#i so fully fucking FEEL . him idolizing his dad

[variksel]

every single day i think about nicky close-foster whose entire personality completely shifted when he grew up with a different dad. every day i think about how no matter what kind of person he turned out to be, the core is that both nick and nicholas idolized and loved their dads so much that they tried to be so much like them. in both timelines. the only core of nicky foster/close that stayed the same when he turned from nick to nicholas was the love he had for his father.

i think that if one of the other sons' dads had gotten switched, they hadnt had NEARLY the same kind of reaction to the kid. i think grant, terry, and the twins' personalities would have stayed at least relatively the same. but nicks didnt because he looked up to his dad so much that he based his entire personality off of him

and i will never stop thinking about that

[artekai]

Fross: I am NOT desperate for Tilda's approval ‼️‼️‼️‼️ *proceeds to list reasons why you might think he's desperate for Tilda's approval* but Lis sucks soooooo I GUESS if it's either one or the other then you MAY consider me Tildapilled🙄 but I'm literally NOT.💪😎

[star-sim]

sweater ☆ riki nishimura

☆ non-idol! bf! riki x fem! reader ☆ summary: when riki doesn't recognize a sweater that you're wearing, he gets insecure. ☆ genre: fluff, hurt-comfort ☆ warning(s)? insecurities and cheating briefly mentioned ☆ word count: 1.0k ☆ reblogs and comments are appreciated! also this was such a big trend in 2020 in the haikyuu fandom my god

“What the fuck, dude?!”

You head whipped around to see your boyfriend frowning on your bed.

It was another one of those nights.

Riki and you would stay together all night, either to study or just fool around. It was deeper into the night now. You had just gotten out of the shower, changing into one of your dad’s oversized sweaters that miscellaneously made its way into your laundry. You liked the way that it fit, draping over you comfortably.

You were peacefully doing your skincare routine when Riki’s outburst interrupted you.

With half-applied moisturizer, you cocked a brow at him, looking at your boyfriend over you shouldes.

“What happened?”

The wide scowl that broke out on Riki’s features was alarming. His brows knitted together and his lips curled. Riki let out an offended scoff, throwing his phone aside and jumping to his feet. He paced toward you with vigor, grabbing onto your shoulders.

“You know what you did, and you’re just going to act like you did nothing–?”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Riki?” You clutched boyfriend’s shoulders, slowly pushing him away.

He didn’t move. His large hands squeezed your shoulders, his face contorting. Anyone would think that Riki’s face was painted with anger, but you knew better.

He was confused.

And distraught.

Riki sunk his teeth into his bottom lip, fingers brushing against the hem of your sweater.

For him, the issue was your sweater.

He’d never seen it before. 

These days, Riki was feeling insecure.

All throughout high school, you were endlessly popular. Riki would be lying if he said he never felt a tad insecure. There were so many guys that still pined after you. So many guys that were ten times smarter than him. So many guys that were endlessly kinder than him. So many guys that had perfect temperaments and maturity. After all, why would you, the prettiest, smartest, strongest, and most perfect girl in the entire world, want to stay with someone as crass and needy as him?

Sometimes, words got to him. Those that knew about your relationship talked. And they never seemed to fully approve of the two of you being together.

She deserves better, was always the first thing that came out of their mouths.

And sometimes Riki agreed.

The thought of someone else holding you, someone touching you and kissing your lips, someone getting to gaze into your eyes and whisper those three words from their heart to you made Riki feel sick to his stomach. 

But he couldn’t help but feel inferior. Maybe someone else would be better for you.

So when he saw you wearing a sweater that he didn’t recognize, Riki’s insecurities got the best of him. You didn’t wear sweaters often, and if you did, it was always his. His sweaters were distinctly too big for you, always being oversized.

Which was why Riki’s mind ran wild.

Where did you get that oversized sweater if it wasn’t Riki’s?

And more importantly, who did it belong to?

“I know I’m not good enough for you,” Riki grumbled, “But you could’ve told me before you went off with another guy.”

“Wait, what?”

Riki looked down. If he looked you in the eye, he’d probably start crying. 

He didn’t respond.

“Riki, what are you talking about?” Your hand gently came up to grasp his cheek, which he pulled away from. “‘Went off with another guy’? What are you even saying?”

When he finally looked at you, you saw the hot tears that were lining his eyes. He pushed your hand away, quickly wiping his eyes.

You pushed him onto the bed, sinking down onto his lap. You caressed his cheek. 

“I’m not going to leave you, Baby,” you said. “I mean, there’s no one that I could ever like as much as you.”

You brought your fingers up to his eyes, gently pressing his eyes shut. Then, you leaned in to kiss his eyelids, then his temples. With your fist, you softly knocked on his head. “I always wonder what’s going on in that head of yours.”

Riki didn’t say anything. Instead, he melted into your touch, sliding his arm around your torso, pulling you closer to him. 

“I love you, Riki, I hope you know that” you said into his ear. “So I don’t want you to cry anymore.”

“I wasn’t crying,” Riki mumbled against your shoulder.

“Sure, Baby,” you patted the back of his head. 

After a few moments of silence, you asked, “What made you think that I would leave you?”

“Your sweater. I hate it.”

You cocked a brow. “Why?”

“Looks like some other dude’s.”

You shared another silence.

You let out a small, ‘ah.’ Getting off of Riki’s lap, you fingered the hem of your sweater. Riki watched you as you disappeared into your closet, before reappearing with another sweater. Making sure that he was watching you, you began to pull the polyester fabric over your shoulders.

“Wh-What are you doing?!” Riki rushed to cover his eyes.

“Relax, you big baby.” 

Riki hid behind his hands, watching from the cracks in his fingers. Pulling off the sweater that you were currently wearing, you shrugged on another sweater.

It had blue and black stripes, reaching down to the middle of your thighs.

This time, Riki recognized it. It was his.

“There,” you gave him a boxy smile. “Even though that sweater was my dad’s, if you don’t like it, I won’t wear it.”

Riki’s jaw dropped, before waving his hands out in front of him. “Nonono!” he spluttered. “I was being stupid. You can wear whatever you want!”

You put your finger on your chin. “Hmmm, but I think I like your sweaters more.”

Years into the future, you never let Riki live down the fact that he got jealous over a sweater. Riki didn’t care, though. The only memory attached to that little incident worth living for was when you kissed him and said, “I love you.”

[fatmaclover]

theres something to be said about how mac still holds such a childish adoration for his parents after such a long time. how literally its shown to us by the fact that

mac always slicked his hair back as a child, when he still had contact with his father

he stops doing this into adulthood, but later in life, once mac interacts with his father again, he starts slicking his hair back again

he doesnt stop. slicking his hair back. until his own father walks out during his coming out performance. the guy he put it on for. only after that does he completely stop styling his hair that way

not to mention the constant refusal that his mom (and dad) could be anything but perfect, the way hes so desperate to do good by them, viewing them as the way to measure his success...

and. yeah thats. something.

the internal denial that his parents treated him poorly, the fact that its his primary instinct to deny that his parents suck, the constant dismissal of his own issues relating to family because his whole life hes been told that "other people have it worse". the way hes internalized that so hard. the way it takes his dad walking out on macs coming out performance to him for mac to stop blindly idolizing some guy whos threatened to kill him

the constant fear of his own father, while also believing him to be the coolest bestest guy ever. the way he always assumes his father is gonna get violent when actually talking to him, but sings nothing but praises when away from him

the fact that he still calls his dad "daddy" even.

i mean you cant really blame him for not fully growing up in some areas huh

its not even that i think he doesnt know that his parents treat him horribly, it just really seems like he wants so badly to believe thats not the case from years of having his cries for help ignored or made fun of. he cant have been treated poorly, because charlie was treated poorly, and his baggage isnt nearly as bad as charlies, so clearly macs home life wasnt bad.

i think thats proven most of all by his frustration with his own family at times, it really feels like theres some underlying issues. they can very quickly manifest as frustration and anger, but honestly its probably mostly sadness. the way he reacts to his own mother really reminds me of how i interact with family members i have grudges with but have to pretend i dont. im not actually angry at any of these people, im mostly just exhausted by them.

he very clearly is still aware of the neglect he faced as a kid, to me. he knows his home life was severely fucked up, hes just never been able to express that, so hes coped by just. pretending that it didnt happen.

and realistically i dont know if he could ever properly acknowledge that his home life was fucked and his parents suck. maybe hed acknowledge that his dad sucks now, but it wouldnt have been that bad when he was a kid and wasnt a fag. right? he was loved then. his mom still did a great job raising him, and he really loves her, and he was raised with all the love and care a child needs.

[scienceandstorytelling]

I can’t stop thinking about Will Branner’s performance as Max Jägerman and how it leads to my favorite usage of the Nightmare Time leitmotif in all the Hatchetfield musicals (and why I voted for NPMD as having my favorite title number in the poll I made a while back).

Max is a well-written character who already gives me hints of a tragic villain vibe, and then Will’s performance just fleshes that out tenfold. It features the duality Starkid has been playing a lot with in this series, where you’re sympathetic towards a character while also acknowledging the terrible things they do. Max is horrible and abusive towards his classmates and has given them years of trauma. But a teenage boy does not become a Literal Monster in a vacuum.

Alongside his role as a bully, the script gives us images of Max as someone who is struggling academically and would have probably fallen through the cracks if adults didn’t idolize him for his football prowess so they can live vicariously through him as he beats the rival town in the big game. We find out that he has a shitty dad who verbally abuses him for not being macho enough. That he probably doesn’t have all the sex people say he does. That the people he bullies hate-pranking him in revenge is “the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for [him].” And then Will’s acting keeps showing us glimpses of this goofier side of Max, glimpses of the person he might have been if he wasn’t such a bully.

And for those few moments in the aftermath of the prank, you think maybe he’s going to change now that someone has shown him what he perceives to be kindness. And then he falls through the floor and that opportunity is lost. But unlike what Mayor Lauter implies, I would argue that his fate isn’t fully sealed when he dies in the Waylon House. I think the moment of no return is when he kills Richie while the leitmotif plays.

Lots of people ship Max and Richie and have headcanons that they used to be friends, and I think it’s because of the parallels between them in this song. Here we have two 18 year old boys who have both been failed by the adults around them. Both are harmed by being stereotyped. Both are in the liminal social role of being in the process of stepping out of childhood and into living their adult lives after high school. And both of them are denied those adult lives. And then they fucking sing about it. The “will you pray for me” duet is such a powerful part of the song for many reasons, and I think it’s the moment that shows us that Max is still in the process of committing to being nothing more than a vengeful spirit, or at the very least is in the last stage of that process. The thing that strikes me the most is that Max is simultaneously trying to make Richie feel insignificant and alone while also projecting his own feelings onto him. “Is this the eternal dark without a dawn?” he asks, reaching up to the sky and not looking at Richie at all.

And what fucks me up is that Max fails in this moment. Richie is not alone. He never was, and now he’s even less alone. Not only will Pete and Ruth mourn him, so will Max’s former friends. Its so notable to me that this takes place immediately after Go Go Nighthawks, where we’ve just seen everyone, including, again, Max’s “friends,” sing about how great it is that he’s gone. It’s a real Ebeneezer Scrooge moment that makes me wonder if Max has been silently haunting the school these weeks since his death and it’s only now, having watched that, that he tips over into full villain mode. Max is the one with no one to pray for him, not Richie. And Richie basically says as much, and Max kills him anyway. Richie was doomed from the start in the sense that the show literally opens with a flashforward to his death, but I think Max is doomed too. “Don’t need no one to tell me high school will be my peak,” he says in his own introductory song. I said before how they’re both on the cusp of living their whole adult lives, but I wonder if Max had trouble seeing himself that way. He already didn’t think he would amount to anything after high school. A lot of these “peaked in high school” football star characters spend their adult lives being metaphorically stuck in high school, in their teenage years, because they can’t let themselves move on from their glory days. And here Max is, literally stuck in his teenage years forever as a ghost - but not literally stuck in high school, as we see when he follows them all to the Witchwood. When he makes he grand ghostly return he says to Richie, “I’m free!” (Free from what, Max?) He certainly has the freedom of a ghost to go anywhere and do anything. And yet he traps himself in high school. He prevents himself from moving forward. And all of that is why it makes me emotional every time when he casts aside any last chance of not being the villain and strikes the first blow on Richie, these two teenagers failed by the adults and the structures around them, their fates locked together, while the leitmotif plays and takes us back to that original line from Alice’s corpse singing to Bill about how he should have been a better father: Look what happens, nightmare time.

