#well... on the band i was focusing on lmao but well

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

 book 7 chapter 12 part 3 thoughts!

***THIS POST CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BOOK 7 PART 12 OF THE MAIN STORY!!*** This spans part 269 to part 294, focusing on Riddle.

Please note: this is NOT meant to be a summary or a translation; these are only my initial thoughts on the events that roughly unfold. There may be details overlooked or misunderstood in this post, so PLEASE do not use this as a translation.

They land in a new location! New assets and everything. Trey identifies it as Crimson City in the Queendom of Roses.

This update opens with Silver showing the first signs of fatigue. (He audibly sighs; Ortho shows concern.) Silver insists he is fine but advises they avoid battles.

Cater laughs at Trey’s expense. He has never heard him scream so loud!! They should go to an amusement park in the waking world together. This is ironic xhsnsvekakw because these two technically did go to Playful Land together 😂

Trey begins to worry about where his glasses have gone. Apparently they fell off while they were hopping to Riddle’s dream. Idia says searching for lost items in a dream can be difficult but Trey would have perfect vision if he thinks hard enough about it. (Me, sitting here: this is a dream. Can you not literally just conjure up a new pair by imagining it.) Trey’s vision is so bad (he’s squinting just to see people’s faces) and he’s had glasses since preschool, so it’s hard for him to do that.

Ortho suggests using S.T.Y.X. tech and data to make Trey new glasses. But then Ace interrupts and announces he snagged Trey’s glasses. He saw them while falling and brought them to himself using magic; they aren’t damaged. The others, even Leona, praise him. (… but I don’t, because what is this time wasting nonsense 😭 MOVE ON ALREADY…) For a first year, his magic control is very good. Is it because he’s dexterous from basketball?

In exchange for saving the glasses, Ace asks for a cherry pie at the next unbirthday party.

LMAO apparently Ace got to practice using magic precisely because of being in Heartslabyul. Changing the color of the roses + other unbirthday party prep is done with magic. Ace also quickly learned how to clean up using magic to avoid Riddle’s wrath when the dorm leader patrols.

UHHHHH a police car starts chasing them?? It stops and a policeman exits, pulling… R rIDDLE?????!!??!?!?!

THE HE c K Is tHIS… CAtER MiSTAKES HIM FOR a CUTE giRL OR A MAGICAM INFLUENCER (IN thE FULL bODY MODEL YOU CAN SEE FisHNETS ON HIS leGS)

He calls the police officer an “old man” and speaks in a different cadence than usual. Higher pitched and more childlike. UHHHHH RIDDLE USES RUDE SLANG TOO… It’s not slang I understand; Adeuce identify it as exclusive to the Queendom of Roses

Errrrrrr, so Riddle was arrested for singing in the streets. He says he doesn’t see why people have to follow the rules 😱

Ah, Chenya’s in this dream!! He was in the cop car as well.

vdkabsjsvsusbkxks OH MY GOD Trey’s sounding like a concerned father 👨 Riddle spots Trey and gets all excited; the animation of the live 2D models also implies Riddle is grabbing and clinging to Trey’s arm.

Riddle and Chenya got arrested for starting a “surprise live” in front of the police station. (A “surprise live” is a spontaneous musical performance done in the streets or in public; they’re common in Japan.) They’re in a 2-man band! Riddle is the vocals and Chenya plays bass. It’s hard to keep members because Riddle keeps changing what kind of music they play. He says it’s boring to play the same thing every day.

Riddle doesn’t recognize everyone else so they reintroduce themselves. xhdvsjwbwkw Leona is smart enough to just call himself by first name; the last name might have given away that he’s royalty. (Typically, giving only your first name is a sign of familiarity or casualness in Japanese culture, but I don’t think that was the intention here.)

Riddle asks them to play with him in his band. H needs a guitarist, drummer, and keyboard player! Backup dancers and composers are also welcome, but even if not experienced.

Cater coming in clutch again… He volunteers to play guitar and changes into his Pop/Light Music Club uniform.

THIS iS SO WEIRD… Riddle calls Cater “Cay-kun” and “nii-san” 💀 Cater is freaked out by this too, even though he told Riddle earlier it was okay to call him “Cay-kun”.

Cater lies and says everyone else with him is skilled at playing too. For example, Leona is as good as a professional at drumming!! Leona starts to protest but Cater shuts him up. They need to do this to investigate 🎵 I continue to be baffled at how active Cater is in this dream and the last two. Holy hell, leave some crumbs for the rest of us…

DROPS TO KNEES AnD WEE PS OTL LEONA CHSnges tO HIS DIRM unIFORM AnD DAYS SoME CORNh shIT AbOUT HoW hEmMa SkILLED At DRUMS (lying bitch) THERe’A SpArKLE EFFDcts AnD EVERYTHING

Adeuce and Grim bring up their VDC experience (+ how Rook gave them 100 points in beauty)! Ortho volunteers his synthesizing abilities. He also can do lighting and video production. Sebek has been playing violin since he was little because he admires Malleus (erm, though Harveston Sledathon showed us Sebek sucks at playing it sooooo—). Silver says his farther showed him how to play the ocarina.

Riddle is so excited to have so many different people joining him. No matter how many times he invites Trey, he doesn’t join the band. Cater teases Trey and says his singing for their dorm’s events isn’t bad.

Riddle suddenly invites everyone to his house for tea?! This alarms Trey, but Riddle insists his mom will be happy to see him.

Trey worries the strawberry tart he brought with him from his own dream will get them in trouble. Cater and Grim offer to eat it in case of emergency!

L ch avajGqian SRBRk 😭 He says Riddle’s mom can’f be anywhere near as fierce as Malleus’s mom…

Leona starts to say something but doesn’t finish the thought.

Aaaand here we are at the Rosehearts residence!! Look at all the family photos. (This is not what the home looks like irl; there aren’t this many photographs, probably because Riddle implies that his parents don’t have a happy marriage 😢)

WhAT YhD fuKKKJKKk

Riddle’s mom speaks in a much higher pitched voice and sounds so caring. (We don’t get to see her; it’s just a voice since she’s speaking from the kitchen.) She calls him “Riddle-chan” and is happy he brought so many friends.

Chenya notices the strawberry tart Trey brought in. Grim tries to eat it but Riddle explodes on him, saying that it is HIS. Riddle’s mom is okay with this 💀 and Riddle confesses he has tarts twice a week, even when it is not his birthday.

Riddle goes to have his mom slice the tart up. As soon as he leaves, Trey releases a HUGE breath. He was so nervous about Mrs. Rosehearts losing her temper. Ortho senses his vitals shooting through the roof and recommends he sits down.

They start looking at the photos on the wall. Oh, Riddle’s dad is there too. Ace comments that the focus of the pictures if Riddle while the parents’ faces are blurry. (Is it because Riddle cannot imagine what his parents’ happy faces look like 😭) One of the pics is 6th grade sports day (an egg balancing on a spoon race), another is them swimming, Halloween, etc. Riddle was able to have a happy childhood with Chenya and Trey; their families hang out too.

Lore about family photos time?? Cater’s sisters and mom of course love to take them. Ace’s mom shows baby photos in the house. Sebek’s dad wants to take pictures more than his mom does. Deuce’s mom uses her phone. He has the framed photos in the closet in his rebellious phrase but wants to take them out when he wakes up. Lilia has an instant camera and uses it to take pictures once a year on Silver’s birthday. The Shroud parents have family photos at their work desks. Ortho regularly sends them photos and videos of school events.

Leona’s special cuz he’s a ✨ prince ✨ A newspaper has a photographer assigned to the royal family. He’d take pics without permission and the public relations officer had to confiscate them. Leona naturally hates family reunions that are arranged just to enhance their image. They’re not fun and people just pretend to be friendly.

dbjsbsjwjens Leona doesn’t really have photos of himself when he was young but his mom and Kifaji would take casual pics. He hates when he gets pestered for photos… like his Ceremonial Robes vignettes! Apparently they want the pictures to decorate the private dining room, Mr. Kingscholar’s hospital room, etc.

Ummmmmmmmmmm… Trey ain’t lookin’ so hot…

He says he has no memories of what is in these photographs. He + Chenya only played with Riddle for a month or two before the tart incident, and Riddle went to a private school whereas he + Chenya were public.

Riddle drops 5 sugar cubes into black tea, plus plenty of milk and honey. Leona makes a snide remark about how it’s rude for the host to not take the guest’s preferences into consideration to serve them OTL (you’re so right, king—)

Riddle offers everyone a chiffon cake and butter cookies his mom made. But… hm? That’s weird. They taste strangely hard and aren’t very sweet. Trey automatically identifies the ingredients; they must be the healthy ingredients Mrs. Rosehearts actually uses irl, because Riddle’s imagination is pulling from memories of his mom’s cooking.

Chenya can use magic but… Riddle can’t?! His dad is a novelist who writes stories with his son as the protagonist and his mom is a housewife full time. Neither can use magic.

Riddle becomes upset that they’re whispering to each other. They should speak up at his tea party!!

HUHHHHHHHH Riddle says be didn’t go to school?????? And he hates studying?! Deuce shouts that he uses to hate school and studying, but at NRC his dorm leader and the teachers taught him well. dhsvsjjww Riddle hates books without illustrations, but Sebek counters that there are books that will suit his taste.

Riddle doesn’t want to read??? His dad will tell him stories orally while Riddle plays with toys. And he works from home, so Riddle can ask him whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Cater brings up play croquet at their dorm.

Uuuh Riddle becomes fed up with the topic and demands it be changed. No problemo, cuz Ace was gonna talk off the cuff anyway. People start to consider leaving the band due to Riddle’s inability to read the room and his lack of ambition.

Riddle gets mad and starts raging. In seeps the darkness. We try to leave but Riddle prevents them. The entire room they’re in becomes like… locked? So they cannot leave.

A simple color palette swap makes this look like a scene straight out of a horror game.

A bunch of tea rushes in from another room and everyone works together to close it. They dream form change out of their tea-Soaked clothing.

They deduce that the room itself is the NPC and it must have been pretending to speak in Riddle’s parents’ voices since no one ever saw them. The room where Riddle’s dad works produces a flood of manuscripts, whereas the kitchen is a torrent of black tea. Suddenly, a hand emerges from the tea…! IT’S RIDDLE’S MOM TRYING To DrAg ThEM IN

They hear humming and Chenya appears! Leona threatens to turn the house to sand BUT HE GETS COLLARED 💀 Trey tries to overwrite the collar with his own UM but gets collared too. “Anyone that tries to escape the house will be beheaded”, according to the dreamer’s will.

It’s hard for them to locate Riddle; the space keeps twisting and turning and the magic formula governing it keeps rewriting itself.

ERRRRRR the black tea in the room is increasing even if nothing is gushing in from the kitchen anymore… This truly is one big horror movie now OTL

They try to climb onto/into stuff to keep afloat. Then we hear someone crying… Riddle? His tears are what’s filling up the room. He says, “I want to get out…” UM???? Of your living situation????? (Not me laughing around Leona saying in his most insincere voice “We’ll help you, so show yourself”…)

Leona compares Riddle to a rose with thorns, hurting people indiscriminately. (Okay, oddly poetic when you’re on the brink of death but sure, pop off)

Trey begs dream!Chenya to please show them the way to Riddle. The other card soldiers speak up and talk about how strong and admirable of a leader Riddle is. Finally, Chenya agrees to show them a shortcut.

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

We cut away to Idia’s dream?? He is preparing hacks and such for the final battle against Malleus. But um?? Is struggling to reconnect to Ortho and the others to provide support.

Suddenly, knocking at his door! Idia wonders if it is S.T.Y.X. staff???? UH-OH IT’S MALLEUS AND HE DEMANDS TO BE LET IN (he realizes Idia is awake)

We don’t get to see what happens to Idia; we cut back to the second layer of Riddle’s dream. It’s a ruined rose garden…

Ortho realizes the connection to Idia was dropped…

Riddle is berating some mobs (rule 372: if a red mushroom grows, the roses must be white). He has dream!Adeuce send them off to a punishment room where they have to write down rules 300 to 500.

Dream!Cater overhears some mobs whining. He and dream!Trey remind everyone Riddle is always correct and they should salute and follow him. Riddle has an evil laugh… and then has a smile as he says his mother was right all along.

Seeing this, Trey wonders if this is the future that would have happened if he didn’t get “lucky” and overwrite Riddle’s magic that one time.

Oh???? Silver says his father told him magic originally was a miracle birthed from a strong desire in the heart. He says that it was, then, no mistake that Trey’s Paint the Roses trumped Riddle’s magic. It was Trey’s own strong desire to stop Riddle that allowed him to turn the rose bushes into playing cards.

Chenya reappears and offers to show us more. He sneaks over, pulls on Riddle’s cloak, and makes him fall over?! Which pisses him off, obviously.

Riddle blows away the bushes we’re using to hide and is shocked to see doubles of his students. Leona gets fed up and confronts Riddle about how this is all a dream.

LMAOvvvvvsnbabzgajavaowkw Dream!Trey tells Riddle to not listen to Leona… LEONA IS A CORRUPTING FORCE AND A BAD INFLUENCE 💀 I want to argue, but… he sort of has a point…

Riddle commands we be captured and taken to the punishment room too. The mobs start to praise Riddle for everything he has done for them, including (for some reason) lowering their tension and giving them a reason to live????

Leona tells Riddle’s it’s empty and meaningless to be cheered on by an illusion. But Riddle insists he is happy this way. THIS IS SAD, he’s equating fear, respect, and love… What the fuck does this say about his own feelings towards his mother??

A bunch of Heartslabyul students descend on them. Without help from Idia, we can’t defend!! We tear off into smaller groups and run into the rose maze.

This is fr so sick and twisted 💀 Riddle is starting to wake, but dream!Cater and Trey tell him not to think of painful things. If he wakes up, everyone will hate him and he will be alone again—and Riddle doesn’t want that, right? So Riddle agrees, no one should be able to leave the world of dreams.

