Tumgik
#i used to hate aged up aus as a teenager bc i thought it was the author/artists excuse to put kids in weird situations. and idk considering
isabelguerra · 1 year
Text
i dont have an actual name for it but depressed college au is probably one of my favorites. i dont really care for the adults in paranatural and thinking about how the activity club/others might grow up and continue their lives is so much more interesting to me
#i started reading this comic when i was 15? i think? and now im recently 23. i cant really say i relate or want to relate to 12 year olds an#y more. and yeah i prefer a lot more nuance and complexity when crafting+ reading stories#but when your protags are 12. well. yeah pass#pnats adults are fine but the kids are the ones i have any actual emotional interest or compulsion towards#so when i write something that might be less 'yippee whimsical wacky adventures' and the options are spender and zarei. again theyre fine bu#t i dont really care enough about spender and zarei#but i still want to write about adults you know. BEING 12 was hard enough you could not PAY me to go back into that headspace#honestly thats actually why most of wizard au takes place in their later school years#like you know those aged up mob psycho 100 aus. where mob is like a fireman and ritsu is an english major and theyre not exactly having epic#adventures anymore but theyre coming into themselves etc. god. thats the stuff 2 me#i used to hate aged up aus as a teenager bc i thought it was the author/artists excuse to put kids in weird situations. and idk considering#it was 2015. yeah fair. but i do think i get it now. teenage years are hard and theres a certain part of that hardness that i love. things#like growing up [from a 17yo perspective] and people you love going to college and trying to find yourself and dealing w friends and fear#for the future. THOSE are the kind of teen stories i like reading about. but when you start getting tired and mellowing out and things that#come with the end of college and grad school and growing up [from a 22yos perspective] is similar. but its more somber. youre older now#when the protagonists become people. thats what i like#wizard au is fun as a huge intense magical adventure project but depressed college au is just like. where i can project.#drinking an entire pack of mikes hard lemonade by myself and lying on the floor talking to friends about how im scared and pushing myself#towards a career that i love but dont know i can achieve. friends leaving. getting an apartment for the first time. and the second and#the third. that feels better when i can sit down and go 'okay. someday isabel will do this too. i might not understand. my friends might not#understand. nobody could understand and i could be alone. but max woke up with a hangover today and i know what that feels like' etc#idk just feels better. taking your favorite characters with you while you go through things. by which i mean#'taking my favorite characters and making them go through things'#you want them to be safe and happy and having fun. i want them to feel fear. we both know what we want from fiction and treasure each#depressed college au
4 notes · View notes
Text
evidently i need to have at least three works rotating at my head at any one time, bc i just started on zombie apocalypse AU tes/hes
anyway does anyone have suggestions for the setting. the only thing i got going for it right now is that it literally takes the world ending for hestio to go "hey wait maybe i should do something about my feelings". normally i would redact homophobia out of a story altogether, but in the case of tes/hes i think them feeling like they can't realistically get together is an important part of their dynamic. in the canon universe i used the vatican's "sacred sheep can't get married" stance, but for this AU i replaced it with general modern-day homophobia (rip)
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
it's going to be a modern AU instead of being set in the canon universe, because canon universe tesilid already has enough problems without a zombie apocalypse and i can't deal with all that.
which 1) means that he won't have his stigmata restrictions? which means (gasp) he probably dated at some point?? some people would have asked him out - him being extremely handsome is an important part of his character after all. and with his pushover personality i think he would have gone out with some people and have had some extremely terrible experiences. which tbh is sad bc i do want this AU to be exploring the both of them having their first romantic relationship 🤔 so maybe i'll change that up idk
i think tesilid will still be very stuffy and proper even without the restrictions by having some crazy strict and controlling guardian. plus, tutorial era tesilid did have a very strong moral compass, he is intrinsically motivated to do good and help others.
2) tbh i also want them to be adults in this AU though because lowkey i don't want to deal with writing teenagers lmao, and they're already 20 in canon. we didn't really get to see their teenage years so i don't really know how to write them at that age.
i can't think of what jobs to give them though. all three of them are definitely tied to jobs they kind of hate, although tesilid doesn't outwardly show it and he's a top performer at whatever it is that he's doing. i thought of tying them down to a modern AU version of the vatican, but the only thing i can think of that takes in a bunch of children and milks them of their worth is uh. very criminal and illegal. and i'm not sure that such an unethical organisation would keep its children alive until adulthood. while i'm sure that tesilid could be made an exception, hestio & ephael would probably be too average to be spared.
oh and also ephael isn't in this AU because i don't know what to do with him. he wasn't with them when the zombies hit and they haven't seen hide nor hair of him since. i'm sure he's fine tho! 😀
4 notes · View notes
1kook · 3 years
Text
card swiped (4)
→ jeon jungkook x (f) reader
Tumblr media
→ “I’ve known Jungkook was a virgin since he first tried to tell me he wasn’t,” you tell him, arms crossed over your chest. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows.” GENRE romance (romcom?), eventual smut, teensy angst WARNING mentions of a hand job, talk of virginity OTHER college crushes, volleyball player!jk, student council president!oc, idiots to lovers, besties to lovers, childhood friends au RATING m (18+) bc brief sex ment WC 1.6k
NOTES (!) sorry for taking so long to update </3 school be kicking my ass. anyway here they are! an idiot couple. lmk what u think!!
[ masterlist ] 
Tumblr media
In the past, whenever something had bothered you, the first person you ran to was Jungkook. Low grades, fights with your parents, boy drama— as your best friend and number one confidant, Jungkook was always your first choice. He was always willing to lend you a shoulder to cry on, even if that meant staining his white t-shirts with streaks of your mascara. He was always ready to go beat up a mean boy who had hurt your feelings during lunch, even if he’d miss his favorite special. And he was always down for some good old fashion i hate my parents ranting, even if he adored your parents. He was a great listener, an even better best friend, and had rightfully won you over from a very young age. 
That being said, how were you supposed to talk to Jungkook about something that bothered you when that something was him? 
You could easily tell any of your numerous girl friends, those of which would probably understand your predicament better than Jungkook or any man ever could. But after years of vehemently denying any notion of a romantic relationship between the two of you, you get the feeling your call for help will be met with more unimpressed glares than actual assistance. Besides, as much as you bring up Jungkook, none of them really know Jungkook to truly offer you any worthwhile advice. 
Your next option: Kim Taehyung. Now, Kim Taehyung held a similar background as Jungkook (translation: he also went to the same high school as you). He knows both you and Jungkook—frankly, more than you’d like him to—so he would be able to dissect the issue easily and offer trustworthy advice. The problem with Kim Taehyung, however, is that aside from knowing you at your embarrassingly dorky teenage prime, he doesn’t know how to keep a secret. Anything he knows, Jungkook knows. So if you were to, hypothetically, ask Taehyung for advice on Jungkook, well. Chances are, you’d probably get a rather confused text from Jungkook two minutes later. 
Which leaves you with one option— Park Jimin. There’s a reason Park Jimin isn’t your first option, and that reason presents itself now as you glare at him from across the empty room. For as long as you’ve been in university, Jimin has always lingered around the student council meetings, giving everyone he sees the prettiest, meanest stink-eye. You suspect it’s because he waits around for Min Yoongi, your Vice President (which isn’t an issue; Jungkook also frequents student council meetings while waiting for you), and doesn’t really care for anyone else. Your problem with Jimin doesn’t lie there but rather with the fact he’s adamant on taking up space and not lending so much as a finger to help. 
Today he is sitting with his feet on the table, dirty volleyball bag tossed on the floor. He’s watched you for the last fifteen minutes wrestle with the broken copy machine and hasn’t said a word since. He pretends he doesn’t see you struggling, because if he does, he’d be obligated to help you. 
To summarize, Park Jimin may be the fastest libero your university’s volleyball team has seen in years, but he’s a good-for-nothing bum everywhere else. 
And despite all that, he’s your best choice. There’s no one quite as blunt and honest as Park Jimin. There’s no one in this world who truly doesn’t care enough about anyone’s problems to gossip about them as Park Jimin. You plop down beside him, rumpled papers in hand. Without warning, you jump straight into it. “Jungkook is going to take my virginity,” you announce, like it’s the most casual thing in the world. If any of your fellow student council members heard you, you’re certain you’d shrivel up and die. 
Jimin hums. “That’s nice.” His eyes don’t leave his phone, thumb hovering over his screen. It’s a testament to how much he truly does not care. His extended silence plants a seed of doubt in you— was this the right person to tell? you begin to worry. But after a beat, Jimin’s thumb taps against his screen and he says, “Jungkook is a virgin.” 
You clench your jaw. “I know.” 
The thing about Jimin is, with the right wording, you can get him interested in something. Not interested enough to genuinely care, but interested enough to at least listen and offer his own piece of straightforward advice. His thumb comes to a standstill over his phone, eyes momentarily going blank. It’s a minute gesture, one that’s taken you four years of paying attention to catch. Just as quickly as it appears, it’s gone. “Really,” Jimin sighs, back to, you now realize, playing CandyCrush on his phone. “You’re gonna let a virgin take your virginity.”
Not a question, but you nod anyway. “Yup.” 
There’s sweat building on the back of your neck, nerves at an all time high, but you’re trying to play it off. Just a little bit more and you know you’ll have caught him. Beside you, Jimin’s jaw twitches. 
Finally, after what seems like an eternity of trying to act calm, Jimin clicks his phone off and turns to you. He’s as intimidating as ever, ash blonde hair pushed back today to reveal his forehead and dark eyes. “You’ve known Jungkook was a virgin this whole time?” he asks, has this calculating look in his eyes that makes you feel like you’re being questioned by an officer of the law and not the shortest person on the volleyball team. 
With a practiced air of nonchalance, you shrug. “I have,” you confess, and it’s the truth. 
While you may have been initially fooled that night two years ago, you weren’t that oblivious. Oh, you knew clear as day that Jeon Jungkook was still a virgin, just as well as you knew that he religiously washed his sheets every weekend or that he had a specific color coded system for his underwear drawer. Jungkook was a fool to try and lie to you, not only because you had found out, but because you had found out that very next morning. 
It had been subtle. The night at the party, you had watched on with a throbbing heartache as some pretty girl led Jungkook up a set of stairs, had barely fought off a wave of emotion when he returned twenty minutes later, his hair a rumpled mess. “Did you… ?” you had mumbled, pressed closely against him by the back door. Your eyes had been glassy, from your emotions and from the drunken stupor you had gotten yourself into while he was away, wondering what he was doing. A sense of jealousy you would never admit to had curled around your heart. His hand had landed on your hip then. He smelled like flowers and vanilla, a smell unlike his own. Your heart clenched, hand mindlessly reaching up to cup his jaw, so drunk and heartbroken, you couldn’t stop yourself from trailing your fingers along his pretty cheekbones. 
Jungkook had graced you with a simple nod, and then, “do you wanna leave now?” 
You’d left, stumbling down Greek road on your way back to his dorm. Jungkook had held your hand the whole way, tucked you into his twin bed, and then promptly knocked out on the floor between his and Taehyung’s beds. The latter was nowhere to be found, wouldn’t appear until the next morning when he’d accidentally step on Jungkook’s ankle and wake both of you up. 
Jungkook had yelped, and your eyes had fluttered open. You remember debating rolling over, checking on him like you wanted to, but Taehyung was already there doing just that. So you had laid still instead, listened as the two boys clattered around the room. They chatted mindlessly, about the party and tomorrow’s practice. Taehyung had been bragging about some girl he’d slept with last night. “What about you?” he had asked, and your breath caught in your throat. “Did you and…”—a pause, the distinct ruffle of fabric—“finally?” 
“What— no,” Jungkook had said, and you felt the bed dip as he sat down on the edge beside you.
Taehyung pushed on with a snort. “Well, did you get lucky at all?”
Jungkook groaned, placed one warm hand on your back soothingly. You tried your best to level out your breathing, relaxed your facial expression as you clung to the sound of his voice. “Just a handjob. Some girl I didn’t even know. Does that count?” You could hear your heartbeat in your ears, felt it beneath your fingertips when you fisted the sheets. 
And that curt admission sat in the back of your mind everyday for two years. 
You turn to Jimin. “I’ve known Jungkook was a virgin since he first tried to tell me he wasn’t,” you tell him, arms crossed over your chest. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows.”
Jimin lets out a low whistle. “You’re smarter than I thought,” he grins, this conniving little smile that is a genuine cause for concern. “So you’re letting him think you don’t know?” You nod. Jimin’s smile grows. “My, my. If I had known you were this evil, maybe we would’ve hung out more.” 
You roll your eyes. “I’m not evil,” you insist, flicking him on the nose. Jimin huffs indignantly. “I think what he’s doing is sweet…” you confess, feel your entire body heat up as you recall that wide-eyed look Jungkook had given you just yesterday afternoon, your kiss print fresh on his cheek. “And, well,” you look down at your shoes. “I used to dream about him being my first.” 
Jimin groans. “You two make me sick.”
Tumblr media
Copyright © 2021, 1kook on tumblr. absolutely NO reposts allowed.
755 notes · View notes
midasinc · 2 years
Note
good day, sir. spare a moment for our lord and saviour trans!enjolras?
i will ALWAYS spare a moment for him. these r modern au thoughts bc im totally drained rn but i have many thoughts overall
-i know im alone with this one, but i love the thought of enjolras coming from a family that loves him and he was comfortable around. his parents are both like nerdy people- both of them are professors- and they were his best friends for most of his childhood (they still are)
-anyways, they kind of picked up on him being more tomboyish than other girls his age when he was growing up and they let him wear the stuff he wanted to wear and play with the toys he wanted to play with.
-because of all of this it was easy for him to transition at a pace he felt comfortable with when he got a little older. he had the spunky blue hair phase and his dad went shopping with him for clothes and both of his parents were genuinely understanding when he experimented with labels and names and stuff. they believed him when he said that he wasn't totally sure of himself yet, but he wasn't a girl and that was that
-uni is when he really starts understanding himself. he's not sure how he feels about top surgery yet, but he feels okay with going on T when he's 21 and (i've talked about this before) he does have a humiliating experience where his voice drops in the middle of a long-winded speech at a meeting
-i also love acne!enj and going on T really changes his skin and he hates it. he hates himself for a long time because he never had issues with his skin before but now he's just got so much acne and he feels childish when people think he's a teenager because of it and he feels unattractive. enjolras doesn't care about most things individual to himself, but he's still a person. it takes a couple years for him to adjust to acne and tell himself "i am still worthy of being listened to and loved without clear skin. clear skin does not make me more important of a person"
-he's 5'7 on the dot. god he wants to be taller. enjolras wears a lot of platform shoes so he's 5'9. he also stands on his soapbox to be 6 feet. he's nonironically looked up "height extension surgery" before, bless his heart. some of us are short kings, we can't help it
-enj doesn't get top or bottom surgery but he thinks he's alright with it. later down the line when he knows what his stance on having a family is and what he would feel most comfortable doing and whether he has the money to do so, he might change his mind, but for now he's okay with binding
-anyway trans enjolras is MOST IMPORTANT enjolras, let it be known
27 notes · View notes
childishfluff · 3 years
Text
Pet Regression/Animal Hybrids AU (Dream SMP)
So a little while ago, someone sent an ask to my inbox about a possible au, involving the Dream SMP characters as pet regressors, accept they gain animal traits based off of the animal they regress as, and these traits come and go with their headspace. 
I don’t think I’m writing a fic or anything, but I did wanna brainstorm some ideas for how this could’ve happened, how it works, and how people react to it, and then go over some possible fic plots/scenarios in this AU. Have fun reading, and reblog with your thoughts if you’re interested!
BTW, this is sfw pet regression, not pet play or any sort of kink! Pet regression is when someone falls into a headspace where they act like some animal or critter, it’s a more ‘for fun’ type of regression, and can easily tie in with age regression. Okay, continue on...
How this Happened:
So I imagine that someone messed around with some magic, starting a chain of events that somehow lead to some members of the server having animal features part-time. The explanation I found that made the most sense to me, was a situation where Tommy was trying to find out how to bring people back to life without Dream’s help, and he messed up this spell he tried, managing to put a conditional ‘curse’ on everyone in the server. 
