#Yes I bought another pikachu plush

[moonvalecrossing]

Pokemon, my dudes.

Yesterday I paid for my preorder of the new pokemon snap for switch and also bought 4 pokemon plushies and this guy saw my armful of plushies and decided it was time for us to talk about pikachu being cool and that ASH YOU NEED TO FUCKING EVOLVE YOUR GODDAMN PIKACHU ALREADY TRUST ME HE’S HAD ENOUGH TIME TO GET ALL HIS STATS NICE AND JUNK OR WHATEVER. Evolve him. Evolve him. Do it.

Blow all our minds and evolve him into Gorochu. Because there’s no way he can just become a raichu after all this time.

Pokemon: Giving two drastically different people something to spontaneously joke and gush about because one of them had a Pikachu Plush.

Despite my asperger’s and extreme social anxiety if you get me to talk about games I am quite talkative and POKEMON IS MY FIXATION I COULD TALK ABOUT THAT SHIT FOR YEARS. Want to instantly make me comfortable enough to talk? My pokemans let me tell you about them.

[writing-noah]

Let's Go Back In Time

Time Capsules are an interesting thing to have as a kid.

They're these little boxes filled with objects that, years ago, meant the world to you.

For people unfamiliar with the time capsule, it may seem like a bunch of randomly selected objects thrown in a box that's called differently.

It couldn't be further from the real thing.

Kirishima never really thought about that old box until an hour ago. Hell, he even forgot about it completely. Had it not been for Gishian's call, that box would've ended up in the garbage and he wouldn't even care.

Eijirou didn't even think about the contents of that box until he was right in front of the arcade.

Was he really doing this? Getting an old box he hid with his ex-boyfriend that was filled with beautiful memories from when they were together? Memories of U.A. and his friends?

Memories of being a hero.

Because that ended up becoming a dream that Eijirou would never achieve. Becoming a hero. Saving people.

After he lost his quirk, everything fell apart.

"Eiji!"

A voice made him come back to reality, smiling at the sight of his old friend.

"Gishian!"

"You've changed so much, my boy! And you were finally able to be taller than me!" Kirishima laughed at that, tightly hugging the man.

Gish had known him his entire life. He was the owner of the arcade and also the one in charge of fixing the games if one broke down. Eijirou was six when they met.

That was twenty years ago.

"It was about time!"

Gishian nodded, an amused smile on his face. "It's really good to see you, my boy. It's a pity you don't visit anymore."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. You know I've been working a lot."

"Yes, I know. But you should also have some time for yourself. I remember how much fun you had trying out all the games when you were younger... but let's not talk about it. How's the family?"

They started walking towards the back of the arcade, being careful not to be run over by excited kids running around.

"Everyone is great! My mothers ended up moving to a smaller place because mom got tired of the stairs. Grandpa finally called his son and daughter and they've been talking things out. Nonna and Nonno are spending some time back in Italy before they continue their journey around the world. Cousin Hotaro has a company that's going amazingly, and I think he's gonna do some sort of partnership with Futaba about a new product... Things have been great, yeah."

"And what about you? Are you still looking for a path to follow?"

Eijirou shrugged. "It depends on what happens around me. Right now I'm employed and just... going. It's been tiring, but I'll be fine."

"And what about the guitar and the singing? You left that aside?"

"That's actually how I'm making some extra money. One of my friends has a bar and she lets me play at night as background. I don't have to be on stage so that's why I can do it."

"Taller than me but you still struggle with crowds." Gishian smiled.

"It's a work in progress! My main objective was getting taller than you. Now that that's out of the way, I can focus on not freezing on stage!"

Gishian laughed, softly shaking his head. "I see... And how are your friends? I've seen them on the news a bunch of times. Great heroes!"

"Yeah, everyone has their agencies or are working with one of the top heroes... They're amazing."

"And you are too, my boy. Fighting villains and doing all that risky stuff isn't the only way to be a hero. You can also be one." Gishian put a hand on Eijirou's shoulder, squeezing it softly. Then, he let go. "I'll get the box, give me a second."

The man disappeared behind a door labeled "Staff Only", and Kirishima waited outside as he thought about those last words.

Thanks, Gish.

《 》

Eijirou kicked the door closed the moment he entered his house, the heavy box from the arcade between his hands. He left it on the table, a relieved sigh exiting his lips as he softly caressed his arms.

"What on Earth did we put in this that's so heavy? Jesus... And why did we hide it inside one of the games!? That must be one of the worst places ever!" The now black-haired boy sat on the couch, lazily stretching as he made himself comfortable. It was still early for dinner, so he simply stared at the ceiling for a couple minutes.

...

Should he open the box?

No. They made a promise to open it together years ago. He can't break that promise.

...

But in reality, another broken promise wouldn't change things. Eijirou had already broken most of the promises he made with Kaminari anyways.

How he promised they'd always be together, have an agency with Bakugou, Mina and Sero and be the best heroes of all times. How he promised to even marry him, even though both of them saw the whole marriage and celebration as something unnecessary and over the top...

Just how many lies was his younger self able to tell?

Kirishima finally sat up on the couch, positioning himself right in front of the box. He sighed, hands getting close to the little lock desperately trying to avoid the box from popping open.

With a soft pull, it broke. And all the memories came rushing back to Eijirou as soon as he started recognizing the objects inside the box.

The first two things were extremely noticeable. Two plushies, a Pikachu and a Shark. They won them on their first date, at the arcade. Kaminari was determined to get a plush from the claw machine. And he did. The amazing thing was that the shark was stuck on Pikachu's tail, so he got both of the plushies at once.

After taking those out, two newspaper clips came to view. Those were covered in clear tape as a protection so they wouldn't get ruined with moisture and time.

The first one's headline was covered with silly drawings and scribbles. Because that wasn't important. The date was.

September 14th. The day they hid the box nine years ago.

The second one read "HEROES DEBUT: RED RIOT AND CHARGEBOLT". This one was pretty straightforward.

Next, Eijirou found four tickets. Two of them were for the first musical play he ever saw, which Kaminari bought tickets to and invited him. The second pair was for a concert of Kaminari's favourite band. Those were bought by Eijirou, as a thank you for the musical.

A bunch of cassettes were there too, all from different artists. They promised to listen to them when they opened the box together. Also a DVD of Kami's favorite movie, "Back to the Future".

After digging through hundreds more memories, he finally reached the very bottom of the box. There were two awful drawings of each other, made at a picnic date because Denki had the sudden idea. Those didn't fail to make Kirishima laugh.

Right after taking out the drawings, two letters came to view. One had written "For Future Eijirou" on it. The other, "For Future Denki".

He took his letter, opening it before he could think about it and starting to read what his younger self hoped he achieved in a nearby future.

Eijirou could only read all the stuff he didn't accomplish.

"Hope you're still close to 1-A after graduation and hanging out as much as possible!"

He was a lonely loser drowning himself in work so he wouldn't think about how he lost all his friends. Oh, and he didn't graduate at U.A.

"Hope you are an amazing hero who saves people with a manly smile!"

He could barely remember how to genuinely smile after losing his quirk thanks to the Quirk-Destroying Drug. After that happened, he had nothing to do with U.A.

"Hope you're eating healthier just like mamma told you, taking care of yourself and also exercising constantly!"

Visiting gym once a week counts as a win? And the rest... well...

"Hope you still love Denki with all your heart!"

...

That didn't change at all.

Eijirou left the letter next to him, his eyes tingling as the tears started to build up in his eyes. He used the back of his hands to wipe the falling tears away, putting all the memories back in the box.

How could he give up so fast? He isolated himself from everyone, even from himself. He stopped talking to everyone, blocked absolutely all his friends and broke up with the man he loved the most.

All because his quirk was removed? He felt like an idiot.

Yeah, quirks are a big part of people, but that doesn't mean it's everything. He was still Eijirou Kirishima. He was still that cheerful guy who wanted to help people, no matter how. That guy who loved his friends and family, and most importantly, himself.

How did he forget all that so suddenly?

He got up from the couch, the determination building up in his chest. Right now, only one thing was on his mind.

"It's time to change that."

《 》

Well, this wasn't planned at all.

After an impulsive decision and two hours in an airplane, he was right in front Kaminari's door at his apartment in Kyoto. He felt the doubt taking over after realizing he had no plan, no words and no idea how to explain this.

...shit, should he even knock? What if Denki was busy? Or wasn't even there? Should he really dig up the past?

And why in the world did he bring the box with everything!? That was an even worst idea!!

He should just turn back and pretend this never happened. Bothering Denki after all this years would just be—

"Eijirou?"

Well fuck.

He turned around, the man he was so scared to see again right in front of him.

"Denki..."

Kaminari barely changed from how he was at U.A. His hair was still a bright yellow with a lightning bolt across the bangs, a bit shorter at the back. A couple piercings decorated his face on the lower lip and right eyebrow, and Kirishima could see he was wearing some lip gloss too.

He was clearly not expecting anyone, judging from the Doritos and drinks he was carrying, and also because he was dressed with oversized clothes he only used to be at home playing videogames or watching movies.

He looked beautiful.

"What... are you doing here? Why are you here!? And HOW!?" Denki's eyes looked like they'd pop out of their sockets with how surprised he was.

"Well, I... um... Gishian had to take out some games from the arcade, and he found this inside Super Smash."

Kaminari was suddenly right in front of Eijirou, his fingers softly brushing across the edge of the box.

"Our time capsule... I totally forgot about it."

Eijirou chuckled. "Yeah, I did too. I opened it and looked through some stuff and I just... wanted to see you so bad, Denki. I never apologized for acting like such a dick, and for hurting you the way I did. Losing my quirk hit me hard but that didn't allow me to say such things to you. You were there to try and make me feel better and the only thing I did was push you away. And I'm so sorry for that." His sight turned blurry again, tears starting to spill without him being able to avoid it.

"Hey, hey..." The blond left his groceries aside, and he did the same with the box that was between Kirishima's hands. Then, he grabbed him by the cheeks, using his thumbs to get rid of the tears that were rolling down Eijirou's face. "It wasn't all your fault, Eijirou. It was wrong of me to try and distract you from something that big. I wanted to see you back smiling so bad I tried to forcefully make you forget that. You were allowed to be sad, but I didn't understand that. I'm sorry."

Eijirou put his hands over Kaminari's, closing his eyes. That simple touch made his stomach flip a hundred times.

"I missed you so much, Denki..."

"I missed you too, Eijirou." The blond let go of the guy's cheeks and hugged him tight, his face hidden on the crook of Kirishima's neck. The black-haired boy hugged him back just as tight.

They stood there, in the middle of the hallway, for around half an hour. Once the tears stopped, they felt like it was the right time to let go and take a step back.

"I'm glad I can see you again."

Kaminari nodded, grabbing his groceries once again. "I'm glad you came, Eiji... Wanna come inside? I don't have anything scheduled today. We can open the box, talk a bit, have dinner... You can stay over if you'd like!"

"Considering I came here impulsively and didn't even look for a hotel... I'd like that a lot, yeah."

"Great! Because I also need to know what happened to you, dude!? You look exhausted, and you haven't shaved or dyed your hair in what seems to be a looong time! Have you been taking care of yourself?" Kaminari easily unlocked the door and entered his apartment, leaving the door open for Kirishima. He followed, box between his arms just like when he arrived.

"I have, man! I go to the gym on Fridays and—"

"Only Fridays!? That's not good for you, Eijirou! How many hours do you sleep? And what have you been eating!?"

"Um..."

"Junk food, am I right!? For the love of All Might, I'm gonna kill you, dude! That's not automatically fixed with ONE DAY of exercise! You know this!"

"I'm not a hero, I don't need that kind of training!" He left the box on the table, his eyes following Denki as he walked towards the kitchen to get water and open what he bought.

"It wasn't being a hero what pushed you to exercise and be healthy! I remember how you looked every time you were at the gym or at Gamma. You always looked as if you were home. Smiling, enjoying yourself. Your quirk only made your skin hard. The strength that allowed you to even punch down buildings was yours, Ei."

"Well, I don't need to tear down buildings anymore. So we're good."

"That's your excuse for not doing what you love? "I don't need it anymore"? Seriously?"

"Kinda, yeah!"

"...I'm about to change the Doritos to apples and force you to eat healthy. I'm THIS CLOSE."

"Oh, c'mon! You're not mamma. Just bring the Doritos."

"Why should I?"

"Because Doritos and Back to the Future is better than fruit and a movie, man."

The room stayed silent for a couple seconds until Denki barked a laugh.

"Fine. ONLY for the movie!!"

"You got it, Bolt."

It was an amazing night with Kaminari, catching up after all these years without each other. They talked about the past and everything inside the box at first, and that was followed by graduation, work, family and a lot more.

They were finally done after three hours of talking, so it was time to start watching the movie. While Kaminari turned on the DVD and everything, Kirishima was getting some blankets and pillows. He threw everything on the couch and turned off the lights once the movie was ready to start.

Denki sat down next to him, pillows all around him. He covered himself in blankets just like Eijirou did, scooting closer to the boy so he could use him as a pillow.

Just like old times.

《————————》

And that's all, I think! Had this idea after reading the Kirishima Headcanons my friend @bunnyramen wrote! Go check them out!!

[eastasianfeelings]

I’ll be your fan: Hongbin

Summary: Hongbin isn’t sure whether you like him as a fan, as a friend... or as more than friends.

— requested by Anonymous: "Hi hun! So, umm... I'm a *huge* fan of your Hyuk fics and I wonder if you'd consider writing something equally smutty + emotional for Hongbin. Something like friends to lovers with Hongbin being the hesitant one, or fangirl to lover with Hongbin doubting her sincerity/if she only likes his idol persona or his gf wanting him to stop holding back in bed and just embrace the intimacy... Basically, cracking Hongbin's shell is my kink. 😫 (Also wouldn't say no to a size kink, TBH.)"

Words: 2.8k

Warnings: angst with a happy ending, making out

*

“Why are we friends?” Hongbin asks you out of the blue one day.

You look up from your knitting. “What?”

He’s just finished an hour-long stream, and his apartment seems quiet now without the gratuitous blood spattering noises and groans of murdered undead from his gory game.

You sit up straighter from your lounging position on his bed and, carefully, repeat, “Why are we friends?” How on earth are you supposed to interpret this question?

“Mm.” He stares at his screen, absent-mindedly clicking through all the gifts he’s received during the stream. “I mean, any time we hang out, it’s basically just me streaming and you watching.”

“I don’t mind, though,” you say slowly, unsure as to how this relates to his question. “I know you’re busy. And you help me promote and sell the game character plushies that I knit, too.”

“So if I didn’t help you make money…” He trails off, which makes your back go up.

“I’m not only here because you help me make money,” you say, a little stiffer. “You know I was your fan before we met.”

“You were a fan of Vixx.” His gaze is still fixed on the screen.

“Yes, and now we’re friends because we met and decided that we like each other.” You say it as a statement, not the question it is in your mind, hoping he’ll agree, or at least not negate it.

You’re pretty sure he doesn’t like you the same way you like him, but you’re—or at least, you were—also pretty sure you could call him your friend.

Why does it sound like he’s not so sure?

“But I mean, is this what friends do?” Hongbin finally turns from his desk to gesture between you and him; his brow is creased as he frowns at you. “Just meet up so one can watch the other play games?”

“Why not?”

He stares at you.

“Never mind.” He shakes his head and deliberately eases his frown. “I think I’m just tired from streaming. I’m going to get some water.”

Well, that’s a lie if you ever heard one; one hour of streaming is nothing to him. So you pick up your knitting needles and follow him out into his apartment and hover just outside the small kitchen.

You wait for him to finish gulping down an entire plastic water bottle before speaking. “Is there something going on, Hongbin-ah?”

