#yeah he said no supposedly but have anyone stopped to think why?

[epickiya722]

This epilogue made me realize something. I should try to gain custody of Izuku.

[citrustan]

for what it's worth [2/4] (jjk)

pairing: jeon jungkook x reader

genre: angst, fluff (this comes in a bit later), light smut, college student!reader x crush!jungkook

summary: you make an awful revelation about your crush of two years.

word count: 2.3k

warnings: kinda angsty because yaknow unrequited love and stuff like whew i could never

note: im SORRY it took me a year to release this :(

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Every millisecond of the drive back to campus was torturous. At times, you felt like your throat was closing up. You had to sit on your hand to stop it from cracking a window open.

You think you might’ve experienced your first ever anxiety attack.

All Jungkook’s genuine attempts at holding a conversation with you were shot down mercilessly.

It was almost as if all the admiration you had for him turned into pure hatred for a moment.

Terrified that you would break down in front of the man whom you supposedly creep out, you kept your mouth shut the entire time.

You’re thankful for the timing of the universe. Had you proceeded to confess your feelings to him, you’d have humiliated yourself to death. You’d have had to dig yourself a hole and bury your head in it for a really long time. Or hibernate in the blast chiller like a stupid little snail.

Even if you had a minuscule percentage of a chance with Jungkook, Jia has destroyed it all by telling him about ‘your’ crush.

Although he didn’t seem to have recognised you as the ‘creep’, you can’t help but wonder. What if he knew about you? Maybe he didn’t recognise you without makeup? Maybe he panicked when he realised it was you.

What do you know about Jia really?

After unsuccessfully starting a conversation with you, Jungkook was staring a hole into his phone. He knows he has made you uncomfortable. But, which part of whatever he said did the trick?

He panicked. Jungkook wasn’t supposed to tell you (or anyone) about him and Jia, as per Jia’s desperate request. While he respected it, he wondered why. On pushing her for a legitimate answer, she finally told him about the ‘creep with a schoolgirl crush’ and how she was friends with said ‘creep’ and didn’t want to be in her bad books.

Albeit strange, Jungkook assumed it was dangerous for Jia to be publicly known as his girlfriend. He thought that maybe it’d have put a target on her back.

He didn’t mean to blurt it all out in front of you. It was like his mouth had a mind of its own. He couldn’t stop himself from spilling the beans. And then he made it worse by indirectly calling you a creep. He did take it back, but it must’ve been uncomfortable for you regardless.

And maybe that’s why you won’t respond to his attempts to chat.

He really didn’t want to burden you but he has to let you know--- “You know, it’s a relief to finally tell someone about Jia.”

“Hm?” You abruptly turned your head sideways to face him.

“Jia. It feels good to be able to talk to someone about the girl I’m dating. We never really planned on telling anyone actually.”

‘Yeah, while you’re at that, stick a knife in my chest, why don’t you?’

“I bet it does.” You exhale with a forced smile.

Jungkook turns his body towards you, “_____.” He called out. You instinctively make eye contact with him. “Would it be too much to ask if we could keep this a secret from Jia?”

Before you could process exactly what he asked of you, you involuntarily held your breath at the thought of sharing a secret with him. Just the two of you.

And Jia.

You frown.

The thought of Jia breaks you out of your reverie. You have got to pull yourself together.

Perhaps Jungkook wasn’t too far off with the ‘creep’ thing.   

“Whatever you want.” You immediately look away. Honestly, he probably could’ve gotten you to agree to shave your head if he wanted to.

“Really? It isn’t…?” Jungkook trailed off. “It’s okay. It’ll be as if we never met.” You assure him.

Just how far is your stupid university? It feels like forever since you got into the car with him.

“Except we have met before.” He interjects. You don’t know if he’s referring to your very first meeting at the party or the other times you’ve ‘met’ in the classes you share. Either way, Jia knows about it all.

“We sure have. But she doesn’t have to know that. If that’s what you want.” You add, “I don’t want to cause any problems for you. Just tell me what to do and I won’t question it.” With that you aim your eyes straight ahead, focusing them on the back of the passenger seat.

So much for staying grounded. You have GOT to chill. You’re worried you’ll blow your cover.

Jungkook unexpectedly laughs, “Okay. I don’t want to complicate it too much.”

“Jia doesn’t want people to know about us. And I don’t want to lose her trust. So… maybe---”

Your mouth automatically forms a pout. You really don’t want to witness his devotion to her.

“You know what, I’ll handle it. I’ll talk to her and admit I slipped up...” Jungkook waits for your reaction, but you give him nothing.

Now, you begin to feel badly about the way you’ve been acting towards him. He has done nothing to deserve your hot and cold attitude.

Jungkook has been kind to you. He complimented you, confided in you, gave you his jacket, and offered you a ride. The least you can do is not make stuff so difficult for him.

You remind yourself that your issue is with Jia and not Jungkook.

“If you’re that worried, we don’t have to mention this to her.” You meekly add.

“I was thinking maybe I should just tell her. Wouldn’t that be easier for you too?” Hah! You’d think.

You’re about to counter when the driver interrupts, “Non-faculty vehicles aren’t allowed to go any further than this. Is it okay if I dop you kids off here?”

Neither of you had noticed that you’d reached a few minutes ago. Your driver was kind enough to allow you to resolve your dilemma.

Your dorm was a ten-minute walk from the gate. “This is good.” You kindly smile at him.

The driver eyes you from the rear-view mirror, “This is none of my business but from experience, I can tell you that nothing good ever comes out of secrets and lies. No matter how big or small, shit gets messy.”

You and Jungkook share a look and thank your driver.

“I’ll tell her tomorrow.” He nods once, mostly to himself.

The two of you exit the vehicle together.

Something still bothered you. You swore you had a really great time with Jungkook at the freshmen mixer where you were first introduced to each other. Does he not remember you from then at all?

It’d be embarrassing if he didn’t.

What kills you the most is how you stupidly built your crush up in your head. It was just supposed to be just a fun thing for yourself, but honestly, you’re having trouble standing right now.

“Can I walk you to your room?” Jungkook interrupts your chain of thoughts.

Originally, you planned to run away from him as soon as you reached campus, but curiosity pushes your nervousness away. So, you agree to walk with him.

The first few minutes of your walk are spent in silence. It wasn’t pleasant, it was forced and awkward. Even small talk couldn’t have helped it.

Most of your life was planned. You liked having control over the situations you put yourself in. You like knowing what was going to happen the next day. You liked to organise everything. This tension and feelings of uncertainty threw you way off.

You could not bear not knowing. Still, you manage to keep your cool and fake nonchalance. This is only as big as you make it out to be.

At least now you know you wouldn’t need to buy an extra juice box tomorrow.

You made sure to reassure Jungkook that he wouldn’t get into trouble and that he wouldn’t have to worry about you talking to people about it. But, you could feel the discomfort he basically emitted from his speech to his body language.

Unconvinced that he heard you out, you tell him again. “Just so you know, you don’t have to butter me up or anything. If Jia doesn’t want your news out, so be it. I won’t tell a soul.” Because, that’d be super embarrassing for me as well. But you left that out.

Jungkook visible relaxed, with slouched shoulders and an exhale of relief, he turns to you. “Oh, thank goodness. I was hoping to keep this between us. I know it’s a pussy move, I just don’t want-“

“I already told you, it’s OK.” You abruptly cut him off, impatient because you couldn’t hear him get started on liking and respecting Jia, and disappointing Jia, and protecting Jia, or whatever was going on with the pair.

You were a little hurt when he reacted the way he did. Somewhere, you wanted him to admit he was walking you home because he cared about you or found you inciting enough to spend time with.

Why would he care? You’re actually nobody to him. You’re Jia’s _____.

(And he’s Jia’s Jungkook lol)

You continue, “I genuinely do not care.” A lie.

Jungkook stares at you with big stupid eyes. You almost feel bad for him. You know you’re confusing the fuck out of him with your hot and cold behaviour.

“You know what? I forgot I had to see the course counsellor. That’s like, in the other direction.”

Your sad excuse for an escape was welcomed by Jungkook.

“Oh! My dorm’s the opposite to that… building.” He wanted to get away from you just as much as you him. Well, that doesn’t hurt at all.

:D :D :D

I mean, you were doing the same thing to him but your reason was totally different. So, that doesn’t count.

The two of you stopped in the middle of the cold path. “So, okay.” He started, “I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah! See you!” You faked enthusiasm.

After a two second lag, you both awkwardly shuffle around each other.

“Bye!” You abruptly brisk walk in the direction of your dormitory, the very direction you weren’t supposed to be heading to.

Jungkook stands dumbfounded with his hand midway in the air. In fact, he had no clue you were trying to avoid him. He really meant that his dorm was opposite to the counsellor’s office.

Still, he doesn’t think too much of it.

Jungkook checks his phone to see a few text messages from his girlfriend, asking him about his plans for the week.

He promptly cleared his evenings for Jia and continued walking away from the spot you both stood at.

Later that night, while he FaceTimed her, he kept going back to the moment you greeted him. For some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking about you; as one would after such an awkward interaction.

Jungkook sneakily prods. “Babe, that friend you keep talking about?”

Unsuspectingly, Jia instantly says your name. “_____?”

“Hm…” He affirms.

After a few seconds of silence from Jungkook’s side, Jia irritably bit her inner cheek.

“What about _____?” She pushes.

“Oh, sorry- lost connection. I was saying I met her today.”

“What do you mean? What for?” Jia’s brain starts creating all the scenarios she was afraid would take place.

“We were stranded at the bus stand so we hitched a cab ride together...” Jungkook trails off as if he’s in deep thought.

“Did she do anything to make you uncomfortable?” She asks, worried.

“No, it wasn’t like that. I offered. I think I might’ve made her uncomfortable.”

Now, Jia was impatient, “Can you tell me what happened exactly? What did she say to you?”

Now, Jungkook was a little taken aback.

“Babe. You know I really like you, right?” Jungkook begins.

Jia pouts, “Where is this going?”

“Just…” Jungkook opened his mouth, deliberately delaying the conversation.

“Kook… something happened?” Jia involuntarily rubs up and down her arms.

He blurts, “I may or may not have told her about us. BUT, but-” – “YOU WHAT?”

Jungkook looks at his screen with wide eyes, “But I only let it slip because I thought you told her. She even said she didn’t care enough to tell anyone.”

“Oh? She said that?” Jia’s brows furrowed, both in concern and anger. Jungkook reads her expression and sighs. “She didn’t say it like that.” He repeats.

“No wonder she hasn’t responded to my texts yet. She’s supposed to fucking proofread my assignment for tomorrow. I’m so screwed.” Jia exasperates. Jungkook tilts his head. Has he really messed up? “I’m sorry, baby. Is it so bad I told her? What’s wrong with her knowing?”

Jia shook her head.

“Jungkook, GOD I wish you were with me. I’m so tense I think I need to be fucked so I can forget this ever happened.”

Jungkook smirked, “Well… I don’t have to be physically present with you to make you lose your mind.”

Jia’s mouth drops open a little. She thinks she might just start drooling at the sound of his voice.

“Now where is that Bluetooth controlled-” – “It’s already on me.” She blurts, knowing exactly what he’s about to do to her.

“Oh? Wow, my girl is so naughty. Is this what you wanted from me tonight?”

And, then you were long forgotten.

Well, until later that same night.

Before dozing off, he spent the remaining of his day replaying what had happened. He thought about the way your mood dropped after getting into the taxi and the way your eyes wandered everywhere but to him. He doesn’t know if you realised it, but you muttered a lot of words under your breath. Some of them being loud enough for him to hear.

Jungkook’s thoughts were zeroed in on you.

His mind went in and out of so many black holes, that he even thought of the possibility of you being what Jia tried to shield their relationship from. Even though they were all afterthoughts, one thing was for sure. You had caught his attention.

[tiedyeflannels]

Dating Rumors pt. 2

Jungkook x reader

Word count: 1.9k

Dating Rumors: pt.1

Main Masterlist

A/N: Hi!!!! Thank you to everybody who liked the first part of Dating Rumors so much, that I had to make a second part! This one's for you! And thanks to @maple-leaves-in-the-wind for helping me make some decisions. Anyway... Enjoy!

“When are you two going to straighten things out,” Taehyung asked.

It had been about a month since Jungkook’s confession at my apartment and things were far from being “okay” between us.

We were awkward whenever we looked at each other and couldn’t have a proper conversation like we did before all of this happened and because of that, the members started to ask questions.

On the other hand, the news about Jungkook and the girl he was “supposedly” dating only lasted a week before it became old news because Jungkook let everyone know, on live, that he wasn’t dating anyone. 

I sighed, closing my laptop.

“I don’t know, Tae. How do you even start a conversation like that? ‘Hey Jk, I’m sorry I kinda blew you off when you confessed a few weeks ago. It’s just that I was thinking about you and your career instead of hearing you out on what you wanted because I care that much for you’?”

I shook my head as I sighed again. 

Honestly, I don’t think I was thinking right at that moment. My best friend just confessed that he was in love with me and I let my insecurities get the better of me. I don’t think anybody would think rationally at a moment like that. 

He looked me straight in the eyes.

“Yes.”

I huffed.

He leaned back in his chair, “Listen, Y/n, this is eating you both up inside and all of us are starting to worry. The faster you guys hash this out, the faster things go back to normal. And I’m not saying this because all of us are tired of seeing you two wallow in your feelings,” I rolled my eyes.

He continued.

“But because this,” he vaguely gestured in the air, “is affecting your work and his’.” 

I nodded, “Yeah… You’re right. I’ll head over to his place later today and figure it out.”

He smiled before Yoongi walked in the room and looked between us.

“What are you guys up to?”

“I was just talking to her about the situation between her and Jungkook,” Tae stated.

Yoongi turned his gaze to me, “Dude, you gotta figure that out.”

I huffed. “I know!”

KNOCK! KNOCK!

I was standing in front of Jungkook’s apartment. I texted him after my talk with Tae, asking if I could go over to his place to talk. He agreed and I told him that I would stop by whenever I finished with work.

So now, here I am… at 10:32… pm.

I threw my head back and sighed, rubbing my hand over my face.

Maybe, I should've waited until tomorrow…

I was about to turn around when I heard some thumping from behind the door before it quickly opened to show a disheveled Jungkook. I smiled when I saw his hair sticking out in every direction.

“Hey, Y/n/n!”

“Hey, Kook… Sorry if I woke you up. I can come back another time if-”

“No no no! It’s fine,” he hurriedly shook his head.

“I wasn’t sure when you were coming over and kinda put off cleaning until now. But I wasn’t sleeping!”