(bc, yk, he’s a teenager unsupervised with a spellbook he somehow got ahold of, he could very possibly mess up THAT much)
A lot of people in the server already regressed, knowingly and unknowingly, and some discover their petlike headspace after the “curse” is set in place. 
Now, Tommy knows he cursed everyone, due to a crytid message that appears in the weird spellbook he was using, but he doesn’t know what he did. So, it’s a waiting game to see what happens because he doesn’t know how badly he screwed up and he hopes he can maybe get away with it. 
How this Works:
Basically, the animal traits appear on the person whenever they regress into their petspace. For some, this means cat ears and tail, sharper nails and teeth, and for others, this means bunny ears and an extreme like of vegetables. (The traits can be physical and otherwise)
For the most part, it basically works the same way fanon ‘hybrids’ do, where the character has some human, some creature/animal traits, while kinda leaning to the humanoid side. 
The traits will appear when a character is at least mostly in their petspace, and more traits will appear the deeper they get into this headspace. For example, the kitten and cat regressors may get the ability to legitimately purr when they’re deep in their headspaces. 
How (some) People Reacted:
For those who had already identified as pet regressors knowingly, like Karl (cat/kitten regressor) or Sapnap (puppy regressor), they made the connection between the animal traits and their regression immediately, they just didn’t know why this happened. They don’t really know who to ask, either, because Tommy doesn’t admit that he cursed the entirety of the server on accident until after he knows what he did. 
The original pet regressors assume they’re the only ones affected until later, and realize eventually that they’re gonna have to be the ones to teach everyone about petre if the curse really is based on that. 
The day after the curse is set is a calm one, so a lot of people regress and gain their animal traits. Since many of them didn’t know what pet regression was, they were just relaxing when they gained animal-like traits. At first, many people think they’re gonna remain hybrids forever. 
(They know hybrids are possible because of people like Fundy, Sam, Puffy, and Schlatt, ect) 
The first one to freak out is George, who has little cat ears for some reason? Who messed up? Who pranked him? He immediately discovers that Sapnap also has animal ears and tail, and discovers more and more part-animal people just by asking around.
Tommy just kinda avoids everyone, because he knows he caused this, because he missed his brother and just messed up in the process of getting him back. Tubbo finds Tommy, dog ears and tail included, and the teenager fesses up to his friend, who convinces him to tell everyone. 
the people who have yet to be effected freak out, a lot of people are mad at Tommy. For some reason, the first time people get their animal traits, they stick around (petspace or not) for 24 hours. So when people freak out and aren’t relaxed anymore, the traits stick around and confuse them. 
Eventually, they disappear (there’s a mild moment where people think it was a short-lived curse, everyone becomes an hybrid for 24 hours only), but they come back. The pet regressors eventually step up and explain what’s happening and everyone learns about petre, blah, blah, blah. And people slowly learn to live with it, experimenting with the idea of petspace and having fun with it, because it wasn’t much of a inconvenience when they could control it. 
Possible Fic Plots/Scenarios:
1. “How do you do this, every day?”
The already-existing hybrids get questioned by the new pet regressors on how they deal with the creature traits every day of their lives. It’d be a comedy-focused fic, including the hybrids being confused because they were born this way and don’t know the difference. 
2. ‘Tommy Cat’
The first few people to get their traits kinda put together how it works, and everyone who doesn’t get theirs just assumed they aren’t regressors and continue on with their lives. Some of them, however, later discover their pet spaces. 
Tommy assumes he isn’t part of this, and kinda brags because he’s one of the only people left who isn’t a hybrid part-time. And of course, he gets unlucky and regresses for the first time right then. Cat ears, tail, cute little meow and EVERYTHING. He tries to hide it, but is discovered by someone who teased him about it (remember, the 24 hour rule), like Karl or Quackity. Of course he’s supported, but he’s embarrassed and it’s funny, 
The fic would be fluffy, and somewhat comedy-based, focusing around Tommy exploring his kittenspace. 
3. ‘Kitten in Prison’
Did I mention that Dream is in jail during all of this? Like he has no idea what’s going on until George visits him with cat ears like a whole month after this started. Dream is all sad that literally everyone forgot to keep him in the loop, like everyone forgot about him/hates him that much, and regresses bc he’s in his feels 
very angsty, ‘kinda-sorta-makes-you-feel-bad-for-the-villain-but-only-a-little’ type fic. 
That’s just some! I’ll reblog this post and add more later if I get inspired. I’ll keep fleshing out this idea and come back to it maybe when I have less projects/fics going on (I have a lot). I hope you enjoyed reading through this, and feel free to reblog with your thoughts on this au!
53 notes · View notes
fydream · 4 years
Text
even if it is, just for tonight | p. js
Tumblr media
☌ genre: jisung x reader, slice of life(ish), fluff, angst?, high school!au? kinda.. i wouldn't say it's a college!au but it's the summer before you move to college, the mood is a teenage coming of age movie where the main characters sneak out and do things but like not illegal things yk, best friends to lovers because i'm a sucker for that!!, inspired by life is strange episode 3 + we go up era/the we go up mv teaser + the perks of being a wallflower, mentions of ex-boyfriend!jaemin, say hi to skater boy!renjun!!! also say hi to college boy!johnny!! they're more of a touch and go but they'd appreciate a hello :-)
☌ songs/playlist: 🎵(yes these go in order of the story,,, the most important songs though are "aint it fun by" paramore and "fallingforyou" by the 1975 and maybe "is there somebody who can watch you" also by the 1975)
☌ word count: 7.3k!! 
☌ warnings: food mention, cursing, uhh breaking and entering? i wouldnt really say that but it's more off you jumping a fence and trespassing lol, also this is semi proof read lmao sorry
☌ author note: this is dedicated to my dear friend cam!! (@huangsilks​) happy birthday i love you <333 here's a lil fic bc ur senior year got cut short and as much as i wish i could give it to you, i cant, and im so sorry about that. so take this fic in return <33 mwah // all i want to do is live in a teen coming of age movie is that too much to ask for? and that's on the media romanticizing your teenage years!
☌ disclaimer: this has no relation to htbah!jisung at all. this is a completely different universe. thank you.
Tumblr media
─ 10:45pm;
The last day of summer vacation is always fun until you realize that the sun has started to set and the inevitability of tomorrow starts creeping into your thoughts.
So what were you doing on your last day (or night in this case) of summer? You weren't doing anything special, just looking through your room and going through the various photos you had put up on your walls, recalling past memories from your previous years in high school.
Tomorrow night you were leaving your small town and moving across the country to attend college. Needless to say you were excited to move away and get a fresh start but the one thing you weren't ready for was to say goodbye to everyone.
You didn't have a going away party like everyone else, you decided not to because that meant you were actually leaving. Though your bags were packed and your room was put together, it didn't feel like you were going to college. The realization hasn't hit yet, it just felt like another normal night. You were busy looking through one of the memory boxes you had in your room when you felt your phone buzz, indicating you've gotten a text.
[sungie: hey]
[sungie: wanna go on an adventure?]
[you: wtf? the sun set already, if i get caught i'm done for!]
[sungie: c'mon.. live a little]
[sungie: im picking you up in five, get ready :)]
Park Jisung. Your best friend since, well, since elementary. He's the boy who you grew up with, the boy who you happened to survive all of high school and middle school with, he's also the boy who happened to capture your heart doing the simplest things you could imagine.
He was your first crush, but not your first boyfriend.
He also happened to be the boy who was always there for you, no matter what. So if you were going to spend your last night in the town you grew up in, why not spend it with your best friend, Park Jisung himself?
Seeing as that he was already on his way, it left you with no choice. Grabbing the closest hoodie near you, you silently made your way to your front door where you slipped on your shoes before heading outside as quietly as you could.
It takes a few minutes before you see a familiar car pull up on your childhood street. Approaching the vehicle, you hear music playing that's only being muffled due to the windows that are rolled up and the doors being shut closed.
"Hey." He says lowering the volume as you open the door to his passenger seat. "Are you ready?"
"You're fucking insane." You snort as you buckle your seatbelt. "Wake up my whole neighborhood why don't you?"
"I mean.. Only if you want me too.." He teases, placing his hand on his car horn.
"Don't you dare!" You squeal, trying to grab his wrist before he could attempt to wake up your whole neighborhood. To no avail, you failed which resulted in a fit of laughter from him.
"C'mon. Live a little." He says once more before driving away from your. house, turning out of your neighborhood and onto the empty streets.
"Where are we going?" You ask, watching the streetlights pass by.
"It's a surprise."
"That's so ominous."
"I know."
"Could you at least give me a hint?" You whine.
"I'll give you one word."
"I'll take whatever I can get."
"Okay, the word is playground."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" You ask, shooting him a glare.
"Hey! you said you'll take what you can get, and I'm giving you one word." He defends.
"You're annoying." You mumble, turning away from him to look back out the window.
"So I've been told." He snorts, focusing his attention back on the road.
Tumblr media
Your first stop of the night is the playground of your elementary school.
It was kind of unexpected because the last time you were here was probably when you attended school here, years ago. To be honest, you were expecting to be taken to the park near your house. The playground there was mostly abandoned due to all the kids on your street growing up, you would still see other children playing on the swings or sliding down one of the tube slides but those were on good days. Most of the time it was just empty.
"School?" You ask confused, watching as Jisung unbuckles his seatbelt and opens his door to step outside, you doing the same. "Jisung, we're way to big for this playground, you know that. Why are we even here?"
"You'll see." He says, grabbing your hand to drag you over towards the gate that they used to fence off the playground. ”Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?" You ask, earning a wink in response. "Oh my god.. Jisung no!"
Before you could realize what was about to happen, the hand that Jisung was using to hold yours was now being used to help pull himself over the chain linked fence that lead to your school's playground. After successfully throwing himself over the top of the fence and landing on the other side with a light thud, he smiles at you. "Your turn."
"What the hell?! No way!" You protest. "I can't even climb a fence! You know this!"
"Actually. That's false." He confidently states, knowing he’ll win this argument. "You climbed a fence Junior year when you were hanging out with Johnny Suh and his friends."
"What? Who told you that?!" You exclaim.
"Just a little someone who's name begins with a little 'Ren' and ends with 'Jun.'" He says playfully, sending you a little wink.
"That brat!" You whisper yell. "That’s the last time I tell Renjun something.." You add, mumbling.
"So, your turn." He repeats, gesturing towards the gate in front of you.
"I can't believe I'm fucking doing this." You mumble before continuing to hoist yourself over the metal fence. Your landing wasn’t as smooth as Jisung’s, seeing as you almost lost balance trying to get down from the top resulting in Jisung having to catch you so you didn’t break an ankle or something.
"See? That wasn't so bad." He snorts, letting you go.
"I hate you." You scoff. "Why are we even here again?"
"I'm glad you asked." He says smiling, grabbing your hand once more. This time, instead of leading you to a fence you had to jump be brings you to a small play structure. It takes you approximately a minute for you to realize where you were and where he was taking you.
"Right here." He says pointing to a red tube slide. "Our first stop of the night. This is where we first met, remember? You practically shoved me down this slide because you wanted to go down it and I was in your way."
You chuckle as the first memory of you and your best friend plays. "Of course? How could I not remember? I got called into the office afterwards because some kid told one of the teachers that I was bullying you. To this day, I still don't know who told on me."
“It was Wendy, if you wanted to know.” He adds. “She told me after she told on you.” He shrugs.
“Of course it was..” You mumble, hopping up to sit against one of the bottom steps that led up to the slide.
"Is this what we came here for?" You ask, looking up at the boy who was currently climbing up the side of the playground structure.
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" He yells loud enough for anyone in a five mile radius hear. Maybe it’s because of how quiet it is at this time of night, or maybe it’s because he just got louder whenever he was with you. But those were besides the point, if there were any cops around right now you two would definitely have gotten caught thanks to Jisung.
He makes his way to a safer spot, where he can jump down from the top of the playground. Despite the fact he moved you still scold him for his reckless actions. "Don't do that!! You’re going to get hurt! What happens when you jump off of something and finally break your ankle, hm?"
Jisung shrugs in response. "Well you see, it hasn’t happened yet. You can even check, I’m fine. It’s okay."
"You stress me out, you know." You scoff, turning away from him to walk towards the monkey bars that were once too tall for you, but now are nothing compared to your height.
"I know." He shouts from across the playground. Because of how quiet it was with just you two being there in the dead of night you could hear his footsteps along the playground structure. You could hear it creak every now and then, making you wonder if it was Jisung causing then noises of if it was just because of how old the structure is. You think about how long it's been here, how many children have played in the exact spots you were standing in and how many more will until they decide to finally remodel or get rid of it.
"It's been ages since I've been here." You whisper, running your hand along the cool, metal railing as you climb the short steps that lead up to the top, where Jisung was waiting for you.
"I know right? Do you remember this spot?" He asks, taking a seat on the platform, which barely has enough room for both of you. "We used to sit here and gossip about who we thought were cute in the fifth grade." He snorts.
"Yeah.. And when people tried to come up here you'd yell at them for the password." You laugh. "That was really fun. A simpler time." You add, going back replaying through some of your memories which were long forgotten.
For the next couple minutes you and Jisung just sit there, reminiscing to when you were both small children, where your only worry was your guy's spot on the playground being stolen.
“This is nice..” You think to yourself. “It feels the same, just like the good old days.”
"Uhm." Jisung coughs, getting your attention. "We better get going. There are more stops to go and well, we don't have all night do we?"
"Oh. Yeah." You sigh, not wanting to get up from your spot. "Where are we going now?" You ask.
"You'll see." He says, flashing you a grin.
You smile, rolling your eyes at the boy in front of you, who was now attempting (and failing) to slide down the slide in front of you.
"It’s not slippery anymore." He frowns.
"Well, yeah." You giggle, making your way down the same way you came up. "It's been years Sungie. What'd you expect?"
"I dunno. The same amount of slipperiness?"
"You're silly." You tease, lightly pinching his cheek. "Let's go." You’re about to walk away when Jisung grabs your wrist, stopping you from waltzing away to his car.
"Are you sure?" He asks. "You were kinda hesitant to jump a fence you’ll sure you'll be ready to do whatever else I have planned for tonight?" He teases.
"Depends." You hum. "Are we going to get into any kind of trouble?"
"That's up to us."
"Then of course I'm down." You say, dragging him back the way you entered.
Tumblr media
─ 12:23am;
The next stop is in the city near your small town. To be more specific it's the rooftop of one of the many parking garages your city has. Jisung's car is the only car parked right now due to the time being nearly twelve thirty in the morning, and you just can't help but wonder why you spent the last half an hour driving to an empty parking garage.
"Okay Park Jisung, why are we here?" You ask, leaning against the railing to look outwards for any sign of reason.
"Well first of all, if you're looking for the reason why you're on the wrong side." He chuckles, leading you towards the opposite side of the rooftop. "And if you look to your left you'll see a small venue." He says in one of those touristy guide voices, earning a giggle from you.
"Hey! Isn't that where we-"
"Saw our first concert?" He cuts you off, finishing your sentence.
"Yeah.. I remember that night. We skipped school that day to make sure we made barricade." You snort.
"It was definitely worth missing a pop quiz and two weeks of being grounded." Jisung comments.
"You act like you didn't sneak out every night during those two weeks." You joke, lightly punching his arm.
He gives you a small pout and a fake "ow." in response. "Well, yeah?" He replies. "How else was I going to see my best friend?"
"Anyone ever told you you're annoying?" You ask rolling your eyes, leaving the edge of the rooftop to walk towards the center.
"Mmm." He hums, looking up to indicate that he was thinking. "I don't think so."
"Well, you are." You say before asking "So why the rooftop?"
"I'm glad you asked." He starts, pulling out a tiny speaker from his jacket pocket. "Remember how you said you were kinda sad that we haven't gone to a concert in a while?"
"Mhm."
"Well congratulations y/n l/n because here I have a tiny speaker that'll make it feel like we're having our own mini concert on the top of this garage building tonight!" He exclaims in a fake announcer voice.
