#assignment-00-02

[https-lvesick]

⌕ LYING WEBS, a mark smau

❝ toronto has never been this chaotic. crime surges, tension rises, and yet, the city still sleeps soundly—because the spiders are watching. spider-man and silk have become more than heroes; they’re legends, trusted even by the police to keep the streets safe. but behind the masks, they’re just teenagers, juggling school, friendships, and the messy business of growing up. between late-night patrols and last-minute assignments, one question lingers: what’s harder—admitting you have a crush on your new best friend or revealing you're a mutant superhero? ❞

pairing ⋆ spider!mark x silk!reader

genre ⋆ social media!au, angst, fluff, suggestive, friends to lovers

content ⋆ violence, mentions of death, some angst between ningning and jisung, mark and reader are kinda stupid, death and sexual jokes, a lot of cursing...

status ⋆ ongoing!

taglist ⋆ open! (pls fill out this form)

★ finally she's back! my first smau! i'm so happy to announce it's back :( now, with a proper plan! hope you enjoy it guys <3 ps. had to use the old banner bc i couldn't make a new one... this post was supposed to be out days ago

winx club ⋆ city's hope

[00] coffee date

[01] female experts

[02] study group goes terribly wrong (written)

[03] mr. moon bear 🧸

[04] jisung's issue

[05] ningning's issue (written)

[seiwas]

₊˚⊹。and my body keeps saying (it's yours) | gojo satoru

wc: 1.6k

summary: gojo thinks this is different, new, almost like it’s the first time for everything.

contains: f!reader in mind but no specifics are mentioned, 18+/mature/soft-slight n*ft/w, sex with feelings (it’s really just vanilla tho!), first time!, there’s an awkward bit but that’s intentional!, lots of nervous feelings! but also lots of intimacy!

a/n: for nonie.🫧 who asked about what it would be like for their first time! title is inspired by an emotional oranges song, devotion (which i used as music inspo for the entire fic too + troye sivan, what a heavenly way to die). this is also my first time writing anything close to n*fw so please be kind! idk if i’ll ever write one again; takes place between tell me about love (show me how) and so this is what it means to be in love!

collection masterlist: conversations on love 02. tell me about love (show me how) <- you are here -> +02 (extra). look my way, you're what i crave

MINORS PLEASE DO NOT INTERACT.

It’s a touch—

—fingertips brushing the edge of his jaw, trailing down his neck, lightly, delicately.

Gojo kisses you beneath the glow of your bathroom lights and he twitches, just a little bit. 

“Sorry,” you stop, attempting to pull away from him immediately. 

His neck is sensitive, always has been since Toji. The mark has faded over the years; what used to be a line running through the shadow of his jawline is now nothing, but you know the feeling lingers, still. You’ve tried to avoid the area as much as you could—while sparring, hugging, kissing; holding him in moments as intimate as this. But sometimes, your fingers slip, and he jolts, so you move away, apologetic—

And he wishes that you didn’t, wishes that he didn’t have to react that way when all he really wants is for you to hold him like this.

He stares at you now, lips puffed and kiss-bitten, and thinks, he shouldn’t even be here—

—at 2:00 a.m., in your apartment, fresh out of a three-day assignment he caught the last train for, just to see you. 

He shouldn’t even be here, bone-tired in a black t-shirt and track pants he couldn’t be bothered with—there just wasn’t enough time to change out of it. 

And he really shouldn't even be here, except, he cut the assignment two days short, rushed through it, restless, eager at the thought of getting back soon. 

All because he missed you. 

Gojo keeps you close, his fingers splayed on the base of your spine, warm and pressing. You can’t read him, his next move, but his eyes hold lightning crackling. He takes your hand and guides it back to where he’s weakest, underneath his jaw, on his neck—healed skin and tissue, his lifeline to you.

“Keep it,” he murmurs, eyes piercing. 

He still twitches when you touch his skin, but it’s always been involuntary. You should know that it could never be because of you, your hands that hold every good thing his heart carries. 

You lean in first, tiptoeing, nudging his nose with yours and your lips hovering. His pulse point rests beneath your fingertips—can you feel how fast it’s beating? Just from having you near him? 

The tips of his hair tickle your forehead and he swallows, throat bobbing. It’s impossible to resist him when he’s this boyish, this charming, so you kiss his lips once, before pulling away, teasing. He bites his lips, red blooming against pink, and you don’t know exactly what you’re anticipating—

But he leans in. 

When you kiss again, the feeling is familiar, a memory of trembling lips and shaky breaths by a bathroom door that isn’t yours. He doesn’t tremble anymore, isn’t as stiff when he has your lips memorized among many other things, but Gojo still flushes the same way your cheeks heat up and your breaths intermingle at the same rate your hearts race.  

You follow where the lights have diffused into your hallway, this dance with him a push-and-pull you’ve done a few times before. He keeps his palm flat on your lower back, pushing you closer, while pulling you towards your bedroom door.  

His hands slide to your waist, dipping you, grip tightening as you bite his lips, tugging. He moans softly, voice low when your hands rake through his hair, the vibrations rippling through your mouth. Your fingers grasp at the short strands of hair at the back of his head, sighing when his lips are released from yours. 

There’s a moment where you catch his eyes, pupils blown a dangerous blue—a sky swallowing you whole before he begins trailing kisses down your neck, nips and licks evidence of just how greedy he is with you. 

A heat builds within you, rooted deep in your belly as you stay pressed against the outline on his crotch. 

It’s hard to imagine a time before all this, how he even struggled to hold your hand when he touches you now like this. 

You stumble over his feet as he backs into your bedroom, steadied only by his hold on you. You chuckle, a small ‘oops’, so sweet, as your collarbone clashes with his teeth. He smiles, lips curled against your skin as he teases, “So clumsy,” 

He’s kissed you this much before, has held you this tight, and touched you much more but this feeling between you now, he can tell—

Tonight is different. 

You lead him this time, to the edge of your bed as you keep him closer, hands all over him. When you lie down, lower lip caught between your teeth, you smile shyly but your eyes burn sinfully, and Gojo wonders if you know that this is what he sees when he’s dreaming. 

He moves closer, your mattress dipping as he hovers above you, arms caging the sides of your face. His head is spinning, eyes zeroing in on the skin exposed by the single button undone on your pajama top. 

When you cup his cheeks, thumb running across his swollen lips—

He thinks he might go crazy. 

You have no idea what you just did. 

He takes a breath before pressing every bit of his longing onto your neck, kissing, sucking, licking, imprinting proof that he was here, with you. It’s red and blotchy, situated right underneath your ear and it’s one too many but still not enough—for him, never enough.

You gasp, tugging at the hem of his shirt, and it’s overwhelming, this feeling. As quickly as it escalated, Gojo freezes, as if you’ve burned him, as if he’s caught up to what could possibly be happening, and it’s—

It’s a lot. 

He pulls away slowly, eyes wide and breath shaky. The air is thick, hot and heavy, and this—where this is going is something he’s never done before, not entirely. 

You sit up, alarmed, hands cradling his face carefully. His eyes are frantic, nervous, blinking at a pace that only makes you worried. 

“We can stop,” you mumble, lowering your hands to take his, gently.

He sees you, hair a mess, marked his, beautiful, and  he just wants to make sure—that you’re okay with this, that you want this, with him. Truly. 

“Do you want to?” he asks, a sky you could fall into, “Honestly.” 

He breathes out, staring. You gulp before shaking your head. “Do you?”  

And he doesn’t have to think much about it, really, because of course, he doesn’t want to stop. 

How could he, when it’s you?

He shakes his head too and you smile.

You squeeze his hand, guiding it to the buttons of your top, “Okay—”

“We’ve never…” he hesitates, trailing off.

It’s weird because it isn’t anything he hasn’t seen before; you’ve both done things at the very least, just never all the way. And now, with the knowledge that that very fact is going to change—it feels different, new, like it’s the first time for everything. 

You nod, stroking his knuckles to reassure him, “You said you’re a fast learner, right?” 

The nervous laugh you give is oddly comforting, and he remembers that first kiss and the single thought that if he doesn’t do this now, how much longer ‘till he does? 

So he takes it—

—unbuttons your top one-by-one, and he’s a bit shaky, hands clammy, but he gets it off eventually. Then goes his shirt, and your shorts, his pants, a struggle to get past his ankles until you’re both bare, cheeks hot while giggling, like first loves—and maybe it is. 

Gojo sees you stripped down, uncovered, wholly you for the first time and thinks he could die. 

It’s vulnerable and strange as he hovers over you this time, skin-to-skin, but you fit together this way, just right. 

You giggle some more, unable to hide your nervousness. It’s a habit you have—laughing in inappropriate situations, but he thinks it’s cute, so he does it right back. 

Your fingers trace his eyebrows, down to his nose and cheeks, then to his lips, still red and bitten, “You’re so pretty, Satoru. Not fair.” 

He blushes, tips of his ears and neck flushing, “‘Course,” he kisses your nose, pulling away to get a good look at you.

“Have to be if I’m with you.” 

It’s cheesy, and you roll your eyes, laughing full-on but he smiles wider and it feels good knowing that he’ll forever get to share this moment with you. 

“I, uh,” he mumbles, trying to find the words, “have to prep.” 

“Oh, yeah, right,” you move, hands reaching for him between you, but he catches your wrist before you touch him, stopping you. 

“Don’t,” he says, firm, face red as he looks straight at you. “I might not…” he doesn’t continue but you know what he means, so you nod, pulling away. 

His hand trails down your body, inching closer to where you need him to be, and it’s sweet you think, because he kisses your lips once before asking, “Can I?” as if he still has to.

You nod, before whispering, “Don’t ask next time.” 

Next time, you said and it rings, echoes in his head as a promise for more—that this is just the beginning. 

So he touches you, in every way he thinks you should be, in every way he knows you want to be. 

There’s a gasp, then a moan as he leaves another mark on your neck, and you’re so close when he stops. 

You whimper, but you know what’s next, and you see it in his eyes as he prepares himself, fingers discarding a square packet, “You’ll let me know?” he whispers, soft, concerned.

You’ll let me know if I hurt you? he means, and his eyes stare into yours, sincere. 

You nod, brushing your lips against his, and when you feel it—it’s unusual, maybe a bit uncomfortable but he’s there kissing it away. 

There’s an adjustment, a few awkward positions until he finds it, then he goes slow, rhythmic. Your sighs grow louder and he groans, withholding, then you say it—

“‘Toru,”

—by his ear, soft and breathy, and he’s gone, stilling and spilling, a part of him forever yours, irrevocably. 

thank you notes: to nonie.🫧 for asking about this in the first place, and to niku (@stellamancer) for emotional support and for reading this first!! + for helping me go over it!! i love u niku 😭

comments, tags, and reblogs are greatly appreciated ♡

[green-with-envy-phandom-event]

Welcome to our third consecutive year of Green With Envy!

Open for first timers and the obsessed, we welcome all skill levels to this art based event. Just like before, the event comes in two parts with a few minor changes to spice up this year's competition.

Anyone Can Enter a Line Art!

Love to line but hate to color? This side is for you! Part one is the slow build up, where artists create this year's line art. Over the course of two months a form will be open and waiting for anyone to drop a Danny Phantom themed line art in. Crossovers welcome! Unlike our previous years, we will be keeping all the 2025 line art a secret until the drop date! 

Color To Compete!

During Part Two of the event, things rev up and turn competitive. If you sign up for this half, you better be ready to color! When the line arts drop, the fighting begins. For those who want nothing more than to go crazy over a brand new, Danny Phantom themed coloring book, this part is for you. The goal is to color as many of the line arts from the first half of the event as physically possible with the rest of your small team. Unlike other DP events, GWE will have 10 whole coloring teams, so expect to get cozy with your new mates while you strategize! 

And when we say strategize, we mean it. >:3 Green With Envy is unique in that the points you earn can be snatched away! How many your team gets depends on when you complete a coloring, how you complete a coloring, and to whom the line art was assigned. (Don't worry, you can color any line art, including unassigned ones!) Trickery is just as important as the speed and skill of your artistry here! Drop the ball and your points just may be Poached right from under your pencil tips!

~~~~

GUYS, THE 2024 ZINE IS DOOOOONE!

@englandamericaitaly NEARLY DIED MAKING IT BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT! Check out the 358 page masterpiece here!

Welcome back to the gremlin enclosure! Thanks everyone in the Phandom for showing the event so much love!

Big shout out to @ecto-stone for letting us use their kick-butt line art from last year's event to make this year's banner! And to @furiarossa, @ovytia-art, @ecto-stone, @breakfastatmiles, @jamiethebeeart, @half-deadmagicperson, @ectoblastfromthepast and @cakeractuallyarts for coloring it!

This year's Links, Info and Important Dates below!

The official hashtag for the event this year is #greenwithenvy2025

In-depth Rules can be found here!

Tutorial can be found here

FAQ can be found here

The discord server for this event is here

~~~~

Line Art and All Sign-ups Due: Friday, February 28th (02/28/25) 11:59 pm, Pacific Time Zone

Coloring Starts: Friday, March 7th (03/07/25) 8:00 pm Pacific Time Zone

Coloring Due: Sunday, April 6th. (04/06/25) 11:59 pm Pacific Time Zone

Sign-ups for line artists are here

Sign-ups for colorists are here

Line artist submissions go here 

Colorist submission form can be found in the Discord.

