#which sucks because this is a good story/romance/drama

[teafiend]

CW: Critical, subjective opinion on a vital aspect of “A Time Called You”

Some final thoughts on “A Time Called You”. That show niggled still because it was such an excellently plotted show, and Jeon Yeo Been was blindingly bright in it, yet something felt off. And that piqued my interest in the Taiwanese original because I anticipate that the “something off” would not be an issue there.

At first, I thought my main issue with the show was mostly the - personal opinion - lacklustre male lead and his appeal for me personally.

But I have had many experiences with unappealing male leads making me fall in love with their characters. ”Coffee Prince” and ”I Hear Your Voice” - two of my top favourites - come to mind.

(Yes, I found Gong Yoo iffy initially, and still not particularly fond of Lee Jeong Seok, though Park Su Ha remains one of my favourite MCs). So, it was less because I was resistant to having my initial impressions changed. Unfortunately, Ahn Hyo Seop’s portrayal of his characters - as the romantic leads - were “meh and uninspiring” till the end, despite the wonderful elements of the writing of his character(s).

It had nothing to do with the character himself, who was amazingly written, honestly. Turned out it was him after all, or precisely, the lack of chemistry.

I don’t think I have felt that lack this keenly in all my years of watching dramas, especially in such a solidly-written and performed show. I have had shows where the chemistry between the leads saved what were otherwise mediocre shows, even given spotty performances, but ATCY stood out because of the opposite. LOL 😂🤣😭

There have been many instances where I had the Second Lead Syndrome, some worse than others, but not once did I find the main pairing lacking in the chemistry department or of not being convincing, except ATCY. That was painful because in what was a fantastic show, they lacked one of the most important ingredients which makes a successful romance, IMO.

It galled me even more because as someone highly allergic to fictional BL/m/m, I was bummed by the few scenes of the male lead with the Rowoon cameo, but I was even more chagrined when those two sweet boys died. WHAT?! Please don’t bury your gays!

What was worse, I thought AHS had more chemistry with Rowoon for those few minutes - and even with his friend In Gyu - than he had with Jeon Yeo Been’s character(s). As someone prone to ignore “bromance” and any related chemistry, it felt weird to notice that in what is a ROMANCE, and a brilliantly written romance at that.

I suggest the lead actor to pivot to BL and forgo trying to make it with straight romcoms. I read that in another of his more well-known romcoms, the female leads carried the show too. Figures.

I say this because the second lead - Kang Hoon aka In Gyu - had more chemistry with JYB (Min Ju/Jun Hee). At least his longing was palpable in a quiet, poignant way, which was more than I could say for the main lead.

His “love” felt very scripted and simply of the going-through-the-expected motions variety. He did and said all the ”right words” but little came through as convincing (for me).

I say this with sad irony because the character was written so fabulously as this kind, faithful, devoted and love-driven male character, which if the chemistry was there, would have propelled this remake into another minor hit. Alas. (And I personally simply love, love characters like these, yet I was not particularly impressed here).

Because JYB carried the whole show and in a romance, I don’t think it is a good thing at all. Personally, I love that fact. However, this is supposed to be a fantasy/romance targeted mostly at a women audience, and when the male lead is unconvincing, I think it is a terrible situation all around.

Of course, this is just my very subjective opinion, but this is the first time I have felt that way about a good romance, so it sucks quite a bit. Especially since Jeon Yeo Been was so beautifully awesome in it. I know that this show is more than romance, but that particular element is a major narrative driver, so I don’t think I am being too unfair.

JYB had memorable/explosive chemistry with all her co-stars in a few of the dramas I have watched her in, so I am not going to put the onus on the lack of chemistry on her. Because her performance was not an issue at all. Not even a little bit. There was chemistry with everyone in the show except her main love interest. Sorry, not a problem with THE QUEEN.

And also in a Romance, the female lead does not need to be as convincing as the main male character, so…

I am also not trying to pan AHS’s performance because except for the romance, he was quite solid. Mayhaps this is not his genre at all.

I was also a bit weirded out about the sequence of the credits, TBF. How come JYB was not the No 1 in the intro? By age and acclaim, I do not think it is unreasonable that JYB should have gotten top-billing.

Yeah, yeah, we live in reality, I get that. *sigh*

[cigaretteparfum]

thinking about beast/ars and how much it disappointed me.

[daniigh0ul]

simblr story recommendations pt 1/?

hi i have been reading a ton of stories in this community for the past several months and i thought it'd be fun to recommend some of them to you all! these are sorted by genre with a small blurb for each! i also included if the story is still being updated or if it's a finished story! :) i didn't include content warnings because most, if not all, have warnings listed on their pages, ty! this post is long but i didnt want to put anything under a read more cut so !!

fantasy/supernatural

@madebysimblr the princess and me status: complete

cordy steele is in college and not taking it very seriously when raina comes into her life. while they may not get along at first, it is a pleasure and a joy to watch their friendship form and grow with them. this story made cordy my favorite from coffee's SIMnematic universe, and i hope she will become yours, too. :D

crime/mafia

@earthmoonz wifey status: ongoing do you want to read about a queer relationship forming while both deal with their grief with the backdrop of crime in london??? then read this!! it is so cinematic and well-done!!! i am rooting for max and lena til the end

royalty, baby

@nexility-sims 1992 status: ongoing

follow leonor as she navigates grief in the public eye--this is a prequel/spin-off of n's main story, which is also very good, and reading both gives you extra context and i fully believe 1992 is worth the read for the cinematic nature of it as well as the wonderful prose. if you support women's wrongs, i highly recommend you read this.

@armoricaroyalty the house of st. fleur status: ongoing

do you want to watch a family push each other's buttons while navigating royal life? do you want to support women's wrongs and become apart of the Worst Man's hate club? then this story is for you!

@bridgeportbritt simdonia status: ongoing

follow along as bria wu marries into royalty life and all of the ins-and-outs of that new life as she navigates her family life, her relationship with her new husband, and as her kids grow up and navigate their own relationships and lives. the drama is so good and it's such a blast to read!

slice of life/legacy

@lynzishell star sign legacy status: ongoing the story starts with phoenix as a teenager, and follows him into his adulthood--we follow along as he navigates love, loss, anger issues, and a little bit of trauma go a long way, but what i really love is how the relationships form over time, whether they be romantic or platonic and now i am too invested in phoenix and the people in his life!! and i hope you will be, too! @elderwisp tessellate status: ongoing this ensemble cast are navigating their twenties and their relationships, but secrets and tensions lie underneath--will anyone get what they want? girl i don't know but it's fun to watch everything unfold and it's beautifully edited so 10/10 do recommend @honeyjars-sims safe harbor status: ongoing do you want to follow along as three siblings navigate their young adult years while dealing with trauma and the complicated experience that is navigating your early adulthood? then read this !! there are drag queens, a nightmare, and love--romantic and familial and platonic--and i guarantee you will become invested in these's characters' lives. @hannahssimblr lucky girl status: complete

evie is probably the most relatable girl you'll ever read about. she's insecure, she's in love with a boy, some of her friends suck, others don't. as we follow her through her young adult years, we watch her navigate her love of a boy, her naivety and later, her wisdom, as she grows up. and will she get the boy in the end?? you'll have to read it to find out !! @sirianasims the duchelli legacy status: ongoing i think my favorite part of siri's storytelling is reading about her sims navigate their family relationships--usually in the form of a parent getting their act together for their kid(s)!! but there's also space travel, romance, friendships, and general chaos and it's such a fun read so i highly recommend it!!

[grenade-maid]

there's a lot of reasons more people aren't into yuri that are troubling to consider, but equally, I genuinely think it cannot be understated how much of it comes down to most yuri being boring as hell. Like truly. I've been reading the front page of Dynasty Scans like it was the newspaper for 15 years I am not exaggerating I can show you the download file data 15 years.

You know what the complaint about yuri by yuri readers was back in 2009?

"wow that really was just 5 volumes of them blushing at each other and then they don't even kiss"

You know what the complaint about yuri by yuri readers is today in 2023?

"wow that really was just 5 volumes of them blushing at each other and then they don't even kiss"

Don't get me wrong, Yuri has grown a LOT in that time, to the point that most people today wouldn't even understand a Maria-sama reference if it were dropped in front of them (thank God). It's expanded and evolved to encompass more stories about adult women, wider varieties of scenarios, a greater acknowledgement of real life lesbianism, and is more comfortable showing girls kissing with tongue and having sex.

Yuri Manga is maybe the best is it's ever been, and it's also getting the widest readership it's ever had in the English speaking world. The titles we carry at work are always on back order with long queues, and, when I've asked them, most weebs of all gender or sexualities report keeping up with at least a few Yuri series.

At large though? Most of it is still really boring. That's not a bad thing necessarily. I like it because it goes down easy. For the most part any series you pick is gonna be pretty chill. Even shit from Sal Jiang which is PRETTY EDGY for yuri is a pretty breezy read. More serious ones like How Do We Relationship? cover some pretty real subjects about how intimacy is actually quite difficult even when both of you love each other, but it's not like... Exciting. Yuri isn't where you go to pump your fist or get perched on the edge of your seat.

So when the comparison is made to yaoi, well, I mean, have you READ any yaoi? Even in some of the more restrained titles those boys are likely to be sucking and fucking balls and all within the first volume or two. There's gonna be drama, intrigue, shit is gonna get messy, passions are gonna get heated, clothes are gonna be ripped off, people are gonna get sold to One Direction, it's stuff you can sit down with a bowl of popcorn with you know? Stuff you can message your friend and gush Hey Can You BELIEVE? A lot of it is pretty trashy, but that's the appeal. The generic state of yaoi is torrid and exciting and sexy. Ultimately, as a species many of us like to see pretty people fuck. In yaoi you'll get that. In yuri you won't. Nothing wrong with that, but it is gonna be a major contributing factor to their relative popularity.

It's also worth making the comparison to hetero romance manga, which has undergone a renaissance of it's own in recent years. There's now a whole meta around crafting a handful of mean shitty grouchy dysfunctional bully women and flinging them at the protagonist of the day who, unlike in years past, may actually have a face and personality. Most of these are also very trashy and truly scrape the bottom of the bucket in terms of writing.

AND YET?

I would bet money on the fact that you'll have heard of these women and probably even have a good idea what they're like without ever having touched a page of their manga.

I'm sorry but the straights are whipping donuts around the yuri girls in terms of delivering a wide variety of weird compelling fucked up women. How many yuri leading ladies by comparison can you point to as standout recognizable characters even divorced from their story? There's definitely a few, but not many. I'm not talking quality or depth of writing, I'm talking straight up pure recognizability. There are many beautifully written women in yuri, now more than ever. I can't think of many who'd like, get a figure made or have their face splashed on merch, though.

I don't really have a conclusion here. I love Yuri a lot, but at the end of the day this is just kinda the state of things right now.

[riacte]

I feel like I learned a lot about storytelling + "marketing" a story from Webtoon (the Webtoon from a few years ago when it was still decent). The way it worked was that 1) story blurb to draw in people 2) three initial episodes to get people invested 3) one episode per week. It showed the strength of a strong summary with a genre but without trope tags (unlike fanfiction) or describing your work as abc meets xyz (which seems to be what YA publishing does nowadays?). The three initial episodes introduces tone, artstyle, main characters, main plot, basic worldbuilding, and is supposed to quickly "hook" the reader. I like the format of three initial episodes (instead of one) because the first episode is usually different (given its main purpose is to grab the attention of new people), the other two gives you a taste of what a "standard weekly update" might contain.

