#i don't have a job for a number of reasons so. this could be cool if it works out i guess

[marclef]

exciting news. i'm about to be very busy doing art stuff so hey if you wanna help support me i made a ko-fi? there's very little there so far but uhh hey check me out, i will love you forever if you feel like throwing me a few bucks.

awesome cool ko-fi account link here

yeah

[stupidlittlespirit]

Rating: NSFW, mdni Type: Drabble Tags: Dry humping, no use of pronouns for reader, messy kissing, premature ejaculation, making out Word count: 1129 My other works: here on tumblr and here on Ao3! Making out with Reigen on the couch (Have this small kissy drabble I cranked out before the gym today!)

Reigen is a clumsy kisser.

He's desperate and messy, and every time you make out with him, he clings to you like he's drowning. Bumping noses, clashing teeth, biting lips, he's hardly graceful in his movements.

When he'd made the first move on your second date, he had very nearly headbutted you with his lack of grace.

Still, his lack of experience had been endearing and after some time, when he'd calmed down from the excitement of knowing that his feelings weren't just reciprocated but desperately hoped for, you'd been able to encourage him to relax a little, and soon enough he had become putty in your hands.

Early on, it had been clear he had an oral fixation. Reigen is bad at hiding his feelings, no matter how much he pretends to be cool headed, and you had noticed it almost immediately.

Watching your mouth when you spoke aloud, staring when you bit your lips, his interest had been blatant from the start. You'd even tested it one warm, sunny evening after work with the help of a melon ice pop from the conbini. The poor thing could hardly carry a conversation at the sight of your lips wrapped around the frozen treat, enraptured as the lolly slipped in and out and in again, gliding into your mouth with practised skill, and the theory had been confirmed in ten seconds flat.

Tonight is date number six. The open invite to hang out at his for a movie marathon had been a transparent cover for an excuse to be alone with you, but you hardly mind. He's always fun to be around, whether you're relaxing or heavy petting, and you'll never say no to him.

Reigen is pliant under you as you sit in his lap, mouths interlocked for the fourth make-out session in barely a couple of hours.

His lips are slick with spit, bitten a cherry red, and they glide against your own with every slow, languid kiss.

The terrible B movie that's playing on TV in the background is drowned out in favour of the wet sounds of kissing, punctuated by Reigen's soft moans and your whispery sighs of satisfaction.

You can feel that he's hard through his jeans and when you pull back a little from his mouth to praise his improvement, he twitches against your crotch.

"You're so good at this now," you murmur, smiling.

Reigen, flushed and dazed, looks up at you through half-lidded eyes. "I think I still need more practise." He grins, crooked.

"Oh?" You laugh softly, pressing another kiss to his half open mouth, then another and another until he's dragging you back down, his hands tangled in your hair and his eyes fluttering shut.

Reigen had confessed to you on the second date that he had never done much more than kiss another person, and even in that, his experience extended to roughly two people in his near thirty years.

He's inexperienced in all of this and you've decided that it's your job to bring him out of his shell. Reigen is nervous and shy about sex, embarrassed about his lack of ability, and although it's no problem for you, you don't want him to feel scared of exploring it. There's no reason for him to feel shy but you won't ask more of him than he's willing to give.

The open-mouthed kisses heat up slowly; your hands slip up from his chest to cradle the side of his face, and your tongue timidly presses against his.

It's a test. Again, everything you've tried with him so far has been snail-paced. Reigen's comfort is paramount and he's happy to discover what he likes gradually. Tonight, you want to see if he's ready to move further along.

Reigen's breathing hitches, but he doesn't move away. Bravely, he touches his tongue to yours and at the contact, he groans. The moment is short and sweet, and you begin to pull away to give him some space, but Reigen isn't interested in stopping.

His hands drop to your waist and tighten against the flesh to prevent you from leaving, and he silences your sound of surprise with his own tongue this time.

The kiss becomes wetter, spit swapping from your mouth to his, and once he finds the rhythm he wants, Reigen is off and away.

He keens underneath you, breathing hard through his nose, and the new style of making out must bolster his confidence because his typically hesitant-to-touch attitude is tossed to the wind as he grabs at your ass, brazen and wanting.

The unexpected contact makes you rock your hips forward and Reigen bucks up to meet you with his own. His cock pushes up against the thin fabric of your clothing again and you can feel a heat growing between your legs.

You allow him to control the pace. If he wants to turn this into something more than just kissing, you're certainly not going to stop him.

A gentle nip at his lower lip and even more tongue has him squirming and shuddering, his hips bucking upward to seek the friction of you.

Reigen's breathing is laboured and deep through his nose, hot breath damp against your cheek, head turning from side to side with every other pass of your tongue on his.

He makes a soft whine, then a gasp, and he chokes out a curse and a warning all at once. "Fuck, I'm gonna-!"

Reigen cries out, broken and loud, and his cock jerks once, twice, three times until the fabric under you suddenly feels slicker than it had.

He holds you close as you kiss him through his orgasm, murmuring your approval and revelling in his bruising grip until finally, he collapses back against the couch, panting hard and bright red.

Reigen looks drunk. His hair is messy, his cheeks pink, and there's a glassy glaze in his eyes that comes with either alcohol or sex. You're over the moon that it's from the latter.

"M'sorry," Reigen mumbles, sheepish. "It was an accident, I-."

You smile, wide and excited. "Got carried away?"

Reigen seems embarrassed, but he nods.

You lean forward and press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I like it when you do that."

He perks up slightly. "Yeah?"

"I don't think you know how hot it is that you can cum from just kissing...." You say, running a hand through his hair to ruffle it further.

Reigen snorts, and though he seems bashful, he can't help the grin that splits his face. "I think I can cum from anything if it's with you."

You match his smile, proud and pleased, and then you're pressing yourself down into the mess with a laugh. "I think we ought to test that...."

[an-otterly-adorable-being]

Asmodeus x Fizzaroli x Publicist!Reader Poly Headcanons

Hehe I made more stuff, because I'm feeling good today! Hope y'all enjoy! Also feel free to start sending requests in again!

---------------------------------------------------

• There's a lot of rumors going around that the Prince of Lust himself has been all cozy with one of the Lust Ring's top performers, so it was only natural that you would end up getting a job to "make things right."

• Afterall, you were one of the best PR people in Lust, why wouldn't you get the job.

• Maybe that's a bit egotistical, but there's a reason for it.

• You can spin stories better than most demons, even covering up a handful of true stories.

• You've worked for Leviathan, a number of Goetias, and even the Morningstars.

• Being hired by Ozzie and Fizz was a lot more work than you expected, though.

• Not only did you find out that they were together romantically, meaning that you'd need to keep the secret as hidden as possible, which was difficult when they decided to be sweet "behind closed doors."

• Dealing with the servants who had found out was a blast.

• (That was sarcasm, btw.)

• On top of that, you also began to develop a whole range of feelings for the both of them as you became a part of their lives.

• Turns out those feelings were somewhat reciprocated.

• After a few months, the three of you came up with the best plan you could.

• A lot of the controversy was directed more at Ozzie, as he was the one big on carnal desire over romance.

• Fizz was not as big of a deal.

• So, you and Fizzarolli began to "date."

• There was definitely some push back, but it was a decent success.

• A couple of public dates, love letters, and pictures taken by paparazzi(you, actually) later, and things were relatively calm.

• It wasn't a permanent solution, though, so you set to work on a separate project...

• Making the Lust Ring cool with Ozzie and Fizz's "non-existent" relationship.

• It did take a while.

• Scratch that, it took way too long.

• Turns out most people in Lust were actually okay with it, it was the press and other rings that were the problem.

• The other rings of Hell would take far too long to deal with, so you set your eyes on the newspapers.

• Lots of papers in Lust are actually sponsored by either Greed or Envy.

• Greed goes where the money goes, so theoretically, if the tabloids and rumors weren't as profitable, they may drop those stories.

• That left you with Envy, which had always been a pain for you.

• While Greed takes the actual newspapers, Envy picks up the cheesy tabloids. It's less about making a profit and more about making people feel terrible, especially when it's something the writers and bosses don't have.

• Luckily, you still had some good will with Leviathan, and so you doubled down on getting the stories stopped.

• You still were working with Asmodeus and Fizz, and even though you weren't in a real relationship, Fizz was getting worried about you overworking yourself.

• They both were, actually.

• You were dead set on this going, though, so they couldn't talk you out of it.

• They took the next best thing, though, forcing you to stay at their very luxurious penthouse.

• You even slept in their bed. If you wanted to, that is.

• You probably would've picked up on the fact they were trying to romance you, but alas, you were too focused.

• It took a long few months of persuasion, company scandals, bribes, and an unhealthy amount of blackmail, you got most of Lust on board, at the very least.

• And when you told them, they were thrilled!

• You organized a little interview with a local news channel (the host owed you, after all) and they finally came out as a couple.

• When you were asked about, you were expecting Ozzie and Fizz to tell the truth about your fake relationship.

• But they said you... could be a part of it for real?

• Yeah, they asked you out on TV, and you accepted.

• Even if the pressure from the show wasn't there, you would've said yes anyways.

• Your final task for them was getting an article in a paper out, talking about how beautiful Fizz and Ozzie's relationship was.

• And now that the job is finally done, you can cuddle up to your new boyfriends without a care in the world.

[asagaciousmind]

TOUR THOUGHTS

Saw the Les Miserables Tour at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto on May 21 2024; here are my thoughts (Long read, sorry I have a lot of feelings)

Prologue/Look Down/Valjean's Soliloquy

We got like, holographic waves crashing and the men are rowing a boat LIKE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE it's awesome

Oh my god the pipes on the background actors were so good. THE SUN IS STRONG ITS HOT AS HEEELLL BELOW

I miss Javert's stupid guard hat. Was bareheaded as he gave Valjean his yellow ticket

PETIT GERVAIS?????????? Valjean steals a little boy's coin when he's roaming the countryside 😭

Randy Jeter as the Bishop blew me away. Not just his voice but his acting was FANTASTIC every single movement was like. I am an old bishop. This is how an old bishop moves. Idk idk it was really good

Nick Cartell did a great job w Valjean overall, but I totally loved him as pre-MsurM Valjean the most. He acts like a feral animal, grabbing the wine out of the nun's hands and the bread from the priest all hunched over and practically snarling - very very cool and awesome

At the End of the Day

Not a negative but when we went to At the End of the Day there was very minimal lighting and my first thought was Oh no the lighting broke hope they fix it and we don't have to have a brief intermission but then when they went 'At the end of the day there's another day dawning' the lights went up and I was like OHHHHHHHHHHHH so that's just me not understanding lighting direction

Foreman killed it, so did all of the factory workers I love all the interactions and ad-libbing in the background it makes me so happy to see

Every time I saw a tall graceful ensemble member I was like '"That's Kyle Adams" and 8/10 times I was right. Otherwise it was Daniel Gerard Bittner

I Dreamed A Dream

OKKKK VOCALS???? Haley Dortch has such a beautiful, clear, emotional sound and she left not a dry eye in the house. Literally the second intermission hit my parents and myself were like. Holy shit dude what about that Fantine

I got her autograph after the show and she was so so sweet 🥺 She accidentally messed up her signature and had to redo it and was apologising to me and I was like GIRL you brought the house down you could stab me right now and I'd be like 'Thanks have a good one'

Lovely Ladies / Fantine's Arrest

Bamatabois (David Andino) was a standout performance, really chewed the scenery and I adored every second he was on stage (Plus his costume was fantastic)

The other girls defending Fantine 🥺

I like that after the police show up and they basically arrest all of the ladies and pimps, regular well-off citizens come out to witness Valjean defending Fantine from Javert. Thought it was a nice touch

Fantine's Death

My first and only cry of the evening, Haley Dortch no one does it like you

The Confrontation

If you've heard me talk about the confrontation you'll know that I absolutely hate the new chain choreography, HOWEVER. I really really liked it this time. Preston in particular gave it a lot of physicality that I enjoyed

Nick Cartell is a little guy and I don't really believe that his Valjean managed to knock out Preston's Javert

For some reason the percussion was really loud and I could barely hear the vocals so I don't have many thoughts on them

Master of the House / Waltz of Treachery

MATT CROWLE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS

Both Thenardiers were fantastic, not a crazy amount of ad-libbing but when they did they made it count ("BYE, BAGUETTE")

Madame in particular was hilarious

Master of the House is very busy in a good way, everywhere you look interesting things are happening. Another number where the ensemble shines and you can tell everyone is having a blast

The Bargain was funny as hell, Thenardier tells Cosette to die in his arms and she goes limp when he's saying she's 'often been ill'

Valjean gives Cosette Catherine!

Look Down / The Robbery

Gavroche was super charismatic and confident, really great child actor (Milo Maharlika)

Eponine tosses Marius' book across the stage and he goes "I like the way you always ... tease 😐" They're such cute friends together

After Enjolras and the boys are done their preaching Enjolras gets stopped by a policeman and is told off 😭

During the robbery Montparnasse keeps Marius away by brandishing his little knife at him which I thought was cute

Also! Montparnasse is the only member of Thenardier's gang to escape during the Robbery!!! Which is a nice Brick reference

After Thenardier's 'In the absense of a victim' spiel he does this exact pose

Gavroche's little 'Clear the streets' 🫡moment is so cute

Stars

God I love Preston Truman Boyd

His Javert is so stalwart and reserved and dedicated, he's kind of robocop and it really really works, and you get to see just a smidge of vulnerability peek out in this song

ABC Cafe / Red and Black

I DON'T REMEMBER A LOT bare with me

Grantaire was absolutely the standout. Slapped Marius' butt with his coat. Stuck his wine bottle dick in Enjolras' face. Offered Combeferre a sip of his wine (who reluctantly accepted). Blew a kiss at Enjolras

Kyle Adams physicality is probably my favourite aspect of his Grantaire - he moves very assuredly, like a cat, in a way that is like okay he's drunk but he's so used to being drunk that his stumbling is more like dancing. I remember reading a fic that described Grantaire's movements in a similar way and I wonder if that was one of the fics Kyle took inspiration from?

OOH they did the wine bottle keep-away thing with Grantaire and Marius which I didn't know they still did so that was exciting

J.T Wood is such a cute Joly I love his voice

In Do You Hear the People Sing Grantaire grabs a gun and holds it at arms-length like it has cooties before handing it off to another student

Combeferre waves the flag both times (Here and in One Day More) and I'm not sure if it's always Combeferre who does that or if it's because Andrew Marks Maughan is clearly the most physically strong of the Barricade Boys

In My Life / A Heart Full of Love

Delaney Guyer is a really good Cosette in that she has a gorgeous voice and also has a lot of personality and actually reacts to things going on around her

Marius (who was played by Christopher James Tamayo for this performance) is such a cute little nerd. You can see him try to figure out what he's going to do, then he throws a rock at Cosette's window and kind of cringes at the noise - he's so unsure of himself and awkward

Cosette is very excited that he's here and closes the window right away, which prompts Marius' 'I'm doing everything all wrong!' until she reappears downstairs and they get to be cute dorks in love

Attack on Rue Plumet

I don't remember a lot but I DO remember that Eponine was really good here

When Valjean is like 'Tomorrow we'll away' Cosette goes 'WHAT? NO!'