Okay so group 1 is Yuu, Grim, Sebek, and Ace. Group 2 is Leona and Deuce. Group 3 is Silver and Cater. Group 4 is Trey and Ortho.

Their phones don’t work so they cannot text or call each other.

Rule 63 is this: those who upset the queen in her court will be chased in the rose maze by card soldiers. If you try to climb or jump over the trees, they will attack you. In Diasomnia, there are thorns under the drawbridge that have a similar protective function. Though now, Malleus has a protective barrier around the dorm.

They hear Deuce calling out to them and Ace is suspicious. He tells Sebek, Yuu, and Grim to be quiet and let him handle this.

Ace goes up to Deuce and “reveals” himself to be darkness. Deuce is relieved and reveals himself to be darkness too. Ace, pretending to be darkness, tries to convince dream!Deuce that the real Deuce and Leona went “this way”. Unfortunately, Sebek concludes Ace was actually darkness and intended to betray us. So Grim breathes fire, melting away the wax (?) Ace was using to disguise himself as darkness and he realizes their mistake.

dbsjbsjw THERE’S a SiLLY TRUMPET SfX TO suMMON THE oTHER CARD sOLDIERS

They beat back dream!Deuce, but now too many soldiers are swarming them. Sebek accepts the onus for not trusting Ace and jumping to conclusions; he uses Living Bolt to clear a way for Yuu, Ace, and Grim to run away while he stays behind.

Now let’s bounce to Leona and Deuce! dgshevkw Deuce thought he was with Ace, Yuu, and Grim… but nah, it’s Leona! Leona tried to run off by himself, like in the opposite direction of the loudmouth Sebek www Instead he’s stuck with Deuce…

LEONA syING hE’S GONNA SMSvk RIDDLE

Omg Vargas Camp canon to main story??? Deuce talks about a sports club camping trip to the mountains led by Vargas.

Ace shows up acting relieved he found Deuce and Leona. REALLY starts glazing Leona up too, talking about how strong he is and how he could easily overpower Riddle if they act as bait. Deuce becomes suspicious because Ace wouldn’t say stuff like that, even if he thought it. He demands to know what Ace’s dream was—but Ace cannot answer, so Deuce knows this must be darkness?

Leona tells Deuce he will turn some bushes to sand; he should sprint through them quickly.

nuuuUquUUYYR hE CALLS bdeuCE A GOOD BOyYYYTG OTL (like, loyal dog/follower of his dorm) AnD HE DIESNmF DiSLIKE THAT OTL

Leona claims to be a kind prince LOL uhhh he does The Plan and Deuce escapes! Leona is left behind to fight off dream!Ace and his heart suit goons.

Silver and Cater run into what I assume is dream!Trey. Cater wants he and Trey (who are familiar with the ever-changing maze) to split up and search for the first years, but dream!Trey wants to stick together.

Cater asks Silver if he ever gets tired of fighting the darkness. How does he do it?? Silver confesses he almost gave into it many times but his friends were always there to pull him out of it.

Oh, Cater’s dad has been transferred for his job less as of late, so now he is able to have more long term relationships. Cater also reveals he used to room with Trey prior to third year (where they have separate rooms).

Lore drop, Heartslabyul is the second oldest dorm.

Cater tells a story about how he pitched the idea of transferring to Scarabia with Trey, which dream!Trey agrees with. Turns out, it was a bait laid out by Cater to test of this Trey was real—and dream!Trey fell for it! He admits that he started to suspect Trey was fake when Trey wanted to stay together rather than split up. Trey, who is an older brother, would always prioritize the safety of the first years!

AHHHHHH they’re being overwhelmed and they’re running short on magic :<

Last group to check in with is Trey and Ortho…! Trey shares more about the plants in the garden. They’re magical and must be grown by hand. Some of the plants move if you command them to, bur some others are stubborn. In spring, they have a concert with the flowers. Ortho says the trees in Pomefiore are raised similarly to the Heartslabyul plants.

OKAY SO. Pomefiore is the oldest dorm, then Heartslabyul, THEN Diasomnia. This all but confirms a fan theory that the age of the dorms corresponds with each dorm's irl film inspiration release date. From oldest to youngest, that would be

Pomefiore- 1937

Heartslabyul- 1951

Diasomnia- 1959

Octavinelle- 1989

Scarabia- 1992

Savanaclaw- 1994

Ignihyde- 1997

Aaaaah here comes the dream!Cater. He claims he escaped alone.

Trey discusses Cater’s magic and how it’s like casting 2-3 spells at once since Cater has to use magic to manipulate each clone. Thus, the power level of Cater and his clones goes down. Meanwhile Riddle’s UM can impact multiple people at once and he can spellcast quickly.

HUUUUH Cater applied to duel Riddle not too long before his third year? Wait no, that’s a lie Trey came up with to entrap dream!Cater! Trey knew it must be a fake because he doesn’t see Cater as the kind of guy to leave others behind and escape to safety on his own.

Trey tells Ortho to escape without him…!

That leaves us with only Adeuce, Ortho, Grim, and Yuu able to escape. They regroup and find their captured allies tied to rose trees. Trey begs Riddle to wake up.

Deuce suggests to use his UM to defeat Riddle, and Ortho volunteers to be Deuce’s shield (~10 seconds) while he aims, since Riddle’s UM does not work on Ortho.

Rare moment of development for Yuu??? They have dialogue options and can express that they feel useless, constantly being protected and not able to help.

Ortho asks us to protect Idia’s tablet. And Ace is entrusted to protect Yuu and Grim!

dbjsnsksks Deuce’s plan doesn’t really work out. Riddle starts spamming spells that throw Ortho off; Deuce can’t get his aim quite right.

Grim tries to scamper out to fight but Ace holds him back. Ace becomes increasingly frustrated that he keeps being protected by others (Sebek, Deuce, Ortho) and can’t do anything to help.

AhHHHHHH Ace has his own little depression flashback moment 🥺 calling himself pathetic, lame, useless… unable to save anyone at all. But then words start coming to his head…!! He disrupts Riddle just as he’s able to collar Deuce!

“I’ll take your best/most precious treasure. Joker Snatch…!”

HE COLLARS RIDDLE :000 Deuce uses his UM and shovk Riddle awake… I can’t believe the class 2E boys both got physically beaten into submission 💀

WOW Cater NYOOMS to Riddle and hugs him?!.?:’snwkgelek

Sebek offers to carry Ortho, but Ortho is super heavy.

UHHHH here comes the darkness… Adeuce rush over to help Riddle, even though he commands them to go to someplace safe. (SEBEK CALLS ADEUCE BY THEIR NAMES AND NOT "HUMANS"!!!) Riddle commands Trey and Cater to remove Adeuce and they do as he says; we of course follow after Riddle as he sinks.

Riddle has his moment squaring off against his Phantom. It's quite interesting; his darkness exclaims that he must hang onto the seat because he has nothing else. Everyone loathes him, so he has to do everything he can to cling to power. Riddle calls himself out for the tyrant that he is and expels that darkness.

Rule 1 of the Queen of Hearts: to stay where you are, you must run with all of your might. From now on, Riddle says he will do just that.

He resurfaces in his home and is approached by his mother, who claims he fell asleep while reading about crocodiles in the Nile River? (Wh-Why is the Nile River canon in Twst when that’s a real world location that should not exist in this one...)

Riddle summons his magic and collars his mother, making her melt away into nothing. He gets a really cool line...! "I refuse to stand in front of a door that won't open anymore. Even if the opening is as narrow as a keyhole, I will pry this door open with my own hand and move forward. I will walk forward, on my own path!"

THIS IS REALLY FASCINATING BECAUSE ALL THE WAY BACK IN THE EPISODE OF HEARTSLABYUL MANGA... THEY USED A DOOR AND KEYHOLE IMAGERY TO DEPICT RIDDLE COMING OUT OF HIS OB

Right as Riddle regains his senses, he crashes through the floor of his dream and... somehow lands where Idia is?! He's busy programming.

There seems to he… maybe a reference to Idia’s Bloom Broom vignettes??? Idia’s best subject is Summoning and he seems to have summoned Riddle to him? And Riddle says that he has read Idia’s research papers before; this was also mentioned in said vignettes (Riddle expresses an interest in his papers).

Idia tells Riddle that the Final Boss, Malleus Draconia, is waiting on the other side of his bedroom door...!

THAT'S IT, THAT'S WHERE WE LEAVE OFF???????? WE'RE DEFINITELY NEARING THE END, BOYS...

Okay, so first major thought I had!! Riddle’s dream confirms many of the thoughts I have ha about Trey and his feelings toward Mrs. Rosehearts and his own role in Riddle’s trauma. I have legitimately NEVER heard Trey sounding this panicked or scared, not even when Riddle was about to OB. Trey hurriedly rushes to put away the strawberry tart out of fear, just waiting for Mrs. Rosehearts to start shouting hysterically at him. Ortho even comments about Trey’s vitals rocketing. This definitely reads to me as Trey being traumatized by that whole incident 💦

BIG BRo CATER CONTINUES… Him making up the lie about Leona being a great drummer was so dumb but it worked!! And then he cares so much about Riddle when he finally wakes… would never run off on his own and abandon his friends… 😭 HNNNNGH CATERRRRrrRRRRR WhEN i CmgEFt MY gaNDS ON YOUUUUUuUUU

And holy cow, there was SO much symbolism in Riddle’s dream 😳 dream!Mrs.Rosehearts’s sweets looking good but is insincere and tasting terrible, as opposed to Trey’s tart which looks terrible from the rough travel but is made with care and tastes good… Riddle wishing for a happy family life so his house is crammed with photos… parents that are always emotionally available for him… not having the pressure of being a mage or having a legacy to live up to… the house being a place that locks them inside (because it might feel like a prison to Riddle)... Not just symbolism for Riddle's desires too, but also tons of Alice in Wonderland references!! ASFIHBAYOSFPADFIA I'D WASTE SPACE IN THIS POST LISTING THEM ALL OFF, BUT JUST KNOW THEY'RE THERE AND THEY WERE AMAZING FOR ME TO EAT UP AS AN ALICE IN WONDERLAND STAN

It’s interesting how Chenya here serves as sort of a helpful NPC to us, similar to Kifaji. His actions are a lot more dubious here; he’s not strictly good and spends most of the dream siding with Riddle. Chenya only swaps sides when we convince him. I wonder if he, too, represents some self-aware part of Riddle??? Since Riddle was later shown trying to maintain the dream world even when he learned it was fake.

They tried to recapture the glory of book 6 by having the characters split up. I'm not sure if it worked as well (since each was kind of short and repeated a lot of the same lore about the Heartslabyul rose bushes), but it served its purpose. The best part was definitely how the Heartlabyul students used what they knew of each other to figure out the fakes. It's a very effective but subtle way to show how they've become more familiar with one another. I feel like this update overall was very lore-heavy. We learned new stuff about the dorms' ages, their protective measures, their plants, etc.

It was interesting to have a rare moment of character development for Yuu? They barely get anything in way of characterization, so that surprised me. I wasn't expecting ACE to get his whole Depression Arc in the middle of Riddle's dream either--but I guess whining hard enough works, because he finally FINALLY got his UM!! Still not sure how it works yet. It seems to let him steal/borrow or copy other's UM??? But Sebek describes it as "it seemed like you and Riddle swapped magic". We have to wait for more details to drop in a later update. Can't say I like the name for his UM though; it makes me think of him stealing a clown's wig. ASDULBIADBSPSAB So proud of Ace; with this, we now have the UMs and chants for every one of the NRC students!

Overall, Riddle really surprised me. His dream ended up being roughly THREE TIMES LONGER than the average dream 💀 Not sure if I like that pacing, but at least this was fun to dissect. I like that they seem to have put extra effort into this portion, especially since the game is called Twisted Wonderland. It feels like a homage to the original story, especially since that novel ended with Alice waking up. I loved that Riddle has an inner child that he represses, but that even his desires are "held back" by knowledge he doesn't have... like his parents' happy faces or what his mom's homemade baked goods might taste like. It made me feel for him. ASDIUBASDASBDBPASIqryrqp I kind of feel like a proud parent reading his cool line about finding his own path at the end. It's very different than himself earlier in the dream, ignoring difficult topics and actively denying reality, where he fears he will be left sad and alone OTL Ndhdiwjekw Not sure if I care for his actual childish behavior though… Slightly grating to me.

THE HORROR STYLE PRESENTATION WITH MALLEUS REALLY UNNERVED ME. I would shit bricks if I was Idia too, dang... I'm on the edge of my seat for the next installment. S-Surely book 7 will have to wrap up soon, right? RIGHT?????

[torchickentacos]

Okay, I've spoken to several of you who like both of these things and I need to know how deep this runs because it's an 'if I had a nickel for each time this thing happened, I'd have (x) nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened (x) times' thing-

[doeneb]

May j have your permission to put my oc(Miss Roslyn/Mary Roslyn) in the UniversityOfHome Au?

Of course! I don't have a lot of rules for it and you can be practically anything in the au!

Only rules so far:

• If you are a teacher please put a lanyard/ID on the character and have the school's "UH" logo somewhere on the outfit!

That's about it do far lol

But yeah go wild ❤️

(Remember to read the tags! I ramble in there so posts aren't too long and put information in there!)

[tubatwo]

once more to see you - huening kai

summary: where meeting TXT Bank’s new intern makes y/n come up with any excuse to see him

pairing: gn reader x huening kai

genre: fluff; 2.1k words

a/n: I don’t even know what this bank thing is for yet I just saw this pic and immediately had to write. also this is literally not how bank visits go but LMAO. aren’t silly stories just perfect!!! nothing makes sense!!!

working in food service in one of the busiest cities meant that each night would end in tips galore. thankfully, your regular checks were enough to pay the bills, so you usually stuck with depositing cash tips at least once a month.

this was a regular routine that worked for you. walk into TXT Bank, talk to the strict bankteller whose name was apparently taehyun, show your ID, hand money over, boom. done.

but one day, this routine ended up falling apart. you walked in, and instead of taehyun, you were met with the face of the adorable new intern.

kai was deeply focused on the computer in front of him, desperately trying to figure out the client case taehyun showed him earlier. his cat-like manager’s instructions kinda went in one ear and out of the other, so it was crucial to figure things out as soon as possible if he wanted to secure his full-time position. that is, until he noticed your figure approaching with his peripheral vision.

the two of you locked eyes, eyes sparkling as if you each had just spotted an adorable puppy. kai’s cheeks grew red and your ears started to feel hot as you walked closer to him.

