#he’s having a weird week and boba is a big brother now

[padawansuggest]

Now that 1: it’s past Oct 31st and therefore it’s Christmas now and I won’t hear anything else about it and 2: Disney+ is FINALLY making the comeback we all wanted with making the Santa Clause movies into a sequel series, and I’m fucking rabid for those movies okay the concept of them tickles all my funny spots, I have decided, to finally start writing my personal Magnus Opus, an idea that I got like idk 5 years ago???? And have never let go of. Jango as Santa Claus in a Santa Clause style fic where he’s home with sick Echo and Fives when they hear a thump on the roof on the last night of the winter solstices and find a red suit (of armor???? Should Mando Santa be packing?????) and end up going on a weird journey only for Jango to end up in Mandalore’s Jedi Temple a week later saying he thinks Echo and Fives’s force abilities are growing too fast because he thinks they all had a weird ass shared dream on the Winter Solstice.

Boba was with Ba’buir Jaster so he didn’t get his big brother’s cold and the rest of the kids were out at festivals, a sleepover, and Auntie Arla’s for the stragglers. Jango ends up moving to a snow moon with the kids and claiming he runs a toy factory now, only to come back a year later and wooing that cute teacher Master Kenobi. Wild.

If you dislike this idea. Consider: ew don’t look at me if you gonna smell like that.

[kuroopaisen]

tiny love || ii

➵ as tooru’s younger sister, falling in love with iwaizumi hajime is easy. your feelings aren’t ignored, either. but is it worth the complications it could cause?

warnings: f!reader, mentions of depression/implied depiction of depression

wc: 2.9k

m.list | ch. 1 ↞ ch. 2 ↠ ch. 3 

last time... 

He leant in, pressing his lips against yours softly. You froze, every nerve in your body now on high alert.

Iwaizumi Hajime? Kissing you? No way. No. Better yet, your first kiss? You had to be dreaming. There was no way this was happening.

And yet the burning of your cheeks, the swelling of your heart, the feeling of his lips pressed against yours all said otherwise. This was happening.

✧ ✧ ✧

You’d half-convinced yourself that it was all a dream. There was no way Hajime had kissed you last night. No way he’d looked at you like that – like you were the most delightful thing he’d ever seen.

It sounded far too good to be true.

But the smile he’d given you in the morning told you otherwise.

It was so gentle, so honest. There’s a softness in his eyes that you’ve only caught a few times before, and each time he knew you could see it, he had always looked away.

But this morning was different. Because last night had been different.

Because he’d kissed you.

The two of you were in the kitchen, Iwaizumi with a cup of milk in hand and you empty-handed. You had intended to come and get yourself some breakfast, but you weren’t sure if you could stomach it now. Not with all these butterflies crashing around in there.

You hadn’t even said anything to each other – just looking at him was enough to make you feel like you were going to melt into a useless puddle. 

He nodded to the kitchen counter. You followed his gaze to a mug, the string and tag of a tea bag dangling over the side. One look at the tag and you knew it was your favourite. 

Oh. He remembered. You weren’t even sure if you’d told him that detail, but he’d paid enough attention regardless. 

You bit the inside of your cheek, casting your eyes to the ground.              

Come on, you thought, at least say thank you. You’ve spoken to him plenty of times before. If anything, you should be less nervous now – he’d kissed you. Kissed you! That meant that he must like you a little bit, right?

Your heart bloomed in your chest, spreading a feeling like static throughout your body. At the very least, you could say good morning. And you knew – you just knew – that he would smile at you again. That’s enough motivation.

You took a deep breath, finally lifting your eyes back up.

“Are you alright?” Tooru’s voice popped your bubble. He was standing just to your left, bread bun in hand and cheeks puffy like a squirrel’s.

“Hm?” You tried to pay him no attention; you absolutely didn’t want to give Tooru a reason to tease.

“You look sick.”

Of course. You shot him a glare, the dreamy look on your face morphing into a scowl. “Oh, thanks?”

“What?” Tooru whined, mouth full of bread.

“You’re being rude.”

Tooru scoffed, swallowing in one big gulp. “I am just a concerned brother, I don’t know why you’re demonizing me—”

You rolled your eyes, stalking over to the kettle.

Chances were a conversation with Hajime was likely out of the question, at least for today. You didn’t want to just announce this… thing between you to Tooru.

You’d just text him later.

✧ ✧ ✧

“Here,” he smiled, holding your boba out to you. He knew your favourite order like it was his own. That enough made your heart go wild.

“Thanks,” you blushed, letting your fingers brush against his as you took the cup from him.

You caught a glimpse of colour in Iwaizumi’s cheeks, and your heart fluttered.

He stabbed his straw into his boba and brought it to his lips.

He had such nice lips. They weren’t particularly big or striking, but they were nicely shaped. They complimented his face, balancing well with the rest of his features. And best of all, they were softer than—

You snapped your eyes away, heat flooding through your face.

God, you were embarrassing. This was embarrassing.

The two of you had already kissed. Why were you so damn awkward. Surely, you could hold his hand. That usually came before kissing for most couples. You might be working backwards, but that was okay, right?

“Hey, uh… Hajime?” Your throat was dry, your hands clammy.

“Hm?”

You took a deep breath, clenching your fists. This was still harder than you’d given it credit for. Even if you had crossed other lines, this was still more exciting than it should be. “Can I hold your hand?”

There’s a moment of silence. A long silence.

Had you said something wrong? Was this moving too quickly? But he’d kissed you…

“Ah, that’s…” He said finally. You caught your breath. “That’s probably not a good idea.”

“Oh…” You tried to swallow down the weird little lump in your throat. “Okay.”

“Not, uh…” He cleared his throat, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Not until we’ve told Oikawa.”

“Right,” you nodded. You fought the urge to shake off your disappointment, to stretch out the fuzziness in your hands.  

You’d get there eventually, you told yourself. One of these days, you’d walk hand-in-hand with Iwaizumi Hajime, happy and giggly and open about your feelings.

You couldn’t wait for that day.

✧ ✧ ✧

“Where’s Hajime?” You asked, juice box in hand and frown on your face.

“He said he needed to study this weekend,” Tooru yawned, stretching his arms above his head.

You did your best not to pout.

Other than your Tuesday walks, Friday was the only other opportunity each week to spend time with him without it being too obvious.

But he wasn’t there this Friday.

A little knot sat at the bottom of your stomach, small enough to be ignored, but heavy enough to give you pause.

You shook your head, frowning.

No, you were being silly. He was just busy this weekend – and perhaps you should be, too. There was no reason for you to be so worried.

Not when he’d given you no real reason to be.

✧ ✧ ✧

It’s been almost two weeks since he’d kissed you.

It’s been four days since he’d had a proper conversation with you.

On reflection, he had been a little weird on Thursday. His texts had been drier than usual – and he was already a pretty dry texter. Then, he hadn’t come over to your house on Friday like he usually did.

And then, he hadn’t texted you at all over the weekend.

That little knot in your stomach from Friday had gotten tighter, bigger, more demanding.

It’s like he was hiding you away. Some part of you – a part you very much wanted to throttle – feared that he was doing so because he was ashamed. That being seen with you would be embarrassing. Not that he’d given you any reason to think that, but the worry just wouldn’t shift.

The more logical part of your brain knew he was doing it so Tooru wouldn’t see you together. That alone is enough to root a deeper, more violent anxiety through your stomach.

But he had to walk you home today. You didn’t feel like he’d bail on that, at least.  

To your relief, he was waiting for you at the school gate.

But as you made your way to the boba shop, he didn’t say much. He wasn’t the most talkative of people, but even this was quiet for him.

And when he was purchasing both your drinks, he made no comment about your financial ‘situation’. The most you could get out of him were some anecdotes from practice or what assignments and exams he had coming up.

And as you walked on, the stretches of silence grew longer. Usually, you wouldn’t mind them, but these days…

Hajime sighed, slowing to a stop. You shuttered to a stop after him, only just becoming aware of your surroundings.

To your left, the mountains. To your right, some rocks and a wall. In front of you, Hajime.

This was familiar. This spot, this boba, this afternoon.

But something was distinctly off. This wasn’t your typical outing to go look at the mountains. This was different.

You bit the inside of your cheek. So, he was of the same mind as you.

“So,” you sighed, sitting yourself down on the rocks. It was warm to the touch, likely from basking in the summer sun all afternoon. Hajime remained standing, his eyes trained on the mountains.

You didn’t know what you wanted to say. Hell, you didn’t even know what there was to say. Was this his way of telling you he wasn’t interested? Was that it? You’d never really been involved like this with a guy before, so the potential was there. Was this just standard practice for boys?

“How are you?” Hajime asked, a strange stiffness in his voice. There was usually a bit of tightness in his face, a light scowl or a look of intense concentration. But even he looked tenser than usual.

“I’m okay,” you lied. You took a moment to try and catch his eye. He wouldn’t look at you. “How about you?” You asked, hoping to alleviate at least some of the awful atmosphere that had begun to cloud around the two of you. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Perhaps you were being more polite about it than you should’ve. Perhaps you should’ve stormed up to him with a vengeance, demanding to know why he was suddenly ignoring you after taking your very first kiss.

But you just didn’t have the guts to do that. Not at seventeen.

“Yeah…” Hajime mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. “I’ve been busy.”

You were well-aware that it wasn’t entirely a lie. He was Seijoh’s ace after all. And his studies were becoming more and more important. You knew as much.

He still wasn’t looking at you.

You bit your lip, looking down at your skirt. You took a deep breath, placing your boba on the ground next to you.

“Hey, Hajime… I think we should talk,” you swallowed, your heart stuttering in your chest. “About…”

“I know.” He cleared his throat, looking up at the sky.

“Yeah…” You braved a glance at him.

His jaw was tense, his brow furrowed in that familiar knot.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Hajime?” You murmured, clenching your fists in your lap. You wanted to reach out to him, to place a comforting hand on his back. But your instincts were at war with one another, unsure of what to do.

He looked at you for the first time. There’s something like torment behind his eyes. Hopelessness, conflict, regret. It felt like something really terrible had happened – was about to happen.

It felt like your ribs were about to crack.

“Look, I…” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I think it’s best if we pretend this never happened.”

The world shuttered to a stop. The mild afternoon sun was now searing your skin.

“What?”

“There’s too much that could go wrong.” His response was instantaneous – a little too quick by your count.

“What are you talking about?” You asked, twisting your skirt in your fists.

He was quiet for a long moment, still looking at the sky. “What if we broke up?”

You froze, objections dying in your throat. It was a fair question. But you weren’t sure if it was entirely relevant.

“We haven’t even given it a shot yet,” you murmured, trying to swallow down the discomfort brewing in your chest.

“And it’s best if we don’t.” His voice was firm, blunt. It’s the voice he used when trying to get through to Tooru.

Tooru…

“Did he say something to you?” You asked quietly, closing your eyes. If your brother…

“He doesn’t know.” Hajime knew exactly what you were talking about. “And it’s best if he didn’t.”

“Why not?” There’s something else brewing in your chest, not unlike indignation.

“One of the guys asked him about you,” Hajime said, his voice spread thin.

“They did?” You frowned. You knew who ‘the guys’ were. But you hadn’t spent enough time with the volleyball team for you to actually know what any of them were like. Although, you were only fixated on Hajime. That might have something to do with it.

“Yeah…” Hajime nodded. “And he was pretty mad.”

Really? Tooru had the gall to get angry at the fact a boy expressed interest in you? That’s why Hajime wanted to call this off?

“Are you scared of him?” You snapped before you could stop yourself.

He sighed. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?” Your response was quick, sharp, irritated. But if Hajime caught onto that, he didn’t say.

“It’s just…” He sighed. “It could get messy.”

You bit the inside of your cheek, trying to still the barrage of questions you had. This didn’t make sense. Why would he—

“I don’t want to lose both of you.” His voice was soft, fragile. More fragile than you’ve ever heard it be.

“I—” You didn’t know what to say to that.

“What do you think he’s going to do if he thinks I’m messing around with you?”

Your chest ached. “Messing around?” The corners of your eyes were starting to sting.

“I don’t mean it like that—”

“Is that what you saw it as?”

“No.” He almost shouted that. Your breath caught in your throat as you met his eyes. “But he will.”

You understood.

God, you understood.

Hajime was scared that you thought he was using you. That he was playing with your feelings and leading you on. Worse yet, he was frightened that Tooru would think that way, too.

Would Tooru perceive it as a betrayal? Would your relationship cause conflict in their friendship? Would you fuck everything up by getting involved?

Tooru trusted him more than anyone. You knew how much Hajime meant to him.

And you knew that Hajime wasn’t going to throw that away for a crush.

You took a deep breath. Your throat had grown painfully dry, and your stomach was starting to swell. You needed to get home.

“Alright,” you said, standing to your feet.

Hajime stared at you for a moment, a strange brew of emotions in his eyes. You didn’t have the energy to try and work them out.

“Thank you, Iwaizumi,” you mumbled, giving him a quick bow. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

He was silent for a long moment as you bent down to pick up your boba. The boba he’d bought you. He hadn’t teased you for your lack of funds today. Had that been a preemptive apology?

“I’m sorry,” he said, finally.

It didn’t feel like enough.

“Yeah,” you mumbled. You didn’t look at him as you turned around, already plotting your walk home without him. Surely he’d understand that you needed to be alone right now.

He didn’t chase after you. Not as you walked away. Not as you threw your unfinished boba into a bin. Not as you held back the tears pricking at the corners of your eyes, fists clenched at your sides.

A weight pressed inside your chest, something so heavy and immovable that you knew you couldn’t keep it down this time. The bitterness you’d been trying to stifle for years bled through your ribs, rippling through your body.

Tooru got everything.

He got the passion, the drive, the direction.

He got all the attention, the opportunities, the praise.

He got Hajime.

✧ ✧ ✧

The cool touch of porcelain in the pitch dark was more soothing than you’d given it credit for.

You hadn’t known what else to do. If you were in your room, chances were someone could walk in – especially if you turned all the lights off and hid under your covers.

Admittedly, hiding in the bathroom with all the lights turned off was no less suspicious. But there’s something comforting about the cold and dark. Your brother had been onto something all those years ago.

When you were younger, you’d found Tooru sitting in the bathtub, knees drawn up to his chest while he cried.

He’d been fourteen at the time. You were barely thirteen.

You hadn’t known what to do – the first thing you did was run for Hajime.

That’s what you’d always done when it came to Tooru. You always turned to Iwaizumi – without fail, that was your answer to almost every issue. It was the only thing you could think of, even to this day.

The light flickered on. You flinched, your eyes screwing shut at the sudden assault on your retinas.

Someone yelped. It wasn’t you.

You whipped your head round, squinting at him.

“What are you doing in here?” Tooru asked, face marked mainly by confusion but not without a hint of concern.

“Just… sitting,” you said, blinking a few times.

There was no way you’d tell him why you were here. Something in you felt like that’d be wrong; that, maybe, you’d be betraying Iwaizumi’s trust.  

“What happened?” Tooru asked, his voice soft and tender. He crouched down besides the bathtub, propping his elbows on the ledge.

You shook your head, looking away from him.

“You can tell me,” Tooru pouted. “Do you need me to beat someone up for you?”

“No,” you choked, cursing yourself for the crack in your voice. “I’m… I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

You glared at him, sniffling. God, you must look pathetic.

“Hey,” Tooru held his hands up. “I’m just being honest.”

You let out a long sigh, rolling your shoulders.

“I’m just tired,” you mumbled, squeezing your eyes shut.

“You sure?” Tooru said, concern heavy in his voice. “I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, Tooru,” you sighed.

You couldn’t tell him. Even if he offered to support you, offered to beat up anyone who broke your heart.

