#I don’t have a specific conclusion to this

[heeseungiez]

building keyboards! l.hs

pairing! lee heeseung x fem!reader

synopsis! in which you want to celebrate your one year anniversary with your boyfriend

genre! established relationship, fluff

word count! 1.2k

author’s note! i have been cursed by a keyboard obsession since before i even got into enhypen, so ofc i had to write something short and cute with heeseung

currently playing . . . highway 1009 by enhypen !

You met Heeseung entirely by chance. The two of you moved in completely different social circles, yet you somehow managed to find each other when it mattered the most. He was the popular guy on campus, whereas you were just a girl. A student trying to survive university life, juggling studying and a part-time job to keep yourself afloat.

The first time you met Heeseung was in the summer. After you managed to get through freshman year without failing a single class, you enjoyed your time off in a tech store, looking over different kinds of mechanical keyboards and computer components. You must’ve looked like an employee because Heeseung chose to approach you specifically to ask you a question about the new Keychron keyboards. And whilst you were not working at the store, you did know enough about the best, pretty affordable keyboards on the market. Including the new Keychrons. So you indulged him rather than telling him that you were not, in fact, working there.

Unbeknownst to you (he shared that later into your relationship), Heeseung continued going to the tech store during the summer in hopes of encountering you again, which was how he came to the conclusions that 1) you were truly not working there, and 2) he should’ve asked for your number.

It was only his luck that in the following winter semester, he happened to be a TA of one of the computer language classes you signed up for in your second year. He did not miss his chance to get to know you then, and the first time he asked you out was after the winter semester, when he was no longer the TA in your class.

It’s been a year since the two of you officially became boyfriend and girlfriend, and you got the most brilliant idea for how to celebrate your one year anniversary. It cost quite a good deal of money, but you knew it would be worth it in the end.

When you knocked on the door of Heeseung’s dorm room with two large plastic bags in hand, you knew he wasn’t home. However, at least one of his dorm mates should be, which was proven to you when Jay opened the door.

He looked at you with furrowed brows, and before he could tell you that Heeseung wasn’t there, you stopped him with: “I know, he’s not here. That’s the point.”

You didn’t even wait for the man to invite you inside. Rather, you made your way past him, taking your shoes off and heading toward the living room area to place everything on the dining table they had.

“What exactly are you doing, Y/N?” Jay asked, standing in the hallway like a father of three children with his hands on his hips.

“Preparing a surprise for Hee,” you replied simply, unpacking your boxes with mechanical switches, keycaps, keyboard cases, brushes, lube (for the switches), foam, tape, switch and keycap pullers and many other items necessary for building and modding your own keyboard. Since Keychrons were Heeseung’s favourite, you mainly went for components of that brand, but you were personally a fan of Akko keyboards, so you sneaked in a few switches from them for more options, too.

“Are you planning to build keyboards with him?”

You hummed with a nod of agreement, grinning.

“What do you think?” You turn to Jay once you have everything set up on the table.

“That Heeseung’s a lucky bastard,” Jay murmured under his breath, and you giggled.

“So it’s good, right?”

“Duh.” Jay shook his head, staring at everything you prepared. “Are you trying to one-up him? ‘Cause I don’t think he can come up with anything better than this.”

You shrugged, smiling. “I don’t really care. Seeing him smile is all I need.”

Jay rubbed his face. “Lucky bastard,” he repeated again. “I’ll make sure he knows that.”

“You’re too sweet,” you said, checking the time. Heeseung should be home from his class in about fifteen minutes. You knew only because he had texted you the approximate time when he would get home after you told him you had a surprise for him.

“So sweet that I’m gonna get lost and leave you two here alone.” He nodded, going to his room to grab some things. “Just text me whenever you guys are done, so I know I can come home.”

“Sure, sure, will do,” you mutter while eyeing your work. Not that spreading miscellaneous keyboard components was hard work, but you were already fighting the urge to start building a keyboard without Heeseung here.

After Jay left, you were alone in the dorm room for about three seconds. Heeseung burst into the dorm room with his backpack hanging over one shoulder, eyes already searching for you since he probably ran into Jay on his way here.  