[solarwonux]

Business Proposal || knj (2/?)

pairing: namjoon x f!reader || ex friends to lovers!au friends to lovers!au

Genre: fluff, angst, smut, slow burn, fwb!au, non idol!au, unrequited love

Warnings: slow burn, angst, namjoon is pretty much not the nicest dude lol (will add more as it progresses), kinda sugar daddy au but not really. It will make sense I promise.

Rating: mature, 18+

w.c: 9k

Synopsis: Namjoon is living on borrowed time, and it’s time to cash in. His father is months from taking his last breathe and his life long dream is to watch his oldest son say “I do.”

a/n: Hello, this is longer than I expected it to be, but anything to get the story moving. LMK your thoughts and if you want to be added to the tallest! Enjoy!

m.list

prev || next 

“I thought you stopped smoking.”

Jungkook jumps at the sound of your voice, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights. The burning cigarette in between his index and middle finger. He opens his mouth to say something, but decides against it and closes it, shaking his head. He looks out into the backyard, and takes another puff of his almost gone cigarette.

You sigh and go to stand next to him, leaning against the porch railing as you stare out into the same backyard. Silently wishing it was Spring again. Mrs. Jeon and Lia’s backyard always felt magical. Filled with flowers and greenery that always made it feel like a dream. But in the winter months it was barren and depressing. Nothing exciting grows except for the Lenten Roses in a pot next to the last porch step.

“Bad habits die hard.” He shrugs, taking another puff. “You should know.” He looks over at you, blowing out the cloud of smoke in your face.

You cough, fanning the cloud away. “You’re an ass.”

“Sometimes you ask for it.” He shrugs, throwing the white stick on the ground and squashing it with his boot. “Shouldn’t you be inside, gushing about wedding dresses and invitations with mom, while dad kisses Namjoon’s feet for once again being the perfect son.”

He stuffs his hands into the pocket of his pants. You sigh, coming to stand next to him, wrapping your arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. “Don’t be like that.” You whisper. “You’re lightyears a better person than your brother.”

His chest shakes with a humorless laugh. He has the urge to push you away but you’ve always been the only one with the ability to see through the perfectly curated images he and his brother have built over the years. “It’s always the same. I’m always the degenerate, the one who broke the rules growing up while Namjoon followed them. I’m the one who dropped out of college but he’s automatically the better son because he didn’t, and is now working on his PHD. While I work at a small flower shop, with a freelance photography job on the side. I’m the leech they can’t seem to get rid off.” He lets out a shaky sigh before pushing himself away.

“Jungkook d–”

“No, don’t say anything because you’re helping him knowing very well what he’s done to you. You’re feeding into what they want, and you can tell me it’s to benefit yourself. But how many times did I offer to help you pay out your student loans? How many times did I offer to help you find a better job? And you never took it because you wanted to do it yourself and I respected that boundary. But now that he comes back and offers you the same things with an added marriage proposal on top. You suddenly decide to take up on the offer.” He rants, running a tattooed hand through his long hair. “It fucking sucks because I know he’s going to hurt you and I don’t know if I can be there for you when he does because even if I have never had any sort of romantic feelings for you. I do love you and it hurt so much seeing you so broken and not being able to do anything about it.” He paces, invisibly mapping out the situation with his hands.

“And I can’t even fully hate him either because he is my brother and not many people understand our relationship but I know he loves me. He just has this weird ass way of showing it, and if he hurts you again, I’ll be put in the middle and I don’t want that because I can’t leave you alone and I can’t leave him alone either.” He breathes out, dropping his head feeling defeated.

It’s everything he wanted to tell you yesterday at the flower shop, but he didn’t want Yoongi to see him like this. Truthfully he wasn’t going to let you know either, but seeing the happiness on his parents' faces made him feel more bitter than usual.

You walk to stand in front of him, placing your hands on top of his shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Jungkook clicks his tongue in annoyance before shaking his head in disbelief. “I know a part of you still loves him and I know that part will fall for him the second he starts acting like the old Namjoon again. I can’t stop you and I can’t stop him either.”

“You out of all people know that I’m not the same person I was then and you know why. You’re right the person that loved him is still inside here but she knows better. I won’t fall for him the way I did then and what happened that night won’t happen again.” You say, hugging him tightly again. “I appreciate you worrying about me, but I can take care of myself.” You whisper, rubbing his back lightly.

He sighs, finally hugging you back and kissing the top of your head gently. “I wish it was Jimin instead.” He adds, making you laugh a bit at the end. That was a whole new can of worms you didn’t want to get into.

At least not now at your fake fiance's parents house.

“I was scared.” He admits, burying his head into your neck. “When you called me and told me to pick you up in tears. I honestly never wanted to kill anyone more than I did that night.” He whispers. You blink away the tears forming in your eyes. Jungkook’s never been honest with you about what he felt that night. You never asked because you were scared of knowing the truth. And now that he’s voiced it you can’t help but feel your heart break all over again.

“I’m sorry, I did–”

“No, don’t be sorry it’s not your fault that he–”

“Am I interrupting something?” Namjoon’s curiosity breaks the two of you apart in an instant. Quickly you wipe away the fallen tears from your cheeks. You step away further from Jungkook while he does the same, avoiding eye contact with the older man as if you’ve been caught doing something you weren’t supposed to.

Namjoon has always had a wild imagination, hence his profession of choice. And right now his imagination is running him up a road he knows he shouldn’t go down. He had been looking for you for at least fifteen minutes, and when he heard your voice along with Jungkook’s voice coming through the patio screen door. He couldn’t think straight, especially not after hearing his little brother be so vulnerable, but he also couldn’t help but wonder what else the two of you were talking about.

As far as he’s concerned the infamous fight between the two of you happened in your old bedroom. Your parents were out on a date and he had come over so you could look over one of his essays. He left your house in a hurry, getting on his bike and pedaling as fast as he could to get away from your house with his heart pounding against his throat.

Had you gone somewhere else after?

Now, he needed to know, only because his curiosity would not let him forget until he knew. It was one of his fatal flaws. Probably the most annoying one.

“Um, I know you came with Kook but it would be weird now if you left with him.” He too feels weird, especially because the two of you looked like you’ve just stolen three cookies out of the jar before dinner. He hates it, it only feeds the little curious demon inside of him. “I have to be somewhere at five so I came to tell you that I’ll take you home but we have to leave in like fifteen minutes to beat the traffic.” He nods, scratching the back of his neck before taking a look between the two of you, and it suddenly hits him like a truck.

Wait, were the two of you secretly seeing each other. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Wait, but what about that Jimin guy? Hold on, were you seeing the of them at the same time, hol–

“It’s fine we are done here.” Jungkook looks over at you, giving you a smile to ease your overwhelming anxiety, and walks to the entrance, patting Namjoon’s arm before heading inside.

There’s a pregnant pause between the two of you, before you decide that it’s been long enough for you to go back inside too. Before you even get the chance to move, Namjoon speaks up, burning his stare into yours.

“Are you seeing each other?” He voices out, finally giving in. He regrets it because the look on your face makes him realize that he’s said the wrong thing.

“You’ve been saying a lot of stupid shit lately.” You shake your head, taking it as your sign to leave. If you have to be in a car with him for an hour. You might as well save your energy. His genetic material is full of nonsense. “I’ll wait for you inside.” You say walking in and leaving him alone in the barren patio.

He can’t help but wonder about a lot of things. All of them start and end with you.

Namjoon is driving.

It’s a view you never thought you would ever see. Back when the two of you were friends he had very strong opinions about driving. The one time you asked after he showed up at the coffee shop drenched in rain water.

He said, “The world will be better without me on the road.” He laughed running off to ask the workers for a towel.

“What?” Namjoon says after stopping at a red light and looking over at you. One eyebrow raised.

“Nothing, it’s just strange.” You shrug. “I never thought I’d see you driving.” You point out, watching as the red light turns green. He steps on the gas, making a smooth right turn and glances over at you. A smirk painted on his features.

“I got tired of biking everywhere.” He says, leaning his right arm on the middle counsel. “This is also more convenient than asking JK to drive me everywhere when it rains or snows.”

You nod looking out the window. “What happened to priding yourself in having a small carbon footprint and world peace or whatever?”

Namjoon chuckles, shaking his head “I still bike most of the time just not to moms house or when it rains. As for the world peace thing. I don’t think being off the roads will stop wars.” He pulls the car to a stop and looks over at you again. Now that the two of you are alone he can’t help but think that maybe you did get a little prettier than what he remembers. Though you still don’t compare to all the women he’s ever dated. Most of them being nepo babies or supermodels. You’re still quite attractive, maybe in another life he wouldn’t have thought twice about sharing a life with you. But you still weren’t the woman of his dreams. Though, the more he navigates through life he’s realizing that such a person simply doesn’t exist.

If they did he wouldn’t be here in the car with you.

“Oh,” you jump up as if you just remembered something important. And before Namjoon can begin to understand what was happening the light turns green again and he’s pressing on the gas pedal. “I forgot to give this to you.” You say, holding out your hand in his view of sight with his mothers ring.

“Keep it.” He says without missing a beat. You’re shocked and you’re about to fight against him, but he beats you to it. “We’re going to be spending lots of time together. It’d be weird if you didn’t wear it when we’re together.” He reasons. It makes sense but you hated every second that passed by in which you had it on.

In a few months it wouldn’t be yours anymore. Plus it just felt wrong to be wearing it knowing it will someday go to someone else.

“You can just keep it and then when we go to places together, just give it to me.” You nudge his arm with your open hand. He glances down at it before looking out to the road.

“No need, you’ll be moving in anyway.” He nonchalantly says, shrugging his shoulders as if he didn’t drop another bomb on you.

Moving in?

This whole deal was taking turns that you didn’t expect. You knew he offered you a house in which you honestly weren’t going to take. But you didn’t think you’d be moving in with him. From what Jungkook tells you his apartment is more of a museum than a home. And you like your little apartment. It was perfect for one person, it had everything you needed and it was close to two subway stations. It was absolutely perfect and the rent wasn’t crazy expensive.

Rent.

That’s another thing to take into consideration. Would he make you pay for rent if you did by some miracle agree to moving in, because you’re more than positive you wouldn’t be able to afford it. Not now with your passable income from the flower shop. Of course, that chapter of your life will soon come to an end, but even working as a professor in your prestigious alma mater wouldn’t be enough to pay whatever crazy amount his rent is.

“Hold on, that wasn’t in our deal.” You close your hand in a fist and bring it down onto your lap turning your entire body to face him.

Namjoon rolls his eyes. “The cats out of the bag what would people think when they figure out we are engaged but not living together.” He pulls up into the parking lot of your apartment building and puts the car in park. He turns his entire body to face you, one hand gripping onto the steering wheel. “I don’t think you understand how crazy mom can be. She will be over unannounced every other day now that she knows we’re getting married. It’s best to avoid all those questions because they can get invasive.” He states, turning off the engine and opening up his door. He looks over at you. “I can’t stay long but I’ll walk you to your door.”

You were beginning to get annoyed with how nonchalant he was acting about all of this. For a person who claims this was all fake he seemed to be trying his hardest to make it seem as real as possible. You’re starting to wonder if you should set up some ground rules first before you make such a serious decision.

What if you do move in? When all this is over what will happen to you?

You have no doubt in your mind that he will kick you out the second he gets tired of this scheme. You have no doubt in your mind that he will begin to act like this never happened. It is what he does best. He crosses boundaries and when you make it known he acts like he didn’t and that you were in the wrong the entire time.

It’s what happened then, but this time it will be different. This time you’re determined to keep your guard up as high as a skyscraper. This time you won’t fall for his smile, his charm, his laugh or his heart. This time you’re going to put yourself first and to be able to do that you need to have a serious conversation. Set some ground rules before you can continue anything else.

“Namjoon, wait.” You say as he’s getting out of the car. He rounds the front and opens the passenger door for you.

“What, I need to be somewhere in fifteen minutes, let’s go.” He rushes out looking down at his Rolex then you.

You get down from his car, stepping to the side as he closes the door. “We need to talk about this.” You use your pointer finger to single the space between the two of you.

He lets out an annoyed sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. “We will, but not today. We can have lunch next Wednesday after you come in for training.”

“Namjoon I just don’t think you understand. You’re making all these choices without getting my opinion first. I understand you want your parents to believe that we are actually engaged. And I understand that you have a lot left to lose. But you’re not the only one in this. I get to have say in this too and I–”

Namjoon holds his hand out to your face, blocking your words from coming out. “I get it and believe me I would love to talk about it because we have a lot of things to discuss but I really can’t today. I have a dinner meeting with a coworker and I need to pick her up in—” he looks down at his watch and up, “-in ten minutes.” He finishes and starts walking in front of you.

A dinner meeting? On a Sunday? With another woman?

