#Which is nice but I didn't get to watch everyone's favorite childhood shows

[themostuselesspotato]

I was a very sheltered kid and didn't get to consume fandom content until a few years ago, and most of the fandoms I'm in have been over for years before I watched the content. It's really weird to experience a show in real time?? Like usually I binge something and then go and obsess over fandom content for the next month (or several), but now I have to wait for said fandom content to be made?? I wanna read fanfic about the tbb finale but I also need to give creators time to write it lol 😅

I'm just so not used to being in fandoms that are still updating/just ended that it feels weird to me ig

[asahicore]

real me, real you - psh

pairing. sunghoon x fem!reader (ft. jay... sorry)

synopsis. You’re your school’s popular pretty smart girl, but with a twist - you lead a completely different life at home, where you are messy, lazy and foul-mouthed. Only your family and best friend Sumin know about this, until Park Sunghoon, of all people, finds out. The resident cold and arrogant heartbreaker of your school decides to blackmail you into doing his biddings - but you can’t say no, not even when he asks you to be his fake girlfriend, otherwise he’ll ruin your reputation. But as you and Sunghoon get closer, you realize that maybe he’s not so bad after all, and you may be more similar than you'd originally though - all while your old childhood friend Jay watches from the sidelines.

genre. fake dating, high school au, very slight love triangle action, fluff and angst

warnings. this is the first thing i ever wrote so there may be slightly cringe and awkward things but i didn't wanna change anything lol, hoon is a meanie at some point and everything is dramatic and very fanfic-y, mild childhood trauma for both of them <3

word count. 22.9k

author's note. @end-hyphen genie this one is for you... i hope you still like this fic after all this time lol ! as i said in the warnings i only changed a few typos and punctuation from the original but i decided to not make any major changes bc i think it's nice to see what my writing was like when i had just started out!! hopefully i've improved lol, also this was not inspired by true beauty!! i've never seen the show nor read the webtoon. i was inspired by two mangas called switch girl and kare kano (or his and her circumstances) which have this plot of a girl being two different people at school and at home. anyways hope u guys enjoy this and if u do pls lmk <333

Nobody was supposed to find out.

You were the most popular girl in school, known for your looks, good grades, and kind personality. You had a nice group of friends and the whole school at your feet, students and staff alike. As the student representative, you had an image to keep up and needed everyone to think you were perfect; and they did. So you always wore a smile on your face, kept your head up and made sure your uniform was creaseless, all while maintaining the highest scores in your year. Always being friendly to your peers and helping them out prevented anyone from thinking you were a stuck-up goody-two-shoes. You made high school look like a breeze.

But such a life didn’t exist. Who was happy waking up at 6 a.m. every day and dedicating all of their time to schoolwork and student life? You certainly weren’t. What you thrived off of was having everyone think you were. Hearing whispers in the corridor of, “She’s so pulled together!” or “I wish I had her life”, now, those skyrocketed you to heaven. The cherry on top was a nod of approval from a teacher or an “outstanding job again, Y/N” as they handed you back your graded paper. Your favorite color had become the red of the pens your teachers used to write A+ at the top of the page. 

You’d always been academically gifted, but as you heard those words more and more, you’d started craving them and doing everything to hear them again until they started controlling you instead of the other way around. Everything you did needed to be perfect. And that was how you had created this persona of the perfect girl who had it all together at the ripe age of 17. But that’s exactly what it was; a persona. 

As soon as you stepped off the bus and waved goodbye to your friends, you became another person. Or more accurately, you reverted back to your natural self. You weren’t an evil person by any means; it wasn’t your intention to actively deceive everyone at school, it was more of a side effect of keeping up appearances. Only your family and your closest friend Sumin knew what you were truly like: greedy, messy, short-tempered, self-centered, and sometimes downright insufferable. Your younger siblings, Sunoo and Yeeun, liked to joke that you had a button you switched on and off whenever you left the house. When on, you were the sweetest girl ever, but when off, all your vices crept up and let themselves known to the world, or rather to your family. You didn’t mean to make them suffer, but after a long day of being perfect, you needed to blow off some steam; if they had to be your metaphorical punching bag, so be it. 

When Sunoo entered high school, you made him swear he wouldn’t say a thing to anyone. You trusted him and knew he wouldn’t let your secret out - it was too entertaining for him to see you act perfect at school and reveal your true self at home. There was no risk of anyone finding out - you were so intent on keeping the act up that nothing ever slipped you. It had been that way since middle school, and your senior year of high school was going to be no different.

Nobody was supposed to find out, so what was Park Sunghoon doing right in front of you in the frozen aisle of the corner convenience store, just when you happened to be bare-faced, with thick glasses on and a pimple bright red from just having been popped, in your comfiest pajamas, and a tub of Ben & Jerry’s in hand?

“Kim Y/N? Y/N, is that you?”

You froze in place, not knowing how to react. There was no way this, your worst nightmare, was actually happening.

When you regained your senses, flight seemed the best way out of this. You avoided Sunghoon’s curious gaze and curtly replied, “No, sorry, I don’t know who that is,” before walking away, iron grip on the ice cream.

But the boy was quicker than you and grabbed you by the wrist, forcing you to turn around. “It is you! Come on, Y/N, aren’t we friends? Do you not recognize me or something?”

If it wasn’t for the panic coursing through your veins at that moment, you might’ve laughed at his question. How could you not recognize the Park Sunghoon? Along with Park Jongseong and Sim Jaeyun, or Jay and Jake as they liked to be called, he was only the most popular guy in your year - hell, in the whole school. The three of them had gained attention from freshman year as the three handsome soccer players. Jake and Sunghoon had been attached at the hip since kindergarten, Jay joining them sometime in middle school when he came back from his year abroad in Seattle. 

Your parents and Jay’s had been college best friends and you two had therefore grown up together, and even used to be quite close. You’d grown apart when he joined Jake and Sunghoon’s friend group, and although you still got on well, there was always a bit of an awkward atmosphere when you caught up with each other.

The three friends had quite different personalities but their complicity and shared history made them stick together. Jake was known for his academic achievements, rivaling yours, and his friendly personality; Jay, for his surprisingly funny antics once you got past the somewhat menacing appearance (which he blames on his resting bitch face). Sunghoon, on the other hand, was as cold as ice, so much that he’d earned the nickname of ice prince, but girls continued to swoon over him due to his incredibly handsome features. When turning down girls, Jake and Jay always tried to let them down gently, but Sunghoon wasn’t one to hold back: he’d laugh in their face or straight up say no, staring them right in the eyes. Most confessions ended in tears (not his, obviously), but girls kept on testing their luck, thinking they might be the one to melt the ice prince’s cold, dead heart.

Clearly, you weren’t Sunghoon’s biggest fan.

His behavior had always made you wonder why Jay and Jake were friends with a person like him. They went back a long time, but how did Sunghoon not become a nice and approachable person like his two best friends? They both seemed so genuine, but he looked like he was hiding something. This was what had made you weary of him; you knew all too well how easily an image that was the opposite of reality could be created. So on one hand, you sort of felt for him, thinking he might be in a similar situation as you. But on the other hand, you couldn’t help but feel some kind of jealousy: if you acted the way he did, you wouldn’t receive half the admiration you did. Hell, you’d probably be hated for it - no one likes a girl that’s both successful and bitchy about it. 

One thing was sure, though, and that was that you wouldn’t call the two of you friends, as he just had.

“Y/N? You okay?”

The pure panic in your eyes must’ve made Sunghoon realize something was wrong. He released you and looked you up and down, trying to take your appearance in. The Y/N he was seeing right then was worlds away from the one he was accustomed to at school. 

You realized there was no ignoring him, so you collected yourself and faced Sunghoon. “Uh, yeah, hi, Sunghoon. Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting to see anyone I knew here.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, no wonder. You look quite… different from what you usually do,” he said, voice laced with sarcasm.

This whole situation got you dumbfounded. You usually knew exactly what to retort when somebody messed with you, your friend or a classmate, but this time, you were completely speechless. You just wanted to escape.

“Well, it was nice seeing you Sunghoon, but I need to get home.” You pivoted on your heels and started walking again, but Sunghoon had other plans.

“Aw, come on, so quickly? We barely got to chat!” He followed you through the aisles as you picked up the remaining ingredients on the list your mother had given you as quickly as you could.

“I didn’t know you needed glasses. Do you wear lenses at school?”

“Yes. I need them to see.”

“I figured.” You could hear the smirk in his voice, and your shock was slowly morphing into anger. Were teenage girls so blind that they’d have a crush on someone with such an abominable personality, no matter how angelic his face was? 

“I really like your outfit, by the way. Looks super comfy.” And as if your embarrassment couldn’t grow any bigger, he added: “Too bad you got a stain on the shirt.”

You looked down at yourself and noticed a huge grease stain on the collar of your shirt. Admittedly, you didn’t always have the best table manners. 

You swore under your breath. It was quiet for a couple minutes as you arrived at the register and paid for your items, Sunghoon still on your tail. He had apparently given up his purchases to focus solely on tormenting you. When you walked out of the store, you thought he might finally be done. But of course, he wasn’t.

“You know, my sister has this really effective pimple cream she uses. Do you want me to ask her what brand it is?”

That was it. You sighed deeply. “Alright, Park. What do you want?”

When you turned to face him fully, arms crossing over your chest and an obviously tired expression on your face, the mischievous glint in his eyes made you realize something. That idiot was enjoying this. 

Indeed, he beamed down at you. You had probably never seen him smiling so widely. “Wow, Y/N, didn’t know you could have such an attitude.”

You stayed silent and continued staring at him, waiting for an answer. He mirrored your pose, out of instinct or to irritate you, you weren’t sure.

“You know, when I moved to this neighborhood before the start of school, I was definitely not expecting to see Perfect Miss Y/N out in her pajamas buying ice cream. I thought you were more into, I don’t know, rescuing puppies from fires or something. That sounds like something you’d do in your free time.”

“Well, is there anything wrong with what I’m doing?”

“Oh, absolutely not! Just a surprising sight. Makes me wonder what the rest of the school would say…” He looked intently at you, clearly waiting for a reaction. You weren’t about to give him one, though.

You chuckled and rolled your eyes, shifting your weight on your right foot. “Yeah, like anyone would believe you if you said you saw me looking anything else other than perfect.” It might’ve sounded arrogant, but that was the image people had of you. Even your friends asked you how you did it - if only they knew the truth.

At that, his smile got even brighter. “Don’t worry about that, I won’t need to tell anyone. I’ll just show them!” He pulled out his phone, showing you a picture of you in your god-awful pajamas searching for your favorite flavor of ice cream.

He watched as your face fell, taking your silence as an opportunity to go on. “You were so engrossed in the tubs of ice cream that you didn’t notice a dashingly handsome and tall young man very obviously taking pictures of you.”

This put you into panic mode again. It might have seemed foolish, but you hadn’t worked for years to create a perfect version of yourself only for a stupid boy to destroy it all with one picture. 

You sighed and lowered your head, taking a moment to think. You didn’t know Sunghoon that well, but you didn’t put it past him to send that picture to everyone and ruin your image in the process. You opted for honesty instead of bluff. You took your glasses off and looked back up at him; even if you couldn’t see him as well without them, maybe he’d see the despair in your eyes better.

“Park. I mean, Sunghoon. You can’t show that picture to anyone, okay? You have no idea how bad I need to keep up appearances. It’s really important to me, so just delete the picture and let’s never talk about this again, yeah?”

You tried smiling at him, but his expression infuriated you. You could tell he had something else up his sleeve. “Now, Y/N, why would I do that? If I’m gonna do something for you, you should do something for me.”

You weren’t sure if you wanted to hear the rest of his thoughts, but you needed to know. Eyeing him suspiciously, you told him to go on.

“Well, I can’t think of anything right now, but I’ll let you know when I do, okay? I’ll see you around, Y/N.” He flashed another one of his smiles, patted your head, and walked away, just like that, leaving you standing outside the convenience store on your own, a melting tub of ice cream in your plastic bag. At least for now, you were safe.

Right?

—

“You saw Park Sunghoon? As in, the Park Sunghoon?” your little sister Yeeun asked, looking at you with huge eyes. You two and Sunoo were sitting on your bed, sharing the ice cream by eating it directly from the tub.

“Yes, that’s literally what I’ve been saying this whole time. How do you know him anyway? You’re still in middle school…”

“Are you crazy? He’s famous in our whole school district! I wish we had cute boys in my school as well,” she sulked, pouting.

“That’s not the point, Yeeun,” Sunoo chimed in, then turned to you. “Well, this is either bad news or the start of a beautiful romance.”

“Sunoo! Take this seriously! I’m in a huge dilemma right now.”

Your siblings shared a knowing glance and snickered.

“Hey! I’m right here. I’m not overreacting, you know. If he does send those pictures around, I’m done for.”

“Oh, come on, Y/N, you’d be so much better off if you could be yourself at school. I see you there almost everyday, and the way you laugh always sounds so fake. Nobody would care if you forgot to put makeup on one day or had a crease in your shirt. If anything, it’d make you look more human.”

You could see where Sunoo was coming from, but you chose to ignore it. You sighed deeply. “You guys just don’t get it. They all see me as this perfect, put-together girl. If I showed them even a glimpse of the truth, everything would shatter. It’s too late to go back now.” You ignored their pitying looks and took another big spoonful of ice cream.

It was their turn to sigh. As always, it was impossible to reason with you. Deep in your thoughts, you added: “You know, there was something really off about him today. I’d never seen him act that way before.”

Your siblings looked at you questioningly. “He’s always so cold and distant towards everyone. I’ve only seen him smile when he’s laughing with Jake and Jay or when he makes fun of someone. But just now, he kept smiling at me like he was having fun. He even patted my head when he left.”

At that, Yeeun swooned dramatically, hands over her heart. You looked over at her and said, “I’d be swooning too if it was any other guy than Park Sunghoon. I’m more confused than anything right now, he was a completely different person from when I see him at school.”

They exchanged another look. “You guys stop doing that!”

“Well, it’s just that that sounds an awful lot like someone I know,” Sunoo replied. Realization hit you and you scoffed, mildly offended. At least you were nice to others at school and didn’t act like an asshole with a superiority complex.

“Anyway,” he continued, “what will you do about Sunghoon?”

“I’m not too sure. I guess all I can do is wait and see whatever it is he could want from me.”

“Yeah, do that, and then date him, please. If I can’t have him as my boyfriend, then I’ll have him as my brother-in-law,” Yeeun joked. You didn’t have it in you to retort anything back and started laughing along with her. 

If everything did shatter, at least you’d have your siblings to make you laugh.

— 

The next day, you made your way to the bus stop after your daily morning routine: jogging, showering, eating a filling breakfast, choosing the perfect accessories for your school uniform, applying just the right amount of makeup and going over your subjects and tasks of the day. As always, efficiency is the key. You had become so used to this routine that your body did it on its own, which let your mind wander wherever it pleased. Usually, you’d use this time to prepare yourself for the day ahead, but today, the only thing on your mind was Park Sunghoon. What was that boy up to? Was he up to anything, or did you completely imagine his mischievousness yesterday? In any case, you hoped it would all be over soon. 

You got on the bus and sat down next to Sumin. Your close friend group at school consisted of her, Park Sieun, Lee Heeseung and Choi Jiung, but she was the only one who knew about your secret. You had been friends for so long that you hadn’t even been able to hide it: she’d seen you from all angles, both before, during and after your transformation to who you were now. It was nice having someone else than your siblings to rely on and tell everything to. 

“Minie, you’ll never guess what happened yesterday. I ran into Park Sunghoon at the convenience store next to our apartment unit.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, but her reaction wasn’t as big as you thought it’d be. She smiled and said, “Huh! I knew he’d moved to our neighborhood, but I wouldn’t have thought he’d live so close to you that you’d even shop at the same place.”

She registered your confused expression and continued. “Didn’t you hear? He moved out of his parents’ house at the end of summer. Something about a huge fight with them that made him move out. But there are always so many rumors about him and his group that I don’t know what to believe.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, unsure what to say. Now that you thought about it, Sunghoon had mentioned moving in your conversation yesterday, but you were so preoccupied with him seeing you in your wild state that you hadn’t paid much attention to his comment.

“Wait, did he do something? Your face is telling me he did something.”

You got closer to her face and gestured for her to do the same. With lowered heads and in hushed tones, you said, “He saw me on off-mode.”

She gasped and jolted back in surprise, eyes wide and eyebrows shooting straight up. “What?”

You shushed her and pulled her in by her shoulders. “He even took pictures.” Your grip tight, you held her from jumping again. “That’s not even it. You know how he's always really cold and distant?”

“You mean how he’s always being a douchebag?” She scoffed. “Yeah, I know.”

You remembered that Sumin had been one of the first of many girls who shot their shot with Park Sunghoon, only to get rejected. You both grimaced at the memory that always left a bad taste in your mouth.

“He was completely different yesterday. Kept following me around the store and, I’m not sure, teasing me? Like trying to get a reaction out of me? In a weird half-friendly half-bully way.”

“Hm, you’re right, that doesn’t sound like him,” she mused. “It does sound like a stupid teenage boy though, which I guess he is, no matter how hard he tries to pretend he’s not.”

This is what you loved about Sumin. She could see right through people, and never hesitated to say what she thought of them, especially when they acted the way Sunghoon did. Sure, there were some personal feelings attached there, but she had quickly gotten over them when she realized how much of a douche he was towards everyone else.

When the bus stopped to pick up some more students, Heeseung hopped on. You quickly told Sumin to keep it a secret, at which she smiled and made a motion as if zipping her lips and throwing the key. If you told your friends about Sunghoon, you’d have to tell them the truth about how he had dirt on you, but you wanted to keep your friendship clean. You chatted the rest of the bus ride away and tried not to worry over Park Sunghoon too much.

When you finally got to school, you, Heeseung, and Sumin made your way to your classroom to join Jiung and Sieun. Before you could get there, however, Jungwon, an underclassman you had talked to a couple times for student council meetings, called out your name. You told your friends to go on without you and turned to the younger boy.

“Jungwon! Hi, what’s up?”

He seemed flattered that you had remembered his name but quickly got on with his business. “Um, I’m not sure why, but Sunghoon told me to come and get you? I’ve never talked to him, I think he just picked me randomly and assigned me a task…”

You sighed. Park Sunghoon truly was something. “Thanks for telling me, Jungwon. I’ll make sure he gets an earful for this, he has no right to boss students around like that.”

Jungwon’s eyes doubled in size as he frantically waved his hands in dismissal. “No! No need to do that, I don’t want to get in trouble with him. I’m just here to relay the message.” At that, he scurried off, and you headed towards Sunghoon’s homeroom. 

When you walked in, a few people were in the room, some girls gossiping with each other, a couple students doing some last-minute revision for a test. You found Sunghoon sitting at his desk, snickering with Jay and Jake and hoped that the subject of their laughter wasn’t you. They noticed you approaching and the two decent boys greeted you; the other one eyed you, that mischievous glint back in his eyes. What could he possibly have in mind?

“Hi, guys.” You smiled at Jay and Jake and reflexively stood closer to Jay. “Sunghoon, Jungwon said you wanted to see me?” you asked, trying to keep your impatience at bay.

“Oh, was that his name? Well, thank heavens for him, ‘cause I forgot my lunch at home. Would you be a sweetheart and go buy me something at the cafeteria? You know how everything runs out as soon as lunch period starts, and I get really cranky when I’m hungry.”

You stared at him, wide-eyed. His two friends’ reaction wasn’t very different from yours. Go buy him lunch? That’s what he wanted you to do?

“What? You don’t want to? That’s too bad, cause there’s a picture I think everybo-”

You cut him off before he could finish. “No! Of course I’ll do it! Can’t have our star player go hungry, now can we?” You cringed at your own words and Jay eyed you suspiciously. Sunghoon beamed, and Jake’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of you in pure confusion. “Um, any preferences?”

His smile got wider. “A tuna mayo would be amazing. Thanks, Y/N! You’re the best!”

“Sure…” you mumbled and quickly walked away, more bemused than ever. You checked your watch. You had 10 minutes before the first bell rang, and you could not be late for class, which meant you needed to hurry. 

You got back to Sunghoon’s classroom just a minute before the first bell. To your dismay, the class was almost full, and girls had gathered around him, trying to get his attention, but he seemed unbothered by their presence. You braced yourself and walked towards him. As your presence rarely went by unnoticed, most eyes were on you and Sunghoon. Not only were you two some of the most popular kids in school, you also happened to be handing him his lunch, a never-seen-before sight between the two of you. 

“I also got you banana milk, for good measure…” 

What had seemed like a great idea a few minutes ago, something to appease the devil in him, now felt like the biggest mistake of your life. The girls around him started whispering left and right and you weren’t sure whether they felt bad for you, sensing an incoming rejection, or wanted to tear you to shreds for even trying. 

The whispers grew even louder when Sunghoon took the sandwich and milk from your hands, thanking you with a smile. You’d be lying if you said your heart hadn’t done a small jump in your chest at that moment. As much as you hated to admit it, if looks were the sole factor for popularity, then you could definitely understand why Park Sunghoon was so loved. His face looked like it had been carved by the gods themselves. When his eyebrows weren’t turned in a frown, his eyes looked almost sweet, especially when he laughed. His two moles gave him so much charm, the curve of his nose was so delicate and his pink lips looked so, so soft… 

You cleared your throat and smiled back at him before turning around to walk to your own classroom.

“Wait, Y/N!”

You turned back around, all eyes on you. You could feel Jay’s eyes burning holes into you. Sunghoon was still smiling. You thought you’d seen him smile more in the past two days than you had in all the years you’d known him.

“I’ll see you later.”

—

And indeed see him later you did. You always hung back a bit after classes ended to get homework done or work out student council issues. Being in an empty classroom brought you some peace and quiet, very different from the busyness and noise of your home. You couldn’t even focus in your own room, your siblings or parents always barging in to disturb you. The after-school janitors now knew you by name and saved cleaning the classroom you were sitting in for last. 

You had been barely sitting there for 5 minutes, nose buried in a math problem, when Park Sunghoon graciously strode in, swung the chair in front of you around and sat on it, arms crossed over its back as he peered at you. You didn’t even bother to look up at him as you spoke. “What, Park?”

“Oh no, back to last name basis already?” he joked. You didn’t laugh. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Wow, tough crowd. Anyways, thanks for the sandwich today.”

This made you look at him. Or rather, shoot daggers at him. “Yeah, what the hell was that all about? Did you have to pull that little stunt in front of everybody? You know what our school is like! Rumors are gonna start spreading like wildfire.”

“I already told you,” he said with a defensive tone. “Forgot my lunch, everything was gonna run out, didn’t want to get hungry later,” he said as he shrugged, completely ignoring the latter part of your complaint.

“And you couldn’t have gone and gotten it yourself?”

He beamed. If it wasn’t so damn beautiful, you probably would have started getting tired of his stupid smile already. “Why would I do that when I could get you to do it?”

You sighed. “I knew you weren’t the nicest guy, but I didn’t know you could be such an asshole, Park.”

If you hadn’t been staring him down so intently, you might not have noticed the falter in his smile, so quick it was.

“Oh, come on, Y/N. If anything, I’m doing you a favor by not sending out to everyone that picture you so desperately want to keep secret. Thing is, doing that wouldn’t benefit me in any way, except for getting the satisfaction of seeing everybody realize you’re not as perfect as they think you are. Whereas holding it over your head allows me to do basically anything I want with you. And that, that is just so much fun,” he beams, lowering his voice into a whisper for the last sentence.

What a psycho, you thought. You just sighed once more and returned to your textbook, too weirded out to say anything back. You hoped the silence would make Sunghoon realize how creepy what he had just said was. 

It was quiet in the room, only the sound of your pencil scratching your notebook could be heard. Sunghoon sat in the same position and watched you working. He often saw you like this, focused and benched over a desk, in the library or walking past your classroom. But it was always in passing, and looking at you so closely made all the world’s difference. He could see how you scrunched your nose when the problem got particularly difficult, or how your smirk as you solved another one made your left dimple appear. He also liked the annoyed looks you gave him every once in a while, as if his presence was disturbing your focus. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something about seeing someone who always went about their way with such purpose sitting in such silence.

He decided to break that silence. “You know, Jay was asking about you earlier.”

You kept your eyes trained on your notebook but abruptly stopped writing, your pencil leaving a small scratch on the paper. This didn’t go unnoticed by Sunghoon. “Did he?” you said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible, although you couldn’t help but be curious. Ever since Jay and you had grown apart, there was always a part of you wondering what he was up to, how he was doing, if he thought of you once in a while or reminisced about the good old times as you sometimes did. 

