#doubt anyone read this far anyways tbh

[horsemeatluvr23]

the juppet !! i just realised he is jerma posing i swear that was unintentional...... i spent so long digging thru muppet concept art and looking at old puppet designs just to end up doing a rly simple drawing but. i love joehills!! i have only been watching them for like 4 years but their videos r so special to me :3

[alonetogether]

i did not want to be That Guy but literally if i keep seeing that the only tags ppl leave on that peterick bunk cuddling art is about petes ass i swear i WILL start biting people like i know it’s meant for fun and trust me it was funny to me to begin with too but having smth like that said over and over. without any sort of like further. compliment or excitement at least after is just disheartening at this point

[munson-blurbs]

hii 🫶🏻 i've had this idea of the reader and eddie being at a halloween party and her drink getting spiked (roofied or wtv) and like eddie comes to the rescue and takes care of her - enemies to slight lovers pls!! have a good day/night :))

Hi! I changed it a bit so that her drink was spiked with extra booze, but I kept it enemies-to-lovers!

Warnings: underage drinking (everyone is over 18 but under 21), reader's drink gets spiked, drunkenness, brief mention of Eddie dealing, Billy Hargrove needs his own warning tbh, enemies-to-lovers, idiots in love

WC: 2.5k

Thank you so much to @corroded-hellfire @lofaewrites and @manda-panda-monium for their help! Y'all made this fic much stronger, and I am indebted to you.

--

A brief, incomplete list of activities you enjoy: grabbing coffee with a few friends, walks down by Lover’s Lake powered by whatever cassette you’ve jammed into your WalkMan, reading a good book and curling up in the sunlight streaming through your bedroom window.

A brief, incomplete list of activities you despise: Steve Harrington’s house parties.

The bass from the stereo has the entire downstairs shaking, and you wince as you pass by it and make your way to Nancy. She’s the reason why you’ve started coming to these stupid things, and although Steve isn’t as big of a tool as you’d previously thought, it doesn’t make other people more tolerable.

“You having a good time?” Nancy asks now, bouncing along with the music. Her eyes are hazy with booze; her half-filled cup of the jungle juice concoction is clearly far from her first of the evening.

You shrug, hitching your bag close to your shoulder as a beast of a man in a letterman jacket pushes his way through the crowd. “Not really.”

“Cool, awesome!” Nancy chirps, senses compromised by the constant flow of alcohol and the blasting music. 

Steve has his arm around her waist, pressing chaste kisses to her neck. He looks up at you for just a second and frowns. “Where’s your drink?”

You jingle the car keys you’ve had clenched in your fist the whole night, ready to make a getaway as early as you can. “Designated driver. Unless you want José Cuervo behind the wheel tonight,” you raise your brows as you motion to your friend.

Steve shakes his head. “Nance is gonna stay here with me tonight,” he tells you, taking Nancy’s cup from her hand and placing it in yours. “She’s had enough, anyway. So, uh, go crazy.”

Go crazy. It’s tempting to dull the roar of the dozen or so conversations worming their way into your consciousness. And no doubt it’ll be easier to slap a fake smile on your face and even join one of them. But you still have to get home somehow, and the thought of asking either of your overbearing parents for a ride home from a party has your stomach in knots, especially considering you’d told them you were going to the library and sleeping at the Wheeler’s. 

Instead of going crazy, you toss the couple a frustrated eye roll, but they’re both too enmeshed in their puppy love for each other to catch it. Home. You just need to get home, snug in your own bed, away from–

“Hey, Goody Two-Shoes!” Billy Hargrove flings his muscular arm around your shoulder, pulling you into him despite your clear lack of interest. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s bad etiquette to bring down the party vibe?”

 “Get offa me,” you grumble, but his strength easily overpowers yours. 

“What you need,” he continues, stifling a beer-scented belch, “is to fuckin’ loosen up.” He punctuates his statement by placing one beefy hand on each of your shoulders, shaking you back and forth. He stumbles a bit in his drunken state, and you seize the opportunity to step away from him.

The entire encounter makes the drink in your hand even more tempting, and you throw it back without another thought. Your throat burns with the sting of alcohol, and you wince reflexively. Jeez, if this is what Nancy’s been drinking all night, no wonder she’s wasted, you think, grateful that you only had half of the cup.

Eddie Munson arrives when the party is in full swing, lunch box of illicit substances gripped tight in his hands. He hates spending time with these jockstraps outside of school, but parties are a great way to make some extra cash, and rich douchebags like King Steve practically throw the money at him, too drunk and lazy to actually count it out.

He sees you out of the corner of his eye, swaying to the music alongside Billy Hargrove. You’re leaning into him, with his hand around your waist pulling you into him. You laugh loudly, though it doesn’t appear that Billy’s said anything.

What a weird pair, Eddie muses, comparing your usual type-A, pain-in-the-ass, teacher’s pet personality with Billy’s thoughtlessness and indifference. He watches as Billy nonchalantly refills your drink and grabs your backside.

When Billy notices Eddie, he props you against the counter and murmurs something before staggering over to buy something. “What do you have tonight, Munson?”

“The usual,” Eddie replies casually, placing the tin box on the kitchen table and flipping it open. “So, uh, looks like Goody-Two Shoes is having a good time.”

Billy chuckles, twirling a toothpick across his lips. It’s a menacing laugh, and Eddie doesn’t care for the sound of it. “Yeah, she needed a little help, but I took care of it.”

He really doesn’t like that. “What do you mean?”

“Slipped a little extra in her drink when she wasn’t looking,” Billy whispers, flashing Eddie a now-empty mini bottle of tequila. “Shit was pretty strong to begin with, but she’s definitely feeling it now.”

“You spiked her drink?” Eddie’s mouth goes dry, and he snaps the lunch box shut. When Billy just laughs again, Eddie shoves him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Billy holds his hands up in defense. “Hey, man, you can’t blame a guy for doing what he has to do to get laid. Especially when it’s someone as uptight as her.”

Rage pounds in Eddie’s ears, and he barely hears anything after that. He marches towards you, fists clenched. You weren’t his favorite person, and he wasn’t yours–not after what happened in health last year–but he’d be damned if he let you get taken advantage of.

“Hey,” he says softly, tapping your shoulder to grab your attention. “Let me get you home.”

You sloppily shake your head, jungle juice sloshing over the side of the cup. “‘M fine.”

“No, you’re not.” He’s insistent, tone much harsher than his usual carelessness. “You’re absolutely plastered, and I’m taking you home.” He extends his hand, and you reluctantly take it, letting him lead you to his van. Your feet are bricks beneath you, and you giggle involuntarily as you trip over them.

“Munson, what the fuck?” Billy calls out, charging over. His own stride isn’t much more graceful than yours; the Keg Stand Champion having reclaimed his title earlier in the evening. “Get your own girl.” He reaches for your bicep to tug you away, but Eddie’s faster, which only makes the jock’s eyes stonier. “Fucking freak!” he calls out, quickly downing another plastic cup of beer.

Your eyelids begin to close, and slurred words leave your lips. “Whas’ goin’ on? Why’s Billy shhh-so mad?”

Eddie ignores your question, not wanting to slow down and risk Billy catching up to you. Once he’s safely got you in the passenger seat, he starts the ignition and glances at where you’re leaning against the window. “Where to?”

“Home.”

“Right, and, uh…where might that be?”

You shrug, body heavier with sleep by the second. “Dunno.”

“Like an address, or a general direction…anything?” Eddie drums his ringed fingers against the steering wheel. He sighs and throws the van in reverse when you shake your head. “All right, looks like you’re staying at mine.”

He keeps his eyes on the road, stealing a peek at you every minute or so. You’re sleeping, soft snores punctuating the otherwise silent ride. He winces as he goes over a bump and puts his arm out to prevent you from falling against the dashboard. 

Twenty minutes later—it would have been fifteen, but he drove slowly to prevent jostling you too much—he’s pulling up to his trailer. “Welcome to Casa Munson.” He opens his door with a dramatic grunt and shuffles around to your side. “C’mon, let’s get you inside.” If any of the neighbors see him, they’ll assume the worst, but it’s either that or have you sleep in the van. 

The last thing you remember is mumbling about needing a bed and Eddie leading you to his with an offhand comment about not knowing where the stains are from. When you wake the next morning, a jackhammer has replaced your brain and your throat is filled with bile. 

“Ugh, fuck,” you groan, pulling your sheet up over your eyes to shield them from the sun. Except this isn’t the baby pink set your mom bought you from Wal-Mart. These sheets are white and smell like cigarettes, weed, and drugstore cologne. The realization that this isn’t your room has you jolting up in bed despite your body’s protests. “What the hell?”

“Good morning to you, too,” a voice grumbles from below. You look down to see Eddie Munson laying on the floor, a towel rolled below his head in a makeshift pillow. A throw blanket covers from his shoulders to just above his ankles, leaving his sweat sock-clad feet exposed. “There’s some water and pretzels next to you, and I can grab Advil if you need.”

You nod, squeezing your eyelids together at the pain the slight head movement causes. “Yes, please.” He returns with the medicine, and you eagerly swallow it with a gulp of water. A quick assessment assures you that your clothes are still on, but you still have to ask, “did we…”

“Nope. No way. Not even a little.” He takes a seat next to you, offering the pretzel canister. Though your stomach is churning, you need something to absorb the medicine, so you take a handful and carefully munch on them. “But you had quite the offer last night.”

“Wha—?”

“Hargrove spiked your drink to get you in bed,” he explains. His mop of curls is disheveled from tossing and turning, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “And, uh, not to sleep.”

“Yeah, I gathered that,” you mutter. A fresh wave of nausea washes over you, and it’s not from the hangover. Your memories are muddled, but you can vaguely piece the night together: Nancy and Steve, the unfinished drink, Billy’s arm around you… “We left before he could do anything, right?”

Eddie nods, stealing the plastic water bottle from your grasp and taking a swig. He swishes it around his mouth before answering. “Got you outta there before he could even cop a feel.”

You grimace at his brazen response. “Well, um, thanks. You didn’t have to do that.” You start to stand up, fumbling for your keys in your bag when you remember. “Fuck, my car’s still at Steve’s.”

“I can take you,” Eddie offers, grabbing the jeans he’d haphazardly flung over his desk chair. 

“Nah, s’okay. I can walk.”

“Seriously?” He throws his hands in the air, utterly exasperated with you. “You’d rather walk three miles back to Harrington’s—hungover as shit…looking like that,” he gestures vaguely at your smeared makeup and bloodshot eyes, “than take a ride from me?”

You remain quiet, so he proceeds with his rant. 

“Y’know, when you ditched me last year, I figured you weren’t, like, into me or whatever. But, Christ, what did I do to make you hate my guts?”

Your brow furrows in confusion. “I ditched you?” The thunderous headache makes it difficult to wrack your brain for the memory, but you definitely would recall ditching Eddie Munson. “I never did that.”

“Last April,” he begins, tone clipped and direct, “the night we were supposed to finish our health project—”

“You ditched me.”

He shakes his head. “Uh, no. I invited you to see my band play and then we would finish the project after—which you agreed to—and then you never showed.”

“No, you told me, and I quote, ‘Corroded Coffin has a gig at The Hideout at 8, and we can put the poster together after we play.”

“Exactly!”

