#but midway through the main couple (i think?) are talking about their relationship

[moinsbienquekaworu]

Overanalysing texts isn't just for published literature, you can also do it with fanfic if you're motivated enough!

[locallixie]

Nip piercing, pleeease?

nipple piercings ; boyfriend!stray kids' reactions

🖇—...boyfriend!stray kids' reactions to their s/o having nipple piercings.

✧.* 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄 ; mature, boyfriend!stray kids, established relationship, gn!reader.

✧.* 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 ; minor language, general sexual themes, nipple-play.

bang chan—...

You didn’t tell him beforehand about getting your nipples done. And if you did, boy would he give you an earful.

When he saw them in person however, he was stunned—in a good way of course. He would have talked you out of getting such a risky piercing, but damn did it turned out looking hot as hell.

“Um…They— They looked nice.” He smiled shyly, hiding his reddened face with your shirt. It made him a little excited, if he’s completely honest. The metal shining under the bedroom light, bringing the focal point to your nipples.

"Did it hurt?" He questioned, gazing at the silver metal on your perked nipples.

You smirked, "Like hell, the girl who was doing it had to play around with them so she could get the angle right." Getting this piercing done was an interesting experience to say the least, it would be so much more fun if he was there with you. Maybe they might have him getting you up since he's your boyfriend.

The coldness gliding upon his lips as he kissed your chest, other hand toying with the metal on your nipple. Weirdly, this mix of temperature enhanced your sexual desires. Shit, you might be into temperature play?!

lee know—...

To be completely honest? He finds it pretty hot if you asked him. Though, he wouldn’t recommend you getting this piercing but he have to admit that you pulled it off well.

The fact that you didn’t reveal a word about having your nipples pierced, saving it until it was one of your more ‘intimate’ nights made it such a great surprise. He was making out with you like how he would usually eased you into the main course, slowly getting rid of your clothing. That was when his eyes met with two shiny metal on your nipples as he finally took off your shirt.

“Oh, this is new?” He was a little taken back by your bold move, teasingly yet curiously examining them in with his fingers.

You smiled, “Do you like them?”

Minho leaned down, laying his lips on your torso as he slowly moved down to your hard nipples. “You look pretty with them, baby.” Speaking while his hands began to knead them, drawing lewd sounds from your mouth.

changbin—...

At first, he didn't quite know how to react. He likes you, but doesn't really like that piercing in particular. And now you both came into one, it's just a bit much to handle!

However, after a while, he began to like it more. Every-time seeing it peeps out from under your shirt, he can't help but get a hard-on. You look so god-damn sexy with them on every-time he gets to see them in its entirety.

"I think you're starting to like them a little too much." You averted your gaze, trying not to make any loud noises. He kept touching your nipples through the thin fabric of your shirt, kneading them gently between his fingers.

He grinned sweetly, "I don't know, they're just kinda fun to play with, especially when I get to tease you like this~" That's fair, you like gropping his buff chest so guessed this is payback.

hyunjin—...

That's quite...a reckless move for you. Sure, he support and everything but damn. He didn't think you would go this crazy, though, he isn't saying that he's any better. With the image he is going for himself, you two look more like a couple than you ever did.

"You're kinda bold for getting your nipples pierced." Hyunjin commented.

"Yeah, said the bitch who dyed his hair an obnoxious red." Immediately at each other's throats. Oddly enough, I think he would get it on himself if he wanted to.

han—...

You didn't tell him, he had to figure out for himself. While cuddling with each other on the couch during one of your movie nights, he got distracted midway through the movie when he kept staring at the thing poking from under your shirt. What is that? Did you recently developed a skin condition of some sort? He's a little concerned.

The thought doesn't leave his mind all throughout the next twenty minutes of the movie playing on the T.V screen. Finally, it got unbearable, he just have to know what that is! You felt shivers running down your spin, his thumbs was brushing against your nipples through your shirt.

"Jisung...? What are you doing?" You asked, even if he couldn't see your red blushing face, he could still tell from the bashful expression you have on your face.

Pulling his hands away in a panicked manner, "Sorry! It's just...there's something under your shirt."

In a very casual, as if it was not big news. "Oh that? I got my nipples pierced." Jisung was immediately taken back, wide eyes staring in a confused amazement.

"You need a better look?" You teased, gently grabbing his hands.

felix—...

He knew beforehand since you had personally asked him to come acompany you. Out of confusion and pure admiration, he went along. Felix might try to talk you out of it, even though he is all for 'your body, your choice.'

"Are you sure you want this? Do you need to hold my hand?" Bombarding you with questions regarding his concerns, while you were taking off your shirt as calm as ever.

He needed to hold your hand, he needed support more than you it seems. It was a quick process, two stabs and done. Though he was asked by the piercer to play around with your nipples to get it up, which he was embarrassed to do in front of an audience.

"You look nice!" He beamed like always, maybe it was because your were his lover so he is clearly biased, but he genuinely thought they were not too bad.

seungmin—...

“Like on your nipples?” Seungmin did understand what you say, he was just the very bit dumbfounded as he tried to digest the information you had sprung onto him. Should he stop you before you make a reckless decision? Or let you do whatever you please since it is your life anyways, and he isn’t paid enough to care too much?

You said nothing, simply lifting your shirt up for him to see. “Oh.” A word passed his lips, gazing intently at the shining metals that adorned your nipples.

Gradually, as you could see the tint of red surfacing on his cheeks till his ears. He had nothing to say, his mind had nothing to say. God, this was out of nowhere.

i.n—...

Put it away! Put the nipples away! When he said he wanted confirmation, your words are enough, there’s no need for showing him without a warning like that! Hiding his face behind his hands, he turned around with wanting to be respectful.

“Do you like them?” You smiled innocently, holding your shirt lifted. He looks so cute when he is embarrassed, you would like to tease him a bit more!

His whole face was entirely red, “If I say I do, will you put down your shirt?”

“Yes, compliment me now!” Replied to him, you toyed around with the metal piercings on your sensitive nipples in attempt to entice him.

The more he tried to hide himself, the redder he became. “They’re nice! They’re really nice!” He gave you a quick response, which of course didn’t satisfy you.

“You’re not even looking at them!”

[captaineyayah]

Happy Bad Batch eve, y’all ! Who else is absolutely terrified, excited, and ready to accept that they’re going to spend most of tomorrow in some sort of haze! I still don’t think I’ve truly processed that this is the final episode, but to help me cope I thought I’d share some of my anxiety riddled (probably delusional) theories about what the finale will bring.

First of all, I don’t think that this show will end like Rogue One did. I have seen people theorize that only Omega and the other kids will be the ones to successfully make it off of Tantiss, but this series has had such a focus on family that I can’t imagine that they would leave Omega on her own without any of her brothers. I also want to say that I don’t think that it will only be Omega and one other member of the Bad Batch who survives. I don’t think that they would kill off 4/6 of the main characters. Star Wars has always been about hope, even in the moments that seem hopeless, and I think that killing off over half of the characters would make this ending way more bitter than the bittersweet people keep talking about.

Secondly, for whoever does die (hopefully no one – except Hemlock), I cannot see any of these characters going out in any other way aside from self-sacrifice or as a catalyst for something. At this point, there is no way they would just randomly kill off one of these characters without it meaning something.

Moving onto the individual characters:

Wrecker is who I am honestly the least worried about. Do I think there is a 100% guarantee that he’ll live – no – but I do think that if they were going to pick one or two Bad Batch members to sacrifice themselves, I don’t think Wrecker would be their first choice.

Next up is Hunter and, honestly, I think I might be in the minority thinking that he might make it out of everything alive. I definitely wouldn’t put money on it, but his and Omega’s relationship has been a focal point of the show since day one, so I think that there is a chance that that’ll be how it ends. Now, can I also definitely see Hunter doing the sacrificial play or pulling an Uno reverse card on one of his siblings who tries to sacrifice themselves, putting himself in their place instead – yes…

This one might be a little more delusional than some of the others, and I have way more thoughts on him that I didn't include cause he's my favorite and this is long enough already, but there are basically two ways I can logically see Echo’s fate ending. Either he is the one to sacrifice himself (Filoni, I am in your fucking walls if you do anything to my boy!) or he is one of the ones to make it out, maybe not unscathed but alive. Midway through the season, I had started thinking that Echo wasn’t in enough of the episodes to make his death impactful, but with how competent he has shown to be in the past couple of episodes I’m starting to get worried. I do not know what they are setting up with his scomp getting stuck and I do not like it. There are also the parallels that everyone keeps pointing out between him and Fives in the stolen, blank armor and that does significantly scare me, but maybe this time he is successful in saving his brothers where Fives failed. Emotionally speaking, please, my boy has been through enough, let him live a happy little life after all the turmoil he’s been through! Please, I am begging you!

Finally, Crosshair is the one that if you had asked me when season 2 started coming out who I thought wouldn’t make it to the end of the series, I would have said him. Something about the line Rampart says about seeing how much Crosshair has actually changed from being just loyal to himself to being loyal to more than that makes me think that he’s going to sacrifice himself for his family, for the other kids, for the other clones. I can totally see Hunter trying to pull the sacrifice play, then Crosshair shoving him out of the way at the last second and doing it himself. I’ve seen people talk about how it would be a waste of his redemption arc that they’ve been building over the past two seasons, but this is also such a common trope that I can’t help but think it is a possibility.

Or maybe everybody survives and goes to live happily ever after on Pabu, and we're all stressed for absolutely nothing! (*muffled sobbing in the distance*)

[magicshopaholic]

Aspirin (Namjoon x OC)

Summary: You have a cold. Across the world, your loving boyfriend and spoiler king, Namjoon, is a dangerous combination of concerned and amused.

Pairing: Namjoon x OC

Genre: Established relationship; fluff

Rating: PG/15+

Word Count: 3.7 K

Warnings: mild sickness, long distance yearning, Namjoon is the dreamiest boyfriend on earth

A/N: This is set a few months prior to Industry Baby, and describes one of the "firsts" of Namjoon and Kaya's relationship. I wrote most of it on my phone in Bangkok airport and on Chaweng beach, so any typos are due to the vast amount of sand in my eyes.

Thank you so much to the wonderful @horanghoe and @meirkive who beta-ed this for me with tons of in-depth feedback and appropriate gushing <3

This is also part of my submission towards the Bangtan Bingo Spring Event by @bangtanwritingbingo, using my square “Sickfic”.

If you want to be added to the taglist, drop a comment or ask :)

Listen to: "gotta have you" by the weepies

namjoon masterlist | main masterlist

It's too high.

Kaya sighs, feeling her sinuses struggling to process even such a simple action. She debates vaguely which is worse: the cold that came out of nowhere, or the dissertation she's midway through reviewing that simply has to be done by Monday, come what may. Right now, she's leaning towards the former.

Correction: it's the bottle of Aspirin that's one shelf too high. 

She has absolutely no idea how it ended up there. If she can't reach the shelf to retrieve it, she definitely couldn't have placed it there in the first place. Her first thought is her friend Alex, who came over a few weeks ago and would have presumably helped herself to a couple of pills, as she usually does every time she's worked late. Her second thought is Namjoon, for whom the shelf is probably at eye level - but it’s been months since he’s been to her apartment so it’s highly unlikely that he would’ve inadvertently put her in this position.

Almost as though he knew she was thinking about him, her phone pings from where she’s left it on the dining table. Wincing at the sound, she shuffles out of the bathroom and across the kitchen of her studio apartment to check it.

Joon [15:10]

Hey, beautiful.

Kaya’s heart leaps weakly. She sinks into the chair, lowers the brightness of the screen and types out a reply.

Kaya [15:10]

Believe me, there’s nothing beautiful about me right now.

Joon [15:11]

Lies. How are you feeling?

She squints and begins replying, but her headache persists. Giving up, she calls him, setting the phone on speaker and walking over to the kitchen. He picks up on the second ring.

"Hey." 

She can hear the smile in his voice, and despite the horridness of her cold, it makes her feel slightly better.

"Sorry, I couldn't look at the screen any longer," she says thickly, placing it on the counter and retrieving a mug from a cabinet. "My head's pounding."

"Shit." In the background, she can hear the faint honking of a car. "It's that bad?"

"Remember how you pretended to pass out after I made you try that shrimp fried rice?”

“I remember crab and tuna being in there, too,” replies Namjoon calmly. “But that’s still pretty bad. Don’t you think you should go to a doctor?”

Kaya shakes her head immediately, wincing at the stinging pain in the middle of her forehead before she remembers that he can’t see her. “No, it’s not that bad. Yet,” she adds doubtfully. “And I don’t have the time for it, so I’m just making some green tea. Apparently it helps. Oh, and Aspirin.” When another honk emanates through the speaker, she frowns. “Are you driving?”

“No… I take my test next weekend,” he says sheepishly.

She chuckles. “I’m so proud,” she says, only partly joking. “Call me in case you need a pep talk?”

“I’m an expert at pep talks, I’ll have you know.”

“At giving them, maybe. These pep talks are different,” she informs him, tearing open a packet and shaking out the tea bag. “It’s a different kind of encouragement you need when you’re handling a machine that can actually kill a person.”

“Not helping,” he says. “I’m on my way to dinner. I’m super late and everyone’s already ordered…” He sighs heavily. “I really hope they haven’t got clams.”

“That’s rough, babe.”

“Shut up,” he mutters, but she can hear the chuckle in his voice. “Do you have any Aspirin in the house?”

“Yeah,” she answers, mimicking his sigh, “I just have to figure out how to get to it. Either my super tall friend or my super tall boyfriend left it there the last time they came over,” she says deliberately, sniffling into the sleeve of her hoodie.

Namjoon chuckles again. “I swear, baby, your super tall boyfriend didn’t touch that Aspirin. Oh, and before you try it,” he says quickly, a mild panic in his voice, “please don’t try to climb on the bathroom counter? Especially when you’re sick.”

Kaya rolls her eyes, instantly feeling her head spin again. “Of course not." A notification pops up on her screen and she suddenly remembers something. "Okay, wait, I think Mark’s out today. Maybe I'll ask him to pick some on his way back," she mutters, typing out a message to him.

"And Mark is…"

"My neighbour. Blond hair, army jacket? Looks like Matt Damon from The Departed?" she prompts. "You met him, when we were on our way out to dinner."

"Right." There's a pause during which she can hear the faint sound of a car zoom by. "I was confusing him with Maxim. That's the guy who dropped you back from campus that night, right?"

"Yeah, the new TA," she answers absently, scrolling through her phone. "Okay, Mark isn't responding."

"Is there anyone else you can call?" The underlying concern creeps in, and she feels herself smile in spite of herself.

"I can take care of myself," she reasons calmly. "He'll respond eventually. Even if it's late. I just really need that Aspirin to work," she groans.

Namjoon doesn't follow the change of topic, though. "Are you sure it’s a good idea to let some guy into your apartment in the middle of the night?" he asks, and this time the concern is unmistakable. "Especially when you’re weak and sick?"

"I'm not weak and sick," she says, rolling her eyes and dipping the tea bag into the cup of hot water. "I mean, I'm feeling weak and I am sick…" He's silent and she can almost visualize him raising an eyebrow knowingly. "And it's just Mark. He helped me fix my router, too, remember?"

"Uh-huh."

"Joon?"

"Yeah?"

Kaya takes the phone off speaker and brings it to her ear, turning around to lean back against the kitchen counter. "Trust me, I won't be inviting anyone into this toxic petri dish of germs for a few days now."

She can hear his smile through the phone. "That's what I like to hear." There's a beep through the phone followed by a rustle before his voice comes back. "Kaya, can I call you later, baby? I'm getting a call from Sera."

"Wow. PR agent trumps girlfriend, I see."

"That is not true," he says immediately, sounding rather like he's rolling his eyes. "There’s just that interview tomorrow and it’s an English one so there will be a lot of briefing for the other members."

Kaya snickers, the first time she's felt like doing so all day. "I'm kidding, babe. Sick people can make jokes too, you know?"