He tosses out the bottle and flicks a short glance your way. “No. It’s nothing.”

“Then, if it’s nothing… why ask if we’re friends?”

You feel like you’re pushing the tentative limits the two of you have drawn, but he was the one who posed the question, and you need to know why.

Hongbin braces his hands against the counter, his gaze pointed downward. “I don’t know. When I finished the stream today, I looked over and saw you knitting, and I just thought, I don’t know anything about knitting. But that’s all we ever do—I stream, and you watch and knit.” He looks up. “We don’t even know that much about each other.”

“I think I know a bit about you.” Cautiously, you lower your voice to prevent it from quavering. “And I enjoy knitting and watching you stream. I could tell you about knitting if you wanted to know more about it.”

“But how does that make you different from a fan watching me at home, then?” Hongbin paces to the other side of the kitchen.

You take a steadying breath. “I mean, it’d be nice to do other things together. I was just trying to be mindful of your time, I know you’re busy as an idol—”

“I don’t need someone to be mindful of me,” he interrupts, speaking to the wall. “I need someone to be my friend, my actual friend.”

Oh, you’re so close to having your feelings hurt. “I’m trying to be, Hongbin-ah—”

He turns. “Isn’t that just because I’m Vixx’s Hongbin?”

Ugh.

“Look.” You take another breath. “If you want to believe that, then I don’t think I can change your mind.”

“You should try,” he insists. “Otherwise how can I know?”

“Me saying this right now, this is me trying,” you point out. “I’m telling you right now, I like you as a person, not as an idol. I want to be your friend. I… I want to be more than friends.”

It’s the calmest confession you’ve ever given, even as turmoil twists inside you.

For a moment Hongbin just blinks. Then he opens his mouth, and you brace yourself:

“You only want to because you’re my fan.”

Quietly, you reply, “I don’t think that’s true.”

“You can’t know for sure.”

All right. That’s it. That’s the extent of emotional labour you’re putting into this conversation. You’re not going to single-handedly break down the walls Hongbin’s built around himself or the labels he’s placed on you.

“Maybe you’re right about that.” You gather your knitting supplies and grab your backpack from the couch. “I guess the only way we’ll know is if we stop being friends, right?” You work up a thin smile and send it his way. “Then… goodbye.”

He doesn’t stop you as you walk out the door.

*

Making new friends is hard when you’re an adult. You sign up for a local knitting club, even though almost everyone there is older than you, and tell yourself you’re going to try it for at least four consecutive Saturdays.

On the third week, a younger member, Haeun, introduces you to an online creative arts platform that’s apparently popular for sharing fandom-related projects. There, you rehome the game character plushies that you’ve been unable to sell ever since you cut off contact with Hongbin.

At your fourth meeting, Haeun greets you excitedly outside the bookstore your club meets at.

“Y/N-eonni! You posted your game monster plushies online, right? You did, right?”

You’ve accepted that Haeun considers every single game character a ‘monster’, no matter how humanoid. “Yeah, I did. Why?”

She tugs you inside the bookstore and waves someone over. “This guy’s here to meet you!”

“Meet me?” You blink at the scruffy younger man who’s fixed his ardent gaze on you.

“Excuse me, did you make this?” He’s holding the completed Sonic plush that you’d added to your club’s little display in the bookstore’s bay window. “I was wondering if you would sell it to me. My girlfriend loves Sonic and I know she’d die over this.”

“Oh.” Warmth spreads through you at his eagerness. “Ah, well, it actually took me a while to make that, so to be honest I’d only sell it for a high price…” Knitting, stuffing and sewing Sonic’s spikes had been a nightmarish experience, one you’re never going through again.

“Just name your price!” the guy declares.

Wow, okay. As you think, Haeun tugs you close. “Don’t charge him under fifty thousand,” she hisses.

“One hundred thousand won,” you blurt out.

Though the man’s eyes widen a bit, his hand goes to his pocket without hesitation. “Can I e-transfer you the money?” is all he says.

That’s the start of your realization that handmade game character plushies are, apparently, a unique and lucrative niche, one that Haeun helps you develop and build. With the knitting club manager’s support, you start selling your items in a small booth inside the bookstore for half an hour after every club meeting.

One Saturday is particularly busy. The bookstore’s running a promotion, which means there’s more traffic in the store and more people chancing by your small booth. Haeun’s delighting in managing the short queue that’s formed in front of you, occasionally bounding over to pass along some info.

“Eonni, that guy in the beanie says he’s been checking your site every day for that final monster in the SEGA set! Save it for him and charge him double, okay?”

“Oh my God, eonni, the cutest little girl was asking for a monster called Pikachu. Do you have a finished Pikachu to sell? I told her yes, I hope I didn’t lie.”

“Eonni! This really hot guy asked for you by name. By your actual name, not your online username!” This time she’s shaking you hard enough that you have to turn away from the customer in front of you, who for some reason just wants your ‘autograph’. “Look! Do you know him?”

You follow her pointing finger to see: Hongbin.

He’s standing a short distance away, squinting over in your direction like he’s not sure what he’s looking at. Just as you make eye contact, Haeun draws your attention back as she slides the paper out from under your hand.

“It’s ten thousand for an autograph,” she sweetly informs the customer, and waits for him to fork over his money before letting you take the paper back. “Eonni, you should charge them for signatures, okay?” she whispers in her ear. “Fighting!”

Then she’s off to manage the crowd again, your own personal PR professional. What a gem.

After that, you explain to two more customers that you’ve sold your Wrecking Ball plushie already and no, you don’t have multiple because it takes you at least a week to knit one up, which leads to a suggestion from one of the customers to do online auctions instead of selling first-come, first-serve.

You have to chuckle a little at the idea. “I don’t think there’s enough interest to do an online auction.”

“No, you’ve got tons of fans,” the guy says earnestly.

The other girl nods. “My boyfriend actually brags to his friends about the fact that he bought your first and only Sonic plush.”

“Really?” You can’t stop your smile from spreading. “I’ll think about it then. Thank you for your interest.”

The guy hesitates for a second. Then he blurts, “Can I have a high-five?”

Boggled, you say, “Sure,” and hold out your palm.

He beams, taps his hand to yours, then bows profusely before departing.

You watch him go in bemusement. Is this what an idol hi-touch is like?

Speaking of idols:

The next customer is Hongbin.

You look up at him and manage, “Hello.”

“Hello.” He looks back for a few moments before letting his eyes drop to your table. “It’s… it’s been a while.”

“Yes. It has.” You’ve always been short next to him, but having him tower over you while you remain seated makes you feel extra tiny. For half a second you want to ask him to kneel down like he’s at a fan-meeting.

“…I’ve seen your knitting around online. Looks like you’re doing well.”

“Yes.” What does he want?

Hongbin’s quiet for a few more seconds, almost long enough for the customer behind him to get fidgety. Then he looks up into your eyes.

“I missed you,” he says.

And for the first time in over a month, you let yourself think it, let yourself say it: “…I missed you too.”

Just then, Haeun inserts herself in between Hongbin and the table. “Excuse me, are you interested in buying anything?”

“Ah, he’s not a customer,” you say hastily.

“Oh, wait, it’s this guy! Do you know him, eonni? Is he a friend?” Haeun asks.

You open and close your mouth.

“I’m just a fan,” Hongbin says to her.

A fan.

“Ahh.” She smiles at him. “If you’d just like Y/N’s autograph, that’ll be ten thousand won. But please don’t take too long, in consideration of other customers.”

“Yes,” Hongbin says politely as she takes off again.

A fan, you repeat in your mind.

“Y/N-ah.”

You look up to see his eyes fixed on you.

“Can we talk after you’re finished here?”

“…Yes.”

*

Outside, you weave your way through the crowded sidewalk toward Hongbin. He’s waiting at the nearby taxi stand, face mask pulled high and bangs hiding his eyes.

“Hi.” You stop a few steps away so you don’t have to crane your neck. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Um.” He goes to pull his face mask down, then glances around. “Maybe we should go somewhere quieter.”

“Your place?”

“No,” he says quickly. “I’d like to go to your place… if you don’t mind.”

Your brows rise. “Why? You’ve never been to my place.”

“I know,” he admits. “But—that’s why I want to go.”

Okay. You grab a taxi, and Hongbin slides into the backseat with you as you give the driver directions.

As the car pulls away, you feel Hongbin give you a side-glance.

“Er. Will it be quieter at your place?”

“What do you mean?” You keep looking straight ahead.

“I mean…” He clears his throat lightly. “Will there be anyone else home?”

“Oh. No, I live alone.”

“Ah.” He relaxes into the seat, and the rest of the ride is silent.

Once you’re in your apartment, you lead him into your small kitchen. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

His throat works for a moment before he speaks. “I thought a lot about our last conversation.”

You stay silent.

“And… I’m sorry. I was wrong.” Hongbin steps forward suddenly, making you back up a little too hastily. “I didn’t listen to you, and I was wrong.”

You regain your distance before looking up at him again. “That’s okay. Thank you for saying that.”

“I do want to be your friend, Y/N-ah.”

“I’m glad, Hongbin-ah.” You nod.

“But—” He catches hold of your hand, a very light grip that you could break if you wanted. “Do you…” He swallows. “Do you still want to be more?”

Your heartrate rises. “More?”

“More than friends.”

Slowly, you pull your hand free. “Not if you don’t want to.”

“I do.”

And all of a sudden he’s stepped into your space and your back is against the counter, his arms enclosing you. You look up, up, and he looks right back at you, eyes calling to yours.

“Y/N-ah, I do. I want you,” he says, and there’s almost some kind of pleading edge to his voice, some earnest, yearning note that tugs right at your heartstrings. “Please.”

“Are you sure?” you ask softly. “Are you sure, Hongbin-ah?”

“Please,” he repeats.

So you stretch up, up, up, and kiss him.

He meets you more than halfway, closing the substantial height difference swiftly to touch his lips to yours. When you try to push for more, he draws back.

“Is that a yes?” he checks.

This guy, seriously. “Yes, Hongbin-ah, that’s a yes.”

A wide smile lights up his face, so dazzling you have to blink moisture out of your eyes. “Y/N-ah…”

You lift your arms and tug on his shoulders. “Come back, I can’t reach you up there.”

He chuckles, the sound pure delight, and then grips you by the waist to hoist you onto the counter. Locking his arms around your lower back, he tugs you to the edge and steps between your spread legs to continue kissing you.

“I missed you,” he murmurs against your lips. Your eyelids flutter open to see him only a few inches away, looking at you with something close to adoration. “At first I didn’t even know if it was because I liked you or because I was overthinking it.” He keeps kissing you leisurely in between his murmurs. “And that kind of scared me.”

“Mm.” You want to respond to his sincere words, his apology via confession, but the way he’s surrounding you so closely, closer than you’ve ever felt to him, is making your mind whirl. 

“But when I saw your knitting online…” He pulls back, tongue flicking out as he eyes your mouth. “And all the views and comments you were getting…”

You hesitate. “So you’re just jealous?”

“No! No. I thought, These people know more about Y/N than I do. And I realized it was my fault.” He brushes his mouth one more time against yours, an affectionate caress, then continues down your jaw. “If I hadn’t pushed you away, you wouldn’t be selling online…” Down your neck, his lips pulling and sucking. “You wouldn’t have all these fans after you…”

It’s getting hard to form coherent thoughts with the way he’s tucked his face into your neck, but you try. “You—ah… don’t you want me to be successful?”

He presses his nose into the curve where your neck meets your shoulder and inhales deeply. “I do. But… you’re not an idol.”

“Mm. So?”

“So, you don’t need teenage gamer boys following you around online.” Hongbin lifts his head to make eye contact again. “Do you?”

Clearly, the only correct answer is: “No… but I’m just selling my knits, Hongbin-ah, it’s not like I’m streaming with a face cam or anything.”

“Y/N-ah, I was a teenage gamer boy once. I know how they think.” He leans in to nip at your lips. “Do you think that guy today wanted a high-five because he likes your knitting so much?”

“Ye-es?”

“Wrong.”

“Okay, but…” You wriggle backward a little to get some space and make your point. “No harm, no foul, right? It’s fine if people like me, as long as they don’t actually do anything weird.”

“I like you.” He pulls you in again, negating the space between you, and spreads his hands wide over your lower back.

“I mean my customers—”

“I’ll be your fan.”

“I thought I was your fan.”

“No,” Hongbin says. “Now you’re just mine.” And he kisses you once more.

*

[rootbeergoddess]

A New Adventure

Thank you to @tired-mechanical-heart for commissioning me. This was a lot of fun. If you’re interested in my writing commissions, look here!

                                                   ~*~

“Pika pika!”

Baby Piper squealed with delight, kicking her feet as Pikachu hid again. She waited for her playmate to rise. Pikachu jumped out, making the baby giggle. Serena turned away from the dirty dishes and smiled. Piper looked around for Pikachu who had hidden again, and the Pokemon jumped out again, making her laugh once more.

Being a housewife and a mother was such a different life from being a Pokemon Performer. She had nothing against it of course: she loved Piper. The issue was getting used to just relaxing. No adventures, no running around, just working at home and taking care of her daughter. It wasn’t horrible; it was just different. She knew it was hard for Ash too. He spent much of his life searching for Pokemon and training.

The front door opened and Pikachu perked up. Serena wiped off her hands and went over to the baby carrier. She removed Piper from it and picked her up. Pikachu ran ahead, eager to greet his trainer. Ash smiled as he crouched down to pick up Pikachu. As usual, Pikachu ran up Ash’s arm and sat on his shoulder.

“I’m home,” He declared. “How is my little family?”

“A-da! A-da!” Piper reached for him.

Ash took his daughter from his wife but not before giving Serena a kiss.

“How was your day?” Serena asked.

“Professor Oak got a bunch more students,” Ash said as they walked to the kitchen. “Today was a class on trusting your Pokemon and learning to work together. Some of the students caught on, but it seems like some of them are having a hard time.”

“Pika pi?”

“True, you and I didn’t get along at first,” Ash smiled at Pikachu. “Some of the trainers remind me of myself when I was young.”

“Well, how about you relax with Piper and Pikachu while I finish up dinner? We’re having hamburger steak and some spiced curry.”

“And for dessert?” Ash asked, hopefully.

“Yes, I made some Poke Puffs,” Serena gave him another kiss. “It’ll be ready soon.”

Ash headed to the living room while Serena went back to the kitchen. He set Piper down on the floor. There was a blanket for her, along with various toys. When Ash had announced Serena was pregnant with their first child, Ash’s friends showered the couple with gifts for the baby. Misty had sent Piper her own Pokemon dolls along with a stuffed Goldeen plush. The plushie was one of Piper’s favorite toys; she even slept with it. Brock, ever a lover for food, had bought Piper a beautiful toy cooking set. It was another favorite of Piper’s.

“Fo!” Piper crawled towards her cooking playset.

“Oh, you gonna cook some food for us, Piper?”

“Yeah,” She pushed herself up and waddled to it. “Yum yum.”

Pikachu followed her. Ash remembered when Serena had gotten pregnant, Pikachu had changed. The Pokemon never left Serena’s side, and once Piper had born, it was stuck to her like glue. Pikachu went everywhere Piper did. At night, Pikachu slept in the crib with her. Whenever they went outside, Pikachu was sure to keep other Pokemon in check. Ash was shocked at first, but he was soon thankful. Piper had a friend for life.

He chuckled as Piper pretended to cook. Pikachu, the ever faithful, sat down and waited for his pretend food. Piper poured some tea and then brought it to Pikachu.

“Pika pi!”

