#I want to try to draw his pre-mob fight hair at some point

[morristheworm]

Teru’s outfits are always amazing

[woozisnoots]

modest jeon wonwoo

° pairing: wonwoo x reader ° genre: university!au, host club!au, fluff ° word count: ~1.7k ° warnings: none! ° a/n: this had no business being this long and idek if i like it lol but I want to specifically dedicate this piece to @wonwoosimp​​ bc she’s literally the sweetest, best bean in the world [insert uwu meme here] thank you for gifting me my very first photocard, I literally cried opening it! I love you so much, I hope you enjoy!

welcome to the svt host club!

masterlist!

you entered university with a certain goal, a purpose. eventually, you were going to be the pediatric surgeon that the 13 year old you ushered you to be.

…let's just hope the knowledge of your brain was enough to get you through the first four years of pre-med. with your 3.7 high school GPA, you were lucky to get into your first choice college, let alone your current major

from the start of the semester, you dedicated yourself to studying the anatomy and physiology of the body until you knew every nook and cranny there was to know. and the library was the perfect sanctuary to get your shit together

as much as you loved your roommates, their constant fights over closet space and boy toys gave you no peace of mind what-so-ever

bless the library for being opened 24/7. If your roommates found you sleeping on their only working desk, you would find yourself waking up to the sound of tripping freshmen trying to get to their first 8am class right in the middle of the hallway

but the lone table in the corner of the library just on the third floor did you good at staying focused. even provided some good naps in between every now and then

the day before your first anatomy test, you LOCKED yourself in the library. no one was going in OR OUT of the premise just to sit across from you on YOUR table until you fully memorized the different layers of epithelial tissue >:(

gosh, you even scattered all your notes across the table just so people got the memo that this seat was: [OFF LIMITS]

yes, off limits to everyone except a certain jeon wonwoo.

the way you met was abrupt to say the least

besides your table, you had a pretty good view of the entire campus — from the main health science building all the way to the student parking lot

and just below you, an astonishing sight of a mob of screaming girls chasing after a mouse guy in glasses. not to be inconsiderate and heartless, but unless you heard someone scream bloody murder, diving back into your flashcard you go

tissue after tissue, you start to get delusional because at this point, everything is starting to look the same

slumping down into your chair, you take a second to mentally recharge, drinking the water you’ve neglected for the past three hours

you time yourself for a five minute break, going through the notifications on your phone

before you could read your roommate’s ongoing ramble on the latest update of the “crazy good looking, god-like, elite host club that the university has to offer”

a ‘club’ that you didn’t even know anything about nor cared for

you hear a loud ‘thud’ coming from the bookcase in front of you

from the side the tall, lean guy with glasses that you saw earlier emerged with his hands gripping his tricep

you try not to draw too much attention to him. half the reason being you didn’t want to embarrass him by laughing at the fact he ran into a 10 feet tall bookcase

and you did not need this man distracting you. it’s your eight week streak being this productive, a new record for anything you’ve done in your entire life and your pride wouldn’t let you have it if you lost it just because you saw an attractive man on sight

you scribble down a decent guess to the tissue identification question that you’ve been stuck on for the past few minutes, not bothering to look up

“that’s actually dense connective tissue, not smooth”

jolting up from your seat, you look up realizing the guy 5 feet away is now right in front of your face looking down at all your papers

“you can tell because they’re striated”

you stare at him in disbelief wondering how he could have gotten so fast with just looking at it for a few seconds. eyeing him up and down, he definitely looked around the same age as you but he wasn’t someone you’ve seen around the science buildings. and you would know since you took the liberty of familiarizing almost everyone within the department

“do you mind if i sit here?” his hands already on the edge of the chair ready to pull it out from underneath him

“...yeah sure”

“oh i’m wonwoo by the way,” he says as you both exchange awkward stares and knowledgeable nods

okay well since he’s proven that he might be of help to you, you might as let him stay. from what you’ve gathered, he didn’t have any stuff on him aside from his phone that you watch him get out of his front pocket, getting ready to play pacman

forget how attractive he is, this guy has some brains.

for the rest of the day, as you guys sat across from each other, wonwoo would occasionally bounce back and forth between giving you study tips and playing whatever game he decides to play at that moment in time

he was surprisingly really good at this? he knew more things about the subject than your professors did, and that’s saying a lot. like you’ve been looking at cells for WEEKS and you were lucky to get at least half of them. which begs the question:

“how do you magically know all this?”

the blank expression on his face tells you he wasn’t expecting that question but he quickly shrugs it off. “i just know a few things from my parents that’s all”

you would have questioned him further but the time on your phone read “22:57” and you already broke your number rule about sleeping early before a big test

as you pack up all your stuff, wonwoo pushes his chair in, bidding you farewell

“good luck on your test tomorrow!”

you appreciate the gesture, mentally thanking him for his help and proceed to go back to your dorms, preparing yourself to tell your roommate all about the exciting? day you had

“YOU MORON. JEON WONWOO?”

laying flat on your back on your bed, you cover the bottom half of your face, quivering under your sheets as you stare at your roommate’s outrageous outburst

you explain what happened and who you met today at the library. when your roommate asked to describe him in more detail, all you said was that he was pretty smart for someone who wasn’t particularly in your major

your roommate lets out a loud scream into their pillow, gripping the bed sheets before giving you the earful of the century

“he’s just being modest. he’s a korean lit major but he’s one of the uni’s top students since both his parents are the head of the science department.

…AND he’s one of the most requested host club members. so you caught yourself one big fish today bud.”

top student? science department? HOST CLUB? none of that was processing in your brain. the one club that you wanted nothing to do with and you just happened to meet their top money maker

grand.

the thought didn’t keep you up at night only because you thought that today’s encounter was just coincidence and you probably would never have to see him again.

(sad though, your roommate was right. he is rather good looking.)

the time that it took for you to take your test the next day flew by so fast that you questioned if it even happened. the first step you took out the classroom, you start to second guess all your answers, regretting that you didn’t check a third or even fourth time before submitting

your train of thought halts when you see jeon wonwoo standing in the empty hallway

“i’m sure you aced it”

and just like in a netflix original romance movie, he reveals a bouquet of pink begonias from behind his back while shyly adjusting his glasses

“these are for you. to congratulate you”

weird way to phrase it but you were still gonna take the flowers. “host club tendencies?”

“so you found out?”

from a distance, you can hear the rushing footsteps from downstairs followed by a sense of purpose. “i think i was bound to” :/

you didn’t know how you felt about the current situation. you had no idea what host club was until you got here and you still don’t know what they even do. for all you knew, this could just be a gesture to get them more clients

but if his actions were genuine… you wouldn’t mind seeing him again

“i have to start learning muscles for our next exam. heard it was one of the hardest ones. i’m not sure if you have more studying tricks up your sleeve?”