P.S. Remember when looking at the dates to account for your daylight saving's time. What day it happens on depends on where you are in the world!

~~~~

Looking for links to last year's stuff?

2024 Free-To-Color Line Art

2024 Masterpost

[cillianate]

ACHILLES, COME DOWN

robert reynolds x fem!oc

SERIES MASTERLIST

please comment, reblog, or dm to join taglist! (specify perm or series!

IN WHICH Nieve Parker is confronted with her past while on a death mission, and she isn't sure if she still possesses the same strength she once did...

NIEVE PARKER ROBERT REYNOLDS

twenty - five ('97) thirty - one ('96)

blip status - ✔️ blip status - ✖️

* playlist *

i. me - the 1975

ii. devil i know - suki waterhouse

iii. sexy to someone - clairo

iv. it ain't me babe - joan baez

v. potion - djo

vi. ends of the earth - lord huron

vii. candles - daughter

viii. michiant - bon iver

ix. there, there - radio head

x. fallingforyou - the 1975

xi. achilles come down - gang of youths

xii. call your mom - noah kahan

CHAPTERS . . . 🖨️

00. assignment - published 1 June 2025

01. mission - published 2 June 2025

02. confront - published 3 June 2025

03. escape - published 11 June 2025

04. it's bucky!

05. quick chat

06. tower

07. the sentry

08. the void

09. shame room - I

10. shame room - II

11. shame room - III

12. the new avengers

13. what comes next?

thank you for giving my story a chance!

more to come soon,

xoxo, court 💋

[privatebullshit]

with faith undaunted [part 02.]

— ♡

part 02. blossoming [2.2k+ words]

summary: y/n y/l/n is a nurse-in-training when she meets joseph j. toye in 1942, shortly after the attack on pearl harbor, at camp toccoa. she's the americana dream, he's a reckless private. what happens when their fates cross paths?

♡ follow along on their journey of love, loss, and hardship as the story progresses in events taking place before, during, and after the war. ♡

warnings: language, time period sexism

song rec: every girl gets her wish - saint avangeline

wfu taglist: @luvrottt @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @fromjupitertocentauri @annasansh @bluecanvasshoe @catbusloki

previous parts: 00. promo 01. remembrance

wfu masterlist bofb masterlist

— ♡

As they watched the cab shrink into the horizon in the distance, the small cloud of dust from his departure still lingering in the air, Joe tilted his head downward to look at the girl beside him. He cleared his throat slightly, trying to gain her attention for a minute or two.

Her eyelashes flutter just a bit as her gaze shifts upward to meet his, Joe's heart panging with an unfamiliar feeling of warmth. She looked at him curiously, the intense stare making Joe want to look elsewhere— the ground, the sky, anywhere but her damn pretty face.

"Yes?" she finally asked, a hint of a laugh ghosting over her lips.

Joe snapped out of his daze for the second time of the day, lips threatening to curl into a half smile at the sound of her voice.

"Thanks for lettin' me tag along," he said, pausing when he saw her nod enthusiastically. He continued, his voice less gruff and more reserved, "Name's Joseph. Joseph Toye."

"Joseph. . ." she repeated, testing out the sound of his name on her tongue, and he adored it. She gave him a warm look before extending her hand to him, "I'm y/n. y/n y/l/n!"

Joe felt his usual cold demeanor melt away to a helpless puddle beneath his feet, his hand grasping hers gently. She shook his hand excitedly, but firmly, earning a soft chuckle from the man.

"It's nice to meet ya, y/n," Joe said, reluctantly retracting his hand, the calloused pads of his fingers brushing against her liquid smooth palm.

She didn't notice the lingering touch, or she chose not to, but if Joe had been paying close attention, he would've seen the sunlight illuminating the faint blush on her cheeks— which could've been easily mistaken as getting overheated from being outside.

But alas, Joe's brain was everywhere and nowhere at once, one hand shoved into his pocket, the other clutching the strap of his duffle bag.

"I guess this is 'goodbye,' huh?" He studied y/n's face for a second, admiring her features as if he was going to be quizzed on every single one. He managed to stop his eyes from drifting to her lips as she started to respond.

"'Goodbye' seems like forever, I'll see you later, Joseph," she smiled, collecting her bags from off the ground as she gave him once last glance. She started to walk away to the open gate of Camp Toccoa, and Joe was standing there like fool that got shot by Cupid's arrow.

Y/n turned her head to look over her shoulder, letting out a stifled giggle and waving to the ever frozen Joe one more time.

Joe lifted a hand back in acknowledgement, shaking it side to side a bit before letting it drop, "Yeah, see ya later, Y/n."

— ♡

About a month later

Joining the Paratroopers required a lot more effort than Joe initially thought, merely volunteering for the extra cash at first. He was quickly assigned to Easy Company and he met some of his closest friends there. The PT was hell on Earth and so was running Currahee. First Lieutenant Sobel barked at the men of Easy Company to train harder, faster, and longer, every damn day.

"Jesus, is he gonna make us run this bullshit mountain again?" Joe huffed, addressing one of the other men named Bill Guarnere.

Guarnere laughed heartily, "Hah, yous will get used to it. All us boys have ran up and down the mountain more times than we can remember."

Joe nodded gravely, taking a deep inhale as Sobel started to shout.

"You people are at the position of attention!"

Joe quickly clicked his heels together, standing tall and stone faced. Sobel went around and started to reprimand some of the men for minor infractions. Perconte got blasted for blousing his pants over his boots, Luz had dirt in his rifle's rear sight aperture, a thread on Lipton's chevrons were too long, there was rust on Malarkey's rifle, and Liebgott had a rusty bayonet.

Joe's eyes followed as Sobel tossed the bayonet into the soft ground, but he heard a slight giggle in the distance, causing him to turn his head in the direction it came from. He was sure it was y/n's laugh, his stomach doing flips as he looked for her. And there she was.

It had been a few weeks, maybe even a month, since they last saw each other. And now, she stood far away with the other nurses-in-training in her uniform that adorned her quite nicely. She looked like a proper nurse already and poor Joe was distracted. So distracted that he didn't even see his commanding officer standing in front of him.

"Private! Are you even listening to me?" Sobel shouted, hitting the top of Joe's helmet with his knuckles.

"Yes, sir!" Joe responded, snapping his eyes away from where y/n was.

Sobel's eyes narrowed as he circled Joe, "Then what did I just say, private?"

Joe couldn't come up with a good enough excuse in time, not that Sobel would take any excuse at all.

"Name?" Sobel asked bitterly, standing before Joe once more.

"Toye, Joseph J., sir."

"Toye," Sobel muttered. "And what had you so distracted that you stopped listening to your commanding officer?"

"Nothin', sir. . . er- no excuse, sir," Joe responded, unsure of himself as he felt the eyes of the rest of the company on him.

Sobel's gaze drifted over to the medical tent where y/n still stood, now organizing a bin of bandages and medicines. He let out a low, amused hum, looking back at Joe.

"So, a broad, hm?"

Joe knew better than to talk back or defend her against Sobel's word, so he muttered a simple, "Yes, sir."

"You better get your priorities straight, Toye. I don't need your lack of attention infiltrating my company. Fix it, or get out," Sobel sneered.

"Yes, sir," Joe repeated.

Sobel moves to stand in front of the company, "Now, thanks to these men and their infractions, every man in the company who had a weekend pass... has lost it. Change into your PT gear, we're running Currahee."

Lieutenant Winters ordered everyone to get to the barracks and change within two minutes maximum, Toye's steps dragging in embarrassment. He couldn't believe how badly he got reprimanded.

Toye changed into his PT gear quickly, avoiding the eyes of the other men. One of them finally breaks the silence, George Luz, who also got told off by Sobel earlier, "Hey, man, don't worry about it too much."

Joe clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Yeah, but my starin' must've been too fuckin' obvious, huh?"

Luz grinned and shrugged, "Listen, we've all been through it. Ya ain't the only man in Easy with eyes, ya know?"

Joe gave George a puzzled look, silently asking what he meant by that as they exited their barracks.

"Y/n's a real sweet lookin' girl," George laughed, nudging Joe's side, earning a low growl from the latter.

"So, you know her?" Joe scoffed.

"Everyone knows y/n, Joe. We go to her or one of the other nurses-in-training when we're not feelin' our best," George responds, noting the jealous expression on Joe's face. "But she's definitely our favorite."

Joe shoots him a quick glare before meeting up with the other Easy men outside, "Yeah, whatever."

He should've known that he wasn't exactly special. Of course the other guys would know her and get to ogle at her in that damn uniform. It just made his chest pang a little too much, a sting that wouldn't go away no matter how much he willed it too.

All he could do was run alongside his buddies up Currahee mountain, listening to Sobel scream, "HI-HO SILVER!"

— ♡

Two months later

Now, Joe finds himself at the aid station's tent flap, shifting his weight from side to side. He had gotten into a bit of a disagreement with one of the men from Dog Company, earning a set of bruised knuckles and a bloody nose that he attempted to clean up.

He shouldn't be like this, nervous with a racing heart, but the thought of seeing y/n again to be treated made him all dizzy. He extended a hand to the zipper of the tent, opening it half way.

"Excuse me?" Joe called out, looking around for anyone that might be there.

One of the more seasoned nurses stepped into view to greet him, her neat eyebrows raised in a skeptical manner upon seeing his state.

"May I help you?" she asked, knowing the obvious answer was "yes," but she figured that he was looking for someone else.

"Uh, yes ma'am, is- is y/n here?" Joe was thankful for the darkness above, shadows casted over the apparent redness on his cheeks.

The nurse chuckles through her nose, shaking her head in amusement, "She's just around the corner. I'll go get her for you."

Joe thanked the nurse profusely, still awkwardly wiping away at the blood leaking from his nose. After a few minutes of waiting, y/n silently approached Joe. She was told that "some soldier desperately need to see her." She didn't expect to see him tonight, or at all, for that matter. When they parted ways at the gate upon first arriving here, she was sure that was it. But here he was, a couple months later.

"Joseph?"

Joe's eyes widened and softened simultaneously, drinking in the fact that y/n was standing in front of him now. He'd never get tired of seeing her, each time making the warmth in his chest spread more and more.

"Y/n. . ." Joe whispered, a soft grin appearing on his face.

"It's quite late, isn't it?" Y/n said, glancing at him before noticing his bleeding nose. "Never mind that, let's get you cleaned up."

Joe's heart nearly burst as she grabbed his hand to lead him into the tent, setting him down on some crates while she flitted to and fro, grabbing supplies.

"Well, ya should've seen the other guy," Joe said lowly, eyes darting as he followed her movements. He heard her scoff and mutter something about him being "reckless." Y/n came back over and leaned down a little, examining his bloody nose with tender care. Joe started to feel a bit warm now at the proximity, but nothing could've prepared him for what she was about to do next.

She held his face in her hands, cleaning his nose gently with a warm cloth, "You really ought to be more careful, you can't go around fighting whoever." His fingers ached to cover hers, to lace their digits together against his cheek.

Joe resisted the temptation to lean into her palm, lips parted slightly as he gazed up at her. She had this cute furrow in her brow as she worked and scolded him, though he was barely listening. He must've had a goofy grin on his face because she stopped what she was doing to look at him.

"What's that expression for?" she asked, grabbing an ointment for cuts.

Joe shrugged, "You're cute when you're focused."

Y/n chucked a roll of bandages at him, scoffing, "Am not." She took Joe's hands in hers, applying ointment to his bruised knuckles. He hissed at the slight sting, lip between his teeth.

"I know, I know," she murmured, blowing cold air on them gently before wrapping his hands with a thin layer of bandages.

"All done," she said, taking a step back. She couldn't deny that Joe was quite handsome, his dark features on his tan skin creating a portrait fit for a museum.

"Thanks, but ya forgot one thing," Joe said cheekily, giving her a half-grin.

"Which is?" Y/n looked at him with confusion, crossing her arms.

"Ya need to kiss it better, or else it won't heal," Joe chuckled at her reaction, the flush on her cheeks growing bright with embarrassment. "I'm kiddin', I'm kiddin'!" he protested as she shooed him out of the tent.

"Just go back to your quarters, Joseph!"

Joe turned before exiting fully, raising a hand to move some hair out of her eyes, "Alright, alright. Goodnight, y/n."

His fingers lingered for a second before he stuffed his hands into his pockets. She opened her mouth and closed it, unable to find the right words to say. She finally spoke softly, a glimmer in her eyes that Joe couldn't quite place, "Goodnight, Joseph."

Joe wanted to say more, to do more than just brush her hair out of the way, but he couldn't. He didn't want to risk his chances of becoming a Paratrooper, and he certainly wasn't going to get y/n in trouble either. The repercussions on her were bound to be worse.

He simply nodded, turning again to walk back to his quarters. Y/n hesitated for a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek in thought.

"Joseph!" she called out, causing him to turn immediately. She couldn't hear it, but his heart was thumping against his chest wildly, as if he just ran Currahee all over again.

"Yeah?" he responded, his eyes meeting hers.

"Try not to get into another fight, okay? I can't always waste bandages on you." Y/n's words caused Joe to grin again, laughing breathlessly as he shrugged.

"No promises, sweetheart."

And with that, he bid her another goodnight, both of them just as flustered as the other.

[chumacki]

A BloodBound Promise.

Masterlist

Summery: Since birth, you were assigned to be the bride of Ra’s Al Ghul Grandson, Damian Al Ghul. You trained with him everyday and admired his harsh dedication, the ring two sizes too big that sat on your chest as a reminder of the promise. One day you awake to harsh news, that the boy you looked up too with adoration had decided to leave permanently to stay with his father. No one gave any information and you were left alone with a broken heart and broken future, and no easy way out like Damian had.

Content: Damian Al Ghul/ Wayne x Assasin!Reader. Warning include violence, blood, Abuse, Harsh Treatment, Vulgar language, Birth, and Angst. Damian is no way related to reader when the term ‘BloodBound’ is used whatsoever you will see in upcoming chapter/s. (I’m surprised I didn’t ChatGPT the names for the chapters, I was tempted but I put my mind to work!!) Also maybe I’ll do a bit of NSFW when they’re aged up and nearing the end but I’m still debating lol. Not for kids!