Piper grinned as Pikachu ate the pretend food. He rubbed his belly and even gave her a thumbs up. Piper smiled, happy that her favorite customer was enjoying his meal. She went back to her pretend kitchen and grabbed a toy plate. She walked over to Ash, holding the plate to him.

“Is this for me?” Ash asked. “Oh thank you, Piper. It looks yummy.”

Piper pulled herself onto the couch. Ash pretended to eat, rubbing his stomach.

“Yum yum,” Ash smiled at his daughter. “You’re going to be a great cook one day Piper.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Ash put Piper in his lap. “Bet you could open up your own restaurant. Uncle Brock would be proud.”

“Unca Brock.” She repeated.

“You’re also talking a lot,” Ash held her up. “You’re growing up so fast! One of these days, you’ll be ten, and you’ll be having your own adventures. But for now, it’s time for---the tickle monster!”

Piper squealed as Ash pulled her down and started tickling her. Ash showered her kisses as she gurgled happily. Serena entered the living room, smiling at the small scene. She sat down on the couch. Piper reached for her mother, hoping she would be saved from the tickle monster’s wrath.

“Okay you two, dinner is ready,” Serena took Piper.

“Oh, I might be stuffed,” Ash joked. “Piper is a great cook Serena, isn’t she Pikachu?”

“Pika pi!” The Pokemon agreed.

“Is that so? Do I have competition?” Serena asked.

“Most definitely babe,” Ash followed her into the kitchen. “Lucky for you, I have a big stomach, so I’m still hungry.”

“Lucky me,” Serena put Piper in her highchair. “Now, I need to find her bib.”

Pikachu was already on it: the Pokemon jumped onto the table, bib in hand. Serena smiled as she took the bib from him and put the bib on Serena. Serena petted Pikachu’s head then turned to grab the food. Ash sat down as Serena placed their dinner on the table. Ash smiled as he watched Serena. Houselife suited her. Ash had been worried about retiring so to speak, but now, he wouldn’t give up his life for anything. He loved this life.

“Here Pikachu,” Serena made a plate for the Pokemon. “I hope you’re hungry!”

“Pika!” Pikachu nodded.

Serena smiled as Pikachu sat down on the table, picked up a fork, and started eating. Ash copied his friend, digging into his wife’s meal.

“Good as always baby,” Ash grinned.

“I try,” Serena replied. “Open up Piper.”

Piper opened her mouth and let her mother feed her. Ash just smiled. Yes, this was exactly where he needed to be.

[pokemagines]

JAPAN TRIP 2k19 with Mod Elesa (1/?)

hey n’yall it’s mod elesa, lemme tell u bout my japan trip! u can find some of the photos of these events on my instagram @atel2er! i didn’t want to flood this post with pictures hehe ,,

GENERAL STUFF

went for school, study abroad trip to study visualization and simulation of “serious games” that businesses buy and use (but i dont feel like talking abt it since this is the FUN POST

may 10-26

the flight was 11 hours, p easy, i didn’t know anybody going into the trip because i didn’t go to any of the meetings HAHhaHEHA

whatever. everyone on the trip initially came off as if they had yellow fever and i was like ... i’m really not trying to interact with FETISHIZERS

turns out they were all really cool! only this one kid was a real weeaboo who was greasy and tall and a neckbeard who kept talking about being “culturally insensitive” and speaking japanese constantly to the teacher and the TA like ... ok patrick we get it you flex

i stayed in a hotel in shinjuku! everything is so small and i used the bidets for the first time and WOO chile that shit feels FUNKY on your asshole

i visited shinjuku major (kabukicho aka red light district, couple other places!), ikebukuro (THE MEGA POKEMON CENTER), mt fuji, fuji q highland, akihabara, hamamatsucho (area where tokyo tower is), HARAJUKU, and the emperor’s palace! i’m probably forgetting some places since we went to a lot of temples and shrines that were cool ...

the public transportation in japan is scarily on time.. like, by the second. they apologize if they’re one minute early and will wait until the scheduled time before they move omg

the subway stations have their own jingles! they kind of act as an alarm system because a lot of people sleep on the subway (which is why people generally don’t talk on it) and will recognize the jingle for their stop!

the crowded hours on the subway are noon and 6-8pm... like, its insane. it’s actually packed like sardines in there. 

EVERYONE THERE IS SO SHORT.... i was taller than a lot of the grown men there (i’m 5′4″ or 162 cm for reference) and most people were around 5 feet tall... the only people taller than me were some kids around my age and this gaggle of japanese schoolgirls who were like 5′7+ and i was like. sis you’re 13, why are you that tall

pokemon is EXTREMELY prevalent in japan wherever you go. there’s pikachu stickers on taxis, pikachu is on ads on the subway and at the AIRPORT, pokemon go is widely played by a lot of people and so many of the people in my group played it so i got conned into playing again. i leveled up 5 times within 3 days and honestly? i’m god

anime is very normal there... i know that sounds all “weeby” but a lot of normal shops had animated mascots and there were ads for anime all over the place. 

literally gacha machines everywhere i spent a lot of coins on gacha machines plz kill me

the homies in japan loooove crepes. they sold so many crepes. everywhere. just crepes. also spaghetti carbonara! and corndogs HAHAHA

the food there is so cheap but SOOO GOOD. sushi isn’t all that expensive at all?? like a set of 16 pieces is 1080Y... meanwhile that cost in america is like. $6000 HAHAHAHAH. 

very humid? at all times? also the RAIN is debilitating if u make one wrong step you will slip and die (like i did! i stepped on a tile and fucking fell into a puddle! i have bruises still!)

SHINJUKU (detective pikachu day, may 10)

i went to go see detective pikachu on its release day in shinjuku! before that, i went to a couple sega buildings--

the sega buildings are 4 story buildings FILLED with claw machines holding stuffed animals, figurines, candy, all kinds of stuff. when i went, there was a lot of detective pikachu-related stuff. i saw this detective pikachu hat in one of the machines and spent 1000Y (about $10) or 10 attempts at the claw machine ... i still can’t believe i got it ... nobody was there to see it besides me and i YELLED when it dropped 

i wore the hat that entire day around shinjuku because i honestly felt like god. people would point at me and go like “ah! meitantei pikachu!” and smile at me. i was a celebrity. i wore the hat into the movie theatre, i wore it through the entire movie, and when i was walking out, someone tapped on my shoulder and asked for my picture. she was all nervous about her english and was like “i love your hat. may i take a picture?” and i was like omG YES U CAN... sweet bab... so that’s the first photo of me that ended up on some random person’s phone

we waited around for the mass of people to exit the theatre and then left, and we ran into her again! she asked me more questions about the hat: “did you make it?” “no, i got it in a claw machine in the sega building.” she looked dumbfounded. “in shinjuku?” “yes.” “in the sega building? over there?” “yeees.” “in a claw machine?!” “yes!” “ah! i thought you made it! it’s so cute! i’m going to get one for myself.” “lol ok have fun”

i learned that its customary to stay until the very end of the credits before leaving a movie out of respect for the people who made it! meanwhile in america we walk out when the credits roll FHDSKFJS OOPIES

SHINJUKU (visit #2)

we went in the night time to go see the red light district aka kabuki-cho because thats where a lot of the bars are

i don’t drink so i didn’t join the people who went to the bars to get CRUNK, so i dragged two other guys with me and we walked around the red light district

I SAW SO MANY HOST CLUBS. so many maid cafes. so many bars. i saw a love hotel too... i was like... i wanna go inside... Blease... and my friends were like “you’re so weird KHEDJFSk” and im like “I WAS GOOGLING THESE IN CLASS TODAY, I DIDN’T THINK THEY WERE REAL”

my friend sean (he’s from taipei, cool guy, could read a lot of the kanji so we used him to navigate the subway HAHA) was walking with me that night and we saw this hole in the wall that had stairs going down to a peep show ... homegirl had her whole ass out on the sign... tiddies covered with caution tape ... i said MAAM?

one of the signs in kabuki-cho had a woman doing straight up ahegao with (what i’m pretty sure was) nut on her face. it was a small sign and i was the only one who saw it. i lost my shit. it was the funniest thing ever

kabuki-cho is really really dirty... like people straight up litter all the time bc there’s no trashcans around? so people throw their shit on the ground? and everyone steps on it... very seedy area, very gross, but i was absolutely enthralled with the nightlife and the blatant sexual vibes half the places had!

some dude stopped me and started speaking english saying “do you like karaoke? you should come drink with me for two hours, it’s a great price if you drink a lot” and i was like “no... i have to go home” and he’s like “come onnnn it’s a good price” and i was like. i’m not very assertive with men so i started panicking and my friend sean (A GOD AMONG MEN) started speaking chinese to him and he backed off ... i love you sean you’re so fucking COOL

IKEBUKURO (pokemon mega center)

so there’s this huge mall. i forgot the name, but it’s got like a lot of floors and they’re MASSIVE

on the 2rd floor is the MEGA POKEMON CENTER!!! i was so HYPED to go in there!!! it was teeming with people but there was just... so much stuff. all kinds of merch. they had plushies of the original 151, a shitton of really cool tshirts, a whole block for detective pikachu-themed merch (pins, socks, canvas bags, shirts, patches, hats, etc), and sooo much more. there’s a giant charizard statue when you walk in, as well as a statue of a pokestop HAHA. i was so excited and i wanted to buy so many things when i was in there bc they had stuff for all the legendaries (LATIOS AND LATIAS STUFF WERE THERE I WAS SO HAPPY)!!! literally anything you can think of, they had in some kind of pokemon print. including underwear. yeah i said it. here’s a really good article that showcases some of the stuff they sold there!

for reference, 100 yen is about 1 usd. a lot of things there were 480 yen ($4.80) or 3000Y ($30) and it was just... beautiful. 

when i was there, yen didn’t feel like it had monetary value since it’s not the currency i’m used to, so i sPENT WAY TOO MUCH AHFJKDFD

they had themed cash registers with each of the starters... i cried :’)

i actually went there a second time but it was packed for a different reason. some idol group was performing on the ground floor and a shitton of girls were screaming fanchants while their jpop boys danced LOLLL. now i know how people see kpop stans ...

AKIHABARA (i went like 8 times)

this is what i like to call my birthplace

we went to the maid cafe. of course we fucking did. i got a dreamland passport and some cat ears. THE MAIDS ALL LOVED HATSUNE MIKU

SPEAKING OF HATSUNE MIKU AKA MY GODDESS, she was pretty popular in akihabara! she was also on some posters in the subway stations (across tokyo, not just in akihabara) and was apparently having some magical mirai concert???

there’s this giant tower called radio kaikan thats right outside the akihabara station that’s filled with all sorts of anime shit. i spent so much money in there. Good God. there was a furret plush for 5400Y and i was so STINGY that day i shouldve BOUGHT IT....  it was a longboi and i was like... sis!!!!

remember how i said my brain didn’t register that yen had monetary value? yeah i spent hundreds of dollars here no cap ...

i went to a kaguya-sama cafe as well on another day bc my friend joe (one of the figureine-collecting weebs) wanted to go and get a chika coaster

i went into a three floor sex shop and gave no fucks, the bottom floor was filled with bdsm shit and LEATHER SCHOOLGIRL OUTFITS and it was WILD. and these two old men were just casually browsing this shit like we weren’t both looking at whips and buttplugs in Public you know

i wasn’t fazed by a lot of the stuff there bc i read Funky fanfiction but the people i went in there with were major uncomfy ... i was like PRUDES HAJKFDAHDS i almost bought something don’t tell anybody

OKAY SO. there’s this place called super potato that has a floor dedicated to old games and consoles. they had so many gameboy advances and gamecubes and old consoles (famicom, dreamcast etc) for CHEAP. they had a gameboy color for 4900Y and a gamecube for 5600Y. a bitch almost cried. they had every old pokemon game under the sun (the original red, blue, yellow, gold and silver) and i ,,, they were 480Y. they were 480Y. that’s five fucking dollars. do you know how much collectors pay for that shit on ebay? HUNDREDS. i could’ve mass bought those and sold them and made so much cash but I DIDN’T.

that store had an original unopened copy of super smash bros melee and pokemon colosseum and i was like... wait if i cop a gamecube i could play pokemon collosseum like a true g... ((i didn’t cop))

but anyways there were a lot of games that didn’t make it to america (including mother 3! which my friend connor bought! as well as the console to play it!) and just... so many old things i grew up with ... 

whenever i walked out of the super potato we’d end up in an alley where all the girls who work at cafes were advertising their stuff

i always took the flyers from the girls bc they spoke their cute english to me and i was like... i’d die for you, yknow that?

ALL KINDS OF CAFES. regular maid cafe, pirate cafe, ninja cafe (you could do that thing where you karate chop a wooden block in half), sailor cafe (as in actual ship captains), shrine maiden cafe, vampire cafe, prince cafe (for the ladies ;3), catgirl cafe, bunny girl cafe... i took all of the goddamn flYERS THEY WERE ALL SO CUTE :( i wanted to go so bad...

FUJI Q HIGHLAND (also known as the time i flipped my shit and went on rollercoasters)

when i found out about fuji-q, i told my group that we HAD to go. i didn’t want to go to an onsen. i wanted to go to fuji-q. i had to. i love rollercoasters, it’s my passion, my driving fORCE IN LIFE

so fuji-q is home to 4 record-breaking rollercoasters! u got fast boi aka jojo reference do-dodonpa; EXTREME TALL BOI fujiyama; superior to x2 at six flags eejanaika; and the steepest rollercoaster in the world TAKABISHA ... i got to ride fujiyama, eejanaika, and takabisha! the scariest one was probably fujiyama despite it being very cut and dry up for... ever ... 79 meters ... oh god ... i lost my shit on the way down ladies let me TELL YOU

FUJIYAMA ALSO HAS A VIEW OF MT FUJI AND I WAS LIK E”YO GUYS ITS MT FUJI” and then we went down and i screamed

please watch the pov videos for these rides they’re very good but they don’t convey the absurd amount of excitement i had going on these rides

anyways the fuji-q park was having a sword art online collaboration when i visited, so they played SAO music and had cardboard cutouts for them across the park... kirito’s ride was fujiyama (aka the king of them all). i forgot the other ones but those alicization kiddos were there but ion care about ALICE OR EUGEO

the first ride i went on was eejanaika which is a 4d rollercoaster, pretty epic, total Baby Ride though

i went on as a single rider so i ended up getting put in this group with these college kids! the guy i was sitting next to spoke to me in english and asked basic questions: “where are you from?”, “is this [ride] easy for you?”, “how old are you?”, basic stuff. he asked why i was in japan and i told him i was studying at waseda university, and he immediately perked up and went “I GO TO WASEDA!!! WASEDA YEAH!!!” and fist bumped me ... his friends were giggling and kept asking him to ask me questions and it was just. so wholesome.

when we were abt to get on the ride he looks at me and says “my name is soichiro. call me so-chan ok??” and i was like... “so-chan” and his friENDS ALL STARTED GIGGLIGN AND I WAS LIKE U///W///U

while we were going up on the ride, he kept yelling “JESUS FUCK YOU JESUS CHRIST” and my favorite: “JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK YOU” because apparently fuck cannot be standalone! “what the fuck you” is my new fave insult (i miss you so-chan)

afterwards he kept coughing and was like. dead. his soul left his body. so i asked in him japanese like,,, “daijobu ka?” and he was like “nai.” and i just laughed at him bc BA B Y SO-CHAN CANT HANDLE SOME SPINS 

i bought a corndog at fuji-q at this place called arirang hotdog which is a korean style hotdog place??? BRUH that shit is so good but i shat myself for a good minute afterwards ... damn i want those corndogs

sadly i did not get to go on do-dodonpa because nobody wanted to ride with me and i didn’t want to go by myself >:/// still mad abt that bc that was the FAST BOI ...

also. takabisha. the guiness world record with the 121 degree drop. not even scary. BUT they do hang you there for like 3 seconds before making you go down and i was like “YALL FUCKIN WITH ME” really loud when they hung us there ... PLS watch a pov video you’ll see what i mean ...