“Yeah. I mean, everyone did, but I didn’t really care,” he answers simply, and even though you’re itching to push him to say more, you stay quiet. “You’re right, by the way, I do know the people in our school. The rumors have already started spreading. Up to you whether you wanna deny them or not, though,” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t even think about it, Park. There’s not a chance in hell I’ll let them think we have a thing going on. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”

He chuckled. “Trust me, I know. Anyway, he wanted to know why you did that for me. Guess he was jealous you didn’t do it for him, too.”

“Why would he be?” you asked, trying to make the question sound as innocent as possible. 

“Well, you two go a long way back, right?” he asked tentatively, as if testing the waters.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Then it was probably weird for him to see his childhood best friend and his best bro interacting out of nowhere, even though we’ve both seen each other around a lot and nothing has ever come out of that. Don’t you think?”

A beat passed as you thought about it. “Yeah, I guess that’d look weird to him,” you replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of your voice.

You quickly wrote down your last answer, packed up your things, and stood up. “Well, I’m off now. I’ll see you around, unfortunately.”

Sunghoon, surprised at your quick departure, scrambled to get off his chair and chased after you. “Do you want me to drop you off? I’ve got a car, you know. Much more glamorous than the bus.”

You turned around and looked at him. “I’d rather get hit by said bus than get in your car, Park.”

He stood there, watching you walk away with a smirk on his face as your ponytail swayed from side to side. This was going to be a challenge. You were going to be a challenge. 

Thing is, he loved a good challenge.

—

Back home, you flopped down on your bed and buried your face in your pillow. You laid there for a few minutes, taking some time to gather your thoughts and try to understand Sunghoon’s actions. It was of no use; you weren’t a mind-reader, and he seemed impossible to figure out. He could make you do basically whatever he wanted to, and he decided to make you get him lunch, creating rumors along the way? What could he possibly get out of that?

Your reflexions were quickly interrupted, however, by a flurry of incoming messages on your phone. Someone had posted a photo of you handing his banana milk to Sunghoon on your school’s Instagram account - because apparently, your school was so obsessed with gossip that they had created an Instagram page just for it. The photo had blown up among your peers and it made you wonder if people really were that bored with their lives.

People you barely knew but that felt entitled to knowing your relationship status were DMing you, asking about today’s events. You quickly got tired of it, so you texted your worried and confused friends that you didn’t feel like talking tonight and would catch up with them tomorrow. You opened your textbook, deciding that studying would be the best and most efficient distraction.

When your parents called you and your siblings for dinner, you still weren’t feeling great. Your family quickly registered your annoyed expression and could only hope for the best. You already weren’t the easiest to live with, but when you were tired, you just got a hundred times worse.

“So, how was everyone’s day?” your mom asked cheerily.

Yeeun’s eyes lit up instantly. “Mine was great! I met a really cute boy. His name is Nishimura Riki and he just transferred from Japan.”

“Oh, that’s nice!”

“You’re too young to be thinking about boys, Yeeun.”

Your mom and dad had replied at the same time, then gave each other a stern look.

“I’m not thinking about him, Dad, just looking,” your sister replied, earning a chuckle from your concerned father. 

“Mine was alright. I guess the start-of-a-new-year excitement has already worn off. After a week,” Sunoo said with a sigh. 

Your mom turned to you. “What about you, Y/N?”

“It was fine.”

The sharpness of your tone changed the atmosphere in the room at once. You ignored the looks your family exchanged and continued eating your food, eyes not leaving your plate.

For some reason, Sunoo thought it’d be a great idea to chime in. “She’s not happy because she had to buy Park Sunghoon his lunch and everybody went crazy over it.”

“Sunoo!” you protested. Your parents didn’t need to know about this sort of stuff.

“Park Sunghoon? Is that someone we’re supposed to know?” your dad questioned.

Yeeun scoffed. “Uh, he’s only the most popular and handsome guy at Y/N and Sunoo’s school, dad. Duh.”

“Right. Duh,” your dad said, imitating your sister’s tone.

“And why did you have to buy his lunch, Y/N?” your mom asked.

“Because he saw what she looks like when she’s not at school,” Sunoo said, not even giving you the chance to reply yourself.

“Sunoo!” you scolded again.

“And now I guess he’s using that against her to get her to do what he wants? Right, Y/N?”

You glared at your brother and let a beat pass. “Right,” you reluctantly admitted.

“Lucky…” your sister mused, expression like she was daydreaming about being Sunghoon’s personal assistant.

Your dad ignored your sister and looked straight at you. “That’s inadmissible, Y/N. You can’t let him do that.”

“Your father’s right, sweetie. It’s not right,” your mom added when you stayed silent.

With everybody’s eyes on you, you felt obligated to reply. “It’s fine. It’s not like he asked me to do anything crazy. I’m sure he’ll stop soon enough.”

“You know, boys that age, they’ll do anything to get a girl’s attention,” your dad warned. “Just ignore him and he’ll go away.”

“If she ignores him, he’ll tell everyone what she’s really like,” your brother explained.

“And what’s so bad about that? I’m sure it’d be easier if you stopped lying to everyone.”

Everyone suddenly stopped in their motions, wondering why your mom would say something so true yet so controversial. You looked up at her. “What’s so bad about that? What’s so bad? I don’t know, maybe the fact that I’ve worked so hard all these years for everybody to like me and look up to me only for a stupid picture taken by a stupid boy to ruin everything,” you said all in one breath, voice coming out harsh. You were tired of having to explain the same thing over and over again - your parents just didn’t understand why you did what you did.

Your mom opened and closed her mouth again, knowing it was useless trying to talk sense into you. It never ended well when you had this conversation.

“Who put mushrooms in this anyway? You know I hate mushrooms,” you said before filling up your bowl and taking it to eat in your room, making sure you’d slammed your door behind you.

—

On the bus the next day, you tried to explain the events of the previous day to your friends.

“There’s nothing really to it. He just asked me to get him lunch so I did, and when I handed it to him, his whole class was there and saw everything.”

“I get that, but I just don’t understand why he made you do it in the first place, or why you agreed,” Heeseung said, “it’s so unlike the both of you to do something like that.”

You hadn’t even thought to come up with an excuse for your and Sunghoon’s yesterday - your friends were definitely super confused, but you didn’t want to tell them the truth, so you had to quickly find something to say that was somewhat believable, and change the subject.

“I have no idea why he did what he did, but I didn’t want to cause a scene so I just agreed. I don’t really care, to be honest, I just wish it didn’t have such consequences. People seem to think we’re characters on a stupid Netflix coming-of-age series or something, when we literally just go to their school.”

As soon as you’d turned your phone back on this morning, it started pinging with all the messages that had flown in since last night. People were talking about it everywhere: Kim Y/N, highly sought-after bachelorette, had offered Park Sunghoon, notorious rejecter of girls and breaker of hearts, a sandwich and a banana milk, and he had taken them. What’s more, he had been seen at lunch heartily eating them. This was serious.

You didn’t think things could get any worse until you got to school. You were used to random people coming up to you in the hallways or in class for help, except today they weren’t asking for help at all - they were asking what was up between you and Sunghoon, as though handing him a tuna mayo was like asking for his hand in marriage. Most of them were just curious, but some, especially his fanclub members, had an aggressive tone to their voice, which you weren’t used to. If people started liking you less because of Sunghoon, you were going to kill him.

But you had to hold onto that thought, because an all too familiar voice had suddenly called out to you on your way to class. You took a deep breath and turned around, watching him take long strides towards you. You immediately became aware of the amount of people in the hallway and realized you couldn’t talk to him like you had the previous day in front of everybody. You mustered the fakest smile you could and greeted him.

“Hi, Sunghoon. What can I help you with today?”

He smiled, obviously enjoying the fact that you had to be nice to him. “I’ve got my sports bag because of practice later tonight. Mind holding onto that for me for the day?”

Your fake smile turned a bit crazy as your eyes widened in disbelief. "Don’t you have a locker for that, Sunghoon?”

“Yeah, but it’s so much more fun if you’re the one to hold it.” And with that, he threw the bag in your direction, leaving approximately 0.5 seconds to catch it. “I’ll need that later today. Meet me in front of the locker rooms after school, yeah?”

He didn’t bother to wait for your answer and walked away, Jake and Jay following closely behind. Jay sent you a questioning look, to which you could only reply with a shrug. If it wasn’t for all the students in the hallway, you would’ve been yelling Sunghoon’s ear off at that point. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a possibility, so you just smiled to your friends who were looking more confused than ever.

“Let’s just go to class, guys.”

—

Throughout the whole day, you could feel people staring at you, then at the bag you were holding, then starting to whisper among themselves. You tried your best to concentrate in class so you could momentarily stop pondering over what Sunghoon’s evil master plan might be, but everyone seemed bent on making that usually simple feat impossible. When 3:30 p.m. finally came around, you bid your friends goodbye and headed to the boys’ locker room. Every boy walking in eyed you suspiciously, unsure as to what you could be doing there. Of course, Sunghoon had to take his sweet time to get there. 

Staring at the opposite wall and planning Sunghoon’s murder in your head, you hadn’t noticed Jay and Jake arriving. Jay signaled for his friend to go inside the locker room and told him he’d join him in a minute. He waved his hand in front of you to get your attention, a smile on his face. You sighed in relief at the familiar sight of your friend.

“Hey, Jay. Sorry I didn’t see you.”

“You okay, Y/N? You look like you’re about to murder someone,” he said, slightly amused.

“If only you knew,” you mumbled.

He noticed the bag in your hand. “You waiting for Sunghoon?”

“Yeah. If only he could hurry up a little bit. I’ve got stuff to do.”

There was something about Jay that made it impossible to lie to him. Maybe it was the fact that you had known each other for so long, way before you’d turned into what you were now, that made you feel as though showing a side of you that gets annoyed and impatient and doesn’t smile all the time was okay.

Jay looked at his feet before looking back up at you. You were still staring at the wall but your murderous thoughts had somewhat calmed. “Mind telling me what this whole thing with Sunghoon is about?”

You turned to him and were about to fumble for an answer when someone interrupted you. “What whole thing with me?”

Whew. Saved by Sunghoon. You didn’t like that it was thanks to him that you could get out of answering Jay, but at least you didn’t have to come up with yet another stupid excuse.

Jay turned his attention to his friend and stood up straighter. “You know, making her get you lunch or hold your bag all day. There’s dozens of girls who’d be more than happy to do that for you, so why Y/N? She doesn’t have time for this stuff.”

You looked at Jay with surprise. Sure, you were friends, but you hadn’t thought he’d defend you like that in front of Sunghoon.

“Well, Y/N’s just such a nice, reliable person. No one better to ask to do those things.” What a reason, you thought. He turned to you and took the bag from your hands. “Thanks, Y/N. I’ll see you outside in a couple minutes.”

“Huh? What do you mean? I’m leaving,” you said, body already headed towards the other direction.

“What? You can’t leave before practice has even started. Go to the benches outside, we’ll be out in a few.”

You were about to open your mouth to protest, but he cut you off. “You don’t want to?” He started pulling out his phone. “That’s funny, because there’s a pict-”

“I’ll be on the benches! See you soon!” you quickly said, pushing the two boys inside the locker room, Sunghoon smirking, Jay looking at you in utter confusion.

Girls sat in a few different groups in the bleachers. You recognized the girls in one of those groups, so you decided to sit with them. As you approached, they quickly looked at each other and then back at you, expressions half-friendly, half-what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here. 

“Hi guys! Mind if I join?”

“Hi Y/N! No, of course not, come sit,” Jake’s girlfriend, Yujin, said. 

“Are you guys here to watch practice?”

“Yeah! I’m here on girlfriend duties for Jake. These two are just here for the eye candy and to keep me company,” Yujin explained.

“Yeah, but mostly for the eye candy,” added her friend Wonyoung. 

“What about you, Y/N? I’ve never seen you here,” asked the last girl, Gaeul.

“Oh, um, Sunghoon asked me to come, actually.” You regretted your words as soon as you’d let them out. They all ooh-ed at your response, making you blush, which just egged them on. This was nothing to blush about, Y/N. You’d just made the rumors get a hundred times worse with one sentence.

“The whole school’s been talking about you two, you know. Anything you wanna share? Don’t worry, we can keep a secret,” said Wonyoung with a wink. You chuckled awkwardly.

“Oh my gosh, yes, tell us!”

“Guys, don’t make her uncomfortable,” Yujin chimed in, smiling at you. You returned her smile, grateful, once again, that you didn’t have to explain your new link to Sunghoon. “Look, practice is starting.”

You turned your head towards the field as the soccer players started doing laps as per the coach’s instructions. Your eyes immediately drifted towards Sunghoon without you even realizing it. His lean figure hypnotized you. The last time you had had PE with him was in freshman year, and puberty had hit him like a fine, fine truck. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him as he lightly jogged next to his friends, chatting like it was nothing. You weren’t being very subtle with your stare and he eventually noticed you, sending a wink your way. This made you snap out of your reverie and you scowled at him, as if he could make out your annoyed expression from such a distance. You turned back to the girls, who were giggling at you.

“Wow, those were some serious heart eyes you were giving him, Y/N,” Gaeul giggled.

You opened your mouth in mild shock. “Was not!”

“Sure, whatever you say,” she replied knowingly. “Well, look all you want. Warm-up is the best part. It gets boring when they actually start playing.”

“No way! Watching them play is my favorite part,” Yujin disagreed.

“Yeah, that’s cause you’ve got someone to root for,” retorted Wonyoung. She looked at you slyly. “Well, I guess Y/N does, too.”

You scoffed. “Believe me, I will not be rooting for him.”

You started staring at him again, this time with a glare in your eyes. From their silence, you deduced the girls must’ve judged it a better idea to not question you too much. After the boys were done with running exercises and stretching (which you had enjoyed watching a bit too much, if you spoke truthfully), they started playing. The coach split the boys into two teams, Jay leading one and Sunghoon the other. It was a very close game. You could never tell who was leading, although that might have been due to your extensive lack of knowledge in the sport. All you knew was that you desperately wanted to see Sunghoon lose; that might put him down a peg. What you told yourself, however, was that you wanted Jay to win. So when he scored a goal, you surprised the girls next to you, the boys on the field and yourself as you jumped up and down, cheering for him. Realizing what you were doing, you quickly sat down and sent him an awkward thumbs up.

Jay tried to hide it, but he was blushing. Hard. Truth be told, he had noticed your little eye contact moment with Sunghoon during warm-up and hadn’t particularly enjoyed it. So seeing you cheer for him like that made him swell with pride, which only grew when Sunghoon scored and you barely reacted. 

When the game was over, you thought you might be able to finally go home and start studying. But Sunghoon had other plans for you, as always these past couple days. Heading towards the showers, he motioned for you to come down from the benches. As you did, Jay walked past, and you smiled at each other.

“Good game.”

“Thanks, Y/N.” He continued walking as Sunghoon reached you.

“What about me? I scored a goal, too.”

“Oh, did you? Didn’t even notice," you said, looking at your nails. The polish was starting to chip - you’d need to reapply a layer tonight.

“Whatever. Wait for me, yeah?”

“What? No! I gotta go home!” But your protests were in vain, as he completely ignored you. 

You waited outside the school with Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul. After a little while, Jake, Jay and Sunghoon joined you guys, having successfully showered and not smelling of sweat and dirt, thank God. Yujin was dropping her boyfriend and her friends off, so they bid their goodbyes and headed towards her car. Sunghoon and Jay also started to walk towards the parking lot, leaving you standing alone, not sure what to do. Sunghoon turned around and looked at you with a frown.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know, what are you doing?”

“I’m dropping you and Jay off.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, taken aback. “Didn’t know I was just supposed to guess that.”

As soon as Sunghoon started to drive, you noticed the awkward air between the three of you. Luckily, after years of being a people-pleaser, you had become somewhat of an expert in making small talk, which helped prevent a silent ride. You don’t think you could’ve gone through that without a mental breakdown.

Because you and Sunghoon lived closer to each other (and we all know the consequences of that), Jay was dropped off before you. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow at school,” he said before giving you a last glance.

“Bye, Jay.”

“See you, bro.”

Thankfully, you only lived a couple minutes by car from Jay’s and hoped the rest of the car ride would be peaceful. Which was really stupid of you to hope for, because you were in the car with Park Sunghoon.

“So, Park Jongseong, huh?” he said, eyes trained on the road in front of him. Even though he was trying to keep his tone light, you thought you detected a slight harshness to his gaze.

“What about him?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“There’s nothing to say. We’ve just been friends for a long time.”

It was silent for about five seconds. “You really feasted your eyes during warm-up, huh?”

“Shut up, Park.”

“No, it’s alright, I get it. I’d do the same.” He laughed at his own joke that wasn’t really a joke. Why was he laughing, anyway? 

You looked at him. His face was so different from all those times you’d seen it at school. His eyes, rid of the harshness you’d seen earlier, crinkled at the edges and had an amused glint in them. His smile dug pretty dimples into his cheeks and you let your gaze linger long enough to notice he had sharp, vampire-like canines, which were surprisingly cute. You didn’t know why he was showing you a side of him he never showed anyone, except for his close friends, you assumed. You weren’t sure what overcame you, but you chuckled with him. 

“So, do you already know what task you’re gonna give me tomorrow?” you asked, genuinely curious.

“Hmm, haven’t really thought about it yet. I’d rather keep it a surprise, anyway. Keep you on your toes.”

“Pfft. What a great surprise.” He laughed again, and you couldn’t help but join him. He was unusually giddy that day, but you didn’t want to complain. This was a thousand times better than the arrogant Sunghoon with his I’m-better-than-all-of-you facade. What you didn’t know was that he, too, liked your snarky, no-nonsense side infinitely more than the model student, pretty girl persona you had created for yourself.

Finally at your house, you got out of the car and headed to your house after waving goodbye to Sunghoon. He rolled his window down and leaned out of it.

“Y/N?”

You turned around. “Yeah?”

“About your task tomorrow…”

“…Yeah?”

“I’m sure you’ll love it.” He gave you an umpteenth wink, rolled his window back up and drove off.

You weren’t so awful to your parents and siblings that evening.

—

The next day at school, you were wondering why Sunghoon had said you would love your task. Because you were, in fact, quite loathing it. He had found you studying during your free period after lunch and dragged you to the part of the library where it was okay to talk a bit over whisper level. You were currently going over a scene in The Tempest which you had seen in AP English Lit last year and clearly had no time for. But obviously, that wasn’t a problem to Sunghoon, who just wanted to get a passing grade on his English essay without putting in too much effort. 

After twenty minutes of going over the same five lines, you were about to give up. “Look, Sunghoon, I don’t mind helping you. I’ve tutored dozens of students before so I’m used to it. But you’re not making any effort! If you want to get it, you need to at least try.”

“But it’s so boring,” he whined, not unlike a child. “How am I supposed to find any meaning in this? It’s just stupid people doing stupid stuff on a stupid island.” You cringed at his words and hoped Shakespeare wasn’t listening in on this conversation. 

“It’s not stupid. It’s about power, and being punished for chasing it, and it’s a metaphor fo-”

“Ugh!” he groaned loudly. “You know what, I don’t care enough about this. Just write the essay for me, okay?” He got up and left, again not waiting for your answer. You wanted to protest, but you know what would happen if you said no to any of his requests, so you just quickly got to work.

Everyday over the next couple of weeks, Sunghoon would find something for you to do. Most days, he’d just get you to buy him lunch (although he thankfully had started paying you back) or carry his stuff around like the first two times. He didn’t ask you again to tutor him, however, so you had gotten used to sitting in an empty class together after class, you doing his homework for him and attempting (and failing) to explain it to him, and him alternating between playing on his phone and looking at you. Although it’d flustered you at first, not used to having someone stare at you while you were trying to concentrate, you’d grown somewhat okay with it - all of your complaints were ignored anyway. One time, he even got you to work on his science project with him, a weirdly-shaped volcano he needed to paint and decorate before actually putting the chemicals in. You’d be lying if you said it hadn’t been fun painting it together, occasionally ‘accidentally’ getting paint on the other’s hand or cheek instead of the volcano. 

You went to see him at practice two to three times a week, although you weren’t sure what use that had for him. If anything, you were probably the one who enjoyed yourself more. Perhaps, after being forced to spend so much time with him, you had started to soften up to him. And, perhaps, that made you appreciate his good looks even more. You couldn’t deny the effect his damp hair, stuck to his forehead with sweat, had on you. 

The rumors hadn’t died down, but people had started getting used to seeing the two of you together around, so they didn’t ogle their eyes at you everytime you and Sunghoon had some kind of interaction. Not liking that you couldn’t control people’s opinion of you anymore, you were still a bit bothered by them, but Sunghoon’s little posse of fangirls didn’t seem to be. They’d been the one to question you the most, and you got a few nasty looks in the hallway, but the gossip around school hadn’t stopped them from keeping on following him around, harassing him from morning to afternoon by going to his homeroom at breaks, sitting at a table near him at lunch, and going to see him at practice. Their group had dwindled down, though; most likely, some of them thought you two might be dating and had finally realized they didn’t stand a chance with the one and only Park Sunghoon. Thank God you had your friends and now sometimes Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul around you during those times, otherwise, you’d probably have been jumped. Spending so much time with him had kept you a couple times from your friends, which they’d complained about, but sensing that they couldn’t do much about it, they let you be, even though they hadn’t gotten a satisfactory explanation yet.

One person who didn’t want to, or rather couldn’t let it go, though, was Jay. He still couldn’t figure out why you’d started spending so much time with Sunghoon, seemingly overnight, and it created an unpleasant, sour pit in his stomach. Out of all the people you could’ve decided to form a new friendship with, why’d it have to be his best friend, meaning he saw you more often now than before, but not because he was the one you had come to see? Why did you never get him banana milk for lunch, and why’d you only start coming to soccer practice because Sunghoon had asked you to? He’d tried to ask both of you about it, but you always gave him half-assed excuses that didn’t make much sense. 

He realized what he was feeling was jealousy the day you came into their homeroom before the first bell rang and asked Sunghoon how his science project had gone. You’d never asked him how his science project, or any of his projects or tests, for that matter, had gone. He recognized it as the same feeling he had harbored when he had come back from the US in middle school and saw you dating Choi Soobin, or when Lee Heeseung had joined your tight-knit group of friends in freshman year. You and Soobin had only dated for three weeks and a half because you had a relationship-terminating argument over mint chocolate ice cream, and you and Heeseung had never become more than friends, nor had the intention to. But Jay didn’t care about that; all he saw was that there were boys around you that weren’t him. He had never acted upon those feelings, dismissing them as over-protectiveness for someone he had known since forever, but seeing Sunghoon and you laughing together hit too close to home. He couldn’t ignore how he felt because he was reminded of it everyday, but he didn’t know what to do with these newfound emotions.

And what’s the best thing to do whenever you don’t know what to do? Talk to your friends. Or well, in this case, your friend. He didn’t wanna talk about you to Sunghoon. He was a firm believer of bro code, but he didn’t wanna bottle up his feelings like he had all these years. So he went to Jake and told him everything, from your childhood friendship to Soobin, Heeseung and now Sunghoon.

“I know it’s stupid. It’s this whole cliché of, you only realize what you have when you lose it.”

“Well, you haven’t really lost Y/N, you know. It’s not like Sunghoon and her are dating.”

“I guess not, but he clearly likes her. It’d be a dick move to go after her now that they’ve got something going on.”

Jake hesitated for a second, debating whether he should say what he was thinking, but ultimately deciding it might be better to do it. “You know, I’m not sure that he does. You know what Sunghoon’s like. He’s never very honest about his intentions. I don’t wanna bring the subject up with him, cause I don’t wanna cause any drama, but it’s so suspicious to me that he’s suddenly spending time with Y/N when he’s never mentioned her all those years and when he rejects all these girls all the time.”

“I think it’s weird, too,” agreed Jay. “I just can’t seem to figure it out. And I’m a bit scared for Y/N, to be honest. Remember that girl in freshman year? They’d gotten along really well when he suddenly dropped her. I still remember his cold-ass stare when he turned her down. It even chilled me, man.”

“God, yeah, I always forget about that. He may be a jackass to all those girls, but when you know what he’s really like like we do, it seems so unlikely that he’d do something like that.”

Jay sighed and looked out into the distance. “I just hope he doesn’t hurt Y/N.”

Jake looked at his friend, thinking how to phrase his next sentence. “Like I said, I don’t wanna cause any drama… but, man, if you don’t want him to hurt Y/N, just don’t let him. If you make a move on her, you might get to her before he does. Better to do that now than to have to pick up the pieces, don’t you think?”

