#Mr. Question and Mrs. Exclamation

[4fatal0error4]

DOODLESS

some of mr question

and some of my persona

oh, and i got called a fly by my friends during this doodle session <3

[sunshineisellipsoid]

okay so ik its probably just the lighting but his eyes are so brown‽‽

its honestly reminding me of college henry like

compared to the red i was expecting,,, screaming

[whispereons]

Oracle!Reader Part 19

Masterlist - Part 1, Part 18, Part 20

Warning! This chapter has child abuse, neglect, racism/classism and other sensitive topics! This is a imposter sagau so expect these things frequently. Attention! This chapter is extra long as it deals with Y/N's past and present. But I don't want to force a backstory that you guys might not want. Therefore you can read and choose what part of the backstory you want to be 'canon' for your Y/N. Whether be all, parts or none of it. It's your choice.

Your earliest memory was of a hospital. A vase of dying daisies, a child-sized bedding and a window slightly cracked to let in the night breeze were the only things you remember from that day.

A nurse gently knocked before walking in without looking up from the papers in his hands. 

"How are you feeling today Y/N? I hope you aren't suffering from nightma-Oh! You're awake!"

The brief exclamation from the startled nurse pieced you in that you weren't supposed to be awake. Or maybe, you haven't been awake for a long time?

Dry cracked lips wheeze out your small plea. "W-Water…" Coming back to himself, the nurse adhered to your request and brought the cup to your lips.

It was a cool relief to your aching throat and the first thing you asked him was.

"Who's Y/N?"

That cup of water and clinically clean blanket was the comfort you had during the next flurry of events.

That day, laying in a bed on the pediatric floor of a hospital, you learned that your parents were dead.

An accident that would have presumably traumatized you had little to no effect on your psyche. When the doctor asked you what happened you didn't have an answer.

You didn't have an answer for most of their questions either. After a series of fruitless questions the doctor and psychiatrist called in, settled on the diagnosis 'Retrograde Amnesia'.

Being stuck in a medically induced coma, you had to relearn how to walk along with other basic info. The photo of your parents, friends and house went ignored on your bedside. Why should you care about people and places you didn't remember? It's not like you were going to go back.

Most of the hospital staff gossiped in poorly concealed whispers as your nurse, Malcohm, walked with you around the floor. It was all the same thing.

"That child's poor parents, to not even be remembered by the one thing left behind."

It didn't bother you much but Malcohm always shooed them away with a scowl. He was kind to you, from helping you remember your name, to remembering what your parents' names were. 

It's not like you didn't remember that you had a name or that you had parents. But all the memories you had of them were gone. All your past experiences were gone too. 

The doctors were relieved to see that your memory loss was only applied to everything before the accident and not after it too. A date to be discharged was decided and a stoic man came to greet you. 

There was no warmth or care in his voice as he introduced himself as Mr. Castio. Not a drop of sympathy as he explained that you would be attending your parent's funeral. That your relatives would be there too, to discuss who would be willing to take you in. All you could do was stare at the newly replaced daisies and nod silently. 

If there was one thing you had relearned during your time at the hospital, it was that adults were to be obeyed. With a sad goodbye to Malcolm, you trailed behind Mr. Castio into the shiny black car.

You sat in the first row dressed in traditional and simple black clothing. Multiple people came up to you apologizing for your 'loss'. With a soft nod, you thanked them and they left satisfied. Mr. Castio had already advised you to not bother explaining the situation.

All your relatives spoke fondly of your parents until it came time to name anything they liked about your parents. The whole room went silent before little hesitant whispers floated around the room.

Seems you weren't the only one that couldn't remember.

The silence only got more unbearable once the topic of who you would be going with came up. Older adults volunteering younger family members while they vehemently denied the position. 

It was only after one uncle asked what would happen to your parents inheritance that greedy stares bombarded you. Picking at the stray fabric of the cushion, you ignored them all.

Mr. Castio clarified that the money would be untouched until you turned eighteen. Immediately, everyone looked away. No one wanted to raise a seven year old to adulthood without any immediate compensation. 

The funeral ended with your parents being incinerated. No one took the urns. It made you wonder why none of your grandparents showed up.

By the end of the day it was your aunt who agreed to foster you. Mr. Castio brought you to your parents house to collect your belongings. 

The house was clean and in order but the slight dust showed that it hasn't had a visitor in a while. Entering your room, you noticed how plain it was. Not a single toy, drawing or other personal object in sight. 

It unnerved you enough that you packed quick enough to not stay any longer. Curiosity poked at you to find out what kind of parents you had but you were more concerned on what your aunt is like.

She had a son and a husband you haven't met during the months you lived there. Her son was rude but never gave you any personal trouble. It was more common for him to throw a tantrum over one thing or another then bother you.

It wasn't an ideal life, but you weren't miserable. You ate three meals, had a bed and had supplies for school. Everything is fine, life is fine.

That thought was repeated as you sat in school with paper being thrown at the back of your head. The teacher ignored the behavior and your aunt repeatedly told you to not cause trouble. Even as you ate a different meal then your cousin and slept in the cramped closet-like room.

It was fine.

Until it wasn't.

A broken picture frame laid on the ground between you and your cousin, the ball he was playing with rolled to the opposite side of the room. When your aunt walked in, he cried and blamed you for it, saying that he told you not to play indoors.

This wasn't your fault and you said as much, but no matter what you said she just shook her head. You laid in bed with an empty stomach as your cousin’s words echoed in your ears.

"You shouldn't have tried to snitch on me."

School got worse with your cousin instigating more bullying against you. The house got tense as your cousin put all his energy into making you miserable. Day after day your aunt looked more and more stressed.

You still couldn't understand why he kept picking on you. There were no plans of revenge or fights, you relatively stayed neutral and passive. Life wasn't fine but you would have stayed like that until you overheard a conversation.

"-yeah, I'm only getting that much money for fostering Y/N. Shitty, right?"

Inelligle sounds came from the telephone in your Aunt's hand as she stored her jewelry. 

"If only my son would stop taking it. He already fights so much with Y/N and I just punish Y/N because a parent should always take their child's side. That child should have just passed away with their parents if they wanted to cause trouble."

Silently, you left back to the closet with the makeshift bed. Staring at the ceiling, you slowly accepted the reality of your situation.

Her wishing you to be dead alongside your parents wasn't the issue. What mattered was that she didn't care about the truth. She knew it was your cousin who started every problem and punished you because you weren’t her kid. 

That night, sleep didn't reach you as you spiraled into plans of vengeance. 

There was no sadness or shock on your face when you eavesdropped on her phone call with Mr. Castio. You merely noted the date that Mr. Castio would pick you up from your Aunts. You always had a feeling she would give you up, it just took longer than expected.

She and your cousin left to go celebrate whatever made-up achievement he lied about. Leaving you, an eight year old, home alone to your devices. If you ignored the list of chores you had to clean for ‘provoking your cousin into hitting you’, of course.

The house was cleaned to perfection when your aunt returned. The door creaked as she peeked in to see you dusting off the bookshelf in the guest room. She left satisfied as you set a book back on the shelf, covering a broken lock.

That night she told you to pack everything as Mr. Castio would be coming the next day. You simply nodded and left the room as your cousin laughed. You smiled too when he began asking what would happen to the money as your Aunt shushed him furiously.

Breakfast was cold as usual the next day, the mocking jeers your cousin spouted rolled off you with no reaction. Rolling his eyes at your ‘tough act’, your cousin scoffed before opening his lips to spout whatever snarky remark he had. Until the door to your Aunt’s room slammed open. She stormed in and whispered-yelled to him while pulling his ear.

You didn't have to hear to know what was said. All you heard next was-

"I didn't take the money!"

She's too mad to shush him and yells back. "Then who did?!" 

He stutters as he glances around the room. His eyes lock onto your stoic face with a frustrated expression.

"It was Y/N, they took it, they took the money!" He points at you as faux tears bubble up, his pathetic little sniffles only earn an annoyed sigh from his mother.

"What money?" You ask, tilting your head. Wide eyed, you stare at them both innocently, confusion emitting from your being all the while.

Mouth agape, your cousin looks back to his mother as she pinches the spot between her eyebrows.  "You're grounded until I get back all the money I lost, or until you return it." 

He tries to argue more but the ring of the doorbell interrupts the argument. Mr. Castio is let in and he merely motions you to follow him. Your aunt leaves the room with more wrinkles than she came in with.

With no goodbye, you grab your bag and walk to the door. Pausing you glance back at your cousin, a wide smirk is clear on your face. His eyes widen as realization sets in but there's nothing more that can be done as you close the door. 

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

The sun breaks dawn as a quill scratches against rough paper. The ink is used in elegant strokes as Violetgrass is grounded and packaged. Yellow-slitted eyes read it over once more before folding it and writing the recipient on the exterior. 

Pearly white scales glint with the ray of the sun as the snake is woken up gently. Sleepily, she loops around and climbs the outreach hand to hang around the owner's neck.

"It's merely daybreak, who could be needing medicine so dearly?"

"A fever could kill, you know that as well as I do, Changsheng." A smooth, melodic voice comes from the snake-eyed man as he stands from his desk and walks toward the cabinets. The letter is put into one cabinet and another is opened to obtain an opened vial of medication.

"Herbalist Gui stayed the night to take care of this particular patient so I'll give them the last of the medication so he can go home."

Glasses perched and viridian hair tied up, Baizhu walks into the back room and knocks softly. A tired looking Gui startles as a child sleeps on the bed. Her father is slumped on the bed as he sleeps soundly, his eye bags comparable to Gui's from his many nights spent worrying over his daughter.

"Go home Gui and have a proper rest. This should be the last medication she needs, her fever has lasted over the past few days but she's stable."

"Thank you Dr. Baizhu, I'll get going now. Let me just grab my belongings."

Gui stands from the small stool and ambles around the room quietly to not wake the patient. Baizhu stands at the bedside and pours the medication into an infuser.

A low fire begins to burn as the medication is properly prepared. Soon enough, Gui leaves the room as Baizhu brings the cup to the girl's lips for her to drink. It goes down smoothly and Baizhu turns to retrieve any supplements to aid her when-

"Dr. Baizhu, there's an emergency!"

Gui bangs the door open with a troubled look as the girl stirs and her father wakes up with a start. Baizhu smiles at the father as he takes long strides towards Gui.

Gui wouldn't react this strongly unless there's a real emergency. Baizhu has worked with him long enough to tell when something is out of Gui's expertise or life threatening. 

"I'll need to step out for a while to deal with this. Please keep watching Yiran, I can assure you that she's past any dangerous stages Mr. Kuan."

Kuan nods his head sleepily and stays in his seat as Baizhu walks out the room. The door closes and Baizhu follows Gui as he asks "What's the situation?"

Gui speaks as fast as he can while walking toward the pharmacy entrance. "Qiqi was missing most of the night, which isn't abnormal, but she's at the front desk crying inconsolable while carrying a person on her back. They're bleeding out heavily and I saw multiple cuts, bruises and arrows in their body."

"I'm sorry to ask this from you but please prepare the treatment room. Once you do so, I can take care of them as Qiqi runs the front. If anything, I'll close the front until the patient is stable."

Gui nods before turning back as Baizhu steps into the threshold of the front. His eyes scan the room and quickly spot Qiqi and the patient she's holding.

Qiqi stands frozen in place as she grips you on her back. Tears roll down her cheeks without stopping, a stark contrast to her blank expression. Baizhu walks closer and kneels down to her level as his eyes dart over your unconscious body.

"Qiqi, I need you to follow me while carrying them. Can you do that?"

"Dr. Bai… Dr. Bai, they need herbs. Dr. Bai, Dr. Bai…"

Qiqi stares past him as if she doesn't register his words. Baizhu recognized the name 'Dr. Bai' easily as her name for him when she was still learning to remember.

Changsheng lifts her head as she hisses in a cooing way. "Qiqi, you want to save them, correct? We have the herbs but you need to bring this patient to the treatment room."

Baizhu reaches toward the zombie child and carefully wipes away her tears. “There’s no need to worry Qiqi, just do as Changsheng says. Remember I love you most.” 

Qiqi nods but she doesn’t stop crying much to Baizhu’s surprise. Deciding to leave that for another time, he slowly walks to the treatment room passing by an exhausted Gui who sends a worried glance at you. 

“Don’t worry about it Gui, injured patients aren’t the most frequent but I have plenty of experience caring for them. Just go home and rest.” With a sigh, Gui leaves as Qiqi stands next to the clean bed. 

You’re quickly transferred to the bed and positioned to lay on your side for a proper inspection. “You should stay outside. Qiqi. I’ll let you see them when I’m done.” Not looking back, Baizhu changes his gloves before gingerly touching the bloody wounds. Bits and pieces of scrap can be felt inside the injuries under his fingers making him frown.

“There’s quite a range of injuries on them. Not counting the bruising and cuts, there are some deep stab wounds.” Changsheng comments from her perch as she stares down at the zombie.

“Their calves have been pierced too, it’s cold to the touch with elemental traces. Someone used a cryo vision on them. Their back isn’t straight and their breathing is harsh, I’m suspecting some broken bones. They must be identified soon so I can heal them.”

As he pulls his hands away, a small metal arrow tip falls out onto the floor. “That one has hydro elemental energy, different then the cryo one earlier. Two assailants means double the bleeding.”

“Baizhu! That can be dealt with afterwards, look at their head!” Changsheng’s sudden hiss pulls Baizhu’s attention to the area in question. The pillow your head is laying has begun to be stained red as a puddle forms. Blood dribbles out of your cracked lips as your breathing becomes strained.

Dendro glows at the tips of Baizhu’s fingertips as he carefully trails his fingers across the wounds. “Changsheng, they don’t have much time left. Their qi is perfectly balanced so I’ll only need to transfer some lifeforce. That head injury is the most pressing injury but I’ll spare some power to temporarily block the bleeding.”

The puncture wounds shine a soft green and the blood on your loose, shoddy bandages slow down. A pained gasp breaks free from your lips at the accident brush against your cracked spine.

Baizhu and Changsheng both peer down at your head, your matted hair knotting from the blood makes him grimace. “Their skull met with great impact but it’s not fatal.”

“Not yet, at least.”

“This mask needs to be removed for proper circulation and examination. More injuries may be hiding beneath it.” Baizhu speaks absentmindedly as he changes gloves and begins to reach toward the bloody mask on your face.

Your eyes snap open, making Baizhu freeze in surprise until you push him with enough force causing him to stumble. Changsheng hisses in retaliation as Baizhu steadies himself.

You stumble off the bed with a sway as blood rolls down your forehead. With glossy eyes and cracked lips you speak slowly. "Don't… touch it…"

Baizhu and Changsheng share a worried look at each other before focusing on you. Taking a step closer, Baizhu raises his empty hands in an act to calm you.

"Now, now, I'm just trying to help you. That mask is obstructing my care and can cause a serious problem."

"I… said… NO TOUCHING!" Your arm flails to the side, knocking over objects and causing a loud crash. 

An animalistic yell rises out of your hoarse throat while your limbs swing around in agitation. Baizhu keeps a safe distance away as he watches you.

"This enraged fool will be the cause of their own death!" Changsheng yells over the sounds of vials and glasses crashing.

Baizhu doesn't respond as he stares at you, your every movement is carefully noted under watchful yellow eyes. 

Your pupils blown wide, trembling body, and strange movements weren't lining up with a simple blood loss excuse.

A small hand tugs his pant leg as your rampage slows to an end. Baizhu looks down at the red rimmed pink eyes of the zombie child.

"What is it, Qiqi? Do you have something that can help them?"

Changsheng keeps a watchful eye on your exhausted body as your endless mumbles of refusal continue. Your bag in Qiqi's hands is handed over to Baizhu without a word.

"Is this theirs?" A single nod before she steps away to stare at you with a seemingly worried frown.

Baizhu opens the bag to find it completely empty. Not a single speck of dust or dirt can be seen in it unlike your dirty, ripped clothes. But before he closes it, he spots a tag on the inside of it.

'Property of Y/N L/N'

With that new information, he sets the bag down on a farther table and looks back to you. You stand trembling next to the bed as pieces of broken objects litter the ground. With slumped shoulders and eyes threatening to roll back, your voice cracks with every mumble.

"Don't take it off. Can't take it off.. Won't let you take it off…"

"Y/N? Is that your name?"

No reaction comes from you. He tries again. "Y/N, can you hear me? Can you understand me?"

Again nothing, not a twitch, not a flinch or even a slow in your mumbles. With a tired sigh Baizhu makes up his mind.

"Changsheng we have no other choice, I'll knock them out so be prepared to share my life force with them during the struggle."

"No."

Baizhu looks down at the snake in slight surprise, Changsheng speaks in a wary voice.

"For whatever reason, Teyvat is reaching out to me in warning. Don't take off the mask, keep it on and heal what you can."

Baizhu spares one more glance before sighing. "If that's really what you believe then we will do things your way. Perhaps Y/N's body is stuck in a fear response and may actually kill me."

Baizhu carefully steps past the shards and approaches you with a gentle smile. "Qiqi clean up the mess, lest our patient injure themselves on it. As for you Y/N, you can relax. I will not take off your mask, you are safe here."