I just looked at him with a tiny smile as he rambled. He took a breath to calm down and stepped to the side.

“Would you like to come in?” I nodded and stepped inside.

The first thing you see when you enter is the kitchen and as I’m looking around, I see a bunch of food wrappers and empty ramen bowls lying around.

I stopped by the island and looked at Jungkook, who wore a panicked expression before he started to hurriedly pick up the mess.

“Sorry about the mess!”

I giggled while helping him, “Don’t worry. I’ve seen your place in worse condition.”

He chuckled as we threw away the trash before he started to wipe down the counter.

“So…” he started as I looked at him.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Right.” I leaned against the island and sighed. 

“I’m sorry,” I said before he whipped his head to look at me.

“Why are you apologizing?! You have nothing to be sorry for-”

“Before you start rambling, will you let me explain,” I asked, smiling.

He nodded as he zipped his lips.

“I wanted to apologize for the other night because I didn’t consider your feelings.”

I looked away from him and then continued, “I got scared when you confessed and got defensive which made me say things I didn’t mean and on top of all of that, I completely disregarded your feelings, so… I’m sorry.” 

By the end of my apology, I had my eyes on the floor as I nervously fiddled with my hands. Jungkook moved to stand in front of me and grabbed my hands.

“Listen,” he started as I raised my head to look at him, “I’m the one that should be apologizing considering that I was the one that confessed and put you in that position in the first place. I should’ve just waited until the next day to explain what was going on.”

I shook my head, “You were just trying to protect what you love.”

“And you were too,” he said, shaking my arms for emphasis.

I looked away as I thought for a moment. He was right, I was trying to protect myself, but at the same time I was trying to protect him.

He let out a breath, “So… Are we good?” 

I looked at him again and smiled when I saw his hopeful expression.

“Yeah,” I nodded, but he raised his eyebrows in question.

“For real this time,” I laughed.

He sighed in relief and a smile graced his lips before he pulled me into a hug.

“Good, because I’ve missed talking to you,” he said as he nuzzled his face in my neck.

I held him tighter, “Me too.”

~

“Ooh~ When did this happen,” Taehyung sang as he entered the room with the others.

I looked at Jungkook, who was sitting right next to me with a hand around the middle of my back while I showed him some designs for their new album.

“We patched things up a couple of days ago, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said, looking back at the laptop.

He shook his head.

“No, I’m talking about this,” he said as he mimicked Jungkook’s arm and then dramatically imitated me “cuddling up” next to him.

I rolled my eyes at the scene.

“So, are you guys together now,” Namjoon asked as he tugged Tae to sit down.

Jungkook shook his head, “No, we agreed that it wasn’t a good time to start dating now, so we’ll wait and see where it goes.” I nodded in agreement. 

Right after Jungkook was done saying that, Hobi walked into the room while looking at his phone with his eyebrows furrowed.

“Guys, have you seen this,” he asked as he walked over to us, holding out his phone so we could see.

“What,” I asked, taking the phone.

Nothing prepared me for what I was going to read.

“BTS member Jungkook spotted once more with rumored girlfriend,” I read out loud before scrolling a bit further to read more of the article.

“Jungkook was recently seen hugging a girl at his apartment complex. Fans think that he might have a secret relationship considering this is the second time this has happened."

“WHAT?!” Jungkook and I exclaimed in tandem.

I looked at Jungkook and saw the concerned expression that bordered fear. I’m sure I wore the same expression as he looked at me.

“Well… at least they don’t know your name,” Jin spoke up, trying to defuse the tension in the air.

I was about to look on the bright side when I scrolled a little further. 

“Unlike the previous time, the girl in the photos has now been identified as Big Hit’s lead graphic designer L/n Y/n. You’ve got to be kidding me,” I sighed as I flopped back into the couch and held out the phone so Hobi could take it back.

Once he took it back I ran my hands over my face in frustration as Jungkook flopped back with me. 

“What are you guys going to do,” Jimin asked in a soft tone.

I groaned before turning to look at Jungkook. We all sat in silence for a while, thinking about what to do before Jungkook quickly sat up and turned to me.

“I think I know what to do! Would you mind meeting me at my place later tonight?” I nodded.

~

“So, what’s your grand plan to get us out of this mess,” I asked as I walked through the door.

He was sitting on his couch and fiddling with his phone on the coffee table, trying to keep it standing upright.

He looked back at me and smiled, “We are going to go live.” 

Any expression on my face fell, the moment that sentence left his mouth.

I stared at him as he went back to fixing his phone, “You can’t be serious, right?”

“Well, it worked last time, so why can’t it work now?”

“Because the first time wasn’t true, but we have feelings for each whether we’ve defined our relationship or not, so I don’t think it would be right to lie to ARMY,” I said, walking over to the side of the couch.

“Who said we were going to lie,” he asked, looking over to me after pressing something on the phone.

I looked over at his phone to see the countdown reach zero before starting the live.

“Kook,” I panicked and moved away from the couch, off to the side so the camera couldn’t pick me up. 

He got up and walked over to me, “It’s okay. ARMYs are the sweetest, most understanding people I know. They’ll understand if we tell them the truth, okay?”

I looked at him for a moment before nodding, “Okay, I’m trusting you.”

He gently took my hand and led me back to the side of the couch.

“Wait here until I introduce you. They might start a riot if you just show up without any warning,” he whispered.

I quietly chuckled, “Sounds like you have some experience.”

“Maybe once or twice,” he said before taking his seat in front of the camera.

“Hey guys,” he said, waving to the camera.

I sat down on the arm of the couch, watching him talk with ARMY for a bit. I smiled when he started laughing at something that was said in the chat, but soon enough people started to ask about the dating rumors. 

“So, I know all of you are curious about Y/n, the girl in the pictures with me. Just like all of you, she’s someone very important to me. She’s been my best friend for a very long time and I would really like to keep her in my life,” he said and a smile crept its way on my face.

“So, let me introduce all of you to her,” he looked over to me and patted the seat next to him.

I took a breath before standing up and taking a seat beside him.

“Hi, ARMY,” I said as I shyly waved at the camera.

The chat started to move quickly since I came into frame and we were trying to read them until one caught Jungkook’s eye.

“Are you guys dating,” he read aloud, looking to me.

I turned to look at him and then back at the chat, reading the messages.

She’s so pretty!!

You guys look cute together!

If you weren’t already together, I would ship!!!

I smiled and looked back at him, nodding.

He smiled brightly as wrapped an arm around my torso tugging me closer.

I smiled back at him and while looking at me, he proudly declared, “Yeah. We’re dating.”

[somewhereincairparavel]

"Jason." Piper said, startling him with her awfully serious expression, she looked beautiful, with her choppy hair and iridescent gaze directed at him. But that moment only lasted for a second, before the world collapsed at his feet. "Let's break up"

Piper may as well have just stabbed him at the heart with a blade. The effect would've been exactly the same. Being a Roman, he tried keeping his face as neutral as possible. What if it was a prank or something? But deep down, Jason knew it was wishful thinking. Piper had been acting very repulsive around him, stiffening at his bear hugs, pulling away from his kisses rather quickly with an uncomfortable wry sort of smile. He had mostly been initiating their usual displays of affection. Now that he thought back on it, those were huge alarm bells. He waited for Piper to continue, who was trying to gauge his reaction. He stubbornly appeared as aloof as possible, even though his heart had already shattered.

"I-I'm sorry.. i just.. don't think we both belong together. Our relationship started out fake. And it's obvious we aren't as in love as we thought we were. we simply feel obligated to stay together to appease Hera and Aphrodite" Piper managed to choke out, tears already streaming in her face. A surge of anger filled through Jason as his mind reeled, focusing on the sentences which had fragmented his already shattered heart. "dont belong together" "fake" "aren't in love"

"Stop saying "we" piper." Jason said in a slightly strangled voice. "I AM in love with you and i dont feel obligated to anything. Yeah, our relationship started out "fake" as you put it" Jason spat out the word "fake" with intentional bitterness. He was usually so calm, but no. Even the ever so calm son of Jupiter has his limits. "But don't you remember our fresh start? Our first kiss under the stars after Gaea's defeat? We've been together for a year, with no bumps in our relationship. Did that mean nothing to you at all? You still think we're playing pretend for Hera? Were all those hugs and "i love you's" simply us putting on a show that i wasn't aware of?" Jason's eyes stung as he said this.

Piper looked at him sadly, her tears had dried out and her eyes turned steely cold. he thought she was a little too nonchalant about this. She was his world. His whole universe. And yet, she too, had decided, that the ever so golden Grace, was not good enough anymore. Just like every other fucking person.

"I am sorry. But i don't feel that way about you anymore... It was just Hera's mist playing tricks on me..." Piper said a little callously. That was all she said, before she shouldered her bag, and looked at him one last time, her eyes slightly misty. Jason couldn't and wouldn't understand why this had all gone terribly wrong.

"Well. i guess that's just it then...." Jason whispered brokenly, staring at Piper's figure slowly walking away from him. He dropped to his knees and just sobbed. He felt used, and so fucking crushed. Jason Grace was once again, the unwanted, disposable machine. The unwanted machine that Camp Jupiter had been so eager to have gotten rid of. And now, So had the one whom he loved more than anyone else, the one whom he envisioned having his grandchildren with. He could almost hear Cupid's cold, hollow laughter echo through the corridors, watching his half sister leave the son of Jupiter in shambles, elated at his misery.

The supposedly rebellious daughter of Aphrodite had broken a heart after all.

[stormblessed95]

Hi Storm,

You were the first account I followed here and I’ve been through almost every post relating to member dynamics on your masterlist.

I’m finding this very hard to articulate but you’ve always said if you receive asks that are respectful you will indulge. I am making a lot of effort in trying to phrase my sentences in such a way that they do not offend and would like to apologise in advance if they do. It is not my intention.

Some time ago, there was discourse on your page where you said jikookers have bullied you and did not support you when you were being bullied. I am not sure when that was. I’m sorry you went through that. You put in a lot of effort to write the member dynamics posts and it’s quite shocking that people don’t respect it, value your effort and then bully you.

During that discussion you said something along the lines of jikookers becoming like taekookers as they allow the abuse of Taehyung. You said the fandom back in the day allowed Taekookers to fester because they didn’t take a harsher stand against what they were doing. I am paraphrasing or maybe I didn’t get the gist of it.

I don’t think jikookers or any other sub set of this fandom is anywhere near Taekookers. The reason is that most ot7 are Taekookers. When the fandom allowed hate against jimin, it gave rise to the most vile fandom and it is the largest part of army’s even today Jimin and his family get bullied and called all names and it’s is allowed because no one can shoot 90% of the fandom down and all those who allowed it are responsible for that shit show.

So then why are people and yes, most are Jikook stans, why are they called out if they so much as criticise Taehyung for some of the things he does? Did he have to join a Jikook show? No, did he have to post those pictures during muse? No. Did he have to name call Jungkook every single live? No. Does he visit fandom spaces? Yes. He sees the shit that goes on in there. Yes. He has sued people because he supposedly wants to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves but is ok when his fans call his fellow member a slut? Can you all not be objective enough to criticise him for this behaviour? Not everyone will like everyone you like, but you are an ot7 army so you should be objective enough to accept criticism too. But instead you shut everyone down? That’s a bit harsh don’t you think?

I say all of the following with respect, I promise. My intention is not for this to read as harsh or rude in any capacity. I'm making this disclaimer now because I know sometimes, it's hard to get tone in text. I'm being straightforward and serious with you. And my tone is meant to be one of kindness, softness and respect while being serious and rather blunt about it.

Anyone who tells me that they didn't see the hate campaign that reigned against me last year is either lying, or brand new to Jikook Tumblr. Or you took a 2 month long break and only came back after I was on hiatus, which then, if you checked my account at all, you still would've seen it. I guess the last option was that you just never checked my page until I came back. I'd much rather if anyone would bring it up, just be honest. Yeah, I saw that, I was silent, my bad, it was a mistake. Or it wasn't a mistake, I agreed with your haters and I'm still just here because I want your content. Whatever it is, I would much rather the honesty. Idk which of these categories you fall into, if any, but why bring it up just to try and discredit my feelings about jikookers and toxic behaviors being allowed to fester? I stand by what I said. You don't have to agree with me. That's your prerogative. I have never tried to tell people how to feel, I've only ever said that I will curate my space and use my block button freely to stop from seeing opinions I have no desire to see.

True OT7s are not taekookers, follow better people. Idk what else to tell y'all about that. When I say toxic behaviors being allowed to fester, I mean that taekookers way back when weren't nearly so bad as they are now. It used to be the same petty bullshit that so many shippers are now pulling. Except it never got checked, so it grew and festered and boiled until it's now as bad as it is with taekookers. If you don't stop the same petty revenge toxicity in Jikookers now, the same thing will end up occuring. And I don't want to see anyone complain to me in a few years about it, because all I'll be able to say is I told you so.

The last part of your message dear, just reads as essentially asking permission to be hateful towards Tae. Idk if that was your intention, but it's how it comes across to me at least. It's not criticism. There is stuff we can be critical about towards our idols, BTS included. Nothing you listed is worth criticism and is just things his antis use to bring hate against him. It's the same thing that tkkrs do. Nitpick stupid stuff to give themselves a reason to hate on Jimin. It's not worth it. And you will be a happier person in long run if you stop trying to hate Tae and just hate the antis that are the ones responsible for their own behaviors.

I'm not shutting anyone down (this is also the phrase that makes me question if you truly "don't know anything about me being bullied") I am saying I won't tolerate any kind of hate speech on MY blog about any of the 7 members. (even if you don't think it's hateful, on my blog, I have the right to decide what is and isn't discussed. Other blogs will draw different lines in the sand, and you can find GCs, or Start your own blog where you can say whatever you want. That's the beauty of the Internet.) You can do whatever you want in your own spaces. I personally, want nothing to do with it. I have bigger fish to worry about it. I'm here for BTS, all 7 of them. And I'm more concerned about k-media and the harassment our boys suffer from them and antis of all kind. Way more than I could ever pretend to be concerned about Tae talking about one of his best friends.

And again, I sign off with this whole thing respectfully, and with the hope that you also, take no offense to the way I phrased anything. Even if you disagree.

~ Storm 💜

[acotar-taylorsversion]

Yet Another Rant

If Elucien happens, how am I supposed to forget what happened in the bonus chapter with Elain and Az? Or everything else that has happened between them?

I mean, the only thing that bonus chapter did for me was confirm what we all thought all along, and thats the fact that Elain and Az have canon feelings towards each other and Az has been pining over Elain for at least a year.

