#doesn't mean my future partner in life won't love and be devoted to each other???

[funkytoes]

remember when people were like "PROOF that katara and aang didn't really love each other and regretted being end game -> They stopped having kids after they finally got an airbender"

okay kids i NEED y'all need to realize that the number of children a couple does or does not have does =/= how much that couple loved each other like SHEESH

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buddie: Eddie supports Buck in everything!

Here's one of the many reasons why Buddie is endgame!

One of the many things I noticed during the beginning scenes of 7x6 that heavily included Buck and Eddie was Eddie’s undying and never-ending devotion to Buck. He's always been like that so it wasn't a surprise to me but IMO, apparently, TM wanted the new viewers to see it too. Also, it was probably included as a reminder for those who've been watching but may have forgotten.

Here's what I mean.

Chimney clearly said he didn't want a bachelor party and he said it so EVERYONE could hear it, including Eddie.

But Buck was adamant about it and he wouldn't give up (in 5x2 Eddie said it to Buck that he never gives up and Buck learned that from Chris in 3x1 - 3x2 when they were talking before and after the Tsunami). Eddie knew Chimney didn't want one but he never dismissed Buck’s intentions of wanting to do something that he believed Chimney should experience. It's who Buck is and Eddie knows him to his CORE and so much so that he indulged him by not only suggesting they go as Crockett and Tubbs from Miami Vice but also he was the only one who complied with Buck's wishes and came in an 80s costume.

He was the first person there and he made sure Chris was cared for so he wouldn't miss it. And he was THE ONLY ONE IN ATTENDANCE WHO STAYED WITH BUCK ALL NIGHT. They partied like it was 1999!

Eddie’s love and support for Buck was on full display and it's what he needs in a life partner. Buck doesn't need someone who just wants to kid and son him and who doesn't support him in EVERYTHING the way his supposed LI is doing. T*mmy didn't even try to oblige him and his response was nonchalant and stand-offish like he thought it was ridiculous. Also, him being on standby didn't have anything to do with it since they have to CHANGE CLOTHES WHEN THEY GO TO WORK ANYWAY. Hello, they wear uniforms.

My point is Eddie’s still waiting for Buck to get it. He gave him his heart years ago but he's patiently giving him the space and the time he needs to realize it on his own. He's supportive and he doesn't dismiss him and most importantly, he loves Buck unconditionally and that's what makes BUDDIE THE SUPERIOR SHIP.

They have spent years loving each other and being there for one another and IMO, it's the reason why TM is putting them front and center in every episode. He said he was going to show their "coupling" (his word) and that's what he's doing. Anyone watching should be able to see they're PERFECT for each other. Also, there's no denying how much chemistry they have and they haven't even kissed yet. But trust when they finally do kiss on screen, it's going to be EVERYTHING because all the years they've spent loving each other will pour out of their hearts and they'll put their all into it. It will be the most satisfying of beginnings for them. They will be each other's last everything and they'll grow old and spend the rest of their lives together.

They've built a life and a family for the past six years that's based on trust, love and devotion and if the Diaz parents showing up in a future episode is any indication of what's to come, I believe Eddie's WILL is about to come into play in a big way and there won't be any room for Eddie to deny what it means. It was a love confession and he did it in the best way he knew how at the time. He loves Buck and Buck loves him and that's what matters.

They're in love with each other and they share something greater than a couple of on screen kisses since they've been sharing a life and a family for the past six years.

They're best friends.

They're soulmates.

I ONLY SHIP BUDDIE!

[multsicorn]

[on the one hand, all of this post is bullshit, since i don't know what exactly the words translated as 'friend,' uh, actually mean. nevertheless! reader response or whatever! i cannot but have feelings about the text that i receive!]

I have... definitely, sometimes, been frustrated at seemingly (or, in this case, clearly!) romantic partners describing each other as a 'friend.' sure, 'marry your best friend' - the two of you ought to be friends as well as a number of other things. it can still come off as an odd thing to choose or prioritize in how you refer to each other... but, here, in these cases, it works for me.