Jay mentally thanked the heavens for gifting him with a friend like Sim Jaeyun. “Yes, that is much, much better.”

He was going to stop sitting on his feelings and finally let them see the light.

—

But before that, Sunghoon had another one of his requests for you. You were sitting together in an empty classroom after school as you often did these past weeks. For you, today was an ordinary day, but the boy in front of you had something else in mind. He wasn’t saying anything but you could feel his nervousness and it was starting to make you feel anxious as well.

You lifted your head from your notes and looked at Sunghoon who seemed lost in his thoughts. “What is it, Sunghoon?”

This made him snap out of his reverie. “Um, nothing.”

“Well, seeing how you’ve been tapping your foot at the speed of lightning ever since we got here, it doesn’t seem like nothing.” You crossed your arms over the table and looked at him more intently, eyes asking him to tell you what was on his mind.

He sighed, giving in. “I was just thinking… there’s something I wanna tell you.”

“Go on. “

“I need you to date me.”

Your breath caught in your throat. Park Sunghoon… needed you… to date him? Was he asking you out? The way he’d worded it was a bit odd, but you didn’t put it past him.

Taking in your silence and wide eyes, he quickly added: “Not in that way! I, um, need you to be my fake girlfriend.”

Oh.

So he wasn’t asking you out. You weren’t sure why that made you so upset, but you tried to keep the disappointment out of your eyes and voice.

“Right,” you said, tone a bit harsher than you’d meant it to, “and why would I do that?”

Sunghoon smirked lightly. “Well, first of all, you don’t have much of a choice.” You rolled your eyes at that. It’d been a few days since the reason why you had started hanging out in the first place had come up, and you didn’t like to be reminded of that god-forsaken picture. 

“And second of all… I guess I should be completely honest with you.” This piqued your interest, and you leaned back on your chair to listen to him. 

“When I saw you at the store and took pictures of you, I wasn’t really thinking of doing anything. Maybe just get a laugh or two and tease you about it. I even told you outside the store that I didn’t know what I was gonna do. To be honest, I didn’t really think there was anything you could do for me that I’d need to force you to do. So I thought about it all night. And I asked myself, what’s the thing that pisses me off the most at school that you could change?” he looked at you expectantly, as if you could figure it out. You just shrugged.

“It’s those girls that keep following me around. All these years, I’ve acted like a giant asshole with them and still they think they have a crush on me or whatever. And I’ve never liked any of them, they’re all so superficial and ask me out without having ever talked to me before. So I thought, hey, maybe if I have a girlfriend, they’ll leave me alone. Which is why I made you do all those things for me.”

“So that they’d think we were dating?” you asked, trying to take all this information in. You’d sort of known it this entire time, but Sunghoon blatantly admitting he’d been using you hurt nonetheless.

“Yeah. But obviously, you always denied the rumors, so it hasn’t worked as well as I thought it would. It still did a bit though. So I think, if we take it the next step, and actually pretend we’re dating, it should really work. But I need your full cooperation on this, okay?” He looked at you, hopeful eyes and hands in prayer.

You sighed. As he said, it wasn’t like you had much of a choice.

“Please, Y/N? I really want them off my back.”

“Fine, Park, I’ll do it. But this better be the last thing you make me do.” You couldn’t help but sound cold. This made you rethink these past few weeks’ events. Were you the only one actually enjoying spending time together?

“Thanks, Y/N. And yeah, of course. You won’t have to carry my bag or get my lunch anymore if you want. Maybe it’ll be more believable if I do that for you.”

You had focused your attention back to your homework, wanting this conversation to be over as soon as possible.

“I’ll also pick you up in the morning, so you don’t need to take the bus.”

You hummed in response.

“Um, and I’ll also drop you off after school and after practice…” Sunghoon trailed, troubled by your silence. You hadn’t been so cold since the first couple times you two had talked, and he hated the idea that that might be because of what he had just said. So he took a chance.

“You know, Y/N, this doesn’t change anything. I wouldn’t have made you do all those things if I didn’t like spending time with you. You’re really nice to be around,” he admitted shyly.

You were far too flustered to lift your head and let him see your face. You just grinned and murmured, “Whatever, Park.”

—

Sunghoon kept his promise and picked you up in the morning. He called you at exactly 7:55 a.m., saying he was waiting outside and you rushed out of your house, piece of toast still in your mouth. In the car, you two went over what being in a fake relationship would involve.

“We just need to be seen around together, right?” you proposed, hoping your lack of experience wasn’t showing.

Thankfully, Sunghoon had no idea what being in a relationship, fake or not, entailed either. “Yeah, I think. And maybe…” he hesitated. 

“Maybe?” you prodded, hoping he wouldn’t (or actually would, but you’d never admit it) say what you thought he was about to say.

“I don’t know, like, hold hands, and… kiss.” The last part had barely been audible, but you’d still heard it.

“Kiss?” you echoed, voice almost a shriek. “I don’t think we need to go that far, Sunghoon.” A little voice in your head was saying that you’d really like to go that far but you made it shut up.

He was blushing profusely but didn’t want to drop the subject there. “At least on the cheek, or something. We do have to make it believable.”

And there it was. The little sentence, reminding you none of this was real. Seemed like that was a pattern in your life.

You looked out the window. Sunghoon glanced over at you, cursing himself for always saying the wrong thing. He was trying so hard to drown his blooming feelings for you that he kept on hurting you in the process. This whole fake-dating plan was the perfect excuse for him to spend more time with you without having to come to terms with his feelings. 

“C’mon, Y/N, it’ll be fun. Promise.” He nudged your arm playfully, making you look at him. His smile was contagious; you could never help yourself but start grinning when you saw his face light up like that. Maybe he’s right, you thought. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

When you arrived at school, Sunghoon told you to wait for a second. He got out of the car and quickly walked around to your side, opening the door for you. You hated how your heart fluttered at the sweet gesture, reminding yourself it was just for show. The important part was that it fooled everyone else, and it did - as you took Sunghoon’s hand, letting him help you out of the car, and walked with him hand in hand towards the school gates, you could feel all eyes on you. You could hear whispers of see, I told you they were dating! and defeated no ways. 

You realized you didn’t care about what anybody might be seeing, which was a first for you. You’d always made sure everybody saw you exactly the way you wanted to see them. As he was the most popular guy in school, dating Park Sunghoon at once helped your reputation and put you on many girls’ bad side. But holding his hand, you felt as though there was some kind of barrier protecting you. You’d never felt so exposed and so safe at the same time.

You noticed Jay standing next to the gates, looking particularly antsy. He’d texted you that morning, saying there was something he wanted to tell you. Usually, you’d have stayed up, overthinking what that could be, but what with today being the day you’d announce yourself to the world (your school) as Park Sunghoon’s (fake) girlfriend, you had had other things to worry about. You gestured at Sunghoon towards Jay. Your friend only saw you when you were calling his name, standing right in front of him.

“Oh, hi, Y/N! I-” 

He immediately cut himself off when he saw yours and Sunghoon’s interlaced fingers. Embarrassed, you took your hand out of your fake boyfriend’s, opting for holding onto his pinky instead, not realizing that it was a much cuter action that made one boy’s heart flutter and the other’s fill up with sadness.

“There was something you wanted to tell me?” you asked with a small smile.

“Uh- yeah, but it’s not important, actually. We can talk about it later.”

“Oh, you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” He returned your smile, hoping to make the situation less awkward. It was very obvious he didn’t want to say whatever it was he needed to tell you in front of Sunghoon, which you had both understood.

Sunghoon spoke up. “Right, well I’ll see you in class, Jay. Y/N, I’ll walk you to yours.” And with that, he started walking, holding his friend’s gaze for a few steps. You turned back to look at Jay for a split second, trying to decipher what had just happened, but Sunghoon grabbed you by the waist, making you look up at him in surprise, and breaking Jay’s heart even further.

—

Once Sunghoon and you got to your class, you felt as though you were in one of those movies where the boy drops the girl off at her house after their first date. Except that this was in a crowded school hallway two minutes before the first bell rang. What you had in common with that girl from the movie, however, was that you were freaking out over what your boy was going to do next. In the car, you’d ended up agreeing to a kiss on the cheek, but you hadn’t realized it would be happening so soon.

As you two hovered around your classroom’s door, you looked at each other and giggled. Damn, you were selling this well. So well that if you could have ascended out of your body and looked at the scene as a third party, you’d probably have barfed all over yourself. 

You were still holding his pinky. You could tell he was too hesitant to do anything now that you had reached the classroom, and so you mustered all of your courage, stood on your tippy toes and softly pressed your lips to his cheeks. (You were pretty sure you’d heard gasps around you.) Your courage went as fast as it came, and as realization hit you, you quickly squeaked “bye, Sunghoon” and practically ran to your seat. The boy stood there for another second or two, hand going to his cheek where you had just kissed him. He walked happily to his own classroom, completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving.

Heeseung, Jiung and Sieun were looking at you in disbelief as you approached them. Sumin, on the other hand, looked like she had paid no attention whatsoever to the scene.

“Y/N,” Sieun teased in a sing-song voice. “Care to explain what just happened?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve actually managed to make the oh-so-great Park Sunghoon fall for you?” Jiung asked jokingly. 

You looked down in an attempt to hide your grin. You usually did that sort of stuff to appear humble when someone complimented you, but this time it was completely genuine. The mere thought of Sunghoon made you all giddy inside. “Um, yeah, he actually asked me to be his girlfriend last night.”

Your three friends gasped dramatically and Sieun pulled you into a hug, as if you’d just received an award of some kind. Heeseung and Jiung patted your shoulders, congratulating you.

“Sumin? Did you know about this?” Sieun enquired, turning to your friend.

“What? Oh, yeah, Y/N called me last night,” she answered, briefly looking at you before turning back to her phone. Sieun looked at you, surprised, not understanding Sumin’s reaction to what seemed like happy news.

You had indeed called Sumin the previous night, and the call had gone similarly to the way she was behaving this morning. Although you usually told her everything, this time, you didn’t want to share the fact that you and Sunghoon were only fake dating. You found yourself actually wanting it to be true - and you thought it’d be easier to believe it yourself if everyone, including your best friend, did too.

“Minie! I’ve got some news,” you’d said as soon as she picked out.

“Ooh! Hit me,” she’d replied with as much excitement in her voice as you.

“So…” you’d started, already giggling. “Sunghoon’s just asked me out. I haven’t told anyone else, I wanted you to be the first to know.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. After a while, you added, “Minie, you still there?”

“Huh? Yeah, um, that’s nice, Y/N, I’m happy for you,” she said, not sounding happy at all. There was no trace of excitement left in her voice.

“Yeah, thanks,” you replied, voice ten times smaller than a minute ago.

“I’m sorry Y/N, but I’ve got to go, my parents are calling me. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up suddenly, giving you no time to say bye in return. You were completely confused. Was Sumin bothered by you and Sunghoon dating? Other than a reminder about his past behavior, she hadn’t said anything when you two were getting closer. So what was wrong? You’d hoped you’d find out the next day at school, but the way she was acting didn’t help at all.

You snapped out of your flashback when Heeseung nudged you, faking a pout. “Not fair! Why did she get to know before we did?”

You forced a smile and said you’d known you’d see them the next day and thought it was better to tell them in person, and that you had just wanted to rant to someone quickly. Your teacher came in as the bell rang and everyone went to their seat. During class, you tried getting her attention so you could ask her if she was okay but she kept her attention on the teacher the whole time. 

After that, as time went by, you kept up your charade of being the perfect student as usual, adding to that of being the perfect girlfriend to Sunghoon. Time with him passed by so quickly: you hadn’t realized you were more than halfway through the semester until you needed to wear a thicker jacket outside and the leaves had started falling, covering school grounds in shades of brown. The plan had worked: he was finally left alone by his admirers. Sumin had stopped being weird after a few days, saying she had had some problems with her parents but hadn’t gone into more detail. Everything was as great as it had ever been: good grades, good friends and a good boyfriend. Well, fake boyfriend, which you needed to remind yourself a bit too often, on the days Sunghoon didn’t do it himself. You felt a pinch in your heart every time he said something like, “there’s my fake girlfriend!” when it was just the two of you, or “great job today, Y/N” after dropping you off.

One day as you arrived home, Yeeun was waiting outside your house, trying to catch you red-handed. She dragged him inside by the arm and you panicked, not wanting him to see how you lived. But your messy room and invasive siblings didn’t scare him off at all; on the contrary, he smiled one of the biggest smiles you’d ever seen on him, canines and dimples on display. Your mom made him stay over for dinner and it was probably the happiest dinner you’d ever had. The idea of bringing someone home and having them see your habits and odd family dynamics had terrified you for the longest time, but you felt so comfortable around Sunghoon that it felt as if he was part of your home as soon as he’d stepped foot inside. You didn’t feel the need to hide anything from him.

After dinner, he helped your parents clear up the table and even washed the dishes, even though they kept insisting he didn’t have to do anything. He had completely won them over. They sat at the table and watched you two laugh together in the kitchen. They looked at each other, knowing they were thinking the exact same thing: their daughter hadn’t looked this happy in a while.

When you were done cleaning up, you two headed to your room under the pretense of needing to study. 

“Alright, but keep the door open!” your mom had yelled after you, making you groan and Sunghoon’s face turn crimson red.

You really had planned on studying - there was a big test coming up and you couldn’t afford to get a bad grade. When you got your physics textbook out, Sunghoon groaned in protest.

“What? You seriously want to study right now?”

You sighed. “I don’t necessarily want to, no, but I need to. And so do you, may I add.”

“We’re not even in the same physics class!”

“Yeah, but we both have Mr. Cho, so I know you’re gonna have a test as well.”

He rolled his eyes and dramatically flung himself on your bed. “Fine.”

When he didn’t move for a few minutes, you guessed what he had meant was that he’d let you study but wasn’t going to do it himself. But after ten minutes, he suddenly got up. “I’m bored to death, Y/N. The test isn’t in another week. Show me what you do for fun,” he said, on the verge of desperation. It had only been ten minutes, but you felt bad having him over and not entertaining him.

“Well, I do have a Switch…” Sunghoon’s eyes widened in awe. “I guess we can play Mario Kart.”

He almost squealed in joy at that. You just chuckled at him, not knowing he was such a fan of car video games. 

“I’m gonna crush you, Kim. Get ready,” he said, already looking victorious.

You smirked, not wanting him to get his hopes up. “Oh, it’s on, Park.”

As expected of a pro player like you (on non-schooldays, you could stay up all night playing this game), you won every single round. Sure, he gave you a run for your money, but you always came on top. He took it surprisingly well, congratulating you each time. After your fourth win in a row, you wiggled your face in front of his with a devilish smile, as you couldn’t help but torment him a little. But he wasn’t smiling. At first, you’d thought he was finally getting mad he kept on losing; but then the proximity between you two hit you. You noticed his eyes flicker momentarily to your lips and had backed off immediately.

“Um, if we go for another round, I’ll go easy on-”

He cut you off by putting his hand on your cheek, making you turn to look at him. You’d daydreamed about this moment before, but you hadn’t imagined your heart beating this fast or the butterflies eating away at your stomach. He was now fully staring at your lips, and you couldn’t look at anything else but his either. Too scared to move an inch, you felt him get closer and closer, so close that his lips were almost on-

“Y/N, mom says it’s late and Sunghoon needs to- AH!”

Sunoo had walked in, eyes riveted on his phone until he looked up and saw you and Sunghoon suspiciously close to each other. Sunghoon practically leaped off of your bed in surprise and you flung a pillow over your face, not believing you had almost kissed Park Sunghoon but that your stupid little brother had ruined everything.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” the culprit squeaked before running away. You and Sunghoon looked at each other. It was awkward for two seconds, then you both erupted in laughter. 

“Alright, guess I should get going then. Um, thank you so much for tonight. I haven’t had a family dinner in a while, and… Well, it was really nice,” he admitted shyly after you’d calmed down.

“Of course, Sunghoon. I’m sure my parents would love to have you over any time.”

You walked him to your front door, where you exchanged goodbyes and I’ll see you tomorrows. You watched him take a few steps, then turn back and jog towards you. He stood in front of you for a second, then leaned down and placed a kiss on your forehead.

“Bye, Y/N.”

You were too stunned to say it back.

—

After the almost-kiss, it felt as though something had changed between you and Sunghoon. The event had somewhat revealed your feelings: you both knew you wanted to kiss each other. But since those feelings hadn’t been acted upon, the transition from fake-dating to real dating couldn’t happen as smoothly. Well, it could, if you two stopped acting like idiots and told each other how you felt. But the author wanted to get a couple more thousand words in, so it had to wait.

You’d gotten used to Sunghoon’s little requests at school, but you definitely hadn’t anticipated a phone call at past 11pm on a Wednesday night. 

“Sunghoon? Why are you calling me so late?” you asked, groggy voice because of sleep. Since you woke up so early to get ready in the morning, you always went to bed around 9:30 to 10 p.m. Sunghoon was making you lose precious minutes of slumber.

“Late? It’s barely midnight, Y/N.” You groaned. “Whatever, put on some clothes and come outside! I’m waiting for you.”

“You’re what?” you whisper-screamed, suddenly feeling very awake.

“I’m waiting for you! Hurry up!” 

As always, he hung up without waiting for your reply. You couldn’t really turn him down anyway; although you were somewhat obligated, you had stopped seeing it that way and started doing things for him out of your own volition. 

Not wanting to get out of your pajamas, you just threw on a warm sweater, a scarf, some socks, and headed down the hallway on your tiptoes. Your parents weren’t the strictest out there, but you still didn’t wanna get caught sneaking out, and with a boy, at that. After putting on your shoes, you left your house, closing the door behind you as quietly as you could.

The late October night was a bit chilly, but you had wrapped up warm enough. Sunghoon was indeed waiting for you outside, wearing a denim jacket over his gray sweatshirt and matching sweatpants. 

God, he looked good.

“Finally! Took you long enough.”

“Quit it, Sunghoon. Just tell me why you wanted to see me.”

“There’s a place I wanna show you. Come on,” he said, taking you by the hand. You felt tingles in your palm and fingers wherever his hand touched yours. How could something feel so natural yet make your heart race so at the same time?

“Are we walking there?” you asked.

“Yep, it’s not too far. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

Those five minutes felt like five seconds walking with Sunghoon. You chatted and joked around the whole way, not letting go of each other’s hand. You hadn’t even noticed you had reached your destination until he stopped walking.

“Here we are,” he said, facing the building, which made you turn in the direction he was looking.

“The ice rink? What are we doing here?” you asked, confused. It was 11:30 pm; surely, the rink would be closed.

“You’ll see!” he said, heading towards the entrance. To your surprise, he pulled out a key from his pockets and opened the doors.

“What? Sunghoon! How do you have a key to the ice rink?”

“I’m chummy with the janitor. I just need to let him know when I’ll be coming and he doesn’t tell anyone,” he replied, an easy smile on his face, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. He led you first to the shoe rack, helping you find skates your size, and then to the benches next to the rink’s entrance. He knelt in front of you and helped you put on your shoes, doing the laces for you. 

He looked up at you, a glint in his eyes. “I’ve never taken anyone here, Y/N. I know your secret, so I thought I’d show you mine.”

You didn’t know what to say, surprised at the sudden confession, so you just looked at him curiously as he took ice skates from his backpack and laced them up.

He stood up, turned to you and said, “Ready?”

You followed him to the doors leading to the ice. He stepped inside without a trace of hesitation, but you were much more doubtful about your ability to stand on the ice without falling instantly. He turned around and saw you looking helpless. He took your hand in his, helping you step onto the rink. 

“Don’t worry, Y/N. As long as I’ve got you, you won’t fall.”

“Don’t let go of my hand, then,” you said pointedly.

Too focused on not slipping, you didn’t see his smile. “I wasn’t planning to.”

He helped you get your footing, skating backwards in front of you and holding both of your hands. After a few minutes on the ice, you got brave enough to skate on your own, and you miraculously managed to stay on your feet. However, after a while, your bravery turned to hubris, and you dared attempt a spin, resulting in you miserably falling on the ice, butt first. Sunghoon was worried for a second until he saw you laughing uncontrollably. You looked at him, wide-eyed, and said, “This is so much fun, Hoon.” You were so exhilarated that you hadn’t noticed the nickname slipping from your lips but the boy’s cheeks and ears turned redder than the bruise you had surely just earned yourself. Thankfully, if you commented on it, he could just blame it on the cold. 

He helped you up, and you skated on as if nothing had happened. This went on for another thirty minutes, you skating hand in hand and occasionally falling together (but most of the time, just you falling on your own). Sunghoon had been so nervous before bringing you here; he was scared you’d think his hobby was unmanly or lame, as he’d been made to feel. But seeing you have the time of your life, all his worries dissipated. This place was like a second home to him, and bringing someone into your home was always nerve-wracking, but he thought you fit perfectly in it. 

When you told him you were getting tired and wanted to sit for a while, you skated back together to the benches and he gave you some water from his bag. You sat in silence for a while, waiting for your breathing to come back to a normal pace. 

You broke the silence first. “So, why’d you take me here? Not that I’m complaining.”

He hesitated a second before speaking. "I used to come here all the time as a kid.” He didn’t look at you when he answered, keeping his gaze on his hands. “My mom would take me. She left us for another man the summer before middle school started. She left me alone with my asshole father.”

You let out a small gasp, not expecting such a confession. You placed your hand on his back for comfort and said, “I’m sorry, Sunghoon.”

He quickly glanced at you, a half-smile on his face. “Don’t be. Anyways, he had to somewhat start taking care of me now that my mom wasn’t there to do it.” He chuckled darkly. “I guess his idea of taking care of his son was forbidding him from doing the one thing he loved. He thought it was a stupid sport for a boy. He stopped all of my lessons and made me sign up for soccer, even though I hadn’t ever said I wanted to do that. I still came here from time to time, but I didn’t wanna risk getting caught. God knows what he’d have done if he saw me here.”

You weren’t sure what to say. You felt as if no words would be enough to express how his story made you feel. “I- it’s awful, what he did to you. No parent should ever make their child feel as though their passion isn’t worth it. If it’s any comfort, even though you were mostly helping me, I thought you looked ten times better on that rink than scoring any goal. And that’s saying something.”

He finally looked at you and grinned. “Thanks, Y/N.” He seemed to be thinking for a few seconds, and then continued: “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and I think that’s why it’s hard for me to open up to people and make lots of friends. I only trust Jake because I’ve known him forever and I can’t really get rid of him now,” he said with a chuckle, “and Jay, well, Jake took to him instantly in middle school so I guess I didn’t have a choice there either, and he’s not so bad anyway. The more people I let in, the more likely I am to get hurt. It’s much easier pretending I don’t wanna have anything to do with anyone than try. 

“I guess it’s also why I talked to you on that day. Sure, I ended up thinking you could help me with all those girls. But at first, when I saw someone like you, who looks like they have it all together, who’s actually the opposite in real life - no offense - it reminded me of myself. And I thought, maybe she’d understand. Which is why it was so easy to be myself around you.”

You took his hand in yours and pressed it slightly. “I’m glad you were.” You didn’t feel the need to say anything else, hoping it was enough.

“Now, your turn. What made you the person you are today?” he asked with a grin, trying to approach lightheartedly this heavy subject, which you appreciated.

“It’s all about making people think you’re someone else, isn’t it? Because, depending on who you are, they’ll treat you differently. I found that out as a kid, because I, too, have a tragic childhood backstory.” He gasped jokingly.

“It’s not as bad as yours, so sorry about that. Back in primary school, I already had this… attitude that I have today. I had quite the ego, and I didn’t want anyone doing better than me at school. I didn’t care about how I looked, if I was the prettiest girl in class or had the cutest shoes. I was the smarty-pants of the class, basically, and a lot of the kids teased me for that. But I also didn’t let myself get trampled over, and fought back, quite aggressively at that, so I was somehow the nerd and the troublemaker at the same time. I didn’t have the best reputation, but I did have a friend. Jay. Or Jongseong, at the time, before he got too cool for his real name,” you joked. “The thing is, I didn’t see him as a friend. Sure, I was only eight or nine, but I really liked him. And the day I was planning on confessing, I saw him hold hands with the prettiest girl in our class. So I never told him, and then he left for the US a few months later.

“During the time he was gone, I had a complete makeover and actually started caring about my appearance, especially when middle school started. So now I had academic validation from teachers, which I had craved since forever, and both female and male validation from all the girls telling me how pretty I was and all the guys liking me. The people who were in my primary school and went to the same middle school told them how I used to be, but nobody believed them, and if they did, they didn’t care, so everybody just gradually forgot about it. And I just got addicted to the validation, which is why I always studied harder and tried to be prettier, even when it turned into a complete lie. I thought that if I could make everyone believe I was perfect, then it didn’t matter what I was like in real life, so at home, I just let myself completely go. And even now that I’m aware of all of this, I still can’t stop.”