HARAJUKU (i totally forgot abt this place OH lord)

i bought ... clothes here ...

they have all those clothes with the random english words on them so OF COURSE i had to buy one AS WELL AS a hat to match!

i also bought one of those ear hats where u press the paws and the ears move ... bts inspired that one

so many people in harajuku absolutely DECKED OUT in fashion. what a bunch of legends.

apparently wearing shirts that say “babygirl” are popular here i have no clue why ,,,, also im pretty sure i remember seeing a shirt that said “call me daddy” and i’m like. Ok Japan

half the shit in english made ZERO SENSE or was SPELLED WRONG and that was common all across japan, not just on harajuku fashion pieces LMAOOOO

deadass i went to a couple businesses (fuji xerox, nissan factory, etc) and they had spelling errors all over the place... nissan really had a placard that said “Prease do not touch” AND I CACKLED hfDSKLJF ilove u nissan

[demi-drawing]

popsicles - diodeshipping

word count: 3615

unfortunately i can’t add a link for ao3 because tumblr is dumb and this won’t show up in searches if i do so my ao3 is @demipancake!! it’s on there

i wrote the last two sections of this past midnight last night so idk if they’re any good but ace seemed to think they were so Here We Are i guess

anyways ash and clemont? gay

thanks to @aro-ace-thetic for betaing this for me!!

Clemont sighs as he puts the last cardboard box down in the future living room of his new apartment. He glances around and out the window, gazing at the city view for a few seconds. Bonnie left ten minutes ago to catch up with a friend who lives in the city, and of course she left the heaviest boxes for him to carry. Something about getting in shape? Clemont wasn't really listening.

Finding the apartment hadn't been easy - after all, it had to be close to the college, and given how popular just staying in a dorm was, finding one close was tough. Lumiose City isn't the cheapest place for an apartment, either. They were lucky to find one as close and inexpensive as they did - and even then, it's a twenty minute walk to campus, and wasn't the best quality. Clemont wasn't great at walking - or, running, rather.

Luckily, that's all over now, and all that was left was to unpack.

To… unpack.

He stands in the middle of the room, surrounded by a sea of cardboard. Just moving everything up here was a task and a half - maybe he could just find the sleeping bag he had somewhere in these boxes and order take out.

He's about to do just that when there's a sudden knock at the front door, and he jumps. Clemont picks his way through the maze and opens it.

There's a man standing in the hallway with a bright coloured box tucked under his arm. He has dark, messy hair that doesn't look like it's been brushed in weeks and tan skin, and he's wearing a hat indoors, for some reason. He has tiny lightning bolt marks on both his cheeks, underneath giant chocolate-y eyes which light up when he sees Clemont.

“Hey! You must be the new neighbour, right?” he says, tilting his head to one side in a way that was far too cute for Clemont's heart. “I'm Ash. Ash Ketchum.”

“Cl-Clemont.” The scientist in question desperately wishes his heart would stop beating so loudly - he's sure Ash can hear it.

“Nice to meetcha, Clemont!” Ash grins, showing off pure white teeth. “Can I come in?”

“Well, I, uh… haven't started unpacking yet.”

Ash squints and his nose scrunches up adorably. “Do you have a fridge?”

Clemont blinks. “Uh… yes? Don't all the apartments in this building come with fridges?”

“Well, yeah, but is it working?”

“I think so.”

“Great! Because these popsicles are gonna melt otherwise,” Ash says, holding up the box under his arm so Clemont can read what it is. Sure enough, it's a box of popsicles - three different flavours: pineapple, berry, and… banana.

“Banana flavoured popsicles?” he asks sceptically.

“I like them.”

Fair enough, Clemont thinks, then realises they're still standing out in the hallway and steps aside to let Ash in. He grins and adjusts his hat as he walks in, weaving around the boxes looking for the kitchen.

“So why did you come to my apartment with a box of popsicles, exactly?” Clemont asks, following Ash to the kitchen to find him stuffing the box into the freezer.

“Well, I bought too many popsicles, and I was gonna give them to Shauna, but I've already given her a box this month,” he explains, shutting the freezer with a flourish. “And then I remembered that you were moving in today, so I thought I'd bring them to you!”

“Oh, well, uh… thank… you?” Clemont says, wondering whether he should be grateful for someone dumping their accidental purchase on him.

“You're welcome!” Ash gives a toothy grin, blissfully unaware of Clemont's questioning tone. He claps and rubs his hands together. “So, what box are we gonna start with?”

“What?”

“It's too late to back out of this,” Ash says teasingly, and Clemont can feel his face getting warmer just at the tone. “I'm helping you unpack, and there's nothing you can do to stop me.”

Clemont looks into Ash's eyes and sees he is one hundred percent serious about this, and there really is nothing he can do to stop him.

He sighs. “Okay, well, I guess we should start with… the bed?”

Ash's face lights up, as if he wasn't actually expecting to get this far, and races off to the living room, before poking his head back around the doorframe. “Which box is the bed in?”

Clemont sighs to himself, smiling, and follows.

---

He's been in Lumiose for one and a half months now, and he and Ash have somehow become good friends.

He's gotten over his infatuation for him, too. Really, he has. Yeah, he's cute, but he doesn't have a crush on him or anything.

Seriously.

...Maybe.

In any case, Ash had realised that Clemont had somehow never seen his apartment before. Which is why he was standing outside of it slightly nervously, while loud meowing came from inside.

“Come on, buddy, can't I have one friend over?” drifted Ash's voice through the door. The meowing grew louder, until eventually there was the sound of a door clicking shut, and the mewling was muffled.

The front door swings open to reveal Ash standing there, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry, that was my cat.”

Clemont smiles back. “I love cats.”

“He's having a bad day.” Ash glances at the door next to him. Ominous scratching noises come from it, along with the occasional mewl. Ash shakes his head fondly, before gesturing for Clemont to come in.

Ash's apartment is a lot like him, in some ways - there's unorganised clutter everywhere you look, including a few dead houseplants and a Pikachu plush on the coffee table. The couch is red, a few shades lighter than the tone of his cap - or, caps, seeing as Clemont could see at least two strewn about haphazardly in this room alone. There's a few awards for generally doing amazing things for the community (as if he couldn't get any more perfect, Clemont thinks, before hastily wiping that thought from his brain) across the shelves, as well as dog supplies, for some reason.

“Take a seat, make yourself at home!” Ash calls out, heading straight to the kitchen and leaving Clemont alone in the living room. He sits down, and realises there's a photograph lying on the coffee table. It's a picture of Ash and a golden retriever wearing a highlighter yellow vest.

“I got popsicles!” Ash sings, entering back into the living room. Clemont snaps his head up and smiles as he sees Ash holding an already opened popsicle in one hand and a banana one in the other. They're weird, but he's begun to like the taste. Ash hands him his popsicle and plops down on the couch next to him, sucking on his own lolly.

Clemont, struggling to open his, nods to the Pikachu plush. “So, you like Pokémon?”

Ash laughs, accidentally touching his nose with his popsicle and squeaking. “My cat is named Pikachu,” he says sheepishly after he recovers.

“Oh my God, that's adorable.”

“He looks like a Pikachu, I'm telling you!”

“I haven't seen him, I can't say!” Clemont laughs, finally managing to get his banana popsicle open.

“He's very friendly! Just not so trusting of strangers.” Ash gestures to the door, where scratching sounds still emanated. “I can let him out if you like.”

“Oh, that'd be great-” Clemont starts, but Ash is already halfway to the door. He opens it and a golden blur springs out and skids to a halt in front of Clemont. He blinks.

He really does look like a Pikachu.

He's a golden tabby with big brown eyes and stripes zigzagging across his back. He's very fluffy, and his tail almost looks like a feather. He sniffs at Clemont's leg, before jumping up onto the couch to scope him out better. He seems to deem him okay, and rubs his head against Clemont's hand.

“Aw, he likes you!” Ash says, having returned from letting Pikachu out. “I told you he was friendly.”

“I didn't even know you were allowed pets,” Clemont says, stroking Pikachu's back with one hand as he purrs.

“Oh, I pay the extra fee. Pikachu means a lot to me, I don't mind it.”

Pikachu, as if knowing what his owner was talking about, steps forward and leans all the way off the edge of the couch in order to rub his face against Ash's leg. Ash leans down to stroke him, and Clemont feels something in his chest spark at the soft smile he wears on his face.

“You like dogs?” he says after a moment, gesturing to the photo on the table. Ash’s eyes light up.

“Oh! Yeah, I’m a service dog trainer!” He smiles as he picks up the photo. “That’s Kaya, she graduated recently.”

“...Graduated?”

“Yeah, that’s what we call it when a puppy finishes their training.” He smiles, as if remembering something. “One of the other trainers said if she didn’t make it, he’d adopt her himself.”

“I’d adopt her if I had the chance,” Clemont says. Ash laughs, and he feels everything is right with the world.

---

Clemont hasn't exited his apartment in three days, except to go to classes.

He has good reason to though - he has a physics test this week and he doesn't wanna fail. He has enough food to last him a few more days - he has to study or he might not pass, and if he doesn't pass it'll reflect on his overall grade, and then what would he do?

There's a sudden loud knock coming from the front door and Clemont jumps. He glances to his notes on diffraction grating and sighs before getting up to open the door.

As soon as the door opens an inch, Ash is barrelling into the apartment with a box in his hands and determination in his eyes.

“Hey Clemont! I brought friends.”

“What?”

Two girls walk in behind Ash, one of them with short, dirty blonde hair and another with brown in pigtails. He vaguely recognises them and remembers they share one of the bigger apartments above him.

Another girl skips in at the end of the group, and Clemont does a double take. “Bonnie?”

“That’s right!” Bonnie smirks, moving past Clemont to get to the living room. “Ash called me and told me to come over.”

“What? Why? How does he even know you?”

“He’s friends with Max!”

Clemont groans. “Of course he is.”

He follows everyone through to the living room, where they apparently had already made themselves at home. Bonnie already had her feet on the coffee table. Ash comes out of the kitchen without the box, along with five popsicles that Clemont swore weren’t in his freezer before. He hands Clemont, still in shock, a banana one (because of course he does) and gives the others to the girls, keeping one for himself.

“What… is going on?” Clemont asks in a daze, banana popsicle in his hand.

“You haven’t been outside in three days, we’ve come to drag you out,” Ash explains, lifting his pineapple popsicle in Clemont’s direction.

“But… I have a physics test-”

“Doesn’t matter! You’re coming with us. Or at least taking a break.”

Clemont stares at the popsicle in his hand and contemplates kicking them all out and going back to his practice worksheet. Then he sighs and smiles, unwrapping the popsicle and gesturing to the girls he didn’t know. “So… who exactly are you?”

“Oh! Sorry.” The brown haired one laughs around her popsicle. “I’m Shauna!”

“Serena’s my name,” the other says, bowing her head slightly in Clemont’s direction.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Clemont, though you uh, probably knew that already.”

“Alright! Let’s go,” Ash says, dumping his popsicle stick in the bin (how did he eat it so fast?). He pretty much races to the door and swings it open, leaving the rest of the group in the dust. Everyone else laughs and goes to follow him. Clemont takes a last look back at his physics revision, then laughs softly to himself and walks out the front door, locking it behind him.

The entire group except Ash still have their popsicles, though Bonnie’s is almost gone. Serena falls to the back of the group, next to Clemont.

“So… Ash is pretty cool, huh?” she says, and Clemont gets the feeling she’s trying to imply something, but he doesn’t know what.

“Yeah, he’s awesome.” he says warily, wondering what she’s getting at.

She squints at him, and sighs, as if knowing he wasn’t going to get it. “I used to have a crush on him too, y’know.”

He jumps and squeaks in surprise. Ash and Shauna look back at them questioningly and Serena gives them a thumbs up. Clemont can feel his face getting warmer. “I don’t- what? I don’t have a crush on him!” he hisses, trying to not let Ash hear.

“It’s written all over your face. I’m so sorry.” Serena shakes her head slightly and smiles. “He is the worst person to have a crush on.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“He’s oblivious to everything around him unless it’s an animal.” She claps him lightly on the shoulder and starts to move back to walking beside Shauna and Bonnie. “Good luck.”

Clemont looks at the back of her head blankly for a minute. Ash glances back at him. “Hey Clemont, are you okay? Your face is kinda red,” he says, and Clemont shakily smiles at him and nods, unable to speak. He smiles back, and turns around.

Clemont stares at him for a second, then buries his gradually growing more and more red face in his hands.

He absolutely has a crush on Ash Ketchum.

---

Ash bursts into the apartment, and Clemont, having been walking near the door, yelps in surprise and jumps a foot in the air.

“Clemont! Clemont Clemont Clemont-”

“That is not what I gave you that key for!”

“Sorry, but look at these!” Ash shoves a box in Clemont’s face and he takes it and holds it away so he can read it. His face slowly morphs into a mix of disgust and intrigue.

“Peanut butter banana popsicles?”

“Exactly.”

“Wh-” Ash doesn’t wait for Clemont to finish his sentence, instead grabbing his hand and dragging him through to the living room. He’s been holding my hand a lot recently, Clemont realises.

Ash lets go of Clemont’s hand and grabs the box from him. He tosses him one of the popsicles, taking one for himself and throwing the box on the coffee table. He plops down on the couch and tears off the wrapping.

Clemont sits down next to him and unwraps his one, watching as Ash lifts his to his mouth and takes a bite out of it. He immediately makes a face.

“It’s not… bad?” he says, uncertainly. “These flavours should not be cold.”

“Why do you bite into them?” Clemont shakes his head fondly and gives his popsicle an experimental lick. “I like it.”

They eat them in silence and Ash finishes his in under a minute like usual. He taps his finger on his leg a few times before getting up.

“Is this the only reason you came over?” Clemont asks amusedly, and Ash grins sheepishly.

“It was, but do you wanna go do something?”

Clemont tilts his head. “Like what?”

“I dunno, like, go get a milkshake or something.”

“We just had popsicles.”

Ash grins. “Your point?”

Clemont sighs fondly, finishing off his lolly and grabbing the wrappers and Ash's stick to put in the bin. “Okay, let's go.”

Ash blinks. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, sounds fun.”

Ash smiles even wider, and races out the door. Clemont isn't too worried about catching up - Ash doesn't have a car and can't drive, so he won't get very far.

Sure enough, Ash is waiting impatiently next to Clemont's car, and hops in immediately as soon as he unlocks it. Clemont laughs and gets in the driver's side.

“Can we go to Cafe Soleil?” Ash asks.

“What? That's on the other side of the city.”

“Yeah, but they have the best milkshakes.”

Clemont knows this is not a fight he can win, so he drives to Cafe Soleil without complaint.

They tumble into the warm cafe, and Ash orders two milkshakes to go.

(“Clemont, what do you want?”

“Uh… strawberry's fine.”

“One strawberry milkshake please, and uh… do you do banana?”

“I'm sorry, we don't.”

“Chocolate's fine, then.”)

“Clem.” Ash whines when they get out of the shop. “Clem.”

“What?”

“It's almost sunset.”

“...Yeah?”

“Can we go out to the firefly field?” Ash's eyes sparkle, and Clemont doesn't even know what the firefly field is, but he knows they're going there.

“The what?”

“The firefly field! Have you never been there?”

“...No?” Clemont says, wondering if he'll get home tonight or spend eternity in the “firefly field”.

