#Not to mention when he breaks character in a later scene to apologize for taking a bit to move the scene along haha <3 Play!!

[sysig]

One better (Patreon)

[your-local-hoemie]

HELLO 🐢ANON BACK AGAIN WITH ZHONGLU BRAINROT THUS TIME YIPEE

Okayokay so imagine like immortal!reader who went into like a deep sleep/coma after the archon war to like recover and everything. So after zhongli retired (i forgot how many yrs after the archon war) reader finally wakes up and gets so confused coz their lover morax is dead?? But reader recognizes him (hes standing right infront of them) so theyre even more confused now and why is his name zhongli?? Either way reader jumps into his arms and hugs him and asks him what happened and everything so theyre reunited and happy now 🥰 and zhongli almost comung to tears coz hes so happy that readers alive 😞😞 all this time he thought they were dead T-T and they kinda live as retired gods in liyue enjoying their "mortal" life together ughhh so cute like an old married couple

OH MY GOD YES IM SCREAMING, CRYING, GIGGLING, KICKING AND ALL OF THE RESTVDHFJFJDJFJFKIFIG!!!!! 🙏🙏🙏

Watch me get too carried away with the angst because I love putting myself through pain.

Warnings: mild angst, fluff, Zhongli being a simp, gn!reader, not proof-read.

Characters: Zhongli.

It had been a long, grueling battle.

You had fought tirelessly next to your lover, Zhongli. Throughout the day, the entirety of the war.

He often spoke about his displeasure in you doing so but the thought of him possibly getting hurt, or worse, terrified you.

So after your complete disregard for your own safety. You finally struck down the last of the enemies as the war slowly came to an end, only to notice how badly injured you were.

Once Morax came across your broken and bloodied body, he swears it’s the closest he’s ever come to breaking.

Even after all the lives he’s had to take, the blood spilled in his name.

You were the one thing he couldn’t handle losing after this long, gruesome nightmare.

After he carried you back to the safety of your small, hidden cottage where you would both spend your time drinking tea and talking about your future together in Liyue before the war started, he tentatively cared for your wounds and watched over you every chance he could.

He obviously knew that you were immortal. he also knew that occasionally, if you were hurt or sick, you'd fall into a regenerative sleep.

So when you remained unconscious for a few weeks, he wasn't worried. After all, a few weeks in his eternity meant nothing. Though he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss you beyond words.

After weeks turned into months and months turned into years, his hope of ever seeing your soft gaze soon vanished as his time was becoming more and more occupied with rebuilding the land he once ruled over with you by his side.

When the last wall was built for the last house for the now growing population of Liyue, he had to make the decision to move on.

So with one last visit to the cottage, now hidden away even more by overgrown shrubbery, he placed what he thought would be his final kiss on your cheek along with soft begs of forgiveness and apologies, he finally mustered up the strength to walk out the worn down door one last time.

Now, many, many years later, hidden away in that same cottage now completely overgrown and reclaimed by the wilderness, you finally forced your eyelids to open and take in the almost blinding rays of sunlight streaming in from the cracks in the walls as vines hung down and gently caressed your skin.

Slowly sitting up, you took in the scene around you. This was definitely not how you remembered your home looking.

How long had you been asleep? Where was your beloved? What if he was still on the battlefield? All of these thoughts rushed through your mind as you forced your stiff bones to support your weight as you stood up faster than what you should of.

Now fully conscious, not to mention disorientated, you ran out of the small abode to scan the area for any signs of Morax only to find something that confused you even more.

Nothing. You found nothing of the chaos and bloodshed that you remembered so vividly, only the soft touch of grass beneath your feet and the cool summer breeze caressing your skin.

Turning around in a daze, you examine your once cozy and welcoming home only to find it now crumbling and overgrown with plants and wildlife

If this had been any other time you would have found the scene to be enchanting, but as the realization of how long you had been asleep slowly started to hit you, you couldn't help but feel your heart start to race with anxiety and questions.

Taking a deep breath, you gathered your thoughts as best as you could and decided to go to the closest village you remembered.

Needless to say, after walking for around 40 minutes, you were more than a little shocked to see the village now being a very large and very populated city.

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

Looking around with a confused expression you locked eye's with what appeared to be a guard of some sort.

"Y-yes um, would you mind telling me where I am?"

"Liyue harbor of course! Home of the great Geo Archon and Teyvats largest trading supply lines!"

Hearing the formal title of your seemingly lost lover you couldn't help but pry the poor soul from your confused questioning.

"Geo Archon? Morax? Would you know where I could find him? we know each other and-"

"I'm sorry, you must be new here. Morax was killed not too long ago…”

After hearing those words leave his mouth your mind suddenly went blank.

Not only had you been asleep for what seemed like centuries but now you’ve just found out that the love of your life, Your other half had not only died but was also murdered.

Not saying anything else, you took your leave and started walking aimlessly through the city streets that now felt even more foreign that what they did before.

You did your best to try and take in your new surroundings and find out just how long you had been unconscious for but the looming grief that wrecked your heart just seemed to get worse with every mention of Morax.

After spending a few hours aimlessly walking around the harbour you decided that all you needed right now was to process your thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, you say yourself down on a wall that overlooked what seemed to be the centre of a market place that was now silent of any busy citizens as the moon rose up above the horizon highlighting the buildings with a soft glow.

The only signs of life left now were a handful of fishermen packing up their boats for the night and a small tea house that overlooked the street leading ti the harbour that was occupied by two sails men that were selling fish at the dock earlier and-

You feel your heart stop in your chest as you lean forward to take in the silhouette of a tall man with posture matching that of a plank of wood and a very familiar looking rat tail.

There’s no way. It’s impossible. You just found out he died in front of all of Liyue harbour’s citizens just months earlier.

You were so convinced that it was just the grief making your mind go fuzzy that you got up and decided to walk and find a place when you heard him speak.

“Ah, yes. This tea is superb as always”

You swear you dug your heels so hard into the ground that it left a mark in the stone beneath you.

“Morax..?”

The man froze solid in place at hearing his old name come from such a familiar voice that he could of sworn it was just his ears playing tricks on him.

Hesitating for a moment, you took a step closer to him as his deep golden eyes widened at the sight of you now draped in the soft glow from the tea house.

“Y/N…? It can’t be”

Through your vision that’s now blurred with tears you could see him stand up before slowly walking down the steps towards your figure before speaking words that could barley be heard over the gentle breeze.

“It really is… Celestia it really is you!”

Without a second thought, you ran up to him and the your arms around his waist before sobbing into his chest (heh breakdown boobies)

Not saying another word he kneeled on the ground holding your shaking body in his strong arms, not even bothering to hold back the tears running down his cheeks.

“I.. I thought you were dead! Everyone told me you were killed and I-”

“As did I, my love. I thought I lost you many centuries ago and that I lost the blessing of seeing your smile once more”

You both stayed like that for a while longer as he held you close to his chest as physically possible, almost as if he feared that the second he let you go, you’d disappear again.

When you both recovered from the shock of finding each other after believing you’d lost the other one for eternity, “Morax” took you to a quiet place away from the city and explained everything that had happened since you fell asleep all those centuries ago and how he’s retired from being an archon to simply live as “Zhongli”

“I can’t believe you still remember me after all that time”

“How could I forget, love? Every second I spent without feeling your hand in mine was far worse than any tragedy I’ve bore in my lifetime”

“I suppose I’ll have to get used to calling you zhongli now, huh?”

You both let out a soft laugh while Zhongli wrapped you tightly in his embrace.

Times might be very different to what they were but you have all the time in the world to adjust, and you can rest assured that the love of your life won’t leave your side ever again for the rest of eternity.

“I love you, Morax”

“Forever and always, my dear~”

AAAAHAJDLEIDODODEDJDIR WHY DID I ALMOST CRY WRITING THIS HNGGGGGGGFGG IT’S SO BAD

My creative juices became a waterfall and then a whole ass tsunami. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t missed staying up until literally 5am to write about my boys T-T

[david-talks-sw]

Since people were talking about it recently: is there any official reason given of why Padme forgave Anakin immediatly after the Tusken Raider massacre? I always see a lot of diferent reasons given on the internet, from long and deep analises of theirs characters to "the writers didn't think about it".

Okay, folks (or single person who messaged me three times) I'm finally talking about this XD !

I got no official answer.

That said, here's a few points that I do think merit consideration, and I haven't really seen them mentioned anywhere.

1. Anakin is more regretful in the script.

If you look at how the scene is portrayed in the Attack of the Clones July 2001 draft of the screenplay, in Scene 118, pages 83-84...

... he's sorry and ashamed. He is in absolute shock of what he did. We get a bit of this, in the film...

... but in the script it's much more explicit. It starts out with him lashing out at Obi-Wan, at his own lack of power, but it ends with him breaking down and just apologizing over and over.

He didn't just kill them, he went Wolverine-style berseker and murdered EVERYTHING in his path, and he's thinking back on it with a clear-ish head now and realizing the gravity of his monstrous act.

When it's on paper, it reads very differently, to me. He's more remorseful, so Padmé's reaction makes more sense.

But there's a big difference between what you write in a script and what comes out in the film. Once you're shooting, myriad other factors come into play. So Anakin's dialog changes as the delivery and the rhythm are narrowed down, the beats in the scene shift around... but Padmé's reaction stays the same.

And that's where you get the disconnect.

Because what sticks with the audience more is this moment, now.

The anger. Not the shock and remorse.

So why the change? Well, George Lucas had this to say:

"He's very unhappy about that. Very sad and depressed. There was some dialogue here before that I took out, because it seemed to get in the way of the emotional moment of this scene where she says, "To be angry is to be human," and he says, "But to control your anger is to be a Jedi." And so that issue was actually laid out in dialogue at one point, and I decided to pull back from it... because it seemed to me that it was pretty obvious that was what was there. And I didn't think I needed to state it quite as boldly as I did. And that issue will come up at a later time, and I just felt it took away from the moment of his sadness. And I thought the sadness pretty much said the same thing without words." - AotC, Commentary Track #2, 2002

The reasoning was: too much dialog takes away from emotion.

An audience member will have a stronger emotional reaction from Anakin crying than Anakin crying while screaming "woe is me!"

I get (and generally agree) with the reasoning. But, personally, I have mixed feelings about this particular artistic choice.

On the one hand... if the intent is to show that Anakin made a big mistake and is sorry and sad because of his actions, then I think it's safe to say that it's not what most people took away.

Which then leads to things like John Ostrander writing Anakin as thinking he'd kill them all over again.

Also, it makes the viewer question the wisdom of Padmé's judgment.

But on the other hand... whether Anakin was feeling apologetic or not, he still did it. He still effectively massacred a whole tribe, he made that choice.

And whether the intent in that specific scene is conveyed efficiently or not, Anakin's character flaws (which the Prequels are really about) aren't really impacted and still tie together perfectly.

The only real change to that scene is that Padmé goes from having a more understandable reaction to "missing a lot of red flags".

2. Padmé thinks she can fix Anakin.

Here's what Natalie Portman had to say on the scene, which I think is an interesting take.

"She's this very powerful woman, and I think Padmé is sort of intrigued by this darker side she sees to him, especially because she's such a person who tries to fix everything. She sees problems in the world and she still has that idealistic passion… to think she can change everything, and she can change people who have darkness to them. And she sees goodness in him. She sees this passion. And she sees that there's a lot of anger in that passion, that it's not just the goodness and purity of her passion. So I think that is definitely attractive for her- that there's something that she can try and help heal or mend. That might be a big surprise for her when she can't." - Natalie Portman, AotC, Commentary Track #2, 2002

A part of Padmé is intrigued by Anakin's darker side, the "handsome bad boy" part... but that's coming from a place of "I can change him".

But the only thing that can change Anakin... is Anakin himself. Unfortunately, he keeps:

indulging his darker selfish impulses because he lacks discipline, acting on emotion despite knowing better,

regretting it for a moment and acknowledging that it was wrong,

starting again, never learning from his mistakes.

Which is part of the reason why their relationship is sort of doomed from the get-go.

[noa-ciharu]

I'm not sure if I'm onto something here but this page/explanation plus everything that follows has always been suspicious to me

First and foremost: blood poisoning isn't most peaceful way to die, far from that. If poison is so lethal Dazai and Fyodor are supposed to die in 30 mins symptoms would have started showing right away - and yet throught whole Meursalut escape arc we see none. Not a single 'I'm feeling weak'. It's stated that Fyodor spent 5 mins just waiting for Chuuya to arrive so I'm really doubtful whole sequence of him and Chuuya nearly drowning, then killing time halting ability user, trying to drown Sigma and Dazai, Fyodor's and Sigma's confrontation and Fyodor's escape could have happened under 25 mins. Of course, it could be that whatever Nikolai gave them takes more than half an hour to kill a human but that still doesn't explain 1) why no symptoms 2) why neither Dazai nor Fyodor seem to be in the hurry to leave

Therefore my assumption is that whatever Nikolai gave them wasn't lethal in the first place.

But why lie then? Why organize the whole game to begin with?

Well, it's certainly challenging to determine motives of character as unpredictable as Nikolai. His absurdist life philosophy of seeking freedom by trying to escape himself and what makes him human certainly doesn't help the case. One of guesses can be pure entertainment, just for sake of it. For an entertainer it fits the bill. But I think there's more to it.

Except he doesn't really. By now we know whatever Fyodor's ability is that it isn't combat one - if Nikolai wanted to kill him he wouldn't necessarily need to know what it is. Not to mention Sigma can extract info from corpses, meaning they can kill Fyodor and then find out about his ability. While I'm certain Nikolai doesn't really want Fyodor dead, I can't claim with absolutely certain at that point in manga he's aware of that himself (of course he is after Fyodor 'dies' later on).

Much rather than that I think Nikolai is trying to kill what Fyodor evoke in him - feeling of being understood and wanting to understand other in return. That'll explain the game, trying to break Fyodor out of the prison without being too straightforward about it because he himself cannot decide what he really wants and stick by one decision, putting trust on test, wanting to know about Fyodor's ability and generally about Fyodor and so on.

While it's definitely arguable if Dazai would receive an antidote if he just killed Fyodor without actually escaping, it's also worth noting he was leisure with time (aka had time of his life soft bulling Sigma). Of course, chapter where Dazai talks with Nikolai post all the mess is yet to come out so it's impossible to tell in advance, but I have a hunch Dazai knew right from the start there's no danger of blood poisoning. Or at very least took gamble on that. Nikolai said something among "my apologies I have to poison you too but he (fyodor) wouldn't take the syringe otherwise" so it's clear right off the bat Dazai doesn't really hold his interest in that whole game. He's there for Fyodor and brought Sigma with him to extract information out of him.

As for Fyodor, did he knew blood poisoning wasn't a thing? Before chapter 111 I would have said yes given he too didn't seem to he in the hurry to escape, had no symptoms and didn't take the antidote right off the bat when Nikolai gave it to him. But then we have this:

Does Fyodor mean poison or game itself? My guess is poison because if latter that'd imply Fyodor expected Nikolai to help him break out of Mesaurlet which would imply broken trust. And we all know Fyodor and placing trust in others is like oil and water

To me Nikolai looks straightout dejected here. He's a performer that revels in these types of high stakes game, he should be grinning like a madman - but he's not. So in my opinion he was searching something from Fyodor here that he didn't quite get. It could be just in this scene/exchange or in whole game. But if my hunch that Nikolai was trying to get Fyodor out of Meursalut just needed Fyodor to place iota trust in him is correct, then Fyodor stamping over that hope and failing to see Nikolai's intention wasn't to kill him despite his theatrical proclaims it is would be reason for dejection. Whatever bids for connection he was looking in Fyodor likely won't be returned because of Fyodor's mistrust in people and abiding by cold rationale rather than intuition/emotions.

Therefore my conclusion is that whole Gogol game was a test:

- for Fyodor to put trust in others when he has no rational basis to (his major character flaw) - and that's precisely why he lost in the end. I could go miles here how Dazai put trust in Chuuya (and even Sigma) and how those bonds are very reason he managed to win but that's for some other time gives there's a lot to be talked about soukoku, I'd like to focus on doa trio here.

- for Sigma to realize the difference between being used and being of use, aka realize difference between transaction and a bond. I'd say he did well by placing trust in Dazai but it's yet to be seen if his decision to take Fyodor's hand was the 'right' one. His character arc ain't over, it heavily depends on what info he extracted from Fyodor so it's too early to tell how it'll go. Also this depends on Dazai's actions anime hasn't shown, like will he stick to his promise to save Sigma or not. Given promise he made to Oda 4 years before, I think it's definitely in character for Dazai to come back for him, fetch comatose Sigma and bring him to Yokohama.

- for Nikolai himself to realize what he wants to do with feeling of emotional/intellectual connection he deemed as 'imprisoning'. He's at conundrum himself what he wants to do with Fyodor: help him or kill him - accept the instinct or fight against it for no other reason than to oppose very self - lose sight of himself in the end just like Fyodor said. If we go by anime ending (I doubt manga one will be much diffrent), he came to realization how Fyodor changed his life and how he actually never wanted him dead but it was too late by then. Now haunted by realization only one who ever understood him and only person he ever felt connected to is dead, Nikolai will come to realize true hell of being imprisoned by own mind without means of escaping.

All three of them had some sort of downfall induced by their 'cardinal sins'; their own 'decays' as downfalls source from inner character flaws, so to speak.