(specifically, the reason i was thinking about it, is that it makes sense for me, in-universe, that they would use 'soulmate' at other times - in the past, and i'm guessing it'll probably recur again before the show's end(?) - but 'friend' in these moments... and i love that...)

1. Wen Kexing is afraid that if Zhou Zishu knows that he's the chief of Ghost Valley, Zhou Zishu won't want to have anything more to do with him, at all. It's not a question of romantic vs. platonic - it's a question of keeping him in his life. So 'won't see me as (even) a friend' is... exactly the point.

2. Again! Zhou Zishu, this time, facing down possible death, says 'my life is worthwhile with you as my friend' - and he doesn't mean that they're ~only~ friends. What he means is that having Wen Kexing in his life, in whatever capacity, is that important. Of course they love each other - but that's not the point - the point is that they have each other at all.

3. When Zhou Zishu has to introduce Wen Kexing to Long Que... lol. He doesn't know any of the things Long Que might want to know! (Or if he does, he's not going to say them, not without Wen Kexing's permission.) He can't tell Long Que about Wen Kexing's position in the jianghu - his family, what sect he's from. And 'zhiji' is, probably, for them? It's about what they feel for each other - not a formal position of any kind. So... he's here with me, that's all Zhou Zishu has to offer. He's my friend, my 'close friend,' whatever that means, exactly, I don't know - but I can only assume it's an on-the-fly compromise. 'Friend' alone would be too weak - and anything else would be not the sort of public-facing explanation this moment needs.

4. This screenshot is actually Zhou Zishu talking about Long Que's friendship for the Zhen parents... and looking very obviously and emotionally at Wen Kexing. It kind of doesn't belong? But kind of does. There's no reason, of course, to think Long Que's friendship for them wasn't 'just' friendship. But what is 'just' friendship, anyway? As Zhou Zishu has just said, Long Que crippled the future of his own sect for the lives of his friends - and, as he's saying at this very moment, that sort of devotion... means everything. 'Having a friend like you in life, one can have no regret' - he says, nominally about Long Que and Divine Hand Zhen, but also about himself and Wen Kexing. Even if the friend's sacrifice doesn't actually, um, help - just having that relationship -

it's not the same as 'zhiji'/soulmate, it's not the same as the sword-and-scabbard analogy vis-a-vis marriage that the show applied to wenzhou via Cao Weining and Gu Xiang.

But it is, in this context, the most important thing, more important than life or death... having not just anyone one can call a friend, but someone so sympathetic, so devoted, that your lives are for each other - that's what he and Wen Kexing are to each other, and it's arguably at least as important as anything else they could be. A friend like that.

[d-noona]

MAKE OVER

Chapter 5: Jeon Jungkook

Jung Hoseok x Reader

Reader as Kang Hyeonji

SUMMARY: When Kang Hyeonji transformed herself into a striking redhead, the entire male population of Seoul stood up and took notice. But her make over was for Jung Hoseok’s benefit alone. He began to show interest in the new look but not in the way she wanted. Suddenly he was over-protective, perhaps a little jealous. It seemed that the idea of having a relationship with her couldn’t be further from his mind. The girl however wants more. So it was time for an ultimatum. If Hoseok didn’t want Hyeonji to lose her virginity to another admirer, he had no option but to make love to her himself.

Choon Hee grabbed her the moment she walked into the library, and dragged her down to the privacy of the back room. "I'm dying of curiosity," she said, quite unnecessarily, since her whole body language reeked of a breathless tension. "Did you doll yourself up like we told you to? Did you wear the perfume? Did you knock glamour boy for six when he came to pick you up?"

Hyeonji had thought about what she would tell the girls this morning. She'd walked more slowly to work than usual, mulling over whether she should lie or not. Now the moment of truth was at hand, and despite Choon Hee's eager face Hyeonji could not bring herself to make up a story.

