#i can just... unlock whomever i wanna unlock! wow!!

[fisheito]

finally unlocked maid blade's intimacy rooms and i just. i gotta say. i am very pleased. SO VERY pleased. excellent, everywhere, all around, fantastic loved it start to finish (i got a little worried in the middle bc distressed blade gnaws at my sympathetic heart chamber) but now i am filled with new images and new appreciation for big floofy skirts and blade's adorable master-pleasing ways

[tredderwrite]

Bad hair day? ~ Karl Jacobs

Word count: 1.6k

Pairing: cc!Karl Jacobs / gn!reader

Warnings: swearing?? (used once near the end)

a/n: I wanna thank you all so much for the support lately, we will go right back to Techno brainrot after this little story ^-^ !!

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“What are we going for length-wise?” 

The sweet woman stood before you as you sat in your designated salon chair, debating how long you should keep the hair falling on your face, finally ready for a change, something you’ve wanted for a while now.

Your mind kept up a vicious argument against itself, preventing you from making the decision, letting a frown rest on ur face; you turned towards the expert, telling her what you thought, 

“ Surprise me, honestly, do what you think will be the most fun for you.” 

Her eyes widened, her face immediately lighting up at your proposition, and she proceeded to agree, but not before making sure you’d be alright with it. Of course, you were, if you couldn’t make the decision why not just make someone else do it for you right?

Well…

The chair spun in the mirror but not faster than your head when you saw yourself again, a strange anxiety-induced tunnel vision feeling as you stared at the outcome. You didn’t have the right to be angry, every action had its consequence and you put yourself in this situation. Objectively, nothing wrong happened, the hair wasn’t bad, and nobody would have a negative thought about it at first glance, but of course, that wasn’t what you saw, immediately focused on every single mishap happening on your head right now. It wasn’t what you imagined, the only thing that kept you calm was acknowledging the fact that you wanted to be surprised, not able to fully let it go as it was your fault, how were you to know extra layered hair was the most fun a hairdresser can have. 

Immediately switching to a smile you turned your head from side to side a few times, secretly judging it all, at the very least it was the color you wanted. 

“What do you think?” she asked, so innocent and hopeful you didn’t have the heart to actually tell her what you truly felt. 

“Wow,” your brain was scrambling to complete a sentence that wouldn’t hurt any feelings, you ran a hand through your hair, “I love it, it's so… Unique.” Your teeth clenched within ur smile at your last word, as if to barricade the actual feelings you had towards her work at the moment. 

A few last words were said in the time it took to pay for the service and make your way back home. You closed the door to your car slowly, letting out a deep breath, your best attempt to keep your emotions at bay. Slamming your hands on the steering wheel you began your drive, keeping a firm grip on it the whole way home. 

The key turned toward your right as you quickly made your way inside the moment you unlocked, taking notice of a few changes since you left. For one, there was an extra pair of vans neatly put away right before the hall, and a colorful sweater accompanied by a pair of keys on the hangers; he was home. Your mood shifted, the previous experience already fading when you thought about the time you had to spend with him, the joy bubbling up in your chest. 

The living room was vacant, and the kitchen looked so too, your mind leading your body in various directions around the house before finding any other traces he could’ve left. 

You climbed up the stairs, right into the first room you saw, your bedroom, twisting the doorknob to get a peek inside. There he was, seated with his legs crossed over in the very middle of the bed, finishing up a text to whomever he was talking to, waiting for his delayed reaction to you walking in. 

He peaked his head up after a minute or so, eyes fully scanning you in the process all the way from the floor and to your hair, your … hair… 

It took him a second before he realized, though he immediately noticed he couldn’t put his finger on it to save his life, that was until he remembered where you’d been the entire afternoon, thinking about the note you had left for him right before you left for your appointment, leaving him to walk in on an empty house with no trace of you until he checked the kitchen. 

Eyes wide and mouth wide open he shot up from his seat, stumbling forward when his feet hit the floor, racing to close the room-long distance as fast as possible. 

“Your hair!!” he shouted, a smile immediately spread across his face, looking at you like a kid who had just opened their Christmas present. 

Scoffing at his words you ran a hand through your hair, the last thing you needed was to be made aware of how bad you must look right now. “Yeah,” you said with a frown, your eyes scanned the floor as you tried to shake the conversation off, avoiding all reminders of your unhappy little accident. Catching on with your behavior he immediately dropped the subject, seeing how a question or two might affect you negatively since you didn’t seem to love the new look all that much.

To him, it looked gorgeous, he thought it fit you perfectly but he wasn’t willing to say anything if you yourself didn’t bring it up. 

You locked eyes, surging forward and straight into the soft fabric of his shirt, wrapping your arms around him tightly, a deep breath found itself in and out of your lungs. He returned the favor, resting his over your shoulders, you felt a small peck placed on the top of your head. 

“You wanna sit down? We can watch something?” he lifted his head off yours, now replaced by his hand softly patting down your hair. You didn’t say anything only nodding a yes against his chest, he took both your hands in his, sitting down, his back against the headboard as the rest of his body fell before him. His arms were wide open, inviting you in, and you accepted, slinging one leg over his torso as your head rested right below his collarbone.

“Do you want to pick anything?” he asked again, receiving a different movement this time, you didn’t feel like making any decisions, hoping at least he would know what you’d like, so your head shook in a quick no, pushing further into him. 

He put the remote down, observing you for a moment, trying to see if you’d even notice when he didn’t play anything, the Netflix home screen showcasing a preview of whatever current show was most popular with the viewers. You did, questioning the prolonged silence, lasting longer than the usual loading screen time would, lifting your head up in curiosity, turning toward the TV. 

His eyes followed the movement, finally getting you aware of your surroundings, hoping you were now ready to talk to him. 

“What are you doing?” you spoke up, the first sentence you had exchanged with him that day. 

“Talk to me,” he began, sitting up further to look at you straight on, “I know something’s going on.” his voice sounded concerned, almost apologetic but the lift in his eyebrows let you know he already knew what you would say, only waiting for you to confide in him with it.

You began to detail every single thing that had happened since you left, telling him all about the disaster that followed you once you left the house. He never once interrupted, letting you rant on about how much you hated your afternoon. When you were done he took a minute to process your words, feeling his eyes on you the whole time, but he said nothing, pulling you back down to your previous position, changing the topic to try and help take your mind off all that and only focus on your current state. 