[livingformintyoongi1]

First Time | Kim Taehyung

This is a little drabble of the Style series, I wanted to write about this series and this came out lol, I hope you like it. Warnings: Fluff, slight Smut, Actress!Reader, Tae is an idol, but is taking a break from music and entered acting again, mention of "Daytime Star" (Beautiful webtoon). wc: 3.3k

When Tae offered you to go to his house to practice the dialogues for the later chapters, you didn't hesitate to say yes. He was the man you trusted the most, you adored him; he was sweet, funny, charismatic and very polite. He was exactly what any girl would want in her life. You were completely grateful that he was your co-star in the k-drama "Daytime Star," and even more grateful that he allowed you to practice alongside him.

"Have you read the script for episode 13 yet?" muttered Tae with his eyes fixed on the thick stack of sheets labeled 'Daytime Star | Chapter 13'. 

"Yes!" you smiled as you stood up, with the script tightly clenched in your hands - quite small compared to Tae's - and peeked over to see his, "There's a scene in the kitchen in this one" you looked at your co-worker, friend at this point, and couldn't help but blush at the thought of what you had to do. You didn't think you were strong enough to see Tae shirtless.

He nodded, almost as if it was nothing new. You wondered internally if he had already done something similar with another girl, though that wasn't your problem. "Looks like it," he gave you a tight-lipped smile, leaving the script on the table and resting his full attention on you as he stretched his arms above his head. "I didn't think they'd have any racy scenes, are you sure you can handle that? From what you've told me, you don't have much experience in this area," Tae's cheeks flushed heavily as he watched you shrink in place, looking down at your feet, "I-I didn't mean to offend you."

"No, you're right, I've actually never made a scene like that before" you sighed defeatedly. You hated not being experienced enough to be true to the role you had been given almost by miracle.

"We could talk to the director and ask him to remove that scene and..." said Tae, too quickly for you to interrupt. But you still took his hand, giving him such a soft, sweet smile that he stopped on his own.

"Tae, I really appreciate your concern, but I also don't want to affect the recording. Besides, it's part of my job to accommodate the character, and if Yura needs to make out with Seunghyeon for the advancement of the plot, then I'll have to do it," you couldn't help the blush that grew from your ears to your neck. In your head it sounded better. Much better.

You shrank in place as you felt his lingering gaze on you, had you overstepped your bounds by saying that, or maybe... he didn't want to make that scene?

That idea completely terrified you. You looked at him with fear in your eyes, and before you could apologize in case he's the one who ultimately doesn't want to expose himself that way, his deep voice interrupted you.

"Then let's practice that scene" he muttered, looking around his apartment, as if he was searching for something. "It all starts after Yura makes Seunghyeon a coffee, right?" lightly squeezing your hand, he walked at a slow pace to his kitchen, "I saw a bit of the webtoon, my kitchen looks a bit like it, so we could take advantage of that."

You were dumbfounded. With your mouth wide open in amazement. You'd kissed Tae before, for the show, of course, but to have him kiss you, take off his shirt for you, and lift you up and press you against his kitchen was... too much.

You shook your head, pushing that idea out of your head. You were a professional, and you would take this situation as such. Yeah, you definitely weren't going to think about how bad this would be for your weak heart.

"Okay, so..." he paused for a moment, quickly reading the dialogues before stopping at you, "let's start with the part where Seunghyeon appears from behind Yura and rests his hand against the kitchen, is that okay with you?" he looked up so he could get your approval. You almost got choked up when you saw his eyes. You just nodded quickly, knowing inside that you wouldn't be able to answer him with words.

You took a breath of air, grabbing one of the cups Tae had drying and positioned it in front of you, without letting go of the handle. A few seconds later you felt the warmth of Tae's body behind your back. You ignored the shiver that ran down your back. Your gaze was fixed on the cup, only straying when Tae's hand appeared next to yours, touching the counter with his fingertips.

You closed your eyes, squeezing them shut as you could feel Tae's breath brush against your ear. 

"What about what I said?" he whispered hoarsely, causing your legs to tremble slightly.

You admired his professionalism, and you really needed some of it for the scene.

You turned to look at him, your eyebrows drawn together between your brows, just as the script called for you to do. You couldn't help but think of the difference in height between the two of you. In a firm voice, but without anger or malice, you replied "You're laughing at me, aren't you?".

And for a second you felt your whole body melt at Tae's smitten smile. He was seriously a great actor, you couldn't look at anyone with those eyes so... bright and soft.

You grumbled as you watched his smile grow even bigger at your question. You shook your head and straightened up, turning all your attention back to the cup with coffee -which, right now, was just an empty cup-. "Ugh, you're hopeless, Seunghyeon Kang, you know that?" you muttered with fake anger, and not only because that anger was from a character and not yours, if not because you knew Yura wouldn't say it with malice, not towards the person who loved her the most -after her best friend, of course-.

"What did you call me?" Tae asked mockingly, resting his left hand on the counter, leaving you completely trapped. You were starting to get nervous.

"What?" you turned your whole body towards him, raising your eyebrows, "You want me to call you Seunghyeon Kim instead of...?"

Yeah, you didn't really expect him to kiss you, though it didn't have to surprise you. That kiss was coming out in the scene. You obviously followed the kiss, after all, right now it wasn't you and Taehyung, co-workers, it was Yura and Seunghyeon, a happy acting couple just starting to date.

 You remembered how in the script it appeared that you had to take his shirt and wrinkle it. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but a sleeveless white Celine T-shirt. Unable to hold onto his arms, you brought your hands to his chest, crumpling the fabric near his shoulders. A shiver ran down your back for the second time, but this time, it had every right to appear. Taehyung had moaned against your lips as you felt yourself clinging to his shirt. Your rational side mentally pleaded that he'd only done it for the practice and not for... well, the kiss.

You weren't sure how long you must have been kissing, but you were sure it must not have been that long. You distinctly remembered it appearing as 'a chaste kiss' or something like that, your photographic memory starting to fail for every second that Tae kept moving his sides against yours. You were starting to feel bad for how good you felt.

He pulled away just inches, his dark eyes planted on yours. You swallowed saliva as you watched him run his tongue over his lips. "I need you to open your mouth a little" he murmured.

You tensed all over. You were beginning to question whether this was still part of practice or not. "Y-yes" you whispered, gasping as you felt his hands hold you by your thighs and lift you up to lay you on the counter. This did appear in the script. 

Even with the embarrassment you felt, you parted your lips just slightly, letting out a sigh as Tae approached you at that very moment. Unlike what you thought, his kisses were much more lazy and soft. The way he had pulled you close to him, you thought he would kiss you until you were breathless. Although this wasn't too bad either. 

His right hand went up to linger on the back of your neck, tangling his fingers in your hair at the same time his left hand stopped at your waist and drew little circles on the cream colored vest you were wearing.

With some uncertainty, you brought your hands to the back of his head, drawing him closer to you. Your fingers began to grab small strands and making swirls with them. You sighed as you felt him gasp against your lips as you pulled his hair slightly. This man was going to be the end of you.

"Y/N" he murmured in agitation, resting his forehead against yours. "Can I touch you?"

You choked on your saliva, staring at him with wide eyes. That definitely wasn't in the script. "S-sorry?" your hands began to tremble slightly as you realized what he had said, because he had, in short, said your name.

"Just... you don't need to say yes, it was an impulse and..." As soon as you noticed how he tried to pull away from you, you wrapped your arms around his waist tightly, pulling him to you again.

"No!" you squealed, unsure of what you were doing, "I... I don't have a problem with you doing it" you whispered, unable to look at his face. Suddenly you wanted the earth to swallow you up.

"Oh" Tae smiled brightly, feeling his heart warm with tenderness as he watched you blush and start rambling on about something he hadn't heard. You were talking very softly.

"Honey," he whispered against your forehead, pressing his lips against the skin there. You couldn't see it, but his smitten smile and the slight blush on his cheeks showed he was just as nervous as you were, "if at any point you feel like it's too much, tell me."

You just nodded, closing your eyes tightly as you felt Tae's warm hand rest on your thigh and move up to touch the end of your skirt. His free hand busied itself with gently lifting the vest so he could touch your skin beneath it. He growled softly as he realized you weren't wearing a shirt or anything from the vest.

"You came without a shirt?" he whispered over your shoulder, leaving soft kisses as he moved up your neck and stopped at your ear. 

"I usually wear my vests like that, so I don't get so many clothes dirty" you said between stutters. He barely touched you, they were light, loving touches that you only felt because of his warmth and yet he still left you in that state. It was too embarrassing.

He didn't respond, he seemed to be too busy kissing the skin behind your ear. You removed your hand from Tae's hair and dragged it down to his waist, where his shirt was hidden under his pants. With clumsy and too shy movements - because, even though it wasn't your first time, something about this man made you act 1000 times clumsier than you already were - you pulled his shirt off and slipped your hand inside, enjoying how the touch made his whole body tremble. You didn't know you could have that reaction.

You closed your eyes, letting your hand roam all over his back, caressing every bit of skin your hands could reach.

You weren't sure at what point it happened, but, almost magically, your vest had disappeared and now Tae's lips traveled from your collarbone to your waist, leaving wetter and wetter kisses.

You were thankful he didn't remove your bra, you would be too embarrassed if he saw you completely naked.

"Do you want me to take off my shirt?" he whispered just above where your skirt covered your waist, a little below your belly button. His fully dilated dark eyes stared at you, causing a spasm to make you jump up and down on the counter.

"Y-yes, please" you rested your hands on his shoulders, wondering if you should help him. 

But you didn't need to. He stood up, reminding you how tall he really was. He quickly took off his polo shirt and threw it somewhere in the kitchen. Your mouth went dry almost immediately. He was too beautiful to be real.

His dark, lust-filled gaze deepened as he noticed how you were unable to take your gaze off his body. He approached you at a slow pace, reaching out his hand and taking a lock of your hair so he could kiss it.

"I like your hair" he whispered, letting the lock fall over your bare shoulder. You could only stand still, contemplating every move he made. "And your eyes" he moved closer to your face, resting his lips for a couple of seconds on each of your eyes, "Your nose" you laughed as he kissed the tip of your nose, crinkling it slightly as you pulled away a little, just enough to look into his face, "and definitely your lips" he whispered, taking your chin between his thumb and forefinger and moving closer to you so he could kiss you.

Unlike the slow, gentle kisses he had given you at the beginning, this time Tae seemed to be completely out of control. His lips were devouring you as if you were going to disappear at that very moment. No one had ever kissed you like that. It was all teeth clashing and tongues tangling, a couple of soft moans came from his lips every now and then, and you couldn't help but want to touch him.

"Tae" you gasped as soon as he pulled away from you. You needed to have his attention for a second before he launched himself on your lips, and his face screamed all over the place that he would. 

His lustful gaze faded immediately. Now his dark eyes only reflected concern.

"Did I go too far, do you need me to stop?" he stammered nervously, he tried to turn around to reach for your clothes, but you stopped him with your hand.

"It's not that, in fact, I'm quite enjoying it" you confessed with red cheeks and gaze fixed on his lips. They looked a little more swollen and glossy. "It's just...can I touch you?"

You both stared at each other for a few seconds, until Tae laughed softly and cupped your cheeks, kissing you repeatedly.

"God, you're so cute," he said between kisses, with a big smile. You didn't get the funny, "You can touch anything you want, I'm completely yours" he whispered happily, closing his eyes and resting his nose against yours.

"Anything I want?" you looked at him with your eyes sparkling. That was quite an offer, very tempting.

"Absolutely everything" he nodded, taking your hand and kissing your knuckles, his gaze on yours at all times.

You nodded with pursed lips, "you can go about your business" you whispered, bringing your trembling hands to his chest. You felt too nervous, how were you supposed to act when the man in front of you was so stupidly beautiful?

Tae's kisses were getting messier and messier, as were his caresses all over your body - especially your inner thighs. You tried to do the same with him, but you still felt too shy to do so, so you took to caressing his arms and shoulder blades, burying your nails into his skin when the kisses got too wild. You couldn't even remember how you got here.

His fingers began to play teasingly with the zipper of your skirt, making you groan in frustration. He definitely didn't seem to have any intentions of taking it off, and you seriously wanted, needed, it to be out of the way.

"I need you to hold on to me" he whispered, lightly biting the skin of your collarbone, causing a high pitched moan to leave your lips. "I don't want our first time together to be in my kitchen" he growled, grabbing you by the bottom of your thighs and lifting you up with ease.

"What...?" You were confused and too excited to think hard about what he had just said, "Where are you taking me?"

"To my bed" he smiled, kissing your lips softly, continuing his walk. Luckily, he thought, he didn't need to keep his eyes open to get to his room. He knew the way by heart. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck, becoming enraptured at the beautiful face he had. You couldn't contain yourself and brought your fingertips to his cheeks, caressing gently. You wanted this man to be completely yours, far beyond the physical. You wanted to be able to wake up next to him, to laugh next to him, to comfort him when he needed a shoulder to cry on. You wanted him to want you the way you wanted him.

Before you knew it, Tae already had you lying on his dark blue sheets. They were soft and cool, but his scent was permeating them, and you adored that.

He put both arms on either side of your face, his deep gaze still sending shivers down your spine. "We don't have to do this if you don't feel ready yet" he whispered, bringing his hand up to your face and caressing your cheek. You closed your eyes as you felt his touch against your skin. It was so warm and electrifying that you wanted more of him. So much more.

"I'm ready," you murmured, stroking his hair. Standing beneath him, with his arms around your head, the nervousness and shyness no longer seemed to affect you. You brought your hands up to touch the hair at the nape of his neck, fiddling with it as you brought your lips to his chest, where you assumed and hoped his heart was. "I trust you, I know you would never hurt me."

You could see Adam's apple rise and fall at your comment, at the same time as his breathing became increasingly ragged.

"You're going to destroy me one of these days" he joked, leaving a soft kiss on your chest, right in the same place you did with him, "But that's okay, I see no better ending than being destroyed by your hands."

At another time you would have laughed at how corny it sounded, but having him half naked, on top of you, with his hair in disarray and breathing heavily didn't help matters.

"Is it okay if I take your skirt off?" he murmured, running his fingers down your body until he stopped at the zipper of your skirt. 

You lifted your hips, barely brushing against his, "Hell, yeah, I was hoping you'd do it sooner" you chuckled, feeling your cheeks heat up.

"Sorry" he smiled broadly. For some reason, you could feel his nervousness, and you loved to think he felt the same way you did.

His fingers caught the zipper of your skirt and greedily pulled it down, pulling them off your legs as soon as he had reached the end. You were still wearing your underwear, but you still felt too exposed... in a good way.

"Are you ready?" he whispered in front of your crotch covered by your panties. Your breath hitched for an instant, but you managed to nod awkwardly. "Good, because I don't think I can contain myself from here on out" he gave you one last mean smile before pulling down your panties and plunging into your intimacy.

[good-beanswrites]

I put together a few Lights, Camera, Sing Your Sins thoughts! Details about characters, filming, reactions, etc. I doubt I'll get the chance to smoothly work some of them into the drabbles, but I still wanted to share them :)

Post-T1 thoughts:

The first few days out of the prison are really weird and awkward – the prisoners got too deep in the immersion and are slowly remembering what’s real and talking some things out. Before these major emotions can wear off, they’re pulled aside by various writers and teams to make a plan for the next trial. They meet up with deco*27 himself and the songwriting begins

They each have a private bedroom in the facility. The first night, they’re all super excited to not be sleeping in those uncomfortable cells, and then immediately feel really closed off to the others. For some it remains a good thing – Yuno is glad for the isolation, Fuuta’s paranoia about judgment is eased, etc. Still, it’s strange to be separated from the people they’ve been side-by-side with for a year and a half, 24/7. Many of them end up sleeping on the floor of one another’s room or leaving their doors wide open. 

Jackalope is using long distance tech to project his voice into the prison, but the animal in the prison is just a well-trained pet with some hardcore costuming. Freed from its little uniform, the rabbit gets lots of pets and pampering from the prisoners. 

They aren’t allowed to leave and visitors must be for filming purposes only, but each prisoner is allowed a phone call (“hey, just like a real prison!” Jackalope laughs). Haruka calls his sister, and so does Fuuta. They stay on the phone for a really long time. Yuno calls her parents, making sure to say hi to Yura. Muu calls her parents too, and cries hearing their voices. Shidou calls his family; being separated from them for so long only confirms his near-miss intentions. Mahiru realizes too late she should have called her family – instead, fresh off the guilty verdict, she calls her ex to apologize profusely. Kazui considers a few people he could call, but doesn’t take Jackalope up on the offer right away. Later in the hiatus he calls his childhood friend just to say hi; he doesn’t mention any of the experiment stuff going on. Amane wanted to call her father, but she doesn’t want to break the news that she’s not doing a good job because of her verdict. She waits until she knows he’ll be out per his usual schedule, and leaves a brief and formal message on the machine. Mikoto calls his mom and sister, asking about how everyone’s doing (and largely avoiding talking about himself). Kotoko calls her family, surprised at how emotional she gets hearing their voices. 

Jackalope makes the mistake of mentioning updated guilty uniforms in front of the prisoners. Fashion expert Mahiru, designer Mikoto, and just simply nosy Yuno and Muu track down the costuming team to “help.” Though there’s not a ton of alterations to be made, they enjoy being a part of the process. They end up sticking around and chatting about mv outfits.  Mahiru enjoys everyone’s choices and fittings, and promises Amane they’ll go shopping someday and have a proper dress fitting. She asks if Es is going to get a new uniform as well. When told no, she vows she’ll take them shopping as well.

Though not allowed to leave, they’re at least allowed to step outside in designated areas. They enjoy the sun and rain and stars. The smoking group is excited to meet outside. Mikoto makes sure to hang out with them a bit extra seeing as he’s going to leave the group a bit come T2.  