You don’t want to be that person. You firmly do believe that men and women are able to be friends without anything romantic and sexual happening between them. But he’s acting a little bit suspicious and you can’t help but wonder if he’s going out on a date.

God, you’re so annoyed it’s honestly becoming very tiring. And you’ve only been fake engaged for a few hours. You can’t begin to imagine what the next months will be like or for however long he plans to keep up the scheme.

He calls out your name. He’s standing in front of your building entrance, snapping his fingers to hurry you up.

“I’m not a dog.” You roll your eyes, and push past him. You press the button to the automatic door and hold your hand out before he can take another step. “And I don’t need an escort.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“And you’re going to be late for your date.” You state stepping inside, leaving him floored with your little outburst. He wants to follow you and tell you a few choice words, but the ringing of his phone keeps him from pressing the button again.

He can talk to you another day. Right now you’re right about one thing. He is late. Even if it’s not a date like you have just assumed. He hates being late to places.

In a relationship.

The little phrase next to yours and Namjoons name has been haunting you since you got the notification last night. Least to say you had not gotten a wink of sleep. You had messaged Namjoon asking him what it was all about. The two of you had not talked since Sunday and making your fake relationship official on Facebook for friends and family to see was definitely something you didn’t see him doing.

It had caught you by surprise. What surprised you the most was the comments underneath the status, offering you kind words and congratulations. The few “it's about time,” comments had set you off. You weren’t sure if it was because you were engaged or because the two of you were engaged to each other. It had your mind racing in all sorts of directions.

Yet, what really didn’t let you sleep was Taehyung’s messages and Jimin’s cryptic “it all makes sense now,” text you had woken up too.

Your fake fiance always prided in living a life away from the drama. And while he’s having a blast living a fantasy you were on the other end receiving nasty messages from your friends and what you assumed were women he had been with once upon a time.

It was all getting too much. You were supposed to be enjoying your last shift ever at Euphoria before you ventured off into the world for bigger and better things. But here you were blocking comments and ignoring Taehyung’s angry spam and Jimini’s nasty comments, with a knot at the base of your throat.

You’ve never hated Namjoon more than you did now. Since he was ignoring you, probably annoyed with your constant pleading to delete the status. You would have to wait until you saw him again next week to scream in his face.

What didn’t help was that Jungkook had called in sick, so you were stuck with the brooding owner, sending you a glare whenever he heard you sigh.

“Okay, out with it. What has you acting like the queen has died?” He cuts a stem off a rose, before placing it in the middle of a few baby breath branches.

You put your phone down, face down hoping it would somehow keep the notifications from coming. “First the queen has died. Second, Namjoon is so fucking annoying. I…ugh.” You let out a frustrated sigh. Probably the thousandth one of the day before putting your head in your head, cradling it.

The headache that you had woken up with after three restless hours of sleep was only growing to be worse. You hear the older man laugh before patting your back awkwardly. “I think this is the part in which Jungkook would be saying I told you so, but I still fully support you getting the bag you deserve, and unfortunately whatever he did is part of the consequences you just have to face.” He states proudly before retrieving his hand and going back to the bouquet he was working on.

You raise your head, hoping your glare would bury him six feet underneath the ground. “You’re no help sometimes. I don’t know why I even ask for your advice.”

Yoongi clicks his tongue before shaking his head, “You see that’s where you’re wrong. You didn’t ask for my advice. I’m just telling you the honest truth. Now if you can’t take it then you shouldn’t have accepted the deal in the first place.” He shrugs, wiping his hands on his apron before grabbing a pair of scissors. He goes to the ribbon wall behind him, taping his chin with the tip of them in thought.

“What did he do this time anyway?” He says getting a hold of a lavender one and measuring it before cutting it off.

You lift up your phone, opening it quickly and navigating yourself through the homescreen before clicking the bright blue app. “This! He did this without letting me know.” You extend your phone showing him the status.

He leans his head forward squinting his eyes before breaking out into a smile. “Congratulations, I knew the two of you would be perfect together.” He jokes, making you groan out in annoyance. He chuckles, cutting up some flower bouquet paper. “Jokes aside, that is an asshole move, but what else would we expect from the devil himself.” He says grabbing the bouquet and placing it in the middle of the pale pink paper. “You knew what you were signing up for.”

“Ugh, I know, I know, I know. I don’t need you to remind me.” You push yourself off the counter as soon as the bell to the shop dings signaling someone has walked in. “It’s the aftermath of his actions that’s sending me up the wall. I really ha–” You turn around putting your best customer service smile only for it to fade away the minute your eyes come into contact with ones you’ve grown up with.

The warmth they once held for you is gone, now replaced with stone cold anger.

“Jimin.”

“Do you want to explain to me what’s going on?” He pushes his way past you and walks to the aisle full of supplies. “Because the last time we talked you told me you weren’t ready to be in a relationship and as much as it hurt I respected that but now you’re here engaged. And to Namjoon?” He says exasperated. You follow him, thanking god the shop was empty because this wasn’t where you wanted to have this conversation.

You knew it would eventually come and you would have no other option but to have it. Yet, lately the world has been throwing curveballs at you left and right since Namjoon came back into your life. So, what else could you expect?

Plus Jimin has never been one to keep his emotions bottled up. It’s one of things you admire most about him. When he was angry he would voice it. When he was sad he would cry freely and explain why. And when he was happy and in love he had no shame in letting the whole world know. Which is why you couldn’t continue anything with him anymore. Even if he was the one that made you feel comfortable again in your body and encouraged you to explore things with him. You didn’t feel anything towards him other than friendship. It’s not like you didn’t try. You did the moment you realized he had fallen for you months ago. It’s probably why you prolonged cutting things off with him, but you couldn’t do that to him anymore.

Not when he had verbally confessed and was giving you everything he should’ve been giving to someone who didn’t view him as more than a friend. The two of you should’ve listened to everyone who said it was a bad idea, but both of you were stubborn. That’s something you aren’t afraid to admit. Unfortunately the decision the two of you made almost a year ago was now coming back to bite the two of you in the ass. Though for some reason it felt like you were getting the shorter end of the stick with everything that had gone down in the last few days.

Maybe you were cursed?

“Min I can explain.” You whisper yell, reaching out to him. He retracts, throwing his hands up and steps away from you.

“No, I don’t need you to explain anything to me. I saw what that man did to you and you went back to him after cutting things off with me.” He spits out, venom laced in his voice as he cards a shaky hand through his already messy hair. He stops for a second biting his bottom lip and looks over at you.

“Were you seeing him while we were together? Were you with me when he couldn’t be with you? Because I can’t even begin to explain how fucked up that is. Especially for someone like you but I guess I didn’t know you as well as I thought I did.” He rants, his hands shaking as he finds somewhere to put them to hide the visible anger he is feeling inside.

“It’s not like that Min, please just let me explain.” You plead, taking cautious steps closer to him. Gripping your apron tightly to keep yourself from crying. This is why you admired your oldest friend for the longest time. He wore his heart on his sleeve whereas you couldn’t let yourself cry in fear of looking pitiful and weak.

He takes one final look at you before shaking his head. “No, I don’t want anything from you. I just want you to stay out of my life.” He says before walking past you, bumping your shoulder with his and walking out.

This is what you feared the most. Losing him. You did have the intention of telling him what was happening when the time was right. This whole situation with Namjoon wasn’t something you ever intended on keeping a secret from both him and Taehyung, but of course you could never walk at your own pace.

For as long as you can remember nobody ever let you march to the beat of your own drum. Everyone around you always forced you to act whenever it was suitable for them. And right now as much as you were at fault too, you couldn’t help but blame Namjoon and his impatience.

Every day that went by, you realize how much this was inconveniencing you rather than benefiting you like you had originally thought.

“Now, I think this is the part in which Jungkook would say I told you so.” Yoongi speaks out from behind you.

You roll your eyes, shake your head and send him a glare. In a haste you untie your apron and rip it off. “I quit.” You say walking past the counter and throwing the fabric onto it.

Yoongi shrugs, trying his best to give you a reassuring smile in which it looks like he’s in pain instead. “Impossible when you only had five more minutes left of your final shift.”

That’s the last thing you hear him say before walking into the back and finally letting your tears fall down.

You’ve had your fair share of heartbreaks in the past.

When you were five you had your first boyfriend–Paul. A blooming relationship that lasted merely three days. On the first day of school he gave you a note with a poorly drawn flower and “I love you” written in the center. In his best five year old handwriting. On the second day he kissed you in the line on the way to Spanish class–dared by his best friend–Pedro. And on the last day, he played with you on the playground but on the way back to class he was holding hands with another girl.

Your first heartbreak.

Then you embarrassingly harbored a crush on him for three years after. In fifth grade–Christian had stolen your heart as soon as you saw his crooked smile and overly slicked back hair, but of course he had picked the prettier and meaner girl in class–Yuni.

Your second heartbreak.

Though, the infatuation didn’t last long, you forgot about him as soon as you entered middle school.  But you remember your heart beating out of time when you saw him at Sunday school. You were in seventh grade. Your body was changing. You felt awkward as hell listening to a sermon while fantasizing what it would be like to hold his hand.

When you were fifteen on the other hand. All hell broke loose.

You fell out of love with a lot of firsts in your life, and everything felt so black and white. Things that made you happy. That you viewed as pillars slowly started fading away. It started with ballet, then it trickled down to your studies. You didn’t feel like doing anything, your feelings were confusing and you felt angry with everything and everyone around you. To add the cherry on top your crush of possibly four years broke your heart–Jung Hoseok.

He was perfect. He was tan, tall, and handsome. He had a beautiful smile with moony eyes. He was funny and smart and loved to dance. You had met him during your first dance practice back in seventh grade. All it took was a smile, a wink and a killer freestyle for you to fall head over heels for him. He was nice, he sat with you during lunch whenever Taehyung and Jimin had a different one. He helped you out with your math homework and he even cracked jokes about your favorite boy band at the time. He would ask you about your day and make sure you didn’t skip your meals.

Jimin and Taehyung were so tired hearing you yap about him twenty four seven and so they offered to help you out. The three of you came up with a plan on how to confess to him, but all of that went down the drain one Wednesday afternoon.

The tears didn’t start falling when you saw the self proclaimed bad boy holding hands with one of the popular girls from school–Harley. They came after when you ran out of the dance studio because Of course it had to be her. God had blessed her with the perfect genes. The perfect hair, the perfect smile, the perfect body, and she was a way better dancer than you. She was beautiful and you were a colorless painting next to her that lacked detail. You had acne on your forehead, and even if you had ditched the contacts and braces a year prior. Your hair was still frizzy, and your body wasn’t desirable. Your boobs were practically non-existent, your hips were too wide and your stomach wasn’t flat

It sucked because you seriously thought he could’ve been it. He had been it for a while. You pulled back. Curating a home in a fantasy world, caging your heart in. Despite your friends being protective over you like a little sister. Their protection was nothing compared to how locked up you had your heart. That is until you met Kim Namjoon–and that also ended in a disaster. After that you didn’t give a fuck, you let men come and go. Use you for their needs until one night you awoke from your slumber. Sadly it had already been too late.

Jimin was there to repair you brick by brick. He helped you rediscover yourself in more ways than one. He helped you feel comfortable in your body. Something that was so foreign to you it took lots of trial and error. Yet, you broke him.

Despite all the heartbreak you have experienced in your life. This had to be the one that hurt the most, because you hurt him, and nothing you do will ever bring him back to you.

All because you wanted to have the upper hand.

This is why you disliked Kim Namjoon. Just like he brought you back to life he had dulled you at the same time. He made you feel special but at the same time ordinary; and because of him–though it wasn’t his entire fault you were equally to blame–you had lost one of the most important people in your life.

In honor of such event you had been avoiding the world for the entirety of three days. On the fourth day–today–you had finally forced yourself out of bed.

It was your first day of training at your new job which meant you were going to be in the same room with your nemesis AKA your fake fiance. Listening to him brag about how much better he is at everything.

Everything was a shit show.

You purposely took the longer route, hoping it would work calming you down. The Cherry Blossoms were finally blooming, signaling the end of a bitter winter and the birth of a new chapter in your life. You had hoped that Jimin and Taehyung would have been here for the ride, after you explained everything. You didn’t get the chance too and now the two of them were acting as if there wasn’t a decade of memories between the two of you.

Your phone buzzed in the pocket of your hot pink slacks. You weren’t going to be teaching yet, just observing some classes and following Namjoon around while he condescendingly explained what your life would be like as a University Professor.

Are you close? - N

You rolled your eyes at the message. You had been scheduled to come in at ten-thirty. It was ten on the dot and he was already rushing you. You begin to wonder if this is what it was going to be like the entire time the two of you will be together.

