#Justin’s ready for battle

[ghostslazy]

Extremely rough first stab at the Taz Vs. Dracula lineup bc I love them all so so much already and don’t have the time to finish a lineup of characters for fun rn 🥲

Close up sketches, design notes and surprise drac under the break:

Travis’ characters are always the hardest for me to design idk why, but I made him very western inspired with some vampire hunting flair. Lady Agatha Thistle’s breed was one I hadn’t heard of before but I love a good blood hound. I always end up making Travis’s chapters warm toned, they’re all very red/orange coded to me. (Beef would be the exception I think he’s very pink and blue in my mind)

Clint always makes the sweetest roundest characters I love designing his. I wish we had a cannon spelling because there’s so many directions you can go with “Filo” also his characters are usually green or green adjacent to me. I cant wait to see him bust out more booger potions

Justin never misses with a character and I cling onto every single one he makes so quickly and violently it’s getting embarrassing. I like the idea that she would still dress extremely fancy and posh even tho her new body should be in some battle ready armor. Also I made her blue since she is a Frankenstein’s monster and most likely wouldn’t have the blood flow to have a human color. Plus I love the monster high color palettes so I’m referencing a little bit. Justin has very cool coded characters to me, lots of blue and purple and forest greens.

Probably not sticking with this Dracula design but I want him to love a bit more silly and slick, I think having him be lanky and shorter will pair him very well against our rough and rowdy boys

[froggywentaprincin]

Types of TikTok’s EAH characters have

Sparrow: 30% band promotion, 70% random fuckery

Hopper: poetry, frog content, complaining about his love life

Daring: those tiktoks where guys basically do NOTHING and get hundreds of thousands of likes

Madeline: tea recipes, tea shoppe promotion, answers comments asking about wonderland but her answers seem to make no sense

Briar: get ready with me, tiktok dances

Lizzie: fashion, sewing, wonderland bragging

Apple: a day in the life of

Raven: experimental videos to find what she likes, makeup, spells, rebel advocating

Darling: subtle how-to content for damsels who want to save themselves, snippets of wonderland with no context

Ashlynn: gf/bf content, nature aesthetic, hauls, has a second TikTok specifically for her shoe store

Hunter: archery, those how-to videos from buff guys with their shirts off that totally aren’t looking for compliments

Humphrey: rapping, makes fan edits of his own music, statistical probabilities

Dexter: fan edits, story times

Chase: videos of battle training

Kitty: pranks, duets people just to giggle snidely

Duchess: dancing videos (her own, not tiktok dances), bragging story times (mostly things that didn’t actually happen)

Justine: dancing videos (her own AND tiktok dances), ballerina content

Ramona: duets and judges/taunts other people

Cerise: athleticism, pranks, duets videos of people cooking meat

Blondie: basically the same as her mirrorcast, tiktok trends

Cupid: love advice, makeup videos

Cedar: art projects

Rosabella: womens rights, animals rights, disability rights, background characters rights,

Courtly: clowncore

Ginger: baking content

Nina: perspective videos

Alistair: travel content, duets those see-if-you-can-find videos

Bunny: plays filter games, duets satisfying content

Meeshell: asmr

Faybelle: pranks, cheerleading

Holly: hair business content, turns into gossip

Poppy: hair business content behind the scenes

Farrah: transformation videos

Crystal: makeup, snowy aesthetics

Jackie: pranks

Northwind: snowball fights

Melody: MUSIC, her remixes, requested remixes, tiktok dances

Jillian: athleticism, doing dares, parkour

Tiny: advocates for giant-sized accessibility, prospective videos, you still can’t see his giant face because his phone is so small everything’s blurry

Gus & Helga: sing if you would eat it

[st4rbe0m]

PAIRING ▸ Choi Yeonjun x reader

SUMMARY ▸ On a hazy summer evening, where the air hung low above everyone like a buzzing, heated static, you met Choi Yeonjun in a new light. And he met you, not for the first time maybe, but definitely in a more impacting way. A second, first meeting. And with that second, first meeting came the idea to strike a deal - a mutual agreement to help both parties out favorably, till the end of summer. Luckily, or unluckily, it just so happens that the summer doesn't last forever.

GENRE ▸ strangers to lovers, highschool au, fake dating au, suggestive scenes, includes kissing, jock Yeonjun, kinda nerdy (?) reader (they're friends with Soobin and Beomgyu if that helps), fluff with angst, includes underage drinking and swearing.

PLAYLIST ▸ High School in Jakarta by NIKI, I Like Me Better by Lauv, Bubble Gum by NewJeans, Ghosting by TXT, Ditto by NewJeans, small town by Clara Benin.

WC ▸ 12.9K words

A/N ▸ She's finally here 😭🥹 I'm quite proud of this one guys. It's loosely based off my own high school relationship (which unfortunately, didn't end as great as this fic did). It's also my first time writing such a long story, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it, and please do let me know how you guys felt about it. Love you!!

PART OF THE ANTHOLOGY SERIES

The world as you know it is ending. There’s meteors and asteroids crashing down, balls of fire and smoke rapidly descending on your world. The world you’d built since middle school. 

Not the world as we know it, of course. No, the world with its 8 billion population and sprawling cities and countries wasn’t coming to an end - but it was your world, with its own islands and own niches coming down to debris rapidly. 

Your world meant the things you did - it meant how you stayed up all night on school nights to play Minecraft with Soobin and Beomgyu, your two closest friends since childhood. It means the music you listened to. Usually that included whatever preppy tune that used to overtake the charts. The One Direction boys’ perfect harmonies were all the rage of 2014. Justin Bieber had the hearts of young girls by the fist. But that was middle school. That was 2014, which ended a few months ago. 2015 was the incoming year of the new batch of freshmen in their town’s high school. 2015, and there’s new artists and new bands and new games. It’s 2015 and the world you crafted with wide-eyed dreams and glitter pens is over, and the swooping lurch of reality hits you square in the chest just as the summer heat settles over everyone. 

The First Summer - summer before freshman year 

“Soobin, can you pay attention maybe? Fucking hell.” Beomgyu’s loud usually. Beomgyu’s louder when irritated however. And today he decided to be loud, irritated and angry, and the unnecessary screaming match between Soobin and Beomgyu was just the strike of the match of patience you had needed. “Enough!” Seriously, if you’re gonna fight this much, just beat each other up! I’d rather have you both in battle than this silly screaming match.” Your voice is shrill and the annoyance is heavy. Yet, it does nothing to affect the pair. Instead, all they did was give short laughs. “You can’t shout at us like that you '', the pouty eyes and whining tone of Beomgyu softened you up immediately, and you grinned back with a retaliation ready. “Beomgyu, let Soobin text his sweetheart next door, or else he’ll wilt like a plant deprived of sunlight.” The statement leaves the both of you in a fit of giggles the moment the entire sentence left your lips, and left Soobin to be the pouting one this time. “What do you both even know? To be in love with someone?”, the dramatics were oozing off Soobin, the sore subject of his very strong feeling for his next door neighbor making him more susceptible to teasing from you and Beomgyu. “And what do you know? You haven’t confessed either!”, accusatory, as you told him. It would be wonderful, absolutely delightful for Soobin to pull up his big boy pants and finally ask the other girl out. Not only because they’d make a delightful couple, but also because maybe he’d shut up about the qualms of unrequited (which honestly was quite requited if he just stopped being so blind) love. 

“How’s the existential crisis popping along, you? Are we still the lamest duo you could hang out with that will kill your nonexistent street cred?”. Chucking a throw pillow at the boy, you sighed, the dramatics being your concern now. “You guys don’t get it, do you? This is highschool. The real deal. The next four years of people’s cherished memories.” “You want to peak in highschool badly, don’t you?” “Shut up Soobin!”

They wouldn’t get it. They wouldn’t get how highschool mattered to you. How being 15, then 17, then 18 happens only once in life. You’re young in love as a teenager once, and you’re living life on the cusp only one. Romanticizing highschool was a silly cliche, and you were by no means a daydreaming romantic (Eh, maybe sometimes). But living, to experience, to feel, to love, meant something to you. It meant something to the little girl who watched those romcoms in the darkness of her room on a blue light screen. Watching how wonderful guys fell in love with wonderful girls. Watching how the boy loved the girl regardless of status quo. High School was a lake and you were a small pebble ready to skim its surface with accuracy and precision. 

“Are you Machiavelli or something? Stop making that scheming face, seriously. It’s giving me the creeps I’ll be honest. This just resulted in another pillow to the face.

The summer heat, a slow wave of buzzing energy that rolled over the entire town, made most of its residents lethargic. But lethargy wasn’t an option for 15 year olds, especially 15 year olds in the Y/L/N household. Several nags and a good scolding from your mother had you working at the convenience store two blocks down. A job that you were certain of, might just be the first of its kind in the way it could kill the employee of boredom. “At least you get the AC. And us!”. Huening Kai was an absolutely wonderful person. Honestly, there was no way to say anything negative according to you, which made Taehyun roll his eyes often. The two boys would frequent the store often. The first day because Kai was craving an ice pop to battle the heat. But once the pair had seen you prettily working the register all by your lonesome, and the boys not having anything interesting to while away their time with, began to visit you on your shifts, eating the almost expired stock and chitchatting. 

Even from the corny sentence Kai had just said, you could only bring herself to frown, but not get annoyed at the sunshine boy. The summer reinvention was in full swing. Calling it a reinvention made you uncomfortable sometimes. It was just a few tweaks right? It’s not like you were going to lose yourself completely.  A harmless fine-tuning of the machinery, shinier gears and fancier covering.

Convenient store afternoons were idyll - no customers, and usually no Kai and Taehyun, who’d take the most deep afternoon naps they could take. Today, however, they’d decided to forego the naps, and they hung around the back, to analyze which candy was the best for the summer. 

You're sitting at the till, bright light shining right through the spotless plexiglass, hair gently swooping over your face, illuminating the strands. There’s a slight breeze from the droning AC that cools whatever sweat was beading your forehead. A lazy afternoon, light and airy, with the low hanging summer making the world around simmer like a boiling pot. It was this afternoon, that the bell tinkled as the convenience store’s door opened, the sound jingling faintly over the sound of buzzing cicadas and grasshoppers. It was this afternoon, uneventful like the rest, until it wasn’t - that you looked up to meet the eyes of Choi Yeonjun. 

“Any ice cream?”, the older boy asked, eyes shining like two pebbles under a clear lake on a summer’s day. Breaking out of your stupor, you just nodded, a bit frantic considering how you were caught in such an awkward way. Brushing whatever hair that had surrounded your face, you got up with a slight metallic screech of the chair you sat at, stumbling to where the freezer was. Opening up the box, you gestured to an assortment of cold treats that were laid out for the customers. Humming to himself, Yeonjun just scanned the ice creams, then shifted his eyes to you. You, who was already staring at his sharp side profile, the way the sunlight seemed to poke out from the sharp bridge of his nose to the way his lips seemed more plump than they were with the way he was chewing at them. Making eye contact with him, he simply asked with a slight smirk, “What do you suggest?”. “Huh?”, you asked dumbly, not catching his question with the way you were busy ogling the older boy. “Which flavor do you like?”, “Oh! Personally, I’d say you can never go wrong with chocolate. The chocolate chip choco cones are wonderful for this season. But if you need something to beat the heat, a lime popsicle would be the best.” “You seem to have a PhD in ice cream.”, the boy teased, as he eyed the way your cheeks grew warmer and your pupils widening slightly at his jest. “Oh sorry if that was too much! Um yeah, I guess th-that’s my suggestion.”, hurriedly avoiding his eyes and going back to gesturing at ice creams. A pale veiny hand reached into the ice box to pick out two ice creams - a choco chip cone and a lime-berry popsicle. Slightly waving the two at you with a smile, he proceeded to strut up to the counter, head turned back at you as he said with a voice that made your heart constrict and release butterflies, “ Why not both then? Can’t go wrong with recommendations from the master, can I?”. If it wasn’t obvious before, it was quite obvious now. You were absolutely enamored by Choi Yeonjun. Hurrying up to the counter and reciting his bill, he paid the money and a bit extra with a wink, for the “pretty cashier at the register who has a thesis on sweet treats.”. And just as easily he’d appeared, with a flirtatious smile and charm to knock any girl off her feet, Yeonjun was gone from the store, with ice cream and quite possibly your senses and bearings. “TweedleDee and TweedleDum, you can come out now. I can see the tops of your head. I can also feel your annoying presence”, you groaned as a sheepish Hueningkai and Taehyun appeared, both clamoring about how they didn't “mean to eavesdrop” and how “they were leaving the back store room when they say the interaction between you and Yeonjun take place.” But honestly, that wasn’t your biggest concern right now. The two kids were harmless, anyways. What concerned you was how the image of those dazzling eyes wouldn’t leave your head. How smooth his voice was when he spoke to you. For someone ready to break out of the daydream land you found yourself in, Choi Yeonjun was insistent to keep you under. And for him, maybe going breathless was worth it. 

The Second Summer - summer before junior year

It’s 2018 and it’s the end of your life. Well, to be fair, your life has been “ending” since freshman year, and your two friends have been watching you become the one who cried wolf every single time. “You don’t get it Soob,” with the cellphone perched on your shoulder, “I don’t know how you and Beomgyu aren’t freaking the hell out right now.” Soobin lets out a disinterested hum, deciding to conference Beomgyu in, because why would he be the sole victim to this torture? Sitting down on the bed with a force and a breath of indignation leaving your lips, you just continue your rant. “Soobin and Beomgyu. This is the year it gets real. College prep. Entrance exams. Volunteering and extracurriculars. Don’t you get it? At least Rin gets it. Rin’s with me-” “And that must suck for you, Soobin” a teasing Beomgyu interrupted, while Soobin stayed wordless, probably sulking behind the phone, too pouty to retaliate. This sudden remembrance made you laugh, and joining in on the fun, you said, “Yeah Soobs, how have you still not gotten the balls to ask her out?”, but you regretted the words that came out of your mouth, immediately anticipating what was coming and what's next. And just as you predicted, Soobin launched off on his monologue, “Crushing on Yeonjun isn’t a problem then huh? What about that? You’ve spent a year and half pining for the most wanted guy in the school, Y/N? Isn’t that funny?”, all the words spilling out in a single breath of a sentence. “Alright Soobin, I’ll lay off your case if you lay off mine. Besides, it’s easier to target Beomgyu, no?”. And with that the bickering went off again, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. 

A lot has changed since that summer in freshman year, with the chance encounter with Yeonjun. For one, you stopped working there the moment summer ended, which disheartened you slightly considering you would see less of Huening Kai and Kang Taehyun, the two boys you’d grown quite fond of in this short span of time. But the missing soon expired the moment the duo entered highschool themselves in your sophomore year, growing slightly closer to your friend group despite the year’s gap in age. They were the new addition along with Rin, Soobin’s neighbor and longtime crush, to your lunch table. A moment in time where SAT scores and classes, crushes and heartbreaks ceased to exist, and it was just your friends and you, suspended in an emulsion of feelings of friendship, and youth. 

Another thing that had changed since that summer was you yourself. Though your reinvention didn’t go the way you had planned - you still had matured. The crybaby 14 year old had grown into someone who knew how to stand up for themselves. The same person who’d spend nights crying because of mismatched schedules was moving up the academic ladder. 