“i might.” a cocking little grin now appearing on his face

“good. same place at the library tomorrow then. and this time? try not to bring your dedicated fans wherever you go”

so these study sessions continued. you guys occasionally had to change spots - from cafe to an empty bio lab - if the mob ever saw a single hair follicle that might be his

but each time, wonwoo brought something more just himself. one day it would be coffee, others days it would be food. things to keep you motivated.

for a korean lit major, he was taking a lot of time out of his day to help you, being attentive to all the strategies that help you study and such

possibly making your assumption from months back, true.

by the time finals rolled around, aside from the spursts of review here and there, study sessions became more casual. you didn’t feel the need to overwork our brain since you already knew all the information (something you actually learned from wonwoo himself)

possibly the last meeting you’d have with him was similar to your first: just you two together but him playing on his phone. and yet before the night ended

“i have a proposal.”

“i’m not giving you money for your dumb club.” bold of him to assume you would-

“no but i really appreciate the thought :)

why don’t we turn these study sessions into… study dates instead?”

:0

your assumption after 6 months later: finally confirmed

“but that’s only IF you ace your finals.”

well let’s just say at the very end, you had a successful first semester and are now one step closer towards being the surgeon of your dreams.

plus, you even landed yourself a pretty cool boyfriend in the process

let’s hope his parents put in a good word for you when you apply to med school!

[yiriono]

I ESPecially Like You

Description: One day Jaehyun walks in on his classmate, Taeyong, performing an exorcism. 

!highschool au

!psychic au

A/n: Hey guys! This is a high school au Jaeyong fic. Hope you enjoy. Also cross posted on AO3 and AFF. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The ongoing lecture fades into the background, as Jaehyun glances at the clock, eager for class to end. He’s bored, very bored, so bored, in fact he’s resulted to doodling on the corner of his textbook to pass time.

He’d never been a numbers guy, let alone a math person, but here he is anyways, sitting through calculus. Jaehyun didn’t plan on taking the class, considering he barely passed pre-calc, but it was his mom who convinced him to register.

“It’ll be good for your college applications,” she said, “You need to take a harsh course load”.

When he refused, she retaliated with incessant nagging, until Jaehyun eventually caved. She didn’t know the reason he was so hesitant was because it meant removing the class he actually wanted to take: Art.

He hasn’t told her, or anyone really, that he wanted to go to art school. It just didn’t seem like a feasible option, especially when his mom was dead set on his premed pathway. He tried to drop hints, like alluding to RISD’s prestige or talking about the vast career options available for creatives, but each time he gets the same reply. “You can’t make money as an artist, and it’s a dying career. You’re better off as a doctor.”

To that, he scoffs. If anything doctors will get replaced by robots, making med a dying career. But begrudgingly, he listens to her and adds calculus to his course load.

Now sitting here, as the teacher blabbers about derivatives, Jaehyun really regrets the decision. He doesn’t feel like paying attention, instead focusing on his drawing, which is beginning to look less of a doodle but more so a full out sketch. He’s adding contrast to the shadows when his mind drifts to the anime he started last night.

Mob Psycho. A story about an ordinary middle school boy who has special ESP powers.

It occurs to him that he’s an ordinary boy too. Maybe not in middle school but high school should be a fair substitute. What if he actually has powers that have laid dormant in him the whole time? What if, right?

Jaehyun wonders if he concentrates hard enough, maybe he could activate hidden abilities and make time move faster. It’s an immature delusion, but he’s desperate and bored enough to try.

First he clears his mind, before clenching the muscles in his arm, summoning this strange tension that spreads to his fingertips. He points his middle finger at the minute hand, and in one swift motion, moves it up.

As expected, nothing happens. The clock still beats its regular rhythm, continuing it’s dreadfully slow descent to 3pm. He sighs, dropping his hand in defeat. The only thing Jaehyun learns from class was that he has a bad case of eighth grade syndrome.

♥

When the bell finally rings, Jaehyun rushes for the door, only to be blocked by the lanky senior, Doyoung.

“Move” he wails, trying to squish through. But the other boy doesn’t budge.

“Where do you think you’re going”

“Home” Jaehyun retorts, again trying to squirm his way out.

“Oh no you aren’t” Doyoung chuckles. He yanks Jaehyun’s collar, and drags him out into the hall. The brunette tries to free himself, but Doyoung’s grip is firm. “Remember, you still owe me one.”

Jaehyun lets out a low whine. “Please not today”. More than anything, he wants to go home. The day, though mundane and ordinary, felt absolutely draining. What he needs to do right now is plop onto his bed, play his phone games, and recharge before spending the rest of the evening catching up on the wasted calculus lesson.

Unfortunately, the older boy isn’t at all sympathetic. “Lot’s of work to be done,” he says, completely ignoring Jaehyun’s plea, “It’s nearing exam season, so the student council is especially busy. You’re going to help us with the mountain of paperwork piling on my desk.”

Doyoung pinches his nose bridge, as he lets out this frustrated sigh. “I swear it never ends. Just when I think I’m done for the day, the administration needs us to do more.”

To this, Jaehyun can’t help but to feel sorry for the elder.

He’s weak, always has, at rejecting people’s requests, especially Doyoung’s. During freshman year, they shared a class together; the older had forgotten to take his mandatory art credit the year before, which resulted in being placed in a lower grade. The other boy, though irritatingly uptight, had grown to become one of Jaehyun’s best friends. So as much as he’s craving to rewind at home, he’d rather not have Doyoung work till death.

“Okay fine” he concedes.

Doyoung’s taken back, clearly not expecting Jaehyun to agree. He lets out a grating laugh, causing some heads to turn towards them, before his lips settle into a small smirk. “Good boy.”

Jaehyun groans at the reply. “Don’t make me change my mind” he warns, but with no resolution to enforce his words.

♥

By the time Jaehyun finally leaves school, the sun was beginning to set. Orange and purple hues spread across the sky, expansive and continuous like the sea. Slowly, the bustling town begins to retire: with shops flipping their open signs, cats returning to their homes, and children abandoning the park swings.

The walk home gives him mixed feelings. It’s strange seeing the once lively streets desolate. But at the same time, the emptiness is calming, giving Jaehyun the luxury of silence.

He’s about to reach the end of the block, when he hears this loud crash coming from the alley up ahead. It’s followed by a gruff yelp, and the sound of explosions, like those dramatic booms you hear in action movies.

An ominous feeling travels across Jaehyun’s body, causing him to shiver. He should probably turn back now and take another route, whatever's going on sounds like trouble. For all he knows, it's a gang fight or a mugging. He backs away, ready to run away, before he hears this shrill scream.

