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sergeantbuckybarnes · 3 years

Text

serendipity // bucky barnes

PART ONE

Summary: You end up stuck in 1942 without a way to come back, but when you meet the young and charming version of Bucky Barnes, do you really want to go back to the present?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word count: 2.3k

Warnings: lack of ‘40s knowledge

A/N: As always, remember English is not my first language. Thanks to @punxgal for proofreading this. You’re amazing!

divider by @firefly-graphics

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“Are you sure we should be here? You know how Tony is about people in his lab,” Wanda pointed out for like the seventh time but you kept on ignoring her. Maybe you should have listened to her and you wouldn’t be stuck in this situation.

Tony didn’t allow anyone in his lab, he had his reasons, but the majority of it was because he didn’t like it when other people touched his stuff. You had the stupid idea of breaking this rule to go to see what he was working on, and of course, you bring Wanda with you, because if you are going to get in trouble you may as well involve your best friend.

You were a restless person and had the bad habit of sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. It was something most people hated about you, you did nothing to change it, but this time took the cake.

You had messed with one of Tony’s new gadgets, the lights went off, an alarm ringing so loud you had to cover your ears. Then out of nowhere, a gust of wind swirled the room.

Wanda screamed at you asking what was going on, sparks lighting up the darkroom. You could feel what felt like someone pulling you and then your body hit the ground and seconds later Wanda was laying next to you.

Pulling yourself back up onto your feet, you looked around taking in your surroundings. You weren’t in Tony’s lab anymore. You were outside, in a dark alley.

“Did Tony build a teleportation machine?” you asked confused

“Not exactly,” you turned around to see Wanda, she was holding a newspaper in her hands with a frightened look on her face. You take a look at the paper to see what got her so shaken, and you saw it, the date.

“We’re in 1942?”

Was it really possible that you had traveled back in time? Had he really figured it out? You knew Tony was a genius but a time machine it’s too much, even for him.

“What do we do now?” Wanda was looking at you as if she was waiting for you to come with a solution, after all, you were responsible for this situation. If you haven’t sniffed around Tony’s lab you wouldn’t be here right now, you would be back at the compound, safe and eating ice cream while you watch some shitty show on Netflix.

You sighed, “I don’t know”

“They’re going to come for us, right?”

“I guess. The alarms went off in the lab, so they must know that something has happened, it’s just a matter of time until they put two and two together and come to our rescue.” But you didn’t know when that’s gonna happen. “We’ll just have to wait”

“Okay,” Wanda accepted, “What do we do until then?”

You decided the best thing, for now, was to look for a place to stay. You walked out of the alley and into the streets of Brooklyn. As you walked through the crowd you could see the strange looks people were giving you, trying to get out of your way or trying not to walk close to you at all.

“Why are they looking at us like that?” you inquired.

Wanda stopped walking and grabbed your hand, pulling you to a side of the street “I think it’s the clothes” she pointed out.

“What’s wrong with our- “ you stopped your sentence when you took a look at what you were wearing. Jeans, t-shirts, boots, and leather jackets aren't the most go-to look in the ’40s.

You couldn’t walk through the streets like that. It was drawing attention and that’s the last thing you two needed right now. Wanda paused for a moment, you standing next to her, she was doubting if she should do what she had in mind or not, it was a good option, the only option you guys had. Wanda wasn’t a fan of her powers, especially with people often being scared and disgusted by her. Not that she didn’t blame them though. But it hurt you that some people didn’t see farther than her powers. She is not only your best friend, but an amazing person and who only deserves the best.

Wanda sighed. She didn’t have a choice. You looked at her and instantly knew what she wanted to do. It was one of the many reasons The Scarlet Witch was your best friend. There was no need for words to know what the other was thinking, even without her powers, there was a connection between you two.

Only a snap of her fingers and a few seconds later, you looked down to see your clothes. Your twenty-first century outfit had been replaced with a knee-length, A-line dress and a pair of peep-toe heels and your hair was now lying in loose waves. “Wow.” You looked at her with fascination that you’d always held when seeing Wanda use her powers. You didn’t understand why people could be afraid of her when she could do such wonderful things.

It was the next day when you were laying in the bed of the hostel you were staying at and the ceiling had never been more interesting. It had been more than 24 hours and still, you had no news from your friends.

You hadn’t left the room, and you were starting to feel suffocated.

“Let’s get out,” you proposed as you got up from the bed. Wanda tore her gaze from the book she was reading and looked at you like had grown a second head.

“Are you crazy? We can’t just go walking around the city like that!”

“Why not?” you pouted and sat in her bed next to her “What is the harm?”

Your careless demeanor was something that drove Wanda crazy sometimes. You never thought about the consequences your actions could have and you two being stuck more than seventy years in the past was the perfect example of that. And now you wanted to go out and have fun as if this were a normal Friday for you.

The witch sighed and closed the book in her hands. “We’re not home, (Y/N). We cannot go and parade around the city like we belong here.”

“I just want to have some fun!”

“You wanting to have fun is what had brought us here in the first place.” Wanda muttered under her breath, you weren’t supposed to hear it, but you did. You got up abruptly from the bed and made your way to the door.

“Where are you going?”

You didn’t reply to her as you left the room, closing the door behind you as you made your way out of the building and into the streets of New York. You knew you were acting childish and you knew Wanda was right but you were too proud to let her know that.

You walked through the streets with no particular destination in mind, you just needed the air hitting on your face. You had walked for at least twenty minutes when you spotted a building that caught your eye. A dance hall.

You crossed the street and made your way into the building. Jazz music flooded your ears as soon as you entered even though the club wasn't that large. It had enough room for various couples to be able to dance and that’s all that seemed to be needed. This scene was so different from what you were used to. It felt different but in a good way. You couldn't help but feel struck by the feeling that you were born in the wrong decade. You’d have loved to live like this.

As your eyes explored the room, you spotted a short man aside from the crowd that you couldn’t help but recognize. You narrowed your eyes, trying to get a better glimpse of him. Oh my god... He was so much different now, but you would recognize the face of Steve Rogers anywhere.

You turned to leave as soon as you recognised him. Steve couldn’t see you. Yes, he had no idea who you were yet, but he’ll meet you in the future and this could affect all manners of things. What if you do something that changes the past and affects the future and- Now you were panicking, your mind running a mile per hour, trying to get out there when you turned and slammed straight into someone.

“Careful, doll.” That voice, why did it sound so familiar to you? You looked up into the eyes of the man in front of you and there he was. A young Bucky Barnes. With those steel-blue eyes, full of joy and that charming smile that never left his face. This version of him, at least. The Bucky you knew was nothing like the man that currently stood in front of you.

“You okay?” he asked worriedly, and it was then you realized that you had been staring at him for too long.

You looked away quickly, muttering a quick, “Y-Yeah, sorry.”

You tried to walk past him and keep your original plan of leaving the club. If talking to Steve was a bad idea, talking to Bucky wasn’t a better one. As soon as you made to leave, Bucky grabbed your upper arm gently, turning your heels so you were facing him again.

“Come on, doll. You can’t leave me like that,” the smile never left his face and you thought how strange it was to see him smile so much. Nowadays, it was a rarity to see Bucky smile, not that you could blame him for his broody demeanor after everything that he has been through. But now you couldn’t shake how damn beautiful he looked with a smile adorning his features. “You own me at least one dance.”

He held his hand to you, and you knew you should have refused, it was the worst idea and it could affect the future but you weren’t known for making the right choices. So, you took his hand and danced through your second mistake of the night.

It was late when you walked into the room, but Wanda was still up, waiting for you on her bed. She was doing her typical ‘scolding a child’ pose and she could be intimidating when she wanted to.

“Where have you been?” she demanded.

You bit your bottom lip, a habit you had when you were nervous. “I fucked up….again”

His hands were on your back with yours wrapped around his shoulders. You swayed to the slow melody the band was playing.

“So… I don’t think I got your name,”

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N),”

“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” His shameless flirting made you chuckle as you’d heard the stories from Steve about Bucky’s amazing luck with the ladies. But now that you had that same man in front of you, his hand wrapped around your middle and dancing so close to you, you could see why so many women fell for him. He really had a game.

“What about you, Romeo? Can I get your name?”

“Bucky Barnes” he smirked. As you kept dancing to the sound of the music, his eyes never left yours, not for even a second, and you wished in that moment that you had the power to read his mind.

He tightened his hands on your back as he leaned a little to be closer to you. “How is it that I have never seen you around before?”

“I’m just passing by” You simply state, not technically lying to him. You still held hope that your friends were working on a way to bring you home.

“Does that mean I’m not gonna see you again?” His voice sounded disappointed, almost sad.

He brought one of the hands that were resting on your back to your face, caressing your cheek gently. Cupping your jaw, he looked into your eyes, asking for permission. When you didn’t do anything to stop him, he closed the gap between you, pressing his lips to yours. His lips were soft as they brushed gently against your own and you couldn’t remember the last time someone had kissed you with so much tenderness. Bucky has only known you for a few hours and his kiss had more meaning than any of the kisses you had received from any of your previous relationships. It was something you didn’t know you craved until now, so you let yourself get lost in the kiss, melting into the third mistake of the night.

“What the hell, (Y/N)!” Wanda raised her voice at you. “Do you have any idea of what you have done?”

“I just- I couldn’t help myself,” you defended yourself, “You should have seen him… I couldn’t tell him no.”

“Since when do you have feelings for Bucky?”

“I don’t!”

“It doesn’t sound like it…. and it definitely doesn’t look like it. You practically light up every time you mention his name!” pointing accusingly at you.

You weren’t lying when you said you don’t have feelings for Bucky. You had barely talked to the man since Steve brought him to the compound. You didn’t know anything about him other than what basic information everyone already knew.

He was quiet and shy, spending most of his time locked in his room. The times he did come out, he only spoke with Steve and Sam. He tried to stay out of the way of everyone, not wanting to be a burden.

“What did you do after the kiss?” Wanda asked, drawing you out of your thoughts.

“I ran away...”

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes fanfiction #sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan imagine

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xiaomoxu · 3 years

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Lucien - Leisure Light Date

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT!! ⚠️

A date from CN server which hasn’t been released on EN server yet.

It turned out I have some time for translating this date before I have a date with some works later~ please enjoy a sweet moment on their leisure time ^^

Translations under the cuts~

In the middle of the autumn, the sun willingly spilled into the living room, and the fragrance of sweet-scented osmanthus was lingering on the tip of my nose. I took a deep breath and opened the long-awaited book.

MC: Where did I read it last time..."The psychological effects that should be avoided in business management" seems to be here.

Before I read a few lines, the news of the company group suddenly jumped out, I was a little confused and opened it.

Kiki: Guys! I found the most unbeatable challenge on the entire network!

Kiki: It's the actor who worked with us last time! We sincerely invite everyone to try it!

Kiki said and sent a link to the video, with the title saying "no temptation challenge, 100% failure."

MC: 100% failure is too exaggerated...

I was about to open it when Lucien sat beside me at some point and put two glasses of juice with lemon slices on the coffee table.

Lucien: Looking at what?

MC: Kiki posted a video just now, it's very popular recently, called "no temptation challenge."

I put the phone between us and Lucien glanced at the screen, showing a thoughtful expression.

Lucien: Several young interns in the Institute also watch this type of video recently.

MC: Hahaha I didn't expect this craze has spread to the group of scientific researchers.

Thinking that the interns in the institute are all boys, I blinked, took Lucien's arm, and looked at him meaningfully.

MC: Did Professor Lucien also watch it? Don’t you wanna share it with me?

Lucien was amused by my look, his eyes curled up, and there was a hint of cunning in his eyes.

Lucien: Would you be angry if I said I had seen it?

MC: Not to that extent, it's just a little bit concerned.

Lucien: Really? Then why your mouth is pouting.

MC: It isn't.

Hearing this, I pursed my mouth deliberately, but saw the smile on Lucien's face wider.

Lucien: Your "a little bit of concerned" makes me very happy.

Lucien: But what I just said is just a hypothesis. The actual situation is...I haven't seen it.

MC: I guess so, after all, a busy person like Professor Lucien would not kill time in this way like me.

Lucien: Oh? It seems that MC have seen it a lot?

Lucien: I am a little curious, from the perspective of a big producer, what would it look like.

MC: In fact, I watched it mostly when I was looking for inspiration for new programs with my colleagues, and now I don’t see much impression.

Now that I think about it, I have never faced this "no temptation challenge" with the mentality of an audience.

Seeing the lemon stuck in the mouth of the juice glass, an idea came to my mind.

MC: Since we have never played, how about playing together once?

Lucien: With you, of course.

Lucien: However, I didn't know much about the specific rules.

Lucien: Is it literally? As long as there is no temptation in the moment of the challenge, it is considered successful?

MC: That's right.

MC: As for the punishment if we failed, let use these two lemons.

Lucien: So how can we judge whether a person is being tempted?

MC: Mostly in this situation, people's temptation will show on their faces.

As soon as the voice fell, I found Lucien's gaze was looking at me, as if he was thinking about some episodes of the past.

It was confirmed that something was normal, and his eyes were stained with a smile.

Lucien: Well, this statement can indeed be proved by you.

My cheeks were a little hot unconsciously, and as expected, before this person, my mind had never been able to hide.

MC: Suddenly I feel that this challenge is too easy for you. After all, Professor Lucien is very good at hiding his mind...

Lucien reached out and squeezed my palm.

Lucien: Isn't the "no temptation challenge" that is the easiest way for me to fail, right in front of my eyes?

Looking at Lucien's serious face, I blinked.

MC: Really, let me demonstrate the reaction of Professor Lucien's heart this time!

Lucien: This classmate seems very certain that I will fail, have you forgotten...You need to work hard for your challenge first?

MC: Humph, my challenge is just watching the video. I must be expressionless all the time.

Lucien: Then I will study by the side, your excellent demonstration.

MC: I must take the lead~

I responded to his ridicule with a smile, moved closer to him, picked up the phone and clicked on the link.

Unlike ordinary challenge materials, many roles that the actor has played are edited in this video.

There are gentle scholars in white shirts, chic and dusty knights, mysterious and mad assassins, cute and considerate neighbor....

There are many types, and it seems that no matter what the audience’s aesthetic orientation is, they can always find something that suits their minds in this video.

Although I knew the technique very well, my mood was gradually aroused by the slow jazz music and the right lens flare.

The finale was a cold-faced agent wearing a dark trench coat and holding a black technological cane.

Seeing the back of the character walking calmly in the smoke of gunpowder and hunting wind, another person suddenly appeared in my mind.

Dangerous, mysterious, and people want to follow and approach.

He must be very suitable for this appearance...

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but look up at Lucien, but I was falling into his gaze.

I was reflected in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth were curled up unconsciously because of my own cranky thoughts.

MC: You, don't look at me first!

I rubbed my face eagerly, trying to drive away the clearer image in my mind.

Under the slowly stirring music, the video has been replayed a second time, and my sight was blocked by a glass of juice.

Lucien: It turns out that our well-informed big producers will also be defeated by this challenge.

I was speechless for a while, and turned my face up to Lucien, blinking and pursing my cheeks to quibble.

MC: This challenge video is really cunning, the character is different from the real person, and there is a lot of room for people to associate...

Lucien's gaze fell on me faintly, which made me unconsciously think of the other side of him again.

With a guilty conscience, I averted my eyes and squeezed the lemon slice in front of me.

MC: Well, I am willing to accept punishment!

The sour lemon scent exploded in my mouth. I frowned and covered my mouth, curling up my toes.

MC: It's... sour!

Lucien looked at my sour expression so that I couldn't speak clearly, and smiled for a while before putting the glass in my hand.

Lucien: Drink slowly, don't choke.

The taste of orange and mango dilutes the sourness. I put down the bottomed glass and took a long breath.

MC: I shouldn't be curious about Kiki's stuff...

Lucien: But a certain classmate was very happy just now, and she didn't blinked her eyes.

Lucien: Speaking of which, since it is the actor you have worked with, then I am very curious.....

Lucien: At the scene, are you taking that seriously too?

The implications of this question are self-evident.

I held Lucien's arm and leaned in front of him, looking into his eyes

MC: At the scene, I have to coordinate the shooting and control the progress. How can I look at someone so seriously?

MC: For Professor Lucien who is a program consultant, isn't it very clear?

MC: In fact, when I was watching the video, I smiled because I thought of you.

I talked more softly as I speak, while watching his expression.

Lucien: Well, I guessed it, because at the end of the broadcast, you looked up at me.

Guessed it? Thinking of Lucien's words and deeds just now, I blinked in a daze.

MC: That… but you still....

The person before me seemed to finally couldn't help but smile, and the corners of his lips pulled out a beautiful arc.

Lucien: I am just like you, only "a little bit concerned".

Lucien: Of course, I also want to see how you concerned about me.

Lucien's coquettish tone inadvertently made me want to coax him again.

MC: I always concerned about you.

With that said, I looked at him pretentiously.

MC: Hmm...I found that our Professor Lucien still looks the best, without any make up and filters!

Seeing my eyes brightly pleased, Lucien raised his index finger and tapped my forehead with his knuckles, looking helpless.

Lucien: Judging from the range of people you have contact with, such an evaluation seems too exaggerated.

MC: This is the truth.

Lucien: You....

MC: After all, "the beauty is in the eyes of the lover".

Lucien: For this point, I can feel the same.

He spoke bluntly and sincerely, as if he didn't feel embarrassing what he said at all.

I looked away unnaturally, trying to hide my blushing cheeks, and inadvertently saw the book on the table that I was holding upside down.

MC: Puff—it’s also a coincidence that I just read the phrase "beautiful in the eyes of a lover" in a book.

Lucien moved his gaze to the book in my hand and raised his eyebrows.

Lucien: "Business Management and Psychology"? This is mentioned in this book, which is a bit surprising.

Seeing that he was interested, I simply picked up the book and shared it with Lucien.

MC: Well, when I read about the "halo effect", a short example in the book mentioned "beauty in the eyes of a lover".

MC: In fact, people are not only easy to perceive the heart from the outside, but also generalize from the inner character traits to the appearance evaluation.

MC: Therefore, what we often say "beauty in the eyes of lovers" is also a manifestation of the halo effect.

Lucien: Using this example to explain the "halo effect" is indeed small and easy to understand.

Lucien: However, it is placed in the whole module of "The psychological effects that should be avoided in business management", which seems to be too rational.

MC: I don't know if I, with the blessing of "halo effect", can I let Professor Lucien challenge and fail?

Lucien smiled and picked up the glass and took a sip of juice.

Lucien: Do MC want to see how I eat lemons?

I looked at the piece of lemon on the mouth of his glass that had lost some moisture, and shook my head.

MC: No need, this slice of lemon is a bit dry.

MC: How about changing the penalty for failure to... before the end of the fall, how about taking time to accompany me on an autumn outing in the suburbs?

Lucien: Well, we really haven't been to the suburbs for a long time.

I turned around and hugged him with joy.

Lucien encircled me and stroked my hair which hanging behind my shoulders with his warm palms.

MC: What to do, this failure punishment is very tempting to me.

Lucien gave a low laugh, pressed against my chest and shook lightly.

Lucien: It's not difficult to make my heart beat faster. Perhaps, this challenger and referee can work hard.

MC: Hm...

The steady and powerful heartbeat hit my auricle, and I suddenly had an inspiration.

By the way.. Accelerated heartbeat is also a way of judging your heartbeat, right?

I lifted my head from his arms and blinked.

MC: I have a way to record the moments of Professor Lucien's heartbeat!

I took off the smart watch in my hand and pulled Lucien's hand.

The internal test of the watch strap also carried the body temperature, and it was tied to his well-defined wrist.

Lucien squinted his eyes, his lips lifted up with a helpless smile.

Lucien: I remember you said that you bought it to supervise your health management. Unexpectedly, entertainment functions could also be developed.

MC: Make the best use of it!

I entered the data on the app and nodded with satisfaction.

MC: I set up a function that sounds when the heart rate is exceeded.

MC: Now even if Professor Lucien controls his expression well, his heartbeat will be exposed.

Lucien: Miss referee is so strict, it seems I have to be careful.

MC: Of course, I have to be strict with a smart person like Professor Lucien. It’s not that easy to make your heart beat.

Lucien: Yes?

Lucien: But you obviously can do it all the time.

Lucien spoke naturally and even took a leisurely sip of juice.

His unsuspecting state seems to be suitable for "raid".

I moved inwardly, pretending to lean towards him inadvertently, and slowly stretched out my hand to touch the corner of his lips.

MC: There seems to be some juice here.

Lucien smiled and cooperated with me and lowered his head, letting my thumb slowly rub his clean lips.

Lucien: It seems to be stained a lot.

The warm breath brushed my fingertips, making a sultry itchy.

My heart was beating like a drum, and I raised my head and moved closer--

Suddenly the cell phone ringing abruptly, breaking the atmosphere at this moment.

I hurried not to show a hot face, grabbed the phone and handed it to him

MC: You, you answer the phone first!

Lucien chuckled and touched my hair naturally after answering the phone.

Lucien: Lectures... My schedule may affect other people's work arrangements, so I need to checked it again.

I turned my head and looked at Lucien's profile quietly. He responded to the phone as usual, with no trace of heartbeat.

Probably my eyes were too straightforward. When the phone was turned off, he looked at me, pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows.

Lucien: Isn't the juice cleaned yet?

I straightened the hair around my cheeks, trying to hide my red cheeks.

MC: No, I want to tell you... the challenge is success.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, I hurriedly changed the subject and asked him about the lecture.

MC: Is the time for new lecture invitations out of schedule?

Lucien: Well, the time of the lecture has collided with the shooting schedule of next weekend. I am about to ask for your suggestions.

I reviewed the shooting arrangements in my mind and got an idea.

MC: How about postponing that part of your shooting until next weekend? So you can go to the lecture!

Lucien: That...Thank you for the "black box operation" of the big producer. Please say my apologies to our colleagues in the program team.

MC: Okay, don't worry about this.

We tacitly stopped the topic of work and continued to enjoy the long time of the holiday.

Lucien leaned back on the sofa in a relaxed manner, the light golden spot flickering under his eyes, and he closed his eyes.

MC: You got up a bit early to make a breakfast, are you sleepy?

Lucien smiled and held my hand, and hooked his fingers like a baby.

Lucien: Maybe because it’s autumn, can you take a nap with me here?

I nodded lightly and leaned against his shoulder.

I don't know how long it took, but in a trance, I heard the rustle of leaves blowing in the wind.

I opened my eyes, and the shadow of the tree on the floor danced slightly, and there was nothing beside me, with only a blanket still covering my body.

The breeze blew the white gauze curtains, and there was still the breath of laziness after a nap in the air.

I stretched my waist and heard a small noise from the study, so I got up and walked towards it.

The door of the study was closed. When I opened the door, Lucien was sitting at the table, shrugging his shoulders and listening his mobile phone casually.

His hair is a little messy, and his legs are covered with a blanket. It looks like he just woke up.

But his eyes were serious about looking at the shorthand notebook in his hand, and he had clearly entered the working state.

The cap of the pen was bit between his teeth, and the rustle of writing sounded intermittently, making the room more quiet.