00. Bound at birth. 🌷🪻

01. Two souls of the same heart.

02. The loss of my life.

03. Life’s changing, Wife’s Raging.

04. A rocky Restart.

05. Not my home, his house.

….Tbc?

Anywho!!! This is still a Work in progress! But I’m happy I’m starting a series whoo! I’ve wanted to do one for a while but didn’t know what to do and I’ve been kind of obsessed with the Damian ones where he has a wife promised to him but yeah can’t wait to show you what I have in store!

[idlerin]

PHANTASMA

a haikyuu social media modern fantasy au

pairing. miya atsumu x f!reader

synopsis. someone was trying to kill miya atsumu. you don’t know who, well, what exactly was going to try and suck the life out of him (probably quite literally). what you do know is that you have to protect him—bound by oath and protocol—whether you liked it or not. out of everyone in campus, you just had to be assigned to the most arrogant and obnoxious of the bunch. this wasn’t your first rodeo but it was going to be the first pain in the ass.

tags. social media au, college au, modern fantasy au, horror (slight), comedy (yes, uhm hopefully), romance is a subplot (bc this is gonna be mostly plot-ish heavy, mostly world building and will include lots of side characters), forced proximity, atsumu is a piece of shit, you hate each other !

warnings. i cant think of much, graphic descriptions? (bc supernaturals n stuff), time stamps arent important !

status. on-going (06/19/24 —)

may the inferno bless you,

00. defend and protect

01. conflict of interest

02. im watching you

03. stalker freak

04.

05.

tba !

taglist is OPEN ! [slots taken: 20/50]

to be added to the taglist you can just send in an ask or comment :)

notes. so this is like such an experiment lmao but i wanted to try mixing the social media and modern fantasy aspect ! so the story will be told in images and through a phone (crazy technology) i will cheat sometimes and use phone calls tho heheheeheh. anyways love sick will be the priority still this is my silly little side project inspired by my fav manga (tbhk) and the book ninth house (i use the term gray from there). fun fact abt me is i read mostly fantasy books but im a romance writer lol.

themes inspired by tbhk and ninth house is not mine but the overall content of this smau is. please do not repost this on any other platform. © idlerin 2024

[creator1mpersonator]

The Rescue Mission

As a top agent in the D.S.O, the responsibility to save Ashley Graham falls onto your shoulder when the special agent originally assigned suddenly vanishes. You now have two goals: survive Spain, and return Ashley Graham and Leon S. Kennedy safely. Though you’d soon find that the man you were supposed to save was much more dangerous than anything else in Valdelobos.

This story will progress as I continue the original RE4! It takes most reference from the og game, but some aspects from the remake are present as well.

00. The Assignment

01. El Pueblo

02. Blue Medallions

03. Up and Down and Around

[thewinter-eden]

almost summer | kim seungmin

Pairings: Seungmin x OC, Jeongin x OC

Summary:

SPECIAL AGENT AU Maven Spanaway and Kim Seungmin have been broken up for a year.

Now, in a national state of emergency, they are thrown together on assignment to investigate an enemy outpost. Maven still despises her new partner/ex-fiance, and Seungmin is just as cocky as ever. Enjoy the angsty rollercoaster as they reconnect and learn to work together again.

cross posted on AO3 under the_winter_eden and Wattpad under alone-at-last.

Genre: sci-fi, horror, thriller

Rating: mature, explicit

Status: incomplete (currently 20 chapters)

Content warnings: explicit descriptions of violence/torture, scientific experimentation, raw post-breakup emotions, hurt/comfort, heavy angst, lots of sadness, death, murder, Seungmin being an ass, starvation, fear, insecurities, hopelessness.

masterlist

00. PROLOGUE 01. IT'S NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN 02. YOU'RE STILL ANGRY 03. YOU DON'T LIKE WORKING WITH ME 04. I'M SORRY I LIED 05. THIS WILL GET BETTER 06. WHY I LEFT 07. AS SMART AS EVER 08. IT WAS RIGHT 09. YOU WERE STRONG 10. I ENJOY WORKING WITH YOU 11. I CAN'T WORK OUT TO THAT 12. CUP OF PEACE 13. I NEED YOU TO TRUST ME 14. SPENDING YOUR TIME WITH THEM 15. YOU'RE DATING AGAIN (tuesday 01/28) 16. WE'RE WORKING TOGETHER (thursday 01/30)

NOTES BELOW

a / n : 

Prologue provides foundation for military/special agent setting as well as the MC's experience with the initial breakup. Chapter one (also posted today) will jump into the meat of the story so don't let this bog you down. Hope you guys enjoy! 

If you have any questions about world building, PLEASE ASK. Like my Han Jisung (psycho) fic, this story is a modified piece of exposition for one of my original WIPs. 

I can't guarantee that I've explained the setting well enough in this to just be jumped into without reading the original novel that it's part of, but I want it to be, so let me know if you find inconsistencies or confusion. 

I'm American, as is the setting for the original story, so all of the locations and military groups are modeled off of American military and special forces. Don't let it jar the narrative, lol.

This story is mostly written already. It will be updated twice a week, probably Tuesdays and Thursdays to get me to finish this story.  

If anybody is sensitive about a recent senseless breakup, maybe skip this one.

lazy writer note : 

A few BTS names are thrown in here (you already know this about me if you've read psycho) to alleviate the burden of too many unfamiliar characters. They're not significant to the story, so just point and laugh and move on, haha.

tag list : (comment a request to be added or removed)

@kayleefriedchicken @eastjonowhere @velvetmoonlght

[asianwhumpgalore]

Wisher (致命愿望) | Cdrama | Whump List

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Youth, Sci-Fi

Synopsis: The start and end of everything stems from an app called Wisher. Wisher appeared on the mobile phones of a group of college students out of the blue, and as long as they made a wish to it and completed a simple randomly assigned task, the wish would be realized. These young people can't stand the temptation, and just like signing a contract with the devil, they become dominoes under the control of desire. Middle-aged reporter Na Duo, as well as young collage students Lu Li and Qiu Wendong, began to confront the forces behind Wisher.

Length: 12 eps

Whump meter: ▲▲△△△  Whumpy things: Emotional whump, sensitive whumpee, weak whumpee, hunted by the narrative, captured, kidnapped, manhandled, rough caretaker, whumpee turned whumper.

✨Pretty good sci-fi story with some amazing cinematography. Kinda lower on the whump than I had hoped but it be like that sometimes ✨

⚠️Trigger Content: Suicide (brief), usual action CWs ⚠️⚠️Some SPOILERS might be found, proceed with caution ⚠️⚠️

Whumpee: Na Duo played by Feng Shao Feng

Ep 1 - [24:24] Nearly crashes car, hits steering wheel, grunts in pain, jump scared, threatened | [33:00] Grabbed by the chest by a speeding motorcyclist and slammed onto the ground, yells, grunts in pain, struggling to get up, nearly ran over by motorcycle, hit on the torso with the back wheel | Regains consciousness, confused as to where he is, panic.

Ep 2 - None.

Ep 3 - [00:10] Cornered, cloth thrown over head, pushed onto wall, falls to the ground, repeatedly kicked, picked up and shoved onto the wall again, pinned to the wall, work destroyed, threatened, pushed onto half wall, falls to the ground, struggling to breathe.

Ep 4-5 - None

Ep 6 - [12:40] Pulled to safety by ally, attacked with a knife, saved by ally, in shock after accidentally killing someone | [16:45] Still in shock, angry, distressed | [16:45] Concern for loved one, angry.

Ep 7-8 - None.

Ep 9 - [21:20] Escape blocked, held at gunpoint, kicked in the back of the knee, forced onto his knees, gun pressed to his forehead | [32:52] Unconscious on the ground, winces in pain as he gets up, panting.

Ep 10 - [03:30] Lying on the couch, ice pack on his head | [13:45] Watching a video from his recently deceased friend, emotional | [27:00] Concerned for loved one, agitated | [35:10] Inside a car during a crash.

Ep 11 - [03:05] Alcohol poured on open wound (rough caretaker), large cut on leg, bleeding, screams muffled by bandage roll in his mouth, sweating, groaning in pain, wound cleaned by friend, gripping armrest of couch, labored breathing, leg bandaged up then bandage roughly removed, bandaged up again, muffled yelp when the bandage was tightened, removes bandage roll from mouth, panting | limping slightly for the rest of the episode | [10:30] Told a loved one passed away, angry | [22:50] Uncovering loved-one's dead body, hands trembling, crying.

Ep 12 - [00:15] (in past) Watched father die, in shock, pulls little sister into his arms | [12:50] Chased | [17:50] Panting, distressed | [30:20] Held at gunpoint, leaning against wall, weak, berated, held at gunpoint again, struggling to talk, struggles to stand up, leaning against the wall for support, coughing, weak so has to sit back down, leaning against the wall, sacrifices himself, ears ringing, struggling to look up.

Whumpee: Qiu Wendong played by Fan Cheng Cheng

Ep 1 - [02:48] Flinches when yelled at, pet threatened to be killed, begging to save pet | [12:44] (in flashback) scolded, yelled at, pushed (end flashback)

Ep 2 - [00:25] (flashback) Yelled at, scolded, pushed, blamed (end flashback), forced to put down pet himself.

Ep 3 - [18:10] Flashback triggered, (flashback) restrained, held back, watching his mother being beaten (end flashback)

Ep 4 - None

Ep 5 - [27:27] Flashback triggered, (flashback) restrained, held back with an arm around his neck, watching his mother being beaten (end flashback), breathing heavily.

Ep 6 - [00:35] (nightmare) held in a chokehold, watching his mother being beaten (end nightmare) | [32:50] Threatened, yelled at, grabbed by the jacket.

Ep 7 - [04:05] Scolded by teacher, accused, flashback of his mother being beaten triggered, mostly unresponsive, takes the blame | [09:05] Recalling the past to a friend, emotional | [25:00] falls off motorcycle, tumbles on the ground, lying in the rain, struggling to get up | [26:47] Bruised cheek, upset, emotional, pushed, grabbed by the jacket, punched in the face, falls to the ground, forced to apologize.

Ep 8 - [00:15] Cheek still bruised, scratches and bruise on wrist, bandage on the other wrist | [07:58] cut reveal on wrist, cleaning wound.

Ep 9 - [23:52] In a minor car crash, crashes into the side of the car | [27:38] In shock, yelled at, angry, emotional, crying.

Ep 10 - [01:30] (flashback) watching his father throw himself off a cliff, (end flashback) teary eyes.

Ep 11 - None.

Ep 12 - [04:40] Headbutted in the face, stumbles back | [33:00] Angry, panting, stumbling, leaning against wall, coughing, struggling to breathe, loosens tie, weak, grabbed by the jacket, pushed onto the floor, struggling to get back up, struggling to walk, panic, explosion wave crashes onto him, thrust onto the ground, face and hand burned, screaming in pain, panic, begging, screaming, ceiling collapses on him | [46:25] Scar reveal on his left cheek and right hand.

Whumpee: Xi Lei played by Guo Zi Fan

Ep 1-2 - None.

Ep 3 - [18:15] Pulled away from a fight, restrained.

Ep 4 - None

Ep 5 - [27:24] Accused, pushed, fought.

Ep 5-8 - None.

Ep 9 - [12:25] Betrayed, emotional.

Ep 10 - [27:10] Yelled at, grabbed by the jacket, shaken, pulled to his feet and pushed against the wall, shaken, yelled at again, distressed, pulled away and slammed onto another wall, yelled at more, apologizing, shoved onto the floor, leaning against wall, distressed.

Ep 11 - [17:25] Cornered, head covered with cloth | [26:25] Wakes up tied to a chair, panting, concerned about loved one, crying.

Ep 12 - [03:35] Locked in a narrow tubular cell, restrained | [05:50] Locked in a container with friend, saved | [12:50] Chased.

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

First longer whump list, hopefully I didn't miss anything important🙏SML (Wendong) had quite some emotional whump (man's seriously unwell) but I didn't really think every instance was worth mentioning so I didn't.

[illusory-nomad]

Revolver

An Aventurine Fic

"There's no 'best friend for life."

Synopsis : Threatened to be kicked out of the IPC, Aventurine was assigned to an impossible mission by his exasperating boss: track down and end WYVERN, a notorious criminal group. To do that, he enlists the help of another notorious criminal: his childhood friend Y/N who has some type of vendetta against him.

Pairings : secret agent! aventurine x criminal! reader

Tags : Childhood friends to enemies to lovers, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, slow burn (?), slight crack

Warnings : does not take place in the HSR timeline, references to Aventurine's backstory and some HSR plot, blood, swearing, character death, death threats, human trafficking, abuse, drugs, reader's pronouns are she/her, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, slow burn (?), slight crack

Status : ongoing

Author's Note : I was so scared of posting this because I thought, 'what if my fic gets dragged down for some of the warnings I put there', but I wanted to post something for Aven's release and I liked the idea for this fic and decided to go for it anyways... As per my last fic, Y/N's character might not be everyone's cup of tea, as she was written based on my OC, who's more on the rough side. I will always put a tw before every chapter, so please read that first, and if I missed and warnings, pleaze let me know. I'll also be sure to update the tags and everything as the story progresses, and I apologize in advance for any mistakes

00 : Introduction

01 : Your Hand in Marriage?

02 : Good Morning, Ratio!

03 : Bloody Ruby

04 : Cheater's Den

05 :

06 :

07 :

08 :

09 :

10 :

11 :

12 :

13 :

14 :

15 :

Taglist (open) : @tainted-artist4161 @arxxq @arisha128 @reixtsu

(Bold : can't tag ;-;)

[byemambo]

4Minutes EP. 3 - My Takeaways

I went back and skimmed through the previous episodes 1 and 2 (which I've already posted my takeaways for in the previous weeks) to confirm a few thoughts I have now that I finished episode 3.

Tyme's Temperament (Childhood Trauma)

I found this small exchange between Tyme and Great to be pretty insightful in terms of how Tyme's attitude affects his every day outlook on life. This seems to be a common trope in films and TV (especially in thriller/crime genres) where a main character has motives to avenge the death of their parents, which I'd assume would be the case with Tyme as well as the series goes on and we're given more context to why Tyme is caught up in Great's family organized crime scheme. Given that his motivation for being a surgeon isn't rooted in being a contributing member to society through hospitality but by making ends meet for him and his grandmother, it's no surprise that Tyme's attitude towards his patients is distant and impersonal. This dissociation can also stem from experiencing a huge loss at a young age, and putting the burden of financial responsibility onto himself.

We see this by a shift in Den's disdain for Tyme's lack of empathy towards his patients by going against their wishes for the mere sake of not letting his patient die, which we can already see this dependence Tyme has with being unable to let go and allow the laws of nature to run its course. Given that this seems to be a recurring theme of Tyme's from how Den's attitude was when reminding Tyme of the patient's name, we hope that his story arc will consist of Tyme learning what it means to "let go," especially because he's taught himself for many decades to "hold on."