And reappearing on that same lunch table on the first day of sophomore year, and then sticking it out till the end of the academic swing, with a whole new set of expectations crammed into binders and assignments, and the promise of new memories to make, was your friend group and you - a couple of kids ready to take on the world. Hand in hand, laughter shared and fondness obvious, it was going to be a good summer. You could feel it, in the jokes Beomgyu shared and the shrieking laugh Kai let out without fail. Grinning along to their antics, your eyes scanned the lunchroom.

One thing hadn’t changed with the seasons, and that was your fascination with the school’s IT boy, Choi Yeonjun. A wonderful enigma - athletic, kind and good looks all combining to create the most perfect gentleman you in your years of living had had the chance of meeting. He sat at the table diagonal to yours, and with a piercing heart did you remember that with all the changes, Yeonjun changed too - in the sense that he’d gotten a girlfriend. A girlfriend whom he adored, which was obvious to anyone with two eyes. 16 nearing 17years old and a heartthrob with a heart of gold himself, it was written clear as day in the leaflets of destiny, that Choi Yeonjun would be someone who would make a mile-wide crater of an impact on people’s lives. And as your eyes moved away from where Yeonjun sat with an arm slung around his girlfriend, the disappointment was quite evident in them, that you found yourself locking eyes with Rin, who held a look of pity. Shaking your head and offering a smile that said, “No worries”, you shifted your attention back to your friends. 

Choi Yeonjun may be at a school lunch table less than a foot away from you. But anyone who had lived through the apocalyptic land of highschool could tell that in reality, he was miles away. 

And this summer, he would be light years away - no longer a friendly customer at a convenience store where you no longer worked, but rather a fading memory of a golden summer’s afternoon, where you could for the first time, feel sparks lighting up inside your eyeballs when they looked into his. The first time your heart would do somersaults to be in his presence. The first crush. Your first crush, the golden boy. 

Being in the middle of the food chain of status quo meant having its own advantages and disadvantages. And a certain disadvantage was that sure, you were moderately more liked then the people above you, and you weren’t picked on nor where you shunned into isolation. But it meant that a very mediocre position came with a mediocre life. Your friend group wasn’t the type to be firstly favored to be invited to parties and blowouts with the older kids like some of your peers were. And frankly, your friends weren’t the type to be dying for those coveted invitations either. They were the ones who’d rather watch the Scream movies in order despite the fact that the entire group, minus Taehyun, were deathly afraid of horror movies. And honestly, you were all content with that - to make bad predictions to the endings and have Taehyun poke fun at the way you all fell for the jumpscares every single time.

But to reach to maybe even the periphery of Yeonjun’s area meant having to put yourself out there, just a little bit. And the time was no better than now, when Miyawaki Sakura, the foreign exchange junior you had the opportunity to help out when she first arrived in the beginning of the year, invited you to a blowout on the last day of the school party being held at her place. The lovely Japanese girl, who’d been meek and as quiet as a mouse had blossomed just like the flower her name signified, and grown out of her shell to be one of the rather popular girls in not only her year, but the entire school. Not only was she drop dead gorgeous, but also possessed the kindest of hearts - evident in the way that even after her rise to popularity, she hadn't forgotten the helpful sophomore who had shown her the ropes around school. 

Scoring the invite wasn’t an issue but rather convincing your homebody, introverted friends to tag along was - Taeyhyun and Kai were already on their ways to their respective family homes, so it was between Rin, Soobin and Beomgyu and if luck would have it, all three. 

“Guys please. We always have some other time to do these things - Rin I promise you, I’ll sit and finish the lego set with you myself. Soobin, Gyu - be so serious right now. You’re missing the hottest party of the year to watch freaking anime? Guys please!”. The whining and pleading and pouting along with shining up big puppy-dog eyes at all of them was all you had in your arsenal. “Y/N.” A single, serious utter of your name has you shooting another helpless look Soobin, putting quite possibly all your charm into this one. “We’ll go. Shut the hell up now.”

Jumping up from where you were sat on the floor of his bedroom, you shot off to where he and Beomgyu were on the couch, browsing through streaming services for new animes, to engulf him a bone-crushing hug that had him releasing his own expletives and swears, begging to be released, but chuckling along, nonetheless. Pulling Rin along with you, with a complaint from Soobin and Beomgyu about where the two of you were going off without them, giving a loud laugh, you just called out - “It’s a party, we have to dress up!”

Rin was humming along to whatever pop music had begun auto-playing as the playlist you both had put together for the process had exhausted itself, and it was something neither of you paid mind to, too busy concentrating on fixing eyeliner wings and choosing the right accessories to match your outfits. It wasn’t that you and Rin weren’t friends - no it was great having a girl in the group to help you handle Beomgyu and Soobin’s antics. But it was rather that Rin was the closest to Soobin, which had made conversation stall a bit. Yet the silence was friendly and not awkward at all. A few more beats and a song later, Rin off-handedly mentioned something that had you freezing in your spot. “Now that Yeonjun’s single, it won’t hurt to make your move Y/N.” “Yeonjun single, since when?” you asked perplexed. “But they were sitting together at that table just last week?”. “That’s the thing, Y/N. Right on that very day, Yunha and Yeonjun unexpectedly broke up. There’s no news on why, or how. But many speculate from what they saw that Yeonjun was the one who cut it right off, the one who initiated it.”

Your mind was spinning. A perfect guy and a not-so-perfect girl. What could’ve gone wrong with them? What made them fall apart like that? And so much so - it wasn’t that you were one of those people who would see him as an object on the market again. No, he was fresh off a relationship he recently broke off - and it surely would leave a stain on any person’s life. So many questions and so many feelings, and the nagging reminder of your own crush on Yeonjun felt like an anchor inside you, pulling at your heartstrings in a way that made them creak the most bittersweet tune. A boy you’d loved from afar, was now slightly closer in the binoculars you viewed him with. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still distances away. 

“I don’t think so Rin”, came your thought-out reply. “Freshly broken up with? I don’t stand a chance. Not to mention that it’s not only me, but half the school that likes him”. Looking up to where Rin sat snickering, you pointedly asked her, “What?”. Halting her laughter, she just said with a warm twinkle in her eye, half turned towards you, pulling a hair brush through her locks. “The school may have a crush on Yeonjun, but you, Y/N, are head over heels.”

And this was something that weighed heavily on your mind all the way to the party, crammed in Soobin’s mini SUV which he borrowed from his parents for the night after incessant begging and pleading. Rin had a point, you thought, when you glanced at her from where she sat up front next to Soobin, the two lost in their own lovesick bubble. You really were head over heels of Yeonjun, and it had you tripping on your feet and falling more often than not. Pulling up the street crammed with several other cars, the bass reverberating through a specific house on the cul-de-sac lined curb made it obvious what the destination was. Finally managing to tightly squeeze the car into a spot far down, the four of you made your way down to the house, now emitting different sorts of LED lights and boosting party hits, with a hand wrapped around Beomgyu’s, both of you stuck in your own conversation that was continuing from the car. 

Standing at the door were two heavy-set boys, part of the school football team - Seo Changbin and Lee Chan, both coincidentally being Yeonjun’s closest friends. The fourth of their little musketeer squad was Jung Wooyoung, the wild spirit of a boy, filled with spunk and charisma, was probably inside the house, tearing up whatever makeshift dance floor the party provided. Nodding slightly in recognition at you, no doubt already informed about your invite by Sakura, Changbin just shot you a charming grin, accented with the obvious amounts of copious liquor he’d already downed before your arrival, and said, “You know Y/N, I’m not going to lie, I always thought you were too pipsqueak to come to one of these”. He’d given a look to Chan to man the doors himself for a while, and an unspoken second agreement between the both you couldn’t quite decipher. “Well, I couldn’t turn down Sakura at all”, you laughed sheepishly, flanked by Soobin’s lanky frame who was clutching on to Rin, and Beomgyu next to Changbin, all of you crossing the threshold to the zone of booze, loud music and people ready to share some skin. Changbin seemed insistent to talk to you, for some reason, as he continued, “Whatever magic Kkura played on you, I’m glad it worked, because you’re here.”, he beamed with a confident sort of happiness. “O-oh, me too.”, blinking at the sudden confession. “I’m glad I’m here too. This is Yeonjun’s house, is it?”, you cringed slightly at yourself. Of course it was, everyone knew this was his party. Barking a short laugh, he said, “Yeah, of course. Resident party boy couldn’t help himself on the first day of summer.” You had no idea where Changbin was leading you to, but judging from the way you guys were walking towards an ajar patio door, you figured he wanted you in the backyard to hear you better over the music, where the number of partygoers were much less. Why he wanted to hear you at all, was still a mystery. 

With all the questions and slightly flirty lines being thrown at you from Changbin, you’d managed to completely ignore how you’d lost your friends in the crowd, how Soobin’s comforting presence was not near you, or how you couldn’t hear Beomgyu’s raucous laughter anymore. Finally breathing in the fresh gale of air as you guys stepped on to the wooden flooring of his back porch, it seemed Changbin’s agenda was made clearer - the way he cupped the curve of your cheek, staring deeply into your eyes. And it made you brake in your steps, eyes wide like a deer in headlights. “Y/N. You’re cute. I’m cute. Cuter, maybe”, he giggled with a wink, as the thought that he might be quite tipsy had already washed over you. “Let’s get out of here?”, he said, beckoning towards the back gate of the house. And you, were absolutely fucking frozen. Here was an attractive boy asking you out, and all your stupid mind could think of was how badly you wished this was Yeonjun, and not his friend. And maybe you wished too hard, because from right behind the waiting figure of Changbin seemed to materialize Choi Yeonjun, black hair sticking to his sweaty forehead, smiling lightly as he met your eyes. The sharpness of his nose and the way his eyes seemed to crinkle around its corners. God damnit. Even in the worst of your moments, you seemed to be absolutely haunted by this six feet tall soccer player. 

“Hey, convenience store. Is this guy bothering you?”. Your mouth was open, but it seemed that no words would be coming out anytime soon. Glaring at his friend for icing his game, which just hardened when Yeonjun put an arm around his friend’s plentiful bicep, he just ushered Changbin away from you, still smiling at you as he explained, “He’s quite drunk right now. I’m glad you didn’t answer him anything, I’m surprised this dumbass can even stand on his own two feet, with the way he was pre-gaming before. Again, my bad, uh- what’s your name again? Can’t keep calling you convenience store now, can I?”

Here was Choi Yeonjun, talking to you about more than just ice cream flavors and homework. Here was Choi Yeonjun, helping you from making a dumb move with a drunk guy. Here was Choi Yeonjun, awaiting your response while you continued standing there mum. 

“U-uh yeah! It’s Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N. I worked at the convenience store, yes. But I stopped working there now!”

There was some odd spirit cursing you, for sure. If there was a god of embarrassment, he seemed to have taken a liking to you. 

It seemed that Changbin, who was now reeling from the alcohol in his system, hunched over, ready to hurl, which seemed to distract Yeonjun from your nervous rambling. Hauling his friend over to the side of the patio, he entered with a Changbin hanging limply on his side. Looking back to where you still stood, he just smiled and asked, “You planning to help me out here?”

The floor of the bathroom where Changbin was sitting, curved into the toilet bowl, spilling his guts out was cold. Cold enough to make you and Yeonjun move to the baby blue ceramic tile bathtub, knees pulled into your chest while Yeonjun’s long ones were draped over the rim of the tub. Honestly, your jitters are much less now. The nerves had already made you almost forget what a disaster the first meeting with Yeonjun was, and it seemed he paid no mind to it either. “So Y/N, how do you know Kkura?”. And thus began a short and simple conversation with Choi Yeonjun in a baby blue bathtub, while his friend hurled in the toilet next to you both. 

“I don’t know how to do it.” The conversation was streaming steadily like a river, and the topic started digging deeper. Yeonjun asked about highschool, and how it was going for you - your plans for the summer and then junior year, the same way you asked him and how he felt about his last year in school. “What do you mean?”. “I wish I had a guidebook, you know? To tell me what sorts of things I should do, how to be someone in highschool who makes memories. Who lives. I’ve been trying ever since that last summer of middle school, and I’m still coming up short.” This just made Yeonjun let out a few giggles in amusement, which had you snapping your neck, shocked how he found your problems so funny. Shoving him lightly with your shoulder, you laughed too. “It’s not funny! I’m serious. Everyone except me knows what to do!” “Including me?” asked Yeonjun, head tilted towards you slightly in curiosity now. “Well..” and the look he gave you spurred you on. “You’re the Choi Yeonjun. You’re popular, smart, funny and talented.” “I know”, a lazy grin that had you clenching your fist in response to the butterflies. “So you get it right? You know the ropes.” This had Yeonjun’s smile faltering a bit, as his gaze dropped down to the floor. “If I knew Y/N, I’d know why I’m never enough for my girlfriend.” But as sudden as that confession was, he seemed to return to his original state. And you didn’t like that one bit. Sliding up a bit closer to him, you offered a token of friendship. “Wanna tell me about it? Sounds like you need a listener, and that’s something I’m good at.”

“Well, for starters, the rumor going around that I dumped her is false. It was the other way around. I would say it’s not that the relationship was running smoothly, but I guess I was holding on to that bit of whatever we had, floating a piece of driftwood. Splintering me, but I was holding on. She let go, I guess.”

You’re not sure what it is about you that has him baring open his soul so vulnerable only to you, but you’re glad. Because you saw the boy as more than just a shimmering silhouette in the distance now. He was much more up close, and much more beautiful.

On a hazy summer evening, where the air hung low above everyone like a buzzing, heated static, you met Choi Yeonjun in a new light. And he met you, not for the first time maybe, but definitely in a more impacting way. A second, first meeting.

The Second Summer - June

The days after the party at Yeonjun’s - where after you both had let each other read each other’s stories like open books on display, he’d walked you home due to “his extremely generous and chivalrous nature” (his words, not yours.), you’d been caught yourself far too many times revisiting that night in your head, replaying the smiles and the laughs, the banters and the jokes. You had something else too. Something that your friends were unaware of. Sure, you’d told them about your escapade with Yeonjun and why you were so absent at the party, which had led to hours of teasing from both Soobin and Beomgyu, with Soobin, roping Rin on to the antics kept making smooching noises at you, and Beomgyu, in the most Beomgyu-esque fashion ever would loudly and immaturely sing “Y/N and Yeonjun sitting on a tree” on the top of his lungs. But something you had yet to reveal to them, mainly because your patience would give out if you had to hear more taunts from them. But in your phone, locked away in your contacts, Yeonjun’s number.

“Lemme get your number, tubs”, he’d said with cheek as he called you that nickname he’d decided on the spot and a tongue poking out cutely from his lip, as he thrust his phone into your hands, still strolling along with one hand in the pocket of his black baggy jeans and the other brushing your own, sending sparks shooting right down your knuckles. Typing the digits in, he smoothly pulled your own phone out of your purse that he was carrying upon his insistence, and entered his own number, no doubt saving it under some sort of stupid name. “Why am I Tubs?”, you asked curiously. “Because I just had the best conversation of my life in a tub with you, tubs. Can’t let someone like you fade away now, can I?”. The street was lined with harsh white lamps, and little moths fluttering around the buzzing lamp made shadows dance around on the pavement. “So would you actually use a highschool guide if you got one?”, “Yeah, why not? A Popularity 101 or Escape High School for Dummies might be nice.” Humming, he seemed to be contemplating something, that you had to nudge him out of with an inquisitive look. “Nothing, nothing”, he said, shaking his head reassuringly. “Just something I thought of. Something that might help the both of us out.” “What do you mean?”, you asked him. “I’ll tell you about it. I’ll text you.” And just as elusively he’d entered your life, he left you on the front of your doorstep, with a promising smile and an electricity that wouldn’t leave your palms. 