He recorded something enthusiastically, occasionally answering the person on the other end of the receiver briefly.

Lucien: Mm-hm.

Maybe a new proposition is brewing at the tip of his pen, maybe he is calculating one of the thousands of possibilities.

The bright sunshine poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and enveloped him in warmth.

Lucien looked up and saw me, took the pen cap in his mouth and the phone on his shoulder, and gently covered the microphone with his wrist.

Lucien: It will be over soon.

I walked over lightly, and got into his arms in his somewhat surprised eyes.

The surprise in his eyes was replaced by a gradually widening smile, and he held a shorthand notebook around me.

I rested on Lucien's shoulders, his collarbone was exposed and he looked extremely white in the sun.

As if bewitched by some sort, I lowered my head and dropped a kiss on the delicate skin.

Suddenly, the smart watch beeps twice.

My cheeks warmed a little, and I wanted to get up helplessly, but the shackles on my waist didn't mean to loosen the slightest.

The person on the other end of the phone finished the report and was saying goodbye to Lucien.

Lucien: Let's do this first, thanks for your hard work.

Lucien hung up the phone, put the shorthand notebook full of calculations aside, and took off his watch by the way.

MC: Am I interrupting your work?

I looked up and saw a warm light and a particularly soft smile in his eyes.

Lucien: I think strictly speaking, work interrupts us.

I glanced at many places on the shorthand notebook with question marks and blinked at him.

MC: There are many remaining issues, no need to deal with it?

Lucien: It doesn't matter, it's too late to wait until the working day. Now I have more important things to deal with.

MC: Is there anything more important than research?

Lucien: Of course there is.

Lucien: I just thought that usually challenge games should have rewards as opposed to punishments, right?

MC: Um... we did not discuss the rewards

Lucien: But when you hugged me just now, I thought of what kind of reward I wanted.

The pupils of Lucien's eyes glowed brightly when he looked at me, and soft ripples fainted under his eyes.

Lucien: Next weekend, I don’t want to miss the time I spent with you like today.

Lucien: So... can I be greedy and let you accompany me on business trips?

Lucien: As compensation, maybe we can realize your autumn outing plan together in a farther place.

#mlqc #mlqc cn #mlqc lucien #lucien #mlqc translations #mlqc date

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popanalysis99 · 3 years

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Women abusing men in pop culture: Why is it taken so lightly?

We all know how horrible it is when us women are physically, emotionally and mentally abused by men. But when a man suffers the same with the woman being an abuser, why is it taken lightly and brushed off?

For many years, domestic violence has mostly focused on women as the victims and men as the perpetrators. If the domestic violence case involves a man as the victim, it goes unnoticed because men refuse to report it otherwise they will be embarrased, ridiculed or mocked for their struggles.

Men who report domestic abuse will face a social stigma regarding their lack of machismo and other denigrations of their masculinity. And not just that, they end up being accused of abusing the woman they are in relationship with or they are forced to be separated from their kids if they want to leave their abusive wives.

When men are expected to take responsibility for their actions, no excuses are accepted, but when the women are the perpetrators of the abuse, they are given the excuses such as: stress, menopause etc.

Why can’t men report abuse?

There are many reasons as to why men can’t file a domestic violence case against their abusers which are:

Fear of not being believed

Fear of not being able to see their kids

Fear of being accused for the abuse due to society prejudices

Fear of revenge by the abuser

Fear of the abuser making fake allegations against him in order to look more innocent.

Fear of being left homeless

There are even long lasting effects of the victims of female-on-male abuse which are:

Low self-esteem

Anger

Depression

Anxiety

Loneliness

Sleeping Problems

Substance Abuse

When Domestic Abuse against Men is brushed off in the media.

There have been countless depictions of domestic abuse in the media, with both female and male victims. But when it’s the female victim, it’s a serious matter, but when it’s a male victim, either people laugh at it or treat it as justifiable or treat the female abuser as some sort of a “ feminist girlboss”.

Mostly in Anime when a female character abuses a man, it’s treated as comedy. Most of the scenarios involve them accidentally walking in on them changing or accidentally crashing into their bodies unintentionally and then they get beaten up for it and are falsely accused of being a “pervert”. The anime Baka To Test To Shokanjuu perfectly sums this up when the lead female characters bullies and humiliates the main male characters. Minami and Shouko are the biggest examples when they are shown physically abusing their boyfriends for smallest mistakes they make.

This happens a lot in TV shows as well, mostly in comedies. Like in Two and a Half Men, which sends a toxic message that “men will be men”, it also shows that Judith is a much bigger bastard like them, possibly a sociopath. She divorces Alan out of boredom, then proceeds to financially and mentally abuse him for sadistic pleasure and frames him for being a horrible father to Jake. She hates it whenever Alan shows a bit of independence and goes out of her way to make sure he will be miserable forever. She does it again with her new husband Herb, who is only flaw is being nice to everyone around him and still misuses his trust and uses him as her personal punching bag. Honestly, I wished the show would’ve ended with her ending up alone and homeless for everything she did.

Another example of this was in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Before there was Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, there was Janet. when Will begins dating his friend Jazz’s sister and while they are at a restaurant, she drops her sweet facade to reveal herself as a tyrannical sociopath who controls Will based on what he eats, where will he go to college and what will he do with his life. When he tells Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv, they brush it off. But one day when Carlton tells her off about what a horrible human being she is, she immediately becomes polite and drawn to him. So the message that they showed here is that it’s the guy’s fault if they don’t stand up for themselves, while his controlling girlfriend gets away with irreversibly ruining the lives of almost everyone who didn’t meet her expectations.

A bigger example of female-on-male abuse in dramatic shows was in the series Mr. Robot.

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In the series, Angela Moss is the best friend/crush of the protagonist Elliot Alderson. Her only goal in life is to get justice for her mother’s death at the hands of E Corp and become the most powerful woman in the world. While it’s understandable that she is stuck in a male-dominated workplace and how the E Corp CTO and her ex-boyfriend treated her badly, she begins to misuse her victim mentality and ends up getting brainwashed by Whiterose. She then begins to psychologically abuse and gaslight Elliot in order to complete Stage 2 and not just that, she even emotionally abuses him when he finds out and plays the victim in this entire debacle, she sees not listening to Elliot and Darlene when he tries to warn her about the Stage 2 bombings as her personal “feminist” moment. And then weeks after the attack, due to her clinging onto her beliefs about Whiterose’s machine, she begins to blame Elliot for manipulating her into telling him about Whiterose’s plan when she herself was the one doing the same thing to him. While Whiterose’s manipulation was mostly the main reason for this, another part of it was probably because she was jealous of how Elliot was the “chosen one” in taking down E Corp and wanted to punish him for it and take over the mantle.

Most of the fans saw her actions as “sympathetic” and “justifiable”, with some of them calling her treatment of Elliot, who was nothing but kind to her the entire time, a “feminist girlboss move” and overlooked the fact that she psychologically tortured Elliot and reminded him that he was worthless and nobody was going to love him, not even Angela herself. Even if there were some fans who called her out for doing this and pointed out how horrible it was, others would brush their opinions off as “misogynistic” and “sexist” because “they apparently don’t like seeing a powerful corporate woman.”

Angela even kinda represented a privileged white feminist who believed that she was the only one struggling with issues and had bigger problems than anyone else, overlooking the fact that her friends that were on the lower position than her and brushed them off because her issues were more traumatic than theirs.

It even further showed a lot of double standard of Angela and Elliot manipulating someone to do their job. While both actions were horrible, Elliot got a lot of hate and scrutiny for blackmailing Olivia and drugging her coffee with the drugs she tried to stay clean from, calling it as something he “crossed a line in”. But when Angela almost did the same thing with him and drugged him as well, it was treated as “sympathetic” and “heroic” by the fans and treated her as some sort of a “feminist” for it, overlooking the fact that she was abusing a man to the point he almost lost his self esteem. At some point I even saw someone say that Angela did “nothing wrong” at all and didn’t like how Elliot was in season 3, was it because he was trying to stop her from going through with an attack that could kill thousands? Did they expect him to stay silent, not stand up for himself and let Angela stomp him a lot?

Conclusion

Abuse is something which is extremely serious, whether it’s a female or male victim. Like the female victims, men too deserve to have their voices heard and taken seriously if something terrible happens to them and we should believe them.

Here are the helpine numbers if you or someone you know is facing domestic abuse:

Central Social Welfare Board -Police Helpline - 1091/ 1291, (011) 23317004

SAARTHAK - (011) 26853846/ 26524061

Nirmal Niketan - (011) 27859158

National Domestic Violence Hotline - 1.800.799.SAFE

National Domestic Abuse Helpline - 0808 2000 247

#tw abuse #domestic abuse #domestic violence #emotional abuse #gaslighting #female on male abuse #two and a half men #anime #the fresh prince of bel air #mr. robot #mr robot

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thebooki3h · 3 years

Text

Lukadamianette Au Part 2

First Here Next

We begin where we left off, with Luka and Marinette on one of the dates Luka Planned. Just because it makes sense in this, Luka and Mari arrive a week early

Because Mari is emancipated and excused herself for the first week of school before the trip during which the class is still in France bc they just ended summer and all that jazz. also I have decided that the trip has turned into a half semester exchange program even though this doesn’t make the most sense, but the French school thought the class could use a reward and tbh they just wanted to get the Akuma class out for awhile. Also this way they aren’t in Gotham for a whole semester of senior year. The trip is planned for the first half of the first semester of senior year. I know that this doesn't make a whole lot of sense but just stick with me.

They go sight seeing and basically on a week long date bc the following week begins the Wayne sponsored exchange program and when Luka has to work for Jagged. One day they go to museums, the next the go to famous parks around Gotham (which are thriving thanks to Poison Ivy), the next they see all of the famous villain spots (which are surprisingly popular tourist destinations bc for the most part they don’t get hit twice in short periods of time) which is a good cover for studying past bat battles. They take days in between to rest and use the inspiration they gained to make new songs or clothing designs.

They share hotel room bc Mari’s parents stopped being her parents a long time ago and lost their say and bc Jagged says they are grown up enough to be responsible for their actions (which brings a blush to their cheeks every time bc “daaaaaddddd” “uncle jaggeeedddd”)

Mari also makes it her mission to visit all of the non chain coffee shops at least once while they are there bc coffee became her best friend when she was active as ladybug. She meets Tim in almost everyone because Tim also drinks coffee obsessively. Luka is more of a tea drinker because coffee interrupts his musical thought process and tea is less harsh. Marinette drinks tea when she wants to relax but coffee is the fuel of the gods. She expresses this to Tim and that's how they become acquainted bc finally someone understands his love for coffee. They exchange numbers after they run into each other for a fourth time. (Luka silently thinks that he might have to talk to Mari about her obsession of coffee again and if there is a rehab center for coffee drinkers) Tim learns that Mari is from the exchange class very quickly based off of Luka’s French accent as well as her light French accent that is mixed with a couple things he can’t quite place.

The class arrives, Lila ofc tried to pull something to leave Mari behind and she thought she was successful so she was gloating. She ofc took credit for the whole trip claiming that she was super close to the Waynes and that she helped Damian acclimate to his new school (she actually knows that Damian didn’t start living with his father until 10 bc why not). Mrs Bustier tries to check in under both her name and Lila’s name, both of which don’t work because they are A) an hour and a half early and B) all of the reservations are under the contest winners name (they have to ok their chaperones to use their name) C)Mrs Bustier told Mari to make all of the reservations under Mari’s name anyway and she totally forgot that.

So the sit in the lobby for an hour, Lila has the whole class riled up bc Marinette isn't there and it is al her fault that they can’t get in to their rooms. Marinette shows up with Luka 15 mins before the class was supposed to show up (they had just gotten lunch at a cafe that jagged had recommended) and she is laughing and happy, which causes the class to BLOW UP in her face. She ignores them and checks everyone into their rooms. Kagami and Chloe share a suite bc they are rich in their own right and upgraded their shared room bc they are dating and signed up to be roommates. They got this okayed by Buister in writing JIC. Marinette as the contest winner also got a suite (the room she had been staying in with Luka that she just extended the booking for)

Lila and Alya obviously make a big fuss about them getting special treatment but bustier can’t do anything because Mari won’t let her. She secretly thinks Mari is a lost cause now but she tries her best to get her to see that she has to be a role model. Mari actually planned the whole trip and she did a fucking fantastic job bc its Mari and planning something is what she is great at. She has all of the bases covered including iternerary, bookings for food, emergency contact info, health info, info on Gotham, safety procedures and the whole shebang. All of which had to be approved by Bustier and that Bustier has copies of but totally ignored.

The next day they try to pull the let’s leave an hour early to leave behind Marinette stunt. Not only does that fail because the tour can’t start until the contest winner is there, but they arrived before Wayne tower was even open to the public. Because jagged is extra he shipped Luka and Marinette motorcycles to Gotham bc they were going to be there for a couple months, they also got special permission from Wayne enterprises to park their bikes in the employee parking structures from Tim once he heard that they rode bikes as expensive as Jason’s. So she left early from the hotel with Luka(bc she knew that Bustier would leave her behind somehow) to go meet up with Tim at a new coffee place (one of his favorites). They end up riding on their respective bikes to WE together so they can hang out before the tour. Luka goes to a recording studio to meet up with Jagged, but not before a very passionate kiss goodbye, which makes Tim blush. (Tim may not seem like the biker type but he is a bat and he lives with Jason so he not only knows how to ride a motorcycle well has one, so it may not be his favorite mode of transportation but he’ll live)

So he and Marinette walk to WE about a half an hour before the class is supposed to be there in the middle of a debate on how best to brew coffee (Mari insists its French press) and low and behold they are there yelling at the receptionist. Mari gives Tim a look that says I’m so sorry you have to see this and yes I was not exaggerating walks up to the receptionist and apologizes for what she is about to do (not for the classes actions bc fuck them they can apologize for themselves she has learned to not take responsibility for others actions and she won’t let all that work go to waste). She then proceeds to yell, much louder than someone of her stature presumably should “SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I STG I WILL BREAK JOKER OUT OF ARKHAM AND LOCK HIM IN A ROOM WITH ALL OF YOU WITHOUT FLINCHING” this is shocking to everyone, especially mrs bustier who is scandalized that her role model student would do something like this.

Tim had a feeling that something video worthy would happen so as soon as she walked away he started recording, and he was NOT disappointed. The video gos straight to the batfam gc and Luka immediately. He powered off his phone then he proceeds to start laughing and applauding. Upon seeing the CEO’s reaction the rest of the employees start applauding as well bc damn those kids were rude. Tim then walks up to Mari talking at a speed no one but Mari, Chloe and Kagami could understand (bc the class is not fluent in English no matter what they would tell you). Mari proceeds to blush once he informs her that he sent a video to Luka (he does not tell her about the batfam gc)

Chloe and Kagami are immediate intrigued bc this is NOT what they picture when Mari said she met someone who loves coffee as much as she does. they may be hella gay for each other but damn that man is ripped. They join the convo while the class remains befuddled bc who knew Mari even swore. in the back of his mind Nino is reminded of a young blue-eyed girl who lost playground privileges for a week bc someone made fun of his glasses and proceed to punch said someone in the nose. But he shakes it of because Mari hasn’t been like that in years.

Bustier eventually collects herself and gently, so as not to cause an Akuma (apparently she didn't get the memo), reminds Mari that they are here for a tour and she needs to get the class their passes. So Mari leaves her friends to get acquainted and goes up to the receptionist, to whom she apologizes for her actions again, and the receptionist replies with a laugh and a “honey, you just made my week, there's no need to apologize I should be thanking you” (she does thank Mari). Mari gets a special pass bc she’s the contest winner to which Lila and Alya (then the rest of the class for the most part) proceed to throw a hissy fit over. The receptionist is so over them though and doesn’t even blink.

Then their tour guide shows up. (its Dick and his assistant Damian). Damian proceeds to scold the class for a solid ten mins (which coincidentally leads up to their scheduled time to start the tour). Dick slides off to talk to the receptionist and his brother who isn't working and is talking to real people for once. Just for that they are his favorite out of the class. Tim unfortunately has to go to work so they talk to Dick to get acquainted until the tour has to officially start.

Los tres amigos are the only ones who pay attention to Dick at all (he leads the tour bc he’s been there the longest but Damian throws in a comment here or there mostly related to shenanigans his family has gotten into but overall useful facts. for example these windows are reinforced because our CEO (Tim) leaned up against one, fell asleep and fell through the window to the office below.)

The rest of the class is focused on Lila who is talking a whole bunch of nonsense about the Wayne family and how she has helped them with their business. Some things actually sound kinda legit, but Mari and Co. know that it is BS. Dick tries to bet bustier involved but she makes an excuse for Lila and goes on her phone and doesn’t really pay attention.

Eventually the class tour turns into Dick talking to Mari, Chloe and Kagami while the class vaguely follows them. Damian doesn’t really say anything because he generally doesn’t do well talking to strangers and these girls seem ok and he is still insecure (not that he would ever admit it to anyone ) about social interaction now that he has figured out how people who weren’t raised as assassins act. That is until Dick starts talking about shenanigans that his brothers get into, and Damian jumps in correcting him because I did not try to tackle Todd, Grayson I did tackle Todd quite successful and also Alfred won’t let you into the kitchen anymore because you almost burned down the east wing of the manor not because he is territorial over the kitchen. And Mari hadn’t really paid attention to Damian until now but OH MY KAWAMI he is hot, and how did she talk so long to notice that.

She ends up taking a pic of Damian without him noticing (he really doesn’t notice which is a feat in itself but Dick does and he will be teasing Damian about it later bc obviously) and she texts it to Luka bc if she is going to freak out over his hotness she wants Luka to do so too. ( he sees the pic in the middle of recording and he ends up needing a water break bc gay panic and he really is extremely handsome. Recording gets delayed even longer bc jagged cannot pass up the opportunity to tease him son and he does so mercilessly and Mari totally knew what she was doing when she sent that picture) Luka ends up demanding that she gets Damians number or he will because that man is fine.

Mari now knows that the stuttering idolization that she had with Adrien wasn’t really healthy and Luka likes to remind her all the time that she can be smooth when she wants to be (sometimes unintentionally but she practices on Luka because she loves to see him blush). Mari then makes it her mission to compliment Damian as much as possible so that it is crystal clear and very obvious that she is flirting with him. If he even shows a little discomfort in a negative I don’t like this kind of way she will stop because she will not make someone go through what she went through with Chat Noir and unwanted advances.

Chloe, Kagami and Dick immediately notice that she is flirting with Damian. Chloe takes a video for Luka bc she knows that he would want to see this and Dick takes a video for the Batfam gc.

Just to be clear Mari and Luka have talked about seeing other people and maybe adding a third person to their relationship as long as they talk about it. that line of communication was opened when Mari sent a pic of Damian to Luka and when Luka asked for his number that was his “go ahead” for her to flirt with Damian. Lila doesn’t understand how that works and neither do the rest of the class so that is a point of contention between the class and Mari. She would NEVER cheat on Luka, she loves him and he is the most important person to her in the world. Something that Juleka understands (she just doesn’t like Mari bc of Lila she knows how polyamory works this is why her and Luka aren't as close as they used to be)

Moving on... the batfam gc blows up for a second time that day and so when the class goes to the cafeteria Tim just has to see this for himself. Mari tries not to be obnoxious in her flirting so she compliments Damians intelligence by asking him questions that weren't included in the tour, and she asks him about his interests and is like that must have taken a lot of time to perfect you must be very dedicated. Damian isn’t used to genuine compliments especially from strangers so he is very flustered by it but he makes no indication for her to stop.

The day winds down and the class has some free time before they have to go to dinner but the do have to leave the tower. Mari does actually get Damians number (he thinks she must be very well trained to get his number that quick bc he refuses to accept that he gave it to her because he likes her) Mari promises to ft him later bc he promised to let her meet his dog and she doesn’t want to wait until the class has dinner at the manor to see Titus.

First Here Next

Taglist

@dood-space

@toodaloo-kangaroo

Also I’m not very sure about how to go back and edit posts to link new parts so if anyone knows how to do that please comment or message me because I would love to learn!

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norgestan · 4 years

Text

i’ll make a little exception to this break i’m taking to confirm that the leaked script said exactly what happened in the clip, so i’ll safely assume that the rest is correct. because of that, i’ve wanted to translate every part that we haven’t seen on the clip, plus the one that came out just now.

take in mind that the script doesn’t detail who is saying what, when a clip ends and other starts, but i’ve done my best to decipher it. whatever i haven’t, well, i still translated the whole thing. excuse any mistakes, spanish is my first language but sometimes i can get lost with idioms. so it’s all here, under the cut. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF EPISODE 3:

LUCAS EXTRA CLIP #1

[scoffs] K: Hi, Lucas. L: Hi. K: Long time no see, right? L: Mmm. K: Let's drink something? There's a bar right around the corner that has drinks that will blow your mind. L: I thought that you muslims didn't drink alcohol. K: Well, I do. L: Right. K: Look. There's a lot of things about islam that I don't like, okay? And there's other things that I've really loved since I was a kid. I'm keeping the ones I like. You know what you could say? That I'm a flexible muslim. L: Pfft. Flexible. And what is it, aren't you a f*g too? Or how does it work? K: When I met you, I didn't have it all clear. L: And now you do? K: Lucas, well now maybe I do. Maybe I do. But Amira doesn't know anything. Will you tell her? L: Is this why you wanted to see me, right? K: No. It isn't only for that. I really liked seeing you again. L: Come on, Kasim, you completely ignored me. And now you say you liked seeing me again. K: It's the fucking truth, shit. I had a fucking mess in my head. But no more. No more. What? Join me for a drink? L: No, dude, I'm going home. And don't worry, I won't tell any of your stuff to Amira. But you should do it. K: And so I will. Really. L: Okay. Bye.