Like if Elucien happens, is Elain going to be like, "Oh silly me! I don't know what I was thinking! Lucien is everything I could ever want! 🥰." Is that what y'all think is going to happen?

There is so much unsaid and unfinished with Elriel. I like to believe that they are just getting started. No way would Sarah end them before that had a chance to begin in a bonus chapter that wasn't available to more than half her readers when it came out.

And don't even get me started on gwynriel 😫 Like if y'all think Az was such a creep about his feelings and thoughts for Elain, then why do y'all want him with your precious Gwyn? Makes no sense. A creep like that isn't good enough for Elain but he is for Gwyn? Y'all want Az to address his thing with Mor, get over his feelings for Elain, and then become friends with Gwyn and fall in love with her in one book? Y'all want to read more about how Az fantasizes about Elain in the same book he'll supposedly fall in love with Gwyn? Do y'all really think Az is going to listen to Rhys and stop whatever it is he feels for Elain just because he said so? Az is only going to do whatever Elain wants to do. They will have to talk about what happened and it's gonna be up to Elain what they do. Gwynriels don't understand Az sometimes. They don't even understand Gwyn sometimes. I hate when I see how much they over sexualize her. And don't come at me saying, "OMG, SA survivors can have sex, don't be so vile and cruel!" I know they can but I don't see how Gwyn could ever want to be tied up and held down by ANYONE. Like she hasn't even showed any interest in Az or anyone. I don't think she's truly healed herself, and I believe she has a long way to go before she could ever be with a man like that. Most Gwyn fans just want to push her to do things that I don't think she's ready for. She wasn't even sure if she was going to go to Nesta's mating ceremony and y'all want her to have sex with Az and go be a warrior on a dangerous mission? I don't get it.

Oh man, I told y'all not to get me started on gwynriel 😩

Anyways, so yeah. This is my weekly rant, I guess.

[sailorspren]

For the kiss ask game. This is a strange one, but QPR Rushu/Szeth and number 13

I loooove the idea of QPR Rushu/Szeth!! I'm sorry, I tried to do the prompt you picked and ended up going in a completely different direction... It's still them though!

QPR Rushu/Szeth, modern AU, rated Teen, 730 words

Rushu had recently introduced Szeth to the concept of parallel play, and he found it very much to his liking. Right now, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor in Rushu’s room, playing Breath of The Wild on his Nintendo Switch. Rushu sat at her desk, typing away on her computer. He found the sound of her typing to be oddly soothing.

“Hey, can you help me out with something?” Rushu asked suddenly.

Szeth paused the game and looked up at her. “Yes?”

“It’s for my Accountability of Virtue fic,” she explained.

“The one where Brightlord Sterling and Brightlord Vadam are lovers?” Szeth asked. He hadn’t read the novel, but he’d listened patiently to Rushu’s numerous rants, and had done his best to memorize the details so that he could engage her in conversation. 

“That’s the one,” Rushu confirmed. “I’m trying to write their first kiss now, and I can’t help but feel inadequate. Oh, I’ve read countless kiss scenes, so you can say I’ve got my sources down. But I’ve never actually kissed anyone, so I don’t know which of the depictions is most accurate. I don’t think I can consider my research thorough enough, this way.” Rushu swiveled around in her chair to face him, her eyes expectant. “So, would you be down to make out?”

Szeth blinked, surprised. Rushu and him had never done anything like that, and neither had expressed any interest. But while it didn’t sound especially appealing, it wasn’t repulsive, either. And, well, Rushu had asked him for help, and Szeth really wanted to please her. “Alright,” he said hesitantly. “We can try.”

They both stared at each other for a moment, neither making a move. 

“Um, should I get up…?” Szeth asked. “Or do you want to come here?”

“I’ll join you,” Rushu said quickly. She settled down on the floor in front of Szeth, her knees touching his own. Then there was another moment of awkward silence.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Rushu said.   

They both leaned in at the same time, and their faces collided in a decidedly unsuccessful manner, noses squishing together. It took them several tries to get the angle right, then their mouths found each other. At first, it was just lips on lips, which was fine. But then it got wet, and slippery, and all in all reminded Szeth of the seafood he used to eat back at home. 

They pulled apart after mere seconds, with matching grimaces on their faces. Szeth wiped at his mouth. “That was…”

“Bad,” Rushu agreed.

“Let’s try again,” Szeth said. He’d been given a task, and he intended to see it performed well. 

They tried again. It was somehow even worse this time, maybe because Szeth knew what to expect.

“Um, why is this happening?” Rushu said, frustrated. “People are supposedly really into this. I feel like that’s false advertising.” She scratched her head. “Or maybe we’re just not doing it right?”

“I’m sorry,” Szeth said. “I don’t have any experience in this, either. I’m probably not doing it very well.”

“Oh, stop that,” Rushu told him, rolling her eyes. “It’s not your fault. This is just not for us, probably.”

Szeth mulled it over, then nodded. “...Yeah. I think you’re right.”

Rushu sighed, turning back to her computer. “I guess I’ll just have to rely on other authors’ descriptions for my inspiration.”

Szeth started to pick up his Switch, then paused, an idea occurring to him. “Wait, what if Sterling and Vadam don’t kiss?”

She glanced at him over her shoulder with a frown. “But I’ve been building up to this scene for 4 chapters!”

“I know,” Szeth said. “But what if they don’t want to kiss? What if they’re… like us?" He grew excited as he spoke. "Wouldn't it be nice for people out there to have this sort of representation?”

He could see the gears turning in Rushu’s head, then all at once her eyes lit up. “Szeth, you’re a genius!”

“I am?”

“Yes!” Rushu beamed. “Queerplatonic Vadam/Sterling is such a good idea! Honestly, it makes their relationship so much more interesting. I feel like Vadam is so aroace-coded anyway, with how uninterested he was in being intimate with Wema in the canon… Hmmm… Sterling might expect a kiss, but it will be interesting to see them finding a compromise...” The sound of Rushu’s typing resumed at full speed.

Szeth smiled. “I’m glad I could help,” he said.

Rushu didn’t react. She was already somewhere in a far-off world.

[im-out-of-it]

PSA: JUST AN ANTI WILL RANT SO IF YOU LIKE HIM YOU PROBABLY SHOULD EXIT AND ALSO COMMENTS ABOUT GABRIEL DESERVING BETTER

“why would Gabriel Lightwood hate you, Will?” Tessa asked as they went. “what did you do to him?”

excellent question Tessa. now would be a good idea to I don’t know, maybe make your own judgment on this little interaction?????

“It wasn’t anything I did to him,” Will said, stalking along at a rapid place. “It was something I did to his sister.”

now that we have this little piece of evidence, we see that Will instigated their beef first. Gabriel didn’t come after Will, Will hurt Gabriel’s sister and now you’ve got me defending Tatiana FUCKING HELL

and yes we learn later that Tatiana had a crush but what Will did was cruel and yet gabriel gets blamed when he has enough of Will’s actions

“Did you? Compromise her virtue, I mean”- Tessa

it’s funny that Will doesn’t answer this question, he does start to talking about Benedict

“and as for Gabriel’s father, let’s say that he has something of a reputation for liking demons and downworlders more than he should. I would be surprised if some of the elder lightwood’s nocturnal visits to certain houses in shadwell haven’t left him with a nasty case of demon pox.”

see, this is one of the main problems of Will. he’s literally telling Tessa basically that it’s a problem to like downworlders more than they should. Tessa, in case you aren’t aware but you are a downworlder. basically saying that they don’t deserve to be treated with respect- I may be grasping at straws but he could’ve left out downworlders and said demons and nothing much of it would have been thought badly on his part

also let’s just make shit up about some of the elder lightwoods or whatever. Will isn’t clarifying it’s only Benedict and maybe this is on the writing but some of the elder LIGHTWOOD’s meaning plural. will acts as if the whole Lightwood family murdered his own like for fucks sake I get Gabriel can be vexing in his dark moods but if you had someone hurting your sister and then constantly coming for ya, yeah I could see why that would make you more upset

but let’s analyze- Will won’t say what he did to Gabriel’s sister and now he’s outed himself as showing disgust for someone who prefers downworlders

so much for the accords when you have young shadowhunters thinking downworlders lives are nothing. and he may not say it the way I do but he could’ve let them out but he felt inclined to include them. I wouldn’t be surprised if none of the shadowhunters had romantic ties with the downworlders with the way they speak about them. Charlotte goes on and on how de Quincey has betrayed them but has she actually been kind and respectful and treated him as a person????

I’m sorry but I don’t think the downworlders are getting treated with any respect. “oh we stopped hunting you but y’all still won’t have any rights and we can still find a way to execute you”. there’s not any equality when it comes to downworlders lives and the rights they supposedly have

and oh “Gabriel is so awful” (Tessa- “so awful”) yet she hears Jem talk about compromising virtue and HE SAYS NOTHING ABOUT IT. wouldn’t that be concerning?

like this girl is getting so many red flags 🚩 thrown at her and she’s like what a fun parade we’re at!!!!!

I don’t get how anyone can like Will. I don’t care if he has a fake curse. I don’t care if he had to run from home. I’m so tired and fed up with people using trauma as an excuse to be a shitty person. and CC has made a pattern and habit of doing this whole showing zero improvement. he doesn’t treat mostly anyone with any respect. he’s lucky he has Jem because Jem is the only fucking thing likable about him

Gabriel doesn’t deserve this reputation of getting shit on when Will is the one that came after his family first. he could’ve let Tatiana down gently but he decided to be cruel. like no wonder Gabriel (and possibly Gideon) can’t stand Will’s ass

[xer-melody]

A Worshipper of Magic (For a Date) part 4

Wednesday Addams x Male!Witch!Reader

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Warning: a bit of gore at the end

Words: 1582

Summary: You and Wednesday devise a plan to capture the monster - a plan that could get you killed.

You nearly tripped over yourself, barefoot, running down the hallway after her.

Despite her small stature she was fast, moving effortlessly through the halls of Stocker hall despit having only been twice. She made sharp turns, leaving your vision for a moment and every time you worried that by some magic she would disappear behind one. It wasn’t until you both passed your room again, door still wide open did you realize she, in her rage and frustration, had forgotten where the exit to Stocker Hall was.

“Wednesday!” You shouted, a bit worn out from all the running, but so was she.

She stopped in front of you, you could hear her heavy, uneven breathing. Then in a swift movement she turned to you, her face turned to one of anger.

“I’m going to kill him..” she paused, “...And you’re going to help me”

She was right, of course.

You were a witch, you weren’t above murder. You usually condoned it, murder, fighting, maiming, mayhem, all of it. But you weren’t sure what this Tyler kid was, or his involvement in all of this. He could just have been a human dropping off lunch or something.

But you didn’t honestly believe that, and neither did Wednesday.

You knew his involvement went deeper that you had the evidence to prove, and at the moment there was nothing you could do about it. Wednesday, for all her bleak, hopelessness, didn’t believe that.

“We have to go again..” She said.

“There’s nothing else, I haven't seen anything and neither has anyone else, this was the first actually suspicious thing we’ve seen, that’s why I came straight to you.”

“So we’ll go after him-”

“And we’ll both die trying..” you sighed.

“So you want us to do nothing?”

With another sigh you let yourself sink back into your seat.

Wednesday thinks Tyler is the monster and that- somehow, Thornehill was controling him. You knew there was something wrong with her, you could see it in her soul, but you figured it was just fear, she was the only human at an inhuman school, you figured a bit of fear came along with it. But apparently it was hatred, for inhumans, or as she put it, ‘freaks’. She was the one in charge, the way she yelled and ordered Tyler around made that much clear. She controlled him. Why was they killing inhumans then?

“My mother murdered somebody..” Wednesday said suddenly.

“Yeah, I heard..”

“The man she murdered, his entire family died soon after..”

“I heard that too.”

“I was..in the family's house, the entire thing was covered in dust, dirt, and webs..all except for the sister's room. It was clean, and it had fresh flowers, they hadn’t wilted in the slightest.”

You sighed, sitting back in your chair, you’d persuaded her into coming back to your room with you so you weren’t just standing outside, plotting against a teacher.

“So there’s a supposedly dead little girl running around killing inhumans-“

“-or Ms.Thornhill is that little girl. My first thought was Dr. Kinbott, my therapist, but I’ve counted her out as a suspect, Xavier too-“

Despite not knowing either of those people, you absorbed her words thoughtfully. She’d already had a list of suspects, a list consisting of mostly people she knew personally, you wondered if you were on that list.

‘Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think, don’t think’ you thought.

Your mind was spinning as you sat in a cafe, well not just a cafe, the cafe that a suspected murderer worked at. You don’t know how she convinced you but she did. Now you sat in a booth across from, glaring at her unintentionally. Your jaw was clenched tight, your hands balled into fist. Despite your efforts to call yourself, thoughts of you being violently torn to shreds because you revealed your suspicion of him terrorized your mind. That wasn’t the only thing though.

Wednesday's plan was to provoke him using you. Something that, had it been anyone else, you would have said ‘no’ to then never have spoken to them again.

Unfortunately, you were soft.

‘He’s pretty when he’s scared,’ a thought Wednesday didn’t think she was capable of.

She has, in the past few days, come to enjoy your company a bit more, considering that nearly a week ago you’d done something rather intimate together- out of necessity, of course- but intimate regardless, she couldn’t forgot what that meant to you, what it meant for your kind, and what it meant in your relationship with her.

Peeking up at you over her book, she watched your mind race with a little smirk.

Wednesday hadn’t been the most romantic person ever, she’s actually been rather apathetic to it for most of her life. But you interest her, even now as you’d seemingly zoned out with a glare on your face.

“Wednesday-“ a familiar, yet unwanted, voice said.

She tapped her foot on yours under the table and you quickly became aware of his presence.

“-who's your friend?” He asked, a bit of worry in his voice.

You looked up at him, then across to her. You’d agreed beforehand that she would be in control, she knew him, and therefore could push his buttons better than you. But the part of her brain that produced snarky, sarcastic comments was shutting down due to the boiling rage she felt under her skin.

“I’m y/n..” you said, mustering every bit of calmness in your body,

“Y/n..” he repeated, and you could hear a twinge of dispies behind his sweet tone.

“Yeah, me and Wednesday have been..” you paused- for effect of course, “hanging out”

Your tone didn’t sound entirely truthful, which seemed to piss him off.

“Oh-“ he muttered, “she’s never mentioned you before.”

“It’s still relatively new-“ you could hear the restraint in her voice as she finally spoke up.

He nodded, his aura darkening.

A few more minutes of proding conversation later and Tyler was walking away with thinly veiled hatred for you in particular.