Some would say it was dumb, pointless conversation, but to you it was your savior, silently thanking him for trying so hard to cheer you up, talking about anything that came to mind, the chatting built off of every topic, progressing further with no intention to stop, one of the things you loved most about him was the ability to talk for hours no matter the topic.

“You know, I liked that note on the fridge thing, like some messed up game of slenderman.”

He brought up the witty move you pulled on him, finding it quite endearing. But you took notice of his words, deciding to play along with him.

“ Wait are you saying The Fucking Slenderman himself isn’t messed up enough for you?”

You laughed, craning your neck forward you tilted your head at him, an expression of amused disbelief danced across your features delicately.

“ No that’s not-” he paused, cutting himself off, unable to explain why he said what he did, “well …” he paused again, processing what to say next, when a cunning smile spread across his cheeks “he's kinda cute,” he said, at last, shrugging as if to indicate that was common knowledge, waiting for your reaction.

“Karl…” you looked at him, eyes now half-lidded as you held back a smile, trying to hold off on showing him he won. But to no avail, he noticed, laughing at your confusion as you shook your head at him, laughing along at the lengths he would go to make you laugh.

The rest of the evening was spent like that, continuing into multiple detailed discussions, everything from games he had found for you to play together all the way to plans for the following days, any negative emotions you had earlier now slipping away, thankful you had someone like him by your side.

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[sassyshoulderangel319]

Be Alright - A Songfic

(1,682 words) The lyrics are very loosely present... I heard this song twice on the radio today and wanted to get some angst out of my system. @jason-redhood​: this is what I sent you a message about. @jason-todd-squad​: I believe you wanted to be on my JT taglist? @welovegroot​: because you love drama.

“Babe?” Jason called, pushing open the apartment door and setting his motorcycle helmet on the table next to the front door. “Babe, I’m home!”

Hannah was sitting at the kitchen counter with her eyes turned down. Jason looked down. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular. There was nothing on the counter or the floor.

When he looked up from the ground, he realized Hannah’s eyes were sad and brimming with tears. She refused to meet his gaze. “Babe? What’s wrong?” He reached out for her, taking one of her hands in both of his. Her hand was cold. She pulled away from him. “What’s on your mind?”

“There’s... something I have to tell you. I... I made a dumb mistake,” she said, voice breaking. She was shaking. “Those cigarettes on the counter yesterday?”

“Yeah? What about ‘em?”

“They weren’t Lizzie’s. They were Sebastian’s,” she said.

Jason took a step back, color draining from his face. Sebastian was one of Jason’s only non-vigilante friends. They’d been close since their school days at Gotham Academy. “Why... why was Sebastian here? Was I at work?”

Hannah nodded. “He... he was here because...”

Jason cast his eyes to the ground. “Nevermind,” he said. “If it takes you that long to come up with a way to say it, I already know.” 

He reached up and touched her chin. She pulled back. Already moving on. Moving away from him.

“Y’know. It’s not the fact that you kissed him yesterday that hurts,” he said. “It’s the betrayal. That’s gonna be hard to shake.” He knew he needed to walk out right now or risk never leaving, but his heart desperately pleaded with him to stay. He hardened his determination and turned around.

He scooped up his helmet and left the apartment.

“Jay---”

But he pulled the door shut, cutting her off.

He ran back down to his motorcycle, yanking his phone out of his pocket. “Hey. Can you meet me at Edge? I need a DD,” he said as a familiar voice answered.

“I’ll be right there,” the voice said.

***

“So she cheated?” I said, twisting back-and-forth on the barstool at Edge of the Night---Jason’s and my go-to hangout spot when we needed to talk about our troubles.

“That’s what I love about you. Never one to mince words or pull punches,” Jason muttered, knuckles turning white around the bottle of alcohol he’d been clutching for the past five minutes while he told me what happened. “But, basically, yes.”

I nodded. “I know you love her, but it has to be over.”

“But---”

“It doesn’t matter. Put your phone away. Staring at all the texts you two have shared is just going to mess with your head. I know it’s not easy to walk away from this, but you need to let her go. It’ll be alright eventually.”

“Easy for you to say,” Jason mumbled.

“Oh so you’re the only one who’s been cheated on?” I retorted. “It’s happened to me too.”

Jason looked up at me through bloodshot eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. Remember Dean? My boyfriend when we were on the YJ team?”

“Yeah...”

“Yup. He cheated on me. Possibly more than once. I never proved there were multiple though,” I said. “Here. Unlock your phone and hand it to me.”

“Why?” Jason challenged.

I bounced an eyebrow. “Easiest way to deal with a breakup. Block her number.”

“But---”

“Nope. Give it. I’m not deleting anything yet. That’s up to you. I’m just taking the first step.”

With a sigh, Jason passed me the phone. I opened his contacts and blocked Hannah❤️. When he wasn’t looking I also found and blocked Sebastian✌️.

“The past year will be gone when you delete your thread with her,” I said.

“We... we were together for a year,” he said, voice thick with emotion.

I took a swig of my club soda. “I know,” I said, trying for comforting. “It’s gonna hurt for a while.” I tapped his alcohol. “Bottoms up. I get the feeling you want to forget tonight.”

“You have no idea,” Jason said, immediately obeying me and downing the rest of the bottle---of which about half had been remaining.

“Wow. I didn’t mean in one go but okay,” I remarked.

Jason grunted and motioned for the bartender to give him another one. “Lookin’ rough, buddy,” the gruff, grizzled man said.

“I’m driving him home. Let him drink,” I said.

“Cheatin’ girlfriend,” Jason mumbled.

The bartender raised his wildly unkept eyebrows. “Oh. Yeah. That’ll do it.” He handed Jason a smaller glass and filled it with a brown liquid. One I recognized by color---whiskey.

“Mm,” Jason muttered, drinking the whole glass like a shot.

“Jay,” I said gently. “Eventually you’ll find another. One who deserves you and loves you. And you’ll be okay. For now it’s gonna hurt, but when you find her---or him, or them, whomever---it’ll be alright.”

Jason sniffed. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“Nothing heals the past like time,” I said.

“Or whiskey,” Jason said.

“You’ll find the love you were born to find---and no one will take that away from you. Hannah just wasn’t the one,” I continued.

He cleared his throat. “I know.”

“Just let her go. It’ll be okay.”

“Bottom’s up. Let’s forget tonight.” He downed another glass of whiskey. I’d arrived at Edge after he had, so I didn’t know how many drinks he’d had before I got there. He was, as the bartender so astutely pointed out, looking pretty rough.

