ignore?”

Kara shrugs. Her fingers are drawing lazy circles on Lena’s back, and she looks about as sleepy as Lena’s felt just a minutes ago.

“Maybe I’ll look who it is and choose then,” Lena decides, reaching for the vibrating device. It’s Jess, and apparently it’s not the first time she’s tried to get through to Lena. They have somehow managed to miss three calls, and if that isn’t proof of a dedicated sex life, then Lena doesn’t know. She chuckles quietly.

“It’s Jess,” she tells Kara, “for the third time.”

“What does she want?”

“I wouldn’t know.” The call stops. A small flutter of worry stirs in Lena’s stomach, even though she doesn’t want to feel it. Doesn’t want to leave the comfortable bubble Kara and she have created for themselves today.

Kara seems to sense where her thoughts are going, because she takes the phone from Lena and puts it on the nightstand again.

“No work,” she says sternly, “no outside world, and no leaving the bed unless it’s for food or bathroom breaks. Those are the rules.”

Lena bites her lip. She swallows the ‘What if’s’ that lie on the tip of her tongue. She banishes the thought of work to the remotest corner of her mind and kisses Kara on her collarbone instead.

“You’re right,” she murmurs, “they’ll get by without me for one day.”

***

2:01 pm

It turns out that Kara is much less relaxed when it’s her phone that’s ringing. Or maybe it’s the amount of calls she gets. But with every time her ringtone sounds out, she gets quieter and quieter, until at one point, she grabs her phone exasperatedly, turns it off, and tosses it into the armchair at the opposite corner of the room.

“One day!” She exclaims. “One day, the darkest day of the year, and a Sunday at that! You’d think the criminals would stay at home voluntarily, snuggle up to their girlfriend maybe, enjoy a good 32 hours in bed, and just take. One. Day. Off. It’s not that hard, or is it?”

“It’s not,” Lena concurs, finishing one braid in Kara’s long and unfairly soft hair and starting another.

“I work the year round, every day. And night, mind you. Weekends, holidays, always. And I do it gladly. I do it selflessly. I do it with a smile on my face, even. But one day off. One day. Is that really too much to ask for?”

“It’s not.” Lena pauses her braiding to put a soothing hand on Kara’s head. “You’re just doing such a good job the rest of the time, people have forgotten how to take care of themselves without you.”

Kara leans into the touch with a sigh and a grateful smile. “Is it wrong that I kind of like how much they depend on me, even though it annoys me today?”

“Of course not.” Lena lightly scratches her nails over Kara’s scalp, drinking up the contented sighs that fall form Kara’s lips. “I think everybody wants to be needed. It gives us purpose. It gives us strength.” She leans down to press a gentle kiss to Kara’s forehead before she takes up her braiding again. “It’s one of the greatest paradoxes of humankind that this strength doesn’t suffice to sustain you. That you need breaks from being useful, lest your strength depletes.”

Kara nods, momentarily upsetting the row of braids Lena has already finished.

“I love you,” she says.

Lena smiles. “I love you too.”

***

3:45 pm

“I think my butt fell asleep.”

“I call your butt and raise you two legs.” Lena groans. “How do teenagers do this?”

“Do what?” Kara asks, giggling a little at the exaggerated noises Lena is making.

“Do this.” Lena gestures at the two of them, sprawled out on the mattress. “Lie in bed all day, barely moving, except to change the video game or whatever they occupy their brains with all day.”

Kara laughs, loud and hearty. “Rao, Lena, sometimes you are so odd.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Not all teenagers spend all their time in bed, dummy,” Kara says, and it’s only her fond tone that saves her from the pillow Lena almost hurdles at her. “I, for example, was a very active teenager.”

“You hardly count,” Lena retorts, sticking out her tongue when Kara narrows her eyes at her. “Because you’re always active.”

Kara wrinkles her nose, but Lena’s point holds. She huffs.

“What about you then, what did you do as a teenager?”

“I,“ Lena says dignifiedly, “didn’t experience an adolescence.”

“Lena, your adolescence was less than ten years ago.”

Lena sighs dramatically and rolls over, facing her girlfriend with a regretful stare.

