#anyway calling them out from left to right:

[ginandvodka-writes]

“Hi! Probably I’m busy right now, or maybe I’m just sleeping. Anyway, leave your message! I’ll call you back as soon as I can!”

Followed by your voice a small beep sounded, giving the space to leave a voice message. However, Simon didn’t say a word, instead he hung up the call and called you again.

Five seconds, two beeps.

“Please answer…” He murmured, almost inaudible, his voice so broken it physically hurt to hear it.

Almost a minute passed, and you didn’t answer his call, so the line immediately went to voicemail. Your cheerful voice was a balm to his broken soul, and at the same time it was the knife that was destroying him.

“Hey, luv…” He spoke once the line gave him time to leave a message. “I just… ‘m just wanted ya to know that I miss you, so fuckin’ much…” At that point he couldn’t hold back anymore, and tears sprang from his eyes, a lump formed inside his throat, and despite of how much it hurt, he continued. He told you about the team and their most recent experiences. Kyle’s newborn, John and his well-deserved vacations, and Johnny’s birdie.

“Ya should see him.” Amid his crying, he let out a small, soft chuckle. “He’s like a stupid puppy around her.” Before he could say something more the call ended. The intense beep of the line made a knot in his stomach, but he didn’t complain and just hung up.

For what felt like hours he just remained there in the floor, still as a statue and looking at the ceiling with so much in mind and nothing at once. Even in the darkness, his baggy eyes could be seen, as well as his messy hair and unkempt beard, which had begun to grow several days ago without him caring about.

Finally, when he dared to move, he looked at his phone again. The wallpaper was a photo of you both that you’d taken a while ago, so he looked at the screen for about two minutes, scanning your face. Then, he opened your chat, full of messages he’d sent but you hadn’t responded to any of them in the last year. Although that didn’t stop him to send you a new one.

“Don’t worry about the bill, I’ll pay it tomorrow. Love you.”

As punctual as always. He’d paid your phone bill the last year, every first of the month. In that way he could keep sending you messages, and above all, keep calling you so he can hear your beautiful voice in that voicemail.

That was his ritual for a year, since the day you died. You weren’t there anymore, and the only thing left of you was your voice. He was aware that holding into your voicemail wasn’t healthy, it was killing him slowly. But at that point he didn’t care.

He loved you to the bone, a burning fire impossible to put out, and if that little recording was all that was left of you, then he would hold on until the day his heart stopped beating too and his soul finally reunited with yours once more.

[hungrydata]

Ok so, ik I'm busy, but I can't NOT talk about the new episode. So...

SPOILER WARNING FOR EPISODE 5 OF THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS

I won't write an essay now, but holy gosh moly. This episode was great. And I hate that it ends with a cliffhanger. But it makes sense since Goose said that eps 5&6 were focused on both Jax & Ragatha, so they are very likely tied together (hopefully we don't have to wait another 6 months, but you also can't rush art of course)

I also don't want to break down the episode, there are people who can do that way better than me. I just wanna talk about some fun stuff.

First of all, I tried my best to figure out what everbody's saying here (Only Jax is subtitled in english, however the other two are as well in other languages, so I used them if I had difficulties with what they're saying):

everything I am not 100% sure about or was roughly translated via the different language subtitles, is written in brackets

JAX: I very much did not enjoy that one in the slightest. If we ever do anything even close to that again, I'm getting violent, and I'm going to kill Ragatha.

GANGLE: Uh... I... don't really think it [brought out the best in me], even if it [was the cause of my mask].

RAGATHA: Oh, I really do not think [I was that innocent at] that time, I [did release] (?) some things I normally never say.

I know that some of this is not accurate or something is missing, but it's really difficult to understand what Ragatha and Gangle are saying. Therefore if you know anything, help is very much appreciated!

_______________________________________________

Now I wanna talk about rather obscure stuff. Like Kinger being right handed. I never posted anything about it, but I discussed with my friend about what each circus member's dominant hand was (bc I was bored, can you blame me?) and while I still think that the animators just use whatever looks good and can bring the message across the best (like Gangle sometimes drawing with her left hand and with her right hand, based on what perspective we view her, or how basically most characters use their left and right hand for difficult tasks equally, just so that the viewers can see it better, and it's probably easier to animate as well if you don't have to think about it)

Anyways, Kinger is right handed confirmed to me. (Jax is left handed, tho I need to rewatch all episodes and shorts on Glitch's channel to get more information about that, same with the other chars, tho I'm 98% convinced that both Jax and Gangle are left handed, tho that might just be delusion idk)

Btw the Anime and Intermission section were beautiful. Now we know why it took so long, but it was definitely worth it.

Also RIBBUN AND MAID DRESS HALLELUJAH!

ngl this looks funny

I feel like the shippers are going crazy with this one, especially people who ship Funnybunny (and the Bunnydoll Nation is either in shambles or enjoy it as much as the time Ragatha got deep fried.)

As a Ribbun enjoyer, I am definitely eating the toxic crumbs up like Jax did eat Gangle. Also thank you Goose for giving us so many great catchphrases that I am going to use from now on.

Also, THE LORE. And why can I genuinely relate so much with Jax. Why. Idk how to feel about this. And he actually cares let's gooo!

And I gotta say. Love the beef between Jax and Ragatha, and I also like the friendship between Jax and Pomni that slowly but surely develops. I also like the detail that here, Pomni votes against the maid dress. I could imagine that she just thinks it's childish, but it's also a sign that she knows Jax would hate it and wouldn't want to stir chaos.

ALSO HE SAID THE LINE HE SAID THE LINE!

You detached it yourself, idiot.

Welp I'm outta pictures to post here. There's alot more like Jax having a friend that looks like a frog, and Goose mentioned in one post that the person that abstracted before Kaufmo was called Ribbit (yk, like the sound a frog makes). I thinke there's likely a connection. And considering that Pomni was supposed to be a frog first, maybe that's how Jax and Pomni also will become closer friends. Can't wait for the next episode

And knowing what Goose said, it's not gonna be a wholesome one. After all, even tho 5&6 are split between Ragatha and Jax, this was still the Ragatha episode, and the next one will be "more centered" around Jax. I'm scared.

Also as much as it pains me, I think Gangle will be the one to abstract. The fact that she didn't have an evil doppelganger and with the teaser of her symbol loading, it's too much of a coincidence to not happen. Pls don't Gangle you're my baby ;;-;;.

(so much so to "not an essay" lmao. "Not an essay" my ass)

Also. DaY 172 bc yes

[joshujin]

dude, nice try!

◀ part one • series masterlist • part two

joshua hong has had the immense privilege of living 30 whole years without ever feeling so much as an ounce of jealousy. that is, until you come prancing into his picture-perfect life on your dumb burner account with evidence that his long-time girlfriend is cheating on him… with your boyfriend.

as he gets tangled up in your chaotic plan to get back at your adulterous partners, he begins to wonder if this growing discomfort in his chest was ever even heartbreak to begin with, or if it’s something entirely new to him—something that has the ability to eat him alive from the inside out.

♫ get him back! olivia rodrigo ⟡ my kink is karma chappell roan ⟡ see u never niki ⟡ good to me seventeen

pairing: joshua x fem!reader part two: 14.6k words cw: strong language, mentions of/implied sexual activity, kms joke, reader is highly emotional and tbh kind of crazy maybe even toxic but idc bc i support women’s rights and wrongs <3 tags: cheating (not between main ship), strangers to partners-in-crime to partners PERIOD, joshua pov, pining, he fell first AND harder oops, he’s also so incredibly whipped from the jump, a few smau bits but mostly writing, no smut, inspired by get him back! by miss rodrigo a/n: oh nothing, just me getting carried away with the dialogue and my word count like usual :) to the anon that requested this: pls feel free to pop back into my ask and tell me how you think this is going LOL. i'm having fun writing it but i know the jealousy isn't fully fleshed out yet. to everyone else: ENJOY!

dividers by @cafekitsune cover by yours truly!

joshua was being sincere with you when he told you he wasn’t a good bar to set yourself against when it came to breakups. 

there was stephanie from when he was still in college in the U.S.; they broke up because he decided to move back to korea. it was amicable for the most part, but he probably could’ve given her a more generous heads up than the two weeks he did give her. it wasn’t until a year or so later that she realized how unfair that had been and made sure joshua knew—with a series of voice memo texts that were nearly 15 minutes each. 

then, he dated miyoung. she was nice but she also decided she wanted to get married within the next year only three months in, and as a 23-year-old, joshua was freaked out enough to run almost immediately. his relationship with miyoung ended on a phone call that lasted three hours because she was sobbing so hard, he didn’t have the heart to hang up even though he had no idea how to comfort her. he saw her consistently for weeks after out of pure guilt until jeonghan pointed out that this was just a disguised way of stringing her along.

after that, there was bada, nari, bora, aram, and hana, all girls he casually dated for no longer than a handful of weeks before one of them decided it actually wasn’t a fit for various, mostly dumb reasons. nari told him she didn’t like that he collected cologne and had three times as much perfume as she did. he left aram because she ate so messily, it gave him the ick. though apparently, that might be something he doesn’t mind anymore.

he dated yumi for six months, and to this day, she’s still the only serious girlfriend of his that broke up with him. she told him that she felt like after six months, she still barely knew him, and that he was “too concerned” with upholding an image of himself that “didn’t feel real.” he went straight to therapy for that one.

and when he felt a little better in his own skin and ready to put a “realer” version of himself out there, he met mina. mina, his longest relationship, and up until now, someone he was convinced was his first love. he said as much anyway. he was the first to tell her he loved her, he reminded her he did every day, and he thought they had a nice, long future ahead of them. what he pictured in that future exactly, he had no clue. but after an odd and somewhat unlucky streak in dating, he finally felt like mina was a nice and comfy place to land.

he’s never been more wrong about something in his entire life. 

and after the laughable amount of breakups he’s experienced, he’s also never been angrier after the end of a relationship in his entire life.

mina was proving to be a lot of firsts for him—first cheater, first master manipulator and liar, first person who’s ever made him wonder if he could possibly switch over to dating men instead… or simply stop dating at all! sure, he would die alone but he would die in peace. 

whatever the case, he's quickly approaching the conclusion that “first love” is not among those firsts, and it probably never was. no amount of teasing from you or jeonghan did it, but in less than a handful of minutes spent breaking up with mina, he is a million percent sure this was not someone he could have loved. or else what did that say about him and his taste?

sixteen minutes earlier

joshua arrives at mina’s apartment exactly two hours after work ends for her—5 p.m. every day because she always scheduled a pilates class at 5:30 p.m. thirty minutes for her to get to her class, one hour for her to finish it, 30 minutes for her to get home, zero minutes for her to get clean because he doesn’t care how presentable she is when he dumps her. 

plus, however long it takes joshua to end this—hopefully a lot shorter than his experience with miyoung.

he hadn’t bothered to tell her he was coming over; he didn’t think she really deserved that courtesy. he may be intent on a clean break, but he also wanted this to be as annoying for her as it has been for him.

so at a prompt 7 p.m., joshua finds himself casually leaning against the elevator’s railing, ascending the floors of mina’s apartment and feeling almost excited to be free of this experience. 

after he got off the phone with you, he decided he would bite the bullet when work was over. he spent the rest of his day absentmindedly finishing his reports, periodically stopping to scribble an idea for what he would say to his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend.

he takes the folded piece of paper out of his pocket now and runs over his options again.

his levels of shame and self-pity were sky high when he first pulled out his notepad at the office to write his thoughts out, but after texting you and letting you know what he planned to do, you insisted on meeting at a cafe beforehand to brainstorm together while he waited for mina’s pilates class to end. and once you both workshopped the entire list, his embarrassment diminished almost completely.

it was clear you took this a lot more seriously than he did. he doesn't know what he expected; you probably have a manila folder stuffed full of notes for what you plan to do to siwoo.

as such, you were very helpful. sure, you were also really distracting, with your subtle, spiced perfume he recognized as lola james harper, and your daunting and unrelenting eye contact, and the way your eyes smiled all on their own when they weren’t busy crying over siwoo, and the fact that you graced him with your laugh in person for the first time (every bit as fun as he thought it would be), and everything else that came with just existing in your presence.

all of it was really distracting—almost to the point of it being entirely counterproductive for him. almost, if it weren’t for the fact that you were so determined on his behalf to make this the most unpleasant experience for mina. he was mostly pleased with where you two landed, and if anything, he at least had a better idea of what he wanted to say.

he reads the completely ruined paper, a mess of his black ink and wrinkles where you kept trying to grab it out of his hands. it was already a vulnerable enough occasion talking about this with you; he did not need you seeing his notes on top of it.

TALKING POINTS FOR BREAKING UP WITH EVIL GF i know you’ve been cheating on me, and don’t try to deny it because someone sent me proof! — cannot say this without exposing that y/n knows about siwoo!!! i know you’ve been cheating on me, and don’t try to deny it because i went through your phone and saw your text messages! — better, but am i willing to look crazy just to cover for y/n?  yes  what am i saying NO  this will do ✓ how could you do this to us? i loved you! — seems disingenuous? note: yell at jeonghan and y/n for putting ideas in my head later! i literally gave you everything you could’ve wanted, and that still wasn’t enough? what does any other man have that i don’t? — ok met with y/n for feedback. says this sounds pathetic and that i can't let her think this affected me. but she cheated on me? this LITERALLY affects me. i will come back to this one  ok y/n made a different, better point: i am perfect •ᴗ• and i shouldn’t present myself as lacking. so true. she's very good at this! •ᴗ• do you really think anyone with half a fucking brain cell who's willing to homewreck a relationship is really going to give enough of a fuck about you to be capable of putting up with your insufferable ass and treating you as well as i did? — y/n suggested. had to workshop bc she's alarmingly vulgar. plus, maybe toxic to say i "put up" with mina ?? not sure do you even regret hurting me? — y/n says this is silly bc siwoo and mina obviously do not regret anything, but i want mina to feel guilty. y/n now agrees and says i should add: "or are you just so heartless you don't care?" she said this more colorfully, but i will remain respectful  why should i remain respectful? mina is literally the most disrespectful person i’ve ever met. i’ll say what y/n suggested ⤵ your commitment to being a heartless asshole has you by your ugly ass neck and i hope it starts squeezing with both hands  GET SOME HELP! — more for catharsis. won’t be yelling this at her you're going to regret this and if you think there's a world where i take you back when you do, you're mistaken — wow, no notes from y/n! must be very good •ᴗ• definitely say this one!! please never contact me again — note from y/n: "why are you being so goddamn polite? tell her to fuck off and if you ever see her number on your phone screen, you'll set up an appointment on her behalf to get a lobotomy." ????? note from ME: have a serious discussion with y/n at a later time about why i, a MAN, can't just talk to WOMEN like this!

despite the circumstances that led to having to make the list at all, joshua can't help but grin at it. the time spent with you at the cafe was not only helpful; it was fun. maybe the most fun he’s had with a woman since he started dating mina, who chased off all his female friends within the first two months of being in his life. joshua winces as he pockets the list, wondering how he didn’t see the red flags. 

his thoughts are interrupted with the loud and obnoxious ping of the elevator as it arrives on mina’s floor. the doors slide open, and immediately, he hears the obscene sounds of a woman moaning down the hall. his eyes widen as he steps out and turns down the hall in the direction of mina’s apartment. 

the walls of her place were always thin; they were constantly getting into wars with the neighbors that involved banging on the floor, ceiling, and shared walls with her broom. still, he had never heard this kind of noise from her neighbors. 

“tell me about it.”

joshua looks to his right to find an older woman stepping out of her apartment and locking her door. he must have a look of shock on his face because she snorts and nods in what seems like solidarity as she tucks her empty reusable bags into her armpit. 

“that girl doesn’t seem to ever stop,” she informs him. “i’ve complained to the building manager so many times, and still, here she is, screaming like a little banshee and disrupting this entire floor’s peace.”

joshua feels his skin break out into a cold sweat as his mind starts to go a mile a minute. “huh… interesting…”

“i mean,” the woman turns to step into the elevator joshua just walked out of. “what is she even doing? auditioning for a god damn porn? she sounds like my fucking shih tzu’s squeaky toy!” 

he forces a laugh, too distracted to even feel uncomfortable over the inappropriate joke. “maybe,” he mutters. “she sure is putting on a performance.”

“oh my god!” the voice shrieks in perfect timing, making him flinch. 

“ugh, inconsiderate! all hours of the day! does she even work?!” the woman shakes her head and clicks her tongue in disapproval as she presses a button and the doors close. 

joshua stands there for a moment, staring at the elevator, unable to move as he listens to the noises of what could possibly be his girlfriend having sex with siwoo right now. it didn’t even sound remotely like her, and that fact terrifies him even more because if it is her, then she had to be faking it with someone. was she faking it with joshua or with siwoo?

he groans, letting his head fall into his hands. 

“who cares?” he grumbles to himself. the last thing he should be worrying about is whether or not an adulterous liar like mina thought he was good in bed. he should definitely not care anymore. “i don’t care.”

joshua can practically hear jeonghan’s voice telling him, sure you don’t. he shakes his head, trying to banish his jeonghan-shaped conscience from his brain.  

he doesn’t even know if it’s mina. it could very well be some other female neighbor; it’s not far-fetched for people to be having sex. he could just be paranoid right now since he knows she’s cheating on him. 

each floor of mina’s apartment is huge—a maze, really. dozens of units, at least ten near the elevator, several people who could be having sex. 

he always counted himself lucky that mina lived so close to the elevator, just down the hall a few units down. today, though, as the wailing reverberates off the walls of the hallway leading to the elevator, he thinks mina’s floor plan is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him.

his phone is to his ear before he can fully consider what he’s doing. 

“did you do it?” you seem to dislike greeting people on the phone properly like a normal human being. you speak a little louder than usual, your surroundings lively and buzzing with the noise of what sounds like several conversations. “that was fast.”

“uh,” joshua elongates the sound for a few seconds while his brain tries to tune out the “porn audition” long enough to comprehend your question. “no… nope. i haven’t done it yet.”

“oh. then what’s up? you need backup after all?” you ask too seriously for him to confidently say you’re joking. 

before you both parted ways at the cafe, you offered him company and said you could tag along and jump mina for him. you both laughed and said your goodbyes, but if what joshua fears right now is true, he definitely doesn’t hate the idea of you jumping her. 

“i’m a little busy—well, kinda, not really—but i can fake some kind of horrific emergency and get out of here and over to you in…” you trail off, probably checking the time. “twenty minutes… maybe ten if i’m okay with breaking a few laws. which, rest assured, i am!”

he feels the dread over his predicament slipping as you keep talking, his emotions turning into an incredibly confusing mix of panic, amusement, anxiety, relief, and so on and so on. the number of odd emotions you elicit out of him are countless. 

joshua glides over what he assumes is a joke and straight to the point; the faster he finds out what he needs to, the faster he can hopefully escape this building.

“do you know where siwoo is?” he asks, taking the first few tentative steps to mina’s door. he walks painstakingly slowly, almost tiptoeing even though there’s no possible way anyone could hear him over the lewd moans. 

“he’s at dinner with his vile parents,” you say, sighing like you’d rather talk about anything else. 

“are you sure?”

“yes… why?”

“like… how sure?” joshua presses. 

“uh, 100 percent.” he can picture the frown on your face that usually matches this tone of yours—confused bordering on annoyed. “i’m literally staring at him as his awful monster of a mother tucks a napkin into his collar like a little fucking devil baby, bro.” 

joshua doesn’t know how at a time like this, his brain has the capacity to still take note of how much he loathes when you call him bro. it’s a weird thought to have to process alongside the thousands of other things he’s suddenly feeling.

“i’m at the bar of this pretentious ass restaurant waiting on the bartender to finish their drink orders while they eat all the appetizers without me, like a good, little stay-at-home girlfriend slash maid slash server slash revenge connoisseur!” you inform him, your voice sarcastically cheerful. “i’m going to spit in all their drinks.” that bit comes out in your normal, low—and a little irritated—voice.

“wow” is all he says because his brain doesn’t supply him with anything else.

“like i said, revenge connoisseur,” you say, sounding bored. “so yes, i’m 100 percent sure he’s here. we have to have dinner with these assholes once a week but—” you cut yourself off as you address someone else. “ah, thank you! oh wait, can you actually remove the espresso beans from this one? the abominable woman who gave birth to my boyfriend doesn’t want to have too much caffeine this late in the day.”

joshua realizes his brain has the capacity to do a lot of things in stressful situations as long as he’s talking to you. because he stops walking and immediately starts laughing when he hears the bartender deadpan: “it’s an espresso martini.”

you sigh like you’ve had to explain this a million different times to a million different bartenders. 