I didn’t bother pointing out that I was the designated driver and therefore remembering absolutely everything that happened tonight. I was always the designated driver. My powers metabolized alcohol so fast that drinking was pointless so I’d never had any. Jason was too far gone in misery and spirits---both the alcoholic kind and the morale kind---to even think about that right now.

I used my powers to drive my car home from a distance while actually driving Jason’s motorcycle back to my apartment. It was too dark and Gotham’s cops were too useless to see that there wasn’t actually a driver in the car past the headlights. Once I parked both vehicles, I used my powers to supplement my strength as I supported Jason’s stumbling up to my apartment. He was way too out of it to even notice.

After I put a towel on my sofa in case he threw up, I plopped him down on his side so he wouldn’t choke on his own tongue. A glass of water and two mild painkillers were deposited on the coffee table for whenever he woke up.

After ensuring he was situated, I got ready for patrol, calling Bruce as I pulled my suit on.

“What?”

“Hey Bats. If you’re looking for Jason, he’s crashing at my place tonight. Hannah cheated on him. With his friend Sebastian. He didn’t take it well. He won’t be on patrol but I will be.”

“Hrn.”

“What, you’re not gonna thank me for the heads-up?”

“Thank you, Starbeam.”

“You’re welcome, Batman. I’ll see you on patrol.”

“Unlikely. If you did I wouldn’t be doing my job correctly.”

“Fair enough. Be extra-nice to Jason for the next little while. Bye.” I hung up, zipped up my suit, and got ready to swan dive out of my apartment.

***

When Jason came to, the soothing scent of coconut filled his nose. Along with something citrusy that might have been grapefruit. His head was throbbing and his mouth was dry.

He peeled his eyes open.

The apartment wasn’t his---and Hannah’s. But he recognized it.

Starbeam’s.

“Headache,” he mumbled.

“Coffee table,” he heard a familiar voice say.

He sat up---trying to keep his head from throbbing or spinning harder---to see Starbeam in her kitchen, loosely clad in pajamas with wet hair hanging down her back. He turned to the coffee table to see that she’d placed two painkillers and a glass of water on it.

“Thanks,” he said, downing all of it. “How long was I out?”

She glanced at the clock on her stove. “Oh wow. Nearly twelve hours. So a decent night for you.”

“No wonder I feel sluggish.”

“Jay, I need you to promise me something.”

“What?”

“I need you to promise me that you won’t self-destruct over this,” she said.

“Hmph.”

“Jason Peter Todd. Promise me.”

“Promise.”

“Good. You’re going to meet someone who really deserves you, and you have to be ready to accept that person when you do. You can’t spiral down.”

“You said everyone gets cheated on.”

“No, I said you’re not the only one. It always sucks and no one deserves to be cheated on, but I can’t let you destroy yourself over this. Speaking of: you’re not going back to that apartment. I’m gonna go get your stuff.”

“Where am I gonna go, then?”

“You’re welcome to stay here until you figure something else out.” She strolled over with a plate of toast in each hand, passing one to him. The scent of coconut was clinging to her---as was the grapefruit. “I told Bruce you were staying here for the night so don’t be surprised if he calls soon.”

“Great,” Jason muttered.

She glanced at him through her damp hair, that had fallen over her shoulder while she ate her breakfast. “He wants what’s best for you too. His priorities are just a little skewed,” she remarked, taking a bite of toast to punctuate her point.

“That’s an understatement,” Jason muttered.

“So, you wanna stay here?”

“Sure.”

“Good. Just get your head together,” she said. “Give it time to hurt, and then you’ll be alright, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Please. When have I ever been wrong?” she teased. “But, yes. I promise that eventually you’ll feel better. You just have to give it time. The best way to move past feelings is to actually feel them first. And cry. Crying helps regulate the chemicals in your brain. It’s why you feel so normal and stable after a good cry. All the excessive emotion chemicals were washed out with your tears.”

Jason stared at her. “Nerd,” he said.

***

I smiled. He was feeling better already.

[belladonnaandulriched]

the artist | chapter twenty-eight

Lars grumbled to himself as he led Joey and me back up the sidewalk and to the speakeasy. The place stood so close to us, within our line of sight and yet it happened. Even though it was so obvious to me, I hoped that nothing was taken out of there. I hoped that whomever broke in were caught by the fact the door remained unlocked. But then again, we were living in a time in which the pandemic was returning without rhyme or reason: I didn't think they were that smart.

Joey lingered behind me as the three of us walked on back up the street. To think he held me so close to his body back there: his touch was so delicate and gentle, and his body was so warm even being out in the chilly night such as that. I felt his hand on the back of my shoulder as we followed Lars across the street. I wanted to touch him some more, to go back to that safe spot there by the pond and hold him some more. I wanted to tease him some more and mess with him and play with him. He and Lars were my muses after all: every artist should not only have a muse but have a muse they feel comfortable to hang out with when given the chance.

The speakeasy didn't look any different from before, everything down to all of the lights still remaining on, but I had to take Lars' word for it, especially since my parents still had not shown up there and my art was in there, just waiting to be scooped up by slippery hands. His long smooth hair streamed behind him like a curtain.

I wanted to lose myself in that hair, to give it a good whiff when he was sleeping and then play with it after he took a shower. I wanted to paint his wet hair when I found the chance. Wet hair in the shape and form of tentacles spread across a canvas on the floor.

But I need not pay attention to that at the moment: for all I knew, someone could have taken my art. Or taken one thing. But otherwise, someone got in and I should have been told to lock the door.

Lars held the door for both me and Joey. The whole place still smelled of paints and coffee, and yet it remained vacant. He ducked behind us to the bathroom to wash down his hands. Meanwhile, Joey and I stood there in the middle of the floor with our masks over our faces. I turned to him to look at him dead in those brown eyes.

“So what do you think they could'a taken?” he asked me, to which I shrugged.

“No clue. I mean, first of all, why would anyone wanna take from me, of all people?”

“'Cause you're the artist. I'm no artist myself, not like Charlie, no—but when things go to shit, you're both revered and treated like shit. Why? I dunno.”

“That's just from what you've seen, too,” I pointed out; my hands itched to be washed and then soothed over with sanitizer.