“Come on, you have to go!” Ash exclaims, tugging on Clemont's shirt sleeve.

“Okay, we can go! You're gonna have to give me directions though,” Clemont says, but Ash is already back in the car.

They drive out of the city, sipping on their milkshakes (well, in Ash's case his milkshake was gone before they left the street) and Ash giving directions.

“This is the place!” he says happily, and Clemont stares out the window at a seemingly random cornfield. The sun was setting at this point, and it was getting dark already. Ash jumps out of the car and Clemont follows, slightly bewildered.

“What's up with this… random cornfield?”

“We gotta wait for the sun to go down.” Ash sits on the bonnet of the car and gazes up at the yellow-orange sky. Clemont sits next to him, but can't focus on the sun and keeps catching himself staring at Ash, and the way the sun reflects on his face.

The sun slowly goes down over the horizon as they watch, until it disappears completely. Ash sighs happily, then jumps down off the car and goes to the fence of the cornfield.

“What are you-” Clemont starts, then gasps as Ash hops the fence and fireflies spring up around his feet. “...doing?”

Ash grins at him, the light from the lightning bugs illuminating his face. He runs his hand over the stems and tiny lights spring up from under his fingers.

It's mesmerising.

“Come on, Clem, it's fine!” Ash spins in a circle, lights floating around him and making him look like a god commanding his army of angels.

In the back of his mind, Clemont realises this is trespassing, but he doesn't really care. With some difficulty, he climbs over the fence, and the fireflies respond to his hands as well.

Ash cheers, and suddenly grabs his hand and tugs him through the field. They run along, laughing as bugs fly up behind them, until they eventually collapse in the middle of the stems.

Their laughter slowly dies out and they fall into a comfortable silence. The stars are starting to show now, and Clemont wonders if he'll ever have the energy to get up.

---

Clemont hovers nervously outside Ash's apartment with a brightly coloured box. He keeps going to knock, but then thinking better of it.

Eventually, he manages to do three quick knocks on the door, then immediately panics as he hears Ash's voice on the other side call out “Coming!”

This was a mistake.

He has to wait a bit for Pikachu to be put in the other room, but eventually Ash opens the door and grins when he realises who it is.

“Hey Clem! What's up?”

“Uh, I…” Clemont's having a lot of second thoughts about this idea, and none of them are good. “I have to talk to you about something.”

Ash blinks, face becoming serious, and he seems to notice the box. “Is that… a box of popsicles?”

“Y-yeah, it's, uh… it's just to lighten the mood? I guess?” He laughs awkwardly. “I'm so sorry, this was a bad idea-”

“No, it's okay!” Clemont glances up at Ash. He's looking at him with a weird expression on his face. “Come in, uh, make yourself at home.”

Clemont shuffles into the living room, putting the box on the coffee table, next to the picture of Ash and Kaya that still hasn't been moved. They both sit on the couch, slightly more stiff than normal.

“So, what did you wanna talk to me about?” Ash asks, tilting his head (adorably) slightly.

Clemont can feel his face start to heat up already, and he hasn't even started talking yet. “Okay, well, uh…” He takes a deep breath. “I… like you,” he almost whispers. “I really like you. Like, romantically, I mean,” he adds hastily, knowing how dense Ash could be sometimes. “And I don't- you don't have to pretend to like me back, or anything, and I'm sorry, and I've probably made this more awkward than it has to be, and-”

Clemont is cut off by Ash's lips on top of his.

His brain barely registers the fact Ash is kissing me, before Ash is pulling away, panic in his eyes.

“I'm sorry! I didn't mean- I just-”

Clemont shuts him up by kissing him again, and one hand goes up and tangles in his mess of dark curls. Ash starts kissing back after a moment of shock, hand caressing Clemont's cheek.

Ash tastes like banana popsicles and the off-brand peppermint toothpaste he uses. Like fireflies in a field surrounded by stars, and the cold, cold wind blowing through the stalks.

They break apart and Clemont looks into Ash's widened eyes. He imagines his own expression isn't much better.

“I really like you too,” Ash whispers, and Clemont kisses him again.

[veedramon-beanie]

Ignore the empty shelf at the bottom left and the (long since disassembled and now partial) Digimon collection on the top right shelf, but here’s the result of my late night sorting yesterday!  It’s so cool to see all my Pokemon plush set up together like this, aaa....!  I’ll go through them shelf by shelf so you guys can get a better look at everything!  I’m not gonna bother naming everything, though, like I normally do with my Digimon - because that’s too much work!  I’ll mention notable things, though.  Also assume most of my non-jakks pacific plush are bootlegs lmao, I know some that probably aren’t (bought on ebay, purposefully avoided bootlegs bc the officials/a certain style of official looked nicer, or bought off of a probably reputable site) and some that 100% aren’t (bought from the store, ie english-released Tomys and Pokedolls I bought straight from a Pokemon Center in Washington)

First shelf!  Just a shelf for special plush, or more accurately, plush I didn’t have room for anywhere else by the time I remembered to put them in.  Mimikyu is probably real since I was avoiding the bootlegs (so many cheap bootlegs...!  They looked soft, but I just loved the accessories on the official one too much to go with a bootleg...because the bootleg’s look so poorly made in comparison) and the Substitute plushie is.  Well.  I honestly don’t know.  I’ll be putting all my future plush up here too even if they have a place to go because haha, whoops, those shelves are p a c k e d in case you can’t tell.

Second shelf!  Here I have my normal types and electric types.  Fun fact: that Jakks Pacific Pikachu is my first ever Pokemon plush ever!  Cliche, I know.  But I picked him out from the only other option (bonsly) and he was the only non-bonsly plush in the store.  Also I like Pikachu, he’s cute.

Water type and Ice type shelf!  Aka best starter type shelf, even if my preferences vary over the generations.  That Keldeo secret sword form (at least I think it’s that form?) was bought from an irl Pokemon Center!  I go there every time we go on vacation to Washington (my dad has work up there every so often and we used to have family up there, but we haven’t gone for a few years...)  I wish I got that Amaura, Greninja, and Popplio from the Pokemon Center, tho, haha.  Also fun fact - the glaceon behind the popplio is probably a bootleg (it came with the same kind of tag as the vaporeon) but I actually bought it from a real store.  I felt like it had to be real if a real store was selling it for $10 and it had an alarm on it and everything, right?  I feel jipped.  Give me back my money, Universal Studios, I bought it in that Hollywood walk or w/e the fuck near your park.  Nah I’m kidding; I like getting plushies as souvenirs from places when I go on trips, and it was cool to get a Pokemon one!

Fire, fighting, rock, and ground type shelf!  That Tyrunt was also bought from the same Pokemon center (at a later date, though).  Also, that Jakks Pacific monferno in the back is the second ever Pokemon plush I bought!

Sorry for the light change on the next two, but:

Grass types and (er, some) dragon and flying types~!  The black thing in the back is a mega shiny rayquaza, but he’s actually way more massive than he appears in the picture!  Also, the smaller snivy is something I got from the Pokemon Center as well!  I actually didn’t mean to buy it, but I got it for free with one (that’s in the next picture - meloetta) and hey, I can’t complain if the machine gives me a free Pokemon!  The bigger snivy I got wayyy back when Black and White hadn’t released over here in the US yet (ah, the dark days when you had to wait for english translations of Pokemon games...) and I actually recently found his long-since-detached tag that I for some reason kept...cool!  (God I want the shiny version of this plush soooo badly though, shiny snivy was the first legit/non-event/ect shiny I ever got in the games and not to mention I have an emotional attachment to that specific plush anyways...totally a holy grail of mine!  Maybe some day I can get it....[unlikely, lmao, especially since I have cheaper holy grails I want like the porygon2 pokedoll and any Digimon beanie ever- but I can still dream...])

And the last shelf - my dark, ghost, psychic, fairy, and dragon types that I accidentally forgot to account for when doing the other shelves and then was like “well, shit” so I had to stick them here!  Yes I know tyrunt is on another shelf and noibat and noivern are flying/dragon and 100% should be on other shelves but by the time I remembered to put them + the shiny tyrantrum anywhere, I didn’t have enough room...all three of the plush are pretty big (especially noivern and tyrantrum tho) and as you can see, the flying Pokemon (and dragon too, but it’s harder to tell) and Tyrunt are some of the closest to the front and thus some of the last ones to be put on the shelf - and given that the bigger ones need to go to the back, I didn’t have a lot of options here.  PS - there’s a shadow lugia (99% likely to be a bootleg) pokedoll between umbreon and togekiss/next to the bigger shadow lugia and the purloin/absol and a Jakks Pacific lugia (100% legit, bought it from target at the same time I bought pichu a few pictures back) behind the meloetta (also 100% legit, got from the Pokemon center with the snivy) and the shiny Tyrantrum (100% fake, but it’s fuckin fantastically well-made)

Tbh though, I’d really recommend those bigger bootlegs, esp for Pokemon that are near impossible if not 100% impossible (like shiny mons that dont have actual shiny plush, or legitimately un-plushified mons) to get your hands on.  They have Digimon ones too (one of which I own - a Dracomon!) that are equally as varied and that’s pretty fantastic considering how selective Digimon is with its merchandise compared to Pokemon.  I know bootlegs are bad but they’re soooo nice, plus you can’t claim they’re stealing nintendo’s profits when nintendo (or bandai) hasn’t even made plush of those characters yet and likely has no plans to...so especially if you’re buying second-hand I’d go for it!  But of course, that’s really a matter of personal preference; you do what you’re most comfortable with ^^ but if you feel lowkey bad but still wanna buy one, just buy ones that don’t have legit counterparts, or something like that.  Or buy legitimate ones alongside the fake ones; that way you have a giant cuddle buddy that isn’t worth much collecting-wise AND a rarer, legit plush that you can put on display!

Anyways feel free to let me know if you would like to see any plushies more closely!  Always happy to do that~

[staytheb]

Treat Me

Pairing: PTG’s Yuto x OC [Melanie] || PTG’s Yeo One x OC [Serena] Genre: college!au, slice of life, slight fluff Word Count: 8,461 Summary: Scavenger Hunt for a Trick or Treat event must be totally fun especially when you're dressed as a SWAT member and a Pikachu and the theme is sexy. part two {Really Hoping You Would}

Warning: college life, young adult theme... nothing too big i think.

i honestly have no idea where this story came from or how it happened, but it did and i actually was impress with myself in writing something like this because i never get around to writing a lot of stuff in a short period of time. anyways, now that i think about it, it was around Halloween when the story came up and i did watch Mean Girls and had friends that wanted to dress... a little more freely with the excuse of Halloween being that day that allows for it or something like that. but yeah, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

"Hey, PTG's having another Trick Or Treat event again this year." Jasmine announced to her other three roommates as the pair of sisters were lounging in their living room while she continued reading from her phone. "They're having a scavenger hunt that leads to some grand prize later today." "Ooh, that sounds fun. Let's go." Melanie grinned as she looked up from her iPad that she was currently watching a drama on. "I really love these events of theirs. What time does it actually start?" "It's at five." "That's like in six hours." Jennie said looking up from her laptop. "Are they doing the costume contest again this year?"

"Yeah." Jasmine confirmed with a smirk. "It's sexy theme for the ladies and whatever for the males." Serena scoffed while reading a book. "Any excuse to see females in skimpy outfits. Cliche." "Although true, but it's not that bad, Rina." Melanie informed her sister. "Last year the tricks were playing games with the PTG members while the treats were store bought chocolate and candies after completing a mission of sort or whatever." Jasmine laughed remembering last Halloween's event. "Ah, right. I remember that one time I had to bob for apples with Jinho to win this huge ass unicorn plush. That was so much fun."

"Of course your boyfriend got super jealous since you went to PTG's Halloween event first instead of NCT's." Jennie reminded her twin as Jasmine dismissed it. "Johnny got over it when I finally showed up." "Does he know you're going to PTG's tonight?" Serena asked shooting her friend a knowing look while Jasmine grinned. "No." Serena then looked over at Jennie. "So what about you, Jen? Does Namjoon know you're also interested in PTG's besides BTS'?" "He'll get over it. He hardly gets mad, anyways. Unlike, Mel and her boo." "Mark and I broke up a few months ago." Melanie confirmed. "I don't have to worry about him or GOT now."

"No wonder I haven't seen him around then. Mark was a bit possessive." Serena said as Melanie rolled her eyes. "Dn't say 'I told you so'." "I won't. Boys are such a hassle." "Wait a minute, Rina." Jasmine interjected." What about you and that MX member. Uh, what's his name? Wonho, right?" "Nothing happened with him, Jas. He has too much girls and even guys lining up for his attention. I'm not spending my time with that shit." "Dude, Serena, then tonight should be perfect for you to scope the male population at PTG's event." Jennie grinned as Jasmine added. "Or with SVT since they're having a talent showcase for their Halloween event."

Serena shook her head. "No thanks." "Just because of Wonho?" Melanie shot her sister a narrowed look while Serena rolled her eyes. "I didn't know he was a frat boy until last week or so." "Either you're dumb or don't get out much." Melanie deadpanned before grinning. "I say you're both, but more dumb though." "Shut up, Mel." The other three laugh as Serena rolled her eyes while standing up and stretched her limbs. "Whatever. I'm gonna go to class as you talk about your plans for tonight." "You're coming along, too, Rina!" Jasmine called after Serena' retreating back with the other two joining in causing Serena to shake her head.

"I can't believed I let you guys drag me to this PTG event shit." Serena muttered as she looked down at her Pikachu costume. "And I can't believe I let you guys convinced me to wear this costume, too." "Oh, hush, you look good." Jasmine told her while wearing the Baby Doll outfit from Sucker Punch. "You've had that costume stuffed in your closet since last year, Serena, so don't act like you weren't going to wear it at all." Jennie grinned as she was dressed as a witch. "I know right." Melanie agreed with a laughed as she was dressed as a SWAT agent. "Might as well use it for tonight given the opportunity."

"Whatever." Serena grumbled as Jennie hooked arms with her so that she wouldn't escape while the quartet lined up outside PTG's fraternity house. "I'm surprised there's a lot of people despite the other frat houses doing an event on the same night" Serena said while looking around. "Yeah, you really need to get out more." Melanie stated as Serena frowned "No thanks." "Ha, then we can got to NCT house next." Jasmine grinned. "The boys are doing a haunted house." "Oh and after we can head over to BTS because they're having a costume dance off." Jennie added next while nudging Serena. "You'll have totes fun." "No."

As the line moved along the girls were each given a piece of small white paper and were told about what to do with it. They had to go around the house and collect stamps from five pairs of PTG members in a red with gold accents military jackets while doing certain activities to earn the five stamps. If they earned all five stamps they would receive a grand prize and would have to wait until the even was over before further details were revealed. The quartet decided to split into pairs to navigate better and faster with each pair of sisters teaming up and would meet up once they completed everything on the stamp card.

"This is so dumb." Serena complained as Melanie rolled her eyes while the two began to explore the frat house. "It's okay. You'll be fine." Melanie then glanced at the paper. "Which one do you wanna do first?" "Neither." "C'mon, Rina just pick one." "No, Mel." "Dude, seriously. Rina just choose between performance, dance, teamwork, talent, or mind." "Ugh, fine. Performance." "Okay. We need to find the two members and we're good." "This doesn't feel like Halloween at all." "You'll never know. We just have to wait and see." "Why do I have a feeling you're enjoying this more than I think you should?" "Because you don't go out." "True."