I wrote the drabbles as individual scenes since it was nice to give each prisoner their own time like that, but logically some filming would be overlapped a bit. Jackalope would still want to direct everything as best he could, but there may be multiple scenes filming at once. I just really liked the idea of the mixing of props and costumes. They yell “cut!” as Bee Muu takes a shortcut through the Backdraft set. Yuno accidentally leaves her pink-glasses rabbit in one of the AKAA chairs and Haruka laughs in the middle of a take as he moves it out of frame. Amane is on a quick break from her scene and Mikoto shows her around the train still in full marching band getup. (I just realized these were all back to back videos, but I think any and all can overlap lol)

Shidou is still the one to administer Mahiru and Fuuta’s bandages. Even though it’s fake, he wants it a) to be his real handiwork and b) to be accurate, given the disaster of Throw Down. He’s excited to share his knowledge and explain exactly how each of their imagined injuries would affect them, telling them the proper way to act. Mahiru listens intently, all but taking notes, while Fuuta is bored to death of his doctor-jargon ramble.

Back pre-T1, Jackalope started off telling the prisoners they can choose their song titles (just for organization's sake, Es won’t see them) but he ends up taking over because their titles are really, really bad. It’s a mix of those really long sentence-style titles and cool words/phrases that have absolutely nothing to do with the song itself. Jackalope goes through the files renaming “The Sweet Whispers of A Lost Love,” “Fuck You,” “They say three strikes and you’re out but clearly they’ve never met me before” and “Kotokos_song.mp3”. By the time they start filming second trial videos, it doesn’t phase him to open up files titled “Elegy to a Broken Heart,” “I checked the train schedule five times and still missed my stop,” “I Can’t Be Normal,” and “Kotokos_song(1).mp3”. 

And some post-T2 thoughts:

The verdicts are both easier and harder to handle this time around. This is the second break from the immersion, and it’s easier to separate reality from experiment. However, the videos and interrogations this time around were a lot more raw, so there’s an extra sting of betrayal to them. Es got to look deep – much deeper than most – and still chose not to forgive.

Haruka isn’t really worried about death or harm from the verdict, but he does feel betrayed that Es would throw his life away like that. Muu doesn’t fear the consequences, but is saddened that once again she made someone like her only to turn against her when they saw her true self. The t1 guilties have a little meetup where they breathe a collective sigh of relief and congratulate one another on making it through. Fuuta just kind of sinks in relief, while Mikoto is giving out high-fives. Then they make a beeline for the current guilties to see how they can help.

Mahiru and Mikoto were always helpful to the others, but Fuuta surprises everyone by constantly checking in with the guilty prisoners. He remembers how much the verdict sucked and wants to try and help/prepare them as much as he can.

Red appears every once and a while to force people to take breaks when filming gets very involved/tiring. While Blue is pretty chill and cheery about everyone staying hydrated and getting good sleep, Red is a bit more serious with his approach. 

I think with another innocent verdict and seeing everyone 'behind the scenes,' Kazui would finally, finally start opening up to people. I like to think, as Yuno starts filming another video about very comfortable with her sexuality, he approaches her first with the topic.

When given the chance to make phone calls, most of the prisoners choose the same people as before. Haruka doesn’t want to call anyone at first, but is glad when Muu forces him to call his sister. He’s by her side when she calls her parents. Mahiru remembers to call her parents first, telling them to pass along her well wishes to others. She got the verdict she was hoping for, but Amane can’t bring herself to call home. 

The upcoming videos will likely be even more intense, but that just makes everyone band together more. They give each other confidence. They work extra hard to get silly goofy when it’s in good taste. 

[kaiijo]

genshin impact law drama au

characters: diluc, ayato, gorou, heizou, albedo, itto, childe notes: gn! reader, reverse harem, spoilers for childe’s real name, all legal knowledge comes from ace attorney (so it’s not going to be accurate but it will be fun), follows some ace attorney plot, non-graphic mentions of murder and death, brief non-graphic mention of an attack, very unedited

you

you’re a rookie defense attorney. you work at ragnvindr & gunnhildr, the premier law firm for defense attorneys. jean gunnhildr, one of the partners at the firm, directly mentored you.

the first few weeks of your job are kind of slow. the cases that you receive are pretty minor, defending people accused of small crimes like petty theft. you weren’t complaining — it’s good experience no matter what, but you will say that you wouldn’t mind something more exciting.

you immediately regret wishing for that because it’s a week later that your other boss, diluc ragnvindr, comes storming into the office, saying that you’ve been summoned to the detention center, specifically requested by someone being held there. you don’t have time to ask diluc who it is or what their crime is before he’s hurrying to into his car and you’re driving to the detention center

a guard leads you to the defendant, who you’re shocked to see is jean’s younger sister, barbara, a renown and beloved pop star

she’s sobbing and beside herself and diluc finally tells you what barbara’s being accused of — murdering jean in her apartment

through her sobs, barbara insists that she didn’t do it and both you and diluc (well, more you because diluc’s not great at handling tears) assure her that you know she didn’t do it and that you’ll get to the bottom of it and jean will be given justice

diluc ragnvindr

your boss and the sole head of ragnvindr & gunnhildr now

when you first met diluc, you thought he was kind of cold and sort of uptight. he’d avoid your eyes in the break room and in the first few days of knowing him, he spoke all of ten words to you

things shifted when you were working on a case and lost track of time. most people were gone, including jean, who usually stayed later, but you saw diluc’s office was still light. you peeked your head in to find him poring over evidence, eyes flitting across the page frantically

“sir,” you said and diluc jumped. “sorry, i didn’t mean to startle you. is everything alright?”

“i’m fine,” he said.

“is that the livingstone case?” he confirm that it is and finally admits that he’s having a difficult time proving that your client is innocent. you sit down with him and the two of your work through the evidence until you hit a breakthrough at 2 am

diluc thanks you and drives you home, refusing to let you get on any public transportation that late. he brings you coffee the next morning, just the way you like it — you didn’t know that he had paid attention when you made it in the break room

you and diluc work together on clearing barbara’s name, going to the scene of the crime to investigate and find clues. you examine where jean’s body was found, the murder weapon, and other piece of evidence that help you build and strengthen your case

you and diluc work late into the nights on the case and something about toiling into the early morning hours brings you closer and closer

there’s one night, right in the middle of the case, where you’re both exhausted and drained and you both flop onto the couch in diluc’s office. you tell him you’ll close your eyes for a second and the next thing you know, you’re waking up an hour later with your head on his shoulder and his stacked atop yours. he stirs as well and springs back, apologizing profusely

the case takes five days of courtroom procedure, investigations, and interrogations until you finally uncover the true culprit: a businessman named pallad. jean had had documents that would reveal unsavory business practices, and pallad needed to swipe the documents in order to save himself from scandal. he had planned to break into the office and steal the documents, but jean and diluc’s workaholic spirits made it impossible to really find a viable time so he decided to invade jean’s apartment and look for documents there. she found him searching and he broke a vase over her head and framed barbara for her death

as pallad is hauled off and barbara gives you her thanks, diluc asks, “would you like to come to dinner with me?”

“as a date?” you ask teasingly and diluc sputters and scoffs and turns bright red at the suggestion

“no—! not that i wouldn’t want— it’s— dinner as a celebration for your winning your first big case”

you agree and he brings you to the fanciest restaurant in town, angel’s share, which he tells you this was his father’s restaurant and that it’s the place he always goes to after long and taxing cases. bashfully, he adds that he shares ownership with his brother, kaeya, who happens to be there that night too

kaeya is just as good-looking as diluc and you feel your face warm a little when he swaggers over to your table and offers you a charming smile. “diluc, you didn’t tell me you had such an attractive partner”

“they’re not my partner,” diluc replies but his face is that red shade again from before. you decide to put diluc out of his misery and tell kaeya that you work at the firm and that you really are just co-workers, to which kaeya responds with a drawn out, “sure…”

kaeya eventually leaves, saying that he’ll let you two resume your little date, and you and diluc eat your delicious meal. diluc’s face slowly returns to its original shade and he drives you home, walking you to your door like a gentleman

you two stand at the entrance for a second, quiet, and diluc breaks the silence, saying, “i had a nice evening. perhaps we could… do this again sometime…”

“i’d like that,” you say. “good night, diluc, i’ll see you tomorrow.” you give him a warm hug before entering your building and what you don’t get to see is diluc blushing again and smiling brighter than he had in a long time

kamisato ayato

ayato is your rival prosecutor. he’s known as a prodigy through the legal community and he and his sister, ayaka, inherited their father’s law firm

he’s the prosecutor in barbara’s case, and he’s just as skilled as everyone says he is. he cuts down each breakthrough you and diluc have with a surgical precision, and his arguments are always watertight and seemingly impenetrable

still, you and diluc manage to win the case and ayato loses for the first time… ever

after the case, diluc tells you that he needs to talk to barbara privately, and you wait in the lobby for him since you’re going to dinner together

ayato approaches you and congratulates you for a job well done. you’re shocked to say the least

you expected ayato to be cold and stand-offish given his reputation but he’s genial and kind as he speaks to you. he tells you that he thought that his first loss would feel worse but he finds himself content; the truth was revealed and justice doled out, and that’s all he ever wants. it’s why he and ayaka became prosecutors

you’re standing there, kind of gaping at him, and he laughs, saying, “i sadly have to be off now but i have a feeling i’ll be seeing you more in the future”

indeed you do

now that you’re taking on more high-profile cases, solo now, you find that ayato in your opponent very frequently. he performs just as well as he always does with every case, and just like he did after barbara’s case, he congratulates you when you win and even when you lose

your conversations get flirtier and fliriter with each interaction and it eventually leads to the two of you exchanging personal phone numbers. you talk frequently, never about upcoming cases that the two of you work on, but about everything else. you both have a love for boba and for a certain historical drama, and you actually set up a time to grab boba and watch it together

you eventually encounter ayato’s sister and their assistant and close friend, thoma

they’re both super sweet and ayaka says, “you must be the person ayato talks about so much!”

thoma adds, “he manages to work you into a lot of conversations. it’s not a bad thing, it’s pretty entertaining”

“yeah,” ayaka says, “i’ve never heard him talk about someone so much”

ayato shows up a few minutes later and ayaka and thoma quickly excuse themselves, continuing onto whatever they had to do, and ayato asks you, “what did you three talk about?”

“oh, just you”

he chuckles, “i hope only good things?”

“i should be saying that to you — i hear you talk about me a lot”

he moves closer to you and says, “of course it’s only good things. you’re quite… special to me”

gorou

cases seem endless. ever since barbara’s case, you and diluc have been receiving a high influx of them.

to combat this, you suggest hiring assistants for both of you but diluc is stubborn and insists that he doesn’t need one but “you can get one of if you want”

you’re not really sure where to start so you reach out to ayato to see if he could help, given that he has thoma, who is just such a sweetheart (and, as it turns out, is a childhood friend of diluc’s)

ayato tells you that thoma told him a good friend of his named gorou is looking for a job and would be perfect for the position

so you invite gorou in for an interview

thoma was right that gorou is an ideal candidate: he’s organized and diligent and he takes initiative, so you hire him on the spot. he’s so eager that you swear if he were a dog, you’d see a tail wagging rapidly

gorou helps you sort through cases and figure out which ones to hand off to other attorneys in the firm and which ones to prioritize. you two have a good rhythm going with each other, falling into it after a week or two — you run like a well-oiled machine

he also goes with you on investigations and you find that he’s great at uncovering hidden clues and evidence

you ask him, half-joking, how he’s so good at it and he tells you that he used to be in the military, working a job that required keen observation skills — it actually explained a lot of stuff about him, including his sky-high expectations for himself

one thing that you absolutely love is that gorou brings you pastries in the morning from your favorite bakery a few blocks away. they’re usually accompanied with a handwritten note with words of encouragement like It’s going to be a great day today!

gorou also cleans and organizes your desk when it gets buried under stacks of papers and empty coffee cups

as time goes on, you come to realize that gorou developed a crush on you. it wasn’t hard to figure out with his puppy eyes and the way he began adding small hearts to the end of your notes

you’re not sure if you should say anything, not wanting to make the relationship awkward and it doesn’t interfere with any of your work so you keep quiet for now, enjoying the little hints gorou gives, intentional or not

shikanoin heizou

the top detective in the police force

heizou works mostly with prosecutors like ayato but you see him a lot on investigations and he’s always very chatty, which you’ve heard drives his superior, a woman named kujou sara, nuts

heizou is very charismatic and a very smooth talker. you’ve seen him run verbal rings around officers at crime scenes, able to get them to agree to let you onto a scene you may not necessarily be authorized to be at before they know what they agreed to

he also leaks bits of information under the guise of “accidentally” letting it slip but you know he’s far too sharp for that

there’s a particularly tricky case you face where you can’t make any sense of the evidence and, more importantly, how you can use it to prove your client’s innocence

you and gorou keep going over the evidence at the scene, bouncing ideas off each other and wondering aloud until you hear heizou say, “you know, when i’m trying to solve a puzzle, i find that it’s helpful to look at it from a different angle to see where the pieces fit together”

he leaves it at that and gorou takes the photo in your hand that you’ve been staring at, flipping it around and everything clicks now. you feel stupid but you’re grateful for heizou’s assistance

when the case is done, you take a trip down to the precinct and see him bickering with the front desk lady over something. he stops when he sees you and he says, “this is a nice surprise! you have a new case i haven’t heard about?”

you shake your head and ask if you can talk to him in private. he brings you to his office and you say, “i wanted to thank you for all your help on this last case”

“i didn’t do anything,” he said, “just wanted to share a hobby.”

you both laugh at that and you say, “can i buy you lunch or something. not just as a thanks for this time but for all the times”

“i’m free right now,” he says and luckily, so are you.

as you two head out of the office, you hear officers shout after heizou, “where are you going? don’t you have to address those compla—”

“where are you taking me?” heizou speaks over the yelling, “or is it a surprise?”

albedo

you’ve never actually met albedo in person but you’ve heard of the genius forensic analyst that works for interpol. he wasn’t just a brilliant analyst but he actually created new tools and software that enabled easier and more accurate forensic analysis

your meeting with albedo is completely by chance, totally unrelated to your job

you run into him at the supermarket, where he’s buying groceries, accompanied by a little girl

you wonder briefly if it’s his daughter and then, albedo sees you. he gives you a polite nod and greets you by name, taking you by surprise. “how do you know who i am?”

“well, it’s nearly impossible to not hear about the rookie defense attorney who handed kamisato ayato his first loss,” albedo says. “plus, i’ve done quite a few forensics tests on evidence for your cases”

that’s right — how could you forget about all the samples that come back, signed by albedo

you feel your face heat up in embarrassment. you don’t get to wallow in it for long when the little girl albedo is with taps albedo. “how do you know this pretty person?” she asks and albedo says, “i work with them.”

she nods and turns to you. “hi!” she chirps, eyes bright. “i’m klee, ‘bedo’s my big brother!” ah, that makes more sense

you run into albedo again when you’re working on a case that has interpol involved. (you also unfortunately run into your ex-boyfriend, but that’s for later) albedo goes along with you and gorou on investigation for this particular case, bringing the famous handheld device he invented that allowed for forensic analysis on the go

it’s the most thorough investigation you do and because of how strong the forensic evidence is in favor of your client’s innocence, the case is also one of the smoothest that you have

because of all the time you two have to spend together, you learn a lot about albedo — klee’s not his biological sister but she’s the closest thing he has to it, he knows kaeya and diluc as they all used to work in interpol (you have to diluc about that later), he also knew jean

albedo also drops the fact that he’s single, which was so quick that you swear you misheard something and albedo’s nonchalance backs that up, but the subtle brushes of your hands and shoulders suggest otherwise

arataki itto

itto is the head of a small time gang, the eponymous arataki gang, as well as a frequent client of yours

you swear that he’s cursed or something to be in the wrong place at the wrong time because he’s always somehow caught up in a crime

he never actually does whatever crime he’s accused of but like you said, wrong place, wrong time, all the time

itto storms into your office one day, garnering a tired sigh from diluc when he sees him. itto beelines to your office and when you see him, you ask, “what’re you caught up in this time, itto?” you’re surprised they haven’t brought him into the detention center yet

he slams his hands on your desk and says, “you need to help me!”

“i know, i just asked what—”

“it’s not me, it’s about shinobu!”

it’s certainly a shock to you that anyone could accuse kuki shinobu, itto’s right-hand woman, of murdering some in cold blood because she’s the only one who has their head screwed on straight in the gang and she’s pretty nice from what you remember

plus, the arataki gang doesn’t wheel and deal in murder. “gang” really is a ceremonial title, it’s mostly just a bunch of itto’s friends getting together for things like beetle fighting, whatever that is

anyways, you have to calm itto down since he’s getting hysterical and you tell him you’ll help shinobu. he throws his (very buff) arms around you and chants “thank you” about a thousand times before you get him to release you

it’s not a very hard case, the evidence against shinobu is all circumstantial and flimsy, and ayato’s not even the prosecutor on the case — it’s some guy named royce

you prove shinobu’s innocence and, as a thank you, itto insists that you come to their “super awesome, totally lit ‘congrats on your innocence, shinobu, and thanks for your help, attorney’ party”

you figure that it will be fun and you go, finally formally meeting the rest of the arataki gang

it’s actually a very fun night with lots of good food, drinks, and itto’s arm around you for most of the time

childe

ajax is your ex-boyfriend and one of interpol’s best agents

you guess he’s going by childe now

your relationship didn’t end on the best note. you broke up because childe was never honest with you. it wasn’t about his job at interpol — you understood the need for secret there — but it was like every part of childe was closed off. so many parts of him felt ingenuine like a persona

there was a lot of sharp, hurtful words flung around, some meant and most not, and lots of condescension on ajax’s part

you also had a sneaking suspicion that he was involved with some organization other than interpol, something darker and perhaps not wholly legal but you never asked because it really sounded outlandish

you see ajax — sorry, childe — for the first time since your breakup on the interpol case. he looks just as you remembered: tall, lean but toned, and infuriatingly handsome

he still wore that easygoing smile, winking at some of the other agents, who blushed and giggled

you’ll readily admit that you felt a bolt of satisfaction run through you as you see his face fall when he spots you. he quickly recovers, striding over in three fluid steps and a drawl of “nice to see you again.”