David Andino is so good as Babet he is a chronic scene stealer at this point

One Day More

If you know Another thing about me you know I hate the One Day More box-step but it actually did not bug me this time. They put Grantaire next to Enjolras for the marching portion which is cute

On My Own

Holy shit Mya Rena Hunter delivered the most heartbreaking and powerful rendition of this I've ever heard

The Barricade

Loved Feuilly in his little part

Javert is a good spy. If I didn't know the plot of Les Mis I would've been like Holy shit that's Javert? Crazy. I love him drawing the 'plans' he'd overheard into the ground with a stick

Gavroche flipping Javert off >>>>>

Buff Combeferre is one of the two to drag Javert away to be tied up lol

A Little Fall of Rain

The only version of ALFoR that actually made me feel something

Marius and Eponine get a lot of time to be cute together before the barricade actually notices that she's dying - and Gavroche is the first to notice and gets a front row seat to her death which is heartbreaking

The First Attack

Grantaire's "AND SO THE WAR WAS WON!" was sooo scathingly sarcastic

Javert waited, like, 30 seconds to leave after Valjean freed him, with his back almost against the barrel of Valjean's gun as if he were hoping to be shot

When the gun went off the entire barricade abruptly snapped their heads to look at Valjean and the audience laughed 😭

Telling Valjean 'Well done' for shooting a tied up hostage is a strange choice

Drink With Me

I still hate 'For certain as the eagle flies' I think it's the dumbest line in the entire musical

Grantaire's part was very grand - His voice has like noticeably changed at this point in the musical to give it a sort of hoarse hopeless quality to it which absolutely hits you in the feels

Enjolras comforted him and I swear Grantaire let his hand linger on his cheek for a few seconds longer than normal before pushing him away

Gavroche hugged Grantaire from behind and Grantaire couldn't even turn around at first because he was so distraught and kind of blindly reached for him 😭

Chris Tamayo's Marius is such a poor little meow meow

Bring Him Home

Absolutely jaw-dropping performance from Nick Cartell

He sings Bring Him Home like it's a lullaby - which it's supposed to be

I don't exaggerate when I say that the applause went on for about a minute straight, and was the loudest of the night by far

Death of Gavroche / The Final Battle

Oh poor thang

Grantaire near the end of Gavroche's singing was turned away facing the audience like he knew Gav was going to die and couldn't bear to watch 🥺

Later on in the final battle Grantaire spends most of the time next to Gavroche's body in like a catatonic state

The SPOTLIGHTS representing BULLETS as Les Amis died almost made me lose it

Grantaire dies last, I'm sure he said something before he started climbing the barricade but I couldn't hear it 😭He and Enjolras still have their moment over Marius' body

The Sewer

Javert comes across Enjolras' cart-carried body (Still hate the cart but I can learn to appreciate it) and looks a bit uncomfortable

Then he stumbles upon Gavroche's corpse, kneels, and does the sign of the cross over him

Almost made me cry ngl

DOG EATS DOG WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT

Javert looked like he wanted to shoot Valjean as he walked away with Marius

Javert's Suicide

HOOOOOOLYYYY SHIIIIITTTTT

It was so good

Preston Truman Boyd you will always be famous I fully believe that Javert had completely lost his mind at this point in the play

I don't have many thoughts on the rest but I loved Marius and Cosette reading Valjean's confession as he walked away with Fantine - and the Bishop hugging him as he arrives in heaven

Also Kyle Adams as Major Domo mincing about the stage in The Wedding was an absolute delight

Am very sleepy now but overall 10/10 I love this cast so much

[j-nope-not-today]

Hi, I am the one who ask for a, TMNT boys react to their s/o being cat called, on your other tumblr page. I understand. Please take your time. I hope you have a lovely day.💖

TMNT reaction to s/o being cat called

A/n: Hello! I'm in fact not dead! Sorry for the long wait and I hope you enjoy. Thanks for requesting!

Leonardo

Now you think he would be the most rational out of his brothers

But you would be wrong. I firmly believe he would be off the rails about the whole situation

He has to keep his cool all the time, but seeing you being threatened, cat called, or hurt in any sort of way? It's over.

All rationality and reasoning flies out of the window.

If you get cat called. He's going to make sure your safe and then he's going to beat said cat caller up.

He will not hesitate. He'll look at the cat caller. Look at you. Back at the cat caller and then bam! he's on the move.

The only way to stop him from rearranging your cat caller's face is by keeping a hold on him. If your hand is placed on him or your holding his arm. He'll stay put and keep on his merry way

But otherwise it's so over for that cat caller.

And afterwards Leo will take you for ice cream or to some sort of food place that you love

He'll be extra cute and loving towards you as if he didn't just beat tf out of someone.

If you question it or bring it up he'll just sigh and say

"the things you do for the people you love"

Just know he does it bc he loves you. Your safety it means everything to him and he wouldn't let anyone harm you, physically or mentally.

Raphael

I firmly believe Raphael will turn to said cat caller and ask them if they have a death wish

Man is straight to the point

Immediately he has a thousand different problems

He's probably not gonna beat them up bc Lord knows he would have zero restraint

But he'll give a speech most likely layered with threats

"you see her/him? Their valuable. Their priceless. An absolute treasure to me and you..you have the entire day to be an idiot and you choose now to be one?"

He's Mr.i'm not insulting you, I'm describing you.

He'll insult him until you laugh. His goal is solely to make you laugh so you can feel better and then you'll go on with your day.

If you don't laugh he'll ask you if you want him to beat him up bc once he gets the green light from you

It's game over for that cat caller.

When all is said and done he's going to be snuggled close to you like he a giant teddy bear.

Donatello

He's going to try to be as calm as possible

And he's going to think he's handling the situation calmly

But he's going to have either a glare that could kill you or a resting bitch face during the whole altercation

He'll tell your cat caller to get lost and he'll make sure you get to where your going safely

And the moment Donnie is alone he's going to hack everything that cat caller owns

I'm talking bank information, email, all their personal accounts on everything

He's going to inconvenience tf out of your cat caller simply bc he inconvenienced you and made you uncomfortable and he's not gonna let that slide.

Ofc after all is said and done he will proudly show you what he did

In the hopes it will make you feel better.

Be prepared he's going to be extra affectionate to ensure you feel better, but mainly it's to make him feel better. He doesn't like seeing you in any sort of distress.

It bothers him so please give him hugs

Michelangelo

I firmly believe Mikey will turn into a feral street cat

Your not gonna know what his response is going to be

He might just beat the cat caller up

Maybe he'll threaten him

But guarantee that the cat caller will be scarred for life

He will ensure that the call caller learns their lesson

But his number one priority will be you

If he knows he can't do anything bc your scared or freaked out or it's unsafe to Mikey than he won't do anything

But he will remember the cat caller's face and he will come back to finish the job

But he won't tell you that

He'll make sure you get home and he'll reassure you and kiss your face and joke around

He'll cheer you up and make you feel as right as rain

And if you ever find out he did in fact go back to finish the job. he will deny it until the day he dies. He will never admit to it.

[enluv]

The Wedding Date

PAIRING! - jay park x fem!reader

SYNOPSIS! - When invited to her younger sisters wedding in two weeks, Y/N L/N faces traveling alone back to Korea for the ceremony. While this seems bad enough, Heeseung, the man who left her with no explanation after four years of dating, happens to be the groom's best man. Determined to show everyone - most of all Heeseung - that her romantic life is as full and thrilling as ever, Y/N hires the ever so charming Jay Park as her date.

word count: 7.4K+!

warnings: angst, suggestive content - it’s implied and mentioned that reader & jay did the devils tango so please note this fic is16+ BUT it’s nothing crazy so just be warned, profanity, cheating, heeseung is super duper not cool in this tbh, lmk if I missed anything !!

genre(s): 16+!! - there are no descriptions of sexual acts but it is stated briefly so read at your own risk, rom-com, fluff, angst, strangers to lovers, rent-a-boyfriend, & also slow burn romance but fast paced story

coco’s love note: this story is based on and inspired by the movie “the wedding date” some parts will be similar and depict similar instances while some will be different to fit the characters and the plots I’m writing for them! thank you so much & enjoy! (remember feedback & reblogs are always appreciated <3)

"You are cordially invited to the wedding of Park Sunghoon and L/N Soohee to celebrate their marriage this June 30th at three o'clock.”

The words on the wedding invitation make your eyes roll, it’s laughable. Knowing neither of you had talked in almost two years it was a wonder why Soohee had chosen to invite you to her wedding. Perhaps it was your mother, she'd always wanted her two girls to get along at some point, but that was easier said then done. Or maybe it was your stepfather? He'd always said you were his favorite, maybe he'd somehow convinced her to invite you. Attending the wedding wasn't what worried you the most though, it was the thought of showing up alone.

Sure you could show up flying solo and hope no one would bat an eye, but did you really want to put yourself through that? The millions of whispers thrown at you as you walk by with no one on your arm? Absolutely not.

That's what brings you here, on a hot summers day as you read the morning paper from the patio of your home. The ads all consist of different services, some are posted for models, some plumbers, even things like babysitting, but you're on the hunt for one thing and soon enough an ad catches your eye. It’s perfect. The ad reads -

"Rent-A-Boyfriend: Are you in need of a date? Want to keep your parents off your back? Need to brag to your friends? Have to keep the relatives at bay? Well look no further! Hire me, Jay Park, profesional boyfriend. I can be anything you need me to be for any occasion! Shoot me a text at XXX-XXX-XXXX or email me at jay.park@gmail.com! Business inquiries only. Excited to date you soon!”

The ad had done its job and quickly enough you'd left Jay exactly seven different voice messages.

— YOU HAVE SEVEN VOICE MESSAGES, TO LISTEN: PLEASE PRESS NUMBER ONE.

VOICE MESSAGE #1 (9:17 PM):

"Errmmm...oh! It’s recording haha. Hello! This is Y/N L/N, umm so basically...oh um sorry I am so nervous haha. Okay so basically my name is Y/N and I need a date for my sisters wedding this month. Normally I'd have a date by now but I don't have the time to go out and date someone for two weeks and then force them to go to Korea with me ya know? So that's where I was hoping you'd come in! Oh shoot my time is running out...ummm okay give me a seco-"

VOICE MESSAGE #2 (9:23 PM):

"OH! HI! Sorry it cut me off last time haha oopsie! Anyways so basically the reason I need a date is because well basically I have this ex boyfriend his name is Heeseung and he kinda sorta dumped me like out of nowhere about two years ago. It was super sad but I was just like eh whatever dude. Then I came here to America haha not a good idea, anyways so yeah and he's gonna also be at that wedding because his best friend is actually the groom which makes him the best man and I can't-"

VOICE MESSAGE #3 (9:34 PM)

"Sorry cut off again but I can't show up alone it would be so embarrassing and we were engaged too by the way I don't know if I mentioned that already but yeah we dated for almost four years and he proposed to me and then boom just ended it so that's why I cannot by any means show up alone. Plus this is my baby sister that’s even more embarrassing, my younger sister getting married before me? Total loser moment."

VOICE MESSAGE #4 (10:45 PM):

"Sorry I forgot to give you details about the wedding lolz. It'll be in Korea, the countryside to be specific. It's on June 30th at 3pm at a wedding Chapel in the town we grew up in. We have to be there a week before. No worries though, l'II pay for our plane tickets. Since I'm the sister of the bride I have to do a lot of things with the bridal party and since you'll be my boyfriend you'd be doing things with the groomsmen. Sorry if that's too soon for you or if it doesn't work with your schedule, I'll pay you double I swear! I just really need this, need your help Jay."

VOICE MESSAGE #5 (11:38 PM):

"Um hi again, this'll be quick I promise. I just wanted you to know that if you can't do this it's okay! Thank you for your time. I really appreciate you.”

VOICE MESSAGE #6 (12:49 AM):

"Oh shit sorry this was an accidental dial. Have a good night haha! Sorry again!”

VOICE MESSAGE #7 (1:23 AM):

"Just give me a call back at XXX-XXX-XXXX if you do want to take the job and if not, no worries! I completely understand how last minute this may be. Have a good night Jay, sweet dreams."

— YOU HAVE ONE NEW VOICE MESSAGE: TO LISTEN PLEASE PRESS NUMBER ONE.

VOICE MESSAGE #1 (3:45 PM):

"Hey Y/N, this is Jay. I got your messages...all seven of them. No worries, I'd be happy to play your boyfriend at your sisters wedding, and about your ex, don’t even worry about him, we'll make sure he regrets his decision to ever leave you. You said we leave next week? Just send me the plane ticket and I'll be on that flight. See you soon Y/N, and don't worry too much, you've got this."

“Woah! Hottie in aisle three am I right?!”

“What are you talking about Sunoo, stop staring at the people riding our planes. It’s a long way back to Korea they don’t need you ogling them for all ten hours.”

“Excuse me but did you not say you’re waiting for your rent-a-boyfriend? Babes I think that’s him.” Sunoo points his perfectly manicured finger towards aisle three where a man dressed in black slacks and a white button up sits comfortably flipping through a book. His head turns up as he feels your eyes on him and a smile flashes across his face.

“Alright, go meet your hunk and sit down, we’re taking off soon anyway.”

You begrudgingly take a seat in front of him, if you’d known he’d be this attractive you’d definitely not have hired him.

“Are you Y/N L/N? Or am I completely wrong and making a fool out of myself?”

His voice is sweet, soft and husky, you turn slightly to face him and meet his soft eyes. No judgement is seen on his face.

“Hi! Yes I am Y/N, I’m assuming you’re Jay? Well you probably are haha, because I got you the seat behind me…okay so anyways hello!”

He laughs softly and nods his head, “Get some rest Y/N, we have a long week ahead of us. When we land let’s go find you a dress and talk business, that okay with you?” Your nod of confirmation has you both relaxed as you turn back around to do just as he said.

“How does this one look?”

“I think you look great in it, remember you’re beautiful and you’ve got a lot going for you. He’s gonna regret ever breaking up with you.”

“Ugh I can’t do it, I need to look good so no one asks me any kinds of questions!”

“Y/N I think you’re overthinking this a bit, just go with whichever dress makes you feel the most beautiful.”

“I think you look the best in the red one, uh personally speaking.” Jay eyes the boy cleaning the other dressing rooms and nods with a tight lipped smile.

“Hmm thanks kids, I’ll keep that in mind.” Pushing back in your eyes fall onto the hanging red dress.

“Alright so let’s talk business, we need a story. You’re the new temp at my job and we just started dating, let’s just say four months ago. You’re crazy about me and I asked you out because surprise surprise I’m also crazy about you too.”

He nods and gets up to leave the room but right as his hand reaches the doorknob you pull him back, closing the dressing room door.

“Here,” you shove an envelope into his hands, “count it. It’s six thousand even.”

Jay takes the envelope and begins putting it into his pocket but you insist he counts the money, he does so with an amused smile flashing across his face.

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll pay for the expenses but if you ever want a piece of this,” he gestures to himself playfully, “we gotta talk money before anything happens.” Your scoff makes him chuckle, he’d only been kidding, he’d most definitely let you have him for free if you asked.

Jay takes in the venue of your sisters engagement party. It’s big enough to host more than fifty people, and it’s doing the job pretty well. He can tell you have a big family. From what you’d mentioned, your mom was Korean but moved to America for school and originally met your dad their but when he was out the picture she met your stepfather and the rest was history. Now your little sister, presumably the petite brunette eyeing you both now, was getting married to someone you’d both grown up with and his best man was you ex. Jay thinks your ex is a dumbass but he’s held his tongue on that thought knowing you’d probably get upset with him.

While he’d only known you for a few hours tops (not including your plane ride) he knew you were a kind person. You’d rambled to him about how you and your sister hadn’t spoke in two years yet here you were back at home to spend her wedding with her. He found it odd how you said yes to joining her bridal party activities but chose not to question you. He never understood sibling love much.

He watches as your sister runs towards you pulling you into a big hug, her smile never quite reaching her eyes but you’d never pick up on it if you weren’t paying close attention. He takes a note to ask you later why you two haven’t spoken in so long, but before he can gather his thoughts her voice breaks him out of it.

“So Y/N, who’s this? He’s cute…” her voice trails off and makes Jay internally cringe, it’s obvious she wants a reaction out of you.

He watches as you calmly turn towards him, resting an arm on his as you say, “This is Jay, he’s my boyfriend of four months. I decided I would take you up on that plus one offer!”

Momentarily your sisters eyes flash with what seems to be jealousy or maybe sadness, Jay can’t tell but he knows she looks anything but happy which is odd for someone about to marry the love of their life.

“Wow that’s great! How’d you two meet?”

“We met at work. I thought she was the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen in my life so I told her. She asked me out right after and the rest is history.” He pulls you closer and pecks your temple once he’s done answering. He knows just how to push buttons, especially with people like your sister.

At that very moment Park Sunghoon, your childhood best friend and sisters fiancé walks over pulling Soohee into a sloppy kiss, Jay notes he seems tipsy and excited about something. He watches your sisters demeanor change in an instant the minute Sunghoon walks over.

“Woah Y/N it’s been too long, I’ve missed my best friend, you have to visit more often seriously.”

“Oh I’m Park Sunghoon, Soohee’s fiancé and Y/N’s friend, we haven’t met before but I’m happy to see Y/N has someone to put a smile on her face.” His smile is captivating and contagious. Sunghoon seems like a nice enough guy in Jay’s eyes.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Jay leans over and offers a hand. “I’m Jay, Y/N’s boyfriend. She told me you invited me to join in on the groomsmen activities, thanks a lot I’m excited.”