You smiled, watching him drop everything on the floor just to approach you.

“Surprise!” you exclaimed, pointing at the messy table.

Heeseung blinked at you, glancing between the keyboards and you in confusion. “What—”

“I have everything! And for modding, I have lube and foam and tape! Isn’t it awesome?” you asked, picking up each item you named.

Heeseung laughed at how innocently you said that despite its many possible meanings. Running a hand through his hair, he felt a swelling in his heart at the sight of your excited form over building keyboards. It was an interest you both shared, and he was eternally grateful for finding you over it every day. 

“You know—” he grinned, picking up the lube— “when you said you had a surprise for me, I didn’t think the only thing I’d be lubing today would be keyboard switches.”

You giggled, shrugging. “But you like it anyway, right?”

“I love it,” Heeseung said, grinning. “I love you,” he added, sitting down next to you at the table. “That’s what matters the most, right?”

Leaning toward you, he cupped your chin and connected your foreheads. You couldn’t stop smiling as your heart drummed in your ears, your whole body seeping with love for the man in front of you.

“I love you, too,” you replied, connecting your lips in a brief kiss. “But can we start with building our keyboards? I want to make mine sound creamy… or should I go for thocky? I can’t decide.”

Heeseung chuckled, shaking his head. “I hope you know I don’t have much space in my room anymore.”

“That’s a lie and we both know it.” You looked at him, narrowing your eyes. “Unless being able to play Twister in your room is a requirement.”

Heeseung rolled his eyes. “For the two of us? Might as well be.” He wiggled his eyebrows at you, and you lightly slapped his shoulders, your cheeks heating up.

“Shut up,” you mumbled. 

Heeseung giggled, capturing your lips in another, longer and much sweeter kiss. 

“Thank you for all of this, though,” he said after, pointing at the setup. “My surprise suddenly seems lame.”

“What is it?” You pouted, curiosity taking over you.

“I’d rather not say right now.” Heeseung shook his head. “Maybe you’ll find out later.”

“That’s so mean.”

tag list! @moonpri (send an ask to be added to the permanent tag list!!)

[mxtxfanatic]

What finally pushes Wei Wuxian into a qi deviation isn’t the fact that Jiang Cheng showed up to hate-crime him and Lan Wangji, but the fact that Wei Wuxian showed up with the best of intentions—informing his dead guardians of his intentions to marry—just to be goaded into attacking their son in front of their tablets, the highest form of disrespect he could’ve performed in front of them. That Jiang Cheng could drag him down to such a level as to engage in something so disrespectful when Wei Wuxian showed up specifically to pay his respects is why it should not surprise anyone that Wei Wuxian’s last thoughts on Lotus Pier is that he wants to leave and never return:

It was only proper to show respect for the deceased. After all, they were at an ancestral hall.

...

Jiang Cheng was exactly who Wei WuXian had wanted to avoid; the last person he wanted to be seen by. Now that Jiang Cheng had found him, he knew he probably couldn’t escape fast enough without having harsh words flung his way. Wei WuXian didn’t want to start any unnecessary conflict, so he said, “I didn’t bring HanGuang-Jun anywhere that contained the Lotus Pier’s secrets. I’m just here to offer a few incense sticks to Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu. We are just leaving.”

—Chapt. 87: Core (Part 9), boat-full-of-lotus-pods

He turned to Jiang Cheng and said, “Jiang Cheng, listen to yourself. Do you even hear what you’re saying? Don’t forget who you are. You’re the leader of a sect. To insult a fellow cultivator from one of the Four Great Sects in front of Uncle Jiang and everyone’s memorial tablets. Where are your manners?”

...

All three of them had weapons out in front of the ancestral hall now. Jiang Cheng’s eyes were bloodshot as he snarled, “Fine! If you want a fight, then let’s fight! You think I’m afraid of you two?!” But just a few strikes later, Wei WuXian remembered, startled, that they stood before the ancestral hall of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect. He had only just knelt and prayed in front of Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu for their protection a few moments ago. And now he was attacking their son with Lan WangJi right under their nose! As if a bucket of cold water had just been dumped over him, suddenly, spots appeared in front of Wei WuXian’s eyes and his vision darkened.