“joshua? hold on, okay?” you tell him before immediately addressing the bartender without waiting for him to reply. “listen, i get it. you don’t have to tell me. i know! she’s a ridiculous airhead who gets her life force from making little people like me suffer and ask for embarrassing things on her behalf. i don’t even care if you stick your bare fingers in there to pluck them out—in fact, i actually kind of prefer you do that. i just need them gone before she comes poking her snobby, little nose over here and demands you make her an entirely brand new one.”

that seems to do the job because the next thing you say is: 

“thank you so much. and please give yourself a 50 percent tip—100 even!” you shout the last part as, joshua assumes, the bartender walks away. “it’s on their card, go crazy!” 

the bartender says something that he can’t make out and you laugh. the sound of it—so light and mischievous and charismatic—completely severs the already increasingly weakened grip his panic has on him. he feels like he can breathe a little easier, even among the horrible sounds filling the hallway. 

“okay, i’m back, sorry,” you say into the phone, picking up exactly where you left off as if you never stopped talking. “like i was saying, we do this shit every week, so i can definitely get out of this if you need me to. why are you asking about siwoo anyway?” 

there’s something comforting about the way you’re ready to drop everything to get to joshua even though you just said bye less than an hour ago and you don’t even know why he’s calling. though, he does realize your eagerness is also probably due to the fact that you just don’t want to be around your cheating boyfriend and his family.

joshua exhales slowly through his nose. “well, it’s not quite your 100, but i am like, at least… 70 percent sure that mina is having sex with someone in her apartment as we speak. i thought it was siwoo, but…” he lets you come to your own conclusions.

the silence on the other end of the phone is so much more threatening than the gasping and yelling he expected. it stretches for so long that at some point, joshua wonders if you even heard him. 

“did you—”

“i heard you,” you say, your voice clipped. you pause again for a shorter period and when you speak, you sound a lot less short. “i was trying to ignore it because i couldn’t imagine what the hell it was, but you definitely sound like you’re on the set of a porno.”

joshua grimaces, stepping away from the side of the hallway that mina’s apartment is on as if that will help—it doesn’t, not with the way it echoes off the walls. he cups his hand around the mouthpiece of his phone, hoping that it will keep the shih tzu squeaky toy sound effects from traveling to you. “shit, i’m sorry,” he breathes, scurrying down the hallway and several units past mina’s apartment in a desperate attempt to get away from the moaning. “i didn’t realize you could hear it clearly.”

“are you running away from the noise, joshua hong?” you ask, obviously amused.

“um, maybe.”

“wow, what a gentleman, protecting my innocence like this,” you fake-sigh like you’re swooning on the other end of the line and he blushes furiously. he can’t help the smile that tugs at the corners of his lips. “chivalry is not dead.”

“you’re so insufferable!” he whisper-yells at you. the poor residents of this floor already have to deal with ‘round-the-clock sex; they don’t need to add him being obnoxiously loud on the phone too. “i’m having a horrible time right now, and you’re joking around?!”

you giggle. “okay, fine. i’m insufferable. but at least i made you smile.”

“and how on earth could you possibly know that if you can’t even see me?”

you snort. “please. i can hear it in your voice. your smile transcends all obstacles, hong. you could smile on the other side of the world and i’d know it.”

the claim makes joshua’s hands clammy, and he finds he has no idea what to say to that. he can barely breathe, but this time, it feels a little different—not quite so wrought with anxiety like it was when he first exited the elevator.

sensing you may have gone overboard with your compliment this time, you clear your throat and steer the conversation back on track.

“mina is a real piece of work,” you state the obvious before rambling a little. “cheating on you… cheating on siwoo… though, is that called cheating if siwoo is also her sidepiece…? no, right? she’s just cheating on you twice—fuck, sorry, that was so callous and dumb to say.” he hears something that sounds like you hitting your forehead repeatedly. 

“yeah… i don’t know…” his mind is not on the logistics of the cheating.

“okay, so here’s what we’re going to do,” you say, voice kicking into high-gear. “i’ve been gone from the table for almost… 10 minutes; these rats get impatient after, like, two.”

joshua leans against the wall, finding your little plotting voice weirdly comforting.

“siwoo is going to stand up any moment now to see what’s taking so long at the insistence of his egg donor.”

he closes his eyes and tries to calm his heartbeat, smiling a little at your refusal to call siwoo’s mom anything but his mom. 

“and when he does, i’m—oh my god, i’m amazing.”

joshua opens his eyes and frowns. “what?”

you laugh in disbelief before frantically whispering, “siwoo just got up and is walking over here. he is so predictable. also, i just got the ick so bad. this idiot forgot to take his little napkin bib off. okay, he’s almost here. don’t reply to anything i say, alright?”

“al—”

“oh my god, are you serious?!” you shriek at joshua. he immediately brings his phone away from his ear. “are you okay?” you pause like you’re listening to a nonexistent response. “holy shit, girl—” your next words are an exaggerated whisper. “—it’s soph, she’s on a date, having… explosive diarrhea!”

joshua looks at his phone incredulously. he doesn’t know how you manage to sound so convincing when it’s clear to him everything you say comes to mind the very second before you say it. 

“that’s disgusting.” his eyes involuntarily narrow at what can only be siwoo’s voice. he sounds just as dumb as joshua thought he would.

“i have to go!” you exclaim. 

“what?! why?”

“did you hear me?! soph is having a crisis! what am i supposed to do, just leave her in the bathroom of some dingy sushi restaurant covered in her own shit while her date thinks she snuck out on her?!” she speaks back into the phone. “hold on, girl.”

he snorts as he passes a hand over his face in embarrassment even though he’s completely alone. he’s truly amazed at how committed you are to your act. he would’ve cracked before he ever even got to utter the word “diarrhea.”

“uh, yes? we’re at dinner with my parents and that sounds like a really gross her problem.”

joshua rolls his eyes. siwoo is an asshole through and through. 

you pause and he likes to imagine you’re taking a moment to really process what a fucking dick your boyfriend is. “i’ll be quick, baby,” you say through barely concealed annoyance. his eye twitches at the term of endearment anyway. “tell your parents i said sorry! i’ll text you when i’m on my way home! soph, i’m on my way!”

“y/n!” his voice is further away than he previously sounded. “what about our drinks?!”

“ask the bartender!” you practically bellow at him. “fucking incompetent. ‘what about our drinks?’” your impression of siwoo is simply an exaggerated baby voice, and joshua thinks it sounds exactly the same. “what the fuck kind of question? where else would you get your drinks?” you mutter—to yourself, joshua presumes. “okay, shua, i am free and i am on my way!”

he doesn’t even have the opportunity to be surprised about you coming to mina’s apartment; he’s too caught off-guard by the sudden nickname. 

“hello?” you call, suddenly sounding like you’re, at the very least, brisk-walking if not fully running. “you can talk now! i am not in the restaurant anym—oop, excuse me, sorry!”

“shua?” joshua repeats mindlessly.

“aw, don’t like it? we can workshop that too,” you huff, excusing yourself as you navigate whatever street you’re on. “i think it’s cute, though. no? shua... shua!” 

you repeat it a few more times like that will get him to agree. most of the instances of “shua” are breathed out in a quick exhale as you move, and joshua is almost completely convinced you’re running. 

“okay, i’m kind of losing the meaning of ‘shua’ now. i swear it’s cute, though.”

he smiles. “uh, yeah, it’s… cute. different but cute.”

“right? josh is tired,” you claim. “shua feels more fitting for you. anyway, give me… 12 minutes and i will be there.”

“why are you coming here again?’ he asks, remembering to feel confused about your plans. 

“for moral support, hello?” you answer like it’s obvious. “ah! sorry!” you shout at someone who curses. “you have me now, dude.” dude is better than bro, he supposes. “we don’t have to go through these traumatic events alone anymore! i’ll be there and if you want me to blow my cover and this entire plan so i can slap mina across the face, i will!”

his mouth twitches to keep from smirking. the thought is tempting. “you really don’t have to—”

“shut up, i just told siwoo my best friend is having explosive diarrhea for you,” you point out, practically panting now. “we cannot walk this back! now go break up with that horrid bitch, and if she really is fucking someone in there, you tell me and i’ll march up there and win my very first fistfight… uh, what floor is her apartment, by the way?”

joshua shakes his head, trying his hardest not to grin. “no, you stay downstairs. there will be no fistfights tonight. i’ll see you in a bit.”

“got it, boss.”

“and stop running,” he orders. “you’re just going to hurt yourself.”

“mmm, agree to disagree,” you heave. “see you soon!” you hang up in a hurry, giving him no time to say bye. 

as he stands in the hallway, he realizes that in the time he spent with you on the phone, the moans subsided. between the absence of your mayhem and the vulgarity of maybe-mina’s maybe-cheating, it’s almost eerie how suddenly quiet the floor is. 

he drags his feet as he makes his way back to mina’s door. when he gets there, he tentatively presses an ear to the wood, and when he can’t hear anything, he raises his fist and knocks before he can change his mind. several seconds pass and he doesn’t hear anyone coming to the door or even speaking. his discomfort eases a little as he starts to think maybe she’s not even home.

mina isn’t one to deviate from her plans; she gets irritable when she has to, so joshua knows that pilates definitely had to be on the agenda today. and if she’s not home yet, then she should be arriving any moment now. he punches in the code for her apartment, determined to wait it out and get this over with because he has no plans to spend another day tied down to a cheater.

“mina?” he calls out as soon as he steps in. he almost bends down to take his shoes off, thinks twice about it, and leaves them on. what did you call it again? taking your small joys wherever you can. tracking dirt into mina’s apartment felt like a small joy right now. 

with no response, he heads into the kitchen to grab himself a water bottle before sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar. he’s about to take his notes out again when he hears a door click. he frowns. 

“hello?” mina’s voice tentatively calls out from the hallway. 

“it’s me,” joshua says, leaving his notes where they are in his pocket. “i knocked but i guess you didn’t hear.”

“josh?” mina rounds the corner, in her bathrobe. she smiles brightly when she confirms it’s him. “hey, baby. what are you doing here?”

she walks up to him with the ease of a loyal girlfriend. he’s astounded by it, actually; how she can act so sweet and kind and cute when she’s sleeping with siwoo every chance she gets. if he thinks about it too hard, it actually scares him. 

she loops her arms around his waist and hugs him from behind, hooking her chin on his shoulder. he tenses and immediately slips off the stool and out of her grip. 

“i wanted to talk to you, remember?” he says, stepping away when she tries to reach for him again. she frowns like she’s finally understanding there’s a problem. “yesterday. but you said you were busy.” busy fucking siwoo. 

even with a direct reference to her infidelity, mina doesn’t bat an eye. he thinks she could probably thrive in a career in acting. “yeah, i had to clock some overtime yesterday,” she lies. “it was such a drag,” she complains as she gets her own water bottle from the fridge. “i paid for my pilates class and everything and had to pay the fee for missing it.”

the lies roll of her tongue so effortlessly, joshua knows he would’ve easily believed them if he didn’t have cold, hard proof. even with the cold, hard proof, he wonders if there’s any way you could have still gotten it wrong. he knows you didn’t. maybe he is gullible because after two days, he already trusts you more than he does mina. 

“pilates,” he repeats in a daze. 

she raises an eyebrow as she takes a sip. she caps her bottle again and nods slowly. “yes, baby, pilates… is everything okay?”

“mina, have you ever cheated on me?”

joshua sees it then—the crack in her facade. her eyes widen, not with surprise or disbelief the way an innocent person’s probably would, but fear. to her credit, it passes quickly as she schools her expression into one of bewilderment. if joshua hadn’t known to look for it, he knows he would have missed it. he would have missed it along with all the other red flags he’s missed. 

“why are you asking me that?” she asks, her voice sharp with the vexation of someone who’s been offended. joshua doesn’t let it faze him.

he shrugs, clenching his jaw briefly before speaking again. “just answer the question, mina.”

mina seems to realize joshua isn’t in the mood for games because her shoulders deflate the tiniest bit, her eyes flicking from one side of the room to the other as she tries to think of what to say. he knows it’s because in the year they’ve been together, joshua has never—not once—lost his temper or expressed any kind of annoyance with her.

it’s always “joshua is so sweet,” “joshua is such a gentleman,” “joshua is so kind,” “joshua is so mild mannered,” “joshua is so fucking gullible.”

joshua is done.

“mina.”

he doesn’t mean for his voice to come out sharp and raised the way it does, but when she flinches, he realizes his patience is slipping faster than jeonghan could ever dream of making it.

“wh—?” she squeezes her eyes shut like she’s trying to understand how they got here. “what?” she suddenly shrieks, eyes opening wide with disbelief and what he’s sure she thinks is translating as devastation. “what are you even saying, joshua?!”

the sheer amount of willpower it takes to keep from rolling his eyes is staggering. “it should be an easy question to answer,” he sighs, running a hand over his face tiredly. “so i think the fact that you refuse to is an answer in itself.”

he sets his bottle on the counter and moves to step around her so he can leave and just let it be over with—going out, not with a bang, but with a pathetic little sigh—but she steps the same direction, palms out like she’ll shove him if he gets any closer to the door.

“what the fuck are you on right now?” she asks, eyes narrowed and mouth twisted into an ugly, displeased sneer like a switch just flipped.

joshua feels the hair on the back of his neck stand as he frowns down at her. she doesn’t try to wrestle her face into playing along with her placating, innocent girl act. instead, she wears her scowl proudly, crossing her arms across her chest in defiance as she blocks his way from his emergency exit. 

“you’re not leaving until you tell me why you’re asking me that,” she states.

he finds her rage as discomforting as yours but in wildly different ways. your anger makes him freeze up and almost panic; it renders him unable to speak or even think, and he’s still not even sure why. but mina’s makes him physically cringe away. it… annoys him.

just like she wasn’t used to his impatience, he wasn’t used to her being angry—at least not at him. all mina’s ever been angry about have been baristas who used 2% instead of fat free milk in her lattes (and yes, she insists she can tell), long wait times, and her boss demanding she work overtime. though joshua realizes that was probably just an excuse to see siwoo.

“mina, why are you doing this?” he asks, exasperated.

“why am i doing this?!” she repeats, scoffing so obnoxiously hard in his face, spit lands on his cheek. 

he closes his eyes for a brief moment as he wipes it away, willing his patience to hold out long enough to get him out of this building.

“why are you doing this?! why are you as—”

“because i know!” he shouts over her increasingly high-pitched whining. “i’m asking because i know all about how awful you’ve been, mina! and i wanted to see if after a year together, you’d at least have the decency to be honest with me!” 

mina’s attitude drops, her hands immediately combing through her hair frantically, a nervous tic she always had.

“i know you were faking business trips, i know you were sleeping around, i know you were fucking him last night when i told you i needed to talk to you—when your boyfriend of a year wanted to see you!”

she stares at him helplessly, mouth hung open and her eyes quickly filling with tears. he realizes as he stares back, feeling nothing but resentment and disdain for her, that your wildly fluctuating emotions unnerve him because he wants to find a way to get you back to your baseline, if not all the way to the other end to happy.

as he watches mina begin to weep, he feels none of that. for the first time in his life, joshua yearns to be cruel. he wants to make her cry harder, and it makes him resent her even more—for making him think and feel something so reprehensible.

he suddenly sees why you’re so open to letting your fury flow through every part of you before unapologetically releasing it right out into the world the way you do. after a lifetime of insisting on being the calm one, the collected one, the unbothered one, the unfeeling one, he realizes that being angry like this is addicting—freeing.

“baby, i…”

“don’t, mina, i’m not your fucking baby,” he says. even he can hear how tired he sounds. 

“i’m so sorry,” she whispers, voice cracking. “i am, i really am. i don’t know why i did it. i—i don’t know—i’m so—i…”

“save it,” he puts her out of her misery of trying to find the right words to manipulate him into thinking she’s anything other than the deceitful cheater she is. “i know you don’t regret hurting me like this. i—”

“no, i do!” she wails, throwing herself at him now.

he immediately starts untangling himself from her hold but she makes it impossible, her grabby hands all over him as she tries to get him to stop attempting to escape her.

“mina, let go o—”

“i regret it, joshua, i swear to god i regret it!” she weeps so loudly now, he starts to feel dread gathering in the pit of his stomach the way it did when he broke up with miyoung. “i never wanted to hurt you, i love you!”

“holy shit,” he grumbles, shoving her hands off him and stepping away from her even though it meant being farther from the only exit. “how can you even say that to my face right now?”

“it’s true!” she screams, grating his nerves. “i love you! i want to spend the rest of my life with you! it was all a mistake! minhyuk was just a temptation i gave into at a weak moment, and i swear it didn’t mean—”

“who the hell is minhyuk?” he asks, frowning when her words finally catch up to him.

mina freezes, and it’s like her tears get the memo because they stop too. it’s the only reason joshua knows that no matter how convincing, this was also just an act.

he glares now.

“who. is. minhyuk. mina?” he staggers his words like it’ll help her few remaining brain cells unite long enough to understand and answer his question.

“i… what do you mean? you said… you said you knew that i… you said—”

“i know about siwoo,” he clarifies, his temper at its breaking point. he’s a moment away from calling you to come up here and make sure he doesn’t land himself in jail, wrecking mina’s entire apartment in an attempt to claw his way out of it. “who the fuck is minhyuk?”

joshua doesn’t think he’s ever cussed this much in his life.

“i—”

“who the fuck is siwoo?” 

joshua’s head whips around toward the voice, coming from the hallway that leads to mina’s room. the laugh that immediately escapes his mouth is instinctive and hysterical. he doesn’t know any other way to react than to start laughing; if he doesn’t, he’s positive he’ll somehow spontaneously combust. 

because standing in mina’s hallway is one of the many reasons her neighbors despise her. a very half naked reason, dressed only in boxers.

“are you for fucking real?” mina hisses, shutting her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose as if joshua isn’t even in the room. “i told you to wait in the room and be fucking quiet, you moron. are you—”

“who is siwoo?!” the man shouts now.

joshua’s laughs peter out, and with them goes his anger. he sighs, shaking his head and remembering how drained he feels. 

“i take it you’re minhyuk.” the man glares at him but doesn’t respond, so he nods. “well, mina, i guess you were truthful about one thing: you really were busy last night, weren’t you?”

“how did you even know siwoo stopped by here?!” she yells. joshua hopes building management kicks her out after the noise complaints she’s bound to get from today alone.

“i can’t believe you’re fucking cheating on me!” minhyuk disappears back into mina’s room, shouting nonsense as he gathers his things. 

“you’re definitely not the one who was cheated on!” joshua calls after him, rolling his eyes. he turns back to mina, mustering up the very last of his energy to finally end it. “mina. you’re disgusting. i will move on from this remembering you as nothing other than a nasty stain on my otherwise amazing life.”

a squeak of protest erupts from her mouth, but he doesn’t let her get a word in.

“but you... you’ll continue to do whatever sleazy shit you’ve been up to for who knows how long, and one day, you’ll wake up and realize how empty and tragic and ugly you and your life both are—” she has the audacity to look offended at the word ugly. “—and you won’t be able to do anything to change that because no one worth having around will have cared enough to stick by you.”

her tears start again and this time, they feel real—they don’t come with screaming or begging or lying. they steadily stream down her face and it makes joshua feel like he’s high.

“your commitment to being a selfish asshole really has you by the neck and i pray to god it starts squeezing with both hands,” he says, delivering your line with a tight-lipped smile.

he finally steps around her, making his way to the door. he opens it and just before he leaves, he thinks, what the hell? and turns back.

“mina,” he calls softly. she turns back to him, face red and splotchy. “don’t contact me. if i ever see your phone number on my screen, i’ll personally call every single cafe on this fucking continent and make sure they only serve you whole fat milk for the rest of your life.”

she gasps like he just made a legitimate threat, and he gets the immature and overwhelming urge to ridicule and laugh at her.

“oh, and get some fucking help,” he adds before turning away and leaving without waiting for her reaction.

fortunately, he gets the elevator immediately. 

unfortunately, none other than minhyuk comes barreling in before the doors close. he has the sense to at least look ashamed, throwing joshua a pitiful smile, but it isn’t enough, so he steps forward and presses a finger to the button that keeps the doors open.

he doesn’t say anything, blankly staring at the man who apparently had sex with his girlfriend either before or after siwoo did last night. minhyuk gets the clue and sighs.

“bro, we’re on the 13th floor,” he protests.

he still doesn’t respond. finally, when several seconds of minhyuk fidgeting have passed, the man groans dramatically—not unlike mina herself—and he stomps out of the elevator and toward the stairwell.

joshua smiles to himself, releasing the button and letting the elevator doors close and take him down to the lobby—down to you.

when joshua exits mina’s building, you’re waiting exactly where you had accosted the two of them the night before, sweaty and disheveled from your run over, but somehow still looking so incredibly pretty. 

you take one look at his face and know exactly how the entire conversation went down without even having to ask. then, an interesting thing happens: you do something joshua thinks is akin to exploding, and he has to hold you back from storming the building. you don’t even know where mina lives, but he knows if he lets you go, you’ll knock on every single door of all 25 floors until you find her and sock her in the face. 

and even as he tries to calm you down now, something warms his heart knowing you care enough to do something as ridiculous as that.