“you too” that’s the longest sentence to say to him

you thankfully don’t spend a lot of time with childe, who’s gathering intel and performing raids and stuff like that. most of the intel that he gets is passed through many people before it gets to you. you can’t even distinguish info from him from other agents’

there is one night where you’re heading back to your apartment and someone jumps you. you don’t have to attempt to fight them off for long before they’re being hauled off you and you see childe holding them by the throat against the nearest building

he arrests them swiftly and calls another colleague to come and collect them. when they take your assailant away, childe rushes to you and asks, “are you okay?”

“yeah, i’m fine, a little shaken up,” you reply. then, you ask, “were you following me?”

“agents have been assigned to keep an eye on individuals involved with the case as a precaution,” he tells you. you don’t ask if he requested to be the one to watch over you. “come with me.”

“what?”

“i’m taking you to my hotel room”

“why?”

“because i’m sending agents to check your apartment.” you feel a zip of cold, spine-chilling fear down your back and you nod silently, walking with childe for the next few blocks to the hotel interpol put him in

he uses the time to try and catch up and slowly, you open up. not fully but you let him in just a little. you’re worried about telling him more than what you have, worried that he’ll worm his way back into your heart

you ask about his younger siblings and his parents back in snezhnaya, he tells you that teucer and tonia ask about you a lot and that he hasn’t exactly had the heart to tell them that you broke up almost a year ago. you don’t know why that makes your heart flip a little

when you make it to his hotel room, you see there’s only one bed. you expect him to make some joke about you having to share a bed but he just says, “i’ll sleep on the couch.”

you insist that you sleep on the couch and he takes his bed (“it’s your hotel room!”) but he refuses. it goes back and forth for a while before you just resolve to sleep on the bed together — it’s should be big enough

he lends you clothes to sleep in and a spare toothbrush and when you climb into bed, your backs are to one another and you don’t dare to move an inch. you think about needing to have agents investigate your house to make sure no one’s going to hurt you and a barb of fear wedges itself into your chest. you shuffle a little closer to childe and at the movement, he turns around and wordlessly pulls you close

you don’t resist and you don’t say a thing, heart pounding. it feels too intimate, too familiar, too comfortable. you think briefly about scooting away from him but you let yourself be lulled to sleep by the rise and fall of the same chest you’ve fallen asleep against so many times prior

you wake up in the same position and neither of you can find it in yourselves to move away

[t4llhum4n]

So. Um. @fluffsoo

I have once again demonstrated that I do not know how to use this app and accidentally deleted your ask while trying to edit my answer in my drafts.

I apologize.

BUT. I am here to quench your thirst for a Porter analysis because DAMN I've been meaning to write this for a while.

Cut for length!

So I really like Porter. He's ambiguous, but without it being too pretentious, and I am OBSESSED with the implications about William that he's been raising. I'll definitely talk about the latter thing more at a later date, but in this post, I want to focus on his ambiguity; namely, his history in regards to the audios he's mentioned in and what that did/does for his character.

Let's break down this man's character introduction. First, we get that post-credits-esk scene with Sam, where it's first revealed that Porter and Vincent had a fight. Because of this, in his first audio (a BA lol), a lot of people were wary about him -- especially given that the scene was similar to what Ivan had described when he kidnapped Baby 2.0. This, if it was deliberate on Erik's part, is absolutely genius.

Looking first at the Sam text message scene, when we hear that this new character had a fight with Vincent, the first character on the channel, it immediately casts doubt on the new character's, well, character. It's a "devil that you know" type situation; because the listener is more familiar with Vincent, they are more likely to side with him against this unknown guy. Having Sam deliver this news is such a good choice as well. It's a third-party perspective -- his reaction isn't charged with a personal experience, leaving a world of possibilities about what this "Porter" could be like.

The seed of doubt only begins to grow further when the listener is actually introduced to Porter. As I said before, the beginning of the BA is very similar to the situation that led to Baby 2.0's kidnapping. We were already wary, and now this man has parallels to one of the most intense characters on the channel? It paints him in a bad light before he even does anything to merit it. And then what does he do? Absolutely nothing.

Well, I mean, he definitely did something in that BA if you know what I mean, but he doesn't do anything bad. In fact, he's rather charming and even cares for Treasure after the fact. Like, imagine having an amazing hook-up in the woods, and then the other person takes you to this crazy fancy house to wash up, and then they trust you enough to not wipe your memory even when that's the protocol for situations like this (well, as far as we know, but I won't get into that). He does nothing that indicates that he's a terrible person, and yet...

He fought with Vincent, and according to Sam, it was pretty bad. That's the thing, though, at that point, the only accounts we had about Vincent's backstory were from Vincent himself. There's an inherent bias there, and that bias had been transferred to the listener as well, to the point where the second it's revealed that someone fought Vincent, the first reaction is that this other person is the bad one. So, we go into Porter's audio with Treasure with that mindset and leave feeling.. confused.

This? This is the guy who grappled with Vincent until they nearly killed each other? Sure, he's enigmatic and raising a few questions, but he doesn't seem dangerous. At least, that was my first reaction. And I think that an introduction like this suits his character as we know it now perfectly.

Porter has continued to be a wild card. He seems so carefree and "go-with-the-flow," and yet he's bound in his loyalty to William. Every question he answers only brings up more, and he never really makes the bigger picture clearer than before. Some things he does intentionally, serving some kind of goal, while others (like telling Vincent that he was inviting Treasure) are just for shits and giggles. Because of this, it is near impossible to tell for sure if what he's doing or saying is important or not. It's like the evolution of the "villan or good guy?" question from his first introduction.

ALSO that villan question? Due to what has been revealed about Porter, the "villan or good guy?" conundrum has shifted off of him and onto William. The answer for Porter, at least at this point, isn't a villain or a good guy. He's a servant to William. So, that begs the question: Is William really a good person?

I'm gonna stop it there before this gets too long. In all honesty, a lot of my Porter thoughts are less "analysis" and more "theories" because there aren't many audios to analyze. I would be more than happy to theory-craft at a later date, though. There are SO many connections I could draw to past audios based on information we have now it's insane.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my ramblings! And sorry again about accidentally deleting the ask! I'll get to the rest of them throughout the week (I am so pumped to do the one about Sunshine you have no idea). This was a really nice de-stress after finals :D

[twin-scars]

I love how Stancy fans really only have one thing against Jonathan and that’s the whole picture incident. That’s been discussed enough but do they seriously forget that:

Steve was constantly pushing himself physically on Nancy, she would try to break away when he got too into it, especially in public;

Climbed into her bedroom window and pushed her boundaries to get physical even though all she wanted to do was study;

Nancy changed herself to fit in with Steve and his friends, and Barb felt she wasn’t being true to herself and feared once Nancy got popular she’d leave her behind;

Allowed his friends to call her a slut and spray paint it on a public building;

Jumped to conclusions on Jonathan being in her bedroom and physically intimidated her into ‘confessing’ because he was so jealous and mad;

physically pushed Jonathan (later punching him) and insulted his family by using slurs, basically referring to his family as trash;

Ran off from the cops instead of facing the consequences of his actions like Jonathan;

Ignored all of Nancy’s worries and fears over Barb’s death, insisting that they just pretend like everything is normal;

Kind of ignored all of Nancy’s thoughts and wants in general and focused only on himself. Like the whole six kids in a Winnebago thing.

Whereas Jonathan (with the photo) straight up said I shouldn’t have taken that. I’m sorry. He looks directly at her when he apologizes. The picture stayed in Nancy’s possession from that point on. Never mind the fact that the whole scene is merely a plot device to get Jonathan and Nancy together, because they were supposed to end up together. Steve was originally fated to die, which is why they made him an asshole. No one misses an asshole character dying.

And Jonathan Byers:

After the incident where he pulls her from the Upside Down, he takes her home and comforts her. While she showers, sets up a bed on the floor, and even states where he got the blanket so she knows what he touched. Asks her if she feels better, then offers to go home if she wants him to leave. Joins her in bed (after she asks, he never assumes), but stays clothed, above the blankets, keeping distance between them, and tries to reassure her that they’re safe. Then asks her if she wants the lights on or off. Her comfort and safety is what matters to him;

Never once did he downplay Barb’s disappearance. He totally could’ve said, ‘I have it worse, my brother’s been missing for days and my whole family is falling apart’ but he doesn’t. Instead he listens to her and they talk about how they can get Will and Barb back;

Literally bought weapons and destroyed his house to help her kill the demogorgon (he wanted to kill it too, but I think even if he didn’t he would’ve done it for Nancy);

Straight up lied about Steve asking him to take her home after the Halloween party. He asks her to cut herself some slack, because she probably said stuff she didn’t mean, and continued to defend Steve to her without once mentioning his feelings. This is huge, as Jonathan doesn’t like Steve, but he’s putting Nancy’s feelings ahead of his own;

Drives her to Murray’s and rents a hotel room with two beds;

Even though he kisses her first, when she stops him and pulls away, he stops and doesn’t move until she does.

I don’t think I need to go on at this point lol

I don’t get the Jonathan hate. I really don’t. Jonathan is amazing and I will defend him to the death. Nancy and Jonathan have a lot in common and actually listen to each other, whereas I don’t know what the fuck kept her and Steve together.

I forget where I was going with this post lol

[zh-lele]

We ridin' (currently under editing)

This is the sound you hear when you ride with your enemies

▪︎Summary: Two young people fall in love despite the rivalry of their racing teams.  The smallest mistakes you make will leave the biggest regrets.

▪︎Pairing: Lee Haechan x female reader

▪︎Genres: Street racing au, romance, angst

▪︎Word count: 11.2k

▪︎Warnings: minor character death and mentions of death, profanity, substance consumption (alcohol and drugs), toxic relationships, suggestive scenes/implied sex, graphic descriptions of a car accident, blood, guns, violence.

Listen to the playlist here. | Haechan's moodboard. | Johnny's moodboard.

A/N: Hey everyone :) I said it'll be out before August 15 and it's here :) I hope you all enjoy it. It's not proofread, though, so apologies for any mistakes. Also I hope you remember this is fiction and I do not romanticize or condone any of the characters' behaviors or ways of being in a relationship. Please read warnings before proceeding. If you enjoy the fic, don't be scared to leave some feedback! It's highly appreciated 💙

0. Subtle mistakes felt like life or death

Unlike every other Sunday morning, the Suhs' garage is closed. Traces of last night's big storm are reflected on the wet pavement and the drops still falling from the trees, hitting the sidewalk. Inside the house, at the back of the garage, everything is dark and messy; the small boxes of chinese take out from last night, now cold, remain untouched on the small table in the living room. The sound of the last drops of rain and the voice of the reporter coming out of the old television cut the air, disturbing the silence between so much implicit chaos.

'And now getting straight to the breaking news, a well-known young man from the illegal street racing community, dead in a car crash that took place last night at 127 Road.'

"Haechan, stop."

"Babe, I'm fucking tired. I gotta show them who they're messing with. Gotta make them respect me!"

"No one wants to mess with you, for fuck's sake. Not right now. It's dangerous!"

'How many more lives should have to be taken for these kids to finally stop their dangerous activities? They're a menace not only to themselves, but to other innocent civilians as well. It's truly heartbreaking.'

"Haechan, slow the fuck down!"

1. Candy paint with windows all black

It was your birthday the night you met Haechan. Ever since you were little, you have been interested in your older brother Johnny's work. But since the street racing scene has always been a bit dangerous, he promised that he would protect you until you came of age, not letting you attend any of the nightly events to which your brother dedicates his life. That came much faster than you expected, however, and that same night you found yourself attending your first competition ever. While you weren't planning on racing a car, the idea was to support one of Johnny's best friends and the team's number one racer, Taeyong, who would be driving to win a car—the winner of the race would take the loser's.

Haechan lost a car that night, that ended up parked in your brother's garage. However, he won your attention and admiration with a few words and an irresistible image in just a couple minutes. Although he was shocked to find out your last name and to see that you chatted with him with such interest and innocence, it didn't take long for his expression of astonishment to change into a flirty, cynical smile. You wouldn't understand such behavior until later, when you talked to your brother once the event ended and after driving Haechan's car—now your brother's team's car—to your new home. You were finally moving in with them too.

"I saw you talking to Haechan earlier", Johnny pointed out.

"Oh, yeah. Did you know he's an engineer? He knows a lot, and he's really funny, too! I think you would like him. He even invited me to next Friday's race and told me I can go with him–

"I don't really want you around him," your brother interrupted you.

"Johnny, I'm an adult now. You literally accepted me here because you said I'm old enough."

"Yeah but like, I didn't take you there to fall for Haechan. He's bad news."

"You don't even know him."

"I do, and I know all his mates," he said, getting out of the car at the same time Taeyong was arriving with his own vehicle—the winner of that night. "They're trouble," Johnny continued. "He's gonna sweet-talk you into doing things you've never done before."

You scoffed, not believing Johnny still wanted to control you even after he himself introduced you to his world, knowing its risks, but more importantly knowing you were doing it to escape from the controlling and toxic environment of your parent's house, the same one he had been lucky enough to get out of years before you. That you were also an adult capable of making your own decisions and facing their consequences was an understatement. "He's not gonna sweet-talk me into anything. I know very well what I want."

He let out an exasperated sigh before talking again. "Arrested twice by the police for drunk driving. Once caught selling drugs. A car accident with his ex-girlfriend a few months ago. And the Lees' garage is just a big mafia in disguise. Weapons and all, my sister," Johnny concluded after entering your house.

"As if you guys don't do all of that shit too," you answered with your head down and a pout on your lips. "I know some things, you know."

"Just promise me you won't fall for him," he asked with a much less demanding tone and a tired expression on his face.

You shook your head no and that was enough for Johnny, who came over to hug you and kiss your head goodnight before heading off to his room.

"He's just worried about you," you heard Taeyong's voice coming from the kitchen where he munched some cereal soaked in milk from a Bob SquarePants bowl.

"I know," you sighed while sitting on the island across from him. With slumped shoulders and undisguised disappointment, you decided to accompany Taeyong and drown your sorrow a little in cereal.

"But that doesn't mean you can't have fun. You just don't have to fall for him."

And Haechan wasn't intimidated by anything or anyone. Growing up watching his family race cars and do dirty business, the boy would get in and out of trouble like he had a master's degree. After seeing you for the first time, he started going to your brother's shop every day, with the excuse that he desperately needed some parts for his latest design, since his personal supplier wasn't doing his job and the Suhs' garage was "the only one with the pieces in the whole city".

However, Haechan wasn't stupid. The boy knew that your brother and especially his Japanese friend did not like him at all, so he avoided visiting the store when they were there. But when your best friend Mark or Taeyong were around, Haechan knew he had a free pass. The fact that the latter two were desperate to sell parts and get as much money as possible to be able to upgrade Taeyong's car helped him perfectly in his plan of seeing you every day he could.

The young boy was really charming. He not only had the good looks but, as your brother had warned you, he also had the smooth talk. It was hard to ignore him and even more so when he was flirting and making you laugh all the time. After a week of hearing the same phrase 'I forgot to buy something yesterday', Mark and Taeyong started ignoring him every time he walked into the store, directly leaving it up to you. They knew he was only there for you, anyway.

"But if he bothers you guys so much, I don't get why you still let him come around and buy things from here?" As soon as Haechan leaves, you ask your friend Mark, who's sitting at the computer behind the shop's counter. 

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven."

You patiently wait for Mark to finish reciting the words you too have memorized, after hearing him say them enough times since you two met years ago when he visited Johnny at your house.

"Matthew 5:44," he concludes, turning on his chair and looking at you through his glasses.

"You are such a loser, I can't believe I still consider you my friend," you sigh in response.

"Listen," he started, "I respect Johnny big time, but we really need the money."

You observe Mark's eyes get wider and wider as he opens up to you in a whisper, scared your brother could come back in any second.

"I love Johnny hyung," is all Taeyong adds, sitting at the other end of the counter, without taking his eyes off his Switch. Brief, but honest words.

"And how is this guy Haechan not broke yet?" You ask while checking some duplicates of the tickets that record all the purchases he has made in the week. More than thousands of dollars in just a few days sounding a little suspicious.

"Haechan's rich–"

"He sells drugs–"

Both of them are quick to answer. But either their telepathic abilities to agree have been wearing thin, or Taeyong is too focused on his game to notice that Mark has been trying to avoid the Haechan-talk for a good few minutes already. Mark's heavy sigh and Taeyong's shocked eyes, realizing he screwed up talking too much, are all the information you needed to find out what the truth is behind Haechan having so much money.

"I've always loved you for your honesty, Taeyong," you smile at him and tell him not to worry about it, but he still sends a pouty 'sorry' to your younger friend before getting back into his game. "Johnny actually told me about it, but I didn't believe it was that big of a deal?"

"Yeah, they've been selling for years now."

Mark now lets go an exasperated sigh, clearly annoyed at the subject of talk, but that doesn't stop you from taking advantage of Taeyong's moment of vulnerability. His little virtual animal farm, more important than anything else going on around him. "What do they sell?"