Immediately your eyes roll back and you collapse to the ground. Baizhu was swift enough to catch you before any injury but your reaction was enough to cause him grief.

"Qiqi, as soon as you are done, manage the front for me. This will take a long while."

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

Change was something you grew used to during your childhood. You changed schools, caretakers, friends and homes long enough to know the process by heart.

Adapting was another thing you were good at. Shady houses with out of control classmates and unending fights meant that it was a dangerous place. That you had to stay low and be on edge constantly. Everything you owned had to fit in your locked bag or else you would find it missing the next morning.

It was a bit easier in the city where most were working class. Making friends would be too much trouble and fairly fruitless. You were content to stay invisible and deal with any problems outside of public view. Some students just didn't know how to describe you, some were too fearful of what they accidentally saw to say anything about you.

The most and least stressful was the rare times you ended up with a rich family. On one hand every student knew you as an orphan but at the same time, rich kids loved to feel like heroes. All you had to do was play the weak and kind student. Nearly every student flocked to be your guardian angel as you showered them with compliments.

You never lacked lies and stories to tell but you also never stayed in one spot for longer than a few months. Each time Mr. Castio got more and more fed up with you. From a stoic disappointment to a quiet rage filled with belittlement. 

It was at 12 years old that you got fostered by your third wealthy family. They already had children, a daughter your age and a son who was barely three. You already knew that you would be their designated babysitter.

After a month of living there, you began to truly enjoy it. There was no mistreatment, obvious favoritism, a nice allowance, and even your own room. Even though you held no love for them, you followed your foster parents requests with no trouble.

Cleaning, babysitting, organization, yard work, sewing and more spontaneous jobs. Not only did they give you a bonus for the work, they also let you buy stuff with it when you asked. 

You didn't need to be constantly catered to like their daughter, you were just happy to sleep without fear of getting robbed, an empty stomach or bruised skin.

After a while you began to realize just how much you depended on them. It worried you, you agonized endlessly about getting attached and abandoned. You worked harder at school, gave in to their request full of smiles and got along with their children swimmingly.

The longer you stayed and obeyed, the larger the possibility of them adopting you or at least fostering you till adulthood became. 

But, you really should have known better. You’ve gone through it so many times, yet it seemed you still didn’t learn your lesson on who you can trust. The only person who truly had your back was always going to be yourself.

A normal day, a nice lunch and a polite request to do the dishes, something you were happy to oblige in. The sponge absorbed the soap and water letting you wash the dishes with ease. The chore is second nature to you.

 Their daughter was out of the house, probably hanging out at a friend's house. Their son was with them in the dining room as their chatter reached your ears clearly.

“I’m so glad we got lucky to foster such a kind child.”

“As am I. They work hard, get along well with everyone, and help us around the house without complaint.”

Their praise was something you were still struggling to get used to. But it made you happy nonetheless. You couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that it was an exaggeration or a lie no matter how many times you chided yourself.

“That’s true, I never expected a kid with that upbringing could be so smart.”

“What child wouldn’t do well with us taking care of them? They struggled a bit at first but they seem to realize what a good deed we did with fostering one of their kind.”

The water running down your fingers felt colder, almost like ice was traveling through your veins. Was that really what they said? Did you hear them correctly? You held onto some semblance of hope that they weren’t speaking about you like that. But the longer you listened, the smaller your hopes shrunk as your doubts grew.

They spoke about you as if you were a pet. Due to what? Being an orphan? The class difference? Your race? Your gender? Or was it just you? All their past compliments and words that seemed innocent are thrust into a new light. One full of demeaning words hiding as kindness.

The dishes in your hands become like dynamite. Just one drop and it’ll set off a whole chain of events where you can tell them off. To scream insults and obscenities from feeling tricked. Yell at them exactly how you feel, how angry it made you to be spoken as if less than human. As if less than them. 

Instead, you set the clean dish onto the drying rack. A deep breath is taken and then two more. Impartial rationality is focused on as your wounded heart is shoved away.

You have a good home, you aren’t being abused. Taken advantage of? Yes, but you get paid for it. This isn’t a family, it’s a job. It’s the best foster family you’ve had by far. They were wealthy and if you played your cards right, you could graduate from this upper class school and get a good job. 

It’s a good deal. It’s the best deal someone like you will ever get. You should be grateful, you don’t need their affection, love or attention. You just need to survive long enough to support yourself. You shouldn’t ruin a good thing.

Those words play on repeat as the last dish is set on the drying rack. The sink is turned off before you grip the counter tightly. Water is drained down the sink as you tell yourself that you’re just angry. Your blurry vision is just from anger, you remind yourself over and over again.

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

A strong stench of iron permeated the room as skilled hands continued to work on your body. Blood splatters stained Baizhu’s clothes, sweat on his temple as he carefully traced the wounds with Dendro glowing on the tips of his fingers. Life force was continuously given to you as Changsheng stabilized Baizhu’s weakening body.

With the most pressing injuries taken care of, Baizhu examined your bloodstained back. The broken and fractured bones there were the next in line to be treated. Grabbing a pair of scissors from the bedside, he raised them to the midline of your clothes.

“The blood is keeping the clothes stuck to their body. We don’t have time to pull the clothes off carefully.” The small mumbles left Baizhu as he concentrated on not accidentally nicking your skin. 

Once done, he set the scissors aside and pulled the remains of your clothes off. A clean wet cloth is gently used to clean the blood off as your skin becomes visible. Simultaneous gasps leave the contracted pair as the cloth is dropped.

“Those scars! Baizhu, this isn’t a mere coincidence anymore. This person is much too similar to The Creator. Those scars are exactly as described in the scriptures.” Changsheng’s frantic hissing doesn’t reach Baizhu as he stares sternly at the marks in question.

His lips part hesitantly as his eyes never leave your body. “We should leave it be….”

“And what reason may that be?” Baizhu reaches an ungloved hand to thumb the old and faded scars as chills run down his spine.

“While it may be true that they are suspiciously similar to the Creator, there is more to this situation. The most widespread theory on why their blood is gold is that their blood is supplied with pure elemental energy and oxygen unlike everyone else that simply wields elemental energy. Even inhuman beings don’t have elemental energy coursing through their veins.”

Baizhu focuses his attention back on your bones as Dendro is summoned by his vision again. Changsheng rests herself with a tense posture as she waits for Baizhu to continue.

“Y/N is bleeding red and naturally absorbs my Dendro seamlessly. Furthermore, the scars on them have a strange aura on them.” Changsheng gives a look to Baizhu silently conveying her theory.

He shakes his head in response and clarifies. “It’s not god remains, but it’s similar. If god remains are like a natural poison and plague on a body, then this aura is the cure. The best way to describe this is that they are god cores. I believe it’s connected to the reason their qi is perfectly balanced despite the situation.”

Changsheng settles down at Baizhu's words as she watches him continue to care for you. Your breathing hitches as your bones are healed and snapped back into place. A low wail is all that can leave your throat.

“So Y/N is something in the middle? Will you really care for them even if it means taking care of a potential imposter?”

A heavy silence follows the question as Baizhu’s natural smile softens. The medical supplies that were used during all these hours litter the room in a mess. His gold eyes stare down at your pale, trembling body. 

“Yes, I will. They are still a patient that was brought to me. If they truly are an imposter then the Millelith can deal with them after they’ve healed properly here.”

Baizhu cleans his hands and changes gloves once again as he examines the remaining wounds on your body. Smiling down at Changsheng, he speaks smoothly “Shall we begin the final stage of their treatment?” 

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

Middle school reaches its end and the summer before high school came. You had passed with a high grade from your many long nights spent awake. Long days spent babysitting their son while upkeeping the chores while their daughter played leisurely. 

You felt proud of yourself to pass with those grades while dealing with them. As the months went by, your foster parents felt less and less of the need to treat you the same as their children. At the end of the day, they still paid you so everything was fine.

Summer was reaching its end and you were creating a list of items you would need for the new school. Halfway through, a soft knock on your door broke your focus. Your foster parents stepped in and asked you to join them in the living room.

Swallowing down your nerves, you nodded and followed them. Were they planning on giving you up? So close to the new school year?

The moment you sat down, they dropped the metaphorical bomb. "We want you to stay back this year and go to high school next year instead."

That wasn't so bad right? You just need to wait another year to start high school. It's not like you could be thrown out at 18 with no high school diploma, left to fend for yourself after giving up a year of school for them.

It's safe to say that you reacted badly to the news. Every 'Why?' was given a half hearted answer that changed constantly, and when you put your foot down and said no, something about them shifted, as if a curtain had been lifted or a coin had been flipped.

The once kind and gentle gleam in their eyes dulled into something akin to annoyance. As if you were doused with cold water, the atmosphere became tense and you just knew that you messed up. You, who had been so careful to stay on good terms and always abide by their request, was looked upon with coldness. 

“A child like you should not be giving us this disrespectful attitude.”

“We’ve clothed you, fed you, provided everything in that room. And it’s now with this single request that you’re rejecting us this harshly?”

The lecture goes on and on. Told how grateful, how sorry, how happy you should be. Cruelty laced every word has their arrogant figures towered over you. There was no chance for you to speak up, the helplessness you felt only pushed you down further.

At the end you were sent to your room with the date of your ‘fostering’ decided. The suitcase you took out and began to neatly fill felt foreign. You truly believed that you would be staying here until your 18th birthday. With the room bare and your eyes puffy, you tried to sleep.

Thoughts of what you should have done came to you in waves. You should have just accepted it. Even if only as a facade and found some way to prevent them from alerting the school in time. You wouldn’t have lost anything, if only you weren’t so stupid.

Tears spring up and it’s wiped away harshly as more replace it. Bitten lips begin to bleed as you hold back any embarrassing sobs that crawl up your throat. It’s only as footsteps are heard outside your room that you freeze.

Eyes wide you listen to the conversation as the sadness turns to bitterness. The bitterness wraps around your heart and squeezes as you learn the truth behind the matter. Their precious daughter had failed her grade and they just couldn’t let their child be upstaged. 

Teeth grinding, you sit up from your bed and begin to dig through the stash of objects you’ve found throughout your time in this household. A plan forms in your mind that all depends on what opportunity is given to you.

Your ex-foster parents announced a dinner to be held at a fancy restaurant and dropped the responsibility of watching over their son on you. Their daughter cheers happily at the sound of her favorite restaurant being chosen as you go to your room. Curled up in the bed, you try to ignore the stabbing pain in your heart.

The door slowly opens as the house goes quiet, their son toddlers to your bed with wide worried eyes. Chubby fingers pat your cheek softly “Are you okay? You sad?” The broken sentences are cute as he stares at you sadly.

Sitting up, you pet his head and smile at him. Your eyes are a strange swirl of emotions as you reassure him of your well being. The next sentence is a familiar one, just with different intentions than all the times you’ve asked before.

“Do you wanna play a game of hide and seek?” The smile on his face is so bright that you almost feel bad for your actions. 

Mr. Castio picks you up the next day, your ex-foster family waves goodbye to you as you enter the car. Their son cries and begs his parents to stop you as they soothe him calmly. Their daughter is the first to leave as you close the car door.

“How could you fuck up such a good deal?” The harsh words are spoken easily now that privacy is ensured. Wrinkles are as clear as his scowl as he drives away and out of the neighborhood. 

“I got you to be fostered in a family like this, and you couldn’t just go along with what they asked? I never had much expectations for you, but did the amnesia take away your brain too? Actually, you were probably born this way.”

Curling your knees into your chest, you try to ignore his demeaning words. Round two of being treated like a worthless child began as you endured the long car ride. The more he spoke, the more you shook.

“-really. Making my life harder than it has to be. All because you couldn’t shut your damn trap. Is your useless pride worth more then-”

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up instead?!” That was all it took for the loud argument between you both to begin. You had already tried to play nice with one set of arrogant adults, why should you deal with another?

A pained smirk crawled onto your face as you cursed Mr. Castio out who didn’t hesitate to dish it back. Whether it was being nice and submissive or being rude and blunt, both had the same outcomes.

You sincerely hoped that your ex-foster family would enjoy the gifts you left for them to find. 

The drugs you had placed in the nightstand for the strict and uptight breadwinner to find. The photographs of the breadwinners affair you printed and left for the house spouse to find in the cupboard. And finally the positive pregnancy test you set in the liquor cabinet that they never failed to open at dinner time.

By all means, their ‘perfect’ family should fall apart, it was just a shame you couldn’t see the fall out yourself… It didn’t stop the unease and slight guilt you felt for their son who had truly done nothing to you. It’s not like your actions would have too much of an effect on him right? You, you weren’t wrong.

Right?

At the lack of insults, Mr. Castio stopped his verbal abuse. Deep in thought, you stared out the window as the scenery passed by. Where you would go next was not known but it was all right. You would find a way to survive, you always did. 

You had to.

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

Calloused hands smoothened the blanket on your semi-healed body as Baizhu ignored the exhaustion setting in. The sun was high in the sky as the afternoon lull began to set in. Qiqi opened the door slowly as she peeked in, her eyes trained on your bandaged form.

“Dr. Baizhu, is it done?” Her hesitant voice was answered with a smooth smile and a calm voice. “It is, but Y/N needs their rest. You’ve been tense since you brought them in at dawn, that’s not good for you. Go to the courtyard and practice your arithmetics.”

Qiqi gives a small nod before walking away. With a sigh, Baizhu cleans up the remaining mess from the long treatment. “You’re exhausted, Baizhu. Stop acting tough and get some rest.”

Changsheng’s snotty but caring tone is clear to Baizhu as he walks out of the treatment room. “I’ll instruct Qiqi to gather some more herbs once she’s done. Before I can rest, I’ll need to check up on the counter. Gui should have arrived an hour ago.”

Opening the door, Baizhu is greeted with the sight of Gui giving a farewell to the last customer. At the sight of the doctor, Gui perks up in interest. “How is that patient? Did they make it?”

“Thankfully they did, but they’ll need to stay here a few days for the more severe injuries. I believe their name is Y/N, so address them by that name until we can ask them ourselves..”

Gui nods in response as Baizhu looks through what herbs they still had to use. Different prescriptions come to mind as he filters what information he knows of Y/N. What could trigger an allergic reaction, what medicine could have been consumed beforehand? What prescription is affordable without having too many side effects?

Those thoughts consumed his mind as Qiqi returned and he mindlessly instructed her on what herbs to gather according to the prescription of his choosing. Gui leaves deeper into the pharmacy as Baizhu finishes and stores the medical file safely.

Did you have any means to pay the treatment or follow up prescriptions? Any family to contact for visiting and support? You wouldn’t be the first patient to have no one to rely on but Baizhu still couldn’t shake off the feeling of something more going on with you. 

It was quite perplexing that he, who took great care to focus on being the best physician and on his own contract, was so drawn in by you. With a tired sigh, Baizhu pushed up his glasses as Changsheng raised her head to look behind him.

A knock on the doorframe only urged him to turn around and look at the unexpected visitor. With weary and suspicious eyes Baizhu stared straight ahead, “Is there something I can help you with?”

Lips curled into an ambiguous smile and with a polished voice, the visitor replies.  “I hope so, do you happen to have a patient wearing a mask?”

This chapter was fun to write, what writer doesn't like giving a trunk ton of trauma on their protagonist? I get 18 years to configure to my liking, what did anyone expect? But as always you don't need to consider this your Y/N's backstory. In truth I won't have you think back to these memories much as you have moved on from that past. You have for a long time. This is just the 'canonical' explanation as quite a few of you seemed to like my version of Y/N. Which makes me very happy! My editor approved of this idea, and edited it quickly enough for me to pump it out. I deal with the heavy work and don't need to do the annoying work! Also feel free to ask if anything was confusing. One last thing, after I got rid of the spam/porn bots I saw that I reached 1k followers! That's pretty amazing but I'm not sure if a special should be done or not. And if so, what should I do?

Taglist: Check Masterlist for more details but everyone is welcome to join it!

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[five-rivers]

Daedalus

@regular-dog Hello! I am your holiday truce gifter this year! I hope you enjoy this labyrinth-themed fic. Happy New Year!

.

Only three years in, and it was already impossible to tell how big Amity Park was.  Normal methods of surveying didn’t work.  Physical maps were either always right or always wrong, and sometimes both at once.  Driving across the city at a constant speed didn’t help, either.  The outgoing trip and the return trip never seemed to match, and there simply weren’t enough one-way streets in Amity Park for that to be the answer to the problem.  

Asking the residents didn’t help, either.  They couldn’t even agree on how big the city they lived in was.  Some of them acted like Amity Park was the second coming of Chicago, others expressed confusion when Amity Park was referred to as anything but a small town.  

(The census data was almost worse.)

But no matter what version of Amity a particular resident believed they lived in, there were always similarities.  There was always Casper High, and its Ravens, and every student went there, and learned from Mr. Lancer, and heard the rumors about Sydney Poindexter.  There was always the Nasty Burger, and Valerie Gray working one of the many distasteful jobs that the place had to offer.  There was always Amity Park Park, confusingly named and full of even more confusing paths, whether it was a city park or a county park, or something else altogether.