Don’t forget to wear your ring, we’re going to mom’s for dinner tonight. - N

The annoyed sigh made its way out of you before you could stop it. You hope that it won’t always be like this. Him making plans for you without consulting you first. Or him outing the relationship is such an irresponsible way without letting you know. If he was going to make every single decision for you, then you will call things off. You had taken the entirety of your night writing down a list of demands in order for you to continue things.

Well it was more of a list of things that annoyed you about him. A list in which you only hoped the two of you could come to a compromise. You don’t want to change him. Mostly because he is stubborn and doesn’t see anything wrong with himself no matter how many times people close to him have mapped it out for him. He won’t turn the other way keeping his ground. All you want to do is meet in the middle for however long he wants to keep this charade up.

One of my TAs  is waiting for you at the front of the building. I’m assuming you know the way. She will show you around and I will meet you for lunch. Don’t be late. - N

The third text came in making you grip your phone tightly in your hand. Even when he wasn’t around he somehow manages to make you want to scream out in anger.

I’m five minutes away.

You reply, putting your phone away and ignoring the last text he sends you. You will not let him ruin your last few minutes of freedom.

Eunseo is amazing.

She immediately greeted you in high spirits and complemented your hot pink blazer and slacks combo. And offered to carry around your bag because to her it seemed too heavy, but you refused.

Despite having attended HYBE U almost a decade ago. It hadn’t changed much. There were a few new buildings to compensate for the enrollment capacity, and a carpark where dorms used to be. But other than those slight changes nothing had changed. Even the large field in between the common hall and the dorms was still the same. The trees always bloomed beautifully in the Spring. Though you couldn’t ignore the pang you felt in your chest while walking through the field with Eunseo as she talked about her classes and how much she looked up to Mr. Kim.

This was where you found out you were in love with Namjoon all those years ago. It was Fall, the foliage was at its peak and the leaves were just starting to fall down. The two of you had decided to meet here instead of the cafe that day to enjoy the weather a little more before it turned gray. There was a particularly strong wind and the leaves came rustling down landing on the two of you making the both of you laugh. The sun was shining in the most perfect way possible, his skin glowed underneath it and something inside of you turned.

That day all you could do was think about him. You fell asleep dreaming about his smile and woke up expecting his scent to cloud over you like a blanket.

It was so beautiful yet tragic and you had never turned back since then.

That is until he turned on you.

With the way Eunseo was describing him. You could almost picture him being the same way he was when he tutored you. According to Eunseo he was funny, kind and really cared about his students. He always went out of his way to explain the material in ways his students could understand, and listened to everybody’s opinion extensively. But he also challenged them and pushed them to work harder.

He loved his job and profession more than anything in the world. It’s something you always did admire about him. Even on late nights or when the stress was too much for him to handle. He always found a way to look at it in a different light. For some time you had wished he would’ve done that with you when you confessed your feelings to him. That night he was someone you had never known. It was like something switched off inside of him and he became the heartless jackass you’ve come to know about in recent years.

“You’re very lucky. He will be such an amazing husband.” Eunseo said bringing out of your long train of thought. You stopped dead in your tracks, surprised as she giggled at your reaction.

“H-How do you know.” You clear your throat, bringing your hand up to your chest and playing with the little aquamarine pendant you never take off.

“He told me before I went down to meet with you.” She shrugs, grabbing onto the straps of her backpack. “Don’t worry he’s only told me and I don’t have many friends to tell. So your secret’s safe with me.” She winks turning around and skipping away.

You shake your head and follow her trying to keep up as best as you can. Maybe wearing heels wasn’t the brightest idea, but it was your first day on the job. You need to make a good impression on your future co-workers. In which you hadn’t met yet, but you assumed it was because Namjoon would be the one to introduce you and he was currently in a lecture.

You jump when you hear your name being called from across the field. You turn around quickly as Namjoon makes his way to you. His beige trench coat blowing in the wind. The combination of his nike’s, light blue jeans, and airy button down shirt was more casual than what you expected. Even his hair wasn’t styled. He looked stress free or a normal person.

“Mr. Kim, I have taken care of her and now I am returning her to you in one piece. Just like you instructed.” Eunseo says from beside you. You look over at her. She’s wearing such a bright smile on her face. Her proudness over such a nimble task makes you chuckle. A moment you will never forget now because it’s made you realize how much you desire to inspire someone.

The same way Namjoon has inspired her.

“Thanks Eunseo.” Namjoon replies once he gets closer, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his coat. He looks you up and down, raising his brows before turning over to his student. “This doesn’t mean you’re getting extra credit or an extension on your next paper.”

“It was worth the shot.” She smiles, sending him finger guns making him laugh. She turns to face you, “It was so nice to meet you Mrs. Kim, I’ll be sure to keep on the lookout for your class next semester.” She says giving you an enthusiastic thumbs up. “I’ll see you in class Mr. Kim.” She finishes before turning around and heading down the path leading to the library.

“She’s not going to turn in her paper on time.” Namjoon says from next to you shaking his head. “But she’s one of my best students. Somehow her papers always manage to impress me even if I threaten to take away a whole letter grade for every late paper. It somehow motivates her to do even better and I can’t.” He sighs and looks over at you. “Did you find everything okay, I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you. I told the office to schedule you after my classes today but they refused. Even being head of a department has very little perks.”

You look around quickly to see if anybody was around. There were a few students making their way to classes but each of them were engrossed with their phones or notes or conversations amongst themselves. They weren’t paying any attention to the two of you. So, he didn’t have to act so nice. “You’re so strange.” You comment, widening your eyes and covering your mouth as quickly as possible.

Namjoon rolls his eyes before sticking his hand out for you to take. “And you’re so nice.” He retaliates. The slight pang of bitterness slicing through his words. You almost feel relieved that he was still in there somewhere.

“Thanks, you bring out the best in me.” You take his hand, watching as he interlaced your fingers with his, forcefully pulling you to walk.

“Whatever, let’s just go to lunch. I’m starving. We can talk about things then.”

Okay you take it back. HYBE U was definitely still not the same.

There was a whole dining hall with the bougiest restaurants that you one hundred percent would not have been able to afford when you were a student here. You assume that’s why it’s pretty empty, except for a few faculty.

Namjoon and you had been sitting in silence since the two of you sat down after ordering. Your mouth almost fell open when you saw an avocado toast for almost twenty dollars. Thankfully Namjoon had offered to pay. Now the two of you were waiting for your overpriced food in complete silence. You weren’t sure what to say if you were honest.

Hey thanks for the job, you're still an asshole though.

Or

My best friends hate me because you ruined my life and now they think that what we have is real because you decided to make it official on Facebook. And like who uses Facebook anyway you old man.

In the end you settle for the nice quiet, listening to the ambience around you until your food arrives. The waiter carefully places your plates in the middle of the table and the two of you quietly thank him. Then Namjoon clears his throat, grabbing your attention.

“I usually bring my own lunch but I like this place whenever I forget to cook.” He cuts the toast in half and puts one of them on your plate, and makes sure you get a piece of avocado too.

“You cook?” You tilt your head to the side, picking up your utensils and poking the soft egg in the middle, letting the yolk run.

Namjoon nods, placing some pasta on your plate. “Jin taught me a couple years ago.” He hands you a napkin and starts filling up his plate. You have no idea who this Jin guy is. Namjoon says his name as if you’re supposed to know already, but you’re curious. Namjoon was a genius but he was a complete incompetent buffoon in the kitchen. You can’t explain how many times you witnessed him and Jungkook fighting in front of you whenever you were over their house because he always burned the simplest things. It would stink up the kitchen and Jungkook would lose it because he always lost at rock paper scissors and ended up being the one to clean the kitchen.

“Who’s Jin?” You wipe your mouth, and take a bite of the pasta humming in delight. Maybe the price of the food was worth it.

“He owns the gym Kook and I go too. He sometimes comes over, you’ll meet him soon.” He clarifies.

You nod, letting the silence consume the two of you once again because what else are you supposed to say. Instead you just take another bite of your food.

Maybe if you prayed hard enough, Jungkook would waltz in and break the awkward air looming between the two of you. Of course you had things to say to him, but how were you supposed to bring it up if the conversation wasn’t going down the route.

“Kook’s mad isn’t he?” Namjoon puts down his fork and takes a sip of his water. “I saw him at the gym last night and he almost beat the shit out of me.” He chuckles like it’s no big deal.

“He’s not the only one.” You retort, reaching into your bag and taking out a sheet of notebook paper in a plastic sleeve and place it on the table. Not the most professional looking thing but you were short on time.

“Lo–” Namjoon starts, you assume he’s going to defend himself and his actions. But he doesn’t get very far because you immediately cut him off.

“No, I understand you want everybody to believe whatever this is.” You say pointing between the two of you. “But there’s not just one person in this act. You can’t keep making choices without consulting me first. The brunch was fine. I was able to come up with something on the spot. But the moving in is not, nor is the fucking Facebook status or telling your student or the dinner we have with your mom tonight.”

Namjoon rolls his eyes, “It’s a stupid status is not a big deal.” He takes a bite of pasta. The nonchalance in his demeanor causes the anger you had somehow managed to push away resurface once again.

“It is a big deal Namjoon. Because of that stupid status, neither Jimin or Taehyung are talking to me. You didn’t give me the chance to tell them and finding out through the internet is a pretty shitty thing.” You try to reason. He pokes his cheek with his tongue and crosses his arms.

“Isn’t Jimin the guy you were with at the party? You two were pretty close.”

“He was my best friend. But because of your actions he’s cut off all communication with me.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing the two of you aren’t friends anymore. He looked pretty comfortable touching you at Taehyung’s place.” He says looking around then you. Yeah, you’re adding this to the list of dumbshit he says. Hopefully by the end of this you’ll be able to publish a whole book.

“Are you listening to yourself?” You say tapping your ears. “You sound so dumb right now.” You shake your head, suddenly losing your appetite. He does bring out the worst in you, and you’re beginning to regret ever saying yes in the first place. “Jimin and I used to fuck and sure things were a little rocky between us since the night of the party. But I still care for him. He's still someone important to me and you’re not respecting that. You outed our relationship to the whole world without consulting me first and you keep doing shit without asking if I am okay with it.”

“It sounds like you’re just looking for someone to blame instead of owning up to whatever you did to your precious Jimin.” He shrugs, digging into his avocado toast. You truly want to dump his iced americano all over his head, but your hushed voices are getting a bit louder and people are starting to take notice.

“You’re completely missing the point. This isn’t about me or Jimin’s relationship. This is about you not willing to see that in order for this to continue you need to include me in big decisions like that. I am my own person Namjoon. I have a life outside of this, and you can’t just expect me to stop it and be at your mercy whenever you need me. What if I had plans tonight?”

“Then you cancel them. This is important.”

“Fucking hell, are you not listening to me. I honestly have no idea how to explain this to you in an easier way or without sounding like a broken record. I’m not a doll Namjoon, you can’t wind me up when you need me. I am a fucking human being and you’re not treating me like one. If this continues I will literally call this whole shit off.”  You pick up your fork and forcefully shove some pasta in your mouth.

“You can’t do that. You promised.” He accuses with his finger, furrowing his brows in anger.

You roll your eyes and swallow. “Just like you, I can also break promises.” You shrug before sliding your forgotten list towards him. “These are my rules, if you can’t follow them then I swear  Namjoon I’ll call your mom and tell her everything, and it would totally suck I mean this job seems to be amazing.” You threaten crossing your arms in front of you.

He huffs, snatching the list from the table and reading them. This time you welcome the silence as you wait for him to finish. After what seems like his third run through he puts the list down again, your bubbly handwriting makes his head hurt a little. He could never understand why you always wrote in colorful pens and marked your i’s with hearts.

In his opinion it was overrated and you were a full grown adult, not a toddler.

“You can’t expect to change me. This isn’t forever.” He says like he’s reminding you. Despite you being his fake fiance he never really assumed you would expect him to remain monogamous. He was still a man with needs and he refused to touch you in that way.

“I’m not asking you too. I’m asking you to meet me in the middle and respect me a little more. I know you hate me but I’m not your biggest fan either. Yet, I agreed to this and I am here.”

He tugs his bottom lip in between his teeth in thought. He stares into his plate of food for what seems like hours. He could do that. Maybe things won’t be so unbearable if the two of you were just walking side by side rather than on opposite ends. He also can’t deny that you’re a little right, this was harder than he assumed. You are definitely not the pliant girl he knew once. Maybe this version of you excites him a little, but of course he won’t ever admit that to anyone. He’s already having a hard time admitting it to himself. If you’re going to ask him to meet you in the middle with your annoying list of demands then he’s going to ask the same of you.