CLIP 3

D: This is weird. Right? A: Yeah, a little bit. D: Well, do I speak first or...? A: No, no, no. I go first, yeah. D: Yeah? A: Better. [both laugh] D: Okay. A: Let's see. It's clear that we both like each other. I mean, sorry, that I like you, I like you, and you like me too. D: And I like you. A: And, well, if I were any other girl, then we could start hooking up and see how it all goes, but... I'm not like that. D: Right. A: In islam, it's the contrary. No hooking-up at the beginning and then we see how it goes and then we have sex... No. We start serious from the beginning and the rest comes behind. D: Okay. A: But I'll get it if you tell me no. We'll pretend nothing has happened and we go back to what we were before. D: Eh, eh, eh. I said "okay". You're not telling me anything that I don't know. I know you don't eat pork, you pray five times a day, and that we won't kiss on the first day. But I don't care. A: Okay, but it's not only that. D: Yeah, I figured. But if I didn't think I could handle it, I wouldn't have come. A: I've brought something with me. It's a practice that us muslims... Well, not really, no, but I do it. D: [laughs] Okay. A: And so, when we start a relationship, we make it clear from the beginning what do we expect from said relationship. And I've made a list. D: Like a contract or something like that? A: Well, it's not that huge, but yeah, something like that. D: Uh-huh. A: For example... D: Let's see. A: In relationships between muslims, there can't be physical contact. D: Not always. There can be exceptions. A: Right, yeah. One thing is to greet each other with a fist bump, and other thing is to kiss. D: Yes, I know that we can't do that until time comes by and we make it official. A: Until we get married. D: Ah. A: Some people do it super quickly, because of that, so they can have sex as soon as possible, but... I don't wanna do it like that. If I get married, because that's other thing. Because what I want to do first is... study a career. D: Okay. A: My priority: studies, that's one of the things. D: I think that's great, I mean... A: And... my kids, I want... I want to raise them on the values of islam. D: Your kids? A: Uh-huh. D: Okay. A: And for that, well... their father would have to be a muslim. D: Okay. A: So, if you and I start dating... At some point, you'll have to convert [to islam]. D: Uh-huh. A: And not because of me, not because you love me a lot and... Because it doesn't work like that. Because you want it, because it comes from you. In islam, there's no sacrifices. You do things because you want to. D: Okay, okay, okay, okay. A: You probably don't find me that cute anymore? D: Eh. Eh. I'm not blind. A: So... you already know what's there. I think I've told you everything. D: Hey, what do you say if...? Because the training starts right now. I think we should... well, think about it and give us some time... to reflect on this. A: Yeah, of course. D: So that's that. We're talking? A: We're talking, yeah. D: Eh, bye. A: [sighs]

CLIP 4

(This conversation happens between las labass girls, probably Elena and Noor) X: And so nothing, girl, this woman takes her phone and makes it like she's taking a selfie, but she was taking a photo of me, it was obvious. Y: Really? X: Yeah. Y: I hate when people do that. It's like we come from another planet or something. X: Totally. Y: You should've told her, "What? Do you want me to strike a pose?" I don't know. X: At least she didn't say "Sorry" (intentional usage of the English word). There's not a day in which people won't talk to me in English. What is it, can no one tell that I'm from Madrid? Y: It's obvious, it's obvious. X: How does it look? Y: You're gorgeous. Z: Really good. Y: Wait, you're missing a pin. X: I don't know, I really like it, but... I can't make up my mind. Z?: You don't have to make a choice. Just look at me. Y: Do you know who took [the hijab] off? X?: Who? Y: Sanem. Z?: Really? X: I saw it coming. Y?: Well, girl, come on, it's not that. But now what will happen is that people are gonna start with those comments. "Look how pretty you look now", "You did so good", "You finally broke out of your chains". X?: Totally. Y?: And all that jazz, you know? X?: And so they will look at us kinda like, "It wasn't that hard, Sanem has opened her eyes, now it's your turn." Y?: Right. Dounia?: Well, look, taking off the hijab is as hard as putting it on. X: Yeah, I already know that. I'm not criticising her, really. But the reaction from the people infuriates me, you know? And she will be criticised from every part, even muslims will say: "She didn't do it well." I don't understand why things are so difficult sometimes. Y?: By the way, everything good with Kasim, right? [everyone laughs] X?: Yeah, right? A: Dear God, you really like the gossip. X?: Dude! Y?: The gossip. A: Look, so with Kasim and I, everything's cool. We're friends and that's it. And don't trap me up like that every again. X?: Well, girl, tell that to this annoying one... D: Annoying? X?: Yeah. D: And how is that, friends? Because I've seen him like he wants to be more than a friend. A: What are you saying? No way. D: Well yes, I'm telling you. He came home talking wonders about you. And when he doesn't like someone, it's super obvious. You, come on, he loves you. I swear. Also, you like the same stuff, you have the same sense of humor. You're meant to be. Right? X?: Then maybe you found a diamond, girl. A?: A diamond how, girl? X?: Well, guys our age are horrible. And so that you can find someone who's nice and is super hot, it's like finding a diamond. D: He's super hot, he's super cute, nice, and that's what we see from the outside, but it's not only that, you know? For example, when my father passed away, he was there to take the coffin, he was there to help me and my mom to get out of that situation. I don't know what we could've done without him. He's a good guy. And when he has to be serious about something, he is. Y?: Hey, if you don't like him, it's for me. D?: Well... uh! Y?: I offer myself as a volunteer for you to trap me with him. X?: No, no, gorgeous. Kasim is for Amira, okay? We'll find someone else for you. D?: Mustafá.

CLIP 5

(This clip is a conversation between the girl squad. I can't know when a full line ends so i'll be putting the whole thing together.) That out of every person in senior year they chose you to give the speech, that's super important. No, no. But I saw it coming. It's obvious they were giving it to you, giving speeches is kinda your thing. Right, it's true. Well, I was between you and Nora. Ay, but I'm so happy. They make me talk and I won't get passed the nerves. Shut up, it's the same for me. I have to prepare really well so I don't show up and stay like this. And I don't want it either. Ay, that's so cool. Fuck, but it makes you excited, no? Pfft. Well, of course, it's the graduation. Ay! Naturally. I'm dying.

[Amira gets text message]

X: And so what are you doing then? Are you meeting up with Lucas? E: Well, I don't know, I have no clue. Because I text him and, he doesn't show up, or doesn't reply, or replies eight hours later. X?: Damn, girl, that's bad. Y: Eh! Girl, that's cool, no?

(here I don't know where a line of dialogue ends again) And what's this? It's the first year they put it up. Yeah, right, yes, it's the first year. Ay. So cool, fuck. I'm gonna get a little like Viri, but deep down, all of this makes me really excited. Naturally. Actually, this is all thanks to you. It is. I already see you in the Congress. President. Eh! I'd vote for you, eh? Uh-huh. Fuck, that's cool. Girls, I'm super late and I have to present something in class. I'm leaving now. Wait, wait! I love you. Bye. No way, dude, no way.

X: No, I won't go to class. Y: No way. Z: Alright. ?: And what's that, dude? ?: I don't know, dude, they want to look cool now or something(?). ?: But what is this doing here, dude? Now they only have to put up a stall of couscous, because other thing... ?: No way, go put those banners on their fucking country. ?: Totally, dude. (and some more filling dialogue idk how to translate ha)

CLIP 6

(This clip is probably in the association, and las labass and Kasim are there) X: You see, it's just... do you do remember the other day? Well still, you're a bigmouth, you're a bigmouth. Y: So embarrassing. X: What a bigmouth. [Speaking in arabic] ?: Have you bought pasta to your mother? ?: I bought her briouats, she loves them. Well, I love them too. ?: You love them. ?: Well, be both love them, let's leave it at that. ?: Right. A?: What are you looking at? K?: I was thinking that well, you can't show briouat. A: Right. The first and second weeks of Ramadan are good, but the third one, if you talk to me, I may be so rude it'll blow your mind. K: So you mean that you're planning that we meet each other on the third week. What's wrong? A: Come here. Hey, Kasim... the other day I had a really good time with you. I mean, it's been long since I... since I connected with someone like that and found someone so alike myself. K: That's fucking great. A: And so, Dounia tells me you also have a great time with me, and that's great because that's great. But I don't know if it's something she thinks or you really... K: What about me? A: I don't want you to think about stuff that's not there. And I wanna make it very clear now with Ramadan and all that. K: But what about me? A: I like another guy. A guy who's not muslim. What? K: Well... I also like another guy. And he's not muslim. A: A guy? K: A guy. A: And Dounia? K: She doesn't know. My family doesn't know either. A: So that means you're fooling them. K: Well, fooling them... I don't tell them everything. Look, Amira, I believe in Allah, okay? I believe in him. But I'm 19 years old. And Allah has to understand that. A: What does he have to understand? K: That if I'm 19 I get to party and get drunk and hook-up with whoever I want to. A: Get drunk? You said you didn't drink. K: I didn't say I don't drink, you assumed it. Look... You like another guy, right? A white guy. And my sister made us meet because you're single. A: Look, I don't know where you're going with that, but don't get me in a mess. K: You and I are in the same spot. You like someone else and I want to stay in my lane. Why don't we use each other? Girl, think about it. A: What do you mean use each other? K: Girl, use each other like... we use each other, fuck. It would be great for both of us, it's a perfect plan. In front of the world we pretend that we're together. You do whatever you want and I do whatever I want. You win and I win. A: You're kidding, right? K: Why would I be kidding! Think about it. A: No. I mean... How? No, no. You're crazy. K: It's a really great plan. A: No, Kasim, no. K: "No" is not thinking about it. Think about it. A: Kasim, I won't. It won't be necessary to use each other. I know that nothing will happen with that other guy, because I know it. Besides, I don't lie. I'm not like that. K: If you're good like that, then fucking great. Amira. I have to go.

LUCAS EXTRA CLIP #2

K: Lucas! Dude, Lucas! Lucas, dude. L: What do you want? K: Let's drink another one. L: Dude, but what the fuck are you doing? Why do you show up unannounced? K: You told me where you were. L: Fuck, but I didn't want... You're stalking me now or what? K: No, I'm not stalking you. I came here to tell you I told Amira the truth. L: Then good. You could've texted me that. K: Why are you acting like this? L: What do you mean why do I act like this? First, we hook-up and everything's fucking great; then, you suddenly disappear and now, you follow me like a dog. What are you doing next, go back at being an asshole? And then you'll follow me again? Fuck off. K: Do you know why I didn't call you? Because I was scared, dude. I was scared. Really scared. For me, this is super shitty. I can't upload a video to Youtube and have everyone understand me. For me, this is super complicated. Your friends are okay with this, but my environment isn't like yours. I used to go out to party and I hooked up with a guy per night. The next day, I swore to myself I wasn't gay and I wouldn't do it again. And then, I met you. And I hooked-up [with you] once, and twice, and thrice... And I wanna do it a thousand times. Just imagine my mother, what would she say about all this? Eh, Lucas? My dad passed away and I'm the only guy left. This situation is fucking shit. And my sister? How do I tell her I'm gay? Lucas, you don't understand me. L: Of course I understand you. It's not easy for me either. K: Do you know what my mother would think of all this? You don't know how much it angers me that I can't be brave and tell her I love you.

CLIP 7

D: Hi. A: Hi. D: Fuck, this looks the same like when we were five. A: Right. Do you remember that I fought you so I could be a little longer on the swing and then you pushed me? D: Of course, girl. And do you remember that one day I was pushing you really hard [on the swing] and you came back flying and got me on the face? Pum! No? A: No. D: The guy from the club came here and they took me to the ER. A: Really? D: Amy, the scar. A: Heck. D: Heck. A: Well, I kinda remember it now, it could be. It could be. D: It could be? Fuck. A: I don't know. Sorry? D: [laughs] Okay. I forgive you. Well, let's go to the point, alright? A: Yeah. D: Do you know that my parents go to church every Sunday? A: Yes. I mean, Cris has told me something like that. D: Yes. A: Yes. D: I loved going there with them. I did the catechesis, so I could do the communion. And the confirmation. A: Really? D: I went with my friends, I didn't take it seriously, but... there was something about the message that... that I liked. Until I realized that it's a lot of bullshit. A: Why? D: Well because, because there's a lot of "love your neighbor", a lot of "respect one another", but... My parents, for example, they're not tolerant. Cris doesn't even dare to tell them about Joana. A: My father says that religions, well, that islam as it is it's perfect, but it's muslim people who aren't. D: That's not true. You are perfect. A: No way. D: Yes. I remember the first time I saw you with the hijab. A: And you probably thought, "What is this crazy girl doing?" D: Well yeah, in the beginning. But then, I've been noticing, and you're, like... different. A: Well, obviously. D: I'm not talking about the hair. Look, I... I've always thought you're really... beautiful... very nice... but... you looked like every other fifteen year old girl, like my sister. But now, I see you and you're... different. But... it's a good different. I see you're more calm, more serene, more you. And then I see you and the things you do, the things you say and I think, "This is what a good Christian should be". Or a good muslim. Or whatever, because I don't care about religion. I'm not a dumbass, okay? I know it's complicated. Complicated as fuck. And that's why I made a list of the things I'll need, if we are going to date. A: Of course, yeah, it makes sense. D: And... and here it is. A: [sighs] Pfft. But, you know what you're getting into? D: Well... probably not. But... I don't care. A: I didn't scare you enough the other day or...? D: A lot. You did a good job, you did... really great, but... here I am. Right now, I would kiss you. A: And I would kiss you too.

#skam españa #skam españa spoilers #again bc it got kicked out of the tag

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sunflowerhae · 4 years

Text

-> Forgotten Love [M.L]

Requested by • @sweetie-yoongi7 hope you like it bb!✨🐌🍄

•3.7k

warnings• slight verbal abuse, language, a fight 👊💥😤

“Write about an experience where someone you love hurt you. Explain the situation, what was done or said, how you both responded, and what the outcome was. Must be 5 full pages long, and in MLA format. God, how annoying is that? I mean, what do I write about, my mom not letting me get McDonald’s one time because we had food at home?” You scoffed while pushing yourself back into your chair at the cool, air conditioned coffee shop you currently found yourself in. Summer was just officially ending, and October was creeping it’s way into the year, which meant the air wasn’t exactly hot, but it definitely wasn’t cool enough to walk around with a jacket on. You found solace in the beige and dark brown toned drink house, that smelled like coffee beans and lured in customers with its smooth jazz playlist. You were thankful Mark picked this place to have your little date in between classes, for the chill ambiance calmed down your irritated interior.

While you loved your creative writing class, and you absolutely adored your professor, you couldn’t help but be slightly pissed off at the writing prompt she randomly assigned you. You stared at it for what seemed like hours during class, no specific moment like described coming to your conscious. You were still thinking about it as you finally looked up at Mark’s shrunken frame, and the prompt was easily forgotten as worry took over your emotions.

“Babe? Are you okay?” At your concerned tone, Mark lifted his head to meet you eyes, before quickly looking back down at his coffee. He kept glancing between your eyes and his drink, while you patiently waited for him to explain what was bothering him.

Mark scratched the back of his neck, before looking back up at you one final time, and huffing out a soft sigh. “I know what you can write about.” He had barely even mumbled it, so neither of you were surprised when you asked him to repeat himself.

“I..know what you can write about.” The way Mark refused to look you in the eyes, and the tone of his voice, lead you to believe you knew what he was talking about, and you knew he didn’t want to say it.

You and Mark were an amazing couple.

You liked the same music, you both had the same sense of humor, and you were both equally loving towards each other and your friends. You were the two oldest people in your younger friend group, and two of the youngest in your older friend group. You both balanced it out quite well, and set an example for both groups as a healthy relationship while you did it.

But that’s not to say you were perfect.

It was a year ago, to be exact. You were both at the beginning of your sophomore year of college, and the priorities were starting to stack for both of you. Mark -being a music major- had to write a song and collab with the dance majors to make a dance for the song in about two months and turn it in as a beginning of the year exam. Meanwhile, you -being a film major- had to make a small movie using the theater kids as your actors; due in a month. To top on to all the stress, you had both recently moved in together, and had barely started unboxing before the projects got thrust at you.

You hadn’t noticed he was distancing himself from you, at first.

You were so distracted with your project, that every time he would blow off eating dinner together, or would stay at the school until well into the night, you didn’t complain much; just trying to finish your project and get a good grade. It wasn’t until a month later that you started to see that something was wrong. You had finished your project and had gotten amazing grades, and all you wanted to do was go out on a nice date with your boyfriend; something you hadn’t done in about a month. You texted him the time and place to meet you at, to dress nice, and that you’d be waiting with a surprise. You had seen the small “read 3:14pm” under the text, and while you were a bit puzzled as to why he didn’t respond, you didn’t worry about it too much - seeing as lately that was his thing - and just got ready for the night you hoped would be just as amazing as the day was.

You thought you looked pretty beautiful.

Your hair was nicely done, your nails were painted marks favorite color, and the black, tight dress with sleeves hanging off the side accentuated your body and breasts perfectly. You had even sent Haechan a picture to make sure it was “hot,” to which he replied that Mark’s a lucky man, which made you smile. You were looking fine tonight, and while you had had a reason to celebrate, you couldn’t wait to give Mark your all tonight.

{for more effect, I suggest playing It Happened Quiet by AURORA here}

You took your seat in the dimly lit restaurant that was definitely too expensive for a music and film major, and waited for your water that was requested to the waiter to arrive. With a quick glance at the time on your phone, you realized Mark wouldn’t be here for another ten minutes or so. So you just sat there, trying to distract yourself from the excessive amount of bread on your table, and watched the clock count down until 7:30, when Mark should be arriving.

7:40 rolled around and you couldn’t stop yourself from staring at the door like it just did you super dirty. While it was just 10 minutes late, Mark was never one to be late.

Okay, that’s a lie, but he was never late to these type of things. And you perfectly timed it so that he would have time to get home from school, change, and then get to the restaurant. You quickly shot Mark a “you on your way?” text, before setting down your phone, trying not to be the clingy girlfriend, and keep your hope that Mark would be there soon.

Yet, by the time the clock struck 9, and your bread was stale and you had drank enough water to definitely get a bladder infection if you didn’t pee soon, your hope was completely dead. You silently got up from your seat and gave a small smile and nod to the hostess - who shot a sympathetic smile to you - before pushing the door of the restaurant open and walking toward your car.

You tried not to cry on the way home, but when you walked through the front door to see a dark and cold apartment, indicating that Mark had not yet come home, you couldn’t help but let the tears fall at the thought of something happening to him. You had called and texted him multiple times, and when he answered none of them, you even called the hospital to see if they had seen a patient that fit Mark’s description, or had someone named Mark Lee come in. You called all the hospitals in your area, in fact, but nothing came up. Your last hope was someone you actually didn’t want to call. Not because you didn’t want to call her, but because you didn’t want what you’re thinking to be true. But when all of your friends said they hadn’t heard from him, you had almost no choice.

“Hello?” Her chipper voice on the other end made you want to cringe, but you held it together.

“If Mark is in the room, don’t say my name. It’s y/n. Is mark with you?”

Yerim honestly didn’t know what to say. She stuttered a bit on the other end, before clearing her throat and mumbling a, “yes”.

You sighed and gave a half hearted, “okay, don’t tell him I called or anything, okay? Can you just, like, pretend you never even talked to me? Thanks Yeri,” hanging up the phone before she could answer.

You didn’t know how you felt about Mark working on a school project with his ex. When you had met Mark, it was at a college party during freshman year, around a year or so ago, actually. He had just been through a terrible breakup with his high school sweetheart who was - you guessed it - Yeri. If you were being honest with yourself, you knew you were the rebound. You just, fell so hard for him in the short time you had known him that, it didn’t really matter. You guessed somewhere along the way, Mark actually did fall for you, because he stayed, and he said he loved you, and you moved in together. Because of this, and because of the fact that Yeri was never brought up, you didn’t feel too insecure about your relationship.

But now that you’re sitting on the couch in silence, thinking about the fact that your boyfriend ditched your date to hang out with his ex, you can’t help but feel a bit unconfident in where your standing was with Mark. You slowly started realizing that Mark had, in fact, been distancing himself the past month; choosing to instead spend time with his ex-girlfriend instead of the girl that he claimed he loved.

Jealously and insecurities bit away at your insides when you heard the door slowly being unlocked from the outside. Looking at your phone, you realized it was 11:32pm. You had called Yeri at 10:15, so you suppose she honored your request to not tell Mark you called.

Mark was surprised to see you sitting on the couch when he walked in. He had figured that you would have gone to bed already. It was quite late for a Friday for you, seeing as this was the day you usually went to bed early; tired from the week. He felt guilty looking at you, so he choose to train his eyes on anything besides your crumbled figure on the couch. Meanwhile, you stood up, trying to catch his gaze.

“Mark. Where were you tonight?” Your harsh infliction made Mark slightly flinch. He wanted to apologize, because he knows what he missed. And when he finally did look at you, he felt even more guilty, because you looked quite upset about the situation, and you also looked absolutely beautiful tonight. Your black dress fit your body and extenuated your curves perfectly. Your hair was done gorgeously, and he could tell you spent a long time on your makeup. Mark did want to apologize, but when you said,

“Do you even care about this relationship, I mean it seems like all you’ve done lately is ignore me-”

Mark had almost seen red. Every little thing bothering him lately just...boiled over. He wasn’t thinking before he spoke, which never worked for him; this time wasn’t so different.

“God, shut up! Just shut up! All you do is talk! This is why I prefer to spend my time with Yeri, because she’s not so extreme like you always are! You’re not even half the women Yeri is, and you’ll never be! Sometimes I wish I hadn’t picked you to be my rebound for her an-“ Mark stopped himself from talking by clamping his hand over his mouth with wide eyes.

He hadn’t meant that.

He had not meant that.

He was just so upset by everything lately, and he spoke without thinking, like an absolute idiot.

But you didn’t know that. The tears streaming out of your eyes and the wobbling chin showed that for him. He reached out for you and took a step forward, only for you to take a step back, which basically broke Mark in half.

“Y/n I...” Nothing was said between you too, what was there to be said? To you, Mark had finally shown how he had really felt for the past month or so. You gave him one last look, before walking past him, putting on your heels - which were the fastest thing you could slip on - and quickly opening the door.

At the sound of the door, Mark snapped out of his daze, and rushed after you. “Y/n, no! Give me the keys, you can’t drive right now!”

Your tears had, in fact, gotten worse, but you said nothing to Mark as you picked up your pace to the parking lot of your apartments. Mark almost caught up with you, but you sped up even faster, which silently baffled him because you were wearing heals.

You finally got into the car and quickly got in to the drivers seat and locked the door just as mark arrived at the door. He was practically begging you not to go, and pleading to open the door. You just cried more and put your keys into the ignition, before backing out and driving out; Mark feeling like he was watching his whole life drive away from him.

{for more effect, I suggest playing Forgotten Love by AURORA here. You may have to play it multiple times.}

It had been three months since that incident. Three months since you and Mark talked. Three months of you being single. You, unfortunately, had a basic math class with Mark, and while you two used to sit in the corner together, you now both sat on opposite sides of the classroom. Or you in the front - him in the back. Wherever the first one in sat, the other sat on the opposite side.

Mark felt like he went through hell and back in those three months. He felt incredibly bad for what he said to you, and the fact that after that night, he didn’t try to get you back at all. The Monday after, you just sat on opposite ends, quietly agreeing that it was over. You had gotten all your stuff from the apartment, and luckily Haechan had a spare room you could live in.

Speaking of Haechan, your friend group was absolutely baffled when you both told them you had broken up. It had seemed like just a month before, you two were completely in love with each other; on the same page and everything. Then a month later; it’s over. They didn’t know who they should invite where, but you both reassured them (seperately. You both were just secretly on the same page still, without knowing it.) that you would be fine at the same social events.

You, of course, didn’t factor in that you would be watching your ex-boyfriend bring girls up to random rooms in his friends frat during parties. And that at bonfires, you would see him kissing random girls cheeks from across the fire. Or that, when you all had a group study date, he would bring a girl that none of you knew. You didn’t factor in that your ex-boyfriend would actively go out of his way to hurt you.

Truthfully, Mark didn’t do it to hurt you. He did it because if he didn’t hook up with girls at frat parties, he would drink too much and end up trying to kiss you. And if he didn’t flirt with girls at bonfires, he would spend the whole time staring at your from across the fire. And if he didn’t bring a girl to the study dates, he would break his pencils in anger when jaemin would wrap his arm around you in affection. But, at every event, no matter who he was with, Mark always failed.