“you’re causing a scene,” he grunts, stepping in your way again when you try to dodge him.

“if you think this is a scene, you’re gonna hate what i’m about to cause on whatever goddamn floor that bitch lives on!” you inform him. 

“i’m not telling you and the front desk won’t either. he’d probably call security on you before you even get to the elevators.”

“i don’t care! i’ll punch the man at the front desk too! my fists are rated E for everyone!” you shriek wildly, darting back and forth as you try to get around him. against his will, an amused snort escapes him.

when it’s clear to you that joshua’s height and long legs are going to make it impossible for you to fake him out, you give up on going around and decide to go through.

joshua shouts in surprise when you barrel right into him, opting for pushing him backwards to get a few steps forward. he catches on quickly and digs his heels in, gripping your shoulders and holding you at arm’s length.

“she’s not worth this time or energy,” he tells you. 

“oh, i disagree, i think she’s worth a lot of my time and energy!” you refute. “i think she’s worth as much of my time and energy as it takes for me to rock her shit!”

you groan as you struggle against his hold, and he almost laughs at how hard you seem to be trying because it’s relatively easy to keep you where you are. you shrug his hands off and slap him away, charging forward again, but before you can, he plants his palm on your forehead, stopping you in your tracks.

“yah! joshua hong!” you shove his arm away from your forehead, and he can’t help when the laughs finally break free. “how are you laughing right now? i could kill her!”

he shrugs, his laughter suddenly snowballing until his hands are on his knees and he’s trying to catch his breath. 

he can’t do anything other than laugh. he has to laugh at the year he’s wasted with mina, or he’ll drive himself crazy asking himself what’s wrong with him that his taste led him so astray (something to unpack when he inevitably returns to his therapist). he has to laugh at the memory of walking in while minhyuk was still there or he’ll fixate on the fact that he has no idea how many men mina’s cheated on him with—and the fact that he needs to go get tested for STDs immediately. there is no other option but to laugh because he has no idea how someone’s life can change this fast because of an instagram DM.

when he finally stops, he sighs, straightening up to find you looking at him with a blank expression.

“oh, you’re so not okay,” you mutter.

“i’m fine,” he insists, shaking his head. he rests his hands back on your shoulders, this time gently, and he nods once. “this has just been the most ridiculous 24 hours of my life, and i’m tired and i’m starving. can we please escape this hellhole and eat? i’ll even pay.”

your eyes narrow at that, studying his face like you’re trying to see if he’s lying to you about being okay. he isn’t—at least he doesn’t think he is—but he also doesn’t think you’d be able to tell if he were anyway.

“i know a ramen spot near here?” you offer hesitantly.

it irks him that you not only have a go-to fried chicken spot in the area but a ramen spot too, and only because you’ve followed siwoo here enough times to have favorites. he thinks you deserve to find favorites in more meaningful ways.

he doesn’t say that, though, of course. instead, joshua looks you up and down before he scans himself, pointedly staring at how sweaty the two of you are in this sticky summer heat. 

“ramen is good for the soul,” you say, reading his mind. “the best comfort food. plus, you’ll sweat out all your heartache.”

“i have no heartache to sweat out.”

“right,” you agree, nodding easily and in a way that makes him question if you’re being sarcastic or not. “maybe we should invite jeonghan.”

he tilts his head. he’s not opposed because he needs to fill his best friend in, but he’s also not enjoying you being the one to suggest it. “why…?”

you shrug. “my offers to dole out violence on your behalf can only go so far. your best friend will probably be better equipped to handle… whatever that was that just happened right now.”

he snickers and rolls his eyes. “okay, i’ll text him.”

“no need, i already did!” you say as you loop your arm through his and begin to pull him away from the building. 

he scoffs, a little too aware of the scowl that erupts on his face. “how do you have jeonghan’s number?”

you look up at him and snort. “we all exchanged information last night, remember?”

no, you and joshua exchanged information last night after he insisted on it so he knew when you got home safe. his eye twitches when he thinks about jeonghan sneaking you his number too—and maybe even texting or calling you as much as he was today.

“he’s waiting for us at the ramen shop.”

he clenches his jaw before forcing a smile. “you really are such a well-prepared individual, aren’t you.”

“gotta be if i’m going to ruin siwoo and mina’s lives.”

“mina? i thought—”

“oh baby,” you say it with fake pity like he’s actually a child, but he finds he likes it a hell of a lot more than dude. infinitely more than bro. “she doesn’t get a pass anymore. that ship sailed when she decided to do my shua like that.” oh, he likes that one a lot. “she’s officially back in the plan.”

joshua grins genuinely now, nodding without arguing. even if he didn’t want you to wrap your metaphorical revenge hands around mina’s ugly neck and shake violently (he does), he knows arguing with you is futile.

“okay.” he feels the exhaustion from earlier slowly leave his body, already feeling lighter as he walks with you, arms looped together like you’ve been best friends for years. “let’s ruin some lives then.”

you look up at him and squeeze his arm, jumping a little as you squeal, “let’s!”

“bye, y/n.”

joshua tries not to glare as jeonghan pulls you into a hug, one arm snaking around your waist as he grins over your shoulder at him. he flashes his eyebrows at him and all his efforts go to waste. he gives him the nastiest glower he can. his best friend’s smirk just widens. 

he doesn’t know what’s going on—with jeonghan, with you, with the both of you, with himself. for the first 40 minutes sitting in the restaurant, joshua retold the hellish afternoon he experienced and took all of his best friend’s many i-told-you-so, what-a-bitch, and i-knew-she-was-a-snake comments with grace. but as soon as that was over, jeonghan flipped a switch.

all night, the man has been acting so weird with you, laughing too hard at everything you say, touching you any chance he gets, saying things just because he knows you’ll agree. and all night, for a reason he can’t quite put his finger on, it’s been driving joshua up the wall. it’s probably because you’re literally still in a relationship. his best friend could at least wait until you’re properly single before he starts doing whatever jeonghan-styled mating call this is.

nope. that’s not it. that thought drives him even further up this insufferable, metaphorical wall.

“later,” you say as you step back. “don’t forget to send me that brand of hair remover you were looking at.” you turn over your shoulder and joshua immediately drops his glare and smiles. if you saw the look he was giving jeonghan, you don’t show it. instead, you wink at him. “we’re going to need that for mina’s shampoo now, huh, shua?”

“shua,” jeonghan repeats, obviously delighted, eyebrows rising and grin quickly entering shit-eating levels. “cute!”

you turn back to him excitedly. “right?! i think so too!”

“you’re such a genius, y/n,” he says, sounding nauseatingly lovesick. joshua silently scoffs at him behind your back. he should know better, though, because that just eggs him on. “i’ll text you the link as soon as i get home. or—” he meets his eyes again. “—i’ll just call you!”

“sure, whatever,” you shrug, as indifferent as ever. it makes joshua happy. maybe a direct rejection would make him even happier, though. “get home safe!”

“yeah, get home safe,” joshua echoes as jeonghan steps around you to hug him as well. “don’t fall into a manhole or get run over by a massive truck or anything,” he mutters too quietly for anyone else but him to hear. 

“i love you too, man,” jeonghan laughs, rubbing his back and squeezing his shoulder as he steps away. “call me if you need to drink your sorrows away. see you two!”

he finally walks off toward his car as you step up to joshua’s side, looping your arm through his again. his heart immediately slows, recovering from the irritation of dealing with a menace.

“jeonghan knows i have zero interest in dating him, right?”

joshua can’t help the bark of laughter that all but rips its way out of him.

“no, like,” you laugh a little, “he comes on so strong? i don’t think i’ve ever met someone as bold as he is.”

that’s ironic, seeing as joshua has never met anyone as bold as you.

“i don’t know if he knows that,” he says honestly. “but either way, he wouldn’t make a move until you were single.”

he gets brief flashes of jeonghan’s fingers brushing up against yours, jeonghan delivering wings onto your plate, jeonghan hugging you a beat too long, jeonghan existing around you. 

“i think,” he adds, frowning.

you make a sound of disbelief as you both watch jeonghan pull out of his spot and drive away. you both stay rooted to the spot, watching nothing in particular.

 “i am single. for all intents and purposes, i am absolutely single.”

joshua is alarmed at how horrible the chill that runs up his spine feels—like an omen of how unbearable his life will become if two crazy people like you and jeonghan join forces to become one.

“i just happen to be a single woman pretending to still love her ex so she can obliterate his entire existence from the inside out.”

“right,” he says, nodding. “of course. i just mean that… i—uh… i have no idea what i mean. but i’ll tell jeonghan to fuck off.”

you whistle, laughing after you do. “i think that’s the first time i heard you cuss,” you inform him. “my shua cussing…” 

you don’t finish your thought because you giggle, and he thinks the sound triggers his fight or flight. he lets you laugh and when it fades, you shake your head.

“don’t tell jeonghan to fuck off,” you tell him. “it’s fun. flattering.”

“flattering?” he repeats, raising an eyebrow.

you shrug. “i’ve been with that idiot, siwoo, for two years. i guess it’s nice to know that someone thinks i’m cute enough to flirt with. at least i know i’m still an eligible bachelorette.”

joshua huffs out a laugh of disbelief. “are you serious?”

you yank your arm out of his, startling him. “what?! you don’t think i’m cute enough to flirt with?!” you ask, half offended but obviously thoroughly amused.

“quite the opposite, actually,” he says before he can convince himself not to. he’s about to start sputtering about how he means it in the most platonic and objective way possible, but since you’re you, he doesn’t need to.

“good, that’s what i thought,” you say, grinning and weaving your arm through the ditch of his elbow again. “i’m very cute.”

joshua is glad you’re so comfortable to be around. he knows if he agreed with you now, you’d happily accept the compliment, but if the roles were reversed, he would be flustered for the next week. 

you two enjoy a comfortable silence before he sighs contentedly and looks down at you to ask if you’re ready to leave. he forgets what he’s about to say when he meets your eyes, though.

you’re already looking up at him and smiling softly. “did you like the ramen? do you feel better?” you ask, tilting your head.

he thinks you would look nice resting it against his shoulder. “i feel much better,” he confirms. “thanks again—for coming so fast and so last minute without me even asking you to.” he pauses to think, frowning when he confronts how ride-or-die you’ve been for him today. “and even before that. thanks for workshopping all those horrible lines with me.”

you grin. “don’t mention it, dude.” he’s too content right now to make a face at that. at least it’s not bro. “it was a lot of fun, actually.”

“i still don’t think i have any heartache to sweat out into any other bowls of ramen—” you snicker. “—but it’s nice to know i have two people to cry to if i ever do.”

you nod enthusiastically. “exactly! you have jeonghan, and you have me now.”

he hums, feeling an intense desire to say you have him too—because you do, and you unfortunately already have jeonghan as well—but he stops himself. he’s only known you one day, and he’s just not as courageous as you are with your words. 

“it’s nice,” you mutter, “to have people to go through these things with.”

joshua doesn’t voice his curiosity about your own friendships. were there no other people you were able to expect this kind of support from? where was this soph you used to excuse yourself from dinner? any other friends? family? 

he lets his curiosity simmer. you’ve already subjected each other to incredibly intimate parts of your life; the rest can come another day.

“hopefully, it’s the first and last time we go through this,” he remarks, chuckling.

“one can hope,” you agree. “and the ramen?” you prod. “was it good?”

“i loved it,” he says honestly, “but—”

“‘but’?!” you practically shriek. “but what?! the ramen here is really good! what could you possibly have to say about the ramen here?”

he laughs, looking away from you and rolling his eyes at how fast you are to pounce. “i love the ramen, but,” he continues, “we need to find you some favorites that don’t involve roaming around the area that siwoo and mina happen to be in. i’ll show you some of my favorites. away from here. and if you want your own favorites, then we’ll go to a place you’ve never been and we’ll find you new favorites. but i hate to inform you… this will be the last time we eat in this godforsaken area so i hope you enjoyed that.”

when joshua looks back down at you, you’re no longer smiling. he tenses when he realizes you look a little sad, your mouth turned down at the corners so slightly, he probably wouldn’t notice if he weren’t so close to your face.

“oh,” he breathes, “y/n, i’m sorry, i didn’t—”

you shake your head quickly and he clamps his mouth shut.

“y’know,” you say quietly, like any louder and you’ll start crying. he doesn’t doubt that you would. it’s been a whole 24 hours since you did—at least in front of him. “it really fucking sucks… finding out your boyfriend is cheating on you, and on top of that, having to continue relying on him.”

your hold on his forearm tightens for a moment, and before he can think about it, he removes his right hand from his pocket and closes it over yours.

“and i know that we’ve only known each other for like… a day,” you say, laughing even though your voice is getting dangerously watery, “but every time we talk… i stop to think i’m really lucky that of all the people i could’ve been suffering through this with, it turned out to be you.”

joshua’s mouth parts to say something, but nothing comes out because nothing even comes to mind. there you go again—so honest and forthcoming and bold and you. there you go again, making his brain the most useless organ in his body without even trying.

“you’re really nice,” you sigh. “thank you.” you turn away and wipe at your eyes quickly before taking your hand back from his and releasing his arm altogether. he immediately feels a little colder. he returns his hand to his pocket. “for my last dinner in this stupid fucking neighborhood.”

he clears his throat. “you’re welcome.”

“i’ll hold you to it, y’know,” you warn him, bumping his shoulder. “don’t think you can say nice things like that and then have no follow-through.”

from the way you say it, he knows you’re thinking of siwoo. he wonders what sort of tiny things siwoo promised you that he never delivered on if he couldn’t even do something as simple as stay true to you. joshua thinks it will be easy for him to show you how nice people can be when they aren’t taking you for granted.

“good, hold me to it.”

“i will! you owe me a favorite chicken shop, a favorite ramen shop, a favorite boba shop, a favorite ice c—”

“jesus christ, how often were you here?”

you laugh loudly. “you owe me so many favorites.”

joshua smiles. “come on,” he says. “we’ll get you all those favorites. but for now, let’s get you home.”

“goodbye forever, ramen shop,” you bid the establishment farewell happily. “and goodbye, stupid fucking neighborhood!”

he grins. “good riddance, stupid fucking neighborhood!”

you’re consumed by giggles hearing him curse again.

acting normal while texting you proves to be the hardest thing joshua has done every single time he does it. it’s either you’re being incredibly funny and he’s smiling at his phone like an idiot, or you’re saying a bold inside thought and he’s smiling at his phone like an idiot. either way, even if he thinks he does a good job at appearing normal via text, he knows he looks crazy in person.

“you’re cheesing real hard, bro.”

joshua immediately locks his phone and shoves it into his pocket as he forces his face into a blank stare. 

“smooth,” jeonghan says, snickering from where he’s sprawled across the other side of joshua’s couch, no longer paying attention to the movie he begged to put on. “texting y/n?”

“no.” the lie comes out before he can even think about it. “watched a funny video.”

he hums, a soft smile on his lips. joshua knows he doesn’t believe him. “well, speaking of her, what’s going on with the two of you anyway?” 

“what?”

“what’s going on with—”

“no, i heard you,” he laughs. “i just meant, like… what do you mean? i’m helping her with siwoo. you know that.”

he narrows his eyes almost imperceptibly, but being his best friend, joshua is educated on all the nuances jeonghan’s face comes with.

“what?” he asks again. 

“do you like her?”

“yeah, she’s cool. kind of intense but cool. don’t you?”

jeonghan rolls his lips between his teeth like he’s trying not to smile too widely. he cocks an eyebrow at him. “i mean, do you like like her? do you fancy her?”

joshua scoffs. “what?”

it’s such a ridiculous question to ask someone who broke up with his girlfriend not even a full week ago. he thinks he was mostly telling the truth when he told you he had no heartache for him to expel from his body because both his heart and brain have been fairly quiet since that afternoon, but even then, he’s still too disoriented from how fast his life changed to think about liking anyone.

“it’s been days since mina and i broke up,” he reminds his best friend. “how could i already be interested in someone else?”

“well, mina didn’t wait to break up before she bec—”

“okay,” joshua holds a hand up to stop him from pointing out mina’s infidelity for the thousandth time since they found out. “mina and i aren’t the same. i can’t just jump into something else so quickly after. and it’s not even about mina.”

“oooh,” jeonghan sits up properly and crosses his legs, folding his hands over his knee. “explain.”

he shrugs. “i don’t really feel all that torn up about her as much as i am about how bad my instincts are.”

he frowns. “your instincts?”

“yeah, like… the signs were glaringly obvious,” joshua explains. “you knew she was a snake before all of this; you just didn’t know why. how come i didn’t see any of that? and,” he practically yells as he resituates himself on the couch so that he’s fully facing jeonghan, “how could i have thought i was going to possibly marry someone like that? i can’t even think about looking at another person until i wrap my mind around how i could have ever thought i was in love. what if i don’t even know what love is?”

“whoa, okay—”

“what if i end up with another mina?”

“—slow down,” jeonghan raises his hands like he’s trying to calm a bull. he mirrors his position, fully turning to him on the sofa now. “first of all, you know what love is. your judgment was just clouded for a little bit! you were lost in the joy of having a girlfriend that lasted a lot longer than the others. or you were being a weirdo and getting swallowed up by the plight of being in your 30s with no prospects for marriage, so you deluded yourself into thinking mina was it.”

joshua’s mouth pops open in shock a little at that. “i mean… that’s… plausible.”

“whatever it is—even if it is that she fooled you and you were blind to all the red flags, that doesn’t mean you don’t know what love is. how could you not know what love is when i’m your best friend? i love the shit out of you.”

he does crack a smile at this. he lets the reminder sink in and marinate in his brain. jeonghan could very much be right on the money with this one; after all, mina came at a time when joshua was starting to question if his love life was cursed. he was fresh out of therapy he sought out because his ex broke up with him for essentially being a robot, and he was eager to share more of himself with the next one—to love the next one harder than he had the rest. maybe he really was just forcing something to be that wasn’t meant to be.

“say it back.”

he laughs. “i love you too.” he sighs. “what else?”

“huh?”

“you said ‘first of all.’ i assume you have a second of all?”

jeonghan frowns for a moment before a light bulb goes off in his head. “yes! second of all, y/n is not mina.”

“wait, what?”

“you said, ‘what if i end up with another mina?’ y/n is not mina.”

“of course she’s not mina,” joshua says. that much is obvious; if mina is one end of the spectrum, you’re so far on the other end, it went all the way back around to mina. “but why are we even talking about y/n?”

“because it’s clear you like her,” he informs him, amused. 

“i don’t like her like that,” he disagrees confidently and somewhat exasperatedly. whenever jeonghan got ideas like this in his head, it became an inarguable truth to him regardless of what anyone else said. he knows if he doesn’t nip it in the bud, he’ll run with it for the rest of their lives. “she’s funny and nice and cool to hang out with, but she’s just a friend.”

“is that why you’re texting and calling her 24/7 when the rest of us feel like we’re pulling teeth trying to get you to respond to us?” jeonghan points out. joshua opens his mouth to refute his point, but he steamrolls right over his words. “is that why you’re extra mean to me whenever the three of us hang out?”

“we’ve only hung out all three of us twice. and what do you mean i’m mean to you?”

his best friend laughs openly in his face. “you’re really going to tell me you don’t notice the way you kick me or interrupt me or glare at me whenever so much as an ounce of y/n’s attention is on me instead of you?”

is that what his odd behavior at the ramen shop was about? he was trying to get on joshua’s nerves as some kind of experiment?

joshua narrows his eyes at him. “i do those things because you’re annoying me.”

“i’ve annoyed you our whole lives,” he shoots right back. “you’ve only started abusing me recently.”

“you’re so dramatic and wrong.”

“okay!” jeonghan agrees too easily. he stands up.

“where are you going?” joshua leans back to look up at him. “aren’t we getting dinner later?”

he hums in thought before quickly saying no. “rain check! i think i’m going to ask y/n if she wants to go out instead. i’ve been thinking about asking her out.”

joshua is not dumb. joshua is actually very smart. he graduated top of his class from an ivy league in the U.S., he has an MBA, and he—much like you were supposed to be before siwoo upended your life—became a director at his company before 30, still on track to become the youngest senior director.

joshua is smart and he knows what jeonghan is trying to do, but his dumb face frustratingly doesn’t get the memo. before he can even fully process the words, his eyebrows are pulling down, eyes sharpening into a glare, and jaw clenching so hard, he knows jeonghan can hear his teeth grinding.

“oh, really,” he deadpans. 

