#I never really bought it but now I think it's more sincere than I gave it credit for | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chrisevansonly · 11 months

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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐀 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐜 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: the little kart that sat in the garage haunted you, filling your thoughts no matter how hard you tried to avoid it, it doesn’t help that your husband wants to share his love for karting with his son…but there’s always more than meets the eye.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: angst, arguments, miscommunication, a bit of fluff at the start, but uh yeah it gets a bit rough now

𝐚/𝐧: this is the beginning of uh the angst…so buckle in and get ready, remember we have to go through the hard times to get to the good…please don’t hate me😁

𝐰𝐜: 1.3K

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

You avoided the garage like the plague, not wanting to look at the kids kart that still remained where Max and Charles had left it. It was haunting you, matter of fact it was almost mocking you at this point, you hated it, truthfully you hated it. Thankfully Pascale had offered to take Matteo for a weekend to allow you and Charles to talk as well as have a few days to yourselves, which you were hoping would help the very heavy tension between you and your husband.

Matteo was dropped off earlier in the morning allowing for you to run a few errands before returning home to clean and avoid Charles for another few hours. The one good thing was he had meetings for a few hours which gave you enough time to think about how you were going to approach the conversation and find a solution for everyone.

“I’m all finished my meetings”

At the sound of Charles’s voice behind you, your heart rate picked up the slightest as you turned to nod, a small smile on your face

“I guess we should talk then”

“Sure, should we go sit on the couch?”

Nodding you walked over and sat next to him, his hand reaching to grab yours gently, a habit of his and he was thankful you didn’t pull away

“I want to say I am sorry about the kart…Max and I saw it and, it was an impulse buy, I should have talked to you before I bought it”

“Thank you…I forgive you, it was just a shock to see it sitting in our garage and I think I may have overreacted when I saw it originally”

Charles remained quiet as he listened to you, he hated fighting with you and getting in disagreements, you were his other half, any second he had to spend away from you felt like a lifetime.

“I love you, I just want you to be happy amour”

“I know, I love you too..”

Leaning forward you placed a kiss to his lips, your chest feeling lighter already as you looked at Charles, you could see the sincerity in his eyes, he really hadn’t meant to upset you, which is why you really didn’t expect him to say what he did next.

“You know I did want to talk about karting to you, I think we should look into it now while he’s still little, get him a spot?”

It’s not that you didn’t want to let Matteo kart, but he was two years old and he couldn’t even sign up until he was at least six or seven years old. Why did it need to be discussed now? Why couldn’t it wait until a few years from now?

“Charles he can’t kart for another four or five years, I don’t see why we need to talk about it now”

You couldn’t help the slight irritation that bled into your voice, not intending the conversation to go this way at all

“Because it’s important to me amour, I want to introduce him to my favourite sport!”

“I understand that but it’s not important to me right now, what’s important to me is focusing on Teo and letting him explore anything he wants until he’s old enough to think about karting”

“Oh so what’s important to me doesn’t matter?” he stated, brows furrowing in confusion

“What? I never said that!”

You stood up from the couch and ran your hands through your hair, taking a deep breath

“Believe me Char, what is important to you matters to me but not right now, not when Matteo is little and I don’t want him anywhere near the track or that kart!”

“He comes to see me on the track!”

Charles yelled back, standing up and looking at you in astonishment

“That’s different and you know it Charles!”

“HOW!?”

The room fell silent after he yelled, something he rarely did, and it had you stunned for a moment

“I’m not ready to see Matteo get into a kart and race and get hurt, I already see you go out in those formula one cars and go at speeds I cannot imagine our little boy going at yet. I AM NOT READY!”

“WELL I AM!”

The yelling had only started to make this argument way worse than it needed to be, he wasn’t even looking at your side of the situation, just his, and believe me you wanted to be on the same page as Charles but right now you just couldn’t be.

“I’m so happy you are but his is OUR son Charles, and right now I’m telling you I am not ready for this conversation, I am not interested in looking into karting and if you’re going to keep yelling at me then this discussion is over.”

“Putaine de merde, pourquoi ne peux-u pas arrêter d’être si têtu et voir les choses de mon point de vue!?”

Scoffing your crossed your arms

“Vraiment Charles? Tu veux répéter ça?”

When Charles was angry he’d often switch to French just out of habit, and despite English being your first language, being with him as long as you had, meant your French was pretty fluent.

“No I don’t because I’m done talking to you, it’s like talking to a fucking wall, god you’re so-so selfish! I’m just going to sign him up and you can deal with it.”

Hearing this made your heart drop, there was a look in Charles’s eyes that you’d never seen before and you didn’t enjoy it

“Yeah nothing else to say now huh? Good.”

“I’m done.”

You shook your head willing tears of frustration away as you walked away from the living room, and upstairs to pack a bag, not wanting to spend a minute more in the home you shared with your husband, and thank god Matteo wasn’t there either to witness this.

“Oh come on, you’re leaving?”

Sniffling softly you wiped your eyes, standing up with the overnight bag you packed

“Yes I-I am because I won’t l-let you make me o-out to be the villain Charles I just wont!”

He went to say something but you cut him off

“I watch you go out with a chest full of anxiety not knowing what race will be the race you crash and get hurt or even worse! I worry everytime you get into that car that you wont be coming back to me-to matteo! I will not sit here and let you push our son into a go kart like this because I cannot and will not lose him.”

Charles’s eyes softened at this, wanting to reach out and apologize to you, but as you stepped back he felt his heart break more

“So I am leaving, and you can figure out where your priorities are, because right now its not with your family.”

There was really nothing else that he could say as he watched you leave him there, the bedroom now too quiet for his liking, the door slamming letting him know you really were leaving him alone. He didn’t even have Matteo around to keep him company. For the first time in a while Charles didn’t know how to feel or what to do with himself. It wasn’t until an hour later that he received a text from Lorenzo that you had arrived to his and Charlotte’s house for the night, clearly not wanting to bother his maman and Matteo. Not wanting to be alone Charles called Arthur and begged him to come over, needing someone to talk to, someone to hear him and help him figure out what exactly went wrong.

If he was worried he’d messed up before…he was entering a whole new level now.

ʚlittle karter series tag list

@goldenmclaren @a1leexxa @piastricodedfr @treehouse-mouse @therealcap @goldenalbon @wintfleur

english translations:

Putaine de merde, pourquoi ne peux-tu pas arrêter d’être si têtu et voir les choses de mon point de vue - fucking hell why can’t you stop being so stubborn and see things from my point of view

Vraiment Charles. Tu veux répéter ça? - really charles? do you want to repeat that?

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allthingsfangirl101 · 5 months

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Out of The Blue – Keys

Masterlist

I walked into my apartment and kicked off my shoes. I went upstairs and changed into a pair of leggings and an oversized flannel. The second I got downstairs, I collapsed onto the couch.

Right out of MIT, I got a job as a traveling coder. I meet with business professionals and owners and help them build their websites. After the first meeting, everything I did could be done from home.

I grabbed my laptop off my desk and took it to the family room. I put on the TV show I was currently binge-watching and slowly started working on my newest project. I was finishing up for the night when I glanced over and saw how late it was. I was just about to close my computer when it dinged. With furrowed eyebrows, I checked my email.

Walter McKeys.

My heart flipped and then plummeted into my stomach. I haven't talked to Keys since college. We were in a lot of classes together. We constantly studied together and helped each other with our homework. I was the one who gave him the nickname "Keys". He gave me the nickname "Buggy". He used to say that I was annoyingly good at finding and getting rid of computer bugs.

Memories came flooding back as I read his email.

Hey Buggy, It's been a long time. I'm sorry for this random email, but I've been thinking a lot about you lately. That's probably weird. To be honest, I don't really know how to explain why I'm emailing you. I've never been very good with words. I'm only good with code. You know that. How many times did we have to do a presentation and all I could do was the coding part? You were always the one who did the presentation and the talking part.

Sorry. I'm email-rambling. Anyway, I've been having this issue with a code and AI. I finally made the connection and figured out the problem. I only figured it out because of you. I know that doesn't make sense, Buggy, and I'm sorry. Please watch the video attached and maybe, just maybe, it'll make more sense.

Sincerely, Your Keys

As I finished the email, my breathing was unsteady, almost coming out in short gasps. I reread it over and over again, my mind spinning with questions. I opened the attachment, but for some reason, I couldn't play it. When I finally pressed play, Keys popped up on my laptop screen. From the looks of it, he was at his office late at night.

Why would he film this at his office and send it to me despite how late it was?

That question made me finally press play. I held my breath as Keys started talking.

"Hey, Buggy," he smiled at the camera. "I know this is kinda weird, but I need to get some things off my chest. I'm not sure if you know this but for the last year, I've been working for Soonami on a game called, "Free Life". Lately, I've noticed something. . . Strange. Before I explain, I need to confess something. A while ago, I created a game with a friend of mine called, Life Itself. To be honest, Y/N, I used part of your code from our senior project."

Keys looked away from the camera and sighed. When he looked back, my chest tightened at the look on his face.

"I'm really sorry, Y/N," he whispered. "I should've. . . I changed it a little bit. Your code was focused on programming. All I did was adapt it for gaming. I'm sorry. I know I should've called and asked for your permission. I really hope that doesn't make you hate me."

He cleared his throat and took a minute to get his thoughts back on track. "Anway," he continued, "Soonami bought "Life Itself". They claimed to have shelved it, but my friend Millie found proof that they didn't. For you to understand what happened, I need to introduce you to Guy."

I smiled when his scream split and I saw the character he started talking about. "He's supposed to be an NPC, but something changed. Now, from the beginning. . . Guy's behavior is much more complex than it should be, thanks to our code."

My heart jumped when he called it "our code".

"But he's still stuck in "Free City,"" he continued. "He's still stuck in his life, this loop. And then, something changes. He comes to life. Why? And then I remembered. One of the characters from "Life Itself" was this guy that I nicknamed, "Lovelorn". And he was someone who was designed to never meet the right person. It was essentially the building blocks of the character. But he never stopped hoping that he would meet "the girl of his dreams". So I had to base this girl off of someone. . . and who better than the person that I was sitting next to every day? You."

My breathing sped up and I felt my heart jump back into my throat as he continued to explain to me what was going on.

"But then, one day, he meets Millie in "Free City", and once he sees her. . . he can never be the same. He was supposed to feel doomed, but instead, he feels alive until eventually, he is alive. Millie changed him. You wrote the code that was able to be changed by one person. One connection. You brought him to life, Y/N. You wrote the code that brought him to life. And he was alive because he met the one person he'd been waiting for his whole life. And I had to make it realistic, so. . . I based it off of. . . You. The woman of his dreams. . . she was the same as mine."

I hit the pause button, my heart beating against my chest. I ran my fingers through my hair as I tried to put my thoughts together.

"But Millie is the one who met him," I mumbled under my breath. "She's the one who brought him to life. . . I just wrote his code."

I grabbed my bag and headed to my car but stopped when I realized what time it was.

I went to bed but as soon as I got up, I found Soonami's address. I anxiously drummed my fingers on the steering wheel as I got close. I signed in at the front desk and headed up to the offices. The entire time I was in the elevator, I kept repeating what Keys said in the video.

"Hello, gorgeous," a guy smirked. "I'm Mouser. And you are?"

"Not looking for you," I said harshly. "Where's Keys?"

"Not here," he shrugged. I sighed as I ran my fingers through my hair.

"You got an address?"

* * * * *

When I pulled up to Keys' apartment complex, my nerves made me freeze. I wasn't even sure what I was going to say to him when and if he opened that door. I barely found the courage to park my car and head up to his place.

I got to his door but hesitated before knocking. I held my breath as I waited for him to answer. The longer it took him, the closer I got to turning around and running away. I was just about to when the door opened.

"Y/N," Keys stuttered.

"Hi," I said, my voice softer than I wished. "We need to talk about that video."

He sent me a small smile and nodded. I took a shaky breath when he opened the door and moved aside for me to come in. I walked in and instantly started nervously playing with my hands.

"Have a seat," he invited me.

"Nice place," I mumbled as I looked around but didn't sit down.

"Thanks," he chuckled, clearly embarrassed. He cleared his throat before attempting to break through the tension. "So, that video. . ."

"Millie brought him to life," I cut him off. "Not me."

"It was your code," he shrugged with a small look on his face.

"You said I was the woman of your dreams," I continued, "but your friend Millie is the one who brought him to life. Not me. So according to that, she should be the woman of your dreams."

"But she's not," he said, slowly taking a step closer to me. "Millie has a lot in common with you. She loves bubblegum ice cream, swingsets, and Mariah Carey. So yes, Millie is the one that Guy ran into, but it was the similarities that he fell for. In fact, if you had run into him in the game, you would have brought him to life."

"Keys, this is. . . I don't understand. . . I just. . ."

I cut myself off when he leaned in, his face inches from mine. "I know I was rambling," he whispered, "but there is one important part in what I said."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've had a lot of time to think about this," he continued. "You're the woman of my dreams, Buggy."

Before I could say anything, Keys leaned in and gently pressed his lips to mine. My mind was swimming as I slowly kissed him back. He broke the kiss with a small smile on his face. We looked into each other's eyes as we struggled to catch our breaths.

"I know this was completely random," he whispered with his forehead pressed to mine, "but I couldn't stop thinking about you, Buggy. Every day I fixed the coding issues with Free Life, I thought about you. I haven't stopped thinking about you since the night we graduated from MIT."

"That video. . ." I whispered but didn't continue.

"Was my cowardly way of admitting my feelings for you," he said with a small chuckle as he leaned back. I held my breath as he reached forward and gently grabbed my hands, slightly pulling me closer.

"Say it," I said under my breath.

"Say what?" He asked, slightly tilting his head.

"Confess to me what you confessed in the video."

Keys smiled as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

"You are the woman of my dreams," he whispered. "I created the character Lovelorn and kinda based him off of me. I designed him to never meet the right person because I was worried I never would. As I was creating him and "the girl of his dreams", I started basing her off the first girl that came to my mind. You. I thought about what I felt as we sat next to each other and worked on our senior projects. I thought about how I felt when you helped me with my code. I thought about how badly I wanted to be more than just coding partners. You, my dear Buggy, are the woman of my dreams."

I grabbed his face and pressed my lips to his. I felt him smile as he tightened his arms around my waist and kissed me back. We let out matching laughs as we fell back onto his couch. He hovered over me, looking deeply into my eyes.

"I've missed you, Buggy."

"I've missed you too, Keys."

#keys imagine #walter mckeys #walter mckeys imagine #joe keery #joe keery imagines #free guy #keys x reader

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kairismess · 11 months

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i'll try my best for you. – college!bokuto x gn!honors student!reader

it was never a surprise that kotaro bokuto isn't the best student out there. he had scored pretty low on... most, if not all, the exams, and was on the brink of failing this semester. you didn't know what that problem was like, it felt like a completely different universe for you to receive anything that bad–you couldn't let yourself fall behind, it wasn't in your nature. your professors noticed your drive and enthusiasm for studying, and out of pity and desperation, they offered you extra credit to teach the "lost cause" that was this eccentric fellow, who... was rubbing an open book on his head. "...what are you doing?" "shh... i'm soaking up the knowledge. kuroo told me this is how he studies, and he gets such high grades!" you sighed as you pulled up a chair and sat next to him. you lifted the book off his head and noticed his pretty, coffee-colored eyes with dark yellow, honey undertones to them. he smiled up at you, practically beaming; hints of pink on his cheeks glowed, making you a little warm in the face, yourself. overtime, you both had grown accustomed to each other–even though you both had your misunderstandings and spats at times–bokuto sincerely meant well and wanted to do better at school. not for himself, but rather, for the one who's put all this effort to teach him and help him get better: you.

even on days off, you'd sometimes see bokuto studying at the library, which unsettled you a bit because the sight was... a bit uncanny, a bit worrisome. but when you'd hear bokuto scream out his signature, "hey, hey, hey!" in the once quiet and peaceful room–beibg subsequently shushed by the librarian who gave him a nasty look–bokuto shied back behind his books and smiled to himself all giddy. "hey, hey, hey!" he whispered to himself, finally understanding the topic you nearly lost all patience teaching him. after a week of catching bokuto studying without him knowing, it seemed like he was already a little advanced, and very well-read on the topics you were tutoring him about.

he chuckled when you praised him, pushing back the fake glasses he bought to look smarter on his face, smirking at you. "that's because i have such a wonderful tutor..." he buttered you up, smiling widely. "or, maybe because... you spent more time and effort on your studies, even without me?" you asked him with a knowing grin, making bokuto sweat a bit, thinking you might've found out already his secret. he cleared his throat and looked away from you, whistling and denying your allegations. "why do your eyes have slight bags underneath them?" "i-i... got into using makeup recently!" "makeup...?" "y-yeah! akaashi does... eyeliner for me, it's really... really pretty on me, no?!" he asks you with a trembling smile that faked confidence.

you could clearly see through him, but you didn't mind letting him indulge in him making you feel like the best tutor the world had to offer him, and in a sense, you were. it wasn't because of how well you taught him or how high his marks were after teaching him, it was because... he now does his best, even when it seems impossible to do, because he knows you'd be proud of him if he did better than before, even by just the tiniest bit. nothing would make him any happier than you feeling proud of him, of yourself, for teaching him; because when he saw you smile at his little coverup... he noticed a brightness in them that he only witnessed just now. you were proud of him, even if you didn't say it–and he... felt over the moon when you congratulated him for his passing scores, he screamed again in excitement and joy in the library, making the librarian shush him again–their eyes shooting daggers at him.