Sunghoon looked at you like you had just slapped him. “So, you used to have a crush on Jay?”

You looked at him in exasperation. “Seriously, Hoon? That’s what you get from everything I just told you?”

He smiled shyly. “Sorry. Thank you for telling me.” You sat there in comfortable silence for another few minutes, still hand in hand. Then, Sunghoon got up, grin on his face.

“Wanna see something cool?” You nodded at him, returning his grin. He headed back inside the rink.

You thought he was gonna show off by doing some fancy trick. But he started gliding on the ice, and you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. He took long strides that looked as natural to him as walking. He spinned one, two, three times, and continued skating as though it was nothing. You were completely mesmerized. You already thought he was out-of-this-world beautiful, but his beauty was brought to another level when he skated. His elegant moves rendered you breathless. When he skated back towards you, you were looking at him with only awe and admiration in your eyes. 

After what he’d told you and what he’d just shown you, you couldn't help but get a little emotional. You engulfed him in a hug as soon as he’d stepped out of the rink, your arms around his neck and his naturally coming to your waist. Your hands came up to his cheeks as you leaned back to properly look at him.

“That was- wow. That was amazing, Sunghoon. Thank you for showing me.” You could see the gratefulness in his eyes. There was something else there, and whatever it was, you knew you were looking back at him with as much of it. It was only you two in the building, but it might as well have been the two of you in the whole world. 

All too similarly as in your room, his gaze went from your eyes to your lips, and you couldn’t help but mirror that. This was the perfect moment. You inched your face closer, letting him close the gap between you. Your lips touched and it was as if everything fell into place. The kiss was shy at first, neither of you sure what to do, your mouths moving at a slow but steady pace. But as your hands traveled from his cheeks, to his jaw and down to his neck, and you felt him sigh in the kiss, something unclicked in you, making you want more. You deepened the kiss, and he returned it with just as much force. Your right hand came to grab at the nape of his hair and his hands gripped your waist tighter. After minutes or hours, you broke the kiss in need of some air. Your eyes met again and you smiled at him, relieved it had finally happened. 

You thought he’d have a similar reaction, but he suddenly looked panicked. Realization hit him like a truck. He liked you. Far too much. And even if the kiss and these past weeks told him you might like him back, it scared him. He’d unlocked his heart for you but couldn’t let you keep the key. Otherwise, he’d let you open it more and more and more until there he was completely bare in front of you, and you decided you didn’t like what you’d found and left him. Just like his mom did. Just like everyone eventually does. Just like his dad never even tried.

He took a step back. His panic was rubbing off on you. You called out his name, but he quickly got his bag and said, “Sorry, Y/N, I have to go. I’ll um- I’ll see you.” He took a few steps, turned around, and said, “I think you should take the bus tomorrow morning. Sorry.”

He started walking away. A few steps before he’d be out of your view, he turned back around. He hated the look on your face, how sad, confused and helpless it was all at once. Above all, he hated that he was the reason behind it. But he told himself it was better to leave you now than be left in a few months when you got bored of him, and started walking again without another word.

—

You walked home alone. It was a dark November night, and you were shivering from the cold and from sadness. Try as hard as you might, you couldn’t figure out why Sunghoon had reacted like that. The past month had gone so well, you were only getting closer and more comfortable with each other. The only logical conclusion you could come to was that kissing you had made him realize he didn’t like you. Thankfully, you didn’t live too far from the ice rink and you got home in five minutes. Lost in your thoughts, you couldn’t even be bothered to be quiet closing the front door and walking to your room, and you woke Sunoo up.

At first, he looked like he was about to scold you for making so much noise; but upon seeing your disheveled state, he started worrying. 

“Y/N? What’s wrong, why are you only coming home now? Where were you?”

You couldn’t hold it in any longer. You fell in your brother’s arms and started crying your heart out.

He held you for a little while, but not wanting to wake the others up by staying in the hallway, he said, “Come on, let’s get you in your room. You’re freezing.”

He left for a few minutes and came back with two cups of tea in his hands. He joined you on your bed. You had calmed down a bit and took a sip of the tea, already feeling warmer.

“So, tell me everything.”

And you did. Not just about what had happened at the ice rink, but everything before that: how yours and Sunghoon’s relationship was fake, which you hadn’t even told your siblings, but that it hadn’t kept you from falling for him, and how you really thought he felt the same way. When you got to the part where you told each other about your stories, Sunoo grabbed your arm in surprise, and said, “I can’t believe you told someone about that. Good for you, big sis.”

You sat in silence after a few minutes when you’d finished telling him everything, you, still reflecting on your evening, and him, trying to think of something good to say. He took a deep breath, and started: “You know, this might be completely useless, but I feel like there’s no point trying to figure out why he did that. We’re not mind readers, and assuming things will just go wrong. I think the best thing to do is just ask him tomorrow, or whenever you’re ready to face him, really.”

You looked at your brother fondly. “How can you be so stupid sometimes, yet so wise right now?”

Sunoo and you talked for another minute, but when you yawned for a good seven straight seconds, you both agreed it was time for bed. Before you fell asleep, you told yourself that tomorrow morning, you’d find Sunghoon and make him be clear with you. You at least deserved that.

—

Heeseung and Sumin were clearly surprised to see you the next morning in the bus, but you told them you didn’t want to talk about it and they didn’t push, although it very obviously had something to do with Sunghoon. As you rode the bus and psyched yourself for your conversation with him, you had no idea he was currently in the midst of a heated argument with Jay. The latter pushed him with force, making Sunghoon’s back hit the classroom wall behind him.

“What the fuck did you just say about Y/N?” Jay asked, venom in his voice and fury in his eyes.

Despite the pain, Sunghoon smirked, wanting to rile up his friend even more. “I said, Y/N’s just as stupid as all the other girls. She probably thinks she’s so much better than everybody, but in the end it was so easy making her fall for me. It was almost boring, really, how easy she was.”

Jay pushed him again. “Don’t fucking talk about her like that.”

“Aw, little Jay is getting upset over his little Y/N? You sad that the girl you like actually likes an asshole like me?”

Jay hadn’t had many reasons to get angry in his life. This was making him discover another side of himself; he didn’t know he could get this angry. He didn’t know rage could fill up his veins like that and make him want to destroy absolutely everything around him, but above all, the person in front of him who’d he considered a friend all these years. On the verge of losing control, he reared up his fist, before Sunghoon said:

“You know what’s even sadder? She used to like you, too.”

His arm dropped. “What?”

“Yeah, in primary school. Didn’t you think it was weird how different she was before and after you left? Her little heartbreak made her change everything about herself just so that people would like her. And now all she can do is lie to everyone. I pity her, really. And to think that she thought I liked her. What an idiot.”

That was the last straw. Jay punched Sunghoon square in the nose, making him stumble back a few steps until he hit the wall again. He held onto his bloody, and possibly broken, nose and looked Jay straight in the eyes, still smirking. Thinking his job was done (but not sure what the job was in the first place), he walked away, heading to the nurses’ station. The scene had gathered quite an audience outside. It was less than ten minutes to the first bell, so already quite a few students were there, but no one had dared to venture inside. Jake, arriving too late to prevent any damage, looked wide-eyed back and forth between Sunghoon walking out and Jay standing inside, fists clenched by his side and panting from anger.

Sunghoon barely spared him or anyone a glance as he left the room. What he did notice though, were a crumpled tuna-mayo sandwich and a banana milk on the floor, looking as though someone had dropped them.

What had he done?

—

You had already run back to your friends and were currently crying for the second time in twelve hours in Sumin’s arms. It was the first time ever you cried at school, and probably also in front of your friends, spare Sumin, so it was a curious sight to most; she took you to another room for privacy. 

There, you practically told her everything you had told Sunoo the night before, including the fake dating.

“Wait… so, you and Sunghoon weren’t actually dating?”

You nodded, embarrassed by your lie.

“I- Why didn’t you tell me, Y/N? How could you fool everyone like that?”

You looked up in surprise at your friend’s harsh words. You probably deserved them, but you weren’t used to hearing her speak in such a way, nor to the cold stare she was peering down at you with. 

“I don’t know… I’m really sorry…” you mumbled, ashamed.

She scoffed. “You should be. I just- I just don’t understand how you can already be living such a lie, and still add onto it. It makes me wonder how I’m still friends with you.” The bell rang right at that moment, and she got up, saying, “Let’s go to class. You wouldn’t wanna be late.”

You followed her, but you felt sick to your stomach. Usually, you could always hide your discomfort or sadness, no matter how bad your period cramps were or how serious an argument with your parents had gotten. But this time, it was too much, and fifteen minutes into the class, you asked the teacher to go to the nurse. Not used to you needing to leave class and trusting that it was for a legitimate reason, your teacher let you off and you quickly packed your bag and left. 

When you got to the nurse, you sat down in front of her and said you weren’t feeling well and wanted to go home. For the same reasons as your teacher, she said she’d let you but needed to ask you a few questions before about your general well-being. You answered them quickly, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible and just go home. 

When you finally were able to leave, you only took a few steps out of the nurse’s office before someone grabbed your wrist, making you turn around. Sunghoon, who was resting in the room next door, had heard your voice and gotten up as soon as he’d heard you leave. His nose was covered in bandages and his eye had started swelling and turning blue, and you mentally thanked Jay. You ripped your arm out of his grip and continued to walk away without a word. You were too tired to argue.

“Y/N, please, hear me out.”

This made you stop in your tracks, but you didn’t turn around. “Hear you out? I’ve already heard enough, Sunghoon. No need to explain, you made it very clear what you think of me.”

You started walking again but he doubled you and blocked your path in the narrow hallway. 

“Y/N, I’m sorry, if you’d just give me a minute-”

“I don’t care that you’re sorry, Sunghoon! Sorry doesn’t cut it. I trusted you. Actually trusted you. You out of all people should know how hard it is to do that. Or was that a lie too?” Seeing him in front of you, your sadness retreated to the back of your heart and you were left with only anger. 

“It wasn’t, I prom-”

“That doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.” You pushed past him and walked on. And this time, he let you go, even though the only thing you wanted him to do was make you stay. You so desperately wanted to hear him out and forgive him, but you knew you couldn’t do that. You had too much dignity, and it would only end up hurting you even further. 

So you didn’t shed a tear the whole way home. When you finally got to your bed, you didn’t have the energy to start crying. You fell asleep, tears quietly rolling down your face. 

—

You slept the whole day, waking up to a soft knock on your bedroom door. It was your mom, telling you Jay was here to see you. Everyone had been surprised to see you already at home when they came back from work or school, but they knew better than to wake you up.

“I’m surprised, you know. He’s gotten so handsome.”

You rolled your eyes at her. “Just tell him that I’m not feeling well and he should go home, please.”

“Oh, I’ve already tried to, honey. The boy is adamant on seeing you.”

You sighed. “Fine. Can you bring him here, then?”

A few seconds later, you heard another knock, and Jay opened the door just enough to peek his head through, asking if he could come in.

“Well, you’re already here, so might as well.”

You sat up and gestured for him to sit down on your bed.

He looked around, taking in the messiness of his surroundings. “You know, I thought your room would be much more… organized.”

“Didn’t Sunghoon tell you? I’m a big, fat liar who hides the truth from everyone,” you said sarcastically.

“About that… did you hear everything he said?” You hummed in response. “I’m so sorry you had to hear that, Y/N. I don’t know what happened to him. He’d never said anything like that about you, and then, all of a sudden… What an asshole. I can’t believe he was my friend.”

“Was? You shouldn’t end your friendship over me, Jay.”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t be friends with a guy who talks about anyone like that, let alone you.” After a few minutes of silence, he asked, “Did um- did anything happen, for him to say those things?”

You sighed deeply. “I’ve already told this story twice in the past few days, so I’ll give you the short version, but basically, we were fake dating, and I started really liking him, and I thought he did too, until we kissed, and he left me completely stranded, and then the next day I hear him say all those things.”

Silence again. You suddenly remembered something Sunghoon had said that you had completely put to the side: Jay likes you. At least, according to Sunghoon. You didn’t know if it was true, but judging by his disappointed face, it looked like it. Seemed like all of your friendships were going to hell.

“Oh,” he simply said.

“Yeah…” you murmured back. 

“Well,” he turned to you, “that just confirms to me that he’s an asshole. Cause no guy in his right mind would turn you down, Y/N. I know I wouldn’t.”

He looked straight at you as he said that. Yep. Jay liked you. It was a nice feeling, but it was also about ten years too late. 

“Do you- do you know what I’m trying to say, Y/N?” he asked, gulping.

You hesitated for a second before saying, ”I think I do, Jay. I have to say, your timing isn’t great.”

He chuckled a bit lifelessly. “Yeah, I guess right now isn’t the best time to say this.”

“I also meant, you know what Sunghoon said, earlier? That I liked you before you left for the US? That was true.”

He looked at you, mouth agape. “Oh, was it…” His head hung down in defeat. “I can’t believe I’ve been such an idiot. I feel like it’s my fault that Sunghoon hurt you like this. If only I’d been just a bit earlier…”

“None of this is your fault, Jay. Please don’t think that. It’s mine for thinking Sunghoon could actually like me back.”

Jay took a deep breath. “God, as much as it hurts me to say, Y/N, I think he did. Or does, actually.” You furrowed your brows at him. “Sunghoon, he has this thing where he goes into retreat mode as soon as he gets too close, too personal. It’s a stupid defense mechanism, and when he realizes he’s let you in a bit too far, he snaps everything closed and hurts you before you can hurt him. At least, that’s how he sees it, I guess. He’s done it to Jake and me a couple times, and it takes some getting used to, but he stops after a while. When he knows for sure that you won’t hurt him.”

You didn’t know what to do with this information, so you just stayed quiet, which Jay took as a sign to go on.

“I’m not saying forgive him. Believe me, if I could smack him into space and never let him see you again, I would. But I think maybe, just maybe, and you don’t have to if you don’t want to, hear him out.”

You smiled at him. “You’re a good friend, Jay. And I don’t mean just to me but to Sunghoon as well. I hope you know that.”

Jay tried to ignore the pinch in his heart at the word ‘friend’ and smiled back.

“Oh, there’s another thing I needed to show you.” His tone was suddenly much more apprehensive, and he looked both sorry and scared to say whatever he was about to say.

He pulled out his phone and searched the thing in question. Before showing you anything, he warned, “Nobody knows who did this. It was sent out to the whole school on a library computer-”

Expecting the worst, you snatched Jay’s phone from his hands. And there they were. Pictures of you from your primary school years, recent pictures of you in your comfortable clothes, at home or in close proximity to your house. Sent out to the whole school, as Jay had said. You were horror-struck. You could feel all the years you had spent perfecting your image and maintaining it crumbling around you as though they were paper. Charismatic smiles and trendy accessories had been your brick and mortar, but a sledgehammer had hit them, destroying your foundations further with each swing.

And that sledgehammer had a name: Bae Sumin. You’d figured it out in an instant. You’d been friends your whole life, she was the only one apart from your family to know about your true face; only she would have access to such photos. You knew it wasn’t Sunghoon because the pictures he had taken that day weren’t there.

If what had happened with Sunghoon had made a crack in your heart, then this had shattered it into a million pieces. The person who you’d trusted the most, who you’d thought would never do anything to hurt you, had done the worst thing anybody could do to you.

“Y/N- are you okay?” Jay asked tentatively. You had forgotten he was there.

“Um, yeah, yeah- I think I just need to be alone for now, if that’s okay.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying a while.”

“Sorry, Jay, but I’m sure.”

He looked at you for a few seconds. He’d never felt more distance between you two, not even when you had been oceans apart. “Alright. Call me if you need anything. I mean it.”

You smiled a tiny, tiny smile in response and he left your room. On his way out, your mom hugged him, saying it was nice to see him again and that he was welcome anytime, and he thanked her.

As he walked home, he couldn’t help but bitterly laugh to himself. Even when he confessed, he hadn’t been able to say the words he’d wanted to tell you this whole time: I love you.

—

You didn’t go to school for the rest of the week, the only stain on your perfect attendance record. All of your friends had tried to reach you, asking if you were okay, and you replied in a few small messages, telling them you’d be back when you could. Other people had contacted you, asking if those pictures were real. You obsessed over your school’s gossip Instagram account: the past few days, all the posts had been dedicated to your pictures and Sunghoon’s and Jay’s fight. You had ten missed calls from Sunghoon and seventeen from Sumin. You ignored each and everyone of them, only giving Jay, Heeseung, Sieun and Jiung the time of day. 

On Sunday morning you woke up, already dreading going to school the next day. You could already picture the nasty stares and whispers you’d get in the hallways. You thought about facing Sumin and Sunghoon again, and you thought the worst thing possible would be to have to do it at school. So you decided to wait until they called you again, as you knew they would, and finally picked up their call.

Sumin contacted you first, at eleven in the morning. You agreed to have her come over to your house to talk. When she appeared at your front door, you realized you weren’t sad, angry, or disappointed; you were just confused. You didn’t understand why she’d done it. Looking at her face, you couldn’t imagine her sitting down at that computer and sending out those pictures, writing the comment This is what Kim Y/N is like in real life.

You let her in and walked to your room, your siblings’ eyes burning holes into her soul the whole time. You sat down on your bed, sighed, and said, “Go ahead.”

“Thank you for letting me come here and explain myself. I don’t know what took over me, Y/N. Well actually, I guess I do. Jealousy, as stupid as it sounds.” She chuckled at herself. “I’ve always tried to hide it, but I’ve always been a bit jealous of you, Y/N. You’re the prettiest girl, the smartest, the nicest, and I’m just the best friend. That’s all anyone knows me as. Everybody loves you, yet I know it’s all a facade. And I’m not saying that to be mean, because I know you’re an amazing person even without all the glamor. And when I saw you with Sunghoon, I mean, you saw how I was. I didn't fight with my parents. I was so, so jealous. You hadn’t shown interest in any guy since Choi Soobin and all of a sudden you were dating Park freaking Sunghoon, and he knew about your quote-on-quote ‘real’ face, so I couldn’t even comfort myself that he didn’t know who you really were.”

“Wait- why would you be jealous of Sunghoon and me?”

She took a deep breath. “You remember, freshman year, when I confessed to him and he turned me down?”

“Yeah, but I thought that was in the past.”

“Do you also remember that guy I told you about later on, who I’d gotten really close with but completely shut me off when I thought we were about to start dating?”

Something clicked, but you didn’t want to face it. “Yeah…”

“Well, surprise surprise, they were the same person. Ha. I got mad at you for lying to me, but I did the same thing.”

“Sumin… Why did you never tell me?”

“I’m not sure. When we were in that talking stage, I could’ve bragged about it to anyone, you know, that Park Sunghoon was actually being nice to me, but I didn’t. I wanted to keep him my little secret. And then I confessed, and we all know how that ended.” A beat passes as she takes a deep breath, shaking the bad memory away. “I am over it, it was more than three years ago. Maybe there was a nice part of me that thought he had changed, because you seemed happy with him, and I didn’t want to ruin that. But maybe there was another part that hoped he might hurt you like he did me. And that’s such a shitty thing to do, I know. I should’ve told you when I saw you get involved with him. I can’t believe after all these years, he did the exact same thing to you that he did to me. What an asshole.”

You were staring at the wall in front of you, feeling empty. Why did everything have to happen at the same time? You were just drained of any willpower.

“This doesn’t explain the pictures,” you said plainly.

“Right. When you told me you were fake dating, I guess something snapped in me. I couldn’t believe it was another lie, I thought we had gone past the stage where you hid things from me. So that, plus jealousy, I just went a bit crazy, I think. I really wasn’t thinking, Y/N, and I promise you with all my heart that if I could go back and undo everything, I would. I’m so, so, so sorry. I regretted it as soon as I hit post.”

You looked at your friend and knew she was telling the truth. You believed her, and yet you couldn’t quite look past it.

“I know you are, Minie. It’s just… what am I gonna do now at school? Everybody must hate me.”

“I won’t lie, some people haven’t been saying the nicest things, especially Park’s fangirls. But God, Y/N, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but who cares? They’ll talk about it for a week, two at most. Your life at school won’t be the same, but you’ll still have all of us. I’ve talked to Heeseung, Sieun and Jiung, and they’re not the tiniest bit mad at you. They’re just worried to death. A bit confused too, but mostly worried. And you know what? Even Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul, who I’ve literally never talked to before, came to ask me how you were. Jay and Sunghoon are barely on talking terms but they always team up when it comes to practically verbally assaulting anyone they overhear talking behind your back. Jake has to hold them back sometimes but he always glares at those people too. You don’t wanna see Jake Sim glare, I promise you. It’s so scary,” she says in a confessional tone, visibly shuddering just at the thought of angel-faced Jake looking angry, and you can’t help the small chuckle that escapes your lips.

Her face softens as she places a warm palm over your hand. “We all love you and care for you so much, so screw literally every single other person in that school. They don’t matter.”

There was something refreshing about Sumin’s words. The idea that you could live your life without worrying about other people had always been in the back of your head, but you always told yourself you were in too deep to go back. Now that you had been forced to, you understood why you felt so empty: the immense weight of having to keep up a persona, had been lifted off your shoulders. You would only have to carry yourself, and not a second person, which made you feel weightless. You’d just have to get used to it and come to enjoy that feeling.

You took your friend’s hands in yours. “I want to forgive you, I promise I do. And I will. I just don’t know if I can do that right away. I’ll need some getting used to this new life.”

“I completely understand, Y/N.”

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you around anymore. And you know what, I’m sure one day I’ll look back at this moment and thank you.”

—

Sumin left a few hours later and you were now waiting for Sunghoon to call you. You waited and waited, until your phone rang with a small ding: he wasn’t calling you, but had sent you a message. A very, very long message. You were very tempted to reply with a I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for u tho. Or sorry that happened, but you thought it might not be the appropriate moment. 

You opened the message, which had come after thirty unread texts, and started reading, slightly appalled by the lack of paragraphing.

Dear Y/N, 

Is this how you start a long text? I would much rather be telling you this than writing it, but someone hasn’t been picking up my calls. Sorry. I probably shouldn’t be giving you much attitude right now. Where do I even start? The ice rink, I guess. Asshole move #1, obviously. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you like that. That kiss was really really good and I really really liked it. Because I really really like you. And I think I’ve known that for a while now, but the kiss confirmed it. And I was happy for a second, but then I panicked. There’s no other word for it, I panicked. I’ve never liked someone this much before and I was so scared. I still am. I’m terrified shitless. But I know that my fear is completely irrational, and that you’re literally the best person on Earth, which is why I’m writing this. I know it’s cliché to say my mom left me and now I think everybody will. And my first reaction to that is to hurt someone before they can hurt me, which is what I did. But as much as I wanna fight it, it’s always there at the back of my mind. You can even ask Sumin about it. Should I be saying that? I feel like I might as well. I was an asshole to her, and I’m so angry at myself that I did it again with you. I didn’t mean a single word of what I said about you to Jay. Not a single one. You’re not stupid, you’re the smartest and most amazing girl I know, and I never pretended I liked you, because I never had to. I think I just wanted Jay to punch me, really. I wanted him to run to you and make sure you were okay, because I was too scared to do that myself. But I regret doing that so much. I hope you know that. And bless Jay, he’s a real one. He told me to get my shit together and talk to you. I can tell he’s still mad at me but still wants to make things good between us. I was already trying to call you before he said that, but I probably would’ve said something stupid that would’ve made things worse. And I can’t afford that, Y/N, I really, really can’t. You get me like no one does and being with you is the most liberating thing ever, I’m never myself more than when I’m around you. You just bring out the best in me. Well, except for that thing I did. Which I promise I’ll never do again. I am so extremely sorry, and if you wanna hate me for the rest of your life, I completely get it. But I would also be very happy if you didn’t. I hope I’ll see you tomorrow at school. I really miss you.

Your Hoon

You wiped away the tears that had formed in your eyes and typed back:

You’re such an idiot, Park.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

—

The next day, as you imagined, was mostly hell. You’d decided not to dress up as usual: there was no point trying to look good after this, it would only make you seem more ridiculous. You put less makeup on, not bothering to hide your eye bags, and didn’t bling your outfit up with accessories or fancy shoes, opting for your worn-out Converse you’d had since your feet stopped growing. On the bus, where people usually ignored each other, you could already feel the gossip being told about you. You avoided people’s gaze like the plague and sat down next to Sumin. You laid your head on her shoulder and sighed.

“I already wanna go home.”

She laughed, “I know. We’ll be with you the whole day, so don’t worry.”