"Whatever shit you need."

Mark is already gone to the back the moment Taeyong answers, and you realize the latter truly has no idea of ​​his annoyance at the moment he starts humming the theme song of Animal Crossing.

"We really are dumb, huh."

Taeyong looks up and waits for you to continue talking while his game loads.

"If we are so desperate for money, why don't we sell too?" You ask, and Taeyong's face lights up at the proposal, his eyes widening and his mouth dropping open in amazement like the thought would've never crossed his mind if it wasn't for you.

From the back of the store, however, you hear Mark's scream calling your name. "Don't put any stupid ideas into Taeyong's head!"

—

Outside the night smells like a mixture of burning tires, weed and car perfume. Friday nights are known to be reserved for making quick money, and weeks of hard work boil down to just a couple of minutes of adrenaline rush. Tonight, Taeyong will be racing Johnny's blue BMW 340 against a 2018 Audi s6. The Audi is a heavy car, so Taeyong could take that lead to win tonight if it wasn't for Johnny's car having a turbine failing. In any case, he will be subjecting it to all possible pressure so as not to lose power. Hopefully, your team's star racer will make it to the finish line without damaging the car even more.

Taeyong is one of the nicest people you've ever met. But to others, there isn't an in-between–people either love him, or don't like him at all. You guess it's because he portrays a serious image and almost doesn't smile in public. Yet, when you really know him, you find out he's a softie.

"I love you, Taeyong," you tell him as he squeezes you in his arms, and he moves out to hug the rest of the members before getting into the car.

Simply because anything could happen at any time, you swore you'd never want to regret not telling your friends how much you love them before any of them got in a car. That's how close you got to be over the years, and how much you mean to each other.

"If I die tonight you take my Switch!" Taeyong closes the door after pointing in your direction and you smile in response.

He revs the engine causing a strange blue fire to come out of the exhaust pipe; probably another change Yuta has been working on to impress the girls out there, and to impress Johnny. Beside him, a pink car envelops the crowd in a cloud of thick, suffocating smoke, from which a boy with honey-colored skin emerges. Something about 'stop burning my tires' can be heard through all the noise from the crowd. Him and the boy in the cotton candy car exchange a quick handshake and, as soon as the flagger gives the signal, both cars take off in pursuit of the night's grand cash prize, and the renown and recognition on the streets that comes with the victory.

There's your team and the Lee's racing against each other yet another week. And there's Haechan across the street, with a cigarette between his lips checking you up and down, while you pretend to ignore him, trying to focus on the trajectory of your friend driving the blue car. When your brother's too distracted talking to your friends, though, you take your own time to set your eyes on Haechan and dig into his appearance.

High waisted white jeans matched with a graphic t-shirt of the same color and a thick leather jacket hug his figure. His clavicles are shown very slightly, and his neck is adorned with some metallic chains and pearls, making his smooth skin under the moonlight look more inviting than usual. He's got his hair disheveled and darker than normal. You decide that it's when Haechan has long hair that you find him the most attractive. And you do your best not to stare, but he makes the task too difficult—especially when he deeply looks at you and smiles like he's trying to get you hypnotized.

It was too easy for Haechan to have you eating out of the palm of his hand. Him, a face too angelic to be, supposedly, such a dangerous person. Bad at being bad. You, on the other hand, a soul too pure to fool around with a demon like him. Too good at being good. That contradiction, however, is what must make it so appealing to you.

You blink one time and he's all you see shining under the moonlight. He finishes his cigarette and throws it to the ground, stepping with the toes of his leather boots to turn it off. You close and open your eyes once more, look up searching for his face, but he's already gone at the same time the pink car comes back and stops right in front of you, letting out the high-pitched screech of the brakes. That's when you realize the scene had turned quiet as your gaze met Haechan, then violent when you lost him.

Taeyong makes its comeback two seconds after, which makes your team lose about a thousand and five hundred dollars tonight. That's not the biggest loss, however, since you often win more from the side bets on the cars than from the actual races. From the winner's car comes out a tall, pink-haired boy whose name they shout celebrating–Lee Jeno. Victory doughnuts and music blasting from all the speakers follow right after the end of the race, but none of your friends is in the mood to join the celebration tonight and the usual after hang out. They're quick to get into their respective cars and turn them on, ready to leave. Johnny's pulling on your arm motioning you to go, before you tell him you will be joining him in a second.

Where did Haechan go? You know he doesn't go to your brother's garage on the weekend because he's the one opening it early in the morning, so you need to see him one last time before Monday arrives—but you won't know, anyway, if he's gonna be back until you actually see him cross the shop's doors next week. The bass is heavy against your ears, disorienting your senses a little. The dim street lights fade as you walk away from the crowd but, still, he finds you. His hands surprise you landing for the first time on your waist, trying to stabilize you after colliding with his figure. He's even more stunning up close, shining even where the street lights have completely faded out. It feels like time has stopped, lost in his brown eyes, and you're struggling not to give up right there in his arms. Just a small smile from his lips brings you back to the street, to hear the horns and the heavy bass and to feel the chill of the nocturnal wind on your skin. But how does he do that to you?

In some substances such as iron, cobalt, and nickel, most of the electrons spin in the same direction. This makes the atoms in these substances strongly magnetic. You learned these three types of metal in particular are around the Lee's garage very often through the long talks you have shared in the mornings. Even more in Haechan's hands, as he is one of the car designers and is always experimenting to take their motors to the next level. Nonetheless, that doesn't explain the reason why you have to become so magnetized by Lee Haechan everytime he is around. Maybe it's because the opposing forces of the universe attract. Or maybe, because there is something sacred in loving the enemy and a sinful satisfaction in trying the forbidden, coexisting at the same time.

"I wanted to talk to you," your voice comes out in a whisper, the air finding it hard to come out from your lungs.

"Yeah?" He asks, pressing his forehead to yours, eyes shamelessly lingering on your lips making your knees weaken.

You can only nod so far as his hands start barely caressing your sides, more gentle than the summer breeze. "Need to do some business with you."

Your hands travel from his arms to his neck, feeling the skin, and there you squeeze until you entangle your fingers in his long dark hair. A gasp comes out of him when you subtly pull, followed by a chuckle and a shrug until he finds his voice, "Sounds good to me."

Your eyes move rapidly across his face as if you were sleeping and it was a dream, trying to imprint his features perfectly in your memory before you wake up. And your lips are millimeters apart from each other, but you don't kiss since you know you won't be able to stop once he starts, and the both of you need to be back before someone comes and finds you like this. A delicate goodbye kiss on the back of your hand is all you get before Haechan disappears again, leaving you gasping for breath and with butterflies in your stomach.

The car ride back home with your brother is quiet. You try to think it's because he is upset they lost the race, and not because maybe he saw you acting too close with the enemy. Your mind wanders to those eyes pulling you like magnets and you still feel his touch on your skin; too hypersensitive, like he had put some type of drug in your system. All the members go to sleep as soon as they step into the house, and you only hear Johnny speak when he's greeting you goodnight.

But the night still feels too young, and you are far from ready to fall asleep. It doesn't take long after you get into bed, however, until a message from an account you don't follow shows up in your notification bar. It's hard to decipher who this is about at first, the username not helping the case, yet you don't hesitate to reply once you realize.

haechanahceah: hey, r we ridin???

haechanahceah: want me to pick u up?

you: yeah

you: i'll wait for u outside

—

The morning sun is big coming up from behind the horizon, and warming your skin with its intensity at six in the morning.

'All he's gonna do is gas you.'

The night was spent in between car slides, laughs, mundane talks and soft kisses pressed up against the finest leather seats. How did you end up in the backseat? All business talk was long forgotten as soon as you got to taste Haechan's sweet lips for the first time.

"My brother would kill us if he found us like this."

You feel his chest vibrate with his laugh against the side of your head, and his voice reaches your ears as if he's speaking right from his heart.

"That would be such a romantic story. It's like we are the modern Romeo and Juliette."

"Are you like this with every girl? You gonna scare them off." You joke, moving your head to make eye contact with him. A smile takes over your face when you notice he was already looking at you with the same loving eyes.

'He's crazy, my sister. He's like obsessed with danger.'

"I'm a die hard, too passionate." He acknowledges as you lay bare on his chest, his arms keeping you secured as if you could get to dissipate at any point. "I don't scare you, though."

And even after all the warnings from Johnny and disapproving looks from Mark, Haechan is right. He doesn't scare you. On the contrary, every minute you spend with him only makes you wish that you could have the rest of your days together. Maybe watch him wake up to the sun rays peeking from your bedroom window hitting his soft skin, and watch him fall asleep with his head on your lap and your fingers through his hair while trying to finish a rom-com in the living room. To have the sun all to yourself all the time.

His tired eyes still shine like stars even though it's already morning, and he still keeps some of your red lipstick on his lips. A sad cello plays through the stereo of his yellow car. Soon the clock will be hitting seven and you must have returned to the store to avoid suspicions. Still, you allow yourself to close your eyes and fall into him, to bask in his warm presence for a few more seconds before descending back into the real world. For one last moment, it will be just his soft breaths, that sad cello, a growing, forbidden love.

And a whisper in your ear:

"Fucking love you."

2. Bad luck to talk on these rides

The wind caresses Haechan's hair in slow motion while the sky is painted purple and reflected in a gray, neutralizing the yellow color of his car. The road remains empty and quiet and his right hand, when not on the gear stick, has already made its home on your leg since many dates ago. It's strange to think that one day you could get used to the familiarity and domesticity of his presence. To think, for example, that you would no longer have to secretly see each other all the time, or that you could drive around town with the windows rolled down. Perhaps, have dinner together in the living room of your house. However, having to forget about his caresses, his fingers intertwined with yours, his sun-colored eyes, sounds even stranger. At this moment, driving carelessly down to town, it feels like there isn't really a different future in your plans; living a normal young life with Haechan isn't an option, but letting go of each other isn't either.

When he drops you off blocks away from your house, you don't really need to say it. It's implicit everywhere. In the looks, in the smiles, in the ways he takes care of you, in the gentle touch of your fingertips on his skin before you untangle your hands and he lets go of you—momentarily, as he promises he would always come back to you.

You both know you do. And it's hard to forget when the sweet taste of him is still lingering on your lips. A smile plastered on your face like a silly teenager in love.

It's late into the night by the time you make it home and find Johnny in the living room, sitting in the dark all alone, with nothing but the TV lights shining on his face. Behind his back, the table holds the remains of dinner, a bunch of empty beer cans and the end of a couple of joints. In front of him, a VHS tape is being displayed.

Mark is the one recording—you could recognize it by his voice, even when it still was way more high pitched than now. A smile comes across your face as soon as you see Taeyong's round cheeks appearing on screen, and how he tries to hide his drunken state when Mark starts with his interrogation. 'This? This is just some apple juice.' 'That's beer, Taeyong.' Another boy comes into the screen. One you don't know, but Taeyong seems to do, as you can watch how quickly he gets lost in his features, with a lazy smile adorning him. And the other boy, with pretty cat eyes and a snub nose, can only radiate adoration while his eyes are on Taeyong.

You don't know him, but you know that look all too well. Enamored eyes. The same eyes with which you look at the boy from the other side of town, the one with the yellow car that steals your hours of sleep and your heart everyday.

The laughter coming from the young boys echoes in the room. You hear your brother laugh too, but he's not the same as the one sitting in front of the TV right now. He's lost, immersed in the memories while nostalgia floods the whole place.

You watch how your brother is about to jump off the pier when a boy runs up beside him and tries to push him away. They struggle playfully, and the little boy's laughter is so powerful that he stops that violent flood for a moment. The air in the room no longer feels so heavy as his laugh echoes off the walls. Mark turns the camera to the boy's face and you see that bright and characteristic slightly-sided, heart shaped smile. The nostalgia has dissipated for a second.

'Haechan, fuck off.'

'But hyung, you threw me before!'

Then realization hits, feeling as if the water reaches the ceiling of the room, and the pressure is impossible to withstand.

"You were all friends before?"

Johnny snaps his head back to you when he hears your voice and quickly pauses the video, yet he remains quiet, busying himself at a too obvious attempt of avoiding the subject while cleaning the table.

"How come I never knew of them before?" You insist.

"By the time you moved here, we weren't friends anymore. It's been years now since that." His answer is short and reflects a strange tiredness, the kind that bothers you right in the middle of your chest, that stirs up buried feelings and puts you in a bad mood.

But you also need to know.

"What happened to you?"

"They started to handle shit the wrong way."

"That explains nothing."

At that moment Johnny abruptly drops everything he was gathering, looking you in the eye for the first time since you arrived. You know better than to push your brother when he's moody and stoned, but you can't deny that it makes you feel sick on your stomach to know that they've been trying so hard to separate you from a person with whom, apparently, at some point they were close. Good friends, actually. In your head, it doesn't make sense, and it's just another selfish and overprotective act of your brother.

"And you don't care. I know you're seeing him anyway," his tone is too cold in contrast with the summer heat coming from outside, and the old fan does nothing to ease the added heavy atmosphere that has been created in the room. "Why does this matter to you?"

You're stuck in your place, fists clenched and mouth dry. There's an expression of disgust on his face while he looks at you, despite the lack of emotions of the words coming out of him.

"You don't care if I don't like them or if I want to protect you," he continues. "You're running after Haechan, sneaking out at night and coming late smelling like alcohol and cigarettes, acting like I'm too stupid to notice. I'm afraid soon he will be putting you in real danger."

"He wouldn't do that to me," you deny with your head, eyes filled with angry tears reflecting a very upset Johnny in front of you.

He only lets out a scoff before grabbing the last of a joint and putting it between his lips to light it up. The fact that he's doing this right in front of you while talking like that about Haechan just makes you angrier.

"You're so fucking silly," and maybe at this point, Johnny is as angry as you are that he doesn't think if he's being brutally honest or mean.

"I just–" you try taking the words out before the tears start to fall. "I wanted to make money for Taeyong. He told me Haechan is part of a good business–"

"Oh my God," he interrupts you, his tone drenched in disgust, "stop talking, you're just making it worse."

But the tears already started falling. "You don't even care about what I feel?"

Johnny exhales the smoke from his lungs and grabs the remote to turn off the television, leaving you in the dark with the intention of ending the argument for once.

"You know what," he stands at his room's door frame, door handle in hand ready to leave the room, "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you. You wanna keep fucking around with him, then do. There really isn't much I can do."

The last sentence almost reaches your ears. The silence of the room suddenly interrupted by an overwhelming buzzing and the sound of your sobs. A door opens next to the one your brother just locked himself in. A slim, sleepy figure stands there, but with his arms extended your way and his shoulder ready for you to cry on for the rest of the night until you fall asleep. You know Taeyong is true to your brother and their friendship, yet tonight you are the most grateful to him for being the only one helping you overcome your sorrows.

3. This is the sound you hear when you ride with your enemies

Haechan's closed garage does its best to cancel out any sounds other than his kisses. His heart-shaped lips leave soft traces of affection on your cheeks and your jaw, caressing your neck before planting them again against yours. You know his friends are waiting for him outside, they wouldn't start the main event without him. You also know that, somewhere across the street, your brother is waiting for you too, but instead of asking where you've disappeared to for another night he could be connecting the dots by now. And there is also one last and most important thing you know, and that is that you shouldn't be here, sitting on the hood of your forced-to-be rival's car, with the same one standing between your legs and stealing the air out of your lungs. Still, you've been ignoring for three months now the fact that you shouldn't be seeing Haechan, and it feels too late to go back.

"Like you," he whispers to you, barely getting away from your lips. "Like you so much."

His hands are gently caressing your thighs. Yours keep tracing the soft skin of his face, his nape, until your fingers tangle through his hair and you pull him away. His smile is bright and warm as the sun. His eyes resemble nothing but pure adoration; if yours shine, it's only because the moon reflects the sunlight. He has become a source of thrill and love in your life. The nickname suits him too well.

You can't fall for Haechan. Your brother's words back in the days resonates in your head, arousing an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. I know he will try to get to us through you. Don't fall for any of the shit he could say.

"Why do you do this, though?" You ask the boy in front of you, while fixing his disheveled hair before he will have to go out.

He stares at you with a frown, the tilting of his head to the side indicating he didn't understand the question.

"Racing, I mean. Like, you don't need the money or the fame or anything that comes with this, you know."

Maybe, if Haechan didn't race anymore, there would be no such stupid rivalry between your family and Haechan and his team. Maybe that way you could be together publicly; you wouldn't have to wait for days and days to see him and, when you finally get the chance, always be at risk of being caught by your brother or his friends.

"'Cuz it's in my blood, baby," he answers with a subtle smirk. "Racing is what I am, this is what I'm supposed to do."

His tight grip on both your hands and his deep loving eyes staring into yours, you think are supposed to give you comfort. Yet, unfortunately, they're far from that.

"Hey," he's whispering against your lips once again. When he presses his forehead on yours and closes his eyes, you rush to protect his face in your hands and try to memorize each of the beauty marks that adorn it. "I know what you're thinking about. Don't look so sad." 

The volume of his words is almost inaudible; the multiple voices and the music playing outside the garage suddenly disturbing your senses a little too much, and reminding you that you are not as alone as it feels like.

"I care for you. You know that I'd die for you."

"That's a little too much, don't you think?" You laugh it off this time. You know now how Haechan can get a little too passionate.

"No, I mean it. Like, if Johnny crossed that door right now, found me here wrapped in your arms and decided to beat the shit out of me, I'd still die as a happy man, you know, 'cause I got to be with you."

The mention of your brother only draws a resigned sigh from you, and Haechan stops supplying kisses to your cheeks as quickly as he notices your change in mood. "What's wrong?"