...

Wei WuXian did not answer him. Instead, he said, “Lan Zhan...... Let’s go.” Immediately. And never come back.

—Chapt. 88: Core (Part 10), boat-full-of-lotus-pods

Tellingly enough, Jiang Cheng does not hold the same sense of shame in the fact that he instigated a physical fight in the resting place of his ancestors nor that his intentions weren't to maintain decorum when he followed wangxian into the ancestral hall to begin with. In fact, he is fueled by rage to the point of irrationality before he even steps foot into the ancestral hall, so much so that he cannot even accept wangxian disengaging from the fight and attempting to leave on their own:

All the signs pointed to the same conclusion—there was now something more between Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. Unable to make himself turn away or step forward to speak to them, Jiang Cheng had concealed himself and followed after them, reinterpreting their every exchange and gesture through a coloured lens. Feelings of disbelief, strangeness, and slight, mild disgust had momentarily been enough to overcome Jiang Cheng’s hatred. It was only when Wei WuXian had brought Lan WangJi into the ancestral hall that Jiang Cheng’s anger reawakened. The repressed, overwhelming rage consumed his rationality and manners.

...

Lan WangJi harbored no more desire to continue the fight with Jiang Cheng. Wordlessly, he pulled Wei WuXian onto his back and turned to leave. Jiang Cheng was plagued by alarm and suspicion. He was alarmed by the terrifying sight of blood suddenly oozing out of Wei WuXian’s qiqiao. Yet he was suspicious of whether the man was faking it for an excuse to run away. After all, it was a prank that Wei WuXian had pulled quite often in the past. At the sight of the two men leaving, Jiang Cheng called, “Stop!”

—Chapt. 88: Core (Part 10), boat-full-of-lotus-pods

[forestfiresandfics]

Tragedies

Is third life a tragedy? In literary terms, a tragedy is a specific plot line with its own requirements. It’s not what we think of as a tragedy in the common sense—that is a story with a sad ending. Not all stories with a sad ending are tragedies. 

What distinguishes a tragedy is the protagonists failure. The plot of a tragedy is one where the main character makes choices that will ultimately lead to their downfall. Macbeth pisses off the one person who can kill him, Frankenstein abandons his creation and it becomes resentful, Jason cheats on his sorceress wife and then surprise pikachu face when Medea gets her revenge. It’s the result of an imperfect protagonist, often villain protags, but also anti-heroes or byronic heroes. Really, anyone who has flaws, which is everyone except the paragon archetype. 3rd life is full of imperfect characters making mistakes constantly. But do those mistakes dead to the their own downfall? 

I’ve defined the protagonists before, but for the purpose of this discussion, I want to talk about Grian and Scar separately, since two characters cannot share the same tragedy (it’s their own mistake after all). There are a couple other characters I want to talk about as well, as you might imagine. So what are Grian and Scar’s downfalls? Everyone in 3rd life has one, so what is theirs? For Scar, the answer seems to follow a tragic trope quite solidly, his death is his downfall. But did his mistakes lead him there? Answer: not really! Scar’s greatest ‘mistake’ is his betrayal of his partner. But his death isn’t the result of that. In fact, when he offered his life in apology, Grian doesn’t take it. Scar’s death is actually the result of the two of them being back on better terms. Their relationship can never be what it once was, but they go out crying and laughing and talking about how much fun they had. Scar’s mistakes don’t lead to his death. His redemption does. 

What about Grian? Where is his downfall? There are three moments that could be considered his downfall, being betrayed, killing his partner, and his own death. I think the betrayal is simply the lead up to the real fall, and I think that killing Scar is the real fall—with the suicide being the result of that fall. Do his actions lead him to that conclusion? Answer: sorta? You could argue that his mistake really was getting close to anyone in the first place. He knew he would have to finish the game, so he shouldn’t have let himself get attached to anyone. But his actions aren’t really “mistakes” in the tragic sense, rather, he simply follows the rules of the narrative. Grian more than anyone is simply passively following the plot, rather than being an active member in it. The only part that wasn’t in the plan was having to kill a friend—not just a competitor. So this one is arguable.