You spent the bus ride catching up on what had happened when you were gone (nothing much), and although there was some awkwardness there, it was nice being with your best friend. When Heeseung got on, he practically screamed your name and suffocated you by means of greeting.

“I’m so glad you’re back. You know, I think you look really cute in those pictures. All these people are just jealous they don’t look as good as you even when you don’t dress up.”

Sumin shot daggers with her eyes at him and he cringed, saying, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”

You reassured him, saying that it was fine since it was all you were going to be hearing the next few days. “Might as well get used to it.”

It was somewhat easy to ignore the stares coming your way when you walked into school with Heeseung and Sumin flanked at your sides like bodyguards. When you reached your classroom, Jiung engulfed you in a hug and Sieun was almost crying. How the hell had you gotten such sweet friends? 

In the hallways, some people tried to get reactions out of you by calling you out, yelling liar! or you can’t fool us anymore. You couldn’t ignore them as they were very much in your face. When at lunch, a table of girls next to you was very clearly talking about you in the nastiest way possible, you took your tray and were ready to get up and leave, but a very familiar voice stopped you in your tracks.

“You think it’s funny talking about someone like that?” Sunghoon was practically screaming at the girls. “You think you’re any better than her? I bet you do the exact same thing but are just glad someone else got called out for it.” You weren’t sure if that made you feel much better, but you appreciated the effort.

“As a matter of fact,” he continued as he pulled out a chair and got up on it, his voice getting louder, “I’ve got something I wanna say to everyone.”

Somebody whooped (probably Jake) and you tried to get Sunghoon to come down from the chair, but he just smiled his radiant smile at you and turned to look at the students in the cafeteria.

“All of you who judge Y/N are hypocrites. You wanna tell me you’re all as perfect at home as you are at school? That you never relax a little bit? Sure, she pushed it a bit far- (hey! you grunted in protest), but nobody shows who they truly are to everyone. We all judge each other in this stupid high school, so Y/N did what she had to do and protected herself. If anything, this should make you respect her even more. And it’s not like she did anything wrong to you. She didn’t use her popularity against anyone, so you better not use this against her.”

From the crowded tables in the cafeteria, somebody yelled “Nobody cares!”

Somebody, whose voice you thought you recognized as Jungwon’s, joined in: “Yeah, what is it about you seniors and thinking the whole school revolves around you? We still like Y/N!”

Sunghoon, taken aback, simply said, “Oh. Alright. Well, you better keep it that way then!” and got off his chair. 

He turned to you, already a pleading look on his face and said “Y/N, I’m so sorry-”

But you cut him off right away. “I know, Sunghoon, I know. I think this proved it.”

“I really wanna make it up to you. So just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. Buy you a house, move to another country, you name it. I’ll do it.”

You chuckled at him. “You don’t need to go that far.” You looked down, then back at him. “I think I just want to pretend like nothing happened. Like it was all a huge, awful fever dream. Even if I can’t forgive and forget right away, I don’t think I want you out of my life while I figure it out.”

He let out the biggest sigh you’d ever heard. “My God, you don’t know how happy to hear that, Y/N. Thank you so much.”

“Thank you for defending me just now. That was… definitely something.”

He smiled down at you. "I did my best. Too bad those sophomores ruined everything.”

You could feel eyes burning into your sides, so you turned your head a bit and noticed that your friends and the table of girls that had just been gossiping were staring at you, some of them teary-eyed. When they saw you notice them, they all turned back to each other and pretended that they were having some other conversation. You and Sunghoon chuckled, and you realized how much you had missed him.

Yes, Sunghoon and Sumin had hurt you, but you were a strong believer of second chances. Even if it was hard at first to stop thinking about Sunghoon’s voice when he had said those things or Sumin’s intentions when she posted the pictures, they’d made it up to you in any way they could and you’d reciprocated that by being completely honest. No more trying to look perfect all the time; you were human and were allowed to have low moments. Your grades even dropped by two points, because you’d started spending more time with your friends than with your textbooks. You’d spent whole Saturdays at the ice rink with your now real-boyfriend Sunghoon, and had invited the whole crew. Heeseung was surprisingly good at it. You had even caught your little sister Yeeun on a date with the cute Japanese boy she’d talked about. 

As promised, Jay came once a week or every two weeks to have dinner with your family; Sunghoon always insisted on being present. The tension between them had turned into friendly competition, and you could tell the two friends were glad to have each other back. 

You’d never felt so free. Your relationship with Sunghoon felt like uncharted territory and home at the same time; so daunting and exciting yet so comfortable and relaxing. You kept the PDA at a minimum at school, but when it was just the two of you, your whole body never failed to heat up, even in the cold of the ice rink. He had been nicknamed the ice prince, but he was so, so warm.

In the end, everybody found out. But you had Park Sunghoon by your side, so it was alright.

permanent taglist: @zreamy @sunghoonmybeloved @lalalalawon @sd211 @w3bqrl @raikea10 @wntrnghts @moonlighthoon @4imhry @rikisly @loves0ft @iamliacamila @theboingsuckerasseater9000 @chaechae-23 @baekhyuns-lipchain @hyuckslvr @vernonburger (ask to be removed/added!)

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[myths-tournaments]

Awful Characters Semi-finals (1/2)

Propaganda under the cut!

IANTHE TRIDENTARIUS

Her number one hobby is ruining every person's that she knows life. Her second hobby is being soooo slutty about it despite looking like a literal wet rat. Her third hobby is having an extremely unhealthy relationship with her twin. Her other hobbies include cannibalism, wearing a maid outfit, being extremely convinced she is the main character, the badboy sexy love interest and the villain. 'Why', you may ask. Well, the answer is, for shits and giggles #justgirlythings i, aswell as literally everybody else in the fandom have gone through the pipeline from hating her to desperately wanting to fuck her. expect for i still fucking hope she dies and doesn't come back for good. (that would literally solve all of everybody's problems) as god intended (EXPECT FOR. one of her hobbies literally is gaslighting god) She is fucking horrible i will love her until i die and even after that

parks and recs jean ralphio voice she's the woooorst!! The moment she learns she has to kill someone to become a Lyctor (aka a more special necromancer), she doesn't hesitate to kill and cannibalize the guy who has been her cavalier since childhood… cavalier who she also totally bullied as kids, she was allowed to choose one guest for her and her twin sister's birthday party each year, and she would always pick whoever she thought her cavalier didn't want to see there! While other characters are shown to regret the process of becoming a Lyctor (which involves someone close to them dying)/were forced into it because of circumstances, Ianthe has absolutely no regrets, she believes she did what she had to do

The author once said of Ianthe: "I don't think she's been nice to anyone, if she has I'll go back and change it." She killed and ate the soul of someone she has known all her life so that she could become a necromantic saint and tormented him plenty before that. General negging, ganging up against him, always inviting people he didn't like to their birthday parties. She doesn't regret killing him. I think she is repulsed by the idea that his digested soul is affecting hers. She helped her crush lobotomise herself so she would be in Ianthe's debt, and later lied and said she didn't see the corpse of a woman her crush killed under her bed (why did she do that? I do not know). She has a bone arm because her original arm was cut off, she hated the replacement so her crush cut THAT off and grew her a new one out of just bones. She had it gilded and only after that did she decide to help her crush deal with the person who had been repeatedly trying to kill her. She wants so badly to be the main character but people keep interrupting her villain monologues.

she has her own content warning tag

She's such a bitch to everyone all the time, she causes nothing but problems, she tries to do a villain speech but fumbles it because her tummy hurt, she is the awfulgirl of all time

AZULA

Azula explicitly considers herself a monster. She says needlessly cruel things to her brother and friends. She kills the show's twelve-year-old protagonist and masterminds the idea of burning down the entire Earth Kingdom to force them to submit to Fire Nation rule. I have absolutely seen people get called abuse apologists for thinking she's a cool character. But she's also a (canonically) mentally ill fourteen-year-old who was raised by her father to see her ability to be weaponized as her only value. Her mother, arguably the only adult in her life who could have had a positive impact, had a strained relationship with her because she was more difficult than her brother, and then disappeared when she was nine. Her uncle, who was her brother's main healthy role model, took absolutely no interest in her. She watched her father belittle her brother for years and eventually throw him away when he failed to meet his expectations, so that was a threat she was always facing. She really had no chance. And she also has moments that suggest she wants some sort of meaningful connection with another person. She lets her brother take credit for killing the Avatar so he can come back from exile, even though it means she'll be bumped back in the order of succession and offers him advice that seems genuine. Her spiral into a mental breakdown starts when her friends betray her. She's just a much more interesting and multifaceted than a lot of the fandom gives her credit for.

[atinystraynstay]

I Could Be Your Lifeline - Kang Taehyun

Synopsis: You and Taehyun have been childhood best friends. You grew up in the same town, went to the same college, and now worked in the same city. You two are each other's lifeline as you explore the world of being a young adult. He would do anything for you.

Pairing: non-idol! Kang Taehyun x fem reader

Genre: Angst, bad date, fluff, best friends to lovers

Word Count: 2.7k

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I sighed as I glanced between the red dress and the black dress that was in my closet. They both were gorgeous, but which one screamed 'first date'? At least you don't have to make a decision on your own.

"Taehyun, if you were going on a first date, what color would you hope the girl wears?" You asked

Taehyun was laying on your bed, his head resting on the mountain of pillows you had at the top. His arms were crossed over his chest. He watched as you held up the two dresses, your eyes somewhat glancing towards the red dress but you were trying your best not to make it obvious. It took everything in him not to smirk, not wanting to make it known he had caught you. You were too adorable.

"I think the red one would be nice? You know, a pop of color to catch someone's attention."

You grinned with satisfaction. His heart skipped a beat at the sight. God, he loved making you happy. You hung up the black dress in your closet before heading towards your bathroom to get ready.

Once the coast was clear, Taehyun pressed his head to your pillow and let out a low groan. It was torture witnessing you get ready for someone else. He wanted to be the guy that was going to take you out, show you out to the world. He wanted to be the one you got excited about seeing, telling anyone that was willing to listen. Yet, he find himself always freezing up when it was time to confess to you.

As he heard the door open, he sat up quickly. His eyes nearly popped out of their head as you revealed yourself. You got to be kidding me.

You were wearing a maroon, square neck dress. It was a long sleeve dress that had elastic cuffs around the wrists, amplifying the fairy-like look. It was a fit and flare dress that just looked like it was made for you. Selfishly, he might have also picked out the dress because it was his favorite color on you. You just radiated when you work red.

"So, what do you think? You sure this isn't too much for a first date?" "Y/n, I mean this, you look phenomenal."

You grinned with satisfaction as you did a small twirl in the dress, letting him have a full view. If only you weren't getting ready for someone else, if only you were getting ready for him. He wanted so desperately to walk up and kiss you, to feel your lips against his. But that wasn't something that best friends did.

You turned towards the mirror in your bedroom. It was a sun mirror you bought from Urban Outfitters. It was very fitting, as Taehyun always compared you to the sun.

"I think I'm going to leave my hair natural today. I've really been loving my curls.'

God damn. You were going to be the death of him.

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

Before your date showed up, you urged Taehyun to leave. Mainly because this was your first date with this guy, and you didn't want to give the wrong impression.

While Taehyun should be happy for you, he couldn't help but feel the sting in his heart. You had only really gotten serious abut dating in the past couple of weeks. He thought he had more time to devise a plan in how to make you his. Your friends saw it as the perfect opportunity to set up your dating profile.

Not surprisingly, you were getting messages within five minutes of your account being open. Of course everyone wanted to be with you. You were one of a kind. Taehyun just wished he was first in line.

He had found himself back in the dorms an hour after you give him the boot to the door. He took the long way home, wanting to take the train back to the dorms so he could be alone with his thoughts.

Would you even be interested in dating him? You two were best friends. While there have been numerous storylines where best friends are perfect lovers, he knew the reality that it can be hard. He cannot afford to lose you in his life. It was dangerous territory to venture into. Even him confessing his feelings was a risk.

Maybe he should talk to Soobin or Yeonjun about how he was feeling? He felt like the whole scenario was a cruel form of torture. While he loved seeing you be happy, he felt sick to his stomach knowing it wasn't him at the end of the day you were seeing so intimately. Maybe his two older friends could provide insight?

He was about to get a glass of water to clear his mind when his phone began to ring. That's freaky. I was just about to call Soobin. Did he read my mind? Taehyun peered over but froze the moment he saw your name flash on the screen. Something didn't feel right about you calling him this time.

However, he didn't hesitate. Not now. Getting water was soon forgotten as he reached over for his phone. His thumb hit the green answer button before he held up the phone to his ear.

"Taehyun?" You sounded distressed

At the sound of your voice, he was on high alert. You didn't speak in your normal energetic tone. You sounded upset. What happened? Were you ok? He needed immediate answers, but he knew allowing himself to get worked up wouldn't help the two of you at the moment.

"Angel, what's going on?" "I need you to pick me up.'

He frowned upon hearing you but was immediately on his feet. He wasn't sure what had happened, but there was no time to ask questions. Not when you need him immediately. "I'm already on my way," he promised. He grabbed his car keys and wallet before rushing to slip on his shoes. Taehyun just had to get to you.

"Are you in a safe location right now? I have your location, but I want to make sure you're okay until I get there." "Yeah, I'll be okay. Can you please hurry?" Taehyun didn't have to be told twice. With his shoes and jacket on, he rushed out to the car. He put you on speaker so he could get into the car quickly, but also could listen and speak to you if needed. He didn't even notice that it was raining. Taehyun literally sprinted out of the dorm to get to his car. He didn't even notice that it was raining. Taehyun literally sprinted out of the dorm to get to his car.

"Y/n, sweetheart, do you want me to stay on the line with you while I drive?" "Taehyun, no! It's raining. I don't want you to risk getting into a car accident. Just get here safely, please."

You were always looking out for other people before you looked after yourself. He's never met someone has kind and compassionate as you.

"I'll be there in 10 minutes."

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

It felt like only a minute passed by between when you called Taehyun and hung up the phone. You waited under the awning outside of the restaurant after hiding out in the bathroom. At least until you were certain your date left.

Four wheels pulled up which caused you to look up. You could recognize that car anywhere. Taehyun. The car was still running, able to see the emissions from the exhaust pipe wrap around the car signaling Taehyun had the heat running. A door opened and closed followed by quick footsteps.

Taehyun emerged from the other side of the car, a look of shock and concern on his face. He was holding a rain jacket in his hands. It was your pink rain coat, the one you left in his backseat the last time you two got caught in the rain. "You told me you were in a safe location, y/n. It's raining out. You could get sick," he frowned.

You matched his frown, sighing. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't stand being inside any longer," you confessed. Taehyun didn't want to come across as if he was scolding you. He was just concerned. All he did was kiss your forehead lingering before assisting you in putting your jacket on. "Come on, sweet girl," he spoke gently. He moved his hands to make sure the hood of the jacket covered your head. You worked on zipping it up. Once satisfied that you would be dry, he smiled. "Let's get you out of here."

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

Taehyun and you had a habit of going on drives when you were upset. You often blasted music from a playlist you two made. You would scream lyrics, laugh, and just forget about your problems. Tonight, you two rode in silence.

He went to every length to make sure you were comfortable. It was an awkward silence. It offered you to fill the space with whatever you needed. If you needed to play music, he was ready to sing along with you. If you needed to vent, he was ready to listen. He would drive for however long you needed him to. With the heat on, you were able to relax comfortably into the leather seat behind you. However, if you got too hot, he would cut it off.

You were his whole world.

When you told him that you didn't even get to the dinner on the date, he immediately took you to the nearest convenience store. The two of you ran inside, laughing and dodging the raindrops as they continued to fall. Taehyun loved hearing your laughter. You still had not unveiled what exactly happened, but he was just content seeing you happy again.

You picked out all of your favorite snacks - a lemon lime soda, a bag of honey butter chips, and these blue gummy sharks. He also got a salmon kimbap he knew you loved.

Instead of sitting in the convenience store to eat, Taehyun had another idea. He paid for your food, even though you fought him on it. It was a losing battle on your part anyways. Taehyun had you two return to his car where he drove you towards the top level of a parking garage in the city, where you could park and enjoy your food. He also knew that you loved looking at the skyline

"Thank you for driving out to come pick me up, Taehyun," you spoke up.

Looking over at you, Taehyun smiled gently. "It really isn't a big deal, y/n. I would do anything you asked."

"I bet you're wondering what happened," you murmured.

Of course he was curious. You've had a handful of bad dates, but none that resulted in you calling him to rescue you from the date. However, he didn't want to just ask outright out of respect for you.

"Taehyun, he was awful! First of all, he showed up to the date late. I understand because the weather isn't the best," you began retelling. "But then he had the nerve to tell me how I should have dressed, how I should have done my hair."

He could feel his anger bubbling inside of him. He's never met the guy you were supposed to go out with tonight but he prays he never comes across him. Taehyun couldn't understand how someone could be that brainless. I mean, you were the most incredible person. You have a heart of gold, and are effortlessly beautiful inside and out. You are perfection.

"I just got so frustrated and upset that I wasted my time getting ready for someone like him that I just got up and left," you explained. "I'm so sorry, angel," he sighed. "I just don't get what is wrong with me?"

His eyes widened. He turned in his seat so he was resting the side of his body against the driver's seat. Was he hearing you correctly? Did you actually think something was wrong with you? No, he needed to fix that.

"There is nothing wrong with you."

The tone of his voice took you by surprise. He was stern. His gaze locked on you which made you instantly regret asking that question. You stared at him with wide eyes. Seeing your shock, he relaxed a bit but still knew he had to help you see just how amazing you are.

"Baby girl, I mean that. I am not speaking to you as just your best friend. You are the most remarkable woman I know. Not only are you kind, generous, intellectual, and witty, but you are so gorgeous. You carry yourself with grace and elegance. You are stunning from head to toe. Any guy would be lucky to be yours. The guy who were out with tonight is going to realize tomorrow how much he lost out on."

Your heart swelled hearing Taehyun. You never knew him, or anyone for that matter, viewed in such a positive light. You figured you were average compared to other girls.

"I mean, I regret not telling you sooner how I feel," Taehyun admitted.

In that moment, both of your eyes widened as you stared at each other. You were trying to make sure you heard Taehyun correctly. On the other side, Taehyun was freaking out over what he just said.

"What?" You both said in unison. "Taehyun, tell me what?"

There was no turning back. Taehyun's feelings towards you have been growing every day. It pained him when you went out with other people, but it also brought him great joy to have you in his life. He never wanted to do anything to upset the balance, but he was about to take a leap. The way you were looking at him made him want to scream out his feelings.

"Y/n, I've had feelings for you since we met. I've wanted to be the man in your life. However, I thought we were just best friends and I didn't want to mess things up because I didn't want you to see me as just some creep, you know? I wanted to show you that I could really be the man you deserve in your life, but that led to me never confessing," you admitted.

It was as if everything you've wanted to hear finally came to light. You have gone back and forth with the idea of you and Taehyun getting together. However, you were his best friend. You never wanted to cross a line you couldn't backtrack. He was too important in your life.

Not realizing what took over you, you very carefully crossed over the middle console into his lap. He laughed and was taken back by your actions. His hands immediately fell on your waist to help you over, wanting to make sure you didn't hurt yourself in the process. "What are you doing?" "Something that I should've done a long time ago," you confessed.

Once you were settled in his lap, you placed on hand on his shoulder. The other hand cupped his cheek, gazing into his eyes. You were looking for any sign at all, whether it be verbal or his body language to stop. He stared at you with anticipation. A gentle smile was curled on his lips. You watched as his eyes glanced from yours to your lips before looking back into your eyes.

There is the green light.

You leaned in to fully press your lips against yours. He squeezed your hips at the feeling and pulled you in closer. You giggled against his lips as reality set in. You were kissing your best friend. His lips were soft yet he overtook the kiss, showing that he wanted this as equally as you did.

The sound of your lips smacking against one another and the sound of rain still falling made the perfect ambiance. You melted underneath Taehyun's touch. He always had the power to make you feel soft and warm without even trying. Now with getting to be such emotionally vulnerable with him, really letting him in, that feeling was amplified.

Yeah, you definitely were not going back to how things used to be now.

[onskepa]

Hello Halo Hello! I have returned bleh, bleh bleh! I saw a sequel request things is open and I've been thinking. Can I request a part 2 of the one shot Vopey? Where the Sully's react to stranger things? Only in this one, Jake, neytiri, Tonowari, ronal and the Metakiyan kids join in on the reaction too? Like the kids are just about to start up season 2 and the rest are curious about it.

If that's okay of course!

Hello cutie <3

I see where you are going with the idea. Hope this is to yours and everyone's satisfaction! Enjoy!

Also big ass help from my good friend @corhyeline helping me with this!

Vopey

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

Vopey: Far away monsters

“Alright kids, time to come home” Jake calls out to his kids just as vopey was about to insert the season 2 disc of stranger things. 

There was a collective choir of disappointed sounds. Followed by many begings from the kids, desiring to watch more of their new interest. 

“Come on, its getting late and tomorrow we have to wake up extra early” Jake tries to reason with his kids. Only for another wave of moans and groans. 

“Why? What is going to happen tomorrow?” Vopey asks. 

“Skxaw’nung and his family are coming tomorrow. They are staying with us for a few weeks” Lo’ak says. His whole body lying down on the floor as his way of protest. 

“That means we won't be able to watch season 2 for a looooooong time” Spider comments, sounding disappointed. This caught Jake's interest. “Season 2? What were you all watching?” he asks. 

“Stranger things” All of them said in unison. 

Oh how a wave of memories and nostalgia hit him like a pack of bricks. 

“Stranger things? Damn, I remember watching it for the first time. I was about tuk’s age” Jake remenices back on his childhood. Quickly all the kids huddled around him, surprised and curious wanting to know more. 

“Did you watch the whole thing?” Kiri asks, eager to know more of her new favorite subject. 

Jake scratches his head, trying to remember, “last I watched was season 4 I think, I could be wrong. It has been such a long time, I barely remember some things”. But in his mind it clicked, he knew what the kids were trying to do. With a playful smirk, he says “But that is for some other time. The longer I talk, the more I stall and the more late you will be in bed. Come on”. 

The kids gave, telling spider and vopey good night as they all left to their home back at the village. 

“You think the metkayina kids will like the show?” Spider asks as he and vopey clean up the place. Vopey hums at the thought. 

“I should be the one asking you that since you know a bit more about them than me” Vopey replies as she stacks up the pillows. 

They continue to clean up before bed. Thinking about how it will be when the reef na’vi arrive. Would they be allowed to be near the sully kids? Or stay away? It would be nice to invite them and show them some cool things they dont know about. 

“And these are our friends, Spider and Vopey” Neteyam introduced to the metkayina kids. Tsireya looked to be more excited, seeing spider again and seeing a new face. Ao’nung was more hesitant, he barely tolerated spider back at his home. And meeting another sky demon was annoying. Roxto on the other hand was just as excited as trsireya, 

“Hello, it is so nice to meet you!” Tsireya speaks to vopey in loud, slow ,broken english. This made vopey blink a few times. 

“Don't torture yourself, I can speak na’vi just fine” Vopey replies in perfect fluent na’vi like it was her first language. Which in a way, it is. 

“Oh” Was all tsireya said. Her ears lowered down a bir and her tail stopped moving. Feeling a bit sad. It didn't go unnoticed by vopey. Immediately feeling guilty, she adds, “It is ok, I thought it would be easier for you if we spoke in your mother tongue”. 

It made tsireya ease up more. 

Spider and vopey join the sully kids as they take the reef kids around their forest. Showing them the plants, animals, and areas they often visit. 

“And that is pretty much it, from the east to the west, and from north to south. Any questions?” Lo’ak says as he and the others finished touring the reef kids around. There was a lot to show and no shortage of activities to do. 

“Yeah, what do you demons do for fun?” Ao’nung asks a bit snarky. His sister and friend tries to shush him. The sully kids were ready to defend their friends should any insult come out of ao’nung’s mouth. 

Spider and vopey looked at each other and muttered some stuff in english. The sully kids placed their input in English as well. The metkayina kids who do not understand much are left confused and hate being left out. 

“Hey, you can speak in na’vi! What are you saying?” Ao’nung asks/demands. Both human kids turned to him and grinned. 

“Well, on days that are not suitable for adventure like rainy or cold days, the sully kids and us stay inside the human base to watch human entertainment” Spider explains. This caught Tsireya’s and Rotxo’s interest. 

“What kind of entertainment?” Rotxo asked. This made spider and vopey grin. 