"Hey, hey, hey, everyone! Welcome to HuiDawn's Karaoke Time!" Hwitaek, the president of PTG, announced excitedly alongside his vice-president, Hyojung, who was banging a tambourine against his palm with a smile when the sisters arrived on the first floor of the house. "Who's ready to sing-a-long with us to get their stamp?!" The crowd cheer as it began. Some time lter it was Melanie and Serena's turn with the duo as Hwitaek greeted Melanie warmly. "Melanie, hey! Thanks for coming by tonight." "I wouldn't miss it even though you're hella annoying, Hui." "Rude." Hyojung looked over at Serena with a curious face. "Do I know you?"

"No. I don't attend these events." Serena answered as Hyojung peered closer and then it clicked as he gave her costume a once over. "Serena!" Hyojung exclaimed as he laughed while Serena eyed him weirdly. "I knew you like Pikachu a lot, but I never thought you would actually dress up as one. That's so funny." He turned towards Hwitaek and softly smacked him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Dude, Hui, it's Serena." Hwitaek looked over at Serena, broke into a huge grin, and started laughing upon recognizing her. "OMG, you're right E'Dawn. Serena, hey. Pikachu suits you." "I know right?" Melanie grinned. "She's forever a kid."

"Rina has always been a kid." Hyojung chuckled as Serena still eyed him suspiciously. "Don't act like you know me." The trio looked at her funny. "You don't remember us?" Hwitaek asked with a puzzled look as Serena shook her head. "Should I?" "Oh, it must be because of our nicknames and it's been awhile." Hyojung reasoned as he elbowed his friend. "She doesn't know us by our new names now since we don't interact much." "It's Hwitaek." "And Hyojung." The males pointed at themselves as Serena's face went from confusion to recognition and then to a neutral one. "I can't believe you guys joined a fraternity."

"Not just joined. I'm the president of Phi Tau Gamma." Hwitaek explained as Hyojung grinned. "And I'm the vice-president." "OMG, that's even worst." "That's mean." "Anyways, you three can catch up later." Melanie interjected as she presented her card. "Rina and I are here for the Trick Or Treat event." "Oh, right." The duo got back on track and explained how their segment worked. "Both of you have to sing a duet with us and after that we'll stamp your card." "Easy." "You have to score seventy points or higher." "Boo." "Okay, let's skip and leave already." Serena said as Hwitaek took a hold of her arm. "Not so fast, girl."

"Ugh, what?" "You guys just started. We're the easy stage." "I don't doubt it." Hwitaek rolled his eyes, but continued speaking with a cheerful face. "After us you move on to the Dance stage." "Oh joy." Serena showed her enthusiasm with a flat tone. "Whatever, Rina. Let's play." Melanie dismissed as Hyojung smiled while showing her a number pad from one to nine. "Choose one." "Um, six." Melanie pointed at the even number as Hwitaek held up another pad. "Now choose a color." "Obviously it's blue." "Your love for blue I swear." "Of course." "So blue and six. Now which one is that and oh! It's Wiz Kalifa's See You Again." "I love that song!"

"I hate that song." Serena mumbled only because her sister has been playing it on repeat since it came out. "Nine. Black." Serena answered a second later with Hyojung chuckling. "Like your heart. Still the same as ever." "Mmhmm." "Yes. Jason Derulo's Want to Want Me." Hwitaek cheered as Serena groaned. "Ugh, this song's overplayed, too." "Well, let's start!" Hyojung handed Melanie a microphone as he held one in his hand with a grin. "You're my partner." "Sweet." Melanie grinned as Hwitaek then handed Serena a microphone. "And you're mine." "You wish." Serena scoffed while taking the microphone as Hwitaek smiled sly at her.

"Not when you're Yeo One's girl." "I'm who's girl?" "No one." He coughed with a smile still on his lips. "Let's began." He pointed at Melanie and Hyojung. "E'Dawn and Mel go first and then it's me and Rina." "Cool." Both pairs sang their song with cheers from the onlookers and Melanie and Hyojung were the winners because Serena wasn't in the mood to sing nor did she really know the lyrics, but luckily Hwitaek saved them as he was able to score high enough for her to get a stamp. "And congratulations on earning your first pentagon stamp." Hwitaek exclaimed as he stamped both of their papers. "The Dance team's in the bigger living room."

"Everyone, welcome to Phi Tau Gamma's Dance Dance Time!" Shinwon announced with a grin while doing some cute dance moves. "Now who wants to dance with us?!" Hyunggu yelled with an excited expression as the onlookers cheer while he did a short spin with a suave pose. Serena recognized one of the duo and let out a groan. "Ugh, I know that kid. I didn't know he was a frat boy. Och, he's so annoying." "Which one?" Melanie asked as the two drew nearer before it was their turn to play games with the PTG members. "Because I know the both of them." "Of course you would." "No, duh. Unlike you, you loner." "Whatever."

When it was finally the pair's turn Hyunggu noticed Melanie first and checked her out while lifting his hands up in a playful manner. "Whoa, Melanie. I ain't done nothing wrong, yet, but I'll still let you frisk me only for tonight because it's a given and I wouldn't get in trouble." Melanie rolled her eyes at the male as she lightly smacked him. "Don't be such a brat." Hyunggu chuckled before moving his eyes to Serena with a sly look. "Damn, Serena. Is that you?" He gave her a once over. "I didn't know you got some legs on ya." "Shut up, Hyunggu." Serena glared at him as Hyunggu rolled his eyes. "Girl, I told you it was Kino." "Whatever, Hyunggu."

"Oh, Rina, you meant Kino. Yeah, he's definitely a brat." Melanie laughed as Hyunggu pouted at her playfully. "Aww, don't be that way, Melanie. I thought I was your favorite one." "No, I'm her favorite." Shinwon stated as he wrapped an arm around Melanie's shoulder. "Isn't that right?" "No." Hyunggu laughed as Shinwon just elbowed him away while shooting Melanie a smile. "You better be nice to me or I'll do something." "Do it then." Melanie replied nonchalantly as Shinwon frowned and removed his arm. "You're no fun." "Exactly. Now, how does this stage work?" She asked while holding up her card and nudged her sister to show hers.

"Oh right, right." Shinwon chuckled as he pointed behind him. "You guys will compete with us on the Pump-It-Up dance machine." Hyunggu held up a jar with ten spoons inside. "Just choose one and it'll determine your level." "Seriously?" Serena eyed him and the jar as Hyunggu smile. "Yes, Serena, seriously. Now please choose one." "Whatever." Serena pulled out a spoon with her sister following and then the two PTG members. Both Shinwon and Melanie pulled a normal while Serena had crazy and Hyunggu had freestyle. "Yay, we're competing against each other." Shinwon grinned as he and Melanie high-five one another.

Hyunggu cheekily cast Serena a smile. "It's me and you, but would you prefer we both do freestyle instead?" "Nah, it's fine. You do you and I'll do me." "Don't say I didn't let you off easy if you lose." "Mmhmm." Anyways, the first pair was Melanie and Shinwon as they had chosen GFriend's Me Gustas Tu while Serena and Hyuggu had chosen Big Bang's BANG BANG BANG. Both sisters lost to the frat boys and Melanie slightly frowned. "So I'm guessing we won't get our card stamp?" "We'll let you guys have the stamp only if Serena calls me by Kino and tells me I'm a super cool guy." Hyunggu grinned as Serena stared at him. "No."

"If I was Yeo One you would." Shinwon slightly elbowed Hyunggu as Serena tilted her head in confusion. "If you were who?" "No one." Hyunggu said instead with a sweet smile while Melanie nudged her sister. "Just do it. I want that grand prize." "Seriously?" "Yeah." Serena gave in with a small groan. "Kino you're a super cool guy." "Could you say that with actual feelings. You sound like you don't mean it." "I don't." Melanie nudged Serena again while Serena let out a defeated sigh and faked her tone. "Kino! You're such a super cool guy! I wish I could be as cool as you!" "Now that's more like it!" "Jerk." "You know you love me." "Get real."

Hyunggu stamped a pentagon shape onto each of their cards. "Have fun with the rest of the scavenger hunt you two." "Yeah, you'll be heading over to the Teamwork stage that's out back." Shinwon grinned as he held up several folded piece of papers. "This is for the next challenge, but you can't open it until you reach the Teamwork stage. Don't open them yet. It'll ruined the surprise." He explained. "Well, y'all know what I'll choose." Melanie grinned as she plucked the blue folded paper as Serena grabbed the red that was closes to her. "Awesome. It's out back. You can't miss it!" Hyunggu grinned as he waved them off.

The duo arrived to a larger crowd for the Teamwork stage. "Is everyone ready to see our awesome Phi Tau Gamma teamwork with you tonight?" Jinho asked the crowd with Hongseok popping poppers which scared Jinho a bit. "Next time warn me." Hongseok laughed as he nodded his head. "Sure thing. Gonna do another one soon." Hongseok popped another just as Jinho barely covered his ears. "Aww Jinho looks so cute in his outfit while Hongseok looks damn good." Melanie commented as Serena rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Only you would say something like that that separates the two despite wearing the same thing." "Duh."

"Anyways, how are the twins doing?" Serena asked a second later as they waited for their turn because she forgot her phone back at the dorm. "They left. They barely completed the Mind stage when their boyfriends wanted them." Melanie explained as she typed back in their group chat. "That's dumb. Doesn't NCT start at nine and BTS at seven or something like that?" "Yeah, but I dunno. The twins want us to let them know how far we've gone and to tell them what the grand prize is if we get that far." "Yeah, of course, because of you." "That's right." Melanie grinned as she finished replying back. "Just admit you're having fun." "Sure."

The female duo finally reached their turn with the two PTG members who greeted them happily. "Ohh, hello ladies, welcome." Jinho cast Melanie a cute look. "It's good seeing you again for another of our Trick Or Treat event, Melanie." "Of course, Jinho. I even dragged this loner to come along with the help of the twins." Melanie pointed at Serena who was already trying to free herself out of Hongseok's hold on her. "Gah, you're annoying. Let me go, Seok." Serena said as she tried to get out of the headlock he put her in. "Let me have my moment, Rina." "You're so lucky I'm not an actual Pikachu, Hongseok."

"You'll be too cute even if you were an actual Pikachu, Serena." Hongseok chuckled as he finally let her go and she punched him in the chest causing some of the onlookers to look on with envious. "I'm not cute." "Yeah, right, just like Jinho." Melanie countered as Jinho became flustered. "I'm not cute." "Sure you aren't." Melanie chuckled as she held up her stamp card. "But let's get back to this. We're always getting distracted for some reason." "That's just you, Melanie. I didn't even want to come." Serena explained as Hongseok poked her cheek. "Oh c'mon. There must be somebody you wanted to see. Me or Yeo One?"

He grinned at her cheekily as Serena tilted her head with a weird look directed at the male. "Why do you guys keep saying that. Yeo? Yo? Whatever. Hwitaek and Hyunggu mentioned it, too. Should I know about it?" "Well-" Melanie began, but she got cut off by both Hongseok and Jinho. "It's no one. That's what we meant." Hongseok smiled a bit awkwardly at her. "Yeah, let's start on the teamwork, Serena." Jinho grinned at her while holding a very large and long white board that had the ladder game on it. "You go first, Rina. Choose a start point and we'll find out what games we'll play to showcase our excellent teamwork."

"Yeah, sure whatever." Serena chose the third line while Melanie chose the sixteenth line. "Oh, yeah by the way," Melanie began as she showed them her blue paper, "Shinwon and Hyunggu mentioned something about showing you guys this." "Oh, right." Jinho plucked the paper out of Melanie's hand to reveal what it had on. "Melanie, your mission is that you need to do thirty high-fives." Hongseok took Serena's and read it with laughter. "Serena, yours is to do ten fly kisses." "Ugh, you're kidding me, right?" "No." He held up the red paper for her to read. "And you and I have to pop balloons between our chests." "Seriously?" "Yeah." He laughed.

"Better than Jinho and I doing the mouth tissue game." Melanie countered as Jinho laughed nervously while nudging her playfully. "Hey, you're the one that chose an even number that led to that game." He mumbled the last part. "I hope he won't get jealous." "What did you say?" Melanie asked him as Jinho flashed her a bright smile. "Nothing. I didn't say anything. Let's begin!" Both pairs were each timed for one minute to do their mission and showcase how well their teamwork was with one another. Melanie and Jinho were having difficulties due to the type of tissues they were using as it was more plastic than paper.

While Serena groaned and grew annoyed every time Hongseok placed a balloon between them and would squeeze her with such force to pop the item before she herself could even assist him with it. Unfortunately for her, the fly kisses were hard to do while popping the balloons unlike the other pair as Serena would try to blow kisses at Hongseok, but it was interrupted by the popping of balloons. Melanie was able to do thirty high-fives with Jinho as she used both of her hands to cut down the time in doing them. Of course, only three paper tissues were passed and completed since they were laughing in the process of doing it as well.

Still though the PTG members gave the sisters each their pentagon stamp for their efforts with completing at least one of the two missions and because the boys knew who they were as they were good friends. "If they're bruises tomorrow, Seok, I'ma drop kick you." Serena warned him as Hongseok laughed. "You'll be fine. You're a strong Pokemon." "You're hilarious." "I know." "Shut up." "Anyways, the next stage is Talent. That should be on the side of the house on the right hand side." Jinho informed them while motioning where they should head on next. "Good luck, ladies." Both males wished the females as the quartet bid their farewells.

"So how was it being so close and holding Hongseok's body?" Melanie teased Serena who shot her sister a look. "Nothing special." She answered before continuing. "Hongseok's more than just his body, y'know." "Yeah, Serena, I know. I'm not friends with him just for his looks." "I know, but it's annoying when other girls gush about his body this and that. Ugh, he's more than that." "Do you have a crush on him?" "No. We're just friends and don't you remember when we did try the whole dating thing, but it was more awkward. Friends we forever will be." "Okay, good, because I thought you didn't like that one guy." "What guy?"

"Oh, look. We've reached the Talent stage." Melanie announced with a smile as she dodged the question and Serena just let it go. "Hello everyone!" Wooseok greeted the crowd with oomph. "We're showing off our amazing skills with this talent event. It's a little more physical than it sounds, but that's the fun of it isn't it?" Yuto juggled a few different types of balls within his grasp. "Yeah, we got baseball, basketball, soccer, and football to name a few." "Oh, it's sports related, Melanie. Can you do it?" Serena mused as Melanie shrugged indifferently. "I guess I can try." "You can barely throw straight." "Shut up."

The pair waited for several minutes until it was their turn before being greeted by the two PTG members. "Hey, Melanie! Nice costume." Wooseok greeted, but he was looking at Serena. "I thought you would be hanging out at GOT's event because of Mark." Yuto was the one that correct his fellow member. "That's not Melanie, Wooseok. That's her sister, Serena." He then pointed at Melanie. "That's Melanie." "Oh my bad, ladies." Wooseok apologized with a cute smile. "No worries." "It's all good." The sisters dismissed. Melanie ignored the GOT question and shot Yuto a smile. "I'm surprised you remember, especially my sister's name."

"Of course, Melanie, since it has to deal with Yeo One about your sister." Yuto answered with a laugh, but Serena wasn't paying attention to the conversation. "I also have a good memory." Yuto shot Melanie a knowing smile as the female smile, but cast her eyes away. "Ah, true, but yeah here you go." Melanie held up her card as the male duo let out low whistles. "You have one more stage with the last PTG members after us. Nice." Wooseok nodded his head in approval. "Are you guys ready to play?" "Is it for several of the ball games or just one?" Serena asked after she had scanned the set-up for each ball sport behind the duo.