Now I talk about Scar and Grian a lot in these discussions of narrative structure, and because as the protagonists, theirs is the POV you are expected to make these assessments from (a tragedy is inherently about the main character, after all. If an antagonist falls, that’s simply comeuppance). But I do still want to talk about the primary antagonist: Ren. And it’s because his storyline really is a perfect tragedy. He starts out just trying to survive, he sets up a business, tries to gather resources and alliances that way, gets dragged along by Martyn who has to show him how to survive. But as things start going well for him, he gets the idea to expand. He has lots of allies now, lots of supplies, why not get everyone in on this? Ren’s hubris leads him to splitting the server in two, and though at first they dominate the fight, each battle they lose a little bit more. His actions have brought once-enemies together all for the sake of defeating him, and he is killed by the person he was trying to protect himself from. His mistake was forcing the partnerships into larger alliances, and it lead directly to his downfall—his death and the death of his kingdom. It’s a very neat and tidy tragedy.

The other notable tragedy is Scott’s. His mistake comes quite late, and his downfall comes immediately after. He does well, plays it smart all the way up until Jimmy dies. And then he loses his head a little. Goes after revenge over anything else. He doesn’t wait for other allies to join him, doesn’t stick with the group as they are gearing up for a larger fight. No, he simply goes to kill Skizz on his own (with Joel, who happened to be there), and then gets killed alone and surrounded. His mistake was simple—going for revenge instead of working with the alliance. But It gets worse when you consider his pact with Cleo. He hadn’t wanted to leave his partner, but he did have a plan B if anything ever happened. And instead of leaning on that plan B, he gets himself killed for revenge. And Cleo ends up dying alone too, doing something similar. So with Scott, we see a more subtle tragedy. 

There are a few more individual POVs that have tragedies included too. But more are just sad. Impulse playing the field, making everyone question where his loyalties are, only to then prove to be strongly loyal to his original alliance—and then HE is the one betrayed? What are heartache. BigB relying on agreements made earlier, before the war, and ending up with an audience as he gets killed instead? Devastating. But not tragedies in the strict sense. 

And similarly, neither is the cactus ring a capital T Tragedy. No one’s mistakes lead them there. Their love and their loyalty did. They overcame everything together, and ended up at the end together. The fact that no matter what they did, this couldn’t be avoided, that this was ordained, that it was fate. That is what makes the cactus ring so heartfelt. They did everything right, at least in the end, and they still ended up here, in a bloody duel to the death. 

Masterlist

By the way, anyone can add to this series if you want! Tag it 3rd life literary analysis, and the one rule is you gotta treat it like a proper analysis haha

[motley-box-rose-1]

Is venture bros worth watching? heard about it for many years but somehow allways in the background as if it was far away...

Depends. I’m not sure it’s a show that works for everyone, but for the people who DO like it? Very enjoyable. I think it largely depends on the content you’re okay with.

Like dark humor? Humor that gets gross or uncomfortable or offensive? If so, you’ll like this. I wouldn’t describe it as a show that runs solely off of potty humor or shock value though; genuinely, there is some clever writing in Venture Bros. That said, it’s still an adult cartoon with a lot of vulgarity, and definitely has a “push the envelope/what can we get away with” style.

Another factor to consider here: Venture Bros. parodies and references A LOT of different media. Pretty much every character is based off of some specific trope, classic character, or even a song. The core cast of characters are a big riff off of Johnny Quest, the Hardy Boys, macho spy tropes, G.I. Joe, and the superhero genre. And that’s just naming a few. That said, I don’t think you HAVE to know that stuff to enjoy the show. The basic idea is that Venture Bros. takes beloved icons of classic American media (usually of the more nerdy or “vintage” variety) and asks “okay, but what if there were consequences? What if we made this darker? What if we pointed out how silly this is? What if we went to the logical conclusion?” And so on.