Win and Tonkla (Your Wish is My Command)

The way these two establish their relationship in this episode isn't surprising to me, but what became evident was the juxtaposition in how Tonkla's treated by Korn and by Win. Korn became someone who shoves Tonkla to the side, someone who he had successfully hid away from his personal life and making a deliberate choice to keep a distance from him. This lack of communication burdens Tonkla to a point of heightening his grief, which we know how corrupted it is for officials to rendezvous with victims of a case assigned to them, but ultimately sparks codependency between Win and Tonkla, which Tonkla relied on Korn for until he became an after thought mourning the death of his younger brother (thank goodness Dome is alive btw). The stark difference between Win's approach versus Korn's is simple: fulfilling the wishes of Tonkla. Although we've only seen this exchange occur during the heat of sex, we see Tonkla ask the same of both people (fuck me raw?), Korn saying nothing while protecting himself while Win speaks up for the sake of their safety. However, this will become a losing game if Tonkla still seeks validation from Korn, pushing him beyond his limits and may contribute to harming the individual that we saw in the opening of episode 2. I also want to know whether or not this will heavily affect Win's desire to help Tonkla with his younger brother's case, revealing his chief to be one who's accepted bribes in the past and has a strong sense of justice.

Great Documents the Timeline

Thank you for Great having a head on his shoulders and taking the time to document his findings on how his visions and powers work, giving us a chance as the audience to continue with our own theories and assumptions. I don't really have any plausible reasons for what each minute in Great's visions represent just yet, but I'm leaning towards each time Great and Tyme make a decision significant in keeping their paths crossed.

When it was 11:00 - Great runs into Tyme in the ward after leaving flowers for the patient. When it was 11:01 - Right after Great and Tyme exchange phone numbers. When it was 11:02 - Great finds Tyme attacking his brother, but is revealed his true identity when confronted outside the lounge.

Foreshadowing

I found the inclusion of the message "Can you forgive me Great?" to be the most interesting in the entire episode: because the message only becomes important once we're revealed that Tyme is connected to Nan, the woman who infiltrated the crime scheme and sending evidence back who we can assume right now is either Tyme or the police investigators. But then it makes me wonder: how is Tyme associated with her, is he more than a regular surgeon at the hospital with a connection to the police or is he actually a part of the police which is already iffy for me because if he's also an undercover investigator AND surgeon good fucking god...? Are both of them individuals who are outside of the police investigation as it seems Win isn't aware of their participation as a potential fellow investigator? Since Win was forced to step down from Tonkla's brother's case (I can only assume it's treated separately from the gambling investigation), does that mean he will invest more into the online gambling case since now not only was there a hacker and shareholder mole involved in episode 2, but now we have Nan being held hostage (which I'm still unsure of whether she's working directly with Tyme or with the investigators as well)?

Honorable Mentions: Meeting Between the Two Visionaries

I'm curious to know how Den will set up his patient with Great, since he's been doing extensive research into their prospects. Will they meet in person beforehand: have they already met in his "gallery" that Great described it as when he wrote down his findings? Will this "gallery" be a recurring setting we will encounter as the series progressed (since it's featured in the trailer and teaser photos prior to the first episode's release?) And I just rewatched the trailer again: I'll still be shocked if Tyme is actually undercover while still doing his doctoral duties cause that'd be a little insane to me...

[im4rmy]

00: 吻 (wěn)

"And what are you afraid of? There must be something you fear losing, or else you'd just be a madman with a gun."

Jisung and Chaerin didn’t care for soulmates—adrenaline was their lifelong companion. But their love for risk wasn’t the only thing worth dying for.

← 吻 →

Universe introduction

The world described here is not the one we know: here, children grew up either striving to reach the person they were destined for, or avoiding them with every ounce of energy. Living in a world where every human being has a soulmate was not easy. It was possible to live without ever encountering one’s other half; many prayed never to meet their gaze. Once that bond was established, nothing could counter its destructive power: without even the slightest contact with one’s soulmate within six or seven days, both body and mind would begin to deteriorate, eventually leading to irreversible death. The bond was ordained by Fate at birth, marked by a small identical tattoo forged onto the bodies of both individuals, destined to either seek each other out or avoid one another for a lifetime. The connection did not always blossom into a romance; often, the most tightly intertwined souls were those bound by a purely platonic love. Having one’s destined person nearby accelerated cellular reproduction, planting seeds of energy and healing in the mind and body of the other. The death of one’s living soulmate was the most excruciating pain a human could ever experience, sometimes even leading to death by heartbreak.

Having a soulmate was crucial for members of a criminal gang, as they served as an inexhaustible elixir of healing. That’s why NCT devoted much of their energy to finding their partners. Only a few of the 17 members had met their other half. Some weren’t even remotely ready to find them.

← 吻 →

Main characters

NCT D (9 members)

Mark

Real name: Minhyung

Position: Leader, he only takes orders from NCT 127's leaders, Taeyong and Taejin; he coordinates the group's operations

Birthday: 02/08/99

Height: 176cm

Main skill: leadership; perseverance

Soulmate: unknown

← 吻→

Rachel

Real name: unknown

Position: Rogue and weapons expert, she is relied upon for thefts, break-ins and sniping

Birthday: 10/03/00

Height: 158cm

Main skill: knowledge and use of all types of weapons

Soulmate: unknown

← 吻→

Renjun

Real name: Renjun

Position: Hacker

Birthday: 23/03/00

Height: 171cm

Main skill: intuition; technology

Soulmate: Sky, member of a rival gang

← 吻→

Jeno

Real name: Jeno

Position: Captain, he leads dangerous operations following Mark's orders; front line, they rely on him for the most violent actions

Birthday: 23/04/00

Height: 177cm

Main skill: brute strenght

Soulmate: Jaemin

← 吻→

Haechan

Real name: Donghyuck

Position: Anchor, he is relied upon in case of emergencies and unforeseen events; he advises Mark on strategies; sniper

Birthday: 06/06/00

Height: 174cm

Main skill: intelligence; coolness; sniping

Soulmate: unknown

← 吻→

Jaemin

Real name: Jaemin

Position: Doctor

Birthday: 13/08/00

Height: 177cm

Main skill: stamina; medical knowledge

Soulmate: Jeno

← 吻→

Chenle

Real name: Chenle

Position: Mind, he knows everything; he is relied upon for details, strategies, financial and legal matters

Birthday: 22/11/01

Height: 176cm

Main skill: knowledge; eidetic memory

Soulmate: unknown

← 吻→

Jisung

Real name: Jisung

Position: Front line, he is relied upon for the most violent operations

Birthday: 05/02/02

Height: 180cm

Main skill: agility; speed

Soulmate: unknown

← 吻→

Chae

Real name: Chaerin

Position: Front line, she is relied upon for the most difficult operations; she is the youngest of NCT

Birthday: 19/09/02

Height: 170cm

Main skill: acrobatics; double-crossing; persuasion

Soulmate: Yeonjun, common boy

← 吻→

Side characters

NCT 127 (8 members)

Taeyong

Real name: Taeyong

Position: Co-leader, he's the first to be contacted by the Government; he assigns roles in NCT 127's operations, oversees tactics and supervises all decisions regarding NCT D's missions

Birthday: 01/07/95

Height: 175cm

Main skill: leadership; strategy

Soulmate: Taejin

← 吻→

Taejin

Real name: Taejin

Position: Co-leader, she's the first to be contacted by the Government; he assigns roles in NCT 127's operations, oversees tactics and supervises all decisions regarding NCT D's missions.

Birthday: 12/12/95

Height: 167cm

Main skill: leadership; strategy

Soulmate: Taeyong

← 吻→

Johnny

Real name: Youngho

Position: Front line, he is relied upon for the most violent operations

Birthday: 09/02/95

Height: 185cm

Main skill: agility

Soulmate: common girl, secret identity

← 吻→

Yuta

Real name: Yuta

Position: Rogue, he is trusted for thefts, burglaries and deceptions; Shaw's brother

Birthday: 26/10/95

Height: 176cm

Main skill: speed; discretion

Soulmate: unknown

← 吻→

Doyoung

Real name: Dongyoung

Position: Hacker

Birthday: 01/02/96

Height: 178cm

Main skill: tecnology

Soulmate: unknown

← 吻→

Jaehyun

Real name: Yoonoh

Position: Front line, he is relied upon for the most violent operations

Birthday: 14/02/97

Height: 180cm

Main skill: brute strenght

Soulmate: Jasmine, common girl

← 吻→

Shaw

Real name: Kanaka

Position: Front line, he is relied upon for the most violent operations; Yuta's sister

Birthday: 07/04/97

Height: 164cm

Main skill: acrobatics; martial arts

Soulmate: dead at young age

← 吻→

Jungwoo

Real name: Jungwoo

Position: Doctor

Birthday: 19/02/98

Height: 180cm

Main skill: medical knowledge

Soulmate: Lucas, common boy

← 吻→

! TRIGGER WARNINGS ¡

This story will contain scenes of violence and both explicit and non-explicit sexual content. Additionally, there will be some boyxboy and girlxgirl scenes.

«吻, Wěn» index

next chapter

masterlist

[arafilez]

⌗⠀⠀، ATEEZ ⠀ ⠀⏤⠀⠀ ꒰ 에이티즈 ꒱

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀❛ TAGLiST ❜⠀⠀ fill form , comment , ask ֹ ͏ 愛情’ ⠀ ﹠ ⠀f-fluff . a-angst . s-smut ⠀⠀⊹⠀⠀ ☆-famous ⠀! ⠀ LiBRARY

PARK SEONGHWA

we know ( f2l, f, 2.1k ) . fighting beside seonghwa has always been your thing. but when feelings intervene?

white ( f, drabble, 0.5k ) . your daughter returning with white peonis reminds you of something else

KIM HONGJOONG

love, tailored ( one . two . three ) ( f, e2l, 8.5k ☁️) . kim hongjoong, the fashion designer who has made a mark running solo is set to collaborate with your company. the only problem? he is annoying .

crazy form ( forbidden love, f, a, 1.8k ) . you have always been trapped, so why are you starting to question it now, for him?

02:25 ( f, timestamp, 0.4k ) . he doesn't like how much you love work when he is right there!

JEONG YUNHO

emergency ( f2l, s, f, 3.2k ) ( MDNI ) . you can hack into anything and everything! except maybe jeong yunho's heart

00:45 ( f, timestamp, 0.4k ) . your boyfriend gets an idea from "my demon".

KANG YEOSANG

arriba ( e2l, s, 4.5k ) ( MDNI ) . you hate agent k.ys and now you are assigned to kill him, life just became a lot simpler!

lights, camera, smile ( s2l, f, 1.5k ) . one night of spontaneity is all yeosang wants before he is back to the same routine again.

CHOI SAN

crescent pt2 ( s2l, f, 3k ) . you are lost and confused and suddenly a person is offering to help you? why are you trusting him?

lowkey ( f, a, s, fwb2l, ☆ ) ( MDNI ) . after party hours, two glasses of wine, tipsy love. san and you will always have these three checked as your lips go places.

after new year ( s2l, f, 1k ) . where should you go on the night of new year? of course, to an empty cafe.

SONG MINGI

silver light ( cf2l, f, 3.5k ) . seduce, get in the car, flee- this has always been the process. and everything is perfect today too, well almost!

stars on your heart ( f, drabble, 0.3k ) . you are in love with mingi's chest freckles.

JUNG WOOYOUNG

dreamy day ( ex2l, a, f, 3.3k ) . is that really you? and now you are making wooyoung do things he will regret.

CHOI JONGHO

everything ( rivals2l, f, 3k ) . the last person you want to do this mission with is jongho, oh well, you don't get a choice

8 MAKES 1 TEAM

world episode fin: will ㅤ───ㅤ series

ateez has successfully infiltrated themselves in the z-dimension. but within their perfect plans comes a distraction that might shake up the members. ( ot8, stand-alone interconnected stories )

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ©ㅤㅤ(ㅤ arafilez ㅤ)

[the-conversation-pod]

GMMTV Breakfast Club: On 23.5 and Only Boo!

AND WE'RE BACK!

School's in at GMMTV, but we gotta put two series in detention for not fulfilling the assignment. The actors were charming, but the finishes were...rough. Ben, NiNi and Ginny talk 23.5 and Only Boo, the merits of high school stories, and the specific challenges of telling stories about queer high schoolers.

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:01:15 - Introduction: Two High School Shows from GMMTV 00:02:18 - 23.5: Early Reactions 00:14:18 - 23.5: Supporting Characters 00:21:27 - 23.5: Frustration with the Writing and Execution 00:33:42 - 23.5: Final Arc and Ratings 00:38:42 - Only Boo! 00:48:06 - Only Boo: Popping the Bubble 00:58:42 - Only Boo: If You're Gonna Do An Idol Story, Commit 01:05:06 - Only Boo: Final Thoughts and Ratings 01:08:45 - Outro: High School Blues

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00:00 - Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

00:01:15 Introduction: Two High School Shows from GMMTV

Ben 

And we're back. This week we're going to be discussing 23.5 and Only Boo. We brought our friend Ginny along as usual. Say hi, Ginny.

Ginny 

Hey folks!

NiNi 

We are talking high school from GMMTV. Ben and I, in the VIIB Awards, we discussed that it might feel like GMMTV does high school a lot, but they don't actually. So it was really interesting to see them delve into these high school stories with, let's say, mixed results.

Ben 

It's kind of weird that GMMTV went from, like, not really doing high school to having two shows running simultaneously. It's kind of surprising from them, honestly.

NiNi 

Lest we forget to point it out, 23.5 is also GMMTV's first GL. I think in terms of that, that they handled it pretty well as a GL.

00:02:18 23.5: Early Reactions

NiNi

Ben, what is 23.5 about?

Ben 

23.5 is a high school GL about a young woman named Ongsa who is moving from Phuket to Bangkok. She's a fan of this girl on Instagram and happens to run into her very early in her new time at the school, develops a crush on her, accidentally befriends her through her IG, but gets presumed to be a guy, and then proceeds to high key catfish this girl [laughs] sorting out her feelings about whether or not she, could possibly like her.

She lives with her parents, her older sister, and their cousin who's the same age as her. Her cousin's very much an easy autism read who ends up in her own romance with her big cousin's friend. We end up in this show dealing with Ongsa's complicated feelings of self-worth and how in her tendency to put her own self down, she kind of lets down the people around her. At least I think that's what the show's trying to do.

Ginny, why don't you walk us through how you felt in anticipation of the show after it got announced a very long time ago.

Ginny 

