#anyway i made this like 1-2 years ago? i don't even remember.. for a theme on twitter

[aquanutart]

dragon dance

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

10 Jikook Fanfictions Part 1

I said I'd make a list before the end of the year and I kept my promise. Now, it's difficult to choose, especially when I have more than 300 bookmarks and unfortunately I also started doing that some year and a half ago. Safe to say, there's probably plenty of good fics I read that are now lost. Anyway, enough with the boring chit chat, here's 10 random jikook fics in no particular order and most likely, several other parts will follow, probably next year 😉

1. Dead in the Water

It's been a couple of years since I read this and honestly, I barely remember much, but what I do know it's that it had an impact on me. Usually fics that have death as a central theme end up resonating with me, but perhaps it's because I've always been attracted to more darker fiction. This one is gritty and there's a lot of pain and I must have cried a lot (those tend to stick in my head)

2. we're holding hands beneath the silver screen

I think this story is taking place in the 90s (you'll see that a lot of the fics I recommend are taking place in the past). I think I ended up reading everything ChimneyCricket wrote, but this one remained a favorite. Coming of age during a summer in Jeju in the 90s. Apart from the theme, it's the writing that made me stick with it.

I'm not the biggest fan of young adult stories. Or better yet, it's not something that I'd go to as a preference. When I do, it's more of an indulgence and thankfully, I found some writers (like this one) who can do a really good job with the genre.

3. Stockwell

Another writer that I've become a big fan of after reading one fic of theirs. And I think it might have been Stockwell that did it for me. I like that it's fanfiction with adult themes for an adult audience. And I also resonate with a lot of the cultural references and themes. I will also admit that this fic leaning into the enemies to lovers trope was a selling point because I'm a sucker for it. I can't help myself.

4. Burn for You

This is a complete self indulgence for me and I embrace it. Just like watching Bridgerton is a guilty pleasure for which I don't actually feel guilty (and the inspo for this fic). This story has everything and I must say the combination of lust, fear of revealing feelings, rumors, proper behavior and hidden romance is a lethal combination!

5. Light of a century

I might have recommended this story before, but it being inspired by Up on Poppy Hill is not just due to the plot, but the writing is able to evoke that studio Ghibli mood. This fic is to be read on a hot weekend afternoon.

6. Map of the Soul

This might be one of the most complex fanfictions I read due to the amount of research needed, but also in the depiction of political contexts and identity politics. Most of all, I like it because as much as relationships are a vital part of the story, there is an entire world surrounding the main characters. Events and other people that have also room to develop and not just remain props that advance the story.

7. Proceed with Caution

I don't know what snatchim did with this fic, but it's the only one I ever reread multiple times and I'll probably do it again in the future. I don't even reread books from my library, let alone fanfics. But Proceed with Caution did it for me. Perhaps it's because of the process of Jungkook inevitably falling for Jimin and even though it's a bad thing considering the context, it's so good. Maybe it's the image of Jimin with a bellybutton ring or maybe because the picture of hot Californian days in the 70s is so vivid, it feels like a nostalgic Paul Thomas Anderson movie.

8. Dishwater World They Said Was Lemonade

The description does not do this story justice because it's so much more than that. It's a canon compliant thriller with really complicated and complex characters and once again, a story meant for adults who understand that it's fiction. Unfortunately, judging by the comment section, a lot of people cannot distinguish betweem real people and characters. For those of you who might be fans of Korean thrillers, this story might be the one for you. It's also one of my favorite jikook fics as well.

9. souvlaki

Need I say more, considering the description? This is a self indulgence as well, but of a different kind. If I happily read tropey fics, I also like the ones that can sound like a uni course. Set during the 1997 FMI crisis in SK, any reader will get familiar with a socioeconomic and political perspective of that time through the eyes of the main characters. If you're only looking for romance, this one is not for you.

10. you wouldn't remember

I think littleflumes might be currently my favorite writer of canon compliant jikook. I think the author really captured their dynamic in its essence and the room left for fiction perfectly fills in the holes left in the last 2 years and up until the present. But what did it for me, not only with this story, but the others in the series as well, is that it's concentrated almost entirely on the two main characters, almost living in a bubble of their own in which their relationship can be explored.

[ask-trashhunter]

Ok folks!!! OOC post!! I have 16 Trash Hunter designs now, which means I should be able to run a bracket tournament that lines up pretty neatly! :D

First though I wanna introduce you to all the designs I've done so far!!

All of these have a unique name for voting purposes, but don't worry about remembering them all I'll show pictures of them every time!

Human Hunter 1

Starting off simple, this is Human Hunter 1! The OG, the classic, my pfp! Honestly I kinda rushed this design bc I made this blog on a whim, so I had to make the design super quick! I spent like a little over an hour on this, and I had only really spent 15 extra minutes beforehand thinking about their design, so that's around 1 and a half hour total...... Idk how long I spent on the others. Anyway, basically their top half is pretty human looking, EVERYTHING about them is as green as I managed to get it (green is Their Color to me) and then their bottom half is basically meant to just be a trashy sludge that sort of melts and merges with their landfill. It's hard to tell where the landfill starts and where Trash Hunter ends. Oh yeah- and I have like 3 drawings of them in this style, their skin tone varies a LOT between each drawing lol. um. you haven't seen. the third one btw haha. it's totally not of me and trash hunter holding hands why would you even say that

Human Hunter 2

Alright, this is my second "human" Trash Hunter design. I wasn't quite happy with my first one, so I wanted to change it to something more like this. However!! I never actually got to finish my design until I watched something that changed the way I thought forever. I finished this drawing just this monday actually, because I'd forgotten I had no finished drawing of Human Hunter 2. I want you to remember that giant grapply arm they have and those spider legs. Also, you'll notice there's a line next to them, and it says "Cop" under. That's how tall Copper would be (per my headcanons) next to the various Trash Hunter designs. They really vary in size. For reference, I headcanon Copper as 152 cm, or 5 feet. I'll add a size chart in at the end- they won't be 100% accurate to the pictures but it'll be in the same area at least.

Trashbag Hunter

Ok this. This is where my life changed. I watched the hodgepodge audio new year's patreon video and got friggen mentioned. Hi Raddagher if you're seeing this I'm still not normal about Trash Hunter. I started feeling a bit insecure about my designs like I'd been boring about them so I was trying to redeem myself. When I started imagining Trash Hunter as a fucking trash bag with grillspyd- er- collapsible grilling skewer thingies- for legs. And holy FUCK I could not get the image out of my head it's hillarious and adorable. Relisten to the episode and imagine Trash Hunter like this TRUST ME /nf

Either way, this is where I started to expand my horizons. The trash bag and the grillspyd are sort of reocurring atp. Also this was my Discord pfp for a while, now I've changed it. Might change it back eventually honestly? I don't do that. I don't repeat profile pictures ever. Ok I might have done that at some point. But for now my pfp stays the same. This is my PFP over on bluesky though!

Anyway this is the cutest shit I've ever imagined- the drawings that follow are mostly random doodles I've made at D&D or during class. BUT FIRST!!!

Pony Hunter

Ok so I play ponytown. I played a bit ages ago and then I almost forgot it existed, then my friendo kept showing off what they were doing on there and I'd seen a few vids on it recently and long story short I've made 16.5 new ponies on there and most of them are Hodgepodge Audio themed. Ponytown Pony Hunter doesn't usually wear that turtle but in this screenshot they do. The drawn version shows a bit more how I actually view them though. Oh and that IS a croissant behind their ear, thanks for asking!! (I've been waiting to say that for months, I'm overjoyed now)

Their tail is a compact mirror btw! And that tarp they have in game, those are actually wings, teehee! Oh and I forgot to say why they have croissants behind their ears- basically I was looking at the horns and realized one set of horns was kinda curvy in a croissant-y way. So I was like eh, heck it. Croissants.

Seagle Hunter

This is where the chaos started. I was at DND, and we were on a quest to help a god. We met a seagull who was definitely not a fucking seagull. I ended up getting downed and when we were like what, 5 hp away from killing whatever creature was wrecking our shit, our 2 remaining teammates fucking left us. My character Thomoras only survived because one of our teammates asked the seagull to intervene, and the seagull fucking killed the creature. Thank you, seagull. I called you Karl but I never got your real name. I'm sure you wouldn't have answered if I asked. Anyway!! All that talk about seagulls that session got me thinking "Seagull. Trash Hunter. Trash Hunter seagull." this is an accurate depiction of how I think Always. So yeah I drew them as a seagle (<- that's how I prefer writing seagull) and I was like hell yes let's draw them as more silly things because I focus better when I draw!

So I started asking people for ideas.

Goblet Hunter

And this is officially were I lost it I think. I mean, I learned to disregard canon with this. I have a few different Little Guys as I call them, and they're definitely not canon at all, BUT THEY'RE SO CUUUUTE HELLO!!! 😭😭 I asked my DND buddy to give me a random item and so I drewed this bc they said goblet....... I fucking love these so much honestly

Soup Hunter

I love soup. What more is there to say? They call me the soup enjoyer. I switch in whenever we're about to have soup. I soup my faves. I spam the soup emoji (🥣) when I get too excited for words. It had to be done! It just had to! If you want you can imagine the soup is garbage soup. Or you know those witch potions a lot of people made as a child? Using acorns and grass and flowers and whatever you could find? Could be that too. Or maybe it's brogle soup becos it's my fave and they are my fave :)

Perfectly Generic Object Hunter / PGO Hunter

It had to come eventually. The Homestuck reference. My friend said for me to make them cube and I was like "I heard Homestuck, yes? Homestuck it is."

So yeha they're a green cube now :3

Egg Hunter

They're an egg now. They're just a huge fucking egg and they roll around. They just roll around.

I'm not allowed to add more images hold your horses for the reblog, I'll get image IDs done before I post this though so next reblog should be up in not all that long

[battleshipgarcy]

3 October 2016 - 3 October 2024

Happy 8th Anniversary, Timeless!

I don't know what I can say that I haven't already said a thousand times before. Timeless is my favourite show. I stopped keeping count of how many times I've watched it back in 2018/19 after I hit 50 rewatches. And I've watched the OG26 almost monthly since (and sometimes more than that).

I knew I'd love Timeless the first time I saw a trailer for the series during the 2016 Rio Olympics - time travel, history, action and adventure. Gimme gimme gimme. OMG. I have a "three seasons/renewed for another" and "series complete/not left unfinished or with a shitty ending" rule that I apply to what shows I will watch. Timeless didn't make the criteria (obviously bc it hadn't aired yet), but I was so in love with the trailers I saw, that I marked my calendar for 3 October, and the moment I could add it to record on my DVR, I did.

And eight years ago tonight, I fell in love with the series.

Sure, after the Shitmas episodes, my love for it wavered, and I found it difficult to rewatch. But the months passed, and my memory of Shitmas details waned, and I was able to rewatch without thinking about how that shitty lyat fanfic "movie" took the OG26 series and erased it for gross lyat fanfic fodder. Yes, I may not remember Shitmas well, but I do remember how disgusting it was, and I will forever hold a grudge against NBC, arika and lauren for fucking it up as badly as they did. (please note: I have never and will never watch those Shitmas episodes again - and neither should you 😊).

The OG26 series isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I love it anyway.

I wrote more about my fandom-ing for Timeless on my fanworks site if you're interested 👇 IIRC I write a little bit about the fandom history, and my good (and bad) experiences in it.

Timeless introduced me to Garcia Flynn who went on to dethrone my previous Favourite Character of All Time who had held that top spot for 17 years. Today, in 2024, Garcia has held that title for six, and I don't think he will ever be dethroned since I've stopped watching new TV shows. What makes him more special than all other characters I love is the strength of his redemption arc. Who he was in season 1 vs. the changes he made to be a better person in season 2. His ability to speak several languages helps a lot, too. I'm a sucker for men who speak more then two languages.

I also cannot resist a character who has lost loved ones, and is hell bent on avenging their deaths. Even better if at first he seems to be the villain of the story, who turns out to be the hero.

Timeless also introduced me to Garcy.

I maintain a Garcy fansite. I have a couple handfuls of Garcy fanvids. I have over 50 works on AO3 for Garcy. I've made manips and graphic fanart for them. I don't think I need to explain how much I love this ship 😂

I could write an essay on why Garcy is my favourite ship, and why I love it over all others.

But for now, all I'll say is that my love of Garcy is personal. And like in my own life, it ended leaving only one question in its wake... what if?

This is the answer to "what if?" (from an alternate, happier timeline where NBC renewed the series and arika and lauren were fired from the show) 👇

( these are AI generated Garcy kiss GIFs, the kisses never actually happened)

Karl reacting to his boss making out with Lucy 👇

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

So, anyway...

Happy Timeless Day & Happy Timeless Month! 🕰

If you love Timeless too, make sure to check out my Timeless themed fansites: Team Garcy, The Timeless Fansite, and BattleshipGarcy 👇

👆 my fanworks site where you can easily find all the fanart, fanfic, manips, and fanvids I've made for Timeless and Garcy ❤

[evilhorse936]

hello evil horsey

i just watched yellowjackets season 3 episodes 8, 6 and 7 (in that order) (i didn't watch any of the ones earlier than that and barely remember seasons 1 and 2 as it has been 84 years) (idc about the wilderness stuff anymore and i have no idea what's going on in the adult timeline, i just wanted to see them crying pissing shitting vomiting etc everywhere when they get rescued) (also, saw a gifset of akilah a few days ago and couldn't stop thinking about her because she's so cute. she is a deer girl and i love deer girls and she's literally so angelic the way she was holding that bunny i was like Waow...... <3)

anyway. so at first i was thinking that shauna might eat callie at some point, but then i was like. actually she'd eat her husband because he's the closest thing that's left to jackie, right? also, no idea who this melissa woman is, but she's hot af and i hope shauna doesn't kill her, but i also feel like it's either gonna be her or van (one must die for the other to get spared)... obvi it's extremely unrealistic for van to suddenly get better but idk, who do you think the next death is gonna be? for a second i even was like "they're gonna spare those two and kill misty" but i don't think they'd to that bc the adult plot absolutely needs her... she's on top of things... she's always discovering some shit...

i'm deluding myself into believing that akilah made it out. my cottagecore bambi angel princess pookie pie. She's meditating you guys

i need to see them re-enter civilization SOOOOOO BAD like i need to see shit hit the fan NOW NOW NEOOWWWWW!!!!!!!!!

yours truly, ella

You are so so so so so real for loving Akilah she is literally everything to me my sweet angel. Unfortunately I think she is one of the pillars of society so will not be making it out alive (Laura lee conventional religion, Jackie conventional power structures, javi innocence, Ben more ingrained power structures like respect for your elders) I think she is probably knowledge respect for conventional wisdom ect. Like burning the library of Alexandria because she was studying for her sats in season 2 + I think animal husbandry fits into this theme. I think that researcher's death plays on similar themes + signals the beginning of the dominos falling to kill akilah. I also think her death will prevent them from going home.