When you see him like this, with his rosy lips plumped by all the kissing, the disheveled hair and wearing his heart on his sleeve being so real with you, you try to think of a single thing why you should just listen to your brother and walk out that door, leaving Haechan behind. But you really can't find any. His eyes are heavily charged with worry before you as his hands move to cup your cheeks, leaving loving touches on your skin and giving you the time to talk.

"It's just that I fought with Johnny. I would actually like it to be the other way around," you look into his lovely eyes and can't help but slightly smile. "You beating the shit out of him for once."

Haechan laughs, rapidly agreeing to your idea and letting you know 'he will take care of it.' A roll of your eyes and a quick peck is all he gets, before you are shoving him from you at the sound of his name being called from outside. The backdoor of the Lee's garage is quickly opened to let enter the boy with the baby pink hair. His eyes are wide and quick traveling from your figure on the hood of Haechan's yellow car, to his hands now back on your legs, to the unbothered expression of the honeyed-skin boy still in front of you. The boy at the door is the first to break the silence.

"Donghyuck, the race is about to start. Come out."

"Will be out in a minute, Jeno."

"They've been waiting for you for a while now–"

Haechan barely acknowledges his words when he's already asking you if you want to ride with him tonight. "It's gonna put you in a good mood again. You're gonna love it, trust me." And there's no escape from his pleading, because Jeno is already gone and Haechan only repeats please, please, please, between kisses on your lips.

"Fine."

He smiles satisfied at your response and disconnects your lips to let you get off the hood. His hand gently grips your hip before motioning you to climb into the passenger seat. "That's my girl."

Once you're in the street, you can finally assign faces to all the loud voices you heard from inside the Lees' garage. There are too many people gathered this Saturday night, even though it's a fun-only race that you know no one is winning anything from. You can't see into the other cars because of their tinted windows, but the bright green paint of the Chevrolet lined up to your right tells you that Haechan will be racing your team tonight. It's a surprise, though, since you thought they wouldn't be risking their pride after last time's defeat of Taeyong. Yuta walks over to the green car to talk to the driver and the window rolls down revealing Mark behind the wheel, which only makes you more nervous. It's one thing to watch them run and quite another to literally run against them, something you've never done before. Not even Johnny has accelerated enough to exceed the speed limits when he's with you. Beyond Mark is a purple car that you don't recognize, but it lines up ready to race too.

On your left, Haechan awaits for the pretty girl with the flag to take position. His hands grip the steering wheel firmly and securely unlike yours, from which you must dry the cold sweat of your nerves on your jeans. His eyes seem lost on the horizon, but you know they are expecting the signal to start the race. Your eyes travel uneasily through his body to his tense jaw, finally setting on his lips. A smile adorns them the moment the girl raises her arms–it's about to start–. But you can't focus on Haechan anymore when your body's inertia pulls you back at the sudden change in speed. Haechan hits the gas quickly, taking the lead down a narrow one-lane street, but Mark is hot on his heels.  As soon as the road opens up again, the green Chevrolet passes Haechan's car with its nose and you start to hear him whining and cursing.

Haechan liked control. He made sure to always know his surroundings, where he was racing and against who; to be aware of the potential, the abilities and the weaknesses of the competitor–that was his first rule. His second rule was looking at every single mirror at least every four to five seconds. He said you have to be able to visualize the whole world through your mirrors, and know what's happening behind you to understand what's gonna happen in front of you. He didn't like losing and he truly hated not being the number one. So when the purple car passes him and he tells you that it's fine, that it's just Yangyang's car–one of his mates–, but he still punches the steering wheel with anger, you are pretty sure it's not fine at all.

"I can still win this," you hear him talk to himself. The speedometer continues to increase after passing 100 kilometers per hour. 110, 120, 130... Haechan passes both cars and you swallow the lump in your throat trying to calm your nerves. He approaches the closed turn they'll all have to take to get back to the starting point, and you notice that he's not going to slow down in the slightest.  Still, you can't afford to close your eyes and run away from the moment. You can't afford to be afraid of Haechan either. Even when everything seems to be going wrong, he has things under control and he would never put you at risk, would he?

"The problem about Haechan is that he thinks he's smarter than everyone else. So, like, I'm riding with him."

The image of Mark being lazy in your bed this morning comes to your mind. With a smoke between his lips is how you finally found out more about their old, ended friendship. "I'm on the passenger seat, man's driving, car's full of bitches and the car in front of us is like, clearly slowing down."

He stopped for a moment to let out a cloud of smoke from his lungs, trying to cope with the frustration those memories still caused him. "He won't even flinch," Mark told you, eyes widening and wearing a pout on his lips like every time he's at the verge, fighting with his thoughts, struggling to process emotions.

"The girls are screaming at him. I am telling him to slow the fuck down 'cause we're gonna crash! And I know he has it under control, we still got a couple meters to make it and he's gonna wait 'til the last second to press the break. But can't he fucking answer me?! It's like he ignores that he has other people in the car, you know what I'm saying?" He finished pretty much out of breath, the frustration making him collect a bunch of tears in his eyes, but he didn't let them fall.

"It was always like that with him. It makes me fucking mad how he's an asshole, yet he never really fucks up enough to like, settle down. Man's just out there being a body. That's all. Doesn't care about shit."

Haechan's right hand lifts the parking brake while his left hand turns and holds the steering wheel firmly to take the corner. The sound of the tires skidding across the pavement mixing with the beats coming out of the car's speakers deafens your ears, and you're sure it'll be hard for the other two drivers to get out of the corner clean after all the smoke Haechan has put up with his little show. The maneuver lasts a couple of seconds that feel eternal. When he releases the parking brake and manages to stabilize his yellow car by taking the lead, a smile returns to take over his face.

He gets first place despite having started the race poorly. There is no shortage of shouts and cheers for him when he gets out of the car. Mark's car is the second to arrive and, after a few seconds, arrives the purple car from which a smiling Yangyang gets out and hugs Haechan. After that, everything happens rather quickly. The boy you've been sneaking out with suddenly opens your door and tugs from your arm to get you out. Cheers get replaced with surprised gasps and smiles with gape mouths. And everybody's looking at you, but no one's doing it the way Johnny and Haechan are doing it. While one look is filled with strong indifference that hurts your chest, the other is soft and loving so you seek refuge in it. By the time you're done making out with Haechan in front of everyone and the screams have calmed down, your brother is nowhere to be seen; just a few of his friends remain on the streets with Mark.

Haechan wears a satisfied smirk looking at you before he gets closer to say only for your ears: "We gotta celebrate properly."

One last kiss on your cheek and he distances himself enough to shout, but with his grip still firm on your waist.

"After party is at ours!"

—

"Have you ever smoked before?"

You shake your head no in response.

"Alright, you better do it for the first time with someone you trust," Haechan continues without looking in your eyes, too focused on his hands almost done rolling the joint. "You trust me, right?"

You did not imagine that this would be how you appeared publicly for the first time at the Lee house. It had always been secretly, getting in late into the night when his friends weren't around, and leaving too early in the morning to not get caught. So as soon as you arrived and Haechan dragged you to the door at the end of the hall to get you both locked inside, it felt off. This was the moment you've been waiting for a while now: finally being able to be with the guy you like without having to hide. However, when you finally make it public, the first thing Haechan does is hide you.

His train of thought is hard to follow, even more to understand his actions most of the time.

He looks different tonight. While there is nothing wrong with his looks and his handsome features get accentuated in the yellow bathroom light, there is something odd about his mood. He looks agitated; he talks a lot and doesn't wait for anyone's answers. You might be worried if it wasn't for the fact that when he finishes wetting the silk paper with his tongue and sticking it down, securing the joint, he gives you one of those smiles you love. No teeth showing, only his lips pressed together in a line, slightly curved upwards at the corners, his cute dimples on display and his eyes transforming into two adorable half moons. You want to see adoration behind that smile, you want to see sincerity. You want him to tell you that everything is fine, and that you should just throw the intrusive thoughts out the window.

You just wanted a normal party night feeling like teenagers in love, only to end up locked in the bathroom with him and a bunch of drugs in his hands instead of your heart.

Yet you still like him too much to say no to him.

"Yeah," you find your voice after a moment. "I trust you, Haechan."

That only makes his little smile grow bigger, and he lights the joint.

Things get funnier. The lights get more annoying but you pay no mind to it. Alcohol tastes better than other times you've drank, so you keep drinking. And when you are with Haechan's friends the filled cups just keep going around the circle and you drink a little bit more. You believe you even see Taeyong at the party, pressed up against a corner talking too closely to the guy who Haechan presented to you as Ten—the same one you saw with Taeyong in Johnny's video—, one of the older guys of their group. 

The music gets easier to dance to. Haechan's body has hardly been this close to you before in a place that's not his room or the backseat of his car. You don't even remember when you lit up the second joint, only realizing about it once you're exhaling the smoke into the air. When the living room filled with people gets too hot for Haechan to stand it, he leads you to the bathroom again.

"How would you react," he starts after locking the door, "if you saw me snorting something up my nose?"

The question leaves you speechless. Of course the idea is not pleasant. It's no fun not being in the same state as him, you already know that from other times he has come to get you super high after hanging out with friends. It's no fun being afraid that something bad might happen to the person you care about because you let them. It's no fun that you can't understand why Haechan seems to enjoy it so much. And it's no fun that you fear he might just take advantage of his influence over you—which you recognize he can have sometimes, but you don't get to decide yet if it's a good one, or a more on the bad side one.

His eyes sparkle with excitement asking you. He licks his lips over and over again waiting for your response, until his gaze drops to your lips to steal a long kiss from you.

"So? What you say?" He asks out of breath.

Your head feels dizzy when the oxygen reaches your blood once again, and you have quite a hard time focusing on his words after the kiss, his touch and his eyes always too distracting.

"It's fine. I'm just worried something might happen to you–"

"But it won't," Haechan is quick to interrupt you. "It won't, it won't. Not when I'm with you."

He pecks your lips yet another time but you decide to deepen it, pulling on his hair to bring him closer to you. It's heated and you hope it will make him forget about this other matter you don't get to like. You truly believe it has worked when you feel him struggling with his pants' front pocket, so you back off to see him smirking at you, wallet in hand and too excited for his next move.

Haechan opens his wallet and takes out a small bag with cocaine in it. He dumps some on the surface around the sink and next to where you're sitting, and brings his head closer; you only hear the sound of the thing going up his nose, his hair blocking your view. A few seconds go by while you just watch after Haechan straightens up his back and tries to fight his state, keeping his balance by holding on to the sink until his knuckles turn white. Then, he suddenly seems to recover and is once again smiling and leaving kisses on your mouth at a pace you find hard to follow. He gathers the leftover powder he couldn't inhale onto his index finger and points in your direction, offering it to you. When you shake your head no, motionless with your back to the mirror, he then brings his finger to his mouth to put the leftovers between the lips and the teeth.

"I'll wait for you in the room," Haechan whispers before gathering his things and heading off of the bathroom, leaving you alone.

You think that what just happened shouldn't have affected you so much. Shouldn't have made you worry about your safety. Shouldn't have made you question the kind of people you've been hanging with. It shouldn't have made you think of a hundred different scenarios where Haechan, you, or both come to a bad end, yet it did. But most importantly, you know you shouldn't focus on that right now that you've smoked, or you'll end up tripping in the wrong direction when, in fact, you only came here to have a good time with Haechan. 

You get off the sink and out the bathroom after a while of thinking alone. Outside, the party is still going off strong. The night seems young even though you're sure more than a couple of hours have passed, and in another couple the sun will be coming out again.

"Yo," Mark enters your vision as soon as you start to head to the room where Haechan said he would be waiting for you. Your friend is locking your way and he's got this weird look; his eyes glassy and red, and you can't tell right now if it's because he's been drinking or he's been crying. "How are you? Where you going?"

"Uhhh… Haechan's room."

"I think… you gotta stop seeing Haechan."

You frown upon hearing his statement. "Give me one good reason to stop seeing him and I'll consider it. I'm serious."

"I– I'm–" Mark starts to stutter. "We're just worried about you, dude, that's it."

Deciding you won't waste any more energy on the matter after hearing that same speech over and over again, you opt to just walk past him and to Haechan's room. It's harder than you imagined, though, to dodge Mark and all the people around him to get to the door. The space seems to have been distorted a bit; the distances are longer and the amount of time that has passed between leaving the bathroom and trying to get to the bedroom is questionable. You hope Haechan doesn't think you don't want to be with him anymore.

You are about to turn the doorknob when a hand you know very well positions itself on top of yours to stop you.

"Are you two like, dating?"

"No," you tell the truth. "It's nothing serious," and that's a lie.

"So you don't love him or anything like that," Mark states.

You take his hand off yours and turn the doorknob, ready to enter the room and leave Mark behind.

"No. No, I don't."

—

The music fills your ears as you hear different people talking behind the door, in the hallway.  It's hard trying to understand what they're saying, but you hear them loud and clear.  Your brother Johnny asks for you and you hear Mark tell him you're not around. "That's Jeno's room, dude. Why would she be there?"

Yet you are, and Mark knows it's not Jeno's room but Haechan's, but for some reason he's decided to cover you tonight.

Time passes. You feel Haechan's touch on you, the contact leaving your skin ignited, and you're sure his fingertips could get printed on your waist. When his lips are on you, you only realize how warm he really is, burning hot making you want to rip all of your clothes off. Time stops when he's not kissing you anymore, so you have to check that all that happened just a moment ago wasn't a dream. But it's easier to get lost in his shiny, red eyes as you look for an implied answer, something that could indicate what is happening is real. A different song starts playing the moment he reconnects your lips for another kiss. Time is ticking once again and it's only him, him and him.

Why does it feel so unreal everytime you are connected? What is it about the universe that doesn't want you close together?

Haechan says he doesn't mind waiting for weeks, not if he's seeing you at the end of it. He doesn't mind the backseat of his car instead the comfort of a house, the remote locations, the late-night, last-minute calls that make him drop all his plans, not if he's getting to be with you for at least a couple hours. You still know both of you would want it to be different, a little bit easier.

When you finally connect like polar opposites, when you get together, skin to skin, there's no magnetic field more powerful than the one created by the two of you. Haechan's presence becomes massive like a black hole; it engulfs you. Time stops, you disintegrate in his arms, and you can't understand what kind of laws rule there no matter how hard you try. There is passion, and there is obsession. Donghyuck feels you deep, too deep—in his heart and in every trace of his skin you reach.

"You look for my madness, you have me crazy, baby."

You believe it's the euphoria and the pleasure that make him whisper these kinds of confessions in your ear.

And you're reaching a peak, a kind of high where you block out every noise except the ones produced by Haechan's movements and his incessant praise. His strength disarms and reassembles you over and over again. His passion is so powerful it makes it hard to breathe.

"If one day I die, you will be the one to bury me. You're too much for me."

Suddenly everything is quiet. He's still breathing heavily over you, but he doesn't move anymore. Time, however, is running again, and you make one last effort trying to convince yourself that the warmth blooming in your chest is proof that everything that took place just now, was actually real.

"I love you," you are the one to whisper in his ear this time, tightening your grip afraid you might fall apart if you let go of him. "I'll always love you."

4. Is it wickedness? Is it weakness? You decide

The windshield wipers move from left to right tirelessly to get rid of the raindrops that hit the car without stopping. Outside it's so rainy that Haechan's favorite floral shirt got all soaked up against his skin, just by moving from his front door to the inside of his car parked on the street a couple meters away from his house. Lightning pierce the air and hits your ears like bullets. You don't recap in which moment of the night it started raining. The only thing you know it's that the situation makes you pretty scared; it's dangerous to drive at night under such conditions, but it's even more dangerous to race on a rainy night. The storm and the countless drops of water, however, hadn't been enough to scare Haechan or wash the euphoria that gets over him every time he comes across an empty road and a contender.

'I don't even like driving anymore if I'm not racing' is what he said and worried you a while ago.

"What does he want?" Haechan asks in a low voice when he notices a car lining up to his right at high speed.

It takes you a moment to process the situation, still coming down from your high, yet you recognize your friend's green Chevrolet that Haechan was racing against earlier that night and your stomach hurts. 

The night did not exactly end on good terms. After a while locked up in Haechan's room without hearing Mark or your brother's voices near it, you decided it was the right time to get out and re-join the party.

A fight between a pretty much drunk Taeyong and another guy they called Doyoung–that you learned was Haechan's older friend–was the last thing you wanted to presence. When things got pretty heated up, Mark only grabbed Taeyong and took him outside while the other struggled under the speech of 'I wasn't gonna punch him! I swear!' But Mark was, in reality, as drunk as Taeyong to barely handle the situation.

Tired of them behaving like silly kids who can't solve their problems and be in the same room without wanting to hit each other, you told Haechan to take you home. It was just convenient since Jeno and her girlfriend also wanted to leave and head to her house, but neither of them were in conditions to drive. Haechan was the designated driver for the night, but because he would never let anyone else drive his car.

"That's Mark's car," you speak. "They just probably heading home."

"I think he wants to race."

You can see Haechan speeding up and Mark also doing it to keep up. That reaction throws you off a little bit, since you know that even if your friend is drunk, he's the most prudent person behind the wheel. You know very well that Mark would never agree to a race on a wet road and with alcohol in his system.

"No, I know Mark, he doesn't want to race."

"I know Mark too, you know?" Haechan is quick to respond. "You know we used to be best friends–"

"Yes, I know. But we don't wanna race right now–"

"But this bitch's speedin' up!"