"You're hilarious."

"Go on, then, music producer," she says, sighing and picking up her mug of tea and heading back to the dining table. "I should call Mark too."

"Alright, love you. Feel better, baby."

His last words sound like there's a hug to follow and for a moment, Kaya is immensely disappointed that she can't get one, not while she's in Amsterdam and he's in Seoul. She simply sighs, hating being sick all over again. "I’ll do my best," she mumbles, trying not to whine as he chuckles and hangs up 

Kaya is sick and Namjoon is in a hurry, and neither of them notice.

She tries to stick to her word, though. She never does manage to retrieve the Aspirin but she drinks a second cup of green tea and moves to her tiny balcony with her laptop, hoping the fresh air might help her some. The glare of the screen is still too much, though, especially since her work for the day involves reading through assignments handed in by her thesis advisor’s post grad students. It’s dull work, especially since this particular class seems to be filled with absolute idiots - or that’s the way it feels today. 

The wifi signal struggles to reach the balcony, too, and around late afternoon, once it starts raining, she gives up. Shuffling back into her apartment with her laptop in one hand and coffee mug clutched to her chest with the other, she gives it another go before she has to get on a call with her advisor and his junior TA, Maxim, which also comes to a close quite soon.

“Kaya, I can barely understand you.” Professor Lloyd clutches the bridge of his nose. Kaya, whose video is mercifully turned off, opens her mouth to speak but is swiftly cut off. “You sound like you’re talking through a wall, dear,” he adds kindly, and to that, she has no response.

“But -”

“Sleep it off, and you can get a download from Maxim tomorrow.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he logs her out of the meeting.

Stumped, Kaya slams the lid of her laptop shut. Too tired to get off the couch, however, she stays there, feeling as though every limb could fall off any moment. She doesn’t wake up until hours later, and even that’s only because Mark calls her, informing her that his girlfriend might come over later that evening and if she does, could Kaya please hand over his spare key?

“Sure,” she answers groggily, coughing into the sleeve of her hoodie. 

“Are you okay?”

“No, I feel like I could die, honestly.”

“What?” There’s a note of panic in his voice. “What are you talking about? What happened?”

“Nothing, it’s… it’s just a cold,” she mutters, feeling her face clog worse than ever. “Could you… pick me up some Aspirin or something on your way back?” she asks, realising only as she says it that her headache has indeed disappeared after her nap, but everything else hurts twofold. “You know what? Forget it.”

“Are you sure? I could get it."

She bites her lip. “That would be great, actually. No pressure. I’ll give Emma the key.”

“Okay, then. And thanks,” he says. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

Kaya makes a non-committal noise before hanging up, feeling hideous. She attempts a shower where she wonders briefly if the fifteen minute window of hot water is enough for her to drown herself. That’s followed by a rather sad dinner of ramen - courtesy Namjoon, who’d insisted on having a box of ready–to-cook ramen in her apartment for emergencies - and whose only purpose is sustenance until she wakes up the next morning. 

The TV is a no-go, the volume either too low or too high. She even opens her laptop again but after reading the first email in her inbox (Hi Kaya, I just wanted to check if you’ve had a chance to go through my paper yet. I’ve quoted Ayn Rand in a couple of places and I was just wondering if Professor Lloyd would find that a bit too self-serving, given my main argument? If you could let me know what his reaction would be so I can change it, that would be fantastic. Regards, Matthew), she resists the urge to reply with a single “No”, and simply switches off her laptop.

It's a little after midnight when she finally resigns herself to bed, in the irritating position of being simultaneously exhausted yet wide awake. Wrapped in a blanket and a college hoodie, she props her phone up against the pillow next to hers, trying not to think about how it ought to be occupied by a certain someone now more than ever, and switches on an episode of Modern Family, hugging a box of tissues.

One and a half episodes in, the video gets cut off by an incoming call. Her annoyance lasts half a second before she realises who it is. Answering it with her knuckle, she snuggles further into her blanket, her heart flipping when she hears his voice.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

Kaya buries her face further into the pillow. "Like crap," she groans, voice muffled. "What are you doing up? Isn't it, like, the crack of dawn over there?"

"Um… no, it's almost seven-thirty."

"Perfect." She sniffles, emerging and wiping her nose with the crumpled tissue in her hand. "My brain is broken. I'm officially ill."

Namjoon snickers, and almost involuntarily, her heart skips a beat. "Baby, your brain is fine. Did you check if you have a fever? You look like you're sweating a bit."

"No, that's the VapoRub on my - wait how can you -" Kaya finally looks at her phone screen and gasps. "Oh, my God, you video called me?" She immediately hitches the blanket upto her nose. "What the hell, Namjoon?"

"What did I - you answered it!" he exclaims, eyes widening. 

Finally able to look at the screen without flinching, she takes note of her boyfriend; white long-sleeved t-shirt on, hair a soft brown and falling messily into his eyes. She leans slightly forward and squints.

"Are you at the studio? This early?" 

“Home studio,” he corrects her. “I have to make a few edits to this track and the rest of the day is going to be all about that interview.” He stifles a yawn into his hand. “Just waiting for my computer to turn on.”

Kaya groans again. “You can’t see me like this - I’m all gross and sick. Can’t we switch to regular call?”

“What? No! Kaya, you look fine. You’re -”

“Do not say I’m beautiful,” she interrupts him forcefully, hating and loving how comforting he looks with his bed head and broad chest. “I’m hideous,” she laments, burying her face into the blanket again.

Namjoon snorts. “This is a new side of you,” he comments, chuckling when she peeks out again in horror.

“It is. I’m ill,” she states dramatically, pushing her glasses up her nose. “And it’s too early in our relationship for you to see me like this, so I’m switching to -”

“No, Kaya - no.” He shakes his head, looking completely serious now. “Come on, I haven’t seen your face in three days, okay? I miss you.”

It’s the only thing that can give her pause. Sighing heavily, she tugs the blanket down to her chest. “I hate you. And I miss you, too.” When he grins, she can’t help but smile, too, even though she tries to suppress it. “I hate being sick,” she grumbles. “I look and feel like a troll.”

“You still have Disney princess eyes.”

“Like Cinderella before the fairy godmother?”

“You think she was in a ball gown and make-up for the rest of their lives?” He grimaces. “The prince would’ve been into her even in sweats and glasses.”

Kaya chuckles. “And you’re the prince in this scenario?”

“He wanted someone who could fit into the glass slipper, I wanted someone who could discuss Norwegian Wood with me without bringing up the movie.”

“High expectations, Mr Kim.”

“You fulfilled them all, Miss Madaan.” He smiles, making her heart do a backflip. “And more.”

Kaya bites her lip, suddenly wanting him here more than ever, despite her complaints. “I really hate being sick,” she murmurs, sniffling.

Resting his chin on his palm, he tosses his hair out of his eyes. “It’s uncomfortable, I know,” he says sympathetically.

“No, it’s not that. I just become this whining, bitching, moaning mess - which is so unlike me,” she adds, rolling her eyes. “And I fall into this spiral of self-pity and I cry at the dumbest things. Honestly, I miss you, but I’m kind of glad you aren’t around to see me in this state,” she tells him, dabbing at her nose with a tissue again.

“Well, it’s been three months into this relationship and I haven’t found a reason to break up with you yet,” he says seriously.

“I’d like to keep it that way.” Cracking a small smile, she tries to settle in a bit more comfortably. “How’d you sleep? You’re up early.”

“Yeah -” Namjoon leans back in his chair and stretches, and the momentary longing to be on his lap right then is intense. “There’s some construction that’s been going on here for, like, an hour. And the studio is soundproof, so…” He shrugs before looking up. “You remember, don’t you?” 

Despite the cold, she bites her lip at the memory, a warmth coursing up her neck. “I remember,” she says softly, nodding.

“Yeah, well. There’s some drilling going on somewhere and this is the only place where I can’t hear it.” He shakes his head. “It’s like a… like a sanctuary of my life’s work in the middle of the world’s most mundane events.”

Kaya stares. “Wow. That’s poetic, babe.”

“Nah, I can do better.” He waves a hand dismissively. “What about you? What did you do all day? Did you ever get that Aspirin?”

“Not yet, but I don’t have a headache anymore either,” she replies, tucking a greasy strand of hair behind her ear. “Now it’s just hot and cold flushes, along with the inability to breathe through my nose.” As if on cue, she sniffles. “It’s awesome.”

“Did you get any sleep? You know it’s important,” he says knowingly.

She narrows her eyes. “Such a hypocrite,” she mutters, and he grins bashfully. “Yeah, I did, actually. Right after I got kicked off a Skype call. Can you imagine?”

“You did what? What were you even doing on a Skype call when you’re sick, Kaya?” he demands, his tone part exasperated and part disapproving.

“I was working!” she exclaims. “Until Professor, uh… oh, what the fuck is his name?” she mutters, trailing off and shutting her eyes.

“I want to say Floyd?”

“Right. Lloyd.” She shakes her head. “He told me to sleep it off. Said I sounded like a truck or something.”

Namjoon raises an eyebrow. “Really? He said that?”

“Well… not exactly those words. But it’s in the same ballpark.”

“Isn’t it a good thing he’s telling you to take the day off?”

“Well, sure, but my deadline isn’t getting pushed back at all.” She turns over onto her back and runs a hand over her face. “This cold has to get better by tomorrow or I’m going to be working all through the weekend. Doesn’t help that this set of assignments is handed in by absolute morons,” she adds unfairly.

“Weren’t you one of those morons? About a year ago?”

“Excuse me,” she declares coldly. “I never handed in assigments over WhatsApp. And I had the foresight to do a damn spell check and not misspell Nietzsche, like an imbecile.” She sighs. “I told you I’m a nightmare when I’m sick,” she mumbles, turning over onto her side again to face him. "It's incredibly unattractive."

He smiles adoringly, though, his dimple popping. “It’s alright. I love you even when you're a nightmare."

There's a pause before several things happen at once. The words click in her mind the same time that Namjoon's eyes widen before he sighs.

"Did you just -"

"Not how I was planning it, but…" He shrugs, looking far less horrified than she feels. 

"You - you can't -" Kaya kicks her blanket aside weakly as she struggles to straighten up a bit, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Joon, what did you do?" she groans.

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't say that for the first time when I'm like this!"

Namjoon's face relaxes. "It wasn't on purpose, but it's true," he reasons.

"Well… take it back!"

"What? No! I'm not going to take it back," he argues, rolling his eyes. "I meant it."

Trying to ignore how her heart leaps at his words, she groans again. "Come on, Joon, not like this!"

"Why not? Just because you have a cold, I can't tell you I love -"

"Stop! Oh, God!" Kaya covers her face, whining as she hears him laugh. "I hate you so much, Kim Namjoon."

"Not the sentiment I was going for, but I love you, Kaya Madaan."

"Shut up."

"Feel free to say it back, by the way."

"Absolutely not," she declares, dropping her hands and glaring at him. "I'm going to wait until you're at your absolute worst to say it back."

He snorts, laughing even harder now, looking more handsome than ever. "Really? What's that going to look like?"

"I don't know. Seokjin told me you fall down a lot, so maybe one of those times?"

"I used to fall down a lot," he corrects her. "I’m a lot more coordinated now. Wait, so does this mean I'm going to have to wait until we're physically together to hear it?"

"Probably," she says icily, adjusting her blankets with a vengeance now. "And you have no one but yourself to blame."

He considers it for a moment. "I don't regret it," he decides.

She rolls her eyes when the doorbell rings. "Oh, that must be Mark," she mutters, sitting up awkwardly and climbing off the bed.

"Now?" Namjoon frowns as she picks up the phone on her way out. He checks his watch, jaw clenching slightly. "It's really late, Kaya."

"Yeah, well, he got back late, I guess," she murmurs, wiping at her nose with her sleeve. "It's Aspirin, I'll need it." She stops before opening the door and looks back at the screen. "I'll talk to you later? Think I'll just knock myself out with a pill."

"Be careful." He sighs, leaning back in his chair. "I miss you."

Kaya bites her lip, leaning back similarly against her front door and holding the phone up. "I miss you, too. I'm coming to Seoul next month, though," she says lightly.

"For a week," he adds, before shaking his head. "Sorry. It's better than nothing."

"It is." 

"Feel better. I love you," he adds after a moment, smirking.

"Oh, God," she mutters, this time completely failing at hiding her smile as her stomach does a backflip and her mind begins wandering into dangerous territory, such as how it would feel to hear those words in person, possibly with his arms around her, maybe with his lips at her ear, deep voice saying it for no one but her.

Namjoon is still grinning, clearly amused by this unexpected reaction. "Nothing you want to say?"

"Aspirin," she says blankly, making a show of moving away from the door and placing her hand on the knob.

"Alright, then. Bye."

"Aspirin."

He tilts his head, dimple popping. "I love you."

She nods, swallowing. "Yeah... Aspirin," she tells him, softer this time, before hanging up.

—

Thank you for reading. Don't forget to drop a review :)

Tagging: @kflixnet @k-radio @ggukkieland @bbl32

[clarkgriffon]

so, i finished bridgerton season 2

And here are my thoughts.

Overall, a vast improvement on Season 1. As someone who recently tried to rewatch Season 1 (in preparation for S2), I found myself struck by how much... worse it was in retrospect? Daphne and Simon being the main problem of the season; they’re captivating initially and throughout the stage of their courtship, but lose all interest once they become married about midway through the season. In other words, they suffer from writer-doesn’t-know-how-to-write-established-couple syndrome. The saving grace of Season 1 is the side plots. While there are too many side plots, they are at least, the more interesting part of the season.

Season 2 suffers from almost the opposite problem. The Kate and Anthony storyline I found one step away from flawless. I thought it was a wonderful resurrection of the enemies to lovers trope, for once, really letting the love interests feel the passionate hate so that it reads to the audience. As I mentioned before, I think there’s been a recent surge of “mild dislike to lovers” which I honestly don’t hate! I think it’s a fun trope too, but it isn’t enemies to lovers. Honestly, Simon and Daphne are a good example of mild dislike to lovers- an initial misunderstanding leads them to be offput by each other, but they get over it quickly and then fall in love. Kate and Anthony on the other hand not only stay at each other’s throats throughout the season, but even after they’ve established that there’s something between them, still don’t fix that tension. My one gripe with the Kate and Anthony main plot really didn’t have much to do with them and more to do with Edwina and Kate and that I’ve come to sort of loathe the “tragic accident fixes all wrong” trope. I just have seen that done so many times that it taking Kate being in a coma to fix her relationships felt cheap.

On the other hand, I can’t point to one background plot in Season 2 that I found astounding. None of them were bad, per se, but they weren’t amazing:

Penelope and the queen had a great set up for a story that was teased in the trailer and then stayed stagnant almost all season, only to resurge in the last few episodes. I really liked what they put forth in the first few episodes with Penelope’s close calls being Whistledown and the queen’s urge to catch the culprit, but it didn’t really feel like it went much of anywhere until it was used as a plot device for Eloise.

Speaking of Eloise, I liked the conceptual idea of what I think they were going for with her and her political ideas, but it felt very cheapened by her love story of the season. Where there’s one episode where she actually goes to a rally, everything about her this season felt less about her ideals and more about her crush on the paper boy. It’s just frustrating to see the writers think that they’re writing a feminist icon and instead in both seasons err more on the side of “not like other girls”

So, let’s talk about Benedict. The writers don’t care about Benedict. I’m willing to bet the only reason he’s in the show is because he’s in the books and eventually it’ll be his turn to be the focus. But they truly do not give a shit about this character. He is the only character whose plot line does not connect to any larger story. There is nothing about his art school plot that connects anywhere. Eloise’s paper boy connects her to Whistledown, Colin’s investment in the rubies connects him to the Featherington’s plot. Benedict is simply not plot relevant. The writers truly have so little to do with him that one episode his role is just getting high for absolutely no reason. (and it’s not even funny, which it’s supposed to be)

The Featherington scheme- I think this was actually one of the side plots I liked a bit more, mostly because I just really enjoy the characterization of Lady Featherington. I think she’s one of the characters they really nail with consistent characterization. I’ll admit that the story started to bore me once the new Lord Featherington started working with the Lady and they schemed together, but I enjoyed how it ended and I’m glad the ruby plot did not drag out to a future season (though I hope Colin ends up having more consequences for... whatever that was)

Finally, this show just has too many characters. While I liked the way Will ended the season with his club, the way his character felt shoe-horned into a story just to have the most minor scenes frustrated me. Same thing with the Modiste. Honestly, Colin, too. Whereas Benedict wasn’t plot relevant but got seemingly a whole disjointed side plot to himself, Colin had things to do that seemed like they were important and then just kind of weren’t.