“Of course! Any friend of hers is a friend of mine. Let me get your number and I’ll add you to the groupchat, we start soon so just be ready.” With the promise to text soon Sunghoon and Soohee are quickly whisked away leaving Jay with Y/N.

“Your sister seems…nice…”

Y/N can’t hide her laugh as she straightens her dress out, “Mhm love her to death but she can be a lot, now if you’ll excuse me I need to pee, I’ve had way too many drinks! Wait for me here.”

When exiting the bathroom you never thought you’d run into Lee Heeseung here of all places. It seemed as if lady luck was anywhere but on your side, as you watch him emerge from the door next to the same one you’d just came out of, his eyes grow wide as he spots you, quickly making his way towards you.

“Holy shit, Y/N! I was hoping I would see you here! You look beautiful as always.”

Your hearts beats as you look up towards him. It’d been almost a year since you’d last saw Lee Heeseung. He’d broken your heart in all of five minutes over the phone after spending a week in America with you. It was heart wrenching and soul crushing but you’d healed…or so you thought. Seeing Heeseung again was like ripping off a bandaid on a newly fresh wound. Heart begging to be held by him once more you knew immediately you had to find a way away from him and fast.

Thankfully just as you’d pulled away from his arms up ran your old friend Karina. She’d been someone you’d hung out with in high school and always called you up whenever you visited Seoul. Her squeals of excitement and hands pulling you into a hug helped with the longing to be next to Heeseung again. She looked towards him with hostility and popped the question right there in front of him.

“Y/N I’ve missed you so much! AH! Who’s the hottie you brought with you? Rumor has it he’s your new boyfriend…you tell me though, wanna hear it straight from the source herself.”

At this Heeseung’s head perks up from his previous gaze at the floor. He’s expecting to hear an answer, it’s obvious in the way his eyes stay on you.

“Oh. Um yeah. He’s actually my boyfriend. His name is Jay and we met at work. He’s the sweetest, you have to meet him! I’ll introduce you two soon.” Once again Karina’s squeals fill the air and Heeseung waves goodbye as she tugs you towards where Jay stands surrounded by your aunties. They seem to be enjoying the compliments he throws at them and you laugh quietly as you listen in on his conversations with them.

Jay watches as you stop to talk to someone by the doors of the bathroom, he contemplates walking over to you but decides to stop himself. He isn’t here to protect you, you can do that all on your own, he’s just here to provide some comfort in a stressful situation. His peaceful time of watching you is quickly interrupted when your aunties come over and preoccupy him. He’s done this before and is quick to play the best boyfriend he can be.

As soon as you walk over you’re pulled away by your aunties (much to his dismay) so Jay sets off to find something to keep himself busy. He soon spots the same man you were talking to earlier out on the balcony alone and decides to talk to him, he seems upset, might as well do something while you’re gone.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jay asks walking over swiftly to the man and smiling down at him.

“Oh. Uh. I guess it can’t get any worse than this. There’s this girl who I care about a lot,” he pauses to look back inside and Jay follows his gazes to where you sit with your sister and friend from before and his mind begins to turn, “I guess you could say I love her but of course with my luck, she’s here with some other guy.”

Jay lets out a low whistle and begins to talk but before he can process the situation you’re asking him if he’s okay and giving him a kiss on the lips, it leaves him dazed.

“Hey Y/N.” Heeseung says once quietly.

“Hey Y/N.” He repeats, this time louder than before.

Jay has a sudden realization as he looks back up at Heeseung, this is your ex, the same ex who broke your heart and the reason you hired him to be here.

“Oh hey Hee! Jay, this is Heeseung, he’s my ex.”

“Ah that’s why you looked a bit familiar.”

“What were you two talking about?”

“We were just-” Heeseung begins to talk but Jay cuts him off.

“I was telling him how we met.”

Heeseung nods frantically and stands tall again, he nervously grabs his cup and smiles, “I should head back inside, I’ll see you two later.”

“Did you see his face? Omg he looked so freaked out!”

“Mhm, and he told me he’s still head over heels in love with a girl he cares about a lot.”

Y/N’s bright smile bubbled up a feeling in Jay’s chest, but he shook it off as quickly as it came.

“Let’s get going pretty girl, I still need to meet your parents.”

Your house is huge, and yeah sure Jay is used to big houses, he grew up comfortably so houses around him were on the bigger side, but this house - your house is massive. He’s in awe as you stumble threw the front door hand in hand. A woman who looks just like you approaches speaking so quickly that Jay misses her question, but thankfully you’re quick to answer it.

“Hi mom. This is Jay,” a silent pause ensues after you reveal who he is to her.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Jay, sorry we don’t have a spare room for you. We weren’t exactly expecting you, Y/N has never really brought you up.” Jay can tell immediately who your sister takes after.

“No worries ma’am, I can just stay with Y/N.”

“Oh sorry my mom has this thing against boys sleeping with girl-”

Your mothers scoff cuts you off, her head shaking slowly, “Nonsense Y/N, you’re an adult. I know you two sleep together it’s normal, he’ll stay with you.”

You nod back at her wide eyed, and just as you’re about to speak a man pops up next to your mother, this time Jay does know who he is. Your lock-screen holds a picture of you two at a concert and you’d pointed out exactly who your stepfather was to him immediately. He waves a quick hello at Jay and pecks your temple, but he’s quick to whisks your mother away sending you a wink. Once you’ve made it to your room it’s almost midnight and both of you are exhausted from traveling and the party.

“Y/N, I’m gonna go ahead and shower, could you hand me my shampoo? I forgot to grab it and I’m already in.”

“Huh? Oh! Shampoo right…yeah of course I’ll get it right now.” Trudging over to Jay was easy, avoiding looking at the almost see-through shower curtain covering him was completely different. He smiles once you hand over the shampoo and goes back to humming along to a song stuck in his head.

“Hey Jay, what’s your story, like how did you get into rent-a-boyfriend?” You ask him taking a seat on the lid of the toilet.

“Well I’m an only child and my parents where always busy, grew up with very little friends and I was very protected at that. I like to think I was the weird kid who ate glue…anyways once I got my much needed glow up I didn’t know what to do with myself so I just started messing around. Clubbing, drinking, sex, all of that you know. Anyways my friend Jake found rent-a-boyfriend,” he steps out of the shower and stands directly in front of you, towel loosely wrapped around his waist, “and the rest is history.” He sends you a smirk before reaching for his phone sitting next to you on the counter, giving you the perfect view of his toned chest.

“Whatever, so what you just agreed to be a fake boyfriend like that?”

“Mhm, I trust Jake with my life he’s my best friend, dude would never sign me up for something that he knew I’d hate. Now come on it’s time for bed.”

The next day wedding activities start quickly, your sister has a day planned full for the groomsmen and bridesmaids. Things ranging from kickball (which Jay seems to be very good at and just so happens to beat Heeseung’s team in) to separate bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Both parties go great, with both you and Jay enjoying yourselves equally, but if you’d asked the other you’d both say all you wanted to do was go back home and see each other. It was an odd realization knowing you’d feel better at home with Jay, a mere stranger in your eyes.

“Y/N! Ugh I’ve been looking all over for you! I missed you so much, you really suck for not visiting more. I know we’re half sisters but I love you!! I missed you so freaking much,” Soohee slurs her words into your ear as she pulls you into a suffocating hug. You nod uncomfortably and hug her back, patting her on the back as she signals the bartender for more drinks. Just from the way she stares at you, you know the night is going to be long.

On Jay’s end of things he’s forced to take home a very drunk Sunghoon, who now seems more like a friend then a stranger. Earlier he’d over heard Heeseung telling Sunghoon about how he didn’t trust him, and while normally Jay didn’t care much for how people saw him, Heeseung really irked him. Yet here he was now, helping his best friend stumble home after their night out.

“Don’t tell Heeseung I said this, but Y/N looks way more happy with you then she ever did with him. I mean don’t get me wrong he’s my best friend and I’d literally die for him but the way she smiles at you is so different from any way she’s ever looked at him. I heard you the other day, telling her she was strong and could face everyone again. I was standing next to the door you two were by, anyways yeah Heeseung would have never done that. I love that idiot to death but the second he decided to break things off with her was the second he lost a really great person. You’re lucky Jay, can you just please keep her happy?”

Jay nods at him and Sunghoon sends him a grin, he walks up the steps to his house and waves a final goodbye back to him. Sunghoon’s words play in Jay’s head like a turntable, were you really happy with him? Did he seriously make you happy? Giddiness spread through him as he made his way back to your home only a couple doors down, ready to see you for the night.

Walking back into your bedroom and seeing Jay laid out reading a book half naked was a sight you’d never get tired of. He looked up at you taking in your figure and smiled.

“How was your night pretty?” The low gruffness of his voice sent shivers down your spine as you walked closer, watching as he sat up to meet your eyes.

“Something on your mind?” He asks quietly taking your hands in his.

“I’m going to do something, and if you don’t want it just tell me no, okay?” Jay nods with curiosity in his eyes.

His eyes widen as you straddle his lap, kissing him softly. He wasn’t expecting that, but he’s not complaining, soon enough he’s kissing back and you’re both rushing to undress one another, Jay more than you.

The night ended far too quickly and as you wake up with a snug arm wrapped around you, the memories of last night come flooding back in. You’d had sex with Jay, your rented boyfriend for the week, but it seemed neither of you minded it much, both eager to be together last night. A smile forms across your face as you move to stand only to be stopped by his arm tightening around your waist.

You both stumble downstairs hand in hand, running into both your parents. Your father stares at you two and wishes you a good morning, but your mother seems to sense something is different with you both. She sets down her coffee mug and calls for your cook to make breakfast. Jay is quick to make you your morning tea. He remembers how much you hate coffee.

After the dance class your sister plans for both parties, you’re left walking around a park with Jay. He can sense something is off as you slip your hand away from his grasp.

“Y/N are you okay?”

“Do you regret last night?”

You both speak at the same time, laughing awkwardly as you gesture for one another to speak first.

“I don’t regret last night Y/N,” he pauses to grab your hand, “I actually enjoyed it very much.” His laugh fills the tension filled air between you two.

“Are you sure? I can seriously pay you if that’s what you want I mean-” a tug at your wrist stops you from finishing, Jay shakes his head at you.

“Y/N you’re a beautiful idiot,” he sighs pulling you closer, “I was joking about paying me, and if you must know I’ve never slept with a client, ever.”

“Then why did you sleep with me? Oh god did I take advantage of you in a drunken state? Oh my god Jay.”

“No you idiot, I did it because I’m attracted to you, and you’re attracted to me, we’re two consenting adults who find one another attractive so we acted on it, that’s all.”

You nod at his words, still not fully agreeing with him but there wasn’t any other explanation, you were attracted to him so just as he said, you’d acted on it, that was all.

You two spend the day getting to know one another even more, Jay tells you his likes and dislikes, mother and fathers name, how he met Jake, and more. You spend hours talking before falling asleep cuddled up on your bed, tomorrow you both had to be up early for Soohee’s final days of wedding activities, starting with a nice family get together at your parents lake house.

What happens the next day is not something Jay ever wanted to deal with. As he watches you twirl around with your friends and run through the field chasing Sunghoon surrounding the lake behind your parents house, his insides churn at the thought of what he just witnessed. Not even an hour before Jay had actually gotten your fathers approval, he sat him down and they talked for an hour, he’d told Jay the story of his first time being introduced to you as his wife’s daughter and immediately knowing you’d be someone special in his life. He recounted how not a day went by where he didn’t worry about you alone in America but when you had showed up with him, Jay, on your arm his worries dwindled at the loving looks Jay sent your way.

This was not fun anymore, the angel and devil perched on his shoulders were fighting over what to do with the information he’d learned. Either he tell you and hurt you, or he could keep it to himself and just pretend he never knew a thing. The latter sounded perfect in his mind.

“And well sometimes we find the best thing for us and you know that’s not the best thing for others, so you have to do what’s best for you as a person you know and so that’s why we as humans always pick what’s best for us, we’re pretty selfish if you think about it really.”

Looking anywhere but Heeseung you’d spotted Jay, he smiled and waved you over, quickly bidding Heeseung and his odd dialogue a goodbye you’d ran straight towards an awaiting Jay.

“You seem to be very popular today Mr.Park. First my dad and just now my mom? Something tells me they like you.”

His chuckle sends butterflies through your stomach, “Yeah they said they’re excited to welcome me to the family, something about you having a terrible ex who wasted your time for four years? Your moms words, not mine.”

“She hates his guts, glad she likes you though.”

He smiles leaning in to peck your lips, “Yeah I’m glad she likes me too, kinda plan on staying for a bit.”

“Hey lovebirds, we’re taking pictures, come here!”

The next day, is the day before the wedding and it’s just as packed as all the other days but this time it’s filled with anxiety, Soohee and Sunghoon are buzzing with anxious excitement, your parents are terrified for tomorrow and everyone is sitting anxiously awaiting to give their toast.

Soohee wanted a closed family rehearsal dinner so they’d decided today would be the day to do it.

Jay sits next to you with his left hand rubbing your thigh, he listens as your mother recounts how you and Soohee fought over a boy when you were in both in grade school, she theorizes that’s why you two have a hard time getting along. Everyone laughs at the stories spewing from both your parents, the atmosphere is almost perfect. Perfect however, does not exist within this realm of people.

“Hey babe, I’m gonna go get more wine, don’t miss me too much.” You whisper to Jay standing and walking off towards the wine cellar.

A pair of footsteps catches your attention and when you turn around you spot Heeseung.

“I feel like I owe you an explanation.”

“Heeseung, relax. It’s fine. I promise.”

“I just feel like I should tell you that, god this is so fucking hard.”

“Did you know, I actually brought Jay to make you jealous, to torture you for the week, but then I don’t know, something happened and now I’m just so freaking happy with him. He makes me so happy honestly, and if we’re being honest Hee, I am so tired of this, of me and you. I’m ready to move on for good so let’s just go back upstairs and enjoy the rest of the evening.”

The weight on your shoulders feels lifted, you’d been wanting to finally feel free from Heeseung for months now and finally you were able to do it. Finally you could be happy and be with-

“I slept with Soohee, Y/n. I slept with your sister and I think I’m in love with her. It was two years ago, I just couldn’t hold it in anymore, that’s why I broke up with you, and then after we broke up we keep sleeping with each other for a few months. We stopped because of you, we knew it was wrong.”

“Can you please say something Y/N. Please just say anything please.” His pleas pierced your ears.

The wine cellar had begun to spin, the second he’d first told you, the room went dark and you couldn’t breathe properly. What the fuck just happened. Heeseung and Soohee slept together? He had cheated on you with your sister? He was in love with her.

Walking out the cellar Heeseung followed quickly behind, soon enough you’d made it back outside to the dinning area, Karina spotted you two and smiled wide but it soon dropped at your demeanor.

“Oh my god he told you didn’t he.”

“You knew?”

“Y/N I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry Y/N.”

“You sound just like him.”

“I promise it’s not like that Y/N-“

“Y/N?” Soohee’s voice pierces through the air around you and you know she knows what’s happening.

“Y/N please listen to me,” she tries resting her hand on your shoulder but you push her off, “Y/N please don’t say anything to Sunghoon. Please, I’m begging you.”

Strong arms pull you into them and you’re quick to hug him back. Jay feels like a breath of fresh air in the seemingly smog filled venue.

“I can’t believe you told her!” Soohee shouts as Jay stills in your arms and your world crashes all over again.

Jay watches as you take a step away from him, pushing him towards the others who’d betrayed your trust. His heart aches at the look you send him, he knows he’s fucked up, he’s fucked up really bad.

He chases after you as you walk away from the venue, he needs to make things right.

After the talk with your dad, Jay realized he’d forgotten the sun hat you’d asked him to bring outside for you so he trudged back inside to grab it but loud arguing distracted him. Being the gentleman he was, Jake liked to call him that at least, he walked over to the room to see what was happening and standing before him he saw Soohee and Heeseung. The arguing continued as he stepped into view of them.

“I love you Soohee, I miss us, I miss you.”

“Heeseung no. I love Sunghoon, we slept together for a few months but that is all it ever was. I am getting married to Sunghoon, your best friend.”

“You don’t think I know that? It kills me to see you with him!”

Jay is left speechless, your ex Heeseung and your very own sister, had slept together. He had to get away from them both, now.