“hi, excuse me? i’m here to deposit cash to one of my accounts.” you look down and start to play with the zipper of the bag holding your tips, the eye contact from before making you overwhelmed as your brain practically malfunctions. where the hell is taehyun? and did he have to leave someone so cute in charge?

kai clears his throat before putting on his best customer service voice, “of course! i’d be more than happy to help you, ma’am.”

you look up and see his name tag: ‘KAI HUENING - INTERN’ the word ‘intern’ snapping you out of your temporary trance from before.

“oh um, is this the right desk? i noticed your tag says intern…” the furrow of your brows and confusion all over your face makes it near impossible for kai to hold back his smile as he responds. “no worries! i’m in the midst of receiving a full-time position here. i may be an intern, but i can assure you that i’m approved to work on deposits. we’re just a bit short-staffed at the moment.”

kai’s warm, gentle gaze washes over you, so much that even if he was straight up lying, you wouldn’t even blink an eye. his brown eyes were slightly hidden by the strands of hair falling over his face, which also happened to be decorated with soft moles all around. his mullet-like haircut also complimented his button-up, making him look like the lead singer of an old pop-rock band.

“ma’am?” kai’s voice pulls you out of your thoughts, making you flinch a little. “oh, i’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!”

you wave your hands and apologize, “i’m sorry! i suppose i started drifting off a bit. here is everything you need.” you pull your ID and the cash out of your pouch, handing it to the intern and trying to calm your heart after your fingers brush against each other. after everything is finalized, kai hands your ID back to you. “alright, everything is set!”

you look at his nametag once again, “thank you um… kai?, i really appreciate it.” kai’s cheeks grow red again at your voice saying his name so sweetly. he chuckles nervously and scratches his head. “yep, that’s me! well, did you need anything else?”

you try to rack your brain for any possible thing that could extend your stay, but nothing comes to mind. “no, that’s all! thank you again.” you say, slightly disappointed. kai smiles. “it was my pleasure, make sure to visit us again!”

and you did. many times. like waaaay too many times.

after meeting kai, you couldn’t help but want to see him more. your usual monthly trips to the bank turned into weekly, and then almost daily. every time you collected your tips for the night, you made sure to visit the bank again in the morning.

as you visit more frequently, you and kai’s interactions start to become playful, and you become a bit more closer. you both still get shy as you lock eyes, but jokes are often thrown in here and there. kai found himself taking extra time to count your money when you came in, desperate trying to hold onto every second of your presence.

“hey!” you try to hold in your laugh, “as the intern, shouldn’t you be learning to count faster not slower?” you joke. kai’s hearty laugh fills the room before he pretends to look offended. “excuse me? it’s only natural that I get a little distracted when a pretty person enters the room”. his words make your entire body grow warm, and you can’t help but try to shift the focus away from you. “o-oh? I don’t think that line was part of your training.” you giggle.

kai giggles with you before thinking of a rebuttal, “you’re right actually. our handbook specifically says to not flirt with customers... buuut i’ve never been great with remembering the rules.”

“well, if you’re gonna be a bankteller then you should probably start studying before you end up in jail for fraud or something.”

the two of you burst out laughing, failing miserably when it comes to keeping quiet. you let out a few giggles again before you’re left in a comfortable silence. “I guess you got me there, but seriously y/n, i’m happy I can always help you.”

after a few months of visiting kai (and seeing the bank more than your own family), you wake up one day to head over before realizing that you don’t have any tips to deposit. “shit.” you whisper to yourself, closing your eyes in frustration. you had the day off yesterday and don’t go back to work until tomorrow. you were left with a completely free day to do whatever you wanted.

any normal person would have taken the chance to relax, maybe get some chores done, even some shopping? but the only thing you cared about was hearing kai’s laugh again. there had to be more reasons to visit the bank, right? yeah! you could come up with something…

after cleaning yourself up and getting ready, you felt slightly embarrassed at how much effort you put into your appearance. were you trying too hard? would kai get the wrong idea and think you were meeting with someone? by the time you had answered your own questions, you were already at the front door of the building. you took a deep breath and headed inside, expecting brown eyes to meet yours again.

well, they did. but they weren’t the ones you were looking for.

“how can I help you?” kang taehyun asks after seeing you walk in. his eyes go back to his computer, and he begins typing something up. you’re so caught off guard that you can’t even come up with a response. you already didn’t know what to come here for, and now that taehyun is in front of you, you feel stupid for even showing up.

“I want to… um…” you trail off, causing taehyun to pause his work and stare at you, waiting for an answer. you look around nervously before quicking spewing out, “open a bank account! yes! I um, want to open a new account.”

taehyun goes back to type some things into his computer. “ID?”

“huh?”

“ID. I need your ID to confirm your identity, ma’am.”

you suddenly realize what you’re doing and awkwardly feel around in your purse, looking for your wallet.

well shit.

“s-sorry, it’s uh… it’s gotta be in here somewhere.” you stall. as taehyun pinches the bridge of his eyebrows, a familiar figure exits from one of the staff rooms.

“hey taehyu-” kai notices you in front of him, a worried look etched across your face as you dig through your bag. taehyun motions kai over, “come watch, kai. you can see how we deal with customers who clearly show up unprepared.”

kai’s voice and the mention of his name immediately make your head shoot up. you look at him embarrassed, desperately wishing you could go back in time to when you were still in your bed. you feel frozen as the two men stare at you, waiting for you to do something.

“hey,” kai reaches out to lightly touch your arm, “are you okay? do you need help?”

you brush him off, not wanting to worry him. “no, i’m okay hyuka, i’m sorry.”

before kai could react to you apologizing to him (for what seemed like no reason), taehyun eyes the two of you suspiciously. “do you two know each other?” he asks. kai looks over and nods before speaking, “yeah, we’re uh… friends…?” he looks over at you with a mix of hope and hesitation in his eyes, not sure if you felt the same way.

“oh!” your eyes widen, “yes! we’re friends. i’m sorry, i’m just so used to running into him here now.”

kai feels relieved hearing you agree, and his heart beats faster at the thought of being somewhat of a constant in your life, even if it’s just to deposit cash into a bank account. he quickly brushes off his thoughts before coming to your defense. “see? everything’s okay. they’re just a regular customer, that’s all. you don’t have to scare them to death.” he jokes.

“no! it’s my fault,” you admit, “I don’t need to do anything actually… I even forgot my ID on the way here, i’m really sorry for bothering you guys.”

kai looks at you confused. he doesn’t know why you keep apologizing, and he really doesn’t know why you showed up if you didn’t have any requests to make. taehyun, however, is able to read between the lines. “i’ll leave the two of you alone.”

kai doesn’t even glance at taehyun as he walks off. his only focus is you and making sure that you’re okay in this moment. “you’re never bothering us, but is something wrong? what’s the matter?”

you let out a deep breath and decide to be brave. you can do it. just tell him. if nothing works out, you can always just deposit in the future through an ATM or something…or maybe get a new bank.

“okay well, this is super embarrassing but I didn’t have a reason to visit today, kai,” you pause, looking him in the eyes, “I just really wanted to see you...” you trail off, feeling even more embarrassed than you did before.

kai laughs softly at this while you continue to ramble, “which technically is a reason! y’know?”, he takes your hands in his, causing your brain to malfunction like the first time you ever saw him.

“did you really come all the way for me? even without needing a deposit?”

you laugh to yourself and how lame the two of you sound, probably something straight out of a nerd fantasy book. “yeah, even without the deposit.” you smile, squeezing his hands lightly. kai blushes and smiles to himself, trying to come up with a joke to mask his sudden shyness. “are you sure it was worth it? i mean, taehyun’s pretty scary.”

you smile and nod your head, “you’re here in front of me, right? i’d say it was pretty worth it.” you and kai both look around the building only to find that there’s no one else here. just the two of you.

you look back at each other, eyes drifting down to each other’s lips as you gravitate closer. before your lips meet, kai whispers.

“can I kiss you?”

you nod and press your lips against his. one of his hands come up to hold your cheek as if it were made of glass, and you allow your arms to wrap around his waist. as the kiss continues, you chuckle, making him pull away, wanting to see your smile once more.

“can I take you on a date? after I get off of work?” he asks, lips suddenly feeling cold after pulling away. “I would love that, kai.” you smile as you hug him. “it’s a date then! I promise i’ll finish work as fast as I can.”

“oh, no you won’t, I need you to focus instead of rushing.” a certain voice interrupts the two of you.

you look over to see taehyun smirking with his arms folded, almost as if he was silently taking credit for getting the two of you together. kai rolls his eyes playfully at taehyun, “yeah, yeah, I didn’t mean it literally!”

taehyun looks over at you with an apologetic look in his eyes. “i’m sorry for my bluntness earlier. it gets pretty stressful around here, but i shouldn’t have taken it out on a regular customer. I don’t know how kai keeps his composure sometimes.”

“I get to see y/n almost every day, how could I not love every second of it?

[infamous-if]

So sorry for the delay! ! My VS Code program wasn't calibrated with CSIDE and in the indentions basically messed up. The prologue coding is so wonky that honestly if I do anything I end up fucking up 2839393 lines of code. If you've been following a while, you're probably well aware of much hatred for the prologue's coding lmao but we live and we learn.

Storyline wise, not much has changed. Scenes are largely the same, since I'm pretty happy with what I wrote a year ago. For this rewrite, I focused mainly on the big things like choices that will impact the rest of the story and O's gender selection. Some new things include:

you can now play with Orion or Oriana Quinn

you can now express if the band went through a musical rebrand after seven and what the old genre was (which will come up later).

you can now choose whether mc "changed" after seven and what change that was (there's 4, technically 2, options and a "default" vague option, im open to more options since I wanted to do this but couldn't really think of any believable ones beyond the four).

new mc personality: attached vs detached. your mc can have an extra attachment to the band for obvious reasons, or can feel the opposite.

coordinating outfits can now be exclusive to the band members. your mc can be the unique unicorn of the group since they're the lead singer (this is definitely not gonna bite them in the ass later)

adding to that, your mc's reason for fame can be due to wanting to keep the band together.

a new flavor text feeling about seven is now added which is basically "idk how I feel" instead of hating or loving them, you can just make it that MC's feelings for them is just a big question mark. REALISM!

stat changes: stern/playful -- same thing as humorous/serious I just wanted words that encompassed a wider range of behavior Leader/follower - whether mc takes on the leader role or not camaraderie - a band stat that measures the trust/morale/closeness of the band

u can probably see where im going with the stats huh....

smaller changes include:

more choices and options

prose changes + dialogue additions and expanded/ added scenes

The beta testers have not touched this yet, as I wanted to bring it out to collect some last suggestions, ideas from Patrons. Of course, as always, if you do catch errors, please let me know.

My main concern for errors: O's pronouns. It was a long process but I may have missed a few pronouns here and there. Please let me know if you catch any <3

PROLOGUE: 93K WORDS (for context, the old prologue and chapter 1 were 92k together. The prologue is a tiny bit inflated but :))) 

I will make a post about beta testers soon. I've been quiet on that front because I've been just prioritizing getting this out first.

Now available for Band tier! (6$)

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

Yandere! Male! idol x manager! gn! reader

WOOOH finally able to update. I got busy due to working for a summer reading camp. Woop tee doo... At least I got money for a new phone LMAO

And we finally, FINALLY finished the second set of yans! For now, no new yans will be done, and will be focusing on the boys!

Song featured: Too Sweet by Hozier

EDIT: I FORGOT THAT I MADE ELIAS THE SIBLING OF THE YAN! IDOL AND ALREADY NAMED HIM ZAYNE! I'll probably just change Zayne's to Tae-Joon.

Yan! Idol name: Raven/Tae-Joon

The deafening lights and cheers of the people in the gigantic stadium rang around the building. They kept cheering, almost shaking the whole place from their energy.

As the band started playing the intro song, the cheers suddenly amped up in intensity with the focus going back on the stage. Each and every lightstick glowed red, flooding the whole area with a scarlet hue.

The bass pumped, the music riffed, the vibe electric.

The stage fogged up, covering the whole place before the cheering got louder when a appeared in the fog.

Then, there he is.

"HOW'S IT GOING CITY OF [redacted]!"

A charismatic, boyish smile, with pearly white teeth that blinded the secret paparazzi in the crowd, with a tall and lean stature that encompasses talent and discipline in one body, and facial features that make people swoon even in just his photocards.

"RAVEN! RAVEN! RAVEN!"

The man, the idol named Raven, started to sing. His voice was smooth and low as the romantic yet also sensual lyrics pour out of his pink lips.

It can't be said I'm an early bird

It's ten o'clock before I say a word

Baby, I can never tell

How do you sleep so well?

He goes up to the edge, swinging around the mic stand as if it was a dance partner. One can hear the passion going off in his tone as his messy hair got flipped upward.

Don't you just wanna wake up, dark as a lake?

Smelling like a bonfire, lost in a haze?

If you're drunk on life, babe, I think it's great

But while in this world

He gets on the middle of the stage, and the pedestal raised as the spotlight went to him.

I think I'll take my whiskey neat

My coffee black and my bed at three

You're too sweet for me

You're too sweet for me

Everyone was seduced, everyone was mesmerized. Raven gave off seductive energy that they held their breath every time his gaze penetrates them. And some even assumed his gaze was on theirs, making them squeal.

It was truly a night for everyone in the stadium.