ALL of that said, I actually really, really enjoyed the season. Including the side plots, as much as I nit picked at them just now. Kate and Anthony’s story just felt a lot more cohesively told. I’m glad that they left off with Eloise finally finding out that Penelope was Whistledown instead of dragging that out again, I think it’s going to provide some interesting angst in the future. Not really sure what they’re doing with Colin and Penelope, but I think the vibe is that Colin is still oblivious. Somehow. 

I really hope that in the next season, we also get a similar vibe to Daphne’s return with Kate and Anthony returning as well because I’ve become attached to them.

Okay, I think that’s it? I know I have more thoughts somewhere in my brain, but I’ve typed long enough.

[angelanimedesaray]

hey i saw your requests are open and i have the BIGGEST dad levi brainrot rn, can i request Levi and Reader in a long term relationship, reader’s sibling has a newborn kid and reader takes care of the kid and Levi sees how motherly reader is being, how would he react? i’m curious about what you think!

AN:  Ohhhhhh I love some Dad!Levi, I’ve got at least two or three fic ideas with eventual Dad!Levi, so it’ll be good to dip my toe into the waters a little earlier than I otherwise would have :D  I had these two little short scenes almost immediately come to mind when I read this and while I was at work, and its the first thing I started to do when I got home :D  Thank you for the request--I don’t get many <3

Plus, I think everyone needs some happy fluff after the two story whammies I just delivered XD

Fanfic One-Shot Request is below the cut.

~*~Different Kinds of Gifts~*~

*Levi’s POV*

He was midway through his day, finished with his daily cleaning routine (besides his own room) and finished with helping with morning training.  He was giving himself a bit of a break, and by break, he meant he was going to spend a few hours in his office doing paperwork.

When he opened the door to his office, he was met with an unexpected sight.

It wasn’t the same office that he used to have--once the two of you had solidified your relationship as a serious one and started practically living with one another, Erwin had moved the two of you into a larger space that was more like a small apartment than a simple office and bedroom.  The main front room was still his office, but it doubled as a living room as well, with a couch, fireplace, bookshelves, and lounge chairs taking up a portion of the room off to the side, though Levi’s desk and workspace was still center, and a straight shot from the front door with nothing in the way.  Instead of one branched off room there were three--the bedroom, of course, off to the right, as well as a washroom and a small private kitchen whose doorways were along the left wall.

Practically the lap of luxury by Scout standards.

However, right now the little sanctuary you two shared was occupied by more than just you.

Levi paused just in front of the doorway, his hand still on the doorknob and the door hovering open just a crack as he processed the sight in front of him.

You were sitting on your usual spot on the couch, somewhere he actually knew to look for you whenever he needed to find you.  However, in your arms was a small, carefully wrapped bundle, tiny arms hanging free and moving involuntarily around in the air, coming to curious stops whenever they collided with your chest, neck, or chin, little fingers curling instinctively against the human being they found.  A small face of soft and not-yet defined features was peeking out from the bundle, the cloth wrapped around its head like a snugly fitting cloak, and its eyes were open, staring widely at your face as you peered down at the babe with a soft smile, a mouth that could probably be covered by the pad of his finger working as if it was trying to copy the sounds you were making as you spoke softly to the little one.

For a moment, Levi was just...confused.  What were you doing with a baby in his office?  Where had the baby even come from?  He was pretty sure that whole thing about storks coming to deliver swaddled babies to expecting parents was an out for parents who weren’t ready to have the babies talk.

He was pretty sure.  The sudden appearance of a baby in your arms made him doubt for a couple of moments.

With the initial surprise passing, Levi shut the door behind him much more quietly than he initially would have, though you had already looked up by now to see him entering the room, that soft smile still on your face.

“Hey--didn’t expect to see you for a couple more hours, at least,” you said, as if it wasn’t noteworthy that you had a baby in your arms.

“Paperwork--what’s with the...”

Levi was dismissive about why /he/ was here, considering he was much more interested in why the /baby/ was here.  You only chuckled at his confusion, though, one of your fingers brushing against the baby’s little cheek and making the baby try and look to see what touched them, eyes following the finger as it traced lazy circles in the air in front of the baby’s face.

“You know how my sister had her baby the other week?” you said pointedly, and the pieces clicked into his mind.  Ah, /that’s/ what was going on.  Babysitting.

“I thought their boy already had a reputation for his lungs,” Levi said wryly, moving over to his desk and taking off his jacket, draping it carefully over the back of the chair for the time being until he was ready to put it back on and get back to work /outside/ his office.

“Oh, believe me, he does--he came here screaming and crying and people kept checking in to see what the hell was going on,” you said with a chuckle.  “But we got pretty well acquainted.  He seems to like me, now.  Don’t tell my sister, though--she’ll want to know what my secret is.”

“What is your secret?  They were having a rough time getting him to quiet down,” Levi remarked as he took a seat, remembering the tired circles under your sisters eyes the last time he’d seen her and how she’d been running through an exhaustive list of what they’d already tried to calm their newborn son down.

You shrugged.  “There is none.  I guess I just have a gift for it,” you said with a twinkle in your eye, turning your attention back to the newborn as he seemed to be burying his face in your chest.  “Hey, that’s not going to give you any food, I’m not your Momma!  Where’s that bottle.”

“Hey, hands off, those are mine,” he grumbled at the baby as he pulled a stack of papers towards him.  You shot him a look which he returned with the ghost of a smile flickering across his face, a bit of amusement in his eyes as he kept track of your movement through the office and apartment as you sought out the bottle to feed him.

Levi’s attention turned back to the paperwork he was planning on doing once his curiosity had been satiated, a relative silence falling over the room.  For the most part.  There was the occasional noise from the baby that got to eagerly suck on the warm milk after you’d disappeared briefly into the kitchen to heat up the milk.  You walked in slow, directionless lines around the room, wandering around to keep the baby entertained and in motion while you fed him, and a few minutes afterwards when you burped him (Making sure there was no mess left behind, of course), and as you simply hummed or talked to him, finger brushing against his lips, or his ears, or his cheeks, just giving him little reassuring touches until one of his hands curled around your fingers.  The smile you had when that happened was heart-melting, even if you had prompted it by letting your finger brush against the baby’s tiny hand, and it might have been a reflex more than anything else.

It wasn’t long before the baby was sleeping, but instead of laying him down on, say, the bed in the bedroom, you simply brought out a crescent moon pillow from the stash in the bedroom your sister had apparently given you while you were babysitting, and sat on the couch.  There you cradled the baby closely to you, mostly laying him on the pillow so he was securely held to you and you wouldn’t have to keep a hold of him with your arms, though they rested around him along the rim of the pillow.  Once he was safe and secure, you leaned your head back and closed your eyes, letting out a soft sigh and slipping off into a light sleep, something Levi could tell by the sound of your breathing.

The entire time, his attention kept getting drawn off the paperwork in front of him, watching you out of the corner of his eyes so you wouldn’t catch him, gaze following you as you paced around the room, watching how you interacted with the baby that seemed so content in your arms.  Now that you were asleep, he gazed more openly, even putting the pen down for a few moments with his arms lying loosely in front of him on the table, a small smile curling across his lips as he watched you and the baby sleeping soundly, the peaceful silence in the room somehow warmer than the sun outside.

A few days later, and the sight of you with your sister’s baby still hadn’t left his mind.

Currently, the image was plaguing him as the two of you stole some time for yourselves, the door to the apartment/office locked, with you sitting properly on the couch and Levi stretched out along the couch, his head in your lap as you gently threaded your fingers through his hair in a relaxing, soothing manner, allowing him to relax and stew in his own thoughts as he gazed up at you.

He was thinking about that peaceful moment when he’d watched you after you’d fallen asleep with the baby situated securely within your arms on the pillow.  He thought about that warm smile and the bright look in your eyes, how quickly the baby had taken a liking to you, how you’d said you had a gift for it.  He was looking at you in the present, but his mind was projecting an image that had been slowly solidifying in his mind since that day, of what it would be like, what it would feel like.

“What if we had a baby?”

You blinked, thrown off by his sudden question as you looked down at him in your lap, your hand pausing halfway through his hair.  “What?”

His cheeks colored with a light blush as he realized he’d just blurted that out loud without any context or explanation, just dropped it on you without warning.  “Not right now, there’s too much risk, but...eventually.  What if we had a baby?  When this is over?”

Your eyes were wide with surprise, lips moving without words coming out as if you were seeking for the right thing to say.  Suddenly, he got worried he’d somehow said the wrong thing, that he’d simply assumed, that he’d let his little fantasies run away with him without stopping to see what you thought about it.

“Unless...you don’t want kids,” he said, quickly trying to retreat and take back his blurted out question, already mentally kicking himself for springing this on you.

“No, I...I think I do, some day, I just...wasn’t expecting to be talking about it right now.  Honestly, I thought I was going to be the one to bring it up, not you,” you said with a slight laugh, hand running much more tenderly and intentionally this time through his hair to soothe him and any worries your hesitation had caused him.  “I do.  I’d love to have a child with you one day, Levi,” you promised him quietly.

Levi took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes to conjure up that mental image of you holding a child you’d had with him, that same warm look in your eyes--no, warmer.  Sparkling.  Like they were right now as you promised to have a child with him.

“One day...” he agreed in a low murmur.

Levi Tags:  @clary-quinn @humanitys-hottestsoldier @whalerus @sunny-flo @thirstyforsometea @hauntedhousecat @peaches-and-clouds

[ifeelallwrite]

Let’s talk about Hospital Playlist. (KDRAMA REVIEW)

note: does contain spoilers

When people ask me what is my favorite Korean drama of all time, with no doubt, IT’S HOSPITAL PLAYLIST. This drama has the comic relief, the emotional scenes, realistic characters-just to name a few. No toxic relationships and petty revenge fights. Nothing else will stop me for saying that this is the ultimate feel good drama.

SYNOPSIS: The drama shows insights into the daily lives of doctors and nurses working at Yulje Medical Hospital. It focuses on 5 doctors who have been friends since medical school, who also play together as a band.

This drama encompasses so many elements and characters so bear with me yo this might be real long 

Hospital Playlist is produced/written by the Shin-Lee PD and writer pairing, whose previous works were the renowned Reply trilogy and Prison Playbook (which are *chef’s kiss*) I really like that all their dramas really highlight humanism, and puts emphasis on creating a heartwarming and realistic series. There isn’t always a major conflict to be resolved, but instead it showcases how different people-in this case mostly those in the medical field-go on about their daily lives.  I also liked their reasoning to produce a medical drama which was that hospitals were where the most dramatic moments occurred, for example during births, deaths or sickness. And since we are still in the Covid-19 pandemic, it ties in greatly to be paying homage to all the medical personnel saving lives. Hence, props to those who were involved in this meaningful masterpiece <3

The drama is not the usual 16 episodes, but has 12 episodes for each season (SEASON 2 IS COMING SOON YAAS) Good thing is I felt that they were still able to weave a dynamic storyline in the first season even with lesser episodes. The writing was just top-notch with the witty humor bits. Additionally, the music is AMAZING. I love the concept of the main characters being a band and playing different songs every episode too.

Okay, now onto the characters. I thought that every character in this drama was well rounded. Starting of with the main five characters, also known as The 99ers, whose distinctive personalities and natural chemistry make all of them extremely likeable. All main characters are professors of different specialties, and I find the male OB-GYN (Seokhyeong) and female neurosurgeon (Songhwa) very refreshing. Also, I like Shin-Lee dramas always have characters that might be realistic yet hardly seen in other dramas or films. For example, Professor Ahn Jeongwon. Despite being a chaebol (inheritor/heir), he isn’t depicted as a spoilt brat or a cold character, instead as a warm Pediatric doctor who uses his wealth to secretly support patients in need. However it makes him stingy to his friends LOL

To be honest, I really thought I was gonna dislike Junwan due to his cold and tsundere nature. I pretty much believed that he was going to be the party pooper type of the bunch, but with the writer being a master of character development, he turned out to be really sincere and hilarious at times. Same for Ikjun, who apart from his enthusiastic and happy go lucky exterior, cares the most about the people around him. Although Seokhyeong seemed detached and introverted, he shows a emotional side to his friends as well as his mother. Songhwa is literally a girlboss though haha she’s smart, capable and gets along with everyone well. And she’s the most sane out of the bunch. 

With all the main characters, we have the relationships. Junwan is the first to date seriously with Iksun (the dog or Micky? jkjk) who is Ikjun’s sister. When it first happened I was like not again Jung Kyung Ho (bc he dated his best friend’s sis in prison playbook too LMAO) I think their relationship was realistic and open. It also showed a more sensitive side to Junwan who would do anything for her. I especially liked how he said he didn’t need access to her phone because he trusted her. Yet as all couples do, they have their fair share of ups and downs. Like conflicts on getting married and a long distance relationship as Iksun moves overseas for graduate studies. I don’t really know how to take the ambiguous ending for these two, as Junwan receives the returned box (that has the ring he sent) I really hope nothing bad happens to these two though.

I’m sure we all love Wintergarden couple though, tbh they’re kinda my OTP at the moment 🤣 It was pretty much a ‘will they won’t they’ relationship with a relatively slow build. I think Gyeoul turned out to be one of my favourite characters. Shin Hyun Been did a good job at portraying her as a straightforward but innocent Resident, who is pretty much openly crushing on Jeongwon. The scenes they had together were adorably awkward (and the scene where he gives her chocopies omg) And when Jeongwon battles his inner conflict to become a priest, the final decision where they kiss was beautifully shot, with the actors both showcasing their emotions extremely well. 

Then we have Chihong who pursues Songhwa, his professor. Midway through the drama, it is also shown that Ikjun and Songhwa might have had romantic feelings for each other. Songhwa ends up rejecting Chihong’s confession. In my opinion, Chihong was quite a interesting character but I didn’t really like him at the end. (I like the actor though) He did a real jerk move during drinking games, insisting on Ikjun to confess his feelings towards her even though he is already trying not to put Songhwa in an awkward spot. Although his character did end up making a cool exit and when I thought about his incredible story of soldier to doctor, I kinda regret disliking him that much. As for IkSong, In the final episode Ikjun confesses to her one last time, and we are left waiting for Songhwa’s reply. As much as I love this pairing, I don’t think that the ship will sail or maybe not as quickly as we think. I believe Songhwa would meticulously consider the sacrifices to their friendship or other aspects and might not be able to bring herself to it, but I hope it’s otherwise. 

Lastly not forgetting Seokhyeong and Minha, another Professor+resident pairing. This one’s a bit ambiguous though, mainly because there hasn’t been much romantic development. To me, the most impactful scene came from Minha who had been irritated by continuous night shifts and was on the verge of a breakdown. She ended up remarkably saving a patient, starting off surgery on her own for the first time. Oh man Minha was such a lovable character, I remember feeling so bad for her but extremely proud of her for her accomplishment. Although Seokhyeong seemed a bit aloof and distant (which was intentional bc he’s an introvert) I think the backstory and all the hardships he faced with his family really made me feel for him. I hate to break it to you, but I’m not so sure if the ship will sail because of the phone call from his ex-wife and Minha’s somewhat rejected confession. But who knows, they might pull off a twist 👀

Apart from all these characters, there are more characters HHAHAH However, I think this is the killing point of ShinLee dramas. Unlike typical dramas which usually focuses on a main character and 2-3 side characters, they like to cast a diverse range of actors (especially those from theatre/musicals and lesser known drama/movie actors) while actually give their characters personality or a reason to be there. I’ve seen many dramas where extras or side characters were kind of irrelevant thus making me feel that they weren’t needed to build the storyline, yet ShinLee dramas hit different y’all. Every role, no matter how small, holds significance to the drama. It really seemed like a collaborative work that shows off every actors skills (and not forgetting staffs) and teamwork.