I feel a lot of Webtoons start with a strong premise/ gimmick/ hook but they don't know what to do with it. And that's totally normal because some premises are better when shrouded in mystery and you have to do the hard work of explaining the mystery. I've read Webtoons that start with one premise, then it gets sidelined in the middle as new themes develop, and in the end you realise the "premise" was a marketing tactic to draw people in and the story is about something else entirely, but you stayed because it was still a good story, and you have no complaints. (Eg. I think people step into I Love Yoo thinking it's a romance, and the first bits do seem like a set up for romance, but it turns out the genre is drama and the romance is a slooooooow burn.) I've read Webtoons that start with one interesting premise, then it fizzles away and turns into a rather standard story for its genre to the point the hook is barely relevant when it was what made it stand out. And on the rare occasion you will find a Webtoon that has its premise, develops the plot from there, sticks with its themes, and the ending is thematically resonant. (I think Cursed Princess Club does a good job at this.) But it's difficult to craft a very consistent and coherent story (especially given the serial format), so it's fine to just kinda sideline or even ditch your premise so long the actual main plot is solid. Your premise is what initially got people reading, but they'll get invested in other things. Maybe you even have to manually create a hook and get into the meat later once your readers are properly invested. But I feel most of the time it's otherwise because you can get a really cool idea but NO CLUE on how to end it and it sucks because either you drag on or give it an unsatisfactory ending. The good thing is that you get a "buffer zone" in which readers are still interested in reading due to the premise/hook and you get the time to properly work things out.

So I don't think a premise has to be completely executed and explained in order for a story to be compelling. If it does its job of bringing in new folks and convincing them to stay long enough to get invested in style/tone/plot/characters/relationships/whatever, sometimes it's easier to let the premise go. Sometimes you want a tonal shift. But at the same time, a premise is so useful for marketing purposes. You can talk about what tropes it has and what media it's influenced by, but what is the story actually about?

[nanaosaki3940]

Romance Manhwa You All Should Read...

So there are a few Korean manhwa that I have been reading recently. Some are new manhwa which I just picked up to read while the others are old ones that I read before and now I'm re-reading them again. All of them are of modern-setting with the premise of high school or college romance. 🥰🥰🥰

The new ones that I'm reading for the first time -

My First Love Hate

Seasons Of Blossom

Our Secret Alliance

Just Twilight

I Don't Hate Us

Cheese In The Trap

Revelation Of Youth

Operation Name: Pure Love

The Law Of Being Friends With A Male

My Introverted Boy

See You in My 19th Life

The old ones that I've read before and now re-reading them again -

Something About Us

Positively Yours

Marked By King BS

The ones that I haven't read yet but want to get into it -

Romance 101

My Younger Brother's Friends

Rewriting Our Love Story

1 Plus 1

Villain With A Crush

This Must Be Love

Now I wanna talk about some of the Manhwa series that I recently read in the last couple of days...

Our Secret Alliance

Manhwa Status: Completed Troupe: Childhood best friends turned lovers. THE NO. 1 BEST FUCKING "CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TURNED LOVERS" TROUPE MANHWA OUT THERE💘!! PERIOD😤!!!

No, seriously. I really enjoyed reading this series, and OMG !!! Female lead Se-i Yun and male lead Jaeha Kim are so fucking adorable!!! Se-i is a cutie, for sure, and seeing Jaeha as a boyfriend in this story raised my "boyfriend" expectations to an unrealistic height...

Also warning: you'll encounter a soft, bashful male lead here... so beware!!!

Seasons Of Blossom

Manhwa Status: Completed This story has four different parts: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. And damn, the stories are so good, y'all!!

(This is gonna be a LONG rant here btw...)

I really loved the 1st part of the series "Bomi's Flower" which is the season of Spring. The sweet female lead (Bomi Yun), one of the most popular and studious girls in school, has a little crush on the 2nd male lead (Jaemin Lee), another popular kid in school, but later finds out that her best friend/2nd female lead (Seonhui Kang) also has a crush on Jaemin. But the thing is everyone in their school ships Bomi and Jaemin together as a romantic couple. Seonhui also shows her genuine support to Bomi as a good friend if she ever tries to get together with Jaemin, but Bomi knows that deep down inside her heart Seonhui is hurting by the fact that Jaemin likes Bomi and everyone ships them, meaning her love towards Jaemin is unrequited. So to save her friendship with Seonhui and also to save Seonhui from a potential heartbreak, Bomi gets into a fake relationship with the male lead (Jinyeong Choi), so that Seonhui and Jaemin get the chance to be together... But the thing is Jinyeong is the complete opposite of Bomi. Unlike Bomi, Jinyeong is blunt, ruthless with his words, always has a straight bored look on his face, and has an "I don't give a fuck" kinda attitude. He doesn't fuck around and hates those typical high school dramas and bullshit. Even though he's a gaming otaku and only has two male friends, he's quite famous among the students; guys want to be friends with him because of his game recommendations and girls think he's really cute. Also despite the fact that he's shorter than Bomi in height, my man has balls for sure when it comes to speaking up about his mind or taking action for anything.

This story talks about how opposites attract one another, how to discover and learn new yet unexpected things, how to fall in love for the first time in life and that sweet feeling like falling in love in your youth, and how to break out of your own shell and discover a new side of yourself. This 1st part of the series will give you nothing but fluff, sweetness, and butterflies.

And then later comes the 2nd part of the series, the season of Summer aka Hamin's Flower...

Okay, this one was really tough to get through. Not because the story sucked or anything. It's because of how painful, angsty, and heartbreaking it is. In the 1st part (Bomi's Flower aka Spring), we get to know that the 2nd male lead Jaemin Lee had an older brother named Hamin Lee (the golden child of the family) who died 6 years ago by committing suicide. We don't get much info about Hamin Lee in the 1st part (other than the fact that he's Jaemin's brother) until it comes to an end and the 2nd part begins. The 2nd part opens up with Jaemin Lee and the gang bumps into a 24-year-old art college student named Somang Han who happens to be Hamin's girlfriend from high school. Through Somang's narration and flashbacks, we get to know what kind of person Hamin Lee was, how she and Hamin met and fell in love, and how he spiraled into depression which resulted in him ending his own life. And also through Jaemin, we get to know more about Hamin as a son and a brother and how their parents' rough parenting pushed him to darkness and depression. At first, when Hamin was first mentioned in the 1st part, I didn't think much about him and only felt empathy for Jaemin for losing his older brother. But after getting introduced to Hamin in the 2nd part and learning more about him through Somang and Jaemin's POV and narrations, I couldn't help but bawl my eyes out for him in every single chapter. It got even worse for me since I already knew where the story was going and what was going to happen to Hamin in the end (it was more like the Shinichiro Sano effect from Tokyo Revengers like you know who Shinichiro is and what happened to him but that doesn't stop you from falling in love with him despite him being dead throughout the whole series). RIP Hamin Lee; my heart will always go out to you, forever, always.

The 2nd part Hamin's Flower aka Summer talks about some heavy topics/subjects like - dysfunctional families, rough parenting going wrong, dealing with societal burdens and depression, losing your loved ones and dealing with the aftermath, your first tragic love story, handling regrets and dealing with your traumas, how to overcome those traumas, and finally how to let go of your past and move on with life.

Hamin's Flower left me in such a numb and gloomy state that I couldn't read the other two parts (Autumn and Winter), but I'll try to get back and read them sooner or later. Even though I haven't read the complete series yet, I'll still give out a biased statement - I really, really loved Bomi's Flower and Hamin's Flower, and these two parts will always gonna be my favs from this series (doesn't matter to me if Autumn and Winter are better than these two).

Cheese In The Trap

Manhwa Status: Completed The oldest series in this list...

This story... this story... Oh God, where should I begin?!?! I can't believe that I didn't read this until now!! This is a truly mature love story. If you read this wanting a simple light college romance, this is not for you. While there are very cute interactions between the main character and her love interests, it is a very well-thought-out and complex manga - definitely the most realistic I have read thus far. The character development is out of this world and adds a sense of tangibility to the characters that you really don't see in fiction normally. To explain, the important main and side characters in any story are always bound by rules of development to identify them as cogs in a narrative; we have underlying expectations about what the characters might do, or how they might subvert those expectations. But, this webtoon is the study of social relationships and the nature of people. You get to see that there will always be some sort of social hierarchy, that there are meanings and repercussions beyond what you expect to happen in life, and that we all have some degree of victim and perpetrator in us. We all cope and process in different ways, while also continuing and evolving in life the way we know how. Unlike anything I have ever read before.

Also, this story is under the tag of "Psychological Drama" and it's all because of the male lead named Jung Yu. God, I've such a love-hate relationship with him, y'all!! Like I love him but also hate him at the same time. He's mysterious, charming, alluring yet so damn confusing. Also, the fact that he's a sociopath with a bit of a Yandere-ish tendency in him and that he's also obsessed with the female lead (Seol Hong) in a very twisted way??? He's a walking red flag for sure, but then again not... In short, Jung Yu is a complex character and my simple brain just can't comprehend him. I also love the female lead (Seol Hong), the 2nd male lead (Inho Baek), and Seol's two best friends (Bora Jang and Euntaek Kwon). The only important side character I despise is Inho's twin sister Inha Baek (don't ask why; just go and read it for yourself and you'll know why... also I hate those bully characters too btw, just so you know...).

I Don't Hate Us

Manhwa Status: Completed Troupe: Childhood best friends turned lovers.

Another series with "childhood best friends turned lovers" troupe done right!!

The female lead (Wonsu Ha) and the male lead (Jaesu Sang) have been childhood best friends since their middle school days. They had been best friends through high school and college until one day Wonsu got herself a boyfriend. Jaesu has romantic feelings for Wonsu, but she only sees him as a friend and has platonic love for him. Wonsu then breaks up with her boyfriend, not because the guy is a cheater but because they aren't that compatible with each other, so they mutually break up and separate. Wonsu also gets separated from Jaesu because his romantic feelings for her were getting in the way of their friendship at the time, and also her relationship with her ex-boyfriend took a toll on her mentally and emotionally, so she cut off all her connection and simply focused on her studies and graduating from university. Years later, now working in a small yet growing company, Wonsu reconnects with an adult and more mature Jaesu, who now works in a multinational corporation, and that's when sparks and butterflies start to fly left, right, and center. Almost all the characters are likable, the story and the plot are realistic, and overall it was an enjoyable read for me truly.

Also warning: you'll encounter a soft, bashful male lead here... so beware!!! I mean, the fact that despite the bad boy looks and everything, he's so cute like a puppy is fucking adorable, yo!!!

My First Love Hate

Manhwa Status: On-going Troupe: Childhood best friends turned lovers

This one came out this year and so far I'm really enjoying it. Just like the previously mentioned series above, the female lead (Eunha Kang) is relatable, funny, smart, studious, strong-willed, and whatnot. The male lead (Seungmin Ha) is Eunha's childhood best friend since elementary school but they stopped hanging out with one another ever since he became a delinquent back in high school despite the fact that they went to the same school and were in the same classroom. Years later, Eunha got into a prestigious university in Seoul and later learned that Seungmin was also at that university!! Not only that, he also stopped being a delinquent for good and suddenly started dressing up like a nerdy college boy. When Eunha asked what he was trying to do, Seungmin simply replied that he was returning back to his old self again and wanted to reconnect with Eunha... But things got a bit spicy all of a sudden when a tattoo-bodied 2nd male lead named Ryu Seonhoo walked into the scene and Eunha had to tutor him for the GED test on a regular basis...