Giggling, you smile at him before going along with the joke. "Oh wow? My own private concert? Right here? Right now? With the only relevant person in my life? How could I even think about passing that up!?"
Jisung snorts before handing you the wireless speaker, allowing you to connect your phone to it. The first song you play is "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore for the sole being of it being that song.
"Paramore?" Jisung asks, a bit confused on why you chose this song out of all things to play.
You smile at him before placing the speaker on the ground. Taking both his hands you say, "Jisung. It's fucking Paramore! Do you not remember this song? This is the one we used to blast on my speakers in my bedroom whenever we had a good day. I miss that. Now c'mon! Dance with me!" You giggle, dragging him away from the speaker and to an emptier spot in the parking lot. And so he does. It's not any choreography or anything, it's just you two jumping around on a rooftop to one of your feel good songs. A carefree moment to be exact, where it feels like nothing really matters anymore.
Jisung smiles, backing away from you to watch as you jammed your heart out. If anything, he would give everything just for you to have this moment forever. He knows how stressful life can be, not to mention how hard you worked just to barely make it into your dream school. He also knows how hard it is to feel alone, so he really isn't surprised that your chose thing song because it was your song. Jisung knows a lot more than you could ever know, so if it means he only has one night left to give you everything, then so be it.
Before you know it you watch as he runs towards you, engulfing you in a hug. Shocked, you try your best to look up towards the boy who had you in his arms. If you weren't this close to him you probably wouldn't have noticed the slight glossy look over his eyes, deciding not to touch on it for now and just accept the hug as the song fades into background noise.
"You're leaving tomorrow." Jisung whispers, before pulling apart from the hug, placing his hands on your shoulders. "You're leaving, tomorrow." He states once more this time, more softly while looking at you in the eyes. "You're gonna go off to some college and find a new, maybe get a new boyfriend, and even get a life of your own."
"You know I'll never replace you." You respond back, voice barely above a whisper. You were looking at the cement on the ground or the buildings that were only light being lit up by the various lights around or the night sky, which you definitely haven't seen in a while. You were looking anywhere, everywhere that wasn't your best friend, because you knew for a fact if you looked at him in this moment you would cry.
"But hey," You say speaking up, finally getting the courage to look him in the eye. "That all starts tomorrow. I'm still here right? We still have what? Like twelve hours? So let's make the most of it while we still can, okay?"
Jisung looks down at you before giving you a sad smile. "Actually it's seventeen hours." He sniffs, letting out a light laugh.
"Okay? So? I've got seventeen hours to spare, do you have seventeen hours to spare?" You ask, teasingly.
"You can have all my time in the world, y/n." Jisung replies, pulling you back into the hug.
"Glad to know." You giggle. "Because I'm willing to give you all of mine."
Soon enough the song ends and you hear the beginning of Fallingforyou by The 1975 start to play.
"Hey," Jisung whispers. "I- Uhm. You know this song reminds me of you?" He says.
"It's does?" You ask, voice muffled due to the fact you were speaking into his chest. "Why?"
"Oh god." He starts. "You can't make fun of me for this though." He says pulling away from the hug.
"I won't. I promise."
"Pinky promise?"
"Pinky promise."
"Okay well.." He starts, walking away from you. "Here goes nothing.." There's hesitation in his voice and you can't tell if it's because what he was going to say would hurt you or if he just never planned on telling you. It's silent for a few seconds before he breathes in and let's out a sigh.
"I used to like you, y'know."
Though this is just the start of his sentence you wonder why it already began to hurt. Perhaps it could be because he started his thought off with 'I used to like you.' Used to, meaning not anymore.
"Back in the beginning of Sophomore year, when I saw that you started dating Na Jaemin I realized how much I liked you. And when I saw how much you were with him and how much fun you were having with him I couldn't help but wish that were me.. I couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if I figured out my feelings before you got with him. And even after you two broke up, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if I just confessed to you, out of the blue."
"Is that so?" You ask, walking towards the boy who was now seated on the hood of his car.
"Yeah." He whispers, looking down so he didn't have to face you.
"Well, then I have a confession to make." You state, hoping onto the empty space next to him to take a seat. "I used to like you to."
"You did?"
"I did." You hesitantly state.
"Oh.." He whispers. "How long ago?"
"A while ago." You say softly. "I never wanted to risk anything because I didn't want it to affect our friendship. I didn't want to imagine what would happen if we ended up breaking up on a bad note. I didn't want to risk losing my best friend."
"Oh." He sighs.
"What do you think would've happened if we dated?" You ask.
"I dunno actually. I mean, I don't think much would really change.. We're already pretty close, and we basically act like a couple anyways. Just look at us right now." Jisung responds.
You didn't realize it but currently you were snuggled up against his side, with his arm wrapped around you. If Jisung didn't point it you probably wouldn't have noticed. "We do everything together, and we always bring each other gifts. We even went to prom together, remember?"
"Well yeah.. as friends."
"That's besides the point. I'm talking about how people see us y/n. Go ask anyone, Donghyuck thought we were dating."
"He doesn't count. Donghyuck thinks everyone is dating." You snort.
"Okay, then ask Renjun. The reason why he told me you jumped that fence was because he thought that Johnny was gonna steal you from me."
"He did?"
"Yeah. His exact words were 'You're girlfriend just jumped a fence to hang out with J. Suh and them. I'd be careful if I were you, Johnny's known to steal each other's girls.' You should've seen how confused I was and how awkward it was to explain to him that we weren't a couple." Jisung laughs. "He was so confused."
"He thought we were dating?"
"Yeah."
"Jisung." You state, looking up at him. "This is my last night here. And before you tell me to shut up and enjoy the moment I want to tell you one thing, okay? It's really really important to me and I feel like if I don't tell you this right now, I may never will."
"Geez, you're dramatic." He jokes. "What's so important anyways?"
"I still like you."
"Oh.." He whispers. "Oh? Wai-Wait. You still like me?"
You nod.
"Like.. like-like?"
"Yes, like like-like." You chuckle.
"O-Oh.."
There's a moment of silence before anyone says anything else. The only things making noise are the sound of distant cars that you hear drive by, along with the wind as it decides to pick up a slight breeze. Your phone is still playing music but you can barely hear it over your light breathing, which to you, sounds like the loudest thing on world. Your head is occupied with thoughts on why you decided to confess right now and Jisung is left trying to process what you just told him. It only lasts for a few seconds, a minute at most, but it feels like an eternity.
"Hey y/n?" He says softly. You snap your head up, looking towards him. Half of you is ready to hear whatever he has to say while the other half of you is worried that you just ruined everything with four little words. "Yeah?" You ask as your voice cracks a little.
"I still like you too."
"You do?"
"I do."
"So the question becomes, what are we?" You whisper, looking back down at the ground. "I leave tomorrow."
"That doesn't mean anything.." Jisung mumbles.
"What are you talking about? Yes it does. It means everything."
"No, it doesn't." He states, jumping off of his car hood to stand in front of you. "Think about it, you leave tomorrow right?"
"Yeah.."
"Well, like you said. You're still with me right now and we've still got-" He stops, taking a second to glance at his phone to check the time. "About sixteen and a half hours to spare.. So, why not make the most of it?"
"What are you implying?"
He sighs, taking a step closer to you to grab both your hands and pull you off his car hood himself. "Will you, y/n l/n, be my girlfriend? Even if it is, just for tonight?"
You squeeze his hands, unsure of what to say. Of course you want to say yes, this is one of the moments you've been waiting for! Something you never expected to happen! So why were you feeling so unsure?
Maybe it's because you knew this wouldn't last forever, or maybe it's because it was your best friend. Either way, each option had it's pros and cons. You just couldn't figure out which ones outweighed the other.
If you say yes, then you would've got to experience your long term crush being your boyfriend. But it also meant it would end in less than 24 hours, and what if you didn't want that? Sure long distance is an option, but would you be able to do it?
If you say no.. Then what would happen? Would tonight just end up awkward? You didn't want to pine after some boy for so long, and you sure didn't want Jisung to feel embarrassed, especially since both of you just confessed to each other.
So what do you say? You don't have all the time in the world to pick an answer.
"If I were to say yes.." You say, speaking up. "Do you promise nothing will change between us afterwards? Will we still be friends after that?"
"We can be friends." He says. "Or we can be more than friends. We can be whatever you want. I just want you to be happy."
You sigh, letting go of his hands, only taking a second to look at him.
"What?" He asks, moving to get closer to you.
"Nothing." You sigh. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
"About.. us.. You know..  What are we going to do once the sun comes up?"
"Cry and then kiss some more?" He jokes, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.
"Sungie.. I'm being serious. What are we gonna do?"
"I don't know, y/n. If I'm going to be honest I don't want to think about it either.. I didn't think that far ahead!"
"I know you didn't but we have to talk about it. It's bound to happen."
"What is?"
"Us.. breaking up.."
"You didn't even accept my offer and you're already thinking about us breaking up?" He asks. In his head it sounded okay, but by the look on your face he can tell it came off differently.
"What?" You ask.
"We could always do long distance y'know.."
"Sungie. Look at me." You sigh, looking at him in the eyes. "I'm moving across country and you're staying here, without me. What did you think was going to happen?"
"I didn't think anything was going to happen! I just wanted to spend one night with you as my girlfriend!" He yells, and you take a step back at the sudden volume change.
"You expected me to say yes?"
"No! Of course not! I didn't even plan any of this! I prepared for the worst, but then you brought up the whole liking thing and it just.. I don't know?! Gave me hope?"
"I don't know.. what'll happen when the sun comes up, y/n. I don't know what'll happen at all. I just want you to be happy.. and if that means we have to finish this night as just friends, then I'll be okay with that. We can pretend like nothing happened and we can just go on-"
"What if I don't wanna pretend like nothing happened?" You ask, cutting him off.
"What if.. I wanna say yes, but I'm just too scared to?"
"Why would you be scared?" He asks.
"Because.. if I do.. and this happens to be the best night of my life.. I don't want it to end."
"The answer I want to give you is, 'it doesn't have to end.' but that would just be a broken promise on my part." He sighs, giving you a sad smile. "But the answer I will give you is, we can make the most of it, but that's only up to you. So I'm asking you again, y/n l/n. Will you be my girlfriend?"
"Yes." You sigh, nodding your head reluctantly.
He pulls you into a hug and even though it's just a hug, it's one of the best hugs you've ever experienced. It's more on the comforting side, which would explain why you felt warm and at home. But it different from the hugs you've shared before.
"So where are we off to now?" You ask, ready to officially start tonights adventure. It comes out more muffled due to the fact that you're still holding each other.
"You're so eager." Jisung pouts. "Can't we just stay like this for a while?"
"I suppose so.. It's nice."
Tumblr media
─ 3:06am;
The third stop of the night is diner just a couple minutes away from your high school. It's open 24hours meaning you'd see students come here after dances and school events, two of them being you two. One of the convenient things about this place was that it also had a small arcade connected to it. Maybe it was just a marketing strategy, but it worked so this is where you spent the majority of your free time.
"Hungry?" He asks, pulling up in the parking spot in front of the entrance door.
"Why are we here?" You ask, glancing over at the radio to check the time. "It's three am.."
"So?" He asks. "Let me take you on a date. We can even share a milkshake if you'd like." He teases.
"How romantic." You snort.
"Y/n!! I'm being serious!" He whines. "Do you know how badly I've wanted to take you on a date here?"
"Well.. Technically we have gone on one, multiple to be exact." You claim.
"Oh yeah? Name them."
"Our study sessions for SAT's?"
"I meant a proper date! You call suffering together while we complain about the future a proper date?!" He exclaims.
"Okay then how about all the times we came here after a dance or sport event hmm?" You ask.
"Those don't count! We went as friends!"
"I like to count them as dates.." You admit. "After all, they're the best ones I've been on."
"Oh really?" He asks. "Better than the ones that Na Jaemin has taken you on?"
"Uh, yeah? Of course?"
"Take that Jaemin!" He exclaims, causing you to giggle.
"What's your deal with him anyways?" You ask, curious on what he has to say.
"Well.. he's the person I'm competing with, right? For best boyfriend?"
You roll your eyes. "It's not a competition. Besides, if it was, then you'd automatically win." You tease. "So are we going on a date or what?"
Jisung giggles. "Yeah. Let's go."
The diner is empty. There isn't anyone but a lone police officer, drinking a cup of what you assumed to be coffee; two girls who happen to look like they're on a date, and another boy, who seemed to be around you and Jisung's age, working on paper of some sort.
Taking your seat in a familiar spot you look past Jisung (who was seated in front of you) and out the window behind him. You still have a few more hours until the sun comes up, but seeing the moon slowly make it's way down hurts just a bit.
"Hey." Jisung says, drawing your attention back at him. "You zoned out a bit there, you're not falling asleep on me are you?" He teases.
"Pffft! You wish!" You say a little bit too loudly, earning a glare from the cop seated a few booths away from you.
"So about that milkshake.." You trail off. "What flavor did you get?"
"Strawberry."
You scrunch your nose at his answer. "Why?"
"I dunno." He shrugs. "It's pink, I thought it'd be romantic."
"You're cute."
"I know."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I'll take it as one."
"I- Nevermind."
"Whaaat?"
"You're lucky you're cute."
"You think I'm cute?"
You scoff at him. "Of course I do."
"Ah, okay. Cause I think I'm cute too." He snickers.
"Hey!" You gasp, earning a light laugh from him.
"It's okay I think you're cute too." He says scrunching his nose.
You stick your tongue out at him, looking away to fake being upset.
"Ah boo hoo. Don't be like that."
You're just about to argue back when the waitress who took your order earlier places down the milkshake that Jisung ordered in the middle of you two. She also drops two straws on the table along with it. Both of you thank her and after she leaves you decide to ask Jisung a question.
"Hey Sungie?" You ask, ripping off the paper wrapping to your straw. "Why this place?"
"You're kidding me, right?"
With a smile, you shake your head no at his response and he lets out a sigh.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yeah!" You nod. "Why?:
"This is where I realized that I was in love with you."
It takes a second for you to process what he had just said. It doesn't hit you right away but the more that you think about it, the more you realize what he meant.
"O-Oh.. Here?" You ask, as if you were unsure of where you were.
He nods in response and watches as you try to put together the pieces of how he figured out he loved you.
"Why?" You ask. "It's not like we've done anything special here. The most we've done is come here after prom.. and the rest of the dances I guess, but prom is the only one that I can really think about."
He giggles. "It doesn't have to be a big event for it to mean something y'know. I realized I was in love with you the summer going into sophomore year. You remember how we came here that night? After I so happened to convince you to sneak out and come to the movies with me?"
"Duh!" You exclaim. "How can I ever forget that?! I had to climb out my fucking window for you, do you know how scary that was? And we had to walk all the way there because neither of us could drive yet!"
"Hey in my defense I said that Johnny could've driven us. You just didn't wanna get caught!"
You roll your eyes at him. "No. That is not why, and hey! Don't try to make this conversation about me! You're the one who's supposed to be explaining stuff right now!"
"Damn." He scoffs. "Ya caught me. Well, anyways, before I was rudely interrupted-"
"You're the one who asked me a question!" You defend.
Ignoring you, he continues. "You remember how we were sitting in this spot, complaining about sophomore year before it even started?"
You nod.
"Well you were going off on some kind of rant- I don't even remember what it was about- but you just kept talking and you didn't seem to notice that I wasn't listening because I was too busy admiring how you looked. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, and both of us were very much sleep deprived but for some reason, it just hit me. I don't remember what it was about you, but it was that moment when I realized 'oh my god. this is what it's like to be in love.' y'know? Like you're finally realizing what it's like to be in love with someone, rather than just loving someone. Do you get what I mean?"
You shake your head no.
"Oh c'mon!" He whines. "I can't be the only one who knows what I'm talking about! It's like finally realizing what all the love songs are about, it's just like.. some kind of feeling! And it was just different how I felt from you, being my best friend, and you, being the person I had a crush on. I don't know how to explain it.. but it was just.. amazing."
"Yeah?" You ask.
"Yeah." He nods.
"Is that so? Well.. then maybe I do know what you're talking about."
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"You just did it."