"No I didn't doll myself up," she confessed, with a wealth of apology in her voice. "I didn't wear the perfume either, though it was a lovely though, Choon hee and I do thank you and Han Byeol for it. And as I'm sure you've guessed...no, I didn't knock Hoseok for six when he came to pick me up."

Choon Hee exhaled a huge sigh of disappointment. "Oh, Hyeonji! How many chances like that do you think you're going to get?"

"Actually, last night wasn't a total disaster. Hobi did notice at last how much weight I'd lost. He also told me I had a nice figure and good legs...for someone so short."

"He did? Wow! You must have been thrilled to bits" she says.

"It's not quite good as it sounds," Hyeonji said ruefully, then went on to tell Choon Hee exactly how the compliments had come about. She listened intently, her eyes rounding further with each new revelation. "You mean he thinks you're in love with someone else? This guy he dubbed as Mr. X?"

"Uh-huh..." Hyeonji nodded.

"And he told you how to dress so that you would be more attractive for another man?"

Hyeonji again nods.

"I'd like to strangle him with my bare hands!" says choon Hee in annoyance.

"Don't blame Hobi. I forced him into it." Hyeonji automatically defends her best friend. "Rubbish! That man is a blind fool! Oh, poor baby."

"Not poor baby, at all Choon Hee," she returned with a very firm resolve. "Because I'm going to do it. Follow all of Hoseok's suggestions. But not for him, I'm going to do it for myself." She smiled at her friend. Choon Hee snickered at Hyeonji "Go on with you! You're not!"

"Yes I am"

"You're going to cut your hair short and dye it red?" as choon Hee's eyes grew rounder in shock. "For starters. So do you happen to know a good hairdresser who doesn't cost the earth? Also where I might find a make-up expert who gives free advice and tuition?"

Choon Hee's dark eyes twinkled with excitement "I certainly do. But gosh, Hyeonji, whatever is your mother going to say?" Hyeonji wasn't sure. But she would find out that evening. To be honest, the prospect was a daunting one. It wasn't like her to make waves. Or to do something as bold as this. But she was determined to change herself, and her life...whatever the cost.

Fortunately, she had a few bucks placed away for emergencies –and which she would use for her first visit to the hairdresser, and some make-up. Still, if she was to find enough money from their tight budget for regular visits to the hairdresser and a whole new wardrobe, then some changes would have to be made to their day-to-day lifestyle.

Her own salary was almost totally eaten up with the two mortgages her father had taken out shortly before he died, and her mother's pension barely covered their living expenses and other bills, with little left over for luxuries.

Hyeonji waited till after dinner before she brought up her plan for her future, and was not really surprised when her mother reacted badly. "But why do you want to change yourself so dramatically?" Zil asked in a tremulous voice. "I don't understand. This isn't like you at all!"

"Mum," Hyeonji returned patiently, "I'm twenty-three and I have not had one single steady boyfriend in my life. I do not want to become an old maid. I want to get married one day and have a family of my own. To get married I need a man, and to get a man I need to do something about attracting one."

"It's not any man you want to attract, missie,"came her waspish accusation. "It's Jung Hoseok. You were perfectly happy till you went out with him last night and now you've got all these silly ideas in your head."

"They are not silly ideas," Hyeonji said more sternly. "Yes I do have feelings for Hoseok. I always have had. I won't deny it. But you were right when you said he'd never fall in love with me, he thinks of me as a kid sister. But that doesn't mean I'm going to spend the rest of my life pinning after him. Since men don't exactly come flocking to my door, I aim to get out and about a bit more, and I aim to look darned good when I do so. Looking good costs money, which brings me to my first suggestion. What do you think about selling this house and buying something smaller? The mortgages are killing us."

Her mother gave her a truly horrified look. "Oh, no! No, no, no! I love this house. It's all I have. You can't ask that of me. You can't!"

Hyeonji relented and moved straight to plan B. To be honest she hadn't really wanted to sell. As much as she'd told both Choon Hee and her mother that these radical changes were for herself, she still wanted to see Hoseok's reaction to the finished product. Silly of her perhaps but a fact. "Okay, forget selling," she said briskly. "My alternative suggestion is that we advertise for a boarder."