You and Wednesday didn’t stick around long after that. Actually, she dragged you out of the cafe not even ten minutes after you’d spoken to Tyler.

“Now what?”

You’d met Wednesday back in her room, ignoring her giddy roommate in the corner as she’d asked you to do.

“Now we wait for him to try and kill you.”

Right, you’d almost forgotten about that part, piss him off by being friends with Wednesday (she’d already mentioned his…possessive tendencies), wait for him to attack, after that things get a little too vague for your liking but you’ve already enacted step one so there’s no going back now.

“Good, great-“ you sighed, “if he does actually kill me I’ll haunt you as a ghost forever.”

“Hmm, you’d probably be tethered to wherever you were murdered, but I would visit you.”

“Maybe you could just carry my ashes around with you, I think that should tether me to you.”

“You would make a pretty necklace.”

“Thank you.”

Enid, who you’d nearly forgotten about, let out an excited noise, but quickly shut herself up.

Hours later, Wednesday insisted on walking you back to your room, as a way to thank you for risking your life.

You didn’t feel particularly brave about it, you felt scared, and yet, you were happy. You were doing this for a greater cause. Besides, the amount of hexes, spells, and traps in your room should protect you- or at least alert somebody before you are dead.

You stopped in front of your door, sighing deeply as you pondered for a short moment as to why you were jumping through these kinds of dangerous hoops for a girl you’d known for less than a month. Then you looked down at her, and with a sigh you cast those thoughts from your mind, you’d think about them again later, probably while fighting for your life in a hospital, but you’d decided it was worth it- for now at least.

“I’ll see you tomorrow..” you said as casually as you could.

“Of course-“ then, without any warning, she kissed you. It was just a peck on the cheek but when she pulled back you could see how flushed her pale face had become.

Then, before you could speak, she was gone.

Turning, you fumbled with your key in your pocket for a moment before finally going to unlock your door. Only for nothing to happen when you turned the lock, no click of the lock moving. Because it was already unlocked.

With a sigh, you pushed the door open and was quickly pinned to the floor by a blur of gray.

A searing pain shot through your body, starting at your chest, then quickly spreading to your limbs. You tried not to scream as your flesh was torn under the monster's sharp claws. It felt like years had gone by before it stopped, but I’d only been seconds. You turned your head to see the monster, suspended mid air, caught in a trap. You’d laugh if you were choking on your own blood.

Taking a long, painful breath in, then out, then in again. You needed to focus on breathing- on keeping your heart beating until help came. Another deep breath. Then another. Then another- you could head footsteps, thudding loudly against the floor.

You forced your eyes to stay open- to watch that murderous monster struggle against invisible, unbreakable binds.

Smiling, you thought, ‘I got him’.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Passion

Well, it only took three and a half years, but the writers are finally taking a mulligan with the whole Kwami swap idea after missing the point of it in “Reflekdoll”. Have they learned their lesson when it comes to what kind of stories you could tell by swapping Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous? What do you think?

Let's get into the seventh episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Passion

We start off with Marinette and Alya having a sleepover, where, much like the audience, Alya is confused as to why Marinette is suddenly in love with Cat Noir. Unlike with “Determination”, it's hinted that Marinette is still blaming Monarch getting fifteen Miraculous on her feelings for Adrien, and once again, rather than actually acknowledge how Marinette has a point in this case, the narrative is portraying her focusing more on Cat Noir as a defense mechanism so she doesn't have to confront her feelings for Adrien now. It's pretty stupid, but par for the course this season because the writers refuse to admit that Marinette's crush on Adrien may have inadvertently made things worse.

We then cut to the Agreste Mansion, where Gabriel is busy cooking pancakes for Adrien, asking if he wants bananas on them. Because Adrien isn't B'Elenna Torres, he doesn't actually like bananas on his pancakes, and only said he did to make Gabriel happy, something Nathalie picks up on. You know, I'm not exactly a Michelin star chef, but I'm pretty sure you don't place these huge chunks of bananas on pancakes instead of small slices.

Nathalie comes down to the kitchen, and while she still seems to judge Gabriel, in a clever bit of visual storytelling, Adrien sees one of Emilie's rings on Nathalie's finger (which she's had ever since the end of Season 4), and it's hinted he believes they're engaged. Of course, as soon as Adrien leaves to get ready for school, Nathalie pins Gabriel down to the table and reveals the true reason for her continuing to work for him after the events of “Evolution”.

Nathalie: I came to this house to hunt magical artifacts for you and Emilie. I became your bodyguard, your right hand woman, your friend, and even more. But this is all over. You used to do this out of love for Emilie, but now, you're only doing it out of madness, and the only reason I'm still here is to protect Adrien from you!

Okay, fair point wanting to protect Adrien, there's other ways to do so that don't involve silently judging him and doing nothing else. What's stopping Nathalie from calling the cops on Gabriel? What's stopping Nathalie from sending in an anonymous tip to Ladybug and Cat Noir? What's stopping her from telling literally anyone else she knows that her boss is the most dangerous man in the world right now? What's stopping Nathalie from flat-out running away with Adrien and telling him the truth about his father? Seriously, of all the things you choose to do with the knowledge you have, and continuing to enable this man while occasionally scolding him was what you settled on? And again, it's really weird that Nathalie suddenly thinks Gabriel is insane when the whole reason she needs those robot braces to walk was because she chose to let the broken Peacock Miraculous ruin her body trying to help Gabriel as Mayura.

After a brief scene where Adrien talks with Plagg about how to confess his feelings for Marinette, we then see Nathalie watching several recordings of Emilie that Gabriel supposedly ordered her to delete. We learn that right before she fell into her coma, Emilie made Nathalie promise to find some way to stop Gabriel from trying to find the Miraculous, if only for Adrien's sake. Yeah, real bang-up job you did there, Nathalie. Adrien comes in and asks Nathalie about what to do about the girl he likes, with Nathalie's response all but stating that Emilie had feelings for Gabriel before he and Emilie got married.

Adrien asks Nathalie if what happened to Emilie will happen to her, to which she tells him that's not that the case, even if she coincidentally has the same symptoms Emilie had before her “disappearance”. After Adrien leaves, Nathalie goes down to Gabriel's lair while he's talking to Emilie's body like every other day that ends in a “Y”, telling him to akumatize her.

It's a dramatic scene, as usually, willing accepting an Akuma is seen as the point of no return for an antagonist, just ask Lila and Chloe. So of course, let's break the tension with a scene of Marinette stuttering around Adrien as he tries to confess his love to her. Nice transition, writers. Plagg tries to tell Tikki about the situation, claiming that their holders falling in love with each other could spell the end of the world (and he's not wrong in that case), but Tikki points out that Marinette's crippling anxiety prevents her from making any advances in her love life.

Back with Nathalie, for some reason, she chose to walk back down to her room where she keps a mannequin displaying some explorer clothes of hers, where Monarch akumatizes her into Safari.

Safari's design is pretty cool, even if it is a little too similar to a certain other French sniper with a primarily purple color scheme. I like the classical hunter motif, and the color scheme is pretty appealing. Admittedly, I'm not too sure about her powers, because right from the start, she uses the Goat Miraculous' Genesis to create her hunting gear (which somehow has bullets themed after the Tiger, Dragon, Pig, Fox, and Bee Miraculous), including a crossbow whose bullets who can track their targets.

Safari uses a Mirage bullet to create an illusion of Timetagger, an Akuma who shouldn't even exist in the present day, so she's not exactly not off to a good start. Despite that, Marinette and Adrien transform into Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively and give chase, only to lose “Timetagger”. Of course, Ladybug decides to ask Cat Noir out on a date despite the suspicious situation, only to be immobilized by one of Safari's Venom bullets. After a pretty decent chase sequence, Cat Noir manages to evade the bullet with the stunned Ladybug in hand. Cat Noir tries to escape, but eventually, he's cornered by the bullets in the sewers. For some reason, after Adrien transforms, the bullets just go away, because that's how Monarch designed Safari's powers. Also, Ladybug doesn't see Cat Noir detransform because her eyes were covered when she was stunned. Plot contrivance at its finest, folks.

Adrien has Plagg take Marinette's Miraculous, and he explains the situation, so they come up with a loophole: transform using each other's Miraculous. Before that, Adrien actually thinks about using the Miraculous wish to cure Nathalie and asks “Ladybug” about it, only for Marinette to explain why that can't happen.

Marinette: There's always a balance between creation and destruction. For every one thing we fixed, another would be destroyed. For every sick person we cured, another would become ill. For every villain defeated, something else, just as terrible, would be created somewhere else to replace it.

So I guess we're back to that rule instead of the whole “the world will literally end if the wish is made” crap. Marinette and Adrien take each other's Miraculous and transform into Lady Noire and Mister Bug respectively. While watching over Safari, Lady Noire is just eating the cherry-flavored eye candy that is Mister Bug.

This only adds to the biggest problem I have with Season 5 so far: How it refuses to acknowledge how Marinette's feelings for Adrien/Cat Noir have only been shown to be detrimental to her as a hero. Rather than acknowledge that Marinette's feelings for Adrien were what caused Monarch to get all the other Miraculous, the show constantly says that it wasn't her fault, even when she was blamed for everything going wrong at the end of the last season. There was also the part earlier in the episode where Alya just ignored the point Marinette made about trusting Felix with the Dog Miraculous by just saying that Marinette is deflecting her true feelings for Adrien by focusing on Cat Noir. While you could argue Alya made a good point herself, she didn't acknowledge anything else in Marinette's argument, and just acts like Marinette and Adrien being a couple is more important that Marinette thinking about saving lives. And of course, during the battle, Lady Noire can't stop flirting with Mister Bug, which could potentially get in the way of the fight like we've seen with Cat Noir in the past. You can't just tell the audience to ship Marinette and Adrien together when Marinete's feelings for Adrien have only been shown to get in the way of her superhero life.

Mister Bug and Lady Noire fight off Safari, asking her why she wants their Miraculous.

Lady Noire: What about you, Safari, what do you want?

Safari: The same thing. A wish. Everyone wants to have one, right?

Monarch: Safari, what are you up to?

Safari: Should I tell them the truth?

Monarch: (growls in frustration)

Safari: That's what I thought.

Because Nathalie would rather risk ending the world instead of telling anyone who Monarch really is. Yes, she is that stupid. Mister Bug summons his Lucky Charm, getting a bottle of perfume. This makes him realize the akumatized object is back at the Agreste mansion. While Lady Noire holds off Safari, Mister Bug breaks the mannequin holding the Akuma. Mister Bug de-evilizes the Akuma, uses Miraculous Mister Bug to fix the damage, vows to stop Monarch for akumatizing such a fragile and innocent person.

After giving each other their Miraculous back, Marinette recounts what happened to Alya and Tikki, somehow believing that because Cat Noir/Mister Bug said nothing in response to her asking him out to the movies since he was focused on stopping the Akuma, this must mean he secretly loves her back. Yep, if “Determination” didn't already set off any red flags, we're really doing this, people. And so the episode ends with Adrien apologizing to Nathalie for supposedly getting her akumatized, while Nathalie reassures Adrien that he means a lot to her, even if she's too stupid to rat out Monarch after five seasons.

Yeah, this episode was pretty lousy. A big chunk of it stemmed from the way it handled Nathalie's character. Obviously, she can't tell Ladybug and Cat Noir about Monarch's identity because we still need to finish the season, but the way they go about it by having her passive-aggressively continue to work for him when she's perfectly capable of restraining him, even in her handicapped state, is just a ridiculous leap in logic. I get that it's an attempt to give Nathalie depth, but the writers never really acknowledge how Nathalie's inaction is endangering so many lives.

And of course, there's the stuff with Marinette. Just like with Cat Noir, her flirting on the job made it look like she wasn't taking things seriously while playing it off as a cute little quirk of hers. Again, the show is at least trying to acknowledge how odd the way she displays her feelings is, but it's not in a way that actually leads to any interesting developments.

The Akuma fight was also pretty dumb, as the heroes pretty much won thanks to dumb luck. Not only did Safari's bullets magically stop working as soon as Ladybug and Cat Noir detransformed, not only did she never adjust her system to target Mister Bug and Lady Noire, but the whole reason Mister Bug's Lucky Charm even worked was because he knew who Safari was and where her Akuma was, something that wouldn't have happened if Ladybug and Cat Noir didn't swap Miraculous.

Overall, it was bad, but not as frustrating as “Illusion” or “Determination”.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... NATHALIE

For someone who said she was looking out for Adrien, Nathalie really made a lot of terrible choices doing so this episode. She only considered ratting out Gabriel near the end of the episode as a threat, tried stealing the Miraculous herself, and never considered the fact that her hesitance to tell anyone what she knows is only making things worse, especially for Adrien.

[gerardpilled]

literally stop being an mcr fan then! why can you forgive gerard but not lynz? everyone will pretend they support the idea of allowing someone to learn and grow and change but then they'll see a woman and go oh no not her she's irredeemable like? the double standards are ridiculous

It’s so crazy… I’ve seen countless people say that she needs to explicitly apologize for her actions and yeah I guess that would be nice. I just think it's a more complicated and nuanced situation than it might seem. Her apologizing for being in msi and participating in complicit racism would implement a lot of people and make them guilty by association. It would imply everyone including the sound guys who worked shows would then be connected to "having worked for a racist band" and could seriously complicate relationships - both working and not.

Also, I sometimes really don't understand why this is a discussion worthy of so much time other than reflecting on the atmosphere that allowed such a band to rise within the scene? (I think there's a real meaningful conversation to be had about the excusing of racism from a lot of people within the alt music scene even today.)The band hasn’t toured since 2014? Acts like Marilyn Manson - who among all his other crimes also used racial slurs as shock value - is actively touring. And for the double standards - Frank fucking toured with msi in 2013 like why not cancel him for that LOL!!! Or god forbid, Gerard for working with Jimmy Urine in 2018.

Even forgiving Gerard for saying he’s Japanese while dogpiling Lindsey for saying she’s partially Indian when she doesn’t even know her birth dad is wild to me. The tweets are very similar to each other - and neither of them have apologized? I've seen people start excusing Gerard's tweet, extrapolating info like "he must have taken a DNA test" well, there's no proof of that, and why not extend that benefit of the doubt to Lindsey? Like yes, she shouldn’t have said it but Gerard shouldn’t have either! I also just can't help but think there are more important issues oh my god!!! I've seen people - both Indian and East Asian alike - express discomfort with both Lindsey's and Gerard's actions, and I completely understand that! I just only ever see Lindsey's held to such irredeemable levels, and that's usually by white people who I personally feel are overstepping their role. I just can't help but think some white people do not have meaningful, real life, conversations with the demographics they are supposedly advocating for.