There was always Fentonworks, rising tall and strange from a small, ordinary neighborhood.

There was a heaviness there, around that particular building.  A weight that drew in other things, that twisted.  It was the heart of a labyrinth of streets, of old roads and new, of forest paths and disused hiking trails.  It was the heart of Amity Park.

And it should be said that, at the heart of any labyrinth, there was a monster.  

And it should be said that, at the threshold of every labyrinth, there was a princess.

And it should be said that the one thing that every labyrinth waits for is a hero.  

.  

Samantha Manson wound golden string around her fingers, thinking.  It glowed faintly in the dark of her room, like the thinnest, purest beam of sunlight cast through morning mist and a thick canopy of leaves overhead.  

However, her eyes didn’t linger on it.  Instead, she looked out the window over her– garden– conservatory– greenhouse– private park– the place where she went to grow plants, and be among them, that may or may not have changed in nature and size while she was looking.  Which may or may not have had many natures and sizes.  

She closed her eyes.  Insight was useful, as vital as the blood in her veins and the lightning in her nerves, but it had its drawbacks.  

When she opened them again, a hedge maze stood dark and tempting beneath the light of a moon that should not be full and should not be there and had never been that big, in any case.  The lights of Amity- rising high with skyscrapers or low to the ground and scattered among farmhouses– laid beyond it.  

In her hands, the string hummed, as if it had been held taught and plucked.  A single, clear note filled the air.  

“Do you think it will work?” she asked.  

There shouldn’t have been anyone in her room, and there wasn’t.  But her nearest neighbors could be five miles from the walls of her home or five feet, and she rarely spoke to them.  The distance between friends was greater, but also infinitely less.  

Tucker looked up from his computer, which sat at his desk, in his own room, in his own house, the light from the moon shining in from the window behind him.  His glasses reflected the pale, bluish light of his computer screen.  The wheels of his desk chair rolled across the carpet of his room - so different from hers - with a squeak.  

“You’re not getting cold feet now,” he said.  It wasn’t so much a question as an exclamation.  

Sam sniffed.  “Of course not.  But I’m not the one taking the biggest risk, am I?”

There was a third room.  This one dark and starry.  The glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to every available surface were normal.  The patterns they were in were not.  Nor were the eyes that stared out from beneath star-spangled bedsheets.  Nor was the moon, gleaming from windows stationed on either side of the bed.

“I’m not sure if it actually matters if it works,” said the owner of those eyes, blinking slowly.  “I mean, if it works the way it’s supposed to work.  We’ll just go back to plan A if it doesn’t.”

“No offense, Danny, but plan A sucked,” said Tucker.  

“How am I not supposed to take offense to that?” whined Danny.  “Plan A is fine.  It’s a normal plan.  I know my city.”  The last was said with a casual but deep possessiveness.

“Plan A wasn’t even really a plan,” said Sam.  “Your plan was to just fly in and find them, never mind all the other things that are happening.”

“That’s not so different from this plan,” protested Danny.  “It’s basically the same.  It’s just the how that’s different.”

“Pretty big how, though,” said Tucker.  “And I thought you liked this plan.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Danny.  “I’m just saying, I’m just saying that even if it doesn’t work, we won’t be any worse off than we were at the beginning, before, you know.  The research.”  He pointed vaguely in the direction of his window.  

Somehow, Sam knew that he was, in fact, pointing at the stack of thick books sitting on her desk.  Only, instead of pointing at them across the there-not-there division between their rooms, he was pointing in their true direction, across the streets and forests of Amity Park.  

The covers of the books shouldn’t have been legible in the darkness.  Sam could read them anyway.  Greek mythology.  Sympathetic magic.  Recurrence.  Narrative causality.  Daedalus, Icarus, Theseus, Ariadne, Asterion.

Four days ago, New Athens High School had sent a bus bearing the fourteen members of their track team and their coach to a meet in Elmerton.  On the way back, the driver had made a wrong turn, knifing straight through the heart of Amity.  The bus, the driver, and the coach had come out the other side.  No one knew what had happened to the track team.  

Danny had spent three of those days looking for them.  Amity Park had spent those same three days winding itself more tightly than the ball of string sitting on Sam’s desk.  Whether it was downtown, or the forest, or the suburbs, the part of Amity New Athens’ bus had passed through was a maze.  

A labyrinth.  

They’d thrown themselves into research, then, begging for information from their allies.  Or, rather, from Danny’s allies.  Most of them, with the exception of Dora, were there for him more than for the rest of them.  Pandora was the one who had finally noticed the connections, the links with old stories, the resonance.  

There was a labyrinth.  There were sacrifices.  Other roles–

“Or, if you don’t want to leave it, you could send Tucker in,” said Danny, shrugging slightly.  “If it doesn’t work with just me.  You know.”

Sam’s fingers slipped.  

Sam was the obvious choice for the role of princess.  Danny was the obvious choice for the role of hero.  

He should have been, anyway.  

“Hence why I’m asking if you think it’ll work,” said Sam, sharply.  

“I hope it’ll work.”

Sam huffed.  “Not what I’m asking.”

“It won’t hurt to try.”

“It might,” said Sam.  “The monster dies at the end of the story.  The princess is abandoned.  Even Theseus doesn’t have a happy ending.”

“And we aren’t those characters.  It isn’t as if Tucker is going to cut my head off.”  Again, Danny waved in Tucker’s true direction, rather than across the emptiness of his room.  “We’re the ones making the decisions.  We’re just using the stories for– For narrative clout.  Or however you described it.”

“Danny…”

“It’ll be fine.  I mean,” he looked up at her with those too-bright eyes, the rest of his face black with shadows, “if you’re having second thoughts, it’s fine.  We can try something else.”

“I’m not having second thoughts.”  Sam began to unwind the string from around her fingers, wrapping it around the rest of the ball.  The maze outside her window had become a winding garden path, and the neighbors were once again nearby.  

Tucker cleared his throat.  “First thing in the morning, then?  We ride at dawn and all that?”

“Before dawn would probably be better, honestly,” said Sam.  

Danny sighed.  “I’ll set my alarm clock.”

.

It might have been neater to enter the maze in Sam’s backyard, or to start from the spiraling center that was Fentonworks, but that wasn’t where the bus had disappeared.  The bus had disappeared going through downtown Amity Park.  

Well.  Insofar as the bus had disappeared in any particular location.  And insofar as Amity Park had a downtown.  

The lack of permanence of place made discussing things like this somewhat difficult.  

Still.  At the moment, there was a downtown.  A historical shopping district, as a matter of fact.  As he walked down the sidewalk in the crisp, gray, predawn light, Danny could feel beneath his feet a hum.  The shopping district here was the mainstreet of small town Amity, even as skyscrapers loomed overhead, and the layers felt real enough for Danny to reach out and rub them between his fingers.  

(They weren’t really, but they felt like it.)

He stopped in front of an alley that smelled of cinnamon and sea salt.  Here, the layers parted, and you could slip between them, into the interstices and forbidden places of Amity Park.  

“Is this the place?” asked Tucker.  

“Yeah,” said Danny.  “I think so.”  He motioned them to the mouth of the alley, where they’d be covered by shadows and next to unnoticeable by those who were firmly in any one version of Amity Park.  “Sam?”

She teased out the end of the golden string and cast it towards Danny.  As it flew through the air, it twisted and knotted itself before falling over Danny’s head.  The loops shrunk around his neck, creating a narrow golden collar.  

Danny raised his hand to touch it and made a face.  “It’s tight,” he said.  

“Sorry,” said Sam, glaring at the ball of string as if it had betrayed her.  “I don’t–”

“It’s fine,” said Danny, waving it off.  “Just unexpected.”

“Right,” said Tucker, stepping forward.  “Your sword, Theseus.”  He handed Danny a Fenton invention that had a passing resemblance to a lightsaber.

Danny rolled his eyes and took the small cylinder.  “Thanks.  But don’t call me that.”

“Hey, that’s the story we’re trying to tell.”

“We’ll give it a tug if we run out of string,” said Sam.  

“Mm,” said Danny.  “Well.  Might have to give it more than one.  Don’t let me drag you in.”

Sam snorted.  “What, like you drag us into everything else?”

“Seriously.  Just let me go if I start pulling too hard.”

“No way,” said Tucker.  “We’ll just tie you onto some building or something.”

“I have been known to bring down buildings.”

“Well, don’t,” said Sam.  

“Wow.  No sympathy here, I see.”

“Nope,” said Sam and Tucker together.  

“Now go save the tourists,” said Sam, pushing him forward.

“They’re not really tourists,” said Danny.  But even so, he stepped across the line and into the gap.  

Into the labyrinth.  

.

The in-between spaces of Amity Park did not immediately look like they were the in-between spaces of Amity.  Danny sometimes liked to imagine that they were what Amity Park used to look like, before it became a dozen different, mutually exclusive places.  That had to be impossible, though.  There was too much, too many different things, afterimages and fantasies and illusions.  

People walked on the streets, and cars drove, but they were transparent, projections from the layers of Amity immediately bordering this space.  Sometimes, they walked through each other, not noticing at all.  

Danny still flinched when it looked like cars were about to run into one another, and let out a breath of relief when they instead seemed to phase through each other.  

So he walked.  

He walked, and as he walked, the road began to change.  He began to change.  Facades paled.  Grecian columns reached up the sides of skyscrapers and ranch homes.  Brick turned to marble.  Danny’s t-shirt and jeans slowly, gently, became a chiton and chlamys, trimmed in red.  The Fenton Saber became a sword of green-tinted bronze, strapped to a belt around his waist.  His shoes became sandals, laced up to his knees.  

It wasn’t the first time Danny had worn clothing like this.  He did visit Pandora.  But he’d never worn it in Amity Park.  It was a little embarrassing.  The ancient Greeks’ idea of underwear was… lacking, in Danny’s opinion.  But it wasn’t as if anyone here could see him.  

The act of walking here also felt strange, and Danny couldn’t understand why this was needed.  Not really.  Not the act, not the ritual.  By virtue of his nature, he could duck in and out of anywhere in Amity whenever he wanted.  Mostly.  At least, he could find places to duck in and out whenever he wanted.  

He should have been able to find the missing students without any problem.  

But he hadn’t.  

And he still wasn’t finding them.  There was no pull.  No indication of what direction he should go, what direction he could find them in.  

Danny sighed, and the sky above boiled with stars.  

He looked up, not having expected that, then shrugged and continued to walk.  Things here were strange.

There were words on the walls, now, carved into the marble alongside window displays for cell phones and stationary.  Ἀστερίων, Ἀριάδνη, Θησεύς.  He traced Ἀριάδνη with his fingers.  It sparked gold, the same color as the string around Danny’s neck.  

And then the string flexed.  Pulled.  Spooled forward, winding into a ball in front of Danny.  A short thread was thrown off of the rapidly spinning ball and settled on Danny’s head before solidifying into something heavy and cold.

(Elsewhere, the end of the string tears itself out of Sam’s hand, disappearing into the rift between.)

“Oh,” said Danny.  He bit his lip and closed his eyes, and mentally apologized to his friends for worrying them.  “Theseus was from Athens.  Ariadne wasn’t just rich, she had authority over Crete.  We had the roles wrong.”

(Not that Danny really wanted authority over Amity Park.  That… just wasn’t his thing.  He didn’t want to be in charge.  He just wanted to protect.)

But this meant…  He needed to find one of the New Athens kids and get them to be Theseus.  

He didn’t want to do that.  He was here to rescue them, not to force them to rescue themselves.  And… iIf he could find one of them, couldn’t he find the others?  Finding them was the problem he’d started with.  If he could find them, he could bring them out.  

He stumbled as the section of string wrapped around his throat tightened.  That actually hurt!

Then it loosened and Danny took a deep breath.  

Narrative weight, right.  They were already trying this story.  Changing it or aborting it halfway would have consequences.  Ones that Danny didn’t want to deal with.  

He swallowed.  He couldn’t help but remember that in the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, many people, many Athenians, had died before Theseus had finally defeated the Minotaur.  When it was Danny in the role of Theseus, that hadn’t been a concern.  He was certain he could fight any monster, any ghost in the role of the Minotaur.  

But some random kid from New Athens?  One who had probably never seen a ghost, and who had been stuck here for days?  

That… that he wasn’t at all confident about.  

Sam had been right to be wary of the risks.  It was different, when someone else was facing them.  

He rolled the ball between his hands, feeling it over.  Power thrummed between his fingers, brighter and sharper than before.  A thin stripe of gold ran down the sidewalk, twisting over on itself and turning away from the main street.  

Danny sighed, and started to follow.  

.

Danica was starting to panic.  

One moment, she’d been on the bus, falling asleep after a difficult meet despite how risky it was to fall asleep anywhere near Georgie and his so-called ‘artistic impulses.’  The next thing she knew, she was waking up on a sidewalk in some kind of nightmare city.  A nightmare city full of things that looked almost like people but were transparent and walked right through her as if she weren’t there.  

She didn’t know how long she’d been here, trying to figure out how she’d gotten here, where the bus was, where everything else was, but it felt like hours, at least.  She was starting to get hungry.  

She was starting to wonder if she’d gone crazy.  Or if this was what it was like to be dead.  And that was before the buildings started to melt into weird, semi-Greek-Revival messes.  

It was weird here, and she hated it.  She wanted to go home.  She wanted her mom.  She wanted to quit the track team and never have to deal with anything like this ever again.  

“Hello?” called a soft voice.  

She whipped around.  Up until now, this place had been eerily quiet.  

Standing just a few feet from her was a boy, one who could have stepped out of a history textbook.  He was wearing something like a cape, and a Greek-style tunic, white trimmed in red.  Tangled in his hair was a thin, golden circlet.  But the strangest thing about him was the ball of glowing golden string in his hand.  One end of it was wrapped around his neck.  

“You–!” said Danica, suddenly more furious than frightened.  “Did you bring me here?  Why?”

The boy shook his head.  “I didn’t bring you here.  Actually, I’m hoping to help you get out.  You and the rest of your teammates.”  

“They– They’re here, too?  And the coach–?”

“No, just your teammates,” said the boy.  He made a face.  “You guys kind of… Ran into a story.”

“A what?” demanded Danica, incredulous.  She’d also, incidentally, started to back away from the boy.  

“A story.  Have you heard of Theseus and the Minotaur?”

.

“What if I don't want to do this?” asked the girl, after Danny had finished explaining.  “What if I can’t do this?”

Danny stared at her, a bit baffled.  The thing about being a ghost, even half a ghost, the thing about thinking like a ghost… Sometimes it was hard to wrap his head around other perspectives.  Especially when his friends, the only people he really talked to, were just as eager to jump in and help as he was.  

He hadn't wanted to make anyone risk themselves.  He wanted to bring them to safety without that.  He also hadn't expected that anyone would just… not want to help.

“Well, I suppose… I suppose you could follow me until I found one of your classmates who could?” he said.  “Although… I’m not sure if we can do that with this story.  It might be that I have to find someone alone and then they find everyone…  In which case you’d just have to wait for them.  Speaking of which, how long has this been for you?  On the outside, it’s been a few days, but you look a little too good for that.”

“I– What?  Days?  I haven’t been here for days.”

“Not from your perspective, maybe.  Time is weird.  Even without all this…”  He waved his hand, trying to indicate ghost weirdness in general.  “... stuff, even with just the things we can look at scientifically, it’s still relative.  Right now, you’re basically in a dimensional pocket.  Pocket dimension?  Whatever.  The point is, is time running at different rates really that strange, comparatively?  At least, it made it so that you didn’t starve before me and my friends were able to figure this out.”  He raised the ball of golden string, ignoring how the movement pulled on his neck.  “Right?”

The girl gave him a ‘why are you using science-fiction terms in what is clearly a fantasy scenario’ look.  At least, that’s how Danny chose to interpret it.  

He sighed.  “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Danica,” she said, then looked angry at herself and shrugged.  “Or Dani, I guess.”

“Huh, small world,” said Danny.  “That’s my sister’s name, too.”  Not to mention his.  Maybe Theseus’s story wasn’t the only one being echoed, with a coincidence like that.  

The girl continued to stare at him, this time with a ‘why the heck are you bringing that up while I’m having a crisis’ look.  Probably.  Danny tended to make a similar expression from time to time.  Usually when the ghosts he fought started having lovers’ quarrels in the middle of a fight.  

“So,” he said, awkwardly.  “You can come with me, of course, just to… test out what will happen?”

“Oh!” said Danica, suddenly.  “Just– Just give me that!”  She held out her hands for the ball of string.  

Danny beamed, and passed it to her.  It glowed even brighter.

“Now what?” she asked, staring at it nervously.  

“Now, you need this,” Danny said, taking off the sword and holding it out to her, hilt first.  “And then you search for your friends, and when you find them…”  He pinched a length of the string between the finger and thumb of her free hand.  “You follow this back out.”

Danica was much more reluctant to take the sword than the string.  But that was fine.  One of the two was for holding things together, the other was for taking things apart.  Danny knew which was easier, and which he was more comfortable with.  