And he's indeed speeding up, what looks like he's trying to surpass Haechan's yellow car. So you unbuckle your seatbelt and roll down the passenger window to stick your head out, knowing you wouldn't be seen through the tinted windows. You yell, shake your hands no, scream there's no chance you'll both race right now but Mark seems to ignore you. The raindrops roll down your face, get into your eyes and mix with the falling tears of fear and desperation.

"Haechan, stop," you demand once you get your head back inside the car.

"Babe," he sighs without looking at you, eyes heavy on the road. "I'm fucking tired. I gotta show them who they're messing with. Gotta make them respect me!"

"No one wants to mess with you, for fuck's sake. Not right now. It's dangerous!"

The sound of lightning striking just a few meters in front of the car mixes with a startled scream from Jeno's girlfriend in the back. Everything turns chaotic real quick.

"Haechan, slow the fuck down!"

But what was probably the dumbest decision of the night hadn't happened until this very moment. Haechan slows down abruptly, but the car's tires don't offer enough friction for the wet road to keep him in his lane.

One meter slip to the right and you're colliding with Mark's car. Haechan keeps his foot on the brake and the car continues to skid to a stop a distance later.

The radio and the raindrops do a mediocre job of setting the scene to music. To your left, Haechan rests his head on the seat's headrest; a cut on his eyebrow that bleeds all the way to his cheek. Nobody makes a sound, but he's the first to break the ice with a laugh that sounds maniac in your ears.

All you can do is scream at him.

"What the fuck were you thinking?!"

The car ends up stopped in the middle of two lanes near the end of route 127. You were really so close to getting to your house, and this is when you remember about your friends in the other car.

Just a couple of yards behind, Mark's car is smashed against the Jersey barriers dividing the road. The green paint on the front has completely chipped and the impact has left it completely dented, shattered it to pieces. You struggle opening your door with shaky hands and a startled breath and you get out of your seat; heartbeat resonating in your ears and making your head dizzy.

Mark comes out of the passenger door running to you, but you can't hear what he's saying. He tries stopping you, yet you shove him off to walk straight to the driver's side and open the door.

There are five stages a person goes through in grief. Denial is the first one.

"Why isn't he coming out?"

You fight Mark who is still trying to get you away from the wrecked car.

"Why isn't he coming out?!"

Taeyong remains motionless, with his head painfully attached to the steering wheel, and his arms fall lifelessly to his sides. The rain coming through the open door drains all the red and drives it down the road.

"I– I called Johnny– an ambulance is coming."

Anger.

"You let him drive," you push Mark slapping his shoulders, suddenly taking your anger out on him. "Why did you let him?!" You scream at him but he doesn't defend himself or try to stop you, immersed in a state of shock without being able to take his eyes off the figure of your dead friend.

A cry of anguish escapes your chest as you stare back at the wrecked car. You clench your fists and pull your hair trying to fight all the rage that accumulates in your body, but the pain is too much to bear. It only makes it worse feeling like you're the only one in the scene who actually cares about your friend when Mark won't drop a single tear and the others won't even get out of Haechan's car.

A couple minutes feel like forever in the rain when you are waiting, until you can make out the colored lights and sirens in the distance.  At the same time and on the other side of the road, Johnny gets out of his car and quickly jumps over the concrete fence to join the scene.

Negotiation.

"Get out of the fucking car." Johnny opens Haechan's door and violently takes him out until he's lying on the ground. Your brother's left hand grips the collar of his shirt tightly and his right fist makes contact with his jaw. From the sound of the hit, you're sure one of them has broken a bone.

"Johnny, stop."

Your brother reaches behind his back and holds out a gun to Haechan's head, who remains struggling from the beat up with his back against the wet pavement. Fear runs down your spine and suddenly you're too aware of the coldness the storm has brought tonight, leaving goosebumps all over your skin and making your body shake.

"You wanted a real reason for me to hate him?" He asks looking at you in the eye, still pointing at Haechan. "You fucking got it."

That only makes you cry even more.

"Leave before I end you," Johnny warns the younger boy. "I don't want to see you ever again."

Haechan stands up ready to get back in his car, but doesn't until he meets your gaze.  Something in his eyes tells you he's still waiting for you to get back in the passenger seat and leave with him. He forever will be difficult to understand.

Sadness.

"Why did you do this?" You ask with a broken voice.

"I'm sorry, baby," Haechan says as your soaked up figure reflects in his eyes that fill with tears. But his lips form a thin line slightly raised at both ends–a wicked smile–. In your head, it doesn't make sense. "This is what I am."

5. 'Til it's time we die

You had read many years ago that on cloudy days one should be able to see their soul. Like the ghosts that keep you up at night and the song lyrics that remind you of all your mistakes, filling you with regret.

Acceptance is the fifth stage one must go through when dealing with grief. Even months after losing Taeyong, after dividing his dreams between you and your friends so you could continue living them for him, you still find it hard to accept that he is no longer with you. They said he was part of all of you now, so you longed to see him like your shadow when the Sun is out.

"Is that his t-shirt?"

You nod and turn to rest your eyes on the naked boy on the bed. The little light of the sunset that sneaks through the clouds enters through the motel window and illuminates his tanned skin making you want to stay there forever, tangled between his arms, his legs and the white sheets.

"It still smells like him."

"Do you really forgive me?" Haechan asks in a whisper and relaxes when he sees you nod 'yes' once more. "And when will you forgive yourself?"

Your brother still blames it all on Haechan. You were mad at Mark for a while for letting Taeyong drive that night, and then you recognized all of you were wrong for getting on the road when none were in the right condition. Mark, anyway, you believe is having the worst time dealing with it because he decided to leave the house shortly after the accident happened, so he's all alone for all you know.

You finish dressing up before getting to Haechan and planting a last kiss on his lips, ready to leave. Taeyong had a forbidden love too. You only found out about it talking to Haechan about him and Ten weeks after he was gone.

"You know I love you, right?"

You smile after hearing him and get up from the creaky bed. Whether it was about wickedness or weakness, it didn't matter anymore. You liked to believe you were living up to Taeyong's dream.

"I'll always love you."

Taglist: @tyongf-sunflower99 @rrnhyuck @sundamariis

[reyesstrand]

top tarlos scenes

thanks for the breakdown @rosedavid @alrightbuckaroo @strandnreyes @fitzherbertssmolder <3 this was fully the hardest thing i’ve ever had to do and i’m sure i’ll remember one later i would’ve wanted here and i 1000% cheated during this but :-) here we go, in no particular order:

2x04: “i don’t care, okay? as long as you need”

i was going to start of with the police station scene (which got me to watch the show) or the 1x10 firehouse hug, but this scene still feels so important. nevermind the fact that there were sooo many emotions going into this episode after the “are we breaking up?” promo, this scene is one that proves that although they’ve come so far in their communication skills, the foundation of love and support has been there since the beginning. i love tk not apologizing for his little bitch outburst because deep down he does want everyone to know he’s carlos’ boyfriend, and i love him adding that while he isn’t sorry, he does need to acknowledge safety in relationships and how carlos’ experience differs from his own. i also love that this showed tk not caring how long it might take for carlos to be comfortable, while also telling him nothing stays the same (and essentially becoming the catalyst for carlos to bring these different facets of his life together, and for him to live authentically with everyone. tk becoming the KEY THAT UNLOCKED CARLOS so early on, especially given the context of s4, is so good).

3x04: breathe, breathe, breathe

everyone includes push and you know what….it’s what she deserves. this culmination of a weeks-long arc that was done so beautifully it felt monumental, and seeing the way they choose each other and choose love, seeing the way they fight for each other, seeing the way tk literally is moments out of having a breathing tube down his throat and is telling carlos to breathe, seeing the way carlos just collapses on tk and tk holds him close….insane. beautiful. them coming home and celebrating with the rest of the 126 at the push-in ceremony too is just the cherry on top of a stunning episode.

3x05/4x18: middle of the night comfort

i’m putting them together because i can’t choose and nobody can make me. just these two instances of tk seeking carlos out in the middle of the night in such different contexts makes my heart ache. the fact that carlos is instantly comforted by tk’s presence both times. the fact that tk can pass out on carlos’ arm and snuggle up with him while he solves a kidnapping case. the fact that carlos doesn’t even need to say the words about postponing the wedding and tk reassures him and promises he’s not going anywhere. so so so good. (going to put my honourable mention(s) here of just….every little moment of love that speaks the loudest—them touching and showing small acts of intimacy and domesticity—because they mean the world).

3x13: all of it…but specifically the dinner scene and the photo album scene

this whole episode is one i could rewatch a hundred times and cry every time. it’s so beautifully written and acted and you feel each character have an oh moment (carlos’ regarding his place in tk’s recovery and how it doesn’t change his value, and tk’s regarding his personal knowledge he’s going to marry this man) which i love. the dinner scene is one of the most pivotal to their relationship, and coupled with the photo album scene, their vulnerabilities and enduring love for each other get to come out and be explored. this episode truly puts into perspective how the vows they speak nearly a full season later are just verbalizations of how they’ve cared for and loved each other all along.

4x02/4x16: soulmateism

both of these scenes (4x02’s “probably the day i met you” and 4x16’s “hi, you’re tk, i’m carlos, and we’re soulmates”) changed the trajectory of my life. i wish i was kissing. i still do double-takes when i see gifs, like….we actually got these? they said these things to each other? “dude”? not one but two uses of “baby” from carlos? the way they’ve saved each other and had these big feelings since the very beginning? the way both scenes confirm things about their pasts and the bits we didn’t see if their early relationship and proving that tk only ran because he was feeling these big things, same as carlos, and was terrified? the way carlos uses jokes at bad times as a coping mechanism before he literally spits some heartfelt poetic lines? these scenes truly function as a pair in my heart and i can’t choose between them so!

honourable mentions: proposal(s), the entirety of the wedding including cut scenes, carlos bringing home lou 2, 4x04 with tk working with gabriel to save carlos and using narcan on him and carlos telling trudy gwyn’s love flows through him, and 3x08 with carlos’ first on-screen i love you/going to get them some food (FOOD AS A LOVE LANGUAGE!!)/the tarmac hug

no pressure tagging @carlos-in-glasses @rmd-writes @welcometololaland @paperstorm @chaotictarlos @marjansmarwani @morganaspendragonss @lutavero @sunshinestrand @unstatedmartini

[princess-of-the-corner]

So, I've got a friend who shan't be named, who I've accidentally, through osmosis, infected with a hyperfixation on MLB.

But he also knows How shit the writing in Canon is, so he sent me to ask you which episodes to watch that ARE important to know to have a baseline idea on the characters since he does want to pay some respect to the og show and not accidentally Salt the characters.

[TL;DR. Friend wants to watch MLB but is afraid of the shit writing, which episodes would you reccomend? Also, he watched the movie If that helps.]

OH BOY

Hm. I think the main problem with this is that some of the best writing and worst writing is at the same time lmao. Doubly so when it comes to later seasons and Plot.

Okay let's take a moment to go through the episodes. Might break this into seasons.

Since you said they've absorbed by osmosis, I'm not going to make my reasonings spoiler-free.

Season 1:

You know what? I'm actually going to say 'watch all of Season 1'. It has its flaws for sure, but Season 1 is still legitimately good to me. All the episodes are kind of important because they set up the various characters.

Season 2:

The Collector - Establishes Gabriel = Hawkmoth. Interactions with Fu and getting more Lore.

Despair Bear - Sets up the beginnings of Chloé's redemption and why she's Like That™

Riposte - Kagami's introduction!

Dark Owl - This is 87% for the scene of them in the box. The absolute TENSION of of that scene is fucking BEAUTIFUL I love it so much you have no idea. Also brings in Damocles as 'The Owl'.

Glaciator - I'd put this one as a 'maybe' because mostly it's just for the introduction of the Ice Cream Man so you know what's happening later when he shows up.

Sapotis - First dual-Akuma, and also the first debut of Rena Rouge!

Gorizilla - Gabriel suspecting Adrien of being Chat plot! Also more lore tidbits regarding Emilie, as we see her in the movie 'Solitude'.

Captain Hardrock - Introduces Luka and Anarka! Also I just love this Akuma.

Zombizou - partly because zombie apocalypse can be fun and it hits all the tropes. But this establishes stuff for Chloé's redemption arc. Both in a 'why she's Like That™', showing the idea that someone can change, and also her actually being helpful to Ladybug and apologizing for the trouble she caused afterward.

Anansi - I love Nora, and this is the debut for Carapace!

Sandboy - Some good nightmare fuel, and lore on the Kwami

Reverser - Intro for Marc! Technically not important in the long run but I love them.

The Queen's Battle Trilogy(Style Queen, Queen Wasp, Malediktator) - CHLOE MY GIRL. Okay! Introduction of Audrey. Seeing Emilie in the basement for the first time. Gabriel temporarily giving up on being Hawkmoth because he actually gives a shit about Adrien. Chloé finding the Bee. 'The only thing exceptional about you, is your mother'. (unfortunately the 'encouraged to make up with your abuser' part). Chloé getting the Bee for real! YES.

Heroes' Day(Catalyst and Mayura) - Season finale! Scarlet Moth! The Team of Five! Mayura's first appearance and the reveal of Sentimonsters existing!

Season 3:

Backwarder - though it does have some heavy cringe with Marinette mixing up the deliveries, I love Marianne. So more lore with Fu, the introduction of Marianne who canonically was down to throw hands with Nazis.

Chameleon - Lila returns! Mari looks insane trying to prove she's a liar. Lila makes her threat and is willingly Akumatized. Adrien thinks things are just minor and gives unfortunate but understandable advice.

Silencer - Though the band was kinda mentioned in Captain Hardrock, this is where Kitty Section is really 'A Thing'. Bonus for really establishing Bob as a dick. Also the Akuma's power is cool and there's the sort-of-confession

Oblivio - neat Akuma. beautiful shenanigans with Marinette and Adrien not knowing who they are, but falling in love anyway and trying to figure out how to function. Bonus points for all the 'Super Penguino' metaphors.

Oni-Chan - Lila being a manipulator on many levels and Adrien quickly getting to 'you're on thin fucking ice' with her. Establishes Lila making her deal with Gabriel.

Miraculer - More of Chloé's redemption and Queen Bee! The first time the Heroes see Mayura out in the field I think? Queen Bee v Mayura! Ladybug officially tells Chloé she has to be benched because her identity is known, using this event as a basis of example.

Desperada - The chaos of Adrien trying to be Aspik, plus the debut of Viperion.

Startrain - crumbs for 'why Sabrina is Like That', Kaalki is great. Chloé doing great as a Hero even without her Miraculous and taking control in a crisis to save people! Debut of Pegasus. Also the comedy of not only the class being launched into space but Gabriel being so ???? about that happening, and so dramatic of 'oh no Adrien's on that train in space I must rely on my enemies succeeding for him to be safe!'

Kwamibuster - Little bit of lore, but mostly just the badass moments of Mari using all of the fucking Miraculous and how this was supposed to be something special lmao

Feast - SO MUCH FUCKING LORE. Like a bunch of Lore on the past users, the Guardians, what happened when Fu was a kid, etc. Plus the Guardian Temple coming back!

Ikari Gozen - Marinette and Kagami actually become friends. Debut of Ryuko!

Time Tagger - Bunnyx and all the nonsense she brings!

Party Crasher - this one is a maybe. It's chaotic as fuck, and has the debut of Roi Singe.

Chat Blanc - YEAH THIS. THIS IS A THING. LASER PISS ON THE MOON.

Felix - oh hey the boy! Mostly just establishing that he exists. The first time Gabriel and Emilie's wedding rings are established as important.

Ladybug - Lila's whole 'get Mari expelled' plan. Sentibug. Adrien making his own deal with Lila for Mari's safety.

Battle of the Miraculous (Heart Hunter and Miracle Queen) - YEAH THIS IS UNFORTUNATELY RELEVANT

Season 4:

Truth - Jagged is Luka's dad, comedy of "Truth: "what is Mari's secret?"/everyone: "She loves Adrien"." Lukanette breakup.

Lies - Mostly just for fairness, but you can gather 'adrigami break up for the same reasons lukanette did' if you only watched Lies.

Gang of Secrets - Mari is struggling. The Girlsquad wants to help. Mari gives in and tells Alya that she's Ladybug

Mr. Pigeon 72 - lore-wise this is the intro of the Charms. But tbh I just think everyone needs to see how fucking fantastic Alya was this episode

Furious Fu - Introduction of Su-Han. Tbh he so rarely shows up you can kinda skip this but if you /want/ to see him show up....

Sole Crusher - Zoé's first episode!

Guilttrip - Rose having some vague illness, fluff as everyone tries to love her so much. 'Girl that's a bootyhole' Sentimonster. Debut of Pigella!

Optigami - One of Gabriel's most fantastic plans, and it's something Nathalie thought of lmao. Genuinely good plan though. Tension is high. Unnerved by Sentinino

Sentibubbler - Gabriel going direct approach! Alya wrecking house while being held hostage!

Wishmaker - the chaos of everyone's wishes, and Viperion learning LB and CN's identities.

Hack-San -Scarabella my beloved!!!

Dearest Family - Kind of a 'maybe', but first glimpse of God Mode Tikki.

Gabriel Agreste - this was a trip, but mostly here for Felix finding out Gabriel is Shadowmoth(which.... he. He really didn't need to /confirm/ that. He should know. But I digress).

Shadowmoth's Final Attack(Risk and Strikeback) - Season finale! Felix being a FUCK and handing over all the Miraculous to Gabriel!

Season 5:

Honestly I could say to watch all of Season 5 for the exact opposite reason I said to watch all of Season 1 lmao. But if I have to condense the shitshow:

Evolution - Genuinely so fucking good! Alix darling!