After almost two hours of performing, Raven, with sweat pouring out of him but still managed to look amazing, descended down on the stage hatch.

But the once shining star back in the stage suddenly threw his beret on the ground.

"FUCK! What was that buzzing sound in the dance break?!" Raven yelled. "Are you serious?! I thought we went over this!"

The people in the back started to groan inwardly. There he goes again.

"Ah... Tae-Joon..." The director said, "We made sure to reprimand the lights and sounds..."

Raven, or rather Tae-Joon off stage, clicked his tongue in anger. "Whatever. Bring me my coffee! I need a break."

"But you can just go home after the cleanup. Do you still want coffee?"

A naive voice said, obviously new to the scene as she juggle with her box of wires.

She's a big fan of Raven and pulled a lot of strings just to be there. A bit bold, she decided to be the concerned type of staff and berate him of his beverage choice.

Yet she absolutely cannot see the pale faces and the dread sticking on the visages of the people around her. She's in too deep in her tunnel vision of Raven to notice his microphone cracking. Another thing to add to the casualties.

"You... What's your name?" Raven glowered. The fan can feel her heart rate pick up as she told her name. "Oh. You're new. All i could say is..."

Raven got up to her and glared at her much smaller form "You're fired. Get out! Nobody gets to dictate what I damn drink!"

The woman was too stunned to speak as she got dragged out of the venue.

This is Raven. Or in real life, Tae-Joon. A charming man in his own right, in front of the public, he's a gentleman with a seductive touch. Talented, with a handsome visage, he's an international idol.

But in reality, he's one hell of a spoiled brat.

"I WANT MY COFFEE NOW!"

Somehow, because of his sheer dumb luck and his reputation, nobody from his staff decided to expose him for what he really is.

He's full of himself and loves to gloat about his own achievements. And one thing he makes sure to take advantage of is his looks.

He brushes his hair back, shaking off sweat (ew) yet somehow looks so ethereal as he clicked his tongue in annoyance, mesmerizing his staff.

He even went as far as to feed his delusional fans and stans.

He's that far gone.

"Where the hell is my coffee!"

"AY COFFEE!"

He's awful to everyone.

Except...

"Tsk. Tae-Joon... If I hear you yell one more time!"

Raven cowers a bit, pouting as he slithers towards his manager.

"But manager~!"

As if he's a new person, Raven clung to you. His head on your shoulder as he played with your left hand.

"I want my coffee and none of these incompetent people are giving me my coffee!" He whined like a child complaining to his parent. "Scold them for me pwease!"

The staff, used to it, sighed in relief as your deadpan look didn't tolerate Raven's rudeness. On your right hand is his coffee that you handed to him.

"Manager! Thank you so much!" His eyes wide and appreciative, he sips on it and sighs in relief. "Ah... So good... This is why I love you, manager."

Goodness. He's putty in your hands.

Tae-Joon was once a trainee. He's naturally good looking already so he's being pulled left and right by companies to be in their side. He's an uncut gem, a diamond in the rough waiting to be polished. They saw his potential and wanted a slice of his being.

The once sweet boy, hardened by the harsh training, became a gloating hardhead from the way these people fight for him. After all, he was just a quiet, ambitious guy in highschool. He wanted more, and he got it through hard work and natural charm. And now, years later, he's about to reach his dreams.

Yet once he got in the company of his choice, his demands were... Too much.

"I need to share a dorm with others? No way!"

"Ugh the mattress is too stiff."

"Seriously?! You want me to train for five hours a day?! Two hours! Just two hours!"

"What are these clothes?! These are not branded!"

"No way that I'm performing in that small stage. I don't care if I'm pre-debut, that is ass!"

"Trash beats. Next."

The company was exhausted. He's not even raking money in, yet he's too demanding for his own good.

Desperate, the company opened their doors for a babysitter manager that has a "calm and pleasing personality", "trait that can work in high stress situations", "adaptability", "great leadership skills and authoritative", and can "teach those who are under them". Aka: someone who can tame the damn bird.

That's where you came in.

You were just a fresh graduate in desperate need of a job. Nobody was hiring you since you're new, and needed more experience.

The hiring process was intense, to say the least. You had to herd rowdy children and change them to upright good kids in 10 days. You somehow did it and even got gifts from the grateful parents. Next, you had to juggle schedules and ridiculous demands. Then, you had to endure being yelled and insulted at.

Your mind, heart, and body are now made of steel from that hiring process and you're the only one who rose to the top.

"Congratulations. Here's your care. His name is Tae-Joon, stage name Raven." The head said, nervous and hopeful that you with Tae-Joon will change his attitude.

Tae-Joon raised an eyebrow and sneered. "Ugly."

You were flabbergasted. This is a supposed to be future idol?

But you can only manage a twitch on your lips.

It was hell with him. You thought the hiring process/training regimen was bad, but this was something else.

A explosive personality, he's sassy and mean to a point of wanting to face palm through your head. You had to physically reel him in at some point just because of a hater.

But unlike the others who cowered and tolerated his behavior, you were stern with his behavior and lectured him most of the time.

"You can't just yell at miss Park just because she messed up your order!"

"Get the hell up! You're going to be late to your training!"

"Who the heck do you think you are, ripping up clothes like that huh?!"

You were feisty in your own right and constantly butt heads with him.

But even then, even just with you around, he's just a growling beast cowering from your lectures as you yelled at him.

Yet, even if as you yell at him, your caring hands wiped his sweat off and gave him his water. If somebody actually messed with him, you would lecture that guy. And there are some times that you laugh at his antics and shake your head.

You treated him like an actual human with feelings, rather than a ticking time bomb.

Slowly but surely, Tae-Joon clung to you. You were his only ally in this godforsaken industry and the only one who understood him. You also didn't tolerate his personality and shaped him to be somehow decent.

And, as his manager, you cared for him like nobody did.

Your lectures became less frequent, and he had more instances to see where you smile at him proudly as he finally had his solo debut. More time to talk to him normally, and had small, intimate moments that fuels his social needs.

And as his fame skyrocket, you were always there, waving his lightstick and being his number one fan.

Understandably, he fell for you.

He started to be openly affectionate with you, constantly confessing his love to the point that management had to tell him off to stop being so open with his affection since paparazzi can take a video or picture and ruin his reputation.

He honestly doesn't care. But with you raising an eyebrow at him, he pouts and only becomes clingy in private.

He'd rather hold it in than nothing at all.

And hell be damned if someone took you away from him. Because he may be somehow tolerable now, but that's only because you're there with him.

Raven just got back from practicing for his new song, and was totally exhausted. He dragged his feet, clearly irritable especially that you weren't there with him.

The staff knew he's not in a good mood so they steer clear of his way.

"Have you seen my manager?" Raven asked a staff who only shook their head. "'kay..."

He looks so depressed that the people around him took pity on the guy as he trudged towards the head.

He passed a meeting room and he heard your voice.

"Another Tae-Joon?"

Another him? What?

He decided to listen in and he heard the managerial head clear his throat.

"Yes. Since Raven is calmer now, we think he needs to move on to another manager. You, on the other hand, will be training another... Hothead."

You held your head, feeling a headache incoming.

"No way. I'm not going through that again. I went through hell with Tae-Joon before. I'm not repeating that."

Ouch. Tae-Joon held his chest, a bit saddened by your words. Well, it was true but it didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Yet... You're not going to be his manager anymore?

Strangely, he felt the numbness creeping up his nape.

"No buts, y/n. You're going to be transfered."

"Did you ask Tae-Joon about this?"

"... Yes, Raven gave the thumbs up."

Liar. LIAR!

Tae-Joon wanted to rush in the room and shake the managerial head until he faints. He didn't give the thumbs up at all!

But he's strangely rooted in place as he heard you sigh.

"Okay. Where's this guy?"

"His name is [redacted]. He'll be here by Monday so be prepared."

When you finally finished the meeting, you went out of the room yet felt a lingering warmth by the wall.

Meanwhile, Tae-Joon rushed towards the trainee building. Eyes cold yet body tense. He wanted to see who the hell is this [redacted]. Nobody, as in nobody will be yours. Only he can be yours.

The trainees were flabbergasted as they saw Raven in the flesh, gawking at his presence and bowing in respect.

Tae-Joon didn't care. He wanted to see where this [redacted] is.

Room 5, and he bursts open through the door.

"What the hell- Raven?" The guy was slack jawed, starstruck. "I'm- I'm a big fan--"

Tae-Joon grabbed his collar and looked him in the eye. It was filled with unbridled rage yet at the same time, bone chilling coldness.

"Fix your fucking attitude." Tae-Joon warned. "Don't be over your head, worm. You better be goddamn nice or else I'll lob your head off."

[redacted] felt like it wasn't just a baseless joke, so he swallowed his saliva and nodded.

"Now. I better see you demand a transfer to the group idol department. You hear me? You aren't debuting solo." Tae-Joon tightened his grip. "Understood?"

It reached the ears of the head that Tae-Joon threatened [redacted]. But don't know what. All they know is that [redacted] pleaded to debut in a group and was suddenly meek and quiet when he transfered departments.

Yet, they somehow knew it had to do something with you, as he clung to you desperately for a week after that.

Then and there, they knew to never, ever try to separate you from him. If they don't want to let go of their greatest asset and set him off.

So, despite how dangerous Raven has become, they forced [redacted] to be quiet by... Not so savorable means.

"You're not leaving me, right?" Tae-Joon whispered, looking exhausted yet satisfied as he hugged your waist.

You, who just realized how deep Tae-Joon is in his affection, sighed and rubbed his head. "I'm not."

And it better stay that way.

[777heavengirl]

goodbye nostalgia

james potter x reader one-shot ! warnings: bittersweet? full of happy-sad, comfort? established relationship… actually kind of fluffy word count: 5,031 masterlist

a/n: ive been so so nostalgic and feeling bittersweet so this is what i threw up... enjoy! LMAO

It was so hot you felt the waves of rays from the sun on your skin like you were hovering your hand over a hot stove. Your skin dripped and your sunglasses were no longer enough to keep the glare away from your eyes. You stayed very still, listening, to the bugs in the bushes, the whisper of the breeze, James's laughter inside, and Remus talking more avidly than he usually did, you could hear Sirius burst into a roar of laughter. If you really focused, you could hear the vague hum of Fleamont's radio, the reports of a quidditch game buzzing through. You could hear the blades of grass shift and fold underneath the pink towel you had laid underneath your body when you breathed or moved. You could feel the beads of sweat start traveling down your body, but you didn't move. You didn't dare to, who were you to disturb such a moment? A moment of everything. When your boys laughed, and the cicadas buzzed and Mr Potter's team was winning.

"D'you fancy a bit of mango honey? Bought them at the muggle market yesterday, they said they were imported!" Mrs Potter, Euphemia, approached you, a small porcelain bowl in her hand, orange-yellow chunks sitting inside. They glistened under the sun, and you couldn't help but feel like the mango. Skin wet, juice dripping, the glare of the sun making both you and the mango sweat. 

"I would love some, thank you, Mrs Potter," She smiled at you, and you sat up, carefully cupping the bowl with both hands. 

"Anytime, be careful with the sun-" She winked as she trogged back inside. Euphemia Potter was the poster child for the perfect mother. She was warm and inviting, her laughter often bounced off the walls and the glint in her eyes told you that she was probably just as bad as James when she was young. She was still just as bad now. She was stern and rightfully so, as who could reel James and Sirius back in but Euphemia, barely a word from her lips, and the two boys would stand in front of her like soldiers. The boys loved her, and her warm nature made her easy to love and need. All of your friends ached to be in her presence. And you suspected she was the reason James was so magnetic as well.

"Whatcha doing out here all alone hm?" James's voice rang through the air, the hum of the cicadas falling secondary to his words. He crouched next to you, his fingers snatching a square of mango. He hummed in satisfaction as he savored the sweet, a drop of juice dripping from the fat of his lip. You wiped it wordlessly, the touch of his lips on your finger making your fingertips tingle. "We're going on a ride if you wanna come,"

"Where?" 

"Just the muggle village close by, Sirius is fascinated by the car Remus got" You contemplated it as he grabbed another chunk, this time pressing it against your lips until you opened, welcoming in the cloying taste. You nodded shortly after, a small brilliant! spilling from his lips as he got up, and extended his hands out to hoist you up as well. You pulled your shorts back on, and James pouted at the disappearance of your bathing suit bottoms, but it quickly turned into a crooked smile as you pulled one of his old muggle band tees over your frame. It was old, the logo of The Kinks was soft and faded. If you ran the pads of your fingers over it, you could feel the cracks in the paint. The top of it had been stretched out and cut off impulsively, it exposed your shoulders just enough for James to press kisses onto the skin there in delight. It was smaller, that's why you had kept it, he didn't fit in it anymore much to his dismay. It was from a time when he wasn't toned by quidditch and hadn't stretched to 182 centimeters. It felt like years away, he intertwined his hands with yours as you slipped on your sandals and walked to the front of the house.

You realized it truly hadn't been that long ago.

The car Remus got was an old blue Volkswagen Beatle, one that barely fit his lanky figure, much less the other two tall idiots he was friends with. But you found a way to fit in regardless. He "bought" it from the old muggle couple that lived next to his childhood home, they wanted to give it to him for free, we've been close your whole life Remus, please take it as a present. He refused, ever the humble man, but they agreed on a nice dinner instead.

As repayment for the car, for his childhood, for their memories. 

It felt bittersweet to stuff yourself in the back of the car with James. You wondered if the couple had ever done the same, stuff their closest friends onto the faded black seats, windows down to let the summer air roll in, drive with music blasting and barking fits of laughter. You wondered if they ever held hands as desperately as James clutched to yours, as longingly as you held his. The thought of you and James, all old and wrinkled but certainly not faded, flashed in your mind.