“Tell that to my back pain…”

***

4:09 pm

“Isn’t it sad,” Kara muses, kneading Lena’s trapezius muscle with blissfully strong hands, “how it’s already getting dark again?”

Lena moans softly when Kara hits a particularly tense spot. “Is it?”

“Yeah.”

They are silent for a while, Kara moving slowly and methodically up and down Lena’s back, Lena shimmying in and out of consciousness. No phone has rung in over two hours, nobody has disturbed them in their self-imposed solitude, no rule has been broken so far. They are doing exactly what they’ve planned for the day, and it is nothing.

“What a good day,” Lena murmurs, “What a good idea.”

Kara gives her ass a squeeze, and Lena, well on her way to another nap, almost jumps.

“The hell?” She exclaims, which immediately earns her another slap. “What?”

Kara’s voice is a melange of amusement and indignation. “You forgot the golly!”

***

6:37 pm

They start speaking at the same time.

“It’s almost Christmas,” Kara says, and Lena murmurs “How am I already tired?” and then they look at each other and laugh.

“What did you say?” Simultaneously. “You first.”

Lena recovers faster, so she pokes Kara, who’s still laughing, between the ribs.

“Tick, your turn, please speak now.” She presents Kara her fist as a mic, which only results in another burst of laughter. Then Kara’s hand closes around hers, pulling her closer.

“Hello hello, can you hear me?”

Lena giggles. She feels carefree in a way she hasn’t felt in possibly all her life. “Loud and clearly. Please repeat your question.”

“Yes hello,” Kara says, pompous in a way that is exactly like on real TV interviews. “I didn’t so much ask a question as rather observing a fact. That fact being of course the upcoming holiday, namely Christmas.”

At this point they have to drop the act, because Lena is laughing so hard that the mic is shaking and “the connection seems to be bad, hello hello?” And Kara grins at Lena like she did when Lena first fell in love with her, wide and open and with her heart in her hands, ready to give it to anyone she thought worth fighting for. Even a Luthor. Even Lena.

“I’m looking forward to Christmas,” Lena says, but what she means is that she’s never liked the holidays much, until Kara came around and made them worthwhile.

And somehow Kara understands.

“Yes,” she says, “me too.”

***

8:52 pm

“There’ll be much work to catch up on tomorrow,” Lena sighs, playing with the thought of looking at her phone and deciding against it. “But that are tomorrow’s problems.”

Kara hums. She’s floating half an inch above the bed because she finds the mattress is too warm after bearing her body all day.

“I’m still looking forward to that somehow.”

Lena chuckles. “Yes, me too. Isn’t that weird? I thoroughly enjoyed today, but I couldn’t do it again tomorrow.”

“It’s about the – “ Kara forms the chef’s kiss gesture minus the kiss “ – purpose.” She turns on her side to look at Lena. “Or so a wise woman once told me.”

“Sounds very wise indeed. Did she also say something about the reason why I’m tired even though we did nothing all day?”

“Nope.” Kara pops the p, then lets herself fall back on the bed. “But here’s my theory: inaction is like negative action. And at the end of the day, it’s the absolute value that counts, minus or plus doesn’t matter. So if you’ve balanced action and inaction, you won’t be that tired, because they cancel each other. But if you have an overload of either action or inaction…”

“… you’ll feel about as exhausted as I do right now,” Lena finishes, her eyes already closed. “Seems reasonable. It’s compatible with my strength theory, I like that.” She yawns, and feels blindly for Kara’s hand. “Either way, all in favour of an early night, raise your hand.” She lifts their entwined hands off the mattress. “Whooo.”

Kara breathes out a laugh. “Also, if we go to bed now, then tomorrow will come faster.”

“Scientifically incorrect,” Lena murmurs, “but golly.”

“What?”

Lena snuggles into Kara’s embrace until all she can smell is Kara, and all she can feel is also Kara. She yawns again.

“Golly am I looking forward to tomorrow.”

[footballerindreams]

Something Happened

Hi! I would like to wish my Deobi friends, especially @straykidsftw (yes, she's a part Deobi), FELIX NAVIDAD!!! 😁😁😁. Anyway, this is one of my works on AO3 that I wanted to post here as a Christmas gift for Deobis. I hope you enjoy! Especially you @straykidsftw !