I am definitely not the person to absolve her of her sins or excuse anything she’s done and people she’s hurt, but do people (and I mean primarily other white people who - from my experience - are mainly the ones posting hate about her) realize she has probably been the most clear and explicit about her anti-racist learning curve? Out of anyone even remotely connected to mcr, she has posted and done more direct funding and outreach for Black organizations than anyone. Yes, that’s Twitter activism and doesn’t exactly amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but if people who hate her judge her off of her internet footprint, why not use the same to realize maybe she has learned?

I recently tried to see if she had acknowledged any of her faults publicly- and to my shock - she has!

I’m not saying this is the best response to every thing but I also never saw this mentioned ever before.

I truly think some of the worst stuff she’s done is publicly support Jimmy Urine after the allegations came out but again everyone who just spreads that as a fact completely misses the context of her ex friend spreading unhinged rumors about her for like a year before those allegations came out. Jessicka Adams accused Gerard of sexual misconduct and started claiming that Lindsey was in cahoots with a man who accused Jessicka of sleeping with him when he was underage. Truly unhinged stuff.

If I was Lindsey and my ex-friend was doing that, purposefully targeting people close to me, I also might immediately assume she was behind those against the lead singer of my old band! She should NOT have voiced her suspicions publicly, and I do think that was wrong, but it’s not like she doubled down on it since? I know a lot of people would like to think they would act differently if they were in her shoes, but really think about it! If allegations that arose online came out against a man you called a friend - who you let watch your daughter - would you immediately publicly turn against him? She should have apologized when it became clear the allegations were not unfounded, but even when the news first broke she was liking tweets which better explained her mindset. Also last I heard, they are no longer friends at all.

Again with the double standards though. I've seen no noise around Mikey’s wife publicly defending wife abuser Johnny Depp (a person she does not even know) when he won his trial? Or the fact that Gerard was also very good friend with Jimmy and most likely shares a similar opinion as his wife?

I've also seen people say things like "well she should have known because of all the signs" I think this a dangerous oversimplification. What about the band No Devotion? Everyone loves them here. They formed after their old lead singer was exposed as rapist with multiple situations of him sleeping with young girls on tour. Why didn't those guys know about it?

I also just feel like using this case a justification to hate her alongside stuff like "she made a mikey hate blog!!" (she didn't) just feels so wrong to me. It’s like people are happy this happened to a woman because it gives justification to hate Lindsey. I see no attempts to support this Jane Doe with tweets of support or some kind of fundraiser. It's always just rooted in hatred of another woman.

[lovebillyhargrove]

A follow up to this *billy's camaro fic*

Next day the boys are busy. Well, it's mostly Steve who's busy. While having breakfast Billy tries insisting on coming with him to the repair shop, because of course he needs to see for himself who they are entrusting his precious baby to, but Harrington tells him it's too risky to be seen in public just yet. It's a small town, you never know who you're going to run into when you turn the corner. It might be Tommy, it might be Max, it might be their high school Lit teacher or Billy's former manager from the Hawkins community pool. It might be literally anyone who Billy is still not quite ready to see. Or, who aren't ready themselves to bump into a supposedly dead teenager looking very much alive and walking around the town like it's the most natural thing. Harrington has already resurrected the car once. To be more exact, he's found the right people to do it, so. He's not new to this. Billy finally listens to the voice of reason and just grabs the medicine kit to treat a couple of wounds that still bother him. Steve calls the tow truck service, and in two hours he's standing near the repair shop watching the camaro being unloaded from the truck.

"Kid, you gotta stop doing whatever you're doing to that car." - Old Joe tells Steve, shaking his head in disbelief, and Harrington just throws up his hands like the situation which led up to this was out of his control. It actually was, so it's nobody's fault.

When Steve gets home, he hears sizzling sounds coming from the kitchen.

"You want a grilled cheese sandwich, Harrington? Found stuff in the fridge, making some."

Wow, that's kinda new. Nobody has cooked anything for Steve in a long, looong, no you don't understand, a really long time

"Yeah, if that's okay?"

"So how did it go?"

"Well, the old man was uh .. confused? I don't think he expected me to be back like that. He was also sad .. ? Cause they fixed it up so well. Looked brand new, just a few weeks ago."

"He'll just have to do it again. If he agreed. Did he?"

"Yeah, yeah, he did. He knows the car, knows what to do. It's not as bad as the last time."

"When are they gonna be done?"

"He said he would call me tonight, or tomorrow morning, tell me about the time they'll need."

"How much is it?"

"Well, he didn't tell me the exact price, because .. he still needs to look into it, so .."

Hargrove's looking at Steve intently

"Listen, I'll give you the money back. But obviously not right now."

"Yeah, I mean .. You don't have to give me back anything."

"I will, Steve."

"If you want to, okay. We can talk about it later, really. We have like .. so many things to figure out first."

Billy's putting a sandwich on a plate and sliding it to Harrington.

"Lunch."

"Oh wow. Thanks."

After lunch Steve goes upstairs and searches through his drawer for Dr. Owens' phone number.

When Owens hears Steve's name, he asks immediately

"Is it acting up again, Steve?"

"What? Oh, no. No, everything is okay here, just .. do you remember Billy? Billy Hargrove?"

"Of course. The guy who died in Starcourt?"

"Yes. Well .. what would you say if I told you that .. hypothetically, I had some information about him being alive?"

Steve's feeling kinda stupid. He's not completely sure they can trust Owens, but they really have no-one to turn to if they need help with documents. Billy Hargrove is officially dead. Even if they are talking about a fake ID, with a different name, Steve doesn't have connections like that. And it's not just an ID. Driving license, high school diploma, where are they supposed to get all the papers from??

Steve's afraid he's not good at this trying-not-to-get-too-involved-with-the-government stuff. Fucking spy shit. Outlaw level.

"I'd say, it makes sense, Steve."

"R .. really? Why?"

"Well, you don't know that but .. when the scene was cleared and all of you were sent home after what happened in Starcourt, Billy's body .. was gone. After the paramedics announced his death, I believe the body was just laying there unsupervised for .. really, not more than only a few minutes, but when my people came to pick it up, it wasn't there, on the Starcourt floor. We searched everywhere, but it just vanished into thin air."

"Oh my god. So .."

"So I am not even too much surprised to hear your news."

"Why didn't you say anything .. to Billy's family? Who did you bury in that grave??"

"Steve, he was dead. How could I have explained this to his family?? It was a closed casket. It was an empty casket."

Owens is silent for a second.

"Now .. The more important question is, if Billy is alive, is there a chance that he's still flayed? Is he dangerous?"

Steve's looking at Billy sitting across from him and he understands that Billy understands too. What they are talking about. Probably he can hear Owens voice.

"Look, Dr. Owens, I uh .. first of all, the key word here is hypothetically. Like .. I don't even know if he's alive or not. But if he was and he didn't present any .. danger to people, would there be any possibility to get his life back to normal somehow? I mean, paperwork?"

"Anything is possible, Steve. But we would have to run some tests first probably."

Billy's tensing

Steve actually doesn't think it was such a great idea to call Owens now. Fuck. "One of the good ones", my ass.

"Dr. Owens, listen. Hypothetically .. -

Hargrove's rolling his eyes at hearing the word for the third time now

- .. speaking, a guy who came back from the dead would be very traumatized, right? What if .. what if there was a way not to run any tests in a lab or something like that?"

"I hear you, Steve. I would still need to see him, even if it was only me. How does that sound?"

Steve's looking at Billy. Hargrove is shrugging his shoulders.

"How can I be sure that it's only going to be you, Dr. Owens?"

"Steve. You've already been through so much. We've been through certain things together as well. You might have noticed I do things differently than my other colleagues. Will and Jane, they are living a usual life in California, right? We let them go. I just need to make sure Billy is not a threat."

"I see."

"Let's make a deal. I'll make all the papers ready. We'll meet and talk, the three of us, in a public place. Or I can visit the place where, hypothetically, -

Steve's covering the receiver with one hand and whispering to Hargrove "Is he mocking me?" -

" .. Billy is staying. Just me. If I see that everything is alright, that'll do. Billy will get his identification, and he's free to go. Believe it or not, we also want this mess to finish, once and for all."

Steve is hesitant, but, really, what choice do they have?

Billy's nodding.

"Okay. Okay, Dr. Owens. When and where should we meet?"

They agree for Steve to call Owens again in a week and decide on the meeting place.

"Good bye, Dr. Owens."

Steve can see that Billy is not very happy with this conversation.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all."

"It's fine, Steve. What other options do I have anyway? I'm a dead man according to the system. I need the fucking papers. I can't get them without the fucking government."

"Yeah, yeah I know. But hey, I still think Owens is a good one."

"We'll see, Harrington. It's fine. Thanks for making that call."

Steve's still doubtful that it was a wise move, but he's honestly trying to help.

"What are you going to do for the rest of the day, Harrington?"

"Well I .. I need to call my mom? Check on her and kinda find out about their plans .. make sure they aren't gonna make a surprise visit here. And then, go grocery shopping. Can't take you with me, but uh .. tell me what you maybe need .. or want?"

"Steve, everything is fine, I don't need anything. I think I'm gonna go nap now. Do you wanna watch a movie later?"

"Sure. Sure, what do you have in mind?"

"What's new?"

They end up spending the afternoon and the evening cooking dinner together and watching "Back to the future" and re-watching "The Terminator" cause, apparently, they both like it, and Steve is enjoying it all so much, because he hasn't spent a day like that in a long, really long time. Also, he sort of has a suspicion Billy is enjoying himself as well, and it's not even awkward between them,

and this is strange, because if Steve recalls high school correctly, it was so strange, like Billy was out to get him and Steve was annoyed by it, and if you asked him about Hargrove he'd just say that he hated that loud Californian fuck, but in reality, and that's something he would've never told anyone, Steve sort of enjoyed his attention. Add in there those couple of times with those couple of dreams when he might've woken up with a situation in his underwear cause he ..

He really shouldn't think about it now.

Before going to bed Billy says to Steve

"Good night, man. Tomorrow we are closing that fucking portal." He's yawning and stretching and Steve still can't believe Hargrove's turned into some kind of a superhero.

***

In the early morning Old Joe calls and catches Steve on the doorstep leaving for work. He says everything is definitely not as bad as it was the previous time. They'll need two weeks, maybe two and a half, tops.

It's good news. Other good news is that Steve's parents are not planning on visiting their son for quite some time, and Steve was relieved to hear that yesterday.

Tonight they are having plans. Big plans. If he's honest with himself, Steve has been feeling so .. alive. Ever since this mess with the camaro started, and then with the hope that resident asshole Billy H. is somewhere out there, Steve's never felt lonely, or without a purpose, or like he was just wasting his life away.

***

They drive to the ruins of Starcourt after dark has set down. Billy is amazing. He throws his hand out and the air is charged with electricity, high voltage, skull and crossed bones, and

he does close the portal.

And even though he collapses on the ground right after it and Steve has to literally drag him to the beamer and inside the house to the couch again, Billy is still fucking gorgeous.

That night Steve dreams of the school basketball court and feels Hargrove's hot sweaty body pressing into his.

***

The next couple of weeks it's quiet. They get some kind of a routine going, and Steve would lie if he said he wasn't in a hurry to get home every evening. Robin's onto him and thinks he's got a girlfriend. Steve just surrounds himself with mystery and tells Robin that he can't go to the movies with her tonight, again, "Sorry Rob, some family business."

Everything is quiet and calm, and nothing really happens except their meeting with Owens. In a diner outside Hawkins, Billy's wearing a beanie and sunglasses on an absolutely sunless day, just like in spy movies, Steve's nervous, but everything goes well. Probably because they look like two teenage dumbasses "Just avoid using the word hypothetically, Steve." - "Shut up, Hargrove." and Owens understands no-one is flayed here anymore. Billy gets the whole shebang of brand new documents, and he's a free bird.

The camaro gets fixed, and when Steve brings her back, they celebrate. They are sitting in the car, shooting the shit, one of old Billy's tapes playing, and Billy smokes his first cigarette after July the 4th. He even gets through one bottle of beer and hugs Harrington before going to the guest room for the night "C'mere, man. Fucking thank you." His words are a bit slurry and eyes teary, and Steve melts into that brief hug although it's just a usual bro hug and he can't read too much into that, otherwise he won't be able to sleep tonight so he just says "See you in the morning, Billy" and watches Hargrove turn his broad back and close the door to the guest room. Billy's been gaining his weight back, and he just keeps looking better every day.

In the morning Steve's coming down to the smell of coffee in the kitchen. Billy's sitting at the table crunching on cereal. They exchange morning pleasantries and then Billy says

"Hey, Steve. I think I have to .. I have to go see my father."

To be continued

[the-bar-sinister]

Sandstorms and Starfall (27070 words) by VickytheSnake, thesavagesabretooth Chapters: 7/15

Summary: When Vivi makes a midnight escape from the palace of Alabasta and flees the country in an attempt to get stronger and rejoin the Straw Hat pirates as a full crew member she finds herself unsure of her path forward. That is until a chance meeting brings her face to face with her former enemy, and former hero, Sir Crocodile who agrees to help her on her quest to find a devil fruit for herself.

It's surprisingly easy to make peace with the former warlord, if not to forgive or trust him. But the longer she spends around him, and the former Baroque Works agents helping her find her way through the Grand Line, the more she finds that the troubles in her heart are not the simple ones that she expected to be facing.

catch up here

-

Unlike the secrecy of Sabaody, they docked– for lack of a better word– at Fishman Island without incident, and it was a fairly active port.

As they disembarked to resupply, Vivi saw Daz looking over the other ships that he could see.

"Doesn't look like anyone we'll have to be too concerned about."

Vivi peered out at them as well, curious what sorts of ships made it out of the supposedly dangerous and deadly trip from the surface. She wasn't surprised when she realized she couldn't really recognize any of the flags.

Marianne hopped off the boat with her pack on her back and her hat back on her head.

"...Captain?" She asked in her soft spoken and deadpan voice.

Zala stretched, seeming much more comfortable on land as she looked around with a whistle. "..never had the pleasure of making it down here…" she murmured to Daz. 

Captain Crocodile strolled down the gangplank with his cigar in his mouth and puffed out a long breath of smoke. He put his hand briefly on top of Marianne's head and smiled.

"It's been a while. Alright, crew. Saobody was a nerve wracker but we can relax a little around here. No marines, and the slavers won't be moving in yet even given the chance in… situation," he snorted. "We're here for a resupply, and to see if we can find any good information. I have a contact in the New World we can lean on if we don't find anything— but we'll be putting feelers out."