The nickname had left a blush warming your cheeks that you hoped he hadn’t noticed. And when his contact lit up your phone screen, it was the same blush making its appearance on your face again. 

[Yawnzzn] 11:32 AM: meet me at the convenience store, tubs. kinda wanna talk to you ab smth

While the text’s ominous nature did leave you a bit nervous, the excitement of seeing him again, as a friend, as someone he wanted to hang out with by his own volition, overshadowed it. You knew it had to do something to do with what he’d referenced that fateful night. And skipping down the avenue, past the winding streets of the suburbs lined with trees and their apple green leaves, you made it to the convenience store on the corner, where Yeonjun stood staring into the ground, head bent, wearing a new pair of washed up baggy denims, a white form fitting shirt and a red-and-black cap turned backwards on his shaggy mop of black head, that seemed to highlight the brown undertone in the sun. Spotting your appearance from the sound of footsteps, he smiled and beckoned you into the store where you followed him, settling down on the outdoor seating arrangement shaded by the roof of the store. The sweat was starting to bead on the back of your neck which you tried your best to ignore. Focusing on the boy in front of you, meeting his twinkling gaze just set off an eruption of butterflies in your stomach. 

“Alright, before I say what I have to say, promise me you won’t be weirded out, okay? And I swear it only sounds as complicated.” He seemed nervous, and slightly uncomfortable about what exactly he was asking, which just made your fingers twitch slightly in anticipation. Anxiously biting your lip, you just nodded for him to continue, mustering up the best reassuring slight smile you could manage. “What if I taught you how to master highschool? And in return, could you pretend to be my fake girlfriend?”.

You blinked at him once. Then again. Honestly, you were awaiting that burst of ebullient laughter from him, where he’d then say how he was joking. Why would I date you Tubs? I’m not mad, he’d say. But none of that came. Instead there was still a patient Yeonjun eagerly awaiting your response. Sputtering in confusion and disbelief, you just asked him, “What? Why? Why do you need a fake girlfriend? Why do you want me to be the fake girlfriend?”. Giggling at your discombobulated state, he just waved his hand in the air in a gesture to relax. “Look. I’ve thought long and hard about this. You need a High School for Dummies, and I want to, well, show Yunha that I can be the boyfriend she needs me to be, you know? When she sees what a good boyfriend I can be with you, she might want me back!”. His radiant smile of excitement was throwing shadows over the cracks in your heart. Of course, he wanted her. Perfect, wonderful, Yunha. This would be severely, severely bad for your heart.

“I’ll do it.”

Recounting this debacle was shaping up to be exactly the kind of drama you were expecting from Soobin,Beomgyu and Rin. “You’re not serious. She’s not serious guys.” Rin was still in the denial stage of the process your friends were going through - with Soobin on anger and Beomgyu on grief, clutching your plushie on your bed and looking at you with sorrowful eyes as if you’d kidnapped his dog in front of him or something. Soobin’s mouth seemed to fly at miles a minute, berating you for how badly this would obviously end.

“Maybe this will help me, Soobin! To finally get over him! Clearly staying away just made me yearn more.” This just had Soobin turning more red. 

The both of you had drawn up unspoken rules about this of course - that the agreement would continue until the goal was met. Hopefully, it will happen by the end of this summer itself, Yeonjun had added. There was, of course, an agreement of mutual platonic feelings from both parties. Strike one in the deal.

You didn’t like doing things that your friends disapproved of, who despite their silliness and playfulness, were still your best friends. But God, did holding hands with Yeonjun as he led you through the colorful lights, bustling stalls and zooming rides of the carnival feel good. His hand was encasing yours and tugging your fingers, which had your own heartstrings cinching with each pulling movement. There was a wide smile on your face as he sped towards the stall selling animal headbands, insisting that you both needed matching ones. 

“You know, Yeonjun. If you’re secretly a furry or something, you can tell me. It’s okay, I won’t judge. I mean I will, but you know”, you said in faux sympathy while patting his shoulder jokingly, which had him adorably pouting at you. “Shut up, don’t you want to know what makes me so cool? These headbands do. Chicks and dudes alike dig my childlike whimsy.” He said proudly, which just had you raising an eyebrow at you. Stubbornly placing the matching fox ears on you, he pulled his cellphone out while explaining - “Okay, so step one. Kiss my cheek in this photo so that I can upload it to my story.” Kissing Yeonjun (albeit on the cheek) was like tasting heaven to you. Surely your heart would give out, if you even got closer to him. Kiss on the cheek?

“Come on, quickly! I wanna get a corndog after this”, he said signaling at the dimple on his cheek. Breaking out of your stupor, you hesitantly pushed your lips on to the soft flesh of his cheek, as he titled his more towards you, making your lips plant firmly against his dimple. Your mind was raging as the brightness around you, and his body warmth made your head spin. The sound of the shutter of a camera from his phone seemed to push you off your rollercoaster thoughts,moving quickly away. “Nicely done, Tubs.” he praised, examining the picture and wasting no time to post it. The sudden ding on your phone made you check the device, seeing the same picture being sent to you. “Set it as your wallpaper. Gotta make the gimmick more believable.”, he added nonchalantly. Nodding, you did as he told, until he said in an afterthought, “Plus, I look sexy as hell in that picture.” Scoffing at his confidence, you jokingly said, “And what makes you think I wanna stare at your face every time I open my phone?” “No rebuttals on the sexy part I see”, he winked at you. 

If your chances at surviving this date with an intact heart weren’t already horribly low, Choi Yeonjun was hell-bent on leaving you an absolute goner by the end of the date. 

The second date commenced equally as smoothly, with you taking the initiative this time by taking him to a pottery studio which doubled as a cafe - painting each other small trinkets to keep to remember the good friendship you were both fostering. And as you both opened up more to each other, you found yourself regretting what you’d said to Soobin. Because if anything, being close to Yeonjun just had you spiraling more into this lovestruck rabbit-hole. And you had to dig yourself out, fast.

One of those moments where clarity hit you about digging out, you’d decided to meet up with a fellow classmate of yours - Hwang Hyunjin. Hyunjin was a family friend of yours and you both had been quite close in your childhood years. Your mothers were best friends, who honestly wanted their kids to end up together. But they also didn’t want to force any unwanted romance on you both as children, which is why they’d left the matter alone all together. If it happened, it happened. If it didn’t, it didn’t. 

Your mothers shared such a deep friendship that they even had their own anniversary - the day they first became friends. And along the years, it turned into quite a wholesome celebration for them, celebrating their friendship together. And this anniversary was coming up soon, which is why when Hyunjin had texted you, asking if you wanted to help in throwing a little surprise party for the both of them, you’d eagerly jumped at the opportunity, ready to do anything to distract you from the boy you were so hopeless for. 

Pushing the grocery cart around as Hyunjin mindlessly added to things that might be required for the party, you both idly chatted, catching up with each other’s lives. Hyunjin was a quite good looking guy, and had all the girls in your class breaking their necks to get a good look at his prince-like beauty. Maybe you would’ve been one of those girls currently, if a different guy didn’t have your head up in the clouds. 

“And what’s up with you and Yeonjun? Don’t play with me and tell me, ‘cuz I saw that story of his? Does the shy Y/L/N finally have a man? The most fine, coveted man in school, even?”, he said, his cute dumpling smile and nudging making you blush slightly. “Well, we’ve been hanging out and stuff, I guess? He’s a good guy.”, you said bashfully. Hyunjin opened his mouth to say something but froze midair. Looking forward to seeing what had halted Hyunjin, you made eye contact with Yeonjun’s warm caramel brown ones. 

“Hi Y/N”, he said with a slight edge to his voice, eyeing you and Hyunjin suspiciously as he did. With a clipped voice, he also threw in a “Hey Hwang”, out of whatever courtesy he could find within the unexplainable pit in his stomach and the slight anger clouding his vision as he kept staring at how Hyunjin had an arm loosely wrapped around your shoulder while he was teasing you. He didn’t like that hand. At all. And he needed it off of you, immediately. 

“Hyune, take the items up to the cashier, please? I’ll be with you in a moment”, you requested, gulping as he left your side understandingly, leaving only you and Yeonjun standing in the fresh produce aisle. “Tubs, looks like you don’t need my help getting cool at all, if Hwang is the kind of guy you hang out with.”, he said light-heartedly, even though he felt nothing of the sort currently. Seeing you with another guy had put him off so much, so suddenly that it had him reeling. But, of course anyone wouldn’t be mad if their fake girlfriend was with someone else, right? Even if the word ‘fake’ gave him a bitter taste in his throat?

“Hyunjin is my family friend! His mom and my mom are best friends, you see. And we’re throwing them a little party, you see.”, you explained, suddenly feeling shy in his gaze, intense and burning right into you. His eyes seemed to soften at this, and he nodded. Feeling this odd urge to add more, you hastily spit out, “Do you want to come?”. The invitation was out of the blue and frankly had you feeling stupid. Who the hell would want to come to this? “You bet. I’ll be there in my finest suit and everything”, he added jokingly. “What time?” “Huh?” “What time is it starting?” “You actually want to come?”. “‘Course I do. Gotta impress my in-laws, right?”, he said cheekily. 

“You’re burning up, Y/N-ie!” Hyunjin later said, as he felt your skin as he had gone to poke your cheek. “Was it something in the store?”. Seeing how frozen you were, he slyly put two and two together and asked, “Or was it someone?” 

There were some streamers put up in the living room, and some balloons blown up by both your dads, who’d also become great pals because of their wives. You and Hyunjin were setting up the table, when the doorbell rang. “That can’t be them already?” you asked perplexed. “No, their spa appointment only ends at 6PM, I checked thoroughly”, said Hyunjin’s dad. Moving towards the door, confused about who it could be, you opened the door to find Yeonjun, casually dressed and clutching two small bouquets. “I’m not early, am I?”

When your moms arrived, your mother was pleasantly surprised to find you chatting happily with a boy who was not Hyunjin or any of your friends. Noticing the knowing twinkle in her eyes as you introduced her to Yeonjun, you silently promised her an explanation as you both moved around the room to where Hyunjin was, as your dad beckoned the parents over to the living room while letting the youngsters socialize on their own. With the three of you moving towards the backyard while cracking jokes, you could feel the one-sided tension between the both melting away, which made you glad. Settling down on the lawn chairs on the yard, the three of you streamed through various topics to talk about, with Yeonjun and Hyunjin bonding over their mutual interest in dancing. “I didn’t know you danced.” you’d voiced a bit quietly to him as Hyunjin went to his house just next door to get some beers for the three of you. You hadn’t drank before, so you were planning to sit this one out and let Yeonjun and Hyunjin get tipsy. “Yeah, it’s just been something I’ve always wanted to do. And my teacher before sophomore year reckoned I’d be good too.” “Why’d you stop?”, you asked him. “It was interfering with soccer practice. And soccer gets me into college - dance doesn’t.”. He seemed a bit shut off about the topic, and sensing how this was a sore spot for him, you didn’t press for much. “Well, there’s a life outside college. A life where you could do both - and maybe more dancing like you want.” you offered him in reassurance, which seemed to spark an interest in his eyes. Looking gratefully at you, this look on his face seemed different this time, like there was something deeper simmering beneath the cool guy smack he’d always give you. Your hand which was quite close to his own, hanging limply across the handles of the chair, suddenly was encased in warmth, with his own palm giving yours a grateful squeeze. “Thank you, Y/N. I’d like to show you one day, perhaps.”

And indeed, there was something cooking underneath that aloofness of his, because for the first time, he wished that he could show you his dance skills as his girlfriend, and not just a platonic agreement of the season. 

“Beer wench has arrived!” exclaimed Hyunjin, as he set down three bottles of Beer Lite on the wooden table in front of you. “Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds, but I’m ready to get cracking. Now Yeonjunnie, did you know that when Y/N was 11 she-""Shut up Hyunjin! You swore you wouldn’t talk about that!”. 

Hyunjin and his parents had departed as the evening neared its close, and the sky was black with dark maroon clouds spread out shielding the glimmering stars. Yeonjun had insisted on helping clean up for the party, claiming it was the least he could do as a guest. He was helping your dad clean up stray paper plates and napkins, until you showed him the way up to your room to get a garbage bag to dispose of the waste. His lanky body was right before you as you both bounded up the stairs, and opening up the door, a sudden realization hit you - Yeonjun was going to see your room. Your kind of messy, lame, postered up room. He was already two strides in when you were frozen up, terrified for the teasing onslaught that was bound to begin anytime soon. “No way, you listen to HONEY too? I freaking love that band.”

This was odd. No teasing. No making fun of your weird posters or your figurines and stuffed toys. Only a very heavy compliment on your music taste. Whistling long as he eyed the rest of your room, he seemed to giggle at the obscene number of plushies on your bed, which you took offense to. “It’s our year of the lord 2018 and you’re gonna make fun of plushies on the bed? Really, Yeonjun?”, you told him off with feigned disappointment as he laughed at this, chuckling while shaking his head. “Not making fun, just admiring.” His speech was only slightly slurred, indicating that he was only barely on the cusp of tipsy and sober. Moving towards your closet to bring out a garbage bag, he ambled up to stand right behind you, his arm resting against the wooden frame of the wardrobe as you ruffled around till you found what you were looking for. “Alright! Let’s go then”, spinning around only to bump your nose slightly against his hard chest. This caught you off guard, breath catching in your throat as you stabilized yourself by lightly holding on to his forearm. “Yeonjun?” you asked unsurely as your eyes hesitantly looked up to his pupils blown wide as he stared at you in an entirely different way. Like you were the only person he wanted to look at for the rest of his life. His lips were tantalizingly plump and pink, like easy to grab, low hanging fruit, the smell of cranberries and beer wafting on to your face gently in the most tempting way possible. Inhaling sharply, you saw how his vision flitted between features of your face, as if he was memorizing every curve, every mole and every lash. Eyes blown wide as saucers, you could only stand in bated breath, expecting nothing and everything at the same time. His lips were scanning your lips, and you swore your legs would give out right then and there, from the way he licked his own lips while eyeing yours. 

A call from downstairs seemed to separate you two like similar poles of a magnet, coughing slightly and silently going downstairs, garbage bag in your hand. There was a soft smile on both of your faces as you handed him the bag, going to join your mom in washing the dishes. Your currently flustered state was all the explanation your mom needed about who Yeonjun was to you in your life.

You and Yeonjun ambled by the door just killing time, neither of you wanting to say goodbye. But he knew it was time to go. Standing on your front porch, he offered the last sucker-punch of feelings to your gut as he said, “You know what, Tubs? I still don’t think you need my help. I think you’re the coolest person I know.”

The night when you laid in your bed, an hour after bidding him goodbye, you found yourself staring at the HONEY poster and smiling like a lovesick fool. This summer, you swore, was going to be beautiful.