Anyways because there are way too many characters and too many scenes for me to mention them all, I’ll just talk about some honourable mentions heheh

1. Sunbin and Seokmin confession scene (ahh so cute)

I kinda sensed that they liked each other at the start but I didn’t know Seokmin would ask her out on a date at the end. Even though it’s kinda awkward that they are dating and working with each other though (both are in the same department) but hey the confession was cute and awkward and just warm and fuzzy 🥰

2. MAMA ROSA IS THE QUEENN

I think we all (would) love Mama Rosa because she’s a real one ☝️ (probably the coolest mother ever) She’s feisty, hilarious and kind to others. Plus her friendship with Ju Jong Su was just adorable and super wholesome. The scenes where they were supporting one another through tough times and hanging out with each other when they felt lonely always put a smile on my face. Oh and how Mama Rosa treated Gyeoul was extremely sweet. (as well as Seokhyeong’s mother) Despite her tough exterior, she’s a likeable character for being a strong but caring woman.

3. Just Do Jae Hak

I seriously love this guy so muchhh omg he’s so funny

Do Jae Hak has a funny amd clumsy personality, though it’s clear he’s been through a lot and is strong willed person. From admitting his indecisiveness to counselling Jun Wan on his love issues, there’s literally nothing to hate about him.

4. Uju and his dadd

The father and son chemistry between these two is so good omg. The scenes with these two are so adorable and heartwarming (not to mention hilarious) It’s amazing to see how Ikjun cares so much for Uju despite his hectic workdays while going through infidelity issues with his ex-wife. Uju is matured for his age and shows his love and appreciation for his dad too, making their interaction a great portrayal of a healthy family relationship💞

5. the food stealing the show🥘

Who doesn’t love food and when a show has great food scenes? Some of the best scenes are definitely when the 99s gather to eat. It really showcases each character’s personality with the tiniest details as well as highlight warm delicious meals. Just don’t watch this when you’re hungry at 2am in the morning guys you’ll be drooling all over your screens HAHAHA

Of course there are way more aspects, like Hongdo and Yoonbok, Ikjun and Iksun’s pigeon jokes and raps, or Jeongwon drunk crying in the chicken shop with his brother (who was his coach in Reply 1994 when he played Chilbong LOL)

Most importantly, I think it is the themes and messages that you get from the drama that really create such a lasting impression. Not only does it hit you in the feels with the hardships of hospital patients, or the hardworking doctors+nurses who are working long shifts saving lives, it also tackles topics of friendships through the possibilities of platonic and friends-to-lovers relationships. However I think the biggest lesson for me came from Seokhyeong, who learns to live his life doing what he want, with the people he treasures. Although the drama might seem slow at times (mainly because there isn’t really a main plot line/conflict occurring), but this drama would still bring you on a journey where you would laugh, cry and finish the series, begging for season 2 ✌🏻

[wienerbarnes]

Much Ado About Nothing (4/6)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 1,608

Warnings: enemies to lovers, au series, some nervous thoughts, fruit

A/N: lot of steve in this one! and ooooo wedding next chapter👀

MAIN MASTERLIST | MUCH ADO MASTERLIST

Steve anxiously paces around the suite room that him and Sharon share, creating grooves in the floor waiting for her return.

As much as Steve loves fighting for what’s right, he hates this kind of confrontation.

She wouldn’t do this to me. Why would she do something like this to me? If she were cheating, why would she agree to marry me? Was it because there were a lot of people around? But, still, couldn’t she have told me in private if she wasn’t ready to get married, yet? It doesn’t make sense.

Every minute that passes feels like an hour and Steve can’t stand to just wait around for Sharon to get back from dinner. Or her affair. No! Her dinner! She can’t be cheating this has to be some kind of mistake!

“That’s it,” Steve doesn’t like infringing on the privacy of others, and he realizes that this makes him that kind of a fiancée , “F.R.I.D.A.Y., where is Sharon’s phone, right now? Can you track it? And where it’s been?”

“Yes, Captain. One moment.” The A.I. responds.

“Agent Carter’s private phone has been located at Le Bernardin, and has been at this location for approximately 114 minutes. Would you like me to contact her?”

“No! No! Don’t send anything! Thanks, F.R.I.D.A.Y.”

He was right! He knew Sharon wouldn’t cheat on him! And, as happy as he is to be assured of his future bride’s loyalty, an unanswered question still remains. Who were the people that John thought was Sharon and another guy?

Everything seemed a little… staged? He sees John every once in a while because he works in the lab with Bucky’s girl, but otherwise, he doesn’t really know anything about him. Why would he go out of his way to tell Steve his supposed affairs in his love life? Based on what Sam has told him, he’s not the kind of guy that’s just looking out for someone that way.

He knows John has struggled a bit around here, especially with everything that comes with having a brother that’s pretty famous. And because of all of this, he wants to believe John was doing this out of the goodness of his heart, but he just… can’t. Something just doesn’t feel right. Like it was being done on purpose.

“Is my wedding being sabotaged?” Steve asks aloud to the empty room.

…  

It’s a bit childish, he knows. Pretending to be asleep in their bed as he awaits Sharon’s return, her On My Way! text sitting unanswered on his phone. Jeez, he grew up picking fights with people twice his size and now fights Nazis for a living and he’s scared of an argument with his girlfriend. Or, fiancée .

So, he’s choosing to hide instead. He knows she would never be unfaithful to him, and that’s not what he wants to talk to her about. She’s so, so smart, and she can help him figure out who exactly is behind trying to create heat between them, and if it is John like he thinks, she can be the one to help him figure out what to do.

He suddenly hears her steps down the hall outside the room. He pushes himself deeper into the bed, hoping the mattress will swallow him whole so he can just emerge on his wedding day and not have to deal with the threat of someone trying to break the two of them up.

She removes her shoes at the door and even though he isn’t looking at her, he knows she’s taking off her earrings and moving towards the dresser to replace them in her jewelry box, as she always does when she gets home.

“Why are you pretending to be asleep?” She whispers into the dark room.

“How did you know?”

“You snore like a bear, babe.” She turns, a gentle smile on her face, and sits beside him on his side of the bed.

She leans down and pecks him on the lips as a hello, and he can smell the scent of bittersweet wine and cheesy pasta sauce, the smell of basil surrounding her. She smells like her favorite Italian restaurant, Le Bernardin, where she was tonight.

Any nerves Steve had has since vanished now that’s she’s pressed her sweet lips to his; her mere presence in the room calming him immensely.

“You wanna tell me what’s going on? Hope you’re not getting cold feet.” She scratches softly through his hair, and her joke comes out as just that - a joke. Because the thought of either of them having doubts about their love for each other is hilarious.

“I gotta tell you about something that happened tonight.” Steve finally tells her.

It’s time to get to the bottom of this.

…

You feel as though you might be more nervous than Sharon, the night before her wedding. You know she went out to dinner, and is probably cuddling with Steve on their last night together as fiancées. Meanwhile, you lie awake in your bed, the thought of going to a wedding so… displeasing.

You haven’t had the best luck with love. You’re grateful to not have encountered someone who hits you, but you have dealt with the manipulators, the gaslighters, the mental and emotional abusers, and the occasional stalker.

Other people tell you that not everyone is like that, and you tell yourself that, too. So you keep trying, keep dating, only to be disappointed once more. It’s exhausting. And it makes you hate love. And it clearly doesn’t seem to like you much, either.

So, as unbelievably happy as you are for your two best friends, you can’t help but dread tomorrow night. The light, dreamy colors of the ballroom, the sweet vows, the slow dances, the happy tears of pure joy.

You hate to admit because you know it’s wrong, but you’re jealous. And it’s less than twenty-four hours before the wedding and you don’t see how you’ll fix any of your problems in that time frame. So instead, you’ll lie here awake, lost in your thoughts, until you eventually fall asleep from utter weariness. And tomorrow, you’ll smile for your friends, and you’ll join in the dances, and then you’ll shed your own share of tears. But deep down, you won’t be able to help being a little sad.

What you think makes it worse, is that, as aware as you are based on your past experiences that relationships will fail you, you’ve done it to yourself again. And not only have you put yourself in the position again, but you’ve done it with someone who teased you, mocked you, and annoyed you ruthlessly here at the tower. You couldn’t have chosen better.

You hate relationships, you hate love, and yet, here you are, longing for one, wishing for one, dreaming for one, just looking for any kind of sign -

A soft knock echoes in your room and you glance at the small clock on your nightstand, 13:05. You roll over and stand up out of bed, your large shirt falling to cover midway on your thighs, socks padding across the floor.

You open the door to reveal Bucky, a pair of cotton shorts and a sweatshirt covering his own body, what you assume are his pyjamas, and he tucks a strand of hair behind his ear before asking,

“Do you like fruit?”

“... Did you knock at my door at one in the morning to ask me if I like fruit?” You ask.

“No. Well - yes. I, uh, I needed to make myself busy, so, I, uh, cut up some fruit, but now I have too much. Do you want some?” He explains. He almost looks… shy. And his shyness is what softens you enough to agree.

It’s a part of Bucky’s nightly routine to have trouble sleeping. And it’s been even worse over the couple of days now that he has so many new feelings to think about. To stress about.

The kitchen is silent as the two of you stand across from each other at the island, munching away at the mixed fruit cut into a large bowl.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You just did.” Stop being so catty! Just talk to him! No wonder your relationships fail, you’re always so mean!

“Why do you hate me?” He asks.

A small pause before you answer, “I don’t hate anyone.”

“Well, you certainly don’t like me.” He responds. You have no idea.

“And you certainly don’t like me.”

He picks up a piece of strawberry before replacing it back in the bowl. “Look. I only didn’t like you because you didn’t like me. What else was I supposed to do?” He argues.

“Well, I only didn’t like you because you didn’t like me! What was I supposed to do? I didn’t do anything to you!”

“And I didn’t do anything to you!”

Old habits die hard, the two of you realize as your bickering comes so naturally. He goes to continue the arguing when two people suddenly enter the kitchen and turn on the lights.

Steve and Sharon in their pyjamas stare at the two of you, anger clouded in your faces over what seems to be a bowl of fruit.

“Is that fruit?” Steve asks.

“We have a problem,” Sharon interrupts, “It involves the wedding and John.”

“The wedding?”

“Sam’s little brother?”

You and Bucky question, respectfully, the argument from before forgotten.

“I’ll explain, come on.” Sharon tells them before walking back towards the private rooms, seemingly to retrieve Nat, in order to get everyone’s help to figure out the next plan of action.

[muninnhuginn]

I saw your post comparing the finales of odd taxi and wonder egg and i agree the odd taxi finale was TIGHT - i was wondering though if you knew about the production issues on wep and that's why they had that recap episode. the actual actual finale just came out today!

Hey ^^.

Yeah, I'm aware of the production issues on WEP and I've seen the proper finale. Just gonna go through my understanding of them below so sorry if I repeat stuff you're already aware of!

(EDIT: This post got a lot longer than I intended so I put it under a readmore but it basically goes into my opinion on the production stuff as well as how the finale contradicts the groundwork previously laid out)

From what I gather, they've had scheduling issues throughout which led to them having to bring in a lot of foreign animators (I think ANN actually did an interview with some of the translators involved in relaying information between production and the animators - I'll see if I can find that after this). There were also instances where I believe people involved in the production literally ended up in hospital due to overwork.

In terms of the finale episode itself, I think this reddit post gives the gist of the timeline:

(Please keep in mind that though this is an example from just the finale, it happened for several episodes that they only finished with hours to spare - this actually led to the episode being released late on the Eng sub side a couple of times)

I think with WEP, it is going to become difficult to untangle where the issues arise from the production problems and where it's down to the actual writing and directing.

The show definitely started strong and in terms of tackling the really dicey topics it did superbly (I remember my only real issue on that end prior to the finale was the Accas commenting on "male vs female suicides" and iirc that was clarified on Twitter as *not* being the views of the writers - and the Accas acting that way tied in massively with their backstory in the Frill episode and how they clearly don't understand.) The art and animation throughout? Honestly, if I didn't know already about the production issues from outside sources like Twitter I'm not sure I would've been able to tell? Because for the most part it was ridiculously solid (though of course there were still signs - namely the midpoint recap episode and the way they stopped interweaving flower language near the very end and the sheer number of stills they used in ep 13).

Where the finale fell down in my eyes was the very thing that brought me into the series in the first place, aka how it handled the difficult topics. The narrative of the series is fairly strong early on, about how various societal factors contribute towards suicides, especially in young girls. This starts to falter somewhat down the latter end, though my personal opinion is that the Frill stuff doesn't discount the societal factors, but rather the pacing was off with her introduction and so there was no way the Frill and AI angle would have time to be fully explored and resolved within the remaining episodes. Anyway, society and how it impacts on minors with fairly nuanced takes in terms of how adults can take advantage of power dynamics over minors. There’s also the more straightforward character part about how the main four start as outsiders but end up actually becoming proper friends, hanging out outside of the egg quests.

With this in mind, there are some places where the final episode actively went against the previously laid groundwork:

In the Frill ep, we see Himari claiming to Ura-Acca that she’ll be “marriable” when she grows up, with the implication that this is pretty horrifying just hammered in by how she then mimics Frill with the “pop” noise. And then separately from this, we see that Sawaki has painted art of Ai as a grown-up and says “someday you’ll be a wonderful, adult woman like your mother”. Her mother who, I have to point out here, he is dating. There are various other red flags throughout the episodes but I’m just highlighting this one because it’s a parallel within the series itself. In the finale what we get is Sawaki saying that truth behind Koito’s suicide (which he was heavily implicated in) was “Koito tried to put advances on me, yelled rape accusations, then fell off a building”. And that scene ends with alt!Koito saying “Mr Sawaki is kind”. The entire series had been setting up red flags in terms of Sawaki’s relationship with Koito pre-series as well as his behaviour towards Ai and then the resolution is just “Koito was lying about rape threats and Sawaki is innocent”. Like, you can’t even argue this is somehow commentary on how there can be witch hunts when people make false accusations because nothing happened to Sawaki. It’s just plain and simple going against both Sawaki’s suspicious behaviour *and* undermining a lot of the previous points made about sexual harassment by having it be that Koito was lying. (Sidenote: If you *did* want to have something about people lying about sexual harassment without it undermining the rest of the series, you would have put it midway and had counter examples throughout, not put it at the very end so it becomes the final say, so to speak.)

Ura-Acca, Acca, and Frill. I personally think some of this is down to pacing issues which were present earlier than the finale compounded by the overall production issues, but regardless, this entire plotline with Frill and her minions was set up a few episodes prior to the finale. In the finale itself, the only time we even see Frill is in Neiru’s dream where her only role is to reveal that Neiru is an AI (and bring up the potential parallels that could be contained in that only to immediately go “but we don’t have time to unpack that”). The Accas just exist to say to Ai about the eggs, with no mention of the Warriors of Eros or Fear of Death stuff, despite how all four girls managed to achieve their goals. There is just no resolution or even acknowledgement as to this storyline.