It’s a woman, and she sounds distressed.

This was probably a signal for him to get the fuck away, but Jaehyun can’t move. Not when someone’s in trouble. Every instinct in him is telling him to withdraw, but he doesn’t break. Instead, he takes a deep breath, before forcing himself to run up to the alley. His feet feel heavy, a sign of his body’s resistance, but he goes through with it anyways.

He’s standing near the entrance, expecting some grand crime to be occurring, but only to be greeted by darkness. But the screams are still ongoing, sounding even more twisted and pained than previously.

Jaehyun takes another step, when he notices something.

There, at the very back of the alleyway, is this boy wearing a red jacket, his face is covered by the hood. His arm is outreached, while his hand is bent in a way that looks like a claw. Jaehyun’s eyes trail up to the direction the boy’s facing, before he sees it.

The source of the eerie noises, also the most disgusting thing Jaehyun has ever seen: a tall, black figure, with what seems like human hands sticking from its sides. The thing suddenly leaps at the boy, but only for him to suddenly disappear, causing the monster to miss and slam right into the floor.

The boy in the red jacket then appears out of nowhere, before raising his arm, positioned in the same way Jaehyun had earlier in class, and flicks his wrist. This causes the black figure to be flung up: and when the boy moves his wrist down, accordingly, the figure is hurled back down. The thing momentarily stops moving, clearly worn out by the battle that’s transpired. Jaehyun watches, absolutely shocked, as the boy walks over to the figure while muttering something Jaehyun can’t make out, lifts his hand and snaps.

The disgusting creature vanishes. Gone. Vamoosh.

Jaehyun blinks hard, several times, but the thing really did disappear. He barely has time to process what had just happened when the boy in the red jacket lets out a satisfied chuckle, and bends over to pick up a blue backpack that was leaning against the brick wall. At some point during the fight, the hood had fallen off, revealing matching bright red hair that messily spikes all over the place. But in the dim lighting, Jaehyun can’t make out the boy’s face.

“Oh shit there’s garbage all over you” the boy mutters to his backpack, as he picks off the unwanted remnants that litter the bag.

It doesn’t strike Jaehyun that he’s been standing there in utter silence the whole time until the boy, who had been walking towards the exit, suddenly stops in his trail when he sees Jaehyun.

As a final departing gesture, the sun travels to where their standing, finally illuminating the murky alley. Nature exposes the boy, thrusting him away from the mask of darkness, revealing a very familiar face.

“Lee Taeyong?” Jaehyun exclaims.

It’s him alright. That unreal beauty and insanely sharp jawline could only belong to one person.

Taeyong lets out a brief gasp, before suddenly, he dissipates into thin air.

“What the fuck..”

Jaehyun looks around, but there’s not a trace of the other boy, just an emptiness and large garbage bins nestled at the end of the alleyway.

Bewildered, Jaehyun pinches himself. Hard.

“Ow”

[secretshinigami]

Masterlist of B’s Bitchin Prompts

A compiled list of everyone’s prompts from this round of our exchange – thank you for letting us post them, and we hope you guys enjoy them! If you use a prompt, please let us know and we’ll reblog your piece!

Prompts are organized by their submitter, so feel free to ctrl+f to find character-specific prompts.

fandom-fae

Misa surrounded by lots of flowers, with Rem floating in the background.

Light, happy, wearing goth/emo clothes & he’s holding an apple.

Female!L and female!Light  on a date in an ice café

Misa  in pastel goth fashion, reading a book.

Shien from Light Up The New World meeting Mello (from his time at the mafia) and Misa (from before L died)

Near and Misa eating ice cream together

Misa painting Mello’s nails

Linda painting Misa

Mello in pastel clothes, being in a café with Misa

Beyond crying with A’s dead body in the background

Misa standing on the edge of the building she jusmped off, viewed through the shinigami eyes.

Light waking up in his teenage bedroom after he died, as a seventeen-year-old a day before he would’ve found the death note, and what he’d do

Mello finds the death note instead of Light, and if he’d tell Matt about it

Beyond and Misa spending a day together (going shopping, playing pranks on ppl, committing murder, a date, etc. it’s your choice!)

(pre-canon) Misa going on vacation with her family to Winchester, and befriending the Wammy’s kids, Maki and her father are also there

(pre-canon) Mello adopting a stray cat and naming her L, he absolutely adores her. one day she dies, how he would react

Naomi meets L, she thinks he’s Beyond Birthday. how does he convince her otherwise?

Light being suicidal, and either Misa or L stop him from killing himself, and the conversation that ensues

 Linda lives in LA, and gets contacted by Near, years after the Kira case

Misa performing a ritual to talk to ghosts after Light died. She actually manages to contact a ghost, L’s ghost

Beyond contacting Misa because someone told him she had a god of death at her command, and he wants to bring someone back (A, or L, your decision), Rem (compassionately) explaining that it doesn’t work that way, and Misa comforting Beyond (it’s optional whether or not they end up friends)

gevnni

Light and Mikami having a lightsaber fight

Rester is Takada's bodyguard

Gevanni putting together a ship in a bottle

the FBI asks B for help in a case + Naomi and Raye look on slightly horrified at his antics

Rester is Takada's bodyguard

Gevanni putting together a ship in a bottle while on a case

nocturneproductions

Fem!Light

MatsuLight kissing

Beyond birthday being creepy

Mob!au, ideally focused on Light

Light and Matsuda on a first date

Ryuk stays with Light during the Yotsuba arc

hazblogs

A in a crop top with the queer flag(s) of your choice

Mello and sun imagery

Pokémon (Go or not) AU with the Wammy gang (including possible OCs of yours)

band AU with Light, Misa, Ryuk and L

Light with Hanahaki disease (you can pick the ship you want, make it AU or not)

Naomi and BB interacting (during the LABB case or in an AU)

L/Light being soulmates (canon or AU)

how Matt started smoking (I am comfortable with heavy drug themes)

ikathemadhatter

Light and L as goth idols

Naomi & B as Pokemon trainers

L taking care of a cat

Lucifer!Light

Light, L and Misa dressed up for Halloween

LawLight Little Mermaid AU where Light is a mermaid

LawLight Mad Max AU

What chain of events brought Wammy to adopt L?

During Yotsuba Arc, Misa forces Light on a night date at the karaoke and L has to follow them because he and Light are still chained together. What happens after few drinks and some songs?

jam-knife

Naomi and B rocking some tuxedos!

Mello and Matt just laying around at Wammy's. Just a nice art is more than enough, but if you feel like making it into a funny one-panel comic then that would be awesome :D

Misa and B (and any other character you feel like including) killing it at Met Gala -literally or figuratively or both is up to you xD

An LxLight slowburn with Yotsuba!Light obsessing over whether he is in fact Kira or not.