“Exactly what?” It hurts to roll your eyes, but you do it anyway just to emphasize the absurdity of the situation. “That wasn’t an invitation; that was just you telling me what time the show starts.”

“What time it starts,” he says slowly, as though explaining it to a child. “If I just wanted to meet up for the project, I would’ve told you what time it ends.” His eyes narrow. “Do you really think I spent all that time doing research with you just to flake when we got to do the creative part?”

The missing pieces shift into the puzzle. You’d been thrown off when Eddie had failed to show that night; you’d genuinely thought the two of you had forged some kind of friendship during your evenings at the Hawkins Library. But when midnight had rolled around, you’d given up altogether, gathered your notes, and made the poster alone. 

“I…I didn’t know…” you muse, mouth drier than it was before you’d drank water. “I thought you forgot, or didn’t care…” You press a tooth into your bottom lip and gnaw at the chapped skin. “Trust me, I never would’ve ditched the guy I—”

You’d tried to cut yourself off before Eddie catches what you’d inadvertently implied, but it’s too late. “The guy you…” he gently goads. When you don’t answer, he sits on the bed next to you and knocks his knee against yours. “Would it help if I told you that you’re the girl I…” He tilts his head and peers at you through his deep brown eyes.

“Me?!” There’s no way he’s serious; you brace yourself for the ‘gotcha’ or some other punchline he’ll inevitably toss your way.

To your surprise, there is none. “What can I say?” he shrugs. “I’m a total sucker for a goody-two shoes.” He stands up again, crossing his arms over his chest and pacing back and forth in the tiny room. “So, since I’m the guy that you…and you’re the girl that I…can I interest you in some of the finest hangover food this town has to offer?”

“Can I brush my teeth first?” You grimace at the tang of last night’s tequila that sticks to your molars. “Unless you also happen to be into girls with wicked morning breath.”

He chuckles, a true and hearty laugh, and it’s one of the most beautiful sounds you’ve ever heard. “Spare toothbrush is in the top drawer,” he says, pointing towards the bathroom. 

Once minty freshness has replaced stale booze, you wash the remnants of your makeup off of your face. You look a bit better; tired and hungover, but better.

Eddie’s dressed in ripped jeans and a faded concert tee, keys clenched in his palm. “Ready?” he asks, leaning against the bedroom doorway.

“Mhm.” You feel his hand ghost the small of your back as he leads you towards the front door, sending shivers of excitement down your spine.

“Hey, by the way?” 

When you turn around, his lips are on yours. It’s soft and sweet, just a bit more than a peck, but you can tell it took every ounce of courage for him to do it. You both take a small step back, swapping shy grins.  

“Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

You take his empty hand and lace your fingers with his. “Does Corroded Coffin still play at the Hideout?”

“Every Tuesday at 8.”

“I’ll be there.”

--

[gemini-stories]

remember me | j.wy x reader

synopsis: the years may have passed but he always remembered you. even when you didn't. pairing: wooyoung x fem!reader genre: idol!AU, friends to strangers to partners to lovers (?), smut (minors do not interact!!) warnings: idol wooyoung, idol reader, smut, face riding, cunnilingus, protected vaginal penetration (wrap it before you tap it), oral (female receiving), reader is bitchy, one sided pining, wooyoung is dumbly in love. if I miss anything pls let me know! word count: 7.6k ish a/n: tbh I wanted to get out of my comfort writing zone and decided to post my first fic here! this was supposed to be a one shot but it was getting too long for my liking, so maybe a part 2? anyways I'm open to any feedback and criticism so don't be shy to let me know and if you'd actually like to read the second part (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

─────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────────

The first time Wooyoung saw you was at the Junior Local Dance Competition you both participated when you were both 10 years old. He was dancing for the first time in front of a public after he started dance lessons three months ago. He messed up the steps. He was so nervous that he forgot a step and after that the whole choreography was a mess. He was on the floor sulking, in a corner backstage, far from anyone. 

“I knew I'd find you here crying,” you said with a warm smile. 

Wooyoung raised his glance towards you.

“I’m not crying!” he said embarrassed, crimson blossoming on his cheeks. 

“Yet. You’re upset and in the crying corner.You were about to cry if i wouldn’t have come here.” 

“Crying corner?” he asked, looking at the pink ruffles of your dress.

“We all come to this corner after our first performance. Usually everyone’s first performance is bad. Like really bad. So everyone who wants to cry and wants to do so alone comes here.”

He brought his knees to his chest and hid his face. “So I was really bad. Maybe I should quit before it’s too late.”

“Hey,” you lightly pushed his shoulder, your voice calm, “if we all were to quit, no one would come to this competition again. You should’ve seen me here the first time, I was a disaster,” you chuckled.

Wooyoung was emotionless. You seriously had to lighten him up somehow, otherwise he might mean what he is saying. You wished someone would have cheered you up when you were in his place four years ago. Now, you felt it was your duty to do it for someone else, so they wouldn’t go through a spiraling of self doubt at such a young age.

“Look, this was your first year, right?” you started cautiously. He slowly nodded his head and you took it as a sign to continue. “I bet next year you’ll even win the competition if you don’t give up now!”

“What?” he finally looked at you suspiciously.

“Practice every day and snatch the first place from me,” you said in the most serious way possible.

“How do you even know if you’ll win today?” he asked, laughing in your face. There it was.

“Well, I know I can win today, so you have to do it next year,” you grinned with a smile from ear to ear. “Pinky promise and all!” you extended your arm, fluttering your pinky finger.

Wooyoung looked at you puzzled. But why not, he thought. There was no guarantee you’d win today. So, he put his pinky into yours and you two sealed the promise with your thumbs.

“You can’t go back down now,” you said while getting up. “You have to win next year. Of course, you’ll have to beat me for that..but we made the promise, so work hard.”

Wooyoung was still as puzzled until you left. Does this mean he can’t give up now?

He got up and went to search for his parents in the audience. His parents waited for him with a sad smile, telling him he still did great and not to think about any mistake. He thought how you didn’t smile sadly at him. 

Then you came on stage. With your pink ruffle dress and glitter makeup. The audience clapped, wishing you good luck. It all went to silence and the music started flowing through the whole stage. And you started dancing. Wooyoung could only compare your dance to angels flying on the stage. You graciously moved on the song, smiling and lip-syncing to the song. 

You noticed him in the audience and you thought you should show him how confident you are. How confident he should be next time as well. You decided to improvise by getting closer to the edge of the stage, where he was sitting. You winked at him, sticking out your tongue and turned around to continue your choreography. The audience cheered.

Wooyoung was damn stunned. Did you just wink at him? Did anyone notice? He looked around but everyone seemed to think it was part of the dance. Maybe it actually was part of the dance. Your facial expressions were matching the mood of the song, which was very cheery. 

You finished your choreography with a courtesy and the whole public erupted in applause and cheers, while you went backstage.

You were right. You did win.

You fulfilled your side of the promise and now it was Wooyoung’s turn. He didn’t give up. He continued going to the dance classes. He thought about your performance every day. How confident and pretty you looked on stage, like the stage was your home. Like you were born to be on stage. He thought about how everyone in the audience was looking in awe at you, admiring the way you moved and clapping and cheering and smiling. And he thought that’s exactly how he wants them to look at him.

So he went to class after class after class for the whole year. He thought about his promise every day, motivating him to go forward. Quickly enough, it was time for the Junior Local Dance Competition. He was confident in his performance this year. His dance teacher complimented him so many times in the past months, even telling his parents how quickly he made such a progress. He was confident. Confident that he could beat you? Not so much. But he still had a promise to fulfill. Just you wait!

But he ended up being the one to wait. On the podium. With the first place medal in his hand. Alone. Because you were not there. He won but you were not there to see it. You didn’t come to that year's competition. Neither the next year’s. When he won again. Or the next, when once again he won.  

He thought he’ll never see you again. He thought about your performance that day. About how happy everyone was watching you. About how happy he was watching you.

Until you were dancing on the stage in front of him again. At the Regional Competition he attended when he was 14. You were dancing on a rendition of a popular pop song. Smiling and lip-syncing, while the audience was clapping and cheering for you. As he once remembered. Of course he’d recognize you and your smile, because you didn’t change at all. In reality, you changed a lot. You were taller, with shorter hair than he remembered, and not wearing the pink ruffled dress. 

You won. He came in second. He didn’t lose the competitions in a long time. But he was not upset because it was you. You won. You were there.

He wondered if you remembered him. You didn’t. You congratulated him for his performance telling him it was amazing after the awards were given and everyone went backstage. You didn’t bring up your promise and neither did him. Because immediately after you went to a group of girls, laughing and jumping in happiness. He looked at you and your group longingly. It’s been four years, of course you wouldn’t remember him and the stupid promise you both made when you were 10. 

He looked at you taking pictures with the girls. He recognised one of the girls. She was also attending the local competition every year and she briefly attended his classes as well, where she asked for his Instagram. She thought Wooyoung was a great dancer. She also thought he was very cute. That night he wondered if he could find your social media, maybe she would be following you. The girl had hundreds in her following list on Instagram and he didn’t know your name and neither did he see your picture in any tiny icon. 

He was almost going to give up when that girl posted an update. A picture from the regionals. And you were in the picture. Smiling so wide that your eyes closed and holding up the first place medal. The universe listened to his prayers. You were tagged in the picture. Jackpot!

He looked at your profile picture. Of course he was never going to find you, your picture was a cute bunny cartoon munching on a raspberry. Then he saw your name. He thought it was such a pretty name, suiting you perfectly. Your profile was not private so he spent the rest of the night looking at your pictures. That’s how he found out why you haven’t been attending the local competition in the last few years - you moved to a neighbouring city. Still in the same region, hence why you were at the regionals. You still attended the competitions in your city. And won every time. You were on a winning strike for sure! He wondered if you’re still as confident. Your posts were pictures from everywhere and everything you were doing. Dance practices, competitions, hanging out with friends, pretty sunsets and bunnies. 

He really wanted to follow you but he was scared. What if you would recognize him now? And think that it was rude he didn’t recognize you!

After a few minutes and not that many thoughts, he made a new account, hiding his name and followed you. 

He was so happy. Not only did he see you today. But he found your name. He was thinking that maybe, just maybe if he wins next year you’d recognise him and remember him. 

You didn’t. The next year at the regionals, you won again. And you didn’t recognise him. Again. He looked from afar. Again. 

After that year you also started to post pictures and videos from singing lessons. He guessed you were training now to be a singer as well. Your voice changed so much, from the tiny voice you had when you talked to him when you were 10 to your voice now at 16. You had a beautiful singing voice too. You were going to make a great artist.

The next year you didn’t show up at the regionals. That proved his theory you were probably a trainee now and didn’t have time to go to competitions anymore. 

He ended up winning. Once again you were not there to witness it.

But someone else was. They made him a proposition he couldn’t say no to. And that’s how he became a trainee as well.

Your last Instagram post was a picture of you with your eyes closed from smiling, captioned: “see you at my debut stage:)”.

You were going to debut.

At 18 you debuted in a trio with two other boys your age. Rhythm was your group's name. Very fitting, one could say. You all had great rhythm, were well synchronised, with powerful vocals, and energetic choreographies. You took the country by storm. The general public adored your group's music. The general public adored you. You and the boys. Your group was everywhere, interviews, radios, talk shows, music shows. And you were winning every time. As you once said.