"A boarder!"

"Yes. We have four bedrooms in this house, Mum, two of which are never used, the master bedroom being one of them. You could get money for that room. It has an en suite, a dressing room and lots of space." As Hyeonji tries to debate with her mother. "Oh, but I couldn't have some strange man living in your father's house and sleeping in his bed!"

Hyeonji prayed for more patience. Her mother's devotion to her father had increased considerably since his death. Couldn't he remember what a selfish bastard he'd been? How he'd wasted all her inheritance from her parents on one stupid get-rich schemes? Worst of all, how he'd often come home late, smelling of booze and cheap perfume?

"You don't have to have a male boarder, Mum. I'm sure there are plenty of widows around your age who need accommodation. It would be company for you as well," Hyeonji pointed out. "I am not going to be at home as much as I used to be."

Zil opened her mouth to protest again, then closed it, her expression petulant. She looked like a sulky child sitting there. Hyeonji felt sorry for her but knew she had to make a stand or her future would be as dull and dreary as she'd been fearing. "Do I have your agreement to put up an add next Wednesday's paper?"

The following day Hyeonji did what she was set out to do, though bombarded with the previous argument she had with her mother, who is still insisting on not getting any boarders, Hyeonji was persistent.

"I can't believe it's me!" Hyeonji exclaimed delightedly. "You're a genius, Taehyung!"

The hairdresser's smile carried a delicious satisfaction. "I must admit I have outdone myself this time!"

Hyeonji beamed anew at this striking and sophisticated-looking creature who was staring back at her in the mirror. She turned her head from side to side and watched the smooth coppery cap shimmer and sway and fall perfectly back into place. "This particular cut will give your hair body and style," Taehyung had pronounced reassuringly while he proceeded to shape her hair while layering the top concentric circles of from her crown. Hyeonji now had a stylish fringe down to her eyebrows, the effect being to diminish the size of her face and nose, and highlight her deeply set hazel brown eyes.

The new coppery color besides being eye-catching in itself, was a perfect foil for her pale skin, giving it a translucency and delicacy which has been lost against her mousy brown hair. When Hyeonji stood up she saw delightedly that the clean lines made her neck look longer and even more elegant.

"You look really different, I mean you're such a babe. If I weren't gay and totally in love with my partner Jimin, honey. I'd bring you home." The hairdresser said, shaking his head admiringly. "Taller too."

Hyeonji chuckles at Taehyung. "Yeah, I think you're right. I do look different," Hyeonji said excitedly. "Oh, Taehyung how could I ever thank you? It was so kind of you to fit me in your schedule tonight."

"It was my pleasure. Now how are you going to get home?" Taehyung asked once Hyeonji had handed the money. "I'll walk it's not that far." Taehyung lived less than a block from the library, which was only a fifteen-minute walk from her house. Taehyung frowned. "Do you think that's wise? It's Friday night, you know."

"What do you mean?" she asked inquisitively.

"People let their hair down on a Friday night around here. You'll have to walk past the bar on your way home, won't you?" says Taehyung. "Yes" Hyeonji responds.

"Then you better watch yourself. You're not exactly inconspicuous with that new red hair you know." Taehyung's warning startled Hyeonji. She'd never been hassled by unwanted male attention in all her life and simply could not anticipate that a mere change in hair color would create trouble for her, especially when she was still dressed in her library uniform.

But she was wrong.

She'd just passed the tavern and was halfway along the past stretch which followed the railway line when a hotted-up Chevie full of less than savory individuals rumbled by. "Hey babe!" one of them called out.

Hyeonji averted her eyes and crossed the road as soon as they passed by, then nearly died when she heard the tires screech as the driver executed a U-turn. Before she could blink, the car was cruising along next to her and an obviously drunk, loud-mouther lout was leaning out of the passenger window in her direction.