“That's it.  Remember, it's just the members of your track team, okay?  The coach and the bus driver got out.”

“Okay,” said Danica.  She took a deep, steadying breath.  “Okay.  I can do this.”

Danny nodded encouragingly.  “Yes,” he said, “definitely.”

.

Danny stepped out of the in-between, back into the alley he'd left Sam and Tucker in.  Except, it wasn't an alley anymore, but a thin dirt path between hedges.  

He was immediately tackled.  

“We thought we'd lost you!” said Sam.  Then she pulled back and examined him closely before looking pointedly behind him.  “Where're the track kids?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck.  “Well.  In the story, Theseus is from Athens, remember?”

Sam groaned.  “They're having to do it themselves?”

“Yeah.  A girl named Danica.  Dani.  Believe it or not.”

“Wow,” said Tucker.  “Really?”

“Really.”

Danny turned to look behind him, tracing the string where it twisted away from reality and into not-space.

Tucker sighed.  “This is going to take a while, isn't it?”

.

It took Danica surprisingly little time to find her teammates.  For all the time she’d spent wandering on her own, after she’d accepted the sword and the string, she’d located everyone in what felt like an hour.  Some of them were even in groups!

The problem was, she found too many of them.  

.

“Mm,” said Danny, still worried.  “Probably.  I hope she doesn’t have to fight anything.”

.

There had been fourteen of them.  She knew there had been fourteen of them, because the coach and the driver had both done headcounts, because of the number of people they were allowed to field in each event at this particular meet, and because she remembered that someone had been sick.  But there were, including her, fifteen kids now huddled in something that aesthetically hovered in-between the Parthenon and a shopping mall.  

She couldn’t remember who had been sick.  No one could.  But everyone wanted to convince her that it wasn’t them.  

Probably because she was the one with the sword.  

.

“I think that if there was anything, it would have gone after Danny when he was searching earlier, right?” asked Sam.  

“Maybe,” said Danny.  “Unless it was scared of me.  I am pretty powerful.”

“And if Danny’s Ariadne in this, he was Ariadne at the beginning,” pointed out Tucker.  “The story was already going.  Ariadne never fought the Minotaur.”

“Astarion,” said Danny.  

“Huh?”

“That’s the Minotaur’s actual name,” said Sam.  She frowned slightly.  “He was Ariadne’s half-brother, you know.”

“Yeah,” said Danny, slowly.  “He was, wasn’t he?”

.

“Listen,” said Danica, trying to mask the shake in her voice, “I’m sorry, but– But based on everything, you aren’t who you say you are.”  

There was nothing she could do about how badly the sword was shaking.  

“I am!” said the girl, who couldn’t be there, because Eliza had taken the one place in the 100 meter, and Jaylynn did the javelin, and Lachandra had done the high jump, and no one remembered her competing at all.  “I really am, I promise!”

It was convincing, her act.  But it had to be an act, it really did.

“Dani,” said Lachandra, “is it really that important?  I mean, if we take her with us?  We just want to get out.”

“But she could eat us,” said Kevin, who was a bit of a mythology buff on top of being a track nerd.  “She could– If this is the Minotaur story–  She’ll try to kill us and then–”

“I won’t!” shouted the girl.  Her eyes– For a moment, they changed color.  Red.  Her teeth were sharp, too.

Danica gritted her teeth and swung the sword down.  

.

Danny caught her wrist, panting.  He’d followed the string back.  

“Wait,” he said, breathless.  “Wait.”

“Where–” said Danica, jerking back.  “Why–?”

Danny turned towards the ‘Minotaur.’  “Hi,” he said, trying to be as nonthreatening as possible.  “You’re one of Vlad’s aren’t you?”

Their face shimmered for a moment, and then– It was like looking into a mirror.  This wasn’t Dani - his Dani, Danielle - but a boy with red eyes.  He wore a chiton like Danny’s, but he looked starved, pale, terrified.  

He nodded.  

“There is,” said Danny, cautiously, “another story about escaping from the labyrinth.  How would you like to be Daedalus?”

.

“What was that?” hissed Danica, as they walked away from… whatever that was.  “Why are you here, now, leading us out, when you couldn’t before?”

“Story is different now,” said Danny, tightly.  “And I was leading you out before.  Just with the string.”

“What if you get lost?” asked Kevin.  

Danny grinned at him.  “I won’t.  He isn’t trying to keep you in anymore.”

“Who isn’t?” asked Danica.  

“Daedalus.  Him.  He just wanted out, I think.  Sorry for– I’m sorry about all of this,” said Danny.  “I didn’t want to get other people involved in Amity Park stuff, and I especially didn’t want to get you involved in family stuff, but…”  He shrugged, then caught sight of an out.  It looked, from this side, like a slightly darker than expected gap between stately white pillars.  “Here we go!  And I think this one is next to the police station, too, so just, you know.  Check yourselves in.”

“Just like that?” asked Danica.  

“Just like that,” said Danny.  “I will need those back, though.”  He nodded at the string and sword.  

“Right,” said Danica.  She shoved both at him.  “I can’t believe– I would have kill that– Whatever– Whoever–”  She stopped, looking very much like she wanted to cry.  

“I’m sorry,” said Danny again, softly.  “But it is over now.”

The New Athens kids walked into the gap and vanished.  

The string dissolved into golden, glittering light and then settled in his hands as a pair of equally golden wings.  Danny laughed.  

“Okay,” he said.  He turned, bouncing a little.  “I get the picture.  I think we can avoid the Icarus problem, being ghosts and all.”

[taesancore]

the playlist i never sent

woonhak x f!reader

(𝐈𝐈𝐈) So let’s go see the stars

a/n: so pt.3 took mUch longer than i thought it would-and its not the final part either😭, anyways this one’s a little longer than usual so i hope yall like it!!

🧸.ᐟ series masterlist ❕

🧸.ᐟ genre: f2l, (idiots to lovers🤡), angstfest in this part

🧸.ᐟ warnings: angst, depictions of anxiety and similar symptoms, crying, rich people setting, kind of an emotionally insensitive mother :/, mentions of enhypen’s ni-ki, riize’s anton, seventeen’s jeonghan and dino, lmk if there are more!!

wc: 4981, lowercase intended.

“heyyy rikiii !!” you said brightly as you walked into art class. “what do you want” came the weary of your classmate and partner during art class, nishimura riki. he continued to stare at you suspiciously as you shot him a huge smile, unlike your usual snarky remarks that were a part of your usual banter. but you had to admit, you two made the best duo in art class whenever projects were assigned.

“so are you free this week” you blurted out, watching his expression turn confused.

“no…but why?” he asked. welp.

“nothing really!” you replied in that same cheery voice as you sat down next to him.

“…you’re being weird today” he eyed you as your teacher walked in.

you ignored him, furiously working your mind and thinking of other ways. riki wasn’t an option now…who else was there?

“something’s up isn’t it? tell meee” riki whined as you shushed him.

“…need a date for a business party this week” you muttered, wincing as you

“just ask woonhak” he replied as you huffed.

“he has a date on that day—“

“eh??”

you blinked at his startled exclamation.

“are you sure? but that makes no sense…” riki mumbled. he was positive that the younger boy was madly in love with you, so how on earth was he ready to go on a date with someone who wasn’t you??

you sighed.

“well it’s true so he’s out of the question…do you have anyone who’s willing to accompany me? i’ll even pay if they want!”

“you need a date?? for what?” came a voice from behind you as you jumped.

out of all the people, why did it have to be han jihoon??

“yo woonhak has a date?? who the fuck??” riki questioned jihoon before you could say anything.

“he WHAT??” jihoon squawked, making all the heads in the class turn towards him. mrs. moon sent him a little glare as she continued to silently observe the students, while jihoon muttered an apology.

“woonhak said yes?? to seowon??” he whisper yelled as riki shrugged.

“that’s what y/n said”

“is it true?” he asked you, wide eyed. you nodded as jihoon smacked his forehead.

“wait then why do you need a date? is it a double date?” jihoon questioned further, still unable to fathom the new bit of information he received. just why on earth would woonhak say yes to seowon??

“ah um…did i say date? i meant hate!! yeah i reallly hate riki you know? haha” you laughed, shoving an offended riki beside you as jihoon looked at the two of you with a skeptical gaze.

“that was a pathetic excuse you know” jihoon said bluntly as riki snorted. luckily the bell rang loudly at that moment, saving your sorry ass from replying to jihoon and defending yourself. you squeaked out a quick “goodbye!” before dashing out of the classroom, desperate to avoid any further encounters with him.

phew. god saved you with that one.

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

“still didn’t find anyone?” eunchae asked softly as you two stood in line for lunch. you spent almost the entire day carefully observing your classmates to see whom you could ask. but then it would be weird to straight up go ask any of them to be your date…after all they were just your classmates!

the mere thought of walking up and asking hanjin, or maki or any of your classmates, most of whom you’ve known since elementary and middle school made you cringe, that would remain as an awkward memory forever and that was the last thing you needed amidst all the current drama.

“why just why do i end up doing these kind of things?? even my mom thinks i’ve got a boyfriend now!!” you lamented as eunchae stifled a giggle, remembering yesterday’s events that you had filled her in with the minute you entered school today.

“did i hear that right? have you really got a boyfriend now y/n?” of course your mom had to hear that. she strode towards you with a confused stare as you tried your best to mask your panic.

“that’s right mom, i figured i’d reveal him at the party itself…” you said, words flowing out of you automatically. was this how liars lied so easily? you could become a pro at this rate.

your mom did something unexpected, she beamed at you as eunbin scowled. “that’s great sweetie! i can’t wait to meet him now!” she said as you gaped at her.

now you really needed to find a date—no boyfriend.

“i think i’ll just go dateless chae” you sighed, placing an apple on your tray as the line moved forward. “and let that greaseball eunbin annoy you further? hell no” eunchae scoffed, making you wince at the thought of his smug face if you walked in dateless.

“if only you didn’t go ahead with your plan, woonhak would’ve been your date but noooo you martyred yourself!!” eunchae scolded you for the nth time, and for the first time you found yourself doubting your actions.

but martyring yourself was the best option in this case…he’d be happy with seowon.

“speaking of woonhak, i haven’t seen him all day?” eunchae wondered, missing your guilty expression that took over your face. truth was, you had been avoiding him ever since the seowon incident in the corridor as you had no idea to act around him now.

seowon being around him most of the time made it pretty easy for you, but when she wasn’t, you found yourself hiding behind walls and turning in the opposite direction whenever you saw him nearby.

you wanted to be normal truly…but now that him and seowon were making progress, you had to find a way to keep the green monster inside you at bay…even if it meant ignoring your best friend.

“woonhak? i bet he’s with seowon again, that girl can’t leave him alone to save her life” came the voice of haerin as she joined the queue.

“y/n weren’t you looking for a date?? i know someone who might be of help” she added as you perked up at this information. looks like the world didn’t hate you after all.

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

“yah kim woonhak!!” hollered jihoon the minute he found his friend in the class.

“what the blazes were you thinking? you’re really going on a date with seowon??” he cried as woonhak looked away.

“she might be the dove girl jihoon…i don’t know” woonhak said half heartedly.

“and what about y/n?”

“what about her? she doesn’t like me anyways and you know that!” woonhak snapped, startling the boy next to him.

“i know okay? i know…i like her, fuck i like her so much it hurts, i wish she was the one in the mask that night, things would’ve been easier but what can i do? she’d never see me the same”

jihoon could only watch sadly as his friend hung his head low, clearly overwhelmed with the entire ordeal. clearly this was not the best time to break the news of you having a date to him as a moody and jealous woonhak was not a combination he was ready to deal with at the moment at all.

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

“have you found a date yet?” mr. yoon asked you that evening as you went home from school.

“i think? i’m yet to text him though” you murmured, scrolling through the profile haerin had sent to you.

“i’m still surprised that woonhak has a date, that kid is literally in love with you” jeonghan mused as you scoffed.

you: hi is this taesan?

han taesan: yes, are you y/n?

you: yes, i’m assuming haerin told you about sunday’s event…i hope you’re free?

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

the only time han jihoon had seen his friend woonhak lose his shit was once when he accidentally deleted his entire project which he was partnered with you for, and when he heard that their senior yang jungwon had a thing for you. both the times, you were involved when he exploded and it was always jihoon who served as his emotional support.

but today? jihoon could tell he was close to losing his shit over his date, with the amount of texts seowon had been bombarding him with since yesterday but his usual signs of him normally losing his shit were…unusual today.

“so...did y/n talk to you?” he asked casually, trying to bring up a familiar and favourite topic to help him analyse why woonhak was currently expressionless as he rummaged through jihoon’s wardrobe.

“It’s been 6 days since she has—hey where’s that red jacket of your’s?”

“six days?!”

woonhak hummed as he pulled out a simple denim jacket, matching it with his outfit, one that he wore often when y/n would drag him to the cafe near her house— stop. stop thinking about her.

“anyways, forget about y/n for now, are you excited for the date??” jihoon quipped as woonhak put his phone down, unbothered to open the endless row of unread messages from seowon.

“I’m only doing this to find out if she’s the dove girl jihoon, and to return her earring of course” woonhak sighed as he turned towards his friend.

“honestly, I’d be more excited if y/n texted me right now instead of seowon” he chuckled bitterly as jihoon’s pursed his lips.

“ayo woonhak—isn’t y/n l/n your girl??” came the voice of jihoon’s brother taesan as he entered the room.

“yes—but what happened?” Jihoon questioned before woonhak could deny him

“why’d she ask me to be her date then…what a small world” taesan mumbled to himself as jihoon’s eyes widened.

“she wHAT??” if woonhak was expressionless earlier, he sure wasn’t now with his current nonplussed state as jihoon winced. what a small world indeed.

“s-so you were the date..” jihoon stuttered as woonhak turned to glare at him.

“you knew about this?? why didn’t you tell me—I’m gonna kill you han jihoon—“

“I couldn’t risk dealing with your hormonal ass if I told you?? you’ve got a date too anyways!!” jihoon cried as woonhak sputtered, still trying to fathom the news he just heard.

why would she even need a date unless—

He took in taesan’s attire, a neat blazer with shirt—a business party again.

“hyung” he spoke out as jihoon and taesan looked at him

“you can’t go with her”.

seowon: woonhak im near the ferris wheel! Are you here yet?

seowon: you must be running late, I’ll be near the carousel, ive taken cotton candy for the two of us!

seowon: it’s been half an hour already…is there a lot of traffic?

seowon: woonhak?

seowon: will you be coming today..?

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

you were a mess. and your day was going to be a mess too. and it was all taesan’s fault. the emo looking guy had bailed in the last minute and now you were back to square one: dateless.

mom is gonna kill me, you thought as you politely greeted some of your moms colleagues, trying not to visibly wince because of the tightness of the threads of your dress that were tied near your waist.

your heart was thumping loudly in your ears as you felt beads of sweat forming on your forehead. god please, now was not the time. you spotted your mother entering the ballroom of the hotel as people clad in fancy suits and dresses stopped by to chat with her. you scowled as you spotted eunbin too, hair greased back with gell and all as he smiled artificially at his father’s friends.

“y/n darling! there she is my daughter!” your mom called out, smiling widely as she beckoned you over to her work seniors.

“this is my daughter—darling where’s your date?” you gulped at her camouflaged glare and slight change in tone, which went unnoticed by the people around you.

“he’s gonna be here soon mom, don’t worry—it’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am” you simpered with a huge smile, eyes darting away from your moms as you tried to focus on anything—anything else other than her, or eunbin at that moment.

the world went blurry around you, you weren’t sure for how many minutes or seconds it lasted but once your vision cleared, you registered one of your moms colleagues—executive lee who was introducing his son to your mother.

“…graduated last year, and he’s off to yale soon, my son chanyoung!” he beamed as your mom gushed at this information. the boy—was he your senior? chanyoung looked like he’d rather be anywhere else but at the party as he sent a nervous smile at your mom who was still raving about his studies.

“that must be so exciting!! i’m sure you’d have a lovely time at yale dear, it’s so nice to see young people working so hard…if only my y/n could be like you, congratulations chanyoung!!” your mother smiled widely at him as her seniors expressed their congratulations too.

you merely laughed along at her statement, avoiding chanyoung’s sympathetic expression towards you as you ignored the familiar pang of bitterness inside you. this wasn’t anything new after all, if anything you had gotten better at masking your hurt.

“you bet he will! my son was just like you y/n dear, but look at him now!” executive lee boomed as he gave his son a mighty pat (more like a slap) to his back as he winced.

lee chanyoung looked like he was a second away from running out of the hall with the way everyone was surrounding him now; you could make out eunbin’s envy as he smoothened his jacket, while conversing with some of the other children of the businessmen in the party and shooting poor chanyoung the occasional glare.

“y/n dear where is your date? is he running late?” you didn’t miss the hint of distaste in your mom’s tone as she questioned you again, still maintaining her polite persona in front of her seniors.

“yeah, where is he y/n? did he dump you?” eunbin joined the conversation, further escalating your growing anxiety.