Also warning: you'll encounter a soft, bashful, puppy-like male lead AND 2nd male lead here... so beware!!!

Just Twilight

Mahwa Status: Ongoing Troupe: Strangers to friends to lovers

I won't say anything about it... JUST FUCKING READ THIS SHIT ALREADY!!!

If you're a fan of another famous manhwa series called "Positively Yours", then you'll also love this series since it's written by the same author. The female lead (Junyoung Yun) is literally my spirit animal and the male lead (Beomjin Kwon) is such a husbando material, y'all... like, just look at him!!!

That's all for now... I'll make more Korean manhwa recommendation posts again very soon!!!

My manhwa recommendation list posts - Link 1, Link 2, and Link 3.

[astayinwonderland]

Silk and Fire - Chapter 4

pairing: namjoon x f.reader , jungkook x f. reader

guest starring: ot7, Camille, Seri (new character)

genre: romance | drama | smut +18 MDNI

status: ongoing

word count: 3.1k

You can read about this story and other chapters here.

warnings: drinking, sex shop, sex toys, drinking games, thigh riding, finger sucking, cheating, kissing (lmk if I missed anything)

“I told you to wake me up whenever you couldn’t sleep,” Namjoon’s soft voice echoes in your head while he prepares tea for you. 

The knot tied in your throat won’t let you breathe properly as the adrenaline from finding pleasure in what's forbidden keeps finding ways of pushing you toward Jungkook’s arms. You couldn’t stop thinking about him. How could you? If that man’s velvety voice alone had turned you on in such a way that made you betray your instincts and let him talk you into cuming so hard through the phone, what other lustful things would he be able to do in a dark room when it's only the two of you? 

You press your thighs together in an attempt to quiet those heated thoughts. After all, Jungkook was just a fantasy and your boyfriend was right here in front of you. He pours tea and warm milk into your favourtie mug and then drizzles it with honey. A bit leaks from the bottle and Namjoon picks it with his finger and that same finger then goes to your lips. He expects you to lick it, but not to suck it as you are doing right now. Your precious lips wrapped around his honey-covered finger, tongue pressing on it as you suck and suck his finger making Namjoon gasp. 

“Shit, babe,” he clears his throat. “Are you playing with me?” 

You shake your head and release his finger. Now there is an evident problem inside of your boyfriend’s pants. 

“Drink your tea, you need to sleep. We are expected at Hobi’s later tonight. You’re coming right?” 

Your heart skips a beat and you pull him into a kiss. It is not one of those desperate, sinful kisses. Your lips are pressed to his. They’re firm, but you still feel him. You feel how he smiles against your lips, his body bringing you closer to him and your hands travel to his hair. 

“Mmmmm,” you say delightedly. This is home, this is where you’re supposed to be. You want to hug Namjoon and never let him go, to be honest, you are scared of what you would do if you let go. 

Namjoon breaks the kiss and his lips curve into a smile. The smile that made you fall in love with him in the first place, dimples showing and his eyes sparkling as they look into yours. He watches you as you drink your tea. Sweet and warm, relaxing your muscles and releasing the tension built up by that phone call with Jungkook. 

Shit, Jungkook. You make a wish silently for that sinful carnal moment to never cross your mind again and once you are cuddling in bed with your boyfriend you remember. You are both expected at Hobi’s later. Will Jungkook be there? 

It was a simple, basic thing, you thought. Texting Jungkook is not a big deal, it shouldn’t be, you just want to know if he will be there tonight. Why? You always liked to know what exactly to expect. So you go to your last call entry and decide to save the number as “JK”. You take a deep breath before your fingers tap your screen writing a friendly “hi (:” and pressing send, which you immediately regret. What was with the happy face? Was “good morning” better than “hi”? You put your phone down, there’s no way you’re going to obsess over some silly little meaningless fantasy. 

You eat your lunch in your office as sometimes you do when busy, however, there is no response from Jungkook. How dare he bring you to such a state at ungodly hours of the night just to not text you back the next day. You are doing the one thing you promised you wouldn’t do, you are overthinking because of Jeon Jungkook. But wasn’t he satisfied? Wasn’t he pleased? Your thoughts are interrupted by your phone’s buzzing. 

With your heart racing you reach to it only to see Camille’s name pop up on the screen. She’s video-calling you. 

“Hello?” you say as you bring a big spoonful of food to your mouth. 

“Hey!” Camille takes a pause to read your look. “You looked annoyed, am I interrupting something?” 

“Not at all,” you say after swallowing. 

“I hope I am not close to your work, wanna help me shop for something honeymoon related?” she raises an eyebrow. 

“That sounds like a great idea, actually,” anything to keep your mind off Jungkook not replying. 

“See you in ten.” Camille winks and ends the call. 

_____________________________________

You wonder how you did not expect this, but you find yourself in a sex shop. It’s not your first time there, you’ve even come here with Camille before. Nonetheless, due to your current state of horniness and an apparent addiction to the forbidden, you find it now hard not to think about sex and Jungkook. 

“Oh and I can't keep these with me, I want to surprise Yoongi,” she puts a butt plug with a very soft-looking tail attached to the little basket you’re holding. 

“Since when have you used these?” you laugh. 

“It’s a little thing we like to do every now and then,” she purrs. 

“Stop it,” but you can’t stop laughing. 

“Now, babes, you would look smokin’ hot in these…” 

Bright red, lace, see-through. Camille takes the lingerie and places it on top of your work clothes. You replace her hands with yours, picturing you wearing only this. How the panties would accentuate your ass, the pattern of the bra creating friction on your sensitive nipples, now hardened by the mere look on Jungkook’s face. Camille moves towards the back of the shop and as you refocus your sight you see the flash of his smile way too fast, eyes covered by his long, fluffy hair. 

Jungkook? 

But it seems like he is gone in the blink of an eye and now Camille adds more items to your little basket, completely unaware of the shock in your face. But was that really him? You can’t go and find out. It would be weird, besides, what would he do in a place like this? Scratch that. You know exactly what he would do in a place like this. 

You take a look at the new items in your little basket, a black crotchless thong and a ring vibrator. Camille likes to try new things, maybe that is what you’re missing in your life. Seeing the ring vibrator makes you feel instantly hot and agitated. Before you can filter your thoughts they are already picturing you on top of your newest fantasy, Jungkook. Your new red lingerie is set on the floor as you ride him, the ring vibrator hitting your clit every time you bounce on his manhood. The prominent veins of his cock dragging along the sides of your walls as they clench around him, the aftermath of raw, magnificent pleasure. His hands are on your hips guiding you to the thing you want the most, to cum on his cock. 

“Babes, you okay?” thank god for Camille’s intervention, you could have started moaning any minute. 

“Yeah… I– forget the lingerie set, I think it’s not my style,” you lie. 

“Hmmm okay, then how about these?” Camille shows you the cutest bullet vibrator. It is a hot pink colour. “To use with or without Joonie,” she smiles. If she only knew the sinful thoughts that were coursing through your head just now… 

Damn. 

You try to shake any idea and memory of Jungkook from your head. There is a friendly gathering you have to attend with your loving boyfriend, Namjoon. You can’t afford to succumb to the little silly fantasies in your head. It’s not right. It’s not fair. So you take the cute little sex toy from Camille’s hands and decide you’ll take it. Maybe you need to spice things up in order to move on from JK, who still hasn’t responded to your earlier text. 

Friendly gatherings at Hobi’s are always to die for, and this was no exception. Even though it was a small get-together with friends, he just had to be over the top. How couldn’t you love Hoseok? The life of the party with the biggest heart, he is selfless and you appreciate the kindness and warmth he radiates. He was one of the first friends Namjoon ever introduced to you and you got along so well that he insisted you should hang out with the group more. 

So now here you are, Hobi’s house is massive and elegant. The dark curtains that decorate the minimalist living room give a romantic yet dangerous vibe. The fireplace is on, dimly lighting the entire space. A gust of wind creeps in from the opened glass door that leads to the patio. You shiver, but Namjoon’s arms hug you even tighter to him. You breathe in deeply, no sign of Jungkook. 

Jin pats your head and you look up from the spotless, pale gray couch you’re sitting on. A glass flute, topped with the finest champagne. You extend your hand to accept it and Jin rolls his eyes. 

“I’m bored,” he sits opposite you and Namjoon. 

“But you are always bored, even when you are doing something,” Yoongi adds.

Camille and Yoongi stay by the bar. Your friend sits on a stool with her long legs crossed as one of them brushes against his teasingly. In response, he calmly rests his hand on her bare thigh, drawing circles with his thumb. They both casually sip on their neat whisky. 

“What should we do, Jin?” Camille leans forward, curiosity in her eyes. 

“Nah, but why would you ask him that? He will come up with something insane,” Hoseok says, pointing at Jin. “Last time you made us all jump into the pool and I am not doing that again.” 

“Let the man speak,” Namjoon’s voice, deep and raspy, caresses your ear. 

“Okay, okay,” Jin stands where everyone can see him. He is indeed the centre of attention everywhere he goes. Standing tall with his ashy blonde hair slightly curled and parted to the sides. He smirks as he scans the room, making sure everyone’s eyes are on him. “We are playing a drinking game, simple, never have I ever? Who’s in?” 

“I guess I arrived just in time.”

The tiny hairs on the back of your neck stand and your heart races in your chest as Jungkook makes an appearance. His black, fluffy hair was now tied, bags framing his face. A leather jacket, casual black T-shirt, black jeans and boots. How can he manage to make such a simple outfit the sexiest thing ever worn? You can’t seem to take your eyes off him as he makes his way around the room greeting everybody. 

“We want to play as well,” Jimin and Taehyung emerge from the staircase. You were wondering where they went. 

“About time you showed up,” Taehyung teasingly hit Jungkook on the shoulder. 

“I know…” he smiles and his eyes find yours. You impulsively look away finding some type of comfort in Namjoon’s arms. 

“Honey, come out here, we’re gonna start the game,” Hobi calls Seri, his latest conquest. You and Camille have had long talks about this, and are rooting so much for them. She is as fun as Hobi so they are just meant to be. 

Seri comes out of the kitchen with a tray of shot glasses. The message is understood, take one before the real fun begins. Hobi gives a quick peck on the cheek once she’s done. 

“Bottoms up everyone!” and the tequila burns your throat but you are grateful for Seri’s act because that’s exactly what you needed. Especially when Jungkook decided to sit on the chair right beside you. You do your best not to turn and see him, but only knowing he is there makes your cunt ache with wanton. 

“Well, now everyone’s ready,” Seri says flashing her perfect white smile and batting her long eyelashes at Hobi. 

“You know the rules, if you’ve done whatever the person in turn says, you drink,” Hoseok raises his champagne flute. “Be nice, everybody… or not.” 

“I’ll start! Jimin says. “Never have I drunk-dialed my ex…” 

Jin, Camille, Hobi, Seri, Jungkook, and you drink. You feel Jungkook’s eyes momentarily on you, but you fight the urge to look back. 

“Okay, my turn!” Seri says from the corner of the room. “Never have I ever kissed more than one person in 24 hours…” 

“Oooohhh…” Hoseok says intrigued looking around the room. 

Taehyung, Jimin, Seri, Jin, and Jungkook drink. 

“Really?” Yoongi laughs looking straight at Jin. 

“Don Juan!” as these words leave your mouth you know the alcohol already kicked in. 

The rest of them laugh as Jin shows off his beautiful face. 

