#for those of you invested in my irl rambles in my notes: we got the laundry machine--a WORKING ONE--today

[autistichedgehogs]

hello all! i apologise for the inactivity--i was having a lot of medical (and dissociative) issues in my off-screen life. hopefully i can be around a bit more :)

[lovlychan]

as sweet as strawberry pancakes

pairing: joshua hong x reader ft. appearances from the other members! word count: 6.2k genre: fluff, humor (?), slice of life, college au, non idol  warning(s): food mentions, mentions of drinking, mingyu sucks at hygiene but i love him

summary: ethics is a pain in the ass, thank god sweetheart joshua hong is here (aka joshua is just.. so whipped for reader lol almost as whipped as the whipped cream on pancakes)

note: i’m failing ethics irl so this is just my way of coping lol (i hate kant so much)

You curse the gods that placed you in your current predicament. Actually, no, you curse Kim Mingyu for never sneezing into his arm as any sane person would do. If it weren’t for him and his gross habit of sneezing in whatever direction, you wouldn’t have come face to face with a disgusting amount of snot, wouldn’t have gotten a cold, and wouldn’t be absent for your Fundamentals in Ethics class. 

While he did feel bad and give you some of his homemade chicken noodle soup (which almost made you forgive him, that man was like a Korean Gordon Ramsay) the tasty broth wouldn’t be enough for the situation that it landed you in. 

See, you absolutely sucked at Ethics. No matter how many hours you put into the subject, all of your tests came back with an almost insulting red mark. 12 out of 30, 5 out of 15… damn you Kant, and your stupid ideologies. It’s not like you didn’t study or anything, the quizzes just kept beating your ass.

The only way to save yourself from retaking the class would be the upcoming final group presentation. You knew this and prepared in advance by thinking of who you’d ask to be grouped with. The roster of high-achieving students that you’ve got to know throughout the semester repeated in your head like a chant: Jihoon, Namjoon, Eunwoo, Intak. You were ready to speed into class and tell your professor those exact names.

But of course, the universe just loved to screw you over. No matter how hard you tried to argue with your roommate that your cold wasn’t even that bad, she refused to let you out, in fear of “killing half the campus” with your damned cold. Thanks to that, you were stuck with the unwanted members of the class: a girl that spent the entire session scrolling through dating apps, a couple that was way too invested in each other to learn anything, and a guy that hid his phone under his desk to play Solitaire.

Solitaire. Not even a fun game. You might be a bit too harsh on your unfortunate group, but you really needed to ace this project. Knowing that the five of you would end up nowhere unless someone took lead, you became the makeshift leader, adding them all into a group chat that was often left with your messages never seen. 

Luckily, the others finally saw your most recent message asking to meet up in the campus library to discuss your presentation. Unluckily, none of them prepared for it. You were stuck rambling on about your proposed topic, while the other four just stared at you.

“How about we discuss the Valley of Sorrow dilemma? You know, the one where a doctor has to choose between breaking his confidentiality contract or releasing data about a cure? I think it would be a great way to compare a deontological approach versus a utilitarian approach”, you say, inwardly groaning at how the couple in front of you continue to play footsie under the table. At one point, you felt the girl stroke your leg. You really should’ve worn jeans today.

“Sounds good to me”, the Solitaire boy says while checking his watch. “But uh, I think I’ll have to head out early. Sorry guys, the gamers club needs me right now.”

Bullshit. Your friend Wonwoo’s the president of the club, and you know they never meet on Friday (Wonwoo likes to volunteer at the animal shelter near your dorms). But, you let him go anyway. It’s not like he was giving any useful output anyways. The others soon follow, with the dating app girl rushing off to find her “special man” for the night, and the couple leaving for whatever stupid excuse they gave. You didn’t even bother listening to them, knowing that they’ll most likely head to an apartment and get laid. Good for them, I guess.

Stuck on your own, you get to work on your laptop. Screw you Kim Mingyu. (You don’t know it, but across the campus, the poor boy feels as if the universe is calling him out in the middle of a volleyball game. He gets hit with a ball square on the head. He’s stuck with the ball’s logo branded on his forehead for a while.) As an hour passes, you decide you’ve done enough work for now, getting up and groaning at the soreness of your back. It takes you a while to finally stand up straight, and you decide to give your dead legs a wake up by walking through the library. You might’ve looked like a senior citizen with your back hunched over, but that was far from your worries. This paper is beating your ass, and your groupmates have proven to be useless. Maybe you could find some sources for the presentation in the library while you take your walk. That’s not what you find, however, finishing going through a row of bookshelves. Feeling tired and defeated, you groan a bit too loudly for a library.

“Stupid Kant. Why can’t I just live with my own ways of thinking? It’s better than going with what a dead white man thinks”, you say out loud to no one in particular.

“Bad day?”, shocked to find someone else, you turn around to look at a familiar face.

“Joshua? Hey! Long time no see!”

It’s a common greeting indeed, but it’s true. The last time you saw the guy was months ago, at a party your friend Seungkwan dragged you to. He bribed you with the promise of Mcdonald’s after staying for a while, and who were you if not a starving student to say no to a Big Mac? You spent that night being dragged around by your friend, introducing you to every person at the party. While most people’s names left your mind right after meeting them, Joshua Hong was different. He already caught your interest when Seungkwan introduced him as the “gentleman of all gentlemen”, which was far from your dating history that left much to be desired. Deciding it was safe for you to stay with him, Seungkwan bounced off to some of his friends that were taking shots.

You and Josh were honestly were vibing hard, talking about how the two of you were dragged to the party by friends, and how the hell Seungkwan knows everyone and their mothers. You finally felt at ease at the party, away from the grinding and sweaty bodies of college students that wanted to forget their asshole professors for the night. Unfortunately, the easygoing pattern of the conversation was ripped from you quickly, with Joshua explaining that his friend Vernon was dragged into a seven minutes in heaven game that he absolutely did not want to join. You giggled and waved him away, knowing that his poor friend needed his attention more than you. With how sudden he had to leave, you never got to get his number. You would’ve asked Seungkwan for it, but you knew that it would lead to him suggestively wiggling his eyebrows and offering to set the two of you up together. Ever since the two of you became friends, he’s told you that getting laid could make you a happier, way less stressed person.

That was months ago, and you haven’t seen Joshua since. Despite your campus being rather small, you just chalked it up to him being busy. At the party, you learned that he was active in a lot of clubs and extracurriculars, being part of all the different organizations, ranging from jewelry making to glee club. He was a hardworking guy, and you realized he had another responsibility as you stared at his outfit, seeing a lanyard in your university’s school colors with the bold text “volunteer librarian” on it.