The Second Summer - July

If you smile at your phone any longer, you’re afraid the shape would be etched on to your face forever, and everyone would know you as the lovestruck idiot who can’t stop smiling. At Least that’s what Soobin says, and obviously he’s never wrong. But even you had to admit, the rate at which you and Yeonjun had spent every waking moment together, including digitally over text messages, was just abysmal. Something seemed to have shifted in him ever since that encounter in your room, and it seemed like he’s exploded with affection. Almost everyone in your school knew that the both of you were in a relationship. A fake one, a snide voice in your head reminded you. That’s what this was for, anyways. A way for him to show Yunha how perfect he was. He wanted to be perfect for Yunha, and you were just practice. But the dark thoughts seemed to evaporate from your mind as another text message from Yeonjun lit up your phone, the wallpaper - the photo of the carnival - just making you more giddy. He’d invited you to your new date/hangout (you weren’t sure which word to settle on during this convoluted situation), a movie night at his place, after you’d relentlessly teased him for not knowing some of the most famous rom-coms. He’d apparently already watched Princess Diaries, which was a shock to you at first, until you found out it was only because his friend Chan had insisted that it was pure cinema, which it was. So tonight, you’d decided to make him watch the second installment of the series, a superior romance with just the right amounts of tension and tropes. He was picking up snacks from the supermarket while he was messaging you, asking you your preferences, the thoughtfulness melting your heart. Your leg was bouncing up and down in excitement as you laid on your bed, ready as ever for the night. 

At 7PM sharp, you had made your way to his house, rapping sharply at the door. He’d confirmed previously that the house was going to be empty save for his younger sister, since his parents had already jetted off for an anniversary couples vacation, leaving their two children in charge of the house. Fully expecting Yeonjun to open the door, you were surprised to find a smaller girl standing at the door with unblinking owlish eyes. From the similar fox-like features to the jet black hair, it wasn’t difficult to figure out that this was Yeonjun’s younger sister, Yena. She seemed to smile, metal braces glinting under the yellow porch light as she welcomed you in. His sister, who was due to start freshman year herself this fall in the same school as you both, seemed to spend no time in starting to talk to you, treating you like a friend she’d known for a long time. “You’re her, right?”, she seemed to ask mid-ramble, “You're Y/N. God that idiot can’t ever shut up about you! Of course, I see why considering how gorgeous you are, but please, some of us are sick of hearing about how much you like spending time with her!”, her voice growing louder and angled towards the staircase you both stood at the bottom of, clearly as a dig towards Yeonjun. His loud footsteps ran down the flight of the stairs, hair damp as if he’s just hopped out of the shower and bangs flopping against his forehead, clad in gray sweatpants and a loose black t-shirt. “Yena, don’t you have idols to ogle at on your iPad like a middle schooler?”, he asked with a huff of annoyance towards his sister, who just promptly stuck her tongue out at him, and walked away, not without giving you a teasing wink before she did. Clearly, this targeted teasing seemed to run in the Choi family genes. 

“We’ll watch the movie in my room, so that the little parasite doesn’t bother us”, he explained as he grabbed your hand to pull you up, almost like it was natural to him. A faint “I heard that!”from Yena in the living room made you chuckle wholeheartedly, loving their sibling dynamic. The sound of your laugh seemed to liven up Yeonjun even more, who could feel the warmth in your hand in his igniting a spark in his heart. So much for pre-made plans of how things go. It is the first time, he thought to himself, that someone’s made me feel this way. And I like it.

Settling down on his queen sized bed, the navy blue duvet and bed covers complimented with gray pillows surprised you, because to be honest, you were expecting some sort of Pokemon bed covers. Which earned you a frustrated and angry sound from Yeonjun, who in his annoyance often behaved exactly like a toddler. Endearing. 

Pressing on the button on the remote, he settled down comfortably right beside you, elbows touching yours as a bowl of popcorn mix was precariously balanced on both of your thighs, his body heat making you feel like a furnace. 

It got worse as the movie continued. Every minuscule move he made, every tiny shift or brush of him against you had you writhing in your head, having to restrain yourself from just imagining. Imagining what it would be like if you were both a regular couple having a regular date night, with your head on his chest, just above his beating heart. He would run his fingers through your hair that would probably soothe the next ten years worth of worries in your life. He could cup your chin and just dip down, giving you a taste of what it was like to be kissed by the magnificent boy. But that beating heart you fantasized of listening to, was currently beating for Kim Yunha. 

You’d never had your first kiss. You frankly saw no big deal of it, and you didn’t want to share a meaningless kiss with some boy who’s name you’d probably forget in twenty years during those eighth grade spin the bottle games at birthday parties. You didn’t know what your first kiss would feel like. If it would be the sparks and fireworks, the bubbles of champagne kind, or the comfortable one, like the breeze that enters through your window at night. Like home. The kiss you currently craved, you guessed, would taste as sweet as candy.

“Hey, hey she did the foot pop when she kissed him! That’s what she wanted in her first movie right!” Yeonjun exclaimed, deeply interested in the movie while you dealt with the dilemma in your mind. He added on, “Oh man, a foot pop kiss would be fun. Different to the kisses I’ve had. Have you had any of those, Tubs?”. His questions seemed to fly over your head, until he asked again, inquisitive eyes looking at you, the dialogue a dimmed background in how close he was. Gulping, you didn’t really feel shame or embarrassment as you told Yeonjun about your lack of experience (read:none) in that department. It was Yeonjun, of course. You couldn’t find anyone else to admit this kind of information to. 

Yeonjun doesn’t know why he’s said it; it flew out of his mouth faster than he could register. But all he did know is that he did want to kiss you. To give you your first kiss. A foot-popping, rom-com, magical kiss. You deserved it. He wanted it. 

“Wanna kiss me?”

His voice has a low timbre to it when he asks this.

There’s an ocean ringing in your ears in the midst of your raging emotions - confusion, shock, and above all, glee. To be kissed by Choi Yeonjun, was like plucking a star from the sky and handing it to you. 

Your neck moves almost mechanically in a single nod. And then his lips are on yours. 

There’s colors yet darkness behind your eyelids that flutter close. Your lips are moving softly and shyly against his, which are gentle yet firm. Like he wants this as bad as you. Like tasting you wasn’t a chore, but a reward. 

You think Yeonjun tastes like popcorn and excitement. He thinks you taste exactly like summer.

The Second Summer - August

The windows in the car are slightly fogging up, and beating heat outside isn’t quite helping. The heavy and quick breaths, the faintest moans of pleasure, from the bitten lips to the few scattered hickeys on your neck, as his lips, as unrelenting as ever, kept devouring your mouth would make anyone feel shy enough to look away. His eyes are slightly dimmed and he looks up through his eyelashes at you from where he’s nibbling on your collarbone, which sends a searing flame down your spine and making you whine a sound barely audible to anyone who wasn’t in the kind of proximity to you that Yeonjun was in. The whine just got more loud as you complained when he pulled away from his ministrations as the sound of his phone dinging from messages from the rest of the Three Stooges which was his friend group - all of them asking how long exactly would he take to go on a simple beer run for the party they’re holding tonight at Wooyoung’s place. Shushing your complaints with a sweet peck on your swollen lips, he said, “Sorry Tubs, but these guys won’t leave me alone unless I get their alcohol. ‘Swear they’re like impatient babies about this stuff.” Starting the car as you got out, he held your wrist just as you were about to close the door, tugging as he asked, “I’ll see you at the party, right?”, eyes gleaming with hope. Smiling, you reassured him with a simple yes, and walked over to the short distance to your house, where the rest of your friends had already gathered, waiting in your bedroom. Already bracing yourself, you opened the door to find Beomgyu funnily gasping and shouting about the marks and your messed up hair, with Rin high fiving you and Soobin, while pretending to be a mad dad at you, just hugged you with a smile that had broken through. “You know Y/N-ie, not even Olympic athletes are this dedicated to reaching the goal like you did. I’m proud of you kid.” “What’s up with all this ‘kid’ stuff, old man?” you asked him laughing as you plopped down on the beanbag next to Rin who was sorting through your wardrobe trying to find the perfect outfit for you to wear to the party, which would be your first public, public appearance with Yeonjun.

If you weren’t going to lie, you were quite nervous. Yunha was supposed to be at this party too. And Yeonjun and you hadn’t talked about the ‘deal’ you both had made, the one which would end with him being with Yunha again, at all since that kiss in his room. The rest of the days since then had since been blurred into kiss-filled memories highlighted with more dates and more memories with him. With not a single mention of what happened before, or what would happen later. If this was the only way you could have Yeonjun, in an unspoken way, the self-destructive, addicted part of you was okay with that. But all good things did come to an end. You had spoken to Beomgyu about your predicament, who had been nothing but a patient and attentive listener to you, despite the boy’s regular nature. He offered you some advice - the kind that you knew was so realistic that only Beomgyu could offer it. 

“Confront him about it at the party tonight. Perhaps being this publicly out with you might make him remember your contract too. Then you guys could come to a conclusion, hopefully a good one.”

You’re fidgeting with your fingers on the way to the party, non-verbal and staring out the window in Soobin’s car as the three of them sensed you needed your space, left you alone. Tonight was an important night. 

Jung Wooyoung’s house was no joke. A sprawling mansion with five private jacuzzis, countless bedrooms and more space than required, the party teeming across the entire property seemed to be in full swing when you all arrived. A text alert on your phone from Yeonjun made you look away from the sheer grandness of the house,

[Yawnzzn] 10:26 PM: come meet me at the jacuzzi marked number 3. it’s the one behind the fountain 🙂

Fountain? Jacuzzi? God, was Wooyoung rich. The number of amenities had your head spinning, and it was almost like deja vu, the way you found yourself separated from your friends again at a party. Fortunately enough, this time you’d told them about the message and about meeting Yeonjun. Beomgyu had given an extra reassuring look when you left, silently cheering you on for what you were planning to do tonight. Pushing past sweaty bodies and handsy couples, drunk teenagers and passed out bodies on the floor, you tried to find your way to the location that Yeonjun had messaged. The enormity of the house didn’t make it easy, and honestly you were getting quite dizzy from all the overstimulation around you. But you had to find him first. 

Finally spotting a cluster of palm leaves and an artificial water fountain, made of polished rocks and lighting from below making the water look ethereal, you ambled your way there, pushing past the leaves to get behind the fountain to where Yeonjun said the jacuzzi was. Making it past the rocks, you saw the jacuzzi, where your boy sat with his feet in the glowing blue water, the shadows of the water rippling across his face. There was your beautiful boy, sitting right next to Kim Yunha. 

You didn’t know what to say. Or do. He was looking at her the way you swore he looked at you, with all that hope and all that endearment in his face. Then his face fell, with a tinge of visible anger clustering in his furrowed eyebrows, when you heard the words in her voice, “So what, you gonna extend your contract with your pathetic little fake-girl? Or are you just man up and come back to me?” There seemed to be some sort of satisfaction in the smirk Kim Yunha wore, amplifying when she looked right at you, gleaming with some sort of vengeance. As soon as she did, Yeonjun did too, with a look of utter bewilderment and helplessness. Sort of like how you felt. 

It was like piercing a knife right through you, hot and searing which led to the same kind of tears running right down your face. The look you wore had something inexplicably sharp poking Yeonjun deeply in the chest. He was trying to get around the wet floor, trying to reach you, screaming something. 

But you didn’t hear anything. It was like there was that ocean in your ears again, raging violently this time. Your breath was quickening like falling sand. You didn’t know what to think right now. The summer was supposed to end, and this was the end of your summer, and fuck, he got what he wanted, didn’t he? And left you with nothing. You didn’t know what to do, so you did the only thing you could do, and you ran. 

The Second Summer - Yeonjun’s Summer

If you had asked Yeonjun how his summer was going, he would just say one thing. “This summer, I fell in love.”

74 missed calls have accumulated in your phone over the past three days, where you’ve laid just rotting in your bed. Your eyes are probably still puffy from the way that when you think the tears have ended, they begin again. Rin spent the night over the first night, after hearing your broken recount of the events that had happened to the best of your abilities, amongst the gut-wrenching sobs that wouldn’t stop and the horrible ache in your heart that just wouldn’t stop. The second night, it was Beomgyu, accompanied by Taehyun and Kai, who had come back from visiting their family and been filled in by the rest of the gang on the current happenings. Beomgyu seemed quite angry at himself, after all he was the one who had suggested that you seek out Yeonjun at the party. But when you limply just grabbed his hand while tears streamed down your face noiselessly, the three boys just gathered around you in a circle, encasing you and trying their best to shield you from pain; even though the pain was deep inside you, like a hurtful wrench determined to dig right into you. 

Soobin was here on the third night, declining all the calls from the boy who broke your heart, who seemed to be relentless in his attempts. He had gotten what he had wanted, didn’t he? He got his precious girlfriend back, and was he stupid enough to expect the both of you would continue to be friends? “I don’t get why he called me there if she was going to be there as well”. Your voice is as frail as a dying leaf in winter, thin like paper and watery that had Soobin himself tearing up for his friend. 

You did have quite a lot of unanswered questions that would remain a mystery to you, you guessed. Did everything really mean nothing to you? Was I the only one calling it everything? Do you miss me? I miss you. I miss you a lot even though I shouldn’t. I miss you all the time. I hate you. I miss you. 

Another buzzing call on your phone had you break out of your headspace. “Soob”, you began in a watery voice, “I’m gonna go shower. Maybe get rid of this stench and sadness on me. You go home and get some rest, okay?””But-” “Trust me.” He understood that this was something you needed, and giving you one last hug, he walked out, leaving you alone in the room where you first felt Yeonjun. 

He’s been driving around aimlessly for the past three days. Ever since that night, he’s been sleeping in his car, which had gathered protests from the rest of his friends. But he couldn’t stomach going into his room, where he’d kissed you for the first time. He was haunted now, by the most beautiful ghost. A ghost whom he’d hurt. 

He has been cursing out Kim Yunha in his mind continuously, but not as much as he’d been cursing himself. When she’d overheard the conversation he was having with Changbin, Wooyoung and Chan about how he was ready to cut the contract-deal bullshit between you both, to finally put an end to the Yunha business, and finally ask you to be his as much as he already was yours, he should’ve taken some action. He shouldn’t have fallen for her innocent act, where she pretended to be actually interested in hearing about you. He should’ve cut her off immediately, and then run to you and kissed you long and hard.

But he didn’t. He didn’t and now you were hurt because of him and he couldn’t find you at all. There seemed to be no activity about you. You hadn’t blocked him, but you didn’t pick up his calls. His texts were still going through, but left on delivered. He was lost, and you were the only one who could compass him back to shore. 

He doesn’t know when to pin-point to the moment being the moment when he realized that he’d fallen hard and fast for you. Every date with you made him crave your presence more. Funny jokes seem funnier when he hears your laugh. Movies were more entertaining only when you were sitting next to him, pressed up to him so that he could smell your shampoo and hold your hand, the pads of his fingers tracing every crease on your palm. Or maybe it was when you became the first person to take an interest in the real him - the Yeonjun who liked dancing and animal ears and popcorn and ice creams from the convenience store. Maybe he was a goner the moment he sat in that bathtub at the party with you. Losing an anchor like you meant he was back to being adrift at sea.

It’s the 4th day of being on no-contact with Yeonjun. Since that fateful day where your heart had been shattered to pieces. You’re back at the convenience store you’d worked that summer, on some sort of heritage tour of the moments you had before you were crushed. You walked on over to the ice cream box, chuckling sadly when you noticed the exact ice cream you’d recommended him still being there. You weren’t sure how or when you’d stop remembering him in the small things. But in some deep, deep part of you, you wanted to remember him. You wanted to remember how high you felt around him. 

“Y/N.”