“Jay? How long have you been standing there.” Soohee’s voice broke him out his thoughts and when he looked back up Heeseung was gone.

“I don’t know what you heard but it’s in the past Jay, it’s not important anymore, please just stay out of it, it doesn’t involve you.” She pushes past him out the door he’s standing next to. Jay is left wondering what to do with the information he’s just been presented..

“You knew and you didn’t tell me? How could you do that to me Jay?”

“What did you want me to say? It’s harder than it seems Y/N.”

“You lied to me. But I guess I should have expected that since that’s what you do. That’s who you are Jay, you’re a liar.”

“Really Y/N? Should I remind you that you hired me. You hired me to be your boyfriend, you’re paying me.”

“You’re right. I paid six thousand dollars for a lie and in the end I’m the only one coming out a fucking fool.”

“Hate me all you want Y/N, but it’s time you get over this Heeseung thing, you’re dragging it out, maybe now though, once you move on from Heeseung, you can cry over our relationship long enough and let it ruin your next one too.”

“Y/N? I came to say thank you for not outing me to Sunghoon today. I’m going to tell him, I just don’t want to tell him the night before our wedding.”

“You’re smart Soohee, telling him after the wedding allows you to trap him, because you know the minute he finds out you fucked his best friend repeatedly behind his back he’ll want to leave, but he won’t be able to because he’s married to you.”

“Don’t worry Soohee, your wedding tomorrow will be perfect. I’ll smile for the camera and keep my mouth shut but after tomorrow I never want to see or speak to you again. I hope you have a happy marriage built on the lies you created. Sunghoon deserves better then you’ll ever be able to give him.” Soohee’s quiet sobs lessen as she leaves the room. Finally you had some peace.

The day of the wedding felt like a blur, you’d woken up early to get your hair and makeup done, smiling when needed and laughing at whatever the bridal party said. It felt like you were a shell of nothing in your own body. Soohee tossed glance after glance at you, looking away quickly when you’d catch her. She’d never been one to like when people were upset with her and you knew it was driving her crazy to not know what you were thinking. Truth be told at any moment you could call up Sunghoon and tell him the truth, but a voice of reason seemed to still be lingering in your mind and it made you hope she’d do the right thing, tell him before the wedding continued, yet so far it didn’t seem like she’d be doing that.

Everyone rushed around the wedding chapel to get things in order, photographers and other vendors Soohee had hired ran around finding their places to make sure the day went as planned but the nerves in her stomach just wouldn’t go away. The echo of your words rattled in her mind, would she really be trapping Sunghoon? She knew if it were her, she’d want an out. She cursed you in her head as she made the decision to do the right thing, he deserved to know at least. Hopefully he’d be able to forgive her, hopefully he still wanted her.

Jay thinks whatever god is looking down on him right now is probably laughing his ass off at his suffering. He knows he shouldn’t have snapped back at you, especially not with the state of mind you had been in. It fucking broke him to hear your sobs as he turned away from you. On top of all that, now he was just going to up and leave you. He’d bought a plane ticket back home last night after talking to Sunghoon. He didn’t spill any descriptive details, and had told him a less intense version of your fight. Sunghoon laughed in his face and told him he was just in love. Jay told him to fuck off and shut up.

As he drove down the roads of the rural Korean countryside, thoughts filled his mind. He brought the car to a stop and contemplated what to do. On one hand, he had a plane ticket and his suitcases packed to go back home right now but on the other, all he had to do was turn around, pray you’d forgive him, apologize, and admit that Sunghoon was right.

Pulling him from his thoughts was the man himself, speak of the devil and he shall appear apparently. Jay looked up to find Sunghoon chasing after a very scared looking Heeseung. Someone had finally told him then, that was good. He watched as Sunghoon tackled Heeseung and they rolled down a hill. Heeseung escaped and continued running, never looking back. Sunghoon on the other hand stopped to catch his breath, catching sight of Jay in his car. He waved him down and hopped into the seat next to him.

“I love Soohee, I really do. I’m going to forgive her, she said they slept together before we officially got together and it stopped once I asked her out. I just wanted to beat his ass because he hurt Y/N.”

Jay nodded as Sunghoon rambled on about how insane Heeseung was for ever doing what he did to you. He blamed them both but he could only poor his anger out on Heeseung right now.

“Do you think I’m crazy for taking her back? For still wanting to marry her?”

“No, you love her, anyone can see. I think she’s obviously sorry, she could have not told you and just made you marry her but she gave you a choice and came clean. When you love someone you have that kind of courage, and you let others dictate your life for you even if one of the outcomes could ruin you forever.” As Jay spoke aloud to Sunghoon reality set in, he needed to go back to you, to apologize for his mistakes, to show you he loved you and accepted you and anything you decided he was worthy of having.

“Looks like we’ve got a wedding to go back to then, and I’m out a best man so what do ya say?”

Jay smiled and nodded at Sunghoon.

“Hell yeah man, let’s go.”

Seeing you again felt surreal, it made Jay’s heart beat a million times per minute. You looked gorgeous in the bridesmaids dress Soohee had picked for you, your hair beautifully styled to perfectly match you. Jay had never felt this happy, he’d never felt so excited to do something.

As Sunghoon had ran past you, Jay jogged up to you, pulling you into a kiss, he’d been wanting to kiss you again for so long, he melted within the first second of it.

“God Y/N, you have no idea how fucking sorry I am, I love you and I should have told you about Heeseung and Soohee, I just couldn’t bring myself to break your heart. I never want to be the one to hurt you, I love you so damn much, I’d rather give you up then hurt you. I know it hasn’t been long but I feel like we’ve known each other for years. I want to take you on a date, a real one, and I want to be your boyfriend, your real boyfriend, not one you rented for a week, and I need you to know that I’ll take anything you want to give me, I didn’t mean what I said yesterday, you didn’t ruin anything. Hell I’m the one ruining things. I just need you to know I care about you.”

“I realized today that I could never do what I did without you this past week. You are quite literally the best fake boyfriend anyone could ask for. I want to have you to myself Jay, don’t want to share you with anyone else, I’m done sharing. I want you to be mine, but really mine, not for a week, for a lifetime.”

“Glad we’re on the same page beautiful. We can talk more when we have the time but right now we have to head inside, I’m sorta the best man.”

Epilogue

Jay has you pressed against his kitchen counter attacking your neck when banging on his apartment door brings you both out of the lovestruck trance you’re currently in.

“Open up you fucker!”

Jay rolls his eyes at the voice clearly recognizing it immediately, but as he goes to open the door it flies open, hitting the back wall.

“Why’d you quit rent-a-boyfriend? Bro you were literally number one! I know I said I wanted to steal it from you but I didn’t mean that way idiot.”

“You can ask her why I deleted it.” He replies, pointing towards your direction.

Now standing and properly dressed, you wave at the man before you, he seems just as confused as you are.

“Pretty girl, this is my best friend Jake, and Jake this is my girlfriend Y/N.” A smile spreads across Jake’s face and he’s quick to pull you into a hug.

“Oh dude! You should have just said that! I see why now, what a dog! She’s way to pretty for you by the way.”

“Thanks Jake, I know I am but he’s a good kisser so I keep him around.”

“I like her already! Wanna go get some lunch? On me of course to celebrate you finding a girl who actually likes you and isn’t paying you to date her.”

“Deal, but just so you know, I did pay him to date me. Not anymore though.”

Jake’s mouth hangs open as you walk past him to grab your shoes, he’s astonished that someone as gorgeous as you needed to pay for a date. Jay sends him a look and promises to explain at lunch as he chases after you.

Jake would never admit it out loud but he’s happy Jay’s finally found someone to make him happy and the smile on your faces just shows him how right you are for one another.

Three years later he’s proven right as he opens up the envelope addressed to him. It’s an invitation that reads –

“You are happily invited to the wedding of Jay Park and Y/N L/N on the 31st of October, at three o’clock. Please join them for this amazing celebration!”

coco’s love note: ahhh and that’s a wrap on the wedding date! I really hope you all enjoyed it, honestly it was really fun to write especially coming up with things to fit the characters I chose for this fic in specific :) it was hard making heeseung the bad ex but he was the perfect fit 😭 and i love jay being the ml like he’s perfect for rom-coms!! anyways, I hope you enjoyed this fic and as always, feedback & reblogs are always appreciated <3

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not getting along with one of my coworkers?

So I (16M) work with a few others (16F, 17F, 37F, 51M) in crisis management and, for the most part, I get along with my coworkers as much as I have to. They're decent enough people, and while I don't intend to be working this job forever, it's good experience for the field I intend to be going into in the future, I'm good at the job, and I don't have to deal with a lot of people aside from my coworkers which is honestly an ideal for myself.

There is, however, this one guy (17M) who just… he's infuriating, for lack of a better description. He seems to get everything just handed to him, because the boss (49M, 16F is his daughter) thinks he's the best at everything and he does too. He is not the best at everything, and he hasn't been working anywhere near as hard as I have for this… basically, my entire life. And yet he's the one who everyone likes, he's the one who is likely to get a promotion the next time there is one available…

I just don't get it! I used to be able to commiserate with 16F about this, given how often she was shadowed by 17M, but lately even she's started to like him, and says that I'm being unfair to him. That I should try talking to him, when he just… he's weirdly quiet. I honestly don't know if he talks to anyone except when he has to, but he definitely doesn't talk to me. Why would he, when he thinks he's so much better than me?

Still, 16F is a good friend, and upon asking around to the rest of our mutual coworkers (49M excluded; I don't particularly like him for a number of reasons including his treatment of his own daughter, but that's a matter for a separate AITA post) I discovered that everyone else was on 17M's side instead of mine. Yet again.

Just today, I did try to talk to him. I showed him one of the most impressive things I could do and didn't even get a reaction. So I snapped. Yelled at him quite a bit, and then left to cool off.

Am I being the asshole? I'd be willing to dismiss this if it was just one or two of my coworkers who really liked 17M, but for it to be literally everyone… I'm starting to think I might be the problem. Advice on how to fix it would, honestly, be much appreciated—I'll be the first to admit I'm not much of a people person, and I doubt sarcastically wishing him luck sealing the darkness helped matters.

What are these acronyms?

[doudouneverte]

Obi imagine

Part 1 - Obi Breakups up with Reader because of a argument. Can be because of anything but it’s bad. Maybe Accuse of cheating bad or something else? Anyway Reader ends up moving to a new club from Wolfsburg without telling Obi after the heartbreak. (Sad Ending).

Part 2 - After the breakup and not seeing each other for months? Weeks? They’re about to see each other again at the German national camp. Awkward, Reader tries to ignore Obi because she is still hurt, maybe gets close with another teammate which makes Obi jealous. Anyway it’s a mess and affects the way the team plays so the team try to get them to resolve their problems. Who knows maybe communicating is all they needed to do (Happy Ending).

a/n: thank you; that's a very good request

Up and Down

Pairing: Lena Oberdorf x EintrachtF!Reader; Laura Freigang x GERWNT!Reader(best friend); GERWNT x Reader

Summary: based on the request above

Type: angst & fluff

Warning:

word count: 2295

-----

Honestly, you didn't know how you got there. A few minutes earlier, you were having just a little heated chat, and now things were totally blowing up.

"-you're always acting like that!" The midfielder yelled at you.

"Lena, watch your tone..." 

"Or what? You'll also tell it to Laura, maybe?" 

Here we go again, you thought. Honestly, you didn't know how everything started. Laura and you have always been close; she was like the sister you never had. Even after you signed your first contract with Wolfsburg and hers with Frankfurt, things never changed between you two. And it was really cool at first.

But since a few months ago, you started to date Lena. And even if everybody was aware of your bond with the number 10 of Frankfurt, the midfielder didn't see it in a good way. Well, not at first. At first, she was more than happy to see how you connected on the pitch with your best friend, but quickly you also restarted to connect off the pitch. As much as you could, you were on your way to Frankfurt to see her or on the phone with her, and that started to piss off your girlfriend. More than that, she started to accuse you of cheating on her with your own best friend, which was totally crazy.

"Can you please not bring that again?" You were already more angry about where things were going.

"Why?" 

"Look, we lost, okay? I'm as angry as you, but right now Laura has nothing to do with that." Losing 4-0 was never a good experience, even more so when it's against your best friend's team.

"Of course she has something to do with it when she scored a brace and that you didn't do anything to stop her." 

"I'm a striker; that's not my principal job to stop opponents offensives. That's your job, so stop being mad at something you should have done!" You also started to raise your voice. To be completely honest, you didn't like raising your voice and even more on Lena, even when she's mean like that.

"You know what? I don't know why we decided to start this." She said with a seemingly quieter voice. "Maybe it was a mistake."

You took a moment to analyze what she said before asking, "What do you mean? What was a mistake?" 

"Everything. This match. Us. Everything." She replied with a light sob.

"Babe, you're not doing what I think?" You asked even if you already knew the answer.

"Sorry, Y/n but it doesn't work between. I think we need to break up and start to focus more on ourselves than us." She replied. There was a loud silence while you were processing everything.

"No, Lena, please, you can't." 

"I'm sorry, Y/n." She said while she made her way to the door of your apartment. "I'll ask Jule to pick up my thing during the week. Good bye." She finished her sentence by closing the door behind her, letting you alone in front of the door with a blurry vision drowned in tears and a last memory of your lover ending what seemed to be the best thing in your life.

This night, you cried a lot. The other half of the bed being totally empty was the principal reason. Even before you started to date, Lena had a lot of sleepovers at your place, and most of the time you would both fall asleep on your bed after talking for hours about everything and nothing, like you didn't spend almost all your day together.

Crossing that door broke not only your relationship with her but also your friendship.

A few kilometers away from Wolfsburg, your best friend started to worry when she didn't receive any text from you. You always texted each other after a game, even if you played against each other. It was like a silent promise that you made.

At first, she thought that you were just trying to seek comfort with your girlfriend, but when the next day, Jule called her to let her know that you hadn't contacted any members of the team for the whole day, it started to worry her.

You still didn't know why you did this, but after Lena broke up with you, you called Tommy and told him that you needed some time to yourself before leaving the city. The ride was like usual; you knew it so well for a while now. When you arrived at your destination, it was already past 12 a.m. You didn't have to make the call to know that she would be there.

Laura was desperately trying to reach you when she heard someone knock on her door. She didn't wait until she opened the door to face you. You were exhausted because of the ride, and from your face, she knew that you didn't sleep eight hours the previous night.

"What are you doing here?" The midfielder asked but didn't wait for your answer to drag you into her apartment. "Jule called me; she said that you didn't reply when she called you and that something bad happened yesterday." Your best friend told you, very worried, and when you replied with nothing but silence, her state didn't change for the best. "Y/n? What's wrong?"

Hearing this question made you remember why you were there. Tears started to roll down your cheeks, and you didn't do anything to stop them.

"She left me." You said between sobs, making your best friend look at you confused. "She broke up with me." You added before falling apart. The Frankfurt player held you in her arms, trying to comfort you while her jaw was clenched. She was ready to kill the Wolfsburg player.

"Hey, I'll prepare the spare bedroom and let you rest well." She proposed after you started to calm down. When you nodded, she stood up and took your bags and put them in the spare room.

One hour later, you were sleeping while Laura was just ending a call with your mom when she told her that you had decided to spend some time in hers. She was pouring a cup of water, trying to calm her anger, when she heard someone knock on her door. Once the door opened, the midfielder was greeted by two of your national teammates.

"Where is she?" Anyomie asked. Laura pointed to the spare bedroom with her head, letting the forward find you.

"I swear I'll kill Lena." Sara declared while she followed the younger player.

"Not if I beat you on that," Laura said.

"Did she tell you why?"