Because the very person that had broken your heart was the very same boy who pulled him up off the ground. 

[vvitchering]

(Okay so now that I’ve managed to post this to the correct blog djjsjdjs have this weird little a/b/o verse draft that’s been sitting in my wips forever. Set just after the s2 finale, Boba and Fennec take an emotionally wounded Din with them on the trip back to Tattooine)

—

Bringing the bounty hunter with them had been a last minute decision. At first it had been a friendly courtesy, one hunter to another. Boba may not consider himself Mandalorian in the same way that his new passenger does, but there’s an understanding between them nonetheless.

He witnessed the man’s ship being destroyed. Shand reports what happened during the mission; how the Moff was captured, the Darksaber won, and the child given over to the Jedi for safe keeping. It sounds like an all-around success. The bounty hunter does not act like a man who has successfully completed a long quest. He is unnervingly quiet, responding only when asked direct questions, and spends longer and longer periods sequestered in his borrowed bunk. He doesn’t even learn the man’s name until several weeks into their association. Boba, as a son who has lost a father, knows grief when he sees it. The man, Din, is in mourning. And he is drowning in it.

Things come to a head after they’ve set course for Tattooine, their first big target. There’s a throne with his name written all over it waiting on the desert world and Boba is eager to begin his takeover. In all the planning, he’s ashamed to admit he’s almost forgotten about Din, hiding away in the small space he’s claimed as his own aboard the ship. Boba knows what unchecked grief is capable of doing to a man and he finds the thought of the formally proud and noble Mandalorian hunter letting himself waste away in sorrow repugnant.

Boba is not a natural caregiver or much of a soft touch. He has his morals and a blaster or three to back them up with and not much else besides. As a Beta, he mostly falls outside the usual secondary gender nonsense and out of everything life has thrown at him, that’s at least one aspect he’s thankful for. Din needs someone though, and Boba doesn’t feel right asking Shand, also a fairly reserved Beta, to play emotional nursemaid, so it falls to him. Neither of them are sure what Din is. His scent is masked by what must be the powerful suppressors that are a normal and necessary precaution for a bounty hunter relying on stealth. Boba feels confident he can pull something at least halfway encouraging out of his ass that might lift the grieving man’s spirit.

It isn’t until he’s standing in the doorway of the tiny quarters he’s loaned to Din that he realizes he’s in over his head. Betas, exempt as they are from the turmoil of the more unstable designations, cannot distinguish between scents as well as their brethren. But he’d have to cut the nose off his face to not pick up the overwhelming scent of anguish and loneliness that hang in the air like haze. Before, when he allowed his thoughts to wander to less important things, he’d sometimes speculate that Din might be a particularly mellow Alpha, or perhaps even a Beta like himself, not that it mattered much at the time.

Now he knows he’s wrong. Deeply wrong. A grieving Beta would have been a tough case, a grieving Alpha even more so, but both would have been well within his ability to help.

What he finds is the scent of a grieving and heart-sick Omega, completely unattached, and quickly nearing the point of no return.

There might not be much he can do for an Omega so far gone, but Boba will be damned if he lets Din pass in the cold vacuum of open space. A Mandalorian warrior deserves better. He comms Shand to kick the ship into hyperdrive. They can make it planet-side in time.

It’s barely a step he has to take to bring him within touching distance of Din’s horribly still form. His chest still rises and falls with irregular breaths. He’s hanging on, despite the incredible pain he must be in. Boba reaches out and grasps Din’s shoulder, between the beskar plating, where he’ll feel the warmth and pressure.

“Cuyanir, ner vod.”

~*~

Mando’a translation: “Survive, my brother”

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please consider reblogging it! :)

[embeanwrites]

Recklessly Chapter 5

Recklessly Masterlist

General Masterlist

AN: Courscant’s flag is the Jedi order symbol and here’s the Mando’a translations!

Ori’vod – big brother

Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod – Are you look for a smack in the face, mate?

Al’verde – Commander

Udesii – Take it easy!

The Princess found herself back in her room looking at herself in her very own armor. The armor felt good, it felt right. She had been measured a few times for dresses and by the glean in the armorer’s eyes, she had already had her measurements and armor ready to go. Save for a few touches the Princess requested. 

Wolffe attempted to deny her pestering, but she had a feeling Anakin had made sure armor would be ready for her by the time it was needed. The armorer also gave her a dagger and an iron shield with the royal family symbol on it, a rising sun with sun beams.

That night she got no rest and instead she had nervously reorganized her room and packed a small sack with things she may need. She really should’ve talked to Anakin about what she should bring, but she just had to trust her instincts. She knew she shouldn’t bring much, but she remembered when Anakin left. He had been wearing his crown. She walked over to her closet where she kept her tiara. She hadn’t had to wear it since before the war and even then, she hated how it felt on her head. The pins were sharp, and she had to weave her hair for it to stay without issue. She would need to make sure the tiara in place on the battlefield. 

She sat on her bed across from her mirror and began to weave her hair into a Dutch crown braid. It felt weird braiding her hair, her hands weaved quickly from muscle memory. When she was done, she sighed before taking a long look at herself in her pajamas. She knew she still had hours before Wolffe would retrieve her, but she was ready to get into her armor. She quickly undressed and begun to put herself together. 

She looked at herself in front of the floor length mirror. Underneath her armor she wore a simple brown tunic and pants which wasn’t a completely uncommon look for herself, but the armor itself was stunning. The polished silver armor fit her like a glove. The cuirass itself was very simple and light. She assumed it was because they wanted her to move quickly and freely but she was drawn towards a very small wolf face was carved into the armor near her pauldron. Which brought a smile to her face, she wondered how Wolffe got the armorer to do that. Her faulds held three layers with chain mail going several inches past the end. Her surcoat was very similar to her brothers, a deep blue with a black patch with Courscant’s flag. The armor came with greaves, but she opted for just her riding boots since they were sturdy and allowed her to move quickly. 

Any doubt she was feeling prior to wearing the armor melted. She had been training for this for some time and both her and Anakin had war tactics and medic training with their tutor Mr. Kenobi. The only difference between the two’s skills should be Anakin’s strength. But where Anakin was strong, she was faster and nimble. 

A knock at her door brought her out of her admiring. She quickly grabbed her sword and clipped its sheath to her belt. Opening the door, she’s met with Wolffe standing with his hands behind his back. He was in his full armor instead of just the chain mail he would wear around the castle. It had been a while since she had seen him in full dress, and it hammered in what was about to happen. She was going to the front lines. She was going to fight. 

“Well, Princess. Are you ready?”

Without Prince Skywalker on the front lines things had quickly gone to shit. The front lines have been chaos, more so than usual. Cody felt like he was at the end of his rope. Within one week of the prince being at the front lines he had somehow managed to break his arm and in the week without communication from Coruscant they had become more spread out. Cody feared the lack of the troops left behind opened them to a surprise attack, or worse a siege against Coruscant. 

Cody prided himself on his study of warfare and tactics, but Serenno had a habit of somehow being one step ahead of them. He was currently leaning against a tree near the middle of their temporary base camp, watching his men eating, sharping their weapons, and chatting near the campfire. The idea of their being a spy had crossed his mind a few times, but he rarely discussed plans far in advanced instead opting for having small groups initiating surprise attacks and recon missions. 

Maybe it was time for a more direct approach, but without any support from the royal family there wasn’t much he could do. Cody couldn’t just switch tactics without any Skywalker okaying the decision. He hoped that by the time the Princess got her she would be subdued by how the front lines really are and follow Cody’s lead. But Cody tended to not be very lucky these days. Cody sighed and put his face in his hands. Within the hour his brother Wolffe and the Princess would be arriving, and Cody was already beginning to dread the times to come. He had met her a couple times before the war started. She continuously made Wolffe’s life more difficult and had a habit of being hot headed. Which was the last thing he needed. The prince was ready to dive in headfirst and he could barely imagine what the Princess’ first suggestion may be. 

“Ori’vod? Are you alright?” Rex’s voice once again reminding him that now four of his six brothers were on the front lines. Leaving only Boba who was too young to fight and Echo who was a messenger. Cody got up from his seating position to look at his younger brother. Rex had decided to stay behind with Cody, much to his own dismay. Cody clapped his brother on the shoulder and nodded. 

“I’m alright, just tired.” He responded with a tired smile. 

“What are you thinking for our next move?” Rex asked worriedly. Cody knew Rex had to be anxious about not having the prince on the front lines. Rex was use to sticking by his side and protecting him and him retreating back to Coruscant without him clearly made him uneasy.

“It depends on what the royal brat decides to do.” Cody joked, making Rex frown and shift uncomfortably. 

“Royal brat huh? I wish I could say that’s a new one!” The Princess’ voice responded behind Cody. Before he could turn around, she was next to Rex, smirking. He took a moment to size her up, she was in correctly fitting armor and her hair was braided into a mock crown with her tiara sitting proudly on top. There was a thin layer of sweat covering her face as if she had run the entire way here, which there was no way it was over 100 miles. Cody held his breath and weighed his options. She didn’t seem upset, but with one command she could easily send him back to the kingdom. “At ease, Commander.” She said with a smile. “Me and you are going to have to learn to get a long!” Cody looked over at Wolffe, who for once in his life, was attempting to hide a smile. 

“Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod?” He growled at his brother. 

“Al’verde! Udesii!” The Princess responded, looking him dead in the eyes. She had a wolfish smile on her face. Now, Wolffe didn’t hesitate to hold back anything, and he began chuckling at his older brother’s embarrassment. Cody felt his face pale, most royals weren’t even close to being fluent in Mando’a, but here she was. Speaking back to him as if it was her first language. “Don’t worry, Commander. We’re in this together!” The young princess smiled and leaned against Wolffe. 

“She’s got a point, Cody.” Rex mused, causing Cody to sigh. Before he got the chance to say anything else on the manner the group all jolted when they heard alarms going through the entire camp. 

“Wolffe, keep the princess protected. Rex follow me.” Cody quickly made his exit from the group as Rex followed. 

Much to Cody’s dismay he could sense the princess and Wolffe trailing behind him.

[goodtimingz]

dreaming you would come true

intro. pt1. pt2. pt3. pt4. pt5.

AN: i am so sorry this is terrible and i’m pining for this experience. it took so long and im sorry 😭💗 ty for reading

tags: studentlife, jae day6, fluff, college!au, sexual acts implied.

: the one where you meet jae in your second year of college and it’s basically love at first sight. just little excerpts of what i think a relationship w jae would be like c:

2k words

As time goes by, as my feelings grow, I’m becoming more anxious.

Jae was great at many things, playing guitar, singing, annoying you, collecting hoodies, skateboarding (Ehh), but he wasn’t good at one thing.

Losing.

Which is exactly what he was doing at the moment. The boys had decided to play a game of basketball before their first-year friend Dowoon returned home over the break. It was close to midnight and freezing, but the burn of competition heated Jae as he attempted to steal the ball from Younghyun.

“Park Jaehyung, when are you heading back again?” Kim Wonpil had a way of being annoying that totally matched Jae’s wavelength. It pissed him off and simultaneously made him affectionate to the boy.

Last week when Wonpil had walked in on the two of you, Jae had watched as you scolded Wonpil for acting so stern while he sat there shyly. He would never admit that Wonpil had low-key scared him for a second, because he resembled a bunny and it was embarrassing for Jae's pride.

“Ya, Kim Wonpil you should knock! You’re the one who poured the wine last night!” Wonpil had winced at your voice most-likely as hungover as Jae and you.

Jae can remember the cute frown on your face like it was 10minutes ago. He adored you and he had pulled Wonpil aside later on, making sure to get into his good books considering how close you were to him. 

“Jae are you gonna answer me, or continue defending terribly?”

“I wouldn’t have to defend terribly if someone could actually guard Dowoon.”

Wonpil rolled his eyes at that, stealing the ball from Younghyun (miraculously). “I’m heading back on Saturday, so you have 3 more days with me and Y/N!” A cheesy, shit-eating grin spread across Jae’s face as he received the ball from Wonpil.

“How are you and Y/N?” Younghyun yelled as he subbed with Sungjin. Sungjin was a funny guy to be around and Jae had met him in the cafeteria one day. He wasn’t awkward but he was different to most guys Jae had met. Nevertheless the 4 guys (excluding Jae.) totally vibed and that’s all Jae cared about.

The more times Jae was reminded of you, the more he wanted to put the ball down and text you. You’d been talking all week about how sad you were that you couldn’t go home for the break. He wanted to stay with you more than ever. The beginning of the relationship was always the most fun and he hated being apart from you. He hadn’t even formally asked to be his girlfriend yet and he was kicking himself for it.

,

“You call this playing?” You grinned watching Jae’s face crack a wide smile. The boys paused the game briefly to greet you. Wonpil mumbled, “Speak of the devil..” and you walked over to him for the sole purpose of shoving him gently.

“Now that Y/N’s here I guess you’ll step up your game, huh?” Younghyun teased Jae only to receive a shove from Jae. (You were one in the same.)

You walked over to the seats, too tired to try and distract the group any longer. Jae had told you earlier in the day that he’d be playing with the boys - which was a common occurance, so you’d busied yourself with trying to find a gift to give him before he left you for the break. After hours of searching, Wonpil had texted you to join them for a Macca’s run at 11pm.

So there you were, shivering slightly because winter had finally settled in. Your eyes were stuck on watching Jae play. His laugh, the cute expression he had while focusing, the way his lanky body swiftly moved. What in the world would bring him happiness that didn't break the bank? (student budget was a b*tch).

Everything about him was really really attractive to you and you couldn’t understand how you’d gotten so lucky to have him. Although he had yet to put a label on it, his arm naturally hung over your shoulder when you were together - which was every other day. You always received the weirdest texts from him throughout the day, and if you weren’t together, the night was when you’d get a “You wanna get boba?” “Let’s go to the skate park!” “Y/N come walk with him :( i’m bored.” All of these messages obviously melted your heart and you could only accept his requests.

However, your time together was running short with Jae flying home for the semester break. As the time grew closer a weird feeling in your stomach grew too, something like anxiousness combined with sadness. Without a label, would he still talk to you? You two never video-called unless you were in the same room trying to annoy each other. And even worse, when he returned would he still want you?

Stuck in your thoughts, you barely noticed the game had ended as Jae placed his denim jacket over your shoulders. 


“You’re shivering so much Y/N.” His tone was light while his hands caring, rubbing your shoulders to create warmth. You leaned into his touch, smiling up at him. The thoughts from earlier washed away the minute Jae came into view, which always happened. He felt like home and you were desperate not to let it go.

You both stood and Jae was quick to bring you closer to his side. He wore a beige hoodie and ripped jeans as usual, but he somehow made the basics look so good. “Don’t you wanna walk with the boys? Isn’t Dowoon leaving tomorrow?” You turned to look into Jae’s eyes before realising just how close you were. You could feel his warm breath fan across your lips. Watching the way Jae’s eyes took in all of your features made you feel both flustered and warm. His eyes dropped to your lips and just as he began leaning in, Dowoon’s deep voice shrieked. Everyone froze, eyes on Dowoon who clutched his chest. “I thought I saw a ghost cat, but it was just a real cat!”

Because that was definitely worth cock-blocking. (Read: thanks dowoon.)

After hanging out with the group and eating too many fries, Jae walked you home with Wonpil. All of your soul wanted to ask him to stay by your side that night. He was flying out so soon and he hadn’t slept over since the drunk-blue-hair night, which in your opinion was far too long. You didn’t want to ask in fear that Wonpil would intrude or make things awkward, but you really just wanted to hug and talk for hours even though it totally didn’t suit Jae’s character. He didn’t seem the kind to be awkward but he definitely didn’t seem the kind to initiate the cuddle-session either.