“don’t be silly! he’s probably stuck in traffic—it’s a sunday after all” you laughed softly, smiling lightly as your mom continued to look at you suspiciously. your vision tunnelled again as you racked through your brain for solutions, anything to escape this situation.

“are you sure? i’d be surprised if your, ah imaginary boyfriend does somehow show up” oh how badly you wished this slimeball had a mute button. some of your mom’s colleagues turned towards you two, interested in the conversation as chanyoung who was still in the group near you shot you a look of concern, the only one observant enough who noticed your tensed state.

“but hey…i’m always here in case you—“

“kim woonhak?” came a soft voice—from chanyoung as you turned around. woonhak?

“woonhak?!” your echo of disbelief attracted quite a few people’s eyes as you brought a hand to your mouth. red-faced, you bowed out apologies fervently as kim woonhak, decked in a neat black jacket with a white shirt underneath and black pants—oh wow, walked towards you with his usual smile.

“i’m so sorry i came late—mrs.l/n you look lovely as usual” woonhak greeted your mom as he gave her a bouquet of flowers. it hadn’t even been a minute and he already charmed your mom, you couldn’t believe kim woonhak. scratch that, you couldn’t believe your current situation right now seriously why is he here—

“so you’re y/n’s date?” eunbin butted in again—the urge to tape his mouth together was so strong. he eyed woonhak up and down as you glared at him.

“boyfriend actually, and you are-?”

you knew that woonhak knew who eunbin was, but that was the least of your concerns right now because

boyfriend?!

one one hand you felt like you were in a netflix drama, where the males had one of those dramatic stare offs. woonhak’s usually cheery tone was replaced with an air of coolness, a tone which was quite unfamiliar for you who had at the most, heard him whine out complaints occasionally.

on the other hand, you were frozen on spot as one of his arm went around your waist, pulling you closer to him. eunbin’s scoff drowned in the sea of the chatters from your mom and her colleagues as he strode away. but you didn’t care. your mind was floating once again and you weren’t sure if your heart was pounding from the earlier nerves or his arm around your waist now.

“i knew it—it took you two long enough didn’t it?” came chanyoung’s sly voice as he beamed at woonhak—riight he was on woonhak’s dance team, you failed to recognise it as he had dyed his hair a deep red, unlike his previous dark hair.

“anton sunbae! how’ve you been!” woonhak made his classic little woah of surprise as he in for a bro handshake.

“if yall are done with your bromance—woonhak, a word?” you tugged on his arm at the last bit as chanyoung waved a goodbye at you two.

once you pulled him outside the hall near the fountain lit garden, you faced him.

“what are you doing here?? and where’s taesan?” you burst out.

“seriously? not even a thank you?!” he scoffed, folding his arms.

“and what did you mean by boyfriend?! last time i checked we’ve been together since never!!”

“what—does the idea of being my girlfriend sound that bad??” he quoted your words from earlier, shooting you a glare that mirrored your own which was directed at him.

“i’m being serious woonhak—oh my god your date?? what are you doing here right now?!” your voice grew higher with each word as it dawned on him. right. his date.

“oh god i—no im so confused right now—why would you miss your date—how’d you find out about the party?!” you continued rambling, mind spinning as you began registering what happened. woonhak missed his date to come here? why was he here?

“why the fuck are you worrying about that date y/n—seriously is that what you’re panicking about right now?” he said incredulously as you continued to walk around in circles, the only thing going on in your mind right now was woonhak missed his date. and it’s somehow my fault.

“i swear to god—i don’t get why you didn’t tell me about today?? you didn’t have to hunt around for a date when i’m right here y/n!!” he could feel his temper rising but he didn’t care, woonhak really was feeling quite betrayed about you keeping things from him—was this why you were avoiding him?

“you’ve avoided me for a week y/n—and i don’t even know why!! and now you’re worrying about my date when i came all the way here for you??”

he finished angrily, breathing loudly as you finally stopped pacing around, freezing as you looked at him with a broken look.

“i-“

it was too much. you had successfully pissed woonhak off. your previous anxiety came crashing down as a tidal wave of emotions swept across you. it was too much, god you missed him so much but you fucked everything up. everything was too much, the past week had been hell for you and it all came crashing down as you let out a sob you had been holding in for god knows how long.

“i’m sorry—god i’m sorry woonhak, i’m so sorry”

you couldn’t keep your composure for longer, sinking onto the wet grass as tears freely trailed down your cheeks and fell on the fabric of your dress as you hung your head low.

“wait—shit, y/n—“

he made you cry. woonhak wanted to kill himself at that moment, seeing you cry because of him? fuck his temper, that stupid temper that made him lose control of his words. he wasted no time in bending down to your level as he pulled you into a hug, his hold on you was firm and tight as you sobbed your heart out into his chest.

“i’m sorry…it’s too much” you said between sobs, confusing him. he still held you, shuffling slightly so that your smaller frame was now nestled in his lap as he felt you first the back of his jacket tightly as your tears stained his shirt.

“what’s too much—y/n what aren’t you telling me?” he pleaded as you continued to let out choked out apologies while hiccuping out tears.

“can’t…breathe” you gasped between tears as he loosened his grip. huh—oh. his hands reached out to the ridiculously tight knotted satin around your waist as he pulled them out. you continued to breathe in heavily as he squeezed his eyes shut. what had he done??

“shh breathe…breathe in y/n..” he whispered as you let out another “i’m sorry”.

“no..i’m sorry y/n—fuck i didn’t mean any of it” he murmured as he lightly rocked you while gently stroking your hair.

woonhak thought his heart broke when he realised that you’d never feel the same way as he felt for you, but he was sure it physically broke today as he heard you whimper out a “please don’t get mad at me” while you trembled like a leaf in his arms. he silently vowed into the dusky skies that he’d never ever make you cry again, or he’d really die of misery.

“i’m sorry…for everything. and i missed you so much” he felt you mumble into his shirt as your breathing reduced its pace. you loosened your fists as you let go of his now crumpled jacket, small hands rested themselves on his back as you continued to sniffle lightly.

“im sorry for your date…i know i fucked it up—“

“shh. you didn’t do anything okay? i chose to come here instead and i’d do it anyday” woonhak said softly but firmly, and you knew that was the last time you’d be bringing up that topic again.

“i missed you too y’know” he murmured, resting his head above yours as he continued to comb his fingers through your strands.

the two of you sat in silence in the grass, the music from inside the hall floated softly though the garden as you began to calm down. inwardly, you didn’t want to leave the comfort of woonhak’s warm embrace, his arms felt like a second home.

reluctantly, you pulled away from his warmth and sat back on the grass as you found yourself face to face with a devastated woonhak.

“you look like a puppy who’s been kicked” you let out a watery giggle as he gaped at your change in demeanour.

“and you look like someone who’s failed at applying their mascara” he said as you let out a full blown laugh. he started laughing too as he heard you struggle to hold in your laughs and just like that, the ugly fight was forgotten.

“woonhak” you said once the two of you calmed down.

“let’s go see the stars”

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

“so you’re telling me taesan is jihoon’s brother?! oh my god what are the odds?” you marvelled as woonhak snorted.

“i still don’t get why you asked him though, like hello i’m right here??”

you could hear the pout in his voice as you smiled. the two of you were currently on the roof of your house, the telescope lied abandoned as you two lied on your backs, gazing at the night sky which was freckled with stars.

“i didn’t wanna ruin your date…” you admitted slowly as woonhak turned towards you. his previously neat hair now lied messily on his forehead, tousled by the gentle night winds.

“why are you like this…always placing others ahead of yourself” he chided softly as you turned to face him too.

“i don’t like seowon like that, and i don’t think i ever will” he confessed as your brows flew up. what??

“then whom were you talking about?!”

“huh?”

“huh?” you echoed back, cursing yourself inwardly for letting that slip out.

“…anyways, don’t ever do that again..putting yourself before others, especially with me” he emphasised, eyes boring into yours.

“i’ll try” you said lightly, facing the sky again as he did the same. all you could think about right now was how the two of you watched the stars just like this at school during the ball, except this time there were no masks involved.

“you know…we did this at the ball too” woonhak chuckled softly as you stilled.

“me and the dove girl…we looked at the stars after we danced, just like this”

you kept your mouth shut as he continued to reminisce, fearing that you’d blurt out something else again if you spoke up.

“i never told you this…but she kissed me y’know” he said bashfully as he avoided your eyes.

“do you like her?” you questioned slowly as he furrowed his brows.

“nah. i don’t think i do” he said after a beat as he faced you.

“do you like someone though?” you continued, more curious than ever now that he told you that it was never seowon whom he liked.

“…i do, but she’d never like me back” woonhak said slowly. truthfully, he had no idea why he was out here confessing his secrets to you. but why did you look so sad when he said that?

no way. he needed to stop bringing his hopes up for the smallest of gestures.

“are you upset that i didn’t tell you?” he asked softly as you shook your head.

“i don’t believe that she doesn’t like you back y’know” you said, trying to conceal your previous downcast expression. and you meant it, how could anyone not like him?

“whoever she is…she’s a lucky girl woonhak, you’re a really precious person” you whispered as you moved closer to him, still looking at him in the eyes.

“really?” he asked you with a small voice.

“really.”

there was a soft expression on his face as he smiled at you, before pulling you into a tender hug. you snuggled into his warmth for the second time that night as his arms encircled your smaller frame, his faint heartbeat thudding against your ear.

“you’re a really precious person too y/n” he murmured, kissing the crown of your head silently as you hummed. and he meant it, he really did.

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

“look at the two of them, god i can’t take this anymore” lee chan made a sound that was a mixture of disgust and endearment as jeonghan snickered next to him.

“i don’t think they know that we can see them” he continued, watching you and woonhak cuddle on the uneven roof of the house from below, where the car was parked. “they’re so in love it’s sickening”

“nah, they’re both so oblivious it’s sickening” jeonghan corrected as he hopped off the car’s opened boot, enjoying the fresh night breeze.

“wait— they aren’t dating?!” chan cried in disbelief, eyes darting back to the love struck teenagers on top who were now exchanging some more silent words.

“how do you not know their lore by now…” jeonghan sighed, heading back towards the car as chan prepared himself, eager to learn about the history of you and woonhak.

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

“alright guys! i’ll be assigning you in pairs, please hold hands and don’t get lost in the museum!” you looked around nervously, dreading whoever your teacher was going to assign you with. middle school trips were supposed to be fun but you were terrified in the crowded museum, bustling with kids from other school younger and older than you.

“y/n and woonhak!” your teacher’s voice rang out as you raised your hand. a smiley boy caught your eye, waving happily as he ran up to you.

“hi i’m woonhak!! you’re y/n right?” you shyly avoided his eyes, hesitantly holding out your hand for him to shake it. mom always taught you that shaking someone’s hand is a sign of expressing politeness.

he shook your hand quizzically, then proceeded to hold it tightly as your group walked behind your teacher. you glanced at your hand in his, heart thumping fiercely as he smiled at you again.

“woah!! aren’t those dinosaurs?” he exclaimed excitedly when you two stopped near the prehistoric section.

“yep, they’re stegosaurus, they’re herbivores” you said softly as he turned towards you. “you like dinosaurs?”

“yeah..” you mumbled, trying to blend into the background once again as he beamed at you.

“i love dinosaurs too! what’s your favourite one??”

soon the two of you found yourselves strolling through the prehistoric section, hands still interlinked as your school group was far forgotten. he would excitedly point towards the displays of early men and prehistoric creatures as you tried to remember information about them.

“ooh they’re homo erectus! they’re one of the earliest human species” you quipped up as woonhak snickered at the name. “seriously stop” you giggled with him as you two dissolved into a fit of laughter.

“i thought i wouldn’t be able to make friends with you” he said once you two calmed down. “you’re really quiet..but you’re so cool during science class” he said shyly as your cheeks bloomed pink.

“are we..friends now then?” you asked with a small smile as he broke out into a large grin. “hell yeah we are—hey where’s mrs. shim?!”

later that evening when you two got scolded soundly by mrs. shim for wandering away in the huge museum, the two of you left her office with large smiles instead. you were thrilled at making a new friend and woonhak was overjoyed as he finally got to talk to the cool girl from his science class.

꒰ 💭 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

you had no idea how you were back in your room, or how you were now on your bed with woonhak fast asleep next to you. did he carry you down here?

you slowly got up from the bed as you tiptoed into the empty hall, the clock currently read 3:12am which meant your mom was either still at the party or on her way back.

you crept back into your room as you took in its messy state, the reason being you and eunchae hunting for the perfect dress for the party the day before. your closet was open with clothes strewn haphazardly in it—

oh my god. oh my—

your stomach lurched as you nearly zoomed towards your closet, shutting it close as you nearly gasped out for air. you stood in front of the closet with your back plastered to it, as woonhak continued to soundly sleep. had he seen it? there was no way he could’ve missed it…what if he did see it?

it wasn’t your fault, you truly didn’t expect woonhak of all people to enter your room while you were rummaging through your wardrobe the day before. yeah, he could’ve missed seeing it. maybe he did.

the only thing you could do was silently pray, that he missed the sight of your peach coloured dress you wore to the ball. despite it being hung neatly next to all the gowns you owned in the previously wide open closet, you prayed that he somehow missed it.

you didn’t want to think about the possibilities that could occur in case he did see it. you really didn’t.

a/n pt.2: yes, i had to add anton to this, blame his new hairstyle not me😓😓.once again i’m so sorry that this took so long for me to write😭😭, i’m ngl this isn’t proofread rn but i’ll get to it by tonight!! tysm for reading this and being patient with my extremely annoying uploading schedule~ :,)

🖇️: @woonagi-lemon @huhuiiiisworld @helpsplease @jmclouds @minkkumaz @woonsbot @unhakki @dearly-somber

[cyb-by-lang]

Today's snippet (8/6/2024)

(So, because of MHA ending, I got inspired to write a bit of an alternate take on the last arc of Shell Game. Here, have a snippet! There will be more to come.)

There was a pause for a moment. “Hey, can I ask you a question before we get started? It’s not about homework.”

“Fair’s fair,” Kei replied. It wasn’t like she had a ton of other activities to pursue right now. “I ask things all the time. What did you need to know?”

Hitoshi hesitated for at least ten seconds. “Remember how when we were at the hospital, you walked out for a bit?”  

Kei felt the frown pinch her brows together even as she processed the strange tone in Hitoshi’s voice. He sounded strained. Not quite sad, but like he’d been holding something back and the weight was going to come off his chest whether he wanted or not. Might as well avoid getting crushed. Kei had pretty good reflexes for it.

“Yeah, I—” 

There was a noise on his end that sounded rather strange. Somewhere between a noise of frustration—which suited Kei’s mood well—and maybe a muffled curse. It didn’t sound like Hitoshi, since his voice hovered around a bass note when it didn’t crack. The other voice was higher, more energetic than Hitoshi ever was, except for the immediate aftermath of finding out Aizawa wanted to train him.

“Hitoshi-kun?”

“I’m fine. I just…I need to think about how I want to say this.” As though that wasn’t ominous. Alarm klaxons blared in Kei’s head. “And my neighbors are being loud as hell. ” 

“Wouldn’t know,” Kei said. Her neighbors were all elderly and occasionally asked her to help adjust their furniture. The Suzuhara couple could be especially annoying about two-centimeter placement discrepancies, which wasted about half of Kei’s afternoon after the second Stain incident. “Mine are old, so they’re probably already in bed.”

“Ha. Give me a second to go deal with this.”

Kei huffed a short laugh and went to go grab her science homework, putting her phone on speaker mode and leaving it on the table. Hitoshi would come back and nag her about something in a minute, but it was still better to hear him distantly complaining about inconsiderate neighbors. With her boys sidelined in Konoha, it felt nice to hear another human voice without having to turn the TV on. Even if it did sound like he planned to interrogate her. 

She was just returning to the table, in the middle of kicking her school bag back onto her futon, when there was a loud crack from the other side of the call. Like wood splintering.

“Who the hell are you?” Hitoshi’s voice was tinny and distant, as though he was at least a few meters away from his phone. Had he set it down to go to the door? What was happening? Even warped like that, Kei could hear the hardened edge in that tone and already felt her heart rate spike.

Though a question was loud and clear in her brain, Kei snapped her mouth shut rather than give voice to the automatic, worried exclamation of his name. If she somehow broke his focus when he sounded like that—

“Isn’t he cute, Mr. Compress?” 

[sunscreenstudies]

A Step-by-Step Guide for Socially Anxious Email Senders

Read the horrible, horrible email you have to reply to and then feel relief at the fact that "well, at least it's not a phone call!"

Determine what parts you have to reply to i.e. if they asked you a question about something or if there's a part where you need to ask them a question about something

Set a timer for 2 min, 5 min, or 10 min depending on the importance of the email, but no longer!

Write your greeting: "Hi [their first name]" for friendlies, "Dear Mr/Ms/Dr [their last name]" for acquaintances

Write your ending (Yes, we're doing this now before we write anything else): "Best wishes, [your first name]" for friendlies, "Kind Regards, [your first and last name]" for acquaintances

Write "Hope you're well!" This is a game changer because now they know you're thinking of them BUT they don't feel like they have to answer in the way that typing "How are you?" does. Plus, the exclamation mark always helps to lighten up an email that otherwise might feel stuffy.