He couldn’t stop stealing glances at you from across the fire while you laughed at something Nayeon - Johnny’s girlfriend - said to you. He couldn’t stop himself from breaking his pencils under the table when jaemin played with the tips of your hair. And he always ended up leaving the girls before anything happened at frat parties because he couldn’t stop wishing it was you.

It was actually at a frat party that Mark had gotten you back.

You were trying to have a good time. You didn’t come to the frat parties much, because the pain of seeing Mark lead a girl upstairs hurt you so much, you felt like your chest was on fire. But Haechan had all but begged you show up to this one, and you would have never declined anyway; It was Taeil’s birthday, after all.

You were dancing with Dahyun and Chaeyoung when you felt two hands grip your waist. You expected it to be one of the guys, so you turned with a smile on your face, only to come face to face with a man you had never met. The smile on your face dropped, and you took a step back from his grip.

He gave you a sick smile, and moved forward, back into your space.

“Hey, pretty girl. Wanna dance?”

“No.” You exclaimed disgustingly, before trying to move away from the unknown man. However, that proved difficult as his grip on your wrist was quite violent, and strong. You winced, and kept tugging on your hand, to no avail.

“Leave me alone, I don’t want to dance with you.” You kept pushing your arm back, but he just tugged you closer to his chest. You could smell the alcohol on his breath, and felt sick to your stomach at what was about to happen. At the thought, you started wiggling out of his grip at a faster speed.

“Bitch, stop moving-“

“Call her a bitch one more fucking time, asshole.” You opened your eyes to see a small group has formed around you, your mystery creeper, and..Mark?!

“Get lost, man. This ones mine.”

Mark was seeing red again.

“She’s...not ....PROPERTY!” and with that final statement, Mark swung his fist and you ducked just in time for the weirdo to be struck in the face and loosen his grip on you completely. You pushed yourself forward, and ran behind Mark, to the open arms of your friends, who - as you understand - ran to get mark the minute they saw you struggling.

Mark fought this dude almost twice his size for a minute, and he was about to be taken out, before he locked eyes with you, and the power surged through him. One final punch to the unknown asshole, and he was on floor. Everyone cheered, and some people were already picking up his body, chanting “POOL! POOL! POOL!” But the noise faded out as Mark strides up to you, takes your hand, and drags you upstairs. He pushes you both into a bathroom, where you suddenly take charge as you force him down on the seat, and look through the cabinet for a first aid kit.

You and Mark say nothing as you rub his cut with alcohol. At the sudden sting, Mark hisses and places his hands on your hips, gripping them harshly to push himself through the burn. You can’t help but let your eyes flutter shut at the feeling of the love of your life’s hands on you again. You felt like you had lived a thousand years without water, and were suddenly given a water bottle.

You didn’t realize how long you stood there, relishing in the feeling of Marks hands on you. Mark had opened his eyes, to see you with your eyes closed and you hands clasped together in front of your chest - the cotton ball resting in your hands. Mark pulled you closer to him with a whimper, and when you opened your eyes back, you saw that you were significantly closer to Mark, and that he had tears threatening to fall.

With a cough, you looked back at the first aid kit and pushed yourself out of Mark’s strong grip. Another couple of minutes went by in silence, before Mark finally let out a soft, “I’m sorry.”

Your movements halted, and you couldn’t bring yourself to look down at the sad boys eyes.

“I spoke before thinking. I didn’t really mean the things I said, I was just stressed out from school, a-and, fuck I don’t know, y/n. I just..”

Mark was crying now, and he leaned down and placed his hands in his hands. You stepped back in surprise with wide eyes. “I just want you back. I want my girlfriend back. I want to love you again and spend a decade and then some apologizing for what I said. I’m such a fucking idiot I know I don’t deser-“

You shut him up by pushing his shoulders back up, sitting on his lap with your legs on either side of him (terribly hard to do on a toilet, but you’re a master), and kissing him like a woman starved. Mark quickly falls into your lips, and brings his hands up and under your butt, effectively scooping you up a bit.

You don’t know how long you and Mark sat there kissing, but when Yuta walked into the bathroom to pee and had to see two twenty year olds kissing, he never let you live it down.

You smile fondly at the memory, before looking back up at your lover, awkwardly sitting across from you. Before you know it, you’re leaning forward and taking his hand in yours.

“I’m not going to write about that. That was a personal thing between us, and I honestly don’t want to relive that moment longer than I have already. I’m going to write about the time my cousin stole my DS.” You laughed, and Mark visibly relaxed at hearing you weren’t going to write about it. While he had suggested it, that was because he wanted you to feel like you could talk about it if you wanted, but the truth is he hated reliving those three months too. He remembers what terrible state he was in without you, and he doesn’t like to think about it.

You knew he was dwelling on it, so you stood up slightly from the table and leaned down to kiss Mark - who saw what you were doing and met you half way. You both gave each other a few more pecks before you whispered, “I forgive you, always and forever. And I love you.”

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nsheetee · 4 years

Text

Physics Teacher!Doyoung x Art Teacher!Reader

Genre: High School Teacher AU, Enemies to Lovers AU || fluff, slightly crack-ish

Summary: Doyoung is ecstatic to start working at his first job in Neo City High School... until he runs into you, the eccentric new art teacher that quickly gets under his skin. When you and Doyoung are forced to chaperone the Valentine’s Day dance, you have to put all of your differences aside in the name of stopping high schoolers from grinding on each other and protecting the fruit punch from being spiked.

Word Count: 3k

a/n: happy birthday to the bunny prince! I hope your bday is filled with love, and cheers to the future! also, I hope everyone enjoys reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

doyoung loves school

always did: as a child, in high school, and in college

he honestly loved to learn and was studious, his parents always bragged about his grades and long high school resume filled from top to bottom with achievements and scholarships

but doyoung was glad to finally hold his college diploma in his hand, marking the end of his student days and signaling the beginning of his professional career

as a high school teacher

many of his friends warned him that teaching in a high school would be draining, that it would kill doyoung’s spirit within the first school year

doyoung didn’t listen, his friends have never been teachers so what could they know?

he walked into his very own classroom on teacher prep day, a few days before the actual first day of school

he breathed in the musty smell of old carpet and the sharp tang of dry erase markers

ah, yes, perfect

doyoung neatly arranged his desk; his favorite fountain pen had to be exactly 10cm from his computer keyboard and the computer monitor had to be facing up at a 19 degree angle so doyoung wouldn’t have a double chin while looking at the screen

yes, he did use his trusty ruler and protractor to measure it all out, and then neatly placed them into the top drawer of his desk

doyoung has always been tidy, very articulate and precise

what else would you expect from a man who studied math and physics for five years?

just before leaving his room to meet with his boss, the principal, he’s startled by a knock on his door

you stand at the entrance to his classroom, a bright smile on your face and your hands clasped in front of you as you bounce on your toes

your outfit consists of a long, dark orange skirt that nearly touched the floor and teased the sandals that are strapped to your feet

you wore a bright yellow shirt with a short blue scarf wrapped around your neck, some wooden jewelry laying on the scarf and also dangling from your ears

doyoung is sure his mouth is open in disbelief but he can’t seem to regain enough control over his face to hide his surprised and mortified expression

“hi! you’re kim doyoung, right? the new physics teacher? I’m Y/N.” your voice is chipper and bright

“are you in the correct place, ma’am? this is neo city high school.” doyoung asks

you tilt your head slightly, wondering why he’s asking such a question

“oh!” you exclaim, moving your wooden necklace and blue scarf out of the way to show doyoung your teacher badge, “I’m a new teacher this year, just like you! I thought I would come say hi.”

doyoung is sure his mouth is, once again, slacked open

looking down at himself, he sees a very big contrast in what you look like and what he looks like

doyoung wears a crisp white shirt that’s buttoned all the way up, a blue tie around his collar and his own teacher badge perfectly centered in the middle of his chest

he ironed his slacks this morning and even shined his shoes

is this not the dress code for teachers at NCHS?

he’s sure he read the dress code section of the teacher’s manual, stating that professional attire is required

but as he watches you dance into his classroom from his desk chair, skirt swinging around your legs, curious eyes glancing all over his room... he’s not sure what to do

should he tell his superiors?

he doesn’t get to think much before you sigh and close your eyes, holding out your arms on either side of you as if you can feel some nonexistent wind pass by you

“wow, you have such a nice classroom. the windows and the view, I wish my classroom was open like this.”

“may I ask... what class you teach?”

“art”

doyoung immediately does not like you

maybe he’s a bit biased (okay, very biased) but he has never liked art

the atmosphere of an art class is not his cup of tea

why are there no written rules for art?

why was he always instructed to “paint with your heart and soul, not your brain”?

why did his high school art teacher scold him for drawing the golden ratio for every single assignment if there are no rules!?

it’s the only C doyoung ever received and, yes, he’s still salty about it

“oh. my. goodness.” doyoung is pulled out of his path down memory lane by your exclamation

you stride over to his desk, finding a seat next to his computer and accidentally moving it with your hip

doyoung gasps when his perfect 19 degree angle is ruined, and his hands come up to grip the hair at the back of his head when you pick up his favorite fountain pen, turning it over in your fingers

“uh...” doyoung trails off, not sure how to politely tell you to get away from his stuff

“I love this pen!” you exclaim, “this is a Monteverde, isn’t it? wow, I never expected anyone else to appreciate good quality pens, especially not physics teachers.”

your comment flies over doyoung’s head, he can only focus on how you keep annoyingly clicking the pen and randomly drawing on his clean sticky notes that he placed exactly 17cm from the edge of his desk

in what feels like only seconds to doyoung, you draw an intricate lily on a sticky note and stick it to his computer monitor

haphazardly dropping the pen back onto his desk, you hop off and wave at your fellow co-worker as you walk out of the room

doyoung can only stare at the mess you left behind; you were only in his classroom for a total of three minutes and yet, it looks like a litter of puppies were let loose

doyoung’s distaste for you didn’t end there

once school started, he could see the increasing amount of students that absolutely loved you and your art classes

he heard about how you walk around in flip flops and sandals, even when the temperature started to drop outside

he heard about your habit of humming jazz while painting, tapping your foot and bobbing your head along to your own music

he over heard students talking about how you’ve never once worn the same set of jewelry, and betting on how many different sets you actually have

doyoung isn’t sure why he’s so intrigued by you; you have absolutely nothing in common and doyoung doesn’t understand your eccentric way of living

but the universe keeps pulling you to each other

for example, how you both come to school at the same time, punching in for work on the same minute, awkwardly giving your “good morning’s” to each other before you go to your respective classrooms

or how you both have your break during 3rd period, and go to the teacher’s work room in the office to grab a cup of coffee and whatever delicious pastries the office ladies brought in that day

even when you both run the after school clubs (doyoung helps run the robotics club, you help run the art club) you’d somehow bump into each other despite the club rooms being on opposite sides of the school

other than the first day you met, doyoung has no reason to be angry with you

but he is, for some reason he can’t get you off of his mind, and it’s infuriating

maybe doyoung is infuriated because you don’t seem to be affected by his presence in the same way that he’s affected by yours

he always pushes that thought out of his mind, but today, when you’re both called to the home economics room, it’s more apparent than usual

you’re already talking to mr. lee when doyoung walks in, your smiling face and comfortable posture with your co-worker makes that fire in his stomach ignite, and he just wants this to be over with as quickly as possible

“ah, doyoung you’re here, great! I have a favor to ask both of you” mr. lee, or ten as you both know him, rests his elbows on the desk and clasps his hands in front of him, “I need you two to chaperone the valentine’s day dance tonight”

“there’s a valentine’s day dance tonight?” doyoung asks and ten sends him a deadpanned look

“yes? it’s been on the morning announcements everyday this week”

doyoung crosses his arms in front of his chest and looks away, a bit embarrassed that he’s been caught not listening to the mandatory morning announcements

(doyoung always wears crisp dress shirts to work, and you about die when his arms bulge through the shirt with his actions, his chest seeming to stretch wider than the ocean and shoulders looking as solid as a rock)

(maybe you gulp a bit, and maybe you try not to pant at the sight, also)

“didn’t you tell me that you and principal moon usually chaperone the valentine’s day dance?” you ask, moving your attention away from doyoung’s chest and turning to ten

“yes, we do, but this year mr. moon’s wife surprised him with a dinner date and he says he can’t let her down”

“and why can’t you chaperone?”

“my cat went into labor”

you and doyoung look at ten with dead stares, trying to comprehend ten’s words

ten scoffs and rolls his eyes, slamming his palm down onto his desk

“well? is no one going to congratulate me? I’m going to be a grandpa by the end of tonight!”

“congrats...” you mumble out, “but I’m sorry, I can’t chaperone tonight.” you try to quickly think up of a valid excuse as to why, but nothing of value comes to mind

“yeah, neither can I” doyoung speaks up, turning around to walk out of the room

“wait” ten speaks up, making doyoung turn back to face both of you, “if I remember correctly, I covered for both of you when you couldn’t show up to the bi-yearly meeting last month. you both owe me, and this is how you’ll repay.”

you and doyoung visibly sulk in your spots

it’s true, ten did cover for you when you couldn’t go to that important meeting, and by the look on doyoung’s face, it looks like ten has him trapped, too

so that’s how you and doyoung end up at the gym after school, watching the student council committee set up all the decorations and the dj set up his equipment on stage

the theme is “love under the sea”

doyoung cringes when he saw the banner reveal over the front of the gym, and you can’t help but wince at the overused theme

the decorations are lovely, though; different shades of blue lights glow from the the ceiling and cast a blue hue to everyone below, the stage is covered in blue tinsel and large balloon figures of seashells, crabs, and mermaids

even the drink and snack tables have underwater themed cookies and chips, with large bowls of blue fruit punch centered on every table

so far, chaperoning is easy; you and doyoung have to make sure no one gets hurt and that there’s enough helium for the hundreds of balloons that were blown up and are currently rolling around on the floor

but then, students start to arrive

ten assured you and doyoung earlier that no more than 100 students would show up the whole night; groups of people would come in and out for the three hours that the dance would be going on

but of course, tonight is the night that everyone decides to come to the dance

although the student council is having the time of their lives with the amount of money they’re receiving in ticket profits, yours and doyoung’s eyes bulge at how over 100 hundred students are already waiting in line to enter the gym

“wait, wait” you run towards a group of girls who just paid for their tickets, “you have to take your shoes off before going in”

“why?” they give you an almost disgusted look, and you entertain the fact that you have to look up at them to look them in the eyes

“your heels could scrap the gym floor, please take them off” you look down at the girls’ shoes, confused on how they can balance on such tiny leverages

“but, it’s part of my outfit” you give the girls one long, hard, blank stare until they roll their eyes and step out of the heels, immediately shortening themselves by four inches and walking away

doyoung’s night also doesn’t start out smoothly....

he walks into the boy’s bathroom, hoping to relieve himself before the dance actually got underway, but instead is frightened by a pair of students playing tonsil hockey against the urinals

“mr. kim!” they shout and doyoung covers his eyes and turns away, for some reason feeling like he’s in the wrong even though the public restroom is not supposed to be used for making out

“the dance started 10 minutes ago and you’re already doing that!” doyoung shouts and the students apologize, heads bowed as they scurry out the door

about an hour into the dance, you and doyoung finally find each other through the chaos of the school gym

“either ten lied to us or today is just an anomaly; there has to be at least 300 students here right now” doyoung tries to speak over the music, but you still have to lean in to hear him

“we need to call other teachers to come help, it can’t just be the two of us here.” you reply, but doyoung barely pays attention

you face is leaning into his, but your sporadic eyes and looking somewhere else

the blue hues of the lights shine off of your cheekbones and permeate through your hair

doyoung thinks you look good in blue, and he could keep looking at you for a while longer

until something behind you catches his eye

“oh, no...” doyoung trails off, and you look turn around

in the middle of the dance floor, right in front of the dj’s speakers, a swarm of students gather around and you can faintly see through the dim lights of the gym that a grind circle ensues

“oh, no...” you mimic doyoung as the group of students “dance” to the music, almost gyrating and squirming against their partners

it’s almost too painful and awkward to watch

doyoung makes the first move to separate the circle, trying to push his way through, the swarm of students stick together like a group of flamingos; they’re so congested that it would be easier to move through a vat of molasses

the teens stick to each other in their dance moves and you feel sorry for doyoung who tries to yell “no hands on knees. I said DO NOT PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR KNEES” at the crowd, the music swallowing him up

as you watch on, your eyes latch onto a group of guys who surround one of the drink and snack tables

you would’ve overlooked them, but the way they’re suspiciously eyeing their surroundings makes you curious

you walk closer, only to see one of the guys carrying a shiny flask, holding it upside down over a punch bowl

“woah, woah, woah, what do you think you’re doing?” you call out as you march closer, frightening the group of students

“nothing, we’re just getting a drink.” maybe if you didn’t see them pour alcohol into the punch bowl earlier, you would be fooled by their lies, but you give them a disappointed look

“really? that’s why you have a flask on you?” you ask the student with the alcohol, and all of their eyes widen into dinner plates

the night only erupts into more chaos after that

you and doyoung never have enough time to stop and call ten or any other teacher to come help you, too busy dealing with teenage antics

at one point in the night, “under the sea” plays, and you and doyoung are pulled into a conga line of students as they travel around the gym, and someone from the yearbook committee snaps a picture on a polaroid camera

as the night comes to a close, students leave to go home and the gym floor becomes visible once again

you sit against the wall, holding the polaroid in your hand and silently smiling at yours and doyoung’s surprised expressions, his hands on your shoulders and a bad, red flash in both of your eyes, only adding to the candidness of the whole scene

doyoung slides down next to you and hands you a cup of the spiked punch, which you had moved to a different room after you reprimanded the boys who spiked it

“for me?” you ask as you accept the cup

“yeah, I think we both deserve it for dealing with tonight” you and doyoung do a silent cheers and hit your plastic cups together before downing all the punch

“wow,” you cough a bit, placing a hand over your mouth “high schoolers don’t play around, huh” you look at the cup, wondering exactly how much alcohol was in it before setting it down on the floor, deciding not to think to much about it

the dj was hired from 7pm to 10pm, and although doyoung’s watch says it’s 9:57pm, the dj still plays songs even though only you and doyoung are here to listen to them

“this is for the chaperones tonight,” the dj suddenly speaks into his microphone, “you guys did a good job.”

a slow song starts to play, you and doyoung don��t recognize it, but doyoung laughs awkwardly at how you’re both put on the spot, even if there’s no one here to witness it

“well, let’s dance, doie.” you stand up and hold out your hand to him

maybe it’s the energy and confidence from the alcohol, or maybe this is something doyoung has always wanted to do, but he takes your hand and guides you to the dance floor

your hands rest on his shoulders and you try not to feel giddy at the thought of finally getting to feel them after looking on from the distance for so long

you blush at your own thoughts, or maybe because of doyoung’s hands traveling around your hips and pulling you closer to him

for a minute, you and doyoung just sway a bit

the music is nice and the blue hue from the lights makes doyoung’s eyes and skin shine, you can’t pull yourself away from him

“you know, I’ve actually never been to a school dance before.” you don’t know what possesses you to say it out loud, but doyoung’s eyes widen at your words

“me, too.”

at that moment, doyoung realizes that maybe you two do have something in common

and as you lean your head against his collarbone, humming the already familiar melody of your first song of your first school dance ever

doyoung knows he doesn’t mind getting to know the parts of you that aren’t that similar to him

it’ll be worth it

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dercolaris · 3 years

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Still - Chapter 3: Goodbye

Fandom: Resident Evil Village

Characters: Alcina Dimitrescu, Karl Heisenberg

Relationship: Alcina Dimitrescu & Karl Heisenberg (Lovers)

Genre: Romance, Hurt & Comfort

Planned chapters: 8 + prolog and epilog

Warnings: Strong language, Descriptions of the Second World War (I do not glorify or support the ideology. The mention only serves my idea for the origin of Karl.)

Status: Work in progress (4/10)

Short Summary: As is well known, hatred and love are traveling on a dangerous thin line, but has it really always been that way between the fighting Lords? The sad answer is no. Alcina and Karl had a much deeper relationship than the brief glimpse Resident Evil Village suggests. This is their untold backstory. A story of a fiery love that is slowly torn apart by the parasite until the once strong feelings are only a faint memory in their dead hearts.

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33511438/chapters/83754979

The sun was staying low in the orange sky, giving the gradually passing summer day a last bit of warmth before the cool night would come. Karl looked out at the calm water in the harbour and for a brief moment forgot that times were anything but peaceful around him. There was disturbing news about enemy forces in the area. The officer brushed a strand of wet hair from his forehead and rummaged through his jacket for the crumpled pack of cigarettes. Heinrich was right with his remark. The Romanian tobacco had a strong aftertaste and it would probably take a few more weeks for the man to get used to it. A casual glance at his pocket watch revealed that his date was likely to be late. The blond-haired man put the cigarette in his mouth and watched the hustle and bustle around him for a while. The promenade, which was fortunately intact, was peppered with small bars, cafes and restaurants, which not only the foreign soldiers liked to visit. The locals also seemed to have fallen for the beauty of the sea and looked every now and then for a break in the breathtakingly beautiful evening hours. Karl wanted to look at his pocket watch again when a now well-known scent rose into his nose. She was here even if he couldn't see or hear her yet. A small smile formed on his rough lips and he carefully lit his cigarette, taking a tentative drag. Alcina had a stubborn habit of appearing next to him out of nowhere, but her unique smell betrayed her presence.

The officer smirked a little and focused on the water again, not even bothering to look for her. The singer would come to him when she felt like it. An older waiter hurried around between the individual tables and finally put two glasses on the dark wood in front of the blond-haired man, examined the engineer with sceptical looks. Karl raised an eyebrow and asked curiously: “Is something wrong?” The waiter cleared his throat slightly and replied coolly: “No, but I wonder why you ordered two drinks when you’ve been alone this evening till now. Are you expecting company soon or is it just a minor misunderstanding?” The engineer puffed the smoke out of the side of his mouth. In the meantime he had got used to the much too curious locals, who let no situation slip by and pester him with countless questions. The blond-haired man replied calmly: "I assume that she will be here in a few minutes." The waiter nodded in understanding and went back into the small café. Karl sat up slightly to take a more comfortable position. The last two weeks had passed by in a flash. He hadn't been able to relax so much for a long time and every hour with the mysterious jazz singer was a gift from a god he didn't know.

Alcina saw the world from a different perspective and shared it with him in her generosity. She showed him little miracles of everyday life that he had long forgotten in the cruelty of reality. The blond-haired man put the glowing cigarette in the ashtray and pulled one of the glasses closer to him. The engineer sipped the whiskey, lost in thought. He didn't want to leave Constance – at least not without her. "Very attentive, Karl." The officer turned his gaze to the black-haired woman across from him and, like every day, was fascinated by her unattainable beauty. Alcina was a lady of refined taste. Even today she literally stole the show from everyone present. The blue, knee-length dress with isolated white rose embroidery played around her slim figure and at the same time graceful elegance. For Karl it almost seemed as if her entire wardrobe had been designed especially for her. The singer sat down in the vacant chair and looked out at the calm sea. She spoke softly: “It is a tragedy that we cannot look down to the bottom of the sea. Everything we see is close to the surface and nobody dares to look for deeper lying beauty in the water. I always hated the concept of superficiality."