"Wha- huh?! What did I do?"
"You're cute." You giggle.
"You weren't listening, huh?" He says, smiling.
"Nope! Not at all."
"So you do know what I'm talking about then?"
"Of course I do."
"You're so cute." He giggles.
"I know." You respond.
"I'm glad we agree."
Tumblr media
─ 5:22am;
The last stop of the night is some place familiar. You didn't expect this location as much as you did others, so when Jisung decided to park here you didn't know what else to say.
"We're at.. your place?"
"Yeah." He nods, walking towards the gate that lead to his backyard.
"We're not going inside?" You ask, confused on where you were going.
"Pffft. Inside? Why would we go in there? Now c'mon, let's go."
Following Jisung into his backyard is nice. You see a lot of roses and plants that hug the side of his house. As you continue to walk you get various memories from when you two would hang out back here, before you got bored and decided that there was more to the world than Jisung's backyard.
"Okay. Do you want to go first? Or do you want me to?" He asks once you reach a ladder that lead to the roof of his house.
"You chose a ladder?" You whine. "Why didn't we just climb out one of your windows or something?"
"Because y/n!" He teases. "Where's the fun in that? Besides we've already done that before, why not do something different tonight?"
"You mean climb a ladder to sit on your roof instead of climbing out your bedroom window like we normally do?"
"See you do get me! That's exactly what I'm saying." He exclaims. "Now c'mon, up we go!" He smiles.
It's nicer than you expected. You don't know how or when he did it but he already had not one, but two blankets prepared. You assumed he put it here before he left to pick you up or he just asked one of your friends to leave them here. Judging by the fact that they didn't feel freezing cold, and that the ladder was already propped up to the side of his house when you got here, you assumed he asked Renjun or Jeno to leave them here.
"So.." You start.
"Please don't ask why I chose my own house." He jokes.
"Okay well first of all, I wasn't." You defend. "I was gonna ask what are we doing on your roof at five in the morning, but now that you mention it.. Why did you choose your house? We could've gone to so many other places."
He gives you a confused look, allowing you to ask, "What?"
"Please tell me the second question was a joke." He sighs.
You give him a smile and he pats the empty spot next to him, signaling for you to take a seat.
"Okay y/n, since you wanna know so badly, I'll tell you, yeah?" He asks, clearly annoyed at the fact that he chose his own house for gods sake.
You giggle. "You don't have to answer it you know. I know why."
"Okay, then I'll ask you. Why?"
"Because," You tease in a sing-songy voice. "Where else would we have gone? Technically, we started tonight at my place so why not end it with yours? We've spent a significant amount of time together, right?" You ask and he gives you a nod in return.
"Exactly. So it would just make sense that we have two halves of one whole, right? You pick out the places, and I bring back the memories. Right?" You explain.
"Congratulations. You've figured it out."
"Of course?" You giggle.
"Do you wanna know why we're up here though?" He asks.
"Yeah sure, why not?"
"It's because we can see the sunrise better from here. Yeah we used to just sit on the roof and talk in the middle of the day, or we'd watch the sun set, but we've never really watched it rise together before, y'know?"
"Really?" You ask. "Are you sure about that? We've pulled all nighters together before!"
"Yeah but one of us is either half asleep or just not paying attention."
"Hmm. I guess you're right about that." You hum.
"Do you promise we'll get a pretty sunrise?" You ask.
"Christ y/n. I don't control the weather! Who do I look like, mother nature?"
"Hey, mother nature is badass!" You scold. "She could literally end everything right here, right now."
"I suppose so." He hums, wrapping an arm around you to pull you closer to him. You rest your head against him and for a while you two just sit there in silence, no words just being said. Just the sounds of your breathing plus some birds chirping due to the current time. It's nice and comfortable. It feels like home.
You feel yourself about to start falling asleep when Jisung starts talking.
"I'm really gonna miss you.. y'know." He sighs, turning his head to look at you. If he didn't know you any better he'd think you actually fell asleep, it's only the sound of you humming the word "yeah?" that informs him you're still awake.
"What's the thing you're gonna miss most about me?" You ask.
"You expect me to chose one?" He asks, only earning another hum in response.
"Okay.. Well.. For starters, I'm going to miss seeing you everyday. I'm gonna miss not being able to text my best friend 'hey let's hangout today' and then just sitting in my room playing Mario Kart with you for the next three hours. I'm gonna miss your little roasts that you'd pull on me whenever I do anything stupid. I'm gonna miss our boba runs we used to have each week. I'm gonna miss causing chaos on the rest of our friends because how else are they going to prepare for trouble if there isn't two of us? There's so many things that I'm gonna miss about you that I could just go on and on about but we don't have enough time for that." He sighs.
"Really.. I'm just gonna miss you."
A second passes before Jisung decides to speak up again. "Are you gonna miss me too?"
"That's a silly question." You sigh. "Of course I am dummy. You expect me to not miss you? What am I gonna do without my partner in crime? My best friend and technically my boyfriend? You expect me to move across country and not miss you at all? Are you insane?!"
"Only a little." He jokes, earning a light punch from you.
"If I could take you with me I would."
"So why don't you?"
"Where are you gonna live? My fucking closet? I can't let you do that, you'll get too cramped in there." You joke.
"I guess.." He pouts.
"So.. What's gonna happen.. between us?" He asks.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we're watching the sun rise, aren't we?"
"I guess.. I just didn't expect it to fly by that fast.." You mumble.
Another moment of comfortable silence passes before either of you say anything. This one lasts for about ten minutes, fifteen at most, with the only sounds being your shallow breathing catching your attention. It's comforting, just being like this. Laying on Jisung's side while having his arm wrapped around you and a blanket hugging you both. The wind picks up a breeze every now and then making you shiver a bit due to the lack of warmth but that only makes you snuggle closer to Jisung in hopes of stealing his body heat.
"Thank you.. for tonight." You whisper. "It's all I could've asked for."
"I'm really glad you liked it. I'm just happy I got to spent time with you before you left." He chuckles.
"I'm gonna miss you."
"Yeah?"
"So much."
The sunrise is pretty. It's one of the best ones you've seen in your entire life. It consisted of pinks, and yellows, and a little bit of purple. Though there were wispy clouds in it, it was like the earth was telling you it's okay to move on and go. Some may say it would be a perfect way to end a beautiful night,  or in your case, the perfect way to say goodbye.
274 notes · View notes
springday-aus · 3 years
Text
Superpower!AU with Hyungwon
Tumblr media
Group: Monsta X
Member: Chae Hyungwon
Genre: fluff, romance, small [very minimal] angst
TW: car accident - don’t worry, no one died 
Type: Bulletpoint AU 
Word Count: approx. 2.8k
→ Inspired by the AU Prompt: “I know you can read minds and I really like you so I’m constantly filtering my thoughts—stop making fun of how I think of fighting giraffes, it’s my go-to when I think about you shirtless” 
so Hyungwon has the power of telepathy
how he got it was rather odd
he wasn’t necessarily born with it—it kind of came to him
despite what people might think, it wasn’t radioactivity
it was actually due to an accident
when he was young, there was a minor encounter
basically, there was a car and semi-truck incident
next thing he knew, his parents were in critical condition and he was being rolled into the ER for surgery
when he woke up, he was in his hospital bed and the ventilator was hooked up to him
he heard the voices of the nurses and the doctors, but their mouths weren’t moving
originally he brushed it off since he hasn’t fully recovered and his vision kept going in and out
but once he did recover… he could still hear them
luckily, his parents were okay
and that was how he was able to confirm his new-found power
he was able to hear theirs first and it was…. insane
he was freaked out, his parents were freaked out 
once they calmed down, they tried to figure out what to do—they eventually came to the conclusion to just let it happen
they can’t control that so they might as well figure it out together 
at first, it was uncontrollable, so he heard these voices whether or not he wanted to hear them
it was always loud and his own thoughts were never heard in his own head
oh, the amount of migraines he’d gotten from a young age…
but, don’t worry, he learned to maintain it as he grew up
now, he’s able to listen whenever he looks at someone and concentrate a bit more
he’s got a better control of it, but it also means he has to be careful as to where he looks bc he doesn’t wanna listen in on someone’s private thoughts
he’s always been getting in trouble when he was trying not to get in trouble when it comes to his telepathy
that tends to happen a lot in general though
because you’re hearing a lot of thoughts that you’re not trying to hear
which is why music became a good route of distraction
at first, the monsta x boys made fun of him for not getting airpods, but, after telling them about his telepathy, they understood why he got those big ass headphones
but, we’ll get to them later
anyways
bruh, high school was extra rough on this man
can you imagine hearing all of those thoughts? especially of hormonal teenage boys?
nasty
anyways
I like to think that this is why he sleeps so much
when he first got it, it was very emotionally draining for him and he slept like twelve hours at a time
unfortunately, he got into this habit and now he can doze off if he zones out enough
he slept a lot in high school, considering that he was trying not to hear his teacher’s thoughts and the other students and focus on the lesson and would end up falling asleep on his desk and then getting in trouble with the teachers
again, it’s that whole getting in trouble without meaning to get into trouble
so anyways
his family are the main people who know and god
the amount of family tea he’s gotten from his parents’ thoughts
while he does hate being able to hear all these thoughts without a choice, his favorite is the family gatherings and reunions
homeboy could make a tv novella with all the information he’s got on his family
because his immediate family are the ones who know, whereas his cousin that’s like twice removed doesn’t, but that’s justifiable
also, his parents have to be careful when they’re talking about him or his younger brother tho
(Hyungwon: “dad, am I not your favorite?”
his dad: “I don’t have have favorites”
Hyungwon: “the lies”)
other than his family, his long time friends also know, i.e. the monsta x boys
I’m talking long term because he’s so comfortable with them and Hyungwon was stupid and let it slip
Jooheon: I know we agreed on Chinese but I kind of wanted pizza
Hyungwon: “we can get both if you want”
Jooheon: “get what?”
Hyungwon: wait a second
oh, whenever they play games, Hyungwon uses this telepathy to help him cheat
and Changkyun was suspicious of how Hyungwon, the guy who falls asleep 20 minutes into a movie, had such good gaming tactics
his suspicions were confirmed when Hyungwon told them but they all also lowkey were confused and didn’t believe him, altho it did fill in a few of the gaps
like how Hyungwon gives perfect gifts for people that they can actually use
and how he can easily solve issues before they can even become bigger issues
there were just bits and pieces that came together and he did get to prove it
Kihyun: “what am I thinking about?”
Hyungwon: “I don’t think you would want me to say it in front of our Minhyuk here”
Kihyun: …… “okay, you pass”
but revealing this also means a lot of questions
especially from Minhyuk, who’s bouncing around and is curious as to how it works
and isn’t like always being verbally asked
like, the questions will just pop into their heads and Hyungwon hears it
actually what he hears is
Minhyuk: can he hear animal thoughts?
Minhyuk: do they speak English? or do they speak in that animal sound?
Minhyuk: should I ask him? or am I going to be bothering him?
Minhyuk: okay, try to be casual and slip it in and-
Hyungwon: “I can only hear people’s thoughts, now can we please get on with the meal?”
Minhyuk: oh right he can hear mine
Hyungwon: “YES I CAN HEAR IT PLEASE BE QUIET”
Wonho: …. “what’s going on????”
this is why he favors you compared to the others
you’re curious, but not like super curious like Minhyuk
but it’s also because your thoughts are the most hilarious ones
it’s primarily because you censor a lot of your thoughts with other thoughts and they are….. eccentric
there’s a reason tho
long story short: you like him
you two are basically childhood friends
you met in middle school and woke him up before he could get in trouble and it was all history from there
it wasn’t until around the college years that the feeling hit you like a ton of bricks
and when it did hit, you were lucky Hyungwon wasn’t around to read your thoughts
because……... oof
he went from that kid with acne that you used to spray water at to keep awake
to a handsome young man that makes your heart pound so loudly in your chest
he had told you about these powers of his about a year into college, when he realized you weren’t going to disappear from his life so easily
but also because you were thinking about how the fbi is definitely listening in on your conversations because you got an ad on instagram about those sleeping bags that make it look like you were being eaten by a shark and he HAD to make a comment
Hyungwon: “dude what the fuck”
You: “what?”
Hyungwon: “how bad is your anxiety that you’re worried about the fbi agent in your phone?”
You: …… **narrows eyes** “I didn’t say anything about an fbi agent”
Hyungwon: ah shit, here we go again
anyways
that’s just a small glimpse of what Hyungwon has to hear
your thoughts were hilarious to tune into, to the point where Hyungwon listens in when you’re daydreaming and it’s like his news for the day
and it only got worse (at least for you) because you were constantly censoring your thoughts after your self-discovery of your feelings for him
you two were studying in the library one time for finals and he got real close to get a good look at the textbook to see where you were
and you couldn’t stop thinking about how close he was
but when he looked at you
you immediately switched your thoughts to think about that time Wonho choked on his ramen noodles
Hyungwon: “why are you thinking about Wonho choking?”
You: “because it’s funny?”
Hyungwon: …… “fair point”
and so now, you have something to turn to each time an incident happens
whenever he says something that makes your heart flutter, you think about Ted Bundy’s yellow buggy
whenever he makes you unconsciously jealous, you think about fat cats sitting on glass tables
you have something for everything
and Hyungwon has no idea because you’ve gotten so fucking good at hiding it
until one day, you were out with the boys, trying out this new restaurant that opened beside the river
Jooheon talks about how nice it would be nice to go to the beach sometime
Shownu tries to start plans and says y’all could plan a barbeque and make a whole trip out of it
but then Kihyun whines, saying he’s not ready because he hasn’t gone to the gym in a month
Wonho: “you haven’t gone to the gym period”
Kihyun: “better than me living there like you do”
Wonho: “and who’s the one with the abs?”
Kihyun: “son of a bitch”
that got you thinking
Hyungwon? on the beach? that means he’s just gonna chill on the side
but that also means….. a shirtless Hyungwon
Shownu: “what do you think (y/n)?”
You: “nothing, absolutely nothing”
Hyungwon looks over at you with a knowing look in his eyes
You: “what?”
Hyungwon: ………….. “why are you thinking about fighting giraffes?”
Minhyuk: “.... is that really what (y/n)’s thinking?”
Changkyun: “dude”
You: “sorry for thinking about the zoo?”
Hyungwon: “we were talking about the beach, why were you thinking about the zoo?”
You: god, I wanna die
Hyungwon: “well, are you going to die before or after the beach trip?”
Shownu: “we need to keep track of the body count, (y/n), this is important” 
sometimes you also wonder why you like him when these moments occur
but then he gives you that smile and you think to yourself
it do be like that 
and because you all are trying to plan out the beach trip, you couldn’t stop thinking about…. shirtless Hyungwon
therefore 
starts up more thoughts about fighting giraffes ensue
and more teasing on behalf of Hyungwon to you
Hyungwon: “do you wanna go to the zoo instead???? is that why you keep thinking about these giraffes????”
You: I. want. to. die.
Hyungwon: “you’ll die if you join the fighting giraffes—oW OWW OKAY I’LL SHUT UP”
the nonstop teasing for weekkkkkksss
until he finally asks you, the day before the trip
Hyungwon: “seriously, are you upset that we went out to the beach instead of the zoo?”