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC SOHN!!!

-------------------

"Hello. Eric?" Sangyeon answered his phone. He always pauses in whatever he is doing everytime his members will call, but most especially if it is Eric.

"Hi. Hyung. It's Felix." The caller replied.

"Oh hey Felix. Did Eric left his phone again? Aish that kid."

"Uhm. No, hyung. Actually, I need you to come here at school." Felix was uneasy on the other side. "Something happened to Eric."

---

It has been a tough few weeks for Eric. The Boyz are preparing for their comeback and everyone is busy. Dance practices, song recordings, photoshoots, you name it. And to make it more busier...

"Okay class, exams will be next two weeks. Please study hard and good luck." The teacher said as she dismisses the class for the day.

Eventhough Eric is an idol, still he is a student and him and his hyungs are always reminded by their higher ups in their agency that no matter what, education comes first and that they have to maintain as well their grades and good image in school.

"Hey Eric, your comeback will be after the exams, right?" Felix, one of the members of Stray Kids and by fate, Eric's classmate and bestfriend, asked him.

"Yeah. What about it?" Eric asked.

"How is it?"

"Very busy. Actually after this I have to go directly to the studio and practice."

"How about the exams?"

"Don't worry. I still have time to study after practice."

"Are you sure. Seems like you really had a lot in your hands right now."

"Don't worry. I can manage." Eric smiled at his bestfriend.

---

And so it has been Eric's routine to go to school then go directly to the studio after classes and prepare for their comeback, most of the time it's until midnight. Then he goes home with his hyungs to their dorms and stays up to three A.M. to study.

One night, New woke up and noticed that the study lamp is on and Eric is reading and writing something.

"You're still up? It's past three in the morning and you still have class."

"Don't worry, hyung. I'll just finish this and then sleep." The maknae replied a bit groggily.

"Okay. You better sleep immediately. It's not good to stay very late." New reminded then went back to sleep.

"Okay." And Eric went focusing again on his studies and stayed awake for another hour.

---

"Eric, wake up. You have classes, right?" Juyeon nudges the sleeping maknae causing for it to stir.

"Eric, it's almost 8 am. You'll be late for school." Juyeon added.

Suddenly Eric rose up and jumped away from his bed to the cabinet to get his uniform and dress up. It only took him 5 mins to prepare and not even bothering to wash his face and brush his teeth; unusual for a boy whose neat as he is. He rushes out going to the door when Sangyeon called his attention.

"Eric, eat before you leave."

"Sorry, hyung but I cannot be late for today. There is an important test that I have to take." Eric says and went out of his dorm.

---

His routine was starting to get worse. The Boyz went home by midnight and the maknae stays later than usual, studying for the exams. He was also starting to skip meals because he is being woken up multiple times being almost late. And during his recess and lunch break, he sleeps rather than eat a meal. Adding up the tight daily schedules for their comeback, Eric never had a decent meal.

"Eric! You're sloppy!" Q shouted as he noticed the maknae huffing for air and being slow in the choreography of their dance practice.

After the dance, Q approached Eric.

"What's the matter with you, Eric? You're messing up the d--- are you alright?" Q stopped scolding as he noticed that his dongsaeng does not look good. "You look pale and there are bags in your eyes. Have you had enough sleep lately?" Q asked in concern.

"I'm...fine...hyung..." Eric replied in between his huffs of catching air. "It's just...it's just...things...are...very...busy...at school...lately."

"Aish. This kid." Q sighed and pat his shoulder gently. "All right. Guys! This is a wrap for today! We've got to go home and rest. It's been a long day, especially for Eric." Q announced making everybody start to pack up their things.

"Hyung, we still...have...2 hours...left for...practice." Eric complained.

"No. We're done for today. Everybody is good. And besides, you need to take a rest. Now pack up. We're going home."

---

"You're still awake?" Haknyeon asked. The Jeju boy woke up feeling a bit thirsty. As he approaches the kitchen, he saw Eric on the dinning table, writing something on a piece of paper and was surrounded by books. He is sniffing.

"Oh. Hey hyung. I'm about to finish. Don't worry." Eric assured.

"Eversince we went home you've been there. It's already three in the morning. You should sleep. We still have classes too in the morning."