“yup!” he has the audacity to grin at joshua, eyes so full of mischief and mirth, he wants to kick him again and give him something to really complain about. “i’ll see myself out, don’t worry about getting up. bye joshuji! i’ll tell y/n you said hi!”

joshua scoffs as he watches him actually leave his apartment. and again, because various parts of his body seem to be missing signals from his brain that he doesn’t care, once the door clicks closed behind jeonghan, he throws himself back onto the couch mindlessly and hastily, struggling to retrieve his phone from his pocket. 

“why are these jeans so fucking tight,” he mumbles as his hand gets a little stuck. when he finally rips the phone out of his pocket, he briefly considers texting you but lands on calling you instead. what he’s going to say, he has no idea. 

“i was just about to call you,” you once again answer without greeting him first. 

“oh. hi,” he says, a little thankful for the non-greeting for once because it gives him some time to come up with an excuse for calling you other than he wanted to beat jeonghan to it. “why were you going to call?”

“because you were taking a long ass time to reply again,” you say simply. he snickers at your streak of impatience. “why are you calling?”

that wasn’t a lot of time to come up with an excuse at all, but joshua thinks “so we can make plans. i don’t feel like texting” is more than good enough. 

“oh yay,” you accept the fib easily. “well, as an unemployed idiot, i am free… let me see… oh yes, all day every day, but extra free on whatever day siwoo’s parents decide to hold me hostage at dinner with them.”

joshua laughs, slowly relaxing against the couch once more. “well, how about tonight?”

“ugh, unfortunately, they do not want to have dinner tonight, but yes, i am free.”

“how about we meet to discuss your top secret plan tonight and then hang again whenever your dinner with that nightmare family is?” he suggests. 

“joshua hong, my knight in shining armor,” you joke. his cheeks warm at the words. “sounds like a plan. can we meet at yours, though? i don’t want to reveal how crazy i am in a public setting. that seems too vulnerable. and i’d invite you over here but it’s probably best we don’t discuss these plans in the home of the man whose life i’d like to destroy.” joshua truly admires your way with sarcasm. 

“yeah, i’ll text you my address,” he agrees. and because he’s extra irate with jeonghan for thinking he can manipulate him into becoming some kind of jealous monster, he adds: “you can come over whenever—even now if you want. i’m free all day” just in case his best friend calls you too after you hang up.

“oh great!” you say. “siwoo is out all day doing lord knows who or what and i’m done brushing the toilet with everything he owns, so i can be on my way once you send it.”

joshua smiles. “perfect.”

he knows he literally just played right into jeonghan’s game, but somehow, he still feels like he won.

it doesn’t take you long at all to get to his apartment, and when you do, he’s a little stunned to open the door and find your arms completely empty—no files full of information only the CIA would have or fat manila envelopes stuffed with plans to eviscerate your exes like he expected. instead, you stand there, hands clasped in front of you with nothing but your purse hanging on your shoulder. 

“nice place,” you comment as you look around his apartment, unabashedly looking at the books on his shelves, art on the walls, even running your fingers across the strings of his guitar in the corner. “you play?”

he hums as he plops back down on his couch. “yeah, since i was young. do you?”

you laugh like he told a joke. “no. i’m not creatively gifted. it doesn’t really surprise me that you are, though.”

he’s about to ask you what makes you say that but you turn to him and clap your hands together once. 

“okay! let’s do this! we have a lot of material to get through tonight.” 

you throw your purse on the counter of the breakfast bar, make your way to the coffee table in front of him, take your phone out of your pocket, and sink to the floor. 

“let’s start with mina; i think she’ll be much easier since she doesn’t have a family-owned empire for us to topple.”

joshua’s eyes widen. “a family-owned what for us to what?”

you wave your hand like it’s an irrelevant detail. “we’ll get into it later,” you assure him as you get to wherever you were swiping to on your phone. you read a few lines and then nod, looking up at him. “so mina is a grade A gold-digger.”

joshua huffs, leaning his elbows on his knees and shaking his head. “i’m not saying i disagree because you have very solid evidence—good job, by the way—”

“thank you!” you chirp happily, smiling widely.

“—but i am not rich enough for anyone to try digging for gold around here.”

your smile disappears, expression flattening into a glare as you pointedly look around his apartment. he follows your gaze, and yes, he sees what you see: a very spacious apartment, all of the interests and hobbies he can afford to indulge in, and furniture he hired an interior designer to curate for him. he’ll give it to you—he’s definitely a little more than just comfortable, but he’s not gold-digging material. he never even gave mina much money; he just paid for dates, and he tells you as much.

“well, i did some digging, and that’s all she would’ve really needed you to pay for. little miss busy body had multiple streams of income,” you tell him, swiping on your phone until you’re showing him screenshots of instagram profiles. the first is siwoo’s. 

joshua would never admit it, but his curiosity got the best of him after overhearing your conversation with siwoo over the phone, and he found his profile after combing through the accounts you follow. the man’s face was tolerable enough, though not anything special to look at, in joshua’s opinion. he definitely thinks you can do a lot better. but for mina, though, he’s perfect. they’d make monstrous, ugly, little children.

“so here are my theories,” you announce. “correct me if you think i’m wrong with any of this since you know mina better.” he nods in agreement. “i think siwoo was target number one. she thought because he’s the heir to a sizable company, that he would be a good sugar daddy to land, but he was already taken by a smart, beautiful, kind, and insanely funny woman that turned out to be way too good for him.” he grins at you. “and because too many people have eyes on his finances—mommy, daddy… and me but only because i started snooping—”

joshua snorts, looking down at his lap when he thinks of the things you’re pushed to do when a man is making you feel insecure. it’s not fitting for you and he hates it.

“—he probably couldn’t give mina as much money as she was expecting. but she thought she’d keep him around in case there was ever an opportunity to go full-time with him,” you theorize. you turn your phone back to you, swiping to the next account. “minhyuk.”

joshua looks up and rolls his eyes when he sees an account full of shirtless photos of the man he met in mina’s apartment. “yeah. minhyuk.”

“he lives about 30 minutes from mina’s apartment in the opposite direction of siwoo, putting them about an hour away from each other,” you inform him.

“how the hell do you know that?”

you smile slyly. “i have my ways.” when he keeps staring at you, you roll your eyes. “his full name is on his instagram so i looked him up on linkedin and facebook, and the latter had photos of him moving into his apartment, okay? kids nowadays don’t care about internet safety; it’s not rocket science, shua. anyway,” you point back to the screenshot of his account, trying to redirect his attention, “that’s a healthy enough distance that she probably felt safe dating these two. on top of that, minhyuk is a pilot for korean airlines—did you know they can make up to 300 million won a year? absolutely rich enough to warrant mina’s attention.”

joshua has to admit that maybe he should reconsider what he thinks is rich versus what is comfortable if 300 million won was impressive to you.

“so mina snatches him up, knowing it won’t be much of a time commitment since he’ll constantly be flying all over the place,” you explain. “then, we have…” you swipe and sigh, shaking your head. “this guy.”

joshua narrows his eyes at the screen where he’s met with the account of a man he’s never seen before. he’s very tatted, with a kind face and a nice smile, and if his photos are any indication, he works out just as hard as minhyuk apparently does. 

“and who is this?” he asks, already knowing the answer.

“boyfriend number three,” you say a little uncomfortably. “jeon jungkook.”

joshua grunts but says nothing, so you continue.

“before you ask how i found him, i went through all of the people mina follows on instagram, and—”

“her profile is private,” joshua points out.

“that’s what burner accounts are for,” you respond.

“she approved aggretsuko’s request to follow her…?”

you smile. “no, silly, i followed her from my believable burner. aggretsuko is more just for being able to blindly like and follow whatever and whoever i want to. i have a fake account featuring a fake person with a fake life and fake followers. she let that one follow her.”

“i should really stop questioning you. you’re obviously very capable at this whole revenge thing.”

“yeah, the sooner you do that, the faster our conversations will be. so i went through all the accounts she follows, which thankfully aren’t many because the bitch likes having a skinny mini following to follower ratio.” 

joshua shakes his head at your name-calling but fights off a smile anyway.

“i picked out every man—again, not many because she was probably mindful of them being able to see each other’s accounts—and i looked up their occupations on linkedin and if they made a good salary, they made the cut. from there, i just heavily cyberstalked them until i had no choice but to rule them out, or in jungkook’s case, until i found something incriminating.”

he doesn’t bother asking because he can see you get a kick out of explaining this to him.

“a photo of him and mina at a romantic dinner, dated a year and a half ago.”

“before me.”

you nod. “yup. jungkook is an investment banker, aka basically a bank, period, to mina. and seeing as the korean stock exchange is based in busan, he’s constantly flying between there and here for work—”

“making him another good candidate for a boyfriend since he wouldn’t demand a lot of her time.”

you nod and point at him. “exactly! which brings us to boyfriend #4.” you put your phone on the table and gesture at him. “you.”

he nods. “me.”

you tilt your head at him. “honestly, i couldn’t figure out what it was that made mina choose you.”

he scoffs. “wow.”

“no, don’t get me wrong,” you say, shaking your head calmly. “you’re a fucking catch—leagues better than any of these guys as far as i can tell.” he feels his cheeks get hot. “but that’s why i couldn’t figure it out. mina digs her claws into these rich, kinda vain, kinda power-hungry men, and then she found you, and you’re yes, rich, but also kind, sweet, caring, and all of the other good words in the dictionary.”

the heat spreading across his face grows exponentially warmer. 

“therefore, i concluded that mina chose you to be her real boyfriend.” 

joshua frowns. 

“doesn’t it make sense? she chooses guys who are either romantically unavailable or physically unavailable, so she still has all this time on her hands. the girl is evil but she’s also human so she craved an actual partner. she chose you.”

it sounds like it should be a compliment, but joshua feels even more repulsed by the idea that three just wasn’t enough for her. she really went out of her way to find him and torment him when she had more than enough to go around.

“this is the kind of greed the bible warned us about,” joshua mutters under his breath, mostly to himself. you hear it though, and the sound of your laugh immediately makes him smile back at you.

“yeah, mina is definitely a warning sign from god.”

“wish i listened.”

you give him a smile. “eh, where’s the fun in that?”

he knows you’re just trying to make him feel better but that you probably don’t believe that. he hasn’t forgotten what you were like the first night you met—how you cried and drank so miserably. still, you somehow found it in yourself to joke around like this. it makes him stop moping.

“okay,” he says, nodding and leaning forward with renewed vigor. “so she’s really good at time management. now what?”

you laugh. “she doesn’t need to be good at time management because i learned that mina doesn’t even fucking work, bro.”

the information is jarring enough that he doesn’t fully register what you call him. “what?”

“i called the company you mentioned her working for and pretended to be a recruiter calling for a reference, and they said no one by that name has ever worked there,” you report. “i think she’s making her living off her boyfriends. which is why i said that she only needed you to pay for dates. the others are funding her whole life.”

“oh my god, i hate her,” he says plainly as he thinks of all the “overtime” she had to clock in and the “business trips” she went on and the never-ending complaints about a boss that didn’t even exist. “what kind of fucking sociopath…”

you nod solemnly. “it at least makes our job easier; all we have to do is cut her from her money source.”

“the boyfriends.”

you hum affirmatively. “you and minhyuk are already done, so we just need to get siwoo and jungkook to cut her off. but now that she’s suddenly out two streams of income, i’m sure she’ll be really laying it on thick with those two to make up for it. we’ll have to be a bit creative.”

the craziest, most intrusive thought enters joshua’s head and in the next second, it’s exiting his mouth. “mingyu returns this weekend.”

you raise an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic but you don’t comment on it. “mingyu, the man you kept accusing me of being when i first messaged you?” you ask, sneering at the mere mention of his name. “that mingyu?”

he nods. “yup. there’s always been three of us: me, jeonghan, mingyu. he’s been traveling and he comes back in a few days.”

“okay… and what exactly does that have to do with ruining mina’s life?”

joshua grins, feeling excitement bubbling in his stomach. “kim mingyu, y/n, is rich. and not just comfortable—actually rich. as in rich enough for mina to drop all her boyfriends and quit scouting rich guys for the rest of her life if she had reason to think he was willing to fully support her.”

“does she not know what one of your best friends looks like…?” you question, making the most judgmental face joshua thinks he’s ever seen. he snickers.

“nope,” he says, popping the p. “mingyu’s been gone for the entirety of our relationship, traveling all over the place, so she never met him and his social media presence is equivalent to your aggretsuko account—for looking, not posting. all he does online is try to prank me.” he laughs more fully now, shaking his head at how perfect it is. “he’s a bored trust fund baby who knows how to act. he’s going to love doing this.”

your mouth drops open in awe, staying there for several seconds before you realize you haven’t said anything. “well,” you mutter, a smile very slowly beginning to spread across your face, “if you say he’s rich, then he must be absolutely rolling in it. and if he’s rolling in it—”

“then mina’s going to take the bait.”

you grin widely now, leaning forward onto the coffee table and shaking your head. “you, joshua hong, are so much more diabolical than you let on.”

he smirks. “learning from the best.”

“oh, she is so over.”

a/n: thanks for your patience! i'm afraid i will require more of it as i continue getting used to my new schedule LOL (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

if you’d like to be added to the tag list, comment here or send me an ask! if you requested to be on the list but weren’t tagged in this post or the reblog, it’s bc you don’t have an age indicator on your page. pls add that (and lmk that you did) if you want to be tagged next time.

part three teaser

"i really lost myself in this, y'know?" you whisper, head tilting up at the sky like maybe you'll find whatever it is you think you lost up there in the never-ending black. 

joshua follows your gaze. “i don’t think you lost anything. i think it’s all still there.”

“how would you know? you didn’t know who i was before siwoo changed every aspect of me and my life,” you remind him like he needs to be reminded at all. every day, he found himself thinking about what life would be like if he had met you before siwoo had. he doesn’t need the reminder.

“i know because there’s no way any part of you that’s here with me right now is because of siwoo,” he tells you confidently. “you’re so… funny and smart and confident and reliable and cool. and you want me to believe any of that is because of siwoo?”

that gets him a small smile. “careful or i’ll start to think you have a favorable opinion of me.”

he snorts. “if you don’t already think that, i’m probably not being a good enough friend.”

joshua looks down when you press your shoulder against his. the breeze blows strands of hair into your face, and he suppresses the desire to tuck them behind your ear. “you’re a great friend. probably the greatest i’ve made in my adult life.”

he nods. “you too. all of you—every version of you before, during, and after siwoo. i like them all. even the ones i never got to meet."

"you're so..." you start but never finish.

"hmm?"

"nothing," you say. "thanks."

"for?"

"saying all of those nice things."

"pfft, don't get too big-headed about it," he says, trying to play it cool. you smile. "i just can't stand the idea that you think any part of who you are today is due to an idiot like siwoo."

you sigh and rest your head against his shoulder. he has to actively try to keep his body relaxed when you do. “did you know that the name siwoo means divine intervention?”

joshua shakes his head. “i didn’t.”

“divine intervention,” you repeat, scoffing this time. “like, yeah. he definitely intervened and derailed my whole life, that’s for sure. i have no idea where the fuck ‘divine’ comes from, though.”

“are you sure you didn’t misread it and it’s actually disturbing intervention?”

you laugh and slap his arm softly. “what does joshua mean?” you ask after a few moments of silence.

“uh,” he squints as he tries to remember what his mom told him, “salvation, i think.”

you suddenly lift your head up off his shoulder and look at him, eyes narrowing a little as you very closely and openly study his face. he feels self-conscious, a feeling he seems to have gotten used to around you.

“salvation…” it sounds like you’re testing the word on your tongue. you scan his face for something he doesn’t have the composure to ask about right now. no, his composure is nowhere to be found as your gaze rakes every centimeter of every feature of his face, taking your time like you're simultaneously trying to understand him and committing him to memory. “huh" is all you say when you're done.

“what?” he asks quietly, resisting the urge to pass a hand over his face in case there’s something on it. 

“nothing,” you say, face relaxing one again. you smile a little, and even with the lessened intensity, your stare is starting to feel like it’s burning a hole right through him. “it’s just… fitting. joshua. salvation.”

and why exactly would that be fitting?

tag list: @coupsma @tokitosun @nothingbutadeadesceane @ateez-atiny380 @minghaofied @reiofsuns2001 @turtash @https-seishu @gaslysainz @dawn-iscozy @mrsjohnnysuh @sunnysidesins @thepoopdokyeomtouched @faizaa09 @hearts4itoshi @iamdkayyyyy @randojeon @iwannakisspoutycheol @youre-on-your-ownkid @justanotherkpopstanlol @sanaxo-o @seokqt @tjtales @ilouvwonwoo @littlemisshyperfixation @mxelatrix-x @papichulomacy @o-schist @sumzysworld @alyssa19123456

[valentinedrifter]

Snippets with Jiwon: Belle

male reader x Park Jiwon

~2.3k words

A/N: Prompt for @suchsweetstories. Thanks for hosting!

Enjoy.

“Here’s your shake!”

The room glows, flashing every color in the rainbow as the drum of the bass starts to beat through your chest. Laughter, giggles, and conversations were everywhere. Not like in those night clubs where it was messy and chaotic. This was quieter, tamer, more focused.

The decor of hearts—neon lights, balloons, the Goddamn headband of it you were forced to wear—decorated everything, from the walls to the chairs to the cherry on top of the shake you just got. It was all red, hiding from the glow of the lights flashing around them.

The DJ somewhere at the back was playing some old songs that you couldn’t tell if people cared about or not since they were all focused on each other rather than anything else.

You sigh, taking a deep breath before taking the chance to glance around the room. Couples all over the place, drinking the same single shake you have, with two straws and two spoons, two mouths. Facing each other, sitting next to one another, it didn’t fucking matter. 

They were all the same, just in different shapes and sizes. The older couple wrapping their arms around each other staring outside the window or the awkward one that were laughing at each other for drinking on the same glass.

In the end they were all enjoying what they were here for.

“Happy Valentines!”

This feels like a mistake, and you shouldn’t have let Jiwon convince you to do this.

You don’t even know how she managed to do it. Only that she yelled at you to attend this ‘blind date’ event to get your mind off of things.

Things being your ex that left you for some gym rat she met where she works out at.

She didn’t bother to give you the courtesy of telling you face to face. Just a text telling you that she needs a ‘break’ then proceeds to block your number.

If you can call a break hooking up with someone else because you found her cheating.

And yeah, not sleeping right and wallowing in your misery for the first few weeks of the breakup isn’t the healthiest way to cope, but this is not the answer to fixing your heart.

It’s been months since the break up anyway, and you told yourself to swear off of falling in love in the near future. 

You were doing fine. 

Jiwon disagrees, because she always does, which is why you’re holding a tray with a milkshake in an event to try and find your ‘dream girl’ as she puts it.

You should’ve told her to set herself up too since she’s been single since birth.

Your supposed ‘blind date’ hasn’t shown up and it’s been almost half an hour since the event started.

And the number stub that was given to you has been staring at you for the majority of the time you’ve spent together.

Twenty might as well haunt you at this point.

No dream girls here.

It really didn’t have to be on February 14th of all days because that felt like pouring salt in the wound and slapping the utter shit out of it.

Like, holy shit, who would even set up a blind date event on Valentines?

And yet here you are, pushing through it anyway. Did it to prove a point that you still have your shit together. You dressed up, got a new cut, used your favorite perfume. Cleaned yourself up pretty well, you have to admit. 

It still feels as if you’re conducting self-inflicted torture on yourself to see all these people enjoying their dates and you’re here in the middle of all of it. 

Sitting on a table. 

Staring across the empty seat.

Struggling to enjoy the free shake.

Alone.

Your hand wraps around the tall glass, cooling your palms. You were about to grab a straw until you notice:

A pair of straws, a duet of spoons. Both heart-shaped.

Two.

Motherfuckers.

You must’ve looked depressing as hell to everyone in the building right now, staring at the milkshake you got, watching the glass slowly condensate and the ice cream melt on top.

You sigh, feeling the hearts bobble on your head shake when you reach out to one of the straws, hearing a slower song start to play before a hand takes it away from the tray.

You can smell the rosy-wine smell on the arm that took it. It smelled familiar, like someone who always left that same scent every time you met. 

“Hey.” You hear, making you look up to see a very familiar face.

“Jiwon?” You squint against all the glare of the party lights, and sure enough, it was her, in the flesh, standing right in front of you. Wearing a combination of black and red that looked amazing on her, with a choker on her neck and the same headband that you’re wearing to complete the ensemble.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes.” Jiwon smiles, “Didn’t get a chance to catch your dream girl?”

“No, I–Hold on, what are you doing here?” You watch her sit down on the chair in front of you, her purse settling on the table. “I thought you were with Hayoung.”

“I was. She’s right over there.” She points the straw behind you, aiming it near the music booth where Hayoung was talking with the DJ. “You know how much she likes these types of songs.”

“That still doesn’t explain what you two are doing here.” You return Hayoung’s enthusiastic wave with a shy, confused one before turning back to Jiwon, who’s already taking a sip of your milkshake, that glint in her eye that makes you narrow your eyes.