“Hey to you too, ___. The last time I saw you, you were holding Seungkwan back from hogging the karaoke machine”, he says, putting some books onto the shelf from his little cart.

You groan at the memory, recalling how your friend shouted at everyone that no one could top his rendition of Beyonce’s Love On Top. Seungkwan was way too hammered to even take you to a Mcdonald’s, and you ended that night helping him puke his guts out. So much for a Big Mac.

“Oh God, don’t remind me”, you shudder. “All he did on the way home was belt high notes and talk about how Beyonce saved his life. And yeah, it’s been a pretty bad day. Got stuck with some awful group mates for an already awful subject. God, I hate ethics”, you say, rolling your eyes at the mere mention of the terrible ordeal you’re stuck in.

He lets out a sympathetic sigh, “Ethics, huh? What’re you guys learning?”

You sigh, “Deontology. Still have no fucking clue what I’m doing though, and I have a paper due in a week and no one is helping out.” He gives you an empathetic smile and puts a book back into the shelf before he replies.

“I think I took that last semester. I have some notes I could give you. Don’t have them on me right now, but… if you’d be willing to stop by here tomorrow then I’d be glad to give ‘em to you.” 

You almost shed a tear at the boy’s generosity. In this dark and seemingly hopeless situation filled with terrible groupmates, shameful grades, and some ideology you haven’t fully understood, Joshua Hong is like the light at the end of a tunnel. 

“Really? Oh my god, that sounds amazing, thank you! This really means a lot. I can stop by tomorrow around the same time maybe?” You want to hug the kind boy in front of you, chant thank you over and over again. But your mind decides against it, reminding yourself that you’ve talked to him only twice so far.

“Of course!”, he chuckles, “anything for you.” You blush at the sweet sentiment, and leave him to his work while you head back to your laptop.

“Joshua Hong, I think you just made this terrible day a little bit better.”

The next day comes, and you excitedly walk into the library, with a bag of pastries and some coffee in tow. The guy’s gonna be your saving grace, might as well thank him with some sweet treats and a little caffeine pick-me-up. You wander around for a while, finally finding him in the fiction corner. As you approach him, he looks up and smiles.

“Oh! Hey! I have the notes in my bag, let me go get ‘em.” He sets down the books he’s holding, and before he can run off to get your lifesaving notes, you wave your chocolate eclair in his face.

“You got me snacks? God, I feel like you’re saving my life more than I’m saving your own. I’ve had like three hours of sleep, I was so close to faceplanting into the wall earlier” he yawns, emphasizing his statement.

“Yeah, anything for someone that’ll save me from failing this class. Guessing college is kicking your ass too?”

He hums, “Something like that. I’ll go get your notes, just stay here.”

As he goes off to get his notes, you spend the time going through the books he’s organizing, recognizing some of the books as the ones you’ve read as a kid. Alice in Wonderland, Matilda, Charlotte’s Web… maybe you should visit the library more often to reread them. Stuck in your thoughts, you don’t even hear the boy come up to you.

“Hey! Here, I made sure they were extra neat for you.” He reaches his hand out to give it to you, and you probably look like a child in a candy store with how happy you look at the bundled sheets of grid paper.

“Woah, thanks. And can I say, our handwriting’s crazy nice! Mine’s like chicken scratch, honestly”, he laughs, setting the papers in your hands. As you turn to leave after thanking him, he calls out your name. You look back at him, confused.

“Oh! I just wanted to ask if you wanted to exchange numbers. That way I could help you if you’re struggling with some stuff, maybe?” he looks at you hopefully, and you smile back at him. 

“Yeah, of course! Thanks for saving me from a big fat ‘F’, really.”

Joshua Hong’s notes are your lifesaver. From the ten-page bundle, you’ve finished over half of your paper. However, you’ve come to a pause as you stare at the huge inkblot at the bottom of the page. It’s been fifteen minutes, and you have no idea what it’s supposed to say. Giving up on the hopes of the ink magically forming into legible words, you pull out your phone to text Joshua.

__: hey josh!! hope u aren’t busy or anything, just wanted to ask what this says

__: [image attached]

You wait for his response, checking as the time passes by. An excruciating fifteen minutes pass, and you come to the conclusion that he might not respond any time soon. As you’re about to give up on the inkblot, you get a notification from him.

josh aka lifesaver: oh hey!! sorry, my pen decided to puke all over itself :p its “formula of the kingdom of ends”!!

__: tysm!! <3

You set down your phone, gracious for his kindness and eventual reply. Before you can get back to your laptop, you feel your phone vibrate next to you.

josh aka lifesaver: alsoooooo, it’s like 2 am

josh aka lifesaver: you should sleep soon :(

God he’s even cute through text. You look at your phone’s digital clock to verify the time. Groaning, you realize you’ve been at this paper for six hours. Maybe if you had better groupmates you could’ve been done hours ago. Alas, the four are nowhere to be found. Looks like you’ll be doing this entire thing on your own.

__: oh shoot!! didn’t even realize the time, been slaving over this paper for hours :// groupmates r mia yet again :p

josh aka lifesaver: did you eat dinner yet?

__: …. yes?

josh aka lifesaver: haha, very believable. there’s this awesome diner by 4th street, wanna come with? been craving their pancakes and you need to fill that empty stomach of yours

And that’s how you find yourself in a diner’s booth at 3 am, dressed in your pyjamas since you were way too tired to even change. You regret this decision though, as you see Joshua enter in a clean button-down and jeans. He looks way too good at ass crack o’clock. His eyes eventually connect with yours and he smiles, walking up to your booth.

“Hey, busy bee. You ready to try the best pancakes of your life? I’ve been going here since I was a freshman, and nothing compares to the god-like fluffy goodness that are their strawberry pancakes”

“Psh, I don’t think anything’ll top the ones my mom makes.”

He grins at you, “You’re about to be proven so so wrong, __.” He waves over at a waitress clad in the '50s-themed neon yellow uniform, and she comes over with a notepad in hand. Recognizing him, she smiles.

“Josh! Welcome back. It’s first time I’ve seen you come in here with someone that isn’t your roommate, is she someone special? She’s a real sight for sore eyes too”, she looks over to you, and you blush. Looking over at your companion, he’s beet red too, but waves away her question.

“Just someone who needed to discover the greatest pancakes on earth. I’ll have the usual strawberry pancakes, and extra powdered sugar, please. Oh! And some OJ too. How about you, __?”.

You forgot to check the menu, but you decide to trust his faith in the diner and go with the same dish.