"I'll just finish this then I'll sleep." Eric said with a sniff in the end.

Haknyeon let him be and went back to his room. He knows Eric is hard to persuade, especially when the boy is focused on his work. But little did he know that Eric went to sleep an hour and a half later.

Eric woke up holding his head. It felt heavy but he did not mind it and went to prepare himself for school. As the usual, he was running late and skipped breakfast again.

Luckily, Sunwoo and Hwall are also runninh late and the three of then went to school together. While on the ride, the two noticed that the maknae was coughing and more sleepy than usual.

"Are you alright?" Sunwoo asked Eric.

"Yeah." Eric said then coughs a little. "It's just dry cough." Then Eric leaned on the window frame of the car they are riding and supported his head with his arm.

"You look sleepy." Hwall noticed.

"Because I just woke up." The maknae justified.

Sunwoo opened his bag and pulled out a pack of juice and gave it to Eric.

"Here drink this now. So that you have energy at least until break time." Sunwoo encouraged.

"Thanks, hyung." Eric thanked and got the pack, opened it and drank the contents.

It sustained Eric on his classes but only until recess break where he slept again rather than ate. So by the afternoon, he felt much worse.

Eric is on his way to his second class in the afternoon He was walking more slowly looking for something to hold on as he approached the stairs. He was coughing more frequently and he could feel his head pounding in pain. He whined.

"Eric! Wait for me." Felix shouted approaching the boy.

Eric faced his best friend wincing and trying hard to focus looking. "Oh hey...Felix."

"Wait, Eric. Are you okay? You look sick." Felix said worrily.

"No. I'm fine." Eric tried to convince his idol best friend only to end up coughing.

"No you're not. Come on, I'll bring you to the infirmary." Felix encouraged.

"No. I have...to go...to..." And Eric saw every blurry at first then it went blank.

Felix was alarmed when he saw his friend fainting. Good thing he was able to catch Eric before he fell on the stairs. The Stray Kids member shouted for help. Good thing there were school council students passing by and he helped him bring Eric to the infirmary.

---

The doctor told Felix that Eric had a fever and was then asked by the latter of the activities he knew about his friend. From what he knew is that Eric and his members had an upcoming comeback and at the same time with upcoming exams. The doctor slightly concluded that his friend was probably stressed and overfatigued from all of his activities. The doctor prescribed some medicineand advices and left him to tend for his sick bestfriend who is lying on the infirmary bed. Breathing a bit hard and with a towel on his forehead.

Then he remembered that Eric's members haven't knew of his situation yet so he decided to tell them. And since he does not have the numbers he tried to look for the maknae's phone on his belongings without stirring him up. He found it on the boy's school jacket and tried to open it. Luckily he knew the password and was able to open it but he was surprised then laughed when he saw the wallpaper of his idol best friend cuddling with a certain handsome member; a story he will leave for next time.

He looked on the contacts and found what he was looking for.

Calling 상연 형...

---

"Hello. Eric?" Sangyeon answered his phone. He always pauses in whatever he is doing everytime his members will call, but most especially of it is Eric.

"Hi. Hyung. It's Felix." The caller replied.

"Oh hey Felix. Did Eric left his phone again? Aish that kid."

"Uhm. No, hyung. Actually, I need you to come here at school." Felix was uneasy on the other side. "Something happened to Eric."

Alarmed, Sangyeon stood up from his spot on the studio. "What?! What happened?!"

"He was not feeling well. And he fainted and almost fell on the stairs. Good thing I was with him."

"Where are you right now?" The leader asked as he fumbles and rushed to put his things on his bag.

"At the school infirmary hyung. Eric is asleep right now but he's a having a fever."

"Oh shoot. We're on our way. Can you stay with him for a little bit?" Sangyeon asked.

"No problem, hyung. I already told our teacher and he said it's okay to be with Eric for a while."

"Thanks. Don't worry. We'll be fast."

---

Sangyeon came 30 minutes later with half of the members of the group. They almost broke the door of the infirmary as they were rushing to see what happened to their beloved youngest. Sangyeon was about to shout when he saw Eric sleeping on the bed, still with a towel on his forehead and being covered with blankets. Felix was on the side seated on the chair while reading a book.