You opened a new and official Instagram account and stopped posting on the old one. Wooyoung still followed your old one from his secret account. He started posting nature pictures with a tad bit of poetry in the captions. It was nothing too big, too deep, or too poetic. Just some of his thoughts that once in a while he felt the need to get out of his chest. He updated the profile picture to be his hand in a pinky promise stand. He thought it to be extremely fitting.

Wooyoung followed your every step, watching all the performances and interviews. He was so proud. He knew you’d be a star. You gave him courage and confidence once and you kept instilling it in him, in his trainee days and once he debuted as well. 

He debuted a few years later in an 8 members boy group - Ateez. They were gaining popularity fast, even though their music was in its own niche, with a unique concept. He was dying to be on the same stage as you. Maybe just maybe you’d recognise him. 

You never did.

“Y/N fucking mentioned us!” Hongjoong screamed entering the dance practice studio.

“Shut up!” San raised his eyebrows, his eyes almost bulging out of his sockets. He couldn’t believe it.

Wooyoung’s jaw dropped and he wasn’t able to close it yet.

Hongjoong held his phone up as proof. “Look!”

They all gathered around him, looking down at his phone. There you were, your smile too big for the small screen. It was a video from last night’s radio interview that Wooyoung didn’t have time to check yet. He couldn’t believe he didn’t see it first. He started smiling as soon as Hongjoong pressed play.

“So, Y/N, you always give amazing song recommendations. Any new music we should start listening to?” The radio host asked you.

You chuckled and Wooyoung was ecstatic waiting for your answer.

“I wouldn’t say new music, but these days I caught myself listening to Ateez a lot!”

The boys screamed. “OH MY GOD THAT’S US! IT’S US”

Wooyoung just kept smiling. That means you listened to him too. Maybe you even watched their music videos. Maybe even their performances. Maybe even..

“Ateez you say?” the host nudged you to continue, a little bit impressed as you usually wouldn’t recommend groups.

“Their songs really put me in a good mood, you know. And motivating. Also the lore behind their concept? It’s soooo good! I even caught myself watching fan theories and explanations so I can understand it, that’s how caught up I am,” you said laughing.

A general sound of gasping erupted in the room. Wooyoung was shocked. You definitely watched the music videos. He was more than curious to know what you were thinking of them.

“You know they are all very handsome, do you have a favourite between them?” such a sly question.

The room was silent, everyone expecting your answer. Wooyoung saw a tiny bit of blushing in your cheeks that went away in less than a millisecond. You were a pro at these interviews.

You licked your lips and answered, “You know I try to not show favouritism,” you giggled hiding your face, “but Hongjoong writes and produces a lot of their songs. I’d love to have a collaboration or something on a future song. I think it would turn out to be amazing!”

“Fuck.” Wooyoung muttered under his breath.

“No way!” Hongjoong exclaimed. “Did I hear right?”

“Bro,” Mingi patted his shoulder. “There’s no way. No way. She said your name. She wants to collaborate with you? For a song?”

“It’s nothing official though. It might never happen.” 

Hongjoong said, trying to stay calm, looking at Wooyoung, seeing how his shoulders deflated. Something he does when he’s on the verge of sulking. Hongjoong knew how much Wooyoung admired you. He never explicitly expressed it but it was obvious. He’d always listen to your group’s songs and your solo songs especially. He’d always smile fondly when you’d appear on TV, and he was always extra nervous when you would share the same stage. Wooyoung didn’t have to say anything, Hongjoong would notice. The same way he noticed now that your answer did bother him, more than either of them would expect.

What bothered Wooyoung even more was how a few weeks later you contacted their manager to go forward with a song collaboration. Your answer wasn’t just for the show. You really did want to collaborate with Hongjoong on a song.

Wooyoung was furious. But not with Hongjoong. he deserved the attention and this would be such an opportunity for him. He was furious with himself. Maybe if he went to you when you were 14 to say “hey, remember me?” he wouldn’t regret it so much. Like what even is he expecting now? For you to what? Name drop him in your interviews? He needed to get a grip.

“I don’t know, I feel like that part comes in too early, you know? Maybe we can add five beats before it to prolong the pre chorus just a bit?” you said scrunching your eyebrows.  

It was already your eighth time sitting in the studio with Hongjoong. You were surprised how well you two clicked. You didn’t lie in the interview when you said you were impressed by their songs. But you did always find it hard to work with new people. You were comfortable with your people, and the point of this new album was for you to get out of your comfort zone. That’s why you wanted to try something new. New sounds, new choreos, new videos. If all the collaborations were to go as smooth as with Hongjoong, the new album will be a piece of cake.

It was easy to talk with him and express your ideas. He was eager to listen and implement all your suggestions but was not afraid to implement bold decisions of his own either. You loved that.

“No, nevermind. It sounds weird as fuck. I don’t like it.” you sighed. “I’m sorry I know we changed this specific ten seconds a billion times today.”

“No sweat! That’s why we’re here. That’s why I’m here.”

There he is. Sweet Hongjoong. No matter how bitchy you are about the song he would help you fix it. 

“I’m sorry, I think I’m a bit in a slump today and that’s why I don’t like anything.”

“What’s bothering you today?” he asked while still looking at the screen.

You groaned loudly. “They are pressuring me to find a partner for the dance segment I want to perform for the end of the year awards.”

“Anyone on your mind?”

“Not one person,” you closed your eyes, leaning your head on the couch. “Anyone on yours?”

“Actually yes,” he said, turning in his chair.

At this you perked you head towards him. “Really? Who?”

“One of my team members. He’s fucking good.” Hongjoong smiled. 

“Hongjoong, you are the best thing that happened to me!” you beamed.

Hongjoong was so excited. He could finally make it up to Wooyoung. He avoided talking about his studio sessions with him around, although the others would pressure him A LOT. Asking him everything. He always kept everything brief. But many times it sounded like he had something to hide. Which he didn’t. He didn’t want to make Wooyoung upset, that was it. Hongjoong, like the others, would look at you as you were - their senior. With a lot of respect and admiration. But Wooyoung always looked at you with more, with pride and happiness. You definitely meant more for him than what he wanted to show. 

“Hey man,” Hongjoong entered Wooyoung’s room, finding him in bed on his phone, “great news!”

“What’s up?” Wooyoung asked, concentrating on his phone, playing a game.

“I might have booked you a dance segment at the end of the year award ceremony.”

“Cool.” Wooyoung said unimpressed, still focusing on his game. He trusted his leader’s decisions. If he told him he had to dance at the awards, he was going to dance.

“A dance segment with Y/N,” Hongjoong smiled. 

“What?” Wooyoung finally paused his game and looked at Hongjoong. “Absolutely not.” he shrugged as if it was the most expected answer.

“The fuck? Why not?” Hongjoong was flabbergasted. Why would he say no to such an opportunity?

“Our dancing styles don’t match,” he blinked. 

“You can’t be serious.”

“Deadly,” he said, returning to his game. His heart beating faster and faster. What the fuck is he doing?

“Well too late. It was already discussed and agreed between the higher ups. Everyone loved the idea.”

Wooyoung paused his game again. He was opening his mouth to protest but Hongjoong cut him off. “Y/N is waiting for you at 8 in the morning at her dance studio. I’ll share the location with you. Don’t be late!” and he left. Leaving behind a confused Wooyoung.

What just happened? 

He was going to see you. Talk with you. Dance with you. No. This was not supposed to happen. He convinced himself he had to see you from afar and that’s it. His heart was going crazy. How was he going to survive this?

He was late. Oh, so late. He couldn’t fall asleep last night. He was too nervous, too excited. He was thinking about you the whole night. He even looked at your old profile, something he didn’t do in a long time. And so he fell asleep. But it was too late because as he fell asleep, he had to wake up and so he slept through his alarm.

“I am so sorry!” he shouted the moment he barged through your dance studio.

You were on the floor, doing some warm up exercises. He was 47 minutes late! How disrespectful. You slowly got up while he hurriedly left his bag in a corner and ran to the middle of the room. He was gasping for air, definitely ran to get here. 

You stared up at him. He was a head taller than you but you were not going to feel smaller. You looked him up and down and went back to look in his eyes.

“What? Your coffee date with your girlfriend ended up later than you expected?” it was wrong for you to make assumptions and you knew it. But you were oh so angry! You hated hated people who were not keeping their promise.

Wooyoung choked on his words. He should’ve apologised. Said it won’t happen again. Instead he said: “I don’t have a girlfriend,” while keeping his eyes on yours.

“That’s your private life,” you blinked, “and I don’t care about it. I only care for you to be here on time. Dance. And leave. Hongjoong is a great guy, don’t disappoint him.”

Wooyoung raised his eyebrow. Indeed, Hongjoong is a great guy, but why would you say that? 

“Let’s not waste any more time and start,” you turned to reach for your tablet. 

Your dance was a beautiful choreography on a melodic hip-hop classic rendition. The choreographer did a fantastic job. You worked with him on previous projects and you really really wanted this number to be touched by his creative vision. 

The only downside… he was living in New Zealand. That never stopped you before. He used to send you videos of the choreographies and you’d send him videos of you dancing it and ask for feedback. It worked fantastic before and it will work fantastic now.

Or so you thought. The choreography was not too difficult. It was intricate with many details that you really loved focusing on. You used to learn the steps very fast, maybe in a couple of hours, but this time it turned out to be more intricate than you expected. 

The two of you spent more than half of your allocated time just analyzing it. Pressing the replay button over and over and over again. Changing the speed and trying to absorb everything to the smallest detail.

Both of you were extremely focused and everything seemed to go on the right path. You were confident this will turn out well even with the slightest hiccup in the morning.

You were wrong. 

The moment the two of you started to physically learn and count your steps, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. 

Wooyoung’s body was not listening to him. He was too much in his head, nerves, guilt, stress, fear, of failure and disappointment, everything was just overwhelming him. He felt as if his body was separate from his mind. The two doing their own thing. And he was in the middle, trying to bring them together and failing miserably.

You, on the other hand, were frustrated. With yourself and with him. With his delay this morning that gave such a wrong impression on him. He is sloppy, careless and unreliable. That’s what you told yourself the whole morning while trying to watch the choreography video. It didn’t help that when you started actually dancing he was making such…stupid mistakes. Then you went completely spiraling. Why did Hongjoong recommend Wooyoung? It was obvious he had no idea what he was doing. Was he setting you to fail? Was that his plan? 

You literally had to slap yourself to stop thinking. Which startled Wooyoung from his self-destructive thoughts as well.

You grabbed your phone, quickly typed a message and resumed your practice in no time.

Around an hour later, your phone was blinking. A sign that you got a new message that was not silenced by your do not disturb status. That could only mean one person.

“Let’s take a break,” you said looking at your phone, “20..no 15 minutes should be more than enough.”

It was the first proper sentence, besides some counting, any of you spoke in hours. 

“Ok,” was all that he could say as you left the dance studio in seconds.

He didn’t know what to do. He would’ve liked to get some fresh air but he was not familiar with the building and had no idea how to get on the roof. He didn’t want to get lost or anything. He decided the best idea was to ask you next time.

He ended up just rewatching the dance video, mentally noting some moves. Then slowly practicing and watching himself in the mirror. He was doing great. Way better. As he usually was doing when learning a new dance. Why wasn’t he like this the whole morning?