This one is more subjective and tied in to how Neiru was handled. A big point which is shown during the series but explicitly laid out in ep 12 is how Ai has friends now and has grown throughout the series. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people drift and that they no longer have the egg quests tying them together. But at the same time, why make the point near the end when Ai is talking to her alt!self that she has friends and has grown now if you’re then just going to undo that at the final hurdle. (I could go into the Neiru stuff specifically but I think this post has gotten long enough and I’d tangent even further from talking about consistency throughout the series into the general writing of the last episode)

In retrospect, I do think you can tell from episode 12 that it was going to be almost impossible for WEP to stick the landing from the pieces that we had there, but I think it could have been salvageable if they'd just kept their own themes and narrative consistent with the rest of the show.

[procrastinatorimagines]

I Want Us Part 1

Fandom: Chicago PD / SVU

Series: I Want Us

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5 // Part 6 // Part 7 // Part 8 // Part 9 // Part 10 (Final)

Character/s: Reader x Carisi

Warning/s: mentions of kidnapping

Word Count: 2,171

Request:  Hi! So, idk if you will be up for writing a kind of crossover, if not it's totally okay. I was thinking reader being a detective in chicago pd but they go help svu with a case and she and carisi (still detective) have something ?? First meeting and stuff or more deep as in long distance relationship and reader gets pregnant so one of them have to leave their city ?? Idk I want you to feel comfortable writing whatever inspires you more. Amazing work btw!!

Summary: When a child abduction case crosses state lines in New York, Intelligence flies out to meet the Special Victims Unit and track down the missing boy. With the clock ticking, both units decide to mix up partners in order to combine their knowledge of the case with knowledge of New York City, pairing Intelligence’s newest member Y/N with Detective Carisi.

“I’m telling you boss, it’s like he’s just vanished,” Adam insisted, leaning forward in his chair as he spoke to Voight, who was standing in front of a whiteboard filled with potential leads and locations of your suspect and his son, Logan, who he kidnapped in the early hours of the morning, none of which had panned out. 

Voight looked increasing frustrated, and you didn’t blame him, the father and your suspect, Ronny had just been released from Statesville for assault and battery of his former spouse and older child. You were all scared for this boy’s safety and well aware of how quickly the odds of survival decreased as the clock continued to tick. 

Jay and Hailey had interviewed the family, the mother Claire and his older sister Josie, and were now at Hailey’s desk going over the statements, with Jay obviously sat on it instead of on a chair. Kev and Vanessa had gone to the prison, talked to Ronny’s cell mate and old friends, the warden, anyone who might have overheard him mention any plans. Leaving you and Antonio to review any surveillance, put out BOLOS and search the bogus address Ronny had given his parole officer. 

You’d all turned up a sum total of nothing.

“There has to be something,” Voight addressed the room, facing his unit with conviction, “go back over what we’ve got so far, we must have missed something, overlooked something, anything.” 

Adam spoke up again and you knew why, he’d already gone back over the witness statements, reinterviewed everyone with Kim who said they might have seen or heard anything in the neighbourhood, it was a dead end. “Listen-”

“No, you listen,” Voight snapped and you winced a little, you might have all been thinking the same thing as Ruzek, but he was the only one who usually ever said what was on everybody’s minds, putting him on the receiving end of Voight’s temper. “Unless you want to go downstairs and tell that terrified mother that her son’s ‘just vanished’, you shut up and do you job, clear?” 

You’d been in the unit a couple of years now and you were damn proud to be here. No matter how frustrating this was, you still had faith that you would catch the bad guy, this unit did it’s job and it did it well, you just hoped you wouldn’t be too late for Logan.

Ruzek begrudgingly nodded and so did the rest of you even though Voight hadn’t waited for an answer, heading straight back into his office. Turning back in your chair to your desk, you looked to where you were midway through re-combing the surveillence in the area for any sign of a vehicle Ronny might have fled in. He only had one registered in his name, and you and Antonio had found it less than a block from the foreclosed house he’d put as his current residence. Someone had clearly been squatting there, but there wasn’t anything useful in the house or in the beat up old car. 

You were just starting to think that maybe they had actually vanished off of the face of the earth when Trudy made her way up the stairs. “CCTV camera just picked up Ronny and Logan, dyed hair and new clothes but facial rec seems to be a match,” she announced, getting all your attention as Voight made his way out of his office.

“Where?” He asked her, noticing the not so triumphant look on Trudy’s face.

“JFK Airport,” she replied, met with annoyed sighs and confused looks. How had he gotten there? You were shocked to say the least, you and Antonio had made sure to call all the airports in Chicago to make sure this guy didn’t flee. 

“He’s in New York?” Hailey looked to Voight, waiting like the rest of you were to be told what to do next. 

“One of his old prison buddies relocated there last year,” Kev told you all, rifling through his paperwork to find the information he was looking for, “yeah, Ryan O’Connell, got a rep for making people disappear, some that want to, some that don’t.” 

“Looks like we’re going to New York,” he decided, aware that the ever ticking clock was now getting faster, you needed to find them now. “I’ll call ahead, get some boots on the ground before we arrive, we’ll roll out as soon as we can. Upton, get the family up to speed, see if they know where he might go in New York.” She nodded.

You all packed up to leave, needing to make arrangements before you could just fly out. “Who’s he calling?” You asked your partner as you headed for the stairs. 

“Captain Benson I assume,” he told you, elaborating when he saw that that hadn’t clarified much, “oh I forget, you weren’t with us then. We’ve done a couple of cases with the Special Victims Unit over there, good people and cops, especially their Captain, this is their kind of case.” 

You nodded, you’d heard about some of the cases Intelligence had done in New York, especially about Nadia Decotis, and you were looking forward to getting the chance to work with them, circumstances aside. 

Voight text you all details about the flight and you left to prepare, you had a job to do and a boy to find, and you were determined to find him.

-

While the flight itself wasn’t actually that long, it felt like forever, ever second ticking past putting you and the unit further behind Ronny and Logan. You knew it would be straight to business the second your feet hit the tarmac, but Voight had assured you all that although he’d only had time to briefly fill SVU in about the case, they had made finding this boy their top priority. If it was good enough for Voight, it was good enough for you, so you passed the time by looking at everything you had on this O’Connell so you had somewhere to start when you arrived. 

There were cars waiting when you arrived, taking you straight to the 16th Precinct and the Special Victims Unit. It was much bigger than the 21st, and nicer too. You had never really spent any time in New York, but it was all just as impressive as you’d heard.

“Hank,” a woman smiled, making her way to greet you all at the entrance of the Unit’s bullpen. 

“Olivia,” Hank shook her hand with familiarity, this must have been the Captain. “It’s Captain now isn’t it, congratulations.”

“Thanks, it’s been an adjustment,” she replied, shaking hands with the rest of Intelligence and welcoming them inside.

“Well, it’s certainly well deserved,” Jay told her as the rest of SVU headed over to introduce, or reintroduce, themselves.

“Thanks Halstead,” she smiled, reaching you and Vanessa last. “We haven’t met, I’m Captain Olivia Benson,” she told you.

“Officer Vanessa Rojas,” Vanessa told her, following after Kev to be introduced to the rest of the Unit. 

“Detective Y/N. Y/L/N,” you continued, “I’ve heard good things.” 

“Likewise, Hank mentioned he had a couple of new members,” she said, leading you further into the main room, “this is Sergeant Tutuola, Detectives Rollins and Carisi, and Officer Tamin,” she gestured around the group as you all shook hands.

You could tell Voight wanted this part to hurry along, eager to get stuck into the case, so you said the generic ‘nice to meet yous’ and stepped out of the way as Voight and Benson positioned themselves at the front of the group. 

“So fill us in,” Voight addressed her as he passed out extra copies of your case files to the rest of SVU. 

“Okay, so we followed Ronny’s tracks as far as we could after he left JFK, but by the time any unis arrived he was in the wind, we’ve got BOLOS out but nothing so far, although a surveillance camera did pick up the vehicle he left in,” Benson explained.

“Plates?” You asked but she shook her head, bringing up a shot of the back of the car on the screen nearest to her. It was a long way away from your whiteboards and blue tac, you thought.

“Stollen, but we’re trying to match the make and model with any recent reports of car thefts,” she answered. 

“Any we’re tracking the names they used to get through airport security,” the male detective, Carisi, continued, “checking for any credit or debit cards under the same names as their fake passports.”

“They must have been good, do we know where Ronny got them from yet?” Hailey asked as Benson got up the images of their passports too, complete with fake names, fake addresses and disguises. 

“We’re thinking this O’Connell guy,” Tutuola told her, “he’s got the connections and experience, and this must have been in the works for a while.”

“Yeah, we’re looking at anyone and everyone he’s been in contact with in prison, seeing if any of them might have sent him any packages or had any New York connections,” Rollins said.

“We’ve already gone through the prison logs,” Jay countered, “we know O’Connell did time with him before he got out last year.”

“Yeah, but since then they don’t appear to have had any direct contact, so we’re thinking there’s a middle man, probably the figure you can see in the drivers seat of the car they took from JFK, O’Connell rarely does business in person, that’s why we only had him in for a minor possession stint,” Rollins grabbed a file on O’Connell’s record and handed it to Jay to flip through.

“Can we get a clearer image on that?” Adam asked, pointing to the blurred image of the car. You squinted at the image, trying to get a better look, but the man was clearly wearing a hat and shades, even if they managed to tidy it up, facial recognition would be a waste of time. 

“Unfortunately not, but we’re doing everything we can,” Benson said.

“So what now?” Antonio voiced up, all of you turning to your Sergeant and Captain Benson.

“We’re in your house, it’s your call,” Voight said to Benson. He had a lot of respect for her, you noted, he never gave up point on a case so easily.

“Well with your know-how on the case, and our knowledge of New York, we though it was best to combine teams, partner up one of us and one of yours,” she looked back at both units, still stood a little apart from one another, and you and Antonio shared the briefest glance, seeing the other partners in your unit do the same. 

You worked well together, all of you did, and let’s be honest, Intelligence had never been very good at sharing, but if it was what was best for Logan, so be it. It hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice that the numbers didn’t add up, so you waited to see who would be moved around. 

“Fin, you mind going with Dawson?” Benson gestured to the two men, who happily nodded and Antonio gave you an encouraging nod before he headed off the join the Sergeant at his desk. 

“Halstead and Rollins, Upton and Kat,” she continued with Voight’s approval and you knew you’d be next, she’d done her best not to split up any of Intelligence’s partners entirely. “Which leaves Carisi and Y/L/N,” you nodded and so did he.

“Well then, let’s get to it,” Voight ordered, “we’ve got a child to find before he disappears.” With that, he and Benson went to go talk in her office, leaving you all with your new partners. 

“First time in New York?” He asked you as he grabbed a chair for you to sit at his desk. You could see notes on the case covering most of the surface, potential locations O’Connell may use and streets that the car may have turned down after they lost it on surveillance, none of which looked familiar to you. 

“I got a connecting flight through here once,” you shrugged, feeling out of your element away from Chicago and fully understanding why Captain Benson thought it best to mix up the units. 

Carisi chuckled as you took your seat, pulling out the files you’d brought with you from Chicago. “We’re on O’Connell,” he explained, “these are all the files on his known and potential locations.”

You leaned closer to take a look at what he’d been doing. “That’s a lot of ground to cover,” you noted, feeling a sense of dread. O’Connell’s file had him as one of the best, and Ronny had a head start, they might not even be in the state anymore. 

Carisi seemed to sense your worry. “We’ve got traffic stops in and out of the city, ports and airports, he won’t slip through again,” he tried to reassure you, but you knew he wasn’t entirely convinced either. 

He handed you one of his files and you handed him one of yours. “Let’s get started.”

[meant-to-be-a-hero]

Ranger Rankings - Power Rangers Jungle Fury

Premise - 4

Reminiscent of Ninja Storm - kung fu academy gets attacked, only three people left who can save it, etc. But the idea of the animal spirits runs through the entire season, and I like how it shaped the villain team as much as the hero one without becoming a fight to see who had the most.

The thing that tips the scale for me over Ninja Storm's set-up is the effort they go to give the kids something to do outside of Pai Zhau/Ranger stuff; the Jungle Karma Pizza setting gives the Rangers civilian issues to deal with that are usually pretty varied, whereas the Ninja Storm kids were mostly bumming around or at the motocross track. I wasn't even sure if half of them worked at Storm Chargers by the end of their season.

Character Dynamics - 4

I actually really like the seasons where there's only three main Rangers to start with, it gives the show time to really flesh them out before adding more. Jungle Fury is the longest they go as a three man team - RJ doesn't suit up until episode 15 or 16 I think, so we get a lot of time just with Casey, Theo, and Lily.

The three of them really go on a journey this season. There's not a massive focus on Casey over everyone else compared to other Red Rangers (he only gets one upgrade that the others don't get, for a change), and they all feel like fully formed characters rather than just singular personality traits turned into a person.

I'll talk more about RJ and Dom in the next section, but they're also pretty great. In terms of support characters, Fran's definitely one of the better ones. She might not be able to fight, but she's superb emotional support, and I'm glad the Rangers clued her in midway through the season rather than waiting right to the end, it makes their dynamic so much more fun, and also stops the Rangers from looking like complete dicks for just running out and leaving her alone all the time.

It's nice to see so many recurring characters too - the three Masters feel like a big presence rather than just one-offs, and Flit was oddly charming for a fly. His little focus episode was a surprise.

Characters in Power Rangers are either regulars or one-off appearances with no in between usually, so it was a nice change.

Sixth Ranger Arc - 4

This one's an evening out between RJ and Dom's arcs tbh.

RJ being present from the beginning gives me major Cam vibes, so it's not a complete surprise when he finally suits up. I love that he has flaws of his own to deal with, and isn't just an all-knowing mentor type. His relationship with his dad is a nice touch too, and the struggle with his animal spirit added something new. Plus, werewolf.

Dom's a bit more of a blank. He does do the whole 'turns up and becomes a Ranger within one episode' thing, but he's so different to the other four, so laid back (even compared to RJ), that he instantly feels like he's shaking things up. After he turns up and joins the team he does tend to fade into the background a bit though, which is a shame.

Plot Development - 4

Serialised storytelling really has come a long way for Power Rangers, and this season's no exception. Everything flows, and pretty much every episode is part of a larger arc apart from a couple at the beginning and the clip show near the end. Coupling that with the character growth across the season really creates something that feels like it evolves as the series goes on rather than just being the same thing over and over until it decides not to be anymore.

Villains - 4

Having a potential ally become the villain for the season makes Dai Shi one of the better villains overall. His journey through the season is comparable to the Rangers in that he ends up in a very different place than he starts, not just because he ends up face turning at the end.

The rest of the villains evolve naturally too - most of the one-off villains are fairly bland, but the ones that work together like the Five Poisons, the Three Overlords, and the Phantom Beasts sometimes give the villains a more interesting dynamic than the Rangers themselves.

I'd be remiss not to mention Camille as well, who I was glad didn't just become a fawning girlfriend character for Jarrod, and was a strong, scheming villain in her own right.

Of course, the face turn was the best part. It was well signposted, which I always appreciate over the earlier seasons 'oops they're good now' in the finales, and seeing Jarrod and Camille fighting alongside the Rangers at the end gave me the warm and fuzzies.

Overall - 4

A very consistent season overall, I was really sad to see it end actually.

Hottest Ranger - RJ. The others all looked like preteens, which didn't help their cases for the category, whereas RJ's a wolfman both in and out of costume, which hits all my buttons. Shout to Jarrod and his cheekbones for days, though.

Notable Episodes:

Bad To The Bone/Friends Don't Fade Away - The Wolf Ranger's introductory arc, because every Power Rangers team needs a werewolf.

True Friends, True Spirits - Flit's focus episode. It's oddly heartfelt, considering he's a little fly dude.

Tigers Fall, Lions Rise/The Spirit Of Kindness - A two episode redemption arc seems a bit quick, but strangely it works.

Path Of The Righteous/Now The Final Fury - Seeing Camille and Jarrod team up with the Rangers is everything I wanted and more. Another great finale.