The engineer blinked in surprise. The black-haired woman was a master at speaking in metaphors and this example also fitted seamlessly into the collection of unusual statements. In the last few days Karl caught himself letting this way of speaking flow into his linguistic usage, although it didn't really correspond to his sometimes rough nature and had a strange effect on his mind. The longer he spent time with Alcina, the more often he had to restrain himself. She had some influence on him, whether good or bad was in the eye of the beholder. The lady put her left leg elegantly over her right and took the glass with the sherry in her hand, sniffing the wine a few times. She was undoubtedly a connoisseur. After a while the blond-haired man replied hesitantly: "In your case, the visible surface is just a glimpse of something that is still completely inexplicable to me."

The engineer paused and stared almost bitterly at his companion. Sadly, what he said was true. The man seldom got any clue about was going in the head of the singer. A mysterious veil surrounded her and prevented him from seeing deeper into her soul, unless Alcina allowed him to do so for a brief moment. The debacle, however, was that he desperately wanted or even had to see more. However, the lady successfully denied him entry into her own world and kept him at a strange distance. Karl respected this limit, but a tremendous urge in his heart demanded answers. Answers he would probably never get. Alcina smiled wickedly and replied in slight amusement: "There are some things we don't have to be able to understand in order to appreciate them." The person addressed took another sip of his drink without a word. He felt the need to agree and disagree with her at the same time, but two souls had been fighting in his mind for a long time and he had got used to keeping his personal views in the dark. Alcina would already know what he thought about it anyway. The singer had a keen sense for his torn soul and had left no stone unturned to finally give him his smile back in the last two weeks. Her attempts had not been unsuccessful.

The black-haired woman sipped from her sherry and asked cautiously: "You will leave tomorrow morning or did I remember this wrongly, Karl?" The officer sighed barely audibly. He had told the lady practically everything, beginning with his unfulfilled childhood up to his crossing to Romania in order to finally escape the German Reich. She knew about Fritz and Heinrich, as well as countless other soldiers who had mostly lost their lives in the war. The man took the still glowing cigarette between his fingers and explained almost sadly: “I will have to leave Constance before breakfast. My arrival at my uncle's place was over thirteen days overdue.” The jazz singer finally turned her gaze to the engineer. As usual, he couldn't read into the look in her light brown eyes. Alcina put down her glass and looked for more, deeply hidden words that the blond-haired man did not want to utter openly. Finally she replied calmly: “Duty draws you into the mountains and at the same time you really want nothing more than to linger here. An unsolvable dilemma.” The officer smiled dejectedly. He put the cigarette out in the ashtray and blew the last of the smoke out of his lungs, then let his gaze slide back into the water. Karl mumbled softly: "Do I have a choice right now?"

Sooner or later the war in Romania would reach the port city with all its severity and force him to fight again. There was practically only one option and that was to escape to hard-to-reach places in the mountains. There he would find rest. The engineer felt the insistent gaze of the lady on his face. He felt the amber opals dig into his mind again. "I can't make the decision for you, Karl," said the black-haired woman suddenly softly, "but you should think twice about my words from our first night." The blond-haired man didn't dare to look up. In theory he was the maker of his own fortune, but the practice in which he lived looked quite different. The man emptied the glass faster than planned and asked with a scratchy throat: “Would you like to say goodbye to me in the morning? It would really mean a lot to me.” The singer fell into a very uncomfortable silence, and the engineer wasn't even sure whether it was a disappointment or the thought of parting weighed heavily on her shoulders. A little bird perched on the table among their drinks without warning. The animal hopped around a little, then fluffed its grey plumage. Alcina hesitantly moved her hand in his direction and offered the bird her right index finger. The blond-haired man watched in disbelief as the animal hopped up to the lady without any shyness and burst on the finger.

She raised her hand as if in slow motion and gently whispered: “My mind would love to do it, but my heart knows that looking at you leaving would break it for the first time in my life. I must apologize, Karl.” The addressed person slumped a little. He hadn't expected this answer. His lips slowly formed a thin line. It started to hurt in his chest and even though he knew that he could avert this tragedy, he currently saw no way out. The bird chirped softly. Alcina gently stroked the animal's silky plumage with her other index finger and added in a whisper: “To be honest, I am not ready to give up on you, Officer. Not now, when I feel that I can finally arrive with someone at a possible home and be able to rest after years of travel. So maybe we can agree to say see you again instead?” The engineer frowned in amazement. The words had to work on him for a moment before he could start a question: "May I take this statement as a promise, Alcina?" The jazz singer smiled lovingly and lifted her index finger with a slight swing. The bird jumped off as if practices and spread its wings, flew a short round around the table and slowly disappeared in the direction of the sun. Alcina was still watching the animal when she replied: "At least I'll do it."

The officer's heart grew warm. Once again the lady had managed to move something in him and activate gears that he had never known before. The black-haired woman turned back to him and added quietly: “Would you tell me the name of the village and your full name, Karl? I would like to write you in detail about my travels.” The man nodded slightly. He looked in the inside of his jacket pocket for a small writing pad and the worn pencil. The engineer quickly wrote down the requested data, and finally handed the sheet to her. Alcina took the paper gratefully and glanced at it, then froze surprisingly. The officer frowned at the sight. He asked worriedly: "Is something wrong?" The lady blinked slightly, for a moment did not seem to understand that he had asked her something. She waved her hand with a smile and replied in a friendly manner: “No, everything is fine. I know the village and have an idea now how I can best reach out to you.” Karl could sense that this was definitely not the whole truth, but as usual he would not get a satisfactory answer from the singer. He had to live with what little she told him. The blond-haired man rose slowly and turned back to the water, his hands slipping into his trouser pockets without haste.

He heard the other chair scratching over the floor. The singer stepped next to him and put her arm tightly around his, carefully following his gaze. She whispered only audibly to him: “Allow me a few more years of freedom, Karl and I will return to you. It's just a matter of time.” The addressed person nodded in understanding. Alcina had already told him in the first week that she would be drawn into the world for a while before she could settle down. Her band wanted to celebrate more successes and give people hope in uncertain times. An honourable thought. The officer put his hand tenderly over hers, which was still resting on his arm and enjoyed the cool breeze on the promenade for a moment. He said calmly: “I will wait for you. I've been alone all the years before and I'll be able to endure a few more weeks. I trust you.” The singer snuggled closer to his side at these words. Her eyes fixed the reflection of the sun in the sparkling sea. She replied quietly: “I did not expect to lose my heart to an SS Officer, but I will not complain about this fate.” The engineer slowly shook his head and corrected her in a firm voice: “You lost your heart to a free man, Alcina."

The jazz singer's eyes began to shine. She placed her hand on his cheek and carefully turned his face to her, then put her lips gently on his. That kiss sealed a silent promise. A contract without papers, but linked to memories of the past and wishes for a better future. The night fell unexpectedly gently over the port city. While most of the soldiers slept, Karl used the time he had left to be able to walk unencumbered in the morning hours. He had prepared a small package for Otto. He would probably look for him in the course of the morning and hopefully find out first that his newfound friend had left. The officer wrote the soldier a few more personal lines as well as an official paper for General Eicke back home: “In the name of the Führer, I, Officer Karl Heisenberg from the SS-Division Totenkopf, will set out alone on a reconnaissance mission to the mountains of Romania. Through conversations with the locals, I learned that the French and other hostile rabble had ventured as far as Romania and could research new technologies in remote villages. This rumour must either be refuted or cleared up. I plan a total of four months for this secret mission. May our German Empire be Victorious forever! Heil Hitler!” The engineer sighed softly at the last two lines and left his room. With luck, the letter could be sent to Germany on the next ship that night. He handed the envelope to an overtired soldier in the registration office and withdrew back into his room, locking the door behind him as quietly as possible.

The loneliness was an unusual companion in his life. Most of the time he had greeted her, but after all these days with Alcina he had serious doubts whether he could actually go weeks without the beautiful singer. Karl finally crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't feel like sleeping, but there was nothing else to do and time wouldn't fly by doing nothing. After a while the officer lay down on the bed and stared at the wooden ceiling. There was still a certain amount of heat to be felt, but not as overwhelming as in the afternoon hours. The blond-haired man reached into the other inside pocket of his jacket and carefully took out a photo. He had asked the war photographer to send him a copy of the picture and the man had actually kept his word. His eyes stayed on the woman's gentle features. The officer murmured to the photo: “You may have lost your heart to me, Alcina, but nothing will be left of me if you decide to leave me. I trust your promise. Please don't make me regret having hope.” The engineer closed his eyes for a brief moment, relaxing to the low chirping of the crickets. Perhaps the memory of the jazz singer would accompany him in pleasant dreams.

A loud ringing ripped the man out of his sleep. Karl, drowsy, looked for the rusty alarm clock and switched it off, then rubbed the sand from his eyes. He sat on the side of the bed, blinking in the gentle rays of the rising sun. The time had come. The officer went into the bathroom and did a long wash. He took the remaining time to shave off the trimmed beard completely. As usual, hygiene would be neglected on his long journey into the mountains. The blond-haired man stowed his remaining sharp blades and looked around the room again. He had everything that was important to him. Karl finally opened the door and shouldered his duffel bag, heaving the load fairly comfortably onto his back. The engineer was about to leave when he remembered something else. He peeled the tank combat badge from his uniform and placed it on the ramshackle desk, then looked for a piece of paper. He wrote a little note to Otto. The officer finally left the barracks and strode through the completely quiet city by the sea. He passed the club as well as some ruins. The blond-haired man was excited about the landscape that awaited him and would accompany him for the next few days of his journey.

Otto walked listlessly across the barracks area, almost tripping over his wrongly laced shoes. The officer had still not shown up at breakfast. The black-haired man looked in his pockets for a cigarette, but again couldn't find anything. "Fucking hell, again?”, the soldier hissed in annoyance. He shrugged and knocked on the officer's door. Nothing happened. Otto frowned. He knocked again and opened the door very carefully. As soon as he entered, the man noticed that something was different than usual. He dared a look into the bathroom, but found the same empty picture here too. Only then did he see the badge on the table. The black-haired man took the note in his hand and read it carefully: "For Miss D. I trust you to deliver it, Otto." At that moment, the private realized that the officer could no longer be in Constance. He finally found the letter Karl had written for him and informed his superior about what had happened. Otto hid much of the information the officer had entrusted to him in the letter. After all, they were still comrades.

#Resident Evil #Resident Evil 8 #Resident Evil Village #Resident Evil VIII #RE VIII #RE 8 #RE Village #Karl Heisenberg #Alcina Dimitrescu #Karl heisenberg x Alcina Dimitrescu #Donna Beneviento #Salvatore Moreau #Mother Miranda #Angie #Romance #Hurt & Comfort

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dilliebar · 4 years

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The Story of Dinah: A TLOUP2 Theory

Hey guys! So during this quarantine I’ve been looking for stuff to do to keep myself busy, and among playing The Last of Us for the billionth time I also decided to continue analyzing the content we’ve gotten so far. Tbh I gave up a while ago trying to find out what’s gonna happen in TLOU2, but after one google search, though, I actually think I’ve found a pretty solid theory that explains a lot of what we saw in the trailers/screenshots/etc.

!!! Note that this does include content from the leaked gameplay videos and from the leaked screenshot that surfaced a while ago. only read on if you’re okay with knowing spoilers !!!

**Note: I was not raised around a specific religion and my only knowledge of the subject has come from what I’ve read on the internet and the information I’ve gained from different Jewish and Christian interpretations of the passages talked about in this theory. None of these are my personal opinions and please correct me if anything is misinformed. Thank you.

So the majority of us know that something is going to happen to Dina and/or Ellie, and the first question is, what?

Well, obviously what’s different from the original game and p2 is that p2 is going to have to do a lot more with religion, as Dina is confirmed to be Jewish and we also have the Christian group, the Seraphites. The theme of religion is pretty much the basis of this theory, and it all starts with the origin of Dina’s name.

Now when you probably saw the title of this post you were like “yo that’s not how you spell her name”, and that, my friend, is where you’re wrong. After digging a little bit into the origination of Dina’s name, I found that it stemmed from the Hebrew name, Dinah. The first famous holder of this name was a woman who had a small, yet significant role in one of the books of the Jewish bible (or the Torah, please correct me if I’m wrong). Now, I would’ve written this off as a coincidence, but after looking into the story of Dinah I noticed some similarities between her story and bb Dina.

The passage basically tells the story of Dinah, who ventures out to meet the people of the world, and while doing so is sexually assaulted by the prince of Shechem. When her two brothers hear about this, they’re enraged, and slaughter all of the men in the city and rescue her.

The reason this caught my eye is because Dina and/or Ellie being sexually assaulted is a pretty common theory among the fandom right now, and after applying this to the trailers, screenshots, leaked footage, and the leaked screenshot, it makes a lot of sense, especially with Dina being Jewish. So without further ado, let’s look at what this means for the story.

I. What Happened

So if we’re following the original story of Dinah, the first thing that would happen is that Ellie and Dina head out on patrol the night after their kiss. Obviously this would mostly serve as a tutorial-like introduction, but it would also serve as the setup for the rest of the game. This is where the basement scene comes in, in which both of them are attacked and/or assaulted, and for whatever reason, they take Dina and Ellie escapes.

A lot of people have been speculating that the game revolves around the sole idea of revenge, and while Ellie’s clearly pretty jazzed off about whatever happened in the gameplay and release date trailers, it’s likely more of a “side quest” aside from her actual goal: to get Dina back. Naughty Dog games in the past, including The Last of Us, have always had a certain goal in mind that you’re working towards throughout the game. This also aligns with the story of Dinah, as she isn’t killed, but taken.

In addition to the supporting story, much of the leaked footage aligns with this, as well. For example, in the leaked gameplay in which Ellie wakes up bruised and beaten in a theater and calls out for Dina and Jesse, but why would Dina be there? If Ellie’s main goal is to get revenge on the group who wronged them, then neither Dina nor Jesse being there would make a whole lot of sense unless they all just want to have one big traumatic experience together; however, if Dina was taken, it would make sense as to why Ellie and Jesse would go after her, because they both have strong feelings for her, want to get her back, and want to seek vengeance. At the same time, by the cuts and bruises littering Ellie’s back, we can see that something clearly went down very recently, which was likely the rescue of Dina. We can also confirm that this wasn’t a dream or some wacky acid trip, too, because in the leaked screenshot we can see Ellie and Dina exploring Capitol Hill in Seattle together.

Now of course we all want to know that Ellie and Dina live happily ever-after, and this might (?) be true according to the story of Dinah, in which both of the brothers (represented here by Ellie and Jesse) return safely home with Dinah. Since this is where the story ends, is this where the game takes a twist? Possibly, but we’ll never know for sure until we play it.

II. Whodunnit?

Alright, so I’m gonna break this down into the two groups that are confirmed to be in The Last of Us 2: the Seraphites and the WLF. Though none of this is stemmed from the story of Dinah, the biblical meanings behind their names matched up pretty darn well with what we know about them already.

Now, the thing is, after trying to look up the Hebrew origination of the word “seraphite”, I found that it wasn’t actually a word at all. What I did find, however, was the definition of the word “seraph” which is “of the highest order of the nine-fold celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardor, and purity”, with another description being a “six-winged angel”. The Latin suffix, “-ite”, means to be a follower. In other words, the Seraphites see themselves as either messengers or followers of god. This description makes a lot of sense, as in the trailer with the mystery-woman, the Seraphites say to “clip her wings” in reference to Yara.

When it comes to the WLF, the meaning behind their name is much more simple. As we can recall from the gameplay trailer, we hear the Seraphites shout out “WOLF!”. In addition to this, poster released shortly after the mystery-woman trailer portrays a wolf shaped by flames. Thus, I decided to look up the biblical meaning of a wolf, as the two groups are likely at odds. Unsurprisingly, the term “wolf” is generally used to describe those who pray on the weak.

After looking at these two groups, I concluded that the culprit is ultimately the WLF for a few reasons:

1. The meaning of the wolf in a biblical context (which was first mentioned to describe one of Dinah’s other brothers, by the way)

2. In the release date trailer, we can definitely see the attire of those who attacked the two. They’re wearing jackets; the man who initially attacked Ellie is wearing a cap. If we look at the gameplay trailer, the Seraphites distinctly wear robes, and so they are likely out of the question.

3. In the release date trailer, Tommy says “you don’t know how large that group is; how armed” all the while displaying a group of men with guns, and one verrrryyy important dude that I haven’t really seen a lot of people talking about. And that is this guy:

OK, I know, it doesn’t seem like that big of a revelation but take a look at this guy’s face, and then scroll back up to the beginning of this section. Look similar? They’ve got the same hair, skin tone, attire, etc. In addition, the people with guns in the photo also have similar attire and weaponry to those in the release date trailer. At the same time, in the basement scene, we can also see a man in similar attire and a similar skin tone holding Ellie down (though to be fair, we can’t see his face, and so this may not be the same guy, but the attire definitely separates them from the Seraphites).

Did maybe the Seraphites get a lil’ chilly and decide to wear jackets if the attacked Ellie and Dina? Maybe, but my bet’s on the WLF.

III. Patching Up the Plotholes

Alright, so this theory definitely leaves a couple of plotholes that I wanna possibly cover (though it should be noted that these are speculation):

1. As we see multiple times in both the screenshots and gameplay, Ellie entered Seattle alone. Where did Jesse come in?

2. Joel is in multiple screenshots, and also talks to Ellie in the release date trailer. What does he got to do with this?

So first of all, answering the question of where Jesse came in is fairly easy to answer, and it’s that he followed Ellie. As seen in the release date trailer, about a handful of people in Jackson left to go out on patrol other than Ellie and Dina, one of them being Jesse. Given the incident that happened in the basement, I’m guessing Ellie didn’t decide to keep scavenging for supplies and returned to Jackson early in order to recover and spread the news, which means Jesse likely wouldn’t have been back yet, and didn’t hear the news and go after Dina until he returned to Jackson. Then the question of the change in seasons comes into play. If this theory is true, I’m guessing that the basement scene took place near the end of winter, while Ellie/Jesse going to Seattle took place in early Spring, or that Ellie/Jesse left as soon as possible and the journey took longer than expected due to multiple obstacles like what happened in the first game.

Now, when it comes to Joel, I returned specifically to the story of Dinah. A while after the incident, when Jacob (the father of both Dinah and the brothers) is blessing his children, he expresses his disappointment in the two brothers as “in their anger they slew men” and “cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel”. Based on this, I believe that the multiple screenshots from the game are in the context of Joel expressing his disappointment in Ellie, as she likely went out of her way to kill more people than she had to in order to get to Dina. This also correlates to the reveal trailer in which Joel says “you really gonna go through with this?” and Ellie replies, “I’m gonna find, and I’m gonna kill, every last one of them”.

~Conclusion~

Alrighty, so that’s pretty much it. Again, I don’t know if a lot of the biblical stuff is accurate since I wasn’t raised in a strictly Jewish nor Christian household, but I was intrigued by some interpretations and frankly I really wanted to get this out and see what everyone else thought about it. Please, if you have any additional thoughts about this, correct something I said, or point out any other plotholes, leave a comment! I’m in desperate need for some TLOU2 action.

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pittarchives · 3 years

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Analogizing with Garner the Rabbit

This post was written by YuHao Chen, graduate student in ethnomusicology, University of Pittsburgh.

Let’s take for example a drawing in jazz pianist Erroll Garner’s letter to his manager Martha Glaser in Spring 1967, where he asks for her forgiveness, after having walked out with the money that he should have left at the office. In a way, analogy creates an illusion of intimacy by casting two separate things within one thought.

Image from Folder “Correspondence between Erroll Garner and Martha Glaser,” Erroll Garner Archive, 1942-2010, Box 3, Folder 5, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Here, Garner and Glaser (referred to as “me” and “you,” respectively) are brought to proximity through their correlation with two hand-drawn characters: a rabbit with exaggerated whiskers and a stern human face looking away from the furry creature. We may be at a loss as to how or why Garner and Glaser might impressionistically resemble a fluff ball and a formidable face, but there must be some overriding logic—to Garner, at least—that somehow stabilized the two sets of characters. Garner is to Glaser as the rabbit is to the female portrait. Through symbolic consistency, Garner and Glaser are united as cartoon figures that appear in the top margins of his apology letter.

Garner the Rabbit reappears in a follow-up note—though without the company of Glaser’s cartooned face—where Garner apologizes again for his forgetfulness. In a different letter from 1967, he represented himself as yet another non-human creature, this time a cat. With a characteristic “me-wow,” the feline sits at the bottom of the letter and wishes a speedy recovery to Glaser, who appeared to be sick.

Image from folder “Correspondence between Erroll Garner and Martha Glaser,” Erroll Garner Archive, 1942-2010, Box 3, Folder 5, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

It is apparent that Glaser had received and read these letters. Scrupulous manager that she was, Glaser dated these letters in her flowing handwriting. But other than the fact that she had cared enough to keep them, we have no information as to how she might have reacted to Garner’s curious drawings. Her lack of reciprocity in the archive piques our interest: Did she approve of his analogy? Was she really the austere figure that made an expressionless face when Garner forgot to leave the money? Did she turn away, like the conspicuously dispassionate figure did, after seeing these sketches?

What appears to be a simple invocation of Garner and Glaser is more complex than it first seems. According to Alexander Galloway, the word “analogy” is derived from the prefix ana- (“at the rate of,” “by reason of,” or “in proportion to”) and the Greek word logos (“ratio,” “rationality,” “word”). Analogos means “in proportion with another ratio.” For Galloway, analogy is about creating an equation of comparable qualities, approximating the magnitude of one relationship to that of another. Seen in this light, analogy conjures two relationships and the things that constitute them. If it takes a party of two at the minimum to make up a relationship, then analogy necessarily invokes at least four entities by virtue of the two relationships it sets up. Garner’s analogy, for example, calls forth the musician–manager dyad, the animal–human counterpart, and the two sets of dynamics they represent. Analogy entails matchmaking, an operation that connects distant individuals to form sympathetic relationships.

It wouldn’t be too far-off, I think, to consider analogizing a deeply intimate gesture—an expression of voraciousness, even—for analogy devours a cornucopia of things and produces new relationships. Vilém Flusser wrote in Gestures, the moment of love is exactly the “complete absorption in the other without loss of the self;” it is the moment of “the tipping over into another, which makes ‘I’ and ‘you’ into ‘we’ […]” (51). Might analogy be similar to the way love creates bonds out of isolated conditions? Akin to Flusser’s definition of love, analogy integrates: it binds thoughts, transcends gaps, and redefines differences. Analogy performs promiscuous magic on lonely signs like “you,” “me,” rabbit, cat, and face, turning them into partners. Its capacity to conjoin different points of references into a network of meanings is what makes analogy such a potent tool to think with—and to inflict desire with.