The next few words that came out of her mouth make you wanna—

“Does my honey not wanna see me?” She asks in this cutesy tiny little voice that makes your eyes widen, your head leaning back in, and your entire being thrown off balance. “Even after I dressed up like this for him?”

“Jiwon, what the fuck are you saying–” You can’t even continue your line of thought because she starts pouting, and that really starts to confuse the fuck out of you because you don’t know whether you like seeing that look from her or not.

“Hmph!” She makes a face. The type that looks cute and adorable, the type that makes your heart beat faster, the type that makes you want to puke at the second hand embarrassment you’re getting. “My honey doesn’t love me anymore!”

“Please stop, you’re making me cringe.” You let out. It’s a self-defense mechanism to protect your heart from whatever the fuck she’s trying to do.

“I was being cute!” She screams, drawing a few looks from the nearby people and making her mouth a ‘Sorry’ with a little peace sign and a bashful laugh before looking back at you.

“Besides, you like it when I act cute. Don’t think I didn’t see it.” She grins, taking another sip of the milkshake.

“You’re seeing things.” You retort. “And don’t think you can get away with not answering my question.”

“What question?” She tilts her head, the lights shadowing her face. And all you do is give a blank stare and a raised eyebrow to avoid thinking about how beautiful she looks, from the way she’s dressed to her cute dimple on her face.

“The question.” You reiterate. “You know, the one I asked you earlier?”

She hums, before batting her eyelashes and placing her hands on her chin. “Remind me?”

You sigh. “What are–”

“–I doing here?” She finishes, giggling, dimples showing. She dips her spoon into the shake, scooping up a piece of ice cream from the glass and holds it out towards you.

“Say ‘ah’ first.” She grins. You can smell the roses on her arm.

You blink, once towards the spoon, another towards her. “You’re joking.”

“Come on.” She drags, nudging the spoon even more. The smell is intoxicating. “Indulge me a little, honey.”

“No, Jiwon.” A shake of your head. Honey’s starting to sound really nice though.

“Pretty please?” Her pout’s back in full swing, doing her cute act of tilting her head, giving you those irresistible puppy eyes and the child-like voice airing out of her lips. “Just one, honey?”

Normally you’d say no. It’s the easiest thing in the world to say. One word. One syllable. 

But everything about her is just messing you up in all the good, the bad, the her ways from the moment she sat down.

And so, you cave in.

“Only once.” You sigh before leaning in towards her.

She grins before feeding you, giggling as she pulls it away. Her scent still lingers around you.

“You fold so easy when I act cute.” She states, placing the spoon on her pouting lips, tongue slipping out before she winks at you. “I should take notes on these–”

You weren’t used to this type of Jiwon. She was playful, sure, but never flirty with you. She’d tease, yell, whatever. Thought it was all friendly banter at that point. And from the moment you knew her, she would never, ever, act like this for you.

And you honestly thought she swung the other way judging from the looks she gives Hayoung on occasion. Or how she touches Jisun. And how well she knows Chaeyoung a little too much.

It was really, painfully obvious when she was with Miyeon. She even cried happy (or was it sad?) tears when she found out Miyeon got together with one of her coworkers. That ‘New Girl from Japan’ that Jiwon says everyone likes because of how bubbly she is.

But maybe you were wrong about her. And you don’t know what that means for you or for her.

“So,” You cough, gulping, praying that she doesn’t catch you like a nervous mess because of her. She’d never let it go. “Would you mind answering my question now?”

“Fine, fine.” She rummages through her purse a bit before she takes out a piece of paper. “I’m sitting here all dressed up, for this.”

She places it down, and the number is practically screaming out of it.

Twenty.

Two. Zero.

Oh.

“Oh, he says.” She giggles, chin resting on her palm. You were starting to like the sound of it coming out of her. “Didn’t expect it to be me?”

“I never really thought you were into these types of things.” You answer, eyes still focused on the stub. “And I thought you said you were going clubbing with Hayoung.”

“Technically, this is a club.” She replies, eyes dancing around the room. “And I was with Hayoung when we came in.”

“Did you also set yourself up as my blind date?”

“That was more of a group effort.” She smiles, tongue out and all. “Chae started it.”

“That’s now how blind dates are supposed to work.” You sigh—you’ve been doing that a lot.

“You didn’t know I was your date, so it’s still a blind date, honey.” She flicks the heart on her headband. “Besides, the look on your face is so worth the effort.”

“You are crazy.” You laugh despite yourself. This was not how you expected your night to go.

“Maybe.” She grins. All dimples and teeth and crescent eyes. “Maybe I just wanted to spend my Valentines with you.” 

You should have said something. Asked about the real reason she’s your date and not someone random. Why she went through all this trouble for you.

But you don’t know if you’re ready to hear the answer just yet. Besides, she’s done enough things today for you to put that on the back burner right now.

“Thanks for saving me, I guess.” You let out a smile of your own. Small, tired, content.

“You’re welcome!” She takes another scoop of ice cream. Grand, excited, happy. “Now enjoy this milkshake with me.”

“Only if you tell me how you all of you set this up.” Whether this was an excuse to keep things light or you wanted to hear her voice, you’ll never know.

“Deal.”

She starts rambling about how Chaeyoung found out that a mutual friend was helping out organize the entire event. How Hayoung decided to ‘volunteer’ and help out so that she can thumb down your names. How she convinced—screamed at, but semantics—you to attend the event.

You listened to all of it. Every crack in her voice when she giggles, every change in tone whenever she tries impersonating one of her friends. You don’t even notice that the milkshake’s almost gone.

You could watch her ramble on about things that could make your brain hurt like those brainrot memes that were blowing up all over the place and you’d take all of it and sit there with a smile–

Oh. Oh.

“–So now all I had to do was show up and look pretty while you gawk at how beautiful I am.”

“I wasn’t gawking.” You splutter, avoiding her gaze. You definitely weren’t. 

Surely.

“Uh-huh.” She smirks. “Didn’t you look like this–”

She starts making faces, pretending to be you when she first sat down. She looked adorably stupid doing it.

“I wasn’t that bad.” You laugh, flicking the spoon at her.

“I dunno.” She laughs with you, leaning back. “You were pretty bad at hiding it.”

You fall into a comfortable silence, and all that’s left is her smile, the music, and those little flutters in your chest that you used to have way back when. Her lips break into a grin, and her eyes light up.

You feel as if you could lose yourself in them.

Then she speaks, spoon raised and pointed towards you. 

You realize: you’re right back at square one.

“Happy Valentines, you idiot.”  

Falling in love.

“Yeah.” You smile, a shake of your head accompanying the spoon that you’re holding. You clink it together with hers.

“Happy Valentines, Jiwon.”

[violetrainbow412-blog]

Examination [B. F.]

Bob Floyd x doctor!reader

wc: 1.7k

summary: Bob suffers a concussion and Nat insists he get checked out. He doesn't seem convinced until he meets the doctor who will examine him.

You were reviewing files and filling out some medical certification forms when someone knocked on your door. You didn't remember having a checkup appointment scheduled at that time, so a frown accompanied you as you walked to the doorknob. You had hoped it was just a colleague who needed help.

“Lieutenants?”

“Good morning, doctor,” the woman murmured cordially.

On her green jumpsuit was an embroidered patch that read Natasha Trace, below her callsign and a shield. She was firmly holding the arm of one of her crewmates, a bespectacled man you remembered from previous medical exams. You checked his name by looking at the left side of his chest.

“My partner suffered a concussion while we were flying,” she continued, “Do you think you could check him out?”

“Of course. Come this way.”

“I’m fine,” the boy complained. However, his actions contradicted him as he held the side of his head with his palm open. “It was nothing.”

“She has to check you out anyway. It could be something bad.”

Her tone of voice was firm, and you assumed this wasn't just an argument that had surfaced. You vaguely remembered the two of them being a team on the plane, so you understood her insistence to some extent.

You put on the lab coat over your black clothes, hung the stethoscope around your neck, and grabbed some tools you'd need for the evaluation. Calmly, you asked the woman to guide him to the examination table so he could sit there, and you instructed him to remove his glasses. You also offered her a chair if she wanted to rest during the procedure.

“Okay, let’s get started, shall we?” you announced, positioning yourself between his legs without being intrusive. “What’s your name?”

“You don’t know?”

“I need to know if you know,” you smiled, at the apparent disappointment that had seeped into his voice.

“Robert Floyd. They call me Bob.”

“Fine, Bob,” you murmured.

His name hung between you for a second before your gloved hands found his head. You carefully moved his hair to the side, feeling for any unevenness hidden beneath his skin.

“Do you know what day of the week it is today?”

"Thursday"

“Good, we’re doing well,” you flattered him, with a smile. “Who’s the president?”

“Biden?”

"You're sure?"

“Yes. Sure,” he nodded, feeling quite confident with the answer.

“And where do you feel the blow? Here?”

You gently pressed the right side of his head. He reacted with only a grimace that didn't quite turn into a gesture of pain.

“Here it is. There’s no blood, just a bump,” you informed him. “But I need to check you to rule out internal bleeding. Sometimes the wound doesn’t find a way out, but it’s there.”

The man nodded slightly every time you spoke to him, and although he seemed somewhat lethargic, you wouldn't have classified it as alarmingly disoriented. You took a medical penlight from your lab coat pocket and explained that you were going to check his pupil reflexes for any abnormalities—if any—based on how his eyes reacted to light.

You lifted his face with your fingertips on his chin. He didn't resist. On the contrary, he let himself be guided, as if that brief hold anchored him to something.

“Look this way. Now look at the light… good. Reactive pupils. Does the light bother you?”

“A little. About normal.”

You hummed a nod, focused on catching any change in his reaction. He, there under your touch, seemed mesmerized by your movements.

“Can you tell me what color your eyes are, Bob?”

“Blues”

“They’re very pretty,” you exclaimed without thinking. To try to fix it, you asked, “Blue like the color of the sky?”

“I would say more like the sea,” he replied. “Dark… when it’s about to rain.”

The comparison took you by surprise. There was something in his voice that wasn't meant to shock. He said it like someone describing something he knew very well.

You turned off the flashlight without taking your eyes off him. You gently released him from your touch.

"Now I'm going to move my finger. I need you to follow it with your eyes, without moving your head. If it hurts, let me know."

Bob obeyed. His pupils moved precisely. There were no signs of anisocoria or loss of focus.

“Good job. Now I want you to touch the tip of your nose with your index finger and then mine. Three times.”

He smiled faintly. It wasn't blatant. It was slight, involuntary, as if the command was too intimate for him not to notice. His fingers performed the exercise, though on the third repetition, his index finger touched your nose more slowly than before. You said nothing. But you registered everything.

"Do you feel any ringing in your ears? Dizziness?"

“I feel a little dizzy,” he exclaimed, though you saw a hint of doubt as the words left his mouth. “But I don’t think it’s the blow. It’s just… you’re so close.”

The phrase wasn't a play or a joke. It was honest, loaded with something he didn't try to hide. You stared at him without moving, measuring the fine line between side effect and real impulse.

You carefully began an examination of his neck to rule out cervical injury, and as you felt around and asked him if it hurt, he said only a little. Again, nothing out of the question.

“Your shampoo smells nice,” he whispered suddenly. “It smells like lavender, but with something else… rosemary?”

You laughed nervously, trying to ignore the fact that he'd leaned a little closer to your body to capture the scent. The fact that his body emanated such warmth at the proximity didn't help you stay calm either.

“You are so perceptive. Give me your arm.”

You walked over to the cuff and began taking his blood pressure. He remained silent as you inflated and released the air. After a minute, the number appeared on the screen: elevated, but not critical.

“Your blood pressure is a little high.”

“I’m in a small room, you’re right in front of me, and you just told me my eyes are pretty,” he justified himself. “Is it that surprising?”

You let out a short laugh, barely audible.

“Are you always this flirtatious?” you asked, feigning seriousness. “Or is this a symptom I should be recording?”

“Don’t worry, Doctor,” chimed in the pilot, who had remained silent until now. “Bob is usually charming, though he doesn’t show it much. It’s probably just the concussion.”

“It might still be worth checking it out,” he insisted. “You know, just in case it gets worse.”

“Would we classify this as overconfidence or the disappearance of shyness?” you decided to joke.

There was a warmth spreading through your chest, even though you knew it wasn't ethical or appropriate to get so flustered with a patient. Hoping to salvage what little professionalism remained, you spoke before he could respond:

“Let me take your heart rate.”

Next, you placed the stethoscope against his chest and the ear tips in their place. You registered the heartbeat. It was firm. A little rapid, not pathological, but not normal either.

You had to lean a little closer to hear properly. You heard him suck in his breath.

“Breathe normally”

“I try,” he exhaled honestly. His breath tickled your cheek, and his voice was so low you could barely hear him. “It’s hard with such a beautiful doctor.”

“I can call another medic if that makes you feel more comfortable,” you whispered. By that point, you'd already given up, so you didn't even try to hide your smile.

“No. Stay, I like you.”

You took a deep breath, trying to regain your composure as he looked at you with that mix of genuine interest and something harder to name. With a firm voice, you resumed your clinical approach.

“Okay, Bob. Everything indicates you're fine, but you need complete rest. No flying or sudden maneuvers at least until tomorrow. I want you to take it easy for the rest of the day. Nothing that involves force, pressure changes, or adrenaline.”

He looked at you intently, as if memorizing your words was as important as following them.

“If you get a headache, you can take some paracetamol—500 milligrams, no more than once every six hours," you added, writing it on his file sheet. “But if the pain gets worse, or if you notice blurred vision, nausea, drowsiness… you come right away. Okay?”

“Okay,” he repeated softly.

“You’ll be fine in a few hours, I promise,” you continued filling out his medical report, under his watchful eye. When you finished, you took something else out of your pocket and offered it to him: “Do you want a lollipop?”

Bob blinked, and the smile that spread across his face was like a warm breeze.

“Can you still give it to me even though I’m an adult now?”

“To my lovely, well-behaved patients, yes,” you replied, your expression coming out sweeter than you thought.

He took it, letting his fingers brush against yours casually but deliberately. Phoenix watched the exchange with a mocking smile.

“What if…?” he began, lacking the confidence he’d spoken with earlier. “What if I feel weird later? Could you stop by my room? Just to make sure everything’s okay?”

It took you by surprise, not because of the content of the question, but because of the way he said it: without pressure, without pretense. Just with disarming honesty.

"I could do it in about two or three hours, okay? That way you'll have more peace of mind."

Bob smiled victoriously and nodded happily. Phoenix stood up to approach him, forcing you to move away to give them space.

“Come on, Casanova. You’re going straight to sleep.”

“Fineee” Bob replied reluctantly, as he walked toward her with the paddle between his fingers.

Before leaving, he turned around one last time.

“Thank you, doctor.”

"It’s nothing. Just rest up and take care of yourself" you said, unable to hide the smile tugging at your lips.

She thanked you too and then they both left.

You tried to continue with your duties. You put on the new gloves, updated the file, checked the next name on the list.

But the heat in your cheeks didn't go away. Nor did the sudden awareness of how conscious you were of every step you took. You'd seen dozens of patients that week, and yet, Bob Floyd had just become a tiny anomaly in your pulse that would be hard to ignore during the day.

taglist <3: @littlemsbumblebee @qardasngan

[pheastinyworld]

current boyfriend ❀•°•───────•

request: the current boyfriend trend with Gabe would be so cute

Word count: 1.2k

Warnings: none?

author's note: got the other request out for you ceci, hope you like it!!! also, just want to say to everyone, a big big thank you for sending so much love and so many compliments about my work recently, it means the world!!!

| phe's main masterlist |

something you absolutely loved doing was messing with your boyfriend. you loved getting reactions out of him; seeing his eyes dart around in confusion, cute little pout on your lips.

you didn’t even post the small stunts you played on him. sure, maybe you would send them to your friends, maybe one of his siblings just to tease him, but you never really posted them. you still loved doing them nonetheless. 

it was actually liliane who had sent you the tiktok, texting you ‘yo do this to my brother, he’ll die’. once she sent you the video, your 'for you page' was suddenly filled with the ‘current boyfriend’ trend, every two scrolls, you were met with it. 

you seriously didn’t know how gabe was going to react. you thought he’d either get pouty and annoyed or let it go right over his head. 

that just made you more eager to try it. so, you decided to try it after you had both finished class for the day. you were propped up on the cushions you’d arranged at the top of his bed, gabe resting his head on your lap as you both scrolled on your phone. 

it wasn't until one of your friends facetimed you, that you thought of doing it. 

“lucy’s calling by the way.” you quickly warned gabe, who just hummed back at you absentmindedly as he continued to text his three person group chat that consisted of will, ryan and him. 

you answered with a warm smile. lucy had been your friend since the start of college, often facetiming briefly in the evenings when one of you needed help after missing a lecture. 

“hey where were you during class today? you left me all alone.” you complained lightheartedly, watching as lucy moved around the papers on her desk, phone propped up against some books you assumed. 

“ugh, i had the absolute worst hangover. i was throwing up like crazy this morning.” she replied. looking at her, she didn’t seem her full self, and you nodded empathetically while running your fingers through gabe’s hair. “anyway, what are you up to right now?”

this was when you’d try play your little prank on gabe. you smirked, knowing he couldn’t see you and in return, lucy furrowed her eyebrows questioningly, “nothing much, just relaxing. oh my current boyfriend’s here too. gabe say hi.”

a knowing smile grew on lucy's face; you had actually joked around with her a few days ago, saying you were going to try do this somehow. 

gabe stayed quiet and you thought he just hadn’t heard you, too engrossed in his conversation with his best friends. oh, but gabe very much had. confusion washed over him and he stopped typing suddenly, locking his phone. 

“hi gabe.” lucy said politely over the phone. gabe shifted his body, pulling away from you and sitting up again, eyebrows pulled together, eyes squinting at you. 

“hey lucy.” gabe mumbled back, but he seriously couldn’t care less about your friend on the phone. 

you smiled at him sweetly as if you hadn’t done anything. gabe blinked a few times as you continued your conversation, relaying what lucy had missed in your class today.

current? what the hell did you even mean by that? surely, it was a mistake, a slip of your words. gabe’s brain tripped over the word a few times, watching as you so casually chatted with your friend like what you said was the most normal thing.

more than anything, he was just confused, utterly lost at what you were playing at. you watched him spiral just a little - he wasn’t upset at all, just very confused - his eyes flicking between yours and the floor, then back, lips parting like he was about to ask something. but, being the very polite person he was, he didn’t interrupt your call. 

that was, until he was getting impatient, because he wanted to know desperately what you meant by it. he wasn’t going to be able to do anything else. he wanted to know now. 

you paused as he got up from the bed suddenly, retrieving a hoodie from his closet and pulling it over his head as if he was about to leave. 

“hold on luce, i gotta go, i think my current boyfriend is leaving for some reason.” you said as gabe turned around and gave you a look of disbelief at your words, before opening the door and stepping outside. 

“okay bye, have fun.” lucy laughed before hanging up, and you placed your phone on the bed and sat up.

gabe walked back inside and shut the door behind him, mouth pulled into a thin line but not quite enough to be frowning.

“what was that about?” you questioned. now you were confused. 

“what, me going outside?” gabe asked, gesturing behind him and you nodded, “oh, i was just making sure the lineup of your next boyfriends were still there.”

you scoffed, shaking your head at him as his face scrunched up. “i mean, seeing as i’m only temporary, had to check if they were ready.”

“you’re ridiculous.” you rolled your eyes, leaning back into the cushions as gabe went to sit in the middle of the bed, not close enough to be touching you. you didn't think he’d get this petty. 

“what did you even mean by current?” he leaned back a bit, arms crossed, trying so hard to look unimpressed and annoyed at you, but that’s just not the person he was. he couldn’t really be annoyed at you. ever. instead, a pout was tugging at the ends of his lips and it made you feel a little bad.

“i mean current. you’re my boyfriend right now, are you not?” you shrugged, sitting back up to try shuffle your way over to him but you were swiftly stopped by a rather sassy hand coming up to tell you ‘don’t come any further.’

“okay, so i’m going to need you to roll that back.” gabe eyes narrowed, not in annoyance, but in that you-did-not-just-say-that kind of way. “current?” he asked again just to make sure.

“yes?” you replied like it was obvious, trying so hard not to break or let your face give him any signs that you were joking, but you could tell he knew something was up.

gabe huffed in return, eyeing you suspiciously before speaking. “so, when are you planning the break up? cause i’d really appreciate it if it wasn't on a thursday or friday by the way so it doesn't clash with practice.” 

you can’t hold your laughter in anymore, shuffling closer to him so you could scootch on top of his lap, grinning at him. gabe sighed, knowing it was impossible to not smile back at you even if he was still a little confused. 