It's like the temperature in the store drops significantly when he says your name. You’re refusing to turn around, shoulder seized up and taut. He’s here, he’s here, why the fuck is he here?

“Y/N, please.” He doesn’t want to get too close to you just yet. He wants to give you the space you need. But fuck, if he just didn’t feel the largest wave of relief in his chest when he spotted you entering the convenience store. 

“Y/N, Tubs. Please. Just hear me out. Please? I promise you it’s not what it looked like.”

He sounds so utterly desperate and broken that it makes your heart ache enough to make you turn around, making you gasp at his disheveled appearance.

There’s dark eye bags under his eyes which have lost any spark they held before. Despite the brightness of the sun outside, he seemed to look almost gray in color. Like life was sucked right out of him. His concerning appearance had you shuffling hesitantly towards him, which he was ever-so welcoming to. Opening his mouth, his voice was hoarse, as began explaining everything. 

You’re both seated outside that store again, where that godforsaken deal began. He seems much lighter now, and much better. His hand is inches from yours, and hesitating to close the gap. The moment is so tender, so precious, that even one wrong move has him fearing that you’d leave, and he’d be broken again. “Is the deal over then?”, you ask him, which has his eyes widening. “Fuck the deal, baby. I’m so sorry that it even was a thing. I like you, Y/N Y/L/N. I might even just be in love with you, and I’m mad enough about you to admit it. You’re like breathing to me, Y/N.”

He’s here again, and he’s so, so beautiful again. This time, it’s you closing the gap between your hands, his palm bringing back fond memories to your mind. “Well, Yeonjun, I hope the deal is over. I’d like to declare it over, because I would prefer it a lot more if you became my real boyfriend, instead of my fake one.”

It’s the summer before junior year and you’re only sixteen, but you swear that this is love. You may not know much, but you’re sure. Reaching here might’ve been hell, like fighting modern Sparta. But you wouldn’t have ended it any differently, with you and him and a summer in a convenience store, eating ice pops and sharing frozen kisses. 

Bonus: The first fall

You’re standing in front of your locker. The first day of school jitters were significantly lesser compared to your previous years. Picking up the singular post-it that had seemed to have found itself in your locker, you turned it around to find Yeonjun’s scrawling handwriting saying only one thing. I love you. And just as you grinned from the message, the boy in question wrapped his arms around your torso, planting a sweet kiss on the right side of your neck, and then deeply inhaling your scent, which made you laugh happily. “Cool people write post-its by the way. That should also be a tip you should consider for your highschool journey.” “Of course, my cool boyfriend. I’ll definitely keep in mind that post-its are for cool people.” If Yeonjun was a star, you were his star charter. You’d still have to get through the battleground of high school. But doing it with Yeonjun just made the whole journey much sweeter, didn’t it?

“Just for the record, I still don’t like him.” ”Shut up Soobin!”.

[lcdrarry]

LCDrarry 2024 Round-Up Post | Week 2

On Sundays during our posting period, we won't post a new work, instead you have time to catch up with the works that posted during the week and hopefully leave lovely comments for our creators.

Happy reading, commenting and sharing! ;)

~Your LCDrarry Mods

PS: Please have a look at the author notes and tags on AO3 for additional information. Thank you!

PPS: Please share far and wide! Thank you!!

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Podfic

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"As You Wish" by Pineau_noir

Prompt: "The Princess Bride", 1987, Rob Reiner Written by: Pineau_noir Narrated by: Anonymous Podfic Length: 02:31:28 Rating: Teen and up Warnings: None

Summary: Draco was raised on a farm in the small country of Witshire; his favourite pastimes were flying on his broom and tormenting the hired farm boy. Though his name was Harry, Draco never called him that. On Harry's forehead there was a scar shaped like a lightning bolt, so Draco called him Scarhead.

Nothing gave Draco as much pleasure as ordering Harry around.

Or a story about fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, True Love, and miracles.

Listen to it now on AO3.

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Fic

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first, she fell

Prompt: "Anatomy of a Fall", 2023, Justine Triet Prompted by: @wolfpants Author: Anonymous Word Count: 1,648 words Rating: Mature Warnings: angst, referenced character death, open ending, referenced adultery, speculated murder

Summary: Harry's wife is dead. No one knows quite what that means.

Read it now on AO3.

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Caribou Garden

Prompt: Nature Documentaries (genre, any year) Prompted by: @meandminniemcg Author: Anonymous Word Count: 2,641 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: None

Summary: Alone with his swotty, posh, nemesis-turned-colleague on an uninhabited island in the far north, cinematographer Harry Potter grapples with his inconvenient crush. A nature documentary-inspired fic with magical caribou migrations, dramatic landscapes, and only one tent.

Read it now on AO3.

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Twin Blades

Prompt: “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith”, 2005, George Lucas Author: Anonymous Word Count: 3,525 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: lightsaber combat, nightmares

Summary: Harry advances a few steps toward Draco, who doesn’t move, only watches him approach with narrowed eyes. “If you’re so sure the Jedi have no power, duel me. If you win, your master will be proud of you.” Draco’s eyes glitter. “And if you win?” “We’ll find out, won’t we?” Harry raises his lightsaber, readies himself. “Come on.” Without another word, Draco lunges at him.

Or, a Drarry-flavored reskin of the battle on Mustafar.

Read it now on AO3.

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Slipping through my fingers all the time

Prompt: "Mamma Mia", 2008, Phyllida Lloyd Prompted by: @Azulaschild Author: Anonymous Word Count: 11,378 words Rating: Teen and Up Warnings: sex while on drugs, drinking

Summary: Recently-divorced Harry returns to Serenity Commune, site of his wildest youthful romps and the beginning of his recovery from trauma, to get out of a rut (and because Hermione made him). Unfortunately, sex, drugs, and dancing aren't all that await - he'll have to confront his past and what life might have been.

Read it now on AO3.

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Leap Year

Prompt: "Leap Year", 2010, Anand Tucker Prompted by: @DrarryMyHeart Author: Anonymous Word Count: 29,064 words Rating: Mature Warnings: None apply.

Summary: Draco Malfoy has come a long way. He has a successful business and a muggle-born high-flyer boyfriend.

One tiny thing - it's been four years and he has no ring. No matter, he'll take things into his own hands. Feb 29th is an Irish muggle tradition that he'll happily jump on. Archie (boyfriend) is in Ireland - he'll simply portkey over and pop the question.

One (LARGE) problem. The portkey office messed up and he's landed outside Harry Potter's pub.

The same Harry Potter that hasn't been seen for ten years.

*Big sigh.

Read it now on AO3.

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Runaway Groom

Prompt: "Runaway Bride," 1999, Garry Marshall Prompted by: @elskanellis Author: Anonymous Word Count: 30,044 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: Arranged marriage (not between Harry and Draco), Infidelity if you squint (not between Harry and Draco)

Summary: OK, so Draco's feeling so nervous about his upcoming wedding to his fiancée Astoria Greengrass that he could faint. That's one of the pitfalls of an arranged marriage, right? Just because he's run out of his past three weddings, doesn't mean this one won't go ahead. He just has to keep his eyes on the finishing line, and ignore the sudden reappearance of Harry Potter, who seems to be determined to turn his world upside down. Again.

Read it now on AO3.

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Hope Is A Thing With Feathers

Prompt: "Thelma and Louise", 1991, Ridley Scott Author: Anonymous Word Count: 33,335 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator chose not to use Archive Warnings

Summary: Harry is disillusioned with the Aurors, his relationship with Ginny, and is tired of all the hero worship but feels trapped. Draco, still hated by the Wizarding world, decides to get away and shares his plan with Harry, his only friend. Harry jumps at the chance to go with him.

They share in the freedom of their adventure, but things don’t go according to plan. Amidst their misfortunes, they discover new talents, courage in the face of tragedy, and above all, love.

Read it now on AO3.

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Romancing the Dragon

Prompt: "Romancing the Stone", 1984, Robert Zemeckis Prompted by: Anonymous Author: Anonymous Word Count: 34,382 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Action movie typical violence

Summary: Harry Potter writes romance novels from the comfort of his London townhouse, with the assistance of his beloved cat, Juliet. He does not engage in rescue missions, talk to dragons, or develop feelings for Draco Malfoy. That would be absurd.

Read it now on AO3.

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Please help promote the fest by sharing your favourite submissions, so more people can enjoy all the amazing new Drarry works of LCDrarry. Thank you!

Creator reveals are on 15 June.

[localgardenweed]

I love that as a middle schooler i was a BKDK shipper just to be a hater cause i could not stand TodoDeku for shit and like i honestly did not care that much about them either way but i just needed to assert dominance

and now here i am senior year falling to my knees seeing the ship come back on the western fandom side and rise the ranks like WDYM??? WHERE IS JUSTIN KERPRANK HE IS HIDING SOMEWHERE AROUND HERE, I REMEMBER THE SHIP WARS I WOULD RIDE MY NOBLE STEED INTO BATTLE BRO (i just would tell my friends i hated TodoDeku and that was it, and then draw bkdk in my sketchbook)

Anyway I eat all the “Typing out my fantasy!!!” Edits online of them so hard its such a good dynamic im sorry yall, even if its not bkdk its just good. I JUST CANT STOP WATCHING ITS LIKE A DRUG SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE ME. Id like to apologize to everyone ive let down here id like to apologize im ready for the hatemail in my inbox i just need to be who i am.

Probably not gonna talk about it super hardcore fan style but know i like throw a thumbs up and like to hear how people see their relationship especially knowing their history and with all the new arcs and shit into account like yes good give me those video essays yes YESSS

[bullet-clubs-bitch]

Can i request some swerve Strickland smut? Maybe he’s being cocky after winning against hangman or something like that? 🤤❤️

Swerve when I ride

Swerve Strickland X fem reader 18+

Main Masterlist (Word Count: 1400)

Tonight would be the third time Swerve and Hangman would meet in the ring, the third time they would go to war and according to Swerve the third time he would beat the Cowboy. Now this fight would be different than the other times they had met, this time the AEW world championship was at stake. Swerve would be one step closer to capturing his first singles title in AEW. “How are you feeling about tonight?” I asked the man who was currently pacing around the room like a madman. “Scared cuz you won’t have Prince Nana or me ringside?” I asked him “No, no offence but I don’t need either of you to win” Swerve responded, almost offended by my words. “Okay, well I will be in the gorilla for the whole thing, I’ll be waiting to celebrate,” I told him before giving him a quick kiss before Swerve got ready to go out. 

I watched the men go to war on the backstage monitor. The tension from this match could be felt throughout the arena. Every time you thought it was over you were sadly mistaken. Just then as Swerve went for the count the bell rang. “Ladies and Gentleman, the thirty-minute time limit has been reached, therefore this match results in a draw” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Justin Roberts just called for this match to be a draw. I could tell Swerve was mad, I mean I would be too. But it was smart for Hangman not to give into five more minutes, he made his point clear, “You can’t beat me without your goons” and with that, it was over. 

Once Swerve returned from the ring I noticed his attitude switched like the flip of a dime. He was acting very cocky for a man who just had a draw with his arch-nemesis. “You see I told you I would beat that Cowboy’s ass” Swerve yelled once we entered the Moguel embassy locker room.  “You technically didn’t win, It was a draw,” I told him. “Nah, you see I had him beat, I was seconds away from getting the three count, If I had just five more-” *Knock knock*

I opened the door and noticed none other than Brian Cage and the gates of agony standing at the door. “Can I help you?” I asked “We need to speak with the boss” “He’s busy” “It will only take a second” “Bye” and with that, I slammed the door in their faces. “Who was that?” Swerve asked. “No one,” I responded. “Anyways as I was saying, I had him beat! I did beat him, three times in a row I beat a former world champion, I guess that makes me championship material then” “You know I love you, and you know that I think you are championship material but you never beat Hangman, it was a draw” I told him as I slowly made my way back to Swerve, the two of us now stood chest to chest. “What is it that you are trying to prove here?” He asked curiously, not quite getting what I was trying to say. “I’m saying that as much as I love you, I don’t think you are as tough as you claim to be” “What?” “You heard me, I don’t think you can beat everyone like you say you can.” I could see the gears moving in Swerve's head, he was mad but not as mad as you would think. He was more intrigued by my comments. “So who do I need to beat in order to prove I’m the best?” “Me” “Excuse me” “I said me, I don’t think you could beat me in a fight. You walk around the place talking the talk but can you walk the walk-” “You know I can” “Then prove it” 

Swerve knew my games, he knew the kinda fight I was looking for. Not one of violence but dominance, who could remain victorious in this battle of lust and love. I was all over Swerve, proving my dominance, I had him pinned underneath me as I placed rough kisses all over him. I thought I had won, I made the mistake of letting my guard down just the slightest amount which caused Swerve to counter. I was now face down on the ground as he hovered over me. “I think I won,” Swerve said, sounding overconfident that he won. I was able to sneak out from under him and ran to the other side of the room to make sure the door was locked. The two of us continued to play fight for a while before I was able to regain my dominance, pinning Swerve's hands above his head as he surrendered. “Alright you got me there,” he said laughing, I however was not laughing. “What?” “You know what,” I told him, “Are you sure you want to do this right here right now?” Swerve asked, the slightest of concern in his eyes. “Yes I’m sure” 

I remained on top of Swerve trying to prove my point that he could not beat me. I continued to pin his shoulders underneath me. “1..2…3…. I won you lost” I told him “Ha ha very funny Y/n” Swerve said as he began to toy with the zipper of my jeans. I stopped his movements and he said “I thought you wanted this?” to which I responded “I do want this but first you have to admit that you can’t beat me. That I’m better than you” “You know I can’t do that” Swerve told me as I slowly started to grind on him, the two of us fully clothed. I knew I would make him say it but first I would need to mess with him a bit. I continued to grind on him painfully slow as I removed my top. Swerve tried to remove my bra but I was quick to swat his hand away. “Admit that I’m better than you” “Never” Fine he wanted to play games then I'll play games. 

He needed to beg for it. I placed delicate kisses from his neck to his navel. I toyed with his belt before looking up at Swerve to give him one more chance. “Say it” “Never” I removed his dick from his pants and began to place delicate kisses and kitten licks from base to tip. I could tell this was annoying Swerve but all he had to do was say five simple words, he brought this onto himself. I took him in my mouth all at once and began to slowly bop my head up and down, sucking him off at an extremely slow pace. I increased my pace before going back to taking my sweet time with him. It didn't matter how Swerve tried to touch me or make me go faster it wouldn't work. Despite trying to draw out his orgasm I felt it approaching quicker than I expected. I let him get so very close before I stopped. “Why would you do that,” Swerve said breathlessly “I was so close” “Say it” “I-” “Say it, I know you can do it” 

“You won, you’re better than me. Please, please Y/n. I need you. I need you so bad” “See, was that so hard?” I said playfully before I stripped us both. I aligned myself with him as I slowly began to sink down on Swerve. I gave myself a second to breathe before I began to ride him. As my pace increased I could feel Swerve thrusting into me, adding to the growing pleasure we were both feeling. I could feel he was close but I wouldn't dare let him cum before me. “Don’t even think about it” I told him through gritted teeth. “I don’t know if I can hold it baby” “You better hold it” I told him as I increased my pace. I felt Swerve move us in a way that led us to go deeper. I brought a hand down to my clit and started to trace circles around it which started to send me over the edge. “Cum for me baby” I told him as I felt his orgasm spill over, triggering my own. The two of us rode out our orgasms before I collapsed on his chest.  