"No, she came; she cried, and I prepared her a room, and she fell asleep almost instantly." The defender hummed, trying to understand everything.

~~~~~

You spent almost all the week at Laura, sometimes leaving to see your mom, who still lived in Frankfurt. After that week, you made your way back to Wolfsburg. The rest of the season was not really better because you finished second, just behind Bayern, and lost against Barcelona in the Champions League final.

Because of the situation with Lena and because Wolfsburg was not too excited to make you sign a new contract, when Frankfurt proposed to you to join them, you accepted instantly. This move made you distance yourself from Lena for a long period of time. But things couldn't stay like that when you had your national camp.

At camp, it was clear that your situation with the Wolfsburg player. You knew it because of some glare some players sent to her when you arrived. Thankfully for you, you were quickly dragged away by Jule and a few Bayern players. While you were distracted, Laura made her way to Lena with an unreadable face.

"Oh, ooh, someone is about to get killed right now." Lina said, alerting Alexandra.

The two younger women walk away from any attention before coming back a few minutes later. Lena had a rather scared expression, while Laura seemed satisfied.

Whatever your best friend told your ex-girlfriend, it made her stay away from you for at least a few days. But being on the same team meant that sometimes you had to face her. Thankfuly, every time you did, you were not alone. Since a few weeks now, you have spent all your free time with Sydney when you were not stuck with Laura.

Seeing this started to make Lena obviously jealous. It was so obvious that Merle and Alex had to keep an eye on the younger Wolfsburg player to be sure she didn't do something stupid.

~~~~~

What should be something rather private, started to worry the team when yours and Lena's performances on the pitch were worse than they should be. It was clear that things between you started to invade the professional side, and you felt bad for that because your teammates shouldn't have to suffer from that.

After the last game before the trip to Ocenia for the World Cup, you were requested by your captains in your and Laura's room.

"What's going on here?" You asked when you saw your ex-Wolfsburg captain on your bed.

"Y/n, we need to talk." Svenja told you gently, but you could sense that she was not really happy about whatever would happen.

You sat in front of them, waiting for one of them to start to speak, but your door got opened before that.

"Oh, sorry." Lena said when she saw you and your confused expression.

"No, Lena, stay here. We need to talk to you too." Alex said. The midfielder awkwardly sat between her two teammates. "Do you have any idea why we asked you to come here?" The tall captain asked, receiving two confused faces plus a groan from you.

"Okay, maybe we should ask others too." Svenja said, and you didn't have time to question it until your door burst open and all your teammates were there.

"What the hell are you doing here?" you asked.

"The real question is, why do we have to be there?" Sara asked, visibly tired; she just woke up from a nap.

"Sorry, Sara, I promise that we will not bother you after that, but it's really important." Svenja said.

"Oh, are we finally talking about the elephant in the room?" Jule asked before sitting next to Svenja.

"So, who wants to say it?" Alex's question earned a lot of raised hands. "I think you should do it, Laura." The captain said all the other girls whined or groaned in deception. Now your attention was on your best friend.

"You guys are terrible." Laura started referring to you and Lena. "We know that there is a whole problem between you; nobody can miss it. But we think that there are a lot of things that you didn't say to each other, and that starts to affect the team. So, I think you need to work on that because I promise you that it starts killing us to see you unable to connect on and off the pitch." The Frankfurt player explained, earning a nod from everyone, confirming what she said.

You and Lena look at each other. It was the first time you really looked at her since the breakup, and it's useless to say that despite what happened, you couldn't deny that she was still the same girl you fell in love with. The midfielder couldn't deny that either. When everyone noticed the looks, they took their clues and left you to talk.

The silence was a little cringe at first, but she knew she had to say something. "I'm sorry," she started. "I shouldn't act like that. I knew how you felt about being yelled at, and I still did that. I'm sorry, really."

"It's okay." You accepted her apology rather quickly, which seemed to surprise her. "But..." Of course there was a 'but'; there is always one. "You still need to apologize for something else." You reminded her.

The brunette looked at you for a moment, then quickly looked around the room. "I'm also sorry to believe that you cheated on me with Laura. I know that you hate when people ship on you, but I still use that to break up with you because I couldn't take all the pressure." She stopped for a moment, and her eyes started to shine. "I should have talked with you instead of ending this. I couldn't find peace for a few weeks after this day." 

You moved to sit next to her and grab her hand. "I accept your apology, but it really hurt me. And it was from you, so it was even worse. I loved you; no, I still love you because even after that, it is almost impossible to hate you. I don't know about you, but I really want to try again, but before that, you need to promise me to talk to me when things start to get too much." You finished by wiping her baby tears and leaving a kind kiss on her cheek.

"Yes, I promise you." She replied immediately, making you laugh. "Wait, you really want to try again despite everything?" she asked when she finally understood what you said.

"Yes, but before that, you need to prove that you deserve it and also apologize to Laura." You said before standing up and escorting her to the door.

"Wait, can I still ask you if I can pick you up tomorrow for a date?" It was really quick, but you had to admit that her confidence was one of the reasons you admired her. When you nodded, her face suddenly shone. "Okay, it's a date then." She clarified before selling the deal with a quick kiss on your lips.

[thecoolerliauditore]

long post: the neck kisses playlist on joel's spotify is about jimmy (and kind of etho too a little bit)

it's not actually about jimmy it very much is not about jimmy. however I had visions when I listened to it and I know at least one person really wants me to put this into words so

"I Miss Having Sex But At Least I Don't Wanna Die Anymore" is a pretty straightforward song about Awsten Knight's post-break-up life as well as his frustrations with his fanbase.

The feelings post-break-up are described as freeing, hence the title ".. don't wanna die anymore" but the ending of the song hints at some nagging regret despite that, with the desperate repeating mantra of "but I think it's fine, it's cool"

While I don't think all of these songs signify chronology (and some I don't think are literal at all unless c!Joel has some weird daddy issue lore I'm unaware of), I do like to think the start of the playlist calls to pre-3L jimmy/joel, most specifically their relationship in x-life.

In x-life, Joel establishes a totally-not-cult religion he dubs "Jeremyism", Jimmy being his first member after he fails to trick Lizzie into joining. He later gives up his leader title, quote, "for content". Jimmy is unhappy with this development and begs Joel to stay, but Joel refuses. While their relationship in x-life would be hard to define as romantic in any sense, they were clearly fond of eachother before Joel eventually broke away.

Things get a bit hazy here since "for content" doesn't really translate to anything in-universe, but I think it's interesting to note that both the song and Joel mention an audience, specifically one that they feel the need to appease. Whether this is a metaphor or watcher lore or some secret third thing I have no idea but it sure is there 👍

In my mind, it goes like this: Jimmy and Joel meet, they hit it off, Jimmy is affectionate and Joel starts to catch feelings. Joel cuts Jimmy off for making him feel weird.

the second song in the playlist reinforces this, being a much angrier post-break-up song.

While this seems out-of-order (why does the immediate anger come after the song about life after the break-up?), I think it's interesting if you look at it from an angle of this not being fully Joel's feelings towards Jimmy, but Joel's frustration towards himself for messing it up.

with a little bit of frustration being placed on jimmy too:

pictured: joel in third life with a message from jimmy that he very much. does not answer.

personally I like to think Joel held a lot of resentment towards Jimmy in Third Life, both for homophobic reasons (i.e. you made me feel gay and now I'm gonna punish you for it) and for jealousy reasons (start of his number one scott hater arc)

this one's just in the wrong playlist first of all why does he insert this between two waterparks songs. whatever man.

anyway this song's interesting to me because it's literally just about a hot babe getting rejected by some fuck who refuses to be ball-and-chained.

there's two directions this could go imo: one is that this is, once again, evoking joel and jimmy's relationship. Joel acknowledges that he a life with Jimmy would be nice, but he refuses to settle down because it would rob him of his identity/freedom.

the other is that brandy is joel and the sailor is etho, since brandy shows an admiration for the sailor but also an awareness that he loves his job more than her

this storybook like description of how brandy saw the sailor's tales is very smalletho to me idk. very hand-in-hand with joel's child-like view of who etho is.

I don't have much for this one tbh it's pretty much just a love song and Joel really liking waterparks (king)

That being said, there's some fun imagery to play with here:

yellow = jimmy makes a lot of sense (blonde hair, canary imagery, yellow also representing people on their second life in the life series which evokes neither the assumed skillfulness of a late game green name nor the danger of a red name), as does green = joel (the green streak. shrek. yeahg. and while red joel is iconic "green like my insides" could also be read in this context as "deep down, I am safe to be around" which I think is neat)

"natural blue" is a bit harder to interpret (especially considering the original context of this being a joke about Awsten dyeing his hair) but blue is of course scott's colour. this could be read spitefully as Natural blue (was in love with jimmy first) vs scott's dyed hair or it's. joel saying that's he's gay idk man.

"at least I match your eyes" is pretty simple, with both of them having brown eyes, "jealous and hypnotized" once again alluding to some jealousy, likely towards FH again if you believe the blue line is alluding to scott.

however joel has plenty of people to be jealous of in regard to jimmy so. shrugs. hey you can even interpret this line as talking about jimmy's desirability. neat.

there's also this, which again might allude to flower husbands, implying in this fake world I've created that Joel doesn't view them as actually "married"

ok this is getting too long lmao see you guys next time i feel like writing about this stupid fucking playlist again

[boy-comics]

RENT-FREE

── .✦ pairing; ♭form!o.de x gn!reader

── .✦ summary; chance leads you to oh seungmin. something else leads to you stay.

── .✦ word count; ~4.7k

── .✦ tags; swearing, mentioned family issues, discussions of death, fluff, hurt/comfort, romantic tension, roommates to friends to lovers(??), seungmom™, takes place in the "real" world

── .✦ a/n; ahahaha (lying in a ditch)

After graduating, getting a job, moving out, and doing all the other things one needs to do to be considered a real adult, you realize something: pride, that bright, delicate thing that you've clung to all these years, means very, very little.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"It's just until I find another apartment. I won't even argue with him anymore, Mama—"

"Honey, I'm sorry, but you should know why I can't trust you to do that."

You stare at your phone screen, the call time climbing up ever slowly. Your mother continues talking, her voice tinny through the speaker, trying to soothe your irritation without giving in, but you can feel your thoughts growing pricklier and pricklier with each reasoning.

Just kick him out for a little while, you want to yell at her, don't you care about your own kid having a roof over their head? Why choose that deadbeat over me?

"So what am I supposed to do, then, Mama? My roommate's gone and I can't pay rent all on my own. I don't know what to do."

"I don't know either. I'll ask around and see if anyone can help you out. But this is adulthood, honey; things like this happen, and you just need to figure out what to do."

If you could afford it, you'd throw your phone against the wall.

"… I know. Thanks, Mama. Talk to you later."

"Make sure to eat, honey."

Pressing the end call button, you drop your phone on your bed and scream into your pillow.

—

What you end up doing, all by yourself, is break your lease early and shoulder the penalty fees. Then you pack up what little belongings you have and camp out at an old classmate's place (just until your next paycheck at the most, you had promised), and work and search for apartments and search for roommates and sleep and eat and work again.

Your mother calls just as you're looking up motel prices. You don't want to pick up, but again, pride means very, very little.

"Hi, Mama."

"Hi. Are you still looking for a place?"

"Yep."

"Okay, good. I was talking to Oh Seungmin's mother. You remember him, don't you? You went to the same high school. He was on the basketball team."

Your brow furrows. "Oh Seungmin?"

"So you do remember him."

"… Yes."

You're sure he doesn't remember you, though. Oh Seungmin had always belonged to a different crowd than yours, a really different crowd, even if you did walk to and from the same neighborhood together for a brief time. If your mother is suggesting what you think she's suggesting, you must be thinking wrong, somehow.

"He lives somewhere near where you work. His mother talked to him, and he's willing to let you stay with him until you find something more permanent."

You blink.

"Honey? What do you think?"

"I—uh." Your cursor continues to hover over the room price typed in bold on your laptop, and as you absorb what has just been offered, it drifts down to the corner of the screen. "How much would I need to pay?"

"Ah. I forgot to ask. She gave me his number to give to you just in case, though, so just ask him. It's—"

You type down the number and save it, praying to whatever lives upstairs that this isn't the beginning of some awful cosmic joke.

—

You move into Oh Seungmin's place on a late Sunday morning in May.

"Do you need help unpacking?"

"No, it's okay." You gesture vaguely at your suitcase, backpack, and laundry basket of bed things. "This is it."

Seungmin nods, his eyes flitting between the three things containing your entire life. There is a smile on his face, small and polite but awkward, like he's entertaining a surprise guest despite having expected you for the past three days. "Oh, okay. Cool."

You smile back, just as awkward. This Seungmin is slightly different from what you remember. High school Seungmin was more outgoing, a star athlete and the dream of every girl in your class. In this small apartment in the shadier part of the city, he seems more subdued, a little lonelier around the edges. Or maybe that's only because it's you.

He is still absurdly good-looking, though.

"I didn't know if you were okay with the couch or a futon mattress, so both are out. I have extra pillows if you need them … you don't have a closet, so we could buy a foldable one or something and put it in the corner if you want."

"I'm okay with the futon mattress. And it's fine—I'll just keep things in my suitcase. I won’t be in your hair for long, anyway."

"All right." His fingers tap an oddly controlled rhythm along the side of his thigh—not that you were already looking, you just catch the movement at the edge of your vision—and then he clears his throat. "Well, I'll let you get your stuff unpacked. I made some curry rice so we can eat afterwards. Hopefully you'll like it. I think you told me it was your favorite, once, a long time ago."

Some of the ice on your tongue melts.

"It still is."

His smile cracks open a bit wider, a bit more genuinely. "Really? Nice. I'll get everything set up, then."

"I'll be quick."

The living room and the kitchen are squeezed together with no divider, so you are graced with the ambiance of clinking ceramic bowls and silverware while you set your things out to organize them. The faint smell of curry and rice that you had detected when you had first stepped foot into this home intensifies with the sound of the microwave running.

Eating lunch with Oh Seungmin is a simple affair that grows more comfortable with time. You go over the house rules and contributions again, and it's funny, you find, the way the two of you agree on things so easily despite not having talked in years. Then again, it is only the first day.

"There is one thing, though," Seungmin says, taking your plate along with his to rinse them in the sink. "I have a synthesizer and record a lot of music for work. I'll keep my door closed, but if you're here and it bothers you, just tell me. I'll use headphones."

"Oh," you say, surprised. You don't remember Seungmin having a strong interest in music. A synthesizer. That's interesting. "Okay, I'll let you know." A thought hits you and you ask conversationally, "Do you use ♭form at all?"

You don't have an account yourself, having put it off time and time again. Conversation, that's all you had intended. But as soon as you mention ♭form, it's like the shutters close, and Seungmin's tone shifts from open and friendly into something strange and even guarded.

"Sometimes. Just the audience and solo modes, though."

He changes the subject after that. Of course, you still can't help but wonder for the rest of the day, especially when he disappears into his room for the rest of the afternoon, strange and beautiful music trickling out from underneath the door.

—

Seungmin tells you that it's been a while since he's had people stay over, but despite his modesty, you find him to be a wonderful roommate.

"Are you done using the glass cleaner?"

"Yeah, it's in here."

Heading to the bathroom, you spot Seungmin dutifully spraying the shower with cleaner and hold your breath, grabbing the glass cleaner from its place on the floor and stepping back out quickly.

"Did you find it?"

"Yeah, it was right there," you say.

He turns around to check, and you can't help but grin. Standing like that in the bathroom, he almost looks like a harried mom, old baggy shirt tucked into equally worn sweatpants, hair messy, a mask covering the lower half of his face and large yellow gloves covering his hands. When he raises his eyebrows, you snort.

"What?"

"You look like a mom."

"Finish your chores," he says sternly, even waggling his head, and you laugh again before leaving to wipe the windows.

Cleaning day is surprisingly mellow in your temporary home. Seungmin has the bathroom and his bedroom while you take the kitchen and living room, and you're both quite efficient. The initial awkwardness at the beginning has eased significantly over the past week, and if you were feeling optimistic, you'd say that the two of you are friendlier now than you were as students—even if he does spend a lot of time in his room.

"Hey, you wanna do something after this?" Seungmin calls out. You hear the shower turn on, followed by the sound of water splashing over the walls.

"Like what?"

"We could shoot some hoops."

"Ha-ha, that's funny."

"Well, now we have to go shoot some hoops." You make a face, and even though he can't see it, Seungmin tacks on, "I'll buy you garlic cheese bread after."

"How many?"

"One plus one more for each basket you make."

Well. That's an offer you can't refuse. "Deal."

"Okay. After I clean the toilet, I'm gonna shower and then we can head out."

You finish vacuuming and mopping the floors by the time he comes out of the bathroom, hair toweled to a curly dampness and no longer smelling like bleach. He looks like a young, fashionable man again, and you think that it might have been a little easier to talk to him when he was masked up and rubber-gloved.

"Ready?"

"I'll still get one free garlic cheese bread even if I miss all the shots, right?"