“Absolutely. I remember one time back home, when I was in school, there was this artist who lived up the street from me. She was kinda like you, real fiery and wasn't gonna take shit from no one and she had her own style to boot, too. Real cartoony but not like over the top, though. People loved her but I swear to god, if you could take a shot every time she was brought up in conversation in a negative light, you'd probably be dead in about ten minutes. She was a victim of theft, too. The thief who took from her, by the way, said his motif was 'she just seemed clueless.'”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I remember watchin' it on TV at my parents' house once an' my mom was at a complete loss for words.”

Lars surfaced from the bathroom with the smell of soap accompanying him. He peeled off his mask and held it by the straps on one finger.

“It doesn't look like anything was taken,” he remarked, “at least as far as I can tell anyway.”

“Like did you do a run through or something like that?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I saw someone move to the door and I think they saw me because they bounced out of here before I could call them out.”

He gave his hair a toss back over his shoulder.

“Even in this setting, where there is an impending curfew, we must be wary of thieves,” he explained. “They are fearless and merciless. They will resort to anything to ruin your life out of spite. They are selfish and they don't care.”

“In other words, you can find reams of evidence against them and people will still have it out for you,” I followed along.

“Exactly!”

“Wait a minute, there's a curfew now?” Joey stopped him.

“That was what the barista told me in the cafe when I walked past again,” Lars explained, “meaning we need to wash up and call it a night here soon or we could land our asses in jail. You guys can also take off your masks now.”

Joey peeled off his and let his tongue hang out from his mouth like a dog. I did the same and licked my lips: too many times I would wear my mask and it felt like a thick wax had made its way onto the skin there.

“And Chris still isn't back,” Lars added. "It's been longer than an hour, I'll tell you that much. I do sincerely hope Stone is alright."

“What d'you think we oughta do?” Joey asked him as he shifted his weight next to me.

“At the moment?”

“Yeah.” “Joey, remember when you said you'd take those paintings back to upstate New York with you?”

“Yeah. But I was kinda jokin', though, Lars.” He shrugged a little bit.

“It mustn't be a joke now,” Lars pointed out. “This art needs to be protected at all costs—from thieves, from liars, from just dumb shit starters, from negative cunts, from the clutching cunts, from all of it. This art is truly precious—I am positive that you are aware of that, Joey.”

“Oh, yeah. We gotta hide it all away here—just so long as nuthin' happens to this place while we're away, either.”

“Once the pieces are all stashed away in their respective hiding places, we shall make our break for it.”

“When does curfew end?” I asked him.

“Five in the morning, if I recall correctly?” Lars answered. “You might want to bring a sketchbook or something with you when we take our walk upon then, Holly.”

“Of course! Oh, wait, but my regular sketchbook is back home, though.”

“Will found one in the back room here—” He nodded to my right. “An empty book of blank pages—and I believe there are some pens in the drawer, too. But for now, let's wash up and put these precious pieces of art in a safe place—”

I snapped my fingers.

“What?” he asked me with his eyebrows raised.

“The back room,” I stated. “The room there with the easel. The room where I took you guys to be painted. The room where I touched and felt the both of you.”

“That room?” His eyes twinkled with excitement; I heard Joey let out a soft groan in his throat from right next to me.

“There's a side of the table missing but we can use it as a crawl space of sorts. And as long as no one goes back there, it'll all be safe. Anyone gives us any looks, we'll tell them it's imperative that they have a key to get in here. And Will's the one with the key.”

“We can cover it up with a sleeping bag, too!” Lars declared. “Good thinking, Holly.”

“And I assume we're lockin' the door while we're sleepin'?” Joey cracked with a shake of his head.

“We are barring the door with a support beam if we must, Joseph,” Lars retorted. "I will personally dig a moat around here to keep all of them thieves out of here."

"All of them thieves..." Joey's voice trailed off for a second. "I oughta throw that one at Scott when I see 'em again."

"And you claim you're not an artist," I pointed out with a little nudge of my elbow.

[katieskarlette]

Warcraft Q&A - Blizzcon 2017

I’m going to attempt to liveblog this if my computer/internet behave.

[This post will be edited as it goes but if there’s dragon news I’ll probably make a new post to scream about it in addition to this one.]

Q:  Warfronts:  will they be available on timer like invasions, and what are the rewards like?

A:  They won’t be up 24/7 but they’ll be up for a good amount of time.  Sounds similar to the buildings on Broken Shore.  Rewards will be similar to Timewalking where you get a good reward for the first time through, you won’t be penalized for not doing them all the time, but you will get some reward for doing them if you like them.

Q:  Will basic reputations ever be account-wide?  Not like Bloodsail, but more mainstream ones?

A:  Ion talked about the balance between character-based vs account-based.  Things that unlock content like flying or flight master’s whistle on Argus, they want to do account wide.  If you want rep because that particular character wants a crafting pattern, that’s a goal to work toward on the character with that skill.

Q.  Stat squish coming?  

A:  Yeah, and item level squish, too.  As before, we won’t notice as far as our playing experience.

Q:  Is Anduin a paladin now?

A:  “100% not a paladin.  He’s a priest”.  He’s a hero characters, and hero characters can do things that players cannot.

Q:  Cross-guild or cross-faction social groups possible?

A:  No cross-faction chat.  Do it at Battle.net level, individual to individual.

Q:  Are there improvements coming to guild recruitment?

A:  Something they’re always aware of, but no major plans.

Q:  With the new leveling scaling... is mob health changing?  Heirlooms?

A:  Gear levels and mob health are being dealt with, some for the next Legion patch, some for 8.0.  Heirlooms will continue to be ideal because they are properly itemized for current talents and such, not stuck with outdated stats from past iterations of the game.

Q:  Heart of Azeroth

A:  They liked the way to slowly get incremental increases to power, but they realize dealing with literally trillions of AP isn’t fun.  You’ll have one amulet no matter what spec you’re in, so you don’t have to collect azurite for multiple specs like we’ve had to level different artifacts.

Q:  What was the thought process behind bringing back raid buffs like Arcane Intellect?

A:  They liked them, and they liked the moment before a boss pull where all the buffs went out and it felt like “yeah, we’re ready” as opposed to “has everyone eaten their fish?”  They don’t want to make it so any one class is absolutely required for an encounter, but each one is welcome for a slightly different reason.

Q:  PVP templates, and PVP players not being able to pick their own gems, enchantments, etc.  (I don’t PVP so I have no clue what he’s talking about.)

A:  Something about how there was a problem before but they overcorrected (as they tend to do) and are tweaking it.  It’s important to have consistent rule sets, but they understand we want to make choices to make our characters feel like our own.