Did the old couple ever drive this far? Close to the coast and the ocean, enough to smell the salt of the sea, with sweat rolling down the skin, nevertheless a smile plastered on everyone's faces. You pondered on their life, of a couple you had met only once, in the fleeting exchange of Remus getting the car keys from them. You drove to the Potter's beach cottage with him that night, the better half of your group waiting for you there. 

You and Remus exchanged knowing glances as the two pureblood boys stared in awe at everything, dragging you into a grocery store in front of where Remus parked the small blue car. The low fluorescent lights gave James’s skin a pale edge, the sunlight outside kept at bay by the door. His high cheekbones and strong nose had blue-tinged highlights. Especially as he dragged you to the back, venturing through the refrigerated section exclaiming at the variety of ice creams in pints and sticks.  He looked straight out of the muggle art films Lily was so fond of watching, you wondered how her vacation in Ireland was going.

“D’you want an ice lolly?” James held two in front of you, a bright red one and a blue one. He hummed in agreement as you grabbed the red one and he smiled at his blue one happily. he didn’t hesitate in opening it, licking it like a child as he continued to drag you around eventually falling into step with Sirius who had been passionately explaining to Remus how he just had to find the muggle strawberry marmalade cookies Evans’ parents gave us when we visited. Remus helped him scan the shelves.

You observed them. The way James approached and offered Remus and Sirius a taste of his blue ice cream the latter trying it curiously. Sirius’s face soured at the blue raspberry taste exclaiming how it tasted like the inside of a cauldron. There were no boundaries or lines to be crossed, for them, everything was shared and treasured. There were no secrets amongst brothers, no borders nor humiliations. 

“Oh so that’s what it is-“ James looked at it curiously, evidently having felt the same. He continued to lick it regardless and Sirius let out a ‘fuck yea’ as Remus handed him the pack of marmalade cookies he’d been hunting for. The marauders were endlessly entertaining to observe. You reckon you had never seen love and friendship in its purest form until you met them. 

James, ever the caring one, fussed and worried over his friends in a way you’ve never seen any boy— or anyone for that matter— do, it reminded you of his mother. The fussing and the insistent questions of Did you eat? did you sleep well? Are you feeling poorly? at any turn of mood was like hearing Euphemia herself. Not that you’d ever tell him how alike he was to his mother.

You loved watching the boys, the way James threw his arms over both of them, even crooked from Remus's stature. Under muscle and hard bone, your soft heart squeezed in something akin to nostalgia. It made you ache and yearn. You thought you could listen to the laughs that bounced from them, in between them, forever. You laughed as Remus scrunched his nose at James's ice cream as the lot of you paid, the cashier looked around your age, bored out of her mind with her summer job. 

"Come ooon Moony just try it-"

"Prongs I hate blue raspberry please-" James pouted, and Remus rolled his eyes, taking a small tentative nibble of the ice. He scrunched up his face again and shook his head. "Yup still tastes like chemicals, don't know why you like it- yer a freak"

James resorted to bickering about it, trying to get Sirius to rally behind him. The long-haired boy paid him no mind as he tried opening the red plastic cylinder of cookies. Remus fell into the bickering with James, both with a smirk pulling at the corners of their lips.

They were just boys after all. 

"D'you want one?" Sirius turned the package towards you, eyeing your red ice treat in return. You nodded, offering your ice cream to him as you wiggled a marmalade cookie from out of the package. He hummed in satisfaction at the sweeter tone of your ice lolly,

"I reckon your girlfriend's got you beat Prongs, hers is better-" 

"Nuh-uh!" He reached over and grabbed yours, pressing it against his lips as he nibbled a bit of it. "Oh-"

The three boys exploded in bickering, your ice dessert eventually falling back into your hands. You never minded, the fact that in the closeness to them, your limits were also blurred. It was comforting and intimate and familiar in ways you had never suspected. You had never had friendships like this, not ones that ended well anyway. They seemed to handle it well, the intimacy between them. The long limbs scrambled together, the way you knew that they secretly held hands sometimes, in reassurance, in strength. Even if for the other two, there were sparks of something more, they never failed to be the same with James. You had been in James' arms more than once, at a party, on the couch, in his dorm, with either Sirius or Remus pressed against the other side. Sometimes the both of them. Sometimes their hands connected, sometimes just the touch of their backs against each other, of knees touching, was enough.

The first time truly witnessing their closeness it was confusing. Their tendency to sleep on the same bed, still in uniform, and a mess of sheets and half of their bodies peeking and pouring out from the bed, made sure that the surprise and confusion eventually fell away. Who could judge when they have never looked so peaceful? Innocent even— Smirks of mischief gone, walls of strength and laughter down.

They really were just boys.

You continued exploring the muggle town, walking around aimlessly as James held your hand. His hands were soft, despite the quidditch-made ridge of callouses on the edge of his hands where his fingers met the palm. They felt awfully warm, but James tended to run on the hotter side. Both he and Sirius did, Remus and you were the cold-skinned ones. James often cupped your hands into his and blew hot air into them. There was no need for such things now, the sun blared down on the four of you mercilessly yet- more forgiving than earlier. As it began to sink in the sky, James's brown skin took on golden tones. He always did look good sunbathed. After watching him many times, you were convinced the sun was made to make James glow, his skin absorbing the radiance with ease. 

"Did you hear me?" James's lips repressed a smile, having caught you daydreaming, you shook your head in honesty "I asked if you wanted to take a stroll around the beach," you saw now, the entrance of the beach no less than three meters in front of you. You nodded wordlessly, being pulled by his hand into a sprint. His already unruly hair was even more windswept, a mess of curls and breeze. Sirius ran not far in front of you and James, his long black hair equally as wild, laughter pouring from deep within him, from his lungs, as he pulled at James's other hand. Remus did a light jog behind you, to pretend he was 'catching up'. He'd eventually get there, his laughter also reaching your ears. You couldn't help it, you really could not. Your lips seemed to have a mind of their own as they broke into a smile, laughter soon dribbling out as well. It was compulsive truly, completely out of your hands, they all had something magnetic that twisted your tummy into laughter, pure joy, and release pouring from your soul. You thought this was why they had become so popular, they were so inviting. The boys, all three of them, acted like youth had been created just for them— like they could eat the world raw.

It was hard not to get caught up in it. They were exhilarating and adrenaline-inducing. You settled on the fact that being with them— with James— felt like fireworks were exploding right next to you, booming and echoing in your chest, lighting up your eyes.

Sirius and James ended up wrestling in the sand, and you let go of James's hand to avoid falling, content with watching them. The sand wasn't wet but it was starting to get cold and you could hear Remus burst into laughter as he jogged towards you, his cheeky, you realized, chuckles reverberating as he knocked the two of you down next to the two undisciplined boys. James screeched in laughter, as he crawled towards you, dropping his head on your tummy seemingly exhausted. 

"I reckon I've won" Sirius sauntered over, tripping over his feet and letting himself fall on top of Remus, one of his legs thrown over you somehow.

"Nuh uh-" 

"You ran away first Prongs-" They squabbled about it like they were five, brotherly bites at each other. Remus let out a breathy laugh whispering to you;

"I think you guys might have to drag me back to the car-" you knew he meant it, not being able to imagine the sort of aches and joint pain he was feeling from the light jog alone, much less throwing the both of you down to the sand, but nevertheless you both exploded into a fit of giggles, the thought of carrying his lanky figure across town prompting your laugh. 

"Oi whats so funny there?" Sirius pressed a finger against your side eliciting more giggles from you as you squirmed away trying to push James off as he also started digging his fingers on your sides.

”Please stop oh my god- please please-“ your giggles left you gasping for air and you felt some relief as Remus pushed Sirius off. The dark-haired boy kneeled next to Remus, trying to catch his breath.

”You’re so paying for that Moony-“ he threw himself on top of the sandy-haired boy and they began to roll around in the sand, wrestling with bubbling fits of laughter as both tried to overpower the other.

”We should get going— mum's gonna have my head” you hummed in agreement, noting how dark it’s gotten. You didn't think of the sand in your hair or the grains that stuck to your skin, the one you'd inevitably be shaking out of everything you owned for the next three weeks. You couldn't think of it when James was now face to face with you. You couldn't help but press a kiss to his cheek, and then his lips, and then the other cheek.

"This wasn't much of a stroll-" your words were soft and slightly teasing, a small pull at the corner of your lip making his smirk grow. He pressed a kiss to your cheek, soft and damp in the way he knew made you laugh and wipe your cheek. You didn't this time, he did it again for good measure.

”I promise I’ll take you on a disgustingly romantic stroll tomorrow yeah?” you hummed in agreement again, and he shot you a dimpled smile. “Oi idiots! let’s go,” 

Sirius groaned in disagreement, trying to contain his laugh as Remus pinched his side and threw him off. They both got up, shaky and still laughing at each other. Remus clutched at Sirius’s shoulder for support.

”Moony I hate to say it but maybe you ought to get some sort of… cane” James hurried to throw Remus’s arm over his shoulders and the taller boy scowled, like a kid who was getting scolded by his mother. They vaguely tried to dust themselves off.

”Prongs I do not need a cane, I’m not 80-“ 

“Might be good for you Moons,” Sirius chewed at the last remaining cookie, the package having been shoved in the inside of his jacket. There was a surprising lack of sand but it was crushed, nevertheless, he picked up the pieces gingerly. "Just think on it yeah?" He said it casually like Remus had to pick between ice cream flavors, and you could see the sting in Remus's eyes. You knew Sirius did not say it in an uncaring way, quite the opposite. Madame Pompfrey had said it more than once, and every time Remus shook his head and walked through the pain.

The four of you made your way back in silence, Remus eventually disentangling himself from James and walking unsteadily to the car. 

"D'you want me to drive Rem?" Your words were low and close to him so the other two wouldn't hear. He shook his head, shooting you a small smile. 

"Come on Moony, let’s ride" Remus couldn’t help but smile as Sirius opened the driver's door with a bow, a goofy smile also playing on his lips. The tension dissipated quickly, it left as quickly as it came, Remus got in the car and James opened the door for you as well.

You started cruising again, down the road, this time the lowered windows let in the cool night air and Sirius stuck his torso out, eventually deciding on sitting on the window, the only thing keeping him tethered to the car being his legs inside and the hand on the roof that helped balance him. James followed soon after, his foot tapping your thigh as he laughed with Sirius. Their screams made you and Remus laugh too,

”What are you waiting for?”

Remus’s deep brown eyes looked at yours through the review mirror and you felt your breath caught in your throat. You felt your fingers shake as you nodded and maneuvered your way out the window, the speed working against you. Sirius cheered as you sat on the edge of the window, a nervous laughter bubbling out of you, the wind sweeping past your face making the tip of your nose and the apples of your cheeks feel chilly. Sirius’s hair flew wildly as he played fast and loose when he let go of the car shooting his arms up, but he didn’t fall, his chest echoed with laughter.

James extended his hand, still sticking on the roof, towards yours, and bravely so did you. His fingers came to a stop right above your knuckles, Remus pushed the car to its limit. The air was more than just cold now, it bit at your cheeks and made your eyes water— but you couldn’t find it within yourself to even mind. It was exhilarating and blood pumping, your heart was about ready to leap out of your chest as the boys let out roars of laughter. 

Soon enough you’d turn into the street where the Potter’s cottage resided in. The small, hidden stretch of street for the magical folks. Remus slowed to a stop expertly, and the grip of James and your other hand gripping the inside of the car helped you avoid the recoil of the stop. Sirius wasn’t so lucky, as he laid his whole upper body— or as much of it as he could— against the car. A terrified grin on his face. At least he didn't fall out.

You all climbed out, mindless chatter between them about what to eat or what to do. But as your heart began to slow down again, and the excitement seeped out of your body, you were left alone with your feelings once again. The moment passed and left you empty like your chest cavity had been hollowed out, scooped out by sentimentality. It made you angry, the way that your eyes felt hot with tears They had no use, truly they did not, they were tears spilled in vain. Nothing was wrong, your boyfriend loved you, you had amazing friends, and you had an amazing day, a thrilling ride home. What could possibly be nagging at your heart?

"Are you going to finally tell me what's been up with you today?" James whispered into your ear, from behind you. You had stayed by the door, shooing them in so they wouldn't notice. But James knew. He always knows. He rested his head on your shoulder, looking at the grassy fields in front of you. "Don't you dare say nothing because I know that look on your face love, besides you've been uncharacteristically quiet this fine evening" There was still a tinge of joke in his tone, an edge that he never really seemed to shake off even when he meant to be serious. 

"It's stupid James, I'm okay I promise" You pressed a small kiss against his temple and went around him to go inside, making a beeline for the kitchen. You hoped it'd be empty, so you could sit and marinate in your thoughts for longer. You could hear James's parents chatting upstairs, their voices traveling through the wooden floors, you could feel the breeze coming in through the patio doors and the boys' echoing laughter, bickering, and the avid conversation that was so characteristically them.

"I hope you didn't believe I'd let you get away with that-" he tsked "shoddy performance love-" James pressed a kiss against your cheek as he came close to you again. You hoped you'd push him off until later, but alas James was a pressing man. 

"Really? I've been told I'm quite an actress-" you tried joking, but the smirk on your lips didn't reach your eyes, and James knew— only from the absence of the singular dimple on the side of your face— that it was false. He took your hand in his, his expression turning somber, 

"I need you to tell me, you've been in the clouds all day-" you sighed as he played with your fingers, his lips pressing a kiss to the tips. You gave in, but for James you always did. You could never tell him no. "I promise I won't tease"

"Do you ever have like, flashes of memories and glimpses in your mind of all these beautiful things? like a montage kind of, just of…you know, beauty that- moves you and love that’s shared"

"A montage?" James' lips curled into a smile, "like a vision? of something you've lived before?"

"No… well ye- no- just everything, even of the moment you’re in... like it'll slip from your fingers and you're missing and aching for it before it's even over" You tried to articulate the feeling, the one that had been slowly eating at your heart. The feeling that makes you cry senselessly and haunts your dreams.