I don't think you saw it but a few episodes ago Van's cancer went into remission (?) because they killed a guy and it was the most delightful freaky spooky toe curling experience and I hope it happens 1000 more times. I'm not sure if they'll kill Melissa to save her (also she was a backgroundish character in the teen timeline in season 2 btw) because for me it came so out of left field + ngl feels kinda lazy but I really feel the writers have hit their stride + have just followed someone who's crazy for Melissa because I like to #diversifymydash so I believe they can do something interesting although I feel the threat of her was better than her actual presence but idk.

Yesssss my fucked up queen Shauna Shipman is here to CONSUME. Her eating Callie would actual be so fucking freaky like omg Callie has been trying to reach out to Shauna all season + this is what she gets in return because all that girl can do is CONSUME

Sincerely evilhorse936

[front-facing-pokemon]

I LOVE THE SMOLIV LINE!! I USED ONE ON MY TEAM THE BABIES!!!! THE BABIES WHO I LOVE SO DEARLY❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ BY THE WAY ARBOLIVA’S EYES AREN’T CLOSED THEY JUST LOOK LIKE THAT YOU CAN SEE IT BLINK IN GAME

AAAH MY MISTAKE!!! I HAVEN't looked at it very closely to be honest. never really used one on my team or really looked at it at all beyond 1. this blog and 2. filling the pokédex. but! y'know. good to know, i suppose!

WELL!! i didn't look deep enough into it to be giving competitive advice, evidently. either way this sounds like a recipe for frustration for your opponent in a battle against this, i feel

really? i guess i don't really know what the internals of game freak and the pokémon company look like. i know he made the battle tower theme in swsh and a few songs in sv, but almost every music-uploader on youtube just credits everyone who composed for the game on every song, which means i saw his name pop up a lot. obviously i know this doesn't mean every single person hired worked on every single song, but i at least figured his greater involvement on scarlet/violet meant they were keeping him around. or perhaps i was just hopeful. though i'm not sure what your source is on this claim, either—you're pretty sure. it doesn't REALLY matter and i don't even remember the context i mentioned toby fox in (was it about lechonk's name? it was probably about lechonk's name. in which case, like… yeah, of course i don't know that he made that name. it's almost a joke because of how out-of-touch nintendo and tpc famously are—but maybe they tuned in like five years ago when everyone was saying "le chonk" and decided to cash in on that. i don't remember who it was who said the name was based on "lechón" as opposed to "le chonk," but i desperately hope that individual was correct as opposed to Everyone I've Ever Met's initial reaction, that being that it's a reference to the "heckin chonker" memes from half-a-decade-plus ago) and tpc isn't gonna tell us anything anyway so!

re: pawmo. i agree. though i think i summarized my thoughts in the tags of the posts themselves

re:charcadet: do i need to make another "most original joke of all time" post

[max05nb]

Day 11:

(Part 1)

(masterpost)

Topic: Shubble lore (Part 2)

So I start off by I read the fandom wiki and it mentions nothing about her being unpopular in her class and I double checked in the videos and yeah my mind was making stuff up (the videos mention her becoming popular, kinda like a highschool legend but nothing related to net being popular previously). She was just disliked by the higher ups '-_-

Well anyway back to the topic!

So let's talk about why is she a Storm witch in witchcraft smp? Well if you watched esmp2 you probably remember the ending where she gets a glow up and switches her themes from general fog witch to specialized storm witch. She even goes to Joel to learn about thunder!( And we also learn Joel is a bad teacher cause you ain't having someone train for 10 years and then they're only power is making rain like I know why but just think about the implications °°)

So why stars?

That's the question I brought up before as well, her design is star and space coded, not storm, why?

Well it's nature wiwes.

If you're unaware esmp2 from Shubble pov (and only from her pov, Katrine cut the scene like wha??) ends with her getting to go on an implied date with Katrine. At previous moments we seen her crushing, and she even fought Pirate Joey for a chance to date her.

After she dies (okay if you really don't know the ending I do sound like a lunatic but I swear all of the stuff I'm telling you happen in 1 ending episode, she's just going through the motions) she has her hair turn white, signifying her resurrection. That color is almost opposite to her brunette hair so it's immediately makes her go from a spring/fall to a cold winter color season making her look out of place in her old clothes. When she meets with Katrine she mentions not liking the hair and thinking about dying it. Katrine to that immediately says that it suits her and it makes her look like moonlight. Later we see her getting her new outfit and based on a comment made by the creator on the video, she basically took Katrine's compliment and made it her entire aesthetic.

So yeah the star theming comes from that, she just took her crushes words and run with it.

However I still don't understand why they didn't just make her a star witch?

Here comes my theory:

Like I stated before I'm pretty sure it was a last minute change. Other possibility: not good enough mods, the fantasy pack they used could have just not have good star related mods.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that, stories change and grow. This happens often on esmp (think of Xornoth, who started out just Scott messing around with a voice changer) (or Hermes) (or the statue in the evermoore being made by Joey but later changed to be made by spirits) (my point is that it happens a lot) but it happens in any story, especially in smp based ones where the viewers could have a directly impact on the story. Watching an smp often like watching a story still in it's first draft, things just happen, you retcon things from before and pretend you have foreshadowed something you just made up 5 seconds ago. So what I'm trying to say that I been thinking a lot about how I tend to think of smp stories as this set in stone, proof-read story that cannot change and everything have been planned out before hand. Shubble must have planned to merge these characters from the start surely! But most of the times they're fluid and changing. Shubble could have planned it from the start of wcsmp and made her design based on that but she could have also just thought about it later. Katrine's comment could have no connection to Shubble's outfit but later on Shubble though it could fit so she pointed it out. Shubble didn't think about what lore implications every funny response she says had so if "I dunno I didn't go to school" was funny in the moment then why do I assume she meant more by it? And just to be clear this refers to all creators I watch, I just thought about it the most relating to Shubble.

Is anyone else in the same boat as me? I think I just have to stop overanalyzing lore details from something that happened 2 years ago (yeah I almost cried seeing that it feels like yesterday, the nostalgia shouldn't be hitting this hard TT)

Thank you for reading my ramble about nothing in particular. Hope you enjoyed this! I'll try to keep it short next time :'>

[kidelune]

TW: Mature themes, death, violence, blood, all that jazz. Read at your own discretion.

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine (1/2)

I'm writing this down now while it's still fresh on my mind, so in the case I'm ever found and arrested for it, I'll have this log as some sort of proof. Or even a confession.

[October 29, 2023, Somewhere between Yongsan and Incheon]

On the 29th of October of this year, four days ago, I was supposed to land safely on Japanese soil by 6 in the evening. My dad had agreed to pick me up from the airport and together we planned to grab a meal and some beer on the way back to Kyoto, where we live. It cuts me deeply now to remember how happy I'd been that day. After such a fun weekend spent with my boyfriend and friends, and of course, getting back to pops, which always excited me to all ends. I spent all morning holding my precious partner before he went to work, then gave him my afternoon, too. We had some lunch together right before my flight, though eating had been a challenge as parting for us was nothing short of bittersweet. We already knew we'd be apart for four days; he had work. And yet it had never occurred to me then that on top of that, I'd disappear entirely.

In hindsight, my joy had been a red herring of sorts.

Something strange happened around eleven, same day. The other gangs have been more aggressive lately, especially the Greens who've recently suffered a few greater losses than they've had to deal with in a while. The general goal had shifted from yielding for peace to blood for blood. They wanted Gun-pyo's head and would not stop until the hit is finally made on the right man. So around eleven that morning, I heard the burner phone I'd stolen a while back ringing for the first time since I found it. At first I had no clue what the sound was, until I realized during the second time it went off from somewhere in my closet. I found it but waited for the call to go dead prematurely, then waited until the very last ring to pick up. Up to my ear, while standing within the darkness asleep among my jackets I heard someone on the other end murmur, "I know it was you."

And for a horrifying moment the voice sounded like it came from the other side of my closet door. It didn't, but remembering now how I felt back then, how I held my breath and flushed with ire, I'm sure, despite everything, that I would've killed him on the way out.

Instead I quietly shrugged it off, drowned and then smashed the phone, blackmail material be damned. Because according to my logic and possibly greed, yeah it was me, so fucking what? Everything has already gone to shit and I was not about to be in Korea at all after the three following hours anyway.

At least I thought I shouldn't have been, but life wouldn't be life if it didn't have other plans in store for me, of fucking course. Halfway to the airport I'd asked my hyung to drop me off somewhere quiet so I could get a taxi instead, right after I noticed we were being followed. He has a kid so I didn't want him to get in trouble along with me if it came to it, although he'd stubbornly refused to abandon me at first. I hope to tell him soon that although my insistence got me kidnapped almost immediately after, I don't regret it. I could've died like he said, but I lived, after all.

As I expected though, my kidnappers were an odd mix of Greens, Reds and Blues, all guys we did business with. And I'm under the impression, still, that they'd followed me from home or somewhere too close to home for my comfort. I tried to fight them off and run, but I had nothing to protect myself. Next thing I knew I was somewhere in an abandoned building, disoriented as all hell. I didn't know in the beginning where exactly I was, though it couldn't have been too far from where they'd first apprehended me as I likely was not out of it for long. Alas, in that short amount of time they'd moved my unconscious body on location, stripped me of my clothes and belongings entirely, and was bound by the wrists and ankles on my knees.

I braced myself for a beatdown as soon as I was conscious again and rightfully so, as a beatdown I received after every question and threat of theirs I refused to answer (Tell us where your boss is. Do you know what will happen to you if you keep secrets? If you just talked, we wouldn't have to kill you). So their priority hardly was to keep me alive and that's the thing, I didn't mind it. I never could mind a split lip, some deep and tender bruises and black eyes, not even a stab. Even if they broke my bones and spit in my swollen eye and open wounds, I wouldn't snitch, though not for loyalty—not even fucking close. I have people to protect and if I had to die to guarantee their safety, I would.

Realizing this, the bastards started to burn my shit. Threw my suitcase and handbag into one of the braziers in the area. I lost my phone in that fire, alongside a lot of precious memories, messages and some of my skin. Which they burnt with a rod that's been cooking in the flames, dragging the thing down my back with a slowness so infinitesimal the space momentarily became hell itself. I saw red, I saw white, and then I couldn't see at all but just squirm there with the smell of my burning skin. While I tried to hold in my tears I imagined: this is what it must feel like to an angel having its wings ripped off.

That was the first night I disappeared.

[October 30, 2023, Somewhere between Kyoto, Japan and Seoul, South Korea]

The following section will be literal word of mouth, though as verbatim as I can help it. I trust my pops wouldn't lie to me.

He said and I scribe: he knew something was up within the first hour after I was supposed to land in Japan. I've warned him in the past before that while apart, if I ever went for more than 24 hours without replying to his messages or calls, assume I'm missing or dead. So he was more than prepared for situations like this though he also thought about waiting a while—maybe my phone had ran out of battery and I somehow forgot to charge it, while simultaneously forgetting he was picking me up. He went home, he said, and waited precisely another two hours before finally booking himself a flight to Korea for the morning. Nothing could get in the way of him finding me at that point, dead or alive, he said.

Much to my dismay, that's how he met Byungwoo for the first time. Instead of how I'd planned to introduce them in Japan, they were forced to meet prematurely at the expense of my safety. In front of my apartment proper, both of them desperate for some kind of sign of life from me. Maybe one of them might've even hoped it was all a bad dream and that they'd wake up in the next minute to me back in their realities. I would've hoped the same, yet that was our reality: his immediate suspicion upon seeing my boyfriend—who at the time to him was just another stranger, possibly some unsavoury figure from another gang waiting by the door for me to show up or come out. But pops' ability to read people is really impressive. Always has been. He could tell right away after getting closer that Byungwoo meant no harm, that they were both vulnerable flies approaching the same trap.

He told Byungwoo straight up about my position: his guess on point, being that I'd been taken somewhere and my phone had been shattered to limit contact. I don't really want to repeat what he'd said about Byungwoo's reaction to this, though. It truly breaks my heart to disastrous degrees to think about his face, the horror overtaking the beauty he'll always possess. The instantaneous panic, then a worry so raw and harrowing that it'd probably kept him up at night, waiting for who would not return so soon, nor as whole as he'd left. Who might've never returned. All I ever wanted was to do better for him. To not leave him behind to sleep and eat alone again, or have him worry to the point of tears and anger he hardly knew. All I wanted and will want, breathing or six feet under, is for him to be happy. Yet I've failed him again, to the point where my father had to warn him about getting near my apartment, lest he wanted to get hurt.

But in scenarios like this, I'd noticed, he becomes as determined as he is afraid, my partner. Last time I returned home hurt, he swore that he'd kill the people that wanted to hurt me. The hatred in his eyes at the time shocked me more than anything ever has before. It was real. Have you ever loved someone so much that you'd risk in a heartbeat something so incredibly horrendous for their sake? That'd make the two of us, at least. They ended up tracking my phone together. Two months or so ago Byungwoo and I decided to install a tracker app on our phones so he could track me in the case of an emergency. This was life or death, pops'd said, after they finally came across a distinct crosshair on the map that would serve as the first clue to my location.