[gigglebug]

Meta ask: 1, 3, 18, 19

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Currently I'm writing in my Mask universe, book two (although I'm considering moving everything and making this book 1.5 since it's kind of transitive in nature and it's nearing 90k words already...). book 1 was basically the slow burn on how they got together. this next bit is supposed to be the part of how they end up together-together, establish the ot3, get planned on the future, and maybe get there. idk! book 2 was supposed to be the entire next year, but instead I've got 90k covering... two and a half months. so the rest of the year will probably push this into a 300k book if I'm not careful.

in my defense, it's very angsty and tragic and emotional so far. my favorite!

although I'm currently plotting out the big proposal and I'm a bit stuck. I feel like my characters want to do something else than this but I don't know what so I'm just kinda sitting on it for the time being. my motivation and creativity went on vacation with my laptop I guess. (and I haven't been able to talk to anybody about potentially where it goes from here, so I suspect that's another tripping point too.) meh.

Malroth/Crea/Aris dynamic is my fav tho. Crea is the newcomer to the established relationship but they tease and banter each other like an old married couple so it's fun to explore that.

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

honestly, any of my original fic stories in the Sirensverse after the first book is going to be a pain in the ass. and I think I may scrap Syndrome entirely because of the pandemic. sweeping mysterious illness? no thanks. Spectre will be slightly better, but stringing along all of the capture arc is going to be such a pain because I'm bad at pacing! I want it to feel like a long time but not feel so long to read through. y'know? not sure how to get to that sweet, sweet emotional reconnection for pat and jobro in the end without it feeling like a slog. so who knows.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

if I was better at writing evil mastermind characters, my second main fanfic (titled "you know where to find me") would have been a LOT different. there's a part midway that, as it is now, Crea gets into an argument about believing a vision she saw over Malroth, who's trying to warn her that the vision isn't credible. right now, there's a bit where she tries to slap him, but he catches her wrist, calls her out on what she's doing, she realizes she was being manipulated, and panics.

however, the first time I wrote it, she managed to slap him. and he got understandably extremely hurt and upset about that! so he stormed off and that's when Crea realized what happened and felt bad about it and panicked after he left.

ultimately I abandoned it because Malroth seemed to hold a pretty bad grudge over it, and I couldn't figure out how to get them to reconcile before going on to the next island to proceed with the main angst and the point of the story. looking back on it, I kinda wish I had followed it to see where it had gone, but I was also deliberately trying to follow the plot of the game as a narrative foil, and I think if I'd followed it, I would've ended up skipping the third island entirely. dunno!

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

I use "couldn't help but [do some action]" a freaking lot. my characters always smile and nod a lot, and just repeat actions often in whatever passage I'm working on. (I'm self-conscious about it but I try to ignore it.) I am BIG on themes of redemption and reuniting. and characters making their own way despite the choices offered to them.

ironic, really.

[tardytothepardy]

Fruits Basket - Vol 22

The snowball that has been tumbling down a hill for these last several books is finally rolling to a halt. I wonder how Akito feels about it. Surely she's not gonna become upset.

Today we arrive with Kyo to Kyo's house, after being told by Hanajima that there's something he needs to do before he can see Tohru. He needs to talk to his dad, and it's gonna be the first time in a long time that he's done it. He's nervous as all hell, he feels nauseous just standing at the front door, but he still follows through. The second his father sees him, he's already in a rage. He yells at the servant(?) who let Kyo in, then zeroes straight on Kyo after Kyo asks why he's home in the first place, it's the middle of the workday, isn't it?

Kyo's father (he never gets a name, as far as I can tell) says that he wasn't feeling well, and it's Kyo's fault because,,, his mom died. Yup, makes sense. After all this time, Kyo's father still rants and raves and insists that it was Kyo's fault that his mother died, and Kyo says, "Yeah, I know it is." Kyo's father starts cackling, asking the servant if she also heard Kyo saying that, then asking for someone to call up the main Sohma house, to get Kyo and throw him in the dungeon (it's not actually a dungeon but I'll always think of it like that), but Kyo says he won't go there. He won't even step foot in that room, because he's going to live outside, because he met someone and he really cares about her, and he wants to be around her for the rest of his life. Naturally, Kyo's father rejects that, saying that there's no way the family would allow that, there's no way that Kyo can go off and try to have a normal life after "what he did", throwing his family into shame by being born (because he totally chose to be the cat, this is common knowledge), and he asks why Kyo's mother had to give birth to Kyo in the first place, which makes Kyo freeze up. He's heard that phrase before, when he was a kid. He hadn't realized it before, but after hearing his father say it, he realizes that it was his father that said it to his mother, "Why did you have to give birth to such a child?". Right in front of said child, by the way. Clearly the man did not and does not care. Kyo asks his father if he was the one who said it, which makes Kyo's father lash out again, how dare Kyo insinuate that he (Kyo's father) is the reason that Kyo's mother (why did neither of these people get a name ;-;) committed suicide, there's no way it's his fault, there was never anything he said or did that would make her do that, obviously, how could Kyo even vaguely say something that could be construed as such, and clearly it is not his fault but Kyo's! It has to be Kyo's fault, it simply has to!

Probably during all that screaming, Kyo thinks about how much he wishes his mom was happy, that she had never felt the way she did that led to her suicide. As a kid, it was difficult for him to understand, but now he does, not that it makes much of a difference. Whether he understood or not, she's still gone.

Finally, Kyo pushes his father away, saying that he won't give up on himself, and that he wants to make the most of his life while he still has it. His father again objects, and tries to grab Kyo, who deflects pretty easily (whoa it's almost like he's been trained for most of his life for scenarios vaguely similar to this) and his father just starts screaming that Kyo is going to kill him. You know what Kyo is doing? He's just pushing away his father's hand. That's it. His father is still screaming bloody murder (which is what he seems to think is gonna happen to him) when the scene jumps to Akito talking to one of the head maids, talking about Kyo, about if they should get someone to take him away, but Akito says that she wants that place destroyed. The maid asks if she thinks Kyo's father will approve, but Akito basically says, "It doesn't matter what he approves, I've decided it will be destroyed." After that, the maid notes that Akito has changed, and that she liked Akito before, but Akito doesn't care. Change, don't change, she'll be trying to progress and move on, even if some people around her object to it. Generally, there seems to be a lot of introspective going on for both of them.

Then we change to see Hiro and Kisa, who is reassuring Hiro that it's not a bad thing that his curse broke, and that no one is going to hate him because of it. If anything, she's happy for him, and is glad that he told her first, out of anyone else. Hiro asks if Kisa hates him now that he isn't part of the Juunishi anymore, and she asks him if he thinks of her any different because she still is. Midway through reassuring Kisa that that wasn't the case, Kyo announces his presence by vomiting behind some bushes. Hiro exclaims how gross that was (I'm not putting that against him, he has no way of really knowing (or understanding) why Kyo did that), and Kisa offers Kyo a tissue, and Kyo straight up basically hallucinates seeing Tohru. (Dang,, he's really affected by all this. He's, if you don't mind me saying this, down bad. Really bad.)

Kyo tries to visit Tohru again, but Hanajima and Uotani block his way completely. I would go into why but I've already said it, but one thing that does happen is that Hanajima and Uotani run into or meet (or something) Akito, who tells them that she's the reason that Tohru had those cuts, and kinda why she got hurt in the first place. She's also the reason why Kureno is in the hospital. Naturally, Akito is very ashamed of this, but surprisingly, Uotani and Hanajima are pretty cool about it. Hanajima tells Akito that Tohru isn't blaming anyone for the incident, so it's better if Akito not beat herself up so much over it, because it definitely won't make Tohru feel any better. As Akito was admitting what she'd done to Kureno, Hanajima straight up asked her if she was a girl, and when Akito didn't say no, suddenly things clicked into place: when Kureno was talking about having to stay by the side of a girl, Akito was that girl. This realization seems to mostly be on Uotani's side, who is also thinking about how much Kureno really means to her. I mean, she interacted with him a handful of times, and that was a while ago. She doesn't really know much about him, only that he seems to have a similar demeanor to Tohru, that sort of blind kindness kinda thing.

Uotani later goes to talk to Kureno, and he says that, to help Akito move on, he needs to leave, go far away. Uotani offers to go with him (after graduation and stuff), because she luh-luh-likes him (she refuses to say it), so that's nice.

Meanwhile, (more like after? Idk, timey wimey stuff) Kyo is heading to Kazuma's house, and he sees Akito walking out the front gate. Huh? What the fuck is Akito doing there? Kyo goes to confront Akito, but all she says is that he can live whatever life he wants to, and she refuses to clarify. Right before the bickering can start, who but Hanajima opens the front gate, asking if Akito is really leaving so soon? (She even uses a nickname, which Akito isn't the biggest fan of) Naturally, that freaks out Kyo. What is that girl doing here? Is she friends with Akito? How did that happen? When did that happen? Then Kazuma pops up, and Hanajima again acts familiar and friendly with him?! How does she do that that's so fucking weird!

Kazuma tells Kyo that he knows that Kyo went to talk to his dad, and that Akito knows as well. He also says that Akito plans for that dungeon room to be destroyed which is nice. Kazuma says that fixing relations between the main house or his personal family won't be so easy, but it was a nice start.

Jumping ahead a little, it seems that Akito has called all of the Juunishi (even Kyo, and we all know how rare that is) to the main Sohma house. She has something that she needs to tell them, and they have no guesses. Haru says that Akito seems to have changed since the whole incident with Tohru and stuff, which is a welcome change, even if it's still strange and confusing. (Personally, in that situation I would definitely have bated breath, because when there's a person that usually is disagreeable at best suddenly changes to being nice, all I can ever do is just wait for them to go back to being nasty. I just can't trust it when people switch like that, it's eerie)

Yuki then tells Kyo that Tohru's getting out of the hospital soon, which causes Kyo to speed off to Hanajima and Uotani, asking if now he can finally see Tohru. They say, "yeah, yeah," then ask him what outfits (because they're paging through a magazine) would look best on Tohru. Kyo has no fucking idea, Tohru could probably wear anything and he'd be fine with it.

Meanwhile, it seems that Yuki has some jealousy(?) concerning Tohru and Kyo. It's mostly because both parties know about the whole zodiac thing, but between him and Machi, that's not the case. There's a considerable risk that the secret came out, or that he tells Machi, and she finds it too weird and she breaks off any little relationship that is starting to grow between them. It'd probably just drop back to acquaintances, or worse: awkward acquaintances, where everyone asks what happened, weren't you guys close? Ugh. That sounds terrible.

So anyway, Yuki's busy worrying about that, it's a whole thing. I think he kinda tries to tell Machi at some point, but Kimi busts in asking about her hairbrush. And though he doesn't succeed in telling Machi, he knows that he has to, because this is a pretty big thing to hide from someone. It's probably difficult and straining to be a couple and you refuse to let your partner be physically close to you without ever telling them why. (Just panic and say that you have an allergy to human skin and admit that you're in complete misery because of it, it's fine, nbd)

The scene switches to Akito talking to Shigure, telling him that she's going to end the whole Juunishi thing. She's tired of all of it at this point, of people treating her the way they do because she's "God". She says that everyone (though I suppose in this scene she's saying this to Shigure specifically) will be released from her, that everyone can go and do whatever they want to do. Shigure says that if that's the case, then he'll be relieved. (I know he's teasing and all, but like, dude, can you maybe not right now?) He gives her a "farewell gift", which she looks fairly distraught about, but we won't see what it is yet, because now I have to describe Kyo's general panick over seeing Tohru again.

So yeah, the day that Tohru is released from the hospital, somehow Kyo almost seemed to forget about it until Yuki brought it up. Yuki wouldn't be going along though, because he has something else to do.

On the way to the hospital, Kyo's just rethinking all the stuff that he's said and that has been said to him throughout this whole thing. Yuki told him to just act normal, the fuck even is normal now? How does he do that? Will Tohru forgive him? What even does he like about Tohru? Does he still like her? What does he like about her? How much about that thing does he like? He has no fucking idea, how does he even talk to her? Then he sees her, none of that shit matters. The only thing that does matter is that he loves her goddammit.

Unfortunately for that romantic moment, the second Tohru sees Kyo, she dashes off. He gives chase after a moment of "oh jeez ;-;".

The perspective shifts to Tohru. She apparently didn't mean to run, her feet just went on their own. It isn't what she meant to do, she did want to see Kyo again, but who has control over their bodies in highly emotional moments anyway? She told herself that when she next saw him, she was going to smile. She practiced doing so, or that what she thought anyway. There's a moment where we see Yuki talking to Tohru while she's still bedridden, and when he tries (very hesitantly) to bring up Kyo, she changes the topic pretty quickly, along with crying literally at his name. It hurts her so much to hear it. She thinks that she's a burden by being unable to let go of everyone. She thinks she needs to move from Kyo after what he said, but she just can't. She meant what she said that she would stay by Kyo's side, even if it turns out he doesn't like her. She tried to not let it bother her, but clearly that didn't happen.

Finally, Kyo catches up to her (a second time, she pushed him away twice in that fantastic emotional upheaval), and she's crying. She's desperately trying to stop, she doesn't want to be a burden, she doesn't want him to hate her, stop crying! He takes her hand, and apologizes for all his bs. He says that he was only thinking about himself, about his own regrets. He ignored her feelings, and he says that he should've known better: the world doesn't give second chances, but he's taking this chance to try to apologize. He then says those magic words that Tohru did not think he'd say at all: he wants to be with her, he doesn't want anyone else, because he loves her. (Holy shit, they both love each other? Now this is a game changer, for sure)

Tohru's completely shocked, and can only muster tiny soft questions like "does that mean i can stay with you?" and "can i hold your hand?" with lots of ellipses, because shock. Kyo points out that she's already holding his hand, and then he kisses her (She does know that that's their second kiss, right? No? Hm, Kyo feels awkward about that). Kyo then pulls her to her feet (she was sitting on a garden wall thingie), and asks if they can hug, despite the whole cat thing. He says he thinks that the curse will probably become an inconvenience to her, but Tohru says that she loves him, and that it doesn't matter, everything will work out. And so they hug and,,,,

nothing happens.

The fuck?!

Before we get to the hug, we get a quick flashback to when Akito visited Tohru in the hospital. Akito admits that she was jealous of Tohru, and that she thinks that Tohru is prettier than herself. Tohru denies that, and asks that Akito not categorize things like that, because when you think like that, you just "use them to seperate yourself out", in her words. She says that she is not without blame, that Akito was just living her life as best she could, despite all the bad stuff that was happening to her. She destroyed Akito's world, essentially, and whether or not it was for better or worse, she still acknowledges that she ended up hurting Akito, a lot.

It goes back to the present, still with Akito, as the curse is breaking for so many of the Juunishi, Kyo, Ayame, Ritsu, Kisa, Kagura, Izusu, Haru, Hatori, and lastly Shigure (no i'm not forgetting anyone, the story isn't finished), and she's telling her father (who is, if you have forgotten, quite dead) that she doesn't have to be "god" anymore, that she can just be herself. She's still scared by that idea, because she is aware of how many people she's hurt, and she doesn't think she has any redeeming qualities, she's just alone, scared, and hurt. After showing all of these people's curse breaking, it circles back to the hospital, where Tohru is again offering her friendship to Akito, so that, if Akito truly feels she has nothing else, then at least she can have that.

Back to Tohru and Kyo, after they hug and he doesn't turn into a cat, it's a feeling of shock, but then Kyo tears off his bracelet, and it breaks, the beads going everywhere, and he doesn't turn into anything. I personally have a very small idea of how fucking elated he must have been about that. This lifelong burden, somehow worse than what the other Juunishi had to deal with, something that he's been shunned for (as if he had any choice in the matter), and now it's gone. It's all done, he doesn't have to worry about that anymore.