Answer their questions. If they asked multiple, then split up your answers with filler phrases such as "In relation to...", "In regard to...", "As for...", etc. Finish your paragraph with "I hope this helps, but if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask!"

Ask your questions. If you don't have any questions, then find the most complicated/unclear part of their email, rephrase it, and throw it in after a "Just a quick note to confirm my understanding of the project: [the rephrased bit]". This will let them know that you did thoroughly read their email, and it also provides them with an excuse to email you back with "yes, you're right" or "actually..." which removes the awkwardness they might be feeling as to whether there's any need to reply to your email or not. Finish your paragraph with "Thank you!" (it never hurts to be nice)

Check for spelling or grammar mistakes (if you don't have an extension like Grammarly, then copy and paste your email into Google Docs/Word doc/LibraOffice doc/etc. to check for errors there. Once you've corrected them, copy and paste the corrected text back into your email, replacing the original text)

Reread your email three times. Look at me. Look. At. Me. Three times. That's it! No more and no less! Your timer should have gone off by now, so times up, tough luck, you have to send it, the timer said so. If your timer hasn't gone off yet, then congrats! You beat the clock! Now let's celebrate by sending that horrible email immediatley.

Check your "sent" email box once - just once - to make sure that your email did successfully send and to shut up that part of your brain that's going "but what if they didn't get it?!" They got it. Exit your email browser/app.

Turn your phone/laptop on "do not disturb", leave your desk, make yourself a big mug of something hot (I personally prefer black tea, but you could make tea, coffee, hot chocolate, soup, etc. - whatever you enjoy the most!). Bonus Points: If you're at home or in an enclosed office, then throw on your favourite song or a dancing playlist, and spend five minutes dancing and shaking off that nervous energy before getting back to work. Congratulations: You did it!

[synthapostate]

@lastdaysofwar, Day 5: Co-Pilot Swap/Drive Suits (Tendo Choi, Tendo’s Baby, Mako Mori, Raleigh Beckett)

It’s not the little guy’s first Halloween, but it is his first with Daddy. Now that there’s not a war on, the family can finally be together, and Tendo intends to make every moment count.

Little Oscar’s first Halloween, when he was just learning to pull himself up by the furniture and hadn’t yet taken his first steps, Allison dressed him up as a jack o’lantern and took him around the neighborhood in a stroller stuffed full of beanbag pumpkins. He was cute as a button, and Tendo showed the pictures to anyone who would stand still long enough to look. But this year, the kid has opinions of his own, and Tendo has gone all out to make his buddy’s dreams a reality.

Before they get started, they walk over to Mako and Raleigh’s apartment to show off what they’ve put together. It’s a good thing those two have settled so close to Tendo and Allison’s new place; there’s nothing this kid loves more than showing off for his grownup friends.

Raleigh answers the door, dressed all in white, with a Princess Leia cinnamon bun wig not quite settled on his head.

“Aren’t you a little short to be a stormtrooper?” he asks.

“Ranger,” Oscar corrects sternly.

“Right, sorry, ranger.” Raleigh looks over Oscar’s costume and nods in approval. “That is an excellent drivesuit, little man.”

Mako comes up behind him—all in black, one black glove, and a plastic lightsaber clipped to her belt—and makes all the necessary exclamations over their costumes, even though she’s already seen them. Mako did the airbrushing that turned Tendo’s generic robot suit into a realistic jaeger. But it’s Oscar’s tiny drivesuit that she oohs and ahs over, to the kiddo’s immense pride.

“And what is your jaeger’s name, Ranger Choi?” she asks, surreptitiously straightening Raleigh’s wig as she moves alongside him.

“Daddy,” Oscar says, and then frowns. Like any kid in the modern era, he knows a fighting robot needs a two-word designation, so he adds, “‘Splosions.”

“Daddy Explosions, ready for duty!” Making his best approximation of the mechanical creaks and groans of a jaeger’s movement, Tendo grabs the kiddo and swings him up in the air. Oscar shrieks with laughter. “Engaging drop!” He settles his little boy on his shoulders. Oscar winds both hands into his hair and just about yanks it out of his scalp, and all Tendo can do is grin. “Coupling confirmed! Engaging pilot-to-pilot protocol.”

“Uh-oh,” says Raleigh, in that deeply serious tone he always uses with the little guy. “You flying solo, or do you have a copilot?”

“Um…Mako,” the kiddo decides.

“What? You’re stealing my drift partner?”

“My Mako.”

“I can’t believe this!” Raleigh hangs his head in exaggerated sorrow. Sometimes that’s enough to make the little guy relent, but today he’s not in the mood to be nice.

“Sorry,” Mako says. “Looks like I have a new partner now.”

“Noooooooo!” Raleigh falls to the ground in despair. Oscar giggles.

“It will be an honor to fight by your side, Mr. Choi.” Mako breaks character for just a second to tickle Oscar under his chin.

“Hey, I think there’s something you should know,” Raleigh says from the floor.

“What?”

“I’m the one who has all the candy.”

Oscar squirms on Tendo’s shoulders, thinking that over. He knows he’s going trick-or-treating an hour from now, and that he’ll be coming home with more candy than he can possibly eat in one sitting. But there’s a chance Raleigh will give him candy now, and Raleigh is a soft touch who can be counted on not to know how much sugar is good for growing boys.

“So, what’ll it be, kiddo? You want to drift with the lady, or you want a king sized Three Musketeers?”

That’s a tough question, but Oscar has his answer. After all, he lives in a world with no more monsters to fight. He’ll never have to think about drift compatibility except for fun, but chocolate is serious business. He looks down at Raleigh from his great height and says, very seriously, “Trick or treat.”

[nekohime19]

Mini Mac # 23 : Monkey King wagging tail

They meet Zhu Bajie and Wukong has trouble hiding his feelings for our lil guy.

Sun Wukong was looking down at the monkey slumbering in his heart-pocket with a fond expression, often than not, he caressed the top of his head with the pad of his finger. His lil ears always fluttered when he did so. The sage was so focused on Macaque he didn't realize Sanzang and Ao Lie were looking at him with curious expressions.

“You really like Macaque!” Sun Wukong startled at the sudden exclamation and turned towards the pearl-white horse. It was difficult to see what Ao Lie was feeling when he was wearing the face of a horse but the golden-furred monkey believed he saw a flicker of amusement in those jade-eyes. Sanzang seemed to be equally as curious but seemingly too nervous (and perhaps too afraid) to ask, simply occasionally glancing his way.

“He's my friend.” Replied Wukong, trying to be nonchalant about it.

“Your tail was wagging though.” Pointed out Ao Lie.

“N-no, it was not.” Refuted the sage.

“I'm pretty sure it was.” Answered Ao Lie, what was the most infuriating about his tone for Wukong was the fact the dragon-horse wasn't even trying to be smug, he was simply pointing out the evidence. Wukong would never admit it though.

“You're blind then.” Huffed Wukong as he crossed his arms.

“I didn't know monkeys’ tails wagged when they were happy. That's cool.” Chuckled the dragon-horse.

“That's not–my tail was not wagging.”

“It was.”

“It wasn't.”

“It was.”

“It wasn't.”

“It wasn’t.”

“It was!” Then Wukong frowned and took some time to understand he was tricked. “You little-”

“'l-look at that! A village! Let's go.” Interrupted Sanzang with a nervous chuckle as he pulled the reins to go faster.

Before entering the village they crossed paths with Gao Cai, a youngster looking around for someone strong enough to kill a demon. According to Gao Cai the village was called Gao, and he was sent by the elder of his family, Old Mr Gao, to look for someone powerful. Old Mr Gao was tricked into marrying his daughter to a villainous fiend after the fiend in question disguised himself as a handsome fellow. Sanzang felt compelled to help them and as such Wukong promised he would take care of this matter. They went to Old Mr Gao's house and met the daughter married to the fiend.

Macaque stretched and woke up as the golden-furred monkey was prying information from the daughter.

“What's going on?” Asked Macaque, his lil eyes dropping from drowsiness.

“Demon problem.” Briefly replied Wukong, he entertained the idea of disguising himself as the daughter and tricking the demon but then he looked down at Macaque and bit his lips… No, he didn't want to do that, especially not if Macaque could watch. He couldn't disguise himself as someone else's spouse, what if Macaque got the wrong idea? Sun Wukong decided instead to confront the demon upfront.

The golden-furred monkey carefully took Macaque and gave him to Sanzang. The monk took the lil monkey and gulped at the sage heavy gaze.

“You protect Mac… and Master I guess.” Said Wukong as he turned to Ao Lie. The dragon-horse (who returned to his human form) straightened and nodded, but then his feet got caught in his overly long robe and he fell face first on the floor. Wukong pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“You're okay?” Called Macaque with an amused smile.

“Ouch, I just fell down and bonked my brain cage.” Chuckled Ao Lie with a good-natured smile.

“Well… You sound okay.” Snorted Macaque, he then turned towards Wukong. “Don't go overboard.”

“I never go overboard.” Replied Wukong, he shrinked a little at Macaque's heavy gaze. “Maybe I did go a little overboard with the Guanyin Hall on fire incident buuut, technically, I wasn't the one who put it on fire. But, okay, I will not go overboard, I promise.”

“Good. I'll groom you after, you need good grooming.” Sun Wukong chirped happily at the prospect of Macaque grooming him, his tail wagged a bit.

“The tail is wa-” Sun Wukong put his tail on Ao Lie's mouth to stop his blabber.

After this, Wukong waited for the fiend and attacked him at first sight. It was a pig welding a rake. He was a surprisingly sturdy foe, even if he tried to flee when he first caught sight of Wukong. Somehow, after battling for hours and chasing after the pig, they both realized the pig was also chosen by Guanyin as a companion. Wukong doubted Guanyin's taste in companions but he pulled the pig by the ear in front of Sanzang nevertheless.

Zhu Bajie, as the pig was called, joined the pilgrims and gave up on his wedlock. He whined about it the whole time they left the village.

“Ah, my poor wife. I will miss her.” Whined Bajie as he clutched his rake in misery.

“I doubt she'll miss you.” Grumbled Wukong under his breath.

“What's that, Monkey? You got something to say?” Replied Bajie with a glare.

“I'm saying your ex-wife will not miss you.” Answered Wukong with a smug smile.

“What do you know about a wife's feelings? You’ll never get married.” Snorted Bajie. Wukong narrowed his eyes, angry, because he did want to get married, just not with a wife. But the sage didn't reply, instead he turned away with a huff and enjoyed Macaque's grooming. The lil monkey was sitting on top of his head, grooming his fur with his lil paws. “Your tail is wagging.” Pointed out Bajie with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah ha ! The tail is indeed wagging.” Exclaimed Ao Lie with a smug smile, Sanzang hid his snorts with one of his sleeves.

“Don't worry, Wukong. Wagging tails are cute.” Reassured Macaque as he patted Wukong's forehead.

Wukong just hid himself in his hands, embarrassed by his treacherous wagging tail.

+ memes

+ cut scenes

Bajie *seeing Wukong wagging tail and how Wukong is more kind to Mac* : Ohhh, I see how it is now 😈

Wukong : why do I have chills? 😅

 

Ao Lie *to Wukong* : Can I braid you like Macaque does?? 😆

Wukong : no 🙄

Macaque *to Wukong* : Can I teach Ao Lie how to make braids with your fur?

Wukong : yes 🥰

And so Ao Lie learn how to make braids with Macaque by using Wukong's fur.

 

Sanzang : Ah, now with one more companion things will get easier! 😊

Wukong and Bajie bickering and running after one another, causing chaos.

Sanzang : 🥲

Macaque : don't worry kiddo. With a bit of luck they'll tire themselves before going to bed. 😌

Sanzang : They're treated like children. 😭

Ch1 / Previous / Next

[philtstone]

we are far too young and clever

chapter 3

Summary: Aunt Karen’s jacket is gray like the albatross’s wings; Molly likes it. She doesn’t like the tight careful way her voice comes out. It makes her feel like there are a lot of things that aren’t being said.

“About the MacIntyre case? She’s set to testify tomorrow.”

“I know,” says Uncle Gus, sounding like he knows a lot. Molly frowns, and looks into the office, and hugs her flashcards to her chest.

The People asked for an angsty one so i delivered! tried something different with this one by returning to my little kid pov roots!! not 100% on how it concludes but i think it captured enough of what i wanted to explore? ive always liked how rarely shawn and juliet fight in the show but i also wanted to play around w it a little bit. be gentle with me! enjoy <3

Molly kicks her legs in time with the clock on the wall. 

Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick. One two one two one two three four. Molly’s great at counting. She’s great at addition too. She can remember which number she started with in her head and what it looks like before she breaks it up to add to the next one. Ms. Delaney, her kindergarten teacher, says this makes her advanced for her age, which is a word she and Jay found once in Uncle Gus's old spelling bee workbooks. She likes it when the smaller numbers carry, like they’re jumping from one side of the bed to another. She likes to pretend that adding one number to another to make it bigger is kind of like two people making friends. Molly loves her friends. They are, in order, Junior; then Fish; then Yasmine from the other kindergarten class; then Mr. Snufalluffapus the stuffed elephant. When Jay, who is her best friend, is around, Molly feels bigger – and cooler and braver, and she has more fun than when she’s alone. She feels bigger and cooler and braver around Mommy and Daddy too, even though they’re Mommy and Daddy and so in a different category altogether.

She doesn’t like subtracting. Mommy tells her it uses the same part of her head to do it so it shouldn’t be scary, but she doesn’t like to see the numbers get smaller and break apart. It feels mean, or like she’s making them have a fight.

“— told you not to butt in on this case. Instead, that might actually be all you’ve been doing since the second it landed on my desk —“

“Jules, zero butts are involved in this situation! This is me, asking you –”

“You’re not asking, Shawn!”

“What! Every statement I’ve made since Tuesday has been posed as a question!” 

“Well I’ve known you long enough to know that those question marks are exclamation marks in disguise! They don’t question, Shawn, they exclaim!”

One time when Molly was three, she and Jay had a fight. It was about Mr. Snufalluffapus; Molly was being self-fish (a word that makes her giggle because it’s got fish in it — Fish is so funny looking and cute all the time!) and she wouldn’t let Jay hold him.

“Uncle Gus?” Molly asks quietly, swinging her legs.

“What’s up, kiddo.”

“I think Fish is lonely.”

read more on ao3

[4fatal0error4]

please ask me questions about these two sillies.

(not that im scratching at the bars of my enclosure or anything..)

[bucketspammer4life]

how i think the boxers text

i was bored. also clay puppington looks like don flamenco to me somehow. goodbye

Glass joe - he would type with extra double spaces and use a lot of emojis for the wrong purposes with random capital letters

Example:

"hello. Have you seen my water bottle?"

"aran. is. in the hospital 🤯🤯🤯 call Later!! 🗣️"

Von Kaiser - okay grammar and uses a space before question marks & exclamation points, uses emojis in the intended (boring) way

Example:

"okay !! on my way !! 🚶🏻‍♂️🚶🏻‍♂️🚶🏻‍♂️"

"aran fell down a pothole !! It is NOT 🙅‍♂️ funny !!"

Disco Kid - uses slang often and gets creative with emojis, likes to use keyboard smashes to laugh and leaves typos in for flavor

Example:

"aran really said 🕳️⬅️🏃‍♂️"

"HELP IM EVAPORATEINF😭😭😭😭 LMAO AHKAJSJSJSJSNNSNS PLEASEE"

"YOURW GOING TO JAIL FOR THAT ONE 👮‍♂️👮‍♂️🚔🚔🚨🚨 WEE WOO WEE WOO"

King Hippo - Really ominous messages, texts like hes telling you hes done a mission, sometimes forgets to use a dot and uses a comma instead, sometimes responds with emojis that have 0 relevance

Example:

"oh no,"

"I took care of him. The job is done."

" 🍝🤯"

Piston Hondo - squeaky clean grammar, uses emojis rarely unless he forgets the name of something

Example:

"Alright. I'll call later."

"What was the name of this? I know how it looks like but forgot the name. Looks something like this: 🥨. I think it was called a praised eel or something?"

Bear Hugger - He texts like a Facebook mom, down to the wording and everything

Example:

"You mean pretzel? 🤣"

"How did he fall down a pothole?! 😮"

Great Tiger - too lazy to fix typos so it looks like a ancient language, likes spamming the same emoji over and over again when hes run out of responses, autocorrect fucks his messages up even more

Example:

"wesir did srsn fslk doen s potjole?? (wait did aran fall down a pothole?"

"i dont knoe sf is ıoıld laıyknsyn at araj fellimf dlen and pırjolej" (i dont know if i should laugh at aran falling down a pothole)

"👀👀👀👀👀"

Don Flamenco - proper grammar with some tiny typos that gets autocorrect to mess his message up, his autocorrect is literally cursed, it runs his messages daily

Example:

"Did aran fall town s pit joke??"