You: ugh, this whole ass man keeps making fun of me for thinking about fighting giraffes, this is your fault for being so fucking attract-
You: WONH O CHOKI NG ON RAMEN
Hyungwon: “WHOA NO FINISH YOUR THOUGHT”
You: NO
You: WONHO. CHOKING. LALALALLALA-
you avoided him for the rest of the day and filled your head with more censored thoughts
so he couldn’t hear anything else
and he didn’t
homeboy was left so confused because
he really likes having you as a friend but
having you as a partner would be so much better
he’s liked you since high school
hearing your thought process and little quirks
he grew fond of them
he knows it’s really invasive, but, in his defense, he was still learning to control them
and he found himself staring at you more and more, accidentally hearing your thoughts
one thing he really hated about his power is that even when he’s just taking in your presence………… he can still hear it even if he doesn’t try to
but anyways
he was sure of his feelings, but didn’t wanna push anything until he was absolutely sure
and now just might be that chance
so, after ducking him the entire day, which is hard to do when he’s trying to find you the entire day
(it’s not that hard considering all he hears from you is “FBI AGENTS GET OUT”)
(at least, that’s what you were trying to think so he doesn’t hear anything else about how you were going to explain yourself)
and he manages to catch you when the boys set up a bonfire and there’s no other spots…… except the one next to Hyungwon
which he totally, 100% did not plan
;)
anyways, you try to distract yourself by focusing your attention the marshmallow you have roasting over the fire
whereas he’s trying to read your mind, but it goes to waste as your attention is solely focused on the marshmallow
hence the tune of IU’s Marshmallow being played in your head
some of the other guys leave the bonfire, either to take a nightly beach stroll or to sleep 
and that left you, Hyungwon, and a melting marshmallow that you were trying to keep from completely burning
before you could flee though, Hyungwon speaks up
Hyungwon: “what? no fighting giraffes?”
You: “I will hit you with a flaming marshmallow”
you thought about it for a second tho, why did you think about fighting giraffes?
the boys were talking about the beach and then they talked about the trip
and the beach made you think about a shirtless Hyungwon
…………. shirtless Hyungwon
FIGHTING GIRAFFES
Hyungwon: “wait what”
You: fuck
You: “fuck”
and then your worst nightmare happens
he starts laughing
You: “sssttttoooppppppp”
You: “it’s my go-to when I think about you shirtless, okay? are you satisfied?”
he keeps laughing
Hyungwon: “do you like the image that much that you have diverted your thoughts from it?”
You: bitch
Hyungwon: “I heard that”
You: “I KNOW YOU DID” 
there’s a bit of a lull and you try to focus on your marshmallow again, but the heat on your face isn’t from the fire alone
Hyungwon: “don’t be embarrassed”
You: “I’m embarrassed because it’s you, idiot”
Hyungwon: “why?”
You: because I like you
Hyungwon: “how dumb of you to think I didn’t feel the same way”
you turn to him
You: really?”
Hyungwon: “yeah really”
Hyungwon: “your marshmallow is burning”
that’s not the only thing burning 
you both assumed that was the night that you both agreed to date
the next day, were the boys shocked that the two of you are dating?
not exactly
bc they knew Hyungwon liked you for quite some time and also the fact that whenever one of them did think you were cute….
let’s just say Hyungwon’s mouth said idc but his eyes said he could murder them and get away with it
also he trusted you enough to tell you about this secret of his, so there was definitely a high chance he was going to develop romantic feelings for you anyways
*cue a sad Minhyuk in the corner somewhere*
KIDDING
or am I
anyways
there isn’t much change to your relationship
other than additional cuddling and pecks here and now
altho there are a couple of changes
your thought processes are more clear because now you have nothing to hide but
they are also unclear because it’s like
Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hyungwon. Hy—
he also tries more and more not to hear your thoughts, but sometimes it’s hard not to hear them, especially as he openly stares at you more and more
but then again, because of that, he’s gaining better and better control of his powers
he lowkey does use it when you get into arguments because it gives him a better understanding of your perspective and that allows him to provide his and it opens up more communication between you two, even if you don’t have telepathy
also he tried to make up for it by saying everything he’s thinking
that was a very bad idea from the start bc you got annoyed really quickly
but you also kind of sympathized with him
You: “I’m sorry you have to hear my thoughts all the time”
Hyungwon: “that’s not your fault”
You: “but that’s not yours either”
he loves being able to talk to you about these things bc it really feels like someone’s in his corner
you try to understand him better and make things easier
whether it’s getting him better headphones
or distracting him with your own obscure thoughts
I’m very sure that anyone who dates Hyungwon in general is going to nap with him so…
many many naps with him with lots and lots of cuddles
you both take care of one another, physically and mentally
especially since you know he isn’t the type that opens himself up to many people
and hearing all of these thoughts, yours and others, must be exhausting for him 
anyways in this household we love and protect Chae Hyungwon bc homeboy is just tired and needs a break 
50 notes · View notes
thejudgingtrash · 4 years
Note
You know those Estelle child of Poseidon/Neptune aus and such? I feel like those are just a more accepted version of the trend of oc Poseidon/Neptune kids. bc since now folks like to discount those ocs as cringe 2012 shit but now Estelle is a canon vehicle for Percy sibling dynamic funsies, people wanna project it on her instead bc ocs have been deemed cringe. Personally, I love both cringey ocs and demigod Estelle, but I can’t help but think that’s what’s happened, you know? Just random thought
No, I absolutely think it makes sense what you’re saying. I’m guilty of that “another sibling of Poseidon/Neptune” or “Estelle as a child of Poseidon” wave because it’s fun and a mostly harmless headcanon. Also, the fanfics we used to read back in those days? Rough, my friend, completely rough.
Personally, I do think that the way Estelle was brought up set her up to fail.
It’s just not believable to me that Percy would have a sibling all of a sudden. Not only that, but a sibling with an incredibly large age difference. Percy could technically be her father age wise. That much of an age difference. The minute Percy moves out they’d probably see each other realistically on birthdays and holidays, so not that often. That hinders a deep sibling bond (and Sally having a free babysitter I guess). What’s a college kid going to do with a kid that isn’t his? Hit up the clubs and leave her there? Nah.
Estelle is not a character, she’s a plot device which could be easily discarded. She’s nothing more than background information which doesn’t even bring that much to the plot. I have seen posts from bipercabeth, blackjacktheboss and others touch on that topic but I don’t really think people dove that much into Estelle and mostly made their points about Sally, which is fine and makes sense as the only true connection we have to Estelle as a “character” is through her mother.
Estelle’s essentially Riordan‘s OOC OCand completely unnecessary? There is no need for her. If you’d scratch her out of the PJO universe would that leave any sort of dent? No. Even that wacko and “Camp Jupiter’s version of Jeffree Star” Octavian has a larger significance (regardless whether you hate him or not) than Estelle. And yes, I do believe that many people use her as a projection punching bag. We don’t know anything about her apart from the fact that she Naruto ran out of Sally’s vajoochie, so there’s really not much essence to her, but there’s so much people could just pile onto her. I’m interested to see if there’s going to be a little bit more info about her in the Tower of Nero (or a standalone novel), but I doubt it.
I think the factor that Riordan as a white Christian male wanted to portray the fantasy of the perfect happy family that rose from the ashes comes into play. We’ve seen Sally and Percy growing up in disfunctioning partially abusive households which bonded them together as Riordan decided “as a making up gift” to give Sally a harmless husband for a change who she’s marrying after only two goddamn years (also here’s my old Paul rant for free if you’re interested!). The problem is - it’s so incredibly rushed and sidelined it really doesn’t make that much sense to me? Sally got barely any rest with Percy. He had a strong demigod scent which made monsters chase him since he had been a toddler and things only got worse once he became a pre-teen to a full blown teenager. Sally has been through hell and above and then her son goes missing and she’s pretty much getting pregnant around that time or a little bit after? I know people call Sally strong and all of that blablablabla. But... there’s no need to rush with further family planning in the context of the plot? Isn’t she like in her mid-thirties? So yeah, she could still pop out a kid or two, but damn sis. Relax for a bit, will ya? Cooch won’t run away.
Pregnancy, giving birth, babies and having/raising children is not as fun and sweet and cute as romanticized Hollywood movies are trying to sell you (and that’s coming from someone who actually likes kids). Screaming, all kinds of gross fluids, being tired and sore from giving birth, close childcare for the first two years and I don’t know what Paul’s family is looking like - Sally has no one apart from her adult son who is trying to manage his own life and wants to grow into adulthood. It could be overwhelming. While I don’t think money would be the issue it’s just that the bond between Percy and Estelle that would probably not be as close-knit as some people headcanon it. Especially if the former leaves for college.
The only way I could see Estelle work as a character would be if the Heroes of Olympus or the Trials of Apollo saga would be rewritten. It would make more sense if Estelle is a child of Poseidon/Neptune with no association to Percy. That would mean that one of the two series (or both) would have to be pushed further into the future as while Poseidon said/joked about unleashing his inner whore after The Last Olympian, it would still take a while (at least a decade) for Estelle to grow and move into either camp. That would automatically mean that Percy is an adult in his late twenties at the bare minimum (but we know Riordan, he refuses to age his characters and he refuses to dive into YA, which is his right, but trying a continuation with the same rules doesn’t always work out in your favor, Slicky Rick). Still means that there’s not much of a bond for Estelle and him. But it would make her appearance... more realistically?
Additionally, if people are against the thought of demigod!Estelle, they should be against Estelle entirely as a sibling because why are people thinking that Percy near her toddler ass wouldn't put her into danger? Unless there’s next to no sibling relationship of course. But that would be probably also not the way most people would love to paint the narration. Can’t please everyone. But please people. Try to enjoy your headcanons. They can be fun and nonsensical or on the more realistic side.
PS: Estelle’s also a kinda funky fugly name. I thought she was named after her maternal grandmother who was named Laura? Then again, could also be her paternal grandmother’s name but I don’t know?
52 notes · View notes
sootygoggles · 3 years
Text
Parent!Paranoia Sanders Sides AU!
No explanation, but I'll probably give the backstory later. For now: memes of Paranoia being an A-class parent and a chaos gremlin. (okay it started as memes but then just ended up as fleshing the AU out)
~~
Paranoia, worried abt his kids: I'm uhhhh gonna go to my room see ya later light sides
Paranoia, sneaking back into the subconscious to check on his now teenaged children: I'm gonna leave duke a r a t that I found and thought looked cool
Duke, waking up the next morning and yelling for 'Nesty bc "HOLY CRAP NESTY LOOK AT THIS RAT ISN'T SHE ADORABLE I WANNA HANG HER ON THE WALL": !!!!!!!!!!
~~
Paranoia gets a habit of sitting on the fridge because his children were wild as kids and sometimes duke comin at you with a knife warrants jumping onto counters
~~
Nesty, who doesnt get paid to deal with duke: I'm raiding dads liquor cabinet it's my due for putting up with this
Paranoia, physically manifesting: put the key to the liquor cabinet D O W N, Honesty
~~
The lights are confused as to why he disappears at random times of the day and night and he just "leave me TF alone before I leave you a goshdarn diddly P R E S E N T while youre sleeping I'm tired"
~~
patton: my child! my dark strange son!!
paranoia, who has children: ,,,,yea ok
~~
Patton ticks him off so he leaves a big halloween decor spider on his bed and nobody sleeps for weeks after that bc pattons too scared to touch it and paranoia maybeperhaps glued it onto his cover
~~
He's like one of those people you know might mean well but ooooooo boy theyre pushin buttons
~~
Paranoia, whos fav animal/insect is spiders and whose children have tarantulas and snakes on the regular: hes not even realistic!! You need to learn to get along with mr sparkles patton!! look at him. he's fluffy!
~~
He has googly eyes and glitter on him at all times of course hes named mr sparkles
~~
paranoia gets to be a little petty. as a treat
~~
Paranoia just carries bags of glitter around and whenever mr sparkles gets duller he takes mr sparkles to the kitchen counter and he dumps glitter on him
Logan and patton are tired of cleaning up bc paranoias just petty enough to make their counters eternally sparkly
~~
"why is there glitter all over the kitchen?"
paranoia, holding mr sparkles: :)
~~
Paranoia, after AA: I hate purple but they dont know that now do they
Paranoia is actually orange the last side is purple lol
~~
Chaos Gremlin dark sides and nobody is surprised bc paranoia raised them
~~
paranoia, going back to see his teen children after acting like a teen all day: what is up, fellow kids
honesty: i am going to lose it
~~
Wrath, coming to yell at them to keep it down: why are you purple I'm purple
Paranoia, cackling bc finally I can get out of this horrible color: *snaps fingers * I'M PARANOIA MOTHERTRUCKERS HAVE FUUUNNNNN I'M GONNA BE MAKING YOUR LIVES LIVING HELL FROM THIS POINT FORWARDS
~~
duke and nesty, pumped for halloween bc u l t i m a t e s p o o k: :D
paranoia, coming out in a traffic cone costume with a shit eating grin on his face: :D
~~
Paranoia, decorating for halloween bc "oh I'm sorry it's just the *sniffles * homesickness and we a l w a y s decorated for halloween" knowing full well all of his decorations are spider and witch themed bc they all like the salem witch trials
~~
He leaves ONE fake snake in romans cereal and the lights just. Lose it. Hes kicked back into the subconscious to be chaotic with his kids, no new side, just the hours upon hours of film hes gotten from the bugs hed placed around the unconscious and a plan for the next several movie nights
He gets back and honesty is w h e e z i n g bc he was watching through the cracks and they make a fail compilation of the light sides
It takes like two months for the lights to just go insane with him around not due to yknow paranoia but bc hes such a gremlin
~~
Patton asks if he was raised by wolves and he shoves mr sparkles at patton saying "take the issue of how I was raised up with my father, a-hole!!"
He doesnt actually curse he just yells "A-HOLE" so loud his kids can hear
~~
They dont find out he's a dad until hes summoned and hes making cookies or smt with the kids and hes in a bright orange stereotypical witch outfit,,, corset and all and an apron that says "worlds most chaotic dad" on the front
And hes talking to one of the kids like "duke you can only put dish soap in your batch nesty cant digest it like you can"
~~
Patton has an apron that says worlds least chaotic 'dad' courtesy of paranoia he made it himself(read: he stole pattons good apron and scribbled over it in sharpie)
~~
Paranoia is always close to cackling when around the lights bc theyre newbs to any chaos
~~
Roman and remus are twins but roman is the kind of kid to promptly forget abt anyone and logan n patton knew remus less than a day before he "disappeared" aka ran to the subconscious to explore and theyve just kinda blocked him out
~~
Logans fine with it and actually likes the decorations tho he has asked if they had to be so brightly coloured and if there had to be so much glitter
I say decorations but hes a secret gremlin at heart and is super close to snickering at all times bc of the pranks
~~
Also yes paranoia mildly dads roman it's great but he dads in an older sibling type way
~~
So pat and logan are all "hes fitting in as an older brother well" and they tell him abt their approval of his older brother chaos and hes just like "no this is how I am deal with it nothing to do with brothers" bc hes not telling them abt his kids he doesnt trust them
~~
Hes up at like midnight complaining with logan abt how patton doesnt let him be full chaos gremlin and logan says "mmmhmm did your parents in the dark side let you go wild with the chaos" and paranoia just,,,,, looks at him, dead in the eyes, and says "I dont have parents"
Cue logan being confusion
Paranoia, who genuinely didn't have parents: my parents are mr sparkles and the cat we've had for my entire life
Logan, who doesnt know they had a cat and is now worried bc "are you taking care of it???": ???
Paranoia: it's great for keeping the Others in line tho I just say "do your chores or no snuggle time with ms peregrin" and they do their chores while I'm making dinner
logan, incredibly confused: i don't know what you mean but ok
Paranoia: yeah theyre dumb but it's the level of dumb youd expect from my idiots
~~
Or he slips up and refers to them as his children/kids and logan, not realizing they have an Actual Father/Sons relationship/age difference(paranoias abt.late 20s early 30s, remus defies all logic and has been about 9-10 for a few years now, and dees like early teens) just says "huh how.interesting would it be to have to deal with people your age that immature" and paranoias just. "Y e a h t h e y r e t o t a l l y t h e s a m e a g e a s I a m"
~~
Duke is very much baby and upon seeing duke eating glue paranoia and honesty the idiots decided to try it too
theyre so dumb dsdhdhdhjsdh
They AREEE and paranoia, after discovering that duke has the h a r d i e s t immune system they decide to test exactly what he can and cannot safely eat bc he may be dumb but hes also def a Dad and he just wants to take care of his kids and if that includes making sure that duke can safely consume toilet bleach then so be it
Duke can eat almost anything short of actual cyanide but cyanide just makes him sick like stomach bug sick
He somehow gets a fever,,,,, he has it for like half an hour and paranoia is amazed
Hes in bed,,,,, paranoia makes him soup,,,,,, hes all better and running around again
~~
Paranoias parenting rules:
Dont murder your brothers pls
Do your chores or no snuggle time with ms peregrin
Glitter is always a yes
Insults are fine just make sure you dont overstep and make your brothers insecure
all of them are printed and then the last one is scrawled at the bottom in
If you get sick, tell him immediately bc he will find out and he will be the most obsessive parent to make sure you feel better ASAP
If your pronouns/name/function change, tell him immediately, he'll make sure you dont feel uncomfortable as well as he can
Duke dont put dish soap in honestys baked goods you know he cant digest it
It's a nice system for making chaos but keeping it manageable
They're all printed then the last one's scrawled in glitter gel pen and duke wrote a reply that said (I'm sorry yall dont have as good an immune system as I do)
There was a whole passive aggressive arguement on the bulletin for the next week before it got taken down to make room for dukes art
They eventually started just putting them up over each other and using magnets instead of thumbtacks
The entire bottom portion of the walls are painted in chalkboard paint so theres no unerasable drawing on the walls and the rest of the paint is magnetic so they can hang pieces everywhere
Dukes improving rapidly tho and doesnt like looking at his old art all the time so paranoia holds onto the drawings in several filing cabinets in case he ever wants to do redraws or needs his original prints to make something in the Imagination
also bc,,, sentimental
jus a little
Yeah bc "yes my child draws nothing but blood gore and new animals but hes a creative genius and I love all of his art"
~~
Roman: anxiety I can see why you left
Paranoia: ??? What?? It's spoopy season??