"What's a bet I can stay in your dorm without Wonpil noticing?" With a smirk on his lips and his voice so close to your ear, you shivered unintentionally. Did he just read your mind? Jae watched in amusement, pulling your head into his chest mid step, "Hey Y/N don't get too excited!"

You threw him a bashful smile, egging him on. "You can try."

Wonpil looked back at the two of you suspiciously which in turn left the two of you giggling. You loved that boy like a big-brother.

,

Jae had succeeded. He had to hide behind a door for about 10minutes while Wonpil was in your room, and received a lot of weird glances but it was definitely worth it. The way you stood in front of him in your PJ's was enough to make Jae melt. But he couldn't help but notice the way your eyes glanced around without really paying attention to anything, and the way your hands fiddled with the hem of your shirt nervously.

Something about you seemed off. He tugged the bottom of your shirt to bring you closer, watching your expression closely.

"What's up Y/N?"

Jae couldn't have guessed that would start the water-works but he watched as your face crumbled. Without a second thought he took you in his arms and brushed your hair away from your face. The way your hot tears fell onto his neck made his heart ache, he was confused but the sadness felt as though it radiated through your body and into his. You two had barely been this intimate before, you on his lap and his arms around your waist.

After a few minutes of silence besides your sniffles you pull away from him, wiping his neck with your sweater paws. "I'm sorry, your hoodie is all wet." Jae's thoughts raced and he could care less about his soaked shoulder. He searched your eyes with worry, waving off your statement. Your silence and the way you gazed off into space urged Jae on.

“You look so ugly when you cry, I find it beautiful.” Jae spoke softly, using his thumb to wipe away your tears. (lyrics from their song)

,

You wanted to shove him and glare at him but you couldn’t control the laugh that exited your lips. It was so random and back-handed but with good intention, just like Jae always way.

“You’re not supposed to say that Jae, you’re not supposed to see my cry at all.” Your tone is playful but the tears are still flowing and your voice hoarse. Usually you’d be embarrassed to show this kind of face to the boy you like but it was Jae. The past month had been so stressful and so fun with him. You felt like you finally had someone to mess around with at 3am when you couldn’t escape your thoughts. Finally someone who wanted to be with you without barriers.

The smile on Jae's face washed away his worried expression and gave you the confidence to confess your thoughts.

"Will you still talk to me over the break?" Your voice was meek when you spoke.

It was embarrassing to be so vulnerable and the position you were in didn't help at all. The warmth of being in Jae's arms and the way his thumb rubbed comfortingly on your hips felt so safe.

"Of course I will Y/N." Jae seemed so certain, his words filled with comfort. You sighed a breath of relief, but the suspicion and fear built high in your chest. As if Jae could sense it, he spoke again.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask you to be my girlfriend sooner... I was worried you would think I'm rushing things."

The way he talked with a slight pout made you want to pinch his cute cheeks. Trust Jae not to rush things, he either made decisions based on a whim, or after hours and days of preparation.

"Jae, I like you more than you know... I don't know what it is about you but I feel so at home with you." You could feel the blush rising on your cheeks but the words felt so important. You watched Jae's expression closely, happy to see a small smile.

"I know this is kind of bad timing, but I feel it too. I really like being around you, is there a chance I could call a girl like you mine?" It was so cheesy, the way you sat on his lap suddenly felt overwhelming and perfect. Jae was obviously embarrassed but you could only lean up to quickly kiss him before nodding happily. Home. The feeling was back and it was without worry.

"Thank gosh." Jae's whole body relaxed beneath you and he leaned in again, this time with his grip on your waist a little tighter. The kiss began innocent until you felt his hands run up and down your sides, sending sparks in their trail.

You placed your arms around his neck before swinging your legs to straddle his waist just wanting - craving to feel closer to him.

"I'll show you how much you matter to me." Suddenly Jae's voice was deep and husky as his hands slipped beneath your sweater. The feeling of your hot skin meeting his cold touch filled your stomach with bundles of nerves.

Cuddling and talking would come later... For now the only thing you want to remember is the feeling of Jae’s touch and the shared urge to be closer.

[physcoticfrog]

Part 15, Aiko

You stood up, shaky. Did you really want to talk to Daichi about your problems? He's your brother, so you should be able to trust him just fine, right? It's been 3 years already, so why is it so difficult?

You went towards the door, unlocked it, and walked out. It was weird, it was so bright. Has it always been that bright?

You made your way down the stairs. It was weird. You hadn't walked in a week, the it time you did was to go to the bathroom. You were so lucky that you had a bathroom connected to your room.

You reached the living room, seeing Daichi already sitting down on the couch. You saw his eyes widen in shock. You weren't surprised, you knew you looked like hell on wheels. Your hair was messy, and you were certain you had bags under your eyes.

However, Daichi being Daichi, was straight to the point. "So, y/n, what's wrong?" He was genuinely concerned, you could hear him.

You didn't exactly know how to respond. Did you truly want to tell him? Your leg started to bounce, and you couldn't even stop it. "D-Daichi, I- well, you know how you adopted me out of a particularly... Unsafe situation?" You tried. So far you thought you were doing well.

He nodded his head, giving you the go to continue. "Well, how much do you know about what actually happened?" Now, you could clearly see how to explain this to him. You were gaining confidence, hoping that he would keep being keen on knowing what was wrong now.

"The caseworker told us that your parents were drug addicts, and that they were involved with a drug system. That's all we know." He stated. He was thinking, hard, so you could tell that they really didn't know that much.

You took a deep breath, and let out a small sigh. "I grew up around drugs. They were actually part of a dealing system, which you said. But, it was an entire chain. They ran underground, and no one really knew about them. There were other kids, like me. Ones who didn't want to participate in the dealing. Other kids did. I made friends there. My first friend I made there." You took another breath. This is hurting you to explain. It's a past you so desperately tried to forget, but now, here you were. Explaining it to your adoptive brother.

Still, you continued. "My first friend. Well, she was probably 3 or 4 years older than me. I'm not quite sure actually. I met her when I was probably 8. Her name was Aiko. She was one of the few kids who took after her parents. She became famous in the Underground. She was the youngest one that was an official member, and she made the most money. She was so badass too. I remember how she used to get into fights a lot, either because someone was talking shit about someone or something she cared about, or because they tried to take credit for what she did." You smiled at the memories. You cared for her and missed her so much.

"Well, as I got older, she was still with me. We would always be together, and constantly talking. She would always help me, whether it be I was crying or my parents did something. The day that I went to school, and came back, she was there. I wasn't able to say goodbye, and they had to drag me and her away from each other. I was only 12 years old at the time, and she was probably 16 almost 17. That was the last time I saw her." You felt like crying, and there was a slight crack in your voice as you said the last part. It hurt so much.

But, you still weren't done explaining everything with him."But what caused you to hide away? Why are you talking about your best friend?" Daichi asked. He seemed to be completely curious, but somewhat impatient.

"I'm getting to that. Be patient." You snapped. It was uncharacteristic of you, but you hated the feeling of showing weakness in front of him.

Still, you had to tell him. There was no use in hiding it anymore. "I saw her. The other day, when I was out with Ryūnosuke. I couldn't have her see me. I- I didn't- I don't- want him to know about my past. I never have wanted anyone to know at all. " There was so many mixed emotions on that day. Did it really have to happen when you're trying to have a peaceful time? "But, if by some chance she recognized me, I would definitely be swarmed with questions and I didn't want that. She definitely has it going good for her. I could tell. But it still scared me." You finally finished.

Daichi just nodded his head. His head was swarming with questions, but there was no use in asking. "Call me crazy, but what if you went to the boba shop alone? Like, on the off chance you see her. Maybe it could help you with your own things too."

Your eyes widened. He had a point. He was truly right. It might actually help you. "I- I think you actually had a good idea for once Daichi." You couldn't help but bring back the insults. Sadness begone at this point. After all, there is no point in wallowing.

Daichi let out a small, breathy laugh. "Well, I'm really glad you can get that out y/n. I know I didn't really say much, but it seems like you already feel better from getting it off your chest."

Damn, he could tell that easy? "You can read me like a book I swear." You threw out there. "Have you thought about taking up a career as a therapist?" You joked, because honestly you did feel better.

You both laughed, and when you were done, Daichi said one last thing. "Hey, y/n?" You gave a small hum in response. "You should probably text Oikawa and Iwaizumi. They have been so worried about you. They have been swarming me every damn day." He let out.

So, that's exactly what you did.

A/n: I hope this isn't too messy! I really tried to make it as good as I could, although I'm not 100% pleased with the outcome, I think it's not bad.

Also! Big thanks to those who constantly like and express interest in the things I do. It makes me so happy I don't think you understand.

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[marcussour]

BTW, since it’s been already a week and since I guess it’s no longer a spoiler, I think it’s finally time to talk about Ahsoka and why her appearance in The Mandalorian was so disappointing.

First, a visual thing. This is how Ahsoka looks like in Star Wars Rebels (a show set 10 years before the events of The Mandalorian), where we last saw her:

And this is how she looks in The Mandalorian:

Even when taking into account the stylization that animation provides, the whole thing with her montrals (the togruta’s “horns”) is there to show the age and growth of the character. Ahsoka’s 41 y/o during The Mandalorian, which is older than what Shaak Ti was during Episode 3, and Shaak Ti looked like this:

Now, I understand that there’s a whole practicality reason behind the “shortening” of the montrals (apparently it had to do with confort and it’s appearance during action scenes), so you can kinda overlook it, but it still feels weird that Ahsoka in her early 40′s looked younger than when she was in her 30′s in Rebels.

Besides, if Disney has the money to digitally erase the “jeans dude” that they overlooked in the background of a scene 2 episodes ago, I’m pretty sure they could have fixed Ahsoka’s montrals during post-production so they looked better.

But beyond the whole appearance (which, like I said, can somewhat be overlooked), my biggest issues where related to the casting and characterization.

Starting by the casting, I know that Rosario Dawson was always the dreamed fan casting. Heck, it was even an option that I liked a couple of years ago, but all that changed the moment the transphobia allegations appeared and that many people kinda overlooked.

With independence of the rumors before this season regarding her apperance and casting, I was shocked to the mere idea that one of my favourite characters was going to be played by someone who had that cloud over them with allegations of physical and psychological violence related to transphobia.

Now, the fact that the person who made the allegations withdrew 18 of the 20 charges (without settlement), including all of those that are related to transphobic violence, changes the panorama somewhat, but the shroud of doubts will always remain (especially when we’re talking about accusations directed to a celebrity who happens to be dating an US senator) and that was always going to affect my reaction towards the episode.

Especially knowing that the social media vocal fan casting was the main reason why Dawson’s was given the role according to Dave Filoni. Because I guess people always assumed that Ashley Eckstein couldn’t play the character in live action, which I think is silly because look at this:

That’s Ashley cosplaying as Ahsoka and doing a magnificent job about it. If she could achieve this with only (expensive I asume) cosplay, imagine what LucasFilm could’ve done with the budget they have for the show. 

Especially because you not only prevent the issues regarding the casting, but also because Ashley’s already inside the mind of the character having played it for 12 years; and also because her voice for the character is really special.

Even if she was Anakin’s padawan, in a way she’s also like the daughter or little sister of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme. She’s learned and absorbed things from the 3 of them and her voice, especially in Rebels, reflects that. There’s a calm born from experience, and a special type of solemnity and gravitas, and there’s this hint of pride and arrogance (like Maul’s told her during their fight during the siege of Mandalore in Clone Wars).

And, with exception of the scenes where Ahsoka was testing Grogu Baby Yoda and helping Din connect with him, I never felt that in any other part of the episode. And that’s something that goes hand in hand with the characterization problems.

Sure, the show gives you the idea that she’s been for quite some time trying to liberate Corvus, and you can understand that they did things the way they did during their introduction to awe the audience (especially the one that never saw the animated shows), but it’s hard to reconcile her introduction with the Ahsoka we knew beforehand.

In fact, to me the “real” Ahsoka doesn’t appear until the scene where Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth threatens her with the amount of innocent people she’s going to kill in case Ahsoka kept opposing her. Because that’s Ahsoka to me, the one that puts the safety and well being of others above her own all the time. The Ahsoka that, even when she was in dire danger during order 66, never stopped caring and thinking about the wellbeing of the clones that, beyond being her subordinates, she saw them as her brothers. That’s her character’s essence, and while we saw some of it, it just wasn’t enough.

The other big problem I think with her characterization is her refusal to train Baby Yoda considering his attachment towards Mando and how that can end badly, because she saw it first hand with regards to Anakin (yes, it was one heck of a scene I’ll admit, but in the great context it feels weird).

Obviously there’s a practic reason why they won’t do it (of course the show is not going to get rid of Baby Yoda), but it feels weird when Ahsoka is supposedly in the middle of the search for Ezra and Thrawn (I know that there’s been some talk or rumors of a retcon where the Rebels epilogue, that happened before the events of the Mandalorian, is supposedly going to be placed further down the line, in order to have a new show where Ahsoka and Sabine are looking for Ezra, but that hasn’t been confirmed). 

Yes, I know that it was part of Baby Yoda’s journey and whether he ends up on the light or dark side, but the whole talk about attachment feels like something the padawan Ahsoka from the first seasons of Clone Wars would say, not the Ahsoka that left the jedi order, that saw how the rest of the galaxy lived and thought of the jedi, and that knew that, despite Palpatine’s work, the jedi had a lot to blame regarding being architects of their own demise. There are plenty of similarities between Ahsoka’s and Luke’s thoughts in The Last Jedi, in regards of the jedi and the conceptual failures in their reasoning before order 66.

So to see Ahsoka in The Mandalorian being so “binary” in her way of thinking, so black and white, so “jedi”, felt like a regression of her character development. Of course, something could’ve happened to her after Ezra saved her through the World between Worlds, and then after the Rebels epilogue, but until we don’t know for sure, it felt like a step back for her growth, especially considering how many people where introduced to her through The Mandalorian, it’s kinda of a disservice to the character (here’s hoping that enough people check Clone Wars and Rebels to see the real character journey that she went through).

So, that’s it. I’ve been wanting to write this down for days. Because even though the episode was really good, there were enough reasons and things that made it impossible for me to enjoy it as much as I would’ve like in other circumstances. Yes, there were some things that I’ve been able to rationalize and understand after the episode aired, but I’m never getting my first impression back. 

Ahsoka is one of my favourite characters of everything (I’m pretty sure that, if it weren’t for the childhood nostalgia regarding having seen the OT when I was a child -and being obsessed with SW ever since- she would probably be above Luke in my list of favourite characters), and Clone Wars was a really important show for me (after Empire Strikes Back, is my favourite Star Wars anything).

And I can’t just conform or be happy with her appearance in this episode. The whole “just being there” is not enough, especially when you see how characters like Bo-Katan, Cobb Vanth or Boba Fett were all given their due and well portrayed in a great light, but you can’t say the same about a character that’s more important, and who sadly had this whole cloud surrounding it since the first casting rumours appeared.

Ahsoka is a character that represents the best of Star Wars, so it’s sad to see that her appearance and portrayal not only was dissapointing, but it ended up hurting so many people in the LGBTQA+ community, and especially in the trans community, many of whom are Star Wars fans that have the same passion and love for Ahsoka. And like I said the other day, the trans community concerns must be front and center and must be listened by everyone.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

Catra and Adora are high school seniors, working at Hot Topic and Bright Moon Boba Tea respectively. They’re both clueless disasters, and their friends are getting pretty tired of waiting for them to make up and make out.

read it on ao3 or under the cut:

Catra’s been working at Hot Topic for the past few months, one or two days a week after school and constantly on the weekends. She figures the job suits her, in that angsty-emo-goth way, although the store is more nerd culture now than it was in the early 2000’s. Still, she doesn’t mind most of the music on the shop radio and she’s encouraged to wear fingerless gloves on the job. And her manager, Scorpia, lets her get away with plenty of slacking.