"I am do confused"

Aran Ryan - unhinged, emphasizes random parts for no reason, emojis after every sentence, wrong emojis everywhere

Example:

"I fell DOWN a pothole! 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️"

"shut UP 🖕🖕🖕🚔🦗🖕🥨"

"ILL drag you down there MYSELF!! 🗣️🗣️😡😡"

Soda Popinski - like a grandpa in the good way, sends those positive good morning images in every groupchat hes in

"Rise and shine! 💖"

"I just woke up. Don't know whats going on! 👀"

"Get well soon! 💐🌼✨"

Bald Bull - texts like your dad, except he switches out moves completely when hes cursing someone out

Example:

"ok"

"👍"

"You dumb bitch. Fuck you ass hole."

Super Macho Man - texts like hes making a copypasta

Example:

"Rise and GRIND! 🗣️ Surfs up today! 🤙🤙 Im catching waves like theres no tomorrow! 🏝️🌊"

"I have no idea. I am literally so confused right now. My brain is not working. My thought are not thoughting. I need a reboot. "

Mr Sandman - FINALLY someone that types like a normal person!!

Example:

"How did you fall down a pothole?"

"how great."

[riverxsong-ao3]

The Knights of Walpurgis: Chapter 3

“The headmaster left?” Tom demanded. “Without even talking to us? I had questions.”

“Questions these two eavesdroppers couldn’t answer?” Fred and George grinned at Sirius’ words, unabashed, much to their mother’s obvious chagrin. “Look, I hate to say it, but Dumbledore’s right – there are things the two of you don’t need to know. You’re just teenagers, for Merlin’s sake. You should be enjoying your breaks, preparing for O.W.L.s and – well, getting professional Quidditch lessons, I suppose – not worrying about the fight against Voldemort. Basically, you should be staying out of trouble.”

Tom, feeling irked and a bit resentful at the implication that he was one to ever get in trouble – that single detention in his first year aside – decided to sow a small seed of chaos. “Is that so?” he asked, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms casually across his chest. “Am I supposed to take this oh so safe advice from you, Padfoot?”

The effect was instant – both Weasley twins’ eyes grew comically wide as they swivelled in their chairs to stare at Sirius. Tom smirked as they both burst into loud exclamations and questions, talking over each other in their excitement.”

“You’re Padfoot?”

“Tom’s having us on, there’s no way –”

“Who’re the others? Oh, Prongs is hilarious –”

“Wait, you were friends with Harry’s dad – was he one of them too?”

“Hang on!” Sirius yelped. “How in the blazes do the two of you know about Padfoot and Prongs?!”

“Oh, we might’ve found a little something,” Fred grinned.

“A certain parchment that just loves to dish out insults,” George added.

“Course, Harry’s got it now,” Fred finished. “Gosh. I’m positively star-struck. I’d ask for your autograph, but I haven’t got a quill handy.”

“It was you who found – er – it?” Sirius asked, baffled. “Merlin, that old thing was confiscated by Filch ages ago. It’s nothing dangerous,” he added hastily as Mrs Weasley narrowed her eyes at him. “Just… a little map of Hogwarts, something I made with my friends back in our school days. I’d wondered how Harry got his hands on it.”

[pink-tonic]

Interesting...📰

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Warning: Some odd behavior from Kana

Now I have another responsibility that I have to take care of this week. I need to be the nurse's helper.

I wasn't planning on doing this, but from the looks of it, the nurse does need the extra help.

I walk to school with Taeko and Taro like I usually do. I don't talk much with them during the walk to school since I'm thinking about what to do once we make it to school.

Should I just go straight to the nurse's office?

The three of us eventually make it to school, and we go to our own lockers and switch out our shoes into the indoor ones.

I think I should go to the nurse's office. It wouldn't be right not to check up on him in the morning.

I go over to Taeko and Taro and talk to them.

"Hey, guys," I greet them, and it catches both of their attentions, "I'm going to go to the nurse's office. I don't know if you want to come or not."

Taeko is the first to speak up, "I'll go later to check up on my knee, but you can go. We'll meet up later."

"Alright, sounds good," I gave them a wave, and I start to make my way down the hallway.

I make it to the nurse's office, and I open up the door. While I slide open the door, I secretly hope I don't find Mr. Kana wrapped around in bandages again.

Luckily, when I go inside, I see Mr. Kana walking around.

I greet him, and he turns around to look at me. A smile forms once he sees me, and he walks over to me.

"You came at just the right time!" He happily tells me, his smile only getting bigger.

I tilt my head, "What is it?"

He lets out a chuckle, showing how excited he was to reveal the news to me, "I got a uniform for you!"

"A... uniform? For me?" I question not fully understanding what he means.

"Yes! You're my assistant after all, so I told the headmaster that I need an extra uniform for you!"

Mr. Kana then turns away from me and walks over to a cardboard box. He picks it up and walks back over to me.

"Take a look!" He says to me while ushering me to take the box.

I take the box from his hands, and I look inside of it. It is a nurse uniform, and it's almost identical to the one he has on. The only difference is that this one has longer sleeves.

"You should try it on!" He exclames, "I'll be over there, so you can change."

Mr. Kana then makes his way to the other side of the room where the beds are.

I go over to the wall partition, so I'm hidden. I start to change out of my regular uniform and into the nurse uniform.

Once I have everything on, I put away my regular uniform in the box, and I step out into Mr. Kana's view.

He lets out a gasp and jumps from out of his seat. He walks over to me with his usual smile on his face.

"It suits you perfectly! You should definitely become a nurse!" Mr. Kana tells me while he takes in my new look.

Before he continues to gush about how I look, I hear the door to the office open.

But Mr. Kana doesn't seem to notice and keeps talking to me instead of addressing the new person in the room.

"Oh! You look absolutely wonderful, (L/N)!

His compliment catches me off guard, and I look at him with confusion, "Are you sure this is okay? I was only planning on helping out a little, Mr. Kana."

I then hear footsteps and the door closing. The sound catches both of our attention, and we both look over to the person.

My eyes widen as I see Ayato standing near the doorway. I don't say anything, and I end up watching Ayato and Mr. Kana interact with each other.

Mr. Kana questions Ayato about what he is feeling, but it doesn't seem like anything serious. Mr. Kana then walks away from Ayato and goes over to me.

"Are you going to help, (L/N)?" Mr. Kana asks me, hoping that I will stick around and help him.

I look up at the clock mounted on the wall, and I notice that the bell for passing period is about to ring.

I shake my head, "I can't, I have to go to class."

Mr. Kana then looks at the clock, "Oh! You're right! Alright, you should start to head to class. I'll see you later."

Then, on que, the bell rings. I nod and then leave the room. I slide the door close once I'm in the hallway.

I let out a sigh. I'm happy I don't have to be in that room any longer. There is no way I could be anywhere near Ayato. I'm too scared. I'm scared that he is going to hurt me again.

But I need to pull myself together and head to class.

While I'm making my way to class, I get stopped by one of the student council members. I don't remember her name, but she's wearing glasses, has straight black hair, and wears a stren look on her face.

"Where is your uniform?" She asks me while inspecting my clothing.

"Well, I'm helping out the new nurse, and he gave me this uniform. You can ask the nurse or the headmaster," I explain, hoping she is satisfied with the answer.

"Hmmmm... alright. I'll inform the other members so they don't stop you to ask. Have a good day," she tells me in an almost robotic voice, before walking away from me and down the hallway.

The student council might be a pain to deal with, but at least they do their job right.

I head to class, and this time without anyone stopping me.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The bell rings, and it's lunchtime now. I exit the classroom and into the hallway, and I think about whether or not I should go to the nurse's office.

There is a chance that Ayato will still be there, and I'll have to get close to him. The thought of getting close to him sends a shiver straight through my spine. Being near him is the last thing I would want to do.

"Quite the look you have there, darling," a familiar voice snaps me out of my thinking, and I look up towards the person.

It's Kizano, and he is looking at me with a confused and intrigued look on his face. He must be looking at me because of what I'm wearing.

"Yeah, I'm helping out the nurse. So he gave me this uniform, you're not the first to say something about it," I explain to him.

He lets out a chuckle, "I guess you were stopped by the student council, right?"

I nod my head in response.

He rolls his eyes, "Tell me about it! Those student council members wouldn't know style if it slapped them right across their face. I've been stopped by them many times because of my amazing cap." Kizano then gestures over to his iconic velvet cap that he takes practically everywhere with him.

I let out a laugh, "Yeah, I guess I understand you now."

"Well, I like to think you always understand me, darling," Kizano casually admits to me, "But I didn't just come here to talk to you, I want a favor from you. Is that alright?"

"Well, it depends on what the favor is," I tell him with a slight shurg, hoping it's nothing too outrageous.

"Great! Come with me!" Kizano happily exclames. Grabbing one of my hands and dragging me towards the stairs.

He takes me all the way to the first floor and into his clubroom. But while we were making our way to the clubroom, some students paused what they were doing and watched Kizano drag me along.

Kizano slides open the clubroom's doors and walks inside, and I follow behind him. He lets go of my hand and goes behind the mini set that is in the middle of the room.

"Grab a seat, darling! I want you to watch my performance for the play!" Kizano informs me as I can hear him looking for something.

I take a seat on one of the many chairs and wait for him to come out. I actually like this better than going to the nurse's office. But I suppose anything would be better than being near Ayato.

Eventually, Kizano comes out, and he is wearing something completely different.

"Do you like what you see, darling?" Kizano asks as he walks closer to me.

I nod my head, "Yeah, it suits you a lot."

"And that's the exact reason I decided to be the King of Hearts!" He tells me with a smile.

"So... what are you going to do?" I ask him, hoping that it'll take the whole lunch time.

"I'm going to perform the last scene for you. This scene has to be captivating and intriguing! I can not give a sloppy performance!" Kizano explains to me with a passion.

"Well, I would like to see it!" I tell him as I lean back in the chair.

I see Kizano stand up straight and take a deep breath. He then grabs the prop sword and grips it tight.

"I've told you, Alice, that you can not go any further! Step back, or else I'll have to use my sword against you," Kizano says calmly, but I can also hear a bit of annoyance in his voice.

Kizano then walks to his right and points his sword at the imaginary Alice. "If you come closer, it will be over for you. Now, get back you naive little girl!"

Kizano takes a pause and tilts his head, I assume that Alice is supposed to say something back to him, but since the actress isn't here, he has to instead pretend she is there.

"What do you mean, little girl? He would never betray me! I am his king, and he is my loyal subject!"

I can now hear Kizano's voice raise in anger due to the information that Alice is giving him.

Kizano then points his sword down and laughs. His laughter is filled with mockery. Mocking what Alice is telling him.

"You seriously believe that I would think that one of my loyal sub...," Kizano is unable to finish his sentence as he looks down at his stomach.

I assume the loyal subject that was being talked about makes an appearance and impales Kizano.

Kizano slowly moves his head and looks behind him. "So... it is true. You sided with her after all..."

Kizano then falls to the ground, and his breathing becomes heavy.

"Just kill me already, you fool," Kizano orders.

Kizano then gets up from the floor and walks over to me.

"Did you like it, or did you love it?" Kizano asks with a smile, knowing that he did a good job.

"It was amazing, Kizano! What happens in the end?" I ask, curiosity eating away from me. Wondering whether the man killed the King of Hearts or not.

Kizano lets out a laugh, "You'll see once the play is finished."

"Wait, when is the play going to open?" I ask, hoping he would give me an answer.

"When Megumo Saikou arrives, which is in around five to four weeks," Kizano tells me as he walks behind the set and changes back to his normal clothes.

"Megumo Saikou? That name sounds familiar..."

"He is the grandson of the founder of Akademi High," Kizano explains, "He is set to come back to school in a few weeks. With the killing of that first year, he was ordered not to come. But I was told by the headmaster that he is set to come back soon."

"So this performance is made to welcome him?" I question him, the topic catching my attention.

"Sort of. This play was made before that, but the headmaster told us to finish it up by the time he comes back so he can see it," Kizano tells me before reappearing from behind the set.

"That's very interesting..."

The bell then rings, signaling that lunch has ended.

"Let me take you to class," Kizano offers me.

I would deny his offer, but I can't help but to accept it.

"Sure."

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The last bell of the day rings, and it's time for me to go to the nurse's office. On my walk to the office, I can't help but feel nervous.

I hope that Mr. Kana isn't mad at me for my unexplained absence.

But then I remember that Ayato might still be inside. I make the decision to enter through the door that would lead me to the nurse's desk instead of the beds.

I slide open the door and walk inside. I see Mr. Kana sitting at his desk, and it seems like he is waiting for me.

Once I close the doors, Mr. Kana looks over towards me.

"There you are, (L/N)! I was wondering where you were," Mr. Kana happily says to me as I walk closer.

"Something came up... sorry," I respond with nervousness lacing my words.

"It's okay. But let's sit down and talk, alright?"

"S-sure!"

I grab a chair, and I place it right in front of Mr. Kana's desk. Now I'm sitting across from Mr. Kana.

"So what happened while I was gone?" I ask Mr. Kana, wondering what he had to deal with while I was gone.

"Oh, nothing much. I just had to take care of Aishi, and the two siblings from yesterday came by as well. But nothing much. Now, where were you?" Mr. Kana questions me once again, not seeming satisfied with the first answer I gave him at the start.

Before I can respond, I take a short pause, "I told you something came up. I'm sorry again."

"I know that something came up. But I'm just wondering what it was."

"I'd rather not talk about... sorry," I can't help but to shift in my seat due to how uncomfortable I feel. Why does he want to know so badly where I was?

"It's fine, but I want you to trust me at the very least."

I then feel an unexpected touch. I had my hand placed on the table, but in a quick movement, I can feel Mr. Kana's hand being placed on top of mine.

"Ummmm... Mr. Kana, I don't think you should be doing that."

"Oh! You don't like it? My apologies. I thought it would calm you down."

"I-it's fine."

Mr. Kana then pulls his hand away, and a dejected look takes over his features. And I can't help but wonder why he had that look on his face. Did what I say hurt him that badly?

"But I do have a question in mind."

This catches me off guard, and I wonder if I should ask what the question is. Another pause makes its presence, but in the end, I decide to ask what it is, "Yes, what is it?"

"Would you mind going out with me soon?"

"What?" I'm in disbelief at what Mr. Kana just asked me. He is an adult. He should not be asking me such a question. I was only meant to help him, not to hang out with him outside of school.

"I want to get to know you better, (Y/N). So would you like to go to a restaurant together, the two of us?" Mr. Kana's soft smile is present once more, but I feel this smile isn't one he gives to many. It feels softer and more welcoming, a smile you would give to someone... you love.

An uncomfortable silence takes over, and I'm sure Mr. Kana can feel how uncomfortable it feels. But I decide to respond to his question instead of letting the silence speak for me.

"I'll...I'll think about it, okay?"

"Oh! That's fine! But please tell me soon, so I can make reservations."

"Yes, of course. But I need to go, can I?" I quickly tell him, hoping to get out of the nurse's off as fast as possible.

"Sure! Please get home safely," Mr. Kana smiles at me and gives me a wave.

I nod and slip out of the room quickly.

As I walk down the hallway and towards my locker, I think about what just happened.

Was he flirting with me?

He had to be, right? I'm not over analyzing anything, right? I'm not going crazy, right?

The questions, the smile, and the sudden touch... it can't be nothing, right? It has to be something. It has to mean something!

I shake the thought out of my head and switch my shoes out. I close my locker and head out of the school.

My walk back home is normal, and I don't feel anything watching me. Which I'm thankful for. This day is already hectic as is, and I don't want to walk home with the feeling that someone is watching me.

I eventually make it back home, and the first thing I do is collapse on my couch.

[upismediacenter]

FEATURE: Stop wondering, it’s just HEY JUNE!

Biglang liwanag ang mata, ako ay natulala… This line from the song “LASIK” perfectly describes the feeling of watching HEY JUNE! step on the UPIS stage. After hearing that song, as well as “Panahon”, live from their performance at APLAYA: Battle of the Bands 2024, I have no doubts that your curiosity of this band has been piqued. Well, if you have been wanting to know more about them or have simply been wanting to discover good new music, you’re in luck! I was able to sit down with them and ask a couple of questions, so stop wondering—let’s get to know HEY JUNE!!

HEY JUNE! is composed of members Jim (21; guitar, vocals, songwriting), Coey (23; bass and backup vocals), and Aci (21; drums). When I asked the three to introduce their band, I fully expected a description of their genre or their music—maybe something you would see in a typical bio. The answer I got was, instead, something much more sincere.

They started off by mentioning that they are a three-year old band who was formed during the pandemic by Soupstar Music, a management group in the Filipino music industry. Then to describe themselves, they said that they are kids who do not box themselves in. They are creative, explorative, and collaborative. 

“We just want good music,” Jim said.

“We enjoy what we do, and we make music that speaks volumes about who we are, what we experience, or what other people experience and can relate to,” Coey added.

Talking about how they were formed, they went back to June 2021 when Soupstar had a special project. The band talked about how their name came about, since “HEY JUNE!” was evidently rooted from the month they were formed. They mentioned that they did not choose that name when they were surveyed, but it won when interviews were conducted. In the end, of course, the name ended up becoming beloved. Jim also talked about the exclamation point they added at the end. Since HEY JUNE! visited UP for this interview and ordered Pancit Canton from the iconic kiosks before it, the guitarist took the opportunity to make an analogy and say they added it so that, like the noodles, their name had some spice.