So long ago. So Milk and Love, the two lead actresses, were, of course, the side couple in Bad Buddy. So it was no surprise that they were announced as the lead couple of the first GMMTV GL. I was very excited just to see GMMTV finally moving into this space. It's been good to see more studios open to producing GLs and GMMTV being one of the biggest, definitely wanted to see them do it. So, without really caring much about what the story was going to be, I just wanted to see them do a GL and do a decent job. I was not super invested in, oh, is this going to be a plot or a premise that really appeals to me? I was just like, let's have some girls fall in love and make a good story. 

It was a longer run up than I think a lot of people wanted. There was a lot of disgruntlement, some conspiracy theory feelings about it that I don't really hold to. I do think they were giving as much to this show as they do to their big flagship BL stories. Was very excited and also nervous tuning into the first episode because this clearly was going to be a weathervane for them to decide how much to invest in the GL side going forward.

NiNi 

It was over a year that we've waited and waited and waited for this. They had a really long shoot schedule. They were shooting this thing for an inordinate amount of time, and I think that for me, added to the anticipation. Because it felt like they were taking their time with it, so I was very excited about that. I like Milk, I like Love, I like June, I like View. I was really looking forward to watching all of them really get into this with a director and a team that I had enjoyed. This is from Fon Kanittha, and Fon did 10 Years Ticket, which is one of my favorite things that GMMTV has done. 

Ben, what about you? How were you anticipating this? What were you looking forward to about it? What were some of your concerns coming into it?

Ben 

I was admittedly really nervous about this show going into it. We had drama in the reactions to this show in just the original casting choices.Fourth and Gemini were originally announced as part of the cast for this, and then, looks like GMMTV shuffled some stuff because they wanted to prioritize the boys' availability for a different project because My School President was received apparently really well, at least enough for GMMTV to make some different decisions.

But there was a lot of drama in the English language reactions about not wanting BL paired boys in this at all. So I was worried from the get go that we were already having fights about the market that they were trying to pull in. And I was really nervous about what GMMTV was gonna do with this. I've bitched on this podcast quite a few times about when I think BL doesn't necessarily care that much about how queer their boys read and sometimes ship is more important than some sort of queer coming of age beat that they really wanna hit. I was really nervous about what that might look like for a GL because we don't have a framework for what that looks like. there's actually not a great deal of lesbian coming of age romance internationally, even, to pull from, and even within Thailand there's only a couple of projects that I can really refer to from like a lesbian film history. And most of those are for college girls. So there were a lot of big question marks for me going into this, so I actually went in with not a whole lot of expectation from this. I'm admittedly not familiar with Fon's work. I did not watch 10 Years Ticket. But I knew that folks like NiNi were really excited and wanted to see what Fon doing a GL would look like. 

So, there was a lot of anticipation and hope about what it could be, but I actually went in with very few expectations about what it might look like as a result.

NiNi 

So, Ginny, having those expectations and coming into the show, what were your first impressions of 23.5? What are some of the first things that you picked up on and maybe really enjoyed about it?

Ginny 

I loved the beginning. There were a couple different ways I was afraid that it might go wrong. One was that it would just feel like a gender flipped BL. Another was that it would be like overly softened and pastel in, especially what is usually labeled sapphic romance these days, frequently things are all very soft and delicate.

NiNi 

[laughs] Vaseline all over the lens and, like, nobody's talking too loud, yeah.

Ginny

Yeah, and I like to see women in stories, and especially women falling in love in stories feel as much like real people with all of the edges that real people have as boys get to do. So a thing that just thrilled me from episode 1 was what a mess Ongsa is. Ongsa played by Milk, incredible performance. Whatever criticisms, and we have many of the show, I think we can all agree that Milk was wonderful in this role and really did a phenomenal job of playing this tense and awkward and intensely self-conscious teenage lesbian that I saw so many people I know in. The way that she falls on the floor after having a phone message with her crush that's a little bit awkward but also positive and the way she would just flail around. The way it felt like she didn't quite know what to do with her body, like she's still growing and gangly and awkward, was just so beautifully done and I really enjoyed it. And it really did feel distinctly like girls as opposed to just, we're gonna do a BL but with wigs on.

I can't even put a finger on it, but there were so many little details that I was like, yes, this feels like young girls falling in love. The way that you feel about a pretty girl in school that you can barely even stand to talk to, and you feel like this giant gangly monster and she's this otherworldly gorgeous creature. So many of those nuances, especially in the earlier episodes, were just beautifully done and I loved them so much.

NiNi 

I feel like one of the things that helped contribute to that feel was the wardrobe. From the time I saw all the ways they were dressed, I was just like, this is what tropical girls in high school dressed like. There's a lot of t-shirts and shorts.

Ginny 

Yes!

NiNi 

It's not fancy, it's not done up. You're at home and you're chilling and you're wearing a t -shirt and some running shorts and maybe you've got socks on because your feet are cold for some reason. It made me think of growing up back in Trinidad because this is how it is. It felt really real. It felt like, okay, they understand girls.

Ginny 

Yes. There's one scene where they're running around the school at night for reasons—they shouldn't be there—but they're all in their little t-shirts. And it's like this slumber party feeling of excitement. And you're close to this person that you have a crush on. And somehow the wardrobe just made it all feel so much more like, yes, I've been there. I know what that feels like.

NiNi 

Ben, what about you? What are some of the things that you enjoyed when you started watching the show?

Ben

I was relieved that Ongsa already seemed to know that she liked girls. And so we get to enjoy Milk playing this human disaster of a lesbian in the early episodes. I often feel like there's a tension with some of the actors about their image. And some of them seem to struggle with having to be cringy or kind of gross. And Milk is not one of them. It's why I think a lot of her characters have such a believable quality to them. The way they move, they feel like they're present in the space. They don't feel necessarily like they're aware of the camera. They're just so focused on what they're trying to feel in the moment. 

I rarely have trouble accessing Milk's characters across the various performances we've been lucky enough to have from her. And I really liked her in the early stages. I liked how she played the absolute mess that was her character. The way she was struggling with same-sex attraction and the idea that reciprocity was not something that was accessible to her. That's a very common queer feeling that I think was captured really well. So I really understood Ongsa's early hesitancy when it came to clearing things up with Sun. And I thought that was really well done.

NiNi 

I feel like I always end up with the 'I as well!' But I too am here to praise Milk. I have enjoyed Milk as an actor. She hasn't had a lot to do yet, but with this role, I feel like she nailed it on from minute one, the very first frame that she's in, I a hundred percent believe her. I believe everything about her character. I believe the feelings that her character has. I believe that she believes that she is this awkward loser who's never gonna have friends or anybody. And I also believe when she stops believing that. 

There's some quality to Milk and her acting—maybe it's the ability to go for the cringy without being too worried about how she looks—she nailed on that character. A hundred percent believable from beginning to end, even through some of the wobbles that we're gonna talk about later on in terms of the story. There was never a point in time where I did not believe Milk as Ongsa and that this is how Ongsa would react to these things happening in her life.

00:14:18 23.5: Supporting Characters

NiNi

Let's talk a little bit about some of the other characters. We've got Milk playing Ongsa, and then we've got Love playing Sun. I struggled a little bit with Sun? I think that it was good casting to have Love play Sun, because this idea of this girl who is so sweet and cute and gorgeous, this girl that Ongsa would absolutely fall in love with, I totally bought that from Love. But I feel like the story didn't expect much more of her? I truly enjoyed Love's performance when she was given stuff to do.

Ginny 

Yeah, I agree. There were moments later in the series where we got to see her dig in and give us something more than this very sweet, kind, and pretty love interest character. I was like, “See, she can do it. Why didn't you give her more to do earlier?” It's hard to talk about her performance because they didn't give her very much to do and the writing was pretty shaky on her character, I think. 

View—playing Aylin the cousin—I've always been a huge fan of View's acting. She's never not nailed a role as far as I've seen and she was also a delight in this.

Ciize, I thought was great. Also sadly underused, but where she was, she really shone. Even though she's smaller than everybody else, she is the alpha. She's the class president and the older sister. Very tired and keeping everybody in shape. Enjoyed her role a lot.

I don't have a lot to say about June.

Ben

Oop! [all laugh] 

Ginny

Sorry, June!

Ben 

What do you have to say about June? Well, she was there. [laughs] Damn.

NiNi 

I find June as an actor quite accessible a lot of the time, but in this I wasn't sure what she was supposed to be? I feel like her characterization wasn't clear and because of that I didn't know where to land on her performance. I feel like I enjoyed it, but then also it felt, not wobbly exactly, but more confused.

Ginny 

I think there was a similar issue as with Love's character, Sun, where they were both there to be the love interest for the awkward, weird character, and they weren't given anything else to do except to be sweet and accepting towards the awkward, weird character. That's a shame. I haven't seen June in anything else, so that's why I don't have anything to say about her. 

Ben 

Oh, did you not watch Dangerous Romance?

Ginny 

I did not. 

NiNi 

Stop it right now. 

Ben 

Did you know?

NiNi

Stop it right [laughs] that a windmill—

[Ben and NiNi laugh]

Ginny 

Somehow, I do know that. [laughs]

NiNi 

That's never gonna get old.

Ben 

I will always make time for windmill jokes on this podcast.

[NiNi and Ginny laugh]

NiNi 

June was also in 10 Years Ticket. View and June were together in 10 Years Ticket and that's why I think they were also cast for this, because their characters in 10 Years Ticket were shipped together and I completely understand why. Even though they were not an actual couple in 10 Years Ticket, the energy was there. So I understand how they ended up paired together. So it was very strange that they went from a really solid, I thought, pairing in 10 Years Ticket to something here that felt so, to me in the end, wobbly.

Ginny 

Well, the problem is it was one-sided. Aylin was a great character and Luna, June's character, was just kind of there and they had a weird moment late in the series that kinda soured me on their whole story. But earlier they were very fun and good together. It was just that Luna was kind of just a pleasing backdrop to Aylin's whole situation.

Ben 

I don't think the casting team knows why most of the cast is even in this show. ‘Cause you have a lot of really talented people who are doing the best with the direction that they're being given on the day that they were filming. But just like every one of these episodes, as we'll get into, felt like it was internally fine, but not part of what came before or after it in a really consistent or coherent way, I think Love and June suffer the most for that. 

I think Love's actually really funny and really talented, but I don't think she knew what she was supposed to be doing for most of the show. She felt like she was lost in a lot of her scenes, it just does not feel very grounded. I don't think Love understood Sun, and I don't know that that's necessarily her fault either.

I think June is fine in terms of her ability to work with View but it was kind of a weird set of performances to watch. 

Let me talk bout the rest of these fucking side characters. This show had t4t teacher yuri.

NiNi 

The show had teachers in the school. Two of those teachers are being played by Golf and Godji. And these two teachers are supposed to be having a little side romance. I love a teacher side romance in a school show. However. Dot dot dot.

Ben

It's really frustrating because there was a real opportunity for these two women to sort of model what these younger characters could have. There's the whole hapless quality that Golf's character BamBam has that is probably meant to mirror what Ongsa has kinda going on. But I don't really know that they ever figured out something useful to do with them. It just feels like another beat happening. It doesn't feel like it's in sync with any sort of storytelling that's going on here.

Ginny 

It felt to me like it was just there to be there. There's t4t, yuri, or transbians as my friend likes to say— 

Ben 

TRANSBIANS!

[Ben and NiNi laugh]

NiNi 

I love that! Transbians! That is awesome.

Ginny 

[laughs] It felt like they're saying, “Oh, there's transbians, and that's enough. We don't have to actually make them have, like, a coherent story or more than a few cute moments here and there. I remember distinctly the episode where I realized what was supposed to be happening is this modeling thing. And it was in episode, like, 10 or something. It was so far into the series. But it just didn't come through early enough to have any kind of an impact.

I do like that they gave us those two teachers. I'm glad I would like us to get more transbians. [laughs] But I wish they'd done a better job.

00:21:27 23.5: Frustration with the Writing and Execution

NiNi 

I feel like we're dancing around a little bit like where we think that some of the criticisms of the story are coming from, so let's dive into that. I feel like the beginning of the story, that first arc of Ongsa basically catfishing Sun, I felt like that arc was really strong. Like, I understood what was happening there. And then it gets squishy in the middle once it's obvious to Sun that Ongsa is this person that she's been talking to the whole time that she thought was a guy. 