Sangyeon was about to ask when Juyeon crossed him and went to the bedside. Seated, he touched Eric's skin. Noticed that it is hot, he removed the towel from his forehead, dipped it in the nearby basin and put it back.

"Did he wake up?" Sangyeon asked.

"Not yet, hyung."

"Oh dear." Jacob sighed.

"I should've known that he is sick already. He was having a hard time catching up during practice." Q regretted as he remembered the face of the boy during that time.

"I noticed him still awake in the early mornings, studying. I don't know why. I did not bother much but I reminded him to sleep." New said.

"That's why he wokes up late lately." Juyeon said.

"And skips breakfast." Younghoon added.

They were cut off from their conversation when the three older maknaes came in.

"We just knew from Eric's teacher what happened. Is he okay?" Sunwoo said worrily.

"We don't know. Have you noticed anything unusual on Eric?" Sangyeon asked.

"He spends most of his time sleeping during eating breaks. We don't even know why." Hwall answered.

"Felix, can you tell us anything? We don't understand how this happened. He does not say anything to us." Kevin pleaded the Australian.

"Well, actually..." Felix started.

---

Eric woke up whining in pain, which made the rest of the boys stir up and notice.

"Eric. How do you feel right now?"

Juyeon asked.

"Where...where am I?" The youngest asked.

"You're at the infirmary. You are sick. You fainted. Good thing Felix was with you."

Eric finally noticed that he IS in the infirmary. And that all of his hyungs are with him right now and he is being surrounded. He had mixed emotions of worry and comfort that his hyungs know and are around but was covered by a pounding headache.

"Why haven't you told us that you have an important exam coming. We could've cut you some slack for you to be prepared." Sangyeon said.

"I don't want to bother you hyungs. We've been preparing for this for months and I don't want to spoil that just because I have exams. And besides I was doing okay with the time."

"Doing okay? We have heard you were sleeping in the early hours of the morning. Not to mention a very short and deprived sleep. Then you skip your meals! That's okay?! What if no one was there to catch you on the stairs when you fainted? You could've gotten an injury aside from being sick!" Juyeon reprimanded.

"Hey. Hey. Don't be so hard on him." Jacob patted the worried member's shoulder.

There was silence for a while and the tension went a bit high.

Eric lowered his head and sniff at first, then whimpered, then cried softly.

"I'm sorry. I just...I just don't want to be a burden to you guys...Now?...Now I became one..."

Sangyeon closed his distance to the boy and hugged him. "Hey. Don't say that. It's not your fault. You were just doing what you think was right. You are not a burden to any of us."

"You know Eric, we have the same situation as you." Hwall started. "Being an idol and student is hard but it will be easier since we are a team. Don't hesitate to tell us anything. We will gladly help."

"Hwall is right. We are here for you if you need help. Especially about school." Sunwoo added and assured. Putting a hand on the youngest's shoulder.

"Can we stop the drama for now and go home? I want to take care of our baby boy might as well do it there." Hyunjae sassily complained. The others looked at each other and laughed then agreed.

Eric is so lucky to have hyungs like them.

[wholeworldbroken]

PART 1)  Net Neutrality, Hypernormalization, The Dinosaur Who Swindled Natural Selection & Prospered... AND... The Healthy Benefits Of Paranoid Delusional Psychosis.

TV is a dinosaur sinking into the tar. All those once giant networks are scrambling to survive just a little longer in this technological age that left them behind before they noticed. That Netflix model is alot bigger deal than it's given credit for. It's what reshaped HULU until it went legitimate. It's why there's an HBOGO, STARZ, SHOWTIME, etc. app that all outperform their parent networks.

The power of ON-DEMAND blew Amazon up from a more Wal-Marty version of eBay to the titan it is now. Disney is gearing up to yank all Star Wars, Marvel, Indiana Jones, etc. properties from Netflix to add to their own upcoming streaming channel. Even the underdogs that only Netflix could make into giant hits: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Defenders and The Punisher (not so much IronFist) are being carted over to the new Disney service without so much as a "thank you for making this possible" to Netflix.