Desperate but hopeful, my father rushed to Incheon with his eyes wide open, diving headfirst and alone into a full blown brawl between too many gangs to count. Kim Junseo, a legend of his own time, returned and purposely falling within the same trap his son did.

In the name of love. In the name of blood.

[hideyseek]

/BARGES IN/ HELLO BUDDY REVERSE UNO CARD FANFIC ASK MEME 🥺, 🤡 , 🛒, ⌛

HIIIIIIIIIII ENNJI <3 I LOVE 2 BE UNO REVERSE CARDED!! also haha sorry these got ... quite long (i can talk about how long it takes me to write a thing for SO LONG buddy) so i'm putting the whole thing under a cut.

from these fanfic writer emoji asks

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

mmmmmmm.... had to think about this one for a bit because the types of interactions i tend to write for kakehai aren't actually the ones that put me in MY feels, haha. but i think moments of very small and mundane domesticity are moments i really like -- there's an almost off-hand kind of intimacy in that kind of sharing space that i'm really compelled by. that idea of like, oh this person is so familiar to me that things like reaching around them or being passed something by them is all happening somewhat subconsciously.

🤡 What’s a line, scene, or exchange you’ve written that made you laugh?

ohoho. i do think that i've gotten a lot less funny over the years, both as a person in how i interact with the world and also in the kind of writing i'm doing. part of this i think is just the particular bits of haiji/kazetsuyo that i latched onto (in particular contrast to the lighthearted, laugh-at-the-narrator, very romantic type of fic i primarily wrote for inception).

anyway, that to say i actually couldn't think of anything when i was answering this so then i went down a rabbit hole of google docs bc surely i'd written something i thought was funny in the last year and genuinely all i could find (though admittedly i didn't search very hard) was this snippet from a kunikidazai pwp ficlet i started for bcsdp when kunikida's been lost in thought for a while:

“Ku-ni-ki-da-kun,” Dazai prompts. “What’s happening upstairs?” “Nothing,” Kunikida snaps, and wishes he’d said none of your business as soon as Dazai smirks.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

ok well i was going to say "i don't know but i skimmed through all my posted fic on ao3 and i had two whole fics that involved the pov character being a forger of some kind and a core romance-related theme being 'what is real vs what is valuable' which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice".

but then i remembered that i have like, three or four wips across a couple fandoms that are all basically "what happens to my blorbo guy after a big, life-changing experience ends and then he's left adrift and has to figure out how to be a person?" so i'll say that! i'm really compelled by the idea of having a like, identity-defining project and then having that like -- end abruptly and having a character still have to be themselves without it.

⌛ How long does it take you to write a fic, or a chapter?

SO LONG. ohh my god SO SO LONG. well okay that's not true, it really depends. one of my big "writing goals" (incredibly abstract goal, i would not say i'm working toward it) is to write faster.

i've gotten to a point where i can, more or less, rough out an outline of a 2-4k fic focusing on 1-2 character relationships with a single reasonably straightforward plot and no particular thematic intention in an afternoon, and probably draft it in a week (and revise in another week) if i'm not doing much else or the idea is really compelling and i don't get overthinky. a year or two ago, that would have taken me maybe a month or two of very like, focused and intense writing. but also there's like ... something about the 4k threshold that i just never can really cross with a fic like this.

but in terms of drafting and going from the start of an idea to an actual fic i am incredibly, incredibly slow. most fics that i'm writing now are more than 4k (even the mini version of heist!au is shaping up to be 5k ish) and are probably ... 3-5 drafts? for narrative!fic i've spent maybe 2-3 years now putting snippets in a evernote doc and drafted the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the story literally 4 times in the last year -- i'm like a chapter and a half into draft 4 now and that's taken already 2-3 weeks (and this was genuinely a fluke from the recent holiday weekend) and in my mind this is still a "first draft".

ok wow this was possibly more than you desire to know about how long it takes me to write things however haha i'm still not done! the thing that has been keeping me moderately sane about all this is this FANTASTIC BOOK called the art of slow writing by louise desalvo which i have also been reading incredibly slowly (i am about 60% of the way through and it has been since like, february of this year) but the book is this really wonderful (to me) collection of both desalvo's process and perspective of writing a novel, and a ton of referencing other writers and how goddamn long it took them to write things (with lots of gentle and loving mockery of writing as a practice, which i really enjoy). anyway! i recommend it -- whenever i get frustrated about how long a fic is taking i'll go read a chapter of this (they are all very short) and calm down about it.

[swcetnight]

It’s Definitely You || kth (m.) 1

synopsis:

Working as a barista in NYC has its perks, but when your ultimate dream of being on the Broadway stage tends to come crumbling down, the only thing that raises your spirits is the comfort of a complete stranger… who seems to have known you for far longer than you thought.

masterlist here

→ pairing: taehyung x barista!reader (also musical theatre performer cause I had to)

→ genre: fluff, angst, future smut | strangers(ish) to lovers… i won’t give the truth away... gonna have to read and find out for yourself ;))

-> warnings: self doubt, adorable plant names... there's really not many warnings for this chapter!

→ word count: 7,973

authors note:

alrighty everyone... here we go! (i’m so nervous) this is the first chapter of this series (which it took me 50 years to figure out whether I wanted this to be a series or a two shot... lets just say that it's gonna be a long one, so I think that a series is the best way to go)! this story is really near and dear to my heart, so 1. I really hope you enjoy it and 2. I hope all of you know how hard it was to write this into words... my goodness. now, make sure you look for clues throughout this series... there's a secret in here that won't be revealed for a while ;)) but if any of you have ideas, please be sure to send an ask while we wait to find out together! anyways, I hope you enjoy !!

authors thanks:

a HUGE thank you to @hantaev and @monvante for beta-reading and being so so supportive of me and this little (but not so little) story... y'all truly have no idea how helpful you've been and how thankful I am to be friends with both of you! forreal, y'all are the greatest and I'm sending you all my love!!

also, if you are enjoying this story, please don’t hesitate to send me an ask (on or off anon) and let me know your thoughts, feelings, theories, etc!! i would love to hear from all of you 🤍

If time-travel existed, you would be on the first time machine and head back to 2 years ago. A time when you had a free schedule and were able to go out on Friday nights. A time when you felt confident in yourself and were raring to pursue theatre. A time when you didn't have this job (cause apparently, theatre is impossible to get into) that forces you awake at 4 in the morning for the opening shift.

You can't say you don't love your Barista job because you do. Still, when your alarm wakes you from the beautiful dream of performing on the big stage, you have to use everything within yourself to crawl out of your sheet cocoon… and that is unacceptable.

What's even more unacceptable is the fact that your co-worker, Jimin, hasn't arrived at the Academia Cafe yet. You have about 30 minutes to prepare for the morning peak; brew coffees, set up the bakery items, clear the boards "coffee of the day," etc. The problem is, it takes up all of the 30 allotted minutes— and you can't start prepping early because Jimin has the keys to the cafe.

You’ve worked at the Academia Cafe for about a year now, taking a break from your endless theatre audition schedule— since that was getting you absolutely nowhere. No matter how badly you want it, nothing seems to work. No matter how many times you practice, it never seems to be good enough. Let’s just say, you took this job at the cafe because you were over the repetitive let downs.

… But here you are, with a “Jimin being late” let down.

[To: Jimin ☕️] hey, you almost here? times ticking, keys!

You stuff your phone into your winter coat pocket, the brown material catching snowflakes as they fall gently from the cloudy sky. You love this weather; it's always been your favorite. When you were little, you used to pretend to be a dragon; running all over your front yard and releasing heavy breaths that chilled in the air and spread like smoke. You don't enjoy the cold, but the entire feel of winter has you cozying up in a blanket with hot cocoa and a good book… nothing could beat that.

A buzz in your pocket catches your attention.

[From: Jimin ☕️] Hey! Look up.

Your eyes immediately lift to see Jimin smiling a few feet away, shuffling through the snow as he drags the keys out of his pocket. He's sporting a heavy blue coat that reaches down to his knees — making his short stature appear even smaller — topped with a matching blue beanie. Despite his tardiness today, you’ve always been fond of Jimin. He's like a ray of sunshine, beaming through the skyscrapers of the city and making everyone around him happy just by flashing a single smile. Honestly, you wish you could sneak some of that happiness from him and lock it somewhere safe... so you can save it for a time when you need it most.

"Your timing is impeccable." He laughs, gently placing the keys into the front door lock. "You texted me right as I was rounding the corner."

"I'm telling you, Jimin; we're always on the same wavelength."  Smirking, you make your way through the doors of the cafe, greeted by the warmth that surrounds you like your sheet cocoon did this morning, but accompanied by the smell of fresh coffee. "Except for the fact that you, my friend, are late, so now we only have twenty-eight minutes until opening."

Old, rustic book pages litter the cafe's dark walls, executing the dark academia theme flawlessly. You have to give the interior designers a hand, what with the black stools and high dark wood counters etched with different story pages. You wonder if anyone took the time to read the stories that covered the cafe; maybe the stories moved them in a personal way. Maybe there was a reason why they read them, a part of the butterfly effect of their life.

With a quick survey of the main room, you shuffle into the back to put your belongings away. "You would think it would be less busy on the streets because of the snow," Jimin calls, already working on the first batch of light roast coffee. "But unfortunately for me, that was not the case, and I nearly lost my life multiple times on the way here because of how slick it is."

A laugh emits from your lips, echoing in the backroom as you throw your apron over your head.

You begin with date labeling all of the pastry items, placing them accordingly onto the pastry cart; croissants, muffins, scones, etc. Then, you move onto organizing syrups and setting toppings along the bar where drinks are made. Bar is your personal favorite position-- since you're able to make the drinks… Plus, you're so busy that your shift goes by way faster. The sooner you're done, the sooner you get to go home and sleep.

“All set?” Jimin questions when you finish setting the steaming pitchers next to the espresso machine, tossing the rag he used to wipe down tables into the sanitizer bin. You give him a nod, taking a quick once over of the bar. “Alright,” he claps, “let's do this.”

This morning runs like every Friday morning, busy and fast. The sounds of coffee glasses clinking and the calling of customer names at the hand-off station echoes through the air.

Ahhhh, the scenery in coffee shops; the quiet hush over the room as soft jazz plays over the speakers. It’s soothing, all encompassing, and extremely helpful for motivation… You used to go to a local cafe for homework when you were still in school.

You take a breath, relaxing against the back counter as you overhear a conversation a group of regulars are having. It’s the usual small talk: the weather, families, sharing pictures of recent events. Coming up with questions of the day for customers becomes easier after knowing their stories, so you subconsciously listen in often.

Because of this, you almost don't notice the man waiting at the register, wholly delved into the neighboring conversation— only looking over when you hear your name called.

"Y/n?"

You turn your head, catching eyes with the stranger behind the counter who holds his credit card ready. The first thing you notice is that he's young, probably around your age, wearing a brown turtleneck and white slacks. His eyes are dark, standing above his perfectly sculpted nose and lips. His hair is dark as well, forehead drowning within the wavy bangs that fall over his eyebrows as he takes you in. To be completely honest, he's probably the most handsome man you've had the pleasure of seeing… is that weird? You don’t know him… maybe that is weird.

The second thing you notice is that he looks completely anxious, hands grasping the edge of the counter like there's a thousand-foot drop below him. Why is he looking straight at you while doing that? Maybe you should call Jimin to take ove-

“Is it really you?” He questions, taking you aback.

"I-" You clear your throat, walking forward to meet him at the register, "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

With an intake of breath, he releases the counter as he studies you. Was he… crying? You swear his eyes were not this bloodshot three seconds ago.

"You-" He pauses, taking another sharp breath and running a hand through his hair. If you thought he couldn't get more attractive, you were wrong. "Do you know me?"

Attractive? Yes. Psycho?...possibly.

You shake your head slightly, “I… I’m sorry. I don't-"

Wait… is he a regular? You swear you haven't seen him come into the cafe before. Shoot.. What if he is? The number one thing your boss has made perfectly clear: remember the regulars, so they come back and feel at home; recognized. Customer connection was the most important thing at the Academia Cafe… He's probably a regular.

“I’m so sorry, there're so many people that come to visit us and sometimes I forget the regulars!” You apologize. “That’s my fault… remind me of your name again?”

He's staring at you. Full-on staring, jaw slacked. Shifting uncomfortably in your keds, you eye beside you to see Jimin working away at a macchiato. You consider changing places, nearly walking over to him before the customer speaks again.

"It's- It's Taehyung."

You force a smile, nodding while he continues to stare at you. He seems a bit more hesitant, his eyes looking in different directions but ultimately falling back onto your own. Even if he tried, he couldn't hide the rosy color that spreads onto his cheeks. What was this guy's problem?

"Taehyung! Awesome, well, what can I get for you today?" You chirp, attempting to brighten up your increasing discomfort. He might have mistook you for someone else, you decide, jumping back into your customer service personality: kind and quick to the point.

Taehyung doesn't move, training his eyes on you. You've never had a man's undivided attention before, since boyfriends were never an option. When you were a teenager, you stayed home most of the time in your hometown, and the boys there were all just in it to take your pants off. You avoided them and never really caught their attention, so you can't help the uncomfortable blush that grows on your cheeks. It’s short lived though, your nerves dissolving as soon as you notice a single tear fall onto the front of his shirt.

Oh. Okay, he’s definitely crying.

"Sir..." You begin, leaning in closer to avoid drawing attention. "Is everything alright?"

"I…" The shake in his voice is evident as he puts his credit card back into his wallet, still refusing to break eye contact. “Excuse me." Without another word, he turns on his heel and rushes towards the exit, clocking a customer in the shoulder in his rush. He apologizes quickly, bowing to them before glancing behind to make eye contact with you once more.

You wish you could read minds, wondering what the hell is going through his brain… but you notice the tiniest gleam of a hopeful smile that hides on his lips.

And then he’s gone.