I feel like once that happens, the show starts getting interested in other things that had nothing to do with what had gone before. It wasn't following on from that first arc. And then somehow at the end they kinda try to dovetail back to that first arc in certain ways while also doing a third arc that doesn't really work? 

It feels disjointed and disconnected. It feels like in each episode they knew what they wanted to accomplish, but the episodes themselves don't link together into a coherent story.

Ginny 

For me, it felt like right up through the reveal that Ongsa was Earth, it felt coherent and I was with it, and at that point, I was feeling like this is a really solid show. And then it felt like they did about four or five episodes that, each one of them belonged to a different story. Each episode was a coherent story in itself, but did not feel very connected to what came before or what came afterward or much of the established characterization. And then at the end they did kind of tie some of the emotional impact of that big deception and reveal in, and Love got to actually do some good acting as Sun talked to Ongsa about her frustrations about how Ongsa kept holding back in this relationship. Which was great, but I was already so spun around like, what ride am I on anymore, because of the four or five filler feeling episodes, that it just really marred the impact.

Ben 

I agree with you there, especially when it comes to Love getting to act later on. I find myself very frustrated with this show's unwillingness to let Sun be mad for more than half an episode. I need, like, a really good boil for a character. I need somebody to be irritated as fuck. I really like when somebody's just fucking pissed about some shit that somebody did. A lot of these shows, I have found from GMMTV, really struggle with that. They're constantly worried about selling ship. So they don't want the characters to be upset with each other for very long. 

But it means that Sun doesn't really feel very human for me. She has such a super delayed reaction to Ongsa's big lie that I was just not exactly feeling her shift. I was just kinda like, okay, I guess. We shoulda done this a couple of weeks ago, but whatever, at least we're sorta getting it now.

I don't, also, understand—why is everyone here? What is the point of AJ's character, Ton? Why is Euro in this if he's not gonna score with one of the twins? Why is Ford here? What was the point of this little gay boy subplot that they put in this? I don't know what they were going for here.

NiNi 

Going back to the Sun thing, I think that the idea they were trying to get across was that Sun was burying a lot of things that then came out in this well of frustration. Part of her character is to be this nice, sweet girl. And nice, sweet girls, they let things go. I feel like that's what they wanted to do with her character, but I don't feel like they wrote her character in that way. The character doesn't feel like a character who is burying things. The character feels like a character who has let things go.

And then with all the other stuff that was happening, because there was so much coming at us. There was this whole idea of Alpha being the big sister and the pressures that that put on her. There was this idea of the teachers feeling pressured to do the best that they could by these students. There was whatever was going on with AJ's character. I have no idea what that was about. And that little runner with AJ's character and Earn's character, Charoen and Ton, I still have no idea what any of that was about.

Ginny 

No idea.

Ben 

I don't like it! That's for damn sure.

[Ginny laughs]

NiNi 

Did not like it. No clue what it was about. AJ, you need to call your agent because they're not doing well by you this year.

There's just all this churn happening in the middle of the story that has nothing to do with what happened before, nothing to do with what's happening after, all is coming out of the blue. But in another show would have really worked, like the Alpha stuff, the big sister stressed out stuff. 

There is a way in which that could have worked, but they didn't really put any emphasis on that sisterly relationship between Ongsa, Aylin, and Alpha and how that might have been altered by the fact that Ongsa and Alpha have been living apart because Ongsa has been living in Phuket with their dad and Alpha has been living in Bangkok with their mom and now the family's back together. What does that look like, now having to take care of your little sister again when you had gotten unaccustomed to doing that? The whole fact that Alyn is their cousin who's living with them. Why is she living with them? What does this mean? How is she integrating into the family? None of that stuff is really touched on. It's a little bit touched on, but not really. It feels like they wanted to tackle Alpha as a character and all these stresses that she feels, but they're not actually showing us the stresses. So it feels like it comes out of nowhere. 

And then everything that happens with Euro's character and Ford's character—just excise that from the show. Why is it even there? Why are they there? Why did they get out of bed and come to set? Somebody explain that to me.

Ben 

Every single week I was like, “Here's how Euro can still win.”

[Ben and Ginny laugh]

Ginny 

To be clear, because this confused me for a while, for Ben, Euro winning is not Euro getting a love interest. Euro winning is Euro being with AJ, specifically.

Ben 

He just needs to kiss one of the twins and I'll be satisfied.

NiNi 

We are big Euro lovers on this podcast. We think he's a great actor who has been overlooked and underutilized and we want to see him win in every way possible. Every way, including getting to kiss whoever he wants—boys, girls, whatever. Let him have it.

Ben 

It always feels like it comes back to ship when it comes to GMMTV. If we wanted to do an Alpha focus episode, we need to open with her as the viewpoint character and narrator for an episode, and focus on Alpha and how she's seeing all of this going on with everything else she's juggling. Alpha is struggling with not being able to understand how to help her sister or her cousin when she can see they're both having big trouble, even as she's trying to make sure they get fed, go to school on time. And she's also trying to get ready for college and she's just freaking the fuck out, like this has the potential to be really good. But it just ends up not feeling that way. 

It doesn't feel like they weren't planning this show it just feels maybe over planned? I'm not really certain. It's a weird experience watching the show and trying to talk about it. You feel like you're being tickled at the back of your head the whole time, trying to follow what the fuck is going on and where this shit is building to.

Ginny 

It feels like they had a really powerful brainstorming phase and then did not carry on to the pruning and organizing. They were like, yeah, and Ciize’s character is gonna have this stress arc, and the teachers are gonna have a romance, and Euro’s gonna have a romance, and AJ is gonna be there.

NiNi

I'm just so mad at you saying AJ's gonna be there. Like, there’s nothing else going on with AJ. He’s just gonna be present. 

Ginny 

You cannot deny that he was there. He was in this show.

NiNi 

He was very there. He was present.

Ben

It very much feels like there were some really powerful single statements they put on the board. Somebody wrote, like, “Big boys need love, too.” And everybody was like, “Hell yeah!” And then they didn't know what to do with it. [Ben laughs]

Ginny 

Right, exactly! It's frustrating!

Ben 

That is the adjective for this show. Frustrating.

NiNi 

I feel like this show had some really clear-eyed ideas at the start, though, and that's the thing that really stresses me out about it. At the start, I feel like they're connecting Mawin's feelings of not feeling good enough and isolation to Ongsa's feelings of not feeling good enough. I feel like that was where they wanted to go with it, but in the end they don't actually go anywhere with it. And I feel like they thought that they were making that parallel all the way to the end with that one and I just didn't see it. There's just so much that the show feels like it really thought it was nailing, like all the Aylin stuff. 

I really enjoyed that idea of Aylin feeling alienated from everybody and not because necessarily of any lack of love or anything from them, just feeling like she doesn't understand them and she needs them to work to be more understood by her rather than her necessarily having to do certain kinds of work to be more understood by them. That give and take. I feel like the show had that idea in the beginning, but then by the end, Luna is pushing Alyin to be more social. And I'm like, but I thought that we understood at the beginning when you were on the rooftop telling her you're not a human, you're a moon, that you understood what needed to happen here. But now you're pushing her to be more social? Like, why? It didn't feel like it connected.

Ginny 

That frustrated me a lot about them because I was really loving what they were doing with Aylin and that kind of acceptance between her and Luna. There's a way to do a, “Now let me help you do some of the social things that you felt unable to do. Let me work with you.” But they simply did not frame it so that it felt like something Aylin wanted. So it comes off just feeling like Luna says, “Well, now we're a couple, so I'm gonna make you be normal.” That's what that sequence felt like to me and that's the thing that soured me on their story. I really hated that.

Ben 

I think my favorite Aylin moment was her taking her own advice and then sending the little letter to Luna.

NiNi 

I liked any moment where it felt like Aylin had a revelation by watching somebody else or the way that other people were interacting doing something, whether or not she agreed with it, and then internalizing that and deciding how she would tackle something like that and then doing it. I like to watch that thought process work with Aylin. But I think at some point, Aylin went from somebody that the narrative was trying to understand to somebody that the narrative was trying to change. And I did not like that.

I love View, I think View is a phenomenal actress. Towards the end of the story, to me, it felt a little bit like she had checked out from the character.

00:33:42 23.5: Final Arc and Ratings

Ben 

I think that's the show. There were a lot of ideas that we were like, hey, this is a good idea. Ope, and it's gone.

NiNi 

We didn't even talk about the final arc with Sun going abroad. The final arc of this show did not connect to anything else, and it tried to tell me things about Sun as a character that had not been laid out in any way before. I feel like they tried to give Love something to do, but they also didn't really trust her with it. And I don't know why, because Love is a good actress. The bits that we see from her where they actually give her something to do in the show, she really nails it on. So why don't they trust her? 

The show just. it's kind of messy, that's not to say that I did not enjoy a great deal of it. The first major arc, maybe up to episode six or seven I feel like that is pretty solid.

Ben 

An evergreen comment about Thai BL.

[Ben and Ginny laugh]

NiNi

Not just Thai BL lately, boo boo. It feels like all of it. We've had some of these problems in Japan lately, too. And I think we've been talking about Korea in this way, as well. Instead of just writing the story from beginning to end, I feel like these writers are getting very excited and trying to do a lot and trying to be like, “Ooh, what can we do that's new and interesting?” How about you just write the story from beginning to the end? That would be fantastic. Thailand is, yes, guilty, but it's been a consistent critique that we've been having across shows, across countries this year. 

All of that said, let's rate this. Ginny, let's start with you. What did you rate 23.5?

Ginny 

I gave it a 7.5. There were some things that I really did like a lot, so I didn't wanna take it too low, but it just really failed to cohere into a good overall show.

NiNi 

Ben?

Ben 

Before I give my rating. Normally when I'm giving you all ratings it's on the scale of, is this worth your time to watch? I will say politically, you should stream 23.5. It is very important that the juice makers know that we want GL. You don't have to watch it. You should stream it. This is not the show that I wanted, but we do need to support this one. 

That being said, I gave the show a 6.5. I don't think this show is genuinely worth putting a shit ton of engagement into. This is not an experience I will be returning to. I don't think the show was very good. The positive things we felt on the front end about how well Milk captured young queer disaster, these are the good things to take with you. But please, please do better.

NiNi 

I slot in right between the two of you. I gave the show a 7. I do think the front end of this was really good. I liked all of the performances, even the ones that I felt that weren't entirely up there, that was more a function of the writing not being there to support what the actor or actress could do. I enjoyed Milk as Ongsa so much, all the way from beginning to end. All that together for me adds up to a 7. It's good enough, but I have some serious reservations about some of the writing.

So, I think that makes me as the person in the middle the actual score for 23.5. So it gets a 7 from The Conversation by the law of averages. It is worth your time from the standpoint of being the first GMMTV GL. It's worth your time from the standpoint of just watching Milk kill this character. Just be aware that the writing falls apart right after the midpoint.

Ben 

It may be GMMTV's first GL, but let's be clear, it's not GMMTV's first lesbians.

GMMTV has had lesbians since they started fucking around with gay people. There were lesbians in SOTUS. There were lesbians in Friendzone and Friendzone: Dangerous Area.

NiNi 

There were lesbians in Dangerous Romance, technically.

Ben 

Wait, what? Were there?

NiNI

We just talked about this!

Ben

Oh man, I blocked that out. [Ginny laughs] I forgot about the teacher plot! Because I was distracted about the knowledge that a windmill—

[all laugh]

NiNi 

And, moving on.

00:38:42 Only Boo

NiNi 

Alright, let's move on to the next show that we're gonna talk about, which is Only Boo. 

Ben, what is Only Boo about?

Ben 

How a gay boy inside of the bubble must remain trapped there, else he'd be forced to face the realities of the cruel homophobic world we live in.

Only Boo is a high school BL from GMMTV about a plucky kid whose mom is a member of the entertainment industry, who has huge aspirations of becoming an idol. He wants to become an idol so bad that he's bailing on classes and exams so he can go to auditions and his mom has had enough of that little kid's shit. So she sends his ass to the countryside to the school she went to so he can get his shit together and graduate from high school. Once he gets there, the very first thing this boy does is spend 500 goddamn dollars on a bike and has no fucking money and gets a—

[Ginny laughs]

NiNi 

I just knew that you were going up—that you were gonna go there in the very beginning. [all laugh] It is actually an important plot point, people, but it is still ridiculous.

Ben 