15 minutes sharp later, you opened the door, stretching your back with your arms above your head. 

“Did you spend your whole break here dancing? Why didn’t you rest?” you stopped yourself, inhaling, then adding coldly. “You know what, it’s your time. You are responsible for it.” 

“I am really sorry I was late this morning.”

And so you continued your rest of the practice.

After Wooyoung returned to his dorm, took a shower, and laid in his bed, contemplating how miserable he felt right now, he thought there was no way you were not going to complain to Hongjoong about today. And he was going to return home and scold him so so much. And not in a good way.

He knew the best way to get over it was to dance. So, in his tiny room, he got up and continued practicing the steps. Tomorrow will be better.

It was not.

He was so tired from not sleeping the previous night and from a double dance practice yesterday. Of course he overslept.

He was late.

Only 10 minutes.

But he was late.

You were lowkey furious. Was he testing your patience? That must be it. Otherwise why would he be late on your second day of practice. After you already made such a big deal about it yesterday.

When Wooyoung opened the door, gasping for air and ready to apologise, you immediately cut him off.

“Don’t even. Let’s just start.”

Sloppy, careless and unreliable.

And so you continued your practice in the next few days. Wooyoung was dying inside. He disappointed you but you were so mean.

“Don’t you know how to raise your hand?”

“This is a six count not eight. Can you even count? ”

“Did you learn to dance yesterday?”

“People will start falling asleep.”

“Why are you like this?”

And so much worse.

Wooyoung would clench his jaw in anger and just swallow his words.

You were indeed mean. You knew that. You did have extremely mean dance teachers growing up. Which was very toxic and haunted you your whole life. Apparently it still did.

You did start making these comments out of pettiness because you were annoyed with him. But then you noticed he wasn’t replying back. In the beginning he would only apologise. Then you noticed how his jaw would clench, how his nostrils would flare, how he’d roll his eyes, how he would deeply sigh. He was getting annoyed. But, nevertheless, he was not making any mean comments back. You did want to get a reaction from him. See what he had to say.

Sloppy, careless and unreliable.

And spineless too?

Your phone blinked notifying you of a new message. And so you announced the 15 minutes daily break.

You left the practice room and went to the familiar dimly lit storage room.

The moment you closed the door behind you, you felt yourself being lifted up and placed on the drawer nearby.

Your lips immediately parted, sinking in the kiss. You loved Hajun’s kisses. They were always exactly what you needed when you were stressed and annoyed. Which was a lot these days.

He trailed kisses on your jaw and down on your neck, nibbling at the cusp between your neck and shoulder.

“How is your pretty boy today?”

You rolled your eyes.

“I don’t wanna talk about him,” you rolled your eyes, unbuttoning his pants.

“But that’s your favourite topic these days,” he said, playing with the waistband of your sweatpants. “Almost like foreplay.” He yanked your pants down to your ankle in a swift movement, placing deep kisses on your lips.

He quickly put a condom on, aligned in front of your entrance, and pushed himself inside with no warning.

You gasped and bit your lips to keep quiet.

“He’s just..driving me..crazy,” you breathed. 

“So sloppy.” 

Thrust. 

“So careless.”

Thrust.

“So unreliable.”

Thrust.

“So spineless.”

“Spineless?” he groaned, increasing his pace. “That’s new. What did he do?”

You rolled your eyes in unison with your hips. “It’s what he didn't do. No matter what I say, he only gets annoyed but doesn’t talk back.”

He put his hand under your shirt, caressing your bare torso, moving up towards your chest.

“Sounds like you want someone to put you in your place.” he cupped your breast, pinching your nipple in between two fingers. “Am I not good enough for that, love?” 

You met Hajun a few months before your debut. He was training with you briefly, until he realised he is not cut for the entertainment industry. He was not sad or anything, rather happy. Studied to enter a good med school and never regretted his decision. The two of you became close friends. Venting each other’s frustration. Until one day, you both figured out the best way to vent. A kiss here, a kiss there, and then you were fucking on his couch. No strings attached and ready to break this deal whenever one of you was over it. 

You were stressed through the roof because of your upcoming album. He was stressed through the roof because of the exam season. All this stress combined and you were bound to see each other often. And fuck often.

“Oh, please,” you moaned in his mouth, “you never knew how to put me in my place.”

After a week of practice, you and Wooyoung filmed your dance and sent it to the choreographer for feedback. He immediately video called the two of you to deliver his response.

Which was a disaster.

He said your chemistry was lacking big time. No synergy whatsoever. And that you basically looked like amateurs. 

“Look guys,” he continued on the screen, “I'm not trying to discourage you. I’ve seen this happening a lot. With people that never danced together. Or never met before dancing.”

Wooyoung stole a glance towards you. Your face was expressionless, carefully listening to the choreographer's points. 

“In order to make my dancers have a more natural chemistry, I ask them to do a different dance. Don’t worry, it’s really short. I reckon in two weeks you’ll master it and can get back to your original dance. Just go with it and stop fighting it.”

Once the call ended you immediately got a message with the video of the new choreography you were told to do.

The video started with a sultry melody. As for the choreography? It was very sexually suggestive. Your original dance had a lot of touching and caressing, so it made sense why you needed perfect chemistry for it to not look weird. But this new one? It was something you never did before. A lot of floor steps that were very intimate. And oh so suggestive. How were you gonna pull this off?

Wooyoung was panicking. He didn’t touch you like this before. And he wasn’t sure he was gonna be able to without his hand trembling.

“Ok, let’s start I guess.”

You avoided looking in his eyes for the first time. You felt a blush creeping on your cheeks and fought against it. You were a professional. This is nothing.

That night Wooyoung looked through your Instagram page. He didn’t get it. You used to be such a nice and sweet girl. And you still were as sweet. Just not with him. 

He wanted to check the comments of your last before debut picture (very stalkerish) when he finally did it. Instead of pressing the comment button, he pressed the heart.

“No, no, no”

He got up in panic and did the best thing he thought of doing. Revoked the heart. It’s only been a few seconds. The notifications for sure didn’t come through. Right? And even if it did, what are the chances you are still active on that account? Right?

You were. 

You loved scrolling on your old account. You barely interacted with anyone on it and that’s why the notification startled you. 

It was from a photography and poetry account. You never even noticed when this account followed you. 

The latest post was a picture of the sky through a cracked window from two days ago with the caption ‘your words are grazing my heart like broken glass does to my skin.’

You liked it in a heartbeat, then followed the account.

Wooyoung’s phone vibrated in his hand. He got the notification of you following his secret page from your old account.

“Shit.”

The new choreography had some tough moves. In which both of you needed to rely on your own strength but also on each others’. 

One of these steps was requiring you to be on your knees on the floor. Wooyoung to slide on his back through your legs. Grabbing your thighs and lifting you and himself, while carrying you on his shoulders, and then dropping you to his arms. 

It was definitely an uncomfortable move that you had to practice a lot. It was risky too. And it wasn’t even the worst. 

And so you did. With every touch and caress from Wooyoung burning above your skin.

The same way every snarky comment from your side burned in his mind.

Of course you couldn’t help yourself. You would get even more critical and sarcastic the more you would feel threatened. And heated. 

After you went on your break, Wooyoung decided he desperately needed air to cool down. Jesus it was only the first day you were trying the new dance and it was killing him. How could he help himself when his skin tasted yours like that. 

He listened to your directions about going on the terrace you once gave him. Your building was huge and he couldn’t believe the whole floor was for you and your group. He turned left and left again. He heard a loud thump right before turning right on the tiny hallway. A faint sound continued to be heard. He approached the door, wanting to make sure nothing wrong happened.

His hand stopped on the door handle when he heard an almost imperceptible moan. The moaning continued in unison with the faint thumping. Mystery solved. And his cue to get back to his objective.

Much needed air. He didn’t need to know people were having sex when he was barely trying to stop a boner himself.

Cold air was blowing over him on the small balcony terrace that was as secluded as you mentioned.

Wooyoung stayed there for what felt like just a minute or so, when another man also joined him on the balcony. 

They only glanced at each other to acknowledge each other’s presence. Men. The other man took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. Puffing slowly.

“I know it’s a myth but cigarettes after sex are still the best.”

Wow too much information, much?

At least Wooyoung knew that this guy was one of the people in the storage room. Not that he wanted to know that.

“So you’re the pretty boy, huh?”

“No?”

What was wrong with this guy?

“Look, there are only two people that ever come on this balcony and I sure as hell didn’t tell you about it.”

The realisation hit Wooyoung like a brick.

“Isn’t your break over?”

That motherfucker.

Wooyoung left Hajun before he could wipe his smug smirk with a punch.

Not that he could be mad that you were having sex. You were a consenting adult woman. But while on the clock? While training and practicing? How was that professional?

When he returned to the dance room you immediately rolled your eyes. The break was already over for a couple of minutes.

“Seriously what is your deal? You want to test my patience or what? Can’t you be on time once? This is so unbelievably unprofessional! We agreed to 15 minutes!”

“Seems that 15 minutes wasn’t enough for either of us,” he said barely a whisper trying to stay calm.

What did he just say? You were flabbergasted. Is he starting to finally talk back? What a horrible moment for that. And what even was that comment?

You decided to ignore it and just continue your practice from where it was left of.

Both of you were unprofessional. And both of you were blaming each other for it. You were blaming him for being such a pain in the ass and making you so frustrated, you couldn’t help but reach for Hajun. He was blaming you for being so mean and making him so nervous that he couldn’t function properly.

With every dance move, every touch he was exploding like fireworks. His shirt and sweatpants felt like paper. He was feeling every trail of your fingers on him as if you were following a gasoline path and igniting flames that were burning and consuming his being.

He was fine. He was fine. He was fine.

Just a tiny little boner.

Fuck.

He couldn’t ask for a break now. You were already pissed and he was sure you’d kill him (metaphorically or not) for daring to request to stop the practice so soon.

You were on fire too. Although making many mistakes, Wooyoung’s touch was so caressing every time. So soft. That you barely felt his contact through your shirt and sweatpants. As if feathers would gently kiss your skin, too afraid you may break.

You needed more.

He was laying down on his back. You were on top of him, trying to dance a new move that looked awfully much like dry humping him.

You are fine. Why are you so horny again? 

You are a professional. Which is why you continue rolling your hips. 

Dry humping is nothing. It’s driving you crazy. 

Not even when you feel him getting harder under you. You don’t want to stop. 

You are fine! You need to stop.

“Are you ok?” you ask.

“Huh?”

“You seem to have a small problem.” it was feeling anything but small. “Down there,” you deadpanned.

Wooyoung was mortified. How, why, and when. He was making sure he was subtly arranging himself in between moves when you were not looking.

You lowered yourself on your elbows, getting closer to his face, and staring into his eyes. 

Wooyoung immediately blushed, frozen in place. You could almost chuckle at his reaction. But you had to keep the appearances.

“Don’t worry, it’s a normal bodily reaction,” you whispered close enough for your noses to almost touch, “not many can resist.” you smirked.

You fucking smirked.

Wooyoung was so turned on he was certain he would’ve cummed in his pants if you wouldn’t have gotten off him and suggested to continue with a different move.

He was so embarrassed though. Not only he still had to deal with his boner. You were aware of it. And he was painfully aware you were. 