James seemed to think about it, regardless of how frustrated you felt with your own words, he seemed to understand. He mouled it over, and you could almost see the gears turn behind his eyes. For a second you thought you caught a glance of something, something sad and blue and tender—

"Yeah, I know," he bit his lip briefly, from the inside, a nervous habit he had picked up. "it's like you're nostalgic before it's even..."

"over" "over"

You played with his fingers now, pulling and massaging each one. He let you without refute as he went quiet again, deep in thought.

"I feel it when I look at my friends, at you, I think about if it'll last forever—" He looked straight out the window, into the pitch-dark sky, a sad tightening around his mouth "I reckon it is a matter of knowing, of treasuring it, the moment, or whatever 'it' is for you, and tucking it neatly inside your heart... I reckon the only way to deal with it is to force yourself to enjoy the moment"

He looked at you now, his brown eyes stared deep into your own, unwavering. James the ever-cocky one, always brave and always caring, so loud and rambunctious you'd think fireworks exploded in his veins, suddenly seemed so small, and raw. You didn't think he had such feelings, of course, he got down sometimes, but this? This existential mess that rotted and churched inside your heart until you were quiet and blue? No, James Potter could not possibly possess such feelings. He looked at you with tenderness, but the longing that lay under it shoved neatly and discretely in some dark corner of his soul, was new. And something you never expected him to feel.

"There's no need for nostalgia love," he grabbed your hands tightly in his "The time is now.” He said it with determination like it had been something he had arrived at. A conclusion to calm the ache in his chest and reassure himself that there was no need to live in the past, nor sad about something that had not yet passed.

He pressed a quick peck to your lips. But you pulled him closer, soft and yearning. It was delicate yet filled to the brim with love and you hoped he couldn't feel the tears that stained your cheeks, but you knew he did. James Potter knew everything. 

“don't cry lovely” He pressed another kiss to your lips and tucked you into his arms for a hug. 

You shook yourself off soon after, moving away from the kitchen counters. You took his hand now, along with a quick kiss to his lips, and for the first time today, you took the lead. You dragged him outside with his friends. The fire crackled and burned and the boys sat on Euphemia's wicker garden chairs, the cushions that usually decorated the space thrown about, Remus hoarding about four in his chair no doubt trying to calm the ache in his bones. Sirius was halfway through convincing Remus to try the strange cider concoction he had made the previous day, no doubt an alcoholic bomb. They both laughed as Remus continued to refuse the glass Sirius kept pushing in his hands. 

"I'll try it Pads-" You extended your hand and Sirius smiled wolfishly, at the nickname, and your initiative. He handed you the overfilled glass, the drops of the cold liquid spilling over your hand as you rushed to grab it and take a swing. The bitter taste hit your throat harshly the tangy-sweet flavor of the actual cider washing over your tongue as the gulp of liquid made its way down. It was like a punch to the face, but you couldn't help the shrieks of laughter that poured from you.

"Godric's balls-" Sirius let out a roar of laughter, taking the glass back from your trembling hands as you coughed. "Sirius Black you're a sick man- who would drink that" he took a shameless sip.

"That's the most you've spoken today doll I reckon it did its job-" he winked as your face turned hot, and laughter started to spill from both your lips as James grabbed the cup.

"It can't be that bad-" he took a reckless swing, not expecting much- before spitting it out on the grass with a yelp, "Padfoot you're going to hell for that atrocity" he gasped out as he handed Remus the cup. The sandy-haired boy glared at James mercilessly but accepted it, because if you can't beat them join them right?

Remus managed to gulp down more than James had even attempted, "Christ padfoot, seriously this is sick" and was next to succumb to the stomach-aching laughter, clutching his stomach as his features grew red with laughter. He put the glass down in the middle as the four of you continued to laugh. You teased James for spitting it out and Sirius for making it in the first place, James's arm around your shoulders, both of you shaking and clutching to each other trying to breathe from the laughter that impeded it. Remus slapped Sirius upside the head, but the dark-haired boy couldn't manage to retaliate, wiping tears from his eyes, his lungs wheezing.

You hoped it would always be this way, watching the three of them clutch at each other as they laughed, like brothers, like more than that. you dreamt of being in your forties still laughing this way, with nothing but joy in your cheeks and fireworks in your chest. still in the same beach house for the holiday, maybe married, maybe with children with their reckless but faithful friends of their own. 

Maybe it would always be this way.

You decided you’d focus on being 20, as you blinked joyful tears back. You’d focus on their thunderous laughs and their wicked winks. The triplet smirks and the way James pressed you close to your chest as you all laughed until your tummies hurt. You decided you were content now, at twenty. Yes, you were happy.

There was no need for nostalgia, the time is now.

[juniperss]

The Window

a/n: This was originally written on my main account a few years ago but I decided to move it here since I don't change this URL as often and it makes easier to find my writing LMAO.

Dallas Winston x Reader

“Dallas Winston!”

You scolded yanking up your bedroom window so that he could climb through. He was grinning, eyes scrunching in the corners, and you had to force your own smile not to creep out. It was late and to be honest Dally wasn't sure if you'd be awake until he saw the lamp on the desk alight casting a warm glow across the side of your house. You had been at the desk working on homework that probably should've been done long before the stars came out and your parents went to bed, but something had come up. The same something that was currently attempting to untangle his leg from the windowsill.

“You're gonna fall and break your neck one of these days.”

He only scoffed and shrugged off his jacket. You said the same thing every time he climbed the tree to get into your room. He wouldn't admit that he had almost slipped the first couple times he'd done it, but by now the old tree was so familiar he had no issue maneuvering it even when it was raining. You watched as he plopped down on the edge of your bed taking him in. He was sporting a new bruise along the left side of his jaw that looked particularly sore and his lip was busted as well.  Without saying anything you took grabbed his right hand in both of yours, pulling in up so you could inspect his knuckles. Cracked skin confirmed the obvious and you felt the corners of your mouth dip into a frown.

“It's noth-”

“Don't say it's nothing!”

Both your sentences overlapped and despite your best efforts you felt the fear that clung to your chest evaporate enough that you laughed. Just as Dally climbing through your window wasn't a new occurrence neither were the battle wounds and you knew better than to scold. Being friends with Curtis brothers had helped you become less surprised with the lifestyle of most “greaser” gangs. Though they hadn't prepared you at all for the types of mischief that Dallas Winston not only found himself in but actively went looking for. You had no doubt that the injuries he carried tonight were deserved but that didn't stop you from giving him what the boys called the “disapproving mother look”. Though Dally called it your “worried for nothing” eyes.

“You're the reason I keep band aids in my room, you know that right?”

“Why else would I come here? I mean other than to see your lovely legs in those shorts.”

That made you scoff and roll your eyes, but there was a smile attached to it.

Dallas wasn't sure if he would ever tire of how you smiled at him. Overall your smiles were a gift, he was sure, but there something about the ones reserved just for moments between the two of you that he felt were particularly special. Those were ones he enjoyed the most and he tried his best to get at least one out of you each time he saw you. He watched as you gathered the band aides and the alcohol wipes.

“Move over, Winston.”

You had taken his hand back into yours and nodded your head to motion for him to scoot further onto the bed. Instead Dallas closed his fingers around your hand and tugged so that you had to rest a hand on his shoulder, knees bumping his. “Have a seat.”

Those damn brown eyes of his paired with a wink really were enough to make any girls heart explode and you were no exception. You also knew that there was really no other way to get him to hold still while you worked. Not that you were complaining as you sat on one of his legs, your own legs dangling slightly above the floor. His smirk and the proud twinkle in his eyes was burning a hole into the side of your face as you dabbed his bloodied knuckles with the wipes but you ignored it in favor of focusing on the task at hand; his hand.

The warmth radiating off of his body and the familiar weight of his hand in yours was comforting in a way you had tried to describe before but failed. As you settled in and inspected his knuckles Dallas sighed quietly. He wouldn't want to admit to anyone else that your gentle touch and smell of your shampoo made his heart jump to his throat while at the same time calming it's rapid racing until he felt as if he could fall asleep with you perched on his lap. Both of you remained silent, the only sound coming from your tape player across the room, and even that seemed distant. You spared him a glance from the corner of your eyes and suddenly wished you hadn't when you noticed how softly he was watching you. Dallas had the uncanny ability to go from wolfish ladies man to pure puppy dog in an instant, you had seen it a hundred times. But there was something in the way he looked at that was different. It was genuine. Just as your truest smiles were reserved for him, his softest looks were reserved for you.  

“You staying here tonight?”

You inquired as you placed the last band aid across his knuckles. You didn't make a move to get off his leg, instead twisting slightly so you could properly look at him. The bruise along his jaw looked darker up close and you could see the slight indent of where someone's ring had touched his skin. Even when he had cleared his throat his voice was still hushed as if he was worried the atmosphere would shatter around the two of you.

“Yeah.”

Moving around each other in a familiar dance you pulled the covers of your blanket back as Dallas kicked off his shoes, the two of you crawling into the bed next to each other. He would have to be gone by the time your parents were up in just a few hours and he knew he'd have to talk to Darry about the  Socs that had tried to get the jump on him earlier, but he pushed those thoughts away. Your arm was wrapped around his waist, face pressed against his chest, and Dally was more than content to hold onto you.

[hwanchaesong]

☞🍹First Drink: He has lost himself in the sea of vodka and rum, so, why don't you do him the honor of bringing him back down here on earth. 🍸

🎧: The Weeknd - Alone Again

wc: 738

genre & warnings: angst (heavy lmao), fluff, comfort, mentions of being high and drunk, cursing, pet name, Mark is a celebrity but not an idol & reader is a normal college student etc etc

a/n: this is a part of The After Hours Bar series. if y'all want, you can read the other album inspired fics of other groups here.

The loud bang of the door being harshly opened and shut jolted you awake, panicking for a second before you recognized the slurring voice of your fiancé.

You hurriedly went downstairs, worried for his well-being. It's unusual for him to come home drunk or high and cause a ruckus, and if it does happen, that means that something is bothering him.

"Mark?" you called, then you followed his humming, leading you to the kitchen, and there you saw his collapsed body on the floor.

Cautiously walking up to him, your hands went to his shoulders, and that seemed to wake him up from his misplaced slumber.

"Baby!" he mused, pulling you out of the blue, and that left you no choice but to stumble with him onto the tiled floors of your kitchen, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Mark." you plopped yourself up using your elbows, landing a palm over his chest that was heaving up and down steadily, "Is everything okay?"

His eyes shot wide open, gaze focused on you and it made you squirm, uneasy at his piercing glassy orbs.

"I'm tired of this bullshit." he mutters, devoid of emotion and you know that this is one of the nights where he's losing himself.

"Hm? Tell me more." you mumble, sitting up and gently cradling his head, putting it on your lap so he could be more comfortable.

He sighs in content, his mouth opening to speak whilst you tread your fingers in his inky hair soothingly.

"I am tired of people telling me what to do, how to act. It's like I'm only breathing for their satisfaction. I can't live with this fake life anymore."

He rambles and you listen, your heart aching at his hardships.

You will never fully understand the difficulties of being in the spotlight, as your life is as mundane as it could be.

You are a simple university student, studying hard to get your dream job that will pay for your expenses, born in an ordinary family and living in a medium-sized apartment.

He on the other hand is a famous guitarist and singer in a world-class boy band. He stands on top of luxury and stardom, and the pressure and expectations bring nothing but insanity.

That is where you come in, the normalcy in his hectic celebrity life, the main reason why Mark loves you so much.

You complete him in ways that no one else can. With you, he can say his inner, darkest thoughts and emotions without any doubts because he is secure in your presence.

Your hands went to his cheeks, massaging it tenderly before pinching it, making him whine in slight pain.

"Then rest here, breathe here, and live an honest life here with me." you say, and that's the only thing you can offer because there is no way you'd tell him to stop what he's doing.

Mark loves his job, you are well aware of that, so to give him advice about it is a big no no. That would be disrespectful for him and his ambitions.

This is the best option, to give him solace and joy when he needs it the most.

"I told you before, right?" you continue your mini speech of motivation for your beloved, "I am always here to support you. To make you feel safe. I am here to charge your battery when it's empty. After that, I'll let you go and have the time of your life performing."

"And if I get tired again?" he asks, his hands flying to wrap around your own.

"Then the cycle restarts. Come back home to me and I'll give you energy." you answered confidently, intertwining your fingers with his and resting it on his separate shoulders.

Appreciation fills Mark's heart, he would be lost if it's not for you.

"How will you do that?" he mused, thumbs rubbing over your knuckles.

You smile lovingly, leaning down and pressing a passionate yet soft kiss on his lips.

Beyond perfect, love personified is in the shape of you, and Mark wouldn't have it any other way.

You remind him of who he truly is, ground him back on earth when his mind flies a little bit too high, you heal his wounded heart and soul.

In this journey that he took, there would be times where he'll be left alone, but with you by his side, he's never lonely.

taglist:

@sunghoonsgfreal @yeosayang @shakalakaboomboo @mystverse

[mbat]

and thinking about the difference between bill and fiddleford when it comes to fords hands and fords 'genius'

bill makes fords polydactyly a focal point, something impossible to ignore. he tells ford that he'll fit right in with bills band of "freaks" all because his hands are a little different than other humans. he never lets him forget it, even if he says it as something to be proud of, but he and everyone else knows that ford kinda never stopped holding onto the insecurity that was associated with this trait. bill also never let ford forget his smarts, he played into the what ford always wanted to hear about his smarts, but fords brain was only ever a tool to bill. fords hands were (part of) a reason bill wanted to bring him along in his crew, and fords mind was simply a means to an end

and then we have fiddleford who, upon meeting ford for the first time, immediately saw ford as this genius who cared about what he had to say and they connected over their shared love for all that nerd stuff, and it was something that was important to them both and brought them together, and kept them together

and fiddleford says he didnt even notice, after hours and hours of sitting in a room with ford and them focused on eachother (and math)... he didnt even notice that fords hands were different until afterward, when he was looking at a photo of them both. this thing ford had been forced to worry about his whole life, and it wasnt even a thing to fiddleford.

ford wanted to be known, to be loved, for his brain and what he could do. and, in my opinion, it sometimes feels like he almost wanted to make up for the fact he was different, to prove he wasnt 'less than' because of some difference he was born with, this thing that everyone made such a big deal out of

and between the two biggest people in his life (aside from his brother of course lmao), one focused on and made a big deal out of his difference, and the other didnt even notice it. one saw his genius as a tool, and the other saw it as something amazing and admirable.

hell, if the bit of their conversation in the book of bill when they meet is, well, when they meet and is their first words to eachother... the first name or nickname that bill calls ford is, of course, sixer. and one of the first things fiddleford calls ford... is friend.

and i just feel like it says a lot about those two relationships and him.