That said, Venture Bros. Also has an emotional core. This is apparent in the first season, and even more visible in later episodes. It’s a labor of love directed at all the media it parodies. Although each character is wacky in some way and— with a few exceptions— usually a terrible person, there are grounded moments, and motivations that actually feel human. Most viewers eventually become emotionally invested in these characters. I’d say this factor even makes the humor better!

An example of this, and an overly sentimental way to reframe the series, is this: Venture Bros. is about Rusty Venture— a former “boy adventurer” who was traumatized and molded by all the crazy stuff his awful but successful father put him through— and Rusty’s sons, who are forced into being boy adventurer themselves. Other characters are— for better or worse— pulled into the family’s destructive and wacky orbit. Everyone is still affected by the “legacy” that Venture Sr. left behind.

And also there are funny jokes.

[artbyfinnbrown]

So I started going onto Re:Zero Tumblr and AO3 as I was finishing up season 1 of the anime.  As a result, I have been spoiled for a lot of things, but unlike other works of media, Re: Zero spoilers have been more likely to get me more interested in reading the series rather than less.

Some honourable mentions of things I got spoiled for that really piqued my interest:

Roswaal’s fun and zany body swap adventures

Subaru’s whole memory loss thing in arc 6

Ram being the “Reincarnation of the Oni God” (which wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought it would be when I found out about it. All it really means is that she’s really good at wind magic)

Capella being Meili’s mother (although I think “mother” is just a title and she isn’t actually her mother. I think?)

Extra special shoutout goes to one of the first Re: Zero Tumblr posts I read vaguely discussing what Otto was doing in arc 8.  Meanwhile I’m still getting through season 1 of the anime going Otto? The cart guy? The guy who drove a cart that one time? THAT Otto?

But do you know what the biggest discrepancy between what I know through fanon and what I know through canon is?

Carol and Grimm.

You know Carol and Grimm, right? They’re married. Carol was an attendant to the previous sword saint. Grimm had his vocal cords injured in the Demi-human war. I know plenty about them.

But I shouldn’t.

I’m pretty sure that Carol was mentioned once in a flashback in Arc 5, and I don’t think Grimm has ever appeared in main story whatsoever.  I know they show up in the EX novels (and maybe some short stories) but I HAVEN’T READ THOSE YET. Despite that, I have a very clear I idea of who these two people are, solely on account of the fact that there are at least 3 differant Re: Zero fanfics that I can think of off the top of my head that have Carol and Grimm appear as supporting characters in some form.

[squuote]

the way the broom closet and the infinite hole being nearly parallels to the other in that they are both areas of the game that stanley has immense attachment to but the narrator doesn’t understand why and makes an entirely huge fuss about his confusion for the affection towards these areas. I think what makes the infinite hole just as funny is the fact that despite succeeding in making a new game feature that stanley seems to really enjoy, he’s so much more focused on the fact that stanley is enjoying it the “wrong” way. aspects of the game that go hand in hand with the bucket.

[inksandpensblog]

The mercs didn’t follow Chosen into the IP.

This could be because they were instructed not to go up there. It could also be simply because Chosen’s cloud-cover prevented them from seeing where he’d gone. It could’ve just taken them that long to get each other out of the ice; we don’t actually know how long it takes for sticks to travel between the pc and the interspace/outernet/whatever-you-call-it.

But it could also be because they had a hunch that Chosen wouldn’t stay on the PC.

If so, well, they were right. And I wouldn’t expect Chosen to want to stay on the PC, not with his history.

But when I first saw the episode, I had wondered why he didn’t stay anyway. Even with their history, Chosen and Alan have joined forces before.

And besides, Chosen didn’t consider Alan’s presence at all when he fled to the PC, unlike the last time he went there; this time he went specifically because Orange would be there. Alan’s presence seemed to not even matter, to him. Which, again, makes me wonder why Chosen didn’t just stay to avoid the mercs.

But even so, couldn’t Chosen have fled to somewhere else, from the PC? He could’ve jumped into a website, or sent himself to the computer of someone Alan knows, or the color gang could’ve hidden him in Minecraft. He could’ve hunkered down, safely sheltered until the mercs got tired of waiting and left.