On this particular Tuesday afternoon, Catra enjoys the deadness of the store (due to lack of customers, in addition to the death-themed products). She stands behind the counter, her chin in one hand, the other tapping a pen to the beat of a Green Day song.

“Hey, Kitty!” Scorpia greets her, exiting the back room with an armful of discounted tees.

Catra rolls her eyes, facing away so Scorpia can’t see it. “I told you, don’t call me that—”

“Whoops, sorry, it’s just so… Catra! Your name is Catra! I still can’t get over it.”

The high school senior glances down at her nametag. “Yep. That sure is my name.”

The story’s actually pretty simple: her parents allowed her older brother, Mateo, to name her, probably to lessen the blow of no longer being the only child. And being the idiot six-year-old he was, Mateo took one look at the family cat and exclaimed… well, you know.

As far as names go, it’s unfortunately on the nose—Catra’s sullen and introverted, with big messy hair and long nails painted black. Not that she wouldn’t cut them, given the right opportunity.

“How was school?” Scorpia asks, sliding behind the counter.

Catra shrugs. “Fine.”

“Any customers?”

“A few.”

Scorpia sighs and begins sorting the pins in the one-dollar display. “Any sales?”

“Yeah,” Catra says, “buy-one-get-one-free’s doing good.”

“The fun corporate term is ‘BOGO,’” Scorpia says, grinning. “Oh, I love that!”

Catra’s sarcastic reply is interrupted by a group of customers entering the store: three teenagers, all familiar. Bob, Glitter, and… Adora.

Catra frowns even deeper than before and pretends to be invested in the sales totals on the register monitor. Scorpia raises an eyebrow as the group huddles by the sparkly-unicorn-bullshit display.

“You know it’s a part of your job to greet the customers, right? I like you, kid, but I’ve gotta see some effort here.”

Catra winces. “Scorpia, please… I’ll explain later, okay?”

“Ooookay. Bad history or something?”

“I said —”

“Excuse me,” says Glitter, standing suddenly in front of the counter. Catra raises her head, cheeks burning.

“What?”

Scorpia clears her throat.

“Uh, I mean, how can I help you, ma’am?”

Glitter raises an eyebrow. “Adora says you’ve been ignoring her, and she’s being all weird about it.”

“Sorry, we don’t sell that here. Why don’t you try Spencers?”

“Catra,” Glitter groans. “Look, you’re her best friend, why can’t you both just figure this out like normal people…”

“Normal people named ‘Glimmer?’”

“Pfft, okay, Catra.”

“Fair enough, Sparkles,” Catra snarks, stretching her arms over her head. “Well, since you three obviously have no intention of making a purchase here, why don’t you tell Adora that I’m still perfectly fine ignoring her.”

“Yep, that’s what I thought you’d say,” Glitter says. “And the dumbest part is, she still wants to give you this.”

Glitter slams a plastic cup onto the counter, filled with a milky-brown liquid and small glasslike balls. The logo on the cup reads ‘Bright Moon Boba Tea.’

Catra scowls for a second before bursting into cold laughter. “Keep it,” she says. “Hell, give it to Adora. It’s what she chose.”

Glimmer groans. “You’re ridiculous! It’s just a job, she still obviously wants to be your friend!”

“Clearly not enough to come over here herself,” Catra shouts, glaring over at Bow and Adora. Adora frowns, her face red, and looks down at her shoes.

“I’ll never get what she sees in you,” Glimmer says haughtily, turning on her heel.

Catra has no response to that, her fist tensing beneath the counter. Deep breaths, 1… 2… 3…

Glitter returns to Adora and Bow, speaking lowly. Adora sighs and nods, allowing the group to leave. Catra turns to face the back of the store, crossing her arms, as she focuses on the angry rock vocals.

Seconds pass in the empty store. Finally, Scorpia speaks.

“So… wanna explain that?”

Catra sighs and stretches her back, hands on the counter, ironically catlike in form. “Do I have to?”

“Kind of, yeah.”

“Fine,” Catra says. “Adora and I have been close since we were kids. Senior year’s been hard because we’re both busy with extracurricular bullshit, and in my case, work. She has a different group of friends than me—you just saw ‘em over by the unicorn display, minus a few. A couple of months ago Adora was saying that she wanted to start working, get a few dollars, but instead of applying here to work with me , she signed up at Glitter’s mom’s boba tea place.”

Scorpia looks down at the drink. “Hence the…?”

“Ooh, ‘hence,’ big word,” Catra says coolly, putting her head in her hands. “I’m being a stubborn dick about it, sure, but after years of being her little sidekick, it was just the last straw.”

“Well, you know I support you, wildcat,” Scorpia says, dusting the counter’s ledge with her sleeve, “but petty teenage angst is bad for business, even at Hot Topic. Just try not to let it get into the way of excellent customer service.”

Catra blows a chunk of dark hair out of her face. “Yeah, all right.”

Scorpia turns away and heads back towards the back room to do inventory. Catra stares down the cup of boba tea for a moment, and then bats it into the trash.

                                                              ~

A few days later, Catra watches her co-worker Lonnie rearrange the current Marvel display, another white guy in a colorful suit replacing the last boring blockbuster’s star.

“Hey there,” says a customer, breaking her haze of boredom. A guy she recognizes from school places a container of moustache polish on the counter.

“Oh, Sea Hawk,” Catra says, scanning the item. “Find everything you were looking for today?”

“Oh, yes!” the guy exclaims with his usual bravado. “In fact, I have!”

Then he places another goddamn cup of boba tea on the counter, this time mint green. Catra sighs as she shoves the moustache polish in a black plastic bag.

“Adora sent you?”

“Actually, Mermista did!” Sea Hawk says, taking any opportunity to mention his blue-haired girlfriend.

“So Adora asked her to send you.”

“Perhaps!”

Sea Hawk passes Catra his debit card and she runs it in a blur.

“Here,” she tells him, returning the card and handing him his bag. Sea Hawk doesn’t leave, though, standing awkwardly at the counter.

“What.”

“Mermista said that Adora doesn’t want me to leave until I see you drink the boba.”

Catra smirks and picks up the cup. After a few teasing seconds, she plops it in the trash.

Sea Hawk raises an eyebrow. “Did you just place it behind the counter to drink later, or…?”

“I dropped it in the garbage, dumbass.”

“Oh. Yeah, all right.”

“Have a nice day,” Catra says, grinning toothily.

                                                             ~

“She’s being stupid,” Glimmer says as she passes Adora the box of tapioca pearls. Adora hoists it easily over her shoulder, carrying it to Bow, who stands at the counter of Bright Moon Boba.

“Thanks,” Bow says as Adora places the box down. “I was running out.”

“No problem,” Adora grins as she tightens her high ponytail. She wipes her hands on her apron and returns to Glimmer, who stands in the small supply alcove behind their stand in the mall food court.

“You were saying?” she asks breezily, starting up new batches of black and jasmine tea.

“Catra,” Glimmer says tiredly. “You know what I was saying: she’s being the worst. I know you guys have been friends forever, or what ever, but she’s being mean and toxic and you deserve better than this obsession you’ve got with her!”

“Glim, I love you, but you can’t just throw around the word ‘toxic’ because you saw it in a twitter post once,” Adora says, narrowing her eyes. “She’s just stubborn. I think she sees my taking this job as rejecting her, or choosing you guys over her.”

“But that’s so not it!” Glimmer shouts. “You do stuff together all the time. I’ve had to literally tell people you’re not, like, dating .”

Adora tries to hide her face as the blush spreads. “I’ve been trying to make it up to her,” she says. “With the tea. I don’t know, I’m just bad at the talking stuff.”

“Maaaayyyyyyyyybe it’s because you’ve both been crushing on each other for the past, like, five years, but lack any communication skills whatsoever?”

“I communicate fine!” Adora argues. “I only sent Sea Hawk over because I’m on the clock!”

“You guys synced your Google calendars. I’m pretty sure you could have just stopped by during one of her shifts to talk to her yourself.”

“They’re only synced because of field hockey practice in the fall,” Adora says stiffly, although she does check up on Catra’s schedule more than she would like to admit.

“I’m just saying,” Glimmer says. “Your relationship with Catra is important to you, and clearly you’re important to her… that’s why she’s being such a dick. You’ve been fighting for a month and you’ve been super unhappy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Catra’s hugest fan, but I can tell you’re better off when things are cool between you two. And, Adora, we’re seniors! Things are gonna get so much more complicated once we go to college. As much as it pains me to say it, you should probably lock her down as soon as you can… and make sure she’s up to being a little more mature when you guys have inevitable spats in the future.”

Adora groans and rests her head on the counter. “This is hard…”

“Only ‘cuz you care so much,” Glimmer reasons. “Oh, the tea—”

“Yeah, I know, ‘and that’s the tea…’”

“No, Adora!” Glimmer shouts, running over the pots on the boiler. “The tea !”

Adora jumps and runs over to the pots, luckily in time to pull them off the heat. She pours the contents into the appropriate pitchers and wipes the sweat off her brow.

“And we’re not dating,” Adora says softly, frowning at the ground. “We’ve never been. I don’t think Catra likes me… like that.”

“I think you’d be surprised,” Glimmer says.

“Do you think that’s why she was so hurt?” Adora asks. “When I chose to work here?”

“I mean, that’s just ‘cuz she’s a stubborn, inflexible bastard,” Glimmer reasons, sipping a pink drink she made herself. “But yeah.”

“We did kiss that one time… well, twice,” Adora says, playing with the waist of her pink apron. Glimmer spits out her drink.

“You what?! ”

“Oh, yeah, we kissed at homecoming. After Bow’s party. Then things were kinda awkward, and we didn’t talk for a few days, and I applied here… and next thing I know, she’s ignoring me.”

Glimmer coughs, her tea and a few balls of tapioca splattering onto the counter.

Adora frowns at her friend incredulously. “What?”

“Adora…” Glimmer said. “You absolute fucking idiot.”

                                                             ~

A few hours later and Lonnie’s gone home, while Catra’s still working until Scorpia comes in for the later shift. She isn’t completely alone, though, with the customers, because one of the mall’s technicians is fixing a broken light by the sales racks.

“How’s Adora?” asks Entrapta, whose technical know-how and strange social graces qualified her for a repair position rather than retail.

Catra shakes her head, startled. “Why do you ask?”

“You guys are close, right?” Entrapta asks from atop a silver ladder. The woman is thirty-something years old and only 4’9, her purple pigtails currently wrapped in efficient space buns. Catra knows that Entrapta has some other jobs, and suspects that several of them involve mad science this world isn’t quite ready for.

“Uh,” Catra says, playing with her hands.

“I recall, the last time we spoke, you reported your closeness to a girl named Adora,” Entrapta specifies. “Is this incorrect?”

“Yeah, no, you’re right,” Catra says, remembering her last encounter with Entrapta. Before Homecoming. “I’m kind of ignoring her right now. For reasons.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” Entrapta says. “She seemed to make you very happy. Or, at least, that’s what your tone of voice and body language indicated.”

And with that, Entrapta turns back to the light, leaving Catra frowning even more than usual.

“Yeah…”

Catra’s been in love with Adora since middle school, and she’s been out of denial about it since sophomore year. So when Adora finally broke the tension between them at Bow’s party last month, and then ghosted her and got a job separate from her, Catra could only come to one conclusion: Adora wasn’t into it. Wasn’t into Catra, in that way. And Catra knows, after that goddamn kiss—awkward, sloppy, but still good because it was Adora —she can never go back to just being Adora’s friend.

And, before the whole tea thing, it seemed like Adora felt the same way. But now she was hanging out by the store, trying to give Catra gifts… sending these dumb mixed signals, trying to torture her ex-best-friend, get under her skin…

No , Catra reminds herself. Adora could never be that cruel . Catra’s the tough one, after all, between them.

Then why does she feel so goddamn hurt?

“You have customers,” Entrapta says, startling Catra out of her spiral. She looks up to face Bow and Glimmer… without Adora.

Catra sighs and pulls out the trash can from behind the counter. “Just drop it in yourself,” she says.

Bow raises an eyebrow and Glimmer scowls. “We don’t have any tea for you.”

“Oh, so you’re actually here to shop? Color me surprised. We’ve got some great fifty-cent glitter nail polish, and the Riverdale display is over there. You sure do seem like someone who’d enjoy Riverdale , Sparkles.”

Glimmer groans. “Just shut up and listen, okay? We’re not here on Adora’s behalf. Well, we kind of are, but she didn’t ask us to come.”

“Fine,” Catra scowls. “Speak.”

“She feels awful,” Glimmer says, “about what happened between you two. She kissed you, and then didn’t know how to talk to you, and then took the job at Bright Moon, and she didn’t realize you’d take it badly—”

“Really?” Catra begins, but rolls her eyes after a second. “Okay, it is Adora we’re talking about.”

“She likes you, Catra,” Glimmer says, Bow nodding behind her. “Always has.”

“It’s always been pretty obvious, honestly,” Bow adds.

“Even from what I’ve heard,” Entrapta contributes from her ladder.

Catra can feel her heart racing, her cheeks turning red, and her immediate impulse is to make it stop. Make it neutral, calm, cool.

But Adora likes her. She was just being dumb, and Catra is stubborn and stupid.

“It’s not too late to fix things,” Glimmer says, surprisingly earnest. “That’s all we’re here to say.”

Catra can barely speak. “I was so mean to you guys.”

“Eh, we know you’re harmless,” Bow says, making a dismissive motion. “And besides, Adora says that’s how you show affection sometimes.”

Catra runs a hand through her hair, still blushing. “Still. Sorry.”

“Adora’s closing alone tonight,” Glimmer says, her expression softer than before. “You should visit her. And, y’know, actually try to communicate like human people.”

“I’ve heard of those,” Entrapta comments with mild interest.

“I’ll stop by Bright Moon after my shift,” Catra says. “Thank you.”

Glimmer nods and Bow grins. “Senior year’s gonna be awesome!” he exclaims.

Catra rubs her neck and tries to muster a bright smile. “Haha, yeah!”

“We should get back to the stand,” Glimmer says. “But first… well, you have a sale so I am , in fact, gonna check out the Riverdale stuff.”

“She has awful taste, but I watch it with her anyway,” Bow says solemnly to Catra. “At least Cole Sprouse is hot.”

The pair heads to the display, chattering about flawed representation and the complete misappropriation of Twin Peaks’ plotline. Catra’s hands shake, so she grabs a red gel pen—using it, she doodles herself and Adora on a scrap of receipt paper.

Between them, she draws a heart.

                                                             ~

Okay, here she goes.

“Have fun talking to Adora!” Scorpia says as Catra clocks out on the register. Catra hasn’t stopped blushing for the past two hours and twenty-six minutes (she’s counted), but somehow she turns redder than before.

“AhhaAAHAHA yeah, bye Scorpia!” she says, hoisting herself over the counter. She accidentally knocks over a figurine in the process and rearranges it apologetically.

Catra rushes out of the Hot Topic, past the Gap, Justice, and Starbucks, until she reaches the Etheria Mall food court. She takes a deep breath, adjusts her shirt and makes sure her ripped jeans are tucked into her combat boots. She takes her lanyard and shoves it in her back pocket, rips off her nametag and tucks it in her bra.

Okay , Catra thinks to herself. You can do this. Talk about your feelings. For Adora, to Adora. Your best friend since childhood. After being a total jerk for a month.

Catra frowns. Maybe she should get a soft pretzel before…

Wait—does she hear cat-calls?