“never planning on it. it’s a trend on tiktok.” gabe rolled his eyes, a grin forming as he placed his hands on either side of your hips.

“ugh, seriously?” gabe laughed, shaking his head at you.

“promise, i was only joking. i've definitely not got a lineup of boyfriends waiting outside.”

“better be. want you to be mine forever.” gabe stated, and you felt your face go hot, a shade of pink tickling at the apples of your cheeks, head dropping to his shoulder and arms going around to bring him closer to you.

gabe chuckled at you being all flustered, hands sliding up your shirt and rubbing circles on your back. “how many more of these silly little pranks have you got left?”

you smiled, pulling away to look at your boyfriend, all cozy looking; the loving gaze he had on you making you want to melt on the spot. 

“probably more. tell your sister to stop sending them to me and giving me ideas if you don’t like them.” gabe groaned, rolling his eyes.

“of course she's still managing to mess with me from far away.”

[chwelz]

PAIGE BUECKERS — party 4 u

tw: emotional distress, alcohol, heartbreak.

a/n: i literally cried while making this (paige i would never do this to u)

You’ve been together for almost your whole college life, but you didn’t expect it to end. You and Paige broke up 8 months ago. The reason? Distance. You’re both busy with your own thing—Paige is focused on improving herself and her basketball, while you’re out here chasing your dream course. It didn’t end messy. You just ran out of time for each other. It was a mutual decision, and maybe that’s what makes it harder to move on… because duh, there’s nothing to hate.

And now you’re in your room, sitting by your desk—not really studying. You were supposed to, but your TV’s on, showing the NCAA tournament championship, and of course, you couldn’t take your eyes off it… because Paige is there, playing.

You bit the tip of your pencil, anxiously waiting, anticipating UCONN to win.

So far, UCONN’s got more baskets than South Carolina. There’s only 2 minutes left on the clock—still enough time for the opposing team to catch up and change everything.

The buzzer echoed and suddenly, you were on your feet, shouting—alone in your room, but shouting anyway. They won. UCONN won. Paige won.

It was worth celebrating. This was her dream. Winning the Nattys was all she ever wanted, and you were genuinely, overwhelmingly happy for her.

For a second, you wanted to message her—to tell her how proud you were. But the weight in your chest reminded you… you probably don’t mean anything to her right now.

So you just sat back down, picked up your pencil, and quietly went back to scribbling in your notebook.

The live ended, and you went back to studying, or at least, you tried to.

A few minutes later, you picked up your phone, curiosity getting the best of you. You started checking for updates—Azzi posted, KK posted, Ice posted, the whole team shared their celebration moments… everyone posted,

except her.

You wondered why, but you double-tapped and liked all their posts anyway.

Meanwhile, Paige and her teammates were out celebrating, renting out a whole bar just for themselves and a few people they were close with.

The music was loud, drinks were flowing, and everyone was having the time of their lives.

Except Paige.

She sat there, staring off into nothing, already a little tipsy when KK tapped her on the shoulder.

“Yo, you good? Drunk already?” KK teased with a grin.

Paige shook her head, letting out a small laugh, brushing it off.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she mumbled.

Everyone went back to partying, but Paige just sat there, quiet, lost in her thoughts—somehow feeling like something was missing in the middle of all the noise.

People kept checking in on her throughout the night, asking if she was okay. She just gave them a nod every time, a weak smile, brushing them off like she was fine.

Hours passed.

You were still in your room, still studying, though your eyes were starting to fail you, heavy and strained from the long night.

Meanwhile, Paige had drunk way more than she should have. No one really stopped her—they figured maybe she deserved it after winning the Nattys. Let her celebrate, let her forget whatever’s bothering her.

She stumbled her way to the bathroom, dragging her feet, the world spinning around her.

Without thinking, she pulled out her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she found your name.

“My love 💗”—it was still saved like that. She never changed it. She never wanted to.

She hovered over your name, started typing, deleted. Typed again. Deleted again.

Frustrated and dizzy, she finally just pressed call.

Your head was already falling from the palm of your hand, exhaustion creeping in, but the sudden ring of your phone jolted you awake.

You quickly wiped the drool trailing from the side of your mouth and grabbed your phone to check who it was.

Her name lit up on your screen.

Just like her, you never deleted the number. You couldn’t. You weren’t ready to.

You hesitated. What could she possibly want at this hour?

She should be out there, celebrating, surrounded by her friends, not calling you.

But your heart moved faster than your head—you answered before you could stop yourself.

And there it was.

Muffled music in the background. Her shaky breathing.

You broke the silence first.

“Hello?”

When Paige heard your voice, she choked—completely caught off guard. She didn’t actually expect you to pick up.

She quickly cleared her throat, trying to steady herself.

“Hey,” she said softly, almost unsure.

Then silence.

Neither of you spoke.

Neither of you hung up.

Just… silence. Sitting there, clinging to the sound of each other’s breathing, like maybe the silence was enough.

Paige finally broke the silence, her voice low and a little shaky.

“Was wondering… if you could come here… to the party,” she mumbled, her words slurring, heavy with alcohol.

On your end, it was painfully obvious—she was drunk. Hella drunk. And you couldn’t tell if the ache in your chest was from the call itself or from knowing she probably wouldn’t have called you if she was sober.

You fall silent, unsure how to even begin to answer her.

Your eyes drift to the books scattered messily across your desk, pages half-read, notes unfinished. You glance at the time—it’s late, too late.

But more than that, you realize… you don’t have an answer for her. Not right now. Maybe not anymore.

You decide to shift the topic instead.

“Congrats, by the way. I’m so proud of you,” you say, trying to keep your voice steady.

Those words hit Paige like a rock.

She’s heard you say them before, but it used to feel different—when you were actually there, saying it while holding her, kissing her, being with her. Back then, those words were warm, close, real.

Now?

Hearing them through the phone, through the distance—it just felt cold.

And it stung. Bad.

Paige lets out a soft, almost breathless chuckle.

“Thanks,” she says.

Then the silence creeps back in. Heavy. Awkward. Familiar in the worst way.

You break it this time, your voice calm but careful.

“Why did you call me? Shouldn’t you be out there celebrating with your team?”

“All of this… it doesn’t feel right without you,” she says quietly, her voice trembling, barely holding itself together.

She lets out a shaky breath, like she’s been carrying that weight all night.

“I won, but… it’s so fucking empty without you here.”

And just like that, your chest tightens, because you know—she means it. And somehow, that makes it hurt even more.

“All of this means nothing without you.”

You hear her breathing shift—slow, shaky—like she’s on the verge of breaking down. Like she didn’t expect this to hurt her as much as it does.

You sigh, softly, painfully.

“Paige…”

There’s a beat of silence, then her voice, small and trembling, barely holding it together—

“So… can you please come here?”

You let out a heavy sigh, the weight of everything settling on your shoulders.

“I’ll think about it…” you say quietly, that’s all you could give her right now.

“Great,” she whispers, voice thick as she tries to keep herself from falling apart. You hear her sniff on the other end, trying to hold it together.

“See you,” she says softly—like a promise, or maybe a hope—and then the line goes dead.

Before walking back to the party, Paige lingers in front of the mirror a little longer than she should.

She wipes at her red eyes. Fixes her hair. Forces a smile. Maybe if she looks okay, maybe if she looks happy, it won’t hurt as much. Maybe you’ll still show up.

When she finally steps back into the main area, everything’s still alive—the music’s loud, her teammates are celebrating, drinks are pouring, everyone’s buzzing with the high of their championship win.

The Nattys. They did it. She did it.

But Paige feels… empty.

Some people glance at her, some even ask if she’s alright, but she just nods, brushing them off with a tight-lipped smile.

She moves through the party like she’s supposed to be here, like this is enough. But it’s not.

Because she only threw this party for you.

She wanted to win. She wanted to have a reason to call you.

She wanted to celebrate this moment with you.

This whole night?

It was for you.

But you never came.

The hours dragged.

The drinks kept coming.

The people slowly left.

Still, Paige stayed. Sitting in the same chair, glancing at the door every few minutes, phone clutched in her hand like she was waiting for it to ring again—like maybe you’d call this time. Like maybe you were just late.

KK came to her gently, crouching down beside her.

“Paige, let’s go. She’s not coming.”

“It’s time to go home. You’ve waited long enough.”

But Paige shook her head, barely able to get the words out, her voice small, trembling.

“She’s coming. I know she is. I can’t leave… she’s coming.”

Her friends exchanged soft, helpless looks—but they knew better than to argue. So, one by one, they left her there, sitting alone in a room that used to be full of noise.

The music faded. The lights dimmed. The world outside moved on.

But Paige didn’t.

She stayed. She waited.

Even when there was no one left.

Even when the bartender asked if she was sure she didn’t want to close her tab.

Even when her phone stayed silent in her palm.

She won the Nattys.

She threw this party for you.

She just wanted you to come and kiss her face and tell her you’re proud of her in person. But instead, you’re somewhere far away.

[virahaus]

I've got several ideas rolling around in my brain rn, so bear with me okay. I'm gonna do one now, and another one maybe tomorrow if y'all can stand my yapping two days in a row and are interested on hearing more😂

Anyhow! If you don't know, I'm what you could call a sleuth girly. I LOVE murder mysteries. I basically grew up with milk and detectives. I've got them all: Sherlock, Detective Conan, murder she wrote, Maigret, Miss Marple... But my all time favourite is, and probably always be, Poirot. There's just something about that funny and arrogant yet brilliant and lovable little guy that just has me rewatching the show with Suchet so many times I know the plots of every episodes. Yes, I'm aware there's 13 seasons. You must understand I cannot remember a time where I wasn't watching a murder mystery with Poirot. Literally.

All this to say, I'm a sucker for a good old murder mystery and I'm dying (pun intended) for a GFFA murder mystery Obikin style.

There's so many possibilities!!!! I'm going insane over here. (Not to sound like a bloodthirsty gal. But. I need a murder with obikin involved in some type of way.)

Just to further my propaganda, if you look at AOTC it's kind of a murder mystery too. Obikin is trying to prevent Padme's murder and also fell face first into a bigger intrigue. But! Not enough for my tastes.

I have multiple ideas about this concept.

There's a murder in the Temple.

This is such a delicious idea. I'm so upset nobody wrote this kind of thing yet. Imagine:

In the middle of the night, 18 y/o padawan Anakin is working on a ship in the hangar cause he can't sleep, and, suddenly, he gets a strange feeling in the force. He goes to investigate and...

He finds a body.

The man is dead, throat slashed, blood everywhere. Anakin doesn't yell out loud but he screams so strongly in the force he wakes up half the temple, including the Council and Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan finds Anakin standing paralysed over the corpse, just looking at it with a vacant expression. Anakin is ushered away immediately and Obi-Wan is the only one who gets him to speak again and asks if he saw anyone else or if he heard anything while working. Anakin doesn't remember anything in particular and doesn't say much. The council is in an uproar. The identity of the man murdered is unknown. He wasn't a jedi, but he was dressed in jedi robes. Nobody knows him. Nobody saw him entering the temple. Nobody heard anything. Which is per se super suspicious. How did this man enter the temple? Why was he wearing jedi robes? Why was he murdered and the body left there for someone to discover? Did Anakin spook the killer and he bolted? Was the killer going to move the body? But if he planned this, why choose the Jedi Temple to kill someone when Coruscant has many shady allies where murder goes undetected?

The council is fumbling, people are getting suspicious of everyone and Anakin, being the one who discovered the body, is getting the brunt of it. Because of this, Anakin (once he overcame the shock) is determined to uncover the mystery, much to Obi-Wan's displeasure. Obi-Wan doesn't want Anakin anywhere near this. For Obi-Wan, Anakin was already way too close to this. Hyper protective, suspicious AND angry (cause how dare!!!! people suspect his baby boy???!!!); Obi-Wan is in overdrive rn. He's worried about his fellow Jedi, yes, but the horror of finding Anakin standing over a corpse, trembling from head to toe? Anakin being terrified to go around the temple alone, when before he relished sneaking in those halls to be alone? Anakin getting shunned by most of peers? Unacceptable. Obi-Wan will find the killer just so he can present his head (ahem, metaphorically ofc) to Anakin in a Grand gesture of love and everlasting commitment,,, of completely normal and equilibrated jedi behaviour towards their padawan. Right.

Anyway, the pathos gets higher when Anakin almost get killed and everyone realises Anakin really did see/heard something that implicated the killer and is then the new intended victim. Obi-Wan is foaming at the mouth. The Council literally has to plead him not to interrogate/threaten every single jedi, including younglings, into a confession and to leave it to the proper authorities. Obi-wan is like "respectfully, eat shit" and stalks off. Never he has been so close to kidnap Anakin and elope ahem leave the order as he has rn. Why he hasn't? cause Anakin doesn't want to leave without catching the killer and Obi-Wan is down bad for his pout. He does kidnap Anakin into sleeping in his bed tho. for safety reasons. of course.

In the end, Anakin figures out what exactly did see/heard that incriminated the killer and Obi-Wan tells him he'll talk to the authorities about it, dear one, no need for you to go anywhere near that scum = READ: Obi-Wan goes on the murder spree himself. Picture this: Obi-Wan bursting into the council meeting, Anakin there cause Yoda wanted him "close" (READ= Obi-Wan's doing, cause no way in hell was Obi-Wan leaving Anakin unsupervised while he was hunting dead meat ahem the killer) and here comes Obi-Wan, dragging the beat up killer in front of everyone and his mother and doing the most obvious speech of unending devotion towards Anakin who figured out the killer's identity. Obi-Wan is being bestowed the most "fuck me" eyes by Anakin ever. Which he's totally down for, dear one, let's wait for your knighthood tho.

(Spoiler alert. They did not wait. Anakin was bouncing on it that night, asap.)

And there's one! I'm having so much fun ehehehe

If anyone is interested tomorrow we'll get to:

There's a murder in the Senate.

[howi99]

From the Nest 28

Jaune and Vernal: *laughing together, sitting on a park bench*

Blake: *confused* She was at his throat not even an hour ago and now they're just... Laughing as if nothing happened?

Sun: *Finally out of Penny's grasp* I think it's cultural from where they came from. *Shrug* Although it's mostly the same in Vacuo, so it never bothered me or my teammates.

Blake: *looking at Sun, even more confused* Wait, your entire team is from Vacuo except her?

Sun: Yep.

Blake: Then... Why not go to Sanctum?

Sun: *looking at Blake with a deadpan expression* I had enough of fighting for my life everyday, i think i deserve taking a break in Haven.

Nora: Huh, is it really that much better?

Sun: Well, i can actually eat without stealing or hunting, so... Yeah?

Jaune: *hearing him* What's wrong with hunting?

Vernal: *rolling her eyes* Don't worry about that wimp, Jaune. He doesn't understand the beauty of living in nature, like us.

Sun: *a bit vexed* Try surviving of rats and pigeons for years and tell me how much "easier" i had it!

Vernal: *pointing at Jaune* That guy had to kill Grimm just to be able to hunt when he was a kid. At least you didn't have ursas and boarbatusks going after you.

Sun: ...

Jaune: *chuckle* She's exaggerating. I only lured them into traps me and my teacher made beforehand. And it only happened a couple of times.

Sun: ... *Looking at his hands* Uh, so that's how it feels to find someone who had it worse than oneself.

Yang: *point to Ren and Nora* You should listen to their story. Now THAT'S what i call having it worse.

_ _ _

Vernal: *frown, looking inside Jaune's travel bag* ... Huh, where is it?

Jaune: Whatcha searching?

Vernal: *still searching* Solstice, you didn't bring it?

Ruby: *ear perking* Hm?

Jaune: Oh huh, i had to leave it back at camp. The string snapped off and i wasn't sure if i could repair it here. *Scratch his head* Had i know Beacon was next to a forest-

Ruby: *leaning behind them* What are you two talking about?

Jaune: *looking behind him* My crossbow I left back home. *Sigh* The string broke off around a day or two before i came to Vale.

Ruby: A crossbow?

Jaune: *shrug* People prefer guns nowadays, but in the middle of a forest? Trying to find ammo isn't really a viable option.

_ _ _

Weiss: You're from Atlas?

Penny: *smiling* Indeed! Though i must say; the city of Vale is oh so much more alive! It hasn't been a day yet and i already made friends!

Pyrrha: *chuckle* You can say that again. I don't remember the last time i could relax without being assailed by paparazzi or rabbid fans.

Weiss: *groan* Gosh can people be annoying.

Penny: *tilt her head* Am i annoying?

Weiss: *shake her head* I meant paparazzi and the likes. You're a bit weird, but that just means you're fitting right in with our group. *Chuckle while glancing at Jaune and company* Everyone here seems to be some level of dork anyway.

Penny: Oh, i see! So you're a dork too!

Weiss: *blink, then smile* Guess i am, if i have yet to run away, uh?

_ _ _

Jaune: *sigh, lighting a smoke* ...

Vernal: *smoking next to him* So? What now?

Jaune: *inhaling the toxic smoke, and exhaling it with a sigh* I don't know Vern. You're like a sister to me, and *dry chuckle* Well, you saw just like me how fucked up relationship can be, right?

Vernal: ... *Looking to the side* We could be friends with benefits-

Jaune: *shake his head* That's not what you want... *Taking another drag* And you deserve better than me anyway.

Vernal: *frown* Not that again. *Grab his arm, whispering angrily so that nobody would hear but him* If it's because of what happened back at the village, it wasn't your fault! I asked for it, you didn't force me into anything i didn't want to be a part of, Jaune.

Jaune: *flicker the ashes away* ... Maybe, but now you're stuck with a target on your back. And it's only a matter of time before anyone notices... *Looking at her with a sad smile* Especially if you show your emotions as much as you do, Vern.

Vernal: *close her eyes, the green flames receding back* I just need a bit more time to control that power, Jaune. I'll be fine.

Jaune: ... *Taking a last drag, then flickering the cigarette off into a puddle* Still, i robbed you of a normal life. I should have refused, give it to Raven instead.

[cryinggirlnamedhelen]

“𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫?” — 𝐟𝐭; 𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐢 𝐲𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 ; you’ve loved him for ages now, but here comes to biggest problem: how are you supposed to tell him?

𝐜𝐰 ; fem!reader, swearing, use of (y/n), fic takes place after the u20 world cup (since we haven’t seen any content from it, no mention of wins or losses will be made), reader and isagi are both so oblivious

𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 ; lover by taylor swift

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ; i was rewatching the first selection arc and I WANT INNOCENT ISAGI BACK💔 i miss the pure isagi that was still climbing from the bottom of the ladder; that was what inspired me to write this. anyways, i promise i’ll start working on more 2000 event requests. i’ve just had way too many ideas on my mind for a while so i couldn’t get to them (esp with the intro of bunny)

the boiling humidity in your room was nearly suffocating.

you scrolled through the news, the broken fan blowing your face like a lifeline—which at this point, it was. the small and nearly broken fan was the only thing keeping you from collapsing out of the heat at this point.

finally, after a lifetime of scrolling through the news of sydney sweeny’s new soap and more james charles hate, yours eyes landed on a single article that you could finally tap on without boredom.

“THE AFTERMATH OF THE U20 WORLD CUP—WHERE WILL EACH OF THE BLUE LOCKERS GO FOR THEIR PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LIVES NOW?”

you already know. you already know where he would be going, along with his salary on the team, along with his new teammates and the country where he’ll be living. and yet you still tapped on the article, scrolling down in descending order to find number one.

1. ISAGI YOICHI - 17 YEARS OLD, BASTARD MÜNCHEN, GERMANY, 240 MILLION YEN (1.6 MILLION USD, 1.4 MILLION EUROS)

you cringed. maybe you shouldn’t have tapped on this article after all. “isagi yoichi, at a mere 17 years old, will be joining bastard münchen with players such we alexis ness—and if he makes it to the main team, even the best striker in the world himself—“

what a joke.

you drawled out a long sigh, throwing your arms to your side and hearing a soft thump from the mattress due to the drop of your phone. was isagi packing right now? his flight would be at seven in a couple of hours after all. you checked your watch; it was twelve pm right now, meaning there were seven hours left until his flight took off.

or maybe he finished packing already, and he was just lazing around his room. maybe he wasn’t lazing around and he was enthusiastically pacing around his room and watching a soccer match. or maybe he was extra early and already at the airport, just wandering around like an idiot. probably the second option.

you loved summer break, but you hated the heat. you also hated the boredom. playing block blast and doom scrolling on tiktok over and over again won’t solve anything. finally, you sat up from the bed, made yourself look presentable—pulling down your shirt and pants—and grabbed your house keys from the table. you also made sure to quickly turn off the fan.

“where are you going?” your father called from the couch, switching between tv channels faster than isagi can solve a puzzle. you slipped on some shoes, opening the front door.

“isagi’s house.”

suddenly, the clicking of the remote stopped. “hasn’t he already left?”