"Now was that so hard?"

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Biden should support the UAW

On September 22, I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. That night, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

The UAW are on strike against the Big Three automakers. Biden should be roaring his full-throated support for the strike. Doing so would be both just and shrewd. But instead, the White House is waffling…and if recent history is any indication, they might actually come out against the strike.

The Biden administration is a mix of appointees from the party's left Sanders/Warren wing, and the corporatist, "Third Way" wing associated with Clinton and Obama, which has been ascendant since the Reagan years. The neoliberal wing presided over NAFTA, the foreclosure crisis, charter schools and the bailout for the bankers – but not the people. They voted for the war in Iraq, supported NSA mass-surveillance, failed to use their majorities to codify abortion rights, and waved through mega-merger after mega-merger.

By contrast, the left wing of the party has consistently fought monopoly, war, spying, privatized education and elite impunity – but forever in the shadow of the triangulation wing, who hate the left far more than they hate Republicans. But with the Sanders campaign, the party's left became a force that the party could no longer ignore.

That led to the Biden administration's chimeric approach to key personnel. On the one hand, you have key positions being filled by ghouls who cheered on mass foreclosures under Obama:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

And on the other, you have shrewd tacticians who are revolutionizing labor law enforcement in America, delivering real, material benefits for American workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

Progressives in the Biden administration have often delivered the goods, but they're all-too-often hamstrung by the corporate cheerleaders the party's right wing secured – think of Lina Khan losing her bid to block the Microsoft/Activision merger thanks to a Biden-appointed, big-money-loving judge:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/14/making-good-trouble/#the-peoples-champion

These self-immolating own-goals are especially visible when it comes to strikes. The Biden admin intervened to clobber railway workers, who were fighting some of the country's cruelest, most reckless monopolists, whose greed threatens the nation:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

The White House didn't have the power to block the Teamsters threat of an historic strike against UPS, but it publicly sided with UPS bosses, fretting about "the economy" while the workers were trying to win a living wage and air conditioning for the roasting ovens they spend all day in.

Now, with the UAW on strike against the monopolistic auto-makers – who received repeated billions in public funds, gave their top execs massive raises, shipped jobs offshore, and used public money to lobby against transit and decarbonization – Biden is sitting on the sidelines, failing to champion the workers' cause.

Writing in his newsletter, labor reporter Hamilton Nolan makes the case that the White House should – must! – stand behind the autoworkers:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/whose-fault-is-it?

Nolan points out that workers who strike without the support of the government have historically lost their battles. When workers win labor fights, it's typically by first winning political ones, dragging the government to the table to back them. Biden's failure to support workers isn't "neutral" – it's siding with the bosses.

Today, union support is at historic highs not seen in generations. The hot labor summer wasn't a moment, it was a turning point. Backing labor isn't just the moral thing to do, it's also the right political move:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/14/prop-22-never-again/#norms-code-laws-markets

Biden is already partway there. He rejected the Clinton/Obama position that workers would have to vote for Democrats because "we are your only choice." Maybe he did that out of personal conviction, but it's also no longer politically possible for Democrats to turn out worker votes while screwing over workers.

The faux-populism of the Republicans' Trump wing has killed that strategy. As Naomi Klein writes in her new book Doppelganger, Steve Bannon's tactical genius is to zero in on the areas where Democrats have failed key blocks and offer faux-populist promises to deliver for those voters:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

When Democrats fail to bat for workers, they don't just lose worker votes – they send voters to the Republicans. As Nolan writes, "working people know that the class war is real. They are living it. Make the Democratic Party the party that is theirs! Stop equivocating! Draw a line in the sand and stand on the right side of it and make that your message!"

The GOP and Democrats are "sorting themselves around the issue of inequality, because inequality is the issue that defines our time, and that fuels all the other issues that people perceive as a decline in the quality of their own lives." If the Democrats have a future, they need to be on the right side of that issue.

Biden should have allowed a railroad strike. He should have cheered the Teamsters. He should be on the side of the autoworkers. These aren't "isolated squabbles," they're "critical battles in the larger class war." Every union victory transfers funds from the ruling class to the working class, and erodes the power of the wealthy to corrupt our politics.

When Democrats have held legislative majorities, they've refused to use them to strengthen labor law to address inequality and the corruption it engenders. Striking workers are achieving the gains that Democrats couldn't or wouldn't take for themselves. As Nolan writes:

Democratic politicians should be sending the unions thank you notes when they undertake these hard strikes, because the unions are doing the work that the Democrats have failed to accomplish with legislation for the past half fucking century. Say thank you! Say you support the workers! They are striking because the one party that was responsible for ensuring that the rich didn’t take all the money away from the middle class has thoroughly and completely failed to do so.

Republican's can't win elections by fighting on the class war. Democrats should acknowledge that this is the defining issue of our day and lean into it.

Whose fault is a strike at the railroads, or at UPS, or in Hollywood, or at the auto companies? It is the fault of the greedy fuckers who took all the workers’ money for years and years. It is the fault of the executives and investors and corporate boards that treated the people who do the work like shit. When the workers, at great personal risk, strike to take back a measure of what is theirs, they are the right side. There is no winning the class war without accepting this premise.

Autoworkers' strikes have been rare for a half-century, but in their heyday, they Got Shit Done. Writing in The American Prospect, Harold Meyerson tells the tale of the 1945/46 GM strike:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-09-18-uaw-strikes-built-american-middle-class/

In that strike, the UAW made history: they didn't just demand higher wages for workers, but they also demanded that GM finance these wages with lower profits, not higher prices. This demand was so popular that Harry Truman – hardly a socialist! – stepped in and demanded that GM turn over its books so he could determine whether they could afford to pay a living wage without hiking prices.

Truman released the figures proving that higher wages didn't have to come with higher prices. GM caved. Workers got their raise. Truman touched the "third rail of American capitalism" – co-determination, the idea that workers should have a say in how their employers ran their businesses.

Co-determination is common in other countries – notably Germany – but American capitalists are violently allergic to the idea. The GM strike of 45/6 didn't lead to co-determination, but it did effectively create the American middle-class. The UAW's contract included cost-of-living allowances, wage hikes that tracked gains in national productivity, health care and a defined-benefits pension.

These provisions were quickly replicated in contracts with other automakers, and then across the entire manufacturing sector. Non-union employers were pressured to match them in order to attract talent. The UAW strike of 45/6 set in motion the entire period of postwar prosperity.

As Meyerson points out, today's press coverage of the UAW strike of 2023 is full of hand-wringing about what a work-stoppage will do to the economy. This is short-sighted indeed: when the UAW prevails against the automakers, they will rescue both the economy and the Democratic party from the neo-feudal Gilded Age the country's ultrawealthy are creating around us:

https://doctorow.medium.com/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom-bfad6f3b35a9?sk=207d6afdb89b0351b92233cc3318ab94

There's a name for a political strategy that seeks to win votes by making voters' lives better – it's called "deliverism." It's the one thing the Trump Republican's won't and can't do – they can talk about bringing back jobs or making life better for American workers, but all they can deliver is cruelty to disfavored minorities and tax-breaks for the ultra-rich:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/10/thanks-obama/#triangulation

Deliverism is how the Democrats can win the commanding majorities to deliver the major transformations America and the world need to address the climate emergency and dismantle our new oligarchy. Letting the party's right wing dominate turns the Democrats into caffeine-free Republicans.

When the Dems allowed the Child Tax Credit to lapse – because Joe Manchin insisted that poor people would spend the money on drugs – they killed a program that had done more to lift Americans out of poverty than anything else. Today, American poverty is skyrocketing:

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/4206837-poverty-made-an-alarming-jump-congress-could-have-stopped-it/

Four million children have fallen back into poverty since the Dems allowed the Child Tax Credit to lapse. The rate of child poverty in America has doubled over the past year.

The triangulators on the party's right insist that they are the adults in the room, realists who don't let sentiment interfere with good politics. They're lying. You don't get working parents to vote Democrat by letting their children starve.

America's workers can defeat its oligarchs. They did it before. Biden says he's a union man. It's time for him to prove it. He should be on TV every night, pounding a podium and demanding that the Big Three give in to their workers. If he doesn't, he's handing the country to Trump.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/18/co-determination/#now-make-me-do-it

[grantwilson]

begging you all to listen to steeplechase

transcript:

JUSTIN: And you see in front of you, uh, a wizard, holding an umbrella over his shoulder. And he says, "Hello, I'm Taako from television, welcome to Bumbershoots. [Clint laughing, clapping] Are you ready to do battle with the Hunger?" GRIFFIN: Holy fucking shit. TRAVIS: Hail and well met. JUSTIN: No, that's the end of the episode. TRAVIS: Oh, ok. Clint and Griffin laugh loudly, the beginning of the Steeplechase theme plays. end transcript

[tsunreleased]

Song Master List, dm for links

[last updated 06/19/24]

(note 02/22/24: songs that have been crossed out are temporarily unavailable but will be restored as soon as possible 🙏)

(additional note 06/19/24: if there’s a song you want that’s been crossed out, message me about it anyway and i’ll see what i can do even if i have to like. personally email you the file or something)

A

Ain’t Nothin’ ‘Bout You LIVE (Brooks & Dunn Cover)

A Little More Like You ACOUSTIC

All Night Diner ACOUSTIC

All Of The Girls (Lover Unreleased) STUDIO

American Boy ACOUSTIC

American Girl STUDIO (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Cover)

Am I Ready For Love STUDIO

Angelina ACOUSTIC

A Place In This World (demo) STUDIO

B

Baby Blue ACOUSTIC

Baby Don’t You Break My Heart Slow ACOUSTIC (Vonda Shepard cover)

Barnyard Song STUDIO

Beautiful Days ACOUSTIC

Beautiful Eyes STUDIO

Being With My Baby ACOUSTIC

Better Man (original demo) STUDIO

Better Off STUDIO

Brand New World ACOUSTIC

Breathless STUDIO (Better Than Ezra cover)

Brought Up That Way STUDIO

By the Way ACOUSTIC

C

Can I Go With You STUDIO

Cannonball ft. Justin Beiber STUDIO

Can’t Stop Loving You LIVE (Phil Collins cover)

Check Out This View ACOUSTIC

Closest To A Cowboy ACOUSTIC

Cold As You (demo) STUDIO

Come In With The Rain (demo) STUDIO

Crazier STUDIO

Crazier (alternate demo) STUDIO

Cross My Heart ACOUSTIC

D

Dark Blue Tennessee STUDIO

Dark Blue Tennessee (piano) STUDIO

Diary Of Me STUDIO

Didn’t They ACOUSTIC

Don’t Hate Me For Loving You ACOUSTIC

Down Came The Rain Deric Ruttan (Taylor is just backing vocals on this one) ACOUSTIC

Drama Queen STUDIO

Drive (For Daddy Gene) LIVE (Alan Jackson cover)

Drive All Night (Just South of Knowing Why) STUDIO

F

Fall Back On You ACOUSTIC

Fearless (demo) ACOUSTIC

Fire ACOUSTIC

Firefly ACOUSTIC

Forever Winter (original demo) STUDIO

For You ACOUSTIC

G

Gracie ACOUSTIC

H

Half-Way To Texas ACOUSTIC

Her ACOUSTIC

Here You Come Again STUDIO (Dolly Parton Cover)

Hold On ACOUSTIC(?)

Honey Baby ACOUSTIC

Hopelessly Devoted To You STUDIO (?) (Olivia Newton-John Cover)

Houston Rodeo ACOUSTIC

I

I’d Lie STUDIO

I Heart ? STUDIO

I Know What I Want STUDIO(?)

I’m Every Woman STUDIO (Whitney Houston cover)

I’m Only Me When I’m With You (demo) STUDIO

In The Pouring Rain ACOUSTIC

Invisible (demo) STUDIO

I Used To Fly ACOUSTIC

I Wished On A Plane ACOUSTIC

J

Just South Of Knowing Why (Drive All Night) STUDIO

K

Kid In The Crowd ACOUSTIC

L

Leavin’ LIVE (Jesse McCartney cover)

Let’s Go (Battle) STUDIO

Live For The Little Things ACOUSTIC

Long Time Coming STUDIO

Look At You Like That ACOUSTIC

Love They Haven’t Thought of Yet ACOUSTIC

Love To Lose ACOUSTIC

Lucky You STUDIO

M

Made Up You ACOUSTIC

Making Up For Lost Love STUDIO

Mandolin ACOUSTIC

Mary Jo ACOUSTIC

Matches ACOUSTIC

Me And Britney ACOUSTIC

Missing You LIVE ft Tyler Hilton (Tyler Hilton cover)

My Cure STUDIO

My Cure (alternate lyrics) ACOUSTIC

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark LIVE ft. Fall Out (Fall Out Boy cover)

My Turn To Be Me ACOUSTIC

N

Nashville LIVE (David Mead cover)

Need You Now STUDIO

Need (Lover Unreleased) STUDIO

Never Fade ACOUSTIC

Never Mind STUDIO

Never Mind (Country Version) STUDIO

O

Oh My My My (Mary’s Song demo) STUDIO

One-Sided Goodbye ACOUSTIC

One Thing (Bye Bye Baby original demo) STUDIO

One Way Ticket (LeAnn Rimes cover) STUDIO

Our Last Night (Better Than Ezra cover) ACOUSTIC

Our Song (demo) STUDIO

P

Perfect Have I Loved ACOUSTIC

Perfectly Good Heart (demo) STUDIO

Permanent Marker STUDIO

Picture to Burn (original demo) STUDIO

Picture to Burn 2006 original (homophobic version) STUDIO

Picture to Burn (alternate production w/ extended outro) (demo) STUDIO

Picture To Burn LIVE ft Def Leppard

Picture to Burn (war cry demo) ACOUSTIC

Point Of View ACOUSTIC

Pour Some Sugar On Me LIVE ft. Def Leppard (Def Leppard cover)

R

Rain Song ACOUSTIC

Red (demo) STUDIO

R-E-V-E-N-G-E STUDIO

Ride On ACOUSTIC

Riptide LIVE from BBC Studios (Vance Joy cover)

Run LIVE (George Strait cover)

Run (original demo) (clip) ACOUSTIC

S

Same Girl ACOUSTIC

Shake It Off (demo) STUDIO

“Slut!” Acoustic Version STUDIO

Smokey Black Nights STUDIO

Songs About You STUDIO

Sparks Fly original lyrics LIVE

Spinning Around ACOUSTIC

Stupid Boy ACOUSTIC

Sugar ACOUSTIC

Superstar (demo) ACOUSTIC

Superstar (demo) STUDIO

Sweet Escape LIVE (Gwen Stefani cover)

Sweet Nothing (piano remix) STUDIO

Sweet Tea And Gods Graces STUDIO

Sweet Tea And Gods Graces (acoustic) ACOUSTIC

T

Teardrops On My Guitar (demo) STUDIO

Tell Me STUDIO

Tell Me ACOUSTIC

Ten Dollars And A Six Pack ACOUSTIC

Tennessee ACOUSTIC

That’s Life ACOUSTIC

That’s When (original demo) ACOUSTIC

The Diary Of Me STUDIO

The Other Side Of The Door (demo) STUDIO

The Outside (demo) STUDIO

There’s Your Trouble (Dixie Chicks cover) STUDIO

Thinking About You ACOUSTIC

Thirteen Blocks STUDIO

This Here Guitar ACOUSTIC

This Is Really Happening STUDIO

This Is What You Came For (possibly ai) (demo) STUDIO

Tied Together With A Smile (demo) ACOUSTIC

‘Til Brad Pitt Comes Along ACOUSTIC

Tim Mcgraw (piano demo) ACOUSTIC

Tim Mcgraw (guitar demo) ACOUSTIC

Tim Mcgraw (byron gallimore demo) STUDIO

U

Umbrella LIVE (Rihanna cover)

Under My Head ACOUSTIC

W

Wait For Me STUDIO

Welcome Distraction STUDIO

We Were Happy (piano demo) ACOUSTIC

We Were Happy (original demo) STUDIO

What Do You Say STUDIO

What To Wear STUDIO

White Horse (piano demo) STUDIO

Who I’ve Always Been STUDIO

Y

You All Over Me (original demo) STUDIO

You Do ACOUSTIC

You Don’t Have To Call ACOUSTIC

Your Anything LIVE

Your Face STUDIO

You’re Losing Me STUDIO

You’re On Your Own Kid (strings remix) STUDIO

[sophsun1]

This gifset I made of Joan and Jack Kinney's perception that Brian was a carbon copy of his father a lone wolf and selfish man vs Justin knowing that was the furthest thing from the truth hits even harder when you flashback to 1.02 where Brian has such a visceral reaction to Ted yelling at Michael "Where do people get off thinking I'm not a kind person? I happen to be very kind, very loving/ My only responsibility is to myself I don't owe anybody a goddamn thing."