Eye for an eye.

“Fine, but only if you agree to move in with me.”

“That’s ridiculous. I don't understand why I can’t just be at my place. I mean you just said this wasn’t forever.” You mumble.

“Ahh then I guess I’ll just rip this up.” He says taking out your sheet of paper and holding it out in front of him ready to shred it.

You panic and hold your hand out to stop him. “Fuck fine, I’ll move in with you.”

“Perfect, I’ll clear out the guest bedroom this week and you can move in on Saturday.” He smirks, and resumes to his meal.

Once again he’s won, but you will find a way to have the upper hand one of these days. “This is so dumb I still don’t understand your reasoning.”

There’s a part of Namjoon that also doesn’t understand it. That part of him he’s pushed away for years. It’s the part of him that wants you there with him. It’s incredibly selfish. He’s aware he’s asking too much of you already, but he hopes having you in his home will give him an excuse to come home. Lately, he’s been tired of just his plants and artwork receiving him when he gets home.

Yet, that’s something he won’t ever admit out loud either.

“It just makes things easier.” He shrugs, shutting down the conversation. Leaving you to wonder if his actions have more meaning to them than his words.

[jmdbjk]

Bangtan weekly report

Lordt, what a week, what a month, what a year? It's September, we're on the downhill slide.

I've been busy, y'all. You know, life happens and all that crap we say when we have to focus on stuff that's not as fun as staring at the latest naked Bangtan pics... anyway... there is A LOT to process, A LOT to even sit down and catch up on.

Let's break it down shall we?

It was JK's b-day and he first tried to TikTok live us and you know, I hope he can't figure it out to his satisfaction because there's no replay and no translations so fuck TikTok and I mean that in a nice way. Thank god for Armys who record and translate.

And he dropped this tiny but significant TMI:

We know he's building that big whatever it is. It will be a while before he leaves his current residence...or? What? Moving elsewhere until he enlists? He mentioned in one of his more recent past lives that he had to clean up some of his junk in his apartment... soooo.... hmmm....

Also, this:

Acting research? I'm loving the sound of whatever that is.

Thankfully he came to visit us on Weverse live as well, did a few card tricks and cut it short, one of the shortest lives he's done in years and years? Were the aces a hint? Or just part of his magic trick?

Adorable goofball. By the way, the subs are up on this live.

He was out and about before the live, taking pics on the street, he's said he doesn't mind at all, running into fans in public and saying hello.

It's the people who claim to be fans who stalk him and show up uninvited to places where he's trying to live his life in private. Whoever you all are, I'll speak for Kookie. Y'all suck.

In Busan, when he was with his idol friends, they were asked if they were who they were by the restaurant employee and they tried to deny it. That should be a big hint to leave them alone.

Kookie shared a video on his TikTok in solidarity and support of RM speaking out about the uncalled for hate that came RM's way after he posted that song on his Instagram story.

You know... there's been quite a lot of discourse lately about culturally sensitive topics. Tae's "gaffe" and this song that RM shared... I think if you felt offended or uncomfortable when you saw those things happen, those feelings are your own and 100% valid.

Being of Japanese descent, through my life, it has made me cringe when I hear people call stuff "Jap crap" or just yesterday, a canvasser for a political candidate asked me if I was from around here... like... if I was blonde and blue-eyed would they have asked me that? You know? I was speaking to them exactly like I speak here, fully fluent in (Southern U.S. redneck) English because that's my only language (sadly, no thanks to mom and dad because I did not learn Japanese or French). But I don't get obsessed or angry or want to threaten anyone's careers or life. I don't even think about it. And I don't really hold it against people who are not aware of how they come across like that.

People are insensitive all the time without knowing it: asking a woman when they are due but she's not pregnant and maybe can't even have children... mentioning other culturally derogatory terms without realizing it (see "Jap crap" above), saying something looks "gay" like... ok what does that even mean?... you know what I'm saying? I use the term "spirit animal" all the time and someone DM'd me saying it was offensive. So we're all guilty.

I get it, we're all different in how we react. BUT MY FEELINGS ARE VALID TOO, AND MY REACTION IS MY OWN AND DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THE SAME AS YOURS TO YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE.

As I said, feelings are valid, and the members aren't perfect and it's okay to call them out on it. But the extra implication that was piled on Namjoon for that song rec crossed the line and he addressed it in his own live.

Exasperated he explained that it was just a song and that he knows exactly what everyone is saying, that he's a 30 year old man and can express himself freely. He said even if there will still be those who will accuse him of lying, he can't and won't lie to us.

I love him: "For ten years I've held things in my heart but nowadays I can't do that, I have to speak my truth. Believe my own words."

Before he got into it though he offended the mathematicians and then tried to back track (omg I'M JOKING ok?... unless someone got offended... omg, can we just chill?)

His 2-day old stubble and fuzzy headed self.

The obsession people have with their weight and their looks is mind-blowing. The way he's drilled in the comments on his face, his hair, about admitting he's tanning, how much he weighs, what he eats, he looks tired... This man has an IQ of 160 or whatever and people are worried about a mosquito bite on his forehead. The vapidness and shallow level of interaction in the comments knows no limit. But we've known that. Please, before commenting can people please make a list of things to speak on other than how they look?

He closed by saying to trust him, he'll always show us what's inside of him whether its his music or him as a human... life is a journey with a lot of obstacles, he's good and focusing on his own things and not on the bad energy. He is in such a good head space nowadays... love to see it.

Next up, Taehyungie-hyung...dis my fave pic out of everything I've seen so far:

I am not a fan of Tae in blonde hair, I've said that before. But this particular shot is stunning to me, the lighting and angle.

As you know, I've not paid as close attention to Tae. Honestly I've been waiting for him to share things during this solo time so I can get to know him better just like I did with the other members.

Up until now, everything he does seems superficial EXCEPT the deliberate soft reveal of his relationship with Jennie, which I hope they are doing well and navigating the shitty waters of having to be idols in a relationship.

But so far, its photo spread after photo spread and I'm just not into it. Yes, Tae is very photogenic. I'm sure V biases are over the moon. I'm happy for them! If it was Jimin you would be sick of me posting every photo, so I get it! But I was looking for something a little deeper from him.

So it was this Dingo show that his personality opened up a little to me somewhat... interacting with this Army who's dream is to become a Military Officer. She is the cutest thing, her reactions so genuine and I could feel her excitement and how she was overwhelmed at the end of their day together when she broke down. Girl was holding it in and living the life that day!!! Sooo happy she got to experience that!

And these pics are the cutest:

This one right above with her hands on his shoulders... such a precious memory. I am looking forward to hearing the rest of Tae's album. I'm sure I'll have things to say about it at that time.

And that brings me to Jimin. The jikook selca not withstanding, we haven't seen or heard from him in ages so after 2 months, 15 days, 23 hours, 8 minutes and some odd seconds (but who was counting? not me)... we finally see him again in person at a Dior event in Seoul.

He looked so good, except that tan leather coat reminded me of something 50s vintage, car coat over a sheath dress women wore in the springtime. He's small. Let's put a giant white garbage bag on him. Don't know what goes through their minds.

Dior creates some extraordinarily crafted pieces, but so far, I sometimes wonder if they've even bothered to look at any of Jimin's previous photo concepts for other various things. It's almost like they don't know how to dress him. That's just my personal opinion.

Anyway..AND THEN HE COMES LIVE!!! FINALLY!!!

Is that a Red Dragon keyboard he has in front of his computer? I don't really know anything about gaming stuff. And goodness...

He gets comfy by tying up those pants that look like four of him (or him and Kookie) could fit in there at the same time...

His eye crinkles... I don't care what people say about his beakie... I'm all about the eye smile and those eye crinkles that are going to get deeper with time.

Y'all, this is my bias...

That mood light of the realistic solar system makes Jungkookie's mood light look like child's play. But I see why his moons down his back look like they do.

I know some of the first translations say he called Jungkook for his birthday and he talked about wanting to live his 30s just as full as his 20s, and he's learning through his solo work that he has things to learn and he will improve and I just don't have enough or the right words to express how much I love and admire his perseverance and dedication to being the best at what he does and the best human he can be. I will do a full blog post when the official subs are ready later this week.

I don't know how this guy from the other side of the world got so completely under my skin:

I know there was a lot of other content that dropped that I didn't touch on but there aren't enough hours in my day to type it all up. I will just continue to watch and absorb as much as I can just like everyone else.

Jin and Hobi are still plugging away at their respective bases, I always pray for their safety and health while they are doing their duty. In a few months, Jin may show us what it will be like to celebrate birthdays while they are enlisted.

And Yoongi. We wait as the days tick by. We know its coming very soon. Holding my Yoongi bias friend's hand very tightly. We'll get through this together.

[tjodity]

Hey do you wanna rant to me about dsmp gender hcs perhaps ❤️ or disabilities i just need entertainment

sorry this took a while!!

-Tubbo is partially blind in both eyes after his execution. His vision is heavily reduced and very blurry in any part he can actually see. He's also partially deaf. He uses glasses and a walking stick to get about. During his presidency he tries to obscure the fact that he's blind by wearing a partial mask and having Tommy and later Ranboo or Quackity by his side to help prevent him from tripping. Tommy generally lingers very close to him and talks quite loudly, which Tubbo appreciates because it means that he can see/hear Tommy much better than anyone else

-Hannah is a transfem human who is sensitive to the health of the nature around her. She dresses up as a fairy partially as a gender euphoria thing, which is why she fought so hard for the elytra. She's also a lesbian and one of the more confident people in their sexuality on the server, though she doesn't verbalize it often.

-Tommy is transfeminine and nonbinary. They used their very overblown comedic persona and idolize people like Jschlatt because they never felt any connection to her own masculinity and felt wrong for it. They start figuring out their gender after Manberg and fully accept themselves after Bedrock Bros. She's also platoniromantic, meaning her platonic and romantic feelings are kind of twisted together, and asexual. She wants to marry Tubbo. They have bad joint pain and stiffness as well as audio processing issues. They have delusions that can make talking to certain people difficult

-Eret is blind

-Puffy is kind of a woman but really likes fucking with her gender. She tends to create new personas when she does this. She also enjoys being contradictory it gives her gender euphoria. Most of the time she uses she/her and masculine titles (dad, papa, sir, mr, etc) and will dress in a range from masculine to feminine, but sometimes she'll do full drag in a variety of combinations of gender traits because she needs a change. Her feelings for Badboyhalo are gay but so are her feelings for Niki. She's also fat btw that's not a queer hc but it is important to me

-Schlatt has chronic pain and fatigue caused by a heart condition. He usually uses a cane and frequently has to lie down for periods of time between physical activities. He does neither in Manberg and exacerbates his illness with smoking, drinking, and forcing himself to walk around and stand for all hours of the day.

-Nihachu has persisting pain in her shoulder from when she was attacked leaving Manberg. Trauma and intense isolation exacerbated some mental stuff she already had. She experiences auditory hallucinations sometimes, can experience delusions, and has difficulty speaking in a way people around her can fully understand. She's probably bisexual but considers herself a lesbian

-Kind of a mental health headcanon but Technoblade does not hear voices in the sense of a mental health issue. He's sworn himself to service of the God of death (blood) and she just whispers at him sometimes.

[atypical-artisan]

Snes Aran Ryan headcanons

Making headcanons for my boi as I promised- I wanna give him more personality :DDD

@strawbs-screaming @anx13ty-astr0naut

Tagging y'all since I think you'd like it especially :)

(slightly more than) two pages of hcs for Snes Aran below!