"i promise you," he whispered as he leaned closer to your ear, grinning from ear-to-ear, a gleeful mess, "i'll do my very best, always. these exams won't be that scary this time around... and that's because i'll try my best, better than the best... i'll try my best for you." he finished with a blush and a smile on his face, unable to contain his excitement. you were going to correct him on his grammar with that 'better' and 'best' declaration, but you decided to let bokuto express just how dedicated he is to making you proud of him–to give your efforts meaning. "well... good luck, bokuto." you told him with a smile, making bokuto freeze up and his heart momentarily skipping a beat, and suddenly thrumming in his chest that he felt it could leap out of his chest any minute now. "y-you bet! bring it on, exams! i don't fear you!" he screamed in the library, with you trying to quiet him down as the librarian was about to throw a book at him to sit him down and silence him. oh, this boy... he had a way of making you feel like the smartest person in the world. to him, of course you were–but to know he was doing his best for you... it made your heart patter a bit. it was a good feeling, though a little strange; maybe this feeling would be... a little more than just that, only time will tell.

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kiryoutann · 2 years

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𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍 ☆。*。☆ [ALHAITHAM X FEM! READER]

Warning(s): suggestive content at the end (no smut, though).

Genre: romance, modern! au, university! au.

Word count: 5,5k.

Blurb:

It's not a secret that Alhaitham is the most competitive and has great pride. But, what happens when you start 'stealing' his precious first rank from him? Alhaitham comes up with a plan; he will approach you, make you helplessly in love with him, distract you and steal his first place. Who would have imagined, though, that it would backfire on him?

Inspired by this post.

The clear sky stretches over the campus buildings. Birds were singing in appreciation of the cloudless and perfect weather. On the green grass of the park, college students chat while carrying the drinks they bought at a nearby kiosk. Everything about today said it was going to be a good day.

But not for Alhaitham.

The man was infamous for never smiling (though he believed they were all exaggerating since he had smiled once—when Kaveh slipped and fell into a pool of rainwater). His eyes always convey the impression that he is better to everyone, as evidenced by him usually occupying the top positions on every weekend exam. Usually.

No one would have believed that those eyes could be sharper than before while his lips were in deep gloom staring at the board where the ranking results were presented.

(Y/N) (L/N)

Alhaitham

His tongue clicked in annoyance. He has long known you’re a threat, proven when his professor also mentioned your name and the title of your research as 'good and well organized work’ in front of the class. However, Alhaitham didn't think you would actually succeed. Maybe he's been underestimating you all along.

A voice that sounded like a crowd of people talking and approaching made Alhaitham step aside, guessing whoever those people were going to look at the wall board. At first, he was going to keep standing there—with all his annoyance while staring at his name next to number two—but, one of them said something and made him freeze before turning his head.

“Hey, (Y/N)! You’re in first place!”

Pretty good way to sprinkle salt on the wound.

“Really?”

Enthusiasm is lacking in your voice, as if you had expected this—as if you had expected that Alhaitham would be number two, right below you. He stares at you reading the ranking results, then you turn to look at him, not intimidated.

The wind blows, your hair dances in the breeze, and Alhaitham is preoccupied figuring out what the smile on your lips means. While his rational mind says you're just trying to be friendly, his petty mind believes you're making fun of him. Alhaitham wasn’t going to believe the latter until you opened your mouth to say,

"Well, so we're now rivals?"

Rivals. Ha.

A scoff left his lips. “Funny." he started. "The last time I checked, for two people to be rivals, they have to be on the same level."

Instead of irritating you, his remarks widen your smile. "You're right." You glance at the board, your name is still emblazoned at the top. "Obviously we're not like that."

It was obvious you were mocking him, and plus, did you just boomerang his own words? Alhaitham inhaled through his nostrils. If it weren't for your friends waiting for you two to finish exchanging 'conversations', he would have continued this until you gave up having the last say.

“Enjoy it while it lasts.” Alhaitham said.

"Totally. We're going to a sushi restaurant after this. Wanna join?” The smirk on your face widens, or is it just him?

“You’re shameless.”

"And you’re still second."

Alhaitham refrained from continuing. "Have the day you deserve, (L/N)." He said, then turned to leave. If you're thinking about giving him another 'smart' comment, he sincerely hopes that you'll literally bite your tongue.

“I’ll be having a good one then, thanks!”

It takes all the patience inside of him not to turn back and get back at you. Alhaitham clenched his fists. Next week will be different, this must all just be down to your luck or he didn't take yesterday's test seriously. Alhaitham vowed not to let that happen again and was confident he would regain first place.

Next week was much the same.

The first thing Alhaitham did when he arrived on campus was walk quickly to the information board, where last week's exam rankings were displayed with a group of students reading them. He made his way through them to get a better look. There it is, first place with your damn name on it. He's still second. He is. Still. Second.

Something is definitely wrong. A small difference in score separates your rankings which frustrates him even more. He has been in first place for two years, and he doesn't need anyone to break that.

"Two weeks in a row, (Y/N)." Someone behind him commented.

Someone—you, he guessed—chuckled. “That study group really paid off.” You said.

Study group? He thought. Alhaitham was about to make his way out of the scene quietly to avoid you but, when a gasp escaped you, he knew you had found him.

“Alhaitham, hi!”

That's the most sickening hello. Alhaitham turned his head to look at you, who were beaming at him. It must be satisfying for you, watching him stand here in the same glum after reading the ranking results. He is still second and you know it too.

You looked back at your friends. “We’re going for fast food this time. Wanna join?” Alhaitham did nothing but glare at you. ".. Or do you want to join next week?"

You're pretty confident to say you'll still be first. This luck lasts only two weeks, and if it turns out to be more than that, Alhaitham will find a way to ruin it—just like you did to his first ranking streak. He really likes challenges, loves competition. But, it was now at a point where it was an embarrassment.

He chose to turn around instead of responding to you. He'll reclaim his first rank.

Next week has come with everything that makes his patience dripping off.

When Alhaitham opened his messaging app and downloaded the PDF a classmate had sent him, his stomach churned in uneasiness. He watched the loading circle complete then pressed it quickly with his thumb. Turquoise eyes swept across the title—something he had never done before but now he did to buy time before lowering his gaze on number one and—

“Damn it!”

The entire bus turned their heads to the grey-haired. They looked at him with judgmental eyes, some thinking he had lost his mind (like most college students do because of their endless assigments). Alhaitham paid no attention to any of that. He was too busy swearing mentally while rereading your full name.

What the hell is going on?

Alhaitham is desperate. He was desperate for an explanation as to why the first place had slipped out of his hands. These two years, everything was fine; then what made him 'fail' like this? He closed his group chat and turned off his cell phone while preparing to get off at his stop. However, the question kept repeating itself in the back of his mind.

At lunch time, he walked into the architecture department cafeteria—four buildings away from Alhaitham's. He wouldn't have bothered to approach Kaveh—who was sitting at one of the cafeteria tables with the cheapest meal he was about to eat—if he hadn't needed a second opinion. The second those red eyes landed on him, Alhaitham watched his face change as if.. he had lost his appetite?

Regardless, Alhaitham kept walking and sat in the chair across from him. The crease between Kaveh's brows deepened.

"What do you want?" Kaveh asked, grumpily.

"I need your opinion."

The blonde crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. "What?" He gave Alhaitham a quick once-over before smirking. “Wow, never expected the day you would beg for my help."

“Opinion, not help. I'll decide if it's helpful or not later.”

Kaveh—not feeling like arguing today—still made sure to exhale loudly enough for him to hear. “Whatever that keeps you out of my face." He stuck his fork deep into his food hoping it was Alhaitham instead.

Alhaitham fell silent in his thoughts. He was stroking his imaginary beard while thinking of ways to say it without telling him straight that he was in despair. If Kaveh knew someone beat him in the rankings, he would make fun of this. He didn't need that added to his plate.

"Something was stolen from me." He said carefully.

Kaveh raised one eyebrow before digging back into his food. "That's your problem?" He watched Alhaitham nod. "Buy it again. Problem solved. Now get off my table.”

"This isn’t something that can be bought."

Kaveh rolled his eyes. “Aren't you supposed to be the smartest? You ruined my precious lunch time.” He held his tray before standing up, about to switch tables. “Just steal it back. Done! You're done, right? Don't bother me. I've a little time before dealing with that lovesick guy Childe."

Steal it back. Lovesick.

Alhaitham had heard how complicated love was—a blessing and a curse, say those who had. He doesn't really care about people, but he does meet a bunch of friends who don't show up for meetings because they're busy dating (he ends up crossing their names off assignments, don't worry).

Steal it back. Lovesick.. Something clicked in his brain. That's it!

A new determination ignited and burned. He stood up from the cafeteria table with a smile, a sharp contrast to the state he was in when he entered it. The birds were fluttering their wings under a clear sky. This time he would take that as a good sign.

Today will be the start of his grand plan to approach you, date you, and infatuate you to the point where you’re so distracted with him that you once again come in second, as it should be.

It started after the last class of the day.

Seconds after the professor picked up his laptop and documents stating that class was over, Alhaitham immediately moved to approach you (who luckily sat alone in the absence of your usual friends). He watched you tidy up your books, your notes and all the colorful highlighters. One rolls over to the edge of the table and he catches not only that but your attention.

“..Hey.” You say hello, giving him a skeptical look before looking back perhaps he's here for someone else. After confirming that it was just you, you proceeded to ask: "Can I help you?"

Right. You two aren't exactly on good terms, so his sudden approach will no doubt make you feel uneasy. Alhaitham took a silent breath, feeling the air fill his lungs before he opened his mouth to say, "We need to talk.”

What a wonderful choice of words. Your lips curved into a faint smile as you stuffed your books and notes into your bag.

“So demanding.” you comment. "Are you always like this?"

Alhaitham has always lived with the rational side of his brain, so it's not a problem for him to control his emotions even though he has many words to reply to your clever comments. He stares at you, having the chance to notice the color of the irises under those curled eyelashes this time; he probably would have liked the color if not for the rivalry between you two.

"The other day, I was rude to you." He started, his own words piercing his pride. "I'm here to apologize to you."

You hummed in response, "Hmm, then let me hear it.”

Alhaitham fumbled around in his pocket. You see him set a bar of chocolate down on the table. A wrinkle forms in the middle of your furrowed brow. Your eyes return to his turquoise one, it reminds you of the gemstone described in the textbook you read last night.

Even though it felt better to bite his lip than to say it, Alhaitham really had no choice but to speak it this time.

“I’m sorry.”

"What are you sorry for?"

Something flashed in his eyes before it disappeared. Alhaitham was making a best efforts to keep a straight face, but as soon as he noticed how your smile became wider, he realized you were using this as an opportunity to play him.

"For being rude."

You nodded, still looking dissatisfied. "And why were you being rude?" The laughter at the corner of your throat was harder to contain when you saw his lips starting to form a glum shape.

“Do you really need to ask that?” Alhaitham protested.

"I need to make sure you're sincere."

A sigh escaped his lips. "Haah.. fine," He then continued, "Perhaps I was irritated because I was one rank below you." His badly damaged dignity would require a lot of time to mend.

Luckily it’s enough for you. "So, is the chocolate for me?" You glanced at the table where the chocolate bar was still sitting. It's from a brand you love but, never had the chance to buy again because it's quite expensive. Either this is just a coincidence, or Alhaitham also likes it or he has done a background check on you.

“I'm just going to put it there. It's none of my business if you eat it or not." He said.

Alhaitham could have worded it more politely—more kindly. He regretted saying it in his way, thinking you would react negatively to that. However, when his ears catch the sound of someone's laughter—yours—his eyes widen as he stares at you taking the chocolate from the table.

"Has someone ever said you have a weird way of talking?"

Someone has. Kaveh.

You waved the chocolate bar in your hand. "Apology accepted, as well as the chocolate." When you smiled at him, he wasn't irritated by it this time.

"I'll see you around." You’re about to walk away.

“Wait.”

You stop walking. Turning to the gray-haired, you looked at him with curiosity. Alhaitham moved his gaze to you. From this angle, you can see why he's secretly loved by many. With sharp eyes, lips that never smile, and a defined jaw; you wonder why he never thought of becoming a model instead of coping with college life. Probably the same reason as you.

Alhaitham turned his back on you completely. "You haven't found a partner for Professor Aabid's observation assignment yet, have you?" he inquired.

You unconsciously nodded, "That's right." you said before reflecting about his question. “Why do you—“

"Be my partner."

“.. What?”

Alhaitham crossed his arms over his chest. "Is there a reason for you to refuse?" he asked.

"No, but why me?" You shake your head.

"Because I don't have one either." He answered casually before smiling faintly. "Besides, I think we'd be perfect pair, don't you think so?"

Perfect? You think 'hellish' is more appropriate. A few days ago, you two were at each other's throats fighting for the first place, and now what? You really can't believe Alhaitham labeled you both as ‘perfect’ partners. He's working on something under his sleeve you know.

Alhaitham saw your doubt. "Shouldn't that convince you?" He glanced at the chocolate bar.

You followed his gaze and chuckled. “So it turns out this is a bribe."

"It could be."

"Ha! You're up to something, I can feel it." For a second, you swear you saw his eyes widen and he turned pale, but it could have just been your imagination. "But whatever, I'm game."

Alhaitham had an arrogant grin on his face. “See you at Monday then.” He didn't even deny it, only then turned his shoes on walking towards the exit.

You didn't miss a single detail when you told this to your friends. See? It's not just you who feels weird about his sudden change in attitude. Your girls warned you to be careful with him, some told you to change partners—speculating that he might be trying to abduct or kill you, adding your tragedy to the long list of criminal cases that are made into documentaries on Netflix. You doubt it though.

Monday came like in the blink of an eye. Or maybe your weekend was so much fun that you forgot you partnered with Alhaitham.

The second he landed his eyes on you entering the room, Alhaitham cleared his throat. He had spent the weekend finishing ten romance books to find out what makes someone fall in love fast. Today was the day he put it all into practice. He will claim his first position soon.

Maintaining eye contact.

"Hey." You greet him, take a seat next to him, and place your bag at your feet. "How was your weekend?"

"It was fine." Alhaitham replied.

You give a brief nod. He's still looking at you, giving you a chance to take in more detail of his eyes. It not only had a turquoise color, an amber hue surrounded its pupils. College life has not left any traces on his flawless skin. You won't deny that he was given a gift in the form of handsome face.

Alhaitham was still staring at you, as if you were an alien. Feeling uncomfortable, you look straight ahead hoping he will do the same.

Fourteenth second and he's still at it, you're starting to think you have something in your face. You take out your phone, open the camera app and find nothing. Maybe he wanted to ask something? You return to Alhaitham to confirm.

"Do you have anything to say?" you ask.

Alhaitham blinked then replied, “Sure.”

Sure? You don't know how to respond to that. "What do you want to say?" You rest your cheek on your palm.

"Just.." Alhaitham tried to remember the next step.

2. Touch them more often.

Alhaitham stretched out his hand quickly. A second later you feel warmth slightly touching the skin of your ear. He just tucked a strand of your hair away from your face. Alhaitham just tucked a strand of your hair away from your face. Maybe he's a perfectionist, disliking messy things like your hair that you rush into ponytail for fear of missing the bus. But, you really didn't expect this at all.

"Uhh.. thanks." You force a smile, shifting slightly away from him.

Maybe it's true what your friends say about him planning to kidnap you.

Meanwhile in his mind, Alhaitham mistook your wary demeanor as shyness. He suppressed a smile. He had doubts about the usefulness of the romance books, yet they paid off. It won't take you long to slip into his trap.

Professor Aabid's classwork is more difficult than one might imagine. Fortunately, two weeks were given to complete it. You and Alhaitham often meet to discuss paper material, which later leads to visiting your house as a comfortable place to work on it. Weekends with your friends are replaced by being with him. Books and laptops are now preferred over late-night karaoke.

A pen was placed on the carpet. You take a deep breath before stretching, feeling relieved after relaxing the tense muscles caused by your sitting posture. Alhaitham approached the table and set two mugs on the floor table.

You smell the sweet scent. "What's this?" You take one.

"Hot chocolate." He replied, drinking his own.

One of your eyebrows is raised. "Not coffee? Are you sure this won't make us sleepier?” you ask.

Alhaitham put down his glass which is now half down. "The only way to get rid of exhaustion is to sleep. Just go to sleep if you're tired; I'll continue the next page.” He pulled the laptop closer to him.

“Really? Are you saying that to sound nice or do you really mean it?”