Garner’s sketches were but the tip of the iceberg of how analogy operated for him and how we might come to understand the complex relationship between Garner and Glaser. In their correspondence, we see Garner recurrently employing analogy to frame his relation to Glaser, sometimes via seemingly innocuous cartoon drawings, other times involving the use of dissipated visual cues that transgress professional boundaries. The latter is seen, for instance, in a postcard depicting a rooster chasing after a hen in front of an old maid’s home, or in another where a newborn baby lasciviously attempts to grab a sexually depicted nurse, or in one showing a husband in a bedroom with his newlywed wife yelling at him for his female-figure tattoo.

Image from folder “Correspondence between Erroll Garner and Martha Glaser,” Erroll Garner Archive, 1942-2010, Box 3, Folder 4, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Garner wrote down commentaries to these images on the back of the postcards. On the “old maid” and rooster: “Are you glad you got me so you don’t have to be that way.” On the baby and the nurse: “Ours won’t be like that / he be cool / Ha Ha Ha.” On the tattooed husband: “I’ll have all mine taken off for you so there will be me and you and no one.” These postures indicate that at some point in time Garner had envisioned his relationship with Glaser through sexual analogies. These articulations expose the sharp edge of analogy, while also raising slippery questions about the nature of the relationship between Garner and Glaser.

What do these insinuations tell us? In the Erroll Garner Archive, there are very few materials surrounding the full nature of the types of relationships that may have existed between Garner and Glaser, which also may have changed at various points in time. Glaser, for one, did not leave any immediately traceable responses. Additionally, there was no postage stamped on these cards, which suggests that they might have been delivered personally or not been delivered at all. In lieu of a hard-and-fast conclusion, these messages require further contextualization before they can be understood in relation to the known history of Erroll Garner.

Given all the messiness that analogy seems to cause, it would have been more prudent, perhaps, to enact ways of visualizing a relationship through different means. But what if that relationship is inherently romantic? Would it be possible to articulate such a relationship in an un-analogized form? There is a fine line between analogy and love. What is love without a party of two, without phrases like “ma cherie,” “the very air I breathe,” “sweetheart,” “fly to me,” and “sweet rapture”? Love comes with a proportionate ratio and a trapping of significance. There is no love without analogy.

Works Cited

Alexander Galloway, “What Is the Analog,” last modified December 29, 2017 http://cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/what-is-the-analog

Erroll Garner Archive, 1942-2010, AIS.2015.09, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Vilém Flusser, Gestures, trans. Nancy Ann Roth (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014), 51.

#erroll garner tuesdays #sketches #correspondence #analogy #erroll garner #martha glaser

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soobiniebaby · 4 years

Text

Angels & Devils Part VII : Green Light

Tomorrow x Together Fanfiction

~ p a r t s : main post || prologue || part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || part 5 || part 6 || part 7 || part 8 || part 9 || part 10 || part 11 || part 12 || part 13 || part 14 || part 15 || part 16 || part 17 ~ p a i r i n g : love triangle involving choi soobin and choi yeonjun ~ g e n r e : high school au | some social media au | some fluff & angst | childhood friends | love triangle ~ l a n g u a g e : English ~ w a r n i n g : contains swearing, alcohol, kissing (?) and may contain mature themes (angst, etc.) ~ a / n : This will be my first fanfic (go easy on me pls) and i’m just writing this as I go along, so bear with me juseyo The setting (place/country) of the story is up to the reader’s interpretation ~ s u m m a r y : What should she choose? Han Baby: the new girl with a troubled past MO Academy: her new high school Choi Soobin: student council president, member of the Ecosave club, volunteer at the Humane Treatment of Animals, member of the Honor Society, a vocalist in the Jazzed club, the school’s all around golden boy Choi Yeonjun: leader of the Dance club, star of the Jazzed club, the school’s it boy with a bad rep 5 best friends, 1 new girl, 1 childhood friendship, 1 epic love triangle? What will this school year bring?

“No?” Yeonjun asks.

B nods her head. “No.”

He raises a brow at her. “But you just nodded.”

“Yeah, I was saying ‘yes’ to your ‘no?’.” B explains.

“Wait, so you’re saying yes?”

B lets out a huff. “Yeonjun, seriously—”

The blue-haired boy laughs. “Baby, I’m kidding. Don’t worry, I understand. May I ask why, though?” He was genuinely curious. Was he expecting to get shot down? Not really. But was he expecting her to say yes? Kind of. When Choi Yeonjun asks someone out, he almost always gets a yes on the first try.

“We’re friends, you and I.” B starts, her eyes starting to dart around the shed as she continues. “And my best friend is one of your best friends. I don’t want to mess up our friendship group’s dynamic by going out with you and then being dumped by you and then having everything crash and burn afterwards.”

“What ‘group dynamic?’ What ‘being dumped?’ What ‘having everything crash and burn?’ How are you so sure that all that is gonna happen?” Yeonjun asks. He had to keep himself from chuckling and maintain a straight face, because as ridiculous as it all sounded to him, he knew that she was serious and he wanted to treat it seriously.

“If I go out with you and you and I don’t work out, everything between us will get awkward. I know Ningning’s my best friend, but the boys will definitely pick your side, so I’ll probably have to find a new group of friends to hang out with.” B explains.

“Baby, I promise you, we won’t end up like that. If you agree to go out with me, nothing will change. We’ll all still be friends. You won’t lose us.” Yeonjun says reassuringly.

“And how would you know? Have you ever dated someone from your circle of friends before?” B asks, raising a brow.

“God no. As attractive as my friends are, I don’t think I could ever see myself going out with any of them. I mean, Hyuka’s like a baby brother to me, Taehyun is too perfect it’s kinda intimidating, and Beomgyu just isn’t my type. I mean, I think Soobin and I could work if we gave it a shot, but I don’t think he’d be interested.” Yeonjun says jokingly.

“Yeonjun, come on. You know what I mean.” B says, letting out a small laugh.

“Okay, I haven’t. But look at Gyu and Ryujin for example. Sure, they weren’t in the same friend group, but they were friends and they dated, and then they went back to being friends. Friendships don’t have to crash and burn just because of a few dates.” Yeonjun says defensively.

“Yeah, okay, Gyu and Ryu managed to stay friends. But if things don’t work out between you and I—” B starts, until Yeonjun interrupts her.

“But what if they do...” he says quietly.

“What?” B says, unable to hear him properly.

“But what if they do? What if we do? What if things between us work out?” Yeonjun asks.

B’s quiet for a moment before slowly starting again. “It’s not just our friendship I’m worried about, you know. I just moved here, I’m going through a big adjustment period in my life right now, and I’m just starting to make friends and establish a routine, and I like that you’re a part of it. I like seeing you everyday, I like that we’re classmates for at least 1 period and that I get to hang out with you and eat lunch with you and the rest of the boys.” she says, and as positive as it all sounded, Yeonjun had a feeling he knew what she’d say next. “But I’m not ready to change any of it. I like you, Yeonjun, enough to at least enjoy seeing you everyday. But I’m not ready to do anything that could change how things in my life are right now.”

Yeonjun nods. “It’s alright, Baby. I understand.” he says sincerely, looking right at her eyes. She really did look sorry, but at the same time her eyes kept darting back and forth between his and the ground. He could tell she was being sincere, but it looked like there was something more that she didn’t want to say. She was fairly easy to read, but he couldn’t decipher what else could possibly be on her mind.

“So that’s why I’m saying no. I’m really sorry, Yeonjun. I like our friendship too much right now to let anything get in the way of it.” she says, her eyes meeting his.

“You like our friendship too much right now? What about, say, in 2 weeks? Do you think you’d feel differently about our friendship then?” Yeonjun asks innocently.

“Yeah, if you suddenly become unbearably annoying in the next 2 weeks, that could definitely change.” B says sarcastically. “I don’t know, Yeonjun. It’s not like I can see into the future or anything, but I don’t think anything could change how I feel about us in a span of 2 weeks.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Baby. Everything can change in 2 weeks.” Yeonjun says mysteriously. When B raises a brow at him, he just smiles at her with a glint in his eye. “You’ll see. Now c’mon, let’s get back in there before they come looking for us.” he says, opening the door and leading her out of the shed.

•°•

It had only been 2 hours since she turned Yeonjun down, but looking at him now, B was starting to regret it just a tiny bit.

The boys had been rehearsing in Soobin’s house for an hour now. They hadn’t really been singing or rapping as Taehyun hinted they would be. They were working on the choreography and mostly polishing their positions and transitions, and as impressively sharp and coordinated as they all were, she had to admit that she couldn’t keep her eyes off of Yeonjun.

The blue haired boy could dance.

Simply the way he moved made him stand out. His movements were completely controlled yet so effortlessly executed, as if dance were a language and his body was highly fluent. She could see now why girls would go crazy when they see him perform, and a small part of her was starting to regret turning him down, even though she knew it was silly. Him being an amazing dancer shouldn’t be a factor to take into consideration when deciding whether not she would date him.

But still. She caught herself staring at him more than she’d like to admit. It was only when Kai threw himself onto the carpeted floor and yelled “Water break!” when she snapped out of it and stood up with a jolt.

“I’ll get you guys water, consider me as your unofficial water girl. That’ll be 5 water bottles, right?” B says, volunteering. “Uh, I guess I’ll get them from the fridge…?” she says, trailing off.

Soobin laughs, wiping sweat from his forehead before saying “Alright, I’ll show you where they are. Come on.”

B nods as she follows Soobin out of the room and downstairs towards the kitchen.

“So what do you think of our performance so far?” Soobin asks. “I know I’m not the best dancer, so it’s okay, you can be as brutally honest as you want.”

“Soobin, you guys are amazing. If the choreography looked that good, I can’t wait to see what the singing and rapping will sound like! And shut up, you’re a great dancer.” B says, playfully shoving his arm.

Soobin smiles, a bit embarrassed. “Thanks. You’ll only have to wait 2 more days until you see the whole thing, so I hope you look forward to it.”

“You bet I am! I didn’t know Ningning could dance either. Growing up, he was very interested in singing and playing different instruments, but I never knew he could rap and dance as well.” B says, amazed.

Soobin nods. “The Jazzed club helped a lot of us with honing in skills that we didn’t even know we had. It definitely helped me a lot with feeling more confident about myself. I used to be insanely shy until Yeonjun convinced me to join Jazzed club. Since then, I’ve even had the courage to take on the responsibility of being Student Council President, which is something I never thought I’d see myself doing.” he says bashfully.

“Wow Soobin, were you really that shy? I’m glad you’ve come out of your shell then, you’re doing great as far as I can tell. I guess being in Jazzed club helped you a lot then.” B says, smiling at him.

“You wouldn’t believe how shy I was.” Soobin laughs. “And yeah, it really has. Are you interested in joining? I think you’d like it.”

B thinks about it for a moment. “It looks like a lot of fun, and you guys make it seem so amazing. But I have to admit that I’ve never really been musically inclined? Don’t get me wrong, I tried really hard to learn how to play instruments when I was younger. Ningning tried to teach me how to play the piano, but I just couldn’t ever get it right. The most musical thing I can do is sing, but I don’t think I’m very good at that either, and besides, anyone can sing if they try hard enough.”

“I’m not great at instruments either, but I sang a lot while I was growing up and it was something I enjoyed doing. Never in my whole life did I ever think I’d be dancing on a stage in front of an audience though, but that also changed when I joined the club.” Soobin admitted.

“I really can’t wait to see you perform. I’ll get a front row seat, and I’ll be the one screaming my lungs out.” B says, laughing.

“If that’s the case then I’ll make sure to dance my heart out. I mean, if you’re gonna be giving it all with your lungs, might as well give it my best with all my heart as well.” Soobin says.

“Looking forward to seeing it.” B says, smiling up at him just as they reach the kitchen. “Oh, by the way, we should probably post stuff for our creative writing project too.”

“Oh, sure. Got any good pics from last night? I think I might have one.” Soobin says, whipping his phone out.

“I should probably be the one to post something though, since you posted something first.” B says, also taking out her phone. “We should each have at least one post every week.”

Soobin nods in agreement.

The two continue to look through their camera rolls until B exclaims “Ooh, I’ve got one!”

“Alright, I wanna see it.” Soobin says, attempting to look over B’s shoulder to peak at her phone.

“No way, you’ll see it when you post it! Let me just think of a caption.” B says, shielding her phone from Soobin’s curious eyes as she types out a caption.

Soobin’s phone pings with a notification, and he checks it.

“Oh wow, I knew we took selfies together but who took this photo?” Soobin asks, transfixed. Were they really that close together last night? He had to admit that he wasn’t completely sober so the night was a bit fuzzy, but he didn’t realize that he had ever been in such proximity with B. Other than the moment she whipped cake off his face, of course. At the memory of that, he felt his cheeks start to warm up again.

“I think Yuna or Ryujin did? I’m sure it was one of them. We all airdropped each other all the photos we took from last night. There are a lot stolen photos, and most of them were highly unflattering, but this one seemed alright.” B says.

“Yeah, it seems alright.” Soobin says as he looks at the post again, noting how their faces were side by side, he could’ve rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Alright, now show me where the water bottles are.” B says, pocketing her phone.

“The what?” Soobin asks, his mind still on the post.

“The water bottles? I need to bring at least 5, which I probably couldn’t have carried all on my own, so it’s actually really good that you’re here. Now, where are they?” B asks.

“Ah, right. They’re here in the fridge.” Soobin says, walking over to the fridge and grabbing as much bottles as he could. “We’re gonna need way more than 5 by the way, so let’s just take as much as we can for now.”

“Alright, let’s go.” B says, cradling 4 bottles in her arms as Soobin pushes the refrigerator door close with his foot, his arms full of water bottles.

“Let’s go.” Soobin says, and the 2 of them head back to the designated practice room.

•°•

On Monday morning, B had to walk to school alone.

It was club recruitment day, and Taehyun had told her beforehand that he’d be going to school an hour earlier that usual in order to prepare for the busy day, especially since he was the vice president of the student council.

“Do you still wanna walk together, though? Or would you rather sleep in for an extra hour?” Taehyun had asked her through text the night before.

Of course, she chose sleep. As much as she loved walking with Taehyun to school everyday, she did not want to get up an hour earlier than she had to.

“Nah, it’s fine. I can walk alone. I’m sure it’ll be a busy day for you anyway, so don’t worry about me.” she responded.

Now, here she was, entering the campus alone.

She was surprised by how busy it was. Along the school grounds, several booths were set up, each with at least 3 people, calling people over, handing out flyers, holding up signup sheets. Most booths had small exhibits, music playing out of portable speakers, and some booths were even giving away snacks or candies to attract more people.

She was so amazed and overwhelmed by the scene in front of her that she almost didn’t notice Beomgyu approaching her with a polaroid camera and taking a quick picture of her.

“Ha! Gotcha, B!” Beomgyu says, laughing as he cradles his camera, waiting for the picture he just took to develop. Once it was done, he flapped it around for a bit before laughing and pocketing the picture. “That was a good one.”

“Gyu! Oh god, you surprised me. Didn’t see you coming. And what’s with the picture? Can I see it?” B says, a fist clutched to her chest. “Wow, so this is what club recruitment day is like?” she asks, looking around in amazement.

Beomgyu stands beside her and nods. “Nah, I think I’ll keep the picture to myself for now. And yup, pretty much. It can be pretty intimidating for freshmen and new students, but it’s all really fun.” he says. “In the morning we have the booths wherein people can check out what clubs are around, in the afternoon there’s the visitations so people can visit the rooms to check out what the clubs are like, then from 3PM onwards there’s the showcase in the auditorium wherein each club can put together a skit or performance to show off what they’ve got.” he explains.

B nods. “Wow, it seems so exciting.”

“It’s one of the busiest days of the school year, and it’s one of the hardest events to plan since it’s at the very start of the school year, so we were working on it even during the summer before classes started.” Beomgyu admits. “I’m part of 4 clubs, not including the student council, so it was a lot of work for me too. Especially since I’m the head of the Journalism club and in charge of the school paper.” he pouts.

“Aw, Gyu, it all looks great. You’ve done a great job.” B says, giving the boy a pat on the back. “Is that why you’re going around with a camera, by the way? For the school paper?”

Beomgyu nods. “Nah, these pictures are for my personal documentation though if I get any interesting pictures, I could use them for the paper. I do have a documentation team going around with cameras as well, but I like being behind the lens. Say cheese.” he says before quickly capturing a stolen photo of B once again.

“Gyu!” B screeches, caught off guard. “I better not see my face in any pictures on the school paper this month.”

“Don’t worry, I get to do final approvals for everything before each edition gets published.” Beomgyu says reassuringly. He smiles as the picture finishes printing and tucks it away in his pocket once again. “By the way, you interested?” he asks.

“In the school paper?” B asks. “Maybe. I write but I’m not sure if I’m any good at it, and I’m no pro at cameras either. I actually don’t know what clubs I might join.” B admits.

“Oh, maybe I can help you with that. I can walk with you for a bit, show you around the booths, try to see if anything interests you.” Beomgyu offers, which B gladly accepts.

“Are you interested in anything in particular? Got any hobbies?” Beomgyu asks as they begin walking around.

“Hm, I’m not sure. Got any clubs about reading? Or anything about animals?” B asks hopefully.

“For reading? I think there’s the literature club. That’ll be nice if you’re a fan of books and poetry and stuff. And if you’re an animal lover, you should definitely check out the HTA. That’s the Humane Treatment of Animals club. They’ve set up an animal shelter within the school and do a lot of volunteer work with animal rescue and stuff.” Beomgyu says.

“Okay, now those sound very interesting to me.” B says. “Do you know where their booths are? Can you show me?”

Beomgyu nods. “The council was highly involved in planning for today’s activities, and we had to approve of the booth layouts, so I think I remember where the booths are positioned. This way.” he says, leading them through rows of booths.

B could see then how much of a big deal extracurricular activities were at MOA. All the students seemed to be pumping with energy. She’d lost count of the number of times she had been offered flyers for different clubs by the time they reached the booth for the literature club.

The students managing the booth engaged her in a quick introduction about the club and their activities and had given her a flyer as well. Included in the flyer was the location of the club’s room and the schedule for the day. She gladly accepted it and put her name into the signup sheet.

“Alright, that’s good. Your first signup! Next stop, the HTA. I believe their booth is this way, right next to the—” Beomgyu begins, but he’s cut off by a shrill shriek.

“Baba! Baba!” Kai squeals as Beomgyu and B walk past the Art Club’s booth.

“—Art Club.” Beomgyu finishes, as Kai runs over from inside the booth, right to where they were standing.

Kai gives B a big hug as he joins her side. “Baba! Come check out the Art Club!” Kai says excitedly.

“Ningning, hey!” B says, surprised to see him.

“Wait you two, say cheese real quick.” Beomgyu says, pointing his polaroid camera at them. The 2 happily oblige and instantly pose, with Kai wrapping an arm around B’s waist and B lifting an arm up all the way to the top of Kai’s head in a peace sign, and Beomgyu pockets the picture once it’s done.

“Are you here to check out the Art Club?” Kai says excitedly.

“Ah, the Art Club. Of course.” she says, eyeing the booth. “I almost forgot that you were the president.”

“Of course I’m the president. My club’s the best club on the campus. Here, take a flyer.” Kai says, practically shoving one into her hands. “You too, Gyu.” he says, as he shoves one in the boy’s face. “By the way, what are you doing with Baba? I thought you were supposed to be manning the Journalism Club’s booth.” he asks suspiciously.

“Psh, just ‘cause I’m club president doesn’t mean I should be stuck watching over the booth. It’s all a matter of delegation.” Beomgyu says smugly. “Besides, I’d rather be walking around and capturing all the action than be stuck behind a booth all morning.”

Kai looks torn for a moment, like he wanted to abandon his booth and join Beomgyu and B, but he just shakes his head. “As much as I’d love to join you guys, I can’t abandon my booth. Not at the last minute, at least.” he says, pouting.

B laughs at the boy. “C’mon, Ningning, you’re doing great. Look, your signup sheet’s all full already!” she says, noticing the clipboard on the table.

“Don’t worry, we always have room for more. Here.” Kai says, taking the clipboard and flipping the sheet over to reveal another page full of free space. “Sign up, Baba! It won’t automatically mean you’re signing up to be a member, but it saves you a spot for the room visits this afternoon.” he adds, noting how hesitant B looked.

“Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” B says, signing her name on the sheet. She had no intentions of joining the art club since she was never talented at any form of art, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to check it out, especially since her best friend was the president of the club.

“Yay, thanks Baba! See you later!” Kai says excitedly. “Where are you guys headed, anyway? Signed up for any other clubs yet?” he asks.

“We were headed to the HTA booth.” Beomgyu answers.

“Ah yeah, I almost forgot how much of an animal lover you are.” Kai says. “Their booth is right next door.”

“Yeah, I’m actually thinking of getting a pet soon, since I have my own apartment now.” B says. “Alright, we’ll check out the booth now. Later, Ningning!” she says, waving at her best friend as she and Beomgyu walk away.

“Are you really thinking of getting a pet for your apartment?” Beomgyu asks curiously. “What kind of pet would you want?”

“I like a lot of animals, I find them all really adorable.” B admits. “But I think I’d really want to get a cat, or maybe a couple of bunnies.”

“Oh, are those your favorite animals?” Beomgyu asks. “I’ve got a pet parrot, his name is Toto. You should meet him someday, he’s really sweet.” he says fondly.

Just then, they see Soobin standing outside the HTA booth, handing out flyers to people passing by. There was just one detail about him that caused Beomgyu and B to burst out laughing instantly.

He was wearing bunny ears made out of balloons on his head.

Beomgyu quickly snapped a picture with his polaroid camera while B quickly whipped her phone out to take pictures as well.

The sound of their laughter and the flash from Beomgyu’s camera caused Soobin to notice them, and his face instantly went red as he did.

“Gyu! B! What are you doing?” he wails, covering his face and turning away from them.

“Soobin! You look adorable!” B manages to say in between bursts of laughter.

“So this is how the HTA manages to get so many recruits every year.” Beomgyu says, amused. “Now I’m not surprised. Using you as a mascot is genius. No one can resist you, Soobinie.” he says teasingly.

“Oh, shut up.” Soobin says, his face still red. “What are you guys even doing here?”

“I was just helping B find clubs that she might be interested in.” Beomgyu says, casually draping an arm over her shoulders. “She says she’s an animal lover, so I figured she’d wanna check out the HTA, and now here we are. And here you are.”

B nods. “Yeah, Gyu told me that the club do a lot of volunteer work and even set up an animal shelter within the school, and I was instantly hooked. I really love animals.” she says with a twinkle in her eye.

Soobin smiles. “You’ve come to the right place, then. Here, have a flyer.” he says, offering her a flyer, which she gladly accepts.

She reads through the flyer then, her excitement to join the club growing by the minute. “Oh wow, now this is my kinda club.” she says. “Are you the club president, Soobin?”

“Yup. You interested? Wanna sign up?” he asks hopefully.

“Definitely! I’m already looking forward to joining.” B says, as Soobin hands her the clipboard with the signup sheet, which she gamely signs.

“Great! I guess we’ll be expecting you to drop by the club sometime after lunch for the visitations? The club’s location is on the flyer, so try your best not to lose it.” Soobin says.