Crap at speaking Irish- especially gets nervous when made to/asked to speak it, to the point where his voice dies out

Grew up not really celebrating his birthday so he has more parties as an adult

Born in Dublin w/out his father, lived with gran and mom there until he was 14 when they moved to Boston

Because his mom lived in the UK for a long while and he lived in the us for half his life, his accent is different from a typical Dublin accent and he’s more comfortable with blending British, Irish, and American slang

Feels complicated about his Irish identity- feeling like hes a fake Irishman mostly due to the fact that he was bullied in school for having a weird name and off kilter accent, generally disconnected from a lot of Irish cultural activities, the fact that he moved to the us as a teen (Further disconnecting him from his culture, and that he feels like he has to compete with wii Aran over their Irishness

While living in the us, he feels weirdly idolized for his Irish heritage, leaving him disconnected from being an American too

Irish protestant

Goes to church out of habit mostly

A solid non-believer in mythical/superstitious stuff

Despite this, some of his favorite fairy tales have been about selkies and merfolk- hes particularly fond of the original version of ‘the little mermaid’ for reasons he cant explain

Considered joining the British navy like his dad

Very good sailor- that's probably the one thing he and many others actually consider him to be intelligent in: dealing with boats

Despite being a good sailor, he has a habit of not wearing a life vest cause he gets cocky

Yes he's heard the seamen joke a million times, please shut up

Great at knots

Great swimmer, he's strong enough that he's actually held a job as a lifeguard

Big pant guy (Cause he’s shy abt how wide he is and his big fat booty & thighs)

He's generally very self conscious about his weight, especially after starting boxing

He's also very embarrassed about his face: he knows he's ugly, thanks for mentioning it

His hair is less red and more of an auburn color, but when he gets out in the sun for a while it brightens up

He does NOT have dreads or cornrows, his hair is just braided

Heike braids his hair before matches

His eyes are a very dark brown

He's 5'10

Yes he's heard the leprechaun joke a billion times, say it again and you're losing teeth

Has eyebrows, they’re just hard to see

Terrible teeth- has had a ton of cavities and fillings before he turned to permanent dentures (Narcis paid for them)

His nose has been broken a lot, so much so that he can’t breathe out of one nostril now

Despite this, he has excellent lung capacity and can sing ‘rattlin bog’ in 1-2 breaths

Not stupid, but not super intelligent either

His back is really sensitive but he pretends he isn’t bothered by his crappy bed- v grateful for narcis’ comfy bed(s) whenever he stays the night

Sleeps very lightly

Incapable of sitting in too weird of a position- he gets sore waaay too easily

Fucking fist sponge of a man, especially his skill, which is (literally) thick

Mild allergy to cats

Initially a smoker since he was 17 but once he befriends narcis he switches to e-cigs then nicotine gum before being able to quit fully

When everyone's drunk, he's the most capable driver

Very good at holding his liquor

Likes fruity drinks courtesy of narcis

Though he didn’t used to like tea so much, narcis got  him to enjoy earl grey

He’s also fond of sweet tea

He started getting more picky about his food after hanging out with narcis… when narcis noticed he laughed his ass off and made fun of him for getting ‘expensive’ tastes

Loves fishing, he can hang out on a boat and fish from sunrise to sunset

Loves rainy/cloudy weather

He loves showing off his strength, esp by picking people up

Really into tall people

Likes sucking up to people he likes

Secretly likes doing spa stuff with narcis

He's got a gnarly record for tetris of all things

But he's p good at the sonic games too. He even has a sonic impression that isn't half bad

Has a fugly ass truck lmao

Narcis got him into rap, r&b, hip-hop. and grime

Just loves watching seals

Fave color is a very light blue the same shade of blue as narcis’ eyes

Loves fighting, it's always very fun for him to beat the shit out of someone, especially if he feels it's justified

His love of fighting has given him a lot of concussions over the years.

He has a hard time remembering things because of all these concussions

Also has trouble with mixing around letters, words, and numbers when reading and writing nowadays

Surprisingly good at coming up with poetry, but struggles to word it

He becomes better at reading and poetry after narcis talks him into reading more classic lit with him

He's particularly fond of the works of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelly as well as Oscar Wilde

He’s a guy with big emotions because he bottles them up a lot

Tends to keep upsetness/anger to himself unless very aggravated- which nowadays isn’t hard to trigger

Tends to be jumpy and very sensitive to other's comments 

He'll never admit it, but at any given time, he would appreciate a hug (applicable to friends only, anyone else gets punched)

Sometimes still has nightmares of his bullies

Deep down, he's actually scared of wii Aran

Wants a lot of friends but nervous to talk to people

Narcis is the closest friend he's ever had

Needs any of his partners to be his best friend as well, its how he knows he truly loves and trusts them

Absolute goober when he’s in love- cartoon/romance novel levels of over the top gooeyness

His love life so far has been boring and pretty sad. None of his partners and him ever truly loved each other, they just dated out of obligation. Though he has been in love before and that love was reciprocated, he didn't date her because she was shamed out of it by her friends. They haven't talked since she rejected him.

He hates drama and keeps out of it as much as he possibly can

Him and dragon used to fight a lot more but after Heike made them all play dnd together, they've gotten along much better 

Him, muscle, and dragon like playing card games together- mostly poker, uno, and BS

[starlitmark]

Summary: You’re not entirely sure how you became involved with Wooyoung; you’re not mad about it, though. Pairing: Wooyoung x milf!reader Tropes: milf au, non-idol au Genre: smut Rating: R 18+ Warnings: age gap relationship, language, mentions of previous relationships (and divorce) Smut Warnings: mommy kink, protected sex, breeding/pregnancy kink Word Count: 594 Note: for the Tarot Card Drabble Event Requested by: @sanjoongie​

Ace of Cups ➾ USE CONTRACEPTION, fertile, age difference, intimacy, closeness, arousal, longing, one-sided love

“Fuck, right there, baby.” you moan.

“Am I fucking mommy good?” Wooyoung asks, a whine laced with his voice.

“So fucking good. Always such a good boy for mommy.”

How you ended up here, you couldn’t say. One day you were teasing the new pool boy with no intentions of acting on anything; next thing you know, you’re in a relationship with him. It started out as a one-sided love on his part. You’re a mother. First and foremost, you need to take care of your twins. Your ex-husband, of course, didn’t make anything easier regarding letting you move on with life. Somehow, you found yourself completely enthralled in the younger man, though. The name Mommy came about as a joke at first. You’re nearly ten years older than your partner, and what started as a joke became a very real kink for both of you.

“Maybe if you fuck me hard enough, you’ll get me pregnant. Wouldn’t it be so interesting to have my pretty baby become a dad?” you tease.

“D-don’t,” he whines, “don’t tease me like that.”

“Like what, angel?” you gasp, “We both know I’m rather fertile still, and you’re so young. You’d probably get me pregnant on the first try.”

“Mommy,” he whines again, giving a punctuated thrust for good measure.

“That’s why you have to wear a condom, though. We don’t want Mommy getting pregnant again just yet, do we?”

“I want you to be. Wanna pump you full- fuck, full of my babies. Wanna see you all pretty and round. You looked so pretty and glowy when you were pregnant last time.”

You chuckle at him and start jerking your hips up to meet his thrusts. His slightly grown-out blond hair keeps falling in his face as he thrusts. Eventually, he presses his chest fully against yours and buries his face in your neck. You know he’s likely to leave marks behind on the blank skin, but you couldn’t be bothered to care right now. You’re so wet, and his thrusts are almost erratic. Every time you have sex, it seems to get even better. The amount of arousal you cause in each other is something you could never describe. It makes you feel like you’re twenty and constantly horny again. You never had that with your ex, so to have it now, six years after your separation, feels like heaven and more.

“You seem like you’re about to cum, pretty boy.” you tease breathlessly, tugging at his hair as you do so.

“Please, can I take this condom off and cum inside you? Wanna breed you so bad.” he moans.

You gasp when he thrusts even harder despite you thinking it wasn’t physically possible. He’s so close. Your mental debate has to be quick. You want nothing more than to feel him fill you up, feel his cum leak out of you. You know it’s something you want. But, you’re also extremely fertile for no reason. You don’t know if you’re ready to risk getting pregnant again, especially with your twins being eight now. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, you give into what you want.

“Go on, angel. You can fill me up all you want. Breed me as much as you want.” you moan.

Wooyoung doesn’t waste time pulling out and practically tearing the condom off himself before reentering you. He lets out a high, squeaky moan as he feels your soaked pussy around him raw.

“Thank you, Mommy. You’re so fucking pretty. Want this so bad.”

“Anything for my pretty boy.”

COPYRIGHT FLOWERBOYKUN 2023© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED — reposting/modifying any fic, or piece of original writing posted on this blog is not allowed. Translations are not permitted. 

Networks: @cultofdionysusnet​ @kwritersworld​ @k-vanity​

Tag List: @jaehunnyy​ @sanjoongie​ @ericssmile​

[haleigh-sloth]

you once tweeted about touya not being the one who needs to change and like “overcome” his obsession w endvr bc his reactions are valid. i wanted to ask how you feel about hawks and his obsession with endvr tho, him literally always putting himself down (esp in the new chapter with saying his wings are dirty for example) to put endvr on a pedestal (still calling him a figure of hope??) so he can basically still look up to him and not face what shit endvr did. do you think he needs like a reality check and face that his idol did or is it just hori not caring

I definitely do not think it's a case of Hori not caring. I'll explain why, but first I want to kinda just explain my take on what Hawks said this chapter about his wings, and his reaction to Endeavor when comparing it to Touya's.

My answer to your question is yes, Hawks needs a reality check. Touya needs a reality check but in a different way. His dad does not define him, and I am fully confident that Shouto's role is making Touya realize that, however that necessary realization does not cancel out that he also deserves to have and see his dad love him and give him what he wants.

Hawks on the other hand, imo, just needs to wake up. There is not real validation or affection from Endeavor he needs in order to move on with his life. Endeavor did not raise him. Hawks is attached to an Endeavor that never existed, while Touya is attached to the real Endeavor with ALL of the ugly parts included. Even with all of the horrible things Endeavor did....Touya still loves him and craves his attention and presence in his life.

Hawks ignores the ugly part of Endeavor. He straight up refuses to acknowledge it for what it is. He knows, he's aware, and yet he remains unphased and puts Endeavor on a pedestal and latches onto him, secretly wishing Enji was his dad and if we ever fucking get to this payoff of Hawks's build up, I'm sure we'll see some jealousy of Touya. Can't imagine a better reason for this image to exist:

Which, I don't think I need to really explain this but---it's irrational and ridiculous of Hawks to want these things. Is it understandable on a psychological and emotional level? Absolutely. 100%. His reaction is valid, even if very frustrating. Does that change the fact that the entire situation is ridiculous? Nope. It's ridiculous to us (me) as readers because we know all of the information.

So imo yes Hawks is due for a reality check. And I don't think Hori is ignoring it. I will admit to feeling some level of frustration lately with him showing Hawks looking batshit insane when Twice shows up, getting ready for the emotional gut punch of a life time with the set up, and then for some reason spending like 20 chapters trying to get AFO tf out of Gunga and having Hawks and AFO banter repeatedly and completely fucking stalling the story's progress. I'm a little over it and ready to move on, but I don't think anything is going to go on forever ignored. If I've learned anything, it's that anytime we think something will be forgotten or casually slid under the rug, Hori always busts it out later with a vengeance. I do pretty much fully trust Horikoshi at this point, as he has not let me down yet no matter how frustrating the weekly pacing of the manga is at times. Hawks does not have anything good coming his way anytime soon, as Twice and Toga are still there and Touya and Endeavor are still playing duck duck clown. So I'm not worried.

Hawks putting himself down....well, there's layers to this. Maybe Hawks shouldn't have a self-deprecating way of thinking, but Hawks also isn't exactly the pinnacle of hope in BNHA land right now, and he's LONG overdue for feeling some sort of doubt or guilt about his own beliefs and actions. His wings are dirty because they carried out a murder in the name of heroism--which is just incorrect in BNHA's definition of being a hero. And then, Hawks relating Endeavor to anything hopeful is also just not good. I know Endeavor's redemption arc is clear cut and happening, but the climax of it hasn't happened yet, so I feel like as long as Hawks is jumping the gun at praising Endeavor for his redemption that hasn't happened yet, all the while running away from his own heinous act, we shouldn't be taking Hawks's whole word for things on what's hopeful and what's not. Hawks said some questionable things this chapter that have an ominous vibe to it all, and it really just kinda keeps me of the belief that he's got a storm coming.

[thewertsearch]

Asks Compilation 20/11 - 1

Young Pupa flies through the window of a fairy girl's respiteblock, falls on the floor, and has trouble getting up like an enormous pansy. The fairy girl then helps him walk again, and in return, he teaches her to fly, even though she probably already knows how to fly. Because she's a fairy. They fly out of her window together, and have magical adventures for many sweeps thereafter. To be honest, you hardly know a damn thing about Pupa Pan. But you do not care.

This is true. Even Vriska seems aware that she's misunderstanding the story - note that she herself points out the contradiction inherent in teaching a fairy to fly.

I guess it's possible that in Pupa Pan, the characters of Wendy and Tinkerbell have been combined - but it's much more likely that Vriska just doesn't give a shit about the lore, since she literally tells us that's the case.

I basically agree with your core point. I think Vriska really does believe that this training will make Tavros stronger. I also believe that she genuinely wants to help him grow.

...but I also think she's fully aware that it's cruel, and is enjoying tormenting him.

I'd need to see a lot more evidence before I'm willing to accept that Vriska actually likes Tavros in any sort of genuine or positive way. It feels much more like black romance to me.