Catra’s head whips around to see Adora, working at Bright Moon alone, with an entire cup’s contents spilled down her white shirt. Her chest isn’t subtle, and the two middle school boys by the register seem more than pleased by this turn of events.

“Hey, sexy!” one exclaims as Catra stalks over. “Wanna take off the apron, show us everything?”

Adora blushes, speechless and in shock. Catra growls and rolls up her sleeves, grabbing one of the guys by the shoulder—hard.

“Shut the fuck up,” she hisses.

“We’re just waiting for our drinks,” says the second guy, looking Catra up and down. “Is that a problem?”

Catra groans in outrage and rips her hands off the dude’s shoulder. Meanwhile, Adora comes to her senses.

“I’ll make a new one,” she mutters, overwhelmed. Catra snarls.

“Fuck, no! These guys are assholes.”

“They already paid.”

“Yeah,” said one of the guys, “what she said.”

“Adora!” Catra says, hoisting herself over the counter, this time making a graceful landing. She takes the blonde by the wrists, Adora’s eyes going wide.

“God—Catra!” Adora exclaims, ripping her arms away. “I just want them to go away!”

“And they will,” Catra says, standing between Adora and the ingredients. “ Without their drinks.”

Adora groans and rolls her eyes. “Ugh, you’re so stubborn!”

The two boys looked at each other awkwardly. “Not sure if this is hot,” the taller guy said.

“Maybe if they were making out?”

“SHUT UP!” Catra and Adora shouted in unison.

“Whatever,” says the shorter guy. “This blows. I want to hit Spencer’s before everything closes.”

“Haha, yeah, to look at the…?”

“Yeah, and the…”

Catra grabs the ‘closed’ sign from behind Adora’s head and places it on the counter. “And look at that,” she says, “you’d better hurry! Enjoy the dildos and lingerie, fellas!”

The boys shift uncomfortably in their sneakers and immediately make themselves scarce. Catra sighs and turns to a fuming Adora.

“Can you believe those fuckwads?”

“I could have handled it,” Adora says sorely. “But thanks.”

“Sorry, I…” Catra begins to say, rubbing her arm nervously. “Oh! Your shirt! Uh, do you have an extra, or paper towels, or…?”

Adora turns red when she notices Catra’s wandering gaze. Catra looks up suddenly, realizing it herself.

“Yeah, gimme a second,” Adora says, turning to the back alcove. “I’ve got a sweatshirt in my backpack…”

“Yeah, sure, cool,” Catra says, blushing again . She awkwardly picks up a tapioca ball between two nails and plops it in her mouth.

Catra enters the employee’s alcove, out of the food court’s sight. There Adora stands, now wearing a red hoodie. Catra raises an eyebrow.

“Hey, Adora? Pretty sure that’s mine.”

Adora blushes and blinks. “Oh man, yeah, it is.”

“And you… you’re still wearing it? Even though we’ve been fighting for a month?”

“Well, it… it reminds me of you,” Adora says, her hands disappearing in the long sleeves.

Catra smiles and leans against the counter, laughing lowly. “Oh my god, we’re so dumb.”

Adora gives her a small smile. “Yeah… I’m guessing you got a visit from Glimmer and Bow earlier?”

“They told me that you… you wanted to talk. About the kiss. And everything else.”

“Listen,” Adora says, “I’m an idiot. I’ve liked you for so long, okay? And then I finally worked up the nerve to kiss you, and we weren’t sober, and I felt dumb for doing it when we couldn’t, y’know, truly enjoy it… so I got mad at myself, and didn’t message you for a few days, and then Angella offered me this job, and it pays so well —”

Catra takes Adora’s hands and looks her in the eyes. “Hey, Adora,” she says. “It’s okay. The kiss, the job, all of it. I was stupid for being all grudge-y. And… I’ve missed you so much.”

Adora’s eyes widen. “Me too. I mean, I missed you, I didn’t miss myself—”

“Oh my god,” Catra says, using one hand to cup Adora’s face. “I like you so much.”

“I know, me too! Ugh, I mean—”

“I know what you mean.”

Catra kisses Adora, and there isn’t an ounce of confusion in it.

Adora pulls away, her eyes narrowed. Catra gives her the widest grin.

“Did you… store a ball of boba in your mouth, just to slide it in my mouth while we kissed?”

“Well, I figured we’d either end up fighting or kissing, and it’d be useful either way.”  

“Useful… fighting?”

Catra picks up a straw from the supply cabinet and popped another tapioca ball in her mouth. “Come on,” she says, “you can’t tell me you, Bow, and Glimmer don’t get into spitball fights all the time.”

“Not really,” Adora says, mystified. “That seems more like a ‘you’ idea.”

Catra sticks out her tongue and spits the ball at Adora through the straw. It hits her right on the forehead.

“I win,” Catra teases.

Adora takes her by the waist and kisses her. Catra kisses back, dropping the straw and grabbing at Adora’s hair.

“Okay,” Catra amends as she backs up onto the counter, “maybe we both win.”

“Hey, Catra?” Adora whispers in the other girl’s ear. “Stop talking.”

And so she does.

[basically-queenberyl]

When you get triggered and your dormant traumas wake from their slumber (Part 4)

NOW I can write about more recent events in my life after writing 3 previous novels for context lol. Here's a story about my hopeless love life and being triggered by advances.

So after a few stressful years of college, I could finally finish up my last semester at a slower pace and start taking better care of myself. And overall, I think I was doing so well. Then I started crushing on Josh, but I wasn't really sure that I was at first. This is HUGE for me, given the previous context. And I thought he might like me back too. Now, I'm 25 with 0 romantic experience. People don't fucking listen to me when I say that. Their ears never hear that second part or they think it's an exaggeration lol. Yes, ZERO: never had a bf, never dated, still a virgin in all aspects, never been kissed by anyone, never held hands with anyone, only hugged a few guys platonically, never been asked out before this point, never had bullshit short lived relationships in high school, never went to a dance/prom with anyone. No one has ever expressed interest in me.

With that context and previous context, the first few years of college were rough for my mental health and I was closed off to anything romantic anyway. Then when things got better, a year later I had all these hard classes, which could be another post, but it was too stressful and overwhelming to be able to focus on anything else like dating. But by last fall, I felt like this was the best possible time throughout college so far and I was kinda open to it if it was mutual.

Here's the thing. Dating was not on my radar at all, and it's not something I was looking for. But then I got to know a little more about Josh and thought he seemed cool, then the possibility of mutual feeling came up.

I wasn't looking for "a bf"! I liked HIM....

My mentality was that if it didn't work out, I would go back to what I was doing BEFORE I started liking him. No big deal.

Then I started suspecting Ray might be interested in me. I thought I saw him sneaking looks in class one day. But I was like "nah, can't be...." And he kept trying to talk to me. Fast forward to December and we start texting each other about music after the last week of classes ends, before finals. At this point my sleep schedule is fucked, so we start texting A LOT until early morning hours (I would do this with anyone who allowed it lol). But I think I gave him the wrong idea, plus I think my humor can be confused with flirting. I was only trying to be myself tho😞. Then we also started talking about all this personal stuff, which doesn't help the situation at all.

At one point in one of our conversations, I send him this song about weed, and he asks if I even smoke lol. And I told him no, but I think it's fine if other people do. Then he asked if I ever thought about trying it. I said no, but then he said "I do think it helps people see things from different perspectives... an it also makes movies better, sex better sometimes lol , music better..." No big deal, right?? But I found that kinda triggering and it made me pretty uncomfortable.

Then a few days later, I'm texting him again and he says that I should come by the restaurant he works at get food some time. And I was thinking "hmm... what is this dude trying to do??" And we established that this might not be the most practical thing b/c the menu isn't very vegetarian friendly and I'm a vegetarian. Then hours later he basically said we should get boba, smoke weed, and watch movies together at his house.

Now this one freaked me out. I was like "this dude is trying to ask me out...," but the way he did it made my mind make associations. I'm thinking, you can't say..... "weed makes movies, music, and sex better...... then go "lets get boba, smoke weed, ...then go back to your place and watch movies." Wtf am I supposed to think??? So I get SUPER triggered by this (given previous context). And I try to wiggle my way out of it.

I felt so fucking weird about everything at this point, then the next day he tries to get me to watch this ufc fight and send me a link so I could watch it for free, but I didn't respond b/c I felt like I was giving him the wrong idea.

But the whole thing was SO triggering for me and I couldn't stop thinking about it b/c it confirmed that he probably likes me, but the associations between the two things he said FREAKED ME OUT, and brought up feelings I hadn't felt for years (see previous part for context). It gave me such fucking anxiety that week.

Then my brother and I were like "lets go watch a movie." I thought it would get my mind off of what was triggering me and being ghosted by Josh. But the only thing good playing was queen and slim, so I hoped for the best (not the best thing to watch when I'm feeling triggered). And lo and behold, a graphic sex scene. So I get home after watching the movie and go straight to my room and get in bed, then I have to calm myself down for the next few hours b/c all these things that happened that week were so triggering and overwhelming that I was about to start having a panic attack.

I felt really confused. I wondering WHY is this so triggering for me? And WHY am I not triggered by Josh and the idea of dating him, but when Ray tries to ask me out I lose my shit??? And I think the difference is that I already made up my mind that I liked Josh, plus there was a chance it could be mutual. And Josh never said anything for me to associate anything sexual to any advances. Also, all my fantasies about Josh were wholesome af lol. Also maybe b/c the idea that Ray thinks of me that way is also triggering af. Would it be triggering if Josh thought of me that way? Idk. My brain is broken.

This is part of the shit I'm currently trying to work through. And I thought I was better with being triggered by sexual things. But this confirmed to me that I'm really not, entirely. Plus the string of subsequent events on top of this just made me want to push EVERYONE away. This is gonna take some work, for sure. The end.

[xx-coffeebean-xx-blog]

TWINS | BTS | Fanfic| PT 3

It's been almost an entire week and I haven't heard anything from Jimin. Taking a sip from my boba, I stop at the street light waiting for the sign to change. It was crowded with many people, I was squished in the crowd and I felt someone take hold of my hand. Oh my god its a pervert. That's when I got a notification unlocking my phone it was a message from a private phone number.

xxx-xxx-xxxx

Don't attract any attention to yourself just follow me my lead.

Looking at my phone I could see Jimin's reflection on the screen, relief wash over me but from the other side of the street I could feel like we were being watch. And I was right someone wearing all black stood still and he was staring directly at me. Luckily the light sign turned and everyone was on the move.

Jimin held my hand tighter as we push past people, turning a sharp corner we were met by a black window tinted car park in an empty dark alleyway. He unlocks the car and tosses me the keys, "You drive." he says opening the passanger's door. sit and takes out his phone. Letting out a sigh I step in turn on the car & drove off following Jimin's directions we found ourselves at a fancy hotel. As the valet parks the car I follow close behind Jimin as he went to the front desk and asks for the room key. The front desk lady squeals as she saw the k-pop idol smile up at her, quickly gave him the key and slowly caressed his hand. Jimin gives her a weak grin thanks her then took my hand in his leading me to the elevator.

The desk lady finally realize my existence and signals her other coworkers, they all whisper to each other which made me uncomfortable. My eyes stayed glued to the ground as Jimin pulled into the elevator on into a room were I was greeted by an embraced.

" OMG it's so nice to finally to meet I'm Ji-yoo Jimin's stylist." she says releasing me.

"Hello nice to met you I'm-"

"Oh no need to explain sweetie Jimin has told me so much about you. So lets get started come take a seat here." Ji-yoo says taking my coat and sits me down in a sliver dresser chair surrounded buy so much make up. Wrapping a piece of clothe around my neck, next Ji-yoo concocted a mixer which reeks of bleach, "What are you doing?"

"Dyeing your hair blond like Jimin's" she says pointing to Jimin how pulls down his hood to reveal his lock blondish, sliverish. It was no longer brown, "Well can't I just use a wig or something." I suggest.

Jimin chuckles looking up from his phone he lifts one finger and moves it side ways, "Not possible my dear little sister remember you're going to be sharing a room with one another guy and with all the dancing the wig mite fall off." I gave a glare from the mirror. "Cheer up you're going to look great and if it makes you feel any better I'm going to dye my hair brown and have extensions on to look like a girl."

"Just like how mom use to dress us." I squeal "Okay do your thing Ji-yoo"

Plugging in my ear buds I jam out to Big Bang. I must've fallen asleep because next thing I knew I woke up to my reflection to find my hair dyed and cut short exposing my ear. "It suits you quite well sis." I turn to find Jimin with long brown hair, "If mom saw this she would die happy."

Unlocking my phone I started to take pictures no stop each one taken with a different angle. Jimin instantly went into model mode, switching places I began to model, Ji-yoo took the phone and together we pose on the bed, floor, hallway, closet it was definitely a full out photo shoot.

++++++

Switching clothes Jimin explained what was going on right now with the rest of the guys, I was rooming with someone name Jung Hoseok he's part the rap line and dance line most of the time he's in the dance studio practicing so he won't be much of a bother. Also with the youngest member Jeon Jungkook the golden makane.

One by one he introduces his members and I did the same telling him about the people I live with to the people I work for. Fixing my hair I step out of the bathroom, let me tell you one thing I look good in guys clothes, I look just like Jimin. Speaking of Jimin he steps out of the other bathroom wearing my outfit.

"It's like looking in a mirror huh sis." He jokes pushing up his fake breasts and pucker his lips.

"Shut up." I said putting on the Apple watch. "Is there anything else I need to know before this takes off."

"Yeah the guy's they tend to be touchy. So don't panic if they hug you or due something in front of the camera fans like to see us fawning over each other." He says casually. "Also I told the guys I was going to the doctors. So if they ask that's where you went."

I nod my head in agreement, "Jimin before I leave, my roommate tends to be sick all the time so please take care of her & don't try anything." I warn him, he rolls his eyes but agrees.

"Aren't you nervous?" Ji-yoo says.

"Why would I be?" I answer.

"You're going to be living with guy's. Men do weird things you know?" Says Ji-yoo finishing her packing as she stood by my side.

"I grew up with two brothers how hard is it to handle six more." I smirk at Jimin, putting on the shades and pull up the hood.

"We'll were off." Ji-yoo waves to Jimin opening the door and steps out of the room.

I follow Ji-yoo but got stop by Jimin taking hold of my hand. "Jinee if at any point you feel uncomfortable we can switch back."

Pulling Jimin in a tight hug, it's been so long since I seen him it felt weird hugging him. I understood why I was doing this, yet I couldn't help but be scared at the idea of putting his career on the line, fooling friends, his fans everyone that knew Jimin as an idol.

"I'll be fine Jimin don't worry." I have him a smile. "Secret twin handshake?"

"Aren't we a bit to old to be doing that." Asks Jimin

"Never."

A grin came across his face, doing our handshake we parted ways. Closing the door I follow Ji-yoo to the back of the hotel where the black car from waited for us.

Buckling in, Ji-yoo drove down the roads till we stopped at an apartment complex. It was huge and so fancy, "Okay Jinee this is you. You're apartment is on the 8th floor room 3015 here's your key. Jinee fighting!" Ji-yoo cheers, handing me a key.

I wave her good till the car was out of sight taking in a deep breath I set foot inside the lobby were I was welcomed warmly. Smiling to the receptionist I headed towards the elevator and push the button that had an arrow pointing upwards.

The elevator doors sung open to reveal a man dressed in a red hood, black short and Timberlands?

This must be Jungkook.

"Oh Hyung! Where have you been we've been calling you nonstop." He said showing me his phone 20 missed calls. "What's with the new phone?"

Crap! Jimin and I didn't switch our phones. "Sorry Jungkook I was at the doctors and when I left, these girls started chasing me and I dropped my phone and it's broke. So I bought a new one." I explain lowering my voice a bit and show him my new phone.