“I swear it was the strangest thing, Jimin.” You speak nervously, tugging at the strings of your apron and lifting it over your head. It had been busy all day, despite a quick thirty minute break when everyone had left and the cafe was suddenly a deserted island. You appreciated the busyness, it made your shift go by faster. Right now, all you wanted to do was go home, eat a fat bowl of icecream and distract yourself from the events of today with a movie. Thank God your shift was over.

“Maybe he thought you were someone else?” Jimin insists, taking a bite into the extra Blueberry Muffin you’d accidentally heated when you were distracted by the events that occurred earlier.

“Yeah? Well, I must be the spitting image because he was totally freaked out.”

“You never know, y/n. Or, maybe he just used that as an excuse to talk to you.” You could hear the smirk in his voice, throwing your rolled up apron at him harshly before you grab your belongings.

“Ha, ha, you’re hilarious. This guy looked like he had seen his ex… He was crying. I don’t think he was into me.”

“Maybe his eyes were watering from the cold wind?” He offers.

“Enough to cry actual tears?” You scoffed, “C’mon Jimin.”

He shrugs defensively, picking up his things so the two of you can head out a few minutes earlier than usual. Whenever the baristas have a chance to leave early, they take it. “If he comes back, then ask him: hey, dude, what’s your deal?”Jimin works his way through the cafe, throwing an excess chair upside down onto the table with the rest of them.

You hold your hand above your heart, which is still beating at a faster pace due to this discussion. Can hearts even beat this fast? This can’t be healthy… “Oh wow, you have such a way with words. That definitely won’t make him feel uncomfortable!”

Yes. Sarcasm coping mechanism.

“Y/n.” Jimin meets you at the door and puts his hands on your shoulders, making extra sure he has your attention. “Go home. Don’t think too much into it… He was probably high or something and mistook you for his ex that dumped him and now he’s moping through the city and getting into all sorts of trouble and he’ll forget that he even came here tomorrow morning. Okay?”

You nod slowly, exiting the cafe with Jimin on your tail. "Don't worry, y/n." Jimin adds, "He probably won't even come back." He locks the door and gives you one last thumbs up before heading in the opposite direction, calling out at the last second. “See you tomorrow!”

The forced smile on your face appears again (looks like this was a regular occurrence today), waving him goodbye.

Yeah… tomorrow.

Jimin was right. The handsome crying stranger was probably never coming back.

It has been a few weeks since you met him for the first time. Now, it feels like a distant memory. He hadn’t shown up to the cafe the day after the encounter, or the day after that, or the day after that, and eventually you’d come to the conclusion that he was probably never going to show his face again out of pure embarrassment. You can’t say you blame him. You’d be embarrassed too if you stared at and cried over a random stranger.

Still, you couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment... You'd kind of hoped you could figure out what his problem was, maybe ease his mind a little if you really did look like a past lover. You would make sure he knew that it wasn't you. What if he was avoiding the cafe because he literally thought you were someone else? Great… now you just feel bad.

"Y/n? Are you listening?" Jimin beckons over the phone.

"Huh? What?" You bounce back to reality, the soft comforter of your bed lying beneath you as you stare out the window. Thanks to your wonderful apartment search, you have a beautiful view of the city. Jimin had helped you find a place when you first moved here. The two of you had met when you visited to check out the first apartment options; he even took you out for a drink afterward to celebrate the first days' completion. Jimin had immediately clicked with you, as he does with everyone-- he was the kind of person to make friends insanely quickly. He must've been super popular in high school... unlike you.

"Y/n Y/l/n. I am giving you a chance to meet more people, and you're not even listening to me!" He cries, a light smack coming from the other end (probably from him slamming his hand on the table).

"Okay, okay-- I'm sorry. I'm listening now; what's up?"

With a deep sigh, he speaks again. "Party. My house. Tonight. It's not gonna be wild, don't worry... it's just a get-together with some of my friends, and you can have a few drinks if you would like to."

Gnawing at your bottom lip, you look over towards the clock on your nightstand. 5:00. "I don't know..." You begin, the bed shifting as you raise into a seated position. "I have to work tomorrow morn-"

"Already got your shift covered." He deadpans.

"What??"

"I already got your shift covered, so you have no excuse."

This sly guy.

"Who covered it?" You question, setting the audio to speaker-phone as you rummage through old text messages you haven't gone through (to prep for your "thank you for covering my shift" text message).

“Jin.” Noted.

“So…” Jimin continues, “are you coming?”

You can't even remember the last time you met new people, let alone gone to a party. Parties weren't necessarily your thing, especially with your busy schedule of workdays and auditions-- you just never had the time. You should be excited, right?

Well, you aren't.

"Jimin, I don't know… I'm not really a huge fan of parties." You mumble over the phone, picking at the lone string that popped out of its stitch on your comforter.

"Y/n, it's a small get-together, and it's not gonna be that kind of party. Believe me; it'll be really chill. It's just me, you, a few other coworkers, and some friends from my journalism class."

You chew at your bottom lip, looking over at your closet to see a single green cocktail dress that you hadn't worn in years. The memory of the dress was a good one… you had just finished up curtain call for The Addams Family and wore that dress to the after-party. It's a short sleeve, layered green dress that flows just over your knees, the same color sash tying the waist in a floppy bow. You blush at the memory of winning best dressed.

A pause, “Okay.” You conclude. “I’ll go.”

Jimin was honest about how chill it would be; soft music plays in the background as the group sits around the table playing cards. A basketball game is playing on the TV, desperate for attention as a player scores a 3-pointer, but no one is watching. Shuffling of cards is the only sound heard in the room as the game continues.

The atmosphere is calm… quiet…

“BULLSHIT.”

The immediate crumble of everyone’s mood causes the loud “HELL YEAH” that makes you jump in your seat.

"And that is how it's done, Ladies and Gentlemen." Jungkook (your fellow coworker) claps, his smile brighter than the sunset that seeps through the curtains on the opposite side of the room.

"And that's on cheating!" Jimin picks up the cards in the center of the table, gathering them clumsily back into a pile.

"It's called having skill," Jungkook replies, holding his hands up as he smirks at his opponents.

"No, it's called luck." Yoongi finalizes as he puts his hand of cards down on the table with a roll of his eyes. You haven’t met Yoongi before until tonight. He’s one of Jimin's friends from Journalism Class.

When you arrived, you decided to sit out of this round and learn to play before joining the game-- knowing you; you would've been crushed within the first minutes of playing. Card games weren’t exactly a skill of yours— board games on the other hand were where it’s at! That, and charades. For the sake of the party, a card game didn’t sound too bad this time around— so you poke at Jimin to give you the hand as he serves cards for everyone else.

“Wait, wait, wait—“ Jimin pauses, his hand disappearing beneath the table to grab his phone. “Hello?”

“I’m not Irish, so does luck really count?” Jungkook questions in a hushed whisper, nudging Yoongi in the side.

“Oh hey...yeah... it’s apartment 205.” Jimin continues.

“You’re so funny, Jk. Maybe you’ll actually become successful if you choose stand-up comedy rather than becoming a musician.” Yoongi replies nonchalantly, his cat-like eyes staring at the abandoned pile of cards before he seems to come to the decision to shuffle them himself. He gives you a small smile when you hold your hand out to signal that you’re joining in this round.

“Mhm, you can just walk on in! Doors unlocked… okay.. alright, see ya in a minute.” When Jimin's phone is down, Yoongi passes a hand of cards to him.

“Think you can beat me, Y/n?” Jungkook asks,”Since apparently these four can’t?” He motions to Yoongi and Jimin, glancing at the other two players of the game: Hoseok (Jimins other classmate) and his girlfriend, Faith.

“I think I can.” You say, smirking at the determined expression on Jungkooks face. Even if you weren’t very fond of card games, there was one thing you were even less fond of: losing.

“Mmm, might want to rethink that, but okay.” Jungkook replies. The two of you are death staring when the sound of the front door creaking open catches the attention of everyone else at the table. Jimin shoots out of his chair.

“Taehyung!”

You freeze.

"You-" He pauses, taking another sharp breath and running a hand through his hair. If you thought he couldn't get more attractive, you were wrong. "Do you know me?"

Attractive? Yes. Psycho?... possibly.

“I’m so sorry, there're so many people that come to visit us and sometimes I forget the regulars!” You apologize. “That’s my fault… remind me of your name again?”

"It's- It's-."

“Taehyung, you just missed me creaming everyone in bullshit.” Jungkook boasts. Your eyes are glued to the side of Jungkook's head, not daring to make eye contact with the source of your nerves the past few weeks.

“Oh did I?” The familiar, deep voice utters.

Okay.. you can’t help but look…

Holy—it’s actually him.

Immediate regret sinks into your soul when you see him. God, he’s even handsomer than you remember. A white woolen sweater hangs over a pair of his black pants, matched with white sneakers and accenting the head of dark wavy hair you’d been thinking about since you last saw him.

“Yep!” Jungkook continues. “And now Y/n’s about to get shitfaced too.”

The moment his eyes swiftly glance your way is the moment you crumble and turn your head back to Jungkook. You had hoped to make a sly remark, something along the lines of “in your dreams,” but you’re caught breathless from the tension in the room. The tension only the two of you are aware of. He must be tense too, right?

“I wouldn’t underestimate her.” You hear out of Taehyung's mouth, stealing a look at his face once more. He’s smirking at Jungkook, hanging his coat on the hook beside yours, oblivious of the way you’re basically dissecting his every move.

“Have you met Y/n?” Jimin questions, provoking Taehyung's eyes to fall back onto yours. This time, you don’t look away.

He doesn’t answer right away, making you more nervous than you should be— the silence deafening as you make to explain, “We-“

“No.” He states plainly, cutting you off. An innocent smile plays on his lips as he looks at Jimin and places his messenger bag beside the door.

No? Uhhh, was he not the guy who pretended to know who you were and cried in front of you without even explaining why? Nope, it’s definitely him.

“I’m Taehyung.” He calls in your direction, offering you a boxy smile and a small nod, “Don’t let Jungkook fool you. A girl pinched him when we were in grade school. He barely lasted five seconds before running away screaming.” Taehyung moved to the table, sitting beside the man he just brutally embarrassed.

“That girl was terrifying. She was way taller than all the other sixth graders. It was an unfair situation.” Jungkook protested, sinking in his chair as he shuffled the cards he held in his hand.

You couldn’t help but stare dumbly at Taehyung. Was he embarrassed of his outburst at the cafe that he just hopes you forgot about him? You guess you didn’t exactly meet each other, other than a few words exchanged before he disappeared out the door. He probably doesn’t want his friends to know about what happened. Or did he not recognize you and completely forgot about the whole ordeal?

Okay, it’s fine… totally fine.

“I’ll have to keep that in mind,” you laugh, “no more coming in late, Jk. Or I’ll have to pinch you.”

Jungkook merely rolls his eyes, taking a sip of his beer. You see the crinkle in Taehyung's eyes as he laughs, the boxy smile taking root on his face again… a smile you’ve begun to enjoy the look of.

Hey. Snap out of it. This guy is so confusing. That’s a red card.

You straighten up in your seat, catching Jimin's attention when you move towards the kitchen, motioning with your hand to signal that you’re getting another drink. You have a feeling you’re gonna need some more alcohol to get through the evening.

Jimins place is clean, every knick knack placed neatly where it belongs; accompanied by the smell of potted plants that he keeps by his windows. Little name tags are attached to the plant stems: Flo, Sprout, Bob. He names his plants. Sweet.

He, like you, has a great view of the city too, a mid-size window perched above his breakfast nook where a small potted plant (quotabley named “bean”) grows. The city is bustling below as you reach for a beer, shrugging off the fact that you hate beer, but at least the taste will distract you from Tae-

“Hey.” You hear a soft voice call from the kitchen archway. When you turn you nearly drop the bottle out of your hand. Taehyung gives you a soft smile.

“Hey! Uh.. did you want a beer, or are you a wine guy?” You question, cringing at how much higher your voice sounds at his close proximity.

“I— Sorry, neither.” He starts, shoving his hands into his pockets as he makes his way around the island. “I uh- I just wanted to talk to you about something.”

You nod slightly, “Yeah of course… what’s up?”

“Um,” he’s nervous, you notice. “I just wanted to apologize about the whole thing at the cafe a few weeks ago.. I was— not in the right state of mind.” He meets your eyes hesitantly, “you just look like someone I know from a long time ago and it kind of.. took me by surprise, I guess.”

Jimin was right. You offer him a smile, shaking your head in disbelief, “You know what, I truly thought that was the reason… It’s totally fine. I’m not who you think I am, by the way.”

A flicker of something crosses his features at your comment, something you can’t quite pick up, but he changes it quickly to a smirk. “Obviously.” He laughs, “I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.. I’m not weird, I swear.”

“Mmm, that’s what they all say.” You tease.

He laughs, a soft sound that you want to hear over and over again. “You’ve got me there.” He takes a pause, placing his hands on the island countertop. “Let’s start over? If that’s okay? I didn’t want to mention it when I came in because I wanted us to have a fresh start.”

You push down the questioning thought of who this woman he mistook you for was, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. “That’s totally okay.. clean slate?”

“Clean slate.” He finalizes.

“Straightforward,” You add, “I like it.”

He gives you a warm smile, the same edge in the way he looks at you dances in his eyes before he breaks it off, sliding the bottle of beer out of your own hand. “Actually, I think I will have a beer. You don’t seem like a beer drinker, anyway.” He turns quickly, smirking at you before striding out of the room. “Thanks, Y/n!”

Protestations die on your lips as he disappears from the room, your beer along with him. How rude. You can’t help the smile tugging at the corners of your lips as you turn back to the cupboard, skipping the beer and pouring yourself a second glass of wine. You weren’t a beer drinker, after all.

Although you weren’t one for parties, you couldn’t help but admit the fact that you were having a good time. No, a great time. All of you are seated in Jimins living room; a plate of chips sits on the coffee table, which was the hot spot of the night (considering there’s hardly any remaining). Others in the group still have a glass of alcohol in their hands, the tipsiness evident by the slurring of their words. You had stopped yourself after half of your second glass, playing it safe since you still have to walk home after the party. You weren’t much of a drinker anyway-- your family history being the root of this decision.