[ This was all around page 2383 - C ]

Vriska loses a lot of points for what she considered doing to Tavros - but she didn't go through with it, and that doesn't mean nothing.

As I said at the time - there are some things even Vriska won't do. Why she considered it, and why she stopped, are complicated questions, and I think I'll be going back to this moment later in her arc.

Yeah, it really implies a lot about blue-bloods, and none of it is good. I know I'm a broken record at this point, but Alternia is absurdly fucked-up.

Jury's out. I think they're mostly human, since Nanna seems had a child with a non-Player - but then again, Dad could have been adopted. Who knows?

I think they'd start with toilets, and then move to progressively heavier and heavier objects, in order to test the limits of the Sburb cursor.

If it packs enough force to toss a bathtub around, what else can it do?

Haha, nice catch.

Let's say 'SS Tier' isn't a tier at all - it's a flag I apply to a single character, designating them as my current favorite. The hypothetical S+, however, would be an actual tier.

I've never seen it! That does explain what the fuck is going on here, though. I thought this might be an in-universe troll celebrity that Tavros idolized.

I'm lucky enough never to have known this type of person - although Vriska's personality does remind me of more than one middle manager I've encountered professionally.

To be honest, it's hard to tell which trolls canonically have disabilities, and which ones Karkat is just being a prick to.

I don't, to my knowledge, have any of the disabilities depicted in the comic, so I don't have much valuable insight to contribute. Hopefully we get an ADHD troll soon?

Hey, good point!

Although, I'm not sure if there's any hard evidence that the troll meteors didn't land in the brooding caverns. I guess the fact that the caverns are underground might present a problem, but the meteors could have fallen into crevices. Sgrub could totally make it happen.

Aradia, for sure - but her metal body would just make it explode.

This particular accidental reference has always been a pretty hard sell for me. Does anyone know for sure whether Hussie had heard about Lord British before the 'glitches' page?

Wait, why apples?

Oh, ok, that makes sense. It was his second ever message!

That's honestly such a cool title. - The WERT blogger.

I like it. I never considered that the positioning of the Kingdoms relative to the rest of the session would be a factor in the outcome of the war, but it makes perfect sense.

When you actually think about it, Derse could win the war on day one simply by annexing the Veil, preventing Prospit from cloning reinforcements. I guess that wouldn't be sporting, though.

This is true. We don't have the computational resources to solve chess - and there's a good chance we never will.

Interestingly, though, chess probably could be solved in the Homestuck universe, via the leveraging of computational resources from alternate timelines.

[boreal-sea]

Ok so god, imagine IF Izzy had actually been written as a mentor/father figure for Ed.

What we actually got in the show (and which I loved) was unrequited romantic love/sexual attraction from Izzy towards Ed, and a very clear dynamic between them with Ed as the revered leader and Izzy as the loyal follower who Ed treated more like an object/tool than a person. I personally love how Izzy was written as unhealthily obsessed with Ed, and how Ed was written as just taking that loyalty for granted.

But let's play around here.

Because like. Ed killed his dad. That's how Ed's life started: as an abused child who killed his father. And in the end, Ed is begging Izzy to kill him. And in a way, Izzy does. Izzy shoots Ed, allowing the crew to capture and smash his head in.

The parallels here could have been REALLY FUCKING TRAGIC, especially if Izzy KNEW Ed's past and that he killed his father. Imagine if he knew, and took Ed on specifically because of that!

Killed abusive father -> Gains positive father figure -> Becomes abusive -> Killed by positive father figure

THAT would have been excellent circular storytelling. Imagine Izzy's pain, as he thought to himself that he failed Ed as a father, that he failed to end the cycle of abuse despite how hard he tried. And now he's watching more "children" (the crew) killing their abuser.

And like, we do get aspects of this - Ed is absolutely going though his part of this arc. He knew from childhood experience and from his experiences as a pirate that if you're cruel enough, someone will end you. That's what he wanted, because he was hurting and in pain. And that's tragic.

From the show as it was written, from Izzy's pov we feel the pain of a loyal sidekick realizing the leader they idolized has become a monster that needs to be slayed, which is no less tragic. But there's one crucial detail: Izzy doesn't know Ed killed his father. He's just seeing a man he loved become a monster like so many other pirates.

We didn't see a mentor/mentee relationship because DJenkins wasn't writing a mentor/mentee relationship. And I genuinely don't think a lot of Izzy's characterization as written would have worked if he was supposed to be a mentor. Because he's not treated with any gravitas by anyone else, including Ed. Ed never asks Izzy for advice. Everyone treats Izzy like the CEO's annoying nepotism hire who you're supposed to respect but you don't. Izzy's weird fun sexual tension with the crew would've been very uncomfortable if he'd actually had any authority. But he was treated as a joke, because he WAS a joke. And that's ok!!! It made sense! He was no one without Ed's authority behind him and the instant Ed was gone the crew tried to chuck him overboard. That's not a mentor/father figure. That's the annoying second in command everyone tolerates because the boss is actually scary.

And Izzy's entire s2 arc is crawling out from beneath the shadow of Ed, standing on his own foot, and becoming a whole person with ACTUAL respect and authority that isn't defined by being Ed's second in command.

Again. That's not a mentor/father figure plot.

DJenks was apparently unaware that he was writing a leader/loyal subordinate situation. Who knows what kind of dynamic he thought he was writing. He fully admitted he didn't realize Izzy's death could be written as a "death of the mentor" trope until right at the end. Izzy was always going to die, but he didn't have any reason why he was dying, which I think we can all agree is a big part of why it didn't work.

[acircusfullofdemons]

Questions: 1,, 4,, 18,, 19,, 20 for the Para Motivation Ask Meme please !! (ෆ ᴗ͈ ω ᴗ͈ ෆ) I’’d like to request Neil and Ozzie,, but you can do the paras you’’ve most recently been daydreaming about if you’’d like !! ( ◉ ω ◉ )

[ ASK GAME ] || (I'm pretty sure you meant the para relationship ask game lol) Funnily enough Neil & Ozzie WERE the last paras I daydreamed about!! They were doing kinky sex while I was working and uhm I think Neil might be ace?? We'll get back to that at some point. But I'm also gonna do Alice from @fractured-fables since I drew her earlier & also Emory bc there's now a sign at work that looks SO MUCH LIKE HIM it makes me loose my mind.

1.) What’s their relationship with their parents like? Is there one parent they’re closer too than the other? If your was raised by a different caretaker, what is their relationship like, and how does your para feel about the absence of their parents in their life?

Neil: Technically doesn't have parents as he was treated as an experiment since the minute he was born. However, his father was a scientist at Arcaynis (the organization that's experimenting on people). He willingly subjected his own son to horrific experiments, but thankfully(??) Neil didn't know this. He doesn't really have any parental figures, and kinda wished he did. Maybe he wouldn't be so fucked up if someone held him a little bit as a kid.

Ozzie: His father was very abusive, but thankfully his momma was always ready to defend him. He is a very big momma's boy and yknow, I think they still talk sometimes. He probably sent her some of the money he stole when he was a villain.

Alice: Does not get along with her parents. Well. Its complicated. She loves them, they love her, but they don't really "get" her, if you catch my drift?? Objectively speaking, they're fine parents, just probably not the best for Alice. HOWEVER, Phineas becomes like her second dad/uncle/older brother figure in Wonderland, and those two understand each other SO WELL. Funnily enough, they actually hated each other when they first met! Both for good reasons but nowadays you'd never know. Also did you know some people ship Alice & Hatter romantically??? They are Wrong. So very wrong thats her dad!!!

Emory: His "backstory" gives him parents, but they're also dead and desperately need to be buried bc they're rotting corpses are stinking up the house. He doesn't really consider them his "parents", anyway. Technically, he doesn't have any, and he's perfectly fine with that. Still, Theia likes to call him her son sometimes which is kinda funny so he allows it and humors her by occasionally referring to her as his mother.

4.) Who was your para’s childhood best friend? When and how did they meet? Are they still friends?

Neil: Dahlia!! She was the daughter of another scientist at Arcaynis, but not an experiment. Neil loved her, she was quite literally the ONLY good thing in his life. Dahlia wasn't supposed to sneak into wherever Neil was being kept, but she was curious. And stubborn, because she kept coming back almost every day! Eventually, she was encouraged to interact with Neil to observe how he reacted to certain stimuli. Unfortunately, he accidentally killed her while he was escaping Arcaynis. He often wonders what it'd be like if she lived — would she be proud? He almost idolizes and romanticizes her/her existence. It's kinda creepy.

Ozzie: Ozzie was a very shy, soft spoken, and introverted kid. He was bullied a lot for being a teachers pet / being smart. It was rough, but Nora Osborn took pity on him and helped Ozzie gain some confidence during high school! I have not introduced her yet (bc I. keep forgetting to) but Nora is Ozzie's wife! Canonically she had roughly 8 minutes of screen time and died but I haven't fully decided on what I wanna do with her in MaaC yet. But she does exist, and Ozzie loves her dearly.

Alice: Her best friends are Dorothy and Wendy!!! They've been bffs for varying years, but all met during early childhood. I think they all just met on the playground one day, yknow how little kids are lol. And yes, they're still friends today! I call them the "iskeai girls" bc they all get transported to other worlds lol.

Emory: OK so technically Emory never had a "childhood", he's an ageless being that sort of just...exists. but uhm I guess we can say Ketrill?? Ketrill was created by Theia so they spent a lot of time together. They're kinda like brothers.

18.) How important are your para’s various relationships to them? Do they cherish the people closest to them? Does their support system keep them going? How about strangers? What are their feelings about humanity as a whole? Is it easier for them to live those closest to them vs humanity as a whole?

Neil: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. He has never had friends/family/ANYTHING before escaping Arcaynis, so he'll cling to anything he can stick his claws in. He learns to balance different relationships (as well as the types of relationships) as time goes on with the help of those around him, but by GOD was he, uh, a bit of an obsessive stalker towards practically anyone he met the first few years of living in society. As for humanity? It sucks. Shut that shit down.

Ozzie: Oohh, he's a sappy mother motherfucker that loves his friends and probably believed in the power of friendship when he was younger (he still kinda does sshhh). He has mixed views on humanity but like, he's human too so he doesn't want it totally gone.

Alice: Depends on the person tbh. Earth? Forget them tbh. Wonderland? THAT'S HER FAMILY!!! Yes all of Wonderland is her family now lol that's her HOME. She loves it there and genuinely considers it her home, she'd live there always if given the option. She thinks humanity on earth sucks but Wonderlandians got smth going on trust her on that.

Emory: So looking at it now I think Emory is only close to like, 5 people total. That's it. I don't know if he'd consider them a "friend group" or a "support system" but he does care for them, which is saying something, as he doesn't really get close to people. I don't think he really has an opinion on humanity. Like it exists. That's it. He doesn't really...care??

19.) How does your para realize they care about someone? Is it instantaneous, or a slow realization? Are they dense, or maybe realize once it’s too late that there was something there?

Neil: He's...a little dense. To everyone else, it's so fucking obviously because he's trailing after the person like a lost puppy and is borderline obsessed with them. But he probably won't realize how much they mean until someone either points it out or he looses that person.

Ozzie: It creeps up on him. He knows he cares about someone, its the level/extent of it that surprises him! Like he thought Neil was just a good ally/coworker until something innocuous happened, like maybe he saw the other sleeping and then BAM! Head over heels in love. Incredible, really.

Alice: I feel like Alice is similar to Ozzie, she knows she cares about those around her, I guess sometimes she just forgets HOW much she cares. Or sometimes its hard to care, with all the shit they've been through/have going on. She tries her best to make sure those she loves feel appreciated, though.

Emory: Imma be honest...he doesn't get "close" to people. He's an Interdimensional Demonic Cat, The Librarian. He records everything, narrates all of it. So getting close to those he is observing...he doesn't like it. He was close to Delilah, and she died. He was a little too involved with False Moon, and they're pretty traumatized. By FF/LIW he's kinda keeping his distance. Anyway! He knows pretty quickly when he genuinely cares about someone and not solely because he wants the "story" to continue. And he will deny it until the end of time, because God forbid a kitty experience love!!

20.) How does your para expresses their feelings of care/love to others? What’s their love language (giving and receiving!)

Neil: Gift giving!! He gives very weird gifts, though. Honestly he's kinda like a cat bringing its owner dead animals?? Like uh thanks buddy but what am I supposed to do with this exactly. He very much likes receiving physical contact. Hold him. Please.

Ozzie: Quality time!! He likes taking people out to museums and aquariums, those type of places, and seeing what they point out. He also likes receiving quality time. Literally all you gotta do is exist in the same room as him he is so easy to please.