"So you want us to gather information while we take a little R&R is it?" Zala purred, "Now that, that I can do."

"I wanna see the Mermaid Cafe," Marianne chimed in.

"Mermaid cafe?" Vivi asked in surprise. "...so, Crocodile, is this place safe? We can actually enjoy ourselves a little?" 

"Safe enough for a bunch of pirates," Crocodile grinned widely. "We can enjoy ourselves. And yeah, you know what. It's been too long since I saw the mermaid cafe myself. Can't stop here without a visit."

"We still probably don't want to split up too much," Daz said. "But it's not the kind of worry it was in Sabaody by a long shot."

"Then what is the worry? That some pirate might try to start a fight?" 

"Bingo, Viv," Crocodile nodded as they headed into the city together. "Port towns that attract pirates attract pirate brawls. Everybody's drunk and it's a big machismo contest."

Zala snorted softly through her nose. "Meaning most of the idiots who start a fight are going to lose one."

Marianne put her hand to her chin with a soft sigh of 'hmmmmm' before she murmured. "Calming yellow, I think."

With a laugh, Vivi shook her head. "Well. That does sound like trouble, but I think we should probably be alright. We're a lot tougher than we look, after all!" 

"Damn right," Crocodile chuckled. "Which is exactly why it's safe to relax a little. C'mon we'll get a drink in you— you do drink, right, Viv? Outside of when you're making shady deals with former enemies?"

Vivi huffed, giving him a little sidelong look, thinking of the drink they'd shared in the basement before the voyage. "Of course I drink, Crocodile. I used to drink all the time with the Straw Hats."

It wasn't like when she was younger, where she only could take a glass of wine or two before she had to excuse herself from the party.

She'd become rather experienced the last few years, even. Still, she felt a kind of giddy excitement. Here she was…on the bottom of the sea under the light of some strange tree that cast the depths in sunlight. Among fish men and mermaids who were frolicking about and going about their day to day, and all of it as a pirate on a grand journey.

She shivered in excitement. "So let's get that drink in me!" 

-

It had been a hell of a long time since Crocodile had visited the island's infamous mermaid cafe– something on the order of 20 years. A wave of nostalgia washed over him like surf as he stepped inside and found it virtually unchanged from his memory. The so-called 'cafe' was styled more like the jazz lounge or club that it actually was, with tiered seating along swooping, curling mezzanines with different degrees of privacy and views of the stage for the floor show. The best seats for privacy were up in the top mezz, tucked in the back of the cafe behind flowing curtains. The best seats for the floor show were of course the several handsome round booths and tables on the floor itself.

It was decorated in a style that Crocodile was told, from a Fishman perspective, was incredibly kitschy. Bordering on tacky, even. Everything was done up in mother of pearl with gold colored brass edgings and the decorations were sea themed– lots of clams and pearls and statues of fish and things like that. Even a lot of the seats were clamshell themed. Apparently plenty of locals hated it— but it was a hell of a tourist magnet.

They were informed when they entered that there'd be a show in about 20 minutes, and since they weren't going to be discussing anything sensitive anyway, Croc opted to have them seated at one of the booths.

He glanced over at Vivi, curious what their first timer thought of the whole thing as the mermaid waitress accompanied them to their seats.

-

"Woooow…." Vivi whispered as she followed the mermaid waitress along, her eyes wide and curious as they flitted from seashell chairs to the grand stage, to the mermaids and the shining tables. "Nami would love this place."

Nami would frankly, especially love the mermaids even if she'd protest about it. Which certainly wasn't to say Vivi didn't either.

It was glittery, it was shining— and it was packed to the gills with beautiful women and the smell of fine food. And there was to be a show on top of all this?

Vivi couldn't help feeling a little excited as she practically vibrated. She loved the sea theme, honestly, and while it did seem, maybe a bit overly themed? Probably tacky to the locals, it certainly caught the eye.

Marianne walked near her, deadpan stare locking eyes with some of the mermaids as they passed with a little nod.

"I wonder what show set they're doing this time. Heard rumors." she murmured.

Daz cocked his head as he shifted toward the center of the long, curved booth they were seated at, on Crocodile's left. "Rumors, huh?"

Currently the cafe was filled with the soft strains of piano music, or similar, piped in through shells. A soft, bubbly tune.

Vivi hesitated, not sure what seat to take. She did notice Zala took one of the seats closer to the stage proper, leaning on her hand as she grinned lazily. Marianne dropped down beside her, opening her pad and starting a sketch of the interior.

"Rumors," she said with a nod. "Saucy rumors."

"...Saucy rumors?" Vivi asked with a flush, still awkwardly standing. 

Crocodile chuckled, and Vivi watched as a mermaid offered him a fresh cigar from an expensive looking box. He took it and replaced his own with it, lighting up. 

"They've had a few racy shows here from time to time. What's on the stage today, pretty miss?"

The mermaid giggled coyly. "Actually, we have a special guest today. It's a lounge show. It's only been running for a couple of weeks and it's very popular."

Vivi eased herself down on the other side of Crocodile, tilting her head with a curious smile. "Wow, then we really lucked out, didn't we?" 

She couldn't help but look at the mermaid. She was a beautiful woman, that was for sure. Vivi had always had a deep appreciation for beautiful women as much as an appreciation for beautiful men.

"Lounge show, huh?" Marianne murmured. "Who's the singer?" 

"Our special guest!" she cooed, swimming away. "I'll be right back with your menus!"

Crocodile puffed on his new cigar, which had a curious sweet smell to it, and smoke that burned faintly blue. He slipped his arms relaxedly over the back of the booth, one of them dangling just over Vivi's shoulders.

"This place hasn't changed a bit."

Vivi felt the hot flush roll through her once more as she sat just under, but not quite touching, Crocodile's arm. She took a breath of that new cigar's secondhand smoke, before turning her eyes to the stage to distract her.

"N-no? Not even a little? What kind of show did you see last time?"

Zala packed her pipe with a hum. "Likely something burlesque. I heard they often are." 

"Yep. It was this whole little tableau about sushi with a naughty song to match." Crocodile's grin curled across his face.

"Sushi," Daz chuckled. "That's cute. I don't remember what they were playing last time I was here, but uh, I was pretty drunk. So that's not unusual."

"Tsk tsk, Daz," Zala waved her finger back and forth teasingly as she put her pipe between her lips. "They certainly get creative with their innuendo don't they?"

Vivi caught the glance of Crocodile's grin, and felt her face flush more. "Okay that's sounds like it was pretty fun actually."

The table chattered away, looking at the menu and ordering a round of drinks. Crocodile told a story about the first time he had been there, with his first mate, Mihawk, who had initially claimed to have little interest in the Mermaid Cafe but indulged Crocodile anyway. That seemed to all change during the show, of course. Crocodile had heard one— very rare— short laugh from his first mate's lips during the sushi number, before becoming rather enraptured with the follow up act. A mermaid swordswoman had been performing a dance, and he'd absolutely insisted on meeting her to discuss technique in a display of uncommon excitement for the man. He'd practically stormed the stage.

Vivi had seen Dracule Mihawk. She could NOT imagine him excited over anything. 

Crocodile had a deeply nostalgic smile painted across his face as he told the story, puffing away at his fresh cigar. He looked honestly relaxed— perhaps for the first time she'd ever seen him. She realized that even during those pleasant times at the parties years ago, Sir Crocodile had been wearing a tension, a tightness through his whole being, stiff and guarded. 

Some of that had dropped now, for whatever reason. Seemed to have been dropping as their voyage continued, and unless she missed her guess, had finally melted away.

Even back in the days of Alabasta, before 'Mr. Zero and Baroque Works', he'd always carried that tension. But now…he looked content. That contentedness was well worn on his handsome face, and almost made her heart skip a beat when she saw him smile.

She distracted herself instead of thinking about it– she reached up and gently plucked the cigar from his fingers to take a puff "sounds like it was a real blast."

Zala was mid laugh at the story when she froze , glancing between the cigar and Crocodile as if hoping nothing bad came of it.

Crocodile gave her a dubious look and slipped his arm from the back of the seat to over her shoulders instead, picking up his glass. 

"Oh pardon me, doll, I should have asked if you wanted one," he drawled. That low chuckle echoed out of hips.

Daz covered his mouth, smothering a laugh of his own as he side eyed her.

Marianne snickered into her hand. "Hope you're ready, those aren't tobacco…least not all tobacco."

Vivi coughed a little, the smoke leaking from her lips as she already had taken a long pull.

"R-really? Oh ah. Huh." she looked down at it, before taking another puff and letting herself lean a little— just a little, against the weight of the arm.

The taste of the cigar was much sweeter than tobacco alone, like the smell was, and it tasted somehow fresh in her mouth, tingling the back of her nose. Along with the usual rush of a puff off a cigar, she felt a swooning thrill of giddiness move through her.

Crocodile shook his head, grinning. "Don't worry, they're not that strong or anything. I'd have warned ya if you gave me half a chance, Viv."

She wriggled a little bit in her seat with a flush, before she shrugged, took another puff and handed it back to him with a giddy grin. "Well. Now's the time for it, isn't it? I'm on an adventure, embracing the pirate life…might as well have some fun with it!"

"That's the spirit," Zala purred as she took a draw off her own very much not tobacco pipe.

"Damn right," Crocodile agreed.

Vivi was feeling very pleased indeed by the time they'd ordered their food. Crocodile's arm was warm around her— he seemed loath to move it— and they all started in on their drinks, the ice clinking in the glasses.

She wouldn't deny that she was loath to have him move it either. In fact, she found herself leaning almost against him as she reached for her glass, catching and choosing not to get flustered by Marianne's knowing little smirk as she continued her sketching and drinking.

She felt warm, and cozy, and his arm was a weight over her shoulders that shouldn't have made her feel as pleasantly comfortable and safe as it did.

If Crocodile was finally relaxed, maybe she was too. Even if they used to be enemies, even if things were complicated she still melted into his touch with a pleased murmur and a sip of her drink.

And then the floor show started. The lights dimmed and turned cool colors shot through with pink spotlights, and rather jazzy, sexy music started to play as the curtains lifted.

That snapped her attention right to it, wide eyed and curious as the lights flitted around the stage in preparation for the 'special guest'.

The curtain parted on the mermaid chorus, some of which were positioned on shelflike tiers and some in a clear pool at the center stage swirling in an underwater tank. 

But it was a minute into the song and dance before the 'special guest' came out, rising from a trap door in the stage just in front of the pool. The gorgeous singer strutted across the stage– and then their face changed— and then it changed again.

Vivi was speechless. First, at first it was just from the beautiful mermaids and their entrancing dance.

But there was only one person in the world she'd seen a party trick like that from.

Marianne nearly fell out of her seat as she slapped her hand on the table with a near-silent sputtering sound. Zala looked like the pipe was going to drop from her lips.

Vivi had to be the one to say it— she pointed and squeaked out. "Is that fucking BON CLAY?" 

She was probably the only one capable of saying it— Crocodile had nearly choked on his cigar, and Daz might have actually spit out his drink.

With one more wave of the dancer's hand, there was no question about it. Bon Clay– Mr. 2– strutted across the stage, crooning. He turned his long, beautiful face toward them and blew a kiss.

Crocodile slapped the table with his hook and started to laugh. "Well I'll be damned!"

"He actually survived…" Zala said with genuine joy. "I'll be damned. I was worried he'd been locked away for good."

Marianne blinked. "Gotta say sorry for leaving him behind."

Vivi glanced at them, and back at the stage where she waved limply back in response to the blown kiss.

This was one hell of a coincidence. 

Crocodile raised his glass. "Well, better enjoy the show or he'll really be pissed off."

Vivi grabbed her glass again with a laugh "I remember, actually. From that time back on the Straw Hat ship– anyway, I don't think I could not enjoy it if I tried!" 

It was a hell of a show, and it would have been hard to take her eyes off of it even if Crocodile had told everyone to pay attention. The show was great, the food was great, the smokey, boozy atmosphere of camaraderie cradled the whole table.

She'd all but fallen into Crocodile at one point, head swimming with the cigar and the booze and the party atmosphere. She was happy, giddy and excited. The show was fantastic, the food was amazing, the drinks were strong and the company was…

The company was amazing. She never thought in her life that she'd somehow wind up partying , genuinely partying, with the agents of Baroque Works like old friends. Like she was one of them, instead of the traitor in their midst.

She laughed, she joked around, she watched the show in all its beauty and excitement. She even allowed herself to indulge in a little light flirtation that she hoped would go unnoticed in the morning. 

Eventually, after the show had ended and the lights raised back up, and the room was once again filled with gentle, bubbly piano music, Crocodile finally slipped his arm away from her shoulders. He touched her cheek playfully with the curve of his hook, and gave her a heavily lidded look that made her worry that flirtation might not be forgotten after all.

He straightened up and tugged at the hem of his vest. "I'll be back, crew. Gonna go see if I can say hello to the 'special guest'."

Vivi felt the lingering sensation of his smooth hook on her cheek, blinking slowly before she sat up with a smile. "Do you want company, Crocodile?" 

He seemed to consider it for a moment, looking on the verge of saying no, before he barked a laugh and extended his hand. "What the hell. Big surprise to see him here, might as well surprise him in return, eh?"

"We'll keep your seats warm then, boss," Daz said, shifting to where Crocodile had vacated.

Vivi grabbed Crocodile's hand and helped herself up with a laugh. "Turnabout is fair play and all that, right?"

Zala laughed, sliding across and closer to Daz as Vivi left her seat "Tell him we say hi, and he better not vanish before we chat." 

"Oh don't worry about that, Zala, I'm hoping to drag him back to the table." Crocodile smirked slyly and slipped his hook around Vivi's waist, tugging her away.

She walked with her hand against his side, cradled by his hook in a way that took her back to Alabasta again, both the good times, and the bad. His hook holding her in two very different circumstances flashed through her mind as she smiled up at him.

"This is quite a surprise isn't it? I mean, who'd have thought we'd find Bon Clay here." 

He laughed roughly as they strolled through the cafe up toward the hostess' table. "I mean if we were gonna fucking find him anywhere, it'd be here. But I really thought we'd lost him in Impel Down. He gave us all the chance to escape– for Straw Hat, really."

Vivi felt a ping of surprise, glancing up at Crocodile with wide eyes. "Him and Luffy? He helped save Luffy at Impel Down?" 

"Damn near gave his life for him," Crocodile growled. There was something deep in his expression– grief, maybe. Worry. "We really weren't sure if he was gonna survive."