You were on your knees. For the move when he slides in between your legs. Until now, the easiest move and the least promiscuous. 

However, when he slid in between your legs this time, his head got stuck in your baggy sweatpants.

You couldn’t help but chuckle. Jesus fucking christ. You are mocking him again.

“So sorry. I think for this move i should take off the big pants. Don’t worry, I wear short leggings underneath.” you said winking.

Fucking winking. How much were you going to embarrass him today?

Your short gray leggings, more specifically booty short leggings, were thin and more or less you were wearing them as underwear. But Wooyoung didn’t need to know. It was your turn to mentally blush.

You were back on your knees and Wooyoung slid with no issues on the floor this time. Booty short leggings for the win!

“Wait, I want to check what I need to do with my left hand. I don’t want you fucking drop me.”

You bent over reaching for your tablet.

He could swear you were doing this on purpose. I mean how could you not, your crotch was not even 10 centimeters from his face. He was doing god’s work trying no to look. But he couldn’t help but notice the damp spot in between your legs. Which looked so goddamn delicious.

“Are you ok?” Wooyoung asked to which you didn’t pay much attention. “You seem to have a small problem.”

“What?” you asked, straightening yourself and looking down at him between your legs.

“Don’t worry, it’s a normal bodily reaction,” he whispered sultrily, getting closer to your core, “not many can resist.” He fucking smirked, making eye contact and immediately dragging his mouth over your damp spot. Payback time.

You stopped a gasp with your hand over your mouth.

Wooyoung continued licking your spot while maintaining eye contact. The look in his eyes being so different now, from the sloppy, careless, unreliable, spineless person from earlier.

You couldn’t believe you got so wet earlier. That he got you so wet. You admit he made you very aroused with that small dry humping session but that aroused? That you started to leak through your leggings? This will be the last time you don’t wear underwear!

With each lick you were getting wetter and wetter, and your leggings soaked with your arousal and his saliva, until the leggings became paper thin and you were feeling every flick of tongue.

Wooyoung was circling around your clit with lewd slurping sounds. 

The movement was making you crazy enough that you started gyrating over his tongue, making you want to moan. But you muffled the sounds with your hand over your mouth.

He was feeling so good.

Wooyoung grabbed your thighs, pulling them apart, which made you lower yourself on him even more. 

You could barely stand straight.

You were eaten out before, with no clothed barrier whatsoever. But like this, with your thin leggings sticking to your sensitive parts, soaking up your arousal and his saliva, with his tongue pushing harder and harder to make up for it? There was something about it that felt more sensual than any other oral session you received.

Wooyoung was enjoying this as much, if not even more, than you. Savouring every lick, every slurp, every drop. As if drinking sweet mead from the gods themselves. You were tasting as sweet as he ever dreamed. Not that he had dirty dreams about you. Or at least not that often. How could he not though? You were on his mind every day. And then you started to show the sexier version of you with the newer comebacks. And then he heard you moan on another dude’s dick in a storage room. How could he resist without imagining anything? With knowing how sweet you can sound. He wanted to hear you sound like that. Your sounds to be the anthem of his life. If only you could take that goddamn hand from your mouth and moan freely. 

You felt the familiar knot in your lower belly and clenched on nothing. You grabbed Wooyoung’s hair with your free hand to steady yourself. He gasped from the sudden pull of his hair. He didn’t expect it. You didn’t expect him to make such a delicious sound either. You wanted to hear more.

You continued rolling your hips with more confidence now, chasing your high. So close, so close. 

And then you exploded, feeling fireworks going off. You collapsed on your back on top of Wooyoung, gasping for air. What just happened?

Wooyoung swiftly got up and lowered himself on top of you. He was looking so hot with his face glistening from his sweat, saliva, and your arousal dripping on his chin. He licked his lips while watching you with dark eyes.

You couldn’t help but stare at his lips and tongue. Which just made you cum. 

“If you needed help, all you had to do was ask,” he grinned, a big shit-eating grin. The asshole.

You blushed the whole way home. You blushed the whole getting ready for bed routine. You blushed the whole time trying to fall asleep. You blushed the whole time scrolling on your phone trying to fall asleep. You blushed when you got a notification that your favourite poetry account just posted. You blushed looking at the picture - a steamed shower glass with a finger drawn heart. You blushed reading the caption - ‘your taste is the poison that kills me; your sounds are the hymn that bring me back to life.’ The universe was laughing in your face. part 2 | © 2024 gemini-stories All Rights Reserved.

[eff-plays]

On these notes, can I umm ... have Tavs who are like ... their own people. With personal issues and hangups and conflicts and preferences. I need Tavs who have spines, who don't just exist to be soft and gentle for Astarion's sake, who don't exist to be therapists for him. Like I get it, it's self-care for writers to some extent, but it just makes for such boring reading when a Tav is always 100% understanding and pliable for Astarion. When they're head over heels instantly and understand him perfectly with minimal explanations. When they can somehow tell, feel his pain through nothing but his eyes. After knowing him for days, hours, seconds.

Need Tavs who don't let him drink from them and/or tell him to only bite enemies because it's more pragmatic. Tavs who don't get off to his bites and in fact find them painful and inconvenient. Tavs who disagree with him to his face. Tavs who call him out when he's being a cunt.

"I didn't tell anyone you're a vampire because it's not my secret to tell" but why? He never asked to keep it a secret, and he attacked you. In your sleep. You owe him nothing, and he could pose an active danger to the others if you don't tell them? How do you know he doesn't? He's done nothing to earn your trust, yet you offer it anyway. And you're not written to be stupid, just that you innately know he's important/damaged somehow, so what gives?

It annoys me that the only time meta knowledge is used it's in his favor. Like Tav just knows he's good deep down somehow. Despite him being a huge cunt constantly. Like, he kills Tav if they fail to make him stop. Without remorse. He even jokes about it later when they have the audacity to be upset about it. But that's never even a fear some Tavs have. When it makes far more sense to be suspicious he'd do that than trusting him instantly.

And another thing like ... So many Tavs are just orbiting Astarion. Just straight up fail to make connections of friendships with anyone else. They'll also have some sad backstory of course, but only Astarion is somehow aware of it, he's the only one who has any insight into their inner turmoil while everyone else doesn't give a shit, I guess. Which is just. He gets to both have the benefit of the doubt and special insight and understanding of Tav. He gets to have all the cards.

Where's the mess. Where's the conflict. Where's the intrigue and fun of two actual individual people learning to overcome their differences and/or finding comfort in their similarities?

Idk I realize I'm barking up the wrong tree because this is generally the state of most fic and the romance genre in general but it's extra evident in the Astarion fandom where he's elevated to the status of the ultimate victim and ultimate sex god so any conflict is untenable because he's soo vunlerable and sensitive and all situations must have him coming out on top or else it'll be ... idk, problematic? Abusive? Traumatic to him? What's the reason?

It ends up just doing him a disservice? Part of what makes the romance so compelling-in game (at least the Spawn route) is that Tav challenges him and his assumptions. That they push back. But in fic these Tavs "push back" by just accepting his bullshit with a smile and waiting for him to realize he's being a bitch on his own, I guess. He's also rarely allowed to be silly or cringefail, which he canonically is, and he's so coddled that it makes it look like this grown-ass man can't handle anyone disagreeing with him or teasing him, so he's always paired up with the most weaksauce spineless soft quirky manic pixie dream Tav imaginable.

Like. It's always "Uwu how can I make him happy? Anything to make him happy!" What about you hon? What do you get out of this relationship, babygirl?

And tbh this is headcanon of course but I just don't think he'd respect a doormat Tav very much. He needs to be sprayed with water every now and then. For his own good.

Whatevs. I mean write whatever you want. But. Man. I just want more cool Tavs. And less stunted and flattened Astarion who can't take a joke or a goof or a gaff, who's always too cool to fail or be wrong.

And before someone says "this is why Durge is better!" I have no interest in Durge and do not read Durge fic sorry. Also that wound't even be true.

[melverie]

⸺ LESSON 4 ⸺

Solomon

MC's magic

demons & angels (& humans)

strange feelings & soup

misc

- lesson 3 || lesson 5 || all posts so far -

I've decided to also collect the quotes from the website here because I don't actaully remember ever reading Lucifer's in the story? Anyway, I've also added Mammon's to the lesson 3 post! General spoiler warning for all of Obey Me Nightbringer, as well as for the original Obey Me

⸺ SOLOMON ⸺

once again, he's suddenly wearing his human world look [4-9 + 4-11]

This [4-9; pic below]. Why is he excluding himself here

also Solomon was just never all that careful about keeping it a secret that MC is from the future?? He just casually brings it up again in front of (Chihuahua) Mammon and Leviathan [4-9]. Kinda surprised that it took until Leviathan's arc for anyone to learn about this

⸺ MC'S MAGIC ⸺

the others point out that Lucifer's magic is super strong, yet MC is able to make Lucifer stumble with a curse he normally would have been able to brush off easily [lesson 4 hard mode] -> also this post :)

⸺ DEMONS & ANGELS (& HUMANS) ⸺

the brothers were denied service at Ristorante Six [4-2] and at the library [4-4] before they gained the titles of seven Rulers of the Underworld

despite now holding the title of seven Rulers of the Underworld, a lot of demons are still opposed to the brothers' presence in the Devildom, so Diavolo wants them to be a part of RAD's founding to show they should be treated with respect [4-11]

Leviathan gives us a little insight on how things were for the brothers before the Great Celestial War [4-13; pic below]

⸺ STRANGE FEELINGS & SOUP ⸺

Lucifer tells MC that they should just spend the night at HoL since "it's already late", and Belphegor's bullshit detector immediately goes off. He tells MC that Lucifer seems to have become fond of them [4-2], and Satan also points out that Lucifer's behavior is unusual [4-4] -> if MC tells Belphegor that Lucifer isn't all that fond of them, Belphegor's intimacy will go up & he'll tell them that he would have been irritated had MC said they're happy about it [4-2]. Cute lol

Leviathan is VERY open with MC with how he feels about his current situation [4-13; pic below]. He also later says that he finds it very easy to talk to MC [4-18]

⸺ MISC ⸺

Lucifer becomes a bit more hopeful that things will change for the better for them now that they are the seven Rulers of the Underworld, when previously he just wanted to keep to themselves [4-2; pic below]. Genuinely happy to see this change tbh <3

Satan rushing in to save the Chihuahua (aka Asmo) Beelzebub & Belphegor are trying to bathe [4-A]. This has nothing to do with anything, I just love one bundle of wrath who carries nothing but love in his core <3

Diavolo talks about offically unveiling his plans of building RAD as the first royal academy [4-11]. Again, RIP 'The Glory Days' devilgram

Leviathan kind of blaming one of the twins for everything that transpired [4-13; pic below]...? Fairly certain he doesn't actually mean it and only said it because he was so emotionally charged in that moment tho

Lucifer wanting to check on Leviathan, telling him honestly how he feels & the doubts he has/had and apologizing to his little brother like the big bro he is [4-16] <3

second quote from the website [4-11; pic below]!!