The Tales of That One Time Mello Allegedly Beat Matt's Ass at Mario Kart.

A first-person narration of Misa after finding out Light died, and how she planned her suicide (but if it's a triggering subject for you I totally get it! No probs at all)

misas-biggest-fan

misa at one of her concerts! super hardcore and goth and metal

 Light and L being soft and loving to each other!!

misa and beyond but LIFE SWAP AU where b is the tormented rockstar second kira and misa is the bitter, murderous wammy's kid!

beyond meets naomi before starting his LABB plan and his love for her convinces him not to go through w it <3333 you can make it romantic if you want by im more a platonic ship sort of dude!

kira!L goes up against detective!Light

light being tailed by L’s ghost

niatsuki

Near and Light kissing

Mikami and Light in the rain sharing an umbrella

Mello travelling

Domestic Mikalight

Matsuda confronting Near on the theory he brings up at the end of the manga

Nate and Light having an obtuse argument, but with romantic undertones

ichigosouma

L wearing Gucci

Watari on his day off

Anyone as a pokemon trainer

Misa and Beyond going shopping

Mikami and Kiyomi hanging out on their day off

Ryuk and Rem playing the wii together

translightyagami

L in a sweater that says "My Gender is Shut the Fuck Up"

Light with a bloody nose and starry eyes

L with his hair in a loose ponytail, reading a Nancy Drew book

The books L read as a child, bonus points if you do Nancy Drew and not Sherlock

3 drinks Light has had with men he's in love with (your choice on who the men are)

L putting Light into a coat and leaving an object in his pocket that Light finds later, with Light speculating what the object means.

izaori

Backup in a magical girl outfit (whether it's from akazukin chacha or somewhere else, it doesn't matter)

Mello playing a sport like soccer or baseball, in a cool sports uniform perhaps

Sayu and Light studying together!!

Backup back in his Wammy days before doing the LABB, interacting with other students or working on case files

Light and Yuri's date at the amusement park since she still wanted to go so badly after the bus-jacking incident.

 L and Rem have a chat shortly before L's death, by themselves. L likely knows he'll be dying soon, and Rem has the same feeling.

pensulliwen

Misa making Valentine’s Day chocolate, perhaps while daydreaming about a fantastically unlikely result of giving them to Light.

Meme redraws featuring Misa, Light, and L. Just go crazy. Any ridiculous meme image, shove these dorks in there instead.

A family portrait of Misa when she was younger, imagining her parents and sister or with their faces obscured.

Misa and Mogi on a shopping “date” in which the unlikely pair manage to work together surprisingly well. 

Light considers eliminating Misa from the equation many times, but there’s always something that stops him. Explore how he views her and the dissonance between how he views her versus how he views himself, as well as the reasoning for keeping her around longer than intended. 

An older Sayu reflecting on how her relationship with her brother has changed, and maybe trying to rekindle the closeness she felt when they were younger. 

stanmisa

Misa in fashionable clothes or Misa in Scene/emo fashion

L x Light hate-relationship

Misa, Light, and L (and any other characters you prefer) as fantasy classes/races, like d&d

L/Light hate pining/complicated emotions between these emotionally stunted men

Misa getting together with Rem instead of Light

Sayu and Misa being friends

yagami-raito-kun

Light and Near interacting in any form

College professor AU (any characters)

Art inspired by any of my fics or drabbles is always welcome!

Light in prison always gets a hell yeah

Light and Sayu at the beach being siblings and having fun

Canon divergence: Mello kidnaps Light instead of Sayu

sculs-cf-scnder 

 Misa Amane giving Beyond Birthday a very Misa makeover

Demegawa at a spa, getting pampered after a hard day at work 

Team Kira (Mikami, Light, Misa, Takada, Higuchi is optional) as a visual kei band.

Death Note is actually a TV drama; Misa and Light are actors and Misa is starting to think that Light hates her just like his character even though they are dating

An insight on the aftermath of Aizawa quitting, how did his family react, doubts about his marriage and his future

Sachiko and Sayu take the day off to have a girls' night.

eyeshiny

Beyond chilling with some tigers in the jungle (if you enjoy drawing animals)

70s fashion Mello+Matt (romantic or no)

stone faced 1920s family-style portrait of L + the Wammy boys (A+B included or removed, however youd like)

Beyond and A start a ghosthunting business, B is essentially a fake psychic but A can actually see ghosts

Pre-orphanage backstory for any of the Wammy boys (not necessarily tragic! think series of unfortunate events moreso than a true crime documentary)

What if death note was written like a seinfeld episode?

Anonymous

Sidoh drinking hot chocolate & being happy

B in a bathrobe with a strawberry pattern

Naomi and Halle on a date

Awkward post-Kira case dinner at Gevanni's house that includes all four living members of the SPK

Mello interviews B, but B mostly just trolls him and doesn't give clear answers to anything he asks

L uses astrology to try and prove that Light is Kira

Your interpretation of A with B sharing a nice moment at Wammy’s house 

A few characters of your choice aged-up (what do you think they’d have looked like in the show if they had grown older?)

Matt and Mello (either at wammy’s house or after— doesn’t have to be super shippy if you don’t want)

Near with a big fluffy dog— maybe a therapy/comfort dog

Either L or Naomi visiting Beyond in prison

Gevanni, Rester, or other SPK members reflecting on Near. Maybe including an attempt at trying and failing to treat him like a child

A and Beyond are alive for the Kira case au

Past light meeting future light

90s fashion Beyond

Creepy contortionist L

the Death Note cast recreating a famous painting1. Mello and Beyond bonding (but not as a ship)

Light in any of the circles of Hell

the main Death Note cast set in a 'Lord of the Flies' situation

Naomi, B and L shenanigans

Halle, Wedy and Naomi as Charlie's angels1. Naomi visiting B in jail

Raye meeting B

D&D AU

Misa and Rem painting each other's nails black.

Matt and Mello cuddling and watching the rain.

L dressed as Sherlock Holmes.

oleswap AU between L and Light.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde AU with Light as Jekyll (Kira being his hidden personality aka Hyde) and L as Gabriel Utterson.

A story of how Ryuuk summarizes his adventure with the human world in a poem, really dark poem, which he later declaims to the Shinigami King and the unnamed Shinigami.

[opmsecretsanta]

OPM Holiday Prompts 2017

This list will be updated every few days as more prompts are added.

You can submit prompts here at the event’s AO3 page. If you absolutely cannot use AO3, submit your prompt to opmsecretsanta via the ask box (rating/characters/prompt) and we will add it for you. You can claim/fill any prompt you want, as many as you want, no AO3 required.