Roman: there was BLOOD on the WALLS
Paranoia, internally: oh!!!! Duke perfected his blood recipe!!!!
Paranoia, externally: how did it taste?
Roman: WHO TASTES THE BLOOD ON THE WALLS?!?!
Paranoia: if it tasted like lemons or citrus you need to stay off of most foods, stick to crackers and broth- don't eat anything heavy until you're sure you wont throw it up
Patton, who was making cereal: ????
~~
Also!!!! @iliveinprocrasti-nation Thanks for helping me flesh this AU out!!!
23 notes · View notes
angstymdzsthoughts · 4 years
Text
angsty courtesan au where the wen wins and all of the sects became subordinates of the wens. wx and wc die, but it didn't rlly matter bc wrh's cultivation can keep him young for hundreds more years. wwx got captured after the war for murdering wc and became a slave for the wens, bound with a suppression array tattooed into the small of his back keyed to his own life force, rendering him unable to use demonic cultivation for as long as he lived. he tried to run away many times, but they always catch up to him.
the officer tasked to supervise him had enough and sold him to a brothel in yiling. wwx was a beautiful man, so even if scarred, he quickly became popular. he received treatments to make him more beautiful of course, adding to his debt. the people in the brothel were agreeable. not really warm, but friendly enough, discounting the strict brothel madam. they weren't phased when they noticed the all too familiar symptoms of pregnancy on him. by the age of the pregnancy, the baby had to belong to one of the wens.
wwx couldn't possibly ask the jiangs for help, not when they were struggling to survive themselves. he can't ask nhs either, not when he's dealing with his brother's death and trying to keep his sect from getting completely razed to the ground. to reach out to lwj.. was absolutely impossible. lz didn't like him and his uncle didn't like wwx either. especially now with how low he had sunken, there was no way wwx can keep face in front of his former friend.
oddly enough, he still got some customers during his pregnancy. as much as he hated his condition, wwx couldn't bring himself to hate his baby. he soon gave birth to a son he named wei yuan. his only hope in the hell he was living in. wei yuan was the sweetest child, and the other courtesans loved him. he became an errand boy, always helping his mother get ready for a booking and treating his bruises afterwards.
.
lwj met wwx on an unlucky day. a-yuan had been sent to do chores as usual, what wasn't usual was the amount of bullying he got from the town's children. getting pushed around was usual, getting his things stolen was typical, getting hit was common. no one bats an eye for a prostitute's son.
wei yuan didn't usually cry, but today had been especially bad. the punches hurt more and the insults to him and his mother stung deeper. he ran and hid under the hem of the nearest person kind enough to shield him.
lwj didn't expect the first thing that happened as soon as he arrived in yiling to be a child who couldn't be more than 3 or 4 years old crying and hiding behind his robes.
"mister, you don't need to protect that son of a whore, we'll take care of him for you!" they yelled. lwj frowned at the cruelty. he put a hand on the hilt of his sword, driving the bullies away and turned to the child.
"it's okay, they are gone," he took the child's hands into his. the little boy was a pitiful thing, his clothes dirty with soil and there were blotches on his face turning blue. "thank you, sir," he politely squeaked in between sniffles.
"mn. what's your name?" the child bowed. for so underprivileged a child, he had excellent manners, lwj thought. "this one is called wei yuan,"
wei?
the only wei lwj had ever heard of was wwx and as far as he knew wwx didn't have any extended families.
"a-yuan!"
the child, wei yuan, turned around, "a-niang!" he ran until he bumps into a drapery of maroon robes and continues sobbing.
"a-yuan, you had me worrying sick! you should've been back an hour ago, what happened?" wei wuxian dropped to his knees and craddled his son's face in his hands. his eyes water at the sight of bruises on a-yuan's round childish cheeks.
"my poor baby," he kissed wei yuan's forehead. "i'm so sorry,"
i'm sorry that you had to be born into this situation. i'm sorry that i can't protect you. i'm sorry that you had to be born from me.
"wei ying?"
wwx's heart dropped. his son's saviour just had to be the one person he absolutely cannot meet. he pulled his still sniffling child closer to him. "la- hanguang-jun," he stopped himself just in time.
"wei ying,"
"many thanks to hanguang-jun, for finding a-yuan," wwx bowed lower than he ever had in his youth.
"wei ying,"
wwx kept mum, he just picked up wei yuan who instinctively buried his face in the crook his mother's neck. "apologies, hanguang-jun. this one doesn't even have a cup of tea to repay you with,"
"no need,"
wwx was thin. he wore his hair in a low side ponytail and his embroidered robe could only signify his place in a brothel. lwj couldn't find the fire in his eyes that he remembered from their teenage years. now he just looked sad and tired. the silence between them stretched for a while.
"this child-"
"he is mine," wwx shot the question down swiftly.
lwj just noticed the way townsfolk looked at wei ying and his son. some in disdain, some completely ignoring their presence. he frowned.
"if that's all, then please excuse-" wwx flinched when lwj grabbed his wrist, preventing him from leaving with wei yuan. five years of working as a courtesan never really rid his trauma of getting manhandled.
lwj saw it and let go. "please, i- let's talk, over a meal,"
"a meal?"
"i will treat you. please?"
wwx who was familiar with how stubborn lwj could be reluctantly nodded and came along. the restaurant waiter eyed wwx for a bit before lwj sent him away.
"so.. how have you been?" wwx opened the conversation.
"gusu lan is under wen ruohan. uncle and brother are alive," lwj replied plainly.
"good to hear that they are fine. h-how is jiang cheng, and shijie?" wwx nervously fiddled with his bowl.
"jiang wanyin still lives in lotus pier. i do not know of his condition. maiden jiang married jin zixuan three years ago. they have a son,"
so shijie did end up marrying that peacock after all. he has a nephew.
"wei ying," wwx looked up.
"we have not heard of you for many years. how did you end up here?" working like that?
he chuckled bitterly. "a lot happened, la- hanguang-jun-"
"lan zhan,"
"wha-"
"call me lan zhan, like you used to. we are friends,"
friends. can this lowly him still be friends with lan wangji?
"lan zhan," he continued. "you are aware that i was captured?"
"mn,"
lwj's apparel was nowhere near as opulent as it used to be, not with his home occupied by wrh, but his godly elegance was still the same. the thought brought a smile to wwx's face.
"they sold me here,"
a silence.
"who knew people are so costly? and physicians, oh gods, they cost an arm and a leg!" he scream-whispered. "it looks like i would be working until i die to pay it all off!"
wei yuan frowned, clutching his mother's side. "a-niang, no die, stay with a-yuan,"
wwx laughs softly, caressing a-yuan's little head. "of course, my treasure,"
the child held up a spoon full of sweet soup lwj ordered for him in front of wwx, who ate it happily. "you know what it means to be filial, don't you?"
lwj watched the mother and son in front of him, wondering if his mother too loved him that much.
"then, what is your plan?" he broke the silence.
"i don't know.. keep working, i guess. it's hard but i got to do what i got to do. i just wish a-yuan didn't have to suffer with me,"
".."
"i wish i could take him away. somewhere safe, provide three meals a day for him, i do wish for him to train cultivation. maybe if someone could take him in.."
current yunmeng jiang was extremely unstable, it could barely be called a sect anymore. there was little chance a-yuan would be taken care of properly. qinghe was too far, not to mention wwx didn't feel safe sending his son to train a dangerous cultivation method. lanling jin was probable, but with no background support, a-yuan was sure to be bullied just as bad if not worse than here. gusu lan.. no, wwx couldn't be so selfish as to ask lwj to protect his son.
but maybe?
"WEI YING!!" they heard the shrill voice of the brothel madam.
"where do you think you're going, i'll beat you senseless! you're going to miss an appointment and i will show no mercy on you!" she barged in, face red with anger.
wwx scrambled to his feet and lifted wei yuan into his arms, rushing to cut his meeting short.
"hanguang-jun, my apologies but i am needed elsewhere and have to leave. good day," he ran outside with the madam.
lwj put out a few coins for the meal on the table and caught up to them, bringing along the grass butterfly he bought for a-yuan earlier.
"madam," he called. "my apologies. i will pay for wei ying's time,"
the woman frowned. "fine,"
lwj took out half of his coin pouch and put it on her hand. then he handed the toy to wei yuan.
the madam looked at the coins in her hand and inhaled. "thank you for your patronage. now please excuse us," she bowed and pulled wei ying along.
lwj watched them go, his mind turning. he had to come again and help wei ying.
.
.
idk what happens next, be my guest lmao
194 notes · View notes
beware-of-you-98 · 3 years
Note
Hello yes u are an amazing human being and I just read your angsty Em hcs and they made me feel pain and I would like to feel more pain so... I’ve come to request Emily childhood angst hcs? Your headcanons are adorable and also your Jemily at the cat cafe was adorable :)
I’m about to create an environment so angsty (also i decided to focus on her coming out/coming to terms with being gay rather than focus on her childhood in general since i already had some hcs about it!! n this is au as hell bc i don’t care about canon x)
note: whoops this got long and angsty and way past emily’s childhood oops
tw: drug use, homophobia, abortion mention, drinking, smoking (ye i still don’t know if i should put a tw for that but i do anyway 🤷‍♀️)... yeah the first half of this isn’t happy at all
emily knows from a really young age she’s different
since she’s homeschooled up until she’s 12, her only other interaction with people is with nannies and the teachers the ambassador hires
but her only other interaction to the outside world is through story books
all the princesses in her story books want to be rescued by handsome knights or princes
emily always wants to be the one to rescue the pretty princesses
her nannies buy her disney princess merch and disney movies
emily’s favorite princess is belle or jasmine bc they’re so pretty 🥺
she doesn’t think anything is wrong with it until she’s talking with her nanny about how pretty jasmine is and her nanny’s only response is a short “oh”
emily doesn’t know why, but the way she says it makes her feel guilty and so she stops talking about jasmine
and when the nanny starts to talk about aladin, she barely pays attention
(she thinks jasmine deserves better than him anyway— aladin lies to her right away and how is that supposed to be true love?)
emily keeps her thoughts about girls to herself after that day
and compartmentalizes those feelings because she hates the guilt associated with them
it’s not until she’s enrolled in the all girl’s boarding school that the feelings come back and it’s almost too hard to ignore
every other girl talks about their boyfriend or guys
emily never feels the need to talk about guys; they hold no appeal to her
(she talks about guys once or twice to try and fit in, but her stomach always flips in unpleasant ways and she always feels bad because she knows she’s lying to the other girls and herself)
her heart doesn’t flutter around boys and they don’t make her feel anything
audrey from her chemistry class makes her heart skip a beat and butterflies to erupt in her stomach
her hair is soft, her laugh is so cute and everytime she gives emily a hug, she can’t help but melt in her arms
when she kisses emily in the woods behind the school, lips tasting of strawberry chapstick, it’s as if things suddenly make sense
kissing audrey makes emily feel like she’s finally found a part of herself she didn’t even know was there and it’s glorious
when the ambassador drags her off to rome, emily snaps
she goes off the deep end because, after all the years she’s been crying for her mother’s attention, it’s kissing audrey that makes her finally pay emily any attention?????
the school emily’s enrolled in is co-ed and she immediately clings to the first group to pay her any attention
she becomes a hardcore partier
she skips class
she smokes
does drugs (weed and on the occasion, ecstasy, but once her friends convince her to do a line of coke)
(she hates the way it makes her nose run so she doesn’t do it again)
drinks and gets blackout drunk every single chance she gets
the ambassador is a lot more present at this point in her life and emily starts fights with her every night
she doesn’t even know what she’s doing anymore
her life is spiraling and she feels hopeless
and when anyone, anyone, shows her any attention, she throws herself at them
she sleeps with one of her male friends once and ends up pregnant and suddenly her life comes to a screeching halt
she’s terrified and keeps it hidden from her mother
matthew is her saving grace and never judges her once
he even holds her hand when she gets the abortion
afterwards, it’s just the two of them
matthew has to sneak out to see her because his parents loathe emily, but he manages to do it
they always go to the local park and split a joint, a cigarette or a bottle of booze between the two of them and sit in silence
emily breaks down to him one night and tells him she doesn’t know what’s wrong with her
she feels so lost and doesn’t even recognize herself anymore
matthew holds her as she cries, silently comforting her
and when she asks him what she should do, he just simply suggests that she live her life for herself and stop trying to please everyone around her
“if you’re not happy living a life trying to please other people, try living for yourself”
while the advice might be cliché, emily swears its the best she’s ever got
she works her ass off the rest of her he years (i forgot what it’s called over seas oops) not bc the ambassador wants her to, but bc emily wants to do better for herself
when the ambassador moves her back over seas, she get accepted into yale
she doesn’t label herself in college and she’s comfortable with that
she only has like one boyfriend at the start of her freshman year
but she wasn’t feeling it, so she breaks up with him and starts to date her roommate
n then she goes steady with fiona duncan for the remainder of the time she’s in college
she immediately enrolls in the fbi academy when she graduates bc she doesn’t want to do politics
as soon as she’s certified, she’s assigned the undercover position as lauren reynolds
she doesn’t like to think about those years bc they’re just as confusing as her teenage years
she likes to separate herself from lauren as much as possible bc she feels as if lauren is the embodiment of the past she wants so desperately to leave behind
she barely looks back once she’s done with the undercover mission
she spends a few years finding jobs to keep herself busy
then she joins the bau
its the first time in a while she’s around people she genuinely enjoys spending time with
she’s comfortable with the team within a few months of joining
it’s here when she officially starts to label herself as a lesbian!!
(it feels so right to say she’s a lesbian— it sounds great coming from her mouth and it makes her feel warm and whole)
she kinda keeps it hidden at first but also kinda doesn’t
no one really asks until they’re all hanging out at te bar and penelope points to a group of guys and asks her which one she thinks is cuter
emily just shrugs and gestures to the female bartender
penelope and derek take her to gay bars a lot!!
and after some persuasion, jj and reid tag along
emily notices how jj kinda stays behind at their table instead of interacting with people and is like ???
but then she notices the longing gaze and the same sad expression on the blonde’s face as she watches everyone confidently mingling around and just... knows
when she drives jj back to her apartment later that night (they carpooled), emily finally asks jj what’s wrong
and jj just goes “do you ever feel like there’s a part of you that’s been hidden so long and all you want to do is just... let it out? but you’re too scared of what others might think and that you’ll lose so many people because they can’t accept who you are? but you don’t want to live that life anymore because you’re not happy and you just... don’t know what to do?”
it sounds like rambling
but emily’s heart goes out to jj because she knows exactly how that feels
emily tells jj the same thing matthew told her all those years ago— “if you’re not happy living the life others want you to, why don’t you start living for yourself”
jj just whispers “is that what you did? wasn’t it scary?”
emily tells her of course it was!! but she had a really good friend by her side to help make it less scary and that she’ll 100% be that person for jj if she wants her to
jj comes up to her a few weeks later in private and comes out as bisexual
she’s trembling and she’s nervous but emily just beams and tells her how proud she is of her
a few years later, they’re gfs bc i said so
n emily’s finally happy!!
she has people aroun her that finally love and accept her for being herself
and that’s all she ever wanted
17 notes · View notes
thevagueambition · 4 years
Note
Atla, Zukka and Sokka :)
ATLA
Favorite character: Zuko, 100%. He’s a character I relate to a lot, eg the whole “hard work vs natural talent” thing... I even have a costume, although I didn’t get a chance to use it when I meant to so I haven’t really done so yet OTL
Least Favorite character: Hmm, god, I don’t know.... Bumi, maybe? As a comedic character he feels a bit too “haha crazy” and he doesn’t really (imo) work well as a dramatic one... 