"That explains a lot." He giggles as did I till it got awkward. We stood there in silence, a confused look took over Jungkook's. "Hyung aren't you going to step inside?"

"Oh right." I chuckle nervously stepping inside the elevator. As we rode the elevator I couldn't help but admire Jungkook's facial features, he's so handsome.

Following him out of the elevator he unlocks the door to apartment. Where we were, greeted by loud yelling and something that smells fantastic.

"We're home!" Jungkook yells taking off his shoes and step into the living room. Following his actions I pass the kitchen to see one man with blond hair wearing checkered blue apron.

"Jin-hyung is the food almost ready." Asks Jungkook dipping his hand to take out a piece of meat out of the pot.

Jin smacks Jungkook's hand, he pouts and walks away.

"Can you believe this kid? God knows where his hand been." He mutters "Jimin go tell everyone that the food is ready." I nod and went to the living room to find three men sitting in the couch and Jungkook playing video games with another boy with his hair painted two different colors. I instantly figured out that this was Taehyung how because of all the Gucci he was wearing.

Like seriously this guy was deep dip in Gucci.

"Um Hyung said that the foods ready." I say. They exchanged looks before dropping everything and run to the table.

Taking the only available seat which was next to Jin and to Hoseok. They gobble down the food at a rapid pace that I didn't even get a chance to fill up my plate.

Once finish we played Rock, paper, scissors it was down to me and Namjoon it was very intense. "Rock, paper, scissors shoot." Namjoon threw out paper while I threw rock. The leader cheers as did the others, being disappointed I took all the plates and began washing them.

Plate after plate, cup after cup I finally finish flopping down on my bunk bed which was at the bottom I scroll threw my phone and found a message from Jimin.

Jimin: How was dinner?

Me: Very awkward I didn't get a chance to eat properly. WBY

Jimin: Boring your roommate hasn't even come home I had to eat alone :(

Me: yea she tends to do that get use to it.

Jimin: well you better get to sleep you got practice tomorrow

Me: u too! U got class at 8:30 goodnight :)

Jimin: night sis

Taking Jimin's PJ's I lock the bathroom door and quickly took off the bandages around my chest. It felt great being able to let the girls out for a breather. Turning on the shower I step in letting the cool water hit my skin.

Suddenly a knock came from the door. "Hey Jimin are you okay? You've been in there for a while." It was Hoseok.

"Just a second." I turn off the shower, change into the PJ's realizing I only had one pair of underwear and they were used.

Another knock came from the door, I had no choice but to put them on.

Disgusting.

Opening the door I saw Hoseok concern expression. "Are you okay?"

"Me? Yeah I'm okay."

"You sure you've been acting strange today."

"I'm okay Hoseok really I am. I went to the doctors they said that nothings wrong with me." I lied " Now excuse me I'm going to bed night Hoseok."

"Night Jimin."

[padawansuggest]

Space Grinder has a historic log of Palpatine asking guys if they top and how much they weigh under a catfish account and that’s how they REALLY found the progenitor for the clones. Jango’s biggest flaw was thirsting for a catfish using Obi-Wan’s picture and that’s all there really was to it. Meeting Obi on Kamino made the man’s head spin and he entered a dissociative episode only to wake up six days later in the Jedi temple with a wedding ring on his left hand and a gaggle of toddlers squished between him and the pretty Jedi. Wtf.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 6: Blind Sister Saga Continues

It’s tourney season, and wisely, Kaiba decided that just one human catastrophe from the Yugi crew would be plenty enough for gambling the lives of everyone on Earth with. Long story short, Joey awoke that morning and saw no invite on his doorstep.

Really wish we got to see what those invites looked like. Did Kaiba write them on creative stationary that folds into a weird shape? Did he have little stickers? Did he employ Jelly pens? Were they the type of jelly pen where you have to erase it to make a two-toned silver/purple ink pattern? Confetti? He’s definitely the type of Chaotic Neutral that would mail confetti.

There’s some timeline issues here--Mai and everyone else was there for the announcement in Domino’s Time Square because they got an invite to this tourney, but Yugi didn’t have one yet? Yugi, the only person Kaiba truly wants to compete with? Yugi learned about this tourney from a psychic who just spends her day spooking people who visit her museum?

Maybe Grandpa just forgot to check the mail that day? Or maybe...just maybe Grandpa is a little freaked out by mail these days and just never checks it at all?

Seeing that Yugi’s going to throw himself at the wolves again, Joey decides to enlist anyway, since Yugi will actually very seriously surely die without his friend’s constant attention.

So, they march down to the nearest “I Swear This is Not a Weapon” card-rig dispensary to get their paperwork filled out. Considering how quickly and how forcefully these things just shoot out holographic cameras at head-height, you’d think you’d need to register for it and get a special license like you would a sidearm.

(read more under the cut)

They talk so casually about this and it’s like...ok are we going somewhere?

Nope. Whenever the slightest guise of romance enters the scene, cards are here to slap that right off that plate that we never actually ordered. Even cards are there to cock block this 3 way the writers just have no idea what to do with.

Anyway, this outfit lives here.

Turns out that in the week or so that Kaiba spent putting this all together, he did some digging and made profiles for everyone already. Kinda what happened to me with Myspace, just being honest. I was just trying to get Boba one day when this one girl I distantly knew from High School was like “Why aren’t we friends on Myspace.” and I told her “because I have Facebook” and then before, my drink even got into my hands I had a profile. I only became friends with Tom, her, and this one guy from college I was in love with who’s Myspace played the anchorman version of “Afternoon delight” really loudly and you could not turn it off because it was hidden somewhere on the page. I look back on it now and realized just him having a Myspace years after Facebook existed was a red flag in itself, but hindsight’s 20/20. Anyway, back to Yugioh:

And so, bam, They toss a box at Yugi that is about 3/4 the size of Yugi himself. Kaiba didn’t make an XS version for the only person in this tourney he actually wants to fight?

Kaiba decides, when making Joey’s profile, to give him a 1-star rating, which kicked him out of the competition. But, this guy in the butcher outfit, the glasses, and the...bandana...sees Joey’s red-black dragon or whatever it’s called and decides it’s rare enough to Rare Hunt.

They legit say “My hard drive malfunctioned” PS. Lol what???

Why does he need to duel Joey? I mean I guess Joey is kinda strong and hard to take 1-on-1? Anyways, so despite Kaiba’s good intentions to get Joey out of this competition so Joey can spend some much needed time with his sister he hasn’t seen in 7 years, Joey gets in anyway.

I forget sometimes that Joey has this long sprawling teen soap opera story that just clashes so much with the magical altered history apocalypse story, it’s hard to believe it’s in the same show--and not just that--but that it’s a side-story in the same show that we hear about but don’t actually get to see.

This was just so funny to me, that he’s like “I will be there for my sister’s surgery!” and then--immediately--out of no where these three guys in robes pop out and it’s like lol, why would you need 3 grown men on one kid!? This ridiculous show.

And not just that, but they beat him with the card that Yugi used in Episode 1 that was so OP that Weevil tossed it into the ocean. And not just that but this guy has like 3 versions of it. Freakin Exodia is more than half of his deck.

I mean Episode 1 was a long time ago but Kaiba sure made a big fuss about how no one has ever played an Exodia ever in the history of mankind but here we are.

Anyway, the soap continues and we actually get to see Serenity. Y’all I was serious when I said I didn’t think this girl was real but, man--she exists and also is...kind of weird. Because her brother doesn’t show, she’s locked herself in a hospital room--a hospital that has locks on the rooms? I mean, girl your brother paid for this 3 million dollar surgery, what are you on about him not being there for you?

First off--Nice job forgetting she’s not a Wheeler anymore, Yugi, it’s not like she’s had a very rocky divorce of the past 7 years or anything.

Second off--Does anyone in this universe call the police!?

TRISTAN CAN DRIVE!?

So I guess these kids are 16 now?

I’m not even joking--it was at the abandoned warehouses, that Tristan drives by going “I FOUND HIM” and then drags Joey to the hospital looking like this.

This story line is so Daytime Kid’s TV One Tree Hill I’m expecting a golden retriever to run up and just devour one of Serenity’s eye transplants.

Anyway, so Serenity is so mad at her brother she won’t come out until he makes this big old speech for her--and it’s a fine speech and all--but like...girl he was left out to die last night??? Can a doctor please get his hands on Joey.

Ah, it’s been a full season, but it looks like Serenity is finally going to get those eyes.

I think. Maybe the rest of this season will be side-plots of Serenity just postponing her surgery over and over again.

Anyway, Next week, on Yugioh:

So does Tristan just bring that motorcycle with him everywhere now? Will we ever see Joey’s Mom ever again? (I’m guessing no because that hair is too normal) And does this dueling disk even fit Yugi or does he have to put it on his leg?

[staytheb]

Formal

Pairing: SKZ’s Chan x OC [Jyongri] || SKZ’s Hyunjin x OC [Nayoung] Genre: school!au, slice of life, slight fluff Word Count: 3,649 Summary: Chan and Hyunjin find out that their crushes like them back, but Jyongri and Nayoung don’t plan on confirming this and run away instead.

Warning: none... i think. maybe swear words. i honestly forgot. lol

yeah, bang chan pops up a lot. lol other than that, my sister does have a top 3, but still leaves me wondering who i should write her with. lol as for the title it’s another double meaning. Formal as in Winter Formal which is like a dance and then the other Formal of being recognized and validated. lol i hope that makes sense, but anyways, happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

revised. 9.10.20

"Just confess already." Jyongri told Nayoung as the duo were outside the dance room.

"I'll confess if you confess, too." Nayoung countered.

The two best friends were hanging out after school and stopped by the dance room to see the people inside dancing. More in particular it was so that Nayoung could watch her crush from a distance while he danced with his seven friends.

"You're the one that's way more obvious than me." Jyongri remarked. "Besides I think Chan's dating Sana so there's no point in confessing to him."

"They're not together."

"How do you know?"

"Jisung." Nayoung smirked.

"I don't trust anything that comes out of that squirrel's mouth."

"Don't be mean. He doesn't look that much like a squirrel."

"Have you seen his mouth full of food?"

"No."

"Just wait until you do."

"Whatever. Anyways, if you confess to Chan, then I'll confess to Hyunjin."

"I already told you I won't confess because he's already dating someone else."

"I just told you that Jisung said that they weren't."

"And I ain't gonna trust shit from that damn idiot."

In the midst of their bantering the best friends didn't notice the door opening revealing two people.

"Oh, hey. Are you guys here to see me?" Minho asked with a smirk.

"No." The girls chorused as Changbin laughed. "They're probably here for you know who, Minho."

"No we're not." They chimed once again at the same time.

"Oh really?" Minho mused before smirking wider. "We're taking a break and so have time to hangout."

"No thanks." Nayoung answered as Jyongri agreed. "Yeah. We're good."

"Oh, yeah?" Minho confirmed with a mischievous expression. "So you won't do anything if I tell them that you like them?"

"No." The girls deadpanned with a neutral expression not believing the male.

"Okay! Changbin, help me!"

Changbin took a hold of Jyongri while Minho took a hold of Nayoung and the boys pulled the girls inside the dance room with them.

"Hey, Hyunjin! Nayoung likes you!" Minho exclaimed mischievously as Changbin did the same thing. "And Chan, Jyongri likes you!"

"Minho's just joking! Don't listen to him!" Nayoung denied as she pulled her arm from his grip.

"Yeah, Changbin's doesn't know what he's talking about either." Jyongri added with a laugh while pushing Changbin away from her. "Uh, bye!"

Jyongri ran out of the room leaving Nayoung behind.

"This girl." Nayoung muttered before feeling Minho's elbowing her side. "What?"

"Hyunjin's coming this way."

"I hate you."

Nayoung shoved Minho away, too, as she high-tail out of the room just like Jyongri.

"Aww, this time I thought you two would actually get their confession." Jisung said with a pout. "I had such high hopes."

"Hmm, I mean, the girls don't have to confess. These two could just do it, too." Jeongin suggested while looking at his friends. "Right?"

"They could, but it depends if these two have the courage to do so." Seungmin said while pointing at Chan and Hyunjin with a smile.

"Was this like some big secret that you're all telling us this stuff now?" Chan asked while looking at his friends. "Because I hope it's not a joke."

"It's not a joke, Chan." Jisung replied. "Those two have a crush on you guys since forever, but they're in denial and just play it off as y'all being cute even as friends."

"Yeah, I have to agree." Changbin confirmed with a nod. "It's kinda weird."

"Well, it's not like we'll be able to find them now since they ran off." Hyunjin reasoned with a shrug. "There's no point in chasing them if they ran off in the first place."

"Jyongri's usually spends a lot of time in the library even during her free time. She probably hiding over there since I think she thinks that Chan isn't the reading type because of his athleticism." Seungmin informed the group with a laugh. "It's kinda stereotypical, but she mentioned it this one time when she had to do a project with this girl, but the girl kept making excuses about basketball practices."

"I go to the library, some times." Chan pouted, but no one agreed or disagree with him as they just laughed instead.

"And Nayoung's probably at 3RACHA since she helps run the store with Ms. Ahn." Felix added. "I know she's always there during lunch time since she's the main person that runs 3RACHA when Ms. Ahn isn't there."

"Good. Maybe you guys can ask them out for Winter Formal." Minho smiled. "Now go before I ask them instead to make the both of y'all jealous."

"Actually, I have a plan or two that can make it a little more fun." Jisung smiled wide as his eyes sparkled.

~~~~~~~~

Jyongri did go to the library. She was on the second floor finishing her homework before going home. Jyongri would have done it at home, but she was always interrupted by her niece ever since her older brother and sister-in-law separated since the summer and her brother had custody of the child. She was in the midst of a math problem when she heard the two chairs besides her scraped against the floor and she looked up to see two of her friends, Yugyeom and BamBam.

"Um, what are you guys doing here?" Jyongri asked them with a suspicious look.

"Can't we come to the library and read, Riri?" BamBam asked with a hurt face as Jyongri rolled her eyes before answering. "Y'all don't even read and I'm surprised you even found me up here."

"Well, it's not hard to miss that blonde and pink hair of yours." Yugyeom reasoned with a laugh before pouting. "And we know how to navigate the school. The library is just as important."

"Mmhmm." Jyongri closed her books while putting them away and speaking at the same time. "So, what do you guys want from me?"

"We need you to settle a bet between the two of us." The males chorused as she cast them a suspicious look. "Why me?"

"Because you're unbiased and the only one that's free." Yugyeom reasoned.

"No, I'm not. I was finishing homework."

"You can do that at home. That's why it's homework." BamBam stated.

"Doesn't matter." Jyongri dismissed them. "What kind of bet is it?"

"You have to judge us on our basketball skills at the gym." BamBam informed her and Jyongri scoffed. "Y'all don't even play basketball. Heck, y'all don't even play any type of sports. So why would you guys make a bet about that?"

"If I win, BamBam has to buy me all of the Chris Brown's album." Yugyeom said as BamBam added his. "And if I win, then Yugyeom has to buy me two pet cats."

"Y'all are stupid with your bets."

"If you come, then we'll buy you any bubble tea drink you want for the rest of the school year." Both males suggested as Jyongri contemplated the idea.

~~~~~~~~

"Thanks for being such a dear, Nayoung." Ms. Ahn thanked her student as Nayoung was putting away the last bits of the supplies in their respective places.

"No worries, Ms. Ahn. I love to help out 3RACHA." Nayoung said with a smile. "It'll definitely help me out when I go to college and major in business."

"Lovely. I'll make sure to put in a good word so just let me know."

"Will do! Is there anything else you would like me to do before I go?"