“no, not yet. at least, probably not. i’m going to go check and say goodbye.” you said, stepping out of the door and sitting on your bike. beginning to pedal, you instantly felt the heat catch up to you. beads of sweat slid down your face, and you could feel the humidity making your legs and arms stick.

finally, after huffing your life out, you reached isagi’s home—which was only nine houses away. you parked your bike near the front lawn, and you knocked on the door. you heard the door creak open, and the familiar face of isagi’s mother appeared in your vision. “oh, (y/n)! it’s so wonderful to see you. are you here for yoichi?”

you nodded. “yep. is he still packing? or is he getting ready to leave? or is he pacing around his room in excitement?” you asked, climbing up the stairs with his mother.

she grinned. “well, you know yocchan. he got excited last night and stayed up all night watching soccer matches and slept until really late today, so he’s still packing.” you smiled at her words, feeling warmth envelope your chest.

“just like when he was younger.” you muttered. she sighed, nodding.

“just like when he was younger,” she agreed. “and you’re visiting him and taking care of him again, just like when you were both kids.” she laughed, knocking on isagi’s door. “yocchan! (y/n)’s here to visit you.”

she opened the door, and you walked in, seeing isagi “fold” his clothes and forcing them into his suitcase. “hey,” he glanced up at you, sending you a small smile. “did you come to see me suffer and pack my stuff or something?” you sat down next to him.

“yeah, i did.” you folded some clothes for him, putting them into his suitcase. “so you’re going there to be a millionaire, huh? have fun leaving me here while i suffer in my last year of high school and go through pain during college and work a minimum wage job for the rest of my life.”

isagi blinked. clearly, it was meant to be a joke, and yet he could still sense traces of sadness in your voice. his eyes softened, and he moved his hands closer to yours. and yet he pulled away right before he could brush your pinky. “well, come with me.” he grinned, his tone joking. but there were truth in his words; if you went with him, he’d be happy without complaint. hopefully you didn’t see his words as a joke.

“haha. very funny.” you replied. isagi wanted to sigh, but his smile continued to remain on his face. “anyways, are you gonna have fun in germany? i bet you’re gonna be a big back and eat all of the good food there.”

“i sure am going to!” his eyes lit up, and he went from talking about food to talking about soccer. you heard every single thing that he was saying, and yet all you could comprehend was his pure smile and enthusiasm.

you wanted to reply, and yet you couldn’t bring yourself to interrupt his long and joyous train of thought. you felt words and letters bubble at your lips, your throat tightening. he was packing; he was leaving. if you didn’t tell him now, when will you ever have the chance to?

“i—“

“hm?”

“oh, i was gonna sneeze, but i couldn’t.” you stammered. that was the best reason you could come up with at the moment.

he burst into laughter. “what? that’s so stupid. and here i thought you were going to say something serious.” you were, you really were. you were about to confess your feelings for him, but you laughed along with him.

“well, anyways, i’ll see you later.” you stood up, already beginning to leave the room.

“already?” isagi asked. you nodded, slipping your shoes back on.

“you’re still packing, and you should enjoy your last few hours with your family. text or call me if you need anything, alright?” you asked, grinning at him. he blinked.

“alright then. uh, bye.”

“bye. don’t get kidnapped. love you.”

with that, you left. isagi stood there, his hand on the bar handle, still thinking about you. “love you too…” he zipped his suitcase, finally completing his packing, and walked downstairs with you.

you mounted bike, pedaling back home. but this time, you weren’t focused on the heat. isagi would really be leaving soon. would this be the last time you see him in person before he leaves? you don’t want to be crude and just barge back into his house.

you climbed up the stairs and flopped onto your bed, huffing. a strange feeling bubbled at your chest, and for a moment, you felt like crying. but that was stupid; why would you cry over this? you weren’t even dating. plus, germany is fun and isagi’s got fans that would defend him to death and he probably has millions of fangirls.

why would he need you?

before you could realize it, a tear slid from the corner of your eye and into your ear. and suddenly, the single tear turns into numerous tears slipping down from your eyes every minute. and those numerous tears suddenly turned into sobbing and the sniffling of your nose.

you were crying.

cuddling a pillow, you sniffled, cushioning your face into the soft material. what if isagi comes back and begins to not recognize you? or even worse—what if he dates someone and completely forgets about you? what if he didn’t care about you anymore?

after a good few sobs, you scrolled through your contacts with blurry tear-filled eyes, trying to find rin’s contact. sure, he wasn’t the most polite or kindest, but he listened. sure, his advice was harsh and he would probably be hella rude, but at least you could vent to him without worried of interruptions.

you pressed on the “call” button, and the moment he picked up, you began instantly. “rin! i tried to confess to isagi but i ended up wussing out and not telling him and he’s going to leave for germany soon and im worried that he might forget about me or hate me or not care about me or fall in love with someone else while he’s there and—“

“woah. hang on. you didn’t do what?”

you paused. since when was rin’s voice this high pitched? you rubbed your bleary eyes, and your jaw dropped when you saw the contact.

ITS REOVER💔💔💔

you were calling reo? fuck. “uh, sorry reo. i didn’t know it was you.” you stammered out. you heard a long sigh from the other line, and you gripped your pillow harshly.

“isagi’s heading to the airport like, right now. if you wanna confess to him soon and in person, this might be your last chance before he comes home at who knows when,” reo exclaimed.

your eyebrows knit together. “oh well. i won’t be able to catch up to him anyways; dad says it’s too hot to drive, mom’s out shopping, i don’t have enough money to buy myself a cab, and my bike sure as hell won’t be reaching the airport before i die from the heat and exhaustion.” you muttered.

“what the hell are you talking about? you still have a chance here. you better get there before he leaves. i’ll help you.” clearly, reo didn’t want you to make the same mistakes that he had done with nagi by not taking your chance.

“but you live in kanagawa, and im in saitama. that’s nearly an entire hour of driving. how are you supposed to get here?” you asked.

“do you really think the mikage corporation only has locations in kanagawa?” you could almost hear the smirk in reo’s voice. “im sending you a saitama mikage corporation vehicle and driver right now.”

“what?!”

“alright, have fun making out with isagi and thank my greatness later. bye.”

and with that, reo hung up. just within two minutes, you saw a sleek purple car with the large white word MIKAGE painted on the door. you gasped, sprinting downstairs. “im going out again, dad!” you ran out of the front door after slipping shoes on, and a female attendant opened the car door for you.

“welcome, miss. mikage’s friend.” she said. is reo even allowed to do this? you thought, stepping into the car stiffly. well, screw that. you’ll question the mechanics of this car after you confess to the love of your life.

within 40 minutes, you arrived at the airport. after rapidly thanking the driver, you ran into the airport’s closest entrance, looking everywhere for a head of dark blue hair.

you didn’t care how cliche this was or how cringe this was. you were going to get your feelings out before he leaves, no matter what, even if he rejects you.

“excuse me! im sorry!” those words continuously spouted out of your mouth as you ran, until finally, you reached the entrance of the security check.

and there it was; a head of dark blue hair and a blue lock jacket, rolling the exact same suitcase that isagi had. he was waving to his parents; isagi was.

you sprinted past tourists and family members, finally reaching isagi. his eyes widened as you stood in front of him, exhausted and breathing rapidly. “(y/n)—?”

“yoichi, I love you!”

silence.

you were doing this in public. in front of strangers. you didn’t care.

“i’ve loved you since before the u20 world cup, since before your offer, since before the u20 match, since before blue lock, since before anything. before everything, yoichi, i’ve always loved you.”

finally. finally, you could feel a weight coming off of your chest. you glanced up at isagi, and your eyes widened. because you thought that you’d see a shocked expression, maybe an awkward smile.

but instead, you saw blue eyes so bright that it could light up your life with just a single look: and it did. his smile was wide, and it was more pure than the snow after a day full of gray.

“and i love you too.”

[lexirosewrites]

hi! coming off anon but i'm having more sabrina carpenter!steve thoughts. also to make things easier i'm just gonna call this au juno (bc duh). anyways! the thoughts!!

(the thoughts got wildly out of control so this is fairly long)

o!steve (former disney star, current pop icon) and robin (i don't have a specific preference for her designation anyways she's an actress) are Best Friends and have been for years. they first met at a charity event and weren't close for awhile but eventually they realized they fit together So Well and Had to be best friends. robin stars in as many of steve's music videos as she can swing with her agent, and steve begs his manager to allow his songs in any of her movies/shows that ask for it. when you think of best friends in hollywood you think of steve harrington and robin buckley.

a!eddie and the cc boys- o!gareth, b!freak, a!jeff- are an indie metal band, finding their footing and hitting their stride with the rise of tiktok. they're not super big, but they've opened for some other bands touring through the midwest. once all of them graduated high school they got tf out of hawkins and moved to chicago to pursue music (and day jobs to pay for rent).

ever since steve left his previous record company, hollywood records (owned by disney), who signed him at 15 years old to a five album contract (essentially shackling him for anywhere from five to potentially fifteen years) steve's been trying to put forth a more mature image and leave behind the squeaky clean disney image. in his first album with his new company he actually gets to cuss and be explicit in his songs. when he goes on tour for this album he performs nonsense which goes viral on tiktok for the location-specific outros.

gareth, chronically online king, sees the nonsense outros and gets interested in steve's music even if it isn't his typical cup of tea. gareth find's steve's music empowering- it's fun, flirty, silly, emotional, and embraces their designation as omegas. gareth becomes a certified Stan. the cc boys lowk get annoyed with how much he plays this pop garbage.

(crazy interlude bc i'm reading sabrina's wikipedia rn and somehow her and feather are linked to eric adams getting indicted???? anyways)

after like a year or so of cc hearing steve anytime gareth gets aux they are now inundated with steve's new mega viral single, espresso. and like... it's not bad but it's pop and it's repetitive and overplayed- gareth for the love of god skip this damn song! not only is steve doing Numbers with espresso but he releases a new single, please please please. the music video for please×3 features his current boyfriend and hollywood bad boy a!billy hargrove. after a little over a year of dating and the start of steve's new tour for his album, it's speculated that billy cheated on steve and they broke up.

steve has this song, juno, that's sexual and liberating and fun and gareth loves it along with the rest of the album. even though the tickets are wildly expensive thanks to steve's launch into mega stardom gareth gets the boys to go to a show for his birthday and be in the pit. he is dedicated to camping, he wants to be as close to barricade as humanly possible. even tho the other guys don't dress up in the style of the album they still camp with him for barricade, and god dammit they will enjoy this concert. live music is live music, even if it's pop and eddie will enjoy this night so help me god. cc ends up getting barricade and during the wait meet a couple fans (super unexpected considering the genres but whatever).

when it comes time for steve to perform juno he comes out onstage in a gorgeous maxi length sparkly set. eddie is already kinda in love at this point, this gorgeous omega is an amazing performer and his songs maybe just a little bit are good (don't tell gareth). with their miraculous luck getting barricade and even more insane luck, eddie gets arrested right before juno starts for being too hot. and gareth has seen the juno clips, he knows what's about to happen, but eddie hasn't. and then this gorgeous omega who just arrested him for being hot ?? is having his clothing drop into a short, sexy number and ???? eddie is so ??? and then steve dangles these fluffy handcuffs at him??? what is happening???

gareth is losing his mind, that's his best friend getting juno arrested. on the big screen. in front of everybody. in front of steve harrington. jeff and freak are also going insane bc wtf is happening at this show?? eddie is 404 error message not found and his brain is just cable tv channel with no signal static. and steve can Barely see the audience with all the stage lights but he always uses his intuition for juno arrests, and he tries to subtly sneak a peak at the big screen to check just who he's picked. and Maybe the skirt dropping is a planned gag for comedic effect, but if this random metalhead who looks so out of place at his concert asked for his number right now in front of thousands of people he'd give it out. and Maybe his subtle sneak peak to the big screen is a Little more noticeable (if you're anyone but those two lost in each other's beauty).

anyways, after all his post-show routine and duties steve Finally checks his phone. as usual, tonight's juno arrest and pose are already on tiktok and twitter and wherever else. however, unlike after a normal show, he has like fifty million missed texts from the kids and a thousand missed calls from dustin specifically. steve ignores those in favor of checking in with robin first, who sent her love and tells him he's talented and hot and he's gonna kill it onstage. and then he gets to his texts with dustin. dustin who has been freaking the fuck out because steve juno arrested eddie fucking munson. and steve is like "..... who is that?" and dustin is gobsmacked and appalled!!! eddie munson as in the lead guitarist for his and mike's current favorite indie metal band corroded coffin. and all of cc were literally on the screen!!!! gareth was filming eddie and steve and the camera!!! and jeff was filming the big screen!!!!! and steve is like "i'm glad i arrested him he was hot :)" and dustin is so ???? ew bc steve is like his brother but ALSO this could be his in to nerd out with his favorite band! steve is just like "ok man cool i gotta go to bed bc touring is Tiring".

next day, after eddie.exe has finally started running again and chronically online king gareth has had time to sloppily edit together a tiktok the official cc tiktok account gets a new post. it's a mix of gareths footage, jeff's, and footage from random internet users who posted already. and the caption just says "what the hell happened last night". all the comments are either cc fans like "??? you guys went to steve harrington??", steve fans being like "can't believe the juno arrest from last night is a musician", some random account called dustybuns who said "my brother arrested you can we meet now", and a handful of people saying "my worlds are colliding".

steve still hasn't really seen much of the fuss abt last night's show, he's been resting as much as he can on a busy tour. robin texts him like "dude last night is going viral" and he just 👍-reacts to the text. dustin is begging steve to dm cc, to dm eddie's personal acc, to dm ANYONE STEVE PLEASE!!!!! steve is resolutely ignoring this in favor of drinking soothing tea and running his dancing and blocking for the show.

okay this has ran so far away from me and idk where it's going. if anyone feels strongly i might try to continue having these Thoughts and sharing them for slick sunday. tysm for hosting lexi and tysm to everyone who seemed to enjoy my idea last week! if anyone wants to flesh this out and make a whole fic of it i definitely won't say no to that :3

i love the idea of Steve managing to fluster Eddie so badly like this🤭

[thedeepestwarmestblue]

Thoughts on a scenario where maybe billy came to Indiana a few years earlier and became best friends with Steve… and had to watch steve fall for and chase after Nancy… and then witness the messy breakup afterwards…how do you think that would have played out? in my mind billy falls in love with Steve at first sight in every universe

First of all, hi and YUM. I too believe Billy falls in love first in every universe, every timeline, every instance. One version of that is this.

***

Boy meets boy in the sixth grade, in the last place Billy ever expected something to happen and things just click. From the very start. For once in Billy’s life, it’s easy. Good. One summer passes, then two, three years of just the two of them, him and Steve, and they’re friends, best friends, and brothers too, and Steve doesn’t talk to Tommy anymore, hasn’t since Billy got here and they’re not together, Billy knows this, but what they have — it’s good. Really good. 

Freshman year hits, something he and Steve had been looking forward to for years together, and it’ll be the two of them, Billy’s sure of it, forever and ever, just like Steve had promised him. 

And then there’s Nancy. 

Billy’s jealous. Undeniably. Knowing he should be happy for him, let go of this stupid summer afternoon of a pipe dream — 

But he’s just about the prettiest thing Billy's ever seen and Billy’s always left claw marks in everything. 

Billy feels – is replaced. And he has to just — swallow back the ache, when the honeymoon period for Steve lasts and lasts and lasts — and Billy has the front row seat to it all, every day, watching her losing interest in slow motion. 

Killing Billy slow too, because it only makes Steve try harder, to convince her that no, he really is the one for her — and Billy can’t do anything about it except sit there and try to smile, listen close when the best friend he’s ever had needs him. Hating himself for always being so selfish, wanting what he can’t have. 

The fallout, when the scales do finally tip, is bad. Steve’s a mess. Even personally accusing Billy one time of tearing them apart. And Billy, the punching bag he’s always been, just takes it right to the chest. Lets him cry about it, forgives him. Loves him anyways. 

It gets better, eventually. The aching raw of it fading in time. Billy tries to be what he wishes he’d had when he was hurting. Someone who lingers. There when he calls. Though every cell inside him reaches, strains for him, Billy does not — cannot, make a move. 

Steve is straight. That much he’s sure of. 

He’s sitting on Steve’s childhood bedroom floor when it happens.

Steve sighs heavily from his spot on the bed, propped up against the headboard. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Billy frowns up at him. They’ve only been sitting here for half an hour, they’ve listened to music much longer than this before. “Okay," he trails, "so .. put on a different record?”

Steve almost laughs, then motions between them.

“No, I mean, this.”

Billy breathes through the sudden pit opening in his stomach. He wets his lips, chooses his words carefully.

“What, um, what do you mean by that?”

“All this bullshit! Like, pretending, and whatever.”

Out of the blue, the knife drives deep. Billy makes himself laugh but it feels like glass. Fitting, how Steve would use the same word Wheeler had with him. 

“So … what,” Billy asks, feeling the hope he’d been carefully stoking sizzle out with a splash. Not quite able to look at him suddenly, when all these years, meeting his eye had been the easiest thing in the world. “That’s it?” 

Billy bites his tongue so he can’t say any more. The metal taste of rage in his mouth like a bit. Picking roughly at the carpet underneath to distract himself like maybe he’ll get out of this without crying. The pressure inside rising like the tide. All the time he’s invested in this friendship, and now Steve was dumping him?

If it was for Tommy, Billy might kill himself. 

“No — I mean —” Steve sighs, frustrated. Good, Billy thinks. “I can’t like ... be friends with you.”

Billy’s face twists. “Not getting any better, Harrington.” Choosing to use his last name in the way he knows Steve hates. In for a penny, in for a pound. Eye for an eye, and all that. 

Steve sighs again, slumping against the wood with a thump. “God,” he moans pitifully, the same sound he made when Billy pushed them to do another hour of homework. “I’m really fucking this up aren’t I,” he groans, scrubbing his hands over his face, getting his hair sticking up. “This is so not how I wanted it to go,” he grumbles. 

Billy’s feelings are all over his face, he can feel it. “The fuck are you on about, man? Spit it out.”

Steve drops his hands, blowing out a frustrated breath. “Look, can I — show you?”

Billy levels him with a look, like fucking as if.  

“Just — close your eyes,” Steve says, pleading now. Like he knows he’s losing Billy, and fast.

“What?” Billy snaps, face contorting into a snarl. “Why?”

“Just — trust me,” he says. “Please.” 

Billy sets his jaw, his hands curling into white fists on his knees. He stares at Steve for a long second, warring with himself. God, he was such a fucking sucker for this one, wasn't he. Pathetic.

“This better be good, Harrington,” Billy says finally. A warning underneath. “You’re lucky I like you.”

Heart pounding in his chest at the slip, Billy’s eyes slide closed. Walking the plank, the sword at his back. Thinks he hears Steve say something like, yeah, I’m kinda banking on that, under his breath. 

He hears Steve stand up, the mattress creaking from the relief of his weight. Feels the sinking pressure of his bare feet on the carpet as he walks around Billy, stirring the air. The soft rustle of papers on the desk. Billy feels Steve settle in front of him, Steve’s hand coming down on Billy’s knee, his summer scent washing over Billy. 

Steve doesn’t say anything for a long moment, but Billy waits like he’s asked to, eyelids flicking back and forth under the wash of the hundred thousand ways this might go. 

“Open your eyes,” he whispers. Finally. 

Billy opens his eyes and goes overboard.

It’s the middle of June but Steve is on one knee in front of him, holding out a Valentine’s card.

It’s clearly handmade and Billy’s pretty sure his heart has stopped in his chest. Simple white cardstock with magenta glitter messily scattered in the center, a heart made out of pink construction paper glued in the middle. Be Mine in Steve’s beautiful, looping script.

He tears his gaze away from the card to look at Steve.

“What – is this?” Billy whispers through numb lips. 

“It's for you," Steve says, that spring strawberry flush taking over his cheeks. "Read it,” he encourages.

Billy forces himself to move, take the card from Steve with shaking fingers, trying to keep his head above water, drowning in those soft brown eyes.

He opens the card.

How could I have missed it? It’s always been you. 

Two sentences and Billy is set aflame.

“I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you,” Steve says while Billy reads it five times over, waiting for the words to change between one blink to the next. His brown eyes liquid, hand searing where it rests on Billy’s knee, sliding up his bare thigh to rest at the hem of his shorts. “I’m so sick of pretending that this, what I feel for you isn’t everything I’ve ever wanted. I’m -- sorry it took me so long to figure out but .. it’s always been you, Bills. Always.”

Billy’s animal heart roars in triumph. He raises his head to look at Steve, the room blurring around him. Never in his wildest dreams was it like this. Billy lets out a shuddering exhale, shaking his head in wonder. He’d been so wrong, thinking Steve was dropping him, like Steve could ever be cruel. 