It isn’t the games that made the night this enjoyable, or the food, or the movie that is currently playing over Jimin's television (which, by the way, is Moulin Rouge, because half of the room enjoys musicals, and the other half enjoys regular movies. So, you decided to settle on a movie musical). None of that matters, except the fact that you’ve never felt this carefree in a long time.

For one night, you can put aside your cafe job, auditions, and never-ending to-do lists and just have fun. Real fun. Even in the audition rooms, it has never been fun for you. It’s been nerve-wracking to a fault and always ends with a “thank you for taking the time, but we’ve decided not to accept you this time around,” or a callback, which ultimately concludes with the same grueling fate.

But this is different.

This is a group of people who genuinely want to spend time with you and get to know you… with no “not this time’s” or open-ended questions.

Especially with Taehyung. You’re surprised at how quickly the two of you seemed to hit it off, despite the awkward introduction. Now, it feels like he’s known you for years… in the best way. You’re comfortable talking to him, chatting together during the movie about the plot points or songs you find specifically endearing. You had initially planned to sit next to Jimin… but ended up next to Taehyung on the couch.

It just happened.

He enjoys musicals as well, you learn. Maybe not as much as you do, but at least he doesn’t despise them. He’s one of Jimin’s friends from their shared art class. He loves the color brown. His favorite food is watermelon. He does illustrations for Jimins journalism projects (which, in your opinion, are exceptional from the photos he showed you during the movie while the others were engulfed in the film). He wishes to pursue traveling journalism, where he draws what he sees rather than taking pictures. His whole aura is warm… like a heated blanket that envelopes you whole when you feel him shift beside you on the sofa. A small reminder that he’s still there.

Okay, you’re liking his presence way too much.

He finds romance movies corny but a guilty pleasure nonetheless. This, the reason why he agreed to watch Moulin Rouge despite the cheesiness in the beginning. In the end, it was anything but cheesy.

"Well, that was stupid." Jungkook scoffs, slamming the remote onto the neighboring loveseats' armrest. The once loud room filled with music is now quiet from the after-effects of the movie.

“I told you it was sad!” Jimin exclaims. The two of you had seen this movie before in theatres… and this was nothing compared to how the ending hit the first time. “Y/N was nearly choking. She was crying so hard when we saw it.”

An immediate blush rises onto your cheeks as you shake your head in defiance, trying to hide the tears that had been stinging your eyes for the last thirty minutes. “Who wouldn’t cry at that??”

“Taehyung probably didn’t. He never cries.” Hoseok deadpans. Ha. You can’t help but remember the tear that ran down his face in the cafe… He never cries?

With a quick look over your shoulder, you find that Taehyung is no longer seated on the couch. When did he get up? You attempt to shrug off your curiosity, pivoting back towards the chip table where only sad little crumbs remain. You were worrying way too much over a man you quite literally just met tonight… even if it felt like you’ve known him for much longer.

Taehyung eventually reappeared, stating that he had to use the bathroom— you ignored the fact that it took him a solid 30 minutes to get back to the party. It wasn’t your place to ask any questions, especially since he lifted a smile onto his face the second he reentered the room. See, y/n… nothing to worry about.

It wasn’t long before you insisted you head home, knowing that you’d curse yourself in the morning if you stayed out past the sunrise. If you did, you’d sleep through tomorrow, and that would be awful. You’ve done this a few times… and every time, you felt like you had wasted an entire year of your life.

You move to grab your purse and jacket, which are hanging comfortably on the hook beside the front door. With a small smile, you bid everyone goodnight— smiling as they resume a card game around the table at one o’clock in the morning. It’s nice to know that the group of you hit it off… now; you can look forward to plenty of get-togethers in the future.

Your mind is bustling with all kinds of ideas: picnics in central park, late-night broadway shows, hangouts at the caf-

“Y/n!” The soft calling of Taehyung's voice causes you to halt near the exit, turning on your heel to see him jogging towards you. He had haphazardly thrown his jacket over him since it’s still being tugged onto his body as he runs. His hair becomes even more chaotic in his haste… Why do you want to run your hands through it?

“Hey!” You squeak, interrupting your thoughts before they trudged down a guilty road. “What are you doing? Weren’t you going to play another round?”

He gives you a smirk, catching his breath as he holds out your house keys. “You forgot these! You were really moving fast… sick of us already?”

“Wh— oh my god, thank you!” With a quick swipe of your hand, you’re stuffing your keys into your pocket with a grateful smile. “Also, hardly.”

You admire the way his eyes light up at your confession. “Well.. since you don’t want to leave us so quickly.. how about I walk you home?” He seems almost hesitant asking, but you can’t help but applaud him for actually taking the initiative to inquire.

You shake your head, pulling the strap of your purse farther up your shoulder. “You don’t have t-“

“I want to!” He cuts you off quickly, catching you by surprise as he moves past you to open the door. He glances back, taking in your reluctant expression, “It’s not safe this time of night Y/n… You shouldn’t be alone.“

You know he didn't mean anything by that statement… But the idea of someone genuinely caring and not wanting you to be alone makes your heart swell. Jimin cares about your safety of course, but this feels… Different.

This is the reason why you allow him to walk you home.

The snow crunches beneath your feet, like a symphony that beckons you home. You’ve been feeling exhaustion seeping into your bones for the last ten minutes, but Taehyung's occasional brush of his arm as he walks beside you keeps you wide awake. He doesn’t think to apologize for accidentally touching you, but you blame it on the time of night. Delusion.

“How long have you lived in New York?” You question, wrapping your coat tighter around you to kick out the nipping air.

“About a year now,” He responds, shuffling his feet, “though it feels like way longer. You?”

“Three years.”

Taehyung turns his head towards you, eyes wide. “Wow, way to one up me.” With a teasing smile he continues, “You must know this city like the back of your hand.”

The truth is… you don’t. You came here for the sole purpose of making it on Broadway... you never really took the time to focus on anything else. Part of you wishes you had learned more, craved more, wanted more with your life—then you wouldn’t be so miserable when the one thing you do want doesn’t work out. “Yeah… kind of.”

If he hears the somber tone of your voice, he ignores it, turning against the wind as he walks backwards down the sidewalk. “It’s overrated in my opinion.”

You raise your head at this, “Why is that?”

“Everyone here has dreams… and those dreams get crushed more often than not.” He shrugs, “No one cares if you want to succeed, only if you already have.”

You stare at him for a moment, awestruck by the weight of his words. “But,” he adds, turning back towards the wind, “the ones who never give up and continue to chase that dream can become successful. Despite all of the no’s they might face, they always hold on till they hear a yes. That sounds like true success to me.”

Turning your head, you stare at the side of his face— admiring the way his hair tosses back a bit against the harsh winter winds. His words hit you way deeper than he probably realized, sinking into your chest with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. You’ve been contemplating recently on whether or not to give up on your dream… that maybe it just wasn’t going to work out for you. You have been trying for so long, and have repeatedly been let down. There was no way Taehyung could have known, which is why his words hit you as hard as they did. Despite the hardships, you’ve been here for three years and you’ve never given up or stopped trying to chase your dream.

That was an achievement, right?

“To be honest… I've heard a lot of no’s in my three years of being here.” You speak softly, tucking a fallen strand of hair behind your ear. “Sometimes it feels like there will never be a yes… but here I am. At least I'm still working— at a coffee shop, not on the stage.”

“It’s admirable that you keep going.” Taehyung glances at you over his shoulder. “It makes you different from a lot of people who have left the city when they faced failure. It’s something to be proud of. Plus, coffee shop or big stage, you’re in New York City and pursuing your gift. It’s special.”

When your eyes meet, you smile at him, feeling a sense of victory the longer you hold his gaze.

“Don’t give up, Y/n. No matter what.” He speaks genuinely, leaning towards you to nudge you gently on your shoulder. You can’t help but laugh at his playfulness, giving him a nudge in return before your eyes downcast to your winter boots. The snow on the ground is fresh, powdery and sticking to the toes of your shoes. “Plus,” He adds, sucking in the chilly air, “you've got what others don’t have…”

This time when you meet his eye he has a serious expression, making sure he has your full attention as you round the corner towards your apartment building. His gaze is genuine, captivating… and a part of you hopes that the close proximity of your apartment wouldn’t cut this moment short. Finally, he speaks.

“You have passion.”

Taehyung's words weigh on you for the rest of your night. It started off as something simple, looking up audition songs for an upcoming off-broadway show your agent was telling you about. Then, you went to learning it. After that, putting on makeup. And finally, completely forgetting about your sleep schedule and filming an entire audition tape in your room at 2 in the morning (and you were belting… your poor neighbors). It wasn’t until four that you finally turned in for the night, not bothering to take off your makeup or get changed-- simply falling onto your pillow and blacking out the moment you hit it. You were definitely sleeping the next day away… but at that moment, you didn’t mind. Having a day off from your busy schedule wouldn’t be so bad.

“I sent in an audition tape two nights ago.” You speak confidently, wiping down the back counter that’s littered with coffee grounds. They stick to the rag like glue, tiny dots scattered along its white surface. If it weren’t for your apron,

and your expertly rolled up white turtleneck sweater, you would look alot like this rag right now.

“Did you?” Jimin questions from the bar, sleeving the cup before placing it on the handoff counter.

“Christopher! Medium cappuccino!” He calls, multitasking while he cranes his neck to still hear you.

“I did. I feel really good about this one..” You add, meeting him beside the bar as he lifts the pitcher up and down to create the latte-art of a flower in the center of the mug. You have tried sooooo many times to make latte art… and every time it ended up looking like a glob. A big, distorted snowball. Jimin was the master of latte art, always finishing it off beautifully with a whip of his wrist. The foam atop telling a story. “It was so late-- I was totally out of it… and yet I actually enjoyed myself while filming it. I just imagined being there.. In center stage.”

“I’m happy for you, Y/n!” He smiles, turning to place the hot mug next to the cappuccino.

“Caleb! Medium caramel latte!”

He was only half listening to you. The cafe was bustling, so it truly wasn’t Jimin's fault that he was sidetracked— but nothing could hold back the small smile that played at the edge of your lips. You had actually enjoyed singing for the first time in a while.. all because of Taehyung's Academy Award winning pep talk. Who knew that all you needed was for someone to tell you like it is. With a minuscule smile, you turn back towards the counter and lift the latte you’d whipped up this morning to your lips. Your distorted snowball is fully on display at the top.

Despite the busyness, the front register is deserted, giving you time to think for a moment about the pep talk... or rather, the person who gave you it.

“I think Taehyung likes you.” Jimin deadpans.

Uhhh… You nearly spit out your snowball at that— clearing your throat as you set it down slowly onto the wooden countertop. He speaks as if this is a natural conversation starter… it’s not.

“I’m sorry?” You croak.

“Taehyung.” He repeats, turning his head in your direction with a knowing smirk. “I think he likes you.”

You give him a scoff of disbelief, watching as yet another group of regulars enter through the door. “That’s not true, he just doesn’t know me… so he made an effort to talk to me.” If you weren’t studying the group, you would've seen Jimin giving you a scrutinized look.

So, now you have his attention.

“Y/n. It’s so obvious… He spent the entire night talking to you, he left moments after you did to give you your keys and he never came back. If that isn’t someone who’s interested, I don’t know what is.” Jimin is an expert at multitasking, finishing off two drinks at the same time and calling them out.

“Well, Jimin, when people don’t know each other, they get to know each other. It’s this thing called talking and becoming friends.” The sentence hangs in the air as the doorbell chimes, signaling that yet another customer has entered the cafe and into the swarm of regulars, but the two of you disregard the sound and continue on through your bickering.

“I’m just saying, Taehyung doesn’t usually talk to girls.” Jimin adds, wiping his hands off on the white rag seated beneath his espresso machine. “Even if they wanted his attention, he didn’t give it to them. I mean— he’s nice to girls, don’t get me wrong.. but he’s never talked to them like he did with you on game night. I don’t think he’s dated anyone since he got here.”

“He’s career driven.” You say quickly.

If you thought his smirk couldn’t get any wider, you were wrong. “Yeah, girls don’t know that about him— meaning he told you, and not other girls.” Jimin deadpans.

You stare blankly at him. There’s no way. No way that a guy as attractive as Taehyung would even think about looking at you like that. There’s just no way. You’ve never had a boyfriend... or even a guy friend, until Jimin. Eventually, you’d accepted the fact that maybe you just weren’t that interesting. Maybe you weren’t pretty enough. Maybe you couldn’t flirt…. okay, you definitely couldn’t flirt— but that’s besides the point.

“He’s not interested in me.” You conclude.

“He is.” Jimin counters.

“He’s not.”

“He so is.”

“He’s so not.”

“Y/n. I swear to you. He’s interested and you need to shoot your shot.” He whisper-screams, throwing the rag in his hand onto the bar.

“Taehyung is not-“

A clearing of someone’s throat from beyond the register cuts your argument short, nearly making you lose your balance when you see who the source was.

You’re fairly certain you’ve turned pale.

Taehyung stands in front of you, eyeing between the two of you with an awkward expression. God, how long has he been standing there? “I figured I should step in before the two of you start fist fighting.”

“Hey!” The shrill of your voice causes you to wince.

“Hey.” He says with a smile, folding his arms in front of him and raising his eyes to the menu above your head. You can’t help the glare you send towards Jimin, who's notably holding back his laughter as he moves to the blender, the station farthest from the register. Ridiculous.

“What can we get for you?” You ask routinely, trying not to make it obvious that you were just talking about him… and praying that he wasn’t there to hear what the two of you were talking about.

“Hmm…” He looks especially good today, wearing a brown, long coat and a brown plaid scarf around his neck. He wasn’t kidding when he said his favorite color was brown, that’s for sure. It suits him. His hair is wavy, flowing to a point just under his eyebrows with a split off center, giving you the tiniest glimpse of his forehead. “How about an americano with hazelnut, and some cream?”

“We can do that for ya!” You have to force yourself to stop looking at him, pressing the buttons to ring up his order before you forget. You nearly overlook ringing up the hazelnut syrup. Why were you so dazed? He’s already placed his credit card into the chip reader, but your foggy brain asks anyway. “Anything else?”