“I’ll just have the same. But, can I have it with like, your biggest cup of coffee? College’s making me out to be a zombie at this point”. The waitress, whose name is Minnie as proven by her pinned name tag, writes down your orders and walks off, not before letting the both of you know that it’ll take around fifteen minutes for the food. Once she’s gone off to talk to the cook, Joshua turns to you and looks like a giddy little boy. 

“I’m serious when I say their pancakes are amazing. The first time I came here was with my roommate Jeonghan, and I’m proud to say they’ve changed my life. That day, I think I had five servings. Even tried making my own version at home, but nothing compares to the original”, he grins even wider, and you feel your stomach rumble from how excited you are for the food to come. Luckily, he doesn’t laugh or anything, he just smiles at you, albeit a bit worried that you haven’t eaten in hours. Minnie comes back with your drinks, and the two of you thank her before she leaves to serve another table.

“How’s Seungkwan, by the way?”, he says, toying with the salt packets by the table. “Haven’t seen or heard from him since his little performance at the party.”

“Same old diva we’ve learned to love. He got into an argument with some kid at the mall because the kid said he should be more quiet in a bookstore. Had to hold him back so the mom wouldn’t come and fight him too. Aside from that though, he’s been doing alright. Just been pestering me to go on dates with his friends since he thinks I’m ‘sweeter when I have a sweetie’”, Joshua laughs, rolling his eyes at Seungkwan’s usual dramatic antics.

“So”, he starts, picking up a sugar packet, “how are the dates going?”

“Oh, I’ve turned down all of them. As much as I love him, I’d rather not be part of one of his little matchmaking schemes. You remember that disastrous date your friend Vernon went on with the girl from the track team?”

He laughs at the memory, “I remember that. She wanted to go on a jogging date and he passed out after like ten minutes of running. Had to pick him up and apologize to the poor girl. Vernon ended up sore for days.”

Laughing, you take a sip of your coffee. “Yep, that’s exactly why I don’t trust Seungkwan’s choice in dates for me.” You take another sip of your coffee.

“So, that means you’re single?” You choke on your drink, coughing on its bitter taste. God, this is embarrassing, you’ve got it dribbling down your chin. Joshua looks at you sympathetically, offering you a sip of water to calm yourself down. Once you’ve settled down, you reply, “sorry about that, but yeah. Why’d you ask?”

He gives you a cheeky grin, then shrugs. “Just wanted to know. How’s the paper going, by the way?’

You groan, “wayyy worse than expected. Groupmates have gone full M.I.A and I’ve decided I’m writing it on my own. Telling my teacher on Monday that I’ll be working solo. Hopefully I can pull out a paper that saves me from retaking the class.”

He hums in response, pausing before he replies. “Well, I’m sure you can do it. You’re a smart person, I believe in you.” He smiles, and you feel your chest warm up. His smile feels like it lit up the entire room. It may be 3 am, and you should be dead asleep from all your work, but there’s something about his support that gives you a refreshing feeling. Before you can continue your conversation, Minnie comes back with your dinner-slash-midnight snack-slash-early breakfast.

“Here’s your order! Even told our chef to hurry it up, since you guys look like you really need something sweet. Looks like Josh’s smile is the only sweet thing you needed, though.” She winks at you and sets down the food before Joshua can even retort. As much as you’d love to keep talking with your (cute) companion, these pancakes look divine, and you’re way too excited to finally fill your belly. It’s fine though, as you look up and he’s already taken a huge bite out of his stack. You laugh at the powdered sugar on the corner of his mouth and finally dig into your food.

Holy shit. 

He was right. The pancakes were amazing, undoubtedly better than the ones your mom makes. Sure, she made them with a premade mix and even the school cafeteria’s pancakes would taste better than hers, but your food was, in Joshua’s words, absolutely god-like. Your eyes widen as you feel the flavors dance around on your tongue; the insanely fluffy pancakes, with the thick cream and powdered sugar, all topped with the sweet and slightly tart strawberries. Everything tastes amazing, and you chow down like a man starved. At this moment, it’s just you and your pancakes, until Joshua laughs and catches your attention. You look up at him, and he’s proudly smiling. 

“Told you they were good.”

Two more orders of pancakes later, the two of you finally call out for the bill. Watching him bring out his wallet, you shake your head and let him know you’ll pay. He refuses, but you insist.

“Come on, I owe you big time. You saved my ass from ethics, and you saved it again from dying of starvation. Let me pay”, you plead, but he still refuses. 

“Hey, it’s a gentleman’s move to pay. Plus, you got me those eclairs, and I’m sure those were overpriced. The cafe’s around school cost an arm and a leg to order from.” He’s right, the eclairs took a pretty painful dent in your broke college student’s wallet, but he doesn’t need to know that. 

“Josh, seriously I–”

“Nope! I got this. You can just pay the next time we go out.”

Next time? You get giddy at the thought of meeting up with someone so cute another time. You really thought this would be a one time thing, but luckily he thought otherwise. Knowing he won’t let up on paying for your meal, you give in.

“Fine, but! I’ll hold you to that next time.” He puts out a couple of bills and victoriously grins, passing the receipt to Minnie. Once he gets back his change, he stands and offers you a hand. 

“Now come on, I’ll walk you home, it’s too late for you to go back to your dorm on your own.”

God, he really is living up to that gentleman title. 

The walk home is full of cool air and random conversations. Even with the silent pauses from trying to find new topics, you feel at ease walking next to him. You eventually reach the entrance of your dorm, and you bid each other goodbye and separate ways. Joshua Hong has officially become your lifesaver twice, first with the notes and now with those amazing pancakes. You’ll probably be thinking of them in your sleep. Finally settling in for bed, you feel your phone vibrate.

josh aka lifesaver: you made it home safe?

__: josh

__: you literally dropped me off at the door like ten minutes ago

josh aka lifesaver: hey, who knows? what if there was a psycho killer in the elevator

__: haha very funny. thanks for tonight, btw :) get home safe!

Without waiting for his reply, you finally fall victim to your fluffy bed. It was a long day, and you’re incredibly grateful that it ended with a boy that feels like sunshine.

josh aka lifesaver: no, thank you, __

josh aka lifesaver: i really enjoyed spending time with you :)

josh aka lifesaver: btw, you looked really cute with strawberry sauce on your cheek. i would’ve told you to wipe it off but you just looked so happy

josh aka lifesaver: ahh i’m probably rambling and you’ve already fallen asleep :p good night, __. 