CBS launched theirs earlier this year with the added ammo of the most expensive Star Trek series to date, Discovery, being only available through their site. We'll probably see about 10 new changeovers this coming year. Comcast, Verizon and Slime-Warner know that we'll pay $8 here, $10 there for the convenience of catching all that exclusive content completely at our lesiure, always waiting as soon as we feel like tapping that PLAY button.

So, the dinosaur is slowly inching across the quicksand, dragging its rip-off cable model over to the internet, embracing the technology of the future while still thriving off the scams of the past. Even Youtube, which was kind of a revolution in independent, DIY content creators and previously muted voices now given a somewhat worldwide platform, finding an audience without having to bow to the old media gatekeepers

(the Merv Griffins, Johnny Carsons, Entertainment Tonights, Morning Shows, blah, blah, blah, who were able to get rich off the young, hopefuls kissing the asses of whoever would help them be seen, LONG before any of the actual talent was consistently turning a profit. Completely self -regenerating. You can burn up the lump of coal till it's all disintegrated, but the machine ALWAYS got fresh coal being shoveled in the fire, baby)

... is now flooded with Jimmy Kimmel, SNL, Paramount, Disney studios, which seems like normal that those sketches, clips, movie trailers would end up archived on youtube...

until you consider that youtubers are paid through Google Adsense, and receive a monetary amount per video play featuring ads that are part of the program. The success and general public hunger for these independent creators has multiplied the number of young, self-made millionaires over the last 10 years. So, in come the dinosaurs, dragging that dirty-old-bag of crooked-old-ways with them.

Now you got NBC, uploading individual sketches from SNL, a television show that makes its revenue from tv ads & endorsements, each video cashing in on adsense profits seperately, rivaling the numbers from the original airing of the whole episode. Jimmy Fallon, Dr. Phil... practically EVERYbody is clawing & scratching for that youtube money all the kids were syphoning away from them. Whatever.

Big, ugly business, but still business. Dog eat dog & all that.

But what about commercials? Who the fuck clicks on the new TIDE ad showing up in their youtube feed? SOMEbody, cause it's got, like, a bajillion clicks. Are companies drafting interns to generate views and cash in on adsense? Hey, I'm paranoid, but if stupid old ME thought of it...