“Please, have you seen me? Yoongi, even you want to kiss me,” Jin blows a kiss to Yoongi. 

He rolls his eyes but catches it. Camille laughs uproariously. It seems the three neat whiskeys she had plus the shot are getting to her. She winks at her fiancé, and Yoongi hugs her from behind, waiting for whoever is next. 

The game goes on and on and it gets spicier, you have to drink a couple of times but not as much as Jimin or Jungkook, who both seem to be handling their alcohol pretty well. 

“My turn,” all eyes are on Jungkook now. 

“Give us a good one!” Namjoon says, and in that moment you want to disappear. 

Jungkook nods, looking at both of you. How you sit now facing him, fearing what words will leave his mouth. Namjoon’s arm possesively around you, as he occasionally leaves little kisses on your temple. Why Namjoon? Why not him? 

“Never have I ever had phone sex,” he lets out a devilish smile. 

Fucking hell. Your eyes widen in horror, you are not sure if you should drink or not, but Jungkook’s eyes don’t leave yours as he takes one big gulp of his drink. 

Yoongi and Camille look at each other. Your friend giggles as she drinks, a secret memory replaying in their minds. 

You slowly bring your drink to your lips as your hands shake, closing your eyes as you welcome the taste of it and how the alcohol burned travelling down your throat. Everyone else drinks but Namjoon. 

“Really? Am I the only one missing out?” he looks at you. “Maybe we gotta try it sometime,” he whispers into your ear and you snap jumping off the couch. 

“I need a bathroom break, I’ll be right back,” you make your way upstairs as fast as you can. 

The hallway upstairs is dark, but the lights from the living room are enough to make it safely to the bathroom. Locking the door behind you, you attempt to calm yourself by taking deep breaths. You have to get out of here, tell Namjoon a silly lie, and walk hand in hand with him out of this madness. You splash a little water on your face and you tell yourself everything is fine. 

This is the plan. You will leave the bathroom and play for 10 more minutes. Then, you will tell Namjoon you are tired and you will leave, no questions asked. Both of you will get safely home and have a lazy morning the next day. That would be perfect. 

You open the door and it is so fast the way he pushes you in and locks the door behind him. 

“What the f–” but one of his hands is on your mouth, and the other one holds you by your lower back. 

“Shhh baby, leave the screaming for when I’m making you feel really good… I wanted to see you alone, sorry for scaring you,” he lowers his hand now, but you are too stunned to speak. Jungkook chuckles. “It was fun out there,” he continues. “Wish it was me holding you tightly,” his hand now moves to cage you between him and the door. 

“Jungkook, please d–” but your words are caught in your mouth as he spreads your legs with his knee and then presses it directly to your core. “Mmmm– fuck…” 

“Yeah, that’s what I want to hear…” he continues rubbing his knee between your legs, your panties getting wetter and wetter. Your nails scratch the door’s surface and you feel Jungkook’s breathing in your ear. “I dreamt of your beautiful moans last night…” 

Now your hips rut against his leg, wanting more of him… but you can’t and it takes all in you to stop. You open your eyes and blink through the tears of pleasure that were already pooling in your eyes. 

You slightly push Jungkook away from you. 

“We can’t… I can’t– and stop following me and you didn’t even answer my text–” 

“You want me to stop, but you are upset about a text? …and are you sure I was following you to the sex shop, wasn’t it a happy coincidence?” he smirks. 

“No, it wasn’t,” you protest but his lips are so close to yours. Those juicy, pierced lips you want on every square inch of your body. “Wait before you go downstairs.” 

So you manage to unlock the door and run back to Namjoon, who is sitting with Jimin and Taehyung now. 

“There she is,” Taehyung gives you a cheesy smile. 

“Leave her alone, don’t you see she is not feeling well. Are you okay, beautiful?” Jimin asks his adorable eyes on yours. 

“Babe you look a bit pale, should we call it a night and go home?” Namjoon stands and puts an arm around you. 

_______________________________________

You are grateful for Namjoon, you have to be. He took care of you last night, helping you take a hot shower and cuddling you to sleep. In the morning he left your breakfast packed and some aspirin in case you had a headache. He is perfect, you can’t do this to him. You comically slam your head against your desk at work. What the fuck are you going to do? 

“Ummm… are you okay?” Marcia interrupts. You nod, it is not the first time your assistant finds you doing something stupid in the “privacy” of your office. 

You take a closer look at Marcia and she carries a medium-sized, flat, black box. It is tied with a black silk ribbon, no card. 

“This is a delivery for you…” she says, leaving the box on your desk. 

“Do we know who sent it?” you ask. Marcia shakes her head. 

“Maybe is from Mr. Kim,” she winks and leaves your office as quietly as she came. 

Your fingers delicately open the box and you let out an audible gasp. Inside, the red lingerie set you saw at the sex shop. 

Bzzz! Your phone vibrates on your desk. 

JK: Hi! I really liked the colour red in you (;

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

a/n: this is pure ✨fiction✨ stay tuned for next week's update(: ... lmk if you would like to be tagged (;

tags: @paramedicnerd004 | @darkuni63 | @bangtans-momma

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - It’s My Birthday!

April 2023 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Thai Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 2 of 10 (MDL says 12, but Gaga says 10) - Baby made a friend! Yay. I hope they stay friends. Up looks so good. Also, drama with exes! Excellent. This is awful grown up for a BL, esp a pulp. I think it may be more just a gay office romance than BL, but I love it no matter what. 

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 1 of 10 - I love it. Strange premise to get at the fated mates trope but it stars one of my top picks to get his own BL. Been waiting since TT2 for this boy to feature. Tai is cute. It’s good. Except the singing. But we can’t have it all. 

Our Skyy 2 (Star in My Mind) eps 3-4 - Dao is THE MOST SPOILED. But clearly Kluen prefers it that way. This was cute, but frankly a little bit boring. Kluen is clearly Thai for whipped. 8/10 

Future (Thai Sun YouTube & Gaga) ep 5 of 6 - they added an additional ep because, why not? It’s a soap not a story, it doesn’t matter. MOAR softness for usssss! Drama llama boys continue to be overdramatic to the point of melodramatic to the point of ludicrous-dramatic. 

Pastsenger (Thai Weds Gaga) ep 8 of 12 eps - This is not as good as My Engineer but Marc makes for a much better pair with Cooper. It’s still not great but hey… and then HE PICKED UP A GUITAR. NOOOOOO!!!!!

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 9 of 12 - Is that a character in a GMMTV show actually trying to communicate? Say it isn’t so! Did you notice in order to calm Cher down Gun dropped to pom to put them on a more equal footing? Sweet. Cher is a tiny idiot for taking the blame for some random other coworker. Why? Omg this show. 

The Promise (Thai Weds YT & WeTV) ep 6 of 10 - So it was a real serious total kiss kiss with both very drunk. And that’s why he ran? Sigh. This show sucks. How can we root for this couple especially when the faen fatal (Boss) is THAT HOT and so sweet. (To be fair I can’t decide if I want Boss or his outfits more). Phu should just not come back, who needs him? So they really are going to just keep drawing this one premise out the whole show? 

Tin Tam Jai (Tues Gaga & iQIYI) ep 9 of 10 - yawn 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - They are cutest EVER - charming and awkward and sweet. I love the way the state of the food is used as an illustration for the state of the emotions of the characters. The loneliness of heating up a solitary meal bought from a convenience store in the microwave. The joy of memory of shared meals. What a lovely show.  

The Eighth Sense (Korea Weds Viki) eps 9-10fin - To be honest, I was dreading this one. JH is such a first-time love bebe. I liked how realistic everybody’s behavior was to the university age bracket. We even got some proper boyfriends phase which is too damn cute for words. I do not think that JW should have made up with his evil friend. I love the way JW’s shoulders relax the moment he sees JH. This was really good show... 

One of the longest BLs Korea has given us and (like Blueming) it feels more atmospheric gay coming of age romance than strictly BL. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, stellar acting, complex characters, and leads with good chemistry and tension. It’s a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBLs (do I detect a touch of Taiwan?). This one deployed BL tropes (messy eater, shoulder sleep, protective seme, there’s even some hyung-slinging) but front loaded them, with tons angst driving the 2nd half. This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a BL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled but it did have a glorious ending and that counts for a lot. 9/10 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Happy Merry Ending (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 1-2 of 8 - No shade (ha!) but I do think Leo would have been better in the role of the singer (SJ) but I’m okay with Dongwon. JH is a nice flirty bit of sunshine. SJ is clearly the most anxiety-riddled socially awkward broken baby evers. I’m not sure about this kinda angst, it’s not really my thing especially on the back of The Eighth Sense. Look, I’ve never been one for a fixer-upper. We shall see, I guess? This is the beauty of KBL, so short most of the time that it’s low commitment no matter my reservations. 

My Story (Pinoy Sat YouTube) ep 3 of 10 - it’s fine I guess? 

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 12 - I guess the fetish matches are finding each other? How v Japan. Of course I like the conversation about names and protocols. 

It’s Airing But ...

Love Syndrome (Thai Sat WeTV) stopped at ep 2 of 12 - I’m just not into any aspect of it (except Lee Long Shi and I can watch him in Tin Tem Jai) - saving to binge if the end is solid.

Venus in the Sky (Sat YouTube) pilot/tester?) 0 of 10 - not entirely sure what’s up with this one distribution-wise, but the pilot was classic university-set pulp. I hope it happens because the leads are cute with good chemsitry and I thought it was fun. However, this pilot holds together as its own little short too.

Make a Wish (Thai Weds ?) stars Fluke Natouch (OhmFluke UWMA etc...) & Judo (The Miracle Of Teddy Bear) in a medical-fantasy. About a doctor who sees ghosts and a deity who resides in a Bodhi tree that earns merits whenever he fulfills a wish, based on a y-novel by Sammon (Manner of Death, Triage). Same as above.

Stormy Honeymoon (Vietnam) - I’m tired of these characters 

In Case You Missed It

Star Hunter dropped all their trailers for 2023 on their YT channel. Bit late in the year IMHO. Nothing really stuck out.

Big Dragon the movie = more of the same

True Moon = yet another loosely disguised attempt at the 2 Moons franchise?

Flirt Milk = standard pulp fodder, but they are cute

Acadex = The Eclipse + Destiny Seeker + Harry Potter 4 + The CW, as a movie that may not be BL 

Sunset Vibes = Big Dragon pair as a one night stand but “uh-oh he’s my boss!” I’m game. Maybe it’ll have a better story? Maybe it will have a plot? Maybe... oh who am I kidding. It’ll be high heat and that’s about all we can hope for. 

City of Stars AKA Fueangnakorn = An actor falls in love with a programmer and the narrative intends to “explore the ramifications of being public figure in the social network era who must endure critics, bullying, and defamation.” Looks like another Lovely Writer/Call It What You Want sort of thing.

The biggest shocker is how few they fielded of their original BL stable.

ALSO:

Love Senior = SOTUS but make it GL (I’m not mad about this one, it’s about flipping time. But it’s GL so I won’t track it, although I will watch it.)

Next Week Looks Like This:

Coming in May 2023:

5/1 House of Stars (Thai iQIYI) - An LGBTQ actor in love with an actor from another company, plus other wanna be stars all trapped in a doom house together. 

5/4 Love Mate (Korea Viki) 8 eps- Office romance between a team leader and a new employee who agree to date for 3 months to find true love, from the makers of Our Dating Sim.