Last day for sending in prompts is Dec 20th Last day to submit fills is Dec 31st

(List below the cut)

Prompt 001

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 001 Rating: Teen Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Genos, Saitama, Mumen Tags: Oblivious Genos, Demisexual Saitama, Saitama has hair Prompt: “Genfic or a non-sexual Saigenos story” 

Prompt 002

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 002 Rating: G Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos, Minibots Prompt: Saitama, Genos and the bots are getting ready for Christmas, baking (or trying to bake...) cookies. More than likely, there is flour everywhere and many reminders to ”stop eating the dough!” - I’ll leave it up to you who those reminders are aimed at though! ;)

Prompt 003

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 003 Rating: G Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt: We follow one of the characters as they are struggling with thinking of a good gift for the other

Prompt 004

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 004 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt: It’s Christmas and Genos has prepared a very special gift. Saitama comes home to a note on the door. ”Please go to where we met for the first time.” He makes his way to where he destroyed that Mosquito lady, only to find another note, which leads to another, then another... While whining over how much effort this is, he is taken on this trip down memory lane, before finally reaching his final destination and his gift. What is it? You decide.

Prompt 005

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 005 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Hero Saitama, Villain Genos Tags: Pre-Relationship, Mistletoe  Prompt: Villain Genos only wants one thing for Christmas: Getting the object of his affection (the Hero Saitama) to kiss him under the mistletoe.

Prompt 006

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 006 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos, Dr. Kuseno, Mini Bots Tags :Meet the Family, Family Dinners, Murphy's Law, Unconventional Families, Marriage Proposal, Family Drama Prompt: It's time for Genos and Saitama's families to finally meet over a holiday ham, and nothing goes as expected

Prompt 007

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 007 Rating: Any Pairing: Fubuki/Mumen, King/Sonic (or any combo of characters) Characters: King, Fubuki, Tatsumaki, Mumen, Sonic Tags: Office Party, Gift Exchange, Drunken Confessions, Walking In On Someone, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, Drama Prompt: The annual Hero Association Holiday Party and White Elephant gift exchange is usually boring and lame... but not this year. Someone gets a little too competitive over a gift, someone gets too drunk, someone crashes the party, everyone's sweaters are hideous, and King nearly has a heart attack.  (the tags wouldn't let me say any combination of secondary character relationship with each other, or with the main characters Genos and Saitama. I'm not picky. I ship all the ships)

Prompt 008

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 008 Rating: Teen Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos, Fubuki, Mumen, King Prompt: Saitama, Genos, Fubuki, Mumen, King, Zombieman, Metal Bat, and Silver Fang in a Dungeons and Dragons seeing. (Or you can dear then having fun playing a game and obviously have King win) Bonus points if Genosai is in the pic or fic somewhere. Even more if Garou is in there. (No NSFW please)

Prompt 009

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 009 Rating: G Pairing: Genos/Saitama, Teru/Mob Characters: Saitama, Genos, Mob, Teru Prompt: Crossover with Mob Psycho 100. Fanart of Teru and Shigeo; Genos and Saitama going on a "double date" or training session turning into a date. Bonus if Saitama helps Shigeo up from his exhaustion.

Prompt 010

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 010 Rating: Any  Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos, S-Class Heroes, Mumen, King Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Sharing a Bed, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Prompt: The HA organised a Christmas event for all the S-Class Heroes and their "plus one", they get to go to a luxurious hotel for the holidays and there is a competition for couples, where the winner couple wins a lot of prizes and a hotel room to spend the night!

Prompt 011

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 011 Rating: Any Pairing: Mumen/Sonic Characters: Saitama, Genos, Mumen, Sonic, Fubuki, S-Class heroes Tags: First Dates, First Kiss Prompt: Being Mumen Rider at this time of the year is a lot of stress, there's always one new hero to welcome to the HA, a new gift to think of, a lot of over-excited kids dying to meet Santa that need supervision and oddly holidays related monsters; so when a certain pretty ninja comes looking for him and invites him to "do something i don't know, whatever" well, it's a welcome distraction.

Prompt 012

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 012 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama, Charanko/Garou, Bang/Kuseno Characters: Saitama, Genos, Dr. Kuseno, Bang (Silver Fang), Charanko  Tags: Christmas Party, Mistletoe, Blushing Prompt: Bang invites Saitama and Genos over for Christmas, but Genos and had already made plans with Kuseno, but Bang said to bring him too, the more the merrier. When Genos, Saitama and Kuseno arrive at the dojo, they are happy to find how Bang, Charanko and Garou decorated the place, but a misplaced (or not?) mistletoe finds its way over Kuseno and Bang. Genos is not happy but traditions are traditions.

Prompt 013

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 013 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Alternate Universe - College/University, Meet the Family, Happy Ending Prompt: College teacher au. Saitama's family has been worrying about his mental health, especially since he started his new job as a junior professor. In a desperate attempt to stop nightly phone calls, Saitama tries to recruit a department intern to pretend to be his significant other for Christmas. The only one who agrees is Genos, who secretly already has a huge crush on him.

Prompt 014

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 014 Rating: Teen Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos, Mumen Tags: Angst with a happy ending, Christmas Fluff Prompt: Saitama hasn't had the best Christmas experiences in the past. Genos is missing his family more than ever during the holiday season. Both are simultaneously trying to ignore their own blues to make the other have the best Christmas ever. Granted, it doesn't work out very well until they talk about it and come to mutual understandings.

Prompt 015

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 015 Rating: G Pairing: Mumen/Saitama, Genos & Saitama Characters: Mumen, Saitama, Genos Prompt: Genos knows that Saitama and Mumen is crushing on each other, and takes advantage when they both ask him for what to give the other for christmas. He HAS to get them together!

Prompt 016

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 016 Rating: Any Characters: Mumen Prompt: How does Mumen Rider celebrate Christmas? Write or draw whatever comes to mind!

Prompt 017

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 017 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt: Saitama scavenges abandoned planets for useful objects he then repairs and sells. His most valuable find is an android named Genos. He pulls him out of snow-coated rubble and cleans him up, wondering how much he's worth. Genos doesn't mind being mistaken for a machine. It doesn't help that his voicebox is damaged, or that small parts of his body are missing, showing the mechanical structures underneath. On their journey to the marketplace Saitama realizes that Genos is no android. He's human (a cyborg). Instead of selling him, Saitama offers a new home. (art or fic ❤)

Prompt 018

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 018 Rating: Explicit Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt:  One/both are fuckin' in Santa suits. Ho ho ho. Bonus points if one of them is the reindeer.