So, you seen the new Star Wars trailer? Shit, EACH newer version, starting with the teaser? How many did you see on youtube? ...and when you click that movie COMMERCIAL, like magic, you gotta sit through a goddamn COMMERCIAL before you can watch the COMMERCIAL you voluntarily chose to endure. Shit. I'll be DAMNED if, half the time, the ad that comes up isn't another trailer for another movie, usually from a whole other studio. Think Disney/StarWars minds you got a sneak taste of GrownUps 3 while you were waiting to drool all over a 30-second montage of disjointed scenes arranged to grease the dollar bills out of your wallet come Christmas time? `</pre> They just got paid by Adam Sandler's scam of a company for you to wait out the 5 seconds to click away from his bullshit and get up in them Star Wars guts... several million times... by an unrelated company willing to pay the opponent team for the luxury of dropping a commercial on the front of their commercial... leading to Disney (only an example. This is some across the board shit) making millions off a commercial designed to set up an installment in a franchise that will bring them automatic billions. <pre>` It's Terry Gilliam level absurdity that we've indoctrinated ourselves, as a species, to accept as "successful business practices", as we dream of one day carving our very own little chunk of the abstract money scheme balogna. I don't pretend to have a better, more functional answer than: try to resist as much of the barrage as you can, of huckster salesmen who have studied the best psychological methods of Stockholming your oblivious ass into not only continuing to prop up their pyramid scheme and perpetuating their boss's greedy manipulation of the entire world by way of its set-up-to-fail economic machinations `</pre> but ALSO, to constantly strengthen your faith in the infallible logic of those same machinations with a passion that is prepared to DESTROY any anomalous dissenters, selfish enough to be randomly fertilized and born into their designated gangsign annotated factions dividing up larger, further established, gangsign brandishing nation-states, yet still possessing the ingratious self-serving personality defect of introspection, empathy & existential contemplation. ** incoming** __VOICE__OF__GREAT__MACHINATION__LEADER,__STIFFY__O'FOOFYSKINS______ <pre>` "The enemy is all around and they hate your way of life. They whisper corruption into the ears of our unsuspecting younger generations. They bombard you with an agenda of moral codes & ideals in direct conflict to the ones you were taught. If you love the random patch of land you literally had more of a chance to be born outside of than in `</pre> and you're not some kind of infidel, basking in the luxuries provided by your assigned locale while remaining unwilling to offer up your mortal life to assure its continuation, then you already know that the RIGHT thing to do, the divine purpose you feel pumping through your heart, is stand tall & be ready to hoist your team's flag should it fall. The enemy wants to see you fail so that it can pillage its way to the holy finish line which was divinely entitled to YOU and the rest of the good guys. It preaches demoralizing propaganda designed to weaken your resolve & raise doubt toward your righteous goals. It knows ways to steal the food from your family's table... even steal your established identity and celebrate its wicked victories by splurging on the fruit sewed by YOUR noble labors. This is your preconceived understanding of the truth. There are higher levels of truth that only pertain to you as part of a bigger picture, but you need not concern yourself with such perplexing pokings & proddings into the corners of your manufactured reality. Take comfort in the ebb & flow of a pristine, global bureaucracy that, on the surface, appears to malfunction as a chaotic dumpster fire of social upheaval, random acts of blatantly hateful terrorism and increasingly violent natural disasters reminding each & every one of us that we are vulnerable and the only shelter comes from the sinister embrace of the leaders we ourselves chose to govern us, simply because that is the way the world has worked for much longer than our insignificant participation would justify constructing a new means of stability. Best not to stress over such uncontrollable details. GREEN has always meant GO. RED has always signified a mandatory STOP. ...And that proverbial cheese at the end of the maze, ever taunting the entire roster of teams? It's laced with the affectionate tongue-kiss of cyanide, the ultimate reward for any group that is able to pull ahead of the hordes and slamdunk their Nerf football into the victory bonfire. IT'S MILLER TIME... Because being on the winning team isn't what's important: WHAT COUNTS IS THAT YOUR TEAM DESTROYED AS MUCH OF THE OPPOSITION'S LIFE & LIVELIHOOD AS WAS POSSIBLE." <pre>` Over moral posturings? Over indignant evildoings? In a race to prove to the creator that your team is comprised of his chosen people and is ready to accept the role as His Holy Assassins? Over the truth behind 9/11? Over the ongoing argument concerning the actual SHAPE of the planet & the legitimacy of the very science we thought we understood, but very well may have been meticulously devised to support our indoctrinated "understanding" of a globe-shaped world, hurling through space in a cosmic dance with the star, SOL, spinning on an axis that brings it around 360° every 24 hours and marking the outlines of our 24 hour day... 7 day week... our 12 month year... An indoctrination so effective, most of us never once stop to entertain the notion that, at its essence, the concept of time in this manner, the 7 day work week (uncannily similar to the 7 days required to create the world), the weather defining 12 months adhered to by the Gregorian calendar could very logically, and historically likely, be an immeasurable, blanket imprisonment of individual human perceptions, compressing the infinite possibilities of each reality into a much more predictable & controllable number. Wrangling in those erratic, chaos-prone, possible realities that could ultimately crash the entire capitalist cabal so dependent on limiting the imaginations & therefore, the entire concept of the fabric of reality & the universe across an entire planet's population. Outrageous, right? Borderline psychotic levels of paranoia, layered with simple, obnoxious denial and a shot or 2 of worst-case-scenario gullibility, YEARS worth of nonsensical research into the ravings of like-minded lunatics whose infectious delusions have consistently contributed to the disenfranchisement and downfall of multiple promising, yet dangerously curious intellects dating all the way back to the first significant population booms & those resultant social structures that merely sought to stifle the all too common, human urge to casually rape & kill each other on the slightest of whims. When viewed in THAT light, maybe that original intent wasn't so awful. Maybe somebody just had to think of something, like, QUICK.

WE INTERRUPT THIS LITERATAL ILLUSTRATION OF AN IMPLODING BRAIN'S LAST, DESPERATE GRASP AT UNDERSTANDING TO BRING YOU THIS TEMPORARILY DEBILITATING ANXIETY ATTACK...