“No” Ronal said sternly. All of the children groaned in misery. The metkayina children asked if they could partake in human entertainment activities only to be shut down immediately. Even with Spider and vopey explaining what it will be, still shut down. Ronal was glaring at the two with no hate but certainly not taking a good liking to them. 

“We have come to make ties with the Omatikaya, not with sky demons” Ronal states as she slightly glares at the two humans. While ao’nung was settled with her response, rotxo and tsireya were not. 

“Please sa’nok? These sky people are part of omatikaya. See? The way they are dressed is identical to the na’vi here” Tsireya pleads. Before ronal can respond, Jake beat her to it as he walks up to the group. 

“Much to your dismay Tsahik Ronal, these two sky people are part of the omatikaya clan. As they were born and raised in the clan” Jake informs the metkayina tsahik. Mo’at and neytiri who were beside him confirmed his statement. 

Tonowari soon joins his wife as he takes in the information. 

Vopey then quickly flashes them a smile, “Tsahik ronal, if I may. Despite the terrible experiences and stories you have heard of sky people, me, spider and the others that live here are not evil. Yes many were evil and cruel. But I assure you we see this world as our home. Allow us to show you the type of entertainment we have. Nothing will hurt you I assure you”. 

Tonowari and ronal were thinking it over in their silent conversation. Their children secretly hoping they would say yes. 

“Very well”. 

To give everyone a seat to see the stranger things show, a movie night took place outside. Using one of the massive caves to fit everyone, the kids and science guys were quick to set up the massive screen, speakers and the projector. 

Ronal, Tonorwari, and everyone else had the best seat in the caves as the rest of the clan got settled. 

Jake and Neytiri snuggled with each other as they got comfortable near their kids. The sully kids themselves having a body pile with snacks around, and the metkayina kids being in the center of the body pile. 

“So we just sit and watch a white sheet?” Rotxo asks, a bit confused. Kiri chuckles lowly and replies, “You could say that. It is what we will see on the white sheet that will be fun”. 

Norm prepares the dvd player and presses play. Letting the projector display bright colors as sounds echo around the cave giving it a surround sound effect. 

"8?!" All the kids shouted in unison as a new character enters the screen. The power of illusions and running from the police was a perfect way to capture everyone's attention.

"I knew there were more! I knew it!" lo'ak grins happy as he now knows his small theory was confirmed.

"Screw vopey, you should be called Vol '' spider suggests playfully. Vopey cackels and shakes her head, "no it doesn't hit the same". 

"Madmax? Who is that turd?" Tuk asks when her favorite character, dustin, lost his record some someone else at the arcade.

"Language tuk '' Neytiri gently scolds, as she too is invested in the new show. "Who is madmax?" Neytiri asks quietly to jake. He leans closer to her ear, “long story” Jake answered. 

“Damn I bet I would love to play one of those arcade games” lo’ak says woefully. It looked a lot of fun as the kids play different kinds of games and so do the background characters, Spider pats his back in comfort, sharing the same sentiment. “Same here bro, same here”. 

Tonowari was still a little confused but oddly enjoys seeing how human children were like. Free of doing what they like, not thinking twice and seems as they are siblings at arms. Was oddly cute in his mind. 

Ronal on the other hand was still trying to comprehend that is what humans were like a long time ago. The style of clothing, language, the behavior, so vastly different then what she remembered. 

“Im betting on lucas” kiri says, “Dustin, right tuk?” rotxo says, tuk nodding rapidly. “Let the shipping war begin” Vopey whispers to tsireya as they giggle. Neteyam however made a face of discomfort, “Billy doesn't seem to be a good brother however” he comments. And while ao’nung so far hasnt voiced his opinions, he secretly agrees with neteyam,

“That Joy woman, she is amusing somewhat” Ronal comments, neytiri took notice of that. “Indeed, a protective mother she is” she adds. 

From what Jake notices, both his mate and ronal seem to be more attached to older characters who are parents as well. And Jake is no different, he can see himself a bit in Jim Hopper. Perhaps as more episodes go on, things will get more interesting. 

“Will you big ass simp!” Ao’nung groaned but was quickly shushed by his friends. Tonowari heard him and blinked a few times, was his son learning how to speak like the sky people? That could be a problem, but that is a problem for later. 

“So he can somehow connect to another world?” Ronal asks. The more scenes of will having flashes of the upside down world, the more she is curious of the darker side. It was a whole new concept, how can one world function alongside another? It was so strange and unheard of. 

“I don't like that demon” Tonowari speaks his thoughts as Dr. Owens made a few appearances. Jake chuckled, “There will be many that you might not like”.

On screen when the four main boys appeared in the ghostbusters costumes, Jake felt an immense hit of nostalgia. There were so many references in the show, memories just keep coming back to him. And tuk can't help but love the costumes. 

“They look so cute~!” she squeals. Bobbing her head to the classic theme song and muttering a bit of the lyrics. Tsireya can't help but laugh at how silly the boys looked. In her mind she imagines lo’ak, ao’nung, neteyam and rotxo wearing those similar outfits. It was a funny thought. 

“What has got you laughing?” Lo’ak asks, a giggle escapes tsireya’s lips. “Oh nothing, just had a funny idea” she answers with an honest smile. 

Neytiri was brought back to her time at the school she attended. Remembering the time when Grace explained the holidays from Earth, one of them she liked was halloween. To see the boys and the overall environment of people decorating and seeing how it really is like. It became her new favorite scenes.

“Uggghhh how much more kid drama do we have to see?” Spider groans, lo’ak and ao’nung agree. “I want to see the monsters” Ao’nung says, almost in a whiney manner. Kiri shushed them again, slightly glaring at the boys, “come on guys, you will see them”. 

“What was that?” Tonowari asks as Will's drawing of a monster was shown. It spooked him a bit. While the drawing was black, it gave a creepy aura and the mood music didn't help it. 

Ronal however was more annoyed when Billy tried to run over the four boys and screaming at the top of his lungs. “Has he lost his mind?” Ronal says, mostly to herself. Billy’s behavior was now more familiar to her version of how humans behave. 

Tuk had a small frown, “poor max, having to deal with an idiot like him”. Neteyam rubs her small back, “I am sure it will get better”. He won't say it, but Billy is someone he wishes he will never be like. A young adult acting like some lunatic with what seems like murder in his mind. A terrifying combination.

“Now we are getting somewhere” Lo’ak says, grunting. Hopper was connecting the dots of the odd drawing with the VHS recording of Will staring into the sky with an odd outline of the same monster. Tsireya was shocked and soaking in the new revelation. 

“Is he also connected to the other world?” She asks, getting more excited, “it seems like it with his moments being frequent” Lo’ak answers. “It would make sense since he stayed in that world for a bit didnt he?” Neteyam adds in. 

A little theory was beginning to form with ideas and remembering certain moments from season 1. But later on, a collective gasp was heard when Dustin puts a small creature into his turtle tank. 

“That motherf-” 

“Tuk” 

“Sorry” 

Vopey and the others were freaking out in silence, “Wait wait! Its not a poliwog, it's a bit different” she points out. “What is a poliwog?” rotxo asks, “watch” was all he got. 

“Either way, he is an idiot. What if it gets bigger and tries to eat him?” Spider says, feeling more and more annoyed of Dustin making one dumb choice after another. “And look, he brought it to the others. He is either going to die or become brain dead”. 

Tuk heard spider and silently protested that her favorite character won't.

Once dart grew his legs, a few were ready to gag at the horrid display. “What is that thing?!” Ronal shouts, feeling utter disgust by the new form of the small thing. It was a horror in her eyes, and to know it was only a baby, she can only imagine what its final form would be like. 

Kiri was paying close attention to the new episode will was having. The sky being wider, and the shadow monster doesn't look all that far from where Will is at.``It looks like it is daunting him. Or almost as if it wants Will to see it..” she mutters. 

When the monster inserted a piece of itself into Will’s mouth, dread followed. “Oh no! What is it doing to him!?” tsireya shouts, hiding her face on lo’ak’s chest, not wanting to see the rest of the scene. 

Ronal does the same, feeling sorry for the young boy. Tonowari felt scared. Such a massive thing, and the poor boy has no chance to run away. “Hasn't he been through enough?”

“Ooooooohh he is so dead” Spider teases, the reveal of the tank bring broken from most likely dart. “That thing is growing without stopping” Vopey adds. “Not the kitty-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!” Tuk screams when dart shrieks while expanding its head. “A baby demigorgon?!” Vopey shouts rather excitedly. 

“Such a horrid thing!” Tonorwari glares in disgust. Yet also relieved he doesn't share a planet with that thing. 

“I find it intriguing,” Neytiri comments, admiring the little thing. Which Jake turns to her, questioning what she views as cute. “It ate an innocent animal” he says, neytiri shrugs, “it is an animal itself no?”

“Will is either possessed or part of a hive mind” Tsireya theorizes. Took a moment of silence, everyone including herself were surprised that she concluded something like that. She carries on, “think about it, he hates the heat, prefers the cold. Explains of odd memories that don't belong to him. And he is walking around chest naked. It makes sense to me”. 

Lo’ak whistles out impressed, which tsireya blushes a bit. “You are catching on very quick tsireya” Vopey compliments. 

As it goes on. Hopper and joy piece together the odd drawings Will made. And tsireya quickly catched on. “They are underground, the roots. It is what is causing the plants to rot in an awful way. Will is telling them the answer!” Tsireya explains. Clapping her hands, understanding more of the situation. 

“Nah, what if it is part of something else?” Ao’nung was quick to deny his sisters expanding theory. 

“I dunno ao’nung, look '' Spider points to the screen where hopper was digging a big hole, discovering some gross goo and a tunnel underground. Lo’ak gave tsireya a high five/four as her guess was correct. 

“Well he is dead” Ao’nung says deadpanned, looking at hopper being tied by the wines of the upside down world. But his statement didnt land very well when Will and others went to rescue hopper from his near death experience. 

The scene continues when the Hawkins yellow jackets burning the vines but at the same time Will began to shake and feel the burning pain. “I knew it!” Tsireya squeals. Good she was right, but bad because she is witnessing the poor boy’s pain.

“Weird how I am hating him less and less” Kiri comments as she sees Dustin and Steve bond while throwing meat in a train track to look for dart. “It is call character development, some people go through it, and others dont” Lo’ak grins knowing the subtle message he meant to ao’nung. 

“Yeah yeah shush I’m taking notes' ' spider interrupts lo’ak as he writes down steve’s secret to his hair being L’oreal quality. 

As the scene goes on, kiri can't help but grin, “sorry rotxo, but it seems lucas is winning” she whispers a bit smugly. “Anything can happen, it is not confirmed yet” Rotxo hold out hope for his new favorite character. 

“Whatever you say,” Kiri shrugs. 

As the show proceeds, tsireya grins non stop, “I was correct! Again!”. Owns explains Will's connection to the creature and other organisms of the upside down world. The pain they feel, the child feels it too. 

“I swear! You catch on so quickly!” Spider says, not in a mean way, but in an amazed way. “Maybe we should show you other things tsireya” Vopey says. 

"YEAAAAHH!" The sully and human kids all cheered as eight and eleven showed on screen together. "I almost forgotten about her" Tuk says, vopey nodding in agreement.

Vopey, kiri, tsireya and tuk were leaning forward. Unknowns to them, so was ronal and neytiri. All of them paying extra attention to the sisterly themed episode.

“They are most likely going to work together” Tsireya silent shrieks, her tail swaying while not meaning to but was hitting lo’ak in the face. 

“Oh no doubt” Vopey replies, her eyes never leaving the screen 

Jake couldnt help but chuckle as Neytiri was also doing a similar manner. Hey eyes wide and tail moving. It was a cute site he doesnt get to see so often. 

Tonowari huffed in an amusing way, while Ronal’s tail isn't moving, her ears definitely were, giving away how invested she was. 

“I can't look '' Ronal hides behind tonowari after seeing the bloodshed the now called demidogs are creating. Death left and right from the creatures Ronal has come to hate. And Tonowari, who had come to favor Bob, was distraught to see his death come so soon. 

The creature's shredding and killing bob was an unholy sight for their eyes. Sadness was all they felt. Sorry for the poor man who was innocent and finding love. 

“He might-” 

“Tsireya, you know we love you but ssssshhh, because at this point, anything you say comes true” Ao’nung kindly shuts his sister up. Lo’ak scratched the back of his neck, not really defending nor denying the truth. 

Pouting, tsireya stays silent as she watches the rest of the episode

The last episode. Everyone was getting anxious, the final battle between the massive monsters and the humans. Who else will die? Who will live? Will everything be the same? 

“Who cares about Mike and eleven shipping!! Get over it!” Vopey shouts in anger as the scene dragged on too much for her liking. 

“Screw them, that billy guy needs to DIE” neteyam frowns in disgust as bill was shown flirting with an older woman who was also a mother to one of the main boys. What goes on in bill’s head is beyond him. 

“Huh, madmax is starting to make sense now” Jake mutters as he sees the max girl stand up for herself. 

“Eeeeeewww!!” Tuk feeling grossed out as the misty shadow leaves will’s body and out into the open world. “At least he is free from it, right?” Rotxo asks but no one answers him. All eyes glued to the screen. 

While dustin was saying goodbye to dart, really no one cared as they wished for that monster dead. 

“CLOSE IT!! CLOSE IT!! END IT!!” Everyone was cheering for eleven. Screaming at the top of her lungs, everyone felt what she was feeling. Seeing the gate to the upside down world close. The cheering rising as it intensifies. 

“He looks so cuuuuute!” Tuk gushes as she sees Dustin rocking a new hairstyle. Kiri slammed her hands down, “YES! Rotxo you owe me now!”. The scene of lucas and max kiss made rotxo shed a tear of his debunked shipping. 

“Elven looks so pretty” Vopey admires how feminine the girl looks at the dance. Wearing a pretty dress and styling her hair. But quickly she and tisreya gasped in unison as eleven and mike kissed. Squealing like pre-teens. 

It seemed like it would be a nice happy ending. Ready to close the chapter. But silence was the only sound as everyone saw the last few seconds of the show, The view turning upside down to see the upside down world. And close and above was the giant monster. And the credits rolled in. 

Everyone clapped and began to chatter about their favorite moments. 

Tsireya, ao’nung and roxto were sleeping peacefully in their hammocks, smiles and dreams fill their minds. 

On the bigger shared hammock, Tonowari and Ronal were wide awake. Sleep not reaching their eyes. “It is like Jake Sully said. It is not real, and it is very old. We shouldn't worry about it” Tonowari says to Ronal as a means to comfort her. But also comfort himself. 

Ronal couldn't help but cuddle into his broad chest, wanting to rid the monsters from her memory. “Yes but…they all looked terrifying. And many suffered from those disgusting monsters” Ronal whispers. Tonowari gently kissed her on the forehead and placed his arm over her. “Yes, but those monsters are far away. We are safe, and they are not real”. 

Safe to say, they didnt get a wink of sleep. 

Aaaaaaaand that concludes part 2! Hope you all enjoyed this one. Had to go a bit deeper to understand and implement the important stuff. Until next time! See ya!

-------

Vol = eight

[giantchasm]

So I've seen a lot of people posting their Kirby fankids recently...

And so I figured I should finally try and post some of mine! I've had them for a while now, but I've been too lazy to talk about them on Tumblr. Let's change that by making a post about my favorite out of all of them... my special little princess... my beautiful skrunkly.

Everyone, I'd like you to meet Peony!

She is, of course, my Taransusie fankid. She came into existence because I was playing Tomodachi Life and I got attached Taranza offhandedly mentioned that it would be nice to have a family one day and Susie just kind of nodded along but her internal reaction was a strong 'ABSOLUTELY NOT.'

This reaction... unnerved her, to say the least. She didn't understand why she felt so strongly about this. It's not that she didn't like kids. She liked Kirby plenty! And so why...?

Oh stars, it had to do with her dad, didn't it?

Her own unfulfilled childhood. Her resentment for her father. A fear that inevitably she'd fail as a parent in the same exact ways he did.

Realizing this was what was holding her back, Susie proceeded to get extremely angry. Why the hell was her dad still influencing the decisions she was making? He was long gone! She wouldn't let him make her hesitant or boss her around. She wasn't afraid. She could do WAY better than him. In fact, she would make a great mom! She'd show him.

The next thing she knew she was holding a baby she'd grown in a test tube.

Susie pretty much immediately realized she fucked up the minute this thing started moving. She didn't have anything to take care of her. Not even a blanket to bundle her in. What was she THINKING? Did she seriously make a living being out of spite? Maybe that would have been acceptable during her ‘Yeah, sure. I’ll do whatever evil thing I want’ era. But now? It was pretty apparent she made a mistake that she couldn’t take back.

Thankfully Taranza was… mostly understanding? I mean, he was surprised, of course, and he had to be like “SUSIE. Never do something like this again. ESPECIALLY without talking to me about it,” but when she explained he understood why she reacted the way that she did. Plus, as unexpected as this all was, he pretty much instantly fell in love with little Peony.

Which is to say nowadays they’re a pretty happy family! Peony is 8ish and things are going great. That is… except for one teensy, weensy, SLIGHT problem.

There was an incident wherein Peony almost died, and following it, she’s started seeing ghosts. This would be alarming under ANY circumstances, but with her family especially?

…Hoo boy.

Further explanation under the cut, since this is long enough as is

First of all, I figure I should probably explain the circumstances of Peony’s near-death experience. It was all sort of a freak accident. One day, Susie had to perform some inspections at the Works Company, and no-one else was available to watch Peony, so she was just like, “Well. She’s a well-behaved kid. I’ll bring her along. What’s the worst that can happen?”

The ‘worst that could happen’ was her child being fed to an industrial meat grinder. All it took was looking away for ooooneeee second. Peony leaned a little too close to one of the company’s machines, fell, and the next thing Susie knew, she heard screaming.

She. Was. Horrified. She scrambled to shut off the machine, but it was too late. Peony was already hurt. Really hurt. She pulled her broken body from the machine, but there wasn’t much else she could do. She pretty much just had to call Taranza, explain what horrifying thing happened, and then wait for him, a person with actual experience using Soul and healing magic to get there before it was too late.

I cannot explain enough how distressing this was. Susie is someone who isn’t used to feeling helpless. She’s in control in pretty much every situation. But sitting there, holding her actively dying daughter, she had none of that usual control. Despite herself, she couldn’t let her mind wander back to that person. The one that she was thinking about when she first made Peony. She said she’d do better than he did, but…

If Peony were to die now, they’d be the exact same.

Even once Taranza arrived, they weren’t exactly out of the woods. He completely panicked, presented with the idea of losing another loved one, and his attempts to stabilize her were sloppy and desperate. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to find her spirit to tether back to her body with his magic. Was it… already too late?

That’s when it felt as if something was passed off to him. Her spirit practically shoved into the metaphorical hands of his mind’s eye. It didn’t make any sense— it felt as if someone had intervened, but he didn’t question it. He took the stroke of luck as it came, and just barely he was able to stabilize Peony.

…She was hurt, but alive.

When she came to, her family was relieved, but she revealed something strange. When she was on the brink between life and death, she swore she was helped by two mysterious strangers. They comforted her, helped her calm down, and helped her get back to her body.

She described them as a ‘pretty lady’ and a ‘funny old man.’

Taranza and Susie weren’t sure what to make of this. It… couldn’t be, could it? But from thereon out, Peony continued to see these strangers, as well as develop more spectral powers.

You see… Peony is half Neumann— the same species her mom is. Her mom doesn’t have any magic abilities thanks to her cybernetics, but archetypically the species is susceptible to being… overloaded with a certain type of magic, especially when in life or death situations. Look at the Mage Sisters, for example. When on the brink of death themselves, they ended up becoming one with the elements that nearly killed them.

It was the same for Peony. A perfect storm, really. The Arachnid’s predisposition for Soul magic combined with the Neumann’s ability to soak up magic made for a very unique set of circumstances. And so when her dad used Soul magic to heal her, and some spirits perhaps stepped in to save her life…

Peony was overwhelmed. She developed an unnatural connection to the dead.

That said, Peony’s ‘guardian angels’ weeereeennn’t exactly supposed to do what they did. The rules of life and death are very strict. Particularly powerful spirits are allowed to remain wandering if they have unfinished business, but they are NOT to mess with mortal lives.

The arbitrator of life and death was outraged. It said it should whisk the two of them to Hades for their audacity! But this, too, was something Peony overheard, and she rushed to intervene. She begged Morpho Knight not to punish the mysterious strangers who helped her. If if was her who was supposed to die, shouldn’t she have been punished instead? She said she’d take their place.

…She didn’t know they were her granddad and her father’s long lost friend at the time. She just knew they’d helped her out, even though they didn’t know her. She had to return the favor.

Morpho Knight tested her conviction. It made it seem as if it was really going to go through with reaping her, but when she didn’t back down, it relented. It… couldn’t whisk away an innocent child. Perhaps all the time spent watching over Kirby was making it go soft. It allowed Peony to have her way. Truthfully, with the abilities she developed, the boundary between life and death for her family was already going to thin anyways. It would watch and see where this went.

Nowadays, Peony and the ghosts are best friends. She’s learned of their origins, and given a bit of an ego boost from her unlikely survival, she’s promised one day she’ll bring them back to life. This is something that is NOT going to happen, but at the moment she’s convinced she’s invincible— that she has unique, unmatched power and can do anything she wants to.

Her parents are… hardly sure what to make of all this. It’s difficult to believe, really. But the more Peony talks about her brand new friends, the harder it is to deny her uncanny knowledge. And that means old wounds are reopening as they grapple with the complicated implications of the very flawed people they lost not only entering their child’s life but, in a way, reentering theirs.

…But that’s a story for another day. I figure I’ve probably talked enough. All you need to know is god complex spirit medium spider girl. I hope everyone else likes her as much as I do.

[miss0atae]

Random thoughts about SOTUS episode 3 :

The students still have to do the hazings and it's not going easy for any of the freshmen. Even their seniors (sophomores, I guess) have it tough because the third year are not happy. Among all these things, the freshmen also have to find a student president to represent them and Kong has to represent the engineering students for the faculty's star contest.

▪️ As for the hazings I can't believe they truly believe it will have a positive impact on group bonding, as it was suggesting by the seniors. Many of the activities they gave them seem to be pointless and only contribute in putting the students in uncomfortable situations (remember the girl who hyperventilated) or humiliate them (such as the stupid commands given to get the senior signatures). In this episode, they have to chant. It really seems like a waste of time. I know the hazings are just a plot device to make the story goes further and show Kong and Arthit's different reactions and confrontations. However, I wonder if it's truly useful to increases solidarity. This wasn't really popular when I was a student and also it wasn't really something done in my country. I already saw this kind of activities done in American movies. Is it popular in Thailand, too?

▪️ This episode gave an opportunity for three other secondary characters to shine. The first one is M. In the previous episode, he was just this shy freshman who was a “childhood” friend of Kong. He seems to be easily fearful and would like to avoid any kind of attention. When you compare him to Kong, you'll feel he isn't really capable of standing his ground. Yet, in this episode, he gathered his courage and asked for Kong to stay in the group. I was really impressed because I never thought he would be the kind of person to ask this. Especially, as he seems to be quite overwhelmed when he has to go against a senior. Arthit inspires fear in most of the freshmen at this point of the story, so to go against what he said, was truly a feat for M. I believe a true selfless act always sparks another and as Kong usually tries to save everyone, it was pleasant to see someone fights for him. I can understand why they are friends. M may be less effusive, but he is a true friend when it's needed.

▪️ The second character who got the chance to shine in this episode, was Knot, another third-year senior. He is viewed as less strict than Arthit, but he also inspires respect. I'm absolutely not impartial when I said I was charmed by him. His character looks like the kind of person you can rely on. Of course, he wasn't super nice to the freshmen. He asked them about the signature book and why they haven't realized this simple task which made the freshmen uncomfortable again. He was also the one who bought the idea of appointing a student president for their year. I know he didn't do that much, but it was important because it was the first time when Arthit wasn't seen as the leader of the hazings. Something happened and the next best person to take after Arthit, was Knot. I believe it shows how reliable he can be. Oh and also I find him truly handsome. There is something about him. I can't really explain.

▪️ The last character who we get to know more is May. She was the student, Kong failed to remember the name in the previous episode. He gave her his name tag and since then, she felt for him. She finds him interesting and she is set as a potential love interest. It was funny to see the group of girls bringing this Japanese belief of writing the name of your crush on an eraser. You have to know the first time I heard it was when I read the manga My Love Mix-Up (I also watched the drama). I wonder where does it come from? Is it just a young belief or does it come from another book/manga? Of course, May will write the name of Kong on the eraser he gave her. I don't think it will end well.