[bibibbb99]

Traits/personalities in a partner that turn genshin men off pt.2 (Venti, Diluc, Cyno)

Note: I probably won't write any more characters unless I suddenly have another spurt of inspiration or someone happens to request something. I’m not even a writer lmao

Disclaimer:

Just my opinion, you are allowed to have your own

Spelling, grammar and proof reading mistakes

I apologise if anything I said offended anyone, it was not my intention to do so, please tell me so I don't make the same mistakes

Venti: 

Too manipulative, cunning and secretive (smarts similar to kaeya or ayato) 

Stubbornness

Overtly jealous 

Why I think so:

Tbh venti to me is a really chill and all embracing character, so I couldn’t think of too many things that would peeve him without being nitpicky

But this ended up being nitpicky anyways lmao 

So for the first one, there was a cutscene where venti mentioned his old friend and he told traveler “you’re so smart it almost makes me uncomfortable sometimes”, but in the Chinese voice line (I have to remember this from ages ago since I can’t find the exact translation), it wasn’t uncomfortable, he said the traveler’s smarts made him afraid.

I feel like an overly manipulative/cunning partner would not mesh well with him, as Venti, and especially Barbatos, innately feel guarded against those too smart, especially if they’re secretive about it too

He has things he hides, but he doesn’t want his partner to hide from him. It’s unfair, but in Venti’s mind whatever he hides about celestia and teyvat as an archon, is far more severe than the potentially minuscule secrets of his partner.

To him, his identity as Venti not Barbatos, a pure bard without the burden of being an archon, he expects nothing but complete honesty and sincerity in his relationships even if he do not request for it verbally 

(This does not mean you have to be dumb or anything. He still appreciates perceptiveness and intelligence in a partner, as this saves him from speaking of uncomfortable things, and also corroborates how deep his bond with you is for you to understand him so well)

I also feel like stubbornness in a partner would turn Venti off. Have you ever seen a strong gust of wind that’s been successful in blowing a huge boulder away? (shut up barbatos lost all his powers, he can’t move mountains no more)

Venti appears fickle and spontaneous, if his partner is too stubborn and refuse to open up to his ideas, well it’s not fun. 

He’s okay with a little stubbornness, such as not letting him have an extra drink for the night, as that demonstrates how much his partner cares for his health. However, excessiveness will do the opposite, it will make him feel constrained, and actually be counterproductive. It may insinuate to him his partner do not care for his happiness and interests. 

Finally, I think our cute bard can’t handle a partner too jealous (eg. for his affection, other people’s talents, etc)

Jealousy comes from a place of insecurity, which may be good in moderation. 

But if too much, it becomes ugly, and given his years of being alive, Venti knows how jealousy transforms a person. 

I just feel like Venti will prefer a more self confident partner, his tastes in people are never wrong, why is his partner doubting themselves? Of course his partner is the best in the world!

Venti did rather improve himself alongside his partner in terms of their relationship and personal talents, than spend the time agonizing over the superiority of others 

If his partner is extremely jealous of his interactions with other people, that’ll also make him doubtful of the the relationship. Trust, trust, trust. You have to trust him, because he trusts you. 

The winds fly through all of mondstadt and out to Teyvat, but returns to one person. Have faith in him okay?

Diluc:

Too spontaneous and changes moods quickly 

Inconsiderate  

Materialistic greed (I’m not going to talk about being too materialistic, because it’s so obvious and I will just feel dumb explaining it when everyone already knows)

Why I think so:

Diluc feels like a character that desperately seeks complete control over something. His father’s death, Kaeya’s inevitable ‘betrayal’, the corruption in the knights of favonius and the schemes of the fatui are sudden and beyond his ability to assert complete authority over. 

An ever changing partner may be refreshing, however ultimately make him feel insecure and give him the same feeling of powerlessness in his youth.

He is also another character seeking stability, likewise to Kaeya. He wants consistency and reassurance that he will always be loved the same way. He dislike change.   

I feel like the second one is a no brainer, sorry. An inconsiderate partner will not be suitable for Diluc. 

He is also another person that doesn’t say everything out loud. He is busy all the time and hardly gets any rest, he wouldn’t complain that he’s tired or how he truly feels. A partner that brings him tea at night, changes candles so it burns longer and shines brighter when he is working in his office, pours some grape juice for him when he comes home, and remembers little details about him will make him really happy. For Diluc it’s more about the subtle ‘I love you’ actions than the words.

A partner who is not receptive to his feelings and moods will not last long with him, because you haven’t proven you cared enough about his well-being. He wants to be missed, loved and touched because he’s actually a lonely baby.

Cyno:

Feeling of superiority over others (On things that cannot be fully controlled: eg. Social and economic status, land of birth, etc)

Cowardice

Secretive (very similar to my point for Venti)

Why I think so:

Cyno is also a child of the desert, he understands the blatant discrimination and disgust the people of Sumeru city holds towards the people of the desert. Which in turn made him believe people must be treated equally.

He would believe it’s silly for people to feel a sense of superiority over others on something they didn’t earn themselves. Perhaps this is even more so after becoming General Mahamatra and witnessing the underlying corruption of the academia.

If his partner do not treat people equally or think well of others and especially the people of the desert, to him, you’re just another shallow and arrogant pest that is slowing the progression of sumeru’s healing.

Cyno do not seek a partner afraid of tribulations either. He wants the reassurance that under immense pressure or danger you can stand firm with your own two feet, because if you can’t even protect yourself, you certainly can’t lend a helping hand to others as well.

If you continue to hide behind him in every adversity, he will begin to see this relationship as more of his partner abusing him as a meat shield than a mutual exchange of protection and trust. Cyno feels like a character very adamant on balance: evil gets punished, good get rewarded, everything evens out. Fight by his side, he will protect you and you can protect him. 

Finally, given Cyno’s duties, he has to see through the myriads of deception daily. So a secretive partner will be no good. He do not want to play mind games in his private life as well. Overanalysing your every word or guessing your intentions is too exhausting.

Just let him be stupid and play TCG and tell bad jokes when he’s alone with you. Let our general be a dumb dumb during his break time. 

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Tbh, timeline is the least of my problem with Miraculous. I was born around the time Detective Conan released and 20 smt years later the he's still first grade elementary, so yeah, I'm so used to the whole comic book timeline. My problem is with how fast he "fell in love" with Marinette, the girl who he rarely talk to because she always got tongue tied in front of him, the girl who he think is hated him in pupetter 2. Which also the episode the writers claimed to be the episode when Adrien fell in love with her.

Anyway, Adrien get over Emilie's death in less than a year is weird yet he's also a character who tend to keep everything bottled inside and also an "actor". I think many people already write about how good of an actor he is. The fact that we rarely get his POV also doesn't help in grasping his thought about his mother's death.

In special (I watch FR dub) though, we got an implication that he hasn't truly move on but he tried to. When asked by Griffe Noir about why he never try to get the wish despite knowing it could revive his (our) mother, he admitted that he has thought about it. It's the price that he wouldn't want to put to anyone. Life for a life.

“I resumed my life, trying to be happy just like what she would've wanted. I have friends who support me. I'm alright now. ...well, as alright as possible anyway."

I read the line as Adrien being "fake it till I make it" and he haven't fully move on, he's just good at hiding it. Which is pretty in character for him imo. The thing about being "easy children" is that everyone tend to think you're always alright, that you have no problem and with a parent with emotional immaturity like Gabriel being an easy children is a must, or punishment awaits him. So the combination of "what Emilie would like him to do" and Gabriel parenting who hates when Adrien being emotional, we got this child who tried to be okay and griefing alone.

I agree that the timeline isn't a huge deal, it's just kinda fun to point out how nuts it is. Adrien falling in love with Marinette is far less fun to talk about because I don't buy it for a second. Especially since it's literally the episode after Jubilation. You know, that episode where Chat Noir and Ladybug got married and had a bunch of kids? That's the thing that makes him give up on Ladybug? REALLY???

And then they have the audacity to claim that Marinette is the one who is lying to herself about her crush flip:

Alya: You're lying to yourself anyway, you’re in love with Adrien. (Elation, S5E9)

Because Marinette giving up on a guy she barely talks to after her crush lost her all of the miraculouses is totally ridiculous, but Adrien giving up on his partner who he's closer to than ever before makes perfect sense. Right.

I mean, I know crushes don't have to make sense, but this is a story not real life! This is not how you tell a convincing love story!

Re Emilie, you make a fair point about the special actually acknowledging Adrien's pain. It was a nice moment and I agree with how you say Adrien should be played. I just don't think that's actually what the writers are going for since season five has Adrien never talk about Emilie and ends with her statue destroyed so that Adrienette can have a new makeout spot. I really think we're supposed to read Adrien as fully moved on, possibly from both of his parents. It's really gross. Unless season six surprises us and Emilie is back, which might actually be enough to make me watch it. I really doubt it, though.

[theblogwithoutfear]

Thoughts on the Ahmed run (spoilers)

I know we're only three issues in, but I thought I'd ramble about the current state of the union

My main complaint is the memory loss story--it's a little disappointing. I was hoping that arc would go further and have a lasting impact on Matt; but he remembers everything so fast. Within the first issue he was back in the suit, and it feels like he moved on so easily from the trauma of everything.

Idk, I think it makes his sacrifice from Zdarsky's run feel a bit meaningless.

However, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, and wait for a while to see how it goes.

I'm loving Matt as a priest at the group home. It feels a little bit like a nod to the Netflix show, with Sister Maggie and the orphanage. Maybe I'm just reading into that, idk. I realize a lot of people hate when the comics start taking things from the show--but I don't mind in this case. Plus, seeing Matt interact with kids is always a win for me

And the religious overtones/dark imagery? The moral complexity of his head vs. his heart? The duality of what he does in the day vs. the night? Love it. give me more.

I do miss lawyer Matt, though. It's been a hot minute since we've seen that, and I'm really hoping Ahmed will take Matt back to his roots at some point.

I'm torn on the artwork. There are some BEAUTIFUL panels (this one is one of my favorites) and the coloring is so vivid and dynamic. And Matt is hella attractive in this run so far, so that's a big plus

but also, there's something a little too... like... shiny? About everything? Things look polished almost, in a way that's a little weird. Sometimes the faces don't feel very defined.

I also think there's less weight in the artwork. The movement is a lot less dynamic and fluid than the last run. Everything feels a little like it's floating, the punches don't carry much weight, and it just makes everything feel... lower stakes, I guess.

I don't know, I'm a big Checchetto fan, and his artwork felt really solid and grounded. So maybe I'm just still adjusting--I'll give Kuder some time before I really make a judgement call.

Because again, there's still some really beautiful and dynamic things here. He's doing neat things with panel placement/shape, which breaks up the page nicely and has cool effects on the pacing

I've also got mixed feelings about the tonal change thus far. Maybe this is a hot take, but I'm not into quippy Daredevil. I think he functions best as a character when he's really serious. He's usually got a gravitas that really informs the way he conducts himself. The quips in the latest issue take away from that, at least in my opinion.

Then again, Mark Waid made it work really well. Ahmed could very well be trying to do something similar. Again, it's something I'll reserve judgement on. I'm not against a lighthearted Matt, per se. I just think the darkness makes the storytelling so much more compelling and grounded (which is the reason I think people are also tired of the quippy humor in the MCU lately).

I hope the goofiness isn't going to be a long-term thing, but I feel okay about it for the time being. Especially since it's only every so often (at least so far). The run overall still feels fairly gritty and grounded.