Vivi felt tears sting her eyes. Bon had been an enemy during their raid on Alabasta, but at the same time, he was an eccentric and kind hearted man willing to do anything for those he had gotten close to.

And it seemed he very much did for Luffy in Impel Down. "He's a brave man, and more importantly…one who's still alive and well." 

"And thank fucking hell he is," Crocodile grumbled. He paused in front of the hostess station and his manner changed, smiling, again, but commanding. He told the hostess to let Bon Clay know that his friend Crocodile was here to see him.

Crocodile was imposing enough— maybe even famous enough— that the woman didn't even question it. She said she'd give the message, and to wait there.

Vivi leaned very slightly against his side before she caught herself and straightened up with a smoothing of her hair and a deep breath.

"He used to play sometimes at Rain Dinners," Crocodile said as they waited. "You ever catch any of the shows?"

She shook her head as she thought back to the past. 

"I missed them, I'm afraid. Before I left Dad wasn't altogether happy with the image of the princess going to a casino and it was a bit far for me to make the trip without causing a stir, and after, well. I was a bit busy with stuff in your organization…"

She smiled thoughtfully. "Though if tonight was anything to go by I was missing out." 

"Yeah," he chuckled quietly and shook his head, looking distant for a moment. "I loved that place. Oh well."

VIvi felt a sting of sympathy. 'If things could have gone differently, he could have kept the casino'. 

The real surprise is that she wasn't surprised. He seemed to have fun managing the casino; he and Miss All Sunday had created an impressive business and consolidation of Alabasta's vices into one handy location.

"If only, right?" she murmured, leaning into his hook.

The hostless came back a moment later and told them that they were welcome in the VIP lounge. Once more, Crocodile tugged Vivi away.

She stumbled along to follow him into the depths of the VIP lounge with a smile to the hostess. 

[teruki-inoue21]

What S2E12 might mean for the “future” of Link Click

It’s been a long 10 weeks, and we’ve been thru 11episodes. Now that we’ve been blessed (or rather cursed?) with the PV of the last episode of Link Click II, I want to clarify a few things regarding what could happen later on in the plot, like in Link Click III or whatnot. So, let’s go!

• Qiao Ling’s (MORE improved) role

=>So, abt our ladyboss, Qiao Ling. In the first season, she didn’t have much of a role. The only notable thing I remember her doing is introducing new ppl to the series. Like, Xu Shanshan, Master Si Wen, etc etc. But this time in season 2, she has a bigger and more important role. She’s fighting side-by-side with CXS, helping in the investigations, being a great elder sister for Xixi, AND formulating plans too. However, the PV for the last episode gave us an even bigger reveal as to what will or might happen to her going on with Link Click III.

Now that Xixi is dead (f**k Qian Jin), it seems that she has transferred her powers to Qiao Ling. Welp, people with these powers have always been the prime focus of the show, and now that Qiao Ling ALSO seems to have powers, there’s no doubt that her importance in the story will be much more from now on. I personally believe that in the event CXS actually ends up dying, she’ll be a key role to get LG to try again to save him. More on that later.

• Qian Jin

=> What can I even say about this guy? I’ve hardly seen anyone so loathe worthy and despicable in anime history. But I’m not here to hate on this guy RN. What I’m here to talk about is his connection to the main characters, some hidden characters, and his motives.

Now, Episode 11 has clearly shown us his motive. He wants to use CXS to go to the past and stop his wife from her supposed betrayal. (I swear, dude’s just TOO hung up on his wife who he murdered HIMSELF!) . But what’s odd is that his motive is just too personal. What I mean by that is that, when the poster for Qian Jin dropped, his shadow was the supposedly infamous Hat Guy aka Liu Xiao. This tidbit made all of us think that he HAD to working with/for Liu Xiao, and thus, his motives shouldn’t be personal. But here we are, with his motive having NO connection to Hattie. So why was his poster designed like this anyway? Maybe Hattie was the guy who told him about CXS? But even so, that makes Hattie’s role too meh for the plot..

• Liu Xiao aka the Hat Guy (and more new characters?)

=> Even though it’s been 11 out of 12 episodes, we still know almost nothing about Liu Xiao except for the fact that he’s abroad. But despite being so ambiguous, all of us know the amount of significance this guy has over the events of Link Click. Or do we?

Let’s talk about that.

Ever since the very first episode of Link Click, we know that the client who gave our main trio the Emma job wasn’t Emma herself, but rather someone anonymous. Thanks to @mimicha-arts ‘s post, we know that someone was keeping tabs on CXS, LG, and QL. Now, let’s say that it was Hattie. That would make a lot of sense, since he seems to be some kind of overseer of the events unfolding or some grandmaster himself (I’m saying that due to the fact that he’s being likened to be similar to Lu Guang).

But even if that’s the case, what could be his motive? Well, even I know shit about that. However, as I said in an earlier post, I believe that the big bad of the series isn’t Qian Jin, but Liu Xiao; and that he would have a showdown against Lu Guang. Maybe Liu Xiao was shown as the shadow to Qian Jin to show us how evil he could be? Cuz think of it like this: shadows are dark, right? So, if Qian Jin’s evil, doesn’t it make PERFECT sense if his shadow, LIU FRIKING XIAO, is MORE twisted and/or evil? Yeah…

So, we’re wrapped up with Hattie now. BUT, what if I told u there were MORE characters to be introduced?

Take a look..

Now, there’s someone on the roof of that one building. I may be wrong in thinking that it’s a new character and could simply be Chen Bin, but part of me still wants to believe that it’s a new guy, probably with special powers too, (as for whether they’d be an ally or enemy, I’ll leave that part to you guys).

• The Contents of Liu Min’s phone

=> This topic has been a major question since the first episode of Link Click II, and hasn’t been answered still. Liu Min’s phone. What’s even in there that Qian Jin had to literally kill his own mentee to get that thing? What’s so important in that phone that even this far in ep11, it’s a major item for the villains? Is it related to Liu Xiao? Quede Games? Does LTch need it to go back in time?

As for the answers, all I can do is speculate. I think that, as Liu Xiao IS Liu Min’s brother, there has to be some info on him there. Then again, it might also be related to Emma and Quede? But whatever it is, it’s a very important material. If not explored in II, I believe it will be important for III.

• Lu Guang and alternate timelines

=> And now, to the infamous “Lu Guang is a time traveler” theory. Well, we all have the general go-thru for This theory. In a given timeline, CXS dies, and to save him, LG keeps jumping thru time over and over again …

I believe I’ve already talked about how the alternate timelines theory is important for the plot of Link Click III. Here’s the post

• The meaning of “Can’t Live Without A Good Brother”?

=> Episode 12’s title says the most ominous yet very emotional line: “Can’t Live Without A Good Brother.” Such a thought-provoking title, don’t y’all think?

Funnily (or ironically, I don’t even know at this point) enough, this sentence can be thought of by two perspectives. Y’all guessed it - Qiao Ling AND Tianxi’s. So let’s go over those and deduce whatever plot points we can find for Link Click III.

Li Tianxi’s POV: So, the photo that started it all, for our pink-haired twins features a line written in crayon by Xixi, which says, “I can’t live without my good brother.” Odd, no? How she calls her brother good despite knowing that he’s actively involved in killing a multitude of people? Well, this is Link Click we’re talking about; and this, there’s always a reason for everything. Let’s say that Tianchen really IS a good person, or at least he wants to be (from Xixi’s perspective ofc). Why wouldn’t he be? He cares about Xixi a lot, prioritizes her safety first, even his deal with Qian Jin exists so that he can ensure safety for his sister. He even said in episode 11 that doing all this killing business for Qian Jin was truly hell for him and he wanted to escape. Hmm.. know what this sounds like to me? A pinch of sister complex! Yup! Tianchen is a really good brother. And all he’s done and has Been doing is so that he can have a better life with his sister. The fact that Xixi wrote “I Can’t live Without My Good Brother” means that she doesn’t want to lose her brother to the forces of evil that include Qian Jin… and maybe, that one childhood friend of Tianchen’s? (Of course I’m talking about Liu Xiao, and there u go, I mapped out the possible Link Click III content from here and how , even tho dead, Xixi will be crucial to the plot of what I predict will be Lu Guang V Liu Xiao). In that case, we can conclude by saying that Li Tianchen actually is a quite tragic character (more on that on a separate post).

Qiao Ling’s POV: Now, I’m most excited to talk about her POV, since I believe her insight on “Can’t Live Without A Good Brother” stems from CXS’s death in S2 (which I think is guaranteed to happen). Over the course of these two seasons, we’ve seen and have come to love the dynamic between Qiao Ling & Cheng Xiaoshi. S2E8 even shows how much QL cares about CXS, as she always looks out for him not just as a friend, but as a sister as well. So, let’s all assume that CXS and LG lose the fight against Qian Jin, and at the end, CXS dies. Remember what I said about Qiao Ling inheriting Xixi’s power and how that can help play a role in Lu Guang’s attempt to change/reverse CXS’s death? Well, here we are. Given that CXS dies, we can all imagine how distraught QL and LG will be. It is then QL decides to use Xixi’s power to transfer CXS’s power to Lu Guang (that’s the most reasonable thing to do, as Lu Guang knows better about diving in the past than Qiao Ling), but in a worse case scenario, she uses it herself? Whichever the case, I believe this is the way the staff will answer how Lu Guang has been time traveling despite not having the power to do so, and also kick start the events of Link Click III.

The Overseas Trip

=> Another thing that has technically been confirmed by the director, Li Haoling himself? All of us know that the director has said that the overseas trip that CXS and LG went on during their university days will definitely come into play later on. So far, whatever hint of that we have is the ED, THE TIDES, where the duo go on and investigate (?) a house that looks identical to the house of the main character of the 2002 movie, The Time Machine; and a rough animation draft of CXS and LG in holiday clothing riding a car. I say that, the overseas trip is not just limited to the ED. Sure, the ED is definitely showing us something related to that, but considering that trip is how both CXS and LG (or just CXS since according to the alternate timelines theory, LG should already have his power) unlock their powers, it DEFINITELY will come into play in Link Click III.

• Emma?

=> Very few characters in anime (or should I say donghua) always haunt the narrative of the story even after they’re dead. Such is really the case with Emma. Even though we see her die (yet again) in S1E11, she still appears on the S2 OP, VORTEX. BUT, she is literally NOWHERE in the main events of S2. Well, it would definitely make more sense to include characters who have more roles in S2 in the OP (Like Milady Wang Juan, Capt. Xiao Li, prolly also Xiao Ma?) rather than a character who seemingly has no role in the season, right? That is PRECISELY why the fact that Xiao Li doesn’t appear in the OP despite being so important but EMMA does, alludes to the fact that we’re not done with her arc yet. This means that, yep, Liu Xiao is linked here…

CONCLUSION:

Welp, there ain’t not conclusion, not yet. Not until there’s a confirmation AND a trailer for S3 and we get to see Liu Xiao face reveal.

Til then, I’ma go feral sitting on my toilet seat and thinking about S3….

[teaberrii]

Chapter Nine: The President’s Judgement

You and Cyno can’t be more different. He’s Akademiya’s perfect student council president. You’re a labelled, cursed delinquent who changes into a cat for eight hours when kissed.

When Cyno gets a complaint about you, he’s forced to take action, only for it to lead to unexpected circumstances.

Cyno/You

Notes:

Cross-posted on Ao3

Chapter index at the end of chapter one

“A recording?” you ask.

"She'll never admit she's doing anything wrong. So the best way is to lure it out of her," Cyno says. "This can also count as evidence we can submit to the school authorities."

You anxiously look at your phone and nervously bite your bottom lip. He can see the gears turning in your head.

“Will that be enough?”

That's a good question. Perhaps this is only the first step, but it's still better than nothing. "I wish I could say yes," Cyno says. "But, they might ask for more." 

A pause.

“If you aren’t comfortable, we don’t—”

"It's not that," you say. It's when you slowly pull back your hand that Cyno realizes he is still holding it. "I know why she's doing this." You sigh softly. "It's because of what happened with Jebrael."

You must be talking about the murder case. But how does she know about that? Cyno may not show it, but he’s starting to get anxious. This is bigger than he initially thought.

“... He supposedly killed someone,” Cyno says quietly. “Is that right?”

“How… how in the world did you know that?”

“Alhaitham’s friend… he apparently defended him in court.”

“What a small world,” you mutter.

“How does she know about Jebrael?”

Perhaps you're not comfortable enough to tell him. That's the only reason Cyno has for your prolonged silence until... 

"The man who died that night was a policeman," you say. "... She was his daughter." Well, that's not what Cyno's expecting. But then again, he doesn't know what to expect at this point. "But, even if I can use the recording to report her, will anyone do anything?"

“Alhaitham will.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust him. But… realistically, how much influence does he have on something like this?”

“It’s better than not trying at all.” Cyno looks at your phone and back at you. “She’s not going to stop.”

“... Yeah, you’re right.” Then, in a light tone, you say, “We also can’t have her ruining the prez’s reputation after all.”

“You shouldn’t worry about me.”

"If you get impeached or something, I'll have to come up with a new nickname for you."

Cyno rolls his eyes. “Ah, yes, that’s the worst of our worries.”

From the look on your face, Cyno thinks you’re about to retort with an equally sarcastic remark when your phone suddenly rings. Upon seeing the name on the screen, you and Cyno glance at each other, and then you answer it.

“... What do you want?” you ask.

"Surprised?" Cyno hears your friend ask. "You're making it easy for me at this point."

“What you’re doing is bullying.”

“This is nothing compared to what your family did.”

You anxiously fiddle with the pen in your hand. "Then tell me," you say. "Why did your father take an innocent woman hostage? Just because of her ties to Jebrael? That's a weak excuse if you ask me."

“My father was protecting the public.”

“From what?” you challenge.

“She married a criminal. That makes her one herself.”

You roll your eyes. “So, what crime did she commit?”

“... Jebrael still killed him.”

“Answer me this,” you say. “You’ve been tormenting me not because I did anything to you but because you want your revenge on my family over something that started with your father. Is that right? If that’s the case, then I stand by what I said. What you’re doing is bullying, and I can report you to the school authorities.”

"Who's going to believe you?" Cyno hears her scoff. "Oh, wait. I forgot you have Cyno on your side now. I guess he can vouch for you even though he has no idea who you really are."

You and Cyno glance at each other, and he nods. “So, it’s true then. It’s all about my family. None of this bullshit has anything to do with me specifically.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that you’re really just making it easy for me at this point,” you say. Then, you end the call… and the recording you started before you answered it. You put your phone on the table, and before silence can settle in, you glance at him. “... You’re not going to ask?”