"Stop asking stupid questions." He fixed his eyes on the laptop screen.

You straighten your sitting posture. “Oh, come on. Can't you just smile or laugh once?” you protest.

Alhaitham's fingers stopped typing. A line he remembered from one of those romance books flashed in his mind. The third step to make someone fall in love: smile more often.

You see him turn to you, lips curling into a smile. It complimented him well, really well. His hand stretched out. But this time he wasn't aiming for your strands or your ears. He placed his palm on the top of your head and ruffled it gently.

"Go to sleep. I’ll wake you up later.”

Yes, Alhaitham thought. This should be enough for her to fall—

His train of thought was interrupted when you took his hand and cupped it in front of your face. Thumb moved in a circular manner across his calloused fingertips. Compared to his, your skin is incredibly warm. Are you flirting with him? Before Alhaitham could have his answer, he watched as your lips curved into a smile wide enough to lift your cheeks.

"Okay." you answer. "Would you be fine alone?”

Alhaitham quickly and abruptly pulled his hand away. He immediately pretended to be focused on the laptop, his one free hand hiding his lips behind it and muttering: "I told you to stop asking stupid questions."

Another laugh from you and he doesn't like how his heart reacts to that. It was beating too fast, too different from normal. He knew he had no history of any illness, so why did his chest feel warm? He compared its warmth to your hands just now, and now he ends up thinking all about you.

You slept on the couch behind him. Alhaitham remained with his laptop and open book. Between you two is silence and a troubled heart.

The day before the deadline for submitting Professor Aabid's class assignments, the drizzling rain turned heavy. The usual clear sky was replaced with dark clouds that came in to block up the afternoon sun. Some students voiced their complaints, and others opened their umbrellas to flee. They concluded today would be a bad day.

Two people ran in an uneven pace beneath the man's black jacket. In the midst of the puddles that spread across the campus grounds, they no longer care if their shoes end up dirty later. You closely hold onto your freshly printed papers for fear that the rain will hit it and cause the ink to smear. Meanwhile, Alhaitham puts a hand on your shoulder guiding you to take shelter under the roof of one of the biology department buildings.

“Phew!” You let out a sigh of relief after checking your documents were safe.

Alhaitham glanced at you. "Are you alright?" He asked, worry was in his voice, but you failed to notice.

“Yeah,” You held up the brown envelope high. “the envelope got wet but, the rest was fine.”

"I asked about you, not the documents."

"Oh." After saying that, you let out a laugh—one that made Alhaitham hold his breath hoping it would stop the warmth that was seeping into his cheeks and chest. “It's just rain. The worst-case scenario is when I wash my shoes later."

Now that you mention it, those turquoise eyes can't help but steal a quick peek at your dirt-stained white shoes. He checked his and realized that it wasn't as awful as yours—possibly because the materials you two had were different. Not only that, he also realizes the size differences between your feet and his.

"We can always go to the shoe wash." Alhaitham suggested.

You seem interested in the idea. "And go for ice cream after?"

A smile automatically crawled onto his face after hearing that. He's been smiling a lot lately. "Sure." He replied, watching you squeal with joy.

The heavy raindrops were still falling onto the ground. Although the wind wasn't very strong, it was enough to cause shivers in people who had previously been drenched. Alhaitham noticed it in you. He swiftly wrung his black jacket and draped it over your shoulders.

"What about you?" you ask.

Alhaitham shook his head. "I can manage." The lie came out smooth. In reality, you catch him repeatedly rubbing his hands trying to keep himself warm.

So you took his hand, too suddenly and unexpectedly. He watched you bring it to your lips, felt the touch of your warm breath on his skin. His heart missed a beat. Something stirred in his stomach and Alhaitham didn't like one bit of it. He picks up a lot of details about you—from how your lips curl while you blow another warm air on his fingers to the strands of your wet hair tickling your cheeks.

The first step to make someone fall in love: maintain eye contact.

For some reason, he had a hard time doing it now. Every time he made an effort, his heart would continue to race and his hands would feel the need to have you beneath his touch—in his arms. His eyes will first go down your cheek, nose, and cupid's bow before settling on your lips. Shimmering lipgloss around your lips. Maybe one day he'll be able to taste it?

Alhaitham's thoughts stopped. What kind of desire just grew in his chest?

The smile that you’re now carving doesn't help the situation either. It came like a sea of roses, and Alhaitham didn't even like roses. But, if it looks like you—smells like you; then the thing he wanted to do was dive into it and never surface again.

Oh, now he understands.

Whole lines from the romance books he had read for his grand plan came back like boomerangs. Instead of making you fall in love, he fell in love. Instead of stealing back his ranking, he ended up being the one who got stolen.

This kind of feeling... he didn't know what to do with it.

Before Alhaitham could find the answer, the rain had died down. You turned around with a happy face, releasing his hand slowly (he wished he could still feel your skin on his). Your voice says about turning in assignments early, perhaps Professor Aabid will be kind enough to give you some extra credit. However, what Alhaitham can focus on is your figure stepping under the rays of the sun slowly coming out of the clouds that has finished its misery.

Alhaitham is conflicted about today. His feelings was left unspoken.

You did not show up to campus the next day. Alhaitham was at the front of the class when he received your message saying that you were sick and unable to attend class.

The old Alhaitham will take this opportunity to return to being the best in class and not give you any notes from the lecturer's explanation. The new Alhaitham has already started turning his shoes and sprinting towards the exit while he's fiddling with his cell phone sending you a message that he'll be here soon.

When he arrives at your apartment door, his index finger presses the bell button in agitation. Did you get sick from the rain?

When the door swings open, Alhaitham immediately scans you. Slightly messy hair, flushed face, hoarse voice as you call his name and ask why he’s here. It seems you were sleeping, so you didn't read his message. Regardless, Alhaitham made his way inside after closing the door.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I left."

Your ears are deceiving you, right? If not, then what is the reason that made you hear Alhaitham say that he left the class? You glance at the digital clock not far from the kitchen and find it's too early for class to end.

"Wait.. did you just skip class?"

Alhaitham stopped fiddling with the medicines he bought after hearing your question. Silence fell between you. You think he'll never answer until he opens his mouth to say, "Maybe."

You sneeze before asking, "Are you serious?"

"I heard you got sick. So here I am."

Alhaitham answered too briefly for you to think he did this for no reason. After placing the meds on the counter, he rushes into your kitchen (as if he owns it). You were still standing there in silence—still unable to believe what was happening. He comes up to you with a glass of water.

"I bought you soup, in case you haven't eaten."

"So you're saying that you ditched class just to come here?" you ask.

A sigh escaped his lips as he turned around like he was avoiding something. "Still talking about that? Isn't my answer enough?" He replies too softly requiring you to concentrate a little more to hear him; your plugged ear doesn't help either.

"Yeah, I'm bringing that up because the Alhaitham I know will take this opportunity to beat me." You walk quickly towards him. "And you're acting weird right now, you know."

Alhaitham turned to you, and you swear your heart skipped a beat when you found something different in those turquoise eyes of his. You're not really sure what, though. The height difference makes you slightly look up to stare at him back. You don't know since when you took every detail of him, but you can't miss how his Adam's apple bobs when he swallows out of... nervousness?

Alhaitham? Nervous?

Whatever it is, it's starting to affect you as well.

Alhaitham stares at you, pausing at your lips before returning to your eyes. “Are you going to make me say it?” His voice was soft, as if he was reading a secret love letter.

Now it's your turn to swallow. “.. Say what?”

"That I like you."

In that second, your breath caught. Your eyes burn from not blinking, but you're too frozen in place to do that. Your jaw is slack. His words have a way of warming your heart, or is it the gaze he still gives you? Beautiful turquoise color.. which is now only focused on you as if you were the only thing ever made in the universe.

“.. What?”

“I like you.” He repeated without complaining.

Now that he has said it more clearly, you can't help but stare at his flushed cheeks. You know exactly yours aren’t much different from his. Did Alhaitham really just make a love confession? To you, out of all the people? Confusion has taken over your mind. You blink a few times to make sure you really aren't dreaming. Alhaitham just made a love confession. To you, out of all the people.

In contrast to the flushed cheeks and the awkward silence he maintained, Alhaitham stood with his usual stoic face. Your lips opened without a word coming out.

Alhaitham took a breath. "It wasn't planned." He took the opportunity to add. "I.. didn't expect it either."

So what he's trying to tell you is that falling in love with you wasn't part of his plan? You swallowed again, your throat quickly drying. It's as if he's saying that whatever it was you did to make him fall in love, it was enough for him to become lost in his own ambitions. Your chest is warm—ten times warmer than when the warm chocolate he made flows sweetly.

"Maybe I should give you an explanation. I don't want to cause any misunderstanding—no, I don't want you to misunderstand me.” Alhaitham sighed before continuing, “You must have realized from the beginning that I didn't approach you by chance or simply to apologize. Now that I've said it, you should be able to figure out what my failed plan was."

You smiled awkwardly, “.. My guess is you plan to make me fall in love with you and distract me for first place, but maybe it's just me too—”

"That's right. How did you know?"

His turquoise eyes were even more beautiful when they enlarged, as he was doing right now. Your laugh caused his cheeks to turn redder. “Well, those sweet gestures doesn't exactly fit your personality. And I swear I heard a few lines similar to those in this one romance book I read."

Alhaitham smiled faintly. "Guess I shouldn't waste my time on all of that, huh?"

Another laugh escaped your lips. "Do you regret it now?" you ask.

"Regret what?"

“Do you regret falling in love with me?”

Alhaitham blinks, two seconds later gives you a shake of the head. "Oddly enough, no, I don't regret it." He shook his head again. "I don't regret it at all."

You take two steps forward. “Good,” you said, tiptoeing up to his face. From this distance, those turquoise eyes looked more beautiful. "Because I wouldn't be helping you with your pick-up lines if it weren't for me."

One push and your lips were on his. He kisses back, placing his big hand behind your head to deepen the kiss. Your fingers find a way to crawl on his broad chest covered in his tight shirt. Without breaking the kiss, he moved closer to press you against the kitchen counter.

You're the first to let go for a breath and say, “W-wait, I have a cold. What if you—"

A quick kiss to silence you. "Don't worry, I bought us a lot of medicine." He said, voice deep and husky.

Alhaitham took off his denim jacket, threw it carelessly and kissed you again—this time more passionately. He directed his lips to the crook of your neck. Your legs hooked around his waist as you feel his breath on your skin.

He plans to steal, but instead ends up getting stolen. But, that's fine. He will gladly let you steal whatever from him, so go ahead and do it.

Check out more of my post: WRITING COMMISION. GENSHIN IMPACT MASTERLIST.

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floredaqueen · 7 months

Text

True Story

18+

This is a true story ..

The knock at the door was jarring, especially with what happened last night. Mercedes was still cleaning up after everyone that morning while trying to contain her reckless feelings that were unleashed that night as well. She put down the sculpted glasses that were used for the banquet, her rich, melanin hands running through her perfectly quafted silk press put her hair through to distract herself.

The walk to the door was draining, every step she was contemplating if she should just let someone else get it.. but when that thought paused, she was already right in front of the crimson double doors. She opened one of them, her eyes fluttering up to see the beautiful blonde she wished she could erase form.

About all the lies I've fantasized..

"Hey, uh–" Immediately , she interrupted his lightly spoken words, all the way her eyes struggled to stay on his. And so she diverted to hay that he sported backwards on his ashe blonde locks that seemed to have no clue was gravity was unless they were contained by the cap.

"What is it, JJ?" She didn't really give a fuck about what he wanted. Mercedes couldn't stand to even look at him, let alone actually want to give want he wants.. and yet she stood there, obviously worn out and disheveled as she heard him out.

"I just.. wanted to know if you needed help cleaning up," He proudly, boyishly held up a bucket, a pair of yellow rubber gloves, and an industrial scrub brush.. The funny thing was the bucket contained a whole bunch of cleaning supplies that Mercedes could tell he just bought. As if she didn't have enough already.

"I have maids to help me do that, thanks." Her voice got softer as she thought about the kind gesture even as her mind pictured the worst of the night before.

'Bout you and I..

"Yeah, but I know you like doing it.." JJ's eyes smiled along with pretty curve of his lips, the mouth she envisioned all over someone else. Erstwhile, she searched for wine she hid and those stupid love letters she wrote to him but was too chicken to give him. The very fact that it warmed her heart frustrated her.

"Since when do you presume to know anything about me?" She'd scoff, her voice still weakly soft. If she raised it at all, she knew it would break. Instantly, the Pouge was taken aback.

This is a true story

"Woah, okay. I'm trying to be nice here," he spat out, running his hands through his hair in frustration. He could see the hurt in her eyes as she took a small step back from him, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. Mortification flooded through him as he realized how harsh his previous words must have sounded.

It wasn't intentional, he never meant to ridicule her or smash her heart to pieces. But he had a habit of speaking without thinking, rationalizing his own feelings without regard for how it affected others. In his mind, he was just being honest - but the words had come out all wrong.

He tended to disconnect from emotions, both his own and others. It was easier that way, or so he told himself. But now, looking at her as she tried to hold back tears, he saw the damage he had caused. If only he had taken a moment to pause, to consider her perspective before blurting out a response fueled by his own discomfort.

About all the games

But it was too late now. The words hung heavily between them, cutting deep. All he could do was apologize sincerely and hope, hope that she knew he never intended to hurt her so callously. But the damage was done, and he knew it would take time to heal those painful bruises to her heart. Time and care that he hoped, next time, he could give before it was too late.

"Well, I don't expect you to. You can leave," *She was quick to try and close the door on him, JJ being more than quick enough to catch it before it did. Mercedes flinched a bit, JJ noticing too late. He was still stuck on the complete rejection she just gave him.

I know you've played.

"What the hell's your problem?" Did he really just say that? 'What's HER problem?' His seeming oblivion pushed her right to the edge. Her cheeks blew themselves out, Mercedes just trying to keep her eyes from going glassy.

"My problem is you, JJ! I hate you!!" The silence between them was damning, the girl feeling the shake of her hands. She didn't mean that, not in the way she said it. JJ on the other hand felt his hard gaze soften, finally understanding where her despair accumulated. His own thoughts reverted back to the night before, the ashe blonde rather having his tongue down some other girl's throat than to have to be alone with the girl he had real romantic feelings for.

Boy, this is not what I need. (Give me your love, give me your love)

Mercedes found them together, her heart dropping to meet the dead butterflies in her stomach. Her head was pound as she dropped wine she copped from her kitchen. She couldn't breath. She couldn't think. The Kook princess just felt hard.

"Oh, god.." "Oh my God.." "Oh my God.."

The last thing she remembered doing was sobbing in her locked room until she passed out.

Not what I want. (Give me your love, give me your love)

"'Cedes.." He started, not getting very far with the way tears quickly swelled up in Mercedes' eyes before they boiled over like a steaming hot pot of water.

"I HATE the way you make me feel.." That was true, even through her resurrected sorrows just by looking at his sweet face. Her heart contorts, her face gets hot, the he makes her smile, the way he smiled, his laugh and the butterflies start swarming..

"'Mercedes"

"Then I find you mid-fuck with Adrisa in the goddamn game room-" Voice already broken, Mercedes choked on her words. It.. might seem stupid.. they weren't even together. They were just friends, but the way she wished it was her lips he was locking with her own while his hands struggled to pull off her dress.. out of passion, our of desire and built up want. It was the only thing she was holding onto after saw JJ.

It's NOT gonna happen to me. (Give me YOUR love, love love)

"You don't get to make it all better after you made the shit worse!" JJ froze as her words cut through him. Even then, JJ selfishly acted, the beautiful blonde boy dropping the supplies in his hand before those same hands pulled the sorrowful girl in. Mercedes trembled, the trauma still raw within her even as heir lips met with a hungry passion, yet also a healing tenderness. JJ cradled her gently yet firmly, pouring his care and regret into the kiss. Mercedes clung to him, taking what comfort she could in his strong embrace.

For a moment, all else faded - only this connection between them remained. An anchor in the storm of her grief. She came to her senses then, her face contorting as her tears continued to uncontrollably stream down her cheeks. A second after, she shoved him away, running him out of her home with one thought.

"Get OUT!!" Slammed the door behind her before sliding down it and shielding her shiny dark crown.

I wrote this as a way to immediately heal from the situation I just went through. Is it like anything real? Just wishful, dramatic thinking. Thanks for putting up with it. I know it's not good, it's jumbled emotions I'm trying to piece together with characters I'm currently obsessed with. Okay bye.

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anon1nn1t · 1 year

Note

its ur birthday and george has a whole day planned 4 u... pronouns she/her, can it be rly fluffy and can it be smut

Omg anon I had the best time writing this, as you can tell. 😅 Yeah, I got very carried away … in all seriousness though, thanks for all the requests, guys !!

Feel free to send a request

George wasn’t good at expressing his emotions to you verbally, or to anyone for that matter, and you were fully aware of this. You never tried to force him to say "I love you back" or to shower you with compliments. But this didn’t mean he didn’t show his love for you in other ways, for example, through acts of service.