▪️ Time to talk about my favorite part of the series which is everything related to Arthit and Kong. I'm slowly liking them more and more. Kong was staying true to himself and wanted again to save everyone when Arthit was disappointing by the second-year students teaching. He really has the syndrome of the white knight. Obviously it sparked another confrontation between them. The tension between these two! Arthit can't help himself, he always gets so annoyed by Kong, especially when Kong refuses to just stay still. What I find so interesting is how Kong always forgives him so easily and even thinks Arthit's actions are a proof he is having a fondness for him. It leads of course to more flirting and I live for these small moments. Kong's flirting is top-tier and it always leaves Arthit to be speechless. I feel a bit sorry for Arthit (not really) because he can't win against him. He ended up again flustered. I really appreciate how shameless and bold Kong is when it comes to flirting with his senior.

I don't even know if he realizes how down bad he is for Arthit. I mean he can't help himself and look for him everywhere, especially now that he noticed Arthit's room is just in front of his own room. When Knot acted as the leader of the senior during the gathering, Kong wasn't really listening, he was just looking after Arthit and felt nervous until he saw him. When he went to the photoshoot for the faculty's star contest, he asked questions about Arthit. Kong can't help himself, he is so interested in anything related to his favorite senior and it shows! When he met Arthit at the canteen he was again ready to do all the dumb things the guy may ask him (like eating spicy food even if he doesn't like or saying out loud a prayer even if it's embarrassing). As much as Arthit pretends to be annoyed by Kong, he can't help his true nature of being a real softy. I actually like how the story shows us he is not just a bully who like to harass freshmen. I believe Arthit is not really capable of dealing well with his feelings. I also think it must be hard for him to pretend to always be a tough cookie.

▪️ Finally, I have one intrusive thought… Is Pink Milk a thing? What's the taste of this drink? There is a drink in my country which looks the same, but I don't know if it's the same thing. It's funny how Arthit who always pretend to be a tough guy likes this type of drink. It helps to soften his image. I feel like the Pink Milk has its own place among famous inanimate objects in BL series such as the cactus, the astronaut or the rubber ducky. (This thought was inspired by this post!)

I wonder if the next episode will be about the faculty's star contest and what new stupid hazings' activity the freshmen will have to do. Most importantly, what new flirting will Kong do to Arthit.

[girlypopbops]

The " I'm So Back" - Back to School Saga ⋆˙⟡♡

This past weekend I came back to my dorm since being home for two weeks. It has seriously been the most refreshing week, and the last two days have been nothing short of exhilarating.

With the new school year ahead, I wanted to hit the reset button on all elements of my life ( my self care routine, daily routines, style, music taste, general aesthetic). While back home a few weeks ago, I began exploring more authentic aesthetics based on my current and childhood interests. I also did a music revamp, making new playlists and adjusting old ones to set the vibe for the upcoming year. Having all this done before coming back to my dorm made it easy to jump right into things once getting back.

I started the week back by decorating my dorm. I had the dorm to myself so I played music and took my time arranging things. I love decorating so this was a total blast.

Each evening I gave myself a self care task, one night was shaving legs, the next a face mask, another a teeth strip, ect... This helped me to get not only my space but my body ready for back to school season.

Yesterday was my first day back at work , my goals was to give a great impression while getting to know everyone since there's more people with the fall semester beginning. I also wanted to just kick the year off on a strong note! I had the amazing opportunity to talk to so many new and sweet people! I spent quality time with a few new coworker friends, we did various tasks which helped me to get to know everyone more and ask them some questions. Talking to new people and getting to be social and bubbly is something that really helps my mental health. I feel like my most true self when I get to turn on my social mode. I'm full of enthusiasm, confident, and always being silly. It felt nice to have the people at work see my personality come out since the summer semester was very relaxed I didn't have a chance to fully express myself.

Today I woke up around 4:30am and just chilled in bed until around 6:45. I got ready and played with the kitty & watching the sunrise while listening to some jazz music. Just before 8 I went on a lovely walk to work, today was a particularly exciting day at work since it was move in day on campus. All the freshmen are there with their families excited to move in, it's so sweet to watch. I'm lucky enough to be working with housing so I got to be apart of all the action and did check-ins for 6 hours straight, sounds crazy but I had a blast! I got to meet everyone coming to live on campus and have brief nice conversations with them. I also had some amazing chats with my coworkers in between check ins ( we did laughed a ton and got to know eachother , but it was a great feeling getting to strengthen bonds with coworkers ). My boss was also super supportive today and I met many encouraging and kind people in my department who somehow all knew me already. It felt like I was really becoming apart of the housing team. It's been a while since i've felt like i've been apart of a team like that, back in high school I would do work in technical theater and it satisfied that same sense of community. It feels amazing to reconnect with that feeling again and be socializing so much after having a year of not being so social. I ended the day with a great shower, mcdonald's ( my favorite mcchicken) , play with the kitty, and watching pretty little liars ( my pre - autumn tv show of choice ). Sitting here now snuggling with kitty, a vanilla candle on, all showered and clean, & the lights dim, i'm over the moon grateful for these moments and I know more are to come.

With this being my senior year I knew I wanted to make it a great one, but really seeing the greatness come into fruition before my eyes has been absolutely incredible.

I'm so excited for the rest of the school year, especially for getting my school supplies, new outfits, and getting into the groove things! I'll be sharing my routines and such along the way - I'm so excited to post about it all!!

[trilliath]

Hello Dr. Trill, how are you? I'm just leaving you this ask because I have not been on Tumblr much since January, but I found out today that you joined me down the slippery slope of 911LS and 911 fandom (though I stopped watching the latter a couple of years ago and am only reading fics) and it's just nice to know that we still share the same criteria for finding potential in a ship, it feels nostalgic! :P Would you like fic recs or are you good?

Ciaooooooo tesoro mio! It's been too long.

Oh my gosh yes I'm so deep down this rabbithole now, I'm writing so much garbage fic over it. I love that we're still on that overlapping wavelength - so funny how over more than a literal decade we can still go - yes, this. YES YOU GET IT!

Carlos and TK own my whole heart right now, oh my gosh. I'm obsessed. I'm about ready to make myself a supercut of the show where it's only scenes that are relevant to them lololol but I won't because I still love everyone else so much too like Nancy is my girl and jfc we get GINA TORRES I'm dead. Bur Carlos and TK dear god, I'm so deep in writing fic about them I'm literally forgetting to eat some days. I'm scouring scenes for background details. I'm writing stupid meta over clothing choices reflecting Carlos's emotional state. So ridiculous but honestly so fun.

And the whole Buck/Tommy thing took me OUT man, it's so fucking funny, I know I'm a late join to this fandom but I didn't even know it was coming. I just heard people talking about how they were excited Buck was bi, and I saw a few Buck/Eddie gifsets and genuinely assumed that was the canon ship. More interesting to me was all the talk about how we were missing out if we didn't already know that Hen was a hot badass lesbian firefighter so I was like - shit I'll check that out just for that part actually. So I did, and of course I adore Hen and Chim and Maddie and - ok just everyone - and was casually like, yeahh I see why people ship Buck/Eddie, does not vibe for me but I see it, that's nice they got their canon ship... and then I get to S7 and TOMMY shows back up and meets Buck and I bluescreen for a while because ohhhhhk yes, this is the chemistry for me. Yes.

So yeah, in the end I don't ship Buck/Eddie like... at all really. I feel the way about it that I do about Steve/Bucky which is basically... the way I feel about my childhood best friend who is also queer and who I love profoundly and intimately and not like a sister but also not like a lover y'know?

But I will always take recs my darling! Even when I don't ship it, I love all the characters so much regardless so if it's great I'll read it. And tell me what you love about your favorite characters and fav ships! So nice to hear from you and I hope you're doing well!

[thewiddershinsme]

Re-read some of my favorite Sorcha x Red parts from Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. One of my favorite fictional book couples ever. I loved Daughter of the Forest so much (Sorcha is such a great character I love her), to this day it makes me so disappointed I didn't really enjoy the rest of the series. Spoilers below

I didn't like Son of the Shadows. I disliked Bran, was barely okay with Liadan (the only thing I liked was her "choose the third option" choice in the end which mirrored her dad's which was ironic considering she was supposedly so much like her mother). But all the characters from book 1 were SUCH ASSHOLES AS ADULTS that it kinda formed my opinion that children of the original characters do not make good sequel material (cause the new main characters gotta have their own parent issues and it just sucks to watch your previous favorites become terrible parents). You're telling me Red is gonna treat his daughter like that?!?! Just let her uncle push her into an abusive marriage?!?! No. And Sorcha dies. And I just really couldn't get past the incest tbh which was a major plot point

Child of the Prophecy I liked a bit better only because I like Fainne and Darragh. Childhood friends to lovers is my jam, and him always showing up and calling her Curly made me smile, they are just a sweet couple. And Fainne is a great morally complex character (one of the best parts is someone reminding Fainne she has two grandmothers, cause she is so fixated on being Oonagh's granddaughter you forget she is also Sorcha's. Great, simple comment to illustrate her internal conflict). Too bad their ending sucks. Forever isolation. Maybe Fainne was initially okay with that as an introvert, but I think there's nothing nice about it for Darragh except he's with his true love. And it felt like at the end no one in the Sevenwaters family really cared what happened to her (just like with Niamh). But the twist of her being the child of the prophecy after everyone kept assuming it was Johnny was well-done (especially since it tied into Liadan's unexpected choice from last book)

I barely remember Heir of Sevenwaters except again wasn't too fond of the love interest. And never read Seer of Sevenwaters or Flame of Sevenwaters.

[stormyoceans]

i feel the same way about our dating sim omg everyone loved it it's literally everyone's favorite and i didn't really feel it that much? maybe i just didn't connect with the characters or maybe it wasn't the right time for me to watch it idk same with t8s (please don't kill me), i can acknowledge it's an amazing bl but it hit too close to home for me to enjoy it (and the fandom didn't really help either) so yeah i guess a lot of different and contradictory opinions... tbh bls just don't hit the same lately and i don't even know why :c i wanted to ask what was a bl that wasn't hyped enough or just didn't receive a lot of love that you absolutely adored? is there anything like that?

i actually feel the same about the eighth sense, so don’t worry, anon, you’re safe with me!!! i mean don’t get me wrong, it’s objectively a very good show, that can’t be denied, however i personally don’t find it as exceptional as a lot of people do. i did like our dating sim tbh, but again, i wouldn't say it's one of my all-time favorites: it's a nice show, one that i can see myself rewatching when i need something light and comforting, but it didn't make me go crazy

i think that's actually how i could describe a lot of the BLs that aired in this first half of 2023: nice, but not compelling enough. they all just felt like they were missing something, that something i can't quite describe but that makes me want to sacrifice my whole life and heart and sanity to a show, so these days, when i find myself wondering if i no longer enjoy BLs like i used to, i ask myself: have i lost excitement for the entire genre, or the ones that have been airing in the past months just didn't appeal to my taste (which, admittedly, is very particular)? and every time i do that i always find myself leaning towards this second option. sometimes things just don't resonate with us and that's okay!!!! we may need to be patient, but eventually im sure we'll find a new show that's gonna have us in a chokehold!!! the second half of 2023 already looks way more promising imho!!!

as for your question, not to be insufferable but THAT'S LITERALLY VICE VERSA!!!!!! the show is criminally underrated and most people don't really care about it, meanwhile im sitting here almost nine months later still unable to move on and about to get involuntarily committed any time i just as much think about it. the other one that immediately comes to mind is enchanté. i know it's not a perfect show and that it has its flaws, however i've always been surprised about its lack of popularity, especially since it's one of the best childhood friends to lovers stories i've ever seen and there are a lot of moments that have me giggling twirling my hair kicking my feet every time i rewatch them. i guess i could also add triage to this list, which is one of my absolute favorite BLs but i feel like a lot of people don't really know about it or looked it up only for the tanbunn cameo (which, understandable, but also it's such a fantastic show!!!! TIME LOOPS!!!!! MYSTERY!!!!! HOSPITAL SETTING!!!!! TIME LOOPS!!!!!!!)

i can't really think of any other show that didn't get a lot of love but that i like a lot right now, but im sure there are more ;;;;;;;

[tentacle-reviews]

HeartCatch Prettycure

this is like THE magical girl anime ever.

I think it's the best precure season(that I watched) it got me into the whole franchise after Futari Wa failed to get me super into it. I watched it twice so far which says a lot for me. it's just a very enjoyable watch, it's mostly wholesome but it gets a good amount dark when it needs to.

first of all the style is sharp and expressive and it's just a treat, the girls do look a bit like bugs but that's their charm!

An now the intro, can you imagine being a little kid excited to watch cute girls in skirts kick ass and then the hardest intro to ever intro comes on

also Tsubomi is my beloveddddd still my favorite leader ever, I liked how she was shy and introverted when most precure protegonists are super energetic and outgoing, she felt fresh, also she's so cutes especially with her glasses I'm so sad they got ride of her glasses so fast (also grandma :) I love grandma)

I like Erika but she was a bit overshadowed for me, she was a good addition and opposite partner to Tsubomi but the other characters were just too peak

this season also had my favorite monsters of the week/side characters. I love when the monsters are corrupted people I love when they get understanding and love to be defeated and saved.

my favorite episode was Nanami's introduction(episode 14 I think?) it was so tragic, her design was incredible her character and personality was on point to tell the story they did, and at the end instead of being forgotten by the series as soon as her episode ended, her becoming a part of the fashion club and being helped with some stuff by her friends was the most realistic good ending they could have given her and it was niceeee I'm glad she has a support group. I was just happy whenever I saw her hanging out with her friends

AND KENJI he should have been a cure, he deserved it, my boy my everything. I love gentle giant characters and I think it was nice how passionate he was, he and the girls being friends was wholesome, he's so cute.

and my favorite character of the season due to heavy bias Itsuki. she could not have been more transgender if she didn't turn to the camera and said "I'm a trans girl" she's just, augjefbksrebsgbk she's my everything my daughter my love if anything bad happened to Itsuki I'd kill everyone in this room then myself

there is a theme of girlhood/childhood in the show I like, with the fashion club as the methaphorical dream childhood and how Nanami, Itsuki and Yuri all lost their childhood to responsibility and were given a chance to just be happy and be creative and hangout with their friends in the club after denying themselves childish/girlie/happpy things because of their responsibilities. idk it kinda resonates with me I'm sure it meant a lot to kids that felt like that when it came out, this is peak healing your inner child show.

gahh I just love this show so much literally 10/10 the peak

if it looks at all like something you might like give it a go

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Newsflash: Dazai cares for Chuuya

Before reading any further, I will be talking about stormbringer, so spoilers ahead!! Translation credits go out to: @popopretty on tumblr, make sure to give this kind human some love and appreciation<3

Also if you want to read the first few chapters of stormbringer: @buraihatranslations is currently translating it, give them much love and appreciation as well, they deserve it!!

Honestly, I have been so obsessed with Soukoku lately and I think the reason behind this is because when it comes to Soukoku, their feelings for each other are not as easy to grasp as love or hate, it is much more profound than that. There is care, hurt, trust, resentment, companionship, bitterness, and consideration...And ironically enough, thats just the tip of the iceberg.

If we break down their individual feelings towards each other, it will be easier to understand their bond.

On Chuuya's end, his feelings are much more clear due to his expressive personality. He wears his emotions on his sleeves, he can try and hide what he feels towards Dazai but his true feelings tend to unravel easily.

He sometimes tries to mask his feelings towards Dazai by throwing insults, but his facial expressions are enough to contradict what he is saying.

Chuuya's feelings towards Dazai can be easier to comprehend. He obviously feels this certain betrayal due to the fact Dazai left the Port Mafia. Not to mention, he and Dazai have always had a rivalry relationship.

In the Soukoku wiki page, it is stated that Chuuya is aware of Dazai not experiencing a proper childhood, therefore allows him to act as childish as he can and lets him tease him relentlessly. I don't know how reliable this source is, but either way I think its worthy enough to add.

In the Dragon head conflict when Dazai was out of sight, Chuuya told Mori to forget about Dazai. That was until Hirotsu mentioned a microscope, Chuuya quickly realizes it was code language because he remembered a previous conversation where Dazai says he needs a microscope to be able to see Chuuya properly.

The moment he figured out it was a tracker, Chuuya did not hesitate to jump in and rescue Dazai. But here is the catch: No one but Chuuya knew about the microscope, if Chuuya really didn't care for Dazai he wouldn't have mentioned the microscope and kept all this under wraps, leaving Dazai in a mess.

Chuuya trusts Dazai with his life. He never hesitates to leave his life on Dazai's hands when it has to come to it. Chuuya and Dazai have known each other for years, for Chuuya to be able to trust Dazai that much is because Dazai also cares for him too, right?

The answer here is yes, Dazai cares for Chuuya. In a superficial level, it doesn't seem like Dazai truly cares, but I can assure you that he does care for him. Weather you like to think of his care in a platonic or romantic manner, the care Dazai has for Chuuya is undeniable and extremely significant for Dazai's character.

I think that stormbringer establishes this idea even further. There is one specific moment in this light novel that shows his genuine concern towards Chuuya's well being:

"There is one problem." Dazai cut off his sentence hesitantly. "It has nothing to do with the sucess rate of the plan. It is a matter we have to overcome in the end but... It may require some time to decide."

"What's with you?" Chuuya raised his eyebrows at Dazai. "Stop dramatizing it. Just hurry up and say it."

"I said earlier about this control spell to open the 'gate' that is used to reset the command inside Chuuya, right?" Dazai spoke with a strangely restrained voice. "If we use that, the logs of the command formula that were written in the past will be erased. That means...even if the memory erasure was used on Chuuya in the past, the traces of that will be erased as well."

"What?"

"I told you before right, the memory erasure command. The only way we can confirm if Chuuya is human or not is to check the history to see if the memory erasure command was ever used. It means..." Dazai looked at Chuuya with eyes that he had never looked at him before. Those eyes were serious. "If we use that control spell, the method to confirm if Chuuya is an artificial personality created by a string of code, or just a normal human being, will be lost. For good."

The time had stopped.

Chuuya opened his eyes and looked towards Dazai but his eyes were not seeing anything. The wind blew between the two of them. Even so, Chuuya did not blink.

"Verlaine became like that because he was tormented by the curse that he was not human. That only is enough of a big problem. The matter of being human or not." Dazai looked at his pocket watch, gave it a glance and continued. "I can delay the time until the plan starts for about two minutes. I will send an order for my men to wait... You can think about it alone for a while. Cuz I guess its hard for you to collect your thoughts with me around."

Having said so, Dazai turned away and walked down the stairs, leaving Chuuya alone.

Dazai fixated in his pocket watch. Two more minutes. Too short for a life decision. But he couldn't afford more than that.

Inside Dazai's head, he was planning a procedure to swith to an alternative plan in case Chuuya refused, at a tremendous speed.

This section in stormbringer is personally one of my favorites, this is a very rare moment between both of them, but especially for Dazai. Like I stated earlier Chuuya wears his emotions on his sleeves, therefore even if he tries to mask his care with insults, its still painfully noticable that he genuienly looks after Dazai. Chuuya also sometimes show a vulnerable side of himself to Dazai, especially after using corruption.

Dazai on the other hand is extremely unreadable. Its hard to understand his true intentions and if he really cares for people or only sees them as a pawn. In this moment though, Dazai was being painfully genuine. Dazai literally prioritized Chuuya over the mission. He was already thinking of coming up with an alternative plan just in case Chuuya refused, obviously the sucess rate of the alternative plan would be lesser than the actual plan Dazai had in mind, he choose Chuuya's wellbeing over a mission.

In this section, Dazai wasn't throwing jokes or witty remarks, he was being serious. Because Dazai knows how desperately Chuuya wants to be human. He knows how important being human is to Chuuya.

Dazai wasn't manipulating Chuuya by giving him the chance to decide, we can see that Dazai was literally showing a lot of hesitation when mentioning this to him, we also get to see what Dazai was thinking, and we can tell he wasn't thinking about manipulative his movements in any way. All of this wasn't coming out of manipulation, it was coming out of pure care.

After six steps, Dazai reached the stair. He stepped on the stair and started walking down. Three steps down the stair, he heard a *clang*, a cool sound of metal echoing behind him. It sounded like the metal was kicked by the sole of someones shoes. The moment Dazai realized what the sound was, Dazai turned around in surprise.

There was already no one at the top.

Dazai was dazed for a moment, then he loosened his lips and laughed.

"Trying to act cool, huh?" Dazai smiled, both annoyed and relieved. Then he turned on his radio and sent out his order. "Chuuya has sallied, everyone get ready for battle."

I personally love this part so much, relief washed over Dazai the moment he noticed that Chuuya was going to go through with the first plan, which proves my point that he wasn't manipulating him and how Dazai was under a lot of stress because he wasn't sure if the alternative plan would be as effective as his original one.

Yet he still was willing to go through the alternative plan if Chuuya refused, because Dazai values him and regards his wellbeing.

Dazai was being surprisingly gentle in this section, he was being honest. There was no ulterior motive behind his actions here, just a boy looking after his partner.

"So i'm going to send an order to my men to prepare for action... Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay." Chuuya turned to Dazai. "Why are you asking me such a thing?"

Dazai didn't answer right away.

That was an unusual expression. It's like he was trying to say something, but he had to arrange the words in his head to decide where he should start. An expression he rarely shows.

This was right before Dazai drops the bomb to Chuuya about the memory erasure command. He was even asking for Chuuya's opinion on sending his men to get ready, this was the first time Dazai ever showed actual concern without masking it with witty remarks. You can tell that Chuuya isn't used to this.

And when you think about it, when Dazai and Chuuya have missions together, Dazai always uses corruption as a last resort and he always allows Chuuya to make the decision if they will be using it or not.

I personally belive that the main reason Chuuya trusts Dazai with using corruption is because The Sheep used to exploit his powers too much, but Dazai leaves the decision to use corruption up to Chuuya. Dazai understands the physical and mental toll corruption takes on Chuuya and therefore leaves the choice up to him.

Theres another section in stormbringer that I really enjoy, it doesn't necessairly show solicitude but I still think this should still be taken into consideration:

"You seem pretty confident that Chuuya is human, don't you?"

"I am," Dazai laughed with a sigh. "There is no way a man-made code could create such a personality that I detest so much."

Throughout the whole story, Dazai is more than determined that Chuuya is human. The main reason Dazai finds Chuuya so intresting is because of how frighteningly human Chuuya can be, because of the fact that he always wears his emotions on his sleeves, something Dazai rarely does himself. Thats personally a nice sentiment from Dazai's end, even when Chuuya struggles completely when it comes to believing in his own humanity, Dazai still can't help but see him as a human being.

Also I am aware that Dazai literally said he detests Chuuya here but he also sighed and laughed while stating this, showing us that he isn't being serious about hating him.

And its not only in stormbringer were he shows his concern towards Chuuya. In fact, in this following manga pannel Dazai is telling Chuuya that if he is willing to listen him, he will stage his own escape so that Chuuya doesn't get punnished.

Honestly, if Dazai didn't care enough for Chuuya, he wouldn't have mentioned this to him. Chuuya didn't care enough to realize that he literally unwillingly freed Dazai which would get the pm mad at him, so the fact that Dazai is literally helping him out is no doubt out of care for him. If Dazai didn't have any regard for Chuuya he would've not staged his escape or mentioned anything to Chuuya, eventually incriminating him.

There are many misconceptions when it comes to Dazai's feelings towards Chuuya, people think that he doesn't care for him due to the fact that he left the Port Mafia, leaving Chuuya behind. But heres the thing: Dazai's intentions had nothing to do with Chuuya. He left the organization for his own good, he left it to fullfill Oda's wish.

"If Dazai cared for Chuuya then why didn't he take Chuuya with him?" the reason is simple, he knows how much the PM means to Chuuya. In stormbringer it is shown that Chuuya feels as if his humanity is attached to the people he is loyal to, in this case its the port mafia. Verlaine wanted to get rid of the pm because he believed that the pm is what kept Chuuya's humanity, eventually making Chuuya believe that he is only human if he stays loyal to the pm. Dazai knows this. Thats exactly why he didn't take Chuuya with him or even explains to Chuuya why he left, he knows it would be selfish to basically rip Chuuya's sense of humanity apart.

I have a feeling that if Dazai told Chuuya about the real reason he left the Port Mafia, Chuuya will not only feel conflicted about being in the pm, but he would also have an inner conflict with himself as a human.

People also think Dazai may not really care for him because of the fact that after the fight against Lovecraft he actualy deserted him, maybe that part was truly just supposed to be seen as simple humor, but either way I want to talk about it. Chuuya's only request to Dazai was to take him back to base safe, so why did Dazai leave Chuuya behind?