It’s been two weeks since you woke up to those messages and giggled like a crazed schoolgirl into your pillow, and eventually, the two of you became constant texting buddies. Even if you completed your presentation for ethics (got a 100 by the way! your ex-groupmates, on the other hand, got the longest lecture of their lives and had to retake the class), the two of you continued to talk. This led to the two of you getting closer, and your feelings growing even bigger. At this point, you weren’t sure what exactly the two of you were, because you clearly weren’t just friends with how often flirtatious comments were thrown into the conversations, but you weren’t dating either. It was an awkward and undiscussed grey area, and you were way too shy to ask him. Regardless, you enjoyed your conversations with him, and they made your days a bit better. Plus, you guys went to the diner more often. Those pancakes really are life changing, and at this point, you have whipped cream flowing in your blood. Minnie even makes sure to have your usual booth open at night because she knows the two of you like to come at that time.

The two of you would talk about anything under the sun, ranging from complaining about the painful life of a university student, down to the mundane moments in your days. Even now, as you’re waiting for your food at a cafe with Seungkwan (it’s his apology for not treating you to Mcdonald’s after that party), you’re still updating Josh on your life.

__: at a cafe w seungkwan rn, we’re meeting up with one of his friends

josh aka lifesaver: he isn’t setting you up with someone again, is he?

__: nope, he’s just given up on it completely. he just wanted me to come with him as an “i’m sorry for belting love on top and puking on your favorite top”

josh aka lifesaver: ok good

josh aka lifesaver: tell him i say hi !! 

“Josh says hi”, you say, much too engrossed with your phone to look at your friend. What’d he mean by “good”? Was he happy that you weren’t getting set up with one of Seungkwan’s friends? You seriously need to figure out what’s going on with the two of you, and soon.

“Well hello to him too”, an unfamiliar voice says, and you realize Seungkwan’s friend has arrived. Looking at the boy, you realize you’ve seen him somewhere before. You’ve never interacted him, but there’s something about him that seems familiar. Trying to rack your brain of where you’ve seen this stranger before, the realization suddenly dawns on you. Isn’t this Joshua’s roommate, Jeonghan? You’ve seen pictures of him from Josh, and you realize it really is him. He may not have the blonde hair like in Josh’s photos, replaced with a burgundy shade of red, but it is him.

“Sorry about __, she’s been on her phone 24/7 talking to your roommate”, Seungkwan says with a roll of his eyes. “She even faceplanted into the wall the other day since she was too distracted with his ranking of all the Studio Ghibli movies. Absolutely whipped, I tell you.” Blushing, you try your hardest to defend yourself and have the slightest shred of dignity left in front of Seungkwan’s friend.

“Hey!”, you exclaim, “I wasn’t distracted by his texts, I was distracted by your loud ass trying to hold a high note competition with Seokmin. Thought a dolphin went loose or something.” As hard as you try to refute Seungkwan’s claims, you only fall on deaf ears.

Jeonghan laughs, “oh please, Josh’s been way worse. __, if you think you’re bad, you should see him plan the messages he sends you. Don’t tell him I told you this, but it took him like twenty minutes to send you a message after your cute little diner date.” At this, you hear Seungkwan hum in interest. 

Damn it, you were keeping your little pancake run a secret from him, knowing that the teasing you got from him would multiply tenfold, since he’d jump to conclusions and assume the diner trip was romantic in nature. And to be completely honest, you weren’t sure if it was.

“Ooooh, is my little __ going on dates?”, he coos, and you wish your seat could eat you whole right now. Looking over at Jeonghan for help, you realize it’s useless as he begins to put in his own ooohs and ahhs to heighten Seungkwan’s teasing. You can feel your face burn into a crimson red, and you tell them to shush before anyone else can hear your conversation. It’s probably too late for that though, since sometimes it feels like Seungkwan was born with a megaphone in his throat.

“Listen, you crazed cupids”, you say with a hushed tone, hoping your company could quiet down, “he just wanted someone to come with him to his favorite diner. I was already texting him before that about the notes he gave me for my ethics class. It was just an in-the-moment situation, you know?” At that, Jeonghan furrows his brows. 

“__, okay, first of all, I was awake and with him at that time, and I’ve been his original diner buddy since we enrolled in college. He refuses to bring anyone else because he gatekeeps those pancakes from everyone, our other close friends included. The diner’s off limits, even to Vernon. That means he thinks you’re special enough to bring to his favorite place”, he teases with smug look. “Second, and more confusing, where the hell did he get notes for ethics? I’ve memorized all of his class schedules like the back of my hand, and he’s never taken any ethics class.”

Tilting your head like a confused puppy, you dig into the topic further. “But, he told me he took it last semester. He even taught me some stuff I didn’t get. Are you sure he never took ethics?”

Shrugging, Jeonghan is confident his roommate never took the class. “Trust me, he’s literally a computer science major. Why would he need to learn about ethics?”

… Huh. 

Now that you think of it, why the hell would a science major take ethics? Where’d he even get those notes from, and why would he lie to you? He said he took the class, and with his knowledge on the subject, it was believable. Before you could continue your little interrogation, you realize the two boys with you have moved past the conversation, talking about their plans for the week.

You jump in, but the thought of Joshua lying to you stays in the back of your head. You’ll deal with this later. In the meantime, you listen to Jeonghan rant about the pains of being an environmental science student (“I had a bug jump straight into my mouth last Tuesday. Jeonghan - 0, nature - 1”).

It’s 10pm now, and you’re home from brunch with the two boys. What Jeonghan said still lingers in your mind, and it’s time to get down to why the hell Joshua lied to you about taking ethics. Taking out your phone, you smile at your lockscreen. It’s a selfie you and Joshua took at the diner, and he’s got whipped cream on the tip of his nose. You remember teasing him about it before wiping it off with your finger and swiping it into your mouth. What followed was his face a shocking red, stuttering from your actions. You look back at that memory as one of your most favorite ones with him. Once you got your phone unlocked, you go straight to messaging him

__: hey josh!!

__: wanna go to the diner tonight? my treat :D just wanted to ask you about smth

josh aka lifesaver: dont even care about what you’re gonna ask me, you could ask me to kill seungkwan and i’d do it with no hesitation if it means free strawberry pancakes

Shaking your head at his adorable excitement, you put on your jacket to head out.

Arriving at the diner, you find him in your usual booth, with the two familiar stacks of pancakes on the table. You smile at Minnie on the way before taking your seat. Once sat down, Joshua grins at you.

“Hey, __. Is everything okay? You look like you’ve got a lot up in your head.” As usual, Joshua is ever the gentleman. Even if he has a smudge of whipped cream on his mouth, you still find yourself swooning at how sweet he is for immediately noticing that you’ve been bothered by your thoughts (even if he caused said thoughts).