“Yes, actually.” He speaks as you move towards the bar beside the register. Grabbing an empty pitcher, you pour the milk inside and reach for the steamer. He drops a dollar into the tip jar, not giving you enough time to thank him for the unnecessary effort before he speaks again. “Are you free later?”

NEXT CHAPTER

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[innerchorus]

I wonder a lot about Shapur's parents and Hilmes's mother. What kind of person was the previous queen? I headcanon Hilmes might sport a special kind of grudge towards Tahamenay for “seducing” his father, because he loved his mother a lot and well... he loved his father too and is/was unable to see his father doing any wrong aka betraying his mother so kid!Hilmes subconsciously transferred the blame onto Tahamenay and it stuck. (A parallel with Zandeh, if I say so! Both having huge amounts of faith in their fathers and thus being unable to see fault in them) (I can't say I blame Hilmes, even knowing what I know of novel spoilers Osroes was still a far superior father to Hilmes than Andragoras was to Arslan, imho) And I wonder when Shapur took the lordship of his lands, presumably when his father died? I wonder if Shapur admired his father at first, only for it to be shattered when the whole debacle with Isfan went down? I wonder a lot about Isfan's mother too. Gah, so many questions!!

Yes, so many questions! I wonder about these kinds of things a lot, too. I wish we were give more details about these family dynamics. Tanaka must have decided that they didn't have enough relevance / direct influence on the plot for it to be worth expanding on. It sucks that (as far as I'm aware) we don't even have a name for Hilmes's mother? She seems to exist within the story only as "Osroes's wife." I want to know how she felt about [insert spoiler here].

At least Arakawa drew her for us:

I wish Tanaka had made more space for women in the story. Even the royal family tree included with Book 2 only includes the males.

Hilmes's mother died long before Tahamenay was brought back to Ecbatana, and given that context it's not quite so glaringly odd that Hilmes never seems to think of her (he's unlikely to remember her that well, and he's too busy being bitter about events that happened after her death). She was never actually queen, either; Gotarzes was still Shah at that point. A little snippet of info from Book 1, Chapter 2 (iii) : 'During his time as crown prince, Osroes had taken a wife at eighteen and by the following year had sired a son. After that, his wife passed away from illness, and he had never officially named a queen, preferring to maintain a bachelor’s lifestyle.'

Hilmes most definitely hates Tahamenay, though, referring to her as a 'witch who had seduced both his father and his uncle'.

Anyway, there was definitely love between Osroes and his wife. I hope we get to see a little bit more of their relationship illustrated by flashback later on.

There's definitely a bit of a theme with regards to characters either acknowledging their father's flaws or failing to accept them. I wrote some meta on this topic a while ago about Zandeh and Alfarid. As for Shapur, I’m sure he never looked at his parents the same way after he had to go and rescue Isfan. I assume the most common way to inherit land/titles is for them to pass to a designated heir when the holder dies, so it probably happened that way for Shapur. Or else his father could have stepped down due to illness or infirmity, I suppose. I like that when Shapur got called to Ecbatana to serve there as a military commander, Isfan was given the responsibility for his lands.

I would have loved to hear more about Isfan’s mother, too. I wonder whether Shapur had much contact with her, knowing that Isfan was his younger brother?

I wonder about Zandeh’s mother / Kharlan’s wife, too. Did she know what Kharlan knew before Atropatene? Does she ever get to see Zandeh again after he rides off to serve Hilmes? And what about Sam, did he have a wife and children?

Also I just have to mention how much I hate the fact that Tanaka, glossing over events in Pars during the timeskip between Parts 1 and 2, mentions all sorts of interesting stories that emerged, including one about ‘strange events entangled with the daughter of Hodir, Lord of Kashan Fortress’ and then never elaborates. I get the impression these stories may have varying levels of truth to them, but I want to know what happened and it’s not specified!

(There is also a mention of a travelling merchant who came all the way from Serica to pay a visit to Daryun... do you think he brought a message from Shinrian?)

[iregreteverythingpleasehelpme]

oh my goodness! I did not expect this to blow up so much! Thanks!

Now while i'm here... may as well rate all the gens...

(please note this is just my personal opinion, so don't pay too much mind if you don't agree. Also some of these are pretty biased, so emm... yeah.)

ALSO! I am not rating the remakes in this.

Gen 1(blue/yellow) A classic, the beginning of it all. Pokemon are memorable, gameplay is kinda hard(for me at least haha), I haven't beaten elite four yet cuz I got lost in victory road without an escape rope(I know, I was being stupid). Music is good and probably most memorable, some sprite work is a wee bit wonky but tbh I probably couldn't do much better. Gameplay got a bit boring at times, but I also have literally no attention span. Yellow was probably the best. I liked my lil chonky pikachu. 7/10

Gen 2(gold/crystal): I don't really remember much from my attempted playthrough since it's been a while since i've last played it(note, I didn't get past the 6th gym leader because back when I played it I was kinda lazy so I refused to level up and train my pokemon.), but i'm gonna try to rate it anyway. I like the features they introduced like pokemon breeding, shinies, and the phone(useless but I love it anyway) Good legendaries and characters but I do not like the level scaling(at least I think thats what its called) for the gym leaders, wild pokemon and elite four(even though I didn't beat it, I still tried to do some research). Love the fact they included all of Kanto in the postgame, I wish they would make better postgames for modern games. 6/10

Gen 3(sapphire): The first Pokemon game I played was sapphire! Love the characters, some of the pokemon and the level scaling(or curve? I still can't remember what the correct term is) is pretty good. Sprite work is cute and I like the story. I have not beaten Sapphire yet because a year or so ago my brother deleted my save file(I was at the elite four) and I was pretty bummed so I did not play it for a while, but I recently made a new save and I am going to beat it soon! Right now I am about to fight Winona. Music is definitely second most memorable, absolutely love those trumpet-y bangers of town themes. Love the introduction of pokemon contests, postgame from what I've heard is pretty good too. Hoenn as a region itself is probably a 7.8/10, too much water, but the games themselves? 9/10

Gen 4(platinum): Love these games. First pokemon game I actually beat was platinum. Nice characters, great story, super fun pokemon contests, best legendaries by far, fun, good postgame and something I have not seen in a long time(personally) in pokemon, MEMORABLE BATTLES! I will never forget that final moment in battle when I finally had made it, and beat Cynthia. I was shaking, after grinding for hours and so many failed attempts at beating the elite four, after hearing that intimidating theme song, I will always remember it! I will also remember the battle against Giratina, I had bought over 100 ultra balls for that battle(I wanted the masterball for a post game legendary) and It took many resets before I could catch her. But it was amazing! Gen 4 has some of the best games(especially hggs, but i'm not going over that today)so i'm rating it... 10/10

Gen 5: I have not played much of gen 5 since I am waiting until I get a physical copy before I go more into it(I tried an emulator, but playing the real games always hits different), so I will update once my copy has arrived(It's in the mail!) and I have beaten it. However, from what I have seen and heard about it, it seems amazing. I am automatically giving it a high rating because I love the character design, lore, agencyshipping, Nintendo DS sprite work(best sprite work in the history of pokemon)N and Pidove. I also enjoyed the black and white pokemon anime when I was younger. 11/10

Gen 6: Haven't played it, I want to someday but I can't find an emulator and I don't own a 2ds or 3ds. All I know about it is it introduced pokemon amie, mega evolutions, was the first 3D pokemon game and apparently had issues with the shared exp system(just from what my friends have told me). I was a huge fan of the X and Y anime when I was younger and me and my siblings would pretend to be ash and other trainers from it haha. I like the pokespe arc though, pretty good. Since I haven't played X or Y, I am gonna base this off how much I enjoyed the anime when I was younger and how much I like the pokespe arc. 8/10

Gen 7: Haven't played it either but I really want to, unfortunately until find a way to emulate it somewhere or afford a 3ds, I won't be able to play it. I like some of the pokemon and character designs. It looks like fun, but I also will be rating this based off the anime since I know nothing about it. 5/10 only because when I was younger I was disgusted by the anime. The games look really good though. Hope I can play one of them someday!

Gen 8(sword): Thank goodness im almost done. For me I liked the graphics, and that I could change my characters clothes. Sword was the first 3D pokemon game i played. I thought the 3D aspect was cool, me and my family loved the fact Galar is based off Scotland(we are scottish), however the champion battle kinda disappointed me. Leon was kinda hyped up a bit too much considering I one-shot most of his team. The battles leading up to him weren't really challenging either, and especially since after just finishing platinum, sword really felt like a walk in the park. It was a nice walk in the park though, I enjoyed it. I really liked the camping feature and that I could make curry. I was so very disappointed by the post game though. There's some stuff to do, but unless you enjoy something like pokemon breeding or competitive battling then there's not much to do other than get some more legendaries, buy stuff and complete your pokedex(unless you have the dlc.) Overall, 7/10. Lots of stupid memes and headcanons came out of swsh so...

Gen 9(scarlet): Scarlet was good, could have been so much better though. I like the open world feature, but the fps is so low I feel like i am trying to run a minecraft server on an N64, but slower.(sorry that might have been a little too harsh,) Nintendo literally released a half finished game. I love the concept. I do not like the execution. Also, the textures for the mountains look like they are just copy pasted out of ocarina of time or something. They also should have made the gym leaders not in a specific order? Like if its open world, shouldn't they not have a specific order?? I had no idea about this when first played and I ended up fighting the 4th gym leader first, 8th gym leader sixth and 1st gym leader last. I forget about the rest, but it's kinda funny imagining me walking in with my level 60+ team going into this poor little bug gym and sweeping the leader. Despite all this, the main problem with scarlet and violet are the battles, they are not really memorable, or significant, like I don't really get this warm feeling of satisfaction and pride thinking about when I beat scarlet, not like the feeling I get thinking about the battles in Sapphire or Platinum. Even Sword had more satisfactory and strugglesome battles than scarlet. I would talk about Geeta being too weak and too hyped up throughout the game(I one shot half her team), but everybody has already heard all of the Geeta slander by now, so i'm just going to end it by saying, post game was better than sword, still a little eh without the dlc but relatively good, and my favourite part of scarlet is that I can make the most horrific sandwiches known to mankind in this game. All that being said, I really liked scarlet, I just think Game Freak needs to stop rushing pokemon games and releasing them half finished. I am willing to wait another year as long as it's done(also, it gives Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto more time to work on new pokespe chapters!! Give them a break, they just got back off hiatus, don't rush them!) For scarlet, i'll give it a 7/10. Only because I don't want this game only to be remembered by poor graphics, but by the horrific sandwiches i made, so i am removing the graphics and low fps from my final rating(however the Geeta battle did take it down from 8 point to 7. I'm sorry but she's so disappointing.

TLDR, Gen 5, 4 and 3 are my favourites.

[wickedpact]

A ranking of all the TTT stories in order of how much I liked them.

(Oh god this is so long)

1 My Mother's Axe

BABY ANDYYYYYYYYYYYY. Honestly this one had the trifecta of developing a character's motivations, developing a character's backstory, & developing their personality. The story starting out with Andy teaching Nile to use the axe was so charming and fun, and you could feel that chemistry they had in Opening Fire, the way they teased and bickered with each other so naturally. I loved the wedge between them on the subject of the axe, how Nile was perhaps a little too young to understand Andy's feelings about whether or not its the 'same' axe. I also love how the axe is obviously the symbol of the franchise and hugely important, but you never get a sense of exactly how important it is to Andy until you read the story.

I love the entire Ship of Theseus theme, and how it feels so natural that for Andy she has to get attached to the idea of things rather than the things themselves because she'll always outlive the things themselves-- the axe is symbolically her mom's axe, even if physically it isn't. And I love how she clearly clings to that concept so tightly. "This is the labrys she held in her hands...." IT GETS ME.

And the fact that this sense of BELONGING, of FAMILY, of CULTURE is so important to Andy that she clings to it (figuratively and literally) with both hands. And of course it's important to her, she spent so long alone that the woman doesn't even remember her birth name. That axe (or the idea of that axe) is all she has left of her mother and that family/culture she was born into.

PLUS on that note I love how Andy doesn't remember if her mom was her actual biological mother, but it doesn't matter to her. This woman was her mother in all the ways that counted. And how her mom BETRAYED AND KILLED Andy but Andy loved her so much that she avenged her and carried her axe for thousands of years. THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!!!!

I also loved how the story transcends the timeline of the whole franchise and seeing Andy through the years. Loved seeing her with the varying squads and with varying axes. Also baby Andy was so cute. It was cool seeing her so young. like holy fuck. Andromache The Scythian, Immortal Warrior (but smol). Love that.

Also I think this one is one of the few ttt stories that doesn't suffer from length problems.

tldr: goddammit greg you've done it again.

2 Zanzibar and Other Harbors

Zanzibar my beloved. I've said before, but it's downright comedic how little regard there was for Joe and Nicky's character designs in this story. The same person who does the colors for the regular comic did the colors for this one too, and you can tell, every panel of this story was Beautiful.

Ik there was A Lot of criticism of this one (lmao @ how the fandom had no idea what was to come) but I thought a lot of The Discourse was a bit dramatic. I did think Nicky came off as a little oblivious to Joe's feelings in this story, but I've said before, I honestly think that was a 'tone not translating' thing. It felt like Nicky was nagging Joe for [checks notes] saving innocent people, but Joe was so amused by Nicky's complaints I really do think it was supposed to come off as teasing.

Plus I know the 'Joe running off into danger and Nicky reluctantly following' dynamic wasn't popular (I'm a pretty meh on it meself) but I did love how Joe's impulsiveness (if you want to call it that) was interpreted as heroism and not hot-hotheadedness. All of the examples Nicky and Joe talked about included Joe explicitly saving people. (and it also took A Lot for the nazi to actually provoke Joe).

I also feel like their characterization here was closest to the movie canon-- the bit where they hear the woman scream and Joe goes running in to save her while Nicky swoops in on Joe's heels to comfort her while Joe and the nazi were fighting reminds me of the train car scene. Joe had suggested First that they go find Nile because she needed to be protected, and Nicky later added that Nile probably also needed emotional support. Similar reactions.