Q:  Titanforging

A:  Tweaks coming, but not a fundamental change to the system.  They like variability of rewards and the motivation to continue killing bosses you’ve got on farm.  Azurite-attuned armor slots will not be able to be Titanforged, however.

[Aside:  We don’t care about your guilds, people. Get to the questions.]

Q:   Player wants more options to counter roots and knockbacks.

A:  Classes are all different and something like a death knight is supposed to have a better toolkit to respond to such situations.

Q:  Why does WoW have such a lackluster character customization system?

A:  They were waiting to see what they were doing with the ally races, and now that those are being added they are going to move forward with those customization options.  Including orcs’ posture, which can be toggled in the barber shop (which now doubles as a chiropractor...LOL)

Q:  Is Jaina good now?  What about the purge of Dalaran?

A:  “Jaina is complicated.  She’s as evil as I am,” says Afrasiabi.  “She’s wracked with regret.”  She feels potentially responsible for what the Horde is today, with the way she let her father be killed.  Also the Stratholme thing.  And Theramore.  This is a character “with damage.”  We are going to help her understand the way she is and how to move forward.  She’s conflicted, not evil.  [YES THANK YOU ALEX!!!!]

Q:  There should be ducks in WoW, and why do so many bosses have holes in their ceilings?  [SERIOUSLY?  THIS IS A QUESTION THAT IS TAKING UP OUR TIME?  WTF?]

A:  Practical reason = avoiding camera angle issues; artistic reason = environmental, gives a peek of the outside world etc.

Q:  What’s happening to the night elf and undead starting zones in BFA?

A:  They won’t change.  For new players to feel the impact of things like Teldrassil burning, they have to see and know it before.  It will phase to the destroyed version when you get to a high enough level.  Same for leveling in Arathi.

Q:  Alleria can shift back and forth from high elf to void elf form.  Can the playable ones?

A:  They have a void form that’s active in combat, similar to worgen form.  They won’t be “fully voided” all the time.

Q:  Somebody complaining about farming older content for Titanforging.  [Which has already been asked.  Shut up and move on to dragons, damn it.]

A:  They know the Titanforged Unstable Arcanocrystal is OP and they’ll try to avoid outliers like that.  Item level should be the main factor in picking which armor to equip.

Q:  Mythic keystones to old dungeons?

A:  Timewalking is kind of that concept.  They may do Timewalking keystones in the future and think the idea is cool.

Q:  How soon will we be flying after BFA launches?

A:  About the same as Legion.  [Which, for the record, I am totally in favor of.]

Q:  Future of WoW companion apps?

A:  Yeah, they like those and will keep building on that in the future.  They’d like to combine the armory app with it, too, so you don’t have to switch back and forth.

Q:  Timewalking:  as more get added it takes longer to get back around to the era you like best.

A:  Some consolidation may happen but they want it to feel like a special change of pace when it comes around.  They may have non-instanced, outdoor Timewalking events someday, too.

Q:  Faction balance...how do you keep players from switching too often?

A:  “Play the game the way you want to play it,” says Ion H.  “Play what you wanna play.”  They do monitor server balance, though.  The new PVP toggle may help smooth imbalances, too.

Q:  Legendaries in  BFA?

A:  The Azurite system is replacing the random legendaries from Legion.

Q:  Quest log size limit increase, please?  [I’d be in favor!!!]

A:  This gets talked about a lot.  They may have some of them moved to some other kind of interface, especially the breadcrumb types that sit in your log for a long time.

Q:  Oh god another question about  expanding that freaking default backpack.

A:  OMG, they’re actually close to letting us “slightly increase” backpack size, and it will be a reward for using an authenticator on your account.  Odd, but I’ll take it!

Q:  New reasons and ways for us to fight the other faction?

A:  Different factions will have different in-story motivations to go into dungeons and raids.  Some bosses may be faction-specific to add to the feel of being at war with the other wise.

Q:  Will they fix the bugs, issues and exploits from vanilla, or will it be rolled out, warts and all?

A:  That’s one reason why it’s taken them so long to get it rolling.  They want to recreate vanilla as we experienced it, but minus the game-breaking bugs, crashes, etc.  Also, what’s the right version of classic?  5-man UBRS or 10-man?  Both were in vanilla, but which do they put in now?

Q:  If you unlock ally races’ heritage armor on a nightborne, for example, can you use it to transmog on your blood elf?

A:  Nope, those are locked to that ally race.

Q:  Increase to friends limit?

A:  With the focus on social features it’s something they want to do, but it’s complicated because of all the different games and systems they have to coordinate.

[SOMEBODY IN THE CROWD HAS A “WHERE’S WRATHION” SIGN!!!  I LOVE YOU, WHOMEVER YOU ARE!!!!]

Q:  Will the new zone scaling make it harder to farm low-level transmog?

A:  If a mob dropped something before, it’ll drop it after.

Q:  Warfronts...how long will they be?  Like a raid?

A:  Longer than dungeons, but just how long is still up in the air.  Feedback from alpha and beta will help them decide.

Q:  What classes will ally races have, and if they differ from the others, why?

A:  These are considered independent races, not subraces of existing ones.  They try to err on the side of letting us play what we want, as long as it makes sense.  (No void elf paladins, e.g.)

Q:  Void elves = alliance, nightborne = horde...why?

A:  The intro quests for each race will explain that.

Q:  Will the Legion threat end before BFA, and where does that leave Demon Hunters?

A:  “They just turn into regular hunters,” joked Ion.  Alex then clarified that DHs are sworn to protect the world they love, no matter the threat.  And someday we’ll see demons again!

Q:  Are the EK and Kalimdor totally Alliance and Horde now?

A:  Alex:  “Those zone boundaries are tricky for NPCs to cross.”  But no, Exodar and Quel’thalas are still holdouts.  The continents aren’t 100% red or blue.

Q:  New goblin and worgen models when?

A:  They’re working on them currently!  Goblin aren’t bad now, just need some polish and updating.  Female worgen will be reworked to be “more wolf-life and less chihuahua-like.”  THANK YOU.

Q:  something about PVP

A:  PVP flagging complicates and slows down your leveling, so they want PVP flagging to be rewarding but not so rewarding that carebears like myself feel like they have to.  (They didn’t phrase it that way; I did.  LOL)

Q:  More character slots per realm?

A:  Yep.  Six addition ones per server!  Whoa, nice!

Q:  When can we trade flasks and consumables with friends cross-realm?

A:  They know it’s needed but they have to protect individual server’s economies.  They’re working on it.