Selfish is such a prominent word in his life. We hear it from many of his so called friends. He's selfish and can't or won't love anyone or anything. Yet his actions towards them even when they don't deserve it show the complete opposite. You can sort of see why it cuts so deep when he hears these words "selfish and responsibility" in the context of the scenes with his parents.

We have Joan in church telling Brian he reminds her of Jack, he's equally as selfish always letting her down and mocking her love for God. How she took Jack's abuse and beatings to protect him though we the audience know Brian had his own share of abuse from him both physical and emotional along with his mother's neglect and alcoholism. He denies this but she won't hear of it. Adding on to her previously telling him her new priest has been like a son to her and now Brian has the power to destroy her entire world view and he doesn't. There's also a weird sort of parallel where now instead of her biological son being like her husband, her surrogate son is just like the son she rejects and is ashamed of.

Jack proudly announcing he's a chip off the old block not made to be a family man, Brian agreeing. Throw in the bombshell that if it was up to him, Brian wouldn't even exist. This man who shirked all responsibilities as a husband, a father and role model to his children telling his son who he wished was never born that he is just like him. Imagine the mind fuck. His line about not letting the ladies tie him down, Brian knowing he would never be accepted if he ever came out to him. Then buttering him up for cold hard cash, even though Brian had it ready and waiting because he knew that's all he's worth to him. Which leads me to the anger I feel towards Mel and Lindsey who immediately jump on Brian about his financial responsibility to Gus. Wanting him to sign a life insurance policy because his "lifestyle" according to Mel makes him more of a risk factor. They don't want him to be fully physically involved but they'll take his money. Here comes the theme of death once more, his father didn't want him to exist but he'll take his money. Mel and Lindsey, pointing out if he dies it doesn't matter as long as Gus profits. Yet he fought so hard for Lindsey in the custody battle for J.R, funding it all when he never got that same unwavering support when it came to Gus. Wanting so steadfastly to take care of Justin financially when they were together and apart because that's how he has been made to feel with Gus and his father. So many layers. Sonny boy indeed.

Is it any wonder? Brian Kinney never believed in love and thought it only lead to bitterness and resentment, and settling down meant settling into a toxic environment where hatred flourished. Especially as your parents are your first example of love and family. You literally are the product of that union in most cases, it's a fundamental part of your childhood and has a deep effect on you ergo why therapists always lead with "So tell me about your relationship with your mother/father."

WHICH IS WHY WE SHOULD HAVE HAD A SEASON DEDICATED TO THIS ASPECT!

Ultimately people are always wanting a piece of Brian. The raw, unfiltered Brian Kinney that Justin sees and accepts and loves is not good enough for them. Sure they have their moments and he's by no means perfect but Justin doesn't want to intrinsically change him, he encourages him to be better and we see Brian respond to this. They blow hot and cold, his Peter Pan complex is embarrassing it's time to grow up! Brian tries to change, no this isn't the Brian we know and love, we prefer the old version of him come back! With his friends he's made to feel responsible for their mistakes and fuck ups, to be a support to them, to help rescue them even to his own detriment at times. To feel guilt at his existence in their lives and how it affects them, as financial support or simply telling him how to react/feel to really major emotional life events. Debbie insisting he "owed" his father his coming out, telling Joan he had cancer. Michael at his father's death, that regardless of what he did he was still his dad. The amount of pressure that was placed on him was insane the "responsibility" never ends. It goes to the -> I don't owe anybody a goddamn thing! He got himself out of his terrible upbringing, worked hard and got an amazing loft with a job in a career he excels at. No one gave him a hand out. Technically even when they did in the concerned citizens for truth era he paid them back plus extra. He hates feeling indebted to people, or in need, and yes part of that is pride but also because he's the one that is always on standby to be that for others, so where is his room to fail?

[ryanscologne]

NSB SCENARIOS

𝓗𝓸𝔀 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽

𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧

You met him at an anime convention, you decided to cosplay as Shoko from Maki from Jujustu Kaisen and he was totally feeling it. I mean when they recorded the video there was so many clips of him looking at you in awe. He thought your cosplay complimented the way your skin. He was too nervous to say the least and when it came to when they went on a little break for them to hang around and view a little more areas before they went back to filming, he immediately went up to you and complimented your cosplay.

When he walked up to you, he was amazed that you knew who he was. At that, he was happy you acknowledged him as one of the members.

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧

You and Justin met during one of his lives. He kept getting comments in his live saying " Invite Y/N to the live trust me ", he couldn't ignore them. Especially since they sent him a gift making him need to do the request even more. Once he found your account he was stuck. Even the viewers could see so. He paused and did his smile while rubbing his face. " Chat, this girl right? ", he said while showing his phone. Once everyone in the chat approved that it was you he followed you and invited you to the live. 

Once you got the notification that someone that went by ' Sojuphan ' has invited you to their live you looked at the profiles and joined, thinking it couldn't be that bad. Oh, you were wrong. He was beautiful to you. His blonde hair had you star struck. You are immediately smiled as he and you introduced each other. Once the awkwardness settled you both went into battling, he was confused. Usually, he had these sorts of things in the bag. But why was he losing to someone, especially you? That night after the live he promised himself that he was going to battle you every night until he had a winning streak.

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐨

Regie never intended on actually going to one of the events that NSB was invited to. In fact, he was planning on telling Oliver that he was too sick to even go to the whole thing. He has just broken up with his ex-girlfriend (on good terms) and was not ready to go back into the world of socializing. He was a little to late to make up to the whole sick thing so he decided to go and see what could possibly happen you know? 

Once he arrived with his normal comfortable attire, he just planned to have a few drinks and stick to the other members as best as he could. He didn't want to stick out, and he didn't want to seem like antisocial at the same time. So, he did was he knew best to do. It all changed once he saw you. Your curls, your skin, and oh lord your dress. He was too caught up looking at you that he didn't even notice Manager Ty coming up to him, " Oh you see her? That's Y/n. I'm pretty sure she was the girl on live with Sebastian the other day helping him with the music. She's really good at the producing things. ". Regie turned to him, " So she's been helping to produce our music? ", Tyler nodded. He thought why he had never seen you before. He needed to talk to you.

𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐨𝐲

Oliver met you at a meet and greet. It was just the members and the few people who had purchased the VIP tickets that were present. How could he had not noticed you, your hair was in a cute little puff, and you had his favorite color on. He usually thought he wasn't the type of guy to go for black girls, but you were so pretty. He knew he had to stay professional since this was not a tinder date, but a meet n' greet with his fans. You were one of those very fans. 

When it came to your turn to meet him you were nervous. You didn't even notice the fact that Oliver looked nervous out of his mind either. " Hi, my name is Y/N ", you spoke to him with your smile, and boy if he had a list of favorite smiles, yours would be in between Justin's and Darren's. You only had 5 minutes with each member to speak, and he as a little disappointed, especially in himself, because he was the guy that suggested that amount of time. 

" Hey Y/N, is this your first time coming to one of our meet n' greets? ", he questioned you while you were just smiling not trying to come off as any type of creepy. You shook your head, you've came here before, but last time you came you didn't have chance to speak with Oliver only Regie and Kane. " No, I came here last tour. Though, I didn't get to speak with you ", you replied trying hard not to show how nervous you were when it came to speaking to one of your favorite members.

You and Oliver talked all the way up until your 5 minutes were up, and man he wished he had more time. He actually wrote your name down on a piece of napkin he had, just so he could remember your name so when it came time for him to search you up on the internet that night.

𝐑𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐍𝐠𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐧

It was actually the same as Justin's almost, but instead you were behind Justin as they were live battling. He was confused at first, because he knew you weren't usually the type of girl Justin would have gone for. No offence to your race, but he knew his friend was into another girl that he hung out with on live one day. During the battle he couldn't help himself but sort of look at you as you were scrolling on your phone sort of looking uninterested in the whole live. But he knew one thing. You were causing Justin to win, and he didn't like that at all.

" Who's she lil bro? Crazy how you need help from someone to help you win against me ", Ryan spoke while reading a few of the comments left in his live. Justin laughed as you perked up, " He doesn't need me to win I think you just suck a little ", you smiled as you finally looked up from your phone, and boy was Ryan surprised. You were actually kind of pretty he had to admit. He just smiled covering his mouth as Justin got off about him being a loser. You smiled as you leaned up to the camera to see exactly who you were talking to.

" OH SHIT JUSTIN YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WE WERE BATTLING RYAN!", You kept repeating, slapping Justin's shoulder in excitement. " She knows me? ", Ryan asked. " Yeah, she's your number one fan or whatever ", Justin just rolled his eyes.

𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐠

You met Darren at a Boba Tea spot. It actually wasn't anything special, you were working there. He was filming a video with the group when he was the one paying for everyone's boba. When he came up to the register to place the order. He thought your hair was really pretty along with your curly lashes and thick eyebrows.

" What can I help you with sir? ", you asked him, now looking up from your watch. He looked at you and smiled, so glad that the camera wasn't being shoved in his face at this very moment to catch him cheesing over some employee at the boba shop. " Oh, um- are you new here? ", he asked looking around. Usually there was a man working in the front. You smile as you nod. " You must be looking for Joon, well he got promoted to manager and is only here in the mornings.", you replied as you put in the orders. 

" That'll be $45.89. ", smiling as he handed you, his card. You turned to look at the rest of his members. " Are you all a group or something? ", asking him, turning around to grabs some of the orders that came out a little faster than others.

He smiled as he nodded. This was going to be his new favorite place to come to for now on.

𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐲

Sebastian always followed you on Instagram. He loved you, well that's what all the members would say about him. He was the only member that was true to say which person/influencer he truly had a crush on. When it came down to expose videos, when they had to go through each other's phone, they saw many dm's on his phone to your Instagram account. They found it funny. They chopped it up to him being rejected since you haven't responded to a single dm. Even to one that offered for the two of you to collab.

It was all funny till he got a dm from you, apologizing for never getting back to him. You told him you would love to collab with him one day and that did he have any ideas for the collab. 

He went around the whole day to the other member bragging about you responding back to him, and exaggerating the point where he told other members you were going to be his wife one day in the future.

Word Count: 1605

[sapphyreopal5]

I’m sorry for being rude in the first ask , you are right maybe I came off hot there and you thought I was attacking your blog.

I’m sorry 😞

My spelling mistakes not only because I don’t know English very well, it’s also because I write fans and angry , I’ll work on that .

Thank you for allowing civil criticism and not blindly follow the actor you favor, like jensen for example, i have no problem calling him out on something that I thought was offensive or tasteless, I don’t see him asa god , but jared’s fans refuse to acknowledge that he is human and does make mistakes and it’s ok .

No they think the best way to defend jared is by going after jensen, like that makes it all right.

Anyway,I’m sorry again and thank you for being class act

Well hello there again Anon, thank you for the apology. As I've said before, I've always been open to discussing criticism and even praise in a civil manner. I am going to have to disagree that Jared stans only go after Jensen to defend him, nor do they all think Jared is a Saint. I don't care for participating in the Jared is better vs Jensen is better social media battle because really, that's an ongoing thing that will just go round and round in a hamster wheel leading no where. I think it's fair like I said Jared felt excluded from TW as it's the so called prequel to the franchise he was a big part of for 15 years along with Jensen. Sure it may have been a business move to do TW but was it a smart one? No, it was poorly executed and also led to a man being struck by lightning who is currently suing Jensen, Danneel and others. Jensen also was rather rude towards those with valid questions about the said prequel. He ended up saying something along the lines of asking people if they were ever fans to begin with when faced with such questions. Plus the whole ignoring the drivers text saying the car was ready at the race track as he talked about at the Charlotte con August 2023, which I actually went to myself. Also, I am gonna say this but Jensen and Misha's YANA in my opinion was 💯 a meek and to ultimately failed attempt to replace Jared's AFK campaign, as it was questionable if Jared was going to leave Supernatural or not. I don't buy the whole "it's clear Jensen didn't want to do it". You're allowed to say no people, you're allowed to say no which Jensen clearly didn't do here....

Jared isn't so innocent either, he too has said and done questionable things. Plenty of people see aware of the public intoxication and assault charges filed against him in October 2019 after he was arrested for such. He had a time in his life where he called out hospitality and customer service departments on social media. One of the waitresses he posted about got death threats. Mind you, I believe she's one of the ones who had her photo included in Jared's post about her "poor service". Now, it's one thing to mention names when making a complaint or bad review. However, to add a photo of the person while doing so is in extremely bad taste. This waitress ended up deleting her online profiles after getting attacked by a lot of Jared fans. He also did this for a man who worked at a Las Vegas casino (included a photo again yes), not sure what exactly happened with him or what the end result is. He also swore to never fly with American Airlines again after a bad experience as well. He even got upset with Verizon Wireless over them requesting to folks a police report for someone making a fraudulent account in his name. He did also insult singer Justin Beiber in the past in multiple posts and Taylor Swift as well, and even wished for Tony Romero to have a career ending injury. I provided some screenshots below that I found throughout various receipts posts. Not gonna lie, this does in a way challenge what his mission with Always Keep Fighting is about. I also am aware of an online bullying video he posted on his Instagram on Oct 10, 2022 I linked to below. I hope this video is a sign he reflected on the errors of his ways from his past behaviors on social media essentially doxxing people.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjiwgGSLj8A/?igsh=c2VwMWMwMnJhZm8w

I will say on a personal note, I certainly care about this tidbit for multiple reasons, including a personal incident that happened to me in high school. (EDIT: added 30 min after initially posting, personal story): One of the so called "popular girls" in my school answered a series of questions on a Myspace bulletin, one of which was something like "if you were to shoot anyone who would it be and why?" To which she responded my first and last name "because she talks to herself and is annoying", way to spread rumors about me saying false things about me and threatening my life. Needless to say we had an unpleasant confrontation in gym class a few days later and I admittedly told her she's not worth time in prison. She started shaking and said "well geez it was just a joke", "you don't joke about things like killing people D". Interestingly enough, she apparently lost her right leg after falling in her backyard tripping over a rock (multiple surgeries and almost died twice in the process) actually in mid August 2022, the same year Jared got into his car accident back in April 2022. But that can't be a coincidence on her part, they have to be separate things and not karma surely enough right?