5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):
Zukka
Hakoda/Bato
Roku/Sozin
Tyzula
Jetko
Character I find most attractive: Zuko. Particularly s3 ofc lol
putting the rest under a cut for length
Character I would marry: idk. not big on marriage really
Character I would be best friends with: Sokka
a random thought: The true hero of ATLA is Iroh and I feel ashamed of not having mentioned his name yet in this
An unpopular opinion: The age difference between Kataang is 2 years which is the exact same age difference between Zutara and neither are particularly weird regardless of the fact that I don’t care about either ship
My Canon OTP: Don’t have one. Sokka/Suki is cute I guess is the closest I come to having strong feelings on a canon ship
My Non-canon OTP: Zukka
Most Badass Character: Toph but also low key Sokka bc he’s a non-bender
Most Epic Villain: That old blood bending woman who gave us all nightmares
Pairing I am not a fan of: Zutara, but that’as as much about fandom behavior back in the day as anything else
Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Korra, all of LoK 
They gave Toph too little to do in s3 and she SHOULD have had her Zuko outing like all the others >:( Actually Zuko and Toph have a lot in common in certain ways and that was never fully explored
Also obviously SOOOO many characters in this series who were written as straight when they shouldn’t be lol. We get it, it was a kid’s cartoon in the 00s, but they didn’t have to agressively pair off everyone in neat m/f couples by the end of the series
Favourite Friendship: Aang & Zuko
Character I most identify with: Zuko, as mentioned above. He’s also the same MBTI type as me haha (INFP). Also, Sokka mix of being simoultaneously really clever and extremely stupid is a gigantic mood.
Character I wish I could be: Idk... Iroh, in some ways, certainly. Honestly, by the end of the series all the main kids are pretty admirable people. Who wouldn’t want Aang’s kindness, Katara’s righteousness, Zuko’s determination, Sokka’s cleverness, Toph’s independence, Suki’s leadership, etc? Hell, Mai’s bravery and Ty Lee’s loyalty? I love all the main kids.
Zukka
When I started shipping them: Only a year or two ago, actually! I think last time I rewatched The Boiling Rock I was like 👀
Originally when I was an ATLA fan I was still in the “we must adheer to canon” phase of my existence in fandom and then for a good while I was still affected by my... hesitance to look like a, idk, stereotypical slash fan, in the sense that back in the day people were REALLY hostile to slash ships that seemed, idk, contrived. Zukka also just wasn’t a big ship back in the day I don’t think, Jetko has always been more popular. 
My thoughts: The cammaraderie that developes between them over their stay at The Boiling Rock is incredibly compelling to me and I think that... the ways in which Sokka holds Zuko accountable through “jokes” but still allows him the space to prove himself is really interesting and probably... something that is actually better for Zuko than either Katara’s rage or Aang’s kindness? Idk. 
Also they both have pretty complicated relationships to masculinity and what it means to be a man in their respective cultures and their sort of struggles with that and how those struggles look different due to circumstances like their parental situations and different cultural expectations... Zuko’s is less directly about masculinity per se because the Fire Nation has less strict gender roles, or at least ones that don’t code certain activities as purely masculine endeavours (eg warfare) but certainly there are shades of Ozai’s treatment of Zuko and Azula that are gendered as well as about birth order and it’s interesting how Zuko and Sokka both impose restrictions on themselves about how they should behave and what they should live up to culturally.
What makes me happy about them: I think they complement each other really well. They have a lot in common but are pretty different about their approach to things... I also just really like battle couples lol 
What makes me sad about them: Their respective trauma is part of what makes them compelling but it’s certainly also sad, so in that sense...
Things done in fanfic that annoys me: So much of it is modern AU and i don’t care for it lol. Completely ignoring any sense that the Avatar world must have some elements of homophobia bothers me to exist in the ways it does, but as does completely overplaying it, idk. It’s a balance not everyone strikes well. Also obviously when people demonise Suki or Mai to account for them not being in the picture that’s bad.
Things I look for in fanfic: Honestly, more than anything? Good characterisation. This is a ship that lives and dies by good characterisation. I also really like when they’re set during the time at the Western Air Temple.  
My wishlist:
Swordfighting duels!! Practicing swordfighting together!! Bonding over swords like the dumb teenage boys they are!! Yes I know about the innuendo that only makes it better!! 
Hakoda not just being cool with it but realising about Zuko’s abuse and being like Actually I Am Your Dad Now
I always want fic where the gaang find out about how Zuko got his scar and that with Zukka is even more *chef’s kiss*
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Hmm ending up with, huh? I like Jetko for the drama but not necessarily as endgame. Sukka is pretty cute so I’m down for that but Maiko is.... look, it made sense for the time that Zuko was back in the Fire Nation because but I 100% don’t think it’s something either of them benefits from afterwards. They’re better off as friends imo also Zuko’s gay
My happily ever after for them: I want them to travel the world together tbh? I never quite know how to account for Zuko becoming Fire Lord in my thoughts about him post-canon because... well obviously I hate monarchy and I don’t actually think Zuko would be particularly comfortable being the leader of a nation, so... I don’t know. Maybe after some years, maybe a decade, of guiding the nation back towards stability Zuko starts reforming the country towards something more democratic and becomes less personally involved in the affairs of running the country? I don’t see them as people who would or really could be tied down by each other because they each have responsibilities to their respective communities and I don’t necessarily find “and then they lived in the Fire Nation palace together for the rest of their lives” compelling... 
Sokka
How I feel about this character: I love him so much. His character developement is so compelling and as one of the very few prominent non-bending characters he is also compelling in the ways that situate him within the world and forces him to look for other things to contribute with. Again, the ways in which he is undeniably very clever but simoultaneously kind of dumb is also just... Very Good and Relatable lol. He was someone I overlooked a bit for a while but I think Sokka’s Master really awakened me to how great he is and on rewatches he became one of my faves. Also, you just gotta love any character that uses sarcasm as a shield lol. 
Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Zuko, primarily, as discussed above. I’m fine with both Yue and Suki as canon ships but I’m not really invested in it. When I was younger I liked Sokka/Toph somewhat but actually Toph is a lesbian so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You could always do Suki/Toph, kill two birds with one stone you know
My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Gotta love a good father-son relationship <3
My unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t know what the popular opinions about him are tbh. I’ll use this to say I think ADHD!Sokka makes sense though
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Hmm, idk... the episodes he had that were focused on him were very good and did a good job of exploring his inner life in the face of how often he’s a comedic character, so it would have to be more in terms of his relationships with other characters. More interactions with Zuko would have been good ofc ! :3c
Favorite friendship for this character: Hm, probably Aang. Protective Older Brother Mode for a character that isn’t even technically his sibling is Very Good.
My crossover ship: I don’t really have crossover ships
1 note · View note
lostboybae · 5 years
Text
hiiii it’s been 84 years since i’ve written/made anything for ouat fandom, but seeing sf week posts has made me nostalgic; this doesn’t fit a prompt, but i had plotted out a charmed s6/seven year witch au where neal/emma’s future daughter time travels back to change the past. tbh I’m not sure if I’m going to revisit a full sf fic anytime soon, but I thought I’d just post what I’d already written bc it was Fun! 
---
Once upon a time, in a forest not so far away, something out of the ordinary happened on the outskirts of a small town with big secrets. A near-madman escaped his cage. An almost-lost son returned. An evil witch plotted, a not-quite-evil witch schemed, and a good witch paced the length of a diner, instinctively reaching to touch a gun that was no longer at her waist. In the forest, there was a flash of light. There was a tumble, and a fall. And then there was just a girl.
(Woman. Almost.)
"Seriously?" she muttered, tilting her head back at the sky. Blonde hair whipped at her shoulders as a particularly nasty gust of wind blew by, and she shrugged into her worn leather jacket for warmth. "The forest? How am I supposed to know if it worked when the stupid spell dropped me off in the forest?"
The wind blew again, harder this time. The girl winced, turning and ducking her head, shielding her eyes against the stray bits of dirt and leaf it had picked up. 
Finally, she looked up.
Right at the Storybrooke well. "Bingo," she muttered, allowing herself a grin. She made her way to the well, kicking at a loose stone 6 inches up from the bottom. She'd been 7 years old when her brother had first shown her this place: their hiding spot. He'd leave letters for her to find, or little trinkets and souvenirs from his trips out of town. It had been silly, but it had been secret, and secrets felt very important at that age. Her brother won't even discover the loose stone until 2014. He'll have hidden something consistently in that spot after that. If she's right, if this worked, it'll be— Empty. She grinned triumphantly, then pulled a flask from her jacket. She brushed the dirt from her jeans as she stands, before moving to lower the well's bucket into its magical depths. "You have to separate us."
"No," Emma said, tightening her grip on Neal's hands. "You'll die."
"Emma. You need him to save your family. Please."
Emma Swan hated Neal Cassidy. She hated him a thousand times over, because nothing is ever fair with Neal Cassidy. He broke her heart over and over again because he's good, and this whole good deal fucking sucked. In the end, she does it, because she's good too. That's what heroes do. They die and they watch the people they love die because they don't have a choice. It's bullshit. He's dying in her arms and it's bullshit. "I can fix him!" Emma whips her head up, still cradling Neal. A teenage girl has skidded out from who knows where, frantically holding up a flask. "Who the hell are you?" "A friend," she says firmly. "And I can fix him. For now, anyway." "You can't fix death," said a voice, low and dangerous and already grieving. Emma had never been truly terrified of Rumplestilskin, but in this moment, in the face of that much pain, he made the blood in her veins run cold. The girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. He's not dead yet." "What are you talking about?" Emma snapped, before Gold could do something stupid or terrible or both. "Who the hell are you?" "Lily," she said, smoothly. "Lily Miller. I'm from the future." "The future," Emma said, dubiously. "Yeah, but just 18 years or so," she shrugged. Emma stared incredulously. "Time travel isn't possible, dearie," Gold sneered. "But it's about to be, isn't it?" Gold stiffened. Emma whipped her head around to look at him. "What is she talking about, Gold?" "Look, we don't have time for this," Lily said, impatiently. "History shows Neal Cassidy died today, and Storybrooke sort of goes to shit not long after. If we change this, we might be able to change that." "And how do we do that? Put them back?" "No," Lily shook the flask in her hand. "This is water from the Storybrooke well. It's--" "Magic," Gold finished for her, a dangerous look in his eyes. "But it isn't a cure." "No, it's not," she shrugged. "But it'll buy you some time." "Wait, like the water David took in Neverland?" Emma said, frowning. "Exactly like that," Lily said. "It runs between realms, connects them." Emma took a deep breath. "Okay. Come here." She shifted Neal in her arms a bit, taking the flask from Lily. "Hey you," she mumbled. "Emma--" "Don't Emma me. Looks like you don't get to leave us this time." Neal gave her a weak smile. "Come on. Drink this for me, okay?" When he drinks, when the color comes back to his cheeks, when he's not dying—she almost fucking drops him from the shock of the relief flooding through her muscles. "Close call," he laughs, grinning in disbelief. Emma wipes at her eyes, grinning back. "You asshole," she agrees.
23 notes · View notes
bclthczcros · 5 years
Note
zoney marriage au
whaddya mean they’re already married. emily and i have discussed this at length so i present to you an essay. 
proposal. 
it was kind of a mess? because zar had been planning out the perfect night to pop the question for a little while. it’s while zar is still in vet school in davis, has about a year left, and he’s like well, there really is no better time. so he plans out a great night where they go out to dinner and then go to some makeout point type place to sit on the hood of their car and look out at the stars and the city below. and just when zar is playing with the box in his coat pocket, about to start the little speech he had prepared, honey’s like “hey… there’s something i’ve meant to ask for a while, and now seems like the perfect time.” 
surprise!!!! honey bought a ring like three months ago and has been waiting for the perfect moment to ask zar to marry him this whole time!!!! 
as soon as honey takes that damn box out zar is fucking crying and takes his out and is like shut up i put this night together!!!! he lets honey go first, though, because he says he has a speech prepared. he did, but he kind of throws it out the window and basically just tells zar how much he means to him and how he believed in him even when he didn’t and that he loves him so much and then honey is crying, and zar is crying, and zar doesn’t even get to give his own little proposal until after they’ve fucked in the back of the car. 
wedding. 
so we been knew honey is a Big Ol’ Romantic, and he has been highkey planning this wedding since he and zar started dating okay????? he has a notebook full of ideas and printouts and i love to imagine him slamming it down at the beginning of every meeting with their caterer/venue/florist/whatever. zar lets honey take charge during those meetings, and he does, going through exactly what he does and does not want and occasionally turning to zar with a sweet smile and going “which one, baby? the blue or the teal?” zar really only intervenes when honey and whoever they’re trying to hire are arguing and he has to calm honey down because he just said, “i will end your shit, anthony.”
first of all, everyone at veritas is invited, so jot that down. (yes, even holden. unless he’s the killer.) i mean otto probably isn’t but. there’s Reasons. zola is zar’s best woman, easily. they have a whole ass argument about whose side of the aisle kiki will be on (honey wins). they also have a whole ass argument about whether or not they’re going to be ros-kennedy or kennedy-ros (honey also wins). 
the wedding is at a national park, all outdoors, so the animals can come. (ripley is dead at this point but she’s watching from dog heaven it’s fine.) nugget is the ringbearer and thats that. honey has to read his vows first because they both know he’s gonna cry like a baby through zar’s. also honey kisses zar halfway through the ceremony bc he can’t help it and everyone is like “!!!!!!!”. but it’s fine it’s very cute. literally everyone expects honey to be a total bridezilla the day of (especially poor anthony) but both he and zar are just so happy the entire goddamned time it’s like... they don’t even care. it’s the happiest day of their lives :’). 
their honeymoon is in hawaii. they don’t leave their hotel. 
married life. 
well they were already basically married, but by the time their proposal happens both of them know what they want to do with their lives. zar is finishing up his vet school, and honey has just started his second bachelor’s degree in social work. honey floated from job to job for a while, until he was working for a boy’s and girl’s club and he realized how much he actually wanted to help these kids. zar does his residency while honey does his degree. (honestly, before this point, the only thing zar and honey really fought about was the fact that honey didn’t have any life plans outside of being with zar, so the fact that honey is so passionate about social work is actually a massive relief for both of them.)
honey gets a job as a case worker in salem, oregon, and since zar wants nothing more than to support honey’s passions now that he has them, they uproot and move from davis to salem and buy a beautiful house, as dr. and mr. kennedy-ros. 
both of them have pretty high-stress jobs that they’re intensely passionate about, so naturally they’re both workaholics. that’s okay, though; while they both love their work, they love each other and the animals just as much. they’re major homebodies, can usually be found on the couch on weekends. while the o’malleys aren’t as powerful with honey’s father in prison, zar still worries about honey’s safety constantly, and doesn’t like to be out of his sight if he can help it. 
also???????? zoney in suburbia is a trip. they are both extremely affectionate and quite smartass-y, and you either love them or hate them. even though they’ll probably never have kids of their own (their parents fucked them up so terribly as children, they’re terrified of doing the same to their kids), honey in particular is great with kids and they’re usually the couple their neighbors call to babysit. i also like to imagine zar teaching one of the girls he used to babysit how to defend herself, and then he becomes the unofficial self-defense teacher for the neighborhood’s teenagers. 
they’re also the source of much gossip, especially after the little brunch incident where the restaurant was being robbed by an armed man and zar was able to take him down and toss the gun to honey to be disarmed. all they’ll say is that zar did muay thai in high school and honey spent some time with the us marshals, but there’s clearly more to the story. some people think they’re involved with the mob, but anyone who meets them can tell they are kind and genuine people. 