Now, before Kyo went off to see Tohru, Yuki mentioned that he had something to do. That Something(tm) was calling Machi, and meeting up. He's planning on telling her about the whole Juunishi thing, just get it out in the air. He feels kinda weird, indescribably, but he figures he's just nervous. Before he can think about it, Machi shows up. This is it: this is when he tells her-- whoa what? There's a little rat (probably a voice in his head, the rat spirit, something like that), and it tells him that he's the last. It thanks him for keeping the promise, and bids him goodbye, walking to the other spirits. Whoa. That's intense. How do you even begin to explain that?

Then, we see the story of the Juunishi, how it started in the first place: There was once this dude who lived all alone, at the top of a mountain. Even after going down the mountain, and seeing other people, he was still alone. Despite having a lot of power and experience and memories, he knew that he was unlike other people, and developed a fear of other people, of getting hurt, and of being different than others. One day, a cat showed up, and said that it had been watching the dude for a while, and it wanted to be by his side, and so it did. This made the dude (he's God, should I just refer to him as "God" rather than "the dude"? Probably) very happy, and he thought that if he can get along fine with one, why not more? Who wouldn't want more happiness? So he made and sent out a bunch of invitations for a nice banquet, and some animals came to it: a dog, a ram, a dragon, a monkey, a rat, a snake, an ox, a horse, a bird, a rabbit, a boar, and a tiger. They all collected and all had a fun banquet for many nights.

Suddenly though, the cat fell over, and everyone was distraught. There's was nothing to be done, his life had run out. This was a reminder that death is inevitable, and can happen before you're ready. This upset all of them, and so God prepared a drink and had the cat drink it. It was the thing that created the bond, and he said that however times that everyone there is born, or dies, they will all be together, and they will always be friends, until the end of time. Everyone agreed to it, and the rat was the first to drink, and the rest followed in their sequential order. After the last had drank, the cat started to cry, and asked why God had forced him to drink, saying that he didn't want eternity. No one had expected this response, and they scolded the cat for it. He continued, saying that he knows that death is scary, but it is important to accept that things come to an end, and that he was happy that he met God. If there was a time when they met again in another life, he wanted it to be a natural thing, and to be surrounded with more than those who were sort of forced to be there.

No one wanted to hear those words, however, and the cat died alone. Eventually, one by one, they started to die, leaving God alone once again. But once his time came, he wasn't afraid, because it meant that he could once again see his friends.

Seeing how that story of friendship had over time been twisted into a curse, a burden, kinda sucks, to be honest. The best of intentions don't always work out though.

Now we're pulled back to Yuki and Machi, who is pretty confused. Yuki tries to explain, that he just said goodbye to someone who has been with him his whole life, and despite it being unpleasant to deal with, he's still emotional about them leaving. He is glad that they have left, because he now has freedom. Freedom to do what, you may ask? To hug Machi, which is exactly what he does. I suppose this is some kinda scandalous pda or something because it shows people walking by blushing or whatever. Maybe it's just the American culture in me, but I wouldn't look twice if I saw something like that. (Whoa, it's almost as if different places have different standards and views and cultures, holy shit) After that, Machi asks if she can use his name (because she's always called him "President" up until now), he says she can, they kiss, it's a whole thing. Very cute stuff. (sorry i summarized that so quickly, idk how to talk about that stuff lmao 😳😬)

I'll just leave it there for now, move onto the next, and last, book.

[norgestan]

norandro, eva/nora, amiris 👀❣️

NORANDRO:

i mean, starting off pretty strong with my favorite eskam couple. oh god. THEM. as someone who cannot stomach season 2 and also skipped william's clip and william's clip only when season 4 of skam came to an end... i will ALWAYS love what eskam did for this couple. i think i explain it pretty well on my season 3 review, but to sum up those thoughts: i think this is what noorhelm was truly supposed to be, they're both pretty flawed characters with great arcs who make their get-together super interesting and organic, alejandro is my baby and the most developed william and i'll die on this hill, etc.

especially i think that norandro, for a ship that got way less screentime that all their other counterparts, is by FAR the most developed couple in all of them and up there in eskam too, and although they weren't the focus of most of the show, it's clear as day that the writers really tried to tell a compelling story with these two - and they succeeded. it's shocking to me that eskam actually got to link the "everyone is fighting a battle" motto that has become a meme for how poorly incorporated it is on the skamverse, as alejandro effectively behaved around that motto: during season 3 and onwards, which is where i believe he's fully reformed as a character and love interest, he never hurts nora - nor anyone - in any way. he struggles to tell nora how he doesn't want a relationship because he doesn't want to hurt her, and in the miscommunication fest that their first clip of s3 is, i've always LOVED that nora calls alejandro a "fuckboy" still, and he's clearly annoyed by this, but doesn't bite back. he's always so mindful of her feelings even though he's struggling himself, BECAUSE he understands that his suffering is not the center of the world! because treating people with kindness is a strength in itself! and it continues like that for the rest of the season. like, at his most petty, he just sends a text to nora calling her a "fuckboy", which is honestly hilarious. he deals with a lot of jealousy because of nora's new relationship, yet he values her friendship so much that he never snaps at her, he never lets it show when he's talking to her, and he's never passive-aggressive about it - you can tell that he's so genuinely glad that they're still friends after all. god, the clip where he realizes that miquel is a shit boyfriend while he's talking to nora... imagine the things any other william would've said there. imagine the ways alejandro could've been petty or overprotective and fuck everything up. instead, he recognizes nora needs space and even though it hurts to be away from her, he does it because he understands it's what she needs - and his own feelings and entitlement (that he previously showed, too!) aren't the most important thing. it's beautiful. UGH. what a great character eskam crafted, there.

i like them well enough in s4, too. i think, for what they had to work with, they took them in a good direction and their happy ending feels deserved. it's just that... personally, i wish there was more introspection of nora's aftermath in s3, which is also one of my complaints with season 3 - and where characters like emma could've been SO good. although i understand the intentions, a lot of nora's internal turmoil regarding her abusive relationship with miquel are only tied to her desire to be with alejandro. it's frustrating that it became so boy-focused when the girl squad was the center of the emotional climax of nora's season. to me, the solution is still in giving the pov's to the girl squad and not... random characters lol, but oh well. i think eskam did good there and i still love this couple the most!!! i just wish there was an universe where their story doesn't have to be wrapped up in one season and we can get actual glimpses of a beautiful slow burn where they can finally get together and make their relationship work - and this is where the fanfic part comes in, i guess! as someone who loves the couple, i liked seeing them lovey-dovey in the background of s4, but also i wouldn't have been too mad if they held off from making them completely canon and only hinted their status as endgame, kinda how they did with eva and jorge. oh, and speaking of eva, i guess...

NOREVA:

i guess, the main thing with them is that i love norandro so much that i can't really see nora with any other love interest??????? now, platonically. UGH. 12/10. anyone who's seen season 3 should know and i shouldn't even have to explain it tbh. i love the focus that is put on their friendship and how emotionally charged it is when it comes to miquel and the aftermath of all that. like, a similar thing is done with norandro - because at that point, nora and alejandro were exclusively friends, but it becomes even more relevant when it's about eva. eva who, you know, was in a toxic relationship herself. i love that she herself brings up her relationship with jorge when she's talking about miquel, and how wary she is of everything that happening. the fact that she's the first one to sense it feels so right!!! i love that eskam really made them close and gave them the window scene, which is both so powerful on its message and a true love letter to female friendships.

i think eva is a really underrated eskam character as it is, like... people really don't understand how great of a character she is and how much she's grown. they are quick to call her a boring, ooc party girl once s2 rolls around, like eskam didn't spend TIME making eva herself declare that hooking up with cristian (and cristian ONLY!) was something she did out of fun and she was decided to stop as soon as it stopped being fun for her. moreover, eva is such a perceptive person: she's been that way since s1 and it has only carried across for the entirety of the show since then. and when pairing two really good characters together, like eva and nora, you really can't go wrong. their friendship brings great things out of both of them and it goes through its own arc during nora's season, whereas other seasons either dump eva as noora's bff midway through or just make them really close to introduce character drama but don't really do anything to their dynamic as it is.

romantically... sigh. i'm sorry LOL as much as i love girls kissing and wlw romance done right... i don't see potential for this relationship outside their platonic dynamic. which is, btw, incredibly strong and beautiful. i'm super contented with how eskam handled their friendship and therefore i wouldn't want anything else from them, and it's not like nooreva where the chemistry was THERE. however! i'm always open to see people's interpretations of what romantic noreva could be. wasn't it you who wrote that beautiful fic of nora realizing she's bi and falling for eva after season 3? because now THAT'S the shit i'm looking for. i think there's a lot of potential there which i'd like to see explored in fic, but other than that, i love their relationship how it is and i've never felt a desire to see them as each other romantic interests.

AMIRIS:

first things first: why did eskam NEVER confirm cris having an embarrassing, sweet, confusing childhood crush on amira? i mean, it's my headcanon that she'll later realize it and she'll jolt awake and think "holy FUCK" but like... it's a thing that isaks are into their jonases. why didn't it happen here :(((((

being honest, childhood friends to lovers has never been my thing? a simple friends to lovers doesn't do it for me: i like my relationships rocky, with lots of character moments and whose survival and success depend only on the people involved making efforts to change and do better. if you've seen s4... yeah, that's not really the case. it's just disappointing because damn, amiris is the realest thing indeed, but also... what case are the writers doing for them? because it was only irene and hajar doing the intense gazing and bringing all the chemistry home. s4 cris is a mess and a half, and while i like the idea of the bench scene featuring both of them, and being more about cris reminding amira the reasons she's made it this far instead of lecturing her about sucking it up better... the result is still lackluster. there are SO many issues on their friendship that were introduced and then dropped, and it's really nice that cris finally is there to comfort amira when shit goes down, it truly is! but what else is there? it's just a small part of s4 being a bunch of missed potential. they could've REALLY done something great with their relationship and bring back and close cris' development in the show, but we only got... well, nothing. back to 0. amira has to live with those problems, now. things like that really make it seem like once amira broadens her horizons, she won't really go back to her friendship with the girls, and cris will be a lingering wound of the past. oh well.

ehem. romantically!!!!!!! as i said, cris was totally crushing on amira at some point. like... canon really makes a point at making cris' brother amira's love interest, where dani has nothing to offer to amira than cris hasn't done yet. iftar on a rooftop? ha, loser, cris did it first. admiring her passion and her faith? cris does it arguably way better than dani. longtime pining? dude. go home. okay, i'll cut dani soto some slack since it's not about him lol. point is, if amira was charmed by all of those things, then what tells me that the option of her and cris being a thing is off the table? at the end of the day, they're indeed a relationship that needs a lot of work and patience to last. the 500k slow burn is writing itself, really.

(regardless of amiris' future, i still think irene and hajar have to do a cute romcom romance at some point. their chemistry is off the charts.)

[beca-mitchell]

if you wanted to, girl, we could cross that line (1/1)

Summary: Aren't you supposed to book the wedding venue after proposing? Word count: 3,316 words Author’s Notes: I’ve been thinking about recent discussion re: Chloe and Beca's relationship. Specifically how Chloe hates it when people think Beca is some uncaring/apathetic person. Or that Beca is aloof and distant in their romantic relationship. I had some ideas about that, but then it kind of spiralled into this which I don't even know if it addresses any of that discourse at all. But. Anyway. I've been binging Friends, so yes, this is totally inspired by Season 6, episode 22 (and a little of episode 23) of Friends. Fic title from Lauv's "Feelings".

Read below or on AO3.

* * * * *

“Aubrey this place is beautiful,” Chloe gasps, looking around the high ceilings and well-decorated walls of the country club lounge. “You’re really thinking about moving The Lodge to California?”

Aubrey flips through the brochure, nodding along to Chloe’s words. “It seems like a natural choice. Would be nice to expand out here. Lots of companies need their morale boosted.”

Chloe nudges Aubrey. “I’m happy for you, you know? You’ve done so much in the past few years.”

“Chloe,” Aubrey sighs. “Thank you.”

“And I’m so glad you didn’t move to Mykonos and become a doula.”

Aubrey frowns. “I don’t remember saying that.” She flips to the next page of her brochure. “Oh! Chloe, look! They host weddings here!”

Chloe shifts to lean over Aubrey’s shoulder to examine the glossy pages. “Oh wow, I’m sure they must be beautiful here. Expensive too. Oh!” Chloe points to the next page. “They can even host guests overnight.”

“Perfect for corporate retreats,” Aubrey muses.

“Or weddings,” Chloe says, tugging Aubrey’s arm along. “Just think about it. A beautiful day...a little bit of a breeze." Chloe sighs, somewhat wistfully, lost in her own world for a moment. "You’d look beautiful in the dress I have picked out for you.”

“Oh is this your wedding we’re talking about?”

To Aubrey’s immense surprise, Chloe glances away, clearly embarrassed. “I mean. It could be anybody’s wedding. I was just. Throwing it out there. You know.”

“Were you picturing yourself in the wedding dress?”

Again, hesitation from Chloe. “...Maybe.”

Aubrey moves so she’s standing in front of Chloe. “Hey, what’s this all about?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You,” Aubrey gestures with a stern tone. “Getting all weird and shy about weddings of all things.”

It wasn’t that Chloe was fanatic about weddings, it was more that Aubrey knew Chloe was a complete romantic. And passionate about literally everything, on top of that. Plus, Aubrey, in her capacity as Chloe’s de facto best friend, knew just how much Chloe wanted a fairytale wedding. It was something that some people grew out of—Aubrey would know, being all about practicality—but it was also something that followed people and nestled within their hopes and dreams like a permanent reminder of what optimism and sunshine could bring.

Chloe is the embodiment of both of those things and Aubrey is fortunate enough to have experienced such a person in her lifetime.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Chloe begins, going for nonchalance which Aubrey disregards completely. “I just. I—I’ve been dating Beca for a year and a half. And then soon it’s going to be two years. And then...more.”

“That’s how time works, usually.”

Chloe glares at her. “It’s just. Beca isn’t...I don’t think she wants to get married.”

“Has she said that to you?” Aubrey demands, surprised that even Beca of all people would have so little tact to say that to Chloe specifically. Chloe who has had her wedding planned since she was in second grade. Chloe, who would go to the ends of the earth for Beca Mitchell’s smug, talented ass.

“No! No, God, Beca is amazing. And she—” Chloe sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s what everybody thinks. Beca isn’t like that, okay? She loves me and she’s in love with me. There’s no doubt about it.” Aubrey shoots her a skeptical look. “You’re so unfair,” Chloe complains, upon seeing Aubrey’s expression. “She’s an amazing girlfriend. Honestly. Everybody thinks that she’s this distant, emotionless little...” Chloe makes a noise of frustration. “Well, she’s not. She’s passionate and beautiful and so so good at that thing she—”

“Chloe!”

Chloe blushes. “Sorry. But it’s not that. I promise.”

“Then where did...all this come from?”

“Well, I just don’t want to...freak her out.”

“Freak her out,” Aubrey echoes, contemplating the word choice and wondering whether she really does need to talk to Beca about her lack of decorum. “Has she said that to you?” she demands again.

“No!”

“Then—?”

“I just. I know I can be a lot, okay? I know that I want things too much sometimes. And that I can get loud and crazy about things. But I want to…” Chloe glances around. “I want to spend the rest of my life with Beca and I don’t want anything to mess that up.”

“Why would you two getting married mess that up?”

“Um? Hello? Has she not complained about her parents before?”

Aubrey can concede to that. “Once or twice. But I mean...we’re not all defined by our parents’ mistakes.” Chloe shoots her a look. “Okay, you know what? This isn’t about me.”

Chloe giggles, relenting. She kicks her toe against the ground, following the movement with her eyes. “I just know that Beca isn’t thinking about getting married. We just moved in together.”

“Like two months ago,” Aubrey mutters.

“More like four months ago!”

“Oh, but who’s counting?”

Chloe flashes a quick smile. “Yeah, it’s been four months hasn’t it?” She softens. “I love living with Beca. And I love L.A.! Oh—and of course I love that you’re going to be moving here.” She pulls Aubrey in for a quick hug, right in the middle of the hall. “It’s just...everything is coming together. I love my life just the way it is.”