Multiplication - not the best, but does really first establish both the tech to transfer the Miraculous Powers, and that Tomoe is working with Gabriel

Destruction - mostly not important, but kinda cool for LB's complicated af plan. But established Monarch getting hit with Cataclysm.

Jubilation - Into to Socqueline. The Alliance Rings are debuted to the public! Shows that the programs on said rings are designed to help Gabriel track down Ladybug, so if Mari ever wears one there's a risk. (downside is you gotta look at the cabbage patch babies and Chat attempting murder)

Passion - the Lovesquare has reversed and we are SUFFERING. Gabriel is a moron who Akumatized Nathalie knowing she wants to kill his ass. Nathalie as Safari is GREAT though

Illusion - establishes Nino's 'Resistance' idea of Civilians fighting back.

The Kwami's Choice(Transmission and Deflagration) - Tikki and Plagg try to let Mari and Adrien be happy with each other. Scarabella and Kitty Noire are on the scene! The Alliance tracker comes into play as Gabriel finds their identities! Near-victory as he takes them out, but luckily Plagg can think fast. Mari and Adrien return to their jobs as LB and CN.

Migration - Luka knowing the identites finally comes into play!

Derision - HEAR ME OUT. This episode fucking sucks, but in terms of fandom things you might want to see what this nonsense was. And how to divert it.

Adoration - Zoé confesses to Marinette, and Mari FINALLY confesses to Adrien. But Gabriel is a big old bag of DICK.

Emotion - Adrienette! The dance! Felix is finally here as Argos! Red Moon! Really establishing the Sentimonster stuff!

Confrontation - PISS WINDOW. Anger aside, Lila is finally caught!

Collusion - GOD fuck this but it's important to the plot for LB and CN to team up with the Akuma and run the mayor out of office.

Representation - Partly for the closest thing to Adrichat fighting Gabriel we'll get, mostly for Felix's play though.

The Final Day (Conformation and Recreation) - Our Season finale! Adrichat is left out of the fight entirely. Gabriel wins but also dies but still wins because he's remembered as a Hero. But hey at least we got cool fight scenes and Eldritch Kwami out of it!

Bonus:

Watch both the NY and Shanghai specials! They're fun and bring in various characters!

[bonefall]

Sorry if you've already talked about this (if you have, I'd appreciate a link) but what are your thoughts on canon Lionblaze?

No apologies! I think I've only mentioned my thoughts on Lionblaze in passing as I talk about Po3 and OotS

In short, I feel like Po3 up through AVoS were so unfocused that they weren't able to tell a clear story about Lionblaze, or any of the Three really. They didn't have a clear arc as much as they all had disconnected story beats. I like Lionblaze as of TBC, but before...

In Po3 he has a friendship with Heatherpaw that gets broken off, which comes to a head in Eclipse when he's betrayed that the secret of the tunnels reached Onestar. What is it trying to say? Just that he's hurt...? That he will take revenge...? Controlling? No, none of it had a point, because he doesn't kill Ashfur.

He trains with the Dark Forest, but breaks it off easily later. If he's so lonely and thinks he's so special, how does this conflict go away so early? How does Hawkfrost not exploit Lionpaw's self confidence being centered around his fighting prowess? Why can't we get a scene with him and Bramble about this?

He doesn't do much of anything, really, besides wonder about the prophecy. It makes him think he's very special and hot stuff, but this doesn't really impact his relationships, or cause much drama besides Lionblaze occasionally fighting Berrynose. Hollyleaf is the one who's sneaking around and moving the plot.

Once we get to OotS, it feels like something's gonna happen when Lionblaze sends Russetfur into orbit... but it Doesn't. The arc's mostly about Lionblaze trying to force Dovewing to find and move the plot because Hollyleaf is gone, while being furious about Squilf.

It's not pleasant or compelling-- and OotS is where I stopped reading for many years because of it.

In TBC? NOW it feels like Lionblaze has a point. He's reckless, ferocious, violent. I appreciate that they made him into a BAD deputy, it was horrifying to see him react to Shadowsight the way he did.

The way several ThunderClan characters have been hardened in this arc-- It's good! FINALLY some good drama!

I hope this is the final incarnation of Lionblaze. I will be very disappointed if he mellows out. I appreciate characters who can move conflict on their own and ngl I hope he kills someone again.

[newhetaliafan]

👀

Ok so I've had an Angels and Devils AU for Gerame in my head for a while. It's a lot, so I'll put it under the cut.

In this AU angels and devils are enemies. They hate each other and constantly fight. A risky angel and daring devil fall in love and have a child. Frightened that they'll be found out, they abandon the baby and break up. The baby looks like an angel with a halo and wings, but he has fire power which is something only devils have. (devils can have fire and shadow powers while angels can have healing and water powers in this AU)

A young devil named Gilbert comes across the baby and is at first scared because it's an angel. But then he "confronts" the baby and figures out he has fire power. Gilbert is intrigued and decides to become the baby's awesome big brother. Gilbert raises Ludwig along with another devil named Arthur, and they teach him how to control his power. They hide him away from the other devils but try planning a way to explain the situation and not get shunned.

But those plans quickly get left in the dust when a new leader takes over with an extreme hatred for angels, even worse than before. Leader, he's more of a dictator. So Gilbert and Arthur help Ludwig escape their devil society or something not exactly sure what lol. But anyways Ludwig escapes and eventually finds himself among angels. He's really excited to see others like him, but he's also incredibly shy, a mix of nurture and nature. He struggles to find a place there until he meets Alfred.

Alfred is a pretty popular angel. He plays Skyball and is really good at it. (it's a made up angel sport lol) Alfred, he gets attention from everyone except his father Francis. Francis isn't exactly neglectful, but for some reason he's always busy working or worrying over Alfred's twin, Matthew. Matt is a quieter angel without any powers. Even though he got no powers Alfred envies him since he gets their father's attention and can get along with everyone. Alfred may be popular, but that doesn't mean he can get along with everyone.

When Alfred meets Ludwig he finds him interesting. Ludwig isn't like everyone else. He's blunt, awkward, shy and weirdly clueless about angels. Ludwig claims to come from far far away which Alfred unsuccessfully questions. Still Alfred enjoys Ludwig's attention, so he doesn't think too hard about it. The two start hanging out more and start finding themselves falling in love. Ludwig has a moment of almost telling Alfred the truth, but before he can, devils are evil comes up, that trope lol.

Continuing with tropes, devils later find the angels and attack them which leads to a reunion between Gilbert and Ludwig. Alfred sees and hurts Gilbert thinking he was going to hurt Ludwig. Ludwig gets mad and Alfred gets confused, and Ludwig finally explains. Alfred is angry and betrayed, so he leaves. Ludwig is heartbroken but pushes away his feelings in favor of helping Gilbert.

Then later there's of course an apology and forgive ness scene. So Alfred and Ludwig get back on good terms and realize angels and devils don't have to fight. So they make plans to stop the fighting and create peace. They gather people up like Arthur, Francis, Matthew and other characters in this AU I haven't mentioned. Then it's revealed that Matthew has fire power meaning he's part devil. That leads to Arthur coming out as trans, bisexual and as Francis's lover. Alfred and Matthew are Francis and Arthur's sons.

Then things somehow get resolved, I haven't really thought about that yet, but everyone is happy and accepting.

This AU is filled with tropes and cheesiness, but I still love thinking about it. I really do want to write it, but I honestly don't think I ever will. It's really confusing, long and things are always changing in it, so I think it'll just be something that lives in my head. If anyone wants to write it or take any ideas, feel welcome to. I'd just like credit and to be tagged :D

[sage-greenery]

interesting imagery relations in vecna’s victims and some unluckily outliers

Vecna has been described as a stalker for a long, long time. Even in s2, he was foreshadowed with the song “Every Breathe You Take” with lyrics such as: 

Every move you make And every vow you break Every smile you fake Every claim you stake I'll be watching you

The entire song is extremely Vecna-coded, especially the elements regarding the song’s subject; they are “faking smiles” and “breaking vows” and the singer is watching them through each and every action, whether it be a grand mistake or something as simple as breathing. This association is strengthened by Robin’s quote in s4; “serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?” Not to mention, the gang considers Victor Creel, a supposed serial killer, as having some sort of connection to Vecna. I say all this to say that Vecna is often linked to stalking, to watching, to seeing and prying into the minds and lives of his victim’s. 

With that in mind, let’s discuss eye/face imagery in season four, specifically in how it relates to Vecna’s victims (and possibly future victims). 

Some of the first references to this idea are found when Max is in the bathroom, after her meeting with the guidance councilor. 

Although the above doesn’t show the eyes in full, there are two googly eyes and written text that says “see you.” A few moments later, we get similar imagery: 

More bathroom wall art of eyes/a face, right next to Max. Then, while Chrissy is experiencing her Vecna vision in the bathroom, we see a brief shot of the bathroom door lock/handle, with a face right above it. 

(note: it’s really faint, and I tried to adjust the brightness, but apologies if it’s hard to make out!!) 

When Dustin and Max go to family video in hope’s of acquiring Steve and Robin’s help, Max is seen directly below another face throughout a good portion of this scene. 

 Later, when Nancy and Robin are going off to investigate Victor Creel and his involvement, there are several shots of Nancy and the patch on the back of Robin’s jacket-the patch, interestingly, is of an eye. 

(funnily enough, the second frame is also seen right after a shoot of a clock chiming). 

So, these are some pretty interesting examples of characters who we have already seen Vecna’d. But, what about those who have pretty dang similar imagery but haven’t been Vecna’d? For example, in The Hellfire Club, Lucas is next to this poster (of a tiger eye) for quite a while. 

And Will Byers is put close to a red (interesting color choice, considering it’s relation with danger) smiley face before he and Mike’s first heart-to-heart of ep4 

(I'm not quite sure what Mike being so in frame might mean, especially considering how isolated the other examples are...) 

And again, during the “friends...best friends” heart-to-heart, he’s right next to what looks like a little blue pot with four googly eyes stuck on the front.

Here we have a pretty blatant connection between previous victim’s of Vecna, and character’s who look like they may be in danger of becoming future victims. What’s also rather funny, though, is the objects used to display this in Max and Will’s case; they’re very connected. There’s a colorful circle with a simply black smiley face (family video/Johnathan's room) and googly eyes (2 watching Max in the school bathroom/4 seeing Will in his room). This connection could be nodding to Will’s apparent significand in s5, and how that may relate to Vecna and Max’s role this season, or something else. Either why, it’s certainly notable. 

[ghost-proofbaby]

Director's Commentary for Shire please

I need clarification because you've already mentioned you always had the intention of writing a "fix it fic". Did you plan Mordor before Shire? Or did you just write Shire around the concept of Mordor? Did you leave any breadcrumbs that weren't picked up by readers? I need an itemized list, ma'am 👀

of course, love! so, short answer - no. mordor was not properly planned before shire but... long answer? yes.

i left a ton of clues, actually! they were very heavy in the set up, because instead of dropping obvious plot clues (which i definitely did), i mostly focused on making it clear these characters were 'built' to specifically fall into this situation of season 4. all the relationships, all the small moments, all the little details - they all add up to make gasoline for vecna's fire so to speak. this is probably more than you wanted, so i apologize, but it's fun because i kept a vague list for myself and this one has more details. <3 so yeah sorry this is stupid long and i got carried away but thank you for the question!!! shire is my baby and i'm always willing to give lame ass director's commentary

the name. i was stuck on the name until i realized i could break that quote into two story titles!! i think i specifically said that on tik tok, too. like before shire even broke 100 hits, i was over there going "👀 this is a secret tool i will use later"

shire started with an altered but still canon scene (dustin's return at scoops)! as well as alluded to the fact that the upside down existed because of steve changing! to show that i was following canon <3

in chapter 2, there's also a hint of something that will be happening in mordor. as i said, mordor wasn't properly planned, but i had an idea of how it would go down haha. actually, there two references? but one is unintentional so go figure.

chapter 3 once more referenced that the upside down was canon! starcourt still burned down, the events of season 3 occured, but willow was simply not involved... yet. obviously, robin involved her by informing her of what really happened, and planted the knowledge/fear of the upside down in her.

chapter 4 shows a brief flash of willow putting someone else's comfort above her own - when she downplays her hair to her mom. it's a big part of her character for mordor, obviously lol. also robin shoos away her mother and says she'll take care of her, alluding to how when trouble happens in the show, parents aren't involved. to hint that if trouble arose, willow's mom would be absent.

also in chapter 4! steve doesn't slow down. willow is the first to notice the danger and him nearly hitting the deer. she notices danger before him - he's an action-first, think-later type of person. again, crucial character points for mordor. willow is literally the first to sense vecna technically speaking. and speaking of steve, notice he doesn't want willow involved in the upside down in this chapter and is trying to scope out just how much robin involved her. when it comes to the russians, he was an open book. when it came to the upside down, he's ready to shut it all down and keep her in the dark. <3

7.. chapter 5 crucial character point - where as we established that willow puts others needs above her own, eddie is the first to put her needs over his (not getting the cigarette near her, the jacket, etc.)

8. chapter 7 - eddie refers to willow as multiple magic user names from D&D. she's the one later linked to the freaky wizard villain aha

9. their book choices. willow chose little women, which furthers solidifies the way she grew up so fast, the way she tries to fill a stereotypical role as a woman not only in society but her family (aka with her mother after parker passes. also, it was alluding to the fact that she's lost a sibling!) eddie's is about adventure, about being thrust into a journey. they were choices i felt fit who they were as characters best, alluded to the fic namesake, and also serve as a way to criticize how they approach responsibility. willow takes it with heavy shoulders - eddie is simply thrust into it. willow's fate has long been sealed, but eddie's was an ever changing opportunity, if that makes sense. one is doomed by the narrative not just from society, but by her past. the other isn't doomed yet. he still has a chance to escape it all, while willow is already involved with the upside down due to robin. i sound like a crazy person now haha. also when just used in shire, it shows that willow and steve won't be together but uh... that's an entirely different list, isn't it? also their conversation about it in 25. <3

10. also worth mentioning how often it is brought up that willow is a bad liar, but we see her capable of lying when it comes to bigger picture things (keeping the fake dating realistic, etc.). she does know how to keep a secret.

11. the difference in how steve and eddie treats willow when dropping her off. it was, one, to illustrate which one she would end up with (again, different list). but also how one is far more individually protective over her :-) that'll come into play later. simply put - steve has faith that willow can handle herself, and eddie trusts her but also chooses to still take precautions (from a distance or otherwise!)

12. eddie progressively makes willow more reckless. in the beginning of shire, she's very anal about her schedule and such. by the end of the story, when their first date is going wrong, she's better able to handle it. eddie, on the other hand, struggles with losing control. they change each other wildly. in shire's context, that's for the better. in mordor... it'll be an issue.

13. she goes from wanting no involvement in d&d, to being involved for eddie (first game - sternly won't play. by the end of the story, she is willing to help plan a campaign. specifically, she helps plan VECNA'S CULT. and vecna's return is her idea). another change, another demonstration of the subtle lengths you'll go for the one you love, until it's no longer subtle situations.

14. willow also criticizes the way the game involves making careful decisions through dice rolling! she's more aligned with steve's thought process of acting first, worrying about consequences later, especially when it comes to herself. it shows that underneath it all, although they switch roles from planner and the one who goes with the flow, those values were always there under the surface. which comes into play in mordor and the vecna situation!

15. chapter 16 - the first demonstration of willow being eddie's protector.

16. also chapter 16 - it's established that eddie is dustin's protector, which plays into his canon demise (in my opinion, at least!). and then chapter 17 - solidification of willow being eddie's protector as she physically will put herself between him and danger before dragging him away from it. also, eddie being dustin's protector again. haha. also, eddie acknowledging it. :-)

17. "I mean, you get this look when your friends get hurt - like you’d burn the world down for them."

18. "She would burn the world down for him - she’d drag Jason to hell and back herself if it meant the boy in front of her knew a moment of peace."

19. the use of second hand news being the first song they listen to together from rumors rather than her favorite song (the chain), most specifically the line that is quoted - When times go bad, when times go rough, won't you lay me down in tall grass and let me do my stuff?

20. “Ah, ah. Careful doll, or you’ll be number four.” - no comment on this one. but uh. major.

21. the ENTIRE ordeal with freddy krueger and nightmare on elm street. all of it. major breadcrumb.

22. “You’re distracted. What are you gonna do one day when there’s a freaky ghost invading our dreams and trying to kill us, but you didn’t watch the movie with me so you have no clue what to do to save us?”

23. the whole parker situation. obviously, i pulled real life inspo, but i always knew i was going to traumatize willow (as audrey put it). parker's death shapes who she is a person very fundamentally, and gives vecna an in for her mind. the thing is, i purposefully made it something that was pretty far back in the past, but still affected her deeply. she's had time to heal, but she didn't. there's so much to say about this little tid bit but it's rough, and sensitive to talk about.

24. willow’s favorite song being revealed to eddie. i really expected more people to catch that haha

25. willow having to choose between eddie and steve during their fight with jason. 

26. willow’s d&d character has major clues! Spent a long time combing over that one

and then obviously, her headaches, her nightmares, the upside down visions, etc. that i brought back for the final chapters. like i said, so much of it was fit into the beginning of the story. i needed to set it up for mordor, but a lot of shire is just a love story. my entire point for shire was solely mordor - it was tell a nice love story that comforted me through a lot of rough times. i'm just lucky i got to have my cake and eat it too i guess lol <3

so i guess in a way, when you asked me if i wrote shire around the concept of mordor, the answer there is also no! i wanted shire to be able to exist without mordor, as well.

anyways. much love. brevity ain't the wit of this soul.