Q:  Beta when?

A:  You can opt in now.  No date announced.

AND NOOOOOOOOOOO DRAGON QUESTIONS.  FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[jungnoir]

college boyfriend!minghao;

bless the cutie that requested animal shelter volunteer minghao, i ended up meshing it with another request for college bf!minghao bc i can do whatever i want

sfklasjd jk jk

now, minghao has always had a strong connection with animals

ever since he was a kid, he always just had this intense empathy for animals, so much so that it kind of drove his parents crazy???

like minghao would grieve for hours if he accidentally stepped on a bug, or he’d take a whole hour out of his morning when he knows he has to get to school just to help a momma dog and her pups get somewhere safe away from traffic

i mean the boy just loves animals to death

loves them more than humans tbh

so it’s no surprise that minghao became an avid animal shelter volunteer from high school well into his college career

while his friends like basketball captain seungcheol are immersing themselves in sports or music prodigies vernon and woozi are crazy over creating the next big hits on the radio, minghao is dedicating all of his time to animals

and lots of people think it’s really attractive that he loves animals

so much so that he like,,, gets people’s phone numbers?? just bc he loves animals???

people will literally come up to him like “wowwww minghao it’s so hot that you like,,, care about animals” and minghao is just like ?? thank?

i mean minghao doesn't really care if it’s “hot” or whatnot, he just really likes them

and some of his friends are always pestering him about using it to his advantage to pick up dates and stuff but minghao could literally not care less

drama kid jun happens to love bothering him about this

like one day minghao is on his way from the shelter, about to drop off a pet scorpion for a family friend who had recently purchased one, but had to stop by school to get the notes for one of his classes from jun

and jun always goes on these long tangents about how minghao should spend more time with his own species and how minghao is going to turn into some weird forest dweller that thinks they can “speak bear” before they’re mauled to death and never found again

and usually, minghao wouldn’t really pay jun attention, but that day he’s just really pushing it

and all of a sudden minghao just?? opens the little container for the scorpion and lets it crawl on an unsuspecting jun

and as soon as it stings him jun just goes nuts

and minghao calmly fishes the scorpion off jun’s shoulder while the other boy is freaking the hell out 

and their friend jeonghan is just quietly sitting by, giving minghao a mildly disappointed look like minghao you can’t release scorpions on your friends

and seungcheol just happens to be nearby and when he sees jun screaming, he instantly tunes into Dad Mode and runs over asking what happened

and jun is like “minghao!!! scorpion!! bit me!!!” and before minghao can even try to calmly explain to seungcheol that most scorpions that exist aren’t even poisonous to full grown adults, let alone this one, seungcheol is diving into the bite wound and trying to suck out the venom

so now jun is screaming, jeonghan is shaking his head, seungcheol is sweating like crazy trying to “save jun’s life” and the rest of their friends are virtually unconcerned bc if jun had listened to minghao during one of his many excited info dumps about animals, he’d know that he wasn’t going to die

the moral of the story is: leave xu minghao and his hobbies alone

like if people think it’s cool that’s fine but leave him alone pls

he just wants to hang with the pups and kitties in peace

and of course, as you now know, he’s not just a fan of traditional household pets

he’s also super fascinated in the more... unwanted kind as well

like snakes and tarantulas and scorpions and rats

at one of the animal shelters minghao frequently volunteers at, they have these kinds of animals as well, and while most of the volunteers tend to stay more with the pups and gerbils, he totally doesn’t mind taking care of any and all animals because he really really does love all of them

and it’s the cutest thing bc like, most kids who want those more taboo pets are super insecure when they come to the pet shop to get one, and they feel all weird about wanting one bc i mean, how many kids in 5th grade have a pet centipede

so minghao is always the go-to for this!!

he’ll be so sweet and kind and he makes all animals seem so cool and interesting in their own ways

he even gives the pets cute nicknames to make them appeal more to kiddos

“see this little guy? he’s a scorpion! but i nicknamed him freddie. he kind of looks like a freddie, doesn’t he?”

and the kid is like “aren’t scorpions venomous?” 

so minghao goes all in 

he’s like telling the kid all about the different types of species of scorpions, how there are types whose sting is poisonous, and then there are types whose sting is just a lil painful at best

he explains in great detail what kind of environments they need to stay in, what he should do to keep the pet happy etc etc

and even tho the parents are usually thoroughly freaked out at the thought of bringing these types of animals home, minghao is really good at selling it in the best way possible

people pretty much think he’s a magician with how good he is at changing people’s opinions of certain animals

some people even gave him the nickname snow white for how animals just love and trust him like right off the bat

and minghao is a pretty dedicated volunteer

so dedicated in fact, that one night he gets stuck at the animal shelter after he volunteered to help set up for a massive puppy adoption set for the next day bc a freak storm rolled in out of nowhere

the employee calls and says that they can’t make it because of the rain, and that minghao should wait it out in the break room until it’s safe to drive home

and while most people would be super bummed to be stuck somewhere like that all night, minghao is not

i mean, boy is basically in heaven

he’s sure to be quiet so most of the sleeping animals can stay asleep, but some of the puppies wake when he walks through the front door and they all just start going crazy over him so he has to individually greet each and every pup and try to coax them back to sleep

to no avail of course, they love minghao and wanna play!!

minghao quietly resigns himself to the break room and steals one of the employees’ frozen burritos and throws his feet up on the arm of the couch in there and is just happily chilling, listening to the rain and whatnot

and then he hears something

it’s super faint, and minghao would think nothing of it if he didn’t hear the pups start barking like crazy afterwards

the sound keeps coming, sounding like frantic thumping, and when he inches out to the lobby, he sees through the glass door that there’s a drenched figure banging on the glass, desperate to get out of the crazy rain storm outside

so immediately he rushes over and unlocks the door, pulling whomever was outside in and shutting the door just as quickly, getting some of his face and arms wet in the process

when he manages to fight the wind long enough to get the door closed, he locks it tight and looks over at the person he had saved, slightly irritated

bc who would be this far out this late at night to be stuck in the rain, besides someone who was intentionally headed for the animal shelter???

and then he sees you

your hair is matted to your head and face and you’re absolutely soaked, body shivering from the cold and you’re looking at minghao through your wet hair, almost frightened

he realizes that he’s got quite the scowl on his face so he instead goes for a simple frown, his arms crossed as he looks you over

before you can even say anything though, he’s walking toward the back and muttering something under his breath

and he brushes past you leaving you there, so you're like??? rood

but almost as fast as he left, he’s returning with multiple fluffy towels

he throws one around your shoulders and forces you to hold it with your hands, and then he tosses one over your head to cover your hair, before he motions for you to raise your foot

slowly you do, and he unties and slips off your sneakers, before placing a towel under your bare feet and toweling them dry