“Steve — don’t you know by now?” Billy says, reaching out in wonder to trace his fingers along the side of his beautiful face, leaving a trail of pink glitter along his skin in his wake. The same one inside his chest. Memorizing the way Steve was looking back at him, like Billy’s only dreamed of, like he’ll disappear if Billy takes his eyes off him. “‘M crazy about you.”

“Billy —” Steve breathes, leaning into his touch, his eyes molten. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” Billy nods, feeling himself go watery around the edges, the tide breaking, surging over his levee. “Please.”

And then Steve is laughing gently, crooning oh sweetheart, holding Billy in his hands like water as he kisses him for the first time.

***

Thank you for stopping by!!

[candycornfieldcookie]

hello and welcome to the “I am annoyed about something that really doesn’t matter and I’m going to yell about it on here because I can” show. This episode is called:

“Which Random CRK Intern Made This Graphic And Where Can I Find Them (I Just Want To Talk)”

For context, in case you’re a normal well-adjusted human, the image on the left was posted to the OFFICIAL ENG. CRK TWITTER ACCOUNT on Sept 30th last year. And just yesterday, I saw it for the first time and proceeded to yell over discord with my friend @cunt-removal about how stunningly, amazingly WRONG it is.

I’m aware this was probably slapped together by a social media team, based on vibes and nothing else, but fuck it I’m tearing it apart anyway. Because I can, and if you’re reading this voluntarily then it’s what you signed up for!

The image on the right summarises all my grievances with it, but if you want my more specific and detailed Thoughts™️, read on! (My version of this alignment chart is at the end)

Okay so starting with the most egregious one to me - WHAT exactly is Golden Cheese doing in Neutral?

She’s Good. SHE’S GOOD. PUT HER IN GOOD, YOU COWARDS. If Mr “Life’s Greatest Regret” over here gets to be a step down from Cookie Jesus himself (and believe me, we’ll get to you, CACAO) then Goldie should be ABOVE that. I won’t deny she’s Chaotic - her heroism and personal code is very unconventional, based on traits like greed and vanity which are often regarded as inherently bad, but which she uses for good. Plus she’s impulsive, willing to disregard safety and sensibility for what she believes is right. She’s Chaotic Good all the way.

A Neutral would not give Smoked Cheese a second chance after the shit he pulled (tbh HE’S the Chaotic Neutral one between them). A Neutral wouldn’t wake him up and immediately give him a responsibility to protect two other people’s lives. And - the one that really seals it for me - a Neutral would not THROW THE FIGHT AGAINST BURNING SPICE to protect the life of one singular random child she’d just met. Goldie is Chaotic Good and I will hear no argument.

And I especially resent the implication that Dark Cacao is morally better than her??? DARK CACAO?? Are you joking???

Listen I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, I love that sad old man so much. Probably too much. And as such I feel qualified to say that HIS ASS IS NOT NEUTRAL GOOD. HE’S NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS.

He has a solid and immovable moral code, and he abides by it without flinching. And he’s a good person, more than capable of change for the better, but his flaws land him squarely in Neutral for me. And if we’re using Goldie as our metric, he’s definitely a step below her in terms of morality.

Let me put it like this.

If Goldie had a child, and that child grew up to betray her like Dark Choco did, she would never in a MILLION YEARS even DREAM of telling that child - to their face - that they are her life’s greatest regret. Not even on the spur of the moment, not even after being hurt the way Cacao was. No matter the context. (In fact I have a headcanon that she deeply disapproves of how Cacao handled that situation, even holding a bit of a grudge despite them being friends, but that’s a story for later.) Bottom line - if Goldie is in Good, Cacao’s in Neutral.

Put him in Lawful Neutral where he belongs, and then get my girl Caramel Arrow out of there because are you seriously telling me SHE’S Neutral? The same Carrow who’s willing to do anything, even lay down her life, to protect her King and her home? The Carrow who remained outspoken and just during Affogato’s takeover to the point of getting herself banished - and STILL not losing faith in Cacao? Somehow? She’s the one who should be in Neutral Good. Maybe even Lawful Good.

Hollyberry and Pitaya’s placements are… fine. I can see them as accurate. (Maybe I’m just not as in-depth about Pitaya’s character as some people, though, so if any Pitaya fans have a problem with their placement as True Neutral then lmk I would genuinely love to hear ur thoughts.)

Anyway, let’s talk about Affogato. Because… ehh? Maybe he’s Neutral Evil? I guess I could see it, but at the same time he strikes me as Lawful in the sense that he uses the structure of society to his advantage in order to ascend within it, manipulating people and situations to his advantage without technically breaking any laws - he feels much more Lawful Evil to me.

At the very least he’s more Lawful than MYSTIC FLOUR. Because whose bright idea was it to put her in that spot? What law is she following, exactly? I think it should be pretty common sense that NONE of the Beasts are Lawful, because of. you know. their entire existence as Beasts breaking the rules upon which they were created. Mystic’s ass isn’t Lawful, girl is Neutral Evil if there’s ever been one. Switch her with Affogato NOW.

So, long story short:

^my version

[green-enby]

Don't mind me, I saw a similar attempt at an "uimate progress pride flag" a long time ago on Reddit and I wanted to see if I could do better. I left this project dormant for many months but I came back to it and finished it just now.

I call it:

The X Progress Pride Flag!

Disclaimer: it's just for funsies, I don't expect anyone to fly this or anything! I'm very well aware that it's an eyesore haha.

I also know that the rainbow flag already covered every identity, but the newer Progress Pride flag was made to shine a light on the trans, intersex and QPOC communities that were (and still are) being targeted in a particularly strong way, even within the queer community itself. That's the sentiment that inspired me to make this.

My stylistic decisions into the making of this flag were also influenced by what I feel were the most prominent (inner)discriminations that certain queer identities experience. Some of them have simply stayed stuck in the background because on top of that, they are invisibilized and as such there is little research on what they face.

(But it was also just a challenge to see how many flags I could fit onto the rainbow lmao.)

Anyway: can yoy guess what every bit of this monstrosity means? It's basically a riddle lmao.

Here's the image description, which doubles as an explanation:

The background is the regular rainbow flag—six horizontal stripes, from top to bottom: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

This doubles as a symbol for gay and lesbian people. I did not include their specific flags because LG people have been using this one for decades as their specific identity flag, especially gay men, although I'm well aware that being gay or lesbian can be much more complex than just homo attraction (e.g. lesbian as a gender identity) and that having a flag just for them matters. However, in the making of this flag, I had to weigh out which identities are more vulnerable to their fights being left in the dust by the movement, and I felt that gays and lesbians are basically never excluded from the conversation and therefore "including them" explicitly wasn't really a priority.

Over the background, there is a chevron on each of the 4 sides, pointing towards the center, which leave the rainbow flag taking the shape of an X.

Each chevron contains diagonal stripes parallel to its borders, and is split into two halves; top with bottom, for the side chevrons, and left with right, for the top and bottom chevrons.

Let's start from the left chevron, which overall stands for the a-spec community:

The top half represents the asexual flag through the first four colours, and the asensual flag through the orange stripe, while the yellow stripe stands for both the aplatonic flag and the first half of the queerplatonic attraction/relationship flag—six stripes, from top to bottom: black, gray, white, purple, orange, yellow.

The bottom half represents the aromantic flag, while the very first stripe stands for the other half of the queerplatonic flag, and for the (a)aesthetic attraction flag—six stripes, from top to bottom: pink, green, light green, white, gray, black.

Here's the aplatonic flag I used (I know it's not the most common), and the queerplatonic flag, for reference:

And here's the asensual flag—I actually picked the shade of orange from the demisensual flag, because it was too light:

Sadly I couldn't find a way to represent alterous attraction or the analterous flag (I personally use it almost interchangeably with queerplatonic but ymmv).

Moving onto the right side chevron, directly influenced by the original intersex-inclusive Progress Pride flag, and therefore standing for AIDS awareness, QPOC, the trans umbrella, and the intersex community:

The top half represents QPOC, and the trans and agender flags—six stripes, from top to bottom: black, brown, white, light green, baby blue, light pink.

The bottom half represents the non-binary and intersex flags—four stripes, from top to bottom: yellow, white, purple, black. The yellow stripe has triple the thickness as the other stripes, and inside of it there is a purple ring.

Of course, the black stands for both QPOC and AIDS awareness.

(For those wondering why I explicitly included agender even though it's technically included under the non-binary umbrella: many agender people see their identity as separate from it since the experience of having no sense of gender can feel different from having a non-binary gender. Many, in fact, see themselves more as being under the a-spec umbrella.)

Now, the top chevron, standing for fluid identities and the label "queer":

The left side represents the abro- orientation flag, and the last stripe is one half of the queer chevron—six stripes, from top to bottom: green, light green, white, light red, red, dark lavander.

The right side represents the genderfluid flag, and the last stripe is the other half of the queer chevron—six stripes, from top to bottom: pink, white, purple, black, blue, light lavander.

I felt the need to explicitly include genderfluid, even though, again, non-binary technically covers for it, because I've seen fluidphobia even from staticly-gendered non-binary people, so perhaps it is not as implicit as it should be. Same for abro within the m-spec community.

And here's the "queer chevron" I'm referring to, for those who've never seen it:

The V shape is also a direct reference to the way this flag looks.

This can also stand to represent all queer attractions not otherwise explicitly included, e.g. mono attractions like trixic, toric, feminamoric, viramoric… literally anything. Plus those who identify as genderqueer but not non-binary can refer to this!

And finally, the bottom chevron—probably the most cryptic of the four. It overall stands for plurian identities, using colours from the polyamorous, multigender, and multi-spectrum orientation (aka m-spec) flags:

The left side represents the polyamorous flag for the first three colours, and the multigender flag for the last three—six stripes, from top to bottom: blue, hot pink, dark purple, orange, blue, dark blue.

The right side represents the m-spec flag, combining the colours from the bi, omni, pan, and ply flags—six stripes, from top to bottom: pink, purple, dark purple, yellow, green, blue.

Here's the polyamorous and multigender flags I used for reference, for those who've never seen them:

(The latter isn't that widely spread, as it is mostly used as an umbrella term to talk about identities like bigender, trigender, polygender, and pangender, and not that often as a personal identification term.)

For m-spec, the pink and blue I used are a combination of the shades used for them in the bi, pan, ply, and omni flags. Ply would also cover every other m-spec attraction that excluded some genders (such as neptunic and uranic).

It was inspired by this m-spec flag (on the left), but I also added the dark purple stripe from the omni flag (on the right):

That's all! Hope this entertained you, and feel free to tell me what you think.

[nanamis-bigtie]

pina colada

↬ gojo x gn afab!reader ↬ masterlist // ao3 version

cw: smut, reader has a vagina (no excessive body descriptions), piv sex, aphrodisiacs, unrealistic sex, creampie (like...a lot of it), belly bulge, reader is implied to be much smaller than gojo, dumbification if you squint, slight degradation (reader is called a slut), a little of breeding talk (in a very feral meaning of it), gojo is a little fucked up (was he ever normal tho), top & dom gojo summary: this was supposed to be a chill leave but satoru wouldn't be himself, if he didn't make things…complicated. and horny. word count: 1.6k a/n: repost from the old account. divider by saradika

You've imagined your first retirement trip quite...different. 

Taking it easy was the motto you both intended to uphold. You deserved it after the absolute hell of the last two years and an additional few months of convincing Satoru that he really needed to step down and leave everything to others. His body and soul and your relationship needed a breather, nothing but sweet laziness in a luxury hotel on Bali, away from Japan, away from sorcery, away from Gojo clan relentlessly rushing you two to settle down and marry, as if the old schemes still had any meaning in the new world. 

No, his phone got turned off right on Tokyo Narita and hidden in your pocket, you left your laptops behind and locked away, your number was entrusted only to a handful of people and instructed to be used in case of an extreme emergency. You agreed for it together, this peculiar isolation from the world the only way you could properly rest through the month to come. For the whole of October, you belonged only to each other, to tropical beaches, local cuisine, parties in expensive clubs, and your spacious bedroom with a sinfully comfortable California king sized bed, just perfect to finally sate your libido.

But Satoru wouldn't be himself if he hadn't stepped into an affair right on the first day anyway, even before you managed to unpack all the bags. He made a local curse user run for their life, more bored than anything, and returned with a small bottle of...something he confiscated.

You still taste its flavor at the back of your throat, sweet and tart at the same time, like pina colada made by an unskilled bartender with a little too much cheap rum. It was thick and rather hard to swallow, its consistency nothing like any other drink you had tried so far, and it pricked your tongue with that characteristic tinge of cursed energy. This aphrodisiac was surely infused with some kind of cursed object, maybe a product of someone's cursed technique, and as under any other circumstance you wouldn't be eager to try it just like that, when Satoru already swallowed his half, you just followed suit. 

The party mood was definitely to blame, music was still buzzing in your blood as you were grinding against his lap and chasing his lips. The bottle was in his pocket, and you were the one who pulled it out, its shape climbing into your thigh uncomfortably. Satoru had already forgotten about its existence, but he immediately recognized his trophy and uncorked it before you could say anything.

And since then, the matters escalated...quickly.

Thighs flush to his hips, you ride him without cease. You've lost feeling in your calves a long time ago and your knees scream for mercy—yet, you don't stop, fearing that the flame burning deep in your cunt would swallow you whole as soon as you take a breather. Up and down, you swallow him over and over again, his cum pouring out of your abused hole and pooling at the base of his cock. You've lost count of how many times he's finished in you already, yet of your own orgasms, but you know you've reached every physical limit of your body. Aphrodisiac running in your veins has you pushing them relentlessly, somehow forcing exhaustion and pain out of your comprehension. There's only lust and warmth of his length, filling you to the brim and, somehow, still pressing deeper and deeper, seeking new crevices to be filled with his seed.

Satoru underneath is a mess too, sweaty, shaking and whining. His skin is flushed, be it fever of the moment or the sunset soaking you both in pink light, exposing scars scattered all over his torso, arms, and face. Moisture slips his blindfold down; beadily blue gaze runs you through as it skims along your body bouncing on top of his. He's lost the famous Six Eyes, a sacrifice made by a binding vow to let him survive, but at that very moment you feel as if it's never been gone. You recognize this intensity, your body and mind respond to it instinctively—the absolute submission and trust only Satoru has ever been able to elicit from you.

"Kiss me," he demands, voice breaking in need, and fills you up yet again as soon as your lips brush his. His hot seed flows inside you, you can feel its pressure against your cervix and another ounce of older loads slipping out of your hole. It's such a waste but you can't help it, you can hold inside only as much, and he's still determined to somehow overflow you from the entrance to your womb.

You've never experienced sex with this intensity. Aphrodisiac sharpens your senses thoroughly, you're feeling him with parts of your body you've never thought that they're capable of ever feeling. Every twitch of his length thumps through your body, every new spasm of incoming high has your cunt clench tight around him, trying to desperately swallow everything he's offering, maybe this time it can be savored whole, maybe this time you can expand your limits and let him breed you straight into your core.

Lustful poison wants you to continue beyond breaking but your body starts giving up, your legs too jelly to handle your weight any more. Your rhythm starts faltering, you lean forwards in a desperate attempt to help yourself with your arms, your hands only slipping off his sweaty chest.

"I can't," you sob, yourself not sure if in exhaustion or immense need for more.

"Yes, you can." Heels digging in the mattress, Satoru lifts his hips and bounces you himself. "C'mon, pretty thing, just one more time? I know you want it badly ."

His fingers sink in your skin, bruise your hips yet again as he's rutting into you without a break. He has you creaming around his cock again, gushing your juices and his cum alike. Eyes fixed on your fluttering lips, he tries to shake the sweat-soaked blindfold of his face. You want to help, only to lose fragile balance and to almost slip off him and his greedy embrace.

"Hey," he groans, his voice dropping so low it doesn't sound like his anymore. "Hey, hey, hey, where do you think you're going?"

Satoru rocks himself forwards, having you on your back just for a moment enough to slip out of you and turn you around, face shoved into pillows and your hips yanked up. He gathers the mess leaking out of you with the tip of his cock, then finds your entrance with one, rough thrust.

The sound you make doesn't sound human anymore. He's reached the depth he has never before, maybe even indeed somehow pushed himself past your cervix. Without the help of the aphrodisiac, you could have been in immense pain—but now, you're only clawing sheets and trying to meet his moves halfway, craving every inch of his thick cock drilling into you. You want more , you want to be bred until even your womb is filled to the brim and bulging your tum.

One hand pressed tight to your abdomen, undeniably trying to feel himself moving in you, Satoru keeps holding you down by neck. With a corner of your eye, you can spot his reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall, his face on the brink of losing his humanity, too. There's nothing left of tenderness he's always had reserved when looking at you; there's only lust and blind chase for release and sadistic satisfaction wincing his expression whenever your mewls grow more hoarse and desperate.

His thrusts relentlessly push you towards the edge of bed; you're not able to hold yourself against them and his hold is not enough to keep you in place. Satoru's hand sneaks from the nape of your neck to your throat and pulls you towards him, until you're kneeling, your back flush to his torso. The mirror is filled with you both now, the sight of the size difference between you two alone almost having you cream on his cock again. He's watching too, his gaze fixed once on your face, once on your union and your belly really bulging in the shape of his cock, his moves calming down just enough to focus on dragging new views and reactions out of you.

"You look like a slut." He laughs, the sound suiting more a demon than your caring and always a little pathetic partner, and slides his long fingers into your mouth. You're drooling around them, choking, your own fingers scratching his wrist, yourself not sure if to pull him out—or quite contrary, make him torture you even more. 

You're both losing your sanity with each passing second, the poison in your veins only growing stronger the more you succumb to the lust.

Your eyes roll to the back of your head and you cum again, the spasm of your cunt almost painful, and your legs give in, your body now limp in his hold. Satoru clicks his tongue, lets you melt just enough to hook arms under your knees and yank you up. His hands are at the back of your neck again, eventually locking you in a full nelson hold, absolutely helpless and left on his mercy.

When you regain your sight, you're staring straight at your body wide open, your cunt stretched by his twitching cock and gushing his cum.

"C'mon, pretty thing, don't pass out on me here." He sinks teeth in your neck, hard, as if trying to tear a piece of flesh out of you. "It's not even dark yet."

[meescha]

I read this fic a while back, (roommates and other warnings - slice of life by brainOworm (EmoBoyShu)) where Damian and Jon are in University in Metropolis. So this is very heavily based on that in some capacity!

Now I fully support the idea of Bruce not wanting Damian to study being a doctor in Gotham, given the amount of villains that have PhD's and Doctorates has a horrendous track record to begin with. (*cough* Harley Quinn *cough*)

I feel like Damian would never want to bring Metropolitans into Gotham, given the high crime area and the very doom and gloom that Gotham is, they simply wouldn't survive, literally and figuratively.

But they definitely find a way to convince him. Mostly using Jon, and sightseeing. Which left Damian confused.

I feel like Bruce gave this option to the other kids as well. Not just to Damian.

Like an unspoken rule in the Wayne Family is that if they are planning on studying to be a doctor of any kind, they are not studying in Gotham for that. Bruce dropped out from Gotham U in his own med school track, and two of his friends were turned into super villains.

I don't think college itself is really an interest to most bat-kids anyway.

Dick wasn't interested in it all. He didn't like the schools already being an immigrant and being the first kid of Bruce Wayne had its downsides among classmates., and ended up moving to Bludhaven to be a part of the police force later on. Jason, well..., he's got his own thing going on in Crime Alley and Bruce isn't that worried about him going to college. Tim is like walking on a tightrope on if he'll want to go or not, if anything he'd major in business just to get the right qualifications, but he's doing fine on his own without all that. And in the comics (Batman and Robin #20) Damian actually goes to Med School, it was like in his blood to do so, since Thomas Wayne did it, his Father attempted to do it, it was only right for him to actually do it too.

Damian makes friends in Metropolis, mostly because he's always around Jon, and Jon made friends on their first day, but the Bat-Family routinely tries to jump Damian with family shit any chance they get.

Call him when they know he's with other people? Absolutely

Bruce calling to check in when he's already texted twice before that? More often than you think.

Dick dropping by on the illusion of working on a case that somehow connects across the Delaware Bay? For sure, happened twice last week.

Damian doesn't understand why his family is so insistent on checking on him when he's survived stake out missions on his own until Jon rationalizes it for him in the most mundane way.

"They're used to the doom and gloom too y'know?" Jon sighed, after Damian hung up on another call from Stephanie

"It still does not make any sense." Damian said placing his phone down

"They miss you. I mean, the farthest anyone has lived in your family is Bludhaven, another doom and gloom city. Across the Bay? Unheard of for a Wayne." Jon turned back to his homework.

"...I shall talk to father about everyone." Damian spoke

"Don't. It's funny."

"They called me asking me where I put Richard's suit. I haven't been home in months."

"And you told them where it was, without hesitation"

"...Finish your homework Kent."

"Roger that!"