He has no money and basically gets adopted by the son of the restaurant near his hotel, who also serves food at their school. He's having a little bit of difficulty adjusting but ends up being very fond of the son of the restaurant owner and eventually befriends two other boys who also want to become idols. He is an incredibly fun character to watch, his name is Moo. He's clearly never once thought that people might not like him for being queer and is just so unabashedly joyous about what he loves in his life. He spends the bulk of the first two thirds of the show pursuing Kang, the boy who is helping him, before transitioning to Bangkok to become an idol. 

Complications ensue! Book is there. 

[all laugh]

NiNi 

All right, Ben let me come to you first with this one. What were some of your initial thoughts coming into this show?

Ben 

I gotta be honest, I had, like, my similar reaction to My School President on the front end. [laughs] I was like, I don't know who these boys are and I don't care. No new friends. [Ginny and NiNi laugh] It took me a while to warm up to Keen and Sea and that's not their fault. I'm just older and struggle with new actors. 

But I actually ended up really liking Moo a lot really early. It was interesting watching, like, a modern queer kid. Modern queer youth is really fascinating to me. I've talked about this before, like nobody teaches queer people their history. They have to go find other queer people who teach them their history. And so you end up with this thing a lot where a lot of the baby gays, they know fucking nothing. And Moo is a good example of that in a lot of ways. And it feels like his family has sheltered him because they probably clocked who he was really early and they don't want to talk about that sort of stuff with him. So he feels no shame about being queer. He feels no, like, maybe I should dial it back because people don't like or understand that shit. He's like, nah, I like that boy. And I know he liked me, too! 

I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed the performances with the sides ‘cause they got—what's his name—they paired him with Aun. 

NiNi 

Ashi?

Ben

Yeah. He's pretty solid. I actually like him. And I really thought he did a good job with gay yearning in the early parts of this show. I had a good time. I really also like the teachers in this. I was a teacher for about four years. And I thought that the way they presented the educators in the show was really well done. They were not cool at all, but they were really committed to their jobs. And they treated these kids with stern respect. They weren't like up these kids' asses all the time about unnecessary shit. But Moo was a half step away from being a delinquent for most of the show. And they were very big on applying foot to ass for that boy to make sure he got his shit together. 

I really enjoyed a lot of the early parts of the show. I thought the baseline cast chemistry across the board was really solid. I thought the actors worked really well together in almost every scene—whether I thought those scenes were the right call from a writing standpoint is another thing, but everybody seemed to understand why they were there

NiNi 

Ginny, how about you?

Ginny 

I don't like fluff in general, I won't seek it out. So I went into this one like, well, we'll see how I feel. Because it was clearly a very cute, fluffy kind of premise and cutesy high energy vibe. And I ended up so charmed by especially Keen's performance as Moo, but really both of them together, Sea and Keen, worked really well together and were written really nicely. 

We noted that it's the same writing team as Cooking Crush had. It did feel similar to Cooking Crush that we've started getting a little bit more sincerity and kindness from characters in how they have their kind of awkward first encounters and back and forth where they're trying to figure out, “Do I like you, do you like me, how do we navigate that?” There was so much sweetness and honesty in how they each approached each other and, like, genuine decency that I found really refreshing. So I was so charmed by this show, beyond my expectations, and really very into it for two thirds of its run.

NiNi 

I love Moo so much as a character. I was not planning on watching this show. As with a lot of the shows that I've ended up watching lately, I have had to eat my words. I started watching it sort of on a whim. I didn't have anything else to do, and by the end of the first episode I was entirely charmed by Moo.

He's just so alive as a character. Keen plays him really, really well. That sense of, not Devil May Care exactly, but boundless optimism. There is no indication anywhere in his affect that he has ever heard the word no despite the fact that he hears it all the time. [laughs] And I find that truly delightful. I find characters who are able to get a no, keep it moving and be like, “I am going to turn this no into a yes, but you don't know that yet.” I like that kind of energy and optimism, particularly in a character who is so young, because that's the kind of character who should have that energy and optimism. The kind of character who hasn't had their heart broken before.

I enjoyed Moo and Kang and how the attraction, the interest was instantaneous and mutual. Because one of the things that I was scared of going into this show was that it would be all about Moo being pushy and harassing Kang, but it was clear from the very beginning that whatever was going on here was entirely a hundred percent mutual and they were both very into what was happening.

I enjoyed Aun and Ashi as Payos and Potae despite me having major reservations about their storyline, but we'll get into that. I enjoyed the first, two thirds of this show immensely. Everything that happened with the high school story. And when I say enjoyed, not just from a standpoint of delight, but enjoyed from the standpoint of this writing makes sense. And these characters make sense and everything that is happening here makes sense. And then, it stopped making sense but before we get there…

Is there a before we get there? What else are we talking about before we get to the turn?

Ginny 

We've given Milk a lot of love and I do want to give her a bit more because she was also in this as a side character playing a completely different person from Ongsa, and also was just so fun to watch in every scene. Give Milk more work. I wanna see her in everything.

Ben 

I will give Milk a compliment as a backhand to the other people. [Ginny laughs] I understand why Milk was here. Why was everyone else?

NiNi (50:46)

Oh my god. [laughs] I also liked Milk as Neth. I enjoyed her characterization. I liked the kind of friend that Neth was to Kang. I enjoyed everything about her right up until a weird thing that happened in the last episode. I think she was delightful. 

Ben 

I'll say this about the Neth character. Neth is always timed well for whenever Kang's caution makes him back off of Moo, and she's very good about making him confront his own feelings so that he can take a step forward. She's used extremely well for that so that the development of the boys’ romance never feels stilted

00:48:06 Only Boo: Popping the Bubble

NiNi 

I guess now it's time to flip the script. Ginny, what did you not like here? How did the trajectory of the show go for you?

Ginny 

So around episode 9, we switch from high school to where Moo is starting to get to live his idol dreams. And Kang has overcome some of his own stuckness that he was in before Moo showed up to go to art school in Bangkok. Very exciting.

Then��� they made so many choices around the idol storyline. You know that there's gonna be an issue of him being an idol and dating. That's gotta be part of it with a show like this and with the story set up like this. And I was excited to see that. And every choice they made made me less and less excited. I was feeling real shaky by the end of episode 10. Episode 11, I thought was abysmal, I hated everything they did. And episode 12 was like, now I understand what you were trying to do, but you did it so badly. The final arc simply collapsed on itself.

NiNi 

Some of the seeds of the final arc were sown early on, particularly the Shone character. That character from the very beginning just did not sit right, but the final arc actively offended me. The whole idol arc for me, it was not the wave. They should not have done it. And the reason that they should not have done it is that they weren't intending to do anything meaningful with it. 

There are so many ways that you can do an idol story. It's not even that there had to be any one way that the story went. Idols and relationships, there are so many ways to do that story. The way that they chose was quite possibly the most offensive to me, first of all because it didn't make any sense, and then secondly in the end because it didn't matter and it didn't have anything to say about the idol system at all.

It happened. Moo was sad for a year. And then he got back together with Kang and he went and he said, “I don't wanna sign this stupid no dating anybody contract anymore.” And they just went, “Okay.” What was the point of the last four episodes if it was gonna be this easy? One thing I don't like is you spend a lot of narrative and thematic time on something that in the end is solved easily.

Ben, I know you've been holding back.

Ben 

This show is the end of my ability to tolerate bubble shows from GMMTV. I have an appreciation for the bubble, because I grew up in queer cinema. A lot of queer creators are dealing with a lot of grief and a lot of pain, and this comes through in a lot of the art. And so, this fictional space where homophobia is not an issue and boys can just moon after each other and everyone giggles and tee-hees until they get together can be a nice emotional break from that reality. But the problem I'm having with the GMMTV shows at this point is they are not just staying in the bubble. They keep alluding to the real world where homophobia is a real problem and then intentionally not dealing with that.

This thing they did in the show where Moo doesn't even know, like, the word gay exists or whatever, but Kang feels like he's had to deal with some internalized homophobia. But no he hasn't, his mom's totally cool. But then why is he like this? There was this interesting bit with Kang when they moved to Bangkok, where they're gonna be sharing an apartment together and Moo wanted to be intimate with him, and you could feel like Kang wanted to be intimate with him too, but was shy or nervous about it and didn't want to proceed with it. When you've been in the closet for a long time, actually doing something with someone is awkward and kind of nerve wracking, particularly when they're so confident the way Moo is. And I don't feel like we ever really got any resolution on that. And it feels like the show was only having him be shy because they wanted to time certain things out. 

That's one of the many gay frustrations I have with this show, where there's this interesting thing that feels very gay that the show then does absolutely nothing with, or tells us we were wrong about. Like, I sensed early on that some of Kang's reticence about being queer may have come from his mom. Apparently I misread that, whatever. It also bugs me that they won't tell Moo, like, you can't be an out idol, bro. But then fangirls are shipping Louis's character, Jang, with Pyos later on. Like, you can't have shipping culture and then not address where queer people slot into that. 

The very worst gay offense that this show created was having Moo bond with Payos, particularly over clocking Payos's crush on Potae, and then later on, for whatever reason, Moo decides to make Potae his confidant when he has to go into the closet, and not Payos. I don't understand how Payos, being the first other queer he bonded with that he wasn't trying to fuck, is not the person that he trusts with something important. And this was particularly hurtful for me, because Moo lets Payos think that he's gotten over Kang and has broken up with him after this huge “I'm gonna be with this man” arc. Like how lonely must have Payos felt at that moment? He was already struggling with his feelings that he might never get to be with Potae and then Moo, the strongest gay he knows, is like, I guess I gotta get over Kang, ‘cause you know, we gotta make that paper, bro. It is what it is.

I'm just so disappointed in that. And then there's the whole shit with Shone. Why make your cousin's boyfriend break up with him and then hit on your cousin's boyfriend that you made break up with him that you know he still loves? I was so disgusted with those last two things that it has forever soured the show for me.

NiNi 

The Shone stuff for me was particularly heinous. I am an elder sibling and I'm also a big cousin. To betray that big cousin trust, I couldn't fathom doing that to any of my little cousins.

I felt like Shone had no rights at that point. It's one thing when he initially develops this crush on Kang. He didn't know. Fine. Once you know, how do you do that? To me that breaks all the codes, you just don't do that, that's not a thing that you do. It's wicked, it's cruel, it's mean, absolutely unacceptable. And that was where the show really truly offended me.

The Potae and Payos stuff, Payos somehow going from being Moo's confidant to being on the outside while Potae gets to be on the inside, that didn't sit right with me, but the Shone stuff was really just egregious. I could not stomach it.

Ben 

And they made Moo apologize to him. I will never forgive them for that. I will never forgive them for making Moo apologize.

Ginny 

What the fuck was that with Shone? They had this moment earlier where I thought, okay, this is how we're resolving this. We're leading up to a big issue, but then we're gonna have them settle it by being kind and decent to each other and this cousin loyalty thing. Well, it's a little weird that you felt the need to do that at all, but okay, I like where we landed on this. And then they just have him so fully backstab. 

Purely from a narrative construction perspective, what we said we all love about Moo is he's so confident and so sure that, kind of, the world can't touch him. He's gonna get what he wants, and he makes it work and he makes it charming. He's very lovable in this kind of bullheaded determination mixed with sunny optimism. There were ways to then have him have a rude awakening that would have made sense in the story. Instead, what they did was they have, like, three people talk to Kang behind his back, and guilt trip the kid into breaking up with his boyfriend, And then do the no contact one year time skip, because God forbid we ever do anything different. 

If you want to give me an idol story and talk to me about the problems of idols dating, what if you have them actually deal with any of those challenges? I would not have minded if the story was leading to the company saying, “You know what, this is a bad outdated rule for XYZ reasons. We've seen this”. I wouldn't have even minded if it took them a year to get there. That's fine. But the way they did it was just much too easy, no conflict. Moo was just like, “I'm gonna talk to them.” And then he talked to them and it turned out they were already going to do the right thing. And I'm like, why? Make it interesting. Give me a story about that. Don't just do weird convoluted chasing and pining and this cousin backstabbing situation for an episode and a half. It didn't work on any level.

00:58:42 Only Boo: If You're Gonna Do An Idol Story, Commit

Ben 

This is the umpteenth GMMTV show where the poor kid has to upend their whole life for the benefit of the rich kid. And I'm over it. Kang must suffer so that Moo can succeed at being an idol. This is a very weird, specific thematic beat that this company's shows always go to. And I really, truly do not like it.