"Where you going baby?" he said breathing beer fumes in her way. "Wanna ride?"

She quickened her step and kept her eyes straight ahead. "What's the matter? You think you're too good for us? Fellas, you think we should teach Madam here a lesson or two?"

Her mouth dry with fear, Hyeonji was just about to run for it when a sleek black car shot around the Chevie and pulled up dead. The driver of the Chevie had to brake hard to avoid a collision and the man hanging by the passenger window almost tipped out onto the road. When a tall dark haired man dressed in black jumped out from behind the wheel of the black car and began stalking back towards Hyeonji's verbal assailant, the man shouted something and scrambled back into the vehicle, spun around and roared off.

Her savior curved his big hands over her shaking shoulders and peered down over her pale face. "You all right there miss?" he said. It was only then that Hyeonji recognized the identity of her rescuer.

It was Jeon Jungkook.

"Yes I think so," Hyeonji says in a breathless hush. "Thank you so much for stopping, Jungkook." His surprise at her for knowing his name was obvious in the jerking back of his head, and the widening of his dark eyes. Hyeonji would've gratified if she hadn't still been shaking like a leaf. "It's Hyeonji," she said "Kang Hyeonji"

"Hyeonji?" His startled gaze lifted to her hair, then swiftly ran down her body and up again. "Good Lord, it is you. I didn't recognize you with that stunning hair, and you've lost weight too, haven't you?"

"A little..."

His smile took on a knowing edge as he looked at her up and down again. "More than a little. You're looking fantastic. Too fantastic to be walking down these streets at night on your own. No wonder you almost got yourself into trouble. Come on, I'll drive you home."

After her frightening experience with those creeps Hyeonji wasn't about to refuse. She wouldn't have been human either, if she hadn't been flattered by Jungkook's compliments by her appearance, and by the way he kept looking at her.

His touch seemed gentle and solicitous as he helped her into the passenger side of his roomy black sedan, but when he sashed the seatbelt into place for her Hyeonji was quite sure his left hand deliberately brushed over the tips of her breasts. She stiffened inside but said nothing, ignoring his attempt to make eye contact at the same time. Creeps came in various forms she thought ruefully. It was obvious that outright rape wasn't his thing. Silky smooth seductions and one night stands where his forte. He would use his golden tongue to talk his way into a girl's bed. Hyeonji decided not to get carried away with Jungkook's words of praise. She didn't doubt she looked better with her new hairdo, but she wasn't competition for Tinashe just yet.

They were only a minute away from her home by car, but Jungkook didn't waste a second, bombarding her with questions designed to elicit the only information from a female he would want to know. How old was she exactly, where did she work these days. Did she have a boyfriend? Unfortunately Hyeonji didn't realize where Jungkook was heading till she told him several truths with naïve honesty.

As soon as he pulled up the curve outside her house, he turned and asked her if she would like to come out for a drink with him later that night. "I could pick you up at say...ten thirty?"

Hyeonji might've been inexperienced with men but she knew that to agree with such invitation at that hour of the night was to agree to more than just a drink. She didn't doubt that she'd get a drink. Plenty of them. And all of them alcoholic. Then, when she was suitably plastered Jungkook would take her back to his orgy palace for a night of raw naked sex. The very thought of Jungkook naked gave Hyeonji chills down her spine. He had a great body, facially he was very handsome, no doubt a lot of women fancied his darkly macho appearance with that playboy bunny smile of his, but Hyeonji preferred Hoseok's fairer more elegant looks.

Her favorite fantasy always included running her hands through his silky black hair and over his smooth chest. It turned her on just to imagine touching his body, whereas the thought of touching Jungkook's made her skin crawl.

"Thank you Jungkook," she said politely "For everything, but I'm sorry I can't. Not tonight."

To give him credit he took the rejection well. His black eyes glittered with undeniable confidence as he smiled over at her. "That's all right, another time maybe?"

"Perhaps," not wanting to be rude to her rescuer. "I'll call you," he said then started the engine and left.

Chapter 06

Masterlist