5/18 - Starstruck (Korea ????) - A boy has had a crush on his childhood friend for a long time. Stars Zuho (Kpop SF9 - noted Good Egg) opposite rookie actor Kim In Sung (as the one with the crush). 

5/27 The Luminous Solution (Thai ????) 10 eps - Thana is having trouble at work and in his relationship. He can't seem to catch a break. So he makes a wish to change everything. But every wish has a price.

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I do like a tie (or nametag) grab kiss. (Boss & Babe) 

Our Skyy 2 SIMM ep summing it all up and reviewing itself.

Future the series, I like this reverse claiming thing. So cute. 

The boyfriends eps are the BEST eps. The Eighth Sense. 

I WANT BOSS’S OUTFITS. 

My favorite, “there is only one bed but we slept together on the floor anyway.” (The Promise) 

Now that is a claim that MUST be proved. 

Loves the little babies with their killer communication style. 

What do I always say about a BL that reviews itself? All from Destiny Seeker. (I’m getting caught up, I’ll post a review of the series when I’m done.)

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? UO’s Restart 

[finalfantasyx]

Thoughts on Dashing Youth - Blood of Youth

I HAVE THOUGHTS AFTER FINISHING BOTH DRAMAS. Spoilers ahead if you haven't seen them.

First things first: I heard of The Blood of Youth when it first came out and have had it on my backburner to-watch list for a long time, but I never got around to it. H O W E V E R, I didn't hear peep about Dashing Youth until it was airing and youtube threw it into my face. Dashing Youth automatically got bumped to the top of my watchlist because I will die before I miss a period/xianxia/wuxia drama starring Neo Hou, just saying.

Ergo, I watched Dashing Youth before I watched The Blood of Youth while thinking, "huh why does every drama have [Shao Nian] in its name nowadays?" only to find out later when I was watching the first few episodes that it was the PREQUEL to The Blood of Youth when my mom walked past and casually asked what this was because the names that were mentioned were in The Blood of Youth (she watched it a while back and recommended it; she's been right on the money so far with good recs--Mysterious Lotus Casebook was also hers and both of these dramas ended up on my top 3 favorite dramas list). A quick google search later told us as much.

That meant I had no context to the world we would be in for the next 80 episodes prior to watching Dashing Youth, and I had no idea who these people were and what would happen to them in The Blood of Youth (which, thank goodness. I would have been in tears the entire time if I watched it the other way around).

To begin--Dashing Youth sucked.

I said what I said; Neo Hou couldn't save this one. The story was bad, the CGI was...not great, and the pacing was THE WORSTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. The *only* thing the producers got right were the characters, because those were A+ spot on. Neo Hou and Xia Zhi Guang and He Yu were SO GREAT in this, and Zhang Chen Xiao was a welcome familiar face after Cang Lan Jue.

Side plug, did y'all know there was a scrapped romance subplot between Dongfang Xunfeng and Dan Yin in Cang Lan Jue??? I am so angry; we could have had all the good things, but no, we're not allowed.

I also absolutely adored the other disciples of Jixia Academy, Baili Dongjun's shixiongs. Lei Mengsha, oh my GOD he was so funny and I laughed every. single. time. he did his gremlin laugh on screen. The others also really grew on me, like...hold on, let me check my notes.../looks at scribbles on hand

The da shixiong who showed up for one arc and like two episodes, after which he was dropped like a sack of potatoes and never seen agani, third shixiong--the sword one with the badass wedding arc in the beginning who we don't care about, the fourth shixiong--Liu Yue, the pretty one, the fifth shixiong--the "ugly" (??? he wasn't???) one who I'm not convinced isn't in some sort of relationship with Liu Yue, the sixth shixiong--the music one whom we know nothing about--OOOH OOOH OOH I KNOW THIS ONE, the seventh shixiong--Prince Langya, Xiao Ruofeng!

Yikes. I wish the show would do these characters more justice, because the actors did GREAT in bringing them to life only to have them nuked because of screentime restrictions and lack of dialogue if they weren't Lei Mengsha, Liu Yue, or Xiao Ruofeng. I literally have the most barebone ideas of who they are. And even Liu Yue got nuked later on. Ugh.

Speaking of characters, I really loved Yue Yao and her drive to do what was right as the story progressed. She was so interesting when she decided to take charge of things instead of letting them happen to her, and then LOOK WHAT THE PRODUCERS DID WITH HER. Sidelined her and made her arm candy to Baili Dongjun when they could have been a badass fighting couple. A N D based on the timeline we got in the drama, they were together for like seven years and you're telling me they didn't get married until post-drama??? I don't believe you~

I literally powered through this drama, though credit must be given for the soundtrack, which I thought was overall better than The Blood of Youth's (save for a few songs, but I would sooner listen to the full OST for Dashing Youth without skipping songs than The Blood of Youth).

There was a lot of story and a lot of characters to cram into this drama so that it would set up for The Blood of Youth properly, which was by then a very established drama. Retconning is a nightmare, but the producers and screenwriters somehow MADE A PREQUEL WORSE because there were a lot of details and characters that dragged on for too long, took up too much screentime for NO purpose whatsoever (like Baili Dongjun learning the sword and dao technique that he maybe used like once?), and then caused the rest of the actually important details that need to set up The Blood of Youth to be SUPER rushed.

The pacing. Dear GOD, the pacing. If your drama requires multiple voice-over timeskip cuts, you're doing it WRONG (see: shoving in the Four Guardians of Tianqi without actually letting us see this badass team interact even once...nuking the seven disciples of Jixia Academy while then bringing back Liu Yue and Mo Xiao Hei at the end to fight Nanjue with Lei Mengsha ALSO without actually letting us see them together and then saying that they went back to jianghu after the battle without mentioning how Lei Mengsha died while fighting Nanjue in The Blood of Youth...how on earth Li Hanyi became the second City Master when Sikong Changfeng was explicitly namedropped by Luo Shui, the previous City Master of Xueyue...I could keep going).

This is bad writing at its finest and I am angry that the drama turned out this way when source material was actually so good.

--Then, The Blood of Youth.

This drama was everything Dashing Youth wanted and tried to be, but even with a template in front of them, they still managed to get it wrong. The audacity and freedom and shackles of youth, the adventure and the beginnings of romance, the court politics and the complexity of jianghu--The Blood of Youth did it RIGHT, and with excellent pacing and development.

[fairytail-whathesays]

hope this isn't asking for too much, but do you have any headcanons that you could make about a relationship between Natsu, Gajeel and Laxus? always though those three would work together....

Natsu x Gajeel x Laxus, Part 1 of ?

So, a preliminary statement:

We would all like to hope for the ideal throuple i.e. everyone gets together because they're all similarly attracted and into each other, and there's no drama. And we'd also like to imagine that we're above stories of love triangles and envy. But that's not the way this one happens, nor would it be as interesting. We're gonna go at this one mostly from Gajeel's POV.

Gajeel and his attraction to Laxus has been rough enough on its own, okay? My personal headcanon is that Gajeel thought he was straight as recently as when he joined Fairy Tail. Finding out you like men, ideally, shouldn't be so threatening...but Gajeel is a rough-looking hypermasculine punk whose ego is very prominent. And Laxus is an even more rough-looking hypermasculine punk with uhhh rage issues and their first meeting was basically Laxus beating the living shit out of him.

Yeah, that's how we're going with it--Gajeel had to go through the same 'oh god the guy who beat me up is hot' thing that Levy went through, except with added internalized homophobia. Couldn't he like someone less threatening? Have awkward dreams about, I dunno, Gray, or Freed, or Nats--nope, not that one, that'd be awful too.

And luckily for him, Laxus is a loner and also an asshole and also not good at making friends, so at least they're in the same boat. He doesn't have to worry about anyone else having the guts to actually approach his crush. Fuck you mean 'Gajeel doesn't either'? Mind your business.

You get it, it's a source of a lot of stress for him. He feels very awkward and weird about his crush on Laxus and it clashes a lot with who he presents himself as and who he wants to be, and so there's a lot of stress associated with it for him.

It's looking up for him right around the time Laxus rejoins the guild and has to actually interact with people and he's much calmer, which means if he can stop choking over it, Gajeel might can actually make a move.

Which means that by the time he figures out that Natsu is trying to put the moves on his crush, he...basically detonates. Like, he does not handle it well, at all. You've just started to think he might be getting over his vicious rivalry with Salamander and might be calming down when he gets wind of the fact he and Salamander like the same guy. Nope, fuck that, fuck all of that, every last bit of it, Salamander can go suck some other dick.

Of course it's fucking Natsu, right? Dude blew his old guild to smithereens, knocked him unconscious, basically re-homed him to his own guild, consistently outshines and out-competes him for attention, and now he can't even let Gajeel thirst for another man in peace.

So it's a lot of toxic behavior and outward hostility and hair-trigger temper while Gajeel basically tries to simultaneously keep Natsu from pursuing and also deny that he has any sort of feelings for Laxus whatsoever, because that'd be weak as hell, no thank you. Everybody notices and it kinda freaks out onlookers in the guild, who thought Gajeel was over his hyper-aggressive early days.

Of course, poor Laxus, having not one but two machismo-driven idiots who don't know a thing about romance both crushing on him, because you can guarantee Natsu, while he might be more forward with pursuing a crush, is just as clueless as Gajeel. So Laxus, unawares while this is all starting to brew, is basically watching two guys he's actually rather fond of damn near beating each other to death whenever they're in the same room.

It gets bad enough that Laxus has to basically separate them and pin Gajeel to the ground when he starts a fight and Natsu is getting pretty badly hurt. Like he has to pull Gajeel off of Natsu and tells him to his face he's gonna lay down the law himself if he does it again, and demands to know what the fuck is up. Gajeel stays silent.

Of course, Laxus doesn't let that slide. Corners him and drags him off to some isolated location later, so he can wheedle the answers out of Gajeel. It's not like they don't have an understanding between each other, they can trust each other, right? So why's Gajeel being all silent and clammed up. Finally, Gajeel almost spits it:

"Salamander wants you."

Drama, mess, and dysfunction will continue in a part 2~!

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

4.5/5. Releases 2/27/24.

Heat Index: 6.5/10.

Vibes: vIKINGS!!!!, slutty guy/serious girl, "oops I'm married to your dad", and legitimately intense battle and magic stuff that actually works and puts people in those heartrending situations where it's all "STAY ALIVE!!!!! I WILL FIND YOU!!!!!!!!!" as it should in a FANTASY ROMANCE

Married to a man she hates and hiding the fact that she's the child of a minor goddess (children of gods are a Thing in this world) Freya lives a life of drudgery. Until, that is, her secret is revealed to all and Jarl Snorri declares that she's a prophesied shieldmaiden, meant to clinch him the kingdom he's always wanted. As such, she must marry him--kind of an issue, as she is very, very attracted to Snorri's son Bjorn. Another issue: Bjorn has been bound to Freya as her protector. On top of everything, Freya's goddess-given abilities are obscure but dangerous, leading her to wonder if her fate is less that of a protector than that of a monster...

OOOOH WE'VE GOT SOMETHING HERE. I've read Danielle L. Jensen before, way back in the day with her Malediction books--but those were YA (albeit, pretty hot YA) and I really don't read YA anymore. However, I do like Viking Shit, and I especially liked the idea of a romance between a Viking lady and her husband's SON, which was something I always wanted to happen on Vikings. So I picked it up.