Today was your birthday, and George was beyond excited. It was the perfect opportunity for him to express his love for you through things other than words. He had started thinking of different ideas weeks before your actual birthday, so when your birthday actually came, he was more than prepared.

You woke up to a warm, calming smell. You yawned and rubbed your eyes; when you opened them, George was entering the room with a breakfast tray filled with different foods. "Look who’s finally awake. Good-morning birthday girl!" he said. He walked over to you and placed the tray on top of you, your mouth dramatically hanging open. "You did not," you said. " Oh, but I did," George said with a giggle. "George, this is so sweet, seriously, thank you. ", you said. "You’re welcome; now eat up!" he said.

He walked out, and you didn’t even know where to start. There were eggs, toast, sausage, pancakes, etc. And of course some orange juice on the side. You ate up all you could before deciding to throw on one of George’s t-shirts and some biker shorts. You opened the door to George, Sapnap, and Dream, all blowing party horns, your hands flying up to your ears. " Happy birthday Y/n! ," they all yelled simultaneously. "You guys are ridiculous," you laughed out. " Oh, but you haven’t even seen the rest!" Dream says before grabbing your hand to guide you downstairs. You go downstairs to a fully decorated house.

You couldn’t stop the tears that were forming in your eyes; your hands coming up to swat them away. "Why are you crying?" George asked sincerely. "I love you so much," you said with a laugh. He gave you a warm smile before saying, "I love you too." It was a rare moment between the two of you when he said, "I love you back," because you knew he didn’t really know how to say it to you.

A few hours later, you and George were cuddling on his bed when all of a sudden he got a text, and his face immediately lit up. "Watcha smiling at?" you asked curiously. "I want you to close your eyes and sit up," he said. You tilted your head a bit, eyebrows furrowed, but you did as told. "George?" you asked after a bit. "Open your eyes," he said. When you opened your eyes, you were in complete shock. " George, you are insane," you squealed out. He had bought you your dream dress. It was a puff-sleeve corset mini dress that you had been wanting since you laid your eyes on it, but you never actually planned on getting it. "Go try it on. We have somewhere to be," he said with a smirk.

When you two finally got in the car, you started to feel uneasy. "Georgeee, just tell me where we’re going," you said anxiously. "Just relax. It's nothing big," he assured. You nodded while biting your lip, trying to think of every possible place he could be taking you, when his right hand came to gently rest on your thigh. "Relax," he repeated. You calmed down, knowing you could trust him. However, it didn’t take you long to realize he was taking you to your favorite restaurant.

* About two and a half hours later *

You stumbled inside the house as soon as George unlocked the door and started to make your way to your bed. You were exhausted; you were surprised that he would’ve planned so much just for you. But once you reached the stairs, you stood completely still, jaw dropped, trying to fathom what you were seeing. There were two candles on every step, one on the left and one on the right. Additionally, each step had flower petals in the middle, creating a path.

George stood behind you, giggling at the way you were in complete and utter shock. You slowly walked up the steps, taking in the view, not realizing they were leading you straight to your room. You walked in to an even bigger surprise. The petals led straight to your bed, which was completely covered with gifts. Chocolates, balloons, stuffed animals—there was everything. You started crying for the second time tonight; you felt so loved. You turned around to run into your boyfriend’s arms, and without a thought, he wrapped his arms around you too. Usually he would be a little taken aback, not knowing what to do with his hands, but today he knew exactly what to do.

"Thank you. I love you so much. This is too much, really," you said with a sniffle. "It was no problem. After all, it’s your birthday," he said. "Speaking of which, we can’t have you crying on your birthday, now can we?" he asked while wiping away your tears. You shook your head no before furrowing your eyebrows in confusion. You looked up at him, your head slightly tilted, trying to think this through. "Wait, how did you set this up?" you asked. "I got Sapnap and Dream to do it while we were gone. They left a bit ago. It was still my idea though, and I wanted it to be a surprise," he explained. You leaned up to give him a kiss, which quickly turned heated.

His hands were all over you, heading down towards your thighs. He tapped them twice, a sign for you to jump up, so you did. You wrapped your legs around his waist and your arms around his neck, while he grabbed your ass for support. You never broke the kiss. He walked you over to the bed and sat you down so he could take all the gifts off. When he was done, he signaled for you to lay down, which you gladly did. He climbed on top of you, his mouth latching onto your neck and starting to leave wet, sloppy kisses. "Can I make you feel good, love? You gonna let me make you feel good?" he asked into your neck. You nodded rapidly, wanting him to do something. "Use your words, baby," he said. "Yes, George, please," you whined out. And at that, he started to take off the dress.

Once the dress was completely off, he had to stop for a second to just admire your body. You were so perfect, just for him. He smiled to himself before spreading your legs and giving your clit a gentle kiss. You whimpered at the feeling, his hands coming up to rub your sides. "Are you sure this is okay with you?" he asked for the final time. "I’m sure George; just please do something. I need you," you reassured. He moved his head between your thighs, licking your folds. You whined out in pleasure; his tongue now kitten-licking your clit. You cried out; his tongue was working wonders; you could already feel the knot forming in your stomach.

He pushed a finger into you, pumping in and out of your hole while he continued to lick your clit. You bucked your hips into his hand, and if it were any other day, George would’ve said, "Don’t do that" or "Be good," but for today, he let it slide. He added another finger, earning a particularly loud moan from you. He sped up his tongue, added a third finger, and curled them unexpectedly. It was all way too much, and you came on his tongue without warning.

He quickly cleaned you off with his tongue, rubbing your thighs gently before standing up. He let you catch your breath for a second before helping you stand up as well. You started to get down on your knees, but he swiftly took hold of your hand and lifted you back up. "What about you?" you asked, confused. "Don’t worry about me; today was about you," he said with a smile. You gave him a weak smile back, heading towards the closet. You threw on some jammies and did your nightly routine, with George by your side the entire time.

Once you were done, you headed towards the bed, lying down on your side. George climbed up next to you on his side, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you closer to him. "I hope you had a good birthday. I love you," he yawned out. "I had the best birthday ever, George. Thank you again for everything. I love you too," you said. He nodded while snuggling his head into the crook of your neck, a yawn now leaving you instead. "Goodnight," he said. "Goodnight," you said back.

#dream smp #georgenotfound smut #georgenotfound #gnf #georgenotfound x reader #gnf x reader #gnf smut #georgenotfound x you #gnf x you #mcyt smut #dsmp smut #georgenotfound x reader smut #gnf x reader smut

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runwayrunway · 9 months

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No. 55 - Finnair [+ Centenary Livery]

So I know I'm in the process of writing a bunch of longer posts and thus haven't posted in absolutely forever, but I had to let something cut the line very quickly because in this case it was somewhat time-sensitive. I've missed the actual date by two months, but if I get in a post while it's still 2023 (...in my timezone, at least, so sorry to actual Finns busy enjoying 2024) I think that counts, and this entire blog is about what I think, so that means it counts.

On 1 November 2023 Finnair became the sixth airline to turn 100 years old, consistent with its status as the sixth oldest airline in continuous operation. I wish I'd started this blog earlier in the year, or prioritized differently, because Aeroflot and Czech Airlines also turned 100 in 2023, but...well, I didn't. You'll probably see them both in 2024 instead. Finnair, however, was requested by @kuivamustekala - particularly their centenary liveries. Requested a long time ago, even. So I'm going to hope that late is better than never and throw Finnair one last birthday party to wrap up 2023 by looking at where they started, where they are now, and what they've been doing to celebrate.

1923: PROTO-FINNAIR

Finnair, obviously the flag carrier of Finland, was founded in 1923, but its first service was in early 2024, using a Junkers J.13 (fitted with obligatory floats, as there were no suitable airstrips in Finland at the time).

image: Joseph Eaton via US Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation This is actually the US license-built version, the Junkers-Larsen JL-6, but I couldn't find any pictures of actual J.13s on floats.

Unfortunately, Finnair was founded under the name 'Aero', which is probably the actual single worst name for an airline I have ever heard. We can jest and joke about things like Jet2 and Fly Air, but I sincerely do not think I have ever seen anything with worse SEO than an airline named 'Aero'. Even for 1923 this was fairly dire - back then, as for much of history, airlines were generally named for the area they served. Aero may have been a private company, rather than state-owned, but that didn't mean they couldn't name themselves for the area they served - private airlines have always done this and still do. Incredibly enough, there was a second 'Aero' founded in Poland in 1925, but that was quickly merged into what would become LOT Polish Airlines, shedding the name like a chrysalis.

Bafflingly, even when the Finnish government bought the airline in 1946 (they still own a majority share of it today) they didn't bother to change the name. They did begin writing 'Finnish Airlines[1]' on the fuselages, but as far as I can tell this appears to have been more of a stylistic flourish of sorts than an actual rebrand, or maybe even a clarifying subtitle on the very nonspecific name. In 1953 they began marketing under the much catchier 'Finnair', but the company remained legally named 'Aero' until literally 1968 and the fuselages still read 'Finnish Airlines'.

image: Finnair An Aero/Finnish Airlines Convair 340, photographed in 1953 in a livery which included both the large 'Finnish Airlines' wordmark and 'Aero' on the tail.

Early Finnair, like most early airlines, didn't have a particularly standardized livery for its fleet, and even where it did it's not very well documented. Finnair unfortunately has some of the poorest documentation for livery evolution of any large airline I've discussed so far, which really surprised me. That said, it's when the name became Finnair that things begin to be easier to find, and so that's where I'll begin.

1968: CLASSIC FINNAIR

This original logo[2], introduced in 1968, was designed by Kyösti Varis - at least, that's what every logo database I looked in said. I actually couldn't find either Finnair or Varis confirming this[3], but I still think it's probably true. Unlike designers like Vic Warren and Lindon Leader, who wrote and gave interviews about their designs for major airlines, Varis appears to have other preoccupations. He is enormously successful and prolific, to the point where his website doesn't even mention Finnair. According to the timeline he provides he would have either been creating this logo freelance or in his very last days at Advertising Agency SEK (probably the latter, since they did the two subsequent iterations), and based on his history as a typographer I think it's safe to say the letterforms are his creation as well. Also according to his timeline, he is younger than Finnair! And we almost have the same birthday.

I like the original Finnair branding. It's not ostentatious, but it's nice and sleek, with that forward slant I love in airline branding and a long unbroken line (both in the 'F' logo and in the even heights of the letters in the wordmark). It looks aerodynamic and the rounded, blocky letters have a hint of that 60s futurism while not being gimmicky. It's kind of incredible looking at it next to the '91-'94 FedEx wordmark, which occupies the opposite end of the sliding quality scale of TRON-looking text. The design as a whole is simple enough to easily reproduce but distinct enough to easily recognize. The shade of blue chosen is a fair bit lighter than the blue of the Finnish flag, but visually pleasing enough. They basically keep iterating on this general concept for the rest of their history, which I think is fantastic - no need to get rid of something that's working for you. It's nice to see an airline not feel pressured to reinvent its logo and livery every 20 years. That's about it for the logo[4] - what about the livery?

As mentioned prior, Finnair's liveries, before quite recently, were very poorly documented. Variants definitely existed between different types and different periods in the company's history, but the broad strokes of the branding seem to have remained almost startlingly intact for around thirty years.

image: Letterform Archive The cover of a style guide from 1985. If it's changed from the 1968 original, I can't tell how.

But I'm really here to talk about one thing: the liveries.

The above image was from Finnair's own archive and was taken in 1968[5], making it contemporary with the introduction of the Kyösti Varis branding, as well as lining it up with the 1969 addition of DC-8s, like the pictured airframe.

For the majority of Finnair's history, their livery is always going to look something a little bit like this. Primarily white, with a thick blue cheatline (in what I call the domino-mask style, where it's vertically centered around the cockpit windows) that lightly flips up at the very end and a blue cross on the tail to represent the Finnish flag.

Finnair says this image is from 1960. If so, the livery was already well on its way to existing prior to 1968, with my guess being that it was introduced in 1960, along with the first jets in Finnair's fleet - the pictured Sud Aviation Caravelle, which pioneered the swept-wing, aft-engine format later seen on immensely popular jets like the DC-9 and Tu-134 - the latter of which was commissioned specifically because Nikita Khrushchev was so impressed with the Caravelle's aft engines and the quiet cabin experience they provided. It's a plane with a lot of unique visual features, featuring a nose that looks almost slanted downwards (a copy of the de Havilland Comet nose), a cruciform tail (instead of the more efficient T-tail used for future rear-engined designs), and triangular passenger windows. Most crucially, though, it was more or less the first short-range jet on the market. This made it perfect for an airline like Finnair, which at this point didn't really go that far from actual Finland.

This 1960 photograph provides a very strong blueprint for what was to come. It's the first iteration of the livery to say 'Finnair' instead of 'Finnish Airlines', and it's introduced a modern-for-1960 single-rule cheatline, although this early version was flipped horizontally, curling up at the front to frame the cockpit windows instead. (I think the white paint also cuts off behind it, leaving the space in-between the cheatline and painted nose blank metal, but in black-and-white it's somewhat hard to tell.) I do think I prefer the modern version. The use of the white downward curve with no blue hemming it in creates a really nice effect where it blends with the unpainted metal underside, due to the metal being right where you would expect to see a shadow anyway. (This effect is why I'm not quite sure where the paint ends on the Caravelle, and am just guessing based on which parts are noticeably reflective.) I definitely prefer the change made to the tail, where the single line of trim at the end of the rudder was replaced with a white canvas for the Finnish flag.

While I do tend to have a slightly pessimistic outlook on primarily-white liveries, I will say that if you're going to have a primarily white plane, and you are the flag carrier of Finland, this is a fairly understated and stylish way of incorporating it. While I probably would have done it on the main body, over where the first set of doors is, instead of on the tail, I think this is far from the end of the world. What they have is a nice, elegant taper where the tip seems to point directly at the tailplane, and it looks neat and intentional. A lot of airlines tend to just awkwardly slap a logo on their tail, which often looks really sloppy due to poor alignment or even just out-of-place entirely, and Finnair avoids that while keeping the tail from being completely blank. Having an element on the tail that's more horizontal than vertical, like the old 'AERO' rectangle or the tail rectangle on the one decent livery Lufthansa ever had.

If you look in the background, you can see that wow has the Olympic Air livery looked like that for a long time! But that's a story for soon.

Additionally, some details were added on the nose. You can see on this DC-8, photographed in 1969, that the nose features an e-girl cheek stamp of the Kyösti Varis logo. Next to it is the name of the aircraft - in this case, Jean Sibelius - in really difficult-to-read thin text. (Finnair unfortunately appears to have stopped naming their planes by the late 1970s, but at one point they would frequently be named for Finnish people and places.) The 'domino mask' goes quite a bit beyond the cockpit windows to create a wider line from the side. I wish that the logo could have been integrated some other way, because the extra little blue thing just looks cluttered, but I can't imagine how they would do it without just replacing the cheatline. I mean, that would have been an option - indeed, it's what I would have done[6] - but assuming that they keep this general look I think the logo just can't fit in on the livery. The engine nacelles, maybe? Though that would still present issues on the Caravelle, where the engines are directly over the cheatlines. I also wish they would have made it a bit easier read the name, because I like to know what the plane's name is - thankfully, some later paint jobs actually do this before, tragically, Finnair stops writing names on their planes at all.

I believe this to be the strongest iteration of the classic Finnair livery, and it was pretty obviously optimized for the DC-8. Modern airlines tend to not bother adjusting their liveries between types, creating some absolute travesties of proportion, but Finnair boldly went in the opposite direction by modifying it for each airframe and yet still having it look worse.

The sharpest deviation arises in the CV-440 version of the livery. This image is from 1971, just two years after the DC-8 liveries would have carried their first passengers, and it's wildly different. The cheatline is lowered sharply, sitting below the cockpit windows and wrapping around to contour the body of the airplane. There's a certain je ne sais quois to the domino mask that I find myself missing here. This design also has an unnecessary second 'Finnair' added to the tail, which kind of looks awkward stacked on top of the existing cheatline besides being redundant, and the Finnish flag on the tail is somewhat awkwardly made free-floating. It feels a lot less sleek and a lot more arbitrary.

On the other side of the plane the cheatline goes down quite a bit farther than on the jet models, probably because they thought it would be a better way of negotiating the Convair's rather bulbous nose, and I actually think I prefer the wide, upturned variant. This version, if anything, is too close for my taste to the livery VARIG operated in a similar timeframe. There are a lot of differences, yes, but in the 70s having one big solid cheatline on a white body and metal underbelly was the equivalent of the Lufthansa Line, so if you toed said line, be it cheat or Lufthansa, you risked becoming easily mistakeable for any airline with too similar of a color scheme. And blue-on-white was maybe the most common color-scheme at the time.

I doubt Finnair shared many tarmacs with VARIG, but here they are with Pan Am, and they could also expect to run into airlines like Sabena, Icelandair, and probably a half-dozen I've never heard of, all competing to be the one the others get mistaken for. It's a tricky position to be in.