I mean he has carried Chuuya back to saftey before with no problem, for example in stormbringer when Chuuya uses corruption for the first time Dazai carries him back to the billiards bar and not to the mafia’s base so that he could say goodbye to his passing friends.

The reson behind this is because Mori needs to know that unlike Dazai, Chuuya is absolutely loyal to him. Leaving Chuuya the way he did will make Mori believe that these two really are at each others throats and that Dazai is insignificant to Chuuya. Making it seem that for Chuuya, the mafia comes first before anything else.

Therefore Dazai established Chuuya's saftey within the mafia since not only does Mori want these two to be hostile with each other, he doesn't want Chuuya to eventually turn against him if he truly found out more about Dazai's true reason of departure. Then again, this isn't canon but it is a logical assumption.

Not to mention that although Dazai did leave him behind, he folded Chuuya's coat and hat before taking his leave. There is also an an extra chapter where Ozaki Kouyou was talking with Chuuya but when he left he forgot his coat, which made Kouyou came across the coat; where she noticed a badge sewed inside saying "Name: Hatrack", she smiled fondly thinking to herself that some things just never change, in this case, Dazai and Chuuya's bond.

Dazai literally took his time to sew this into his coat just to tease him, it was a simple gesture but it shows us how their dynamic will never change. No matter what these two go through, they will always share a bond that consists on teasing, trust and underlying care.

All of this actually makes that theory of Dazai planting a bomb under Chuuya's car for the sole reason that the PM doesn't find Chuuya as an acomplice who aided Dazai on his escape much more feasable.

For Dazai to just plant a bomb under Chuuya's car with no motive makes no sense because if Dazai's true intentions were to simply mess with Chuuya, he would've most likely made it clear at that time. Dazai always has an underlying motive behind his actions, and in this case it is very likely that he did that for Chuuya's sake.

Don't get me wrong, I am aware that the bomb incident could've just been a comedic moment and I shouldn't look too much into it, but there is still a posibility, right?

These two hold so much trust and care for one another, yet they also hold a lot of bitterness and resentment. In the end the good aspects of their dynamic outweighs the bad.

Either you see these two in a platonic or romantic way, you can't tell me that their bond isn't significant.

Thank you so much for reading!! I wanted to talk about this for a while because I feel like people misinterpret Dazai's feelings towards Chuuya a lot so I hope this clears up things a bit<3

[dunnswrld]

Johnny falling for bams sister ,keeping their relationship a secret and when it comes to the light bam is PISSED pls and thank youuu

Johnny Dating Bam's Little Sister Head Cannons!

a/n: I thought this idea would be cute as HCs so yeah!

prompt: Read request above :)

warnings: Fem!reader, nothing else I don't think?

You and Johnny had a secret relationship going on for a bit, ever since the last season of Jackass aired.

Johnny and you met during the tv show Jackass when they were shooting their famous slip and slide shoots

That was your first time meeting everyone and you had the most fun ever

When Johnny first saw you he swear he went weak in the knees, sure Bam had shown him probably hundreds of photos of you but nothing could compare to how breath taking you were in person

Lucky for Johnny you instantly clicked with him, the both of you going down the large slide together laughing each time you both went down

Johnny's hands tightly wrapped around your waist as your hands sat on top of his

When Bam finally saw this sight he was not happy

"Hey Knoxville not to be an ass or anything but watch where and how your touching my sister. Yeah?"

Which made you get mad at Bam for being a cock-block but instead of flat out saying that you of course just mad the argument that you were your own person

Ryan probably was the one that would calm things down and tell Bam he was getting worked up over a quote, "Dumbass fucking slip and slide."

But when Johnny asked for your number and a possible date after shooting you knew it wasn't a dumbass fucking slip and slide.

You two went out on your secret date and enjoyed it, like a lot

So much so you went on a second one the next day!

After another week or two you sadly had to return back home to West Chester with Bam and Ryan :(

But thankfully Johnny was the first to volunteer to be the one to drive you all to the airport

While hugging you goodbye outside of the airport Johnny whispered into your ear

"Gonna miss ya sweetheart, call me everyday alright?"

You looked behind you while pulling away from the hug and when you saw your brother and his friend were already in the airport you quickly smashed your lips into Johnny's

"I'll call you every time I can Knox. Don't go around kissing other girls while i'm not in LA."

It was unspoken that ever since that kiss you two were dating.

But the soul reason your relationship was a secret was because of your brother, Bam.

You knew very well that if your relationship with Johnny came into light Bam would be the first one to have something to say

It was hard to try and see each other frequently and keep things undercover still

"Hey Yn have you seen my sweatshirt that says- Knoxville? What the hell are you doing here? And why the hell are you in my sisters room?"

"Uh- I came to surprise you! MTV wanted me to- um- shoot some things with you for your show! Viva La Bam!"

"Why didn't they tell or ask me this? It's my show."

"Surprise?"

Johnny was 1000% there to see you and only you.

But thankfully your brother was too blind to see that

While Johnny visited you you got to see how he interacted with the people you loved the most back in West Chester

He was always such a sweetheart to your mom, April, and your mom loved Johnny. She thought he was the sweetest man on planet earth

"Johnny's a nice boy Yn."

Phil or your dad felt the same way about Johnny, he thought he was a great guy

While Johnny was in West Chester I feel like the two of you would sneak off and go on dates

You would take him to your favorite restaurant and show him around West Chester since no one really gave him a tour

Johnny would love seeing how happy you got when telling stories about memories of your childhood with Bam

"Oh and there Bam and I got kicked out cause we- are you even listening to me?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry sweetheart. Ya just look real pretty right now."

When you two would return home Ryan would see you two stepping out of your car together

You two didn't see him since he was smoking a cigarette behind a bush, thinking the coast was clear you two shared a kiss as Johnny leaned up against the door of your car

Ryan practically choked on the smoke of his cigarette as he saw your lips touch

Ryan would come out from behind the bush with a shell shocked expression

"No way. No fucking way."

"Ryan?!"

Johnny started laughing, not knowing how to take in the situation at hand while you began to beg you and your brothers best friend not to tell

"Yn, Knoxville, I love you guys but no way in hell I'm not telling Bam this right now!"

Ryan wouldn't tell Bam to be mean though, he thought it was funny

Ryan sprinted into the house as you and Johnny followed up closely running just as quickly

When Ryan bursted through the door he was met with everyone, for once, sitting in the living room peacefully watching some random show

"Yn and- *gasp* Knoxville were- *gasp* kissing!"

"He's lying! I did not!" - you very out of breath

Bam was the first one out of his seat, an expression you couldn't read on his face

When Ryan kept swearing on everything he owned that you two kissed you understood there was no chance your brother was going to believe you

Bam defiantly had a choice of words for you and Johnny (more so Johnny)

"Why are you kissing my sister you jackass?!"

"God the shit your going to deal with the rest of the time your here Knoxville!"

"I swear to god if you two are dating-"

When you told your brother that you two were in fact dating and had been since the Jackass tv show you swore you could see the steam from his ears

Bam most likely lashed out, saying how it wasn't ok he didn't know one of his best friends and sister were dating

But when you snapped back that this was exactly the reason you didn't tell him all the anger left his body

Bam wasn't mad anymore, he didn't know why he got so mad in the first place. He just really cares about you :(

He knew Johnny was a good guy, probably the best choice for you to date out of the rest of the guys

Bam would then apologize for lashing out like that, and you and Johnny would forgive him

April and Phil watched from the couch, a large smile on both their faces now

Ryan even apologized for snitching, and you and Johnny again forgave someone else

But just because Bam accepted it now doesn't mean he didn't have a few words for Johnny..

"But so god help you Knoxville if you even dare make her cry once I will make your life a living hell."

"Ok Bam that's enough." - You

[wintervalewriter]

meanie - jasper hale

could you do headcanons with Jasper reacting to reader who's like Jade West from Victorious?? like they share the same personality and act very very alike?if you can could you do FTM reader? if you can't just do gender neutral!! thanks and have a great day/night <3

hii! it has been a while since watching victorious, but jade is my favorite! i hope i did her justice and i hope you like it! i also don't have too much experience with writing in they/them pronouns or writing for a transgender character, so if there is anything wrong in the headcanons, please correct me <3

word count: 564 warnings: //

at school you were known as the bully

every school had one, but you were known even outside of Forks

your sarcastic and mean behaviour attracted certain crowds and drove away the others

you had a small group with people that you would actually be nice to, but even then you would still have your moments

but everyone in the group did

people were afraid of you and most didn't even dare to look your way

they would even say that you looked scary, not only with your expressions and body language but also your clothes

even your interests were on the weirder side, as you like a lot of dark things like horror movies

you could get everything you wanted, people fear you, which means that you could get things like homework done for you

when you get paired up with Jasper, he notices the difference between you and the rest of the Forks high school

people would drool over him and his family, trying to gain the attention of the Cullens

but not you

for some reason, that attracts him to you

"What do you mean Y/N is going to come over? They're crazy!"

Jasper had invited you to his house, which you had to agree on

you didn't pay any attention in history class and considering you have to do the project with him, you have no other choice than to get into his car to visit his house

the family weren't particularly scared of you

more fascinated than scared

you were one of the only people at the school who didn't look like they were trying to get the Cullens' attention every day

Jasper wanted to find out why you were like this

mean? sarcastic?

you had your favorites

but you would never tell

to be quite honest, your blonde classmate annoyed you at first

you never understood why people from your class were drooling over him, wanting to be his friend or date him

but, after spending some days at his house for the project (and even outside of it) you see him as a friend

Jasper notices your softer side coming out, but never comments on it and he just lets it happen

to be honest, at this point you could not do or say anything that he would consider rude

he knows you now

he knows you so well, that you decided to tell him about yourself more and more as time goes on

your childhood, your old friends, family, and the fact that you were transitioning

in some way, Jasper felt like he understood

he would listen to you talk about the way how you show yourself to the world

and he supports you in every choice

people are confused when they see you and Jasper being all friendly

"They are hanging out with Jasper now? They are literally the least interested in the popular ones. How did they even get there?"

Jasper and you hear a lot of talks, but to be honest, it is a joke to you

when you are a little too mean or said something a little too hurtful to someone, Jasper would try to tell you to think about what you said

but in return, when someone says even anything remotely mean about Jasper or the Cullens, they will face you

an odd duo, but definitely a great one

[monstas1ut2]

2/3 Eren Yeager (Smut Warning!)

(๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

That's why I fucked yo' bitch, you fat motherfucka!

The screenshot sound was pretty loud as your back went up and down like a roach sprayed with raid. The male on the other side of the phone laughing his ass off. Well, he wasn't the only one.. but he's the one who took the screenshot.

"Delete that shit, don't put it on Instagram Connie!" Your pretty face was immediately in the camera's view. Your eyes a little wide at the fact that you were caught off guard. But at the same time, you let yourself go in front of the group. That's your wrong doing. But it made them smile nonetheless.

The people who were on the call at the moment were Connie, Jean, and Sasha. The rest were either too bothered to be in such a crackhead group, or they were busy.. probably the first one. Anyways, everyone in first period happened to be your friend, they were all different but they adored you nonetheless... even Annie... she just hides hers pretty well. Anyways, It's almost the end of senior year already and the bond is hard to break..

"That's my favorite song, you can't be catchin a hoe off guard.." you scolded the bald male who still happened to be laughing. His controller in his hand since he was playing nba2k. Jean was also playing but at the moment he was trying to figure out what you were doing.. and he's mad he didn't see..

"What did she do now?!"

"She was throwing her back out of place!" Sasha muffled out as she was stuffing her cheeks with a Hershey chocolate bar. She was also watching Hell's Kitchen on her tv, you could hear it.

"Daddy Jean aint need to hear all that.." you playfully spoke as you bit your lip at him. It was obvious he liked you, not to the point where he wanted a relationship though.. he's just a bit of a man whore.

Though everytime you mumble a 'Daddy Jean' , he's all for it. That's yo bitch.

After a bit of a pause of talking, Connie had picked up his phone and you were now cleaning the table that was in your room. The last time you were in this room, you didn't even have time to clean... Your father was screaming for you to hurry.

Let's explain, this weekend, you are visiting Hange, your mother . She missed you so she invited you to stay for a few days. Today is Friday so you have the whole weekend with her. She had planned Saturday and Sunday. Not to mention, Monday is a holiday so no school. 

"Hey guys... uh Armin and Eren having a party.. y'all comin?"

All while Sasha said yes, along with Jean.. you were still jamming to 2-pac spitting his shit. Your hand movements not going unseen by the three on your phone. So in result of not having a response from you, Connie screamed oh so suddenly which caused you to jump pretty high.

"What the Fuck is yo problem!? You bein held by gunpoint nigga?" Your voice showing 1% concern as you moved closer to the phone on your dresser and you stared into it.. quite surprised still.

"(Y/n)... you makin my hair fall out..." Connie spoke as he gave a sarcastic smile and... wow it was hard for everyone to suppress their laughter... your face would turn purple instead of red though..

"Ight~... watchu want?..."

"Eren-"

"Oooh, Eren.." you spoke in interest, your long eyelashes fluttering. This however made Jean and Connie 'throw up' at the same time. All while you rolled your (e/c) eyes.

"Yall do too much-.. and Jean, stay in yo game ight?.. befo I come through the screen and punch-"

"Eren havin a party.. are you going..?"

Tilting your head in slight disbelief that Connie interrupted you. Your eyes rolled as you looked to the side. Obviously leading them on, but at the same time they knew that Hange will let you go...

"Fine. But somebody pickin me up.. and Sasha cuz boo-boo can't drive worth a dime.."

(๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

As much as you hated it, you sat uncomfortably in the dodge... Ugh... It's just something about you and dodge's. The cars radiate fuck boy energy, and guess who happened to be driving this car? Jean..

Though he let you sit in the passenger seat just because. Your eyes staring out the window as you messed with the stockings you had on. They were in a bit of a web, that was the design. You also had on a plaid skirt and this crop top with some white platforms. Oh you looked scrumptious.

The person who put this outfit together in the first place was Hange.

"Baby Jean, you need a new car... cuz-"

"It radiates Fuck boy energy.. you said it the first time you ever saw it... I know.." Jean pouted as he continued to drive to Eren's house. Who was shared with Armin. The two always lived together, some speculated that they were... sparkle sparkle.. gay.. but they aren't.. not that you would've minded.. it just would've been a bummer.

"(Y/n)... Didn't Your father take your car away...?"

Glaring back at Connie, who was wearing a white shirt with black pants and some timbs. You rolled your eyes and looked through your window again.

"Yeah but my car is a Mitsubishi.."

The neighborhood around these parts were quite pretty. Just like where you lived with your dad. But at the same time you were confused as to how Eren and Armin could afford such a place. The first thing popping in your mind being. Drug dealer and then you thought about what Sukihana said about dating them...

That's probably why Levi didn't want you around him... Yeah.. This whole senior year has been Levi making sure Eren doesn't sit beside you... nor have a project with you... It's like he barely existed at first. Though you always had these ways to talk to him. He's not even that bad.. he's quite the hottie and he knows what to say... he's just a flirt, and you edge him on every time...

"(Y/n)! Can you come with me to find the food?"

Snapping out of those thoughts of Eren, you didn't even realize Jean had already parked. A small 'mhm' coming from your throat as you opened the car door. Everyone else doing the same. Lord it was a bunch of people out here. People were outside and inside which was baffling honestly.

A soft hand touched your wrist and started to drag you towards the house door. It was Sasha, her mouth almost watering for something to eat. She told Eren to make sure there was extra cheese in the fridge for her. Hidden... and lo and behold when you both shimmied through the crowd, the cheese was in the fridge. Her eyes beaming as she grabbed some chips as started eating like it was her last meal, nothing out of the ordinary.

"This music actually hits..." you spoke out to nobody in particular as your hips started to move ever so gently. Though as nice as your body was, it looked more seductive than anything. Popping one of those chips into your mouth as your hips continued to wine ever so gently.

The looks you were getting, not only lustful but want... The way your long dreads just complimented your look had only made it worse. The second you decide to stop, it seemed like everyone stopped looking at you. In slight despair that you'd stopped. Though one individual in particular was continuing to stare...

His hand, wrapped around the cup as he'd sipped at the liquid inside. The black ring on his middle finger caused his hand to look hotter than it already was. He had these prominent veins that would just look so pretty on your brown skin...

"She likes you too..." the blonde that was a tad bit shorter spoke to his childhood friend, Eren.

"What makes you say that..." lord, somehow over all this music, and his low tone... you could still feel the vibration of Eren's voice. Just glancing from the kitchen as Eren was sitting on the couch in the living room. Leaning back like he owned the place... well he did.

Fine ass..

Giving him a bit of a stare, your glossy lips curved into a smirk as you glanced at him up and down. All before turning your attention back to your friend who was having the time of her life eating...

"So Sash.. what's up with you and Connie...? Yall gon date.. or-"

"(Y/n)!"

"My bad.. my bad.. I just wanted to know"

The party was a bit lively, more than anything since this is a longer weekend. So everyone was happy.. including you because they were playing your favs. So of course your body started to move again. That skirt of yours being a paid actress in helping you look more hot. Though, what you did not expect was someone coming up behind you...

Now that's nasty..

You whipped your head around about to give them an earful... though... you saw that smexy... face and you looked kinda shocked...

"Oh..." you choked out before turning your head again.. Eren's evil little smirk had caught you off guard. It boosted his confidence even more that you didn't feel the need to even move away from him. His hands slithering onto your full hips.

Man, he was really risking everything this time... considering your father is.. Levi...

This however was thrown out of the window because of the fact that you could feel Eren's... crotch against that thick form of yours. That little smirk on your face only widening as you started to gently rub against him, your back bending over somewhat.

His long brown hair then started to ever so gently fall in front of his face as his greenish eyes stared hard into your body. That harsh little grip on your waist made you feel all different types of high. Gawd.

"You like that huh...? I know.." your cute, but seductive voice made Eren chuckle just a tad. It causing you to almost choke on those words.. This man didn't need to TRY to be hot... he was already smexy.

His hands then started to travel up your body to your arms and he gently pulled you up towards him, your back against his scrumptious chest. All you could do was open your mouth a bit, quite surprised that he wanted to be this close with you.

"Eren... You a lil close... you needa tell me sum?"

The way you spoke, the way you carried yourself... it was new to Eren when he first met you.. but he got used to it real quick and he noticed he wanted something he never knew existed.. and that was you.

"Can't tell you here... but I can tell you in the bedroom..." Eren purred out, his voice smooth as a babies skin, smooth as butter. It caused you to tingle, the female between your legs wanting that more than anything.

Biting your glossy lips, the room started to become hotter than it already was. The people who were in the house started to pile out of the main and started to go outside. It was quite cold outside as well, but the party continues.

"Where the hell is (Y/n)..." Jean spoke to himself as he watched Connie and Sasha become drunks in two seconds. It was obvious he himself could not drink since he is the driving parent tonight.. but he now had nothing to do... he's just wondering where... you are..

(๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

"S-..Shit Eren~..."

The (f/c) nails you had were now digging into Eren's muscular arms as his lips caressed your neck. The seductive kisses making dark marks on your brown, beautiful skin.

Your head being thrown back onto the soft black pillow as your pretty toes curled. Feeling Eren's slender fingers inside of your pussy. His intimidating green eyes watching your every expression, every move. Seeing that your crop top was already rolled up over your pretty chocolate mound breasts that were covered with your bra.

"E-Eren, s-stahp..." choking that out, you could hear the loud rip of your stockings when Eren moved his hand out of them. The wetness of your brown pussy lips being known pretty well when Eren's fingers slid your panties to the side.

"You don't want me to stop... huh...?"

"N-No.."

The electricity shocked through you when you watched Eren stare down into your eyes. Lust and want, all in them as his key necklace dangled in front of your face ever so gently.

His shirt immediately being discarded as he watched your pussy pulse from his fingers being pulled away from it. It was amazing to him how much you wanted him.. it was amazing... it ran something through him...

All you could see was his muscular frame, his hands to match as he easily tore through your bra. Watching the way your breasts fumbled out of the cups. He never seen a black woman's breasts before.. but it couldn't get any better than this though.. is what he thought.

"Daddy~... don't stare at em..." you pouted playfully before licking your glossy lips. Just running your fingers up Eren's arms as you eventually made your way up to his luscious hair. Running your fingers through the locks. Pulling him down ever so gently to finally get that kiss you wanted.

Eren's eyes glowed when he felt your soft lips, the lip gloss giving him this taste of lovely. His lips tasted of some sugar, kinda made you wonder what was in his cup before this.

The wetness of Eren's tongue touching yours as the both of you withered in this naughty, sloppy kiss. Something you both weren't supposed to do.... It was fun, crazy... scary..

"You act all bad outside of the bedroom huh... but you ain't ever have someone touch you..." Eren teased gently, in a whisper against your lips. His hand gripping your chin as he stared at your innocent looking face. Gently spitting all nastily into your mouth and you moaned out seductively. Swallowing it so easily..

"Show daddy you'll be able to take it..."

Eren's cock was so hard in his pants, it being unzipped by him and his underwear was now restricting his release. His eyes staring at your pretty pussy, the wet, pink insides were bright and untouched. Though his pale cock was eager to invade it.

"I-.. I can take it daddy..." your whimpers echoed In Eren's ears as he pushed his underwear down. Your knees being pushed to your chest as you felt Eren's stare. The plaid skirt you had was still on, so you tried to cover your pretty pussy with it.

"Stop... don't hide now.." Eren scoffed out as he gripped under your thighs, the underside of his cock rubbing up and down your wet and gooey pussy.

"Hold your legs... don't move.."

It was so demanding, your pussy clenching already as the wetness dripped down to your other hole. Your pretty, long nails visible to Eren as you held your legs as tightly as you could. Knowing Eren's cock was a monster. You could see it... right between your legs.. right between your brown pussy lips.. the contrast was unbelievable..

"F-Fuck!! Eren~~ ow~" the way your painted toes curled gave Eren a shiver of excitement. Your back arching ever so slightly as your virgin hole was taken away from you. Squeezing tightly around Eren's experienced cock.

"Shh.. it's Ight.. take it babydoll.." Eren's whisper was gentle and sincere as his thumb started to gently rub at your clit. Causing you to swallow your spit, though it spilled out. What also spilled out is your loud whimper. Your legs staying wide open for him as your hand slowly slid up his muscular structure.

"It's .. i-it's so big..."

Hearing these whimpers and words spill from your throat, Eren couldn't help but take his hand and wrap it around your throat. Causing your breath to be taken away oh so suddenly when Eren snapped his hips forward even more.

"Fuck!" Your moan could probably be heard outside as your breasts bounced from the impact. Eren's smirk wide as he felt the tightness of your insides. His necklace going back and forth ever so gently as his pelvis started to clap against you. The feeling was so foreign to you, having someone ram into you like this. But it was Eren... it wasn't just 'someone'..

Your (f/s) scent was powering against Eren's own scent. The feeling of Eren's cock was starting to really take a toll on you..

"A-Ahgh..."

Eren's cock was being enclosed so tightly, you just wet up his Dick so well.. he was starting to become obsessed.. more than he already was.

"Daddy's. little. pussy..." his deep voice echoed in your ears as he started to get a bit faster. Your breasts bouncing even more as Eren made sure that skirt was moved out the way. He wanted to make sure to see everything. His hand squeezing harder at your throat. It was keeping you firm against the bed, like a little fuck doll...

"I-it's your pussy Eren~"

Curling those pretty toes again, you could feel the bubbles in your lower region. The craziest orgasm you've ever experienced... just tip toeing to the tippy top. All you could muster was a pathetic whine. Your eyes watering up behind your long eyelashes.

"I'm-.. I'm cumming..." Your voice was so weak, it sounded like you were passing out almost. Just rolling your eyes back as the bed frame started to hit the wall. Your pussy gushing more than usual as the white cum started to coat Eren's cock a little.

"Shit... yeah~..." Eren growled under his breath, watching you come undone on his pale cock. Your thicker form was just so adorable, looking all bent up. Your locs scattered around ever so softly.

It was like he was fucking a goddess...

Eren was between harsh and soft, his manhandling ways were shown easily by the way he pulled out quickly and turned you over. Your plump ass shaking like jello as his cock easily slipped inside once again.. filling you up for the second time. God you just couldn't wait till you could feel his cum...

"Imma Fuck you till you turn dumb..." Eren spoke harshly as his long fingers gripped at some of your locs. Pulling them and wrapping them around his wrist somewhat. Gaining all control over you and your own body...

He wasn't playing either...

(๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ Masterlist 2