When it was Coey’s turn to talk about their formation, she said, “Strangers to bandmates to friends.” The three, in response, started teasing each other, pretending that they still see each other as strangers. 

After their jokes ran their courses, the bassist began telling the stories of how each of them became part of the band. For herself, she was Mr. Herbert Hernandez’s (from Moonstar88 and 6cyclemind, also the creator of the song “LASIK”) neighbor, and she had long been playing guitar in her school, so she was referred by Mr. Hernandez. Aci, meanwhile, was a big fan of OPM from Romblon. He strongly supported OPM, traveling long distances to attend events involving it. Since he was also a drum student of Velvet Playground, Soupstar’s music school, he was tapped to be part of the band. Lastly, they found Jim on Facebook.

“Nasa Marketplace, [On Marketplace,]” they slipped in jokingly.

“Kalaro ko sa Tetris dati, [Used to be my playmate in Tetris,]” Aci added.

The reality is that the songwriter had upped the post where the band was looking for members. He was then asked if he wanted to join, to which he agreed.

After that, I asked the band what expectations they had going into joining the band. 

Jim had not expected much—all that mattered to him was that they fit together when they played and they all agreed on the direction of their band. As time went by, he said that they eventually connected altogether. 

Aci at first put focus on getting to know his bandmates—their personality and behavior, but he also did have the expectation that the band would last.

“Pangmatagalan, [Long-lasting,]” he said. “. . . Parang maging pamilya na rin, [Kind of become family, too,]” he added, then he joked, “Kahit na hindi kami magkakaibigan, gano’n. Pamilya, pero hindi magkakaibigan. [Even if we’re not friends. Family, but not friends.]”

He and Coey had a quick exchange, the bassist protesting that it should be both friends and family, to which the drummer immediately conceded: “Biro nga lang ‘yun! Pero ‘yun. Pamilya at kaibigan. Siguradong pamilya. [That was just a joke! But yes. Family and friends. Definitely family.]”

For Coey, she shared that they had not known joining the band would have a big impact on their lives and their passions for music. They surely did not expect for it to turn out how it did, but she said that they are very grateful that they gelled together, that they had chemistry, and that they are doing gigs and are making music that they enjoy.

“It’s our happiness to perform,” she said.

For her, personally, she was excited when she joined the band because it had been her lifelong dream to be in one. She had to turn down previous chances of having bands since her parents had not allowed her, but when she was asked if she wanted to be part of HEY JUNE!, “Nag-yes na ako agad. [I said “yes” immediately.]”

With their three years as part of HEY JUNE!, I asked each member what their favorite aspect of being in the band is.

For Jim, he said that it is performing with his bandmates who are comfortable on the stage with their instruments. He noted that he is not that expressive of a person, so being alongside his bandmates who are doing their thing, who are enjoying their performances, makes him feel drawn to joining them.

“I’m [with] the right people to be around,” he said, pointing out that especially in a band, there is a need to be cohesive, to be jiving together.

In response to that, Coey agreed, saying that it is “less about myself, more about us”. She added that it makes her happy because as the “ate” of the group, she cannot help but look out for her bandmates as both a personal friend and as a bandmate. She knows that she is strong in a way, and she wants to share that with them. When they’re having trouble, she wants them all to be connected.

“The best thing about being in HEY JUNE! is . . . trust. We’re trusting each other na kaya naming makipag-usap sa isa’t isa, maging pleasant man or unpleasant yung topics. Yung, parang, wala kang takot na ma-judge din, [We’re trusting each other that we can talk to one another, no matter if the topics are pleasant or unpleasant. It’s, like, you have no fear of being judged as well,]” Coey said.

For Aci, he shared that by being part of HEY JUNE!, he was able to find his purpose in the world. 

“Malalaman mo yung purpose mo sa mundo . . . Siyempre, binigay ni Lord yung talento sa’yo, so i-share mo din sa iba, [You will discover your purpose in the world . . . Of course, the Lord gave you your talent, so share it with others, too,]” he said.

“Parang binigyan ni Lord ng direction yung talents namin, [It’s like the Lord gave direction to our talents,]” Coey added.

Another commendable part of being in the band is the support that they receive. They gave a shout-out to their management—specifically their manager, Mr. Darwin Hernandez, and their road manager, Ms. Harieth Escobar; they also mentioned their label, Island Records, and those who believe in them, be it fans, friends, or family.

When I asked the three about their vision for the band, their first answer was longevity. They want to stay happy. Jim talked about how, especially in our generation, “We live in a world where everything’s so fast.” There is a tendency for us to set aside future plans, so with that, as part of the youth, the band just wants to enjoy and have it last a long time.

“More songs to make, more people to meet, more stages to be in, and also to learn more about ourselves along the way,” Coey answered. She also spoke of staying grounded no matter how many years pass, and simply having HEY JUNE! grow further. “Malaki yung vision namin for HEY JUNE! [Our vision for HEY JUNE! is big] and we’ll just enjoy it along the way,” she said.

Of course, not everything is perfect. It is not always easy. One hardship that the band had encountered, Coey mentioned, was the pressure that they had felt from the very start. Their management is very reputable, handling big bands such as Moonstar88, 6cyclemind, Imago, among others, so being a new band, HEY JUNE! worried about how they would face the public. Their manager, in response, simply kept instilling in them the mindset that they were put in that spot because they knew HEY JUNE! were capable of handling that pressure. The band admits that until now, they do still feel that pressure, but it is safe to say that it has changed and has become more of motivation. 

Additionally, disagreements happen—as they inevitably do. But Coey said that as long as there is trust between the members, and as long as they really communicate, they do not set aside others’ opinions, they value each others’ perspectives, and they learn to understand each other in their own way—like a love language, she said—in the way they want to be understood, then the band will get through them.

For Jim, he talked about the hardships he faced skill-wise—in terms of singing, playing, and performing. There was also the need to learn how to push himself and pour himself, his personality, and his essence into his performances.

“Kung gusto ko pumasok sa mundo na ‘to, parang, kailangan kong tapatan [If I want to be in this world, I need to live up to it] . . . If you wanna be on a big stage, you gotta act like you’re on a big stage,” the songwriter said.

As we all looked towards Aci for his answer, Coey jokingly responded on behalf of him:

“Ang hirap kasi maging pogi. [It’s so hard being handsome.]”

Taking it seriously, Aci admitted that he had not been as disciplined before—in terms of punctuality, his actions, and other things. But he has learned now. In response, Coey and Jim brought up the topic of karma and consequences. Aci reminded us that we must really be mindful of our actions, to think if they are appropriate, because there are consequences to them.

“Like I said, ‘yun nga, yung industry na ‘to, parang, mahirap siya. Pero kailangan mong paghirapan kung gusto mo talaga, [Like I said, this industry is hard. But you need to work hard for it if you really want to,]” Coey said.

“Kailangan mong paghirapan at gamitan mo ng utak rin, [You need to work hard for it and use your head as well,]” Aci added.

“[You] reap what you sow,” Coey quoted.

Amongst new releases, tours, and live gigs, I asked the band about their recent projects and the project they are most proud of. They talked about their vinyl, their live recordings, and their album, Curiosity Killed the Cat.

Only recently, this November 9 (coincidentally the one-year anniversary of their album’s release), HEY JUNE! launched the Curiosity Killed the Cat vinyl. The band said that the vinyl acts like the culmination of their first album—something to remember it by, something that makes it tangible. It is also technically their first piece of merchandise, according to them, but they add that it is not just merch—it is also a collectible memorabilia, being signed and limited.

Meanwhile, talking about their live recordings, they shared that they had a good time shooting. They also liked them because they were able to make their music more accessible.

(The link to order their vinyl can be found here, while the live recordings of songs such as “ORASAN” and “LASIK” can be found on all music streaming platforms.)

The project they are most proud of is their album, Curiosity Killed the Cat. It is special to them because it is their first album, their debut album, and the timing felt right because they had people who wanted to listen to their music and who were waiting for their releases. 

“It’s a treat to them,” Jim said. 

“Tsaka, parang introduction. Kung sino kami, [And also, it acts like an introduction. To who we are,]” added Coey.

The album, according to HEY JUNE!, is a journey through life. They talked about how their songs bring you through that journey. For example, the title track shows how we are in a modern world where there is a lot of information and misinformation; “We just have to be careful out there,” said Coey. In “Asan Ang Gana Ko”, they said to always find your drive, if you’re losing motivation. “Just live your world,” they quoted; enjoy your life, referencing “ORASAN”. In “Katulad Mo”, they tell you to strive more towards your dreams if you have idols who inspire you and who you wanna be like. In “SINO MALI”, they tell you to be angry. Be angry at the things that you don’t agree with. Be angry that, as the youth, we aren’t being heard. And finally, it all goes back to finding yourself. “Back To You” tells us to find that thing that we always feel like home doing. 

They didn’t picture that they would be making an album, they admitted, because the way they made songs was singular. But ultimately, that made the album be the place where you can find the sound of HEY JUNE!.

Going back to May 20, I asked HEY JUNE! how they came about performing as a guest band for APLAYA, our Battle of the Bands event during UPIS Days 2024.

It apparently first came up when Andrea Rebaldo, a UPIS Batch 2026 student and a loyal JUNAKIS (what the band calls their fans), personally invited HEY JUNE! to come watch the event. 

Coey admitted that when they were invited by Andrea, performing for UPIS was already at the back of their minds. They also shared that ever since, they had been wanting to play in our school—since they met UPIS JUNAKIS, as well as since one of their friends who is a UPIS Batch 2020 alumnus, Bryant Galicia, mentioned in passing to the band that they should perform in UPIS.

They checked with their office regarding their availability to watch, but they asked themselves, “Ba’t ‘di na lang natin tugtugan? [Why not just perform for the event?]” So they started poking and prodding, asking Andrea about the setup, the number of bands performing, starting a conversation that evolved into them eventually playing on our stage.

“Honestly, gusto namin mag-support. Lalo na yung mga young bands din katulad namin na nangangarap din, diba? [Honestly, we wanted to support. Especially the young bands like us who have dreams too, right?] . . . We want to be part of that to support you guys,” the bassist said, explaining their desire to perform in UPIS. They did it—for exposure, but also to get to meet the UPIS JUNAKIS, and to introduce their music to other people.

“Pero [But] more of it, like, being part of that experience. Sobrang dami naming natutunan, din. . . . [We also learned so much,]” Coey said. “Magugulat ka [You will be surprised] how big the world is,” she shared when she talked about meeting many people and discovering many new talents.

Reflecting on the number of fans they have gathered in the UPIS community, Jim said that he still gets shocked that they are known and recognized in that way. When I asked what in their music they think resonates most with people, he mentioned that that is, after all, what they want for their music—for people to be able to relate to their songs. He mentioned, as the band’s songwriter, that the songs are personal to him, but he wants them to be relatable, “Para ‘pag pinakinggan nila, ay, they can ‘character’ themselves dito. Parang, it fits in them. [So that when they listen, they can ‘character’ themselves into them. It’s as if, it fits in them.]” He also mentions that perhaps they are able to relate with the band in a sense that they are also part of the youth.

Coey then talked about how school gigs were their favorite, as the crowds there are typically the ones that are not yet allowed to attend bar gigs or festivals. Jim adds that in school gigs, they are similar in age to those listening to them, so with those crowds, “mabilis lang ang saya do’n. [the joy comes quickly there.]”

The bassist also talked about how approachable UPIS students are. “Mahilig sila mag-support. [They are keen on supporting.]” She mentioned that, beyond just liking the band’s music, UPIS JUNAKIS support their advocacy and their passion. They say that connection is built whenever they feel support from people such as UPIS JUNAKIS who crave for more. They say that it is as if they are more than a fan, that instead they are believers.

In relation, the band also said that they themselves are approachable—“parang tropa lang [just like your friends]”. They really do want to build a community, they shared, so they tell their fans to not be shy wherever they encounter the band. HEY JUNE! is approachable and they like meeting you.

Going off of that, I asked the band what their messages were for their supporters.

For Aci, he thanked their supporters for supporting HEY JUNE! and supporting OPM—supporting local. He also expressed gratitude for their families and for the Lord.

For Coey, she talked about the common phenomenon of “gatekeeping” in our generation. “Huwag na tayo mag-gatekeep, guys. Walang magandang dulot ‘yun, [Let us not gatekeep anymore, guys. It does no good,]” she urged. She also said to watch live gigs, and to not let the opportunity pass if an artist would ever come to your school or wherever you are, because those chances don’t come often. Of course, if you have free time and the budget, it would also be good to intentionally go to gigs. It means a lot to them as musicians; it is their drive knowing people believe in them.

“Nakakagana kapag may bumubuka na bunganga habang kumakanta rin kami. Kumakanta rin, [It’s motivating when there are lips moving while we’re also singing. They’re also singing.]” Jim mentioned.

“Sana you keep loving us the way that kung pa’no niyo kami nasimulan mahalin kasi there’s more to come and matagal pa ‘tong journey natin, guys, so sama-sama tayo, [Hopefully you keep loving us in the same way you started loving us because there’s more to come and our journey will still be a while, guys, so let’s do it together,]” said Coey.

HEY JUNE! said that they hope they can return to UPIS, to perform again—about ten songs, they joked—because they were left craving for more. “Gusto pa namin kayong makilala, [We still want to get to know you,]” the bassist said. 

“Masaya ‘yun, [That was fun.]” she added, referring to APLAYA. “. . . Gusto namin maulit ‘yun, yung panahon na ‘yun, [We want that to happen again, those moments.]” she said, referencing the lyrics of their single, “Panahon”.

All that is left for us now is to keep supporting them as we wait for the time that they perform for UPIS once again.

To end the interview, I asked them some last fun questions: what their personal favorite HEY JUNE! songs were, as well as what they would tell the versions of themselves from three years ago and three years in the future.

Jim, as the band’s composer, picked “Panahon”. He said that it was because the song really left its mark (it is their most-streamed song as of today). It was a senior high school project of his, and he even mentioned how he thanked his teacher for being the reason he created the song. The joy of music, Jim said as he reflected on his choice, is that when you make something, you never know what will happen. It turns out, “Panahon” would end up being loved and enjoyed by listeners.

Being someone who started music because she had many inspirations and people she looked up to, Coey said that her favorite HEY JUNE! song is “Katulad Mo”. Now that she is in the industry, she mentioned that it further motivates her meeting her idols. 

“Marami din akong pangarap [I also have many dreams] for the people who are also dreamers like me. Keep dreaming, and put in the hard work, and just have fun, ‘cause it won’t feel like work, at all,” she said.

Aci’s motivation stems from the song, “Asan Ang Gana Ko”. There are always times that the world is tiring, that it seems difficult to get up from bed—especially that we spend every day trying to live honorably—so he uses the song to pick himself up.

“Maging masipag at palaging hanapin yung gana mo, [Be hardworking and always find your motivation,]” the drummer told us.

For the last question, we went back three years in time, Jim telling that version of himself to always be happy. He said that sometimes things get serious but, “I think it’s no worries to add a little bit of fun into your life.” And for the future, he just wished, “Sana malupit ka pa. [Hopefully you’re still astounding.]”

Coey, meanwhile, said to herself from three years ago, “You won’t be prepared for what’s to come, pero normal lang ‘yun kasi lahat naman tayo hindi natin alam kung anong mangyayari. [but that’s normal because all of us have no idea what will happen.]” She told herself to just enjoy, to stay grounded, and to not be afraid to ask for help when she needs it and to give it when she can. “Be kind, always,” she added. For the future, she told herself to just enjoy along the way. “Don’t lose your happiness. Don’t lose that smile.”

For Aci, he told his future self that he hopes he is better at playing the drums. And in terms of what he would tell his younger self, it is that what he had dreamed of then—while it continues to be his dream—he has already gotten to now. But he quotes, “malayo na, pero malayo pa. [You’ve come far, but there’s still far more to go.]”

I think there is truly nothing more fitting for this band to leave you with other than that. In the span of three years, HEY JUNE! has indeed already achieved many things, but there is certainly more to come. Hopefully, we will all be there to see it.

Now that you have gotten to know the band a bit better, may their music accompany you as you live your world. Just keep coming right back to HEY JUNE! whenever you’re looking for the motivation to face a new day.

You can find them on all music streaming platforms (just search for “HEY JUNE!”) as well as social media platforms under @heyjunemusic. Keep up with their social media to see when you can catch their live performances. Stay curious, HEY JUNAKIS!!

//by Elis Reyes

[frodothefair]

In 1862 Victor Hugo, desperate for an update on sales of his freshly issued novel, Les Misérables (and perhaps for money), sent a single question mark via telegram to his publisher. After selling all 7,000 copies in print within the first day, Hugo's publisher responded with a brilliantly succinct, “!” --looklisten.com

Ever since learning the above, Mr. Nisilë and I are often found using an exclamation mark as a general sign of approval, excitement, or other positive feelings during texting.