I do quite like the livery on the left, maybe even more than the DC-8 one, but I can't seem to find any other airframes painted like this. I'm not sure why this one is.

These images are from 1971 and 1969. They are both the same model of airplane - the Super Caravelle or Caravelle 10B. Their liveries are completely different. And that's just how it was back then - not even standard within the same airline, somehow still trying to stay distinct from dozens of other non-standardized blue-on-white cheatlines.

When evaluating classic Finnair, I have to keep myself tempered in both directions. When I think it's clean and well-proportioned I have to remind myself that it's just a complete nothingburger. When I think it's a lazy and cowardly non-design I have to remind myself that, no, at its best classic Finnair does look like it was designed with some thought, and it does have some traits that feel at the very least interesting enough to merit not being totally dismissed.

But...look, I have to give classic Finnair a D+. Because they tried, and they did something, sure, but it's ultimately not something especially memorable and the implementation is just spotty.

Even given a canvas like the DC-10, they fumbled. The DC-10, in my opinion, was a big test for them. And I do mean big. In the DC-10 is a plane with all the space in the world to add visual elements, and a space where just a couple lines can go from a detail to a fin that towers over anything that isn't a 747, showing off the Finnish flag as if someone had flown it from a building mast. The third engine, which I feel like a lot of airlines really struggle with on the DC-10, gets a nice horizontal line of writing that's not intrusive but helps prevent it from feeling like a giant gap. The wordmark gets larger, is moved forward, gets to really own the space it takes up instead of being squeezed in. And...they made the cheatline just....a really thin flat line that looks bad and stiff and boring. There's nothing setting them apart from Icelandair, and Icelandair's livery from this point in time was so boring that my only comment on it was that it looked like they forgot to paint the rest of the plane. You can do white planes well, but Finnair just really doesn't get there.

...hey, Finnair? You can't just decide to do belly stripes but worse, Finnair, you're literally next door to like two thirds of SAS and that livery was designed from the ground up. They have a couple of near-misses with SAS's toes but this is the one that makes me actually go 'is this allowed?'. It seems to have been exclusive to their late-80s MD-80 fleet, but it's just incredible to me that it ever happened. (That said, those three shades of blue are so nice together and I wish they had ever brought them back. I understand the appeal of sticking to the stark contrasted blue-on-white of the flag, but there's so much potential out there!)

1997: NEW TYPE, NEW LIVERY

I really like the 757. It deserves a better livery than this.

Removing the cheatlines was a very trendy choice to make. This is the sad beast I call the Deltalite - a Deltalike but without the painted nacelles and belly that are usually slight redeeming factors. There's such a beautiful design on the tail that could have been put on the whole fuselage, honestly, and that's sad, but even on the most granular of levels...why keep the little cheek stamp if you have the logo visible on the tail now? Weird choice. Being so desperate to do the Deltalite thing everyone else is doing that you get rid of your country's flag on the tail is just a bad choice of priority, I think. There's not much to say about this. Honestly, I'd drop it to a D-. There's enough happening that it would lose something by being painted into Star Alliance colors, but it wouldn't lose terribly much.

2000: NEW FINNAIR

Oh, Finnair. Why? Did no airline resist the siren song of getting way too into airbrushing in the early 2000s?

Maybe I just have whatever the opposite of nostalgia is for the early 2000s, but this just makes me sad. They've made the wordmark look worse, overcomplicated the simplicity of the logo, and gone ham with the gaussian blur.

Look, it's not all that bad. The shades used on the actual plane are noticeably darker, and the colors at least don't look half bad now. And they've even bothered to paint the engines this time around! But...come on. You've changed 30 years of something that was working just fine for...this? Something which maybe climbs up to a flat D?

The 2000 brand overhaul, including the logo, was done by Finnish agency SEK & Grey. They're nearly as old as Finnair and have worked for brands as prominent as Coca-Cola and Kellogg's, but their about page puts Finnair front and center. They have an entire page describing their Finnair work.

Despite claiming to have included humanity and warmth and movement, I see none of this. I'll admit upfront I generally dislike what's dubbed 'Nordic' design. It's not the minimalism which I dislike but the banality.

What does any of this have to do with Finnair? What here represents the history of one of the world's oldest airlines? What here really speaks to the Finnish people? Why is just designing something generic and making sure it's all crisp (when you're photographing it fresh out of the plastic, before it's been tripped over and stepped on and yanked down staircases and accidentally sat on and stained with tea) considered a substitute for designing something that people will see years down the line and get nostalgic for? I'm nostalgic as hell for Alitalia, an airline that doesn't exist anymore. I still use the bag from an amenity kit I got on Alitalia nearly ten years ago to store small essential things like toothbrushes and medication while traveling, but I wouldn't know it was Alitalia by looking at it, because it's lovely and convenient and ergonomic but it's literally just grey. It evokes nothing, and it doesn't even say 'Alitalia' on it anywhere. Nothing here could ever be considered ephemera or memorabilia. I could steal Finnair's look at the Gap.

2010: SORRY, HERE'S NEW FINNAIR FOR REAL THIS TIME

SEK & Grey gave it another shot. This one's a lot better.

I like the change in the logo, first off. And this, the word 'Finnair', is the logo, but I'm comparing it to the earlier wordmark. 2000's attempt felt like it was taking the original and just trying to sand off the corners to make it more modern, but the 2010 take on it actually shapes each glyph into a neat little space-age thing that creates this curved shape by way of a lot of straight lines, in a way that feels visually pleasing and interesting. I enjoy the square holes in the A and R, the return of the crossbar on the N, and the extreme range of widths which gives the letters a real weight to them. This isn't a typeface - these glyphs exist in the context of the word FINNAIR in this exact configuration and one of four colorways. Finnair does have a proprietary typeface, Finnair Sans, and it looks nothing like this because this is not a font, it's a logo.

I think it is a shame that this is the logo now. I really liked the F. And they haven't gotten rid of it, but it's now been relegated to an official subordinate position, according to their branding guide:

The official Finnair logo is the text version of the logo, and it is primarily used. The F emblem is used as an additional symbol.

Look, I'll always think it's a shame when your main logo is just the name of your company. Some airlines do it, and it feels like an empty space to me. It can be satisfactory but not outstanding. When you start out with a nice little symbol and then take it away, though, I do feel somewhat robbed.

It stings extra because I really like the way the new F looks. It has that long brushstrokey look and it almost makes me think of Hebrew characters. The way it tapers now really adds to the feeling of movement I get from it, and it's a great base for a livery. Now that it's darker, even though this does bring Finnair into competition with airlines like SAS, LOT, TAROM, Lufthansa, and even Ryanair when it comes to dark-blue-on-white, it also contrasts better with the main body, and it's still light enough that you can recognize it as blue. Anyway, it doesn't take a genius to know how to integrate this into a livery. Long line for the fuselage, go up to match the tail...

Finnair. Are you serious, Finnair?

Look! I get it! Billboards are in now, it's fine, I get it. it's probably the nicest billboard I've seen in a while, font-wise. It feels comfortable on the fuselage and it feels like it earns the space it occupies. The F is nicely centered on the tail, cuts off at a pleasant point. But...why?

I really can't be too mean about this. I want to be meaner than I actually can justify, because I think if any other airline made their plane this featureless I would hate it but Finnair's billboard livery is actually nice enough and everything is placed well enough that it's not at all unpleasant to look at. It's an acceptable livery. If maybe 25% less planes were basically all white it would shoot up in my esteem. I don't really like the fact that they put the little Fs on the inside of the wingtips of their A350s, but that's really my only nitpick. It's just sort of...bringing a really fantastic loaf of bread to a potluck when you were asked to bring baked desserts. You've done a very good job, but you didn't quite get the assignment.

It's a bit hard to critique the modern Finnair livery in detail because I think it's executed fine. There's nothing really wrong with it except that it has a logo that could lend itself to all sorts of interesting shapes, it has 30 years of variants of a very specific design to draw on, and it's chosen to go tabula rasa just to be all clean and minimal instead of doing any of the interesting things it could have with this new start.

I want to dislike this take on the Finnair livery, but at the end of the day I just don't. I think it's completely satisfactory. A lot of airlines try to get this look and somehow end up seeming cluttered for it. Finnair is one of the only instances I can think of where a white fuselage with just a wordmark has looked okay. It isn't ugly. It hasn't failed at the thing it's trying to do, but I think that it should have tried to do something else.

At the same time, though, this is the most Finnair that Finnair has ever been. The blue cheatline and the Deltalites were stumbling over well-trod ground. The modern livery, at least, isn't sloppily tail-heavy and seemingly thoughtless.

I give modern Finnair a C. This took an excessive amount of deliberation, but it really is...good enough. It's satisfactory. It's fine! I would have taken a completely different direction, but they have done a good job with their sort of lackluster idea. It's alright. We'll check on them again in another hundred years and see where they're at.

2023: CENTENAIRY

A century is a very long time. Finnair is older than my oldest grandparent. Finnair is older than over a dozen sovereign countries. Finnair is older than aerodromes in Finland. It's older than every currently operating airline except KLM, Avianca, Qantas, Aeroflot, and Czech Airlines. As of the first of November, Finnair is in triple digits.

I adore this centenary stamp Finnair has put out, celebrating the long relationship between aviation and the mail. It's not complex, but it's not barren, either. It combines the dark blue of the modern livery with the light blue of the classic one, all with the white silhouettes of airplanes elegantly soaring over an outline of Finland. The outstretched white wings on the deep blue have the grace of a giant fish swimming beneath a glass-bottomed boat.

But of course it isn't just stamps. Finnair is an airline. Airlines do special liveries. Qantas and KLM both slapped a big 100 sticker on an airplane for their big anniversaries. Finnair has of course done something similar.

Three airframes - the pictured A350-900, OH-LWR, and two A320s - OH-LXK and OH-LXM - have had a 'bringing us together since 1923' sticker applied. Matching the rest of Finnair's branding, it's certainly quite minimal, but it's a nice gesture. It's not what people have been talking about. That's OH-LWO and OH-LWP, both A350-900s, who have been given something more substantial to wear.

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I'm going to assume that after its renaissance on tumblr a few years back most people reading this are familiar with the Moomin franchise. I definitely am, because when I was in my larval stage my mother first taught me to read Russian using an omnibus book of Moomin stories. Creator Tove Jansson apparently designed both the shape of the eponymous white critters and the sound of the name Mumintrollen itself are designed to evoke a feeling of softness, and it's clear why these characters are so beloved.

It isn't the first time Finnair, which frequently collaborates with Finnish brands and highlights its Finnish roots, has featured Moomins.

image on left: Antti Havukainen

In the 1990s, the airline first flew a Moomin jet. They had another in the 2000s. Both were withdrawn from service before 2010. It's been a while now since Finnair flew their last MD-11, but when celebrating their 100th birthday, a milestone that the vast majority of airlines will never see, they chose to do it by way of a soft Moomin embrace.

image: Changi Airport

And, I'll be honest, I think it's very sweet. It got an actual, sincere little smile out of me.

100 years is a really long time. In 1923 aviation was unrecognizable. What we would now consider an airliner didn't really exist yet - space for ten passengers, closed cockpits, and metal fuselages were the exceptions rather than the rule, and the Ford Trimotor was two years from its first flight. Cabin crew were barely even a concept. Airplanes, for all intents and purposes, were considered a type of boat. A nonstop flight across the Atlantic was a ridiculous concept. In a report published by the US National Bureau of Standards, it was said: 'there does not appear to be, at present, any prospect whatever that jet propulsion of the sort here considered will ever be of practical value, even for military purposes'. There were no aerodromes in Finland, so a small company called Aero attached floats to a plane just large enough for four passengers and took them from Helsinki to Tallinn.

Look how far we've come.

Footnotes:

[1]: The Finnair website's history page, which I used as a source for much of the background and several images in this post, renders it as 'Finnish Air Lines', but on the airplanes themselves it clearly has no space, so I've corrected that seeming error for them. I don't know why this discrepancy exists, because as far as I know during this period they were marketing themselves as Aero so this text would only have existed on the livery itself. [2]: Actually, I very occasionally see this version where the F logo isn't fully surrounded by the circle and the F in the wordmark doesn't have the rounded top, and I don't know which came first or if the less round version is just somehow...not real? I did try to figure this out, I swear, but at some point I realized I am literally not a professional logo historian, and nobody is going to be let down if I don't brute-force an answer despite not even speaking Finnish, and I should finish writing the post before it's 2024. [3] The closest thing to an official source I can find is the descriptions of two listings for the centenary stamp including a quote from designer Ilkka Kärkkäinen attributing it to him. I don't at all doubt that he did design it, but I always like to find concrete attribution for things if I can and would hate to spread misinformation and the sparseness of confirmation here is something I find very strange. My best guess is that there's plenty of good sources on it in Finnish but nobody has bothered to make it as clear in English. [4] Admittedly this is a stretch, and I certainly don't think it was intentional, but it does remind me of the longship prow used in early SAS liveries. This motif was introduced in 1946 and continued to see use after the Finnair logo was introduced. The overlap is fairly limited in that SAS never used the longship in their logo (...I kind of want to talk about their logos one of these days) and the Finnair livery you'll see shortly doesn't look like SAS's at all, plus SAS has the extra pink on their liveries, but I couldn't get it out of my head that they do look sort of alike. [5] The absolute hero who uploaded it to jetphotos mentioned that Finnair had given him the photograph while planning to dispose of it, and this makes me wonder if the lack of documentation is just because Finnair doesn't hold onto their old materials, which makes me very sad. A lot of companies, more broadly, didn't bother to keep records until somewhat recently, but in Finnair's case it seems to be particularly egregious. As someone literally studying to be an archivist it makes me exceptionally sad to see history lost just because nobody cared enough to preserve it. [6] Maybe they didn't want to look like backwards SAS. Who can say?

#tarmac fashion week #finnair #grade: c #grade: d+#region: finland #grade: d #grade: d-#region: northern europe #era: 1960s #era: 1970s #era: 1980s #era: 1990s #era: 2000s #era: 2010s #era: 2020s #special liveries #commemorative liveries #requests

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bearvanhelsing · 2 years

Note

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Tyrel and Camellia!

“I hope this letter finds you. Actually finds you. You two have been impossible to track down, so I asked Nenio to enchant it to find its way to you. She was insistent she could do it but… you know Nenio. I hope all is well with you two! I know Camellia and I never got along terribly well but after everything we and you two went through, I sincerely wish the best for the both of you. I hope this Valentine’s Day you two are at least together and have each other. I wish you a delicious meal and a warm hearth, wherever you are.

Anyway I do really hope this reaches you so these chocolates and flowers don’t go to waste! I also sent along a few things we recovered from the Gwerm estate - things I hope Camellia would appreciate. We’ve cleaned out the ruins of the fire and started to turn it into something better than the place of pain and misery it was. Those flowers she hated so much are gone, too.

Cam, if you read this, please take care of yourself! If you ever need help or just… want to meet up to talk, you can always reach me with Sending. I won’t tell anyone else (Regill won’t know).

-Love, Minovae”

"Happy (very belated) Valentine's Day Minovae and Regill! "I'm sure you'll be happy to learn that your letter did in fact find us! In a moving carriage in the middle of nowhere, no less! It gave us (mostly me) quite a scare. My compliments to Nenio... First and foremost, I'd like to extend our apologies regarding how long it took for us to get back to you. Given our living situation at the time, we lacked paper, ink and pretty much everything else needed to send a letter. The good news is that since then, we've managed to save enough money (No, you probably don't want to know where the money came from so don't ask!) to get a comfy little place in Absalom, so sending letters should be much more of a straightforward process from now on. Please don't let Nenio send the next one... She probably wouldn't want me writing this, but Camellia loved the chocolates. Needless to say, she ate most of them, but I managed to sneak a few and I must say... excellent choice! In my humble opinion, the flowers really livened up the carriage while they lasted too. She seemed rather indifferent regarding the news about Gwerm manner, she never did like talking about it much but she's starting to open up about it a bit more now. Between you and me I think a part of her appreciated that, even if she wouldn't say it aloud. So, from me at the very least, thank you. I hope you and Regill are doing as well as we are! I doubt I'd be able to see it again without him taking a swing at me with that hammer of his but the look on his face when he was with you was priceless! I doubt he'd take it kindly but wish him well for me, I miss the old man. Either way, I hope you both enjoy this Andoran wine, (and no, before you ask it was not stolen or looted from the recently deceased, I BOUGHT this) may it be a peace offering from us to you! If you ever find yourself in Absalom, feel free to look us up! Camellia is... slow to make new friends and I think having a girlfriend to talk to could be good for her (Obviously for my sake do NOT tell her I said that, pretty please). P.S. in case it wasn't obvious considering this letter is attached to their statuette, I was the one who stole Bismuth. We needed something to pull the carriage and Seelah certainly wasn't going to lend us her horse. I'd say I was sorry, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't do it again and you got it back so no harm, no foul!