And dude. It sucked me right in. I am, as I will get into more below, kind of a hard sell on fantasy romance--when it works, I am HOOKED but when it doesn't I am quickly turned off. This is the former. I was so drawn to Freya, a heroine who does have Chosen One aspects, but is also very human and just trying to make it work, one battle at a time. (Also? She's not instantly gREAT at fighting, how refreshing.) And I absolutely fell head over heels dumb girl for our hero Bjorn, who I expected to be a stoic silent warrior type. NO. He's so much better. He's like, an amazing warrior--but is also so funny and super slutty and just a BRO. I love him. Protect him.

The fantasy plot is compelling and doesn't get so in love with itself that it's impossible to follow. It's really good! I'm excited by this! Can't wait for the next! (What a relief, God.)

Quick Takes:

Here's my issue with fantasy romance (or romantasy, though I'll point out that this series is billed as "fantasy romance" on Netgalley, and that is so HOT to me): often, though the name implies that it's a subgenre of romance with a heavy fantasy bent... It's basically fantasy (well-done or not) with a romance subplot tucked in. The character work is shoddy, the tension is nil, and you can tell that the author is just trying to horn in on the romance audience. Not so, here. 

First off, I think Jensen was really smart to create a fantasy world that is very "Vikings But Fantasy". It's not poorly drawn. You can tell that she's really into the Norse vibe, and I will say that I am biased because as someone who has somehow been watching the Vikings franchise since its inception (pray for me) I'm fairly familiar with it on that level. But the way she weaves the fantasy elements, most distinctly the idea of these empowered children of gods (who are basically made when their mortal parents HAVE THREESOMES WITH GODS??? Amazing. Just imagine having these superpowers and knowing that it's because your parents took some dude home from the bar one night and he turned out to be Thor.) into the story is really natural.

Secondly... There is a really compelling plot, yes. I am really into the duality of Freya, don't get me wrong. I really like the royal intrigue. All the WIFE DRAMA. It's My Brand. But the real heart of this story, very openly and honestly and presented without any self-consciousness, is Freya and Bjorn. And I think Jensen just lays it all out there the moment she introduces the brilliant plot device of "Bjorn's Dad, Who Freya Is Technically Married To, Wants Bjorn To Follow Freya Around And Make Sure She Doesn't Get Into Danger". Oh, so he's supposed to protect her as she hurtles into adventure and fights Viking zombies and shit? HOW CONVENIENT. Throughout the story, their immediate physical attraction melts into this emotional slow burn... and I am also a hard sell on a slow burn, so thank you for doing it right, Danielle. The book is single POV (Freya's, though I wouldn't mind Bjorn's in a future installment) but you can just tell that Bjorn is so mad that he's this into a woman who is technically his stepmother. Like, he can have anyone! But he wants HER. But he can't have her! 

Picture me gobbling this up like a raccoon in a trash can.

--Speaking of! If you're all "ew, I hate that Freya is married to his dad"--no spoilers, but this is dealt with in a way that I think both avoids the ick that some readers (to be clear: not me, I am very resistant to ick) may feel over that setup, and avoids a copout. 

At the same time... First off, Bjorn doesn't fully know that the ick has been avoided, and to be frank, I don't think Bjorn really cares about a little ick. But he does have like, you know, the "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME" vibe for a while, and it is delicious. All very illicitaffairs.mp3.

--I also really loved that there is no mistake about Freya being a GROWN WOMAN. I strongly, strongly object to shelving this as New Adult, because regardless of her age, Freya (and honestly Bjorn as well) has been through a lot. She's literally married when we open this novel. She gets a second husband. She is not a virgin; her marriage was not chaste; it sucked. (To be clear: you don't get a lot of insight into Freya's first marriage beyond "it sucked" because it's dealt with pretty quickly. You don't see any sexual assault on the page in this book, and I don't know that Freya would see it that way? It's alluded to as "lie back and think of England" bad, gross sex, which I think suggests assault, but there is not any explicit violence, sexual or otherwise, depicted in either of her marriages.) She is JADED. She has never had a man like, take care of her.

And then she gets linked up with local dude who's snarking at her horrible husband about how he must not go down on her enough, and she's all "WHAT'S THAT MEAN :/". I really, really enjoy a pairing that involves a tough woman who's never been properly taken care of and a man who's like "I am DESPERATE to take care of you". Freya deserves!

--Another good choice: often, in fantasy romance (or at least in fantasy romance of yore; I feel like there has been a recent push to correct this, at least somewhat) the heroine is hypercompetent. She's smart, she's a good fighter, she's a femme fatale, she's the seventeen-year-old master assassin...

Freya is... a person. She does want to fight, and she is--not surprisingly, as she does come from a culture in which women do fight--not incapable of holding her own. Somewhat. But as soon as she's up against a master warrior like Bjorn, she's kind of not great, Bob, and even with the benefit of her goddess-given abilities, she still has a lot to learn. It's giving "Book One Aang", and I'm good with that. I'm actually much happier with her giving Book One Aang as a twenty-something woman because like? Give us hope, Freya.

She also doesn't have all the answers. Frankly, Freya doesn't have 80% of the answers, and she shouldn't, because she's new to this. She's new to the magic stuff (though she knew she had it, which I did like--she's not an Alina Starkov-level "WHAAAT" about it) and she's new to the court intrigue, and frankly she's new to Hot Dudes. Speaking of, she does spend a decent amount of brain time going "STOP! STOP, SELF! DO NOT LOOK! DO NOT TOUCH!" Which, frankly, I loved. I feel like that's the kind of behavior people are going to be annoying about because people are dying, but like. This woman just spent years surrounded by Village 2's and suddenly she's being swung around and guarded by a very flirtatious Royal 12. Give her a break. I would be much worse. 

And she doesn't know what the hell she's doing with this man. She knows the mechanics, but she doesn't know the FINESSE. Speaking of...

The Sex:

The reason why I'm between a 6 and a 7 on this (and that's not quality, that's literally just how hot the book is re: sex acts) is that the story is a slow burn. Everything sexy happens in the back half, and you don't get to the full shebang until pretty late in the game. It's ABOUT THE YEARNING.

However, I think this was a good choice, and when we do get those scenes they are super hot (and explicit, though not like Sierra Simone explicit to be clear) and passionate and you definitely get the sense that it's this giant deal for these two. I was quite touched. I was like "awww" but also "oh" which is where I want to be when a story builds to two people hooking up for that long.

And Jensen fully takes advantage of the "Vikings" component and does have some "under the sleeping furs with 76 people sleeping in the near vicinity but we just need to get this done" action here. Which. Brava.

I'll be honest--I was worried about this, as I feel like I've been let down by a great fantasy romance in the past. I, much like several people in this novel, have been burned before. Not so here. I'm fully on board. I loved where we left off, and I cannot wait to see where those two crazy kids go next. Hopefully, like. To Vikings divorce court. So she can end that marriage to his dad.

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Preorder:

Amazon

B&N

Bookshop.org

[metalandmagi]

If Captive Prince was a musical, it would be set to Taylor Swift's Reputation album and here's why:

Since I just reread Captive Prince again, I wanted to revamp my original post about how I broke down the Reputation album a little bit. Because that album eerily follows the narrative for Captive Prince so well and I don't want to be the only one who has this living in my head...

...Ready for It?

This could work in a few places, but I see it as Laurent’s POV towards the end of Prince’s Gambit. I see him singing it as makes plans for the battle at Charcy. He’s figured out that he has genuine feelings for Damen, but he’s putting all the pieces into place after parting with him at Ravenel so the real game with the regent can begin. The first verse: 

Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him

Wondered how many girls he had loved and left haunted

But if he's a ghost, then I can be a phantom

Holdin' him for ransom, some

Some boys are tryin' too hard, he don't try at all though

Younger than my exes, but he act like such a man, so

I see nothing better, I keep him forever

Like a vendetta-ta

At this point in the story, he would dream (“in the middle of the night, in my dreams”) of being alone in the summer palace with Damen (“I-island breeze and lights down low”). It also manages to describe Damen’s feelings for Laurent at first sight, (“knew I was a robber, first time that he saw me, stealing hearts and running off never saying sorry”) or at least, what Damen assumed about Laurent: that he was an ice cold bitch who probably toyed with men’s feelings for fun.

The downside is, immediately after this song, Laurent is captured by Govart and Guion and Damen is left to fight alone. 😭

End Game (Ft. Ed Sheeran & Future)

I can’t really decide on who exactly would sing which verse (maybe Laurent would beTaylor’s parts, and Damen would be Ed and Future’s verses), and there’s less of a concrete timeframe for this one. One option is in Kings Rising after the scene where Laurent sucks Damen off. But I also like to think about Laurent going back to Vere alone eventually (after the Summer Palace and Adventures of Charls) and needing Damen to reassure him that he won’t find someone else while the two of them have to rule their countries separately (until uniting them can be their end game). Both of their reputations in each other’s respective countries are a little…all over the place (“you and me would be a big conversation”) so Damen has to remind Laurent that the two of them understand each other on a completely different level than anyone ever has:

And you understand the good and bad end up in the song

For all your beautiful traits and the way you do it with ease

For all my flaws, paranoia, and insecurities

I've made mistakes and made some choices, that's hard to deny

And I also consider this verse to be extremely accurate for Laurent:

I hit you like bang, we tried to forget it, but we just couldn't

And I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put 'em

Reputation precedes me, they told you I'm crazy

I swear I don't love the drama, it loves me

And I can't let you go, your handprints on my soul

It's like your eyes are liquor, it's like your body is gold

You've been callin' my bluff on all my usual tricks (Ooh)

So here's the truth from my red lips (Ah)

This one’s just fun. It doesn’t have a major plot in the story or anything.

I Did Something Bad 

I imagine this as Laurent’s confrontation with the regent after whipping Damen. Pretty self explanatory. And who could blame him? If Damen had killed my brother, I’d do it over and over and over again if I could. This song is kind of an odd situation because it deals more in romance than what would be applicable to this point in the story. He’s explaining that Damen laid hands on him in the baths, so he deserved to be whipped, but at the same time, Laurent is thinking about the ways men have manipulated him, so he shouldn’t owe it to anyone to be sweet and docile. So I think it would be like Laurent singing the chorus to the regent and certain verses and the bridge to himself.

Though, I’d say the “he” in the verse: 

He says, "Don't throw away a good thing"

But if he drops my name, then I owe him nothin'

And if he spends my change, then he had it comin'

Refers to the regent, instead of any sort of romantic interest, obviously. And then of course this exchange ends with the regent taking everything except Acquitart from Laurent 🙃

Don't Blame Me

Okay, this take is dark as hell, but I actually see this working as Aimeric’s thoughts about the regent, either right before his suicide or during his confession to Laurent (“I’m glad I did what I did. I did it for my family, and for the south. I’d do it again”). The whole thing is about how “love” or the idea of being loved and needing love from someone made him do crazy things.

I imagine the pre-chorus:

For you, I would cross the line

I would waste my time, I would lose my mind

They say, "She's gone too far this time"

Being Aimeric’s complicated feelings about what he’s done in the name of “love,” everything from killing Orlant to “seducing” Jord. Of course in the book, once he meets Jord, and gets a handle on what real love looks like, he at least apologizes to Jord, but the song isn’t necessarily apologetic to anyone else, so it would be a much darker take on Aimeric 😅

I really want to be able to fit the Eras Tour “Don’t Blame Me For What You Made Me Do” transition in here somewhere, but I don’t know if it would work out timing-wise. Maybe if “Don’t Blame Me” ended with Aimeric’s suicide, it would immediately transition into Laurent making plans for Charcy singing “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Delicate

Dual POVs for Damen and Laurent during Prince’s Gambit. Probably a montage of their time spent hunched over maps, realizing the other person isn’t who they thought they were. Laurent would sing the intro/pre-chorus (“This ain't for the best, My reputation's never been worse”), Damen would sing the first verse (“oh damn, never seen that color blue”), and they’d both sing the chorus. I think the song would pick up again when they’re in the Vaskian camp the first time, with Laurent singing the second verse (“do the girls back home touch you like I do?”) and alternating verses as the song goes on, always singing the chorus and bridge together. 