“Sure thing. See you then.” B says excitedly.

“Hey, you two, say cheese!” Beomgyu says, pointing his polaroid camera at them. Soobin and B stand side by side and smile, but Beomgyu lowers his camera as he looks at them. “Okay, maybe pose a bit and say cheese? Come on, don’t just stand there.” he whines.

Soobin gives Beomgyu a look and B just rolls her eyes. She holds her arms out to Soobin and slowly steps closer towards him until her arms surrounded his body, and she closed them around him. He lets out a surprised laugh and decides to go along with it as he wraps his arms around her too. Slightly embarrassed, she squeezes her eyes shut and smiles. Just then, Beomgyu snaps a picture.

“Okay, that was a pretty good shot.” he says. He holds it up once its done developing, examining it one more time, before pocketing it.

“You know, that’s like the 4th picture you’ve taken of me this morning, yet I haven’t seen a single one of them.” B says as she steps away from Soobin. “Can I have at least one of them?” she asks.

“Nope, I keep all of the polaroids that I take. I’ve got a whole collection of them. I can print you out some copies if you want, though.” Beomgyu offers,

“Yes please, I’d really like that.” B says. “I’d also like to see your collection someday. Seems interesting.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to show you if you ever stop by my place.” Beomgyu says. “Well, that’s all the club you wanted to check out, right? Anything else you wanna do before lunch? Wanna check out other booths? I think Tyun’s managing the Debate Club’s booth, and Yeonjun’s probably at the Dance Club’s booth. We can stop by the Journalism club’s booth too so I can see how things are going.” Beomgyu offers.

“Sure thing, whatever you wanna do, Gyu. Lead the way.” B says.

“Alright, let’s go! See you later, Soobin.” Beomgyu says to the boy with the bunny ears.

“See you later.” Soobin responds.

“I’ll be sure to drop by the HTA later. See you then!” B says, giving a small wave before Beomgyu drags her along with him and they disappear into the booths once again.

•°•

“Hold still.”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder, just hold still.”

“I literally haven’t moved since you started.”

“I said hold still, Baba!” Kai exclaims, trying his best to sketch her as accurately as possible.

“I am!” B says, smiling through her teeth. It was already after lunch, and visitations had already started. Her first stop was at the Literature Club, and it seemed interesting enough. They presented more information about the club and what activities they’d be offering for the school year. She was on her way to the HTA when she ran into Kai, who all but kidnapped her and dragged her into the Art Club.

She figured spending a few minutes in the art club wouldn’t hurt, especially since Kai had been so excited to pull her into the room. But then he insisted that she let him do a quick sketch of her, and B realized a little too late that it meant she’d have to stick around a little bit longer than she had planned.

It’s been 15 minutes since Kai had first told her to hold still, and she was starting to lose patience. When her phone alarmed with a notification, she was relieved to have an excuse to move. She sees that it’s a message from Soobin and she replies as quick as she can.

B locked her phone and put it back in her pocket, feeling much more better than she did a minute ago. She told herself that she only had to hold still for 5 more minutes, and she hoped that Kai would let her go once Soobin arrived.

Sure enough, after 5 more minutes of holding still, B heard one of the art club members exclaim “President Choi! What are you doing here? Are you looking for Hueningkai?”

Kai’s head snaps up from his work upon hearing his name. “Younghoon, who are you talking to? Is that Soobin?”

The art club member, Younghoon, answers “Yes, he says he’s looking for someone.”

“Alright, welcome him in.” Kai says, putting his work down. B sighed in relief as Soobin walked into the room. When his eyes met hers, he gave her a quick wink, knowing that he was doing her a favor.

“Hyuka, hey! How’s the president of the art club doing?” Soobin says, walking over to Kai and giving his shoulders a squeeze.

“I’m doing good, we got a lot of signups today and the visits have been going really well.” Kai responds. “And how’s the president of the HTA doing?”

“Stressing out a bit, that’s actually why I’m here. I need help with tracking down one of the campus cats. We were hoping to introduce all the campus animals during recruitment day but there’s one cat that we haven’t seen around in days. All my members have their hands full with the signups and visitors, so I was hoping I could find an extra pair of helpful hands here?” Soobin says, looking pointedly at B.

“Oh, I don’t know, Soobin. The art club’s pretty busy right now, too. I could ask some of my officers if they could help you?” Kai offers.

“Nonsense, your officers should stay here. I’ll go, I’m not I’m not needed here anyway. And I already had plans to stop by the HTA, so I think it would be nice if I could help out.” B insists.

Kai lets out a sigh. “Alright, I guess I’ll finish your portrait some other time.” he says.

“You sure you won’t mind? You can stay here if you want, I can try checking out the debate club if Taehyun can help.” Soobin asks innocently. Wow, he was good at this.

B smiles. “No need for that, I’m happy to help. I love cats anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

Kai waves the two of them goodbye, and they leave the art club together.

“Is there really a missing cat around the campus?” B asks, concerned.

Soobin shakes his head. “Nope. I just made it up. The cats and dogs in campus never wander far, so it’s easy to keep track of them all.”

“Wow you’re surprisingly good at lying then.” B says, impressed. “Oh, I can’t wait to meet them all! How many animals are there in the campus.”

Soobin just gives her a smile and says “You’ll see.” as they continue to make their way across the campus until they reach the edge of the school grounds, where a small cabin was located surrounded by a garden.

“This is another part of the campus that I haven’t been to yet.” B says. “Now, I’m really glad that you came, cause I don’t think I would’ve been able to find this place on my own.”

Soobin laughs and says “You’re very welcome, then.” as they step into the threshold of the garden. “B, welcome to the Humane Treatment of Animals, or the HTA in short. The club was established a few years ago when some animal-loving students noticed just how many cats and dogs were freely roaming the campus. They decided to assemble interested members, and with the permission of the school board, they were able to have this small area built within the campus grounds as a donation.”

“That sounds pretty impressive, it’s a good thing that those students took the initiative to do all this.” B says, staring at the establishment in wonder. Soobin leads her to the small cabin and opens the door for her.

As they step into the room, they’re met with the other members and officers of the club welcoming the other students who have signed up. And also, B couldn’t help but let out a little squeal as she saw cats and dogs all around the place, some were peacefully sleeping in random spots, some were rubbing up against the students and asking for attention, and there was one white cat that was right by the door as they walked in, and gave them a little meow.

“Oh my god, who is this cutie?” B says, instantly crouching down to examine the cat, who was rubbing itself against her feet. She offers a hand in front of the cat’s face, and the cat starts to nuzzle its face into her hand, which instantly makes her melt.

“Ah, that little guy’s name is Tobin. He’s the one in the picture I sent you earlier, one of my favorites. He’s very friendly, he loves to get pets and cuddles, but he’ll beg incessantly for food once he gets a whiff of anything that smells delicious to him.” Soobin says, joining B and Tobin on the floor as he crouches down as well.

“So if I join this club, I get to hang out with Tobin and all these animals every Friday?” B asks. “Count me in.”

Soobin grins at her then. “Alright, I’ll get you a copy of the official membership form. Have it filled in before the end of the day. All forms will be collected after the showcase this afternoon, so it gives everyone enough time to finalize which clubs they want to join.”

B shakes her head. “I have zero doubts in my mind that this is the club for me. If you give me the form now, I’ll fill it up and submit it right here, on the spot.”

And so he does.

•°•

B spent the rest of the time for club visitations at the HTA, getting to know the other members and cuddling up with all the animals under the club’s care. When Soobin announced that he had to go to the auditorium to do final preparations for the showcase, B asks him if she could tag along.

“I wanna make sure to get good seats, front row, right in the center.” she says, so Soobin allows it. Once they reached the auditorium, he went backstage with the rest of the organizers and performers, and she secured 3 seats in the front row, texting Yuna and Ryujin to come join her. The auditorium was already fairly full despite there being 30 minutes before the showcase started, and soon enough Yuna and Ryujin walked in and joined her.

The three girls start catching up, talking about everything that had transpired over the weekend, from Hueningkai’s surprise party all the way up to club recruitment day, which Ryujin and Yuna didn’t have much to do with since they had already joined clubs since they freshmen year.

They were so caught up in talking that they didn’t notice how full and busy the auditorium was, and it was only when someone from backstage announced “Please settle down, the showcase will begin in 5 minutes” did they notice how much time had passed since they started talking.

“Wait, there is one thing I’ve been dying to know all weekend.” Yuna asks with a glint in her eye.

“Oh, me too. I think I know what you’re talking about.” Ryujin says, looking at Yuna knowingly.

B looks back and forth to her left and right at the 2 girls. “Well, don’t just look at each other like that, what is it?”

The 2 girls give each other sly smiles before turning to B, who was sitting in the middle of them. “What did you and Yeonjun do during your 7 minutes in heaven?”

B could feel her cheeks heat up, remembering once again what she had been trying to push out of her mind the whole weekend. “Nothing much, we just talked, played 20 questions to pass the time. He was really nice.” she tries to say as casually as possible.

“Come on, you’re blushing like crazy!” Yuna says, laughing at how red B’s face was.

“Spill it!” Ryujin exclaims, poking B’s sides until she finally caved.

“Alright, fine, but promise me you won’t tell a single soul about this. I haven’t told anyone about this, not even Hueningkai, so if this information somehow circulates, I know it’ll be because of you two.” B says reluctantly.

“You know we wouldn’t do that to you.” Ryujin says. “We promise we won’t tell anyone, now spill it.”

B takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh before saying “Yeonjun asked me out.”

Yuna squeals in delight while Ryujin just smirks. “Why am I not surprised.” she says smugly. “So what happened? How was it? Are you two secretly dating now?”

“No no, nothing happened. I turned him down.” B admits, and that’s when Yuna and Ryujin actually looked surprised.

“What? You turned him down? Why?!” Yuna asks, completely baffled.

“He’s my friend, and he’s one of my best friend’s best friends, I don’t wanna mess anything up. Imagine how awkward the group dynamic would be.” B says defensively.

“But it’s Choi Yeonjun!” Yuna exclaims. “Oh gosh, I know I’ve had the biggest crush on Kai in like forever, but if Choi Yeonjun asked me out, I would’ve said yes in a heartbeat.”

“It’s complicated, I just don’t want to complicate things, is all.” B says.

“Yuna, hush, we have to respect B’s decision.” Ryujin says, patting the girl on her knee. “B, how did Yeonjun take it? Are things okay between you two or are they weird?”

“He seemed fine with it, he said he understood, and I don’t sense any awkwardness so far. I told him I liked our friendship too much to risk complicating things, then he said something about our friendship changing in 2 weeks, which I don’t really understand but I laughed it off anyway. I’m hoping that’ll be the end of that and that we’ll be able to move past it without it affecting our friendship.” B explains.

“Wait, what about 2 weeks? What did he say exactly?” Ryujin asks.

“Sounds like he’s got something planned for the next 2 weeks? Is that it?” Yuna asks, intrigued.

“No I don’t think it’s like that. I didn’t really understand, but he said—” B starts, but she gets cut off when the lights in the auditorium suddenly go out and music starts blaring as everyone’s eyes focus on the stage, the showcase starting.

The showcase was interesting and entertaining enough. Each club had an allotted time to present whatever they wanted to. The different sports teams held a short fashion show that showcased each team’s uniforms with each team captain making a short speech to announce tryouts, which earned cheers and cheers from the audience when Yeonjun, Soobin and Hueningkai were spotted strutting on stage wearing their basketball jerseys. The film club presented one of their latest projects. The photography club showed a slideshow of pictures taken earlier that day and the film club put together a video as a sort of highlight reel from the club recruitment day. B had lost count of how many clubs had showed their presentations when the announcer finally said:

“And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, an exclusive performance from the Jazzed Club, starring MO Academy’s very own Student Council! Debuting the club’s latest composition entitled ‘Boy In Luv,’ please put your hands together for Jazzed!”

The screams were deafening as the 5 members of the student council appeared on stage, wearing their school uniforms stylized in different ways.

B had seen them rehearse the choreography at Soobin’s house, but nothing prepared her for their performance.

Kai opened the performance, which immediately got the audience screaming. Next, Beomgyu’s deep vocals dominated the auditorium, and Soobin’s rapping was heard for the very first time, and everyone seemed surprised by how good he was at it, judging by the escalating cheers from the audience when he started.

But nothing surprised B more than when it was Yeonjun’s turn to sing as he was front and center on stage, dancing and expertly making eye contact with the audience. It was no surprise that he was an amazing performer, but what got B’s jaw to drop was when his found somehow found hers in the audience as he rapped the words “But, I’m going to flip the situation, from friends to lovers” and winked right at her before Taehyun took his turn.

When that happened, B felt her heart pound as Ryujin and Yuna each grabbed her arms and started screaming incoherently. She tried her best to focus on the rest of the performance, but all she could think of was Yeonjun and what he just did.

As the performance ended and the 5 boys bowed onstage before waving at the audience once more, B could still feel her heart pounding as she cheered along with the audience.

Kai and Soobin found her face in the crowd and started jumping up and down, waving their arms in the air with excitement. She waved back, cheering as loud as she could, and she could feel her heartbeat start to slow back to normal.

Just then, Yeonjun’s eyes met hers once again, and he gave her a small wave and a bright smile before winking at her once again. And just like that, her heart started to pound again.

“Looks like Choi Yeonjun’s got his eye on you.” Ryujin says in B’s ear.

B puts a hand on her chest, feeling how fast it was beating, and wondering what exactly it meant.

17 notes · View notes

rushingheadlong · 4 years

Text

“It’s Late” Song Analysis (and mini-rant)

Disclaimer: I’m not writing this to argue that Brian didn’t cheat. He did. We’re not debating that today. What we are discussing is the fact that Queen songs frequently have several different layers of meaning and there are other, I think equally valid, interpretations of It’s Late that don’t reduce the song down to just “lol he done cheated”.

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First, let’s acknowledge that the literal story that the song is telling is the ending of a love affair. In Brian’s own words:

“It’s another one of those story-of-your life songs. I think it’s about all sorts of experiences that I had, and experiences that I thought other people had, but I guess it was very personal, and it’s written in three parts, it’s like the first part of the story is at home, the guy is with his woman. The second part is in a room somewhere, the guy is with some other woman, that he loves, and can’t help loving, and the last part is he’s back with his woman.”

Even in that quote Brian is hinting at layers of meaning by saying, “all sorts of experiences” that he had and that he thought other people had. I’ve seen several people criticize this by pointing out that cheating isn’t a universally relatable experience. That’s true, but that criticism is based on the assumption that the song is only about cheating… and I don’t think it is.

There are several reasons I think the song is about other experiences and emotions in Brian’s life beyond just cheating:

Firstly, that above quote - I genuinely do not think that Brian is naive enough to believe that cheating is a universal experience, which makes me suspect that there is more to this song than just that and that there are other things at play here that other people could find relatable.

Brian writes personal songs all the damn time, but they’re very rarely as straightforward as the lyrics would make you believe. ‘39, for example, has sci-fi themes on the surface but Brian has said that it’s also about coming home from a tour and feeling out of place in his “normal” life. Even something like Fat Bottomed Girls, which seems like it should be straightforward about Brian liking heavier woman, has been explicitly confirmed by Brian to be written about Freddie’s choice in partners. (And if you look at the women Brian has dated, you can see that it’s not really about him at all.)

Working off of that, I have a very hard time believing that Brian would want to write a song about his cheating by writing a song explicitly about cheating. Especially considering that Brian referencing his cheating in Now I’m Here is done rather cryptically (“Down in the Dungeon just Peaches and me”) and not anywhere near as obvious as the story in It’s Late. Brian May has a knack for hiding the truth of his emotions deep in his music, and I don’t think a straight-forward reading of the literal meaning of his lyrics will ever pick up on everything that he actually put into the song.

Brian wrote this song not too long after he married Chrissy. (I’m not sure on the exact dates here, but I think he married Chrissy in ‘76 and It’s Late was written probably in late summer of ‘77.) I have a very hard time believing that a recently-married Brian would be either oblivious, uncaring, or malicious enough to write a literal exploit of his cheating into a song that his new wife could end up hearing, and it makes more sense to me for the song to have more layers and be about other things as well rather than assume that Brian’s plan was just to make up another explanation for the song if asked about it.

We have exactly no evidence of Brian having a long-term, recurring affair with a single woman, which is very much what the superficial story of this song is about. (Before anyone starts arguing, “But Peaches!!” - It’s Late was written before Brian reconnected with her at the Jazz party in New Orleans.) So given that there’s obviously some level of fiction being worked into this song, I don’t think it’s a stretch to argue that even if Brian was drawing on his cheating for some of the emotion in the song there are more layers to it than just that.

SO. What else could the song (also) be about?

I would argue that another very valid interpretation of the song is Brian’s feelings of disconnect between his “normal” life and the life of a rockstar in Queen. Yes, I’m sure that includes the cheating, but I don’t think that’s all that Brian is talking about here.

Brian has said in different interviews that he struggled with being a husband and a father because he didn’t know what he was doing. He felt like he was letting his family down by not always being around, and also struggled to fit into a domestic life in the moments when he was home.

Bear in mind that Brian seems incapable of ever slowing down. Today he has multiple large-scale projects that he works on when he’s not actively touring with Queen, but he didn’t have these same sorts of outlets in the 70s and 80s. He didn’t have a private recording studio, he didn’t work with other artists to the same degree that he does now, he didn’t have the Save Me Trust, he wasn’t writing books… you get the idea. So it’s easy to see why he’d struggle to settle into a “normal” life in his moments of downtime, when day-to-day life with his family was so much quieter and calmer than he was used to dealing with.

The general theme of feeling disconnected from a “normal” life is also one that pops up multiple times in Brian’s songs. Like I said before, ‘39 is partially about Brian returning home from tour and feeling like an outsider in his old life. There’s also Leaving Home Ain’t Easy, which addresses the pull between domesticity and touring a little more obviously.

I would also argue that Sleeping on the Sidewalk (which is on the same album as It’s Late) also does this a little with the change from “I may get hungry but I sure don’t want go home” to “I sure do want to go home” in the last chorus. So it’s something that seems to have been on Brian’s mind, at least a little bit, at the same time that he was writing It’s Late.

Like I said before this is also not too long after Brian married Chrissy, and it’s only two years (and two albums) after A Night at the Opera when Queen is still continuing to reach new heights of superstardom. On some level, Brian may have been torn between wanting to marry Chrissy and worrying that he wouldn’t be “doing right” by her by constantly being in the studio or touring and not being around as they started a family together.

Also consider that Brian’s life up until this point has had a very sharp divide between the personal and the professional. Brian continued working on his doctorate thesis for years after Queen formed and only set it aside in 1974, at which point he had a falling-out with his father that was really only put to rest in February 1977 - literally only months before he would have written this song. It’s possible that Brian was feeling frustrated by the fact that he was only just now starting to balance these two parts of his life, and that whatever progress he made was slow and messy and, on some level, “not enough”.

And a lot of the lyrics could support this reading as well:

(Verse 1) And if I say I love you in the candlelight There's no one but myself to blame But there's something inside that's turning my mind away Oh, how I could love you If I could let you stay

Brian is in love with Chrissy, but feels guilty that he’s distracted by Queen affairs. He can tell her that he loves her “in the candlelight”, when they’re actually alone, but he always goes back to the band where Chrissy can’t follow or really “stay” with him.

(Verse 2) Oh, you know that I can love you Though I know I can't be true Oh, you made me love you Don't tell me that we're through

Brian loves being in Queen but he can’t be “true” to the band anymore because he has Chrissy and a future family to think about now. Also, consider the lyric: you made me love you. Brian was always a little reserved about Queen at first, as shown by how long it took him to drop his thesis and commit 100% to the band. But Queen “made [him] love [it]” and now he’s facing a change in the old status quo that he doesn’t know how to handle.

(Bridge) We've been so long trying to work it out

This isn’t a new problem for Brian. He’s been with Chrissy for years at this point and he’s been juggling life with her and life with Queen for most of that time. The difference now is how much the band has taken off over the last year or two and, as a result of that, the new struggles he’s had to face as his two lives diverge even more.

(Verse 3) You say what game are you playing? What's this that you're saying? I know that I can't reply If I take you tonight, is it making my life a lie? Oh, you make me wonder Did I live my life right?

Queen eventually has to go on tour again, and the parting isn’t easy. Chrissy may not be happy that he’s leaving, and Brian feels guilty for being with her in this moment when he’s about to leave her for the next few months. He wonders if he’s doing the right thing by splitting his life between Queen and his new family.

One other lyric that I want to highlight is from the first chorus where Brian asks, Is it just my sickly pride? That’s always struck me as a very strange line to put in a song if it was only supposed to be about cheating… but it kind of makes a lot of sense if it’s about Queen instead, and Brian is questioning whether he’s continuing down this path because he’s too proud to admit that he can’t keep splitting his life between Chrissy and Queen like he has been.

So. There’s that. A whole of lot of reasons why I think it makes more sense for It’s Late to have layers of meaning inside of being about only cheating and nothing but cheating, as well as what I think is another valid interpretation of the song.

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

Also, if I may end this on a slightly different (and much angrier) note:

A lot of Queen songs have multiple layers of meaning and/or are about fictional (or semi-fictional) scenarios. There’s also songs written by John and Roger from when they were married that are clearly not about their wives but, for example, no one listens to “In Only Seven Days” and questions whether John was cheating on Veronica during that week (even though they all cheated - and I know some of you are gonna be angry at me for saying that, but it’s true and I’m not gonna get into debates about that). So it feels a little… weird, I suppose? To have people embrace the many meanings of Queen songs and the fantasies in them, but to limit It’s Late to a single one-dimensional interpretation.

I think it’s disrespectful to Brian to ignore everything that is beautiful in the music and lyrics of this song, and it’s incredibly disrespectful to Queen as a whole to imply that… what? They let Brian record a song explicitly about his cheating and nothing else for laughs? Or that they let themselves be bullied into including it on the album? Because, again, if this is only about Brian’s cheating, that would imply that everyone involved with this song beyond Brian heard it and didn’t point out the potential for Chrissy to be hurt by this - an issue that doesn’t exist, at least not to the same extent, if the others had plausible reasons to assume that the song had more depth to it than just that.

And while I can understand some of the jokes about this song, I think the fandom collectively has reached a point where it’s gone past plausibly funny and straight into hurtful. Ignoring all the shit that gets slung Brian’s way, I just don’t understand how so many people can rail against Brian’s cheating… and then immediately turn around and crack jokes about this song or Chrissy’s reaction to it, in a way that completely trivializes not only her experiences but the experiences of everyone who’s been cheated on.

So yeah. You don’t have to like the song, and I’m not even trying to claim that Brian’s cheating played no role in this. But limiting the song to a one-dimensional interpretation and then cracking endless “jokes”- or worse, using this song to try to draw conclusions about Brian’s or Chrissy’s actions or their relationship- is just a really shitty thing to do.

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

(And one final note: I have zero interest in debating or discussing the morality of anyone’s cheating. Don’t use this post to springboard into conversations that are just about Brian’s cheating and not the song itself - make your own post if you want to talk about that, because I’m not hosting it here.