"Yes, but you can't be that bad at basketball."

"Try me."

There's a basketball court about ten minutes away from the apartment complex that Seungmin frequents. There's another one that's closer, newer, but upon passing by and asking about it, you're told that he avoids that court because it's too popular.

"Isn't it better to play with a group of people?" you question.

He shrugs, head turning away from you. "I just like to do my own thing when I'm here."

(It strikes you as a bit odd, but you keep that thought to yourself.)

"We're here." Seungmin dribbles the ball for a few seconds, then passes it to you. "You remember some stuff from gym class, don't you?"

"I mean, yeah, but that doesn't mean I can do it," you retort, passing the ball back. "Why don't you give an example and I copy it?"

Your companion turns and promptly shoots the basketball towards the hoop. It cuts a majestic arc through the air before falling through the hoop with a devastatingly clean swoosh.

You stare as he jogs down to fetch the ball, returning with a self-satisfied grin. "Okay, well, don't expect that kind of technique from me. I'm fine with my one bread."

"No, I'm going to make sure you get at least two. Here." Seungmin comes closer, plopping the basketball into your outstretched palms. "Just dribble it a little and pass it back and forth so you can get the feel for it."

You slowly bounce the ball on the concrete. It's haphazard, coming back up at different angles with no discernible rhythm, but you can actually keep it up for more than ten seconds. Clapping his hands, Seungmin shouts encouragement and gestures for you to pass it to him.

"What were you talking about? You're fine at this." The ball travels between the two of you several times before he points to the hoop. "Try to shoot."

Emboldened, you cradle the basketball in your dominant hand and stare up at the hoop. Aiming at the backboard, you launch it with a quiet grunt.

The ball hits the rim and shoots off to the side.

"... That's okay, that's okay! Try again."

You feel like the kid winning a pity prize at school. It really shouldn't be a big deal, with you being a whole-ass adult and all, but you can't prevent the frustration that roils up anyway as Seungmin tosses the ball back to you.

"I'm just going to miss."

"You won't know unless you try, right?"

When you roll your eyes at his sage-like wisdom, he sighs, circling around to stand behind you.

His arms come around to adjust yours into the right position, and you nearly choke on your own spit.

"Keep your shooting arm close." He taps the inside of your foot with the toe of his shoe. "Feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, 'cause the power comes from your legs. Your other hand is just there to guide. And follow through."

His voice is soft against your ear. You swallow dryly, only daring to breathe again when he steps away.

Oh, no.

"That easy, huh?" you croak, bending your knees.

"If you want it to be."

You shoot the ball. It soars upward—downward—hits the backboard, rolls along the orange rim and falls through the net.

You and Seungmin stare for a moment. Then Seungmin nudges you with his elbow and holds out his fist.

"Yo, yo, yo! Good job, [Y/n]-ssi!"

Your eyes roll again as you bump fists with him, but it's bashful this time, and you hate how exposed it makes you feel. "You're a literal mom and dad rolled into one."

"Does that make you my offspring?"

"Sure would beat being the offspring of my actual parents." You wince as soon as the joke leaves your mouth.

"Oh."

Seungmin blinks, and laughs a bit, but it's so obviously unsure that everything that's been going so right today veers into complete fuckup territory.

You dig your hands into your pockets and scuff your shoes. "... Sorry. Shitty joke."

"Ah, it's fine ..."

And yet, neither of you say anything more.

Shit.

While you rub your arms, hobbling towards the basketball rolling steadily towards the grass, you hear Seungmin follow. The scrape of his shoes against the asphalt peters out as you pick up the ball, and when you turn around, he's regarding you carefully. You find an interest in the words stamped onto the basketball.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks.

"Not really." You spin the ball in your hands. "I mean, it's not like you never knew, and nothing's really changed, and that's why I'm here in the first place. So."

Seungmin nods slightly and hums, scratching his nose.

"I didn't mean to kill the mood."

"No," he says immediately, "don't worry about anything like that. You're good company."

You look at Seungmin. He stares back, and for a brief moment, you remember a boy with the same dark eyes, under a similar sky, sitting with you at the corner of a convenience store after school because you didn't want to go home.

"Oh. Okay."

"You wanna try for a third garlic cheese bread?"

"Nah, you kinda killed the vibe with all that mushy gushy stuff."

Seungmin hisses through his teeth when you punch his shoulder. "Damn."

"Only joking. Can we go now, though? I'm hungry."

"Yeah, sure."

—

In the brief interludes where neither of you have anywhere to be, you and Seungmin inevitably gravitate towards one another. That's what happens when people get along, you guess, though it's been so long that it surprises you when Seungmin actually joins you on the couch with a tub of popcorn.

"That for me?"

"That for us," he corrects as you press play on the laptop and settle back into the cushions. "Is the volume high enough?"

"Oh." You lean forward again. "Now it is."

Seungmin had been neutral at best towards pirating a horror movie from five years ago—he could take them or leave them, depending on the quality—but you had cited its several awards and didn't want to watch it alone, so here he was, ready to pass judgment on your choice.

"Don't scream too loudly," he gibes as the music drops to a low simmer, "or the neighbors will complain."

You scoff, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "I'm right here if you need a shoulder to cry on, Seungmin-ssi."

Thirty minutes into the movie, both of you swallow your words.

You'd taken it as a sign of good taste that multiple reviews had credited Come Into My Head as providing nightmare fuel for weeks, but now you realize that good taste may not be in your best interest. Not when you're shaking like a leaf next to your roommate, who is sitting stiffly, nearly stone-like.

When the killer jumps out, both of you let out a shriek that triggers angry thumping from above.

"Shitshitshit." Another jump scare slashes across the screen, and you leap out of your skin when Seungmin's hand clamps down on your arm. "SHIT."

"Y-You're making my arm numb," you whisper, but you make no move to pry him off, eyes glued to the screen.

"Sorry—"

When the lead actor screams, you can't take it anymore and suffocate Seungmin's arm between your own, smashing your face into his shoulder with a pathetic whimper.

... Unfortunately, said shoulder ends up being so warm and muscular that you sober up from your fear-drunkeness long enough to be overcome with embarrassment.

"Uh." Your action seems to have the same effect on Seungmin, whose grip immediately loosens.

"I'm sorry," you blather, starting to pull away. "I swear I'm not trying to—"

"It's fine," Seungmin interrupts. "I, uh, don't mind if you don't. I'm kind of terrified right now?"

"Me too."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

The corners of his lips quirk upward. If it weren't for the gory, red lighting of the movie illuminating his face, and if you weren't so sure of his opinion on you, you would think that Oh Seungmin was blushing.

Yeah. You lean back until you're pressed against Seungmin once more, arms wrapped around his and shoulder pressing shoulder. His right hand reaches around to squeeze yours with every on-screen death and you can feel each joint of each finger over your own. I'm terrified.

—

It takes two whole weeks before shit hits the fan.

It had been an unexpectedly warm day, so you had decided to impulse buy some ice cream bars on the way back from work. Seungmin would appreciate it, being cooped up in the apartment with his synthesizer. You haven't been able to catch him outside his room for the past day. Maybe you could hang out and talk in the kitchen while you polished off one or two ice cream bars.

Sticking the box of chocolate-coated vanilla in the freezer, you quietly walk over to Seungmin's bedroom and examine the doorknob. There's no Do Not Disturb sign hanging from it, and it's not locked, which you take as the go-ahead to knock.

"Seungmin-ssi, I got ice cream."

You wait. No reply.

Frowning, you press your ear against the door, wondering if he's working on some music, but you don't hear anything. Of course, he could be using headphones for some reason.

"Hello?" You knock and then call for him once more, making sure to be loud. "Hey, I'm coming in."

With that, you enter his room.

Nothing seems out of place. That is, until you see Seungmin hunched over on the edge of his bed, hands trembling and forehead drenched with sweat.

"Seungmin!"

Stumbling over your feet to rush over, you grab ahold of his shoulders and shake him. Seungmin jolts and shivers, then looks up with wide, glazed eyes, and it frightens you so badly you reach up to grab his face. It feels cold.

"Hey. Hey! What happened?!"

He stares up at you, completely vacant, and then he finally blinks. It seems to trigger something because he starts gasping for breath, clutching your wrists as he registers your presence.

"What happened?" you repeat, voice cracking from the volume.

He winces. "I dunno," he rasps, wetting his lips. "I think we ... I think we broke the system?"

The use of we raises a flag in your mind, but considering the present circumstances, you put that aside for now. For all you know, his brain could be fried like an egg and churning out nonsense. "Broke what system?"

He looks down.

You follow his gaze. There is a pair of strange glasses on the floor by his feet. Hesitantly, as if you might get burned, you pick them up.

Upon inspection, you notice '♭form' faintly etched into the frames. There's a button on top of the left hinge, but nothing happens when you press it. Frowning, you press it again, only to curse when something neon red fizzles briefly across the lenses. Then it’s dead once more.

"Oh," you murmur dumbly. You look at him again.

Seungmin's lips press together, eyes still fixed on the glasses, and he swallows. His gaze then moves to you and the emptiness of it slowly ebbs away.

He is silent, despondent, and he takes a moment before he tells you something so sincerely it stuns you.

"That was the only place where I mattered."

And, truthfully, it feels like he's slapped you across the face.

You gape at him, throat suddenly tight, and when he continues to sit without another word, you shut your mouth so violently your jaw tingles.

The strange behavior makes sense now. The brief periods of dullness after leaving his room, the rare but suspicious checking out from conversations, the obsession with music. You had overlooked these things because the moments between them had been some of the best you’ve ever had. They had mattered to you.

Apparently, he had never felt the same way.

"You don't think you matter here?" you say, numb. Your grip tightens around the glasses. "What was the fucking point of all this, then?"

His brow furrows. "… What do you mean?"

It feels like prying open the shell of a living creature, exposing everything that's meant to be kept safely hidden away. You do not know why the living creature is you and not Seungmin. You don't know why Seungmin makes it so damn easy to spill your guts, revealing the self-centered and bitter parts of you that drive everyone else away.

"Do I not matter either?" you ask.

The sound of your own voice, angry and trembling, immediately disgusts you. You bite your tongue and turn away.

"What? Hey, that's not—"

"Nevermind. Forget it."

As you head straight for the door, you have this grand idea in your head that you're going to storm out of the apartment, spend a few hours blowing off some steam, and then return to pack up your stuff and stop adding to Seungmin's misery. But that would require you to be faster than Seungmin, and for his apartment to be large enough to create enough distance between you and him.

Reality unfolds as such: you getting one foot across the doorway, Seungmin grabbing your wrist, and you stopping far too quickly.

"That's not what I meant at all. I'm sorry, I'm just—just let me explain."

"I'm a little too pissed off to listen nicely, Seungmin-ssi."

"That's fine. As long as you believe me." When you look back at him, he squeezes your wrist. "Please stay."

He's pleading. His hand is clammy. And because your pride means so little, and because you have become so horribly attached—you stay.

You let him lead you back into his room to sit on his bed. You stay, and you listen as he starts from the very beginning.

By the time he's done, having explained the train, the fighting, the surreal time loop his band had just broken after what had seemed like days, you are just about ready to break down.

"So you're telling me that you've been wanted by ♭form for the past year?" you say, throat dry, and Seungmin nods. "What would've happened to you here if you died in there?"

"I don't know. All I know is that the pain sticks after I log off."

The pain sticks. Good god. You lean over and hold your head in your hands, feeling nauseous. "Seungmin-ssi, that's not okay. What the fuck."

"I'm sorry," he murmurs. "I didn't think you would be this upset if you found out."

"Of course I would? I live with you? Do you know how traumatizing it would be to come back from work and find out you're brain dead? Like, fuck," you laugh, feeling your lungs constrict, "oh, my god, what if I lost you?"

Seungmin is quiet. Then he says, almost whispering, "Lost me?"

The disbelief in his echo causes you to close your eyes. Everything is coming out now. You can feel them bubbling over, crawling out from between your ribs, thoughts and confessions that you have stuffed down for fear that they would be ridiculed.

He utters your name, the end of it curling upward in bewilderment.

"Seungmin-ssi." You take a deep breath. "You're kind, and caring, and the first person in actual years who I felt actually gave a shit about me. If something happened to you, I ... part of me would probably die too, I think."

It's too hot in his room. Your vision goes blurry, and you feel your nose start to burn. You sniffle. Hands falling into your lap, you dig your nails into the fabric of your uniform pants. You're sweaty and teary and miserably cracked open, and it's hot, and all you can do is sit and wait for his response.

Beside you, Seungmin shifts in place.

Then two arms wrap around you, warmth upon warmth, a cheek resting against the side of your head as he holds you.

"I didn't know you felt that way about me," he breathes. "I'm sorry for being so reckless with myself. I was ... I was wrong."

Your tears start to fall onto his shoulder. "Don't leave me."

"I won't. I'm here." His hand ghosts up and down your back, the barest of tremors in his fingers. "You matter to me, too. So, so much."

Oh. A sob escapes your lips.

You're so selfish. Selfish for having him comfort you after what he went through in ���form, selfish for dirtying his shoulder with your tears, selfish for feeling this way about him after so little time.

Selfish for wanting to stay.

You tighten your grip on the back of his shirt. Seungmin hums. He pulls away just slightly to look at your face, and you almost tear up again when he wipes the wetness from your cheeks with his thumbs, his eyes glossier than normal.

"I'm sorry," you croak as he does so, reaching up to touch the dark circles under his eyes. "I didn't even check if you were okay. Are you okay?"

He chuckles a bit wetly, hugging you again. "I'm better now. Thanks for asking."

"Do you need water?"

"I'll get some in a few minutes. Don't worry."

"It's hot. I came in to ask if you wanted ice cream. I bought a box from the store."

"Oh, you did?"

Neither of you move, bodies pressed close, intertwined. You are buried in his scent.

"We can have them now," you offer, with effort, "if you want."

"Is that what you want?"

You bite your lower lip. "... If it makes you feel better."

His mouth presses against your temple. Against it, he admits, "It is hot. But ..."

He does not finish that sentence. But you understand, and something blooms, trembling, in your chest.

"Maybe later," you finish drowsily.

Leaning into him further, you hear his soft agreement, his hands stroking down your arms with a surety that had not been present before. He keeps you here, with him, real and breathing, living.

You are not alone. And neither is he.

Thank you for accepting me. Thank you for loving my prideless self. I'm glad we exist here, in this world, together.

[tedwardremus]

I feel like Ron fans really want him to be an Auror for the rest of his life like Harry is because its a "cool" job but it makes perfect sense he stops after 2 years? He is canonically lazy. That is not projection. That is not bashing. That is how he IS. He is lazy. Why would he want such a work intensive, difficult, and stressful job long-term? I really think the glory would wear off fast once you realized you can't even talk about what you are doing, you have to work overtime, you can get injured, you deal with constant stress, and for what? A basic pension. You don't even get rich off of it. Ron at the joke shop suits his character SO much.

oomph

Okay, Anon. I love you, and this is a safe space for people to discuss their controversial opinions with no judgement but I will have to push back a bit because I am a member of Team Ron Defense Squad.

I agree that being an auror wasn't the perfect fit for Ron, but I disagree with his laziness.

He was lazy when it came to school work. But a lot of kids are? That's hardly unique for a teenager. School didn't really interest him. But he was bright enough to do well in all his subjects (well, except history and divination, but those were joke classes) so he didn't really feel the need to work harder.

But in the things that he was interested in? The boy was not lazy.

You don't become the best chess player Hogwarts has ever seen at age 12 when you are lazy. That is years of hard work and skill development (prodigy level!). He probably spent hours at the Burrow as a kid studying chess moves and learning to see the board. That's not lazy.

You don't become a prefect by being lazy.

He also went off by himself and practiced quidditch so he could make the house team. That's not lazy. Thats determination (and a little insecurity because he was afraid of beign mocked for putting effort in or being told he wasn't good enough)

Which is totally relatable. Have you ever been afraid of failing or being compared to someone who, in your mind, has already mastered the skill you are practicing, so in the end, you didn't really try? because not trying is better than failing? That's not lazy, that's being insecure and anxious.

Ron is also with HArry on all his adventures. Going into the forbidden forest, starting an underground defense club, solving mysteries, fighting in the Ministry. This isn't lazy.

One of Ron's number one traits is his caregiving. Offering tea, the easy way in which he assures people, making sure Harry eats. Caregiving is not lazy. It takes attention to detail, emotional intelligence, and a lot of follow-up and determination.