But Chosen wasn’t looking for a safe haven. He wasn’t looking for someplace where he could hide.

Chosen was looking for a way to confront his pursuers.

Which leads me to think that the mercs knew he’d come back.

[rivercule]

One thing I will say. There’s no way the penthouse shit went down like that. “Hey I’m gonna leave you here with this guy who could easily kill either of us and has every reason, as far as I know, to want you dead. Don’t worry I sternly told him to leave you alone. Oh wait he turned you into a vampire? Yeah I’m sure that was uneventful. Not sure that qualifies as hurting you either so I think we’re all good.”

They’re definitely going to revisit that.

[thewingedwolf]

wait i had a whole rant about this i didn’t tag the other day because again, there’s just so few indigenous people in the rtv fandom i don’t love the idea of talking about something as controversial as pretendians but it’s been gaining traction on twitter and…..like if you want My Opinion As Someone With Indigenous Heritage i think brooklyn has a lot of red flags that are typically associated with people lying about indigenous heritage whether it was a family story she just never looked into or a lie she concocted herself. At the same time, I don’t love the idea of a bunch of people who are not Indigenous weighing in on Brooklyn’s background because there’s been several high profile “pretendian hunters” who went after people who ARE indigenous but are basically not The Right Kind Of Indigenous and it’s been a massive issue in the community and I feel like if I start saying “i think brooklyn might be lying about being apache and cherokee” that’s going to help open the door for some really racist discourse especially if she IS just part of that Not The Right Kind Of Indigenous group.

[sesamestreep]

for your consideration in the “it’s a nice problem to have but still definitely a problem” category: the people I spent most of this summer so far interviewing with for a job didn’t hire me but, in their rejection email, they told me to apply for another job they’d be posting at the end of the month and so now I’m in maybe the most awkward job application process of my life

[velvetjune]

technically alan wake 2 final draft (spoilers ahead) is a Happy ending for the characters, but the spiral writers room video calling his enlightened self a possible demiurge or demon unsettled me far more than the original ending. that version, by his nature, already existing and overlapping with past loops, influencing and manipulating things without known reasons (to us and the Alan we play). it really makes that Alan out to be something else entirely through ascension and that this is inevitable. this could partially be because I kept seeing people say that the final draft was the happy end with a happy resolution for everyone, but I can’t stop thinking about what this means for Alan—and Alice!—going forward. That, along with the direct parallels to Yötön Yö playing out. It’s SO much to unpack

[deepseawave]

obsessed w the tags on ur last reblog

Omgg, thank you haha, it was a quality post so I just had to appreciate it in full force 😂❤️

Can‘t believe someone would actually enjoy my yapping :,D

[marsbars1714]

Just remembered the time in high school 2 completely random girls (I think they were fishies, but they might’ve been sardines) walked up to me in the hallway and just. Deadass, straight to my face, asked me if I was racist

Like Miss Bitch (‘cause only one of them actually spoke to me, iirc)

one: would a racist actually admit to being racist? I don’t think so

two: why the fuck are you talking to me (I did not, and still do not, like random people coming up to me. Especially when I’m trying to get somewhere and forget I exist) and why are you asking me that?

Anyway, apparently because I stayed out of everyone’s business and was super fucking quiet all the goddamn time, people started coming up with rumors about me

Issue was, I was pretty fucking open about shit happening in my life at the time

Apparently claiming that I was racist was easier than just calling me a tranny or fag or whatever (probably because i had, multiple times, openly called myself those words and made it clear that it didn’t bother me)

[teethbomb]

I may not know a lot ab lupin III but if I had the energy I’d scour for more proof of zennigata being born in a lab out of a tube

[queer-reader-07]

i love when people seemingly do everything in their power to interpret what you’re saying in the most bad faith way possible. it’s so fun and nice. (sarcasm)

[starlooove]

He is in fact not cool with his friends killing people he just can’t do shit about it and the fact that he thinks he can do smth about (and does!) when it comes to his kids is like a major point