But it was So Good, the themes of queer community and the enduring nature of queer culture are Not themes you see in media that often and it was such a delight how it was done. Also it's one of the few more modern TTT stories that has a completely valid excuse for taking place when it did. Chef's kiss.

3 Passchendaele

I love the Duality between seeing baby Andy and then seeing Mama Andy in the very next issue. This story doesn't have a ton of meat to it, but the entire concept of Andy adopting a war orphan straight off the battlefield PLUCKS MY TENDER LITTLE HEARTSTRINGS, and I think it's especially poignant for comic!Andy. I think most people wouldn't think twice about movie!Andy doing something like that but comic Andy is so hardened and almost cruel sometimes, and seeing that even for her the world hasn't beaten all of the compassion from her yet is SO!!!!!!! this woman contains MULTITUDES okay, she's violent and angry and tired and Done but she's also so kind and compassionate and THE STRENGTH OF HER!!!!! Also the idea of her and Yitzhak co-raising a kid together is so damn cute. It was #mysterious pre-Yitzhak-story but now it's cute. holy fuck. It's cute.

& the headbonk panel of her and Zeus lives in my heart. anyways.

4 Many Happy Returns

I Know people weren't thrilled about Booker being in this one, but I've developed a pet-peeve about that: this story was *not* booker-centric. Booker only exists in this story to the extent required to explain the importance of the gesture Nile makes towards him. If there was a story about Booker making some grand gesture of kindness to Nile no one would be saying it was Nile-centric. bc it wouldn't be! Booker exists in this story to explore Nile's kindness, its not about him. I saw that a couple times and it bothered me. anyways.

AAAAAAAAAA I loved this one, the art was beautiful, I loved how Andy Nile and Booker were drawn (like their comic selves but.. more looking like actual people). I loved Andy and Nile's Bants, how Andy wanted to jump right in and Do Violence but Nile was basically telling her to hold her horses.

I feel like I'm just repeating the post I made on this story a few days ago, but I LOVED how Nile's plan revolves not around violence or Cool Mercenary Skills but on Nile's own life skills (as she canonly did a lot of minimum wage job-hopping before the marines in comics canon). Her plan used her skills, not the skills of an immortal warrior, and HER SKILLS were in fact more useful for the situation! lov to see Nile's resourcefulness and planning skills.

AND HOW NILE WAS PROBABLY WATCHING BOOKER??? it's so Much bc 1.) nile knew booker A SINGLE DAY and yet he made such an impression on her emotionally that she had to keep an eye on him and 2.) she said in the movie she wanted Booker to get off free with an apology. Yes she's a member of the team but that doesn't mean she's necessarily going to follow orders like a good little soldier. I also love how she convinced Andy to go along with it. her HEART, her KINDNESS, her THOUGHTFULNESS, UGH.

5 The Bear

Honestly I have like no negative things to say about this one other than a.) character design issues which is less about the story itself and is more of a 'tog comic in general' criticism and b.) too short, but it was supposed to be a tease, so.

But I loved Yitzhak, I wasn't expecting to really like him at all but like I said in my other post, he tickled me. I love characters who are Kind™, especially if they have little reason to be so given their backgrounds. Chef's kiss. Lov him.

6 Bonsai Shokunin

I know this one was a little controversial bc of the outsider POV but whenever I see people upset about that they never point out that the Outsider Guy (the samurai) existed as a reflection on Noriko. His ideas are explained in the text to develop hers. The whole story follows how she gave mercy to a scared young man and in response he murdered Noriko, repeatedly! Who gave him the right to inflict such pain and suffering on the world? In his opinion, the lack of response from the gods was his permission. And for Noriko-- over and over again she dies and suffers because she gave mercy, which lines up with her ideas in FM about how it's their fate to rule mortals and if they don't align with that plan/fate/whatever then they suffer. It shows some background to those ideas and how they developed in her mind outside of Ocean Madness™. Additionally, his idea of 'the Gods have done nothing to strike me down so it's fine if I do these things' kind of explains how Noriko may justify her own morally corrupt actions-- she's died so many times and it's never stuck. Maybe if she did die any of those times, or while she was in the water, maybe that would've been a sign she was doing something right, or at least doing something normal. But she hasn't died. Fate isn't done with Noriko yet. And maybe there's a reason for that. In her mind, it's just not a very pleasant reason, is all.

There were things I was kind of meh about tho. I did kind of wish we saw something of Noriko and the team, or smth explaining the way she was before her dip in the pool-- personality, likes dislikes, etc. but it wasn't bad or anything. It was super vague tho, I had to read it a few times before I got what it was going for. Liked the art. Liked the bonsai metaphor. And of course I Respect the decision to use the 1300s (1200s? I don't remember off the top of my head) rather than using the last 200 years.

7 Strong Medicine

Honestly looking back, this one made me kind of sad because both this one and Bonsai Shokunin explored character's ideas on Fate and The Divine and how that intersects with immortality and I totally thought that theme would be continued, especially with Love Letters. But Then It Wasn't™.

Admittedly.... I had to re-read this one to remember most of it. I liked Booker's ideas on God, 'The conductor of the symphony just may not be very good at his trade' but the plot itself was kind of forgettable. Some fuckin cowboys try to kill a doctor (their second) because he couldn't save their sickly brother. Book tries to stop them, gets killed, and then comes back and kills them all before they get the doctor. Alright. I liked the artstyle because the characters were ugly in a similar way that leandro's are, but way more bearable.

I love the Irony of Booker concluding that there is no such thing as fate or destiny and nothing has meaning, AS HE UNKNOWINGLY SAVES MERRICK'S GRANDFATHER FROM BEING KILLED. Booker getting fucked over by life/god/destiny yet again. It also kind of explains about where the fuck hell Merrick's interest in immortal mercenaries even came from.

I originally had this one a lot higher and then I thought about it and moved it down like two spots.

8 Never Gets Old

I liked seeing Booker interact with his kid. And we got a name for the kid! Philippe was a little bitch though, he was a little obnoxious. I liked how Booker was so thrilled to experience a restaurant with his kid (and since we know he was there before, it can be assumed he went with all of his kids and yet he was so charmed each time). It fits with his line to Nicky in the moon landing story about how you don't appreciate beautiful things 'unless you have someone to share them with'. It was charming to see Booker interact with his kid, and to see him so happy. Also lmao @ Booker's big fat Ye Olde Crush on Andy.

However at the same time it was like.. of all the things to write about,,, I guess? Booker's Night Out...... alright. Especially since Book had so many stories.

I don't know, it was alright. The old man killing him really came out of nowhere, (but the 'Salut, asshole!' panel was funny tho).

9 How To Make a Ghost Town

I've hit a point where talking about these stories has gotten less fun. I liked this one but I felt like Achilles getting lynched was not really necessary for a story that was already tragic (a story that already involved Achilles doing a lot of suffering at the hand of bigots). When we first got the blurb for this story I thought it would be about Andy returning to the squad and making friends with Booker after losing Achilles and them butting heads on the idea of family and when to cut off ties. So a little bit of my underwhelmedness about this one might be just my expectations being different.

Honestly I was pretty interested in Andy and Achilles' relationship and I would've liked to see more of them-- like, what was their dynamic like? What did they love about each other?

But anyways Andy leaving and Achilles getting killed anyways feels so pointlessly tragic (which I suppose is the point..... I don't like tragedies) she left to save him and yet people killed him anyway. Meh.

I did love the bits about Andy wanting to have a domestic life (Andy and her multitudes again) and the little detail about how she buried her axe near the road but he buried his guns under his bed-- he was an escaped slave, he never had the luxury of assuredness like Andy did. It was a sad story.

10 Lacus Solitudinis

'You put this one above love letters crim??? how could you???' easy, lmao.

There was stuff in this one I liked. But to talk about stuff I didn't like: (I'll keep it brief, I know ragging on this story has been done time and time again)

UH, setting aside the 6 year cold shoulder between Joe and Nicky, I thought their chosen method of conflict resolution was... bad at best. Nicky's inability to talk about his feelings was also annoying, especially since the entire point of this story is a fight Joe and Nicky had, and yet we don't get both sides to the story, which is...... important? That fact is especially annoying bc in the absence of Nicky explaining his side of the story, it's absolutely a possible (and admittedly probably unintentional) interpretation of the text that we do get that Joe routinely resolves conflict between him and Nicky by simply cutting Nicky out of his life entirely until Nicky just. caves? Even if it takes years?

WHICH i could get into that interpretation and how fucked up i find it. but im not going to. out of restraint.

I don't know, I think there are a lot of interesting ways to go about this conflict but 'Nicky wants to kill a guy and Joe refuses to acknowledge his existence until he stops because he thinks Nicky is too much of a Good Boy to get his hands dirty like that' ('I wont watch as the world turns his (...) compassion into something ugly'. ) wasn't.. how I would've done it. (I mean you know Joe doesn't give a shit about what Nicky is doing in a moral way, because Joe doesn't even care or mention that Booker is killing those cops too. Joe only cares because he doesn't like the idea of Nicky changing in a way he finds undesirable.)

admittedly I've said before, I do like the emphasis Joe's reaction puts on Nicky's kindness. Joe has a complete inability to cope with Nicky simply Not Being Kind. It speaks to the steadiness of Nicky's compassion all those years. but still that fact doesn't make it the conflict feel worth it

hm. I said I would be brief and I wasn't.

oh well. basically I thought there was interesting conflict potential there but it wasn't done the way I would've liked, and the way it was done leaves a lot of disturbing (and again probably unintended) interpretations to lie.

What I did like? Andy and Joe having that pessimist/optimist dynamic. Joe nerding out about science. Andy not being impressed by The Achievements Of Man. I loved Booker needling at Nicky about his outdated slang and also trying to give him Older Brother advice practically in the same breath. I loved Booker giving The Worst relationship advice ever and Nicky being like 'I Will Not Do That, Ever, Thanks.' the family vibes were so good. The Joenicky vibes left a lot to be desired tho.

11 Love Letters

I talked about my problems with Nicky in this story (and Lacus Solitudinis). I don't know, the story isn't bad but I do hold a little bit of a grudge towards it because its very existence begs the existence of a solo Joe story and we didn't get one. If we never got this story, then we could happily count Lacus Solitudinis and Zanzibar as The Joenicky Stories™ and move on with our lives. sigh.

I remember when we first got the blurb for this story I was really curious about why Nicky specifically + the setting, and the answer kind of feels like 'the author had an idea for a story like this and saw ttt as a good enough place to utilize that idea'. Plus I was really underwhelmed by the Romantic Sentiment in the letter. If you look at it line-by-line, the majority of the letter is actually Nicky talking about how lonely and disturbed he is, rather than actual,, yknow,,, Romantic Sentiment. I mean, compare the van speech and this letter and this letter is just kind of meh in comparison. I liked nicky calling joe wise! and I liked the brief sun/moon metaphor! and otherwise it was eh. It didn't even have cute squad banter, which is why Lacus Solitudinis is above this one.

12 An Old Soul

Nun orgy. Nun orgy?????? Nun orgy.......

The whole story felt like a setup to have a nun orgy. Why did Booker have abs? Why did they do that to Andy's nose? ?????? the art was good at least.

nun orgy.

[t00thpasteface]

6, 11, 26 for the ask game!

6 - Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Oh my god, how's this for a throwback-- I first started playing TF2 in 2011 right when it went free-to-play, which was also when Meet the Medic dropped. You can imagine that HeavyMedic/"Red Oktoberfest" was absolutely everywhere on the interwebs at that moment. And I totally didn't jive with it!!

I don't remember exactly why, but I pushed back pretty hard. IDK, I was definitely still in the closet (I didn't come out until I was halfway through college) and sometimes that manifested as nitpicky ship police. Or something. It's been a while since I was a fiery and overwrought teenager so it's honestly difficult to get back in that headspace and remember what I was so worked up about.

Later that same year, I joined Tumblr just to follow all the TF2 askblogs I had found, and I think somewhere along the lines I must've followed an "Ask Heavy" or "Ask Medic" blog that finally swayed me after a year or so. Now I still love that ship over a decade later!!

11 - Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t?

Answered in a previous ask!! I think I wrote enough about Delphine to preclude any other ramblings about unfavorites...

26 - Most shippable character?

I've never really been one to multiship. I generally keep every character to one ship, if anything at all. Not sure why, but that's always been how I roll... That being said, there's two characters (off the top of my head) who've definitely made me entertain the idea of multishipping, however briefly:

(1) America/Alfred F. Jones from Hetalia. He's just a big bubbly ray of sunshine. He's like a human golden retriever. Anyone you pair him up with is going to see immediate improvements in their sad lives, and a lot of the other nations are typically more level-headed than he is, so he benefits too! I'm a diehard FrUS shipper, but RusAme, AmePan, AmeChu, KorAme, PruAme, etc. are all very, very cute. Sue me-- I just LOVE the culture clash of America absolutely smothering whoever he's dating with food, PDA, and all manner of grandiose gestures! (Although I always found England too annoying to ship USUK... ah well. Not worth the ship wars, anyway.)

(2) Dave Strider from Homestuck. Sort of the opposite of America for this guy. I can see him gelling pretty well with the outgoing bananas-bonkers craziness of pretty much anyone else he gets shipped with. My go-to Dave ship was always DaveRezi (Woe is me!! Is it better to become canon and get retconned, or to never have become canon at all???), but of course I can definitely see the appeal in DaveKat, JohnDave, DaveJade, you name it. Hell, there was even some EriDave(!) art eons ago that made me say, "Yeah, I can see that!" Dave is a cool guy; he can get along with anyone. One of the may perks of being named/themed after Aragorn, King of Negotiators and Motivational Speakers, I guess!

[kookie-doughs]

Beta Tester

Kozume Kenma X Reader

-YN LN is a popular mangaka

Chapter 29: Tested

As you sat in the middle of Kenma's sprawled leg, you two cuddled with controllers at hand.