“Chloe—”

It is that moment that a couple decides to make their way through the hall, led by a man holding a clipboard. He appears to be listing off amenities and accommodations.

“—host many weddings a year, especially during June. You are very lucky to get on the waiting list.”

Chloe, never one to really acknowledge social customs, somehow manages to insert herself into the conversation midway. “Is there a long list?” she asks conversationally, a hint of amusement in her tone. She tugs Aubrey along despite Aubrey’s attempts to mind her own business.

The wedding planner scrutinizes their intertwined hands. “Are you two ladies looking to have a wedding?”

Chloe tilts her head before turning to look at Aubrey with a glint in her eyes. “And if we are?”

“Chloe!” Aubrey hisses.

“Well, the wait list is about two years long, so you’ll have to get in line.”

* * * * *

“What was that about loving your life the way it was?”

“It wasn’t serious. I just won’t ever contact them again.”

“Yes, putting yours and Beca’s names down for a wedding venue wasn’t serious.”

“Think of it as a way to drum up some press for when you host corporate retreats there.”

“How does this help me? This absolutely in no way helps me at all.”

* * * * *

Chloe forgets about her little relapse until two weeks later. She and Beca decide to go for a nice dinner at the country club—a place where Beca can maintain some anonymity while they engage in things that Beca would prefer prying eyes to keep away from.

Namely kissing.

“You haven’t touched your dinner,” Chloe murmurs. She smiles as she catches Beca’s next kiss head-on, tilting her head ever so slightly to elicit the quietest of whimpers from Beca’s throat.

“You haven’t touched yours.”

Chloe tenses her fingers, splayed on Beca’s thigh. “Maybe I’m more interested in my dessert.”

Beca blushes immediately and clears her throat, drawing back to take in Chloe’s swollen lips and playful smile. “I’m so happy that you’re mine,” Beca drawls, reaching up to cup Chloe’s cheeks. “But you have to stop saying shit like that in public.”

“Why do I have to stop saying shit like that in public?” Chloe asks innocently, letting her lips and tongue emphasize the word shit while her hand glides further up Beca’s thigh.

Beca’s eyes darken further. She hums, leaning in to capture Chloe’s lips in another kiss. “You don’t play fair,” she complains when Chloe finally draws back and refocuses on her plate of untouched food.

“But you just get so cute and flustered,” Chloe points out. “How can I resist?”

Later, as they are leaving, Chloe barely has time to recall just why she recognizes the man walking towards them before he is greeting them both.

“Hi, Chloe, right? I just left a message on your phone earlier this evening. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

Chloe opens her mouth, recognition dawning. “Oh it’s—”

“Hi,” Beca cuts in. “What message?” she asks curiously.

“It’s nothing,” Chloe says quickly, an unpleasant heat spreading quickly through her body. “I’ll check later,” she says politely.

“Of course! It wasn’t anything serious. Just letting you know that your position on the wedding venue waitlist got bumped up because we had a few cancellations in the past two weeks. We’re looking at much sooner than two years. Probably within the next year if you want to remain on the list.”

“The what?” Beca demands. “Chloe, the—” Beca looks like her eyes might pop right out of her head. “Chloe,” she hisses, following as Chloe quickly mutters a thank-you and tugs Beca’s wrist along until they reach Chloe’s car. “What the fu—”

“Don’t curse,” Chloe whispers.

Beca presses her lips into a thin line. “Well, what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know. Are you mad?”

“I’m just confused,” Beca murmurs, sliding into the passenger seat. “Are we getting married?”

“No!” Chloe exclaims quickly. “No, of course not—”

“Of course not?” Beca echoes. “What—”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I just—it was just a dumb thing. Can we…” Chloe rests her hand on the steering wheel. “Can we talk about it when we get home?”

Beca stares out the window for a few long moments while Chloe pulls out on the main road. “Okay,” she finally agrees. “Okay, we’ll talk when we get home.”

The drive home itself is the longest and shortest of Chloe’s life. She shifts uncomfortably more than once, resisting the urge to look over at her girlfriend every two minutes. Scratch that. Every two seconds. She can’t believe that she forgot. That she wasn’t more careful. That a brief, silly moment with her best friend resulted in this. Whatever this is between herself and Beca right now.

It’s the last thing she wants, to have potentially messed something up in their life together.

When Chloe pulls into the private parking lot for their apartment complex, Chloe finds that she doesn’t want to leave the quiet of the car.

“Chlo,” Beca urges softly. “Let’s go inside.”

“I just wanted to see what it was like,” Chloe blurts, too stricken to restrain herself any longer. “I’m sorry.”

Beca reaches out to hold her hand across the console like Chloe wishes she had done during the drive home. The comforting feeling of Beca’s hand in her own makes Chloe look up, finally meeting Beca’s eyes for the first time since leaving the country club.

“Let’s just go inside,” Beca repeats, squeezing her hand.

Chloe hates that she feels too frazzled to correctly read Beca’s expression. She can’t figure out just what Beca is feeling or thinking and she hates that. She hates not knowing the one person she feels like she knows better than any other person on Earth.

“So...like.” Beca exhales, taking the keys from Chloe’s hands and placing them in their little shared bowl. “What did you mean? You just wanted to see what it was like? How do you just see what it’s like to reserve a wedding venue?”

Chloe bites her lip, still afraid to meet Beca’s eyes. She focuses instead on the flowery B&C engraving on their key bowl. It warms her. Comforts her. “I mean...it’s not really a wedding venue. It’s just a country club,” she points out evasively.

Beca snorts. “Where weddings are sometimes hosted.”

“Well. Yeah.”

“And you specifically put your name down—our names down—for a wedding. Sometime in the future.”

Chloe groans at that, covering her face with her hands. “Aubrey pressured me into it,” she lies, wondering if Beca will believe that.

Beca stifles a smile, instead choosing to step closer to Chloe in order to pry her hands from her face. “I bet she did.”

“You’re freaking out,” Chloe mumbles from behind her hands, though she does part two fingers in order to peer at Beca. “You’re freaking out, aren’t you?”

“I mean...I was,” Beca admits. “That was kind of…” Beca ponders her word choice. “Sudden,” she finally says with a delicate tone.

Chloe sighs. “I know it freaks you out when I do...stuff like that.”

At that, Beca frowns. “Do stuff like what?”

“I don’t know. Think about the future. Talk about this kind of stuff.”

Beca’s heart seizes for the briefest of moments. “I don’t want you to think that I’m not…” she swallows. “That I’m not, like, into that. Because I am.” She reaches for Chloe’s hands, pulling gently. “With you.” She bites her lower lip. “I hadn’t thought about it much before you, but it—” Beca laughs, a little breathlessly. “It drives me crazy that we haven’t talked about it, you know?”

“I just thought you weren’t…” Chloe shrugs, though her heart pounds at all of the words Beca has just thrown at her. “That it wasn’t something you wanted.”

“That was before you,” Beca reiterates.

Chloe feels a flush rising up her neck and spreading into her cheeks rapidly. “Beca…”

Beca, to her credit, does not flinch nor shy away. Chloe has been privileged enough to get to know this side of Beca over the past year and a half and especially over the past four months of living together. She is smitten and completely head-over-heels for Beca Mitchell and she doesn’t care if anybody knows that. That being said, she completely understands that Beca might not necessarily be the same, at least in terms of expressing herself outwardly (“Love languages are a thing, Beca!”) but she has never doubted that Beca cares for her. Loves her, even.

Beca is in love with her.

The thought only makes her blush again and offer a shy, demure smile at Beca who merely looks perplexed at the sudden change in mood. “What?” Beca asks quickly. “What is it? What did I say?”

“Nothing,” Chloe chimes in, shifting so that she can wrap an arm around Beca’s shoulders. “Well, not nothing. For you, that was basically a public and cheesy romantic gesture. Like declaration-on-a-billboard level.”

Beca scrunches her nose. “What was?”

Chloe pecks her quickly, enjoying how squirmy Beca is becoming in her arms. “You saying that you think about the future with me.”

“I don’t know if I said it exactly like that.”

“A little like that,” Chloe pushes. She leans in to kiss Beca slowly, letting her breath linger against Beca’s mouth. “A little bit,” she murmurs when she feels Beca take a breath, likely to protest again.

“Okay, maybe I did.”

Chloe relaxes completely, wondering how she got so lucky to fall in love with her perfect match; how she got so lucky to find her soulmate in a world full of people who refused to believe in love like she did. That was a relatively painless conversation, resulting in some unexpected results. Namely that Chloe had been the only one standing in the way of this much-needed conversation, but also that Beca Mitchell wanted to marry her.

The thought only makes Chloe deepen her kiss, eliciting a noise of surprise from Beca. They kiss for a few more moments, hands beginning to wander more boldly and surely as their kisses deepen with each passing second. Beca groans when Chloe’s hands slip under the front of her shirt, fingers scraping up her stomach with purpose.

“Are we still talking about this?” Beca asks, snagging Chloe’s lower lip between her teeth.

Chloe hums, tilting her head to capture Beca’s lips in another kiss. “That can wait.”

“I mean,” Beca begins breathlessly, allowing Chloe to steer her towards the bedroom. “You are next on the waitlist.”

Chloe is already unbuttoning her jeans. “You talk way too much. Shut up, now. I want you.”

* * * * *

Another two weeks later and Chloe has all but forgotten about that wedding venue mishap, too caught up in the motions of her own hectic life and just how good her relationship with Beca has become. She hadn’t thought it possible, but she falls more for Beca every day.

“I can’t believe my girlfriend is ditching me to hang out with my best friend,” Chloe pouts. “This is so unfair. My two favorite people.”

“You could come,” Beca laughs.

“No, you know I have a long shift today.” Chloe sighs. “I’ll miss you. Say hi to Aubrey for me. I know she’s been busy setting up work stuff. Ask her if she needs our help.”

“I will ask her if she needs your help,” Beca says obediently.

“Our help,” Chloe corrects, leaning down to kiss Beca on the lips. “See you!”

Chloe heads out the door, without much thought as to the rest of her day.

Beca waits until she hears complete silence, then she waits for another few minutes estimating how long it would take Chloe to get into her car and drive.

Beca she’s gone, hurry up and get over here

Aubrey Rude. On my way.

Beca rushes to get ready in preparation for her day with Aubrey.

“What did you think of the place?” Aubrey asks when Beca climbs into the car. “Did you like the photos?”

“Yeah, but I kind of want to see it for myself. In person.”

Aubrey scoffs. “Chloe has amazing taste and so do I. We would never lead you astray.”

Beca rolls her eyes. “Forgive me for wanting to see the place where I want to get married myself.”

“Beca, you don’t exactly strike me as the kind of person—”

Beca resists the urge to completely snap at Aubrey or say something snarky to cut off the other woman. She fiddles with the small box inside her jacket pocket before she pulls it out, running her fingers along the velvet surface. She smiles at the thought of Chloe’s expression—what her imagination provides at least—and suddenly she can’t quite wait another moment. She wants to marry Chloe immediately. She wants everything that she always thought she’d hate because of her parents’ own failed marriage. She wants that life and that future with Chloe and she wants it because she knows it’ll work.

It will work because they love each other.

Aubrey gasps loudly, pulling the car off to the side of the road and throwing her hazard lights on. “Beca! You didn’t!” She all but snatches the box from Beca’s grasp, both of them tussling over it for a brief moment before Aubrey finally shoves her shoulder and displaces Beca back into her seat. “Oh my God, you actually bought a ring. Without talking to me. Beca! How could you!”

“I didn’t know I needed your permission to buy a ring.”

Aubrey ignores her, opening the box. Her eyes widen comically and if Beca’s heart weren’t completely in her throat because it is now dawning on Beca that she absolutely craves Aubrey’s approval, Beca would laugh. But she doesn’t. She waits with bated breath as Aubrey lifts the ring closer to her face, eyes practically glittering.

“Are you...okay?” Beca asks. Is it okay? she wants to ask, but refrains.

“This is...beautiful, Beca. This is so beautiful.”

Beca exhales, feeling an entire year’s worth of tension leave her body. “For real? Like you’re not just...saying that, right?”

“No, Beca, I’m not just saying that. This is beautiful. And...and I’m so happy for you.” Aubrey presses the ring back into Beca’s hands before moving to grip the steering wheel with determination.

Beca waits, watching Aubrey for a long moment before she speaks up again. “Are we gonna go, or—?”

“I just need a moment to collect myself.”

“Oh, okay.” Beca flips the box open again, smiling at the ring. “Take all the time you need.”

She has never been more ready.

fin.

[npfehr]

photo credit: me

Recently Completed: Unpacking (PC)

This is a relaxing puzzle game in which your task is to unpack boxes of things, and then find places for those things to go. The game moves through the years, following the same person through college, relationships, and eventually a space of their own. The story is relayed entirely via rooms and the objects you unpack, and it's brilliantly affecting.

Sometimes you will go through things in a workerlike fashion. The shampoo bottles go on the shower shelves, the toilet paper in the little holder. Sometimes you will pluck something out of a box that makes you smile like being reunited with an old friend, as was the case with the beloved piggy stuffy that travels everywhere with the main character. Sometimes you will be perplexed as you try to figure out how you're supposed to get all of these shoes into one little closet.

I wrote about the ukulele and my delight about its evolving circumstances, but here I want to talk about a moment midway through the game that actually made me stop for a few days.

[Mild spoilers I guess!]

So, out of college and following an apparently failed live-in relationship, you find yourself back in your childhood bedroom (the one in the screenshot above). The shelf under the window is there, but the bed has been replaced with a desk and a sewing machine, and there's a different bed off to the side. The light through the window is muted, and the music is melancholy. It's cramped, and the challenge is to try and shoehorn your things into this space. Hopefully not for long.

The idea of a home as a warm, inviting place has always been extremely powerful to me. My parents always made it clear to my brothers and me that no matter what, no matter our disagreements or sins, we could always come home and get back on our feet from there. And we've all done it, over time and sometimes more than once. It's something I genuinely hope to pass on to my children as well; that no matter what, if you need a space to get yourself together before heading out into the world again, we love you and we're keeping that open for you.

But at the same time, when you've been away, home is never what it was, is it? We moved off the farm when I was about 12, and I befriended the kid whose family bought our old house. Going back there to visit was uncanny, a space I recognized filled with objects I didn't.

When I left for university, my bedroom in our new house got converted into the office of our small family business. There were of course other bedrooms to stay in when I was there, but they weren't my room.

A couple of years ago, the new house got sold after Mom died, and Dad remarried and moved out. I know we'd still be welcome in his new place, and my stepmom is a wonderful person, but it's just...different again.

In the game, I when I took in this new scene the main character's bedroom, seeing it be both different and the same, those layered emotions came over me and out loud I said "Oh no, no" and closed the game. It was Friday, and I let the weekend pass before I opened it up and played on Monday. This time I looked a little longer, and even opened a box and took out a thing or two. Then I gave up again, and closed it down until the next day.

It's not hard to imagine my character feeling much the same way, gazing out over the boxes, trying to will themselves to move something around, and then making just enough room to sleep and/or leaving the room altogether for a while.

At last, the next day I was able to settle in and do the rest of the work. It wasn't easy, but it got done, and to my great relief, the next chapter was a better situation with acres of space.

I don't think I've had a game evoke these feelings before, and I remain impressed that it was done without dialogue or cutscenes. I'm also encouraged by the way that the character's story improves from there, and it's helped me reflect on my own life and the way a new home can be built over time, even while having mixed feelings about the homes we've known and loved.

[End of mild spoilers!]

Every so often I will come across a game that reinforces my belief that games are art, and this is one of them. I think my main criteria are that it moved me while playing, made me think about it while I wasn't playing, and told a story in a way unique to the medium. Unpacking, to me, is art, and is easily one of my favourite games this year. Play it!