“About Jebrael?” he asks, and you nod. “It’s not my business to probe.”

"I'm just surprised," you say. "You knew about Jebrael all this time… and yet… you're still here."

Cyno also finds it difficult to believe. Any logical person would have ran and stayed away. But when he thinks about it, everything he has done with you hasn't exactly been logical. It throws him off but also strangely excites him. It's the best way to describe his time with you. It's exciting. Thrilling. You're like an adrenaline rush that he can't get enough of.

“Was that why you were nervous before?” he asks. “You didn’t want the conversation to be recorded because of what people will think about Jebrael.”

"He isn't a killer. I don't want anyone to label him like that," you say quietly. "And… I didn't know what you would think. I didn't know if you would suddenly change your mind and…."

"I'm offended you have that little faith in me, Catnip."

“I didn't know you already knew about it!”

“Even if I didn’t, that shouldn’t sway you that easily,” Cyno says. "You're the one who knows him best. You're the one who knows what happened. I'm not saying you don't, but you should trust yourself more."

You cross your arms. "Of course I do! It's just..." You sigh. "I cared because it was you. How would you feel if the only person who's been with you for this long suddenly turned on you?"

Cyno smiles slightly. "That's why I'm offended you would have such little faith in me. Do I really seem like the type of person who believes a random nobody over a friend?"

“I… guess not,” you say, turning away.

Cyno puts his hand on your head as he looks at your phone. “Let’s take that to Alhaitham first.”

You and Cyno arrive at Alhaitham’s dorm, and the man lets both of you inside. It doesn’t take long for Cyno to explain the situation.

After Alhaitham listens to the recording, he looks at you and Cyno. “This is something I can raise to the board,” Alhaitham says. “But I will need more evidence than just this call.”

“... That’s going to be difficult,” you say, looking down. “I don’t really have hard evidence… unless someone is willing to speak up or..." 

"Or?"

You look at Alhaitham. "Will this count as evidence? Evidence that Jebrael and I didn't do anything wrong."

It sounded like something out of a fairytale: an ordinary city woman saved by a mysterious, tall, dark and handsome man with a "shady" background. But it happened. That one encounter changed their lives forever. After years of keeping their relationship secret, Jebrael popped the question along with the news she was pregnant. But unfortunately, their marital bliss was cut short when the family got a frightening call one night.

"Is this guy stupid?" Rahman asked after the call ended. "Let's trace him and kick his ass." He sighed loudly in frustration. “Do you think he’s acting alone?”

“He’s a policeman,” your grandmother said. “A policeman with twisted morals. No one would be foolish enough to act this way.” Then, she stood. “I trust that all of us will act according to plan.” Before leaving the room,  she turned to you. “Stay home, child.”

“But—”

Rahman ruffled your hair. “You’re too young to do anything, kid. Just stay home. We’ll be back soon.”

Well, you weren’t the type to listen.

It was nearly dark when you arrived at the abandoned warehouse. You had no idea where everyone was until you heard a single gunshot that almost made you jump. You immediately ran in the direction of where it came from, and you stopped just as you saw Jebrael, the policeman, and Jebrael's wife.

The woman was bound to a chair. Maybe it was from the struggle, but blood was around her ankles. The policeman stood in front of her, his gun pointed at Jebrael, who also pointed one in his direction. 

You saw blood ooze from Jebrael’s cheek as the policeman said, “That was a warning.”

"Drop it, you son of a bitch."

You saw Rahman come out from behind the policeman with a gun raised.

“I thought I told you to come alone,” the policeman spat. Before he fired a shot at the woman, Jebrael had shot him in the shoulder.

You thought it would end as the policeman dropped to his knees. Rahman and Jebrael had lowered their guns, but that was their first mistake. The injured man suddenly turned and fired a shot at Jebrael. By now, Rahman had freed the wounded woman whose face went pale when she saw her husband land with a thud on the floor.

Rahman was about to shoot the policeman when a cane came flying and knocked the gun out of the injured man's hand. Before the policeman could grab his gun, your grandmother had appeared out of the shadows and stepped on his back, forcing him down.

“Jebrael,” you heard someone cry.

You couldn't stand it anymore. You ran toward Jebrael, ripped a piece of your clothing, and put it over his wound. That was when you noticed the deep, bloodied marks on the woman's wrists. Rahman replaced your hands to prevent Jebrael from losing more blood, and you immediately called an ambulance. Unfortunately, you were so busy tending to Jebrael that you didn't notice his wife pick up the dropped gun.

“H-hey, what are you doing?" You saw Jebrael's wife pointing the gun at the policeman. "Put it down, woman," Rahman warned. 

He moved to stop her, but it was too late.

The final gunshot drowned out everyone’s cry of protest.

"... It does sound like a revenge story," Alhaitham says. "Though... why would she blame Jebrael when his wife killed him?"

Cyno's also curious. Perhaps Jebrael took the blame to protect his wife. That will explain any rumours of forged or fabricated evidence. But what happened to his wife? Where is she now? Cyno glances at you. There's still more to this story that you're not sharing, but it's diving deeper into personal territory.

"I hope this situation is just a huge misunderstanding. Let's talk with her first," Alhaitham says, referring to your friend. "At least we'll have a sound argument if she doesn't cooperate."

“... Good idea.”

“But, I have to ask… why were you in Cyno’s room?”

You and Cyno look at each other. “She came to grab something,” Cyno says, turning to Alhaitham.

Alhaitham looks from his cousin to you. If he’s suspicious, he doesn’t question further. Instead, he says with a small smile, “Be careful next time.”

When you and Cyno leave Alhaitham's room, it's already past curfew. But both of you could care less. As you and Cyno walk in the same direction, he asks, "Do you feel better?"

“Enough to get some sleep tonight, I suppose.” You and Cyno stop at a fork in the hallway. “Thanks for today, prez.”

Cyno gently pats your head. “Get some rest, Catnip.”

You cross your arms. “Though, I have to say... you’re one in a million.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?”

“I would just be careful if I were you,” you say. “Who knows what kind of trouble you’ll be getting yourself into next?”

“Trouble, you say?”

You frown. “Yeah. You know what I’m talking about! Don’t play dumb, prez.”

"But this trouble isn't so bad, don't you think?" He leans closer to you. "It's just my type."

A faint red blossom on your cheeks and Cyno almost chuckle when you look away and mutter, "You're weird."

Cyno can’t argue with that… but it’s only around you that he thinks he’s a little different than usual.

◆◆◆

Cyno can't sleep that night. He's tried almost everything. Warm milk. Warm water. Trips to the bathroom. Counting sheep… and even counting cats. The last one only made him even more awake. Finally, Cyno gets up and reaches for his phone. Only three more hours to go. He thinks about texting you. Are you also awake? He hopes not. After what's been going on, he hopes you're getting a good night's sleep. But then…

Catnip: Are you awake, prez?

So, you are awake.

Miss me already, Catnip?

Cyno turns on his lamp just as his phone dings with a message.

Catnip: Ha. Ha. Very funny.

Should he ask why you're awake? You must be texting him for a reason, and Cyno likes to think it's because you want to talk to him. Five minutes pass, and his phone remain silent. Did you fall asleep?

Catnip: When this is over… let’s go out to eat. My way of saying thanks.

Is this… a date? Are you really asking him on a date? Cyno isn't sure why he's so surprised. Perhaps it never occurred to him that you would be the one to ask. He thought you'd push him away when this is over. His "promise" to your grandmother to protect you technically only lasts until after he deals with whoever's been messing with you.

I’ll take you… But promise you won’t push me away.

It isn't until after Cyno sends his message that he regrets it. Oh, God. Is that too cheesy? Will you laugh at him? Something is telling him that you will. He's about to take back the message when he sees that horrifying Read underneath the chat bubble.

Five minutes pass.

Thirty minutes pass.

An hour goes by.

He isn’t expecting the silence to hurt so much.

◆◆◆

The following day, Cyno walks into the canteen and sees Candace and Tighnari sitting across from each other having breakfast. But he instantly notices that you aren't around. He looks at his watch as he waits in line for his food. Breakfast will be over soon.

When Cyno joins his friends at the table, Candace says, "You're up a little later than usual."

“You even slept past your alarm,” Tighnari chimes in.

Cyno breaks his bread roll in half. "... Couldn't sleep yesterday."

Tighnari and Candace glance at each other. "Is it about Catnip?"

“Why do you ask?” Cyno asks Candace.

Tighnari smiles slightly. “It’s pretty obvious you like her.”

Candace laughs as she points her spoon at him. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen you turn red, Cyno.”

“... She’s okay,” Cyno says quietly.

“Well, did you know she disappeared this morning?”

Cyno almost drops his fork. “What?”

"I woke up this morning, and she was gone," Candace says. "I thought she already left, but"—she looks around—"it doesn't look like she's here either." Candace looks back at him. "Do you know where she went?"

“How… how am I supposed to know?” Cyno asks, looking down at his food.

Tighnari puts his elbow. “But you’re worried.” Cyno gives him a deadpan look, and his friend smiles. “It’s written all over your face.”

“I—”

“Okay, okay,” Candace says. “No more teasing! But, as your best friends, you're free to come to us for any girl advice. Services are free of charge."

Tighnari laughs. "Oh, I don't know... I mean, I might charge a dime or two." Cyno stands and walks away with his tray when he hears Tighnari say, “You barely touched your food!”

By the time class starts, you still haven't shown up. You also haven't answered his text from yesterday. What's going on? What bothers him more is that your friend is also missing. During a quick break, Cyno walks up to Alhaitham, hoping his cousin will have some answers.

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Alhaitham says. “I haven’t seen either of them this morning.”

Great.

Suddenly, the door opens, and Kaveh walks in. He gestures for Alhaitham to follow him. What is this bad feeling? 

“Did something happen?” Tighnari asks, walking up to Cyno.

“I hope not,” Cyno says quietly.

“Maybe it’s about Catnip,” Candace says.

The men turn around and see Candace staring at the closed door as she walks up to her friends. "Why do you say that?" Tighnari asks.

Candace nods toward two other students who are chatting with each other. "They said they saw her and a girl on the beach early in the morning."

“And?” Cyno asks.

“That’s it. No one saw them after that.”

“... You didn’t have to put it that way, Candace,” Tighnari says. "Sounds like something out of a True Crime documentary." None of this is helping. Cyno just wants to hear from you. “Where are you going?”

Cyno looks over his shoulder. “Washroom.”

And then he’s gone.

As he walks down the empty hallway, he hears something rattling. When it comes again, he looks around the corner and sees a small white cat standing in front of Candace's dorm room. In its mouth is a familiar key card that all students have.

It can’t be.

Cyno slowly walks closer and sees the cat's ears twitch at the sound of his footsteps. Then, the feline turns to him, and it only takes him a second to realize.

"... Catnip?"

Chapter Ten

Tag list: @sketcheeee @iwishitwas @seirenspinel @suoshiii @lxry-chxn @lordbugs @riylvx

[llycaons]

I just recommended a fic I do like but I remember the jc writing being kind of annoying in the sense that the author was like 'haha wwx is SO irresponsible, jc is the sensible one and besties with wq and they both think wwx is annoying!' which is is so fucking annoying and disrespectful of wwx because when has that EVER happened in canon like wwx will ocassionally have fun or goof off but not when it's something serious! he demonstrates very sound judgement when it comes to things that actually matter (which jyl said!!! she knew!!!!) and jc being frustrated that wwx is doing something he doesn't understand usually means that he's being left in the dark, not that he has better judgement or is more sensible than wwx

the CR arrival? yeah he wandered off to get jyl a present but did it really matter. yeah he tried to sneak alcohol in but he went back alone and retrieved the entry passes himself, snd jc also indulged in the alcohol and porn parties so its not like he can judge. the time he snuck off to join lwj on his quest? yeah he didn't tell anyone but he knew what lwj was doing and he knew he needed help and that it was important. spending all his time drinking post-ss? he wasn't being stupid, he was coping with trauma and suddenly not having a purpose anymore. he KNEW what jc wanted from him but he wasn't able to give it. and the fucking wens? people act like jc was 'just doing the smart thing' when it came to the wens but wwx KNEW what he was doing was dangerous and couldn't end well, he was simply making a MORAL decision rather than a political one

the sole example was wwx mocking jl without knowing about his mom which was a serious error on his part and when one of his genuine flaws of EMOTIONAL carelessness comes through, but to his credit he immediately corrected his behavior afterwards. and it really was bad luck THAT was the kid who trapped him. and it's not like jc has any leg to stand on when criticizing his emotional sensitivity to others

and postcanon he's trying to hunt down a cursed sword/solve a mystery like he does do silly things occasionally but he's got like. a purpose and all which he does stick tonwhen he needs to. but also there isn't anything wrong with him just enjoying his life in either of his two lifetimes. like damn jc....why do you hate fun...etc.

like jc doesn't necessarily always make bad decisions, but he is very often working with incomplete information (often bc wwx is intentionally misleading him!) and he never pauses to consider he may not be the best person to make these decisions, but people take his contempt for others and his confidence fully at face value when they really shouldn't. in canon his attitude of 'ugh I'm the only serious one who cares about doing things right and wwx is just a disaster who slacks off all the time' is demonstrably untrue as was proven time and again within the text as a brilliant, compassionate, driven, well-informed, pragmatic, canny, circumspect, untruthful, protective, and morally driven wwx emerges distinct from the careless, out-of-control disaster idiot slacker that jc often treats him as. and like. that fucking matters

edit: of course there's ALSO the theme of jc wanting wwx to sit down and shut up and stop making trouble while wwx is a deeply morally driven anti-authoritarian character who can and does defy jc and other leadership he's supposedly meant to defer to when he feels he has a moral comittment he must honor. the narrative recognizes that wwx's decisions aren't always right, and he does make mistakes, but those mistakes were not 'trying to do the right thing even though jc said it was stupid and pointless' (i.e. offering to help lwj during the indoctrination camp, saving jzx's life in the cave, defecting to pay their joint debt to the wens) and the fact that people genuinely think they are is like. did you understand the story bud. like jc being mad that wwx saved lwj and jzx and thus apparently brought down the wrath of the wens onto LP makes sense to HIM but saving two heirs was the correct political and moral decision and from an objective standpoint they both KNEW the wens were coming for them. if anything jc's judgement is the one that's usually impaired because it's so often clouded by his uncontrollable and tempestuous emotional state. wwx walking his single-plank bridge is an intentional decision he makes with full knowledge of the risk, and it's one that's ultimately proven to be righteous despite the regrets it brings him and the losses he incurs