“what brings you all the way out here?” minghao inquires, watching as you shyly start patting yourself down over your wet clothes

“uh, well, i was actually supposed to be helping set up for the big puppy adoption tomorrow with ashley and... you” you explain, and minghao narrows his eyes

“how do you know me?” he asks

“we volunteer different hours, but you’re pretty much a celebrity here, you know. your face is all over the shelter’s Facebook page”

minghao suddenly turns red at remembering and he quietly stands again, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looks elsewhere “didn’t you get the text? ashley cancelled since the storm was going crazy”

“no, actually. i was already halfway over when the storm started, and my phone had zero signal. the only reason you probably got it was because you’re linked to the shelter’s wifi”

which,,, is true,,,

minghao feels kinda bad for given you a bit of a cold front so he holds his hand out to you as you towel off your hair, and when he does you kind of just stare at it for a minute like ?? and then he rolls his eyes and grabs your hand to place it in his and starts shaking it

and you’d think he was thoroughly annoyed at you if he wasn’t smiling at you

and, like, wow

his smile is really nice

like imagine looking at a shining prince charming in a fairy tale

or like an angel

that was basically what looking at minghao was like

“i’m minghao, and you?”

and you introduce yourself, before he tells you to come into the back where the pet’s bathrooms are

he takes out one of the sets of extra clothes the shelter has for ,,incidents,, and then tells you to pass him your wet clothes when you were done so he could toss em in the dryer for you

a few minutes later, you walk out of the restroom with a bright yellow tee shirt on that has the shelter’s name printed across it in red letters, and a pair of khakis that are like three times your size and a pair of warm white socks to put on your cold feet

minghao is already seated on top of the dryer with a smirk, holding out a mug of something steaming

and he’s just like “the boss keeps her special tea here. if she mentions something about it missing to you, just blame it on me”

and you smile thankfully and lean against the washer with him and the two of you start drinking and he makes sure to knock the thermostat in the place up a notch so you wouldn’t catch a cold

when you two realize the storm won’t be dying any time soon, you decide to start asking minghao about himself

and usually minghao would kind of keep to himself and not reveal much besides the obvious, being his love for animals

in fact.... when that is actually the obvious, he can’t really think of anything else

the confused look on his face sends you into a fit of giggles and he looks away from you, pretty embarrassed

“it’s okay to mention the animals, minghao”

and suddenly minghao just bursts with excitement okay

like the kid gets so excited and starts talking about literally everything he loves about animals and how he’s always been an avid animal lover since birth

he talks about how there’s really nothing that makes him happier tbh

and he tells you all about how he plans to be a vet in the future and to maybe run his own no-kill shelter

you sit and listen, and i mean it really shocks you how passionate he is but at the same time?? it makes so much sense

like he’s super popular at the shelter so you know quite well what he’s like

everyone always talks about how sweet and caring he is, how much he really loves the animals and his job, and there’s really no one like him

even his nickname is notorious

instead of actual snow white popping into your head these days, all you see is a smiling minghao’s face on the “volunteer of the month” plaque

he’s still going even as you slightly space out, his face literally glowing with happiness as he talks about his favorite things ever

and then he cuts himself off like “d’ya wanna meet angel?”

and you furrow your brows, the name sounding somewhat familiar

minghao ends up leading you into the back of the pet store where the reptiles and such reside, and then you come across this beautiful rosy boa

and minghao smiles and leans near the glass, looking back at you with that same fond smile like “isn’t she a beauty? this is angel, a very docile snake species”

and you smile at angel, making sure to keep your distance as to not make too much noise to startle her, and then suddenly minghao is like “would you like to hold her? i do all the time, and she’s very calm. i understand if you’re not really into that-” but you’re already holding out your hands with a ready smile, and part of minghao’s apprehensive nature melts

you let angel sit in your hands, and while the feeling is quite strange and foreign (as you usually keep toward the felines, canines and rodents), the experience is awfully nice

and something about minghao’s soft voice as he instructs you how to hold her is just so sweet and endearing that any fears you had of handling a snake fly right out of the window

after that, he sets her back in her case and turns to one of the windows, seeing the water still beating rapidly outside

so he leads you to the couch in the break room and you guys flip on the tv in there, and while the cable is out, there’s a dvd player with a few movies workers have leftover

minghao pops in a random disney animated movie and you two just sit and laugh and watch together, practically unbothered by your situation

it isn’t until morning that the rain actually does let up, and when it does, you’re woken up rather,,,, strangely

your initial thought is that you’re warm and comfortable and you don’t really think much about it

until you feel a long arm constrict around your waist and your eyes shoot open

you soon realize that you and minghao had fallen asleep on the couch together, bodies wrapped in each other to keep warm throughout the night, and he’s currently quietly snoring against your hair, unaware of your position

your eyes fly open and you’re so shocked that you yell, instantly waking minghao up and effectively knocking him off the couch

you scream again when you realize he’s fallen, but almost immediately he places a hand over your mouth using his other to place a finger at his lips to shush you

“don’t scream... it freaks out the animals” he whispers, still half asleep

“i’m sorry, we were just... kind of cuddling and i was surprised and-” “sorry about that, you looked cold”

your heart is beating like a goddamn 808 drum at this moment

he cuddled you?? voluntarily? because you looked cold???? he cared???

he quietly sits up and laughs a little, rubbing the back of his head when he sees the morning sunlight coming in through the windows, and he shrugs, “guess that storm finally went away. we still have a few hours until ashley’ll get here to set up with us. do you wanna go change into your old clothes now so she doesn’t assume anything?” 

!!!!!!