Alice: Acts of service!! She'll get your groceries! She'll paint your roses! She'll die for you! Literally!! She likes receiving words of affirmation. Tell her she's doing good. Please. Don't actually she'll break down and sob.

Emory: Physical contact. I feel like that's a typical/standard cat answer. Yes he does express love like an actual cat would. He likes receiving quality time. Just spend some time in his library, he'll appreciate it a lot.

[foxydivaxx]

Sanji: Chronicles Of King Nasty Chapter 1

This fanfic is sort of Sanji’s memoir with a twist. How? Just read on.

Ezreal sighs as he stares at the book in his hands. He was still in rehab and has yet to get out. His former manager sent him this book, a memoir by his idol, Sanji.

He was skeptical as he thought he knew everything about the man. He remembers meeting him when he was 5 years old. He smiles at that memory. Did he mention it in this book?

Sanji was 15 at the time. 13 years have passed since then. He was this close to becoming a pop star until his dreams came crashing down about 3 years ago. Ezreal is now 18 and confused as hell.

He might as well get started. The book was a black paperback with Sanji’s photo on it. He opens it and reads the first page:

Everyone thinks they know it all. The glitz, the glamour, the fame. They believe every tabloid headline as gospel truth forgetting that every celeb they hold to fucked up pedestals are fucking humans with real feelings…

“So true,” says Ezreal. He then starts getting flashbacks to his debut. He had the hottest single at the time. But there was a problem; his stupid record label was at odds with his vision for himself. His drug addiction worsened during that period and that greatly affected his performances as well. Now he wonders how Aogiri and Sangi did it back then. Did they face the same industry bullshit he faced? He is already getting sucked into the story with just that first paragraph. Damn, he is good at this.

Now I am sure y’all are wondering why I am even bothering to write this book. Truth is, I have so much to get off my chest. So much has happened over the years, that some of you might have heard of but never fully understood. Time to unpack the load. And yes this is me addressing my stupid father who thought he could get away with his latest publicity stunt. No bitch!! We have given you enough chances but you keep on blowing it!! This shit ends now!!

In order to understand how all this shit, how about we start all the way from the beginning? Now most of you may already know that my father is Judge Vinsmoke, a rap legend and frontrunner for World’s Shittiest Father and Husband….

Ezreal pauses here. He did not know that Judge was Sanji’s dad as Sanji used a completely different legal name back in the day. Now he understands why. He remembers seeing an interview with Judge where Judge called Sanji a chipmunk and talentless bimbo. Imagine calling your son that on live television. Thankfully, Sanji put him on blast a couple weeks later.

On the other side, we have my beloved mother, the legendary Miss Sora Bernard, one of the greatest popstars on Earth and an amazing mother to boot.

Why am I bringing them up? Well, our story here begins with both of them. Way before Your Truly was born, the both of them were the hottest couple in town at the time.

Starting off dating in their teens, they were seen as a match made in Heaven. But appearances can be deceiving, a lesson this fucked industry keeps teaching me.

You see, that old man was a nasty piece of shit. Mum got pregnant for him when they were 18 but the bastard forced her to abort the child in her bathroom whilst playing a guitar, claiming that the music would soothe the pain...

Ezreal gasps upon reading that. No wonder Sanji turned out the way he did. It all started from here. He knows about Sanji's mum as he talks about the woman a lot and he even met her at the fan sign event where he met Sanji, she seemed like a sweet lady. Hard to believe that this woman went through hell raising her kids.

He even threatened to ruin her career should word get out, and the poor woman complied. I am saying this because so many women out there are suffering in silence because of bastards like him.

Eventually they got married when she was just 21. A year later, she gave birth to my older sister, Reiju. The following year, she got pregnant again. They thought it was just one boy, but it turned out to be four.

Ezreal raises an eyebrow. So that old man was that nasty! Why would you threaten a woman like that and even force her to terminate her pregnancy?! No wonder the man treats his kids like shit. He knows that Sanji has 3 brothers. He has met them before and they are nice guys and a bit crazy like Sanji himself.

Father was the one that named all of us because in his delusional mind, he is the head of the house and there we his kids are his property. Yes we are not humans but rather we are mere products, not so different from the industry we operate in. How ironic.

“He has a point.” Considering his recent hellish experience, he gets what Sanji was trying to say there. His record label and pretty much every single major record label do not respect artistes. Instead, they treat artistes as products that they can use and discard.

When his label decided to drop him, it made front page news worldwide. It was all over social media and a lot of people got a kick out of mocking him and his supposed downfall.

Becomes ironic as his idol went through another media shitstorm recently regarding his personal life and went incognito soon afterward and then this book gets released. Maybe this book is meant to address all the shit people have been saying about him and Zoro.

He has yet to have a dating scandal but man Sanji went through shit. Wait...could this book be a manual of sorts for broken idols?

We were given numbers in our names to reflect dad’s sick ideology and also to identify each child as we the quadruplets looked so much alike when we were little.Like same blonde hair and eyes. Even Mother got confused at times.

The first few years were weird but still normal. Mum was the only parent involved in our lives. Father never gave a shit and was busy riding around town, fucking any woman he saw, and spending cash recklessly. Now bitches wonder how we got broke. Well, that is the fucking answer!!

Thank goodness for my siblings. We had each other and were always there for each other. We would always play and mess around. It was during those early years my talents began to reveal themselves. I was singing Mum’s song one day and everyone just froze. I remember being confused. “Why are you staring like that?” i did not realize that I was blessed with talent till mother told me. 

Ever since that day, I began participating in talent shows. What made me determined to be the star that I would become is seeing Doflamingo performing on the Late Show. His charisma and swagger won me over. I began to listen to his songs and would copy his dance moves and style.

Ezreal howled with laughter. That sounds like his own story too. How relatable. He often envied those that had siblings as he was an only child. That plus his parents split after he was born.

Singing was a coping mechanism for him so he would often sing to himself and make himself feel better and forget whatever bullshit had happened that day.

He smiles fondly as he remembers his younger years when he would be singing into his makeshift mike which was his brush and he would dance to whatever popular song was hot at the time. He even participated in talent shows as well.

What made him want to become an artiste was watching Aogiri's debut music video 15 years ago. Sanji was the one that caught his attention that day. Those colored round glasses, the all-black leather outfit, his swag, everything won him. That caught his attention and he made his mother buy Aogiri's CDS and merch, thus becoming a super fan. He still has Aogiri posters on his wall.

My brothers and I were such cheeky little brats. Like, we always pranked Dad and made his life hellish and showed him his place in the house. Unfortunately, those innocent days came to a halt. When I was 8, my Father and mum got into a heated argument in the kitchen. I remember Reiju and Ichiji trying to drag me, Niji, and Yonji away from the room.

The next thing I knew, we heard a loud gunshot. We all froze as we saw Dad, towering over our mother, gun in hand pointed at her, and mum on the floor with blood all over the place.

Ezreal pauses as he feels his eyes begin to water. He does not know Sanji personally, but….no child deserves to go through that shit.

Reiju screamed whilst I rushed towards Mother and hugged her with tears in my eyes. I remember staring dad in the eyes despite my pain and saying to him, “Remember this day old fart because I will not rest until I become the greatest popstar this world has ever seen!! When I achieve that, I shall personally disgrace you and expose you for the evil bastard you truly are!!”

Before the old man can do anything, the police and paramedics arrive, and the bastard gets arrested. I would see that bastard until years after my debut. Mother survived that, but the incident still scars her to date. She filed for divorce from the old man and was granted custody of her kids and thus a new chapter begins….

Ezreal finished the first chapter that day. “Many would dismiss this as a plot from a movie. Yet it isn’t. Gonna read a chapter a day.”

[jerzwriter]

R9: Tell me about a character who doesn't like your character. Why don't they like them?

For as many of them as you want to do 😀

OMFG Ren! I'm looking through asks, and how did I miss this one! This is so entirely fun! (And I may share with some others... )

OK...I think I'll stick with both pairings from Open Heart 🤭 (Apologize in advance; this got long... thanks to the 1 person who may read this! lol)

Tobias / Casey-land

Casey: In general, she tries to be friendly, and she has the ability to tell someone to fuck off and make them walk away smiling after she has, so most people tend to like her. But everyone has their enemies out there don't we know that shit here on Tumblr... 🍵 and Casey's no exception.

The first one that comes to mind is Landry - he detests that she went on to be so successful and that she is held in such high esteem by his idol, Ethan. Then, he goes to Kenmore and tries sucking up to Tobias, and ho and behold, Casey ends up being the love of his life. While I don't HC the same level of bitterness between Landry/MC that others do, and I imagine that if he sees her, he tries to be polite and professional (and she does the same). But deep down, he loathes her. His entitlement can't let him past the fact that he feels she is where he deserves to be.

For a brief period of time, Tobias's brother Jordan (M!OC) doesn't like her. He was a little concerned that Casey was a gold digger, but that was just some projection on his part, and they did makeup pretty quickly when he realized he was being a putz.

Her ex-girlfriend Jess's wife (still working on her name!) wasn't very fond of her initially. It was based on envy and differing personalities. Casey & Jess's split was situational, not necessarily anything either woman wanted, and they remained good friends for life. So initially, she felt a bit threatened by her. After realizing that wasn't anything to worry about, she warmed to Casey a little. But where Casey tends to be light-hearted and fun, Jess's Mrs. is a bit more professional and off-standish. She tolerates Casey but often has an "I don't see what you ever saw in her" attitude. Fortunately, they don't see each other much lol .

Lastly... a whole lot of Tobias's former conquests dislike her... it's the "What does she have that I didn't have" attitude (babes, the list is long lol). But these people are inconsequential in their lives.

Tobias: Well, when he came into Casey's life, Ethan would be the top contender. The two of them had their shared history/rivalry, and after their falling out, Ethan was decidedly not a fan. When Tobias started dating Casey after Casey broke up with Ethan yeah, Dr. Ramsey was not pleased. But after the chemical attack, they were able to bridge their differences and end up becoming good friends again.

Several of his relatives on his late father's side of the family. Tobias's Dad died when he was in Med School, and while not fully estranged, they were not on the best of terms when he died (something Tobias struggles with for the rest of his life.) To hear this group of relatives talk, that is the reason, but that's bullshit. For what it's worth, these are the family members his father didn't get on well with either. Truth is, they tend to be racist and always looked at Tobias and his brother as lesser than them (one of the reasons his father disliked them). They're not too fond of Casey, who has put them in their place on more than one occasion (so they don't like her either lol).

Several of his exes... but... only one (maybe two?) that he was remotely serious with. He was really a dick to his college girlfriend, Kara, who went on to be a prominent lawyer in DC, and while she doesn't think of him often, she never looks at him favorably. After the Hopkin's mess, his ex (and Ethan's ex) Vincenza really didn't think highly of either of them, but in time she forgave them both in time. His ex-long-term-situationship Audrey really disliked him for a while after he began dating Casey... as did a bevy of others who had hoped for more, but he swore that was never going to be his life... and now there he was. So there was some bitterness and a lot of talking shit, but they weren't much of an issue. (And Audrey eventually came around. lol)

Ethan / Kaycee land:

Kaycee: Her situation with Landry is pretty much the same as Casey's above, though I feel like there is a little less detesting on Landry's part. Why? Because he still idolized Ethan, and in some way, I think he figured if she was with Ethan, she couldn't have been that bad. Of course, Ethan thought he was a dick, but that didn't matter lol

I'm sure there are some staff at Edenbrook who dislike her because they are envious of her position and/or relationship with Ethan, but they tend to keep that to themselves because they don't want to deal with Ethan's ire.

I don't think many dislike Kaycee, but I think she is more low-key (compared to Casey) and flies below a lot of people's radar. Her circle is smaller, so there may not be as many who are crazy about her, but the opposite is also true. There are fewer who actively dislike her.

Ethan: While I do HC that Ethan softens a bit because, let's face it, he was an asshole when we met him, he is still a bit short and acerbic, and that really rubs some people the wrong way. Again, when it comes to work, many may not let that be known.

I HC him to have at least one very "Seinfeld/Newman-like" relationship with a patron at Donahue's and at least one neighbor. They've rubbed each other the wrong way for over a decade, and their very existence irritates the other, but they're not close so that limits the damage here. (PS, I HC that the neighbor adores Kaycee, which just makes the "thing" between them and Ethan worse, lol.)

Declan. Declan will forever hate Ethan, and Ethan will forever hate Declan. That will never, ever change.

Several Board Members. They respect him and look at him as a necessary burden because of his skill and what he brings to the hospital, but they're not at all fond of him as a person, and the feeling is very, very mutual.

I think I've blabbed enough, but this was seriously fun! Thanks, Ren, and sorry for the seriously long delay in answering.