"Just organize everything and make sure everything's ready for tomorrow. I'll be back after a market run. I forgot to pick up some more muffins and cup noodles. Don't worry about locking up. I'll make sure to do that as I leave in a bit." Ms. Ahn informed Nayoung as Nayoung gave her the OK sign.

While Nayoung's back was to the door she didn't notice that another student, Chanyoung, had slipped into the classroom just as Ms. Ahn was leaving it at the same time. She greeted the male student before leaving and Chanyoung quietly creeped up behind Nayoung.

"Boo!" Chanyoung scared Nayoung as she jerked forward before turning around to smack whoever had spook her.

"Ahh, Chanyoung! You're so annoying." Nayoung commented as the male just laughed at her reaction.

Nayoung smacked him until he finally backed away from her and quieted down his laughter.

"Why are you here, Chanyoung?" Nayoung asked him as she went back to finish what she was doing.

Chanyoung stood to the side of her so that he could still be in her line of sight before asking her a question. "Did you forget what today was?"

"It's a Wednesday."

"Yes, but you were supposed to watch me practice my dance routine."

"When did I say that?"

"Last week."

"I don't remember."

"I messaged you about it and you said you would come."

"Probably missed it."

"Wow. What a great friend you are."

"I know right. Besides, don't you have your other friends to watch you? Like Jeongseung or Dylan?"

"Nah. They have their own thing to do today."

"Why do I need to watch you today, anyways? Can't I like do it tomorrow?"

"No. Because I'll be performing it in dance class and so there's no use for you to watch me tomorrow."

"Oh, I see."

"So, will you or not?" Chanyoung asked once again before a knowing smile graced his lips. "Or do I gotta convince you with food?"

~~~~~~~~

Jyongri agreed to help Yugyeom and BamBam as a boba a day was worth it. It wasn't until she got shoved into the gym and locked in by her two friends as she thought she was supposed to help them with their bet. She tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. She knew they were holding it in place so that she couldn't get out.

"I knew it was a set-up. Why did I second guess my gut feeling? Ugh, this is what happens when you're easily bribed by yummy goodness." Jyongri grumbled as she turned away from the door and scanned the empty gym except for several basketballs scattered about the court.

Jyongri tried again to open the doors, but no use and so headed towards the balls instead knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to leave although she wondered why there was only two doors to exit the gym and not several more like she's seen in other places. Jyongri dumped her backpack by one of the bleachers and went to observed the balls since they should have been cleaned up and put on the rack instead of laying about. Might as well shoot some hoops while she was stuck in the gym until they decided to let her leave. When she picked up one she noticed that there was some markings on it and realized that someone had written on it.

"A question mark?" Jyongri said with furrowed eyebrows before glancing at another ball and walked towards it, picked it up, and read the word on it. "To."

"I swear, if this is another trick, BamBam and Yugyeom are gonna wish they didn't send me here." Jyongri mumbled although she was low-key curious as to what the sentence would be once she figured it out.

Soon enough she began to gathered the other six balls, read each word on them, and then started rearranging them to make a question that would make sense. When she was done within several minutes did she take a few steps back to admire her work and read out the words on the basketballs out loud.

"Will you go to formal with me?"

"Yes or no?"

Jyongri heard a male voice suddenly asked from behind her. When Jyongri turned around she came face to face with Chan who was holding a basketball in each hand with 'yes' written on one and the other written with 'no'.

"Ahh, so this is the real reason." Jyongri said with an awkward laugh before looking up to hide any embarrassment that might have surfaced upon her face while muttering the last bits to herself. "Those two will suffer for setting me up though."

"Um, yeah." Chan confirmed with a sheepish laugh before apologizing. "Sorry about BamBam and Yugyeom. I asked them to help me with this since Jisung was the one that came up with this idea."

"Of course, Jisung would be involved, too." She said with a shake of her head before she muttered the last bit more to herself. "That nosy and busy-body squirrel."

"So will that be a yes or no?" Chan asked while feeling a bit unsteady as Jyongri hadn't given him an answer yet.

"Do you have one that says maybe on it?" Jyongri asked hopefully although she wasn't sure why she was running away from this since it seemed her crush liked her back, too.

"Sorry, no. I do not." Chan laughed before letting out a sad and heavy sigh. "You can just say no, Jyongri. You don't have to go with me to formal just because I asked you by kinda trapping you in the gym to do so."

"No, Chan, it's not that. I do want to go to formal with you, but it's weird how this just came to be." Jyongri admitted with a shy look. "That's all."

"Oh, so that's a yes?" Chan held up his right hand that had the ball with 'yes' written on it.

Jyongri was about to deny it, but realized that she had just admitted her feelings to her crush just a few seconds ago. It finally clicked that he wanted to go to formal with her even though the way he asked her was somewhat of a set-up. Anyways, Jyongri nodded in confirmation as Chan let out a quiet yes while tossing the ball in his left hand behind him. He dribbled the ball in his right hand while coolly walking closer to Jyongri and when he reached her he coolly shot the ball towards the hoop, but it hit the rim and bounced out of bounds instead.

"Smooth, Chan, very smooth." Jyongri teased as Chan faced her like nothing had happened with the ball. "I hope that even though you didn't make the shot, you're still gonna take me to formal, right?"

"Why thank you, Jyongri, and yes I still wanna take you to formal." He thanked her with a wide grin before it turned into a sheepish look a second later. "Now that we're still gonna go to formal together I have to confess something."

"What's that?"

"I like you." Chan confessed with an adorable expression on his face.

"So Nayoung was right that you weren't dating Sana."

"No, we're not dating. We're just friends."

"Alright, embarrassing, but whatever." Jyongri rolled her eyes at her own dumb self before giving Chan a shy look. "Since you already said it, I like you, too, Chan."

Chan let out a relieved breath while making a fist in a victory like pose.

"Okay, good. Because it would haven totally been awkward if you said no and if you didn't like me back. I really thought the boys were messing with me."

"Well, now you know the truth. I'll see you tomorrow because I'm gonna go home."

"How about I walk with you home?"

"You live on this side of town so there's no point in you double tracking."

"What if I don't mind double tracking?"

"What if I just don't want you to walk me home?"

"Then, I'll be sad, but respect your decisions."

"You're sweet."

"Uh, thanks?"

Chan said in a questioningly like tone as Jyongri let out a chuckle before remembering the basketballs.

"Um, you won't get in trouble for destroying school property, right?"

She indicated at the balls as Chan looked at them, too.

"Um, maybe a little, but if I just put them away, no one may know who's the real culprit."

"Ohh, I like that idea. Let's hurry and put them away and then you can take me home."

Jyongri suggested while she turned around to began picking up the ball as Chan followed suit.

"I thought you didn't want me to walk you home?"

"I lied, but don't ponder on that too much, just help me put away the balls so that you won't get in trouble and we can't go to formal together."

"Gotcha." Chan obeyed with a laugh as helped Jyongri put away the basketballs.

~~~~~~~~

"Just wait for me here. I forgot something and need it for my performance." Chanyoung informed Nayoung as he opened the door for her to enter. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay." Nayoung replied while entering the dance room.

Not really looking around the room or the person within it, Nayoung sat herself down against the wall and pulled out her phone as she waited for Chanyoung's return. Hyunjin frowned upon being ignored unintentionally by Nayoung as she hadn't noticed him upon entering the room. Although he was standing in the center of the room while carrying a stuffed animal in each hand despite feeling a bit ridiculous as time ticked by.

"What's taking Chanyoung so long to come back?" Nayoung muttered in annoyance as she turned her head to look at the door. "He better not be playing with me."

When Nayoung's eyes actually scanned the room to pass the time she finally noticed the other person in the room. Even though Hyunjin was her crush Nayoung wasn't  gonna let him get away with mad-dogging her. From her position she spoke out to him instead of standing up and going over to him.

"Why are you mean-mugging me?"

"I'm not." Hyunjin responded while trying to fix his expression, but it wasn't working.

"Yeah you are. You're basically glaring at me and I don't know why. What did I ever do to you?"

"Nothing, Nayoung. You didn't do anything." Hyunjin answered with an apologetic expression, before shooting her a look. "And I was not glaring at you."

"Okay, Hyunjin. Whatever you say." Nayoung dismissed the topic and switching to another. "Why are you just standing there and holding stuffed animals?"

"Well, Nayoung, I was gonna ask you to formal, but it seems like you're not interested." Hyunjin said with a heavy sigh as he dropped his hands to his side with the plushies still held tightly in his grip.

"What makes you think I'm not interested?"

"You didn't acknowledged me when you came inside."

"So, basically, you're salty that I didn't notice you and that's why you were mad-dogging me earlier?"

"Yes, I mean no." Hyunjin admitted before correcting himself to seem like it didn't bother him.

Nayoung chuckled at his behavior before realizing something.

"Chanyoung doesn't have a dance thing does he?"

"No." Hyunjin answered with a slight smile.

"Which means he's not coming back, right?"

"Yes."

"Seriously, y'all play too much."

Nayoung stood up while adjusting her backpack onto her back. Hyunjin slightly panicked believing that Nayoung was just gonna leave without giving him an answer and he rushed towards her.

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. I'm just stretching my legs."

Nayoung gave him a weird look while giving him a once over.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just thought you were gonna ignore me again without giving me an answer about formal."

"You never asked me about formal, Hyunjin."

"I thought I did."

"No. You were too busy being salty." Nayoung teased as Hyunjin rolled his eyes before asking her the question. "Will you go to formal with me?"

"Well, that depends. Will I get to keep both of them?" Nayoung asked while pointing at the grey and blue koala plush dolls in his hold.

"If you say, yes, then you can have both." Hyunjin answered with a smile while holding them up and out towards Nayoung.

Upon closer inspection Nayoung tilted her head as they looked quite familiar despite the words 'yes' and 'no' being written on their tummies.

"These look like the ones I've been missing for a few weeks except for the words written on them."

Hyunjin shrugged. "I dunno. Jisung gave them to me earlier."

"That little brat. He was the one that stole them in the first place even when I asked him about it. Wow. He even wrote on them, too! What a brat."

"Well, here you go." Hyunjin smiled returning the stuffed animals to their rightful owner.

"I haven't said yes yet."

"Oh, then should I take them back?"

Hyunjin teased as he took back the plushies and raised them above his head.

"Hey, no fair!" Nayoung exclaimed with a pout as she tried to reach for her toys, but Hyunjin had really long arms despite her own tall height as well.

Hyunjin glanced down at her with a playful look. "Say yes and I'll give it back to you."

"Are you trying to bribe me in going to formal with you?"

"Technically, yes, but I now know that you want to go with me so I'm also trying to get you to confess that you like me, too."

Nayoung stopped trying to reach for her dolls and gave Hyunjin a neutral look.

"Okay, Hyunjin, so I do like you. So what?"

"I like you, too, Nayoung."

"Oh, I see."

She suddenly became shy as Hyunjin laughed, brought down her koala bears, and returned them to her.

"Thanks." Nayoung thanked him before staring at their stomachs. "I wonder how long it'll take to wash out the marker."

"We can find out right now. Mr. Seo should still be in the art room."

"Is this you trying to help me or an excuse to spend more time together?"

"Um, both?"

"That's cute." Nayoung chuckled before handing him the grey koala with the word 'no' on it. "You're responsible for him."

She held up the blue koala with 'yes' on it. "I'll take care of him."

Hyunjin smiled finally getting the answer he wanted.

[steamishot]

Growth

emotionally, i felt the second hardest people to tell about my move are my brother and SIL. i don’t really like discussing my love life with them - and haven’t since i broke up with my last ex. i always felt it was awkward that besides my grandma, no one asked about or brought up how my ex was no longer in the picture. because of this, i felt weird transitioning to/talking about a new guy when the last chapter didn’t necessarily have closure. anyway, last night i cowardly told them via fb messenger that i’m moving.

we had a family gathering today for my late grandfather’s deathday ceremony. my dad also prepared pho. i was dreading the in-person convo with my brother and felt a little shy/submissive when he was asking many questions (gently) about my move in front of my parents. it wasn’t until we took a drive to get boba (where it was just the 3 of us) that i explained i’m moving in with my boyfriend. it’s funny how we’ve been dating for almost 2 years now, and it hasn’t really been mentioned to my family. my brother is very excited for me. he kept asking my parents if they’re interested in going to nyc next year to visit me. he’s normally a homebody and doesn’t like to go out, so it was a big deal that he showed interest in this. 

when my bro first asked my dad his thoughts on my move, he said “she grow. she need to go out and start a family”. my SIL prompted my bro to ask me if i wanted a moving out gift. i said sure, you can buy me a TV lol. (after some thought, i’m thinking maybe a dyson vacuum or some furniture is more practical).

even though opening up was challenging for me to do, i feel so much more relieved after doing so. i’m happy that my brother is excited for me - because for once, it seems like i’m finally doing something worthy of talking about. the last few years, the limelight was mostly on him and his wife - dating for the first time, getting engaged, moving into a new apt, going to cambodia, cambodia wedding, LA wedding, buying a house, now pregnant - whereas my life seemed a little stagnant and on the supporting lines instead. i like that my brother is on board with my move, because it also helps my mom cope and be less paranoid.

- adulting things: gonna officially sign our lease tomorrow. will have to get renter’s insurance and sign up for internet. i’ll have to pay my car registration fees and cancel my auto insurance. 

- gona start packing/cleaning out my room to make it fit for my bro and sis and their baby girl. it’ll be a nice spacious area for my SIL to breastfeed/pump milk and such, and for them to rest/baby to sleep. i finally changed out my bedsheets from “hospital blue” to white and now it looks aesthetic. 

- had a whole day date with E yesterday, whom i haven’t seen since last november. we haven’t really talked much until quarantine, when i felt like she started putting more effort into our friendship, with lengthier texts and genuine concern in her tone. she just went through a “breakup” from a relationship that started in quarantine and ended a few weeks after, so she was quite sad. the hangout felt kinda like a therapy session and i was drained after lol. she gave me 4-5 XS leggings from fabletics - she gets sample clothing from their warehouse but they didn’t fit me. 

- steph stopped by my house today. i haven’t seen her since the start of quarantine either and missed her. i ended up regifting the fabletics leggings to her and she loves them. my dad invited her into our house, and my whole family was there just sitting around and chatting (the convo was mostly between her and my dad though). they talked about house renovations. she is the first non-family guest that we had in our house chit chatting since quarantine started! 

- been consistently running with my DPT friend D. she finally takes her board exam next thursday, and will have more free time to train after that. in our last meeting, we decided to use the last month that i’m here to train for a 10k and run a 10k as our last hurrah. 

[elasticrhythms]

Get to know the Artists: Q&A With the rising Talent Arnold & Lane on their new forward-thinking Juke EP 'Walk Wit Me’ on Elastic Rhythms

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Arnold & Lane 

- Arnold Sallan and Taylor Lane (Arnold & Lane) have teamed up as a collaborative house music duo for a number of years, rising their way to the top of the dance music food chain with a unique bounce and a flavorous signature style to their sound. Now these two are bringing forth to the world an entirely different take on their sound elasticity with an EP that’s out of this world... ‘WALK WIT ME’ (EP) features 3 Original Juke/Ghettotech/Footwork records, and will be out on Elastic Rhythms August 14th, 2020 on all available digital platforms worldwide. We decided to ask them a few questions to get to know them better, and here’s what they said:

_______________________________________________________________________

1. What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?

A: By trying to make new music every week, and taking breaks when not feeling creative. I don’t like forcing the process. Usually when I’m trying to write a song if the bulk of the track doesn’t get 70% done in the first session, then it’s usually gone with the wind. The track should write itself if it’s meant to be.