“Hey Josh. Thanks for ordering for us. I just wanted to ask you something…”, you trail off. You have no idea how to ask him about his lie. You’re stuck awkwardly fumbling with what to say next, unsure how to go about this. Suddenly, his eyes widen. Setting down his fork, he looks at you worriedly.

“Oh my god, __. Do you…”, he lowers his voice, “do you actually want me to kill Seungkwan? I was joking about the whole ‘no hesitation’ thing! I know he can be a bit much but I don’t think we can kill him.” 

The poor boy looks so scared, and you shake your head with confusion.

“What? No!” Josh sighs in relief.

“Oh thank god, I thought he did something.” You shake your head. “So, what’d you want to ask me then? As much as I love going on these pancake dinners with you, I’m getting a bit worried on why you called me over.”

Here it goes, time to ask him why he lied about taking Ethics. Taking a deep breath, you start. 

“So, it turns out Seungkwan’s friend that we met up with earlier was your roommate, Jeonghan.” He attentively looks at you, nodding as a queue for you to continue.

“We were talking about how I got to know you, and I brought up ethics and how you saved my ass from that awful final presentation, and Jeonghan told me you never took ethics. Care to explain?” As you speak, his face gradually becomes violently red.

“Oh… cat’s out of the bag, I guess”, he admits. Still confused, you let him continue.

“It’s just”, he starts, “I found you so cute during that party and if it wasn’t for Vernon being too drunk to not notice his name was put into that seven minutes in heaven game, I would’ve asked you out.” Blushing at his confession, you’re still confused. What did that have to do with him lying about taking up Ethics? Realizing you’re still lost, he continues with a rushed tone.

“Okay, so, when I got back from helping Vernon, you were already on your way out with Seungkwan and I never got to ask for your number. I asked everyone else at the party if they had your number but they all said I should just ask Seungkwan for it but I’d rather die because he would do that weird eyebrow wiggle thing and try to set us up but I really wanted to ask you out myself”, gasping for air for a second, he continues. 

“So when I saw you looking all stressed over your paper in Ethics – you looked super cute by the way, I thought ‘oh! this is my chance to ask for your number.’ But then I thought, ‘shoot, I never took ethics’ but I know my friend Seungcheol did so after you left I had to beg him for his notes but when he gave them to me they were super messy and I didn’t want you to get his scribbled, unreadable mess, so I spent that night rewriting all of his notes and that was so hard because I really couldn’t read most of it, which is why there was a huge ink scribble on the notes. I couldn’t understand what he wrote so I just put that, but then you asked me the next day about what it said so I had to call him for help. It took us forever to get it but we did, and that’s pretty much it. It was worth it in the end, though, because I got your number and we got to know each other better and now what I’m trying to say is that I’ve come to really like you, and I hope you aren’t mad at me for lying to you”, he finishes, looking like a big flustered mess with how much he’s blushing and gasping for air after that long spiel.

You laugh, and he worriedly looks at you. 

“Josh, you mean to tell me… you went through all that just to get my number?” He looks at you, embarrassed and with a sheepish smile.

“Yes…?” He says with a shrug, still beet red.

Joshua Hong, you really are the cutest person I’ve ever met. 

You laugh again, thinking about how much this poor boy did just so he could talk to you. It’s flattering, honestly. He takes your laughter as something wrong, however, and begins to panic.

“__, I’m so sorry for lying and if that means you want to stop talking to me then–”

“No!”, you interject, “no, I was just laughing at how cute you were and how obscene this entire situation is. I’m not mad, I swear. If anything, I think what you did made me like you even more.” He looks at you as if you just grew two heads, and upon your words dawning upon him, he dons a smile that stretches from ear to ear.

“Oh thank god. But also, you like me?” Oops, looks like you let your tongue slip a bit. “Because I like you too, if that’s not obvious yet. I really, really like you”, he says, making sure to add extra emphasis on the “really”. At this point, the two of you are blushing hard, and it’s too late to take back what you said. Anyway, it’s not like you don’t like him. It’s far from that, actually. 

“Yes, I know you like me, you told me earlier”, you joke, “and yes, I do like you, Joshua Hong.” You thought the boy couldn’t get any redder, but here he is, rivaling the bright strawberries on your plates. He’s smiling even wider than before, and to your confusion, he suddenly calls over Minnie.

“Minnie, please tell everyone here that I’ll be paying for their meals. I’m celebrating me and __ getting together. Oh! And one more order of pancakes for us, please. Is there any way you guys could write ‘congrats on achieving your ultimate dream’ on the plate? I think this is the best day of my life.”

Shaking your head, you smile at him. Even with how intense he is right now, this is the best day of your life, too. Who knew that the worst subject on earth would lead you to where to dating a boy as sweet as those god-like strawberry pancakes?

[estelofimladris]

The Healer: Critical Role

[ warning: here follows a long rambling story of feelings about losing a fandom and finding new love and happiness in an unexpected way ]

Here’s a little personal story about how some fandoms hurt and some heal. It goes from Fillory to Exandria. (It feels really right when I say it that way.)

I wasn’t ready for the healing that I got, but it’s here now. Thank Sarenrae.

Everyone loves that thunderstruck feeling when you fall in love with a fandom. It’s literally like all the tropes about falling in love. You meet and sometimes there’s just a spark.

That was me with The Magicians. I spent a year immersed in a welcoming fandom in a show that made me feel seen and whole. I had friends in the fandom as well as the friends irl who were into the show. I got to dive into it when I really needed a fandom to help carry me a little through a hard time.

It was heaven. Until it wasn’t.

In April of 2019, The Magicians broke my heart. Again, just like all the tropes about love. Just like a bad breakup, there’s things about it that I really enjoyed, but at the end of the day, I can’t go back to the way things were with that fandom. No matter how welcoming the fandom remained, I couldn’t go back because the show had cut me so deeply.

Then through 2019 and into 2020, I drifted through some new loves and lived in my love of some of my oldest fandoms. Lots of Star Wars. New excitement from Good Omens, The Dragon Prince, and The Old Guard. It’s not to say that I don’t love these things, but at least two of my new favs are, for the time being anyway, done. And, though Star Wars (and in the same breath my other love Marvel) are never really done, I like loving them in a bubble because as anyone in those fandoms knows it can be a complicated relationship.

Also in late 2019, my buddy @wittynamehere1443 decided she wanted to try and run a D&D campaign for our family of misfits. I hadn’t played since high school (D&D 3.5) and was super excited to get back into it. I picked up quite a bit while prepping to play from a mix of reading, remembering old things, and watching some tutorials and stuff on ye ol’ YouTube. I had dabbled in tabletop, but never thought I’d go charging back in, but once I started I couldn’t stop.