[t00them00n]

DRUMMER!BAKUGO HCS

This guy who sits next to me in class was listening to the beach boys and my friend the other day had pointed out how he lowk resembles bkg in the way he acts and now i can’t get it out of my head im gonna crash out bc all i see is bkg so i can’t function normally around him anymore

He listens to The Beach Boys

Always has an AirPod in during class and drums on the table while he listens

Hes alwayssss listening to music

He only respects people with ‘good’ music taste on his terms

Defo the type to blast loud music on speakers in his own house

Has those silent drum sets but it’s completely useless bc he bangs on the silicone super loud anyway

This isn’t even a headcanon it’s just me being weird but just like imagine him playing for ages, all sweaty and rly intensely playing any impressive drum solo while breathing heavily and his head nodding along to the beat but it’s still leaning back a bit bc he’s so focused mmmmmmmmmm

GUYS there’s just smt abt thought of how he has to manspread to play and how his eyebrows would be furrowed from focus not even from anger

How his knees would bop up and down super intensely just gives him this meticulous musical rock drummer image (I think I’m just going crazy guys)

BACK TO REAL HCS

Definitely the type to start going crazy on the drums and unintentionally (intentionally) drown out the other people in the band

Is in an intense rock band but his taste actually has small parts where he enjoys those oldish more happy genres (like the beach boys)

Very sentimental abt his drumsticks (won’t admit it) bc they were either a gift from smone special (u or deku if ur into bkdk LOL)

But if not he’s just a big fat drumstick nerd

Still super academic somehow bc with all his musical drummer passion you’d expect him not to care abt school (no one acc expects that just let me have this) but he balances it all super well

Gets rly pissed when he can’t play smt right and refuses to stop until he does

U guys bond over music tastes bc he respects ur taste and ur constantly trading cds etc (jusr for aesthetics pretend we weren’t living w modern tech lol)

He’s like the type to not want to admit he likes ur taste

U give him a new cd and ur smiling at him looking at him expectantly watching his every reaction as he listens to it

He only gets an angry look feeling irritated that u are in fact on his level regarding taste

“It’s a good song right?!” U say

“It’s shit” he says but goes to put the fucking cd in his bag LMAO

[erinwantstowrite]

hi! hope your having a good day/night/timezone/etc.! u got any writing tips (like how to not lose motivation/use up as much of it as u can while u have it, any ways to get the words flowing/“get in the writing mood” that have worked for u) for any of ur fellow fic writers? (idk if this’s been asked b4 (it seems like a common question lmao), but if it has, ‘pologies, lolol ^^)

i have a few that i've been thinking up to try and post!!

remember that you aren't on a deadline to write, and to take the time you need. no one wants to read something you rushed, let alone do YOU want to read it. and it REALLY matters if you love what you're writing. you'll kill your motivation trying to keep up with something like that!! if you only had time to write 300 or you had a great day and wrote like 3000, you're doing great either way!!!

there's a lot to keep up with when you're writing, and you have to remember and understand all of it. if you're trying to write while you're tired/upset/etc, you'll likely end up with something you're not that proud of. (granted, art is art, and sometimes these emotions can create something beautiful or meaningful). take metal breaks so you can come back to your work with a fresh mind, and don't overexert yourself. you'll remember and understand more if you treat your writing time like you would when you're studying. sometimes i make flashcards to remember characters, places, events, etc.

sometimes i can get too analytical with my writing, or it starts to become flat? if that makes sense? meaning, like... i'm putting words on paper rather than delving into the story. too many "they felt this way" and not enough "Character A turns to face the man that had changed their entire life with the single shot of a bullet, careless to what damage he could have caused. It's haunting to see that the man is simply that: a man. Not a monster as they had imagined, laying awake at night and wondering what their father had seen in his final moments. He's just a man." what helps with this is putting myself into the shoes of a narrator, remembering that i am telling the story as if i already know what's happening (even if I don't know where I'm going with a scene yet). i imagine that my reader is right there next to me and i'm telling them the story in real time like we're sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories, or that i'm the quirky narrator of a book they just picked up.

During times where i'm losing inspiration or feel like i'm in a loop, i like to go back to my favorite medias and spend some time with them. i recently rewatched Gravity Falls, the Sea Beast, and the Adam Project, and it was a fun mental break that got me into the writing mood. i try to find similar media to what i'm writing at that time. if i want a scene focused on funny banter or a comedic effect, i read or watch comedy. if i want to write a scary scene, i'll watch a horror movie. etc etc. "studying" your favorite media and putting yourself into your fav writer's writing shoes is a great way to improve your own writing. think about why that joke was funny, what the set up was that made it that way, and if it would have been a different joke if another character said it (Gravity Falls is one of the best media you can use for this, but really, reading mysteries in general can help)

physical exercise, if you can. getting your blood flowing and treating your body well!! when i was in band, we used to do "body warm ups" set to music, and i still do them to this day. it gets me awake and alert while also letting me listen to fun music before i write

[heartsforkento]

my jjk x kpop dr!!

i hope you all will give fucks about this post umm soo let's go

i haven't shifted here YET but once i will 🙏

soo i have the hidden inventory arc characters here + choso (pookie) + sukuna (still pookie ig?)

we're called PARA (i thought of that in two seconds) because it comes from the word 'paranormal' and our concept is themed around paranormal and absurdity and shit like that 🔥 so think dreamcatcher or redvelvet. idk what to call our fans but we'll figure it out soon.

we debuted in 2013 and we're almost like bts/nct/svt type popularity. and we work like xg, like we're japan-based but promote in south korea.

our genres are rnb, psychedelic rock and pop and city pop. so that's like tame impala, pink floyd and various rap and city pop artists. sometimes we do nct/aespa style music as well.

like i mentioned before, we have a weird concept and that changes all the time. we debuted like loona but instead of solo songs, we debuted with group songs, like the vocal team, rap team and dance team. our debut song is "the 7th sense" from nct !

we used to be in some company later bought by hybe. and the jjk manga exists, but it's kinda like how enhypen has dark moon? i'm gonna script our manga is delivered slightly better than it is here and no one fucking dies. and that it wins multiple awards asw hehe.

i forgot to mention we're a 9 member group, 3 people each for vocals, rap and dance. and we're a co-ed group: 6 boys and 3 girls. the girls have our own sub-unit as well.

we kinda have lore? we have made some songs for our manga but our discography isn't entirely based on that.

and here are our positions: (this isn't in age order btw, idk about our ages i'm gonna let the universe decide that)

sukuna. leader and main rapper. he gives off leader vibes and he's totally the main rapper like i don't think any other position fits him 🙏

gojo. main dancer, visual and face of the group. i kinda see him as an all rounder but mainly focused on dancing

geto. lead/main vocal and visual. also plays the guitar, but only for some of our songs because we're a group not a band

nanami. main vocal. he is main vocal coded idc. i was stuck between choosing the rapper position for him or the vocal and i went with vocal. oh also he's my husband just putting that out there

shoko. she's main pookie. also the lead dancer. i was going to give her vocal but then i remember she smokes a lot so ... which is perfectly fine ofc

choso. lead rapper. there is no arguing against this 😡 my pookie will rap like a pro, fight me on this. also he could be the face of the group asw no harm

haibara. he's also main pookie. (😁) and he's lead vocal btww. and maknae *yayyy*

utahime. she's a dancer. confirmed by me. (she gives off yuna vibes)

me. lead rapper. also an all rounder and face of the group. i'm also good at vocals so maybe like a sub-vocalist, like i'm not part of the vocal team but my notes always hit 😘 i'm also uhh very well known for both singing and rap and i'm also the it girl and i think that's enough 🙏 (you can almost tell i shifted to this reality)

we have sasaeng fans and they aren't all that harmful, they're just there ... sometimes annoying but not too much

our fandom is kinda like carats/atiny/nctzens but backed with the streaming power of blinks and armies (ooh we won). also scripted we have a lot of chinese fans (they are so powerful)

as for scandals, i haven't scripted anything i'll give that also to the universe (nothing too serious tho)

and ofc i scripted i have the mental capacity to deal with scandals like i'm such a baddie 💔

and ofc we win a lot of awards and go on talk shows and shit 😍

ooh and i scripted a variety show but like it's a reality tv show, pretty cool and we call it paranormal, once again took two seconds to think of that lmao

in that we basically run around doing shit and try not to kill each other (me vs. everyone except nanami, hai and choso they're too cool to be trying to kill me)

oh and fancalls, i'm scripting our fans are funny so fancalls will definitely be an experience and hopefully not like those vernon fancalls (poor guy)

oooh i almost forgot. i scripted that we start w a survival show and from there all 9 of us gets selected (can't wait to see all my emotional edits)

ooh and also it's like 2012-ish soo all the guys will 100% have the justin beiber ahh hairstyle

examples below: (thank you seventeen)

(these pictures are us predebut core 😍😍😍)

kento alr had that side bangs hairstyle i just wanna see the other guys also looking like justin beiber sooo .... (except geto he'll have long hair like jeonghan)

wait imagine a paranormal x going seventeen episode where geto and jeonghan battle each other with their long hair

anywayyy

that's all i have scripted (i think)

this was so unorganized but thank you for reading ❤️❤️❤️

lmk if there's anything else you guys wanna know

also nanami will definitely dance to newjeans songs watch out ‼️

[embodyingchaos]

Hello beautiful person, how are you? , I saw that you had open requests for rodrick heffley, And I wanted to know if you could make a request where y/n (a pink girl) and rodrick are playing in his bed and at one point rodrick goes overboard and accidentally hits her and makes her l Cry, please 💗💗

❥ hello to you too, darling! i'm doing fine, and i hope you're doing good as well! i didn't know what was a pink girl, but mother google helped me so i hope i got reader's personality just right, i hope you like it! this is my first ever request so i'm very nervous T-T (also, sorry if it's too short!)

band-aid pairing: rodrick heffley x fem!reader genre: fluff, light angst(it really isn't angst lmao) warnings: pillow fights(gasp), rodrick accidentally elbows reader in the face muahahhaah word count: 466

headphones covering his ears and eyes closed, rodrick was at peace. however, his girlfriend was not. as she rolled into him, she grumbled. "roddyyy!" she whined, shaking his arm. "i'm bored." y/n pouted, laying on her back beside him. "what do you want me to do about it, bunny?" he asked without opening his eyes, halfway drifting off to dreamland. y/n glared at him and sat up, crossing her arms. suddenly, an idea popped into her head.

she cautiously grabbed the pillow next to his, holding it up high before wreaking absolute havoc on her ever-so clueless boyfriend. she slammed his face with the pillow, making rodrick's eyes shoot open and his headphones fall off. "you little brat!" he exclaimed, quickly grabbing the pillow he was just laying his head on and hitting her with it.

y/n squealed as they started to pillow-fight like a couple of children, chasing each other around his bedroom that was definitely not big enough to be running around in. rodrick tackled her onto the bed when she wasn't paying attention, and started tickling her. "okay! wait! i'm sorry-" y/n was cut off by her own fits of laughter, trying to get her boyfriend to stop tickling her until she felt like peeing her pants. "please stop!" she exclaimed, pushing his hands away. rodrick smiled at her and finally halted his movements, "okay, okay, bunny. i'll stop." he told her, laying beside her. "just kidding!" he shouted, springing up from his bed and grabbing her by the waist. y/n yelped as rodrick threw her over his shoulder, accidentally elbowing her face in the process.

being ever-so sensitive to the slightest of injuries, the girl could feel tears well up in her eyes before they fell down rodrick's back. when tiny sniffles were heard, the emo drummer placed her down on the bed.

"hey, hey, hey. why're you crying, sweetheart?" rodrick whispered, kneeling in front of her and gently grabbing the sides of her face, now stained with tears. he wiped them away with his thumbs, "i-it's nothing. you just elbowed my face on accident.” she muttered, rubbing the right side of her jaw. rodrick’s gaze softened, “i’m sorry, bunny.” he apologised before a lightbulb in his head lit up.

he walked on his knees towards his bedside table, rummaging through the mess inside only to pull out a band-aid. he made his way back to y/n and sat beside her on the bed, “this should make it feel all better.” he muttered, focused on taking the plastic off the band-aid and placing it on the right side of her jaw. he gave the area a small peck and y/n beamed at his actions, “yeah, all better.” she whispered, booping his nose with her own.

[wannaeatramyeon]

HOWWW DO U WRITE SO FAST AND SO WELL I LITERALLY TAKE WEEKS TO WRITE ANYTHING WORTHWHILE YET U ARE ABLE TO CHURN THESE THINGS OUT IN A HEARTBEAT ITS SO IMPRESSIVE

this time could u maybe do jake kim with a childhood friends!lover? im just imagining him with someone whose dad is also from the pre-generation, sorta like jerry (he can have a cameo we love that bad boy <3)

I'm pretty impulsive as a person... and when something grips me then. I need to do it. Luckily I don't have too much going on irl lmao so I have a lotta free time.

Jake Kim x Reader: Childhood friends

G/N.

"Smile when you're spoken to. Stay silent and out of sight when you're not."

It's important. You must follow these two pieces of instruction at all cost.

You nod when your dad reminds you again, squatting down to adjust your collar and your hair.