Prompt 019

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 019 Rating: Any Pairing: King/Saitama Characters: Saitama, King Prompt:  King and Saitama decide to go on a date for Christmas because King has never had a real S.O. on Christmas before. (Whether it goes well or not is up to you)

Prompt 020

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 020 Rating: Any Pairing: Saitama/Sonic Characters: Sonic, Saitama Prompt:  Saitama refuses to have a real fight with him, so Sonic starts challenging him to every competition he can think of, from eating to racing to (insert ridiculous thing). Saitama actually participates and enjoys the pointless contests. Ends with them both admitting they just like spending time together. (Bonus points if Saitama challenges Sonic to a kissing contest)

Prompt 021

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 021 Rating: Explicit Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: First Time Prompt:  Genos and Saitama are trying to have sex for the first time, but Genos keeps getting too enthusiastic about observing all of Saitama’s reactions / erozones / etc and keeps stopping to take notes. Saitama gets increasingly annoyed.

Prompt 022

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 022 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, Long-Distance Relationship, Online Dating Prompt: Saitama and Genos meet online (how/where is up to prompt filler). One day, they finally decide to meet up in real life and spend some time together. After just a few days, they start to fall in love.(Semi-cyborg Genos is a preference--more human than in canon, but still has non-human parts. What parts are up to prompt filler.)

Prompt 023

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 023 Rating: Teen Pairing: Genos/Saiama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt:  It's Christmastime and Genos planned the perfect Christmas Eve for them both. It was going so, so, so not well. Everything kept messing up, something always came up whenever Genos was preparing for it. He probably went to the fight still in the apron and it'd make the front page if it got covered by media. Anyways, yeah, the plan was not going so well and Genos was almost on the brink of tears because of frustration. What's Saitama gonna do to fix this situation?

Prompt 024

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 024 Rating: Teen Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt: Genos knits them both silly Christmas sweaters. Does it go well? Does it become a disaster?

Prompt 025

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 025 Rating: Any Characters: Tatsumaki, Fubuki Tags: Alcohol, Christmas Eve, Sibling Bonding Prompt: Tatsumaki and Fubuki spend Christmas Eve together... with copious amounts of alcohol, of course.

Prompt 026

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 026 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama, Genos/Saitama/Sonic Characters: Genos, Saitama Prompt: Half-monster Genos and tentacle Saitama Could be anything. Cuddling by an open fire, smutty tentacle fun, Christmas stuff, you name it. Refs: http://78.media.tumblr.com/e601b9bedacdb6d3606c023c774ad233/tumblr_oudkx3iTeh1rzjk5bo1_1280.png (nsfw) https://78.media.tumblr.com/1fbac17ca8cfcf5ad0bd3a81df622acd/tumblr_otx4ziQxn81rzjk5bo1_540.png

Prompt 027

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 027 Rating: G Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: Sickfic, Domestic Fluff, Friendship/Love, Pre-Relationship, Fever, Delusions, Humor, Hurt/Comfort Prompt: Genos gets sick and Saitama has to do his best to take care of him, despite never having taken care of a sick person before (other than himself). At some point, Genos' fever gets high enough that he starts getting a bit loopy. Lighthearted shenanigans ensue.(Can be an AU with human!Genos or canon-compliant, though I'm leaning a bit more towards preferring human Genos. It's also up to you if they end up getting together in the end or not, but please have there to be some clearly developing romantic feelings on Saitama's part either way.)

Prompt 028

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 028 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt:  For reasons (left to the writer/artist's discretion, but maybe a Hero Association fundraiser? Saitama agreed because they get to keep their tips) Saitama, Genos, and any number of other heroes are roped into serving fans festive food and drinks while wearing Christmas-themed maid costumes. Romance would be nice but that's also left up to you.

Prompt 029

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 029 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Prompt: One or both of them are trans (bonus points for trans!sai). The rest is up to you. I just need more trans saigenos fics. Any rating is fine.Pls. My crops are dying.

Prompt 030

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 030 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos, King, Mumen, Fubuki Tags: Mutual Pining ,Story within a Story, Pre-Relationship Prompt: King is looking to run a Dungeons & Dragons campaign and offers to pay for takeout weekly for anyone who comes to play. Saitama and Genos are shoe-ins, as are several other heroes who are either there for the food or for the drama (or both).Genos and Saitama's characters are particularly flirty with one another, despite them not being in a relationship (yet?), and everyone but them can see how pathetically transparent they're both being.TL;DR: Genos and Saitama flirt and/or date in a D&D game because both of them are too silly to try to flirt and/or date in real life. Whether or not they realize what they're doing is up to the author's discretion!

Prompt 031

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 031 Rating: Any Pairing: Saitama/Tatsumaki, Fubuki & Tatsumaki Characters: Saitama, Tatsumaki, Fubuki, Bang Tags: Friendship/Love Prompt: When Tatsumaki's only family couldn't join her for the holidays, she decides she didn't even want to celebrate it anyway. Then how the hell did she end up in Bang's dojo getting a pep talk from Egghead? add as many characters as you want as long as Tats and Sai are central

Prompt 032

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 032 Rating: Teen Pairing: Fubuki/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Fubuki Tags: Friendship/Love Prompt: New Years Eve tradition/countdown - Could be rated M or E go wild (by that I mean do whatever you feel like it); add as many characters as you feel like as long as it's centered on Fubuki and Saitama.

Prompt 033

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 033 Rating: Any Pairing: Mumen/Tatsumaki Characters: Mumen, Tatsumaki Tags: Getting to Know Each Other Prompt:  He's a C-class hero. #1 C-class, but C-class anyway. And her powers don't work on him. One could only expect Tatsumaki to be curious about it. (or a talk over spiced frappuccinos)

Prompt 034

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 034 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Mumen/Saitama/Sonic Characters: Saitama, Genos, Sonic, Mumen Tags: Christmas Fluff, Everyone is Gay Prompt: Last year he spent Christmas alone, cold, and miserable. A monster crashed through his front door and there was nothing on T.V. but romantic movies. At least the last 11 months have been better, and he's gotten THREE boyfriends?! This might be the best Christmas yet, if he can find them the perfect presents of course. OT4 fluff, anyone's POV is fine, nsfw is fine too.

Prompt 035

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 035 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: AU, Fluff and Angst, Metropolis, Major Character Death Prompt: Humans and robots coexist in the futuristic city of Metropolis, although robots are discriminated against and segregated to the city's lower levels. A lot of Metropolis' human population are unemployed and deprived, and many people blame the robots for taking their jobs. Metropolis (2001) AU. Saitama as Kenichi and Genos as Tima. You can stick to the movie or write an au of an au. You don't have to have watched the movie honestly, but you should it's really good.

Prompt 036

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 036 Rating: Explicit Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: Sex tapes Prompt: Genos is going to be away for a week and he wants to make a sex tape to keep Saitama company until he gets back.