L: This project was actually a breath of fresh air. The ability to clear the palette of house music and step into a different genre provoked a new sense of inspiration and interest. Oftentimes we will experiment with different genres to keep the creative juices flowing. In other aspects, I will put emphasis on getting outside to enjoy different activities. All the while, I'll be building up steam and motivation to make beats.

2. What is the best advice that you have been given?

A:  I remember someone telling me that doing what we’re doing with music is a privilege and a gift. Remain grateful for this journey because a lot of people don’t have the opportunity or means to make music and pursue this career.

L: As cliche as it sounds, I've been told to "never give up" and "keep following your dreams". Many times I've contemplated giving up the creative process with music to focus on more practical things. I even took a two year hiatus, with the impression that I wouldn't make music again. I keep going because it's what I love, and if I didn't I surely wouldn't be as happy as I am today.

3. What advice would you have given yourself 5 years ago?

A: To not compare your successes to other people’s and to remain grateful about where you’re at. It’s not a good headspace when you’re thinking “If only we’re as big as so and so and then everything will be fine”.

L: I would have probably told myself to get proper promo shots before signing my first track. Or to plan out a complete outline of branding before releasing music. But I wouldn't have listened to myself anyways...

4. What is your favorite late night studio snack?

A: In n out or boba. I feel like those are the two that Taylor and I will get on a consistent basis. If we’re celebrating then we might hit up dog haus. Try the hangover burger. It's fire.

L: Boba. I work better on an empty stomach.

5. What in your personal life has influenced you to choose your music career?

A: Probably the fact that a normal conventional day job doesn’t bring me much happiness. and the most fun I have came from making beats and performing. Been writing/performing music for most of my life and that’s really the only thing that gives me a sense of purpose.

L: My Dad has always been a huge music enthusiast. He would drill me with timeless classic tunes while driving. He nurtured an exciting love for music. Also becoming a professional disc jockey/mobile DJ at 16 inspired a career in music. When I started, the DJ was celebrated and appreciated much more. As technology advanced, deejaying was more accessible and soon everyone and their brother/sister was deejaying. It wasn't special anymore. I soon realized that the next step to gain respect for the art of music was producing..

6. How harshly do you critique your own work?

A: I think it really depends. Usually in the moment of making a track, I'll be pretty pumped on it at first. But after a few listens a week or two or a month later, I can find myself doubting it or straight up thinking it’s dog shit. It really depends. For whatever reason, the tracks we think are trash end up resonating more with the listeners. . it’s a weird push pull cycle.

L: I used to be more critical of myself. Hence why I didn't sign a tune until I was around 27 years old. The moment I let go and began to send my music out regardless of it being perfect, I soon got results and was able to grow as an artist. I still suffer from harshly critiquing and comparing myself to others negatively and getting stuck on a mixdown driving myself mad. But I've learned to trust in my work more as I've matured as an artist.

7. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

A: Well ideally? I would like to see us touring and making music as our only sense of income.

L: Making a living off music, and touring the world. Or scraping by... But I'll rest satisfaction with the first answer.

8. How would you like to be remembered?

A: As good respectable dudes who consistently dropped bangers.

L: I would like to be remembered for my music contributions and making the world a teeny bit better with my existence. As a good son, brother, and friend.

9. If you had to live in a different country, which one would you choose?

A: Probably England or Canada (because of the free healthcare). I know it’s not a different country but I would really love to live in New York City at some point in my life.

L: Either somewhere tropical on the beach where the waves are abundant. Or Berlin, where there is an abundance of forward thinking music and culture.

10. If you were our President, what would be the first thing you’d do?

A: Do what i can to put an end to our racist police system and bring the truth about extraterrestrial life to the general public.

L: End corrupt systems, and corporate america. Put limitations on capitalism so wealth is spread more evenly. Re-design our education system. Save rainforests and shit.

11. Analog or Digital? and why?

A: As much as I would love to say analog, I would have to go with digital because it’s what we use in the studio on a regular basis. I love fiddling around with analog gear, but have always found it difficult integrating it into the workflow. Vinyl sounds better than digital tho 100percent.

L: Digital because I ain't rich yet. Digital is more accessible and has enabled me to participate in music. One day, I will spoil myself with the wonders of analog.

12. If you could sit in on any production session, who would it be with? And why?

A: I would love to sit in with Walker & Royce. Their sound design and drum sounds are something that blow my mind on a consistent basis and I NEED TO KNOW HOW THEY DO IT.

L: I would probably sit in on Geode, Commodo, Walker & Royce, Tipper, Tiga, SOPHIE, Pharrell, Woulg, and Steely Dan's sessions. Because they continue to blow my mind with their production.

THANK YOU ARNOLD & LANE <3 

- WALK WIT ME (EP) OUT EVERYWHERE 08.14.20. -

@ElasticRhythms

[feyreofthewildfire]

We’ll Go Together - Chapter 11

Hello lovelies!

1) Before we even start I’m going to share a little spoiler: these next few chapters are going to very, very heavily be inspired by ‘It Hurts to Become’ by valamerys. It’s one of my favorite fics in this fandom and I’m going to be pulling a lot from it.

2) Warning: Mild Body Horror

3) I posted something that’s NOT this! It’s a oneshot called Wasteland that I vomited out in one evening. It’s Nessian centric featuring one of my most favorite OCs I’ve ever created. I’d love if you headed over and checked that out once you finish this.

4) Please enjoy!!

Chapter 1

Your voice follows like an echo

Won’t someone wake me from this dream?

The bluest skies turn to black clouds

And the wind is drowning out my screams

Mor just wants answers.

The bouts of visions have become more consistent, more harrowing since she met with Feyre and the other version of her cousin. She’ll see something—like a red dress or deep blue gems—and be assaulted by what Feyre’s told her to be memories of another life. The jilted, inconsistent explanations her best friend texts her almost make sense, but so many pieces are missing and she doesn’t know how to go on without at the very least looking for them.

It’s the reason she’s in the baggage claim of an airport in a city she’s never been to, attempting to use the high-tech vending machine to get herself one goddamn drink. She just wants a lemonade. It shouldn’t be so hard. Eventually, the bottle falls into the slot after the machine’s sucked away four and a half of her dollars—an utterly ridiculous amount for a single bottle of lemonade.  

The taste is just as unsatisfactory as the flight had been, she decides as she texts Feyre. They’re trying to figure out a place to meet, but neither of them knows the Twin Cities well. They eventually agree to meet at a Thai place in St. Paul that the Cassian she had yet to meet had apparently mentioned once. From the distance, she knows that the cab fare will be astronomical, but dammit, she wants a bowl of pho.

It’s just over a twenty-minute drive when the cab pulls up to the restaurant. It’s a small, obviously local establishment that excites her. She strolls into the place, the chimes twinkling above the door as she does, and immediately spots Feyre and Rhys sitting in a booth on the same side, hands intertwined and speaking lowly to each other.

Thank the lord. The eye-fucking they’d been doing a week ago had been too much for her—especially between her best friend and the guy that was some sort of reincarnation of her dead cousin.

She gives a small wave to the hostess and sits on the opposite side of the booth, not missing the way the both of them back away but don’t detach. In fact, the grip only tightens. “I missed you,” She smiles, directing it at Feyre. Her eyes fall to the table, lighting with delight. “You got me an iced coffee!” She grins, mixing in the condensed milk with the straw.

Feyre’s smile is tight-lipped, “We haven’t gotten Thai in a while.” She absentmindedly stirs her own drink, the different colored jellies swirling in the coconut milk. Mor resists the urge to cringe—she’s never liked tricolor or boba. She’s always preferred her drinks to be just drinks.

They discuss their new findings, Rhys chiming in every once in awhile when they can’t get a certain memory together. They fill in the timeline Feyre’s been composing in her phone and discuss her sisters.

By the time the food comes—Mor’s steaming bowl of pho, Feyre’s bowl of Kao-poon and Rhys’ plate of papaya salad—a radiant smile the blonde’s never associated with Feyre has bloomed across her face. Rhys almost dies eating the papaya, having specified a few too many peppers, and goes through four glasses of water before his face is anywhere near a normal color again.  

They’re rowdier than a group of teenage boys with no supervision, and Mor is positive that they’re gonna get themselves kicked out—especially when Feyre accidentally elbows Rhys’ boba off the table.  

Then Feyre’s phone rings.

Mor and Rhys are still making jokes and going back and forth, causing the blonde to miss Feyre’s growing look of concern. When the brunette sets her phone down on the table and they both look at her, it’s as if the entire room tenses.

“We have to get to Elain’s hotel room.”

Azriel’s used to pain, but this is new.

It lashes across his back in waves, a strangled, near silent groan escaping him as he’s yanked from his previously peaceful sleep. Somewhere in the background, he can hear the sound of the shower in the hotel room going, and given the fact that the queen bed adjacent to his is empty, he can only assume it’s Elain.

He resists the urge to claw at his bare back and turns onto his stomach, the only sign he’s in any pain being that his fists are white-knuckled around the pillows. He doesn’t even realize he’d using the same breathing method he had used as a child until the bathroom door creaks open and he stops, attempting to center his breaths in an attempt to seem asleep once again.

It fails, of course, when Elain timidly calls his name, concern etched in the word. He can only see the pair of jeans she’s wearing—light wash with rips in the knees, the same ones from the day they’d flown out—when she approaches, laying the back of her hand across his forehead. “What’s wrong?” She frowns, pulling her hand away when she finds no fever, only a thin sheen of sweat.

Her eyes fall onto his back and widen, shock and something akin to horror in them. “Oh my goodness,” She gasps, stumbling back. Her hands fumble for her phone, which had been charging on the nightstand. He shuts his eyes with the pain, no longer trying to hide it now that she’s noticed. He makes out snippets of the conversation, though not enough to realize who she’s talking to.

He hears her set the phone down and feels the bed bend when she sits on it. He cracks his eyes open to stare at her, noting that her hair is still wet and without any flowers in it. His eyes shut once again when she starts to comb her fingers through his short hair, the soothing gesture a nice distraction from the pain.

She starts to speak to him and he forces himself to focus long enough to process what she’s saying. “Rhys and Feyre are coming. They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

He nods once, another wave of pain washing over him.

“You get them in and out again, shadowsinger. I don’t care how many of them you have to kill to do it. They both come out.”

“I swear it, High Lord.”

He recognizes his own voice in the answer, though it’s colder—a hard determination laced in the words that he doesn’t recognize. He doesn’t recognize the formal words nor the title he’s addressed with. At least, not at first.

Shadowsinger.

A bell rings within him, a big blinking sign going off that proclaims ‘LOOK HERE’. He can’t tell where it points, only that it’s to the scattered pieces of what he now knows to be memories he’s been carefully gathering and sorting through with Elain the past day or so.

“Grab onto him!”

It’s Elain’s voice, commanding and filled with desperation.

“If you want to live, do it now!”

He manages to tear himself away long enough to hear Elain talking to Rhys, desperately asking his brother what was happening. He feels Rhys’ hands on his back, a warmth radiating from them as he runs them over his skin in a clinical fashion. He sees Feyre’s silhouette and another person with tumbling blonde hair. If he had still believed in them, he would’ve thought her an angel.

He has wings. Something’s clawed through them. He’s carrying two people—Elain and a young girl—and flying. The only thing keeping him from falling is pure will and some sort of magic. It hurts. It doesn’t hurt as much as the thought of what he knows will happen if he fails.

Someone places a hand on his forehead, a warmth different from the one on his back emanating off of it.

He tumbles off into sleep, plagued by perverted nightmares.

Or memories. He can’t tell the difference anymore.

Cassian can’t breathe.

The threadbare apartment he technically presides in hasn’t been occupied in months. He’d been spending all his time at the mansion, protecting Nesta.

The remembrance of her name makes the pain worse.

He claws the soft t-shirt he’d thrown on earlier off of him, launching it somewhere across the room before reaching around his back, trying to find the source of the pain. It emanates from just underneath his shoulder blades, the skin pulsing as if it’s about to pulse open.

His searching hands find something that most definitely shouldn’t be there.

Two bumps, roughly half the length of his spine, protrude from just beside it. He can almost feel whatever’s in them moving and forming, utterly unnatural and not of this world. His first instinct is to call Nesta, only for him to quickly throw that option out the window. His second thought is to call Rhiannon, but his foster sister doesn’t need to know that his life has turned into a poorly plotted TV show with sudden, unexplained magic and a weird chick who holds all the knowledge.

Amren.

He’s only met her twice, maybe another time, but she’s the only one besides Feyre who seems to be willing to tell anyone what’s happening. He supposes that he could also call Rhysand, but he’s not sure if he wants to confront his brother with this.

When had he started referring to the stranger as his brother?

The thought quickly washes away with the rest of him as another wave of pain carries over him. His training from the military is the only thing that gives him the ability to even get out of bed and grab his phone, dialing the new contact that the silver-eyed woman had forcefully put in a few days before.

She answers with a curt, annoyed What? before he starts spitting out obscenities and attempts at describing the pain he’s in. She asks a few questions and he attempts to answer them before she swears—the filthiest thing he’s ever heard, which is quite a feat—and hangs up.

Not even a moment later he can hear his front door snap open, alarming him enough that the burst of adrenaline overrides the pain and allows him to move into the hall. It’s only Amren, having somehow appeared out of nowhere, though he’s in no position to ask how when he doubles over again.

She mumbles something under her breath that he doesn’t comprehend before lifting one of his arms over her shoulder and, in an alarming show of strength, drags him out onto the untouched, still new couch and unceremoniously drops him on it, stomach down.

 When she places her hands on his back Cassian nearly turns over and restrains her wrists out of pure instinct, only for her to bat him away like a child and return her hands to where she had originally placed them—directly over the bumps.  She pushes and prods at them with clinical efficiency and complete disregard for his comfort.

“You’re growing wings.” She announces, backing away and perching herself on the coffee table. “You’ll truly be the same bastard from before again soon enough.”

“What?” He spits out, turning to face her. “Wings?”

“Yes, wings.” She deadpans, obviously not amused. “You weren’t born with them this time, so you get to grow them. I’ll have the Emissary come over to watch you once she’s been discharged.”

He’s not sure what she means by Emissary, but he can tell she’s talking about Nesta. “No. Don’t.” He can only get out a few words at a time with the pain. “Just… grab me some pain—” He has to grit his teeth with a new wave, “—painkillers.”

“Suit yourself.” She states as a bottle of said painkillers stutters slowly into existence beside her. He pretends not to notice the bead of sweat that drips down her temple. “Call if you need anything.”

With that she breezes out of the room, leaving as if she had never been there. He can almost hear his teeth grinding together as he reaches over to grab the bottle, cracking it open and chucking two of the pills in his mouth.

He shuts the bottle and drops it onto the carpet, resting his brow on his forearm. His eyes flutter shut with the pain. A groan does escape his lips this time.

“I have no regrets in this life, but this. That I did not have that time with you, Nesta.”

“I will find you again in the next world—the next life. And we will have that time. I promise.”

His eyes snap open, the memory barreling over him.

He had still loved her; even in another life, another time.

The thought is enough to make him close his eyes, willing sleep to take him once again.

It doesn’t, of course.

He’s not sure how long he lies there, the box of memories that he’s had since the supposed spell had been cast now thrown open. A life lived five hundred years floods through him—from sleeping in the dirt of the Illyrian training camp to fighting in the First War, from leading the armies to brawling with his brother in the mud after he’d returned from his romantic cabin getaway, from bickering with Nesta to what he thought would be his last moments with her.

He manages to grab his phone, opening his messages and typing up two. The first is to Feyre, asking to meet with her and Rhys. The second one is to Nesta.

I did promise I’d find you in the next life, sweetheart. We can have that time.

His finger hovers over the send button, hesitant.

In the end, he supposes it doesn’t matter.

Next Chapter