"Come on then, little one," he says, smiling softly. He doesn't hold his hand out as he usually does, leaving you to trail behind. Almost tripping over your shoelaces in an effort to keep up with his large strides.

.

.

Gapryong Kim's house is impressive, much more impressive than your apartment.

It's big and spacious. Ample room to run around and play. Your eye passes over the expensive breakable vases and severe decor, instead focusing on the long corridors and small nooks and crannies perfect for hiding.

You're shuffled off into a corner, not before being introduced to the owners, your dad's boss, first. You remember to smile and say hello back with full honorifics when Gapryong and Minseon greets you. Bowing at a full ninety degrees just like you had practised.

You find it hard not to fidget as you sit by the doorway. Bored and eyes occasionally falling closed at whatever is happening, not understanding the words or sentences as the adults talk in the centre of the room.

A gangly boy pokes his head around, holds out his hand, and you startle at his appearance. "Come on. This is boring, let's go."

Stay silent and out of sight. This counts, right?

You look over at your dad and find him observing you two. He gives you a small smile and a nod and you take this boy's hand.

.

.

His name is Jake Kim.

His name is Jake Kim and he's Gapryong's son. He walks the corridors with a quiet confidence and self assured stride. Hands behind his head and chewing his gum loudly.

He asks for your name and you tell him. He repeats it back to you with a grin and says it's cool, then digs in his pocket to offer you a stick of gum.

You spend hours in his bedroom together. Reading through comics and talking about nothing in particular as children often do. Only occasionally interrupted by adults bringing in drinks and snacks. Until the sun sinks and sunset oranges and reds filter through his window.

"It's amazing here!" you say, cheeks stuffed with hotteok and spraying crumbs everywhere.

Jake only shrugs.

.

.

You see Jake regularly after that.

You ask to tag along, and at first your dad is reluctant. You plead and whine and promise to be on your best behaviour and he gives in.

Gapryong and Minseon are always pleased to see you. Jake is even more so.

.

.

Jake is sullen and reserved around his parents but he smiles and laughs a lot with you.

He teases and jokes when it's just the two of you and you think he might be the funniest boy you've ever met.

You ask him who his favourite bands are and he doesn't know. When you tell him yours, he also doesn't know who they are. You gasp in shock and pull out your phone and headphones from your bag, pass him an earbud and listen to the sound of perky k-pop together.

"They're ok." Jake tells you with a grin, "I've heard better."

You give him a shove for that.

.

.

"Here," Jake gives you the last cookie and your greedy hands take it without a second thought.

He always gives you the last of everything. Watch you fervently fill your face in both disgust and awe.

"How do you eat so much!" he tries to give you a pinch, and you giggle, ducking out of the way. "You eat more than me!"

You smile, opening your mouth wide with half chewed food and he pretends to gag.

It never occurs to you how, whenever you visit, only your favourite snacks are served.

.

.

"This is Jerry,"

You look up at the boy next to Jake, and your neck seems to crane for a lifetime before finally resting on his face.

"You're huge!" You say, a little mean.

"Am not!" Jerry responds back to you, face flushing red. You give Jerry your half eaten snack as an apology and he accepts.

Jake grins, slinging his arm around the two of you, dragging you both out into the courtyard and away from the adults talking.

.

.

You sit shoulder to shoulder with Jake, Jerry on his other side. The house is filled with people dressed in black. Tears and sighs and subdued mutterings.

Jake doesn't cry today, neither does Minseon. He just stares at the portrait of his dad, not saying a word all day.

Your dad has smoked more today than you have ever seen in your life.

Eventually, when the alcohol is flowing and the adults get too rowdy, you sit with Jake in his bedroom. For hours and hours, just like the first time. Long after Jerry and most of the other adults have left. You hold him, tucking him into your side and he leans into your warmth.

His face is on your shoulder, so is a wetness. You don't say anything and keep holding him until your body is stiff and your knees hurt. You still don't move. You're there for as long as Jake needs you.

.

.

Jake's smile returns, after some time.

It doesn't quite feel the same though. You feel his childhood sweetness fading away and you don't know how to hold on to it.

.

.

There is a brief moment in time, during your friendship with Jake, where your growth spurt kicks in and you're taller than him.

You tiptoe and rest your elbow on his head. It's uncomfortable. He's still too tall, and you're not tall enough to make the pose work. Yet, you still do it every opportunity you get.

The opportunity does not last long.

Jake is gangly, grows ganglier still. He shoots up like bamboo and you think there's no stopping him.

You think he might be the tallest middle schooler in the world... until you see Jerry again and you think he is definitely the tallest middle schooler in the world.

.

.

Jake doesn't know when it hits him.

One day you're just you. His best friend that he has known forever. Goofy and silly. Snorts when they laugh, talks with their mouth full.

The next, your hair is shiny and your lashes are long. He thinks you smell nice and your smile makes him feel like he's dying in the best way possible.

Jerry catches him watching you and encourages him to confess.

Jake grimaces at the thought, at his transparency. His words come out indecipherable and muffled against his pillow.

Jerry doesn't say anything, just laments the fact he might be the third wheel forever.

.

.

It should be simple. Like you two becoming friends. Easy and uncomplicated.

Jake's natural charm is nowhere to be found. Having always been comfortable in his body, he now feels his legs are too long, his limbs too lanky around you. He stumbles over his feet more often than not. Finds himself tongue tied and red cheeked.

"What's wrong with you!" your hands grab onto his shirt, yanking him back upright as he trips for the third time in as many minutes.

.

.

Jake has always been cute. With his chubby cheeks and sharp eyes and kind smile.

Today, he tries out a wink on you (and you wonder where the hell he has picked that from), you can't help but think he's handsome too.

.

.

You and Jake still hang out frequently in his bedroom.

Minseon asks that he keeps the door open at all times, something she has never requested before, and you both burn crimson.

.

.

"Help me," Jake pouts, thrusting his school work at you. It's a Physics problem and he knows you suck at Physics.

You're both lying on your front on his bed, pressed at the shoulders.

"Burn it." You tell him and he laughs, sweeping all the books and stationery to the floor and turning onto his back.

"Sorry," you put down your phone and look at him. Has he always had those golden flecks in his eyes?

"Don't be." He sighs. "I think I'm gonna be held back a year."

"Aw Jake," You giggle, running your fingers through his hair, "You're definitely going to be the tallest in your class then."

He grabs your hand, stopping it mid-movement and rolls his eyes fondly. "You're a shit."

He doesn't let go. You forget how to breathe.

.

.

Jake has promised you ice cream, and you wait for him outside Gangseo Middle School.

He introduces you to Brad Lee and Jason Yoon and their eyes widen in recognition at your name.

"Oh, so that's-" Brad starts before receiving a sharp elbow in the stomach from Jason.

"Sorry Ma'am!" Ma'am?!

Jason gives you a bow, tells you it's nice to finally meet you and drags Brad away.

.

.

"What have you told them about me?"

Jake is shifty. Fidgety. He avoids your eyes and concentrates on his cone of ice-cream. Pretends he doesn't hear you even as you lean into his space.

"Jake Kim, I know you haven't suddenly gone deaf."

A bubble of laughter escapes his throat. He still doesn't say anything.

"Fine," You click your tongue in annoyance. "Be like that."

.

.

"I told them I like you." Jake catches you off guard a few weeks later. When you're lying on his floor watching a video on your phone, hand inside a bag of potato chips.

"Huh?"

"Brad and Jason," Jake rubs the back of his neck, "I told them that I like you."

Wait, what?!

You catch a glimpse of yourself in his full length mirror. You hair unbrushed and unwashed, dressed in your favourite, most comfortable thread bare outfit, potato chip crumbs around your mouth and down your front.

The most bizarre question grips you. "Even right now?"

Jake frowns, looks at you as if you're stupid. "Yeah?"

"Oh." It feels like a realisation, even though it's not. Not really. Not with the way you two are around each other.

You don't look at Jake as you return his affection, telling him you like him too, shy and cheeks flushed.

His response mirrors yours, "Oh."

You chance a peek at him and he looks as red as you feel. You don't think you've ever seen Jake blush before. It's deeply endearing and you sear the image into your heart forever.

"What now then?" you ask. Because if you both like each other then...

Jake plops down next to you, giving you a shrug accompanied with the sweetest smile you have ever seen. He takes your hand, greasy and food stained and all, and interwines your fingers together.

"I dunno. I should take you out on a proper date."

You nod, but it doesn't matter.

You look at your hand in his, think about taking his hand for the first time all those years ago and realise you've been each other's since the beginning.

[elderwisp]

My 𝐓𝐨𝐩 24 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 from 2024 ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

I was tagged by @mikachusblog @aurorangen and @moonwoodhollow however I put together a recap earlier this month! Instead I'll pick about ten story moments I enjoyed from this year under the cut as well as a very special screenshot. I did want to make sure I tagged some people as well! :D

I tag: @acidheaddd @likelyamused @pink-chevalier @changingplumbob @salemssimblr

@matchalovertrait @lre333 @swiftviolets @sirianasims @lynzishell

1. January 8th: Kai shares a secret

⋆ This was a really fun flashback scene! We got to see Kai, Frances, Dan and Atlas in the earlier years of high school as well as learn that Kai has romantic feelings towards Atlas, who happens to be his first kiss! This is also where his arc officially begins in my mind!

2. March 6th: Taryn's skepticism

⋆ I remember being so proud of this scene because it was one of the first scenes I fully posed the conversation. I really enjoyed of Atlas and Taryn's mannerisms peaked through. I think this conversation while it focuses on a different subject, the nature of it shows their personalities. Taryn struggling with self confidence while Atlas's facade starts to unveil just a bit.

3. March 12th: Frances's solo

⋆ I was really proud of these poses as well as the shots. The shots of Icarus and Frances while romantic do say a lot about how each views each other. Your greatest heartbreak being how Frances feels and the deepest regret being how Icarus feels. For the cello poses, I did reference through watching performances but also real life so it was neat combining the two. I am excited for Frances's future in De Sol Valley especially when new faces are introduced to the cast. It might be similar to Atlas's prologue where Frances is the focus but just in a shorter interval.

4. March 9th: A rose and it's bumblebee

⋆ March was a good month. Maybe not for the characters, but a good month creatively for me ! I'm gonna sound so toxic but I love the tension between these two so much like hold out a bit longer please JUSTKIDDINGPFFTorami? anyways structuring taryn's monologue came out of order. the frames where she says "A stubbed toe. A scraped knee. A fall." came first. Everything else was built around those three sentences. The scene following that was fun to put together because Atlas really does struggle to apologize and take ownership over his fuck up that he tries to smooth things over by being charming but Taryn, getting more comfortable, shows her newfound skill of setting boundaries (courtesy of Atlas LMAO) and calls him out on the bullshit.

5. August 9th: Theo's official introduction

⋆ Much of Theo's life is hush hush as following after the WR arc we dive more into their lives but I do want to talk more about them. I liked following their life throughout the day and the general reclusiveness they have in a new city. Their only friend at the time is Gabriel and with no goals of going back to their old life, the only way forward is through. I will say, something about the city has a way of helping people find themselves.

6. August 8th: Of course I had to freaking include this scene

⋆ Gonna be so real right now but I was terrified to post this. Terrified. We see the chaos of Atlas's vices revealing a very important detail, one Rowan reminded us all and that is, Atlas seeks out trouble. The most curious and pressing part is why and how does it end? Any scene with Atlas is scary for me because he leaves a lot of subtle little hints but the extent of his nature is like slowly pulling off a band aid. Are people gonna like what's underneath? I'm never really sure but I do enjoy exploring his character quite a bit.

7. September 3rd: Ojitos lindos

⋆ First, I love Jules. Dude was literally supposed to only be in the one scene and... He wiggled himself into a handful. Second, was very proud of how the dance came out, with Taryn teasing Jules and Jules chasing every second of it until the kiss. OUGH! The little fiend in me blurred out "tu y yo" in the kiss scene to sorta symbolize Taryn beginning to move on from Atlas but as we see later, that was short lived. Taryn's monologue was the easiest to write and it comes from a person struggling with the bitter emotions of heartbreak.

8. October 8th: A formal introduction to Ares's life

⋆ Little lore drop but the Langs have been longtime characters of mine. In fact, longer than everyone else. Chase, Ares's father, was a main character of a youtube series I made long ago over the summers of my school days LMAO! So to revisit and restructure them as has been... WOW ! I wanted everyone to feel like they were a plant on a shelf observing the dynamics of specifically the women in Ares's life as well as the structure of his home. It felt subtle but good :)

9. October 18th: Kai's revelation

⋆ I think I have one more scene left for Kai's arc. I specifically wanted to focus on the concepts of jealousy, cognitive dissonance and religion coupled with Kai being a closeted man. I will say in the beginning, I did struggle to connect with this character. While some elements I can totally relate to, writing about it is different. Envy can be classified as an ugly feeling. It isn't palatable to most and is quickly shood away but because of that, we don't talk about it enough. So I wanted to go into this really humanizing this common emotion but not making it as some caricature of an emotion. I do love Kai's growth, I wanted to make sure he earned it and it sure feels like it.

10. November 23: The freaking arts festival

⋆ There's still like four-ish more posts to go. Those will be a bit less crash-out packed but I think it ends on a high note. There's a lot in these six posts. Some of it slightly nudging certain characters arcs, other parts deepening your knowledge of other oc's. I wanted to start out on the disappointment that Atlas faces seeing that the only person supporting him there is Daniela and how he copes in the only way he knows how. The arts festival is something he helped put together but it seems to be a reoccurring theme that any accomplishment he ever has is always overshadowed. It's always something. Each frame, every detail, to the dialogue in these two posts are intentional. The following scenes after that have some really cool conversations. I think the last post also has some unique dialogue as well but we'll pick back up on January 2nd! :)

Also a bonus! I wanted to show one of these first photos of Tessellate. It's no longer on my blog after the reboot but I wanted to show how much has changed in two years.