I think Ron retired from ebing an auror early for several reasons.

1.) The job was finished. They caught the death eaters, the trials were over, he had some breathing room, and he realised that he could move on. That it was a job he felt he had to do but didn't really enjoy doing

2.) He saw that Harry really did enjoy it and that Harry didn't need a caregiver anymore, he wa an adult who could take care of himself and had Ginny at home to also care for him.

3.) Hermione, the ultimate girl boss that she is, clearly has ambitions and was career driven. Ron wanted to make sure she wasn't burnt out and that she had someone at home to take care of her (and their future children). Ron is the ultimate wife guy and I love him leaning into the role hard and with vigour.

caregiving and homemaking aren't laziness, and seeing a traditional feminine role as lazy in the body of a male character is sexist.

4.) I love Ron and the twins relationship. They are very close, even if the Twins mocking him crosses the line. And I can see Ron caring for George after the war in his very Ron-like way. Stopping by after an auror shift to help clean the shop and make sure he ate that day. Takes him to the pub for a pint, where they don't talk, but Ron just wants George to know he is there for him.

Over time, Ron learns that he loves working at the shop. He is good at it. And Geroge loves Ron being there, and he needs the help. George wants to be creative and invent things, and Ron has a great mind for business. He is using his logic skills to improve their business strategy and expand operations. He is good at balancing books and making sure bills get paid (oh no! It Looks like he enjoys a bit of homework after all!)

And Ron loves greeting customers and talking to kids in the shop. Being friendly and a bit goofy and his warm and comforting self.

He doesn't need fame and fortune because he is secure in his role as a caregiver, it is his ultimate strength. He has matured and moved on from his childhood insecurities. He is no longer in the shadow of his large loud family.

He is Ron. And he is enough (kenough)

[lavenderxskys]

ive been literally dreaming for the day someone writes gf florist abby headcanons ;(( i just want fluffy flower shop owner abby please!! (from tlou of coursee)

oh my GOSH you have no idea the giggle i let out when i read this.

also, this is my first ask and i'm so exited :D

🌸florist abby head cannons 🌸

🌸okay first off,,, ALWAYS bring you home flowers. like- you had to tell the poor girl to stop becuase you literally had nowhere else to put them. (she still brought them though)

🌸ALSO; always brags about cool her job is. she'll be talking with you or one of her friends about work and just: "y'know i'll never get why ya'll hate your jobs. mines the best!" and no one says anything because she gets quite sensitive

🌸rambles. on. and. on. about her new shipments. you could be laying in bed all cuddled up, her nails lightly stretching at your arms and she'll sleepily mutter something along the lines of: "i got this new shipment in yesterday, shit ton of hydrangeas." and all you can do is laugh because she's SO excited.

🌸if y'all haven't met, the moment she sees you enter the shop, the spring sun shining on you while you shift around. she's HOOKED i tell you, hooked.

🌸making up some silly reason to get your number just to text you later that night.

🌸or even better, persuades you into becoming a member so she can send flowers to your house (that one might be a little creepy so think of it in the least creepy way lol)

🌸and if YOU worked with her? oh don't even get me started.

🌸plucking random flowers from the baskets hanging from the ceiling and tucking it behind you ear, telling you how gorgeous you look.

🌸or you'll be stocking and she'll just walk over with a soft smile and place a sweet kiss on the top of your head. AHHH

🌸she smells SO good too, atp she doesn't even need perfume. the shop has literally caked a delicious flowery smell to her and you can't ever get enough of it

🌸and the NICKNAMES? oh jeez. "my flower/rose/whatever flower is your fav even"

i bet i have more but those are whag i think of the most, i'd lowkey love to write a fic on this so if y'all are interested let me know :)

[the-ellia-west]

Raavas 1/3 - Feathered Sword

Enjoy! (Hopefully)

-------------------------------------------------

"With all due respect, you aren't getting any younger, sir."

"Ha!" Evellias touched a grey streak in his beard at the thought. "I suppose you're right. But I'm not dead yet!"

"If you're reckless, you could be by the end of the year."

"I'm reckless?"

"Not at the moment, but you could be if you start thinking you're invincible."

"I won't. Besides, I know my way around a sword Aery. Don't worry so much."

"It is my job to worry, sir." The guard put his hands behind his back. "You're the only protector we've got. This kingdom can't afford to lose you."

"Can't afford to lose my sword, you mean." Evellias raised an eyebrow, "You know just as well as I that the only reason they haven't taken it from me is because I'm the only one who can use it."

Aery started to speak, stopped, and continued. "You have protection nonetheless, sir."

"Well then, I may just have to use you for some other purpose, hm? How do you feel about errands, Aery?"

"No."

Evellias laughed, but a faint cry stopped both men in their tracks.

"Did you hear that, sir?"

"I did." The soldier reached for his sword. "What was that?"

"It sounded almost like a child." Aery knelt by the reeds. "It came from here."

"Almost bird-like." Evellias nodded. But just as he started to help, a strange feeling tugged in his chest. Almost like fuzzy strings wrapped around his heart, pulling him toward the water of the creek. The swordsman followed the pull but stopped as a faint glow caught his eye, pulsing faintly beneath the murky water. The warrior squinted at the cool light and slowly edged toward it. But as water soaked through the toe of his boot, the sigil carved into the center of the cross guards on his own sword burst into a light of its own.

A Protector's sword. But it couldn't be lit on its own.

The swordsman glanced around, steeled his resolve, and plunged into the water. He dropped under, reaching for the light. The tip of his finger brushed a hard object, and he fumbled with the metal for a moment before getting a grip on the hilt. Evellias pulled at the sword. It wouldn't budge.

The warrior pulled harder, bracing himself against a rock. And as he pushed himself to the last of his strength, the sword finally sprung free of the mud. Evellias flipped his hair back out of his face, brushing off the sword.

"Sir!" Aery stopped, catching sight of his boss standing in the middle of a creek. "What- Uh, never mind. Sir, you may want to come take a look at this."

"What?" The warrior hooked the sword to his belt beside his own and trotted over to Aery, the sword's light blazing brighter as he did so.

"It's a child, sir. A Harpy hatchling, to be precise."

"Why is it here?" Evellias frowned as the small bundle sniffled softly before continuing its tiny chirping cries.

"I'm not sure. But the nest looked like it had been abandoned." A pause stretched between the two. "We should kill it."

Evellias frowned and glanced at the sword. "No."

"What? Sir, we have to. If we let it loose in town, it could attack someone!"

"It's a baby. It doesn't know how to."

"Then we need to get rid of it before it learns."

"Aery," Evellias drew the sword. "It's a protector."

"What?" Aery stopped, staring at the glowing steel and back at the child. The guard pushed a lock of hair out of its face. "I... I suppose... Harpies are sentient..."

"Yes! It can learn!"

Another long pause stretched the air thin before Aery spoke again. "He. He can learn." The guard's eyes softened. "What will you do, sir?"

"I'll take him with us. I'll raise him, train him. This sword is meant for him. We'll make him a guard, the protector he's meant to be."

***

"What is rule number one?"

"Only eat what I'm supposed to."

"Rule number two?"

"Keep the sword safe, and make sure I always know where it is."

"Number three?"

"If something goes wrong, hide and wait for you."

Evellias ruffled the young Harpy's hair. "Good job!"

Raavas wrapped his wings around himself as a soft cooing chirp escaped his lips at the praise. "Thanks, Papa!"

"You're very welcome." The swordsman scooped the little boy into his arms.

"Can we go outside? Please?"

"Alright. Do you have your sword?"

The Harpy nodded, touching the little toy sword in its sheath resting beneath his wing. "Yes, Papa!"

"Okay, then we can go."

"Yay!" The little boy's fluffy white wings fluttered excitedly as Evellias took him to the front of the building.

Minutes passed of the little boy playing about in the grass before a familiar shape passed by the gate. Raavas gasped and leaped to his feet.

The man dismounted his horse and knelt. The little Harpy flung his arms around him. "Raavas! How are you doing?"

"Good!"

"Aery. Welcome back. Have you found anything?"

"Unfortunately, not. But we need to talk. Things have gotten complicated."

"What's the news?"

Aery glanced at the young Harpy. "It's a message from the king. Anyway, have you been behaving?"

"Yes! Did you bring presents?" The little boy grinned.

"Ha! Sorry to say, little one, not this time."

Raavas' smile faded a little. "Okay."

"I need to talk to Aery, okay? Can I leave you here for a little bit, Raav? Is that okay?"

"Papa?" Raavas squirmed, and Aery put him down.

"Yes?"

"Can I go get a snack?"

"Not right now, maybe soon, okay?"

"Okay."

The two adults retreated inside the building to converse, and Evellias called for a servant to watch the little Harpy.

They spoke and shared information on the new situations and the adaptations they'd have to make for a while. But just after they'd finished speaking, a servant burst into the room.

"Sir! Master Evellias! The young master has gone missing! We looked for him in the garden and all about the house, but he's gone. We can't find him!"

"What?" Evellias leaped to his feet. "Shit. Aery, find some sort of clues. You, follow him."

After a short moment to process, all three figures raced off to their respective orders. Evellias tossed the corner of his carpet away from the bed and pried up the loose floorboard, drawing out the magnificent silver sword.

It's light cast dimly upon the floor, he rushed back to the ground floor and nearly ran into Aery. "What did you find?"

"He's inside. We found trails of dirt in the hallways, and one of the servants heard him say something about food before he dissapeared."

"He did mention wanting something before we went to talk. We should go to the kitchen. See if he's somewhere in there."

"Agreed." Aery nodded, and the two warriors followed the hallways to the kitchen, but after searching it, found nothing.

Evellias drew the sword and held it out. The light glowed at the light levels of a candle. He backed toward the door, but as he did so, the light faded. "He's here."

"But that's impossible, sir. We checked everywhere."

"Apparently not." Evellias trailed around the room and stopped in front of a wall. "Here is brightest."

"But- wait. Unless..." Aery passed Evellias and pulled open the cellar door.

"No, that's not possible, how..." Evellias looked down at the sword. He stepped hesitantly onto the steps, the light growing stronger. But as the two swordsmen followed the stairs, a faint noise stopped them in their tracks.

A soft sniffling cry somewhere between a sob and a bird trill. Aery glanced at Evellias, and the swordsman dropped the weapon, rushing down the stairs. "Raavas? Raavas, is that you? Answer me. Are you okay?"

Instead of an answer, the sobbing continued. "Aery, grab a torch. Now."

"Yessir!"

Evellias stepped cautiously into the darkness, little hiccups interrupted the sobs as a small voice gasped from the darkness. "Papa... I... I'm sorry... I didn't... I didn't mean..."

"Raavas!" Evellias sighed in relief, but froze as the words finally sunk in and the child returned to sobbing just as Aery brought the torch.

But both of the swordsmen froze in their tracks as the light fell over the child. Blood. Panic surged through Evellias, but he stopped as he caught sight of the small shapes beside him. Crimson soaked the Harpy's hands and face and he flinched. "Papa... I'm sorry..."

"Raavas. What's there to be sorry about?" Evellias hid his fear as he sat beside the little boy and cradled him in his arms as Aery knelt to examine the shapes and the blood.

"I... I... I broke... I broke the rules! Don't... don't be mad... Papa. P-please."

"What do you mean?"

"Rats." Aery looked up. "Desecrated..."

"I was hungry, Papa." Raavas hugged Evellias. "I... they're quiet. I didn't want to hurt them... I..." He broke down sobbing again, and Evellias hugged him close again.

"It's okay, Raavas. It's okay. Everything's going to be okay. It'll be the same as it always is." But as he and Aery locked eyes, they both knew that would be a lie.

Nothing would ever be the same.

Thanks for reading! Please comment anything if you read it! Anything at all!

Part 1 (Here) | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 3.5

@i-do-anything-but-write @friendlesscat @darkandstormydolls @artsandstoriesandstuff @rivenantiqnerd

@urnumber1star @bloodmoonloveletter @sunglasses-in-the-bentley @stars-forever @corinneglass

@supercimi @phoenixradiant @whoevenknowswhatimwriting @blue-kyber @aalinaaaaaa

@lunaeuphternal @chaoticcandle @sunflowerrosy @n1ghtcrwler @ghostlyboysstories

@floweryprosegarden @thisisntrocket @bluektw @nkikio @i-hate-happy-endings

@confused-romantic @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @starslide @ramwritblr @homelessnerdwrites

@thecoolerlucky @bread-roses-and-chrome @thepeculiarbird @roleplay-fanatic @bbatcat

@thelazywitchphotographer @ryahisbored @pastellbg @agirlandherquill

@taleweaver-ramblings @bigwipscholar @fantastictrashpolice @cowboylikericky

@cosmolumine @caffeinated-and-annoying-bard @cherrychiplip @theliteraryarchitect @the-letterbox-archives

Thank you for reading! <333

[lewiscarrolatemybrain]

Y'know what would be cool as hell?

Pirates putting bounties out on other pirates, or even on marines.

Like, pirates have treasure. It's very much The Thing Pirates Do. Granted, a lot of the pirates we see in One Piece have other priorities, but still. Pirates, gold. It's like peanut butter and chocolate. They go together.

And think of what a fucking power-move it would be. There are plenty of strong fighters on the seas who can't -- or won't -- do business with the military for whatever reason, but would probably be more than happy to collect a payday or two in exchange for spilling a little blood. Warring pirate crews in the Blues promise 10mil a head for each of their enemies; that number spikes to 50-100mil in the Grand Line, and usually higher depending on the crews in question. Back in the day rumor had it that Whitebeard and Roger would double the government price if you could bring either one to to the other.

(That was technically true, they did agree to that, but they were drunk and it was mostly a joke, so...)

I imagine pirate bounties would work very differently than government bounties. For one, pirate bounties are almost always Alive Only. Pirate bounties are usually personal, and pirates are a vengeful lot by nature. You don't send somebody else to kill a guy for you, no, you deal the finishing blow yourself.

For two, the stronger the pirate the stronger their enemies, so there's less and less available folks out there who even could collect the bounties, much less would want or need to. So instead, big bounties -- like the aforementioned Roger and Whitebeard bounties -- are less about Actually Go Get That Guy and more about Cause Him As Much Hell As Physically Possible. Fuck with his food supply, use guerilla tactics, spy on him, blitz his men and leave them dead in the water. It doesn't matter, just cause him grief. Make this person suffer in any way you can. I imagine pirate bounties also deal in more than just cash. They trade territory, information, weapons and technology, they'll even loan out crew members for a job or two for the right hunt. They could also be more symbolic than literal; a war declaration by another name.

Upstart pirates will occasionally try to put bounties out for heads way above their weight class to make themselves seem tough. Every pirate and blacklisted bounty hunter in the New World is foaming at the mouth for Blackbeard's head in the wake of Thatch's death, because they all know Whitebeard will pay bank for a traitor. The Straw Hats rack up bounties from other pirates -- big name pirates, at that -- even faster than they do from the government, but they don't put out any of their own.

Not until after Marineford, when Straw Hat Luffy appears in the newspaper with two messages. One a secret for his crew, a crossed-out date and a new meeting time. The other for the world at large:

A bounty poster for the Red Dog Akainu.

[kritischetheologie]

yay the ultimatum is coming back🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

I don't actually remember what number this was, but somebody asked for it last night, and then I totally deleted my draft, so here we go again.

(Previously, in Episodd 8, the final trial marriages proceeded toward their inevitable conclusion...)

Episode 9: Decision Day

On the final morning, Alex wakes up alone, in the hotel room he's been occupying since the night he and George called it quits. Production set him up with it for the remainder of the time of the show, like a holding pen for assholes.

He probably slept the easiest of any of them, spared the anxiety over what will happen. He got what he wanted, and he knows it's for the best. Now George can find someone who fits into his plans, someone who isn't terrified of the idea of someone else counting on him.

For the first time in maybe his entire life, Alex has no idea what he's going to do next. He has nobody to answer to, or take care of, now that the last of his siblings is a full-grown adult with a degree and a (ok, part-time) job. He can do whatever he wants. He doesn't really know how to do that.

He can go to brunch, maybe, and only order one thing, instead of getting a sweet and a savory to share, so George can have a little bit of both. He can figure out which brunch dish is worth eating a whole plate of.

He's going to be ok. He has to be.