Look What You Made Me Do

Laurent’s entire relationship with the regent, obviously. It’s hard to know where the song would be exactly, since the books are from Damen’s perspective. Maybe this would be after Laurent kills Govart with the chair or it would transition to this after Aimeric sings “Don’t Blame Me” (like in the Eras Tour). If that’s the case, it would be while Laurent is in a horrible mood (since both Nicaise and Aimeric are dead) and he turns his anger on Damen while he’s planning for Charcy. So the song would be directed at both the regent and at Damen. It would be his big dramatic number before an intermission XD 

Everything about this song describes Laurent and his relationship to his uncle so perfectly. I mean come on!

I don't like your kingdom keys 

They once belonged to me 

You asked me for a place to sleep

Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)

But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time 

Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time 

I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined

I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me

I could also see the regent reprising it at some point, maybe during the trial, for extra effect, because it’s extra insulting when he would be the one singing it.

So It Goes... 

This is basically a running commentary of what’s going on in Laurent and Damen’s heads during their first kiss on the battlements, but I imagine it as a stripped down acoustic version. The first verse, pre-chorus, and first chorus would all apply to Laurent. For example: “Gold cage, hostage to my feelings, back against the wall”  is basically Laurent’s entire experience in Vere and then realizing he has feelings for Damen.

And of course the pre-chorus: “Cause we break down a little, But when you get me alone, it's so simple”  is so fitting because Laurent would be the one to commentate on how everything seems like it should be so simple with Damen, even though their history is the furthest thing from it.

Then the second verse and chorus would apply to Damen. And the rest of the song would be a duet.

The bridge: “You did a number on me, But, honestly, baby, who's counting?” is certainly accurate. These two really have done a number on each other by now, but they’re finally giving in to their feelings 😆

Gorgeous 

Literally any time Damen thinks about how attractive Laurent is, this plays in the background 🫠 The scene in the baths? This plays. When Laurent is relaxing before the assassination attempt? This plays. Then it starts playing when Laurent thinks Damen does something attractive. Damen rips the bars off the window? This plays. The inn at Nesson-Eloy? This plays. Then by the time they’re in the Vaskian tent (the second time) they sing it to each other directly (Laurent would sing the first verse–since it literally references Laurent getting drunk after he first meets Damen, and it references an “older boyfriend”--and Damen would sing the second). The song is the perfect blend of horny and frustrated that encapsulates these two during the first two books.

Getaway Car 

Jokaste reflecting on her actions in the first book when she’s imprisoned. I don’t know if she’d be singing it to herself or to Damen when he finds out about the deal to exchange her child for her freedom.

The first verse is all about deception and lying to a man:

It was the best of times, the worst of crimes

I struck a match and blew your mind

But I didn’t mean it and you didn't see it

The ties were black, the lies were white

In shades of gray in candlelight

I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason

The “X” in "X marks the spot where we fell apart, He poisoned the well, I was lyin' to myself” refers to the baths in the first scene of Captive Prince, where her betrayal really begins and she convinces herself that Kastor is the person to back. The song isn’t a perfect comparison, but it does have some good lines that I associate with her, especially: “should have known I’d be the first to leave” and “but with three of us honey, it’s a sideshow, and the circus ain’t a love story, and now we’re both sorry”

I see her as constantly being pulled by her affection for Damen (because I don’t think she loves him, but she does care about him) and her ambition, so the bridge:

We were jet-set, Bonnie and Clyde (Oh-oh)

Until I switched to the other side, to the other side

It's no surprise I turned you in (Oh-oh)

'Cause us traitors never win

I'm in a getaway car

I left you in a motel bar

Put the money in a bag and I stole the keys

That was the last time you ever saw me

Feels really appropriate for her.

King of My Heart

Laurent’s running commentary during the Summer Palace. Just pure happiness and sap from the ice prince whose heart has melted. If this trilogy was a movie, this would be the end credits song, preferably a stripped down version like in the Eras Tour acoustic set.

Dancing With Our Hands Tied 

I see this as Laurent making the decision to give himself up at the Kingsmeet. We get a little snippet from Laurent’s perspective when they’re traveling through Akielos with Charls, the night that he frees Jokaste. Damen is asleep, and I can see this being Laurent’s internal struggle as he watches Damen sleep right before he goes to the wagon and frees Jokaste.

Again, I see this as a softer, acoustic version of the song that plays on the feeling of helplessness. During the first verse and chorus, he’s fully realized his feelings for Damen, but he knows the regent is always one step ahead of him. He hopes he can use Guion’s wife to his advantage, but he’s skeptical that his uncle would give up Jokaste’s son, so he still feels like his hands are tied when it comes to actually having a future with Damen. This part of the first verse:

Oh, twenty-five years old

Oh, how were you to know? And

My, my love had been frozen

Deep blue, but you painted me golden

Fits them really well, considering it even gets Damen’s age correct.

I can also see this being reprised later, maybe when Damen and Laurent are walking through the Kingsmeet together. Damen would echo the second verse:

I, I loved you in spite of

Deep fears that the world would divide us

So, baby, can we dance

Oh, through an avalanche? And

Say, say that we got it

I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted

Oh, 'cause it's gravity

Oh, keeping you with me

Damen knows that even if they manage to win their thrones back, people might not accept their union (he even thinks about how if Theomedes was alive, Laurent would never be allowed in the Kingsmeet at all), “people started talking putting us through our paces”  but he ultimately wants them to end up ruling together by this point. So he and Laurent reprise the chorus together. 

Dress 

Ancel and Berenger’s entire relationship lol 😆

The first line highlights everything about their arrangement: “Our secret moments in a crowded room, They got no idea about me and you” Ancel is specifically with Berenger so they can keep up appearances at court!

Then: “All of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation, My hands are shakin' from holdin’ back from you” describes Ancel’s slowly building attraction to Berenger, and his quest to get Berenger to sleep with him.

Even the line: “And if I get burned, At least we were electrified” works, because they are playing a dangerous game with the regent and have no guarantee that Laurent will take back the throne. Berenger could lose everything, but Ancel doesn’t care. So I think this would take place at the very end of Pet, right when Ancel asks “But if he wins?”

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

I actually see this starting out as a villain song for the regent, probably admonishing Laurent after Damen is whipped in Captive Prince. (“So why’d you have to rain on my parade? I’m shaking my head and locking the gates”) I think he’d sing everything up until the bridge after Damen is whipped, and maybe he’d reprise the chorus during the confrontation at the Kingsmeet.

BUT THEN AT THE END OF THE TRIAL LAURENT WOULD SING IT BACK TO HIM WITH THE BRIDGE INCLUDED! 

And this time, “But I’m not the only friend you’ve lost lately” would refer to Aimeric, Nicaise, and Guion. 

I just like the idea of Laurent singing the bridge, specifically, “And here’s to you, ‘cause forgiveness is a nice thing to do Haha, I can't even say it with a straight face” before the regent is beheaded, and then singing the rest of the song as a victory lap.

Call It What You Want

Another duel POV song, either just before or after their second time sleeping together. This is the time when Damen and Laurent are being intimate with the knowledge of Damen’s identity out in the open. Both Laurent and Damen are emotionally vulnerable, because this is when Laurent comforted Damen after he overhears Laurent’s conversation with Jokaste about Kastor murdering his father. Laurent would have the first verse and chorus:

My castle crumbled overnight

I brought a knife to a gunfight

They took the crown, but it's alright

All the liars are calling me one

Nobody's heard from me for months

I'm doin' better than I ever was

Damen would get the second verse and chorus (“All the jokers dressing up as kings, They fade to nothing when I look at him”)

The song is about how Laurent never expected all of the tragedy in his life to lead to his biggest victory, and Damen never expected to find comfort in a man who is meant to be his enemy. And the lyric: “You don’t need to save me, but would you run away with me?”  feels like it would be a callback or response to the “We hold the center” line from Prince’s Gambit.

New Year's Day

This is Damen reflecting on his relationship with Laurent (either while he’s recovering from his stab wound from Kastor or as Laurent is crowned at the end of Adventures of Charls). I think it works for how in the past, Damen never felt a deep connection with anyone he’d ever been with, but with Laurent, he’d stay and clean up after the party. “Don't read the last page, But I stay when it's hard or it's wrong or we're makin' mistakes” refers to how difficult it will be to unite their kingdoms, but he is convinced that they will be together through everything, and that makes it all worth it ❤️

It’s a straightforward song that fits Damen’s honorable personality very well. Deep down, Damen is a little scared of Laurent becoming “a stranger whose laugh I would recognize anywhere” once they’re back on their thrones, but if they “hold on to the memories” of their struggles together, they will make it through anything.

[kdramaxoxo]

What are some of your favorite dramas from this year so far?

Are there any specific ones you're looking forward to?

Oooh this is a great question! I feel like we were in a k-drama draught for a while so my list might be a little short.

My Favorite K-dramas in Jan-July 2023:

The Eighth Sense: A queer romance drama (debatable if it's a bl) that was a huge breath of fresh air! it felt like an indie drama and the character development, filming style and intimacy was soooo amazing.

See You In My 19th Life: This drama has all of the tropes I like and the destiny romance I live for. Shin Hye Sun is a godess and the secondary couples will also tug at your heart strings!! It hasn't finished yet but I'm too into it to take this back!

Crash Course in Romance: This romance between an uptight grump and a lovely ray of sunshine was so good!! The slice of life elements and the comfort healing were everything. The end was highly flawed but I still feel like it was worth the watch.

Our Dating Sim: A super cute and fluffy bl with a fun video game twist. It had me giggling and was just a cute short drama.

Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938: This is the first 2nd season drama that I enjoyed more than the first season! It's only 12 episodes long, which i think helped it feel less baggy AND the main romance was between our favorite half fox Lee Rang and a mermaid!! If you didn't like season one though, don't bother with season two. If you DID it feels so nice to see all of your favorite characters again.

Hit The Spot: This drama was wild yall! Two close friends sub for a sex podcast where different people write in and tell their stories, which are woven into the leads own romance lives. I loved it so much even if some of the parts were totally ridiculous. I still think parts of it were sponsored by a vibrator company lol. Heads up it's literally rated R with sex scenes, though I found the scenes much funnier than I probably should.

Upcoming K-Dramas I'm looking forward to (a.k.a featuring actors I love ;-)

Mask Girl: This is a comedy thriller but honestly I'm just going to watch it because Nana is in it lol. It could go either way but there are some solid people in it.

Destined With You: I love fantasy romances and this one has rowoon (haru i miss you!!!). It's about a romance revolved around a 300 year old forbidden book.

Carry Sun Jae And Run (air date unknown) Byun Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon (extraordinary you!) are cast in a time slip fantasy romance drama (I love my fantasy dramas so I'm vibing with this!)

The Trunk: (air date unknown) Gong Yoo (!!!) is going to be in a contract relationship drama with Seo Hyun Jin. He's excellent at romance and comedy so I hope it has all of those elements. We NEED rom coms!