"It's for two of the sports of your choice." Yuto explained as he set the rest of the balls in his hands onto the table with the rest of them. "Which two would you like to compete in?" "Oh, I'm fine with either sport. I'll let Mel choose instead." Serena said as she motioned at the other female. "Choose, Mel." "Oh, um," Melanie scanned the balls and chose two she was more familiar with, "How about the baseball and football challenges?" "Good choices." Yuto smiled as he picked up both balls that were mentioned. "You know that baseball was my thing?" "No. I didn't. It isn't now?" "I just don't play it often." "Oh, okay."

"It's because he's too busy with another type of sport." Wooseok mused as Yuto cast him a slight glare. "Uh, please disregard what he meant by that." Melanie chuckled as she nodded her head. "Sure thing, Yuto." "Okay. This is how we play." Wooseok began as he held up the football. "We each have three turns per sport. Y'all just have to throw the ball into one of those three holes in that cut-out over there." Wooseok explained as he pointed at a stand out that had three holes in it, but of different sizes with the smallest at the top and the biggest at the bottom.

"The biggest one gets you five points. The middle one gets you twenty points. The smallest one gets you fifty points because it's harder to actually achieve." Yuto finished with a smile while tossing the baseball in the air. "So are you ready?" "Yeah." The sisters nodded their heads with the two PTG members going first and scoring a total of one hundred and eighty points. "YUTODA!" Yuto exclaimed as he scored the fifty points after throwing the baseball through the smallest hole while he and Wooseok high-five one another and pumping their fists into the air. "We can give you ladies a handicap." Wooseok told them as Serena shook her head.

"Nah, we're fine. We'll play fairly." "I think you should take the handicap." Yuto advised with a puzzled look. "It automatically gives your team fifty points from the get-go and because you're girls." "It's all good, Yuto." Melanie declined with a smile as she held the football. "Let's do this." The sisters ended up scoring two hundred and ten points with Serena scoring ninety points in each sport and Melanie scoring enough to help the duo be in the lead. "MELONDA!" Melanie exclaimed in mocked excitement of what Yuto had done earlier while two sisters high-five and laughed at it upon seeing the males' surprised faces.

"You're actually the first female pair that beat us without using the handicap or well pair for tonight." Wooseok chuckled as he stamped their cards. "It's because we would rather play fairly." Serena reasoned before her lips curved upwards a bit smug. "Also I played a lot of sports back in grade school throughout high school with the boys as they were better players than girls." "Ah, that makes sense." "Yeah, she even thrashed the boys and would always shout 'RINI RULES'. It was kind of annoying actually." "Shut up." "Oh yeah, that reminds me." Yuto interjected. "What was up with the MELONDA, Melanie?"

He cast Melanie a weird look while Melanie laughed. "Well, I was obviously copying you." "But that's my signature line." "Whatever, Yuto. Don't be such a baby." "I'm not a baby." "But he wants to be your baby, Melanie." Wooseok muttered as Yuto elbowed him. "Shut up." "What?" Melanie asked as she didn't hear what Wooseok had said. "It's nothing." Yuto smiled sweetly at her. "Anyways, the last stage is Mind and you'll find that back inside the house in our conference room." "Seriously?" Melanie deadpanned. "Yeah. It is a scavenger hunt." Wooseok chuckled as he and Yuto bid the sisters goodbye while the females headed back inside.

"You have a thing for Yuto, don't you? I saw your eyes sparkled when you talked to him." Serena teased as Melanie rolled her eyes. "My eyes did not sparkle." "If you were an emoji you would have the shining heart eyes." "Shut up. We just have a lot classes this semester." "Uh huh. Maybe another reason on why you broke up with Mark." "Yeah, that's a high possibility." Melanie chuckled as the duo arrived and entered the conference room. "I wonder what kind of games we'll play here." Melanie wondered out loud as Serena laughed. "Probably some problem or puzzle or thinking games." "True. It is the Mind stage."

"Hi everyone!" Changgu greeted the onlookers with a loud voice. "How is everyone enjoying the games and scavenger hunt so far?" A few people yelled out their answers as Yanan talked next with an excited tone. "We still have plenty mind games here and are waiting for those to complete the five stages!" More people cheered loudly as Changgu spoke next. "I know the event started at five, but it's about to be over in half an hour." Everyone let out boos after hearing the news. "But don't worry. We'll have the costume contest which someone or some people will win some money and a pass to PTG's Christmas after party bash!"

Once again people were thrilled at the news. "Anyways, let's get the line moving so we can discover who will get the grand prize for completing the scavenger hunt!" Yanan finished as they resumed the games again. "Oh, we totally have to participate in the costume contest, Rina." Melanie grinned as she cheekily looked at her sister. "I'm sure you'll get plenty of votes." "Och, stop. I was already getting weird looks walking around in this." Serena rolled her eyes while she pulled the bottom part of the yellow fabric down as it kept riding up her thighs. "I don't need to be oogled at more while in front of everyone else." "Mmhmm. Sure."

It was finally the sisters' turn with Changgu grinning at Serena cutely while giving her a once over. "Oh hello there Miss Pikachu." "Uh, hi." Serena awkwardly smiled back at him. "You're pretty friendly." "I try." Melanie rolled her eyes playfully as she leaned closer to Yanan to whisper for only him to hear. "I wonder why." Yanan chuckled with a nod. "I know, right?" "Mmhmm." "So Mel, are you having fun so far? Too bad the twins couldn't finished the scavenger hunt." "That's right, They were here before their boyfriends wanted them." "Yeah. Jennie was about to beat Yeo One, but her phone interrupted her." "Ah, that sucks." "Yeah."

"So, are you two ready to play the telepathy game?" Changgu asked once everyone's focus was on the game. "No." Both Melanie and Serena replied causing the two PTG members to 'ooh'. "Wow, already on the same wave length." Changgu grinned as Yanan looked over at him. "I hope we are, too." "I hope so, too, because we've been off our game all night." Yanan laughed and looked at the sisters. "So we'll answer five action questions and you guys have to do the same poses to these words." He explained. "And that determines which team gets the most wins." "Easy, right?" Changgu grinned as the sisters nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, we'll let you guys go first and then we'll go." Yanan said as he held up some folded papers for the pair to choose. "Pick one for us and we'll pick yours." Melanie picked once again picked the blue colored paper before handing it over to Serena as Changgu picked the green paper next and handed it to Yanan. "Alright, ladies, let us know when you're ready to go." Changgu smiled as the sisters looked over at one another and nodded to let each other know that they were ready. "Okay, we're ready." They said at the same time. "Alright then. We'll start in one, two, and three. Heart." Yanan said as he read off the first thing on the paper.

Serena and Melanie made a heart with their index finger and thumb. "Oh, one point for you guys." Changgu said as he made a tally mark on a white board that he pulled from somewhere while Yanan read the next thing. After all five were announced the sisters had gotten three correctly and failed on two of them. "We just need to get four to win." Yanan told Changgu who laughed. "Let's hope we just get passed two." Yanan laughed nodding his head. "And in one, two, and three." Melanie said excitedly as she read the first thing off of their list for the boys. "Pineapple!"

Changgu lifted up a few strands of his hair while Yanan did some sort of wiggle dance. "Ahh, what is that?" Changgu playfully hit his friend as Yanan laughed. "I dunno." "Okay, next one is Ironman." Serena read the next word and both males stuck out their right hands and a second later began cheering while holding each other and bouncing up and down upon finally getting one correct early on in the game since they began. "Yay!" "They're so weird." Serena commented with a laugh as Melanie nodded her head with a chuckle. "Yeah, well a lot better than most of the other fraternities I've interacted with." "I guess."

The two PTG members were able to beat the female duo by getting one more question right. "Oh yeah! We finally won!" The boys held onto one another and began jumping up and down at the fact that they had won their first mind game since starting. "So because we lost we don't get the final stamp, huh?" Serena asked breaking the two from their little moment with Changgu looking at her with a sweet smile. "Well, we're not supposed to, but for you I will if you imitate Pikachu in a very cute manner." "Ugh, you remind me of Hyunggu." Serena made a face as Changgu's eyebrows furrowed. "You call Kino by his real name?"

"Yeah." Serena let out slowly as Changgu nodded his head with a neutral look "I see." "Uh huh." "Just do the imitation, Rina, and we can get the grand prize." "Och, you said the same thing at the Dance stage, too." "Duh." Serena then cast the two males a judging look. "Why don't you guys ask my sister to do something instead?" "It's because everyone loves and knows Pikachu." Yanan reasoned with a small pleading look. "Yeah, Serena, just do it and we can be on our way with our fifth pentagon stamp." "I swear you always get me to do these things." Serena reluctantly gave in as she psyched herself up.

"Pika. Pikachu. Pika pika. Chu chu. Pikachu." She cooed in a cute voice with a hopefully equal and cute expression as she hid her face with her hands and squatted down in total embarrassment. "Ugh, fuck my life." "Congratulations, you get your fifth stamp!" The males exclaimed as Melanie clapped her hands happily. "Oh yeah! Thanks, Rina." "Whatever." Serena stood back up as she tried to remain cool and calm. "All for a grand prize we don't even know what it is." "Don't worry. You'll find out soon." Changgu chuckled as he stamped the fifth pentagon shape onto their cards as Yanan grinned while handing them two Halloween goodie bags.

"Thanks for participating in our scavenger hunt, ladies, and if you head back outside one of the lower PTG members in a wizard robe will informed you two about the grand prize." "Uh, we were just out there before coming here." Serena groaned as she took the goodie bag while Melanie did the same. "Yeah, but I'm sure you guys are gonna say something like 'there's a reason why it's a scavenger hunt'." "We were. How did you know?" Changgu asked with a smile. "Wooseok said the same thing." "Right. Anyways, the scavenger hunt will be ending soon so it's not that long of a wait. See ya soon." "Yeah, see ya."

"Dude, Yeo One was totally all over you, Rina." Melanie nudged her sister playfully as Serena looked at her weirdly. "Who?" "Oh, I mean Changgu. Yeah, Changgu. Him. He was totally flirting with you and casting you sparkling eyes." "Wait a minute. Melanie, what did you call him earlier? It sounded kinda familiar." "Uh, nothing. Nothing. Look, there's a kid in a wizard robe." Melanie changed the topic as she hurried away to talk with the lower PTG member as Serena narrowed her eyes at her sister's back, but continued to walk after her wondering why she had changed the subject so fast.

Anyways, the duo were informed to sign up for the costume contest since they've completed the scavenger hunt. Melanie thought it was a great idea to pass time, but Serena found it weird for them to also join when there were others that didn't do the games and were still competing. Her sister dragged her along once again as the duo went behind the makeshift stage to join the other contestants. "This is dumb." Serena commented as Melanie hushed her. "Just have fun. Don't be such a party-pooper." "I would have fun if you guys stopped dragging me to these things." "You need to socialize and books don't count." Ugh."

Several moments later the costume contest began with several contestants already have gone out upon being introduced to the audience by another lower member in a wizard robe. The main ten PTG members were judging the contest and gave scores during the whole ordeal. As the sisters watched from the sidelines Serena noticed her sister kept brushing up against her. "You okay?" She asked as Melanie nodded her head a bit. "Yeah." "You sure?" Melanie glanced to the side of her which alerted Serena to see where her eyes had darted to and noticed some guy dressed as Ryu from Street Fighter who was standing too close to Melanie.

Serena glanced down and noticed Melanie's hands were behind her and peered behind her sister to see that the guy was trying to cop a feel. Serena reached out and smacked his hands away from Melanie's butt. "I'm pretty sure you know how to keep your hands to yourself, yeah?" The guy acted like he didn't do anything while holding his hands up in the air for her to see. "What are you talking about? I wasn't touching her butt." Melanie moved to stand on the other side of Serena. "I didn't say anything about touching her butt." "Whatever. You know you girls like it since you're dressed the way you're dressed for Halloween."

"Say that again." Serena stepped up against him as Melanie tried to hold her back. "Don't, Serena." The guy smirked as he squared up against Serena. "Like I said. If you girls didn't want to be grabbed or want attention, then don't dress like sluts asking for it." By now the other contestants who haven't gone out yet were watching the scene. "Only dumb and weak-minded guys say shit like that because it gives them an excuse to be douches. Also it's because they can't score by actually talking and having a decent conversation without resorting to dumb shit." "Oh, yeah right. You're just jealous because I didn't grope your ass."

"I'm pretty sure no girl would want you to grope their ass even if they asked." The male fumed and puffed his chest out even more. "Do something then and see what happens." Serena told him as the guy just rolled his eyes and backed off. "You ain't worth my time." He dismissed Serena and walked passed her, but not before smacking Melanie on the ass with a loud laugh causing Melanie to yelp out at the sudden action. "Oh, hell no." Serena ran after the guy who noticed her advancement and started running away from her out of panic which ended up with Serena tackling him to the ground in front of everyone.

The female started punching his back. "I told you something would happen you jackass." She repeated it until several of the lower PTG members pulled her off of the guy and the others helped the guy up. "I've seen your face and if I see you around campus, I'll drop kick you." The ten higher status PTG members rushed on to the stage to settle it out with Hwitaek asking what was going on. "That motherfucker harassed Melanie twice, Hwitaek." Serena explained as the guy scoffed. "I did not. She was asking for it." "No girl asks for it by the way they're dress, asshole. If you can't keep your hands to yourself then don't fuckin' touch."

Hwitaek looked at the guy in a stern way. "Is it true that you touched Melanie inappropriately, Dale?" "C'mon, Hui. Look at her costume. She's bangin' as a hot SWAT member. The Pikachu chick is just jealous I didn't come onto her." Serena tried to lunge at the guy, but Hongseok prevented her from doing so although she still could speak. "Like I said, mofo, if I see you on campus I'ma drop kick you." She threatened him with a cold look. "Hell, if I see you around my sister again, I'll kick your ass to the moon and back and do it again." Hyojung looked at Hongseok. "Hey, Hongseok, take Serena away to let her cool down."

"Gotcha." Hongseok obliged as he basically carried Serena away who didn't want to leave with Melanie following after the both of them and Yuto accompanying as well a few seconds later. The rest tried to handled the situation after they had walked off as Hongseok eventually tossed his friend into the pool to literally cool her down when they near the pool area that was closed off for the event tonight. "The fuck, Seok? That was uncalled for." Serena said once she resurfaced, wiped the water away from her face, and made her way to the pool's edge. "You're lucky I didn't have my stuff on me because of this costume."

Hongseok chuckled as he squatted near the edge of the pool. "Better now?" Serena glared up at him before grabbing a hold of his costume and pulling him into the water with her. Hongseok resurfaced a second later and squirted water out of his mouth at her with an annoyed look as she held on her headband. "Now I am." Serena grinned as she lifted herself out of the pool with Hongseok following after her. "Um, how close are they?" Yuto asked Melanie as she chuckled. "Pretty close. They've known each other since their second year in high school." "Oh, okay." He looked over at her. "Are you okay?" "Yeah. That guy was a creep."

Melanie rubbed at her arms unconsciously because of what happened a while ago and Yuto noticed. He unbuttoned his jacket and draped it over Melanie and buttoned it back up. "Hope this makes you feel better." He smiled. "Thanks." She shyly thanked him with a small nod as a slight smile appeared on her face. "It does now." Hongseok did the same thing to Serena when he noticed her outfit sticking close to her body and outlining her body more. "Thanks for your wet jacket, Seok. I totally wanted to be sick the next day." Serena sarcastically thanked him as Hongseok rolled his eyes with a smile. "You're welcome. Just don't get me sick."

Serena shoved him back into the pool, but Hongseok had latched onto her wrist and brought her down with him. "If he was here I think he'll be jealous of their relationship with one another." Yuto said quietly as Melanie looked at him confused upon hearing it. "Why would he be jealous?" "Because Yeo One likes your sister." "Oh, that. Shinwon already told me." "Oh. Are you and Shinwon close, too?" "Yeah. We've been friends for a long while now." "I see." "Why are you jealous?" "No." "I'm pretty sure it's obvious who I like, Yuto." "Who?" "You." "Really?" "No." Yuto frowned as Melanie laughed while shouldering him playfully. "I'm kidding. It's you."