“what exactly would she assume?” you ask, raising an eyebrow sassily, and minghao realizes exactly what he’s said because he immediately flushes, mumbling “never mind” under his breath

“it’s okay minghao,” you laugh, leaning back into the couch, chancing a glance at him as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes, “it wouldn’t bother me much if anyone assumed anything”

it seems like you’re competing against minghao himself to see who can embarrass him more

he tries to shoot back something smart so he’s like “yeah? well me neither!!” 

but... hao... that’s not really,,, a clap back

you kinda just admitted you wouldn’t mind if someone thought you two were together

and now you both are just kinda staring in opposite directions in silence, trying to figure out what the hell just went on in here on this day

but finally you get up to change and minghao decides he’ll get to work with some of the animals a few hours early, setting out food and things and helping you pick up after the animals

the rest of the day goes fairly well, and by the time you guys have to part ways, a lot of puppies have been adopted

you end up having to leave first bc of an exam, so you tell the others you’ve gotta jet and they all wish you luck

and you’re like halfway to your car when you hear someone call your name

and you recognize it as minghao, so you turn really fast, thinking maybe you forgot something

but then he’s shoving something into your hand and kind of avoiding your eyes, whispering a quiet “good luck on your test” before he darts back inside

you don’t see that it’s a paper with minghao’s number on it until you get into the driver’s seat of your car, and cutely scribbled underneath is a lil note from him

if you ever feel like getting trapped in an animal shelter with a snake loving dork like me again, let me know? - minghao

and you sure as hell do :)

you and minghao go on your first few unofficially official dates, starting with trips to the movies or going out to some new cool place to eat together

when he poses the idea that you two should go to the carnival in town, you don’t turn him down

he’s suuuuuper competitive, you learn this when he asks if you want him to win you a ryan plushie in a balloon popping game and suddenly it’s like half an hour later and he’s still going at it

but finally, he wins it :D

he’s so proud of himself, even tho he’s slightly sweaty and his arm hurts from the constant throwing, but he’s glad he got you what you wanted

and let’s be honest, it was really cute seeing him try so hard to impress you and get the bear

in the time that he had taken to get it, you had gotten lemon slushies and were now munching on corndogs together, watching the sunset with your plushie in your lap and a content smile on your face

the night was slowly coming to a quiet end, so minghao suggests that you guys at least get one more ride in before you go home

and of course,,, you just had to pick the ferris wheel

minghao wonders how it’ll feel to be so high up with you and just you, and even though his nerves get to him, he still follows you into a carriage and tries to ignore the knowing look the old man manning the thing gives the both of you as he closes the doors and reads off the rules

you’re kind of bouncing in your seat in excitement with the ryan seated next to you cutely, your arm thrown around it like he’s your boyfriend

and minghao oddly feels jealous of the yellow teddy

he feels like a third wheel, sitting on the other side of the carriage :p

once the thing gets kinda high in the sky, you look out over the carnival and the sky is finally dark enough for you to see the stars

and you’re pointing at a few and you just look so excited

suddenly minghao is yanking the teddy from the spot beside you and settling in next to you, putting ryan on the other side with his face down on the seat

you’re so startled by the sudden rocking of the carriage that you don’t notice minghao quietly slinking his arm behind you, trying to look as nonchalant as possible

but when you feel his hand brushing the strands of your hair from behind you, your smile overtakes your face and you lean into minghao, eyes alight with mischief

“were you getting jealous, minghao?”

“jealous?? of a teddy bear? psshhhhhh. phsshhhshshs. PSHHHHHHH”

but inside he is internally screaming 🚨🚨🚨

so you just as quietly link your arm around his waist and pull him a lil closer, making him all the more nervous

and then you lean over to peck his cheek, the confidence you got from seeing him so flustered blinding your rationale

but you miscalculate

and minghao turns to see exactly what the hell you think you’re about to do right as your lips touch his

when you realize what you’ve come in contact with is not, in fact, the skin of his cheek, you’re about to pull away

but minghao knows now is better than never, and he presses into you before you get away, making you squeak in surprise

the arm around you holds you close while the other comes up so his hand is resting on your cheek lovingly, holding you there so he can really kiss you

and you’re not complaining ofc

you two stay relatively still until he finally pulls away, eyes blown wide

you don’t even realize the ride has ended and the workers are waiting for you two to get out so the next pair can get on

you look past minghao with a sheepish smile and quickly grab your ryan’s (and minghao’s) hand before quickly scuttling off the ride

minghao is silently trailing after you as you both start to leave the carnival, but his hand is still tightly holding yours in fear of losing you (even tho the crowds are thinning out by now?? hmm)

when you two finally get to his car, he releases your hand, along with a stream of words that sound like “imreallysorryikissedyouthatwasprobablyreallyawkward”

“to be honest... i was gonna kiss you first, but i thought i had made you pretty flustered for one night alone” you admit, smirking at him as you lean against his car

his eyes widen just a lil before he playfully smacks ryan who you’re currently holding against your chest with a smile, “...you’re so mean”

now tbh, no one really thought they’d see the day when minghao got a significant other

jun was especially Shook

even seungcheol hit the group chat up like “i honestly didn’t think he could love anything more than animals??” with a chorus of “same”’s right after

all of his friends desperately want to meet you like they literally refuse to go without meeting the girl that managed to steal evil lil minghao’s heart 

in truth, minghao isn’t all that mean?? of course he acts cold but he’s like... tsundere

he’ll pretend he doesn’t care but you bet your ass he cares a whole lot and is probably losing sleep over if you passed your latest exam or if you got the job you really wanted

and then when you tell him all went well he’ll be like “duh of course. i knew that from the start lol”

internal minghao: i love you so much with my whole mf heart and i’m so proud of you for doing well and achieving your dreams please understand this subtext as i continue to smolder

you two start changing your volunteer hours to run into each other but only minghao won’t admit it??

like if you show up a lil early and run into him you’re always like “i came to see you!!” you know, very explicitly

but he refuses (absolutely refuses) to admit to anything. ever.

mingaho: *deliberately stays behind a whole hour and a half longer than he really needs to and sees you walk in* oh wow lol stalker what are you doing here so early

you: i know you did this intentionally, minghao

minghao: *sweats*

minghao starts teaching you how to care for the more unorthodox pets and he finds it so cute how sometimes you’re all for it and other times you outright refuse *cough* tarantulas *cough*

he thinks it’s adorable tho bc you’re obviously trying to bond with the animals but the visible discomfort is just so prevalent that he decides to relieve you of your misery

i feel like i need to express one last thing

minghao is truly, truly so glad he met you

he wholeheartedly believes that he would’ve never met someone who understands him like you do

and it’s pretty presumptuous but he honestly doesn’t care, because it’s really how he feels about you

you’re very special to him and you treat him like a best friend but there’s no lack of romance either 

you love animals just as much as he does, and it makes him feel pretty great having someone like you in his corner

so next time he teases you or pretends he’s not worried about you, just know that xu minghao is the biggest mush, especially for you