Prompt 037

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 037 Rating: Mature Pairing: Fubuki/Psykos Characters: Fubuki, Psykos Prompt:  Both fic or art appreciated! It can be set in canon or an AU. I'd love some relaxed, peaceful mood along with it if it's possible :) And some mutual grooming maybe! (It says Mature in the tags, but anything between Gen-Mature is good)

Prompt 038

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 038 Rating: Any Pairing: None Characters: Genos, Kuseno Tags: Christmas, Family, Past Tense Prompt: A look at Genos and Dr. Kuseno's first Christmas together. Was it awkward, quiet, and uneventful? Or was it full of remiscining, warmth, and budding new family ties?(Angst is welcome, 15 year-old Genos is preffered)

Prompt 039

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 039 Rating: Explicit Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: Established Relationship, Teasing, Flirting, Sexual Frustration, Humor Prompt: Saitama spends an entire day flirting with and teasing Genos when it's impossible for the cyborg to do anything about it. However, he doesn't really consider the fact that, once they get home, he'll be at Genos' mercy...So basically, a fic where the latter half is just Genos having his way with Saitama as revenge for all the teasing >:3cThe sex part is pretty much fair game, write whatever you'd like! As long as Genos is calling the shots. And I'd really appreciate Saitama getting pretty flustered over it all...

Prompt 040

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 040 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags:  Alternate Universe - Role Reversal Prompt: Alternate Universe where Genos survived the Mad Cyborg attack (perhaps with some scars) and never became a cyborg. he tries to train himself to be a better hero and take on the crazed cyborg one day, but can’t seem to become as strong as he needs to be. Then he meets Saitama, and is awed by his strength, but a little discouraged when he realizes that Saitama is at least part cyborg. Saitama feels inhuman and disconnected from the world, until this young, spitfire, hero wannabe comes into his life.

Prompt 041

Tag: #OPMSS Prompt 041 Rating: Any Pairing: Genos/Saitama Characters: Saitama, Genos Tags: Possessive Behavior, Love Bites, Marking Prompt:  Genos is very possessive and demonstrative with his affection. He enjoys leaving marks on Saitama, especially love bites and hickeys on Saitama's neck. Because of Saitama's high tolerance for injury, they don't last very long, so Genos has to keep reapplying them daily. Neither of them see that as a bad thing, and Saitama (secretly?) adores feeling so loved and wanted.

[stretchjournalemerson]

Endless Island

By Matthew Pifko

I. Coffee, Whole Milk, and 2 Sugar Packets

My mom is drawing on a napkin at the diner while we wait for our food. She sketches out long, parallel lines across the fragile fabric, careful not to tear through the tissue-like surface. She is drawing me a map of Long Island - more specifically, the roads that criss and cross it. I sip coffee out of the stout, ceramic mug. I’m now seventeen, I’ve already decided I like coffee, and it’s too late to turn back. It tastes bitter and sour and it burns my tongue a little bit, but I diligently sip it anyway. I don’t really like the taste, but I do like the way it makes me feel buzzy and present (I never say that of course, because that makes me sound like a drug addict).

“So, this is Sunrise Highway,” she declares, pointing to the thin line of ink. “And that’s connected to 347, right?” I murmur into my steaming cup. “No. Sunrise Highway runs along the south shore, all the way to the end, y’know, like where Montauk is. And the Long Island Expressway runs here, over near us on the north shore, from the city out to the middle of the island. 347 is one of the roads connected to the Northern State Parkway, which is that windy and old road that was built before they had big expressways on the island.”

I nod blankly, and mutter something. Just a noise of affirmation to get her to think my mind is still on the conversation. The truth is that I couldn't care less about the long, flat strips of concrete that connect Long Island. I don’t care what they’re called. I don’t care where they go. None of this matters to me when I’m seventeen, because I’m not going to live here. In fact, pretty soon, my license will be useless to me, since I’ll be soaring on a gleaming bullet of a subway. The second I graduate from my claustrophobic little prison of a high school, I’m going far, far away. As far as I’m allowed to go. At the moment, I have compromised with Boston - a city that isn’t exactly Los Angeles, but is at least a couple hours away from New York. I tell myself there’s a good chance I’ll transfer over to LA in a year, anyway. To me, Long Island was the place to escape from, the starting line of a marathon, a ledge to leap from. This is not to say Long Island is Bumblefuck, Idaho. In fact, the Island is positively teeming with people, and there are more flooding in every day. So many people that they’re packed like sardines into this tiny strip of land clinging to the East Coast, the price tags on their houses going up and up and up until the entire place is swallowed up by the ocean. I was determined to never be one of them. Convinced that I couldn’t be one of them, even if I tried. I knew Long Island wasn’t “for” me, the same way I knew as a child that scary R-rated movies weren’t “for” me. The thing about Long Island, and more specifically, my quaint little homogenized tourist town, is that I always felt like an “other” there. In terms of postcolonial theory, “otherness” is defined as a sort of psychological divide constructed by conquerors to separate themselves from the conquered - to my understanding, this group of conquerors includes Spanish conquistadors, British imperialists, Nazis, and even those wealthy, boisterous, self congratulatory high schoolers who call quiet kids

“fags”. In other words, “otherness” is a weapon used by monsters of all shapes and sizes. As an other, I understood that, on some level, I was lesser than the conquerors. Maybe because I was queer. Maybe because I was Jewish. Maybe because I wanted to be an artist. Or maybe because I just felt like Matt Pifko didn’t belong there, like his brain chemistry was incompatible with the air he breathed in Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York, United States, zip code 11777.

II. Learning

Don’t worry, this isn’t a tragic backstory. In high school, I wasn’t bullied or tormented or even excluded. I had a superpower - I was selectively invisible. That is, “Queer Jew With Anxiety” wasn’t exactly stamped on my forehead. My voice was deep. My hair was straight. My nose was normal. My body wasn’t twitchy or nervous. My face was square enough. My beard grew patchy, but it grew. I was tall, tall enough that no one questioned my masculinity. I laughed a lot, and I was funny. I looked depressed, or maybe just tired, but in a relatable way. After all, what high schooler isn’t “depressed” these days?

“Your face is my mood,” my friend once said to me as I stumbled into the fluorescent white building at 7:18 am.