"Good. Anyways, I know you were looking forward to the grand prize for the scavenger hunt, Melanie, but it's really nothing." Yuto admitted as Melanie's jaw dropped. "What? You guys lied about the grand prize." "Technically no, but Hui and E'Dawn were going to give out one of those large gift baskets filled with chocolate and toys." "Wow." "I know, but now that you know about it wanna get out of here?" "And do what?" "I'm starving. I haven't eaten since this morning. How about we get dinner?" "What if I already ate?" "If you're trying to reject me, Melanie, because you're still dating GOT's Mark, then just let me know."

Yuto was about to turn away when Melanie took a hold of his arm. "Hold on, Yuto. I'm not with him anymore. We broke up already." Melanie said as Yuto turned to face her and smiled happily. "Then how about that dinner offer again?" "Is that meant to be like an actual date?" "If you wanna call it that, Melanie." 'Keywords are 'if I want to', Yuto." Melanie chuckled as Yuto took her hand in his and led her away from the Phi Tau Gamma fraternity house. "How about we call it a date since we're both single and that we confessed." Melanie laced their fingers together. "Okay, Yuto, whatever you say. It's a date." "Then it's a date." He grinned happily.

Hongseok and Serena were still in the water playing as they had totally forgotten about the situation, but Changgu had come to check up on them or more like Serena and witnessed the duo's interaction with one another. He let out several awkward coughs to get their attention until Hongseok finally noticed his friend. "Oh hey, Yeo One. How are you?" He greeted him casually as Serena finally caught the name clearly and looked at Changgu. "Wait a minute. Is your nickname Yeo One?" "Yeah. Why do you ask?" Changgu confirmed as Serena splashed him which made Changgu back up with a confused face. "What was that for?"

"Because you're the guy that everyone kept mentioning during the scavenger hunt by calling me Yeo One's girl or something similar to that. So it's you." Serena splashed water at Changgu again who dodged it with a nervous laugh while explaining. "That's a total misunderstanding on the boys' side." Hongseok rest his arms on the pool's edge while casting Changgu a look. "No, it's not. You're obvious about it." Serena joined him and nudged him. "What do you mean by that, Seok?" Hongseok cast Serena a knowing look. "Haven't you ever wondered about those candy snack bags you find in your bag throughout the day?"

"No. Because I carry my candy stash everywhere I go, too, so I don't think too much about it." Serena laughed as Hongseok was going to explain again, but Changgu intervened with a sheepish look. "It's not important, Serena." He then looked at his friend. "Anyways, Hui resumed the activities, but we have to ban Dale from future PTG as that's not how our house roll." "Well that makes sense. Good." Hongseok agreed as this reminded Serena about the incident from earlier. "For reals though I'll do something if I see his face again." Both Serena and Hongseok lifted themselves out of the pool. "Calm down Pikachu."

Serena rolled her eyes before pushing Hongseok back into the pool and managed to not get drag back in as well. "Rina!" Hongseok yelled in surprised while he flopped back into the pool and Serena ran off laughing as Changgu watched the scene happen quickly before him. Changgu smiled a second later when Hongseok called for his help, but decided to follow after Serena who didn't noticed the male matching her strides a second later. She wrung out the excess water from her hair and held the headband instead of placing it back on to her head when she was done. "I need to get back to the dorm and change before I get sick."

"Do you wanna change now and return them to me later?" Changgu asked causing Serena to stop walking and the male doing the same. "Why are you following me, Changgu?" "Just making sure you're safe." "So that you could secretly give me more candies?" "No." He laughed as Serena smiled. "I pretty sure I know you from somewhere else." "You tutor me and some others for writing sessions every other Wednesday." "Oh, right. I remember you now. You're that person that likes to talk every time other people talk." "Yeah, that's me." Changgu chuckled with a sheepish expression. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay. You make the sessions a little more fun." Serena admitted while wringing out the excess water from Hongseok's coat jacket to which Changgu now took notice of. "So, Serena, do you wanna take my offer and changed out of your wet clothes?" "Why? Are you jealous because I'm not wearing your coat jacket?" "A little bit." Changgu admitted with a laugh as Serena smiled. "I guess the girls weren't wrong about me coming out to have fun tonight." "Oh, why is that?" "Because of you." "What about me?" "I kinda like you, too." Serena confessed as Changgu laughed a shy laugh, but heard how she confessed to him. "Kinda?"

Serena nodded with a slight laugh. 'Well, Changgu, you're cute and seem like a very nice guy, but I don't really know you." "Oh right that's true, Serena." He agreed before smiling wide with a hint of mischievousness. "We can get to know one another better, but how about we get you changed into dry clothes first. Say in my clothes than Hongseok's." "Very smooth." "Oh, well, you know I try my best." "I wish you did since you keep coming back for tutoring." "That was just an excuse to hang out with you." He laughed as he motioned with his head towards the house. "C'mon. I'll make sure no one disturbs you." He offered his hand out to her.

"Alright." Serena took his offered hand, but remembered something. "Wait. My sister really wanted the grand prize." Changgu let out a chuckle while rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish manner. "Yeah, it's nothing." "Seriously?" "The grand prize isn't really all that grand." "So I participated for nothing." "Not nothing. You and I got a better chance of knowing one another." "I might take it back." "Oh, c'mon don't do that or I'll have to attend your other tutoring sessions." "Please don't. The others get distracted." "I'll just distract only you then." "Only if you give me more snack bags." "Deal." "I was joking." "I'll give them to you anyways."

[aureus-ignis]

When I was young, I fell in love with the Pokemon series. I loved the RBY and GSC games, I watched the anime on TV every weekend, bought the movies, played the TCG, and collected the PokeSpe manga zealously. But as the years went by, the newer Pokemon games failed to hold my interest, and I soon stopped following Pokemon entirely. Last year, the generation of Alola was announced, and after watching a few trailers, I found myself drawn to the music. The adorable Rowlet also caught my eye, and on top of that, it seemed like the story was going to be interesting. A conservation society full of nice people dressed in white that looked strangely sinister at times? Hell yesssss. So I decided to buy the game... and then I fell deeply in love. Once again I was in Pokemon heaven (or hell).

So when Mei asked me if there was any series we could cos together that'd be fun and simple to do, I suggested Gladion and Lillie, since their costumes are fairly simple (c o u g h). She agreed, and that was the beginning of it all.

I started working on stuff around mid-June this year. People who know me know that accuracy is pretty high on my list of priorities, and I was determined to get the not-very-logical hair of Lillie and Gladion as good as I possibly could. Lillie's problem, of course, was the thickness. She has two insanely fat braids that had to be made up of almost all the hair on a normal human head, yet somehow still has a thick wide mane of loose hair behind her. So I had to spend time wefting as many extra rows of fibre into the wig, and then crafting removable bases for the braids from batting and more wefts.

Testing!

Batting base WIP HAHAHA

And the final result was worth it <3 <3

Next was Gladion. When it comes to the subject of pulled back hair, I've gotten to the point where I can ONLY accept lacefront. Anything else is too fake for me. For me, cosplay has always been about portraying the characters as if they were real, no matter how zany and strange their designs may be. I wanted the hair to look almost as though it grew on me. I ripped out almost the whole front to get rid of the fringe, and sewed in longer wefts, adjusting the direction of the hair to the left so that they would comb back naturally. Then ventilating hell began

Darkness, my old friend, we meet again. ;___; My hooking skills have improved since I first started ventilating, but it's still a long, tedious process. School started before I could finish, and I had to work on everything else too...

The realization that his uncut wig looks like Mercy from Overwatch HAHAHA

But as with Lillie, the final result was worth it <3 <3 <3

With regards to his costume, I'd actually had the hoodie and pants tailored because I ran out of time. I'd wanted just the base made so I can do the rest of the details myself, but the tailor forgot and did everything for me... and ended up messing up the accuracy. It was a disappointment, so much so that after STGCC was over, and we planned to have a shoot at the end of the year... I decided to remake everything from scratch. I'm terrible at patterning, really, and Gladion's biggest problem was THE STUPID GRAVITY DEFYING HOOD. Ultimately I couldn't get it to look exactly like the original (because I didn't want extra seams and all, but it was close enough. And the second time round, all of the holes were in the correct areas HAHAHA.

I'd made his first waistpouch myself, but for some reason, despite my careful measurements, the size turned out far too large the first time. So I had to remake the whole thing a second time. The hardest part is sewing the damn thing together, because I'd had to put two layers of hard inferfacing for each piece and sometimes the needle just wouldn't. Go. Through. OTL In version 2, I had more time, so I paid more attention to getting the shape accurate. The stupid thing tapers towards the bottom and has a curved side. Even more stupid, the strap goes from FAT TO THIN TO FAT for some reason. But I succeeded!

New VS Old

Next was the Z-ring. Gladion's official art doesn't have one, but he obviously wears one in-game. I felt that it was important, because Nanu gave it to him. So I had to dig out references from the game screenshots 8D;;

This is how a lot of my prop drafts look like. ALGEBRA IS MY FRIEND.

Also crafted the Z-crystal thanks to Pythagoras' theorem 8D; I used liquid quartz to glue the clear acrylic sheet together without leaving traces.

Final result! I'm pretty happy with it =>

Before STGCC, there was one more segment that I worked really hard on. After we'd decided to do SuMo together, I thought of making a Nebby plushie for Mei to carry. Yes, Pokemon Center had already released their Nebby plush by then, but... For one, it's smaller than life-size. For another, the shape looks more like a sunflower than a starry cloud. I didn't want it to look like Lillie was just carrying a toy; I wanted to give the impression that Mei had an adorable, soft, beautiful real-life Cosmog. But how on earth would someone with very terrible patterning skills make a 3D cloud plushie that could be dyed for Nebby's distinctive gradient colouring, and still be nice and soft to hug?

The answer is, I struggled.

Set up a spraying booth to airbrush the gradient on. Due to a problem with shipping, I couldn't get my compressor in time, so I ended up having to splurge on compressed air cans, which were horrendously expensive oTL.

BUT LOOK AT THE FINAL RESULT. LOOK AT HIM. <3 <3 <3

Let it also be known that I tested to make sure he could fit inside Mei's bag the moment I finished the base HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-----

So that was part 1 of Project Alola! We went to STGCC together and met lots of Pokemon fans (quite a lot of people were very happy to see Nebby, in particular XD), and Laki offered to come shoot with us as Moon since she already had the costume. We then planned to have our shoot at the end of the year during my holidays.

As mentioned, I'd already planned to remake my entire costume and waistpouch, but aside from that... I had the mad idea that I wanted to make a Silvally prop. It's something I'd considered for STGCC too, but I was really short on time then, and Mei told me to FINISH EVERYTHING ELSE FIRST THEN DO IT IF YOU HAVE TIME.

The problem is... Silvally's official size in the Pokedex is 2.4m. That's 80cm taller than myself. )o) Sure, I could scale him down, make a tiny lap plushie like all the other cosplayers, but what would be the point? Although I'd never cosplayed from the Pokemon series before, I'd always thought that if I were to do so, I'd want to make life-size Pokemon so that it'd look like I actually have a Pokemon partner, and not just a Pokemon toy. But I'd thought then that my projects would be starters like Pikachu or Charmander or Cyndaquil, or maybe one of the Eeveelutions. Not a giant horse-dog like Silvally ^^;;;

I had to consider the fact that my house isn't very big and I'd have barely any space to keep him. I had to consider how I'd be able to transport him, and how to construct him so that I could take him apart. I also had to consider the amount of money I'd be spending on him, because honestly, cosplay is not a cheap hobby. Materials in Singapore are especially expensive. As an unemployed student, I'd be splurging a lot if I decided to go ahead with this crazy project. When I told this to Mei during one of our dinners out, she suggested just making his head and taking halfbody shots so no one can tell that he has nobody. Like a hobby horse, except it's a hobby Silvally.

Good idea.

So when school finished, I started drafting him out, and the basic paper draft itself took like three giant sheets of patterning paper taped together HAHAHA.

The base

Honestly, even though I had an idea of how I'd make him, I wasn't completely sure if it would work. As I've said repeatedly I really, really suck at patterning. I can never seem to envision where to cut darts in a piece of EVA foam to get the shape I want, so half the time I was just taping drafting paper on and folding and taping excess parts off, then that that up for a trial-and-error pattern.

With paper mache and paper draft pattern for the mouth.

That's how large the whole thing is 8D'

Apart from the making of Silvally, I'd also spent time searching for reference pictures and sketching storyboard ideas for our shoot. I went to check out the our shoot location (Sentosa Island) a few weekends back, so that we could decide where exactly we wanted to shoot. In hindsight, there were a lot more shots I could have planned to bring out the personality of our characters more, but oh well ;w;

The shoot itself went pretty well, for the sun was quite kind to us, and hid under clouds for most of the day. Sei's working style is quite different from mine, but she was very gracious and did everything I asked of her. Sakami and Greg were wonderful helpers, and some of my best memories from the day include our hilarious videos, and the shenanigans with the Pokemon.

I've already thanked my wonderful team mates, helpers and photographer in another post, so I won't go into details here. But everyone was very kind and obliging, and listened to all my ambitious plans, allowing me to be a bossy director. I'm very, very grateful to all of them.  

So now, a bit of reflection on Silvally, and the whole project.

The patterns for Silvally weren't perfect, and I messed up a lot. The final result was definitely far from what I had hoped for. Most noticeably, the top of the head is bumpy holey because I ran out of gesso to fill and sand. But the proportions also came out a bit off, and the neck piece patterning failed on the right side. But when I finished painting... I felt very, very happy. I'd gotten some small bouts of joy when I finished each stage of the crafting process, when I looked at what I'd done, but looking at the final product was just.... incredible. It wasn't as beautiful as it could have been, and I still regret all the imperfections that are so obvious to my eyes, but....I was so excited. I couldn't wait for the shoot.

Perhaps it was partly because I hadn't really been sure if I'd be able to make things work, so the success tastes that much sweeter. Some of my friends had told me I was crazy. I kept asking myself if I were crazy. All that money and time and pain sunk into a project that I'm not even getting paid for, with a success rate that seemed really low. My mom telling me straight out that I was 'too ambitious'. Was it worth it? Would it have been better to make a smaller, much more perfect prop, than an actual sized, flawed one, with half the effort and money? Cosplay is already an indulgence, but had I crossed the line into foolish waste zone?

When I looked at my completed Silvally, the answer didn't hit me like Mjolnir. I still don't know if it was the right thing to do, or if I was an irresponsible child wasting the money that could have gone into feeding me better food.

But it made me happy. So happy. I nearly cried as I stood there for a few minutes staring at him. He was truly a labour of love. I spent hours spraying gesso and paint because I love Silvally. I spent days sanding until my arms want to fall off and my eyes are dying from dust because I love Gladion. I spent hours cortorted in weird positions with a paintbrush trying desperately to stay within the pencil lines, sweat dripping into my eyes, because I love this art. Sure, the process itself was often painful; I suffered multiple burns from hot glue and a hot iron and cut my fingers open way too many times. I still hate hand-sanding with a burning passion because it's tiring as hell and I get blisters on my oversensitive skin. But the thought that all of the suffering helps to build the final piece of art that I envision makes me grit my teeth and soldier on.

Cosplay is my art, something that I would put 500% of me into. Whether the crafting of insanely large props, or the preparations for the shoot, or the styling of my entire team's wigs, or the endless sewing adventures on plushies.

Because I love it.