I'm intrigued to see where he's going to take Elektra as the Woman Without Fear. I was pleasantly surprised by that arc in the Zdarsky run (wasn't much of an Elektra fan until recently, tbh) and I'm curious to see what's next for her. We haven't seen as much of her as I'd like so far, but hopefully that will change.

All that being said, I'm actually really enjoying this run so far. I'm not enjoying it quite as much as Zdarsky, but I still think it's really excellent. Ahmed's doing some interesting things with the character, and I'm really excited to see where he takes it.

Anyway, I'm curious to know if anyone else has thoughts on the run thus far. Opinions? Thoughts? Vehement disagreements?

(bonus picture because I'm obsessed with the priest vigilante look)

[princesssszzzz]

What if either Rhaena or Baela had been dreamers? What would Daemon had done?

I really don’t think he would give af tbh 😂😭 if your talking show wise. They’ve decided to make Daemon’s entire life revolve around Viserys and if he didn’t care about Viserys “dreaming” or whatever the show was trying to portray then I doubt he would suddenly care about anyone else doing it. Things that should interest Daemon, he hasn’t been shown interested in on screen. They can’t use “dreaming” to really help him or his cause in anyway and Daemon is focused on his personal ambitions and other family members.

I’ve seen a couple people who wanted Rhaena to be a dreamer but I don’t agree with that. It wasn’t adapted correctly to begin with and even Aegon’s dream and all that stuff in the show it’s just very cringe and forced. I don’t want that pushed onto Rhaena😂 because they wouldn’t do it correctly anyways. It doesn’t fit in HOTD but they’ve tried to insert it regardless. It would really be a hindrance on Rhaena’s characterization and everything surrounding book Rhaena. She’s a political and symbolic character more than anything. I understand because of the parallels with Daenerys and hatching Morning why people would think that but it does nothing to her character other than raise questions. It’s bad enough people say stupid shit like “why didn’t she claim a dragon!!!!!!?????” I don’t think adding to characters just to cause discourse is good writing. Actually if we go based off the Valyrians leaving before the doom, Morning’s birth and symbolism of false hope really ruins any “dreaming” plot I could see. Post dance, Baela and Rhaena are settling down thinking it’s a calm time for a new era and rebirth, but if one of them “dreams” the opposite and dragons dying off then that contradicts their post dance behavior. Basically they’re at the end of a Targaryen era and dreaming about dragons would insinuate they’re at the beginning like Daenerys. They can’t do anything about whatever dreams they have. Unless they would actually do something and have action that follows the dream, there’s no point and it ruins the purpose of Morning’s birth and death. As far as they’re concerned, the war ended and now it’s time go back to normal. Little did they know all the dragons are going to die and I really don’t think they’re supposed to see it coming in any way.

Daemon’s interest goes as far as how he could benefit from it. If Baela was a dreamer he might have some interest when it comes to Pentos era Daemon reading books about their ancestors but yeah after that it’s 🤷‍♀️ He spends little to no time with them and they would never get a chance to get Daemon x dreamer daughter interactions once the dance starts. If they wanted to make Baela a dreamer it could’ve potentially been interesting with the scene we got with him teaching her, but again once she’s older her actions would contradict her having any dreams. She’s act first, think later and it would make everyone question her behavior

Book Daemon I believe would be a little different though. Show Daemon just doesn’t care 😭😭

[atsukawolfcat]

Venti's Strength

SO HELLO AGAIN WITH ANOTHER THEORY AND YUP ITS VENTI'S THIS TIME and its a bit of a doozy and I am half alive atm

Spoiler Alert? Genshin Lore and Stuffs, mostly a delulu person blabbering while they can on their phone.

So I can't sleep (its 4AM after an ER visit so hahahaaaaaa nothing major though just a precaution for anyone reading this and wondering) and I was going through TikTok when I saw this little video pop up

I have a theory (a GAME theory lool no jk AHEM). And as some of the comments pointed out (and a bit on the video) here are some facts:

1. Nahida states that an Archon's power derives from "faith" rather than "rule"

2. Venti's Gnosis was the shape of a Queen chesspiece, which is the most powerful piece on the board.

3. Only Venti self proclaimed as the weakest of the Archons

So I will go through each one by one to do a mini "share my thoughts" while I still have em. And a little disclaimer before I go ahead, I not an avid chessplayer and I have yet to finish Sumeru's AQ (still catching up on it, been lazy about tbh but its a WIP) and I don't really remember Nahida saying this on MY game yet so I will just discuss what I have observed. Dang I really do need a refresher on everything

ANYWAY, first is Nahida's comment. There is a LOT going on for this one, much more than the story of "ruling is power". So lets say that being an avid or active ruler of your city is what give you power, then as we know, Venti should definitely be near the end of his life because he DOESN'T rule. He hates the idea of ruling or mainting power over his city, and with his history with rulers I don't blame him. There was a whole war he had participated in after his creation/birth in which he was going against the ruling parties, the nobles and the royal family of that time as an extension. He supported the common folk, in which was his best friend of which he took his appearance after now to live in his memory. Having any rule after that cruel loss is not something I would ever want to take a part of, so he remained as a silent guide and protector of the new Mondstadt. If he did indeed "rule", he would have never had any power. From just his backstory alone, we get the feeling he has not ruled over Mond at all, just guided them and gave the people the tools to be self sufficient, which for old Mond, was sweet freedom. So more support for Nahida's statement, as we all know that the people from his city have VERY strong faith in him still after generations.

Second, his Gnosis. So I am not a chess player and at best, a complete novice. So I goggled what was the most powerful chesspiece.

Clear as day, the Queen chesspiece (which reminder, it is the shape of his Gnosis) IS the most powerful. But what fascinates me more is the wording. "There is something inherently satisfying about giving up the strongest piece on the board in order to checkmate the enemy king"? Hmm, as far as I know, there has been no confirmed King piece Gnosis, and its been theorirzed it may be our Cryo Archon that has it. How convenient that he lost it to one of her people. And since I am leaning towards him being the strongest, I am POSITIVE the statement he said "Without a doubt, I am now the WEAKEST Archon in all of Teyvat" was less for our ears and more for someone else. He has power over wind, which we know he uses to project his voice and other abilities. He's lived among humans for hundreds of years, and no doubt he recognized Signora. Very likely knew their plan, stated that he was the weakest to give the go ahead, and let the gnosis be taken for a bigger chess game in motion.

Now for the last one. As far as my memory goes, NO OTHER ARCHON has claimed or supported that Venti is the weakest of all 7(will double check later once the caffeine hits). We have only heard this from him directly, while others just express their annoyance at his current antics or his habits. Would the Traveller ask them about Venti's strength? Very likely, but knowing Venti and the other (known) Archons, none would speak about current Venti since they haven't A. Seen him in many years or B. Have a possible contract to keep their mouths shut (ahem ZHONGLI) or even C. Met him proper. So heres what I think in total:

Venti spoke that outloud for a fatui operative (likely Signora) to proceed with the plan of taking his Gnosis AND its possible he said that to himself since he could only do so much at helping his dear friend, the Unnamed Bard. Very likely has some sort of survivor guilt (based on how hes moving on with the appearance of his friend), and just can't shake off the fact he wasn't strong enough when his friend needed him. Its also why he's so set in helping people move on from people who have passed on (Stanley's story quest). Its something he can do, so why not do it while he has the chance?

OOOOO this was a long one, but I hope this gives some food for thought. I am a firm believer that Venti is still one of the strongest if not THE strongest of all the Archons in term of raw power. Thank you for coming to my late night/early morning Tedtalk lol now off to sleep with the wolfcat

[thesherrinfordfacility]

:D hi again!! oh goodness im so excited about this whole shooting stars/rain symbolism im delighted you feel the same!!! and i absolutely agree with you about crowley taking the blame so to speak? thinking about the difference between aziraphale having doubts and crowley having questions - i should rewatch that scene but i think there's something interesting to examine there. i feel like we've attributed aziraphale's 'bad boy' streak and crowley's kind heart to just inherently being Them, but your idea that aziraphale was the one who was supposed to fall is SO intriguing to me in that aspect heheh >:]

about metatron: i think the main associations are, at least islamically the link between the prophet ezra/uzair (the different names are the anglicised and arabic spellings :)) like you mentioned and metatron being the angel of the veil. there's definitely a lot more discussion in jewish literature but i am not even a little bit qualified to talk about that :( further reading for the both of us i think! in terms of GO i doubt the prophet links will be explored - potentially the idea that the prophet ezra and therefore metatron? has been historically viewed as the son of God? however from what i know of islam and can tell from judaism that theory is pretty universally denied because of the absolute divinity of God (has no partners, no children etc etc)

the book of life! yes so we have uh a version of the angel/devil on your shoulder except we believe they're two angels who don't influence you but just write down all your good and bad deeds - these are compiled on the day of judgement and given to you in the right/left hand depending on your final judgement. not sure about any scratching out though! once you're judged, its heaven or hell and your earthly deeds are no longer needed. oh, and as far as i know, only humans have a book of deeds.

oh and also i am incredibly intrigued by your theories about the Fall and what aziraphale & crowley do or don't remember - i am sort of hedging my bets on the idea that early demon crowley didn't remember much about being an angel, and slowly got his memories back, potentially on purpose rather than a gradual return ("it hurts to remember" "i know. do it anyway.") - 🌙

hey 🌙anon!!!✨ ahhhh glad that it interested you!!!

metatron: noted, i definitely need to do some further reading, to see where things align!!! but thank you for clarifying ezra/uzair, that was confusing me slightly, but that makes sense✨

book of deeds: mhmm cool, that matches up from what i understood from research, that's good! interesting to know though that only humans have them... because that might (?) support my thoughts on what the BoL means for angels (ie i don't think it means what michael, beelzebub, and crowley think it to mean in s2... and instead for angels writes out angels' angelicness/causes them to fall).

im still somewhat in two minds about crowley's memory; i do think that there may be missing parts about the fall specifically (whether instigated by heaven or bc of the trauma, not sure!), but i do think some of crowley's 'missing memories' like re: furfur might just be down to AWCW being a bit of a knob, and didnt bother to remember anyone... crowley (well, both of them are tbh) is a unreliable narrator in my eyes, so it may well be a mix of everything!!!

thank you again for this, i really do appreciate it!!!✨💕

[maxzinn]

Omg the whole aventurine fanfic drama is still on going..but fr I'm glad some people are defending the author that wrote that harmless fic! It's kinda crazy that they would read a fanfic where reader literally just saves him and tries giving him a more comfortable life and immediately say "that's horrible! That's racism! How dare you romanticise slavery!?" Like- c'mon it wasn't even an NSFW fic! And are they just triggered because the reader "buys" him? Like would they cause all of this drama if reader like helped rescued him in other ways?

Please i can't tell you how scared I was when the author suddenly started getting backlash but then I saw your post defending them and i let out the biggest sigh of relief 😭

I just got past my awkwardness when reading aventurine fics but now seeing this mess again I'm feeling even more awkward 😭 and please the "white knight syndrome" thing is just stupid how tf do you read a harmless fic that was written with pure intentions and turn it into this???

Anyways off topic but I love your vibe! I would love talking to you about silly stuff other than this whole stupid fanfic drama!