When you ask people what superpower they’d want, they always say “flying” or “time travel” or some ridiculous shit like that. I say invisible, because being figuratively invisible is great. To walk down the hallway and not feel eyes on you is to feel power in high school. To be invisible is to be able to blend in anywhere, to fit into any friend group, any clique, any niche. Information is power, and the less information, the less control they had over me. I was slippery. Being translucent is even more powerful in a small town like Port Jefferson, where the local mothers gossip on their Facebook forums and around dinner tables, where the same 70 kids who went to pre-k together went to high school together as well. Port Jefferson was a special small town, in that it was a literal port. Located on the North Shore of Long Island, Port Jefferson has a ferry system that constantly shuttles tourists from Bridgeport, Connecticut into our quaint little town. Stepping off this ferry, one looks down the barrel of Main Street, a bustling cardboard cutout of coffee shops, bars, and everything in between. Thus, tourist traps selling useless knick knacks would open and close every season along Main Street, a new vintage board game store replacing the new crystal shop from last year. During the summers, my parents would complain about the mobs of strangers running into traffic downtown. I never understood why it made them so mad until I got a car of my own and almost hit wandering pedestrians on multiple occasions. In Port Jefferson, you’d swear you could actually feel eyes on you. Think 1984, but Big Brother is a network of parents who were once the popular kids in Port Jefferson High School back in nineteen-seventy-whatever. And now, their offspring are the popular kids once again, like some sort of inbred dynasty. To express otherness was to be shunned out of the community. To be invisible was to live on their watch-list. Nothing scared the denizens of Port Jefferson more than invisibility - they had a fear of blindness, of not being able to peer behind the curtain.

This was their town, and they’d be damned if anything or anyone was awry in their town. To these lifelong townspeople, a town had to be possessed. A town had to be owned - and therefore it was their job to own it. To control it. To keep it the same. To keep the others out. I remember going to a stage crew party senior year, and finally stepping into the old fashioned, brick-built mansion of one of these Port Jefferson dynasties. Their son, in my grade, controlled the entire theater department, to the point where he was actually paid to manage the other kids (other kids including me and my friends on the art team). Walking around this palace, seeing the off-kilter smiles of his parents as they greeted me, I felt genuine terror. Could their gazes pierce my thin armor? How much did they know? How much did they see?

From time to time, my invisibility would scare me. I’d think about dying in some horrible car accident on the LI Expressway, my consciousness and interior life gone before I could blink, with no one ever knowing that I was gay. No one ever knowing why I was an irritable and inconsolable asshole from time to time, why I holed myself up in my room listening to Frank Ocean and The Smiths for hours. At my funeral, they’d shrug, and just figure I was a strange boy. Often, I’d think about confessing my queerness on a paper, locked in a box that they could only find after I died.

This is not to say that I had no meaningful friends in high school, or that my parents didn’t know me at all, or that I was dead inside from freshman year till the day I graduated. After all, there were smaller, safer ways of exposing my otherness, whether it was my unwavering liberal political allegiance or my undying commitment to twisted horror cinema. It’s just... when you’re an other on Long Island, in Port Jefferson, you get scared what would happen if you ever truly lost your power. Being slippery is good. It means you won’t get caught. Even when I came out to my closest friends in the sticky spring of senior year, I felt scared. I felt my invisibility fade away, my body now opaque and ugly. I was seen, and I could be caught. Nothing’s worse than feeling like you could be trapped in Port Jefferson.

III. Endless Island

When I try real hard to visualize Long Island, to visualize the idea of Long Island, I always come back to the days I spent canvassing for Suffolk County Democratic Legislator Sarah Anker, a mission that spread from the summer to election day 2017. Trump had already taken over the White House, so there was an element of hopelessness to the whole affair. There was also a little rebellious spark in that uphill battle, making our fight for office a tad exciting.

I had taken up the internship with two of my friends from high school. Together, we traced the windy roads every Saturday, using the dots on our printer paper maps to find the targets of our campaign. Each week, we would get new black and white rectangles of Long Island, the tiny roads threaded out like a spider’s web across the page, the black circles that indicated houses appearing to me like trapped flies. On the page, we could indicate whether that

resident we had spoken with supported the candidate, supported the opposing party, refused to say, didn’t speak English, wasn’t there at all, and so on. Our campaign supervisor was Tim, a tall, slim man in his early 20s. Most importantly to seventeen year old me, Tim was openly gay. Gay. Gay, like how no guy in my high school was openly gay. The very thought of Tim existing, running this little organization, sent excited chills through my body. He was here, he was an “other”, and he was living and breathing just like the rest of us.

Since the three of us Port Jefferson boys had just gotten our licenses, we would swap on and off driving, one of us spending our precious gas money at a time. I drove my beat-up 1996 Lexus that my family had purchased for 3,000. Leland drove his dad’s silver, scratched 2003 Honda minivan. Dylan rarely drove, but when he did, he drove the sleek black Volkswagen that his mom normally used. Leland, with his twitchy hands and manic laugh, was probably the worst driver out of us three (we may have gotten pulled over once or twice), but he drove the most. He liked driving. I liked it when he drove, for in these hours I could just listen to the laughter of my friends, the tinny music coming from the rusted speakers, and the hum of the air conditioning. I would stare out the big rectangular minivan window at the endless rows of box houses, their color changing from tan to grey to maroon to blue to grey to black to tan to grey. When the car stopped, we would split off in three directions, each of us knocking doors, pacing down the pavement in search of potential voters. When we walked during the stretched out summer days, it was always too humid. When we walked during the inky black autumn nights, it was always too frigid. Canvassing, in its essence, was an “other” invasion - we invaded these boring neighborhoods, these undisturbed sectors, infiltrating their tranquil suburbs with our Democrats and our queerness and our papers, our papers that we left on their doorstep whether they liked it or not. They would be forced to see our faces, to hear our voices. Often, I felt like a deep sea explorer, diving deeper into the trenches of Long Island and seeping into their private lives through the cracked roads I once resented. Knocking on these endless doors, peering into endless sets of eyes, was that fertile mix of strange, scary, and thrilling that defines the best moments of adolescence. Sometimes, staring out into the vast Boston cityscape, I miss those ugly houses a little.

But really, when I think of Long Island, I don’t think of a place. A specific, singular snapshot doesn’t come to mind. Rather, I think of driving through the suburbs in Leland’s creaky minivan, the roads blurring together, the yellow dashes mixing with the white lines, the street lights gliding into one another. Sometimes, after a party that ended too early, or after our parents had come home too soon, we would flee to the car, and just drive in circles around Long Island. Maybe stop and get some shitty fast food. Sit in the parking lot and talk a lot and then settle into a warm silence. Get back in the car. Look at the small towns pass by, peer curiously at the anonymous rows of houses. Go to the beach and creep onto the pitch black dunes. Listen to each others’ shaky breath, and the sound of wind hitting the water. And then drive some more.

Acknowledgments

Joan Didion deserves top billing here, without whom this essay would not have existed. I’d like to thank Mary Kovaleski-Byrnes for giving me the opportunity to create my first piece of writing about my queer identity. Clare Jackson, thank you for bringing this text to where it is now. I will always remember when tears fell down your face as you read my first draft in class. Eitan and Abby, thank you for the further assistance and final touches. Long Island - I don’t know what to say to you.