I immersed myself in as much as I could, but I’m really a visual & kinesthetic learner, so eventually I was going to have to supplement my book-learning with some real-play to really understand. I played as much as I could as I delved deeper, but even as I dove, I realized I wanted to do more. I started to write my own campaign setting and adventures. I suddenly found myself needing to just know how D&D worked without having to always have the books open.

Now, I had been lightly introduced to some real-play before I really understood what it was. A buddy of mine had shown me a clip of Critical Role out of context quite some time ago and I really didn’t understand how so many people I knew and shared a lot of crossover interests with could be so obsessed with watching 8 people play D&D.

My buddy who was now my DM had consumed all of The Adventure Zone and had very lovely things to say about it and I had the lingering curiosity about Critical Role form the many people who had recommended it to me as well as the complete mystery attached to why people loved it so. And me, being a big lover of visuals and being at home because of COVID, dipped my toe into real-play with the first episode of Critical Role back in late June.

I did it completely on my own at first, which is rare given that most things I watch, I watch them with my best friend and roommate, @hawkeyekate.

( Also, as a weird note, I’ve managed to deftly avoid most spoilers about Critical Role up to this point and I’m not completely sure how. I know one big one in Campaign 2, but until yesterday (when I watched the first episode of Campaign 2) I didn’t even know the classes of 1/2 of the Mighty Nein. I didn’t even know Sam played Nott until about three weeks ago. That bubble has come in very handy. )

I immediately began to get out of it what I was originally there for: great real-play with explanations of rules (especially vs. house rules and the whys of everything). Watching the cast fumble through transitioning from Pathfinder to D&D 5e was very helpful to me because I had some similar questions from the figments of memory I had from 3.5 as well as my other random tabletop experience. I was completely inspired and found myself cranking through pages upon pages of my own world and campaigns as well as delving deeper into my characters that I’d been honing already.

I quickly noticed that I was worrying less about the rules when I played and was getting to enjoy my character for who he is. I was starting to craft interesting mechanics and not just story in my adventures I was writing.

Lightning had struck and suddenly I was in love in a way I hadn’t been in a long time.

As I was watching Critical Role, I definitely wasn’t just learning to be a stronger DM and a better player. I found myself able to tell the twins apart. I was invested in the mysteries as they unraveled in Exandria. I hung on Mercer’s every word.

Then without warning, when the party said goodbye to Pike in Vasselheim, I found myself in tears. I don’t know why but I remember being so struck by that moment. I knew it was partly because Ashley was leaving for New York, but the story for Vox Machina hit a soft spot for me. I was no longer just watching 9 people play D&D. I was invested in the story, the characters, and the world.

I was suddenly a Critter.

I think notoriously at this point, when I fall for a fandom, its often connected to a character. I saw in Vax’ildan a lot of things that really sucked me in from the beginning. He is at the same time like many of my favorite characters of my youth and like many of my favorite characters as an adult. I feel like he’s my heartstrings manifest in a lot of ways, complete with many of the flaws in that.

Then what was a slow crawl accelerated. I would occasionally ramble to @hawkeyekate about the adventures of Vox Machina and it would be on when she was around, but she wasn’t exactly watching it with me. Then at some point during “The Trial of the Take”, she was suddenly sitting with me to watch. She was asking me to pause when she had to go do something - and wait for her.

We were watching together.

We were acutely aware of how the twins echoed things in us and that often we are referred to in the same sentence in the same way. I had my Vex’ahlia.

Only a little over a month later, we’ve battled Briarwoods and now we’re hunting Vestiges and gathering allies. It is a rare day that we don’t watch a little Critical Role. I sport my “Gilmore’s Glorious Goods” shirt. I’ve read Vox Machina: Origins and am making plans for two cosplays already.

I’ve also DM’d six sessions of my first adventure-turned-campaign in my own world I’ve built, Perlen. I play tabletop two-to-three days a week with my friends via the internet. I hoard dice.

I’ve fallen in love again and this time it feels safe.

I know good and bad things will come for Vox Machina ahead. I know the same can be said for The Mighty Nein in my future as well, but the Critters in my life have been so welcoming and it’s been so nice to have something new to talk to my friends about. And I trust the cast of Critical Role not to destroy things just because they made them like The Magicians creators did, a trust I didn’t think I would grow back any time soon. I know that some of the pains in Critical Role aren’t just scripted but are actually to chance, which gives me comfort, too. People live and die by the dice in tabletop and I can abide that. It doesn’t mean I won’t cry and ache every time something bad happens to them because I love them all.

So I will go running through Tal’dorei and look forward to Wildemount while I carve out the mountains and seas of my world of Perlen. I’ll cry when they hurt and smile every time Pike and Grog talk. I’ll be healed the way that stories can in ways I didn’t expect, which has now happened much more than once.

I’m here now and I love it.

[ special shout-out to the Critters in my life that have been so welcoming. Especially my super-enabler, @oniumbra. ]

[harry-leroy]

writing meme: 5, 7, 19 and 21 please!

Thank you so much for these, Lisa! I appreciate it! :) 

5- what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

Like... the entirety of The Edgar Project? hehehe - Even though I written quite a bit of it, I’m probably going to start the whole thing over, or at least most of it anyway. It’s got structural issues among other things that need fixing. And yes, anything I’ve thought of for it recently hasn’t made its way into existence for the very reason of deep existential dread. I’m not actually one to just keep ideas in my head though - my IRL friends will tell you, I’ve got a really long note on my phone that’s just all my ramblings, whether its just character descriptions or little fics that I want for myself. I don’t share much (or any) of it, but things live there until I can think really deeply about them and clean them up and make them better. 

7- tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write 

So can I gush about my Oxford kids for a second?! (Just all of them - the ones for The Selby Roses, and yes I’m going to keep pushing this one down everyone’s throats because Lady Windermere’s Fan is a highly underrated play, even though don’t get me wrong, I love The Importance of Being Earnest too - which is the one that everyone seems to have read). But okay, so essentially these five iDiOts (I love them though) all went to Oxford together, got drunk one night after a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and decided to make one of those clubs that just meets in the dead of night on the occasional Wednesday to talk about poetry over cigarettes and whiskey. Essentially, dark academia darlings. It’s been a joy to explore how these young men present themselves to the world versus how they really act when they’re emotionally vulnerable (or in the case of this play, in head-over-heels love). Arthur finds that he has a voice to say no, Alexander that he’s not nearly as charming as he thinks. Cecil discovers that he isn’t the smartest person in the room, George that his loneliness just might kill him, and little Henry isn’t as bad as he tries to be. I just... *sigh*... love five (5) idiots. 