-Love Ty"

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jemwhomstdve · 1 month

Text

Little Black Dress

I was doing a general cleaning in my apartment as I am gonna move out in a month when, suddenly, I saw my black dress hanging in my closet—a little black dress I bought before Valentine’s week in case that certain person would ask me to be his Valentine. (Spoiler alert: He never did.) I grinned and chuckled, thinking how long it has been since those days and how I bled for someone I barely knew. Of course, I still remember him. It no longer stings, though. I am happy now, as I uphold my worth that he never saw because maybe, just maybe, I made everything too easy for him. But I guess, despite him lowballing me, I still did see through the situation and knew what I deserved. And the truth is, I went out that day, but not with him—with someone who saw my worth. Not the doctor who asked my schedule for Valentine’s week, though; my friends didn’t like him, lol. But the other one—the one who asked me for five days straight to go out with him and be his Valentine, whether it be romantic, friendly, or anything else. The one who gave me a bouquet of pink carnations and letters. Yep, I gave the pre-law (now law) student a chance, just to finally make a new platonic friend at least. I refused to be miserable. After all, I never miss Valentine’s Day without flowers, as my friends have always sent me flowers. In fact, my best friend was in Japan last year, but he still managed to arrange a bouquet of crocheted tulips, portrait, letter, and cake for me. And I always receive chocolates from different people out of appreciation, so getting asked out or receiving gifts isn’t that big of a deal to me—it’s pretty common (and though it's common, i appreciate the sincerity and effort attached to it each time). I mean, don't get me wrong, it's still nice to celebrate Valentine's day with friends rather than alone. But to spend that day with somebody else that you don’t love, knowing that the one you yearn for still exists in this world but wouldn’t take a chance to ask you out? Oh God, don’t even get me started. I still remember how lonely (when it shouldn't have felt THAT lonely) it was to spend the loveliest day of the year with someone I didn’t romantically love. I think I’ve hated Valentine’s Day since then heh.

That day, I asked myself, “How could one be so neglectful? Does he not like me? How can he treat me like this when so many people ask me out?” Maybe I was too proud and confident that he would ask me out, as we had made us exclusive the last time we saw each other. But damn! There was no way our connection would turn into something good if he couldn’t even top my friends’ efforts and had no consideration for how I felt. If a man could not plan ahead of time from the very start, what more in the future? So, I made up my mind.

You see, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who care and those who don’t. And I realized that he really didn’t care at all. The connection was one-sided. The faith was one-sided. The love was one-sided. There was no warmth coming from him. There’s no way that a man who loves me would make me feel lonely on Valentine’s Day while other people beg to fulfill those duties just to make me happy. And to be fair, my instincts weren’t wrong. I met him that week too. I still remember, when I was getting ready, I stared at my little black dress for a long time, deciding if I should wear it, as I bought it only to wear it for his gaze. (Oh God, I feel so weak now. That pathetic girl was begging for love from the wrong person and got so badly treated. I wish I could go back in time and hug her.) I ended up not wearing the dress, though. The time had passed. The reason for wearing it no longer existed. I didn’t believe anymore. There was nothing after all. It was just a delusion. I woke up from my la vie en rose. I left all hope in that dress. I left my love in the closet before I met him. And this dress is still the emblem of all the hopelessness and painful love (if there was any) I lost for a whole lifetime.

He told me stories that night—stories I couldn’t seem to fathom. I watched his movements and observed all the words that came out of his mouth. It overwhelmed and overstimulated me to the point that I no longer knew how to respond or act accordingly. It was funny. I felt giddy most of the time. I felt myself dissociating and my sight blurring in the car. I remember thinking to myself that I was a fucking clown for going and staying when I had already prophesied the end (and I really enjoyed his company, lol). But I stayed because I didn’t want to make the mistake of running away without slapping myself with the evidence that I couldn’t find love in such a place. I wanted to prove to myself that it wouldn’t be wrong to choose myself this time. But damn, little did I know that I wouldn’t just get slapped—I got myself beat up. I really bled myself dry during that encounter. I held him. I looked at him whenever possible to at least hold a memory of his face, as I believed it would be the last time I allowed myself to be near him. “He doesn’t deserve an inch of me,” I pondered. And that hurt because even though I knew it, I still wanted to stay, even though everything was such a mess. I was at war with myself. I knew what to do, but I didn’t want to do right by myself. I felt like a rug, but I tolerated it because, after all, it was him. I had no self-respect. And I begged. Nonetheless, I guess the universe has its own way of saying that the stars are no longer aligned, and it was just a phase or a lesson. And I begged the universe to change the prophecy. And I guess I’m thankful that he didn’t reply to my last message because I finally had no choice but to choose myself. I was the one who sealed it, despite being embarrassed for begging someone (for the last time) who didn’t even deserve the love I had for him, and by the fact that I had never begged in my whole life. I begged the stars for a good ending back then, but I guess the good ending was choosing myself and never abandoning me again.

With the appearance of this little black dress, I looked back at one of the lowest points I have ever been in my life. Now, it is a symbol of the growth I have had over the past six months. It’s quite funny to remember bits of it, as I believe my brain commonly erases the painful memories I have. But I guess the heart still remembers the pain it once felt. God knows how grateful I am for being in a better place now. It has been a long way but damn, I recovered from being drunk on love haha! Once I move, it will be another fresh start—a new life coming soon. Back to my que sera, sera!

#ponderingjemelee #moon #sunshine #ponderings #realization #que sera sera #la vie en rose #growth #self respect #self love #truth #soliloquy

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frogtanii · 4 years

Text

“hi everyone,” you gave your webcam a half hearted wave, noting the flood of inquisitive comments at your demeanor.

ynismymommy: omg queen r u ok??????

emilia.95: Have you been sleeping?

atsumus-leftballsack: bestie imma need you to invest in some concealer

a giggle pried it’s way up your throat, despite your attempts to stop it as you read the comments. yes, you were fully aware that you looked like shit however, you just weren’t expecting the viewers of your stream to be so... observant.

“holy shit guys, i’m okay,” you attempted to placate your vicious audience by giving them a (forced) smile and a small chuckle. “let’s just play, okay?”

you loaded up your game of choice (call of duty — you had a lot of aggression to work off) while making idle chatter with your fanbase. they seemed to have dropped conversation about your heavy eye bags and low enthusiasm in favor of more lighthearted topics.

just as you were starting to get into it, a knock sounded at your door. at first, you were tempted to ignore it but after a few moments of silence, the knocking started up again, more incessantly. your comments started to go wild, wondering who exactly was banging on your door at like 11p.

bokutos.bahamamommamilkers: tell whoever is @ the door to fuck off

shartyba3_420: damn slam me yn like [redacted] is slamming on that door

Greg_72: Hey, you can go answer that! We’ll wait <3

you apologize quickly before removing your headphones and scurrying over to the door. swinging it wide open, you’re met with bokuto.

and what a sight he is.

once bright, golden eyes were now dull and void, accompanied by dark circles that rivaled your own while his usually sunny visage was dampened by this metaphorical dark cloud that was hanging above him.

in other words, he looked like shit.

the both of you must look like quite a pair — you in your ratty, oversized hoodie and red sweats and him in his white t shirt and flannel pajama pants. after giving him another glance over, you repressed the urge to pull him into your room and into a hug, instead choosing to wrap your arms around yourself tightly.

“um, hey bo,” you started, unable to keep your eyes on his face. “i’m really sorry but i’m streaming right now. maybe we can hang out later?”

bokuto shook his head no, and your heart began to sink. you were just so tired and you didn’t have the energy to entertain or comfort the man at the moment without letting another piece of yourself crumble but you knew you didn’t have the heart to turn him away.

resigning yourself to your fate, you stepped to the side to let him into your room, making a mental note to shield him from your webcam while you brought him to lie on your bed.

to your complete and utter surprise, bokuto did not move, shaking his head no again before moving to grab something just out of your sight behind your doorway.

you were now thoroughly intrigued, shuffling closer to peek into the hallway, only to be stopped by a box being thrusted into your hands. you looked over the colorfully painted cardboard but it gave you no indication as to what was on the inside and glancing at kotarou gave you no help whatsoever.

“what’s this?” you voiced your confusion while weighing the box in your hands, the confusion only amplifying when you discover the box is suspiciously light. you’re shaken from your investigation when bokuto throws another object in your hands, this one significantly heavier.

looking up at him, you’re taken aback by the emotion swirling in his irises, his mouth finally parting to speak. “i’m so sorry,” kotarou’s voice, while gravelly from disuse, was sincere, a slight quiver being found underlying his words. “i- i know i never said it but i just want you to know that i-i care about you and that i am so sorry for ever hurting you and making you feel like you were less than. y-you’ve helped me become myself again a-and i can never thank you enough.”

a shuddering breath left his chest as he trained his eyes on the ceiling before looking back at you with watery eyes. “you don’t have to forgive me. i-i’d understand.” you opened your mouth to respond, to rebut, but you were cut off by his strong arms, wrapping you up in a tight hug.

you couldn’t keep yourself from melting into his hold, a small ounce of stress leaving your body at his words but the bulk of it remaining. he’s just apologizing because you’re the only girl who’s shown him an ounce of kindness, the voice in the back of your head whispered.

as bokuto pulled you in tighter, you stiffened, the voice getting louder and more constant. the man holding you didn’t miss the way you tensed and hesitantly removed himself from you, his hurt written plain all over his face.

kotarou gave you a weak smile and another gentle apology before turning and leaving for his room. you already felt guilt creeping up your spine for not holding him the way you thought you should but you quickly pushed the feeling down, knowing that you wouldn’t have gotten the rest you deserved if you’d done so.

letting out a deep sigh, you shut your door and moved back to continue your stream, not before gently setting down the 2 colorfully decorated boxes on the bed, a small smile creeping across your face at the sight of the gifts.

your stream ended pretty shortly after, your mind unable to focus on the game — it was getting borderline embarrassing how often you were dying to the point you were worried your sponsors would pull out of supporting you.

with a soft smile and goodbye, you collapsed on your bed, mindful not to crush the boxes. while you were extremely exhausted, you knew you wouldn’t be able to go to sleep without examining your gifts’ contents.

you decided to open the heavier box first which yielded bag after bag of your favorite chips, candies, and drinks. you knew your mouth was gaping unattractively but you couldn’t help it. this was... way too much.

at the bottom of the box was a small note, written in bokuto’s somehow endearing chicken scratch. it read, “hi yn!!!! this is for when you get hungry :) i know i didn’t let you eat any of my snacks for a long time so i thought it would be nice if i bought some for you!!!!! i hope i got these all right :( i asked atsumu for help!!!”

a choked chuckle escaped your lips and it only amplified as you continued to the end of the note. “p.s. don’t worry about not finishing it all!!! i can always help you ;) p.p.s. also you’re so pretty!!!! don’t not eat it because you don’t think so too <3”

wiping your eyes that had become suspiciously misty, you set down the slip of paper and reached for the second box.

you couldn’t keep the gasp from coming from you as the cardboard overflowed with tiny slips of paper. with shaky hands, you unfolded the first paper, the tears overflowing over your lashline before you could stop them.

you are loved :) - akaashi

“fuck,” you whispered, swiping at your face before clumsily reaching for another, and then another, each note making you cry harder than the last.

you are beautiful!!!!! never change!! - bokuto!!!

you’re really cool - kenma

you are so kind and i owe you the world - sugawara :)

you’re sympathetic, observant, and intelligent. - sakusa.

you are patient (even when we don’t deserve it) - kuroo

yer my angel <3 - tsum tsum

there were a ton more but you promised yourself you’d read them all later, your emotions getting the better of you. you’d rather not wake up with puffy, swollen eyes and a headache so you decided it would be best to close the box and finish it all later.

laying back on your bed, you expelled a deep breath of air, not realizing just how tense you were. you’d been living on edge with the guys for at least a month now and it was really starting to wear on you.

without being able to fully trust them, you knew it wouldn’t be long until you crumbled under the pressure.

you glanced at your phone before sighing again (it really was that kind of day, wasn’t it). maybe it was about time to give dr yamada a long awaited call.

℗ poker face

you are loved :)

series masterlist

(●’◡’●)ﾉ

an - ooweee first single apology down, 4 more to go!!! also the box of papers came from everyone (obv) but they still gotta give their individual apologies hehe which shall come in the future <33 sorry this took so long KSJD i hope u enjoy!!! don’t forget to feed me <333

taglist - if your name is in bold, i cannot tag you

@boosyboo9206 • @geektastic84 • @elianetsantana • @trashy-simp • @infinitebells • @6mattsun9 • @suhkusa • @sazunari • @kotarosbabygirl • @fucktheworlddude • @insomniacwreck • @calumsfringe • @saltylettuce • @chai-blu • @al3x1ss • @hawksyoongi • @syndellwins • @jooleuuh • @amberalisa • @kissungjae • @liberhoe • @tetsurocore • @animeoverdosee • @duhsies • @saikishairclip • @afire24 • @premiyagi • @kit-kat428 • @doctorspencereid • @daphnxy • @kyomihann • @maer-333 • @sinoflust19 • @peteunderoos • @peachiikichu • @iidanotlida • @yongboxerrr • @kac-chowsballs • @tanakaslastbraincell • @memorableminds • @risjime • @starry-magicshop • @sugavwara • @smuttyanimeslut • @kiwibirbs-library • @haijkk • @airybnb • @crybabygumi • @iwaisa • @decaffinatedtealover • @notameera • @kawaii-angelanne • @rintarovibes • @urlocalsimp

the rest of the tags will be in the replies!!

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seospicybin · 3 years

Text

CAKE.

Lee Know x reader. (s,f)

Synopsis: Minho let you have a taste of his birthday cake and unwrap his gift. (1,5k words)

“Happy birthday!”

You showed him the birthday cake you bought after you got off of work, grateful that the strawberry shortcake one hasn’t sold out for the day.

Minho doesn’t really have a favorite kind of cake but who can resist a soft cake with icing white cream and strawberries on top of it?

Minho grabbed your hips and pulled you close to him, you stood close next to him while he sat on the stool. You planted the candles on the center of the cake, trying not to topple the cake decoration in the process.

“Okay, done!” You successfully stick the candle without ruining the cake.

“Well done, baby!” He muttered, his hand rubbing the small of your back. You smiled at his praise, almost forgetting that you had not lit the candle yet.

Minho took the matchstick from you and lit the candle himself, “Now come here!” He ordered, pulling you to sit on his lap but ending up sitting on his thigh. Your legs were trapped between his.

“Now what?” He asked, raising one of his eyebrows at you, “aren’t you going to sing for me?”

“You want me to sing?” You stuttered, taken aback by his sudden request.

“Well, it’s my birthday, you are obligated to grant my wish.” He made it sound like a command rather than a request.

You know there was no way around that, if he asks you to do something, you do it, and as if your mind has been under his spell all this time, you don’t have any other option but comply.

You reluctantly started singing with the hope that you didn’t sound like a broken record, he watched you sing, and soon enough, it began to get more cringy by the second.

You nuzzled your head onto the crook of his neck out of embarrassment, a hand resting on your back holding you from falling off his lap while his other hand pulled your chin to face him, “happy birthday to you~~~” you finally finished the song.

You put up your hands to shield your face from shame.

“Please don’t ever tell me to sing again!” you told him, half whining and half pleading.

Minho chuckled, “you sound just fine to me, honey.”

He pulled your hands down, he leaned in to press a kiss on you.

“Can I blow the candle now? I think the cake is melting!” he asked as he broke the kiss.

You gasped, “Oh! Don’t forget to make a wish!” You reminded.

He put a hand around your waist, then leaned forward, closing his eyes as he faced the cake.

The warm glow of candles illuminated his face, he is so beautiful you wondered how your brain could comprehend it.

After a moment of silence of wish-making, he blew the candle off.

You softly clapped and congratulated him once more, “Happy birthday, honey, I love you,” You said, looking him deep in the eyes because you want him to know just how much uttering your sincere feeling of him means to you.

He stared at you, thumb brushing your lower lip before his mouth took over.

“I love you,” he said against your lips right before his tongue pried your mouth open.

You immediately gave in, letting him deepen the kiss. You wrapped your hands around his neck while he hoisted you higher on his thigh.

Minho softly sucked on your lips before gently biting your lower lip, causing you to moan into his mouth. You felt smirking on your lips.

If breathing wasn’t necessary, you wouldn’t think of stopping to kiss him. Minho eventually pulled away, he then rested his forehead against yours. Panting, breathless, the two of you were gasping for air.

Minho playfully nudged the tip of his nose with yours before landing another kiss.

You took a moment to collect yourself from what just happened. You never know what would happen when you’re with Minho, and when you think things can’t get better than this, he rises to the occasion and few times, beyond your expectation.

“Let’s cut the cake!” He suggested, snapping you out of your head.

You handed him the plastic knife, he began cutting a slice off the cake and slid it off onto a small plate you had prepared. You dug a spoon into it, took a spoonful, and brought it close to his mouth.

He willingly opened his mouth for you, but you accidentally smeared the cream on the corner of his mouth.

He glared at you, but instead of recoiling, you quickly wiped the cream off with your thumb, “I’m sorry, honey,” you apologized, half laughing.