(i don't play hsr (i don't have enough time and money okay 😭) but I've been there since the game first started and got wayyy too attached to Jing Yuan and now I'm too invested in the damn game 😔)

You said it very well anon! I just wish they stop this drama now tbh cuz it's literally pointless.

I'm so confused as to why people think that fic was to be condemned just because reader "bought him". That fic didn't even romanticize slavery or anything! The fic didn't even sexualize his slavery as well! They weren't even in a relationship nor did the reader in that fic even tried to get together with him.

Besides, I'll say it again, it was his IN-GAME lore and that author only made their own script/version where aventurine had never gone through that trauma of fighting for his life and someone was able to save him to give him a better childhood.

Even though reader didn't "buy" him and rescued him instead, nothing would have ever changed imo. I think people will still nitpick on the fact that it's a fic about slave aventurine and will still claim that it's 'white-knighting" and "fantasizing to be his savior" and all that bullcrap. (i'm really getting tired of these people turning every good intentions into something malicious)

And besides, imo, even if reader were to rescue him (in the fic) then aventurine will still be in danger and both of their lives would be at risk. Buying him is the only safest option where his previous owner won't come to look for him, and I doubt the reader in that fic even knows how to fight or murder anyone lol. I think it's the most safest, efficient, and fastest solution to save slave aventurine from the abuse. I don't like buying slaves cuz it's not right, but if that's the only safest option on guaranteeing their safety and mine as well, then I'd do it even if it's against my own morals/beliefs because I know that it was out of goodwill and not out of maliciousness.

But aside from that, I would've get it if the hate in the fic (aside from death threats) was because it was borderline romanticizing slavery and is making it nsfw where the reader was taking advantage of their roles as master and slave, but it's not that at all!

Reader was literally just trying to help him get out of his hell, yet people are accusing it as a "white-knight behavior" like pls,,, they're acting as if we're having some sinister and evil motives for reading that fic.

I get you anon, it's very awkward for me as well to read aventurine fics now cuz these people ruined everything for me. I can't believe a simple harmless fic was turned into this just because it mentioned his slave past.

(I hope you'd have the chance to play the game in the future! HSR really didn't disappoint. Even thought it's a turn-based rpg, it's still a good game and is not too far off from the other popular games! I would love for you to experience the game yourself someday and thank you for sharing your thoughts with me <33)

[caelumsnuff]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Game

Tagged by the wonderful sweetie that is @autisticempathydaemon. Thank you for the tag! Mwah!

Tagging @k9rage, @tepid-judas, and @nyssasorbit, and literally anyone else who wishes to play!

1 - How many works do you have on AO3?

15! which is. a lot mroe than i thought it was lol

2 - What's your total AO3 word count?

49,994. Don't let it decieve you though, a lot of that is from fics that i write several versions of for extra fun :3

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

Redacted Audio and Mo Dao Zu Shi (thus far :3)

4 - What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5) And I Trust You (Redacted Audio fandom) 4) Thrill of the Chase (Redacted Audio fandom) 3) Grabbing at Clouds (Mo Dao Zu Shi fandom) 2) Kitty Gets His Milk (Mo Dao Zu Shi fandom) 1) You're The Sun in My Morning (Mo Dao Zu Shi fandom)

5 - Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always! I feel if someone takes the time to write me a sweet comment, i should take the time to thank them. I will reward engagement with engagement. Plus id feel bad if i didnt thank them.

6 - What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A Grotesque Perversion! I did almost bring myself to tears writing it, my beloved little baby man......

7 -What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

hmmmm probably You're The Sun in My Morning. That fic is ridiculously soft. Especially for something like somno kink LOL

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

Oh yeah baby!!! I sure do! Particularly for this fandom (Redacted Audio). After the onslaught of hate for my first pic, i decided this fandom has lost its privilege to have un-moderated comments on my fics. That has cut the messages down to almost zero tbh, but if i find a message funny enough i'd probably post it anyways lol.

9 - Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes!!! I absolutely love writing smut. Mostly emotionally meaningful kink and violent sex. I just love sex <3

10 - Do you write crossovers?

Not as of yet. If i did it'd probably be a crossover for some of my special interests.

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, not that i know of.

12 - Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but i would probably cry if someone liked my fic so much they wanted to translate it so more people can read it.

13 - Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I am currently doing a roleplay fic with one of my best friends for the MDZS fandom! It's far from being finish, and we'll have to edit it after we're done, but we'll be posting it after then!

14 - What's your all time favorite ship?

Geez....... they come and go, but right now i am so caught up on Vaelum, they are eating my brain on the daily.

15 - What's a WIP that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I doubt i will ever get past the planning stage of the David/Angel pet play fic. I have it roughly planned out, but i just dont think i'll ever be interested in the idea enough again to write it.

16 - What are your writing strengths?

Descriptions of emotions and sensations, i think. I feel like i can write a pretty eloquent descriptive sentence.

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

hm. Flowing from one subject to another. I always have an abstract subject connected to a tangible scene in my mind thats perfectly connected and makes sense, but the moment i try to write it down, i feel like it sounds like absolute shit.

18 - Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I could not do this with any confidence, and i probably wouldn't to begin with. I'd probably just give some indication in fic that what they are saying, they are saying in a different language lol. There is a small possibility that i would if i had a friend who spoke a different language to help me with it, but thats still a hard maybe.

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

Redacted Audio!! My beloved And I Trust You

20 - Favorite fic you've written?

God..... I feel strongly about almost all my fics, so i don't think i could pick only one. I do really love Quinn's Favorite Toy and You Taste Like Love

[shadymiser]

I saw BP Wakanda Forever in theatres and for a split second, I thought the plot was heading into previously unseen territory for Marvel. Even my friend leaned over during the cave scenes to ask ‘Hey, are they supposed to be together?’.

It’s important to note that I don’t often ship fictional couples and when I do, they have to be canon. I’m not really into fan fiction and I’m also not a heavy romance gal. But y’all, I felt it. I don’t know if it was a Letitia-Tenoch thing or a Shuri-Namor thing, but it was there. It had all the classic signs of an romance subplot. They were literally head cannoning Hades and Persephone, Beauty and the Beast! Cmon! If this was accidental, I think the writers need to screen their movies a bit more, because the chemistry between Shuri and Namor was so tangible to me and I wasn’t even looking for it. I also have a feeling that the whole *spoilers! Turn away in 5 4 3 2 1* killing Ramonda arc was purposely put in place to quell the romantic subplot. If it was, it worked, at least for me. Ramonda was like my mother, I spent the entire last arc simultaneously hating Namor and grudgingly admitting he looked so fine😭.

That being said, some of the fanfics I’ve seen so far aren’t really taking into account what we already know about these characters. For starters, Namor is a selfish narcissist. He might regret what he did to Ramonda (I doubt it, honestly), but it’ll be a cold day in hell before he apologizes to anyone. He’s also more concerned with his people than any potential romance. I hate to say it, but Talokan Vs Shuri, Talokan wins every time😭. And Shuri is avoidant. She avoids her feelings by burying herself in her science and technology. I don’t know where the writers are going with her character next, but I assure you, pining for Namor in Haiti is not it. She’s mourning the loss of her family, and I think she gave up the throne to Mbaku because she recognized that she needed time to heal and let go of all her anger. She might have spared Namor, but it wasn’t out of love, y’all! It was out of duty. That’s why they’re so similar and that’s why the chemistry exists. I’ve never read fan fiction before but I’m trying now because this has become my first non-canon ship ever and I’m so in love with them. I just need y’all to get it right, please😭

Also, I saw someone post a plot about Namor and Shuri’s kid coming back from the future and forcing them to confront the possibility of a relationship. This is the best one I’ve seen tbh, because Shuri would never seek Namor out in a romantic way otherwise. She’s AVOIDANT! Means she’d rather not deal with it😂 With this, she has to consider the possibility that some future version (or alternate reality🤔) of herself was enamored enough with the fish man to make little fish-panther babies. Anyways, that’s all. I look forward to reading your fics! And this is my first time in a ship/fandom. I like it a lot☺️

[orangejuice707]

I have a feeling that Gilbert got bullied in his childhood more specifically chased with swords or smth dangerous like that . As in my this theory (og post was v's) I explained why he never rejected Clavis's bad cooking .

Now I am gonna connect it to Gilbert's character design

So we have all seen Gilbert wearing all black and covering almost ALL of his body including face (eyepatch!) . Could there be reasons for it other than character design?

Yes .

Scary appearance (more like "to appear" scary)

Covering body parts which are hurt in an attempt to hide scars and appear strong

Now if we say that the people who used to bully him left cuts and scratches on certain parts of his body including his eye . So basically

Him covering up his body can be an effect of bullying .

Reasons why he got bullied

• he was a weak kid (as I said in the linked theory abt his food habits)

Now let's talk abt canebert

Why not a sword? Why not a gun? Though I doubt that the stick is only a stick and not a covering for a gun .

But the question is

Why?

Why does he need to cover up such a dangerous artifact when it can scare anybody and let him get his way with them ?

Why not kill/beat people using a gun/sword ?

That's bcoz he knows

He knows how much it hurts. So he would rather beat up his opponent with a cane rather than beat them with smth more dangerous.

Why does he reads so many military based books when he can literally posses a gun kill off his opponents ?

(OK I might be bullshitting a bit here)

At times a legit article on the internet or a certain thing from a certain book can change our whole world and make us feel a type of way .

In this case .

Gilbert found comfort (a weird kind) in reading military books and possessing the knowledge. He didn't just wanted to be a weak victim of bullying . Rather he wanted to be stronger at least in one field (personal defense rather than military strength in this case)

Now .

Why is he trying so hard to be friends with mc and the other princes ?

Now before starting I wanna say that this is pretty far fetched so yeah.

What if the people who bullied him in his childhood were his own family members? Like idk anything abt gil's fam tbh (does any of us except cybird does tho???) .

He might be similar to the isekaid villainess we(or atleast I) often read abt in manhwas , etc.

Getting bullied by Palace staff

Getting bullied by family members

Almost losing their life

Forming new allies

(Falling in love)

I kept the last one in brackets bcoz that is not what we are gonna discuss here .

He tries hard to get along with people outside his hometown . Especially people who don't want to take advantage of him (like that one nobleman) bcoz in his past along with the bullying he probs faced issues with who took advantage of him .

So now since he is grown and healthy he is like "nope" and "gonna make my own friends found family" .

Now, why more specifically mc?

(Crack theory : bcoz it is Emma duhhh)

Ok now in all seriousness it is her bcoz she is given the role of belle

A very vital role in Rhodolite .

And the main requirement?

● pure heart

This . This is the exact reason as to why Gilbert would never not ask her to be his friend .

A pure person would never take advantage of anyone . This probably puts Gilbert at ease .

Now for another kinda bullshit like theory

What if he himself wants to destroy Obsidian and side with Rhodolite?

This is extremely weird so feel free to ignore this .

He once mentioned that he never took part in the war 10 years ago on Bloodstained Rose Day (i forgot the name so sorry if it is incorrect)

This can easily mean that he never wanted to go on a war with Rhodolite.

Now ik Luke's route kinda proves this to be wrong but what if whatever he did 10 years ago was bcoz he was being controlled by the king of Obsidian? Like idk lololololol

Anyways if u made it this far then here is a sword 🗡 for ya . Thank u for reading .

(Took me almost 1 hr to write lolol)