19- what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

I’ve actually learned quite a bit about Victorian courtship practices during my research for The Selby Roses. For example, a man would typically give a potential lover perishable items (food, flowers) as a sign of affection if the two were not married, which is why roses work so well for this project. Anything nonperishable, (jewelry, books) were usually considered taboo. 

Generally, I am a great deal concerned with research when I’m writing. I have an entire library of research books that I’ve been building up for my 1712 project, ranging in topics with everything from the reign of Louis XIV to French Baroque Music to The War of Spanish Succession to Principles of the Flute and Recorder. I still have yet to read them all, hopefully next summer I’ll get around to them. It’s also one of the biggest reasons why I hesitate from getting any progress in my writing - I don’t feel like I’m well versed enough in the history aspect of it. I’m slowly letting that go, but often times my research inspires me. That’s how my Thomas Beckett werewolf story got written - we were reading Murder in the Cathedral in AP Lit and studying werewolves in my special topics class, and I blended the two of them together. 

21- BIG ask: what do you think is the most important component of a good story?

Yikes, that is a big ask >-

[ardenttheories]

Okay, if overarching narrative isn't Homestuck's strong point (which I completely agree with, it only kind of makes sense to me because my brain likes torturing itself by twisting into knots but it still has lots of holes), then what attracts so many people to it?

Homestuck creates an entire universe of lore that is oh so juicy to dig into. 

I mean, can you think of another piece of media where the general plot is that once a universe becomes old enough that it needs to be replaced a game will come into existence and the previous planet will be destroyed while a series of children attempt to complete the game by dying, becoming gods, fighting against a King and Queen inherently affected by their actions, breeding Frogs in order to create a new universe which is an incredibly big Frog that hosts every single instance of that universe inside its colossal mass, and taking such a long time in doing so that they mature into adults whom are worthy of becoming the actual living Gods of the universe they’ve created? 

It’s the depth that we can get into, too. Skaia, the Lands, Quests, Ectobiology, The Ultimate Riddle, Sprites, Alchemy, the importance of Doomed Timelines/Selves, the existence of Null/Void/Barren sessions - each piece of SBURB comes with such intricate lore that half the fun of the journey is understanding how everything works and why it all tangles together into something as coherent as this one game. 

Classpects just by themselves are interesting enough to warrant hundreds of blogs on Tumblr to have some sort of focus on them, and maybe thousands of people around the globe trying to figure out what their Classpect would be - something which has no inherent affect on their life besides the importance and meaning we read into them. 

It’s a creative universe that we want part of. We know enough that we can make our own universes, our own sessions, and all of them are technically viable; this isn’t a comic where the path we see is the only one. This is a comic wherein the path we see is only one tiny, tiny portion of the much, much larger implications we’re faced with in the lore. The Beta kids aren’t the only kids on Earth playing SBURB; Earth isn’t the only planet in existence chosen by the game. 

Hussie himself even confirmed that pretty much anything goes - because the whole point of Homestuck is that, through timeline shenanigans or weird, spacey bullshit, anything you can think of probably exists. That AU where the trolls are all bloodswapped? That exists as a possibility within the Alternian Genesis Frog. That AU where SBURB doesn’t exist and the kids go on to live normal lives? That exists as a possibility within the human Genesis Frog. 

This is the sort of creativity that drives a fandom. 

It’s also important to note that Homestuck isn’t just a comic. It has games. It has flashes and music and gifs inside it that all come together to create a unique experience that has since been copied, but never truly to the same extent. Homestuck is something different; you’re not going to find anything like it anywhere else, not for a very, very long time. Part of Homestuck’s draw is some of the unique things that it does - such as the animations and music, which drew me to the comic because I just straight up couldn’t believe that something like that was possible. 

It’s the humour, too. Homestuck has a way of making you laugh that really settles well with the humour a lot of us have developed online; even now, some of the jokes - like “the circle of stupidity is complete” - can get enough of a chuckle out of me that I really doubt I’m ever going to forget them. 

Hussie’s writing is pretty good when it comes to developing characters - at least, when he wants to. I’ll be honest; I’ve read a lot of books, because I’m a fucking nerd and also because that’s sort of what I shoved myself to do in education. I’ve read books from America, from the Victorian era, from the Middle ages, I’ve read things written in Old English, I’ve read comics and extended, fluent fiction published officially and excessively long fanfiction written totally for free - and yet I really can’t think of anything that makes the characters as real as Homestuck does. 

It’s easy to tell, sometimes, that you’re reading a book. That the characters are really just that; characters. There’s some note to them that makes them inhuman, that makes them a bit cutout and stiff. Homestuck never really does that (again, unless the characters aren’t meant to be focused on). The main kids are written in such a way that they are believable as people; if you showed me an out of context conversation between John and Dave in Homestuck, I would 100% believe that it was a conversation between two real, 13 year old boys. The way they grow is believable, too; Dave changes during the Retcon timeline, especially when he starts to get closer to Karkat and thus more at ease with himself, but he never stops being Dave. Characters like Dirk, too, tend to change without changing away from their core; Dirk might become a better person, but some of his flaws are still there, all those traits that are still him staying constant while how he presents them shift as he as a person shifts. 

I think a lot of it boils down to creativity, too. Hussie created an entire cast of aliens with a unique breeding system, caste system, and biology system, all which he draws into a narrative that makes sense. Sure, we don’t know in depth everything about the trolls, and there’s definitely still flaws, but it’s enough to be exciting to learn what little we do know and to imagine the rest of it ourselves.

That’s a big thing, actually! So much of it is the fandom. Yeah, the fandom can be horrendous, but when you’ve got a fandom like this, one that picks everything apart and tries to make sense of it and latches onto the characters and becomes emotionally invested in them to the degree that we made a fucking global holiday out of 413, it’s hard not to get drawn in. It’s hard not to want to love each character, write your own theories, share ideas with people, become part of this wider community that has existed and thrived since 2009, to create OCs or AUs that the fandom eats up because nobody really wants to let Homestuck die. 

And that, I think, is probably most important part. I currently have 272 followers. That’s 272 people who want to follow this barely updating, kind of long winded blog filled with my own rambles and personal opinions, because it’s some sort of new content for a thing they love. My blog isn’t popular by any means - so imagine how many followers some of the big classpectors, theoriests, fanartists have! For a lot of people, Homestuck was a huge part of their lives for years - this thing ran for, what, around seven years? - and almost everyone I’ve seen online in any sort of fandom circle knows of Homestuck at least by proxy. Letting go of something like that is super hard, and I’ll be honest, my attempts to get into new fandoms always lead to me coming right back here - and I was only around for Homestuck’s end! 