You decided to collect the rest of the cream on his mouth by kissing him, licking it off clean off of his lips. You know he enjoyed it the moment you saw his mouth curled upward.

“There, done,” you told him, rubbing his cheek with your thumb.

“You want a bite?” He asked you,

You nodded.

Minho cut a small piece with the fork, you opened your mouth for him, hoping he would feed you just like you did to him, but Minho shoved the cake into his mouth instead.

You frowned while he smirked as he was chewing the cake.

“It’s my birthday. I can do what I want, remember?” he said with a mocking tone.

You squinted at him, “I’ll just get it myself then” you reached for another fork on the dining table, but Minho pulled you back down onto his lap.

“You can’t have it unless I told you so,”

Minho clearly likes to tease you, and you’re getting used to that. He then pokes the icing cream off the cake, making a dollop of cream at the end of his index and middle fingers.

He looked at you, and you recognized that gaze: head slightly facing down but eyes looking at you through his dark lashes, a faint smirk painted on his face, the kind that got you weak on your knees.

“Open your mouth!” He ordered.

He won’t tell you twice, you considered it for a while but eventually obeyed.

“Open wide for me!” he told you again.

You opened your mouth wider and stuck your tongue out for him.

Minho puts his cream-smeared fingers into my mouth, “You know what to do,” he firmly said to you.

With eyes intensely watching you, your mouth closed on and around his fingers, you locked gaze with him before you swirled your tongue around his fingers. His mouth slacked open, letting a low moan slip past his mouth.

There was no cream left, but you decided to keep sucking on his fingers.

“Such a good girl,” He breathlessly praised you.

Minho shoved his fingers deeper into your mouth, almost gagging at the sudden move, your hand automatically reached his wrist.

“What? You can’t take it?” Minho asked in a condescending tone.

You hummed in a retort with his fingers still knuckles deep inside your mouth.

“That’s my good girl,” he cooed.

He slowly retracted his fingers out before jamming it in back into your mouth.

This time you eagerly took in his fingers and sucked harder on them.

Minho rested a hand on the arch of your back, you could feel his thigh clenching under you as you began grinding on him.

You looked back at him, his eyebrows furrowed with eyes focused on your mouth, his fingers pushing in and out of your mouth at his mercy.

Minho tried to pull his fingers out of your mouth, yet you sucked on them harder instead, not letting them off easy. He shot you another glare at your effort to rebel.

You relented, loosening your mouth around his fingers.

“I see what you did there,” finally have his fingers out of your mouth. He looked at his fingers, swollen and wet with your saliva.

What he did next was unexpected, he put them into his mouth, curling his tongue around the tips of his fingers while maintaining eye contact with you.

Feeling so aroused from the sight, you pressed your thighs together. “So sweet,” he exclaimed.

Your hand restlessly reached for his, aching for those fingers to be back inside you.

“You want these fingers back inside you?” He asked as if he heard the wild thought running through your head.

He put his wet fingers on your lips, then dragged them down to your jaw and my neck, leaving a trail of his saliva on your skin.

“Maybe if you behave,” his fingers dipped into the cleavage of your blouse and stopped there, you softly groaned in complaint.

He softly chuckled, “You’re going to do whatever I say, right kitten?” as his cold, slick fingers made their way down your sternum.

Your skin pricked at his fingers wake, Minho leaned in close to your ear and whispered, “I can’t hear you, honey?” his fingers now tugging on the cup of your bra, waiting for you to respond.

You barely function at his touch, “yes,” you breathlessly replied.

Minho hummed against your ear, “now listen to me,” he paused to rake his hand through your hair, “you are my birthday present, and I’m,” he paused again to nibble on your ear, “I’m going to unwrap you slowly."

You gasped at his lascivious words, sparked something in you, set your body alight.

“I hope you’re ready,” his lips grazed your earlobe as he speaks, “because it’s going to take all night long.”

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enhypia · 3 years

Text

° 𐐪𐑂 ₒ ˚ JW ; if you need a lover, let me know

pairing: yang jungwon x fem!reader

genre: fluff

word count: roughly 1.8k

⊱ ── {⋅. ♪ .⋅rose⋅. ♪ .⋅ } ── ⊰

series masterlist ⸺ enhypen masterlist

monday

“jungwon, for the last time, nobody came to the shop to buy white camellias” you say to boy beside you.

he groaned and toyed with the said flower in his hand. “where do they get this though? you guys are literally the only flower shop in this town”

“maybe they grow them” you suggested and it’s like a lightbulb went on in his head.

“you’re right, i’ll start looking for that” he said making you roll your eyes

“why are you so hung up about this?” you asked and he gave you a “really?” look

“i’ve been receiving flowers on my stuff for a week straight every day, and no matter how early i come to school, i can’t catch whoever is leaving them. of course i’d be hung up about this, i want to know who they are” he answered, frustration laced in his voice.

“and you’re not helping because you won’t even tell me what the flowers are and what they mean” he complained pouting.

you laughed at his accusing look, “i like seeing you suffer, find it out on your own” he rolled his eyes at you

“also, don’t you think they don’t want you to find out who they are? no clues or anything, just flowers” he groaned at your statement

“i know but ?? i just want to know who they are and find out why they’re doing this, and also thank them” jungwon sighed, feeling his head ache from the situation

“sorry buddy, you know i’d tell you if anyone bought any of the flowers you received” he waved off your apology since you didn’t do anything wrong anyway

he received a total of 6 flowers now

monday - gardenias (secret love)

tuesday - pink hydrangeas (feelings of love and sincerity)

wednesday - sunflowers (admiration)

thursday - tulips (love)

friday - daisies (innocence and sweet attributes)

and today, white camellias (adoration). since you walk with him to school every day, you always get to witness his reaction, and yes that also means he forces you to go to school earlier than usual just to catch whoever leaves the flowers for him.

and it's funny because the flowers are never put in one place, like the first flower was on his desk, the second was taped to his locker. this of course, leaves jungwon more frustrated much to your amusement.

tuesday

"how did they even do this without me knowing?!" jungwon exclaimed in disbelief after seeing, you guessed it, a flower specifically geraniums, on his bag.

you couldn't help the laugh that escaped your mouth once you saw it was geraniums "this has got to be my favorite out of all the flowers they gave you"

"please do not laugh at my misery" he says glaring at you, but it just made you laugh harder.

"i'm laughing because of the flower" you reply after calming down, he gives you a quizzical look

"it's a geranium, it means stupidity and foolishness" you stifle a laugh.

"i think they're basically saying you’re stupid for either not knowing who they are or not noticing them" the glare he gave you sent you to another round of laughter.

"if it makes you feel any better, someone bought geraniums yesterday" his eyes widened immediately

"who? do you know them? do i know them?" he asked rapidly.

"chill won" you chuckled. "like i said, someone bought geraniums but mom was the one who attended to them"

"but did you see who bought the flowers?"

"i was in the garden tending to the flowers, i just know about it since mom asked me to get the flowers, sorry won" you say, feeling guilty.

he sighs and nods understandingly, "it's okay, how would you have known anyways"

wednesday

"oh jungwon, where's (y/n)?" a classmate asked upon noticing the usual girl was not with him arriving to school.

"she's sick, flu from what she told me" he answered, setting his bag down.

"that sucks, i hope she gets well soon" jungwon nods in agreement, the day isn't the same without your usual bantering.

the day went on with jungwon volunteering to be the one to give you all activities you missed, but what bothered him was the lack of flowers.

'maybe they stopped?' he thinks, and tries to ignore the disappointment when he still finds no flower, not even a petal on his stuff by the time the day ends.

thursday

"(y/n)'s still sick?"

"yeah, but she told me she's getting better so she might be able to attend school tomorrow" jungwon answered walking to his locker, sue him if he was hoping he'd see a flower, but just like yesterday, there was none.

"no flowers today?" his friend asked when they entered the classroom.

"i guess not" jungwon shrugged, mentally scolding himself for expecting to find a flower, thinking that the sender may have just forgotten yesterday.

"you think it's actually (y/n) who leaves them?" they suggested.

"not really, she's always with me on the way to school so i don't think it's possible for it to be her" he explained. "why'd you think so anyway?"

"it's just because you didn't receive any the same time (y/n)'s been absent, but you do have a point so"

and jungwon was left in his thoughts. 'it's just a coincidence' he tries to convince himself. but would it be wrong for him to hope that it really is you leaving the flowers?

friday

"don't tend the garden while it's raining, that's stupid" jungwon scolds you.

you rolled your eyes and stuck your tongue out at him "i'm better now, that's what matters" you reply

"but if you didn't do that, you wouldn't have gotten sick" he states making you groan.

your eyebrows raise upon seeing jungwon's empty desk, "no flowers?"

"nope, i think they stopped, haven't received one since wednesday"

"damn, so their last flower to you was the germanium? they really went, 'you're stupid' and left" you joked.

this time it's jungwon rolling his eyes.

"do you want to do something after school? my mom banned me from gardenwork for the rest of the week"

you asked after the teacher finally dismissed the class. receiving no reply, you turned to look at jungwon to see him staring at something inside his bag. peeking in, you see a purple hyacinth.

while jungwon was happy to see flowers again, he couldn't ignore the disappointment upon realizing that the flowers are not from you.

“purple hyacinth, huh?” you whispered to yourself, but jungwon still heard you

“what does it mean?”

“it’s a flower usually given when someone’s asking for forgiveness” his eyebrows furrowed.

“why would they be apologizing” you shrugged following with an “i don’t know”

saturday

it is absolutely illegal to have to go to school on weekends, i should report this, jungwon thought

he had to go to school for the meeting of class representatives. now he’s rethinking his choices in life for accepting the rep role. but it was a good thing that the meeting went by quickly, it only took 2 hours instead of the usual 3 hours.

“where did you get the flowers last week ms. may?” jungwon heard while walking down the stairs making him halt in his steps.

“they were actually given to me by a student” the cleaning staff answered.

“oh really? why?”

“they asked me to leave it on mr. yang jungwon’s stuff so they wouldn’t get caught” she chuckled

wHO??? at this rate jungwon was itching to just butt in the conversation

“let me guess, is it ms. (y/n) who asked you?”

“mhmm, who else would it be?” they laugh and went on with their way.

and jungwon, jungwon was rooted on his place. nothing was registering in his head after what he heard. he fell to sit on the steps with his hands in his head trying to keep himself calm.

he was clearly failing considering the bright redness of his cheeks and the wide smile on his face that he’s oh so trying to stop.

he let out a disbelief laugh and steadied his rapidly beating heart. jungwon walked out of school with a skip in his step.

upon arriving home, he quickly gathered the flowers he got, that he preserved and went to the town’s only flower shop.

—

peeking in, jungwon saw your mom and no signs of you.

“oh jungwon? (y/n)’s at the house” she said, jungwon shook his head.

“that’s better for me honestly since i don’t want her to find out about this” she looked at him confused until he brought out the flowers.

“can you tell me what the flowers are and their meanings? (y/n) won’t tell me about it” he pouted slightly. your mom let out a laugh and gladly explained to jungwon each flower he received.

and with every explanation, he couldn’t contain the deepening blush and smile on his face, as well as the overwhelming joy building up in his heart.

“so this is why i’ve been missing some flowers, huh?” your mom teased, jungwon flusters and raises his hands up in defense

“your daughter was the one stealing ma'am, i’m innocent” he jokes.

your mom couldn’t help but smile, she was filled with relief knowing that your feelings were requited.

“is the shop close tomorrow? i wanted to buy roses but they might not be fresh tomorrow if i buy them today” he asks.

“don’t worry, leave it to me” jungwon starts to protest but stops at the playful glare your mom sent him.

“it’s for my daughter anyways, now, tell me what you’re going to do” jungwon grins and shares his plan.

sunday

"(y/n)! something arrived for you!" you heard your mom call.

"eh? i didn't order anything?" you asked confused. you walk to the door to see a bouquet of red roses on the console table, you look at your mother and all she did was shrug.

seeing that there was a note, you cautiously grabbed it and read.

"i'm sorry, the only flower that i know the meaning of are roses. so here you go, roses for the only woman i want to say its meaning too <3"

red roses, love, i love you? a blush forms on your cheeks, "the sender is outside" you hear your mother say.

opening the door quickly, there stood the one and only, yang jungwon.

"so uhm, if you need a lover, let me know" he says, holding out the single piece of rose in his hands to you.

you chuckled and quickly engulfed him in a hug, which he gladly returned.

"that was cheesy" you commented, still not letting go of him, hiding your face in his chest.

his heart's beating so fast, cute.

"giving me flowers anonymously is cheesier" he retorted.

"how did you even find out?" you ask finally raising your head to look at him, glad to know you're not the only one who's a blushing mess.

"i have my ways" he replied smirking, making you roll your eyes.

"will you tell me the meaning of the flowers now?" jungwon teased. you shook your head and broke free from the hug

"nope, i believe they're irrelevant now"

"good thing your mom already told me then"

"MOM?!"

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

series masterlist ⸺ enhypen masterlist

a/n: here's the first work for the now playing collection !! i love writing stuff inspired by music that's why i started this series/collection type of thing. the col. will feature various types of media so please look forward to it~ i hope you like it !! heeseung's will be posted next !! thank you btw for 100+ followers huhu icb it aak im so happy <3

ALSO !! enhypen's comeback on october 12 and hoon mc starts on the 8th !! let's all look forward to it and support our boys ~~

#enhypen #enhypen imagines #enhypennetwork #enhypen scenarios #enhypen x reader #enhypen fluff #yang jungwon #yang jungwon imagines #yang jungwon fluff #yang jungwon scenarios #yang jungwon x reader #jungwon imagines #jungwon fluff #jungwon x reader #jungwon scenarios #jungwon #enhypen jungwon #now playing #now playing jungwon's tunes

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stellocchia · 3 years

Note

I think it's been more than two months since I pushed my "Wilbur is remembered far more competent than he is" agenda in your asks.

So let's rectify that, shall we?

Wilbur is pretty fucking incompetent. He's never been that amazing charismatic smooth talker we characterize him as (not that I'm not absolutely behind that too)

Like. Who did he ever successfully smoothtalk? The Lmanbergians? None of them were ever hesitant to join from the very beginning and Eret betrayed them pretty easily when Dream manipulated them.

Techno? Techno wanted to join them, he was the one who reached out to them. There was no convincing needed and Wilbur never convinces Techno of anything Techno wasn't already willing to do by himself.

Dream? Definitely not during the revolution and Dream's support during Pogtopia was Dream following his own agenda, not being influenced by Wilbur in any way.

He couldn't even get Quackity to let him into Las Nevadas.

Nah, the only person Wilbur ever smooth talked is TommyInnit. The fucking powerhouse of this cell. And even that's not completely true. Tommy hasn't been convinced by Wilbur of anything since the very beginning of the Lmanberg revolution. Not during Pogtopia. And not even now (it's not smooth talking if it's just exploiting mental exhaustion and trauma and all that. Tommy isn't convinced of what they're doing.)

Really. Not even Tommy, per se.

He just got Tommy extremely loyal and attached to him.

And honestly, that's all he needs.

You don't need to have influence over everyone, you just need to have strong influence over the right person.

And that's what Wilbur had and has.

Wilbur's accomplishments are just pretty much him having a vision and Tommy throwing himself at it to make it come true.

Wilbur had the idea for L'manberg but Tommy was the one leading the troops. Tommy was the one who negotiated for their independence and got it when Wilbur was negotiating their surrender. Tommy was the one who FOR NO REASON built the escape tunnel they escaped through when Dream blew up L'manberg and he was the one who built the lil panic room at the end. Tommy was the one who's home became the embassy to L'manberg (something Wilbur very much pressured and kinda manipulated him into btw. I'm never not gonna mention that lil detail when the embassy comes up)

Wilbur had the idea and stood around looking pretty. My guy literally stood around looking pretty, without armor, during battles. Just. I love him.

And let's not forget that Tommy was fckin great at being the general. The SMP was so much better equipped and still, L'manberg was kinda winning. To the extend that Dream saw the need for TnT (which was hidden) and the betrayal through Eret (which was hidden)

Dream felt the need to pull two deceitful moves to keep if not even gain the upper hand.

If I'm not mixing stuff up here, correct me if I'm wrong.

And stuff like the tunnel weren't even expected of Tommy. My boy just thought of that on his own and did it on his own. Noone knew it existed. Noone expected it to exist.

After independence Wilbur is implied to have been leading but he generally wasn't around too much. Tommy was keeping order in the more face to face kinda way. He tried to navigate people's personal conflicts and make sure things didn't escalate and just. He did so well.

And Pogtopia? Oh, Pogtopia.

It's a bit more difficult here, since they were no longer on exactly the same side and goals are more muddled but still.

(and I want to make it clear that I'm in no way trying to shame Wilbur for mental health issues or anything. This isn't about that. I'd never fucking even imply that)

Tommy kept morale high. He made sure that other people were fine, when there was a chance. He tried to reassure Wilbur when Wilbur was spiraling, he asked Tubbo if he was happier, he told Tubbo to be safe, he recruited Quackity when he saw the chance while making sure that Quackity's intentions were sincere enough (he didn't just naively offer Quackity a place in Pogtopia and risk it being a trap).