Cashero (air date unknown): Junho is back and this time he's a superhero! This king wants to try every type of role on the planet and I'm here for it. We all know I'll watch it even if it sucks.

[crispy-ghee]

I did think the show was at it's best when it was pushing the rivalry between bird and johnson, and I think the making him more of an asshole in season 1 would have worked better cause it could be from magic's perspective, then he gets fleshed out in season 2, but even then he still didn't get fleshed out as much as he could have been. Also the way they cut that episode where it goes from him seeing his dead dad, to buss romancing the new girlfriend was such a bad tonal shift. They could have cut that and had his mom appear, instead of holding her until the last episode. You don't introduce her with less than five minutes of screen time and then give her a 10 second big emotional payoff, you don't do that with an audience who isn't familiar with the real life people.

Another major issue for me was how they focused way more on the managerial side than the players, to the point that they would cut out a lot of the playing moments to focus on what buss and his family are doing. We know way more about the managing staff than most of the guys who are actually on the team playing basketball. And I think that's best exemplified by the fact that the final episode doesn't end on magic and the team, but on buss and his daughter.

Another thing I noticed, and I don't know if it was just me, but they seemed to continuously undercut the serious tone of moments if they were for characters that weren't the main focus, like that scene I mentioned with larry, them playing good vibrations over jeff mckinney's accident, which are just the ones that I remember really standing out to me as weird to do for actual real life tragedies.

I just think it was badly written overall.

All that said, I do like rewatching all the larry bird scenes.

I think these are all super valid points, and I agree with basically all of it. I understand them trying to focus on Buss because it was about the building of a dynasty, but that doesn't mean that it was compelling at all and it felt like they were interrupting the more interesting parts of the story. Especially in cases like, yeah, cutting from Larry's father's suicide to Buss and his girlfriend. I definitely felt like I had to sit through almost all of the family and business drama stuff just to get to the stuff I actually wanted to see.

Their approach to Larry's mom was really frustrating to me bc it diminished her role in his life a little bit in exchange for the dramatic punch of his father's death, but the fact that she wasn't seen *at all* during the episode they set aside for his backstory was baffling. I think maybe they were trying to have it be like they were saving seeing Larry's soft side to juxtapose it against when he was at his most "villainous" to the Lakers, but that didn't mean having to cut out his mother completely until that moment. Especially since she got so little screen time even then.

Part of me wonders if it was supposed to be just a taste of seeing her influence before presumably showing her hand in Magic and Larry's eventually friendship in the next season (which is now not happening), like they were trying to foreshadow something, but to be honest, I think it's largely the fact that there was too much shit happening in the second season. Literally too many plot threads. So all this stuff got relegated to only a few minutes.

I do enjoy the times when it actually is about Larry and Magic, because that's the most fleshed out/interesting thing that they had, though I do think that there's some interesting stuff about the politics of the team if only they'd approached it right. But they really wanted to make a show about the business drama first, it feels like, which sucks bc it means that the big charismatic people, the players, are second banana to the team owners and the coaches. Also again, I just...I did not care about the family drama. At all. I'm sure other people loved it, Buss is undoubtedly an interesting man, but I wanted to pull my hair out every time it cut to it.

I think they were trying for something that could've been interesting stylistically/presentation-wise, but also it came across as really messy and half-baked at a lot of points. There were moments where it really shined though, but it didn't always work. It's definitely disappointing.

I'm with you on the writing hahaha a lot of deep sighing and frustration on my part while watching. The pacing was so weird, a lot of moments that were supposed to hit felt entirely unearned or out of place.

And also liking rewatching the Larry Bird scenes. As weird and exaggerated as it was, I think you could tell they were having fun with him. If only they'd gotten better wigs and the actor didn't feel like he had to make his own mouth smaller by pursing his lips all the time ahahaha (I still think about how that was gonna be Bo Burnham and I get sad)

[my-drama-heart2406]

I see so many people defending the lazy writing, and defending Naksu's arc by saying that she left being an assassin so she doesn't need to use her sword.

So I'm going to explain.

We're not sad that Naksu didn't get to use her sword (okay maybe a little sad). What we're sad about is we didn't see her using powers at all.

In season 1 Naksu was trapped in a powerless body as Mudeok. But she needed no saviour. She was no damsel in distress. She was fearless, shrewd and manipulative. She was cruel teacher who went so far as to manipulate the crown prince and all of Jeongjingak to make Jang Uk level up.

Many people are saying that she's like that because of the amnesia, so she's still bright and innocent. Jang Uk was bright and innocent in the first season, that doesn't mean he wasn't badass. I was really happy that they were giving us the grumpy- sunshine again, but in the other way. But people need to know that, for a girl to be a bright ray of sunshine, she doesn't need to be a damsel in distress.

And till 4 episodes it was really good. She had approached Jang Uk in order to get out of confinement. Saying that she was pregnant in front of the whole unanimous assembly was such a Naksu move. She dealt through inexplicable pain, because being free and with the man she loved was worth the pain. That was Naksu. Then it all went downhill.

Season 1 ep 19 ended with both of them losing their powers. But we were all so happy because they were happy and together and it tied the story up.

So Naksu now has great powers of a priestess, but she uses them only once to kill Jin Mu. And he's not even really dead. And Jang Uk kills Jin Mu in the end. Do you think that's fair. I wish Jang Uk kept Jin Mu alive after burning everything and Yeong sucked the life out of him with her new powers. Or better, Uk and Yeong burned down the whole thing together. That is what we're talking about. And people complaining that she doesn't want any fighting or violence anymore. Why is she off monster hunting with her husband then?

Let's talk about all the other problems.

In 30 episodes Dang gu got all but 2 fighting scenes.

They completely forgot that Jin Cho Yeon was also a priestess.

The crown prince had a lot of role to play, but they completely forgot that he also had magical powers.

NAKSU USING HER PRIESTESS POWERS!!

The only person who had any sort of proper fighting scenes was Jang Uk, and those were not enough. I love Jang Uk and Lee Jae Wook very much. He was the king's star. Everyone forgot that. He deserved more and better fighting scenes.

I'm not angry with Jang Uk's 8 episode long healing arc. Naksu's healing arc in season 1 was 18 episodes. I'm angry with them showing only push and pull romance and nothing else. 8 episode of only drama and romance in 10 episode fantasy show.

And then when Naksu remembers her memories. I knew she was going to pull back, and Jang Uk was going to chase, but that lasted all 2 min. They were together, then she remembered, she pulled back, he chased, then he recognised her. This all happened in just one episode. Something that could have and should have taken 3. They show an all powerful priestess and then give her 5 min screen time. Then they got married, were lovey-dovey, then somebody died, then they didn't die, then Jin Seolran came, fighting and burning, and guess what, again one episode. We were all waiting for this big epic battle which was well...

I feel like if they went the traditional route to make a 16 episode second season that would have done justice to the characters and the story.

See I'm happy that we had a happy ending. Very very very happy. But Alchemy of Souls was supposed to be an epic fantasy. And they spent a total of 10 min on the epic and fantasy part.

And to all who are defending the story. Do you think, if it was actually a satisfactory ending, you would need to defend it at all?

[lurkingshan]

Intergenerational Trauma Challenge - About Youth

I have a confession to make: when @so-much-yet-to-learn first suggested this show for the generational family trauma list, I was skeptical. About Youth? That cute little Taiwanese bl with all the singing? My memory of its plot was vague but I just recalled a feeling of warm fuzzies (and of course, the OSTs, which are excellent and catchy as hell).

But @bengiyo backed him up and since my pals insisted it belonged, before I finished the list I decided to give it a rewatch. And from this rewatch I took away three main things: 

This drama is just as cute and warm and fuzzy as I remembered

The soundtrack still slaps

Despite 1, it absolutely belongs on the generational trauma list

If you have not seen it yet, About Youth is primarily about Ye Guang, a very popular, kind, smart and profoundly lonely student at the top of his class, and Qi Zhang, a kind, quiet nerd (who is somehow also a secret rock star, just go with it) who has a crush on Ye Guang. They meet briefly at a very low moment in both of their lives, and then reconnect and become friends. There’s also a side romance between Qi Zhang’s friend Ray and bandmate Ah Jian that is very cute but a little underwritten. The entire drama is only 8 episodes that add up to about 2.5 hours (which won’t stop them from playing the OSTs at least 20 times each, and you’re not even gonna be mad about it). And the tone is light–definitely the lightest of the dramas on the trauma list–despite delving into some pretty deep subject matter.

So where does the intergenerational trauma come in? With Ye Guang’s parents, who have put him under extreme pressure to perform academically, in large part because his dad is a famous academic specializing in supporting youth educational attainment and feels his son needs to live up to his reputation. When our story begins, Ye Guang is feeling stressed and isolated and unloved and beginning to crack under the pressure, and his friendship with Qi Zhang is both a much needed support and a way for him to rebel against his parents (not because there is anything wrong with Qi Zhang, but simply because they don’t believe Ye Guang should have any life outside of studying).

Ye Guang’s parents are not warm; they treat him coldly and leave him home alone most of the time while they travel, and put up roadblocks every time he makes a connection with someone. Their son is crying out for love and attention and they just keep telling him to suck it up and hit the books. Ye Guang finds solace in Qi Zhang’s company and easy companionship, and they bond over their struggles (Qi Zhang is mourning the recent death of his father).

The drama’s treatment of Ye Guang’s parents is interesting; his dad is the more rigid parent (and also seems to have some anger management issues) while his mom is a bit more affectionate toward Ye Guang (but not enough to disagree with her husband or give her son the explicit affirmations of love he is seeking). They are controlling–they monitor Ye Guang and want to dictate how he spends his time–but they also have little interest in actually spending time with him. They seem to see being top of the class as Ye Guang’s natural duty and what he owes them for raising him, and they are absolutely unprepared to deal with his emotions about it. This is contrasted in the show with Qi Zhang’s mother, a much kinder and gentler parent who supports her son’s passions and only wants him to be happy. 

And the thing is, Ye Guang is a good kid who clearly feels the pull of filial piety–he wants to honor his parents and fears what will happen if he doesn’t live up to their expectations. He works hard in school and he is very well liked by everyone, not just Qi Zhang. But he has grown weary and he clearly carries the instinctual knowledge that his parents don’t love him unconditionally.

This is something I have discussed quite a bit with @waitmyturtles and @neuroticbookworm, the conditional nature of love between parents and their children in many Asian households. It’s a hard thing for me to wrap my head around as a westerner, but I see that dynamic coming through so strongly in the way Ye Guang questions if his parents even love him at all, let alone if they can accept a version of him who is not exactly what they want. It’s heartbreaking. 

Over the course of the show Ye Guang tries a few times to communicate with his parents, first via his actions, then by telling them he is struggling and asking them directly if they love him, and finally by turning in a blank exam paper and sending them an emotional video explaining that he can’t take it anymore. Naturally, it is only the failed exam that actually gets through to them. Here is where the show falters a bit, because the parents do a sudden heel turn and decide to cut him some slack. A highly unrealistic resolution! But I put this down mostly to the limited run time; the drama didn’t have screen time to build to a more authentic ending that would comport with its overall light tone. 

Even despite the lackluster ending to the family plot, this drama offers a window into the academic pressure young people feel and how it interacts with values of filial piety. It takes a pretty thorough look at the psychological effects conditional parental love can have on a child. And it does it all while delivering a pitch perfect high school romance and great music that will stay with you for days. It’s the perfect place to start if you want to ease into this challenge!