A year at most had passed since the release of Puri Puri Magika: Lost Magic™ and things happened.

Of course PPM recieved a lot of rewards and the hype of the game still hasn't died which surprised you. A multi-player version was also released after 5 months.

You had publish and completed 2 Manga and have a new one on going. Your Manga recieved an anime adaptation which made you proud.

Kenma had won awards as well. Not that we'd go into that🙄. He also 'forced' you to move in so he could make sure you're living healthy and not staying up for a week finishing your script. He also dedicated a day where he streams with you, so you could rest.

You both usually used your time playing games that were on top charts. And among all the games only 1 game almost topped PPM.

The game Kenma had asked Sakujo to make. They publicly released it as a dating simulator, which you could either end up with Kenma or you.

"You idiot! Just fucking die already!!" You screeched as you button mashed.

Right now you were playing Street fighter to match with Kenma's retro theme of the month.

"You suck at this."

"Shut the fuck up! How do I do Kamehameha?!!!??"

Kenma sighed, "It's not called Kamehameha idiot. It's called-" He didn't need to finish his sentence when his character finished you off with a yell of "Hadouken!"

You looked at how your character lost and clenched you jaw.

"You suck!!!! You're a cheater!!!! I hate this let's play something else!!!!!" You screamed.

Kenma frowned at how loud your were but obliged. He checked the comments to see which games they were recommending.

"Let's play th---" He was cut off when the door slammed open outside.

The two of you looked at each other.

"Y/N!!! BABEEEEE!!!!" You heard your Soulmate yell at the living room.

"AHHH! Kuroo!!!!" You hopped off Kenma and ran to the door.

Kenma wouldn't agree but according to the comments, Kenma gave a horrified and broken look the moment you jumped off.

"This idiot." He grumbled and followed you as fast as he could not bothering with his stream.

He saw how you and Kuroo approached each other in slow mo, skipping to each other. So Kenma had no trouble grabbing you by the hood of your hoodie and frowned at Kuroo only to see Alisa holding Kuroo in a choke hold.

"Hey Kenma!" Alisa smiled.

The blond nodded and dragged you behind him.

"Alisaaaaa! Kenmaaaa!!!! You can't split away soulmates!! Let us goo!!!" You and Kuroo struggled from their hold.

Managing to free a hand you both tried to reach out to each other, only for Alisa to choke Kuroo harder killing the poor man.

"I came to borrow YN~" Alisa sang looking at Kenma.

"If she's going be like this, you can have her."

"Swap her with Kuroo?"

"Why the fuck would I want Kuroo?"

"Well I can't have both of them! Do you seriously want them arrested? Again?"

Kenma groaned at sighed. He let Alisa drag you to your closet and he was stuck with Kuroo.

After you got prepared to go out you gave Kenma a kiss and tried to do it Kuroo as well but the demonic aura of the two scared you both so you decided against it and went out.

Unbeknownst to you the two male had a talk about something. Unfortunately unbeknownst to them, the stream was still active...

Alisa dragged you from shop to shop. Buying this and that.

After what seemed to be 3 hours you and Alisa went to a food court.

To your surprise you saw Keiji, Tenma and Yamaguchi together.

"Y/N! Alisa!" Satori greeted.

"What are you guys doing here?" You asked shocked.

"Well we wanted to hang out and Alisa said you were with her so we went here." Tenma grinned.

"Satori dragged me with him." Akaashi said.

They all joined you and then conversation just flowed perfectly. You talked about this and that while eating.

You'd check on your phone hoping to see a message from Kenma but you got none.

"You keep checking your phone, want us gone that bad?" Satori frowned.

"N-No! I was just checking if Kenma left a message."

"Did he?"

"Nope. I kinda wanna go home now."

"Oh my god what if he's cheating on you?" Satori gasped. Which earned him a hit from Alisa and Akaashi.

"As if that hermit could get anyone else. Especially with Kuroo following him. My Soulmate would make girls pass out before they could even glance at Kenma."

"I don't understand why YN loves Kuroo more than Kenma." Yamaguchi laughed nervously.

"Alisa prefers Kenma. Kuroo prefers YN. Kenma hates everyone." Akaashi pointed out.

"If Alisa would let me I wouldn't mind being a third."

"One thing we agreed on is never put you and Kuroo together and unsupervised. So no I don't think so."

"When did you learn that?" Tenma asked.

"After the two got arrested." Akaashi answered.

"Huh?"

"It was at a train. Something... Explicit happened." Alisa sighed remembering what happened.

"H-Huh?"

"YN went on her knees on a train. They didn't actually do anything, just suggested the thought but I guess it was enough to get them arrested." Akaashi explained.

"That's where the KenYN break up came in."

"I'm surprised Kenma and Alisa are still dating you and Kuroo at this point."

"I know right?" Alisa cringed. "Anyway we should continue our shopping spree."

You all stood up and roamed around for another hour or two until Alisa got a message.

"We should go home. Kuroo just texted me. You guys wanna come with?"

They all shrugged and said they'll meet you at your place.

When you got home you got home you laughed seeing how messy your place was. It was like there's a con going on at your house.

Everyone in it was Cosplaying as some game character. There were people you didn't quite know who.

"Y/N!!!!" Kuroo came barelling towards you in his Luigi costume with Mario right behind him.

"Ahh! Where's Akaashi?!" Mario, who turned out to be Bokuto, asked.

Alisa stepped in front of you before Kuroo got to you and turned to Bokuto. "He's on his way. He probably changed clothes."

"What's happening? Why is everyone dressed up?"

Kenma came out of the room with his Overwatch cosplay. You told your friends you were going to Kenma and went over.

"Well hello there. What's up with everything?"

"Do you not know what today is?" Kenma asked.

"Oh fuck, is it our anniversary?"

You and Kenma just looked at each. You fucked up.

"You don't know when that is?"

"P-psh. Of course I-I know!

Kenma flicked your forehead and walked away after saying, "Get dressed. Choose whatever you want."

And now he's upset at you. You felt guilty about forgetting what today was.

Luckily you and Kenma often Cosplay during stream so you had spares. You decided to go as Graves from League of Legends with face beard and all.

Everyone was looking at you when you got out of the room which made you feel anxious.

Was this party for you and you forgot about it? It wasn't Kenma's birthday that's for sure. What could it have been?

Alisa came to you in a KDA Akali Cosplay that you assume Kenma lent her.

"Oh my god the photos are gonna be so great."

"I think Kenma's mad at me..." You mumbled.

"When is he not?"

"I don't know what today is..."

"Just- it'll come to you sooner or later."

You frowned as you scanned the room for your man. You saw Akaashi in a Kingdom Hearts Cosplay, Satori and Wakatoshi in a Tomb Raider costume. Hinata and Kageyama in Danganronpa. Link, who is Atsumu, clinging to Skull Kid. Sakujo and his husband wearimg you and Kenma's character in PPM.

But you found no one in an Overwatch costume.

"Excuse me..." You heard from the front. It was Kuroo, Bokuto and Kenma on an improvised stage.

"I'm sure everyone here knows what's going on right?" Kenma said exaggerating on the word everyone.

"Today, to continue our celebration we will be having a treasure hunt! The treasures you're looking for are in a form of a game loot box of various game style."

"There are a total of 21 loot boxes around town. One of them empty. You are to bring the loot box unopened here and you'll claim the prize of whatever it is in it. You could either come home empty handed or 100k courtesy to our dear host."

"The clues to the boxes are cut evenly to all the players. All the players will have 1 clue. Each players could only get one loot box and it has to correspond to your clue. Come up and get your clue!"

With that, Bokuto brought out a box with a hole on top. Everyone went on stage and got their clue. You were the last to get the clue so you were excited.

The thought of at least 45 adults in Cosplay running around town looking for boxes humored you. So you excitedly looked at your clue.

What made today special.

You froze. It was as if they were doing this in purpose. You had no idea what today was, and of course you had to get the clue asking for what today was.

You looked at Kenma and he gave you a look. Did he know which clue you got, and is disappointed you didn't know what it was?

You took a deep breath and went over to Kenma. "I-I'll win! I know it."

Kenma nodded. "That'll be one less 100k. Do win."

"Ready???" Kuroo called everyone.

"Go!" Bokuto yelled and everyone went out.

Eyes were on us with a bunch of adults wearing Cosplay coming out of a room. Some recognized people it made you realize everyone running right now was a pretty big deal in entertainment industry or related to someone. No one recognized you though. Bless your fake beard.

You ran to wherever you could think of. Enix, Jump, your place. But you saw nothing. Then you thought of the party.

The party wasn't a year ago from today but it was the only one you could think of.

You ran you were just so tired. After all you've been running for hours. And when you got there.

It was empty.

It broke your heart. You couldn't remember what today was. You failed Kenma.

You just gave up. You needed Kenma's comfort, but you were afraid you won't get it since you failed.

You sadly made your way back to you place. Tears threatening to fall. You were disappointed in yourself.

"Y/N." You heard someone call. You lifted your head to see Kenma.

The tears fell. "Kenma... I could find the box..."

Everyone was already back, and was looking out.

"I-I looked everywhere and I-I just couldn't find it..." A soft sob escaped your lips. And you looked down.

"Y/N."

"I-I don't remember what today is..."

"Y/N look at me." Kenma called.

You lifted your head and saw that Kenma was on his knees. Your eyes widened.

"H-Huh...?"

He brought out a Overwatch loot box from his pocket and cleared his throat.

"Today... Was the day when it all started. The day you showed up in my steps with a stupid flash drive..." He laughed weakly.

You blinked confused of what's happening.

"The day I saw, was the most important day for me. It was the day... The day I noticed you. I really hate you back then. You were so annoying, you still are. You're so persistent. So loud. You ruined my stream. And you kept bothering me. "

"Now you're just insulting me..." You laughed sadly.

"I-I... Look... I love you. I love you YN LN." And looked at the box, "Do you want to know what box you got?"

"Uh-Hm..."

When you opened the box there was a ring.

"Marry me."

You took the box from him and laughed. "You are such a nerd!" Wrapping your arms around him and gave him a kiss.

The crowd hollered and awed at you two. Chanting "Answer him!" and "Say yes!"

When you two parted you rested your forehead against his.

"I love you so much Kenma. I'd love to spend an eternity stuck with your stupid nerdy ass."

Previous | Masterlist

This was the last chapter!!! Thank you very much for sticking with it!!!!

It was kinda dull and all that but I had an issue with my messaging app so I couldn't use it so I went for written only

I hope you liked this and I want to thank you all for supporting this I had so much fun writing this

-kookie-doughs

Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @synx-ed @normalisthenewnorm @0majuh0 @leachann @nikanikabitch @almondeupeach @immxnty @mer-majesty @yamayoomi @simpingoveranime-men @lostmarimoismyhubby @mariishat @just-snog-already @sadcosmicdoggie @so-lo-stuff @emperor-eros @nachotrash @themisadventurescrew

[ybcpatrick]

i was by @nerdangels thank u amanda i am holding ur hand rn <3333

1- why did you choose your url?

he's my boy. my fucking lad. my DUDE. my little guy. he is me and i am him. i was blessed by the whoevers to have snagged this url

2- any side blogs?

TOO MANY, BRO. i have a wrestling blog, a supernatural blog, a muppets blog, a poetry blog, a nostalgia blog, and an archive for the post!ybc au (which isn't dead, i promise, im so sorry to all the anons in my inbox i love you im just so tired all the ike akskajdskjf)

3- how long have you been on tumblr?

that april fools joke blog from a couple years ago says i joined on february 22nd, 2014. but, i did have another account before this one, so i'll just loosely say mid-2013 for that one

4- do you have a queue tag?

i've tried keeping a queue soooo many times but honestly i am just like. not the sort of person to use one lol. if i'm online you'll know it, if i'm not i'm not

5- why did you start your blog in the first place?

because i needed somewhere to get all the danny phantom stuff out of my system

6- why did you choose your icon/pfp?

bc he's ybcpatrick. i am Also ybcpatrick.

7- why did you choose your header?

oh it's still my halloween theme lmao, haven't had time to make a new one. my headers are just chosen to match my themes, i loooove makin pretty themes

8- what's your post with the most notes?

that GODDAMNED green day post. im too lazy to grab it rn but it's got over 100k notes. if u follow me u have seen it

9- how many mutuals do you have?

y'all are keeping track? ajdjejfjwuri i have lots of friends on here but idk how many

10- how many followers do you have?

1239 at the moment

11- how many people do you follow?

354!

12- have you ever made a shitpost?

babygirl that's all i do that's all i'm here for

13- how often do you use tumblr each day?

i will close tumblr and then by muscle memory i will open it again immediately. hotel california

14- did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

never with an actual person, but anons try to start shit with me REGULARLY. back in the day, some anon tried to accuse me of pretending to be canadian because i made one (1) post about liking the tragically hip. like HELLO?

15- how do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

don't guilt people into reblogging shit; furthermore, even if it is important, tacking a "yOu NeEd To" onto your reblog is a surefire way to get everyone else to ignore it out of spite lmfao

16- do you like tag games?

YEAHHH i love them so muuuuch please tag me in anything and everything i don't care if we're mutuals i don't care if it doesn't seem applicable to me please. tag. me. anyways.

17- do you like ask games?

ALSO YEAHHH but i'm terrible at remembering that i reblogged one, so then i'll get distracted and forget to answer them in a timely fashion ajskajdwkndme

18- which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

bro i don't KNOW. possibly some of the fic authors? or some of my bandom mutuals? one of my mutuals (who doesn't have many interests in common with me so idk why she's still here but i think she's super fuckin cool) is probably "tumblr famous" bc like. all her posts get notes?

i think tumblr is great just bc you have NO IDEA who's "famous" and who's not. like, unless ur mutuals with fuckin setheverman or pukicho, it's just a mystery

19- do you have a crush on a mutual?

........i liked her long before we were mutuals and i'll say nothing fucking else thanks

tagging: @sleeping-dead-dying-sleep @greatesthitz @residentjoth @lunathemacron @softnsquishable @ibidflash and litchrally anyone else who wants to!!