He avoided any kind of destruction to L'manberg as much as possible.

He rallied people.

Really, his one actual flaw was not "turning" on Wilbur. His unwillingness to give up on him or even just incapacitate him or limiting his ability to act as he wanted was what ended up costing him everything. His unwillingness to interfere with Wilburs plans beyond talking to him and threatening him with a crossbow that one time ended up making the 16th possible. And he can hardly be blamed for that.

And Wilbur, during Pogtopia... Well... Nobody liked him, he made everyone uncomfortable and most people just kinda tolerated him because... Yeah...

Without Tommy troop morale would have been abysmal thanks to Wilbur. He constantly put himself and his side down, labeling them as villains and thus morally inferior. He pitted his own people against each other, spread paranoia between his people. No communication or actually planning involving other people. Still refused to wear armor.

And don't get me wrong, that's the point. He wasn't on their side. Obviously Tommy added more to their victory, Wilbur didn't want their victory. But still I just wanna praise my boy Tommy, he was. So amazing. Boy fucking peaked.

He's so good in tactical warfare or whatever you call it.

And I wanna just make it clear that this isn't criticism of Wilbur. Not at all. This isn't criticism at all. This is just about the big fanon perception of Wilbur as this great and mature leader.

Tbh this is actually more about showing people how amazing Tommy was and PLEASE I WANT FICS TO HAVE TOMMY BE MORE OF AN EFFECTIVE POWERHOUSE

Regarding my former ask I just wanted to clarify again that I'm not trying to critique Wilbur or anything.

It's really just that I think it's hilarious how people remember him as way more put together and competent than he really was.

Yeah, honestly one of the biggest disservice people have done to c!Tommy in this fandom is fail to portray him as the badass general that he actually was. Like, sure, Wilbur's title was as "general", but he never did anything for it. He gave a few speeches, but then the work was left up to Tommy. Like, genuinely, rewatch the Eret betrayal vod, Wilbur says it openly that he's leaving it in Tommy's hands. And Tommy does manage to lead his troops into an advantageous position! They get their enemies to retire at one point during the very first battle!

Then, of course, there is the betrayal, but, once again, Tommy didn't give up. He built the tunnel for their scuffed escape beforehand and, when everyone was just about ready to give up, he went against Dream in a duel and then traded the discs for their independence without loosing a beat.

Tommy was a BIG asset during that war!

Wilbur mostly was and still is kind of a wreak. And it's not his fault, 'cause mental health is an absolute bitch and he wasn't doing too hot after the war, then it got worse with Pogtopia and even worse during the 13 years in Limbo. And now we are where we are now with Wilbur being... not a great individual.

But still! In Pogtopia Tommy was the de-facto leader. And yeah, that was because Wilbur wasn't on their side anymore, but they didn't entirely know that. Or didn't wanna see that.

Tommy himself was hoping that Wilbur would "come back around" if he managed to get back their country. That was a big motivator for him. And he did everything that was in his power to do to not lose either Wilbur or L'Manburg. He tried talking to Wilbur multiple times, tried persuading him that there was another way, he never bought into Wilbur's ideals, he recruited people and he lead the troops once again. It wasn't Techno that lead the troops (despite him being a much better fighter) it was Tommy. And once everything was exploded and Techno and Wilbur betrayed them? Well he kept encouraging people. Literally I'm begging everyone to watch that vod! Tommy was there at every step of the way, telling Niki that it wasn't over, telling Quackity to keep fighting and, after that, you know who was there to validate Tubbo's presidency? To rally people behind him? It wasn't Tubbo. Tommy gathered everyone by the L'Mantree and got their spirits high once again.

He is just genuinely amazing.

And, like, yeah now Wilbur managed to manipulate Tommy to an extent to be by his side. But that's not that much of an accomplishment anymore because Tommy has just been through so much that he's exhausted now, as you said. Like, remember when Tommy said he wanted to be on Wilbur's side because "he gets things done"? Well, I'm still waiting to see that one honestly...

#ladycatland ask #dream smp #tommyinnit #c!tommy #c!wilbur critical #<< just in case #long post #character analysis #tl:dr #the fanon interpretations for tommy and wilbur are often a reverse of canon #tommy is made to be a lot more incompetent and in need of help while wilbur is made a lot more competent and in control #I wonder why that became the case?

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wonlouvre · 3 years

Text

more for forever | k. mg.

pairing: editor-in-chief mingyu x female reader genre: fluff, a little bit of angst, cliché (in the sense that mingyu is rich and likes to spoil his girlfriend) warnings: mentions of insecurity, food word count: 2.8k

💌: this is just pure indulgence and i really hope you all like this! please wait for wonwoo because i have something in store for him too ;) again, this is cliché please forgive me. please tell me what you think about it hehe i love reading your comments, feedbacks and tags! also a big thank you to @minkwans for sharing their ideas and giving this oneshot life! <3

The name Kim Mingyu didn’t ring a bell before. Not until his executive assistant reached out to you because apparently, the photographer slash writer read one of your blog posts and wanted you to take part for their sixth year anniversary issue. You know the famous magazine and publishing company, which is why you thought it was a scam or a ploy to steal your money. It’s a stupid assumption but you can’t blame your mind imagining the worse because you are not a fashion blogger at all. Why would a fashion magazine want you to write an article for them?

Sure, you regularly write and post blog entries on your website. But you write about your dog, your recently bought tea coaster and sometimes your skincare routine. Okay, maybe your occasional outfit of the day as well but nothing in detail. Again, why do they want you to write for them?

Kim Mingyu answered your questions and uncertainties when he personally emailed his contact details to you. You didn’t have to bite, but it didn’t hurt to confirm at the same time. You dialed the number and he indeed proved you wrong. He invited you for a meeting at his office and you accepted.

Your visits to high-rise buildings, much more to the luxurious office of an executive, is rare to never. You were jaw slacked when your eyes took in the crisp architecture. The design, the furniture, the color, the everything was beyond what you could have imagined a publishing company’s headquarters could be.

The meeting was nothing but short of an interview. He asked about your blog (which does not even have its own domain by the way), he asked what else you write about, he asked about your desk job (which doesn’t pay much but enough for you to get by), he asked if you have any background about fashion and one last question about your dog, Max, before talking about his proposal.

To be honest, Mingyu’s offer was tempting. For one article, the commission would be enough for you to move out of your current apartment and move to a brand new and fully-furnished one. But you remained true to yourself and without thinking twice, you declined.

You can tell that the editor-in-chief and his assistant, who stood beside him all throughout, was surprised by the looks on their faces. But Mingyu respected your decision and didn’t pursue any further. You took your stand from the chair and sincerely thanked him for the time and opportunity. You thought that would be it but when he followed suit with your actions and reached his hand out, it was your turn to be surprised.

You didn’t hesitate to mirror him and shake his hand, firmly. After that, you’d figure that it’s the end and that you’ll probably get to see a glimpse of him only through your television or phone. But Mingyu proved you wrong once again when he sent an unexpected email three days later asking why.

What might be the reason why you didn’t accept his offer?

You believed he deserved an explanation of your personal reasons so you disclosed them. And just like that the conversation on that email thread naturally progressed and eventually deepened. The professional emails became casual text messages, the text messages became phone calls, and the phone calls became actual face to face dates at late hours of the evening because he usually clocks out at 9 o’clock.

The rest, as they say, was in the hands of history.

Your first date with Mingyu was particularly odd. It was at a traditional Korean restaurant owned by one of his friends who introduced himself as Angel even though his real name is Jeonghan. You didn’t question him or anyone else why because that’s none of your business. But back to the date. It was odd because you have never been to a restaurant that’s completely empty and dead silent before (aside of course, from the typical music played in the background). You asked Mingyu if such an occurrence is normal and he just plainly answered that he rented the whole place all to yourselves. You have always known he’s rich. However, you didn’t believe that booking the whole restaurant was necessary.

Nonetheless, that first date, in some way, was special for you because there were no distractions. You enjoyed his company and you can tell he enjoyed yours too because he’s quick to mention a second date and it didn’t take a heartbeat for you to say yes.

But, by far, Mingyu inviting you to the behind the scenes of the making of the sixth anniversary issue that you turned down writing for is one of the most memorable dates the two of you had. It was out of the blue and you two were having difficulty in syncing your schedules. He was beginning to get busier and busier as the anniversary neared and the only way he could think of still making time for you is inviting you to his office. He called you and asked if you’re free to have lunch together. And you, being attracted to the handsome and tall man, didn’t hesitate to say yes.

He was in the middle of ending his morning meeting when you arrived and you were almost caught off-guard when all eyes were suddenly on you, making you feel small. But Mingyu didn't care as his smile beamed, immediately standing up from his chair to walk towards you. The rest of his staff were still in the midst of walking out of his office when he grasped your hand to pull you inside and you have never felt so shy your whole life.

Since then, he made you tag along to the creative process and you witnessed how hands on he was with every article, every photo, every brand, every trend and every detail that goes to the magazine that he has built and loved with his blood, sweat and tears. He’s beyond dedicated in finding and doing what’s best for the magazine and most importantly, its loyal readers.

You can tell that he really is deserving of everything that he has and is still receiving.

Mingyu being perfect also applies to your relationship. He’s always present despite being booked with fittings, meetings, photoshoots and business travels twenty-nine days of the month. He never fails to call, never fails to answer your calls. He never fails to offer the warmest hugs and the softest kisses. Well, he fails to be on time during your dates sometimes but he never once stood you up and his cuddles when he sleeps over are enough to apologize for the lost time.

The only flaw he has is that he doesn’t know how to take no for an answer. Most especially at times where he wants to shower his love in ways that cost more than your paycheck in a year.

Here are some examples:

You know that Mingyu pays attention to every word you say. Even if you just mentioned a passing topic, he will do his best to keep those in mind. With that being said, you mentioned once that you want to renovate the extra bedroom of your apartment and turn it into a study where you could work someday. Your boyfriend, being the rich man he is, offered to hire and pay a team that could help you bring the design you envisioned into life.

That was during the first few months of your relationship and you were flabbergasted by how easy it was for him to do or much less say. Needless to say, you immediately turned him down and he respected that (but of course, he pouted about it like a child all throughout the day).

But wait, there’s more.

Do you remember how you mentioned that Mingyu travels frequently? Yes? Well, Mingyu always books an extra ticket for you just in case you want to join him. Sometimes it’s not even about the flight ticket anymore. It’s about him stopping by your apartment to pick you up unexpectedly as if France is only a drive away.

It’s unbelievable, really. That’s why you always close the door on his face. But of course, you don’t forget to give him a long kiss and “stay safe” or “I’ll miss you” farewell. Mingyu, ever the good boy he is, lets you win and just return your kisses a little longer for the days he won’t be able to do so.

Mingyu’s intentions are pure and you’re well aware that the man that you love is only doing this because it’s simple, he loves you. He wants what’s best for you, he wants to give you what you deserve. You can never blame him for being out of touch from reality at times, but you can learn and grow with him. Although of course, he still needs a scolding and a wake up call every now and then.

Anything else? Yes.

You didn’t take into consideration that he’d remember, but one night while the two of you were about to fall asleep, you sleepily mumbled about your dreams of attending graduate school. It was a mere whisper in the late night against his chest and you even thought that he wouldn’t hear you at all because his eyes were already closed. You honestly didn’t expect that he’d send you brochures of different universities who offer various programs the following day. You had to calm him down as he excitedly talked you through it. You even had to shut him up with your lips and explain that you don’t have the time to study at the moment with your current job. He tried to encourage you with praises and admiration of your dedication, skills and knowledge. But no, you didn’t buy it and that’s the end of discussion.

The gifts, however, are something that Mingyu is not giving up on. The first few instances he gave you gifts whether it be a high-end handbag, shoes, clothing, and even jewelry, you allowed him. Because there were only a few. But along the way, the gifts got bigger and more frequent. You had to sit him down to set limitations. It was a long conversation of him trying to get the upper hand. But you didn’t let him outsmart you with his hugs and kisses. It was either he was going to tone it down with the gifts or no gifts at all.

Sometimes, as much as you hate to admit it to yourself, you can’t avoid getting insecure and afraid that the euphoric time you share with Mingyu is not meant to last. At some point, the fact that he's one of the youngest successful editor-in-chiefs of a multi-million earning magazine got overwhelming. You can’t help but feel that you’re no match for him. And again, you hate that your mind gets clouded with ideas that you’re just a charity case he enjoys spending his money on. Of course, you believe that he doesn’t look at you in that way.

It’s you who thinks so.

“Hey.”

You release the bite on your bottom lip at the sound of your boyfriend’s voice. Your lost eyes shoot to the stove where he’s cooking and you notice that he’s about done so you should set the table.

You didn’t even answer Mingyu’s call which concerns him. He wipes the sauce off his hands on the apron he’s wearing and holds your waist before you could even round the corner to the cabinets.

His warmth snaps you out of your thoughts. Your eyes blink up to him and he just raises his eyebrows at you.

“Is there something wrong?” He asks and lowers the heat of the conduction.

“Nothing, nothing,” you lie, shaking your head, “Let me get the plates. I’m quite hungry.”

You try escaping his strong arms and gaze, but he doesn’t let you go. Instead, he wraps his arms around your waist tighter. Your palms automatically land on his chest and the lean muscles make you gulp.

“I’m going to ask again and this time, I want you to tell me the truth,” he says in a serious yet gentle tone. “What’s wrong?”

You sigh and lean your forehead against his chest. Mingyu also sighs and kisses the top of your head. It’s better to tell him now because you’re not going to get anywhere if you’re just going to keep it to yourself. It will be unfair for him too and that’s not what you want.

“I just don’t feel so good about myself over the past few days,” you finally voice out. You sound weak, but Mingyu can hear you loud and clear. “I feel like I don’t deserve you.”

Mingyu had to pull away and hold your shoulders to search your eyes, his frown showing disbelief and sadness both at the same time. “Did I do or say something to make you feel this way?”

“No, no,” you quickly say and hold his cheeks. “You did absolutely nothing. It’s just all in my head.”

Mingyu becomes silent and you wish you could just drop it because the regret and embarrassment is slowly dawning upon you. You wish you didn’t bring it up anymore because why would you burden him with your problems?

But Mingyu proves you wrong once again by holding your hand and carefully tugging you to sit on the dining table, saying softly, “Come on. Let’s talk about it.”

And talk you did. You let out your concerns, worries, fears and insecurities. You bore it all without hiding or masking anything. A tear or two slipped once or twice and some words were interrupted by your hiccups, but Mingyu was patient. He listened and held your hand, promising you that it’s okay. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to be worried. It’s okay to be vulnerable in front of him. It’s okay to trust him because he loves you.

Mingyu loves you and his words and actions assure you that it’s okay to love him too.

When there were no more words left to say, the two of you shared a comfortable silence. The weight on your shoulders and the sick feeling in your stomach immediately vanished and you have never felt so relieved. You have never felt so free and loved. You can’t believe that Kim Mingyu is real.

“I know that this is unwarranted,” Mingyu breaks the silence after a while, “but I want you to know that I don’t think of you in any of those ways. To me, you’re the person I love and I am happy with regardless of our different upbringings, different jobs. Those don’t matter to the time and love we share together.”

“I know,” you affirm and kiss his cheek.

Mingyu nods and smiles against the palm of your hand when a memory suddenly pops in his mind. “I’m not sure if I have told you this already. But the blog entry of yours that caught my attention is about your first ever blog post.”

Your eyes widen at his confession. You have never heard of this before. “You mean the one where I talked about why I love writing so much?”

Your boyfriend smiles and nods. “That one.”

“Gosh. That’s so embarrassing,” you groan and palm your face.

“What do you mean embarrassing?” He argues, taking your hand to hold again. “That post was one of the most genuine posts that I have ever read. You explained, word by word, your passion, love and dedication to writing in the most honest way possible. Who wouldn’t be moved?”

You pout and unbeknownst to you, that makes his heart squeeze in adoration.

“It’s not that special,” you mumble, eyes on your intertwined hands.

“It is to me though.”

Mingyu’s eyes are dreamy and glossy as you meet them again and you could never be more in love. He holds your arms, coaxing you to stand up to straddle his lap. You giggle when he protectively wraps his arms around your waist. His nose scrunches when it grazes yours, but upon meeting his lips you feel it exhale a breath of relief.

You kissed and kissed and kissed. But when Max barks at the two of you, reminding you of the dinner you’re supposed to eat and share with him, the two of you burst into laughter before reluctantly detaching from each other.

“You doting over me with material things is a perk,” you humor him and he gives you his signature giggle. “But, I wouldn’t trade sharing the same bed, cooking meals or taking care of Max together over any of those.”

Mingyu nods gives you one last yet long kiss, a promise that there’s more for later.

More for forever.

---

a/n 2: this was supposed to be the header/poster of this story but it was too big lol

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