(there is one close call, though, when honey was working late and a man came to their neighbors door with a picture of him, at age eighteen, asking if she’d ever seen this man before. she thought of these two sweet men who her kids loved so much, and their no-doubt sketchy past, and said not once in her life, and as soon as he was gone, called honey, and then zar. it was zar that drove down to the house, thanked her profusely and stayed with her until they decided the coast was clear, until honey could come home. she has the distinct feeling, as she watches their tearful reunion from her driveway, that she just saved their lives.) 
they live a calm life together, and they can’t ask for anything more. 
4 notes · View notes
hzcleski · 5 years
Text
hello friends! you probs know who i am already but if not hello! i’m sam aaand this is my newish muse! i played hal here for a minute one time but i’ve decided to give him a huuuuge revamp so character info is under the cut! lmk if you wanna plot! messaging me @ellvie​ is probably easiest!
╰☆╮ DYLAN O'BRIEN ─ HAL ZALESKI identifies as CIS MALE and uses HE/HIM pronouns. they’re a FORMER OLYMPIAN/NHL PLAYER, and they’re only TWENTY THREE ! they’re said to be CAPABLE, but also TURBULENT. i guess that’s why they’re known as THE LEGACY in the tabloids.
quick disclaimer that this is a sideblog so i might post to the wrong account sometimes
other disclaimer a lot of my hockey information is from google ok
nathan harold zaleski jr was practically born with a pair of skates on, which makes sense considering his family is hockey royalty. his father is nathan harold zaleski sr, aka a legend and one of the biggest names in sports to this very day. olympic gold medalist several times over, beloved longtime defenseman for the toronto maple leafs, at the very peak of his career and married to a beautiful wealthy socialite when his only child was born.
listen...this is an au where the maple leafs are good or like, had one genuinely good star player in nathan sr. okay thanks for coming to my ted talk!
he’s got dual citizenship because he was born in canada even though he hasn’t lived there since he was ten, but his parents were us citizens, which doesn’t seem important but WAIT FOR IT
nathan jr, who would begin going by the nickname of hal early on in life, probably learned how to skate before he even learned how to walk because of course he did. his father’s intention was always to have another him. i mean for fuck’s sake they have the exact same name. hal’s purpose in life has never been in question, not by him or anyone who’s ever seen him play.
his natural talent for hockey became apparent from a very young age, which didn’t surprise anyone ofc. his father saw it as a sign and began pushing him even harder, hiring the very best trainers and coaches to help perfect his game while nathan sr focused on his own career.
except that he was running out of steam and fast. nothing happened like there was no huge scandal or career ending injury. nathan sr was just...getting old. fans were simply losing interest in him as newer and younger players joined the league and there was nothing he could really do about it except make sure his legacy lived on.
hal was ten years old when everything seemed to finally fall apart. his dad was hanging on to the very last threads of his career, let go from the maple leafs and almost certainly picked up by the new york rangers purely out of pity. meanwhile, hal’s parents finally divorced which he took almost alarmingly well for a ten year old, but it’s not like his parents were ever a shining example of a deep, loving marriage. they spent years settling the divorce, fighting back and forth while suing the shit out of each other across whole fuckin countries. lowkey they almost wound up being more famous for the legal drama than they were for hockey.
hal’s dad finally retired when he was twelve, won sole custody of him when he was fourteen, and pulled enough strings to get him a spot on the canadian hockey team dual citizenship! going to the 2010 vancouver winter olympics when he was just a teenager, making him one of the youngest players to ever compete in the games.
and canada won gold that year so hal was making history again in no time, being one of the youngest players to ever become a gold medalist in the winter olympics. now he didn’t actually see a lot of playing time that year. his skill was undeniable, but no one seemed to think that he was ready for the big time rush. tbh they probably weren’t wrong, but nevertheless his name and his win made an impression on everyone.
up until that point hal was homeschooled bc ofc education came second to hockey, but he always wanted to attend an actual school and he did! after his first olympics his dad finally sent him to the same private school in the city as all the other rich kids and it was...weird! he started in the middle of the year and was instantly an outsider among his classmates. everyone else had known each other all their lives so hal immediately at a disadvantage. it didn’t help that he’d never really...had a single friend before. tbh his peers were probably intimidated by him. he was just a high schooler and already an olympic gold medalist like...ofc no one wanted to be the person to go approach him and say hi.
played for canada again dual citizenship! at the 2014 winter olympics in sochi when he was eighteen and this time HE WAS THE STAR. absolutely at the top of his game. anyone who still thought that he was a joke before the games started shut up real quick when he won his second gold medal.
he got home and was eventually drafted into the nhl, so he sorta ditched school oops. technically he finished but like...barely since he went back to being tutored for the last few months.
several teams wanted him and tried to throw a shit ton of money at him, but hal settled on the new york rangers with a huge multi million dollar deal
he quickly stole hearts on and off the ice. whether fans admired his skill or followed him during the olympics or remembered his father, for one reason or another he was winning people over left and right. unsurprisingly he’d go on to win the 2014-2015 rookie of the year award, presented to him by the president of the nhl and everything.
he did not attend the 2018 winter olympics in pyeongchang as the nhl famously refused to release their players. hal himself was a major part of the uproar. the whole country of canada dual citizenship! practically threw a fucking fit bc the nhl was disqualifying their star player from winning them their third gold medal in a row and hey big surprise...canada didn’t win gold in 2018 :)
hal’s in the middle of his fifth i think? year of pro hockey rn and so far his career has been solid. his dad is really pushing him to sign with a “better team” and he has gotten offers, but he isn’t really interested. he likes playing for new york & he likes living in new york. maybe someday....maybeeee....but for right now he’s happy with where he is.
okay now for some fast facts!
literally always looks like he just got into a fight, probably bc he just did during his last game. is usually sporting some injury like a black eye or split lip or cut cheek. fortunately hasn’t completely given in to the hockey player stereotype by getting all of his fuckin teeth knocked out...yet
notice that i hardly mentioned his mom? that about sums up their relationship tbh. hal was practically raised by nannies and trainers. his mom always had some brunch or gala or public appearance she was far more invested in. literally she didn’t even really...want custody of him when she divorced his dad, but she claimed to just to be petty and give nathan sr an even more difficult time. yeah they kinda hate each other now and since hal has always been closer to his dad, his mom isn’t even really that interested in seeing him lmao. she’ll call like once a month and invites him to brunch if she happens to be in the city, but ngl hal probably hasn’t seen her in like...a couple years at the least. he’s not really broken up about it either.
right so...walking talking endless pit of daddy issues? you bet! just because hal prefers his dad doesn’t mean that they get along or that his dad is a good person. he still has his perfect public image and he isn’t complete garbage but...yeah their relationship is extremely toxic. he’s always been very harsh with hal, pushing him and pushing him to be the best bc nothing he accomplishes is ever good enough.
so what if he's won two olympic gold medals? so what if he was rookie of the year? so what if he’s considered one of the best and most beloved players in the nhl? he can do more, he can be even better. his dad is a constant voice in his head even though he’s always around anyway. he never misses a game or an opportunity to point out hal’s every flaw.
ofc as a result hal’s always been very hard on himself. every single day of his entire life has been spent basing his self worth off what his father thinks of him. it was awful for his self esteem bc no fucking duh.
HOWEVER. it isn’t public knowledge at this time, but as of right now? hal’s relationship with his father is falling apart faster and faster by the moment. they’re a ticking time bomb & it’s literally only a matter of time before they explode yikes!
fortunately hal could sorta sense the direction things were heading and did something about it. he finally moved out when the hockey season started back in october and he’s been feeling better ever since. like he has more control over his life even though his dad is still WAY too involved.
personality: a douchebag who means no harm, mostly because he's never really trying to be a jerk. tends to come across as a typical meathead jock for good reason bc that’s exactly who he is. in conversation he's usually very blunt and a little awkward bc he’s still learning how to socialize with others. hockey is basically his whole life so it’s all he knows how to talk about, which can either be endearing or annoying. a genius hockey player, but a ditz in every other area. very short - tempered and impulsive. always means well and wants the best for those he cares about, but might go about expressing those feelings in a weird way bc he was never taught how to properly deal with his emotions.
CONNECTIONS
family
step sibling he grew up with - sabrina miller
paternal cousins - warren daily and wren daily
cousin by marriage - rosalind cox
maternal cousin - open. his mom is polish for reference!
romantic
girlfriend - genesis iver
ex fiancée - ginny baker
ex on good terms - margo massey
ex who cheated on him - isla thompson
former fwb - amethyst armenta, open to more.
former toxic on / off relationship - reese monroe
exes, open to more.
hal has a ton of other exes and i don’t feel like listing them tbh all so i’m just gonna assume that y’all know who you are ok
platonic
best friend 5ever - marialena goldstein
confidant - open.
family friends - sullivan ramsey, open to more.
childhood friends - open to more.
close friends - open to more.
friends - mia kauri, chance kauri, theo cannon, angel almeida, open to more.
bickering friends - open to more.
workout buddy - open.
negative
on bad terms - kennedy drakos, jay weston, open to more.
these are just a few plot ideas! i’m most definitely open to other stuff so if you have any ideas please free to share! i think that’s enough from me soooo yeah! mssg me if you wanna plot & as always i’m super excited to write with everyone!
19 notes · View notes
clonerightsagenda · 6 years
Note
Your commentary is so interesting, I love your AU and how much thought you put into it! Could you talk about Vriska's first scene (with Aranea and Meenah) or her arc in general, and/or about Play the Rain? Thank you!
Oh sweet, more opportunities to talk about myself. I am enjoying these more than I should.
This is another set that I can already tell will get long, so I’ll break ‘em up. Vriska’s arc in TLC is kind of a Big Thing, so let’s start out with her first scene with Aranea and Meenah, and I’ll work my way through the rest as I have time.
On this blog, I refer to GO!Vriska as the superior one, but in canon she still has a long ways to go. She has figured out that her other self is an asshole, and she’s got an inkling that her earlier behavior was not 100% excellent, but she stalls out there, possibly a victim of dreambubble inertia, possibly a victim of bad writing. I don’t really consider a character going ‘huh, maybe my past behavior was somewhat unsavory’ sufficient as a ‘redemption arc’. You need to do something about it. So a big focus when it came to TLC!Vriska was making sure she actually took action, and part of that involved lighting a fire under her ass. Unfortunately for Meenah and Aranea, they were the kindling.
The scene starts with Vriska and Meenah hanging out in the bubbles, watched over by Andrew Hussie, who is quickly replaced by our author self-inserts as part of the running gag and also because a grown man spying on two teenage girls dating has become increasingly creepy to me as I get older. I disapprove of Gill's overly aggressive tactics though, as you can tell from my tiny avatar. This was in early days, when I was convinced we were going to get a cease and desist letter at any moment. Now I figure no one cares.
In the conversation, I tried to highlight GO!Vriska's insecurities. Throughout the comic, Vriska adopts different personas as a survival tactic. I'll talk shit on her because she does terrible things that I feel the narrative never properly addresses, but it's not that I don't get why. She tries to play up the Mindfang thing to survive Alternia and her lusus. Later, she emulates Meenah to gain her approval, especially when her confidence is lowered by her pir8 expedition falling through and her one human ally dissing her. The fact that there's a significant age gap in this relationship doesn't help. I also find that creepy. Dancestors are like 19 right? 19/13 is Too Much, kids. I don't care how long both of them have been in the afterlife; brain chemistry remains a factor. Anyway, in their scene together, they're both falling victim to the tendency for dreambubbles to sap dreamers' energy, and Vriska's getting increasingly anxious because she feels Meenah's losing interest in her.
Then, Aranea shows up. Now, I detest her, but again, I can at least attempt to empathize. She's been dead for a long time, and rather like alt!Calliope, has had her perceptions of people skewed so she views them more as characters. (With her plans of healing the timeline, she kinda was trying to be a Muse of Space, anyway.) She hated being sidelined, and so she tried to do something about it. Allegedly her intent was good, but it quickly warped into a self-interested attempt to have her way no matter what the cost, doubling down on cruelties like mind control and murder whenever people put up a fight. Approaching the kids and offering her assistance with an explanation of her plan might've worked out fine, especially as they were scattered and looking for leadership. Instead, she went in guns a-blazing and paid the price.
On page 381, we get the hell out of there because we know what's coming, and that's pretty much the end of the self-insert gag. For the best.
As in canon, we use Aranea as a way for Vriska to see her behavior reflected back. It's less dramatic than seeing an alternate version of herself, of course, but it still prompts her to think about some of the mistakes she's made. It's less threatening when you're criticizing someone else. Still, she immediately backtracks and says they can come up with a new plan, eager to remain part of this crowd and maintain the most recent identity she has constructed.
ARANEA: Dancestor, consider this your next and most important lesson in 8eing a Serket.
We just had to lay the irony on thick here. 
In canon, as I mentioned earlier, Lord English remains a sort of shadowy, not wildly intimidating enemy. He shows up with a bang in Caliborn:Enter, but after that you mostly get the vibe that he has to be defeated because he's the narrative's assigned big bad rather than because anyone has personal stakes. After all that buildup, most of the cast doesn't even confront him, and his demise is never clearly shown. Sort of anticlimactic. We wanted to re-establish him as a threat, which is difficult in a comic where it's almost impossible to kill someone properly. This scene, and the one with the puppet strings earlier, are our attempts to add a semi-horrorish vibe to the comic and go hey, this guy? He's a big deal. Plus, it's a fitting reference to the f8 Mindfang doomed Redglare to. Panel 391 is a direct reference. Aranea considers everyone else merely background characters, and the background characters kill her.
She does have one last... I hesitate to say "redemption" spot, but she does help free Meenah and Vriska when it's clear she's fucked. Whether that is out of genuine good nature or a desire to have one last impact on the story, you decide.
Then, Meenah saves Vriska, only to run out of time to escape the bubble herself. It's not an intentional heroic sacrifice (she would've followed if she could) but the Thief of Life does "give" life one time before getting doublekilled herself. This led to concerned musing on my part in the google doc that we ended up heroic sacrificing both Thieves. What sort of message were we sending about the class? That still bothers me a little, because I don't want to suggest the only way to balance out initial selfishness is to give yourself entirely. You should never be called upon to destroy yourself to prove your worth. Perhaps there was a better way to handle that, I don't know. To be fair, canon was laying the implications on pretty thick that Meenah was seeking a fight to the death against English, and so that's sort of a subversion of that (putting prudence before glory), but again. YMMV.
Despite me being the one to plan both sections, I wasn't thrilled about wiping out Meenah and Aranea not long after wiping out alt Calliope and doomed Roxy. I felt like we were really burning through the girl characters and I didn't want to give a bad impression. (We killed loads of dudes in Cherubquest, but then most of them come back.) Part of it is that we wanted to clear the dancestors off the board bc we didn't have the time or inclination to work with them properly, and Aranea and Meenah were the only ones with enough story weight that we felt they needed a bigger exit. It also seemed like a suitable ending for Aranea - she tried to take over the story, and instead she gets wiped out of it entirely. Though, to be fair, her influence did make an impact, so I guess she sort of got what she wanted after all. Also, there were in-universe reasons for most of those deaths. Doomed Roxy had to die as per the deal with Nix. Lord English was looking for Calliope(s) to kill. And there's no way he'd let Aranea's attempt to defy his alpha timeline slide. Meenah was more a casualty of us trying to get rid of dancestors/freeing Vriska's piece up on the board. Still, like I said, not wild about it, but I can’t see any other route I would have taken plotting-wise. 
Ok, that's what I've got for this scene. I'll do more on the rest of Vriska's arc and Play the Rain later, I have to pace myself and also I have meetings.
16 notes · View notes