Seeing a fandom that in love with a comic that it thrived for around seven years, and that is still going strong even when the main comic has ended and all that’s keeping us afloat is a game that we’ve heard no news of for months and a secondary game that’s more an introduction to characters to tide us over till it eventually comes out, has to be interesting for some people. 

For most people I know, both IRL and online, at least some of their interest in Homestuck came from the line of thought that “I’ve seen it just enough to be curious, and at this point I’ve got to know what the hell the hype’s about”. 

So, there we go! My thoughts on the things that attract people to Homestuck. Even if the narrative could be better and I definitely don’t agree with certain choices Hussie made, it’s in no way enough to lessen my enjoyment of the characters, lore, or comic as a whole. It’s just too charming, even with all the bullshit. 

[niennavalier]

OC Ramble Pt 3!

Alright, this is gonna be my last OC post for now (unless I feel like unleashing the D&D character creation hell onto the internet) (which is a possibility but idk, cause I actually can't include all of them anyway). Just gonna do a little bit of a talk about my other ship, which I tend to call my City Boys, because a suggestion from a friend stuck. Also a few of the characters connected to their story. Which I will talk about... someday. Also the world for this. Which isn't fully fleshed out yet, aside from being sorta... medieval/renaissance vibes? (I clearly know history). But essentially kinda how fantasy vibes work, just minus magic. But the whole story has been centered around the one city that they're both from, which has really strict economical divides and such.

But okay, gonna start typing on the boys, here we go, hopefully won't be writing too much here (it's late and I'm sleepy).

Alaric Hastings: Mid-20s ish, born into a noble and really traditionally minded, old school type family (the really haughty, uptight sorts - basically just huge dicks, to be concise). But it's not the kind of life he likes - big social gatherings and keeping up appearances and having to present yourself in a certain way just to maintain your family's pride. He's very much an introvert, gets anxious and nervous really easily in these sorts of situations, and has never really had a way to deal with it? (He got basically thrown into the deep end with this sorta stuff at a young age and isn't naturally a people person. Which didn't really get him any friends that could make this all easier, and it's just amplified by his parents being super uptight, even compared to other nobles. It's all a big mess, really). When his parents find out he's gay, that goes as well as you'd expect and he ends up disowned.

(tbh if you check my other posts, he's the one that I posted the song for. The idea of male!Elsa lives in my head rent-free and made it into this character)

Then there's y'know, plot stuff that I'm too tired to get into. But in general, he's real warm-hearted and gentle - lots of very soft vibes here. (even if that's coupled with self-esteem issues and such). (Although he's also the type of person who will really latch onto something as a way to cope, whether healthy or not? AKA alcoholism is uh... a thing. But hey, this is what plot is for - to address things).

Random fun fact: he's actually one of few males characters I have who doesn't fit into that super pretty aesthetic? He's more conventionally handsome, although he himself doesn't really care much about his looks. Which is a nice lead in to...

Silas Reyes: The other half of this pairing! He comes from the poorer part of the city (but a much better family environment. He didn't know his dad but his mom is wonderful) (Actually, cause I did come up with some story stuff for his parents, his dad is also a noble, but from a much nicer family, and has some big idiot golden retriever energy). But he's the charismatic people-person of the two. Without getting too far into the worldbuilding, he basically worked his way up into this crime syndicate of sorts, and ended up becoming their negotiator and face, so to speak. He's just good at reading people and understanding what they want, and he knows how to sort of dance around those desires and play whatever part he needs to, so long as it gets whatever outcome he wants. Which is the more sinister side of what he's capable of, but he's just really adaptable when it comes to social stuff. Outside of that, though, when he's able to take off all those masks, he's genuine and... I guess blunt? He'll say what he thinks, albeit in a way that still comes off as friendly and ribbing and generally warm, not cold (though he does have a somewhat sharper way of speaking, especially compared to Alaric. It's sorta hard to just explain without examples though).

Him and Alaric meet under...not so great circumstances - lying is involved at the early stages - but, again, plot and development and etc etc.

And as for why there was that attempt at a transition up above: he cares a lot about how he looks. Presentation and stuff. It's important to him that he looks put together, especially in the presence of other people (ie. people he's not super close with). Especially his hair? He's particular about it and puts a lot of time into it (because it was actually an early part of his character design IRL. I had an idea, and said idea had me actually looking up stuff like medieval techniques to dye hair).

Emerson: Again, no last names, but she's one of Silas' friends. Two ish years younger that him, hardcore insists that everyone calls her Em. She's got this big and exuberant personality. Very talkative and just a bit dramatic (more than a bit). She loves being involved in all the goings-ons and has been known to basically be the local rumor mill. That whole nosy side is really on display when she's with Silas and Bennett (who I'll talk about a bit down below). She loves knowing what their plans are, especially when it comes to their love lives (she's very invested in all of that. When she first met Alaric, she shipped the two of them from the start and was more or less determined to make sure they worked out their issues). She's panromantic and ace, and so when the boys talk more on the sex side of all of this, her opinion is the "okay I'm glad you two enjoy this but also why? Aren't there better parts to talk about?"

Bennett: Alright, I mentioned him above and frankly, I don't have him fully figured out - just some bits and pieces I wrote to get an idea of his voice. But he's the other one of Silas' friends, and of the trio, the sorta more serious one. He's much more grounded (no-nonsense seems a little too harsh, so I'll go with grounded) and gives off this air of just knowing how to deal with situations. He's much more of a listener than his two friends, but also naturally intuitive (especially when it comes to reading Silas. The two of them met as teenagers, so there's a lot of unspoken stuff that he can read. They didn't meet Emerson for another handful of years, at which point she just sidled up to them and became part of the group). But also, all of that can go out the window when he's with the two of them - especially Emerson. They'll just bicker and banter with each other constantly over whatever weird topic of conversation someone brought up.

Side Notes: Yes, most of these characters are attached to Silas, but to be fair, Alaric's parents are huge assholes and I've just not cared enough to flesh them out. They suck and that's all that matters for now - whatever excuse they think they have for not accepting their kid is dickish and dumb (to be fair, I do have their reasons in mind, and yeah, bad parenting). Also, I do have another character in the works who's connected to Alaric's backstory - a brief, past love interest that he meets again later. But I don't have a lot of ideas for how that all goes, so I haven't experimented hugely with his character (although I do have a name I like!) And other last thing: I do have Silas' parents worked out a bit - Delia Reyes and Alonso Oriol - and have actually written down how they meet (it's incredibly stupid and fitting). I just didn't feel like going into them too much here? Maybe I will later idk; his dad is a riot (big dumb idiot who just adopts people).