NiNi 

That was part of the issue, but the thing that really stuck out for me is that this is GMMTV that did this show. GMMTV is an idol house. That's what they are. Let's just be real. They create idols, they teach them to act and sing and dance and they put them out there in concerts and they sell fan meetings and they sell merch. They are an idol house. And what this show feels like, is that they did not want to catch any blowback from being an idol house. They were in a unique position as an idol house to have something, anything to say about this system. Whether they were trying to defend the system, whether they wanted to upend the system, whether they wanted to make a statement of any kind about the system that they participate in.

And they did none of those things. They gave some wishy-washy idea of, yes, we know that this is maybe probably bad, but we don't do this. It feels so disingenuous. It feels like they are trying to be like, oh, don't look over here. I'm not saying that they needed to take a moralistic position on this. I'm just saying that they needed to take a position, period. They could have taken a cynical position on this. They could have been like, this is where the money is. They could have taken an apologetic position on this, they could have taken so many different directions on a story like this depending on what it is that they wanted to say. And I might have been pissed with some of those directions but I, in the end would have been like, okay that's their position.

Ginny 

I will give, like, half a thimble full of credit for the end line being, “Oh yeah, this idols can't date rule is bullshit and we should get rid of it.” I was gonna feel even madder if it ended with Moo ending his contract because you can't be an idol and be in love and the story being fine with that.

At least they gave a momentary lip service to the, yeah, we don't do that. The other half of my half a thimble full of credit is that we have seen one of their BL actors go very public with a girlfriend and it seems like he was supported by the company in that. So, okay, presumably a little bit of their money is where the tiniest whisper of their mouth is, I guess. But yes, they should have said something. They're in the position to really tell a story about this. They should have said something. If they're gonna do this. they should have done it.

Ben 

Bestie, I respect your ability to give them half of a thimble of credit, I will be giving them nothing because they made the show. They put this in front of us. They're the ones who spent the whole fuckin’ show making us question whether or not Moo as he is could be an idol. I'm not giving them credit.

NiNi 

I feel like I slot in somewhere in the middle. More maybe towards the side of being pissed and it really comes down to the whole Payos story. After the one year time skip he's being shipped with Jang. At the end of the story there's a Potae/Payos ship that they're talking about. And at no point is there any indication that Moo is suffering because this is not quote unquote allowed but somehow whatever is going on with the Payos stuff, we're gonna lean into that. For me, if you make a statement on that, then yes, I give you the credit, but you just put it there and you don't say anything about it. 

Television as a medium exists at the nexus of art and commerce. Television doesn't exist without commerce. It's not like film, where people do it for the love. Television doesn't get put out if there's no money in it. Let's just be real about what TV is. The fact that this show is so mealy-mouthed about saying that, about accepting that that is where it sits. I just don't like it. The art commerce thing for me, I sit with it, I'm usually fine. I can usually look at a show and be like, okay, I can see where they did this for the love and where they did this for the money.

It's why I don't have a whole bunch of trouble with the branded pairing thing. My trouble with the branded pairing thing is always when it doesn't align with what the show is trying to do. But the whole act of casting branded pairs in things, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And I prefer to look at the branded pair thing, as, okay, well, in which way did this pair work for this set of rules and in which way did it not? As opposed to being pissed at the branded pair thing, because that's just, the price of the ride. 

But this one, it just bugged me, man. I felt like if you're gonna be so self-referential about the industry that you are in, that you have to make some kind of statement on it [laughs] one way or another. This show just didn't, and I didn't like that.

01:05:06 Only Boo: Final Thoughts and Ratings

Ben 

As I said in the Japan episode, telling stories about queer experiences in a respectful way is non-negotiable for me in a genre profiting off of people's titillation about seeing boys kiss each other. I don't think that's an unreasonable position to hold. So, as much as I love Moo as a character, and as much as I liked all of the bits we got to talk about early on in this show, this show fails as a queer narrative in a way that is unsettling, often annoying, and in some ways kinda harmful. And I can't pretend like that's okay.

NiNi

Let's rate. Ginny, what are we rating Only Boo?

Ginny 

Oh, I think I'm coming in a lot higher than you two, probably. I did really like the first two thirds and I think I was not as offended by the end. So I gave it a 7.

NiNi 

Ben, how about you?

Ben 

One of the downsides of me having basically a bad time with global BL since Cooking Crush and Cherry Magic Thailand ended, is I'm now starting to weight endings higher. This is not fun. It is making the ability to watch these shows week to week with other people unfun. The shows start fun and we're like, hell yeah, this is a fun show. And then by around episode eight or nine, we're in various stages of grief [NiNi laughs] and they don't finish strong. We don't get to feel triumphant at the end. We don't get to lift that fish out of the stream and be like, we got dinner tonight, boys! And I'm over pretending that the idea of the show is better than the reality of the show. 

As a result, Only Boo gets a 5.

NiNi 

I am, I think once again, splitting the difference. Because I did have a good time for the first eight episodes of this show. I was offended by the last two. A bad ending can ruin a show for me. It does not always, but it can ruin a show for me.

But throughout the entire show from end to end, I have to say, that throughline of Moo and Kang and their relationship. I just believed them so much. Even when the show is crashing down around them, they are somehow holding together that love story, and making me believe in it.

I want to give it a 6 but I think I'm going to end up at a 6.5 just for that. Moo and Kang and the Moo and Kang love story and Sea and Keen as Moo and Kang are so good.

So what does that leave us? 5, 6.5, 7, what does that one go to? Like a 6.25. I don't know. What is maths? 

Ginny 

We can call it a 6.

NiNi

I'm a whole engineer and I can't do maths.

Ben 

We can call it a 6. I'm calling producer privilege. This show pissed me off for gay reasons and I'm not gonna pretend that the romance makes up for pissing me off for gay reasons.

NiNi

Okay, it's a 6 from The Conversation.

01:08:45 Outro: High School Blues

NiNi 

I wanna talk a little bit about these two shows just from the sense of both of them as high school shows, but also in the sense of them being shows that started out well and did pretty well through maybe half to two thirds of their run and then faltered at the end. When it comes to high school shows, as we have indicated before, we don't actually get as many of them as we think from Thailand.

Ginny

For me, the high school of it all is not the core of either show's problem. That's sort of incidental to just not having a clear understanding of the story it was telling. Did some very charming work with some very charming actors and scenes, but simply got lost at some point along the way.

NiNi 

My overall thinking about these two shows and where they landed for me is I don't know what Thailand wanted to say about high school in these shows or if they wanted to say anything about high school or if high school is just an incidental setting for these shows. What do they want to say about people on the cusp of growing up? What is it they want to say about the high school experience? I feel like that's not something that either of these shows was particularly interested in. Maybe to some extent more 23.5 was interested in it than Only Boo.

Ginny 

23.5 was a high school show and I think one of the big ideas that they wrote on the board was some stuff about high school social dynamics that they occasionally highlighted and then completely forgot about for episodes at a time.

Ben 

The big problem both of these shows have is they don't understand that the crux of a high school show is about growing up, and about how you can't go backwards anymore. The kids have to recognize that properly for the first time. I think both shows are trying to get there, but I think in almost every case, they get lost in the shipping of it all and not in the story that they need to tell. 

Almost all of these characters have broken arcs about growing up. Their energy is not focused on the proper culmination of the individual character arcs. They're focused exclusively on the romance arcs, and they believe that the resolution of these romance arcs is a good substitute for the resolution of their individual arcs. And it really frustrates me watching both of these shows not really landing on a good place about what it means to grow up. Which is for me, what is at the core of high school stories. Let's go back to The Breakfast Club and start over.

[Ben and NiNi laugh]

NiNi 

Not The Breakfast Club!

Ben 

I do not feel positively about either of these shows and I'm not righteous about it. I am disappointed and really frustrated. This is not a great place to be with the genre.

I don't know what's going on, everybody. I think we all need to take a good six month sabbatical. Let's have a beach episode as a whole genre, go plant some trees [NiNi laughs] and go to the beach and hang out for a bit and then come back and work on some stuff. We all need a break. It feels like people are stretched really thin. I don't know what's going on, but this is feeling like a global issue at this point. The initial ideas are good, but the execution is not. And then it ends on a flat note or an unsatisfying note.

I am a critic. Talking about stuff with people is more than half of the fun. Watching the show alone by myself is not the bulk of my enjoyment with a piece of media. My real fun with a piece of media is when I finish something and I'm gonna go annoy the nearest person to me. It's like, “Hey, it's time for you to watch something.” [NiNi laughs] That's what's fun for me.

These shows are not giving me that outlet. I don't get to share that with people who aren't BL fanatics like us. Sharing art with people is how I connect to people. And I can't share most of our shows [laughs] with normies because they're like, “This is bad. Why did you show this to me?”

NiNi 

See, that's the difference between you and me. I gave up on the normies a long time ago.

Ben 

I really want the people who watch Young Royals and Heartstopper to connect with BL. So when they finish those shows, be like, what else is there? I'm like, we got the list, girl. It's right here! But like, that list is not growing this year! We need fresh content for the list!

NiNi 

I mean, there is quite a backlog, so I feel like, if they need to take a break, I will understand. 

Ben 

They should take a break. It is summer. Everybody go to a beach. Get some sun.Go have an encounter with a hot stranger. Get your mind right, and then come back. 

We gotta take a break ‘cause this is not working. I haven't been this grumpy since 2018.

NiNi

You are grumpy right now, bestie. 

Ben 

It's not good! We can split hairs and talk about what these shows did good or bad, but in the end, are we saying people should go out and watch these shows earnestly? No. Okay.

NiNi 

We gotta wrap this up. So, that is going to do it for us on the GMMTV School Days episode. We out. Say bye to the people, Ginny.

Ginny

Bye!

NiNi

Say bye to the people, Ben.

Ben 

Peace!

[rosemelon82]

Dept. Q - whump list

Synopsis:

Carl, a former top-rated detective, is wracked with guilt following an attack that left his partner paralysed and another policeman dead. On his return to work, Carl is assigned to a cold case that will consume his life. (Source: google)

Genre: Crime, Thriller, Action

Whumpees:

Carl Morck played by Matthew Goode

Merritt Lingard played by Chloe Pirrie

Akram Salim played by Alexej Manvelov

James Hardy played by Jamie Sives

Other whumpees in orange

TW: forced captivity, murder, gore, death

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

01:

Carl Morck:

beginning of episode - shot, unable to move

18:21 - 23:00 - watching body cam footage, PTSD, ears ringing, taking medication

James Hardy:

beginning of episode - shot

28:31 - laying in hospital bed

Merritt Lingard:

end of episode - trying to hold her brother back, hit by her brother, falls into corner of metal storage box

02:

Carl Morck:

16:56 - tries to climb over fence, hits the posts, falls over (comedic)

44:37 - end of episode - forced to go up in front of reporters for a press conference, can't breathe, panic attack, wheezing, reliving the flashbacks, almost gets hit by car multiple times, helped to sit down

03:

Merritt Lingard:

beginning of episode - experiencing high pressure environment (literally), ears ringing

16:14 - 17:01 - under psychological torture, ears ringing, in pain

04 & 05:

none

06:

Carl Morck:

27:00 - 28:00 - beating somebody up, angry asf, spit on

07:

Merritt Lingard:

throughout episode - infected tooth, in pain

22:20 - forced to pull out own tooth with rusty pliers, in pain

end of episode - ears ringing, in pain, breathing hard, bloodshot eyes, hand stepped on, kicked in the face

Old lady:

46:25 - hit by massive pressure blast from hyperbaric chamber malfunction, bloody face

08:

Carl Morck:

beginning of episode - imagines killing someone in a dream

Merritt Lingard:

throughout episode - bruised and beaten face, in distress, crying,

09:

Carl Morck:

51:58 - shot, collapses

end of episode - arm in a sling

Akram Salim:

51:58 - hits head on counter/table(?) as Carl collapses on top of time

Merritt Lingard:

throughout episode - bruised and healing cuts on face, in pain, breathing heavily

Cunningham:

beginning of episode - TW: BRUTALITY, DEATH - taunted, beat, brutally killed

Sam Haig:

beginning of episode - TW: BRUTALITY, DEATH - ambushed, brutally beaten, thrown off cliff, death

Review:

I fucking loved this show. Its honestly one of my favorites right now. For those worried about the pacing, its a show from the UK, it comes with the territory and also the pacing works for this show. I loved all the characters and how deeply they were written. It really was overall a well written show with a lot of depth in the story, characters, and all the backstories which were so intricately woven. They really kept us guessing until the last moment and carefully unwrapped each detail in a calculated manner. If you enjoyed Sherlock, Young Wallander, and/or Strike, this shows meant for you to watch. It fits so perfectly in that category with its pacing, intricate writing, and calculating criminals. I can’t wait for season 2!!