Now, I don't hate Jared. In fact, I like Jared overall but I will say he is an impulsive character who has lashed out online at times both BEFORE and AFTER his breakdown in 2015. Rumor has it he went to a facility for a couple weeks to a month or so. I say this did NOT help him in the long run clearly. The people like Gen who probably convinced him to go to said facility have no sense of discernment in determining whether it would actually benefit someone with suicidal ideation and such to go to such a facility. My senses tell me this was greatly detrimental in the long run and clearly had no longer term benefits. To me, the above things I mentioned and other things I mentioned in other posts seems to point to my being right in my assessment here. It seems Jared is still troubled to this day with anxiety and depression 💯

I think he struggles more with anxiety than depression based on what I've read in his chapter in that book Family Don't End with Blood along with how he talks and expresses himself and such. Yes he has symptoms and signs of both but anxiety seems more dominant than depression, which he was initially diagnosed with in 2007. He's often described as a worry wart and cares very much what people think of him. He even used to get anxiety with cons and such when he first started out doing them. Anxiety is characterized more with feelings like fearfulness, paranoia, extreme stress, sense of dead, worry or apprehension, tightness in chest, etc.

I myself was diagnosed with depression in 2006 probably about 14 months before Jared was, as I attempted suicide via overdose at the age of 15 on 9/18/2006, which actually was only a year and 5 days after Supernatural first aired on 9/13/2005. I mention this because Jared described his suicidal ideation during his 2015 breakdown as more or less an intrusive thought and ended up feeling fearful he would do so and didn't want to burden his wife or friend Brian with being the last persons that he spoke to, or his kids being without a dad type of deal. In my case, I was very convinced by my brain that I was better off dead, the world would be better off without me, etc. I still at times am consumed with thoughts about dying and leaving this world behind, this "stupid rock" as I so affectionately call it at times ha ha. Depression is really more or less accompanied by things like disinterest in things, guilt, worthlessness, hopelessness, etc. Both conditions can lead to decrease in energy levels, over- or under- sleeping, irritability or anger, problems concentrating, etc.

They coexist a lot but do you see why I am saying he seems more anxious than depressed? No mental illness, be it anxiety, depression, etc. can excuse his poor behaviors whatsoever, same with Jensen and anyone else. Now Anon, do you see that I have my criticisms of both and also praises of both J2?

Instead of sending me more anonymous asks and risking having more people go after you in reblogs and whatnot, I encourage you to send me a PM. Anything you say to me is between us if that is what you'd like.

[forgeline]

ZR1 Storm Trooper. Justin Keith’s Chevrolet C7 Corvette ZR1 is ready for battle, with this new wheel setup from St Paul Speed & Performance. It’s riding on 19x10 Forgeline one piece forged monoblock GS1R front wheels finished in Gloss Black and 18x12 Forgeline forged monoblock GS1R Beadlock rear wheels finished in Gloss Black with Gloss Black beadlock rings! See more at: https://forgeline.com/customer-gallery/justin-keith

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[st4rbe0m]

HIGH SCHOOL IN JAKARTA - TEASER

TEASER WC ▸1.1K

PAIRING ▸ jock!older! Yeonjun x reader

SUMMARY ▸ The world is about to end. It's crashing and swooping down around you, because tomorrow is the first day of highschool. Not even the most extreme hyperboles can explain the battlefield that is navigating the next 4 years. Luckily, or unluckily, you have the summer to prepare - and maybe a cute older boy as well to put in his 2 cents of tips and tricks. But does the summer ever last forever?

RELEASE DATE ▸ RELEASED

PART OF "THE ANTHOLOGY" SERIES

The world as you know it is ending. There’s meteors and asteroids crashing down, balls of fire and smoke rapidly descending on your world. The world you’d built since middle school. 

Not the world as we know it, of course. No, the world with its 8 billion population and sprawling cities and countries wasn’t coming to an end - but it was your world, with its own islands and own niches coming down to debris rapidly. 

Your world meant the things you did - it meant how you stayed up all night on school nights to play Minecraft with Soobin and Beomgyu, your two closest friends since childhood. It means the music you listened to. Usually that included whatever preppy tune that used to overtake the charts. The One Direction boys’ perfect harmonies were all the rage of 2014. Justin Bieber had the hearts of young girls by the fist. But that was middle school. That was 2014, which ended a few months ago. 2015 was the incoming year of the new batch of freshmen in their town’s high school. 2015, and there’s new artists and new bands and new games. It’s 2015 and the world you crafted with wide-eyed dreams and glitter pens is over, and the swooping lurch of reality hits you square in the chest just as the summer heat settles over everyone. 

The First Summer - summer before freshman year 

“Soobin, can you pay attention maybe? Fucking hell.” Beomgyu’s loud usually. Beomgyu’s louder when irritated however. And today he decided to be loud, irritated and angry, and the unnecessary screaming match between Soobin and Beomgyu was just the strike of the match of patience you had needed. “Enough!” Seriously, if you’re gonna fight this much, just beat each other up! I’d rather have you both in battle than this silly screaming match.” Your voice is shrill and the annoyance is heavy. Yet, it does nothing to affect the pair. Instead, all they did was give short laughs. “You can’t shout at us like that Y/N '', the pouty eyes and whining tone of Beomgyu softened you up immediately, and you grinned back with a retaliation ready. “Beomgyu, let Soobin text his sweetheart next door, or else he’ll wilt like a plant deprived of sunlight.” The statement leaves the both of you in a fit of giggles the moment the entire sentence left your lips, and left Soobin to be the pouting one this time. “What do you both even know? To be in love with someone?”, the dramatics were oozing off Soobin, the sore subject of his very strong feeling for his next door neighbor making him more susceptible to teasing from you and Beomgyu. “And what do you know? You haven’t confessed either!”, accusatory, as you told him. It would be wonderful, absolutely delightful for Soobin to pull up his big boy pants and finally ask the other girl out. Not only because they’d make a delightful couple, but also because maybe he’d shut up about the qualms of unrequited (which honestly was quite requited if he just stopped being so blind) love. 

“How’s the existential crisis popping along, Y/N? Are we still the lamest duo you could hang out with that will kill your nonexistent street cred?”. Chucking a throw pillow at the boy, you sighed, the dramatics being your concern now. ���You guys don’t get it, do you? This is highschool. The real deal. The next four years of people’s cherished memories.” “You want to peak in highschool badly, don’t you?” “Shut up Soobin!”

They wouldn’t get it. They wouldn’t get how highschool mattered to you. How being 15, then 17, then 18 happens only once in life. You’re young in love as a teenager once, and you’re living life on the cusp only one. Romanticizing highschool was a silly cliche, and you were by no means a daydreaming romantic (Eh, maybe sometimes). But living, to experience, to feel, to love, meant something to you. It meant something to the little girl who watched those romcoms in the darkness of her room on a blue light screen. Watching how wonderful guys fell in love with wonderful girls. Watching how the boy loved the girl regardless of status quo. High School was a lake and you were a small pebble ready to skim its surface with accuracy and precision. 

“Are you Machiavelli or something? Stop making that scheming face, seriously. It’s giving me the creeps I’ll be honest. This just resulted in another pillow to the face.

The summer heat, a slow wave of buzzing energy that rolled over the entire town, made most of its residents lethargic. But lethargy wasn’t an option for 15 year olds, especially 15 year olds in the Y/L/N household. Several nags and a good scolding from her mother had Y/N working at the convenience store two blocks down. A job that Y/N was certain of, might just be the first of its kind in the way it could kill the employee of boredom. “At least you get the AC, Y/N. And us!”. Huening Kai was an absolutely wonderful person. Honestly, there was no way to say anything negative according to Y/N, which made Taehyun roll his eyes often. The two boys would frequent the store often. The first day because Kai was craving an ice pop to battle the heat. But once the pair had seen the pretty girl working the register all by her lonesome, and the boys not having anything interesting to while away their time with, began to visit Y/N on her shifts, eating the almost expired stock and chitchatting. 

Even from the corny sentence Kai had just said, Y/N could only bring herself to frown, but not get annoyed at the sunshine boy. The summer reinvention was in full swing for Y/N. Calling it a reinvention made her uncomfortable sometimes. It was just a few tweaks right? It’s not like she was gonna lose herself completely.  A harmless fine-tuning of the machinery, shinier gears to turn her and a fancier covering. 

Convenient store afternoons were idyll - no customers, and usually no Kai and Taehyun, who’d take the most deep afternoon naps they could take. Today, however, they’d decided to forego the naps, and they hung around the back, to analyze which candy was the best for the summer. 

Y/N’s sitting at the till, bright light shining right through the spotless plexiglass, hair gently swooping over her face, illuminating the strands. There’s a slight breeze from the droning AC that cools whatever sweat was beading her forehead.  A lazy afternoon, light and airy, with the low hanging summer making the world around simmer like a boiling pot. It was this afternoon, that the bell tinkled as the convenience store’s door opened, the sound jingling faintly over the sound of buzzing cicadas and grasshoppers. It was this afternoon, uneventful like the rest, until it wasn’t - that Y/N looked up to meet the eyes of Choi Yeonjun. 

[stevetonyweekly]

SteveTony Weekly - April 16th

 Here’s what I’ve read this week! I spent a little bit of time in the world of polyvewngers, so it’s shorter than normal but--enjoy!! Give your authors a comment & kudos as you read! 

~*~ 

Initiative Test Prep by plingo_kat

A day in the life of Steve Rogers, SAT tutor.

Drawing From Life by kdm103020

In which Steve cannot stop himself from drawing a certain someone.

Touchy Feely by MusicalLuna

After an encounter with Justin Hammer, Tony starts to feel—and act—strangely.

two for the show by meidui (orphan_account)

Tony is forty-five years old when he doesn’t believe in soulmates anymore.

lay your soul bare, your armour down by meidui (orphan_account)

“Now that you’re standing here, I just realised,” Zemo says softly, menacingly. “There’s a bit green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw.”

Steve is filled with an eerie dread as it occurs to him that Zemo was never after Bucky. He was after Steve.

The flecks of green in his famous blue eyes aren’t flaws. Dishonesty is a flaw. He thinks Zemo knows what he’s been keeping from Tony, and Steve is suddenly hyperaware who he’s trapped in this chamber with.

one more moment of this silence by Red (S_Hylor)

Tony can see ghosts. Not just any ghosts, but ghosts of people how haven't found peace yet, or refuse to. Ghosts of people whose bodies have never been found.

The closer to their bodies he gets, the more he sees them, an ability, or a curse, that he uses to help the police find body's of missing people.

It's never easy.

The Truest Story Never Told by Veldeia 

To pass the time as they wait for rescue in the Catacombs of Paris, Tony tells Steve the story of how he ended up with the repulsor pump.

Afternoon Delight by greyduckgreygoose

Tony watched with narrowed eyes as Rogers nodded politely to Natasha. They exchanged quick, familiar smiles, which suggested that they knew each other better than the acquaintances they seemed to want Tony to think they were. Up close, Rogers was even more attractive than he had appeared on camera, a touch of blonde stubble along his jaw, large square hands.

He also had a nice ass, not that Tony was particularly staring.

“Mr. Stark,” Natasha said, as they both stood before Tony’s desk. “May I introduce Steve Rogers? Or, if you prefer, Captain America.”

Degrees of Separation by plingo_kat

Oh god, what if Jarvis infected Dummy with, with emotions. Jesus Christ.

I've got you under my skin by sirona

Five times Beijing 2008 Olympics Gold Medalist Tony Stark thinks it's going to be no more difficult a job to get ready for London 2012, than what he has just achieved. That is, of course, before Coach Fury comes to visit, and offers him a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of something much bigger than himself. Swimming AU.

None of This is Righteous Anger by Catchclaw

“Shut up, Sheriff,” Tony says, both his fists in Steve’s shirt now, that tin star poking, his heart a dead pound in his throat. “Unless your next sentence is let me take you to bed, because otherwise, you can go straight to hell.”

While Everyone's Lost (The Battle Is Won) by jukeboxhound

Steve closes his eyes in 1945 and wakes up in 2012.

Well. They certainly didn’t put that on the recruiting poster.

Prototype Automated Neuro-Tactile Unit 0 - New York Labs by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)

ANT-0-NY is one of a kind. The man that programmed him was killed before his code could be duplicated, and for all that his later owners have tried, no one can get the code out of ANT-0-NY's head. So he gets sent off to work instead, putting his considerable talents to work for the police department. The only issue is that his partner seems to routinely forget that he's just an android.

not so different, you and i by Anonymous

Three years ago, the idea that Tony Stark being one of her best friends would have been something she’d laugh at.

Not even laugh- she’d have given whoever suggested it a dry look and changed the subject.

Dreaming Electric by jukeboxhound

New York City is still rebuilding in the wake of the Chitauri army when the biotech virus Extremis is released, upgrading a lone domestic terrorist into a posthuman threat. Tony would’ve been happy to keep going on playing with alien tech in his lab, saving average citizens as Iron Man, and pretending not to notice these other people moving into his tower, but sometimes a person just can’t have nice things.

[flatbstanley]

Taylor: ...What I’m most worried about is getting into a custody battle. I’ve heard how awful that can be for kids.

Will: Ideally, we can work that out in mediation, without ever having to go to court. Especially if your husband’s lawyers are more interested in a fair outcome than in lining their own pockets.

Taylor: But what if Justin won’t cooperate, and we do go to court? Is there a chance they’ll give him full custody? The idea of not having my kids full-time is bad enough, but if I could never see them again...

Will: Don't worry about that one bit. I’ve never seen a parent lose all custody rights unless they were an active danger to their children. Now, I won’t lie to you: Ironing out the details in front of a judge can get nasty. But if you think divorce is your best route, don’t let those thoughts be the thing that stops you.

Taylor: No…that’s not the main thing stopping me.

Will: Then what is? Maybe I can help.

Taylor: You know how the Church is about marriage. It’s not just a legal union, it’s a promise before God. I honestly have trouble understanding how a Catholic lawyer can even handle divorce cases.

Will (chuckling): Well, I personally handle them by being an indifferent Presbyterian. I may have gone to a Catholic law school and married a Catholic girl, but I don’t pay much attention to what priests say about divorce.

Taylor: I’m sorry, I just assumed that since you knew Alan—

Will: No offense taken. I’ve worked with Catholic clients, though. From what I understand, the divorce itself isn’t the main problem—it's getting remarried. For that, you need an annulment, and the Church has its own little kangaroo courts to handle those cases. If that's something you need down the line, I can refer you to someone who practices Catholic law or whatever the heck it’s called.

Taylor: Canon law. And I do know that getting remarried is a way bigger issue. But still...getting divorced just isn't something we do, if you know what I mean.

Will: Ms. Santoro, if I had a dollar for every time a client has said that to me, Catholic or not, I could retire today. It’s normal to be hesitant. And no one is saying that you have to start anything today. But I hope I’ve given you some things to think about.

Taylor: You definitely have. Thank you so much for meeting with me.

Will: My pleasure. My paralegal will give you one of my cards. When you’re ready, you give me a call, okay?

Taylor: I will. I can't promise when that will be...but I will.