Also while I’m open to talking about other interpretations of this song if your argument is, “Brian cheated so It’s Late is about his cheating and nothing else!” I’m not having that debate with you.)

#brian #text #ramblings #fuck it here you go have at this #it's only 2k this time so I actually almost managed to rein myself in for once asdfgjkla

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dakotacrisis · 4 years

Text

Deal’s End (5)

Paris and desires are burning this day

(Read on AO3)

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“Up and at em, love.” Felix smacked Marinette awake with a pillow. “Time for school.”

“Since when are you excited to go to school?” Marinette chucked the pillow back at him.

“How about you get up and stop questioning me? We got work to do and a boy’s bed to get you into!”

“Once again, I am only fifteen!” Marinette dropped out of bed.

“Don’t act like you haven’t thought about it.” Marinette tried to speak but Felix cut across her, “And don’t bother lying, you’re hotter than a desert for him.”

“Surprised you didn’t say hot as hell.” Marinette smirked as she went to get dressed.

“Honestly, it isn’t that hot unless you’re at the burning fields.” Felix caught the night shirt she tossed over the screen, “The whole place is more humid than anything which I think is almost worst. It is warm but it is also moist...I do not miss it.”

“Sounds gross.” Marinette emerged from behind the screen now dressed. “I’m gonna grab some breakfast, want me to sneak you anything?”

“A croissant.”

“Nutella to go with it?”

“Always.”

“Got it.” Marinette walked downstairs and ate her breakfast with her family. She smothered a croissant in nutella for Felix and walked out of the house. Felix followed shortly behind munching happily on his food.

“You know, if you just knocked on the front door you could come and eat breakfast with us. My parents never object to another mouth to feed.”

“Nah. This is fine.” Felix jammed the rest of the croissant in his mouth.

As soon as they stepped outside Marinette shrugged off her cardigan. “Nothing I love more than a late spring heat wave. Why is it so hot today?”

“Global warming?” Felix shrugged. They walked into class and it seemed everyone else was feeling the heat despite the air conditioning. Marinette pulled up the forecast and saw that it now predicted a heatwave for the next couple of days before dropping back down to normal temperatures. Looks like sundress season was coming sooner than they thought.

They sat down for class and Ms. Bustier started the lesson by announcing a project. They would be focusing on temptation in literature. Particularly, they were to focus on the classic literary theme of temptation: knowledge, desire and chaos used as a foil to innocence and youth. Such examples being the biblical creation myth, the greek Hades and Persephone myth, Christina Rosetti’s Goblin Market, and Spencer’s The Faerie Queen.

Marinette couldn’t help the look she sent Felix who was pleasantly listening to the assignment. Why did she have the itching feeling he may have dabbled with the lesson plan?

“We’ll be doing these in pairs.” Ms. Bustier pulled out a list, “Alya and Kim. Sabrina and Max. Chloe and Alix. Nino and Ivan. Mylene and Rose. Adrien and Marinette. Juleka and Nathaneal.”

Adrien and Marinette! They were paired?! What miracle was responsible for…

Her glee died down as she cast another glance back at Felix. He gave her a subtle thumbs up.

When she turned back around Adrien was watching her with a smile. “Looks like we’re partners.”

“Yeah, so it seems.” She smiled back.

After explaining the rest of the project Ms. Bustier let them get together to start working. Felix stood off to the side unperturbed by the busy students around him. The teacher hadn’t called his name during the pairings. How could she forget to slot him somewhere? Or more likely that was just more of his powers to influence the world around him so he didn’t need to do any actual work. Now that Marinette thought about it she never saw Felix do any assignments but he always turned in homework. Was he miracling his way through the class? What a cheater!

“I’m rather excited about this project.” Adrien took the vacant seat next to Marinette. “It’s so different from what we usually cover in class.”

“It is, isn’t it?” She forced a laugh. They went over the project and created an outline before the bell signaled the end of class. It was a short day so they only had a few more classes before everyone departed the school.

Marinette pinched Felix’s arm as they left. “Did you have something to do with the lesson plan today?”

“Who? Me?” Felix feigned innocence, “What makes you think that I would ever do something like that?”

“The exploration of temptation in period literature? You want me to believe that it was one big coincidence?”

“I gotta have some fun. Also, I worked hard enough creating that lesson plan last night while you were up in your room doodling. I was gonna see some fruition with it!”

“Wait, you actually created the project? You didn’t just put the idea in the teacher’s head?”

“I am a rather smart demon with an affinity for literature. I saw an opportunity and I took it.”

“Felix, the demonic teacher. It sounds like the plot of an anime.”

Marinette was in a happy mood as she ascended the steps up to her room. Maybe she could even work up the courage to text Adrien.

“Whatcha doing?” Felix peered over her shoulder.

“Trying to think of something normal to text Adrien.” She sighed, “You’re my wingman, help me.”

“Got it.” he took the phone out of her hands and turned it off.

“Felix! Why did you do that?” She gaped at him. “I’m finally taking some initiative to be social with my crush and you do this?”

“It’s too soon. You want him to text you first.”

“But--”

“Ah ah ah!” he shushed her, “You asked for my help and you are going to get it and respect my choices. Trust me. It’ll all work out.”

“I hope for your sake it does.”

“Ooh, scary lady.” He tapped the fan and turned it on. “Hmm, I have an idea in the works. I’ll come back to you.”

“Are you actually going to inform me about the plan this time?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you that part one involves you inviting mister perfect over here to work on your project tomorrow.”

“Alright, that shouldn’t be too hard. We do need to work on it after all. What’s part two?”

“Still working on that. But you need to make sure to leave at least a ten minute gap between when you get home and when he comes over.”

“Why?”

“Again, still a work in progress. Just make sure it gets done.”

“Okay.”

The next day after classes concluded Marinette did as Felix instructed and invited Adrien over to her house to study.

“Sounds good.” Adrien nodded. “I need to stop by my house first though. That okay?”

“Perfect. Drop by when you’re done.” There. Adrien was coming over and she had some time to kill before he did.

While Marinette was trusting that whatever Felix was planning was going to help she couldn’t help but add a little something to the afternoon. She had mentioned to her parents she was going to bring Adrien over to the house to study and requested that they make them a special snack. They knew how she felt about him so they were only too eager to help in any way they could.

After school let out and Marinette went back to the bakery she picked up the box her dad had prepared and went upstairs.

“What’s in the box?” Felix asked trying to open it. “Did you order something special for me for being such a great wingman?”

“You wish.” Marinette held the box out of his reach. “These are passion fruit eclairs with italian meringue that I asked my parents to make special since passion fruit is Adrien’s favorite flavor. So keep your hands off them!”

“That’s not fair! Just one!” He reached again.

“Back off devil boy!” She unlocked the apartment door. “If there are any leftover you can--oh my god why is it so hot in here?!”

“Hoo, yeah, it is definitely toasty in here.” Felix pulled on his collar. “I knew it was gonna be warm but damn this is better than I could have imagined.”

“You would like this.” Marinette set the box in the fridge to keep cool. “Remind you of home?”

“Vaguely. But this is all part of the plan.”

“Plan? Wait, did you turn off the air conditioning?” Marinette sneered. “Felix! It is a billion degrees in here!”

“I know, which is why you should change into something more comfortable.” He handed her a stack of clothes he wasn’t holding before.

“Are you dressing me now?” Marinette looked at the outfit choice. A pair of shorts and a crop top. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“I cannot wear this in front of him!” She threw the shirt at him. “Also, when were you in my closet?”

“That’s not important. What is important is that you go get dressed. Adrien may be here any minute.”

“I am not putting this on!”

“Listen, a little primal attraction can help turn the tide of emotion. At the very least seeing you in that outfit should put some saucy thoughts in his head which is a step of getting you out of the friend-zone.”

“It seems dirty though.”

“It’s not like I’m telling you to lounge on the couch in your birthday suit while smooth jazz plays. It is literally just a peek of flesh. Also, you two kept making those food puns yesterday so he’ll appreciate the shirt.”

“All This & Dim Sum.” Marinette sighed as she looked at the cute little cartoon of dim sum. “Fine. I’ll wear it. But I swear if this backfires I am going to invest in a holy water spray bottle.”

Despite her better judgement Marinette changed into the outfit. It was more of something she’d wear around the house by herself. Not for what was essentially a study date. Hopefully Adrien didn’t think it was too weird.

“Now that’s much better.” Felix smiled when she reappeared. “Looking hot, love!”

“Yeah, it’s a million degrees in here!” Marinette grabbed a glass of water.

“That not what I--nevermind.” Felix was looking a little feverish himself.

A knock on the door startled them both. “Lover boy is here.” Felix walked up to Marinette’s room. “Good luck, hot stuff.”

Marinette shook her head. He was so weird. She took a deep breath and braced herself as she opened the door. “Hey Adrien, glad you could come over.”

His gaze raked over her none too subtly and she noticed him visibly gulp. “Me too.” His voice broke and Marinette tried not to laugh. “Ahem, I mean uh…it’s kinda hot in here isn’t it?”

“The air conditioning broke. Poor timing for it too.” She shrugged. “But once you get used to it it isn’t that bad.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Adrien stepped inside. They set up on the couch to work and Marinette grabbed them both something cold to drink so they weren’t dying of heat stroke.

Things were going well enough and they were getting a lot of work done. The only problem was that Adrien was intentionally avoiding looking directly at her the entire time. She knew it! This outfit was uncomfortable for the both of them.

“What are you doing?” Felix popped up next to her out of nowhere.

She yelped and bumped into Adrien. “Something wrong?” Adrien asked. He looked at where Marinette was staring but saw nothing.

“Uh nothing, sorry, thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye.” She laughed it off. She glared back at Felix after Adrien looked away. ‘What?’ she mouthed.

“Make a move already.” Felix said, “It has been painful watching you two dance around each other like this.”

She gave him another look as if to say, ‘What do you want me to do?’

“Put this,” he grabbed her hand, “here.” He placed it on Adrien’s thigh.

Oh god...what had he done? Adrien looked over at her with wide eyes. She couldn’t look away and curse Felix out for doing this. She’d look insane. Not that she didn’t look insane right now with her hand still on Adrien’s thigh and nothing to say! Felix put her in this mess and wasn’t helping her get out of it.

“Uh,” she removed her hand, “Would you like a snack?” Her voice was at least three times too high to be normal.

“Oh, um, sure.” His face was impossibly red.

“Cool.” Marinette darted from the couch to grab the eclairs out of the fridge. She passed Felix and shot him a dirty look. He was gonna get an earful later.

She plopped back down on the couch with the box in her lap. “Here,” she opened it, “They’re passion fruit.”

“Really?” Adrien shifted so he could get a closer look. Their legs were touching! “Passion fruit is my favorite.”

“I know.” Marinette smiled nervously. Adrien looked her back in the face with a smile that matched her own.

“I didn’t say anything earlier but that is a cute shirt.” Adrien pointed, “Did you make that?”

“This? Oh no, I bought it at this little boutique. Half the clothes in there have puns of some sort on them.”

“Sounds like my kind shop.” Adrien laughed.

“Yeah, if you want crop tops or bodysuits.” She grabbed an eclair.

“You...uh...you shop there often?” Adrien mumbled between bites.

“Why you wanna know? Want to see if I have matching booty shorts?” She teased.

Adrien’s face caught fire once again. Where had that come from? Felix was still in the corner and gave her a double thumbs up. She was hanging around this demon too much. He was rubbing off on her. She never would have dared say something so cheeky before.

Felix disappeared again and Marinette decided to cool off with the flirting.

They finished their work early and Marinette walked Adrien to the door. “Sorry about the heat.” She apologized, “But at least we finished the project.”

“Yeah.” Adrien looked her over one more time. “Hopefully next time I’m over the A/C will be working.”

Marinette’s heart leapt at the thought of him coming over again. “Yeah, totally,” She grinned. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school then.”

“See you.” Adrien opened the front door and ran into Felix who was waiting on the other side. “Oops, sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Felix shrugged and strolled inside. “It is a sauna in here! What were you two crazy kids getting up to?”

“Our project.” Marinette flicked the side of his head. “What are you doing here?”

“I was informed there was food.” Felix eyed the box of leftover eclairs. He grabbed it before looking back at Marinette. “Looks like the pastries aren’t the only snack in here. Looking good, Marinette!”

“Felix!” Marinette screeched. Adrien was right there!

“What?” he shoved an entire eclair in his mouth, “Adrien, lad, don’t you agree?”

“I uh…” Adrien looked down sheepishly.

“On second thought, she isn’t a snack.” Felix shook his head and leaned closer to Adrien, “She’s the whole damn meal.”

“Out!” Marinette shoved him out the door. “Take the eclairs and go!”

“Touchy.” Felix rolled his eyes. “I’m leaving. See ya!” Felix rushed downstairs and into the neighboring apartment he supposedly lived in.

“I’m sorry about him.” Marinette sighed, “His people skills are not the best.”

“He is certainly outspoken.” Adrien chuckled. “But he was right about one thing.”

“What?”

“You look good.” Adrien nodded. “You always look good.”

“Oh,” Marinette blushed, “Thank you.”

With that Adrien left leaving Marinette with a lot fo warring feelings in her head. She wanted to ring Felix’s neck for his interference but in the end it had worked. Adrien had been flirting with her. Adrien thought she looked good! She was gonna swoon!

“I think that went rather well.” Felix appeared next to her with a now empty eclair box. “Don’t you?”

“YOU!” Marinette seethed. “What was that! What were you thinking? Why did you put my hand on his thigh like that?!”

“Cause you weren’t making a move!” He snapped his fingers and the air turned back on instantly cooling the room again. “And look what happened. Everything turned out fine.”

“And your intrusion right at the end?”

“I was aiming just to get the eclairs before you could offer the rest of them to mister perfect. But I saw another opportunity to talk you up and I think it still worked out.”

“Whatever,” Marinette sighed. “I’m too sweaty and frazzled to deal with you right now.”

She looked up at him and swiped a bit of cream off his face. She popped the finger in her mouth licking the cream off. “I’m gonna get a shower.”

“Right.” Felix nodded furiously. “I’m gonna throw this box away.”

Felix quickly exited the room.

“Okay?” What was his problem? Did he forget there was a garbage can right here? He was out of her hair at least. She bound into the bathroom to wash away the grime of the hot afternoon. Tomorrow was another day and with it was most likely another plan of Felix’s that she needed to be ready for.

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(1) (2) (3) (4) (6)

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(tagged)

@sannsibarr @miss-mysterys-blog @maribug-adrienoir @mermaidreject @corabeth11 @goblinwhoships @symwinter

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #felix #felinette #demon au #writing

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sleepykittypaws · 3 years

Text

The Christmas House

Original Air Date: November 23, 2020 (Hallmark) Where to Watch?: Hallmark will replay it multiple times this season, and for every season in perpetuity

It's impossible to review Hallmark's The Christmas House without noting that this time last year, then-Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott was personally taking phone calls from a SPLC-designated hate group, and pulling a Zola ad showing two brides chastely kissing from his network, at that hate group's behest. The ensuing firestorm of well-earned criticism following Abbott's bad judgement, is, without question, what brought us to today, with Abbott ousted, a woman of color, Wonya Lucas, now at Hallmark's helm, and a still totally G-rated holiday lineup that now regularly features former Hallmark no-gos like, interracial romance and LGBTQ+ inclusion, improving Hallmark's abysmal diversity record, one movie at a time.

So, even though Hallmark had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, it's still hard not to be at least a little emotional that they're finally joining us here. The bigots are still having online temper tantrums about losing their all-white, all-straight safe space, but Hallmark's holiday ratings are up 7% year-over-year—a significant jump in a world where cable subscriptions are declining by 10-15% annually.

Now, what that progress looks like on a network known for being “clean,” conservative and about as unwilling to take risks as any channel on the planet, is another story. Frequent Hallmark star, and out gay actor, Jonathan Bennett, has been tirelessly talking about The Christmas House, since the day it went into production. And Bennett brings a lot of energy to this ensemble story, written by co-star Robert Buckley, of a family getting together to decorate their home one more time before it's sold.

Buckley and Bennett play the sons of Sharon Lawrence and Treat Williams, a recently retired couple struggling with that fundamental shift in their relationship. Buckley is the star of a ridiculous court show, Handsome Justice, of which we luckily get to see a clip, and Bennett, a baker, and his husband, played by Brad Harder, are waiting to hear about an adoption, after several previous disappointments.

Bennett and Buckley bring more humor than is normal for Hallmark to their portrayal of loving, competitive brothers, who clearly enjoy ribbing each other.

How conservative was past hallmark, you ask? Well, that Buckley's girl-next-door love interest is divorced, not widowed, is still a somewhat shocking twist in that world, as is the fact that both Buckley and Bennett are "allowed" to sport some facial scruff, rather than be clean shaven. Oh, and that the family next door is (gasp) Latino, is also something we likely wouldn't have seen in the Hallmark of yore. All of which is just mind-blowing, since those “days of yore” for this TV network were [checks notes]…2019, not 1968.

Lawrence and Williams are believable as a long term couple, and their life-change struggle to re-center their relationship feels real, but the way it's revealed is almost as anti-climactic as its resolution. The movie laid very unsubtle hints along the way—all storytelling progress aside, Hallmark movies are still written so you can half watch and not a miss a thing, allowing folks to join 20 minutes in, or do the dishes and come back without being confused—that Williams and Lawrence's wanting to have "one last Christmas" was about more than just downsizing in retirement.

When Lawrence told the story of the clearly-actually-brand-new-and-from-Homegoods Santa pot, and what it meant to her, I thought Williams was going to later accidentally break Checkov's sentimental teapot and, in her anger, Lawrence would blurt out something about that's why they were separating, shocking their grown sons.

And, honestly, as predictable as that would have been, it would probably have had more impact than what did happen…Lawrence just casually telling Buckley while stringing lights, and then nobody really mentioning it again, excepting oblique references during a single conversation between the brothers, and then Lawrence just announces at breakfast that they're not doing that after all.

Definitely feels like Hallmark's aversion to conflict in its stories is one of those provisions that is still firmly in place. (We saw a similar unwillingness to commit to actual marital difficulties, despite that being the central plot point, in Cranberry Christmas.)

Which is too bad, because Lawrence and Williams being much better than the actors usually used for these parent roles, could have handled a more realistic story well, and brought some real emotional beats to the movie.

As expected, Buckley's romance with Ana Ayora was the definite A-plot here, but why did their memory lane rekindling catalyst have to be close-up magic, the worst of all entertainment options? Was there no mime troop they could have been teenage members of? When it comes to magic, and jazz, I'm like Indiana Jones and snakes…Why'd it have to be magic?

Also, no way that 29-year-old guy they have playing "teenage" Mike grows up to be Robert Buckley. Nope! They definitely had to soft focus all the mostly unnecessary flashback scenes so that those actors, easily less than a decade younger than our leads, didn't quite look their age.

And, c'mon, Buckley, who, again, is the star of his own TV show, gives the love of his life a necklace he bought…in high school? For real? I'm surprised we couldn't see her neck turn green in real time. At least get a gal a little upgrade. Sheesh!

The whole rival real estate agent thing went nowhere. And what was that subplot even supposed to be about? Would have much rather seen a scene from the Handsome Justice episode where Buckley's character defended a dog accused of murder, than that whole waste of time.

On the other hand, loved the Grift body spray mentions, and so glad we go to see that ad. Hallmark doesn't do subtle—"But will they get it?" is basically the network's motto—but this is one case of subtext just being text that worked.

Oh and, how did his parents buy a house on the Hudson river just by selling a nice, but fairly average, suburban home? Sure, they said it was a fixer upper, but anything on the water is gonna be way more pricey than where they were, and you've still got to have the cash to do the fixing. Also, you know the old adage about how nothing soothes a struggling marriage like a whole house renovation project, amirite?

Speaking of money…Why didn't Buckley just buy his folks the house right away if he didn't want to see it go? I mean, even if he's only a mid-level TV star, this wasn't some extravegent manse, and certainly wouldn't be an unusual thing for a well-off child to do for their middle-class parents. Why all the rigamarole with the weird guy and the rescinded offer? And, like, what was that all about? So many stories I'd have rather seen from this talented cast than some of the filler we actually got.

Harder didn't get nearly enough to do, but he and Bennett had decent chemistry and they got most of the best lines. The joke about "Will we decorate like this for our kids," and Bennett's emphatic, "No," cut the tension of an emotional scene well, with perfect timing, making it actually, laugh out loud funny—a Hallmark rarity. And when Harder appears in doorway after hearing from the adoption agency, and Bennett knows just by looking at his face what the call said, I got emotional.

That all the couples in this one got to kiss, including Bennett and Harder, is important. With the specter of last year's Zola debacle absolutely lingering over the entire movie, it's hard to think of a better, actual example of #LoveWins, than that moment.

I also teared up when we saw Bennett and Harder's family at the end, not only because it was a long overdue Hallmark milestone, but also because Harder's real-life son, Kael, played he and Bennett's on-screen adopted child, and is just so stinking cute.

Am I giving this bonus points for finally having an LGBTQ+ storyline, even if it was pretty far from the foreground? For sure. But Buckley and Bennett also brought humor and heart to this one, of a variety not usually found on Hallmark, and Lawrence and Williams also upped the ante on the quality here. Notable that Hallmark also sprung for two actual, name-brand holiday songs, so they were willing to spend a little bit of extra cash on this effort, which says more about their “commitment to diversity” than years of empty promises ever did.

Would have liked House even more, if Hallmark had been brave enough to swap the storylines; Bennett falling in love the boy next door, and Buckley and his bride waiting to hear about adoption, but barring that, do wish it had been bit more of a true ensemble (i.e. all three love stories had equal weight).

Despite quibbles, I'm still putting this on top of the 2020 Hallmark heap, at least for the moment, because I laughed, I cried and I felt good about the progress that has been made, no matter how long overdue it is.

As I've said so many times, representation really does matter, particularly on a channel like Hallmark, which caters to exactly the audience that most needs to see LGBTQ+ people laughing, living and loving, just like every other family.

Representation really can change lives. It opens hearts and minds. It can help those struggling within themselves feel seen and worthy. Really can not underestimate how transformative these normalizing glimpses can be, particularly for a network like Hallmark, with a large "conservative" audience.

"Conservative" is in quotes, because there's nothing genuinely conservative about human rights, and respect for those unlike you. Empathy and acceptance for others should be a baseline standard for living in a society—not a political statement.

No one has the right to deny someone else's humanity, and someone's choice to hold hate in their heart deserves no respect from Hallmark, or society at large. Really hopeful that some kid out there who feels excluded and awful about themself because their family and upbringing has told them everything they're feeling is wrong and sinful, can now see representation like this on their family's safe space TV channel, and know it's going to be OK.

It's a small step, but it's definitely a good one, and I'm really looking forward to the actual lead LGBTQ+ holiday romances coming soon, like Hulu's Happiest Season (Nov. 25), Lifetime's The Christmas Setup (Dec. 12) and Paramount Network's Dashing in December (Dec. 13), and hoping Hallmark joins that club in 2021.

Until then…

Final Judgement: 3 Paws Up

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