--

Lando wakes up alone, because production has them in hotel rooms for the last night, like they're heading to a wedding, or something, and it's bad luck to see your groom before the wedding.

A production van drops him off in some garden, somewhere, where Daniel is waiting under a gazebo, which only intensifies the wedding vibes. He's all dressed up, in a suit and everything, and looks so nervous Lando feels like he'll throw up just looking at him.

"Hey," he says quietly. There's a ring box tenting in the front of Daniel's trousers. If Lando had different intentions he'd make a joke, ask if Daniel is happy to see him. Fuck, this is going to he harder than he thought.

"OK, I have to say something," he says, before Daniel can do something stupid like get down on one knee. "I'm sorry about this whole thing," he says, gesturing to the cameras, the gazebos, all of it. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this, I shouldn't have pressured you into getting engaged, and I definitely shouldn't have done all that and then decided I don't actually want to marry you after all. So yeah. Sorry. Please don't propose."

"Oh, thank fucking god," Daniel says, relief crashing over his face. "OK, amazing, cool. We should be friends, yeah? Bros? Thanks a million Lando, you're a real one."

Lando tilts his head to look at Daniel, really look at him. "You know," he says, "somehow this is more offensive than the time I asked you to marry me and you said 'no'."

--

There's something satisfying to waking up alone, Lewis thinks, like sore muscles after a tough workout. Well-deserved pain. He's broken Seb's heart too many times to count, now, and somehow, Seb refuses to give up on him, on the beautiful dream of the life they could have together. No matter how hard Lewis tries to convince him that it's not real, that it couldn't be. That he's the type of person who's better off with an asshole like Nico instead.

There's a ring on the bedside table that Lewis picked out, from the selection they offered him. The illusion of choice. He leaves it behind to get into a van, to be driven to where Seb is waiting for him.

They sit quietly together, both of Seb's hands held in Lewis's, so small they disappear below his fingers. "I need you to know," Lewis begins, "that if it was ever going to be anyone, it would have been you."

Seb's blue eyes stare straight into him. "Then why can't it be?" he asks. "What is it about the idea of marriage that scares you so fucking much that you'd rather lose me then do it?"

"Do you really wanna have this fight again, man?" Lewis asks. "Fuck, you know my reasons. It's a bourgeois institution based on private property and the ownership of women. It's a promise no one can make, because you might change, or I might, and maybe if you really love someone you shouldn't ask them not to, you know? It's a guarantee that we end up resenting each other, eventually, because all it is is a promise not to leave you if I want to. Why would you ask that of me?"

"Because I love you!" Seb says. "I love you, and I want to know that you won't just wake up one morning and not love me anymore, or that if you do, we'll work on it. I want to have something bigger than us, and bring the people who love us into it, and I don't want to have to beg you, or fight you, or fuck somebody else to convince you that you should want that too."

"Of course I'll fucking work on it," Lewis says. "You think I'm just going to quit on you, just because we didn't say some words, get some jewelry? Do you really think so fucking little of my love for you that you need some piece of paper to prove it?"

"It should be enough that I want it!" Seb says. "It should be enough that it matters to me!"

"And it should be enough that I love you," Lewis retorts. "But I guess it isn't."

"I guess it isn't." Seb says.

"So is that it, then?" Lewis asks. "You're really going to walk away from me, from us, from everything we've fucking built?"

"No, Lewis," Seb says, with a quiet cruelty that reminds Lewis, for an insane moment, of Nico. "You are."

--

Nico picks out the biggest, most "fuck you" diamond the show has to offer, which is still smaller than the one Jenson got him. He hopes it's still sitting in a drawer somewhere. They'll look good in their rings, he thinks. Gorgeous and flashy, the type of couple who deserve to be traveling in first class together. This is what they both deserve.

Jenson is there waiting for him, like he'd always imagined. He'd fucked up the first time, gotten stupid, imagined there was a better option out there, but Jenson is gorgeous, and lets Nico do whatever he wants, and they're going to live happily ever after. They're going to be the only happy couple to make it out of the show, he's sure.

Nico doesn't bother with a speech-- speeches are for The Bachelor, and this is the fucking Ultimatum. Jenson backed him into a corner, he caved, the least he can do is keep some of his dignity. He makes sure the cameras are at an angle where his blue eyes will look angelic, looking up at Jenson, as he kneels.

"Jenson, will you marry me?" he asks.

There's a very, very long pause. When Jenson popped the question, Nico had shrieked, "WHAT?" at the top of his lungs, because he hadn't been expecting it-- he hadn't even gotten a manicure, for Christ's sake.

The pause is worse.

"God, if you'd asked me a month ago, baby," Jenson says.

Nico stays on the ground, because there's dirt on the knee of his white linen trousers, and it'll look fucking stupid if he has to do the rest of this conversation with it showing. "Ok," he says. "But I'm asking you now. Will you marry me?"

"Yeah, so, like I said," Jenson says. He's pathetic when he's trying not to upset people. Nico would have liked him more if he'd been more willing to upset him. "If you'd asked me a month ago, I would have said yes."

"Ok," Nico says. "So say yes now, and we can get out of this ridiculous place."

"That's the thing," Jenson says. "Oh, will you get up, babe? This is stupid with you kneeling."

"This is stupid no matter where I am," Nico says. He refuses to brush off his knees as he stands. "This whole thing is stupid." It was never going to be worth the Instagram followers. How did he even let Jenson talk him into it in the first place?

"And that's exactly why I can't marry you," Jenson says. "You think everything is beneath you, even me."

"I don't think that about everything," Nico protests. "It's not my fault that most things are."

Jenson sighs. "I hope you find someone, someday, who actually makes you happy," he says.

--

Max wakes up missing Daniel and feeling horrible about it. He has every morning, since their trial marriage ended, but maybe that's just life? He hadn't dated anyone before Charles asked him out in college. Maybe this is just what having an ex is like, and Daniel will just always be That Ex like the one his sister has, the one she can't ever be in the same room as, Or Else.

Max had never believed in happily ever after, or in getting swept away, or in promises. Charles taught him to believe in promises. Daniel showed him that getting swept away was real, too. But if you can only have the one with one person, and the other with someone else, then how can happily ever after be real?

It doesn't matter. Charles is real, and solid, his anchor. Daniel makes him feel unmoored, like gravity no longer operates, like his organs are being pulled into the sky and all he can do is hope that he follows them. You can't live like that. You can't build a home in the sky. Max can build a home with Charles. That's what he'd wanted all along.

The ring Charles picked out is simple, classic. A strong, reliable band, like their bond, the only reliable thing in Max's life. Charles has tears in his eyes as he proposes, and so does Max. Neither of them asks why.

"You two are so beautiful," the producer tells them, as they're kissing. "I almost hate to interrupt. But Max, there's someone here to talk to you."

Max turns and sees Daniel, his curls still unkempt despite the carefully buttoned white shirt, the black suit, every beloved tattoo covered except the ones on his hands. Max can't breathe, seeing him, until he smiles, his face going wide, Max's spreading helplessly to mirror it. "Hiya, Maxy," Daniel says. "Can we talk?"

Max nods, feeling Charle's hand slip out of his as he turns away to follow Daniel down the gravel path leading down from the gazebo.

[Episode 9, part 2, to follow]

[earthstellar]

what are some other nice moments from Rescue bots?

This show is loaded with them!!! :)

Here we go, some nice moments in Rescue Bots!!

I'm going to write this with the assumption that some people reading this may not have ever seen Rescue Bots or might only be somewhat familiar, as I realise the target audience skews much younger than most Transformers media does, so I'm not 100% sure how popular it was outside of that demographic in total.

Off the top of my head:

-There is an in-universe VR game called Element Quest that has a couple really good episodes, the design is cute and there are tons of meme references. Blades, at one point, goes "I used to like video games. Then I took an arrow to the knee." LOL

-I think it's cool how they actually do tie in their continuity with TFP's continuity. For example, "What Rises Above" (RB) canonically comes before "Nemesis Prime" (TFP), and this is directly referenced in the dialogue in TFP when Optimus says that he is late arriving to the base as he was exploring an underground energon deposit-- This is the deposit he explores with the Rescue Bots.

-THERE IS A MUSICAL EPISODE. IT IS EXTREMELY GOOD

-Woodrow Burns, the Chief's brother, is kind of an idiot asshole, although he's not actively malicious. But he is great with the kids and for whatever reason the only thing I can ever remember about this character is when he goes up to Cody after it's been a long time since he saw him last and says "You've grown a whole foot since the last time I saw you-- Now you'll need three socks!" IDK I just think that's a real cute dad joke thing to say to a little kid lol :')

-There is an episode where they explore the local folklore of Griffin Rock, and TL;DR the local lore is that their island is where literal griffins used to nest seasonally. So throughout the episode, there's this kind of vibe of "OK are these electrical magnetic pulses or whatever like a science problem or a magic problem" and it's actually a very cute and fun vibe, especially since Cody is talking about the lore in the first place as part of his work towards a Scouts badge and Blades is very cute in this episode, the bots are all like "okay magic isn't real but uhhh what if magic's real?" for a minute and it's great :')

-Doc Greene/Green creates a ton of fun science devices throughout the show, but the names of some are just so doofy and fun. I love the "Torna-Don't", which is a thing designed to dispel tornados. Of course. lmao

-All the weird small town local events are also very silly and cute, and weirdly realistic for those of us who are familiar with this kind of local event thing, lmao. One of my favourite concepts is one of what seems to be several crawdad-related festivals, in which there is apparently a televised crawdad race. It's a bunch of shrimps put on a tiny racetrack, like Olympic runners. LOL

-At one point, Blurr shows up, and when the Rescue Bots are trying to acclimate him to working with humans, Chase is like "Humans seem to have two genders, which are defined by how many cooties they have." This implies that as far as the Rescue Bots are aware, 1) cooties are real and 2) human gender is defined solely by how many cooties a person has, and not by anything else, thus leaving their understanding of human gender fairly open (and it is also clear they have solely learned about gender from young kids in a small town which is likely why they state there are two genders but then make it clear that gender is a cooties thing and not an inherently physical thing, which makes sense in context and is kind of great because it gives more leeway for gender diversity than I expected) and I love this a lot. What is human gender? Cooties. That's all. So someone with a particularly high number of cooties could be another gender altogether, because why not?

-There is a body swap episode, which treats us to Blades in Dani's body trying on dresses in her room. He picks an orange and white one, which matches his paint job. I also love this a lot.

-Heatwave is gruff as hell especially at the start of the series and constantly starts shit or perpetuates shit with Kade, which is super funny. Just this centuries old Cybertronian fucking with this doofus boy who keeps leaving donuts in his cab. God dammit Kade, lmao.

-There is an episode where Cody is aged up via Science Device, and we get to see an older Cody, who more closely resembles his father than his older brother does. It's cute that he'll look like his dad when he's older. :')

During this episode, he assists in a rescue, and the girl his brother has a crush on tries to hit on him, but he clearly doesn't get what's happening and thinks it's icky because of course he does, he's a kid. I just think this scene is handled well and it's cute that his reaction to being hit on is still "ewww girls" but his brother is still absolutely pissed off about it anyway LMAO like jesus Kade, relax

-Kade's mostly an asshole but he's shown to be a really good rescuer who genuinely cares about people, and he has moments where he really comes through for his family and realises on his own that he should shut up and back down on his bullshit, thus making him a better developed and more realistic asshole brother character than 99% of asshole brother characters in most shows. I think this is pretty solid because it does lead to effective character development here and there, and it makes his positive moments with his family and the bots that much nicer. :)

-Cody is such a good kid. He is often willing to give people or ideas a chance when nobody else will, and even though he's too young to actively participate in most missions, he stays involved by helping at their dispatch centre. He's a smart little dude, who has a lot of heart and a ton of potential. One of the few child characters in anything that I actually like, because I think they write him extremely well: He is young, but he is not stupid. He is not treated like an accessory or like the property of his family, he's his own person with a distinct personality within his family, with a reasonable amount of autonomy. And he's a person who is still learning and has valuable contributions while also needing guidance or support at times. 10/10

-Dani gradually gets better at helping Blades deal with his flight anxiety (and sticks up for him when the others might mock him a little for it), and this is not only inherently very nice and cute, but it also makes a lot of sense as she is a first responder/medic and we see her offer the same reassurances towards the people she helps to rescue.

-The writing for the Burns Family in general is some of the best family group character writing in anything tbh, they handle the family dynamic so well in this show, and it's extra cute as the Rescue Bots all learn a lot from observing how the family takes care of one another and the townspeople they rescue. :')

-Blades has anxiety. I also have anxiety, so I am biased and clearly love this dude, lmao. He's so fucking relatable and even though sometimes the others rip on him, it is clear that they're also very proud of him for trying his best to deal with a situation which for him is particularly difficult (he was forced to take a flight capable alt-mode when this is something he is explicitly not comfortable with) and his team mates do support him, even though Heatwave is a douche sometimes (although it is clear this is usually due to stress or something else and that the actual problem isn't Blades). Over the course of the series, Blades does develop a little more confidence, and it's very cute and nice to see him puffing himself up a little more. :)

-The overall attitudes the bots have towards humans in this show is sweet. It's clear they don't really understand humanity or humans as a whole, but it also doesn't really matter because they are so specifically oriented to their local population on the island and their focus is a relatively small community of humans. They take their duties seriously and will protect this population, even if they don't really understand the people outright. They gradually start to respect the locals (and the Burns Family) more and more as they work with them, and get acclimated to Earth. They love their dumbass weird little humans :')

This leads to a lot of fun shenanigans with the bots not understanding things, or only understanding things as they have been explained by the children, which is hilarious.

-There is an episode where local thieves steal Chase, and inspired by Cody's school drama project, he decides to go undercover after watching a bunch of old detective movies. This includes him narrating things to himself, which he is called on when Dani enters the garage and asks him "Why are the lights off? Are you talking to yourself?" lmao

-Although it isn't explicitly canonical, it's easy to interpret both Chase and Blades as being neurodivergent. Both of them display various behaviours and traits which can potentially be understood in this way, and I'm just glad that there's a show for kids where two of the main characters, who are rescue workers, are shown to be competent and skilled at their jobs and accepted by the community for who they are while also being neurodivergent. <3 It's such a good vibe when the other characters support or defend these two in particular, especially when Chase or Blades might be confused or upset about something. Chief Burns is especially great working with Chase.

-Any episode where Optimus shows up in Rescue Bots usually has some gems of cuteness/silliness. The Elvis line still takes me out, LMAO. "You're bigger than Elvis!" "I have not met this Elvis, and I am unaware of his size." 10/10 writing, I fucking love Rescue Bots

-The bots constantly call out a bunch of details that are entirely appropriate for robots from space to notice and recognise as somewhat weird, whereas a lot of the human characters are so used to 1) being human and 2) living on this incredibly weird little technologically advanced island that nothing really phases them anymore. So we can actually identify more with the bots at time, despite the fact that they are also providing an outsider point of view, which is really clever! :)

-The theme song is a fucking banger. It's so good. I love this song so much. I wish we got a full version of it, but this is the best extended version of it that I've been able to find. Enjoy!!!

-There's a lot of fairly adult stuff in the show, more than I think people realise! The tone can never get too dark outright as it is intended for young kids as the primary demographic, but there's a lot of situations, conversations, etc. that are genuinely engaging and interesting from an adult perspective, which is a large part of what makes it a great watch for all ages.

Some situational examples include scenarios where children are imperilled in natural disasters, accidents, even kidnapping at one point.

Non-kid related situations include risks and threat to civilians from AI development and the dangers that uncontrolled or poorly thought out technology can cause or exacerbate, which is significant in context and also interesting to think about given our current relationship IRL with rapid tech development and concerns around how that technology is being made and applied, either in reality or in theory.

Some dialogue examples include scenes where the bots mention their grief over being unable to save Cybertron, a sense of guilt that they were in stasis for so long even though this was beyond their control, awareness that they may be the last Rescue Bots team in operation on Earth or anywhere else in the universe (a sense of loneliness and a responsibility as the last upholders of their specific creed), struggles with their sense of duty and concerns around their ability to fulfil their expectations for themselves and meet the expectations of others while rising to the demands of their unique situation, and so on.

--

this is already pretty long lmao, there's a ton of stuff I really like about Rescue Bots, but I hope this might encourage others to check out the show if you haven't before, it's well worth a watch! :)